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Space Shuttle mission: STS-67

The Space Shuttle Endeavor, scheduled to launch March 2, 1995 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, will conduct NASA's longest Shuttle flight prior to date. The mission, designated STS-67, has a number of experiments and payloads, which the crew, commanded by Stephen S. Oswald, will have to oversee. This NASA press kit for the mission contains a general background (general press release, media services information, quick-look facts page, shuttle abort modes, summary timeline, payload and vehicle weights, orbital summary, and crew responsibilities); cargo bay payloads and activities (Astro 2, Get Away Special Experiments); in-cabin payloads (Commercial Minimum Descent Altitude Instrumentation Technology Associates Experiments, protein crystal growth experiments, Middeck Active Control Experiment, and Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment); and the STS-67 crew biographies. The payloads and experiments are described and summarized to give an overview of the goals, objectives, apparatuses, procedures, sponsoring parties, and the assigned crew members to carry out the tasks.

Source record↗

Research progress and accomplishments on International Space Station

The first research payloads reached the International Space Station (ISS) more than two years ago, with research operating continuously since March 2001. Seven research racks are currently on-orbit, with three more arriving soon to expand science capabilities. Through the first five expeditions, 60 unique NASA-managed investigations from 11 nations have been supported, many continuing into later missions. More than 90,000 experiment hours have been completed, and more than 1,000 hours of crew time have been dedicated to research, numbers that grow daily. The multidisciplinary program includes research in life sciences, physical sciences, biotechnology, Earth sciences, technology demonstrations as well as commercial endeavors and educational activities. The Payload Operations and Integration Center monitors the onboard activities around the clock, working with numerous Principal Investigators and Payload Developers at their remote sites. Future years will see expansion of the station with research modules provided by the European Space Agency and Japan, which will be outfitted with additional research racks. c2003 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

long duration↗

Architectures and Evaluation for Adjustable Control Autonomy for Space-Based Life Support Systems

In the past five years, a number of automation applications for control of crew life support systems have been developed and evaluated in the Adjustable Autonomy Testbed at NASA's Johnson Space Center. This paper surveys progress on an adjustable autonomous control architecture for situations where software and human operators work together to manage anomalies and other system problems. When problems occur, the level of control autonomy can be adjusted, so that operators and software agents can work together on diagnosis and recovery. In 1997 adjustable autonomy software was developed to manage gas transfer and storage in a closed life support test. Four crewmembers lived and worked in a chamber for 91 days, with both air and water recycling. CO2 was converted to O2 by gas processing systems and wheat crops. With the automation software, significantly fewer hours were spent monitoring operations. System-level validation testing of the software by interactive hybrid simulation revealed problems both in software requirements and implementation. Since that time, we have been developing multi-agent approaches for automation software and human operators, to cooperatively control systems and manage problems. Each new capability has been tested and demonstrated in realistic dynamic anomaly scenarios, using the hybrid simulation tool.

Malin, Jane T.↗

Research Progress and Accomplishments on ISS

The first research payloads reached the International Space Station (ISS) more than two years ago, with research operating continuously since March 2001. Seven research racks are currently on-orbit, with three more arriving soon to expand science capabilities. Through the first five expeditions, 60 unique NASA-managed investigations from 11 nations have been supported, many continuing into later missions. More than 90,000 experiment hours have been completed, and more than 1,000 hours of crew time have been dedicated to research, numbers that grow daily. The multidisciplinary program includes research in life sciences, physical sciences, biotechnology, Earth sciences, technology demonstrations as well as commercial endeavors and educational activities. The Payload Operations and Integration Center monitors the onboard activities around the clock, working with numerous Principal Investigators and Payload Developers at their remote sites. Future years will see expansion of the station with research modules provided by the European Space Agency and Japan, which will be outfitted with additional research racks. The first research payloads arrived at ISS more than two years ago, and continuous science has been ongoing for more than one and a half years. During this time, the research capabilities have been tremendously increased, even as assembly of the overall platform continues. Despite significant challenges along the way, ISS continues to successfully support a large number of investigations in a variety of research disciplines. The results of some of the early investigations are reaching the publication stage. The near future looms with new challenges, but experience to date and dedicated efforts give reason to be optimistic that the challenges will be overcome and that new and greater successes will be added to past ones.

