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Hubble Space Telescope: Servicing Mission 3A. Media Reference Guide

Since its launch in April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has provided scientific data and images of unprecedented resolution from which many new and exciting discoveries have been made. The Telescope's purpose is to spend 20 years probing the farthest and faintest reaches of the cosmos. Crucial to fulfilling this objective is a series of on-orbit manned servicing missions. The First Servicing Mission (SM1) took place in December 1993 and the Second Servicing Mission (SM2) was flown in February 1997. During these missions, astronauts perform planned repairs and maintenance activities to restore and upgrade the observatory s capabilities. To facilitate this process, the Telescope s designers configured science instruments and several vital engineering subsystems as Orbital Replacement Units (ORU) -- modular packages with standardized fittings accessible to astronauts in pressurized suits. Hubble's Third Servicing Mission has been separated into two parts: Servicing Mission 3A (SM3A) will fly in Fall of 1999 and Servicing Mission 3B (SM3B) is planned for 2001. The principal objective of SM3A is to replace all six gyroscopes that compose the three Rate Sensor Units (RSU). In addition, space-walking astronauts will install a new Advanced Computer that will dramatically increase the computing power, speed, and storage capability of HST. They will change out one of the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) and replace a tape recorder with a new Solid State Recorder (SSR). The Extravehicular Activity (EVA) crew also will install a new S-band Single-Access Transmitter (SSAT), and Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits (VIK) for the Telescope s nickel-hydrogen batteries. Finally, they will begin repair of the multilayer insulation on Hubble s outer surface. During SM3B astronauts will install a new science instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), and an Aft Shroud Cooling System (ASCS) for the other axial science instruments. They will attach a new cryogenic cooler to the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). They also will replace the HST flexible Solar Arrays with new high-performance rigid arrays.

FROM↗

ATM-X Urban Air Mobility: Assistive Detect and Avoid for UAM Operations Safety Evaluation Metrics

This document satisfies ATM-X UAM Task UID 989 “Evaluation Report on Tactical Separation Provision Services with Advisory Detect and Avoid Safety Metrics”. The first version of this document was delivered to the UAM team on October 3, 2022, for initial revision and comments.This current version incorporates all the comments received and is being delivered to the UAM subproject for a final revision before is submitted to satisfy the L1 milestone deliverable.

UAM↗

Artemis II Mission Performance of the Orion Active Thermal Control System

The Orion spacecraft has recently completed Artemis II, the first crewed mission around the moon in 54 years. This test flight demonstrated vehicle capability as the foundation for all future missions under the Artemis program. As a major system of Orion, the Active Thermal Control System (ATCS) successfully managed crew and vehicle heat loads to provide adequate cooling and thermal comfort for the duration of the Artemis II mission. Thermal control on the Orion vehicle is managed through two redundant cooling loops in the Crew Module (CM) that absorb heat loads from the cabin and Air Revitalization System (ARS) heat exchangers, the Liquid Cooling Garment (LCG) heat exchanger, and the avionics cold plates, and then transfer those heat loads to the Service Module (SM) radiator loops and/or the Phase Change Material (PCM) and ammonia boilers when required through thermal configuration or mission phase. During Artemis II, Orion did not necessitate any supplemental cooling from ammonia boilers until service module separation, allowing the maximum availability of ammonia cooling prior to entry. This presentation will provide an overview of the Orion ATCS major subsystems, highlight the performance during key mission phases, and comment on the applicability of the observed thermal response to future Artemis missions.

Ellie Thurston↗

Individual Global Navigation Satellite Systems in the Space Service Volume

Besides providing position, navigation, and timing (PNT) to terrestrial users, GPS is currently used to provide for precision orbit determination, precise time synchronization, real-time spacecraft navigation, and three-axis control of Earth orbiting satellites. With additional Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) coming into service (GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo), it will be possible to provide these services by using other GNSS constellations. The paper, "GPS in the Space Service Volume," presented at the ION GNSS 19th International Technical Meeting in 2006 (Ref. 1), defined the Space Service Volume, and analyzed the performance of GPS out to 70,000 km. This paper will report a similar analysis of the performance of each of the additional GNSS and compare them with GPS alone. The Space Service Volume, defined as the volume between 3,000 km altitude and geosynchronous altitude, as compared with the Terrestrial Service Volume between the surface and 3,000 km. In the Terrestrial Service Volume, GNSS performance will be similar to performance on the Earth's surface. The GPS system has established signal requirements for the Space Service Volume. A separate paper presented at the conference covers the use of multiple GNSS in the Space Service Volume.

