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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.

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NASA NTRS2016

Composites for Exploration Upper Stage

The Composites for Exploration Upper Stage (CEUS) was a 3-year, level III project within the Technology Demonstration Missions program of the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate. Studies have shown that composites provide important programmatic enhancements, including reduced weight to increase capability and accelerated expansion of exploration and science mission objectives. The CEUS project was focused on technologies that best advanced innovation, infusion, and broad applications for the inclusion of composites on future large human-rated launch vehicles and spacecraft. The benefits included near- and far-term opportunities for infusion (NASA, industry/commercial, Department of Defense), demonstrated critical technologies and technically implementable evolvable innovations, and sustained Agency experience. The initial scope of the project was to advance technologies for large composite structures applicable to the Space Launch System (SLS) Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) by focusing on the affordability and technical performance of the EUS forward and aft skirts. The project was tasked to develop and demonstrate critical composite technologies with a focus on full-scale materials, design, manufacturing, and test using NASA in-house capabilities. This would have demonstrated a major advancement in confidence and matured the large-scale composite technology to a Technology Readiness Level 6. This project would, therefore, have bridged the gap for providing composite application to SLS upgrades, enabling future exploration missions.

composites↗
NASA NTRS2017

Modeling Oxygen Prebreathe Protocols for Exploration Extravehicular Activities Using Variable Pressure Suits

Exploration missions are expected to use variable pressure extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits as well as a spacecraft "exploration atmosphere" of 56.5 kPa (8.2 psia), 34% O2, both of which provide the possibility of reducing the oxygen prebreathe times necessary to reduce decompression sickness (DCS) risk. Previous modeling work predicted 8.4% DCS risk for an EVA beginning at the exploration atmosphere, followed by 15 minutes of in-suit O2 prebreathe, and 6 hours of EVA at 29.6 kPa (4.3 psia). In this study we model notional prebreathe protocols for a variable pressure suit where the exploration atmosphere is unavailable.

Abercromby, Andrew F. J.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Developing Science Operations Concepts for the Future of Planetary Surface Exploration

Through fly-by, orbiter, rover, and even crewed missions, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been extremely successful in exploring planetary bodies throughout our Solar System. The focus on increasingly complex Mars orbiter and rover missions has helped us understand how Mars has evolved over time and whether life has ever existed on the red planet. However, large strategic knowledge gaps (SKGs) still exist in our understanding of the evolution of the Solar System (e.g. the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, Small Bodies Analysis Group, and Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group). Sending humans to these bodies is a critical part of addressing these SKGs in order to transition to a new era of planetary exploration by 2050.

Young, K. E.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Solar System Exploration Augmented by In-Situ Resource Utilization: Human Planetary Base Issues for Mercury and Saturn

Human and robotic missions to Mercury and Saturn are presented and analyzed with a range of propulsion options. Historical studies of space exploration, planetary spacecraft, and astronomy, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), and industrialization all point to the vastness of natural resources in the solar system. Advanced propulsion benefitted from these resources in many ways. While advanced propulsion systems were proposed in these historical studies, further investigation of nuclear options using high power nuclear thermal and nuclear pulse propulsion as well as advanced chemical propulsion can significantly enhance these scenarios. Updated analyses based on these historical visions are presented. Nuclear thermal propulsion and ISRU enhanced chemical propulsion landers are assessed for Mercury missions. At Saturn, nuclear pulse propulsion with alternate propellant feed systems and Saturn moon exploration with chemical propulsion and nuclear electric propulsion options are discussed. Issues with using in-situ resource utilization on Mercury missions are discussed. At Saturn, the best locations for exploration and the use of the moons Titan and Enceladus as central locations for Saturn moon exploration is assessed.

