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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exploration Capabilities Data Analysis: An Integrated Approach

In preparation for humanity’s return to the Moon, it is necessary to advance technologies and capabilities that will allow for human sustainability on the lunar surface, as well as on eventual missions to send humans to Mars. Guided by Space Policy Directive-1 and through the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) Artemis program, the advancement and development of technologies on the lunar surface will be leveraged towards technologies and knowledge needed for humans to successfully and safely go to Mars and return. In order to understand the capability needs for lunar and Mars missions, the Capabilities Integration Team identifies integration approaches and overlaps between missions to develop strategies for advancing key capabilities that support those needs. Since 2013, the Capabilities Integration Team has reached out to subject matter experts, principal technologists, and system capability leadership teams throughout NASA to gather information about the critical technologies and capabilities needed in order to support the lunar and Mars exploration missions. To properly gather this data, the Capabilities Integration Team used a capability-driven approach to identify gaps between the current state of the art and the needs of proposed exploration missions, as well as activities that may close those gaps. These inputs are used to shape technology investment strategies and are incorporated in missions to the lunar and Mars surfaces. Data collected included: gap definitions and identifying information; gap closure information and metrics for success; mapping of gaps to elements of NASA's Artemis program and future exploration architecture. . The data collected, specifically from the technology gap list, has been used to support the NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution processes, as well as the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate Strategic Technology Plans. This paper discusses the integration approach used by the Capabilities Integration Team to identify current capability gaps for the Moon to Mars architecture and what capabilities exist or must be developed to support those architecture needs. In addition, this paper also details the performance, gap characterization, current capability gap closure opportunities, and risk impacts towards Artemis, and the overall Moon to Mars architecture.

Gregory Benjamin↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Advanced Life Support Technology Testing and Development

Prior to 2010, NASA's advanced life support research and development was carried out primarily under the Exploration Life Support Project of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. In 2011, the Exploration Life Support Project was merged with other projects covering Fire Prevention/Suppression, Radiation Protection, Advanced Environmental Monitoring and Control, and Thermal Control Systems. This consolidated project was called Life Support and Habitation Systems, which was managed under the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. In 2012, NASA re-organized major directorates within the agency, which eliminated the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and created the Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT). Life support research and development is currently conducted within the Office of the Chief Technologist, under the Next Generation Life Support Project, and within the Human Exploration Operation Missions Directorate under several Advanced Exploration System projects. These Advanced Exploration Systems projects include various themes of life support technology testing, including atmospheric management, water management, logistics and waste management, and habitation systems. Food crop testing is currently conducted as part of the Deep Space Habitation (DSH) project within the Advanced Exploration Systems Program. This testing is focused on growing salad crops that could supplement the crew's diet during near term missions.

Wheeler, Raymond M.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Novel Ways to use the International Spacer Station as an Exploration Analog: International Progress in Planning "ISS4Mars"

In October 2020, International Space Station (ISS) Partner Agencies held a set of international workshops to solicit and develop creative and forward-looking ideas for using the ISS as an analog for preparation for Mars missions during its 3rd decade of operations. The workshops brought together participants from nine international space agencies or organizations, with stakeholders consisting of research managers, discipline experts, technology developers, flight physicians, flight operators, and astronauts. Breakout meetings and brainstorming sessions were conducted focusing on the following topics: Critical hazards and countermeasures for the transit to Mars; gravity transitions and early surface operations; environmental control and life support systems; food systems; human microbiome, microbial monitoring, and planetary protection; medical operations for Mars missions; isolation and confinement; autonomous systems and crew-centered autonomy; and communications delay effects on operations. In many cases the scenarios and approaches identified were compelling but challenging to implement under the current utilization structure used to manage the ISS for experiments. Following the series of workshops, a team of utilization leaders across the ISS partnership worked to compile the workshop recommendations and extract a set of use-cases with their prerequisites and constraints. The work considered the following aspects: what can be effectively done on ISS; which new technologies, approaches and scenarios are feasible; what alternatives could be considered; and what steps should be taken to enable integrated testing and future use of ISS as an analog for Mars missions. The final report will be published so that the use cases can be considered in each agency’s strategic planning processes. This paper will cover the process of international assessment in detail and how this process has influenced and broadened the vision of ISS utilization beyond single experiments to integrated studies and testing for future Mars missions. This approach to international collaboration informs both the next decade of international exploration research on the ISS and advancement of its utilization as an analog for deep space missions. For many of the participating partners, it also helps to frame the strategy for human research in Artemis as we begin planning for human missions to the moon. We conclude with a summary of the progress on the actions in the report and the additional implementation discussions that have occurred across the partnership.

