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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 199 records · Page 11
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NASA NTRS2009

An Impact Sensor System for the Characterization of the Micrometeoroid and Lunar Secondary Ejecta Environment

The Impact Sensor for Micrometeoroid and Lunar Secondary Ejecta (IMMUSE) project aims to apply and integrate previously demonstrated impact sensing subsystems to characterize the micrometeoroid and lunar secondary (MMSE) environment on the surface of the Moon. Once deployed, data returned from IMMUSE will benefit: (1) Fundamental Lunar Science: providing data to improve the understanding of lunar cratering processes and dynamics of the lunar regolith. (2) Lunar Exploration Applied Science: providing an accurate MMSE environment definition for reliable impact risk assessments, cost-effective shielding designs, and mitigation measures for long-term lunar exploration activities. (3) Planetary Science: providing micrometeoroid data to aid the understanding of asteroidal collisions and the evolution of comets. A well-established link between micrometeoroid impacts and lunar regolith is also key to understanding other regolith-covered bodies from remote-sensing data. The IMMUSE system includes two components: (1) a large area (greater than or equal to 1 m2) micrometeoroid detector based on acoustic impact and fiber optic displacement sensors and (2) a 100 cm2 lunar secondary ejecta detector consisting of dual-layer laser curtain and acoustic impact sensors. The combinations of different detection mechanisms will allow for a better characterization of the MMSE environment, including flux, particle size/mass, and impact velocity. IMMUSE is funded by the NASA LASER Program through 2012. The project fs goal is to reach a Technical Readiness Level of 4 in preparation for a more advanced development beyond 2012. Several prototype subsystems have been constructed and subjected to low impact and hypervelocity impact tests. The presentation will include a status review and preliminary test results.

Liou, J.-C.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Recent Results from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission and Plans for the Extended Mission

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft (LRO), launched on June 18, 2009, began with the goal of seeking safe landing sites for future robotic missions or the return of humans to the Moon as part of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD). In addition, LRO's objectives included the search for surface resources and to investigate the Lunar radiation environment. After spacecraft commissioning, this phase of the mission began on September 15, 2009, completed on September 15, 2010 when operational responsibility for LRO was transferred to NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). The SMD mission is scheduled for 2 years and will be completed in 2012 with an opportunity for an extended mission beyond 2012. Under SMD, the mission focuses on a new set of goals related to understanding the geologic history of the Moon, its current state, and what it can tell us about the evolution of the Solar System. Having marked the two year anniversary will review here the major results from the LRO mission for both exploration and science and discuss plans and objectives going forward including a proposed 2-year extended mission. These objectives include: 1) understanding the bombardment history of the Moon, 2) interpreting Lunar geologic processes, 3) mapping the global Lunar regolith, 4) identifying volatiles on the Moon, and 5) measuring the Lunar atmosphere and radiation environment.

Keller, John W.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Recent Results from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission and Plans for the Extended Science Phase

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft (LRO), launched on June 18, 2009, began with the goal of seeking safe landing sites for future robotic missions or the return of humans to the Moon as part of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD). In addition, LRO's objectives included the search for surface resources and to investigate the Lunar radiation environment. After spacecraft commissioning, the ESMD phase of the mission began on September 15, 2009 and completed on September 15, 2010 when operational responsibility for LRO was transferred to NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). The SMD mission was scheduled for 2 years and completed in September, 2012. The LRO mission has been extended for two years under SMD. The extended mission focuses on a new set of goals related to understanding the geologic history of the Moon, its current state, and what it can tell us about the evolution Of the Solar System. Here we will review the major results from the LRO mission for both exploration and science and discuss plans and objectives going forward including plans for the extended science phase out to 2014. Results from the LRO mission include but are not limited to the development of comprehensive high resolution maps and digital terrain models of the lunar surface; discoveries on the nature of hydrogen distribution, and by extension water, at the lunar poles; measurement of the day and night time temperature of the lunar surface including temperature down below 30 K in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs); direct measurement of Hg, H2, and CO deposits in the PSRs, evidence for recent tectonic activity on the Moon, and high resolution maps of the illumination conditions as the poles. The objectives for the second and extended science phases of the mission under SMD include: 1) understanding the bombardment history of the Moon, 2) interpreting Lunar geologic processes, 3) mapping the global Lunar regolith, 4) identifying volatiles on the Moon, and 5) measuring the Lunar atmosphere and radiation environment.

