Results for “Sustained Lunar Missions” — Page 10

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Numerical Prediction of Heat Transfer Coefficients during Xenon Tank Fill in Microgravity

NASA’s Gateway will serve as an orbital outpost to enable sustained human lunar exploration and facilitate access to destinations beyond the Moon. To maintain sustainable deep space missions, on-orbit propellant transfer and refueling must be realized. One of Gateway’s critical components, the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), will use solar electric propulsion to perform attitude control maneuvers and orbit transfers. Xenon will be used as the propellant for the PPE and stored in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV). During the propellant refueling process, xenon will compress causing the fluid and tank walls to warm. There is concern that the bond between the tank liner and composite may degrade at elevated temperatures, along with the possibility of the tank exceeding design pressure. While on-orbit testing is being proposed, numerical models are being used to predict the thermal response and reduce risk during a refueling operation in microgravity where natural convection is diminished. Accurate numerical models may be used to inform decisions for follow-on testing, or design and operation of refueling architectures. Challenges of modeling xenon tank fill in microgravity include non-ideal gas behavior, operating near the fluid’s critical point, and lack of experimental flight data. This study presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model with conjugate heat transfer that is used to predict averaged heat transfer coefficients during tank filling. At the anticipated injection flow rates, the CFD results showed that forced convection dominates in microgravity. Initial results from a multi-node Thermal Desktop model that assumed a purely conducting fluid (Nu=1) over-predicted the CFD fluid temperature and pressure, while a similar model allowing for natural convection under-predicted. The heat transfer coefficients predicted by CFD were implemented into the multi-node model, and the COPV thermal response from the two computational approaches were compared with good agreement.

Heat Transfer↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

2020 International Astronautical Congress Conference Presentation - ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR ASSESSING GATEWAY AND OTHER SPACECRAFT ANTENNA LINE-OF-SIGHT FOR THE ARTEMIS PROGRAM

NASA’s Artemis program is committed to landing the next man and the first woman on the Moon by 2024. The Gateway, a critical piece of infrastructure for the long-term Artemis mission profiles, will inaugurate a sustainable crewed presence beyond low-Earth orbit in cis-lunar space and serve as a staging point for a lunar landing system. The Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit of the Gateway offers numerous operational benefits in terms of its Earth access via the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, its degree of Earth and lunar visibility, the versatile surface access it provides, and favorable conditions for station-keeping. To minimize burns during station-keeping and conserve propellant, the Gateway will continually align itself to a solar pressure equilibrium attitude with the Sun; this is convenient for solar array orientation and power generation, but causes difficulties in terms of communication line-of-sight with the Earth, Moon, and visiting vehicles, which appear to be continually rotating about the Gateway’s local frame. A fixed antenna on the Gateway is continually subject to a moving target and can find itself obstructed by the Gateway’s own geometry frequently if not placed carefully. To understand the performance of either Earth-pointing or Moon-pointing antenna placements for a given Gateway geometry, a transient solar system simulation of the Gateway is used to step through orbital ephemeris data and determine the periods in which line-of-sight to a chosen target is achieved and lost. Antenna placements can be tested in the simulation and optimized to increase the average line-of-sight exposure to the target, while also minimizing the maximum duration drop-out in line-of-sight communication experienced; long durations without a successful communication link could pose threats to operations, safety, and mission success. It may be necessary to deviate from the Gateway’s solar pressure equilibrium attitude for short periods of time in order to continue a successful line-of-sight link to a chosen target. Communication coverage spheres can offer insight into what these necessary attitude adjustments may be and are generated by using a 3D mesh of the Gateway and an implementation of the Möller-Trumbore intersection algorithm. This paper outlines the analytical techniques used to perform such antenna placements on the Gateway, offering examples of how line-of-sight strength can be enhanced with an understanding of the Gateway geometry and attitude constraints. These techniques have had direct impact on the writing of communication requirements for NASA and international partner-owned Gateway elements.

