Space Mission Concept Design at the NASA Ames Mission Design Center (MDC)
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Mauro, David↗
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Mission Design for Deep Space 1: A Low-Thrust Technology Validation Mission
Deep Space 1 (DS1), scheduled for launch in July 1998, is the first mission of NASA's New Millennium program, chartered to flight validate high-risk, advanced technologies important for future space and Earth Science programs.
Mission↗
Implementation of System Requirements Models for Space Missions
As a part of it restructuring of the space mission design process, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is investigating a model-driven concept for capturing system level requirements for space missions.
Space Mission Models Design↗
A general branched trajectory optimization algorithm with applications to space shuttle vehicle mission design
Branched trajectory optimization algorithm using steepest descent method applied to space shuttle vehicle mission design
Rozendaal, H. L.↗
Reinventing The Design Process: Teams and Models
The future of space mission designing will be dramatically different from the past. Formerly, performance-driven paradigms emphasized data return with cost and schedule being secondary issues. Now and in the future, costs are capped and schedules fixed-these two variables must be treated as independent in the design process. Accordingly, JPL has redesigned its design process. At the conceptual level, design times have been reduced by properly defining the required design depth, improving the linkages between tools, and managing team dynamics. In implementation-phase design, system requirements will be held in crosscutting models, linked to subsystem design tools through a central database that captures the design and supplies needed configuration management and control. Mission goals will then be captured in timelining software that drives the models, testing their capability to execute the goals. Metrics are used to measure and control both processes and to ensure that design parameters converge through the design process within schedule constraints. This methodology manages margins controlled by acceptable risk levels. Thus, teams can evolve risk tolerance (and cost) as they would any engineering parameter. This new approach allows more design freedom for a longer time, which tends to encourage revolutionary and unexpected improvements in design.
Wall, Stephen D.↗
Reinventing the Design Process: Teams and Models
The future of space mission designing will be dramatically different from the past. Formerly, performance-driven paradigms emphasized data return with cost and schedule being secondary issues.
Design↗
Technologies and Mission Concepts for NHST
A technology workshop entitled "Innovative Designs for the Next Large Aperture Optical/UV Telescope" was held on April 10-11 at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. This workshop was held to consider the technologies that will be required to support optical/UV space missions designed to carry out the science envisioned by the Hubble Science Legacy meeting held in April 2002 in Chicago. Subjects covered at the workshop included: optical designs, wavefront control, mirror technologies, spectrographs, coronagraphs, detector technologies, and in-space construction. A summary of the workshop and near-term plans for investigating several mission concepts will be provided. Funding for this workshop was provided by NASA.
Oegerle, William R.↗
Range and Endurance Tradeoffs on Personal Rotorcraft Design
Rotorcraft design has always been a challenging tradeoff among overall size, capabilities, complexity, and other factors based on available technology and customer requirements. Advancements in propulsion, energy systems and other technologies have enabled new vehicles and missions; complementary advances in analysis methods and tools enable exploration of these enhanced vehicles and the evolving mission design space. A system study was performed to better understand the interdependency between vehicle design and propulsion system capabilities versus hover / loiter requirements and range capability. Three representative vertical lift vehicles were developed to explore the tradeoff in capability between hover efficiency versus range and endurance capability. The vehicles were a single-main rotor helicopter, a tilt rotor, and a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Vehicle capability was limited to two or three people (including pilot or crew) and maximum range within one hour of flight (100-200 miles, depending on vehicle). Two types of propulsion and energy storage systems were used in this study. First was traditional hydrocarbon-fueled cycles (such as Otto, diesel or gas turbine cycles). Second was an all-electric system using electric motors, power management and distribution, assuming batteries for energy storage, with the possibility of hydrocarbon-fueled range extenders. The high power requirements for hover significantly reduced mission radius capability. Loiter was less power intensive, resulting in about 1/2 the equivalent mission radius penalty. With so many design variables, the VTOL aircraft has the potential to perform well for a variety of missions. This vehicle is a good candidate for additional study; component model development is also required to adequately assess performance over the design space of interest.