Beidou↗

The role of service areas in the optimization of FSS orbital and frequency assignments

An implicit relationship is derived which relates the topocentric separation of two satellites required for a given level of single-entry protection to the separation and orientation of their service areas. The results are presented explicitly for circular beams and topocentric angles. A computational approach is given for elliptical beams and for use with longitude and latitude variables. It is found that the geocentric separation depends primarily on the service area separation, secondarily on a parameter which characterizes the electrical design, and only slightly on the mean orbital position of the satellites. Both linear programming and mixed integer programming algorithms are implemented. Possible objective function choices are discussed, and explicit formulations are presented for the choice of the sum of the absolute deviations of the orbital locations from some prescribed 'ideal' location set. A test problem involving six service areas is examined with results that are encouraging with respect to applying the linear programming procedure to larger scenarios.

Levis, C. A.↗

Separation at Crossing Waypoints Under Wind Uncertainty in Urban Air Mobility

To enable high-density operations in major metropolitan areas, urban air mobility networks are anticipated to have air traffic management with higher levels of autonomy. To ensure that this type of autonomy is feasible, one of the critical steps from a safety and efficiency perspective is understanding various factors that affect the spatial separation between airborne flights and ensure that these factors can be managed. In terms of separation assurance and scheduling, an important real-world concern is that future states of aircraft cannot be perfectly predicted. The focus of this research paper is to understand how these prediction errors affect separation and scheduling services and to explore mitigation strategies to handle these errors. In this research, we have simulated these types of uncertainty by adding wind-prediction errors to trajectory predictions for separation. With these wind-prediction errors, we decompose the problem into two separate questions. First, using both simulation and analytical methods, we look at conflict-detection-only scenarios to understand how the wind errors affect required minimum temporal separation between crossing flights to ensure a specific spatial separation. Next, we study how trajectory errors effect conflict resolution, and we explore different combinations of scheduling and separation assurance to mitigate the effects of uncertainty between crossing flights. The conflict resolution algorithm aims to minimize necessary temporal separation between crossing flights under uncertainty, still ensuring safety-critical spatial separation. In summary, this research suggests that the required minimum temporal separation at a crossing waypoint is dependent on factors such as inbound crossing angle, the relative angle between wind direction and bearing of each route, wind magnitude, wind magnitude uncertainty, nominal cruise airspeed of aircraft, and look-ahead time of the conflict detection algorithm. This research also suggests that different combinations of scheduling and separation have different qualitative results. Using a combination of strategic, flow-based scheduling, tactical scheduling at crossings, speed control near crossing points, and separation management leads to a system that is insensitive to trajectory prediction errors with high throughput and flexibility for aircraft away from shared resources.

