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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 NTRS2011

Scheduling Results for the THEMIS Observation Scheduling Tool

We describe a scheduling system intended to assist in the development of instrument data acquisitions for the THEMIS instrument, onboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, and compare results from multiple scheduling algorithms. This tool creates observations of both (a) targeted geographical regions of interest and (b) general mapping observations, while respecting spacecraft constraints such as data volume, observation timing, visibility, lighting, season, and science priorities. This tool therefore must address both geometric and state/timing/resource constraints. We describe a tool that maps geometric polygon overlap constraints to set covering constraints using a grid-based approach. These set covering constraints are then incorporated into a greedy optimization scheduling algorithm incorporating operations constraints to generate feasible schedules. The resultant tool generates schedules of hundreds of observations per week out of potential thousands of observations. This tool is currently under evaluation by the THEMIS observation planning team at Arizona State University.

Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS)↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Tech Briefs, March 2012

The topics include: 1) Spectral Profiler Probe for In Situ Snow Grain Size and Composition Stratigraphy; 2) Portable Fourier Transform Spectroscopy for Analysis of Surface Contamination and Quality Control; 3) In Situ Geochemical Analysis and Age Dating of Rocks Using Laser Ablation-Miniature Mass Spectrometer; 4) Physics Mining of Multi-Source Data Sets; 5) Photogrammetry Tool for Forensic Analysis; 6) Connect Global Positioning System RF Module; 7) Simple Cell Balance Circuit; 8) Miniature EVA Software Defined Radio; 9) Remotely Accessible Testbed for Software Defined Radio Development; 10) System-of-Systems Technology-Portfolio-Analysis Tool; 11) VESGEN Software for Mapping and Quantification of Vascular Regulators; 12) Constructing a Database From Multiple 2D Images for Camera Pose Estimation and Robot Localization; 13) Adaption of G-TAG Software for Validating Touch and Go Asteroid Sample Return Design Methodology; 14) 3D Visualization for Phoenix Mars Lander Science Operations; 15) RxGen General Optical Model Prescription Generator; 16) Carbon Nanotube Bonding Strength Enhancement Using Metal Wicking Process; 17) Multi-Layer Far-Infrared Component Technology; 18) Germanium Lift-Off Masks for Thin Metal Film Patterning; 19) Sealing Materials for Use in Vacuum at High Temperatures; 20) Radiation Shielding System Using a Composite of Carbon Nanotubes Loaded With Electropolymers; 21) Nano Sponges for Drug Delivery and Medicinal Applications; 22) Molecular Technique to Understand Deep Microbial Diversity; 23) Methods and Compositions Based on Culturing Microorganisms in Low Sedimental Fluid Shear Conditions; 24) Secure Peer-to-Peer Networks for Scientific Information Sharing; 25) Multiplexer/Demultiplexer Loading Tool (MDMLT); 26) High-Rate Data-Capture for an Airborne Lidar System; 27) Wavefront Sensing Analysis of Grazing Incidence Optical Systems; 28) Foam-on-Tile Damage Model; 29) Instrument Package Manipulation Through the Generation and Use of an Attenuated-Fluent Gas Fold; 30) Multicolor Detectors for Ultrasensitive Long-Wave Imaging Cameras; 31) Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Command and Data Handling Flight Electronics Subsystem; and 32) Electro-Optic Segment-Segment Sensors for Radio and Optical Telescopes.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2013

New Support for Hypotheses of an Ancient Ocean on Mars

A new analog for the giant polygons in the Chryse-Acidalia area suggests that those features may have formed in a major body of water - likely a Late Hesperian to Early Amazonian ocean. This analog -terrestrial polygons in subsea, passive margin basins derives from 3D seismic data that show similar-scale, polygonal fault systems in the subsurface of more than 50 terrestrial offshore basins. The terrestrial and martian polygons share similar sizes, basin-wide distributions, tectonic settings, and association with expected fine-grained sediments. Late Hesperian deposition from outflow floods may have triggered formation of these polygons, by providing thick, rapidly-deposited, fine-grained sediments necessary for polygonal fracturing. The restriction of densely occurring polygons to elevations below approx. -4000 m to -4100 m supports inferences that a body of water controlled their formation. Those same elevations appear to restrict occurrence of polygons in Utopia Planitia, suggesting that this analog may apply also to Utopia and that similar processes may have occurred across the martian lowlands.

