Spacecraft swarms are revolutionizing space exploration, and the Starling mission is leading the charge! Each year, SpaceNews highlights the most impactful people, programs, and technologies in the space industry. This year, the 8th annual SpaceNews Icon Awards recognized outstanding achievements, with the awards ceremony held at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. in December. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!
Now, let's dive into the fascinating world of NASA's Starling swarm. Initially, these 14-kilogram cubesats weren't designed for space domain awareness. Their primary mission was to study their relative positions, coordinate maneuvers, and monitor Earth’s ionosphere.
But here's where it gets exciting: the cubesats' onboard cameras started spotting satellites beyond their own swarm! This unexpected capability led engineers to rapidly develop algorithms to enhance Starling's ability to track other satellites and space debris.
As Roger Hunter, manager of NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program, pointed out, the positional accuracy of these objects was even better than existing catalogs! This opens up a significant opportunity to improve space tracking by merging Starling's observations with data from the U.S. Space Force and LeoLabs.
Starling's success isn't just about one breakthrough; it's a culmination of innovations. These include mesh networking, independent decision-making, and vision-based navigation. These technologies could one day enable swarms of dozens of satellites to provide position, navigation, and timing services at the moon.
In the near term, Starling's mission is evolving. After the original mission concluded in May 2024, NASA and its partners, including Blue Canyon Technologies, CesiumAstro, Emergent Space Technologies, L3Harris Technologies, and Stanford University’s Space Rendezvous Laboratory, have extended the mission with Starling 1.5, scheduled to conclude in December 2026.
In early 2025, Starling's software was updated to enhance the swarm's ability to share responsibilities and make decisions. They also tested strategies to prevent collisions among autonomously maneuvering satellites.
And this is the part most people miss: SpaceX collaborated with NASA to create a conjunction-screening tool. This tool allows satellite operators to submit trajectories, receive updates, and notify others of their intent to maneuver. Starling then autonomously planned and executed maneuvers to avoid Starlink broadband satellites. This was a first-of-its-kind demonstration of a collaborative space traffic management system. Given the increasing traffic in low Earth orbit and the growing number of satellites designed for autonomous maneuvering, this is a crucial development.
Furthermore, Starling satellites have shown they can react to scientific phenomena with minimal human input. GPS receivers on the cubesats detect charged particles, prompting the swarm to adjust their orbits to study regions of high or low ionospheric density. The spacecraft can communicate and decide how to collect information, making Starling a significant step towards independence from ground control centers.
This article originally appeared in the December 2025 issue of SpaceNews Magazine.
What do you think about the future of spacecraft swarms? Do you believe autonomous decision-making in space is a good idea? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
