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NASA NTRS2017

NASA's Space Launch System: Deep-Space Opportunities for SmallSats

Designed for human exploration missions into deep space, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) represents a new spaceflight infrastructure asset, enabling a wide variety of unique utilization opportunities. While primarily focused on launching the large systems needed for crewed spaceflight beyond Earth orbit, SLS also offers a game-changing capability for the deployment of small satellites to deep-space destinations, beginning with its first flight. Currently, SLS is making rapid progress toward readiness for its first launch in two years, using the initial configuration of the vehicle, which is capable of delivering 70 metric tons (t) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). On its first flight test of the Orion spacecraft around the moon, accompanying Orion on SLS will be small-satellite secondary payloads, which will deploy in cislunar space. The deployment berths are sized for "6U" CubeSats, and on EM-1 the spacecraft will be deployed into cislunar space following Orion separate from the SLS Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. Payloads in 6U class will be limited to 14 kg maximum mass. Secondary payloads on EM-1 will be launched in the Orion Stage Adapter (OSA). Payload dispensers will be mounted on specially designed brackets, each attached to the interior wall of the OSA. For the EM-1 mission, a total of fourteen brackets will be installed, allowing for thirteen payload locations. The final location will be used for mounting an avionics unit, which will include a battery and sequencer for executing the mission deployment sequence. Following the launch of EM-1, deployments of the secondary payloads will commence after sufficient separation of the Orion spacecraft to the upper stage vehicle to minimize any possible contact of the deployed cubesats to Orion. Currently this is estimated to require approximately 4 hours. The allowed deployment window for the cubesats will be from the time the upper stage disposal maneuvers are complete to up to 10 days after launch. The upper stage will fly past the moon at a perigee of approximately 100km, and this closest approach will occur about 5 days after launch. The limiting factor for the latest deployment time is the available power in the sequencer system. Several NASA Mission Directorates were involved in the development of programs for the competition, selection, and development of EM-1 payloads that support directorate priorities. CubeSat payloads on EM-1 will include both NASA research experiments and spacecraft developed by industry, international and potentially academia partners. The Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Division was allocated five payload opportunities on the EM-1 mission. Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout is designed to rendezvous with and characterize a candidate NEA. A solar sail, an innovation the spacecraft will demonstrated for the CubeSat class, will provide propulsion. Lunar Flashlight will use a green propellant system and will search for potential ice deposits in the moon's permanently shadowed craters. BioSentinel is a yeast radiation biosensor, planned to measure the effects of space radiation on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Lunar Icecube, a collaboration with Morehead State University, will prospect for water in ice, liquid, and vapor forms as well as other lunar volatiles from a low-perigee, highly inclined lunar orbit using a compact Infrared spectrometer. Skyfire, a partnership with Lockheed Martin, is a technology demonstration mission that will perform a lunar flyby, collecting spectroscopy, and thermography data to address questions related to surface characterization, remote sensing, and site selection. NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) was allocated three payload opportunities on the EM-1 mission. These slots will be filled via the 2 Centennial Challenges Program, NASA's flagship program for technology prize competitions, which directly engages the public, academia, and industry in open prize competitions to stimulate innovation. The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) was allocated two payload opportunities on the EM-1 mission. The CubeSat Mission to Study Solar Particles (CuSP) payload will study the sources and acceleration mechanisms of solar and interplanetary particles in near-Earth orbit, support space weather research by determining proton radiation levels during Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events and identifying suprathermal properties that could help predict geomagnetic storms. The LunaH-Map payload will help scientists understand the quantity of H-bearing materials in lunar cold traps (~10 km), determine the concentration of H-bearing materials with 1m depth, and constrain the vertical distribution of H-bearing materials. The final three payload opportunities for the EM-1 mission were allocated for NASA's international space agency counterparts. The flight opportunities are intended to benefit the international space agency and NASA as well as further the collective space exploration goals. ArgoMoon is sponsored by ESA/ASI and will fly along with the ICPS on its disposal trajectory to perform proximity operations with the ICPS post-disposal, take external imagery of engineering and historical significance, and perform an optical communications demonstration. EQUULEUS, sponsored by JAXA, will fly to a libration orbit around the Earth-Moon L2 point and demonstrate trajectory control techniques within the Sun-Earth-Moon region for the first time by a nano spacecraft. The mission will also contribute to the future human exploration scenario by understanding the radiation environment in geospace and deep space, characterizing the flux of impacting meteors on the far side of the moon, and demonstrating the future deep space exploration scenario using the "deep space port" at Lagrange points. OMOTENASHI, also sponsored by JAXA, will land the smallest lunar lander to date on the lunar surface to demonstrate the feasibility of the hardware for distributed cooperative exploration system. Small landers will enable multi-point exploration, which is complimentary with large-scale human exploration. Once on the lunar surface, the OMOTENASHI spacecraft will observe the radiation and soil environments of the lunar surface by active radiation measurements and soil shear measurements. Following EM-1, Space Launch System will evolve to the more-powerful Block 1B configuration, which uses a new Exploration Upper Stage to increase the vehicle's LEO payload capability from 70 t to 105 t. With that transition, the Orion Stage Adapter, which will carry the secondary payloads on EM-1, will be phased out, and a new Universal Stage Adapter will be introduced, creating opportunities for flying larger secondary payloads. This paper will provide a brief status of SLS progress toward first launch; an overview of smallsat accommodations, integration, and operations on EM-1; information about the specific payloads flying on that launch; and a discussion of future accommodations and opportunities for secondary payloads on SLS for Exploration Mission-2 and beyond.

