Space-ng Debuts Sol3 Vision Development Kit, Accelerating Autonomy for Small Satellites

At the 39th Annual Small Satellite Conference in Salt Lake City, Space-ng unveiled its Sol3 Vision System Hardware and Software Development Kits, offering a low-cost, flight-like platform for rapid prototyping and integration of autonomous imaging systems. For aerospace engineers and mission planners, this marks a significant step toward democratizing access to high-performance computer vision tools for space applications.

Flight-Grade Vision, Lab-Ready Access

The Sol3 Hardware Development Kit (HDK) mirrors the functionality and performance of Space-ng’s flight-qualified vision system, substituting commercial-grade components to keep costs low. Priced at $5,000 for the base unit and $1,000 per camera module, the HDK supports up to 12 high-resolution cameras and includes power supplies and harnesses. This configuration enables teams to simulate flight-like conditions in terrestrial labs, accelerating development cycles and reducing late-stage integration risks.

Complementing the HDK is the Software Development Kit (SDK), available for free to academic and non-commercial users. The SDK includes mission-proven code examples for flight software, guidance and navigation control, and payload integration, allowing developers to run full workflows from a laptop in hours rather than weeks.

Proven Pedigree in Lunar Missions

Space-ng’s Sol3 system isn’t just theoretical. Its Vision Navigation System (VNS) software was deployed successfully on Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, supporting terrain-relative navigation, hazard detection, and attitude determination. These capabilities are critical for lunar landing, autonomous rendezvous, and proximity operations, domains where visual autonomy is rapidly becoming mission-essential.

The Sol3 ecosystem spans flight, ground, simulation, and operations hardware, making it suitable for a wide range of aerospace use cases including in-orbit servicing, space situational awareness, and robotic assembly. The system’s architecture supports hardware-accelerated image processing and compute workloads, aligning with the increasing demand for onboard autonomy in small satellite platforms.

Lowering the Barrier to Space Autonomy

Historically, access to flight-like hardware for vision systems has been a bottleneck in aerospace development. Long lead times, high costs, and limited availability have constrained innovation, especially for smaller teams and academic institutions. Space-ng’s HDK and SDK break this cycle, offering a plug-and-play platform that brings autonomy prototypes into flight-relevant environments quickly and affordably.

This shift is particularly timely as the aerospace industry moves toward more distributed, autonomous architectures. From lunar landers to LEO constellations, the ability to integrate and test computer vision systems early in the development process is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity.

A Catalyst for the Next Generation of Space Systems

By making its Sol3 development kits accessible and integration-ready, Space-ng is positioning itself as a key enabler of next-generation space autonomy. Whether for startups, university labs, or established aerospace firms, the Sol3 platform offers a tangible path from concept to flight.

As the industry continues to push the boundaries of what small satellites can do, tools like Sol3 will be instrumental in turning vision into reality, literally and figuratively.