National Aeronautics and Space Administration

2020 Issue 2 NRP 

A Publication of NASA Research Park

POST

THE

Full article on page 10

AUVSI at NASA Ames State of 

Urban Air Mobility & Unmanned 

Traffic Management
NRP Post

2 www.nasa.gov

IN THIS ISSUE

3 | RMV to Provide Virtual Training and 

Risk Mitigation of Covid 19

RMV training for space and defense material handling 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 Extraterrestrial Life

Thousands of new planets found by TESS will be 

scanned for “technosignatures” by Breakthrough 

Listen 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.
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 3

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RMV TO PROVIDE VIRTUAL 

TRAINING RISK MITIGATION OF 

COVID 19 FOR SPACE & DEFENSE 

MATERIAL HANDLING OF 

ELECTRONICS

Moffett Field, California, August 4, 2020

RMV Technology Group LLC (RMV), NRP 

Industry Partner and Service Disabled 

Veteran Owned Small Business considered 

an “Essential Business” by NASA, continues 

to test current and new products that are used 

in Mission Critical projects and those that may 

require more in-depth testing before launch for 

a successful deployment. 

Product performance today is especially critical 

to protect the health and safety of the individual 

as evidenced by the influx of non-conforming 

and suspect counterfeit products flooding into 

the US marketplace. 

From material handling procedures in the assembly operations, cleanrooms and incoming inspection areas for 

detection of unknown particulates related to packaging 

or Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the potential risk 

of contamination is a higher 

risk in the “new normal” today 

for the Individual. The supply 

chain “global” outsourcing has 

lowered prices but at the same 

time increased the possibility 

of receiving non-conforming 

and suspect counterfeit products or consumables manufactured without adherence to 

quality or product integrity. This 

can well be the price you pay to get the buyer a 

lower cost but at the risk of sacrificing quality.

From the astronaut conducting experiments to 

the handling and staging of SmallSats on the 

ISS, the use of tablet displays, handheld ESD 

sensitive devices (ESDS) and electronic wearables must meet the rigorous requirements for 

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 

ESDS could malfunction and compromise the 

mission! A deployment may be a “dead stick” 

before its liftoff. In like manner, a mission critical 

device fails that wipes out useable data that is 

retrievable from Space.

Recently, RMV has turned to a Virtual Online 

Training platform to pivot the Onsite Technical 

Training for ESD Program Monitors, Operators, 

Engineers and Technicians for a parallel, interactive connection with the Individual in a remote 

workplace. 

In collaboration with the Veterans Business Outreach Center, Region IX (VBOC), RMV is partnering to create a Virtual Training Series aimed to 

educate individuals about COVID-19 Risk Mitigation ranging from materials handling to incoming 

inspection to lower one’s exposure in the workplace. This training will also focus on the most 

effective use of PPE materials and to create the 

awareness needed from the healthcare worker 

to the professional staff in 

working with the patient. 

The unique and innovative 

method of engagement for 

the Virtual Training Series is 

designed to create a most 

effective platform for ease 

of delivery and maximum 

interaction in a live format 

by the CEO and Founder, 

Bob Vermillion, named the 

NASA ESD Technical Authority in March 2018 at 

NASA Quality Leadership 

Forum. In addition, Bob 

is a iNARTE® Certified 

Product Safety Engineer 

and iNARTE® Certified ESD 

Engineer as well as a 2019 Inductee into the Military Packaging Hall of Fame.

Conveniently located in Building 19 of the NASA 

Ames Research Park, RMV has implemented 

safety guidance rules for onsite work in the R&D, 

assembly or cleanroom areas for UC Berkeley 

Space Science Labs and, most recently, for NASA 

Ames Research Center. 

For more information on the Virtual Training 

Programs now being offered, please contact:

Renee Mitchell 

phone 650-964-4792

email renee@esdrmv.com 
NRP Post

4 www.nasa.gov

Redwire acquires Made In 

Space

Article Published in SpaceNews https://spacenews.com/redwire-acquires-made-in-space/

4 www.nasa.gov

WASHINGTON — Made In 

Space, a pioneer of in-space 

manufacturing and assembly technologies, is being acquired by 

Redwire, a new venture that is rolling 

up a number of smaller space companies.