Gateway↗

NASA NTRS2008

RESOLVE Projects: Lunar Water Resource Demonstration and Regolith Volatile Characterization

To sustain affordable human and robotic space exploration, the ability to live off the land at the exploration site will be essential. NASA calls this ability in situ resource utilization (ISRU) and is focusing on finding ways to sustain missions first on the Moon and then on Mars. The ISRU project aims to develop capabilities to technology readiness level 6 for the Robotic Lunar Exploration Program and early human missions returning to the Moon. NASA is concentrating on three primary areas of ISRU: (1) excavating, handling, and moving lunar regolith, (2) extracting oxygen from lunar regolith, and (3) finding, characterizing, extracting, separating, and storing volatile lunar resources, especially in the permanently shadowed polar craters. To meet the challenges related to technology development for these three primary focus areas, the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) project was initiated in February 2005, through funding by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. RESOLVE's objectives are to develop requirements and conceptual designs and to perform breadboard concept verification testing of each experiment module. The final goal is to deliver a flight prototype unit that has been tested in a relevant lunar polar environment. Here we report progress toward the third primary area creating ways to find, characterize, extract, separate, and store volatile lunar resources. The tasks include studying thermal, chemical, and electrical ways to collect such volatile resources as hydrogen, water, nitrogen, methane, and ammonia. We approached this effort through two subtasks: lunar water resource demonstration (LWRD) and regolith volatile characterization (RVC).

Source record↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Overview of NASA's RESOURCE (Resource Exploration and Science of OUR Cosmic Environment) Project

The RESOURCE(Resource Exploration and Science of OUR Cosmic Environment) project is supported by NASA’s SSERVI (Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute) and is led by Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. Jennifer L. Heldmann and Deputy PIs Dr. Matthew Deans and Dr. Alexander Sehlke at NASA Ames Research Center. RESOURCE is focused on enabling In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) near the sites of robotic and/or human missions to enable sustainable and affordable exploration of the Moon and near-Earth objects (NEOs). This year RESOURCE has supported the development of a summary of the current state of knowledge regarding lunar polar volatiles as well as a comprehensive catalog and analysis of NEOs. RESOURCE is developing advanced mission capabilities to enable rapid, collaborative operations for lunar resource exploration missions. Hardware testing has been conducted to evaluate potential contaminants released during lunar polar regolith heating. Volatiles and particulates are the two sources of contamination that will affect the requirements of a water cleanup system, and RESOURCE research has identified the requirement for filtration prior to electrolysis for ISRU. RESOURCE also supports development of next-generation planetary drilling systems with integrated instrumentation within the drill. RESOURCE is also deeply committed to sustained efforts to engage educators, students, and broadening participation among under represented groups, and has partnered with Howard University in Washington, DC to foster minoritized students’ interest in STEAMD (science, technology, engineering, arts, math, design) careers through direct and virtual experiences with NASA Subject Matter Experts.

Jennifer L Heldmann↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of an Adaptive Droop Control Method for Interconnected Lunar DC Microgrids Using Power Hardware-in-the-Loop

NASA’s Artemis Program outlines the need for a habitat capable of sustaining human life as well as mining and producing raw materials on the lunar surface. This mission is viewed as a means towards deeper space exploration, with plans for reaching Mars and beyond. Human presence on the moon is not possible without the ability to generate and distribute energy, namely electricity, through a network of energy sources, loads, and power converters called a microgrid. Multiple microgrids can be deployed on the moon based on location and need. Separate microgrids will require interconnection to increase resiliency and reliability given the mission’s high criticality. A method for adaptive control over power converters connecting two dc microgrids is proposed. A simulation is modeled after the lunar power system with two approaches to power converter droop control, allowing for a more flexible and adaptive microgrid architecture. Further experiments are conducted using the control methods in a power hardware-in-the-loop test environment to study the performance of hardware converter control used in this application.

dc microgrid↗

NASA NTRS2019

Analytical Techniques for Assessing Gateway and Other Spacecraft Antenna Line-of-Sight

