The New Space Age

is Open for Business

This whitepaper is sponsored by Dassault Systèmes.

THE NEW SPACE AGE IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

THE NEW SPACE AGE IS OPEN

FOR BUSINESS
Space, that final frontier, has never been more exciting. In the 20th century,
thanks to an unprecedented flurry of engineering achievement, humanity
made first contact with the universe. Today, in the 21st century, a new space
race is on—and this time, the whole word is in the running. Thanks to
modern digital platforms such as Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE,
enterprises and start-ups around the globe have an opportunity to turn the
final frontier into a practical and profitable business venture.

After World War II, the American government-funded space agency, NASA,
and its Russian equivalent the Soviet Space Program, engaged in a space
race. NASA was first to land humans on the Moon with the Apollo 11 mission.
The space race spawned a multitude of technological advancements,
including the technology used in autonomous Earth-orbiting satellites. Over
8,000 of these satellites have been launched into lower Earth orbit and are
operated by many different countries.

While the space age was initiated by government agencies, the modern
space age is a commercial enterprise and a rapidly growing industry.
Throughout most of its history, spaceflight was controlled and regulated
by agencies such as NASA. NASA was in charge, and contracted private
companies as needed—such as for the space capsule and booster design.
The European Space Agency (ESA) followed suit.

Eventually, NASA began to divest itself of its hands-on role and instead
started relying on private companies for more and more of the work. Private
companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin now have their own rockets and
launch facilities. NASA still oversees all activity relating to the International
Space Station but relies on SpaceX to deliver cargo and shuttle astronauts.
Last year, we saw private companies (SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic)
demonstrate civilian space tourism.

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ARTEMIS, SMALL SATELLITES

With the Artemis program launched in 2020, NASA began work with nine
U.S. universities to design and develop miniature satellites which SpaceX will
transport into lower Earth orbit. Companies are also developing networks
and constellations of communication satellites. There are plans for habitable
bases on the Moon and Mars. Other companies are researching the effects of
microgravity on cancer cells, suggesting a possible new treatment for cancer.
These companies’ design and simulation work is efficiently conducted on
Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which can be used for 3D
design, simulation and other aspects of product development.

REUSABLE ROCKET BOOSTERS

Reusable rocket boosters have been one of the most impressive

advancements in human space exploration history. The Apollo program,
which gave America the first Moon landing, relied on the Saturn V rocket
with a launch cost of roughly $185 million—close to $1.25 billion in today’s
dollars. Following first stage separation, the expensive boosters fall back
through Earth’s atmosphere and sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX rockets, on the other hand, have reusable rocket boosters. The Falcon
9 boosters blast through the dense atmosphere; once spent, they separate
and perform a controlled descent to Earth. An advanced control system
autonomously stabilizes the booster attitude. It works because sensors
take readings of position, velocity and acceleration, and fire stabilizing
rocket engines to keep the booster in proper position as it descends. Thrust
vectoring techniques consist of gimbaled hydraulic actuators that control
the orientation of the rocket nozzles, allowing them to swivel in various
directions. The goal is to have the booster velocity slow to zero on its landing
pad. Continual sensor measurements and adjustment by the onboard
CPUs can compensate for wind gusts and are able to land the booster with
10-meter accuracy. Not bad for a 70 meter tall, 500,000 kg object that has
gone up to a height of 80 thousand meters.

SpaceX booster
performs an
autonomous
landing on an
ocean platform.

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MORE CUBESATS

SpaceX’s reusable rocket boosters have cut the cost of space launches
substantially, leaving more budget for additional missions. Astronauts can
go back and forth to the ISS more frequently, and more university-designed
cubesats can be delivered into orbit.

Cubesats—short for “miniature cube shaped satellites”—were the brainchild

of professors Jordi Puig-Suari of California Polytechnic State University
and Bob Twiggs of Stanford University, who were introducing engineering
students to satellite technology in the late 1990s. Many engineering
schools across North America now have student-designed satellites being
launched into lower Earth orbit every year. Each cubesat can serve its own
unique purpose and can relay data back to Earth in real time, creating the
opportunity for many useful research topics.

