Scoping Literature Review on Bio-Inspired Design in Satellites

Biologically Inspired Design (BID) has gained momentum across engineering domains, yet its application within satellite systems remains inconsistent and poorly characterized. This scoping review examines how BID has been applied to spacecraft and CubeSat subsystems, with the goal of understanding current practices, identifying gaps, and assessing the potential for a structured BID framework in satellite engineering. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, evidence was gathered from four databases. Studies were screened using predefined eligibility criteria and charted by subsystems and biological strategies. A total of 33 publications met the inclusion criteria out of 318 total reviewed papers. Results show that BID activity is heavily concentrated in ADCS, GNC and proximity operations, where biological behaviors such as inertial righting, coordinated group motion, and resilience-based navigation inspire novel control strategies for autonomous spacecraft. Structural and thermal BID applications, although fewer, demonstrate the potential of hierarchical and vascular biological analogies to improve thermal spreading, stiffness, and mass efficiency in small satellites. Limited work appears in communications, though nature-inspired search algorithms show promise for antenna fault detection and performance recovery. Across all subsystems, most BID implementations remain conceptual or simulation-based, with minimal evidence of prototyping, verification, or lifecycle integration. The review reveals significant gaps, including uneven subsystem coverage, low technology readiness, and the absence of a repeatable method for translating biological analogies into requirements or design artifacts during satellite design. These findings underscore the need for a structured, lifecycle-aligned BID framework capable of supporting functional decomposition, analogical search, and subsystem integration throughout satellite development.