Solar Falcon vs Other Platforms for 24/7 Surveillance
Solar Falcon vs Microsatellites
- 25X better imaging resolution
- 100X faster revisit of AOI (10,000 km2)
- 10X less cost per hour
- Mission flexible (sensors and tasking)
Solar Falcon vs Drones
- 400X coverage area per vehicle
- 4X less cost per hour
- Mission duration is months vs hours
Cost Comparison for Persistent Wide-Area Monitoring – Minutes Revisit Time
| Platform | Resolution At nadir (m) | Altitude (km) | Area Covered (km2) | Units to Cover Area per Day | $K Per Hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar Falcons | 0.1 | 20 | 10,000 | 1 | 1.4 |
| Drones | 0.1 | 1 | 25 | 800 | 5.5 |
| Microsats | 3 | 500 | 10,000* | >100** | 11.5 |
| Manned A/C | 0.03 | 7 | 1,225 | 36 | 33 |
* Defined for direct comparison
** Microsats revisit time for the area with 100 units is about an hour. They cannot provide persistent revisits in minutes unless there are more than a thousand