By NASA January 17, 2024NASAs Starling objective will test brand-new technologies for autonomous swarm navigation on four CubeSats in low-Earth orbit. Credit: Blue Canyon Technologies/NASANASAs Starling objective successfully evaluated self-governing navigation in area using “star tracker” sensors, leading the way for more accurate orbital forecasts in the StarFOX experiment.NASAs Starling objective achieved a significant goal for the StarFOX (Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment) experiment, a test of self-governing navigation, co-location, and situational awareness in space.Using downlinked images from onboard “star tracker” sensors, the group used ground-based software application to demonstrate StarFOXs capability to autonomously separate the background field of stars and other orbiting spacecraft from fellow members of the Starling swarm.The spacecraft caught one picture every minute, and regardless of disparities in lighting and minimal relative motion, the software had the ability to use the angular positions of the other Starling satellites within those images to approximate their orbits properly with regard to GPS measurements recorded during the test.The next action is to demonstrate this software in orbit with similar results, autonomously fixing orbit predictions with time as each picture supplies more data about the trajectory of spacecraft in the swarm.StarFOX is being led by Stanford Universitys Space Rendezvous Laboratory.
