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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

Small Aerostationary Telecommunications Orbiter Concept for Mars in the 2020s

Current Mars science orbiters carry UHF proximity payloads to provide limited access and data services to landers and rovers on Mars surface. In the era of human spaceflight to Mars, very high rate and reliable relay services will be needed to serve a large number of supporting vehicles, habitats, and orbiters, as well as astronaut EVAs. These will likely be provided by a robust network of orbiting assets in very high orbits, such as areostationary orbits. In the decade leading to that era, telecommunications orbits can be operated at areostationary orbit that can support a significant population of robotic precursor missions and build the network capabilities needed for the human spaceflight era. Telecommunications orbiters of modest size and cost, delivered by Solar Electric Propulsion to areostationary orbit, can provide continuous access at very high data rates to users on the surface and in Mars orbit.In the era of human spaceflight to Mars very high rate andreliable relay services will be needed to serve a largenumber of supporting vehicles, habitats, and orbiters, aswell as astronaut EVAs. These could be provided by arobust network of orbiting assets in very high orbits. In thedecade leading to that era, telecommunications orbiterscould be operated at areostationary orbit that could support asignificant population of robotic precursor missions andbuild the network capabilities needed for the humanspaceflight era. These orbiters could demonstrate thecapabilities and services needed for the future but withoutthe high bandwidth and high reliability requirements neededfor human spaceflight.Telecommunications orbiters of modest size and cost,delivered by Solar Electric Propulsion to areostationaryorbit, could provide continuous access at very high datarates to users on the surface and in Mars orbit. Twoexamples highlighting the wide variety of orbiter deliveryand configuration options were shown that could providehigh-performance service to users.

Lock, Robert E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mineralogical, Elemental and Tomographic Reconnaissance Investigation for CLPS (“METRIC”)

METRIC comprises a suite of two instruments in a Lunar lander that perform X-ray diffraction (XRD) for mineral structure, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for elemental composition, and X-ray Micro Computed Tomography (XCT) for 3D internal micromorphology. The instruments are accompanied by optical-near IR cameras to provide local geologic context. The Honeybee Robotics PlanetVac pneumatic sampling and transfer system [1],positioned on a lander footpad, will deliver sieved regolith to the X-ray instruments for analysis. The instrument suite is intended for delivery to the lunar surface on a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) lander. The METRICXRD/F instrument draws on heritage from the Mars Science Laboratory CheMin instrument [2] and improves upon the design in multiple ways [3]. Like CheMin, Rietveld refinement and full-pattern fitting of METRIC XRD data can identify minerals at a detection limit of ~1 wt.%, quantify their abundances when present at >3 wt.%, and determine mineral composition (e.g., Fo#in olivine) from lattice parameters for minerals present at >5 wt.%[4,5]. An optimized XRF geometry provides for improved detection and quantification of major, minor and trace elements. The METRIC XCT instrument is a miniaturized X-ray Computed Tomography scanner[6]. Lunar regolith is delivered to a 3 mm diameter, 10 mm long graphite tube inside the instrument. The tube is rotated through 360°in 0.9deg.incrementsand a divergent point source X-ray beam is directed through the material. A Charge Coupled Device (CCD)records attenuation images whose brightness and contrast area function of average atomic number and density. Quantitative data, including particle and void sizes, 3D particle shape parameters, modal volumes and pore geometry can be derived from the resulting 3D reconstructions(voxel resolution: 30 μm). Crystal morphologies derived from METRIC XCT data complement the bulk mineralogy determined by the METRIC XRD/F and provide a measure of grain size distribution for the different phases. Taken together, the METRIC instrument suite determines crystal structure, elemental composition and morphology, three principal characteristics of geological materials that are highly useful in determining the origin and subsequent processing of lunar regolith.

