Engineering Space is an in-depth documentary series that unveils the new generation of space technologies and the people and companies developing them. Engineers and entrepreneurs are democratizing access to space. Our goal is to enable you to understand the cutting-edge, be inspired, and discover practical insights to apply to your own engineering endeavors.In the first episode of Engineering Space we meet two engineers from Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic; Principal Mechanical Engineer Kerry Quinn and Lead Software Engineer Taylor Whitaker. The space company aims to make space missions feasible and more affordable for science, exploration, and commerce. They define themselves as a lunar logistics company, intending to provide end-to-end delivery services for payloads to the Moon.Astrobotic works out of the largest private facility in the world dedicated to lunar logistics. In this impressive 47,000-square-foot complex, The company builds and operates its lines of landers, rovers, autonomous spacecraft navigation systems, and other space technologies. Once operational, payloads will be controlled directly from the Astrobotic Mission Control Center inside their headquarters located in the heart of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s North Side.<h2 dir="ltr">Developing lightweight moon rovers</h2>The team is developing two rovers specifically for Moon exploration. The CubeRover&reg; is a super-light modular vehicle designed to provide affordable mobility for scientific instruments and other payloads to operate on the surface of the Moon. Because CubeRover&reg; can be as light as just four kilograms &mdash; it can contribute to reduced flight costs, making the Moon more accessible. &nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjgzNjIzNTg3MTUwLVJvdmVyMi5wbmciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The Astrorobotics CubeRover&reg;. Image credit: Astrobotics.The Polaris rover was designed to accommodate diverse lunar payloads with distinct mission profiles, like lunar regolith digging or water ice harvesting. Polaris can support up to 90 kg of payload mass, traverse long distances, and provide direct-to-Earth (DTE) communication. Companies, governments, universities, non-profits, and individuals can send payloads to the Moon on Polaris for $4.5M per kilogram of payload. For every kilogram of payload, Astrobotic can provide 0.5 W of continuous power and 10 kbps of bandwidth.In this episode of Engineering Space, we follow along with Astrobotic engineers as they do mobility testing on the engineering model of their CubeRover&reg;. It&#39;s the first time the team has tested the rover with its MLI (Multilayer Insulation) and electronics package. The testing will compare the engineering model with other models in development.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Mimicking the Moon&#39;s surface</h2>Testing rovers intended for the moon requires the careful creation of an environment that resembles the moon&#39;s surface as closely as possible. The tests are conducted in their test pit of lunar regolith, a material that mimics the fine powdery material covering the moon. Almost all of the moon&#39;s surface is covered in this fine, white powdery material, with only small areas of hard bedrock on the walls of very steep moon craters.&nbsp;Regolith materials are developed by NASA or other space companies. For example, the majority of the regolith used in the Astrobotic testing is made by the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/home/index.html" target="_blank">Glenn Research Center</a>. The regolith, known as GRC-1[1] is made from four kinds of quartz silica.&nbsp;Lunar regolith has compactibility properties[2], which means when it is agitated, it dilates or becomes lower in volume as the small particles fall between the larger particles. You can imagine this clearly by thinking of a container of flour that compacts when you tap it on a table. This is also how the iconic astronaut footprints were formed on the Moon.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjgzNjIyMzQwNzUzLTEwLmpwZyIsImVkaXRzIjp7InJlc2l6ZSI6eyJ3aWR0aCI6OTUwLCJmaXQiOiJjb3ZlciJ9fX0=" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The rover prototype during testing in the lunar regolith material.This quality of the regolith means that the lightweight rovers developed by Astrobotic are expected to sink down slightly when they are on the moon, rather than moving across its surface like a small rover would on sand on Earth.&nbsp;To mimic the moon without simulating in zero gravity, super lightweight versions of the rovers are developed that account for the difference in gravitational acceleration. Lunar gravitational acceleration is 1.62 m/s^2 (meters per second squared) while Earth&rsquo;s gravitational acceleration is 9.807 m/s^2 (meters per second squared). &nbsp;The moon rover weighs about 6 kg, so the testing version weighs just 1 kg.