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Implementation of the Neural Network Execution Framework in a More Advanced Space-Like Hardware and Software Configuration
No full textThis work presents our Neural Network Execution Framework (NNEF), which aims to provide a cross-platform and reusable framework to deploy and execute trained neural networks (NN) for deep learning (DL) aerospace applications. This framework will execute any neural network inference process, regardless of the original deep learning framework in which it was created, in several flight software frameworks, operating systems, and hardware configurations. Users and organizations can use this framework to create reusable deployment and execution solutions for deep learning, instead of implementing one-off solutions each time they need to develop a specific aerospace application. This approach allows developers to focus on their deep learning model architectures, rather than the implementation and deployment process on the flight platform. This work demonstrates the design, implementation, and testing of our framework, for deploying and executing neural networks developed in Pytorch and TensorFlow, including our advanced NASA’s SDO neural-based compression algorithm. To emulate the space-like hardware-software configuration, we used NASA’s cFS and F Prime as a flight software, on top of two different small, low-cost, and single-board development hardware architectures
Reaching Higher Orbit - A Quick Guide for Exploration Beyond LEO
No full textPoster presented during the 2025 SmallSat Conference
Starling 1.5 – Space Traffic Coordination Amongst Autonomously Maneuvering Spacecraft
No full textStarling 1.5 is a space traffic coordination mission extension to NASA’s successful Starling swarm technology demonstration. NASA partnered with SpaceX to field and demonstrate a space traffic coordination system that allows different satellite owner/operators to rapidly screen trajectories and either claim or refuse maneuver responsibility for mitigating conjunctions, or close approaches, all without human operators in the loop.
Starlink satellites routinely perform autonomous risk mitigation maneuvers (RMMs) to reduce the probability of collision (Pc) for conjunctions with active satellites and other orbital objects such as debris. The NASA Starling primary mission included an autonomous maneuvering capability, which raised the question about how to ensure that autonomously maneuvering spacecraft from different owner/operators could coordinate and not maneuver in a way that increases conjunction risks.
This paper describes the space traffic coordination system that allows automated satellite and ground systems to rapidly screen for conjunctions, allow claiming of mitigation responsibility, and screen proposed mitigation trajectories before they are executed. Results from the Starling 1.5 demonstration period are presented, with Starling claiming and executing RMMs to mitigate conjunctions with SpaceX Starlink satellites
Arctic Weather Satellite - One Year in Orbit
No full textThe European Space Agency\u27s Arctic Weather Satellite (AWS) Proto-flight Model was successfully launched on August 16, 2024. Based on the OHB Sweden’s Innosat platform, the satellite carries a microwave sounder developed by AAC Omnisys. This paper presents the project execution, which balanced a short development schedule and tight cost boundaries, while ensuring that the mission could provide high quality meteorological data. Being a prototype for the design of the satellites to be deployed in the planned EPS-Sterna constellation, the in-orbit commissioning of AWS is crucial to validate the performance of the space segment.
A key objective of the Arctic Weather Satellite mission is to demonstrate that high-quality meteorological data can be produced cost efficiently using a dedicated constellation of small satellites in low polar orbits providing frequent coverage of the polar regions to support Nowcasting and Numerical Weather Predictions (NWP), in particular of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. This is new approach for ESA and EUMETSAT in comparison to previous large-scale programs. With the increased recognition of the significance of the polar regions with respect to climate change and the increased economic and research activities occurring in the Arctic, the need for reliable weather forecast has increased.
The paper provides a summary of in-orbit performance from the first year in orbit with focus on the Launch and Early Orbit Phase and Satellite In-Orbit Verification. The commissioning of the satellite platform, including required orbit adjustments and validation of the radiometer’s performance, was accomplished within a short timeframe, adhering to the project’s overall boundary conditions.
AWS is designed with features to reduce operational costs of the constellation by enhancing onboard autonomy and operability. Examples of how the autonomy has performed, and what improvements have been implemented based on the operational experience gained during the commissioning, will be presented.
The planned EPS-Sterna constellation will include six operational satellites distributed across three orbital planes, providing frequent coverage of polar regions to improve Weather Prediction accuracy for both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The AWS prototype mission is funded under ESA’s Earth Watch program, with OHB Sweden as the mission\u27s prime contractor and platform provider
Advanced Hyperspectral Imaging From Orbit: Achievements and Challenges From the First Year of Tanager-1
Get PDFIn August 2024, Planet Labs PBC launched Tanager-1, a small satellite class hyperspectral satellite designed to detect methane point source emissions, developed through the Carbon Mapper partnership. In a short time, Tanager-1 began imaging and demonstrating the exceptional sensitivity of the onboard VSWIR imaging spectrometer designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The early performance of Tanager-1 signals a significant advancement in remote sensing capability made possible by an innovative public-private partnership bringing together commercial, non-profit, philanthropic, academic, and government entities.
