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Sizing and Design Tool for Tall Lunar Tower

Tall lunar towers enable direct collection of solar energy using solar panels that can generate power exceeding 50kW. Tall lunar towers also support solar reflectors and concentrators for solar farms, which enable various mission architectures on the lunar surface. The Tall Lunar Tower project at NASA Langley Research Center is focused on the design, modeling, fabrication, and testing of an assembled tall lunar tower engineering development unit. This paper presents the development of a sizing and design tool for the tall lunar tower. The predicted frequency and buckling responses of the tall lunar tower from the tool are compared with the results obtained from finite element analysis.

Solar Tower↗

Mars Surface Tunnel Element Concept

How crews get into or out of their ascent vehicle has profound implications for Mars surface architecture. Extravehicular Activity (EVA) hatches and Airlocks have the benefit of relatively low mass and high Technology Readiness Level (TRL), but waste consumables with a volume depressurization for every ingress/egress. Perhaps the biggest drawback to EVA hatches or Airlocks is that they make it difficult to keep Martian dust from being tracked back into the ascent vehicle, in violation of planetary protection protocols. Suit ports offer the promise of dust mitigation by keeping dusty suits outside the cabin, but require significant cabin real estate, are relatively high mass, and current operational concepts still require an EVA hatch to get the suits outside for the first EVA, and back inside after the final EVA. This is primarily because current designs don't provide enough structural support to protect the suits from ascent/descent loads or potential thruster plume impingement. For architectures involving more than one surface element-such as an ascent vehicle and a rover or surface habitat-a retractable tunnel is an attractive option. By pushing spacesuit don/doff and EVA operations to an element that remains on the surface, ascended vehicle mass and dust can be minimized. What's more, retractable tunnels provide operational flexibility by allowing surface assets to be re-configured or built up over time. Retractable tunnel functional requirements and design concepts being developed as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) work will add a new ingress/egress option to the surface architecture trade space.

Rucker, Michelle A.↗

NASA’s Surface Deformation and Change Mission Study

The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine 2017 Decadal Survey of Earth Science and Applications identified geodetic measurements of surface deformation and related change as one of the top five “observables” to be prioritized in NASA’s future program. In response, NASA commissioned a multi-center Surface Deformation and Change(SDC) team to perform a five year study of mission architectures that would support SDC observables and provide the most value to the diverse science and applications communities it serves. The study is being conducted in phases, in which the science and applications capabilities identified in the Decadal Survey are refined, candidate architectures and associated technologies to support these needs are identified, architectures are assessed against a science value framework specific to SDC, and recommendations to NASA are made. Ultimately, NASA will decide which amongst these recommendations will proceed to mission formulation. As synthetic aperture radar (SAR) was identified as the prime sensor technology to satisfy SDC observational needs, a key component of the SDC study is to assess the current state of the art in SAR sensor and supporting technology. The number of SAR systems, both civil and commercial, is growing rapidly, requiring that mission architectures not only consider technology, but availability of data from other missions, possible partnerships or collaborations, and even data purchase. The mechanism for assessment involves development of an end-to-end science performance evaluation tool for multi-satellite con-stellations, which feeds into a science value framework that con-siders science performance, technological programmatic risks, and cost. This paper will present an overview of the ongoing study including the candidate architectures and the technology road map needed to achieve the objectives of the mission.

Stephen Horst↗

NASA's Surface Deformation and Change Mission Study

The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine 2017 Decadal Survey of Earth Science and Applications identified geodetic measurements of surface deformation and related change as one of the top five "observables" to be prioritized in NASA's program going forward. In response, NASA commissioned a multi-center Surface Deformation and Change (SDC) team to perform a five year study of mission architectures that would support SDC observables and provide the most value to the diverse science and applications communities it serves. The study is being conducted in phases, in which the science and applications capabilities identified in the Decadal Survey are interpreted and refined, candidate mission architectures and associated technologies to support these needs are identified, architectures are assessed against a science value framework specific to SDC, and recommendations to NASA are made. Ultimately, NASA will decide which amongst these recommendations will proceed to mission formulation. As synthetic aperture radar (SAR) was identified as the prime sensor technology to satisfy SDC observational needs, a key component of the SDC study is to assess the current state of the art in SAR sensor and spacecraft systems and components. The number of SAR systems, both civil and commercial, is growing rapidly, requiring that mission architectures not only consider technology, but availability of data from other missions, possible partnerships or collaborations, and even data purchase. The mechanism for assessment involves development of an end-to-end science performance evaluation tool for multi-satellite constellations, which feeds into a science value framework that considers science performance, technological programmatic risks, and cost. This paper will present an overview of the ongoing study including the architectures under consideration and the technology road map needed to achieve the objectives of the mission.

