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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 NTRS2022

The Spectral-Timing Analysis of Cygnus X-1 With Insight-HXMT

Cygnus X-1, as the first discovered black hole binary, is a key source for understanding the mechanisms of state transitions, and the scenarios of accretion in extreme gravity fields. We present a spectral-timing analysis of observations taken with the Insight-HXMT mission, focusing on the spectral-state dependent timing properties in the broad energy range of 1–150 keV, thus extending previous RXTE-based studies to both lower and higher energies. Our main results are the following: a) We successfully use a simple empirical model to fit all spectra, confirming that the reflection component is stronger in the soft state than in the hard state; b) The evolution of the total fractional root mean square (rms) depends on the selected energy band and the spectral shape, which is a direct result of the evolution of the power spectral densities (PSDs); c) In the hard/intermediate state, we see clear short-term variability features and a positive correlation between central frequencies of the variability components and the soft photon index Γ(sub 1), also at energies above 15 keV. The power spectrum is dominated by red noise in the soft state instead. These behaviors can be traced to at least 90 keV; d) The coherence and the phase-lag spectra show different behaviors dependent on different spectral shapes.

Binary X-rays↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thermodynamic Modeling of the Vapor in Equilibrium With Apollo 17 Basalts.

Lunar mare basalts sampled during the Apollo 17 mission provide insight to the chemical evolution of mare basalt magmas and their associated vapor as these samples erupted and cooled rapidly at the lunar surface. We focus on minerals present on vesicle and vug surfaces in Apollo 17 basalts, such as 71036, which was opened as part of the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program. The mineral assemblage observed includes native Fe, SiO2, and a Mg-P mineral, possibly merrillite [1, 2]. The pet-rographic context of these phases suggests that they may have been deposited directly from the vapor phase after eruption. Here we use thermodynamic modeling to assess the plausibility of the vapor-phase deposition hypothesis.

D. L. Thompson↗
NASA NTRS2010

A Study of Parallels Between Antarctica South Pole Traverse Equipment and Lunar/Mars Surface Systems

The parallels between an actual Antarctica South Pole re-supply traverse conducted by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Polar Programs in 2009 have been studied with respect to the latest mission architecture concepts being generated by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for lunar and Mars surface systems scenarios. The challenges faced by both endeavors are similar since they must both deliver equipment and supplies to support operations in an extreme environment with little margin for error in order to be successful. By carefully and closely monitoring the manifesting and operational support equipment lists which will enable this South Pole traverse, functional areas have been identified. The equipment required to support these functions will be listed with relevant properties such as mass, volume, spare parts and maintenance schedules. This equipment will be compared to space systems currently in use and projected to be required to support equivalent and parallel functions in Lunar and Mars missions in order to provide a level of realistic benchmarking. Space operations have historically required significant amounts of support equipment and tools to operate and maintain the space systems that are the primary focus of the mission. By gaining insight and expertise in Antarctic South Pole traverses, space missions can use the experience gained over the last half century of Antarctic operations in order to design for operations, maintenance, dual use, robustness and safety which will result in a more cost effective, user friendly, and lower risk surface system on the Moon and Mars. It is anticipated that the U.S Antarctic Program (USAP) will also realize benefits for this interaction with NASA in at least two areas: an understanding of how NASA plans and carries out its missions and possible improved efficiency through factors such as weight savings, alternative technologies, or modifications in training and operations.

Mueller, Robert P.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPS and Entry Systems Technologies for Future Mars and Titan Exploration

