Current Challenges and Barriers
What stands between the concept and a working commercial system?
Chapter summary
The barriers are technical, operational, economic and regulatory, and they interact. The single critical path is qualifying the computing payload for space; the largest economic hurdle is a pilot that is too big for venture capital and too early for most infrastructure investors.
Key takeaways
- 1
The computing payload sits at TRL 5–6; €20–40M of qualification and flight demonstration is the critical path to first deployment.
- 2
A pilot mission needs €150–350M of capex, and €200–450M including 2–3 years of pre-revenue working capital.
- 3
A 10 kW thermal load needs roughly 25–35 m² of radiator at an optimal 40–50°C junction temperature.
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