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NASA NTRS2005

NASA Strategic Roadmap: Origin, Evolution, Structure, and Destiny of the Universe

The NASA strategic roadmap on the Origin, Evolution, Structure and Destiny of the Universe is one of 13 roadmaps that outline NASA s approach to implement the vision for space exploration. The roadmap outlines a program to address the questions: What powered the Big Bang? What happens close to a Black Hole? What is Dark Energy? How did the infant universe grow into the galaxies, stars and planets, and set the stage for life? The roadmap builds upon the currently operating and successful missions such as HST, Chandra and Spitzer. The program contains two elements, Beyond Einstein and Pathways to Life, performed in three phases (2005-2015, 2015-2025 and >2025) with priorities set by inputs received from reviews undertaken by the National Academy of Sciences and technology readiness. The program includes the following missions: 2005-2015 GLAST, JWST and LISA; 2015-2025 Constellation-X and a series of Einstein Probes; and >2025 a number of ambitious vision missions which will be prioritized by results from the previous two phases.

White, Nicholas E.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Water for Two Worlds: Designing Terrestrial Applications for Exploration-class Sanitation Systems

At the United Nations Millennium Summit in September of 2000, the world leaders agreed on an ambitious agenda for reducing poverty and improving lives: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a list of issues they consider highly pernicious, threatening to human welfare and, thereby, to global security and prosperity. Among the eight goals are included fundamental human needs such as the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, the promotion of gender equality, the reduction of child mortality and improvement of maternal health, and ensuring the sustainability of our shared environment. In order to help focus the efforts to meet these goals, the United Nations (UN) has established a set of eighteen concrete targets, each with an associated schedule. Among these is Target 10: "By 2015, reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water." A closely related target of equal dignity was agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, September 2002): "By 2015, reduce by half the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation." One of the greatest successes in the development of Exploration-class technologies for closed-loop, sustainable support of long-duration human space missions has been the work both ESA and NASA have done in bioregenerative water reclamation (WRS), and secondarily, in solid-waste management. Solid-waste and WRS systems tend to be combined in the commercial world into the field of sanitation, although as we will see, the most essential principles of sustainable terrestrial sanitation actually insist upon the separation of solid and liquid excreta. Seeing the potential synergy between the space program ALS technologies developed for Mars and the urgent needs of hundreds of millions of people for secure access to clean water here on Earth, we set out to organize the adaptation of these technologies to help the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) meet Target 10. In this paper, we will summarize the issues and results of the first "Water for Two Worlds" summit held in January of this year, describe,the status of the sustainable sanitation systems that are on the table for adaptation to widespread terrestrial use, and present fundamental strategies for forward work.

Adams, Constance↗

NASA NTRS2008

System Study: Technology Assessment and Prioritizing Update

For the Intelligent Engine System (Propulsion 21) study, each technology was evaluated to determine the impact to fuel burn, acoustics, and NOx emissions. The optimum combination of technologies and their overall benefits to the system were also evaluated, resulting in noise improvement potential of 1.89 EPNdB cumulative margin,-1.34 percent fuel burn, and 50 percent NOx reduction from the 2015 UEET-QAT baseline. All the technology evaluations, except T18-20D, were based on newengines, where the engine was resized to obtain the maximum system benefit while maintaining the same cycle parameters as the 2015 UEET-QAT baseline. The impact of turbine clearance control on deteriorated engines, T18-20D, was also evaluated. Recommendations for future system study work include, but were not limited to, validation of a university-developed engine deterioration model and customer value analysis as figures of merit beside fuel burn, emissions, and acoustics.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2008

