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Entrepreneurs Challenge Prize Winner Uses Artificial Intelligence to Identify Methane Emissions


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The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) instituted the Entrepreneurs Challenge to identify innovative ideas and technologies from small business start-ups with the potential to advance the agency’s science goals. Geolabe—a prize winner in the latest Entrepreneurs Challenge—has developed a way to use artificial intelligence to identify global methane emissions. Methane is a greenhouse gas that significantly contributes to global warming, and this promising new technology could provide data to help decision makers develop strategies to mitigate climate change.

SMD sponsored Entrepreneurs Challenge events in 2020, 2021, and 2023. Challenge winners were awarded prize money—in 2023 the total Entrepreneurs Challenge prize value was $1M. To help leverage external funding sources for the development of innovative technologies of interest to NASA, SMD involved the venture capital community in Entrepreneurs Challenge events. Numerous challenge winners have subsequently received funding from both NASA and external sources (e.g., other government agencies or the venture capital community) to further develop their technologies.

Each Entrepreneurs Challenge solicited submissions in specific focus areas such as mass spectrometry technology, quantum sensors, metamaterials-based sensor technologies, and more. The focus areas of the latest 2023 challenge included lunar surface payloads and climate science.

A recent Entrepreneurs Challenge success story involves 2023 challenge winner Geolabe—a startup founded by Dr. Claudia Hulbert and Dr. Bertrand Rouet-Leduc in 2020 in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The Geolabe team developed a method that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically detect methane emissions on a global scale.

emissions-tech-highlights.png?w=1019
This image taken from a NASA visualization shows the complex patterns of methane emissions around the globe in 2018, based on data from satellites, inventories of human activities, and NASA global computer models.
Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

As global temperatures rise to record highs, the pressure to curb greenhouse gas emissions has intensified. Limiting methane emissions is particularly important since methane is the second largest contributor to global warming, and is estimated to account for approximately a third of global warming to date. Moreover, because methane stays in the atmosphere for a shorter amount of time compared to CO2, curbing methane emissions is widely considered to be one of the fastest ways to slow down the rate of global warming.

However, monitoring methane emissions and determining their quantities has been challenging due to the limitations of existing detection methods. Methane plumes are invisible and odorless, so they are typically detected with specialized equipment such as infrared cameras. The difficulty in finding these leaks from space is akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Leaks are distributed around the globe, and most of the methane plumes are relatively small, making them easy to miss in satellite data.

Multispectral satellite imagery has emerged as a viable methane detection tool in recent years, enabling routine measurements of methane plumes at a global scale every few days. However, with respect to methane, these measurements suffer from very poor signal to noise ratio, which has thus far allowed detection of only very large emissions (2-3 tons/hour) using manual methods.

85258398-xl-normal-none.png?w=2048
This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

The Geolabe team has developed a deep learning architecture that automatically identifies methane signatures in existing open-source spectral satellite data and deconvolves the signal from the noise. This AI method enables automatic detection of methane leaks at 200kg/hour and above, which account for over 85% of the methane emissions in well-studied, large oil and gas basins. Information gained using this new technique could help inform efforts to mitigate methane emissions on Earth and automatically validate their effects. This Geolabe project was featured in Nature Communications on May 14, 2024.

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      An autonomous water sampling drone system.
      Student Team: Michael Leitner (Team Lead), Xavier Garay, Mohamed Haroun, Ruchit Jathania, Caleb Lippe, Zachary Smolder, Chi Hin Tam
      Faculty Mentor: Onur Bilgen
      Selected: 2023
      Crowdfunding Website

      Project Website
      Development of a Low-Cost Open-Source Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing Machine – Arc One (Case Western Reserve University)
      A small-scale, modular, low-cost, and open-source Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) platform.
      Student Team: Vishnushankar Viraliyur Ramasamy (Team Lead), Robert Carlstrom, Bathlomew Ebika, Jonathan Fu, Anthony Lino, Garrett Tieng
      Faculty Mentor: John Lewandowski
      Selected: 2023
      Crowdfunding Website

