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NASA NTRS1986

The Spartan attitude control system - Ground support computer

The Spartan Attitude Control System (ACS) contains a command and control computer. This computer is optimized for the activities of the flight and contains very little human interface hardware and software. The computer system provides the technicians testing of Spartan ACS with a convenient command-oriented interface to the flight ACS computer. The system also decodes and time tags data automatically sent out by the flight computer as key events occur. The duration and magnitude of all system maneuvers is also derived and displayed by this system. The Ground Support Computer is also the primary Ground Support Equipment for the flight sequencer which controls all payload maneuvers, and long term program timing.

Schnurr, R. G., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Ground support interface to the Spartan data recorder

The Spartan Tape Recorder Ground Support System has proven to be a versatile tool for the testing of the MARS 1400 Tape Recorder. The Tape Ground Support Equipment (TGSE) has two major functions. One function is to monitor the tape recorder during payload operations tests. The second function is to send commands which operate the tape recorder. Both of these functions can only be performed with the aid of the MARS Tape Controller (MTC) connected to the MARS 1400. It contains a Z80 microprocessor and other control electronics. This paper elaborates on the design of the ground support interface to the Spartan data recorder and the MTC.

Barthelme, N.↗
NASA NTRS1986

The mission configuration process for the Spartan attitude control system

The Spartan attitude control system (ACS) control electronics assembly cold plate has a standard connector interface to the rest of the Spartan payload and ground equipment. The connectors carry gyro signals, optical sensor signals, the experiment interface, the gas command decoder interface, and a pneumatics interface. Different flights can employ different optical sensor complements; the ACS engineer must accordingly connect the sensor error signals to the proper pins and connectors on the ACS electronics.

Stone, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1987

An approach to conducting observations of non-trackable objects utilizing the Spartan spacecraft

The approach taken in the design of the guidance and navigation system for a 48-hour observation of Halley's Comet near perihelion passage, utilizing the SPARTAN 200 series carrier, is discussed. Autonomous vehicle navigation techniques that utilized solar sensors, a single star tracker, a 3-axis gyro package, and two independent cooperative microprocessors are described. While the Spartan-Halley spacecraft was destroyed during the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, it is believed that the present approach has considerable potential for application to future missions that require autonomous control to perform scientific observations of nontrackable moving targets.

Watzin, James G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

X-ray observations of the Galactic center by Spartan 1

The results of Spartan 1 X-ray observations of the region within 1.25 deg of the Galactic center are presented. Four strong, hard X-ray point sources were detected: A1742-294, 1E 1740.7-2942, IE 1743.1-2843, and a new source SP 1744.2-2959 about 0.5 deg southeast of A1742-294. The new source had an intensity about 20 percent of that of A1742-294 and was relatively hard, having spectral parameters close to those of the diffuse source and of the Galactic bulge source GX 3+1. The Galactic nucleus X-ray source appears to have been a factor of four fainter during the 1985 Spartan 1 observations than during the 1979 Einstein observations. Hard, diffuse X-ray emission centered near the Galactic center, about 1 deg in extent, aligned to within 20 deg of the Galactic equator, and having a maximum 2-10 keV brightness of 1.5 x 10 to the -6th ergs/sq cm/s/sr was detected, as were two weaker point sources about 0.1 deg northeast and southeast of the Galactic nucleus, embedded in the diffuse emission.

Kawai, N.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Ly-alpha and white light observations of a CME during the Spartan 201-1 mission

A coronal mass ejection (CME) near a large active region on the west limb was observed with the white light coronograph (WLC) and ultraviolet coronal spectrometer (UVCS) on the Spartan 201 satellite at 9:42 UT on 12 Apr. 1993. Soft X-ray images of the region below the CME were obtained out to 1.7 solar radii with the soft X-ray telescope (SXT) on Yohkoh. After the event, the formation of a new helmet streamer could be seen in the polarized brightness (pB) images from the Mk III coronograph at Mauna Loa. The CME was observed from Spartan 201 in two different pB images obtained 14 min apart using the WLC, and was observed moving through the field-of-view of the UVCS integrated intensity slit. Ly-alpha intensities in the same region of the corona were obtained one orbit earlier (prior to the CME) using the Ly-alpha profile slit of the UVCS. These are the first Ly-alpha observations of a CME and may help constrain models of the electron temperature on CME's.

