Sumbandilasat—An operational technology demonstrator

Technology advances in sensor, digital technology and a standardised modular satellite bus are enabling a new generation of 80 kg micro-satellites with a better than 6.5 m GSD multi-spectral performance, to be specified, built and deployed with a dedicated launch within 12 months. The result of the standardised modular bus is lower cost, higher reliability and fast deployment. Operational remote sensing with a micro-satellite is thus within reach of individual organisations for dedicated missions. Sumbandilasat (pioneer in the Venda language) is a second generation satellite technology building on the expertise obtained in the Sunsat small satellite programme. The components used to build Sumbandilasat are the result of a technology development program of more than 3 years. Sumbandilasat is an operational technology demonstrator with more than 90% newly developed or improved subsystems and a compact refractive imager as a precursor to the MSMISat satellite with the same multi-spectral band set. The scalable, standardised modular satellite bus architecture enables satellites with a mass of 80–450 kg to be adapted to the specific mission requirements with minimum new engineering effort.