Julie A Robinson↗
NASA NTRS1992

Regenerative life support technology challenges for the Space Exploration Initiative

Regenerative life support systems have been identified as one of the critical enabling technologies for future human exploration of space. This discipline encompasses processes and subsystems which regenerate the air, water, solid waste, and food streams typical of human habitation so as to minimize the mass and volume of stored consumables which must accompany the humans on a mission. A number of key technology challenges within this broad discipline are described, ranging from the development of new physical, chemical, and biological processes for regenerating the air, water, solid waste, and food streams to the development of improved techniques for monitoring and controlling microbial and trace constituent contamination. A continuing challenge overarching the development of these new technologies is the need to minimize the mass, volume, and electrical power consumption of the flight hardware. More important for long duration exploration missions, however, is the development of highly reliable, long-lived, self- sufficient systems which absolutely minimize the logistics resupply and operational maintenance requirements of the life support system and which ensure human safety through their robust, reliable operating characteristics.

Bilardo, Vincent J., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1996

NASA's Advanced Life Support Systems Human-Rated Test Facility

Future NASA missions to explore the solar system will be long-duration missions, requiring human life support systems which must operate with very high reliability over long periods of time. Such systems must be highly regenerative, requiring minimum resupply, to enable the crews to be largely self-sufficient. These regenerative life support systems will use a combination of higher plants, microorganisms, and physicochemical processes to recycle air and water, produce food, and process wastes. A key step in the development of these systems is establishment of a human-rated test facility specifically tailored to evaluation of closed, regenerative life supports systems--one in which long-duration, large-scale testing involving human test crews can be performed. Construction of such a facility, the Advanced Life Support Program's (ALS) Human-Rated Test Facility (HRTF), has begun at NASA's Johnson Space Center, and definition of systems and development of initial outfitting concepts for the facility are underway. This paper will provide an overview of the HRTF project plan, an explanation of baseline configurations, and descriptive illustrations of facility outfitting concepts.

NASA Discipline Number 61-10↗
NASA NTRS2012

Development of the Packed Bed Reactor ISS Flight Experiment

Packed bed reactors are compact, require minimum power and maintenance to operate, and are highly reliable. These features make this technology a leading candidate as a potential unit operation in support of long duration human space exploration. On earth, this type of reactor accounts for approximately 80% of all the reactors used in the chemical process industry today. Development of this technology for space exploration is truly crosscutting with many other potential applications (e.g., in-situ chemical processing of planetary materials and transport of nutrients through soil). NASA is developing an ISS experiment to address this technology with particular focus on water reclamation and air revitalization. Earlier research and development efforts funded by NASA have resulted in two hydrodynamic models which require validation with appropriate instrumentation in an extended microgravity environment. The first model developed by Motil et al., (2003) is based on a modified Ergun equation. This model was demonstrated at moderate gas and liquid flow rates, but extension to the lower flow rates expected in many advanced life support systems must be validated. The other model, developed by Guo et al., (2004) is based on Darcy s (1856) law for two-phase flow. This model has been validated for a narrow range of flow parameters indirectly (without full instrumentation) and included test points where the flow was not fully developed. The flight experiment presented will be designed with removable test sections to test the hydrodynamic models. The experiment will provide flexibility to test additional beds with different types of packing in the future. One initial test bed is based on the VRA (Volatile Removal Assembly), a packed bed reactor currently on ISS whose behavior in micro-gravity is not fully understood. Improving the performance of this system through an accurate model will increase our ability to purify water in the space environment.

