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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 NTRS2015

The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing a robotic mission to visit a large near-Earth asteroid (NEA), collect a multi-ton boulder from its surface, and redirect it into a stable orbit around the Moon. Once returned to cislunar space in the mid-2020s, astronauts will explore the boulder and return to Earth with samples. This Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is part of NASA's plan to advance the technologies, capabilities, and spaceflight experience needed for a human mission to the Martian system in the 2030s. Subsequent human and robotic missions to the asteroidal material would also be facilitated by its return to cislunar space. Although ARM is primarily a capability demonstration mission (i.e., technologies and associated operations), there exist significant opportunities to advance our knowledge of small bodies in the synergistic areas of science, planetary defense, asteroidal resources and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), and capability and technology demonstrations. In order to maximize the knowledge return from the mission, NASA is organizing an ARM Investigation Team, which is being preceded by the Formulation Assessment and Support Team. These teams will be comprised of scientists, technologists, and other qualified and interested individuals to help plan the implementation and execution of ARM. An overview of robotic and crewed segments of ARM, including the mission requirements, NEA targets, and mission operations, will be provided along with a discussion of the potential opportunities associated with the mission.

Abell, Paul↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM): Exploration of a Former Binary NEA?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) as a capability demonstration for future human exploration, including use of high-power solar electric propulsion, which allows for the efficient movement of large masses through deep space. The ARM will also demonstrate the capability to conduct proximity operations with natural space objects and crewed operations beyond the security of quick Earth return. The Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM), currently in formulation, will visit a large near-Earth asteroid (NEA), collect a multi-ton boulder from its surface, conduct a demonstration of a slow push planetary defense technique, and redirect the multi-ton boulder into a stable orbit around the Moon. Once returned to cislunar space in the mid-2020s, astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft will dock with the robotic vehicle to explore the boulder and return samples to Earth. The ARM is part of NASA's plan to advance technologies, capabilities, and spaceflight experience needed for a human mission to the Martian system in the 2030s. The ARM and subsequent availability of the asteroidal material in cis-lunar space, provide significant opportunities to advance our knowledge of small bodies in the synergistic areas of science, planetary defense, and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The current reference target for the ARM is NEA (341843) 2008 EV5, which may have been the primary body of a former binary system (Busch et al., 2011; Tardivel et al., 2016). The ARRM will perform several close proximity operations to investigate the NEA and map its surface. A detailed investigation of this object may allow a better understanding of binary NEA physical characteristics and the possible outcomes for their evolution. An overview of the ARM robotic and crewed segments, including mission operations, and a discussion of potential opportunities for participation with the ARM will be provided in this presentation.

Abell, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS2016

An Overview of NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) Concept

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) as a capability demonstration for future human exploration, including use of high-power solar electric propulsion, which allows for the efficient movement of large masses through deep space. The ARM will also demonstrate the capability to conduct proximity operations with natural space objects and crewed operations beyond the security of quick Earth return. The Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM), currently in formulation, will visit a large near-Earth asteroid (NEA), collect a multi-ton boulder from its surface, conduct a demonstration of a slow push planetary defense technique, and redirect the multi-ton boulder into a stable orbit around the Moon. Once returned to cislunar space in the mid-2020s, astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft will dock with the robotic vehicle to explore the boulder and return samples to Earth. The ARM is part of NASA's plan to advance technologies, capabilities, and spaceflight experience needed for a human mission to the Martian system in the 2030s. The ARM and subsequent availability of the asteroidal material in cis-lunar space, provide significant opportunities to advance our knowledge of small bodies in the synergistic areas of science, planetary defense, and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). NASA established the Formulation Assessment and Support Team (FAST), comprised of scientists, engineers, and technologists, which supported ARRM mission requirements formulation, answered specific questions concerning potential target asteroid physical properties, and produced a publically available report. The ARM Investigation Team is being organized to support ARM implementation and execution. NASA is also open to collaboration with its international partners and welcomes further discussions. An overview of the ARM robotic and crewed segments, including mission requirements, NEA targets, and mission operations, and a discussion of potential opportunities for participation with the ARM will be provided.