Leveraging JPL-developed technology and Planet’s proven expertise in spacecraft development and operation, Tanager-1 acquires high-fidelity hyperspectral data across the 400-2500 nm spectral range. This Dyson-type spectrometer, optimized for sensitivity and spectral resolution, enables the identification of subtle spectral signatures, including but not limited to those associated with methane and carbon dioxide. With a swath width of 19 km and a swath length of up to 481 km, Tanager-1 can image large regions of the planet in one pass from its operational altitude of 406 km. The planned Tanager constellation can monitor key regions for emissions, agriculture, water quality, and resource extraction or be tasked to respond to emergencies such as Potentially Harmful Methane Events. Early on-orbit data of Tanager-1 has already yielded impactful results, pinpointing previously unknown super-emitters and providing critical data for emissions mitigation efforts.
This paper showcases the unique capabilities of Tanager-1, demonstrating its outstanding ability to detect and quantify methane and carbon dioxide point sources with high precision. Additionally, the paper will summarize the innovative instrument design, the utility of Planet’s Smallsat Platform, the partnership’s approach to development, robust on-orbit performance, and initial findings, emphasizing Tanager-1’s transformative potential for impact-driven space coalitions. Finally, the paper will reference the challenges and setbacks experienced on the way to launch and commissioning that can serve as lessons for the greater satellite community. This mission underscores Planet’s commitment to providing actionable insights for a sustainable future and serves as a crucial pathfinder for future high-performance hyperspectral constellations. This work is conducted in support of the Carbon Mapper mission and broader efforts to address climate change
Application of Lambert’s Problem to an Electromagnetic Docking Maneuver
Get PDFPoster presented during the 2025 SmallSat Conference
Community Organizations, Immigrants, and Air Pollution Risks in Utah
No full textOver the past 25 years, Utah’s Wasatch Front, a metropolitan region along the Western flanks of the Wasatch Mountain Range that includes Salt Lake City, has emerged as a new international immigrant gateway (1). While in Utah, immigrants may find economic opportunity and safety relative to their home countries, they may also experience notable life-altering disparities, including disproportionate exposure to the region’s worsening air pollution. As some of the first and few institutions interacting with newly arrived immigrants and refugees, non-governmental community organizations are well positioned to serve as information hubs regarding regional air pollution risk. Yet our research, in which we interviewed staff from 16 immigrant-facing community organizations along the Wasatch Front, reveals that despite clear awareness regarding air quality disparities, a series of barriers inhibit most organizations’ ability to address the disproportionate risk of exposure among the populations they serve. We detail our findings below, as well as possible pathways forward
Techniques for Optimizing SWaP-C Through Multi-Phase Clock Distribution
No full textMulti-phase power is important to design highly efficient solutions for next-generation space avionics systems, but noise, current sharing accuracy and beat pulses can all contribute to the complexity of a power system\u27s design. The latest FPGAs and ACAPs have very specific DC and AC regulation tolerances, so it can be difficult to manage power while considering size, efficiency, reliability and cost.
This poster will demonstrate methods to scale and manage multi-phase power systems through the inclusion of power management-specific clock distribution ICs and show how they can be used to implement a variety of solutions that balance efficiency and accuracy with size and cost.
While efficient multi-phase power can absolutely be achieved without any additional clock distribution ICs, precise control over phase delay and frequency division can reduce ripple and noise, resulting in significantly more accurate current sharing. Therefore, the overall solution size can be minimized through a reduction in input and output capacitance while meeting stringent regulation tolerance requirements
Tremblings, May 2025
No full textAspen, Fire, and People: Then and Now
Eva Strand. Professor of Rangeland Ecology, University of Idaho
People living and working in the Great Basin, USA, are observing changing fire conditions. Larger and more frequent fires across the West are well-documented, but less is known about how these changes manifest across Great Basin ecosystems, including in quaking aspen. In our recent Ecosphere paper, mean fire return interval (mFRI) changes across major Great Basin vegetation types between 1961–1990 and 1991–2020, were compared with LANDFIRE’s historical (pre-1900) estimates. For those not familiar with mFRI, it is the average number of years between successive fires at a specific location in a given vegetation type
General Education Subcommittee Agenda April 3, 2025
No full textCall to Order – Matt Sanders Approval of Minutes – March 6, 2025 Course Approvals/Removals/Syllabi Approvals New Business Additional Items Adjourn: 9:30 a