During the past twenty years, NASA effectively erased earlier Mars mishaps with six successful missions to the Red Planet. These missions delivered one orbiter and five payloads to the surface. Those payloads included three rovers, Spirit (2004) which roamed 11 years, Opportunity (2004) which roamed nearly 15 years, and Curiosity (2012) which is in its ninth year, along with two landers, Phoenix (2008) and InSIGHT (2018). In July, the Mars 2020 mission will send another large rover, Perseverance, which will land in 2021. The InSIGHT mission even demonstrated the capability to send CubeSats along to help with communication back to the surface. NASA has demonstrated the capability to land a metric ton of vehicles plus science instruments on Mars and expects that the same technologies will be equally successful landing Dragonfly on Titan in the 2030’s. The thermal protection systems (TPS) used on the Mars missions are sufficiently developed and matured to continue furthering science on both Mars and Titan, assuming that the TPS materials are sustained by industry. The purpose of this white paper is to encourage further exploration and science on both Mars and Titan because we have the technologies to support them. In addition, we will look forward to human exploration of Mars and identify the improvements in TPS materials required to facilitate landing the larger payloads.

Thermal Protection Systems↗
NASA NTRS2009

Hubble Servicing Challenges Drive Innovation of Shuttle Rendezvous Techniques

Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing, performed by Space Shuttle crews, has contributed to what is arguably one of the most successful astronomy missions ever flown. Both nominal and contingency proximity operations techniques were developed to enable successful servicing, while lowering the risk of damage to HST systems, and improve crew safety. Influencing the development of these techniques were the challenges presented by plume impingement and HST performance anomalies. The design of both the HST and the Space Shuttle was completed before the potential of HST contamination and structural damage by shuttle RCS jet plume impingement was fully understood. Relative navigation during proximity operations has been challenging, as HST was not equipped with relative navigation aids. Since HST reached orbit in 1990, proximity operations design for servicing missions has evolved as insight into plume contamination and dynamic pressure has improved and new relative navigation tools have become available. Servicing missions have provided NASA with opportunities to gain insight into servicing mission design and development of nominal and contingency procedures. The HST servicing experiences and lessons learned are applicable to other programs that perform on-orbit servicing and rendezvous, both human and robotic.

Goodman, John L.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Interplanetary CubeSat Navigational Challenges

CubeSats are miniaturized spacecraft of small mass that comply with a form specification so they can be launched using standardized deployers. Since the launch of the first CubeSat into Earth orbit in June of 2003, hundreds have been placed into orbit. There are currently a number of proposals to launch and operate CubeSats in deep space, including MarCO, a technology demonstration that will launch two CubeSats towards Mars using the same launch vehicle as NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) Mars lander mission. The MarCO CubeSats are designed to relay the information transmitted by the InSight UHF radio during Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) in real time to the antennas of the Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth. Other CubeSatts proposals intend to demonstrate the operation of small probes in deep space, investigate the lunar South Pole, and visit a near Earth object, among others. Placing a CubeSat into an interplanetary trajectory makes it even more challenging to pack the necessary power, communications, and navigation capabilities into such a small spacecraft. This paper presents some of the challenges and approaches for successfully navigating CubeSats and other small spacecraft in deep space.

MarCo↗
NASA NTRS2021

Reducing Risk of InSight Surface Operations Through High-Fidelity Command Sequence Modeling

Simulating spacecraft behavior is crucial for the success of deep space missions, and failure to do so may result in damages to or the loss of the spacecraft. Many previous deep space missions have made use of ground-simulation of sequenced commanding, at speeds far greater than real time, to predict spacecraft state over time through the execution of onboard sequences. This type of modeling can be done at any fidelity, and most missions have opted to decrease fidelity to reduce cost and complexity. However, NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission expanded the scope of ground modeling considerably, which has led to numerous benefits over past implementations. This paper will discuss the process and products that InSight created, as well as the lessons learned from successfully operating the spacecraft on Mars. InSight is the first JPL mission to expand the scope of ground modeling to include the uplink of files from Earth to the spacecraft, rather than making the simplification that any command sequences already exist onboard the spacecraft. The advantages of modeling the uplink of files are numerous. First, it allows for accurate modeling of the onboard filesystem of the spacecraft at all points in time, meaning that all file loads and deletions throughout the mission are modeled at the exact moment they are predicted to actually happen. Second, operators can be more certain that dependencies between sequences are not broken due to the dynamic nature of the filesystem as files are deleted, copied, and uplinked. Lastly, spacecraft filesystem tracking allows for management of sequences prior to uplink, limiting the uplink to only new sequences. The onboard filesystem model became crucial to mission success, emphasizing the importance of investing in accurate models before the need for them arises. During daily tactical operations of a spacecraft on Mars, a model is only useful if the results can be interpreted quickly. In this fast-paced environment, it is essential that command products are modeled and reviewed, errors are found and diagnosed, and new command products are redelivered, remodeled, re-reviewed in a timely manner. It is impossible to review the entire model and therefore the results of the model must be condensed and presented in a fashion that is intuitive, easy-to-navigate, complete, and trustworthy. InSight developed a number of innovative sequence review products that are designed to provide operators with the information required to quickly assess the validity of command products and diagnose potential issues. Together, these products provide a complete, yet succinct picture of the command and sequence model to the operators and facilitate a quick assessment of all sequence command products. This paper will cover planning and sequencing innovations made during InSight surface operations, and will compare the tools, processes, and results to those on other missions. Additionally, the paper will cover the flexible, yet robust nature of the planning and sequencing system architecture and how that flexibility allowed for rapid development and response to the unpredictability of Mars.

