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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Color-coded global topographic map of Mars

A Digital Terrain Model (DTM) was derived with both Mercator and Sinusoidal Equal-area projections from the global topographic map of Mars at a scale of 1:15 million and a contour interval of 1 km. Elevations on the map are referred to the Mars topographic datum that is defined by the gravity field at a 6.1-millibar pressure surface with respect to the center of mass of Mars. The DTM has a resolution at the equator of 1/59.226 degrees (exactly 1 km) per pixel. By using the DTM, color-coded global maps of Mars' topography were generated in both the Mercator projection and the Sinusoidal Equal-Area projection. On both maps, colors indicate 1 km increments of height. From the equal-are dataset, the positive and negative elevation distributions are calculated to be 67 and 33 percent, respectively.

Wu, Sherman S. C.↗
NASA NTRS2023

3-Layer Radar Sounder Model for the Detection of Buried Ice Deposits under Martian Regolith

In this paper we will illustrate an electromagnetic sounder model for Martian regolith we have developed. The model is based on Kirchhoff approximation. The incidence beam is assumed to be a Gaussian beam. The model is suited to study the near surface (upper 10 meters) ice detection capability of the L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for the international Mars Ice Mapping (iMIM) mission.

Mars↗
NASA NTRS2007

JPL Power Systems for Current Planned Missions

The viewgraph presentation includes fact sheets, instrument lists, and mission parameters for 13 future missions. Those missions include Moon Mineralogy Mapping (MMM), Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), New Millennium--Space Technology-8 (ST-8), Ocean Salinity Mapping Orbiter (Aquarius), Ocean Surface Topology Mission (OSTM), Asteroid Rendezvous Mission-SEP (Dawn), Mars Scout Lander Mission (Phoenix), Solar Powered Jupiter Orbiter (Juno), Earth orbiting carbon observatory (OCO), planet finder observatory (Kepler), far infrared/sub-millimeter telescope (Hershel), Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and Mars Science Laboratory-Rover (MSL). The presentation also contains a table of current missions and instruments.

Phoenix↗
NASA NTRS1991

Mars sample return mission: Two alternate scenarios

Two scenarios for accomplishing a Mars Sample Return mission are presented. Mission A is a low-cost, low-mass scenario, while Mission B is a high-technology, high-science alternative. Mission A begins with the launch of one Titan 4 rocket with a Centaur G' upper stage. The Centaur performs the trans-Mars injection burn and is then released. The payload consists of two lander packages and the orbital transfer vehicle, which is responsible for supporting the landers during launch and interplanetary cruise. Near Mars, the landers separate - one bound for a polar site and the other for an equatorial site. After descending to the surface, the landers deploy small, local rovers to collect samples. The rovers return these samples to the landers for loading on the direct return rockets, which return the samples directly to the Earth's surface. Mission B starts with four Titan 4 launches, used to place the components of the planetary transfer vehicle (PTV) into orbit. The fourth launch payload is able to move to assemble the entire vehicle by simple docking routines. Once complete, the PTV begins a low-thrust trajectory out from low Earth orbit, through interplanetary space, and into low Mars orbit. It deploys a communications satellite into a one half sol orbit and then releases the lander pad cage at 500 km altitude. The lander package contains the lander, the Mars ascent vehicle (MAV), two lighter-than-air rovers (called Aereons), and one conventional land rover. The entire package is contained within a biconic aeroshell. After release from the PTV the lander package descends to the surface, where all three rovers are released to collect samples and map the terrain. The Aereons attempt to circumnavigate Mars and collect samples from a wide variety of sites, while the land rover examines a local area more thoroughly. The Aereons are equipped with small sample return rockets that can return their samples to the lander in the event that an Aereon is incapable of returning to the lander itself. Once all samples have been collected they are loaded onto the MAV and launched into orbit. The PTV then collects the samples and returns them to Earth orbit for recovery.