Lunar↗
NASA NTRS2017

Lightweight Multifunctional Planetary Probe for Extreme Environment Exploration and Locomotion

The demand to explore new worlds requires the development of advanced technologies that enable landed science on uncertain terrains or in hard to reach locations. As a result, contemporary Entry, Descent, Landing, (EDL) and additional locomotion (EDLL) profiles are becoming increasingly more complex, with the introduction of lifting/guided entries, hazard avoidance on descent, and a plethora of landing techniques including airbags and the skycrane maneuver. The inclusion of each of these subsystems into a mission profile is associated with a substantial mass penalty. This report explores the new all-in-one entry vehicle concept, TANDEM, a new combined EDLL concept, and compares it to the current state of the art EDL systems. The explored system is lightweight and collapsible and provides the capacity for lifting/guided entry, guided descent, hazard avoidance, omnidirectional impact protection and surface locomotion without the aid of any additional subsystems. This Phase I study explored: 1. The capabilities and feasibility of the TANDEM concept as an EDLL vehicle. 2. Extensive impact analysis to ensure mission success in unfavorable landing conditions, and safe landing in Tessera regions. 3. Development of a detailed design for a conceptual mission to Venus. As a result of our work it was shown that: 1. TANDEM provides additional benefits over the Adaptive, Deployable Entry Placement Technology (ADEPT) including guided descent and surface locomotion, while reducing the mass by 38% compared to the ADEPT-VITaL mission. 2. Demonstrated that the design of tensegrity structures, and TANDEM specifically, grows linearly with an increase in velocity, which was previously unknown. 3. Investigation of surface impact revealed a promising results that suggest a properly configured TANDEM vehicle can safely land and preform science in the Tessera regions, which was previously labeled by the Decadal Survey as, largely inaccessible despite its high scientific interest. This work has already resulted in a NASA TM and will be submitted to the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets.

landing techniques↗
NASA NTRS2015

A Path to Planetary Protection Requirements for Human Exploration: A Literature Review and Systems Engineering Approach

As systems, technologies, and plans for the human exploration of Mars and other destinations beyond low Earth orbit begin to coalesce, it is imperative that frequent and early consideration is given to how planetary protection practices and policy will be upheld. While the development of formal planetary protection requirements for future human space systems and operations may still be a few years from fruition, guidance to appropriately influence mission and system design will be needed soon to avoid costly design and operational changes. The path to constructing such requirements is a journey that espouses key systems engineering practices of understanding shared goals, objectives and concerns, identifying key stakeholders, and iterating a draft requirement set to gain community consensus. This paper traces through each of these practices, beginning with a literature review of nearly three decades of publications addressing planetary protection concerns with respect to human exploration. Key goals, objectives and concerns, particularly with respect to notional requirements, required studies and research, and technology development needs have been compiled and categorized to provide a current 'state of knowledge'. This information, combined with the identification of key stakeholders in upholding planetary protection concerns for human missions, has yielded a draft requirement set that might feed future iteration among space system designers, exploration scientists, and the mission operations community. Combining the information collected with a proposed forward path will hopefully yield a mutually agreeable set of timely, verifiable, and practical requirements for human space exploration that will uphold international commitment to planetary protection.

Johnson, James E.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Integrating Bioregenerative Foods into the Exploration Spaceflight Food System

Food, the nutrition it provides, and the eating experiences surrounding it, are central to performance, health, and psychosocial wellbeing on long duration spaceflight missions. Exploration missions will require a spaceflight food system that is safe, nutritious, and acceptable for up to five years, possibly without cold storage. Many of the processed and packaged spaceflight foods currently used on the International Space Station will not retain acceptable quality or required levels of key nutrients under these conditions. The addition of bioregenerative produce to exploration missions may become an important countermeasure to the nutritional gaps and a resource to support psychosocial health. Bioregenerative produce will be central to establishment of Earth-independence as exploration extends deeper into space. However, bioregenerative foods introduce food safety and scarcity risks that must be eliminated prior to crew reliance on these systems. The pathway to Earth independence will require small-scale integration and validation prior to large scale bioregenerative dependence. Near term exploration missions offer the opportunity to establish small scale supplemental salad crop and fruit systems and validate infrastructure reliability, nutritional potential, and the psychosocial benefits necessary to promote further bioregenerative integration.

