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About RLS-Small Satellites
A paradigm shift is emerging in spacecraft engineering from single, large, and multifunctional satellites towards cooperating groups of small satellites, forming a sensor network in orbit. This will enable innovative approaches in areas like earth observation, science exploration or telecommunication. Modern miniaturization techniques allow realization of satellites with continuously smaller masses, thus enabling cost-efficient implementation of distributed multi-satellite systems. Currently, state-of-the-art research in the field of small satellites involves formations of only two satellites.
Visit the RLS-Small Satellites website here.
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The Project:
''Lightweight, Strong Impact: Small Satellites for Telecommunication and Earth Observation''
At present, ‘‘state of the art‘‘ in small satellites research is a formation of only two satellites. Using expertise available in satellite research, space communication (navigation, guidance, control), miniaturization, and mechatronics, the RLS research group will work on an empowered model of eleven of pico-satellites in orbit, and deliver new applications in telecommunication and Earth observation.
The scientific challenge behind this evolution is twofold:
• Bringing into orbit a formation of networked, cooperating, “smart” small satellites, operating autonomously with minimum ground station interaction;
• Developing modular, robust small satellites
In order to control the formation, the RLS-Small Satellites project will develop three essential subsystems: an altitude and orbit determination and control system, a communications system capable of inter-satellite communication and satellite-to-ground communication, and electrical propulsion for orbit control and maintaining formation.
The main objective is to promote technology leadership through multilateral cooperation in the field of very small satellites. Each of the RLS regions have the necessary expertise: they are either contributing a full satellite, key components, launch support, or combinations of each. The cooperation will maintain research and training excellence in the RLS network, and provide a regional advantage in the increasingly competitive arena of international science and innovation around small satellites. In the medium-term, the RLS regions can help to bring a new regional technology into market for innovative 3-D Earth observation and telecommunication (internet in space). In the long-term, this project will have a symbolic dimension, showing that cooperation on the ground can lead to technological achievements in space.
Since 2016, the RLS-Small Satellites group has more than doubled the number of satellites contributed to the project. From an initial proposal of 4 or 5, the project partners are currently working on developing and constructing 11 small satellites. The engagement of the project partners across the levels of the RLS network have been key in contributing to this great success, with the political, scientific, and administrative levels working in close concert to find solutions that enable such commitments. Lauch support has also been confirmed, with a date of 2019 planned. The project launched its own website in 2016. In 2017, in association with several project partners, the Julius-Maximilians University of Würzburg launched a Master of Satellite Technology. The project was also submitted as a conference paper at the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2017), Beijing, China in mid 2017.
The scientific challenge behind this evolution is twofold:
• Bringing into orbit a formation of networked, cooperating, “smart” small satellites, operating autonomously with minimum ground station interaction;
• Developing modular, robust small satellites
In order to control the formation, the RLS-Small Satellites project will develop three essential subsystems: an altitude and orbit determination and control system, a communications system capable of inter-satellite communication and satellite-to-ground communication, and electrical propulsion for orbit control and maintaining formation.
The main objective is to promote technology leadership through multilateral cooperation in the field of very small satellites. Each of the RLS regions have the necessary expertise: they are either contributing a full satellite, key components, launch support, or combinations of each. The cooperation will maintain research and training excellence in the RLS network, and provide a regional advantage in the increasingly competitive arena of international science and innovation around small satellites. In the medium-term, the RLS regions can help to bring a new regional technology into market for innovative 3-D Earth observation and telecommunication (internet in space). In the long-term, this project will have a symbolic dimension, showing that cooperation on the ground can lead to technological achievements in space.
Since 2016, the RLS-Small Satellites group has more than doubled the number of satellites contributed to the project. From an initial proposal of 4 or 5, the project partners are currently working on developing and constructing 11 small satellites. The engagement of the project partners across the levels of the RLS network have been key in contributing to this great success, with the political, scientific, and administrative levels working in close concert to find solutions that enable such commitments. Lauch support has also been confirmed, with a date of 2019 planned. The project launched its own website in 2016. In 2017, in association with several project partners, the Julius-Maximilians University of Würzburg launched a Master of Satellite Technology. The project was also submitted as a conference paper at the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2017), Beijing, China in mid 2017.
The Partners
The lead partner for the project is Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling (Institut für Robotik und Telematik, Universität Würzburg and the Zentrum für Telematik e.V.) in Bavaria.
