Swarm Technology in Space with NASA's Starling Mission

NASA is sending a team of four CubeSats into orbit around Earth to see if they're able to cooperate on their own, without real-time updates from mission control. While that kind of autonomous cooperation may not sound too difficult for humans, this team will be robotic - composed of small satellites to test out key technologies for the future of deep space missions.

Starling is funded by NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology program based at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington.

Video credit: NASA's Ames Research Center