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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 NTRS2002

The Genesis Mission: Contamination Control and Curation

The Genesis mission, launched in August 2001, is collecting samples of the solar wind and will return to Earth in 2004. Genesis can be viewed as the most fundamental of NASA's sample return missions because it is expected to provide insight into the initial elemental and isotopic composition of the solar nebula from which all other planetary objects formed. The data from this mission will have a large impact on understanding the origins and diversity of planetary materials. The collectors consist of clean, pure materials into which the solar wind will imbed. Science and engineering issues such as bulk purity, cleanliness, retention of solar wind, and ability to withstand launch and entry drove material choices. Most of the collector materials are installed on array frames that are deployed from a clean science canister. Two of the arrays are continuously exposed for collecting the bulk solar wind; the other three are only exposed during specific solar wind regimes as measured by ion and electron monitors. Other materials are housed as targets at the focal point of an electrostatic mirror, or "concentrator", designed to enhance the flux of specific solar wind species. Johnson Space Center (JSC) has two principal responsibilities for the Genesis mission: contamination control and curation. Precise and accurate measurements of the composition of the solar atoms require that the collector materials be extremely clean and well characterized before launch and during the mission. Early involvement of JSC curation personnel in concept development resulted in a mission designed to minimize contaminants from the spacecraft and operations. A major goal of the Genesis mission is to provide a reservoir of materials for the 21 51 century. When the collector materials are returned to Earth, they must be handled in a clean manner and their condition well documented. Information gained in preliminary examination of the arrays and detailed surveys of each collector will be used to guide sample allocations to the scientific community. Samples allocated for analysis are likely to be small sections of individual collectors, therefore subdividing the materials must take place in a clean, well characterized way. A major focus of current research at JSC includes identifying and characterizing the contamination, waste, and alteration of the sample when using different subdividing, transport, and storage techniques and developing protocols for reducing their impact on the scientific integrity of the mission.

Stansbery, E. K.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Recommendation on Orbiting Sample Cleanliness

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration-European Space Agency (NASA-ESA) Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign involves the collection of samples on Mars by the Perseverance (Mars 2020) rover and their return to Earth. To accomplish this, the Orbiting Sample container (OS) will be sent to Mars to accommodate the collected samples then launched from Mars and returned to Earth, where the samples will be removed for examination in the Sample Return Facility (SRF). Crucial to this entire sequence will be establishment of the required level of cleanliness inside the OS. In February 2021, the NASA Headquarters' Mars Sample Return Program and Office of Planetary Protection assembled an MSR OS Tiger Team (OSTT) to discuss the appropriate cleanliness level options of the interior of the OS. The team's remit was primarily focused on evaluating the trade-offs between Planetary Protection cleanliness levels 4a and 4b. These cleanliness levels are determined by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) planetary protection regulations, where 4a requires <300 bacterial spores/m^2 and <3 x 10^5 bacterial spores on the spacecraft (in this case, the interior of the OS) and 4b mandates the more stringent requirement of <30 bacterial spores on the spacecraft. This report documents the consensus opinion submitted by the OSTT that recommended the interior of the OS be cleaned to a 4a requirement with any feasible added effort toward 4b. This report provides, as well, the rationale for that decision.

