sign in sign up
<<
Home , Breakthrough Initiatives

National Aeronautics and Space Administration THE

2020 Issue 2

NRPA Publication of NASA P ResearchOST Park

AUVSI at NASA Ames State of Urban Air Mobility & Unmanned Traffic Management Full article on page 10 NRP Post

IN THIS ISSUE

3 | RMV to Provide Virtual Training and Risk Mitigation of Covid 19 RMV training for space and defense material han- dling of electronics 4 | Made in Space Acquired by Redwire SpaceNews announces Redwire acquisition of Made In Space 6 | Collaboration of CMU and Tech Giants in Silicon Valley Students at the Silicon Valley campus of CMU collaborate with Tech Giants in Silicon Valley 8 | Breakthrough Invite Looking for Signs of Thousands of new planets found by TESS will be scanned for “” by partner facilities across the globe 10 |AUVSI - One Giant Leap for Silicon Valley AUVSI Brings Together Industry Heavy-Hitters for Technical Discussions at NASA AMES 12 |CMU-SV Orbital Edge Computing CMU working on getting humanity into space 14 |Metis Presents at AIAA Scitech Forum 2020 Metis working with NASA assisting in US Coast Guard training 15 | NASA Ames Photo Ops Photos from the NRP.

2 www.nasa.gov NRP Post RMV TO PROVIDE VIRTUAL TRAINING RISK MITIGATION OF COVID 19 FOR SPACE & DEFENSE MATERIAL HANDLING OF ELECTRONICS Moffett Field, California, August 4, 2020

MV Technology Group LLC (RMV), NRP Recently, RMV has turned to a Virtual Online Industry Partner and Service Disabled Training platform to pivot the Onsite Technical Veteran Owned Small Business considered Training for ESD Program Monitors, Operators, Ran “Essential Business” by NASA, continues Engineers and Technicians for a parallel, inter- to test current and new products that are used active connection with the Individual in a remote in Mission Critical projects and those that may workplace. require more in-depth testing before launch for a successful deployment. In collaboration with the Veterans Business Out- reach Center, Region IX (VBOC), RMV is partner- Product performance today is especially critical ing to create a Virtual Training Series aimed to to protect the health and safety of the individual educate individuals about COVID-19 Risk Mitiga- as evidenced by the influx of non-conforming tion ranging from materials handling to incoming and suspect counterfeit products flooding into inspection to lower one’s exposure in the work- the US marketplace. place. This training will also focus on the most effective use of PPE materials and to create the awareness needed from the healthcare worker From material handling proce- to the professional staff in dures in the assembly oper- working with the patient. ations, cleanrooms and in- The unique and innovative coming inspection areas for method of engagement for detection of unknown partic- the Virtual Training Series is ulates related to packaging designed to create a most or Personal Protective Equip- effective platform for ease ment (PPE), the potential risk of delivery and maximum of contamination is a higher interaction in a live format risk in the “new normal” today by the CEO and Founder, for the Individual. The supply Bob Vermillion, named the chain “global” outsourcing has NASA ESD Technical Au- lowered prices but at the same thority in March 2018 at time increased the possibility NASA Quality Leadership of receiving non-conforming Forum. In addition, Bob and suspect counterfeit prod- is a iNARTE® Certified ucts or consumables manu- Product Safety Engineer factured without adherence to and iNARTE® Certified ESD quality or product integrity. This Engineer as well as a 2019 In- can well be the price you pay to get the buyer a ductee into the Military Packaging Hall of Fame. lower cost but at the risk of sacrificing quality.

