NASA's autonomous satellite swarms to open up new possibilities for space exploration

NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley is making significant progress in the development of satellite swarms - groups of spacecraft working together as a unit. The ability to work autonomously without the need for constant direction from ground mission controllers will open up new possibilities for scientific research and exploration, particularly as these missions venture into deep space, the agency says.

The team at Ames has been dedicated to researching swarm technologies for several decades. This summer, their efforts will reach a significant milestone with the launch of the Starling mission into space. The primary objective of this mission is to test new technologies that enable four spacecraft to operate seamlessly in a coordinated manner, relying solely on onboard resources without constant input from ground control.

The results obtained from Starling's experiments will be of great help to researchers at Ames, who are currently preparing for a future swarm mission focused on studying the Sun.

Teamwork makes the dream work 🙌 — that goes for humans and satellites. Researchers at @NASAAmes are developing satellite swarms that can autonomously work together, making new types of science and exploration possible: https://t.co/890CfO1n1h pic.twitter.com/zd2Y3fRr0w

— NASA 360 (@NASA360) June 16, 2023

Confused between a swarm and a constellation?

According to NASA, while both terms refer to groups of spacecraft working towards a common goal, a constellation consists of individual spacecraft operating independently. While constellations can be advantageous in specific situations, the challenges and complexities exponentially increase as the number of spacecraft in operation grows.

In contrast, a swarm combines multiple talents and self-coordination. Each spacecraft within the swarm possesses the capability to communicate with its counterparts, monitor and adjust its relative positioning, and manoeuvre to reach its designated location. This allows the swarm to collect data as a collective, intelligently determining which member is best suited to acquire optimal measurements and which one should transmit the data back to Earth. As a result, the role of ground controllers is significantly simplified, as they are relieved of the need to individually command each spacecraft to fulfil the mission's scientific objectives.

Ames researchers have developed the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) project - a groundbreaking initiative that aims to mature critical technologies necessary for future swarm missions through meticulous simulation studies and the launch of spacecraft. By granting swarms the ability to plan and schedule their operations autonomously under varying conditions, DSA empowers these groups of satellites to make informed decisions about the most valuable scientific observations and delegate tasks to the most suitable spacecraft within the swarm.

In one notable simulation, the team operated a whopping 100 SmallSats in a coordinated fashion. The technology is soon to be tested in space for the first time.

"Swarms give you a lot of additional capabilities. They let you make multi-point science measurements. They're more robust, thanks to the redundancy of multiple spacecraft. And since they can react quickly and autonomously to the data they collect, they can say, 'Oh, there's something interesting! I need to go look at that," said Howard Cannon, Starling's project manager at Ames.