So far so good! My previous blog post explains why I'm at NASA this summer. In short, I'm still 'Team Ocean' (of course!), but the 3D shape modelling techniques developed for my PhD on coral reefs have direct application for NASA's research on near-Earth asteroids (and vise versa). It's been a fantastic collaboration. Here are more details about what we're doing and why. 

NASA's Frontier Development Lab (FDL) is an experimental tool in NASA’s innovation portfolio that emphasizes artificial intelligence, inter-disciplinary approaches, rapid iteration, and teamwork to produce significant breakthroughs useful to the space program.

​This summer, four of us at NASA FDL are creating 3D models of asteroids. Our core team comprises two planetary scientists (Agata Rozek and Sean Marshall), two machine learning engineers (Adam Cobb and me), plus mentors from both disciplines (Chedy Raissi,  Michael Busch,  and Yarin Gal). We’re creating the 3D models from radar data. It's a difficult computational problem, but knowing an asteroid’s 3D shape helps us predict its future trajectory (/whether it will collide with Earth!). 

The formal introduction to our problem reads as follows: 

It took me a bit to understand exactly what our goals and motivations were. The most common questions my friends ask are, “What are you doing?” and “Why?” My short answer: We're generating 3D models of asteroids from radar data so that we can better determine asteroids' physical properties and orbital trajectories. There are over 16,000 known near-Earth objects, and on average 35 new ones each week. It's too much data to keep up with without sophisticated data analysis techniques, so we're  using machine learning to speed up and automate the process of generating 3D models from radar data of asteroids.

I'm also interested in the task of 3D modelling asteroids because the techniques can be applied to 3D modelling coral reefs, the topic of my thesis, as further discussed in my first post about NASA.

This post is modified from the original published on the NASA FDL page (here). All work was developed while at NASA Frontier Development Lab, working with Agata Rozek, Sean Marshall, Adam Cobb, Justin Havlovitz, Chedy Raissi,  Michael Busch,  and Yarin Gal.  

My colleague Adam just posted his perspective on the project. Read his blog post here. 

The video of our final presentation at Intel Headquarters is live! It's on YouTube at this link.

Excited to announce that I’ve been offered a research position this summer at NASA’s Frontier Development Lab in Mountain View, CA. I’ll be working alongside other scientists and engineers for eight weeks in an intensive research accelerator focused on artificial intelligence.

They've asked me to develop a project with cohorts on near-earth object 3D shape modelling and lunar water detection, topics that directly relate to my thesis (minus the "lunar" part and replace "near-earth" with "underwater" of course!). It's a fantastic opportunity to develop skills and learn from NASA in ways that will not only further develop our underwater 3D modelling techniques, but also vise versa; they'll learn from our research techniques. 

Ocean and space are commonly pitted against each other – upward vs downward – astronaut vs aquanaut, etc. ​

It’s not an either-or debate, however. We can explore both.
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I’m looking forward to this summer opportunity at NASA for a number of reasons. I’m eager to learn from NASA methods that will enhance our underwater 3D modeling techniques while sharing what we’ve learned underwater. The experience will also provide another perspective on how public-private partnerships can work effectively to achieve defined research objectives. I believe public-private partnerships like NASA FDL and what I observed at CERN OpenLab, are the key to tackling our most urgent  ocean research objectives---a vision I outlined in my 2015 TIME op-ed. Finally, I’m excited to spend weekends diving, surfing, and reuniting with West Coast friends.

Many astronauts are also aquanauts, but most people don’t realize more people have been to space than have lived underwater! Several acquaintances work in both arenas: Pisces VI submarine owner Scott Waters is also on a space advisory board. FDL founding member, Jordan McRae, invented OctoTalk, a system for divers to transmit voice communications underwater. Jonathan Knowles, who is involved with FDL through Autodesk, also advises The Hydrous, an organization that 3D models corals around the world.
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That said, I’m committed to Team Ocean. I’m personally drawn to water, a connection many humans have (see Wallace Nichols' book Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do.).

Moreover, engineering-wise, while space may seem more exotic, I’d argue the ocean, particularly the deep ocean, is a more challenging work environment considering that E&M waves, upon which wifi, GPS, and many modern innovations are based, do not work, and salt water kills electronics. We’re forced to innovate.

(Thanks Somerville (Oxford) for the article with video!)

Liz and I started our dive. Before every dive we spend about 10 minutes going over a checklist with Otter, who reads the checklist, and Ryan, who helps us put the Kirby Morgan dive helmet on. (My dive helmet post with Lady Gaga is here.) In going over the checklist, we check the functionality of various valves and emergency back-ups on the helmet. Every time everything works, as far as I know. The checklist can seem tedious, but I realize how important it is. I started thinking back to Atul Gawande's book The Checklist Manifesto:  How to Get Things Right. I remember hearing that the medical profession, which suffers from human error, should really use checklists, but doctors just don't. I see why. They're annoying. And everything seems to work. But then again, the checklist seems like the only way to ensure all is as it's suppose to be. Not only do we catch anything not functioning, but routinely checking all the valves, etc. puts our mind at ease. I never have that feeling of, "Am I forgetting something...." I just focus on my dive, and I feel like the master of my equipment. 

This morning of our dive we collected samples in jars from the plankton traps (described in this previous post), and then stored the jars in a mesh bag that Northeastern divers will pick up in the afternoon. We also adjusted a tripod around a giant barrel sponge. The tripod suspends a sensor above the sponge, and the sensors measures the sponge metabolism. 

We returned to Aquarius from our first dive. I ate a late breakfast and change both the the lens and set-up on the Edgertronic camera in case we have extra time to use it on our afternoon dive. 

Space and ocean and space explorers alike remembered Jacques Cousteau, the great explorer, on his birthday this month. See my post Happy Birthday  Jacques Cousteau! for details of the celebration.

To be able to see myself working, on the Mission 31 Live Cam. 

More Grace Under Pressure blog at Aquarius Day 4: Science and Ballet Art Undersea.