Current monitoring strategies for inland water quality are valuable but lack the spatiotemporal resolution to conduct detailed scientific investigations of inland water dynamics. This work examines the design of a satellite constellation that offers spatiotemporal resolution exceeding current capabilities, while maintaining sufficient spectral and radiometric resolution to provide useful scientific data. Previous constellation design work has focused primarily on revisit metrics, which provide only limited insight to the utility of the final design. A novel evaluation function for constellation designs is introduced, which uses an imaging spectrometer model, an observation planner, and a Science and Applications Traceability Matrix (SATM) to score the scientific utility of a constellation. A multi-objective optimization is conducted using this scientific utility and cost to produce a set of optimal designs ranging from a pair of CubeSats to a constellation of small satellites. Sensitivity analysis is performed to ensure that the evaluation function used is representative of realistic constellation performance. Results suggest that a constellation of agile small satellites has the potential to compete with large satellites in scientific utility.

中文翻译：

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内陆水质监测卫星星座设计


目前的内陆水质监测策略很有价值，但缺乏时空分辨率来对内陆水动态进行详细的科学调查。这项工作研究了卫星星座的设计，该卫星星座提供超过当前能力的时空分辨率，同时保持足够的光谱和辐射分辨率以提供有用的科学数据。以前的星座设计工作主要集中在重新审视指标上，这些指标只能对最终设计的实用性提供有限的洞察。引入了一种新颖的星座设计评估函数，该函数使用成像光谱仪模型、观测规划器和科学与应用追溯矩阵（SATM）来对星座的科学效用进行评分。利用这种科学效用和成本进行多目标优化，以产生从一对立方体卫星到一组小型卫星的一系列最佳设计。进行敏感性分析以确保所使用的评估函数能够代表实际的星座性能。结果表明，灵活的小型卫星星座有可能在科学实用性方面与大型卫星竞争。