Hybrid Space Architecture

Hybrid space architecture
Hybrid space architecture promotes resilience and responsiveness in the context of Responsive Space by providing flexible and adaptable solutions to dynamic challenges in space.

What is a hybrid space architecture?

A hybrid space architecture is a System-of-Systems style concept, in which different space based systems, such as satellites or whole constellations are being brought together towards a single goal. Hybrid can mean multiple things:

  • Systems from different manufacturers
  • Systems from different owners (for example civil and military)
  • Systems with different missions (for example communications and earth observation)
  • Systems of different sizes and complexities (for example CubeSats, Mega-constellations and geostationary Satellites)
  • Systems from different nations

The concetps goal is to exploit synergies between thos different systems by connecting them with another. The dual-use nature of satellites especially can be used to the advance of both military and civil applications. One key element for the execution of this concept is compatability on multiple levels of space based systems:

  • compatability on data level (→ datafusion)
  • compatability on operation level (→ proliferated operations)
  • compatability on hardware and software level (→ interchangable payloads/platforms)
  • compatabilt on communication level (→ on-orbit connectivity)

What role does it play in responsive space?

The RSC³ regards the building of a hybrid space architecture as one possibilty to drastically and sustainably increase the responsiveness and resilience of space based infrastructure. Satellites and even whole constellations can be viewed as interchangable nodes in a system-of-systems network in such a hybrid space architecture. By way of interconnecting compatable nodes, the loss of single nodes can be easily compensated and the whole network can react to a new task, much quicker than a new system could be designed, built, launched and operated. To achieve this goal, the RSC3 is researching the concept of a hybrid space architecture and its implementation.

The research is approaching the topic from two sides. The Top- Down approache is looking at hybrid space architectures from a concept level, whereas the bottom-up approach is advancing critical areas with smaller scale experiments (e.g. the standardisation of interfaces).