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Design of a lunar rover wheel that sinks and turns&nbsp;</h2>The moon surface tests enable the Astrobotic engineering team to look at each aspect of the rover, including its grip on the lunar regolith and the way it traverses different types of terrain, such as flat, ascents, and descents.&nbsp;A really critical part of the rover is the design of its wheels. They must be lightweight, robust to the extreme temperatures of the moon as well as suitable for the fine, flour-like conditions of the lunar surface. The Astrobotic rover has been tested with multiple types of wheels, sizes, widths, and materials.The current design of the wheel is fairly narrow, with regular perforations and grousers (protrusions similar to those on a tank) that allow the rover to move through the powdery surface. This design also enables the rover to complete movements such as figure-eights without the rover having a complex drive system such as articulated directional steering that would add extra weight.&nbsp;The engineering model of the rover being tested is reserved for special testing as it&#39;s the closest prototype to the finished product. To protect the high-value prototype, simultaneous testing happens on other simpler versions of the rover. These tests are often specific to a single task such as hill climbing.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjgzNjIyMzgzODgzLTUuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjo5NTAsImZpdCI6ImNvdmVyIn19fQ==" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The perforations and trousers enable the rover to navigate the soft terrain.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">A mission to make the moon accessible</h2>Astrobotic was founded in 2007 and currently has more than 130 employees. It has won several large contracts from NASA and has critical missions with the space agency planned. In addition to the rovers described above, Astrobotic has developed moon landers, a moon power grid, and vision technology.&nbsp;The company&#39;s first mission is set to be the first commercial mission to land on another planetary body. The Peregrine Rover will land on the Gruithuisen Domes of the moon and deliver a range of scientific instruments, technologies, mementos, and other payloads from six different countries, dozens of science teams, and hundreds of individuals. The date of the mission will be announced shortly.&nbsp;In 2024, Astrobotic will undertake the Griffin Mission One (GM1) &nbsp;to the Lunar South Pole. It will deliver NASA&rsquo;s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER). Griffin will land at the South Pole and deploy VIPER to conduct the first widespread ground truth measurements of lunar water ice. Such ice may one day be used for life support and propellant that could assist future deep space explorers. Some of the instruments on PM1 will be operated as a dress rehearsal for their use on VIPER. This GM1 contract was awarded under the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-lunar-payload-services" target="_blank">NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services &nbsp;(CLPS) &nbsp;initiative.&nbsp;</a><h2 dir="ltr">Learn more about cutting-edge space companies and technologies</h2>The Engineering Space documenatry series is a collaboration between engineering community platform Wevolver, and two independent Californian filmmakers and producers; <a href="https://flipbirdfilms.com/" target="_blank">Flipbird Films</a> and Green Run Productions. This first episode is sponsored by <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/duro" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Duro</a>, which develops Product Lifecycle Management software for hardware engineering teams.<blockquote><blockquote>Having previously worked at SpaceX, I know how tough it can be to create technology that can withstand the harsh environment of space. We&#39;re proud to sponsor this Engineering Space episode and help inspire engineers everywhere!</blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>Kellan O&#39;Connor, COO and Co-founder of Duro </blockquote></blockquote>Sign up below to get updates when a new &#39;Engineering Space&#39; episode gets released!<iframe src="https://c8056756.sibforms.com/serve/MUIEALrRLDzuUm9n0ZOf8rXFzimkYs9rS_nCzav7CGHGM8USNRBoKa4J5jwLh7jPqbBt7DQ-iIzGhsx_wFSBXNb4KPhpppkyJ93mD2PZJvl1pMCE9zXvsMc7hBtlPYgaIBDpec1zdrmpcCW6xuqC94Suy4YcAasZMu8t7DxX1EoakY6Xqdk8WBelkzJyrbq88OKqzHv_8A0UDOlT" scrolling="auto" allowfullscreen="" style="display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;max-width: 100%;" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" width="540" height="305" frameborder="0"></iframe> <h2 dir="ltr">References</h2>1. Oravec HA, Zeng X, Asnani VM. Design and characterization of GRC-1: A soil for Lunar Terramechanics testing in earth-ambient conditions [Internet]. Pergamon; 2010 [cited 2023 May 9]. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022489810000388&nbsp;2. Oravec HA, Zeng X, Asnani VM. Design and characterization of GRC-1: A soil for Lunar Terramechanics testing in earth-ambient conditions [Internet]. Pergamon; 2010 [cited 2023 May 9]. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022489810000388

