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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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At least 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

NASA's Robotics Mining Competition Provides Undergraduates Full Life Cycle Systems Engineering Experience

NASA has held an annual robotic mining competition for teams of university/college students since 2010. This competition is yearlong, suitable for a senior university engineering capstone project. It encompasses the full project life cycle from ideation of a robot design to actual tele-operation of the robot in simulated Mars conditions mining and collecting simulated regolith. A major required element for this competition is a Systems Engineering Paper in which each team describes the systems engineering approaches used on their project. The score for the Systems Engineering Paper contributes 25% towards the team's score for the competition's grand prize. The required use of systems engineering on the project by this competition introduces the students to an intense practical application of systems engineering throughout a full project life cycle.

Stecklein, Jonette↗
NASA NTRS2016

Precision Instrument Targeting via Image Registration for the Mars 2020 Rover

A key component of Mars exploration is the operation of robotic instruments on the surface, such as those on board the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), and the planned Mars 2020 Rover. As the instruments carried by these rovers have become more advanced, the area targeted by some instruments becomes smaller, revealing more fine-grained details about the geology and chemistry of rocks on the surface. However, thermal fluctuations, rover settling or slipping, and inherent inaccuracies in pointing mechanisms all lead to pointing error that is on the order of the target size (several millimeters) or larger. We show that given a target located on a previously acquired image, the rover can align this with a new image to visually locate the target and refine the current pointing. Due to round-trip communication constraints, this visual targeting must be done efficiently on board the rover using relatively limited computing hardware. We employ existing ORB features for landmark-based image registration, describe and theoretically justify a novel approach to filtering false landmark matches, and employ a random forest classifier to automatically reject failed alignments. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach using over 3,800 images acquired by Remote Micro-Imager on board the “Curiosity” rover.

Doran, Gary↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Astrobee ISS Free Flyers: Overview and Enabling Technologies

The Astrobee robots began operations on the International Space Station (ISS) in April of 2019. These 32-cm-wide, 9-kg, cube-shaped free flyers are capable of autonomously traversing the US Orbital Segment of ISS and performing tasks to assist astronauts in their day-to-day activities. The Astrobee Facility also provides an on-orbit testbed for guest scientists desiring to try new technologies in zero-g. This presentation will provide an overview of the Astrobee system and some of its key enabling technologies, including propulsion, navigation, and human interfaces. Additional information and publications can be found on the Astrobee website: https://www.nasa.gov/astrobee.

Astrobee↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Innovation in Space Robotics

Overview of NASA's strategy for developing space robotics technology, including examples of tech transfer and open source. Presentation also includes summary of different ways to work with NASA.

space robotics↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

LANDO: Developing Autonomous Surface Operations for Planetary Surfaces

The Lightweight Surface Manipulation System (LSMS) AutoNomy capabilities Development for surface Operations and construction (LANDO) project is an Early Career Initiative (ECI) selected for funding by the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) beginning in fiscal year 2022. Over the two-year project duration, the LANDO project will deliver a general-purpose autonomy framework applicable to serial and tension-actuated manipulation agents, that has been validated using an existing prototype of the LSMS-L35 (35-kg wrist lift capacity on the lunar surface, sized for a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission). Specific to the LANDO project, the autonomous LSMS-L35 will be used to demonstrate autonomous payload handling capabilities for Lunar and other planetary surfaces, directly addressing STMD capability gaps in autonomous surface construction (ASC) operations, advanced robotics and spacecraft autonomy technologies, and technologies supporting emerging space industries including the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) National Initiative. In this paper, an overview of the LANDO ECI project is presented.

autonomy↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

LANDO: Developing autonomous surface operations for planetary surfaces

The Lightweight Surface Manipulation System (LSMS) AutoNomy capabilities Development for surface Operations and construction (LANDO) project is an Early Career Initiative (ECI) selected for funding by the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) beginning in fiscal year 2022. Over the two-year project duration, the LANDO project will deliver a general-purpose autonomy framework applicable to serial and tension-actuated manipulation agents, that has been validated using an existing prototype of the LSMS-L35 (35-kg wrist lift capacity on the lunar surface, sized for a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission). Specific to the LANDO project, the autonomous LSMS-L35 will be used to demonstrate autonomous payload handling capabilities for Lunar and other planetary surfaces, directly addressing STMD capability gaps in autonomous surface construction (ASC) operations, advanced robotics and spacecraft autonomy technologies, and technologies supporting emerging space industries including the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) National Initiative. In this paper, an overview of the LANDO ECI project is presented.

autonomy↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Runtime Verification with Ogma

Ultra-critical systems require high-level assurance, which cannot always be guaranteed in compile time. The use of runtime verification (RV) enable monitoring these systems in runtime, to detect property violations early and limit their potential consequences. However, the introduction of monitors in ultra-critical systems poses a challenge, as failures and delays in the RV subsystem could affect other subsystems and threaten the mission as a whole. In this talk we discuss two systems: NASA's Ogma, a tool to transform high-level specifications into monitoring code, and Copilot, a runtime verification framework for real-time embedded systems. The toolchain can be used to translate structured natural language requirements into C code with static memory requirements, which can be compiled to run on embedded hardware.

