Mission Overview
The SpaceCraft for Optical-based Position Estimation (SCOPE) is the newest mission by the Texas Spacecraft Laboratory and is funded by NASA’s Small Satellite Technology Program and the CubeSat Launch Initiative. Led by Principal Investigators Dr. Brandon Jones and Dr. Renato Zanetti, the mission aims to develop and validate an autonomous Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) estimation algorithm to enable surface-feature-based navigation and timing. The primary object is to demonstrate PNT capabilities in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) as a proof of concept prior to a near-lunar demonstration.
In space, the SCOPE spacecraft will utilize an onboard camera to capture images of Earth’s surface features such as islands and archipelagos. The PNT estimation algorithm will detect and identify these features to determine the spacecraft’s position in inertial space. This data will then be processed using a Kalman filter to estimate position and velocity while comparing the derived trajectory with a precise reference to estimate time. Additionally, the CubeSat will collect position and timing truth data via a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver, which will be downlinked and used on the ground to validate the algorithm’s accuracy and determine mission success. This process enables the spacecraft to autonomously estimate its translational state and time in real-time while in LEO, demonstrating the technology’s potential for future lunar applications.
The SCOPE-1 mission will take a step in addressing the need for autonomous navigation infrastructure around the Moon by maturing the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of navigation algorithms for near-lunar activities.
The SCOPE-1 mission will take a step in addressing the need for autonomous