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Starling Mission

Starling
Artistic Rendering of Starling spacecraft in orbit
Mission typeTechnology Demonstration
OperatorNASA Ames Research Center
WebsiteOfficial website
Mission durationOngoing
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type6U CubeSat
ManufacturerNASA Ames Research Center, Blue Canyon Technologies, CesiumAstro
Start of mission
Launch dateJuly 18, 2023 (2023-07-18)
RocketRocket Lab Electron
Launch siteRocket Lab Launch Complex 1
ContractorRocket Lab
Orbital parameters
RegimeLEO

The Starling Mission is a 4 spacecraft, 6U cubesat swarm mission run by NASA Ames Research Center

Mission overview

NASA's Starling mission is a 4 spacecraft technology demonstration mission designed to advance the readiness of various technologies for cooperative groups of spacecraft – also known as distributed space systems or swarms.[1] Starling is demonstrating technologies to enable multipoint science data collection by several small spacecraft flying in swarms. The mission uses four CubeSats in low-Earth orbit to test four technologies that let spacecraft operate in a synchronized manner without resources from the ground.[2]

The Spacecraft were tested and assembled at NASA Ames Research Center. The propulsion system is an additively manufactured system built by NASA,[3] the spacecraft bus was built by Blue Canyon Technologies, and the crosslink radios were built by CesiumAstro.

Technology demonstrations

Starling's initial technology demonstrations focused on how groups of spacecraft can operate cooperatively using onboard autonomy instead of relying heavily on ground control. The mission consisted of four initial experimental technology demonstrations:[4]

  • Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET): This experiment allowed to automatically establish a crosslink networking via two-way S-band crosslink radios.[5]
  • Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment (StarFOX): This experiment used commercial star tracking cameras to detect other swarm spacecraft and calculate their own positions.[6]
  • Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA): This experiment demonstrated the ability to optimize data collection and rapid decision-making across the swarm.[7]

The Starling mission extension demonstrated autonomous space traffic coordination between the four Starling spacecraft and SpaceX's Starlink constellation.[8] Starling and SpaceX achieved this by testing new methods for rapidly coordinating collision avoidance maneuvers in low Earth orbit. The experiment tested and validated an automated conjunction screening service[9]

References

  1. ^ Adams, Caleb; Kempa, Brian; Iatauro, Michael; Frank, Jeremy; Vaughan, Walter (2023-08-07). "An Overview of Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy at NASA Ames". Small Satellite Conference.
  2. ^ "Starling". Retrieved 2026-05-13.
  3. ^ Stevenson, Terry (2024-08-07). "Flight Results and Lessons Learned From the Starling Propulsion System". Small Satellite Conference.
  4. ^ "What is Starling? - NASA". Retrieved 2026-05-13.
  5. ^ Miller, Scott; Adams, Caleb; Alem, Nahum; Cannon, Howard; Grashuis, Randy; Hendriks, Ted; Hwang, Soon; Iatauro, Michael; Pires, Craig; Kruger, Justin; Amico, Simone D' (2024-06-10). "Smallsat 2024 - Starling Cubesat Swarm Technology Demonstration Flight Results". Proceedings of the 38th Annual Small Satellite Conference. SSC24.
  6. ^ Kruger, Justin; Hwang, Soon S.; D'Amico, Simone (2024-06-10), Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment: Initial Operations and Flight Results, arXiv:2406.06748, retrieved 2026-05-13
  7. ^ Adams, Caleb; Iatauro, Michael; Kempa, Brian; Levinson, Richard; Frank, Jeremy; Gridnev, Sergei; Lassiter, Caroline (2024-08-04). "Advancing Autonomy in Distributed Space Systems: Results From the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy Experiment on Starling 1.0". Small Satellite Conference.
  8. ^ "NASA Starling and SpaceX Starlink Improve Space Traffic Coordination - NASA". 2025-03-26. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
  9. ^ Hendriks, Theodore; Hejduk, Matthew; Hu, Steven; Miller, Scott; Adams, Caleb; Benz, Nathan; Hwang, Soon; Stevenson, Terry (2025-08-11). "Starling 1.5 – Space Traffic Coordination Amongst Autonomously Maneuvering Spacecraft". Small Satellite Conference.

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