Swarm Sats that identify and track hazardous and lethal material from CBRN events and other catastrophes

Arnold Kravitz
INNOVIM Defense Services, Florida, United States

Keywords: Cube, Swarm, Sattelite, Hyperspectral, Weather

Swarm Sats made up of modular low cost imaging and spectrometric cube Sats flying in highly elliptical orbits can provide rapid reaction Single band and Hyper-spectral imaging surveillance of hazard and lethal threats in restricted areas for periods ranging from 2 weeks to over a month. The tactical nature of the system allows its use as a rapid replacement for satellites that have been damaged or destroyed in a conflict. These swarms are formed from a pattern of independently operating cube SATs launched from a post boost vehicle that form a scanning line array. Each cube sat is either an imaging camera, spectrometer, hyperspectral camera, or any combination. As an example a wide FOV imaging camera can be placed in the center of a line of narrow FOV spectrometers to provide an image with spectrometer readings. A Deployment Canister or Post boost vehicle (PBV) with sufficient cube sats allows for the swarm to be refreshed to allow for limited battery life and cube mortality. PBV's allow for continuous coverage of a target by spacing the PBVs along the same highly elliptical orbit, and simultaneously using multiple swarms. Example, 24 PBVs would provide hourly coverage of a target