It is evident that we are living in a new age of space, with the growth of the commercial space industry as well as the proliferation of programs and agencies. The new age is based on how small satellite technology, reusable rockets and other advancements are making it cheaper to launch payloads into orbit. This allows for more people to access space, and also makes it possible to engage in lucrative research.
IBM Space Tech, a commercial space venture launched in January 2020. This was a result of years of experience with the sector. IBM Space Tech will launch its first CubeSat mission to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in early 2022. This CubeSat will allow students around the globe to access space by leveraging IBM/Red Hat software as well as the IBM Cloud.
Naem Altaf is the Chief Technical Officer at IBM Space Tech, and a veteran of the space industry. He is the mission leader for ENDURANCE. Naem Altaf is an experienced space industry veteran who has worked with NASA and ESA for many years. Naem was worried about the difficulties that developing countries would face, considering all of this took place in the industrialized world.
Artist impression of The ENDURANCE CubeSat. Credit: Endurance in Space
This has been the norm since the Space Age began. Access to space was restricted to developed countries, space agencies and the very wealthy. Naeem and his IBM Space Tech colleagues set out to change this paradigm by looking for ways to simplify the process of obtaining space access. They wanted to make space accessible to all children, especially those in school. ENDURANCE
ENDURANCE was the result. It combines IBM's Edge Computing in Space (powered via IBM/Red Hat MicroShift) and CubeSat technology from EnduroSat, a Bulgarian satellite company. ENDURANCE, which leverages this technology and expertise will enable students to interact directly in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with small satellites. Universe Today received Naeem's email explaining the following:
The ENDURANCE CubeSat mission aims to make space accessible for all people on the planet. Democratizing Access to Space. This mission was based on a simple vision: How can school-aged children be allowed to explore the wonders of outer space?
It is very simple. Once the system is operational, children can create code in Python language and upload it to the ENDURANCE portal on IBM Cloud. After scanning the code for malicious code, the code is sent to a ground station to be uploaded to the satellite. As Naeem described:
To submit their code, users will be able access the portal via IBM Cloud. After the code has been validated, it will be pushed to CubeSat. It will execute the program. We will notify the users about the results.
An Expedition 7 crewmember took this view of the Earth's horizon while onboard the International Space Station. He used a wide-angle lens, as the Station was above the Pacific Ocean. NASA Credit
Users can create their own code and retrieve the results via the IBM Cloud and ground stations. This includes data from satellites magnetometers, Sun sensors or satellites voltage, temperature and other telemetry data. According to Naem, the CubeSats camera is the most used operation.
Children will be able schedule images to capture when the satellite passes through a particular area of Earth. They will be able to see from space what the sunrise, sunset, storms, weather patterns, their local area, and even their home town look like. They will also be able see from space what flooding, forest fires and shrinking ice sheet looks like.
This is another aspect to the ENDURANCE mission. It is meant to raise awareness on global issues such as Climate Change and planet health. Students will get to experience the Overview Effect by seeing Earth from space. This will allow them to see how interconnected everything is on Earth. Naeem and his coworkers are looking ahead to adding more features to the experience.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is one example. It allows users to interact with virtual assistants (like chatbots) and use speech-totext/text-tospeech software to communicate with the satellite. You could ask the satellite where it's at Earth. Hi! I'm currently in South America, enjoying the view of the Andes.
The ENDURANCE mission patch. Credit: Endurance In Space
We can build a metaverse for CubeSat Operations center and create hackathons in the future. We say that the sky is not limit! Naeem said. Naeem said that the hackathon idea was consistent with IBM P-TECH. This public-education model teaches coding to high school students from underserved countries and developing nations.
Naem said that he was proud to be able to inspire the next generation of Space leaders with his inspiration, hope and confidence. This will allow children and students to experience Space in a way that is priceless and open up possibilities for innovation.
If you are interested in helping the mission, please visit the ENDURANCE website. Click on the tab marked JOIN VISION.
Continue reading: Endurance in Space
