Survey of worldwide pico- and nanosatellite missions, distributions and subsystem technology

This paper provides the results of a global survey of publicly known pico- and nanosatellite projects. The standard of CubeSats has boosted the development of nanosatellites by the end of the twentieth century and the total amount of projects has grown to about a hundred projects worldwide until August 2009. Pico- and nanosatellites can in general be distinguished from satellites with bigger mass ranges by their relatively short development time, low cost and usage of the latest technologies. To obtain a better understanding of the current technology level and applications of nanosatellites and to spot trends in the global development and growth of such projects, a survey is performed including almost all launched pico- and nanosatellites. A key finding is that most subsystem technologies used are rather advanced, except for the attitude control systems and performance characteristics of subsystems that depend on attitude control. Education and technology demonstration remain the most dominant mission objectives, although some scientific experiments have already been conducted.