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By NASA
On Sept. 20, 2024, four students experienced the wonder of space exploration at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, taking part in an international competition that brought their work to life aboard the International Space Station.
Now in its fifth year, the Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) continues to push the boundaries of robotics, bringing together the world’s brightest young minds for a real-world test of programming, problem-solving, and innovation.
The Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) students tour the Gateway Habitation and Logistics Outpost module at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.NASA/Helen Arase Vargas The stakes reached new heights in this year’s competition, with 661 teams totaling 2,788 students from 35 countries and regions competing to program robots aboard the orbiting laboratory. Organized by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the challenge provided a unique platform for students to test their skills on a global stage.
Meet Team Salcedo
Representing the U.S., Team Salcedo is composed of four talented students: Aaron Kantsevoy, Gabriel Ashkenazi, Justin Bonner, and Lucas Paschke. Each member brought a unique skill set and perspective, contributing to the team’s well-rounded approach to the challenge.
From left to right are Kibo-RPC students Gabriel Ashkenazi, Lucas Paschke, Aaron Kantsevoy, and Justin Bonner. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas The team was named in honor of Dr. Alvaro Salcedo, a robotics teacher and competitive robotics coach who had a significant impact on Kantsevoy and Bonner during high school. Dr. Salcedo played a crucial role in shaping their interests and aspirations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), inspiring them to pursue careers in these fields.
Kantsevoy, a computer science major at Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, led the team with three years of Kibo-RPC experience and a deep interest in robotics and space-based agriculture. Bonner, a second-year student at the University of Miami, is pursuing a triple major in computer science, artificial intelligence, and mathematics. Known for his quick problem-solving, he played a key role as a strategist and computer vision expert. Paschke, a first-time participant and computer science student at Georgia Tech, focused on intelligence systems and architecture, and brought fresh insights to the table. Ashkenazi, also studying computer science at Georgia Tech, specialized in computer vision and DevOps, adding depth to the team’s technical capabilities.
AstroBee Takes Flight
The 2024 competition tasked students with programming AstroBee, a free-flying robot aboard the station, to navigate a complex course while capturing images scattered across the orbital outpost. For Team Salcedo, the challenge reached its peak as their code was tested live on the space station.
The Kibo-RPC students watch their code direct Astrobee’s movements at Johnson Space Center with NASA Program Specialist Jamie Semple on Sept. 20, 2024.NASA/Helen Arase Vargas The robot executed its commands in real time, maneuvering through the designated course to demonstrate precision, speed, and adaptability in the microgravity environment. Watching AstroBee in action aboard the space station offered a rare glimpse of the direct impact of their programming skills and added a layer of excitement that pushed them to fine-tune their approach.
Overcoming Challenges in Real Time
Navigating AstroBee through the orbital outpost presented a set of unique challenges. The team had to ensure the robot could identify and target images scattered throughout the station with precision while minimizing the time spent between locations.
The Kibo-RPC students watch in real time as the free-flying robot Astrobee performs maneuvers aboard the International Space Station, executing tasks based on their input to test its capabilities. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas Using quaternions for smooth rotation in 3D space, they fine-tuned AstroBee’s movements to adjust camera angles and capture images from difficult positions without succumbing to the limitations of gimbal lock. Multithreading allowed the robot to simultaneously process images and move to the next target, optimizing the use of time in the fast-paced environment.
The Power of Teamwork and Mentorship
Working across different locations and time zones, Team Salcedo established a structured communication system to ensure seamless collaboration. Understanding each team member’s workflow and adjusting expectations accordingly helped them maintain efficiency, even when setbacks occurred.
Team Salcedo tour the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility with their NASA mentors (from top left to right) Education Coordinator Kaylie Mims, International Space Station Research Portfolio Manager Jorge Sotomayer, and Kibo-RPC Activity Manager Jamie Semple. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas Mentorship was crucial to their success, with the team crediting several advisors and educators for their guidance. Kantsevoy acknowledged his first STEM mentor, Casey Kleiman, who sparked his passion for robotics in middle school.
The team expressed gratitude to their Johnson mentors, including NASA Program Specialist Jamie Semple, Education Coordinator Kaylie Mims, and International Space Station Research Portfolio Manager Jorge Sotomayer, for guiding them through the program’s processes and providing support throughout the competition.
They also thanked NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement for offering the opportunity to present their project to Johnson employees.