Rosen, Paul↗

Mission Architecture Comparison for Human Lunar Exploration

The Vision for Space Exploration outlines a bold new national space exploration policy that holds as one of its primary objectives the extension of human presence outward into the Solar System, starting with a return to the Moon in preparation for the future exploration of Mars and beyond. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is currently engaged in several preliminary analysis efforts in order to develop the requirements necessary for implementing this objective in a manner that is both sustainable and affordable. Such analyses investigate various operational concepts, or mission architectures , by which humans can best travel to the lunar surface, live and work there for increasing lengths of time, and then return to Earth. This paper reports on a trade study conducted in support of NASA s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate investigating the relative merits of three alternative lunar mission architecture strategies. The three architectures use for reference a lunar exploration campaign consisting of multiple 90-day expeditions to the Moon s polar regions, a strategy which was selected for its high perceived scientific and operational value. The first architecture discussed incorporates the lunar orbit rendezvous approach employed by the Apollo lunar exploration program. This concept has been adapted from Apollo to meet the particular demands of a long-stay polar exploration campaign while assuring the safe return of crew to Earth. Lunar orbit rendezvous is also used as the baseline against which the other alternate concepts are measured. The first such alternative, libration point rendezvous, utilizes the unique characteristics of the cislunar libration point instead of a low altitude lunar parking orbit as a rendezvous and staging node. Finally, a mission strategy which does not incorporate rendezvous after the crew ascends from the Moon is also studied. In this mission strategy, the crew returns directly to Earth from the lunar surface, and is thus referred to as direct return. Figures of merit in the areas of safety and mission success, mission effectiveness, extensibility, and affordability are used to evaluate and compare the lunar orbit rendezvous, libration point rendezvous, and direct return architectures, and this paper summarizes the results of those assessments.

Geffre, Jim↗

Addressing Challenges to the Design & Test of Operational Lighting Environments for the International Space Station

In our day to day lives, the availability of light, with which to see our environment, is often taken for granted. The designers of land based lighting systems use sunlight and artificial light as their toolset. The availability of power, quantity of light sources, and variety of design options are often unlimited. The accessibility of most land based lighting systems makes it easy for the architect and engineer to verify and validate their design ideas. Failures with an implementation, while sometimes costly, can easily be addressed by renovation. Consider now, an architectural facility orbiting in space, 260 miles above the surface of the earth. This human rated architectural facility, the International Space Station (ISS) must maintain operations every day, including life support and appropriate human comforts without fail. The facility must also handle logistics of regular shipments of cargo, including new passengers. The ISS requires accommodations necessary for human control of machine systems. Additionally, the ISS is a research facility and supports investigations performed inside and outside its livable volume. Finally, the facility must support remote operations and observations by ground controllers. All of these architectural needs require a functional, safe, and even an aesthetic lighting environment. At Johnson Space Center, our Habitability and Human Factors team assists our diverse customers with their lighting environment challenges, via physical test and computer based analysis. Because of the complexity of ISS operational environment, our team has learned and developed processes that help ISS operate safely. Because of the dynamic exterior lighting environment, uses computational modeling to predict the lighting environment. The ISS' orbit exposes it to a sunrise every 90 minutes, causing work surfaces to quickly change from direct sunlight to earthshine to total darkness. Proper planning of vehicle approaches, robotics operations, and crewed Extra Vehicular Activities are mandatory to ensure safety to the crew and all others involved. Innovation in testing techniques is important as well. The advent of Solid State Lighting technology and the lack of stable national and international standards for its implementation pose new challenges on how to design, test and verify individual light fixtures and the environment that uses them. The ISS will soon be replacing its internal fluorescent lighting system to a solid state LED system. The Solid State Lighting Assembly will be used not only for general lighting, but also as a medical countermeasure to control the circadian rhythm of the crew. The new light source has performance criteria very specific to its spectral fingerprint, creating new challenges that were originally not as significant during the original design of the ISS. This presentation will showcase findings and toolsets our team is using to assist in the planning of tasks, and design of operational lighting environments on the International Space Station.

