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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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At least 1,027 records · Page 57
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

Concept Mapping as a Support for Mars Landing-Site Selection

The NASA Ames' Center for Mars Exploration (CMEX) serves to coordinate Mars programmatic research at ARC in the sciences, in information technology and in aero-assist and other technologies. Most recently, CMEX has been working with the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition at the University of West Florida to develop a new kind of web browser based on the application of concept maps. These Cmaps, which are demonstrably effective in science teaching, can be used to provide a new kind of information navigation tool that can make web or CD based information more meaningful and more easily navigable. CMEX expects that its 1999 CD-ROM will have this new user interface. CMEX is also engaged with the Mars Surveyor Project Office at JPL in developing an Internet-based source of materials to support the process of selecting landing sites for the next series of Mars landers. This activity -- identifying the most promising sites from which to return samples relevant to the search for evidence of life -- is one that is expected to engage the general public as well as the science community. To make the landing site data easily accessible and meaningful to the public, CMEX is planning to use the IHMC Cmap browser as its user interface.

Cabrol, Nathalie A.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Solar System Visualization (SSV) Project

The Solar System Visualization (SSV) project aims at enhancing scientific and public understanding through visual representations and modeling procedures. The SSV project's objectives are to (1) create new visualization technologies, (2) organize science observations and models, and (3) visualize science results and mission Plans. The SSV project currently supports the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and Cassini. In support of the these missions, the SSV team has produced pan and zoom animations of large mosaics to reveal details of surface features and topography, created 3D animations of science instruments and procedures, formed 3-D anaglyphs from left and right stereo pairs, and animated registered multi-resolution mosaics to provide context for microscopic images.

Todd, Jessida L.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Why Haven't Mars Rovers Landed Where They Were Expected to?

In a recent study (Desai, 2008) of the actual landing sites for the Mars Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rovers and the Phoenix Mars Lander, data collected indicates that these missions landed at least 13 km downrange of their targeted landing sites. A direct reason is that density measurements taken during entry, descent and landing were consistently found to be lower than those predicted by Mars atmospheric models. The basis of this study is to further investigate this problem to see if certain aspects of current Mars atmospheric models need to be reevaluated. This study compared four different atmospheric profiles at nine pairs of comparable sites around Mars. The comparable sites are similar in location and Local True Solar Time; however they are from different Mars years. One year had normal conditions, while the other year experienced a global dust storm. Three of the atmospheric profiles were obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS); these data sets include a Radio Science profile and Thermal Emission Spectrometer data in limb and nadir projections. The three MGS data sets were selected from large observational databases to allow the sites to have data observed at nearcoincident times. The last atmospheric profile is from the Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM), an engineering level atmospheric model widely used for mission applications. Through careful data evaluation, several conclusions were drawn. Ratios among the data show that the three observed MGS profiles were consistent with each other, although they were recorded by three different methods. Mars-GRAM data had larger differences from the observed data. Mars-GRAM particularly had issues with consistently overestimating upper atmosphere atmospheric density, as noted in Desai s study. Differences between the observed atmospheric density profiles from the Mars-GRAM atmospheric density profile could be attributed to a temperature bias in the model, especially in the upper atmosphere.

Badger, Andrew M.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Planetary Image Geometry Library

The Planetary Image Geometry (PIG) library is a multi-mission library used for projecting images (EDRs, or Experiment Data Records) and managing their geometry for in-situ missions. A collection of models describes cameras and their articulation, allowing application programs such as mosaickers, terrain generators, and pointing correction tools to be written in a multi-mission manner, without any knowledge of parameters specific to the supported missions. Camera model objects allow transformation of image coordinates to and from view vectors in XYZ space. Pointing models, specific to each mission, describe how to orient the camera models based on telemetry or other information. Surface models describe the surface in general terms. Coordinate system objects manage the various coordinate systems involved in most missions. File objects manage access to metadata (labels, including telemetry information) in the input EDRs and RDRs (Reduced Data Records). Label models manage metadata information in output files. Site objects keep track of different locations where the spacecraft might be at a given time. Radiometry models allow correction of radiometry for an image. Mission objects contain basic mission parameters. Pointing adjustment ("nav") files allow pointing to be corrected. The object-oriented structure (C++) makes it easy to subclass just the pieces of the library that are truly mission-specific. Typically, this involves just the pointing model and coordinate systems, and parts of the file model. Once the library was developed (initially for Mars Polar Lander, MPL), adding new missions ranged from two days to a few months, resulting in significant cost savings as compared to rewriting all the application programs for each mission. Currently supported missions include Mars Pathfinder (MPF), MPL, Mars Exploration Rover (MER), Phoenix, and Mars Science Lab (MSL). Applications based on this library create the majority of operational image RDRs for those missions. A Java wrapper around the library allows parts of it to be used from Java code (via a native JNI interface). Future conversions of all or part of the library to Java are contemplated.