The New Horizons Mission to Pluto and Flyby of Jupiter

New Horizons (NH) is NASA's mission to provide the first in situ reconnaissance of Pluto and its moons Charon, Nix, and Hydra. The NH spacecraft will reach Pluto in July 2015 and will then, if approved for an extended mission phase, continue on to a flyby encounter with one or more Kuiper belt objects (KBOs). NH was launched on 19 January 2006 and received a gravity assist during a flyby encounter with Jupiter (with closest approach at -32 RJ on 28 February 2007) that reduced its flight time to Pluto by 3 years. During the Jupiter flyby, NH collected a trove of multi-wavelength imaging and fields-and-particles measurements. Among the many science results at Jupiter were a detection of planet-wide mesoscale waves, eruptions of atmospheric ammonia clouds, unprecedented views of Io's volcanic plumes and Jupiter's tenuous ring system, a first close-up of the Little Red Spot (LRS), first sightings of polar lightning, and a trip down the tail of the magnetosphere. In 2015, NH will conduct a seven-month investigation of the Pluto system culminating in a closest approach some 12,500 km from Pluto's surface. Planning is presently underway for the Pluto encounter with special emphasis on longidentified science goals of studying the terrain, geology, and composition of the surfaces of Pluto and Charon, examining the composition and structure of Pluto's atmosphere, searching for an atmosphere on Charon, and characterizing Pluto's ionosphere and solar wind interaction. Detailed inspections will also be performed of the newly discovered satellites Nix and Hydra. Additionally, NH will characterize energetic particles in Pluto's environment, refine the bulk properties of Pluto and Charon, and search for additional satellites and rings.

Stern, Alan↗

NASA NTRS2009

Evolution of Web Services in EOSDIS: Search and Order Metadata Registry (ECHO)

During 2005 through 2008, NASA defined and implemented a major evolutionary change in it Earth Observing system Data and Information System (EOSDIS) to modernize its capabilities. This implementation was based on a vision for 2015 developed during 2005. The EOSDIS 2015 Vision emphasizes increased end-to-end data system efficiency and operability; increased data usability; improved support for end users; and decreased operations costs. One key feature of the Evolution plan was achieving higher operational maturity (ingest, reconciliation, search and order, performance, error handling) for the NASA s Earth Observing System Clearinghouse (ECHO). The ECHO system is an operational metadata registry through which the scientific community can easily discover and exchange NASA's Earth science data and services. ECHO contains metadata for 2,726 data collections comprising over 87 million individual data granules and 34 million browse images, consisting of NASA s EOSDIS Data Centers and the United States Geological Survey's Landsat Project holdings. ECHO is a middleware component based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The system is comprised of a set of infrastructure services that enable the fundamental SOA functions: publish, discover, and access Earth science resources. It also provides additional services such as user management, data access control, and order management. The ECHO system has a data registry and a services registry. The data registry enables organizations to publish EOS and other Earth-science related data holdings to a common metadata model. These holdings are described through metadata in terms of datasets (types of data) and granules (specific data items of those types). ECHO also supports browse images, which provide a visual representation of the data. The published metadata can be mapped to and from existing standards (e.g., FGDC, ISO 19115). With ECHO, users can find the metadata stored in the data registry and then access the data either directly online or through a brokered order to the data archive organization. ECHO stores metadata from a variety of science disciplines and domains, including Climate Variability and Change, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Earth Surface and Interior, Atmospheric Composition, Weather, and Water and Energy Cycle. ECHO also has a services registry for community-developed search services and data services. ECHO provides a platform for the publication, discovery, understanding and access to NASA s Earth Observation resources (data, service and clients). In their native state, these data, service and client resources are not necessarily targeted for use beyond their original mission. However, with the proper interoperability mechanisms, users of these resources can expand their value, by accessing, combining and applying them in unforeseen ways.

