Aurora‘s Research and Development Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was selected for its work on the SPHERES program, which was funded by DARPA and NASA over a ten-year period using 14 SBIR and STTR contract awards. SPHERES is a controls laboratory consisting of three small satellites onboard the International Space Station which allows engineers and scientists to develop algorithms for precision spaceflight operations including rendezvous, docking and station keeping.
SPHERES is also used by middle and high school students in the nationwide Zero Robotics Competition, which encourages the next generation to pursue careers in math, science and engineering. Aurora Flight Sciences worked closely with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to design, build and operate SPHERES, which evolved from the capstone undergraduate engineering course at MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The Tibbetts Award was presented by SBA Administrator Karen Mills, and U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, Chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, in a ceremony held at the White House on May 16, 2013. Aurora’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. John Langford, was an individual recipient of the SBA’s Tibbetts Award in 1996.