Douglas, Grace L.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Human and Robotic Exploration Missions to Phobos Prior to Crewed Mars Surface Missions

Phobos is a scientifically significant destination that would facilitate the development and operation of the human Mars transportation infrastructure, unmanned cargo delivery systems and other Mars surface systems. In addition to developing systems relevant to Mars surface missions, Phobos offers engineering, operational, and public engagement opportunities that could enhance subsequent Mars surface operations. These opportunities include the use of low latency teleoperations to control Mars surface assets associated with exploration science, human landing-site selection and infrastructure development, which may include in situ resource utilization (ISRU) to provide liquid oxygen for the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). A human mission to Mars' moons would be preceded by a cargo pre-deploy of a surface habitat and a pressurized excursion vehicle (PEV) to Mars orbit. Once in Mars orbit, the habitat and PEV would spiral to Phobos using solar electric propulsion based systems, with the habitat descending to the surface and the PEV remaining in orbit. When a crewed mission is launched to Phobos, it would include the remaining systems to support the crew during the Earth-Mars transit and to reach Phobos after insertion in to Mars orbit. The crew would taxi from Mars orbit to Phobos to join with the predeployed systems in a spacecraft that is based on a MAV, dock with and transfer to the PEV in Phobos orbit, and descend in the PEV to the surface habitat. A static Phobos surface habitat was chosen as a baseline architecture, in combination with the PEV that was used to descend from orbit as the main exploration vehicle. The habitat would, however, have limited capability to relocate on the surface to shorten excursion distances required by the PEV during exploration and to provide rescue capability should the PEV become disabled. To supplement exploration capabilities of the PEV, the surface habitat would utilize deployable EVA support structures that allow astronauts to work from portable foot restraints or body restrain tethers in the vicinity of the habitat. Prototype structures were tested as part of NEEMO 20.

Gernhardt, Michael L.↗
NASA NTRS2017

NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute: Building Collaboration Through International Partnerships

The NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is a virtual institute focused on re-search at the intersection of science and exploration, training the next generation of lunar scientists, and community development. As part of the SSERVI mission, we act as a hub for opportunities that engage the larger scientific and exploration communities in order to form new interdisciplinary, research-focused collaborations. This talk will describe the international partner re-search efforts and how we are engaging the international science and exploration communities through workshops, conferences, online seminars and classes, student exchange programs and internships.

Virtual Institute↗
NASA NTRS2017

NASA's Space Launch System: Enabling Exploration and Discovery

As NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle continues to mature toward its first flight and beyond, so too do the agency's plans for utilization of the rocket. Substantial progress has been made toward the production of the vehicle for the first flight of SLS - an initial "Block 1" configuration capable of delivering more than 70 metric tons (t) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). That vehicle will be used for an uncrewed integrated test flight, propelling NASA's Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit before it returns safely to Earth. Flight hardware for that launch is being manufactured at facilities around the United States, and, in the case of Orion's service module, beyond. At the same time, production has already begun on the vehicle for the second SLS flight, a more powerful Block 1B configuration capable of delivering more than 105 t to LEO. This configuration will be used for crewed launches of Orion, sending astronauts farther into space than anyone has previously ventured. The 1B configuration will introduce an Exploration Upper Stage, capable of both ascent and in-space propulsion, as well as a Universal Stage Adapter - a payload bay allowing the flight of exploration hardware with Orion - and unprecedentedly large payload fairings that will enable currently impossible spacecraft and mission profiles on uncrewed launches. The Block 1B vehicle will also expand on the initial configuration's ability to deploy CubeSat secondary payloads, creating new opportunities for low-cost access to deep space. Development work is also underway on future upgrades to SLS, which will culminate in about a decade in the Block 2 configuration, capable of delivering 130 t to LEO via the addition of advanced boosters. As the first SLS draws closer to launch, NASA continues to refine plans for the human deep-space exploration it will enable. Planning currently focuses on use of the vehicle to assemble a Deep Space Gateway, which would comprise a habitat in the lunar vicinity allowing astronauts to gain experience living and working in deep space, a testbed for new systems and capabilities needed for exploration beyond, and a departure point for NASA and partners to send missions to other destinations. Assembly of the Gateway would be followed by a Deep Space Transport, which would be a vehicle capable of carrying astronauts farther into our solar system and eventually to Mars. This paper will give an overview of SLS' current status and its capabilities, and discuss current utilization planning.

