A Harsh Environment

Making space more hospitable, for people and machines

While people on Earth are thinking about self-driving cars, Christopher “Chrispy” Petersen is focused on self-driving satellites.

“A satellite that nudges itself in the right direction or performs some aspect of self-repair lets people in the control room focus on other, important mission-oriented tasks,” he says.

Petersen, an assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, loves pushing the limits of satellite capabilities.

“If we already have all this real-time data from sensors and fine manipulation via actuators, can we use them in a novel way? Can we chain together our algorithms to do the mission in a unique and unconventional way?” he asks.

That pioneering mindset comes naturally to Petersen and other UF space researchers. It’s led them to forge paths in brain research, muscle atrophy, and space manufacturing. Persistence and bootstrapping also help. As a prime example, Petersen used Lego robots early in his career to do crucial satellite simulations on a shoestring budget.

Rachael Seidler has spent years studying spaceflight’s effects on the human brain and body. It started with a random but timely email nearly three decades ago.

Seidler was a graduate student at Arizona State University in the mid-1990s, researching sensory conflict that leads to motion sickness and other problems. One day, she learned that NASA offered graduate student fellowships.

Read more about A Harsh Environment.