Conveniently located in Building 19 of the NASA From the astronaut conducting experiments to Ames Research Park, RMV has implemented the handling and staging of SmallSats on the safety guidance rules for onsite work in the R&D, ISS, the use of tablet displays, handheld ESD assembly or cleanroom areas for UC Berkeley sensitive devices (ESDS) and electronic wear- Space Science Labs and, most recently, for NASA ables must meet the rigorous requirements for Ames Research Center. conformance in a very harsh environment of 0% relative humidity in Space. A satellite may not deploy, a tablet could “lock up” or freeze, an For more information on the Virtual Training ESDS could malfunction and compromise the Programs now being offered, please contact: mission! A deployment may be a “dead stick” before its liftoff. In like manner, a mission critical Renee Mitchell device fails that wipes out useable data that is phone 650-964-4792 retrievable from Space. email [email protected]

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 3 NRP Post

Article Published in SpaceNews https://spacenews.com/redwire-acquires-made-in-space/ Redwire acquires Made In Space by Jeff Foust — June 23, 2020

ASHINGTON — Made In DSS has also developed a robotic lunar Space, a pioneer of in-space lander and is part of NASA’s Commer- manufacturing and assem- cial Lunar Payload Services program. Wbly technologies, is being acquired by Redwire, a new venture that is rolling “What we wanted to do with Redwire up a number of smaller space compa- is take some of the traditional space nies. heritage from the small, agile and inno- vative companies out there like Adcole The companies announced the deal and DSS and combine them with a true June 23, terms of which they did not innovator,” said Peter Cannito, chief disclose. Made In Space, founded in executive of Redwire, in an interview. 2010 and based in Jacksonville, Flor- ida, has developed 3-D printers flown Made In Space, he argued, is that inno- on the International Space Station and vator. “The things that they’re doing are has a NASA contract for a mission things that have never been done and called Archinaut One to demonstrate really have the potential to change the the in-space assembly of solar arrays. economics of space,” he said. “That filled a key gap in our strategy.” AE Industrial Partners, a private equi- ty firm, formally established Redwire For Made In Space, the acquisition at the beginning of June by combining gives it resources to expand its capa- two companies it had acquired, Ad- bilities. “We were really looking at what cole Space and Deep Space Systems would take us to the next level,” said (DSS). Both companies are best known Andrew Rush, president and chief ex- as suppliers of spacecraft components ecutive of Made In Space, in an inter- and engineering services, although view. In discussions with Redwire, he

Made In Space will continue projects like Archi- naut, a demonstration of in-space manufacturing and assembly technologies, as part of Redwire. Credit: Made In Space

44 www.nasa.govwww.nasa.gov NRP Post

said, “we found a common language market for our customers that are inte- and a common ground around creat- grated solutions,” Rush said. ing an organization that had both great flight heritage and experience and an For now, Made In Space and the other innovative approach.” Redwire companies will operate sepa- rately, but Cannito said that over time “There have been constraints by be- they will combine under the Redwire ing that small, independent company,” name. “We’re going to let it evolve nat- he said. “Now, by joining forces with urally,” he said. “Many of the brands Redwire and having the resources and that are involved in Redwire have a lot reach that they bring to the table, it’s of history and meaning to their current really going to unshackle us and let us customer set, so we want to respect deliver faster on the possibilities.” that legacy.”

Rush said the Redwire acquisition made He also opened the door to other acqui- more sense than alternative approaches sitions. “We’re really trying to build that to growing the company, such as raising premier agile middle-market player in venture capital. “The conversations and space,” he said, looking for companies the commonality of vision, that Pete and “that recognize that they have some- I have and the broader Made In Space thing really innovative but, by joining and Redwire teams have, is what really Redwire, can accelerate their timelines brought us together,” he said. significantly.”

Made In Space will continue its existing As a part of the acquisition, Rush will projects, like Archinaut, while looking become the chief operating officer of to leverage the capabilities of the oth- Redwire, while Mike Snyder, chief en- er Redwire companies. “In the coming gineer at Made In Space, will become months, we’re going to start to work chief technology officer at Redwire. together and bring new offerings to the

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 5 www.nasa.gov/researchpark 5 NRP Post CMU-SV Students Partner With Tech Titans CMU Staff writer April 20, 2020

tudents enrolled at Carnegie Two such companies are Apple and Vol- Mellon Silicon Valley (CMU-SV) vo. Jenny Elfsberg, the Director of Volvo’s Shave the unique opportunity to Innovation Lab Hub US says that they are study in the Bay Area of California—a excited to work with CMU-SV students place that is booming with technical because they “successfully work togeth- discovery and entrepreneurship. In the er throughout the co-creation process. Integrated Innovation Institute and In- This is a skill set that is extremely import- formation Networking Institute (INI), stu- ant for the future of Volvo and something dents also get the opportunity to work in that is not taught at all universities... their fields with major tech companies There is a balance of the students’ depth who partner with CMU-SV for internship, of knowledge and expertise, along with research, and networking opportunities. the ability for collaboration and success- ful teams.”

