Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Discovery Mission”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2001

The Near-Earth Space Surveillance (NESS) Mission: Discovery, Tracking, and Characterization of Asteroids, Comets, and Artificial Satellites with a Microsatellite

The Near-Earth Space Surveillance (NESS) Mission, a microsatellite dedicated to observing near-Earth (NEO) and interior-to-the-Earth (IEO)asteroids and comets plus artificial satellites, is currently being studied under contract to the Canadian Space Agency. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Hildebrand, A. R.↗
NASA NTRS2005

STS-114: Discovery Mission Status Briefing

Paul Hill, STS-114 Lead Shuttle Flight Director and Wayne Hale, Space Shuttle Deputy Program Director is shown during this mission status briefing. Hill talks about the first 24 hours of the Space Shuttle Discovery in orbit. He expresses that he has acquired data from the launch through imagery and hand held photographs of the external tank. Hale answers questions from the news media about how the engineers may be managing this data and if there is an overwhelming amount of data. Live downlink television pictures from the end-effectors camera on the Robotic Arm as it has completed its reberthing of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) are shown.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2005

STS-114: Discovery Mission Status Briefing Tape 3

Paul Hill, STS-114 Lead Shuttle Flight Director is seen during this mission status briefing. He answers questions from the news media about the progress of the analysis of the gap fillers on the Space Shuttle Discovery. He is asked about the EVA's the astronauts may or may not perform to reach and repair the gap fillers.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2005

STS-114: Discovery Mission Status Briefing

Paul Hill, STS-114 Lead Shuttle Flight Director, talks about the imagery that was captured during the first twenty four hours in orbit. He expresses that new data was captured during ascent of the Space Shuttle Discovery through imagery and in-orbit handheld photographs of the Orbital Maneuvering system (OMS) pods were taken. Laser surveys were also taken of both the wing leading edges and nose caps using the Orbiter Boom and Sensor System (OBSS) instrument package. He presents raw footage from the Laser Dynamic Range Imager (LDRI) at the end of the OBSS showing RCC panels and tiles. He also answers questions from the news media about the possible damage to the Orbiter and debris during lift-off.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2005

STS-114: Discovery Mission Status/Post MMT Briefing

Bob Castle, Mission Operations Representative, and Wayne Hale, Space Shuttle Deputy Program Manager are seen during a post Mission Management Team (MMT) briefing. Bob Castle talks about the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) payload and its readiness for unberthing. Wayne Hale presents pictures of the Space Shuttle Thermal Blanket, Wind Tunnel Tests, and Space Shuttle Blanket Pre and Post Tests. Questions from the news media about the Thermal Protection System after undocking and re-entry of the Space Shuttle Discovery, and lessons learned are addressed.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1994

FRESIP: A Discovery Mission Concept To Find Earth-Sized Planets Around Solar Like Stars

The current nebular theory postulates that planets are. a consequence of the formation of stars from viscous accretion disks. Condensation from the accretion disk favors the formation of small rocky planets in the hot inner region, and the formation of gas giants in the cool outer region. Consequently, terrestrial-type planet in inner orbits should be commonplace. From geometrical considerations , Borucki and Summers have shown that 1% of planetary systems resembling our solar system should show transits for Earth-sized (or larger) planets. Thus a photometric satellite that uses a wide field of view telescope and a large detector array to simultaneously monitor 5000 target stars should detect 50 planetary systems. To differentiate regularly recurring transits from statistical fluctuations of the stellar flux, one must observe over several orbital periods so that the false positive rate can be reduced to one event or less. A one-meter aperture telescope placed in a halo orbit about either the L1 or L2 Lagrange points and viewing perpendicular to both the orbital and ecliptic planes can view continuously for the required period because neither the Sun, Earth, or Moon would enter the field of view. Model calculations show that the observations should provide statistically significant estimates of the distributions of planetary size, orbital radius, coplanarity, and the frequency of planetary systems that have Earth-sized planets in inner orbits. Because approximately one half of the star systems observed will be binary systems, the frequency of planetary systems orbiting either one or both of the stars can also be determined.