Clark, Toni A.↗

Common Habitat Architecture

The Common Habitat is a human habitation element for inner solar system long duration (assessed up to 1200 days) space missions, inclusive of both orbital and surface missions. Exploration Science is supported by both internal laboratories and external science platforms (e.g., telescopes and other remote sensing systems). The Common Habitat is integrated with other elements needed (e.g., propulsion, heat rejection, airlock, etc.) to make the total system a spacecraft, space station, base, or other facility. The Common Habitat Architecture is an exploratory, primarily volunteer, NASA conceptual study and is NOT the current Artemis architecture. Common Habitat elements do show a similarity to some elements under development for Artemis but do not imply any relationship to, influence on, or influence by Artemis requirements, objectives, or acquisitions.

Common Habitat↗

NASAs Evolvable Mars Campaign: Mars Moons Robotic Precursor

Human exploration missions to the moons of Mars are being considered within NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) as an intermediate step for eventual human exploration and pioneering of the surface of Mars. A range of mission architectures is being evaluated in which human crews would explore one or both moons for as little as 14 days or for as long as 500 days with a variety of orbital and surface habitation and mobility options being considered. Relatively little is known about the orbital, surface, or subsurface characteristics of either moon. This makes them interesting but challenging destinations for human exploration missions during which crewmembers must be able to effectively conduct scientific exploration without being exposed to undue risks due to radiation, dust, micrometeoroids, or other hazards. A robotic precursor mission to one or both moons will be required to provide data necessary for the design and operation of subsequent human systems and for the identification and prioritization of scientific exploration objectives. This paper identifies and discusses considerations for the design of such a precursor mission based on current human mission architectures. Objectives of a Mars' moon precursor in support of human missions are expected to include: 1) identifying hazards on the surface and the orbital environment at up to 50-km distant retrograde orbits; 2) collecting data on physical characteristics for planning of detailed human proximity and surface operations; 3) performing remote sensing and in situ science investigations to refine and focus future human scientific activities; and 4) prospecting for in situ resource utilization. These precursor objectives can be met through a combination or remote sensing (orbital) and in-situ (surface) measurements. Analysis of spacecraft downlink signals using radio science techniques would measure the moon's mass, mass distribution, and gravity field, which will be necessary to enable trajectory planning. Laser altimetry would precisely measure the moon's shape and improve the accuracy of radio science measurements. A telescopic imaging camera would map the moon at submeter resolution and photograph selected areas of interest at subcentimeter resolution and a visible and near-infrared (0.4-3.0 mm) imaging spectrograph would produce a global map of mineral composition variations at a resolution of tens of meters and maps of selected areas of interest at meter resolution. Additional remote sensing capabilities could include a thermal infrared imager (heat flow, thermal inertia, and grain size distributions), a gamma-ray and neutron detector (atomic composition), a ground-penetrating radar (internal structure), and a magnetometer and Langmuir probe (magnetic properties and plasma field). Once on the surface of Phobos or Deimos, necessary instrumentation would include a penetrometer (regolith compressive strength), a motion-imagery camera (to observe the penetrometer tests before, during, and after contact), a dust-adhesion witness plate and camera (dust levitation), a microimager (dust particle sizes and shapes), and an alpha-proton-X-ray, X-ray fluorescence, Mossbauer, or Raman spectrometer (atomic and mineral composition of surface materials) and an optional temperature probe (regolith thermal properties). A variety of robotic mission design options to enable both orbital and surface measurements are being considered that include fully integrated and modular approaches. In-situ measurements from at least one surface location would be required, with additional measurement locations possible through use of multiple landers, through propulsive relocation of a single lander, or through electromechanical surface translation by a walking or hopping lander vehicle, which could also serve to evaluate such mobility capabilities for subsequent human missions. Preliminary orbital analysis suggests that remote sensing would likely be performed while in a distant retrograde orbit around the target moon. Mission design options to enable characterization of both Mars’ moons in a single mission are also being studied.

