National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A publication of NASA Research Park Summer 2014

NRP POST The Photo source: NASA

Space Portal cont’d on page 4 

Instead of gathering around a conference table, people who 

visit the Space Portal of the NASA Research Park are invited to 

settle into one of the large upholstered leather chairs arranged 

in a circle. Although the grouping of mismatched furniture

appears haphazard, it is designed to make visitors feel at ease 

while discussing commercial business ventures, financing options or government space policy. “If you want to innovate, you 

need comfy chairs,” said Daniel Rasky, Space Portal director. 

Innovation is the primary goal of the Space Portal, an organization established in 2005 by a group of NASA veterans with diverse backgrounds who shared a common interest in promoting 

commercial space activity. That group included: Rasky, an expert on thermal protection technologies; Lynn Harper, one of the 

founders of the science of astrobiology; Mark Newfield, NASA 

Ames project manager for the Mars Exploration Rover Thermal 

Protection System; and Bruce Pittman, an aerospace engineer 

who worked on NASA satellite missions before co-founding 

commercial space ventures, including Kistler Aerospace Corp. 

and SpaceHab Inc.

NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Research Park.

NRP Hosts Small Satellite Experts at Kentucky 

Space PocketQube Workshop

The successful November 2013 launch and orbital insertion of 

several PocketQube-class satellites by Kentucky Space and 

other partners led to a workshop on April 17, 2014 at NASA 

Research Park in Silicon Valley. The PocketQube 1.0 Workshop brought together nearly 45 spacecraft designers, innovators, makers, entrepreneurs, and educators from five countries 

to discuss and explore the range of possible uses and applications for these novel spacecraft.

CubeSats have fundamentally reshaped our thinking and 

imagination about what is possible in space. Now the design 

of an even smaller platform, the PocketQube class satellite 

(measuring 5cmx5cmx15cm and weighing just under one 

pound), further demonstrates the power and potential of new 

micro technologies in space...and at a cost less that you might 

pay for a top-of-the-line bicycle. The PocketQube class satellite, invented by Bob Twiggs (also the co-developer of the 

CubeSat), is envisioned to have a wide range of possible applications, including: space network notes, sensor platforms, 

Photo by NASA / Eric James

PocketQube cont’d on page 12

NASA Ames Center Director Dr. Pete Worden addresses the 

PocketQube workshop.

Innovation Space

by Debra Werner

Space News
2 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

CONTENTS NRPWelcomes

Boreal Space

Building 19, Room 1015

Commencement: May 1, 2014

DSI

Building 156, Rooms 202 and 204

Commencement: July 1, 2014

Deep Space Industries is focused on the utilization of 

in-space natural resources to change the economic 

model of doing business in space. DSI will provide the technical resources, capabilities and system integration required to discover, harvest, process and market in-space 

resources. DSI and Ames initially will explore collaborative opportunities using “proof of 

concept” missions, eventually moving to using space resources to service the emerging 

in-space markets for propellant and building materials.

S3 USA Holdings Inc. 

Building 19, Room 2024

Commencement: April 1, 2014

Swiss Space Systems (S3) opened its first US subsidiary in 2013 

in Washington, DC. to further develop their markets in small satellites and aerospace. S3 USA Holdings, Inc. is currently setting 

up operational centers around the U.S. to further partner with the 

US aerospace industry and to develop its affordable and reusable SOAR air-launched 

space system. S3 and Ames will explore opportunities for technical collaboration in the 

area of small satellites.

Made In Space

Building 153

Commencement: July 7, 2014

Made In Space, Inc. has partnered with NASA MSFC 

to launch a 3D printer, customized for microgravity, to 

the International Space Station in 2014. This device will be the first manufacturing device 

used off-Earth and will be an invaluable resource for astronauts. A future 3D printer, the 

Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) will also be available to researchers, businesses, 

artists and individuals to utilize. Through the benefits of the NASA SBIR program, Made 

In Space has been able to further its goal of enabling in-space manufacturing.

“Made In Space 3D Printer Gets Green Light from NASA for Launch” - story on Page 11.

Innovation Space . . . . . . . . . 1

PocketQube . . . . . . . . . 1

New Partners . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A Day at Singularity University . . . 3

CO2 Workshop . . . . 3

Singularity University GSP . . . . . 7

reQall’s reqallable App. . . . . . 7

M2Mi/Electrical Grid . . . . . 8

M2Mi/Sarah Cooper . . . . . 9

Taksha University. . . . . . . . 9

Rhombus. . . . . . . . . . . 10

Made In Space. . . . . . 11

skyTran. . . . . . 12

OpenNEX. . . . . . . . 13

Space Development Panel . . . . 13

UAV Collaborative. . . . . . . . 14

CMU Alerts. . . . . . . . 14

RMV. . . . . . . . 15

Mars Institute. . . . . . 16

Google Lunar XPRIZE . . . . . . 18

Scanadu/Smartest City. . . . . . 18

LatIPnet. . . . . . . . . .19

CMU Software. . . . . . . . . .20

Planners Collaborative . . . . 21

Polish Delegation . . . . 21

Connect Bogota. . . . . . . . . . . 22

Bloom Energy Japan . . . . 23

Bloom Energy Earth Day . . . . 23

Medical Technology Panel . . . 24

Boreal Space provides technical consulting to organizations proposing space missions 

ranging from the search for exoplanets, to near ultraviolet surveys of stellar populations, 

to research and development focusing on new architectures such as fractionated systems. We are providing operations and maintenance support for spacecraft currently onorbit. Our aerospace team has many years of experience defining, designing, testing, 

integrating and deploying robust space systems for NASA, Lockheed Martin, the Department of the Navy, US Air Force and others. These systems have consistently exceeded client expectations. Our consulting services include Systems Engineering, Satellite 

Communications, Electro-Optical Payloads, Guidance Navigation and Control, Flight and 

Ground Software, Test Engineering and Mission Operations. Boreal Space - small team, 

big results.
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 3

A Day at Singularity University, Where the Future Belongs to Glowing Plants and Robotic Elephants

by Signe Brewster, Gigaom.com

March 4, 2014

Men and women in suits and sweatshirts mill about, speaking 

in a mash of languages. It’s midway through the week at the 

Singularity University executive program, a seven-day institute 

offered several times a year where, for $12,000 a ticket, participants get a crash course in fields like biotechnology, neuroscience and robotics.

“Burning Down the House” blares over the speakers, prompting 

everyone to settle into their chairs. Inventor and serial founder 

Saul Griffith takes the stage. He wears a beard, jeans tucked 

into boots and a shirt the color of an ice cream sundae. It’s difficult to tell if he’s about to chastise the room or give a speech. 

He announces that he hasn’t prepared anything, so he’s just 

going to give a tour of his desktop.

Over the next hour and a half, he meanders between drones 

covered in electricity-generating turbines, natural gas-powered cars, custom bikes and how math is changing design. He 

Saul Griffith presents a robotic arm sling. It has no hard parts, 

yet it can improve strength and bring control back to people 

who have lost it. 

Singularity cont’d on page 5

Photo by Signe Brewster

Pete Worden and Jacob Cohen Invite Experts from Industry and Academia for a CO2-Based

Manufacturing Weekend Workshop

By Shawn Conard, NASA Ames Space Biosciences Division

NASA Ames Research Center recently held a weekend workshop focused on the use of CO2

 as a feedstock for manufacturing materials such as food, fuel, and chemicals. All of these 

applications are highly valued for space missions. The goal of 

the conference was to bring together NASA experts with academia, industry, non-profit research organizations, and other 

federal agencies to share ideas and to generate innovative 

concepts that could lead to valuable collaborations.

Using CO2 as a manufacturing feedstock would be a triple win 

for NASA: each astronaut produces a kilogram of CO2 per day 

on the International Space Station, the Martian atmosphere is 

96% CO2 and the Earth’s CO2 is increasing, heating up the 

planet and causing climate change. Speakers presented work 

on subjects such as CO2 electrolysis, electrochemical reduction of CO2

, microbial electrolysis cells, and the production of 

materials such as alkenes, polymers, radiation shielding materials, and foams.

“We wanted to change the conversation about CO2. It’s not 

just a waste product, it can also be a useful feedstock for making products and commodities in space”, said John Cumbers, 

Lead for Planetary Sustainability at the NASA Ames Space 

Portal, and a member of the workshop organizing committee.

The event also included three “breakout sessions” where attendees formed small groups and were tasked with creating 

mission designs to solve specific problems. This process is 

known as Concurrent Engineering and is used to rapidly generate and evaluate new ideas. The problems presented in the 

Photo source: NASA

Attendees at Pete Worden’s CO2-Based Weekend Workshop, 

part of NASA Ames’ Planetary Sustainability efforts.

See http://www.nasa.gov/spaceportal for more details.

workshop included the design of a system to produce 3D printing feedstock on the Martian surface, the design of a sustainable food system for low earth orbit, and the evaluation of a 

proposal to prevent ice cap melt. 

The workshop was part of a series of weekend workshops hosted by Pete Worden, NASA Ames Center Director, and Jacob 

Cohen, NASA Ames Chief Scientist. The event was organized 

by members of the planetary sustainability team: John Hogan, 

John Cumbers, Elysse Grossi-Soyster, and Shawn Conard.
4 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

The multidisciplinary nature of the Space Portal team is one of 

its primary strengths and a reflection of the culture of Silicon 

Valley, said Gary Martin, director of new ventures and communications at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain 

View, Calif. With the support of local communities, NASA Ames 

established the NASA Research Park in 2002 on land formerly 

occupied by the U.S. Naval Air Station Moffett Field. 

Space Portal leaders say another strength is their collective 

decades of work inside the space agency including hands-on 

flight experience. Before founding the Space Portal, “we all 

found creative ways to work within the bureaucracy,” Rasky 

said. “That usually meant taking risks and working with people 

outside our own small groups.” 

Space Portal members continued that pattern of seeking outside support when they developed the programmatic concept 

for the Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS), 

which promised a total of $500 million to companies to demonstrate orbital transportation vehicles. “We had to figure out how 

to design a program that would attract private equity and lead 

to a service that NASA needs,” Rasky said. 

With help from Alan Marty, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, 

Space Portal leaders devised the approach that NASA later 

followed. Instead of following the traditional practice of paying companies for costs incurred developing a new launch vehicle, the Space Portal suggested NASA craft funded Space 

Act Agreements that offered rocket builders the opportunity to 

propose their own milestones but receive payment only when 

NASA confirmed that each company had achieved its stated 

goals. That approach paid off in 2012 with Space Exploration 

Technologies Corp.’s first commercial cargo delivery to the international space station. Orbital Sciences Corp., the COTS 

program’s other funded participant, made its first paid cargo 

run this month.

