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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 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Venus' center of mass - center of figure displacement and implications

Earth, Moon, Mars, and Venus all have centers of mass (C.M.) that are displaced from their centers of figure (C.F.) by amounts which range from 340 meters (Venus) to 2.5 km (Mars). These offsets have all been calculated from the first degree terms in spherical harmonic expansions of topography. We describe an alternate method for calculating C.M. - C.F. offsets directly from a global topographic data set and apply it to Venus. Using Magellan altimetry, we find that Venus' C.F. is displaced approximately 280 meters from its C.M. in the direction of Western Aphrodite Terra (4.4 deg S, 135.8 deg E). We investigate several simple models for this offset and find that it is most consistent with thickened crust in Ovda and Thetis Regiones (which constitute most of W. Aphrodite). The location of the C.F. offset also places constraints on the degree of crustal thickening in Western Ishtar Terra and/or this highland's mode of origin. We favor a model in which offset due to thick crust in Western Ishtar Terra is balanced by an opposing offset due to cold, downwelling mantle material beneath the highland.

Bindschadler, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Global Roughness Texture of the Moon and Mars

Statistical measures of patterns (textures) in surface roughness are used to quantitatively differentiate regional geomorphic units on the Moon and Mars (e.g. cratered highlands, volcanic terrains and planar lowlands). The existence of vastly distinct crustal types on Mars and the Moon is well established [e.g. 1, 2, 3, & 4]. Here, a new methodology developed for differentiating terrestrial volcanic deposits using ~1 m resolution topography data [5], is tested on two global data sets where roughness pixels are much larger (1/4 of a degree).

Whelley, P. L.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Proximity Link Design and Performance Options for a Mars Areostationary Relay Satellite

Current and near-term Mars relay telecommunications services are provided by a set of NASA and ESA Mars science orbiters equipped with UHF relay communication payloads employing operationally simple low gain antennas. These have been extremely successful in supporting a series of landed Mars mission, greatly increasing data return relative to direct-to-Earth lander links. Yet their relay services are fundamentally constrained by the short contact times available from the selected science orbits. Future Mars areostationary orbiters, flying in circular, equatorial, 1- sol orbits, offer the potential for continuous coverage of Mars landers and rovers, radically changing the relay support paradigm. Achieving high rates on the longer slant ranges to areostationary altitude will require steered, high-gain links. Both RF and optical options exist for achieving data rates in excess of 100 Mb/s. Several point designs offer a measure of potential user burden, in terms of mass, volume, power, and pointing requirements for user relay payloads, as a function of desired proximity link performance.

telecommunications↗
NASA NTRS1994

Enhanced orbit determination filter sensitivity analysis: Error budget development

An error budget analysis is presented which quantifies the effects of different error sources in the orbit determination process when the enhanced orbit determination filter, recently developed, is used to reduce radio metric data. The enhanced filter strategy differs from more traditional filtering methods in that nearly all of the principal ground system calibration errors affecting the data are represented as filter parameters. Error budget computations were performed for a Mars Observer interplanetary cruise scenario for cases in which only X-band (8.4-GHz) Doppler data were used to determine the spacecraft's orbit, X-band ranging data were used exclusively, and a combined set in which the ranging data were used in addition to the Doppler data. In all three cases, the filter model was assumed to be a correct representation of the physical world. Random nongravitational accelerations were found to be the largest source of error contributing to the individual error budgets. Other significant contributors, depending on the data strategy used, were solar-radiation pressure coefficient uncertainty, random earth-orientation calibration errors, and Deep Space Network (DSN) station location uncertainty.

Estefan, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1999

AFM Studies of Lunar Soils and Application to the Mars 2001 Mission

The upcoming Mars 01 mission will carry an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) as part of the Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA) instrument. By operating in a tapping mode, the AFM is capable of sub-nanometer resolution in three dimensions and can distinguish between substances of different compositions by employing phase contrast imaging. To prepare for the Mars 01 mission, we are testing the AFM on a lunar soil to determine its ability to define particle shapes and sizes and grain-surface textures. The test materials are from the Apollo 17 soil 79221, which is a mixture of agglutinates, impact and volcanic beads, and mare and highland rock and mineral fragments. The majority of the lunar soil particles are less than 100 microns in size, comparable to the sizes estimated for martian dust. We have used the AFM to examine several different soil particles at various resolutions. The instrument has demonstrated the ability to identify parallel ridges characteristic of twinning on a 150 micron plagioclase feldspar particle. Extremely small (10-100 nanometer) adhering particles are visible on the surface of the feldspar grain, and they appear elongate with smooth surfaces. Phase contrast imaging of the nanometer particles shows several compositions to be present. When the AFM was applied to a 100 micron glass spherule, it was possible to define an extremely smooth surface; this is in clear contrast to results from a basalt fragment which exhibited a rough surface texture. Also visible on the surface of the glass spherule were chains of 100 nanometer and smaller impact melt droplets. For the '01 Mars mission, the AFM is intended to define the size and shape distributions of soil particles, in combination with the NMCA optical microscope system and images from the Robot Arm Camera (RAC). These three data sets will provide a means of assessing potentially hazardous soil and dust properties. The study that we have conducted on the lunar soils now suggests that the NMCA experiment will be able to define grain transport and weathering processes. For example, it should be possible to determine if Martian grains have been subjected to aeolian or water transport, volcanic activity, impact melting processes, in-situ weathering, and a host of other processes. Additionally, textural maturity could be assessed (via freshness and form of fracture patterns and grain shapes). Thus, the AFM has the potential to shed new light on Martian surface processes by adding the submicroscopic dimension to planetary investigations.