systems analysis↗
Design of multihundred-watt dynamic isotope power system for robotic space missions
The design of a multihundred-watt dynamic isotope power system (DIPS) based on the US Department of Energy (DOE) general-purpose heat source (GPHS) and small (multihundred-watt) free-piston Stirling engine (FPSE) is described as a potential lower cost alternative to radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). The design is targeted at the power needs of future unmanned deep space and planetary surface exploration missions. Since the competitive potential of FPSE as an isotope convertor was first identified, work has focused on the feasibility of directly integrating GPHS with the Stirling heater head. Thermal modeling of various radiatively coupled heat source/heater head geometries has been performed using data furnished by the developers of FPSE and GPHS. The analysis indicates that, for the 1050 K heater head configurations considered, GPHS fuel clad temperatures remain safe operating limits under all conditions including shutdown of one engine on a twin engine unit. Based on these results, preliminary characterizations of multihundred-watt units have been established. They indicate that, per electrical watt, the GPHS/small Stirling DIPS will be roughly equivalent to MOD RTG in size and mass but will require about a third the amount of isotope fuel.
Bents, D. J.↗
Relevant Parameter Evolution in Team X Mission Concept Designs
The Advanced Projects Design Team, also known as Team X, is a concurrent engineering team that quickly and cheaply designs space mission architectures including the flight system and subsystems, the trajectory, and ground system. Through the use of ICEMaker, an Excel spreadsheet database, the parameters from each subsystem can be shared and used among the other subsystems. This allows for entire missions to be planned with only a few short design team sessions. Based on the results, the feasibility of the mission concept can be determined. Over the Years since the team was created, the amount of information being shared among subsystems on the database has increased, however many of the parameters are now obsolete. Removal of these unused parameters Will clean UP the database and help to streamline the mission design process. By comparing parameter files from previous Team X mission studies, the parameter usage can be determined. As was initially suspected there are more unused parameters on the database than parameters that are actually used.
Huelman, Brandon N.↗
Mission Design for Deep Space One: A Low-Thrust Technology Validation Mission
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Deep Space One↗
The Evolution of Team-X: 25 Years of Concurrent Engineering Design Experience
Established in 1995 in response to NASA’s “Faster, Better, Cheaper” era, Team-X was born from a need to perform rapid space mission design for principal investigator-led competed proposals. The success and sustainability of Team-X over the 25 years that have followed is directly attributable to the Team-X business model and its evolution over time. While dozens of organizations and institutions have emulated the Team-X design process, there are nuances to the Team-X business model that are unique to JPL, and explain why it is different than other concurrent design teams. One of the key components of a business model is the customer segments that are served. Team-X was founded to conduct the Pre-Phase A work necessary to formulate a portfolio of multiple planetary mission concepts, but has since expanded to include the capability to conduct studies for Earth science, astrophysics, and heliophysics missions as well as Human Exploration and Operations missions and space technology development. Team-X delivers value to its clients both in terms of speed and cost. Team-X has also added value by creating teams to enable the development of Instrument and SmallSat Concepts. Value has further been enhanced through a revision of its process for reviews and the addition of pre-design architecting capabilities. Other aspects of the Team-X infrastructure, in addition to study process, have enabled it to succeed for over a quarter century. From our most important resource, the people, our tools, especially for cost estimating, as well as our increasing capable IT infrastructure have contributed to our capability to meet the demands of our clients. The Team-X business model and its evolution over time, position it well for success in the decades to come.
Murphy, Jonathan↗
Range and Endurance Tradeoffs on Personal Rotorcraft Design
Rotorcraft design has always been a challenging tradeoff among overall size, capabilities, complexity, and other factors based on available technology and customer requirements. Advancements in propulsion, energy systems and other technologies have enabled new vehicles and missions; complementary advances in analysis methods and tools enable exploration of these enhanced vehicles and the evolving mission design space. A system study was performed to better understand the interdependency between vehicle design and propulsion system capabilities versus hover loiter requirements and range capability. Three representative vertical lift vehicles were developed to explore the tradeoff in capability between hover efficiency versus range and endurance capability. The vehicles were a single-main rotor helicopter, a tilt rotor, and a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Vehicle capability was limited to two or three people (including pilot or crew) and maximum range within one hour of flight (100-200 miles, depending on vehicle). Two types of propulsion and energy storage systems were used in this study. First was traditional hydrocarbon-fueled cycles (such as Otto, diesel or gas turbine cycles). Second was an all-electric system using electric motors, power management and distribution, assuming batteries for energy storage, with the possibility of hydrocarbon-fueled range extenders. The high power requirements for hover significantly reduced mission radius capability. Loiter was less power intensive, resulting in about 12 the equivalent mission radius penalty. With so many design variables, the VTOL aircraft has the potential to perform well for a variety of missions. This vehicle is a good candidate for additional study; component model development is also required to adequately assess performance over the design space of interest.