“The challenge mirrors how the NASA workforce collaborates to achieve success in a highly technical environment. Team Salcedo has increased their knowledge and learned skills that they most likely would not have acquired individually,” said Semple. “As with all of our student design challenges, we hope this experience encourages the team to continue their work and studies to hopefully return to NASA in the future as full-time employees.”
Pushing the Boundaries of Innovation
The Kibo-RPC allowed Team Salcedo to experiment with new techniques, such as Slicing Aided Hyperinference—an approach that divides images into smaller tiles for more detailed analysis. Although this method showed promise in detecting smaller objects, it proved too time-consuming under the competition’s time constraints, teaching the students valuable lessons about prioritizing efficiency in engineering.
The Kibo-RPC students present their robotic programming challenge to the International Space Station Program. NASA/Bill Stafford For Team Salcedo, the programming challenge taught them the value of communication, the importance of learning from setbacks, and the rewards of perseverance. The thrill of seeing their code in action on the orbital outpost was a reminder of the limitless possibilities in robotics and space exploration.
Inspiring the Next Generation
With participants from diverse backgrounds coming together to compete on a global platform, the Kibo-RPC continues to be a proving ground for future innovators.
The challenge tested the technical abilities of students and fostered personal growth and collaboration, setting the stage for the next generation of robotics engineers and leaders.
The Kibo-RPC students and their mentors at the Mission Control Center. NASA/Helen Arase Vargas
As Team Salcedo looks ahead, they carry with them the skills, experiences, and inspiration needed to push the boundaries of human space exploration.
“With programs like Kibo-RPC, we are nurturing the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation,” said Sotomayer. “It’s not far-fetched to imagine that one of these students could eventually be walking on the Moon or Mars.”
The winners were announced virtually from Japan on Nov. 9, with Team Salcedo achieving sixth place.
Watch the international final round event here.
For more information on the Kibo Robot Programming Challenge, visit: https://jaxa.krpc.jp/
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By NASA
Teams with NASA and Lockheed Martin prepare to conduct testing on NASA’s Orion spacecraft on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, in the altitude chamber inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Lockheed Martin/David Wellendorf Teams lifted NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II test flight out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell and moved it to the altitude chamber to complete further testing on Nov. 6 inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Engineers returned the spacecraft to the altitude chamber, which simulates deep space vacuum conditions, to complete the remaining test requirements and provide additional data to augment data gained during testing earlier this summer.
The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back.
Image credit: Lockheed Martin/David Wellendorf
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By NASA
Citizen science projects enabled by data from the WISE and NEOWISE missions have given hundreds of thousands around the world the opportunity to make new discoveries. The projects can be done by anyone with a laptop and internet access and are available in fifteen languages. No U.S. citizenship required. NASA’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft re-entered and burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on Friday night, as expected. Launched in 2009 as the WISE mission, the spacecraft has been mapping the entire sky at infrared wavelengths over and over for nearly fifteen years. During that time, more than one hundred thousand amateur scientists have used these data in citizen science projects like the Milky Way Project, Disk Detective, Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors, and Exoasteroids.
This citizen science work has led to more than 55 scientific publications. Highlights include:
The discovery of Yellowballs, a kind of compact star-forming region. The discovery of Peter Pan Disks, long lived accretion disks around low-mass stars. The discovery of the first extreme T subdwarfs. The likely discovery of an aurora on a brown dwarf. Measurement of the field substellar mass function down to effective temperature ~400 K. The discovery of the oldest known white dwarf with a disk. Detection of a possible collision between planets. The discovery of the lowest-mass hypervelocity star. Although the spacecraft is no longer in orbit, there is plenty of work to do. The WISE/NEOWISE data contain trillions of detections of astronomical sources – enough to keep projects like Disk Detective, Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors, and Exoasteroids busy making new discoveries for years to come. Join one of these projects today to help unravel the mysteries of the infrared universe!
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Last Updated Nov 04, 2024 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
The Space Resources Challenge was launched last week, an opportunity for innovators to pioneer the technologies that will help humankind live and work sustainably on the Moon.
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By NASA
Flight operations engineer Carissa Arillo helped ensure one of the instruments on NASA’s PACE mission made it successfully through its prelaunch testing. She and her group also documented the work rigorously, to ensure the flight team had a comprehensive manual to keep this Earth-observing satellite in good health for the duration of its mission.
