Optical Navigation for Interplanetary CubeSats

TL;DR

This paper proposes an optical navigation technology for interplanetary CubeSats, enabling autonomous targeting and orbit insertion around small bodies like Phobos despite initial positional uncertainties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optical navigation approach combining epicyclic orbit search and optical flow tracking for small-body rendezvous by CubeSats.

Findings

Preliminary simulations support the feasibility of the optical navigation method.

The approach can handle 2-5 km initial uncertainties in target location.

Star occlusion can aid in detecting dim small bodies.

Abstract

CubeSats and small satellites are emerging as low-cost tools for performing science and exploration in deep space. These new classes of satellite exploit the latest advancement in miniaturization of electronics, power systems, and communication technologies to promise reduced launch cost and development cadence. JPL's MarCO CubeSats, part of the Mars Insight mission, will head on an Earth escape trajectory to Mars in 2018 and serve as communication relays for the Mars Insight Lander during Entry, Descent and Landing. Incremental advancements to the MarCO CubeSats, particularly in propulsion and GNC, could enable these spacecraft to get to another planet or to Near Earth Objects. This can have substantial science return with the right science instrument. We have developed an interplanetary CubeSat concept that includes onboard green monopropellant propulsion system and that can get into a capture orbit around a neighboring planet or chase a small-body. One such candidate is the Martian moon Phobos. Because of the limits of current CubeSat hardware and lack of an accurate ephemeris of Phobos, there will be a 2 to 5 km uncertainty in distance between the spacecraft and Phobos. This presents a major GNC challenge when the CubeSat first attempts to get into visual range of the moon. One solution to this challenge is to develop optical navigation technology that enables the CubeSat to take epicyclic orbits around the most probable location of the target, autonomously search and home-in on the target body. In worst-case scenarios, the technology would narrow down the uncertainty of the small-body location and then use optical flow, a computer vision algorithm to track movement of objects in the field of view. A dimly lit small-body can be detected by the occlusion of one or more surrounding stars. Our studies present preliminary simulations that support the concept.