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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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NASA NTRS2005

System Software Framework for System of Systems Avionics

Project Constellation implements NASA's vision for space exploration to expand human presence in our solar system. The engineering focus of this project is developing a system of systems architecture. This architecture allows for the incremental development of the overall program. Systems can be built and connected in a "Lego style" manner to generate configurations supporting various mission objectives. The development of the avionics or control systems of such a massive project will result in concurrent engineering. Also, each system will have software and the need to communicate with other (possibly heterogeneous) systems. Fortunately, this design problem has already been solved during the creation and evolution of systems such as the Internet and the Department of Defense's successful effort to standardize distributed simulation (now IEEE 1516). The solution relies on the use of a standard layered software framework and a communication protocol. A standard framework and communication protocol is suggested for the development and maintenance of Project Constellation systems. The ARINC 653 standard is a great start for such a common software framework. This paper proposes a common system software framework that uses the Real Time Publish/Subscribe protocol for framework-to-framework communication to extend ARINC 653. It is highly recommended that such a framework be established before development. This is important for the success of concurrent engineering. The framework provides an infrastructure for general system services and is designed for flexibility to support a spiral development effort.

Ferguson, Roscoe C.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Dilution-of-Precision-Based Lunar Surface Navigation System Analysis Utilizing Lunar Orbiters

The NASA Vision for Space Exploration is focused on the return of astronauts to the Moon. Although navigation systems have already been proven in the Apollo missions to the Moon, the current exploration campaign will involve more extensive and extended missions requiring new concepts for lunar navigation. In contrast to Apollo missions, which were limited to the near-side equatorial region of the Moon, those under the Exploration Systems Initiative will require navigation on the Moon's limb and far side. Since these regions have poor Earth visibility, a navigation system comprised solely of Earth-based tracking stations will not provide adequate navigation solutions in these areas. In this report, a dilution-of-precision (DoP)-based analysis of the performance of a network of Moon orbiting satellites is provided. This analysis extends a previous analysis of a lunar network (LN) of navigation satellites by providing an assessment of the capability associated with a variety of assumptions. These assumptions pertain to the minimum surface user elevation angle and a total single satellite failure in the lunar network. The assessment is accomplished by making appropriately formed estimates of DoP. Different adaptations of DoP, such as geometric DoP and positional DoP (GDoP and PDoP), are associated with a different set of assumptions regarding augmentations to the navigation receiver or transceiver.

Welch, Bryan W.↗
NASA NTRS2006

A History of High-Performance Computing

Faster than most speedy computers. More powerful than its NASA data-processing predecessors. Able to leap large, mission-related computational problems in a single bound. Clearly, it s neither a bird nor a plane, nor does it need to don a red cape, because it s super in its own way. It's Columbia, NASA s newest supercomputer and one of the world s most powerful production/processing units. Named Columbia to honor the STS-107 Space Shuttle Columbia crewmembers, the new supercomputer is making it possible for NASA to achieve breakthroughs in science and engineering, fulfilling the Agency s missions, and, ultimately, the Vision for Space Exploration. Shortly after being built in 2004, Columbia achieved a benchmark rating of 51.9 teraflop/s on 10,240 processors, making it the world s fastest operational computer at the time of completion. Putting this speed into perspective, 20 years ago, the most powerful computer at NASA s Ames Research Center, home of the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division (NAS), ran at a speed of about 1 gigaflop (one billion calculations per second). The Columbia supercomputer is 50,000 times faster than this computer and offers a tenfold increase in capacity over the prior system housed at Ames. What s more, Columbia is considered the world s largest Linux-based, shared-memory system. The system is offering immeasurable benefits to society and is the zenith of years of NASA/private industry collaboration that has spawned new generations of commercial, high-speed computing systems.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2007

Definition and Development of Habitation Readiness Levels (HRLs) for Planetary Surface Habitats

