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NASA NTRS1988

Space-borne computing for the year 2000 and beyond

The influence and utilization of computers in space science investigations greatly enhances the ability to address difficult and complicated questions about the Universe. Space Science is wholly dependent on computers because the data acquired from instruments on the spacecraft are not only complicated in form but also voluminous. Athough a great deal of attention has been paid to develop efficient and powerful computing systems on-ground, research in the area of spaceborne computing is far from satisfactory. On-board processing of data will be important in future planetary missions where telemetry rates constrain the total amount of data which can be returned and decisions may have to be made in real time. Little thought has been given to a dynamic man-machine interface with regard to scientific real-time interactive control of flight experiments. Careful thinking is therefore essential to define appropriate spaceborne computing requirements for the future. It is imperative that powerful multiprocessing systems for on-board processing be experimentally impleneted and evaluated in selected application missions. The presentation addresses key issues and attempts to define the requirements for such processing with some of NASA's future missions in perspective. The resulting architectural and performance issues and possible developments are also addressed.

Iyer, Ravi K.↗

NASA NTRS2020

Enabling Entry Technologies for Ice Giant Missions

The highest priority science goals for Ice Giant missions are: 1) Interior structure of the Planet, and 2) Bulk composition that includes isotopes and noble gases. The interaction between the planetary interior and the atmosphere requires sustained global measurements. Noble gas and Isotope measurements require in situ measurement. Drag modulated aerocapture utilizing ADEPT offers more mass delivered to the Ice Giants than with propulsive orbit insertion. The Galileo Probe entered at a ‘hot’ spot which created interpretation challenges. Juno is providing valuable orbital measurements, but without in situ measurements the story is incomplete. Planetary scientists interested in Ice Giant missions should perform mission design studies with these new Entry System technologies to assess the feasibility within the context of the international collaboration framework. A mission architecture that includes probe(s) along with an orbiting spacecraft can deploy the probes at the desired location while taking simultaneous measurements from orbit to provide invaluable data that can correlate both global and local measurements. Entry System Technologies currently being developed by NASA are poised to enable missions that position the Orbiter & Probes through drag modulated aerocapture (ADEPT), and HEEET enables the Probes to survive the extreme environments encountered for entry into the atmospheric interior.

Venkatapathy, E.↗

NASA NTRS2007

NASA Tech Briefs, December 2007

Topics include: Ka-Band TWT High-Efficiency Power Combiner for High-Rate Data Transmission; Reusable, Extensible High-Level Data-Distribution Concept; Processing Satellite Imagery To Detect Waste Tire Piles; Monitoring by Use of Clusters of Sensor-Data Vectors; Circuit and Method for Communication Over DC Power Line; Switched Band-Pass Filters for Adaptive Transceivers; Noncoherent DTTLs for Symbol Synchronization; High-Voltage Power Supply With Fast Rise and Fall Times; Waveguide Calibrator for Multi-Element Probe Calibration; Four-Way Ka-Band Power Combiner; Loss-of-Control-Inhibitor Systems for Aircraft; Improved Underwater Excitation-Emission Matrix Fluorometer; Metrology Camera System Using Two-Color Interferometry; Design and Fabrication of High-Efficiency CMOS/CCD Imagers; Foam Core Shielding for Spacecraft CHEM-Based Self-Deploying Planetary Storage Tanks Sequestration of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes in a Polymer PPC750 Performance Monitor Application-Program-Installer Builder Using Visual Odometry to Estimate Position and Attitude Design and Data Management System Simple, Script-Based Science Processing Archive Automated Rocket Propulsion Test Management Online Remote Sensing Interface Fusing Image Data for Calculating Position of an Object Implementation of a Point Algorithm for Real-Time Convex Optimization Handling Input and Output for COAMPS Modeling and Grid Generation of Iced Airfoils Automated Identification of Nucleotide Sequences Balloon Design Software Rocket Science 101 Interactive Educational Program Creep Forming of Carbon-Reinforced Ceramic-Matrix Composites Dog-Bone Horns for Piezoelectric Ultrasonic/Sonic Actuators Benchtop Detection of Proteins Recombinant Collagenlike Proteins Remote Sensing of Parasitic Nematodes in Plants Direct Coupling From WGM Resonator Disks to Photodetectors Using Digital Radiography To Image Liquid Nitrogen in Voids Multiple-Parameter, Low-False-Alarm Fire-Detection Systems Mosaic-Detector-Based Fluorescence Spectral Imager Plasmoid Thruster for High Specific-Impulse Propulsion Analysis Method for Quantifying Vehicle Design Goals Improved Tracking of Targets by Cameras on a Mars Rover Sample Caching Subsystem Multistage Passive Cooler for Spaceborne Instruments GVIPS Models and Software Stowable Energy-Absorbing Rocker-Bogie Suspensions

