27 March 2008

Neat Tech: Satellite Swarms

Basically, as opposed to launching one big satellite, like the one that the navy had to shoot down, you launch fractionated satellites, basically a cluster that orbit close to one another, and together provide the capabilities of a single larger satellite.

It means that a launch or satellite failure won't remove the capability, though it may reduce performance somewhat.

The program is from DARPA, and it's called "System F6" (future, flexible, fast, fractionated, free-flying spacecraft united by information exchange).

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