Session
Weekday Session 8: Advanced Technologies I
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
Space missions have become more ambitious with exploration targets growing ever distant while simultaneously requiring larger guidance and communication budgets. These conflicting desires of distance and control drive the need for in-situ intelligent decision making to reduce communication and control limitations. While ground based research on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) software modules has grown exponentially, the capacity to experimentally validate such software modules in space in a rapid and inexpensive format has not. To this end, the Nano Orbital Workshop (NOW) group at NASA Ames Research Center is performing flight evaluation tests of ‘commercially’ available bleeding-edge computational platforms via what is programmatically referred to as the BrainStack on the TechEdSat (TES-n) flight series. Processors selected as part of the BrainStack are of ideal size, packaging, and power consumption for easy integration into a cube satellite structure. These experiments have included the evaluation of small, high-performance GPUs and, more recently, neuromorphic processors in LEO operations. Additionally, it is planned to measure the radiation environment these processors experience to understand any degradation or computational artifacts caused by long term space radiation exposure on these novel architectures. This evolving flexible and collaborative environment involving various research teams across NASA and other organizations is intended to be a convenient orbital test platform from which many anticipated future space automation applications may be initially tested.
BRAINSTACK – A Platform for Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Collaborative Experiments on a Nano-Satellite
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Space missions have become more ambitious with exploration targets growing ever distant while simultaneously requiring larger guidance and communication budgets. These conflicting desires of distance and control drive the need for in-situ intelligent decision making to reduce communication and control limitations. While ground based research on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) software modules has grown exponentially, the capacity to experimentally validate such software modules in space in a rapid and inexpensive format has not. To this end, the Nano Orbital Workshop (NOW) group at NASA Ames Research Center is performing flight evaluation tests of ‘commercially’ available bleeding-edge computational platforms via what is programmatically referred to as the BrainStack on the TechEdSat (TES-n) flight series. Processors selected as part of the BrainStack are of ideal size, packaging, and power consumption for easy integration into a cube satellite structure. These experiments have included the evaluation of small, high-performance GPUs and, more recently, neuromorphic processors in LEO operations. Additionally, it is planned to measure the radiation environment these processors experience to understand any degradation or computational artifacts caused by long term space radiation exposure on these novel architectures. This evolving flexible and collaborative environment involving various research teams across NASA and other organizations is intended to be a convenient orbital test platform from which many anticipated future space automation applications may be initially tested.