Space startup Astrobotic mimics the moon's surface material and tests various designs of new moon rovers.

Engineering Space. Episode 1: Developing lightweight rovers for lunar surface exploration

&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an important step on a very long road,&rdquo; says Adrian Glauser, a senior scientist at the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics at ETH Zurich. In late March, he and Sascha Quanz, a professor of astrophysics at ETH Zurich and head of the Exoplanets and Habitability Group, learned that the Swiss government will contribute nearly three million euros to support the NICE project as part of PRODEX (PROgramme de D&eacute;veloppement d&rsquo;EXp&eacute;riences scientifiques), a European Space Agency (ESA) programme. This funding will enable ETH researchers to develop important technological foundations that are indispensable to realising the ambitious LIFE space mission.<h2>The hunt for traces of life</h2>The LIFE (Large Interferometer for Exoplanets) initiative is aimed at undertaking a more detailed study of Earth-like exoplanets &ndash; planets that are similar to Earth in size and temperature but orbit other stars. It will focus particularly on planetary systems within a distance of up to 65 light years from our solar system. The plan is to position five smaller satellites at L2, the Lagrange point that is home to the James Webb Space Telescope. Together, these satellites will form a large telescope that will act as an interferometer to pick up the exoplanets&rsquo; infrared thermal radiation. The spectrum of the light can then be used to deduce the composition of those exoplanets and their atmospheres. &ldquo;Our goal is to detect chemical compounds in the light spectrum that hint at life on these exoplanets. Earth&rsquo;s atmosphere, for example, contains oxygen and methane produced by biological activity,&rdquo; explains Quanz, who leads the LIFE initiative.ESA has made the mission a high priority &ndash; LIFE is considered a candidate for a future major ESA science mission. However, today&rsquo;s futuristic images showing how the five satellites will operate in space must not obscure the fact that the project relies on a major feat of technology and that many questions remain unanswered. One key question, for instance, is whether the measurements can even be carried out in the way the researchers have in mind.<h2>Precision measurement instruments</h2>The main problem in exoplanet research is that the much brighter light from the host star makes it difficult to detect the faint light its exoplanets reflect or emit. &ldquo;The instruments have to be able to see the light of a firefly that&rsquo;s next to a lighthouse 4,000 kilometres away,&rdquo; Glauser says, explaining the demands on the measuring instruments.Since it isn&rsquo;t possible to mechanically block out the host star when using the LIFE telescope, the researchers plan to use what is known as nulling interferometry to eliminate this source of interference. For this, the light that the individual satellites pick up from the host star is phase shifted combined in a way that it effectively cancels it out. The light from the exoplanet, on the other hand, which hits the satellites coming from a slightly different angle from the plane of the sky, is not cancelled out by this superposition. This makes it possible to see the faint objects next to the bright star &ndash; which is the first step towards detecting any clues of chemical compounds in their atmospheres.<h2>Technology suitable for space</h2>Planetary researchers have already demonstrated in earlier experiments that nulling interferometry generally works in the infrared range. The question now is whether this measurement principle can also be used for faint Earth-like planets. &ldquo;To ensure that ambient heat doesn&rsquo;t interfere with the already weak infrared signals, we have to carry out the measurements under the extremely cold conditions that prevail at Lagrange point L2,&rdquo; Glauser explains.In NICE, the Nulling Interferometer Cryogenic Experiment, the measurement apparatus is placed in a so-called cryostat that is cooled to a temperature of &minus;260&deg;C. Here, too, there are a few fundamental questions that need to be answered: How can the instrument in the cryostat be adjusted to nanometre precision from the outside for optimum suppression of the simulated starlight? And what materials are suitable for this? &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be working on this project with industry partners who have experience with space technologies,&rdquo; Glauser says. &ldquo;Our goal with this experiment is to develop a measurement method that can then later also be used in space.&rdquo; This brings the realisation of the LIFE mission and the search for life beyond Earth a big step closer.

The LIFE mission’s five satellites are connected to form a large space telescope. (Illustration: ETH Zurich / Life Initiative)

With a constellation of five satellites, the international LIFE initiative led by ETH Zurich hopes to one day detect traces of life on exoplanets. A laboratory experiment in the Department of Physics is now set to demonstrate the planned measurement method.

A key experiment for the LIFE space mission

COWVR, at center, and TEMPEST, not shown, were installed aboard the International Space Station in late 2021 and since then have provided valuable weather data to forecasters tracking tropical cyclones. The two instruments are part of the U.S. Space Force STP-H8 demonstration mission. Credit: NASA

In this episode, we talk about a new satellite system from NASA that leverages technologies used in other missions to accomplish the same performance that has been delivered by heritage satellites but smaller and less complex while also being a fraction of the cost.

