Robotic Space Exploration and Possible Applications of Quantum Engineering
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Khoshnoud, Farbod↗
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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Digital Technologies for Advancing Robotic Space Exploration
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Moon-Burke, Melissa M↗
Highly Efficient Stirling Power Conversion for Robotic Space Exploration
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Stirling↗
High Efficiency Stirling Power Conversion for Robotic Space Exploration
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Stirling↗
Towards additively manufacturing excavating tools for future robotic space exploration
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Douglas C. Hofmann↗
Mars Exploration Entry, Descent and Landing Challenges
The United States has successfully landed five robotic systems on the surface of Mars. These systems all had landed mass below 0.6 metric tons (t), had landed footprints on the order of hundreds of km and landed at sites below -1.4 km MOLA elevation due the need to perform entry, descent and landing operations in an environment with sufficient atmospheric density. At present, robotic exploration systems engineers are struggling with the challenges of increasing landed mass capability to 0.8 t while improving landed accuracy to tens of km and landing at a site as high as +2 km MOLA elevation for the Mars Science Laboratory project. Meanwhile, current plans for human exploration of Mars call for the landing of 40-80 t surface elements at scientifically interesting locations within close proximity (tens of m) of pre-positioned robotic assets. This paper summarizes past successful entry, descent and landing systems and approaches being developed by the robotic Mars exploration program to increased landed performance (mass, accuracy and surface elevation). In addition, the entry, descent and landing sequence for a human exploration system will be reviewed, highlighting the technology and systems advances required.
Entry, Descent, Landing (EDL)↗
Automated Rock Identification for Future Mars Exploration Missions
A key task for human or robotic explorers on the surface of Mars is choosing which particular rock or mineral samples should be selected for more intensive study. The usual challenges of such a task are compounded by the lack of sensory input available to a suited astronaut or the limited downlink bandwidth available to a rover. Additional challenges facing a human mission include limited surface time and the similarities in appearance of important minerals (e.g. carbonates, silicates, salts). Yet the choice of which sample to collect is critical. To address this challenge we are developing science analysis algorithms to interface with a Geologist's Field Assistant (GFA) device that will allow robotic or human remote explorers to better sense and explore their surroundings during limited surface excursions. We aim for our algorithms to interpret spectral and imaging data obtained by various sensors. The algorithms, for example, will identify key minerals, rocks, and sediments from mid-IR, Raman, and visible/near-IR spectra as well as from high resolution and microscopic images to help interpret data and to provide high-level advice to the remote explorer. A top-level system will consider multiple inputs from raw sensor data output by imagers and spectrometers (visible/near-IR, mid-IR, and Raman) as well as human opinion to identify rock and mineral samples.
Gulick, V. C.↗
Research Needs in Electrostatics for Lunar and Mars Space Missions
The new space exploratory vision announced by President Bush on January 14, 2004, initiated new activities at the National Science and Space Administration (NASA) for human space missions to further explore our solar system. NASA is undertaking Lunar exploration to support sustained human and robotic exploration of Mars and beyond. A series of robotic missions to the Moon by 2008 to prepare for human exploration as early as 2015 but no later than 2020 are anticipated. In a similar way, missions to the Moon and Mars are being planned in Europe, Japan and Russia. These space missions will require international participation to solve problems in a number of important technological areas where research is needed, including biomedical risk mitigation as well as life support and habitability on the surface of Mars. Mitigation of dust hazards is one of the most important problems to be resolved for both Lunar and Mars missions. Both Lunar and Martian regolith are unique materials and completely different from the terrestrial soils that we are exposed to on earth. The total absence of water and an atmosphere on the moon and the formation of soil and fine dust by micrometeorite impacts over billions of years resulted in a layer of soil with unique properties. The soil is primarily basaltic in composition with a high glass concentration. The depth of the soil layer varies from a few meters in the mare areas (dark areas on the Lunar near side) to tens of meters in the highland areas (the lighter mountainous areas) and the particle size distribution of this dust layer varies widely with a major mass fraction less than 10 micrometer in diameter. The hard soil from the moon which has been extensively studied by several researchers showed clearly unique properties of Lunar soil. Apollo astronauts became aware of the potentially serious threat to crew health and mission hardware that can be caused by the lunar dust. As reported by McKay and Carrier the mass fraction of the lunar dust with particle diameter smaller than 20p.m probably represents up to 30% of the total mass of regolith. Apollo astronaut Dr. Harrison Schmidt reported that these fine dust particles were clinging to the Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits and to the visors and were limiting the activity on the surface of the moon. The dust particles that were transported with the EVA suits into the lunar module floated throughout the cabin. Crews inhaled the dust particles and noted that they smelled like gun smoke, caused a chocking sensation in the throat and eye irritation. In addition,, some of the mechanical systems were not functioning well because of the dust deposition. It appeared that the dust particles are highly charged electrostatically and Dr. Schmidt noted that future successful Lunar missions will require appropriate dust mitigation technology for protecting astronauts from inhaling toxic particles and mission's life supporting equipment from contamination with the dust particles.
