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Design of a Carbon Dioxide Removal System for SAM, a Space Analog for Moon and Mars, July 13-17, 2025
by James C. Knox, Kai Staats, Sean Gellenbeck, Griffin Hentzen; ICES 2025, Prague, Czechia
“This paper describes the design of a regenerable carbon dioxide removal system for SAM. SAM currently depends on the introduction of outside air for carbon dioxide control, so this enhancement will more fully close the air utilization loop. The SAM team will be constructing a new room and then fabricating a fully functional swing-bed CO2 scrubber based on the mathematical model described in this paper. As part of the design process, crew metabolic loading and location were considered to determine the optimal system location, required process air flow rate, and system efficiency.” Read the full paper …
SIMOC Live: A Scalable, Open-source, Mesh Network Based Platform for ECLSS Monitoring, July 13-17, 2025
by Franco Carbognani, Ezio Melotti, Kai Staats; ICES 2025, Prague, Czechia
“SIMOC Live employs a resilient wireless mesh network (WMN) architecture, integrating low-cost, off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and modular sensor configurations, including CO₂, relative humidity, temperature, pressure, VOC and light sensors. Each mesh node, built upon a Raspberry Pi Zero computer and Adafruit sensor modules, captures and transmits data to a central server via MQTT protocol, allowing efficient, low-latency data flow. This setup ensures uninterrupted data collection by dynamically rerouting traffic around any failed nodes, providing robust, fault-tolerant communication within an isolated environment … The SIMOC Live platform will be deployed at participating World’s Biggest Analog (WBA) habitat sites in October 2025 to establish a unified monitoring network that supports real-time, cross-site comparisons of habitat air quality … this paper presents SIMOC Live’s architecture, implementation across analog habitats, and preliminary results from SAM, along with updates from ongoing WBA deployments, illustrating its potential to enhance autonomous habitat management for planetary exploration.” Read the full paper …
A Pressurized Emergency Shelter for Planetary Surface Operations, July 13-17, 2025
by Cameron M. Smith, Kai Staats, Trent Tresch, Kai Nevers; ICES 2025, Prague, Czechia
“With near-future plans for lunar and Mars surface exploration there is a rapidly expanding effort to design and develop the many tools, technologies, and systems required for long-term stays far away from our home. While automated systems piloted by sophisticated algorithms are already replacing the traditional pilot and human hand, exploration by foot is a fundamental function of the human motivation to visit and eventually live on other worlds in our solar system. On the surfaces of the Moon and Mars rovers will carry human explorers to craters and hills beyond the reach of a pedestrian EVA, demanding that the exploration team be prepared for catastrophic failure of one or more systems. We describe the philosophy, design, fabrication and initial testing of a planetary pressurized rescue tent (PPRT) that will be demonstrated in a 24-hour test at the Space Analog for the Moon and Mars (SAM), a hi-fidelity, hermetically sealed habitat analog and research facility located at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2.” Read the full paper …
Scalable, Interactive Model of an Off-World Community (SIMOC), December 23, 2024
by Meridith Greythorne and Kai Staats for the National Science Teachers Association
“For the past three years, SIMOC has enjoyed expanding engagement in virtual and physical classrooms, available for free via the National Geographic Education resource library or local installation. Using a Next Generation Science Standards-aligned curriculum, educators have explored creative applications of SIMOC, from single class time simulations to Mars habitats built from cardboard boxes with live carbon dioxide sensors; from essays on the challenges of human space exploration to full semester design and fabrication of habitats complete with student-built mock-ups in miniature.” This article is published in the renowned National Science Teachers Association publication through Connected Science Learning by Taylor & Francis. Read the full article …
A Reduced Gravity Simulator at the Space Analog for the Moon & Mars (SAM) Terrestrial Habitat Analog, Biosphere 2, October 2024
by Kai Staats, Trent Tresch, Bindhu Oommen, Matthias Beach, and Luna Powell; IAC 2024, Milan, Italy
“The use of terrestrial analogs has for seven decades enabled astronauts to train in a safe arena, to gain skills and experience necessary for human exploration of space … At the University of Arizona Biosphere 2, a team has for three years designed and fabricated a hermetically sealed, pressurized Space Analog for the Moon and Mars (SAM) habitat. Adjacent to the SAM pressure vessel and airlock is a 240 square meter Mars yard and terrain park. This sculpted, synthetic Mars crater includes a reduced gravity simulator (RGS) and various gravity-offload rigs … This paper reviews the use of reduced gravity simulators by NASA and introduces the use of pressure garments (space suits), a fully functioning airlock, and the use of the reduced gravity simulator at SAM as a means to fully immerse visiting crew in the context of their mission. Presented will be an early study of the changing gate of both the unencumbered and pressure suit encumbered human at various degrees of gravity-offload and how this motion challenges exploration of another world, on-foot …” Access the paper …
