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NASA NTRS1970

Proposal to Accomplish Phase B Space Shuttle Program

This proposal has been prepared in response to National Aeronautics and Space Administration Request for Proposal No. 10-8423, dated February 20, 1970, and Amendments No.1, 2, 3, & 4 thereto. It is firm for a period of not less than one hundred twenty (120) days from March 30, 1970. The executed certifications requested in Enclosures 5 and 6 of the Request for Proposal are appended at the end of this proposal. Grumman Aerospace Corporation, along with its associates -- the General Electric Company, Eastern Airlines, the Northrop Corporation, and the Aerojet-General Corporation -- are pleased to submit this proposal. This study must prove that technical challenges can be met at a cost commensurate with realistic national funding levels at an early date, (perferably prior to the late 1977 initial operating capability (IOC) indicated in the Statement of Work). We have assembled a team of extremely competent associates. Together, we are fully qualified to study all facets of the proposed Phase B study, and to develop and build the product. We believe we have already made a promising start toward defining the concept of the space shuttle system.

Mead, Lawrence M.↗

NASA NTRS2016

MapX: An In Situ, Full-Frame X-Ray Spectroscopic Imager for the Biogenic Elements

Microbial life exploits microscale disequilibria at boundaries where valence, chemical potential, pH, Eh, etc. vary on a length scale commensurate with the organisms themselves - tens to hundreds of micrometers. These disequilibria can exist within cracks or veins in rocks and ice, at inter- or intra-crystalline boundaries, at sediment/water or sediment/atmosphere interfaces, or even within fluid inclusions trapped inside minerals. The detection of accumulations of the biogenic elements C,N,O,P,S at appropriate concentrations on or in a mineral/ice substrate would constitute permissive evidence of extant life, but context is also required. Does the putative biosignature exist in a habitable environment? Under what conditions of P, T, and chemical potential was the host mineralogy formed? MapX is an arm-deployed contact instrument that directly images the biogenic elements C, N, O, P, S, as well as the cations of the rock-forming minerals (Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe) and important anions such as Cl, Fl. The instrument provides element images having ≤100 micron lateral spatial resolution over a 2.5 cm X 2.5 cm area, as well as quantitative XRF spectra from ground-selected or instrument-selected Regions of Interest (ROI) on the sample. Quantitative XRF spectra from ROI can be translated into mineralogies using ground- or instrument-based algorithms. Either an X-ray tube source (X-ray fluorescence) or a radioisotope source such as 244-Cm (alpha-particle and gamma-ray fluorescence) can be used, and characteristic X-rays emitted from the sample are imaged onto an X-ray sensitive CCD through an X-ray MicroPore Optic (MPO). As a fluorescent source, 244-Cm is highly desirable in a MapX instrument intended for life detection since high-energy alpha-particles are unrivaled in fluorescence yield for the low-Z elements. The MapX design as well as baseline performance requirements for a MapX instrument intended for life detection/identification of habitable environments will be presented.

micro-XRF spectrometer↗

NASA NTRS2016

Design, Development and Hotfire Testing of Monolithic Copper and Bimetallic Additively Manufactured Combustion Chambers

NASA and industry partners are working towards fabrication process development to reduce costs and schedules associated with manufacturing liquid rocket engine components with the goal of reducing overall mission costs. One such technique being evaluated is powder-bed fusion or selective laser melting (SLM) otherwise commonly referred to as additive manufacturing. The NASA Low Cost Upper Stage Propulsion (LCUSP) program was designed to develop processes and material characterization for the GRCop-84 copper-alloy commensurate with powder bed additive manufacturing, evaluate bimetallic deposition and complete testing of a full scale combustion chamber. As part of this development, the process has been transferred to industry partners to enable a long-term supply chain of monolithic copper combustion chambers. As a direct spin off of this program, NASA is working with industry partners to further develop the printing process for the GRCop-84 material in addition to the C-18150 (CuCrZr) material. To advance the process further and allow for optimization with multiple materials, NASA is also investigating the feasibility of bimetallic additively manufactured chambers. A 1.2k sized thrust-chamber was designed and developed to compare the printing process of the GRCop-84 and C-18150 SLM materials. A series of similar MCC liners also completed development with an Inconel 625 jacket bonded to the GRcop-84 liner evaluating direct metal deposition (DMD) laser and arc-based techniques. This paper describes the design, development, manufacturing and testing of these combustion chambers and associated lessons learned throughout the design and development process.

