SEARCH · Search NASA
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.
Introduction: With planning efforts for Artemis missions to the Moon in full swing, including plans for operations and EVAs (extra-vehicular activities or space walks) focused on planetary surface exploration, a team of geologists from NASA, the USGS, and academia have been working together to provide training to the NASA engineering and management community.
For decades, NASA has employed different operational approaches for human and robotic missions. Human spaceflight missions to the Moon and in low Earth orbit have relied upon near-continuous communication with minimal time delays. During these missions, astronauts and mission control communicate interactively to perform tasks and resolve problems in real-time. In contrast, deep-space robotic missions are designed for operations in the presence of significant communication delay - from tens of minutes to hours. Consequently, robotic missions typically employ meticulously scripted and validated command sequences that are intermittently uplinked to the robot for independent execution over long periods. Over the next few years, however, we will see increasing use of robots that blend these two operational approaches. These interactive exploration robots will be remotely operated by humans on Earth or from a spacecraft. These robots will be used to support astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), to conduct new missions to the Moon, and potentially to enable remote exploration of planetary surfaces in real-time. In this talk, I will discuss the technical challenges associated with building and operating robots in this manner, along with lessons learned from research conducted with the ISS and in the field.
The importance of advanced surface systems is becoming increasingly relevant in the modern age of space technology. Specifically, projects pursued by the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations (GMRO) Lab are unparalleled in the field of planetary resourcefulness. This internship opportunity involved projects that support properly utilizing natural resources from other celestial bodies. Beginning with the tele-robotic workstation, mechanical upgrades were necessary to consider for specific portions of the workstation consoles and successfully designed in concept. This would provide more means for innovation and creativity concerning advanced robotic operations. Project RASSOR is a regolith excavator robot whose primary objective is to mine, store, and dump regolith efficiently on other planetary surfaces. Mechanical adjustments were made to improve this robot's functionality, although there were some minor system changes left to perform before the opportunity ended. On the topic of excavator robots, the notes taken by the GMRO staff during the 2013 and 2014 Robotic Mining Competitions were effectively organized and analyzed for logistical purposes. Lessons learned from these annual competitions at Kennedy Space Center are greatly influential to the GMRO engineers and roboticists. Another project that GMRO staff support is Project Morpheus. Support for this project included successfully producing mathematical models of the eroded landing pad surface for the vertical testbed vehicle to predict a timeline for pad reparation. And finally, the last project this opportunity made contribution to was Project Neo, a project exterior to GMRO Lab projects, which focuses on rocket propulsion systems. Additions were successfully installed to the support structure of an original vertical testbed rocket engine, thus making progress towards futuristic test firings in which data will be analyzed by students affiliated with Rocket University. Each project will be explained in further detail, as well as the full scope of the contributions made during this opportunity.
Electronic components and systems capable of operation at cryogenic temperatures are anticipated in many future NASA space missions such as deep space probes and planetary surface exploration. For example, an unheated interplanetary probe launched to explore the rings of Saturn would reach an average temperature near Saturn of about - 183 C. In addition to surviving the deep space harsh environment, electronics capable of low temperature operation would contribute to improving circuit performance, increasing system efficiency, and reducing payload development and launch costs. Terrestrial applications where components and systems must operate in low temperature environments include cryogenic instrumentation, superconducting magnetic energy storage, magnetic levitation transportation system, and arctic exploration. An on-going research and development program at the NASA Glenn Research Center focuses on the development of reliable electronic devices and efficient power systems capable of surviving in low temperature environments. An overview of the program will be presented in this paper. A description of the low temperature test facilities along with selected data obtained from in-house component testing will also be discussed. Ongoing research activities that are being performed in collaboration with various organizations will also be presented.
Fourth extension of Odyssey mission continues, with orbital science investigations and relay services for landed assets. Mitigation of aging IMU and UHF transceiver. ODY has responded to Program Office/board recommendations. All Stellar mode has been certified for flight operations and is now standard for nadir point operations on the A-side. Investigating options to mitigate aging Battery. Gradual transfer to a later LMST orbit node to shorten eclipse durations. Reduce spacecraft loads during the longer eclipses. Optimize battery performance. ODY is preparing for E5 Proposal and Planetary Science Division FY12 Senior Review activities. ODY is on track to support MSL EDL and surface operations. ODY is managing consumables in order to remain in operations until 2020.
