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NASA Begins New Deployable Solar Array Tech Demo on Pathfinder Spacecraft

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WEBWIRE – Wednesday, October 23, 2024

NASA recently evaluated initial flight data and imagery from Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-4(PTD-4), confirming proper checkout of the spacecrafts systems including its on-board electronics as well as the payloads support systems such as the small onboard camera. Shown above is a test image of Earth taken by the payload camera, shortly after PTD-4 reached orbit. This camera will continuephotographing the technology demonstration during the mission.

Payload operations arenow underway for the primary objective ofthePTD-4mission the demonstration ofa new power and communications technology for future spacecraft. The payload, adeployable solar array with an integrated antenna called the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna, or LISA-T, has initiated deployment of its central boom structure. The boom supports four solar power and communication arrays, also called petals. Releasing thecentralboom pushes the still-stowed petals nearly three feet (one meter) away from the spacecraft bus. The mission team currently is working through an initial challenge to get LISA-Ts central boom to fully extend before unfolding the petals and beginning its power generation and communication operations.

Small spacecraft on deep space missions require more electrical power than what is currently offered by existing technology. The four-petal solar array of LISA-T is a thin-film solar array that offers lower mass, lower stowed volume, and three times more power per mass and volume allocation than current solar arrays. The in-orbit technology demonstration includes deployment, operation, and environmental survivability of the thin-film solar array.

The LISA-T experiment is an opportunity for NASA and the small spacecraft community to advance the packaging, deployment, and operation of thin-film, fully flexible solar and antenna arrays in space. The thin-film arrays will vastly improve power generation and communication capabilities throughout many different mission applications, said Dr. John Carr, deputy center chief technologist at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. These capabilities are critical for achieving higher value science alongside the exploration of deep space with small spacecraft.

The Pathfinder Technology Demonstration series of missions leverages a commercial platform which serves to test innovative technologies toincrease the capability of small spacecraft. Deploying LISA-Ts thin solar array in the harsh environment of space presents inherent challenges such as deploying large highly flexible non-metallic structures with high area to mass ratios. Performing experiments such as LISA-T on a smaller, lower-cost spacecraft allows NASA the opportunity to take manageable risk with high probability of great return. The LISA-T experiment aims to enable future deep space missions with the ability to acquire and communicate data through improved power generation and communication capabilities on the same integrated array.

The PTD-4 small spacecraft is hosting the in-orbit technology demonstration called LISA-T. ThePTD-4 spacecraft deployed intolow Earth orbitfrom SpaceXs Transporter-11 rocket which launched from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Aug. 16.NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabamadesigned and built the LISA-T technology as well as LISA-Ts supporting avionics system. NASAs Small Spacecraft Technology program, based at NASAs AmesResearch Center in Californias Silicon Valleyand led by the agencys Space Technology Mission Directorate, funds and manages the PTD-4 mission as well as the overall Pathfinder Technology Demonstration mission series. Terran Orbital Corporationof Irvine, California,developed and built the PTD-4 spacecraft bus, namedTriumph.

Learn more about NASAs LISA-T technology: (Video)

Video Caption:

NASA teams are testing a key technology demonstration known as LISA-T, short for the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna. Its a super compact, stowable, thin-film solar array that when fully deployed in space, offers both a power generation and communication capability for small spacecraft. LISA-Ts orbital flight test is part of the Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator series of missions. To travel farther into deep space, small spacecraft require more electrical power than what is currently available through existing technology. LISA-T aims to answer that demand and would offer small spacecraft access to power without compromising mass or volume. Watch this video to learn more about the spacecraft, its deployment, and the possibilities from John Carr, deputy center chief technologist at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

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Commerce begins beta tests of space traffic coordination system

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WASHINGTON — The Office of Space Commerce has started beta tests of its new space traffic coordination system, providing conjunction notices to a handful of operators.

The Office of Space Commerce, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the Department of Commerce, announced Sept. 30 the beginning of phase 1.0 of its Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), the civil space traffic coordination system that will ultimately take over for the Defense Department.

Nine satellite operators are involved in this initial phase of TraCSS: The Aerospace Corporation, Eutelsat OneWeb, Georgia Tech, Intelsat, Iridium, Maxar, NOAA, Planet and Telesat. Those organizations operate between a handful of satellites to, in the case of OneWeb and Planet, several hundred, and in orbits from LEO to GEO. About 1,000 satellites overall are included in this phase of TraCSS.

Each of the operators will receive conjunction data messages, notices of potential close approaches of these satellites with other objects, every four hours. Those operators will provide feedback on the service that will be incorporated into later phases of TraCSS.

“The operators that are working with this know that this is not operational data yet. This is not data that they should be relying on for safety services yet,” said Rich DalBello, director of the Office of Space Commerce, at a conference earlier this month. “They’ll be able to get comfortable with the processes and see the quality of data and make their own assessments about that.”

The office is embracing what it calls an agile development approach, often used in software development, deploying first a “minimum viable product” and then incorporating new features and bug fixes at a rapid cadence. For TraCSS, that involves quarterly upgrades through next September, when phase 1.4 of the system finalizes the main features of TraCSS and includes a “presentation layer” and public website.

TraCSS is currently relying on space situational awareness (SSA) data from the DoD but will later augment that with data from commercial and international sources. The office recently completed a “consolidated pathfinder” project to evaluate the quality and costs of commercial data providers.

