◈ NSF SBIR Phase I  ·  On-Orbit Assembly

[H]FOLLY

⟨ ∞ ⟩
Self-aware  ·  Self-assembly

[h]Folly develops the GRAIN platform — an integrated hardware-software system enabling autonomous on-orbit construction through swarms of low-cost cubesatellites, governed by principles of self-organized criticality.

Learn More Phase I Objectives
◈ Overview

Orbital Infrastructure
Re-imagined

GRAIN addresses a fundamental capability gap in space infrastructure: the construction of large, complex orbital structures that exceed the scale of conventional launch architecture. By translating high-level structural designs into emergent local rules executed autonomously across a cubesat swarm, GRAIN enables on-orbit assembly without mission-specific hardware or centralized coordination.

The microgravity environment eliminates the structural load constraints that make terrestrial self-assembly impractical — making orbital assembly the domain of greatest cost-saving marginal benefit per kilogram for scalable construction. Damage to individual units does not halt collective operations. The swarm adapts and the mission continues.

1U
Standard CubeSat Form Factor
6-DOF
Cold-Gas Thruster Array
SOC
Self-Organized Criticality
N+k
Fault-Tolerant Architecture
◈ Core Innovation

Two Proprietary
Platform Technologies

SW   Software
Coordination Suite

Translates high-level structural designs into sets of local interaction rules drawn from dynamical systems theory and self-organized criticality. Rules are distributed and executed collectively — no single node governs the swarm.

HW   Hardware
The GRAIN Unit

A custom 1U cubesat designed to NASA's universal cubesat guidelines. Each unit serves as an identical, interchangeable building block — combining propulsion, passive magnetic docking, onboard computation, and environmental sensing.

SY   Emergence
Emergent Assembly

High-level structural commands resolve into shared local rules executed collectively until specified conditions are met — enabling complex orbital configurations to emerge from simple unit-to-unit interactions.

◈ Hardware Architecture

Core Systems —
Each GRAIN Unit

Every unit integrates the following mission-representative systems within the universal 1U cubesat form factor (10cm × 10cm × 10cm).

01
Cold-Gas Thrusters
Six thrusters — one orthogonal to each face — enabling full six-degree-of-freedom orbital maneuvering.
02
Passive Magnetic Docking
24 permanent magnets (4 per face, corner-positioned) enabling passive precision linking during swarm aggregation.
03
Raspberry Pi Zero V1.3
Primary onboard computer responsible for translating high-level structural commands into local interaction rules.
04
Raspberry Pi Pico
Dedicated slaved microcontroller for real-time sensor data integration and peripheral management.
05
MPU6050 Gyroscopic Sensor
Six-axis orientation and motion tracking for precise attitude determination and formation awareness.
06
BME280 Environmental Sensor
Pressure and temperature monitoring for environmental condition awareness and operational safety.
07
AWS Ground Station
Amazon Virtual Ground Station with transponder simulation suite managing uplink/downlink operations.
08
CubeSatSim Platform
Modified open-source simulation environment for hybrid orbital-terrestrial testing and mission validation.
◈ Market Opportunity

The On-Orbit
Manufacturing Frontier

Executive Brief — [h]Folly Orbital Division TRX-GRAIN-MKT-001

On-orbit manufacturing represents an inevitably substantial emerging market, and swarm-based self-assembly is uniquely positioned to define it. Microgravity eliminates the structural load constraints that plague terrestrial self-assembly — making three-dimensional robotic aggregation more tractable than any earthbound equivalent.

GRAIN addresses a genuine capability gap: the construction of large orbital structures that exceed the scale of conventional launch architecture. The cubesat paradigm has transformed orbital access over the past two decades, lowering barriers to entry to the point where university teams and private ventures routinely field satellite missions.

The convergence of mature cubesat commercialization, advances in swarm coordination, and growing demand for on-orbit infrastructure makes this a uniquely favorable moment to bring GRAIN to market.

Commercial Satellite Operators
Defense Contractors
Space Infrastructure Developers
NASA & Government Primes
Commercial Launch Providers
◈ Project Team

Principal
Investigator

epalazzo@hfolly.com GRAIN Lead
Ethan D. Palazzo
Ethan D. Palazzo
Principal Investigator · GRAIN Platform

Holds a B.A. in Applied Physics from Rutgers University with professional experience spanning computational modeling, experimental research, and applied machine learning. His work in bio-inspired computing yielded proprietary deep neural network frameworks and novel learning models for financial time-series forecasting — demonstrating a capacity to translate theoretical computational principles into functional engineered systems central to GRAIN's software development objectives. He currently specializes in hydrocarbon analysis via gas chromatography and laser ring-down spectroscopy, disciplines that have sharpened his instinct for precision instrumentation and rigorous data validation — skills that directly inform GRAIN's sensor integration and performance benchmarking methodology.