One could argue that NASA has never developed a true habitat for a planetary surface, with only the Lunar Module from the 1960's-era Apollo Program providing for a sparse 2 person, 3 day capability. An integral part of NASA's current National Vision for Space Exploration is missions back to the moon and eventually to Mars. One of the largest leaps i11 lunar surface exploration beyond the Apollo lunar missions will be the conduct of these extended duration human missions. These missions could range from 30 to 90 days in length initially and may eventually range up to 500 days in length. To enable these extended duration human missions, probably the single-most important lunar surface element is the Surface Habitat. The requirements that must be met by the Surface Habitat will go far beyond the safety, performance and operational requirements of the Lunar Module, and NASA needs to develop a basis for making intelligent, technically correct habitat design decisions. This paper will discuss the possibilities of the definition and development of a Habitation Readiness Level (HRL) scale that might be mapped to current Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) for technology development. HRLs could help measure how well a particular technology thrust is advanced by a proposed planetary habitat concept. The readiness level would have to be measured differently than TRLs, and may include such milestones as habitat design performance under simulated mission operations and constraints (including relevant field testing), functional allocation demonstrations, crew interface evaluation and post-occupancy evaluation. With many concepts for planetary habitats proposed over the past 20 years, there are many strategic technical challenges facing designers of planetary habitats that will support NASA's exploration of the moon and Mars. The systematic assessment of a variety of planetary habitat options will be an important approach and will influence the associated requirements for human design, volumetrics, functionality, systems hardware and operations.

Connolly, Janis H.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Mission Design for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will be the first mission under NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. LRO will fly in a low 50 km mean altitude lunar polar orbit. LRO will utilize a direct minimum energy lunar transfer and have a launch window of three days every two weeks. The launch window is defined by lunar orbit beta angle at times of extreme lighting conditions. This paper will define the LRO launch window and the science and engineering constraints that drive it. After lunar orbit insertion, LRO will be placed into a commissioning orbit for up to 60 days. This commissioning orbit will be a low altitude quasi-frozen orbit that minimizes stationkeeping costs during commissioning phase. LRO will use a repeating stationkeeping cycle with a pair of maneuvers every lunar sidereal period. The stationkeeping algorithm will bound LRO altitude, maintain ground station contact during maneuvers, and equally distribute periselene between northern and southern hemispheres. Orbit determination for LRO will be at the 50 m level with updated lunar gravity models. This paper will address the quasi-frozen orbit design, stationkeeping algorithms and low lunar orbit determination.

Beckman, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2007

In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and Lunar Surface Systems

This viewgraph presentation reviews the benefits of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) on the surface of the moon. Included in this review is the commercialization of Lunar ISRU. ISRU will strongly influence architecture and critical technologies. ISRU is a critical capability and key implementation of the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). ISRU will strongly effects lunar outpost logistics, design and crew safety. ISRU will strongly effect outpost critical technologies. ISRU mass investment is minimal compared to immediate and long-term architecture delivery mass and reuse capabilities provided. Therefore, investment in ISRU constitutes a commitment to the mid and long term future of human exploration.

Sanders, Jerry↗
NASA NTRS2005

A Roadmap for NASA's Search for Other Earths

This viewgraph document describes NASA's plan for searching for other planets capable of supporting life. As part of the Vision for Space Exploration, the President requested that NASA pursue the use of advanced telescope searches for Earth-like planets and habitable environments around other stars. Several science questions are asked in the presentation and the answers to some of the questions that NASA has are shown. Plans for future telescopes are reviewed. Three missions, SIM, TPF-C and TPF-I, that are planned to examine possible extra-solar planets, how the information they will give will assist us in further understanding the process of planetary formation, and the possibility that any planet discovered is capable of life is explained.

roadmap↗
NASA NTRS2007

Assessment of Immune Status, Latent Viral Reactivation and Stress during Long Duration Bed Rest as an Analog for Spaceflight

As logistical access for in-flight space research becomes more limited, the use of ground based spaceflight analogs for life science studies will increase. These studies are particularly important as NASA progresses towards the Lunar and eventually Mars missions outlined in the 2005 Vision for Space Exploration. Countermeasures must be developed to mitigate the clinical risks associated with exploration class space missions. In an effort to coordinate studies across multiple disciplines, NASA has selected 90-day bed rest as the analog of choice, and initiated the Flight Analogs Project to implement research studies with or without the evaluation of countermeasures. Although bed rest is not the analog of choice to evaluate spaceflight-associated immune dysfunction, a standard Immune Assessment was developed for subjects participating in the 90-day bed best studies. The Immune Assessment consists of: leukocyte subset distribution, T cell functional responses, intracellular cytokine production profiles, latent viral reactivation, virus specific T cell levels, virus specific T cell function, stress hormone levels and a behavioral assessment using stress questionnaires. The purpose of the assessment during the initial studies (without countermeasure) is to establish control data against which future studies (with countermeasure) will be evaluated. It is believed that some of the countermeasures planned to be evaluated in future studies, such as exercise, pharmacologic intervention or nutritional supplementation, have the ability to impact immune function. Therefore immunity will likely be monitored during those studies. The data generated during the first three control studies showed that the subjects in general did not display altered peripheral leukocyte subsets, constitutive immune activation, significant latent viral reactivation (EBV, VZV) or altered T cell function. Interestingly, for some subjects the level of constitutively activated T cells (CD8+/CD69+) and virus-specific T cells (CMV and EBV) both decreased during the studies. This likely reflects the isolation of the subjects (from an immunological perspective) and absence of everyday subclinical challenges to the immune system. Cortisol levels (plasma and saliva) did not vary significantly during the studies. This probably reflects a lack of physiological stress during the study and the stress of readaptation to the 1xG environment at R+1. These data demonstrate the absence of significant immune alteration during 90-day bed rest, and establish control data against which future studies (including countermeasures) may be compared.

