Agent-based architectures supporting fault-tolerance in small satellites

Since the launch of the first artificial satellite in October 1957, both satellite computers and their onboard software have changed significantly to integrate more functionalities and making mission operations more reliable. As a result, satellites have become more sophisticated and mission designers have moved functionality from the ground segment to the satellite onboard computers to make them more autonomous. In fact, a larger number of satellite components are adopting the use of embedded computers to improve their performance and increasing subsystems miniaturization. This can be seen by the growth in the number of small satellite missions ranging from 1 kg to 100 kg of mass launched during the past 10 years.