urban air mobility↗

Separation at Crossing Waypoints Under Wind Uncertainty in Urban Air Mobility

To enable high-density operations in major metropolitan areas, urban air mobility networks are anticipated to have air traffic management with higher levels of autonomy. To ensure that this type of autonomy is feasible, one of the critical steps from a safety and efficiency perspective is understanding various factors that affect the spatial separation between airborne flights and ensure that these factors can be managed. In terms of separation assurance and scheduling, an important real-world concern is that future states of aircraft cannot be perfectly predicted. The focus of this research paper is to understand how these prediction errors affect separation and scheduling services and to explore mitigation strategies to handle these errors. In this research, we have simulated these types of uncertainty by adding wind-prediction errors to trajectory predictions for separation. With these wind-prediction errors, we decompose the problem into two separate questions. First, using both simulation and analytical methods, we look at conflict-detection-only scenarios to understand how the wind errors affect required minimum temporal separation between crossing flights to ensure a specific spatial separation. Next, we study how trajectory errors effect conflict resolution, and we explore different combinations of scheduling and separation assurance to mitigate the effects of uncertainty between crossing flights. The conflict resolution algorithm aims to minimize necessary temporal separation between crossing flights under uncertainty, still ensuring safety-critical spatial separation. In summary, this research suggests that the required minimum temporal separation at a crossing waypoint is dependent on factors such as inbound crossing angle, the relative angle between wind direction and bearing of each route, wind magnitude, wind magnitude uncertainty, nominal cruise airspeed of aircraft, and look-ahead time of the conflict detection algorithm. This research also suggests that different combinations of scheduling and separation have different qualitative results. Using a combination of strategic, flow-based scheduling, tactical scheduling at crossings, speed control near crossing points, and separation management leads to a system that is insensitive to trajectory prediction errors with high throughput and flexibility for aircraft away from shared resources.

urban air mobility↗

Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 3A

The Hubble Space Telescope's purpose is to spend 20 years probing the farthest and faintest reaches of the cosmos. Crucial to fulfilling this objective is a series of on-orbit servicing missions. Hubble was placed in orbit on April 25, 1990, by the shuttle Discovery and subsequent servicing followed in December 1993 and February 1997. The third in the series of planned servicing missions for the Hubble Space Telescope was scheduled for June 2000. This third Servicing Mission has been separated into two flights. The first of these flights, Servicing Mission 3A, is scheduled for December 1999, and the second, Servicing Mission 3B, is scheduled for 2001. The fourth Servicing Mission is scheduled for 2003 with a "close-out" Mission in 2010. Three instruments are currently in active scientific use on Hubble - the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, and Fine Guidance Sensor I R, which has been designated as the prime FGS for astrometric science. Other instrument bays are occupied by the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), which is now dormant due to the depletion of its solid nitrogen cryogen, the Faint Object Camera, which has been decommissioned, and the corrective optical device called COSTAR, which is no longer needed.

Source record↗

Mature data transport and command management services for the Space Station

The duplex space/ground/space data services for the Space Station are described. The need to separate the uplink data service functions from the command functions is discussed. Command management is a process shared by an operation control center and a command management system and consists of four functions: (1) uplink data communications, (2) management of the on-board computer, (3) flight resource allocation and management, and (4) real command management. The new data service capabilities provided by microprocessors, ground and flight nodes, and closed loop and open loop capabilities are studied. The need for and functions of a flight resource allocation management service are examined. The system is designed so only users can access the system; the problems encountered with open loop uplink access are analyzed. The procedures for delivery of operational, verification, computer, and surveillance and monitoring data directly to users are reviewed.

Carper, R. D.↗

Evaluating the diffusion of Kr in UO 2 and ADOPT TM using time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis (ToF-erda)

A combination of 300 keV 84 Kr ion implantation and Time-of-Flight Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis is utilized to investigate the diffusion of Kr in UO 2 and ADOPT TM fuels. Composition depth-profiles on the nanometer scale were obtained, both for as-implanted samples and after annealing at 800°C for 1 hour. Observed drifts in the 84 Kr profiles could be associated with short-range diffusion mechanisms. The approach employed here provides the possibility to make direct comparisons with atomistic scale modelling data, and can be of service as a separate effect test in line with the Accelerated Fuel Qualification initiative.

ADOPT UO2↗

Apollo/Saturn 5 postflight trajectory: AS-512

The postflight trajectory is presented for the Apollo/Saturn V AS-512 flight. An analysis is included of the orbital and powered flight trajectories of the launch vehicle and the free flight trajectories of the expended S-IC and S-II stages. Trajectory dependent parameters are provided in earth-fixed launch site, launch vehicle navigation, and geographic polar coordinate systems. The time history of the trajectory parameters for the launch vehicle is presented from guidance reference release to Command Service Module (CSM) separation. Tables of significant parameters at engine cutoff, stage separation, parking orbit insertion, and translunar injection are included. Figures of such parameters as altitude, surface and cross range, and the magnitude of total velocity and acceleration as a function of range time for the powered flight trajectories are presented.

