AMSAT-UK is part of a group planning to build a set of
cubesats that will test an autonomous on-orbit docking system based on XBOX
Kinect video game technology. The group also includes SpaceRef.com and Surrey
Satellite Technology, Ltd., and is based at the University of Surrey in
England, home of the UOSAT amateur satellites of the 1970s and '80s. AMSAT News
Service reports that the project - named STRaND-2 - will consist of two twin satellites
that will be separated after launch. After each one is checked out, ground
controllers will command them to dock with each other. They will then use
components from a Kinect game controller scan the area around them and provide
the satellites with 3-D spatial awareness to align with each other and dock. If
successful, it could open a whole new way of building and maintaining
satellites, including the potential for changing out modules in orbit or using
multiple small cubesats to link up in orbit and build a large satellite by
themselves.
