Small satellites have been a key enabler for new space missions and proliferated architectures that are being developed in response to the driving demands of commercial markets and government equities. The scale and complexity of these missions push the limits of classical command and control, while requirements for increased knowledge product timeliness drive innovative approaches to data delivery.

To provide these operational capabilities with confidence, a host of new mission operations approaches, and integrated onboard autonomy are under development. They will enable information delivery and knowledge exchange without the historical delays associated with terrestrial relays, human-in-the-loop decision making, and ground-based processing. Instead, they will integrate new elements using AI/ML, secure mesh networking, and more sophisticated onboard processing to deliver knowledge products to users at the speed of light.

The 35th Annual Small Satellite Conference will explore the realm of the possible in new space mission operations and autonomy enablers that will drive the speed of information exchange.