Project: Fast Autonomous Lost-in-space Catalog-based Optical Navigation (FALCON) (FALCON)

To facilitate the rapid growth of space operations, there is an urgent need to provide resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) and responsive Space Situational Awareness (SSA) for on-orbit assets. Tracked objects may be known, unknown, cooperative, or uncooperative, which necessitates applying onboard passive sensing (e.g. optical cameras) as opposed to active sensing from Global Navigation Satellite Systems or ground-based assets.

In response, the Space Rendezvous Laboratory (SLAB) has proposed a new alternative space-based PNT/SSA system called Fast Autonomous Lost-in-space Catalog-based Optical Navigation (FALCON). FALCON is hosted on one or more observer satellites carrying passive optical sensors. Observers obtain bearing angle measurements to visible Resident Space Object (RSO) targets. Detected RSO are matched to existing identities in an RSO catalog and subsequently act as purely optical “beacons” providing known geometric information to the observer, enabling lost-in-space positioning. Simultaneously, target measurements are fed back into the catalogue for improved SSA coverage and timeliness.

Feasibility of a FALCON prototype is being studied through flight experiments with the NASA Starling swarm mission. Starling consists of four propulsive 6U CubeSats, which apply star trackers to identify transient RSOs in the field of view by leveraging a space object catalog. Additional work is exploring the usage of geometric algorithms to facilitate entirely lost-in-space optical PNT. SLAB is also working to characterize what camera performance and sensor coverage is needed to support future space traffic management requirements, through high-fidelity simulation studies of the RSO environment around Earth.