Satellite swarms are an extremely interesting research topic thanks to the availability of small and highly capablesatellite platforms. What could seem unaffordable with big size satellites now seems feasible with nano-satelliteconstellations and swarms, even if still challenging. QB50 is an international collaboration aiming at characterizingthe high layers of the atmosphere using a swarm of 50 CubeSats. Instead of having an extremely complex, powerfuland expensive satellite, the problem is solved with a swarm of cheap satellites. Although there are many benefits ofusing this approach, there are quite some challenges related to designing, launching and operating a swarm of nanosatelliteswith a very limited lifetime in LEO. This paper focuses on the potential challenges for the QB50 mission,and tries to propose some solutions. Due to the complexity of the project, many satellite sub-systems and the groundsegment will have to be properly designed to achieve the mission targets.
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