Oehler, Dorothy Z.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Viking GCMS Data Restoral and Perceiving Temperature on Other Worlds: Astrobiology Projects at NASA Ames

The primary task for the summer was to procure the GCMS data from the National Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) and to assess the current state of the data set for possible reanalysis opportunities. After procurement of the Viking GCMS data set and analysis of its current state, the internship focus shifted to preparing a plan for restoral and archiving of the GCMS data set. A proposal was prepared and submitted to NASA Headquarters to restore and make available the 8000 mass chromatographs that are the basic data generated by the Viking GCMS instrument. The relevance of this restoral and the methodology we propose for restoral is presented. The secondary task for the summer is to develop a thermal model for the perceived temperature of a human standing on Mars, Titan, or Europa. Traditionally, an equation called "Fanger's comfort equation" is used to measure the perceived temperature by a human in a given reference environment. However, there are limitations to this model when applied to other planets. Therefore, the approach for this project has been to derive energy balance equations from first principles and then develop a methodology for correlating "comfort" to energy balance. Using the -20 C walk-in freezer in the Space Sciences building at NASA Ames, energy loss of a human subject is measured. Energy loss for a human being on Mars, Titan and Europa are calculated from first principles. These calculations are compared to the freezer measurements, e.g. for 1 minute on Titan, a human loses as much energy as x minutes in a -20 C freezer. This gives a numerical comparison between the environments. These energy calculations are used to consider the physiological comfort of a human based on the calculated energy losses.

FangeraEuro(TM)s comfort equation↗
NASA NTRS1995

Mars Pathfinder Project: Planetary Constants and Models

This document provides a common set of astrodynamic constants and planetary models for use by the Mars Pathfinder Project. It attempts to collect in a single reference all the quantities and models in use across the project during development and for mission operations. These models are central to the navigation and mission design functions, but they are also used in other aspects of the project such as science observation planning and data reduction.

Vaughan, Robin↗
NASA NTRS2014

Microscopic Views of Martian Soils and Evidence for Incipient Diagenesis

Mars landed missions returned im-ages at increasingly higher spatial resolution (Table 1). These images help to constrain the microstructure of Martian soils, i.e. the grain-by-grain association of chemistry and mineralogy with secondary properties, such as albedo, color, magnetic properties, and mor-phology (size, shape, texture). The secondary charac-teristics are controlled by mineralogical composition as well as the geo-setting (transport and weathering modes, e.g. water supply, pH, atmospheric properties, exposure to radiation, etc.). As of today this association is poorly constrained. However, it is important to un-derstand soil-forming processes on the surface of Mars. Here we analyze high-resolution images of soils re-turned by different landed missions. Eventually these images must be combined with other types of data (chemistry and mineralogy at small spatial scale) to nail down the microstructure of Martian soils.

Goetz, W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The evolution of volcanism, tectonics, and volatiles on Mars - An overview of recent progress

Significant results of the 'Mars: Evolution of Volcanism, Tectonics, and Volatiles' (MEVTV) project are presented. The data for the project are based on geological mapping from the Viking images, petrologic and chemical analyses of SNC meteorites, and both mapping and temporal grouping of major fault systems. The origin of the planet's crustal dichotomy is examined in detail, the kinematics and formation of wrinkle ridges are discussed, and some new theories are set forth. Because the SNC meteorites vary petrologically and isotopically, the sources of the parental Martian magma are heterogeneous. Transcurrent faulting coupled with the extensional strains that form Valles Marineris suggest early horizontal movement of lithospheric blocks. A theory which connects the formation of the crustal dichotomy to the Tharsis region associates the horizontal motions with plate tectonics that generated a new lithosphere.

