In-Situ Resource Utilization for “OSAM” Logistics and Space Development
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Dennis M. Bushnell↗
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Projected Context And Enablements Of Deep Space Development
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Dennis M. Bushnell↗
Commercial development of space - A national commitment
The United States is currently in a unique position. It has all the assets required to lead the world in commercial space development. It has the transportation: the Shuttle and a family of expendable launch vehicles. Space Station Freedom is forthcoming. It has the extrepreneurial spirit, coupled with a strong university system and lending institutions with financial capacity necessary for entrepreneurial activities. But, there are a number of actions that the government should take to improve the climate and prospects for greater commercial development of space. This paper outlines some of the steps that NASA is taking to incentivize the private sector to apply its resources and talents to commercial space endeavors.
Rose, James T.↗
Space experiment development process
Described is a process for developing space experiments utilizing the Space Shuttle. The role of the Principal Investigator is described as well as the Principal Investigator's relation with the project development team. Described also is the sequence of events from an early definition phase through the steps of hardware development. The major interactions between the hardware development program and the Shuttle integration and safety activities are also shown. The presentation is directed to people with limited Shuttle experiment experience. The objective is to summarize the development process, discuss the roles of major participants, and list some lessons learned. Two points should be made at the outset. First, no two projects are the same so the process varies from case to case. Second, the emphasis here is on Code EN/Microgravity Science and Applications Division (MSAD).
Depauw, James F.↗
Space applications research and development.
Space applications research and development
SPACECRAFT SENSOR↗
Enabling Sustainable Exploration through the Commercial Development of Space
The commercial development of space offers enabling benefits to space exploration. This paper examines how those benefits can be realized, and how the Space Product Development Office of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is taking the first steps towards opening the space frontier through vital and sustainable industrial development. The Space Product Development Office manages 15 Commercial Space Centers that partner with US industry to develop opportunities for commerce in space. This partnership directly benefits NASA exploration in four primary ways. First, by actively involving traditional and non-traditional companies in commercial space activities, it seeks and encourages to the maximum extent possible the fullest commercial use of space, as directed by NASA's charter. Second, the commercial research and technologies pursued and developed in the program often have direct applicability to NASA priority mission areas. This dual use strategy for research and technology has the potential to greatly expand what the NASA scientific community can do. Third, the commercial experiment hardware developed by the Commercial Space Centers and their industrial partners is available for use by NASA researchers in support of priority NASA research. By utilizing low cost and existing commercial hardware, essential NASA research can be more readily accomplished. Fourth, by assisting industry in understanding the use of the environment of space and in helping industry enhance the tools and technologies for NASA and commercial space systems, the market for commercial space utilization and the capability for meeting the future growing market needs is being developed. These two activities taken together form the beginning of a new space economy that will enable sustainable NASA exploration of the universe.
Nall, Mark↗
Earth-to-Geostationary Orbit Transportation for Space Solar Power System Development
Space solar power satellites have the potential to provide abundant quantities of electricity for use on Earth. One concept, the Sun Tower, can be assembled in geostationary orbit from pieces transferred from Earth. The cost of transportation is one of the major hurdles to space solar power. This study found that autonomous solar-electric transfer is a good choice for the transportation from LEO to GEO.
Martin, James A.↗
Overview of Space Technology developed during 1980s ~ present
Early 1980s, a science team of NASA Langley Research has developed various space power systems, especially directly solar-pumped iodine laser (DSPIL), wireless power transmission technology, concepts of solar thermal propulsion, pulse-power for direct-energy weapons (DEW) applications, soft X-ray lithography and to name a few. This presentation will briefly overview these NASA-Langley developed space technology for future applications.
