Constelação Catarina: connect teams through shared requirements

Constelação Catarina is an AEB program that coordinates small-satellite initiatives through shared infrastructure, knowledge, data and applications. Its stated priorities include agriculture and civil defense, alongside technical and industrial development. The name therefore describes a cooperative effort, not one spacecraft or proof that a complete constellation is already delivering continuous coverage. Different participating missions can progress through development at different times.

Catarina-A2 provides a concrete milestone. AEB reported that the SENAI-developed satellite passed its acceptance review — open definition on March 13, 2026, following fit-check, vibration and thermal-vacuum testing. That supports readiness to proceed with the next phase described in the report. It does not, by itself, establish a completed launch, sustained orbital operation or delivery of useful products to every intended user. Each later claim needs its own evidence.

Imagine a fictional agricultural team that needs an observation time, station identifier and value with units for every received environmental message. One partner sends temperature in degrees Celsius, while another sends an unlabeled number. A shared communications link does not solve that semantic mismatch. The teams need an agreed format and a way to detect missing context before combining the records into a common product.

A useful requirement says what the system must deliver and how the team will check it. For example, the receiving system must preserve the sensor identifier and measurement time through a defined test exchange. Avoid vague promises such as making data useful without naming the user’s task. A cooperative program becomes easier to evaluate when responsibilities and acceptance evidence follow the interfaces between partners, not just the boundary of each individual organization.

Connect a shared system through evidence

Different tests answer different questions. A fit-check examines compatibility with physical interfaces; vibration testing examines behavior under specified mechanical loads; thermal-vacuum work examines performance under defined pressure and temperature conditions. Passing these tests is meaningful, but no single one establishes the entire mission. Results must refer to the tested hardware configuration — open definition, procedures and acceptance criteria.

For a planning exercise, assign responsibility for collecting a sensor value, relaying it, checking its format and delivering it to a user. Then identify where a test message could expose a mismatch between teams. Catarina’s cooperative structure makes this chain especially important: an excellent component can still be part of an unusable service if interfaces are not agreed. The lesson connects spacecraft readiness with the shared evidence needed for a program’s intended public benefit.