Moon↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Genesis Solar Wind – Capture, Return, Curate and Analyze: Looking Backward and Creating a Timeline

Introduction: In 1997 NASA’S Discovery Program selected the Genesis mission proposal to return solar wind samples to Earth for laboratory analyses. Principal Investigator Donald S. Burnett and the science team defined the purity of collector materials and ability to analyze solar wind composition to the precision required for planetary science. As a small mission, focused on a well-defined science goal, yet needing careful attention to engineering details, the communication among scientists and engineers, nurtured by Don Burnett, was exceptional. Genesis Mission and Curation Legacy: Genesis, as the first U. S. spacecraft to return astromaterial samples since Apollo, not only integrated the mission planning and flight teams, but also the science and sample curation teams during the mission development period. Since Genesis is a sample return mission, the Science Team was essential in certifying the collectors (sample containers for solar atoms). From inception, Genesis established mission funding for returned sample curation. JSC was lead in contamination control during mission preparation, including establishment of an ISO 4 cleanroom facility and use of ultrapure water (UPW) for cleaning flight hardware (and, as it turned out, for cleaning collectors after the mishap). Reliable, fast communication among scientists, engineers and curators at the hands-on level established deep respect among team members and efficient decision-making. JSC’s 50-years of astromaterial sample curation provided experienced sample processors onsite during recovery in Utah (a deep bench for emergency response). Post-recovery curation included iterative collaboration with science sample users to clean or verify cleanliness of samples. The science legacy from Genesis is addressed by Burnett and Jurewicz, this volume. In The Beginning: After Apollo sample return, Burnett and Marcia Neugebauer at JPL began discussing a solar wind sample return, with Neugebauer arguing that separate collection of solar wind regimes was essential science. By 1992 a solar wind sample return mission was presented at a workshop, and by 1994 a mission was proposed named Suess-Urey. The mission was re-proposed under a new name GENESIS and selected in 1997. Susan Niebur captured the Genesis mission history and stories, from high level management documents and from many interviews with participants [2]. Her account lets readers glimpse personality of participants in quotations from interviews. Need and Scope for Detailed Technical Timeline: A timeline constructed from lower level task documents has been initiated to document the resources and skills actually used, as well as task sequence or concurrency. Timelines for high level mission events are captured in two documents [1] [2] and for detailed re-entry events in [3]. A detailed technical timeline for Genesis mission and curation activities will provide data points for lower level tasks, such as ISO 4 curation facility construction time, preparation for nominal sample field recovery, mishap recovery, and UPW expansion. Changes in technology context 1990-2024: Semiconductor technologies were easily accessible in the U.S.A. (1990-1999), and the Genesis team used those resources for cleanroom design and UPW system expansion. Image documentation was changing from film to digital during cleanroom construction and payload cleaning (1997-2001). Engineering design was done using computer aided design proprietary software, making more difficult the archiving of payload configuration and materials. Email of documents, tracked delivery service and virtual meeting capability greatly improved communication efficiency. Information sources – Pre-launch mission preparation: Examples of mission science, engineering and contamination control are collector purity testing, payload design/fabrication and ISO 4 cleanroom construction. Information on timing of these activities comes from facility readiness reviews, management reviews, shipping documents, procurement documents, test reports, travel documents, laboratory logs, Quality Assurance documents, dates on images, participant notebooks and emails. Information sources – Sample return re-entry and field recovery activities: Information comes from event timelines produced by Mid-Air Recovery team, Lockheed team lead notes and from chase video, JPL Quality Assurance. Information also comes from images and logbooks from UTTR cleanroom operations and from curatorial documents. Information sources – Resulting science and sample cleaning processes: Agendas from the annual gatherings of the science team initially trace testing for collector purity/cleanliness, and after sample recovery, include collector cleaning and cleanliness assessment. Post-recovery documents include curatorial orders and procedures, sample allocation documents and LPSC abstracts. Timeline Objectives: A simple spreadsheet timeline with headers DATE, EVENT, PEOPLE, COMMENT, INFORMATION SOURCE has been initiated and currently has over 90 entries. While this is not definitive historical research, it is a quick look at the evolution of Genesis curation with pointers to documents or people with information. Engineers for future missions may find useful points of comparison for development of facilities. References:[1] Genesis Mission Reference Document, (2011) JPL D-62382.[2] Niebur S. M., edited by Brown D. W. (2023) NASA’s Discovery Program: The First 20 Years of Competitive Planetary Exploration, NASA-SP-2023-4238.[3] Genesis Mishap Investigation Board Report, Vol. 1 (July 2005).

