Starling1: Swarm Technology Demonstration

The Starling series of demonstration missions will test technologies required to achieve affordable, distributed spacecraft (“swarm”) missions that: are scalable to at least 100 spacecraft for applications that include synchronized multipoint measurements; involve closely coordinated ensembles of two or more spacecraft operating as a single unit for interferometric, synthetic aperture, or similar sensor architectures; or use autonomous or semi-autonomous operation of multiple spacecraft functioning as a unit to achieve science or other mission objectives with low-cost small spacecraft. Starling1 will focus on developing technologies that enable scalability and deep space application. The mission goals include the demonstration of a Mobile Ad-hoc NETwork (MANET) through an in-space communication experiment and vision based relative navigation through the Starling Formation-flying Optical eXperiment (StarFOX). WHY DEVELOP SWARM TECHNOLOGY? A swarm is a free-flying distributed system. Distributed systems in space can allow greater spatial coverage, fractionation, or modularization and have the advantage of reducing cost for maintainability, scalability, flexibility, and responsiveness when compared to monolithic systems.1,2,3 Distributed systems can support exploration concepts that involve multiple robotic assets working in tandem with astronauts and science missions that require large sensor networks, such as a reconfigurable large aperture.4 Also, these technologies do not have to be destination specific. If developed with the right goal in mind, distributed system technology can be tested in low Earth orbit and be applicable at any interplanetary destination, including the Moon or Mars. Deep space extensibility is especially valuable as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) focuses on expanding an infrastructure of commercial and government assets to establish the Deep Space Gateway to support a system of landers, habitats, and robotic missions in cislunar space and eventually Mars.5,6 Managing a larger number of distributed systems introduces operational challenges, especially if current operation paradigms are maintained and humans remain in the decision-making process. Increasing the autonomy of communication network setup, data distribution, and relative navigation can reduce the operational burden of using these distributed systems. The 2015 NASA Technology Roadmap explains the need for adaptive networks and relative navigation in more detail.7 In Technical Area 5.3.2, the roadmap states that “The introduction of constellations of CubeSats, surface networks, modular exploration systems, and other future scenarios have led to the need for protocols that will allow nodes to relay data to other nodes in a multihop fashion across changing topologies." The Technical Area description concludes that “These technologies will allow networks to automatically adjust in size and data paths as they become increasingly complex.” Regarding relative navigation, Technical Area 5.4.4 of the roadmap states that “The ability to perform multi-