Podcast: Eye of The Storm: NASA's New Weather & Tropical Storm Tracking Sensors

In places across the U.S., tree cover is shrinking &ndash; forests are burned by wildfires on the West Coast and drowned by rising sea levels along the East. From the ground, it&rsquo;s hard to assess the scale of the losses and the effects disappearing trees have on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and climate change.NASA research scientist Jon Ranson is working to improve new technologies for studying trees from above, so future Earth-observing missions can more accurately assess forest health.&ldquo;Trees do a huge service for the planet, in terms of sequestering carbon dioxide, taking it out of the atmosphere and putting it into wood,&rdquo; Ranson said, &ldquo;but trees are very sensitive to our changing climate. We&rsquo;re trying to see the changes going on in forest ecosystems. If you detect things early enough, you might be able to do something about it.&rdquo;When measured from aircraft and satellites, the wavelengths of light reflected by plants tell scientists about the amount of photosynthesis occurring, and therefore how much atmospheric carbon dioxide trees take up and store. The current standard for studying vegetation is called NDVI, or Normalized Differential Vegetation Index, which is the average of two broad portions of the infrared spectrum. NASA&rsquo;s NDVI record goes back 40 years, providing a low-resolution but accurate picture of forest health.While NDVI is good at assessing vegetation quantity and vigor broadly, Ranson said, breaking down infrared and visible light into many more wavelengths, a technology called hyperspectral imaging, can provide insight on plants&rsquo; water content, chlorophyll and even changes in health. &nbsp;<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1679491783339-mlbs_landscape2+%281%29.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">In the Mountain Lake region near Blacksburg, VA, a National Ecological Observatory Network tower contains CO2 sensors that can help validate measurements taken by aircraft or satellites. Credits: Courtesy Jon Ranson&ldquo;Vegetation has these broad spectral properties,&rdquo; said Ian Adams, Earth Sciences Division Technologist at NASA&rsquo;s Goddard Space Flight Center. &ldquo;With hyperspectral imaging, you get lots of different measurements at smaller, closer together frequencies. There is a lot more information we can pull out if we can get better spectral resolution.&rdquo;By dramatically increasing the number of frequencies available for researchers to study, Ranson&rsquo;s work serves the priorities of the National Academies of Science&rsquo;s most recent Earth Science decadal survey, which determines the field&rsquo;s long-term priorities. The survey lists &ldquo;surface topography and vegetation,&rdquo; including forests, as a key area of study in need of more advanced technology.&nbsp;&ldquo;Strategically for NASA, and more broadly for the remote sensing community, hyperspectral is one of the areas we see as the future,&rdquo; Adams said.To make use of hyperspectral imaging by future orbital missions, data analysis techniques are first proven closer to the ground.Ranson&rsquo;s team fitted a Skyfish drone (UAV) from partner institution Virginia Tech with a visible and infrared (VIS/IR) hyperspectral camera and lidar equipment. They flew the imaging equipment over forests near Blacksburg, VA, in a region called Mountain Lake. Comparing their UAV observations with actual CO2 levels recorded by sensors on a nearby National Ecological Observatory Network tower, Ranson&rsquo;s team was able to refine calculations about how much carbon the forest removed from the atmosphere.These comparisons allowed them to further refine techniques for interpreting the hyperspectral data. For instance, Plants stressed by too much sunlight may release pigments to shield their chloroplasts, a condition his sensors can detect. If plants get too much shade, they may grow leaves with larger surface-areas, which can cause the sensor to overestimate plant productivity. Ranson wants to add short-wave infrared sensors to better distinguish reflections from leaves and other parts of plants, eliminating another possible source of error.<h2>The view from space: Seeing the forest for the trees</h2>Ranson&rsquo;s goal is to study forests on a global scale from space.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to get the complete picture,&rdquo; Ranson said. &ldquo;So that when we go to space, we know how to find the answer to the question, &lsquo;Are our forests healthy? And if not, why not?&rsquo;&rdquo;Scientists and engineers at Goddard have been developing a mission concept called Concurrent Artificially intelligent Spectrometry and Adaptive Lidar System, or CASALS. If selected, CASALS would send a satellite with lidar and hyperspectral cameras into space. A constellation of such satellites could take the frequent measurements necessary to assess changes in forest productivity over time, using models perfected by Ranson&rsquo;s UAV flights.&ldquo;Forests take up as much carbon as the ocean does, yet forests cover only 9 percent of Earth&rsquo;s surface,&rdquo; said Ranson. &ldquo;So, if something goes wrong with our forests, it&rsquo;s a dramatic issue. We&rsquo;ve got this great, great resource in forests, and we need to care for them so they&rsquo;ll care for us.&rdquo;

In places across the U.S., tree cover is shrinking – forests are burned by wildfires on the West Coast and drowned by rising sea levels along the East. From the ground, it’s hard to assess the scale of the losses and the effects disappearing trees have on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and climate change.