solar wind↗
NASA NTRS2021

Applications and Benefits of GNSS for Lunar Exploration

This paper explores the role of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) in NASA's lunar exploration plans. Robust position, navigation and timing (PNT) at the Moon will rely on a variety of measurement sources, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The best navigation solution will depend on mission type, the phase within each mission, the state of lunar infrastructure development at the time and a host of other considerations. No single method will provide all PNT for all scenarios, but GNSS offers a continuously available, flight-proven source of navigation and timing with unique features that make it a valuable option. As NASA launches a new era of lunar exploration missions in 2021, development of the supporting navigation architecture is underway. This paper describes the role GNSS could or will play in the components of NASA's lunar exploration plans: the Artemis missions designed to return humans to the lunar surface, the Gateway platform orbiting near the Moon that will host astronauts as well as science and technology payloads, and the robotic lander missions administered by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. GNSS-based autonomous navigation has the potential to dramatically expand lunar exploration capabilities. Through the use of GNSS and GNSS-like augmentations, navigation performance could be improved while simultaneously reducing operational complexity relative to conventional, ground-based navigation methods. As NASA begins to implement its lunar exploration plans this year and assemble the enabling communications and navigation infrastructure, GNSS will provide an important part of the diverse measurements required for robust lunar PNT.

Benjamin W Ashman↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Science Off the Earth: An Integrated Approach to Science Operations in the Artemis Era and Beyond

Humanity is standing on the cusp of its next giant leap – an international, sustainable, and commercial return to the moon. Unlike the Apollo missions, the expectation that a permanent human presence will be established is well founded. Initially, crewed missions to the lunar surface are expected to last between 6 and 30 days and occur approximately once per year, however the robust suite of landers and orbiting assets proposed by both commercial and government entities provide an opportunity to conduct science research on the moon and in cis-lunar space, 24x7 for many years. In the 50 years since the conclusion of Apollo, NASA’s crewed space science missions have been evolving. This can be seen clearly from Skylab and the Space Shuttle’s Spacelab to the International Space Station (ISS). Presently aboard the ISS, international crews spend nearly half their time working on experiments while many payloads collect science non-stop with either very limited, or no crew interaction. Additionally, a fleet of orbiting experiments complement and validate those investigations performed on the ISS. As the number, variety, and complexity of these investigation increase, it becomes ever more necessary to integrate across the many entities involved to prevent duplication of effort, ensure complementary results, reduce cost, and create a sustainable environment to conduct groundbreaking scientific research in space. In this paper, we examine how the various elements of the Artemis program including NASA’s Lunar Gateway, Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) endeavor, the Human Landing Systems (HLS), surface habitats, rovers and many more will be operated to ensure interoperability, maximize science return, and enable success for government, commercial and private partners.

Science Operations↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Science Off the Earth: an Integrated Approach to Science Operations in the Artemis Era and Beyond

Humanity is standing on the cusp of its next giant leap – an international, sustainable, and commercial return to the moon. Unlike the Apollo missions, the expectation that a permanent human presence will be established is well founded. Initially, crewed missions to the lunar surface are expected to last between 6 and 30 days and occur approximately once per year, however the robust suite of landers and orbiting assets proposed by both commercial and government entities provide an opportunity to conduct science research on the moon and in cis-lunar space, 24x7 for many years. In the 50 years since the conclusion of Apollo, NASA’s crewed space science missions have been evolving. This can be seen clearly from Skylab and the Space Shuttle’s Spacelab to the International Space Station (ISS). Presently aboard the ISS, international crews spend nearly half their time working on experiments while many payloads collect science non-stop with either very limited, or no crew interaction. Additionally, a fleet of orbiting experiments complement and validate those investigations performed on the ISS. As the number, variety, and complexity of these investigation increase, it becomes ever more necessary to integrate across the many entities involved to prevent duplication of effort, ensure complementary results, reduce cost, and create a sustainable environment to conduct groundbreaking scientific research in space. In this paper, we examine how the various elements of the Artemis program including NASA’s Lunar Gateway, Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) endeavor, the Human Landing Systems (HLS), surface habitats, rovers and many more will be operated to ensure interoperability, maximize science return, and enable success for government, commercial and private partners.