Gradl, Paul↗

NASA NTRS2016

Recovery of Large Angular Scale CMB Polarization for Instruments Employing Variable-Delay Polarization Modulators

Variable-delay Polarization Modulators (VPMs) are currently being implemented in experiments designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background on large angular scales because of their capability for providing rapid, front-end polarization modulation and control over systematic errors. Despite the advantages provided by the VPM, it is important to identify and mitigate any time-varying effects that leak into the synchronously modulated component of the signal. In this paper, the effect of emission from a 300 K VPM on the system performance is considered and addressed. Though instrument design can greatly reduce the influence of modulated VPM emission, some residual modulated signal is expected. VPM emission is treated in the presence of rotational misalignments and temperature variation. Simulations of time-ordered data are used to evaluate the effect of these residual errors on the power spectrum. The analysis and modeling in this paper guides experimentalists on the critical aspects of observations using VPMs as front-end modulators. By implementing the characterizations and controls as described, front-end VPM modulation can be very powerful for mitigating 1/ f noise in large angular scale polarimetric surveys. None of the systematic errors studied fundamentally limit the detection and characterization of B-modes on large scales for a tensor-to-scalar ratio of r= 0.01. Indeed, r less than 0.01 is achievable with commensurately improved characterizations and controls.

Miller, N. J.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Software Defined Radios - Architectures, Systems and Functions

Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology has been proven in the commercial sector since the early 90's. Today's rapid advancement in mobile telephone reliability and power management capabilities exemplifies the effectiveness of the SDR technology for the modern communications market. SDR technology offers potential to revolutionize satellite transponder technology by increasing science data through-put capability by at least an order of magnitude. While the SDR is adaptive in nature and is "One-size-fits-all" by design, conventional transponders are built to a specific platform and must be redesigned for every new bus. The SDR uses a minimum amount of analog/Radio Frequency (RF) components to up/down-convert the RF signal to/from a digital format. Once analog data is digitized, all processing is performed using hardware logic. Typical SDR processes include; filtering, modulation, up/down converting and demodulation. These innovations have reduced the cost of transceivers, a decrease in power requirements and a commensurate reduction in volume. An additional pay-off is the increased flexibility of the SDR: allowing the same hardware to implement multiple transponder types by altering hardware logic -no change of analog hardware is required -all of which can be ultimately accomplished in orbit.

Sims, Herb↗

NASA NTRS2017

Software Defined Radios - Architectures, Systems and Functions

Software Defined Radio is an industry term describing a method of utilizing a minimum amount of Radio Frequency (RF)/analog electronics before digitization takes place. Upon digitization all other functions are performed in software/firmware. There are as many different types of SDRs as there are data systems. Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology has been proven in the commercial sector since the early 90's. Today's rapid advancement in mobile telephone reliability and power management capabilities exemplifies the effectiveness of the SDR technology for the modern communications market. In contrast the foundations of transponder technology presently qualified for satellite applications were developed during the early space program of the 1960's. SDR technology offers potential to revolutionize satellite transponder technology by increasing science data through-put capability by at least an order of magnitude. While the SDR is adaptive in nature and is "One-size-fits-all" by design, conventional transponders are built to a specific platform and must be redesigned for every new bus. The SDR uses a minimum amount of analog/Radio Frequency components to up/down-convert the RF signal to/from a digital format. Once analog data is digitized, all processing is performed using hardware logic. Typical SDR processes include; filtering, modulation, up/down converting and demodulation. This presentation will show how the emerging SDR market has leveraged the existing commercial sector to provide a path to a radiation tolerant SDR transponder. These innovations will reduce the cost of transceivers, a decrease in power requirements and a commensurate reduction in volume. A second pay-off is the increased flexibility of the SDR by allowing the same hardware to implement multiple transponder types by altering hardware logic - no change of analog hardware is required - all of which can be ultimately accomplished in orbit. This in turn would provide high capability and low cost transponder to programs of all sizes.

