Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Lunar Prospector”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Resource Prospector: An Update on the Lunar Volatiles Prospecting and ISRU Demonstration Mission

Over the last two decades a wealth of new observations of the moon have demonstrated a lunar water system dramatically more complex and rich than was deduced following the Apollo era. Lunar water, and other volatiles, have the potential to be a valuable or enabling resource for future exploration. The NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) have selected a lunar volatiles prospecting mission for a concept study and potential flight in CY2021. The mission includes a rover-borne payload that (1) can locate surface and near-subsurface volatiles, (2) excavate and analyze samples of the volatile-bearing regolith, and (3) demonstrate the form, extractability and usefulness of the materials.

Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directora↗
NASA NTRS2017

Resource Prospector: An Update on the Lunar Volatiles Prospecting and ISRU Demonstration Mission

Over the last two decades a wealth of new observations of the moon have demonstrated a lunar water system dramatically more complex and rich than was deduced following the Apollo era. Lunar water, and other volatiles, have the potential to be a valuable or enabling resource for future exploration. The NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) have selected a lunar volatiles prospecting mission for a concept study and potential flight in CY2021. The mission includes a rover-borne payload that (1) can locate surface and near-subsurface volatiles, (2) excavate and analyze samples of the volatile- bearing regolith, and (3) demonstrate the form, extractability and usefulness of the materials.

Moon↗
NASA NTRS2017

Beyond Control Centers

For NASA's Resource Prospector (RP) Lunar Rover Mission, we are moving away from a control center concept, to a fully distributed operation utilizing control nodes, with decision support from anywhere via mobile devices. This operations concept will utilize distributed information systems, notifications, mobile data access, and optimized mobile data display for off-console decision support. We see this concept of operations as a step in the evolution of mission operations from a central control center concept to a mission operations anywhere concept. The RP example is part of a trend, in which mission expertise for design, development and operations is distributed across countries and across the globe. Future spacecraft operations will be most cost efficient and flexible by following this distributed expertise, enabling operations from anywhere. For the RP mission we arrived at the decision to utilize a fully distributed operations team, where everyone operates from their home institution, based on evaluating the following factors: the requirement for physical proximity for near-real time command and control decisions; the cost of distributed control nodes vs. a centralized control center; the impact on training and mission preparation of flying the team to a central location. Physical proximity for operational decisions is seldom required, though certain categories of decisions, such as launch abort, or close coordination for mission or safety-critical near-real-time command and control decisions may benefit from co-location. The cost of facilities and operational infrastructure has not been found to be a driving factor for location in our studies. Mission training and preparation benefit from having all operators train and operate from home institutions.

Operations↗
NASA NTRS2020

Evidence for a Stratified Upper Mantle Preserved within the South Pole - Aitken Basin

The evolution and compositional structure of the lunar mantle has been extensively modeled but insufficiently constrained by observations. Here, we identify and characterize mantle materials exposed by the Moon's largest impact basin to better understand the composition, stratigraphy, and evolution of the upper mantle. The vast South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA) exhibits a broad, crescent-shaped thorium and potassium distribution. These incompatible elements are predicted to be concentrated in the dregs of the lunar magma ocean during end-stage crystallization. Through consideration of basin formation models convolved with subsequent geologic evolution, we demonstrate that the distribution and implied stratigraphy of Th- and K-bearing materials across SPA are consistent with an upper mantle ejecta origin. The most pristine exposures of these materials are confined to northwest SPA and also exhibit elevated Ti and Fe (relative to the farside highlands) in association with a gabbronoritic mineralogy. This is consistent with latestage magma ocean assemblages predicted by petrologic models. In contrast, SPA impact melt derived from greater depths is associated with a low-Ca pyroxene-dominated assemblage. Together, these compositional patterns are evidence for a stratified ancient upper mantle. Importantly, the incompatible-element-enriched, ilmenite-bearing ferroan gabbronoritic cumulates evidently had not participated in gravitational overturn at the time of SPA formation. Contrary to recent hypotheses invoking nearside sequestration of incompatible elements to explain hemispherical differences in crustal building and volcanic resurfacing, it follows that incompatible elements were globally distributed in the magma ocean at the time of SPA formation.

Lunar dichotomy↗
NASA NTRS2017

Characterization of Volatiles Loss from Soil Samples at Lunar Environments

Resource Prospector Integrated Thermal Vacuum Test Program A series of ground based dirty thermal vacuum tests are being conducted to better understand the subsurface sampling operations for RP Volatiles loss during sampling operations Hardware performance Sample removal and transfer Concept of operationsInstrumentation5 test campaigns over 5 years have been conducted with RP hardware with advancing hardware designs and additional RP subsystems Volatiles sampling 4 years Using flight-forward regolith sampling hardware, empirically determine volatile retention at lunar-relevant conditions Use data to improve theoretical predictions Determine driving variables for retention Bound water loss potential to define measurement uncertainties. The main goal of this talk is to introduce you to our approach to characterizing volatiles loss for RP. Introduce the facility and its capabilities Overview of the RP hardware used in integrated testing (most recent iteration) Summarize the test variables used thus farReview a sample of the results.

