Study on an air-launched constellation of tactical micro-satellites for defence use

The study proposed in this paper matches scientic interests with Italian Air Force (ItAF) operational needs on air-launched microsatellites. The great attention on air-launched microsatellites is due on one hand to the possibilities given by the miniaturization push, making the same performances of traditional satellites achievable with smaller systems, and on the other hand to the disruptive advantages allowed by air-launch techniques, providing Italy not only with an autonomous launch capability, but also with the possibility to choose any orbital inclination and launch time, enabling a responsive approach with higher flexibility respect to ground based launches. In this study, several issues related to this subject are analyzed. A constellation of four microsatellites for electro-optical Earth Observation (EO) is conceived, namely ITAFSAT (i.e. Italian TActical Formation of -SATellites). ITAFSAT is designed to achieve a sub-metric spatial resolution and to oer a high revisit frequency on a specied target area to satisfy military needs. ITAFSAT is designed to be responsive and the system is conceived to guarantee a fast access to space since the mission is called, through a Plug-and-Play (PnP) approach; to provide Italy with a proprietary system, built, launched and operated on-purpose for its contingent needs; and to complete the information supplied by other EO systems with high quality images captured in a very short time.