Borucki, William↗
NASA NTRS2001

An Overview of the Comet Nucleus TOUR Discovery Mission and a Description of Neutral Gas and Ion Measurements Planned

The CONTOUR (Comet Nucleus TOUR) Mission led by its Principal Investigator Professor Joseph Veverka of Cornell is presently under development at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory for launch in July of 2002 with a flyby of Comet Encke scheduled for November 3, 2003 at a solar distance of 1.07 au. A robust Whipple dust shield is designed to allow a close nucleus approach distance (less than 150 km). The 2nd nominal CONTOUR target is Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, although the spacecraft can alternately be directed to a new comet if such an interesting target is discovered. CONTOUR contains 4 instruments: an imaging spectrometer (CRISP) developed at APL that will obtain both high resolution nucleus images through 8 filters and IR spectra (800 to 2550 nm) of the nucleus, a narrow field of view forward imager (CFI) to locate the target days before the encounter, a dust composition time of flight mass spectrometer (CIDA) provided by Dr. J. Kissel and von Hoemer & Sulger, GmbH, and a mass spectrometer (NGIMS) provided by Goddard Space Flight Center to measure neutral gas and ambient ions. Laboratory calibration of the NGIMS has now been completed. NGIMS also includes an in-flight calibration system that we plan to exercise before and after each comet encounter. We will provide an overview of the CONTOUR Mission and discuss more specifically the NGIMS measurement goals for this mission.

Mahaffy, Paul↗
NASA NTRS2003

Genesis Discovery Mission: Science Canister Processing at JSC

Genesis addresses questions about materials and processes involved in the origins of the solar system by providing precise knowledge of solar isotopic and elemental compositions. Solar wind ions are collected and returned to Earth for analyses. The spacecraft has two primary instruments to collect solar wind: a set of collector arrays each of which can deploy to sample different solar wind regimes, and a concentrator that is an electrostatic mirror to concentrate and focus low mass ions onto a 6 cm target. One of the key challenges to obtaining a good sample of solar wind, uncontaminated by terrestrial atoms, is to have clean collection surfaces in a clean sample canister and clean facilities to handle the samples for allocation and future reference. The Johnson Space Center (JSC) is responsible for contamination control for the mission, for ensuring the cleanliness of collection surfaces, and for providing a clean environment for handling of the samples. The level of cleanliness required is high; at the time of analysis (after sample return), the surface contamination by C, N, O must each be <10(exp 15) atoms/sq cm and for other elements the number of atoms/sq cm of each surface contaminant shall not exceed the estimated solar wind fluence of the species (varies by element between U at approx. 10(exp 4) atoms/sq cm to Fe, Si, Mg, and Ne at approx. 10(exp 12) atoms/sq cm).

Stansbery, E. K.↗
NASA NTRS2004

The STARDUST Discovery Mission: Data from the Encounter with Comet Wild 2 and the Expected Sample Return

On January 2,2004, the STARDUST spacecraft made the closest ever flyby (236 km) of the nucleus of a comet - Comet Wild 2. During the fly by the spacecraft collected samples of dust from the coma of the comet. These samples will be returned to Earth on January 15,2006. After a brief preliminary examination to establish the nature of the returned samples, they will be made available to the general scientific community for study. In addition to its aerogel dust collector, the STARDUST spacecraft was also equipped with instruments that made in situ measurements of the comet during the flyby. These included several dust impact monitors, a mass spectrometer, and a camera. The spacecraft's communication system was also used to place dynamical constraints on the mass of the nucleus and the number of impacts the spacecraft had with large particles. The data taken by these instruments indicate that the spacecraft successfully captured coma samples. These instruments, particularly the camera, also demonstrated that Wild 2 is unlike any other object in the Solar System previously visited by a spacecraft. During my talk I will discuss the scientific goals of the STARDUST mission and provide an overview of its design and flight to date. I will then end with a description of the exciting data returned by the spacecraft during the recent encounter with Wild 2 and discuss what these data tell us about the nature of comets. It will probably come as no surprise that the encounter data raise as many (or more) new questions as they answer old ones.

Sandford, Scott A.↗
NASA NTRS2005

STS-114: Discovery Mission Status Briefing

This video features mid-deck payloads being stowed at Pad 39B, a ribbon cutting ceremony at the NASA Shuttle Launch Facility (SLF) Air Traffic Control Tower and footage of the air traffic control radar constructed at Shiloh. The STS-114 Crewmembers, Commander, Eileen Collins, Pilot, James Kelly, Mission Specialist, Charles Camarda, Mission Specialist, Wendy Lawrence, Mission Specialist, Soichi Noguchi, JAXA, Mission Specialist, Stephen Robinson, and Mission Specialist Andrew Thomas are shown arriving at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. Eileen Collins introduces each crew member and talks to the news media about their role during this mission. The astronauts are also shown during their spacesuit fit check at the Operations and Control Center (O&C) and footage of a practice flight is presented. The start of the countdown clock in the firing room 3 of the launch control center is shown

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2005

STS-114: Discovery Mission Status Briefing (incl. Statement from Cmdr. Collins and Crew)