The companies announced the deal 

June 23, terms of which they did not 

disclose. Made In Space, founded in 

2010 and based in Jacksonville, Florida, has developed 3-D printers flown 

on the International Space Station and 

has a NASA contract for a mission 

called Archinaut One to demonstrate 

the in-space assembly of solar arrays.

AE Industrial Partners, a private equity firm, formally established Redwire 

at the beginning of June by combining 

two companies it had acquired, Adcole Space and Deep Space Systems 

(DSS). Both companies are best known 

as suppliers of spacecraft components 

and engineering services, although 

DSS has also developed a robotic lunar 

lander and is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

“What we wanted to do with Redwire 

is take some of the traditional space 

heritage from the small, agile and innovative companies out there like Adcole 

and DSS and combine them with a true 

innovator,” said Peter Cannito, chief 

executive of Redwire, in an interview.

Made In Space, he argued, is that innovator. “The things that they’re doing are 

things that have never been done and 

really have the potential to change the 

economics of space,” he said. “That 

filled a key gap in our strategy.”

For Made In Space, the acquisition 

gives it resources to expand its capabilities. “We were really looking at what 

would take us to the next level,” said 

Andrew Rush, president and chief executive of Made In Space, in an interview. In discussions with Redwire, he 

by Jeff Foust — June 23, 2020

Made In Space will continue projects like Archinaut, a demonstration of in-space manufacturing 

and assembly technologies, as part of Redwire. 

Credit: Made In Space
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 5

NRP Post

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 5

said, “we found a common language 

and a common ground around creating an organization that had both great 

flight heritage and experience and an 

innovative approach.”

“There have been constraints by being that small, independent company,” 

he said. “Now, by joining forces with 

Redwire and having the resources and 

reach that they bring to the table, it’s 

really going to unshackle us and let us 

deliver faster on the possibilities.”

Rush said the Redwire acquisition made 

more sense than alternative approaches 

to growing the company, such as raising 

venture capital. “The conversations and 

the commonality of vision, that Pete and 

I have and the broader Made In Space 

and Redwire teams have, is what really 

brought us together,” he said.

Made In Space will continue its existing 

projects, like Archinaut, while looking 

to leverage the capabilities of the other Redwire companies. “In the coming 

months, we’re going to start to work 

together and bring new offerings to the 

market for our customers that are integrated solutions,” Rush said.

For now, Made In Space and the other 

Redwire companies will operate separately, but Cannito said that over time 

they will combine under the Redwire 

name. “We’re going to let it evolve naturally,” he said. “Many of the brands 

that are involved in Redwire have a lot 

of history and meaning to their current 

customer set, so we want to respect 

that legacy.”

He also opened the door to other acquisitions. “We’re really trying to build that 

premier agile middle-market player in 

space,” he said, looking for companies 

“that recognize that they have something really innovative but, by joining 

Redwire, can accelerate their timelines 

significantly.”

As a part of the acquisition, Rush will 

become the chief operating officer of 

Redwire, while Mike Snyder, chief engineer at Made In Space, will become 

chief technology officer at Redwire.
NRP Post

6 www.nasa.gov

Students enrolled at Carnegie 

Mellon Silicon Valley (CMU-SV) 

have the unique opportunity to 

study in the Bay Area of California—a 

place that is booming with technical 

discovery and entrepreneurship. In the 

Integrated Innovation Institute and Information Networking Institute (INI), students also get the opportunity to work in 

their fields with major tech companies 

who partner with CMU-SV for internship, 

research, and networking opportunities.

Two such companies are Apple and Volvo. Jenny Elfsberg, the Director of Volvo’s 

Innovation Lab Hub US says that they are 

excited to work with CMU-SV students 

because they “successfully work together throughout the co-creation process. 

This is a skill set that is extremely important for the future of Volvo and something 

that is not taught at all universities... 

There is a balance of the students’ depth 

of knowledge and expertise, along with 

the ability for collaboration and successful teams.”

Bicoastal INI students and some Integrated Innovation students, depending on 

their degree, start their academic journey 

in Pittsburgh on CMU’s main campus. 

