Next year will see the launch of a satellite that can reconfigure itself in orbit to take on new missions.
Hypergiant Industries of Austin, Texas, is developing a group of these satellites, dubbed the chameleon constellation, under a contract for the US Air Force. Each satellite鈥檚 software is designed to be updated in orbit and change how its hardware operates 鈥� something that isn鈥檛 normally possible.
Most satellites are launched with all the software they need and not updated during their lifetime, says Barry Evans at the University of Surrey, UK. That is because any update, such as a bug fix, runs the risk of leaving an expensive satellite inoperable聽if it fails. For example, SpaceX delayed the launch of its Starlink satellites in May 2019 for a week to update and re-check software on the ground rather than risk updating them in space.
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Hypergiant CEO Ben Lamm says the company鈥檚 software platform enables regular, safe updates, with much of the satellites鈥� hardware designed to be reconfigured. The firm has a rigorous validation and testing process on the ground, and a satellite can reject any update that may introduce a problem. If an issue does occur, the satellite automatically reboots with known working software. The system also enables much faster updates than were previously possible.
鈥淓ssentially we can update in minutes instead of months,鈥� says Lamm. 鈥淯ltimately, the goal is for these satellites to change tasks as they鈥檙e orbiting the planet in order to meet various Air Force needs.鈥�
This approach means the design of a satellite doesn鈥檛 need to be fixed before launch. For example, radios are normally built to work with particular frequencies and communications protocols, but software-defined radios can be reprogrammed, like switching between Wi-Fi and 5G, using the same hardware. Software updates could also let satellites connect to new types of ground stations built after the craft was launched or add new security or data compression techniques.
鈥淭he old idea of taking a particular business case and launching a satellite to address that is changing, with increasing interest in the commercial world in being able to reconfigure in orbit,鈥� says Evans.
Hypergiant is also planning to make its constellation a space-based secure computing facility, processing data from other satellites. Ground stations are widely spaced and only in range for a limited time, so if processing is done on the ground it can be too late to re-task a satellite to track an object of interest, for example. Bandwidth between satellites and the ground is also limited.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important for the satellite to either filter the data 鈥� only delivering the most interesting data to the Earth ground stations 鈥� or simply deliver just the insights and inferences themselves, and not even trying to downlink the raw data,鈥� says Lamm.
The new constellation will have advanced machine-learning capabilities, which could be used for object recognition and will be updated and modified as needed. The satellites will typically be equipped with field-programmable gate array hardware, which, unlike regular microprocessors, can be reconfigured to optimise performance for a particular task. The constellation could also be used for communications, secure backups and sensing.
The first of the satellites will be launched as part of a resupply mission to the International Space Station next February, with the final constellation comprising between 24 and 36 satellites.
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