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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Preparations for Laser Rayleigh Scattering Flow Visualization of Inert Ethane Plumes in PSI Environments at the NASA Langley 60-ft Vacuum Sphere

Understanding of the interaction between the plume and the regolith during powered descent are critical for reliable landings and to avoid damaging the vehicle or nearby infrastructure. To further study this complex flowfield, preparations are underway to describe the interrogation of an impinging ethane plume in lunar-relevant conditions within the 60-ft vacuum sphere at LaRC using Rayleigh diagnostics.

Flow Visualization↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

LANDO: Developing Autonomous Payload Offloading Capabilities for Lunar Surface Operations

Introduction: The Lightweight Surface Manipulation System (LSMS) AutoNomy capabilities Development for surface Operations and construction (LANDO) project is an Early Career Initiative selected for funding by NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate. LANDO is developing a general-purpose autonomy framework applicable to serial and tension-actuated manipulation agents, that will be validated using an existing prototype of the LSMS-L35 (35-kg wrist lift capacity on the lunar surface [Fig. 1], sized for a Commercial Lunar Pay-load Services (CLPS) mission). The autonomous LSMS-L35 will be used to demonstrate autonomous payload handling capabilities for Lunar and other planetary surfaces, directly addressing STMD capability gaps in autonomous excavation and construction operations, advanced robotics and spacecraft autonomy technologies, and technologies supporting emerging space industries including the In-Space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing national strategy. LSMS: The LSMS is a tension actuated robotic agent that is scalable (reach and lifting capacity in different gravity environments), versatile (types of surface operations), and reusable. Compared to serial arms, the LSMS provides significantly higher structural efficiency and mechanical advantage, enabling a greater payload lift capacity at a lower system mass. The LSMS is envisioned to be a crucial part of the excavation and construction portfolio, capable of supporting a variety of activities on the lunar surface. Autonomous payload handling is one of the first activities the LSMS can support that develops capabilities that are extensible to other surface operations. Payload handling is required to: remove payloads from a lander; place payloads on mobile agents for transport from a lander to construction site/assembly point; emplace payloads in their operational configuration, and aggregate components to create an asset. As an example of this critical gap, manifested CLPS missions do not currently have a ubiquitous payload offloading capability; payloads (excluding rovers) are designed to remain on the lander. Why Autonomy? Autonomous robotic systems capable of carrying out excavation and construction operations are a fundamental and critical capability required for realizing the NASA Artemis program vision to “emplace and build the infrastructure, systems, and robotic missions that can enable a sustained lunar surface presence.” While teleoperation is still feasible for lunar surface operations, increased latency at Mars will require validated supervised autonomous technologies capable of operating with minimal human involvement (human-on-the-loop) unless an unexpected event occurs requiring human intervention. Autonomy reduces operator burden, allows operations to continue during uncrewed periods, in-creases the safety of operations by automatically detecting and handling faults, and allows operating in high latency environments. Development Activities: LANDO is extending critical autonomous operations to the manipulation domain and creating an integrated system, based on reusable software modules, that is capable of planning and executing payload handling and autonomous surface operations without requiring hu-man intervention beyond a supervisory role. The priority features under development are 1) autonomously offload payloads from a tilted lander deck without buckling the LSMS; 2) sensing whether a payload is safe to lift and handle; and 3) integrate with Astrobotic’s CLPS lander. The poster presentation will highlight current development activities over the past year on LSMS-L35 prototype hard-ware design, and autonomy software.

in-space assembly↗

NASA NTRS2003

Pathways to Colonization

The steps required for space colonization are many to grow from our current 3-person International Space Station, now under construction, to an infrastructure that can support hundreds and eventually thousands of people in space. This paper will summarize the author's findings from numerous studies and workshops on related subjects and identify some of the critical next steps toward space colonization. Findings will be drawn from the author s previous work on space colony design, space infrastructure workshops, and various studies that addressed space policy. In conclusion, this paper will note that significant progress has been made on space facility construction through the International Space Station program, and that significant efforts are needed in the development of new reusable Earth to Orbit transportation systems. The next key steps will include reusable in space transportation systems supported by in space propellant depots, the continued development of inflatable habitat and space elevator technologies, and the resolution of policy issues that will establish a future vision for space development.

Smitherman, David V., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2008

2001 Mars Odyssey Mission

This viewgraph presentation reviews the 2001 Mars Odyssey Mission. The contents include: 1) Mission Overview; 2) Current Scope of Work: 3) Facilities; 4) Critical Role of DSN; 5) Relay as Mission Supplement; 6) Current Mars Telecom Infrastructure; 7) PHX EDL Comm Overview; 8) EDL Geometry (Entry through Landing); 9) Phoenix Support; 10) Preparations for Phoenix; 11) EDL Support Timeline; 12) One Year Rolling Schedule; 13) E3 Rationale; and 14) Spacecraft Status.

Odyssey↗

NASA NTRS2002

Robots and Humans in Planetary Exploration: Working Together?