Deen, Robert C.↗
NASA NTRS2009

2009 ESMD Space Grant Faculty Project Final Report

The Constellation Program is the medium by which we will maintain a presence in low Earth orbit, return to the moon for further exploration and develop procedures for Mars exploration. The foundation for its presence and success is built by the many individuals that have given of their time, talent and even lives to help propel the mission and objectives of NASA. The Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) Faculty Fellows Program is a direct contributor to the success of directorate and Constellation Program objectives. It is through programs such as the ESMD Space Grant program that students are inspired and challenged to achieve the technological heights that will propel us to meet the goals and objectives of ESMD and the Constellation Program. It is through ESMD Space Grant programs that future NASA scientists, engineers, and mathematicians begin to dream of taking America to newer heights of space exploration. The ESMD Space Grant program is to be commended for taking the initiative to develop and implement programs that help solidify the mission of NASA. With the concerted efforts of the Kennedy Space Center educational staff, the 2009 ESMD Space Grant Summer Faculty Fellows Program allowed faculty to become more involved with NASA personnel relating to exploration topics for the senior design projects. The 2009 Project was specifically directed towards NASA's Strategic Educational Outcome 1. In-situ placement of Faculty Fellows at the NASA field Centers was essential; this allowed personal interactions with NASA scientists and engineers. In particular, this was critical to better understanding the NASA problems and begin developing a senior design effort to solve the problems. The Faculty Fellows are pleased that the ESMD Space Grant program is taking interest in developing the Senior Design courses at the university level. These courses are needed to help develop the NASA engineers and scientists of the very near future. It has been a pleasure to be part of the evaluation process to help ensure that these courses are developed in such a way that the students' educational objectives are maximized. Ultimately, with NASA-related content used as projects in the course, students will be exposed to space exploration concepts and issues while still in college. This will help to produce NASA engineers and scientists that are knowledgeable of space exploration. By the concerted efforts of these five senior design projects, NASA's ESMD Space Grant Project is making great strides at helping to develop talented engineers and scientists that will continue our exploration into space.

Murphy, Gloria↗
NASA NTRS2013

Reflectance Spectra Diversity of Silica-Rich Materials: Sensitivity to Environment and Implications for Detections on Mars

Hydrated silica-rich materials have recently been discovered on the surface of Mars by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), and the Mars Express Observatoire pour la Mineralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces, et l'Activite'(OMEGA) in several locations. Having been interpreted as hydrothermal deposits and aqueous alteration products, these materials have important implications for the history of water on the martian surface. Spectral detections of these materials in visible to near infrared (Vis NIR) wavelengths have been based on a H2O absorption feature in the 934-1009 nm region seen with Spirit s Pancam instrument, and on SiOH absorption features in the 2.21-2.26 micron range seen with CRISM. Our work aims to determine how the spectral reflectance properties of silica-rich materials in Vis NIR wavelengths vary as a function of environmental conditions and formation. Here we present laboratory reflectance spectra of a diverse suite of silica-rich materials (chert, opal, quartz, natural sinters and synthetic silica) under a range of grain sizes and temperature, pressure, and humidity conditions. We find that the H2O content and form of H2O/OH present in silica-rich materials can have significant effects on their Vis NIR spectra. Our main findings are that the position of the approx.1.4 microns OH feature and the symmetry of the approx.1.9 microns feature can be used to discern between various forms of silica-rich materials, and that the ratio of the approx.2.2 microns (SiOH) and approx.1.9 microns (H2O) band depths can aid in distinguishing between silica phases (opal-A vs. opal-CT) and formation conditions (low vs. high temperature). In a case study of hydrated silica outcrops in Valles Marineris, we show that careful application of a modified version of these spectral parameters to orbital near-infrared spectra (e.g., from CRISM and OMEGA) can aid in characterizing the compositional diversity of silica-bearing deposits on Mars. We also discuss how these results can aid in the interpretation of silica detections on Mars made by the MER Panoramic Camera (Pancam) and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Mast-mounted Camera (Mastcam) instruments.