Vondrak, Richard↗
NASA NTRS1975

Lunar Science Conference, 6th, Houston, Tex., March 17-21, 1975, Proceedings. Volume 2 - Chemical and isotopic studies

The chemical compositions of lunar rocks and soils are examined, taking into account sulfur abundances and distributions in mare basalts and their source magmas, lithophile trace and major elements in Apollo 16 and 17 lunar samples, the role of vaporization processes in lunar rock formation, chemical studies of the lunar regolith with emphasis on zirconium and hafnium, a model for the lunar anorthositic gabbro, and trace-element chemistry and reducing capacity of size fractions from the Apollo 16 regolith. Other topics considered are related to lunar chronology, volatile meteoritic elements, isotopic studies, light element geochemistry, and agglutinates and regolith processes. Attention is given to meteoritic material in four terrestrial meteorite craters, the state of meteoritic material on the moon, volatile elements in Allende inclusions, oxygen isotope fractionation in Apollo 17 rocks, cosmogenic isotope production in Apollo deep-core samples, and the effects of exposure conditions on cosmic-ray records in lunar rocks.

Merrill, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Solar cells for lunar applications by vacuum evaporation of lunar regolith materials

The National Space Exploration Initiative, specifically the Lunar component, has major requirements for technology development of critical systems, one of which is electrical power. The availability of significant electrical power on the surface of the Moon is a principal driver defining the complexity of the lunar base. Proposals to generate power on the Moon include both nuclear and solar (photovoltaic) systems. A more efficient approach is to attempt utilization of the existing lunar resources to generate the power systems. Synergism may occur from the fact that there have already been lunar materials processing techniques proposed for the extraction of oxygen that would have, as by-products, materials that could be specifically used to generate solar cells. The lunar environment is a vacuum with pressures generally in the 1 x 10(exp -10) torr range. Such conditions provide an ideal environment for direct vacuum deposition of thin film solar cells using the waste silicon, iron, and TiO2 available from the lunar regolith processing meant to extract oxygen. It is proposed, therefore, to grow by vacuum deposition, thin film silicon solar cells from the improved regolith processing by-products.

Ignatiev, Alex↗
NASA NTRS1991

Oxygen production by pyrolysis of lunar regolith

Oxygen was identified as the most important product of initial lunar materials processing efforts. A source of oxygen on the Moon provides an alternative to the costly transport of propellant to the Moon or to low earth orbit. Pyrolysis, or vapor-phase reduction, involves heating a feedstock to temperatures sufficient to decompose the constituent metal oxides and release oxygen. The process relies on the vaporization of metal oxides in the form of reduced suboxides or atomic species. The reduced species must then be condensed without re-oxidizing, yielding oxygen in the gas phase. The feasibility of obtaining oxygen from common lunar minerals was demonstrated using solar furnace experiments. These results are discussed together with chemical equilibrium models which were extended to include the multicomponent oxides used in experiments. For the first time, both experiments and theoretical models dealt with the complex oxides that make up potential lunar feedstocks. Two major conclusions are drawn from this preliminary work. First, unbeneficiated regolith is a suitable feedstock for pyrolysis. Second, the process can operate at moderate temperatures, circa 2000 K, which could be supplied by direct solar or electrical energy. In addition to these advantages in choice of feedstock and energy source, the pyrolysis process requires no chemicals or reagents, making it an attractive process for lunar oxygen production.