Robinson, Kimberly F.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

In Space Manufacturing and Extraterrestrial Construction: How Did We Get Here?Where Are We? Where Should We Be Going? THE CHALLENGE: Will We Be Ready?

NASA has held multiple workshops and sought inputs from a broad spectrum of sources, including international partners, other space agencies, industry, large and small businesses, academia, and private citizens to develop its Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives. The goals and objectives set forth in the resulting documents are “designed to achieve the vision to create a blueprint for sustained human presence and exploration throughout the solar system.” The objectives were categorized into four distinct tracks: Operations, Infrastructure, Transportation and Habitation, and Science. In addition, common themes across the objectives were captured under Recurring Tenets. Within the Infrastructure category, several objectives directly address the need for manufacturing and construction on the lunar surface to support continuous human lunar presence and a robust lunar economy. In exploring the vision for creation of on-demand infrastructure on the lunar surface and beyond, this presentation will examine the development of these capabilities, starting in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, up to the current state, and offer a perspective on the challenges facing operational implementation of these technologies. In the early 2000’s, the destination was the Moon. The International Space Station (ISS) was to be the test bed for demonstration of in space manufacturing technologies. Additive construction was in its infancy. These pioneering initiatives, having begun primarily under NASA’s Office of Biological and Physical Research In Situ Fabrication and Repair (ISFAR) Project, were short-lived. It was not until the early 2010’s that in space manufacturing and later extraterrestrial construction experienced renewed interest and support. At this time, the destination was Mars. This period saw the initial in space additive manufacturing experiments on the ISS, creation of a roadmap for development of in space manufacturing technologies, and development of additive construction systems for terrestrial use at scale. The period also included NASA’s 3D Printed Mars Habitat Centennial Challenge, which catalyzed interest in extraterrestrial construction. With NASA’s announcement of the intention to return to the Moon, and the subsequent release of the Artemis Accords in 2020, and the commensurate Moon to Mars Strategy, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate initiated the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII). The LSII has spurred technology development and maturation efforts across a spectrum of capabilities that would be needed to live on the lunar surface. The presentation will provide an overview of current technology developments in the areas of in space manufacturing and extraterrestrial construction. Looking forward from the current state, a perspective will be offered on capabilities that are still needed to “institutionalize” in space manufacturing and extraterrestrial construction to achieve the vision of NASA’s Moon to Mars Strategy. Finally, a challenge will be posed to the community to accelerate the development of these capabilities. When the explorers of the future need these enabling capabilities, will they be ready?

