Swarm navigation and networking for small satellites
Constela Asterism
A payload that lets a group of small satellites know where they are relative to each other, share one clock and stay connected, without relying on GPS or the ground.
Concept and researchThe problem
A swarm of satellites is only useful if its members know where the others are and can talk to each other. Today each mission assembles that capability from separate radios, sensors and software, and cameras alone cannot measure the distance between spacecraft directly.
Our approach
Asterism combines radio ranging between satellites, cooperative state estimation and a self-healing mesh network in one node. Each satellite measures the distance to its neighbors and shares what it knows, and the group converges on one picture of where everyone is. It is the orbital counterpart of Nexus and is built on the same core.
What we are building first
Prove ranging, shared timing and mesh networking between nodes on the bench, then on drones in flight, before proposing an orbital demonstration with a mission partner.
Research areas
- Radio ranging between satellites
- Cooperative orbit and state estimation
- Clock synchronization across a swarm
- Mesh networking that reroutes around lost links
- Operation without GPS, including beyond Earth orbit