Mitchell, Andrew↗

NASA NTRS2010

EVA 2010: Preparing for International Space Station EVA Operations Post-Space Shuttle Retirement

The expected retirement of the NASA Space Transportation System (also known as the Space Shuttle ) by 2011 will pose a significant challenge to Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVA) on-board the International Space Station (ISS). The EVA hardware currently used to assemble and maintain the ISS was designed assuming that it would be returned to Earth on the Space Shuttle for refurbishment, or if necessary for failure investigation. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, a new concept of operations was developed to enable EVA hardware (Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), Airlock Systems, EVA tools, and associated support hardware and consumables) to perform ISS EVAs until 2015, and possibly beyond to 2020. Shortly after the decision to retire the Space Shuttle was announced, the EVA 2010 Project was jointly initiated by NASA and the OneEVA contractor team. The challenges addressed were to extend the operating life and certification of EVA hardware, to secure the capability to launch EVA hardware safely on alternate launch vehicles, to protect for EMU hardware operability on-orbit, and to determine the source of high water purity to support recharge of PLSSs (no longer available via Shuttle). EVA 2010 Project includes the following tasks: the development of a launch fixture that would allow the EMU Portable Life Support System (PLSS) to be launched on-board alternate vehicles; extension of the EMU hardware maintenance interval from 3 years (current certification) to a minimum of 6 years (to extend to 2015); testing of recycled ISS Water Processor Assembly (WPA) water for use in the EMU cooling system in lieu of water resupplied by International Partner (IP) vehicles; development of techniques to remove & replace critical components in the PLSS on-orbit (not routine); extension of on-orbit certification of EVA tools; and development of an EVA hardware logistical plan to support the ISS without the Space Shuttle. Assumptions for the EVA 2010 Project included no more than 8 EVAs per year for ISS EVA operations in the Post-Shuttle environment and limited availability of cargo upmass on IP launch vehicles. From 2010 forward, EVA operations on-board the ISS without the Space Shuttle will be a paradigm shift in safely operating EVA hardware on orbit and the EVA 2010 effort was initiated to accommodate this significant change in EVA evolutionary history.

Chullen, Cinda↗

NASA NTRS2010

Integrated Analysis of Airport Capacity and Environmental Constraints

LMI conducted an integrated analysis of airport capacity and environmental constraints. identifying and ranking the key factors limiting achievement of NextGen capacity goals. The primary metric used was projected throughput, which was estimated for the years 2015 and 2025 based on the unconstrained demand forecast from the Federal Aviation Administration, and planned improvements including those proposed in the NextGen plan. A set of 310 critical airports was identified.. collectively accounting for more than 99 percent of domestic air traffic volume; a one-off analytical approach was used to isolate the constraint being assessed. The study considered three capacity constraints (runway.. taxiway, and gate) and three environmental constraints (fuel, NO(x) emissions, and noise). For the ten busiest airports, runway and noise are the primary and secondary constraints in both 2015 and 2025. For the OEP 35 airports and overall for the remaining airports, the most binding constraint is noise. Six of the 10 busiest airports, will face runway constraints in 2025, and 95 will face gate constraints. Nearly every airport will be subject to constraints due to emissions and NOx. Runway and taxi constraints are more concentrated in the large airports: environmental constraints are present at almost every airport regardless of size.