Bicoastal INI students and some Integrat- ed Innovation students, depending on their degree, start their academic journey in Pittsburgh on CMU’s main campus. After a year of study, INI students com- plete a three-month summer internship with a tech company, often in the Bay Area, before continuing their second academic year at the CMU- SV location. Not only does the internship provide stu- dents with invaluable real-world experi- ence and access to professional mentor- ship; but it serves as their introduction to a new home.

Source: CMU-Silicon Valley Yixin Bao (center) got his photo taken with Apple CEO Tim Cook (r.) while on a campus trek.

6 6 www.nasa.govwww.nasa.gov NRP Post

Yixin Bao is in his final semester with CMU-SV students made her tran- of the MS Information Technology sition much easier than it could have Mobility program in INI. His intro- been. duction to the West Coast was as a software engineering intern at Apple “Through Integrated Innovation, we working on Bluetooth Core projects have access to corporate sponsors, such as so this is a bonus point for me. It’s especially nice for international stu- AirPod connectivity, “It’s a very dents,” adds Wang. She explains that smooth transition,” says Bao. “One of companies have been very supportive the reasons I applied to this program of international students, who some- is because I get to study in Silicon Val- times run into challenges with secur- ley, where you meet more people from ing jobs or internships. industry and you get more opportuni- ties for things like job applications.” Internships are just one of the many ways that CMU-SV supports student Bao is excited to graduate in the engagement with the vibrant indus- spring and return to Apple full time in try surrounding them in the Bay Area. the summer to start his career. Like Both Integrated Innovation and INI him, many CMU-SV students go on to lead tech treks to visit local compa- work in the Bay Area, sometimes with nies, host corporate speakers on site, companies where they previously in- and conduct events such as hack- terned. athons and networking nights to fully enrich student lives with professional Integrated Innovation student Ida opportunities that abound in the re- Wang is currently in the MS in Tech- gion. nology Ventures program with an ex- pected graduation date of December 2020. Her introduction to the Bay Area was with Volvo’s Connected Solutions NASA Research Park Innovation Lab as a solution develop- Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley er intern exploring local traffic infra- P.O. Box 98 structure. She noted that, for an inter- Moffett Field, CA 94035 national student like herself, the fact that companies are prepared to work

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 7 NRP Post

WITH NASA LOOK FOR SIGNS OF ADVANCED EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE San Francisco – October 23, 2019 Thousands of new planets found by TESS will be scanned for “technosig- natures” by Breakthrough Listen partner facilities across the globe. Data from TESS monitoring of will also be searched for anomalies.

