Rohit Mital, SGT KBRwyle; Jack de La Beaujardiere, University of Maryland; Rohan Mital, University of Colorado; Marge Cole, NASA ESTO and SGT KBRwyle; Charles Norton, NASA Headquarters
Keywords: Block chain, Multi-Sensor Satellite ,dynamic autonomous observation planning,
Abstract:
With the thrust towards multi-sensor satellite architectures for earth and space exploration, such as constellations and swarms, new technologies are required to enable the transition to this future capability. One of the areas of interest is establishing efficient and prioritized data and command communication pathways among ground and space-based sources for such systems.
This presentation highlights the early capabilities and value of block-chain usage within constellation and swarm satellite architectures. Our presentation will demonstrate using block-chains smart-contract capabilities for secure and prioritized multi-sensor satellite collaborative data exchanges, as well as incorporating the distributed ledger capability to log and track command and control events. Adapting and utilizing this emerging technology will aid in addressing technology gaps expected from future constellation flight architectures, such as managing collective computational operations (correlation), dynamic and autonomous observation planning, time-critical events, and provenance tied to ground and space-based autonomous operations and control recordkeeping. In this scenario block-chain is applied in encrypted command transmittal to multiple, yet specific, entities enabling acknowledgement transmittals, performance scalability, and automatic event-based triggering.
Date of Conference: September 11-14, 2018
Track: Space Situational Awareness