Commander Eileen Collins and crew briefly thanked everyone who worked hard to get the Shuttle back in space, and dedicated the mission to the Columbia crew as she bids their first "good night" to the Mission Control Room in Houston. Video continues with the Mission Status Briefing by Phil Engelauf, STS-114 Mission Operations Representative, and John Shannon, Manager of the Space Shuttle Operations and Integration. Phil noted that launching and ascent had gone extremely well, the crews and the flight control team performed well and the vehicle performed exceptionally as well. The launch is the beginning of a 12 day mission period. John details the tasks of the Engineering team processing the radar data taken during ascent and checking frame by frame the imagery from both on vehicle imagery and ground imagery. John further detailed the two debris event from ascent video clips of tile loss and an unidentified material falling off from the external tank; the release of TYVEK covers, and bird impact on the external tank nose cone. Tile shearing, tile damage, tile repair, landing gear door seals, repair capabilities, debris assessment, safety, inspections criteria, data acquisitions and data analysis were topics covered with the News media.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2005

STS-114: Discovery Mission Status Briefing

Phil Engelauf, STS-114 Mission Operations Representative reports: the orbital rendezvous was successful, and today's activities includes initial preparations of the next day's extravehicular activities (EVA); he specifically mentioned tile repair, wiring on the outside of the vehicle to try to recover CMG2 (Control Moment Gyro), and preparation for the external stowage platform. John Shannon, Manager of the Space Shuttle Operations and Integration reports from Engineering standpoint that the composites of the underside of the tile surface seen from pictures taken during the pitch maneuver were extremely clean; the Engineering staff continues to look at the focus inspection data from the orbital boom sensor system (OBSS) and other data to assess the condition of the vehicle. Solid rocket boosters were retrieved and are towed back to the Air Force hangar in Cape Carneval. Six target inspection (nose gear doors, gap fillers, chine area, external tank doors, trailing edge, and ice), and arm operations, foam, conservation measures, shuttle air lock, aerodynamics assessment and re-entry were topics covered with the News media.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2006

The Stardust Discovery Mission - Returning Unique Samples of Early Solar System Organics

On January 2,2004, the STARDUST spacecraft made the closest ever flyby (236 km) of the nucleus of a comet - Comet Wild 2. During the flyby the spacecraft collected samples of dust from the coma of the comet. These samples were successfully returned to Earth on January 15,2006. After a six-month preliminary examination to establish the nature of the returned samples, they will be made available to the general scientific community for study. During my talk I will discuss the scientific goals of the STARDUST mission and provide a brief overview of the mission's design and flight. I will also discuss the recovery of the Stardust Sample Return Capsule (SRC), with an emphasis on those aspects of the recovery important for minimizing the degree of contamination (particularly organic contamination) of the samples. Finally, the first samples are only just now being distributed for preliminary examination, but I hope to be able to talk about some of the preliminary findings from the returned comet samples.

Sandford, Scott↗
NASA NTRS2006

STS-121: Discovery Mission Management Team Briefing

The briefing opened with Bruce Buckingham (NASA Public Affairs) introducing John Shannon (Chairman, Mission Management Team, JSC), John Chapman (External Tank Project Manager), Mike Leinbach (Shuttle Launch Director), and 1st Lt. Kaleb Nordgren (USAF 45th Weather Squadron). John Shannon reported that the team for hydrogen loading was proceeding well and the external tank detanking was completed. During detanking the inspection team cracked foam caused by condensation and ice formation as the tank expanded and contracted. Aerothermal analysis and analysis fro ice formation will be completed before launch. John Chapman explained the mechanics of the external tank design, the foam cracking, bracket design, etc. Mike Leinbach discussed the inspection teams and their inspection final inspection for ice formation before and after external tank filling. The inspection team of eight very experienced personnel also use telescopes with cameras to find any problems before launch. Kaleb Nordgren discussed weather and said there was a 40% chance of weather prohibiting launch. The floor was the opened for questions from the press.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2011

Vesper - Venus Chemistry and Dynamics Orbiter - A NASA Discovery Mission Proposal: Submillimeter Investigation of Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics

Vesper conducts a focused investigation of the chemistry and dynamics of the middle atmosphere of our sister planet- from the base of the global cloud cover to the lower thermosphere. The middle atmosphere controls the stability of the Venus climate system. Vesper determines what processes maintain the atmospheric chemical stability, cause observed variability of chemical composition, control the escape of water, and drive the extreme super-rotation. The Vesper science investigation provides a unique perspective on the Earth environment due to the similarities in the middle atmosphere processes of both Venus and the Earth. Understanding key distinctions and similarities between Venus and Earth will increase our knowledge of how terrestrial planets evolve along different paths from nearly identical initial conditions.

Chin, Gordon↗