Advanced Space Funded by the Space Force to Build Trusted Assurance for Satellite Autonomy 

 Advanced Space is studying artificial intelligence / machine learning algorithms to improve trusted autonomous operations of spacecraft for the full life cycle of a mission. 

WESTMINSTER, CO, November 7, 2024 Space assets are almost completely operated from the ground. The United States Space Force (USSF) needs its spacecraft to make more autonomous decisions in an increasingly contested space environment for long periods of time without operator intervention. The Space Force has recently funded Advanced Space on a Phase I SBIR project to investigate artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms that can guide satellites to proper, self-preserving actions in the absence of human intervention. Advanced Space will leverage its recent spacecraft operations AI/ML work for government customers (NASA, IARPA, AFRL).  (more…)

Advanced Space Awarded SBIR Phase I Project to Develop Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) and Communications Relay Capabilities for NASA

Advanced Space Awarded SBIR Phase I Project to Develop Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) and Communications Relay Capabilities for NASA

The feasibility study will investigate modular mission architectures that facilitate matching launch vehicles, transfer stage capabilities, primary payload, and mission destination to enable rapid mission formulation for SmallSat planetary explorers.  

WESTMINSTER, CO, 28 October 2024 NASA awarded Advanced Space a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project to develop mission architectures and requirements for customizing a low-cost rocket transfer stage that will deliver small spacecraft into nontraditional orbits and provide PNT and communications relay services for the deployed small spacecraft. The project, which will be managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will define modular mission architectures and ConOps that match launch vehicle and transfer stage capabilities to the deployment of a primary payload to its destination orbit. (more…)

Advanced Space to Extend the CAPSTONE Mission with NASA

The award prolongs the CAPSTONE™ mission. CAPSTONE™ is currently flying at the Moon and recently marked its 100th orbit in the near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO).

WESTMINSTER, CO, 6 October 2024 Advanced Space’s pioneering Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE™) satellite completed its original 18-month mission for NASA this spring and has been awarded an extension of the mission program.  The mission extension includes a base period to continue nominal mission operations, further demonstrate Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS™) experiments, and perform feasibility analysis for high-priority experiments in support of NASA’s technology needs. The CAPSTONE™ mission has been operating at the Moon for 670+ days performing critical navigation and operations experiments in cislunar space. (more…)

Advanced Space Awarded Contract to Support  Phase 1 of the Enterprise Space Terminal Program

Advanced Space Awarded Contract to Support Phase 1 of the Enterprise Space Terminal Program

WESTMINSTER, CO, 11 September, 2024—Advanced Space, a leading space tech solutions company, was awarded a contract from General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) in support of Phase 1 of the Enterprise Space Terminal (EST) for the U.S. Space Force’s (USSF), Space Systems Command (SSC). The EST program will increase the mission effectiveness of future Department of Defense (DoD) platforms by providing a mesh laser communication network for resilient, high-capacity communications paths for spacecraft in beyond Low Earth Orbit (bLEO) regimes at crosslink ranges up to 80,000 km. Over the seven-month contract period of performance, GA-EMS will engineer and develop an Optical Communication Terminal (OCT) design leading to a Phase 1 preliminary design review. (more…)

Advanced Space Learning Lessons Testing Software Aboard CAPSTONE™ Spacecraft

WESTMINSTER, CO, 15 August 2024 – The CAPSTONE satellite after completing its primary navigation and Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) mission continues to be an on-orbit test platform to experiment with critical technologies needed for future cislunar missions. Advanced Space is using CAPSTONE to test multiple autonomous capabilities. The first experiments performed on CAPSTONE tested the functionality of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS™) software—these efforts are still ongoing. Following CAPS, Advanced Space uplinked a SigmaZero machine learning model, which was developed for IARPA to classify anomalies with spacecraft navigation. The latest experiments Advanced Space has performed on CAPSTONE validated Advanced Space’s Neural Networks for Enhanced Planning (NNEP). NNEP is a Machine Learning (ML) application that calculates and validates optimal maneuvers without humans in the loop. It’s one of the key applications in Advanced Space’s Autopilot suite of on-orbit tools to enable autonomous operations. (more…)

CAPSTONE™ Mission Accomplished and More Left to Go!

CAPSTONE™ Mission Accomplished and More Left to Go!

From completing the mission to exceeding expectations, our spacecraft flew its 18-month mission at the Moon and will continue flying.

WESTMINSTER, CO, 29 May 2024 – A project that began as a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project celebrated an important milestone this month: Advanced Space’s pioneering Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE™) satellite completed its original 18-month mission for NASA. (more…)