reakthrough Listen, the initiative to find for telltale dips caused by “transits” – where a signs of intelligent life in the universe, an- planet passes in front of the as viewed from nounced today, at the International As- Earth. The cutting-edge instruments on TESS are Btronautical Congress in Washington, DC, a new sensitive enough to detect small, rocky planets collaboration with scientists working on NASA’s similar to Earth. Such planets are prime targets for Transiting Survey Satellite (TESS). follow-up by NASA programs, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, that seek to measure The new collaboration will be led by TESS Depu- planetary atmospheres. Careful measurements ty Science Director, MIT Professor ; of atmospheric composition could result in the S. , Executive Director of the Break- detection of “” – indicators that bio- through Initiatives; Dr. , leader logical processes may be taking place on worlds of the Breakthrough Listen science team at the other than Earth. University of California, Berkeley’s SETI Research Center (BSRC); and will engage Listen partners As well as looking for biosignatures, astrobiolo- and collaborators worldwide. gists search for “technosignatures” – indicators of technology that may have been developed by The TESS and Listen collaboration will expand advanced civilizations. Also known as SETI (the Breakthrough Listen’s target list (adding over Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), techno- 1000 “objects of interest” identified by TESS); re- signature searches use powerful telescopes to fine Listen’s analysis strategy (for example, utiliz- look for signals coming from space that appear to ing new knowledge about planetary alignments to have arisen from transmitters, propulsion devices, predict when transmissions might be more likely or other engineering. No unambiguous technosig- to occur); and provide more meaningful statistics natures have been seen to date, but the chances in the event of non-detections. of detection are higher than they have ever been, in large part due to Breakthrough Listen – the most Observations will take place using Listen’s pri- sensitive, comprehensive, and intensive search mary facilities (the Green Bank and Parkes Tele- for advanced life on other worlds ever performed. scopes1, 2, MeerKAT2, and the Automated Planet Listen is using facilities across the globe, includ- Finder), as well as partner facilities including VER- ing cutting-edge optical telescopes, to search for ITAS4, NenuFAR, FAST5, the Murchison Widefield powerful lasers, and the world’s most capable ra- Array, LOFAR stations in Ireland and Sweden, dio telescopes to search for signals over a wide Jodrell Bank Observatory and e-MERLIN6, Keck range of the radio spectrum. Observatory, and the Sardinia , along with the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Ar- In the past three decades over 4,000 ray7. have been discovered – many by TESS’s prede- cessor, the Kepler spacecraft. According to recent “It’s exciting that the world’s most powerful SETI estimates, the average number of planets per star search, with our partner facilities across the globe, is greater than one. As a result, will be collaborating with the TESS team and our searches operate in a “target-rich” environment, most capable planet-hunting machine,” remarked observing stars whether or not confirmed planets Dr. Worden. “We’re looking forward to working to- are known to exist around them. Nevertheless, gether as we try to answer one of the most pro- as the haul of confirmed exoplanets continues to found questions about our place in the Universe: grow, the additional information about these sys- Are we alone?” tems is very useful for optimizing SETI strategies. Launched in April 2018, TESS has four wide-field The TESS mission measures “lightcurves” (how cameras, each monitoring a region of sky 24 de- the brightness of stars changes over time) to look grees across (about the width of the span of your

8 www.nasa.gov NRP Post hand when held at arm’s length). Lightcurves for ger. “Out of all the exoplanet endeavors only SETI 20,000 stars are measured every 2 minutes, and in holds the promise for identifying signs of intelli- addition, the brightness of every pixel in the cam- gent life.” eras is recorded every 30 minutes. Breakthrough Listen is a scientific program in TESS will observe over 85% of the sky – around search for evidence of technological life in the Uni- 400 times more than Kepler – and is predicted verse. It aims to survey one million nearby stars, to find as many as 10,000 new planets. Most of the entire galactic plane and 100 nearby galaxies the TESS targets are considerably closer to Earth at a wide range of radio and optical bands. than those viewed by Kepler, enabling technosig- The are a suite of scien- nature searches to probe for fainter transmitters. tific and technological programs, founded by Yuri And because TESS only sees planets that pass in Milner, investigating life in the Universe. Along with front of their host star as viewed from Earth, all Breakthrough Listen, they include Breakthrough the planetary systems it detects will be edge-on. A Watch, an optical search for Earth-like planets in large fraction (roughly 70%) of radio leakage from the habitable zones of nearby stars; and Break- Earth-based transmitters is emitted in the plane through Starshot, the first significant attempt to of Earth’s orbit; if the same is true for any trans- design and develop a space probe capable of mitters developed by extraterrestrial intelligence, reaching another star. observing the systems edge-on will offer the best chance of detection. founded DST Global, which has be- come one of the world’s leading technology in- In addition to targeting of TESS planets with Listen vestors and its portfolio has included some of the facilities, the TESS lightcurves themselves will be world’s most prominent internet companies, such searched for anomalies. A planet transit produces as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Airb- a well-understood variation in detected light from nb, Spotify, Alibaba, and others. the star, but large-scale engineering projects (for example, “megastructures” constructed in orbit) Yuri lives in Silicon Valley with his family. He grad- could block the stellar light in more complex ways. uated in 1985 with an advanced degree in theoreti- The TESS analysis pipeline is in essence a wide- cal physics and subsequently conducted research field anomaly detector, and stars that behave in quantum field theory. Yuri and his wife Julia strangely are interesting not just as technosigna- have partnered with Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan ture candidates, but as potential laboratories for and Mark Zuckerberg, Pony Ma, and Anne Wojcic- studying interesting . ki to fund the Breakthrough Prizes – the world’s largest scientific awards, honoring important, pri- “The discovery by the Kepler spacecraft of Boy- marily recent, achievements in Fundamental Phys- ajian’s Star, an object with wild, and apparently ics, Life Sciences and Mathematics. In July 2015, random, variations in its lightcurve, sparked great together with , Yuri launched the excitement and a range of possible explanations, $100 million Breakthrough Listen initiative to rein- of which megastructures were just one,” said Dr. vigorate the search for extraterrestrial intelligence Siemion. “Follow-up observations have suggest- in the Universe; and in April 2016 they launched ed that dust particles in orbit around the star are – a $100 million research responsible for the dimming, but studies of anom- and engineering program seeking to develop a alies like this are expanding our knowledge of as- technology for . trophysics, as well as casting a wider net in the search for technosignatures.” “We are very enthusiastic about joining the Break- through Listen SETI search,” said Prof. Sara Sea-