Zimbelman, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Risk-Constrained Dynamic Programming for Optimal Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing

A chance-constrained dynamic programming algorithm was developed that is capable of making optimal sequential decisions within a user-specified risk bound. This work handles stochastic uncertainties over multiple stages in the CEMAT (Combined EDL-Mobility Analyses Tool) framework. It was demonstrated by a simulation of Mars entry, descent, and landing (EDL) using real landscape data obtained from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Although standard dynamic programming (DP) provides a general framework for optimal sequential decisionmaking under uncertainty, it typically achieves risk aversion by imposing an arbitrary penalty on failure states. Such a penalty-based approach cannot explicitly bound the probability of mission failure. A key idea behind the new approach is called risk allocation, which decomposes a joint chance constraint into a set of individual chance constraints and distributes risk over them. The joint chance constraint was reformulated into a constraint on an expectation over a sum of an indicator function, which can be incorporated into the cost function by dualizing the optimization problem. As a result, the chance-constraint optimization problem can be turned into an unconstrained optimization over a Lagrangian, which can be solved efficiently using a standard DP approach.

Ono, Masahiro↗
NASA NTRS2008

The Challenges and Opportunities for International Cooperative Radio Science; Experience with Mars Express and Venus Express Missions

Radio Science is an opportunistic discipline in the sense that the communication link between a spacecraft and its supporting ground station can be used to probe the intervening media remotely. Radio science has recently expanded to greater, cooperative use of international assets. Mars Express and Venus Express are two such cooperative missions managed by the European Space Agency with broad international science participation supported by NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) and ESA's tracking network for deep space missions (ESTRAK). This paper provides an overview of the constraints, opportunities, and lessons learned from international cross support of radio science, and it explores techniques for potentially optimizing the resultant data sets.

MEX↗
NASA NTRS2006

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Ka-band (32 GHz) Demonstration: Cruise Phase Operations

The X-band (8.41 GHz) frequency currently used for deep space telecommunications is too narrow (50 MHz) to support future high rate missions. Because of this NASA has decided to transition to Ka-band (32 GHz) frequencies. As weather effects cause much larger fluctuations on Ka-band than on X-band, the traditional method of using a few dBs of margin to cover these fluctuations is wasteful of power for Ka-band; therefore, a different operations concept is needed for Ka-band links. As part of the development of the operations concept for Ka-band, NASA has implemented a fully functioning Ka-band communications suite on its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). This suite will be used during the primary science phase to develop and refine the Ka-band operations concept for deep space missions. In order to test the functional readiness of the spacecraft and the Deep Space Network's (DSN) readiness to support the demonstration activities a series of passes over DSN 34-m Beam Waveguide (BWG) antennas were scheduled during the cruise phase of the mission. MRO was launched on August 12, 2005 from Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA and went into Mars Orbit on March 10, 2006. A total of ten telemetry demonstration and one high gain antenna (HGA) calibration passes were allocated to the Ka-band demonstration. Furthermore, a number of "shadow" passes were also scheduled where, during a regular MRO track over a Ka-band capable antenna, Ka-band was identically configured as the X-band and tracked by the station. In addition, nine Ka-band delta differential one way ranging ((delta)DOR) passes were scheduled. During these passes, the spacecraft and the ground system were put through their respective paces. Among the highlights of these was setting a single day record for data return from a deep space spacecraft (133 Gbits) achieved during one 10-hour pass; achieving the highest data rate ever from a planetary mission (6 Mbps) and successfully demonstrating Ka-band DDOR. In addition, DSN performed well. However, there are concerns with the active pointing of the Ka-band antennas as well as delivery of the monitor data from the stations. The spacecraft also presented challenges not normally associated with planetary missions mostly because of its very high equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP). This caused problems in accurately evaluating the in-flight EIRP of the spacecraft which led to difficulties evaluating the quality of the HGA calibration data. These led to the development of additional measurement techniques that could be used for future high-power deep space missions.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)↗
NASA NTRS1985