Sims, William H.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Shape Morphing Adaptive Radiator Technology (SMART) Updates to Techport Entry

The Shape-Morphing Adaptive Radiator Technology (SMART) project builds off the FY16 research effort that developed a flexible composite radiator panel and demonstrated its ability to actuate from SMA's attached to it. The proposed FY17 Shape-Morphing Adaptive Radiator Technology (SMART) project's goal is to 1) develop a practical radiator design with shape memory alloys (SMAs) bonded to the radiator's panel, and 2) build a multi-panel radiator prototype for subsequent system level thermal vacuum tests. The morphing radiator employs SMA materials to passively change its shape to adapt its rate of heat rejection to vehicle requirements. Conceptually, the radiator panel has a naturally closed position (like a cylinder) in a cold environment. Whenever the radiator's temperature gradually rises, SMA's affixed to the face sheet will pull the face sheet open a commensurate amount - increasing the radiators view to space and causing it to reject more heat. In a vehicle, the radiator's variable heat rejection capabilities would reduce the number of additional heat rejection devices in a vehicle's thermal control system. This technology aims to help achieve the required maximum to minimum heat rejection ratio required for manned space vehicles to adopt a lighter, simpler, single loop thermal control architecture (ATCS). Single loop architectures are viewed as an attractive means to reduce mass and complexity over traditional dual-loop solutions. However, fluids generally considered safe enough to flow within crewed cabins (e.g. propylene glycol-water mixtures) have much higher freezing points and viscosities than those used in the external sides of dual loop ATCSs (e.g. Ammonia and HFE7000).

Erickson, Lisa↗

NASA NTRS2017

Design and Optimization of Multi-Pixel Transition-Edge Sensors for X-Ray Astronomy Applications

Multi-pixel transition-edge sensors (TESs), commonly referred to as 'hydras', are a type of position sensitive micro-calorimeter that enables very large format arrays to be designed without commensurate increase in the number of readout channels and associated wiring. In the hydra design, a single TES is coupled to discrete absorbers via varied thermal links. The links act as low pass thermal filters that are tuned to give a different characteristic pulse shape for x-ray photons absorbed in each of the hydra sub pixels. In this contribution we report on the experimental results from hydras consisting of up to 20 pixels per TES. We discuss the design trade-offs between energy resolution, position discrimination and number of pixels and investigate future design optimizations specifically targeted at meeting the readout technology considered for Lynx.

Smith, Stephen J.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Itokawa's Opposition Surge seen by Hayabusa/AMICA

Using images acquired by the Hayabusa/AMICA instrument, along with Lederer et al.'s (2008) ground-based observations, we re-examine Itokawa's disk-integrated phase curve. The AMICA images provide critical opposition measurements (between 0.7deg - 9.3deg phase at 540 nm). Using Hapke's model (2012), we fit the updated phase curves at 5 different wavelengths. Preliminary modeling results show a range of porosity values commensurate with those in the literature (Ostro et al. 2004, Gundlach and Blum, 2012, Kiuchi and Nakamura 2014) based on an impact-generated grain size distribution function and grain size range evaluations from the AMICA data (Yano et al. 2006). This wide range on a global porosity is indicative of a highly variable porosity across the surface. The derived transport mean free path and the generally forward scattering nature of the global regolith are indicative of scattering centers (such as cracks, bubbles, and inclusions) that are small compared to the observational wavelengths. The derived regolith properties are compared with the imaging and sample analysis results, providing a test of the predictive capabilities of global disk-integrated measurements. This work suggests that the sub-pixel grain information could be extracted from the photometry, especially around opposition.

