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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 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Safeguarding a Lunar Rover with Wald's Sequential Probability Ratio Test

The virtual bumper is a safeguarding mechanism for autonomous and remotely operated robots. In this paper we take a new approach to the virtual bumper system by using an old statistical test. By using a modified version of Wald's sequential probability ratio test we demonstrate that we can reduce the number of false positive reported by the virtual bumper, thereby saving valuable mission time. We use the concept of sequential probability ratio to control vehicle speed in the presence of possible obstacles in order to increase certainty about whether or not obstacles are present. Our new algorithm reduces the chances of collision by approximately 98 relative to traditional virtual bumper safeguarding without speed control.

safeguarding↗
NASA NTRS2017

An Integrated System for Autonomous Search and Track with a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

This article presents a framework for searching, detecting, and tracking an object of interest with a small unmanned aerial vehicle (sUAV). The vehicle is given an area to search for an object of interest. Once the object is detected, the sUAV follows the target while maintaining a fixed distance and centered on its image plane. This paper describes an architecture for integrating autonomy capabilities for search and track for sUAVs. The system has been implemented in the Robot Operating System (ROS) framework using the Parrot ARDrone platform. In this paper we present our technical approach, the system architecture and demonstrate the principles of the approach in a simulation environment and indoor flight tests.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle↗
NASA NTRS2020

Sediment Sorting and Rounding in a Basaltic Glacio-Fluvio-Aeolian Environment: Ϸhórisjökull Glacier, Iceland

Sediments and sedimentary rocks preserve a rich history of environment and climate. Identifying these signals requires an understanding of the physical and chemical processes that have affected sedimentary deposits [1]. Such processes include sorting and rounding during transport and chemical alteration through weathering and diagenesis. Although these processes have long been studied in quartz-dominated sedimentary systems [2], a lack of studies of basaltic sedimentary systems limits our interpretations of the environment and climate where mafic source rocks dominate, such as on Mars [3,4]. As part of the SAND-E: Semi-Autonomous Navigation for Detrital Environments project [5], which uses robotic operations to examine physical and chemical changes to sediments in basaltic glacio-fluvialaeolian environments, this research studies changes in sorting and rounding of fluvial-aeolian sediments along a glacier-proximal-to-glacier-distal transect in the outwash-plain of the Ϸόrisjökull glacier in SW Iceland (Fig. 1)

Mason, K. G.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Electrodynamic Dust Shield Housing for RASSOR Redesign and Fabrication

Abstract—An Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) was to be mounted over the cameras of the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) to mitigate the clouding effects and abrasive properties of lunar dust. This report discusses the redesign process and physical fabrication of the housing unit planned to attach the EDS to the RASSOR camera. The two-piece 3D-Printed design consists of a holder and cover unit. The EDS Holder seats the EDS near two live copper contacts that are to be wired into the main electronics housing. The EDS Cover seats two metal leaf spring tabs to bridge the connections between the copper contacts and EDS electrodes, as well as a centralized O-ring that is pressed flush against the EDS to mitigate dust intrusion. All components were modeled, printed, and checked for proper electrical contact and mechanical fit. The built-up assembly was subsequently tested in the Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory (ESPL) and demonstrated good dust clearing performance.

Alexander Lacerna↗
NASA NTRS2019

SSIM: NASA Mars rover robotics flight software simulation

The focus of SSim on MSL was the robotic flight software, including rover mobility and navigation, robotic arm manipulation, and sample acquisition, processing, and delivery. It can execute behaviors in simulation a thousand times faster than they execute in real time on the flight compute element. SSim is used by rover drivers to develop and validate command sequences throughout the planning cycle. SSim has been used to plan all of the Curiosity robotic operations since landing and is expected to continue to be used for the remaining life of the rover.

Leger, Chris↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mini RASSOR and Pilot Excavator

RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operational Robot) is a dual bucket drum excavator prototype that is designed to dig regolith (moon dirt). Will develop into a smaller excavator named the ISRU Pilot Excavator that will go to the moon to support the Artemis mission. Regolith gathering by Pilot Excavator can be used as building material while dug up ice can be used as a water resource.