Since the Space Portal’s inception, its leaders also have worked 

to promote greater utilization of the ISS. In 2005, the Space 

Portal organized a workshop, with the support of then-NASA 

Administrator Michael Griffin, that brought together government and industry researchers eager to conduct experiments 

in microgravity with firms interested in providing space station 

support services and potential funders from NASA and the investment community. “To our knowledge, it was the first meeting that brought together suppliers, researchers and financiers,” 

Rasky said. 

That workshop helped to publicize the varied types of research 

that could be conducted on orbit and served as a jumping-off 

point for successive meetings, workshops and discussions, 

said Harper, the Space Portal’s integrative studies lead.

Many of the Space Portal’s activities are designed to help entrepreneurs and companies with little experience working with 

NASA gain access to the space agency’s expertise. “People 

come to the Space Portal informally to get advice,” Rasky said. 

“We hook them up with the right people to encourage collaboration.”

One of those people was Peter Platzer, a former NASA Space 

Portal intern who later established Nanosatisfi LLC, a San Francisco-based startup that obtained funding through a Kickstarter 

campaign to build and launch cubesats people can program 

through the Internet to conduct experiments. “The people at the 

Space Portal are energetic and full of ideas,” Platzer said by 

email. “Their support was tremendous.”

Other recent visitors to the Space Portal include California Gov. 

Jerry Brown and Steve Jurvetson, managing director of Draper 

Fisher Jurvetson, an investment firm that provided early backing for SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., and Earth imagery startup 

Planet Labs of San Francisco. 

“You see this swirl of ideas and interaction of different players,” 

said Pittman, Space Portal flight projects director. “Those interactions are helping to increase the pace of commercial space 

activity. We are bringing the pace of Silicon Valley to the space 

program.” 

Instead of looking for government to lead the way toward future 

space settlement, Space Portal leaders look to private industry. 

Space Portal cont’d from page 1

Space Portal cont’d on page 5

Daniel Rasky Lynn Harper Bruce Pittman Gary Martin

Photos by NASA/Dominic Hart
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 5

NRP Post

In addition to focusing on exploration, Space Portal members 

began working in 2012 with Silicon Valley organizations, businesses and individuals to identify advanced technological solutions to make life on Earth more sustainable. Much of that 

technology was inspired by NASA space exploration research 

because successful space missions beyond low Earth orbit 

require extremely efficient use of water, oxygen and other essential resources, Rasky said. 

The Space Portal’s budget of approximately $1 million a year 

comes from a variety of sources, including NASA’s Emerging 

Space Office at NASA headquarters. That includes money to 

pay the Space Portal’s eight employees and little additional 

funding for meetings and conferences.

“We are the organizational equivalent of stone soup,” Pittman 

said.

charges that the 3D printer is both the Chia Pet of the 21st century and a Trojan Horse hiding a real technological advancement. He tosses the crowd a stuffed pink elephant–a prototype 

for what later morphed into a robot.

After lunch, he’s replaced by a more reserved John Hagel, a 

consultant and author who lectures at the university. Then 

comes X Prize founder Peter Diamandis, who makes the case 

for incentive-driven challenges.

All of the speakers had one thing in common: they covered 

what SU labels “exponential technologies.” Generally, they’re 

connected by their fast-moving nature and potential to fundamentally change how the world goes about its business. Most 

are only being made possible by the rapid decline in computing 

costs. And they all have the potential to solve what SU has 

dubbed the world’s grand challenges: problems like global 

health, water, energy, the environment, food, education, security and poverty.

Life at SU

SU has three core programs, including its executive program, 

startup accelerator SU Labs and a summer program that targets recent graduates. While the executive class runs for seven 

days, the summer program lasts 10 weeks and is focused on 

teams, each of which builds its own project. Both educational 

programs feed into the accelerator. As first reported by Gigaom, 

SU will also launch a $50 million venture fund this year to further boost its affiliated startups.

Its headquarters building is tucked along the side of the main 

quad of the NASA Research Park in Mountain View, Calif. The 

historic Hangar One, which Google will soon take over day-today operations from NASA, hulks over Moffett Federal Airfield 

just beyond the quad. Walk a few blocks away and you reach 

SU’s classroom, where large windows and a high ceiling contrast the old mission feel of the main building.

The outdoor areas of the research park are nearly abandoned, 

but SU’s headquarters stir with some activity. Startups like 

health device maker Scanadu and micro-gravity 3D printing 

pioneers Made in Space make their home in its halls.

SU is not an accredited university, but its atmosphere is certainly collegiate. Interactions between the executive program 

participants were chummy. SU summer program graduates 

speak of their classmates with a distinct fondness; at SU, 

they’ve finally found peers with the same interests.

CEO and associate founder Rob Nail, who is also an angel 

investor and director of adventure goods company Alite Designs, said that when someone attends an SU educational program, the school has three goals for them. First, the experience 

should fundamentally change their perspective on the future of 

technology and the role it will play in shaping the future of Earth.

“We call it exponential thinking: actually look at the accelerating 

pace of technology instead of the very linear one that we’re 

Singularity cont’d from page 3

A prototype for a robotic elephant is passed around the audience 

at the SU executive program. 

Photo by Signe Brewster

Singularity cont’d on page 6

“Government can help but it cannot lead the way,” Martin said. 

That government help is likely to come in the form of public- private partnerships, Rasky said. Because unlike the Apollo era 

when U.S. leaders were willing to devote massive resources to 

the goal of sending people to the Moon, a significant portion of 

future exploration is likely to be financed privately. 

Throughout history, exploration often has been financed by 

people willing to devote personal fortunes toward those lofty 

goals, Harper said. That trend is continuing as wealthy individuals, such as Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson, 

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, SpaceX founder Elon Musk 

and Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert Bigelow, use their own 

money to support commercial space enterprises, she added. 

Space Portal cont’d from page 4
6 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

historically schooling and everything is based on,” Nail said. 

“They leave here fundamentally thinking that the future looks 

different than when they came in.”

Second, they should take note of and be prepared to use the 

resources offered by the world and SU. Third, SU wants to 

empower them to play a role in the future and think at scale.

“There are plenty of people that will make lots of money making small apps to do nonsensical things, whereas that same 

capability could be used and deployed to target curing cancer 

or solving other different types of problems that could be much 

more meaningful on the planet using basically the same types 

of skills,” Nail said. “It’s just a mindset to strive for higher order 

problems.”

The goal is that people eventually come back with an idea that 

fulfills all of these criteria, some of which will fit into SU’s startup accelerator program.

Spotting startups that look into the far future

SU currently has 24 startups in its accelerator, most of which 

were founded by at least one SU program alumnus. Their startup might be focused on an idea generated at SU or outside in 

the real world.

Managing director of new venture development Sandy Miller 

said that all of the startups focus on a grand challenge, but their 

commercial product isn’t necessarily decades away. Made in 

Space, for example, will send its 3D printer to the International 

Space Station this year. It formed just four years ago.

Made in Space’s printers are rugged, as they have to survive 

the launch into space. 

Or take Modern Meadow, which was founded with the goal 

of making lab-grown meat and leather. While producing tasty, 

edible meat is still a way off, the company is already drawing 

close to commercializing its leather. It will start with the highend fashion market and then move into the auto industry.

The key, Miller said, is for the startups to be at least one or a 

few years ahead of the market.

“Be ahead, but not so far ahead you can’t even see the dot 

in the distance,” Miller said. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the FDA, they probably haven’t started to think about how 

they’re going to regulate the meat Modern Meadow is starting 

to develop now.”

That kind of frontier appears again and again in SU’s portfolio. There’s Cambrian Genomics, which prints DNA with equipment cheap enough for anyone to afford. There’s the Glowing 

Plant project, which hacks a plant’s genes to make it naturally 

glow. These advancements are happening now, and they’re 

not about to wait for the rest of the world to catch up.

“We have those fun examples from science fiction, from TV that 

some of us grew up with, where you push a button and a meal 

pops out of your TV,” Miller said. “This starts to put some of 

those things together. That dot so far on the horizon, that possibility, starts to become closer.”

Taking a responsible look at the future

All of the projects coming out of Singularity-affiliated companies have a mad scientist quality to them. But once they reach 

the hands of other mad scientists, will they be used for good 

or for evil?

Nail said it’s a question that plagues him. He’s concerned by 

drones and weapon-carrying robots. He’s also afraid of technology that is under the radar enough to escape regulation and 

public discourse.

“I’m very excited and happy to showcase companies like Glowing Plant, but I’m also very concerned about companies like 

Glowing Plant because of the inevitabilities of someone taking 

that similar technology and doing far more reckless and terrible 

things,” Nail said.

It’s an odd fear to come from someone wearing Google Glass; 

a mark of a confident hyper-early adopter. But his next point 

clarifies the contradiction: the early adopter is aware, and has 

the power to shape the dialogue and experience for later users.

Nail said when SU associates itself with a project like Growing Plant, it uses it as a vehicle to incite awareness, including 

controversy. SU wants people to weigh the positives and negatives, and maybe help drive what level of regulation new technology needs to have an overall positive effect on the world.

“How do we start that discourse amongst politicians, amongst 

citizens and amongst corporate groups so we can figure out 

what future we want to live in?” Nail said. “That’s what I keep 

coming back to. These technologies keep coming out. They’re 

not going to stop. They’re going to take us some place and 

Singularity cont’d from page 5

Singularity University’s classroom on the NRP campus.

Photo by Signe Brewster

Singularity cont’d on page 7
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 7

NRP Post

either we’re going to be surprised by it or we’re going to direct 

where it goes.”

Making the future

Back on stage, one of SU’s newest methods for fostering that 

discourse is on display. Under the new SU Corporate Innovation Exchange, SU Labs startups can pair directly with corporations, the founding members of which are Coca Cola, Lowe’s, 

Hershey’s and UNICEF. The startups can develop a new product for a corporation or provide a fresh take on an existing 

product or service.

Then the SU Labs startups come on stage. One by one, they 

talk making engineering genes easy enough for anyone. They 

pitch altering pet cats’ gut bacteria so that the litter box smells 

like banana or mint. They explain how technology could eradicate organ shortages for people who need implants.

They aren’t overwhelmed by worries they will enable the wrong 

people to create mutant organisms. They’re more excited 

about the potential for good. And with SU at their back, we can 

hope citizens, corporations and governments see that kind of 

potential too.

Singularity cont’d from page 6

The ten-week summer program was Singularity University’s first offering six years ago, and it remains at the 

heart of Singularity University’s mission today—to use 

technology to positively impact a billion people in the 

next ten years. The incoming summer class includes 

80 talented, accomplished, and driven GSP participants 

from 40 countries.