Raymond G Clinton Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Third Annual HEDS-UP Forum

The HEDS-UP (Human Exploration and Development of Space-University Partners) program has been instituted to build new relationships between university faculty and students and NASA in support of the Human Exploration and Development of Space. The program provides a mechanism whereby university students can explore problems of interest to NASA through student design projects, led by a university professor or mentor, and aided by the HEDSUP staff. HEDS-UP advises on the type of project that is of interest and provides contacts to NASA and industry professionals who may serve as mentors to the student project. Students become acquainted with objectives, strategies, development issues, and technologic characteristics of space exploration programs. In doing so, they are preparing themselves for future engineering challenges and may well find that the program is on their critical path to professional advancement. Many of the ideas are novel and are of interest to NASA. Industry finds in HEDS-UP a mechanism to meet many bright and enthusiastic students who are about to enter the work force. The universities become more involved with space exploration and the students are encouraged to include an outreach element in their work, to bring their efforts and their excitement to others in their universities or in their communities. The climax of the HEDS-UP program each year is the HEDS-UP Forum, held at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Here, the university teams bring their projects - written reports, oral reports, models, prototypes, and experiment demonstrations - to show to one another and to NASA and industry participants. NASA, industry, and academic professionals present discussions of problems of current interest to space exploration. All meet informally around the posters that each of the teams brings to the Forum. This year the HEDS-UP Forum was held May 4-5 at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. Thirteen university teams from twelve universities participated. Eleven teams were undergraduate teams; two were composed of graduate students. Each team contributed a 20-page written report, and these reports are reproduced in this volume. The specially invited NASA presenters included Mr. John Connolly, Dr. David McKay and Dr. Donald Henninger of the NASA Johnson Space Center, Dr. Paul Spudis and Dr. Steve Clifford of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and Dr. Pascal Lee of the NASA Ames Research Center.

Duke, Michael B.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Controlling Infrastructure Costs: Right-Sizing the Mission Control Facility

Johnson Space Center's Mission Control Center is a space vehicle, space program agnostic facility. The current operational design is essentially identical to the original facility architecture that was developed and deployed in the mid-90's. In an effort to streamline the support costs of the mission critical facility, the Mission Operations Division (MOD) of Johnson Space Center (JSC) has sponsored an exploratory project to evaluate and inject current state-of-the-practice Information Technology (IT) tools, processes and technology into legacy operations. The general push in the IT industry has been trending towards a data-centric computer infrastructure for the past several years. Organizations facing challenges with facility operations costs are turning to creative solutions combining hardware consolidation, virtualization and remote access to meet and exceed performance, security, and availability requirements. The Operations Technology Facility (OTF) organization at the Johnson Space Center has been chartered to build and evaluate a parallel Mission Control infrastructure, replacing the existing, thick-client distributed computing model and network architecture with a data center model utilizing virtualization to provide the MCC Infrastructure as a Service. The OTF will design a replacement architecture for the Mission Control Facility, leveraging hardware consolidation through the use of blade servers, increasing utilization rates for compute platforms through virtualization while expanding connectivity options through the deployment of secure remote access. The architecture demonstrates the maturity of the technologies generally available in industry today and the ability to successfully abstract the tightly coupled relationship between thick-client software and legacy hardware into a hardware agnostic "Infrastructure as a Service" capability that can scale to meet future requirements of new space programs and spacecraft. This paper discusses the benefits and difficulties that a migration to cloud-based computing philosophies has uncovered when compared to the legacy Mission Control Center architecture. The team consists of system and software engineers with extensive experience with the MCC infrastructure and software currently used to support the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle program (SSP).

Martin, Keith↗
NASA NTRS2011

Propulsion Controls and Diagnostics Research in Support of NASA Aeronautics and Exploration Mission Programs

The Controls and Dynamics Branch (CDB) at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio, is leading and participating in various projects in partnership with other organizations within GRC and across NASA, the U.S. aerospace industry, and academia to develop advanced propulsion controls and diagnostics technologies that will help meet the challenging goals of NASA programs under the Aeronautics Research and Exploration Systems Missions. This paper provides a brief overview of the various CDB tasks in support of the NASA programs. The programmatic structure of the CDB activities is described along with a brief overview of each of the CDB tasks including research objectives, technical challenges, and recent accomplishments. These tasks include active control of propulsion system components, intelligent propulsion diagnostics and control for reliable fault identification and accommodation, distributed engine control, and investigations into unsteady propulsion systems.

