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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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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1974

Science aspects of a 1980 flyby of Comet Encke with a Pioneer spacecraft

Results are presented of an investigation of the feasibility of a 1980 flyby of Comet Encke using a Pioneer class spacecraft. Specific areas studied include: science objectives and rationale; science observables; effects of encounter velocity; science encounter and targeting requirements; selection and description of science instruments; definition of a candidate science payload; engineering characteristics of suggested payload; value of a separable probe; science instruments for a separable probe; science payload integration problems; and science operations profile.

Jaffe, L. D.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Status of Mars Global Surveyor Science Data Archives

The Mars Global Surveyor has been in orbit around Mars since September 1997, completing its primary mission on January 31, 2001. As of that date the spacecraft had completed more than 8000 mapping orbits. Data from its science instruments, radio science experiment, and SPICE files have been released regularly to the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS) as described in the MGS Archive Plan and Addendum and are available online. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Slavney, S.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Mars Lander Robotics and Machine Vision Capabilities for in situ Planetary Science

We overview our recent progress in lander-based robotics for Mars planetary science. Utilizing a 1:1 scale laboratory replica of the NASA Mars Surveyor '98 mission, JPL engineers and Mars sciencce colleagues have demonstrated approaches to lander science functions such as robotic sample acquisiiton and deposition, end-effector based microscopic viewing, hand-carried science instrument data collection, and science instrument emplacement by a robot.

robotics↗
NASA NTRS2011

Cryogenic Thermal Distortion Model Validation for the JWST ISIM Structure

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope consisting of an Optical telescope element (OTE), Integrated science instrument module (ISIM), a Spacecraft, and a Sunshield. The Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) consists of the JWST science instruments (NIRCam, MIRI, NIRSpec), a fine guidance sensor (FGS), the ISIM Structure, and thermal and electrical subsystems. JWST's instruments are designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the instruments and telescope operate at cryogenic temperatures (approximately 35 K for the instruments).

Johnston, John↗
NASA NTRS2007

Optical Alignment of the JWST ISIM to the OTE Simulator (OSIM): Current Concept and Design Studies

The James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) contains the observatory's four science instruments and their support subsystems. During alignment and test of the integrated ISIM at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Optical'telescope element SIMulator (OSIM) will be used to optically stimulate the science instruments to verify their operation and performance. In this paper we present the design of two cryogenic alignment fixtures that will be used to determine and verify the proper alignment of OSIM to ISIM during testing at GSFC. These fixtures, the Master Alignment Target Fixture (MAW) and the ISIM Alignment Target Fixture (IATF), will provide continuous, six degree of freedom feedback to OSIM during initial ambient alignment as well as during cryogenic vacuum testing. These fixtures will allow us to position the OSIM and maintain OSIM-ISIM alignment to better than 10 microns in translation and 250 micro-radians in rotation. We will provide a brief overview of the OSIM system and calibration and we will also discuss the relevance of these fixtures in the context of the overall ISIM alignment and verification plan.

Frey, Bradley J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Science with the solar optical telescope

The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) is designed to provide the solar physics community with the data necessary for solving several fundamental problems in the energetics and dynamics of the solar atmosphere. Among these problems are questions on the origin and evolution of the sun's magnetic field, heating of the outer solar atmosphere, and sources of the solar wind in the lower lying regions of the outer atmosphere. The SOT will be built under the management of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with science instruments provided by teams led by Principal Investigators. The telescope will be built by the Perkin-Elmer Corporation, and the science instruments selected for the first flight will be provided by the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory (LPARL) and the California Institute of Technology, with actual construction of a combined science instrument taking place at the LPARL. The SOT has a 1.3-meter-diameter primary mirror that will be capable of achieving diffraction-limited viewing in the visible of 0.1 arc-second. This dimension is less than a hydrodynamic scale-height or a mean-free-path of a continuum photon in the solar atmosphere. Image stability will be achieved by a control system in the telescope, which moves both the primary and tertiary mirrors in tandem, and will be further enhanced by a correlation tracker in the combined science instrument. The SOT Facility is currently scheduled for its first flight on Spacelab at the beginning of the 1990's.

