V-R3x - CubeSat cross-link, ranging, and coordinated measurement technology demonstration for future distributed CubeSat swarm missions
PI: Zachary Manchester, Stanford University, Anh Nguyen (Co-I), NASA/Ames Research Center
PI: Zachary Manchester, Stanford University, Anh Nguyen (Co-I), NASA/Ames Research Center
- TA05 Communication and Navigation
Future NASA missions will require the coordination of multiple spacecraft to achieve their objectives. To date, commercial satellite operators are developing new methods for navigating, controlling, and communicating with small satellites in LEO that scale to hundreds of spacecraft but still require heavy use of ground-based infrastructure, centralized planning, and control performed from the ground. A greater degree of autonomy is needed for truly robust and scalable coordination between many spacecraft, both in LEO and beyond. V-R3x will demonstrate key wireless autonomous networking and radio navigation algorithms to enable such large swarms of spacecraft.
Functional and performance test of experimental RF cross-link and ranging activities in a space-like environment.
Start TRL: 4
End TRL: 6
A successful on-orbit demonstration of V-R3x will open new small spacecraft distributed architectures in astronomy, Earth observation, solar physics, and exploration beyond LEO.
Technology Details
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Selection DateNASA Directed
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Program StatusActive
- 1 Balloon
Development Team
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PIZachary Manchester
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PI Organization
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Co-IAnh Nguyen
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Co-I Organization
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SponsorNASA