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NASA NTRS2020

Mid Lift-to-Drag Ratio Rigid Vehicle 6-DoF Performance for Human Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing: A Fractional Polynomial Powered Descent Guidance Approach

Defining a feasible vehicle design and mission architecture capable of reliably delivering apayload of 20 metric tons (mt) or more is a great challenge for landing humans on Mars. TheMid Lift-to-Drag Rigid Vehicle (MRV), a rigid decelerator studied in NASA’s Entry, Descent,and Landing Architecture Study (EDLAS), has shown to be a viable vehicle candidate forfuture human Mars missions. As the vehicle concept matures, models of increasing fidelity areadded to the six-degree-of-freedom (6DoF) EDL simulation. This paper presents 6DoFsimulation results using model updates for vehicle mass properties, fineness ratio, andaerodynamic-propulsive interactions. Additionally, an assessment of the Fractional-Polynomial Powered Descent Guidance (FP2DG) performance is presented, and the vehicleperformance is compared with the Tunable Apollo Powered Descent Guidance (TAPDG).Finally, Monte Carlo results of the vehicle design trades are presented.

Johnson, Breanna J.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Costing at the Speed of Light: How Your Concurrent Engineering Design Team can Bootstrap Your Organizations Programmatic Capabilities

What do you do when it is necessary to generate reasonable cost estimates at the earliest Concept Maturity Levels and you have never flown any similar missions before? This paper describes the current and future Team X cost processes and methods, how they are being used to expand our data frontiers and cost modelling capabilities, and how this enables the ability to estimate early and estimate often.

Ramirez, Matthew↗
NASA NTRS2021

Development of Near-term Urban Air Mobility Routes and Airspace Integration

Growing interest in Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has been demonstrated by a great deal of investment in related research made by industry, government, and academia. Based on this research effort along with considerations of the maturing concept for UAM airspace integration, a cognitive walkthrough exercise and a human-in-the-loop simulation were conducted with controller subject matter experts (SMEs) to evaluate Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) current day helicopter routes for near-term use as UAM routes. One of the outcomes of this work is a set of heuristics that should be applied when designing UAM routes in the future. The following heuristics were identified as critical to UAM route design: the proximity of routes to surrounding airports (including approach and departure paths of traditional commercial traffic), the configuration of surrounding airports, avoiding congested or heavily populated areas, avoiding route segments that would go through several sectors, avoiding route segments that would go in and out of Class B airspace, creating routes outside of Class B airspace when able, using routes with two-way, altitude-separated traffic when able, minimizing the length of the route, avoiding commonly placed Temporary Flight Restrictions, and creating Non-Movement Areas or UNICOM Areas. This paper describes each of these identified heuristics and relevant examples based on a human-in-the-loop study conducted using the DFW area airspace.

Urban Air Mobility↗
NASA NTRS2020

Estimate Early and Estimate Often: How Your Concurrent Engineering Design Team Can Bootstrap Your Organizations Programmatic Capabilities

What do you do when it is necessary to generate reasonable cost estimates at the earliest Concept Maturity Levels and you have never flown any similar missions before? This paper describes the current and future Team X and A-Team cost processes and methods, how they are being used to expand our data frontiers, cost modelling capabilities and how this enables the ability to estimate early and estimate often.

Hihn, Jairus↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Computational Modeling of Two Mars Powered Descent Vehicle Concepts Tested in the Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel

Future human Mars missions will require powered descent starting at supersonic conditions, something which has never been done before at Mars. Computational powered descent flowfield simulations have been completed at full-scale Mars conditions, but the available ground test data are not suitable for calibrating computational uncertainties for aerodynamic interference on proposed Mars descent vehicles. Testing was conducted in the NASA Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel in order to investigate the aerodynamic interference of sub-scale versions of two Mars powered descent vehicle concepts at supersonic Mach numbers (2.4 and 3.5): a model based on a blunt hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD) and the second representing a more slender rigid vehicle with body flaps (CobraMRV). This paper covers computational flowfield predictions completed at wind tunnel conditions and comparisons to the test data. On the blowing HIAD models, the time-averaged pressure inboard of the nozzles was generally well-predicted, especially if the nozzles are canted outward, when the nozzles are located further from the nose. At intermediate CobraMRV thrust coefficients, CFD pressures are more accurately predicted than they are for the HIAD models, largely due to the nozzle locations and pointing directions. Overall, the CFD pressure coefficients were predicted within 0.2 of the steady pressure measurements for all blowing models, with smaller discrepancies at higher HIAD thrust, and larger discrepancies at lower HIAD CobraMRV thrust. All HIAD models were predicted to have a gradually decreasing axial force coefficient as the total thrust increases, in agreement with available pressure sensitive paint data. On models with canted nozzles or with nozzles further from the nose, the force coefficient was slightly higher for a given thrust. On the CobraMRV model, the CFD also shows consistent results between solvers and follows trends revealed in the data; the aerodynamic force coefficient remains near the non-blowing value at a tunnel Mach number of 2.4 regardless of thrust, and increases above that level at a Mach number of 3.5, consistent with the discrete pressure data. CFD analysis at tunnel and flight conditions will continue as flight system designs concepts mature.

