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NASA NTRS2007

Lessons Learned from Deploying an Analytical Task Management Database

Defining requirements, missions, technologies, and concepts for space exploration involves multiple levels of organizations, teams of people with complementary skills, and analytical models and simulations. Analytical activities range from filling a To-Be-Determined (TBD) in a requirement to creating animations and simulations of exploration missions. In a program as large as returning to the Moon, there are hundreds of simultaneous analysis activities. A way to manage and integrate efforts of this magnitude is to deploy a centralized database that provides the capability to define tasks, identify resources, describe products, schedule deliveries, and generate a variety of reports. This paper describes a web-accessible task management system and explains the lessons learned during the development and deployment of the database. Through the database, managers and team leaders can define tasks, establish review schedules, assign teams, link tasks to specific requirements, identify products, and link the task data records to external repositories that contain the products. Data filters and spreadsheet export utilities provide a powerful capability to create custom reports. Import utilities provide a means to populate the database from previously filled form files. Within a four month period, a small team analyzed requirements, developed a prototype, conducted multiple system demonstrations, and deployed a working system supporting hundreds of users across the aeros pace community. Open-source technologies and agile software development techniques, applied by a skilled team enabled this impressive achievement. Topics in the paper cover the web application technologies, agile software development, an overview of the system's functions and features, dealing with increasing scope, and deploying new versions of the system.

O'Neil, Daniel A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

The Synergy of Gamma-Ray Burst Detectors in the GLAST Era

Simultaneous observations by the large number of gamma-ray burst detectors that will operate in the GLAST era will provide the spectra, lightcurves and locations necessary for studying burst physics and testing the putative relations between intrinsic burst properties. I review the burst detection sensitivities, spectral bands, and localization capabilities of the GLAST (GBM and LAT), Swift (BAT), INTEGRAL (ISGRI), Suzaku (wAM), AGILE (Super-AGILE) and wind (Konus) detectors; the detectors' energy band and the accumulation timescale of their trigger system affect their sensitivity to hard vs. soft and long vs. short bursts. In addition, I estimate the rate of simultaneous burst observations. In particular, coordination of the Swift observing plan consistent with Swift's other science objectives could increase the rate of GLAST bursts with redshifts

Band, David↗

NASA NTRS2007

The Synergy of Gamma-Ray Burst Detectors in the GLAST Era

Simultaneous observations by the large number of gamma-ray burst detectors operating in the GLAST era will provide the spectra, lightcurves and locations necessary for studying burst physics and testing the putative relations between intrinsic burst properties. 1 will review the burst detection sensitivities, spectral bands, and localization capabilities of the GLAST (GBM and LAT), Swift (BAT), INTEGRAL (ISGRI), Suzaku (WAM), AGILE (Super-AGILE) and Wind (Konus) detectors; the detectors' energy band and the accumulation timescale of their trigger system affect their sensitivity to hard vs. soft and long vs. short bursts. In addition, I estimate the rate of simultaneous burst observations. In particular, coordination of the Swift observing plan consistent with Swift's other science objectives could increase the rate of GLAST bursts with redshifts.

Band, David L.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Management of Service Projects in Support of Space Flight Research

Goal:To provide human health and performance countermeasures, knowledge, technologies, and tools to enable safe, reliable, and productive human space exploration . [HRP-47051] Specific Objectives: 1) Develop capabilities, necessary countermeasures, and technologies in support of human space exploration, focusing on mitigating the highest risks to human health and performance. 2) Define and improve human spaceflight medical, environmental, and human factors standards. 3) Develop technologies that serve to reduce medical and environmental risks, to reduce human systems resource requirements (mass, volume, power, data, etc.) and to ensure effective human-system integration across exploration systems. 4) Ensure maintenance of Agency core competencies necessary to enable risk reduction in the following areas: A. Space medicine B. Physiological and behavioral effects of long duration spaceflight on the human body C. Space environmental effects, including radiation, on human health and performance D. Space "human factors" [HRP-47051]. Service projects can form integral parts of research-based project-focused programs to provide specialized functions. Traditional/classic project management methodologies and agile approaches are not mutually exclusive paradigms. Agile strategies can be combined with traditional methods and applied in the management of service projects functioning in changing environments. Creative collaborations afford a mechanism for mitigation of constrained resource limitations.