NASA’s Artemis program is committed to landing the next man and the first woman on the Moon by 2024. A critical piece of infrastructure for the mission, the Gateway will inaugurate a sustainable crewed presence beyond low-Earth orbit in cis-lunar space and serve as a staging point for a lunar landing system. The Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit of the Gateway offers numerous operational benefits in terms of its Earth access via the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, the degree of lunar visibility and surface access it provides, and favorable conditions for station-keeping. To minimize burns during station-keeping and conserve propellant, the Gateway will continually align itself to a solar pressure equilibrium attitude with the Sun; this is convenient for solar array orientation and power generation, but causes difficulties in terms of communication line-of-sight with the Earth, Moon, and visiting vehicles, which appear to be continually rotating about the Gateway’s local frame. A fixed antenna on the Gateway is continually subject to a moving target and can find itself obstructed by the Gateway’s own geometry frequently if not placed carefully. To understand the performance of either Earth-pointing or Moon-pointing antenna placements for a given Gateway geometry, a transient solar system simulation of the Gateway is used to step through orbital ephemeris data and determine the periods in which line-of-sight to a chosen target is achieved and lost. Antenna placements can be tested in the simulation and optimized to increase the average line-of-sight exposure to the target, while also minimizing the maximum duration cut-out in line-of-sight communication experienced; long durations without a successful communication link could pose threats to operations, safety, and mission success. It may be necessary to deviate from the Gateway’s solar pressure equilibrium attitude for short periods of time in order to continue a successful line-of-sight link to a chosen target. Communication coverage spheres can offer insight into what these necessary attitude adjustments may be and are generated by using a 3D mesh of the Gateway and an implementation of the Möller-Trumbore intersection algorithm. This paper outlines the analytical techniques used to perform such antenna placements on the Gateway, offering examples of how line-of-sight strength can be enhanced with an understanding of the Gateway geometry and attitude constraints. These techniques have had direct impact on the writing of communication requirements for NASA and international partner-owned Gateway elements.

Kennedy, William J.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Analytical Techniques for Assessing Gateway and Other Spacecraft Antenna Line-of-Sight

NASA’s Artemis program is committed to landing the next man and the first woman on the Moon by 2024. A critical piece of infrastructure for the mission, the Gateway will inaugurate a sustainable crewed presence beyond low-Earth orbit in cis-lunar space and serve as a staging point for a lunar landing system. The Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit of the Gateway offers numerous operational benefits in terms of its Earth access via the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, the degree of lunar visibility and surface access it provides, and favorable conditions for station-keeping. To minimize burns during station-keeping and conserve propellant, the Gateway will continually align itself to a solar pressure equilibrium attitude with the Sun; this is convenient for solar array orientation and power generation, but causes difficulties in terms of communication line-of-sight with the Earth, Moon, and visiting vehicles, which appear to be continually rotating about the Gateway’s local frame. A fixed antenna on the Gateway is continually subject to a moving target and can find itself obstructed by the Gateway’s own geometry frequently if not placed carefully. To understand the performance of either Earth-pointing or Moon-pointing antenna placements for a given Gateway geometry, a transient solar system simulation of the Gateway is used to step through orbital ephemeris data and determine the periods in which line-of-sight to a chosen target is achieved and lost. Antenna placements can be tested in the simulation and optimized to increase the average line-of-sight exposure to the target, while also minimizing the maximum duration cut-out in line-of-sight communication experienced; long durations without a successful communication link could pose threats to operations, safety, and mission success. It may be necessary to deviate from the Gateway’s solar pressure equilibrium attitude for short periods of time in order to continue a successful line-of-sight link to a chosen target. Communication coverage spheres can offer insight into what these necessary attitude adjustments may be and are generated by using a 3D mesh of the Gateway and an implementation of the Möller-Trumbore intersection algorithm. This paper outlines the analytical techniques used to perform such antenna placements on the Gateway, offering examples of how line-of-sight strength can be enhanced with an understanding of the Gateway geometry and attitude constraints. These techniques have had direct impact on the writing of communication requirements for NASA and international partner-owned Gateway elements.

Kennedy, William J.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluation of Aerobic Standards for Lunar Surface Extravehicular Activities

