LEO constellations have experienced significant growth in recent years, driven in part by the dramatic reduction in launch costs led by SpaceX and others. Recoverable, low-cost commercial launch vehicles have exponentially reduced the cost of putting a satellite into orbit.

This dramatic growth is necessarily forcing a massive rethink of how satellites are built and launched. Electronics needed for controlling and monitoring satellites have been miniaturized and require far less power than ever before. At the same time, the computing power onboard a satellite has increased by orders of magnitude.