GB-Newcastle Upon Tyne: T21/0009 CubeSat Hardware and Services

The space communications sector is currently booming with the emergence of low cost, short-turnaround and high production rate satellites, such as CubeSats, small-sats and low earth orbit (LEO) constellations. Here we explicitly refer to the CubeSat technology although much of what we propose could be applied to all forms of small-satellite platforms. One significant drawback for CubeSats is that they are not currently applicable for data intensive applications, spanning from commercial telecommunications to remote sensing science missions (Earth observation, solar/terrestrial and astrophysics). We are seeking a supplier who can provide us with expert knowledge of the thermal and mechanical environment of CubeSats in low Earth polar Sun-synchronous orbits, as well as the listed 3U CubeSat hardware, so that we can incorporate and lab demonstrate (TRL-7) a prototype system for 1 Gbps FSO-based CubeSat-to-CubeSat (C2C) communications.