Other partners include (listed alphabetically by region):
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Airbus EADS (Bavaria)
DLR (Bavaria) Fraunhofer Institutes (Bavaria) Friedrich-Alexander Erlangen Universität (Bavaria) IABG (Bavaria) Technische Universität München (Bavaria) Georgia Institute of Technology Center for Space Systems (Georgia) Click on any partner's logo to learn more. |
Concordia University/Université Concordia (Québec)
Polytechnique Montréal (Québec) The National Institute for Space Research (São Paulo) China Academy of Space Technology: Shandong Institute of Aerospace Electronics (Shandong) Johannes Kepler Universität Linz (Upper Austria) Cape Peninsula University of Technology (Western Cape) Stellenbosch University (Western Cape) |
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News and Updates
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Celebration for small satellites success with ERC Synergy Grant for CloudCT
On 1 March, 2019, representatives from academia, government, and industry gathered in Munich to celebrate Prof. Klaus Schilling (Zentrum für Telematik), Prof. Ilan Koren (Weizmann Institute, Rehovot), and Prof. Yoav Schechner’s (Technion, Haifa) European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant for their interdisciplinary project, ‘’CloudCT’’. Over 70 guests attended the celebration at the invitation of the Scientific Coordination Office (WKS) and the Bavarian Research Alliance.
CloudCT builds upon longstanding small satellites research programme Prof. Schiling conducts in Würzburg with the ‘’UWE’’ and ‘’NetSat’’ series, as well as the international experience within the multilateral RLS-Small Satellites project with the ‘’TIM’’ series. Now in CloudCT, the principal investigators and their teams will capture unique data about clouds through advanced computer tomography using a formation of ten small satellites. The aim is to improve climate modelling. The celebration began with a video message from Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President of the European Research Council. Then, Judith Gerlach, Bavarian Minister for Digitalisation, spoke about the linkages between digitalisation and future technologies such as pico-satellites. Guests then treated heard a short history of research cooperation between Israel and Germany from Sandra Simovich, Consul General of the State of Israel in Munich. The keynote address was given by Prof. Dr. Gerhard Sextl, who provided guests enlightening and humourous insights into the career and successes of Prof. Schilling, as well as Prof. Koren and Prof. Schechner. The researchers themselves then jointly presented their project, giving guests an opportunity to understand the need for an interdisciplinary approach and how each field will advance through this research. |
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Student team led by Prof. Brian Gunter launches first Georgia Tech cube satellites
On 3 December, 2018, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rock successfully launched with a payload that included two Georgia Tech R.A.N.G.E. (Ranging and Nanosatellite Guidance Experiment) cube satellites. This marks the first time Georgia Tech satellites have successfully made it to space. The two satellites are now orbiting the Earth in a leader-follower formation. An autonomous system will collect the satellites’ data as they pass over Georgia Tech each day. The two satellites have no on-board propulsion, so they will use differential-drag techniques to maintain the formation, for which Prof. Gunter says there is very little experimental data in academic literature. Further, the satellites will explore relative navigation and autonomous maneuvering.
Read more here. |
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Zentrum für Telematik wins prestigious ERC Synergy GrantThe interdisciplinary German-Israeli project "CloudCT", with Prof. Klaus Schilling, has won a European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant, endowed with a maximum funding of €14 million. A formation of 10 microsatellites will record the composition of clouds using computer tomography methods. It is important that about 10 satellites simultaneously capture the target area from different directions in order to generate a corresponding 3D image. This will provide atmospheric physicists with data to improve cloud modelling and improve climate predictions. An error of about 1% in cloud properties contributes to deviations in climate predictions at about the same order of magnitude as all greenhouse gases from human activities.
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RLS-Small Satellites at the 9th RLS Conference
On Friday, 18 May, 2018 , Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling presented the RLS-Small Satellites project to the Regional Leaders Summit Conference at the Château Frontenac in Québec. This was part of the RLS-Sciences presentation segment of the conference. The presentation offered insights into the updated design of the satellites, as well as potential new applications and the progress of the project since 2016.
Review the RLS-Small Stellites presentation here. Review the detailed publication references here. |
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RLS-Small Satellites Project Meeting in Québec
The RLS-Small Satellites project has been progressing towards a launch date, and the project meeting in Québec allowed the project partners a key opportunity to come together to determine the precise status of the individual satellites, the components, and the support. The project has now progressed to the stage of discussing further potential applications for the satellites following launch, which represents an important opportunity across all seven RLS regions.
A highlight of the RLS-Small Satellites activities was the inclusion of a scale-model of the TIM satellite, which project leader Prof. Schilling brought to a number of events. This allowed participants from all levels of RLS to gain a better understanding of the satellites, including the proportions, which are a critical component of the project. Review the meeting overview presentation from Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling here. Review the detailed publication references here. Review the presentation from project partners in Shandong here. To learn more about the project, visit the RLS-Small Satellites website here. |
Previous Events
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New degree programme “Satellite Technology” at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Bavaria
The new degree programme “Satellite Technology – Advanced Space Systems” will start in winter 2018 at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Bavaria. Focused on small satellites, telecommunication, earth observation, and digitalisation, this programme will expand the well-established programme “Erasmus Mundus Master Course in Space Science and Technology – SpaceMaster”. Special lectures and excursions will be organised by different partners in Bavaria, like Zentrum für Telematik, TUM, University of the Bundeswehr, and DLR. Professor Dr Klaus Schilling is chair of the new programme.