Space Analog for the Moon and Mars (SAM), a hermetically-sealed and pressurized terrestrial analog station and research facility: from inception to crewed analog missions and beyond, October 2024
by Bindhu Oommen, Kai Staats, Trent Tresch, Matthias Beach, and Luna Powell; IAC 2024, Milan, Italy
“We introduce and describe the recently developed Space Analog for the Moon and Mars (SAM) at the University of Arizona Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona, USA. SAM is a hi-fidelity, hermetically-sealed and pressurized research facility designed and built around the 1987 Biosphere 2 Test Module greenhouse and its accompanying variable volume pressure regulation chamber (“lung”). SAM’s expanded habitat includes 1) an engineering and medical bay, 2) crew quarters complete with bathroom and kitchen, 3) a functional airlock, and 4) a separate, on-site Mission Control Center … A 250 sq-meter, sculpted indoor Mars yard and terrain park includes a 15 meter long reduced-gravity simulator … hydroponics bioregenerative life support and food production system … We expound the facility’s experiences and research to date [and] demonstrate that SAM has the potential to contribute significant research toward human space exploration and habitation of other planetary bodies.” Access the paper …
Model and Design of a Fully Integrated Bioregenerative Life Support System using an Agent-based Model of a Physico-chemical and Bioregenerative ECLSS, July 2024
by Sean Gellenbeck with Joel Cuello, Barry Pryor, Chuck Gerba, and Kai Staats; ICES 2024, Louisville, Kentucky
“This [is] the third part of this research project following that discussed in ICES-2023-274. This is the complete modeling and design of a FI-BLSS. Initial experiments were conducted to inform and validate a tool called Scalable, Interactive Model of an Off-world Community (SIMOC) designed to use agent-based modeling to analyze habitat life support systems. Following these experiments, a full system design was developed using SIMOC.” Read the full paper …
Ecosystem Modeling and Validation using Empirical Data from NASA CELSS and Biosphere 2, July 16-20, 2023
by Grant Hawkins with Ezio Melotti, Kai Staats, Atila Meszaros, and Gene Giacomelli; ICES 2023, Calgary, Canada
“In this study, we extend the Scalable, Interactive Model of an Off-world Community (SIMOC) with a highly generic plant growth model that incorporates 22 different plant species and validate it against two high-profile and dissimilar experiments: NASA’s Controlled Ecological Life Support System and the Biosphere 2 Intensive Agricultural Biome.” Read the full paper …
Integrating Real-Time Environmental Data into an Educational Web Interface, July 16-20, 2023
by Meridith Greythorne with Gregory Ross, Ian Castellanos, Grant Hawkins, Ezio Melotti, Ryan Meneses, Kai Staats, and Gretchen Hollingsworth; ICES 2023, Calgary, Canada
“The integration of real-world data into SIMOC offers new and exciting opportunities for students to connect with concepts of interplanetary travel and habitats. This paper details the components integrated into SIMOC such that current and future classrooms may perform hands-on experimentation through use of in-classroom sensor arrays, and describes in-depth a classroom experience implementing this system with local sensors.” Read the full paper …
Integration and Validation of Mushroom and Algae into an Agent-based Model of a Physico-chemical and Bioregenerative ECLSS, July 16-20, 2023
by Sean Gellenbeck with Joel Cuello, Barry Pryor, Chuck Gerba, and Kai Staats; ICES 2023, Calgary, Canada
“The project sought to integrate mushroom and aquaculture subsystems to provide additional sources of edible biomass (especially proteins) with focus placed on maximizing the remediation and recycling of inedible biomass … Mushrooms and algae were modeled and validated through a series of experiments. These experiments examined the two cultures individually to inform SIMOC which was then used to design a combined system to provide validation.” Read the full paper …
Integrating Mushrooms into an Agent-based Model of a Physico-chemical and Bioregenerative ECLSS, July 10-14, 2022
by Sean Gellenbeck, Joel Cuello, Kai Staats, Ezio Melotti, and Grant Hawkins; ICES 2022, St. Paul, Minnesota
“To design a stable and integrated bioregenerative life support system for long-duration, off-world missions, several biological subsystems will need to be included in the initial trade study and modeling effort. One such proposed subsystem is mushrooms.” Read the full paper …
Responses to Elevated CO2 on Food Production and Life Support Systems in a Mars Habitat, July 10-14, 2022
by Grant Hawkins, Ezio Melotti, and Kai Staats; ICES 2022, St. Paul, Minnesota