For More Information:

TESS: tess.mit.edu Berkeley SETI: seti.berkeley.edu Breakthrough Initiatives: breakthroughinitiatives.org For media inquiries: [email protected] OR Rubenstein Communications, Inc. New York, New York Janet Wootten [email protected] / +1.212.843.8024 www.nasa.gov/researchpark 9 NRP Post

2020: One Giant Leap for Silicon Valley

ilicon Valley AUVSI Brings Together In- National Science and Technology Council and dustry Heavy-Hitters for Technical Dis- its Committee on Technology. He was the avi- cussions at NASA AMES Surrounding ation advisor to the first-ever Chief Technology SState of Urban Air Mobility & Unmanned Traffic Officer of the United States during his time in Management the White House Office of Science and Technol- ogy Policy. Mike also served as the FAA Direc- January 20, 2020, Moffett Field, Ca. – The tor of NextGen Integration and Implementation, Silicon Valley Association for Unmanned Ve- with responsibility for ensuring the integrated hicle Systems International has announced a application, planning, programming, budget- symposium on February 27, 2020 that’ll bring ing, and execution of FAA’s NextGen air traffic together the brightest minds in the unmanned management modernization portfolio. In these aviation industry to discuss the future of Urban roles, he focused on developing and advanc- Air Mobility (UAM) and the state of Unmanned ing strategies and policies across the federal Traffic Management (UTM). government and the private sector to promote innovation and accelerate the benefits of fed- Keynote speakers for this event include Dr. Eu- eral investments in aviation and aeronautics. gene L. Tu, the center director at NASA’s Ames Research Center, and Dr. Michael (Mike) Roma- Dr. Eugene Tu leads a staff of civil servants and nowski, the FAA Aircraft Certification Service’s contractors in providing critical research and (AIR) Director of the Policy & Innovation Divi- development support that makes NASA’s and sion (AIR-600). the nation’s aeronautics and space missions possible. Eugene was most recently director Prior to joining AIR, Mike was the FAA’s Direc- of Exploration Technology at Ames, a position tor of Commercial Space Integration, where he he held from November 2005 until his selection provided executive leadership and direction as Ames center director in May 2015. There for the evaluation and regulation of commer- he led four technology research and develop- cial spaceports, launches and reentries, and ment divisions, including two of NASA’s critical the integration of these operations within the infrastructure assets: the consolidated arc jet National Airspace System. Mike also served as testing complex and the agency’s primary su- the FAA representative to the White House’s percomputing facility. He began his career as