plasma devices↗
Space Technology: Game Changing Development Deep Space Engine (DSE) 100 lbf and 5 lbf Thruster Development and Qualification
Science mission studies require spacecraft propulsion systems that are high-performance, lightweight, and compact. Highly matured technology and low-cost, short development time of the propulsion system are also very desirable. The Deep Space Engine (DSE) 100-lbf thruster is being developed to meet these needs. The overall goal of this game changing technology project is to qualify the DSE thrusters along with 5-lbf attitude control thrusters for space flight and for inclusion in science and exploration missions. The aim is to perform qualification tests representative of mission duty cycles. Most exploration missions are constrained by mass, power and cost. As major propulsion components, thrusters are identified as high-risk, long-lead development items. NASA spacecraft primarily rely on 1960s' heritage in-space thruster designs and opportunities exist for reducing size, weight, power, and cost through the utilization of modern materials and advanced manufacturing techniques. Advancements in MON-25/MMH hypergolic bipropellant thrusters represent a promising avenue for addressing these deficiencies with tremendous mission enhancing benefits. DSE is much lighter and costs less than currently available thrusters in comparable thrust classes. Because MON-25 propellants operate at lower temperatures, less power is needed for propellant conditioning for in-space propulsion applications, especially long duration and/or deep-space missions. Reduced power results in reduced mass for batteries and solar panels. DSE is capable of operating at a wide propellant temperature range (between -22 F and 122 F) while a similar existing thruster operates between 45 F and 70 F. Such a capability offers robust propulsion operation as well as flexibility in design. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center evaluated available operational Missile Defense Agency heritage thrusters suitable for the science and lunar lander propulsion systems.
Barnett, Gregory↗
Space Network Devices Developed
The NASA Glenn Research Center through a contract with Spectrum Astro, Inc., has been developing space network hardware as an enabling technology using open systems interconnect (OSI) standards for space-based communications applications. The OSI standard is a well-recognized layered reference model that specifies how data should be sent node to node in a communications network. Because of this research and technology development, a space-qualifiable Ethernet-based network interface card (similar to the type found in a networked personal computer) and the associated four-port hub were designed and developed to flight specifications. During this research and development, there also have been many lessons learned for determining approaches for migrating existing spacecraft architectures to an OSI-network-based platform. Industry has recognized the benefits of targeting hardware developed around OSI standards such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or similar protocols for use in future generations of space communication systems. Some of these tangible benefits include overall reductions in mission schedule and cost and in system complexity. This development also brings us a step closer to the realization of a principal investigator on a terrestrial Internet site being able to interact with space platform assets in near real time. To develop this hardware, Spectrum Astro first conducted a technology analysis of alternatives study. For this analysis, they looked at the features of three protocol specifications: Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), Firewire (IEEE 1394), and Spacewire (IEEE 1355). A thorough analysis was performed on the basis of criteria such as current protocol performance and suitability for future space applications. Spectrum Astro also projected future influences such as cost, hardware and software availability, throughput performance, and integration procedures for current and transitive space architectures. After a thorough analysis, Ethernet was chosen because it was seen as the best longer term fit because of the prevalent commercial market; the current and projected availability of hardware, software, and development tools; and the ease of architecture integration.
Jones, Robert E.↗
Space Product Development: Bringing the Benefits of Space Down to Earth
The newly developed microgravity Research Program Office was created to consolidate and integrate NASA's microgravity research efforts, comprised of the microgravity Science and Applications Program and Space Product Development Program. This resulted in an integrated agency program serving the science and industrial research communities, providing leadership, management, direction and overview of all agency microgravity research activities. This paper provides an overview of NASA's microgravity Research Program, with particular emphasis on the Space Product Development Program activities, the potential economic impact and quality of life improvements resulting from this research, and future plans for commercial microgravity research in space. The goal of the Space Product Development Program is to facilitate the use of space for commercial products and services. The unique attributes of space are exploited to conduct industry driven research in the areas of crystallography, bio-systems, agriculture, electronic and non-electronic materials. Industry uses the knowledge gained from focused space research to create new products and processes, to gain economic competitive advantages, to create new jobs and improve the quality of life on earth. The objectives of the program are implemented through NASA's Commercial Space Centers, non-profit consortia of industry, academia and government, that provide the mechanism for communication and technical expert exchange between NASA and industry. Over 200 commercial research activities have been conducted by the Commercial Space Centers and their industrial affiliates over the last four and one-half years during Space Shuttle mission, as well as sounding rocket flights. The results of this research will have a significant impact on competitive products, jobs and quality of life improvements.
Allen, Rosalie W.↗
Space and planetary environment criteria guidelines for use in space vehicle development 1977 revision
Space and planetary natural environment data were presented for use as design criteria guidelines in space vehicle development programs. Specifically, information is provided in the disciplinary areas of atmospheric and ionospheric properties, radiation, solar cycle predictions, geomagnetic field, astrodynamic constants, and meteoroids for the Earth's atmosphere above 90 km, interplanetary space, and the atmospheres and surfaces (when available) of the moon and the planets (other than earth) of the solar system. The current upper atmosphere model and solar cycle prediction routines were described in detail.