Workshop on Dust on Mars

A workshop was organized to stimulate and coordinate research on the properties of Martian dust, its distribution on the planet, and the processes affecting its yearly deposition, erosion, and transport. A great deal of research was carried out to understand local, regional, and global aspects of the Martian dust transport cycle, with the goal being definition of the currently active processes and their relation to those operating over the long term. To date, however, most individual research projects have centered around interpretation of single data sets (visual images, IRTM, radar, etc.), and these many efforts were not coordinated. Many of the details of short and long term dust-related processes, as inferred from the various single data sets, are still not agreed upon. It was the intent of this workshop to encourage the informal exchange of ideas among several researchers currently investigating various aspects of the problem and to investigate cooperative efforts to synthesize the individual approaches into a unified understanding of the present seasonal and yearly Martian sediment transport cycles.

Lee, S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The Space Flight Operations Center first phase - Lessons learned

This paper is a retrospective look at the Space Flight Operations Center Project; a large, complex, multimission ground data system which is currently under development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena. The Project was established in February 1984 and will be completed in April 1992 when the Magellan, Voyager, Ulysses, Galileo and Mars Observer Projects will be fully supported. The first phase of this project covers the development of a subset of multimission Baseline subsystems, the development of the mission-specific adaptations to this Baseline set for the Magellan Project, the development of a Magellan-specific high rate processor together with the delivery of these subsystems to operations. This first phase became operational in January 1989 in readiness for the Magellan launch in May 1989.

Gainsborough, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Review of NASA's Planned Mars Program

The exploration of Mars has long been a prime scientific objective of the U.S. planetary exploration program. Yet no U.S. spacecraft has successfully made measurements at Mars since the Viking missions of the late 1970s. Mars Observer, which was designed to conduct global observations from orbit, failed just before orbit insertion in 1993. The Russian spacecraft Phobos 2 did succeed in making some observations of the planet in 1989, but it was designed primarily to observe Phobos, the innermost satellite of Mars; the spacecraft failed 2 months after insertion into Mars orbit during the complex maneuvers required to rendezvous with the martian satellite. In fall 1996 NASA plans to launch Mars Pathfinder for a landing on the martian surface in mid-1997. This spacecraft is one of the first two missions in NASA's Discovery program that inaugurates a new style of planetary exploration in which missions are low-cost (less than $150 million) and have very focused science objectives. As can be seen in the comparative data presented in Box 1, this mission is considerably smaller in terms of cost, mass, and scope than NASA's previous Mars missions. NASA's FY 1995 budget initiated a continuing Mars exploration program, called Mars Surveyor, that involves multiple launches of spacecraft as small as or smaller than Mars Pathfinder to Mars over the next several launch opportunities, which recur roughly every 26 months. The first mission in the program, Mars Global Surveyor, set for launch late in 1996, is intended to accomplish many of the objectives of the failed Mars Observer. Like the Discovery program, Mars Surveyor is a continuing series of low-cost missions, each of which has highly focused science objectives. See Box 1 for comparative details of those Surveyor missions currently defined. Around the same time that the Mars Surveyor series was chosen as the centerpiece of NASA's solar system exploration program, the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX) designated Mars as one of four scientific targets for emphasis in future studies. It was against this background that the Space Studies Board charged COMPLEX to review whether the Mars Pathfinder and Surveyor programs, as presently conceived, satisfy the highest priorities for understanding Mars as provided in its report, An Integrated Strategy for the Planetary Sciences: 1995-2010. The present document is COMPLEX's assessment of the scientific potential of NASA's new approach to Mars exploration. This assessment considers how well the scientific objectives of the Mars Surveyor program match those of the Integrated Strategy; it also addresses some advantages and disadvantages of the smaller-faster-cheaper approach to the exploration of Mars. The capabilities of the various instruments are not discussed in detail since the Mars Observer instruments, all of which are scheduled for reflight, have already been assessed by COMPLEX2 and later instruments are, in general, not yet well defined.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2017

