Spacecraft Perception

Technologies contributing to OOS have been steadily progressing over many decades. Rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) (e.g., rendezvous, docking, robotic interactions) are critical in enabling multiple spacecraft to come within close distances and interact with each other to perform OOS. However, to be viable, commercial OOS must be reliable and scalable, i.e., running multiple concurrent missions per year. This necessitates the usage of spacecraft with a high level of autonomy, such that delicate RPOs can be conducted safely with as little human oversight and intervention and as possible.

Our lab develops cutting edge spacecraft perception algorithms that play a critical role in autonomy for OOS. Important capabilities enabled by spacecraft perception include relative pose estimation, 3D reconstruction, object recognition (e.g., identifying satellite of interest), and semantic understanding (e.g., classifying spacecraft types and parts).

Neuromophic vision for RPO

Our lab pioneered the usage of neuromorphic sensing and vision for spacecraft perception to conduct RPOs in OOS applications. Since neuromorphic sensors have much higher dynamic ranges, they would be much less affected by the harsh lighting conditions in space (e.g., significant brightness or dimness).