Meet reqallable, the Smartwatch App that Rescues You from Notifications Overload

by Jon Phillips, TechHive

January 31, 2014

Smartwatches usually treat notifications with blunt-force indiscretion. It’s an all or nothing affair. You either turn off notifications entirely, letting your wrist wear go quiet, or you leave notifications on, and let the watch respond to all incoming signals 

with a buzz or a chime.

The first option defeats everything we want in a smartwatch—

these gadgets are supposed to save us the trouble of checking 

our phones for critical communiques. But the second option 

is annoying—once those emails, text messages, and call notifications pile on in rapid succession, you want to throw your 

watch down the sewer.

But perhaps help is on the way. A company called reQall has 

just ported its reqallable smartphone app to Sony’s Smartwatch platform, promising algorithmic relief for notifications 

overload. Available now on Google Play, the app hooks directly 

into your calendar, contacts list and even geolocation to determine where you are, what you’re doing, and who’s important to 

you—and then it decides whether to elevate that next notification to something you need to know about right now.

If you’ve ever suffered the pain and embarrassment of an overactive smartwatch, you can see reqallable’s utility. But one of 

the things that’s most noteworthy about reqallable’s Friday 

app launch is that it’s a smartwatch app launch. You know the 

developer community is taking these gadgets seriously when 

someone makes a big to-do about a piece of software that only 

works on a device that, quite frankly, very few people use.

“Wearables are an important market to be in,” says Sunil Vemuri, reQall co-founder and chief product officer. “People are 

asking, ‘What are we going to use smartwatches for?’ and we 

think we have an answer for that. This is the beginning of a 

story, and we want to be part of that beginning.”

reQall’s reqallable smartphone app on Sony’s Smartwatch

reqallable cont’d on page 17

Photo source: TechHive

Singularity University’s 2014 Graduate 

Studies Program (GSP) Opening Ceremony

Photo source: Singularity University
8 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

establish baselines, and immediately alerts administrators in 

case of an abnormality. The system also correlates abnormalities in data streams to triangulate the source of an intrusion 

— an irregularity caught on a video feed, or an unauthorized 

attempt to join the network, might be linked to a slowing of the 

network, for instance, said Steve Ehrlich, senior vice president 

of marketing.

Crossing industry lines can be tricky. In the smart-grid panel’s 

discussions with utility companies, Gannon said, he learned 

that although their concerns are similar to, say, the financial 

industry — detecting malware and viruses and encrypting data 

transmissions — “there is the added dimension [in the electrical grid] of the machine-to-machine interaction between autonomous devices that becomes a little more unique.”

Also, the utility industry tends to move slower on adopting new 

technology because of the way it is regulated, Gannon said. 

Most utility companies must undergo a formal rate-making process, during which they decide how much to charge consumers, so it’s rare for them to try out new technologies if it affects 

that process.

“It’s a much longer business cycle,” Gannon said.

Navigating that process can be tough for investors hoping for 

timely returns. As a result, investments may be slowing. According to data from Mercom Capital Group, a global clean-energy communications and consulting firm, venture funding for 

smart-grid companies reached $405 million in 2013, compared 

with $434 million in 2012.

Still, the Energy Department is actively searching for cybersecurity solutions for the electrical grid. In April, the department 

put out a research call for technology related to defending 

against moving targets, securing distributed energy resources 

that do not rely on a central power plant, and self-healing control systems for delivering energy.

Cyber Firms Look to Move the Electrical Grid

By Mohana Ravindranath, Washington Post

April 27, 2014

At a keynote speech in Washington last month, former CIA director Leon E. Panetta warned that cyberspace is the “battlefield of the future.” Hackers could trigger disruptions similar to 

those caused by Hurricane Sandy if they gain access to electricity grids, transportation systems or other networks, he said.

Warnings like Panetta’s have created new opportunities for cybersecurity technology companies that once focused on computer networks. Many are looking to adapt their software to 

help protect other industries.

For instance, M2Mi — which stands for machine-to-machine 

intelligence — began eight years ago as a project out of the 

NASA Research Park in Moffett Field, Calif. The firm works 

with telecommunications companies to make sure that the devices that make up “the Internet of things” — a web of connected devices and sensors — can easily exchange information over a network.

M2Mi is turning its attention to the electrical grid. It has been 

working with the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, a nonprofit 

group that began as a project about four years ago, funded 

by the Energy Department and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to make sure its software meets the 

requirements of the electric utility industry. The panel draws up 

standards and practices to ensure that the devices, sensors 

and meters that make up the electrical grid can communicate.

“Most [tech companies] are trying to bring in business solutions, 

most of which have started out doing either security capabilities or cybersecurity from a different industry perspective, and 

then looking at how it applies to the smart-grid space,” said 

Patrick Gannon, the panel’s executive director.

Utility companies have been using M2Mi’s software to manage 

the information collected from various points in the electrical 

grid: the data transmitted from an energy sensor to a consumer’s “smart” meter, which might display the amount of energy 

consumed in an hour and its price, to the energy provider’s 

main data center and vice versa.

The software uses a lockbox system that grants authorized devices unique “keys,” allowing them to participate in that information exchange. A consumer’s smart meter may be granted 

one such key. An attack on the network can be traced to a 

particular user or device, chief executive Geoff Brown said.

M2Mi is not alone in looking for work across sectors. Utility 

companies make up about 80 percent of customers for the analytics firm Space-Time Insight, based in San Mateo, Calif. But 

other customers are companies in oil and gas, telecommunications, and transportation. Customers pay a software-licensing 

fee for the service.

Space-Time Insight’s system collects data from weather sensors, energy meters, security cameras and other sources to 

Image source: David Saracino/The Washington Post
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 9

NRP Post

“We at M2Mi are glad to see industry recognition of something 

we have known for a while – that Sarah Cooper is an incredible 

asset, not only to our company, but the M2M and IoT industry. 

From an industry leadership 

perspective, Sarah has been 

instrumental in promoting 

the importance of M2M and 

IoT platforms, cyber security and intelligence from the 

platform. We are very proud 

of the incredible work that 

Sarah has consistently accomplished and congratulate 

her for a richly deserved recognition.” says Geoff Brown, 

CEO, Machine-to-Machine 

Intelligence (M2Mi) Corporation.

About Machine-to-Machine Intelligence (M2Mi) Corporation:

Machine-to-Machine Intelligence (M2Mi) Corporation delivers 

M2M Intelligence®; the essential platform for the M2M & Internet of Things economy. M2Mi reduces the complexity of connecting, provisioning and automating M2M services, as well as 

securely integrating edge devices through network providers 

to the cloud data center, thus addressing requirements for both 

critical cyber-physical infrastructure protection and secure information exchange.

Machine-to-Machine Intelligence (M2Mi) Corporation is headquartered at NASA Research Park, Silicon Valley.

Dr. Sarah Cooper from M2Mi Recognized in Connected World Magazine’s Exclusive 2014

Women of M2M List

PRWEB

March 21, 2014

Machine-To-Machine Intelligence (M2Mi) Corporation today 

announced that Dr. Sarah Cooper, Vice President of Business 

Development, has been recognized by Connected World Magazine in its 2014 Women of M2M list. The Connected World 

Magazine 2014 Women of M2M list recognizes women at the 

forefront of moving the connected industry forward. The list 

includes women who are moving their respective companies 

towards a common goal of bridging the gap between people 

and machines.

Dr. Sarah Cooper, VP Business Development, has built a 

strong track record of delivering M2M and IoT products and 

solutions to Fortune 500 customers and partners. Sarah, has 

been instrumental in pioneering the first plug and play public cloud M2M and IoT ecosystem with the M2M Intelligence® 

platform, including M2Mi’s Cyber Security products anchoring 

a rich set of global, multi-industry partners.

Sarah is well recognized in the industry. She is a winner of NAE 

Young Engineers Award, the Nano50 Award, and is a Sir Keith 

Murdoch Fellow as well as a Silicon Valley Power Fellow. She 

holds 6 US patents and completed her PhD in Physics from the 

University of Sydney.

Sarah is an inspiration, mentor and advocate of women 

throughout the technology and entrepreneurial sectors, from 

semiconductor to food tech to consumer wearables. A member 

of Society of Women Engineers (SWE), a regular participant in 

Bay Area Girl Geek dinners and a supporter of talented women 

at every level of her M2M and IoT industry partners, customers 

and associations.

Photo source: PRWEB

Taksha University’s Space Health Forum

Professor Joan Vernikos, PhD, and Stephan Blanc, PhD, 

with Professor Dilip Sarkar, MD, FACS, chaired a space 

health forum this spring, discussing hibernation, meditation, and sleep. Taksha hopes to host a follow-up conference at the NASA Research Park. This workshop will provide cross-fertilization of ideas from research on a variety 

of low-energy states with the object of discovering ways of 

supporting the health of space travelers on long-duration 

missions. The discussions and recommendations will be recorded and compiled for publication, to provide a landmark 

document to initiate follow-on discussion and exploration in 

this new field.

Taksha will offer a Systems Engineering Management 

(STM510) course with Prof Wilson Felder, PhD, this winter 

at the NASA Research Park. 

Please email contact@taksha.org for more information. 

Professor Joan Vernikos (and former NASA Associate 

Administrator) chairing the 3rd International Space Health 

Forum (ISH3).

Photo source: Taksha
10 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

Rhombus Power’s First Product, Mercury, is 

a Networked, Scalable, Digital, and Highly 

Accurate Neutron Detector

www.azosensors.com

May 16, 2014

Rhombus Power Inc.’s first product, Mercury, is a networked, 

scalable, digital, highly accurate, and easy-to-use neutron 

detector. Mercury can be readily used by homeland security, 

defense, and intelligence communities to detect contraband 

nuclear weapons and materials. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has independently verified that 

Mercury meets ANSI standards.

Mercury is being demonstrated in Gaithersburg (MD) on May 

29th at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute 

of Standards and Technology (NIST) to a number of U.S. Government agencies. An earlier prototype of Mercury was successfully demonstrated in December 2013 at UC-Berkeley to 

scientists and U.S. Government agencies.

President Obama and his national security team continue to 

rate nuclear terrorism as a high priority threat to our homeland. At the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, in 

response to a question about his concerns over deteriorating 

US-Russian relations, he said, “I continue to be much more 

concerned, when it comes to our security, with the prospect of 

a nuclear weapon going off in Manhattan.”

According to Rhombus CEO and Founder Dr. Anshuman Roy, 

“Currently deployed nuclear detectors are unreliable because 

they are inaccurate and require frequent calibration. And the 

world has run out of Helium-3 that served as the workhorse 

neutron sensing material for decades.”

