# How to Rent Out Space on Satellites for Different Customers > A system for managing a fleet of satellites so multiple customers can share the same hardware to run their own specific space-based tasks. - **Patent:** US 10981678 - **Original title:** System and method for providing spacecraft-based services - **Owner:** Loft Orbital Solutions Inc - **Granted:** 2021 - **Status:** Active - **Times cited:** 0 - **Field:** aerospace, telecommunications, software ## What it does This patent describes a way to treat satellites like shared cloud servers. Instead of one company owning a whole satellite, a ground control network takes requests from many different customers and matches them to specific hardware on a satellite, such as cameras or sensors. The system manages these requests so that a single satellite can perform tasks for two different customers at the same time, or during overlapping time windows. It also includes a logic system to handle conflicts, such as rejecting a request if another customer has priority for a specific sensor, and suggesting ways to modify the request to make it work. ## What it does NOT cover - Does not cover satellites that are dedicated to a single customer or mission. - Does not cover hardware that cannot be remotely reconfigured or shared between different users. - Does not cover ground-based communication systems that do not manage on-orbit spacecraft payloads. - Does not cover manual, non-automated scheduling of satellite tasks. ## The clever bit The system treats a heterogeneous satellite constellation (a mix of different satellites) as a unified pool of resources, allowing the ground controller to dynamically schedule overlapping tasks for different customers on the same physical hardware. ## Real-world examples 1. Loft Orbital's satellite hosting platform 2. Shared-payload Earth observation missions 3. Multi-tenant satellite sensor networks ## Why it matters Historically, launching a satellite was a massive, multi-year project for a single organization. This technology enables a 'space-as-a-service' model, allowing startups or researchers to rent space on existing satellites rather than building their own. This significantly lowers the barrier to entry for space-based data collection. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does How to Rent Out Space on Satellites for Different Customers cover? A system for managing a fleet of satellites so multiple customers can share the same hardware to run their own specific space-based tasks. ### Who owns patent US 10981678? Loft Orbital Solutions Inc owns this patent, granted in 2021. ### When does this patent expire? This patent is expected to expire on April 20, 2041, when the invention enters the public domain. ### What problem does this patent solve? Historically, launching a satellite was a massive, multi-year project for a single organization. This technology enables a 'space-as-a-service' model, allowing startups or researchers to rent space on existing satellites rather than building their own. This significantly lowers the barrier to entry for space-based data collection. ### What does this patent NOT cover? Does not cover satellites that are dedicated to a single customer or mission. **Full plain-English explainer:** https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10981678/starlink-satellite-design **Original patent:** https://patents.google.com/patent/US10981678 --- _Source: PatentBrief — https://patentbrief.org. Patent facts are from public records; the plain-English explanation is PatentBrief's._ ## Related patents Semantically similar inventions in the PatentBrief corpus: - [How Space Taxis and Locomotives Move Satellites Between Orbits](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11492143/catching-super-heavy-booster) — A modular system using a small 'rendezvous' vehicle to collect satellites and a larger 'locomotive' vehicle to haul them to their final destination in space. - [How Spacecraft Servicing Pods Maneuver and Refuel Other Satellites](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11685554/starship-upper-stage) — A specialized robotic pod designed to dock with aging satellites and use a flexible, multi-jointed boom arm to adjust their orbit or velocity. - [How Satellite Swarms Keep Their Solar Panels and Antennas Pointed Correctly](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/11623768/super-heavy-booster) — A system for managing large satellite arrays in orbit that balances the need to point solar panels at the sun and antennas at the Earth while keeping the structure stable. - [How Cloud Systems Automatically Assign Virtual Machines to Servers](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9075661/hyper-v-virtualization) — A method for cloud services to automatically choose the best server for a task by filtering out impossible options and then ranking the remaining ones. - [How Network Providers Subcontract Data Processing Tasks](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/8606929/aws-lambda) — A method for internet service providers to bundle specific data processing tasks from many users and send them to a third party for efficient handling.