Over the last decade, a variety of field experiments have been performed that simulate operations of a rover on Mars. These, in combination with the Pathfinder experience, lead to a realistic assessment of rover mission capabilities and to recommendations for rover technology and mission architecture to improve the science return of Mars exploration. A table summarizes field experiments that represent a range of possible mission designs and operational strategies. The experiments varied by the type and quality of imaging systems and other instrumentation, the use of orbital and aerial imaging and spectroscopy, the communcation bandwidth and command strategy, and the distance traveled. All mission simulations were blind field tests operated by science teams whose interpretations were compared to field ground truth providing an assessment of the accuracy of remote science interpretations and a better understanding of where improvements are needed.
The Desert RATS 2010 Team tested a variety of science operations management techniques, applying experience gained during the manned Apollo missions and the robotic Mars missions. This test assessed integrated science operations management of human planetary exploration using real-time, tactical science operations to oversee daily crew science activities, and a night shift strategic science operations team to conduct strategic level assessment of science data and daily traverse results. In addition, an attempt was made to collect numerical metric data on the outcome of the science operations to assist test evaluation. The two most important outcomes were 1) the production of significant (almost overwhelming) volume of data produced during daily traverse operations with two rovers, advanced imaging systems and well trained, scientifically proficient crew-members, and 2) the degree to which the tactical team s interaction with the surface crew enhanced science return. This interaction depended on continuous real-time voice and data communications, and the quality of science return from any human planetary exploration mission will be based strongly on the aggregate interaction between a well trained surface crew and a dedicated science operations support team using voice and imaging data from a planet s surface. In addition, the scientific insight developed by both the science operations team and the crews could not be measurable by simple numerical quantities, and its value will be missed by a purely metric-based evaluation of test outcome. In particular, failure to recognize the critical importance of this qualitative type interaction may result in mission architecture choices that will reduce science return.
A high precision laser altimeter was developed under the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance (ALHAT) project at NASA Langley Research Center. The laser altimeter provides slant-path range measurements from operational ranges exceeding 30 km that will be used to support surface-relative state estimation and navigation during planetary descent and precision landing. The altimeter uses an advanced time-of-arrival receiver, which produces multiple signal-return range measurements from tens of kilometers with 5 cm precision. The transmitter is eye-safe, simplifying operations and testing on earth. The prototype is fully autonomous, and able to withstand the thermal and mechanical stresses experienced during test flights conducted aboard helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and Morpheus, a terrestrial rocket-powered vehicle developed by NASA Johnson Space Center. This paper provides an overview of the sensor and presents results obtained during recent field experiments including a helicopter flight test conducted in December 2012 and Morpheus flight tests conducted during March of 2014.
The Kinematic Navigation and Cartography Knapsack (KNaCK) team is developing tools that will enable ultra-high resolution terrain mapping and navigation at the lunar surface. KNaCK uses mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms to operate in fully GPS-denied and unilluminated environments. Testing in relevant analogs is key to perfecting this technology for planetary applications. After utilizing desert and volcanic environments for multiple tests, the team is now using caves as an additional proving ground. Tests in terrestrial caves have demonstrated the potential of mobile SLAM LiDAR for use in challenging surface environments such as steep walled craters and permanently shadowed regions as well as for lunar, planetary, and terrestrial cave exploration, study, and utilization.
In connection with the Viking mission, spectral and photometric data of Mars were obtained with the aid of camera systems located either on the planetary surface (Lander I and II) or in Martian orbit (Orbiter I and II). Operations from Lander I are scheduled to continue through 1990. Comparisons made of the surface and atmospheric spectral and photometric properties at various times throughout the Mission were probably the most important studies conducted by the Lander cameras. The variations in atmospheric optical density due to clouds, dust storm activity (both local and global), and even a partial eclipse of the sun by the small satellite Phobos, were observed by the Lander imaging systems. Using Viking Orbiter II images, the surface materials of the equatorial region have been classified and mapped on the basis of spectral reflectance properties. Attention is also given to some details regarding the characteristics of the Viking imaging systems.
