>> This month, we're going to be highlighting a lot
of the technology tests
and demonstrations happening on board the ISS.
Today we're going to talk
about one that's actually using a piece of technology that many
of you probably have in your hand right now.
Lori Meggs is standing
by at NASA's Payload Operations Integration Center
at the Marshall Space Flight Center
to tell us a little bit more.
Lori.
>> If you have a smartphone,
then you already have half of this experiment.
It's called Smart Spheres, and it combines a smartphone
with a SPHERES free-flying satellites that are
on the station for a technology demonstration.
We caught up with Terry Fong
from NASA's Ames Research Center to learn more.
>> So with SPHERES, we've been doing some work
over the past few years of turning it
from being a satellite into a free-flying robot.
>> So what does that mean?
>> Well, for us, that means actually converting what was
originally designed as being a micro satellite,
something the size of a volleyball, into a robot,
and to do that, we've had to add a processor, cameras, display,
and if you put those altogether,
that basically turns into a smartphone.
>> Wow. That kind of blows my mind.
So how did you make that connection
that you could do that?
>> Well, you know, we were looking for a way
to basically add, you know, sensors and a camera
and a processor to the SPHERES.
We were sitting around in a conference room.
Everybody's got their smartphone on saying, boy,
wouldn't it be great if we had some sort of, you know,
high powered computer in a box, and everybody's,
like, oh, one of these.
And a few years ago that turned into our first smartphone,
which we sent up on the last shuttle flight,
and we've been using it on station
for the past three years -
>> Are these, like, our typical smartphones,
or are they a little more advanced -
>> Well, the new one,
the project tango phone has got a built-in 3D sensor.
It's basically the same kind
of thing you see in an Xbox Connect.
It allows you to basically do 3D mapping, tracking of things
in the real world, and we hope it allows us to pick the SPHERES
and fly freely throughout the US segment.
>> Why is that important to learn how to do that?
>> Well, right now, the SPHERES operate
with an external positioning system.
It's a set of these ultrasonic beacons which allows us to fly
around basically a two by two by two meter volume.
So a pretty small test area.
If we want to fly anywhere in the station, we have to find,
you know, technology that will let us just [inaudible],
you know, freely fly, and this new smartphone may be a way
of doing that.
We've done actually a lot of testing on the ground.
We also did a series of parabolic test flights
on a zero g aircraft back in February.
We tried to test out the smartphone and the combination
of the smartphone with SPHERES, and we're pretty confident
that we'll be able to actually do this 3D mapping
and navigation.
>> So the obvious question might be, so you can do
with the parabolic flights, and you can do it on the ground.
Why do you have to do it on the Space Station -
>> Well, because there are a lot of things that you just can't,
you know, do, you know, on the ground fully.
Even though the parabolic flights are really a great way
of getting into microgravity, you only get microgravity
for a few seconds, maybe 10 to 12 seconds.
So you're testing is really hurry up,
let's test for a short period of time, hurry up,
let's test for a short period of time.
It's not like in space.
It's not like in true microgravity.
The work we've been doing
with SPHERES really is just a precursor
to what's going to come next.
My current project, the human exploration [inaudible] robotics
project, is actually wrapping up in just a few months,
but there is a follow-up project,
the [inaudible] robotics II project, that's actually going
to develop a new free-flying robot for the Space Station,
and we're going to take everything we've learned
with the smart SPHERES system and roll
that into this brand-new free-flying robot
that hopefully we'll see on station
within the next two to three years.
>> And as we take a live look
into the Payload Operations Integration Center,
busy at work today, they're helping
with the research project.
We want to remind everyone
that the destination station technology forum will be here
in Huntsville October 27th that will be broadcast live
in NASA TV from 9 to 10 AM, and you'll hear
from many other experts like Terry Fong who are talking
about the technology demonstrations
and how the station is benefiting us here on Earth. ------------------------------fb8b880cb1e7--