Charles S. Cockell↗
NASA NTRS2003

Fuzzy Logic Trajectory Design and Guidance for Terminal Area Energy Management

The second generation reusable launch vehicle will leverage many new technologies to make flight to low earth orbit safer and more cost effective. One important capability will be completely autonomous flight during reentry and landing, thus making it unnecessary to man the vehicle for cargo missions with stringent weight constraints. Implementation of sophisticated new guidance and control methods will enable the vehicle to return to earth under less than favorable conditions. The return to earth consists of three phases--Entry, Terminal Area Energy Management (TAEM), and Approach and Landing. The Space Shuttle is programmed to fly all three phases of flight automatically, and under normal circumstances the astronaut-pilot takes manual control only during the Approach and Landing phase. The automatic control algorithms used in the Shuttle for TAEM and Approach and Landing have been developed over the past 30 years. They are computationally efficient, and based on careful study of the spacecraft's flight dynamics, and heuristic reasoning. The gliding return trajectory is planned prior to the mission, and only minor adjustments are made during flight for perturbations in the vehicle energy state. With the advent of the X-33 and X-34 technology demonstration vehicles, several authors investigated implementing advanced control methods to provide autonomous real-time design of gliding return trajectories thus enhancing the ability of the vehicle to adjust to unusual energy states. The bulk of work published to date deals primarily with the approach and landing phase of flight where changes in heading angle are small, and range to the runway is monotonically decreasing. These benign flight conditions allow for model simplification and fairly straightforward optimization. This project focuses on the TAEM phase of flight where mathematically precise methods have produced limited results. Fuzzy Logic methods are used to make onboard autonomous gliding return trajectory design robust to a wider energy envelope, and the possibility of control surface failures, thus increasing the flexibility of unmanned gliding recovery and landing.

Burchett, Bradley↗
NASA NTRS2002

Spatial learning and memory is preserved in rats after early development in a microgravity environment

This study evaluated the cognitive mapping abilities of rats that spent part of their early development in a microgravity environment. Litters of male and female Sprague-Dawley rat pups were launched into space aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration space shuttle Columbia on postnatal day 8 or 14 and remained in space for 16 days. These animals were designated as FLT groups. Two age-matched control groups remained on Earth: those in standard vivarium housing (VIV) and those in housing identical to that aboard the shuttle (AGC). On return to Earth, animals were tested in three different tasks that measure spatial learning ability, the Morris water maze (MWM), and a modified version of the radial arm maze (RAM). Animals were also tested in an open field apparatus to measure general activity and exploratory activity. Performance and search strategies were evaluated in each of these tasks using an automated tracking system. Despite the dramatic differences in early experience, there were remarkably few differences between the FLT groups and their Earth-bound controls in these tasks. FLT animals learned the MWM and RAM as quickly as did controls. Evaluation of search patterns suggested subtle differences in patterns of exploration and in the strategies used to solve the tasks during the first few days of testing, but these differences normalized rapidly. Together, these data suggest that development in an environment without gravity has minimal long-term impact on spatial learning and memory abilities. Any differences due to development in microgravity are quickly reversed after return to earth normal gravity.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗
NASA NTRS2021

Pneumatic Sampler (P-Sampler) for the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX)

A Pneumatic Sampler (P-SMP)is being provided by Honeybee Robotics with support from NASA Planetary Missions Program Office (PMPO)for JAXA’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. The goal of this mission is to closely survey the Martian moons Deimos and Phobos, and then to collect regolith from Phobos and return it to Earth. The P-SMP will be mounted to a leg of the lander and will be responsible for collecting surface regolith alongside the JAXA provide Core Sampler (C-SMP). The Sampling Funnel of the P-SMP utilizes two sets of sampling nozzles: one set of nozzles pointed directly at the surface to kick-up and loft material into the sampling head, and a second set of nozzles to direct the oncoming material into the sample return canister further up the lander leg. A robotic arm mounted underneath the lander will then remove the sample canister and place it inside the sample return capsule for Earth return. Several iterations of the P-Sampler have been designed and tested inside a vacuum chamber with Phobos regolith simulant. In all tests, the P-Sampler successfully acquired the sample, even in an extreme scenario where the sampling head was mounted 10 cm above a surface covered with gravel.

Dylan Van Dyne↗
NASA NTRS2015

Earth Entry Vehicle Design for Sample Return Missions Using M-SAPE

Most mission concepts that return sample material to Earth share one common element: an Earth entry vehicle (EEV). The primary focus of this paper is the examination of EEV design space for relevant sample return missions. Mission requirements for EEV concepts can be divided into three major groups: entry conditions (e.g., velocity and flight path angle), payload (e.g., mass, volume, and g-load limit), and vehicle characteristics (e.g., thermal protection system, structural topology, and landing concepts). The impacts of these requirements on the EEV design have been studied with an integrated system analysis tool, and the results will be discussed in details. In addition, through sensitivities analyses, critical design drivers that have been identified will be reviewed.

