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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 NTRS2007

Establishing a Near Term Lunar Farside Gravity Model via Inexpensive Add-on Navigation Payload

The Space Communications and Navigation, Constellation Integration Project (SCIP) is tasked with defining, developing, deploying and operating an evolving multi-decade communications and navigation (C/N) infrastructure including services and subsystems that will support both robotic and human exploration activities at the Moon. This paper discusses an early far side gravitational mapping service and related telecom subsystem that uses an existing spacecraft (WIND) and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to collect data that would address several needs of the SCIP. An important aspect of such an endeavor is to vastly improve the current lunar gravity model while demonstrating the navigation and stationkeeping of a relay spacecraft. We describe a gravity data acquisition activity and the trajectory design of the relay orbit in an Earth-Moon L2 co-linear libration orbit. Several phases of the transfer from an Earth-Sun to the Earth-Moon region are discussed along with transfers within the Earth-Moon system. We describe a proposed, but not integrated, add-on to LRO scheduled to be launched in October of 2008. LRO provided a real host spacecraft against which we designed the science payload and mission activities. From a strategic standpoint, LRO was a very exciting first flight opportunity for gravity science data collection. Gravity Science data collection requires the use of one or more low altitude lunar polar orbiters. Variations in the lunar gravity field will cause measurable variations in the orbit of a low altitude lunar orbiter. The primary means to capture these induced motions is to monitor the Doppler shift of a radio signal to or from the low altitude spacecraft, given that the signal is referenced to a stable frequency reference. For the lunar far side, a secondary orbiting radio signal platform is required. We provide an in-depth look at link margins, trajectory design, and hardware implications. Our approach posed minimum risk to a host mission while maintaining a very low implementation and operations cost.

Folta, David↗

NASA NTRS1980

Strawman payload data for science and applications space platforms

The need for a free flying science and applications space platform to host compatible long duration experiment groupings in Earth orbit is discussed. Experiment level information on strawman payload models is presented which serves to identify and quantify the requirements for the space platform system. A description data base on the strawman payload model is presented along with experiment level and group level summaries. Payloads identified in the strawman model include the disciplines of resources observations and environmental observations.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1992

Microwave vs optical crosslink study

The intersatellite links (ISL's) at geostationary orbit is currently a missing link in commercial satellite services. Prior studies have found that potential application of ISL's to domestic, regional, and global satellites will provide more cost-effective services than the non-ISL's systems (i.e., multiple-hop systems). In addition, ISL's can improve and expand the existing satellite services in several aspects. For example, ISL's can conserve the scarce spectrum allocated for fixed satellite services (FSS) by avoiding multiple hopping of the relay stations. ISL's can also conserve prime orbit slot by effectively expanding the geostationary arc. As a result of the coverage extension by using ISL's more users will have direct access to the satellite network, thus providing reduced signal propagation delay and improved signal quality. Given the potential benefits of ISL's system, it is of interest to determine the appropriate implementations for some potential ISL architectures. Summary of the selected ISL network architecture as supplied by NASA are listed. The projected high data rate requirements (greater than 400 Mbps) suggest that high frequency RF or optical implementations are natural approaches. Both RF and optical systems have their own merits and weaknesses which make the choice between them dependent on the specific application. Due to its relatively mature technology base, the implementation risk associated with RF (at least 32 GHz) is lower than that of the optical ISL's. However, the relatively large antenna size required by RF ISL's payload may cause real-estate problems on the host spacecraft. In addition, because of the frequency sharing (for duplex multiple channels communications) within the limited bandwidth allocated, RF ISL's are more susceptible to inter-system and inter-channel interferences. On the other hand, optical ISL's can offer interference-free transmission and compact sized payload. However, the extremely narrow beam widths (on the order of 10 micro-rad) associated with optical ISL's impose very stringent pointing, acquisition, and tracking requirements on the system. Even if the RF and optical systems are considered separately, questions still remain as to selection of RF frequency, direct versus coherent optical detection, etc. in implementing an ISL for a particular network architecture. These and other issues are studied.