Introduction: As NASA prepares to return to the Moon, astronauts will need to be physically primed to successfully execute Extravehicular Activities (EVA) on the Lunar surface. Compared to past Apollo missions, Artemis missions will include EVAs of increased physical demand, frequency, intensity, and duration, thus requiring adequate fitness to successfully and safely complete mission objectives. The physical demand associated with partial gravity (g) EVAs on the Moon is expected to be greater compared to microgravity EVAs based on initial workload estimation. Currently, aerobic fitness standards for partial g EVAs are not well supported by high-fidelity data and require further research for establishing standards to protect crew health and performance during Lunar surface missions. Therefore, the aim of this investigation is to characterize metabolic data from Lunar analog simulations and in-flight crew population aerobic capacity data to validate the current NASA 3001 standard for celestial partial g aerobic fitness (aerobic capacity (VO_2pk) ≥36.5ml/kg/min). Methods: In order to evaluate aerobic fitness requirements for Lunar EVAs, the following were performed: 1) preliminary analysis of long-duration (6 hr) EVA analog simulations in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) and the Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) to evaluate expected metabolic rates for 1/6 g EVAs (NBL: n=1 female; ARGOS: n=1 male) and 2) assessment of the current NASA 3001 celestial surface EVA aerobic standard (aerobic capacity (VO_2pk) ≥36.5ml/kg/min) with data from an ISS astronaut population (n=30 male + 13 female) captured before and during space flight (flight day 15). Preliminary Results: Average fractional aerobic capacity during simulated EVAs were 33%±7% VO_2pk and 23.3±7% VO_2pk in the NBL and ARGOS, respectively. This was within a previously predicted 30–40% sustainable work rate. Average metabolic rates for some tasks performed in the NBL, such as traverse (40.4% VO_2pk) and ingress (47.1% VO_2pk) were higher than the predicted sustainable work range. In ARGOS, the tasks with the greatest metabolic rates were object relocation (34.2% VO_2pk) and incapacitated crew rescue (27.0% VO_2pk). Characterization of ISS crewmember aerobic capacity determined that the average preflight VO_2pk was 42.1±5.4 ml/kg/min for females and 37.5±5.4 ml/kg/min for males. At preflight, 21.5% of crewmembers were below the 36.5 ml/kg/min in-mission aerobic standard for celestial surface EVA as outlined in NASA-STD-3001. In-flight, both female and male crewmembers experienced reductions in VO_2pk (11.7% and 10.9%, respectively), such that, during the mission, 62% of crewmembers were below the standard aerobic capacity level for celestial surface EVAs. Conclusions: Our preliminary data suggest that while average metabolic rates for simulated Lunar EVA fall within the 30–40% sustainable work range, task specific metabolic rates exceed this range and may indicate that greater fitness is necessary for more strenuous tasks expected to be performed on the Lunar surface. Additionally, deconditioning due to space flight results in most crewmembers falling below the current celestial partial g EVA standard, which may increase risk to crew health and performance and completing mission objectives for surface missions. Further research is necessary in Artemis-specific analog environments to validate the current NASA-3001 aerobic standard for celestial EVAs. Additionally, work is ongoing to validate the current NASA-3001 strength standard for celestial EVAs.

N.C. Strock↗

NASA NTRS2013

Lunar Polar In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) as a Stepping Stone for Human Exploration

A major emphasis of NASA is to extend and expand human exploration across the solar system. While specific destinations are still being discussed as to what comes first, it is imperative that NASA create new technologies and approaches that make space exploration affordable and sustainable. Critical to achieving affordable and sustainable exploration beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) are the development of technologies and approaches for advanced robotics, power, propulsion, habitats, life support, and especially, space resource utilization systems. Space resources and how to use them, often called In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), can have a tremendous beneficial impact on robotic and human exploration of the Moon, Mars, Phobos, and Near Earth Objects (NEOs), while at the same time helping to solve terrestrial challenges and enabling commercial space activities. The search for lunar resources, demonstration of extraterrestrial mining, and the utilization of resource-derived products, especially from polar volatiles, can be a stepping stone for subsequent human exploration missions to other destinations of interest due to the proximity of the Moon, complimentary environments and resources, and the demonstration of critical technologies, processes, and operations. ISRU and the Moon: There are four main areas of development interest with respect to finding, obtaining, extracting, and using space resources: Prospecting for resources, Production of mission critical consumables like propellants and life support gases, Civil engineering and construction, and Energy production, storage, and transfer. The search for potential resources and the production of mission critical consumables are the primary focus of current NASA technology and system development activities since they provide the greatest initial reduction in mission mass, cost, and risk. Because of the proximity of the Moon, understanding lunar resources and developing, demonstrating, and implementing lunar ISRU provides a near and early opportunity to perform the following that are applicable to other human exploration mission destinations: Identify and characterize resources, how they are distributed, and the material, location and environment in which they are found; Demonstrate concepts, technologies, and hardware that can reduce the cost and risk of human exploration beyond Earth orbit; Use the Moon for operation experience and mission validation for much longer missions that are farther from Earth Develop and evolve ISRU to support sustained, economical human presence beyond Earth's orbit, including promoting space commercialization As Table 1 depicts, the Moon provides environments and resources applicable to Mars and NEOs. Two lunar ISRU resource and product pathways that have notable synergism with NEO, Phobos/Demos, and Mars ISRU are oxygen/metal extraction from regolith, and water/volatile extraction from lunar polar materials. To minimize the risk of developing and incorporating ISRU into human missions, a phased implementation plan is recommended that starts with prospecting and demonstrating critical technologies on robotic and human missions, then performing pilot scale operations (in non-mission critical roles) to enhance exploration mission capabilities, leading to full utilization of space resources in mission critical roles. Which lunar ISRU pathway is followed will depend on the results of early resource prospecting/proof-ofconcept mission(s), and long-term human exploration plans.

