Chapter 15
Antennas for Small Satellites
15.1 Introduction to Small Satellites
15.1.1 Small Satellites and Their Classification
Early satellites were small. However, with the requirements for more and more complicated functions, satellites became increasingly large and heavy. A typical telecommunication satellite nowadays has a mass of several tons. Small satellites here refer to the new generation of satellites which are not only smaller in size, faster to respond and cheaper to build, but also highly capable and reliable. This is in contrast to mainstream military and commercial satellites which are usually very large, heavy and very expensive. Small satellites recently became viable due to rapid technological developments during last decades, such as miniaturization, very large-scale integrated circuits, microprocessors, solid state memories, sophisticated software tools and manufacturing processes.
UoSAT-1 was the first modern small satellite to carry a reprogrammable on-board computer and 2D charge-coupled device (CCD) array camera (256 × 256 pixels). It was developed by university students, staff and radio amateurs and was launched in 1981 [1]. Small satellites provide ‘affordable ...