After a year of study, INI students complete 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 students with invaluable real-world experience and access to professional mentorship; but it serves as their introduction to 

a new home.

CMU-SV Students Partner 

With Tech Titans CMU Staff writer April 20, 2020

Source: CMU-Silicon Valley

Yixin Bao (center) got his photo taken with Apple CEO Tim 

Cook (r.) while on a campus trek.

6 www.nasa.gov
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 7

NRP Post

Yixin Bao is in his final semester 

of the MS Information Technology 

Mobility program in INI. His introduction to the West Coast was as a 

software engineering intern at Apple 

working on Bluetooth Core projects 

such as

AirPod connectivity, “It’s a very 

smooth transition,” says Bao. “One of 

the reasons I applied to this program 

is because I get to study in Silicon Valley, where you meet more people from 

industry and you get more opportunities for things like job applications.”

Bao is excited to graduate in the 

spring and return to Apple full time in 

the summer to start his career. Like 

him, many CMU-SV students go on to 

work in the Bay Area, sometimes with 

companies where they previously interned.

Integrated Innovation student Ida 

Wang is currently in the MS in Technology Ventures program with an expected graduation date of December 

2020. Her introduction to the Bay Area 

was with Volvo’s Connected Solutions 

Innovation Lab as a solution developer intern exploring local traffic infrastructure. She noted that, for an international student like herself, the fact 

that companies are prepared to work 

with CMU-SV students made her transition much easier than it could have 

been.

“Through Integrated Innovation, we 

have access to corporate sponsors, 

so this is a bonus point for me. It’s 

especially nice for international students,” adds Wang. She explains that 

companies have been very supportive 

of international students, who sometimes run into challenges with securing jobs or internships.

Internships are just one of the many 

ways that CMU-SV supports student 

engagement with the vibrant industry surrounding them in the Bay Area. 

Both Integrated Innovation and INI 

lead tech treks to visit local companies, host corporate speakers on site, 

and conduct events such as hackathons and networking nights to fully 

enrich student lives with professional 

opportunities that abound in the region.

NASA Research Park

Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley

P.O. Box 98

Moffett Field, CA 94035
NRP Post

8 www.nasa.gov

Breakthrough Listen, the initiative to find 

signs of intelligent life in the universe, an- nounced today, at the International As- tronautical Congress in Washington, DC, a new 

collaboration with scientists working on NASA’s 

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

The new collaboration will be led by TESS Depu- ty Science Director, MIT Professor Sara Seager; 

S. Pete Worden, Executive Director of the Break- through Initiatives; Dr. Andrew Siemion, leader 

of the Breakthrough Listen science team at the 

University of California, Berkeley’s SETI Research 

Center (BSRC); and will engage Listen partners 

and collaborators worldwide.

The TESS and Listen collaboration will expand 

Breakthrough Listen’s target list (adding over 

1000 “objects of interest” identified by TESS); re- fine Listen’s analysis strategy (for example, utiliz- ing new knowledge about planetary alignments to 

predict when transmissions might be more likely 

to occur); and provide more meaningful statistics 

in the event of non-detections.

Observations will take place using Listen’s pri- mary facilities (the Green Bank and Parkes Tele- scopes1, 2, MeerKAT2, and the Automated Planet 

Finder), as well as partner facilities including VER- ITAS4, NenuFAR, FAST5, the Murchison Widefield 

Array, LOFAR stations in Ireland and Sweden, 

Jodrell Bank Observatory and e-MERLIN6, Keck 

Observatory, and the Sardinia Radio Telescope, 

along with the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Ar- ray7.

“It’s exciting that the world’s most powerful SETI 

search, with our partner facilities across the globe, 

will be collaborating with the TESS team and our 

most capable planet-hunting machine,” remarked 

Dr. Worden. “We’re looking forward to working to- gether as we try to answer one of the most pro- found questions about our place in the Universe: 

Are we alone?”

