Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “davinci”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

48 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Nephele: An Entry Probe & Sonde Concept for a Venus Ride-Along or Small Spacecraft Mission

Nephele is a Venus atmospheric descent probe concept designed to analyze cloud, haze, and dust particles. It combines a unique set of technologies (Figure 1): recently developed thermal protection materials (3D-CC and HEEET), aerosol sampling technologies with heritage in both planetary and airborne science (high-speed inlets and particle separation), and rapid, robust optical analysis instruments (such as the VOLTR dual spectrometer). Nephele is designed to be complentary to other efforts such as DAVINCI and Venera-D, which target Venus atmospheric gas analysis, by specifically targeting cloud and haze particles.

Nephele↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

AERACEPT (Aerosol Rapid Analysis Combined Entry Probe/sonde Technology): Enabling Technology for Missions to the Venus Clouds

AERACEPT (AErosol Rapid Analysis Combined Entry Probe/sonde Technology) is an early-stage technology allowing a single aeroshell body to act as both an entry vehicle and aerosol-sampling passive descent sonde. AERACEPT does not require heat shield separation, deployable parachutes, or descent control, thus reducing the mass, volume, and complexity of planetary aerosol sampling. AERACEPT is particularly well suited for a Venus mission, where the particles of greatest interest are within the subsonic descent regime. AERACEPT uses the aeroshell’s own velocity to drive aerosol capture and separation through a series of embedded inlets. It takes advantage of recently developed thermal protection materials (3D-CC and HEEET) in combination with heritage aerosol sampling technologies from both planetary and airborne science (high-speed inlets and particle separation). The trade space for a given descent trajectory includes the particle capture efficiency for a given size, the bias introduced in the sampled particle size and concentration distributions, and the thermal alteration experienced by the particles during their brief exposure to the internal flow environment. AERACEPT is included in the Nephele mission concept study for a small spacecraft targeting the Venus middle and lower cloud layers. Nephele complements larger missions targeting Venus atmospheric gas analysis, such as DAVINCI and Venera-D, by specifically targeting cloud and haze particles. Because of the short lifetime of the probe in the lower atmosphere, Nephele requires a fast cadence of analysis of the captured particles, and includes the VOLTR dual optical spectrometer (SERS/LIBS) as part of its notional payload. Preliminary modeling based on the Nephele trajectory at 63 km to 39 km indicates AERACEPT can limit sample heating to 30-60 K above ambient. A modified particle tracking model has been implemented to estimate capture efficiency of particles larger than 0.1 µm and total sample volume as part of an inlet and interal flow path geometry trade study. Further modeling and empirical testing is underway to improve these estimates.

AERACEPT↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Heating and Sampling Efficiency Evaluation for the Nephele Venus Cloud Sampling Mission Concept

Nephele is a descent probe concept with a unique combination of entry (3D-CC+HEEET), sampling (flow-through passive impactors), and optics (laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, or LIBS, and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, or SERS), technologies with two key innovations. The first is the integration of the aerosol sampling inlet into the aeroshell body, allowing the possibility of sampling during passive descent without separation. The second is the use of the aerosol capture surface as an optical analysis substrate, allowing fast-cadence aerosol analysis via a dual optical spectrometer instead of mass spectrometry. Although this concept shares some features with other efforts such as Cupid’s Arrow (single-body sample capture system), DAVINCI and Venera-D (use of an optical spectrometer), Nephele is unique in its physical integration of the sonde body, aerosol and gas sampler, and analysis instrumentation. This innovation is designed to eliminate the need for a controlled descent to achieve a detailed atmospheric aerosol transect, which offers in situ planetary science in a small spacecraft envelope. Aeroshell designs with inlets for free-falling sondes are well-understood, though not yet assessed for aerosol capture efficiency. A HEEET aeroshell with a specialized nose inlet material comprised of Carbon-Carbon is proposed for this mission concept.

Venus↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Preliminary Results from the HOTTech-2 Venus Weathering Experiment

Rocks exposed on the surface of Venus are subjected to extreme conditions. The most notable features of the planet’s atmosphere are its pressure (93 bars), its temperature (~460 degrees C), and the presence of oxidizing species such as SO 2 . In aggregate, these factors can be expected to alter exposed rocks over geologic timescales. Our understanding of the nature of this alteration is limited, as the conditions on the Venusian surface are unlike any encountered on the surface of Earth. Last summer, we initiated a multi-year experimental study of Venusian weathering processes. This project dovetails with the community’s Venus Exploration Roadmap, as it addresses priorities such as the study of Venus’ modern habitability and preparations for the upcoming VERITAS, DAVINCI+, and EnVision missions.