Rice, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Advanced Aerogel Technology

The JPL Aerogel Laboratory has made aerogels for NASA flight missions, e.g., Stardust, 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers and the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory, as well as NASA research projects for the past 14 years. During that time it has produced aerogels of a range of shapes, sizes, densities and compositions. Research is ongoing in the development of aerogels for future sample capture and return missions and for thermal insulation for both spacecraft and scientific instruments. For the past several years, the JPL Aerogel Laboratory has been developing, producing and testing a new composite material for use as the high temperature thermal insulation in the Advanced Sterling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) being developed by Lockheed Martin and NASA. The composite is made up of a glass fiber felt, silica aerogel, Titania powder, and silica powder. The oxide powders are included to reduce irradiative heat transport at elevated temperatures. These materials have thermal conductivity values that are the same as the best commercially produced high temperature insulation materials, and yet are 40% lighter. By greatly reducing the amount of oxide powder in the composite, the density, and therefore for the value of the thermal conductivity, would be reduced. The JPL Aerogel Laboratory has experimented with using glass fiber felt, expanded glass fiber felt and loose fibers to add structural integrity to silica aerogels. However, this work has been directed toward high temperature applications. By conducting a brief investigation of the optimal combination of fiber reinforcement and aerogel density, a durable, extremely efficient thermal insulation material for ambient temperature applications would be produced. If a transparent thermal insulation is desired, then aerogel is an excellent candidate material. At typical ambient temperatures, silica aerogel prevents the transport of heat via convection and conduction due to its highly porous nature. To prevent irradiative thermal transport, silica aerogel can be used in conjunction with a transparent polymeric material that blocks infrared radiation. The transparency of silica aerogel is typically greater than 90% for visible wavelengths from 500 nm to 900 nm for a 5 mm long path length.

reduce irradiative heat transport↗
NASA NTRS2019

Understanding Martian Alteration Processes by Comparing In-Situ Chemical Measurements from Multiple Landing Sites

Characterizing the history of aqueous activity at the martian surface has been an objective of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) and the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Although the geologic context of the three landing sites are different, comparisons across the datasets can provide greater insight than using data from one mission alone. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) is common to all three rovers (Spirit at Gusev crater, Opportunity at Meridiani Planum, and Curiosity at Gale crater) and provides a consistent basis for these comparisons. Soil and Dust: Fine grained basaltic soils and dust are remarkably uniform in chemical composition across multiple landing sites. These similarities in the concentrations of major, minor, and a few trace elements (Fig. 1) are indicative of planet-wide consistency in the composition of source materials for the soils. S and Cl vary by a factor of two in the soil and dust, but there is no clear association with any bulk cation (e.g., no correlation between S and total Ca, Mg, or Fe in soils). These volatile elements, however, are clearly associated with the nanophase-ferric iron component in the soil established by Mössbauer spectroscopy [1,2]. S and Cl likely originated as acidic species from volcanic out-gassing and subsequently coalesced on dust and sand grain surfaces, possibly with an affinity towards Fe3+ sites. Importantly, given the mobility of S and Cl in aqueous exposures, soil samples maintaining the typical molar S/Cl ratio of ~3.7:1 indicate minimal interactions with liquid water after the addition of S and Cl. In contrast to this well-established baseline, soil samples have been discovered at all three landing sites with atypical S/Cl ratios (e.g., subsurface soils), indicative of a more complex aqueous history.