Garg, Sanjay↗
NASA NTRS2012

JPL Advanced Thermal Control Technology Roadmap - 2012

NASA's new emphasis on human exploration program for missions beyond LEO requires development of innovative and revolutionary technologies. Thermal control requirements of future NASA science instruments and missions are very challenging and require advanced thermal control technologies. Limited resources requires organizations to cooperate and collaborate; government, industry, universities all need to work together for the successful development of these technologies.

thermal control↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Learning from Past Missions for Today’s Case Studies

As the small spacecraft industry continues to grow, the extensive selection of subsystem parts and service providers can present unique challenges in mission implementation. These challenges include inadequate trade studies, missing lessons learned, and unknown solutions to common pitfalls. Trade studies frequently fall short because products and services ultimately do not meet customer expectations; the actual outcomes of a particular service or technology are not always shared with others seeking similar practices. It is difficult to: quantify the viability and robustness of the desired products and services, truly understand what solutions exist, and account for unique failures from previous smallsat missions. One reason for the lack of information as input for trade studies is that it is problematic to capture and disseminate the relevant lessons learned, experienced anomalies, and programmatic issues in both the laboratory and on-orbit setting as these types of information can be extremely sensitive and are specific to each unique mission. Therefore, they are not always made publicly available. The utilization and sharing of existing tools, databases, and literature can help distribute useful information for future smallsat missions to hopefully avoid these common pitfalls. This paper will provide the required framework for current and future smallsat mission implementation by providing best practices and identifying helpful resources to assist with subsystem parts and services trade study selection.

Small Spacecraft↗
NASA NTRS2022

Quantifying urban, industrial, and background changes in NO2 during the COVID-19 lockdown period based on TROPOMI satellite observations

The COVID-19 lockdown had a large impact on anthropogenic emissions of air pollutants and particularly on nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ). While the overall NO 2 decline over some large cities is well-established, understanding the details remains a challenge since multiple source categories contribute. In this study, a new method of isolation of three components (background NO 2 , NO 2 from urban sources, and NO 2 from industrial point sources) is applied to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on each of them. The approach is based on fitting satellite data by a statistical model with empirical plume dispersion functions driven by a meteorological reanalysis. Population density and surface elevation data as well as coordinates of industrial sources were used in the analysis. The tropospheric NO 2 vertical column density (VCD) values measured by the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board the Sentinel-5 Precursor over 261 urban areas for the period from 16 March to 15 June 2020 were compared with the average VCD values for the same period in 2018 and 2019. While the background NO 2 component remained almost unchanged, the urban NO 2 component declined by −18 % to −28 % over most regions. India, South America, and a part of Europe (particularly, Italy, France, and Spain) demonstrated a −40 % to −50 % urban emission decline. In contrast, the decline over urban areas in China, where the lockdown was over during the analysed period, was, on average, only -4.4± 8 %. Emissions from large industrial sources in the analysed urban areas varied greatly from region to region from -4.8 ± 6 % for China to -40 ± 10 % for India. Estimated changes in urban emissions are correlated with changes in Google mobility data (the correlation coefficient is 0.62) confirming that changes in traffic were one of the key elements in the decline in urban NO2 emissions. No correlation was found between changes in background NO2 and Google mobility data. On the global scale, the background and urban components were remarkably stable in 2018, 2019, and 2021, with averages of all analysed areas all being within ±2.5 % and suggesting that there were no substantial drifts or shifts in TROPOMI data. The 2020 data are clearly an outlier: in 2020, the mean background component for all analysed areas (without China) was -6.0 % ± 1.2 % and the mean urban component was -26.7 ± 2.6 % or 20σ below the baseline level from the other years.

COVID-19↗
NASA NTRS1999

Dreams, Hopes, Realities: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the First Forty Years