West, G. S., Jr.↗
Space Shuttle SRM development
The successful static test of the fourth Development Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) in February 1979 concluded the development testing phase of the SRM Project. Qualification and flight motors are currently being fabricated, with the first qualification motor to be static tested. Delivered thrust-time traces on all development motors were very close to predicted values, and both specific and total impulse exceeded specification requirements. 'All-up' static tests conducted with a solid rocket booster equipment on development motors achieved all test objectives. Transportation and support equipment concepts have been proven, baselining is complete, and component reusability has been demonstrated. Evolution of the SRM transportation support equipment, and special test equipment designs are reviewed, and development activities discussed. Handling and processing aspects of large, heavy components are described.
Brinton, B. C.↗
Space biology research development
The purpose of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute is to conduct and promote research related activities regarding the search for extraterrestrial life, particularly intelligent life. Such research encompasses the broad discipline of 'Life in the Universe', including all scientific and technological aspects of astronomy and the planetary sciences, chemical evolution, the origin of life, biological evolution, and cultural evolution. The primary purpose was to provide funding for the Principal Investigator to collaborate with the personnel of the SETI Institute and the NASA-Ames Research center in order to plan and develop space biology research on and in connection with Space Station Freedom; to promote cooperation with the international partners in the space station; to conduct a study on the use of biosensors in space biology research and life support system operation; and to promote space biology research through the initiation of an annual publication 'Advances in Space Biology and Medicine'.
Bonting, Sjoerd L.↗
Space Station thermal storage/refrigeration system research and development
Space Station thermal loading conditions represent an order of magnitude increase over current and previous spacecraft such as Skylab, Apollo, Pegasus III, Lunar Rover Vehicle, and Lockheed TRIDENT missiles. Thermal storage units (TSU's) were successfully used on these as well as many applications for ground based solar energy storage applications. It is desirable to store thermal energy during peak loading conditions as an alternative to providing increased radiator surface area which adds to the weight of the system. Basically, TSU's store heat by melting a phase change material (PCM) such as a paraffin. The physical property data for the PCM's used in the design of these TSU's is well defined in the literature. Design techniques are generally well established for the TSU's. However, the Space Station provides a new challenge in the application of these data and techniques because of three factors: the large size of the TSU required, the integration of the TSU for the Space Station thermal management concept with its diverse opportunities for storage application, and the TSU's interface with a two-phase (liquid/vapor) thermal bus/central heat rejection system. The objective in the thermal storage research and development task was to design, fabricate, and test a demonstration unit. One test article was to be a passive thermal storage unit capable of storing frozen food at -20 F for a minimum of 90 days. A second unit was to be capable of storing frozen biological samples at -94 F, again for a minimum of 90 days. The articles developed were compatible with shuttle mission conditions, including safety and handling by astronauts. Further, storage rack concepts were presented so that these units can be integrated into Space Station logistics module storage racks. The extreme sensitivity of spacecraft radiator systems design-to-heat rejection temperature requirements is well known. A large radiator area penalty is incurred if low temperatures are accommodated via a single centralized radiator system. As per the scope of work of this task, the applicability of refrigeration system tailored to meet the specialized requirements of storage of food and biological samples was investigated. The issues addressed were the anticipated power consumption and feasible designs and cycles for meeting specific storage requirements. Further, development issues were assessed related to the operation of vapor compression systems in micro-gravity addressing separation of vapor and liquid phases (via capillary systems).
Dean, W. G.↗
Hyperspectral Imaging on the International Space Station: An Innovative Approach to Commercial Development of Space
NASA s Space Partnership Division (SPD) was established to promote the commercial development of space by providing access to space ai opportunity to perform commercial research in the microgravity environment. NASA, through SPD, has established Research Partnership Centers (RPC s) that bring the government, universities at private industry together to perform research in space for commercial applica!.!lons. The SPD Office has fostered a re!ationship between an RPC and an aerospace company to perform hyperspectral imaging on the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF) on board the International Space Station (ISS). As a result of this relationship and M the capabilities of the WORF, the ISS will serve the private sector with platform to conduct hyperspectral imaging for commercial research.
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