August 2018
Earth observation game-changer
... the same area with greater frequency, which provides a greater time-resolution. Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components are something not all satellite mission developers look kindly upon. However, as with most technology...
October 2018
Mining the Moon for fun and profit
... mining operations via a public-private partnership (PPP), as it did with the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme. For the purposes of comparison, a US$800 million NASA investment in the development and fabrication is assumed...
November 2018
Purpose, promise and power – video from space
... global internet access. With the application of new manufacturing techniques and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology, the prices of individual satellites and EO platforms have dropped dramatically, which makes constellations an increasingly...
April 2020
Is space poised to take another giant leap?
... to carry our economic activity even further from Earth, NASA announced its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme in 2009, followed nine years later by its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme. Both initiatives...
October 2020
Open Source Space
... potential applications and services that could be delivered with spacecraft designed using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components. The prospect of affordability and access to the slow but gradual development of these small satellite missions...
July 2021
Collaboration and competition in lunar exploration
... of partnerships with industry to advance commercial space exploration in LEO. In the US, the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, which gave birth to the Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) programme, was designed to fill the gap...
