Category: News

Watch the video here.

Abstract: Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are an important facet of global connectivity providing high speed Internet, cellular, IoT connectivity and so on. Combined with the rich resource availability on each satellite, LEO satellites represent a new, emerging cloud frontier – the LEO Compute Cloud. However, satellite mobility introduces non-trivial challenges when orchestrating applications for a LEO compute cloud, making it harder to deploy applications without increasing the latency and bandwidth costs. In this paper, we identify the concrete challenges in using state-of-the-art terrestrial orchestrators for a LEO compute cloud. We present Krios – a LEO compute cloud orchestration system that hides the complexities introduced by satellite mobility and enables a practical LEO compute cloud. The design of Krios is centered around a novel LEO zones abstraction that allows application providers to specify where their applications should be available. Krios provides crucial system support to enable the LEO zones abstraction, ensuring uninterrupted availability of applications in LEO zones via proactive and predictive application handovers. Our experimental evaluation of Krios with representative applications demonstrates a practical and efficient LEO compute cloud, without requiring any disruptive changes in applications and with modest system overheads. With Krios, LEO orchestration requires just ~1 application instance at a time to maintain the same availability as what prior work achieves by deploying application instances on all satellites or by performing 6-10 times more frequent expensive handovers.

See the published article here.

Jud Ready always wanted to be an astronaut.

“From first grade forward, that’s what I planned to do,” said Ready, principal research engineer at the Georgia Tech Research Institute and adjunct professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering. “While studying engineering in college, I realized I didn’t want to build the spaceship. I wanted to work inside the spaceship.”

Glenn Lightsey, interim director of Georgia Tech’s Space Research Initiative, had similar aspirations. Both men tried to follow their dreams to the stars. But life presented them with alternative plans.

Read the full story here.

The comet made a close approach to Earth around Halloween, offering a rare and spectacular celestial event.

Read the article by Dr. James Wray, Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology here.

Watch the video here!

Lisa Yaszek, Regents’ Professor of Science Fiction Studies, shares her insights on Georgia Tech’s recent event, Spacefunk! A Science Fiction Reading Meet ‘N’ Greet.

https://research.gatech.edu/spacefunk-building-futures-full-color-georgia-tech-across-atlanta-and-around-world

Thomas G. Roberts, a postdoctoral fellow in International Affairs at Georgia Tech explained it to The Conversation. 

https://theconversation.com/both-harris-and-trump-have-records-on-space-policy-an-international-affairs-expert-examines-where-they-differ-when-it-comes-to-the-final-frontier-238289

Minor in Quantum Sciences and Technology (Available Now!)

In response to the explosion of research, development, investment, and employment opportunities in quantum information science taking place across academia, national labs, and private industry, the Georgia Tech School of Physics is now offering a new undergraduate Minor in Quantum Sciences and Technology.

Major in Astrophysics (Coming Summer 2025!)

The Bachelor of Science in Astrophysics degree provides comprehensive and rigorous training in the fundamental physical processes and laws that govern planetary systems, stars, galaxies and the Universe as a whole. In addition to these core topics, the degree includes training in computational techniques and data analysis that can be applied to a variety of disciplines.

To learn more about the new major and minor, and to see the required coursework, view the full story here.

The conflict in Ukraine is showing the world a lot about the future of warfare, and it’s not all satellites and AI, conflict scholar Tim Sweijs told students and faculty during a recent Georgia Tech visit. 

“The war in Ukraine has punctured the visions that portray future wars as being hybrid, liminal, or gray-zoned,” Sweijs said, referring to conflicts that fall in between peace and warfare. “We’re seeing over the past 30 months is a war of attrition with large armies stretched out over hundreds and hundreds of kilometers of battlefront.” 

Sweijs is director of research at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies and a senior research fellow at the Netherlands Defence Academy’s War Studies Research Centre. His talk was part of a series sponsored by the Nunn School of International Affairs focusing on the intersection of emerging technologies and their implications for conflict and statecraft.

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When it comes to space, policy is where it’s at, Ivan Allen College alum Kaitlyn Johnson, International Affairs 2014, told a room full of aspiring aerospace sector employees in the first of a new series of presentations on careers in space policy.

“There’s policy for everything. Every science and technology career field or specialization has someone in D.C. working on the political side to either get you funding, get you support on the Hill, or pass regulations to allow innovative companies to exist and pursue things,” said Johnson, deputy director of the Strategic Initiatives Group at the U.S. Space Force.

Johnson was on campus Sept. 19 to speak to postdoctoral researcher Thomas González Roberts’ space policy class and to headline a career talk open to students from across campus.

Click here to read the full article.