Overview

Starfire NEXUS enables customers to run their own software on Turion DROID satellites, unlocking novel on-orbit edge capabilities and enabling immediate validation of operational performance.  

Every DROID satellite has onboard compute to perform Turion’s critical space domain awareness missions. With NEXUS, Turion is now enabling customers to deploy software onto DROID satellites to conduct R&D and quickly validate on-orbit.  

Turion’s software-in-the-loop (SITL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) environments allows rapid test and iteration cycles in a simulated environment using actual flight hardware.

Nexus enables customers to get their capability deployed and validated at the operational edge in space in 6-weeks without needing to procure a dedicated satellite.  

Capabilities/Features

The NEXUS platform encompasses a series of capabilities; enabling customers to test their software applications and deploy onboard Turion DROID satellites.  

1. Software-in-the-loop (SITL) testing framework leveraging Turion’s virtual flat satellite.  

2. Hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) testing framework leveraging Turion’s physical flat satellite.  

3. Deployment of the capability onboard a DROID satellite on-orbit in a passive capacity.  

4. Deployment of the capability onboard a DROID satellite on-orbit in an active capacity (optional).  

NEXUS can be leveraged for a range of use cases including edge AI/ML workloads utilizing telemetry and remote sensing data, flight software, mission planning, trajectory optimization, and more.   

NEXUS enables customers to focus on R&D and application sophistication, rather than spending time on training, deployment scripts, and infrastructure operations.  

NEXUS is fully cloud-based, enabling customers to interface and develop applications from anywhere in the world. Customers can leverage other Starfire capabilities including the Archive data catalog and Fleet Command tasking framework for go-to-market activities if desired.  

Commercials

Customers pay a flat fee for getting a passive application deployed on a DROID satellite with a dedicated amount of time for on-orbit experiments, set number of software updates, and pre-defined limits for resource utilization and data transfer. Active applications require technical scoping and will be priced based on complexity.   

Getting Started

1. Customer provides Turion with required inputs for their application including description of inputs and outputs, including telemetry required and expected resource utilization (memory, storage, data bandwidth).  

2. Turion provides customer with boilerplate application libraries and toolchain details.  

3. Customer embeds their application into the framework and provides that to Turion.  

4. Customer and Turion collaborate on defining tests and then initiate the SITL > HITL > on-orbit process.  

Nexus is available today with DROID.002 enabling customers to go end-to-end in 6-weeks.