To address this critical national security need, Dr. Roy left a 

research position at UC Santa Barbara in 2012 to start Rhombus Power. Dr. Roy and his Rhombus team joined the NASA 

Research Park (NRP) at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. 

According to Nobel Prize winner Dr. Alan Heeger, “Rhombus’ 

neutron detector (Mercury) will make America safe from terrorist movement of fissionable materials. It is 10x more accurate 

than available solutions and it is free of false positives that 

plague existing technologies – it is a breakthrough innovation.”

Rhombus has provided detectors to the nuclear science departments at the University of California, Berkeley, and San 

José State University for characterization. According to Dr. 

Kai Vetter, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at UC Berkeley, 

“Mercury is an on/off detector for neutrons that does not require calibration and is free of false alarms.” Dr. Gilles Muller, 

Director of Nuclear Science at San José State University commented, “We are delighted to facilitate the characterization experiments of Mercury at our Nuclear Science facility.”

Mercury also has scientific applications in digital neutron imaging for drug discovery and materials science as well as commercial applications in oil & gas, lumber and agriculture markets. Dr. Roy is very excited about the broad applicability of 

this breakthrough technology that he predicts will require major 

expansion of his company and number of employees.

NASA Research Park Director Michael Marlaire noted, “We 

are so proud that yet another of the NRP startup companies 

has developed a platform with so many potential benefits to 

the American people”. The NRP is pursuing the White House 

goals, “Accelerating Technology Transfer and Commercialization of Federal Research in Support of High-Growth Businesses”, as expressed in the October 28, 2011 Memo to Heads of 

Executive Departments and Agencies. Over the years, NRP 

has successfully incubated businesses that started with only 

intellectual property and a plan, and now employ thousands 

in Silicon Valley, including Bloom Energy, AlterG, Apprion, and 

Benetech.

Photo source: Rhombus

Rhombus’ neutron detector (Mercury).

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Alan Heeger and Rhombus CEO and 

Founder Dr. Anshuman Roy.

Photo source: Rhombus
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 11

NRP Post

Made In Space 3D Printer Gets Green Light 

from NASA for Launch

After passing the last NASA test, Made In Space will see its 

3D printer launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in 

August by SpaceX as part of NASA’s 4th Commercial Resupply 

mission (CRS-4).

Originally the 3D printer was scheduled to fly on the SpaceX 

CRS-5 mission but because the company met all its milestones 

early the launch was moved up to CRS-4.

“NASA was able to provide key guidance on how to best comply with strenuous space certification, safety and operational 

requirements and Made In Space excelled at incorporating 

that insight into the design,” said Niki Werkheiser, the NASA 

3D Print Project Manager. “As a result, the hardware passed 

testing with flying colors. Made In Space now has first-hand 

experience of the full ‘A-to-Z’ process for designing, building, 

and testing hardware for spaceflight.”

Once in space, the 3D printer will be installed in the ISS Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) and will print an initial set 

of 21 demonstration parts including a series of test coupons, 

parts and tools. The data from these demonstrations will be 

downlinked high-definition video and the items will returned to 

earth for detailed ground analyses.

“Years of research and development have taught us that there 

were many problems to solve to make Additive Manufacturing 

work reliably in microgravity. Now, having found viable solutions, we can welcome a great change -- the ability to manufacture on-demand in space is going to be a paradigm shift for the 

way development, research, and exploration happen in space,” 

said Michael Snyder, Lead Engineer and Director of R&D for 

Made In Space.

According to Made In Space the “first set of prints will serve 

to verify the printer and extrusion process in microgravity. The 

next phase will serve to demonstrate utilization of meaningful 

parts such as crew tools, payload ancillary hardware, and potential commercial applications such as cubesat components.”

Should the demonstrations prove successful the company 

plans to put a permanent Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) 

on the ISS.

For NASA the the ability to create 3D printed items on-demand 

will reduce the need to launch parts from Earth which will save 

time and money.

Other companies like Planetary Resources and Deep Space 

Industries also have in their business plans the use for 3D 

printers in space to help reduce costs.

Made In Space plans on making their AMF 3D printer available 

for use by researchers, businesses and individuals. For companies interested in 3D printing in space this new testbed could 

be prove to be a great research opportunity as they develop 

their own industrial scale 3D printers.

Noah Paul-Gin (left), Microgravity Experiment Engineering Lead, 

tests three Made in Space 3D printers in microgravity with team 

members Jason Dunn (center) and Mike Chen.

Expedition 8 Commander and Science Officer Michael Foale 

conducts an inspection of the Microgravity Science Glovebox.

Made in Space 3D-printer.

Photo source: SpaceRef

Photo source: SpaceRef

Photo source: SpaceRef

By Marc Boucher, SpaceRef

April 27, 2014
12 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

High-Speed, Elevated, Mass Transit Gets Real

skyTran and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to Build a skyTran Demonstration System

skyTran Inc., headquartered at the NASA Research Park 

(NRP) near Mountain View, California, and Israel Aerospace 

Industries (IAI), a company headquartered in Lod, Israel, entered into an agreement today for the construction of a skyTran 

technology demonstration system (TDS) on the grounds of 

IAI’s corporate campus. The agreement was executed by the 

Director of IAI’s Lahav Division, Yosef (Yossi) Melamed and by 

skyTran CEO, Jerry Sanders.

skyTran is the developer of the patented high-speed, elevated, 

levitating, energy-efficient, skyTran transportation system. The 

skyTran system is a network of computer-controlled, 2-person 

“jet-like” vehicles employing state-of-the-art passive Mag-Lev 

technology. skyTran systems will transport passengers in a 

fast, safe, green, and economical manner. skyTran intends to 

revolutionize public transportation and, with it, urban and suburban commuting.

IAI is a world leader in the development and production of 

aerospace systems and aircraft. It has accumulated nearly half 

a century of experience in creating and supplying advanced 

systems for customers worldwide and it devotes substantial resources to research and development. IAI is also an investor in 

and purveyor of green tech products and solutions.

Jerry Sanders remarked, “The support afforded by IAI is a 

breakthrough for skyTran. IAI, as a world-class designer of aircraft and avionics, is the perfect partner to take skyTran from 

concept to construct.” Yossi Melamed declared, “We are proud 

to be part of this exciting moment in transportation history and 

to host the first SkyTran system in our grounds. The TDS will 

incorporate IAI’s advanced capabilities in the areas of engineering, robotics, and control.”

The TDS will incorporate skyTran’s salient features. It will provide a platform for skyTran vehicles to travel at high speeds, 

with full payloads while levitating. The TDS will enable testing, 

refinement, and validation of skyTran’s technology in a controlled environment. 

The TDS will be followed by deployment of the first commercial 

skyTran system in Tel Aviv, Israel. Other projects worldwide are 

pending TDS completion.

In addition to being a tenant in the NASA Research Park, 

NASA and skyTran entered into non-reimbursable Space Act 

Agreements to collaboratively study “Human Habitability and 

Intelligent Control of an Advanced Transportation System.”

“The NRP is proud to have skyTran as a valued tenant and 

partner in our world-class shared-use R&D and education campus for industry, academia, non-profits, and government,” said 

S. Pete Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research Center, 

which founded and manages the NRP. “The NRP provides a 

physical place for innovation and entrepreneurship and serves 

as a technology accelerator through fostering both informal 

and formal collaborations.”

test-beds, and novel satellite constellations that are inexpensive, redundant, and spatially organized.

The high energy workshop covered a number of topics, 

including:

• PocketQube Capabilities and Functions

• PocketQube Class Standard

• PocketQube Satellites Currently on-Orbit

• Designing and Building PQ Micro Spacecraft (Power Systems, C&DH, Payloads and cost, etc.)

• Licensing and Regulations (FCC, ITU, ITARU, NOAA)

• On-Orbit Ops and Analyses

• Launch Options and Opportunities

• Future Applications and Challenges

Presenters and facilitators included: Bob Twiggs, Professor, Morehead State University/Kentucky Space and former

Director of the Space Systems Development Lab at Stanford 

University; Garrett Jernigan, Physicist, Little H-Bar Ranch 

(LHR), Eureka Scientific Inc., ESPACE Inc., Noqsi Inc., and 

Research Affiliate of KIPAC (SLAC/Stanford); Chantal

Cappelletti, Professor Adjunto Universidade de Brasilia, International Academy of Astronautics Corresponding Member, 

Co-founder GAUSS Sri; Twyman Clements, Senior Space

Systems Engineer, Kentucky Space LLC; Ben Malphrus,

Director, Space Science Center, Morehead State University/

Space Tango LLC; and Kris Kimel, President, Kentucky Space 

LLC.

The Workshop was organized and sponsored by Kentucky 

Space LLC and Space Tango. The co-sponsors of the conference included NASA Kentucky, California Space Grant Consortium, Sonoma State University, NewSpace, and CASIS. The 

facilities and logistical support was provided by NASA Ames 

Research Center, which led to the success of the workshop.

PocketQube cont’d from page 1

Image courtesy of: www.skytran.us

skyTran Press Release

June 23, 2014
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 13

NRP Post

NASA Taps Citizen-Scientists to Find Novel 

Ways to Use Earth Science Datasets

NASA is well known as an innovator that employs some of 

the smartest people alive. This week, however, the agency 

announced two related Earth science challenges designed to 

take ideas from a much larger source: the public.

The challenges give citizens a chance to provide NASA with 

new ways to make use of the extensive datasets its Earth science satellites capture, much of which are available to the 

public through the Open NASA Earth Exchange, or OpenNEX. 

OpenNEX is a data, supercomputing and knowledge platform 

hosted on the Amazon Web Services cloud, where academics, 

developers and users can search through a massive collection 

of climate and Earth science datasets. NASA already collects 

the data, but the public could help the agency better figure out 

what to do with it.

“OpenNEX provides the general public with easy access to 

an integrated Earth science computational and data platform,” 

said Rama Nemani, principal scientist for the NEX project at 

NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. 

“These challenges allow citizen-scientists to realize the value 

of NASA data assets and offers NASA new ideas on how to 

share and use that data.”

The challenges come in two phases. The first is the ideation 

stage, which runs from July 1 through Aug. 1. It will offer as 

much as $10,000 in awards for ideas that lead to “novel uses 

of the datasets.”

The second aspect is the builder phase and begins in August. 

It will build off the ideas generated during the ideation stage 

and will offer between $30,000 and $50,000 in awards for the 

development of applications or algorithms that promote climate 

resilience using OpenNEX datasets.

