September 9, 2025
As spacecraft venture further from the Earth, dedicated positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) architectures including GPS may not be accessible as the signal strength drops off. Furthermore, communications and navigation support via the Deep Space Network may be limited due to oversubscription.
To solve this problem, Anand Agrawal, an aerospace engineering Ph.D. student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (ASE/EM), is helping develop an onboard autonomous spacecraft navigation system that uses landmarks to estimate the spacecraft’s position and timing.
Agrawal was recently recognized for this research by winning first place for his poster presentation at the 2025 Conference on Small Satellites. His poster was one of 27 selected as the winner. The award was presented by the AIAA Small Satellite Technical Committee which focuses on small satellites and related and supporting technologies.
The work, which builds off previous work in lunar crater detection, is part of the SpaceCraft for Optical-based Position Estimation-1 (SCOPE-1) mission which originated in the ASE/EM department’s Texas Spacecraft Laboratory. Co-led by engineering faculty members Brandon Jones and Renato Zanetti, the project is funded by NASA’s Small Satellite Technology Program and the CubeSat Launch Initiative. The mission aims to demonstrate PNT estimation efficacy when pairing a machine learning-based landmark detector with physics-based algorithms.
The system Agrawal is developing will be deployed on the SCOPE-1 CubeSat using the Earth’s islands as landmarks, which unlike craters are affected by the presence of atmospheric effects. CubeSats are miniature handheld satellites that are generally built using commercial off-the shelf electronics components, making them very cost-effective.
“Knowing where you are in space is critical for mission operations including mission data collection, data transmission and maneuvering.” Agrawal said.
As access to space increases, Agrawal says there is also a need for improved onboard navigation capabilities that don’t saturate current communication networks but facilitate autonomous decision making onboard.
“By validating this landmark-based system in orbit around the Earth, we can raise its viability in distant, communication-limited targets where decisions may need to be made onboard quickly, including at bodies such as the Moon and Mars. To do so, we can change the landmark.”
Agrawal earned his M.S. degree in aerospace engineering at UT Austin in 2023 and is continuing his doctoral studies in the department under the advisement of aerospace faculty members Maruthi Akella and Jones.
“Research like this is great because you’re working on interesting academic problems and your solutions have a chance to be tested in space,” Agrawal said.
As of now, Agrawal says he’s undecided on whether to pursue academia or industry/government space work, but he does know he wants to work on projects that center on spacecraft guidance, navigation and control problems.
“Wherever I end up, I aspire to contribute to increasing space accessibility for all,” Agrawal said.
Students in the Texas Spacecraft Laboratory will build the SCOPE-1 CubeSat in-house and are currently testing its individual components. The team is targeting to launch the satellite in early 2027.