Jordan, S. D.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Measuring the Cryogenic Optical Alignment Between the Telescope Element and the Instruments Module of the James Webb Space Telescope

The alignment between the Aft Optical Subsystem (AOS) and the Integrated Science Instruments Module (ISIM) is non-adjustable in orbit, so the alignment must be carefully verified in a cryogenic vacuum environment prior to launch. Optical point source locations calibrated by optical metrology instruments are imaged through the AOS onto the Science Instruments to determine focal, lateral, and clock angle alignment. The pupil image of the AOS is overlaid onto the pupil image of the NIRCam to determine the tip and tilt alignment. In addition, an image from fiducial lights at the Primary Mirror checks the pupil alignment between the telescope entrance pupil, the telescope pupil mask, and the NIRCam aperture stop. The image positions are combined to determine the relative alignment between the Optical Telescope Element (OTE) and the ISIM in all six degrees of freedom with corresponding alignment uncertainties. Uncertainties in the position of focused images of the test sources and images from the pupils are derived from sensitivities of an optical model of the system and the Science Instrument sensing capability. Additional uncertainty in the pupil alignment measurement is due to uncertainty in the analytical removal of gravity effects that simulate the on-orbit alignment environment.

Whitman, Tony↗
NASA NTRS1991

High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (HIRIS): Science and Instrument

The High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (HIRIS) is a facility instrument slated for flight on the second of the EOS-A series of platforms. HIRIS is designed to acquire 24-km wide, 30-m pixel images in 192 spectral bands simultaneously in the 0.4-2.45-micrometer wavelength region. With pointing mirrors it can sample any place on Earth, except the poles, every two days. HIRIS operates at the intermediate scale between the human and the global and therefore links studies of Earth surface processes to global monitoring carried out by lower-resolution instruments. So far, over 50 science data products from HIRIS images have been identified in the fields of atmospheric gases, clouds, snow and ice, water, vegetation, and rocks and soils. The key attribute of imaging spectrometry that makes it possible to derive quantitative information from the data is the large number of contiguous spectral bands. Therefore spectrum matching techniques can be applied. Such techniques are not possible with present-day, multispectral scanner data.

Goetz, Alexander F. H.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Martian Dust Simulator

The Martian Dust Simulator (MDS) was designed to investigate the contamination effects of Martian soil and rock on the performance and function of flight-like microvalves and flight-like filters located within the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite. The SAM instrument suite, which houses over fifty percent of the science payload, is located on-board the Mars exploration rover. The mission objective of the Mars Science Laboratory Rover is to determine the past, present, and future habitability of Mars. It will serve as a robot geologist, traveling the Mars surface for a period of one Martian year (equivalent to two earth years). The microvalves were designed as a conduit to control the flow of Martian gas to the science instruments. If exposed to particle sizes greater than half a micron, both the science instruments and science equipment, including forty-seven microvalves, could experience performance degradation. As a result, filters were used at various gas inlets to protect flight hardware from particulate degradation. Additionally, the filters serve as the only interface between the Martian environment and the mechanisms within SAM. The MDS operates at 7 Torr (0.135 psi) with a gas flow rate of 0 to 20 m/s. Iron (III) Oxide was the only dust particle specimen used, although several others were initially considered (i.e. JSC-Mars-1, Corundum Powder (Al2O3), Hydrated Sulfate, and Belville (Basalt)). The overarching goal of the MDS is to demonstrate that the Mars exploration program is adequately designed and prepared for the Martian mission environment.