The focus of this paper will be on the three stages of in-space transportation propulsion systems, now commonly referred to as in-space propulsion (ISP); i.e., the transfer of payloads from low-Earth orbits into higher orbits or into trajectories for planetary encounters, including planetary landers and sample return launchers, if required. Functions required at the operational location where ISP must provide thrust for orbit include maintenance, position control, stationkeeping, and spacecraft altitude control; i.e., proper pointing and dynamic stability in inertial space; and the third function set to enable operations at various planetary locations, such as atmospheric entry and capture, descent to the surface and ascent, back to rendezvous orbit. The discussion will concentrate on where ISP stands today and some observations of what might be next in line for new ISP technologies and systems for near-term and future flight applications. The architectural choices that are applicable for ISP will also be described and discussed in detail.
Viewgraphs on the Pathfinder program are presented. Information is given on technology needs, a planetary rover, program management, an autonomous lander, mission applications, orbital assembly, cryogenics, space nuclear reactors, space manufacturing, optical communications, spacecraft propulsion, aerobraking, and orbital transfer vehicles.
The history and evolution of planetary volatile inventories are considered. Planetary bulk volatile inventories are greatly affected by the distance from the preplanetary nebula center at which material accreted, with volatile contents increasing with increasing distance from the nebula center. Other significant factors include: planetary energetics and internal thermal history, planetary volatile sinks (including space), and operation of external variables such as solar energy on the transient, steady-state array of surface volatiles. The net result of all these processes is a volatile history that is itself a controlling factor in overall planetary history.
Electronic systems that are capable of operating at cryogenic temperatures will be needed for many future NASA space missions, including deep space probes and spacecraft for planetary surface exploration. In addition to being able to survive the harsh deep space environment, low-temperature electronics would help improve circuit performance, increase system efficiency, and reduce payload development and launch costs. Terrestrial applications where components and systems must operate in low-temperature environments include cryogenic instrumentation, superconducting magnetic energy storage, magnetic levitation transportation systems, and arctic exploration. An ongoing research and development project for the design, fabrication, and characterization of low-temperature electronics and supporting technologies at NASA Glenn Research Center focuses on efficient power systems capable of surviving in and exploiting the advantages of low-temperature environments. Supporting technologies include dielectric and insulating materials, semiconductor devices, passive power components, optoelectronic devices, and packaging and integration of the developed components into prototype flight hardware. An overview of the project is presented, including a description of the test facilities, a discussion of selected data from component testing, and a presentation of ongoing research activities being performed in collaboration with various organizations.
The search for life (extinct or extant) and potentially habitable bodies in our solar system and beyond is one of the 12 priority science questions outlined in the National Acadamies’ 2022 decadal survey [5]. Extraterrestrial destinations containing liquid water present an opportunity to search for life as we know it, and in recent years an increasing number of such locations have been discovered within our solar system. Several Jovian moons—Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto [10]—and the Saturnian moons Enceladus [8] and Titan [9] are known or suspected to harbor massive subsurface oceans. Of these "ocean worlds", Europa is the focus of at least one planned NASA orbiter mission, Europa Clipper [4], and an early lander mission concept, the Europa Lander [2, 3]. Whereas most robotic missions to the Moon and Mars (e.g. orbiters, rovers, landers) to date have had ground controllers on Earth tightly involved in mission operations, missions to more distant worlds will require a high degree of onboard autonomy due to long communication lags and blackouts, harsh environments (radiation, cold), and more limited battery and hardware life. The past decade has seen great advances in both AI technologies and computing scalability and performance that offer promising solutions for spacecraft autonomy and motivate the software system and research programs described in this paper. The Ocean Worlds Autonomy Testbed for Exploration, Research, and Simulation (OceanWATERS) [1], which has been in development at the NASA Ames Research Center since 2018, is a virtual environment for testing lander autonomy solutions. It is built on the Robot Operating System (ROS), runs on consumer-grade Linux workstations, and