A satellite system may have a constellation of communications satellites in orbits such as highly inclined eccentric geosynchronous orbits and low earth orbits. To place satellites in inclined eccentric geosynchronous orbits, a series of launch vehicles may be launched. Each launch vehicle may be used to place a set of satellites, such as a set of three satellites, into a common orbital plane with distinct longitude of ascending node values. To place satellites in low earth orbits, a series of launch vehicles may be launched, each of which releases satellites in sequence from a stack of satellites into a common orbital plane. After desired separations have been produced between the released satellites, circularization procedures may be performed using the propulsion systems of the satellites to place the satellites into final orbit.

A constellation planning system receives a request, from a client, to plan an optimal set of tasks for one or more satellites in a constellation of satellites and at least one ground station in a constellation of ground stations. The request includes a planning problem object. The system generates a status of the planning task describing a progress of the planning task, and returns the status to the client. If the status of a task is successful, then the client may retrieve the resulting schedule and publish it to the constellation.

A satellite system includes a satellite in an orbit that is configured to reduce a number of exclusion regions and improve the observation coverage of resident space objects (RSOs) positioned in near Earth orbits. The satellite system includes at least one satellite positioned in a sun synchronous orbit (SSO) with a noon/midnight nodal crossing. The altitude of the SSO is between 1000 and 2000 kilometers and the satellite includes at least one sensor arranged on the satellite that is configured for detection, tracking, and/or identification. Using the noon/midnight nodal crossing is advantageous in that three main exclusion regions, the sun, eclipse, and Earth exclusion regions, are combined into only two exclusion regions for improved performance of the satellite system in observing RSOs.

Provided herein is a modulating retroreflective multilayer film comprising retroreflective elements, a piezoelectric layer, a photovoltaic layer, and an energy storage device. The stacked and transparent layered configuration of the film allows the retroreflective elements and the photovoltaic layer to be simultaneously illuminated by a narrow beam. The low power piezoelectric layer and the energy harvesting of the photovoltaic layer allow the retroreflector to be energetically self-sufficient and suitable for remote deployment. The flexible properties of the component layers allow the retroreflector to be adhered to nonplanar or irregular surfaces for the purpose of labeling and tagging.

A satellite includes a plurality of thrusters disposed about the satellite, each of the plurality of thrusters having a minimum thruster firing time, and a control circuit connected to the plurality of thrusters. The control circuit is configured to identify violations of the minimum thruster firing time in a non-compliant thruster firing pattern selected to achieve a specified movement, generate a plurality of compliant thruster firing patterns by replacing each of the violations of the non-compliant thruster firing pattern by zero and a minimum time in different combinations, select a compliant thruster firing pattern from the plurality of compliant thruster firing patterns to produce a satellite movement that is within a predetermined range of the specified movement, and cause the plurality of thrusters to fire according to the compliant thruster firing pattern.

The present disclosure provides a satellite control method and apparatus, comprising: receiving a to-be-photographed target site input by a user; calculating first moment information corresponding to each satellite entering the target site, according to location information of the target site and operation orbit information of the each satellite in a plurality of satellites; and determining, from the plurality of satellites, at least one to-execute satellite to photograph the target site according to the first moment information corresponding to the each satellite entering the target site.

A constellation of satellites and associated methods for Earth Observation are disclosed. One method includes transmitting a set of at least four signals towards the Earth using a constellation of at least four satellites and receiving a set of at least four reflected signals from the Earth using the constellation. The method also includes analyzing, using a set of at least four signal analyzers, the set of at least four signals to generate a set of data. Each satellite in the constellation individually houses a signal analyzer in the set of at least four signal analyzers. The method also includes deriving the set of Earth observations using the set of data. Each satellite receives a signal in the set of at least four signals from every other satellite in the constellation.

Systems and methods are provided for calculating satellite access windows for a constellation of imaging satellites. In some implementations, systems and methods are provided for managing execution of native programs on high performance computing systems.

There is provided a satellite network for data communication, the network comprising a plurality of satellites arranged in medium Earth orbit (MEO) in a plurality of orbital planes such that a plurality of satellites are provided in each orbital plane, each satellite being operable to communicate with at least one terrestrial user terminal and comprising at least one communications antenna operable to generate a spot beam on a predetermined selected terrestrial region to enable said one or more terrestrial user terminals to receive and/or send data via the spot beam. The plurality of satellites is arranged such that the spot beams of at least two satellites are operable to cover the same terrestrial region at any one time.

Systems and methods for configuring, packaging, and deploying spacecraft are provided. More particularly, spacecraft are configured with statically mounted instruments. An end of the spacecraft to which the instruments are mounted is relatively distant from a spacecraft bus, and has a narrow width relative to the spacecraft bus. During launch multiple overlapping and interleaved spacecraft are disposed radially about a longitudinal axis of the launch vehicle.