Calle, Carlos I.↗
Mars Mapping Technology Brings Main Street to Life
The Red Planet has long held a particular hold on the human psyche. From the Roman god of war to Orson Welles infamous Halloween broadcast, our nearest planetary neighbor has been viewed with curiosity, suspicion, and awe. Pictures of Mars from 1965 to the present reveal familiar landscapes while also challenging our perceptions and revising our understanding of the processes at work in planets. Frequent discoveries have forced significant revisions to previous theories. Although Mars shares many familiar features with Earth, such as mountains, plains, valleys, and polar ice, the conditions on Mars can vary wildly from those with which we are familiar. The apparently cold, rocky, and dusty wasteland seen through the eyes of spacecraft and Martian probes hints at a dynamic past of volcanic activity, cataclysmic meteors, and raging waters. New discoveries continue to revise our view of our next-door neighbor, and further exploration is now paving the way for a human sortie to the fourth stone from the Sun. NASA s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration, utilizes wide-angle stereo cameras mounted on NASA s twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs), launched in 2003. The rovers, named "Spirit" and "Opportunity," celebrated 4 Earth years of exploration on January 3, 2008, and have sent back a wealth of information on the terrain and composition of the Martian surface. Their marathon performance has far outlasted the intended 90 days of operation, and the two intrepid explorers promise more images and data.
Source record↗
Mars Greenhouse Experiment Module: An Experiment to Grow Flowers on Mars
NASA has entered a new phase of in-depth exploration of the planets where robotic exploration of the Solar System is focusing on in-situ missions that pave the way for human exploration. Creating a human presence on Mars will require specialized knowledge and experience concerning the Martian environment and validated technologies that will provide life-supporting consumables. An understanding of the response of terrestrial organisms to the Martian environment with respect to potential deleterious effects on crew health and changes to biological processes will be paramount. In response to these challenges an innovative selfcontained flight experiment is proposed, which is designed to assess the biocompatibility of the Martian environment by germinating seeds and following their growth through to flowering. The experiment, dubbed Mars Greenhouse Experiment Module (Mars GEM), will be accomplished in a sealed pressurized growth chamber or 'Mars Greenhouse'. Seeds will be grown in Martian soil and the Mars Greenhouse will provide ultraviolet-radiation protected, thermal-controlled environment for plant growth that actively controls the CO2 (required nutrient) and O2 (generated by the plants) levels in the chamber. The simple, but visually dramatic, demonstration of the potential to grow a plant in a man-made environment on the surface of Mars should establish a strong connection between current robotic missions and future human habitation on Mars.