Science Operations↗
NASA NTRS1994

Communication network for decentralized remote tele-science during the Spacelab mission IML-2

The ESA communication network for decentralized remote telescience during the Spacelab mission IML-2, called Interconnection Ground Subnetwork (IGS), provided data, voice conferencing, video distribution/conferencing and high rate data services to 5 remote user centers in Europe. The combination of services allowed the experimenters to interact with their experiments as they would normally do from the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) at MSFC. In addition, to enhance their science results, they were able to make use of reference facilities and computing resources in their home laboratory, which typically are not available in the POCC. Characteristics of the IML-2 communications implementation were the adaptation to the different user needs based on modular service capabilities of IGS and the cost optimization for the connectivity. This was achieved by using a combination of traditional leased lines, satellite based VSAT connectivity and N-ISDN according to the simulation and mission schedule for each remote site. The central management system of IGS allows minimization of staffing and the involvement of communications personnel at the remote sites. The successful operation of IGS for IML-2 as a precursor network for the Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) has proven the concept for communications to support the operation of the COF decentralized scenario.

Christ, Uwe↗
NASA NTRS2017

Ames Engineering Directorate

The Ames Engineering Directorate is the principal engineering organization supporting aerospace systems and spaceflight projects at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. The Directorate supports all phases of engineering and project management for flight and mission projects-from R&D to Close-out-by leveraging the capabilities of multiple divisions and facilities.The Mission Design Center (MDC) has full end-to-end mission design capability with sophisticated analysis and simulation tools in a collaborative concurrent design environment. Services include concept maturity level (CML) maturation, spacecraft design and trades, scientific instruments selection, feasibility assessments, and proposal support and partnerships. The Engineering Systems Division provides robust project management support as well as systems engineering, mechanical and electrical analysis and design, technical authority and project integration support to a variety of programs and projects across NASA centers. The Applied Manufacturing Division turns abstract ideas into tangible hardware for aeronautics, spaceflight and science applications, specializing in fabrication methods and management of complex fabrication projects. The Engineering Evaluation Lab (EEL) provides full satellite or payload environmental testing services including vibration, temperature, humidity, immersion, pressure/altitude, vacuum, high G centrifuge, shock impact testing and the Flight Processing Center (FPC), which includes cleanrooms, bonded stores and flight preparation resources. The Multi-Mission Operations Center (MMOC) is composed of the facilities, networks, IT equipment, software and support services needed by flight projects to effectively and efficiently perform all mission functions, including planning, scheduling, command, telemetry processing and science analysis.

Small Satellites↗
NASA NTRS2016

Ensuring Payload Safety in Missions with Special Partnerships

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV) payload space flight missions involve cooperative work between NASA and partners including spacecraft (or payload) contractors, universities, nonprofit research centers, Agency payload organization, Range Safety organization, Agency launch service organizations, and launch vehicle contractors. The role of NASA's Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) Directorate is typically fairly straightforward, but when a mission's partnerships become more complex, to realize cost and science benefits (e.g., multi-agency payload(s) or cooperative international missions), the task of ensuring payload safety becomes much more challenging. This paper discusses lessons learned from NASA safety professionals working multiple-agency missions and offers suggestions to help fellow safety professionals working multiple-agency missions.

Agency launch service organizations↗
NASA NTRS1989

Vibration isolation versus vibration compensation on multiple payload platforms

There are many future science instruments with high performance pointing (sub microradian) requirements. To build a separate spacecraft for each payload is prohibitively expensive, especially as not all instruments need to be in space for a long duration. Putting multiple payloads on a single basebody that supplies power, communications, and orbit maintenance is cheaper, easier to service, and allows for the spacecraft bus to be reused as new instruments become available to replace old instruments. Once several payloads are mounted together, the articulation of one may disturb another. The situation is even more extreme when the basebody serves multiple purposes, such as space station which has construction, satellite servicing, and man motion adding to the disturbance environment. The challenge then is to maintain high performance at low cost in a multiple payload environment. The goal is to supply many future science instruments with high performance pointing (sub microradian). The options are independent spacecraft for each payload (expensive); or multiple payloads on a single basebody (cheaper, easier to service, basebody reusable for several short duration payloads). The problems are one payload can disturb another, and other activities create large disturbances (construction, satellite servicing, and man motion).

