Show HN: Starboard, Rules of the Road for Satellites

Category: infrastructure

Tags: space, collision-avoidance, distributed-protocol, formal-verification, embedded

Score: 8.0/10 (Innovation: 8, Technical: 8, Documentation: 9, Utility: 7)

Starboard is an open, deterministic collision-avoidance protocol for satellites inspired by maritime right-of-way rules. It enables two spacecraft from different operators to independently compute the same maneuver decision without communication, using a bit-identical algorithm backed by formal proofs and extensive testing. The project is notable for its rigorous verification approach (CBMC proofs, cross-architecture bit-identical builds, MISRA C compliance) and its potential to replace email-based coordination in an increasingly crowded orbital environment.

Target audience: aerospace engineers, satellite operators, embedded systems developers, safety-critical software engineers

Repository: https://tokeloshe.github.io/starboard-protocol/ · HTML · NOASSERTION

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