Victoria Ortega↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Some Unexpected Risks from Lunar Ejecta

Human or robotic operations on the lunar surface or other airless bodies are vulnerable not just to direct impacts from meteoroids, but by impacts of meteoroids or asteroids elsewhere on the planetary surface excavating a large mass of high-speed ejecta that may in turn impact the asset. While this ejecta environment has been known since Apollo days, recent analysis of this risk has uncovered some interesting and unexpected properties of the ejecta environment. This includes a non-trivial contribution from nearby primary impacts (within a few tens of meters) where the ejecta impact the asset while still ascending from the planetary surface, over and above the more “traditional” ejecta component that descends from above. In addition, the outsized contribution to the ejecta risk from nearby primary impacts (within a few tens of kilometers) relative to impacts far away means that the flux on an asset will show considerable stochastic variability, such that a simple average flux may not reveal the full impact risk to a mission. This presentation will describe some of these phenomena and offer suggestions for how these risks can be better calculated to ensure mission safety.

Mark Matney↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Growth as an Alternative Approach to the Construction of Extra-Terrestrial Habitats

A critical component of human space exploration and eventual settlement is the ability to construct habitats while minimizing payload mass launched from Earth. To respond to this challenge, we have proposed the use of fungal bio-composites for ‘growing’ extra-terrestrial structures, directly at the destination, significantly lowering the mass of structural materials transported from Earth and minimizing the need for high mass robotic operations and infrastructure preparations. Throughout human history, the construction of habits has used biologically produced materials, from bone and skins to wood and limestone. Traditionally, the materials are used only after they die. Currently, the idea of working with living biological organisms, and the phenomenon of growth itself, is increasing in interest both, in architecture and space applications. Here we describe the use of mycelium-based composites as an alternative, biological approach for constructing regenerative and adaptive extraterrestrial habitats, a continuation of our research program initiated under the auspices of the ‘Myco-architecture Off Planet’ NASA NIAC Team. These composites, which are fire-resistant, insulating, do not consist of volatile organic compounds from petrochemical products and can be used independently or in conjunction with regolith, could employ the living biological growth in a controlled environment, for the process of material fabrication, assembly, maintenance, and repair, providing structures resilient to extra-terrestrial hazards. The paper will outline the potential and challenges of using bio-composites for space applications and will present how these might be addressed, in order to make this biological approach feasible, providing new, growing materials for design habitats on long-duration missions.

Monika Brandić Lipińska↗
NASA NTRS2021

GPX2

GPX2is a technology demonstration mission that will provide a novel test-bed for Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) differential global positioning systems (dGPS) to enable future on-orbit assembly, docking, and formation-flying small satellite missions. While on-orbit,GPX2will assess the capability of multi-frequency COTS dGPS receivers.GPX2 is passively stabilized using a 2-meter gravity gradient boom, providing a local orbit horizon view to the GPX2 antennae and Iridium communication. By demonstrating dGPS on-orbit, GPX2 paves the way for on-orbit assembly and autonomous robotic operations using high-accuracy dGPS to measure relative proximity and orientation.

CubeSat↗
NASA NTRS2020

A ROS-based Simulator for Testing the Enhanced Autonomous Navigation of the Mars 2020 Rover