Crucian, Brian E.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Five Years of NASA Research on ISS: A Continuing Saga

The first NASA experiments reached ISS in September 2000, a very modest beginning to what later became a more robust, diverse and overall highly successful research program, continuing essentially uninterrupted since March 2001. Along the way, several major challenges had to be overcome. First, there were delays in the initial construction of the station. Second, maintenance of the station exceeded earlier assumptions resulting in less crew time being available for research. Third, the lengthy interruption of Shuttle flights after the Columbia accident significantly, but temporarily, reduced the research traffic to and from ISS. And fourth, the Vision of Space Exploration as caused a refocusing of NASA's research efforts on ISS from a multi-disciplinary basic and applied science program to one dedicated to solving the critical questions to enable exploration missions. The principal factors that allowed these challenges to be overcome have been flexibility and cooperation. Flexibility on the part of the ISS Program to minimize impacts to research from delays and resource bottlenecks, flexibility on the part of researchers to adapt their research to changing environments, and flexibility to be able to use existing and planned facilities not only for their original basic science purpose but also for new applications. And cooperation not only between the ISS Program and the research community, but also among NASA and its International Partners to continually strive to optimize the research conducted aboard ISS. Once the challenges were overcome, the research program has been remarkably successful, with an expanding on-orbit capability. Over 80 investigations have been completed, many resulting in publications.

Uri, John J.↗
NASA NTRS2007

International Space Station Execution Replanning Process: Trends and Implications

International Space Station is a joint venture. Because of this, ISS execution planning- planning within the week for the ISS requires coordination across multiple partner, and the associated processes and tools to allow this coordination to occur. These processes and tools are currently defined and are extensively used. This paper summarizes these processes, and documents the current data trends associated with these processes and tools, with a focus on the metrics provided from the ISS Planning Product Change Request (PPCR) tool. As NASA's Vision for Space Exploration and general Human spaceflight trends are implemented, the probability of joint venture long duration programs such as ISS, with varying levels of intergovernmental and/or corporate partnership, will increase. Therefore, the results of this PPCR analysis serve as current Lessons learned for the ISS and for further similar ventures.

McCormick, Robet J.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Plume Impingement to the Lunar Surface: A Challenging Problem for DSMC

The President's Vision for Space Exploration calls for the return of human exploration of the Moon. The plans are ambitious and call for the creation of a lunar outpost. Lunar Landers will therefore be required to land near predeployed hardware, and the dust storm created by the Lunar Lander's plume impingement to the lunar surface presents a hazard. Knowledge of the number density, size distribution, and velocity of the grains in the dust cloud entrained into the flow is needing to develop mitigation strategies. An initial step to acquire such knowledge is simulating the associated plume impingement flow field. The following paper presents results from a loosely coupled continuum flow solver/Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) technique for simulating the plume impingement of the Apollo Lunar module on the lunar surface. These cases were chosen for initial study to allow for comparison with available Apollo video. The relatively high engine thrust and the desire to simulate interesting cases near touchdown result in flow that is nearly entirely continuum. The DSMC region of the flow field was simulated using NASA's DSMC Analysis Code (DAC) and must begin upstream of the impingement shock for the loosely coupled technique to succeed. It was therefore impossible to achieve mean free path resolution with a reasonable number of molecules (say 100 million) as is shown. In order to mitigate accuracy and performance issues when using such large cells, advanced techniques such as collision limiting and nearest neighbor collisions were employed. The final paper will assess the benefits and shortcomings of such techniques. In addition, the effects of plume orientation, plume altitude, and lunar topography, such as craters, on the flow field, the surface pressure distribution, and the surface shear stress distribution are presented.