Throughout history, the great achievements of civilizations and cultures have been recorded in lists of dates and events. But to look only at the machinery, discoveries, or milestones is to miss the value of these achievements. Each goal achieved or discovery or made represents a supreme effort on the part of individual people who came and worked together for a purpose greater than themselves. Driven by an innate curiosity of the spirit, we have built civilizations and discovered new worlds, always reaching out beyond what we knew or thought was possible. These efforts may have used ships or machinery, but the achievement was that of the humans who made those machines possible- remarkable people willing to endure discomfort, frustration, fatigue, and the risk of failure in the hope of finding out something new. This is the case with the history of the Goddard Space Flight Center. This publication traces the legacy of successes, risks, disappointments and internationally recognized triumphs of the Center's first 40 years. It is a story of technological achievement and scientific discovery; of reaching back to the dawn of time and opening up a new set of eyes on our own planet Earth. In the end, it is not a story about machinery or discoveries, but a story about ourselves. If we were able to step off our planet, and if we continue to discover new mysteries and better technology, it is because the people who work at Goddard always had a passion for exploration and the dedication to make it happen. The text that follows is a testimony to the challenges people at the Goddard Space Flight Center have faced and overcome over almost half a century. Today, we stand on the threshold of a new and equally challenging era. It will once again test our ingenuity, skills, and flexibility as we find new ways of working with our colleagues in industry, government, and academia. Doing more with less is every bit as ambitious as designing the first science instrument to study the heavens. But if we are to continue exploring our world and our universe, it is every bit as important. Robert H. Goddard once said, "The dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow." This is our heritage. Our challenge is to keep our spirit of dedication, vision, and innovative thinking alive, so we can turn today's dreams into a new century of possibility and progress. Our journeys into space are the greatest ongoing adventure the human race has ever undertaken, and everyone here has played an important role in that endeavor. This book is about everyone who has worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Wallace, Lane E.↗
NASA NTRS2007

The NASA "PERS" Program: Solid Polymer Electrolyte Development for Advanced Lithium-Based Batteries

In fiscal year 2000, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) established a collaborative effort to support the development of polymer-based, lithium-based cell chemistries and battery technologies to address the next generation of aerospace applications and mission needs. The ultimate objective of this development program, which was referred to as the Polymer Energy Rechargeable System (PERS), was to establish a world-class technology capability and U.S. leadership in polymer-based battery technology for aerospace applications. Programmatically, the PERS initiative exploited both interagency collaborations to address common technology and engineering issues and the active participation of academia and private industry. The initial program phases focused on R&D activities to address the critical technical issues and challenges at the cell level. Out of a total of 38 proposals received in response to a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) solicitation, 18 proposals (13 contracts and 5 grants) were selected for initial award to address these technical challenges. Brief summaries of technical approaches, results and accomplishments of the PERS Program development efforts are presented. With Agency support provided through FY 2004, the PERS Program efforts were concluded in 2005, as internal reorganizations and funding cuts resulted in shifting programmatic priorities within NASA. Technically, the PERS Program participants explored, to various degrees over the lifetime of the formal program, a variety of conceptual approaches for developing and demonstrating performance of a viable advanced solid polymer electrolyte possessing the desired attributes, as well as several participants addressing all components of an integrated cell configuration. Programmatically, the NASA PERS Program was very successful, even though the very challenging technical goals for achieving a viable solid polymer electrolyte material or the overall envisioned long-term, program objectives were not met due to funding reductions. The NASA PERS Program provided research opportunities and generated and disseminated a wealth of new scientific knowledge and technical competencies within the polymer electrolyte area.

Baldwin, Richard S.↗
NASA NTRS2012

In-Space Inspection Technologies Vision

Purpose: Assess In-Space NDE technologies and needs - current & future spacecraft. Discover & build on needs, R&D & NDE products in other industries and agencies. Stimulate partnerships in & outside NASA to move technologies forward cooperatively. Facilitate group discussion on challenges and opportunities of mutual benefit. Focus Areas: Miniaturized 3D Penetrating Imagers Controllable Snake-arm Inspection systems Miniature Free-flying Micro-satellite Inspectors

Studor, George↗
NASA NTRS2014

Analysis and Perspective from the Complex Aerospace Systems Exchange (CASE) 2013

NASA Langley Research Center embedded four rapporteurs at the Complex Aerospace Systems Exchange (CASE) held in August 2013 with the objective to capture the essence of the conference presentations and discussions. CASE was established to provide a discussion forum among chief engineers, program managers, and systems engineers on challenges in the engineering of complex aerospace systems. The meeting consists of invited presentations and panels from industry, academia, and government followed by discussions among attendees. This report presents the major and reoccurring themes captured throughout the meeting and provides analysis and insights to further the CASE mission.