In order to achieve the ambitious objectives of the Mars 2020 (M2020) mission, in particular the ability to autonomously traverse more challenging terrains more efficiently, new surface mobility software was developed for Enhanced Navigation (ENav). That decision was made early in the project, before most of the new surface flight software (FSW) existed, which created a need for a separate framework where the new navigation algorithms could be quickly prototyped and tested, before more realistic FSW-based testbeds became available. The JPL robotics team chose the Robot Operating System [1] (ROS) as the environment in which to test the new ENav algorithms. This made it possible to write the algorithms in the C language required by the FSW, so they could be directly ported over to the flight module later on, while leveraging all the C++ libraries and tools provided by ROS for simulation and testing. The ENav algorithms were developed as a separate C library, and stubs were used to replace any FSW-specific code, such as Event Reporting (EVRs) and data products (DPs). A ROS simulator was developed to generate a rich set of varied 3D terrains representative of the candidate Mars landing sites and simulate the physics of the rover motion, the point cloud perceived by the rover’s stereo vision system, and the new thinking-while-driving (TWD) navigation logic which directs the rover to drive autonomously to user-specified waypoints. To simulate the rover motion and perception, a ROS node was developed that uses a software library called HyperDrive Sim (HDSim), which is a wrapper for the Rover Sequencing and Visualization Program [2] (RSVP). That library provides roverterrain settling, realistic slip modelling, and camera rendering capability based on the rover’s NavCam machine vision models. To simulate the navigation logic, a ROS node was created that initializes and runs the ENav algorithms in a way that mimics the FSW execution, while also providing the capability to load and replay data products, including re-running the recorded inputs through the ENav algorithms for testing. An engineering Graphical User Interface (GUI) was also developed to visualize various elements, such as the rover pose during the drive, the simulated and perceived terrain, the selected local and global paths to the goal, the evaluated candidate paths and the reasons why they were rejected, the keep-in and keep-out zones (KIOZs), etc. Finally, an advanced Monte Carlo (MC) framework that can run many simulations in parallel on the Cloud and automatically generate reports that capture the key ENav performance metrics was developed to evaluate the system in a statisticallymeaningful way. This paper provides an overview of the ROSbased simulator used for testing the M2020 ENav algorithms.

Toupet, Olivier↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lunar Proving Grounds Definition

The Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) is hosting a hybrid Lunar Proving Grounds Definition Workshop, July 12-13,2023, at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, and on Zoom. The topic of facilities needed for testing hardware destined for the Moon and the need for Earth-based ‘Lunar Proving Grounds’ for testing systems has come up across all six Focus Areas of LSIC. While facilities exist for component- and instrument- level technology maturation (e.g., up to system/subsystem demo in relevant environments), and there are potential flight opportunities for component maturation to flight-qualified and even flight-proved systems, the Artemis Program vision for a sustained presence and transition to industry (e.g., the Moon to Mars Objectives and the LSIC “Path to an Enduring Lunar Presence” white paper) suggests an architecture of integrated systems and systems of systems more complex than Apollo or the International Space Station. Some questions we aim to address through this workshop include: (1) How will validation and verification of these systems and interactions, including human-robotic operations, be accomplished? (2) What metrics need to be tested, and thus what capabilities will such a facility or facilities need? (3) Which functionalities can be tested separately and which need to synergize? What can be the role of digital engineering?

Proving Grounds↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Improvements to Stitching Controls for Manufacturing Advanced Stitched Composites

Stitched composites have been extensively studied and have been shown to have benefits over unstitched composites for stiffened structures, including improved damage tolerance, reduced weight, and fewer fasteners. These benefits make stitched composites attractive from a performance perspective, however, the nature of stitching the preforms prior to infusion includes additional manufacturing steps and equipment compared to conventional resin infusion. Stitching of composite material structures at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is performed at the Integrated Structural Assembly of Advanced Composites (ISAAC) facility using control algorithms developed by the lead author. Two deficiencies have been identified in the current control algorithms, and mitigations for these deficiencies were developed within the Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project and are presented herein. First, decoupling stitch translation and rotation takes more time for stitching since two robot operation control steps are executed for each stitch. Therefore, a method was developed to determine when to decouple the translation and rotation for stitching, which reduces stitch time by decoupling the operation control steps only when necessary to execute the stitch properly. Second, a correction to the sideslip stitching approach that eliminates a significant portion of the pre- and post-stitching activities was developed. The developed method adjusts the sideslip stitch angle based on the rotations of previous stitches to ensure that the width of the stitching seam remains constant along its length. Constant seam width eliminates observed overlap of the insertion and catcher thread portions for highly curved paths, which maintains the desired uniformity of through-the-thickness architecture along the seam and eliminates the local degradation of properties where the insertion needle is too close to, or crosses, the catcher needle portion of the seam.

