Proceedings Article | 7 June 2024
KEYWORDS: Satellites, Environmental monitoring, Sustainability, Cameras, Agriculture, Data acquisition, Satellite imaging, Earth observing sensors, Remote sensing, Land cover
The Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) is developing an Earth observation mission called Sharjah-Sat-2, a 6-U CubeSat with a high-resolution hyperspectral camera and 5 meters Ground Sampling Distance (GSD). The mission's main goal is to deliver reliable information for applications in remote sensing and sustainable urban development projects. Frequently, a group of satellites working together, rather than one satellite, are needed for space missions. Thus, implementing a satellite constellation is essential to enhance the reliability and latency of the collected data. Several factors influence the selection of the number of satellites, so a constellation of tens, hundreds, or even thousands of satellites can be implemented depending on the type and requirements of the mission. Few satellites are needed for educational and scientific missions, while for commercial purposes, hundreds would not be enough. By varying the number of satellites in the constellation (4, 8, and 12 satellites), three different CubeSat constellation scenarios were simulated using Systems Tool Kit (STK) software designating Sharjah-Sat-2 as the reference satellite in the constellation. This paper focused on the STK simulation analysis, emphasizing how crucial constellation configurations play in optimizing Earth observation mission performance, including the pass frequency, area coverage, revisit time, and image latency. In summary, the results show that larger constellations offer greater coverage, more frequent visits to the targeted area, and greater imaging potential.
