Our Current Projects
Current STAC Projects
TIME II
Project led by Chelsea Fang
If humanity is to establish a permanent presence throughout the Solar System, we must better understand the effects of microgravity on human health and disease prevention. The second iteration of The Interstellar Microgravity Experiment (TIME II) aims to characterize these effects. The TIME II payload will experience two minutes of microgravity on a suborbital Blue Origin flight, during which it will expose a series of microfluidic E. coli cultures to the antibiotic gentamicin. Through detailed laboratory analysis of the E. coli’s RNA expression, we will determine the impact of microgravity on antibiotic efficacy, thereby gaining valuable insight towards keeping astronauts healthy.
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QubeSat
Project led by Henry Marsom, Chandrark Muddana, and Mackaelan Songco
STAC’s Quantum CubeSat (QubeSat) aims to demonstrate the capabilities of emerging quantum technologies in space operations. The QubeSat will carry as its payload a quantum gyroscope, a novel device developed by UC Berkeley’s Department of Physics, which harnesses nitrogen vacancies in diamond in order to provide attitude control. If successfully demonstrated in low Earth orbit, the gyroscope—which is orders of magnitude smaller and more accurate than traditional mechanical alternatives—has the potential to revolutionize sensor technology for CubeSats, WaferSat constellations, and the other microsatellites of the NewSpace era.
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Lunar Autonomous Rover
Project led by Amol Pant
Machine learning and artificial intelligence have a big role to play in the NewSpace era. The goal of STAC’s AI Rover project is to develop the algorithms and training simulations to teach mining rovers to autonomously navigate the lunar surface. Through the use of machine vision, SLAM, and CNNs, such rovers would be able to operate with minimal human oversight, dramatically increasing the efficiency, scalability, and affordability of in-situ extraterrestrial resource acquisition.
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Space Biopharmaceuticals
Project led by Kelsey Finnigan and Junhyeok Jang
We are bioengineering <i>S. boulardii</i> (probiotic yeast) as a live biotherapeutic to produce essential nutrients and antioxidants, particularly vitamin A, to support astronaut health in low Earth orbit and beyond.
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