Senior, Constance L.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Radiometric Degradation Curves for the ASTER VNIR Processing Using Vicarious and Lunar Calibrations

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) onboard Terra platform, which was launched in 1999, has three separate subsystems: a visible and near-infrared (VNIR) radiometer, a shortwave-infrared radiometer, and a thermal-infrared radiometer. The ASTER VNIR bands have been radiometrically corrected for approximately 14 years by the sensor degradation curves estimated from the onboard calibrator according to the original calibration plan. However, this calibration by the onboard calibrator encountered a problem; specifically, it is inconsistent with the results of vicarious calibration and cross calibration. Therefore, the ASTER VNIR processing was applied by the radiometric degradation curves calculated from the results of three calibration approaches, i.e., the onboard calibrator, the vicarious calibration, and the cross calibration since February 2014. Even though the current degradation curves were revised, the inter-band and lunar calibrations show some inconsistencies owing to the different traceability in the bands by different calibration approaches. In this study, the current degradation curves and their problems are explained, and the new curves that are derived from the vicarious calibration with lunar calibration are discussed. The new degradation curves that have the same traceability in the bands will be used for future ASTER VNIR processing.

ASTER; Vicarious calibration; Lunar calibration; R↗
NASA NTRS2013

A Post-Processing Receiver for the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration Project

The Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration Project undertaken by MIT Lincoln Laboratory and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center will demonstrate high-rate laser communications from lunar orbit to the Earth. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing a backup ground station supporting a data rate of 39 Mbps that is based on a non-real-time software post-processing receiver architecture. This approach entails processing sample-rate-limited data without feedback in the presence high uncertainty in downlink clock characteristics under low signal flux conditions. In this paper we present a receiver concept that addresses these challenges with descriptions of the photodetector assembly, sample acquisition and recording platform, and signal processing approach. End-to-end coded simulation and laboratory data analysis results are presented that validate the receiver conceptual design.

optical communications↗
NASA NTRS1974

Loss of oxygen, silicon, sulfur, and potassium from the lunar regolith

The processes of formation and maturation of lunar soils lead to enrichments in the heavy stable isotopes of oxygen, silicon, sulfur, and potassium. The isotopic enrichment implies substantial losses of these elements from the moon. Vaporization by micrometeorite impact and by ion sputtering have removed at least 1% of the mass of the regolith. The losses of sulfur and potassium amount to at least 20-30% of their original abundance in the regolith.

Clayton, R. N.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Power requirements for mining and microwave processing of extraterrestrial resources

Research in progress on the use of nuclear power in mining the Martian moons for volatiles and hydrocarbons as well as to power microwave generators for processing both lunar regolith and the spoils from the Martian mines into building materials is described. Previous work on mining the Martian moons developed estimates for the costs and power requirements for extracting and shipping any volatiles that might be found on Phobos and Diemos. The costs were compared to the cost of shipping the same volatiles from Earth and it was found that the mining operation would break even for launch costs from Earth as low as ninety dollars per pound (198 dollars/kg). Above this figure the mines would generate a profit. Based on the results of recent work on the microwave processing of lunar regolith it was decided to refine the concept description. Work under way and to be reported deals with a better definition of the power required for mine operations, nuclear propulsion, and microwave materials processing.

Raymond S. Leonard↗
NASA NTRS1993

In-space operations for lunar and Mars space transfer vehicles

The objective of this paper is to discuss the in-space operations required to process the lunar and Mars mission vehicles envisioned for the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI). Recent studies, which have examined the degree to which on-orbit operations change as a function of the Earth-to-orbit (ETO) launch vehicle size, identified a common set of on-orbit vehicle processing tasks, and generated functional requirements for in-space processing nodes are summarized in this paper. Timelines for on-orbit processing of two different lunar transfer vehicles (LTV's) were developed to compare a 'current practice,' labor-intensive EVA approach to ones utilizing telerobotics and advanced automation. LTV aerobrake concepts ranging from simple deployment to considerable assembly are compared. Similar timelines for the on-orbit processing of a nuclear Mars transfer vehicle (MTV) are also presented. Aerobrakes can be processed in a timely manner and should not be ruled out for SEI missions. The 'tall pole' time interval for on-orbit vehicle initial processing is the delivery of elements to orbit, not the processing tasks.