MacCallum, T. K.↗
Rovers as Geological Helpers for Planetary Surface Exploration
Rovers can be used to perform field science on other planetary surfaces and in hostile and dangerous environments on Earth. Rovers are mobility systems for carrying instrumentation to investigate targets of interest and can perform geologic exploration on a distant planet (e.g. Mars) autonomously with periodic command from Earth. For nearby sites (such as the Moon or sites on Earth) rovers can be teleoperated with excellent capabilities. In future human exploration, robotic rovers will assist human explorers as scouts, tool and instrument carriers, and a traverse "buddy". Rovers can be wheeled vehicles, like the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner, or can walk on legs, like the Dante vehicle that was deployed into a volcanic caldera on Mt. Spurr, Alaska. Wheeled rovers can generally traverse slopes as high as 35 degrees, can avoid hazards too big to roll over, and can carry a wide range of instrumentation. More challenging terrain and steeper slopes can be negotiated by walkers. Limitations on rover performance result primarily from the bandwidth and frequency with which data are transmitted, and the accuracy with which the rover can navigate to a new position. Based on communication strategies, power availability, and navigation approach planned or demonstrated for Mars missions to date, rovers on Mars will probably traverse only a few meters per day. Collecting samples, especially if it involves accurate instrument placement, will be a slow process. Using live teleoperation (such as operating a rover on the Moon from Earth) rovers have traversed more than 1 km in an 8 hour period while also performing science operations, and can be moved much faster when the goal is simply to make the distance. I will review the results of field experiments with planetary surface rovers, concentrating on their successful and problematic performance aspects. This paper will be accompanied by a working demonstration of a prototype planetary surface rover.
Stoker, Carol↗
Bridging a High School Science Fair Experience with First Year Undergraduate Research: Using the E-SPART Analyzer to Determine Electrostatic Charge Properties of Compositionally Varied Rock Dust Particles as Terrestrial Analogues to Mars Materials
NASA missions to Mars confirm presence of surficial particles, as well as dramatic periods of aeolian reworking. Dust deposition on, or infiltration into, exploration equipment such as spacecraft, robotic explorers, solar panel power supplies, and even spacesuits, can pose significant problems such as diminished power collection, short circuits / discharges, and added weight. We report results conducted initially as a science fair project and a study now part of a first year University undergraduate research experience.
Scott, A. G.↗
A Hexapod Robot to Demonstrate Mesh Walking in a Microgravity Environment
The JPL Micro-Robot Explorer (MRE) Spiderbot is a robot that takes advantage of its small size to perform precision tasks suitable for space applications. The Spiderbot is a legged robot that can traverse harsh terrain otherwise inaccessible to wheeled robots. A team of Spiderbots can network and can exhibit collaborative efforts to SUCCeSSfUlly complete a set of tasks. The Spiderbot is designed and developed to demonstrate hexapods that can walk on flat surfaces, crawl on meshes, and assemble simple structures. The robot has six legs consisting of two spring-compliant joints and a gripping actuator. A hard-coded set of gaits allows the robot to move smoothly in a zero-gravity environment along the mesh. The primary objective of this project is to create a Spiderbot that traverses a flexible, deployable mesh, for use in space repair. Verification of this task will take place aboard a zero-gravity test flight. The secondary objective of this project is to adapt feedback from the joints to allow the robot to test each arm for a successful grip of the mesh. The end result of this research lends itself to a fault-tolerant robot suitable for a wide variety of space applications.
Foor, David C.↗
Intelligent Rover Execution for Detecting Life in the Atacama Desert
On-board supervisory execution is crucial for the deployment of more capable and autonomous remote explorers. Planetary science is considering robotic explorers operating for long periods of time without ground supervision while interacting with a changing and often hostile environment. Effective and robust operations require on-board supervisory control with a high level of awareness of the principles of functioning of the environment and of the numerous internal subsystems that need to be coordinated. We describe an on-board rover executive that was deployed on a rover as past of the "Limits of Life in the Atacama Desert (LITA)" field campaign sponsored by the NASA ASTEP program. The executive was built using the Intelligent Distributed Execution Architecture (IDEA), an execution framework that uses model-based and plan-based supervisory control of its fundamental computational paradigm. We present the results of the third field experiment conducted in the Atacama desert (Chile) in August - October 2005.
