Swarms of femto-satellites in LEO and GEO have many potentials for NASA applications. Swarms of femto-satellites could provide global real-time space weather monitoring in a way that is presently not possible from a single satellite. A swarm of satellites in orbit can provide a survey of the geomagnetic field and its temporal evolution, and gain new insights into improving our knowledge of the Earth's interior and climate. This will be a great improvement on the current method of extrapolation based on statistics and ground observations. Other applications of femto-sat swarms could be on-orbit visual inspection of larger spacecraft to provide rapid feedback capability for decision making, and protection of large satellites of critical importance.
Due to having lower costs of development and launch, commercial applications of femto-sat swarms such as remote sensing, on-orbit service, and sparse aperture imaging are viable. Femto-sat swarms can be used for rapid communication and imaging tasks to provide situational awareness solutions needed by Department of Defense, National Reconnaissance Office, and Department of Homeland Security. New commercial space applications can be realized as a result of having low-cost and rapid access to space.
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