Lumpkin, Forrest↗
NASA NTRS2007

Development of the J-2X Engine for the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle and the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle: Building on the Apollo Program for Lunar Return Missions

The United States (U.S.) Vision for Space Exploration has directed NASA to develop two new launch vehicles for sending humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. In January 2006, NASA streamlined its hardware development approach for replacing the Space Shuttle after it is retired in 2010. Benefits of this approach include reduced programmatic and technical risks and the potential to return to the Moon by 2020, by developing the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) propulsion elements now, with full extensibility to future Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) lunar systems. The Constellation Program selected the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne J-2X engine to power the Ares I Upper Stage Element and the Ares V Earth Departure Stage. This decision was reached during the Exploration Systems Architecture Study and confirmed after the Exploration Launch Projects Office performed a variety of risk analyses, commonality assessments, and trade studies. This paper narrates the evolution of that decision; describes the performance capabilities expected of the J-2X design, including potential commonality challenges and opportunities between the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles; and provides a current status of J-2X design, development, and hardware testing activities. This paper also explains how the J-2X engine effort mitigates risk by testing existing engine hardware and designs; building on the Apollo Program (1961 to 1975), the Space Shuttle Program (1972 to 2010); and consulting with Apollo-era experts to derive other lessons lived to deliver a human-rated engine that is on an aggressive development schedule, with its first demonstration flight in 2012.

Greene, William D.↗
NASA NTRS2007

The ALTAIR Meteor Measurements Program

Established in late 2006, the Meteor Measurements Program is in the process of using the ALTAIR radar located on Kwajelein Atoll to obtain radar observations of sporadic and shower meteoroids. The goals are to determine meteoroid masses, orbits, ballistic coefficients and densities, which shall be provided to the Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) at Marshall Space Flight Center. These data and analyses shall then be used by the MEO to 1) Add a realistic density distribution to the new Meteoroid Engineering Model (MEM), which is the specified environment for vehicle design in the NASA Constellation (return to Moon) program. This program is the implementation of President Bush's Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). 2) Investigate the meteoroid velocity distribution at smaller masses. 3) Strive to understand the differences (biases) in meteoroid observations produced by systems like ALTAIR and those of the meteor patrol radars, such as the University of Western Ontario's CMOR system. This paper outlines the program details and its progress.

Cooke, William J.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Development of the J-2X Engine for the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle and the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle: Building on the Apollo Program for Lunar Return Missions

The United States (U.S.) Vision for Space Exploration has directed NASA to develop two new launch vehicles for sending humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. In January 2006, NASA streamlined its hardware development approach for replacing the Space Shuttle after it is retired in 2010. Benefits of this approach include reduced programmatic and technical risks and the potential to return to the Moon by 2020 by developing the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) propulsion elements now, with full extensibility to future Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) lunar systems. The Constellation Program selected the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne J-2X engine to power the Ares I Upper Stage Element and the Ares V Earth Departure Stage (EDS). This decision was reached during the Exploration Systems Architecture Study and confirmed after the Exploration Launch Projects Office performed a variety of risk analyses, commonality assessments, and trade studies. This paper narrates the evolution of that decision; describes the performance capabilities expected of the J-2X design, including potential commonality challenges and opportunities between the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles; and provides a current status of J-2X design, development, and hardware testing activities. This paper also explains how the J-2X engine effort mitigates risk by testing existing engine hardware and designs; building on the Apollo Program (1961 to 1975), the Space Shuttle Program (1972 to 2010); and consulting with Apollo era experts to derive other lessons learned to deliver a human-rated engine that is on an aggressive development schedule, with its first demonstration flight in 2012.

Greene, WIlliam↗
NASA NTRS2006

Can We Power Future Mars Missions?