Roe, Lesa B.↗

Launching Liquid Slugs Through Tube Networks: Investigating Multiphase Liquid Slug Acceleration Behaviors in Spacecraft Propulsion Systems using 3D Multiphase VOF CFD Simulations and High-Speed Flow-Visualization Validation Experiments

Propellant management in spacecraft propulsion systems is complex. In many current and future crewed and robotic spacecraft propulsion systems, a number of unintended or unavoidable scenarios can occasionally lead to liquid “slugs” of propellant accumulating in unwanted locations and thereafter being rapidly accelerated through complex and arbitrary tubing networks otherwise filled with vapor or gas. To develop better understanding of the multiphase fluid dynamics associated with these “slug launch” scenarios, NASA Marshal Space Flight Center’s (MSFC) ER42 branch – the propulsion fluid dynamics research branch – conducted 3D multiphase transient Volume of Fluid (VOF) CFD simulations using an in-house tool called LOCI-Stream VOF on semi-canonical tube networks with straight sections, bends, and bend complexes. In addition, high-speed flow visualization validation experiments using propellants were conducted on similar tube network geometries at the NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF). These simulations and flow-visualization experiments found these scenarios lead to a variety of unique multiphase fluid dynamic effects involving the leading and trailing edges of the slug in both straight sections and curved bends as well as the progressive erosion, acceleration, and eventual “punch-through” of the driving gas through the liquid slug. Understanding these multiphase fluid dynamic effects has led to unique and often counter-intuitive observations which have been of critical relevance to important engineering concerns associated with these “slug launch” scenarios.

Multiphase Fluid Dynamics↗

Prototype Conflict Alerting Logic for Free Flight

This paper discusses the development of a prototype alerting system for a conceptual Free Flight environment. The concept assumes that datalink between aircraft is available and that conflicts are primarily resolved on the flight deck. Four alert stages are generated depending on the likelihood of a conflict. If the conflict is not resolved by the flight crews, Air Traffic Control is notified to take over separation authority. The alerting logic is based on probabilistic analysis through modeling of aircraft sensor and trajectory uncertainties. Monte Carlo simulations were used over a range of encounter situations to determine conflict probability. The four alert stages were then defined based on probability of conflict and on the number of avoidance maneuvers available to the flight crew. Preliminary results from numerical evaluations and from a piloted simulator study at NASA Ames Research Center are summarized.

Yang, Lee C.↗

Human Mars Surface Science Operations

Human missions to the surface of Mars will have challenging science operations. This paper will explore some of those challenges, based on science operations considerations as part of more general operational concepts being developed by NASA's Human Spaceflight Architecture (HAT) Mars Destination Operations Team (DOT). The HAT Mars DOT has been developing comprehensive surface operations concepts with an initial emphasis on a multi-phased mission that includes a 500-day surface stay. This paper will address crew science activities, operational details and potential architectural and system implications in the areas of (a) traverse planning and execution, (b) sample acquisition and sample handling, (c) in-situ science analysis, and (d) planetary protection. Three cross-cutting themes will also be explored in this paper: (a) contamination control, (b) low-latency telerobotic science, and (c) crew autonomy. The present traverses under consideration are based on the report, Planning for the Scientific Exploration of Mars by Humans1, by the Mars Exploration Planning and Analysis Group (MEPAG) Human Exploration of Mars-Science Analysis Group (HEM-SAG). The traverses are ambitious and the role of science in those traverses is a key component that will be discussed in this paper. The process of obtaining, handling, and analyzing samples will be an important part of ensuring acceptable science return. Meeting planetary protection protocols will be a key challenge and this paper will explore operational strategies and system designs to meet the challenges of planetary protection, particularly with respect to the exploration of "special regions." A significant challenge for Mars surface science operations with crew is preserving science sample integrity in what will likely be an uncertain environment. Crewed mission surface assets -- such as habitats, spacesuits, and pressurized rovers -- could be a significant source of contamination due to venting, out-gassing and cleanliness levels associated with crew presence. Low-latency telerobotic science operations has the potential to address a number of contamination control and planetary protection issues and will be explored in this paper. Crew autonomy is another key cross-cutting challenge regarding Mars surface science operations, because the communications delay between earth and Mars could as high as 20 minutes one way, likely requiring the crew to perform many science tasks without direct timely intervention from ground support on earth. Striking the operational balance between crew autonomy and earth support will be a key challenge that this paper will address.

