Advancing Autonomy in Distributed Space Systems: Insights From on-Orbit Testing with the Starling 1.0 Mission

Autonomous decision-making is crucial for enhancing mission effectiveness in Distributed Space Systems (DSS), particularly in multi-spacecraft operations where communication constraints and mission complexity pose challenges. The Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) team at NASA’s Ames Research Center is advancing autonomy in DSS through five key technical areas: distributed resource and task management, reactive operations, system modeling and simulation, human-swarm interaction, and ad hoc network communications. The DSA experiment onboard the Starling 1.0 Mission showcases collaborative resource allocation for multi-point science data collection with four small spacecraft. Autonomy in decision-making is highlighted as a crucial factor for multi-spacecraft missions, enabling spacecraft to operate independently, reducing reliance on ground control. This capability is particularly significant for future deep-space missions, where communication delays and limited data transmission capacity make traditional command and control approaches impractical. This demonstration focuses on a GPS Channel Selection Experiment, leveraging emergent capabilities like "shared sampling" and "simultaneous sampling" to optimize channel selection across the spacecraft swarm. The experiment aims to capture ionospheric phenomena such as the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly and Polar Patches. The DSA system's autonomous reconfiguration ability is showcased, emphasizing its adaptability to natural phenomena without significant integration efforts. The GPS Channel Selection Experiment utilizes a dual-band GPS receiver to estimate plasma density in the ionosphere. Explorative and exploitative channel selections are employed based on the nature of observed phenomena. The performance of DSA algorithms is evaluated in terms of optimal channel allocations and responsiveness to changes in observed features. The DSA Flight Software utilizes the Core Flight System (cFS) framework, ensuring compatibility with the Starling 1.0 flight mission software. DSA showcases results from RTI’s Connext DDS Micro communication middleware, enabling message routing over the Ad-Hoc Network of Starling 1.0. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the DSA experiment's initial results, emphasizing the advancements in autonomy for Distributed Space Systems and the successful collaboration with the Starling 1.0 mission.