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2022

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Mission: A Pioneering Small Satellite for Lunar Water and Lunar Geology

Selected in 2019 as a NASA SIMPLEx mission, Lunar Trailblazer is in implementation for flight system delivery at the end of 2022. The mission’s goal is to understand the form, abundance, and distribution of water on the Moon and the lunar water cycle. Lunar Trailblazer also collects data of candidate landing sites to inform planning for future human and robotic exploration of the Moon and evaluate the potential for in situ resource utilization. Lunar Trailblazer’s two science instruments, the High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) and the Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) provide simultaneous high-resolution spectral imaging data to map OH/water, crustal composition, and thermophysical properties from a 100±30 km lunar polar orbit. The ~210-kg flight system deploys from an ESPA Grande and utilizes a ~1000 m/s ΔV hydrazine chemical propulsion system, similar to that employed by GRAIL. Trailblazing elements include the novel state-of-the-art dataset collected at substantially reduced price point, fully geographically co-registered data products delivered to the Planetary Data System, planetary mission team demographics, Caltech campus mission operations, and student staffing of select mission ops roles. Lunar Trailblazer’s pioneering development is providing key lessons learned for future planetary small spacecraft.

Zareh, Shannon↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Small Spacecraft and Distributed Systems Program - Recent and Upcoming Technology Demonstrations and Development Efforts

NASA’s Small Spacecraft & Distributed Systems (SSDS) program strengthens U.S. ability to conduct unique missions by rapidly developing and demonstrating capabilities for SmallSat exploration, science, and commercial space. In collaboration with NASA Centers, other government agencies, commercial industry, and academia, SSDS advances next generation SmallSat technologies like power, processing, propulsion, communications, autonomous navigation, architectures (swarms), and applications (AI/ML/Edge Computing)—to extend missions beyond LEO into cislunar and planetary space. Various investment mechanisms exist for SSDS to select and fund projects that will ultimately advance NASA’s Moon to Mars Architecture. Presented here are the latest achievements and findings from recently completed SSDS projects, along with updates from ongoing efforts and planned future work. Successful missions like Starling and CAPSTONE continue to demonstrate their capability after several years on-orbit. Advancements in next generation swarm configurations are being implemented by Starling for space traffic monitoring and management applications. Findings from recent SSDS flight projects are discussed: DiskSat, a unique SmallSat platform alternative to canisterized nanosatellites, launched December 2025 and is gathering data; the PTD series of missions concluded in December 2025. Current SSDS efforts are focused on addressing NASA Shortfalls relating to rendezvous and proximity operations, neuromorphic computing, and space situational awareness.

Roger C Hunter↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Small Spacecraft and Distributed Systems: Recent and Upcoming Technology Demonstrations and Development Efforts

Roger Hunter↗

NASA NTRS1994

SEQ-POINTER: Next generation, planetary spacecraft remote sensing science observation design tool

Since Mariner, NASA-JPL planetary missions have been supported by ground software to plan and design remote sensing science observations. The software used by the science and sequence designers to plan and design observations has evolved with mission and technological advances. The original program, PEGASIS (Mariners 4, 6, and 7), was re-engineered as POGASIS (Mariner 9, Viking, and Mariner 10), and again later as POINTER (Voyager and Galileo). Each of these programs were developed under technological, political, and fiscal constraints which limited their adaptability to other missions and spacecraft designs. Implementation of a multi-mission tool, SEQ POINTER, under the auspices of the JPL Multimission Operations Systems Office (MOSO) is in progress. This version has been designed to address the limitations experienced on previous versions as they were being adapted to a new mission and spacecraft. The tool has been modularly designed with subroutine interface structures to support interchangeable celestial body and spacecraft definition models. The computational and graphics modules have also been designed to interface with data collected from previous spacecraft, or on-going observations, which describe the surface of each target body. These enhancements make SEQ POINTER a candidate for low-cost mission usage, when a remote sensing science observation design capability is required. The current and planned capabilities of the tool will be discussed. The presentation will also include a 5-10 minute video presentation demonstrating the capabilities of a proto-Cassini Project version that was adapted to test the tool. The work described in this abstract was performed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Boyer, Jeffrey S.↗

