Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University are leading an effort to explore the use of robotics and AI to conduct work relating to the inspection, upgrading and maintenance of satellites, as well as the manufacturing of them and other structures, while in orbit.
The Pittsburgh-based team, itself directed by principal investigator Howie Choset, will spearhead these efforts while working alongside a consortium of military personnel at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research as well as fellow researching peers at the University of New Mexico, Texas A&M and Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC). Matt Travers, a co-director of the Robotics Institute's Biorobotics Lab, and Carmel Majidi, a professor of mechanical engineering in CMU's College of Engineering, will also take on leadership roles for the consortium's efforts.
"This is an incredible opportunity to work together toward an ambitious goal," Choset, who is also a professor in the Robotics Institute at CMU's School of Computer Science, said in a university release. "No one knows how to refuel spacecraft such as satellites and telescopes. If we're successful, we will."
To be successful, the team will need expertise not only in AI or hard and soft robotics but also in additive manufacturing, astrodynamics, estimation theory and space systems, among other fields.
"Our vision for basic and applied research will open a new frontier of opportunities to maximize the utility for satellites and other in-orbit assets by prolonging, enhancing or augmenting their mission capabilities," Choset said. "This ushers in a new era of satellite capabilities and configurations that will transform the future of space operations."
The CMU-led consortium's proposal is one of two selected by AFRL and AFOSR as part of the recently established Space University Research Initiative, which will award up to $1 million in funding per year for the next three to five years for each proposal. The University of Buffalo is leading the other winning proposal, which focuses on the tracking and gathering of data for objects in space.
