Results for “Lunar Power Pole” — Page 2

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thermoplastic Space Point Design (TSPD) Tall Tower Lunar Thermal Analysis

The Thermoplastics Development for Exploration Applications (TDEA) project seeks to advance NASA’s thermoplastic composites capabilities by developing structurally efficient joining solutions for large-scale space structures to support NASA’s future exploration missions. A key objective is to develop and understand advanced thermoplastic joining techniques relevant to space environments and applicable to unitized and/or reconfigurable composite structures. The TDEA project uses NASA Langley’s Tall Lunar Tower (TLT) concept as a target application for the design and development of in-space assembled thermoplastic composites. TLT is a 50-meter-tall tower constructed on the lunar surface near the south pole. The tower’s height at this location on the moon allows for extended durations of incident solar flux which can be used to generate power via photovoltaic arrays. The thermal environment present on lunar south pole represents a challenging environment for any space-based asset. This study provides an overview of the analysis techniques used to determine the temperature extremes, gradients, and timelines of a tall composite tower over a one-year duration at the Shackleton Connecting Ridge. The developed thermal model includes tower and lunar surface elements with anisotropic and temperature-dependent material properties and incorporates a solar vector orbit with time-varying solar flux. Study topics include: a comparison between the effects of simplified lunar surface topologies on thermal results, prediction of surface temperature values versus Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) flight data, and tower structural-thermal deformation.

Lunar↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VIPER Lunar Rover Agile Mission Systems

The VIPER Lunar Rover, scheduled for a November, 2024 launch, is a solar powered rover that will search for volatiles at the lunar south pole. VIPER is an operationally complex mission operating in a challenging lighting and communications environment, requiring new design in a number of areas, from mission planning, to real-time waypoint driving. The combination of solar power, limited battery and the dynamic movement of shadows at the south pole gives VIPER small operational margins. The Mission System will be used to operate VIPER during cruise and on the lunar surface. To maximize efficiency and flexibility in Mission System design and thus to improve the performance and reliability of the resulting Mission System, we are tailoring Agile principles that we have used effectively in ground data system software development and applying those principles to the design of elements of the mission system.

Agile↗

NASA NTRS2009

Lunar Pole Illumination and Communications Maps Computed from GSSR Elevation Data

A Digital Elevation Model of the lunar south pole was produced using Goldstone Solar System RADAR (GSSR) data obtained in 2006.12 This model has 40-meter horizontal resolution and about 5-meter relative vertical accuracy. This Digital Elevation Model was used to compute average solar illumination and Earth visibility with 100 kilometers of the lunar south pole. The elevation data were converted into local terrain horizon masks, then converted into lunar-centric latitude and longitude coordinates. The horizon masks were compared to latitude, longitude regions bounding the maximum Sun and Earth motions relative to the moon. Estimates of Earth visibility were computed by integrating the area of the region bounding the Earth's motion that was below the horizon mask. Solar illumination and other metrics were computed similarly. Proposed lunar south pole base sites were examined in detail, with the best site showing yearly solar power availability of 92 percent and Direct-To-Earth (DTE) communication availability of about 50 percent. Similar analysis of the lunar south pole used an older GSSR Digital Elevation Model with 600-meter horizontal resolution. The paper also explores using a heliostat to reduce the photovoltaic power system mass and complexity.

lunar base↗

NASA NTRS2008

Lunar Polar Illumination for Power Analysis

This paper presents illumination analyses using the latest Earth-based radar digital elevation model (DEM) of the lunar south pole and an independently developed analytical tool. These results enable the optimum sizing of solar/energy storage lunar surface power systems since they quantify the timing and durations of illuminated and shadowed periods. Filtering and manual editing of the DEM based on comparisons with independent imagery were performed and a reduced resolution version of the DEM was produced to reduce the analysis time. A comparison of the DEM with lunar limb imagery was performed in order to validate the absolute heights over the polar latitude range, the accuracy of which affects the impact of long range, shadow-casting terrain. Average illumination and energy storage duration maps of the south pole region are provided for the worst and best case lunar day using the reduced resolution DEM. Average illumination fractions and energy storage durations are presented for candidate low energy storage duration south pole sites. The best site identified using the reduced resolution DEM required a 62 hr energy storage duration using a fast recharge power system. Solar and horizon terrain elevations as well as illumination fraction profiles are presented for the best identified site and the data for both the reduced resolution and high resolution DEMs compared. High resolution maps for three low energy storage duration areas are presented showing energy storage duration for the worst case lunar day, surface height, and maximum absolute surface slope.

