Auria has announced that its Autonomous Planning System (APS) will be integrated into the Cislunar Testbed at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). The contract allows Auria to support the integration of APS, an autonomous onboard planning solution, into APL’s test environment.
According to Auria, APS will autonomously manage and deconflict several operator-defined mission objectives. These include managing power, imaging the lunar surface with Space Situational Awareness sensors for cislunar orbital regime awareness, planning spacecraft communication, coordinating data processing activities, and maintaining mission safety constraints such as protecting sensor optics from bright objects and ensuring thermal stability of hardware components.
The system will be deployed on APL’s flight-like computers within a cislunar simulation environment. This setup is designed to enable realistic exploration and evaluation of various spacecraft and mission configurations. Transitioning APS toward flight readiness in the Testbed could provide opportunities for its inclusion in future APL missions. The Cislunar Testbed aims to increase the technology readiness level of solutions like APS to advance U.S. interests in the cislunar domain.
Auria reports that APS has been previously used in several government programs. Its applications have included supporting autonomous operations for heterogeneous constellations of Low Earth Orbit satellites with DARPA, providing local domain awareness and satellite mission safety assurance under AFRL’s SaFIRE program, and managing unmanned vehicles for the Navy. For NASA projects, APS has contributed to robotic Mars exploration using swarms of rovers and atmospheric vehicles, as well as controlling robotic swarms with astronauts-in-the-loop during lunar exploration missions.
“Auria is a provider of Space Operations, Space Domain Awareness, and Space Test & Training solutions and software for federal, international, and commercial customers. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO and with operations in Boulder, CO, Washington, DC, Huntsville, AL, Albuquerque, NM, Ogden, UT, and San Diego, CA, our success is built on the excellence of diverse teams advancing innovative systems and operational software to strengthen our customers’ superiority in Space. With a distinguished track record and a spirit of relentless pursuit, we set the pace for progress and execute every mission with the utmost precision. For more information,” according to Auria’s website: www.Auria.Space.