Read more here. |
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Zentrum für Telematik wins INNOSpace Master Competition 2017On 18 May, 2017, the Zentrum für Telematik e.V. (ZfT) was announced as the winner of the INNOSpace Master Competition Airbus Defence and Space Challenge 2017. This year, the INNOSpace Master Competition theme was: "Space 4.0: Ideas for the next space generation". The ZfT proposal to use advanced manufacturing methods in the production of satellites for advanced space applications ranked first out of 66 proposals submitted. According to Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling, CEO of ZfT, the application of advanced manufacturing methods is more important now that greater numbers of small satellites will be in demand. The proposal includes joint human-robot processes in manufacturing, and seeks to decrease both production costs and innovation cycle implementation times. Zentrum für Telematik e.V. is the lead partner in the RLS-Small Satellites project.
Further information about the proposal from Zentrum für Telematik e.V. can be found here. (German only) Visit the Zentrum für Telematik e.V. website here. Learn more about the InnoSpace Masters Competition here. |
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Support from Western Cape for TIM consolidatedDuring the visit of the Bavarian delegation of Minister of Economics Ilse Aigner to South Africa, a small satellite symposium was held at CPUT in Capetown. It focused on the joint “Telematics International Mission (TIM)” addressing a pico-satellite formation for Earth observation with applications in agriculture, in volcano and in marine monitoring. The presentation took place on 12 April, 2017.
Learn more about TIM here. Photo: Prof. Herman Steyn (Stellenbosch University) explains the South African pico-satellites to Minister Ilse Aigner and Prof. Klaus Schilling (Source: RLS-Small Satellites, 2017) |
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RLS-Small Satellites Project Meeting at Zentrum für TelematikThe RLS-Small Satellites group met from 24 March to 25 March at the Zentrum für Telematik in Würzburg, Bavaria. Updates from each RLS region were provided. The group discussed the specifics of a series of key aspects for the project over the two days, and set out the next steps to move forward. With the success of this meeting, the group continues to move towards launch.
To learn more about the project, please visit the RLS-Small Satellites website here. |
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RLS-Small Satellites Kick Off Meeting
On Friday, 15th July, 2016, partners from across the RLS regions met for a kick-off meeting of the RLS-Small Satellites project. The consortium features members from all seven RLS regions, and the meeting resulted in fruitful discussions and a plan for the next steps of the project.
For further information on the RLS-Small Satellites project, please visit the RLS-Small Satellites website. 
The RLS-Small Satellites group at the 8th RLS Conference in Munich, 2016. (Photo courtesy of RLS-Small Satellites).
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RLS-Small Satellites presented at the 8th RLS ConferenceOn Friday, 15 July, 2016 , Prof. Klaus Schilling, Bavarian coordinator of the RLS-Small Satellites project, presented the project to the Regional Leaders Summit Conference at the Residenz in Munich. This was part of the RLS-Sciences presentation segment of the conference. Bavarian State Secretary for the Ministry of Economy and Media, Energy and Technology, Franz Josef Pschierer gave the welcoming address. Québec Minister for Economy, Science and Innovation and Minister Responsible for the Digital Strategy Dominique Anglade gave the closing remarks.
Review the RLS-Small Satellites presentation here. |
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Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling presents the RLS-Small Satellites project to the heads of government at the 8th RLS Conference
On 14th July, 2016, Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling presented the concept for the RLS-Small Satellites project to the seven heads of government from each RLS region, as well the the political delegations, the press, and selected RLS-Science researchers. The presentation described the possibilities for cooperation between all seven regions in the field of pico-satellites, and illustrated the possible uses of such an integrated network. The project seeks to develop an intelligent formation of pico-satellites in orbit for applications in Earth-observation and telecommunication. For further information on the project, please visit the RLS-Small Satellites website.
Review the RLS-Small Satellites presentation here. |
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3rd International African CubeSat Workshop 2016
The 3rd International African CubeSat Workshop 2016 was successfully held in Cape Town, South Africa from 24 to 26 February, 2016. Hosted by the French South African Institute of Technology at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the event was also supported by Stellenbosch University. The 3rd IACW focused on relevant topics such as Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, Value Proposition and Business Opportunities, Human Capacity Development, Applications for Sustainability and Prosperity, STEM Education and Awareness, and Space Governance and Policies.
Read more here. |
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Small satellite research featured on German national news, ZDF
Research from the Institut für Robotik und Telematik (Institute for Robotics and Telematics) at the Universität Würzburg was featured during a segment on the German national television channel ZDF. Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling was interviewed about the potential of small satellites for internet in space.
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