The TESS mission measures “lightcurves” (how 

the brightness of stars changes over time) to look 

for telltale dips caused by “transits” – where a 

planet passes in front of the star as viewed from 

Earth. The cutting-edge instruments on TESS are 

sensitive enough to detect small, rocky planets 

similar to Earth. Such planets are prime targets for 

follow-up by NASA programs, such as the James 

Webb Space Telescope, that seek to measure 

planetary atmospheres. Careful measurements 

of atmospheric composition could result in the 

detection of “biosignatures” – indicators that bio- logical processes may be taking place on worlds 

other than Earth.

As well as looking for biosignatures, astrobiolo- gists search for “technosignatures” – indicators 

of technology that may have been developed by 

advanced civilizations. Also known as SETI (the 

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), techno- signature searches use powerful telescopes to 

look for signals coming from space that appear to 

have arisen from transmitters, propulsion devices, 

or other engineering. No unambiguous technosig- natures have been seen to date, but the chances 

of detection are higher than they have ever been, 

in large part due to Breakthrough Listen – the most 

sensitive, comprehensive, and intensive search 

for advanced life on other worlds ever performed. 

Listen is using facilities across the globe, includ- ing cutting-edge optical telescopes, to search for 

powerful lasers, and the world’s most capable ra- dio telescopes to search for signals over a wide 

range of the radio spectrum.

In the past three decades over 4,000 exoplanets 

have been discovered – many by TESS’s prede- cessor, the Kepler spacecraft. According to recent 

estimates, the average number of planets per star 

is greater than one. As a result, technosignature 

searches operate in a “target-rich” environment, 

observing stars whether or not confirmed planets 

are known to exist around them. Nevertheless, 

as the haul of confirmed exoplanets continues to 

grow, the additional information about these sys- tems is very useful for optimizing SETI strategies.

Launched in April 2018, TESS has four wide-field 

cameras, each monitoring a region of sky 24 de- grees across (about the width of the span of your 

 WITH NASA LOOK FOR SIGNS 

OF ADVANCED EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE

Thousands of new planets found by TESS will be scanned for “technosignatures” by Breakthrough Listen partner facilities across the globe.

Data from TESS monitoring of stars will also be searched for anomalies.

San Francisco – October 23, 2019
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 9

NRP Post

hand when held at arm’s length). Lightcurves for 

20,000 stars are measured every 2 minutes, and in 

addition, the brightness of every pixel in the cam- eras is recorded every 30 minutes.

TESS will observe over 85% of the sky – around 

400 times more than Kepler – and is predicted 

to find as many as 10,000 new planets. Most of 

the TESS targets are considerably closer to Earth 

than those viewed by Kepler, enabling technosig- nature searches to probe for fainter transmitters. 

And because TESS only sees planets that pass in 

front of their host star as viewed from Earth, all 

the planetary systems it detects will be edge-on. A 

large fraction (roughly 70%) of radio leakage from 

Earth-based transmitters is emitted in the plane 

of Earth’s orbit; if the same is true for any trans- mitters developed by extraterrestrial intelligence, 

observing the systems edge-on will offer the best 

chance of detection.

In addition to targeting of TESS planets with Listen 

facilities, the TESS lightcurves themselves will be 

searched for anomalies. A planet transit produces 

a well-understood variation in detected light from 

the star, but large-scale engineering projects (for 

example, “megastructures” constructed in orbit) 

could block the stellar light in more complex ways. 

The TESS analysis pipeline is in essence a widefield anomaly detector, and stars that behave 

strangely are interesting not just as technosigna- ture candidates, but as potential laboratories for 

studying interesting astrophysics.

“The discovery by the Kepler spacecraft of Boy- ajian’s Star, an object with wild, and apparently 

random, variations in its lightcurve, sparked great 

excitement and a range of possible explanations, 

of which megastructures were just one,” said Dr. 

Siemion. “Follow-up observations have suggest- ed that dust particles in orbit around the star are 

responsible for the dimming, but studies of anom- alies like this are expanding our knowledge of as- 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 Seager. “Out of all the exoplanet endeavors only SETI 

holds the promise for identifying signs of intelli- gent life.”

Breakthrough Listen is a scientific program in 

search for evidence of technological life in the Uni- verse. It aims to survey one million nearby stars, 

the entire galactic plane and 100 nearby galaxies 

at a wide range of radio and optical bands.