Patton, Martin O.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Real-Time Science Operations to Support a Lunar Polar Volatiles Rover Mission

Future human exploration of the Moon will likely rely on in situ resource utilization (ISRU) to enable long duration lunar missions. Prior to utilizing ISRU on the Moon, the natural resources (in this case lunar volatiles) must be identified and characterized, and ISRU demonstrated on the lunar surface. To enable future uses of ISRU, NASA and the CSA are developing a lunar rover payload that can (1) locate near subsurface volatiles, (2) excavate and analyze samples of the volatile-bearing regolith, and (3) demonstrate the form, extractability and usefulness of the materials. Such investigations are important both for ISRU purposes and for understanding the scientific nature of these intriguing lunar volatile deposits. Temperature models and orbital data suggest near surface volatile concentrations may exist at briefly lit lunar polar locations outside persistently shadowed regions. A lunar rover could be remotely operated at some of these locations for the approx. 2-14 days of expected sunlight at relatively low cost. Due to the limited operational time available, both science and rover operations decisions must be made in real time, requiring immediate situational awareness, data analysis, and decision support tools. Given these constraints, such a mission requires a new concept of operations. In this paper we outline the results and lessons learned from an analog field campaign in July 2012 which tested operations for a lunar polar rover concept. A rover was operated in the analog environment of Hawaii by an off-site Flight Control Center, a rover navigation center in Canada, a Science Backroom at NASA Ames Research Center in California, and support teams at NASA Johnson Space Center in Texas and NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We find that this type of mission requires highly efficient, real time, remotely operated rover operations to enable low cost, scientifically relevant exploration of the distribution and nature of lunar polar volatiles. The field demonstration illustrated the need for science operations personnel in constant communications with the flight mission operators and the Science Backroom to provide immediate and continual science support and validation throughout the mission. Specific data analysis tools are also required to enable immediate data monitoring, visualization, and decision making. The field campaign demonstrated that this novel methodology of real-time science operations is possible and applicable to providing important new insights regarding lunar polar volatiles for both science and exploration.

Moon; Volatiles; Rover; Missions↗
NASA NTRS1987

A human performance modelling approach to intelligent decision support systems

Manned space operations require that the many automated subsystems of a space platform be controllable by a limited number of personnel. To minimize the interaction required of these operators, artificial intelligence techniques may be applied to embed a human performance model within the automated, or semi-automated, systems, thereby allowing the derivation of operator intent. A similar application has previously been proposed in the domain of fighter piloting, where the demand for pilot intent derivation is primarily a function of limited time and high workload rather than limited operators. The derivation and propagation of pilot intent is presented as it might be applied to some programs.

Mccoy, Michael S.↗
NASA NTRS2014

A Class of Selenocentric Retrograde Orbits With Innovative Applications to Human Lunar Operations

Selenocentric distant retrograde orbits with radii from approx. 12,500 km to approx. 25,000 km are assessed for stability and for suitability as crewed command and control infrastructure locations in support of telerobotic lunar surface operations and interplanetary human transport. Such orbits enable consistent transits to and from Earth at virtually any time if they are coplanar with the Moon's geocentric orbit. They possess multiple attributes and applications distinct from NASA's proposed destination orbit for a redirected asteroid about 70,000 km from the Moon.

