Through two open source software projects for everyone around the world

"IBM" allows the monitoring of space debris and the management of satellites

The two projects seek to provide everyone with access to space.

■ from the source

The international company «IBM» specialized in the manufacture and development of computers and software announced the launch of two new software projects, open source, with software code available to everyone around the world, explaining that the first project is concerned with building an advanced system to monitor the locations of blocks of space debris, whether the pieces are finite. Small, or large pieces, as well as predicting their potential paths to work to avoid their dangers, while the second project is devoted to managing "swarms" of small satellites that swim together in space, waiting for those who request their services, and they can come together, all or some, to form A team performs a task at a specified time, and then returns to itself after the task is completed.

Chance

The head of the company's space technology department, Naim Altaf, made clarifications about the two programs, during a video interview with the Tech Republic website, during which he confirmed that the two projects seek to "democratize" access to space technologies, that is, to provide everyone with an opportunity to access the space field. Assist in tracking the field of debris orbiting it, or participating in space activities management software running in low Earth orbit.

The first program

Altaf said that since the launch of the Soviet satellite "Sputnik" more than 60 years ago, millions of pieces of debris and space debris have accumulated in low-Earth orbit, ranging from small, untraceable remnants of previous launches to pieces the size of a school bus.

And he indicated that these objects, which orbit in low-Earth orbit at a speed of approximately 18 thousand miles per hour, can collide with satellites operating in the orbit, and also convert them into waste and debris. Therefore, IBM's open source software project in the field of space debris seeks to Design more advanced debris tracking systems.

He added that the project is called "Space Awareness" or "SSA" and is being implemented with the University of Texas, USA, in Austin.

Monitor and predict

Altaf added: “Because it is not fully understood how other factors such as space weather affect the paths of debris, the project makes use of two models to monitor space debris, the first model relies on physics in order to build a vision to simulate (turbulence) that can occur in the orbit of debris. "Space, while the second model relies on machine learning technology and artificial intelligence to predict the errors that the physical model can contain."

CubeSat

Regarding the second project, Altaf said that during the past decades, it has been customary to manufacture satellites in large sizes, operating as a homogeneous interconnected system, carrying out many tasks and functions, but in recent years this concept has changed, so that what is followed is the fragmentation or division of these homogeneous interconnected systems. To small independent entities, each of which performs a different function from the other, then small satellites appeared, which are controlled and managed, individually and collectively, and then it became common to manufacture small satellites, inexpensive, whether at production, launch or management in The space.

He added that in light of this calibration, the IBM software project called "CubeSat" was designed and seeks to build a system that can transfer the concept of "distributed computing" and provide devices and equipment as a service, used in the Internet on the ground, to the space domain. To enter the phase of "providing satellites as a service."

Swarm management

According to Altaf, the goal is to build an open source global system, in which everyone participates, to manage a swarm or group of satellites that swim in space, within low Earth orbit, awaiting orders issued to them from some side on Earth, to carry out a specific task At a specific time, whether one satellite, several satellites or an entire squadron participated, they work together as a team during the mission, and each performs a function related to part of the mission, and upon the end of the matter, each of them becomes independent again, in a position of readiness to be assigned a new mission.

Realistic monitoring

The head of the space technology department at IBM, Naeem Altaf, said that the company hopes to reach a realistic and consistent monitoring of space debris tracks as possible, because in the current situation different governments around the world use various tracking systems to monitor debris. As a result, the exact locations of different objects differ depending on the entity or agency conducting the monitoring.