The Breakthrough Initiatives are a suite of scien- tific and technological programs, founded by Yuri 

Milner, investigating life in the Universe. Along with 

Breakthrough Listen, they include Breakthrough 

Watch, an optical search for Earth-like planets in 

the habitable zones of nearby stars; and Break- through Starshot, the first significant attempt to 

design and develop a space probe capable of 

reaching another star.

Yuri Milner founded DST Global, which has be- come one of the world’s leading technology in- vestors and its portfolio has included some of the 

world’s most prominent internet companies, such 

as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Airb- nb, Spotify, Alibaba, and others.

Yuri lives in Silicon Valley with his family. He grad- uated in 1985 with an advanced degree in theoreti- cal physics and subsequently conducted research 

in quantum field theory. Yuri and his wife Julia 

have partnered with Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan 

and Mark Zuckerberg, Pony Ma, and Anne Wojcic- ki to fund the Breakthrough Prizes – the world’s 

largest scientific awards, honoring important, pri- marily recent, achievements in Fundamental Phys- ics, Life Sciences and Mathematics. In July 2015, 

together with Stephen Hawking, Yuri launched the 

$100 million Breakthrough Listen initiative to rein- vigorate the search for extraterrestrial intelligence 

in the Universe; and in April 2016 they launched 

Breakthrough Starshot – a $100 million research 

and engineering program seeking to develop a 

technology for interstellar travel.

For More Information:

TESS: tess.mit.edu

Berkeley SETI: seti.berkeley.edu

Breakthrough Initiatives: breakthroughinitiatives.org

For media inquiries: media@breakthroughprize.org

OR

Rubenstein Communications, Inc.

New York, New York

Janet Wootten

jwootten@rubenstein.com / +1.212.843.8024
10 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

2020: One Giant Leap for 

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley AUVSI Brings Together Industry Heavy-Hitters for Technical Discussions at NASA AMES Surrounding 

State of Urban Air Mobility & Unmanned Traffic 

Management

January 20, 2020, Moffett Field, Ca. – The 

Silicon Valley Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International has announced a 

symposium on February 27, 2020 that’ll bring 

together the brightest minds in the unmanned 

aviation industry to discuss the future of Urban 

Air Mobility (UAM) and the state of Unmanned 

Traffic Management (UTM).

Keynote speakers for this event include Dr. Eugene L. Tu, the center director at NASA’s Ames 

Research Center, and Dr. Michael (Mike) Romanowski, the FAA Aircraft Certification Service’s 

(AIR) Director of the Policy & Innovation Division (AIR-600).

Prior to joining AIR, Mike was the FAA’s Director of Commercial Space Integration, where he 

provided executive leadership and direction 

for the evaluation and regulation of commercial spaceports, launches and reentries, and 

the integration of these operations within the 

National Airspace System. Mike also served as 

the FAA representative to the White House’s 

National Science and Technology Council and 

its Committee on Technology. He was the aviation advisor to the first-ever Chief Technology 

Officer of the United States during his time in 

the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Mike also served as the FAA Director of NextGen Integration and Implementation, 

with responsibility for ensuring the integrated 

application, planning, programming, budgeting, and execution of FAA’s NextGen air traffic 

management modernization portfolio. In these 

roles, he focused on developing and advancing strategies and policies across the federal 

government and the private sector to promote 

innovation and accelerate the benefits of federal investments in aviation and aeronautics.

Dr. Eugene Tu leads a staff of civil servants and 

contractors in providing critical research and 

development support that makes NASA’s and 

the nation’s aeronautics and space missions 

possible. Eugene was most recently director 

of Exploration Technology at Ames, a position 

he held from November 2005 until his selection 

as Ames center director in May 2015. There 

he led four technology research and development divisions, including two of NASA’s critical 

infrastructure assets: the consolidated arc jet 

testing complex and the agency’s primary supercomputing facility. He began his career as 
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 11

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a research scientist conducting computational fluid dynamics research on the steady and 

unsteady aerodynamics of complex aircraft 

configurations.