Fincannon, James↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Design Study of Surface to Surface Laser Power Beaming on the Moon

Engineering design of a near-term laser surface-to-surface power beaming station to transmit power to users in shadowed regions or during the night. Input system requirements were to be able to provide 300 W of continuous usable power to users including landers and rovers, at distances up to 10 km, with a total system landed mass under 625 kg. Due to surface irregularities and the close horizon of the moon, to achieve 10-km transmission the laser must be elevated above the surface. The Vertical Solar Array Technology (VSAT) program is developing a solar array mounted on a 10-m tall mast, intended to fit on a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) lander, with target readiness date of 2028. At an optimum location near the south pole, the elevated array produces power for a majority of the lunar day.

Vertical Solar Array Technologoy (VSAT)↗

NASA NTRS2007

Polar Lunar Regions: Exploiting Natural and Augmented Thermal Environments

In polar regions of the Moon, some areas within craters are permanently shadowed from solar illumination and can reach temperatures of 100 K or less. These regions could serve as cold traps, capturing ice and other volatile compounds. These potential ice stores have many applications for lunar exploration. Within double-shaded craters, even colder regions exist, with temperatures never exceeding 50 K in many cases. Observed temperatures suggest that these regions could enable equivalent liquid nitrogen cryogenic functions. These permanently shaded polar craters also offer unprecedented high-vacuum cryogenic environments, which in their current state could support cryogenic applications. Besides ice stores, the unique conditions at the lunar poles harbor an environment that provides an opportunity to reduce the power, weight, and total mass that needs to be carried from the Earth to the Moon for lunar exploration and research. Reducing the heat flux of geothermal, black body radiation can have significant impacts on the achievable temperature. With a few manmade augmentations, permanently shaded craters located near the lunar poles achieve temperatures even lower than those that naturally exist. Our analysis reveals that lightweight thermal shielding within shaded craters could create an environment several Kelvin above absolute zero. The temperature ranges of both naturally shaded and thermally augmented craters could enable the long-term storage of most gases, low-temperature superconductors for large magnetic fields, devices and advanced high-speed computing instruments. Augmenting thermal conditions in these craters could then be used as a basis for the development of an advanced thermal management architecture that would support a wide variety of cryogenically based applications. Lunar exploration and habitation capabilities would significantly benefit if permanently shaded craters, augmented with thermal shielding, were used to facilitate the operation of near absolute zero instruments, including a wide variety of cryogenically based propulsion, energy, communication, sensing, and computing devices. The required burden of carrying massive life-supporting components from the Earth to the Moon for lunar exploration and research potentially could be reduced.

Ryan, Robert E.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

New Topographic Products for the Lunar South Pole from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA)

Due to the Moon’s low obliquity and highly cratered topography, its polar environments host regions of extreme illumination conditions. Multiple lines of evidence indicate the presence of geologically stable ice and other volatiles on or below the surface within polar permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). These regions are valuable targets for science and exploration as they hold clues to the history of water in the inner solar system and may hold sufficient reserves for in-situ resource utilization. Standing high above the PSRs, peaks of long-duration sunlight are oases where landed assets can easily generate power and communicate. For these reasons, the lunar south pole is the target of many upcoming missions including NASA’s Artemis program. The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) provides the global geodetic framework with which past, present, and future missions can accurately geolocate their data. Laser altimeters like LOLA are unaffected by shadows and, therefore, provide the most direct measurements of topography within PSRs. Here we present the latest work to improve LOLA’s polar topographic maps and resulting derived products, such as PSR maps, which are crucial tools for science and exploration of the polar regions

Michael K Barker↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hardware Systems and EDU Demonstration of the Tall Lunar Tower Project