“A species-specific model of responses to ambient CO2 on plant CO2 absorption, transpiration and biomass production is integrated into SIMOC [ICES 2019, 2021], an agent-based model for high-fidelity ECLSS and bioregenerative simulations.” Read the full paper …
Using Evolutionary Algorithms to Design Antennas with Greater Sensitivity to Ultra High Energy Neutrinos, December 6, 2021
J. Rolla, A. Machtay, A. Patton, W. Banzhaf, A. Connolly, R. Debolt, L. Deer, E. Fahimi, E. Ferstle, P. Kuzma, C. Pfendner, B. Sipe, K. Staats, S.A. Wissel; Arxiv
“The Genetically Evolved NEutrino Telescopes for Improved Sensitivity, or GENETIS, project seeks to optimize detectors in physics for science outcomes in high dimensional parameter spaces. In this project, we designed an antenna using a genetic algorithm with a science outcome directly as the sole figure of merit. This paper presents initial results on the improvement of an antenna design for in ice neutrino detectors using the current Askaryan Radio Array, or ARA, experiment as a baseline.” Read the full paper …
SIMOC — A hi-fidelity simulation of off-world, human habitation and bioregenerative life support … for citizen scientists and virtual classrooms, July 12-14, 2021
by Kai Staats, Tyson Brown, Ezio Melotti, Pete Barnes, Gretchen Hollingsworth, Michael Pope; ICES 2021 (virtual event)
“As published and presented at ICES 2021, the Scalable, Interactive Model of an Off-World Community (SIMOC) is a research-grade agent-based model, platform for education, and NGSS aligned curricula. As of June 2020 National Geographic is hosting SIMOC at the NGS Education Resource Library, a web-based repository of more than 4000 curricular assets for K-12+. This publication presents the results of a world-wide engagement of SIMOC, with specific examples of how SIMOC was integrated into virtual classrooms during the COVID pandemic for an iterative exploration of the scientific method.” Read the full paper …
Scaled Automated Pressure Regulation System for Analog Moon and Mars Habitat, July 12-14, 2021
by Meghan Marlowe, Ahmed Alraeesi, Gustavo Velez, James Marlar, Arfan Wibisono, Coby Scheidemantel, Kai Staats, John Adams; ICES 2021 (virtual event)
“As humans look to travel off-world, sealed habitats will be essential for life support in long-duration missions. The Space Analog for the Moon and Mars (SAM) at Biosphere 2 is a habitat analog that melds mechanical and bioregenerative life support systems. A team of six engineering students at the University of Arizona worked with the executive team at SAM and Biosphere 2 to design and prototype the Automated Pressure Regulation System (APRS) for the SAM crew quarters. The system will maintain a positive pressure in relation to the outside environment, preventing potential biocontaminants from entering. This paper discusses the overall mechanical system, software design, and test validation procedures proposed for the APRS.” Read the full paper …
Evolving Antennas for Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Detection , May 15, 2020
Julie Rolla, Amy Connolly, Kai Staats, Stephanie Wissel, Dean Arakaki, Ian Best, Adam Blenk, Brian Clark, Maximillian Clowdus, Suren Gourapura, Corey Harris, Hannah Hasan, Luke Letwin, David Liu, Carl Pfendner, Jordan Potter, Cade Sbrocco, Tom Sinha, Jacob Trevithick; Arxiv
“Evolutionary algorithms borrow from biology the concepts of mutation and selection in order to evolve optimized solutions to known problems. The GENETIS collaboration is developing genetic algorithms for designing antennas that are more sensitive to ultra-high energy neutrino induced radio pulses than current designs. There are three aspects of this investigation: to evolve simple wire antennas to test the concept and different algorithms, optimized antenna response patterns are evolved for a given array geometry, and antennas themselves are evolved using neutrino sensitivity as a measure of fitness. This is achieved by integrating the XFdtd finite-difference time-domain modeling program with simulations of neutrino experiments.” Available at the Read the full paper … (Arxiv)
Enhancing Gravitational-Wave Science with Machine Learning, May 7, 2020
by Elena Cuoco, Jade Powell, Marco Cavaglià, … Kai Staats, et al; Arxiv
“Machine learning has emerged as a popular and powerful approach for solving problems in astrophysics. We review applications of machine learning techniques for the analysis of ground-based gravitational-wave detector data. Examples include techniques for improving the sensitivity of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave searches, methods for fast measurements of the astrophysical parameters of gravitational-wave sources, and algorithms for reduction and characterization of non-astrophysical detector noise. These applications demonstrate how machine learning techniques may be harnessed to enhance the science that is possible with current and future gravitational-wave detectors.” Available at the Read the full paper …
World Ships: Feasibility and Rationale, April 11, 2020
by A.M. Hein, C. Smith, F. Marin, and K. Staats; Acta Futura 12, pp. 75-104