Abell, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Flyby Characterization of Lower-Degree Spherical Harmonics Around Small Bodies

Interest in studying small bodies has grown significantly in the last two decades, and there are a number of past, present, and future missions. These small body missions challenge navigators with significantly different kinds of problems than the planets and moons do. The small bodies' shape is often irregular and their gravitational field significantly weak, which make the designing of a stable orbit a complex dynamical problem. In the initial phase of spacecraft rendezvous with a small body, the determination of the gravitational parameter and lower-degree spherical harmonics are of crucial importance for safe navigation purposes. This motivates studying how well one can determine the total mass and lower-degree spherical harmonics in a relatively short time in the initial phase of the spacecraft rendezvous via flybys. A quick turnaround for the gravity data is of high value since it will facilitate the subsequent mission design of the main scientific observation campaign. We will present how one can approach the problem to determine a desirable flyby geometry for a general small body. We will work in the non-dimensional formulation since it will generalize our results across different size/mass bodies and the rotation rate for a specific combination of gravitational coefficients.

Takahashi, Yu↗
NASA NTRS2017

NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM)

Mission Description and Objectives: NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) consists of two mission segments: 1) the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM), a robotic mission to visit a large (greater than approximately 100 meters diameter) near-Earth asteroid (NEA), collect a multi-ton boulder from its surface along with regolith samples, and return the asteroidal material to a stable orbit around the Moon; and 2) the Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission (ARCM), in which astronauts will explore and investigate the boulder and return to Earth with samples. The ARRM is currently planned to launch at the end of 2021 and the ARCM is scheduled for late 2026.

Abell, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Sensitivity of the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) to Launch Date and Asteroid Stay Time

National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASAs) proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is being designed to robotically capture and then redirect an asteroidal boulder into a stable orbit in the vicinity of the moon, where astronauts would be able to visit and study it. The current reference trajectory for the robotic portion, ARRM, assumes a launch on a Delta-IV H in the end of the calendar year 2021, with a return for astronaut operations in cislunar space in 2026. The current baseline design allocates 245 days of stay time at the asteroid for operations and boulder collection. This paper outlines analysis completed by the ARRM mission design team to understand the sensitivity of the reference trajectory to launch date and asteroid stay time.

asteroid↗
NASA NTRS2017

Enhanced Gravity Tractor Derived from the Asteroid Redirect Mission for Deflecting Hypothetical Asteroid 2017 PDC

The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) concept would robotically visit a hazardous-size near-Earth asteroid (NEA) with a rendezvous spacecraft, collect a multi-ton boulder and regolith samples from its surface, demonstrate an innovative planetary defense technique known as the Enhanced Gravity Tractor (EGT), and return the asteroidal material to a stable orbit around the Moon, allowing astronauts to explore the returned material in the mid-2020s. Launch of the robotic vehicle to rendezvous with the ARM reference target, NEA (341843) 2008 EV5, would occur in late 2021 [1,2]. The robotic segment of the ARM concept uses a 40 kW Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system with a specific impulse (Isp) of 2600 s, and would provide the first ever demonstration of the EGT technique on a hazardous-size asteroid and validate one method of collecting mass in-situ. The power, propellant, and thrust capability of the ARM robotic spacecraft can be scaled from a 40 kW system to 150 kW and 300 kW, which represent a likely future power level progression. The gravity tractor technique uses the gravitational attraction of a station-keeping spacecraft with the asteroid to provide a velocity change and gradually alter the trajectory of the asteroid. EGT utilizes a spacecraft with a high-efficiency propulsion system, such as Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP), along with mass collected in-situ to augment the mass of the spacecraft, thereby increasing the gravitational force between the objects [3]. As long as the spacecraft has sufficient thrust and propellant capability, the EGT force is only limited by the amount of in-situ mass collected and can be increased several orders of magnitude compared to the traditional gravity tractor technique in which only the spacecraft mass is used to generate the gravitational attraction force. This increase in available force greatly reduces the required deflection time. The collected material can be a single boulder, multiple boulders, regolith, or a combination of different material types using a variety of collection techniques. The EGT concept assumes that the ability to efficiently collect asteroid mass in-situ from a wide variety of asteroid types and environments is a future capability that will be developed and perfected in the future by the asteroid mining community. Additionally, it is anticipated that the mass collection would likely be performed by a single or multiple separable spacecraft to allow the SEP spacecraft to operate at safe distance from the asteroid.