Pinson, G. T.↗

Non-urban mobile radio market demand forecast

A national nonmetropolitan land mobile traffic model for 1990-2000 addresses user classes, density classes, traffic mix statistics, distance distribution, geographic distribution, price elasticity, and service quality elasticity. Traffic demands for business, special industrial, and police were determined on the basis of surveys in 73 randomly selected nonurban counties. The selected services represent 69% of total demand. The results were extrapolated to all services in the non-SMSA areas of the contiguous United States. Radiotelephone services were considered separately. Total non-SMSA mobile radio demand (one way) estimates are given. General functional requirements include: hand portability, privacy, reduction of blind spots, two way data transmission, position location, slow scan imagery.

Castruccio, P. A.↗

Summary of follow-up results from potential tuberculosis exposures

There were two isolated episodes of LeRC workers who were diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) during the fall of 1990. The specifics surrounding each case were very different, and it is clear that the two episodes were completely unrelated. The fact that the final diagnoses of pulmonary tuberculosis came within three weeks of each other was purely coincidental. The Occupational Medicine Service (OMS) conducted separate informational sessions and offered free PPD skin testing to all employees, both NASA and contractors, who felt that they were at risk of having been exposed to tuberculosis from either individual. The procedures and results of these are briefly discussed.

Weirich, Stephen A.↗

NASA CEV Reference Entry GN&C System and Analysis

As part of its overall objectives, the Orion spacecraft will be required to perform entry and Earth landing functions for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Lunar missions. Both of these entry scenarios will begin with separation of the Service Module (SM), making them unique from other Orion mission phases in that only the Command Module (CM) portion of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) will be involved, requiring a CM specific Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) system. Also common to these mission scenarios will be the need for GN&C to safely return crew (or cargo) to earth within the dynamic thermal and structural constraints of entry and within acceptable accelerations on the crew, utilizing the limited aerodynamic performance of the CM capsule. The lunar return mission could additionally require an initial atmospheric entry designed to support a precision skip and second entry, all to maximize downrange performance and ensure landing in the United States. This paper describes the Entry GN&C reference design, developed by the NASA-led team, that supports these entry scenarios and that was used to validate the Orion System requirements. Description of the reference design will include an overview of the GN&C functions, avionics, and effectors and will relate these to the specific design drivers of the entry scenarios, as well as the desire for commonality in vehicle systems to support the different missions. The discussion will also include the requirement for an Emergency Entry capability beyond that of the nominal performance of the multi-string GNC system, intended to return the crew to the earth in a survivable but unguided manner. Finally, various analyses will be discussed, including those completed to support validation efforts of the current CEV requirements, along with those on-going and planned with the intention to further refine the requirements and to support design development work in conjunction with the prime contractor. Some of these ongoing analyses will include work to size effectors (jets) and fuel budgets, to refine skip entry concepts, to characterize navigation performance and uncertainties, to provide for SM disposal offshore and to identify requirements to support target site selection.

Munday, S.↗

Orion Ammonia Boiler System Preflight Test Preparations

The Environmental Controls and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) branch at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is currently undergoing preparations for ground testing of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) to prepare its subsystems for EM-1 (Exploration Mission-1). EM-1, Orions second unmanned flight, is a three-week long lunar mission during which the vehicle will complete a 6-day retrograde lunar orbit before returning to Earth. This paper focuses on the work done during the authors 16-week internship with the Mechanical Engineering Branch of KSCs Engineering Directorate. The authors project involved assisting with the preparations for testing the Orion MPCVs ammonia boiler system. The purpose of the ammonia boiler system is to keep the spacecraft sufficiently cool during the reentry portion of its mission, from service module (SM) separation to post-landing. This system is critical for keeping both the spacecraft (avionics and electronics) and crew alive during reentry, thus a successful test of the system is essential to the success of EM-1. XXXX The author was able to draft a detailed outline of the procedure for the ammonia system functional test. More work will need to be done on the vehicle power-up and power-down portions of the procedure, but the ammonia system testing portion of the procedure is thorough and includes vehicle test configurations, vehicle commands, and GSE. The author was able to compile a substantial list of questions regarding the ammonia system functional test with the help of her mentors. A significant number of these questions were answered in the teleconferences with Lockheed Martin.