Zuray, Monica↗
NASA NTRS2017

Juno Gravity Science: Preparing for Data Collection at Jupiter

One of the primary goals of the Juno mission is to investigate Jupiter’s interior by mapping its gravitational field with the gravity science instrument. The Juno spacecraft has two radio science components that comprise the gravity science instrument: the X-band telecommunications system for a X-up/X-down link and a Ka-band Translator for a Ka-up/Ka-down link. The Deep Space Network’s DSS-25 beam waveguide antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California provides the X- and Ka-band uplink alongside an Advanced Water Vapor Radiometer to calibrate tropospheric effects. X-band and Ka-band downlink data are collected with both open-loop and closed-loop receivers located at the complex. Utilization of Ka-band provides scientific benefit to the Doppler measurements, but also adds operational challenges. Pointing of the uplink and downlink Ka-band signals requires additional systems to be calibrated and operated by the Deep Space Network; and the higher frequency of Ka-band means the signal dynamics are increased by a factor of four over X-band signals. Due to the spacecraft’s elliptical orbit and 4000 kilometer perijove altitude, it accelerates at an extreme rate as it approaches Jupiter, inducing large dynamic ranges in Doppler range of approximately 6 MHz over 3 hours at Ka-band. After the installation of a new Ka-band transmitter at DSS-25 for Juno was completed in 2015, end-to-end testing was conducted to ensure readiness for operations at Jupiter and provide an initial assessment of the performance. Cruise testing was conducted in the same operational configuration that the system will be used in during perijove passes. Processed open-loop data yielded uncalibrated Doppler residuals of 1.9 mHz at X-band and 6.0 mHz at Ka-band with 5-second compression time. Conduction of these tests has prepared the instrument and the operations team for science data collection during the science phase of the mission.

Buccino, Dustin↗
NASA NTRS2015

LADEE Science Results and Implications for Exploration

NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, LADEE, concluded a fully successful investigation of the Moon's tenuous gas and dust atmosphere on April 18, 2014. LADEE hosted three science instruments to address atmospheric and dust objectives, and a technology demonstration of deep-space optical communication. The three science instruments were an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer (UVS), a neutral mass spectrometer (NMS), and a lunar dust experiment (LDEX). All data acquired by these instruments have been submitted to the Planetary Data System. A mission overview and science instrument descriptions are readily available. LADEE inserted into a low-altitude, retrograde lunar orbit optimized for observations at the sunrise terminator, where surface temperatures rise abruptly. LADEE also carried out observations over a wide range of local times and altitudes. Here we describe some of the initial results.

LADEE↗
NASA NTRS1966

Venus capsule science

Instruments for measuring altitude dependent physical properties of Venus atmosphere from entry capsule

SPACECRAFT INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS1982

A research in support of NASA's space science

Instrumentation, the interpretation of data from space-borne instruments and the development of theoretical studies of the Earth's environment are reported. New circuitry was introduced to the existing ion drift meter to enable the detection of light ion velocities that are different from the major ion species. Significant progress was made in the tailoring of magnetic mass analysis to stratospheric ions where care must be taken to preserve the original species and to obtain good mass resolution at high mass numbers. Also a rugged and durable zoom imaging spectrometer was successfully tested and important modifications are being undertaken to allow larger scanning ranges for observation of weak airglow emissions from the Earth's atmosphere. Data interpretation efforts led to the discovery of a new class of plasma irregularities on the bottomside of the F-region. Studies of all the available plasma properties from satellite measurements in the high latitude ionosphere revealed regions of field aligned currents where it is reasonable to expect thermal electrons to be the dominant current carriers.

Hanson, W. B.↗
NASA NTRS2023

The Design, Verification and Performance of the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is NASA’s flagship mission successor to the highly successful Hubble Space Telescope. It is an infrared observatory featuring a cryogenic 6.6 m aperture, deployable Optical Telescope Element (OTE) with a payload of four science instruments (SIs) assembled into an Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) that provide imagery and spectroscopy in the near-infrared band between 0.6 and 5 μm and in the mid-infrared band between 5 and 28.1 μm. JWST was successfully launched on 2021 December 25 aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle. All 50 major deployments were successfully completed on 2022 January 8. The observatory performed all midcourse correction maneuvers and achieved its operational mission orbit around the Sun–Earth second Lagrange point (L2). All commissioning and calibration activities have been completed, and JWST has begun its science mission. This paper will provide a description of the driving requirements and their technical challenges, the engineering processes involved in the design formulation, the resulting observatory design, the verification programs that proved it to be flightworthy, and the measured on-orbit performance of the observatory. Since companion papers will describe the details of the OTE and SIs, this paper will concentrate on describing the key features of the observatory architecture that accommodates these elements, particularly those features and capabilities associated with accommodating the radiometric and image-quality performance.