SPACE EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION

The New Space era doesn’t limit itself to launchers and satellites but includes
the ability to live on other planets. To do so, a French company by the
name of Interstellar Lab is working on developing 3D deployable modules
for sustainable life in space and on Earth. The modules, called BioPods,
are closed-loop, totally enclosed systems with a sustainable environment
for plant growth, employing advanced technologies in atmospheric gas
production, plant growth enhancing lighting, water production and
recycling and autonomous nutrient dosing.

Futuristic view
of a pod-based
sustainable city
on Mars.
(Image courtesy
of Interstellar Lab.)

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Interstellar’s
BioPods are
closed loop
systems for
controlled and
sustainable plant
growth in space.
(Image courtesy
of Interstellar Lab.)

Interstellar’s BioPods are an impressive feat of engineering that combine

multiple scientific disciplines. Interstellar Lab’s founder and CEO, Barbara
Belvisi, combines her passion for action against climate change on Earth
with her curiosity and drive for space exploration and colonization. Belvisi is
of the firm belief that the technology required to set up a sustainable living
environment on Mars can be used on Earth as a more sustainable method
of food production since BioPods reduce the amount of water and land
needed by more than 98 percent.
In the future, Interstellar Lab intends to create a variety of BioPods, each with
unique capabilities, such as waste removal and water recycling. The pods
could be linked together to form a miniature city with each pod handling a
critical piece of the overall infrastructure needed for human life.

Interstellar Lab uses Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud platform

for all 3D product design and simulation. Environmental conditions are
modeled as systems and simulated with multiphysics. Control system
modeling helps Interstellar Lab engineers program the systems that
regulate internal gas pressure and concentrations in BioPods on the wildly
different environments on Earth, the Moon and Mars.

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SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY

The new space age has seen an exponential increase in the number of
satellites, jumping from roughly 700 in the year 2000 to almost 5,000 in the
year 2021. At the beginning of 2022, we had almost 6,000 satellites overhead
and by the time of this writing, that number passed 8,500. Satellites are
now a vital part of our infrastructure, providing GPS, Internet access, climate
observation, communications and more.

Number of active
satellites from
1957 to 2021.

STARLINK CONSTELLATION

The SpaceX Starlink constellation is a network of communication satellites

that circle the Earth in lower Earth orbit. Starlink intends to bring low-latency
broadband Internet services to locations around the world. SpaceX has
currently launched over 2,500 satellites into the constellation and plans on
a total of 42,000. Starlink promises high speed Internet with latency as low
as 20ms over most of the Earth’s surface for activities that demand a high
data transfer rate, such as streaming, online gaming, video calls and more.
Starlink satellite dish receivers use a phased-array antenna to receive signals
from the constellation of satellites as they move rapidly overhead, ensuring a
continuous network connection.

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Artistic
impression
of future
Starlink mega-
constellation.
(Image courtesy
of SpaceX.)

SpaceX is not alone with its intentions of creating satellite constellations.

A Chinese company, ADA Space, is designing a network of close to
200 satellites that will provide a live stream of Earth-observing satellite
imagery using AI. An Australian company, Fleet Space Technologies, is
manufacturing the world’s first 3D-printed satellites that intend to make
Internet of Things (IoT) device connectivity issues a thing of the past.

CLIMATE OBSERVATION SATELLITES

According to the United Nations, space technology for Earth observation

is one of the key projects required for completing the 17 sustainable
development goals defined by the UN and which are to be achieved by the
year 2030. Many Earth observation satellites are currently in orbit. One of
them is MethaneSAT.

MethaneSAT is designed to measure and analyze methane concentrations

in Earth’s atmosphere and track where emissions originate. Methane is
responsible for roughly 50 percent of the global temperature rise since
the beginning of the industrial era; this means measurement of methane
is certainly a critical need. MethaneSAT, as well as other atmospheric
composition analysis satellites, use spectrometers to measure gas
composition by shining lasers at different wavelengths at the atmosphere.
Based on the frequency of the radiation re-emitted by the atmosphere and
measured by optical sensors on the satellites, the gas and concentration
can be determined.