Kwong, Paulman W.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Virtualization - A Key Cost Saver in NASA Multi-Mission Ground System Architecture

With science team budgets being slashed, and a lack of adequate facilities for science payload teams to operate their instruments, there is a strong need for innovative new ground systems that are able to provide necessary levels of capability processing power, system availability and redundancy while maintaining a small footprint in terms of physical space, power utilization and cooling.The ground system architecture being presented is based off of heritage from several other projects currently in development or operations at Goddard, but was designed and built specifically to meet the needs of the Science and Planetary Operations Control Center (SPOCC) as a low-cost payload command, control, planning and analysis operations center. However, this SPOCC architecture was designed to be generic enough to be re-used partially or in whole by other labs and missions (since its inception that has already happened in several cases!)The SPOCC architecture leverages a highly available VMware-based virtualization cluster with shared SAS Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) to provide an extremely high-performing, low-power-utilization and small-footprint compute environment that provides Virtual Machine resources shared among the various tenant missions in the SPOCC. The storage is also expandable, allowing future missions to chain up to 7 additional 2U chassis of storage at an extremely competitive cost if they require additional archive or virtual machine storage space.The software architecture provides a fully-redundant GMSEC-based message bus architecture based on the ActiveMQ middleware to track all health and safety status within the SPOCC ground system. All virtual machines utilize the GMSEC system agents to report system host health over the GMSEC bus, and spacecraft payload health is monitored using the Hammers Integrated Test and Operations System (ITOS) Galaxy Telemetry and Command (TC) system, which performs near-real-time limit checking and data processing on the downlinked data stream and injects messages into the GMSEC bus that are monitored to automatically page the on-call operator or Systems Administrator (SA) when an off-nominal condition is detected. This architecture, like the LTSP thin clients, are shared across all tenant missions.Other required IT security controls are implemented at the ground system level, including physical access controls, logical system-level authentication authorization management, auditing and reporting, network management and a NIST 800-53 FISMA-Moderate IT Security plan Risk Assessment Contingency Plan, helping multiple missions share the cost of compliance with agency-mandated directives.The SPOCC architecture provides science payload control centers and backup mission operations centers with a cost-effective, standardized approach to virtualizing and monitoring resources that were traditionally multiple racks full of physical machines. The increased agility in deploying new virtual systems and thin client workstations can provide significant savings in personnel costs for maintaining the ground system. The cost savings in procurement, power, rack footprint and cooling as well as the shared multi-mission design greatly reduces upfront cost for missions moving into the facility. Overall, the authors hope that this architecture will become a model for how future NASA operations centers are constructed!

Ground System Architecture↗

NASA NTRS1998

Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS)

This document reports the results and analyses presented at the Life and Microgravity Spacelab One Year Science Review meeting. The science conference was held in Montreal, Canada, on August 20-21, 1997, and was hosted by the Canadian Space Agency. The LMS payload flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-78) from June 20 - July 7, 1996. The LMS investigations were performed in a pressurized Spacelab module and the Shuttle middeck. Forty scientific experiments were performed in fields such as fluid physics, solidification of metals, alloys, and semiconductors, the growth of protein crystals, and animal, human, and plant life sciences. The results demonstrate the range of quality science that can be conducted utilizing orbital laboratories in microgravity.

Downey, James Patton↗

NASA NTRS2000

Hubble Space Telescope Program on STS-95 Supported by Space Acceleration Measurement System for Free Flyers

John Glenn's historic return to space was a primary focus of the STS 95 space shuttle mission; however, the 83 science payloads aboard were the focus of the flight activities. One of the payloads, the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital System Test (HOST), was flown in the cargo bay by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It served as a space flight test of upgrade components for the telescope before they are installed in the shuttle for the next Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. One of the upgrade components is a cryogenic cooling system for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). The cooling is required for low noise in the receiver's sensitive electronic instrumentation. Originally, a passive system using dry ice cooled NICMOS, but the ice leaked away and must be replaced. The active cryogenic cooler can provide the cold temperatures required for the NICMOS, but there was a concern that it would create vibrations that would affect the fine pointing accuracy of the Hubble platform.

