Orbital Compute Primitives
Standard compute steps treat satellites like ground servers. Orbital primitives don’t — they decompose workloads around the physical realities of eclipse boundaries, contact windows, and ground passes.
New in Orbital Resilience — Eclipse, Window, and Pass steps extend the existing step schema. All existing presets and custom workloads continue to work unchanged.
Eclipse Steps
Eclipse steps run during battery-only orbital night periods. They carry an explicit energy budget so the planner never over-commits the bus during eclipse.
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|
type | "eclipse" | Marks the step as eclipse-aware |
energy_budget_wh | number | Maximum energy the step may consume during eclipse |
eclipse_policy | string | Power management strategy: conservative, balanced, or aggressive |
min_battery_soc | number | Minimum battery state-of-charge to maintain (0-1) |
priority | number | Scheduling priority relative to other eclipse steps |
Eclipse Policies
| Policy | Behaviour |
|---|
conservative | Limits compute to 40% of eclipse battery capacity. Safe for missions where power margin is thin. |
balanced | Uses up to 65% of eclipse battery. Default for most workloads. |
aggressive | Uses up to 85% of eclipse battery. Use only when the next sunlit window is guaranteed to fully recharge. |
curl -X POST https://rotastellar-cae.subhadip-mitra.workers.dev/v1/plan \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Origin: https://rotastellar.com" \
-d '{
"satellite_id": "25544",
"custom_job": {
"name": "Eclipse Compute",
"steps": [
{
"id": "night_inference",
"name": "Battery-Only Inference",
"type": "eclipse",
"location": "onboard",
"energy_budget_wh": 12.5,
"eclipse_policy": "balanced",
"min_battery_soc": 0.3,
"compute_s": 120,
"output_mb": 5
}
],
"policy": { "objective": "balanced", "deadline_orbits": 4 }
}
}'
Window Steps
Window steps adapt their output quality based on how much time is available in the current orbital window. The planner selects a quality tier automatically — no manual tuning required.
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|
type | "window" | Marks the step as window-adaptive |
quality_tiers | object | Map of tier names to resource requirements |
min_tier | string | Lowest acceptable tier (default: minimal) |
preferred_tier | string | Tier the planner targets if time allows |
Quality Tiers
Each tier defines the compute time, memory, and output size the step needs at that quality level.
| Tier | Typical Use Case |
|---|
minimal | Abbreviated result — good enough for monitoring or alerting |
standard | Normal quality. Suitable for most operational workloads |
enhanced | Higher fidelity output. Requires longer windows |
maximum | Full-resolution result. Only feasible in long sunlit windows |
minimal doesn’t fit, the step is deferred to the next window.
{
"id": "process_imagery",
"name": "Adaptive Image Processing",
"type": "window",
"location": "onboard",
"quality_tiers": {
"minimal": { "compute_s": 30, "memory_mb": 256, "output_mb": 10 },
"standard": { "compute_s": 90, "memory_mb": 512, "output_mb": 50 },
"enhanced": { "compute_s": 180, "memory_mb": 1024, "output_mb": 120 },
"maximum": { "compute_s": 360, "memory_mb": 2048, "output_mb": 300 }
},
"preferred_tier": "enhanced"
}
The selected tier is recorded in the plan response under placement_decisions[].quality_tier and in the event stream as window_step.tier_selected.
Pass Steps
Pass steps are atomic units of work that the planner decomposes around ground contact windows. A long-running task is broken into segments that align with pass start/end times, with configurable merge strategies for reassembling results.
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|
type | "pass" | Marks the step as pass-aligned |
merge_strategy | string | How segments are recombined: concat, reduce, or latest |
max_segments | number | Maximum number of pass-aligned segments (default: unlimited) |
min_pass_duration_s | number | Ignore passes shorter than this |
Merge Strategies
| Strategy | Behaviour |
|---|
concat | Append all segment outputs in chronological order. Use for streaming data collection. |
reduce | Apply a reduction function across segments (e.g., averaging model gradients). |
latest | Only the last segment’s output is kept. Use for iterative refinement. |
curl -X POST https://rotastellar-cae.subhadip-mitra.workers.dev/v1/plan \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Origin: https://rotastellar.com" \
-d '{
"satellite_id": "25544",
"custom_job": {
"name": "Multi-Pass Collection",
"steps": [
{
"id": "collect",
"name": "Pass-Aligned Data Collection",
"type": "pass",
"location": "onboard",
"merge_strategy": "concat",
"min_pass_duration_s": 120,
"compute_s": 60,
"output_mb": 200
}
],
"policy": { "objective": "max_reliability", "deadline_orbits": 6 }
}
}'
Event Types
Orbital primitive steps emit dedicated events in the execution event stream.
| Event Type | Description |
|---|
eclipse_step.scheduled | Eclipse step assigned to an eclipse window |
eclipse_step.energy_check | Energy budget validated against battery state |
eclipse_step.started | Execution begins in eclipse |
eclipse_step.completed | Eclipse step finished within energy budget |
eclipse_step.deferred | Deferred — insufficient battery for this eclipse |
window_step.tier_selected | Quality tier chosen based on available window time |
window_step.started | Window-adaptive step begins at selected tier |
window_step.completed | Window step finished |
window_step.deferred | No window large enough for even the minimal tier |
pass_step.decomposed | Step split into pass-aligned segments |
pass_step.segment_started | Individual segment begins during a pass |
pass_step.segment_completed | Segment finished |
pass_step.merged | All segments merged using the configured strategy |
Eclipse steps with aggressive policy and low min_battery_soc can leave the satellite with insufficient power for the next sunlit boot sequence. Use conservative margins for early-stage missions.
Combining Primitives
Orbital primitives can be mixed with standard steps and with each other in the same DAG. Use depends_on as usual:
{
"steps": [
{ "id": "capture", "type": "pass", "merge_strategy": "concat", "depends_on": [] },
{ "id": "process", "type": "window", "preferred_tier": "enhanced", "depends_on": ["capture"] },
{ "id": "compress", "type": "eclipse", "eclipse_policy": "balanced", "depends_on": ["process"] }
]
}
