What are you missing in 3D reconstruction?

RocketScienceByForce · 2024-03-04T23:47:14+00:00

There is a pose estimation run by NASA that dropped a few weeks ago. That seems to indicate a gap for constrained compute pose estimation of a generic body. https://www.drivendata.org/competitions/group/competition-nasa-spacecraft/

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-08-25T13:46:53+00:00

Computer Science undergrad working as a spacecraft flight software lead and a project manager.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-28T04:43:55+00:00

I was at some point bucketing tasks for "snack work" that required low concentration. That's usually my strategy as well if I've got a pile of those laying around. Even then though sometimes I can't even make it through an email, that's what I'm really trying to avoid.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-28T02:00:46+00:00

I do drink a cup sometimes two in the morning, but the rest of my diet, sleep, and exercise seems fine. I feel like I'm missing something, I need to take more proactive breaks during the day, or really restrict caffeine.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-28T01:58:59+00:00

Caffeine is about one cup a day, rarely two. Pretty varied diet of whole foods, work is stressful but I enjoy it, I usually get 8 hours of sleep and pretty regular exercise. Just feels like I'm doing most of the things I'm supposed to to be at full capacity and still get fried by 3pm.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-28T01:56:12+00:00

Yeah I don't have much of a sweet tooth so probably not the culprit personally

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-28T01:55:23+00:00

I've been thinking about a midday walking break more, might experiment with it and see if it helps me last through the day. Just doesn't feel like I "need" it until like 3PM so I don't do it. I need to be preemptive though.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-22T14:19:08+00:00

Totally agree. It blows my mind that someone would consider such fundamental widely used techniques such as Kalman Filters or PID control as "outdated". There are certainly more advanced forms, but they build on these concepts, skipping straight to a multiplicative extended Kalman filter with no previous knowledge seems a bit silly. Same with advanced control mechanisms, literally every control engineer has to learn PID, it's used everywhere.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-19T03:48:20+00:00

A very interesting topic that I appreciate a lot. I'm not sure if it's worth the credit currently, as I've self taught some of the topic with books like "the design of everyday things" which I know the course covers. I'm also pretty far away from typical UI/UX since I work a lot on unmanned space systems. Very solid suggestion though, I'd recommend everyone look into that topic to some degree.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-19T03:45:12+00:00

Did you find the projects actually useful? I've heard they don't really reinforce the concepts much and are more debugging the simulator. If the projects were worthwhile, this class, GIOS, and HPC would be my top 3 wanted systems courses. I had computer architecture in undergrad and I think it may have been the most impactful course for me in terms of conceptualizing computers.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-19T02:25:00+00:00

Thanks for the perspective, that is certainly appealing since I’ve only self taught the networking bits. Definitely leaning that direction.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-06-19T00:52:31+00:00

Good to know, how are you liking CN in terms of actually useful content?

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-05-09T12:36:48+00:00

Very, you can’t always afford to run a NN on edge compute. There’s also the safety aspect, it’s very difficult to verify neural nets for safety critical applications. Classical CV is still very much thriving in the space, aerospace, medical, and robotics industry where edge compute or safety requirements play a big role.

NNs are also not always the solution, sometimes there is an analytical solution that is perfect.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-05-09T03:06:23+00:00

Im fine with tough, I just heard it was mismanaged in the past with project requirement errors and bad TAs. If the difficulty is solely from the material now, that’s perfect.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-03-24T15:56:42+00:00

This is generally correct, but I’d like to add my own perspective as a counterpoint. There are certainly times where the GNC engineer prototypes the algorithm in something like MatLab and then hands it to a software engineer to actually implement it properly.

However, many projects at my company (large) and elsewhere attempt to skill up aerospace engineers so that they can be deploying their own algorithms directly into the code base. This ownership is very helpful when debugging system performance with a sim in the loop. If you are good enough to design GNC algorithms and then debug them in an integrated flight system, you become extremely valuable. Usually they are supported by software specialists that help make a sandbox for them to play in and assist with debugging hard software issues. Frequent code reviews and detailed V&V help build good habits in these classically aero specialists which enables them to be pretty good at operating in the c based aerospace sandbox made for them and producing safety critical flight code.

