Implemented OSIP ideas — February 2021

Open Discovery Ideas Channel

In February 2021, the following ideas were implemented through the Open Discovery Ideas Channel.

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Boosting local sleep in astronauts: a possible way out of attentional lapses

University of Amsterdam

Sleep is vital for physical, psychological and cognitive health. It is especially important for astronauts in space, considering that poor sleep and decreased attention span are commonly reported and may have tremendous consequences. Sleep deficiency may be partially explained by the intrusion of local sleep – a neurological phenomenon where brain activity in an organism that is otherwise awake enters a state which closely resembles that of sleep – whilst astronauts are awake. This co-funded research project will investigate improving the local sleep process in astronauts to help them to perform better.

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Hierarchically structuring space systems from the nano to whole component scale using synchrotron tuned additive manufacturing

University College London (UCL)

Read about this public idea in OSIP

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Development of a multi-material additive manufacturing machine for space hardware using localised heat to debind and sinter fused filament fabricated parts

Berlin Institute of Technology (Technische Universität Berlin)

Building space parts through additive manufacturing (3D printing) has improved the performance of both spacecraft and launch vehicles. Highly complex and integrated subsystems can be manufactured in a single print, which comes with a host of benefits. However, all spacecraft subsystems are comprised of more than one material, so even today it remains complex to use additive manufacturing for manufacturing highly integrated space hardware. This co-funded research project aims to develop a multi-material additive manufacturing machine that will be used to manufacture highly integrated small satellite subsystems.

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AI powered cross-modal adaptation techniques applied to Sentinel-1 and -2 data

University of Sannio

Satellite imagery collected in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum has many applications. However, it is often affected by poor light conditions and clouds, meaning that only some of the data is useful. Optical data is collected by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite, whilst the Sentinel-1 satellite uses radio waves to find out about the Earth's surface below. The main purpose of this co-funded research project is to use artificial intelligence – specifically, novel neural networks – to translate information from the Sentinel-1 radar world to the Sentinel-2 optical world.

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Towards explainable AI4EO: a new frontier to gain trust into the AI

Lancaster University

This co-funded research project will aim to develop the next generation of easy-to-understand model frameworks that can be an important tool for Earth observation specialists in their management and understanding of high-risk natural disasters. In particular, it will provide an explainable tool for identifying and classifying environmentally hazardous conditions via remote sensing images, a tool to estimate the degree of environmental damage, and a tool to assist in predicting the dynamic evolution of hazardous environmental conditions such as floods and hurricanes.

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Improving the synergy between Earth- and space-based data for Galilean satellite ephemerides

Delft University of Technology

Information about the trajectory of icy moons – such as those orbiting Jupiter – is key for understanding the habitability of subsurface oceans. For the Galilean moons (Jupiter's four largest moons), this information – known as ephemerides – is currently gathered from Earth. However, in the future, ESA's JUICE and NASA's Europa Clipper missions travelling to the moons could also contribute to our knowledge of their ephemerides. This co-funded research project will merge Earth- and space-based radio, astro- and photometric data to enable ephemerides to reach their full potential in helping us understand whether the subsurface oceans of these moons could be habitable.

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Off-Earth Manufacturing and Construction

The following ideas were was implemented through the OSIP Off-Earth Manufacturing and Construction Campaign.

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Adaptation of lithography-based ceramic manufacturing to process lunar regolith and optimisation of the process steps for the Moon and reduced logistics

OHB

In 2018, an ESA study assessed 52 additive manufacturing (3D printing) techniques to ease the construction, expansion, operation and maintenance of a lunar base. Lithography-based ceramic manufacturing (LCM) was short-listed as a particularly interesting technique because it can produce precision ceramic parts as well as cutting-edge biomedical devices and personalised medical products. But the process is complicated. This study aims to assess each step in the LCM process and even simplify some of them.

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Microwave heating apparatus of lunar regolith for variant experiments of lunar ISRU missions

The Open University

For an extended stay on the Moon, humans need protection from space radiation and micrometeorites. The lunar regolith is a readily available material for building such protective habitation, but it must be heated to make it suitable for construction. Microwave heating is much more energy-efficient than solar or laser sintering. This early technology development project aims to develop flight hardware for a payload called MAREL (Microwave heating Apparatus of lunar Regolith for Variant Experiments of Lunar ISRU missions). MARVEL would collect three lunar regolith samples, heat them with microwaves and measure how they cool down. This would demonstrate the potential of microwave heating for construction with lunar regolith.

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