NASA To Measure Forest Health from Above

This article was discussed in our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte&source=gmail&ust=1672821999265000&usg=AOvVaw3lLKdHdEN0YvCEsaHI7hx9" href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next Byte podcast</a>.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/788c4555-efa4-44a6-84d8-cf9cd503de92?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe> The full article will continue below.<hr>NASA recently built two weather instruments to test the potential of small, low-cost sensors to do some of the work of bulkier, pricier satellites. Both instruments have exceeded expectations as trial runs, and they are already delivering useful forecast information for the most devastating of storms, tropical cyclones.Launched in late 2021 to the International Space Station, <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/5-things-to-know-about-a-pair-of-small-but-mighty-weather-instruments" target="_blank">COWVR</a> (short for Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer) measures the speed and direction of wind at the ocean surface, and TEMPEST (Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems) provides atmospheric water vapor measurements. Both instruments are part of Space Test Program-Houston 8 (STP-H8), a three-year demonstration mission funded by the U.S. Space Force, which also funded the construction of COWVR. TEMPEST was built by NASA as a flight spare for a prior mission, and Space Force repurposed it for STP-H8.Imagery created from their data is being used by the U.S. <a href="https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/jtwc.html" target="_blank">Joint Typhoon Warning Center</a> to track the location and intensity of tropical cyclones in the Indian and Pacific oceans. In fact, COWVR and TEMPEST images were among the sources used by a forecaster at the typhoon center in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to pin down the location of Tropical Cyclone Mandous, which roiled the Bay of Bengal off southern India in December 2022.<img src="https://images.wevolver.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ3ZXZvbHZlci1wcm9qZWN0LWltYWdlcyIsImtleSI6ImZyb2FsYS8xNjc3NjI5NTA1NjI3LWpwZWdQSUEyNTU2NS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJyZXNpemUiOnsid2lkdGgiOjk1MCwiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifX19" style="width: 768px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Data from the COWVR and TEMPEST instruments aboard the ISS was used to create this image of Tropical Cyclone Mandous, which forecasters used to understand the December 2022 storm&#39;s intensity and predict its path toward southern India.&nbsp; Credit: U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center/U.S. Naval Research LaboratoryFor several months, images based on COWVR and TEMPEST data have been delivered to the center by the Monterey, California-based Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which has been working with NASA to calibrate the instruments and validate their data. Storm forecasters have been trying out the imagery &ndash; evaluating how it affects predictions and comparing it with other data sources &ndash; said Brian Strahl, the center&rsquo;s director.Reliable, frequently updated information on storm structure and location, wind speed, and humidity is crucial to the center&rsquo;s mission to track tropical cyclones between Africa&rsquo;s east coast and the west coast of the Americas, an area that includes vast expanses of open ocean.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s challenging outside of the continental U.S. &ndash; where you don&rsquo;t have weather aircraft routinely flying &ndash; to give a really good ground-truth of where these storms are, so we&rsquo;re reliant on satellites,&rdquo; Strahl said. &ldquo;Any new additions of good quality data, which we believe these are, can be very useful.&rdquo;<h2 data-block-key="8jorb">Smaller, Less Costly</h2>COWVR and TEMPEST both measure microwave emissions from Earth&rsquo;s atmosphere and surface. Data from microwave readings have an advantage over those from infrared or visible light: They can give forecasters a look at the internal structure of a tropical cyclone and help them locate the eye, even if it&rsquo;s obscured by clouds.The idea for the mission emerged a decade ago as the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) started considering the next generation of instruments that could replace sensors such as WindSat, a DoD weather radiometer that operated until 2020.COWVR incorporates technology and designs developed at NASA&rsquo;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the agency&rsquo;s Jason series of ocean-observing satellites. With Jason, engineers had to correct for the presence of atmospheric water vapor when measuring sea surface height. With COWVR, the water vapor and how it moves are the focus.Larger weather radiometers are often built with spinning dishes to enable broader coverage than that provided by an instrument that points straight down. COWVR also uses a rotating dish, but JPL engineers managed to simplify the instrument&rsquo;s design, making it more power-efficient without compromising its capabilities.Around the size of a minifridge, the instrument weighs about 130 pounds (60 kilograms) and requires about 47 watts to run &ndash; approximately the same power demand as an actual minifridge. WindSat, by comparison, weighed 990 pounds (450 kilograms) and used 350 watts. COWVR&rsquo;s design and construction budget was $24 million, roughly one-fifth the cost of WindSat.TEMPEST was a flight spare left over from NASA&rsquo;s 2018&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/temporal-experiment-for-storms-and-tropical-systems-demonstration-tempest-d" target="_blank">TEMPEST-D mission</a>. About the size of a cereal box, it weighs roughly 8 pounds (4 kilograms), draws 6.5 watts of power, and had a budget of less than $2 million. TEMPEST-D was a CubeSat demonstration led by researchers from Colorado State University, JPL, and Blue Canyon Technologies.&ldquo;NASA developed these instruments to be compact and simple, without many moving parts, and using technology that has matured over the decades,&rdquo; said Shannon Brown, principal investigator for COWVR at JPL. &ldquo;We are now seeing that instruments like that can perform as well as the more expensive operational sensors.&rdquo;Separate from STP-H8, NASA also is exploring the use of data from COWVR and TEMPEST, as well as small satellites like them, for its own weather-related missions.<h2 data-block-key="2u9ui">What&rsquo;s Next</h2>The Naval Research Laboratory has sent data from COWVR and TEMPEST to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, where forecasters have started to evaluate it. And the Joint Typhoon Warning Center intends to take a closer look at COWVR&rsquo;s surface wind speed and direction data &ndash; not just the imagery &ndash; to see if it improves tropical cyclone forecasts.The Naval Research Laboratory also continues to evaluate raw data from COWVR and TEMPEST for use in the U.S. Navy&rsquo;s global numerical weather models.&ldquo;These are critical behind-the-scenes efforts that enable us to feel confident using measurements from these new instruments,&rdquo; said Steve Swadley, NRL&rsquo;s lead for calibration and validation of data from spaceborne microwave sensors. &ldquo;So far, it looks really, really good, so that&rsquo;s exciting.&rdquo;

Known as COWVR and TEMPEST, the duo is demonstrating that smaller, less expensive science instruments can play an important role in weather forecasting.

