Microsatellites for global electronic mail networks

Continuing advances in semiconductor memory and microprocessor technology have made possible a class of small, relatively inexpensive, yet electronically sophisticated satellites, referred to as `microsatellites´. In July 1991, Arianespace launched the fifth microsatellite in the University of Surrey´s pioneering `UoSAT´ series. UoSAT-5 carries a store-and-forward communication payload equipped with a microcomputer, packet-radio interfaces and a 13 Mbyte solid-state storage system, which will provide error-free digital communications to small ground terminals throughout the world. The paper describes the store-and-forward message-switching system and discusses the important considerations encountered when designing advanced computer systems for microsatellites