Supersonic Retropropulsion↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Computational Modeling of Two Mars Powered Descent Vehicle Concepts Tested in the Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel

Future human Mars missions will require powered descent starting at supersonic conditions, something which has never been done before at Mars. Computational powered descent flowfield simulations have been completed at full-scale Mars conditions, but the available ground test data are not suitable for calibrating computational uncertainties for aerodynamic interference on proposed Mars descent vehicles. Testing was conducted in the NASA Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel in order to investigate the aerodynamic interference of sub-scale versions of two Mars powered descent vehicle concepts at supersonic Mach numbers (2.4 and 3.5): a model based on a blunt hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD) and the second representing a more slender rigid vehicle with body flaps (CobraMRV). This paper covers computational flowfield predictions completed at wind tunnel conditions and comparisons to the test data. On the blowing HIAD models, the time-averaged pressure inboard of the nozzles was generally well-predicted, especially if the nozzles are canted outward, when the nozzles are located further from the nose. At intermediate CobraMRV thrust coefficients, CFD pressures are more accurately predicted than they are for the HIAD models, largely due to the nozzle locations and pointing directions. Overall, the CFD pressure coefficients were predicted within 0.2 of the steady pressure measurements for all blowing models, with smaller discrepancies at higher HIAD thrust, and larger discrepancies at lower HIAD CobraMRV thrust. All HIAD models were predicted to have a gradually decreasing axial force coefficient as the total thrust increases, in agreement with available pressure sensitive paint data. On models with canted nozzles or with nozzles further from the nose, the force coefficient was slightly higher for a given thrust. On the CobraMRV model, the CFD also shows consistent results between solvers and follows trends revealed in the data; the aerodynamic force coefficient remains near the non-blowing value at a tunnel Mach number of 2.4 regardless of thrust, and increases above that level at a Mach number of 3.5, consistent with the discrete pressure data. CFD analysis at tunnel and flight conditions will continue as flight system designs concepts mature.

Supersonic Retropropulsion↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A New Concurrent Engineering Tool for the New Mission Design Center at NASA Ames Research Center

The NASA Ames Mission Design Center (MDC) has undergone a significant transformation process in recent years, culminating in becoming a true Concurrent Engineering Center. The underlying goal of this transformation is to better serve the Ames PI community in a cost-effective and rapidly-responsive way, providing quality products pivotal to the decision-making proposal strategy of our center. The four pillars of the change focus on four areas: personnel, physical places, tools, and training. Personnel: the MDC switched from using a dedicated pool of engineers—mostly entry-level career—for a matrixed approach with more experienced Subject Matter Experts, usually involved in spaceflight projects. These SMEs get detailed to the MDC for the duration of the study on a part-time or full-time basis. Physical places: The physical aspect pertains mostly to the layout of the new Engineering building and the dedicated concurrent engineering layout to foster collaboration. The current plan includes a dedicated space for concurrent engineering sessions as well as dedicated project rooms for concept studies. Tool: the MDC team is developing a new in-house concurrent engineering tool to facilitate concurrent engineering sessions. The team leveraged the many lessons learned and insight gained from using the current concurrent engineering tool, in use since 2007. SMEs have been involved throughout its design and development, ensuring accuracy and providing validity to the implementation approach. This new tool is database-driven and allows a team to work concurrently on the same model of a mission concept. “Workspaces” are provided for each of the traditional spacecraft mission design disciplines, including cost accounting and systems engineering. There are multiple tiers of fidelity available within each workspace, which can be completed parametrically or independently from the other disciplines as needed or synchronously with the other disciplines. A “commit” step synchronizes a workspace with the mission database and identifies any potential conflicts, along with the user who entered the conflicting data. A Mission Summary workspace enables a Study Lead to run an effective CE session, displaying key graphics, workspace status information, and technical and monetary budget information. This new CE tool will be undergoing Beta Testing with its primary user base and a limited Parts database in the summer of 2020. The team plans to release the first fully operational version in December 2020. Training: working in early concept development and maturation for a space mission requires a unique mindset and being comfortable with uncertainties in an environment where requirements are not yet fully developed, and where changes and trade-offs happen at a high tempo. The MDC started a weekly training program to ensure a common knowledge base on how do develop and mature early concept studies, as well as how to operate in a concurrent engineering environment. In conclusion, the MDC transformation will provide the overall PI community focused on cost-effective small satellite scientific missions with a powerful tool to address and mature early concepts more effectively and efficiently.