      Web Article: “PhD student wins funding from NASA and develops multidisciplinary team of undergraduate students to build novel machine“
      Low Cost and Efficient eVTOL Platform Leveraging Opensource for Accessibility (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
      Lowering the barrier of entry into eVTOL deployment and development with a low cost, efficient, and open source eVTOL platform
      Student Team: Martin Arguelles-Perez (Team Lead), Benjamin Bishop, Isabella Laurito, Genaro Marcial Lorza, Eman Yonis
      Faculty Mentor: Venkatesan Muthukumar
      Selected: 2022
      Applying Space-Based Estimation Techniques to Drones in GPS-Denied Environments (University Of Texas, Austin)
      Taking real-time inputs from flying drones and outputting an accurate state estimation with 3-D error ellipsoid visualization
      Student Team: James Mitchell Roberts (Team Lead), Lauren Byram, Melissa Pires
      Faculty Mentor: Adam Nokes
      Selected: 2022
      Crowdfunding Website

      Project Website

      Web Article: “GPS-free Drone Tech Proposal Lands Undergrads Spot in NASA Challenge“
      Underwing Distributed Ducted Fan ‘FanFoil’ Concept for Transformational Aerodynamic and Aeroacoustic Performance (Texas Tech University, Lubbock)
      Novel highly under-cambered airfoils with electric ducted fans featuring ’samara’ maple seed inspired blades for eVTOL application
      Student Team: Jack Hicks (Team Lead), Harrison Childre, Guilherme Fernandes, David Gould, Lorne Greene, Muhammad Waleed Saleem, Nathan Shapiro
      Faculty Mentor: Victor Maldonado 
      Selected: 2022
      Crowdfunding Website

      Web Articles: “Improving Ducted-Fan eVTOL Efficiency” (AvWeek), “Sky Taxies“
      Urban Cargo Delivery Using eVTOL Aircrafts (University Of Illinois, Chicago)
      A bi-objective optimization formulation minimizing total run costs of a two-leg cargo delivery system and community noise exposure to eVTOL operations
      Student Team: Nahid Parvez Farazi (Team Lead), Amy Hofstra, Son Nguyen
      Faculty Mentor: Bo Zou
      Selected: 2022
      Crowdfunding Website

      Web Article: “PhD student awarded NASA grant to investigate urban cargo delivery systems“
      Congestion Aware Path Planning for Optimal UAS Traffic Management (University Of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
      A feasible, provably safe, and quantifiably optimal path planning framework considering fully autonomous UAVs in urban environments
      Student Team: Minjun Sung (Team Lead), Christoph Aoun, Ivy Fei, Christophe Hiltebrandt-McIntosh, Sambhu Harimanas Karumanchi, Ran Tao
      Faculty Mentor: Naira Hovakimyan
      Selected: 2022
      Crowdfunding Website

      Web Article: “NASA funds UAV traffic management research“
      AeroZepp: Aerostat Enabled Drone Glider Delivery System / Whisper Ascent: Quiet Drone Delivery (University of Delaware)
      An aerostat enabled low-energy UAV payload delivery system
      Student Team: Wesley Connor (Team Lead), Abubakarr Bah, Karlens Senatus
      Faculty Mentor: Suresh Advani
      Selected: 2022
      Crowdfunding Website
      Sustainable Transport Research Aircraft for Test Operation (STRATO) (Rutgers University, New Brunswick)
      An open source, efficiently driven, optimized Active Flow Control (AFC) enhanced control surface for UAV research platforms
      Student Team: Daulton James (Team Lead), Jean Alvarez, Frederick Diaz, Michael Ferrell, Shriya Khera, Connor Magee, Roy Monge Hidalgo, Bertrand Smith
      Faculty Mentor: Edward DeMauro
      Selected: 2022
      Crowdfunding Website

