Issue 63

16 Flash Archive · Members Only

The Growing Importance of Small Satellites in Modern Warfare

The Growing Importance of Small Satellites in Modern Warfare 5 Dec 2022: Article in the Space Review in which author Donatas Palavenis, a Junior Officer in the Lithuanian armed forces and junior researcher at the Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology (BPTI), discusses the growing capabilities and importance of small satellites (<500kg)…

Author Minhas Published January 3, 2023

The Growing Importance of Small Satellites in Modern Warfare

5 Dec 2022: Article in the Space Review in which author Donatas Palavenis, a Junior Officer in

the Lithuanian armed forces and junior researcher at the Baltic Institute of Advanced

Technology (BPTI), discusses the growing capabilities and importance of small satellites

(<500kg) for national defense and the role they could play for small nations.

– Small satellites seem to be conquering space at an extraordinary rate today…at least 1,800 small satellites will be launched per year in the future. – Small satellites are focused on performing a single function while large satellites may contain many complex sensors. – Small satellites are often launched in clusters, so the area covered by them can be equal to the area covered by a large satellite. – It is possible to create clusters of small satellites or a group of linked satellites that have different sensors that fly over the same point on the ground at the same time, allowing different types of data to be combined. – Several small satellites can provide identical or more detailed information than large satellites. – Smallsat clusters can consist of over more than 100 satellites, increasing revisit frequency – Smallsats make it possible to quickly replace

satellites in orbit, launch new ones for specific tasks, restore damaged ones, or increase the quantity in a certain orbit to increase the observation time. – The US military is currently testing the use of small satellites through the Convergence experimental project, where the capabilities of commercial and government-operated satellites have been used to photograph the battlefield and rapidly exchange information with the help of communications satellites. – The addition of data synthesis and artificial intelligence capabilities shortened the decision- making speed—from target identification to firing a shot—from 20 minutes to 20 seconds. – Clusters of small satellites provide another important advantage: resistance to kinetic attacks like anti-satellite weapons. – For a small state, it is important to properly assess the amount of information required for national security. Small states must also assess what type of sensors are most effective, the optimal number of small satellites, their orbits, and other important parameters. t in the case of a small state, the solution would be: to have several state-owned satellites (e.g. the case of Albania) and, in case of need, to be ready to order the data of the required areas from foreign companies or other states. – Notably, no commercial small satellite cluster company has yet proven to be commercially viable without government support.