Expedition 60 Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan of NASA monitors a pair of tiny, free-floating satellites known as SPHERES.
iss060e033147 (Aug. 9, 2019) — Expedition 60 Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan of NASA monitors a pair of tiny, free-floating satellites known as SPHERES, or Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites. Middle and high school students compete to design algorithms that autonomously control the basketball-sized SPHERES satellites aboard the station. The student-written software tests rendezvous and docking maneuvers that simulate scenarios such as retrieving an inoperable satellite.