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Completed TRL 7 (started at 4, targeting 7)
This project will continue to advance the Autonomous Deep-space navigation capability applied to Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (AR&D) Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) system by testing it on hardware, particularly in a flight processor, with a goal of limited testing in the Integrated Power, Avionics and Software (IPAS) with the ARCM (Asteroid Retrieval Crewed Mission) DRO (Distant Retrograde Orbit) Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking scenario.#The technology, which will be harnessed, is called 'optical flow' or 'visual odometry'. It is being matured in the automotive and SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) applications but has yet to be applied to spacecraft navigation. In light of the tremendous potential of this technique, we believe that NASA needs to design an optical navigation architecture that will use this technique. It is flexible enough to be applicable to navigating around planetary bodies, such as asteroids.
The Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking technology is intended to be integrated onto the Orion spacecraft for the future Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM) planned by NASA.#This technology meets a key EMC requirement to for all future exploration architectures, namely the ability to navigate outside of low Earth orbit without the aid of ground support. The technology will allow vehicles to rendezvous and capture uncontrolled target objects, including asteroids and debris objects (including spent upper stages). In addition, this technology will allow manned vehicles, such as Orion, to rendezvous and dock/capture the unmanned vehicle attached to the asteroid in a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) and other missions to Near Rectilinear Orbits (NROs).
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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.
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