Cloutier, Kyle↗
NASA NTRS2008

Apollo Lesson Sampler: Apollo 13 Lessons Learned

This CD-ROM contains a two-part case study of the Apollo 13 accident. The first lesson contains an overview of the electrical system hardware on the Apollo spacecraft, providing a context for the details of the oxygen tank explosion, and the failure chain reconstruction that led to the conditions present at the time of the accident. Given this background, the lesson then covers the tank explosion and immediate damage to the spacecraft, and the immediate response of Mission Control to what they saw. Part 2 of the lesson picks up shortly after the explosion of the oxygen tank on Apollo 13, and discusses how Mission Control gained insight to and understanding of the damage in the aftermath. Impacts to various spacecraft systems are presented, along with Mission Control's reactions and plans for in-flight recovery leading to a successful entry. Finally, post-flight vehicle changes are presented along with the lessons learned.

Interbartolo, Michael A.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Apollo 15 surface science summary.

The Apollo 15 mission was the fourth manned lunar landing and the northernmost location yet visited. The landing site on the southeastern edge of the Imbrium Basin afforded the opportunity of studying several unique lunar features, the Apennine Mountains, Hadley Rille, and the Imbrium Basin fill. Detailed geological study of the data returned from the mission provided new insight into the structure and history of the Basin. A third Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package was deployed during the mission containing seven experiments: Passive Seismometer (PSE), Heat Flow (HFE), Surface Magnetometer (LSM), Suprathermal Ion Detector (SIDE), Cold Cathode Gauge (CCGE), Solar Wind Spectrometer (SWS), and a Dust Detector. We have been able to triangulate on the sources of moonquakes and to observe simultaneous nighttime and daytime changes in the moon's magnetic field, solar wind flux, and the neutral and ionized components of the moon's tenuous atmosphere.

Beattie, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Instrumentation for Lunar Volatile Analysis

Understanding the available lunar resources is key to incorporating their availability into exploration architectures. Previous lunar missions have provided insight into the potential resources on the moon as an initial step enabling in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Orbiting missions, such as Clementine and Lunar Prospector, have mapped the lunar polar region and found enhanced hydrogen signals on kilometer-scale resolution. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission provided the first direct measurement of water ice in a permanently shadowed region. Future missions will provide ground truth data to measure and quantify lunar volatiles.One approach to exploration capitalizes on commercial partnerships for Class D risk aware missions. Partnerships with commercial partners enable rapid design cycles, leveraging the investment of the commercial industry in instrument development. Modified Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) hardware can be utilized to enhance capabilities in exploration missions. The hardware under development at the Kennedy Space Center for availability within the Commercial Lunar Payload Services opportunities capitalizes on modified COTS, enabling an aggressive delivery schedule and low-cost development. The modified hardware has been integrated and tested in a thermal vacuum environment, with final flight modifications currently in work. The use of a modified COTS instruments will be discussed for space applications.

