Nebula Public Library

Persistent Responsive Real-Time Earth Observation small satellite constellation mission (PERTEO) was a study dedicated to providing a global democratic service to support disaster management. Earth observation and satellite-based communications play a key role in supporting disaster management targeting responsiveness and the persistence of the service. In the terminology of on-demand Copernicus services, responsiveness is determined by the lead-time and latency. The persistence is determined by the availability and by the revisit time of the service.

This activity investigates how mega-constellations can be used to provide low-Earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft with broadband low-latency services, a novel Concept with potential to disrupt spacecraft design, operation, and performance by allowing spacecraft to access mega-constellations’ enormous resources (Tbit/s throughputs) and global coverage at a lower cost than traditional data relay systems and ground station networks (two to fifty times cheaper, that is, a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per month for a daily net capacity from hundredths of Gbit up to almost ten Tbit).