Weitz, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Distributed Operations Planning

Maestro software provides a secure and distributed mission planning system for long-term missions in general, and the Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER) specifically. Maestro, the successor to the Science Activity Planner, has a heavy emphasis on portability and distributed operations, and requires no data replication or expensive hardware, instead relying on a set of services functioning on JPL institutional servers. Maestro works on most current computers with network connections, including laptops. When browsing down-link data from a spacecraft, Maestro functions similarly to being on a Web browser. After authenticating the user, it connects to a database server to query an index of data products. It then contacts a Web server to download and display the actual data products. The software also includes collaboration support based upon a highly reliable messaging system. Modifications made to targets in one instance are quickly and securely transmitted to other instances of Maestro. The back end that has been developed for Maestro could benefit many future missions by reducing the cost of centralized operations system architecture.

Fox, Jason↗
NASA NTRS2016

Proximity Link Design and Performance Options for a Mars Areostationary Relay Satellite

Current and near-term Mars relay telecommunications services are provided by a set of NASA and ESA Mars science orbiters equipped with UHF relay communication payloads employing operationally simple low-gain antennas. These have been extremely successful in supporting a series of landed Mars mission, greatly increasing data return relative to direct-to-Earth lander links. Yet their relay services are fundamentally constrained by the short contact times available from the selected science orbits. Future Mars areostationary orbiters, flying in circular, equatorial, 1- sol orbits, offer the potential for continuous coverage of Mars landers and rovers, radically changing the relay support paradigm. Achieving high rates on the longer slant ranges to areostationary altitude will require steered, high-gain links. Both RF and optical options exist for achieving data rates in excess of 100 Mb/s. Several point designs offer a measure of potential user burden, in terms of mass, volume, power, and pointing requirements for user relay payloads, as a function of desired proximity link performance.

telecommunications↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

PowerCell aboard the EuCROPIS satellite - Results from the first synthetic biology experiment in space

Synthetic biology is the design and construction of new biological parts and systems not found in nature, a technology that we believe will be a game-changing technology for space exploration. The PowerCell concept is an ecology based on photosynthetic microbes taking advantage of in situ materials and energy to generate, on-demand, useful products (food, fuel, cloths, drugs, etc.) that satisfy specific needs of long-term human presence away from Earth. This first PowerCell experiment is testing this concept as well as several key mechanisms of engineering biology in a 48-well plate microfluidics system. NASA's PowerCell experiment was loaded in the fluidics system at NASA Ames in May 2016, and subsequently integrated on the DLR's compact satellite Eu:CROPIS (Euglena Combined Regenerative Organic food Production In Space), as a secondary payload. Launched into Earth’s orbit from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA, in December 3, 2019, the Eu:CROPIS platform has provided an artificial gravity through rotational acceleration, simulating gravity ranges compatible to those found on Mars and on the Moon, as well as microgravity in the absence of acceleration. Each set of biological experiments performed at Earth's orbit was compared to ground controls. Over 400 days' worth of mission data showed that all hardware and software worked as planned, and microbial growth was observed in all four gravity regimes, including growth on cyanobacterial cell extract in three out of four gravity regimes. The genetic transformation experiment was successful in microgravity and provided valuable long-term reagent stability data, including antibiotic efficacy. The demonstrated ability of hardy bacterial spores to recover from a long-term stasis period will be fundamental for deep human space missions. Lessons learned from hardware design to experimental operations are leading to improved designs and capabilities for future missions.

Ivan Glaucio Paulino Lima↗
NASA NTRS1991

Radiation protection for human missions to the Moon and Mars

Radiation protection assessments are performed for advanced Lunar and Mars manned missions. The Langley cosmic ray transport code and the nucleon transport code are used to quantify the transport and attenuation of galactic cosmic rays and solar proton flares through various shielding media. Galactic cosmic radiation at solar maximum and minimum, as well as various flare scenarios are considered. Propagation data for water, aluminum, liquid hydrogen, lithium hydride, lead, and lunar and Martian regolith (soil) are included. Shield thickness and shield mass estimates required to maintain incurred doses below 30 day and annual limits (as set for Space Station Freedom and used as a guide for space exploration) are determined for simple geometry transfer vehicles. On the surface of Mars, dose estimates are presented for crews with their only protection being the carbon dioxide atmosphere and for crews protected by shielding provided by Martian regolith for a candidate habitat.