This symposium is a unique opportunity for industry, press, and the public to have access to 

these panelists and presenters. Industry leaders will discuss the most pressing issues related to Urban Air Mobility and UTM on exciting 

panels that include: Remote Identification, 

Emergence of Autonomous Urban Air Mobility, 

Airframe Designs for Urban Air Mobility, and 

Venture Perspectives. The day will be filled 

with talks from NASA scientists and thought 

leaders, as well as industry change makers 

like Jennifer Richter, Greg Deeds, Dean Donovan and Dr. Lance Eliot. This unique open 

forum will allow attendees to ask questions 

and discuss real issues facing the industry 

including research and operational priorities.

Emergence of Autonomous Urban Air Mobility, 

moderated by NASA, will examine safety and 

progress in autonomous urban air mobility 

services. Venture Perspectives, moderator by 

author and investor Dr. Lance Eliot, will feature 

Dean Donovan from Diamond Stream Partners, 

investors in such industry successes as Volaris 

Airlines and Elroy Air.

The day will also include a fireside talk by renowned Dr. Parimal “PK” Kopardekar of the 

NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI) 

and Mr. Timothy Bennett, Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

This event is free and will take place in Silicon Valley at historic Moffett Field in Mountain 

View, California. The venue sits on the campus 

of NASA Ames Research Center. Symposium 

attendees will also have access to a networking reception at NASA’s ‘Spacebar’. Tickets 

are available now, and more information can be 

found at UTM3.com.

Contact: 

Jennifer Deeds

Communications Director, Silicon Valley AUVSI

Communications@SVCauvsi.org

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 11
12 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

Orbital Edge 

Computing

April 13, 2020

12 www.nasa.gov

As humanity moves into outer 

space, scientists and engineers 

must come up with innovative 

technology to get them there. In a recently published paper, Brandon Lucia, assistant professor of electrical 

and computer engineering, and Bradley Denby, a Ph.D. student, explore 

one such innovative idea: orbital edge 

computing with nanosatellite constellations. 

The paper recently received the Best 

Paper Award at the 2020 Conference 

on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS).

A satellite constellation is a large group 

of satellites that work together. Constellations are widely used today with 

various applications including GPS. 

Today, however, satellites are not managed as a constellation, instead being 

individually remotely controlled by a 

human operator. Satellites are directed by an operator to collect information using sensors (like taking pictures 

of Earth) and they then send their sensor data back to a radio base station 

somewhere on Earth. Sending data 

to Earth from a satellite costs a huge 

amount of time and energy, and the 

model of manual control and sending 

all of the data collected on orbit makes 

today’s satellite operations extremely 

expensive. 

The cost goes up as satellites – now 

appropriately called nanosatellites – 

become smaller. Smaller satellites are 

cheaper and we can send more of 

them into space. As we create ever 

larger and more promising constellations, we also increase the human 

cost to manually control the satellites 

and the time and energy cost to beam 

their sensor data back down to Earth. 
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www.nasa.gov/researchpark 13

Growing constellations create a problem on Earth, too. Together, the satellites of a constellation collect and send 

down an enormous amount of raw data. 

As the number of satellites increases, 

eventually, ground stations can’t keep 

up. The problem is in the operating 

model of satellites, which, today, expect data to be processed by computers in computing clouds on Earth. As 

constellations hit the limit of data downlinking, Lucia and Denby propose that 

the relationship between satellites and 

computers must change.

Lucia and his group propose that, instead of sending the data back to Earth, 

satellites in a constellation process their 

sensor data in orbit, a new model that 

they call “orbital edge computing”. With 

orbital edge computing, the satellites 

don’t send large amounts of raw data 

to Earth. Equipped with machine learning capabilities, they analyze the sensor data, looking for signals of interest 

to any number of different applications 

and send down only the data that are 

actually valuable. Lucia’s team’s new 

software and hardware satellite control 

system supports orbital edge computing and ensures that a constellation 

avoids collecting redundant data. Using these techniques, the data size can 

be considerably reduced, and the data 

that’s left can be sent much faster and 

cheaper. A constellation of thousands 

can be supported by a single operator 

and a few small radio ground stations 

on Earth to collect sensed data.