Applied Physics Bio-Inspired Computing Neural Networks Spectroscopy Dynamical Systems
◈ Development Roadmap

Phase I
Objectives

Phase I funding will support the fabrication and rigorous testing of four prototype GRAIN units, validating all core systems within the physical constraints of the 1U paradigm.

01
Prototype Fabrication

Four structural prototype units 3D-printed in 1.75mm PLA. While the frame is not rated for spaceflight, all onboard systems — computing, sensing, communications, and docking hardware — are fully mission-representative and flight-viable.

02
Hybrid Simulation Testing

All four units will operate within a shared hybrid simulation environment built on a modified CubeSatSim platform, executing real assembly commands and performing simulated orbital maneuvers and formation transitions.

03
Fault Injection Protocol

Deliberate physical tampering with individual units will simulate hardware malfunctions, evaluating autonomous fault response: self-isolation from the swarm, reversion to local rule execution, onboard self-diagnosis, and course-of-action determination.

04
Phase II Benchmarking

Performance data from all testing phases will generate the quantitative benchmarks required to demonstrate technical feasibility and support a Phase II application targeting flight-representative hardware development.

◈ Long-Term Vision

Beyond
GRAIN

The near-term mandate of GRAIN is infrastructure — assembling structures in low-Earth orbit that would be physically impossible to launch intact from the surface. But the same architecture that builds solar arrays and communication platforms carries a far longer implication: the autonomous extraction and processing of extraterrestrial resources. Orbital mining represents one of the most consequential industrial frontiers of the coming century, and GRAIN's decentralized, swarm-native design philosophy positions it as a foundational enabling technology.

◯◯◯
Autonomous Asteroid Prospecting

Near-Earth asteroids contain extraordinary concentrations of iron, nickel, platinum-group metals, and water ice. A GRAIN swarm dispatched to a target body could autonomously map its surface topology, assess material composition using onboard sensor packages, and deploy extraction sub-units — all without ground-crew intervention. The fault-tolerant, decentralized architecture means that loss of individual units to surface hazards or equipment failure does not halt the collective mission.

⬡⬡⬡
In-Situ Resource Utilization

GRAIN units are not merely passive structural elements — they are programmable agents capable of executing complex, locally-determined behaviors. In a mining context, this means swarms could perform ISRU operations: extracting water ice from polar craters for electrolytic propellant production, processing regolith into construction feedstock, or assembling extraction apparatus directly from locally-sourced materials. Microgravity eliminates the load-bearing constraints that make terrestrial heavy equipment prohibitive, dramatically lowering the mechanical complexity of extraction operations.

▣▣▣
Orbital Refinery Infrastructure

Processing raw asteroidal or lunar material into refined commodities — structural alloys, propellant, semiconductor-grade silicon — requires large, precision-aligned industrial structures that cannot be launched from Earth. GRAIN's self-assembly paradigm makes these structures buildable in-place. A swarm seeded into a stable orbit near a resource-bearing body could progressively construct the refinery scaffolding around itself, growing the facility incrementally as units are replenished and structural targets evolve. The same software platform governs both the assembly process and ongoing structural maintenance.

∷∷∷
The Robustness Dividend

Orbital mining will occur in some of the most hostile and communication-latency-constrained environments humans will ever operate in. Conventional satellite architectures — where the loss of a single node may abort a mission — are poorly suited to these conditions. A GRAIN-coordinated swarm is designed from first principles to survive partial unit loss, adapt to unexpected structural configurations, and continue operations under degraded conditions. For missions spanning years or decades in deep space, this resilience is not a feature — it is the prerequisite.

"Thinkers like Gerard O'Neill envisioned the next stage of our future as a species not as a singular exodus to orbit, but as something deeply practical and rooted in technological principles not unfamiliar to terrestrial construction. Orbital manufacturing may be a grand ambition, but it will increasingly bootstrapped; driven by the very economies it will itself be creating. Think of GRAIN less as a satellite project, but rather a small practical step towards autonomous industrial infrastructure that will makes O'Neill's vision plausible, one 10-centimeter unit at a time."

— FOUNDING VISION