NASA NTRS2020

Long-duration Venus lander for seismic and atmospheric science

An exciting and novel science mission concept called Seismic and Atmospheric Exploration of Venus (SAEVe) has been developed which uses high-temperature electronics to enable a three-order magnitude increase in expected surface life (120 Earth days) over what has been achieved to date. This enables study of long-term, variable phenomena such as the seismicity of Venus and near surface weather, near surface energy balance and atmospheric chemical composition. SAEVe also serves as a critical pathfinder for more sophisticated landers in the future. For example, first order seismic measurements by SAEVe will allow future missions to deliver better seismometers and systems to support the yet unknown frequency and magnitude of Venus events. SAEVe is focused on science that can be realized with low data volume instruments and will most benefit for temporal operations. The entire mission architecture and operations maximize science while minimizing energy usage and physical size and mass. The entire SAEVe system including its protective entry system is estimated to be around 45 kg and approximately 0.6 m diameter. These features allow SAEVe to be relatively cost effective and be easily integrated onto a Venus orbiter mission. The technologies needed to implement SAEVe are currently in development by several funded activities. Component and system level work is ongoing under NASA’s HOTTech program and by the Long Lived Insitu Solar System Explorer (LLISSE) project. The SAEVe long duration Venus lander promises groundbreaking science and is an ideal complimentary element to many future Venus orbiter missions being proposed or planned today.

Venus↗

NASA NTRS2014

Virtualization - A Key Cost Saver in NASA Multi-Mission Ground System Architecture

With science team budgets being slashed, and a lack of adequate facilities for science payload teams to operate their instruments, there is a strong need for innovative new ground systems that are able to provide necessary levels of capability processing power, system availability and redundancy while maintaining a small footprint in terms of physical space, power utilization and cooling.The ground system architecture being presented is based off of heritage from several other projects currently in development or operations at Goddard, but was designed and built specifically to meet the needs of the Science and Planetary Operations Control Center (SPOCC) as a low-cost payload command, control, planning and analysis operations center. However, this SPOCC architecture was designed to be generic enough to be re-used partially or in whole by other labs and missions (since its inception that has already happened in several cases!)The SPOCC architecture leverages a highly available VMware-based virtualization cluster with shared SAS Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) to provide an extremely high-performing, low-power-utilization and small-footprint compute environment that provides Virtual Machine resources shared among the various tenant missions in the SPOCC. The storage is also expandable, allowing future missions to chain up to 7 additional 2U chassis of storage at an extremely competitive cost if they require additional archive or virtual machine storage space.The software architecture provides a fully-redundant GMSEC-based message bus architecture based on the ActiveMQ middleware to track all health and safety status within the SPOCC ground system. All virtual machines utilize the GMSEC system agents to report system host health over the GMSEC bus, and spacecraft payload health is monitored using the Hammers Integrated Test and Operations System (ITOS) Galaxy Telemetry and Command (TC) system, which performs near-real-time limit checking and data processing on the downlinked data stream and injects messages into the GMSEC bus that are monitored to automatically page the on-call operator or Systems Administrator (SA) when an off-nominal condition is detected. This architecture, like the LTSP thin clients, are shared across all tenant missions.Other required IT security controls are implemented at the ground system level, including physical access controls, logical system-level authentication authorization management, auditing and reporting, network management and a NIST 800-53 FISMA-Moderate IT Security plan Risk Assessment Contingency Plan, helping multiple missions share the cost of compliance with agency-mandated directives.The SPOCC architecture provides science payload control centers and backup mission operations centers with a cost-effective, standardized approach to virtualizing and monitoring resources that were traditionally multiple racks full of physical machines. The increased agility in deploying new virtual systems and thin client workstations can provide significant savings in personnel costs for maintaining the ground system. The cost savings in procurement, power, rack footprint and cooling as well as the shared multi-mission design greatly reduces upfront cost for missions moving into the facility. Overall, the authors hope that this architecture will become a model for how future NASA operations centers are constructed!