Hassler, Don M.↗
NASA NTRS1999

GPS Ocean Reflection Experiment on Spartan 251

It has recently been demonstrated that the GPS signal which has reflected from the ocean surface contains useful geophysical data from which the sea surface wind speed and other parameters can be extracted. This can be used for remote sensing, similar to present day use of radar altimeters or scatterometers, but with significantly smaller instrumentation because of the utilization of the existing GPS broadcast signal for illumination. Several campaigns of aircraft experimentation have been completed demonstrating this technique and reflected GPS data has been reliably collected from 25 km altitude on a balloon. However, there has not yet been a demonstration that the reflected GPS signal can be detected from orbit with sufficient signal to noise ratio (SNR) to make useful remote sensing measurements. A technology demonstration experiment was planned for a Space Shuttle flight in the late 2000 using the Spartan 251 recoverable carrier. This experiment would also have been the first flight validation of the PiVoT GPS receiver developed in house at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The "open-architecture" design of this receiver would allow the software modifications to be made which control code-correlator spacing to map out the shape of the reflected signal waveform, which is the most basic data product generated by this instrumentation. A moderate gain left-hand circularly polarized antenna, constructed from an array of off-the-shelf hemispherical antennas was to be used to give approximately 3 to 6 dB of additional gain. Preliminary SNR predictions have been done indicating that this antenna would offer sufficient gain to record waveform measurements. A system level description of the experiment instrumentation, including the receiver, antenna and data storage and retrieval will be given. The visibility of GPS reflections over the mission duration of several hours will be studied, including the effects of the limited beamwidth of the antenna. Spartan 251 has now been postponed with the earliest opportunity in the year 2002. The results of this study however, have been 2 used to further the define the requirements and expected performance of reflected GPS receivers in orbit. Several other space flight opportunities are being considered based upon this new information.

Garrison, James L↗
NASA NTRS1999

Spartan Project Overview

The Spartan Project is the result of Office of Space Science requirements for a transition capability between sounding rockets and orbital missions. The project started early in the Shuttle program and drew from suborbital program designs, GAS programs, and existing Marshall Space Flight Center's bridge and attach mechanisms. Features include reusable Shuttle-based carriers. Spartan is an in-house project drawing support from a mix of support service contractors and matrixed discipline support from Goddard Space Flight Center organizations

Carson, Donald E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Design and Testing of a One-Third Scale Soyuz TM Descent Module Spartan Conversion Project Super Loki Instrumentation

The 1992-1993 senior Aerospace Engineering Design class continued work on the post landing configurations for the Assured Crew Return Vehicle. The Assured Crew Return Vehicle will be permanently docked to the space station fulfilling NASA's commitment of Assured Crew Return Capability in the event of an accident or illness aboard the space station. The objective of the project was to give the Assured Crew Return Vehicle Project Office data to feed into their feasibility studies. Three design teams were given the task of developing models with dynamically and geometrically scaled characteristics. Groups one and two combined efforts to design a one-third scale model of the Russian Soyuz TM Descent Module, and an on-board flotation system. This model was designed to determine the flotation characteristics and test the effects of a rigid flotation and orientation system. Group three designed a portable water wave test facility to be located on campus. Because of additional funding from Thiokol Corporation, testing of the Soyuz model and flotation systems took place at the Offshore Technology Research Center. Universities Space Research Association has been studying the use of small expendable launch vehicles for missions which cost less than 200 million dollars. The Crusader2B. which consists of the original Spartan first and second stage with an additional Spartan second stage and the Minuteman III upper stage is being considered for this task. University of Central Florida project accomplishments include an analysis of launch techniques, a modeling technique to determine flight characteristics, and input into the redesign of an existing mobile rail launch platform.

Anderson, Loren A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Far ultraviolet wide field imaging with a SPARTAN /Experiment of Opportunity/ Payload

A wide-field electrographic Schmidt camera, sensitive in the far UV (1230-2000 A), has been developed and utilized in three sounding rocket flights. It is now being prepared for Shuttle flight as an Experiment of Opportunity Payload (EOP) (recently renamed as the SPARTAN program). In this paper, we discuss (1) design of the instrument and payload, particularly as influenced by our experience in rocket flights; (2) special problems of EOP in comparison to sounding rocket missions; (3) relationship of this experiment to, and special capabilities in comparison to, other space astronomy instruments such as Space Telescope; and (4) a tentative observing plan for an EOP mission.

Carruthers, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Computer models and output, Spartan REM: Appendix B

A computer model of the Spartan Release Engagement Mechanism (REM) is presented in a series of numerical charts and engineering drawings. A crack growth analysis code is used to predict the fracture mechanics of critical components.