systems analysis↗
Design of the VISITOR Tool: A Versatile ImpulSive Interplanetary Trajectory OptimizeR
The design of trajectories for interplanetary missions represents one of the most complex and important problems to solve during conceptual space mission design. To facilitate conceptual mission sizing activities, it is essential to obtain sufficiently accurate trajectories in a fast and repeatable manner. To this end, the VISITOR tool was developed. This tool modularly augments a patched conic MGA-1DSM model with a mass model, launch window analysis, and the ability to simulate more realistic arrival and departure operations. This was implemented in MATLAB, exploiting the built-in optimization tools and vector analysis routines. The chosen optimization strategy uses a grid search and pattern search, an iterative variable grid method. A genetic algorithm can be selectively used to improve search space pruning, at the cost of losing the repeatability of the results and increased computation time. The tool was validated against seven flown missions: the average total mission (Delta)V offset from the nominal trajectory was 9.1%, which was reduced to 7.3% when using the genetic algorithm at the cost of an increase in computation time by a factor 5.7. It was found that VISITOR was well-suited for the conceptual design of interplanetary trajectories, while also facilitating future improvements due to its modular structure.
Corpaccioli, Luca↗
EARLY INFORMATION PARAMETER-SET ANALYSIS FOR SATELLITE CLOSE APPROACHES USING MACHINE LEARNING
In spaceflight navigation applications, understanding and accurately applying orbital mechanics by leveraging force models for trajectory predictions will always remain an important aspect in space mission design and operations. In the process of capturing the dynamics and perturbations in the space environment, the force models are not all encompassing in that these models are subject to errors, commonly referred to as process noise. Therefore, in predicting state vectors of space objects such as spacecraft or debris over long periods of time, these errors in the process noise tend to grow over time.
machine learning↗
Preparing GMAT for Operational Maneuver Planning of the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)
The General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) is an open-source space mission design, analysis and trajectory optimization tool. GMAT is developed by a team of NASA, private industry, public and private contributors. GMAT is designed to model, optimize and estimate spacecraft trajectories in flight regimes ranging from low Earth orbit to lunar applications, interplanetary trajectories and other deep space missions. GMAT has also been flight qualified to support operational maneuver planning for the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) mission. ACE was launched in August, 1997 and is orbiting the Sun-Earth L1 libration point. The primary science objective of ACE is to study the composition of both the solar wind and the galactic cosmic rays. Operational orbit determination, maneuver operations and product generation for ACE are conducted by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Facility (FDF). This paper discusses the entire engineering lifecycle and major operational certification milestones that GMAT successfully completed to obtain operational certification for the ACE mission. Operational certification milestones such as gathering of the requirements for ACE operational maneuver planning, gap analysis, test plans and procedures development, system design, pre-shadow operations, training to FDF ACE maneuver planners, shadow operations, Test Readiness Review (TRR) and finally Operational Readiness Review (ORR) are discussed. These efforts have demonstrated that GMAT is flight quality software ready to support ACE mission operations in the FDF.
Trajectory analysis↗
Preparing General Mission Analysis Tool for Operational Maneuver Planning of the Advanced Composition Explorer Mission
The General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) is an open-source space mission design, analysis and trajectory optimization tool. GMAT is developed by a team of NASA, private industry, public and private contributors. GMAT is designed to model, optimize and estimate spacecraft trajectories in flight regimes ranging from low Earth orbit to lunar applications, interplanetary trajectories and other deep space missions. GMAT has also been flight qualified to support operational maneuver planning for the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) mission. ACE was launched in August, 1997 and is orbiting the Sun-Earth L1 libration point. The primary science objective of ACE is to study the composition of both the solar wind and the galactic cosmic rays. Operational orbit determination, maneuver operations and product generation for ACE are conducted by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Facility (FDF). This paper discusses the entire engineering lifecycle and major operational certification milestones that GMAT successfully completed to obtain operational certification for the ACE mission. Operational certification milestones such as gathering of the requirements for ACE operational maneuver planning, gap analysis, test plans and procedures development, system design, pre-shadow operations, training to FDF ACE maneuver planners, shadow operations, Test Readiness Review (TRR) and finally Operational Readiness Review (ORR) are discussed. These efforts have demonstrated that GMAT is flight quality software ready to support ACE mission operations in the FDF.
mission design↗