Love, J.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Extreme Programming: Maestro Style

"Extreme Programming: Maestro Style" is the name of a computer programming methodology that has evolved as a custom version of a methodology, called extreme programming that has been practiced in the software industry since the late 1990s. The name of this version reflects its origin in the work of the Maestro team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that develops software for Mars exploration missions. Extreme programming is oriented toward agile development of software resting on values of simplicity, communication, testing, and aggressiveness. Extreme programming involves use of methods of rapidly building and disseminating institutional knowledge among members of a computer-programming team to give all the members a shared view that matches the view of the customers for whom the software system is to be developed. Extreme programming includes frequent planning by programmers in collaboration with customers, continually examining and rewriting code in striving for the simplest workable software designs, a system metaphor (basically, an abstraction of the system that provides easy-to-remember software-naming conventions and insight into the architecture of the system), programmers working in pairs, adherence to a set of coding standards, collaboration of customers and programmers, frequent verbal communication, frequent releases of software in small increments of development, repeated testing of the developmental software by both programmers and customers, and continuous interaction between the team and the customers. The environment in which the Maestro team works requires the team to quickly adapt to changing needs of its customers. In addition, the team cannot afford to accept unnecessary development risk. Extreme programming enables the Maestro team to remain agile and provide high-quality software and service to its customers. However, several factors in the Maestro environment have made it necessary to modify some of the conventional extreme-programming practices. The single most influential of these factors is that continuous interaction between customers and programmers is not feasible.

Norris, Jeffrey↗

NASA NTRS2006

Intertwining Risk Insights and Design Decisions

The state of systems engineering is such that a form of early and continued use of risk assessments is conducted (as evidenced by NASA's adoption and use of the 'Continuous Risk Management' paradigm developed by SEI). ... However, these practices fall short of theideal: (1) Integration between risk assessment techniques and other systems engineering tools is weak. (2) Risk assessment techniques and the insights they yield are only informally coupled to design decisions. (3) Individual riskassessment techniques lack the mix of breadth, fidelity and agility required to span the gamut of the design space. In this paper we present an approach that addresses these shortcomings. The hallmark of our approach is a simple representation comprising objectives (what the system is to do), risks (whose occurrence would detract from attainment of objectives) and activities (a.k.a. 'mitigations') that, if performed, will decrease those risks. These are linked to indicate by how much a risk would detract from attainment of an objective, and by how much an activity would reduce a risk. The simplicity of our representational framework gives it the breadth to encompass the gamut of the design space concerns, the agility to be utilized in even the earliest phases of designs, and the capability to connect to system engineering models and higher-fidelity risk tools. It is through this integration that we address the shortcomings listed above, and so achieve the intertwining between risk insights and design decisions needed to guide systems engineering towards superior final designs while avoiding costly rework to achieve them. The paper will use an example, constructed to be representative of space mission design, to illustrate our approach.

systems engineering↗

NASA NTRS2006

Tunable, Highly Stable Lasers for Coherent Lidar

Practical space-based coherent laser radar systems envisioned for global winds measurement must be very efficient and must contend with unique problems associated with the large platform velocities that the instruments experience in orbit. To compensate for these large platform-induced Doppler shifts in space-based applications, agile-frequency offset-locking of two single-frequency Doppler reference lasers was thoroughly investigated. Such techniques involve actively locking a frequency-agile master oscillator (MO) source to a comparatively static local oscillator (LO) laser, and effectively producing an offset between MO (the lidar slave oscillator seed source, typically) and heterodyne signal receiver LO that lowers the bandwidth of the receiver data-collection system and permits use of very high-quantum-efficiency, reasonably- low-bandwidth heterodyne photoreceiver detectors and circuits. Recent work on MO/LO offset locking has focused on increasing the offset locking range, improving the graded-InGaAs photoreceiver performance, and advancing the maturity of the offset locking electronics. A figure provides a schematic diagram of the offset-locking system.

