This July, NASA is sending four batches of six-unit (6U) CubeSats into Earth orbit to test whether they can work together on their own without real-time updates from flight control. While this type of autonomous collaboration may not seem too difficult for humans, this team will be robotics – small satellites that will test key technologies for future deep space missions where more sophisticated and autonomous spacecraft will be required.

After launch, the four CubeSats will fly in two different configurations to test several technologies that pave the way for a future where swarms of satellites can work together to do science in deep space. This mission, called Starling, will take at least six months and will place the spacecraft about 355 miles above Earth and about 40 miles away.

“The capabilities that Starling and small spacecraft provide for autonomous command and control will expand NASA’s capabilities for future science and research missions,” said Roger Hunter, program manager for NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. said. Silicon Valley: “This mission is an important step forward.”

There are four main abilities Starling will test: maneuvering autonomously to stay together as a group, creating an adaptive communication network between spacecraft, monitoring each other’s relative positions, and responding to new information from onboard sensors by performing new actions on their ships. Essentially, Starling aims to create a swarm of small satellites that can function as an autonomous community, responding to their environment, and performing tasks as a team.

Swarm technologies enable scientific measurements from multiple points in space, create networks that can self-heal if a part fails, and have spacecraft systems that don’t need to communicate with Earth to respond to changes in the environment. . A starship swarm is more resistant to disruption or crew failure, as each starship is a backup to the other. If one fails, others can make up for it.

Starling’s first mission includes a set of four technologies to be tested. The first is ROMEO (Onboard Reconfiguration and Trajectory Maintenance Experiments), a test software designed to autonomously plan and execute maneuvers without direct operator input. In the Starling mission, this will allow the satellites to fly as a group, plan orbits and execute them independently.

Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a communication system consisting of wireless devices through which data is automatically routed and transmitted according to network conditions. An example in the world is the network Wi-Fi, where multiple Internet routers are placed throughout the house, allowing mobile devices to automatically connect to the strongest signal. Likewise, the Starling spacecraft has crosstalk radios that allow the spacecraft to communicate while in range, with onboard MANET software determining the best way to route traffic over the satellite network. Starling will test this network to show whether the system can automatically create a network in space over time.

Each CubeSat also has its own “star tracking” sensors on board, typically used to allow the satellite to track its direction in space, similar to how sailors use the stars to navigate at night. Because the satellites will be relatively close together apart from the stars, these sensors will pick up light from the spacecraft and use special software to monitor the rest of the swarm. This unique use of traditional spacecraft sensors, called StarFOX (Starling Formation-Flying optical experiment), will keep the swarm together against a background of stars.

Finally, the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) experiment demonstrates the ability of a group of spacecraft to collect and analyze onboard science data and jointly optimize data collection in response. The satellites will monitor the Earth’s ionosphere, which is part of the upper atmosphere, and if something interesting is detected, they will transmit messages to other satellites to observe the same phenomenon. The ability of satellites to respond autonomously to observations will improve science data collection for many of NASA’s future science missions.

Once the primary mission is complete, Starling’s next step will be to partner with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite group to test advanced methods for managing space traffic between autonomous spacecraft operated by different organizations. In sharing future orbits with each other, NASA and SpaceX will demonstrate an automated system that ensures the safe operation of both sets of satellites while in relative proximity in low Earth orbit.

“Starling 1.5 will be the foundation for space traffic management to help understand the rules of the road,” Hunter said.

Robotics, both manned and unmanned, will always be at the forefront of research. The ability of satellites and spacecraft to operate in a connected, autonomous and coordinated network means that NASA enables humanity to go further and advance science better than ever before.

NASA Ames is leading the Starling project. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program, based in NASA Ames and part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), funds and manages the Starling mission. Blue Canyon Technologies designed and manufactured the spacecraft buses and provided mission operations support. Rocket Lab USA, Inc. Provides launch and integration services. Partners supporting the Starling payload experiments include Stanford University’s Space Rendezvous Laboratory in Stanford, California, Emergent Space Technologies in Laurel, Maryland, CesiumAstro in Austin, Texas, L3Harris Technologies, Inc. and NASA Ames with financial support from NASA. A game-changing development program within STMD.