With support from Cornell's research and testing facilities, deep-tech company AVS US - with facilities just outside Ithaca - successfully launched two spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on June 23, advancing a mission that aims to achieve the world's first autonomous docking between small spacecraft using only satellite navigation signals.
Evolved from an earlier Cornell research project and funded by the University of North Dakota (UND), the mission, dubbed UND ROADS - Rendezvous and Operations for Autonomous Docking and Servicing - represents a convergence of academic research and commercial aerospace advancement.
The mission was inspired by PAN (Pathfinder for Autonomous Navigation), a dual-CubeSat project - using small, low-cost modular satellites - designed and built by Cornell Engineering faculty and students. Although that earlier mission faced operational setbacks after the pandemic disrupted launch schedules and student staffing, its novel approach to low-cost, autonomous spacecraft navigation laid the technical foundation for UND ROADS.
"AVS and UND took what I thought was an interesting and sound idea and carried it across the finish line with a more rigorous approach to software and hardware validation," said Mason Peck, the Stephen J. Fujikawa '77 Professor of Astronautical Engineering and principal investigator for the PAN project. "For me, this mission feels like scratching an itch: We always wanted to see this fly, and thanks to their partnership, it finally has."
AVS, a European-born company spanning nuclear fusion, particle accelerator and space sectors, established its U.S. presence in 2019. From its facility in Lansing, New York, the firm quickly became a leading supplier of accelerator technology to national laboratories, including the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source.
The UND ROADS spacecraft were designed and built in the upstate New York labs, marking AVS's first end-to-end satellite development project as a U.S. prime contractor. AVS credits its collaboration with Cornell's Space Systems Design Studio and the New York Consortium for Space Technology, which Cornell leads, as crucial to its U.S. expansion and the mission's rapid timeline, including access to propulsion testing facilities and air sleds for simulating satellite motion in microgravity.
"Cornell's PAN provided us an interesting concept that was one of the simplest approaches to a very difficult problem of bringing two satellites together autonomously and affordably," said Ramon Blanco Maceiras, U.S. head of space for AVS. "Putting together that groundwork with AVS's previous satellite and in-orbit servicing expertise, we were able to deliver the satellites in less than two years, which for a complex mission like this is a pretty fast turnaround."
The two spacecraft, now orbiting Earth and successfully communicating to a ground station, will spend the summer undergoing system checks before attempting to rendezvous in the fall. Unlike previous docking attempts that rely on costly cameras or dedicated proximity sensors, UND ROADS will rely solely on differential GPS signals and shared inter-satellite communications. This minimalist navigation method, paired with a magnetic docking mechanism, could drastically reduce the cost and complexity of future orbital servicing, inspection and assembly missions.
"This demonstration not only supports NASA and U.S. Department of Defense strategic objectives, but has the potential to change the way we do things in space," said Blanco Maceiras. "Autonomous, cooperative spacecraft could unlock the next space revolution: enabling in-orbit repair and refueling, self-assembling megastructures, orbital data centers, telescopes far larger than any single rocket can carry, and perhaps even the first city in space."
A research paper co-authored by UND, Cornell and AVS will be presented at the Small Satellite Conference in August, providing a comprehensive overview of the mission.
Syl Kacapyr is associate director of marketing and communications for Cornell Engineering.
