Researcher in work at NASA
Madhav Mishra, graduate student at Luleå University of Technology has received invitation to a three-month research at the American space agency NASA. He works at the Department for operations and maintenance, as well as at the university SKF-LTU University Technology Centre.
- When I received the invitation, I was really happy. In fact, I could hear the word NASA repeated in my head all night after the announcement. I never thought that I would get to NASA and I'll be working at their office, says Madhav Mishra.
The invitation comes to 3-month collaboration with researchers at the NASA Ames Research Center beginning on 1 July to last September and Madhav Mishra has worked hard to get it. He eventually became better acquainted with one of the organization's senior researchers who in turn tipped his head that Madhav wanted to work there someday. To his own surprise, he was eventually contacted by the center's director and interviewed via Skype.
- There is not just anyone who can come to NASA so he checked my background carefully, and if I would fit in there, he says.
Calculates life-span
Madhav Mishra's research at Luleå University of Technology is all about how to calculate lifetime for smart ball bearings. Basically it's about prognosis and diagnosis of rotating machinery. He declares emphatically that progostik is about the future and to predict, while diagnostics involves analyzing what has already occurred.
- In our department, we of cause deals with a variety of maintenance research and that means that we are very much dealing with the diagnosis, but we need to increase our knowledge in the area of forecasting, he says.
By studying a lot of scientific literature, he realized that NASA keeps
doing just that. He contacted scientists there and asked about their research. In this way he built gradually up a network of contacts at the space agency.
- My plan is to travel there and develop my research, but also to establish a network with which we can have a future contact. We can see if it is possible to establish cooperation between NASA and the Luleå University of Technology and I actually think there's an opportunity for it, he says.
In the area of forecasting, NASA's scientists made a lot of studying to the life of aircraft and batteries. To calculate lifetime one work with different kinds of models, either physical or data-driven, or a combination thereof. Madhav Mishra's research goal is to develop a hybrid model and in collaboration with NASA researchers develop a useful algorithm. It will be used for calculations to predict future errors, prevent disruptions, and avoid high costs.
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