mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Satellite Pose Estimation Challenge: Dataset, Competition Design and Results

arXiv 1911.02050 ↗First posted 5 Nov 2019cs.CVcited by 62

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Abstract (arXiv)

Reliable pose estimation of uncooperative satellites is a key technology for enabling future on-orbit servicing and debris removal missions. The Kelvins Satellite Pose Estimation Challenge aims at evaluating and comparing monocular vision-based approaches and pushing the state-of-the-art on this problem. This work is based on the Satellite Pose Estimation Dataset, the first publicly available machine learning set of synthetic and real spacecraft imageries. The choice of dataset reflects one of the unique challenges associated with spaceborne computer vision tasks, namely the lack of spaceborne images to train and validate the developed algorithms. This work briefly reviews the basic properties and the collection process of the dataset which was made publicly available. The competition design, including the definition of performance metrics and the adopted testbed, is also discussed. The main contribution of this paper is the analysis of the submissions of the 48 competitors, which compares the performance of different approaches and uncovers what factors make the satellite pose estimation problem especially challenging.

Key facts. Cited by 62 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 5 Nov 2019.

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2021: 10; 2022: 11; 2023: 13; 2024: 10; 2025: 11; 2026: 7.

62 papers.

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  1. 2021SPEED+: Next-Generation Dataset for Spacecraft Pose Estimation across Domain Gapcited by 57
  2. 2021Wide-Depth-Range 6D Object Pose Estimation in Spacecited by 45
  3. 2022Robust Multi-Task Learning and Online Refinement for Spacecraft Pose Estimation across Domain Gapcited by 44
  4. 2022Perspective Flow Aggregation for Data-Limited 6D Object Pose Estimationcited by 32
  5. 2023A Survey on Deep Learning-Based Monocular Spacecraft Pose Estimation: Current State, Limitations and Prospectscited by 30
  6. 2021A Spacecraft Dataset for Detection, Segmentation and Parts Recognitioncited by 22
  7. 2022Towards Bridging the Space Domain Gap for Satellite Pose Estimation using Event Sensingcited by 21
  8. 2022Bridging the Domain Gap in Satellite Pose Estimation: a Self-Training Approach based on Geometrical Constraintscited by 21
  9. 2023Challenges for Monocular 6D Object Pose Estimation in Roboticscited by 21
  10. 2021Real-Time, Flight-Ready, Non-Cooperative Spacecraft Pose Estimation Using Monocular Imagerycited by 15
  11. 2021Artificial Intelligence for Satellite Communication: A Reviewcited by 14
  12. 2021Robotic Testbed for Rendezvous and Optical Navigation: Multi-Source Calibration and Machine Learning Use Casescited by 14
38 more
  1. 2022CA-SpaceNet: Counterfactual Analysis for 6D Pose Estimation in Spacecited by 13
  2. 2021Vision-based Neural Scene Representations for Spacecraftcited by 12
  3. 2021ChiNet: Deep Recurrent Convolutional Learning for Multimodal Spacecraft Pose Estimationcited by 11
  4. 2021LSPnet: A 2D Localization-oriented Spacecraft Pose Estimation Neural Networkcited by 10
  5. 20236D Object Pose Estimation from Approximate 3D Models for Orbital Roboticscited by 10
  6. 2023Performance Study of YOLOv5 and Faster R-CNN for Autonomous Navigation around Non-Cooperative Targetscited by 8
  7. 2024Characterizing Satellite Geometry via Accelerated 3D Gaussian Splattingcited by 8
  8. 2023Learning to Predict 3D Rotational Dynamics from Images of a Rigid Body with Unknown Mass Distributioncited by 7
  9. 2024Leveraging Neural Radiance Fields for Pose Estimation of an Unknown Space Object during Proximity Operationscited by 7
  10. 2021SPARK: SPAcecraft Recognition leveraging Knowledge of Space Environmentcited by 6
  11. 2024Bridging the Domain Gap for Flight-Ready Spaceborne Visioncited by 6
  12. 2022Mobile-URSONet: an Embeddable Neural Network for Onboard Spacecraft Pose Estimationcited by 5
  13. 2022Perspective-1-Ellipsoid: Formulation, Analysis and Solutions of the Camera Pose Estimation Problem from One Ellipse-Ellipsoid Correspondencecited by 5
  14. 2024Domain Generalization for 6D Pose Estimation Through NeRF-based Image Synthesiscited by 5
  15. 2022Deep Learning for Real Time Satellite Pose Estimation on Low Power Edge TPUcited by 4
  16. 2023On the Generation of a Synthetic Event-Based Vision Dataset for Navigation and Landingcited by 4
  17. 2025FastPose-ViT: A Vision Transformer for Real-Time Spacecraft Pose Estimationcited by 4
  18. 2022Lessons from a Space Lab -- An Image Acquisition Perspectivecited by 3
  19. 2024Advancing 6-DoF Instrument Pose Estimation in Variable X-Ray Imaging Geometriescited by 3
  20. 2024Domain Generalization for In-Orbit 6D Pose Estimationcited by 3
  21. 2024Test-Time Certifiable Self-Supervision to Bridge the Sim2Real Gap in Event-Based Satellite Pose Estimationcited by 3
  22. 2022Data Lifecycle Management in Evolving Input Distributions for Learning-based Aerospace Applicationscited by 2
  23. 2022Synthetic Data for Semantic Image Segmentation of Imagery of Unmanned Spacecraftcited by 2
  24. 2023SU-Net: Pose estimation network for non-cooperative spacecraft on-orbitcited by 2
  25. 20233D-Aware Object Localization using Gaussian Implicit Occupancy Functioncited by 2
  26. 2024Real-Time Spacecraft Pose Estimation Using Mixed-Precision Quantized Neural Network on COTS Reconfigurable MPSoCcited by 2
  27. 2025FPGA-Based Neural Network Accelerators for Space Applications: A Surveycited by 2
  28. 2025Deep Space Weather Model: Long-Range Solar Flare Prediction from Multi-Wavelength Imagescited by 2
  29. 2025NeRF-based Visualization of 3D Cues Supporting Data-Driven Spacecraft Pose Estimationcited by 2
  30. 2025Improved 3D Gaussian Splatting of Unknown Spacecraft Structure Using Space Environment Illumination Knowledgecited by 2
  31. 2026SpaceSense-Bench: A Large-Scale Multi-Modal Benchmark for Spacecraft Perception and Pose Estimationcited by 2
  32. 2023A ground-based dataset and a diffusion model for on-orbit low-light image enhancementcited by 1
  33. 2023Self-supervised Machine Learning Based Approach to Orbit Modelling Applied to Space Traffic Managementcited by 1
  34. 2024Computer vision tasks for intelligent aerospace missions: An overviewcited by 1
  35. 2025Event-RGB Fusion for Spacecraft Pose Estimation Under Harsh Lightingcited by 1
  36. 2026Component-Aware Structure-Preserving Style Transfer for Satellite Visual Sim2Real Data Constructioncited by 1
  37. 2023Space Debris: Are Deep Learning-based Image Enhancements part of the Solution?cited by 0
  38. 2023Orbital AI-based Autonomous Refuelling Solutioncited by 0

50 most cited of 62 All 62 (JSON)