David Mauro↗
NASA NTRS2016

Exploring the Science Trade Space with the JPL Innovation Foundry A-Team

The JPL Innovation Foundry has established a new approach for exploring, developing, and evaluating early concepts with a group called the Architecture Team (A-Team). The A-Team combines innovative collaborative methods and facilitated sessions with subject matter experts and analysis tools to help mature mission concepts. Science, implementation, and programmatic elements are all considered during an ATeam study. In these studies, Concept Maturity Levels (CML) are used to group methods. These levels include idea generation and capture (CML 1), initial feasibility assessment (CML 2), and trade space exploration (CML 3). Methods used for exploring the science objectives, feasibility, and scope will be described including use of a new technique for understanding the most compelling science, called a Science Return Diagram (SRD). In the process of developing the SRD, gradients in the science trade space are uncovered along with their implications for implementation and mission architecture. Special attention is paid towards developing complete investigations, establishing a series of logical claims that lead to the natural selection of a measurement approach. Over 20 science-focused A-Team studies have used these techniques to help science teams refine their mission objectives, make implementation decisions and reveal the mission concept’s most compelling science. This paper will describe the A-Team process for exploring the mission concept's science trade space and the Science Return Diagram technique.In June of 2011 a new collaborative engineering approach forearly concept formulation began in the JPL InnovationFoundry [1], six months later becoming the “A-Team” [2].Responding to a need for exploring mission architecturelevel trades [3], the A-Team precedes Team X [4,5] in asequence of concurrent engineering teams at JPL that can beused to mature a concept from a “cocktail napkin” level ideato a complete mission point design. The A-Team efficientlyexplores the science, implementation, and programmatictrade space in early concept formulation. Small, facilitatedgroups of experts generate innovative ideas, quantitativelyassess feasibility, and discover key sensitivities in the tradespace through collaborative analysis and use of advancedmethods and tools. The A-Team process builds off theexperience within JPL and other recent approaches to earlyconcept formulation [6] including best practices of the JPLInnovation Foundry, Project Systems Engineering &Formulation Section, Team Eureka and the Rapid MissionArchitecture Team[7].The A-Team is a focal point for innovative formulationapproaches and people within JPL. It relies on a largebackground of study resources, creative thinkers and “greybeard” scrutinizers, advanced tools, and subject matterexperts with both breadth and depth in experience andexpertise that are all available at JPL. The A-Team isdesigned to be a rapid and efficient process takingapproximately 6 weeks (the entire process can be as short asjust a few days or as long as up to three months) and costingthe equivalent of a work-month of a full-time employee orless. Studies begin with detailed planning and client reviewfollowed by study sessions, analysis work, and reporting.The staffing on each study is customized to the study goalsand objectives, and it is addressed early in the A-Teamprocess. Sessions are generally half-day or whole-day eventsand conducted over a series of days with focused agendas thatare moderated by a trained facilitator. Preliminary results andknowledge capture are available within hours of each session,and a final report is generally available two weeks later.One of the biggest challenges facing early conceptdevelopment is understanding the gradient in science returnversus various available mission scenarios and payload options. Often times, major areas of scientific inquiry havealready been prioritized by science groups, including throughthe National Research Council’s Decadal Studies inAstronomy, Planetary, and Earth Science. Yet science teamscontinue to struggle, especially in competitive missionsolicitations, to capture the right amount of scope that’sachievable within the cost constraints of the opportunity.Often the desire to completely and comprehensively study ascience area in just one mission (after all, true missionopportunities are rare) drives teams to take on too much,providing requirements that are unachievable within theresources of the opportunity without inducing unacceptableimplementation risk. Alternatively, science teams can seekto reduce risk by using an established instrument, but havenot thought through the traceability and key aspects of thescience question to justify its use. Both scenarios lead to badassumptions at the beginning of the concept development thatcan then ripple through implementation option choices,potentially preventing what would have been a good scienceinvestigation from being selected.The purpose of this paper is first to provide some additionalbackground and summary of the A-Team process, tools,people, and facilities. We then focus on the A-Teammethodology for overcoming the barriers of defining thescience scope well at the early concept development stage.This includes understanding the science story andtraceability, and then examining the gradient in science returnversus key characteristics of observables, developing theright payload and mission requirement specification throughexamining the science and implementation trade space.

