Abstract

With the growing popularity of low-cost satellite missions merged with the ability to potentially rendezvous and “connect” on orbit, the potential to enable mission objectives typically reserved for very large monolithic satellites with many small low-cost satellites arises not just in swarm flight but through the possibility of on-orbit satellite “aggregation”. Ultimately, such satellite aggregation concepts, resulting in a new singular spacecraft comprised from many individual functioning elements, must adhere to basic spacecraft design considerations like attitude control and thermal management upon aggregation/integration. When considering on-orbit operations, an autonomous methodology must be implemented to ensure seamless spacecraft functionality and control through aggregation. The University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute (USC ISI) and Space Engineering Research Center (SERC) have …

Date

September 22, 2025

Authors

David A Barnhart, Ryan H Duong, Lizvette Villafana, Jaimin Patel, Shreyash Annapureddy

Journal

70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Washington, DC