Gernhardt, Michael L.↗

A Flexible Lunar Architecture for Exploration (FLARE) Supporting NASA’s Artemis Program

The Flexible Lunar Architecture for Exploration (FLARE) is a concept to deliver four crew to the lunar surface for a minimum of seven days and then return them safely to Earth. FLARE can be implemented whenever the component vehicles are operational. FLARE was developed as an alternative to NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) reference architecture from the Design Analysis Cycle (DAC) #2 created in 2019. The DAC2 guidelines required utilization of the Gateway vehicle in a Near- Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO). Instead, FLARE chooses a Low Lunar Frozen Polar Orbit (LLFPO) for lunar rendezvous of components, and an optional Gateway vehicle. The LLFPO provides a stable orbit that overflies the south pole every 2 h, ensuring easy access to the lunar surface for surface aborts with a much lower propellant requirement than NRHO. The minimum FLARE concept uses one Space Launch System (SLS) launch, one Orion, one European Service Module (ESM), and one human lander (launched on commercial vehicle(s)). FLARE adds the SpaceTug, based upon the mature and successful ULA “Common” Centaur Upper Stage vehicle, with modifications to create an Earth-Moon transfer vehicle. In the FLARE baseline mission, the SpaceTug provides propulsion needed to return the Orion + ESM from LLFPO to Earth. The SpaceTug also provides propulsion to deliver the separate human lander components – the Descent Element (DE) and the Ascent Element (AE) - from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to LLFPO. The SLS Block 1 then launches the Orion + ESM and completes a rendezvous with the mated DE + AE components in LLFPO. FLARE offers optional phases beyond the baseline mission. The SpaceTug can deliver components of the planned Gateway, including the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and the Habitable and Logistics Outpost (HALO), to LLFPO. FLARE provides an option to deliver precursor equipment to the lunar surface to enhance and extend the human mission. With these components, including an inflatable habitation module and airlock, individual crew mobility vehicle(s), an In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) demonstration, and science and technology experiments, the crew can explore and conduct science on the lunar surface for up to 14 days.

Moon 2024↗

Assessment of a Surface Water Transportation System for ISRU Operations on Mars

NASA is working to define the architecture needed for a Mars exploration campaign. Initial analysis assumptions allow for pre-deployment of essential cargo and equipment to support a crew landing, including the pre-positioning of a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). This MAV is likely to represent the largest single payload that must be landed on the Mars surface. Its size would be influenced by the amount of mass that state-of-the-art Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) systems would be capable of placing on Mars. One possible method of increasing the usable size of the MAV without exceeding available EDL capabilities is to land the MAV without ascent propellant on board. Following such a method may necessitate a strategy to acquire sufficient ascent propellant to allow a crew to safely depart the Martian surface. This paper describes a conceptual return propellant strategy that uses a liquid transportation skid, or pallet, to be used in conjunction with a rover mobility system to transfer water across the Martian surface from a source point to an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) plant that would use this water as a feedstock to generate oxygen and methane to enable launch of the MAV. Design considerations, concept of operations, and rover energetics will be discussed in this paper.

Fluid Structure Interface↗

Analysis of Alternative Architectures for Cargo Lunar Landers

NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) program has been working with commercial partners to develop human-class lunar landers to return the first American woman and next American man to the lunar surface in the mid 2020’s. In an effort to expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit, NASA’s Artemis program aims to facilitate a sustainable, long-term human presence in cis-lunar space. A component of this will require significant infrastructure to be delivered to the lunar surface. Delivering this infrastructure will require a significant lander capability that has yet to be developed. A thorough understanding of cargo lunar lander architectures is required such that select alternatives can be identified that best support the Artemis program’s objective of sustainability. The goal of this study is to aid NASA and its partners in the understanding of the cargo lunar lander trades space, as well as identify potential robust alternatives. The results will support NASA as it moves forward with key activities such as requirements formulation, agency strategic planning, and potential cargo lunar lander procurements. The study builds off of recent work performed by the Human Landing System program’s Architecture and Systems Analysis group to encompass a broad trade space of cargo lunar lander architecture alternatives. The current trade space as depicted by the morphological matrix and mission graph in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, respectively, includes key alternative options that have become highly relevant due to current HLS activities and include on-orbit refueling, active cryogenic fluid management, Earth orbit aggregation, and global lunar access. The authors believe that there is also a statistically relevant impact of lander-payload configuration on the primary structure of the vehicle that could greatly impact alternative selection. Because of this, several conceptual lander-payload configurations will be evaluated to determine the level of impact. The current set of conceptual configurations are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. To aid the conceptual evaluation of these configurations, a catalogue of notional payloads has been developed that represent a wide range of masses and volumes that are expected to be delivered in support of a sustained human lunar presence, including pressurized and unpressurized rovers, surface habitats, power systems, and other support infrastructure. In order to execute this study in a timely fashion, a similar approach to that utilized in a similar 2019 study focused on 2024 human lunar sorties will be employed [1]. The team utilized a novel architecture synthesis framework currently being developed by NASA/MSFC to evaluate over 600,000 lunar lander architectures over a two month time frame [2]. From this large data set, varying ground rules and assumptions were applied as filters to explore the trade space to identify alternatives which exhibited robustness, as measured by launch vehicle payload margin, to absorb the natural growth that occurs during design maturation. The set of Earth-Moon system Delta-Vs assumed from the 2019 study, shown in Fig. 5, will be repurposed to accelerate model formulation for this effort. Additionally, current efforts in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Aerospace System Design Lab will be integrated to provide probabilistic modeling of the cargo lunar lander architectures to aid in identifying robust design alternatives [3]. The approach will help minimize potential impacts due to large levels of uncertainty inherent to pre phase-A conceptual design. By leveraging these past and present studies and partnerships, a highly detailed set of data can be generated in a short time period to aid NASA in the coming years to support the goal of a sustained human lunar presence.