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A similar Earth observation satellite initiative is a project named TreeView.

This project is funded by the U.K. Space Agency and plans to use real-time
satellite imaging techniques to track global deforestation. The purpose of
the project is to locate accessible and vegetation-dense areas that could
help with carbon storage and sequestration.

GEOSPATIAL ANALYTICS

Geospatial analytics is another interesting technological application in the

new space age. Work in the geospatial analytics field is concerned with
the application of satellite collected data, specifically locational GPS data
and satellite imagery in the form of precise locations on Earth. Geospatial
analysis makes use of geographic information systems (GIS) and is used for
the purpose of natural resource cataloging, among other things. It involves
the combination of current and historical data for trend recognition and
predictive capabilities where it can be used for resource depletion prediction
as well as human population growth modeling, climate change modelling,
crisis management, animal population modeling and migration tracking,
sales forecasting and more. This makes the applications of geospatial
analytics vital.

“Today, the path towards more geospatial data analytics is on its way to
help numerous companies, public entities and governments capture and
analyze data to better understand various areas—including solutions to solve
sustainable goals set by the United Nations, predicting natural disasters, air
quality management and much more,” says Delphine Zinck, Aerospace &
Defense Expert at Dassault Systèmes. “Geospatial analytics advances will be
able to extend application areas to in-space analytics, in order to manage the
space environment in a sustainable way as humans and economies extend
into the traditional useable orbits, cislunar space, the moon, and beyond.”

SPACE DEBRIS REMOVAL

As previously stated, nearly 8,500 man-made satellites exist in lower Earth

orbit. Of those, more than 3,000 are inoperative and adrift. They have been
known to collide with operational satellites, though that is rare. Satellites
are subject to drag forces that cause their orbits to decay and during their
service life, they perform periodic orbit raising burns to nudge themselves
back up into orbit. Spent satellites can no longer do orbit raising burns
and so will keep descending until they burn up in the upper atmosphere.
This does not occur fast enough, says one company that has made a faster
removal of useless satellites their reason for existence.

Astroscale is planning a hunter-killer of a satellite named ELSA-d (End of Life

Services by Astroscale demonstration). Pictured below, the ELSA-d satellite
uses magnetic fields to attract and latch on to defunct satellites and other
space debris. The satellite then performs a descent maneuver to promote
orbital decay and when close enough, releases the debris to burn up in the

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atmosphere. ELSA-d then performs an orbit raising maneuver and continues

its hunt. ELSA-d is still perfecting its moves, including matching the spin
of a tumbling object so it can latch onto it using autonomous attitude
manipulating thrusters.

ELSA-d protocol
diagram.
(Image courtesy of
Astroscale.)

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT WITH 3D DESIGN,

SIMULATION SOFTWARE, VIRTUAL TWIN AND MORE.

Scientists in the biomedical engineering field at the University of Technology

Sydney have been conducting research on how different types of cancer cells
react to microgravity. In simulation, the researchers have shown that within 24
hours, 80-90 percent of the cancerous cells had died in microgravity.

They have initiated a partnership with YURI, a company that provides

research-grade hardware designed for biological experiments, as well
as organizing and planning all space launch related logistics for sending
research experiments into space. This enables researchers to have true access
to the microgravity environment instead of solely relying on simulation. The
cancer researchers will soon have their experiments transported to the ISS
where they will remain for extended periods of time so that observation of cell
behaviors can be monitored in a consistent microgravity environment.

Although the discussion to this point has focused on the hardware in space,
we recognize that software also plays a key role in getting hardware designed,
simulated, tested and manufactured. Software that takes advantage of
the cloud for collaboration and provides unambiguous access to the latest
engineering data (AKA, a single source of truth) are the tools companies can
use for products and services needed in the new space age. The ability to
create a virtual twin—a 3D, data-rich, interactive model of a physical product—
can show how the product will behave in different environments long before
it takes physical shape.

