Abstract
Space technology is becoming increasingly important in modern society. It participates in the construction of the future and the welfare of humanity through many applications in daily life. These factors lead to the need for training, research, and development in this area of space exploration. This paper reviews the use of small satellites to acquire basic knowledge of the space sector. Further development of this knowledge leads to the creation of space missions, which, in turn, ensure the progress of the space technology readiness level (TRL), defined by the international measurement scale. It is able to estimate technological maturity. The review concludes that the use of low-cost or didactic satellites could contribute to space mission development and demonstration. We reckon that embedded components with functions similar to smartphones can be used to achieve this goal. Two types of embedded components are discussed to demonstrate their efficacy in space engineering.