Ground System Architecture↗

NASA NTRS2008

Europa Explorer Operational Scenarios Development

In 2007, NASA conducted four advanced mission concept studies for outer planets targets: Europa, Ganymede, Titan and Enceladus. The studies were conducted in close cooperation with the planetary science community. Of the four, the Europa Explorer Concept Study focused on refining mission options, science trades and implementation details for a potential flagship mission to Europa in the 2015 timeframe. A science definition team (SDT) was appointed by NASA to guide the study. A JPL-led engineering team worked closely with the science team to address 3 major focus areas: 1) credible cost estimates, 2) rationale and logical discussion of radiation risk and mitigation approaches, and 3) better definition and exploration of science operational scenario trade space. This paper will address the methods and results of the collaborative process used to develop Europa Explorer operations scenarios. Working in concert with the SDT, and in parallel with the SDT's development of a science value matrix, key mission capabilities and constraints were challenged by the science and engineering members of the team. Science goals were advanced and options were considered for observation scenarios. Data collection and return strategies were tested via simulation, and mission performance was estimated and balanced with flight and ground system resources and science priorities. The key to this successful collaboration was a concurrent development environment in which all stakeholders could rapidly assess the feasibility of strategies for their success in the full system context. Issues of science and instrument compatibility, system constraints, and mission opportunities were treated analytically and objectively leading to complementary strategies for observation and data return. Current plans are that this approach, as part of the system engineering process, will continue as the Europa Explorer Concept Study moves toward becoming a development project.

Lock, Robert E.↗

NASA NTRS2020

NASA Next-Generation Sensing Technologies for Earth & Planetary Science

Dr. Ved Chirayath's seminar will highlight new sensing technologies and airborne platforms he is developing for Earth & Space Science as director of the NASA Silicon Valley Laboratory for Advanced Sensing. His talk will feature recent work on Fluid Lensing, the first remote sensing technology capable of imaging through ocean waves in 3D at sub-cm resolutions, MiDAR, a next-generation active hyperspectral remote sensing and optical communications instrument, airborne gas sensing of multipollutant combustion sources, and a plasma actuated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that utilized high-voltage dielectric discharge devices to achieve the first plasma controlled flight in history.Fluid Lensing and the NASA FluidCam instrument have been used extensively to provide distortion-free 3D multispectral imagery from UAVs of shallow marine systems around the world. MiDAR is being deployed on aircraft and underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) as a new method to remotely sense living and nonliving structures in extreme environments as an analog for future Ocean Worlds robotic exploration missions. Finally, Chirayath will present preliminary results from NeMO-Net, a supercomputer-based neural network that uses a citizen science video game for global multimodal coral reef benthic habitat mapping, fusing remote sensing data from Fluid Lensing, MiDAR, NASA's Earth Observing System, and commercial satellites, to better understand the present and past dynamics of shallow marine systems. Together, these maturing technologies present promising new ways in which to explore terrestrial, marine, and aerial systems on Earth, and, ultimately, aid in the search for extraterrestrial life within our solar system and beyond.

Chirayath, Ved↗

NASA NTRS2015

Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS)

A recent six month investigation focused on: "Determining the benefits of propelling a scientific spacecraft by an 'Electric Sail' propulsion system to the edge of our solar system (the Heliopause), a distance of 100 to 120 AU, in ten years or less" has recently been completed by the Advance Concepts Office at NASA's MSFC. The concept investigated has been named the Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS) by the MSFC team. The HERTS is a revolutionary propellant-less propulsion concept that is ideal for deep space missions to the Outer Planets, Heliopause, and beyond. It is unique in that it uses momentum exchange from naturally occurring solar wind protons to propel a spacecraft within the heliosphere. The propulsion system consists of an array of electrically positively-biased wires that extend outward 20 km from a rotating (one revolution per hour) spacecraft. It was determined that the HERTS system can accelerate a spacecraft to velocities as much as two to three times that possible by any realistic extrapolation of current state-of-the-art propulsion technologies- including solar electric and solar sail propulsion systems. The data produced show that a scientific spacecraft could reach distances of 100AU in less than 10 years. Moreover, it can be reasonably expected that this system could be developed within a decade and provide meaningful Heliophysics Science and Outer Planetary Science returns in the 2025-2035 timeframe.

