Afrigather 
NASA’s upcoming Artemis 1 mission, set to launch on Monday (Aug. 29), will carry a variety of scientific payloads and spaceflight tools designed to additional our understanding of our neck of the cosmic woods and methods to discover it.
That is not all the huge Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft will carry, nonetheless. Driving aboard Orion shall be a revolutionary new expertise demonstrator designed to alter the best way astronauts work together with their spacecraft: Callisto.
The Callisto system, developed by Lockheed Martin in partnership with Cisco and Amazon, leverages the identical voice-activated capabilities provided by client digital assistant applied sciences like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri. As an alternative of alerting when packages have been delivered or turning lights on and off, Callisto is designed to sooner or later present real-time knowledge, enhanced connectivity and mission-specific suggestions for astronauts onboard future Orion missions.
Associated: Artemis 1 cubesats: The 10 tiny satellites hitching a NASA ride to the moon
Callisto, named after a determine from Greek mythology who was a follower of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon and the hunt, will reply to pure language voice instructions a lot in the identical approach that different Alexa-enabled merchandise do, however centered particularly on the wants of a spaceflight crew and its mission controllers on the bottom.
The Callisto system matches right into a briefcase-like enclosure measuring 1.5 toes by 1 toes (45 by 30 centimeters) and roughly 5 inches (12.7 cm) in depth. Engineers at Lockheed Martin and Amazon had to make sure that the system may face up to the vibrations and excessive shocks of a rocket launch. As well as, Callisto’s electronics have been hardened towards the radiation environment of deep area.
A NASA statement (opens in new tab) printed in January 2022 states that Callisto is “meant to point out how industrial expertise may help future astronauts on deep area missions” and can show how “human-machine interface expertise” could make spaceflight less complicated, safer and extra environment friendly for astronauts and floor crews alike.
“I can think about a future the place astronauts can entry info on flight standing and telemetry — resembling spacecraft orientation, water provide ranges or battery voltage standing, via easy voice instructions,” Howard Hu, deputy Orion program supervisor at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, mentioned within the assertion. “Orion is already essentially the most superior spacecraft ever developed to hold astronauts to the moon, and voice activation expertise may take it to the subsequent stage by enabling the interactive laptop programs of science fiction spaceships to turn into a actuality for the subsequent era of explorers.”
In response to a Lockheed Martin statement (opens in new tab), Callisto will show “how voice expertise, AI and moveable tablet-based video conferencing may help enhance effectivity and situational consciousness for these on board the spacecraft.” As well as, the voice assistant will present “entry to real-time mission info and a digital connection to folks and knowledge again on Earth.”
Constructed-in Cisco Webex video conferencing expertise will allow mission controllers at JSC to work together with Callisto from the bottom, “offering entry to flight standing and telemetry, and the flexibility to regulate linked units onboard Orion,” in accordance with a Cisco statement (opens in new tab).
Lockheed Martin says the objective for the Callisto tech demonstration is to “discover how these industrial applied sciences can help astronauts on future deep area missions to the moon and past.”
In a NASA Artemis expertise demonstration and photo voltaic system science payloads teleconference (opens in new tab) held on Aug. 16, Rob Chambers, director of business civil area technique at Lockheed Martin, mentioned that the Callisto group drew inspiration from science fiction.
“We checked out what applied sciences are on the market but in addition at a sort of frequent mission assertion we noticed with the businesses [Cisco and Amazon],” Chambers mentioned. “And I will be sincere: We picked up the telephone and known as Amazon and it was a kind of ‘Hey, what do you consider flying and Alexa on the opposite aspect of the moon,’ and I anticipated to get a really puzzled response. However as an alternative they defined that one of many — and that is their story, however they share it rather a lot — one of many progenitors for Alexa, one of many bots that that they had, if you’ll, was the voice laptop from Starship Enterprise.
“As we began speaking with them, and talked about a few of their native here-on-Earth actions the place they should function Alexa with out the web, we realized it was a very superior take a look at case for what they needed to do,” Chambers continued. “So the response was so robust, and the applied sciences and the data was, and our sort of dedication to the mission and conductivity was actually highly effective from the get go, [so] that we simply by no means seemed again.”
In contrast to client Alexa-enabled units that depend on an web connection, Callisto will connect with mission controllers utilizing NASA’s Deep House Community and be outfitted with a expertise referred to as Native Voice Management, which “permits Alexa to course of voice instructions domestically, slightly than sending info to the cloud,” in accordance with an Amazon statement (opens in new tab).
If present climate forecasts maintain and all goes in accordance with plan, NASA’s Artemis 1 mission will launch on Monday (Aug. 29), sending an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit and again, Callisto and all.
Comply with Brett on Twitter at @bretttingley. Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook.
Join our Space Forums to maintain speaking area on the most recent missions, evening sky and extra! And in case you have a information tip, correction or remark, tell us at: community@space.com.
Brett is a science and expertise journalist who’s interested in rising ideas in spaceflight and aerospace, various launch ideas, anti-satellite applied sciences, and uncrewed programs. Brett’s work has appeared on The Conflict Zone at TheDrive.com, Common Science, the Historical past Channel, Science Discovery, and extra. Brett obtained a Bachelor’s diploma in English from Clemson College and a Grasp’s diploma in Rhetoric and Composition from the College of North Carolina at Charlotte. In his free time, Brett is a working musician, a hobbyist electronics engineer and cosplayer, an avid LEGO fan, and enjoys mountaineering and tenting all through the Appalachian Mountains together with his spouse and two youngsters.
