KENNEDY
SPACE CENTER, Fla., April 26,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- When you go on a trip, you might
reach for a map to help navigate your journey or pull up GPS on
your phone. But what if the destination is on another planet, and
there is no map? A new project sponsored by the International Space
Station (ISS) National Laboratory could provide an assist. Called
the Multi-Resolution Scanner (MRS), the investigation will leverage
NASA's free-flying robotic Astrobee system on the space station to
test a novel 3D mapping technology that can produce detailed maps
of remote environments.
MRS creates 3D maps of various environments
in unprecedented detail, like the space station or a lava tube on
Mars.
The project, a collaboration between Boeing and CSIRO (an
Australian government agency responsible for scientific research),
highlights the importance of international partnerships while
building on the duo's rich histories in the global space industry.
As Australia's national science
agency, CSIRO has significantly contributed to the space sector.
For instance, during the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969, Murriyang,
CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope, received television signals from
the historic event watched by nearly 600 million viewers worldwide.
Now, the organization is working on a project that will benefit not
only future exploration missions but also key industries on
Earth.
MRS is designed to rapidly create 3D maps of various
environments in unprecedented detail, like the space station or
even a lava tube on the Moon or Mars. "We will use NASA's
free-flying Astrobee robots to test MRS, which will allow us to
create 3D maps of the space station's Kibo module," said Marc
Elmouttie, a research group leader at CSIRO. "The technology we're
using combines multiple sensors, which compensates for weaknesses
in any one of them and provides very high-resolution 3D data and
more accurate trajectory data to understand how the robot moves
around in space."
Whether on the space station or the surface of Mars, robotic
explorers must use onboard sensors and perception algorithms to
simultaneously build detailed maps of the environment while
localizing themselves within it. This capability is called
simultaneous localization and mapping, or SLAM. MRS relies on
cutting-edge photogrammetry software called Stereo-Depth Fusion and
3D SLAM technology, which CSIRO calls Wildcat. The software enables
MRS to map, analyze, and navigate its surrounding environment
autonomously.
To validate that the software works in space, Elmouttie and his
team are mapping a known location on the space station—the Kibo
module. The investigation launched to the space station in March on
SpaceX's 30th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission,
contracted by NASA. After its arrival on station, MRS was installed
into one of the three Astrobee robots.
Starting with Kibo allows the team to check the resulting maps
against controls to see how well the technology functions in
microgravity. Previous ground-based experiments have shown that the
software's highly accurate mapping and positioning capabilities
could enable robots like Astrobee to successfully navigate unsafe,
complex, and unstructured environments without GPS or other
external positioning information.
If successful, MRS could expand to other modules on the space
station, increasing its mapping capabilities. Results from this
investigation will help advance the technology to the point where
it could be used for future spaceflight missions and exploration
endeavors. The ISS has been continuously inhabited for more than 20
years, but future space stations may not all be crewed by humans.
NASA's planned lunar Gateway, and even other outposts in space,
could be predominately crewed by robots. This technology would
enable robotic helpers to keep systems going autonomously when
humans aren't present.
"Boeing is committed to providing improved capabilities and
enhancing safety for trips to the Moon and beyond," said
Scott Copeland, director for ISS
research integration at Boeing. "That requires the intersection of
crew and robotic tasks, and the Multi-Resolution Scanning
technology being demonstrated onboard our testbed in low Earth
orbit will be a powerful tool to help us meet those goals."
We may one day see a version of MRS on other planets, installed
on rovers or helicopters that use the technology to map out the
terrain and scout for valuable resources. MRS could even identify
potential damage to spacecraft by micrometeorites or other impacts,
which is particularly useful in locations not continuously crewed,
bolstering the value of robotic caretakers. The MRS technology may
also benefit several industries on Earth, such as mining and
disaster relief.
Learn more about the Astrobees and how other ISS National
Lab-sponsored investigations are using the robotic helpers in the
latest issue of Upward®, official
magazine of the ISS National Lab. Read "Free-Flying
Robots in Space: How Real-Life Droids Test New Tech."
To download a high-resolution photo for this
release, click here.
About the International Space Station (ISS) National
Laboratory:
The International Space Station (ISS) is a
one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology
development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise,
the ISS National Laboratory® allows researchers to leverage this
multiuser facility to improve quality of life on Earth, mature
space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future
workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low
Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research
resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science,
technology, and education initiatives from U.S. government
agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center
for the Advancement of Science in Space™ (CASIS™) manages the ISS
National Lab, under Cooperative Agreement with NASA, facilitating
access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a
powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and
varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National
Lab, visit our website.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CASIS accepts corporate
and individual donations to help advance science in space for the
benefit of humanity. For more information, visit
our donations page.
Media Contact:
|
Patrick
O'Neill
|
|
904-806-0035
|
|
PONeill@ISSNationalLab.org
|
International
Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory
Managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc.
(CASIS)
|
6905 N. Wickham Rd.,
Suite 500, Melbourne, FL 32940 · 321.253.5101 · www.ISSNationalLab.org
|
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SOURCE International Space Station National Lab