NASA is significantly advancing its capabilities in satellite autonomy through the Starling project. The initial phase of the Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) program, utilizing four cubesats, ran from August 2023 to May 2024. This groundbreaking program allowed the satellites to autonomously collect ionospheric data using onboard GPS, prioritize observations, share information, and coordinate positions – all without human direction. A subsequent instruction set, implemented on February 6th, further enhanced the mission's scientific output.
Caleb Adams, DSA program manager at NASA Ames Research Center, highlighted the program's success: “We’ve been doing tech demonstrations, but we will bump the science fidelity to show that you can do increasingly difficult science computations and make decisions on those.” He emphasized NASA's ambition to leverage this autonomy to unlock "a new type of scientific observations that weren’t possible before," describing it as enabling "opportunistic science and opportunistic observations."
The potential applications are vast. For instance, during the exploration of Jupiter’s moons, a satellite detecting a gas plume could immediately cue others for detailed observations. Adams explained: “When we think about observing phenomenon in the outer solar system and especially in something like the icy worlds, there are scientific phenomenon that happened so quickly you could not have a human joystick it like we joystick a rover.” Closer to Earth, autonomous coordination could revolutionize disaster response, with satellites instantly sharing information and collaborating on actions.
The swarm’s resilience is another key advantage. The failure of one satellite doesn't compromise the entire mission. Adams proudly noted that DSA demonstrated “the first fully autonomous distributed space mission,” where the swarm could “sense and react to the environment” based on a high-level objective. Unlike many constellations with minimal ground control, Starling satellites are “constantly deciding what to do, coming up with plans of action and performing those actions without waiting for us,” Adams stated. The speed of this autonomous coordination was remarkable; consensus among satellites after a plan change took only two to six seconds, much faster than initially anticipated.