      Web Articles: “SoE Students Eligible for NASA University Student Research Challenge Award“, “Senior Design Team Captures NASA Research Challenge“

      A recorded STRATO USRC Tech Talk
      Dronehook: A Novel Fixed-Wing Package Retrieval System (University Of Notre Dame)
      Envisioning a world where items can be retrieved from remote locations in a simple fashion from efficient fixed-wing UAVs
      Student Team: Konrad Rozanski (Team Lead), Dillon Coffey, Bruce Smith, Nicholas Orr
      Faculty Mentor: Jane Cleland-Huang
      Selected: 2021
      Crowdfunding Website

      Web Article: “Notre Dame student team wins NASA research award for drone scoop and grab technology“
      Aerial Intra-city Delivery Electric Drones (AIDED) with High Payload Capacity (Michigan State University)
      A high-payload capacity delivery drone capable of safely latching and charging on electrified public transportation systems
      Student Team: Yuchen Wang (Team Lead), Hunter Carmack, Kindred Griffis, Luke Lewallen, Scott Newhard, Caroline Nicholas, Shukai Wang, Kyle White
      Faculty Mentor: Woongkul Lee
      Selected: 2021
      AIDED Crowdfunding Website

      AIDED Project Website or Team Website

      Web Articles: “Spartan Engineers win NASA research award” and “NASA Aeronautics amplification“; “Ross Davis & Gavin Gardner on The Guy Gordon Show“; “MSU Students Create Delivery Drone for NASA“; “Student drone project flying high with help from NASA“

      A recorded USRC Tech Talk
      Robotic Fabrication Work Cell for Customizable Unmanned Aerial Systems (Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University)
      A robotic, multi-process work cell to autonomously fabricate topologically optimized UASs tailored for immediate application needs
      Student Team: Tadeusz Kosmal (Team Lead), Kieran Beaumont, Om Bhavsar, Eric Link, James Lowe
      Faculty Mentor: Christopher Williams
      Selected: 2021
      Crowdfunding Website

      RAV-FAB Project Website

      Web Articles: “Drones that fly away from a 3D printer: Undergraduates create science nonfiction” and “3D printing breaks out of the box / VTx / Virginia Tech“

      NASA VT USRC Web Article: “USRC Students Sees Success with Crowdfunding, NASA Grants“

      Publication: Hybrid additive robotic workcell for autonomous fabrication of mechatronic systems – A case study of drone fabrication – ScienceDirect

      Team Social Media: Instagram: @ravfab_vt; LinkedIn: @rav-fab; YouTube

      View RAV-FAB USRC Tech Talk #1 or USRC Tech Talk #2
      Real Time Quality Control in Additive Manufacturing Using In-Process Sensing and Machine Learning (Cornell University)
      A high-precision and low-cost intelligent sensor-based quality control technology for Additive Manufacturing
      Student Team: Adrita Dass (Team Lead), Talia Turnham, Benjamin Steeper, Chenxi Tian, Siddharth Patel, Akula Sai Pratyush, Selina Kirubakar
      Faculty Mentor: Atieh Moridi
      Selected: 2021
      Crowdfunding Website

      AMAS Project Website

      Web Article: “Students win NASA challenge with 3D-printer smart sensor“

      A recorded USRC Tech Talk on this topic
      AVIATA: Autonomous Vehicle Infinite Time Apparatus (University of California, Los Angeles)
      A drone swarm system capable of carrying a payload in the air indefinitely
      Student Team: Chirag Singh (Team Lead), Ziyi Peng, Bhrugu Mallajosyula, Willy Teav, David Thorne, James Tseng, Eric Wong, Axel Malahieude, Ryan Nemiroff, Yuchen Yao, Lisa Foo
      Faculty Mentor: Jeff Eldredge
      Selected: 2020
      Crowdfunding Website