Wiegmann, Bruce M.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Lidar Technology at the Goddard Laser and Electro-Optics Branch

The Laser and Electro-Optics Branch at Goddard Space flight Center was established about three years ago to provide a focused center of engineering support and technology development in these disciplines with an emphasis on spaced based instruments for Earth and Space Science. The Branch has approximately 15 engineers and technicians with backgrounds in physics, optics, and electrical engineering. Members of the Branch are currently supporting a number of space based lidar efforts as well as several technology efforts aimed at enabling future missions. The largest effort within the Branch is support of the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESAT) carrying the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument. The ICESAT/GLAS primary science objectives are: 1) To determine the mass balance of the polar ice sheets and their contributions to global sea level change; and 2) To obtain essential data for prediction of future changes in ice volume and sea-level. The secondary science objectives are: 1) To measure cloud heights and the vertical structure of clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere; 2) To map the topography of land surfaces; and 3) To measure roughness, reflectivity, vegetation heights, snow-cover, and sea-ice surface characteristics. Our efforts have concentrated on the GLAS receiver component development, the Laser Reference Sensor for the Stellar Reference System, the GLAS fiber optics subsystems, and the prelaunch calibration facilities. We will report on our efforts in the development of the space qualified interference filter [Allan], etalon filter, photon counting detectors, etalor/laser tracking system, and instrument fiber optics, as well as specification and selection of the star tracker and development of the calibration test bed. We are also engaged in development work on lidar sounders for chemical species. We are developing new lidar technology to enable a new class of miniature lidar instruments that are compatible with small Discovery-class orbiters now in the NASA planetary program. The purpose of the lidar is to continuously profile the water vapor and dust in the Mars atmosphere from orbit in order to quantify its dynamics, their relationship in the diurnal cycles, and to infer water vapor exchange with the Mars surface. To remotely measure the water-vapor height profiles, we will use the differential absorption lidar (DIAL) technique. We are also developing a laser sensor for measuring the total column content of CO2 in the atmosphere of the earth. CO2 is the principal greenhouse gas and has increased by roughly 80 ppm in the last century and a half. We will report our efforts in the development of the laser transmitter and photon counting detector components for a Mars Orbiting DIAL system and for the CO2 sounder.

Heaps, William S.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Examining Mars with SPICE

The International Mars Conference highlights the wealth of scientific data now and soon to be acquired from an international armada of Mars-bound robotic spacecraft. Underlying the planning and interpretation of these scientific observations around and upon Mars are ancillary data and associated software needed to deal with trajectories or locations, instrument pointing, timing and Mars cartographic models. The NASA planetary community has adopted the SPICE system of ancillary data standards and allied tools to fill the need for consistent, reliable access to these basic data and a near limitless range of derived parameters. After substantial rapid growth in its formative years, the SPICE system continues to evolve today to meet new needs and improve ease of use. Adaptations to handle landers and rovers were prototyped on the Mars pathfinder mission and will next be used on Mars '01-'05. Incorporation of new methods to readily handle non-inertial reference frames has vastly extended the capability and simplified many computations. A translation of the SPICE Toolkit software suite to the C language has just been announced. To further support cartographic calculations associated with Mars exploration the SPICE developers at JPL have recently been asked by NASA to work with cartographers to develop standards and allied software for storing and accessing control net and shape model data sets; these will be highly integrated with existing SPICE components. NASA specifically supports the widest possible utilization of SPICE capabilities throughout the international space science community. With NASA backing the Russian Space Agency and Russian Academy of Science adopted the SPICE standards for the Mars 96 mission. The SPICE ephemeris component will shortly become the international standard for agencies using the Deep Space Network. U.S. and European scientists hope that ESA will employ SPICE standards on the Mars Express mission. SPICE is an open set of standards, and all related specifications and software are freely distributed around the world. This poster describes the current state of SPICE system development, with special emphasis on current and planned support for Mars exploration missions.

Acton, Charles H.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Next-Generation Optical Sensing Technologies for Exploring Ocean Worlds - NASA FluidCam, MiDAR, and NeMO-Net

