Space ROS Project Committee Meeting 2023-07-12

Space ROS
1

The following are the notes from the Space ROS Pojrect committee Meeting. Notes were taken by Sean Kolk, with contributions from those in attendence.

  • Attendees
    • Dave Coleman, PickNik Robotics
    • Sean Kolk, PickNik Robotics
    • Brian Kempa, NASA Ames
    • Evan Laske, NASA JSC
    • Stephen Hart, TRACLabs
    • Austin Probe, Emergent Space Technologies
    • Eddie Tunstel, Motiv Space Systems
    • Matt Hansen, ROS 2 community contributor
    • Ivan Perez, KBR / NASA Ames Research Center
    • Scott Mende, Maxar Space Robotics
    • Ian Ferguson, Lockheed Martin
  • Preliminaries
    • [Dave] Need a note taker to post this on Discourse
  • Old business
    • [Sean] Reminder of 2023 SMC-IT/SCC Workshop on Space Robotics Software next week
      • https://smcit-scc.space will be July 18th, 19th and 20th
      • The Space Robotics Workshop will be July 19th
      • The Open Source for Space workshop will be July 20th
    • [Matt] Update on the Space ROS Github repo, contributors, and activity
      • Technical contributors are collaborating in a PickNik-sponsored shared Slack channel & on GitHub
      • We are working with Ivan Perez on aligning Space ROS development on GitHub with NPR 7150 requirements.
      • We are expecting to start having regular, frequent technical meetings (biweekly?) soon
        • The group is still working on release schedules
    • [Ivan] Update on NPR 7150 requirements
      • GitHub - nasa/ogma
      • They are updating the current space ROS Image
      • Which will always build on top of Space ROS
      • The goal of this is to make NASA reqs syce more seamlessly
      • Part of the documentation process requires all changes to link to an issue (for any commit)
        • This allows auditors to trace back ‘why’ any change has been made.
      • There are still questions about how this will sync with core ROS.
      • Tool support & documentation under development, and a paper should be available in 1 month.
    • [Michael J] Updates on the website and docs
  • New business
    • Possible Topics:
      • State of the Union of the codebase / prior work done
        • Brian: There’s a request for an FAQ for technical decisions
          • Look for anything with the question of ‘what was michael J’s thoughts on this’
          • Take this topic to the new Space ROS technical working group
      • Developing and sharing high level requirements
        • Use Austin’s team’s prior work and update the reqs?
        • There was no requirements document previously
        • Definition of requirements: you have a particular use case in mind and it has requirements that then drives technical work
        • Another definition: requirements for ppl to get involved in Space ROS
        • Another definition: NASA’s flight software requirements
        • Request: A Space ROS glossary (Brian
        • Use box.com account to share powerpoint deck with Space ROS folks (Ivan will create the Box account)
      • Developing a long term (public) road map
        • Explain how Blue Origin is no long the driver of Space ROS
        • Lower level technical road map also needs to be developed (this is the application focused thrusts)
        • Matt: (how do we get Space ROS on space applications) Can we set a goal to have a simple Space ROS POC doing something (robot arm, astrobee, ground robot) in a mission by end of 2024? Then we target missions with a POC and solicit funding, etc.
      • Mission statement:
        • Ivan: To streamline the process of getting ROS into space missions…
        • To streamline the process of qualifying and leveraging ROS for space missions.
        • Decrease the time and effort it takes to build and deploy robotics applications in space through open source standards.
        • Austin: focus on accelerating capabilities (do not focus on ROS)
        • Provide safe access to existing robotics ecosystems and communities
        • Accelerating robotics capabilities in space through the qualification of existing open source ecosystems
        • Objectives:
          • Accelerating
          • Reduce time for Qualification
          • Reusability
          • Modularity
          • what does ROS not provide, but is not a individual project req
          • Don’t duplicate V&V and tooling
          • Platform
          • Non-mission specific
        • Draft: Accelerate robotics capabilities in space by creating tools for qualification (validation?) of open source ecosystems. Decrease the time and effort to develop robotics applications through reuse and modularity.
        • Problem Statement? Every mission has unique requirements, and every qualification process is bespoke to those missions. This yields less re-use of existing software / capabilities. Can we make this process less bespoke, and leverage others’ experience.
      • Long term File Sharing
        • Nasa will have trouble storing any files to the public
        • A separate group (OSRF?)
        • Ivan is coordinating
          • Has made a Box
      • A NewACO/Space Act Agreement that is NASA + OSRF + Partners, to formalize or to create an umbrella organization.
        • Blue Origin had the original ACO - it was not written in a way that would be an open source project
        • A new version could be made that would focus on the open source aspect
        • Evan: This group could/should look at setting up an ACO with STMD
          • Background: ACO’s are a way for NASA to work publicly with companies, but wouldn’t necessarily be funding in itself
      • Ref: “Long Term” - Always keep a “prospective mission” as part of this to help move the things forward (list of Candidate missions and plans for engagement)
      • Clarify difference between Space ROS and ROS 2. Still seems to be unclear to some folks. Perhaps can cover this as part of State of the Union.
  • Topics for next meeting:
    • Review software requirements document starting with Austin’s version