Mazanek, Daniel D.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Sensitivity of the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) to Launch Date and Asteroid Stay Time

National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASAs) proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is being designed to robotically capture and then redirect an asteroidal boulder mass into a stable orbit in the vicinity of the moon, where astronauts would be able to visit and study it. The current reference trajectory for the robotic portion, ARRM, assumes a launch on a Delta IV H in the end of the calendar year 2021, with a return for astronaut operations in cislunar space in 2026. The current baseline design allocates 245 days of stay time at the asteroid for operations and boulder collection. This paper outlines analysis completed by the ARRM mission design team to understand the sensitivity of the reference trajectory to launch date and asteroid stay time.

trajectory analysis↗
NASA NTRS2011

Navigation Strategies for Primitive Solar System Body Rendezvous and Proximity Operations

A wealth of scientific knowledge regarding the composition and evolution of the solar system can be gained through reconnaissance missions to primitive solar system bodies. This paper presents analysis of a baseline navigation strategy designed to address the unique challenges of primitive body navigation. Linear covariance and Monte Carlo error analysis was performed on a baseline navigation strategy using simulated data from a· design reference mission (DRM). The objective of the DRM is to approach, rendezvous, and maintain a stable orbit about the near-Earth asteroid 4660 Nereus. The outlined navigation strategy and resulting analyses, however, are not necessarily limited to this specific target asteroid as they may he applicable to a diverse range of mission scenarios. The baseline navigation strategy included simulated data from Deep Space Network (DSN) radiometric tracking and optical image processing (OpNav). Results from the linear covariance and Monte Carlo analyses suggest the DRM navigation strategy is sufficient to approach and perform proximity operations in the vicinity of the target asteroid with meter-level accuracy.

Getzandanner, Kenneth M.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Arcus Mission Design: Stable Lunar Resonant HEO for X-ray Astronomy

The Arcus mission, proposed for NASA's 2016 Astrophysics Medium Explorer (MIDEX) announcement of opportunity, will use X-ray spectroscopy to detect previously unaccounted quantities of normal matter in the Universe. The Arcus mission design uses 4:1 lunar resonance to provide a stable orbit for visibility of widely-dispersed targets, in a low background radiation environment, above the Van Allen belts for the minimum two-year science mission. Additional ad-vantages of 4:1 resonance are long term stability without maintenance maneuvers, eclipses under 4.5 hours, perigee radius approximately 12 Re for data download, and streamlined operational cadence with approximately 1 week or-bit period.

Arcus↗
NASA NTRS2006

Approximations of distant retrograde orbits for mission design

Distant retrograde orbits (DROs) are stable periodic orbit solutions of the equations of motion in the circular restricted three body problem. Since no closed form expressions for DROs are known, we present methods for approximating a family of planar DROs for an arbitrary, fixed mass ratio. Furthermore we give methods for computing the first and second derivatives of the position and velocity with respect to the variables that parameterize the family. The approximation and derivative methods described allow a mission designer to target specific DROs or a range of DROs with no regard to phasing in contrast to the more limited case of targeting a six-state only.

Distant Retrograde Orbits (DRO)↗
NASA NTRS1996

Orbits Close to Asteroid 4769 Castalia

We use a radar-derived physical model of 4769 Castalia (1989 PB) to investigate close orbit dynamics around that kilometer- sized, uniformly rotating asteroid. Our methods of analysis provide a basis for systematic studies of particle dynamics close to any uniformly rotating asteroid. We establish that a Jacobi integral exists for particles orbiting this asteroid, examine the attendant zero-velocity surfaces, find families of periodic orbits, and determine their stability. All synchronous orbits and direct orbits within approx. 3 mean radii of Castalia are unstable and are subject to impact or escape from Castalia. Retrograde orbits are mostly stable and allow particles to orbit close to the asteroid surface. We derive a model which allows us to predict the escape conditions of a particle in orbit about Castalia and the (temporary) capture conditions for a hyperbolic interloper. Orbits within 1.5 km of Castalia are subject to immediate ejection from the system. Hyperbolic orbits with a V(sub infinity) less than 0.4 m/sec can potentially be captured by Castalia if their periapsis radius Is within approx. 2 km. For Castalia this capture region is small, but the results also apply to larger asteroids whose capture regions would also be larger. We determine bounds on ejecta speeds which either ensure ejecta escape or re-impact as functions of location on Castalia's surface. The speeds that ensure escape range from 0.28 to 0.84 m/sec and the speeds that ensure re-impact range from 0 to 0.18 m/sec. Speeds between these two bounds lead either to escape, re-impact, or potentially finite-time stable orbits. We develop a simple criterion which can establish whether a particle could have been ejected from the asteroid in the past and if it will impact the surface in the future.