Sirlin, S. W.↗
NASA NTRS2012

The Potential for Hosted Payloads at NASA

The 2010 National Space Policy encourages federal agencies to actively explore the use of inventive, nontraditional arrangements for acquiring commercial space goods and services to meet United States Government requirements, including...hosting government capabilities on commercial spacecraft. NASA's Science Mission Directorate has taken an important step towards this goal by adding an option for hosted payload responses to its recent Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for Earth Venture-2 missions. Since NASA selects a significant portion of its science missions through a competitive process, it is useful to understand the implications that this process has on the feasibility of successfully proposing a commercially hosted payload mission. This paper describes some of the impediments associated with proposing a hosted payload mission to NASA, and offers suggestions on how these impediments might be addressed. Commercially hosted payloads provide a novel way to serve the needs of the science and technology demonstration communities at a fraction of the cost of a traditional Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) mission. The commercial communications industry launches over 20 satellites to GEO each year. By exercising this repeatable commercial paradigm of privately financed access to space with proven vendors, NASA can achieve science goals at a significantly lower cost than the current dedicated spacecraft and launch vehicle approach affords. Commercial hosting could open up a new realm of opportunities for NASA science missions to make measurements from GEO. This paper also briefly describes two GEO missions recommended by the National Academies of Science Earth Science Decadal Survey, the Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) mission and the Precipitation and All-weather Temperature and Humidity (PATH) mission. Hosted payload missions recently selected for implementation by the Office of the Chief Technologist are also discussed. Finally, there are technical differences specific to hosted payloads and the GEO environment that must be considered when planning and developing a hosted payload mission. This paper addresses some of payload accommodation differences from the typical NASA LEO mission, including spacecraft interfaces, attitude control and knowledge, communications, data handling, mission operations, ground systems, and the thermal, radiation, and electromagnetic environment. The paper also discusses technical and programmatic differences such as limits to NASA's involvement with commercial quality assurance processes to conform to the commercial schedule and minimizing the price that makes hosted payloads an attractive option.

Andraschko, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2013

NASA Tech Briefs, December 2013

Topics include: Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector With; Selective Polarization Coupling; Flexible Microstrip Circuits for; Superconducting Electronics; CFD Extraction Tool for TecPlot From DPLR Solutions; RECOVIR Software for Identifying Viruses; Enhanced Contact Graph Routing (ECGR) MACHETE Simulation Model; Orbital Debris Engineering Model (ORDEM) v.3; Scatter-Reducing Sounding Filtration Using a Genetic Algorithm and Mean Monthly Standard Deviation; Thermo-Mechanical Methodology for Stabilizing Shape Memory Alloy Response; Hermetic Seal Designs for Sample Return Sample Tubes; Silicon Alignment Pins: An Easy Way To Realize a Wafer-to-Wafer Alignment; Positive-Buoyancy Rover for Under Ice Mobility; Electric Machine With Boosted Inductance to Stabilize Current Control; International Space Station-Based Electromagnetic Launcher for Space Science Payloads; Advanced Hybrid Spacesuit Concept Featuring Integrated Open Loop and Closed Loop Ventilation Systems; Data Quality Screening Service.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2018

Preliminary Jitter Stability Results for the Large UV/Optical/Infrared (LUVOIR) Surveyor Concept Using a Non-Contact Vibration Isolation and Precision Pointing System

The Large / UltraViolet / Optical / InfraRed (LUVOIR) Surveyor is a concept mission for a large multi-wavelength serviceable observatory with ambitious design and science goals to enable advances across a broad range of astrophysics1. The payload, which includes the telescope instruments and Backplane Support Frame (BSF), is separated from the spacecraft, which includes the spacecraft bus, sun shield, and tower up to the 2-DOF gimbal, by a non-contact interface called the Vibration Isolation and Precision Pointing System (VIPPS).

Sacks, Lia W.↗
NASA NTRS2006

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Operations: Architecture and Approach

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was launched on August 12, 2005 by an Atlas V launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. MRO will carry a rich set of science instruments to Mars and provide global, regional survey, and targeted observations. In addition, a set of engineering instruments providing optical navigation, Ka band telecommunication and UHF relay services to future Mars missions are part of the MRO payload. During the mission, the MRO operations teams are presented with two major challenges - unprecedented high data rate and data volumes, and complex science planning and resource sharing. MRO has the capability to communicate with earth at a maximum of six Megabits per second (> 50 times any previous Mars missions). With the current Deep Space Network (DSN) contact schedule of 19 eight-hour tracks per week, the baseline mission plan is for MRO to return 34 Terabits of raw science data during the two year primary science phase. Each of the science instruments has its unique requirements for global mapping, regional survey, and targeted observations. Some instruments prefer nadir-only observations, while others require off-nadir observations (especially for stereo viewing). The requirements from these Mars viewing instruments presented a significant challenge for the operations team to design the complex science planning and resource sharing/allocation process. This paper describes what MRO project is implementing to solve these challenges.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)↗
NASA NTRS2013