Samareh, Jamshid↗
NASA NTRS1993

Casting of superconducting composite materials (M-4)

An aluminum-lead-bismuth alloy is a flexible alloy and is promising for easily workable embedded-type, filament-dispersed superconducting wire material. It is difficult to produce homogeneous ingots of this material because it is easily separated into elements when melted on Earth due to the large specific gravity differences. In this experiment, a homogeneous alloy will first be produced in molten state in microgravity. It will then be returned to Earth and processed into a wire or tape form. It will then be dispersed as the second phase in micro texture form into the primary phase of aluminum. Superconducting wire material with high-critical-magnetic-field characteristics will be produced. The texture of the material will be observed, and its performance will be evaluated. In addition to the above alloy, a four-element alloy will be produced from silver, a rare Earth element, barium, and copper. The alloys will be oxidized and drawn into wire after being returned to Earth. The materials are expected to be forerunners in obtaining superconducting wire materials from oxide superconductors.

Togano, Kazumasa↗
NASA NTRS2019

Bionutrients-1, On-Demand Production of Nutrients in Space

Future long-duration missions face significant challenges maintaining crew health. A critical area is supplying adequate nutrition, as certain vitamins and nutrients in supplied foods and supplements demonstrate substantial degradation during extended storage. To address this issue, we are developing and flight-testing a platform technology that demonstrates in situ microbial production of targeted nutrients over extended mission durations. This 5-year experiment, known as BioNutrients-1, was started on the International Space Station in May 2019. It involves two components: an on-orbit hydration and production experiment; and the development of space-compatible, key bio-manufacturing microorganisms. On-orbit testing utilizes a small “production pack” system that encloses sterile edible growth substrate and desiccated Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains genetically engineered to produce the nutrients beta-carotene or zeaxanthin. On hydration and mixing of the production pack, the organisms revive and grow until limited by the depletion of growth media, hypothetically leading to consistent amounts of biomass and nutrients. In eventual mission applications, the packet contents would be heat treated to inactivate the microorganisms prior to consumption. For these flight experiments, the packet will not be heat treated, but will instead be frozen for return to Earth for analyses. In addition to the production pack trials, 14 different microorganisms/treatments were also delivered to ISS for long-duration storage. These samples will be intermittently returned to Earth and analyzed to determine survival rates and genomics. For this presentation, initial data from returned samples and ground controls will be discussed.

Hindupur, Aditya↗
NASA NTRS2019

BioNutrients-1: On-Demand Production of Nutrients in Space

Future long-duration missions face significant challenges maintaining crew health. A critical area is supplying adequate nutrition, as certain vitamins and nutrients in supplied foods and supplements demonstrate substantial degradation during extended storage. To address this issue, we are developing and flight-testing a platform technology that demonstrates in situ microbial production of targeted nutrients over extended mission durations. This 5-year experiment, known as BioNutrients-1, was started on the International Space Station in May 2019. It involves two components: an on-orbit hydration and production experiment; and the development of space-compatible, key bio-manufacturing microorganisms. On-orbit testing utilizes a small "production pack" system that encloses sterile edible growth substrate and desiccated Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains genetically engineered to produce the nutrients beta-carotene or zeaxanthin. On hydration and mixing of the production pack, the organisms revive and grow until limited by the depletion of growth media, hypothetically leading to consistent amounts of biomass and nutrients. In eventual mission applications, the packet contents would be heat treated to inactivate the microorganisms prior to consumption. For these flight experiments, the packet will not be heat treated, but will instead be frozen for return to Earth for analyses. In addition to the production pack trials, 14 different microorganisms/treatments were also delivered to ISS for long-duration storage. These samples will be intermittently returned to Earth and analyzed to determine survival rates and genomics. For this presentation, initial data from returned samples and ground controls will be discussed.