Kacpura, Thomas J.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Cryogenic Refractive Indices of S-LAH55, S-LAH55V, S-LAH59, S-LAM3, S-NBM51, S-NPH2, S-PHM52, and S-TIH14 Glasses

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an explorer-class planet finder, whose principal goal is to detect small planets with bright host starts in the solar neighborhood. The TESS payload consists of four identical cameras and a Data Handling Unit (DHU) fitted with CCD detectors and associated electronics. Each camera consist of a lens assembly with seven optical elements that include various types of Ohara glass substrates. The successful implementation of a panchromatic and a thermal lens assembly design for these cameras requires a fairly accurate (up to 0.000001 (1e-6)) knowledge of the temperature- and wavelength-dependent of the refractive index in the wavelength and temperature range of operation. Hence, this paper is devoted to report on measurements of the refractive index over the wavelength range of 0.42-1.15 micrometers and temperature range of 110-300 K for the following Ohara glasses: S-LAH55, S-LAH55V, S-LAH59, S-LAM3, S-NBM51, S-NPH2, S-PHM52, and S-TIH14. The measurements were performed utilizing the Cryogenic High Accuracy Refraction Measuring System (CHARMS) facility at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. A dense coverage of the absolute refractive index for all these substrates in the aforementioned wavelength and temperature ranges was used to determine the thermo-optic coefficient (dndT) and dispersion relation (dnd) as a function of wavelength and temperature. A comparison of the measured indices with literature values, specifically the temperature-dependent refractive indices of S-PHM52 and S-TIH14 reported by Yamamuro et al. [Yamamuro et al., Opt. Eng. 45(8), 083401 (2006)], will be presented.

cryogenic temperatures↗

NASA NTRS2015

Cryogenic Refractive Indices of S-LAH55, S-LAH55V, S-LAH59, S-LAM3, S-NBM51, S-NPH2, S-PHM52, and S-TIH14 Glasses

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an explorer-class planet finder, whose principal goal is to detect small planets with bright host starts in the solar neighborhood. The TESS payload consists of four identical cameras with seven optical elements each that include various types of Ohara glass substrates. The successful implementation both panchromatic and thermal lens assembly designs for these cameras requires a fairly accurate (up to 1E-6) knowledge of the temperature and wavelength dependence of the refractive index in the wavelength and temperature range of operation. Hence, this paper is devoted to report on measurements of the refractive index over the wavelength range of 0.42-1.15 um and temperature range of 110-310 K for the following Ohara glasses: S-LAH55, S-LAH55V, SLAH59, S-LAM3, S-NBM51, S-NPH2, S-PHM52, and S-TIH14. The measurements were performed utilizing the Cryogenic High Accuracy Refraction Measuring System (CHARMS) facility at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. A dense coverage of the absolute refractive index for the title substrates in the aforementioned wavelength and temperature ranges was used to determine the thermo-optic coefficient (dn/dT) and dispersion relation (dn/d lambda) as a function of wavelength and temperature. A comparison of the measured indices with literature values, specifically the temperature-dependent refractive indices of S-PHM52 and S-TIH14, will be presented.

geometrical optics↗

NASA NTRS2021

Applications and Benefits of GNSS for Lunar Exploration

This paper explores the role of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) in NASA's lunar exploration plans. Robust position, navigation and timing (PNT) at the Moon will rely on a variety of measurement sources, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The best navigation solution will depend on mission type, the phase within each mission, the state of lunar infrastructure development at the time and a host of other considerations. No single method will provide all PNT for all scenarios, but GNSS offers a continuously available, flight-proven source of navigation and timing with unique features that make it a valuable option. As NASA launches a new era of lunar exploration missions in 2021, development of the supporting navigation architecture is underway. This paper describes the role GNSS could or will play in the components of NASA's lunar exploration plans: the Artemis missions designed to return humans to the lunar surface, the Gateway platform orbiting near the Moon that will host astronauts as well as science and technology payloads, and the robotic lander missions administered by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. GNSS-based autonomous navigation has the potential to dramatically expand lunar exploration capabilities. Through the use of GNSS and GNSS-like augmentations, navigation performance could be improved while simultaneously reducing operational complexity relative to conventional, ground-based navigation methods. As NASA begins to implement its lunar exploration plans this year and assemble the enabling communications and navigation infrastructure, GNSS will provide an important part of the diverse measurements required for robust lunar PNT.

