Orbit (dynamics)

Engineering

Satellite constellation

Remote sensing

Telecommunications

Physics

Archaeology

Population

Low earth orbit

Structural engineering

Aerospace engineering

Constellation

Astronomy

Geography

Antenna (radio)

Bent molecular geometry

Demography

Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution

Computer science

Satellite

Architecture

Sociology

Advances in nanosatellite technology and a declining cost of access to space have fostered an emergence of large constellations of sensor-equipped satellites in low-Earth orbit. Many of these satellite systems operate under a "bent-pipe" architecture, in which ground stations send commands to orbit and satellites reply with raw data. In this work, we observe that a bent-pipe architecture for Earth-observing satellites breaks down as constellation population increases. Communication is limited by the physical configuration and constraints of the system over time, such as ground station location, nanosatellite antenna size, and energy harvested on orbit. We show quantitatively that nanosatellite constellation capabilities are determined by physical system constraints.

Orbital Edge Computing