Captain, J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Mars Global Surveyor Mission: Environmental Assessment

This environmental assessment addresses the proposed action to complete the integration and launch the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS), Florida, during the launch window in November 1996. Mars Global Surveyor is part of the Solar System Exploration Program to the inner planets designed to maintain a sufficient level of scientific investigation and accomplishment so that the United States retains a leading position in solar system exploration through the end of the century. The Program consists of a specific sequence of missions, based on technological readiness, launch opportunities, rapidity of data return, and a balance of scientific disciplines. The purpose of the MGS mission would be to deliver a spacecraft platform to a low-altitude polar orbit around Mars where it would collect global observations of basic geological, geophysical, and climatological processes of the planet. To satisfy this purpose, the MGS mission would support a scientific set of objectives. Detailed global maps of surface topography, the distribution of minerals, the planet's mass, size, and shape, the characterization of Mars gravitational and magnetic fields, and the monitoring of global weather, collected over the period of one Martian year (about two Earth years), would help answer some of the questions about the evolution of Mars. Such an investigation would help scientists better understand the current state of water on Mars, the evolution of the planet's atmosphere, and the factors that led to major changes in the Martian climate. It would also provide much needed information on the magnetic field of Mars. Data collected from this mission would provide insight into the evolution of both Earth and the solar system, as well as demonstrate technological approaches that could be applicable to future Mars missions.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2000

Conference Summary

The MU-SPIN conference focused on showcasing successful experiences with information technology to enhance faculty and student development in areas of scientific and technical research and education. And it provided a forum for discussing increased participation of MU-SPIN schools in NASA Flight Missions and NASA Educational and Public Outreach activities. Opportunities for Involvement sessions focused on Space Science, Earth Science, Education, and Aeronautics. These sessions provided insight into the missions of NASA's enterprises and NASA's Education program. Presentations by NASA scientists, university Principal Investigators, and other affiliates addressed key issues for increased minority involvement.

Harrington, James, Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Mission Concept Design for Autonomous Space Missions using Mission-Level Modeling and Simulation

NASA’s Europa Lander mission is to search for biosignatures on Europa based on in-situ science using a lander architecture. This mission presents a set of challenges that requires a high level of autonomy on the lander system, leading to the need for a new operational paradigm that supports better collaboration and coordination between the lander and the ground operations team. M\&S is used for both designing the onboard system-level autonomy and the ground operations paradigm that allows effective and efficient collaboration and coordination between the lander and the ground operations team. In this paper, M\&S as applied to the design of new mission and operational concepts will be discussed. At its current early stage of the mission development for Europa Lander, the M\&S is used to explore different mission concepts and gain insights for design (formative) rather than to verify and validate fully designed mission concepts quantitatively (summative). Organically, we established a new approach to mission and operational concept exploration using high-fidelity modeling and simulation. M\&S has been an integral part of the approach of defining constraints and assertions, designing mission concepts, assessing (i.e., simulating them), and discovering insights, which feeds back to the definition an design steps. This organically-established approach provided important benefits to the project at its early phase of the development by enabling the project team to be able to build shared understanding of impacts from design characteristics, constraints, and their interactions on the mission performance.

Ye, Sean↗
NASA NTRS2015

Planning for Crew Exercise for Future Deep Space Mission Scenarios

Providing the necessary exercise capability to protect crew health for deep space missions will bring new sets of engineering and research challenges. Exercise has been found to be a necessary mitigation for maintaining crew health on‐orbit and preparing the crew for return to earth's gravity. Health and exercise data from Apollo, Space Lab, Shuttle, and International Space Station missions have provided insight into crew deconditioning and the types of activities that can minimize the impacts of microgravity on the physiological systems. The hardware systems required to implement exercise can be challenging to incorporate into spaceflight vehicles. Exercise system design requires encompassing the hardware required to provide mission specific anthropometrical movement ranges, desired loads, and frequencies of desired movements as well as the supporting control and monitoring systems, crew and vehicle interfaces, and vibration isolation and stabilization subsystems. The number of crew and operational constraints also contribute to defining the what exercise systems will be needed. All of these features require flight vehicle mass and volume integrated with multiple vehicle systems. The International Space Station exercise hardware requires over 1,800 kg of equipment and over 24 m3 of volume for hardware and crew operational space. Improvements towards providing equivalent or better capabilities with a smaller vehicle impact will facilitate future deep space missions. Deep space missions will require more understanding of the physiological responses to microgravity, understanding appropriate mitigations, designing the exercise systems to provide needed mitigations, and integrating effectively into vehicle design with a focus to support planned mission scenarios. Recognizing and addressing the constraints and challenges can facilitate improved vehicle design and exercise system incorporation.

