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the spheres satellites uh flyboard

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international space station so we can

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learn more about how to control

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satellites

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specifically how can we learn how

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multiple satellites work together

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instead of just one satellite at a time

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with this we can do future things like

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in-space robotic assembly instead of

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needing to send a bunch of space

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shuttles which we don't have anymore to

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build the next space station or the next

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interplanetary transport vehicle like

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going to mars

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we want to learn how can we get

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satellites working together to do all

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that assembly so that we don't send

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humans every time we send a bunch of

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robots they assemble the next big thing

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and then we send humans when the next we

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think it's ready to go that should make

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it a lot cheaper and a lot safer and

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should be able to do it with all the

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resources we currently have in the plans

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for future space exploration the sphere

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satellites are nano satellites aboard

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the international space station they

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tend to fly only inside they look like

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little volleyballs they're about 20

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centimeters in diameter um they're

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pretty massive they're almost four

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kilograms but they're in space so they

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don't weigh right there they're four

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kilometers floating around

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and um

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we designed them with the idea of being

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able to test a lot of different things

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in space station

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so we did not advance

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the technology of the satellite itself

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very much actually to the opposite we

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use very common technology um one of the

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things we're very proud of is that the

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majority of our propulsion system

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is based on either a lot of medical

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devices which is just the tubing is what

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is used in the medical device world

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and

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the pressure tank is actually the same

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tank that you would use when you're

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going to paintball if you go play

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paintball the same tank we send out to

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space it's very safe and we're very

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happy to have done a project that uses

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normal technology of space station in

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many ways

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there are some custom things

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like what we call the metrology system

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metrology means knowing where you are

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basically so that is a custom system it

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uses a combination of infrared and

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ultrasound signals

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to triangulate the location of the

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satellite

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and then we have a computer called a

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digital signal processor

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so it's processing digital signals

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creating from all this to know where it

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is and determining what thrusters to

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fire so it knows how to move

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so basically we have this little

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satellite about this size that can move

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all around our dedicated area inside

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in every direction that we wanted to

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and at the same time we designed it so

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that the thrust is small enough

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that

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there are there are no safety concerns

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on what the satellite is doing it will

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never be able to go faster

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and

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have contact with anything space station

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of any forces higher than an astronaut

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pushing themselves off a wall

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so our satellites are very agile and yet

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they're

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weak enough to never present a safety

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issue and that's why we can do many

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different things with them we have about

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six to eight different type of projects

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we've done a pretty nice results on

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formation flight when the satellites are

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maintaining a formation

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when they're doing things like collision

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avoidance making sure that as the

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formation changes so sometimes the

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satellites are in a straight line but if

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they change formation as they move

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around they don't collide to each other

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that's been a really successful work so

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far

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we've also done some very interesting

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docking maneuvers in other words the

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satellites separate apart coming

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together

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that

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not only coming together straight next

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to each other which other people have

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done before the the amazing thing of the

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project working inside space station is

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we can do risky things we can try things

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that you would not try with a real

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satellite out on space because you're

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going to be worried about losing it

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inside space station we have one

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satellite rotating spinning around and

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the other one docking to it and we can

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try it multiple times

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it actually worked on the second try

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which we're really happy about but even

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if it didn't we can try it multiple

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times over and over again

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and we're doing all of that in in true

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microgravity full six degrees of freedom

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so when the satellites can move out in

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any direction we can still try it and

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show that

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the algorithms that we're using to

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docker satellites

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are reasonably

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uh

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advanced to be able to work in the

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future on real big missions so those are

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some of our very interesting

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results so far

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the last set of results we have this

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from this year kind of fresh out of the

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space station

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is on vision-based navigation so using

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cameras to detect the presence of other

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satellites and to be able to dock to

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other satellites with cameras

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so we're just starting that research

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but we have some very interesting things

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going on where we can make one satellite

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turn

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the earth because they can they're

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floating

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and be able to really identify all that

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motion of the satellites just with

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cameras without any other sensor

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from the perspective of in-space robotic

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assembly and servicing

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we will benefit in the earth by making

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it easier and cheaper to get

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new communication satellites to upgrade

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satellites in space that let us have a

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much better

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life on earth right we depend a lot on

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satellites today so we want to

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understand how to get them better and

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and

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for the exploration side

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we are hoping that we're helping keep

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the whole idea of space exploration

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alive as one of those

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top

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things that humans want to do which is

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exploration

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so that we keep the society knowing that