Human Mars Mission Overview and Dust Storm Impacts on Site Selection

NASA has begun a process to identify and discuss candidate locations where humans could land, live and work on the martian surface. This process is being carried out as a cooperative effort by NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD), responsible for future human mission preparations, and the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), responsible for the on-going Mars Exploration Program of robotic vehicles in orbit and on the surface of Mars. Both of these Directorates have a significant interest in this process, as these candidate locations will be used by NASA as part of a multi-year effort to determine where and how humans could explore Mars. In the near term this process includes: (a) identifying locations that would maximize the potential science return from future human exploration missions, (b) identifying locations with the potential for resources required to support humans, (c) developing concepts and engineering systems needed by future human crews to conduct operations within a candidate location, and (d) identifying key characteristics of the proposed candidate locations that cannot be evaluated using existing data sets, thus helping to define precursor measurements needed in advance of human missions.

Hoffman, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

In-situ radio-metric tracking to support navigation for interplanetary missions with multiple spacecraft

Doppler and ranging measurements between spacecraft can be obtained only when the ratio of the total received signal power to noise power density (P(sub t/N(sub 0)) at the receiving spacecraft is sufficiently large that reliable signal detection can be achieved within a reasonable time period. In this paper, the requirements on P(sub t)/N(sub 0) for reliable carrier signal detection is calculated as a function of various system parameters, including characteristics of the spacecraft computing hardware and a priori uncertainty in spacecraft-spacecraft relative velocity and acceleration. Also calculated is the P(sub t)/N(sub 0) requirement for relaible detection of a ranging signal, consistting of a carrier with pseudo-noise phase modulation. Once the P(sub t)/N(sub 0) requirement is determined, then for a given set of assumed spacecraft telecommunication characteristics (transmitted signal power, antenna gains, receiver noise temperatures) it is possible to calculate the maximum range at which a carrier signal or ranging signal may be acquired. A brief error covariance analysis has been conducted to illustrate the utility of in situ Doppler and ranging measurements for Mars approach navigation. The results indicate that navigation accuracies of a few kilometers can be achieved with either data type. The analysis also illustrates dependency of the achievable accuracy on the approach trajectory velocity.

Kahn, Robert D.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Developing Architectures and Technologies for an Evolvable NASA Space Communication Infrastructure

Space communications architecture concepts play a key role in the development and deployment of NASA's future exploration and science missions. Once a mission is deployed, the communication link to the user needs to provide maximum information delivery and flexibility to handle the expected large and complex data sets and to enable direct interaction with the spacecraft and experiments. In human and robotic missions, communication systems need to offer maximum reliability with robust two-way links for software uploads and virtual interactions. Identifying the capabilities to cost effectively meet the demanding space communication needs of 21st century missions, proper formulation of the requirements for these missions, and identifying the early technology developments that will be needed can only be resolved with architecture design. This paper will describe the development of evolvable space communication architecture models and the technologies needed to support Earth sensor web and collaborative observation formation missions; robotic scientific missions for detailed investigation of planets, moons, and small bodies in the solar system; human missions for exploration of the Moon, Mars, Ganymede, Callisto, and asteroids; human settlements in space, on the Moon, and on Mars; and great in-space observatories for observing other star systems and the universe. The resulting architectures will enable the reliable, multipoint, high data rate capabilities needed on demand to provide continuous, maximum coverage of areas of concentrated activities, such as in the vicinity of outposts in-space, on the Moon or on Mars.