Hindupur, Aditya↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) Mission Overview and Science Return

The Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) mission was the culmination of two decades of research and development led by NASA Langley Research Center for Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) technology. A HIAD aeroshell can be hard packed into a small volume for launch and then deployed prior to atmospheric entry for stable aerodynamic deceleration through the atmosphere. Much larger than traditional fixed diameter aeroshells that are constrained by the size of launch vehicle shrouds, inflatable decelerators create more drag and start the deceleration process in the upper reaches of the atmosphere with greater efficiency and stability. Large deployable heatshields enable spacecraft to carry bigger, heavier payloads, including scientific instruments and human support systems for planetary landing and exploration. The success of the LOFTID mission could enable new NASA missions to Mars (including access to higher altitudes than currently possible), Venus, and most solar system destinations with atmospheres, as well as cost-effective payload returns to Earth. With its unique 6m diameter inflatable heatshield, LOFTID was the first-of-a-kind orbital reentry flight, and the largest blunt body atmospheric entry of any kind. On November 10, 2022, the LOFTID aeroshell endured the harsh environments of atmospheric reentry while exhibiting stable aerodynamics through the entire spectrum of hypersonic, supersonic, transonic, and subsonic flight. The demonstration confirmed the HIAD technology structural and thermal performance as the aeroshell protected the 1100 kg Reentry Vehicle (RV) entering Earth’s atmosphere at 8 km/s, reaching Mach 30, and experiencing 9.5 g deceleration before deploying parachutes and gently splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, where it was recovered in excellent condition. The LOFTID aeroshell was exposed to an aeroheating environment representative of many Mars and LEO HIAD applications, and successfully demonstrated the ability of the heat-affected inflatable structure to withstand aerodynamic forces that exceeded those expected at Mars. This mission further demonstrated the viability of HIAD technology to deliver large payloads safely and accurately through an atmosphere via a controlled entry, descent, and landing. Whereas LOFTID was indeed a first-of-a-kind flight for an inflatable heatshield, its remarkable performance assured that it will not be the last of its kind.

J M Dinonno↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) Mission Overview and Science Return

The Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) mission was the culmination of two decades of research and development led by NASA Langley Research Center for Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) technology. A HIAD aeroshell can be hard packed into a small volume for launch and then deployed prior to atmospheric entry for stable aerodynamic deceleration through the atmosphere. Much larger than traditional fixed diameter aeroshells that are constrained by the size of launch vehicle shrouds, inflatable decelerators create more drag and start the deceleration process in the upper reaches of the atmosphere with greater efficiency and stability. Large deployable heatshields enable spacecraft to carry bigger, heavier payloads, including scientific instruments and human support systems for planetary landing and exploration. The success of the LOFTID mission could enable new NASA missions to Mars (including access to higher altitudes than currently possible), Venus, and most solar system destinations with atmospheres, as well as cost-effective payload returns to Earth. With its unique 6m diameter inflatable heatshield, LOFTID was the first-of-a-kind orbital reentry flight, and the largest blunt body atmospheric entry of any kind. On November 10, 2022, the LOFTID aeroshell endured the harsh environments of atmospheric reentry while exhibiting stable aerodynamics through the entire spectrum of hypersonic, supersonic, transonic, and subsonic flight. The demonstration confirmed the HIAD technology structural and thermal performance as the aeroshell protected the 1100 kg Reentry Vehicle (RV) entering Earth’s atmosphere at 8 km/s, reaching Mach 30, and experiencing 9.5 g deceleration before deploying parachutes and gently splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, where it was recovered in excellent condition. The LOFTID aeroshell was exposed to an aeroheating environment representative of many Mars and LEO HIAD applications, and successfully demonstrated the ability of the heat-affected inflatable structure to withstand aerodynamic forces that exceeded those expected at Mars. This mission further demonstrated the viability of HIAD technology to deliver large payloads safely and accurately through an atmosphere via a controlled entry, descent, and landing. Whereas LOFTID was indeed a first-of-a-kind flight for an inflatable heatshield, its remarkable performance assured that it will not be the last of its kind.