GEER↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Venus Atmosphere Experimental Simulation Performance of the Glenn Extreme Environment Rig

The rejuvenated exploration of Venus remains a high priority within NASA, as evidenced by the selection of two Discovery class missions (DAVINCI and VERITAS) to be launched within the decade, and the support of the European Space Agency’s EnVision mission. All three missions represent a transformative advancement in the understanding of Earth’s enigmatic neighbor. In order to maximize the science return from these missions, and to facilitate the infusion of new technologies into potential future missions, NASA’s Glenn Research Center operates a unique facility, the Glenn Extreme Environment Rig (GEER), to simulate ambient conditions at Venus’ surface for long durations.

GEER↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Active Volcanoes of Kamchatka as Suitable Terrestrial Analogs for Future Landing Missions and for Change Detection Analysis on Venus

The next decade will see the return to Venus due to a number of missions which have been recently selected and proposed for launch. The selected missions NASA DAVINCI and VERITAS, Roscosmos Venera-D, and ESA EnVision, along with the proposed missions ISRO Shukrayaan- 1, and CNSA VOICE, will open a new era for the exploration of the Earth’s hellish twin planet. These missions will shed new light on the science questions such as: (a) whether recent volcanic activity is locally constrained, or active volcanism occurs on a global scale; (b) the rate of the present-day volcanic activity; (c) the styles of volcanism on Venus, including possible occurrences of pyroclastic/explosive volcanism; and (d) how does the extreme environment on Venus effect volcanic activity. In preparation for these future missions to Venus, the Analogs for VENus’ GEologically Recent Surfaces (AVENGERS) initiative has the scope to select and analyze a number of active terrestrial volcanoes as suitable analogs for the identification and analysis of active volcanism on Venus. The Roscosmos Venera-D is the only mission, among the currently selected or planned mission, equipped with a lander to analyze the elemental and mineralogical composition of the surface. Therefore, it is crucial to find applicable volcanic areas on Earth to perform operational tests such as surface drilling and in-situ elemental composition analysis. To this regard, we propose the analysis of active volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula, which is in a geodynamic setting (subduction) contrasting to that of the volcanic rises on Venus (hot spot). Thus, Kamchatka may represent a helpful geodynamic endmember to put the expected landing site of the Venera-D mission within the context of the entire variety of volcanic landforms and surface chemistry. The Kamchatka Peninsula is located on the eastern margin of the Eurasian plate, in proximity to the Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone. The frequent eruptions characterizing the volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula make them a suitable terrestrial analog for the possible detection of ongoing eruptions on Venus by future missions, which can be achieved by comparing a sequence of radar images of the same volcano and its surroundings taken at different times. Moreover, it is possible to collect samples of both unweathered and weathered volcanic deposits, to analyze their near infrared spectra in the laboratory for direct comparison with the spectra to be provided by the future missions to Venus. The chemical analyses of Venusian surface materials from the previous Soviet Venera and Vega missions are consistent with that of tholeiitic basalts. Since the volcanism of the Kamchatka Peninsula is characterized by both basaltic lava flows eruptions and pyroclastic activity, performing operational tests in the Kamchatka Peninsula also offers the unique opportunity to provide us the tools to potentially interpret the diverse output given by both effusive and explosive volcanic products.

Piero D'Incecco↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Venus Atmosphere Experimental Simulation Performance of the Glenn Extreme Environment Rig

The rejuvenated exploration of Venus remains a high priority within NASA, as evidenced by the selection of two Discovery class missions (DAVINCI and VERITAS) to be launched within the decade, and the support of the European Space Agency’s EnVision mission. All three missions represent a transformative advancement in the understanding of Earth’s enigmatic neighbor. In order to maximize the science return from these missions, and to facilitate the infusion of new technologies into potential future missions, NASA’s Glenn Research Center operates a unique facility, the Glenn Extreme Environment Rig (GEER), to simulate ambient conditions at Venus’ surface for long durations.