NASA will announce the winners in December. The OpenNEX 

challenges also address policy mandates on big data, open 

data and climate data from the Obama administration, but 

bringing innovation from outside the agency is likely where its 

biggest efforts will lie.

Speaking at the Amazon Web Services symposium in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Tsengar Lee, program manager 

in the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, said building the data simply isn’t 

enough: The agency wants to maximize its uses.

“The expectation was if you build the data, they will come, but 

that was not the case,” Lee said.

To educate citizen-scientists on how datasets on OpenNEX 

can be used, NASA has created a series of online lectures and 

modules. Those materials, as well as other information on registering for the challenges, are available here:

https://nex.nasa.gov/nex/static/htdocs/site/extra/opennex/

NASA/AP

Photo courtesy of the National Space Society

International Space Development 

Panel in Los Angeles, CA

Dan Rasky and Bruce Pittman of the Space 

Portal at the International Space Development Conference in May, 2014.

Panelists included Bob Richards of Moon 

Express, Chuck Lauer of Rocketplane 

Global , Rick Tumlinson of Deep Space Industries, Will Pomerantz of Virgin Galactic 

and Jeff Greason of XCOR.

NASA/AP

June 25, 2014
14 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

FAA-Approved UAV Flight Operations in Alaska Without Visual Observers

The NASA Marginal Ice Zone Observations and Processes 

EXperiment (MIZOPEX) Project involved the use of Unmanned 

Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with varied payloads for the 

investigation of the spatial and temporal variability of ocean 

and ice conditions in and near the marginal ice zone during 

the melt season over the ocean north of the Alaskan coast. 

The operational flight plan for the UAVs consisted of low flight 

heights (<2,000 ft MSL) at slow cruise speeds over considerable distances (>10 miles) from the takeoff and landing site at 

Oliktok Point. The use of ground-based visual observers or a 

manned chase planes for sense and avoid was deemed both 

impractical and a high risk within this framework of UAV flight 

operations. In the FAA-approved Certificate of Authorization 

(COA) that made it possible for NASA to conduct UAV flight 

operations in the domestic National Airspace at this location, 

the “Sense and Avoid Safety Procedures” section specified 

that a Thales-Raytheon Systems (TRS) Sentinel AN/MPQ-64 

(FRP-5) radar data feed would be linked to a SAVDS® display 

system housed in the UAV Ground Control Station (GCS). The 

Sentinel-SAVDS Ground-Based Sense-and-Avoid (GBSAA) 

System served the time-critical function of showing the location and altitude of airborne targets (including non-cooperative 

aircraft not equipped with transponders) within and around 

a pre-defined transit corridor that was to be followed by the 

UAV en route to International Airspace. The accomplishment 

achieved by NASA as a critical element of the MIZOPEX Project was the successful field installation and field use of the 

Sentinel-SAVDS GBSAA System, enabling the first FAA-approved civilian UAV flight operation in the domestic National 

Airspace without airborne or ground-based visual observers. 

Historically, all previous FAA-approved COAs enabling civilian 

UAVs to operate in the National Airspace have required the use 

ground-based visual observers or manned chase planes as a 

means of maintaining safe separation distances between the 

UAV and other aircraft. It is envisioned that the future of UAV 

flight operations on the North Slope of Alaska and other comparable locations will increase significantly over the next decade 

for resource exploration and science. Within this framework, 

the Sentinel-SAVDS GBSAA System could be envisioned as 

enabling FAA-approved UAV flight operations without groundbased visual observers or manned chase planes.

SAVDS, Inc. has worked closely with ThalesRaytheonSystems 

LLC Company (TRS) for almost a decade, acquiring extensive 

datasets during UAV flight operations. Airspace monitoring for 

UAV flight safety has been achieved with the high-performance 

Sentinel radar providing the “eyes” and SAVDS® providing the 

“brains” of the GBSAA System.

The Sentinel-SAVDS GBSAA System provides UAV pilots with 

an integrated UAV-centric situational awareness of the 3D airspace: (1) detecting and tracking airborne traffic in relation to 

SAVDS cont’d on page 19

Carnegie Mellon Wireless Researchers Seek to Improve Emergency Alert Messaging

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Silicon Valley 

campus (CMU-SV) have received an 18-month, $874,000 

grant from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to 

study how wireless technology can be improved to generate 

more informative emergency alerts. Additionally, they will explore if mobile devices can filter these messages based on an 

individual’s location and needs.

When severe weather, terrorist threats or other emergencies 

occur, government officials alert the public by sending text 

messages to smartphones and other mobile devices that are 

enabled to receive wireless emergency alerts (WEA). These 

brief, 90-character messages aim to protect the public, but 

they also have also generated confusion and frustration by not 

providing enough information and by alerting large numbers of 

people who are not immediately affected. Thus, it is common 

for individuals to block these warnings.

Martin Griss, founding director of the campus’ Disaster Management Initiative (DMI); Bob Iannucci, associate dean of the 

College of Engineering and director of the Silicon Valley campus, and Hakan Erdogmus, associate teaching professor of 

electrical and computer engineering, are heading the team that 

will study issues surrounding the creation, dissemination and 

reception of emergency messages and how first responders 

and the public react to different types of messages.

The team proposes to improve targeting messages by developing and piloting a prototype app that relies on a smartphone’s 

ability to determine a user’s location and movement patterns. 

A test bed system will simulate an emergency message’s life 

cycle, from its creation and distribution to users’ phones. This 

test bed will enable the team to explore a variety of scenarios 

and technologies. The more successful scenarios will be tested with public volunteers.

CMU Alerts cont’d on page 16

Image source: CMU

By Dr. Stan Herwitz, UAV Collaborative

CMU-SV

April 4, 2014
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 15

NRP Post

On 4 April 2014, Jeannette Plante, Project Manager, NASA 

Goddard Space Flight Center, Space Mission Assurance Directorate and Gene Monroe, Mission Assurance Manager, 

NASA Langley Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, 

presented a very special award to Bob Vermillion, SME on 

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Control for his unprecedented ‘hands on’ training that included Suspect Counterfeit 

Training for Incoming Inspection of 6 out of 10 NASA Centers, NASA Safety Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

Under the leadership of Gene Monroe, MSEE, NASA Langley, and, after months of preparation, the ESD SMEs from 

several NASA centers developed into a working collective of 

team building and comradery throughout ONE ESD NASA.

The ESD program managers are all exceptionally qualified, 

accomplished engineers and real team players. The representative of JPAC (Joint Planning Auditing Committee) that reports 

directly to NASA Headquarters participated in the training. 

Moreover, NASA Goddard had the opportunity to continue 

training at a prime contractor, Space Science Laboratory 

(SSL) at UC Berkeley and interact with SSL engineers/scientists during the team assessment of mission assurance areas. 

One Small Step for NASA, One Giant Leap for RMV!

Photo source: RMV

Assessments were also conducted for NASA Ames cleanrooms and assembly areas orchestrated by the NASA Ames 

Mission Assurance Director. 

Sites in attendance included NASA Langley, NASA Armstrong, 

NASA Goddard, NASA Stennis, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 

NASA Marshall, NASA Glenn, NASA Kennedy and NASA 

Wallops. 

All of the ESD program managers attending the course truly 

represent the best ESD Program Managers on Earth! 

RMV Technology Group LLC, a NASA Industry Partner, is a 

Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOSB), SBA 

8(a) and SDB firm. Bob Vermillion, CEO/Founder, is a Subject 

Matter Expert in Advanced Materials, Protective Packaging, 

Aerospace Materials Testing Laboratory and Training Center, 

Systems Level Test and Evaluation Lab, Suspect Counterfeit 

Identification, Mitigation and Avoidance Training and ESD/

EMC Engineering Services Company. Bob Vermillion, CEO/

Founder, RMV Techology Group is an Industry Leader, Speaker and Author. Onsite at NASA Research Park, Building 19, 

next door to UC Santa Cruz and down the hall from Carnegie 

Mellon, RMV provides ESD/EMC engineering services for 

NASA, DOD, DOE and their suppliers and partners. 

Please visit RMV Technology Group LLC at www.esdrmv.com. 

Call Renee Mitchell at 650-964-4792 or renee@esdrmv.com or 

Bob at bob@esdrmv.com. 

Photo source: RMV

Photo source: RMV Photo source: RMV

RMV

April 4, 2014
16 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

Plasma Drilling on Mars

By Pascal Lee, Chairman - Mars Institute

The Mars Institute is collaborating with Norwegian company 

Zaptec Inc. in the development of a new plasma drilling technology with applications to the Moon, Asteroids, Mars, and 

Mars’s moons, Phobos and Deimos. Plasma drilling is probably the only practical way of accessing deep-seated liquid water, and therefore potentially extant life, on Mars today.

Robotic missions to Mars and recent modeling of the chemical 

evolution of the Martian surface suggest that Mars’s surface 

and shallow subsurface (down to several meters) is likely sterile, in large part due to the abundant presence of chemically 

aggressive compounds such as peroxides and perchlorates. 

Meanwhile, the identification of any signature of life on Mars 

as being truly alien (as opposed to resulting from meteoritic 

importation from Earth, or being ancestral to Earth life), will 

likely require genetic ID-ing at the molecular level, i.e., it will 

likely require that extant microorganisms be found. The latter 

will most plausibly require that liquid water be accessed and 

analyzed, i.e., that deep drilling down to depths of hundreds of 

meters to several kilometers be achieved on Mars.

Traditional drilling techniques used on Earth are difficult to 

apply in space, generally because of their prohibitive requirements in equipment mass, volume, and power, and their common reliance on gravity and on the continuous circulation of 

liquid H2O-based drilling fluids to lubricate the drill bit and flush 

out cuttings. While traditional drilling approaches may remain 

adequate for shallow drilling (down to depths of a few meters), 

they are impractical for planetary deep drilling.

Zaptec, Inc., based in Stavanger, Norway, is currently developing a plasma drilling system that will circumvent these obstacles. The drilling system comprises a freely advancing drill 

head tethered by a power cable to a power source topside and 

high voltage generator downhole. The drill advances by generating a high-energy density plasma at the drill head which 

breaks down and pulverizes the target rock. A key enabling 

technology is the system’s ability to deliver high-energy plasma 

discharges via low mass, small volume power transformers located in the drill head. Powder cuttings may be removed by circulating compressed carbon dioxide, a fluid that’s abundantly 

available on Mars. The Zaptec plasma drilling system will allow 

a depth of 2 km to be reached on Mars with less than 1 metric 

ton of surface payload housed in a SpaceX Dragon-sized capsule, and peak power requirements of less than 2 kW [Fig.].