      AVIATA Project Website

      A recorded USRC Tech Talk on AVIATA

      The recorded poster session at the TACP Showcase 2021
      Redundant Flight Control System for BVLOS UAV Operations (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)
      A redundant flight control system as a “back-up” to the primary flight computer to enhance safety of sUAS
      Student Team: Robert Moore (Team Lead), Joseph Ayd, and Todd Martin
      Faculty Mentor: John Robbins
      Selected: 2020
      Crowdfunding Website

      Web Articles: “NASA Web Article“; “Drone Innovation Top Embry-Riddle Entrepreneurship Competition“

      Follow the team’s progress at: https://www.facebook.com/Assured Autonomy

      A recorded USRC Tech Talk on this topic

      The recorded poster session at the TACP Showcase 2021
      Multi-Mode Hybrid Unmanned Delivery System: Combining Fixed-Wing and Multi-Rotor Aircraft with Ground Vehicles (Rutgers University)
      Extending drone delivery distance with a multi-mode hybrid delivery system
      Student Team: Paul Wang (Team Lead), Nolan Angelia, Muhammet Ali Gungor
      Faculty Mentor: Onur Bilgen
      Selected: 2020
      Crowdfunding Website

      A recorded USRC Tech Talk on this topic

      The recorded poster session at the TACP Showcase 2021
      AVIS: Active Vortex Inducing System for Flow Separation Control to Improve Airframe Efficiency (Georgia Institute of Technology)
      Use an array of vortex generators that can be adjusted throughout flight to increase wing efficiency
      Student Team: Michael Gamarnik (Team Lead), Shiva Khanna Yamamoto, Noah Mammen, Tommy Schrager, Bethe Newgent
      Faculty Mentor: Kelly Griendling
      Selected: 2020
      Go to AVIS team site

      A recorded USRC Tech Talk on AVIS

      The recorded poster session at the TACP Showcase 2021

      NASA Web Article
      Hybrid Airplanes – An Optimum and Modular Approach (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
      Model and test powertrain to maximize the efficiency of hybrid airplanes
      Student Team: Nicholas Ogden (Team Lead), Joseph Shy, Brandon Bartlett, Ryker Bullis, Chino Cruz, Sara Entezar, Aaron Li, Zach Yamauchi
      Faculty Mentor: Paulo Iscold
      Selected: 2019
      A recorded USRC Tech Talk on this topic

      The recorded poster session at the TACP Showcase 2021
      ATLAS Air Transportation (South Dakota State University)
      A multipurpose, automated drone capable of comfortably lifting the weight of an average person
      Student Team: Isaac Smithee (Team Lead), Wade Olson, Nicolas Runge, Ryan Twedt, Anthony Bachmeier, Matthew Berg, Sterling Berg
      Faculty Mentors: Marco Ciarcia, Todd Letcher
      Selected: 2019
      A recorded USRC Tech Talk #1 and USRC Tech Talk #2 on ATLAS

      The recorded poster session at the TACP Showcase 2021
      Software-Defined GPS Augmentation Network for UAS Navigation (University Of Oklahoma, Norman)
      A novel solution of enhanced GPS navigation for unmanned aerial vehicles
      Student Team: Robert Rucker (Team Lead), Alex Zhang, Jakob Fusselman, Matthew GilliamMentors: Dr. Yan (Rockee) Zhang (Faculty Mentor), Dr Hernan Suarez (Team Technical Mentor)
      Faculty Mentors: Marco Ciarcia, Todd Letcher
      Selected: 2019
      Crowdfunding Website

      A recorded USRC Tech Talk on this topic

      The recorded poster session at the TACP Showcase 2021
      UAV Traffic Information Exchange Network (Purdue University)
      A blockchain-inspired secure, scalable, distributed, and efficient communication framework to support large scale UAV operations
      Student Team: Hsun Chao (Team Lead) and Apoorv Maheshwari
      Faculty Mentors: Daniel DeLaurentis (Faculty Mentor), Shashank Tamaskar
      Selected: 2018
      Web Article: “Student-developed communication network for UAVs interests NASA“
      The recorded poster session at the TACP Showcase 2021
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