Raper, James L., Sr.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Data processing assessment for the Lunar Geoscience Observer imaging spectrometer

On the Lunar Geoscience Observer project, a Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument has been proposed. This instrument will have science data input rates in the hundreds of kilobits per second (kbps) and an average telemetry output data rate of 4 kbps. Techniques that can be used to reduce the throughput of the instrument are editing, summing and averaging, data compression, data preprocessing, pattern recognition and snapshot data taking. Due to instrument limitations in the buffer memory size and processing speeds, a careful selection of the available techniques must be made.

Irigoyen, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1975

A Monte Carlo model for the gardening of the lunar regolith

The processes of movement and turnover of the lunar regolith are described by a Monte Carlo model. The movement of material by the direct cratering process is the dominant mode, but slumping is also included for angles exceeding the static angle of repose. Using a group of interrelated computer programs, a large number of properties are calculated, including topography, formation of layers, depth of the disturbed layer, nuclear-track distributions, and cosmogenic nuclides. In the most complex program, the history of a 36-point square array is followed for times up to 400 million years. The histories generated are complex and exhibit great variety. Because a crater covers much less area than its ejecta blanket, there is a tendency for the height change at a test point to exhibit periods of slow accumulation followed by sudden excavation. In general, the agreement with experiment and observation seems good, but two areas of disagreement stand out. First, the calculated surface is rougher than that observed. Second, the observed bombardment ages, of the order 400 million are shorter than expected (by perhaps a factor of 5).

Arnold, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Vapor Deposition and Solar Wind Implantation on Lunar Soil-Grain Surfaces as Comparable Processes

Vapor deposited patinas (VDP) on lunar soil grains consist of a thin (less than 1 micron) layer of amorphous silicate (glass) embedded with nanoscale Fe(sup 0) globules as seen in many TEM images. VDPs are also present on larger space-weathered lunar rocks; these larger samples will not be discussed here although the process of vapor deposition is common to exposed grains of all sizes. Whether or not the majority of the Fe(sup 0) globules present in lunar soils reside in vapor deposited patina is a matter of some concern. Some Fe(sup 0) globules are clearly seen to reside within the glass of agglutinates and might represent remobilized Fe(sup 0) in agglutinitic melts. remobilized Fe(sup 0) in agglutinitic melts. We argue that because VDP coatings are present only on the surfaces of lunar soil grains, their distribution as a surface correlated component (SCC) of lunar soils should parallel those of Solar Wind Elements (SWE) implanted in the outermost rinds of lunar soil grains. SWE residing in the interior of soils grains make up the volume correlated component (VCC). Relative to Fe(sup 0) in VDP, the distribution of various SWE have been studied well. The reason is understandable because instrumentation for nanoscale imaging is not ubiquitous. In this study we use the distribution of SWE in lunar soils as a guide to understanding the fate of Fe(sup 0) in VDP.

Basu, A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Chemical, mineralogical and textural systematics of non-mare melt rocks: Implications for lunar impact and volcanic processes

Based on a synthesis of chemical data for over 200 samples, the nonmare rocks with fine grained melt textures can be classified into 7 major groups: anorthositic basalts, troctolitic basalts, VHA basalts, Apollo 14-type KREEP basalts, Apollo 15-type KREEP basalts, Apollo 17-type KREEP basalts, and aluminous mare basalts. Review of chemical, mineralogical, textural and experimental evidence leads to preferred hypotheses for the origins of these rocks; those hypotheses are discussed in detail.

Irving, A. J.↗