Here’s what the TSL is working on now!
SCOPE – Started 2020
SCOPE is a new mission between NASA, professors Dr. Jones & Dr. Zanetti, graduate students at UT Austin and Johnson Space Center (JSC), and the TSL. The project’s focus is to develop an algorithm that demonstrates surface-feature based navigation and timing. The navigation and timing data will be calculated by identifying surface features (craters) on the Moon.
Read more about the mission here.
SERPENT – Started 2018
SERPENT (Satellite Evaluation of Relative Pose Estimation of a Noncooperative Target) is a mission selected by the Air Force Research Lab’s University Nanosatellite Program. The TSL proposes to develop an autonomous pose estimation and prediction algorithm through the use of convolutional neural networks and computer vision.
Read more about the mission here.
Seeker – Started 2017 – Launched Summer 2019
Seeker is a NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) program that hopes to demonstrate the core capabilities required for safe external robotic free-flyer inspection of crewed space vehicles. External inspection of crewed space vehicles is a crucial next-step in manned space exploration that will greatly improve astronaut safety and provide unparalleled ability to recover from in-flight anomalies and avoid loss of crew.
Read more about the mission here.
TREL Collaboration – Started 2018
TSL is in the early developmental stage of an exciting collaborative mission with the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab to send a TSL-built payload on a TREL rocket which has a goal apogee of 100km. Success will be determined by the ability of the payload to survive and to collect data such as location, pressure, CO2 content, etc. as it falls back to earth. Intermediate payloads will be tested in weather balloons before the final payload is incorporated into the rocket.
Read more about the mission here.
ARMADILLO – Started 2012 – Launched Summer 2019
ARMADILLO, or Atmospheric Related Measurements of Sub-Millimeter Debris in Low Earth Orbit, is one of the TSL’s current missions. Working as part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s University Nanosatellite Program and NASA’s ELaNa (Educational Launch of Satellites) program, the mission aims to research and characterize the space debris environment in low-earth orbit.
Read more about the mission here.