Bobskill, Marianne R.↗

Plasma Methane Pyrolysis for Spacecraft Oxygen Loop Closure

Life support is a critical function of any crewed space vehicle or habitat. Human life support systems on the International Space Station (ISS) include a number of atmosphere revitalization (AR) technologies to provide breathable air and a comfortable living environment to the crew. The Trace Contaminant Control System removes harmful volatile organic compounds and other trace contaminants from the circulating air. The Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) removes metabolic carbon dioxide (CO2) and returns air to the cabin. Humidity is kept at comfortable levels by a number of condensing heat exchangers. The Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) electrolyzes water to produce oxygen for the crew and hydrogen (H2) as a byproduct. A Sabatier reaction-based CO2 Reduction Assembly (CRA) was launched to the ISS in 2009 and became fully operational in June 2011.The CRA interfaces with both the OGA and CDRA. Carbon dioxide from the CDRA is compressed and stored in tanks until hydrogen is available from OGA water electrolysis. When the OGA is operational and there is CO2 available, the CRA is activated and produces methane and water via the Sabatier reaction shown in Equation 1... One approach to achieve these higher recovery rates builds upon the ISS AR architecture and includes adding a methane post-processor to recover H2 from CRA methane. NASA has been developing the Plasma Pyrolysis Assembly (PPA) to fill the role of a methane post-processor.

Greenwood, Z. W.↗

Configuration and Projected Capabilities of the Common Habitat Medical Care Facility