Ogma↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Runtime Verification with Ogma

Ultra-critical systems require high-level assurance, which cannot always be guaranteed in compile time. The use of runtime verification (RV) enable monitoring these systems in runtime, to detect property violations early and limit their potential consequences. However, the introduction of monitors in ultra-critical systems poses a challenge, as failures and delays in the RV subsystem could affect other subsystems and threaten the mission as a whole. In this talk we discuss two systems: NASA's Ogma, a tool to transform high-level specifications into monitoring code, and Copilot, a runtime verification framework for real-time embedded systems. The toolchain can be used to translate structured natural language requirements into C code with static memory requirements, which can be compiled to run on embedded hardware.

Ogma↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Space Robotics

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Robotics Operations↗
NASA NTRS2008

The NASA Robotic Conjunction Assessment Process: Overview and Operational Experiences

Orbital debris poses a significant threat to spacecraft health and safety. Recent events such as China's anti-satellite test and the Breeze-M rocket explosion have led to an even greater awareness and concern in the satellite community. Therefore, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has established requirements that routine conjunction assessment screening shall be performed for all maneuverable spacecraft having perigees less than 2000 km or within 200 km of geosynchronous altitude. NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has developed an operational collision risk assessment process to protect NASA s high-value unmanned (robotic) assets that has been in use since January 2005. This paper provides an overview of the NASA robotic conjunction assessment process, including descriptions of the new tools developed to analyze close approach data and of the risk mitigation strategies employed. In addition, statistical data describing the number of conjunctions experienced are presented. A debris avoidance maneuver performed by Aura in June of 2008 is described in detail to illustrate the process.

Newman, Lauri Kraft↗
NASA NTRS2023

MMIC-I: A Robotic Platform for Assembly Integration and Internal Locomotion through Mechanical Meta-Material Structures

In-space assembly is crucial to creating large-scale space structures and enabling long term space missions. Natural limitations in the size of transportation vehicles and ISRU production facilities necessitate an additive strategy with the size of the typical structural unit being essentially fixed and inversely proportional to the final assembly size. In prior robotic and space assembly examples, reversible mechanical integration of structural modules is typically achieved with actuated alignment and fastening mechanisms onboard every structural module. Additive assembly or manufacturing planning approaches often feature a “build front” that receives new materials or parts and progresses gradually across the target geometry. The system we describe here places much of the alignment and fastener actuation systems onboard a mobile robot that can operate at a build front while companion robots (Scaling Omni-directional Lattice Locomoting Explorer, SOLLE) provide part or material transportation. The design and evaluation of this Mobile Meta-Material Interior Co-Integrator (MMIC-I), an inchworm-style locomoting robotic assembler, is described here with an emphasis on ease of assembly and a low number of unique parts for a simple design. It is designed to assist in alignment of cuboctahedron structural unit cells with captive fasteners, defining the build front in operation. Adjacent structural unit cells are locked together with specified axial and rotational actuation of the fasteners. Hardware prototypes show that the robot is able to successfully locomote to any indexed location within a lattice structure and bolt together each set of fasteners on any interface.

Robotics↗
NASA NTRS1988

A spatial operator algebra for manipulator modeling and control

A powerful new spatial operator algebra for modeling, control, and trajectory design of manipulators is discussed along with its implementation in the Ada programming language. Applications of this algebra to robotics include an operator representation of the manipulator Jacobian matrix; the robot dynamical equations formulated in terms of the spatial algebra, showing the complete equivalence between the recursive Newton-Euler formulations to robot dynamics; the operator factorization and inversion of the manipulator mass matrix which immediately results in O(N) recursive forward dynamics algorithms; the joint accelerations of a manipulator due to a tip contact force; the recursive computation of the equivalent mass matrix as seen at the tip of a manipulator; and recursive forward dynamics of a closed chain system. Finally, additional applications and current research involving the use of the spatial operator algebra are discussed in general terms.

