FEATURE | NASA RESEARCH FOR EARTH AND BEYOND
HOME
Away from Home If we intend to explore the Moon or Mars, astronauts
system data? This is where AI comes in,” says Bergés. “We
need smart habitats that will support life and remain
have machines that learn by themselves if you give them
operational when they are vacant. To advance the design of
enough data, but we don’t have a lot of machines that can
autonomous systems for space habitats, NASA is funding a
reason by using existing engineering knowledge, which can
multi-university Space Technology Research Institute called
reduce the amount of data they need.”
Habitats Optimized for Missions of Exploration or more fittingly, HOME. Mario Bergés, associate professor of Civil and
To rein in the amount of data needed to detect equipment faults throughout the habitat, the team will collect electrical measurements. This data will be shared
Environmental Engineering (CEE), is leading the Carnegie
with robotic systems that will process it and act on the
Mellon University (CMU) research team working under the
physical environment, and in theory enable the habitat to
auspices of the center. Their task is to enable complete
maintain itself.
situational awareness in the habitat by providing it with
The CMU team is comprised of Bergés, an expert
capabilities to process and interpret its own data and make
in sensing and data analysis for infrastructure, and
decision recommendations that can be passed on to robotic
Burcu Akinci, a CEE professor and expert in information
systems or suggested to human occupants.
modeling. Rounding out the team is Stephen Smith and
“Space is harsh and errors can be catastrophic, so
Artur Dubrawski from CMU’s Robotics Institute, who will
we need autonomous systems that are very good,” says
lead research on machine learning and robotic systems.
Bergés. One idea the team is exploring is the application
CMU’s research will feed into other projects underway in
of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze equipment data to
the institute.
understand electricity use in the habitat. If we know how
HOME is funded for five years for approximately $15
power is consumed, we could learn the status of all the
million, and NASA may apply recommendations spinning out
electric-powered systems in the habitat.
from the institute before the funding period ends. According
We have experience conducting data analysis for
to Bergés, CMU’s research could potentially inform the
equipment on Earth, but we have to learn how to translate
design of a gateway station that will orbit the Moon as part
this knowledge to the context of space and specifically to
of NASA’s deep-space exploration plans.
the systems in these habitats. For example, on Earth we have a variety of air-
Bergés believes that civil engineers will play a role in space exploration. “Since the beginning, civil engineers
conditioning systems, and we can figure out where potential
have been the stewards of the infrastructure that supports
faults are and how they happen. But in the new habitats,
modern life. If humanity is moving into space, it makes
all the systems will be one-offs. “How do you conduct
sense for civil engineers to be part of that.”
automated fault detection and diagnosis without a lot of