Carissa M. Arillo is a flight operations engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Photo courtesy of Carissa Arillo Name: Carissa M. Arillo
Formal Job Classification: Flight Operations Engineer
Organization: Environmental Test Engineering and Integration Branch (Code 549)
What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard?
I developed pre-launch test procedures for the HARP-2 instrument for the Phytoplankton, Aerosol, Cloud and Ecosystem (PACE) Mission. HARP-2 is a wide angle imaging polarimeter designed to measure aerosol particles and clouds, as well as properties of land and water surfaces.
I also developed the flight operations routine and contingency procedures that governed the spacecraft after launch. It is interesting to think about how to design procedures that can sustain the observatory in space for the life of the mission so that the flight operations team that inherits the mission will have a seamless transition.
What is your educational background?
In 2019, I got a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. I am currently pursuing a master’s in robotics there as well.
Why did you become an engineer?
I like putting things together and understanding how they work. After starting my job at NASA Goddard, I became interested in coding and robotics.
How did you come to Goddard?
After getting my undergraduate degree, I worked at General Electric Aviation doing operations management for manufacturing aircraft engines. When I heard about an opening at Goddard, I applied and got my current position.
What was involved in developing pre-launch test procedures for the HARP-2 instrument?
I talked to the instrument manufacturer, which is a team from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and asked them what they wanted to confirm works every time we tested the instrument. We kept in constant communication while developing these test procedures to make sure we covered everything. The end product was code that was part of the comprehensive performance tests, the baseline tests throughout the prelaunch test campaign. Before, during, and after each prelaunch environmental test, we perform such a campaign. These prelaunch environmental tests include vibration, thermal (hot and cold), acoustic and radio frequency compatibility (making sure that different subsystems do not interfere with each other’s).
What goes through your head in developing a flight operations procedure for an instrument?
I think about a safe way of operating the instrument to accomplish the goals of the science team. I also think about not being able to constantly monitor the instrument. Every few hours, we can communicate with the instrument for about five to 10 minutes. We can, however, recover all the telemetry for the off-line time.
When we discover an anomaly, we look at all the history that we have and consult with our contingency procedures, our failure review board and potentially the instrument manufacturer. Together we try to figure out a recovery.
When developing a fight operations procedure, we must think of all possible scenarios. Our end product is a written book of procedures that lives with the mission and is updated as needed.
New cars come with an owner’s manual. We create the same sort of manual for the new instrument.
As a Flight Operations Team member, what else do you do?
The flight operations team runs the Mission Operations Center — the “MOC” — for PACE. That is where we command the spacecraft for the life of the mission. My specialty is the HARP-2 instrument, but I still do many supporting functions for the MOC. For example, I helped develop procedures to automate ground station contacts to PACE. These ground stations are positioned all over the world and enable us to talk with the spacecraft during those five to 10 minutes of communication. This automation includes the standard things we do every time we talk to the spacecraft whether or not someone is in the MOC.
Carissa developed pre-launch test procedures for the HARP-2 instrument for the Phytoplankton, Aerosol, Cloud and Ecosystem (PACE) Mission. HARP-2 is a wide angle imaging polarimeter designed to measure aerosol particles and clouds, as well as properties of land and water surfaces.NASA/Dennis Henry How does it feel to be working on such an amazing mission so early in your career?
It is awesome, I feel very lucky to be in my position. Everything is new to me. At times it is difficult to understand where the ship is going. I rely on my experienced team members to guide me and my robotics curriculum in school to equip me with skills.
I have learned a lot from both the flight operations team and the integration and test team. The flight operations team has years of experience building MOCs that serve the needs of each unique mission. The integration and test team also has a lot of experience developing observatory functional procedures. I wish to thank both teams for taking me under their wings and educating me on the fly to support the prelaunch, launch and post-launch campaigns. I am very grateful to everyone for giving me this unbelievable opportunity.
Who is your engineering hero?
I don’t have one hero in particular but I love biographical movies that tell stories about influential people’s lives, such as the movie “Hidden Figures” that details the great endeavors and accomplishments of three female African-American mathematicians at NASA.
What do you do for fun?
I love to go to the beach and spend time with family and friends.
Who is your favorite author?
I like Kristen Hannah’s storytelling abilities.
What do you hope to be doing in five years?
I hope to be working on another exciting mission at Goddard that will bring us never-before-seen science.
By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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Last Updated Oct 29, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) People of Goddard People of NASA View the full article
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