Yen, A. S.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) : the US 2009 Mars rover mission

The Mars Science Laboratory mission is the 2009 United States Mars Exploration Program rover mission. The MSL Project expects to complete its pre-Phase A definition activity this fiscal year (FY2003), investigations in mid-March 2004, launch in 2009, arrive at Mars in 2010 during Northern hemisphere summer and then complete a full 687 day Mars year of surface exploration. MSL will assess the potential for habitability (past and present) of a carefully selected landing region on Mars by exploring for the chemical building blocks of life, and seeking to understand quantitatively the chemical and physical environment with which these components have interacted over the geologic history of the planet. Thus, MSL will advance substantially our understanding of the history of Mars and potentially, its capacity to sustain life.

planetary rovers↗
NASA NTRS2005

Mars extant-life campaign using an approach based on Earth-analog habitats

The Mars Robotic Outpost group at JPL has identified sixteen potential momentous discoveries that if found on Mars would alter planning for the future Mars exploration program. This paper details one possible approach to the discovery of and response to the 'momentous discovery'' of extant life on Mars. The approach detailed in this paper, the Mars Extant-Life (MEL) campaign, is a comprehensive and flexible program to find living organisms on Mars by studying Earth-analog habitats of extremophile communities.

orbital surveys↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Prototype Manipulation System for Mars Rover Science Operations

This paper provides an overview of a new manipulation system developed for sampling and instrument placement from small autonomous mobile robots for Mars exploration. Selected out of the design space, two manipulators have been constructed and integrated into the Rocky 7 Mars rover prototype. This paper describes objectives and constraints for these manipulators, and presents the finished system and some results from its operation.

Mars Rover manipulation system sampling instrument↗
NASA NTRS2004

MGS and Odyssey - relay satellites for the MER mission

Both Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Odyssey are currently in low altitude, nearly circular and highly inclined orbits about Mars. Thus, they are available adn compartible to serve as relay satellites for the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission. Consequently, the MER project developed requirements for MGS to be overhead for MER-A (Spirit) at Gusev crater, at maximum elevation, mudway between lander separation and initial touchdown; in time, this was specified as 01/04/04. 04:24:55 UTC/SCET with a 30 sec tolerance.

Mars Exploration Rover (MER)↗
NASA NTRS2018

Mars Planetary Network for Human Exploration Era – Potential Challenges and Solutions

During 2016-2017, a study was conducted under the sponsorship of the NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program to investigate the deep space communications capacity taking into account the needs of all the present and envisioned future missions toward 2030s. It was soon recognized that planning for human exploration to Mars would impose certain unprecedent challenges, both fiscal and technical, to the current space communications paradigm. Targeting the assumed missions concepts, i.e., Crewed Mission to Phobos (CMTP) and Mars Short Stay Mission (MSSM), a Mars Planetary Network for the human exploration era has been formulated. The activity modeling and network traffic simulation/modeling we performed gave some insight into the technical challenges in space communications for the envisioned human Mars exploration era. Chief among the potential challenges are: (1) the high demand on the deep space network (DSN) assets for achieving the high-rate links, both return and forward, from Mars farthest/farther distance (up to 2.67 AU); (2) the need for resilient, persistent communication coverage for crewed vehicles, on surface and in orbits; (3) the significant period of outage for the Mars-Earth link due to superior solar conjunction; (4) the need for on-demand, simultaneous access to the proximity link by multiple vehicles and astronauts in the exploration zone; (5) the capability of determining precise, real-time, positions of surface vehicles and astronauts by the deep space habitat and/or other tele-operations entities. Solution space to each of the above challenges has been explored and analyzed in the context of the individual problem domain and, more importantly, in conjunction with that for the other challenges. This has led to an end-to-end definition of a Mars Planetary Network that would feature: (1) the fusion of deep space Ka-band and optical communications for achieving Mars-Earth high-rate links taking advantage of the optical/RF hybrid 8m/34m antennas in DSN; (2) the integrated application of the Multiple Spacecraft Per Antenna (MSPA) technique, for return link data acquisition, and the Multiple Uplink Per Antenna (MUPA) technique, for forward link data trasnmission, to reduce the number of 34m beam-wave guide (BWG) antennas needed for the era; (3) the integration of three, arrayed, 34m beam-wave guide (BWG) antennas, to provide a high G/T aperture, with the MSPA/MUPA techniques, and a dual “trunk link”approach to cut down the needed G/T -- hence, reducing the number of 34m antennas, relative to that in the single trunk approach by 50%; (4) the deployment of two areostationary/areosynchronous Mars relay orbiters; one of them could also function as (or be served by) a notional Deep Space Habitat (DSH); (5) the opportunistic deployment of a science orbiter in a Pioneer-6 type orbit, equidistant Mars/Earth, that could also serve as an intermediary relay during the Mars superior solar conjunction perod; (6) the existence of the multi-function Mars proximity link that provides the demand-assigned, multiple access (DAMA) capability; and (7) the provision of tracking observables, by leveraging on the planned Mars orbiting and surface infrastructure, to enable the in-situ navigation for surface and orbiting vehicles. This paper provides the description of the proposed Mars Planetary Network in the human exploration era, the trade-off analysis for the various alternative architectures, and the optimal solutions to the key challenges in defining this end-to-end network.