Rodriguez, G.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Gateway Autonomy for Enabling Deep Space Exploration

The Gateway spacecraft is an important stepping-stone to exploration of the solar system, integrating commercial and international partners into a tightly coupled system, enabling cislunar activities, and implementing key technologies for missions to Mars. Autonomy is a capability area necessary to handle long communication outages where intervention from Earth is impossible, to prepare to operate with long communication delays that will be common in interplanetary travel, and to make spaceflight more affordable and accessible by reducing sustaining operations costs. The Gateway Concept of Operations states that one of Gateway’s goals is to “focus on infrastructure and systems that will allow autonomous operations aboard the Gateway with robotics, automated systems, advanced communications, and distributed computing.” Gateway’s Vehicle Systems Manager (VSM) and associated Autonomous Spacecraft Management Architecture (ASMA) are key products towards delivering autonomous capability. The primary functions of the control architecture are Mission Management and Timeline Execution, Resource Management, Fault Management, and Vehicle Control and Operation (VCO). In each of these areas, there is an initial level of capability to be delivered at launch, with plans to continue development and grow to greater capability. The initial deployment of VSM will focus on maintaining vehicle safety by focusing on full fault management capabilities and deploying only enough resource and timeline planning functionality to support that. The final deployment of VSM will add significant planning and control optimization functionality to support nominal operations for up to 21 days without ground support, even accommodating fault and failure conditions. While the VSM is the vehicle-level representation of autonomous reasoning, distributed automation is essential to provide the right scope and abstraction of information to process. Module and system support of automation and simplicity of interfaces are two important design paradigms that Gateway is focusing on to garner a systems approach to autonomy. Distribution of reasoning can increase complexity, so Gateway is also taking a strict hierarchical approach to information flow and decision making. VSM is not the only capability necessary to achieve an autonomous spacecraft. Robotics support for maintenance of the spacecraft will be essential to provide continued vehicle functionality even when crew is not present. Technical and programmatic challenges exist when implementing autonomous robotics operations. These challenges include sufficient network flexibility to support data transfer to the rest of the vehicle to coordinate module-to-module robotic walk-offs and finding the proper interfaces to allow sufficient dexterity. Communication system upgrades planned for Gateway include Delay Tolerant Networking to best utilize the complex network of relays that will be part of mature cislunar operations. Distributed computing and management will provide failure tolerance, robustness, and growth of capabilities while still allowing significant reuse of heritage software on heritage systems as well as reuse of common applications across a spacecraft to minimize new development, but this requires adherence to key standards and interfaces. The Gateway program has demonstrated significant progress towards these capabilities and has identified challenges other spacecraft developers should be aware of from the start.

Molly Anderson↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Gateway Autonomy for Enabling Deep Space Exploration

The Gateway spacecraft is an important stepping-stone to exploration of the solar system, integrating commercial and international partners into a tightly coupled system, enabling cislunar activities, and implementing key technologies for missions to Mars. Autonomy is a capability area necessary to handle long communication outages where intervention from Earth is impossible, to prepare to operate with long communication delays that will be common in interplanetary travel, and to make spaceflight more affordable and accessible by reducing sustaining operations costs. The Gateway Concept of Operations states that one of Gateway’s goals is to “focus on infrastructure and systems that will allow autonomous operations aboard the Gateway with robotics, automated systems, advanced communications, and distributed computing.” Gateway’s Vehicle Systems Manager (VSM) and associated Autonomous Spacecraft Management Architecture (ASMA) are key products towards delivering autonomous capability. The primary functions of the control architecture are Mission Management and Timeline Execution, Resource Management, Fault Management, and Vehicle Control and Operation (VCO). In each of these areas, there is an initial level of capability to be delivered at launch, with plans to continue development and grow to greater capability. The initial deployment of VSM will focus on maintaining vehicle safety by focusing on full fault management capabilities and deploying only enough resource and timeline planning functionality to support that. The final deployment of VSM will add significant planning and control optimization functionality to support nominal operations for up to 21 days without ground support, even accommodating fault and failure conditions. While the VSM is the vehicle-level representation of autonomous reasoning, distributed automation is essential to provide the right scope and abstraction of information to process. Module and system support of automation and simplicity of interfaces are two important design paradigms that Gateway is focusing on to garner a systems approach to autonomy. Distribution of reasoning can increase complexity, so Gateway is also taking a strict hierarchical approach to information flow and decision making. VSM is not the only capability necessary to achieve an autonomous spacecraft. Robotics support for maintenance of the spacecraft will be essential to provide continued vehicle functionality even when crew is not present. Technical and programmatic challenges exist when implementing autonomous robotics operations. These challenges include sufficient network flexibility to support data transfer to the rest of the vehicle to coordinate module-to-module robotic walk-offs and finding the proper interfaces to allow sufficient dexterity. Communication system upgrades planned for Gateway include Delay Tolerant Networking to best utilize the complex network of relays that will be part of mature cislunar operations. Distributed computing and management will provide failure tolerance, robustness, and growth of capabilities while still allowing significant reuse of heritage software on heritage systems as well as reuse of common applications across a spacecraft to minimize new development, but this requires adherence to key standards and interfaces. The Gateway program has demonstrated significant progress towards these capabilities and has identified challenges other spacecraft developers should be aware of from the start.

Molly Anderson↗