Small Satellites: Opportunities and

ChallengesMazlan Othman ASM

Attila Matas ITU

3rd Manfred Lachs International Conference 16 and 17 March 2015McGill Institute of Air and Space Law

The Malaysian space enterprise is predicated on small satellites development:

TiungSAT (2000)RazakSAT (2009 – first EO NEqO satellite)Cansat (students)Cubesat (university research)

Small satellites: opportunities

“…on April 29 the CSA awarded five contracts to Canadian firms and universities to perform feasibility studies on five potential future microsatellite missions…

…the proposed missions would be in areas of security, health, forest fire surveillance, weather surveillance, and water quality monitoring.”

Space News, May 19th 2014

Copyright © Satellite Applications Catapult Ltd 2014

Economic Boom

In 2020 alone, it is predicted that EO nano/micro-satellites will generate £100 million in manufacturing revenue.

Size of the commercial EO data market by 2020 is £1.8 billion; nano/micro-satellites share: £970 million

Copyright © Satellite Applications Catapult Ltd 2014

Small satellite: challenges

Challenges

New entrants, with small budgets, unaware of regulation and little engineering experience

Large numbers of spacecraft overwhelm regulators

Rapid and frequent deployment

Space debris

Spectrum and orbital filings

What do we do?

ITU’s responses

Role of launch providers

Role of licensing authority

Role of space programme authority

ConclusionSmall satellites will prevail…

…but challenges remain.

Thank you