Dynamic NASA-Built Weather Sensors Enlisted to Track Tropical Cyclones

The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum f&uuml;r Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is currently working with <a href="https://www.uarx.com/" target="_blank" title="External link UARX Space">UARX</a> Space to develop a specialised spacecraft that will transport multiple satellites to different desired orbits after separation from the launch vehicle. DLR is providing a radio platform called Generic Software Defined Radio (GSDR), which is used to communicate with the ground station. GSDR is a multifunctional radio system that allows multiple applications to performed in different frequency bands. The hardware does not have to be adapted to the application-specific requirements, as is usually the case, but can be reconfigured via software and commands while in orbit.<h2>Planned mission in 2024</h2>In commercial spaceflight, one launch vehicle typically delivers several satellites into the same fixed target orbit to save costs. As a result, certain users must wait a long time for a launch vehicle that will fly to their target orbit or face the prohibitive cost of booking a rocket for their sole use. The Orbit Solutions to Simplify Injection and Exploration (<a href="https://www.uarx.com/projects/ossie.php" target="_blank" title="External link OSSIE">OSSIE</a>) orbit transfer vehicle from UARX Space is being developed with the aim of carrying satellites deployed in space to their desired target orbit, regardless of the initial deployment orbit of the launch vehicle. This places considerable demands on communication between the spacecraft and the ground segment, as the radio communication distance varies greatly throughout the mission.The GSDR, developed by DLR, will be used as the communication subsystem, as this innovative radio platform is ideally suited to OSSIE&#39;s needs and can respond flexibly to the varying communication requirements. &quot;After more than five years of development and extensive testing, our GSDR has now reached a technology readiness level (TRL) of 7. The next step is to demonstrate the system in orbit. We are delighted that our system will contribute to UARX&#39;s mission and help us harness OSSIE&#39;s full potential,&quot; says Jan Budroweit, Project Manager at DLR.OSSIE is a cost-effective Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) designed to deploy customer payloads that require transport to specific orbits. To accomplish a controlled deployment, the vehicle is commanded to conduct precise manoeuvres that change its orbital parameters. During these manoeuvres, constant communication with the ground segment is often very important. OSSIE is also capable of carrying orbital demonstrators that allow customers to test their hardware without being deployed into orbit. During such a flight, the payload receives all required services, such as power and communications, from the OSSIE platform.UARX Space already has customers for OSSIE&#39;s demonstration mission, which is planned for mid-2024, and during which the capabilities of the spacecraft will be validated in preparation for more complex missions. &quot;Counting on the support of DLR to handle such complex communication scenarios is essential to ensure we can offer the best quality of service to our customers,&quot; says Andr&eacute;s Villa, CTO at UARX Space.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1676889026224-ossie-laboratory.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Lab&shy;o&shy;ra&shy;to&shy;ry test&shy;ing of Gener&shy;ic Soft&shy;ware De&shy;fined Ra&shy;dio (GS&shy;DR) at the DLR site in Bre&shy;men. Credit: &copy; DLR. All rights reserved&nbsp;<h2>A modular, reusable radio system</h2>GSDR is designed to be easy to reuse and adapt from mission to mission. Its advanced technology enables high-performance data processing and extreme flexibility for rapid development and reconfiguration. Mission-specific features are primarily implemented through software customisation.GSDR can operate in different frequency bands without any need to adapt the hardware. This allows various applications &ndash; including communication between the ground station and the spacecraft and the reception of aircraft signals &ndash; to be implemented within a single system. This saves space and weight, which in turn reduces costs, particularly for space missions. Due to its compact design and low power consumption, the platform is especially well suited to operation with small satellites. Ensuring reliability under space conditions was a priority during the development of the GSDR. The system has been specifically designed and extensively tested to handle the effects of radiation and guarantee a high level of reliability and operational availability. The GSDR currently has a TRL of 7, so it is certified with respect to critical environmental influences such as thermal and mechanical factors and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).

The OSSIE space­craft from UARX Space fea­tur­ing DLR ra­dio tech­nol­o­gy. Credit: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is currently working with UARX Space to develop a specialised spacecraft that will transport multiple satellites to different desired orbits after separation from the launch vehicle.

