NASA’s Starling CubeSats are in the final stages of commissioning. While the three of them were working fine, one named Blinky had communication and driver issues that were resolved. After commissioning, the spacecraft is aligned to test swarm effectiveness.

Mission Managers established command communication with NASA’s four Starling CubeSats satellites! The spacecraft passes the payload and thrust test, which is the final stage of the pre-commissioning checklist, called commissioning.

Named Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde by team members, the Starling spacecraft is part of an ambitious test to develop self-coordinating robots for space exploration.

Progress and communication problems

So far, progress has been as expected for three of the four spacecraft, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. The initial communication issue with Blinky was resolved by updating its orbital position estimates and instructing the satellite to better align its antennas with ground station receivers. Operators have established operational two-way communication with all Starling units and are still investigating the root cause of the problem.

Troubleshooting the Blinky control system

Additionally, analysis of data from Blinky’s onboard orientation control system, which controls the spacecraft’s orientation, showed it should work to address the disturbance. Initial troubleshooting showed that this was likely due to an engine leak, which was later fixed. Operators are working to better understand the problem and how it might affect the mission.

plans for the future

After the final phase of commissioning, the Starling spacecraft will begin a procedure called the “drag stop maneuver.” This will include adjusting each ship’s orbital positions to align and preparing them to test swarm effectiveness.

Pac-Man

The names Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde are a nod to ghosts from the classic Pac-Man arcade game first released by Namco in 1980. These four characters in the game are enemies who move through a maze, eat the dots and try to catch Pacman, who escapes from them. Each ghost has its own behavior that affects how it follows Pac-Man. Source