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Phillip Paulsen

Publications and source records attributed to Phillip Paulsen.

7 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2024

Deeper Dive into Interoperability and Its Implications for LunaNet Communications and Navigation Services

The Artemis program being developed by United States’ (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing the capabilities to return humans to the Moon and establish an initial base camp and associated infrastructure with extensive contributions from international and commercial partners. In planning for cislunar exploration and science missions, space agencies are collaborating to enable communications, networking, and Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems—called LunaNet—to exchange information and provide services to cislunar spacecraft and space systems, thus helping each other to achieve their shared goals. To achieve commonality and lower cost for mutual benefit, the strategy of interoperability is being adopted to help fit all the pieces together and function smoothly. Facilitating interoperability should benefit lunar missions by providing the ability to operate in a collaborative environment similar to the terrestrial Internet. Interoperability allows them to share information, navigate safely despite increasing radio frequency congestion, and follow common processes and procedures for effective joint operations. Unlike prior government-dominated efforts, this ecosystem is expected to include and benefit for-profit (commercial) businesses, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions as active stakeholders. Ultimately, the goal is to enable a cislunar ecosystem of service providers and users to contribute to and/or utilize infrastructure and capabilities to achieve mission objectives that span the full range of human endeavors while supporting a variety of business models. This approach enables a Systems of Systems (SoS), such as a Network-of-Networks, to be sustainable in the context of the LunaNet ecosystem as systems evolve over time in technologies, standards, components, and user applications. This paper reports on the results of an effort to help frame the development of the international LunaNet architecture by providing a canonical definition of interoperability broad enough to meet these needs, examining architectural and operational implications of the definition, and exploring interoperability strategies and tactics to deploy and evolve the services proposed for cislunar exploration and science missions.

interoperability↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Framework for NASA Space Relay Satellite Services over the Next Decade: Space Relay Partnership and Services Study

The United States National Space Policy provides guidance and directives for U.S. Government agencies to purchase commercial space services and capabilities to the maximum extent practical. In alignment with this guidance, the anticipated initial NASA near-Earth space relay operating capability over the next decade will be comprised of the existing NASA-owned Space Network infrastructure supplemented with commercially-owned and -provided relay satellites and their associated ground stations. NASA awarded contracts to eight study vendors in May 2019 to investigate the feasibility of applying commercial services concepts to the NASA user mission community. The studies, managed by NASA Glenn Research Center, detailed ten study topic areas. NASA completed the analysis and synthesis of these eight industry studies and other relevant information. The responses from the study vendors indicated a strong interest in providing commercial services to NASA missions, and included a wide range of proposed architectures and demonstration ideas. Overall, the responses indicated that a mature and healthy competitive environment exists across a broad spectrum of industry to deliver high-rate space relay services in the next three to five years. This paper will present an overview of the study, analysis and synthesis processes along with common themes and conclusions, and provide next steps and recommendations. The results of this study serve as a foundation for ongoing efforts to acquire interoperable space relay services for NASA missions from multiple commercial service providers.

Eric Knoblock↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Framework for NASA Space Relay Satellite Services over the Next Decade: Space Relay Partnership and Services Study

The United States National Space Policy provides guidance and directives for U.S. Government agencies to purchase commercial space services and capabilities to the maximum extent practical. In alignment with this guidance, the anticipated initial NASA near-Earth space relay operating capability over the next decade will be comprised of the existing NASA-owned Space Network infrastructure supplemented with commercially-owned and -provided relay satellites and their associated ground stations. NASA awarded contracts to eight study vendors in May 2019 to investigate the feasibility of applying commercial services concepts to the NASA user mission community. The studies, managed by NASA Glenn Research Center, detailed ten study topic areas. NASA completed the analysis and synthesis of these eight industry studies and other relevant information. The responses from the study vendors indicated a strong interest in providing commercial services to NASA missions, and included a wide range of proposed architectures and demonstration ideas. Overall, the responses indicated that a mature and healthy competitive environment exists across a broad spectrum of industry to deliver high-rate space relay services in the next three to five years. This paper will present an overview of the study, analysis and synthesis processes along with common themes and conclusions, and provide next steps and recommendations. The results of this study serve as a foundation for ongoing efforts to acquire interoperable space relay services for NASA missions from multiple commercial service providers.

