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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.

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NASA NTRS2017

Lessons Learned from OSIRIS-Rex Autonomous Navigation Using Natural Feature Tracking

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (Osiris-REx) spacecraft is scheduled to launch in September, 2016 to embark on an asteroid sample return mission. It is expected to rendezvous with the asteroid, Bennu, navigate to the surface, collect a sample (July 20), and return the sample to Earth (September 23). The original mission design called for using one of two Flash Lidar units to provide autonomous navigation to the surface. Following Preliminary design and initial development of the Lidars, reliability issues with the hardware and test program prompted the project to begin development of an alternative navigation technique to be used as a backup to the Lidar. At the critical design review, Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) was added to the mission. NFT is an onboard optical navigation system that compares observed images to a set of asteroid terrain models which are rendered in real-time from a catalog stored in memory on the flight computer. Onboard knowledge of the spacecraft state is then updated by a Kalman filter using the measured residuals between the rendered reference images and the actual observed images. The asteroid terrain models used by NFT are built from a shape model generated from observations collected during earlier phases of the mission and include both terrain shape and albedo information about the asteroid surface. As a result, the success of NFT is highly dependent on selecting a set of topographic features that can be both identified during descent as well as reliably rendered using the shape model data available. During development, the OSIRIS-REx team faced significant challenges in developing a process conducive to robust operation. This was especially true for terrain models to be used as the spacecraft gets close to the asteroid and higher fidelity models are required for reliable image correlation. This paper will present some of the challenges and lessons learned from the development of the NFT system which includes not just the flight hardware and software but the development of the terrain models used to generate the onboard rendered images.

Navigation↗

NASA NTRS2001

Nonvolatile Memory Solution for Near-Term NASA Missions

Nonvolatile memory (NVM) system that could reliably function in extreme environments is one of the most critical components for many spacecrafts being developed for NASA missions to be launched in next four to seven years. NVM supports the computer system in saving and updating critical state data required for a warm restart after power cycling or in case of a power bus failure. It also provides a power independent mass storage capacity for the scientific data gathered by the instruments. In some cases the window for gathering such data is very small and occurs only once in a given mission. Commercially popular and fully developed Flash NVM technology is inappropriate for many reasons such as the limited read write cycles with slower access speeds, radiation intolerance, higher Single Event Upsets (SEU) rates, etc. It is desirable to have an NVM system based upon a robust cell technology making it immune to the SEUs and with sufficient radiation hardness. Availability of such NVM system seems to be still 5 to 10 years in the future. Meanwhile, it is possible to provide an interim hybrid solution by combining the existing rad-hard technologies. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Patel, J. U.↗

DOE OSTI2026

The future of subsurface monitoring: AEC’s breakthroughs in CCS technology

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has emerged as a key solution in the fight against climate change. However, for CCS to succeed, it is crucial to ensure that the sequestered CO2 stays safely trapped underground. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has emphasized the need for advancements in subsurface monitoring, measurement, reporting, and verification. Aside from caprock integrity failure, the other primary failure points usually involve defective cement in the casing annulus of wellbores or plugged and abandoned wells. In addition, many energy producers (e.g., oil and gas, geothermal) and storage and disposal operators (e.g., H2 and water) must deal with the same issue. Poorly placed or degraded cement can create pathways for gas or fluid to escape from casing annuli and in plugged and abandoned or orphan wells, posing environmental risks. Yet, a reliable and cost-effective way to monitor cement and well integrity over multiple decades is still unavailable. Traditional geophysical methods like 4D seismic imaging and surface-based electromagnetic monitoring lack the resolution and accuracy for detecting these types of failures (Vasco et al., 2022; Fawad and Mondol, 2021). Wireline logging is expensive to run continuously and is obtrusive to the operation. While fiber optics can potentially be a solution, its bulkiness can significantly compromise the cement's integrity. To address these challenges, the Advanced Energy Consortium (AEC) at The University of Texas at Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology (the Bureau) has been pioneering research in subsurface monitoring using its portfolio of distributed autonomous microfabricated sensors for harsh subsurface environments since 2008. A class of these microsensors [System on a Chip (SoC)] can be mixed in cement and permanently placed without compromising the cement column; the sensors would then communicate with each other or a data acquisition (DAQ) master node. Another class of the AEC microsensors can be fully autonomous, with rechargeable micro-batteries capable of exceeding 100°C, flash memory, and, currently, a pressure and temperature sensor. They are designed to circulate in mud, geothermal fluids, U-loops, or pipelines. They can log data into memory and are unobtrusive to operations. Our team has been working on a multi-year DOE-funded project (DE-FE0031856)—supported by $2.95M in federal funding and $0.75M in cost-matching from the AEC—to demonstrate SoC sensor utility for CO2 leakage monitoring in CCS applications. This multi-institutional collaboration developed a novel sensing architecture utilizing radiofrequency (RF) microsensors embedded within the cement sheath. These sensors detect CO2 migration and are interrogated via a Smart Casing Collar (SCC).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2012

NAND Flash Qualification Guideline

Better performing Forward Error Correction on the forward link along with adequate power in the data open an uplink operations trade space that enable missions to: Command to greater distances in deep space (increased uplink margin). Increase the size of the payload data (latency may be a factor). Provides space for the security header/trailer of the CCSDS Space Data Link Security Protocol. Note: These higher rates could be used for relief of emergency communication margins/rates and not limited to improving top-end rate performance. A higher performance uplink could also reduce the requirements on flight emergency antenna size and/or the performance required from ground stations. Use of a selective repeat ARQ protocol may increase the uplink design requirements but the resultant development is deemed acceptable, due the factor of 4 to 8 potential increase in uplink data rate.

Floating Gate Memory↗