Satellites come in all sizes and shapes. A small satellite or SmallSat is commonly considered to be a satellite that weighs less than 500 kg.
As a basic application of various satellite sizes by mass, the common distinction:
Lower Limit | Upper Limit(kg) | Classification | Examples |
1000 | Large satellites | Hubble Space Telescope / Inmarsat-4A F4 | |
500 | 1000 | Medium satellites | O3b |
0 | 500 | Small satellites | SpaceX StarLink |
CubeSats are smaller yet.
CubeSats need to conform to specific criteria including shape, size, and mass. At this point, most people have become aware or are at least heard of CubeSats. (Cube Satellites). CubeSats (cube satellite, cube satellite) are a type of nanosatellites defined by the CubeSat Design Specification (CSD) or otherwise commonly known by the unofficial term “CubeSat standard”. Cubesats are small, and start off at the 1U size of 10xm x 10 cm x 11.35 cm ( yes not exactly a cube, but very close) Here are some standard CubeSat dimensions: