Smart SPHERES: ISS Software upgrade

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, Expedition 38 flight engineer, conducting a session with a pair of bowling-ball-sized free-flying satellites known as Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) aboard the International Space Station. 

Credit: NASA

Smart devices, such as tablets and phones, increasingly are an essential part of everyday life on Earth. The same can be said for life off-planet aboard the International Space Station.

From astronaut tweets to Google+ Hangouts, our reliance on these mobile and social technologies means equipment and software upgrades are an everyday occurrence, like buying a new pair of shoes to replace a pair of well-worn ones.

That's why the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., with funding from the Technology Demonstration Missions Program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate, is working to upgrade the smartphones currently equipped on a trio of volleyball-sized free-flying satellites on the space station called Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES).

In 2011 on the final flight of space shuttle Atlantis, NASA sent the first smartphone to the station and mounted it to SPHERES.

Each SPHERES satellite is self-contained with power, propulsion, computing and navigation equipment as well as expansion ports for additional sensors and appendages, such as cameras and wireless power transfer systems. This is where the SPHERES' smartphone upgrades are attached.

By connecting a smartphone, the SPHERES become Smart SPHERES. They now are more intelligent because they have built-in cameras to take pictures and video, sensors to help conduct inspections, powerful computing units to make calculations and Wi-Fi connections to transfer data in real time to the computers aboard the space station and at mission control.

"With this latest upgrade, we believe the Smart SPHERES will be a step closer to becoming a 'mobile assistant' for the astronauts," said DW Wheeler, lead engineer with SGT Inc. in the Intelligent Robotics Group at Ames.

"This ability for Smart SPHERES to independently perform inventory and environmental surveys on the space station can free up time for astronauts and mission control to perform science experiments and other work."

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum puts one of the Smart SPHERES through its paces during Expedition 29 aboard the International Space Station. 

The addition of the smartphone helped turn the SPHERES into mobile data acquisition assistants. 

Credit: NASA

Later this year, NASA will launch a Project Tango prototype Android smartphone developed by Google's Advanced Technology and Projects division of Mountain View, Calif.

The prototype phone includes an integrated custom 3-D sensor, which means the device is capable of tracking its own position and orientation in real time as well as generating a full 3-D model of the environment.

"The Project Tango prototype incorporates a particularly important feature for the Smart SPHERES, a 3-D sensor," said Terry Fong, director of the Intelligent Robotics Group at Ames.

"This allows the satellites to do a better job of flying around on the space station and understanding where exactly they are."

"This is no ordinary upgrade – we've customized cutting-edge commercial technologies to help us answer questions like: How can robots help humans live and work in space? What will happen when humans explore other worlds with robots by their side?

Can we make this happen sooner, rather than later?" said Fong.

"Building on our experience in controlling robots on the space station, one day we'll be able to apply what we've learned and have humans and robots working together everywhere from Earth's orbit, to the moon, asteroids and Mars."

Curiosity Mars rover installing smartware for better driving control

This mosaic image shows part of the left side of NASA's Curiosity rover and two blast marks from the descent stage's rocket engines. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm.

The rover's "brain transplant," which will occur during a series of steps Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software on both of the rover's redundant main computers.

This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded to the rover's memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's flight from Earth.

"We designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the software as needed for different phases of the mission," said Ben Cichy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., chief software engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory mission.

"The flight software version Curiosity currently is using was really focused on landing the vehicle. It includes many capabilities we just don't need any more.

It gives us basic capabilities for operating the rover on the surface, but we have planned all along to switch over after landing to a version of flight software that is really optimized for surface operations."

A key capability in the new version is image processing to check for obstacles. This allows for longer drives by giving the rover more autonomy to identify and avoid potential hazards and drive along a safe path the rover identifies for itself.

Other new capabilities facilitate use of the tools at the end of the rover's robotic arm. While Curiosity is completing the software transition, the mission's science team is continuing to analyze images the rover has taken of its surroundings inside Gale Crater.

Researchers are discussing which features in the scene to investigate after a few weeks of initial checkouts and observations to assess equipment on the rover and characteristics of the landing site.

NASA Mars Rover Curiosity: MSL Braced for Software Upgrade

This view of Mars, taken by NASA's Curiosity rover on Sol 3 (Aug. 8-9, 2012), shows an early view of the rover's deck as viewed from mast cameras.

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech

With NASA's Mars rover Curiosity safely on the Red Planet, mission controllers are now preparing the robotic explorer to begin its mission on the Martian surface.

Engineers have been testing the Curiosity rover's instruments and systems ever since the spacecraft touched down on Mars on Sunday (Aug. 5 PDT; Aug. 6 EDT).

So far, Curiosity is performing flawlessly, NASA officials said, and the next major procedure is to send the rover new software for its transition from its landing phase into the two-year long haul on the surface of the Mars.

"We're about to upgrade our software on the rover," Mike Watkins, Curiosity mission manager Mike at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told reporters in a news briefing Thursday (Aug. 9). "Just like we upgrade our operating system on our home computer or laptop or something, we're going to do the same thing."

The new software will help mission controllers drive the $2.5 billion Mars rover, use its science instruments and operate its robotic arm.

"We want to switch to this new flight software that's optimized for surface operations," Watkins said.

Mission managers count Curiosity's days in "Sols," which are the number of full Martian days the rover has spent on the Red Planet.

Curiosity will begin this software transition on Sol 5, which translates to Saturday (Aug. 11) on Earth. The software upgrade process is expected to last roughly four days, Watkins explained. During this time, all other activities, including science, will temporarily be put on hold.

"Those flight software transition days — [Sols] 5, 6, 7 and 8 — are pretty devoted just to that flight software activity, and not to science," Watkins said. "So, we're kind of standing down from science."

The reason for this is to avoid any kind of interference, and to allow enough time for engineers to finish the transfer and verify that everything is functioning according to plan.

Once that work is complete, engineers and scientists will continue checking Curiosity's instruments and gathering early science observations.

"We kind of stand down and we'll be back to science the day after that, Sol 9," Watkins said.

After the software transition is carried out, one of the main priorities will be to have the rover beam back more photos that were taken during its first few days on Mars. Curiosity has already snapped an impressive number of pictures since it touched down on the Red Planet.