Ammonia↗

Framework for Analyzing the Complex Interactions Between Spacecraft Motion and Slosh Dynamics in Low-G Environments

The fuel-to-dry-mass ratio of spacecraft continues to grow as new human spaceflight missions target destinations from Earth. Large amounts of liquid propellant can lead to significant coupling between the rigid-body dynamics of the spacecraft and the motion of the fuel within its storage tank. The present work gives an overview of the dynamic features and a flowchart for a method of simulating the motion of a spacecraft with fuel slosh inside a cylindrical, domed tank in a low-g environment. The method involves modeling the liquid propellant as a particle that transfers momentum to the spacecraft through perfectly inelastic collisions with the tank wall. The foundation of the modeling methodology is the approach taken during the Apollo program used to predict the effect of fuel slosh on the complex motion exhibited by the Service Module following separation from the Crew Module. This paper discusses the motivation, methodology, and conclusions from the Apollo-era method, and subsequently builds upon it by incorporating corrections to the derivation of the dynamics and filling in the gaps due to unavailability of the detailed contractor report and simulation code. The results presented in this paper provide an example that demonstrates the effect that fuel slosh can have on the trajectory of a spacecraft in a low-g environment.

William J Elke III↗

Framework for Analyzing the Complex Interactions Between Spacecraft Motion and Slosh Dynamics in Low-G Environments

The fuel-to-dry-mass ratio of spacecraft continues to grow as new human spaceflight missions target destinations farther from Earth. Large amounts of liquid propellant can lead to significant coupling between the rigid-body dynamics of the spacecraft and the motion of the fuel within its storage tank. The present work gives an overview of the dynamic features and a flowchart for a method of simulating the motion of a spacecraft with fuel slosh inside a cylindrical, domed tank in a low-g environment. The method involves modeling the liquid propellant as a particle that transfers momentum to the spacecraft through perfectly inelastic collisions with the tank wall. The foundation of the modeling methodology is the approach taken during the Apollo program used to predict the effect of fuel slosh on the complex motion exhibited by the Service Module following separation from the Command Module. This paper discusses the motivation, methodology, and conclusions from the Apollo-era method, then presents corrections to the derivation of the dynamics and fills in the gaps left from the unavailability of the detailed contractor report and simulation code. The results presented in this paper provide an example that demonstrates the effect that fuel slosh can have on the trajectory of a spacecraft in a low-g environment.

William J Elke III↗

Spacecraft Passive Safety Assessment Using Ellipse Constraints and Relative Orbital Elements

This paper presents necessary and sufficient conditions for validating spacecraft passive safety using relative orbital elements (ROE) centered around the far-field to near-field trajectory design of a hypothetical autonomous rendezvous and docking (AR&D) mission. The specific formulation of the ROEs used in this study are of quasi-nonsingular form based on elative eccentricity/inclination vectors. Current methodologies for ensuring passive safety apply keep-out volumes (KOV) to maintain appropriate separation between the Servicer and Client. Widely used techniques to assess the integrity of the KOV involve forward propagation of the relative Cartesian state to check for a potential KOV breach. In this study, an alternative approach to the propagation-based method is proposed using ROEs due to their valuable geometric insights of spacecraft relative motion. Modeling the relative trajectory and KOV ellipsoids as ellipses into the 2-D ROE sub-space simplifies the passive safety validation to a root-finding problem within the unit disk with high computational efficiency. Other approaches to intersection detection of the KOV are also evaluated in accuracy and run-time. Furthermore, a Monte Carlo simulation was employed to compare the ROE-based and relative Cartesian approaches in terms of maneuver error.

Bruce Barbour↗