# A New Orbiting Deployable System for Small Satellite Observations for Ecology and Earth Observation
## 6 Conclusions  
In this paper, we reviewed several environmental applications in marine, atmospheric, and oceanographic thematics, and selected both for having pivotal advancements by using remote sensing data and for being quite comprehensive to evaluate the capabilities of deployable optical systems. In particular, we focused on the Deployable Optics for Remote sensing Applications (DORA) project, which is currently under development, and tested its optical performances through radiometric analysis.  
The analyzed study cases show how past and current small satellites can be of great benefit to improve such topics, in terms of data resolutions, revisiting times, and lower acquisition costs. On the other hand, manufacturing constraints imposed by small satellites, i.e., size and weight limitations, might severely limit data quality (high spatial and spectral resolutions) with respect to the requirements needed for a specific application. We showed that the DORA deployable telescope is a valuable solution for EO, in particular for monitoring ecological issues, so as to be able to implement arrangements in a timely manner to protect our natural environment.  
The successful development of deployable remote-sensing payloads onboard small satellites might also represent a pathway for the exploration of planets and small bodies, whose variety of properties, in terms of size, shape, composition, and internal structure, calls for newer space missions to fill the gaps in the understanding of our solar system.  
The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/rs14092066/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/rs14092066/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/rs14092066/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/rs14092066/s1)), Table S1: Lists of all the medium to large space missions cited in the text, reporting all their 34 relevant characteristics for the study cases in the spectral range from VIS to MW. References [43; 56; 57; 63; 307; 308; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 50; 51; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59; 60; 61; 62; 63; 64; 65; 66; 67; 68;  
**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, E.M., G.F. ([PERSON]), A.R. ([PERSON]), V.D.C., P.P., I.B. and L.I.; Data curation, E.M., E.A., L.A., G.A., V.C., E.C. ([PERSON]), P.D.P., F.E., E.F., A.I. ([PERSON]), S.P., S.S. and G.T.; Formal analysis, E.M., A.M.P., V.D.C., E.A., L.A., G.A., V.C., E.C. ([PERSON]), P.D.P., F.E., E.F., A.I. ([PERSON]), S.P., S.S. and G.T.; Funding acquisition, V.D.C.; Investigation, E.M. and A.M.P.; Methodology, E.M., A.M.P., G.F. ([PERSON]), V.D.C. and P.P.; Project administration, G.F. ([PERSON]), A.R. ([PERSON]), P.P., S.C., E.C. ([PERSON]), P.P.F., G.F. ([PERSON]), S.G., A.I. ([PERSON]), F.N., C.P., V.P., A.R. ([PERSON]), G.F.R. and E.Z.; Resources, E.M., I.B. and Z.D.; Supervision, A.R. ([PERSON]), V.D.C., P.P., S.C., P.P., F.G. ([PERSON]), S.G., A.I. ([PERSON]), F.N., C.P., V.P., A.R. ([PERSON]), G.F.R. and E.Z.; Validation, P.P., I.B. and E.C. ([PERSON]); Writing-original draft, E.M., A.M.P., G.F. ([PERSON]), A.R. ([PERSON]), V.D.C., P.P., E.A., L.A., G.A., I.B., V.C., E.C. ([PERSON]), P.D.P., F.E., E.F., A.I. ([PERSON]), S.P., S.S. and G.T.; Writing--review & editing, E.M., A.M.P., G.F. ([PERSON]), A.R. ([PERSON]), V.D.C., P.P. and I.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
**Funding:** The work developed within the framework of \"DORA -- Deployable Optics for Remote sensing Applications\" (project no. ARS01_00653), specialisation area \"aerospace\", a project funded by MIUR-PON \"Research & Innovation\"/PNR 2015-2020. The authors received funding from the Department of Sciences and Technologies, University of Napoli \"Parthenope\" for the OA publication.  
**Acknowledgments:** The authors thank the Editor and anonymous Reviewers for critical discussion on this and on an earlier version of the study.  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.