How to Reduce Spacecraft Development Time

The New Space industry is booming, experiencing a rapid and sustained growth like never before. Small satellites and CubeSats in particular  have made space a lot more accessible for a large number of companies, that perhaps wouldn’t have launched otherwise – particularly SMEs and start-ups. But these smaller and more capable satellites that are being launched in higher volumes and at lower cost also make the sector a highly competitive environment. Rapid development is in constant demand and the current expectation can only be a few months!

In the article we will look at how flight software – the “glue” that holds the entire system together – can help speed up and simplify mission development and reduce time to market, getting the spacecraft operational faster than the competition.

What’s the rush?

One key challenge of most small satellite missions is the project schedule, which is often tight, meaning that flight software needs to be available early in the development process and must be made available quickly. To make matters worse, the hardware for the mission may also be in development at the same time and unavailable for software testing until later in the project. The challenge that mission engineers face is to quickly create a simple enough flight software package which covers very unique and complex space mission requirements.

What is flight software so important?

Flight software is “the heart” of any satellite, it is responsible for implementing or coordinating the key operational functions of the spacecraft. With the rapid commercialisation of space and within CubeSat missions in particular, flight software is becoming increasingly complex with more functionality moved out of hardware into software, which gives developers more flexibility by allowing the use of more off-the-shelf components.

The spacecraft flight software becomes the “glue” that is holding everything together. And getting it right from the start is the key to a quick satellite launch.

Can flight software be off-the-shelf?

Wide use of off-the-shelf components for electronics and subsystems is one of the key principles of CubeSat mission development. This is how CubeSat missions are able to achieve rapid development of complex yet reliable spacecraft at relatively low cost and within strict timescales. But since every satellite is unique, with its distinct goals and mission objectives, it is hard to develop a flight software package that can fit all mission – no matter how big or small, or what they are trying to achieve.

On the other hand, developing custom flight and ground software from scratch often comes with prohibitively high costs and lengthy development times.

The answer to this challenge can be modular software, that is based on readily-available and standardised units of reuse (components) and can be quickly and easily adapted to any mission. This off-the-shelf approach to flight software makes CubeSat mission development significantly faster and simpler.

Can off-the-shelf software work for unique missions?

The diversity of space applications developed in recent years makes every mission unique, with its unique payload and unique flight software package. It’s not unreasonable to expect that unique missions call for bespoke solutions.

Not necessarily. Whilst every CubeSat mission is indeed different, most spacecraft perform a number of similar tasks, such as data acquisition, monitoring, logging, etc. Our products come with a pre-verified component library that allows to quickly cover this basic flight software functionality, so that the main engineering effort is concentrated on the unique parts of the mission, significantly reducing development time.

What’s more, we know that requirements can change as missions grow and develop. And that’s where the off-the-shelf and modular approach really excel – the platform allows to quickly and easily integrate any additional components or replace existing ones in response to the change of capability requirements. This means that the change can be very quick and very simple, so there is no need to re-design the entire system from scratch.

Does it make flight software reliable?

Despite the current boom in the global CubeSat market, one fact is often true: lower costs and fast mission development may increase the risk of failures. And once the spacecraft is in orbit – your options to fix or repair the mission are limited. And that’s where our off-the-shelf flight software has another significant advantage over bespoke solutions. Not only are all the library components rigorously tested and pre-verified, our technology comes with impressive flight heritage and over 50 spacecraft in orbit to minimise customer risks.

To find out more, take a look at our case studies and our impressive list of launched missions.  

Learn more: Book a Demo

We’ve been evolving our technology over the past 12 years through extensive development work. During this time, our software has powered more than 50 spacecraft in orbit, helping them to maximise their mission potential. 

This ongoing development forms the foundation for our ground-breaking HELIX suite of products,  designed to join up various software systems within a mission’s infrastructure. HELIX connects the entire mission lifecycle, from upstream mission development to downstream insights and applications, delivered through space-based services.

Contact us today to see our products in action and arrange a one-to-one demo of our software, tailored to your unique mission needs and requirements.