04/14/2026
By Lynne Schaufenbil

Please join the Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology for a talk by Paul Horton "From System Design to Realtime Analysis: End-to-End Integration with ASTHROS" on Thursday, April 16 at 11 a.m.

Abstract: ASTHROS, the Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter-wavelengths, is a balloon-borne observatory designed to study the universe in the submillimeter wavelength range. Due to the unique operational constraints imposed by scientific ballooning, ASTHROS serves as an ideal testbed for on-board data processing using novelty detection. ASTHROS will collect a large bandwidth of spectral data that will need to be processed in real-time to identify and flag any anomalous behavior of the readout instruments. It is crucial that analysis happens promptly in order to best utilize the limited flight time and ensure the quality of the data collected. What began as a plan to implement a novelty detection pipeline for ASTHROS has evolved into a comprehensive system architecture, built with every component designed to enable real-time analysis. The ASTHROS system architecture is built from the ground up, with each hardware component implemented as a modular software package and connected via RabbitMQ, a message broker that enables effective and redundant communication in distributed systems. RabbitMQ allows us to decouple the various components of the system while providing easy access to data streams for real-time processing. This talk will cover the design of the ASTHROS system architecture, the RabbitMQ network that supports it, and how we leverage these choices to enable real-time analysis of the spectral data.

Speaker Bio: Paul Horton completed his Ph.D. in Exploration Systems Design at Arizona State University in 2025, where he worked with Chris Groppi, Ph.D., and Jim Bell, Ph.D., on applying novelty detection to augment in-mission operations. He received dual B.S. degrees in Applied Physics and Software Engineering in 2018 and an M.S. in Software Engineering in 2019, from ASU. He was a recipient of the NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO) for his work integrating data science systems into planetary science and astronomy. Horton is currently the lead readout software engineer for ASTHROS (Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter wavelengths) and has a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Massachusetts Lowell focused on real-time data systems and autonomous space instrumentation.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Lynne_Schaufenbil@uml.edu.