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News: SLAB to Present New Satellite Swarm Navigation Technologies at NASA SmallSat Technology Partnerships - TechExpo 2021

By Nathan Stacey   May 3, 2021


The SmallSat Technology Partnerships (STP) Technology Exposition on May 24, 2021 will provide an opportunity to learn about advanced SmallSat technologies that could enable future missions or be accessed for commercialization. Stanford’s Space Rendezvous Laboratory (SLAB) will present three new navigation technologies for satellite formation-flying and swarms: Distributed Multi-GNSS Timing and Localization (DiGiTaL), Angles-Only Absolute and Relative Trajectory Measurement System (ARTMS), and Autonomous Nanosatellite Swarming Using Radio-Frequency and Optical Navigation (ANS). DiGiTaL provides nanosatellite swarms with unprecedented centimeter-level relative navigation accuracy using multi-GNSS at separations up to hundreds of kilometers in low Earth orbit. ARTMS enables satellite swarms to simultaneously estimate their own orbits and the orbits of nearby non-cooperative space objects using only inter-satellite bearing angle optical measurements in Earth’s and planetary orbits. ANS enables simultaneous navigation about and characterization of an asteroid using multiple autonomous swarming satellites equipped with optical cameras and radio-frequency cross-links.

For more information on the exposition and to register click here. The following links provide additional information and list publications relevant to the three SLAB STP projects: DiGiTaL, ARTMS, and ANS.

DiGiTaL provides nanosatellite swarms with unprecedented centimeter-level relative navigation accuracy using multi-GNSS at separations up to hundreds of kilometers in low Earth orbit. 

ARTMS enables satellite swarms to simultaneously estimate their own orbits and the orbits of nearby non-cooperative space objects using only inter-satellite bearing angle optical measurements in Earth’s and planetary orbits. 

ANS enables simultaneous navigation about and characterization of an asteroid using multiple autonomous swarming satellites equipped with optical cameras and radio-frequency cross-links.. 


Nathan Stacey is a doctoral candidate at SLAB 

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