NASA has published a new iteration of its Small Spacecraft Technology State-of-the-Art report, a document published annually to track the evolution of small spacecraft technologies based on publicly available information. The 2024 edition of the report features changes in several chapters to include new technologies and use cases, the space agency said Friday.
Update on the UAS Sector
The Small Spacecraft Technology State-of-the-art report was published by the Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute based on information from NASA and other sources. NASA has been publishing the report annually since 2013. The inaugural report identified 247 CubeSats and 105 other small spacecraft weighing 50 kilograms that are not CubeSats.
The current edition of the report lists down dozens of companies from around the world that manufacture CubeSats; PocketQubes or spacecraft that measure about 5 centimeters; and Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter-class, or ESPA-class, space buses. According to NASA, CubeSats and small satellites are likely to continue growing in popularity, with multi-manifest launches enabling organizations to deploy large numbers of spacecraft to orbit.
The report also has additional sections to better reflect the state of development of smallsat technologies. For instance, NASA introduced a section on Formation Flying and Rendezvous and Proximity Operations under the Guidance, Navigation and Control chapter and the Additive Manufacturing section within the Structures, Materials, and Mechanisms chapter. The space agency also added Free Space Optical Communications section to the communications chapter.
NASA warned that the report is not an endorsement of the technologies mentioned nor an exhaustive list of all the small spacecraft available in the market today. The public is welcome to submit corrections or suggestions before the publication of the 2025 report in August.