Field testing of a Zaptec plasma drilling prototype is anticipated to take place in the near-future, including possibly at the 

Mars Institute-managed NASA Haughton-Mars Project site on 

Devon Island, High Arctic. Performance evaluation will be conducted in collaboration with NASA Ames Research Center. If 

this approach is successful, reaching deep subsurface aquifers 

on Mars and possibly encountering extant alien life in them, 

might no longer be that far off in the future.

Figure: Zaptec Inc.’s plasma drilling system will be capable 

of reaching a depth of 2 km on Mars, deployed from a SpaceX 

Dragon-class landed capsule. Astronaut is shown for scale. 

The Mars Institute is a science and technology partner in the 

maturation of this concept for planetary exploration. 

Image source: Zaptec Inc

“What we hope to deliver through our work is an approach to 

greatly improve the precision in targeting and relevance to the 

recipients of these messages, so that they are more likely to 

act as intended on the warnings, with less ‘opt out,’” Griss said.

CMU-SV’s DMI and its related CyLab Mobility Research Center are centers of excellence for research and dissemination 

of technical solutions to emerging challenges in all-hazard disaster management worldwide. The new DHS project builds 

on CMU’s previous work in emergency response technologies, such as “CAPCreator,” a Web-based tool set that makes 

it easy to author Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) messages 

that pass through the government’s Integrated Public Alert and 

Warning System (IPAWS) infrastructure, then on to a wireless 

operator, such as Verizon or AT&T, and eventually to users’ 

cellphones as WEA messages. Researchers will use CAPCreator to route messages in the test scenarios.

Another companion project is the Survivable Social Network, 

a neighborhood-based network that provides small groups or 

nodes of neighbors with social networking communications on 

their smartphones that are accessible during emergencies.

“With the latest LTE-based 4G wireless technology and widespread adoption of powerful smartphones, there are both new 

opportunities and challenges in engineering and deploying 

these highly distributed mobile systems across the nation,” 

Griss said. “We have to develop systems using new system 

engineering methods and tools, such as context-aware mobile 

applications, open-source software and cloud computing.”

Other Carnegie Mellon researchers participating in the DHS 

project include Joseph Elm, Software Engineering Institute 

program integration manager; Cécile Péraire, teaching professor of Software Engineering; and graduate students in the 

Electrical and Computer Engineering program at CMU-SV. 

CMU Alerts cont’d from page 14
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 17

NRP Post

Just how ‘important’ are you?

For reqallable to work, you have to let it penetrate the nooks 

and crannies of all the personal information you store on your 

handset. But once you grant those permissions, the system 

becomes aware of your personal relationships and daily activities to make its decisions on which notifications you receive on 

your watch, and which notifications it keeps quietly confined on 

your phone.

The concept of a person’s “importance” is key to reqallable’s 

logic. For example, if your husband or wife sends you an email 

or text, that communication will pass reqallable’s threshold, and 

you’ll get a notification on your smartwatch. Why? Because the 

system might have seen you flag your spouse as a favorite in 

your contact’s list. Or because it recognizes you email each 

other all the time. Or even because you share the same street 

address.

But then there’s also the concept of “temporary importance.” 

During his demo of the smartwatch app, Vemuri showed me 

how I, a virtual stranger, was briefly elevated to VIP status.

“Because you’re on my calendar for this meeting, your importance is elevated. That’s relevant because if you were to message me today, I’d want that to come to my attention,” Vemuri 

says. “But your importance will decrease tomorrow unless we 

have a continuing email exchange. We’re looking at the calendar, the contact list. We’re looking at the call log. All that gives 

an indication of who is important and who is not.”

The system is also sensitive to your location and daily activities. 

It can determine that you’re driving by sensing rapidly changing geolocation, and then suppress distracting notifications acreqallable cont’d from page 7

Vemuri showed me how my emails passed reqallable’s 

threshhold because I temporarily became an important person. 

Two other messages, as you can see, were suppressed. 

cordingly. Likewise, it can determine when you’re sleeping by 

looking at your phone’s idle times, as well as the time of day.

And then there’s sensitivity to social etiquette. The reqallable 

system can dip into your calendar, and suppress notifications 

from all but the most “important” people so you’re not bothered 

during a critical business meeting. Says Vemuri: “The ultimate 

goal is to help modulate what we have in these devices, so that 

phone knows, ‘Right now, this is not a good time for an interruption.’ It knows that I’m busy. But when I leave here, it might 

buzz me and tell me, ‘These are the things that happened while 

I was busy.’”

Why read 500 words when 50 words will do?

Even if perfectly filtered notifications don’t realize your smartwatch dreams, you might still appreciate reqallable’s ability to 

parse long email messages, and then push heavily edited versions that surface only the most attention-worthy details to your 

smartwatch. “We have an algorithm that goes through the message sentence by sentence, looking for typical phrases that indicate some type of response is needed, or that there’s some 

type of important communication going on,” Vemuri says.

During his app demo, Vemuri showed me a long, multi-paragraph message on his phone, and then pivoted to the smartwatch app, which reduced that very same email to three critical 

action points: “Please let me know if the above description is 

OK,” ”Are you available to meet?” and, “Please let me know 

some days that work for you.”

Based on what I saw, the machine intelligence looks pretty 

incredible. And the reqallable smartwatch app even lets you 

quickly reply to these email snippets with pre-formatted responses like “This is fine,” “Please call,” or “Let’s meet.” It’s 

a convenience feature that would be useful in a lot of Sony 

Smartwatch apps.

Now, about Sony’s smartwatch platform, which graduated to 

Smartwatch 2 hardware late last year: Why did reQall choose 

Sony’s technology instead of the much more ballyhooed 

(though not necessarily deserving) Samsung Galaxy Gear? “To 

be frank, Sony’s APIs are most mature,” Vemuri says.

That’s not a ringing endorsement of Sony’s hardware, and 

during our meeting, I had to grill Vemuri on why his company 

is releasing an app into an ecosystem with such a small installed base. The app appears to be more of a fully-functioning 

proof-of-concept than anything people will actually use—if only 

because so few people actually use smartwatches, let alone 

Sony’s.

I poked and prodded, but Vemuri wasn’t having it. “There’s a 

lot that can be improved in what we’re seeing in smartwatches 

today. It’s eventually going to happen, and it’s unclear who will 

be the winner, and we’re not trying to bet on which horse is going to be the winner. But our technology will help elevate those 

who sell smartwatches—and those who have them to make 

better use of them.”

Photo source: TechHive
18 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

Google Lunar XPRIZE Selects Five Teams to Compete for $6 Million in Milestone Prizes

February 19, 2014

The Google Lunar XPRIZE announced today the five international teams selected as finalists for Milestone Prizes, with a 

total purse of $6 million to be awarded this year. After reviewing 

33 total submissions, the nine member independent judging 

panel selected 11 submissions from the following teams: Astrobotic (US), Moon Express (US), Hakuto (Japan), Part-TimeScientists (Germany), and Team Indus (India).

The Milestone Prizes were added to recognize the technological achievements and the associated financial hurdles faced 

by the teams as they vie for the $30 million Google Lunar 

XPRIZE, a global competition to land a robotic spacecraft on 

the moon by December 31, 2015.

The three categories of Milestone Prizes are as follows, along 

with which teams are competing:

• Landing System Milestone Prize: $1,000,000 per team - 

based on the hardware and software that enables a softlanding on the moon (Astrobotic, Moon Express, Team 

Indus)

• Mobility Subsystem Milestone Prize: $500,000 per team – 

based on the mobility system that allows the craft to move 

500 meters after landing (Astrobotic, Moon Express, Hakuto, Part-Time-Scientists)

• Imaging Subsystem Milestone Prize: $250,000 per team – 

based on producing “Mooncasts” consisting of high-quality 

images and video on the lunar surface (Astrobotic, Moon 

Express, Part-Time-Scientists, Team Indus)

In order to compete for the Milestone Prizes, teams had to 

submit documentation to the judging panel, defining the key 

technical risks they face and how they intend to retire them. 

Selected teams must now accomplish the milestones outlined 

in their submissions through testing and mission simulations 

under the scrutiny of the judges, in order to win the prizes. 

Teams have until September 2014 to complete the prize requirements and the winners will be announced on an ongoing 

basis throughout 2014.

“Every strategy presented to us was imaginative, forwardthinking and ambitious, which made it difficult to choose only a 

handful to proceed to the Accomplishment Round,” said David 

Swanson, chair of the Google Lunar XPRIZE judging panel. 

“As there are increasing fiscal constraints threatening the ability of governments to fund exploration, the need to recognize 

the bold technical achievements of these privately-funded 

teams is greater than ever.”

Competing for the Milestone Prizes is an optional part of the 

Google Lunar XPRIZE. Teams that chose not to participate in 

the Milestone Prizes are still eligible to win the Grand or Second Place Prizes. The prize money for the Milestone Prizes will 

be deducted from any future Grand or Second Place Prize winnings of that team. To accommodate the possibility of teams 

winning Milestone Prizes and not subsequently going on to win 

the Grand or Second Place Prize, Google has increased the 

maximum prize purse to $40 million.

XPRIZE is also considering additional Milestone Prizes for 

technical achievements after lift-off on the way to the moon, 

to be announced at a later date. For more details on the Milestone Prizes, please visit http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

prize-details/milestone-prizes.

About the Google Lunar XPRIZE:

The $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE is an unprecedented 

competition to challenge and inspire engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of 

robotic space exploration. To win the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a 

privately funded team must successfully place a robot on the 

moon’s surface that explores at least 500 meters and transmits 

high-definition video and images back to Earth. For more information, go to http://www.googlelunarxprize.org.

For more information: Eric Desatnik, eric@xprize.org / (310) 741-4892

Media Inquires: Heather Gordon, heather@finnpartners.com / (310) 552-

4123; Story originally published at http://www.googlelunarxprize.org

In its “Healthy, Wealthy, Wise” series, TODAY reveals that the U.S.’s smartest city is San Jose, Calif. More than half of adults there have a college degree, and young entrepreneurs are moving there in 

droves. The government has even put a patent office in a San Jose post office, a first in the country. 

NRP Partner Scanadu is featured in this segment. 

Which is the Smartest City in America?

Source: www.today.com Source: www.today.com

Watch the video at http://www.today.com

Today Show

January 24, 2014
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 19

NRP Post

LatIPnet Invited by a Leading Colombian

University to Help with Technology

Commercialization Efforts

May 2014

Drs. Guillermo Aguirre and Adolfo Nemirovsky, founding members of LatIPnet Inc., were invited by the Pontificia Universidad 

Javeriana, a top Colombian University, to organize and lead 

a two-day technology commercialization workshop in Bogota 

in May 2014. The purpose of the workshop was to evaluate 

technologies developed by the university with external collaborators and to jointly analyze viable paths for commercialization 

in the global market including, in some cases, the launching 

of new ventures with global projection. Participants included 

professors, graduate students and the Innovation Directorate’s 

team. Emphasis was placed in building partnerships with Silicon Valley, US and global entities to further pursue the development and commercialization of promising technologies and 

to enhance innovation efforts locally and in Colombia. 

