Advanced Space Science and Technology Research at UMD (ASTRA), a newly-launched research hub headed by Associate Professor Christine Hartzell, has announced its first set of seed grants, covering areas that range from measurement of low-energy particles to assessing the habitability of other planets and moons.

The projects bring together researchers from UMD’s A. James Clark School of Engineering and collaborators from the Space Exploration Sector of the nearby Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU-APL), which has delivered significant space science and engineering contributions for over six decades.

In one of the funded projects, Water Activity Sensor for Assessing Brine Environments (WASABE), UMD Professors Pamela Abshire (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering/Institute for Systems Research) and Elisabeth Smela (Department of Mechanical Engineering/Maryland Robotics Center) will collaborate with JHU-APL researcher Alexander Pontefract to explore the use of microfludic systems for measuring water activity on other planetary bodies. This type of measurement may be used on future spacecraft missions looking for evidence of life on other planets.

Signature Modeling Using Radiance Fields (SMURFs), the second funded project, investigates a new approach to modeling the physical shape and radiometric signatures of spacecraft, a process often hampered by slow speed and exorbitant memory requirements. Assistant Professor John Martin (Department of Aerospace Engineering) will team up with JHU-APL PIs Brian Keane and Samuel Albert to adapt Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) to the task.

A third funded project, Space Power Advanced Module (SPAM), aims to improve the thermal management of switching converters without compromising electrical layout and, ultimately, performance. The team includes Joseph Kozak of JHU-APL and UMD Professor Patrick McCluskey (Department of Mechanical Engineering). The proposed module is widely applicable to spacecraft with various science, communications or defense missions.

UMD Assistant Professor Sahil Shah (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) will team up with JHU-APL PIs Brian Bryce and Mark Martin on the fourth funded project, Highly Pixelated Energic Particle Sensor with Event Driven Readout, which aims to develop a novel approach of detecting low-energy particles emitted by the sun. If successful, this type of instrument would enable the detection of plasma particles to better understand the structure of the solar wind flowing away from the sun.

“The goal of these seed grants is to strengthen the bond between UMD and JHU-APL’s Space Exploration Sector and set the stage for new collaborations between the two institutions. The PIs for these seed grants include both new assistant professors and senior faculty from multiple departments across the Clark School,” Hartzell said. “We look forward to the technical results and follow-on proposals from these tasks.”

Launched in Fall 2024, ASTRA provides an organizational umbrella for a variety of space-related research activities at UMD, while also opening up new avenues for collaboration, including with JHU-APL and NASA.

Hartzell and the ASTRA team are also working to increase awareness in the space community of the breadth and depth of relevant research being conducted at UMD. In addition, the center will help to publicize UMD master’s of engineering and certificate programs aimed at working professionals with an interest in obtaining or enhancing space engineering credentials.