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Spm September 2014 September 2014 Vol. 1 No. 6 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Kennedy Space Center’s MAGAZINE ‘SWARMIES’ TO SCOUR KENNEDY PREPPING CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST OTHER PLANETS FOR NEXT 50 YEARS TARGETS INNOVATIONS FOR WATER, FUEL OF U.S. SPACEFLIGHT FOR EXPLORATION PAGE 4 PAGE 14 PAGE 38 Ground Systems ISS and Spacecraft Launch Services Commercial Center Planning History Engineering Development and Processing Program Crew Program and Development Operations NASA’S KENNEDY SPACE CENTER’S LAUNCH SPACEPORT MAGAZINE SCHEDULE Maneuvering SPHERES Date: No Earlier Than Maneuvering SPHERES Sep. 19 -- 2:38 a.m. EDT Mission: SpaceX 4 Commercial Resupply Services CONTENTS flight with ISS-RapidScat 5 �������������������Mechanical rovers to mimic ants Description: Launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., SpaceX-4 9 �������������������NASA completes second Orion Underway will deliver cargo and crew Recovery Test supplies to the International Space Station. It will also carry 12 ����������������New app encourages kids to play along in the ISS-RapidScat instrument, adventure of rocketry a replacement for NASA’s QuikScat Earth satellite to monitor ocean winds for 14 ����������������Kennedy prepping for 50 more years of American climate research, weather spaceflight predictions, and hurricane monitoring. ����������������Hydrogen leak detection tape earns R&D award 21 Date: Sep. 25 Mission: Expedition 41 26 ����������������Flight test preparations draw on Launch to the International Launch Services Program’s expertise Space Station Description: Barry Wilmore, Elena Serova and Alexander online more ����������������Weather manager helped develop launch commit 32 Samokutyaev will launch on criteria Soyuz 40 from the Baikonur Middle school Zero Robotics finals intrigue students Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan 39 ����������������Chief technologist leads team of innovators Energy levels were high as more than 60 middle school students and their Date: No Earlier Than Oct. 14 teachers from around Central Florida gathered in the conference facility at Mission: Orbital-3 Kennedy Space Center’s Space Station Processing Facility to view the Zero Cover: Two of the four “Swarmies” robots stand Back: The sun emits a mid-level solar flare, Commercial Resupply Services Robotics competition finals Aug. 15 and cheer on the regional winner from Flight in front of the bar code markers they will track peaking at 8:16 a.m. EDT on Aug. 24 as NASA’s the sunshine state. as they roll over rough ground near the Launch Solar Dynamics Observatory captures images. Description: Launching Control Center at Kennedy Space Center. Engineers Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. on an Antares rocket from The regional winners from Carver Middle School in Orlando, part of the at Kennedy are developing programs that tell small, Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Wallops Flight Facility, Orbital-3 Orlando After-School All-Stars, joined other teams around the country via will deliver cargo and crew wheeled robots to go out in different directions and Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on WebEx as Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineer randomly search an area for a particular material. the ground. However, when intense enough, they supplies to the International Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS Space Station. Reid Wiseman oversaw the live competition on the International Space and communications signals travel. Station. Image credit: NASA/SDO The students also received a visit from former astronaut and Kennedy a look online Center Director Bob Cabana, and Greg Johnson, former astronaut and THE Editorial Writers Group Graphics Group executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space. SPACEPORT Managing Editor ........... Chris Hummel Bob Granath Anna Heiney Richard Beard Amy Lombardo -- By Linda Herridge MAGAZINE Editor ............................ Frank Ochoa-Gonzales Kay Grinter Linda Herridge Lynda Brammer Matthew Young To read the complete story, visit: http://go�nasa�gov/1qwk5vL TEAM Assistant Editor ............. Linda Herridge Frank Ochoa-Gonzales Steven Siceloff Greg Lee Copy Editor ................... Kay Grinter SPACEPORT Magazine 3 Join our Facebook community and take part in the discussion, or check out Flickr to keep photos from this issue. Mechanical rovers to mimic ants BY STEVEN SICELOFF small band of NASA engineers and interns is about to begin testing a A group of robots and related software that will show whether it’s possible for autonomous machines to scurry about the surface of an alien world to search for and gather resources like an colony of ants. Building on the research conducted at the University of New Mexico, the engineers at Kennedy Space Center have been