The Vision for Space Exploration identified the exploration of Mars as one of the key pathways. In response, NASAs Mars Program Office is developing a detailed mission lineup for the next decade that would lead to future explorations. Mission architectures for the next decade include both orbiters and landers. Existing power technologies, which could include solar panels, batteries, radioisotope power systems, and in the future fission power, could support these missions. Second and third decade explorations could target human precursor and human in-situ missions, building on increasingly complex architectures. Some of these could use potential feed forward from earlier Constellation missions to the Moon, discussed in the ESAS study. From a potential Mars Sample Return mission to human missions the complexity of the architectures increases, and with it the delivered mass and power requirements also amplify. The delivered mass at Mars mostly depends on the launch vehicle, while the landed mass might be further limited by EDL technologies, including the aeroshell, parachutes, landing platform, and pinpoint landing. The resulting in-situ mass could be further divided into payload elements and suitable supporting power systems. These power systems can range from tens of watts to multi-kilowatts, influenced by mission type, mission configuration, landing location, mission duration, and season. Regardless, the power system design should match the power needs of these surface assets within a given architecture. Consequently, in this paper we will identify potential needs and bounds of delivered mass and architecture dependent power requirements to surface assets that would enable future in-situ exploration of Mars.

solar panels↗
NASA NTRS2007

Building Operations Efficiencies into NASA's Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle Design

The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration guides the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) challenging missions that expand humanity's boundaries and open new routes to the space frontier. With the Agency's commitment to complete the International Space Station (ISS) and to retire the venerable Space Shuttle by 2010, the NASA Administrator commissioned the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) in 2005 to analyze options for safe, simple, cost-efficient launch solutions that could deliver human-rated space transportation capabilities in a timely manner within fixed budget guidelines. The Exploration Launch Projects (ELP) Office, chartered by the Constellation Program in October 2005, has been conducting systems engineering studies and business planning to successively refine the design configurations and better align vehicle concepts with customer and stakeholder requirements, such as significantly reduced life-cycle costs. As the Agency begins the process of replacing the Shuttle with a new generation of spacecraft destined for missions beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, NASA is designing the follow-on crew and cargo launch systems for maximum operational efficiencies. To sustain the long-term exploration of space, it is imperative to reduce the $4 billion NASA typically spends on space transportation each year. This paper gives toplevel information about how the follow-on Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) is being designed for improved safety and reliability, coupled with reduced operations costs. These methods include carefully developing operational requirements; conducting operability design and analysis; using the latest information technology tools to design and simulate the vehicle; and developing a learning culture across the workforce to ensure a smooth transition between Space Shuttle operations and Ares vehicle development.

Dumbacher, Daniel L.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Ares I-X Flight Test Philosophy

In response to the Vision for Space Exploration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has defined a new space exploration architecture to return humans to the Moon and prepare for human exploration of Mars. One of the first new developments will be the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV), which will carry the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to support International Space Station (ISS) missions and, later, support lunar missions. As part of Ares I development, NASA will perform a series of Ares I flight tests. The tests will provide data that will inform the engineering and design process and verify the flight hardware and software. The data gained from the flight tests will be used to certify the new Ares/Orion vehicle for human space flight. The primary objectives of this first flight test (Ares I-X) are the following: Demonstrate control of a dynamically similar integrated Ares CLV/Orion CEV using Ares CLV ascent control algorithms; Perform an in-flight separation/staging event between an Ares I-similar First Stage and a representative Upper Stage; Demonstrate assembly and recovery of a new Ares CLV-like First Stage element at Kennedy Space Center (KSC); Demonstrate First Stage separation sequencing, and quantify First Stage atmospheric entry dynamics and parachute performance; and Characterize the magnitude of the integrated vehicle roll torque throughout the First Stage (powered) flight. This paper will provide an overview of the Ares I-X flight test process and details of the individual flight tests.

Davis, S. R.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Stationkeeping for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is scheduled to launch in 2008 as the first mission under NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. Follo wing several weeks in a quasi-frozen commissioning orbit, LRO will fl y in a 50 km mean altitude lunar polar orbit. During the one year mis sion duration, the orbital dynamics of a low lunar orbit force LRO to perform periodic sets of stationkeeping maneuvers. This paper explor es the characteristics of low lunar orbits and explains how the LRO s tationkeeping plan is designed to accommodate the dynamics in such an orbit. The stationkeeping algorithm used for LRO must meet five miss ion constraints. These five constraints are to maintain ground statio n contact during maneuvers, to control the altitude variation of the orbit, to distribute periselene equally between northern and southern hemispheres, to match eccentricity at the beginning and the end of the sidereal period, and to minimize stationkeeping (Delta)V. This pape r addresses how the maneuver plan for LRO is designed to meet all of the above constraints.

Beckman, Mark↗