“World ships are hypothetical, large, self-contained spacecraft for crewed interstellar travel, taking centuries to reach other stars. Due to their crewed nature, size and long trip times, the feasibility of world ships faces an additional set of challenges compared to interstellar probes. In part, we explore the application of SIMOC to world ship design.” Read the full paper …
Improving the background of gravitational-wave searches for core collapse supernovae: a machine learning approach, February 4, 2020, Machine Learning: Science and Technology
by Marco Cavaglia, Sergio Gaudio, Travis Hansen, Kai Staats, Marek Szczepanczyk, Michele Zanolin; Machine Learning: Science and Technology, Mach. Learn.: Sci. Technol.1 015005
“We present a novel machine learning method to perform single-interferometer supernova searches based on the standard LIGO-Virgo coherent WaveBurst pipeline. We show that the method may be used to discriminate Galactic gravitational-wave supernova signals from noise transients, decrease the false alarm rate of the search, and improve the supernova detection reach of the detectors.” Read the full paper … (Arxiv)
An agent-based model for high-fidelity ECLSS and bioregenerative simulation, July 2019
by Kai Staats, Iurii Milovanov, John Adams, Gregory Schoberth, Thomas Curry, Katherine Morgan, Jason Deleeuw, Gene Giacomelli; ICES 2019
“SIMOC was configured to approximate the non-linear functions of CO2 and biomass production in a real-world plant growth study conducted at the Biosphere 2. This publication sees the results of the first application of this novel approach to modeling a real-world plant study, where data generated by the SIMOC model is compared to data collected for the duration of the experiment, and then compared.” Read the full paper …
Finding the origin of noise transients in LIGO data with machine learning, December 2018
by Marco Cavaglia, Kai Staats, Teerth Gill; Communications in Computational Physics, v25, pp. 963-987
“We present two machine learning methods, based on random forest and genetic programming algorithms, that can be used to determine the origin of non-astrophysical transients in the LIGO detectors. While the data sets described in this paper are specific to LIGO, … the code bases and means by which they were applied … are completely portable to any number of instruments in which noise is believed to be generated through mechanical couplings.” Read the full paper … (Arxiv)
TensorFlow Enabled Genetic Programming, July 2017
by Kai Staats, Edward Pantridge, Marco Cavaglia, Iurii Milovanov, Arun Aniyan; Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) Companion, ACM 2017, pp. 1872-1879
“Genetic Programming, a kind of evolutionary computation and machine learning algorithm, is shown to benefit significantly from the application of vectorized data and the TensorFlow numerical computation library on both CPU and GPU architectures. This paper employs Karoo GP in a comparative study of varying datasets across multiple CPU and GPU configurations.” Read the full paper … (Arxiv)
Genetic Programming Applied to RFI Mitigation in Radio Astronomy, December 2016
by Kai Staats, with supervisor Bruce Bassett and co-supervisor Arun Aniyan; University of Capetown, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, 2016
“The MSc thesis for Kai Staats, University of Cape Town, South Africa. At the time of this research, the application of machine learning to radio astronomy was relatively new. Genetic Programming had never been applied, and as such, was a novel approach to this challenging arena. Foundational to this body of research, the application Karoo GP was developed and tasked with the classification of signal verus radio frequency interference (RFI). The training data was derived from the output of an observation run of the KAT-7 radio telescope array, South African Square Kilometre Array (SKA-SA).” Read the full thesis …
Genetically optimizing weather predictions, July 15, 2016
by S. B. Potter, Kai Staats, Encarni Romero-Colmenero; International Society of Optics and Photonics (SPIE)
“Genetically optimized weather predictions built upon the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) weather monitoring database. This remarkably simple approach developed principally by head astronomer Stephen Potter derives a functional weather predictor in order to prepare dome environment conditions for night time operations or plan, prioritize and update weather dependent observing queues.” Read the full paper …
Mobile Robotic Platform Deployment as Part of a Martian Mission Simulation, June 17-19, 2014
by E.Reid, P.Iles, N.Cristello, M.Labrie, M.Musilova, K.Staats; International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (i-SAIRAS)
“In January of 2014 a seven-person crew of analogue astronauts (Crew134) conducted a two week, high-fidelity Mars mission simulation at the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the high altitude Utah desert. Part of the mission simulation included testing of a mobile robotic platform and a stereo camera system (SCS). This paper summarizes the results of this testing and provides lessons learned and recommendations for future analogue deployments and flight systems design.” Read the full paper …