Sanders, Gerald B.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Ice Growth Model and Lunar Tanker for Polar Water Extraction

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is a major component of sustainable and cost-effective missions to the Moon and beyond. Ever since it has been identified in the Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) of the Moon, water has become a resource of interest for it’s wide range of uses such as life support and hydrogen and oxygen rocket propellant. It is ice-bound in the regolith, so separation typically involves heating to sublimation temperatures and capturing at very low pressure. One option is to then store it in ice form and transport it out of the PSR and into a sunlit ridge. From here, processes such as electrolysis can be performed. An understanding of frost growth dynamics under rarefied conditions is necessary for successful water production, though. An analytical model was developed using a Diffusion-Limited Aggregation (DLA) approach to evaluate bulk thermal conductivity changes of frost under varying conditions. This model will be evaluated using a one-dimensional frost growth experiment on a horizontal, flat plate under vacuum and cryogenic conditions. The tests will measure frost growth rate and bulk density, and the thermal conductivity of the ice layer as a function of thickness for different plate temperatures. The test data will then be used to validate and improve the analytical model.

Lunar water↗

NASA NTRS2014

Investigation of Bio-Regenerative Life Support and Trash-to-Gas Experiment on a 4-Month Mars Simulation Mission

Future crewed missions to other planets or deep space locations will require regenerative Life Support Systems (LSS) as well as recycling processes for mission waste. Constant resupply of many commodity materials will not be a sustainable option for deep space missions, nor will stowing trash on board a vehicle or at a lunar or Martian outpost. The habitable volume will decline as the volume of waste increases. A complete regenerative environmentally controlled life support system (ECLSS) on an extra-terrestrial outpost will likely include physico-chemical and biological technologies, such as bioreactors and greenhouse modules. Physico-chemical LSS do not enable food production and bio-regenerative LSS are not stable enough to be used alone in space. Mission waste that cannot be recycled into the bio-regenerative ECLSS can include excess food, food packaging, clothing, tape, urine and fecal waste. This waste will be sent to a system for converting the trash into high value products. Two crew members on a 120 day Mars analog simulation, in collaboration with Kennedy Space Centers (KSC) Trash to Gas (TtG) project investigated a semi-closed loop system that treated non-edible biomass and other logistical waste for volume reduction and conversion into useful commodities. The purpose of this study is to show how plant growth affects the amount of resources required by the habitat and how spent plant material can be recycled. Real-time data was sent to the reactor at KSC in Florida for replicating the analog mission waste for laboratory operation. This paper discusses the 120 day mission plant growth activity, logistical and plant waste management, power and water consumption effects of the plant and logistical waste, and potential energy conversion techniques using KSCs TtG technology.

