The main objective of Prisma is to carry out technological flight demonstrations and manoeuvring experiments containing guidance-, navigation, control-, and sensor techniques for future space projects requiring formation flying and rendezvous.

The flight demonstrations to be performed are:

• Demonstrations of GPS technology as formation flying sensor. DLR, The German space acency, will provide the GPS receiver and software for differential GPS.  This will give measuring data with an accuracy of centimetres. 
   
• Demonstration of a vision-based sensor system for formation flying and rendezvous. The sensor is based on star camera technology and will be delivered by the Technical University of Denmark. 
   
• Demonstration of a radio frequency metrology formation flying package intended for ESA’s Darwin project. The system is developed by Thales Alenia Space and supported by the French space agency CNES.
   
• Autonomous formation flying. The two spacecraft will establish and maintain predefined relative distances by means of GPS technology but also other sensor systems. The experiment contains advanced navigation software, mainly developed by SSC but supported by the other parties. 
   
• Autonomous rendezvous and near-field navigation. The main spacecraft will from a long distance locate the target spacecraft and approach it, principally by using optical methods. The main spacecraft will then move around the target (“tour of inspection”) and finally move real close to simulate docking. The experiment contains advanced navigation software, mainly developed by the Swedish Space Corporation but with support from the other parties.

Prisma also has other tasks, tasks that are included in the Swedish national space programme aimed to test new satellite technologies. Those are: 

• Flight qualify a new propulsion system with an environmentally friendly propellant, HPGP (High Performance Green Propellant) developed by ECAPS, a company of the SSC Group. 
   
• To flight qualify the elaboration of the data handling system and power system that fly onboard ESA’s lunar probe SMART-1, built by the Swedish Space Corporation. The data handling system is developed by SSC and the power system by Omnisys. 
   
• To test a new ground system, RAMSES, developed by SSC. RAMSES will be used both for tests of the satellites on ground and for operations when the spacecraft are in orbit. Read more about RAMSES
   
• Test silicon-based cold gas microthrusters developed by NanoSpace AB, a company of the SSC Group. 
   
• Qualify new onboard software using Matlab/Simulink and automatic code generation to an even higher degree than in the SMART-1 project. SSC develops this software.