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NASA NTRS1978

Mars synthetic topographic mapping

Topographic contour maps of Mars are compiled by synthesizing data acquired from various scientific experiments of the Mariner 9 mission, including S-band radio occultation, the UV spectrometer, the IR radiometer, the IR interferometer spectrometer, and television imagery, as well as earth-based radar information. The entire planet is mapped at scales of 1:25,000,000 and 1:5,000,000 using Mercator, Lambert, and polar stereographic map projections. For the computation of map projections, a biaxial spheroid figure is adopted. The semimajor and semiminor axes are 3393.4 and 3375.7 km, respectively, with a polar flattening of 0.0052. For the computation of elevations, a topographic datum is defined by a gravity field described in terms of spherical harmonics of fourth order and fourth degree combined with a 6.1-mbar occultation pressure surface. This areoid can be approximated by a triaxial ellipsoid with semimajor axes of A = 3394.6 km and B = 3393.3 km and a semiminor axis of C = 3376.3 km. The semimajor axis A intersects the Martian surface at longitude 105 deg W. The dynamic flattening of Mars is 0.00525. The contour interval of the maps is 1 km. For some prominent features where overlapping pictures from Mariner 9 are available, local contour maps at relatively larger scales were also compiled by photogrammetric methods on stereo plotters.

Wu, S. S. C.↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) Instrument for the Mars 2001 Orbiter

The primary objective of the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Surveyor '01 Orbiter is to study the composition of the Martian surface at high spatial resolution. THEMIS will map the surface mineralogy using multi-spectral thermal infrared images in 8 spectral bands from 6.5 to 14.5 microns. In addition, a band centered at 15 microns will be used to map atmospheric temperatures and provide an important aid in separating the surface and atmospheric components. The entire planet will be mapped at 100 m resolution within the available data volume using a multi-spectral, rather than hyperspectral, imaging approach. THEMIS will also acquire 20 m resolution visible images in up to 5 spectral bands using a replica of the Mars 98 Orbiter (MARCI) and Lander (MARDI) cameras. Over 15,000 panchromatic (3,000 5-color), 20 x 20 km images will be acquired for morphology studies and landing site selection. The thermal-infrared spectral region contains the fundamental vibrational absorption bands of most minerals which provide diagnostic information on mineral composition. All geologic materials, including carbonates, hydrothermal silica, sulfates, phosphates, hydroxides, silicates, and oxides have strong absorptions in the 6.5-14.5 micron region. Silica and carbonates, which are key diagnostic minerals in thermal spring deposits, are readily identified using thermal-IR spectra. In addition, the ability to identify all minerals allows the presence of aqueous minerals to be interpreted in the proper geologic context. An extensive suite of studies over the past 35 years has demonstrated the utility of vibrational spectroscopy for the quantitative determination of mineralogy and petrology. The fundamental vibrations within different anion groups, such as C03, S04, P04, and SiO4, produce unique, well separated spectral bands that allow carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, silicates, oxides, and hydroxides to be readily identified. Additional stretching and bending modes involving major cations, such as Mg, Fe, Ca, and Na, allow Further mineral identification, such as the excellent discriminability of minerals within the silicate and carbonate groups.

Christensen, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Mapping Mars with a Laser Altimeter

In November 1996 the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft was launched to Mars. One of the instruments on the spacecraft was a laser altimeter, MOLA, for measuring the shape and topography of the planet. The altimeter has a diode pumped Q-switched ND:YAG laser at 1064nm, operating at 10Hz with an 8 nsec pulse width. The pulse energy is 48mJ, and the instrument has a 37cm ranging precision. The laser illuminates a spot on the surface of Mars approximately 160 meters in diameter and the instrument has accumulated over 600 million range measurements of the surface since arrival at Mars in September 1997. MOLA has operated continuously for over 2 years and has mapped the planet at a horizontal resolution of about 1 km and a radial accuracy of about a meter. MOLA has measured the shape of the planet, the heights of the volcanoes, the depths of the canyons, and the volumes of the polar icecaps. It has detected carbon dioxide clouds and measured the accumulation of seasonal CO2 on the polar icecaps. This new remote sensing tool has helped transform our understanding of Mars and its geological history, and opened a new door to planetary exploration.