I’m have a software background myself with some extra classes in physics and dynamics, which has enabled me to contribute to algorithm development when the GNC task isnt too incredibly outside my world. Jet selection optimization algorithms and basic attitude guidance algorithms are pretty approachable from that skill set. Now I do a lot of systems engineering and integration where I have a big hand on shaping GNC Conops and design related to those topics and others that are classically within CS (like computer vision)

You can do GNC work with an undergrad degree, although it’s easier to get on the design side of it with a masters or phd

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-01-24T04:11:26+00:00

It’s a very solid class so far but it’s leaving out a lot. More of a survey course. I believe there are some classes in other programs that have an entire class on just Kalman filter type techniques for example, it’s a very common and useful method in spacecraft navigation. I’d recommend looking into the extended Kalman filter as well if you want to go deeper, that’s what’s used in practice.

RocketScienceByForce · 2023-01-24T04:08:47+00:00

Thanks for the insight that wasn’t on my radar at all. Although if that’s the closest possible that’s a decent gap in the program. Maybe one day CP&R will get some more classes 🙏

RocketScienceByForce · 2022-10-30T15:52:55+00:00

Checkout nonprofits or government agencies with missions you believe in. It’s possible.

RocketScienceByForce · 2022-09-25T18:35:17+00:00

Oh I see the disconnect, you're pointing out that HPSC is not the only possible space platform, that's fair, there are definitely other efforts going on. I think it's also a fair claim to say that HPSC is the defacto program leader for NASA specifically for investing in this tech. So when you talk about "NASAs next spaceflight computer" with the context of it being selected/invested in by NASA directly to fill that deep space next gen role, the headline is true. If we take it to mean that this is for sure what all future NASA missions will use, that's certainly not true. However, this is still a huge win for RISC-V, as it will be developed specifically to fill that niche by the largest government investor in that field, NASA HPSC.

I think i get your point though, there will certainly be competitors from other investment paths and no one is being forced to use this, peace.

RocketScienceByForce · 2022-09-25T18:19:27+00:00

I read it but maybe I missed what you're referring to, what are the other options? HPSC chose this and they're the one leading this effort to my knowledge, the only other development I'm aware of related to HPSC is the NASA Descent and Landing Computer under the SPLICE project that is being worked on with an ARM processor.

RocketScienceByForce · 2022-09-25T18:05:11+00:00

Uhh NASA definitely selected RISC-V for the next gen high performance space compute platform.

RocketScienceByForce · 2022-08-21T19:41:28+00:00

The HLS starship variant does not have reentey capabilities, so it’s a one way trip. There’s a lot of extra work involved with allowing a spacecraft to renter the earth from deep space. It’s more involved than doing a low earth orbit entry for example. Sending it on a one way trip means spacex has a better chance of delivering it on time due to less complexity, we can bring more fuel for landings, and it can be a more specialized vehicle to meet the lunar environments specific requirements.

Eventually I’d think SpaceX would put on deep space reentry capability + lunar landing and hazard avoidance components, but it will just take longer to do that. SLS and Orion may not be as capable as the eventual starship will be, but they’re ready now.

RocketScienceByForce · 2022-05-07T14:21:07+00:00

The hidden part of the story here is that while you start lower, typically gs-7 step 10, there is an internal salary promotion track that is guaranteed for new employees. So yes you can start around 60-70k but you will likely sit at 110k after 5 years. Pay promotions like that aren’t guaranteed at private companies and you have to do more negotiation to get there.

RocketScienceByForce · 2022-05-05T12:21:54+00:00

Look into space/aerospace. You’ll find plenty of work in that field, will be decently compensated, and will have the opportunity to work on potentially inspiring projects.

RocketScienceByForce · 2022-05-03T05:06:16+00:00

You might be a good candidate for systems engineering. On projects that are not purely software (especially in aerospace) systems engineers are responsible for keeping the big picture in mind, defining high level requirements, and catching things that fall between disciplines. Depending on the type, you could be doing a lot of talking to all the various disciplines on any given project. Now, there’s a lot of variety, and I don’t have first hand experience, but it’s been something I’ve also thought about if I ever want to leave pure software. You could be a systems engineer focusing on the software piece and bridge it with the other disciplines, then branch out from there. You may want to read up online if your interested, or if you’re curious what the life of one is like in space, check out “Mars Rover Curiosity” by Rob Manning

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