Trash-to-Gas↗

NASA NTRS2014

Investigation of Bio-Regenerative Life Support and Trash-To-Gas Experiment on a 4 Month Mars Simulation Mission

Future crewed missions to other planets or deep space locations will require regenerative Life Support Systems (LSS) as well as recycling processes for mission waste. Constant resupply of many commodity materials will not be a sustainable option for deep space missions, nor will storing trash on board a vehicle or at a lunar or Martian outpost. The habitable volume will decline as the volume of waste increases. A complete regenerative environmentally controlled life support system (ECLSS) on an extra-terrestrial outpost will likely include physico-chemical and biological technologies, such as bioreactors and greenhouse modules. Physico-chemical LSS do not enable food production and bio-regenerative LSS are not stable enough to be used alone in space. Mission waste that cannot be recycled into the bio-regenerative ECLSS can include excess food, food packaging, clothing, tape, urine and fecal waste. This waste will be sent to a system for converting the trash into the high value products. Two crew members on a 120 day Mars analog simulation, in collaboration with Kennedy Space Centers (KSC) Trash to Gas (TtG) project investigated a semi-closed loop system that treated non-edible biomass and other logistical waste for volume reduction and conversion into useful commodities. The purposes of this study are to show the how plant growth affects the amount of resources required by the habitat and how spent plant material can be recycled. Real-time data was sent to the reactor at KSC in Florida for replicating the analog mission waste for laboratory operation. This paper discusses the 120 day mission plant growth activity, logistical and plant waste management, power and water consumption effects of the plant and logistical waste, and potential energy conversion techniques using KSCs TtG reactor technology.

trash to gas↗

NASA NTRS2018

Lunar Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (LSMES)

Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) is an energy storage system that stores electrical energy in the form of a magnetic field by passing direct current through a superconducting coil. The conductor for carrying the current operates at cryogenic temperatures where it becomes a superconductor and thus has virtually no resistive losses as it produces the magnetic field. [1]. The energy can be stored in a persistent mode until required [2]. The main terrestrial challenge for SMES is the need for a cryo-cooling system and the cost associated with its deployment, operation and maintenance. For lunar and planetary exploration, this challenge is totally mitigated using the cold environment of the mission to sustain superconductivity temperatures. The permanently shadowed craters on the moon have regolith temperatures between 50-60K (3), which is the operating temperature for High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) wire. SMES provides several ad-vantages over traditional chemical batteries that: 1) incur much energy loss in extremely cold environments due to power needed for heaters, 2) are inefficient due to their inherent redox and side reactions, and 3) fail over time due to charge/discharge cycling changes in their chemical processes.

Evans, M. E.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Planning to Explore: Using a Coordinated Multisource Infrastructure to Overcome Present and Future Space Flight Planning Challenges

Few human endeavors present as much of a planning and scheduling challenge as space flight, particularly manned space flight. Just on the operational side of it, efforts of thousands of people across hundreds of organizations need to be coordinated. Numerous tasks of varying complexity and nature, from scientific to construction, need to be accomplished within limited mission time frames. Resources need to be carefully managed and contingencies worked out, often on a very short notice. From the beginning of the NASA space program, planning has been done by large teams of domain experts working months, sometimes years, to put together a single mission. This approach, while proven very reliable up to now, is becoming increasingly harder to sustain. Elevated levels of NASA space activities, from deployment of the new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and completion of the International Space Station (ISS), to the planned lunar missions and permanent lunar bases, will put an even greater strain on this largely manual process. While several attempts to automate it have been made in the past, none have fully succeeded. In this paper we describe the current NASA planning methods, outline their advantages and disadvantages, discuss the planning challenges of upcoming missions and propose a distributed planning/scheduling framework (CMMD) aimed at unifying and optimizing the planning effort. CMMD will not attempt to make the process completely automated, but rather serve in a decision support capacity for human managers and planners. It will help manage information gathering, creation of partial and consolidated schedules, inter-team negotiations, contingencies investigation, and rapid re-planning when the situation demands it. The fist area of CMMD application will be planning for Extravehicular Activities (EVA) and associated logistics. Other potential applications, not only in the space flight domain, and future research efforts will be discussed as well.

Balaban, Edward↗

NASA NTRS2006

NASA's Lunar Robotic Program

Before returning humans to the Moon for mankind s seventh lunar landing, NASA will embark upon a series of robotic missions with International partnership, executed within the construct of an integrated program, designed specifically to prepare the way for this further human exploration. The Lunar Precursors Robotic Exploration Program (LPRP) will acquire knowledge about the moon and its environment, as well as to develop operational experience and infrastructure, all needed to bring about sustained human exploration in the lunar environment. This paper presents an overview of the program in its early stages, a review of the currently planned missions, highlights of several of the program s important features and objectives, and a discussion of the challenges faced as we move forward to prepare for a return of people to the Moon.