Dominque, D.↗

NASA NTRS2017

MapX An In Situ, Full-frame X-Ray Spectroscopic Imager for Planetary Science and Astrobiology

Microbial life exploits micron-scale disequilibria at boundaries where valence, chemical potential, pH, Eh, etc. vary on a length scale commensurate with the organisms - 10's to 100's of microns. The detection of accumulations of the biogenic elements C,N,O,P,S at appropriate concentrations on or in a mineral/ice substrate would constitute permissive evidence of extant life, but context is also required. Does the putative biosignature exist under habitable conditions? Under what conditions of P, T, and chemical potential was the host mineralogy formed? MapX is an in situ robotic spacecraft instrument that images the biogenic elements C, N, O, P, S, as well as the cations of the rock-forming minerals (Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe) and important anions such as Cl, Fl. MapX provides element maps with less than or equal to100 microns resolution over a 2.5 cm X 2.5 cm area, as well as quantitative XRF spectra from ground- or instrument-selected Regions of Interest (ROI). XRF spectra are converted to mineralogies using ground- or instrument-based algorithms. Either X-ray tube or radioisotope sources such as 244Cm (Alpha-particle and gamma- ray fluorescence) can be used. Fluoresced sample Xrays are imaged onto an X-ray sensitive CCD through an X-ray MicroPore Optic (MPO). The MapX design as well as baseline performance requirements for a MapX instrument intended for life detection / identification of habitable environments will be presented.

Astrobiology↗

NASA NTRS2017

Software Defined Radios - Architectures, Systems and Functions

Sims, Herb↗

NASA NTRS2017

Development and Hot-fire Testing of Additively Manufactured Copper Combustion Chambers for Liquid Rocket Engine Applications

NASA and industry partners are working towards fabrication process development to reduce costs and schedules associated with manufacturing liquid rocket engine components with the goal of reducing overall mission costs. One such technique being evaluated is powder-bed fusion or selective laser melting (SLM), commonly referred to as additive manufacturing (AM). The NASA Low Cost Upper Stage Propulsion (LCUSP) program was designed to develop processes and material characterization for GRCop-84 (a NASA Glenn Research Center-developed copper, chrome, niobium alloy) commensurate with powder-bed AM, evaluate bimetallic deposition, and complete testing of a full scale combustion chamber. As part of this development, the process has been transferred to industry partners to enable a long-term supply chain of monolithic copper combustion chambers. To advance the processes further and allow for optimization with multiple materials, NASA is also investigating the feasibility of bimetallic AM chambers. In addition to the LCUSP program, NASA has completed a series of development programs and hot-fire tests to demonstrate SLM GRCop-84 and other AM techniques. NASA's efforts include a 4K lbf thrust liquid oxygen/methane (LOX/CH4) combustion chamber and subscale thrust chambers for 1.2K lbf LOX/hydrogen (H2) applications that have been designed and fabricated with SLM GRCop-84. The same technologies for these lower thrust applications are being applied to 25-35K lbf main combustion chamber (MCC) designs. This paper describes the design, development, manufacturing and testing of these numerous combustion chambers, and the associated lessons learned throughout their design and development processes.