The Common Habitat is a large, long-duration habitat being explored as part of a conceptual study (not an active NASA program) that uses an SLS core stage Liquid Oxygen (LOX) tank as its primary structure. It is intended for use on the Moon as part of a permanently occupied outpost, on Mars as part of an outpost that will be occupied for hundreds of days at a time, and in deep space as part of the Deep Space Exploration Vehicle where it will support crewed missions up to 1200 days in duration. A study of internal orientation and crew size resulted in a Common Habitat configuration sized for a crew of eight with a three-deck horizontal orientation. Additional work outside the scope of this paper is developing a vertical translation system, a crew mobility aids system based on wearable gecko-derived grippers, and a crew seating/restraint system. These systems are all assumed for use in conjunction with the Medical Care Facility, which is needed to maintain crew well-being during these missions, where distance from Earth precludes the possibility of evacuation to Earth. This paper describes recent improvements in the Common Habitat Medical Care Facility and associated benefits for crew survivability in long duration missions beyond Earth orbit. These improvements were made with the assistance of a NASA Pathways intern whose experience includes a tour of duty in Afghanistan as an Army combat medic with the 691st GHOST-T, attached to the 1st and 7th US Special Forces Groups as part of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, where he helped provide far-forward surgical capabilities in austere combat environments. The initial baseline Medical Care Facility was developed working in conjunction with University of Houston Space Architecture graduate students. The facility was placed on the upper deck of the Common Habitat in a location that provided privacy, operational volume, and was close to the vertical translation pathway. The notional outfitting repurposed component CAD models from unrelated studies and notionally indicated a level of care roughly equivalent to that aboard the International Space Station. The CAD modeling provided notional stowage volumes, a deployable surface, some fixed equipment, an ultrasound, and a potentially reconfigurable treatment table. While this facility is clearly a competent arrangement, it was desired to leverage available expertise and upgrade the station given the vast distances from Earth to be experienced by the Common Habitat. Key driving requirements applied to the upgrade included to provide Medical Level of Care V, offer enhanced telemedicine capabilities, provide patient physical accommodation, provide caregiver access to the patient from all sides, include sliding pocket doors for access to hygiene and to the Vertical Translation System, and to add any additional capability possible for the best achievable medical care. The first step in the facility upgrade was to quantify the current medical inventory on the International Space Station and ensure that sufficient stowage volume was present for this purpose. To that end, the ISS medical kits were reviewed, and eight full size mid deck lockers were placed in the facility. A number of additional devices were also added, based on the intern’s combat medic experience. Also, two fixed shelves and one horizontal work surface were added to the Medical Care Facility, with the shelves providing storage space for the additional devices and the work surface providing a location for the caregiver to work or stage equipment. Four display monitors were added to the wall above the horizontal work surface, supporting data display, telemedicine, conferencing, or other needs. The existing treatment table was replaced with a mobile surgical stretcher-chair. Two additional doors were added to the Medical Care Facility. One leads directly to the hygiene compartment, allowing it to support medical operations in addition to providing galley/wardroom support. The other door leads directly into the Vertical Translation System. The wall adjacent to the subsystems bay was moved, adding additional volume to the Medical Care Facility. This improved caregiver access to the patient and allowed for a larger number of caregivers to be present. It also provided options for relocation of support equipment relative to the patient as needed. In the upgraded Medical Care Facility, the Surgical Stretcher-Chair and the Vertical Translation System can work together to provide incapacitated crew member transport from a site of injury on any deck of the Common Habitat to the Medical Care Facility. It can also support patient treatment in a variety of positions including a variety of sitting postures and a supine posture at a variety of pitch angles. The facility can also support caregiver office work for review of examination results, private consultation, inventory and maintenance, and a variety of other purposes. A forward activity will be to conduct evaluations of the Medical Care Facility with different medical scenarios. Additionally, ambient and task lighting selections remain as forward work. The eight mid deck lockers can be augmented to use as portable equipment carts, similar to a manner in which maintenance facility stowage was used as portable carts during the NASA Desert Research and Technology Studies in the Constellation Program. Trash accommodation will also need forward work to assess, including provision for wet trash, dry trash, and biological waste. It will be important to assess a redesign of the surgical stretcher-chair. The commercial version used in the upgrade can only enable vertical translation in the seated configuration, requiring the patient to bend both hips and knees. A possible redesign of the chair will allow for vertical translation without requiring any bending at the hip or knees. Also, the commercial version is wheeled, making it mobile in gravity but unanchored in microgravity. Work will be needed to adapt the chair for gravity-independent performance. The hygiene compartment can be redesigned for dual-use medical scrub and galley handwash facility. Pending sufficient volume, it may also be possible to place sanitation equipment in this location to clean medical tools. Finally, most space architectures have never allowed for more than one incapacitated crew member, but several scenarios could potentially injure two or more crew in the same incident. This facility could be assessed to determine its present ability to address two or more injured crew in parallel and determine the potential upper limit for number of treatable crew in a multi-crew injury scenario, or to treat polytrauma of a single patient.

Habitat↗

Configuration and Projected Capabilities of the Common Habitat Medical Care Facility