The future of small satellite transfer orbits

Spacecraft and mission hardware designed by an artificial intelligence may resemble bones left by some alien species, but they weigh less, tolerate higher structural loads, and require a fraction of the time parts designed by humans take to develop.&ldquo;They look somewhat alien and weird,&rdquo; Research Engineer Ryan McClelland said, &ldquo;but once you see them in function, it really makes sense.&rdquo;McClelland pioneered the design of specialized, one-off parts using commercially available AI software at NASA&rsquo;s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, producing hardware he has dubbed evolved structures.To create these parts, a computer-assisted design (CAD) specialist starts with the mission&rsquo;s requirements and draws in the surfaces where the part connects to the instrument or spacecraft &ndash; as well any bolts and fittings for electronics and other hardware. The designer might also need to block out a path so that the algorithm doesn&rsquo;t block a laser beam or optical sensor. Finally, more complex builds might require spaces for technicians&rsquo; hands to maneuver for assembly and alignment.Once all off-limits areas are defined, the AI connects the dots, McClelland said, producing complex structure designs in as little as an hour or two. &ldquo;The algorithms do need a human eye,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Human intuition knows what looks right, but left to itself, the algorithm can sometimes make structures too thin.&quot;These evolved structures save up to two-thirds of the weight compared to traditional&nbsp;components, he said, and can be milled by commercial vendors. &ldquo;You can perform the design, analysis and fabrication of a prototype part, and have it in hand in as little as one week,&rdquo; McClelland said. &ldquo;It can be radically fast compared with how we&rsquo;re used to working.&rdquo;Parts are also analyzed using NASA-standard validation software and processes to identify potential points of failure, McClelland said. &ldquo;We found it actually lowers risk. After these stress analyses, we find the parts generated by the algorithm don&rsquo;t have the stress concentrations that you have with human designs. The stress factors are almost ten times lower than parts produced by an expert human.&rdquo;McClelland&rsquo;s evolved components have been adopted by NASA missions in different stages of design and construction, including astrophysics balloon observatories, Earth-atmosphere scanners, planetary instruments, space weather monitors, space telescopes, and even the Mars Sample Return mission.Goddard physicist Peter Nagler turned to evolved structures to help develop the EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope (EXCITE) mission, a balloon-borne telescope developed to study hot Jupiter-type exoplanets orbiting other stars. Currently under construction and testing, EXCITE plans to use a near-infrared spectrograph to perform continuous observations of each planet&#39;s orbit about its host star.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1676543284461-excite.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">yan McClelland designed an aluminum scaffold for the back of the EXCITE telescope, which is planned to make a test flight as early as Fall of 2023. The curved, criss-crossed reinforcing structures were designed to resist significant off-centered forces. Credits: Henry Dennis&ldquo;We have a couple of areas with very tricky design requirements,&rdquo; Nagler said. &ldquo;There were combinations of specific interfaces and exacting load specifications that were proving to be a challenge for our designers.&rdquo;McClelland designed a titanium scaffold for the back of the EXCITE telescope, where the IR receiver housed inside an aluminum cryogenic chamber connects to a carbon fiber plate supporting the primary mirror. &ldquo;These materials have very different thermal expansion properties,&rdquo; Nagler said. &ldquo;We had to have an interface between them that won&rsquo;t stress either material.&rdquo;A long-duration NASA Super-Pressure Balloon will loft the EXCITE mission&rsquo;s SUV-sized payload, with an engineering test flight planned as early as fall of 2023.<h2>Ideal Design Solution for NASA&rsquo;s Custom Parts</h2>AI-assisted design is a growing industry, with everything from equipment parts to entire car and motorcycle chassis being developed by computers.The use case for NASA is particularly strong, McClelland said.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re a motorcycle or car company,&rdquo; McClelland said, &ldquo;there may be only one chassis design that you&rsquo;re going to produce, and then you&rsquo;ll manufacture a bunch of them. Here at NASA, we make thousands of bespoke parts every year.&rdquo;3D printing with resins and metals will unlock the future of AI-assisted design, he said, enabling larger components such as structural trusses, complex systems that move or unfold, or advanced precision optics. &ldquo;These techniques could enable NASA and commercial partners to build larger components in orbit that would not otherwise fit in a standard launch vehicle, they could even facilitate construction on the Moon or Mars using materials found in those locations.&rdquo;Merging AI, 3D printing or additive manufacturing, and in-situ resource utilization will advance In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities. ISAM is a key priority for U.S. space infrastructure development as defined by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/04-2022-ISAM-National-Strategy-Final.pdf" target="_blank">ISAM National Strategy</a> and&nbsp;<a data-lf-fd-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NATIONAL-ISAM-IMPLEMENTATION-PLAN.pdf" target="_blank">ISAM Implementation Plan</a>.This work is supported by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/innovation_fund/index.html" target="_blank">Center Innovation Fund</a> in NASA&#39;s Space Technology Mission Directorate as well as Goddard&rsquo;s Internal Research and Development (IRAD) program.

Defined by a human designer, and filled in by an artificial intelligence program, this scaffold was milled from a solid block of aluminum and features connections for mirrors and instruments as well as pathways preserved for laser light and human hands to attach and adjust sensors. Credit: Henry Dennis

Spacecraft and mission hardware designed by an artificial intelligence may resemble bones left by some alien species, but they weigh less, tolerate higher structural loads, and require a fraction of the time parts designed by humans take to develop.

