Today's Rabbit Hole: Space Superiority & Small Satellites

• Why: The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies came out with a policy paper on small satellites (SmallSats) and how they’re vital to maintaining “Space Superiority”- which is both my dating strategy (kidding) and also, according to the Mitchell Institute, vital to combat U.S. adversaries and uphold American resilience and safety.
• The official definition of Space Superiority: "The ability to operate in space to achieve strategic and operational effects while denying similar use by adversaries.”
• Their answer: Smallsats.
• What are SmallSats: Small satellites - typically weighing less than 1,200 kg.
• What’s being advocated for: The report is requesting “Space Force, Congress, and the industrial base … adjust old paradigms built around large, legacy space systems with long and costly development timelines and move toward a hybrid approach that includes both SmallSats and large, exquisite satellite systems that balance mission requirements, resilience, and the ability to operate in a contested space domain.”
• Why SmallSats: Aside from sounding absolutely adorable (am I the only one imagining a small puppy learning the sit command for the first time?), they’re also great - and have been able to generate significant traction in recent years from commercial and military applications - due to their lower cost, faster production times, and ability to be rapidly launched and deployed in large quantities. Commercial players - e.g., SpaceX and Planet -have demonstrated the power of large constellations of small satellites for various applications, from global internet coverage to Earth observation.

The VC POV: Let’s think about what’s necessary to actually make this shift and realize this objective, and in turn where the VC-backable opportunities might be here.

→ Solutions that support this mass production. This is the area I'm leaning into the most right now because of the gaps we're seeing in potential scalability and demand, and current production capacity. That is, the production rates for SmallSats can be on the scale of hundreds or thousands of space vehicles rather than the traditional increments of <12. However, to unlock mass production of SmallSats, we need to address supply chain issues - e.g., shortage of suppliers that can accommodate production of smaller/cheaper spacecrafts, and high costs and limited availability of critical parts, raw materials, and semiconductors.

→ Solutions that support efficient and reliable SmallSat management. This means tech that improves on-orbit processing, security, autonomy, power, thermal management, and reliable communications capable of handling larger data sets. *Particularly technology can speed up communication between satellites, ensuring optimal data-gathering, transmission uptimes, and resiliency in the event one satellite in a constellation goes down.

→ Solutions that support reliable propulsion technology - which is necessary for agility and maneuverability. *Particularly important as the amount of satellites - and debris - in space increases.

→ Solutions that support better cooperation between satellites - including improvements in guidance, navigation, and control systems, which are needed for formation flying, inspection, and servicing missions.