The Tall Lunar Tower (TLT) project developed a robotic tower assembly system (RTAS) and TLT Truss engineering development units (EDUs) to perform a ground demonstration of supervised semi-autonomous robotic assembly of a truss-based tall tower. Truss structures provide exceptional strength-to-weight ratios for payload capabilities supporting large masses. On the lunar surface, tall towers are a critical structural system that will enable significant solar power generation by supporting vertical solar arrays and beyond-the-horizon communications at the lunar south pole, supporting the Artemis mission architecture, as well as a lunar economy. Tall towers, greater than 30-meters-tall, provide the elevation needed for more consistent solar power generation due to low inclination sunlight and deep shadowing from surface features on the lunar surface at the poles. The robotic structural assembly technologies developed for truss-based tall towers will also enable other large-scale functional lunar structures to be built, including launch plume deflectors, lunar safe havens for astronauts and assets, surface transportation for cargo, and other critical infrastructure. Robotic assembly of truss structures for lunar surface infrastructure is near-term enabling for future Artemis mission campaign and Moon to Mars Objectives needs for power and communication. The project team designed, fabricated, tested, and demonstrated the RTAS EDU by assembling a TLT Truss EDU in a laboratory environment. The hardware systems and the supervised semi-autonomous assembly process for a TLT assembled EDU design, along with descriptions of a hardware demonstration are presented.

In-space Assembly↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hardware Systems and EDU Demonstration of the Tall Lunar Tower Project

The Tall Lunar Tower (TLT) project developed a robotic tower assembly system (RTAS) and TLT Truss engineering development units (EDUs) to perform a ground demonstration of supervised semi-autonomous robotic assembly of a truss-based tall tower. Truss structures provide exceptional strength-to-weight ratios for payload capabilities supporting large masses. On the lunar surface, tall towers are a critical structural system that will enable significant solar power generation by supporting vertical solar arrays and beyond-the-horizon communications at the lunar south pole, supporting the Artemis mission architecture, as well as a lunar economy. Tall towers, greater than 30-meters-tall, provide the elevation needed for more consistent solar power generation due to low inclination sunlight and deep shadowing from surface features on the lunar surface at the poles. The robotic structural assembly technologies developed for truss-based tall towers will also enable other large-scale functional lunar structures to be built, including launch plume deflectors, lunar safe havens for astronauts and assets, surface transportation for cargo, and other critical infrastructure. Robotic assembly of truss structures for lunar surface infrastructure is near-term enabling for future Artemis mission campaign and Moon to Mars Objectives needs for power and communication. The project team designed, fabricated, tested, and demonstrated the RTAS EDU by assembling a TLT Truss EDU in a laboratory environment. The hardware systems and the supervised semi-autonomous assembly process for a TLT assembled EDU design, along with descriptions of a hardware demonstration are presented.

Lunar Infrastructure↗

NASA NTRS1990

Polar lunar power ring: Propulsion energy resource

A ring shaped grid of photovoltaic solar collectors encircling a lunar pole at 80 to 85 degrees latitude is proposed as the primary research, development, and construction goal for an initial lunar base. The polar Lunar Power Ring (LPR) is designed to provide continuous electrical power in ever increasing amounts as collectors are added to the ring grid. The LPR can provide electricity for any purpose indefinitely, barring a meteor strike. The associated rail infrastructure and inherently expandable power levels place the LPR as an ideal tool to power an innovative propulsion research facility or a trans-Jovian fleet. The proposed initial output range is 90 Mw to 90 Gw.

