Jane Edwards
Raytheon has teamed up with Scientific Systems to design an autonomous mission management platform for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Blackjack satellite constellation.
Pit Boss will autonomously gather and process data derived from Blackjack using processors, encryption and advanced architecture and is expected to integrate machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, Raytheon said Tuesday.
"Pit Boss connects the brains of each Blackjack satellite, making it one exceptionally smart, networked system," said Mike Rokaw, director for Raytheon’s space systems business. "Rather than sending data down to a ground station for processing, which takes time we don't have, Pit Boss will send data from space straight to the right operator at the right time."
Blackjack is a low-Earth orbit satellite constellation that will network sensors to provide persistent coverage for various applications worldwide, such as supporting missile warning functions.
DARPA sought industry proposals for the Blackjack Pit Boss program in February.