Baskaran, Vijayakumar↗
Rapid Cost Assessment of Space Mission Concepts Through Application of Complexity-Based Cost Indices
This slide presentation reviews the development of a rapid cost assessment models for evaluation of exploration missions through the application of complexity based cost indices. In Fall of 2004, NASA began developing 13 documents, known as "strategic roadmaps," intended to outline a strategy for space exploration over the next 30 years. The Third Strategic Roadmap, The Strategic Roadmap for Solar System Exploration, focused on strategy for robotic exploration of the Solar System. Development of the Strategic Roadmap for Solar System Exploration led to the investigation of a large variety of missions. However, the necessity of planning around scientific inquiry and budgetary constraints made it necessary for the roadmap development team to evaluate potential missions not only for scientific return but also cost. Performing detailed cost studies for each of the large number of missions was impractical given the time constraints involved and lack of detailed mission studies; so a method of rapid cost assessment was developed by us to allow preliminary analysis. It has been noted that there is a strong correlation between complexity and cost and schedule of planetary missions. While these correlations were made after missions had been built and flown (successfully or otherwise), it seemed likely that a similar approach could provide at least some relative cost ranking. Cost estimation relationships (CERs) have been developed based on subsystem design choices. These CERs required more detailed information than available, forcing the team to adopt a more high level approach. Costing by analogy has been developed for small satellites, however, planetary exploration missions provide such varying spacecraft requirements that there is a lack of adequately comparable missions that can be used for analogy.
cost estimation↗
NASA Robotics for Space Exploration
This presentation focuses on NASA's use of robotics in support of space exploration. The content was taken from public available websites in an effort to minimize any ITAR or EAR issues. The agenda starts with an introduction to NASA and the "Vision for Space Exploration" followed by NASA's major areas of robotic use: Robotic Explorers, Astronaut Assistants, Space Vehicle, Processing, and In-Space Workhorse (space infrastructure). Pictorials and movies of NASA robots in use by the major NASA programs: Space Shuttle, International Space Station, current Solar Systems Exploration and Mars Exploration, and future Lunar Exploration are throughout the presentation.
Fischer, RIchard T.↗
HERRO Mission to Mars Using Telerobotic Surface Exploration from Orbit
This paper presents a concept for a human mission to Mars orbit that features direct robotic exploration of the planet s surface via teleoperation from orbit. This mission is a good example of Human Exploration using Real-time Robotic Operations (HERRO), an exploration strategy that refrains from sending humans to the surfaces of planets with large gravity wells. HERRO avoids the need for complex and expensive man-rated lander/ascent vehicles and surface systems. Additionally, the humans are close enough to the surface to effectively eliminate the two-way communication latency that constrains typical robotic space missions, thus allowing real-time command and control of surface operations and experiments by the crew. Through use of state-of-the-art telecommunications and robotics, HERRO provides the cognitive and decision-making advantages of having humans at the site of study for only a fraction of the cost of conventional human surface missions. It is very similar to how oceanographers and oil companies use telerobotic submersibles to work in inaccessible areas of the ocean, and represents a more expedient, near-term step prior to landing humans on Mars and other large planetary bodies. Results suggest that a single HERRO mission with six crew members could achieve the same exploratory and scientific return as three conventional crewed missions to the Mars surface.
Oleson, Steven R.↗
Mars Exploration Program Strategy: 1995-2020
In the wake of the failure of the Mars Observer mission in 1993, a long-term program of robotic exploration of Mars was established. The themes of the Mars Exploration Program are to understand life, climate, and resources on Mars, with these themes tied together by the common thread of water. The Mars Exploration Program comprises at least one Discovery mission (Mars Pathfinder), the Mars Surveyor Program, plus sample return missions and other missions to prepare possible human expiditions to Mars.
Mars↗