Marlowe, D. S.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Development of the Spartan 101 navigation and pointing timeline

This paper presents the techniques and analyses that were used to construct the Spartan 101 mission pointing timeline for the Space Shuttle Orbiter-detached portion of its flight. This covers the design process that had to transform requirements and constraints originating from the experimenter, the Space Transportation System, and the payload hardware design into a workable set of pointing instructions sequenced to mission events. The paper will discuss the technical approach used for initial attitude acquisition, determining target visibility, observation scheduling, and calculation of vehicle maneuvers.

Lambros, S. D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Applications software supporting the Spartan Attitude Control System

The native software supporting a single mission for the Spartan Attitude Control System can require up to 40,000 lines of code. Most of this must be rewritten for each mission. Control system engineers use an array of Applications Software Packages residing in ground computers to write each mission's flight software. These Applications Packages are written in the 'C' programming language and run under the UNIX Operating System. This paper discusses each of the Attitude Control Applications Software Packages, and describes the purpose and design of each.

Stone, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Far ultraviolet wide field imaging and photometry - Spartan-202 Mark II Far Ultraviolet Camera

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory' Mark II Far Ultraviolet Camera, which is expected to be a primary scientific instrument aboard the Spartan-202 Space Shuttle mission, is described. This camera is intended to obtain FUV wide-field imagery of stars and extended celestial objects, including diffuse nebulae and nearby galaxies. The observations will support the HST by providing FUV photometry of calibration objects. The Mark II camera is an electrographic Schmidt camera with an aperture of 15 cm, a focal length of 30.5 cm, and sensitivity in the 1230-1600 A wavelength range.

Carruthers, George R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The Spartan-281 Far Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Far Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (FUVIS), currently under development for flight as a Spartan shuttle payload, is designed to perform spectroscopy of diffuse sources in the FUV with very high sensitivity and moderate spatial and spectral resolution. Diffuse nebulae, the general galactic background radiation, and artificially induced radiation associated with the Space Shuttle vehicle are sources of particular interest. The FUVIS instrument will cover the wavelength range of 970-2000 A with selectable resolutions of 5 and 30 A. It is a slit imaging spectrograph having 3 arcmin spatial resolution along its 2.7 deg long slit.

Carruthers, George R.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Coronal streamers as detected with the SPARTAN 201-01 white light coronagraph

The preliminary results concerning the fine scale structure analysis of the streamers on the east limb and the region between these streamers, as well as their morphological and physical characteristics are presented. The results were obtained using white light polarized brightness data. The solar corona was observed with an externally occulted white light coronagraph carried on the SPARTAN 201-01 spacecraft for a 47 h period beginning on DOY 101, 1993. At this phase of the solar magnetic activity cycle there were well developed coronal helmet streamers located over both the east and west limbs of the sun. The photometric properties of one streamer found near the south east limb of the sun are similar to those measured of helmet streamers at the time of the 1973 total eclipse by both the ground based white light coronal camera and the Skylab externally occulted coronagraph.

Fisher, Richard↗
NASA NTRS1995

Observations and physical interpretations of the solar wind flow properties as obtained from white light coronagraph aboard SPARTAN 201-01

The solar corona was observed with an externally occulted White Light Coronagraph (WLC) carried on the SPARTAN 201-1 spacecraft on 11-12 Apr. 1993. With observations from WLC and the ground based Mauna Loa White Light Coronagraph, a large number of polar plumes both in the north and south polar holes were traced from 1.16 to 5.5 Rs. Flow properties of the solar wind in coronal holes have been determined (Habbal et al., 1995) by using a two fluid model constrained by density profiles and scale height temperatures from the white light observations, and interplanetary measurements of the flow speed and proton mass flux from Ulysses' south polar passage. Provisions for acceleration by Alfven waves, as well as electron and proton heating, are included in the momentum and the energy equations respectively. The model computations fit remarkably well the empirical constraints of the two different density structures (plumes and coronal holes) for a range of input parameters. In this study we investigate the physical nature of the heating function used in the two-fluid model. Alfven waves have been suggested as the possible source of heating that accelerates the solar wind (Ofman and Davila, 1995). We utilize the density contrast observed in WLC data in the plume and ambient coronal hole region to estimate the Alfven wave frequencies responsible for heating these structures. The source heating function utilized in the two fluid model of the solar wind acceleration will be compared with the resonant Alfven wave heating function.

Guhathakurta, Madhulika↗