Innovating New Space Frontiers: Harmonised Federated and Fractionated Systems Unlocking Fresh Perspectives for Satellite Services

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Major developments in small satellite technologies coupled with the rapid commercialisation of New Space are disrupting the space landscape. A driving role rests with the telecommunication vertical, where market demands for global connectivity led to the emergence of LEO and MEO mega-constellation and are accelerating efforts for the integration of non-terrestrial with terrestrial networks. Core to this vision is an architectural paradigm shift from large monolithic satellites to an orchestrated network of multi-orbit spaceborne nodes of various sizes and capabilities. On the other hand, space missions traditionally dominated by governmental initiatives - such as Navigation (GNSS) and Earth observation (EO) - are slower in adopting the New Space spirit towards coordination and synergetic exploitation of emerging and established satellite systems. Yet these systems have had transformative impact on our daily lives along a plethora of applications and verticals. Anticipating the next New Space frontiers in commercially driven missions within these domains, a central view of HARMONY is that step change potential will be released by adopting distributed satellite architectures across a range of existing and new applications where the space environment provides unique benefits. Placing innovative space services at its core, HARMONY will adopt a cross-disciplinary & vertically integrated approach in the study of federated and fractionated satellite system architectures and the development of core underpinning technologies in a doctoral network that will nurture future European New Space leaders.