The Common Habitat is a large, long-duration habitat being explored as part of a conceptual study (not an active NASA program) that uses an SLS core stage Liquid Oxygen (LOX) tank as its primary structure. It is intended for use on the Moon as part of a permanently occupied outpost, on Mars as part of an outpost that will be occupied for hundreds of days at a time, and in deep space as part of the Deep Space Exploration Vehicle where it will support crewed missions up to 1200 days in duration. A study of internal orientation and crew size resulted in a Common Habitat configuration sized for a crew of eight with a three-deck horizontal orientation. Additional work outside the scope of this paper is developing a vertical translation system, a crew mobility aids system based on wearable gecko-derived grippers, and a crew seating/restraint system. These systems are all assumed for use in conjunction with the Medical Care Facility, which is needed to maintain crew well-being during these missions, where distance from Earth precludes the possibility of evacuation to Earth. This paper describes recent improvements in the Common Habitat Medical Care Facility and associated benefits for crew survivability in long duration missions beyond Earth orbit. These improvements were made with the assistance of a NASA Pathways intern whose experience includes a tour of duty in Afghanistan as an Army combat medic with the 691st GHOST-T, attached to the 1st and 7th US Special Forces Groups as part of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, where he helped provide far-forward surgical capabilities in austere combat environments. The initial baseline Medical Care Facility was developed working in conjunction with University of Houston Space Architecture graduate students. The facility was placed on the upper deck of the Common Habitat in a location that provided privacy, operational volume, and was close to the vertical translation pathway. The notional outfitting repurposed component CAD models from unrelated studies and notionally indicated a level of care roughly equivalent to that aboard the International Space Station. The CAD modeling provided notional stowage volumes, a deployable surface, some fixed equipment, an ultrasound, and a potentially reconfigurable treatment table. While this facility is clearly a competent arrangement, it was desired to leverage available expertise and upgrade the station given the vast distances from Earth to be experienced by the Common Habitat. Key driving requirements applied to the upgrade included to provide NASA’s Medical Level of Care V, offer enhanced telemedicine capabilities, provide patient physical accommodation, provide caregiver access to the patient from all sides, include sliding pocket doors for access to hygiene and to the Vertical Translation System, and to add any additional capability possible for the best achievable medical care. The first step in the facility upgrade was to quantify the current medical inventory on the International Space Station and ensure that sufficient stowage volume was present for this purpose. To that end, the ISS medical kits were reviewed, and eight full size mid deck lockers were placed in the facility. A number of additional devices were also added, based on the co-author’s combat medic experience. Also, two fixed shelves and one horizontal work surface were added to the Medical Care Facility, with the shelves providing storage space for the additional devices and the work surface providing a location for the caregiver to work or stage equipment. Four display monitors were added to the wall above the horizontal work surface, supporting data display, telemedicine, conferencing, or other needs. The existing treatment table was replaced with a mobile surgical stretcher-chair. Two additional doors were added to the Medical Care Facility. One leads directly to the hygiene compartment, allowing it to support medical operations in addition to providing galley/wardroom support. The other door leads directly into the Vertical Translation System. The wall adjacent to the subsystems bay was moved, adding additional volume to the Medical Care Facility. This improved caregiver access to the patient and allowed for a larger number of caregivers to be present. It also provided options for relocation of support equipment relative to the patient as needed. In the upgraded Medical Care Facility, the Surgical Stretcher-Chair and the Vertical Translation System can work together to provide incapacitated crew member transport from a site of injury on any deck of the Common Habitat to the Medical Care Facility. It can also support patient treatment in a variety of positions including a variety of sitting postures and a supine posture at a variety of pitch angles. The facility can also support caregiver office work for review of examination results, private consultation, inventory and maintenance, and a variety of other purposes. A forward activity will be to conduct evaluations of the Medical Care Facility with different medical scenarios. Additionally, ambient and task lighting selections remain as forward work. The eight middeck lockers can be augmented to use as portable equipment carts, similar to a manner in which maintenance facility stowage was used as portable carts during the NASA Desert Research and Technology Studies in the Constellation Program. Trash accommodation will also need forward work to assess, including provision for wet trash, dry trash, and biological waste. It will be important to assess a redesign of the surgical stretcher-chair. The commercial version used in the upgrade can only enable vertical translation in the seated configuration, requiring the patient to bend both hips and knees. A possible redesign of the chair will allow for vertical translation without requiring any bending at the hip or knees. Also, the commercial version is wheeled, making it mobile in gravity but unanchored in microgravity. Work will be needed to adapt the chair for gravity-independent performance. The hygiene compartment can be redesigned to serve both as a medical scrub facility and for galley hand washing. Pending sufficient volume, it may also be possible to place sanitation equipment in this location to clean medical tools. Finally, most space architectures have never allowed for more than one incapacitated crew member, but several scenarios could potentially injure two or more crew in the same incident. This facility could be assessed to determine its present ability to address two or more injured crew in parallel and determine the potential upper limit for number of treatable crew in a multi-crew injury scenario, or to treat polytrauma of a single patient.