Moon↗
NASA NTRS2018

Payload Utilization in NASA's Space Launch System

With Space Policy Directive 1, the United States administration has directed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Human Exploration & Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) to return to the Moon with missions and infrastructure designed to support a sustained presence in cislunar space, with robotic and human lunar surface operations. NASA’s new deep space exploration system — the super heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), the Orion crew spacecraft and revamped launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) — will enable NASA and its commercial and international partners to meet this goal for human exploration of deep space. SLS is the most capable launch vehicle for these efforts, as well as for sending robotic missions deep into the solar system, or even to interstellar space. The vehicle will be available in crew and cargo configurations in progressively more powerful block variants. The initial Block 1 lift capability of at least 26 metric tons (t) to trans-lunar injection (TLI) will be followed by a more powerful Block 1B with the power to loft more than 37 t to TLI. The ultimate Block 2 variant will lift more than 45 t to TLI. For payload accommodation, the Block 1 vehicle can utilize a 5 meter (m) fairing in its cargo configuration with the crew version also able to provide berths for 6U and 12U CubeSats as secondary payloads. The Block 1B crew vehicle will provide as much volume as the space shuttle payload bay in a Universal Stage Adapter (USA) for co-manifested payloads (CPLs). Block 1B cargo vehicles will offer 8.4 m-diameter fairings in 19.1 m and possibly longer lengths, with enough volume to accommodate lunar-orbiting habitat modules and other elements of NASA’s Gateway science outpost. For Mars-class payloads, larger fairings for the Block 2 cargo launcher are under consideration. For missions beyond the Earth-Moon system, SLS offers greater characteristic energy (C3) than any other launch vehicle, enabling shorter transit times or heavier payloads with more robust science packages for missions to the outer solar system. Indeed, the unmatched combination of thrust, payload volume and departure energy that SLS provides opens new opportunities for human and robotic exploration of deep space. This paper will provide an overview of the various vehicle block configurations, their capabilities and payload accommodations for sending primary, co-manifested and secondary payloads to deep space

Creech, Stephen D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Advanced Life Support Systems: Opportunities for Technology Transfer

NASA's future missions to explore the solar system will be of long-duration possibly lasting years at a time. Human life support systems will have to operate with very high reliability for these long periods with essentially no resupply from Earth. Such life support systems will make extensive use of higher plants, microorganisms, and physicochemical processes for recycling air and water, processing wastes, and producing food. Development of regenerative life support systems will be a pivotal capability for NASA's future human missions. A fully functional closed loop human life support system currently does not exist and thus represents a major technical challenge for space exploration. Technologies where all life support consumables are recycled have many potential terrestrial applications as well. Potential applications include providing human habitation in hostile environments such as the polar regions or the desert in such a way as to minimize energy expenditures and to minimize negative impacts on those often ecologically-sensitive areas. Other potential applications include production of food and ornamental crops without damaging the environment from fertilizers that contaminate water supplies; removal of trace gas contaminants from tightly sealed, energy-efficient buildings (the so-called sick building syndrome); and even the potential of gaining insight into the dynamics of the Earth's biosphere such that we can better manage our global environment. Two specific advanced life support technologies being developed by NASA, with potential terrestrial application, are the zeoponic plant growth system and the Hybrid Regenerative Water Recovery System (HRWRS). The potential applications for these candidate dual use technologies are quite different as are the mechanisms for transfer. In the case of zeoponics, a variety of commercial applications has been suggested which represent potentially lucrative markets. Also, the patented nature of this product offers opportunities for licensing to commercial entities. In the case of the HRWRS, commercial markets with broad applications have not been identified but some terrestrial applications are being explored where this approach has advantages over other methods of waste water processing. Although these potential applications do not appear to have the same broad attraction from the standpoint of rapid commercialization, they represent niches where commercialization possibilities as well as social benefits could be realized.

Fields, B.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Beyond DNA Sequencing in Space: Current and Future Omics Capabilities of the Biomolecule Sequencer Payload

Why do we need a DNA sequencer to support the human exploration of space? (A) Operational environmental monitoring; (1) Identification of contaminating microbes, (2) Infectious disease diagnosis, (3) Reduce down mass (sample return for environmental monitoring, crew health, etc.). (B) Research; (1) Human, (2) Animal, (3) Microbes/Cell lines, (4) Plant. (C) Med Ops; (1) Response to countermeasures, (2) Radiation, (3) Real-time analysis can influence medical intervention. (C) Support astrobiology science investigations; (1) Technology superiorly suited to in situ nucleic acid-based life detection, (2) Functional testing for integration into robotics for extraplanetary exploration mission.

