Small satellites, besides being cost-effective, can replace larger satellites and take less time to build, Indian Space Research Organisation Satellite Centre Director K N Shankara said on Thursday.

Speaking on the importance of small satellites in today's space scenario, organised by the Kannada Technical Seminar Committee of ISRO as part of Karnataka Rajyotsava celebrations at the ISAC in Bangalore, he said a constellation of these satellites, that could be used for various space applications, could replace larger satellites.

Underlining that the concept of small satellites was different from the larger ones, he stressed that MEMS and Nanotechnologies have facilitated miniaturisation and weight reduction in satellite building.

He wondered whether it was worth building more number of small satellites than few larger satellites as the former provided inherent cost advantages and the loss of a satellite in a constellation was relatively less expensive.

Dr Shankara appreciated the efforts taken to prepare technical papers in Kannada on this subject in a style that was simple and easy to understand even for the common man.

Highlighting ISRO's effort in small satellites, he said ANUSAT, being built by the Anna University in Chennai, was expected to be ready for an early launch and added TWSAT was another effort in this regard to involve third world countries and universities in ISRO's space endeavour.

Dr Rajaram Nagappa, former associate director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and at present professor, Pandalai Memorial chair at the MIT, Chennai, delivered a talk on 'Micro Propulsion Systems for Small Satellites - a Survey'.