Mission Control Space Services is pushing hard into the artificial intelligence (AI) space. The Ottawa-based mission control software company, which has an emphasis on education as well, announced the formation of an Orbital Autonomy Lab on Wednesday (Feb. 15).
You can think of the lab as an origin story for where Mission Control wants to be in a few years. The company is looking at applications for AI in space, such as satellite servicing for “active debris” removal of space junk, or providing onboard autonomy for perception and computer vision algorithms.
Closely related to that is ground software – more specifically, mission operations software – that acts as the “front end” for operators trying to understand what is going on in space. The two product lines, ground and space, will have more products announced in the coming months.
Mission Control confirmed to SpaceQ that this lab will serve as a genesis point for future AI needs like rendezvous or proximity operations in orbit, which naturally builds upon generations of Canadian software and expertise already tested in space.
Dollar amounts cannot be released, but Mission Control says AI will be a key and fast-growing market for them in planetary and human exploration in domains like Earth observation, orbital robotics and off-Earth operations.
The announcement represents “us building up that capacity to translate a lot of the technologies we’ve been developing into that orbital robotics sector,” said Michele Faragalli, the chief technology officer at Mission Control and an individual who played an integral part in building out the lab.
Mission Control’s existing software platform, according to its website, aims to “command and monitor remote assets that have important work to do in remote and rugged places in space and on Earth.” The company works to develop and deploy intelligent software applications for autonomous operations while reducing development costs for its customers.
The platform’s target audience is for mission controllers working in distributed teams for commanding and monitoring remote assets, whether these be on space or in remote areas of Earth. Core mission functions of the cloud-based software include space hardware that can be used with command, control, guidance and navigation; AI-based payload and imagery processing; and common interfaces for space software frameworks and protocols.
Mission Control also makes its product available as software as a service (SAAS) for operators and third-party developers, with aspects including scalability and flexible payment options tailored to their customers’ needs.
Aside from this bootstrap funding, Mission Control has received millions of dollars in CSA funding. Recent contracts include (but are not limited to) $839,772.41 in 2022 for a rover learning experience and $741,877.31 for “Concept Studies & Technological Developments for Lunar Surface Autonomous Science” in 2020.
Mission Control has also received funding several times under the CSA’s Lunar Exploration Acceleration Program, or LEAP, that aims to bring Canadian science and hardware to the moon. For example, $3.04 million of LEAP funding went towards building a Mission Control AI system that will soon be on the moon. The United Arab Emirates’ Rashid rover will be bearing Mission Control software on it to classify lunar features. The mission is en route right now, led by Japan’s ispace, and is aiming to be the first-ever private mission to safely touch down on the moon in April.
“These investigations will make use of the cloud-based Mission Control software platform to enable the Canadian team to easily and securely access and visualize mission data,” Mission Control personnel wrote of the Rashid mission AI system and the funding’s significance at the time of release in May 2021.
The new lab will build upon the years of work that Mission Control has already put into this software. When asked about licensing potential or commercialization arising from the Orbital Autonomy Lab, Faragalli said Mission Control will have products associated with it “released soon” – much more information will be forthcoming as contracts can be announced, he emphasized. But he noted the new lab’s work could be used for applications like rovers, robotic arms, servicing satellites or custom projects.
“The other big piece for industry is our rendezvous proximity operations and docking software,” he continued. “There are pieces of that software that is well-suited for AI applications, and then we see ourselves contributing with applications in that domain around perception algorithms, pose estimation, hazard detection.”
The lab, Faragalli said, is one of just a few similar facilities in the world and the hope is to use it to help customers – which Mission Control treats as development partners – bring emerging space technology a Technology Readiness Level 6 or 7 under NASA’s framework.
To quote NASA’s website: “A TRL 6 technology has a fully functional prototype or representational model. TRL 7 technology requires that the working model or prototype be demonstrated in a space environment.” So in other words, Mission Control is seeking to make their customers’ space tech ready for launch or very close to it.
“This is where we can use the facility, say, to generate data for [customers] to train their algorithms, or we could use it for hardware-in-the-loop testing,” Faragalli said. For example: “customers could literally put their sensor on the end of one of our robotic arms and essentially conduct analogue operations of what it would be like to service a space station – or service another satellite, or remove debris.”
Working with Mission Control, he said, would thus allow customers to advance their products for market – just like Mission Control does already in its “moon yard” where rover tech is tested for potential future missions. “We always see our value to be good collaborators in the space ecosystem, particularly in Canada – but of course, around the world.”
The new lab is a dedicated space within Mission Control to simulate the visual conditions of space for “computer vision.” Additionally, Faragalli said, the company is using its mission operations software to remotely test robotic arms – or to let students do test drives through the Internet, which is a key part of their engagement and education aims.
“We’re a company that cares about the next generation and getting them excited about space,” Faragalli said, pointing to past CSA funding to engage youth in learning about robotics. The company’s Mission Control Academy allows students to participate remotely in simulated rover operations or Gateway-type robotic arms; Gateway is the planned NASA space station at the moon that will include Canadarm3 technology from MDA. The CSA funding allows Mission Control to extend their education to remote communities, Faragalli added.
Looking at other companies in Canada gives a sense of the related expertise available in AI and in collision or vision-type systems. To take a few of many examples:
- Canadarm2, managed by MDA, has force-moment sensors that replicate “touch” when operators handle delicate payloads, according to CSA. It also is equipped with a form of automatic collision avoidance. Canadarm3 will not only have this tech, but also a 3D sensor tool that can map objects around it.
- Ottawa-based Neptec (now a part of MDA) developed a TriDAR, or Triangulation and LIDAR Automated Rendezvous and Docking. It combined a short-range autosynchronous triangulation sensor with the TRIDAR sensor and was tested on three space shuttle missions. Neptec received support from the CSA and NASA during the 10 year-development of the TriDAR. Neptec vision system products have also flown on Canadarm2, Dextre and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft.
Canada is also famed for developing the Advanced Space Vision System, which is a form of computer vision, that originated at the National Research Council of Canada in the 1970s. That technology transferred to Neptec; the CSA also supported development,