Ziemer, John K.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Fundamental Research to Enable In-Situ Resource Utilization for NASA’s Artemis Program and Beyond Taking Place at The Glenn Research Center

In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is regarded by many to be the key to future sustainability in space. The National Aeronautics & Space Administration’s (NASA) Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) recently published a list of ranked technology shortfalls. ISRU specific capabilities of ‘Extraction and separation of water from extraterrestrial surface material’, ‘Extraction and separation of oxygen from extraterrestrial surface material’, and ‘Produce propellants and mission consumables from extracted in-situ resources’ are within the top 80 shortfalls identified. A team of researchers and engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio, are performing fundamental research and technology maturation to ensure concepts and technologies are ready to support when the mission architecture is primed for ISRU to activate. Through analytical modeling and initial lab-scale testing, researchers are establishing concepts that mature to more sophisticated tests in relevant environments. Numerous studies are underway assessing fundamental behaviors of regolith during various steps of a conceptual ISRU production plant. This paper shares some of GRC’s recent advancements in ISRU research and technology development, in the hopes of providing valuable information to the ISRU community at large, spark ideas for future collaborative endeavors, as well as spur interest in utilizing some of the world-class expertise and facilities GRC has to offer.

ISRU↗
NASA NTRS2020

UAM Vision Concept of Operations (ConOps) UAM Maturity Level (UML) 4

This Vision ConOps is intended as a foundation to engage members of the UAM community and provide a consensus on the future vision of UAM operations. It provides a concept for more detailed discussion and a basis for the exploration of ideas using a common framework to inform the continued development and integration of UAM as part of the broader transportation system. Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) encompasses a range of innovative aviation technologies (small drones, electric aircraft, automated air traffic management, etc.) that are transforming aviation’s role in everyday life, including the movement of goods and people. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) represents one of the most exciting and complex AAM concepts with highly automated aircraft, providing commercial services to the public over densely populated cities. This concept has generated tremendous interest and industry investment. UAM envisages a future in which advanced technologies and new operational procedures enable practical, cost-effective air travel as an integral mode of transportation in metropolitan areas. It represents one of the most exciting and complex AAM concepts with highly automated aircraft providing commercial services to the public over densely populated cities. For this reason, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected UAM as the initial goal of its AAM efforts and the focus of this Vision Concept of Operations (ConOps) document. UAM Community Vision ConOps: This Vision ConOps effort was led by experts from NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Deloitte’s Ecosystem Advisory Group (a cohort of advisers with aviation, aerospace, and regulatory expertise). To develop this Vision ConOps, NASA, FAA, and Deloitte built upon the current body of aeronautical research and consulted with more than 100 stakeholder organizations. This UAM community includes entities ranging from legacy aviation leaders to innovators and new market entrants. Stakeholders consulted included the federal government, state and local government, aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), local transportation organizations, prospective UAM operators, academia, industry standards-setting bodies, airports, service suppliers, and others (as described in Appendix G). This input was captured through the following methods: • A series of more than two dozen interviews with industry experts, federal regulators, state and local governments, and industry trade groups provided insight into the challenges of UAM integration into the National Airspace System (NAS), as well as technology developments and a variety of perspectives as to how UAM systems will integrate. • A series of two-day community workshops enabling active, detailed engagement of nearly 100 industry, academic, federal, and state stakeholder individuals. These workshops, hosted by NASA and Deloitte, explored UAM concepts in detail, and stakeholders were invited to collaboratively analyze and propose solutions to some of the greatest conceptual challenges behind UAM at an intermediate state. • A review of more than 160 sources of UAM literature from across government, industry, and academia, which are listed in Appendix H. • The public sharing of workshop input and document drafts for review and input across the UAM community. Feedback in the form of more than 1,000 comments and inputs on the document was received from industry groups, individual companies, academia, and government (federal, state, and local), among others. Although effort was made to incorporate inputs from across the UAM stakeholder group, not all comments could ultimately be incorporated in this version. The team resolved conflicting comments or ideas while maintaining consistency with the known direction of regulators and ensuring the document was coherent and consistent. It is recognized that this is a rapidly evolving area and that concepts will likely change over time; as such, this Vision ConOps is a living document and is expected to evolve as concepts mature. The ConOps does, however, provide a vision of UAM concepts and solutions based on the broad insights from across the UAM stakeholder community at the time of its publication and is intended to serve as a UAM North Star for continued research and development of UAM. As a broad Vision ConOps, is not a detailed engineering document; rather, it focuses primarily on outlining a broad, high-level vision across all aspects of a UAM transportation system.

