When the prototype for NASA's Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA) was first unveiled, headlines across the country made bold comparisons to HAL 9000, the omnipotent mastermind robot in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Yuri Gawdiak, principal investigator for the PSA project, said the first impression is only partially accurate. Sure, the softball-sized PSA will be able to offer crew members advice on intricate systems upgrades, monitor oxygen levels on the craft and even do maintenance, but the PSA isn't exactly on scale to HAL 9000, Gawdiak said.

"HAL 9000 had control of the entire system," he said. "The PSA is more like a droid from Star Wars. They're designed to help the crew with the menial tasks, like monitoring levels of oxygen and air pressure."

Gawdiak hopes the PSA will make future space missions more efficient and more productive for crew members. The little robot will have a camera for videoconferencing, as well as wireless network connections and navigation sensors, allowing it to work autonomously. Though designed mainly to handle many of the mundane housekeeping chores aboard a spacecraft, the floating PSA will also be able to monitor the status of experimental lab animals in holding bays, Gawdiak said. In theory, the 5-inch (12.7-centimeter) sphere could even recite the crew's horoscopes. It will be taught to speak and understand English, at first.

If the PSA's capabilities sound straight out of science fiction, that may be because Gawdiak got inspiration from a famous sci-fi character.

"One of the things that inspired me was the remote [sphere] Obi-Wan Kenobi used in Star Wars to practice on his light saber," he said.

Though the PSA won't be equipped with lasers, it will be equipped with numerous sensors, cameras, microphones, a display panel and six fans for propulsion. In essence, the PSA will give the crew another set of eyes and ears, Gawdiak said.

"It'll make things easier for the crew and for ground control," he said.

"One of the things that inspired me was the remote (sphere) Obi-Wan Kenobi used in 'Star Wars.'"
     

He said a key role for the PSA will be its ability to act as a liaison between the crew and ground controllers. Ground controllers can move the floating ball into a desired location, where on-board sensors can check the status of experiments or communicate with the crew. PSAs will also be able to provide ground control with remote views of mission operations.

The all-in-one space pal has undergone a battery of tests at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, since its unveiling a year ago.

"Right now, we're still testing the feasibility of sending it on a shuttle mission," Gawdiak said. "We're also testing its obstacle avoidance and its voice recognition systems. We're looking at a 2002 shuttle mission for final testing, then on to the International Space Station (ISS)."

The PSA will only be used inside of the shuttle or ISS, Gawdiak said. Weighing only about 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms), it is maneuvered by small fans, which would be ineffective outside the pressurized cabin on a shuttle or station module.

A team at the Johnson Space Center has developed a similar beach-ball-sized unit that can fly outside the craft using jet propulsion.

Of course, Gawdiak isn't the first to envision such a device. Long before Mr. Spock flipped open his tricorder, astronauts have requested similar mobile data recorders to help keep track of activities. The PSA project partially grew out of a 1995 flight experiment that demonstrated wireless computer networks would work in space.

The crew suggested small wireless assistants that could nimbly move around a pressurized chamber looking for leaks or hazardous gases. Recent advances in sensor instrumentation have made this a relatively reasonable request, Gawdiak said.

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He said project team members are still considering types of material to be used as a shell for the PSA. Factors such as weight, strength and impact resistance are a few of the factors involved. The current prototype, which Gawdiak has taken around the world for demonstrations, is mainly a mock-up of the real thing. But the real thing is also being designed with the future in mind, he said.

PSA team members are projecting as far as a decade into the future to make educated guesses about the kinds of advances to be seen in computer, imaging and sensor technologies. Of course, as anyone who passed on Intel stock in the early 1990s can tell you, predicting the future of technology is a risky business.

But Gawdiak said he isn't too concerned. He estimates that up to 95 percent of the hardware needed for the PSA will be available commercially as changes warrant. NASA will have to develop most of the software, which will likely absorb most of the project's $500,000 annual budget, Gawdiak said.

Possible future applications include mission planning, payload support, problem isolation and even problem corrections, which will require certain technological advances.

Gawdiak said change is part of the game, though.

"In the two years since we started [developing PSAs], we've seen a lot of change," he said. "We'll probably see a lot of change in the next two years, too. We'll just have to see what happens."