Aerospace Corp. plans to launch two small satellites as technology testbeds for formation flight and rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) in 2026 or 2027.

The Edge Node satellites will carry a variety of RPO sensors onboard and software to be tested for future cubesat-scale satellites, said Darren Rowen, director of the small satellite department within the Aerospace Corp., at the Small Satellite conference on Aug. 6.

“It will have an array of advanced sensors for close-in inspection and a cluster of GPU computing onboard,” he says. “The idea is that, whether it be commercial, academic or government, users can test out algorithms in a real environment. In addition, we can prove out some low-cost sensors as well.”