In Situ Resource Utilization↗
NASA NTRS2015

Mojave Volatiles Prospector (MVP): Science and Operations Results from a Lunar Polar Rover Analog Field Campaign

The Mojave Volatiles Prospector (MVP) project is a science-driven field program with the goal of producing critical knowledge for conducting robotic exploration of the Moon. MVP feeds science, payload, and operational lessons learned to the development of a real-time, short-duration lunar polar volatiles prospecting mission. MVP achieved these goals through a simulated lunar rover mission to investigate the composition and distribution of surface and subsurface volatiles in a natural and a priori unknown environment within the Mojave Desert, improving our understanding of how to find, characterize, and access volatiles on the Moon.

xGDS real-time science tools↗
NASA NTRS2017

Documenting Surface and Sub-surface Volatiles While Drilling in Frozen Lunar Simulant

NASA's Resource Prospector (RP) mission is intended to characterize the three-dimensional nature of volatiles in lunar polar regions and permanently shadowed regions. RP is slated to carry two instruments for prospecting purposes. These include the Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS) and Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS). A Honybee Robotics drill (HRD) is intended to sample to depths of 1 m, and deliver a sample to a crucible that is processed by the Oxygen Volatile Extraction Node (OVEN) where the soil is heated and evolved gas is delivered to the gas chromatograph / mass spectrometer of the Lunar Advanced Volatile Analysis system (LAVA). For several years, tests of various sub-systems have been undertaken in a large cryo-vacuum chamber facility (VF-13) located at Glenn Research Center. In these tests a large tube (1.2 m high x 25.4 cm diameter) is filled with lunar simulant, NU-LHT-3M, prepared with known abundances of water. There are thermo-couples embedded at different depths, and also across the surface of the soil tube. The soil tube is placed in the chamber and cooled with LN2 as the pressure is reduced to approx.5-6x10(exp -6) Torr. Here we discuss May 2016 tests where two soil tubes were prepared and placed in the chamber. Also located in the chamber were 5 crucibles, an Inficon mass spectrometer, and a trolly permitting x-y translation, where the HRD and NIRVSS, were mounted. The shroud surrounding the soil tube was held at different temperatures for each tube to simulate a warm and cold lunar environment.

Oxygen Volatile Extraction Node↗
NASA NTRS2016

Spectral Monitoring of Volatiles During Drilling into Frozen Lunar Simulant

NASA's Resource Prospector (RP) project intends to characterize the 3D distribution of volatiles in permanently shadowed regions at the lunar poles. One RP remote sensing instrument is a near-infrared spectrometer with an associated camera and radiometer, called the Near-InfraRed Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS). In May 2016, NIRVSS, a Honeybee Robotics drill, and an Inficon mass spectrometer were placed in a vacuum chamber at Glenn Research Center. Also inside was a tube (1.2 m high x 25 cm diameter) filled with lunar simulant NU-LHT-3M, initially doped with a homogeneous water abundance of ~5%, chilled to cryogenic temperatures and exposed to a vacuum (~10e-6 Torr). During drilling, the NIRVSS instruments observed the cuttings pile as subsurface materials were emplaced on the surface. Spectral features associated with water ice, near 2000 and 3000 nm, were measured by the spectrometer during drilling. The spectral data documents development of a desiccated soil layer in the tube down to ~25-30 cm (confirmed by post-test soil analyses), formed during the initial pump down to vacuum. Drilling occurred in 10 cm segments, with the drill stem extracted and flutes brushed after each 10 cm depth. One exception to this was the 40 cm depth segment where the soil was delivered to a sample capture mechanism, and sealed for post-test analyses. To ~30 cm depth the greatest 2000 and 3000 nm signatures were associated with brushing of the drill flutes above the surface. At depths >40 cm the strongest ice signatures were associated with the drill clearing soil from the existing hole, or beginning to encounter new material. For these greater depths, brushing the flutes after extraction produced much weaker ice signatures than for shallower depths. This suggests that the soil may remain trapped in the exit funnel and is not emplaced on the surface. After each event creating strong ice signatures, these signatures decreased to near background levels in 5 minutes or less, due to surface exposure to vacuum.