Gradl, Paul R.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Development and Hotfire Testing of Additively Manufactured Copper Combustion Chambers for Liquid Rocket Engine Applications

NASA and industry partners are working towards fabrication process development to reduce costs and schedules associated with manufacturing liquid rocket engine components with the goal of reducing overall mission costs. One such technique being evaluated is powder-bed fusion or selective laser melting (SLM), commonly referred to as additive manufacturing (AM). The NASA Low Cost Upper Stage Propulsion (LCUSP) program was designed to develop processes and material characterization for GRCop-84 (a NASA Glenn Research Center-developed copper, chrome, niobium alloy) commensurate with powder bed AM, evaluate bimetallic deposition, and complete testing of a full scale combustion chamber. As part of this development, the process has been transferred to industry partners to enable a long-term supply chain of monolithic copper combustion chambers. To advance the processes further and allow for optimization with multiple materials, NASA is also investigating the feasibility of bimetallic AM chambers. In addition to the LCUSP program, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has completed a series of development programs and hot-fire tests to demonstrate SLM GRCop-84 and other AM techniques. MSFC’s efforts include a 4,000 pounds-force thrust liquid oxygen/methane (LOX/CH4) combustion chamber. Small thrust chambers for 1,200 pounds-force LOX/hydrogen (H2) applications have also been designed and fabricated with SLM GRCop-84. Similar chambers have also completed development with an Inconel 625 jacket bonded to the GRCop-84 material, evaluating direct metal deposition (DMD) laser- and arc-based techniques. The same technologies for these lower thrust applications are being applied to 25,000-35,000 pounds-force main combustion chamber (MCC) designs. This paper describes the design, development, manufacturing and testing of these numerous combustion chambers, and the associated lessons learned throughout their design and development processes.

Gradl, Paul R.↗

NASA NTRS2017

System for RFID-Enabled Information Collection

A sensor and system provide for radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled information collection. The sensor includes a ring-shaped element and an antenna. The ring-shaped element includes a conductive ring and an RFID integrated circuit. The antenna is spaced apart from the ring-shaped element and defines an electrically-conductive path commensurate in size and shape to at least a portion of the conductive ring. The system may include an interrogator for energizing the ring-shaped element and receiving a data transmission from the RFID integrated circuit that has been energized for further processing by a processor.

Fink, Patrick W.↗

NASA NTRS2017

NASA Affordable Vehicle Avionics (AVA)

Small satellites are becoming ever more capable of performing valuable missions for both government and commercial customers. However, currently these satellites can be launched affordably only as secondary payloads. This makes it difficult for the small satellite mission to launch when needed, to the desired orbit, and with acceptable risk. What is needed is a class of low-cost launchers, so that launch costs to low-Earth orbit (LEO) are commensurate with payload costs. Several private and government-sponsored launch vehicle developers are working toward just that-the ability to affordably insert small payloads into LEO. But until now, cost of the complex avionics remained disproportionately high. AVA (Affordable Vehicle Avionics) solves this problem. Significant contributors to the cost of launching nanosatellites to orbit are the avionics and software systems that steer and control the launch vehicles, sequence stage separation, deploy payloads, and telemeter data. The high costs of these guidance, navigation and control (GNC) avionics systems are due in part to the current practice of developing unique, single-use hardware and software for each launch. High-performance, high-reliability inertial sensors components with heritage from legacy launchers also contribute to costs-but can low-cost commercial inertial sensors work just as well? NASA Ames Research Center has developed and tested a prototype low-cost avionics package for space launch vehicles that provides complete GNC functionality in a package smaller than a tissue box (100 millimeters by 120 millimeters by 69 millimeters; 4 inches by 4.7 inches by 2.7 inches), with a mass of less than 0.84 kilogram (2 pounds. AVA takes advantage of commercially available, low-cost, mass-produced, miniaturized sensors, filtering their more noisy inertial data with real-time GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) data. The goal of the AVA project is to produce and light-verify a common suite of avionics and software that deliver affordable, capable GNC and telemetry avionics with application to multiple nanolaunch vehicles at 1 percent of the cost of current state-of-the-art avionics.