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THE NEW SPACE AGE IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Beyond design and simulation are other aspects of product design,

including PLM and collaboration. A cloud-enabled platform, such as the
Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE, with its integrated applications for
virtually all aspects of product design, has been found mission critical
for several new space ventures. For example, new space age satellite
companies, such as the ones mentioned in this paper, have used it to design
and manufacture sustainable rocket and satellite systems to specifications
at lower cost. As an added benefit of the platform, they often get the design
right the first time, reducing the need for prototypes and testing. This
ultimately speeds up the process of sending satellites into orbit.

With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform’s integrated technology for product

development, new space age companies can accelerate the product
lifecycle from concept to deployment and gain a critical first-to-market
advantage. Making this happen is a suite of applications under the Dassault
Systèmes umbrella with capabilities that include real-time collaboration,
virtual simulation and optimized planning. 3DEXPERIENCE users can avail
themselves with a virtual twin that provides a virtual model of the physical
system and allows new space age companies to easily and quickly evaluate
multiple what-if scenarios.

THE ROLE OF DASSAULT SYSTÈMES IN THE NEW SPACE AGE

Dassault Systèmes empowers innovation for space ventures, big and small,
with industry solutions, software infrastructure, the 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud
platform, and more. The platform has all the software tools an organization
needs to design, simulate, test, manufacture and maintain sustainability.

A couple of years ago, Dassault Systèmes launched “Reinvent the Sky,”

a cloud-based industry solution for the aerospace and defense industry.
Tailored for product innovation by start-ups and small original equipment
manufacturers, Dassault Systèmes is using the initiative to attract start-ups
and venture capital firms to New Space.

“Reinvent The Sky cuts the development time of a first prototype in half,”
says Zinck.

The company has used its considerable experience with aircraft and
spacecraft to ensure that its design, simulation and manufacturing
application are up to the task of creating products that can be sent to and
work in space, the most hostile environment known to man. In addition
to 3DEXPERIENCE being used at Interstellar Lab to make BioPods, it was
also used to create digital twins for Ball Aerospace. Other examples of the
application of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform are CATIA being used to create
the hardware so YURI can study microgravity and DELMIA used at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center.

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CONCLUSION

The old space age may have been one led by singularly directed monolithic
government agencies—the race to put a man on the moon, for example.
But everything that has transpired has produced a wealth of knowledge and
developed so much technology that we find ourselves in the new space age.

The last few years have been a whirlwind of space-related technological

advancements, from tourism in space to the colonization of Mars. Whatever
public criticism there has been of public spending on space programs
has been quieted by its benefits. The life-improving and even life-saving
technologies borne of research and development for space programs are
many: GPS (navigation), memory foam, LEDs, carbon monoxide detectors,
fuel cells and heat insulated metals (thermos), to name a few, were all created
during the development of space-related technologies. Many of them are
things we use and rely on every day.

The new space age gives us even more: reusable rocket boosters, cubesats and
satellite constellations, space debris removal, climate observation satellites, bio-
regenerative pods for Space Stations and Moon/Mars colonization applications,
space robotics and even the hope for a cure for cancer.

The new space age offers opportunity for business as well as educational
institutions and engineering careers. From colonizing Mars and mining the
Moon to space tourism, the vastness of space has never appeared more
accessible, more exciting and more promising. Never before have there been
so many new and varied projects.

At the heart of this new space age are the tools for digital transformation such
as Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, which provides a way to
create virtual twins of products, factories and even the Earth.

In short, the doors to space have been blown wide open. No longer the private
club or the exclusive domain of government agencies, space is now open for
business. From start-ups to established aerospace firms, all have access to
hardware and software like no other time in history. The ability to simulate
what once could only be tested physically is responsible for much of the
leveling of the playing field for entrepreneurs.

The companies discussed in this paper are just a few of the examples that
show the coming together of government agencies, private companies and
educational institutions that have resulted in the new space age.

To learn more, visit: https://www.3ds.com/cloud

This whitepaper is sponsored by Dassault Systèmes.

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