developing programs that tell small, wheeled robots to go out in different directions and randomly search an area for a particular material. These tests are meant only to validate the concept and supporting software. The robots will search for nothing more than barcoded pieces of paper. In the future though, robots ROBOTS TAKE WORLD BY 4 SPACEPORT Magazine SPACEPORT Magazine 5 The four “swarmies” robots on a table with the software simulation used to develop the program to control the robots Aug 6. Photo credit: NASA/ Dmitri Gerondidakis achieve a task. One of them can roll over and die and it’s not the end of the mission because the others can still accomplish the task.” Mako also offered some suggestions for using a swarming robots system on Earth. Assuming testing in the fall goes all right, the system can likely be called and modified for use in search and rescue tasks, with small robots heading computer simulator that wrings out looking through out their software before they the wreckage of From left, NASA’s Kurt Leucht is working with undergraduate intern Gil Montague and post-graduate intern Karl Stolleis on Aug. 6, to develop the software that will turn on a single swarmie at a natural disaster control independent robots in a way that mimics the process ants use to scout for and then collect resources. Photo credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis all. The simulator allows them or crash. They to test the network with many also could make more robots at the same time efficient inspectors working around an asteroid or the others over when they find that future missions could use without having to build a huge of pipelines and on the moon or Mars would a cache of something valuable. this concept in a scaled-up fleet of them. water mains, she be equipped to scan the soil It’s identical to the way an ant manner to handle any number As the testing proceeds suggested. for infinitely valuable water-ice colony gathers around a food of robots a mission wants to through the coming months, “This would give or other resources that can source to divide up the task of send into space. the team plans to include the you something be turned into rocket fuel or collecting the food and taking it “Assuming this pays off, we RASSOR, an experimental smaller and cheaper breathable air for astronauts. back to the nest. know somebody’s going to mining robot designed at NASA’s prototype Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot that could always (RASSOR) will be incorporated into the “swarmies” tests to see how For now, the testing is “We’re entering the phase take this and extend it and go Kennedy to try out different well the software translates to different robotic vehicles. RASSOR is a be running up and concept robotic vehicle evaluating designs for a future craft that could limited to parking lots around where we do a ton of trial runs beyond the four or five rovers techniques for digging into the work on another world. Photo credit: NASA down the length of Kennedy’s Launch Control and collect the data and that’s we have here,” Leucht said. lunar or Martian surfaces to the pipeline so you Center using four homemade well ahead of schedule,” said “So as we design this and gather useful materials. would always know robots called “swarmies” that Cheryle Mako, an engineer at work it through, we’re mindful Compared to scientific “For a while people were the health of your pipelines,” resemble stripped-down, Kennedy who is leading the about things like minimizing robots such as the car-sized interested in putting as much Mako said. “If we had small radio-controlled trucks. There project. “From an investigation bandwidth. I’m sure there will Curiosity rover operating on smarts and capability as they swarming robots that had a are four of them, each with a perspective, we are spot-on be a team whether it’s us or Mars now, the swarmies and could on their one robot,” couple sensors and knew what webcam, WiFi antenna and and have made great strides.” somebody else who will take RASSOR are much smaller Leucht said. “Now people are they were looking for, you could GPS device. They are being Kurt Leucht, a Kennedy this and advance it and scale it and built with only a couple realizing you can have much send them out to a leak site programmed to work on their engineer working on the up.” of instruments and a single smaller, much simpler robots and find which area was at own to survey an area, then call project, considers it possible The engineers also use a purpose. that can work together and greatest risk.” 6 SPACEPORT Magazine SPACEPORT Magazine 7 New song launch NASA completes second Orion Underway Recovery Test BY LINDA HERRIDGE or NASA’s new Orion Fspacecraft, part of getting ready for its first launch is getting ready for its first splashdown. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep-space return velocities.
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