was released as open source in 2020. OceanWATERS provides a physical and visual simulation of a prototypical lander in a Europa-like environment (Figure 1). The lander was modeled after requirements and specifications made in JPL’s Europa Lander Study of 2016 [3]. Simulated lander systems include stereo cameras and spotlights mounted on an antenna mast that pans and tilts, a 6 degrees of freedom (DoF) robotic arm with a force-torque sensor and two interchangeable end effectors, and a battery pack power system. The environment consists of multiple terrain models including a highly detailed model sourced from the FROST dataset [11], simulation of surrounding planetary bodies based on an ephemeris model, and lighting from the sun with associated surface illumination, reflectance, and shadows. Operations supported by OceanWATERS include panoramic and directed imaging of the environment and lander workspace, Cartesian and joint-level arm commanding, grinding of the terrain surface (e.g. digging a trench), and scooping of ground material (Figure 2) which can be discarded or collected as science samples in a receptacle that can be emptied (science operations themselves are not simulated). These operations are realized as ROS Actions and are complimented by a wide selection of telemetry that is continually produced by each lander subsystem. The power system model is driven by the open-source Generic Software Architecture for Prognostics (GSAP) [11] that predicts the battery’s remaining useful life and other characteristics. As a testbed for high-level autonomy, OceanWATERS provides an execution framework based on PLEXIL [12], an open-source plan specification language and execution engine developed largely at Ames. NASA's initial development of OceanWATERS, as well the Ocean Worlds Lander Autonomy Testbed (OWLAT) [6], a complimentary physical testbed developed at JPL, was the first step in a plan for realizing candidate onboard autonomy solutions for such planetary landers. In 2020 NASA solicited applications for its Autonomous Robotics Research for Ocean Worlds (ARROW) program, and in 2021 the similar Concepts for Ocean worlds Life Detection Technology (COLDTech) program. Collectively six research teams, based in universities and companies across the United States, were awarded grants to develop and demonstrate autonomy solutions on OceanWATERS and OWLAT. These 1–2-year projects have now finished or are nearing completion, and a wide variety of autonomy challenges in ocean world surface missions were addressed. Prototyped and demonstrated solutions have included autonomous discovery, response and adaptation to system faults and unexpected environmental events, world model synthesis through perception, plan synthesis using learned models, methods to optimize sample target selection and prioritize science data transmission, extension of PLEXIL for stochastic decision-making, and an integration of a model of JPL’s mission-ready COLDArm [7]. Technologies used in these projects include many forms of machine learning, causal reasoning, automated planning, Markov decision processes, formal methods, and other advanced techniques. A more detailed summary of the ARROW and COLDTech projects is given herein. OceanWATERS has had significant enhancements since its open-source release in 2020. Many of its new features were driven or shaped by feedback from the ARROW and COLDTech teams and requirements of their projects. In support of enabling autonomous adaptation to spacecraft faults (a specific capability solicited by both programs), a fault injection and detection framework was developed that supports a wide and growing range of fault types such as locked joints, image loss, and battery failures. The power system model was completed and integrated into the simulator, starting as a single-cell battery model and later upgraded to a multi-cell model with associated faults such as cell disconnection. Arm/terrain interaction was improved by adding a force-torque sensor and associated faults, and an analytic dig force model based on the Balovnev bucket force equations. Environment fidelity was increased by modeling terrain deformation resulting from digging and scooping; visual improvements were made in textures, lighting, and shadows. To facilitate interoperation with OWLAT, a unified command and telemetry interface between the testbeds was developed at the ROS level, along with a PLEXIL interface. The number of lander operations was greatly expanded (e.g. with Cartesian-based arm and antenna movement), and a framework was designed for users to build their own lander actions. A GUI for PLEXIL plan selection was created (Figure 3), and an expansive set of plans were added, such as those that illustrate patterns for fault handling. This paper provides a self-contained high-level description of OceanWATERS, focusing on more detailed coverage of the aforementioned enhancements. It provides a high-level summary of the projects undertaken by participants in the ARROW and COLDTech programs and how these efforts have helped shape OceanWATERS. Finally, potential future work and directions for the testbed are listed, as likely informed by the recent planetary science decadal survey [5].