Hasan, Shahab↗

NASA NTRS2010

Post-Shuttle EVA Operations on ISS

The expected retirement of the NASA Space Transportation System (also known as the Space Shuttle ) by 2011 will pose a significant challenge to Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVA) on-board the International Space Station (ISS). The EVA hardware currently used to assemble and maintain the ISS was designed assuming that it would be returned to Earth on the Space Shuttle for refurbishment, or if necessary for failure investigation. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, a new concept of operations was developed to enable EVA hardware (Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), Airlock Systems, EVA tools, and associated support hardware and consumables) to perform ISS EVAs until 2015, and possibly beyond to 2020. Shortly after the decision to retire the Space Shuttle was announced, the EVA 2010 Project was jointly initiated by NASA and the One EVA contractor team. The challenges addressed were to extend the operating life and certification of EVA hardware, to secure the capability to launch EVA hardware safely on alternate launch vehicles, to protect for EMU hardware operability on-orbit, and to determine the source of high water purity to support recharge of PLSSs (no longer available via Shuttle). EVA 2010 Project includes the following tasks: the development of a launch fixture that would allow the EMU Portable Life Support System (PLSS) to be launched on-board alternate vehicles; extension of the EMU hardware maintenance interval from 3 years (current certification) to a minimum of 6 years (to extend to 2015); testing of recycled ISS Water Processor Assembly (WPA) water for use in the EMU cooling system in lieu of water resupplied by International Partner (IP) vehicles; development of techniques to remove & replace critical components in the PLSS on-orbit (not routine); extension of on-orbit certification of EVA tools; and development of an EVA hardware logistical plan to support the ISS without the Space Shuttle. Assumptions for the EVA 2010 Project included no more than 8 EVAs per year for ISS EVA operations in the Post-Shuttle environment and limited availability of cargo upmass on IP launch vehicles. From 2010 forward, EVA operations on-board the ISS without the Space Shuttle will be a paradigm shift in safely operating EVA hardware on orbit and the EVA 2010 effort was initiated to accommodate this significant change in EVA evolutionary history. 1

West, William↗

NASA NTRS2014

Practicing for Mars: The International Space Station (ISS) as a Testbed

Allows demonstration and development of exploration capabilities to help accomplish future missions sooner with less risk to crew and mission Characteristics of ISS as a testbed High fidelity human operations platform in LEO: Continuously operating habitat and active laboratory. High fidelity systems. Astronauts as test subjects. Highly experienced ground operations teams. Offers a controlled test environment.: Consequences to systems performance and decision making not offered in ground analogs International participation. Continuously improving system looking for new technology and ideas to improve operations. Technology Demos & Critical Systems Maturation. Human Health and Performance. Operations Simulations and Techniques. Exploration prep testing on ISS has been ongoing since 2012. Number of tests increasing with each ISS expedition. One Year Crew Expedition starting in Spring 2015. ROSCOSMOS and NASA are partnering on the Participating Crew are Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly Majority of testing is an extension of current Human Biomedical Research investigations Plan for extending & expanding upon current operations techniques and tech demo studies ESA 10 Day Mission in Fall 2015 ESA astronaut focus on testing exploration technologies Many more opportunities throughout the life of ISS! 4/24/2014 david.h.korth@nasa.gov 4 Exploration testing

Korth, David H.↗

NASA NTRS2014

A New Large Vibration Test Facility Concept for the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope consists of three main components, the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) Element, the Optical Telescope Element (OTE), and the Spacecraft Element. The ISIM and OTE are being assembled at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Spaceflight Center (GSFC). The combined OTE and ISIM Elements, called OTIS, will undergo sine vibration testing before leaving Goddard. OTIS is the largest payload ever tested at Goddard and the existing GSFC vibration facilities are incapable of performing a sine vibration test of the OTIS payload. As a result, a new large vibration test facility is being designed. The new facility will consist of a vertical system with a guided head expander and a horizontal system with a hydrostatic slip table. The project is currently in the final design phase with installation to begin in early 2015 and the facility is expected to be operational by late 2015. This paper will describe the unique requirements for a new large vibration test facility and present the selected final design concepts.

test facilities↗

NASA NTRS2014

A New Large Vibration Test Facility Concept for the James Webb Space Telescope

vibration↗

NASA NTRS2014

The European Robotic Arm: A High-performance Mechanism Finally on Its Way to Space

This paper describes the design and qualification of the European Robotic Arm (ERA), which is planned to be launched by the end of 2015. After years of changes, a shift of launcher and new loads, launch preparation is underway. The European Robotic Arm ERA has been designed and manufactured by Dutch Space and its subcontractors such as Astrium, SABCA and Stork with key roles for the mechanical aspects. The arm was originally designed to be launched by the STS (mounted on a Russian module for the ISS) in 2001. However, due to delays and the STS disaster, a shift was made to the Russian Proton rocket. ERA will be launched on the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM). This module, which is now planned for launch to the ISS in 2015, will carry the ERA. The symmetrical design of the arm with a complete 3 degree-of-freedom wrist and general-purpose end effector on both sides, allows ERA to relocate on the station by grappling a new base point and releasing the old one, and move to different working locations.

