Prox-1 University-Class Mission to Demonstrate Automated Proximity Operations

The Georgia Institute of Technology Prox-1 mission will demonstrate automated trajectory control in low Earth orbit relative to the deployed LightSail 2 CubeSat for an on-orbit inspection application. Passive thermal imaging provides the basis for a relative navigation system used to provide state estimation and optical tracking of LightSail 2. Automated maneuver planning and execution uses a guidance algorithm based upon relative orbital elements, with persistent collision avoidance using an artificial potential function. Simulation of the closed-loop guidance, navigation, and control system shows that the system is capable of performing automated station-keeping and relative orbit transfers for close-proximity operations. Funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research/U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory through the University Nanosatellite Program-7, Prox-1 is scheduled to launch in September 2016 as a secondary payload on the Space Test Program-2 launch.