Scheeres, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Designing capture trajectories to unstable periodic orbits around Europa

The hostile environment of third body perturbations restricts a mission designer's ability to find well-behaved reproducible capture trajectories when dealing with limited control authority as is typical with low-thrust missions. The approach outlined in this paper confronts this shortcoming by utilizing dynamical systems theory and an extensive preexisting database of Restricted Three Body Problem (RTBP) periodic orbits. The stable manifolds of unstable periodic orbits are utilized to attract a spacecraft towards Europa. By selecting an appropriate periodic orbit, a mission designer can control important characteristics of the captured state including stability, minimum altitudes, characteristic inclinations, and characteristic radii among others. Several free parameters are optimized in the non-trivial mapping from the RTBP to a more realistic model. Although the ephemeris capture orbit is ballistic by design, low-thrust is used to target the state that leads to the capture orbit, control the spacecraft after arriving on the unstable quasi-periodic orbit, and begin the spiral down towards the science orbit. The approach allows a mission designer to directly target fuel efficient captures at Europa in an ephemeris model. Furthermore, it provides structure and controllability to the design of capture trajectories that reside in a chaotic environment.

low-thrust↗
NASA NTRS2018

Arcus Mission Design: Stable Lunar-Resonant High Earth Orbit for X-Ray Astronomy

The Arcus mission, proposed for NASA's 2016 Astrophysics Medium Explorer (MIDEX) announcement of opportunity, will use X-ray spectroscopy to detect previously unaccounted quantities of normal matter in the Universe. The Arcus mission design uses 4:1 lunar resonance to provide a stable orbit for visibility of widely-dispersed targets, in a low background radiation environment, above the Van Allen belts for the minimum two-year science mission. Additional ad-vantages of 4:1 resonance are long term stability without maintenance maneu-vers, eclipses under 4.5 hours, perigee radius approximately 12 Re for data download, and streamlined operational cadence with approximately 1 week orbit period.

Arcus↗
NASA NTRS1978

Thickening of axisymmetric accretion disks and flows

A study is made to determine whether or not hot plasma flowing from the inner edge of an accretion disk around a black hole can thicken out of the disk plane with the onset of a Pringle-Rees thermal instability. The instability is caused by the density thinning caused by the sharp increase in radial infall velocity near the radius of the marginally stable circular orbit, or by abrupt variations in viscosity or Lightman-Eardly secular instabilities. An estimate of the thickening timescale is given. Various physically realistic situations involving radial steady-state flow and where significant disk thickening can occur in the region of the radius of the marginally stable circular orbit are identified. It is noted that its evolution into a large spherical cloud would require large velocities of the viscosity parameter and the amount of energy dissipated in the unstable region.

Stoeger, W. R.↗
NASA NTRS2009

High Frequency QPOs due to Black Hole Spin

We present detailed computations of photon orbits emitted by flares at the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of accretion disks around rotating black holes. We show that for sufficiently large spin parameter, i.e. a > 0.94 M, flare a sufficient number of photons arrive at an observer after multiple orbits around the black hole, to produce an "photon echo" of constant lag, i.e. independent of the relative phase between the black hole and the observer, of T approximates 14 M. This constant time delay, then, leads to a power spectrum with a QPO at a frequency nu approximates 1/14M, even for a totally random ensemble of such flares. Observation of such a QPO will provide incontrovertible evidence for the high spin of the black hole and a very accurate, independent, measurement of its mass.

Kazanas, Demos↗
NASA NTRS1992

Analysis of orbital perturbations acting on objects in orbits near geosynchronous earth orbit

The paper presents a numerical investigation of orbital evolution for objects started in GEO or in orbits near GEO in order to study potential orbital debris problems in this region. Perturbations simulated include nonspherical terms in the earth's geopotential field, lunar and solar gravity, and solar radiation pressure. Objects simulated include large satellites, for which solar radiation pressure is insignificant, and small particles, for which solar radiation pressure is an important force. Results for large satellites are largely in agreement with previous GEO studies that used classical perturbation techniques. The orbit plane of GEO satellites placed in a stable plane orbit inclined approximately 7.3 deg to the equator experience very little precession, remaining always within 1.2 percent of their initial orientation. Solar radiation pressure generates two major effects on small particles: an orbital eccentricity oscillation anticipated from previous research, and an oscillation in orbital inclination.

Friesen, Larry J.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Overview of Mission Design for NASA Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission Concept

Part of NASA's new asteroid initiative would be a robotic mission to capture a roughly four to ten meter asteroid and redirect its orbit to place it in translunar space. Once in a stable storage orbit at the Moon, astronauts would then visit the asteroid for science investigations, to test in space resource extraction, and to develop experience with human deep space missions. This paper discusses the mission design techniques that would enable the redirection of a 100-1000 metric ton asteroid into lunar orbit with a 40-50 kW Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system.

Asteroid Redirect Robotic Vehicle (ARRV)↗