Smith, David E.↗
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 NTRS2005

Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI, Part 16

Contents include the folowing: Experimental Study of Fe-, Co- and Ni-partitioning Between Forsterite and low-Co Fe,Ni-Alloys: Implications for Formation of Olivine Condensates in Equilibrium with Primitive Metal. Channels and Fan-like Features on Titan Surface Imaged by the Cassini RADAR. The Oxygen Isotope Similarity of the Earth and Moon: Source Region or Formation Process? The Mn-53-Cr-53 System in CAIs: An Update. Comparative Planetary Mineralogy: Valence State Partitioning of Cr, Fe, Ti, and V Among Crystallographic Sites in Olivine, Pyroxene, and Spinel from Planetary Basalts. CAI Thermal History Constraints from Spinel: Ti Zoning Profiles and Melilite Boundary Clinopyroxenes. Noble Gas Study of New Enstatite SaU 290 with High Solar Gases. A Marine Origin for the Meridiani Planum Landing Site? A Mechanism for the Formation and Evolution of Tharsis as a Consequence of Mantle Overturn: Large Scale Lateral Heterogeneity in a Stably Stratified Mantle. Endolithic Colonization of Fluid Inclusion Trails in Mineral Grains. Microbial Preservation in Sulfates in the Haughton Impact Structure Suggests Target in Search for Life on Mars. Ascraeus Mons Fan-shaped Deposit, Mars: Geological History and Volcano-Ice Interactions of a Cold-based Glacier. Weathering Pits in the Antarctic Dry Valleys: Insolation-induced Heating and Melting, and Applications to Mars. Mineralogy and Petrography of Lunar Mare Regolith Breccia Meteorite MET 01-210. Geological Mapping of Ganymede. A Quantitative Analysis of Plate Motion on Europa: Implications for the Role of Rigid vs. Nonrigid Behavior of the Lithosphere. Comparison of Terrestrial Morphology, Ejecta, and Sediment Transport of Small Craters: Volcanic and Impact Analogs to Mars. An Integrated Study of OMEGA-Identified Mineral Deposits in Eastern Hebes Chasma, Mars. Global Spectral and Compositional Diversity of Mars: A Test of CRISM Global Mapping with Mars Express OMEGA Data. On Origin of Sedna. Processing ISS Images of Titan s Surface. LA-ICP-MS Study of Trace Elements in the Chaunskij Metal.

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NASA NTRS1994

Low computation vision-based navigation for a Martian rover

Construction and design details of the Mobot Vision System, a small, self-contained, mobile vision system, are presented. This system uses the view from the top of a small, roving, robotic vehicle to supply data that is processed in real-time to safely navigate the surface of Mars. A simple, low-computation algorithm for constructing a 3-D navigational map of the Martian environment to be used by the rover is discussed.

Gavin, Andrew S.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Accessing Martian Fluvial and Lacustrine Sediments by Landing in Holden Crater, Margaritifer Sinus