John M DiNonno↗
NASA NTRS2014

Multi-Mission System Analysis for Planetary Entry (M-SAPE) Version 1

This report describes an integrated system for Multi-mission System Analysis for Planetary Entry (M-SAPE). The system in its current form is capable of performing system analysis and design for an Earth entry vehicle suitable for sample return missions. The system includes geometry, mass sizing, impact analysis, structural analysis, flight mechanics, TPS, and a web portal for user access. The report includes details of M-SAPE modules and provides sample results. Current M-SAPE vehicle design concept is based on Mars sample return (MSR) Earth entry vehicle design, which is driven by minimizing risk associated with sample containment (no parachute and passive aerodynamic stability). By M-SAPE exploiting a common design concept, any sample return mission, particularly MSR, will benefit from significant risk and development cost reductions. The design provides a platform by which technologies and design elements can be evaluated rapidly prior to any costly investment commitment.

Samareh, Jamshid↗
NASA NTRS2016

Development of a Mars Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS).

ECLS systems for very long-duration human missions to Mars will be designed to operate reliably for many years and will never be returned to Earth. The need for high reliability is driven by unsympathetic abort scenarios. Abort from a Mars mission could be as long as 450 days to return to Earth. Simply put, the goal of an ECLSS is to duplicate the functions the Earth provides in terms of human living and working on our home planet but without the benefit of the Earth's large buffers - the atmospheres, the oceans and land masses. With small buffers a space-based ECLSS must operate as a true dynamic system rather than independent processors taking things from tanks, processing them, and then returning them to product tanks. Key is a development process that allows for a logical sequence of validating successful development (maturation) in a stepwise manner with key performance parameters (KPPs) at each step; especially KPPs for technologies evaluated in a full systems context with human crews on Earth and on space platforms such as the ISS. This paper will explore the implications of such an approach to ECLSS development and the roles of ground and space-based testing necessary to develop a highly reliable life support system for long duration human exploration missions. Historical development and testing of ECLS systems from Mercury to the International Space Station (ISS) will be reviewed. Current work as well as recommendations for future work will be described.

Henninger, Donald L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluating the Relationships Between Supine Propriorception Assessments With Upright Functional Mobility and Balance Tests

- Sensorimotor adaptations during spaceflight can result in impaired posture and locomotion upon return to Earth. - In-flight sensorimotor countermeasures and assessment tools are needed to mitigate risks associated with mission-critical task performance upon return to Earth or arrival to Mars. - The tilt board (Fig. 1) is proposed as an inflight proprioceptive countermeasure and will be tested in an upcoming bed rest study. - Proprioceptive assessments on the tilt board may also help predict post-flight and post-bedrest functional task performance.

Rachel F. Bellisle↗
NASA NTRS1977

Water diffusion membranes 3 (pervaporation and heat rejection through composite membranes)

The problem of waste management in space is discussed for manned space flight. It is shown that such waste can be accounted for in one of four ways: (1) the waste may be dumped into space; (2) it may be accumulated for return to earth; (3) the waste may be separated into two fractions, one fraction (water) to be dumped into space and the remaining portion to be returned to earth; or (4) the waste components may be beneficially reused.

