About CASPR

Configurable and Autonomous Sensor Processing Research (CASPR) is designed to enable effective onboard processing for next-generation sensors and applications. CASPR is a Department of Defense payload on the Space Test Program - Houston 7 (STP-H7) pallet aboard the International Space Station. It was developed, designed, and built by the students and faculty of the NSF Center for Space, High-performance, and Resilient Computing at the University of Pittsburgh. Explore below to learn more about this exciting research testbed.

Command Logs

Explore the latest from the students commanding CASPR.

[2024-11-14]:

Successfully decompressed, split, and recompressed New Guinea burst onboard and began downlink!

[2024-11-08]:

Completed, recombined, and decompressed Palermo burst on the ground! Cleared space on GPU system for further experiments, including CNNJPEG!

[2024-11-07]:

Demonstrated CASPR operations to visitor from Lockheed Martin! A few manual transfers of Palermo burst segments.

Featured Technologies

Click to explore some of the exciting technologies on STP-H7-CASPR.

CSP

Hybrid Space Computer

SSP

Next-Gen Hybrid Space Computer

Satlantis iSIM-90

High-Resolution, Binocular Optics

Prophesee Sysley Neuromorphic Sensor

Novel Event-Based Vision Sensor

Timeline

From design to online

  • August 2018

    Original Design

    Proposed the original design of CASPR

  • October 2019

    Preliminary Design Review

    Showcased mission goals and development progress

  • April 2020

    Critical Design Review

    Finished up the design

  • November 2020

    Field Configuration Audit

    Ensured system meets all specifications

  • February 2021

    Flight Unit Assembly

    Prepared the flight unit at our Pitt lab

  • Early March 2021

    Environmental Testing

    Performed thermal and vibration testing

  • Late March 2021

    On-Dock Integration

    Delivered CASPR to NASA Johnson Space Center

  • September 2021

    Software Upload

    Updated the software with new apps

  • December 2021

    CASPR Liftoff!

    Launched aboard SpaceX CRS-24

  • January 2022

    Installation on ISS

    Installed as part of the STP-H7 pallet on the outside of the Columbus module

  • January 2022

    Initial Commanding of CASPR

    Sent the first commands from our lab at Pitt

  • CASPR
    operations
    underway!

Main Partners

NSF-SHREC and STP-H7-CASPR are funded by industry and agency members and by the IUCRC Program of the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CNS-1738783. We would like to specifically thank the following companies and agencies for their support:

The Air Force Research Laboratory is the Department of Defense sponsor for this project.

The Department-of-Defense’s Space Test Program oversees the STP-H7 pallet which hosts CASPR.

Satlantis designed, built, and donated the binocular iSIM-90 optics on CASPR.

The Naval Research Laboratory provided access to their environmental testing equipment and donated components.

The NASA Goddard branch helped with designing the electronics.

Texas Instruments donated power components used on CASPR.

Publications

Click to see publications about STP-H7-CASPR.

CASPR: Autonomous Sensor Processing Experiment for STP-H7

SmallSat Conference 2020

STP-H7-CASPR: A Transition from Mission Concept to Launch

SmallSat Conference 2021

Automated Mapping for Comparison of Satellite Imagery

Space Imaging Workshop 2022

Seminal works which influenced STP-H7-CASPR.

CSP: A Multifaceted Hybrid Architecture for Space Computing

SmallSat Conference 2014

CSP Hybrid Space Computing for STP-H5/ISEM on ISS

SmallSat Conference 2015

CSP Hybrid Space Computing

Journal of Aerospace Information Systems

SSIVP: Spacecraft Supercomputing Experiment for STP-H6

SmallSat Conference 2017

Adapting on Orbit: Conclusions of STP-H6-SSIVP

SmallSat Conference 2022