Urban Air Mobility↗
NASA NTRS2013

Exploring Mission Concepts with the JPL Innovation Foundry A-Team

The JPL Innovation Foundry has established a new approach for exploring, developing, and evaluating early concepts called the A-Team. The A-Team combines innovative collaborative methods with subject matter expertise and analysis tools to help mature mission concepts. Science, implementation, and programmatic elements are all considered during an A-Team study. Methods are grouped by Concept Maturity Level (CML), from 1 through 3, including idea generation and capture (CML 1), initial feasibility assessment (CML 2), and trade space exploration (CML 3). Methods used for each CML are presented, and the key team roles are described from two points of view: innovative methods and technical expertise. A-Team roles for providing innovative methods include the facilitator, study lead, and assistant study lead. A-Team roles for providing technical expertise include the architect, lead systems engineer, and integration engineer. In addition to these key roles, each A-Team study is uniquely staffed to match the study topic and scope including subject matter experts, scientists, technologists, flight and instrument systems engineers, and program managers as needed. Advanced analysis and collaborative engineering tools (e.g. cost, science traceability, mission design, knowledge capture, study and analysis support infrastructure) are also under development for use in A-Team studies and will be discussed briefly. The A-Team facilities provide a constructive environment for innovative ideas from all aspects of mission formulation to eliminate isolated studies and come together early in the development cycle when they can provide the biggest impact. This paper provides an overview of the A-Team, its study processes, roles, methods, tools and facilities.

Team Eureka↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Strategy for Maturing Active Radiation Shielding Concepts

Active shielding strategies for protecting astronauts on exploration missions has long been a dream that proved evasive. Study after study since the early 1970’s has shown that solutions are both mass and power prohibitive. This talk will give an overview of current NASA work aimed at making advancements in the area of active shielding. The basic project premise is that we may have a better chance at success if we: (1) remove the constraint of having to reduce the exposure to zero, and instead focus on how to increase the number of ‘safe’ days in space according to the current NASA risk posture; (2) sub-divide the proton and heavy ion energy spectrum to identify a starting point in energy that may yield a non-negligible reduction in ion flux at power levels achievable with current technology, and; (3) develop methods to use scaling to build, test and mature small-scale shielding structures on the ground as a pathway to identifying technology development investment strategies. A top-level overview of these strategies will be presented during this talk.

Radiation Protection↗
NASA NTRS2004

Access from Space: A New Perspective on NASA's Space Transportation Technology Requirements and Opportunities

The need for robust and reliable access from space is clearly demonstrated by the recent loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia; as well as the NASA s goals to get the Shuttle re-flying and extend its life, build new vehicles for space access, produce successful robotic landers and s a q k ret~rr? ~llisrions, and maximize the science content of ambitious outer planets missions that contain nuclear reactors which must be safe for re-entry after possible launch aborts. The technology lynch pin of access from space is hypersonic entry systems such the thermal protection system, along with navigation, guidance and control (NG&C). But it also extends to descent and landing systems such as parachutes, airbags and their control systems. Current space access technology maturation programs such as NASA s Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program or the In-Space Propulsion (ISP) program focus on maturing laboratory demonstrated technologies for potential adoption by specific mission applications. A key requirement for these programs success is a suitable queue of innovative technologies and advanced concepts to mature, including mission concepts enabled by innovative, cross cutting technology advancements. When considering space access, propulsion often dominates the capability requirements, as well as the attention and resources. From the perspective of access from space some new cross cutting technology drivers come into view, along with some new capability opportunities. These include new miniature vehicles (micro, nano, and picosats), advanced automated systems (providing autonomous on-orbit inspection or landing site selection), and transformable aeroshells (to maximize capabilities and minimize weight). This paper provides an assessment of the technology drivers needed to meet future access from space mission requirements, along with the mission capabilities that can be envisioned from innovative, cross cutting access from space technology developments.