Wallace, Sarah↗
NASA NTRS1989

Design concepts for the Centrifuge Facility Life Sciences Glovebox

The Life Sciences Glovebox will provide the bioisolated environment to support on-orbit operations involving non-human live specimens and samples for human life sceinces experiments. It will be part of the Centrifuge Facility, in which animal and plant specimens are housed in bioisolated Habitat modules and transported to the Glovebox as part of the experiment protocols supported by the crew. At the Glovebox, up to two crew members and two habitat modules must be accommodated to provide flexibility and support optimal operations. This paper will present several innovative design concepts that attempt to satisfy the basic Glovebox requirements. These concepts were evaluated for ergonomics and ease of operations using computer modeling and full-scale mockups. The more promising ideas were presented to scientists and astronauts for their evaluation. Their comments, and the results from other evaluations are presented. Based on the evaluations, the authors recommend designs and features that will help optimize crew performance and facilitate science accommodations, and specify problem areas that require further study.

Sun, Sidney C.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Requirements for Planetary Outpost Life-Support Systems and the Possible Use of In Situ Resources

If humans are ever to live and work on the Moon or Mars for extended periods of time, the operation of regenerative life-support systems at the planetary outposts will be a critical requirement. The substantial amount of materials consumed by humans and the inevitable waste products make open-loop life-support systems and resupply missions (as used in Space Shuttle and Mir operations) impractical and expensive. Natural resources found on the Moon and Mars could be used in conjunction with regenerative life support systems to further reduce the amount of material that would need to be delivered from Earth. There have been numerous studies and experiments conducted on the production of O from regolith materials on the Moon and from the atmosphere of Mars. One or several of these processes could undoubtedly be used to produce the O required by the crews at planetary outposts. Water is required in the greatest quantities, primarily for tasks such as personal hygiene and clothes washing, and it will be the most precious consumable. Again, several process have been described to produce water on the Moon using solar-wind implanted H and O, and if water ice can be found and mined at the lunar poles, another source of water may be available.

Gruener, John E.↗
NASA NTRS2023

X-57 Cockpit Interface Control Document (ICD-CEPT-006)

The Cockpit Interface Control Document defines the hardware interfaces between the X-57 cockpit and subsystems. It provides locational and operational information in support of ground and flight operations with details on controls and displays that include Modes of Operation, Start-Up and Shut- Down Sequence diagrams and captures the current state of the MOD II Avionics Power Architecture. There is also preliminary information of the MOD III and MOD IV configurations. Microsoft PowerPoint was chosen for the document as early development required frequent meetings with multiple customers including aircraft operators (pilots), ground operations, support contractors and power, instrumentation, and human systems integration engineers and PowerPoint enabled presentations that could be quickly modified based on customer and developer interaction. One of the driving requirements for the cockpit design was to keep the left side panel as close the stock Tecnam panel as possible to reduce the failure risk of flight critical indicators. The original annunciator panel in the left side panel was modified to alert the pilot to failures in critical X-57 subsystems and an operator audio alert capability was added for these subsystems. Power-Up switches for the aircraft low voltage 13.8 VDC systems are located at the bottom of the left side panel and center panel, the same location as the stock Tecnam 13.8 VDC switches. The switches for energizing the high voltage system were located in the overhead panel to reduce the risk of inadvertently energizing the high voltage system during the low voltage power-up sequence. The Cruise Motor ARM switches were also located in the overhead panel and correspond to the same location as the stock Tecnam ignition switches. The stock Tecnam throttle levers and prop pitch levers were retained for the X-57. The throttle levers were renamed torque levers since they controlled the commanded torque to the cruise motors. The prop pitch levers provide a commanded RPM signal to an electronic prop pitch controller. X-57 specific displays, located in the right-side panel, are driven by dedicated sensors that monitor right and left side cruise motor RPM, right and left high voltage “Traction Bus” A and B (voltage, current and power) and the Avionics Bus DC converters (A and B) voltage and current. An X-57 Multi-Function Display (MFD) located in the center panel displays CAN Bus parameters. CAN Bus architecture is not certified for flight so these displays could not be used for safety critical information but were designed to be used for test point information only.