stitching↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Powering the Lunar Surface: Managing Dust, Extreme Environments, and Power Needs

Power availability remains one of the primary constraints for lunar surface science. This talk reviews power requirements from previously flown instruments to help prepare future payloads for upcoming CLPS opportunities and highlights the testing and environmental simulation capabilities at NASA JSC that enable reliable lunar payload development. It also outlines the power needs, environmental challenges, and emerging technologies required to support sustained human and robotic operations on the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Moon to Mars strategy. Key challenges include variable solar illumination at polar and equatorial regions, extreme thermal environments, and dust driven degradation that limit current surface power systems. The science data needed for resource identification and landing site planning will allow for the successful preparation of crewed Artemis activities and long-term presence. Building on recent missions, current test infrastructure, and emerging power technology pathways, this presentation equips industry, academia, and government teams with the information needed to design robust lunar payloads, reduce development risk, and fully leverage the increasing cadence of CLPS missions. These developments will form a critical technical foundation for long duration lunar presence and future Mars exploration.

Anastasia Ford↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Powering the Lunar Surface: Managing Dust, Extreme Environments, and Power Needs

Power availability remains one of the primary constraints for lunar surface science. This talk reviews power requirements from previously flown instruments to help prepare future payloads for upcoming CLPS opportunities and highlights the testing and environmental simulation capabilities at NASA JSC that enable reliable lunar payload development. It also outlines the power needs, environmental challenges, and emerging technologies required to support sustained human and robotic operations on the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Moon to Mars strategy. Key challenges include variable solar illumination at polar and equatorial regions, extreme thermal environments, and dust driven degradation that limit current surface power systems. The science data needed for resource identification and landing site planning will allow for the successful preparation of crewed Artemis activities and long-term presence. Building on recent missions, current test infrastructure, and emerging power technology pathways, this presentation equips industry, academia, and government teams with the information needed to design robust lunar payloads, reduce development risk, and fully leverage the increasing cadence of CLPS missions. These developments will form a critical technical foundation for long duration lunar presence and future Mars exploration.

lunar power↗
NASA NTRS1994

Robotic vision techniques for space operations

Automation and robotics for space applications are being pursued for increased productivity, enhanced reliability, increased flexibility, higher safety, and for the automation of time-consuming tasks and those activities which are beyond the capacity of the crew. One of the key functional elements of an automated robotic system is sensing and perception. As the robotics era dawns in space, vision systems will be required to provide the key sensory data needed for multifaceted intelligent operations. In general, the three-dimensional scene/object description, along with location, orientation, and motion parameters will be needed. In space, the absence of diffused lighting due to a lack of atmosphere gives rise to: (a) high dynamic range (10(exp 8)) of scattered sunlight intensities, resulting in very high contrast between shadowed and specular portions of the scene; (b) intense specular reflections causing target/scene bloom; and (c) loss of portions of the image due to shadowing and presence of stars, Earth, Moon, and other space objects in the scene. In this work, developments for combating the adverse effects described earlier and for enhancing scene definition are discussed. Both active and passive sensors are used. The algorithm for selecting appropriate wavelength, polarization, look angle of vision sensors is based on environmental factors as well as the properties of the target/scene which are to be perceived. The environment is characterized on the basis of sunlight and other illumination incident on the target/scene and the temperature profiles estimated on the basis of the incident illumination. The unknown geometrical and physical parameters are then derived from the fusion of the active and passive microwave, infrared, laser, and optical data.

Krishen, Kumar↗
NASA NTRS1990

Automation and Robotics for space operation and planetary exploration

This paper presents a perspective of Automation and Robotics (A&R) research and developments at NASA in terms of its history, its current status, and its future. It covers artificial intelligence, telerobotics and planetary rovers, and it encompasses ground operations, operations in earth orbit, and planetary exploration.

Montemerlo, Melvin D.↗