Moore, Cherice↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Optimizing Postural Control Assessment in Astronauts and Head-Down Bedrest Subjects

In space, astronauts undergo physiological adaptations, such as changes in sensorimotor processing, to acclimate to microgravity conditions. However, these adaptations pose challenges upon astronauts’ return to Earth, particularly in postural control. Astronauts struggle with balance and coordination during the early post-flight period. Understanding these adaptations and their implications is key for optimizing astronaut health and performance, especially in anticipation of upcoming Artemis lunar missions. Head-down bedrest (HDBR) is a ground-based spaceflight analog that allows for additional research to be conducted into this adaptation and recovery period to test potential countermeasures before spaceflight. This research aims to delve into the assessment of postural control in both HDBR subjects and astronauts, providing insights essential for mission preparedness and the development of effective countermeasures.

H E Gustafson↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

MEDPRAT Treatment Clusters: Improving Representation of Mission Medical Risk

INTRODUCTION The Medical Extensible Dynamic Probabilistic Risk Assessment Tool (MEDPRAT) implements a computational model that aims to quantify spaceflight medical risk by utilizing probabilistic techniques to simulate critical event incidence and outcomes over thousands of simulated mission trials. The goal of MEDPRAT is to characterize mission medical risk and provide insight into medical resource utilization. In order to analyze the medical resource space, treatment must be mapped from each simulated condition, and resources consumed as a result of this treatment must be tracked throughout the course of the mission. A new MEDPRAT feature, ‘treatment clusters’, provide a more sophisticated method of defining the structure and interaction between resources, more closely mimicking the way treatment is carried out clinically. METHODS Treatment clusters expand on the two existing treatment groupings (combination and alternate) adding a new grouping: bundled treatment. Treatment clusters may be combined to any depth, giving users the ability to specify complex treatment trees whose behavior is governed by several user-specified parameters. This approach emphasizes reusability, as treatment clusters, once defined, can be used to create more complex treatment trees or applied to many conditions. By configuring parameters for contribution, efficacy, necessity, primacy, and equivalence, resource relationships and dependencies can be more accurately represented, thereby allowing users to build capabilities with desired treatment properties, for example an intravenous capability for conditions such as anaphylaxis, acute radiation syndrome, etc. MEDPRAT v1.0 remains backward compatible with existing treatment structures, giving users the ability to define new treatment clusters as evidence becomes available, without having to recode their existing treatment databases. In addition to facilitating the representation of more complex treatment options, by pairing treatment clusters with the internal optimization routine, the MEDPRAT set selector, medical resources can be identified as organized in bundles, where appropriate, so that optimized resource sets include groups of highly-dependent resources only when all resources of the group are together. For example, it would be wasteful to include ultrasound gel but not an ultrasound machine, since the gel provides no benefit as a treatment without the ultrasound machine. With treatment clusters, the user may require that both resources are available to provide any benefit as treatment, so that if one resource is optimized out of the set, the other resource will be optimized out as well. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS We will report on MEDPRAT treatment clusters used in a bundling study under the IMPACT project of the ExMC element. We will discuss an example of a complex treatment tree. Through the implementation of this feature MEDPRAT enables treatment to be defined and applied in a way that is more representative of the real world, providing more accurate insight into mission medical risk and the medical resource space.

Lawrence Leinweber↗