lunar poles↗
NASA NTRS2016

Resource Prospector Landing Site and Traverse Plan Development

Resource Prospector (RP) will be the first lunar surface robotic expedition to explore the character and feasibility of in situ resource utilization at the lunar poles. It is aimed at determining where, and how much, hydrogen-bearing and other volatiles are sequestered in polar cold traps. To meet its goals, the mission should land where the likelihood of finding polar volatiles is high. The operational environment is challenging: very low sun elevations, long shadows cast by even moderate relief, cryogenic subsurface temperatures, unknown regolith properties, and very dynamic sun and Earth communications geometries force a unique approach to landing, traverse design and mission operations.

lunar poles↗
NASA NTRS2017

Landing Site and Traverse Plan Development for Resource Prospector

Resource Prospector (RP) will be the first lunar surface robotic expedition to explore the character and feasibility of in situ resource utilization at the lunar poles. It is aimed at determining where, and how much, hydrogen-bearing and other volatiles are sequestered in polar cold traps. To meet its goals, the mission should land where the likelihood of finding polar volatiles is high [1,2,3]. The operational environment is challenging: very low sun elevations, long shadows cast by even moderate relief, cryogenic subsurface temperatures, unknown regolith properties, and very dynamic sun and Earth communications geometries force a unique approach to landing, traverse design and mission operations.

lunar poles↗
NASA NTRS2020

Material Remodelling and Unconventional Gaits Facilitate Locomotion of a Robophysical Rover Over Granular Terrain

Autonomous robots and vehicles must occasionally recover from locomotion failure in loosely consolidated granular terrain. Recent mobility challenges led NASA Johnson Space Center to develop a prototype robotic lunar rover Resource Prospector 15 (RP15) capable of wheeled, legged, and crawling behavior. To systematically understand performance of such a device, we developed a scaled-down rover robot and studied its locomotion on slopes of dry and wet granular media. Addition of a cyclic legged gait to the robot’s wheel spinning action changes the robot dynamics from that of a wheeled vehicle to a locomotor paddling through frictional fluid. Granular drag force measurements and modified Resistive Force Theory facilitate modeling of such dynamics. A peculiar gait strategy that agitates and cyclically reflows grains under the robot allows it to ‘swim’ up loosely consolidated hills. Whereas substrate disturbance typically hinders locomotion in granular media, the multi-mode design of RP15 and a diversity of possible gaits facilitate formation of self-organized localized frictional fluids that enable effective robust transport.

Siddharth Shrivastava↗
NASA NTRS2016

Extreme Mapping: Looking for Water on the Moon

There are many challenges when exploring extreme environments. Gathering accurate data to build maps about places that you cannot go is incredibly complex. NASA supports scientists by remotely operating robotic rovers to explore uncharted territories. One potential upcoming mission is to look for water near a lunar pole (the Resource Prospector mission). Learn about the technical hurdles and research steps that NASA takes before the mission. NASA practices on Earth with Mission Analogs which simulate the proposed mission. This includes going to lunar-type landscapes, building field networks, testing out rovers, instruments and operational procedures. NASA sets up remote science back rooms just as there are for actual missions. NASA develops custom Ground Data Systems software to support scientific mission planning and monitoring over variable time delays, and separate commanding software and infrastructure to operate the rovers.

MOON↗
NASA NTRS1998

Prospecting for Lunar Oxygen with Gamma-Ray Spectrometry and Multispectral Imaging

Oxygen is a potentially abundant lunar resource that could be used for life support and spacecraft propulsion. The recent identification by Prospector of ice at the lunar poles has renewed interest in the use of in situ 0 production to supply a future base. Siting a lunar base at any significant distance from the poles, however, would require costly transport of 0 or its extraction from the local regolith. More than 20 different processes have been proposed for regolith 0 extraction. Among the simplest and best studied of these processes is the reduction of oxides in lunar minerals and glass using H gas. Oxides, predominantly those containing FeO, are first reduced; 0 is then liberated to form water. The water is then electrolyzed to yield 0, and the H is recycled to the reactor.

Allen, Carlton C.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Rover Traverse Planning to Support a Lunar Polar Volatiles Mission

Studies of lunar polar volatile depositsare of interest for scientific purposes to understandthe nature and evolution of the volatiles, and alsofor exploration reasons as a possible in situ resource toenable long term exploration and settlement of theMoon. Both theoretical and observational studies havesuggested that significant quantities of volatiles exist inthe polar regions, although the lateral and horizontaldistribution remains unknown at the km scale and finerresolution. A lunar polar rover mission is required tofurther characterize the distribution, quantity, andcharacter of lunar polar volatile deposits at thesehigher spatial resolutions. Here we present two casestudies for NASA’s Resource Prospector (RP) missionconcept for a lunar polar rover and utilize this missionarchitecture and associated constraints to evaluatewhether a suitable landing site exists to support an RPflight mission.