Cruijssen, H. J.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Exo-C: A Space Mission for Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of Extrasolar Planetary Systems

Exo-C is NASAs first community study of a modest aperture space telescope designed for high contrast observations of exoplanetary systems. The mission will be capable of taking optical spectra of nearby exoplanets in reflected light, discovering previously undetected planets, and imaging structure in a large sample of circumstellar disks. It will obtain unique science results on planets down to super-Earth sizes and serve as a technology pathfinder toward an eventual flagship-class mission to find and characterize habitable Earth-like exoplanets. We present the mission/payload design and highlight steps to reduce mission cost/risk relative to previous mission concepts. Key elements are an unobscured telescope aperture, an internal coronagraph with deformable mirrors for precise wavefront control, and an orbit and observatory design chosen for high thermal stability. Exo-C has a similar telescope aperture, orbit, lifetime, and spacecraft bus requirements to the highly successful Kepler mission (which is our cost reference). The needed technology development is on-course for a possible mission start in 2017. This paper summarizes the study final report completed in January 2015. During 2015 NASA will make a decision on its potential development.

high contrast observations↗

NASA NTRS2013

In-flight Operation of the Dawn Ion Propulsion System Through Year One of Cruise to Ceres

The Dawn mission, part of NASA's Discovery Program, has as its goal the scientific exploration of the two most massive main-belt asteroids, 4 Vesta, and the dwarf planet 1 Ceres. The Dawn spacecraft was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on September 27, 2007 on a Delta-II 7925H-9.5 rocket that placed the 1218-kg spacecraft into an Earth-escape trajectory. On-board the spacecraft is an ion propulsion system (IPS) developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory which will provide an additional delta- V of approximately 11 km/s for the heliocentric transfers to each body and for all orbit transfers including orbit capture/escape and transition to the various science orbits. Deterministic thrusting to Vesta began in December 2007 and concluded with orbit capture at Vesta in July 2011. The transfer to Vesta included a Mars gravity assist flyby in February 2009 that provided an additional delta-V of 2.6 km/s and was the only postlaunch mission delta-V not provided by IPS. During the mission at Vesta the IPS was used for all orbit transfers which included six different near-polar science mapping orbits. Thrusting for departure from Vesta and the start of cruise to Ceres began on July 25, 2012 with escape from Vesta occurring on September 5, 2012. To date the IPS has been operated for approximately 31,000 hours, consumed approximately 300 kg of xenon, and provided a delta-V of approximately 8.3 km/s. IPS performance characteristics are very close to the expected performance based on analysis and testing performed prelaunch. Thrusting for cruise to Ceres will continue until the spring of 2015, with a planned arrival date at Ceres in April 2015. This paper provides an overview of Dawn's mission objectives and the results of Dawn IPS mission operations from Vesta departure through the first year of cruise to Ceres.