The Innovation Directorate (Dirección de Innovación, Vicerrectoría de Investigación) of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana 

(PUJ) aims to contribute to the generation of a university innovation system leveraging local knowledge, transferring technology and building an entrepreneurial culture in the region and 

the country. The PUJ is a private higher education institution 

founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious 

Colombian universities with its main facilities in Bogota and a 

second campus in Cali. 

LatIPnet Inc., a NASA Research Park partner, is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with the mission of transforming 

knowledge into wealth for Latin countries. Through a network 

of experts in intellectual property, technology transfer and commercialization, high-tech businesses, and regional development strategies, LatIPnet has established alliances with prestigious universities and research centers around the world, as 

well as with global high-tech companies that offer invaluable 

resources to support the process of transforming knowledge 

and technological resources into economic and social value. 

Drs. Guillermo Aguirre (LatIPnet Mexico), Adolfo Nemirovsky 

(LatIPnet Silicon Valley) and Fanny Almario, (Director, Innovation, 

PUJ), 2nd, 5th and 3rd person from right, respectively, with 

the innovation and technology commercialization team at the 

Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia.

the UAV; (2) evaluating and prioritizing collision potential; (3) 

featuring safe separation and collision avoidance algorithms 

that generate audible and visual alerts for Closest Points of Approach; and (4) recommending changes in the UAV flight plan 

to maintain safe separation distances and enable deconfliction 

from other aircraft. SAVDS® also has extensive data analysis 

tools and the capability of interfacing with varied data feeds 

(e.g., ADSB as well as FAA radar) for comparative analysis. 

The UAV-centric perspective of SAVDS® represents a level of 

safety for UAV pilots that is equivalent to or better than the seeand-avoid capability of cockpit-based pilots in manned aircraft. 

SAVDS® features three different Display Modes that provide 

the most effective view of UAV-centric air traffic activity as 

a function of potential midair conflicts. These three Display 

Modes are referred to as: (1) Safe Separation; (2) Conflict 

Avoidance; and (3) Immediate Collision Threat. When there is 

no detectable airborne conflict, it is the Safe Separation Display Mode that shows the all-encompassing airspace view 

needed by the UAV pilot, providing reassurance that there is 

no need to change the UAV flight plan. When there is a detectable airborne conflict, SAVDS® provides the UAV pilot with the 

other Display Modes as a means of focusing on the conflict(s) 

of concern and enabling the most effective means of increasing the separation distance between the UAV and the intruding 

aircraft.

SAVDS® was designed and developed with the constructive 

guidance of UAV pilots. SAVDS, Inc. has long recognized 

that UAV pilots will be processing the information and recommendations provided by the GBSAA System for the purpose of 

executing changes in UAV flight plans and performing immediate evasive maneuvers. SAVDS® was specifically designed to 

supersede a visual observer based on its ease of use and the 

clarity of the information presented. In addition to the real-time 

information sharing capabilities of SAVDS® during actual UAV 

flight operations, SAVDS® also stores complete data logs and 

provides data analysis and playback tools. To assist the FAA 

in tracking UAV flight operations, all UAV flight and air traffic 

information will help expedite the regulatory process for UAVs 

and allow the FAA to have a historical data base from which 

to base current and future UAS regulatory guidance. The FAA 

considers accurate recordkeeping to be essential in assuring 

positive operational and quality airworthiness control. 

For the NASA MIZOPEX Project in Alaska, sense and avoid 

was accomplished using the Sentinel-SAVDS radar-display 

system to monitor air traffic in and around the pre-defined transit corridor. The SAVDS display operator had direct communication with the UAV pilot at all times. Sentinel-SAVDS was 

used to effectively clear the airspace in and around the transit 

corridor, enabling the UAVs to make safe outbound and inbound transits.

SAVDS cont’d from page 14

Photo source: LatIPnet
20 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

Software Management Celebrates 10 Years of Successful Innovation in Silicon Valley

CMU-SV

June 25, 2014

This year Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Science in 

Software Management (SM) degree program marked its 10th 

anniversary. The interdisciplinary program, offered at the Silicon Valley campus, was recently incorporated into the university’s new Integrated Innovation Institute. To commemorate 

both events, alumni and friends of the program met on Sunday, 

June 22, at Tesla Corporate Headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. 

for a celebration and class reunion.

Excitement was high as 150 alumni and guests gathered for 

the event, which included Deepak Ahuja, CFO of Tesla and 

a CMU alumnus, as the keynote speaker, presentations from 

the co-directors of the Integrated Innovation Institute and other 

visitors from the main CMU campus in Pittsburgh. In addition, 

four very accomplished software management alumni formed 

a panel to discuss innovation in the entrepreneurial environment: Frank Gutierrez (MS ‘10), Vice President of Business 

Applications at Genesys; Ana Pinczuk (MS ‘10), leader of the 

Global Enterprise Theater (GET) Services Sales group at Cisco Systems; Alok Rishi (MS ‘09), CTO/Co-founder at Khylo, 

Inc.; and Merline Saintil (MS ‘05), head of global operations for 

Mobile & Emerging Products at Yahoo!

The software management program launched in 2003 as the 

MSIT in Management of Software Systems Development, a 

part-time program designed for mid-career software professionals working on large-scale systems development. The current master’s degree curriculum and name were adopted in 

2007, and the program has evolved to emphasize software and 

product development as practiced by the high-tech companies 

of Silicon Valley. A full-time program was added in 2011 with a 

specific focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. Including 

the Class of 2014, the program now has more than 300 graduates, among them software engineers, product managers and 

successful entrepreneurs. Many continue to work in the Bay 

Area, providing an invaluable professional network for fellow 

Silicon Valley campus and Bay Area alumni.

Collaborative success and elite innovators

Jonathan Cagan, George Tallman and Florence Barrett Ladd 

Professor in Engineering in CMU’s Department of Mechanical 

Engineering, and co-founder / co-director of the Integrated Innovation Institute, acted as emcee and opened the event by 

describing the collaborative nature of the newly formed institute — a partnership between the College of Engineering, the 

Tepper School of Business, and the School of Design, part 

of the College of Fine Arts. According to Cagan, “the role of 

the Integrated Innovation Institute is to train elite innovators 

through the holistic contributions of these different fields. A culmination of these disciplines is necessary to develop a successful product or service today.” Cagan added his enthusiasm 

to the inclusion of the software management program as part 

of the institute. “The SM program is a real gem and brings the 

software perspective to the design and business components 

that were already being explored in product development creations.”

Also joining in the celebration was James Garrett, Dean of the 

College of Engineering. “It was an easy decision to include the 

software management program in the Integrated Innovation 

Institute,” he said. “As dean, my vision is to develop greater 

interactions and greater integration between the Silicon Valley 

and Pittsburgh and to strive to have all of the programs offered 

affiliated strongly with an activity at Pittsburgh’s main campus.”

Keynote speaker Ahuja earned his MBA at CMU’s Tepper 

School of Business and worked at Ford before joining Tesla. In 

his insightful speech, he said “The spirit of innovation is such 

a powerful force. To really be revolutionary in your innovation 

or your thought process, you need that incredible vision which 

is driving, which is passionate, to bring an awesome team of 

people around you to make something new happen.”

Alumni in software leadership

Cagan posed several questions for the alumni panelists, engaging their technical acumen and leadership experience to 

focus on key questions facing Silicon Valley and the international software industry.

What’s the biggest challenge you face as a leader in the technical field? Cisco’s Pinczuk said, “The biggest challenge is recognizing what you have to do to change as a leader, recognizing talent and what you need for the company going forward.” Keynote speaker and CMU alumnus Deepak Ahuja of Tesla 

Motors.

Photo by Sonic Images Group, Inc.

CMU Software cont’d on page 22
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 21

NRP Post

Polish Science Ministry Delegation received a 

briefing on the NRP by NRP Director Michael 

Marlaire and toured NRP Partner Canopus Systems facilities with Canopus President Tomas 

Svitek and COO Megan Nunes.

NRP Partner Planners Collaborative Wins Two Top Telly Awards for Producing NASA Videos

The Telly Awards has awarded Boston-based consulting firm 

The Collaborative two Silver Awards –the highest honor 

awarded—in the 35th Annual Telly Awards for their pieces 

titled ‘Bringing Life into Space’ and ‘Studying Life in Space.’ 

With nearly 13,000 entries from around the world, Silver Tellys 

go to a select number of respected advertising agencies, production companies, and corporate video departments.

Produced for NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, 

California, under contract with Lockheed Martin, the six-minute 

‘Bringing Life into Space’ video shows how NASA researchers 

conduct cutting-edge biological science to enable future longterm deep-space missions—such as exploring an asteroid and 

Mars–and to improve life on Earth. The three-minute animation 

‘Studying Life in Space’ uses stop-motion graphics to depict 

the process of how a scientist might get his or her experiment 

funded, readied, and sent into space with the help of NASA.

To view these videos, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/ames/research/space-biosciences.

The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 and is the premier 

award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV comMoffett Field, Calif.

July 17, 2014

mercials and programs, the finest video and film productions, 

and online commercials, video and films. 

“The Telly Awards has a mission to honor the very best in film 

and video,” said Linda Day, Executive Director of the Telly 

Awards. “The Collaborative accomplishment illustrates their 

creativity, skill, and serves as a testament to great film and 

video production.”

“Most people think of NASA as exploring space,” said Collaborative CEO Joe Brevard, “But these videos show how much 

exploration takes place in the laboratory.”

The Collaborative is an award-winning consulting firm with 

a national reputation for excellence in planning, design, and 

communications. It began in 1990 as an outgrowth of Wallace 

Floyd Associates, a firm founded with Buckminster Fuller to 

design and build such signature projects as Epcot Center and 

the United States Pavilion at Expo 67. Today the firm works 

on projects that build strong communities and organizations, 

shape extraordinary places and designs, and inspire new ways 

of thinking and action. The firm’s Communications Group has 

won five Emmy Awards for educational programming, and numerous Telly Awards.