Simonsen, Lisa C.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Mars Habitability, Biosignature Preservation, and Mission Support

Our work has elucidated a new analog for the formation of giant polygons on Mars, involving fluid expulsion in a subaqueous environment. That work is based on three-dimensional (3D) seismic data on Earth that illustrate the mud volcanoes and giant polygons that result from sediment compaction in offshore settings. The description of this process has been published in the journal Icarus, where it will be part of a special volume on Martian analogs. These ideas have been carried further to suggest that giant polygons in the Martian lowlands may be the signature of an ancient ocean and, as such, could mark a region of enhanced habitability. A paper describing this hypothesis has been published in the journal Astrobiology.

Oehler, Dorothy Z.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Noble gas patterns in the atmospheres of Mars and Earth: A comparison via the SNC meteorites

Noble gas and nitrogen compositions in the glassy phase of the EETA 79001 shergottite correspond closely with Viking measurements. This direct evidence for the origin of the SNC meteorites on Mars, and for trapping of an unfractionated sample of Martian atmospheric gases in the 79001 glass, provides a reasonable basis for comparing the Martian and terrestrial atmospheres with more precision than that afforded by the Viking data set. Results are that, with one exception, elemental and isotopic compositions of nonradiogenic Martian noble gases are similar to those in the Earth's atmosphere; relatively small isotopic discrepancies in Kr and perhaps Xe may be attributable to different degrees of mass fractionation of a common parent reservoir. The anomaly is in Ar composition, where Martian Ar-36/AR-38 approx. 4 is strikingly lower than the values near 5.3 that characterize both the Earth and major meteoritic gas carriers. Although a primordial Martian ratio of 5.3 could in principle be altered by some planet specific process (e.g., cosmic ray spallation of surface materials) operating over geologic time, one has not been found that works.

Pepin, R. O.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Chemistry of Meridiani Outcrops

The chemistry and mineralogy of the sulfate-rich sandstone outcrops at Meridiani Planum, Mars, have been inferred from data obtained by the Opportunity rover of the MER mission and reported in recent publications [1-6]. Here, we provide an update on more recent samples and results derived from this extensive data set.

Clark, B. C.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Mars Global Surveyor Mission: Environmental Assessment

This environmental assessment addresses the proposed action to complete the integration and launch the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS), Florida, during the launch window in November 1996. Mars Global Surveyor is part of the Solar System Exploration Program to the inner planets designed to maintain a sufficient level of scientific investigation and accomplishment so that the United States retains a leading position in solar system exploration through the end of the century. The Program consists of a specific sequence of missions, based on technological readiness, launch opportunities, rapidity of data return, and a balance of scientific disciplines. The purpose of the MGS mission would be to deliver a spacecraft platform to a low-altitude polar orbit around Mars where it would collect global observations of basic geological, geophysical, and climatological processes of the planet. To satisfy this purpose, the MGS mission would support a scientific set of objectives. Detailed global maps of surface topography, the distribution of minerals, the planet's mass, size, and shape, the characterization of Mars gravitational and magnetic fields, and the monitoring of global weather, collected over the period of one Martian year (about two Earth years), would help answer some of the questions about the evolution of Mars. Such an investigation would help scientists better understand the current state of water on Mars, the evolution of the planet's atmosphere, and the factors that led to major changes in the Martian climate. It would also provide much needed information on the magnetic field of Mars. Data collected from this mission would provide insight into the evolution of both Earth and the solar system, as well as demonstrate technological approaches that could be applicable to future Mars missions.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2020

Preparing for Mars 2020 and Future Space Missions: Technology Advancements Driving Contamination Control Requirements and Cleanroom Protocols

Future space exploration missions will force contamination control requirements to become more strict to support increasingly sensitive instrumentation and search for life missions. Driving issues for these extremely clean requirements include increased instrument sensitivity, return sample science, and protecting ambitious mission science objectives. Preparing to meet these requirements mandates that contamination control provide new guidelines and more involved support for the cleanrooms during flight hardware assembly, including establishing better methods for setting cleanroom personnel limits to reduce particle fall out in cleanrooms. Limited literature exists for universal methods of determining cleanroom personnel limits, and what does exist includes mostly theory and assumptions on determining the limit. In this work, published method will be assessed against particle fall out data collected from the ISO 5 cleanrooms of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover assembly. Additional evaluations will assess contamination control required cleanroom protocols and the overall success of meeting strict cleanliness requirements of the Adaptive Caching Assembly (ACA) and sample tubes to safeguard future scientific endeavors.