NASA Turns to AI to Design Mission Hardware

New information about an emerging technique that could track microplastics from space has been uncovered by researchers at the University of Michigan. It turns out that satellites are best at spotting soapy or oily residue, and microplastics appear to tag along with that residue.&nbsp;<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/edqeL19L3ok?&wmode=opaque&rel=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://www.wevolver.com" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe>Microplastics&mdash;tiny flecks that can ride ocean currents hundreds or thousands of miles from their point of entry&mdash;can harm sea life and marine ecosystems, and they&rsquo;re extremely difficult to track and clean up. However, a 2021 discovery raised the hope that satellites could offer day-by-day timelines of where microplastics enter the water, how they move and where they tend to collect, for prevention and clean-up efforts.The team noticed that data recorded by the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), showed less surface roughness&mdash;that is, fewer and smaller waves&mdash;in areas of the ocean that contain microplastics, compared to clean areas.In preliminary testing, they used the technique to spot suspected microplastic releases at the mouth of China&rsquo;s Yangtze River and to identify seasonal variations in the Great Pacific Garbage patch, a convergence zone in the North Pacific Ocean where microplastic collect in massive quantities. But until now, the team was unsure about the nature of the relationship between microplastics and surface roughness.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1676539266918-Microplastics23-content2.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Yukun Sun, a graduate student research assistant, and William Leal, an undergraduate research assistant, both in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at U-M, place microplastic pellets on the water in the wind wave tank at the Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory. Photo: Robert Coelius/Michigan Engineering&nbsp;A newly published study in Scientific Reports shows that the anomalies in wave activity are caused not by the plastics themselves, but by surfactants&ndash;soapy or oily compounds that are often released along with microplastics and that travel and collect in similar ways once they&rsquo;re in the water.<a href="https://clasp.engin.umich.edu/people/ruf-chris/" target="_blank">Chris Ruf</a>, the Frederick Bartman Collegiate Professor of Climate and Space Science at U-M and an author of the study, explains that a satellite-based tracking tool would be a major improvement over current tracking methods, which rely mainly on spotty reports from plankton trawlers that net microplastics along with their catch.&ldquo;NOAA, the Plymouth Marine Lab in the UK and other organizations are very aware of what we&rsquo;re doing, but we need to be cautious and fully understand the system&rsquo;s limitations before putting it into widespread use,&rdquo; said Ruf, who also leads CYGNSS. &nbsp;&ldquo;These new findings are an important step in that process.&rdquo;&nbsp;The research team, which also included former naval architecture and engineering graduate researchers Yukun Sun and Thomas Bakker, gathered the data at U-M&rsquo;s <a href="https://mhl.engin.umich.edu/" target="_blank">Aaron Friedman Marine Hydrodynamics Lab</a>. Using the facility&rsquo;s wave tank, they measured the effects of surfactants and microplastic pellets on waves generated both mechanically and by wind from a fan.<img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1676539301847-tracking-ocean-micropl.jpg" style="width: 766px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Microplastic pellets float on the surface of water in the wind wave tank at the U-M Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory. Photo: Robert Coelius/Michigan Engineering&nbsp;They found that, in order for microplastics to affect surface roughness, their concentrations had to be much higher than those typically found even in polluted areas of the ocean. Surfactants, however, had a pronounced effect. The researchers found that surfactant-laden water required more wind to generate waves of a given size, and that those waves dissipated more quickly than they would in clean water.&nbsp;<a href="https://name.engin.umich.edu/people/pan-yulin/" target="_blank">Yulin Pan</a>, a naval architecture and marine engineering assistant professor at U-M and corresponding author on the paper, says that this initial discovery will drive further research into how surfactants and microplastics interact in the ocean.&nbsp;&ldquo;We can see the relationship between surface roughness and the presence of microplastics and surfactants,&rdquo; Pan said. &ldquo;The goal now is to understand the precise relationship between the three variables.&rdquo;They plan to use a combination of water sampling, satellite observations and computer modeling to build that understanding. Ultimately, they hope to develop a system that governments, cleanup organizations and others can use to both spot existing microplastics and predict how they&rsquo;re likely to travel through waterways.&nbsp;Ruf and other members of the team are featured in the documentary&nbsp;<a href="https://plasticearthmovie.com/" target="_blank">Plastic Earth</a>, released yesterday, which explores the scale of plastic pollution and engineering solutions in development.The research was supported in part by NASA Science Mission Directorate contract NNL13AQ00C.

Microplastic pollution can be spotted from space because its traveling companion alters the roughness of the ocean's surface.

Tracking ocean microplastic pollution from space

In this episode, we talk about how a group of researchers at the University of Michigan have gained a thrust output 10x greater than what was thought to be possible by challenging preconceived limitations and how their breakthrough could hold the key for deep space travel.&nbsp;<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/7186eb06-8962-46c9-b8e9-52a754f7cdb3?dark=false" class="fr-draggable" data-lf-form-tracking-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-yt-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true" data-lf-vimeo-playback-inspected-kn9eq4roawkarlvp="true"></iframe><hr><h3 id="isPasted">EPISODE NOTES</h3>(2:20) - <a href="https://www.wevolver.com/article/plasma-thrusters-used-on-satellites-could-be-much-more-powerful" target="_blank">Ultra-efficient Plasma Thrusters For Deep Space Travel</a><hr>As always, you can find these and other interesting &amp; impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.To learn more about this show, please visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wevolver.com/profile/the.next.byte" target="_blank">shows page</a>. By following the page, you will get automatic updates by email when a new show is published. Be sure to give us a follow and review on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-next-byte/id1548255861?l=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPPsRtegnivsRUEsQ09R7?si=IPMiah7xT_apJtPjqvXMlA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, and most of your favorite podcast platforms!

The glow of the plasma from the H9 MUSCLE Hall thruster during a test with krypton propellant. PHOTO: Plasmadynamic and Electric Propulsion Laboratory. 

In this episode, we talk about how a group of researchers at the University of Michigan have gained a thrust output 10x greater than what was thought to be possible by challenging preconceived limitations and how their breakthrough could hold the key for deep space travel.