This paper presents the results of an expert survey aimed at defining the concept of New Space. New Space is a blurry concept which is oftentimes confused with other key ideas such as the commercialization of space activities, or the use of miniaturized technology (such as CubeSats) in space missions design and implementation. Our expert survey reveals that the three key characteristics defining New Space are instead customer focus, new product development approaches, and new business models (private versus institutional investors). The paper provides a semi-quantitative comparison of these characteristics, which we define as traits, which are used to distinguish between New Space and legacy space activities. Based on the results of the comparison and literature search, we provide a brief discussion of key technology trends emerging in New Space, namely on autonomy, miniaturization, platforms, and crowd. The paper will be of relevance to all stakeholders concerned with the creation and growth of New Space ecosystems worldwide, to which we propose ideas for taking different roles in the ecosystem.

FSSCAT is an innovative mission concept consisting of two federated 6U Cubesats in support of the Copernicus Land and Marine Environment services. The first CubeSat carries the Flexible Microwave Payload-2 (FMPL-2), a dual microwave payload (a GNSS-Reflectometer and an L-band radiometer with interference detection/mitigation), and the second one a hyper-spectral optical payload. The combined use of these payloads will allow to measure soil moisture, ice extent, and ice thickness, and to detect melting ponds over ice. FSSCAT also includes radio and optical inter-satellite links to test some of the techniques and technologies for the upcoming satellite federations. FSSCAT will be the precursor of a constellation of federated small satellites for Earth observation achieving high temporal resolution and moderate spatial resolution in a cost-effective manner.