Cabasso, I.↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Scientific Case for Sample Return from a Primitive Near-Earth Asteroid

This paper is predicated on the recent experimental findings that the smallest structural ferromagnesiosilica entities in collected chondritic aggregate interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) have a predictable metastable eutectic composition. Kinetically controlled gas to solid condensation of MgFe-SiO-O2-H2 vapors does NOT produce stoichiometric crystalline solids (i.e. minerals) such as predicted by equilibrium condensation models but instead yields amorphous solids that are chemically ordered at metastable eutectics in the binary phase diagrams. Therefore these condensed dust grains will have a considerable amount of 'internal free energy' that will make them highly responsive to changes in their environments. Their inherent high energy-content 'buys' time and energy for mineralogical modification and chemical readjustment in response to changing environmental conditions. The activation energy barrier for reactions in metastable eutectic solids will be lower than for crystalline solids. As a result the reactions can take place at much lower temperatures and on much shorter time scales. That is, they will also occur much earlier in the evolution of a parent body wherein heat-producing sources may either be immature or inefficient. The ensuing reaction chains from metastable equilibrium to full thermodynamic equilibration with the local environment will be a chaotic 'Ostwald cascade' but from a well defined starting point to a predictable end result. Here we will discuss the implications of metastable eutectic dust as we see them for dust properties in icy and ice-free parent bodies wherein circumstellar dust is still recognizable because of the primitive nature of these parent bodies. We point to potential engineering constraints on sample acquisition and storage during Earth transit. Among the scientific goals of a primitive Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) sample return mission will be verification of the nature of dust forming and modification processes during hierarchical accretion in the earliest protoplanets. We propose sampling an infrared P- or D-class NEA or an object showing cometary activity such as 2201 Oljato that could be an asteroid or evolved comet. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Rietmeijer, Frans J. M.↗
NASA NTRS2005

The NASA Bed Rest Project

NASA s National Vision for Space Exploration includes human travel beyond low earth orbit and the ultimate safe return of the crews. Crucial to fulfilling the vision is the successful and timely development of countermeasures for the adverse physiological effects on human systems caused by long term exposure to the microgravity environment. Limited access to in-flight resources for the foreseeable future increases NASA s reliance on ground-based analogs to simulate these effects of microgravity. The primary analog for human based research will be head-down bed rest. By this approach NASA will be able to evaluate countermeasures in large sample sizes, perform preliminary evaluations of proposed in-flight protocols and assess the utility of individual or combined strategies before flight resources are requested. In response to this critical need, NASA has created the Bed Rest Project at the Johnson Space Center. The Project establishes the infrastructure and processes to provide a long term capability for standardized domestic bed rest studies and countermeasure development. The Bed Rest Project design takes a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, integrated approach that reduces the resource overhead of one investigator for one campaign. In addition to integrating studies operationally relevant for exploration, the Project addresses other new Vision objectives, namely: 1) interagency cooperation with the NIH allows for Clinical Research Center (CRC) facility sharing to the benefit of both agencies, 2) collaboration with our International Partners expands countermeasure development opportunities for foreign and domestic investigators as well as promotes consistency in approach and results, 3) to the greatest degree possible, the Project also advances research by clinicians and academia alike to encourage return to earth benefits. This paper will describe the Project s top level goals, organization and relationship to other Exploration Vision Projects, implementation strategy, address Project deliverables, schedules and provide a status of bed rest campaigns presently underway.

Rhodes, Bradley↗
NASA NTRS2007

Orion Entry, Descent, and Landing Performance and Mission Design

The Orion Vehicle is the next spacecraft to take humans into space and will include missions to ISS as well as missions to the Moon. As part of that challenge, the vehicle will have to accommodate multiple mission design concepts, since return from Low Earth Orbit and return from the Moon can be quite different. Commonality between the different missions as it relates to vehicle systems, guidance capability, and operations concepts is the goal. Several unique mission design concepts include the specification of multiple land-based landing sites for a vehicle with closed-loop direct and skip entry guidance, followed by a parachute descent and landing attenuation system. This includes the ability of the vehicle to accurately target and land at a designated landing site, including site location aspects, landing site size, and landing opportunities assessments. Analyses associated with these mission design and flight performance challenges and constraints will be discussed as well as potential operational concepts to provide feasibility and/or mission commonality.

Broome, Joel M.↗