Architectures↗

Manufacture of Solar Cells on the Moon

In support of the space exploration initiative a new architecture for the production of solar cells on the lunar surface is devised. The paper discusses experimental data on the fabrication and properties of lunar glass substrates, evaporated lunar regolith thin film (antireflect coatings and insulators), and preliminary attempts in the fabrication of thin film (silicon/II-VI) photovoltaic materials on lunar regolith substrates. A conceptual design for a solar powered robotic rover capable of fabricating solar cells directly on the lunar surface is provided. Technical challenges in the development of such a facility and strategies to alleviate perceived difficulties are discussed. Finally, preliminary cost benefit ratio analysis for different in situ solar cell production scenarios (using exclusively in-situ planetary resources or hybrid) are discussed.

Freundich, Alex↗

Advanced Technology Infusion into Spacesuit Systems

Advancement in technology drives our future. The successful implementation of a technology drives its possibilities. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has invested in numerous technologies that have proved to be successful. The desire is to learn from those successes. For a technology to evolve, become a reality, and infuse into NASA’s missions, a compilation of success-oriented factors must exist for the technology to reach fruition. Understanding these factors could help decrease the complexity of technology infusion and bridge the gap between technology developers and system integrators. The knowledge gained could facilitate the design, development, test, and infusion of a technology to be more effective and efficient. Successful technology infusion is complex and can be even more daunting when advanced technologies are infused into complicated systems. NASA, industry, and academia desire to understand the infusion process, along with measuring the success of infusing an advanced technology into a complex system. This paper focuses on complicated systems that necessitate successful infusion of technologies. These systems include NASA’s spacesuits used for extravehicular activity, including the Apollo Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), the Shuttle/International Space Station EMU, and the Exploration EMU (xEMU) architectures. Several life support technologies will be addressed in the xEMU. Those technologies will be discussed, along with a methodology for assessing infusion pathways. The infusion pathways of these life support technologies into spacesuit architectures can form the benchmark for technology infusion into other architectures for lunar and Martian surfaces. The spacesuit system architectures as case studies can provide the foundation of technical knowledge to help NASA and industry’s project managers and system managers integrate advanced technologies more effectively and efficiently.

Cinda Chullen↗

Exploring transport-enabled gates with integrated optical addressing to demonstrate high fidelity control of trapped ion qubits in a scalable quantum computer

In recent years, experiments involving micofabricated surface ion traps have grown in complexity, and as this complexity grows, a common design has emerged in the form of quantum charge-coupled device architecture. This architecture, already utilized on multiple systems, supports multiple zones on a device for areas such as memory or computation. The shutting process between these zones is a process often seen to be minimized. An additional component to scalable surface trapped-ion experiments includes some form of integrated photonics, as free space lasers have difficulty scaling to many ions. Here, we discuss recent results in utilizing the shuttling process with integrated photonics to perform a specific type of gate, as well as demonstrating state preparation. Furthermore, we show that these gates can be utilized as a type of optical modulator as the Doppler shift that occurs during shuttling will make the light seen by shuttled ions different than that seen by stationary ions. Furthermore, we show that the shuttling operation can be utilized as an optical modulator, where the Doppler shift changes the frequency from that of a stationary ion.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Development of a Surface Water Transportation System for ISRU Operations on Mars