Common Habitat↗

Endogenous Microbial Survival in Brewed Tea

Loose-leaf bagged tea is a commonly requested beverage item that comprises up to 7% of the microbiological samples from the space food systems. As loose-leaf tea blends often contain herbs and spices that frequently have high microbial loads, they have a high failure rate as defined by the microbiological standards outlined in NASA-STD-3001, which are more stringent than the limits set for industry. Between April 2019 and September 2022, 54.8% of loose-leaf teas submitted for microbiological testing have failed, necessitating the evaluation of a variety of brands and lot numbers of each requested tea type to meet crew preference requests, which are typically specific, resulting in excess labor and material costs to provide a single product for spaceflight consumption. Attempts to identify specific brands or ingredients that are less likely to produce a failure have been unsuccessful, as to date, no trends in those measures have been identified. We have, however, noticed a trend in types of teas (spiced and herbal) which are more likely to fail. Of additional concern, hot water available for brewing tea on ISS is dispensed at a lower temperature than the CDC recommended brewing temperature. In a study we previously reported, we found that that brewing water temperature may not have a significant impact on the number of aerobic bacteria in chamomile tea, as there were no significant differences in the total microbial load between tea brewed with boiling, ISS-like, or room temperature waters. It did appear that ISS temperature water was similarly effective to boiling water against a pathogenic bacterial species. In this study, we aim to assess whether the total number of aerobic bacteria of other high-fail-rate tea types is similarly unaffected when brewing tea in room temperature or boiling water. Data from this study and the previous study, as well as additional analysis of every tea product that has been tested as part of the normal food system since April 2019, will be used to determine the expected typical microbial load for loose-leaf teas, which we will compare to existing industry limits so that we can recommend a new microbiological limit for loose-leaf teas that accurately reflects the true risk of consuming brewed teas in spaceflight.

space flight food↗

Orbiter escape pole

A Shuttle type of aircraft (10) with an escape hatch (12) has an arcuately shaped pole housing (16) attachable to an interior wall and ceiling with its open end adjacent to the escape hatch. The pole housing 16 contains a telescopically arranged and arcuately shaped primary pole member (22) and extension pole member (23) which are guided by roller assemblies (30,35). The extension pole member (23) is slidable and extendable relative to the primary pole member (22). For actuation, a spring actuated system includes a spring (52) in the pole housing. A locking member (90) engages both pole members (22,23) through notch portions (85,86) in the pole members. The locking member selectively releases the extension pole member (23) and the primary pole member (22). An internal one-way clutch or anti-return mechanism prevents retraction of the extension pole member from an extended position. Shock absorbers (54)(150,152) are for absoring the energy of the springs. A manual backup deployment system is provided which includes a canted ring (104) biased by a spring member (108). A lever member (100) with a slot and pin connection (102) permits the mechanical manipulation of the canted ring to move the primary pole member. The ring (104) also prevents retraction of the main pole. The crew escape mechanism includes a magazine (60) and a number of lanyards (62), each lanyard being mounted by a roller loop (68) over the primary pole member (22). The strap on the roller loop has stitching for controlled release, a protection sheath (74) to prevent tangling and a hook member (69) for attachment to a crew harness.

Goodrich, Winston D.↗

Evaluation and Improvement of System-of-Systems Resilience in a Simulation of Wildfire Emergency Response

Because of the increasing threat that wildfires pose, there is interest in leveraging new technologies to improve firefighting. Specifically, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and UAS Traffic Management (UTM) promise to improve firefighters’ situational awareness, coordination, communications, safety, and strategy. While these technologies could be beneficial, there has been little formal investigation into how much benefit would occur and whether these benefits would outweigh hazards introduced by these systems. To better understand the impacts of these technologies, this paper presents a high-level dynamic simulation for evaluating wildfire response performance and resilience incorporating fire propagation, surveillance and communication, response planning, and the resulting mitigation actions. This simulation is then used to study the impact of communications and surveillance improvement, considering (1) the effect on fire containment and ground crew injuries and (2) the effect of introduced and existing disruptive fault scenarios. Simulating this model over a large number of scenarios finds that these changes can improve containment and reduce ground crew injuries. While these improvements generalize over both existing and introduced single-fault scenarios and thus result in a more resilient system, they could be negated if the introduced communications infrastructure is prone to full-scale outages.

modeling↗

Small Penetrator Instrument Concept for the Advancement of Lunar Surface Science

Fundamental scientific objectives concerning the surface and subsurface material and dynamics of the Moon are the drivers for the use and advancement of penetrators, which emplace a suite of scientific instruments by impact into a planetary surface, typically at velocities of dozens to hundreds of meters per second. Small lunar penetrators are poised to become a valuable new tool for lunar science and exploration during the next decade. These low-cost ballistic probes can be deployed in large numbers from orbit, or from descending robotic or crewed vehicles, in order to explore and characterize the diversity of extreme lunar shallow subsurface environments. In this paper, we describe the general overview of penetrator objectives, potential instrumentation, and how these would benefit the advancement of lunar science at various extreme environments.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Adaptation and Re-Use of Spacecraft Power System Models for the Constellation Program