NASAaEuro(TM)s Resource Prospector (RP) mission↗
NASA NTRS2018

Observing Ice Sublimation From Water-Doped Lunar Simulant at Cryogenic Temperatures

NASA's Resource Prospector (RP) mission is intended to characterize the three-dimensional nature of volatiles in lunar polar and permanently shadowed regions. The Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) observes while a drill penetrates to a maximum depth of 1 m. Any 10 cm increment of soil identified as containing water ice can be delivered to a heating crucible with the evolved gas delivered to a gas chromatograph / mass spectrometer. NIRVSS consists of two components; a spectrometer box (SB) and bracket assembly (BA), connected by two fiber optic cables. The SB contains separate short- and long-wavelength spectrometers, SW and LW respectively, that collectively span the 1600-3400 nm range. The BA contains an IR emitter (lamp), drill observation camera (DOC, 2048 x 2048 CMOS detector), 8 different wavelength LEDs, and a longwave calibration sensor (LCS) measuring the surface emissivity at four IR wavelengths. Tests of various RP sub-systems have been under-taken in a large cryo-vacuum chamber at Glenn Re-search Center. The chamber accommodates a tube (1.2 m high x 25.4 cm diameter) filled with lunar simulant, NU-LHT-3M, prepared with known abundances of water. Thermocouples are embedded at different depths, and also across the surface of the soil tube. In the chamber the tube is cooled with LN2 as the pressure is reduced to approx. 5-6x10(exp -6) Torr. For the May 2016 tests two soil tubes were prepared with initially 2.5 Wt.% water. The shroud surrounding the soil tube was held at different temperatures for each tube to simulate a warm and cold lunar environment. Table 1 provides a summary of experimental conditions and Figure 1 shows the nominal view of the NIRVSS components, the drill foot, and the top of the soil tube. Once the average soil temperature reached approx. 178 K, drilling commenced. During drilling activities NIRVSS was alternating between obtaining spectra and obtaining images. Here we discuss NIRVSS spectral data obtained during controlled drill percussions.

Roush, T. L.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Landing Site and Traverse Plan Development for Resource Prospector

Resource Prospector (RP) will be the first lunar surface robotic expedition to explore the character and feasibility of in situ resource utilization at the lunar poles. It is aimed at determining where, and how much, hydrogen-bearing and other volatiles are sequestered in polar cold traps. To meet its goals, the mission should land where the likelihood of finding polar volatiles is high. The operational environment is challenging: very low sun elevations, long shadows cast by even moderate relief, cryogenic subsurface temperatures, unknown regolith properties, and very dynamic sun and Earth communications geometries force a unique approach to landing, traverse design and mission operations.

Resource Prospector (RP)↗
NASA NTRS2015

LAVA Subsystem Integration and Testing for the RESOLVE Payload of the Resource Prospector Mission: Mass Spectrometers and Gas Chromatography

The Regolith and Environment Science & Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) payload is part of Resource Prospector (RP) along with a rover and a lander that are expected to launch in 2020. RP will identify volatile elements that may be combined and collected to be used for fuel, air, and water in order to enable deeper space exploration. The Resource Prospector mission is a key part of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). The demand for this method of utilizing resources at the site of exploration is increasing due to the cost of resupply missions and deep space exploration goals. The RESOLVE payload includes the Lunar Advanced Volatile Analysis (LAVA) subsystem. The main instrument used to identify the volatiles evolved from the lunar regolith is the Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS). LAVA analyzes the volatiles emitted from the Oxygen and Volatile Extraction Node (OVEN) Subsystem. The objective of OVEN is to obtain, weigh, heat and transfer evolved gases to LAVA through the connection between the two subsystems called the LOVEN line. This paper highlights the work completed during a ten week internship that involved the integration, testing, data analysis, and procedure documentation of two candidate mass spectrometers for the LAVA subsystem in order to aid in determining which model to use for flight. Additionally, the examination of data from the integrated Resource Prospector '15 (RP' 15) field test will be presented in order to characterize the amount of water detected from water doped regolith samples.

RESOLVE↗
NASA NTRS2014

Resource Prospector Propulsion Cold Flow Test

For the past year, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and Johnson Space Center have been working on a government version of a lunar lander design for the Resource Prospector Mission. A propulsion cold flow test system, representing an early flight design of the propulsion system, has been fabricated. The primary objective of the cold flow test is to simulate the Resource Prospector propulsion system operation through water flow testing and obtain data for anchoring analytical models. This effort will also provide an opportunity to develop a propulsion system mockup to examine hardware integration to a flight structure. This paper will report the work progress of the propulsion cold flow test system development and test preparation. At the time this paper is written, the initial waterhammer testing is underway. The initial assessment of the test data suggests that the results are as expected and have a similar trend with the pretest prediction. The test results will be reported in a future conference.

Williams, Hunter↗