NASA is working to define the architecture needed for a Mars exploration campaign. Initial analysis assumptions allow for pre-deployment of essential cargo and equipment to support a crew landing, including the pre-positioning of a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). This MAV is likely to represent the largest single payload that must be landed on the Mars surface. Its size would be influenced by the amount of mass that state-of-the-art Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) systems would be capable of placing on Mars. One possible method of increasing the usable size of the MAV without exceeding available EDL capabilities is to land the MAV without ascent propellant on board. Following such a method may necessitate a strategy to acquire sufficient ascent propellant to allow a crew to safely depart the Martian surface. This paper describes a conceptual return propellant strategy that uses a liquid transportation skid, or pallet, to be used in conjunction with a rover mobility system to transfer water across the Martian surface from a source point to an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) plant that would use this water as a feedstock to generate oxygen and methane to enable launch of the MAV. Design considerations, concept of operations, and rover energetics will be discussed in this paper.

Fluid Structure Interface↗

Hardware Systems and EDU Demonstration of the Tall Lunar Tower Project

The Tall Lunar Tower (TLT) project developed a robotic tower assembly system (RTAS) and TLT Truss engineering development units (EDUs) to perform a ground demonstration of supervised semi-autonomous robotic assembly of a truss-based tall tower. Truss structures provide exceptional strength-to-weight ratios for payload capabilities supporting large masses. On the lunar surface, tall towers are a critical structural system that will enable significant solar power generation by supporting vertical solar arrays and beyond-the-horizon communications at the lunar south pole, supporting the Artemis mission architecture, as well as a lunar economy. Tall towers, greater than 30-meters-tall, provide the elevation needed for more consistent solar power generation due to low inclination sunlight and deep shadowing from surface features on the lunar surface at the poles. The robotic structural assembly technologies developed for truss-based tall towers will also enable other large-scale functional lunar structures to be built, including launch plume deflectors, lunar safe havens for astronauts and assets, surface transportation for cargo, and other critical infrastructure. Robotic assembly of truss structures for lunar surface infrastructure is near-term enabling for future Artemis mission campaign and Moon to Mars Objectives needs for power and communication. The project team designed, fabricated, tested, and demonstrated the RTAS EDU by assembling a TLT Truss EDU in a laboratory environment. The hardware systems and the supervised semi-autonomous assembly process for a TLT assembled EDU design, along with descriptions of a hardware demonstration are presented.

In-space Assembly↗

Hardware Systems and EDU Demonstration of the Tall Lunar Tower Project

The Tall Lunar Tower (TLT) project developed a robotic tower assembly system (RTAS) and TLT Truss engineering development units (EDUs) to perform a ground demonstration of supervised semi-autonomous robotic assembly of a truss-based tall tower. Truss structures provide exceptional strength-to-weight ratios for payload capabilities supporting large masses. On the lunar surface, tall towers are a critical structural system that will enable significant solar power generation by supporting vertical solar arrays and beyond-the-horizon communications at the lunar south pole, supporting the Artemis mission architecture, as well as a lunar economy. Tall towers, greater than 30-meters-tall, provide the elevation needed for more consistent solar power generation due to low inclination sunlight and deep shadowing from surface features on the lunar surface at the poles. The robotic structural assembly technologies developed for truss-based tall towers will also enable other large-scale functional lunar structures to be built, including launch plume deflectors, lunar safe havens for astronauts and assets, surface transportation for cargo, and other critical infrastructure. Robotic assembly of truss structures for lunar surface infrastructure is near-term enabling for future Artemis mission campaign and Moon to Mars Objectives needs for power and communication. The project team designed, fabricated, tested, and demonstrated the RTAS EDU by assembling a TLT Truss EDU in a laboratory environment. The hardware systems and the supervised semi-autonomous assembly process for a TLT assembled EDU design, along with descriptions of a hardware demonstration are presented.

Lunar Infrastructure↗

Options for a lunar base surface architecture

The analysis of the Space Exploration Initiative architectures involves making definitions of systems engineering designs for the construction of lunar and Mars bases for the support of science, exploration, and resource production on these planets. This paper discusses the results of the Space Resource Utilization Architecture study, which was initiated to develop the technical capability for extracting useful materials from the indigenous resources of the moon and Mars. For the moon, an infrastructure concept of a base is designed which can support a crew of 12. The major phases of the lunar-base development, the systems and the elements involved, and the physical layout and evolution of the base are described.

Roberts, Barney B.↗