According to the paper, Lucia expects 

to see tens or hundreds of thousands 

of small, sensor-equipped satellites 

launched in the near future, which he 

says will be a perfect fit for the new orbital edge computing—and might even 

need it. 

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

kristab@cmu.edu
14 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

METIS PRESENTS AT AIAA 

SCITECH FORUM 2020 January 6, 2020

Metis engineers supporting NASA’s 

Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) 

led a unique experiment in collaboration with the US Coast Guard last 

year to study human performance related 

to small boat recovery operations. Design, implementation, and results of the 

Boat Recovery Simulation were presented at the AIAA Science and Technology 

Forum and Exposition (AIAA SciTech Forum) at Orlando, Florida in January 2020. 

This AIAA program covers the science, 

technologies, and policies that are shaping the future of aerospace, and is the 

largest event for aerospace research, development, and technology in the world.

Metis presented details of experiment 

setup, including a software operation 

model designed around empirical boat 

position data; development of a replica 

boat section manufactured to incorporate 

real-world task elements; and the means 

to collect objective and subjective data 

from human participants. 

Ultimately, the U.S. Coast Guard and 

NASA experiment goals were achieved by 

designing an experiment using the VMS 

to simulate varying sea-states and collecting human performance data on small 

boat recovery operations. Participants reported that the motion experienced at the 

VMS was realistic and the artificial features 

added to the experiment for safety and 

experiment management requirements 

were appropriate. As the first experiment 

to simulate a boat at the VMS, the USCG 

and NASA successfully demonstrated a 

reliable approach to modeling different 

sea-states for the OTH-IV, building a bow 

section of the OTH-IV and fitting it to an 

I-CAB, and developing hazard mitigations 

and safety features. Additionally, the approach described in this paper leveraged 

the VMS’s flexible architecture to develop 

a system that can introduce more variety 

in sea-state profiles, collect more data, 

and improve the simulation to incorporate 

more real-world features.

The full conference paper is available at https://www.aiaa.org/SciTech/utility/past-forums
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www.nasa.gov/researchpark 15

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

’ve had a wonderful 29-year career 

with the Federal government (27 with 

NASA). In the short 9-months I’ve been 

at ARC, I’m proud of our collective accomplishments, particularly those in the 

NRP: the continued development of 

the Bay View campus, the construction 

preparations for the housing development beginning next year, and the new 

Enhanced Use Lease agreement with 

the University of California Regents. Additionally, the renovation of Building 25 

will soon reflect the continued revitalization of the Historic District on campus. 

The NRP continues its vibrancy with 

existing tenants like USGS and Carnegie-Mellon University, along with many 

others, seeking to leverage their close 

proximity with NASA to innovate, create, 

and tackle some of the most technical 

challenges that our Nation, if not the 

world, faces...and it’s all taking place 

right here at NASA in Silicon Valley. I 

couldn’t be prouder of our mid-sized 

Center performing as a large-sized R&D 

corporation. As a result of these collaborations and strategic partnerships, we 

continue to deliver on America’s dream 

- and the world benefits!

As I begin my second career, returning to 

the world of contracts as the Associate 

Vice Chancellor of Strategic Acquisition/Senior Procurement Officer at the 

University of North Texas, I know the 

great work of NASA, ARC, and the NRP 

continues because of the most valuable 

resource we have—our people, both 

civil servants and contractors. It has truly 

been the highlight of my career working 

at ARC, and I am so proud to wrap up 

my career at NASA in Silicon Valley. I’m 

grateful to you all for your support and 

commitment to advancing the Agency 

and Center missions, and I’m glad to 

have had the opportunity to be a part 

of this family.

Best wishes to all for continued 

success, and I can’t wait for my return 

visit to see all that’s been accomplished. 

”I’m proud of our collective accomplishments, 

particularly those in the NRP” Ron Brade, Associate Center Director
16 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NRP 

A Publication of NASA Research Park

POST

NP-2020-04-01-ARC

NASA Research Park

Editor, Layout and Design: TED TRIANO

Phone: (650) 604-2NRP

Email: arc-dl-nrp-post@mail.nasa.gov

Website: www.nasa.gov/researchpark