GEER↗
NASA NTRS2024

The Active Volcanoes of Kamchatka as Suitable Terrestrial Analogs Within the AVENGERS Initiative: An Opportunity for In-Situ Operational Tests for Future Landing Venus Missions

The next decade will see the return to Venus thanks to a number of missions which have been recently selected and proposed for launch. The Roscosmos Venera-D mission, along with the NASA DAVINCI, NASA VERITAS, ESA EnVision, the ISRO Shukrayaan-1, and the CNSA VOICE missions will open a new era for the exploration of the Earth’s hellish twin planet. The next missions to Venus should be able to shed new light on the science questions such as: a) whether the volcanic activity on this planet is locally constrained, or volcanism acts on a global scale, b) the rate of the present-day volcanic activity, and c) the style of volcanism on Venus, whether it is predominantly effusive, or the occurrence of local episodes of pyroclastic volcanism is also possible. In preparation for the future missions to Venus, the Analogs for VENus’ Geologically Recent Surfaces (AVENGERS) initiative will select and analyze a number of active terrestrial volcanoes as suitable analogs for the identification and analysis of active volcanism on Venus. Among the future missions to Venus, the Roscosmos Venera-D is the only one to be equipped with a lander which will analyze the elemental and mineralogical composition of the surface. As the young topographic rises (areas characterized by recent volcano-tectonic activity) on Venus are being proposed as one of the possible terrain types for the Venera-D landing, it is crucial to look for volcanic areas on Earth where to perform operational tests such as surface drilling and in-situ elemental composition analysis. To this regard, we propose here the analysis of the active volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia as a very suitable analog for the Venera-D mission, as well as for the analysis of surface change detection due to ongoing eruptions. The Kamchatka Peninsula is located on the eastern margin of the Eurasia plate, in proximity of the Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone. The volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula are among the most active volcanoes of the world, making them a suitable terrestrial analog in the search for active volcanism on Venus. Moreover, the volcanoes of Kamchatka are characterized by pyroclastic activity. Since the previous Soviet Venera and Vega missions landed over areas which elemental composition was most likely consistent with that of tholeiitic basalts, performing operational tests over areas characterized by pyroclastic activity also offers the unique opportunity to provide us the tools to potentially interpret the diverse output given by landing over portions of the surface of Venus possibly characterized by explosive volcanic products. Finally, the frequent eruptions characterizing the volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula make them also a suitable terrestrial analog for the possible detection of ongoing eruptions on Venus by future missions, which can be achieved by comparing two (or more) radar images of the same volcano (and its surroundings) in two (or more) different moments of time.

Planetary Geology↗
NASA NTRS2024

Wind Tunnel Test of A Scale Model of A Venus Probe to Determine Aeroacoustics Environment

The Zephyr probe for NASA’s DAVINCI project is being designed to fly to Venus and collect measurements to characterize the Venusian atmosphere while it descends towards the surface. Despite a slow descent speed as the probe approaches the surface, the very dense atmosphere means the vibro-acoustic environment that the probe must withstand could be very harsh. A wind tunnel test campaign was conducted to characterize the surface-pressure fluctuations (acoustics) on the external surface of the probe during the descent. The goal was to provide forcing functions for vibro-acoustic analysis of all instruments inside the probe. A 25% scale-model of the Zephyr probe was manufactured, instrumented with 18 microphones, and tested in two wind tunnels located in the Fluid Mechanics Lab at NASA Ames Research Center at velocities ranging from 13 m/s to 48 m/s. Trip strips were added to the model to ensure a turbulent boundary layer on the model. Microphones were located appropriately to provide spectra of pressure fluctuations in regions with different flow characteristics as well as for calculating various two-point statistics. The acoustic spectra measured in the wind tunnel tests were scaled up to flight-scale using the estimated flight trajectory information. Besides fluctuating surface-pressure measurements, hot-film velocity measurements as well as smoke-laser flow visualization were conducted to better understand the flow around the probe. Lastly, several different geometry configurations were tested to see whether any reduction in acoustic levels could be achieved, but none of the configurations that were tested offered significant improvements. The flow visualization showed 3 primary flow regimes on the model: an attached turbulent boundary layer on the front of the model, a region of separated flow upstream of the flared lip, and a large, separated wake at the rear of the model. The acoustic spectra generally show three different shapes corresponding to these flow regions, with the highest levels seen at the rear of the model, and directly in front of the drag plate. The scaled overall levels of pressure fluctuations were found to be high: in the range of 130dB to 155dB.

planetary probe↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

AERACEPT (AErosol Rapid Analysis Combined Entry Probe/sonde Technology) for the Nephele Venus Cloud Mission Concept