Jones, Kennie H.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Parametric 3D Atmospheric Reconstruction in Highly Variable Terrain with Recycled Monte Carlo Paths and an Adapted Bayesian Inference Engine

We describe a method for accelerating a 3D Monte Carlo forward radiative transfer model to the point where it can be used in a new kind of Bayesian retrieval framework. The remote sensing challenge is to detect and quantify a chemical effluent of a known absorbing gas produced by an industrial facility in a deep valley. The available data is a single low resolution noisy image of the scene in the near IR at an absorbing wavelength for the gas of interest. The detected sunlight has been multiply reflected by the variable terrain and/or scattered by an aerosol that is assumed partially known and partially unknown. We thus introduce a new class of remote sensing algorithms best described as "multi-pixel" techniques that call necessarily for a 3D radaitive transfer model (but demonstrated here in 2D); they can be added to conventional ones that exploit typically multi- or hyper-spectral data, sometimes with multi-angle capability, with or without information about polarization. The novel Bayesian inference methodology uses adaptively, with efficiency in mind, the fact that a Monte Carlo forward model has a known and controllable uncertainty depending on the number of sun-to-detector paths used.

Monte Carlo↗
NASA NTRS2016

Dynamic Characterization of Galfenol (Fe81.6Ga18.4)

Galfenol has the potential to transform the smart materials industry by allowing for the development of multifunctional, load-bearing devices. One of the primary technical challenges faced by this development is the very limited experimental data on Galfenol's frequency-dependent response to dynamic stress, which is critically important for the design of such devices. This report details a novel and precise characterization of the constitutive behavior of polycrystalline Galfenol (Fe81.6Ga18.4) under quasi-static (1 Hz) and dynamic (4 to 1000 Hz) stress loadings. Mechanical loads are applied using a high-frequency load frame. Quasi-static minor and major hysteresis loop measurements of magnetic flux density and strain are presented for constant electromagnet currents (0 to 1.1 A) and constant magnetic fields 0 to 14 kA/m (0 to 180 Oe). The dynamic stress amplitude for minor and major loops is 2.88 and 31.4 MPa (418 and 4550 psi), respectively. Quasi-static material properties closely match published values for similar Galfenol materials. Quasi-static actuation responses are also measured and compared to quasi-static sensing responses; the high degree of reversibility seen in the comparison is consistent with published measurements and modeling results. Dynamic major and minor loops are measured for dynamic stresses up to 31 MPa (4496 psi) and 1 kHz, and the bias condition resulting in maximum, quasi-static sensitivity. Eddy current effects are quantified by considering solid and laminated Galfenol rods. Three key sources of error in the dynamic measurements are accounted for: (1) electromagnetic noise in strain signals due to Galfenol's magnetic response, (2) error in load signals due to the inertial force of fixturing, and (3) phase misalignment between signals due to conditioning electronics. For dynamic characterization, strain error is kept below 1.2 percent of full scale by wiring two collocated gauges in series (noise cancellation) and through leadwire weaving. Inertial force error is kept below 0.41 percent by measuring the dynamic force in the specimen using a nearly collocated piezoelectric load washer. The phase response of all conditioning electronics is explicitly measured and corrected for. In general, as frequency is increased, the sensing response becomes more linear because of an increase in eddy currents. As frequency increases above approximately 100 Hz, the elbow in the strain-versus-stress response disappears as the active (soft) regime stiffens toward the passive (hard) regime. Under constant-field conditions, the loss factors of the solid rod peak between 200 and 600 Hz, rather than exhibiting a monotonic increase. Compared to the solid rod, the laminated rod exhibits much slower increases in hysteresis with frequency, and its quasi-static behavior extends to higher frequencies. The elastic modulus of the laminated rod decreases between 100 and 300 Hz; this trend is currently unexplained.

Dynamic sensing↗
NASA NTRS2018

NASA's Pursuit of Low-Noise Propulsion for Low-Boom Commercial Supersonic Vehicles

Since 2006, when the Fundamental Aeronautics Program was instituted within NASA's Aeronautics Mission Directorate, there has been a Project looking at the technical barriers to commercial supersonic flight. Among the barriers is the noise produced by aircraft during landing and takeoff. Over the years that followed, research was carried out at NASA aeronautics research centers, often in collaboration with academia and industry, addressing the problem. In 2013, a high-level milestone was established, described as a Technical Challenge, with the objective of demonstrating the feasibility of a low-boom supersonic airliner that could meet current airport noise regulations. The Technical Challenge was formally called a Low Noise Propulsion for Low Boom Aircraft and was completed in late 2016. This paper reports the technical findings from this Technical Challenge, reaching back almost 10 years to review the technologies and tools that were developed along the way. It also discusses the final aircraft configuration and propulsion systems required for a supersonic civilian aircraft to meet noise regulations using the technologies available today. Finally, the paper documents the model-scale tests that validated the acoustic performance of the study aircraft.