Chen, Nicole↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mars aqueous chemistry experiment

The Mars Aqueous Chemistry Experiment (MACE) is designed to conduct a variety of measurements on regolith samples, encompassing mineral phase analyses, chemical interactions with H2O, and physical properties determinations. From these data, much can be learned or inferred regarding the past weathering environment, the contemporaneous soil micro-environments, and the general chemical and physical state of the Martian regolith. By analyzing both soil and duricrust samples, the nature of the latter may become more apparent. Sites may be characterized for comparative purposes and criteria could be set for selection of high priority materials on future sample return missions. Progress for the first year MACE PIDDP is reported in two major areas of effort: (1) fluids handling concepts, definition, and breadboard fabrication and (2) aqueous chemistry ion sensing technology and test facility integration. A fluids handling breadboard was designed, fabricated, and tested at Mars ambient pressure. The breadboard allows fluid manipulation scenarios to be tested under the reduced pressure conditions expected in the Martian atmosphere in order to validate valve operations, orchestrate analysis sequences, investigate sealing integrity, and to demonstrate efficacy of the fluid handling concept. Additional fluid manipulation concepts have also been developed based on updated MESUR spacecraft definition. The Mars Aqueous Chemistry Experiment Ion Selective Electrode (ISE) facility was designed as a test bed to develop a multifunction interface for measurements of chemical ion concentrations in aqueous solution. The interface allows acquisition of real time data concerning the kinetics and heats of salt dissolution, and transient response to calibration and solubility events. An array of ion selective electrodes has been interfaced and preliminary calibration studies performed.

Clark, Benton C.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Generating Solid Models from Topographical Data

A method of generating solid models of terrain involves the conversion of topographical data into a form useable by a rapid-prototyping (RP) machine. The method was developed to enable the use of the RP machine to make solid models of Martian terrain from Mars Orbiter laser-altimeter topographical data. The method is equally applicable to the generation of models of the terrains of other astronomical bodies, including other planets, asteroids, and Earth. Topographical data describe a terrain in terms of a set of three-dimensional coordinates [e.g., Cartesian (x,y,z) or polar (latitude, longitude, radius) coordinates] of points or nodes on the terrain surface. The input data for the RP machines are required to provide a three-dimensional description, not of a single surface, but of a volume in this case, a ground volume that underlies the terrain surface. The description is required to be in the form of triangular elements that connect the nodes of all the surfaces and that completely bound the volume, with no open areas, no overlap of triangles, and no extraneous geometric elements. The software used in the present model-generation method was written in IDL - an advanced programming language that affords a number of tools, including subroutines that triangularize surfaces. The software creates a volume from the topographical surface data by adding sides to the edges of the terrain surface and joining the sides with a bottom surface. Each of the sides is triangularized by use of IDL subroutines, and then the software searches for extraneous elements and removes them. Topographical data are usually presented in a grid corresponding to polar coordinates, so that a model generated from such data is equivalent to a topographical map in Mercator projection. However an RP machine is fully capable of including the curvature of a planetary body in a model that it makes. Therefore, the software also offers a capability to transform the topographical data to a projection onto a surface having a curvature corresponding to that of the surface of the modeled planet.

Keller, John W.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Nano-ADEPT Aeroloads Wind Tunnel Test

A wind tunnel test of the Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT) was conducted in April 2015 at the US Army's 7 by10 Foot Wind Tunnel located at NASA Ames Research Center. Key geometric features of the fabric test article were a 0.7 meter deployed base diameter, a 70 degree half-angle forebody cone angle, eight ribs, and a nose-to-base radius ratio of 0.7. The primary objective of this wind tunnel test was to obtain static deflected shape and pressure distributions while varying pretension at dynamic pressures and angles of attack relevant to entry conditions at Earth, Mars, and Venus. Other objectives included obtaining aerodynamic force and moment data and determining the presence and magnitude of any dynamic aeroelastic behavior (buzz/flutter) in the fabric trailing edge. All instrumentation systems worked as planned and a rich data set was obtained. This paper describes the test articles, instrumentation systems, data products, and test results. Four notable conclusions are drawn. First, test data support adopting a pre-tension lower bound of 10 foot pounds per inch for Nano-ADEPT mission applications in order to minimize the impact of static deflection. Second, test results indicate that the fabric conditioning process needs to be reevaluated. Third, no flutter/buzz of the fabric was observed for any test condition and should also not occur at hypersonic speeds. Fourth, translating one of the gores caused ADEPT to generate lift without the need for a center of gravity offset. At hypersonic speeds, the lift generated by actuating ADEPT gores could be used for vehicle control.

system engineering↗