Laura Kushner↗
NASA NTRS2013

Large-Scale Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiments in ISS Resupply Vehicles

Our understanding of the fire safety risk in manned spacecraft has been limited by the small scale of the testing we have been able to conduct in low-gravity. Fire growth and spread cannot be expected to scale linearly with sample size so we cannot make accurate predictions of the behavior of realistic scale fires in spacecraft based on the limited low-g testing to date. As a result, spacecraft fire safety protocols are necessarily very conservative and costly. Future crewed missions are expected to be longer in duration than previous exploration missions outside of low-earth orbit and accordingly, more complex in terms of operations, logistics, and safety. This will increase the challenge of ensuring a fire-safe environment for the crew throughout the mission. Based on our fundamental uncertainty of the behavior of fires in low-gravity, the need for realistic scale testing at reduced gravity has been demonstrated. To address this concern, a spacecraft fire safety research project is underway to reduce the uncertainty and risk in the design of spacecraft fire safety systems by testing at nearly full scale in low-gravity. This project is supported by the NASA Advanced Exploration Systems Program Office in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. The activity of this project is supported by an international topical team of fire experts from other space agencies to maximize the utility of the data and to ensure the widest possible scrutiny of the concept. The large-scale space flight experiment will be conducted on three missions; each in an Orbital Sciences Corporation Cygnus vehicle after it has deberthed from the ISS. Although the experiment will need to meet rigorous safety requirements to ensure the carrier vehicle does not sustain damage, the absence of a crew allows the fire products to be released into the cabin. The tests will be fully automated with the data downlinked at the conclusion of the test before the Cygnus vehicle reenters the atmosphere. The international topical team is collaborating with the NASA team in the definition of the experiment requirements and performing supporting analysis, experimentation and technology development.

Combustion↗
NASA NTRS2023

Technological and Medical Human Health and Well-Being Options in Deep Space

Zeroth order, maintenance of human health requires supportive protection from the hazards of space, including supplying breathable air, comfortable temperatures, a supportive diet/nutrition, radiation protection, and sufficient gravity to avoid the combinatorial impacts of such effecting human operability and health. Spacecraft operability must be “fail-safe” to ensure these basic human life support conditions are maintained throughout the mission and the mission(s) must be affordable. There are known effects and unknowns effects regarding aspects of human health for Mars duration missions. Mars has the order of a third g. We have no data regarding the health impacts of this on humans or the combinatorial effects associated with 45% GCR on the Martian surface over time. There is a suspicion that if humans survive such conditions over long times they will evolve to living at reduced g and become “Martians”. Cascading failures and subcritical degradations in systems of systems causing an overall unrecoverable failure are a potential issue. There are two exremely complex systems associated with humans-Mars missions: the technical, engineering, and architectural system of systems that enable the mission and the humans. Both need to be mutually configured and operated to mitigate the overall risks and hazards of the mission. Regarding the humans that mitigation includes both the mission risks and supporting-to-increasing the human immune and other concomitant physiological systems. This report will summarize the risks, current mitigation approaches, and putative approaches including lifestyle, nutrition, and “wellness” approaches to possibly improve the human capacity to withstand the large number of combinatorial human physiological rigors of the missions. The wellness observations also apply to and are derived from Earth terrestrial applicable research.

Dennis M Bushnell↗