As Seen from Above: Seeing the Trees, the Forest and Space

Pitt’s SHREC-designed sensor installed on the International Space Station

At left, Pitt’s
SHREC-designed sensor, while still on earth. 

Pitt is home base for some of the most advanced projects in the technology of space travel. In late 2021, the National Science Foundation Center for Space, High-performance, and Resilient Computing (SHREC) within Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering launched the team’s third groundbreaking system of space computers and sensors on a SpaceX rocket. Two weeks later, they were in operation on the International Space Station (ISS).

Part of the system features sensors that can produce unprecedented, detailed views of both Earth and the space around ISS. A telescope camera the size of a toaster can view Earth at the level of individual trees, while another sensor faces the direction ISS is moving. Earlier, the SHREC team created a supercomputer that was flown to ISS; it’s now one of the station’s main tools for space-based experiments on computing, sensing, image processing and machine learning.

Alan George, director and founder of SHREC, says that Pitt researchers understand how to design for the harsh, high-radiation environment of outer space. 

“Most university technologies fail when deployed in space. So far, ours are working exactly as hoped.”

Alan George, director and founder of SHREC