Building on a Decade of Innovation Series

How does a spacecraft capture another satellite – on its own, in orbit?

Before a servicer can grip a client satellite, it first has to see it: to recognise it, and to know exactly where it is, in real time. That is the job of the robotic vision developed by KEYES (formerly NRB) within EROSS SC.

In our latest demonstration, two cameras – RAC_L and RAC_R – fed a vision pipeline able to locate a target in two complementary ways:

🎯 When the target carries a fiducial marker, the algorithm locks onto four reference points and tracks them continuously, computing the target's pose with high precision.

🛰️ When there is no marker, it detects the target's launcher ring instead — the key to approaching non-cooperative satellites that were never designed to be serviced.

Together, these capabilities let EROSS SC approach and capture both prepared and unprepared clients – a cornerstone of autonomous on-orbit servicing.

Built on years of accumulated expertise, this is how Europe is turning robotic vision into operational capability.

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