aeroacoustic↗
NASA NTRS2018

NASA's Pursuit of Low-Noise Propulsion for Low-Boom Commercial Supersonic Vehicles

Since 2006, when the Fundamental Aeronautics Program was instituted within NASA's Aeronautics Mission Directorate, there has been a Project looking at the technical barriers to commercial supersonic flight. Among the barriers is the noise produced by aircraft during landing and takeoff. Over the years that followed, research was carried out at NASA aeronautics research centers, often in collaboration with academia and industry, addressing the problem. In 2013, a high-level milestone was established, described as a Technical Challenge, with the objective of demonstrating the feasibility of a low-boom supersonic airliner that could meet current airport noise regulations. The Technical Challenge was formally called "Low Noise Propulsion for Low Boom Aircraft", and was completed in late 2016. This paper reports the technical findings from this Technical Challenge, reaching back almost 10 years to review the technologies and tools that were developed along the way. It also discusses the final aircraft configuration and propulsion systems required for a supersonic civilian aircraft to meet noise regulations using the technologies available today. Finally, the paper documents the model-scale tests that validated the acoustic performance of the study aircraft.

supersonic↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Growing the success of Small Satellite missions through community learning

The successful utilization of small satellites for scientific missions relies on continual infusion of technology innovations, creative approaches, and new capabilities, all of which advance at a very rapid pace. Achieving these advancements requires open and efficient exchange of results, experiences, and ideas. Community learning is particularly challenging in this fast-growing community involving an increasingly diverse set of players from all sectors: industry, academia, government, and the public at large. Building and cultivating a community of practices around small satellite technology development and mission implementation are key objectives for NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI). The institute has developed and provides access to a large collection of products, tools, and activities to advance clear communications and coordination regarding small spacecraft undertakings across NASA, to provide mission enabling information to the smallsat research community, to engage with stakeholders in industry, government, academia and the general public, and to support the overall small spacecraft community. New and updated offerings by the S3VI include: The2021 NASA State of the Art Report of Small Spacecraft Technology, the Small Spacecraft Reliability Initiative Knowledge Base, and the “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”webinar series. These and other institute products will help scientists and engineers planning future missions answer pertinent questions, such as: What is the state of the art of small spacecraft technology that can be used?What are some best practices that other experts and teams can recommend? What did previous missions accomplish? What lessons could be learned from previous missions? What flight-proven parts are available? What emerging technologies could be taken advantage of? A status will be presented on S3VI activities facilitating community learning within the small satellite science community through the collection, sharing, and exchange of experiences with small satellite mission development and execution across all NASA mission areas.

Moretto Jorgensen, T↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Growing the Success of Small Satellite Missions Through Community Learning

The successful utilization of small satellites for scientific missions relies on continual infusion of technology innovations, creative approaches, and new capabilities, all of which advance at a very rapid pace. Achieving these advancements requires open and efficient exchange of results, experiences, and ideas. Community learning is particularly challenging in this fast-growing community involving an increasingly diverse set of players from all sectors: industry, academia, government, and the public at large. Building and cultivating a community of practices around small satellite technology development and mission implementation are key objectives for NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI). The institute has developed and provides access to a large collection of products, tools, and activities to advance clear communications and coordination regarding small spacecraft undertakings across NASA, to provide mission enabling information to the smallsat research community, to engage with stakeholders in industry, government, academia and the general public, and to support the overall small spacecraft community. New and updated offerings by the S3VI include: The2021 NASA State of the Art Report of Small Spacecraft Technology, the Small Spacecraft Reliability Initiative Knowledge Base, and the “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” webinar series. These and other institute products will help scientists and engineers planning future missions answer pertinent questions, such as: What is the state of the art of small spacecraft technology that can be used? What are some best practices that other experts and teams can recommend? What did previous missions accomplish? What lessons could be learned from previous missions? What flight-proven parts are available? What emerging technologies could be taken advantage of? A status will be presented on S3VI activities facilitating community learning within the small satellite science community through the collection, sharing, and exchange of experiences with small satellite mission development and execution across all NASA mission areas.

Small Satellite↗