Henderson, Sammy W.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Radiation Exposure Alters Expression of Metabolic Enzyme Genes In Mice

Most pharmaceuticals are metabolized by the liver. The health of the liver, especially the rate of its metabolic enzymes, determines the concentration of circulating drugs as well as the duration of their efficacy. Because of the importance of the liver in drug metabolism it is important to understand the effects of spaceflight on the enzymes of the liver. Exposure to cosmic radiation is one aspect of spaceflight that can be modeled in ground experiments. This study is an effort to examine the effects of adaptive mechanisms that may be triggered by early exposure to low radiation doses. Using procedures approved by the JSC Animal Care & Use Committee, C57 male mice were exposed to Cs-137 in groups: controls, low dose (50 mGy), high dose (6Gy) and a fourth group that received both radiation doses separated by 24 hours. Animals were anesthetized and sacrificed 4 hours after their last radiation exposure. Livers were removed immediately and flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen. Tissue was homogenized, RNA extracted and purified (Absolutely RNA, Agilent). Quality of RNA samples was evaluated (Agilent Bioanalyzer 2100). Complementary DNA was prepared from high-quality RNA samples, and used to run RT-qPCR screening arrays for DNA Repair and Drug Metabolism (SuperArray, SABiosciences/Qiagen; BioRad Cfx96 qPCR System). Of 91 drug metabolism genes examined, expression of 7 was altered by at least one treatment condition. Genes that had elevated expression include those that metabolize promethazine and steroids (4-8-fold), many that reduce oxidation products, and one that reduces heavy metal exposure (greater than 200-fold). Of the 91 DNA repair and general metabolism genes examined, expression of 14 was altered by at least one treatment condition. These gene expression changes are likely homeostatic and could lead to development of new radioprotective countermeasures.

Wotring, Virginia E.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Post Flight Reconditioning for US Astronauts Returning from the International Space Station

Prior to spaceflight, each astronaut undergoes medical requirement testing to establish a preflight baseline for physiologic functions. Astronauts returning from the International Space Station can experience deficits in all or some of the following areas: aerobic capacity, muscular strength, power, endurance, stamina, bone, balance, agility, coordination, orthostatic tolerances, proprioception, neurovestibular function and flexibility. These losses occur from living in microgravity and are consistent with deficits seen in terrestrial, de-conditioning individuals. Since 2001, the Astronaut Strength, Conditioning and Rehabilitation (ASCR) specialists have administered a reconditioning program, focusing on all deficits, which improves the physical condition of all returning astronauts. In most cases, astronauts have reached or surpassed their preflight physical condition. Purpose: This presentation will describe and explain the postflight reconditioning program for returning astronauts. Methods: The postflight reconditioning program is designed to stress the body systems that affect the following: aerobic capacity, muscular strength, power, endurance, stamina, bone, balance, agility, coordination, orthostatic tolerances, proprioception, neurovestibular function and flexibility. Postflight reconditioning begins on landing day, is scheduled for two hours per day, 7 days a week for 45 days and is tailored to the specific needs of the astronaut. Initially the program focuses on basic ambulation, cardiovascular endurance, strength, balance, flexibility and proprioception. The program advances through 45 days and specific attention is given to each astronaut s overall condition, testing results, medical status, and assigned duties after their mission. Conclusion: Astronauts will experience noticeable deficits in their physical condition after living in microgravity for an extended length of time. After completing postflight reconditioning, it is shown that astronauts have regained, and in most cases improved upon, their preflight baseline condition.

Nieschwitz, Bruce↗

NASA NTRS2011

All-Solid-State 2.45-to-2.78-THz Source

Sources in the THz range are required in order for NASA to implement heterodyne instruments in this frequency range. The source that has been demonstrated here will be used for an instrument on the SOFIA platform as well as for upcoming astrophysics missions. There are currently no electronic sources in the 2 3- THz frequency range. An electronically tunable compact source in this frequency range is needed for lab spectroscopy as well as for compact space-deployable heterodyne receivers. This solution for obtaining useful power levels in the 2 3- THz range is based on utilizing power-combined multiplier stages. Utilizing power combining, the input power can be distributed between different multiplier chips and then recombined after the frequency multiplication. A continuous wave (CW) coherent source covering 2.48 2.75 THz, with greater than 10 percent instantaneous and tuning bandwidth, and having l 14 W of output power at room temperature, has been demonstrated. This source is based on a 91.8 101.8-GHz synthesizer followed by a power amplifier and three cascaded frequency triplers. It demonstrates that purely electronic solid-state sources can generate a useful amount of power in a region of the electromagnetic spectrum where lasers (solid-state or gas) were previously the only available coherent sources. The bandwidth, agility, and operability of this THz source has enabled wideband, high-resolution spectroscopic measurements of water, methanol, and carbon monoxide with a resolution and signal-to-noise ratio unmatched by other existing systems, providing new insight in the physics of these molecules. Further - more, the power and optical beam quality are high enough to observe the Lamb-dip effect in water. The source frequency has an absolute accuracy better than 1 part in 1012, and the spectrometer achieves sub-Doppler frequency resolution better than 1 part in 108. The harmonic purity is better than 25 dB. This source can serve as a local oscillator for a variety of heterodyne systems, and can be used as a method for precision control of more powerful but much less frequency-agile quantum mechanical terahertz sources.

