When astronauts aboard the International Space Station want some assist with routine duties, they depend on a trio of helpers that aren’t solely competent however cute.
Bumble, Honey and Queen are cube-shaped, candy-colored robots concerning the measurement of toaster with glowing “eyes” on their touchscreen interface. Together they’re often called Astrobee, a free-flying robotic system developed by NASA and launched to the ISS in 2018 and 2019 to help astronauts, conduct analysis and function a platform for creating and testing new applied sciences.
Now, a brand new collaboration involving USC is taking form that can broaden analysis utilizing these endearing robots.
NASA announced in September that Arkisys — a Los Alamitos-based firm based by David Barnhart, director of the USC Space Engineering Research Center and research professor in the Department of Astronautical Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering — was chosen from a pool of business contenders because the business sustaining and upkeep associate for NASA’s Astrobee mission. Arkisys, which develops platforms that enable companies to determine a presence in space, will keep the Astrobee robotic system and proceed enabling scientists around the globe to make use of it as a testbed for rising applied sciences.
Barnhart’s objective is to create a regional space analysis consortium targeted on Astrobee by which USC will play a number one position. The collaboration will leverage the Astrobee analysis initiated on the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, the place the robotic system was designed and constructed, to the Los Angeles space, making the most of the nexus of latest space and tutorial institutes within the area.
“By bringing together the research strengths of USC and other leading institutions across the region with Arkisys’ role as NASA’s implementation partner for Astrobee, we are growing this one-of-a-kind orbital test platform to be part of an ecosystem where academia, industry and government can work side-by-side for next-generation space innovations,” mentioned Barnhart, who can also be CEO of Arkisys.
“Professor Barnhart’s success with the NASA Astrobee proposal is a powerful example of how USC’s innovators are advancing space technologies in partnership with industry,” mentioned Ishwar Ok. Puri, USC’s senior vp of analysis and innovation. “This collaboration with Arkisys not only strengthens our leadership in space research and robotics but also exemplifies USC’s commitment to translating discovery into real-world impact. We are proud to see this project take flight, as it reflects the spirit of innovation and interdisciplinary excellence that defines USC.”
Collaborative effort will strengthen space analysis capability in Southern California
In its proposal to NASA, Arkisys underscored the energy of the Southern California tutorial group, figuring out USC as an preliminary collaborator and together with letters of help from school representing seven different universities. Building on that momentum, Arkisys and USC have now signed a memorandum of understanding as a part of a broader effort to interact universities throughout the area. The initiative goals to broaden alternatives for analysis, innovation and pupil participation within the quickly rising discipline of in-space operations and expertise improvement.
“This collaboration with Arkisys places Southern California universities at the heart of the next era of space innovation with USC as an anchor for research partnerships,” mentioned Erin Overstreet, government director of the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, who’s working with Arkisys on the settlement. “This agreement opens doors for students, faculty and partners from across Southern California to test, build and deploy new space technologies — helping to strengthen the region’s role as a hub for the growing space economy.”
“This successful NASA Astrobee proposal highlights the strength of USC’s research community and its ability to collaborate effectively with innovative partners like Arkisys,” mentioned Steven O. Moldin, USC’s affiliate vp of analysis technique and innovation, who’s shepherding the settlement between USC and Arkisys. “David Barnhart’s leadership demonstrates how cutting-edge academic research can translate into pioneering technological applications that push the boundaries of space exploration. This project is a testament to USC’s growing impact in federally funded research and our commitment to advancing science that serves both discovery and society.”
As a part of LA Tech Week in October, Arkisys introduced “Astrobee Returns to Flight: Re-igniting Robotic Research and Innovation on the ISS” on the USC Information Sciences Institute. The presentation explored how main the Astrobee undertaking and collaborating with USC and different universities will enable Arkisys to deliver contemporary momentum to robotics, science and innovation aboard the ISS.
A testing floor for space expertise
Barnhart shepherded the precursor to Astrobee, referred to as SPHERES, throughout his time as program supervisor on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. After serving to transition this MIT-created program to NASA’s Ames Research Center, he turned concerned with the Astrobee mission in 2023, when he was the principal investigator on a analysis undertaking that despatched USC expertise to the ISS. He and his college students, suggested by Adarsh Rajguru, an astronautics doctoral candidate, developed a docking system called CLINGERS to facilitate rendezvous and proximity operations in space. Onboard the space station, CLINGERS was hooked up to separate Astrobee robots and carried out checks to discover varied new docking and seize procedures.
The Astrobee undertaking overlaps with the mission of Arkisys, which Barnhart based in 2015 with the objective of increasing space commerce. The firm designs and develops reusable space platforms and vessels (“Port Modules”) that may help as much as 60 clients at one time and may be aggregated to make very massive platforms. This permits low-cost, lease-based entry to space platforms for brand spanking new improvements, manufacturing and artistic assemblies.
“What the company focuses on is making it fast, easy and efficient to enable anybody not just to test things in space, but to grow their payload, business or mission post-launch,” mentioned Rahul Rughani, Arkisys’ chief methods engineer. “Astrobee is truly a microcosm of that goal.”
Together, Arkisys’ Port Module structure and the Astrobee will set up a pipeline that permits quicker, extra dependable deployment of latest expertise and robotic missions in space.
Carrying forth NASA’s imaginative and prescient
Since its arrival on the International Space Station, Astrobee has superior NASA’s objective of creating robotic methods that may help people as they return to the moon, journey to Mars and enterprise farther into space for longer durations.
Researchers have been educating the robots to hold out duties associated to spacecraft monitoring and upkeep autonomously. In the longer term, robotic helpers just like the Astrobee fleet could handle routine chores, liberating up astronauts for extra advanced work, and keep spacecraft whereas human crews are away.
Arkisys, USC and different regional collaborators will work with the NASA Ames Research Center; the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.; and the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston to proceed the legacy of Astrobee as a testbed for groundbreaking science, expertise demonstrations, and in-space servicing, meeting and manufacturing (ISAM) developments.
USC researchers have a protracted historical past of collaboration with NASA via its Department of Astronautical Engineering. One of the primary tutorial packages within the United States dedicated to astronautical engineering, this system has made contributions to analysis, business partnerships and student-led achievements. The Space Engineering Research Center, led by Barnhart, is a three way partnership between the division and the USC Information Sciences Institute. Professor Garrett Reisman is a former NASA astronaut who has participated in missions aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Dan Erwin, division chair, is carefully linked with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and presently holds the place of JPL visiting researcher.
Professor Mike Gruntman has contributed to the science behind a number of NASA space missions and has acquired a number of NASA awards and grants for analysis and improvement initiatives. Professor Joseph Wang holds a joint appointment at JPL and USC. He has been a principal investigator on many NASA initiatives, together with the ion propulsion investigation on NASA’s Deep Space 1 mission, the primary interplanetary mission utilizing ion propulsion. The division’s latest school member, Assistant Professor Keenan Albee, beforehand supported an Astrobee mission throughout his time at MIT and labored in JPL’s robotics part; he continues to collaborate with NASA colleagues in excessive setting robotic autonomy.