Schorr, Andrew↗
NASA NTRS2017

NASA's Space Launch System: Enabling Exploration and Discovery

As NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle continues to mature toward its first flight and beyond, so too do the agency's plans for utilization of the rocket. Substantial progress has been made toward the production of the vehicle for the first flight of SLS - an initial "Block 1" configuration capable of delivering more than 70 metric tons (t) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). That vehicle will be used for an uncrewed integrated test flight, propelling NASA's Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit before it returns safely to Earth. Flight hardware for that launch is being manufactured at facilities around the United States, and, in the case of Orion's service module, beyond. At the same time, production has already begun on the vehicle for the second SLS flight, a more powerful Block 1B configuration capable of delivering more than 105 metric tons to LEO. This configuration will be used for crewed launches of Orion, sending astronauts farther into space than anyone has previously ventured. The 1B configuration will introduce an Exploration Upper Stage, capable of both ascent and in-space propulsion, as well as a Universal Stage Adapter - a payload bay allowing the flight of exploration hardware with Orion - and unprecedentedly large payload fairings that will enable currently impossible spacecraft and mission profiles on uncrewed launches. The Block 1B vehicle will also expand on the initial configuration's ability to deploy CubeSat secondary payloads, creating new opportunities for low-cost access to deep space. Development work is also underway on future upgrades to SLS, which will culminate in about a decade in the Block 2 configuration, capable of delivering 130 metric tons to LEO via the addition of advanced boosters. As the first SLS draws closer to launch, NASA continues to refine plans for the human deep-space exploration it will enable. Planning currently focuses on use of the vehicle to assemble a Deep Space Gateway, which would comprise a habitat in the lunar vicinity allowing astronauts to gain experience living and working in deep space, a testbed for new systems and capabilities needed for exploration beyond, and a departure point for NASA and partners to send missions to other destinations. Assembly of the Gateway would be followed by a Deep Space Transport, which would be a vehicle capable of carrying astronauts farther into our solar system and eventually to Mars. This paper will give an overview of SLS' current status and its capabilities, and discuss current utilization planning.

Robinson, Kimberly F.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Triton Hopper: Exploring Neptune's Captured Kuiper Belt Object

Neptune's moon Triton is a fascinating object, a dynamic moon with an atmosphere, and geysers. Triton is unique in the outer solar system in that it is most likely a captured Kuiper belt object (KBO), a leftover building block of the solar system. When Voyager flew by it was the coldest body yet found in our solar system (33 degrees Kelvin) and had volcanic activity, geysers, and a thin atmosphere. It is covered in ices made from nitrogen, water, and carbon-dioxide, and shows surface deposits of tholins, organic compounds that may be precursor chemicals to the origin of life. Exploring Triton will be a challenge well beyond anything done in previous missions; but the unique environment of Triton also allows some new possibilities for mobility. We developed a conceptual design of a Triton Hopping probe that both analyzes the surface and collects it for use to propel its hops. The Hopper would land near the South Pole in 2040 where geysers have been detected. Depending the details of propulsion chosen the Hopper should be able to jump over 300 kilometers in 60 hops or less, exploring the surface and thin atmosphere on its way. This craft will autonomously carry out detailed scientific investigations on the surface, below the surface (drilling) and in the upper atmosphere to provide unprecedented knowledge of a KBO-turned moon and expanding NASA's existing capabilities in deep space planetary exploration to include Hoppers using different ices for propellant. Triton is roughly 2700 kilometers in diameter with a surface of mostly frozen nitrogen, mostly water ice crust and core of metal and rock. Its gravity is half that of Earth's Moon and its atmosphere is 170,000th of Earth's or 0.3 of Mars.The mission concept studied investigated the full surface and atmospheric phenomenon: chemical composition of surface and near subsurface materials, the thin atmosphere, volcanic and geyser activity. Measurements of all these aspects of Triton's unique environment can only be made through focused in-situ exploration with a well-instrumented craft. And this craft will be provided revolutionary mobility, nearly global, using in-situ ices as propellants. While other concepts have looked at gathering gases at Mars to propel a hopper, long periods of time are needed to gather the thin CO2 atmosphere. Several gases, mainly nitrogen are on the surface in a readily dense ice form and just need to be picked up, vaporized and used for propellant.