Benjamin W Ashman↗

NASA NTRS2016

NH11B-1726: FrankenRaven: A New Platform for Remote Sensing

Small, modular aircraft are an emerging technology with a goal to maximize flexibility and enable multi-mission support. This reports the progress of an unmanned aerial system (UAS) project conducted at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) in 2016. This interdisciplinary effort builds upon the success of the 2014 FrankenEye project to apply rapid prototyping techniques to UAS, to develop a variety of platforms to host remote sensing instruments. In 2016, ARC received AeroVironment RQ-11A and RQ-11B Raven UAS from the US Department of the Interior, Office of Aviation Services. These aircraft have electric propulsion, a wingspan of roughly 1.3m, and have demonstrated reliability in challenging environments. The Raven airframe is an ideal foundation to construct more complex aircraft, and student interns using 3D printing were able to graft multiple Raven wings and fuselages into FrankenRaven aircraft. Aeronautical analysis shows that the new configuration has enhanced flight time, payload capacity, and distance compared to the original Raven. The FrankenRaven avionics architecture replaces the mil-spec avionics with COTS technology based upon the 3DR Pixhawk PX4 autopilot with a safety multiplexer for failsafe handoff to 2.4 GHz RC control and 915 MHz telemetry. This project demonstrates how design reuse, rapid prototyping, and modular subcomponents can be leveraged into flexible airborne platforms that can host a variety of remote sensing payloads and even multiple payloads. Modularity advances a new paradigm: mass-customization of aircraft around given payload(s). Multi-fuselage designs are currently under development to host a wide variety of payloads including a zenith-pointing spectrometer, a magnetometer, a multi-spectral camera, and a RGB camera. After airworthiness certification, flight readiness review, and test flights are performed at Crows Landing airfield in central California, field data will be taken at Kilauea volcano in Hawaii and other locations.

remote sensing↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Spacecraft Line-Of-Sight Jitter Mitigation and Management Lessons Learned and Engineering Best Practices

Predicting, managing, controlling, and testing spacecraft line-of-sight (LoS) jitter caused by micro-vibrations due to onboard internal disturbance sources is a formidable multidisciplinary engineering task. It is especially challenging for those missions hosting high-performance, vibration-sensitive optical sensor payloads with stringent pointing stability requirements. Both NASA and ESA are planning technically aggressive spaceflight missions that include ultra-high-performance optical payloads with delicate, highly vibration-sensitive scientific and observational instruments. The GN&C community of practice will need to leverage and build upon their collective experiences and lessons learned to better address future micro-vibration challenges. To identify lessons learned and best engineering practices the NASA Engineering & Safety Center (NESC) sponsored a two-day Spacecraft LoS Jitter Workshop in late 2019. The workshop’s goal was to provide a multidisciplinary forum to elicit deeper understanding of the issues related to solving the spacecraft LoS jitter/micro-vibration problem. A primary objective was to identify and share best practices, rules of thumb, and options for jitter-related activities. Representatives from NASA, JPL, ESA, along with NASA’s industrial partners, independent consultant subject matter experts, and members of academia participated in the workshop. This paper will describe the motivation for the NASA Spacecraft LoS Jitter Workshop and summarize the identified findings, observations, and recommendations.

Lessons Learned;↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The NASA Jitter Handbook Development Activity: A Multidisciplinary Collaborative Effort

Spaceflight missions hosting high-performance vibration-sensitive optical sensor payloads with stringent pointing stability requirements are especially challenged in the areas of predicting, managing, controlling, and testing spacecraft line-of-sight (LoS) jitter. The community recognizes that this is a formidable multidisciplinary engineering task. However, while some textbooks and references in the aerospace literature may touch on the subject of jitter, important details of specific flight proven methodologies and techniques used by today’s jitter engineering practitioners are not readily accessible. There is no know engineering reference document with guidelines and best practices for managing and mitigating space-craft jitter. To fill this knowledge gap the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) has undertaken the task of developing a NASA Jitter Handbook which would include lessons learned and best practices for design, analysis, and test, along with operational guidelines to mitigate jitter. In this paper the plan for this handbook development will be described along with the envisioned handbook framework, key NASA stakeholders, and potential envisioned jitter engineering case studies. Opportunities exist technical collaboration on this handbook with NASA-external organizations.