Mehdi, Imran↗

NASA NTRS2012

Model Based Systems Engineering on the Europa Mission Concept Study

At the start of 2011, the proposed Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO) mission was staffing up in expectation of becoming an official project later in the year for a launch in 2020. A unique aspect of the pre-project work was a strong emphasis and investment on the foundations of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). As so often happens in this business, plans changed: NASA's budget and science priorities were released and together fundamentally changed the course of JEO. As a result, it returned to being a study task whose objective is to propose more affordable ways to accomplish the science. As part of this transition, the question arose as to whether it could continue to afford the investment in MBSE. In short, the MBSE infusion has survived and is providing clear value to the study effort. By leveraging the existing infrastructure and a modest additional investment, striking advances in the capture and analysis of designs using MBSE were achieved. In the process, the need to remain relevant in the new environment has brought about a wave of innovation and progress. The effort has reaffirmed the importance of architecting. It has successfully harnessed the synergistic relationship of architecting to system modeling. We have found that MBSE can provide greater agility than traditional methods. We have also found that a diverse 'ecosystem' of modeling tools and languages (SysML, Mathematica, even Excel) is not only viable, but an important enabler of agility and adaptability. This paper will describe the successful application of MBSE in the dynamic environment of early mission formulation, the significant results produced and lessons learned in the process.

Bayer, Todd J.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Nasa's Launch Communications Ground Segment for the 21st Century Florida Spaceport

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Near Earth Network (NEN) Project is implementing a new launch communications ground segment to provide services for the next generation of human and robotic space exploration systems. It will deliver unique and advanced capabilities to accelerate the transformation of Kennedy Space Center into a multi-user spaceport in cooperation with the United States Air Force (USAF). The project has leveraged commercial technologies and remote operations concepts matured in NASAs orbiting satellite ground systems to achieve dramatic lifecycle cost efficiencies as compared to the space shuttle-era ground segment. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development history, capabilities and anticipated use cases of the NEN Launch Communications Segment (NEN LCS).The NASA Kennedy Space Center is co-located with the USAF Eastern Launch Range at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The USAF operates two launch communications ground stations, but they are not designed to transmit voice, commands or other data to the launch vehicle or astronauts. The bi-directional uplink-downlink communications responsibility for human missions has historically resided with the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Several market analyses and feasibility studies investigating concepts to provide NASAs next generation launch communications services were performed during the Constellation Program prior to its cancellation in 2009, and as part of the Kennedy Space Centers follow-on efforts to transform itself into a 21st century multi-user spaceport. In 2012, the Kennedy Space Center and the USAF 45th Space Wing jointly led a study to analyze the market needs of current and future launch systems and assess the operational deficiencies of the Eastern Range infrastructure. The study team issued several recommendations, two of which ultimately became driving operational capability requirements for the NEN LCS: increased telemetry data rates of at least 20 Mbps, and S-band uplink capability. Additional capabilities identified in the requirements development process include spread spectrum modulation support, LDPC 12 and 78 error correction codes, support for IRIG-106 and CCSDS data formats, automated best source selection, and Space Link Extension (SLE) services for data distribution. The NEN LCS is comprised of two permanent ground stations, the new Kennedy Uplink Station (KUS) and refurbished Ponce de Leon (PDL) station. Both stations are remotely operated from the Global Monitor and Control Center at Wallops Flight Facility. This core architecture is extensible through host-tenant arrangements with the U.S. Air Force and deployable assets, enabling agile, tailored and robust solutions to meet the needs of civil, commercial or military customers. The NEN LCS has three use cases:1.To provide agile, tailored and robust launch communications solutions to Florida spaceport customers2.To provide orbital communications services to near-earth customers 3.To provide an experimental proving ground for Space Mobile Network concepts and technologies The NEN LCS driving mission is to support the bi-directional link with the Orion crew capsule and two 20 Mbps telemetry links from the Space Launch System core stage on Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated flight of NASAs flagship human exploration systems.