Hayabusa spacecraft↗

NASA NTRS2016

EDL Pathfinder Missions

NASA is developing a long‐term strategy for achieving extended human missions to Mars in support of the policies outlined in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act and National Space Policy. The Authorization Act states that "A long term objective for human exploration of space should be the eventual international exploration of Mars." Echoing this is the National Space Policy, which directs that NASA should, "By 2025, begin crewed missions beyond the moon, including sending humans to an asteroid. By the mid‐2030s, send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth." Further defining this goal, NASA's 2014 Strategic Plan identifies that "Our long‐term goal is to send humans to Mars. Over the next two decades, we will develop and demonstrate the technologies and capabilities needed to send humans to explore the red planet and safely return them to Earth." Over the past several decades numerous assessments regarding human exploration of Mars have indicated that landing humans on the surface of Mars remains one of the key critical challenges. In 2015 NASA initiated an Agency‐wide assessment of the challenges associated with Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) of large payloads necessary for supporting human exploration of Mars. Due to the criticality and long‐lead nature of advancing EDL techniques, it is necessary to determine an appropriate strategy to improve the capability to land large payloads. This paper provides an overview of NASA's 2015 EDL assessment on understanding the key EDL risks with a focus on determining what "must" be tested at Mars. This process identified the various risks and potential risk mitigation strategies, that is, benefits of flight demonstration at Mars relative to terrestrial test, modeling, and analysis. The goal of the activity was to determine if a subscale demonstrator is necessary, or if NASA should take a direct path to a human‐scale lander. This assessment also provided insight into how EDL advancements align with other Agency Mars lander activities such as the technology portfolio investments and post‐2020 robotic Mars Exploration Program missions.

Drake, Bret G.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Optical Meteor Systems Used by the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office

The NASA Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) uses two main meteor camera networks to characterize the meteoroid environment: an all sky system and a wide field system to study cm and mm size meteors respectively. The NASA All Sky Fireball Network consists of fifteen meteor video cameras in the United States, with plans to expand to eighteen cameras by the end of 2015. The camera design and All-Sky Guided and Real-time Detection (ASGARD) meteor detection software [1, 2] were adopted from the University of Western Ontario's Southern Ontario Meteor Network (SOMN). After seven years of operation, the network has detected over 12,000 multi-station meteors, including meteors from at least 53 different meteor showers. The network is used for speed distribution determination, characterization of meteor showers and sporadic sources, and for informing the public on bright meteor events. The NASA Wide Field Meteor Network was established in December of 2012 with two cameras and expanded to eight cameras in December of 2014. The two camera configuration saw 5470 meteors over two years of operation with two cameras, and has detected 3423 meteors in the first five months of operation (Dec 12, 2014 - May 12, 2015) with eight cameras. We expect to see over 10,000 meteors per year with the expanded system. The cameras have a 20 degree field of view and an approximate limiting meteor magnitude of +5. The network's primary goal is determining the nightly shower and sporadic meteor fluxes. Both camera networks function almost fully autonomously with little human interaction required for upkeep and analysis. The cameras send their data to a central server for storage and automatic analysis. Every morning the servers automatically generates an e-mail and web page containing an analysis of the previous night's events. The current status of the networks will be described, alongside with preliminary results. In addition, future projects, CCD photometry and broadband meteor color camera system, will be discussed.

Kingery, A. M.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Introduction to Heat Pipes

This is the presentation file for the short course Introduction to Heat Pipes, to be conducted at the 2015 Thermal Fluids and Analysis Workshop, August 3-7, 2015, Silver Spring, Maryland. NCTS 21070-15. Course Description: This course will present operating principles of the heat pipe with emphases on the underlying physical processes and requirements of pressure and energy balance. Performance characterizations and design considerations of the heat pipe will be highlighted. Guidelines for thermal engineers in the selection of heat pipes as part of the spacecraft thermal control system, testing methodology, and analytical modeling will also be discussed.

Heat Pipes↗

NASA NTRS2015

Introduction to Loop Heat Pipes

This is the presentation file for the short course Introduction to Loop Heat Pipes, to be conducted at the 2015 Thermal Fluids and Analysis Workshop, August 3-7, 2015, Silver Spring, Maryland. This course will discuss operating principles and performance characteristics of a loop heat pipe. Topics include: 1) pressure profiles in the loop; 2) loop operating temperature; 3) operating temperature control; 4) loop startup; 4) loop shutdown; 5) loop transient behaviors; 6) sizing of loop components and determination of fluid inventory; 7) analytical modeling; 8) examples of flight applications; and 9) recent LHP developments.

Heat Pipes↗