Creating smart satellite missions using Space Autonomy
Researchers in Robotics and AI at Luleå University of Technology will make it possible and safe to have with massive satellite constellations.
Keeping one satellite in orbit takes quite the effort; now imagine managing 648 of them at once, while adding more. Increasing the amount of satellites in space, while keeping them in orbit without hitting anything, is a key issue which the European Space Agency, ESA, is looking for a solution to — and where the Robotics and AI team at Luleå University of Technology might just have the answer.
– Our research will make it possible, as well as safe, to have massive constellations of satellites, George Nikolakopoulos, Chair Professor on Robotics and AI, says.
Satellites are used for several important things: Monitoring the climate, [more examples]. Increasing the number of satellites in orbit would be highly beneficial, but there is one problem: This is incredibly complex. A slight change in direction would affect all other satellites, which would up in an unending phase of manipulating every orbit repeatedly.
-- With more satellites being sent up to space, the need for intelligent satellites avoiding obstacles is needed. This requires advanced technology and high-end research, George Nikolakopoulos says.
Today, all satellites in space are manually operated. They follow an orbit, circling the earth. If the satellite is about to collide with obstacles such as space debris or an asteroid, a human must make calculations and redirect its orbit.
– The human brain has its limitations, and these hypothetical calculations would be impossible for us – therefore we will have AI do it for us, George Nikolakopoulos says.
Finding the Solution
This is where the robotics and AI team at Luleå University of Technology comes into play. The university has done a lot of research on Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) which can be applied to satellites.
– UAVs and satellites are very similar, it’s a floating platform with a trajectory. The goal is to create a large network which would enable all the satellites to communicate with each other and move as one, George Nikolakopoulos says.
If one satellite needs to evade an incoming object it will communicate this to the other satellites, and they will move accordingly like a dance taking place in the cosmos.
– If a satellite were to be hit by another object it would affect every orbit which would result in the destruction of many satellites. It would be a catastrophe, Sumeet Gajanan Satpute, Researcher in Robotics and AI, says.
The project will have a big simulation phase where we will simulate these 600 satellites orbiting, Avijit Banerjee, Researcher in Robotics and AI, says.
Drone Technology
The team at Luleå University of Technology have created two satellite platforms which can simulate how this would like. By using pressurised air, to simulate the antigravity, the platforms circle around in an orbit, carefully evading any incoming projectile. The simulation is done in 2D, which means that it is not going up and down in the air but instead circle around, hoovering a couple of centimetres above the ground.
What is currently being tested in a small lab at the university and in realistic simulations might one day be what governs thousands of satellites to come.
From the left, Sumeet Gajanan Satpute, Researcher in Robotics and AI, Avijit Banerjee, Researcher in Robotics and AI, George Nikolakopoulos, Chair Professor on Robotics and AI.