Within academic and nongovernment space science communities, there is a continuing need for innovative and relatively low-cost approaches to small satellite design that can minimize the size, weight, and power consumption of any given mission payload. Most small satellites are launched in a piggyback fashion within an ensemble of many other satellites. The cost of placing the desired mission payload and its supporting satellite infrastructure into the required orbit can generally be considerably reduced by minimizing the overall size, weight, and power consumption. In many cases, the onboard computer, power supply, and system control components of this infrastructure exceed the bulk of the mission payload, so these aspects tend to dominate requirements for innovative and low-cost approaches to satellite design.

One such small satellite design has been developed at the University of Stuttgart. The “Flying Laptop,” or FLP, unites the data and power management infrastructure functions in a fully modular LEGO-like assemblage. The design can support diverse mission payloads within a 130-kilogram satellite. The emergent design is said to meet very stringent constraints on performance, mass, volume, and power consumption for its onboard computer, power, and control infrastructure components. This rather innovative design is the subject of this book.

The text is organized into ten chapters, written by a total of 20 individual authors. Each chapter addresses the functionality and design of a particular modular circuit board, such as the onboard computer, the encoder/decoder and input/output processors, or the power control and distribution components. The chapters can stand somewhat alone as technical and implementation descriptions of the modular element in the overall satellite design, but are also cross-referenced to each other. There are ample, well-annotated graphics, most of which are full-color illustrations. An eleventh chapter provides assembly diagrams and data sheets for the various design elements and circuit modules. The text also contains a list of acronyms and abbreviations, an overall index, and a combined set of references.

The technology of satellite payload and infrastructure design is rapidly evolving with the design of lower-cost small satellites. Nevertheless, while much of the specific technology described here may rapidly become obsolete, this text is recommended as a reference and guide to students of small-scale satellite design, and to practitioners who actually build and operate such satellites, for whom these cutting-edge modular design approaches would be advantageous.