Home / NanoEye small satellite
NanoEye: a low-cost, agile small satellite for imaging and other payloads
NanoEye flies low for high resolution. The first article took under two years. Later units take several months each.
Specifications
| Dry mass | 25 kg |
|---|---|
| Hydrazine propellant, full load | 55 kg |
| Wet mass | 80 kg |
| Telescope aperture | Under 0.3 m |
| Resolution at nadir, at perigee | Sub-half-meter |
| Recurring cost, electro-optical payload | Under $2M |
| Recurring cost, electro-optical and infrared payload | Under $2.5M |
| First article | Under two years |
| Later units | Several months each |
These are Microcosm estimates.
Key characteristics
- High resolution from a very low orbit
- Delta-V of several km/s for orbit agility, field-of-view agility and a large field of regard
- High-speed scanning that captures about 1,000 images per pass
- Autonomous orbit control, validated on two space missions
- High-speed downlink to portable and fixed ground stations
- Enough power for a wide range of payloads
- Launch within 8 hours after the satellite and launch vehicle reach the launch site
How it is built
The bus uses mostly space-qualified CubeSat components from several providers. A small diffraction-limited telescope gives the imaging.
The all-composite unibody structure comes from Scorpius Space Launch Company, a sister company of Microcosm. See the structure details.
Large margins in power, mass, delta-V and control authority let one design fly many missions. Hardware and software change little between them.
The NanoEye family
- NanoEye, the baseline imaging satellite
- SpaceHawk and MicroEye, related designs
- CubeSat Delivery Vehicle, which delivers up to 12 CubeSats of 3U or 6U size
- A radar variant that completed preliminary design
- LIDAR payload evaluations, which are complete
Why low altitude
Optics shrink with altitude. One-meter optics at 800 km become 0.25 m at 200 km. An active payload can cut its power from 2,560 W to 40 W or 10 W. Our mission engineering explains the trade.
Independent analyses
The Aerospace Corporation ran a classified mission utility analysis. It found that a multi-satellite NanoEye constellation compared very favorably with the alternatives. Results are available to people with the right security access.
An independent cost analysis by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center agreed broadly with the non-recurring and recurring cost estimates.
Launch and ground system
The system concept pairs NanoEye with the Scorpius Demi-Sprite launch vehicle and a transportable GATR ground tracking antenna. Demi-Sprite is designed to launch one NanoEye to low Earth orbit for under $4M recurring, excluding range costs. The Mini-Sprite is the next size up in the concept. Scorpius Space Launch Company is a separate company. See scorpius.com.
Request a NanoEye quote
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Or write to microcosm@smad.com or call (310) 539-2306.