10 www.nasa.gov NRP Post

a research scientist conducting computation- services. Venture Perspectives, moderator by al fluid dynamics research on the steady and author and investor Dr. Lance Eliot, will feature unsteady aerodynamics of complex aircraft Dean Donovan from Diamond Stream Partners, configurations. investors in such industry successes as Volaris Airlines and Elroy Air. This symposium is a unique opportunity for in- dustry, press, and the public to have access to The day will also include a fireside talk by re- these panelists and presenters. Industry lead- nowned Dr. Parimal “PK” Kopardekar of the ers will discuss the most pressing issues relat- NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI) ed to Urban Air Mobility and UTM on exciting and Mr. Timothy Bennett, Department of Home- panels that include: Remote Identification, land Security (DHS). Emergence of Autonomous Urban Air Mobility, Airframe Designs for Urban Air Mobility, and This event is free and will take place in Sili- Venture Perspectives. The day will be filled con Valley at historic Moffett Field in Mountain with talks from NASA scientists and thought View, California. The venue sits on the campus leaders, as well as industry change makers of NASA Ames Research Center. Symposium like Jennifer Richter, Greg Deeds, Dean Don- attendees will also have access to a network- ovan and Dr. Lance Eliot. This unique open ing reception at NASA’s ‘Spacebar’. Tickets forum will allow attendees to ask questions are available now, and more information can be and discuss real issues facing the industry found at UTM3.com. including research and operational priorities. Contact: Emergence of Autonomous Urban Air Mobility, Jennifer Deeds moderated by NASA, will examine safety and Communications Director, Silicon Valley AUVSI progress in autonomous urban air mobility [email protected]

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 11 www.nasa.gov/researchpark 11 NRP Post

Orbital Edge Computing April 13, 2020

s humanity moves into outer individually remotely controlled by a space, scientists and engineers human operator. Satellites are direct- must come up with innovative ed by an operator to collect informa- technologyA to get them there. In a re- tion using sensors (like taking pictures cently published paper, Brandon Lu- of Earth) and they then send their sen- cia, assistant professor of electrical sor data back to a radio base station and computer engineering, and Brad- somewhere on Earth. Sending data ley Denby, a Ph.D. student, explore to Earth from a satellite costs a huge one such innovative idea: orbital edge amount of time and energy, and the computing with nanosatellite constella- model of manual control and sending tions. all of the data collected on orbit makes today’s satellite operations extremely The paper recently received the Best expensive. Paper Award at the 2020 Conference on Architectural Support for Program- The cost goes up as satellites – now ming Languages and Operating Sys- appropriately called nanosatellites – tems (ASPLOS). become smaller. Smaller satellites are cheaper and we can send more of A satellite constellation is a large group them into space. As we create ever of satellites that work together. Con- larger and more promising constel- stellations are widely used today with lations, we also increase the human various applications including GPS. cost to manually control the satellites Today, however, satellites are not man- and the time and energy cost to beam aged as a constellation, instead being their sensor data back down to Earth.

12 12www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov NRP Post

Lucia expects to see tens or hundreds of thousands of small, sensor-equipped satellites launched in the near future.

For media inquiries please contact Krista Burns [email protected]

Growing constellations create a prob- sor data, looking for signals of interest lem on Earth, too. Together, the satel- to any number of different applications lites of a constellation collect and send and send down only the data that are down an enormous amount of raw data. actually valuable. Lucia’s team’s new As the number of satellites increases, software and hardware satellite control eventually, ground stations can’t keep system supports orbital edge comput- up. The problem is in the operating ing and ensures that a constellation model of satellites, which, today, ex- avoids collecting redundant data. Us- pect data to be processed by comput- ing these techniques, the data size can ers in computing clouds on Earth. As be considerably reduced, and the data constellations hit the limit of data down- that’s left can be sent much faster and linking, Lucia and Denby propose that cheaper. A constellation of thousands the relationship between satellites and can be supported by a single operator computers must change. and a few small radio ground stations on Earth to collect sensed data. Lucia and his group propose that, in- stead of sending the data back to Earth, According to the paper, Lucia expects satellites in a constellation process their to see tens or hundreds of thousands sensor data in orbit, a new model that of small, sensor-equipped satellites they call “orbital edge computing”. With launched in the near future, which he orbital edge computing, the satellites says will be a perfect fit for the new or- don’t send large amounts of raw data bital edge computing—and might even to Earth. Equipped with machine learn- need it. ing capabilities, they analyze the sen-