Cheung, Kar-Ming↗
NASA NTRS2020

Recent Efforts Enabling Martian Rotorcraft Missions

The Mars Helicopter (MH), launching as a part of the Mars 2020 mission, will begin a new era of planetary exploration. Mars research has historically been conducted through landers, rovers, and satellites. As both government and private industries prepare for human exploration of the Martian surface within two decades, more in depth knowledge of what awaits on the surface is critical. Planetary aerial vehicles increase the range of terrain that can be examined, compared to traditional landers and rovers and have more near surface capability than orbiters. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA Ames are currently exploring possibilities for a Mars Science Helicopter (MSH), a second-generation Mars rotorcraft with the capability of conducting science investigations independently of a lander or rover (although this type of vehicle could also be used assist rovers or landers in future missions). Preliminary designs of coaxial-helicopter and hexacopter configurations have targeted the minimum capability of lifting a payload in the range of two to three kilograms with an overall vehicle mass of approximately twenty kilograms. These MSH designs’ sizes are constrained by the aeroshell dimensions(currently focused on employing legacy Pathfinder or MSL aeroshells), rather than vehicle structural or aeroperformance limitations. Feasibility of the MSH configurations has been investigated considering packaging/deployment, rotor aerodynamics, and structural analysis studies. Initial findings suggest not only the overall feasibility of MSH configurations but also indicate that improvements up to 11.1 times increase in range or 1.3 times increase in hover time might be achievable, even with an additional science payload, compared to the current design of the MH.

Withrow-Maser, Shannah↗
NASA NTRS2012

Two Years Onboard the MER Opportunity Rover

The Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) system provides automated data collection for planetary rovers. AEGIS is currently being used onboard the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission's Opportunity to provide autonomous targeting of the MER Panoramic camera. Prior to AEGIS, targeted data was collected in a manual fashion where targets were manually identified in images transmitted to Earth and the rover had to remain in the same location for one to several communication cycles. AEGIS enables targeted data to be rapidly acquired with no delays for ground communication. Targets are selected by AEGIS through the use of onboard data analysis techniques that are guided by scientist-specified objectives. This paper provides an overview of the how AEGIS has been used on the Opportunity rover, focusing on usage that occurred during a 21 kilometer historic trek to the Mars Endeavour crater.

Mars Exploration Rover (MER)↗
NASA NTRS2004

Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV: Mars Polar Science and Exploration

The session, "Mars Polar Science and Exploration" included the following reports: Evidence for Possible Exposed Water Ice Deposits in Martian Low Latitude Chasms and Chaos; Stability and Exchange of Subsurface Ice on Mars; Evaporation Rates for Liquid Water and Ice Under Current Martian Conditions; Seasonal Cycle of Carbon Dioxide and Atmospheric Circulation in Mars Southern Hemisphere as Observed by Neutron Spectroscopy; Imaging Polarimetry of Mars with Hubble Space Telescope in 2003 Opposition; GCM Simulations of Tropical Ice Accumulations: Implications for Cold-based Glaciers; Numerical Modeling of Glaciers in Martian Paleoclimates; Valley Glaciers on Mars: Calculation of Flow Rate and Thickness; Internal Structure of the Southern Polar Cap of Mars and Formation Implications; Sublimation at the Base of a Seasonal CO2 Slab on Mars; Impact Crater Abundance of the Martian South Polar Layered Deposits from THEMIS Visible Imaging; Recent Changes in South-Polar-Polygonal Terrain During One Martian Year: Implications for Subsurface Ice-Wedges; and An Historical Search for Unfrozen Water at the Phoenix Landing Site.

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