We highlight three emerging NASA optical technologies that enhance our ability to remotely sense, analyze, and explore ocean worlds–FluidCam and fluid lensing, MiDAR, and NeMO-Net. Fluid lensing is the first remote sensing technology capable of imaging through ocean waves without distortions in 3D at sub-cm resolutions. Fluid lensing and the purpose-built FluidCam CubeSat instruments have been used to provide refraction-corrected 3D multispectral imagery of shallow marine systems from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Results from repeat 2013 and 2016 airborne fluid lensing campaigns over coral reefs in American Samoa present a promising new tool for monitoring fine-scale ecological dynamics in shallow aquatic systems tens of square kilometers in area. MiDAR is a recently-patented active multispectral remote sensing and optical communications instrument which evolved from FluidCam. MiDAR is being tested on UAVs and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to remotely sense living and non-living structures in light-limited and analog planetary science environments. MiDAR illuminates targets with high-intensity narrowband structured optical radiation to measure an object’s spectral reflectance while simultaneously transmitting data. MiDAR is capable of remotely sensing reflectance at fine spatial and temporal scales, with a signal-to-noise ratio 10-10(exp 3) times higher than passive airborne and spaceborne remote sensing systems, enabling high-framerate multispectral sensing across the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared spectrum. Preliminary results from a 2018 mission to Guam show encouraging applications of MiDAR to imaging coral from airborne and underwater platforms whilst transmitting data across the air-water interface. Finally, we share NeMO-Net, the Neural Multi-Modal Observation & Training Network for Global Coral Reef Assessment. NeMO-Net is a machine learning technology under development that exploits high-resolution data from FluidCam and MiDAR for augmentation of low-resolution airborne and satellite remote sensing. NeMO-Net is intended to harmonize the growing diversity of 2D and 3D remote sensing with in situ data into a single open-source platform for assessing shallow marine ecosystems globally using active learning for citizen-science based training. Preliminary results from four-class Q17 coral classification have an accuracy of 94.4%. Together, these maturing technologies present promising scalable, practical, and cost-efficient innovations that address current observational and technological challenges in optical sensing of marine systems.

Ved Chirayath↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Space-qualified Chalcogenide Materials through ISS MISSE Exposure —From Property to Application

In March 2021, twenty-four samples of various phase change materials (PCMs - Ge2Sb2Te5, Ge2Sb2Se4Te1, and Sb2Se3) along with metasurface optical components comprised of these PCMs, were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-14) test campaign [1]. Although PCMs have previously been noted for their resilience to various forms of radiation [2], they had not been tested in a realistic space environment until this exposure campaign with joint NASA and MIT collaboration. During the six-month total open exposure time in low earth orbit (LEO), high-resolution cameras scanned and captured photographs of the samples to detect changes as a function of time along with on-orbit measured temperature, UV radiation, total atomic oxygen fluence, and total ionizing radiation doses. The samples were returned to NASA Langley Research Center in March 2022 for post-flight characterization. This duplicated the preflight characterization (i.e., material composition and crystallinity that limits switching speed, index contrast, loss, etc.) conducted before launch. The space sector has witnessed tremendous growth within the past decade—not only from government agencies but also entrants from the private sector. Future growth in the capabilities of Earth observation, deep space, and planetary surface missions using miniaturized spacecraft platforms can only be sustained by innovations in the design of remote sensors and other sub-systems. Active metasurface optics with enhanced tunability and reconfigurability continues to redefine the boundaries of optical science [3]. The introduction of PCM technology and associated optical devices will help to accelerate the adoption of new architectures for reduced size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) platforms in space.Here we introduce results obtained from the MISSE-14 mission related to space qualification of PCM-based optic devices and constituent materials. We then discuss our recent work developing active integrated photonic devices and metasurface optics based on PCMs for space applications. This includes tunable and reconfigurable optical metasurface devices to support NASA space communication and LIDAR applications. PCMs are quickly becoming interesting photonics materials but questions related to mission suitability remain, particularly in regard to key properties like figures-of-merit (FOM, Δn/Δk), glass forming temperatures, and phase transition speeds. This talk will describe efforts to afford researchers the ability to have access to cost-effective data on exposure-induced changes to PCM fundamental physical and optical properties to assess their utility for space applications. The MISSE-14 sample exposure campaign allows a complete understanding of the limitations of the PCMs for various space-based electronic and optoelectronic applications.

Chalcogenide Phase change material↗

NASA NTRS2008

25th Space Simulation Conference. Environmental Testing: The Earth-Space Connection