Galaxy evolution↗
NASA NTRS2001

Chandra Space Flight Software: Using Software to Autonomously Operation the Largest and Most Sensitive X-Ray Telescope in the World

Chandra is the world's largest and most sensitive X-ray telescope. The Chandra X-ray Observatory is the third in NASA's family of "Great Observatories." The Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is NASA's newest Great Observatory. The Chandra space flight software is the operational software, which controls and directs the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The Chandra flight software has executed faultlessly for over 13,000 hours on-orbit. The Chandra flight software directly controls the Pointing, Aspect Determination, Electrical Power Subsystem, Propulsion system, and the Command, Communications, and Data Management subsystems. The software controls the spacecraft operations during all phases of the mission. The software also performs thermal control of the telescope to maintain pointing accuracy and monitors radiation levels throughout the orbit so that the Science Instruments can be safed if radiation thresholds are exceeded. The efficient operation of Chandra flight software has enabled the gathering of crucial science data. The Chandra flight software fault protection is the key to early detection and prevention of science instrument or spacecraft damage in an operating platform/environment, which is completely unforgiving. Permanently open Sun Shade Door and ACIS focal plane radiator sensitivity exposes science instruments and mirrors to damage for pointing anomalies causing an attitude excursion. The Chandra flight software must prevent these attitude excursions from occurring for ANY failure. Another example is that the power system has an unregulated bus, which imposes severe operating requirements on Chandra flight software to control array pointing and battery connection/disconnect using a unique algorithmic and logic approach. The Chandra flight software has enabled a truly autonomous vehicle with greater than 99% of all mission data collected as planned. Less than 15% of spacecraft operations are conducted in view (1 hour out of 8) leading to very extended periods without ground contact. The Chandra flight software implements the flexible mission plan during this out of view period, manages the solid state recorder capacity, controls all pointing and maneuvers, provides fault detection for all satellite subsystems, and initiates communications with the ground at the appropriate time. This paper will describe the software architecture features, key design elements and software testing techniques that have facilitated Chandra's success.

Crumbley, Tim↗
NASA NTRS1994

Use of a multimission system for cost effective support of planetary science data processing

JPL's Multimission Operations Systems Office (MOSO) provides a multimission facility at JPL for processing science instrument data from NASA's planetary missions. This facility, the Multimission Image Processing System (MIPS), is developed and maintained by MOSO to meet requirements that span the NASA family of planetary missions. Although the word 'image' appears in the title, MIPS is used to process instrument data from a variety of science instruments. This paper describes the design of a new system architecture now being implemented within the MIPS to support future planetary mission activities at significantly reduced operations and maintenance cost.

Green, William B.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Jwst from Below: An Overview of the Construction of the James Webb Space Telescope, Interesting Metrology, and Cryogenic-Vacuum Testing

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a 6.6m diameter, segmented, deployable telescope for cryogenic IR space astronomy (40K). The JWST Observatory includes the Optical Telescope Element (OTE) and the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) that contains four science instruments (SI) and the guider. The SIs are mounted to a composite metering structure. The SI and guider units are integrated to the ISIM structure and optically tested at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a suite using a telescope simulator (Optical Telescope Element SIMulator; OSIM). OSIM is a full field, cryogenic JWST telescope simulator. SI performance, including alignment and wavefront error, is evaluated using OSIM. This is an overview presentation to undergraduate students and other personnel at the University of Richmond, planned for 12 Oct, 2016. It uses material previously released by NASA on the Internet (e.g., via Flickr) or at engineering conferences (e.g., SPIE). This presentation provides an overview of the status of the project, with an emphasis on optics and measurement.

instrument development↗