Students Wrote Software To Control Spheres Aboard The ISS

NASA joined the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and high school student teams from the United States and abroad for the fourth annual Zero Robotics SPHERES Challenge Friday, January 11. The event was held on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA, and aboard the ISS.

For the competition, NASA uploaded software developed by high school students onto Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES), which are bowling ball-sized spherical satellites aboard the International Space Station. The top 45 teams from previous competitions had their code sent last week to the space station, where an astronaut will command the satellites to execute the teams' flight program. During a simulated mission, the teams will complete a special challenge inspired by future satellite technologies, such as formation flight and close proximity operations.

Student finalists were able to see their flight program live in the televised finals. The winning team received certificates and a SPHERES flight patch that was flown aboard the space station.

In addition to their use in this competition, the SPHERES satellites are used inside the space station to conduct formation flight maneuvers for spacecraft guidance navigation, control and docking. The three separate satellites that make up SPHERES fly in formation inside the space station's cabin. The satellites provide opportunities to test a wide range of hardware and software at an affordable cost.

(NASA image SPHERES aboard ISS)

FMI: http://go.nasa.gov/zero-robotics