McGrath, Melissa A.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) NASA’s First Polar Drilling and Volatiles Detection Mission

The US Administration announced in 2019 that NASA would return to the Moon where it would seek to establish a sustainable lunar presence. In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is needed to sustain and grow hu-man surface exploration and it is therefore a vital part of ensuring this bold endeavor. ISRU requires ground-truth on physical, mineral, and volatile characteristics of the resources. Water, a key and game-changing resource, exists in the polar regions of the Moon. Learning to harvest and use this resource first requires understanding where the resource is abundantly located and on what scales. Harvested water, which is usable for life support and fuel, must be identified, quantified, and assessed for its mining feasibility. The project goal for PRIME-1 is to develop a flight-ready instrumentation package that can assess the volatiles at a polar lunar landing location. PRIME-1 is the combination of two instruments; Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) and The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT). TRIDENT is an 1-meter augering drill capable of bringing incremental lunar regolith samples to the surface for volatile analysis. MSolo is a modified, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) mass spectrometer capable of qualifying and quantifying atomic species in the 1-100 amu range, including isotopic differentiation. These two lunar flight instruments operating together make up the PRIME-1 instrument suite. PRIME-1 intends to fly on and operate from a static lunar lander acquired by the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) acquisition process. The PRIME-1 payload suite was selected to fly on Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander, and is currently targeting a late Fall 2023 landing attempt.

MSolo↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) NASA’s First Polar Drilling and Volatiles Detection Mission

The US Administration announced in 2019 that NASA would return to the Moon where it would seek to establish a sustainable lunar presence. In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is needed to sustain and grow hu-man surface exploration and it is therefore a vital part of ensuring this bold endeavor. ISRU requires ground-truth on physical, mineral, and volatile characteristics of the resources. Water, a key and game-changing resource, exists in the polar regions of the Moon. Learning to harvest and use this resource first requires understanding where the resource is abundantly located and on what scales. Harvested water, which is usable for life support and fuel, must be identified, quantified, and assessed for its mining feasibility. The project goal for PRIME-1 is to develop a flight-ready instrumentation package that can assess the volatiles at a polar lunar landing location. PRIME-1 is the combination of two instruments; Mass Spectrometer observing lunar operations (MSolo) and The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT). TRIDENT is an 1-meter augering drill capable of bringing incremental lunar regolith samples to the surface for volatile analysis. MSolo is a modified, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) mass spectrometer capable of qualifying and quantifying atomic species in the 1-100 amu range, including isotopic differentiation. These two lunar flight instruments operating together make up the PRIME-1 instrument suite. PRIME-1 intends to fly on and operate from a static lunar lander acquired by the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) acquisition process. The PRIME-1 payload suite was selected to fly on Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander, and is currently targeting a late Fall 2023 landing attempt.

MSolo↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Space Launch System Completes Green Run Testing, Begins Assembly

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Program is poised in 2021 to shift its focus to the launch site with the completion of its last major integrated hardware and software test. SLS is NASA’s evolvable super heavy-lift launch vehicle for deep space exploration. Using proven propulsion technologies, SLS will be the most powerful launch vehicle in the world. That capability translates not only into more mass and volume to destinations but also simplified payload design and mission operations and greater opportunity for mission success. These capabilities will be important for the Artemis program, NASA’s plan to return humans to the Moon to stay in a sustainable way in order to develop and test technologies and operations needed for human missions to Mars and other destinations. SLS will anchor the transportation leg of an innovative, sustainable program of lunar exploration with commercial and international partners as the first step of human exploration of deep space. While all major hardware and software efforts made significant progress in 2020 and 2021, the most visible was the Green Run test series of the Artemis I core stage conducted at NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC) on the B-2 test stand. The series validated core stage design, performance, workmanship, and readiness for shipment to NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for final processing, integration and launch. The core stage provides the backbone for SLS’ main propulsion system, consisting of two five-segment solid rocket boosters and four RS-25 liquid hydrogen (LH2)/liquid oxygen (LOX) engines. SLS also includes an Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) that will insert the Orion crew spacecraft into a lunar trajectory.

John Honeycutt↗