Rover missions to the surface of Mars after MER 2003, are likely to be centered around focused geologic field mapping. One objective with high priority in selecting landing sites for these missions will be to characterize the nature, spatial distribution, internal structure, composition, and depositional history of exposed sedimentary layered deposits by visiting a number of distributed outcrops identified previously (and with a high degree of certainty) from orbit. These deposits may contain prebiotic material, even fossil organisms, but their primary value will be to enable an assessment of the planet's climate at the time they were emplaced. High resolution imaging from a mobile rover will enable the detailed study of these deposits over a wide area, their internal structure and mineralogy at distributed localities, and could resolve biologically-derived structures (such as stromatolite-like textures) if they are present. With the addition of a spectrometer, it should be possible to ascertain the presence of carbonates, sulfates, organics, water (liquid, frost, and bound water), as well as a variety of silicate minerals in the context of the collected imagery. Such a mission approach is directly relevant to future exploration of Mars, because it provides the geologic context comparable to what a field geologist visiting a site for the first time would acquire. Rover missions after MER will likely have much better targeting and hazard avoidance landing systems, enabling access to planimetrically-challenged sites of high scientific interest. These vehicles will also likely have greater mobility than MER, capable of driving greater distances in a shorter amount of time. Many scientists and mission planners have realized the need to design a rover whose mobility can be comparable to the dimensions of its 3-sigma landing error ellipse.

Parker, T. J.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Multimodal Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) of Archean and Jurassic Geologic Samples

Current geochemical analytical techniques such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS and $G\acute{C}GC-MS$) can effectively determine the composition and structure of the organic biosignatures within a sample but cannot resolve the spatial distribution of organic biosignatures within rocks or sediments. The spatial distribution can be used to determine the character of the organic biosignatures [1], which can be indigenous (deposited with host rocks), non-indigenous (incorporated after deposition via fluid migration), or contaminant. Determining the character of organic biosignatures is critical for ancient samples [2] and will be critical if organics are observed in samples returned from Mars [3].Fs-LDPI-MS has the ability to map organic compounds across the surface of samples at 2 - 10 μm lateral resolution. Furthermore, fs-LDPI-MS can be used to carry out multiple analyses in the same location for micron-scale analysis of previously buried material [4]. We used fs-LDPI-MS to examine a ~164 million year old organic-rich mudstone from SW England (14.2 wt. % total organic carbon) [5] and determined the spatial distribution of likely indigenous components buried below potentially contaminated surface layers.We then used ToF-SIMS to re-analyze the mudstone to directly compare ToF-SIMS to fs-LDPI-MS datasets, and to analyze a series of ~2.7 billion year old geologic samples from Timmins, ON, CA [6]. Ref. [6] previously analyzed the Archean samples and observed a series of archaeal biomarkers, as well as hopanes and steranes. Using ToF-SIMS analysis, we were able to detect hopanes and steranes in the mudstone samples, but not in the Archean samples indicating that the hopanes and steranes are most likely contaminants in the Archean samples. We also did not observe the archaeal biomarkers; however, this may be from the lack of molecular ion preservation during ToF-SIMS.

Pasterski, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2004

Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV: Mars

The session "Mars" included the following reports:Tentative Theories for the Long-Term Geological and Hydrological Evolution of Mars; Stratigraphy of Special Layers Transient Ones on Permeable Ones: Examples from Earth and Mars; Spatial Analysis of Rootless Cone Groups on Iceland and Mars; Summer Season Variability of the North Residual Cap of Mars from MGS-TES; Spectral and Geochemical Characteristics of Lake Superior Type Banded Iron Formation: Analog to the Martian Hematite Outcrops; Martian Wave Structures and Their Relation to Mars; Shape, Highland-Lowland Chemical Dichotomy and Undulating Atmosphere Causing Serious Problems to Landing Spacecrafts; Shear Deformation in the Graben Systems of Sirenum Fosssae, Mars: Preliminary Results; Components of Martian Dust Finding on Terrestrial Sedimentary Deposits with Use of Infrared Spectra; Morphologic and Morphometric Analyses of Fluvial Systems in the Southern Highlands of Mars; Light Pattern and Intensity Analysis of Gray Spots Surrounding Polar Dunes on Mars; The Volume of Possible Ancient Oceanic Basins in the Northern Plains of Mars MARSES: Possibilities of Long-Term Monitoring Spatial and Temporal Variations and Changes of Subsurface Geoelectrical Section on the Base; Results of the Geophysical Survey Salt/Water Interface and Groundwater Mapping on the Marina Di Ragusa, Sicily and Shalter Island, USA ;A Miniature UV-VIS Spectrometer for the Surface of Mars; Automatic Recognition of Aeolian Ripples on Mars; Absolute Dune Ages and Implications for the Time of Formation of Gullies in Nirgal Vallis, Mars; Diurnal Dust Devil Behaviour for the Viking 1 Landing Site: Sols 1 to 30; Topography Based Surface Age Computations for Mars: A Step Toward the Formal Proof of Martian Ocean Recession, Timing and Probability; Gravitational Effects of Flooding and Filling of Impact Basins on Mars; Viking 2 Landing Site in MGS/MOC Images South Polar Residual Cap of Mars: Features, Stratigraphy, and Changes.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1995