NASA's Constellation Program is embarking on a new era of space exploration, returning to the Moon and beyond. The Constellation architecture will consist of a number of new spacecraft elements, including the Orion crew exploration vehicle, the Altair lunar lander, and the Ares family of launch vehicles. Each of these new spacecraft elements will need an electric power system, and those power systems will need to be designed to fulfill unique mission objectives and to survive the unique environments encountered on a lunar exploration mission. As with any new spacecraft power system development, preliminary design work will rely heavily on analysis to select the proper power technologies, size the power system components, and predict the system performance throughout the required mission profile. Constellation projects have the advantage of leveraging power system modeling developments from other recent programs such as the International Space Station (ISS) and the Mars Exploration Program. These programs have developed mature power system modeling tools, which can be quickly modified to meet the unique needs of Constellation, and thus provide a rapid capability for detailed power system modeling that otherwise would not exist.

Hojnicki, Jeffrey S.↗

Development of the Orion Crew Module Static Aerodynamic Database: Supersonic/Subsonic - Par 2

This work describes the process of developing the nominal static aerodynamic coefficients and associated uncertainties for the Orion Crew Module for Mach 8 and below. The database was developed from wind tunnel test data and computational simulations of the smooth Crew Module geometry, with no asymmetries or protuberances. The database covers the full range of Reynolds numbers seen in both entry and ascent abort scenarios. The basic uncertainties were developed as functions of Mach number and total angle of attack from variations in the primary data as well as computations at lower Reynolds numbers, on the baseline geometry, and using different flow solvers. The resulting aerodynamic database represents the Crew Exploration Vehicle Aerosciences Project's best estimate of the nominal aerodynamics for the current Crew Module vehicle.

Bibb, Karen L.↗

Issues and Design Drivers for Deep Space Habitats

A cross-disciplinary team of scientists and engineers applied expertise gained in Lunar Lander development to the conceptual design of a long-duration, deep space habitat for Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) missions. The design reference mission involved two launches to assemble a 5-module vehicle for a 380-day round trip mission carrying 4 crew members. The conceptual design process yielded a number of interesting debates, some of which could be significant design drivers in a detailed Deep Space Habitat (DSH) design. These issues include: a) Launch loads: Potentially drives layout of equipment mounted to module floors or walls, and whether temporary internal structure is required to distribute launch loads to minimize shell mass; b) Unmanned loiter time: When added to an already lengthy mission, loiter time further drives risk and reliability, and poses issues for equipment shelf life such as material degradation or cryogenic fluids boil-off; c) Pointing and Visibility: A habitat embedded in a 5-module stack may drive Communications, Tracking, Guidance, and Navigation equipment out onto long booms to maintain line-of-sight visibility with targets. However, long booms will be more susceptible to disruption from exercise-induced vibration, potential damage during docking/undocking operations, and increased power distribution mass; d) Water: although it is assumed that a water processor will collect and recycle water, several interesting question were posed, such as: How much water to start with? Should potable water serve double-duty as radiation protection? And if so, should it be stowed in a single large tank, or smaller, portable containers? e) Design for repairability: one of the worst-case scenarios identified was a cabin depressurization that required suited repair from inside the module, potentially driving the need for long umbilical hoses or special equipment to allow smaller, mated modules to be used as safe havens for up to 180 days;

Anderson, Molly S.↗

Checklist interruption and resumption: A linguistic study

This study forms part of a project investigating the relationships among the formal structure of aviation procedures, the ways in which the crew members are taught to execute them, and the ways in which thet are actually performed in flight. Specifically, this report examines the interactions between the performance of checklists and interruptions, considering both interruptions by radio communications and by other crew members. The data consists of 14 crews' performance of a full mission simulation of a higher ratio of checklist speech acts to all speech acts within the span of the performance of the checklist. Further, it is not number of interruptions but length of interruptions which is associated with crew performance quality. Use of explicit holds is also associated with crew performance.

Linde, Charlotte↗