space technology↗

NASA NTRS2017

Towards a Preservation Content Standard for Earth Observation Data

Information from Earth observing missions (remote sensing with airborne and spaceborne instruments, and in situ measurements such as those from field campaigns) is proliferating in the world. Many agencies across the globe are generating important datasets by collecting measurements from instruments on board aircraft and spacecraft, globally and constantly. The data resulting from such measurements are a valuable resource that needs to be preserved for the benefit of future generations. These observations are the primary record of the Earths environment and therefore are the key to understanding how conditions in the future will compare to conditions today. Earth science observational data, derived products and models are used to answer key questions of global significance. In the near-term, as long as the missions data are being used actively for scientific research, it continues to be important to provide easy access to the data and services commensurate with current information technology. For the longer term, when the focus of the research community shifts toward new missions and observations, it is essential to preserve the previous mission data and associated information. This will enable a new user in the future to understand how the data were used for deriving information, knowledge and policy recommendations and to repeat the experiment to ascertain the validity and possible limitations of conclusions reached in the past and to provide confidence in long term trends that depended on data from multiple missions. Organizations that collect, process, and utilize Earth observation data today have a responsibility to ensure that the data and associated content continue to be preserved by them or are gathered and handed off to other organizations for preservation for the benefit of future generations. In order to ensure preservation of complete content necessary for understanding and reusing the data and derived digital products from todays missions, it is necessary to develop a specification of such preservation content. While there are existing standards that address archival and preservation in general, there are no existing international standards or specifications today to address what content should be preserved. The purpose of this paper is to outline briefly the existing standards that apply to preservation, describe a recent effort in getting an international standard in place for specifying preservation content for Earth observation data and derived digital data products and the remaining work needed to arrive at a standard.

ISO Standards↗

NASA NTRS2018

RFID-Enabled Angular Position Sensing System

An angular position sensing system includes a first support with ring-shaped elements disposed thereon and spaced apart from one another in a curvilinear arrangement. Each ring-shaped element includes an electrically-conductive ring and an RFID integrated circuit electrically coupled to its electrically-conductive ring. A second support has an antenna coupled thereto that defines an electrically-conductive path commensurate in size and shape to at least a portion of the electrically-conductive ring. An interrogator transmits a signal to the antenna wherein electric current is generated along the antenna's electrically-conductive path and electromagnetic energy emanates from the antenna. Any ring-shaped element and its RFID integrated circuit energized by the electromagnetic energy generates in response a data transmission for receipt by the interrogator. A processor coupled to the interrogator derives information related to an angular position of one of the first support and second support using the data transmission.

Fink, Patrick W.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Digital Image Correlation Data Processing and Analysis Techniques to Enhance Test Data Assessment and Improve Structural Simulations

The NASA Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project (SBKF) was established in 2007 by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) with the primary goal to develop new analysis-based buckling design factors (a.k.a. knockdown factors) and high-fidelity buckling simulations for selected launch-vehicle-like cylindrical shell structures. A series of tests are being conducted on large-scale metallic and composite cylindrical shells in order to provide validation data for these new factors and simulations. However, the validation of these new factors and simulations is quite demanding and requires test data that is commensurate with their fidelity. Traditional instrumentation, such as linear variable displacement transducers (LVDTs) and electrical-resistance strain gages serve a critical role in providing accurate displacement and strain measurements in these tests, but only allow for data to be recorded at a select number of point locations and are not sufficient to provide all the necessary validation data. Advanced measurement technologies can be used effectively to complement traditional instrumentation and gather additional data required to validate these structural simulations. In particular, three-dimensional digital image correlation (DIC) was implemented during SBKF cylinder testing to characterize the full-field displacement and strain behavior. Commercially available VIC-3DTM software and user-written data processing scripts were used to generate valuable data and insight into the complex buckling response of the cylinders that otherwise would be impossible to gather using traditional instrumentation. In addition, the measured data from DIC was used to verify measured test data obtained from other instrumentation, enhance test and analysis correlation, and help identify the root cause of anomalous test results that may have gone unexplained if only traditional instrumentation was used. Selected test results that demonstrate the use of DIC on the SBKF cylinders are presented and a portion of the data processing methods are described.

Gardner, Nathaniel W.↗