Rasky, Daniel J.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Electronegative Gas Thruster - Direct Thrust Measurement Project

This effort is an international collaboration and academic partnership to mature an innovative electric propulsion (EP) thruster concept to TRL 3 through direct thrust measurement. The initial target application is for Small Satellites, but can be extended to higher power. The Plasma propulsion with Electronegative GASES (PEGASES) concept simplifies ion thruster operation, eliminates a neutralizer requirement and should yield longer life capabilities and lower cost implementation over conventional gridded ion engines. The basic proof-of concept has been demonstrated and matured to TRL 2 over the past several years by researchers at the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasma in France. Due to the low maturity of the innovation, there are currently no domestic investments in electronegative gas thrusters anywhere within NASA, industry or academia. The end product of this Center Innovation Fund (CIF) project will be a validation of the proof-of-concept, maturation to TRL 3 and technology assessment report to summarize the potential for the PEGASES concept to supplant the incumbent technology. Information exchange with the foreign national will be one-way with the exception of the test results. Those test results will first go through a standard public release ITAR/export control review, and the results will be presented in a public technical forum, and the results will be presented in a public technical forum.

Dankanich, John↗
NASA NTRS2020

Solar Cruiser Technology Maturation Plans

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed the Solar Cruiser mission concept to mature solar sail technology for use in future Heliophysics missions, as well as missions of interest across a broad user community (e.g., space weather and Earth polar observatories). Solar Cruiser will serve as a pathfinder for missions that observe the solar environment from unique vantage points such as a high inclination solar mission opening a fundamentally new range of observational capabilities for the Heliophysics Program and for space weather monitoring. Sustained observations away from the Sun-Earth line (SEL) present unique opportunities for answering the outstanding science questions of Heliophysics, improving space-weather monitoring and prediction, and revealing new information about our Sun and solar system. Propellantless solar sails can be used to create artificial equilibria and maintain indefinite station-keeping at locations sunward of L1 along the SEL, or at any desired offset from the SEL leading or trailing the Earth in its orbit. They can change the heliocentric inclination of a spacecraft from the ecliptic to as high as solar polar, stopping and remaining at any intermediate inclination orbit in between. Sails can be used to hover over the Earth’s poles, using solar photon pressure to offset the Earth’s gravitational attraction, creating functional equivalents of geostationary earth orbits. The Solar Cruiser mission would fly a small spacecraft with a large (>1,600 square meter) solar sail containing embedded reflectivity control devices (RCDs) and photovoltaic cells. The mission concept includes successful deployment of the solar sail, validation of all sail subsystems, controlled station-keeping inside of the Sun-Earth L1 point, attitude control of the sail with the RCDs (including spinning and de-spinning), demonstration of pointing performance for science imaging, and an increase in heliocentric inclination (out of the ecliptic). To demonstrate the requisite sail technology, the Solar Cruiser project will design, fabricate, deploy, and fly the Solar Sail Propulsion Element (SSPE). The SSPE incorporates the following three systems: • The Solar Sail System (SSS) provides the large propulsive surface required for acceleration and smaller reflectivity-changing surfaces for roll control. • The Active Mass Translator System (AMT) provides SSPE motion with respect to the sailcraft bus for pitch and yaw control. • The Solar Sail Attitude Determination and Control System (SSADCS) consists of embedded software to 1) provide autonomous sailcraft attitude estimation, attitude pointing control, and reaction wheel momentum management following sail deployment and 2) execute the uplinked inertial attitude pointing commands to maintain the desired sailcraft trajectory. The plans for maturing each of these technology systems to TRL 5 and beyond are described herein.

Solar Sail↗
NASA NTRS2015

Electronegative Gas Thruster

The project is an international collaboration and academic partnership to mature an innovative electric propulsion thruster concept to Technology Research Level-3 (TRL-3) through direct thrust measurement. The project includes application assessment of the technology ranging from small spacecraft to high power. The Plasma propulsion with Electronegative GASES(PEGASES) basic proof of concept has been matured to TRL-2 by Ane Aanesland of Laboratoire de Physique des Plasma at Ecole Polytechnique. The concept has advantages through eliminating the neutralizer requirement and should yield longer life and lower cost over conventional gridded ion engines. The objective of this research is to validate the proof of concept through the first direct thrust measurements and mature the concept to TRL-3.

Dankanich, John↗