A Quick History of CubeSats and SmallSats
Advanced carbon-wrap technology, specifically Carbon Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs), allows SmallSat engineers to replace bulky metallic propellant tanks with ultra-thin, high-pressure carbon cylinders. By safely storing propellant at high pressures (up to 310 bar) with walls fractions of a millimetre thick, COPVs reduce propulsion weight by up to 50% and reclaim vital internal cubic centimetres for critical mission hardware.
Times have changed dramatically since 1957 and the launch of Sputnik, and so have priorities regarding the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) economy. Where once launch capacity was the defining factor, the new battleground in space deployment is internal volume. The fight is on for every cubic centimetre, with AMSCC offering a wide selection of off-the-shelf composite overwrapped pressure vessels to suit your space mission.
The CubeSat Standard and the “Volume Tax”
The democratisation of space was built on the CubeSat standard. The 1U form factor – a mere 10 x 10 x 10 cm – revolutionised access to orbit. However, as missions evolve from passive data collection to active orbital manoeuvring, engineers face a paradox: propulsion is essential for the mission, but traditional propulsion systems are too bulky to fit inside the box.
To understand why carbon-wrap technology is transformative, we must appreciate the strict limits of the CubeSat envelope. In a 3U or 6U form factor, the fuel tank is often the largest single rigid object.
For years, the industry relied on standard metallic gas tanks (usually aluminium) to store propellant. To withstand high pressures, these metals require thick walls. This acts as a “volume tax.” A standard metal tank consumes a massive footprint just to maintain structural integrity, and because metal tanks often have lower pressure limits, they must be physically larger to hold the required propellant mass needed for LEO and MEO.
The Carbon Edge: Shrinking the Footprint
The material science of carbon fibre filament winding completely changes this equation. At AMSCC, our COPVs are manufactured by wrapping a thin metal or polymer liner with a high-strength carbon fibre composite. This design leverages carbon fibre’s exceptional stiffness-to-weight ratio to deliver a two-fold advantage:
- Significant Weight Reduction: COPVs can be up to 50% lighter than traditional all-metal pressure vessels. In space applications where every gram affects launch costs, this weight-saving is critical.
- Structural Efficiency: The composite shell carries the high-pressure loads generated by the propellant, a task that would otherwise demand a much thicker, heavier metal tank.
Precision Pre-Preg Filaments
The key to this structural efficiency is high-precision pre-impregnated (pre-preg) carbon fibre filaments. Unlike older “wet winding” techniques, where resin is applied inconsistently, pre-preg filaments are saturated under highly controlled laboratory conditions. This allows us to engineer tank walls that are fractions of a millimetre thick while comfortably retaining the burst pressure ratings required for high-performance missions.
Key Performance Indicators for AMSCC COPVs
- Pressure Rating: Up to 310 bar.
- Weight Savings: Up to 50% lighter than legacy metal tanks.
- Qualification: TRL 9 (Flight-proven and ready for integration).
High Pressure is High Value
The other crucial key to shrinking essential satellite hardware lies in increased storage efficiency. AMSCC Aerospace tanks are rated for pressures up to 310 bar.
This high-pressure capability enables a radical change in system architecture. By housing propellant at higher pressures, engineers can store more gasgas in a significantly smaller volume. A smaller tank means more room for the mission’s core hardware, allowing designers to fit larger batteries, advanced optics, and better sensors into the same CubeSat envelope.
Expanding SmallSat Capabilities
By making propellant storage tanks light and small enough to fit within standard form factors, we enable fully integrated micro-propulsion systems. SmallCubeSats are no longer limited to passive orbits or short operational lives. They can now support complex, demanding mission profiles, including:
- Formation flying for interferometry or synthetic aperture radar.
- Precise attitude control for high-resolution optical targeting.
- Orbit keeping and active deorbiting to ensure long-term space sustainability.
Reliability in the Modern Era
The shift to a sustainable space economy requires components that are both high-performance and industrialised. It is one thing to hand-craft a single tank for a university prototype; it is another to deliver the quantities needed for a commercial constellation of 500 units without a drop in quality.
At AMSCC, we use digital twin technology to monitor our winding processes in real-time. By tracking every tension spike and resin-application variance, we guarantee that the sub-millimetre tolerances you simulate in your CAD model perfectly match the physical tank that arrives for integration.
As the demand for high-throughput SmallSats grows, the standard envelope will only get tighter. The future of satellite design isn’t about making the box bigger – it’s about making the components inside it smarter, lighter, and smaller.
Ready to reclaim your payload volume? AMSCC Aerospace delivers flight-proven, precision-engineered carbon composite gas tanks built to solve the SmallSat volume challenge.crisis. Explore our standard and custom space-grade cylinders today.