The number of small satellites has grown hugely in the past decade, from tens of satellites per year in the mid-2010s to a projection of tens of thousands in orbit by the mid-2020s. This presents both problems and opportunities for observational astronomy. Small satellites offer complementary cost-effective capabilities to both ground-based astronomy and larger space missions. Compared with ground-based astronomy, these advantages are not just in the accessibility of wavelength ranges where the Earth’s atmosphere is opaque, but also in stable, high-precision photometry, long-term monitoring and improved areal coverage. Astronomy has a long history of new observational parameter spaces leading to major discoveries. Here we discuss the potential for small satellites to explore new parameter spaces in astrophysics, drawing on examples from current and proposed missions, and spanning a wide range of science goals from binary stars, exoplanets and Solar System science to the early Universe and fundamental physics.

在过去的十年中，小型卫星的数量已大大增加，从2010年代中期的每年几万颗卫星到2020年代中期的数万颗轨道的预测。这既带来了观测天文学的问题，也带来了机遇。小型卫星为地面天文学和较大的太空飞行任务提供了具有成本效益的补充功能。与基于地面的天文学相比，这些优势不仅在于地球大气不透明的波长范围的可及性，而且在于稳定，高精度的光度法，长期监测和改进的区域覆盖范围。天文学具有导致重大发现的新观测参数空间的悠久历史。在这里，我们讨论小型卫星探索天体物理学新参数空间的潜力，