Nephele is a small atmospheric probe mission concept to determine whether the Venus clouds contain organic matter. Nephele complements larger missions that seek to conduct Venus atmospheric analyses, such as DAVINCI, Venera-D, and the Morning Star missions, by directly sampling and analyzing cloud and haze particles. AERACEPT is an aerosol sampling technology designed to minimize the mass, volume, and complexity required for in situ planetary atmosphere characterization. A single aeroshell functions as a combined entry vehicle, descent probe, and instrumented sonde, combining recent advances in thermal protection materials with heritage technology from planetary and airborne science. The velocity of descent drives aerosol through inlets embedded in the aeroshell’s thermal protection material; inertial separation isolates the particles from the gas stream; and the particle capture surface doubles as the analysis substrate. This method can work without heat shield separation, descent control, or active sample handling; these advantages trade against a smaller sample volume, higher risk of sample heating, and shorter time for analysis and data return. AERACEPT further benefits from modeling of the internal and external flow to understand the particle capture efficiency and bias for size and concentration distributions. AERACEPT is well suited for a Venus mission such as Nephele, where a passive descent trajectory is both subsonic over the altitudes of interest and provides sufficient velocity and pressure differential for the particle sizes of interest. A thermal and flow toolchain developed in-house (Traj→ DPLR→ PATO→ openFOAM) was used to model an 80-cm aeroshell with science operations 63–39 km. These models indicate that AERACEPT will provide ~24 µL accumulated sample of particles ≥ 0.2 µm, substantially above the 2 µL threshold requirement. The worst-case particle heating will be ~14 K above ambient, for the smallest particles at the lowest altitude; most particles will experience ≤ 1 K rise, at which almost all analytes of interest will be unaffected. Plasma jet testing of a small-scale aeroshell-material inlet was recently conducted to validate the thermal model parameters; wind tunnel testing to validate the flow model parameters is underway.

AERACEPT↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Advances in Design Capabilities for Planetary Missions from the NASA Entry Systems Modeling and Instrumentation Portfolio

The Entry Systems Modeling project (ESM) is supported by both the NASA Space Technology and the Science Mission Directorates and focuses on developing simulation tools and validated models for characterizing the performance of entry systems tailored to planetary destinations across the Solar System. ESM is organized into six technical capability areas that together address all relevant factors related to spacecraft entry, as well as some aspects of descent: Thermal Protection System (TPS) Materials; Aerothermodynamics; Entry & Descent Vehicle Dynamics; Guidance, Navigation, and Control; Vehicle Systems Analysis; and Advanced Tools and Numerical Methods. Development within the capability areas is undertaken explicitly with a focus on transition and infusion to science missions, human exploration missions, and commercial space activities. The present talk details developments that specifically impact science missions, including simulation tool capabilities that aid in mission design and model development to understand entry system performance at a given destination. Examples of the successful infusion and transition of such project outcomes to science missions also are provided. Several simulation tool development efforts within ESM have resulted in new design capabilities for missions. One such outcome is improved toolsets for mission trajectory and concept of operations design. Specifically, an initiative to couple a leading tool for entry, ascent/descent, and orbital trajectory optimization (Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II or POST2) to those used within the Agency for interplanetary trajectory optimization (Copernicus and Monte) has made substantial progress, with the outcomes to date promising to allow efficient trajectory optimization across mission phases. Additionally, toolchains for the evaluation of vehicle performance during entry and descent have been developed that allow assessment of multi-dimensional aeroheating on detailed vehicle geometries, characterization of deployment and inflation of parachutes, and assessment of vehicle dynamic stability during descent. These capabilities are achieved by coupling diverse sets of physics together – material response, computational fluid dynamics, radiation, and vehicle dynamics – to suitably describe complex entry and descent phenomena. Several model development and validation efforts for specific destinations and entry regimes also are underway within the ESM project. For instance, new experimental capabilities to validate radiation models at low densities/high altitudes recently have been established with project support, specifically the Low-Density Shock Tube (LDST) at the NASA Ames Research Center Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST) facility. The LDST is being leveraged to develop improved models of shock layer kinetics and radiation in Titan atmospheres, while future studies will be conducted in the LDST and the existing high velocity shock tube to provide validation data for radiation models of Venus, Ice Giants, and Mars atmospheres. Models describing the aerothermal and thermo-structural performance of Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials has been another focus, with multiscale modeling activities on-going for the two leading TPS materials applicable to a range of entry conditions and science missions: the Phenolic-Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) and woven materials like 3D Mid-Density Carbon Phenolic (3MDCP). A continual effort is made to infuse and transition outcomes from ESM simulation tool and model development activities into relevant science missions. Significant progress has been made on this front, with missions such as Dragonfly, DAVINCI, and Mars Missions benefitting from project outcomes. The groundwork also is being laid to provide insights into forward looking missions to Gas/Ice Giants as well as for potential sample returns.

Justin Haskins↗