Polish Delegation Visit

Photo by Courtney Lopez/NRP

Photo by Courtney Lopez/NRP Photo by Courtney Lopez/NRP
22 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

CMU Software cont’d from page 20

What’s the best way to prepare our workforce to be successful in a multidisciplinary future? Rishi said he was “excited 

about people bringing in wildly different ideas from different 

disciplines through the transition of the software management 

program into the new integrated innovation institute.” Saintil added, “We want people to be curious; this allows you to 

change how you’re seeing the world and be innovative.” Gutierrez noted that “it is important to refuel the intellectual tank; 

interacting with the (Silicon Valley) community to get a better 

level of intellect.”

What excites you about the future of the software industry? 

For Rishi, it’s new opportunities — “everything has a programmable interface. Anyone passionate about software can find 

their niche.” Gutierrez added, “There is a concern that we are 

seeing a big digital divide; those who have the ability to have 

knowledge and those who do not. Technology is a huge equalizer and assists with diversity. But we really need to ensure that 

as we are able to participate in this, we also bring other folks 

into that mix.”

Cagan’s follow-up question: What worries you about the future 

of the software industry? Pinczuk’s answer, echoed by other 

panelists, was “Security! How do we safeguard the information 

and data that is relevant to us? This is a big software opportunity for those of us in the room.” Saintil elaborated, saying “Privacy is a big concern for me as a leader. Do our clients feels 

that we are being transparent with regards to what information 

is being collected?”

The final question: What were the most useful skills, lessons 

and knowledge in the software management program? Rishi 

summarized the experience well, explaining “The complexity 

is not technology. The people are the most random part of the 

equation. Managing people, dealing with people’s emotions, 

bringing together people of different diversities and cultures, 

mental attitudes, personalities, especially in a start-up environment where there are pressures that are unnatural, it makes it 

a volatile situation. Learning how to be an effective team and 

address the issue of people is the most valuable lesson and 

skill gained from the software management program.”

Gladys Mercier, director of the Software Management program, concluded the event thanking everyone who joined in 

the celebration and who has supported the program during the 

last decade. “We would not be here today if it were not for 

all of you! Our program will continue to grow and get stronger 

because of our accomplished alumni and all of our supporters, 

both here in the Silicon Valley and in Pittsburgh.”

The Connect Bogota Delegation from Colombia 

was briefed by NRP Director Michael Marlaire on 

March 28, 2014.

Photo by Courtney Lopez/NRP

Connect Bogota Delegation

Photo by Sonic Images Group, Inc.
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 23

NRP Post

Tokyo Shiodome Building Installs Bloom 

Energy Server

Bloom Energy Press Release

June 17, 2014

The SoftBank Group and Bloom Energy Japan Limited today 

announced the installation of the “Bloom Energy Server,” an 

innovative and clean electricity generation system, at Tokyo 

Shiodome Building on June 17 in Minato Ku, Tokyo Prefecture. 

The Bloom Energy Server installed at Tokyo Shiodome Building, home to SoftBank Group headquarters, can produce 200 

kilowatts of power and provides 14% of the buildings’ overall 

electricity needs.

The Bloom Energy Server is a breakthrough solid oxide fuel 

cell technology that generates clean electricity from multiple 

fuel sources such as city gas and biogas at over 60% efficiency*. Bloom Energy Servers have been installed in many 

locations that require uninterrupted power supply such as data 

centers, manufacturing operations, communications, and facilities with high energy loads including refrigeration and critical 

services in the U.S.A.

To contribute to disaster preparedness in Tokyo, Bloom Energy 

Japan can supply electricity generated by Bloom Energy Servers to streetlights and free power outlets in emergencies. Furthermore, to contribute to the clean energy urban development 

of Tokyo, Bloom Energy Japan is also supplying electricity for 

EV stands installed on the underground parking floor of Tokyo 

Shiodome Building.

“I am delighted that we have installed the Bloom Energy Server 

at Tokyo Shiodome Building. I believe that this installation at our 

SoftBank Group headquarters greatly enhances our business 

continuity capabilities in the event of an emergency. We will 

continue to promote this innovative, reliable, and safe on-site 

electric generation method as a clean energy solution for future 

generations.” said Masayoshi Son, SoftBank Group Representative, and main tenant of the Tokyo Shiodome Building.

Dr. KR Sridhar, Principal Co-Founder and CEO of Bloom Energy, commented, “Bloom Energy is pioneering a new energy 

vision and SoftBank is at the forefront of this transformation 

in Japan. By installing the first system in Tokyo, SoftBank is 

setting an example for other businesses to take control of their 

energy and contribute to clean and reliable energy future for 

Japan.”

“Bloom Energy Japan brings a proven on-site electricity generation product that is ideally suited for places that are prone 

to large scale natural disasters,” commented the honorable 

General Colin Powell, the former United States Secretary of 

State and a member of Bloom Energy’s Board of Directors. 

“The product offers resiliency, cost predictability for the future 

and sustainability benefits. I hope that the Japanese Government and Commercial sector take a serious look at the unit we 

are unveiling today and consider using the product for their 

own energy needs.”

Photo source: Bloom Energy 

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, KR Sridhar, General Colin 

Powell, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and the Bloom Energy 

Japan team headlined an event at SoftBank’s Headquarters 

in Tokyo featuring the first downtown Tokyo installation of a 

Bloom Energy Server.

“I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all those who 

made it possible for us to start operating the first Bloom Energy 

Server in Tokyo.” said Shigeki Miwa, Representative Director 

and CEO of Bloom Energy Japan. He added, “We will work to 

empower Japan’s adoption of the Bloom Energy Server, highly 

efficient on-site power generation system for business and industrial field, to contribute to the stable power supply of Japan.” 

By selling electricity generated by the Bloom Energy Servers, 

Bloom Energy Japan will contribute to sustainable and stable 

energy provision and economic development in Japan.

*Initial performance.

Santa Clara County Unveils Bloom Systems 

at Earth Day Celebration 

Local officials in Santa Clara County attended a “Switch 

Flipping” Ceremony at one of the County’s facilities. The 

2.6 MW Bloom project was financed in partnership with 

Washington Gas Energy Systems (WGESystems). 

Photo source: Bloom Energy
NRP Post

Editor, Layout and Design: Sumedha Garud

Phone: (650) 604-2NRP

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

Website: www.nasa.gov/researchpark

Photo source: NASA

NRP Partners Engage Public at 21st Century 

Medical Technologies Panel

By Kathleen Burton, NASA Research Park

NRP partners, with three different ideas for 21st Century medical models, presented their breakthrough technologies and 

ideas to the public at the “NRP Partnerships Accelerate Development of 21st Century Medical Technologies to Improve Your 

Health” Panel, held April 2, 2014 in Bldg. 3. Three models discussed included: using a tricorder-like device to self-diagnose, 

using a vascular compression concept, and harnessing the latest neurological research to alleviate pain and other disorders.

The panel kicked off with Dr. Alan Greene, CMO Scanadu, Inc.. 

Greene showcased Scanadu “Scout,” a hand-held medical ‘Tricorder’ whichs take vital signs in seconds. (Greene spoke first 

because he was jetting off to Manhattan to tape a show about 

Scanadu with Dr. Oz). “The world is a different place in 2014,” 

said Greene. “Now we need to understand our own health better before always seeing the doctor.”

Scout is used with a Smart Phone to track vital signs in approximately 10 seconds at home. At a price point of less than 

$200, it will give a “health snapshot” of heart and respiration 

rates, oxygen levels and blood pressure. “Scanadu is betting 

on empathy,” Greene noted. “Our model is to encourage inexpensive individual self-exams to monitor our own health, as 

a pre-cursor to visiting the doctor. Eventually, Scout will add 

features to monitor urine, saliva, hormones, blood and viral 

load,” he said. Part of an FDA study, Scout was crowd-funded 

in 2013 via Indigogo, receiving about $1.6 million for the prototype launch and test earlier this year. 

Next up was Dr. Philip Low, Founder and Chairman and CEO 

NeuroVigil Inc. -- The company is working on a platform of devices, machine algorithms and databases to better understand 

brain pathologies. iBrain technology, a neurotechnology platform to scan the brain remotely as well as to empower individuals with neurological diseases and disorders. “The brain is one 

of the final frontiers,” Low said, “and we are working to hear the 

brain’s whispers by studying what happens in the brain during 

sleep.” Using non-invasive devices that measure brain activity, 

NeuroVigil now can do brain scans to assess drug reactions at 

home and give more data about brain/nervous disorders (including Alzheimer’s), which are estimated to affect as many as 

1 billion people worldwide. “This lets us send data directly to 

Big Pharma, bypassing V.C.’s”, he said. 

In addition, the devices can assess biomarkers in the brain, 

and the company’s proprietary IBrain technology is now in clinical trials allowing mind-enabled communication with ALS patients to move or communicate. One high-profile patient being 

studied is astrophysicist Dr. Stephen Hawking. Another area 

of research NeuroVigil is pursuing is sleep studies which can 

indicate different underlying conditions, including PTSD, sleep 

apnea and depression. 

Per Elon Musk, CEO and Chairman of SpaceX: With its business model, Neurovigil has “a true potential to completely revolutionize neuroscience.”

The last speaker was Mr. Peter Wasowski, Founder + CEO 

Vasper Systems California, LLC. Vasper’s “out of the box” technology provides users with rapid, enhanced exercise benefits. 

Wasowski’s product is based on vascular compression with 

the health benefits based on 3 core principles — bio-mimicking 

a young child’s chemistry, causing high lactic acid build-up in 

short muscles, and creating a so-called anaerobic scenario in 

which oxygen levels in the blood are depleted. This “tricks the 

brain” into kick-starting pituitary gland and other chemical processes, which can heal a variety of disorders.

Another use is for extended space travel in ZeroG, in situations like the ISS, reducing need to exercise from 2.5 hours to 

about 20 minutes with the same efficiency for cardio vascular 

and other body processes (Vasper has a Space Act Agreement 

with NASA to study the potential use in space). Patient groups 

Vasper has worked with include Veterans (including injured 

Veterans), elderly people, people with neurological problems, 

and improving fitness levels for U.S. Navy Seals.

After the talks, panelists Lowe and Wasowski answered questions during a lively Q&A. During this session, Wasowski said 

that Vasper was used on Physical Therapy patients at UCSF, 

which was discussed in a recent TED talk. Dr. Lowe noted his 

technology can be used with the elderly, to assuage pain (including in fibromyalgia cases) and in OCD cases and Parkinson’s disease. He noted that patients can carry the gene for 

Parkinson’s but do not express the gene. The Panel Moderator 

was Dr. Jeffrey Smith, Ames Space Biology Project Manager, 

Space Biosciences Division.

For past NRP Exploration Lecture Series events and to view 

the Medical Technologies Panel flyer, please visit: 

www.nasa.gov/researchpark