Topics covered include: Methods of Helium Injection and Removal for Heat Transfer Augmentation; The ESA Large Space Simulator Mechanical Ground Support Equipment for Spacecraft Testing; Temperature Stability and Control Requirements for Thermal Vacuum/Thermal Balance Testing of the Aquarius Radiometer; The Liquid Nitrogen System for Chamber A: A Change from Original Forced Flow Design to a Natural Flow (Thermo Siphon) System; Return to Mercury: A Comparison of Solar Simulation and Flight Data for the MESSENGER Spacecraft; Floating Pressure Conversion and Equipment Upgrades of Two 3.5kw, 20k, Helium Refrigerators; Affect of Air Leakage into a Thermal-Vacuum Chamber on Helium Refrigeration Heat Load; Special ISO Class 6 Cleanroom for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Project; A State-of-the-Art Contamination Effects Research and Test Facility Martian Dust Simulator; Cleanroom Design Practices and Their Influence on Particle Counts; Extra Terrestrial Environmental Chamber Design; Contamination Sources Effects Analysis (CSEA) - A Tool to Balance Cost/Schedule While Managing Facility Availability; SES and Acoustics at GSFC; HST Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier (SLIC) Static Test; Virtual Shaker Testing: Simulation Technology Improves Vibration Test Performance; Estimating Shock Spectra: Extensions beyond GEVS; Structural Dynamic Analysis of a Spacecraft Multi-DOF Shaker Table; Direct Field Acoustic Testing; Manufacture of Cryoshroud Surfaces for Space Simulation Chambers; The New LOTIS Test Facility; Thermal Vacuum Control Systems Options for Test Facilities; Extremely High Vacuum Chamber for Low Outgassing Processing at NASA Goddard; Precision Cleaning - Path to Premier; The New Anechoic Shielded Chambers Designed for Space and Commercial Applications at LIT; Extraction of Thermal Performance Values from Samples in the Lunar Dust Adhesion Bell Jar; Thermal (Silicon Diode) Data Acquisition System; Aquarius's Instrument Science Data System (ISDS) Automated to Acquire, Process, Trend Data and Produce Radiometric System Assessment Reports; Exhaustive Thresholds and Resistance Checkpoints; Reconfigurable HIL Testing of Earth Satellites; FPGA Control System for the Automated Test of MicroShutters; Ongoing Capabilities and Developments of Re-Entry Plasma Ground Tests at EADS-ASTRIUM; Operationally Responsive Space Standard Bus Battery Thermal Balance Testing and Heat Dissipation Analysis; Galileo - The Serial-Production AIT Challenge; The Space Systems Environmental Test Facility Database (SSETFD), Website Development Status; Simulated Reentry Heating by Torching; Micro-Vibration Measurements on Thermally Loaded Multi-Layer Insulation Samples in Vacuum; High Temperature Life Testing of 80Ni-20Cr Wire in a Simulated Mars Atmosphere for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suit Gas Processing System (GPS) Carbon Dioxide Scrubber; The Planning and Implementation of Test Facility Improvements; and Development of a Silicon Carbide Molecular Beam Nozzle for Simulation Planetary Flybys and Low-Earth Orbit.

Packard, Edward↗

NASA NTRS2014

NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission: The Boulder Capture Option

NASA is examining two options for the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), which will return asteroid material to a Lunar Distant Retrograde Orbit (LDRO) using a robotic solar-electric-propulsion spacecraft, called the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle (ARV). Once the ARV places the asteroid material into the LDRO, a piloted mission will rendezvous and dock with the ARV. After docking, astronauts will conduct two extravehicular activities (EVAs) to inspect and sample the asteroid material before returning to Earth. One option involves capturing an entire small (approximately 4-10 m diameter) near-Earth asteroid (NEA) inside a large inflatable bag. However, NASA is examining another option that entails retrieving a boulder (approximately 1-5 m) via robotic manipulators from the surface of a larger (approximately 100+ m) pre-characterized NEA. This option can leverage robotic mission data to help ensure success by targeting previously (or soon to be) well-characterized NEAs. For example, the data from the Hayabusa mission has been utilized to develop detailed mission designs that assess options and risks associated with proximity and surface operations. Hayabusa's target NEA, Itokawa, has been identified as a valid target and is known to possess hundreds of appropriately sized boulders on its surface. Further robotic characterization of additional NEAs (e.g., Bennu and 1999 JU3) by NASA's OSIRIS REx and JAXA's Hayabusa 2 missions is planned to begin in 2018. The boulder option is an extremely large sample‐return mission with the prospect of bringing back many tons of well‐characterized asteroid material to the Earth‐Moon system. The candidate boulder from the target NEA can be selected based on inputs from the world‐wide science community, ensuring that the most scientifically interesting boulder be returned for subsequent sampling. This boulder option for NASA's ARM can leverage knowledge of previously characterized NEAs from prior robotic missions, which provides more certainty of the target NEA's physical characteristics and reduces mission risk. This increases the return on investment for NASA's future activities with respect to science, human exploration, resource utilization, and planetary defense

Abell, Paul A.↗