• Question: How big is a small satellite?

    Asked by lone shadow to James on 6 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: James Harpur

      James Harpur answered on 6 Mar 2017:


      Hi Rebal,

      If a satellite has a mass below 180 kg, then it is classified as a small satellite but the majority of small satellites are much lighter than that. We focus mainly on 50 kg satellites.

      Small satellites are very popular because they’re much cheaper to make and easier to get them launched. One company called PlanetLabs were even able to launch 104 small satellites off one rocket launch. They aim to image the entire Earth once a day, so they can be very useful.

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