Christopher D'Souza↗

NASA NTRS1980

Materials processing in space: Future technology trends

NASA's materials processing in space- (MPS) program involves both ground and space-based research and looks to frequent and cost effective access to the space environment for necessary progress. The first generation payloads for research are under active design and development. They will be hosted by the Space Shuttle/Spacelab on Earth orbital flights in the early 1980's. hese missions will focus on the acquisition of materials behavior research data, the potential enhancement of Earth based technology, and the implementation of space based processing for specialized, high value materials. Some materials to be studied in these payloads may provide future breakthroughs for stronger alloys, ultrapure glasses, superior electronic components, and new or better chemicals. An operational 25 kW power system is expected to be operational to support sustained, systematic space processing activity beyond shuttle capability for second generation payload systems for SPACELAB and free flyer missions to study solidification and crystal growth and to process metal/alloys, glasses/ceramics, and chemicals and biologicals.

Barter, N. J.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Electronic collection system for spacelab mission timeline requirements

This paper describes the Functional Objective Requirements Collection System (FORCS) software tool that has been developed for use by Principal Investigators (PI's) and Payload Element Developers (PED's) on their own personal computers to develop on-orbit timelining requirements for their payloads. The FORCS tool can be used either in a totally stand-alone mode, storing the information in a local file on the user's personal computer hard disk or in a remote mode where the user's computer is linked to a host computer containing the integrated database of the timeline requirements for all of the payloads on a mission. There are a number of features incorporated in the FORCS software to assist the user. The user may move freely back and forth between the various forms for inputting the data. Several methods are used to input the information, depending on the type of the information. These methods range from filling in text boxes, using check boxes and radio buttons, to inputting information into a spreadsheet format. There are automated features provided to assist in developing the proper format for the data, ranging from limit checking on some of the parameters to automatic conversion of different formats of time data inputs to the one standard format used for the timeline scheduling software.

Lindberg, James P.↗

NASA NTRS2002

LWS/SET End-to-End Data System

This paper describes the concept for the End-to-End Data System that will support NASA's Living With a Star Space Environment Testbed missions. NASA has initiated the Living With a Star (LWS) Program to develop a better scientific understanding to address the aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that affect life and society. A principal goal of the program is to bridge the gap.between science, engineering, and user application communities. The Space Environment Testbed (SET) Project is one element of LWS. The Project will enable future science, operational, and commercial objectives in space and atmospheric environments by improving engineering approaches to the accommodation and/or mitigation of the effects of solar variability on technological systems. The End-to-end data system allows investigators to access the SET control center, command their experiments, and receive data from their experiments back at their home facility, using the Internet. The logical functioning of major components of the end-to-end data system are described, including the GSFC Payload Operations Control Center (POCC), SET Payloads, the GSFC SET Simulation Lab, SET Experiment PI Facilities, and Host Systems. Host Spacecraft Operations Control Centers (SOCC) and the Host Spacecraft are essential links in the end-to-end data system, but are not directly under the control of the SET Project. Formal interfaces will be established between these entities and elements of the SET Project. The paper describes data flow through the system, from PI facilities connecting to the SET operations center via the Internet, communications to SET carriers and experiments via host systems, to telemetry returns to investigators from their flight experiments. It also outlines the techniques that will be used to meet mission requirements, while holding development and operational costs to a minimum. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Giffin, Geoff↗

NASA NTRS2016

Resource Prospector Instrumentation for Lunar Volatiles Prospecting, Sample Acquisition and Processing

Lunar Crater↗

NASA NTRS2016

Resource Prospector Instrumentation for Lunar Volatiles Prospecting, Sample Acquisition and Processing

