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The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER'03), Spirit and Opportunity, represent the state of the art in rover operations on Mars. This paper presents validation experiments of different visual tracking algorithms using the rover's navigation camera.
Characteristics and accuracies of an earth-based tracking system for lunar circumnavigation missions
An assessment of the planned processing hardware and software/firmware for the Communications and Tracking System of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) was performed. The intent of the assessment was to determine the optimum distribution of software/firmware in the processing hardware for maximum throughput with minimum required memory. As a product of the assessment process an assessment methodology was to be developed that could be used for similar assessments of future manned spacecraft system designs. The assessment process was hampered by changing requirements for the Space Station. As a result, the initial objective of determining the optimum software/firmware allocation was not fulfilled, but several useful conclusions and recommendations resulted from the assessment. It was concluded that the assessment process would not be completely successful for a system with changing requirements. It was also concluded that memory requirements and hardware requirements were being modified to fit as a consequence of the change process, and although throughput could not be quantitized, potential problem areas could be identified. Finally, inherent flexibility of the system design was essential for the success of a system design with changing requirements. Recommendations resulting from the assessment included development of common software for some embedded controller functions, reduction of embedded processor requirements by hardwiring some Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) to make better use of processor capabilities, and improvement in communications between software development personnel to enhance the integration process. Lastly, a critical observation was made regarding the software integration tasks did not appear to be addressed in the design process to the degree necessary for successful satisfaction of the system requirements.
With the successful implementation of the International Space Station (ISS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) enters a new era of opportunity for scientific research. The ISS provides a working laboratory in space, with tremendous capabilities for scientific research. Utilization of these capabilities requires a launch system capable of routinely transporting crew and logistics to/from the ISS, as well as supporting ISS assembly and maintenance tasks. The Space Shuttle serves as NASA's launch system for performing these functions. The Space Shuttle also serves as NASA's launch system for supporting other science and servicing missions that require a human presence in space. The Space Shuttle provides proof that reusable launch vehicles are technically and physically implementable. However, a couple of problems faced by NASA are the prohibitive cost of operating and maintaining the Space Shuttle and its relative inability to support high launch rates. The 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle (2nd Gen RLV) is NASA's solution to this problem. The 2nd Gen RLV will provide a robust launch system with increased safety, improved reliability and performance, and less cost. The improved performance and reduced costs of the 2nd Gen RLV will free up resources currently spent on launch services. These resource savings can then be applied to scientific research, which in turn can be supported by the higher launch rate capability of the 2nd Gen RLV. The result is a win - win situation for science and NASA. While meeting NASA's needs, the 2nd Gen RLV also provides the United States aerospace industry with a commercially viable launch capability. One of the keys to achieving the goals of the 2nd Gen RLV is to develop and implement new technologies and processes in the area of flight operations. NASA's experience in operating the Space Shuttle and the ISS has brought to light several areas where automation can be used to augment or eliminate functions performed by crew and ground controllers. This experience has also identified the need for new approaches to staffing and training for both crew and ground controllers. This paper provides a brief overview of the mission capabilities provided by the 2nd Gen RLV, a description of NASA's approach to developing the 2nd Gen RLV, a discussion of operations concepts, and a list of challenges to implementing those concepts.
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The purpose of this poster is talk about the overview of Space Launch System and communication devices located on Crew Module and Crew Module Adapter of Orion.
The prospects of using spacecraft Doppler tracking, in NASA missions, for the detection of gravitational waves are examined. The sensitivity limits of such detection are characterized in terms of plasma scintillation, troposphere scintillation, receiver noise, MDA and ODA quantization error, and clock jitter. Current and possible future NASA missions that will involve gravitational wave experiments are briefly reviewed, including the Galileo, solar polar, Halley/Tempel-2, and solar probe missions.
Doppler tracking of distant spacecraft is the only method currently available to search for gravitational waves in the low-frequency (~0.0001-0.1 Hz) band. Suppose that the Clock Mission spacecraft is transferred into a suitable interplanetary orbit, I discuss here how the on-board frequency standard could be employeed with an all-Ka-band radio system using the very high stability Deep Space Network station DSS 25 being instrumented for Cassini. With this configuration, the Clock Mission could search for gravitational waves at a sensitivity limited by the frequency standards, rather than plasma or tropospheric scintillation effects, whenever the sun-earth-spacecraft angle is greater than 90 degrees.
Tracking and data acquisition for Project Voyager are discussed for the period of April through June 1981. Voyager 1 was in the extended mission phase of operations. Voyager 2 completed the cruise phase of its operations and on 5 June entered the observatory phase of the Saturn encounter operations.
Tracking and data acquisition support systems for Surveyor 7 mission
Manned Space Flight Network and Mission Control Center configurations for main line Apollo missions
NASA Office of Tracking and Data Acquisition mission support and ground and spacecraft communication networks
Doppler tracking of distant spacecraft is the only method currently available to search for gravitational waves in the low-frequency (approx. 0.0001-0.1 Hz) band. In this technique the Doppler system measures the relative dimensionless velocity 2(delta)v/c = (delta)f/f(sub o) between the earth and the spacecraft as a function of time, where (delta)f is the frequency perturbation and f(sub o) is the nominal frequency of the radio link. A gravitational wave of amplitude h incident on this system causes small frequency perturbations, of order h in (delta)f/f(sub o), replicated three times in the observed record (Estabrook and Wahlquist 1975). All experiments to date and those planned for the near future involve only 'two-way' Doppler-i.e., uplink signal coherently transponded by the spacecraft with Doppler measured using a frequency standard common to the transmit and receive chains of the ground station. If, as on the proposed Clock Mission, there is an additional frequency standard on the spacecraft and a suitable earth-spacecraft radio system, some noise sources can be isolated and removed from the data (Vessot and Levine 1978). Supposing that the Clock Mission spacecraft is transferred into a suitable interplanetary orbit, I discuss here how the on-board frequency standard could be employed with an all-Ka-band radio system using the very high stability Deep Space Network station DSS 25 being instrumented for Cassini. With this configuration, the Clock Mission could search for gravitational waves at a sensitivity limited by the frequency standards, rather than plasma or tropospheric scintillation effects, whenever the sun-earth-spacecraft angle is greater than 90 degrees.
Rendezvous radar tracking requirements for angular bias compensation during Apollo 9 flight
Ground based radar tracking data processing method for real time information concerning lunar module /LM/ position and velocity during Apollo 12 flight
The track model of Katz is used to make predictions of cell damage rates for possible Lifesat experiments. Contributions from trapped protons and electrons and galactic cosmic rays are considered for several orbits. Damage rates for survival and transformation of C3HT10-1/2 cells are predicted for various spacecraft shields.
Earth based radio tracking and orbit determination accuracies for Ranger and Mariner missions
Differencing multiple, simultaneous Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) one-way Doppler passes can yield metric tracking data usable for orbit determination for (low-cost) spacecraft which do not have TDRSS transponders or local oscillators stable enough to allow the one-way TDRSS Doppler tracking data to be used for early mission orbit determination. Orbit determination error analysis results are provided for low Earth orbiting spacecraft for various early mission tracking scenarios.