Galloway, Graham Scott↗

NASA NTRS2005

Electric Power System Technology Options for Lunar Surface Missions

In 2004, the President announced a 'Vision for Space Exploration' that is bold and forward-thinking, yet practical and responsible. The vision explores answers to longstanding questions of importance to science and society and will develop revolutionary technologies and capabilities for the future, while maintaining good stewardship of taxpayer dollars. One crucial technology area enabling all space exploration is electric power systems. In this paper, the author evaluates surface power technology options in order to identify leading candidate technologies that will accomplish lunar design reference mission three (LDRM-3). LDRM-3 mission consists of multiple, 90-day missions to the lunar South Pole with 4-person crews starting in the year 2020. Top-level power requirements included a nominal 50 kW continuous habitat power over a 5-year lifetime with back-up or redundant emergency power provisions and a nominal 2-kW, 2-person unpressurized rover. To help direct NASA's technology investment strategy, this lunar surface power technology evaluation assessed many figures of merit including: current technology readiness levels (TRLs), potential to advance to TRL 6 by 2014, effectiveness of the technology to meet the mission requirements in the specified time, mass, stowed volume, deployed area, complexity, required special ground facilities, safety, reliability/redundancy, strength of industrial base, applicability to other LDRM-3 elements, extensibility to Mars missions, costs, and risks. For the 50-kW habitat module, dozens of nuclear, radioisotope and solar power technologies were down-selected to a nuclear fission heat source with Brayton, Stirling or thermoelectric power conversion options. Preferred energy storage technologies included lithium-ion battery and Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Regenerative Fuel Cells (RFC). Several AC and DC power management and distribution architectures and component technologies were defined consistent with the preferred habitat power generation technology option and the overall lunar surface mission. For rover power, more than 20 technology options were down-selected to radioisotope Stirling, liquid lithium-ion battery, PEM RFC, or primary fuel cell options. The author discusses various conclusions that can be drawn from the findings of this surface power technologies evaluation.

Kerslake, Thomas W.↗

NASA NTRS2025

Beamed Energy and Communications Optical Node (BEACON) Demonstrator

Due to long shadow periods (2 weeks or greater) on the south pole, concepts to raise solar arrays to a sufficient height at specific locations have shown the capability to provide power to surface users for much longer periods. Such a tower can also provide a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) service for users up to 10 km away, dependent on terrain. An option to deliver power, albeit with low efficiency, using a laser beam coupled with the tower height could provide mobile and fixed users power during darkness, reducing their battery requirements. A demonstration of these technologies in the lunar environment is crucial to support future Artemis campaigns as well as potential emerging lunar infrastructures. A demonstrator design of a 15 m deployed boomon the south pole has been shown to enable both the gathering of kilowatts of power and the provision of 3GPP relay and backhaul given an appropriate lunar location. Using a laser to send power to a photovoltaic receiver has been proposed to transmit electrical power on the moon, particularly for applications such as powering a rover in near-polar permanently shadowed regions (PSR) where solar power is not available. In this work, the Compass team performed a conceptual engineering design study of a near-term laser surface-to-surface power beaming and relay station using a tower to simultaneously carry the power source (Vertical Solar Array Technologies (VSAT)[1]), the 3GPP relay antenna, and the laser telescope.

Deployable solar array tower laser beamed power 3G↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Beamed Energy and Communications Optical Node (BEACON) Demonstrator

Due to long shadow periods (2 weeks or greater) on the south pole, concepts to raise solar arrays to a sufficient height at specific locations have shown the capability to provide power to surface users for much longer periods. Such a tower can also provide a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) service for users up to 10 km away, dependent on terrain. An option to deliver power, albeit with low efficiency, using a laser beam coupled with the tower height could provide mobile and fixed users power during darkness, reducing their battery requirements. A demonstration of these technologies in the lunar environment is crucial to support future Artemis campaigns as well as potential emerging lunar infrastructures. A demonstrator design of a 15 m deployed boomon the south pole has been shown to enable both the gathering of kilowatts of power and the provision of 3GPP relay and backhaul given an appropriate lunar location. Using a laser to send power to a photovoltaic receiver has been proposed to transmit electrical power on the moon, particularly for applications such as powering a rover in near-polar permanently shadowed regions (PSR) where solar power is not available. In this work, the Compass team performed a conceptual engineering design study of a near-term laser surface-to-surface power beaming and relay station using a tower to simultaneously carry the power source (Vertical Solar Array Technologies (VSAT)[1]), the 3GPP relay antenna, and the laser telescope.

Lunar Relay↗

NASA NTRS2016

Agile: From Software to Mission System

The Resource Prospector (RP) is an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technology demonstration mission, designed to search for volatiles at the Lunar South Pole. This is NASA's first near real time tele-operated rover on the Moon. The primary objective is to search for volatiles at one of the Lunar Poles. The combination of short mission duration, a solar powered rover, and the requirement to explore shadowed regions makes for an operationally challenging mission. To maximize efficiency and flexibility in Mission System design and thus to improve the performance and reliability of the resulting Mission System, we are tailoring Agile principles that we have used effectively in ground data system software development and applying those principles to the design of elements of the mission operations system.