Bhasin, Kul↗
NASA NTRS1999

Mars 2001 Lander Mission: Measurement Synergy Through Coordinated Operations Planning And Implementation

The 2001 Mars Surveyor Program Mission includes an orbiter with a gamma ray spectrometer and a multispectral thermal imager, and a lander with an extensive set of instrumentation, a robotic arm, and the Marie Curie Rover. The Mars 2001 Science Operations Working Group (SOWG) is a subgroup of the Project Science Group that has been formed to provide coordinated planning and implementation of scientific observations, particularly for the landed portion of the mission. The SOWG will be responsible for delivery of a science plan and, during operations, generation and delivery of conflict-free sequences. This group will also develop an archive plan that is compliant with Planetary Data System (PDS) standards, and will oversee generation, validation, and delivery of integrated archives to the PDS. In this report we cover one element of the SOWG planning activities, the development of a plan that maximizes the scientific return from lander-based observations by treating the instrument packages as an integrated payload. Scientific objectives for the lander mission have been defined. They include observations focused on determining the bedrock geology of the site through analyses of rocks and also local materials found in the soils, and the surficial geology of the site, including windblown deposits and the nature and history of formation of indurated sediments such as duricrust. Of particular interest is the identification and quantification of processes related to early warm, wet conditions and the presence of hydrologic or hydrothermal cycles. Determining the nature and origin of duricrust and associated salts is -very important in this regard. Specifically, did these deposits form in the vadose zone as pore water evaporated from soils or did they form by other processes, such as deposition of volcanic aerosols? Basic information needed to address these questions includes the morphology, topography, and geologic context of landforms and materials exposed at the site, together with quantitative information on material mineralogy, chemistry, and physical properties (rock textures; soil grain size and shape distributions; degree and nature of soil induration; soil magnetic properties). The calibration targets provide radiometric and mineralogical control surfaces. The magnets allow observations of magnetic phases. Patch plates are imaged to determine adhesive and abrasive properties of soils. Coordinated mission planning is crucial for optimizing the measurement synergy among the packages included on the lander. This planning has already begun through generation of multi-sol detailed operations activities. One focus has been to develop a scenario to use the arm to dig a soil trench to a depth of tens of centimeters. The activity will be monitored through use of Pancam and RAC to ensure nominal operations and to acquire data to determine subsurface physical properties (e.g., angle of repose of trench walls). Pancam and Mini-TES observations would also provide constraints on mineralogy and texture for the walls and bottom of the trench during excavation. If desired, soils excavated at depth could be deposited on the surface and Mossbauer and APXS measurements could be acquired for these materials. Soil samples from various depths would be delivered to MECA for characterization of aqueous geochemistry and physical properties of soil grains, particularly size, shape, and hardness. These physical properties would be determined by optical and atomic force microscopy. When completed, detailed information of soil properties as a function of depth would be obtained. These various data sets would constrain our understanding of whether or not there are systematic variations in soil characteristics as a function of depth. These variations might be related, for example, to evaporative moisture losses and formation of salt deposits, thereby indicating water transport processes occurred fairly recently. Many other value-added measurement scenarios are being developed. For example, characterizing the nature and dynamics of dust deposition will be done using MIP/DART to provide deposition rates, Pancam and RAC imaging of lander and rover surfaces to extrapolate these measurements to other areas, and a variety of measurements to determine if the bulk loose soil has the same characteristics as dust that accumulates during the mission. Bedrock geology of the site is primarily an APEX-focus setting, mineralogy, and texture, and APXS data to be we interest will be to determine the extent to which rock hydrothermal processes, given that APEX is the precursor 4 and 2005 rover missions. Additional information is contained in the original.

Arvidson, R.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Constraining the Depth of a Martian Magma Ocean through Metal-Silicate Partitioning Experiments: The Role of Different Datasets and the Range of Pressure and Temperature Conditions

Mars accretion is known to be fast compared to Earth. Basaltic samples provide a probe into the interior and allow reconstruction of siderophile element contents of the mantle. These estimates can be used to estimate conditions of core formation, as for Earth. Although many assume that Mars went through a magma ocean stage, and possibly even complete melting, the siderophile element content of Mars mantle is consistent with relatively low pressure and temperature (PT) conditions, implying only shallow melting, near 7 GPa and 2073 K. This is a pressure range where some have proposed a change in siderophile element partitioning behavior. We will examine the databases used for parameterization and split them into a low and higher pressure regime to see if the methods used to reach this conclusion agree for the two sets of data.

Righter, K.↗