Roberts, Christopher J.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Electric Sail Tether Deployment System for CubeSats

An Electric Sail (E-Sail) propulsion system consists of long, thin tethers - positively-charged wires extending radially and symmetrically outward from a spacecraft. Tethers must be biased using a high-voltage power supply to ensure that the solar wind produces thrust. While the E-Sail concept shows great promise for flying heliopause missions with higher characteristic acceleration than solar sails, there are significant technical challenges related to deploying and controlling multiple tethers. A typical full-scale design involves a hub and spoke arrangement of 10 to 100 tethers, each 20 km long. In the last 20 years, there have been multiple space mission failures due to tether deployment and control issues, and most configurations involved a single tether. This paper describes an effort to develop and test a simple yet robust single-tether deployment system for a two-6U CubeSat configuration. The project included the following: a) Tether dynamic modeling/simulation b) E-Sail single-tether prototype development and testing c) Space environmental effects testing to identify best materials for further development. These three areas of investigation were needed to provide technical rationale for an E-Sail flight demonstration mission that is expected to be proposed for the 2022 time frame. The project team used an “agile” engineering approach in which E-Sail single-tether prototype designs were iteratively developed and tested to solve problems and identify design improvements. The agile approach was ideal for this low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) project because tether deployer development involved many unknowns in prototype development that could only be discovered through iterative cycles of construction and testing. Extensive modeling and simulation were accomplished for three types of tether deployment: a) Stage 1: propulsive separation with one 6U fixed b) Stage 2: propulsive spin-up with one 6U fixed c) Stage 3: propulsive spin-up with both 6Us free Simulation results were valuable for understanding the propulsive and braking forces needed for controlled tether deployment. This paper describes the evolution, insights, and test/ performance data related to the resultant single-tether two-6U E-Sail test article which has been demonstrated in a test laboratory. The development effort suggests near-term work needed to achieve a useful flight demonstration, and provides ideas for how multiple-tether deployment systems might evolve going forward. A planned next-generation E-Sail prototype will include autonomous propulsive tether deployment while monitoring tether tension, location on the floor, distance between tether ends, acceleration, velocity, and propellant used.

Tinker, Michael↗

NASA NTRS2017

A Hybrid Traveling Salesman Problem - Squeaky Wheel Optimization Planner for Earth Observational Scheduling

We outline a hybrid planner for scheduling Observa- tion Requests on an Earth observing satellite, subject to a variety of constraints for the ASPEN (Chien et al. 2000) Eagle Eye adaptation (Knight, Donnellan, and Green 2013) that combines Squeaky Wheel Optimiza- tion (Joslin and Clements 1999) with sliding observa- tion planning (Aldinger et al. 2013). The Earth Ob- serving Satellite (EOS) planning problem (Globus et al. 2004) is reformulated as time-varying travel time TSP with interval constraints (Ichoua, Gendreau, and Potvin 2003). The replanning/ ll stage of the hybrid scheduler marginally improves schedule quality for all bus agilities examined, but has more impact on lower agility observers. The squeaky wheel stage primarily a ects overall schedule quality by satisfying high pri- ority requests, while the replanner reduces starvation of lower value requests.

Trowbridge, Michael↗

NASA NTRS2020

The Lowest-frequency Fast Radio Bursts: Sardinia Radio Telescope Detection of the Periodic FRB 180916 at 328 MHz

We report on the lowest-frequency detection to date of three bursts from the fast radio burst FRB 180916.J0158+65, observed at 328 MHz with the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT). The SRT observed the periodic repeater FRB 180916.J0158+65 for five days from 2020 February 20 to 24 during a time interval of active radio bursting, and detected the three bursts during the first hour of observations; no more bursts were detected during the remaining ∼30 hr. Simultaneous SRT observations at 1548 MHz did not detect any bursts. Burst fluences are in the range 37 to 13 Jy ms. No relevant scattering is observed for these bursts. We also present the results of the multiwavelength campaign we performed on FRB 180916.J0158+65, during the five days of the active window. Simultaneously with the SRT observations, others with different time spans were performed with the Northern Cross at 408 MHz, with XMM-Newton, NICER, INTEGRAL, AGILE, and with the TNG and two optical telescopes in Asiago, which are equipped with fast photometers. XMM-Newton obtained data simultaneously with the three bursts detected by the SRT, and determined a luminosity upper limit in the 0.3–10 keV energy range of ∼10(exp 45) erg/s for the burst emission. AGILE obtained data simultaneously with the first burst and determined a fluence upper limit in the MeV range for millisecond timescales of 10(exp -8) erg/sq.cm. Our results show that absorption from the circumburst medium does not significantly affect the emission from FRB 180916.J0158+65, thus limiting the possible presence of a superluminous supernova around the source, and indicate that a cutoff for the bursting mechanism, if present, must be at lower frequencies. Our multi-wavelength campaign sensitively constrains the broadband emission from FRB 180916.J0158+65, and provides the best limits so far for the electromagnetic response to the radio bursting of this remarkable source of fast radio bursts.