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 13 www.nasa.gov/researchpark 13 NRP Post

METIS PRESENTS AT AIAA SCITECH FORUM 2020 January 6, 2020

etis engineers supporting NASA’s Ultimately, the U.S. Coast Guard and Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) NASA experiment goals were achieved by led a unique experiment in col- designing an experiment using the VMS Mlaboration with the US Coast Guard last to simulate varying sea-states and col- year to study human performance related lecting human performance data on small to small boat recovery operations. De- boat recovery operations. Participants re- sign, implementation, and results of the ported that the motion experienced at the Boat Recovery Simulation were present- VMS was realistic and the artificial features ed at the AIAA Science and Technology added to the experiment for safety and Forum and Exposition (AIAA SciTech Fo- experiment management requirements rum) at Orlando, Florida in January 2020. were appropriate. As the first experiment This AIAA program covers the science, to simulate a boat at the VMS, the USCG technologies, and policies that are shap- and NASA successfully demonstrated a ing the future of aerospace, and is the reliable approach to modeling different largest event for aerospace research, de- sea-states for the OTH-IV, building a bow velopment, and technology in the world. section of the OTH-IV and fitting it to an I-CAB, and developing hazard mitigations Metis presented details of experiment and safety features. Additionally, the ap- setup, including a software operation proach described in this paper leveraged model designed around empirical boat the VMS’s flexible architecture to develop position data; development of a replica a system that can introduce more variety boat section manufactured to incorporate in sea-state profiles, collect more data, real-world task elements; and the means and improve the simulation to incorporate to collect objective and subjective data more real-world features. from human participants.

The full conference paper is available at https://www.aiaa.org/SciTech/utility/past-forums

14 www.nasa.gov NRP Post NASA Ames Photo Ops NASA Ames Says Goodbye to Ron Brade as He Embarks on His New Career at the University of North Texas

”I’m proud of our collective accomplishments, particularly those in the NRP” Ron Brade, Associate Center Director

’ve had a wonderful 29-year career others, seeking to leverage their close University of North Texas, I know the with the Federal government (27 with proximity with NASA to innovate, create, great work of NASA, ARC, and the NRP INASA). In the short 9-months I’ve been and tackle some of the most technical continues because of the most valuable at ARC, I’m proud of our collective ac- challenges that our Nation, if not the resource we have—our people, both complishments, particularly those in the world, faces...and it’s all taking place civil servants and contractors. It has truly NRP: the continued development of right here at NASA in Silicon Valley. I been the highlight of my career working the Bay View campus, the construction couldn’t be prouder of our mid-sized at ARC, and I am so proud to wrap up preparations for the housing develop- Center performing as a large-sized R&D my career at NASA in Silicon Valley. I’m ment beginning next year, and the new corporation. As a result of these collab- grateful to you all for your support and Enhanced Use Lease agreement with orations and strategic partnerships, we commitment to advancing the Agency the University of California Regents. Ad- continue to deliver on America’s dream and Center missions, and I’m glad to ditionally, the renovation of Building 25 - and the world benefits! have had the opportunity to be a part will soon reflect the continued revitaliza- of this family. tion of the Historic District on campus. As I begin my second career, returning to The NRP continues its vibrancy with the world of contracts as the Associate Best wishes to all for continued existing tenants like USGS and Carn- Vice Chancellor of Strategic Acquisi- success, and I can’t wait for my return egie-Mellon University, along with many tion/Senior Procurement Officer at the visit to see all that’s been accomplished.

www.nasa.gov/researchparkwww.nasa.gov/researchpark 1515 NRP Post

National Aeronautics and Space Administration OST NRPA Publication of NASA P Research Park

NASA Research Park Editor, Layout and Design: TED TRIANO Phone: (650) 604-2NRP 16 www.nasa.gov Email: [email protected] NP-2020-04-01-ARC Website: www.nasa.gov/researchpark