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"Omega tau" made a really nice podcast a while ago about how Planet Labs is approaching Earth observation. That podcast goes into the details how the company an

"Omega tau" made a really nice podcast a while ago about how Planet Labs is approaching Earth observation. That podcast goes into the details how the company and the satellite constellation came to be and what novel approaches they're using. Definitely worth listening: http://omegataupodcast.net/204-earth-observation-at-planet-labs/ http://omegataupodcast.net/204-earth-observation-at-planet-l...

azernik 7y ago
This is fascinating - especially the talks about the advantages of using COTS electronics. Once upon a time, the latest and greatest in electronics was produced by military, scientific, and spaceflight applications, with commercial uses being spinoffs that were often up to a decade behind. Now the situation is reversed; consumer electronics are where the innovation is happening, and military/space systems are finding ways to repurpose that technology.
- kartikkumar 7y ago
  There's actually strong synergy. There's a lot of spin-in and spin-out going on between space and non-space sectors. COTS and general commodization of "discete units" (parts, subsystems, assemblies, etc.) is one of the biggest drivers for the commercialization of space. It's enabling people to move towards the use of advanced manufacturing techniques, cutting lead time and cost, and enabling batch production. We recently published an article on how manufacturing lines are changing in the space industry, inspired by best practices in mature commercial sectors like the auto industry: https://blog.satsearch.co/2019-08-08-demystifying-auto-industry-inspired-assembly-lines-in-the-space-industry.html https://blog.satsearch.co/2019-08-08-demystifying-auto-indus... We see a lot of this happening through our website: https://satsearch.co https://satsearch.co. We're effectively building a B2B marketplace because of this specific change in the way supply chains are being architected. Disclosure: I'm one of the co-founders at satsearch.
- branchan 7y ago
  I think this is only true for small LEO spacecrafts that are more or less 'disposable'. For higher cost GEO and interplanetary spacecraft, consumer electronics are not going to be hardened sufficiently and flight-proven to be used in those applications.
  - azernik 7y ago
    Isn't really about those being higher cost - as the Planet people say, their approach is only possible because they're working inside Earth's magnetosphere.
    - branchan 7y ago
      They also mentioned that they can afford to have satellites fail since they are cheaper and sending up so many. Also won't be possible with one-off GEO birds.

azernik 7y ago

This is fascinating - especially the talks about the advantages of using COTS electronics. Once upon a time, the latest and greatest in electronics was produced by military, scientific, and spaceflight applications, with commercial uses being spinoffs that were often up to a decade behind. Now the situation is reversed; consumer electronics are where the innovation is happening, and military/space systems are finding ways to repurpose that technology.

kartikkumar 7y ago
There's actually strong synergy. There's a lot of spin-in and spin-out going on between space and non-space sectors. COTS and general commodization of "discete units" (parts, subsystems, assemblies, etc.) is one of the biggest drivers for the commercialization of space. It's enabling people to move towards the use of advanced manufacturing techniques, cutting lead time and cost, and enabling batch production. We recently published an article on how manufacturing lines are changing in the space industry, inspired by best practices in mature commercial sectors like the auto industry: https://blog.satsearch.co/2019-08-08-demystifying-auto-industry-inspired-assembly-lines-in-the-space-industry.html https://blog.satsearch.co/2019-08-08-demystifying-auto-indus... We see a lot of this happening through our website: https://satsearch.co https://satsearch.co. We're effectively building a B2B marketplace because of this specific change in the way supply chains are being architected. Disclosure: I'm one of the co-founders at satsearch.
branchan 7y ago
I think this is only true for small LEO spacecrafts that are more or less 'disposable'. For higher cost GEO and interplanetary spacecraft, consumer electronics are not going to be hardened sufficiently and flight-proven to be used in those applications.
- azernik 7y ago
  Isn't really about those being higher cost - as the Planet people say, their approach is only possible because they're working inside Earth's magnetosphere.
  - branchan 7y ago
    They also mentioned that they can afford to have satellites fail since they are cheaper and sending up so many. Also won't be possible with one-off GEO birds.