A multifunctional hot structure heatshield concept is being developed to provide technology enhancements with significant benefits compared to the current state-of-the-art heatshield technology. These benefits can potentially enable future planetary missions. The concept is unique in integrating the function of the thermal protection system with the primary load carrying structural component. An advanced carbon-carbon material system has been evaluated for the load carrying structure, which will be utilized on the outer surface of the heatshield, and thus will operate as a hot structure exposed to the severe aerodynamic heating associated with planetary entry. Flexible, highly efficient blanket insulation is sized for use underneath the hot structure to maintain required operational internal temperatures. The approach followed includes developing preliminary designs to demonstrate feasibility of the concept and benefits over a traditional, baseline design. Where prior work focused on a concept for an Earth entry vehicle, the current efforts presented here are focused on developing a generic heatshield model and performing a trade study for a Mars entry application. This trade study includes both structural and thermal evaluation. The results indicate that a hot structure concept is a feasible alternative to traditional heatshields and may offer advantages that can enable future entry missions.
The operation of electronic systems at cryogenic temperatures is anticipated for many future NASA space missions such as deep space probes and planetary surface exploration. For example, an unheated interplanetary probe launched to explore the rings of Saturn would reach an average temperature near Saturn of about -183 C. In addition to surviving the deep space harsh environment, electronics capable of low temperature operation would contribute to improving circuit performance, increasing system efficiency, and reducing payload development and launch costs. Terrestrial applications where components and systems must operate in low temperature environments include cryogenic instrumentation, superconducting magnetic energy storage, magnetic levitation transportation system, and arctic exploration. An on-going research and development program on low temperature electronics at the NASA Glenn Research Center focuses on the development of efficient power systems capable of surviving and exploiting the advantages of low temperature environments. Inhouse efforts include the design, fabrication, and characterization of low temperature power systems and the development of supporting technologies for low temperature operations, such as dielectric and insulating materials, semiconductor devices, passive power components, opto-electronic devices, as well as packaging and integration of the developed components into prototype flight hardware.
The needle probe method (also known as the' hot wire' or 'line heat source' method) is widely used for in-situ thermal conductivity measurements on soils and marine sediments on the earth. Variants of this method have also been used (or planned) for measuring regolith on the surfaces of extra-terrestrial bodies (e.g., the Moon, Mars, and comets). In the near-vacuum condition on the lunar and planetary surfaces, the measurement method used on the earth cannot be simply duplicated, because thermal conductivity of the regolith can be approximately 2 orders of magnitude lower. In addition, the planetary probes have much greater diameters, due to engineering requirements associated with the robotic deployment on extra-terrestrial bodies. All of these factors contribute to the planetary probes requiring much longer time of measurement, several tens of (if not over a hundred) hours, while a conventional terrestrial needle probe needs only 1 to 2 minutes. The long measurement time complicates the surface operation logistics of the lander. It also negatively affects accuracy of the thermal conductivity measurement, because the cumulative heat loss along the probe is no longer negligible. The present study improves the data reduction algorithm of the needle probe method by shortening the measurement time on planetary surfaces by an order of magnitude. The main difference between the new scheme and the conventional one is that the former uses the exact mathematical solution to the thermal model on which the needle probe measurement theory is based, while the latter uses an approximate solution that is valid only for large times. The present study demonstrates the benefit of the new data reduction technique by applying it to data from a series of needle probe experiments carried out in a vacuum chamber on JSC-1A lunar regolith stimulant. The use of the exact solution has some disadvantage, however, in requiring three additional parameters, but two of them (the diameter and the volumetric heat capacity of the probe) can be measured and the other (the volumetric heat capacity of the regolith/stimulant) may be estimated from the surface geologic observation and temperature measurements. Therefore, overall, the new data reduction scheme would make in-situ thermal conductivity measurement more practical on planetary missions.