The Microsatellite Dynamic Test Facility is a joint venture by the University of Southern California's Information Science Institute and the Space Engineering Research Center. Located in Southern CA, the Facility allows multiple variable-scale satellites to practice complex spacecraft missions while floating on air bearings in a near-frictionless environment. Several prototype vehicles were developed to provide a research platform to users.  The vehicles can levitate for hours and carry up to 50kg of external payload. They are guided by a suite of both inertial and relative navigation sensors, and include an application programming interface (API) through which users can develop and test software. Each prototype communicates wirelessly with the others and with a local ground station, and has micro-thrusters to provide motion with 3 degrees of freedom. The facility and prototype vehicles together allow for research on nearly all aspects of formation flight, autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations in space in a very low cost environment.  

The Microsatellite Dynamic Test Facility was developed to address this need and to serve as a full-scale autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations research platform.  Located in Southern CA, the facility allows multiple variable-scale satellites to practice complex spacecraft missions while floating on air bearings in a near-frictionless environment.  Key missions and the techniques, technical attributes and software can all be demonstrated, some of which are listed below:

• Formation flight with distributed guidance and control operations between satellites
• Autonomous waypoint navigation, station keeping and traversal
• Rendezvous and docking with floating assemblies
• Scaled long range engagements (500 meters to dock)
• Autonomous assembly of beams and trusses with multiple satellites and elements
• Autonomous to manual switchover control
• Collision avoidance with multiple elements