M. Pilia↗

NASA NTRS2022

Adaptive IV&V for Increasingly Complex Software Systems

As NASA software systems continue to innovate, becoming more complex and nondeterministic, the need for the NASA IV&V Program to become systemically adaptive to ensure mission success is paramount. To ensure adaptability within resource constraints, IV&V has developed an agile, risk-based approach to identify, characterize, scope, focus, and prioritize mission assurance activities. This risk based adaptive framework has been applied to trends such as increased reliance on data driven algorithms for safety and mission critical software behavior, use of MBSE in system design, and application of agile principles to embedded software development. The framework is enabled by continuous innovation of new approaches such as software only test beds, assurance design tools, and initiatives that augment IV&V assurance methods with artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques. This presentation will highlight the trends the NASA IV&V Program is seeing, the innovative steps it is taking to address those challenges, and how it is postured to address evolving risk and constantly changing and new technologies.

Wesley W Deadrick↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Using Coordinated, Multi-Agent Platforms for Dynamic Ocean Worlds Science

Planetary science missions have the opportunity to enhance science return through deployment of autonomous capabilities designed to dynamically respond to new information. Future outer solar system missions to ocean worlds in particular would benefit from this technology - intelligent science payloads (ISP) - because it would allow for a coordinated, near real-time response to ephemeral ‘events’ such as plumes, tectonism, surface implantation, volatile releases, thermal and magnetic anomalies, or radiation, as well as increasing the cadence and coverage of data collection. Prioritization and decision-making frameworks from ISP could be deployed at various scales - from analysis onboard a spacecraft with multiple instruments – to coordinated analyses among separate spacecraft in an e.g., distributed systems mission (DSM) composed of multiple SmallSats. Goddard’s Intelligent Science Payload team is developing an agile autonomous architecture for an icy ocean worlds DSM concept. Our goals are to coordinate data collection and onboard data analysis, and to make autonomous decisions for new data collection and analysis based on science priorities between multiple spacecraft with variable instrumentation and orbits. We use a range of data analysis tools to coordinate the DSM response, spanning from observations of data over a specified threshold to more computationally intensive machine learning algorithms (ML). ML algorithms here currently focus on determining the composition of an ocean world using mass spectrometry, and specifically methods for understanding ‘novelties’ and potential biosignatures. These algorithms could be used to quickly process and analyze onboard data that would be significantly delayed in downlink due to long communication delays for outer solar system missions in order to make dynamic science observations. Our ocean worlds case study ISP architecture is intended as an ‘agile’ and modular framework that could be used as a whole or as particular modules based on mission needs.

Distributed Systems↗

NASA NTRS2023

NASA Kennedy Space Center Swamp Works: Innovation Methods for Advanced Research & Technology Development

Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC) Swamp Works, provides government and commercial space ventures with the technologies required for working and living on the surfaces of the Moon or other planets and bodies in our solar system. The Swamp Works team establishes agile, innovative and cost effective exploration mission solutions through leveraging of partnerships across NASA, industry and academia. Concepts start small and build up efficiently, with lean development processes and a hands on approach. Testing is performed in early stages to drive design improvements and progressively increase Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). Swamp Works provides concepts, architecture studies and trades, designs, data, technology development, technology demonstration hardware, flight hardware, testing, flight support and knowledge in support of the development of surface systems. This paper will summarize the state of the art in innovation methods, and it will compare the various other methods to how innovation is accomplished at the NASA KSC Swamp Works. Since 2013, Swamp Works has developed a wide variety of technologies, and has demonstrated viable methods for innovation while also collaborating with other government agencies, industry and academia to support space exploration. These methods focus on agile design, test, build iterations where each cycle of prototyping results in improved knowledge and designs. Failures are tole rated in the early stages of these iterations, since the overall development cycle is shorter more efficient and cost effective by retiring risk early in the cycle. Momentum is maintained and the development teams remain highly motivated by the high level of team work, technical excellence, engagement and creative freedom.

Robotic Mining↗