Data gathered from lunar missions within the last two decades have significantly enhanced our understanding of the volatile resources available on the lunar surface, specifically focusing on the polar regions. Several orbiting missions such as Clementine and Lunar Prospector have suggested the presence of volatile ices and enhanced hydrogen concentrations in the permanently shadowed regions of the moon. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission was the first to provide direct measurement of water ice in a permanently shadowed region. These missions with other orbiting assets have laid the groundwork for the next step in the exploration of the lunar surface; providing ground truth data of the volatiles by mapping the distribution and processing lunar regolith for resource extraction. This next step is the robotic mission Resource Prospector (RP). Resource Prospector is a lunar mission to investigate 'strategic knowledge gaps' (SKGs) for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The mission is proposed to land in the lunar south pole near a permanently shadowed crater. The landing site will be determined by the science team with input from broader international community as being near traversable landscape that has a high potential of containing elevated concentrations of volatiles such as water while maximizing mission duration. A rover will host the Regolith & Environment Science and Oxygen & Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) payload for resource mapping and processing. The science instruments on the payload include a 1-meter drill, neutron spectrometer, a near infrared spectrometer, an operations camera, and a reactor with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer for volatile analysis. After the RP lander safely delivers the rover to the lunar surface, the science team will guide the rover team on the first traverse plan. The neutron spectrometer (NS) and near infrared (NIR) spectrometer instruments will be used as prospecting tools to guide the traverse path. The NS will map the water-equivalent hydrogen concentration as low as 0.5% by weight to an 80 centimeter depth as the rover traverses the lunar landscape. The NIR spectrometer will measure surficial H2O/OH as well as general mineralogy. When the prospecting instruments identify a potential volatile-rich area during the course of a traverse, the prospect is then mapped out and the most promising location identified. An augering drill capable of sampling to a depth of 100 centimeters will excavate regolith for analysis. A quick assay of the drill cuttings will be made using an operations camera and NIR spectrometer. With the water depth confirmed by this first auguring activity, a regolith sample may be extracted for processing. The drill will deliver the regolith sample to a crucible that will be sealed and heated. Evolved volatiles will be measured by a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer and the water will be captured and photographed. RP is a solar powered mission, which given the polar location translates to a relatively short mission duration on the order of 4-15 days. This short mission duration drives the concept of operations, instrumentation, and data analysis towards critical real time analysis and decision support. Previous payload field tests have increased the fidelity of the hardware, software, and mission operations. Current activities include a mission level field test to optimize interfaces between the payload and rover as well as better understand the interaction of the science and rover teams during the mission timeline. This paper will include the current status of the science instruments on the payload as well as the integrated field test occurring in fall of 2015. The concept of operations will be discussed, including the real time science and engineering decision-making process based on the critical data from the instrumentation. The path to flight will be discussed with the approach to this ambitious low cost mission.

ISRU↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mission Architecture for the Green Propulsion Dual Mode Mission

Current spacecraft propulsion technologies are broadly divided into chemical and electric propulsion modes, each of which has unique advantages. It is common for both systems to have a place in interplanetary spacecraft, but the size, weight, and power required to carry two separate propulsion systems is extremely limiting for small spacecraft such as CubeSats. The upcoming NASA STMD-funded Green Propulsion Dual Mode (GPDM) mission will demonstrate on-orbit a novel dual-mode propulsion system known as the GPDM Propulsion System that uses the AF-M315E/ASCENT green monopropellant to feed both a chemical 100 mN monopropellant thruster and four electrospray thrusters. GPDM will fly a 6U CubeSat in low Earth orbit and perform orbit-raising and lowering maneuvers to characterize the performance of this dual-mode propulsion technology, enabling a new generation of future interplanetary small satellite explorers. The Georgia Institute of Technology Space Systems Design Laboratory (SSDL) is conducting the design, assembly, integration, testing, and mission operations of the GPDM host spacecraft, as well as the integration of the GPDM Propulsion System payload, designed by NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center (MSFC). The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is overseeing the overall GPDM project as well as specific technology development activities of the GPDM Propulsion System, while electrospray thrusters are supplied by the MIT Space Propulsion Lab, with additional components supplied by MMA Design, Blue Canyon Technologies, Quasonix, Xiphos, and Rubicon Space Systems. The GPDM spacecraft will carry the GPDM Propulsion System into orbit and use a high-power S-band radio to enable real-time operations in low Earth orbit (LEO) via the NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). The mission is working towards a tentative launch readiness date of August 2025, in support of launch and operations commencing in January 2026. This paper describes GPDM’s overall mission concept of operations, spacecraft overview, and subsystem breakdown.

Green Propulsion Dual Mode↗