Starling (Starling)

Starling is a Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) project under the Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program and managed at NASA’s Ames Research Center by the Spaceflight Division (Code RS). It is an NPR 7120.8 technology demonstration mission, referring to a more flexible standard by which research and technology projects are managed.

Starling is intended to be one of the series of demonstration missions that will test technologies required to achieve affordable, distributed, cooperative spacecraft missions that: are scalable to at least 100 spacecraft for applications that include making 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; require autonomous or semi-autonomous operation of multiple spacecraft functioning as a unit to achieve exploration and/or science mission objectives with low-cost small spacecraft. Commonly referred to as “spacecraft swarms,” these technologies could have a major impact on future science and space exploration missions.

The intention of Starling is to fly four six-unit (6U) spacecraft in low-Earth orbit (LEO) to test and demonstrate four key technologies to enable future spacecraft swarm missions:

• Swarm network communications – The Mobile Adhoc Network (MANET) experiment uses onboard crosslink radios to create and maintain an ad hoc network in space for relaying data and commands between spacecraft.
• Onboard Optical Navigation – The Starling Formation Flying Optical Experiment (StarFOX) uses onboard commercial star trackers on the spacecraft to perform optical navigation by detecting and tracking the other spacecraft positions and orbits against a backdrop of stars and space borne objects.
• Autonomous maneuvering – The Reconfiguration and Orbit Maintenance Experiments Onboard (ROMEO) conducts onboard navigation estimation and maneuver planning to execute maneuvers for modifying and maintaining the desired swarm configuration.
• Autonomous reactive science operations – Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) experiment uses an onboard general purpose reasoning system to demonstrate reactive science autonomy by monitoring the total electron count (TEC) in the Earth’s ionosphere.

By sharing observations, the spacecraft reach a consensus on the best observation strategy to gather data on a feature of interest while exploring for new phenomena. After an initial commissioning period, the spacecraft are brought into a tighter formation to demonstrate these swarm technologies through a series of onboard tests and experiments. In each case, the goal is to learn what works, the limitations of the technology, and what additional development is needed.

For more information about the Starling mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/small_spacecraft/starling/

This project advances the state of the art in “spacecraft swarm” technologies. The NASA vision for a spacecraft swarm is that it is a number of simpler and less expensive spacecraft that cooperate in order to meet a mission’s needs. This implies a level of autonomy that allows interaction with the spacecraft as if it is a single unit. The spacecraft swarm can be directed to achieve a task, and onboard autonomy carries it out without having to command each spacecraft separately.

There are a number of advantages to spacecraft swarms versus single monolithic spacecraft missions. Just to name a few, the first is that measurements can be distributed spatially. This is advantageous for characterizing spatially distributed phenomena such as turbulence in plasma, or to enable synthetic apertures through multiple simultaneous spacecraft observations. Second, the use of multiple smaller spacecraft improves mission robustness. If one spacecraft fails, there are potentially multiple other spacecraft to carry on with the mission. Third, the ability to interact with the swarm as a single unit simplifies operations, so that a large number of operators is not needed for each individual spacecraft. Finally, with autonomous spacecraft, reactive science can be carried out at distances far from Earth which would make communications difficult for ground-based operators. Overall, spacecraft swarms have the potential to enable a wide range of science and exploration missions in the future.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.