(Press-News.org) The Center for Space Exploration Research at the University of California, Davis, has partnered with Proteus Space to launch a US government-sponsored satellite into space with a custom AI-enabled payload in a brand-new, first-ever rapid design-to-deployment small satellite.
The team will launch the satellite and payload in October 2025 from Vanderberg, CA. From the time the project was fully approved, the design and launch will occur within an unprecedented 13 months. (The normal pace for small satellites is often measured in years.)
The UC Davis-designed payload, developed by Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Stephen Robinson’s Human/Robotics/Vehicle Integration and Performance Laboratory, or HRVIP Lab, is a dynamic digital twin that models the current condition and predicts the future condition of the spacecraft’s power system. The novel aspect of this payload is that the system-state model is running in real time onboard the spacecraft, instead of in ground-based mission control.
“The spacecraft itself can let us know how it’s doing, which is all done by humans now,” said Adam Zufall, a graduate student in the HRVIP Lab who is overseeing the UC Davis side of the project.
The satellite, which includes multiple commercial and research payloads, will monitor its own health in space using sensors that assess voltage and measurements of the batteries it is running on. The digital twin software will continually analyze the health and charge capacity of the battery. Using artificial intelligence, the digital twin will be aware of its own state and learn to predict its future state.
“It should get smarter as it goes,” said Robinson, “and be able to predict how it’s going to perform in the near future. Current satellites do not have this capability.”
Besides the team at Proteus, Zufall and Robinson are working with Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Xinfan Lin, whose research specializes in intelligent battery management systems. The team also includes mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. students Jackson Fogelquist and Ayush Patnaik, and Ancha Prashanth, a master’s student in computer science.
The satellite, which is about the size of a half refrigerator, will launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in October. It will settle into low Earth orbit and operate for up to 12 months. After three years, the satellite will naturally fall back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere.
END
UC Davis and Proteus Space to launch first-ever dynamic digital twin into space
2025-06-25
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Olympians' hearts in focus: groundbreaking study reveals elite rowers' surprising AFib risk
2025-06-25
SYDNEY, Australia - A new study involving 121 former elite rowers from Australia has revealed one in five develops atrial fibrillation (AFib).
This common heart rhythm condition can lead to stroke and heart failure in some individuals, but the researchers identified new genetic and clinical tools that enable early preventive strategies.
Researchers also found the retired rowers, who include former Olympians, are almost seven times more likely to develop AFib than the general population – despite having far fewer AFib risk factors like high ...
Common medicine for autoimmune diseases works on giant cell arteritis
2025-06-25
A common medication already used for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis is effective for patients with giant cell arteritis, according to findings from a team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Causing the body’s immune system to attack blood vessels in the head, neck, and other areas, giant cell arteritis often leads to headaches, vision loss, and even aortic aneurysms. But nearly half of patients taking upadacitinib in a new Phase 3 clinical trial achieved sustained remission— while reducing their dependence on glucocorticoids (typically called “steroids”), ...
Your neighborhood may be tied to risk of inflammation, dementia biomarkers
2025-06-25
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2025
MINNEAPOLIS — People living in more disadvantaged neighborhoods may be more likely to have biomarkers for inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published June 25, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study does not prove that neighborhood factors cause these biomarkers: it only shows an association.
“Studies have shown that living in less advantaged neighborhoods may increase your risk for Alzheimer’s ...
AAN issues position statement on possible therapies for neurological conditions
2025-06-25
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2025
MINNEAPOLIS — The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has issued a position statement on therapies for neurological conditions that have limited evidence or no approved use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The statement is published June 25, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The statement includes guiding principles for discussions with patients and policymakers about these therapies. Although the statement includes illustrative examples, it does not provide clinical recommendations ...
Liver organoid breakthrough: Generating organ-specific blood vessels
2025-06-25
CINCINNATI – Scientists from Cincinnati Children’s and colleagues based in Japan report achieving a major step forward in organoid technology--producing liver tissue that grows its own internal blood vessels.
This significant advance could lead to new ways to help people living with hemophilia and other coagulation disorders while also taking another step closer to producing transplantable repair tissues for people with damaged livers.
The study, led by Takanori Takebe, MD, PhD, director ...
LRA awards 2025 Lupus Insight Prize to Dr. Deepak Rao for uncovering key drivers of immune imbalance in lupus
2025-06-25
BOSTON, MA – June 25, 2025 – The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) proudly awarded the 2025 Lupus Insight Prize today to highly respected immunologist Deepak Rao, MD, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The Prize recognizes Dr. Rao’s pioneering and widely reported findings published in Nature, which reveal a previously unknown imbalance in key immune cells that contribute to lupus. The study sheds light on how this imbalance arises and identifies a potential target for restoring immune system regulation in people with the disease.
Dr. Rao was honored today at the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) 2025 meeting in ...
Terasaki Institute’s Dr. Yangzhi Zhu recognized as 2024 Biosensors Young Investigator Award Recipient
2025-06-25
Los Angeles, CA – June 25, 2025 - The Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) is proud to announce that Dr. Yangzhi Zhu, Assistant Professor at TIBI, has been honored with the 2024 Biosensors Young Investigator Award.
This prestigious award recognizes early-career researchers who have made outstanding contributions to the field of biosensors. All nominations were evaluated by a distinguished committee led by the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Giovanna Marrazza.
Dr. Zhu’s research focuses on the development of flexible biosensors and wearable bioelectronics for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. His lab leads interdisciplinary efforts ...
NAU researchers launch open-source robotic exoskeleton to help people walk
2025-06-25
Imagine a future in which people with disabilities can walk on their own, thanks to robotic legs. A new project from Northern Arizona University is accelerating that future with an open-source robotic exoskeleton.
Right now, developing these complex electromechanical systems is expensive and time-consuming, which likely stops a lot of research before it ever starts. But that may soon change: Years of research from NAU associate professor Zach Lerner’s Biomechatronics Lab has led to the first comprehensive open-source exoskeleton framework, made freely available to anyone worldwide. It will help overcome several huge obstacles for potential ...
Early farmers in the Andes were doing just fine, challenging popular theory
2025-06-25
In the Andes, the rise of agriculture to replace foraging was not the result of hardship and resource scarcity, but instead a time of economic resilience and innovation, according to a study published June 25, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Luis Flores-Blanco of the University of California Davis and Arizona State University, U.S., and colleagues.
The transition from foraging to farming was a major shift in human history that laid the foundations for the expansion of modern civilization. The current prevailing ...
Seeing men as the “default” may be tied to attitudes to politicians, Black people
2025-06-25
In an international study, participants’ attitudes towards certain social groups—namely, politicians and Black people—were more strongly related to their attitudes towards the men than the women of each group, suggesting that men are the “default” for attitudes towards these groups. Curtis Edward Phills of the University of Oregon, U.S., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on June 25, 2025.
Prior research has shown how people often discuss some social groups as though they are primarily made up ...