DalBello, speaking at the AMOS Conference in Hawaii Sept. 20, said the office will provide details on the outcomes of the consolidated pathfinder at the International Astronautical Congress in October. “Spoiler alert: they were good,” he said.

TraCSS will ultimately replace Space-Track, the service currently provided by the Defense Department. DalBello said earlier this month that the transition from Space-Track to TraCSS should be complete by the end of 2025, but it will be up to the DoD to determine when it will shut down Space-Track.

While there is still significant work ahead for TraCSS, getting to the phase 1.0 beta test is a major milestone for the program, which traces its roots back to Space Policy Directive 3 in 2018. That policy instructed the Commerce Department to take over civil space traffic management responsibilities from the Defense Department, allowing the DoD to focus its resources on capabilities like space domain awareness that are specific to national security space operations.

John Hill, performing the duties of associate secretary of defense for space policy, said in a statement that Commerce and Defense were working “side-by-side” to implement TraCSS and make that eventual transition for civil space traffic coordination services. The Defense Department, he noted, will continue to provide those services during that transition period.

“Transitioning the spaceflight safety SSA responsibilities to DoC, a civil agency, will improve support to these users and allow DoD to focus its resources on core defense missions,” he said.

“TraCSS is a testament to U.S. leadership in safe and sustainable space commerce,” said Don Graves, deputy secretary of commerce, in the statement. “The Department of Commerce is building this system in close cooperation with industry partners to harness and promote commercial innovation in space. Together, we are helping to ensure the safe and sustainable growth of the space economy.”

Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews.He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science…More by Jeff Foust

Honda Begins Joint Research on AI Technologies with the Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi and Bombay to Further Advance Honda CI (Cooperative Intelligence)

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TOKYO, Sept 11, 2024 – (JCN Newswire) – Honda(1) today announced that it has begun joint research on AI technologies with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), more specifically, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), to further advance Honda CI (Cooperative Intelligence, CI(2)), original Honda AI that enables mutual understanding between machines and people.

The IITs are a home to a large number of excellent researchers and engineers, and through the joint research with those institutes, Honda will strive to advance the underlying technologies of CI, with an eye toward the future applications for technologies that reduce traffic collisions and enable automated driving.

Honda has been working on research and development of CI with the aim to realize a society where each and every person can enjoy the joy and freedom of mobility. To this end, Honda is trying to make the mobility of people and things ubiquitous (whenever, wherever, to any destination), collision-free and stress-free. Honda is currently conducting technology demonstrations as a proof of concept of its CI-powered micro-mobility vehicle/robot in Joso City, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.

Aiming to achieve further advancement of CI, Honda and IITs have set joint research themes such as recognition of the surrounding environment and cultivation of cooperative behavior, and will conduct joint research and development while utilizing the cutting-edge AI technologies. Moreover, for each research theme, Honda associates and IIT professors will jointly engage with IIT students for planning, designing, developing and testing technologies which work beyond the confines of the laboratory and thereby proceed with the research and development more flexibly and with a high degree of freedom. This will enable Honda and IITs to work in a more flexible environment with deeper exchange of academic and industry insights.

In addition, as part of this joint research, Honda with the help of IITs is aiming to conduct verification of driving assistance and automated driving technologies in the suburbs of Delhi and in Mumbai. Due to numerous variations in the road systems and a large number of road users, India has a complex traffic environment where situations that occur frequently are difficult for AI to predict. By conducting technology verification in such a technically challenging environment, Honda and IITs will refine the underlying technologies of CI and strive to apply them to future driver assistance and automated driving technologies in various regions of the world, including India.

Honda has been actively hiring IIT graduates since 2019, and many of them are now playing key roles in the areas of mobility intelligence, including the research and development of CI. By pursuing joint research programs with IIT professors and students specializing in cutting-edge AI and automated driving technologies, Honda will accelerate research and development of CI and also contribute to the fostering of researchers who will play a role in future AI research by providing them with practical research opportunities.

(1) Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL), a Honda subsidiary in India, will sign a joint research contract with IITs. Engineers from both HCIL and Honda R&D Co., Ltd. a R&D subsidiary of Honda, will participate in the joint research.
(2) A type of artificial intelligence that supports the user while cooperating with the user and people around them by communicating with gestures/behaviors and words. Achieving mutual understanding and cooperation between people and systems with CI will enable them to coexist in various situations including complex traffic environments.

About Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are national institutes leading the world in cutting-edge engineering and science and technology research. The IITs comprise 23 institutions, each of which is independently organized contributing to advanced technology and research. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), located in Delhi, the capital of India, is home to high end laboratories and centers of excellence trying to tackle the most challenging problems of the world ranging from collaborative robots to carbon neutrality. The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay located in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, houses the Centre for Machine Intelligence and Data Science (C-MInDS) a multi-disciplinary collaborative effort to tackle challenges pertaining to the frontiers of AI and Machine Learning. Both IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay have been recognized as Institutes of Eminence by the government of India.

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi)

Establishment: 1961
Location: Delhi
Director: Prof. Rangan Banerjee

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay)
Establishment: 1958
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Director: Prof. Shireesh Kedare

Topic: Press release summary
Source: Honda Motor Co., Ltd
Sectors: Automotive, Artificial Intel [AI]
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Tag Archives: Begins

NASA Begins New Deployable Solar Array Tech Demo on Pathfinder Spacecraft

Commerce begins beta tests of space traffic coordination system

Honda Begins Joint Research on AI Technologies with the Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi and Bombay to Further Advance Honda CI (Cooperative Intelligence)