low conductivity materials↗
NASA NTRS2017

Exploring the Science Trade Space with the JPL Innovation Foundry A-Team

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Innovation Foundry has established a new approach for exploring, developing, and evaluating early concepts with a group called the Architecture Team. The Architecture Team combines innovative collaborative methods and facilitated sessions with subject matter experts and analysis tools to help mature mission concepts. Science, implementation, and programmatic elements are all considered during an A-Team study. In these studies, Concept Maturity Levels are used to group methods. These levels include idea generation and capture (Concept Maturity Level 1), initial feasibility assessment (Concept Maturity Level 2), and trade space exploration (Concept Maturity Level 3). Methods used for exploring the science objectives, feasibility, and scope will be described including the use of a new technique for understanding the most compelling science, called a Science Return Diagram. In the process of developing the Science Return Diagram, gradients in the science trade space are uncovered along with their implications for implementation and mission architecture. Special attention is paid toward developing complete investigations, establishing a series of logical claims that lead to the natural selection of a measurement approach. Over 20 science-focused A-Team studies have used these techniques to help science teams refine their mission objectives, make implementation decisions, and reveal the mission concept's most compelling science. This article will describe the A-Team process for exploring the mission concept's science trade space and the Science Return Diagram technique.

science↗
NASA NTRS2018

New Moon Explorer Robotic Precursor Mission Concept

A low-cost reconnaissance mission concept has been devised of Earth’s ‘New Moon’, the recently discovered Earth orbital companion asteroid 2016HO3. 2016HO3 provides a compelling destination to address science, economic, and asteroid protection objectives and could serve to influence the future direction of human exploration in cis-lunar space by offering an additional destination for human exploration and utilization. Key enabling technologies, solar sail propulsion, thin film power generation and telecommunications capabilities, and small spacecraft technology have reached a development milestone enabling an affordable reconnaissance mission. Leveraging the solar sail technology and mission expertise resident at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) resulting from the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) funded Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout mission, and combining this with the science and instrument expertise at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), a 12U scale small spacecraft mission can characterize 2016HO3. Spin rate, pole position, shape, structure, mass, density, chemical composition, temperature, thermal inertia, regolith characteristics, and spectral type can be determined using a small, CubeSat form factor within a three year time of flight. This paper outlines the outcome of a concept study for the New Moon Explorer (NME), a solar sail propelled reconnaissance mission of 2016HO3.

Dervan, Jared A.↗
NASA NTRS2018

NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute: Building Collaboration Through International Partnerships

The NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is a virtual institute focused on research at the intersection of science and exploration, training the next generation of lunar scientists, and community development. As part of the SSERVI mission, we act as a hub for opportunities that engage the larger scientific and exploration communities in order to form new interdisciplinary, research-focused collaborations. This talk will describe the international partnership program, research efforts and how we are engaging the international science and exploration communities through workshops, conferences, online seminars and classes, student exchange programs and internships.

SSERVI International Partnerships↗
NASA NTRS2017

Hyperspectral Radiative Transfer Modeling to Explore the Combined Retrieval of Biophysical Parameters and Canopy Fluorescence from FLEX - Sentinel-3 Tandem Mission Multi-Sensor Data

The FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) satellite mission, selected as ESA's 8th Earth Explorer, has been designed forthe measurement of sun-induced fluorescence (F) spectra emitted by plants. This will be accomplished through amulti-sensor approach by placing it in a common orbit in tandem with the Sentinel-3 (S3) mission, which willhave two optical sensors on board, OLCI (Ocean and Land Colour Instrument) and SLSTR (Sea and Land SurfaceTemperature Radiometer) to complement FLEX. These S3 instruments will be used in combination with theimaging spectrometers on board FLEX to provide data useful for atmospheric correction of FLEX data. However,a fully synergetic approach, i.e. by exploiting the spectral and directional information from all tandem missioninstruments together, is an attractive alternative which is explored in this paper. By employing all combined topof-atmosphere (TOA) spectral radiance data, one can (i) characterize the relevant optical properties of the atmosphere,(ii) retrieve biophysical canopy properties including the associated reflectance anisotropy, and (iii)retrieve a more accurate and consistent canopy F.Regarding retrieval methods, Fraunhofer Line Depth (FLD) and Spectral Fitting (SF) are well-known techniquesapplied to hyperspectral data. Both methods depend on a high spectral resolution and assume aLambertian (isotropic) canopy reflectance. However, most vegetation canopies are non-Lambertian. This impliesthat, in particular when ignoring the anisotropic surface reflection, substantial retrieval errors can occur due tothe interaction between atmospheric absorption bands and surface reflectance anisotropy. In this paper, a novelmethod based on spectral radiative transfer (RT) modeling is proposed, in which coupled RT models are used tosimulate TOA radiance spectra. These are then matched with ‘measured' spectra in order to retrieve surfacefluorescence, along with a suite of biophysical parameters, by model inversion through optimization. By applyingcoupled RT models of the soil-leaf-canopy and the surface-atmosphere systems, TOA radiance spectra canbe simulated for all optical sensors of this tandem mission. In this way, complex effects due to surface reflectanceanisotropy and the spectral sampling by the various instruments, which are difficult to compensate for in the endproducts, are properly taken into account by their incorporation in the forward modeling. Next, by model inversionof TOA radiance data via optimization, the most accurate F retrievals can be achieved in a consistentmanner, along with important canopy level biophysical parameters that may help interpret the F spectrum, suchas chlorophyll content and leaf area index (LAI). The potential of this approach has been explored in a numericalexperiment, and the results are presented in this paper. We find that, with the assumed well-characterized andplausible FLEX/S3 instrument performances, the simultaneous retrieval of biophysical canopy parameters and Fspectra would be possible with a remarkable accuracy, provided the correct atmospheric characterization isavailable.

Verhoef, Wouter↗
NASA NTRS2016

Planetary Exploration Reinvented

During the past 50 years, we have learned to explore and work in space. Much of what we know about the Solar System we owe to observations and sampling made by robotic spacecraft, landers, planetary rovers, and astronauts. As we look to the future, however, there is ample opportunity to reinvent planetary exploration: to develop new techniques and systems that will enhance and enable discovery.In this talk, I will describe how the NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) is working to reinvent planetary exploration. First, I will present IRG's development of robots for human exploration. These robots are designed to perform work before, in parallel, and after human activity. Next, I will show how IRG is building automated planetary mapping systems to process the enormous amount of data that NASA collects from orbit. Finally, I will discuss how IRG is changing the way ground control software is created, particularly for supporting science operations.

robotics↗
NASA NTRS2018

Super Ball Bot - Structures for Planetary Landing and Exploration

Small, light-weight and low-cost missions will become increasingly important to NASA's exploration goals for our solar system. Ideally teams of dozens or even hundreds of small, collapsable robots, weighing only a few kilograms a piece, will be conveniently packed during launch and would reliably separate and unpack at their destination. Such teams will allow rapid, reliable in-situ exploration of hazardous destination such as Titan, where imprecise terrain knowledge and unstable precipitation cycles make single-robot exploration problematic. Unfortunately landing many lightweight conventional robots is difficult with conventional technology. Current robot designs are delicate, requiring combinations of devices such as parachutes, retrorockets and impact balloons to minimize impact forces and to place a robot in a proper orientation. Instead we propose to develop a radically different robot based on a "tensegrity" built purely upon tensile and compression elements. These robots can be light-weight, absorb strong impacts, are redundant against single-point failures, can recover from different landing orientations and are easy to collapse and uncollapse. We believe tensegrity robot technology can play a critical role in future planetary exploration.

Agogino, Adrian K.↗