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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to launch a batch of cube satellites to test whether they can work autonomously in space. The project, dubbed as 'Starling', seeks to test whether satellites are capable of working with each other in space without any input from operators on the ground. Through these satellites, the space agency will develop technologies that it hopes will help in deep space exploration missions where communication with Earth often takes quite a long time. The satellites will operate in low Earth orbit (LEO), observing the upper part of the Earth's atmosphere and working together to analyze scientific data and autonomously react to any anomalies.

NASA To Test Four Key Technologies With Satellite Swarm Before Teaming Up With SpaceX

The Starling project will be made of four small cube satellites, which are slated to be launched later this month. It is being developed by NASA's Ames Research Center, and after launch, the satellites will fly 355 miles above Earth and at a distance of 40 miles from each other. The program will test whether satellites can autonomously communicate with each other, keep note of each other's positions, adapt their positioning based on sensory data gathered by one of the spacecraft and conduct maneuvers on their own to stay in formation.

For the maneuvering, the spacecraft will use NASA's ROMEO (Reconfiguration and Orbit Maintenance Experiments Onboard) software which will allow the Starling spacecraft to plan their trajectories and make the required adjustments. The communications bit will be made up a of Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) network that uses radios on each satellite to determine when they are in range to create a communications network. This will test technology to see how effectively the satellites can deploy a network in space by themselves and then communicate through it.

A NASA render of the Starling satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Image: NASA

Sensors on board the satellites will keep track of their orientation with respect to Earth and also each other. They will ensure that the swarm operates as intended and without any operator input through each satellite tracking each other using star positioning. This position setup is dubbed StarFOX (Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment).

The last bit of Starling test objectives involves evaluating the upper region of the Earth's atmosphere to see if the spacecraft can 'summon' each other in case they detect 'interesting' observations. Cumulatively, the four technologies are designed to see if NASA can launch autonomous satellites for deep space exploration missions.

They are part of the Starling swarm's primary objectives. The secondary objectives involve teaming the satellites with SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet constellation. Starlink is the world's largest satellite constellation, and it is made of thousands of small satellites operating in low Earth orbit (LEO) to provide global internet connectivity.

SpaceX and NASA will share future trajectory data with each other to demonstrate whether different organizations can coordinate operations with each other safely. Part of a broader space traffic management initiative, this development comes when other large satellite constellations, particularly one developed by the Amazon subsidiary Kuiper are ready to launch in similar orbits. The portion of the mission which will work with Starlink is dubbed Starling 1.5.