Smallsats are growing up — both in size and capability — as market demands push manufacturers to pack more performance into compact form factors, speakers said at SATELLITE 2022.
Tom Barton, CEO of Rocket Lab’s satellite manufacturing division, said the company’s Photon platform has evolved from a 3U CubeSat to a full-featured smallsat bus capable of interplanetary missions. “We’re seeing customer requirements that three years ago would have gone to a much larger satellite being met by smallsats today.”
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Hank Pernicka, CEO of MorningStar Partners, noted that while prices have dropped dramatically, customers still want reliability. “The cost curve has come down enormously, but if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter how cheap it was.”
Ryan Chin of Apex Space said standardized satellite buses are key to enabling faster, cheaper missions: “The goal is to make the spacecraft itself a commodity so customers can focus on their payloads.” He noted growing demand from government customers who want to move faster than traditional acquisition timelines allow.
Panelists agreed that the line between small and medium satellites is blurring, with 100-500 kg buses becoming a sweet spot for many applications — large enough for meaningful capability, small enough for affordable rideshare launches. VS