(abstract) Mars Global Surveyor: A Global Mapping Mission

The Mars Global Surveyor Mission will launch a single spacecraft to Mars in November 1996. After arrival at the planet in September 1997 aerobraking will be used to lower the spacecraft into a low, sun-synchronous, polar-mapping orbit over several months. Early in 1998 mapping observations will begin and continue for a Mars year (687 days). Following completion of this first Mars year of mapping the spacecraft will continue to act as a relay orbiter for an additional three Earth years. The five instruments carried involve magnetometry, surface and atmosphere imaging, atmospheric sounding, laser altimetry, gravity and thermal emission spectroscopy. In addition, the spacecraft carries a Mars relay receiver/transmitter which will operate over the entire five year orbital mission ending in January of 2003. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is intended to accomplish a portion of the scientific objectives of the Mars Observer mission which was lost in 1993 three days before entering Mars orbit. The instrumentation to be used for the magnetometers, cameras, laser altimeter, emission spectrometer and radio science are very nearly the same as those carried by Mars Observer. The spacecraft design will be new but will use spare equipment from Mars Observer and has a mass about two and one-half time smaller. All experiments will be controlled remotely from their investigators home installation. The long planned period of observation supports the mission's global and seasonal objectives.

Mars Global Surveyor Mars Observer mapping spectro↗
NASA NTRS2005

Seasonal Redistribution of Water in the Surficial Martian Regolith: Results of the HEND Data Analysis

The global mapping of the neutrons emission from the Mars, conducted recently by HEND instrument (Mars Odyssey), has shown that the surface layer (1-2 m) on the high latitudes of the planet (up to 50 ) is very reached by water ice with abundance more 50% by mass [1,2,3 ]. It was also shown that water ice distribution in surficial layer of the northern and the southern sub-polar regions is notably different [4]. Until today the existing HEND data already covers the period more then one the Martian year. This let to study the seasonal effects of volatiles redistribution associated with processes of sublimation and condensation of the seasonal polar caps and water exchange between the surface regolith and atmosphere. The goal of our work was to analyze the dynamic of the globally mapped neutrons flux as key to understanding of the seasonal redistribution of the water ice in the surface layer. For this we analyzed the globally mapped flux of the neutrons with different energy and corresponding effective layer of their emission.

Kuzmin, R. O.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Characterizing the Oxidizing Properties of Mars' Polar Regions

We investigate the oxidizing properties of Mars polar regions using disk-resolved ultraviolet spectra from the Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) on Mariner 9. We detect the spectral characteristic of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which has already been found to exist on the icy galilean satellites. The Mariner 9 UVS data have been archived at NASA s Planetary Data System (PDS) Atmospheric Node and are also available at http://lasp.colorado.edu/Mariner_9_data/. A software visualization tool, Albatross, provides database access (http://lasp.colorado.edu/albatross/) and enables the user to view reflectance spectra for desired latitude/longitude regions and mission phases. It displays the UVS field-of-view (FOV) tracks along with the corresponding reflectance spectrum for a chosen FOV against a background showing the Mars surface image, or a user specified alternate dataset, such as a thermal, geologic or topographic map.

A R Hendrix↗