Cloud-based space mission design & analysis
A Better Way to
Design Space Missions
Design spacecraft, simulate mission performance, and analyze orbital operations in one modern cloud platform. From orbit propagation and power analysis to ground station access and interactive 3D visualization—without installing desktop software.
Free plan available · No credit card required
Everything You Need for Mission Design
From designing spacecraft to analyzing complete missions, Space Mission Designer brings the essential engineering workflow into one modern cloud platform.
Design Your Spacecraft
Build CubeSats and spacecraft in minutes using an intuitive visual editor. Configure dimensions, body materials, deployable solar panels, payloads, and subsystem properties—without CAD software.
Simulate Orbital Motion
Analyze spacecraft trajectories using analytical and high-fidelity numerical propagators. Evaluate ground tracks, perturbations, eclipse periods, and mission geometry with just a few clicks.
Verify Mission Performance
Simulate solar power generation, battery state of charge, subsystem consumption, and eclipse events throughout the mission to validate spacecraft performance before launch.
Scale to Entire Constellations
Create Walker and custom constellations, evaluate coverage, revisit performance, and ground station access, and visualize every satellite in an interactive 3D environment.
See it in action
Watch a CubeSat mission go from scenario definition to orbit propagation, access windows, and 3D visualization.
Demo video coming soon
Frequently asked questions
What is Space Mission Designer?
Space Mission Designer (SMD) is a browser-based mission analysis platform built for CubeSat and SmallSat missions. It helps engineers, researchers, universities, and space startups design spacecraft, analyze orbits, simulate power generation, evaluate ground station access, and visualize missions without installing desktop software.
Who is Space Mission Designer for?
SMD is designed for aerospace engineers, CubeSat teams, universities, research laboratories, startups, and organizations developing small satellite missions. It is ideal for early mission design, trade studies, education, and engineering analysis.
What missions can I design?
You can design CubeSat and SmallSat missions in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO), highly elliptical orbits, and cislunar or lunar missions. SMD also supports satellite constellation design and analysis.
How accurate is the orbital propagation?
SMD provides multiple propagation models depending on your needs. Fast analyses use SGP4 for catalog satellites, while high-fidelity numerical propagation includes perturbations such as Earth gravity, atmospheric drag, third-body gravity, and solar radiation pressure.
Does SMD use Orekit?
Yes. High-fidelity orbital propagation is powered by Orekit, the open-source flight dynamics library used by universities, research institutions, and professional space missions worldwide.
Can I import real satellites?
Yes. SMD supports both Two-Line Element (TLE) sets and the modern CCSDS Orbit Mean-Elements Message (OMM) format, allowing you to import real spacecraft from public catalogs such as Space-Track and CelesTrak.
Can I analyze ground station access?
Yes. You can simulate satellite visibility, communication windows, elevation masks, revisit opportunities, and access times for one or multiple ground stations.
Can I simulate satellite constellations?
Yes. SMD supports Walker constellations and fully custom constellation configurations. You can propagate every satellite, evaluate coverage, revisit time, and ground station access across the entire constellation.
Can I analyze spacecraft power?
Yes. SMD simulates eclipse periods, solar panel generation, battery state of charge, and subsystem power consumption to verify whether your spacecraft can meet mission requirements.
Does SMD support lunar missions?
Yes. Beyond Earth-orbiting missions, SMD includes support for lunar mission analysis, enabling users to design and visualize spacecraft operating around the Moon.
How does SMD compare with STK or GMAT?
SMD focuses on modern, browser-based mission analysis for CubeSat and SmallSat development. While desktop tools offer extensive capabilities for advanced mission analysis, SMD emphasizes accessibility, collaboration, integrated subsystem analysis, and rapid engineering workflows without software installation.
Is Space Mission Designer free?
Yes. The Free plan includes monthly computation credits and access to core features such as orbit propagation, ground station analysis, spacecraft power simulation, and mission visualization. Pro plans unlock additional computation, advanced analyses, and premium mission capabilities.
Do I need to install any software?
No. Space Mission Designer runs entirely in your web browser. Your projects are securely stored online, allowing you to access them from anywhere without installing or maintaining desktop software.
Why choose Space Mission Designer?
SMD combines orbit propagation, spacecraft subsystem analysis, constellation design, ground station access, mission visualization, and collaboration in a single cloud platform built specifically for CubeSat and SmallSat engineering. It enables teams to move from concept to mission analysis significantly faster than traditional desktop workflows.
Start designing your mission today
Create a free account and run your first orbit propagation in minutes.
Create Free Account