Eric Knoblock↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Framework for NASA Space Relay Satellite Services Over the Next Decade: “Development and Demonstration of the Commercial Successors to TDRS "

The United States National Space Policy provides guidance and directives for U.S. Government agencies to purchase commercial space services and capabilities to the maximum extent practical. In alignment with this guidance, the Agency has no plans to replenish the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) fleet operated by the Space Communication and Navigation Program (SCaN) and will instead pursue commercial services for communications with spacecraft in near-Earth orbit. The Communications Services Project (CSP) at GRC is leading this commercialization effort and in May 2022 it awarded six contracts to commercial SATCOM companies to demonstrate and validate commercial SATCOM capabilities for future NASA and near space user missions. The responses from the vendors indicated a strong interest in providing commercial services to NASA’s missions and included a wide range of proposed architectures and demonstrations concepts. Overall, the responses indicated that a mature and healthy competitive environment exists with traditional satellite operators and constellation developers to provide NASA and future near space users with commercial communication services in the next five years. This paper will present an overview of the proposed capability coverages, risk spread, and US domestic market stimulation, along with common themes and conclusions. The result of these demonstrations will serve as the basis for acquisition and provision of operational SATCOM services for NASA missions.

SATCOM↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Framework for NASA Space Relay Satellite Services over the Next Decade: Development and Demonstration of the Commercial Successors to TDRS

• NASA SCaN Program plans to pursue commercial services for communications with Spacecrafts in near-earth Orbit • The Communications Services Project (CSP) formulated at GRC to establish partnerships with commercial SATCOM companies to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of providing SATCOM capabilities that could be offered as a service for future spacecraft users • CSP pursued an Announcement of Proposals (AFP) in 2021 • Awarded 6 industry vendors out of 14 (~ $278 million) • Viasat, SES Government Solutions, SpaceX; Kuiper Government Solutions (KGS), Telesat U.S. Services, Inmarsat Government. (4 RF and 2 Optical) • AFP’s objectives to develop and demonstrate end-to-end operational capabilities that could meet the needs of Government and private sector customers and maximize interoperability between them. • NASA completed assessment and analysis of the 6 industry proposals. • Results identified optimal portfolio that best meet AFP’s Objectives when considering capability coverage, risk spread, levels of confidence, U.S. domestic market stimulation, price and NASA budget.

George Haddad↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Deeper Dive Into the Meaning and Implications of Interoperability for LunaNet Communications and Navigation Services

As part of planning efforts for cislunar exploration and science missions, space agencies have been collaborating with each other to enable communications, networking, Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems to exchange information and provide services to spacecraft and space systems in transit, in orbit, and on the surface, thus helping each other to achieve their common goals. To achieve commonality and lower cost for mutual benefit, the strategy of interoperability is being adopted to help all the pieces fit together and function smoothly. Interoperability gives cislunar users the ability to operate in a collaborative environment similar to the terrestrial Internet, allowing them to share information, navigate safely despite increasing radio frequency congestion, and follow common processes and procedures for effective joint operations. Unlike prior government-dominated efforts, this ecosystem is expected to include commercial for-profit businesses, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions. Ultimately, the goal is to enable a cislunar ecosystem of service providers and users to contribute and/or utilize infrastructure and capabilities to accomplish mission objectives spanning the full range of human endeavours while supporting a variety of business models. This paper reports on the results of an effort to assist in efforts to frame the development of the international LunaNet architecture by providing a canonical definition of interoperability broad enough to meet these needs, examine architectural and operational implications of the definition, and explore interoperability strategies and tactics for deploying and evolving these services. It describes key systems-of-systems (SoS) (Network-of-Networks) interoperability concepts in the context of sustainment of the ecosystem over time as systems evolve in technologies, standards and Standards Development Organizations, component and subsystem upgrades, and user applications

LunaNet↗