Distributed space-based sensors using optically enabled CubeSats

Authors/Creators

Aaron Pereira, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Jose Velazco
Ed Kruzins
Frederick Menk
Paulo De Souza, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Said F. Al-Sarawi
Derek Abbott

Author Identifier (ORCID)

Paulo De Souza: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0091-8925

Abstract

The Antarctic region is a crucial territory for global climate and sea ice research. From an Australian perspective, this research plays a significant role as changes in sea ice extent around Antarctica are closely linked to Australia's weather and climate. The lack of sovereign Earth observation within the Australian portion of this territory, curtails near real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities needed for environmental monitoring and maintenance of territorial integrity. This paper details a cost-effective mission concept to enable sovereign monitoring of Antarctic ice caps using distributed VHF sensors on CubeSats networked with inter-satellite optical links.

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Date of Publication

9-17-2025

Volume

13614

Publication Title

Proceedings of SPIE the International Society for Optical Engineering

Publisher

SPIE

School

School of Science

Funders

Australian Space Agency's Moon to Mars Program (MTMDFG000075) / Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith Trust R&D Fund

Comments

Pereira, A., Velazco, J., Kruzins, E., Menk, F., de Souza, P., Jr., Al-Sarawi, S. F., & Abbott, D. (2025). Distributed space-based sensors using optically enabled CubeSats. In CubeSats, SmallSats, and Hosted Payloads for Remote Sensing IX (Vol. 13614). SPIE. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3063302

Copyright

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