Navigation Sensor Technology Assessment Capability for Data-Driven Systems Analysis
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Jamshid Samareh.
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The Tension Adjustable Network for Deploying Entry Membrane (TANDEM) concept is a phase II NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project. One of the goals for this project was to extend the application of tensegrity-based rovers to a rideshare concept for a Titan mission. This report provides preliminary details of the TANDEM concept for Titan. System analyses of the entry vehicle were performed and compared to data from the Huygens mission to Titan. The entry aeroshell was based on Huygens and Stardust aeroshells. Modeling, simulation and design of the tensegrity deployment were performed using a nonlinear optimization form-finding algorithm. Lastly, a neuroevolution-based machine learning control strategy was applied, which produced efficient rolling locomotion gaits.
Over the past four years, NASA has directed the Entry, Descent and Landing Architecture Study (EDLAS) team to evaluate candidate technologies to deliver human-scale vehicles (carrying 20t payloads) to a precise location on the surface of Mars. The study, which initially considered four candidate vehicles, narrowed the design space to focus on two vehicles in Phase 3, one low and one mid lift-to-drag vehicle. Key design challenges exist for both, and the purpose of the Phase 3 analysis was to identify specific technology investment areas and opportunities to mature the vehicle designs beyond simulations to include ground and flight tests. This paper summarizes the detailed analyses performed on the two vehicle configurations, including aerodynamic and propulsive interference effects during the powered flight phase, vehicle packaging, as well as outer mold line and parametric mass model upgrades. The analyses were used to update models in the vehicle performance simulations. The simulation results showing the impact of the Phase 3 analyses on vehicle performance are also presented. Finally, a summary of the technology investment recommendations, including opportunities to validate models using wind tunnel tests and evaluate technologies at the moon, are presented. This paper offers a systems level overview of the more detailed analysis that will be presented in this special session.
This paper will present a parametric analysis for entry, descent, and landing (EDL) concepts, enabling rapid systems assessment and tradespace exploration. The entry system uses a hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD) technology. The baseline system includes elements for Mars aerocapture (AC) and EDL segments of the mission. The mission concept of operations (ConOps) begins at Mars arrival in a polar inclination. After performing an aerocapture (AC) maneuver into a pre-defined Mars parking orbit, the AC HIAD is jettisoned. The rest of thevehicle stays in the parking orbit for up to one year. The EDL sequence starts with a deorbit burn at the apoapsis of the parking orbit. After hypersonic entry with the EDL HIAD, the entry system uses a supersonic retropropulsion maneuver to slow the vehicle for the descent and landing segments of the mission. The vehicle will maintain a constant velocity of 2.5 m/s for 5 seconds prior to landing.The system includes a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), Mars Descent Module (MDM), and two HIADs. The MDM includes a primary structure, tanks, engines, and radiators. The primary structure is an aluminum-lithium (Al-Li)cruciform design similar to the structural design of the Apollo Lunar Module. The cruciform planform layout results in four outer bays, with adequate volume in the corners between outer bays to package four landing gears. The central bay is reserved for packaging the MAV and the recessed MAV engines. Two of the outer bays accommodate main propellant tanks, with one LOX and one CH4 tank in each bay. The two remaining outer bays each house four rocket engine systems and associated support structure. Each HIAD comprises an inflatable structure, flexible thermal protection system, gas, and gas generators. The HIAD design used in this study is a stacked-toroid concept with pairing loop straps and radial/chevron straps. The baseline system lands a 20-t payload on the Mars surface. It is assumed the vehicle arrives at 6.2 km/s relative velocity at 90° inclination and is captured to a 1-Sol parking orbit.The baseline design includes many assumptions such as margins, arrival state, ConOps options, parking orbit, physical dimensions, propellant options, and technology concepts. The impact of these parameters are quantified through systems-level sensitivity analyses, which capture the global impact—not at a component level—but at the systems level. The systems-level sensitivities expose major design drivers and importance of each assumption for a design.Through tradespace exploration, a wide range of systems parameters are examined and compared for several feasible design options. Studies have been completed for the following input parameters: payload mass, propellant options, AC/EDL ballistic coefficient, lander thrust to weight ratio (T/W) (surrogate for the maximum EDL g’s),engine specific impulse (Isp), parking orbit, and inclination.The final paper will present and discuss the parametric approach used in the study. It will also include the results of recent systems analyses, sensitivity analyses, and tradespace exploration
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The capability to assess the mission performance of novel navigation technologies from a systems-level approach and to provide quantitative results is crucial. With growing interest and innovations from NASA’s commercial partners, data-driven results that quantify the technological impact will guide research developments and facilitate stakeholder decision-making while requiring less time and resources. This paper presents a method to evaluate various sensor combinations and their impact on the overall system performance using an existing six degrees-of-freedom, physics-based engineering simulation for a government reference lunar lander as a testbed. Selected navigation technologies over various technology readiness levels, including Inertial Measurement Units, Navigation Doppler Lidar, and radar altimeter-radar velocimeter, were studied in this paper. Results using this testbed to perform sensitivity studies and to provide quantitative assessments are reported. One key finding is that there are diminishing returns for reducing sensor errors. The most influential sensor parameter to landing success are vehicle configuration and mission dependent. Results from this method could be used by stakeholders to make data-driven systems-based decisions and by technology developers as guidance for the specific parameter improvements that will have the most significant impact on mission success. This capability could be further used to assess alternative scenarios should one type of technology become unavailable or to re-assess initial assumptions and identify appropriate requirements from a system perspective.
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