National Report on the NASA Sounding Rocket and Balloon Programs

The U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Sounding Rockets and Balloon Programs conduct a total of 30 to 40 missions per year in support of the NASA scientific community and other users. The NASA Sounding Rockets Program supports the science community by integrating their experiments into the sounding rocket payloads, and providing both the rocket vehicle and launch operations services. Activities since 2011 have included two flights from Andoya Rocket Range, more than eight flights from White Sands Missile Range, approximately sixteen flights from Wallops Flight Facility, two flights from Poker Flat Research Range, and four flights from Kwajalein Atoll. Other activities included the final developmental flight of the Terrier-Improved Malemute launch vehicle, a test flight of the Talos-Terrier-Oriole launch vehicle, and a host of smaller activities to improve program support capabilities. Several operational missions have utilized the new Terrier-Malemute vehicle. The NASA Sounding Rockets Program is currently engaged in the development of a new sustainer motor known as the Peregrine. The Peregrine development effort will involve one static firing and three flight tests with a target completion data of August 2014. The NASA Balloon Program supported numerous scientific and developmental missions since its last report. The program conducted flights from the U.S., Sweden, Australia, and Antarctica utilizing standard and experimental vehicles. Of particular note are the successful test flights of the Wallops Arc Second Pointer (WASP), the successful demonstration of a medium-size Super Pressure Balloon (SPB), and most recently, three simultaneous missions aloft over Antarctica. NASA continues its successful incremental design qualification program and will support a science mission aboard WASP in late 2013 and a science mission aboard the SPB in early 2015. NASA has also embarked on an intra-agency collaboration to launch a rocket from a balloon to conduct supersonic decelerator tests. An overview of NASA's Sounding Rockets and Balloon Operations, Technology Development and Science support activities will be presented.

Eberspeaker, Philip↗
NASA NTRS1987

The evolution of the geostationary platform concept

The paper will review the conceptual development over the last decade of the use of very large spacecraft, i.e., 'platforms', in geostationary orbit. Geostationary platforms were originally conceived as an efficient means of increasing the capacity at a point in the geostationary orbital arc. Also, geostationary platforms have been suggested for mounting very large antennas as will be required for mobile communications, or high power sources as will be required for broadcast services to small terminals. More recently these 'large satellite' platforms were also envisioned as including earth observation and other science payloads. The advent of the Space Station, which can provide a staging base for platform assembly and test in space at low earth orbit prior to launch to geostationary earth orbit, will introduce a new dimension to practical platform design. This paper describes the evolution of concepts for geostationary platforms over the last decade based on both communications and science user scenarios developed worldwide.

Edelson, Burton I.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Deployable multi-payload platform

Many space payloads with similar mission requirements can be grouped and accommodated on an orbiting platform which provides high-capacity, centralized services. Various concepts for such a platform were devised and evaluated to identify optimal features, interface prospects and areas of technological challenge. Guidelines included minimum and augmented mission models for science and applications payloads for the 1985-90 time period, minimum extension of the Orbiter capability, maximum use of the Orbiter remote manipulator system and capitalization on EVA where applicable. Deployable structures were employed to provide spacious payload berthing on a platform which can be highly-compacted for shuttle delivery.

Jenkins, L. M.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Affordable In-Space Transportation

Current and proposed launch systems will provide access to low-Earth orbit (LEO), and destinations beyond LEO, but the cost of delivering payloads will preclude the use of these services by many users. To develop and encourage revolutionary commercial utilization of geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and to provide an affordable means to continue NASA space science and exploration missions, the transportation costs to in-space destinations must be reduced. The principal objective of this study was to conceptually define three to four promising approaches to in-space transportation for delivery of satellites and other payloads, 3,000- to 10,000-lb class, to GEO destinations. This study established a methodology for evaluating in-space transportation systems based on life-cycle cost. The reusable concepts seemed to fare better in the evaluation than expendable, since a major driver in the life-cycle cost was the stage production cost.

Curtis, L. A.↗