Artemis II mission used software created at University of Alabama — Dr. Rohan Sood (University of Alabama)

Our state’s connection to the Artemis II project is well documented, making it clear how many people had to play their parts for the launch to be a success.

The University of Alabama was closely connected through a program called “ASSET.” The open-source software toolkit was developed at the university and was used for both Artemis I and Artemis II.

Keep reading to learn more about the program + those who worked on it at UA.

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Astrodynamics Software and Science Enabling Toolkit

Developed in Dr. Rohan Sood’s lab, the Astrodynamics Software and Science Enabling Toolkit (ASSET) is software used to help researchers calculate and design trajectories to destinations in space. This can take the form of evaluating safe trajectories, as with the Artemis I and II missions, or exploring new destinations, as with the Solar Cruiser and SWIFT missions.

ASSET was also used to analyze the trajectory of Artemis I’s Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS, which helped boost the Orion spacecraft towards the Moon.

“When they detach the ICPS, engineers need to know whether it may come back to Earth or can be safely disposed of in space. These are critical answers we need to know before launch, because we don’t want it to crash back or create a hazard for our satellites in Earth orbit, and we also don’t want it to contaminate the moon… Re-entry is challenging. It has to happen at the right time, with the right orientation, at the right angle. Everything has to be correct.”
Dr. Rohan Sood

If they are paying for a license to someone else’s tool, that is another barrier to sharing information. The issue can cause delays or potentially even mistakes.

To bridge the gap, the call for proposals specified that the tool selected for funding must remain open source. This means the software tool is freely available and users are in constant communication with the tool’s developers in Sood’s lab.