Smaller Military Communication Satellites Offer Advantages

The U.S. Defense Department could benefit from building smaller but more numerous military communication satellites, said a director from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratories. Dr. Scott Sadler, head of communication systems and cyber security at the MIT labs, outlined several reasons why building a constellation of several medium-size satellites would be better than building few large orbiters. While large satellites would be more cost-effective in terms of on-orbit weight, medium-size satellites would cost less than their bigger counterparts, which would make the program less subject to budget-driven cancellation. Contracting for a number of medium-size satellites also would increase competition and reduce the cost of launch failure. Sadler pointed out that simply launching the equivalent in medium satellites would lead to quicker on-orbit access, but ultimately the constellation would deliver 33 percent less capability than a constellation of large satellites. However, if incremental advances are incorporated into the medium-size satellites throughout the program, then their final capability would match that of their larger brethren-and at less cost.