software engineering↗

NASA NTRS2019

Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017

In order to observe the lunar sodium exosphere out to one-half degree around the Moon, we designed, built and installed a small robotically controlled coronagraph at the Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona. Observations are obtained remotely every available clear night from our home base at Goddard Space Flight Centeror from Prescott, Arizona. We employ an Andover temperature-controlled 1.5 Å wide narrow-band filter centered on the sodium D2line, and a similar 1.5 Å filter centered blueward of the D2line by 3Åfor continuum observations. Our data encompass lunations in 2015, 2016, and 2017, thus we have a long baseline of sodium exospheric calibrated images. During the course of three years we have refined the observational sequence in many respects. Therefore this paper only presents the results of the spring, 2017, observing season. We present limb profiles from the south pole to the north pole for many lunar phases.Our data do not fit any power of cosine model as a function of lunar phase or with latitude. The extended Na exosphere has a characteristic temperature of about 2250 -6750 K, indicative of a partially escaping exosphere. The hot escaping component may be indicative of a mixture of impact vaporization and a sputtered component.

Lunar exosphere composition↗

NASA NTRS2018

The Lunar Flashlight CubeSat Instrument: A Compact SWIR Laser Reflectometer to Quantify and Map Water Ice on the Surface of the Moon

The Lunar Flashlight (LF) mission will send a CubeSat to lunar orbit via NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) test flight. The LF spacecraft will carry a novel instrument to quantify and map water ice harbored in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar South Pole. The LF instrument, an active multi-band reflectometer which employs four high power diode lasers in the 1-2 μm infrared band, will measure the reflectance of the lunar surface near water ice absorption peaks. We present the detailed instrument design and system engineering required to deploy this instrument within very demanding CubeSat resource allocations.

Shelton, Jacob↗

NASA NTRS2019

Coronagraphic Observations of the Lunar Sodium Exosphere January-June, 2017

In order to observe the lunar sodium exosphere out to one-half degree around the Moon, we designed, built and installed a small robotically controlled coronagraph at the Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona. Observations are obtained remotely every available clear night from our home base at Goddard Space Flight Center or from Prescott, Arizona. We employ an Andover temperature-controlled 1.5-angstrom-wide narrow-band filter centered on the sodium D2 line, and a similar 1.5-angstrom filter centered blueward of the D2 line by 3 angstroms for continuum observations. Our data encompass lunations in 2015, 2016, and 2017, thus we have a long baseline of sodium exospheric calibrated images. During the course of three years we have refined the observational sequence in many respects. Therefore this paper only presents the results of the spring, 2017, observing season. We present limb profiles from the south pole to the north pole for many lunar phases. Our data do not fit any power of cosine model as a function of lunar phase or with latitude. The extended Na exosphere has a characteristic temperature of about 2250–6750 degrees Kelvin, indicative of a partially escaping exosphere. The hot escaping component may be indicative of a mixture of impact vaporization and a sputtered component.

Moon↗

NASA NTRS2012

COMPASS Final Report: Lunar Relay Satellite (LRS)

The Lunar Relay Satellite (LRS) COllaborative Modeling and Parametric Assessment of Space Systems (COMPASS) session was tasked to design a satellite to orbit in an elliptical lunar polar orbit to provide relay communications between lunar South Pole assets and the Earth. The design included a complete master equipment list, power requirement list, configuration design, and brief risk assessment and cost analysis. The LRS is a half-TDRSS sized box spacecraft, which provides communications and navigation relay between lunar outposts (via Lunar Communications Terminals (LCT)) or Sortie parties (with user radios) and large ground antennas on Earth. The LRS consists of a spacecraft containing all the communications and avionics equipment designed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory s (JPL) Team X to perform the relay between lunar-based assets and the Earth. The satellite design is a standard box truss spacecraft design with a thermal control system, 1.7 m solar arrays for 1 kWe power, a 1 m diameter Ka/S band dish which provides relay communications with the LCT, and a Q-band dish for communications to/from the Earth based assets. While JPL's Team X and Goddard Space Flight Center s (GSFC) I M Design Center (IMDC) have completed two other LRS designs, this NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) COMPASS LRS design sits between them in terms of physical size and capabilities.

Oleson, Steven R.↗