Pathfinder for Autonomous Navigation (PAN)

PAN selected for NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative

NASA announced the ninth round of candidates for CubeSat space missions that was scheduled to fly starting in 2019. PAN was been selected as a candidate, as well as fellow SSDS flight experiment, Alpha.

The Pathfinder for Autonomous Navigation (PAN) project aimed to launch two 3U+ CubeSats which would autonomously rendezvous and dock in Low Earth Orbit. This aimed to be the first CubeSat mission to ever attempt docking and would represent one of the most advanced autonomous CubeSat systems that had flown. Demonstrating autonomous rendezvous and docking capabilities on the CubeSat scale would have opened the door to new spaceflight capabilities such as the on-orbit assembly of advanced structures like space stations.

The project would demonstrate autonomous control algorithms for rendezvous and docking maneuvers; low-power reconfigurable magnetic docking technology; and compact, lightweight and inexpensive precision relative navigation using carrier-phase differential (CD) GPS. If successful, the technology demonstrated by PAN would reduce the mass and complexity associated with traditional rendezvous and docking systems.

PAN started as a collaboration between NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and Cornell University. The team delivered two satellite prototypes to Langley in October 2016 for a ground demonstration to complete this phase of the project.