Today's approach to human-robotic cooperation in planetary exploration focuses on using robotic probes as precursors to human exploration. A large portion of current NASA planetary surface exploration is focussed on Mars, and robotic probes are seen as precursors to human exploration in: Learning about operation and mobility on Mars; Learning about the environment of Mars; Mapping the planet and selecting landing sites for human mission; Demonstration of critical technology; Manufacture fuel before human presence, and emplace elements of human-support infrastructure

Landis, Geoffrey A.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Considerations for Isochronous Data Services over the Proximity-1 Space Link

Future mission concepts for robotic and human explorations will involve a high level of real time control/monitoring operations such as tele-operation for spacecraft rendezvous and surface mobile platforms carrying life-support equipments. The timely dissemination of voice, command, and real-time telemetry for monitoring and coordination purposes is critical for mission success. It is envisioned that future missions will require a network infrastructure capable of supporting isochronous data services. The CCSDS Proximity-1 Space Link Protocol1 could be used to provide isochronous service over the surface-to-Earth relay as well as "beyond-the-horizon" communications between distant Lunar or Mars surface elements. This paper will analyze the latency, jitter, and throughput performance of the Proximity-1 protocol for isochronous applications. In particular we will focus on constrained scenarios where the protocol operates in full-duplex mode, carrying isochronous traffic in one direction and error-controlled traffic in the other direction. We analyze the impact of the strict priority scheme in Proximity-1 on delay jitter and the impact of the isochronous traffic on the efficiency of the reliable data transfer in the other direction, and discuss methods for performance optimization. In general, jitter performance is driving by relative loading of isochronous traffic on the forward link compared to the acknowledgement traffic. Under light loading condition, the upper-bound of the delay jitter is the transmission duration of an acknowledgement frame on the forward link; for higher loading scenarios, the maximum jitter is scaled up by the inverse of the residual bandwidth, i.e., the spare capacity available in the forward link to carry isochronous traffic.

isochronous communications↗

NASA NTRS2006

Considerations for Isochronous Data Services over the Proximity-1 Space Link

Future mission concepts for robotic and human explorations will involve a high level of real time control/monitoring operations such as tele-operation for spacecraft rendezvous and surface mobile platforms carrying life-support equipments. The timely dissemination of voice, command, and real-time telemetry for monitoring and coordination purposes is critical for mission success. It is envisioned that future missions will require a network infrastructure capable of supporting isochronous data services. The CCSDS Proximity-1 Space Link Protocol1 could be used to carry isochronous traffic. This paper we will focus on the data link layer portion of the Proximity-1 protocol specification and analyze its jitter and performance for supporting isochronous applications. In particular we will focus on constrained scenarios where the protocol operates in full-duplex mode, carrying isochronous traffic in one direction and error-controlled traffic in the other direction. We analyze the impact of the strict priority scheme in Proximity-1 used to arbitrate channel access on the latency jitter of the isochronous traffic and the efficiency of the reliable data transfer. In general, jitter performance is driven by the loading of the acknowledgement traffic on the forward link. Under light loading condition, the upper-bound of the delay jitter is the transmission duration of an acknowledgement frame on the forward link; for higher loading scenarios, the maximum jitter is scaled up by the inverse of the residual bandwidth, i.e., the spare capacity available in the forward link after accounting for the acknowledgement traffic. We derive analytical expression on the maximum jitter and discuss its performance.

space link↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

National Campaign Partner Demonstration Team Annual Review April 2023

- NASA developed the Advanced Air Mobility Project (AAM) and the National Campaign (NC) series to identify and address challenges ahead for advanced air mobility concepts. - NC seeks to challenge industry as follows; - Execute progressively more difficult ecosystem-wide system-level safety and integration scenarios - Demonstrate practical and scalable system concepts - Build a knowledge base for development of requirements and standards - There are currently three focus areas within the NASA AAM NC Portfolio - Vehicle Development and Operations: test and inform capabilities that are critical enablers for AAM such as electric aircraft propulsion and increasing levels of automation - Airspace Design and Operations: develop and validate an operational concept to integrate and manage AAM traffic safely and efficiently - Community Integration: understand and address critical barriers to community integration, such as public acceptance (noise, security, privacy, etc.), supporting infrastructure, and local regulation

Eric N Becker↗

NASA NTRS2018

Space Resources and Mining: Current Objectives, Plans, and Missions

Why are Space Resources and Their Use Important? There are many reasons why people and nations want to explore space, and there are many different ways in which space can be explored. A critical interface linking both the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of space exploration is the identification, extraction, and use of resources in space. In both NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration released in October of 2015 and the Global Exploration Roadmap released in August 2013, the ability to find, quantify, extract, process, and use space resources was identified as a critical objective by NASA and over 14 other space agencies for achieving affordable and sustainable human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit, encouraging and creating new commercial entities and markets based on space activities, and increasing the terrestrial economy and quality-of-life benefits for all humankind. Robotic and especially human space exploration up to this point in time can be considered to be ‘Earth reliant’ in that everything needed to support and enable the mission is launched from Earth. The past Apollo missions to the Moon and the International Space Station currently in orbit above the Earth all rely on hardware, habitats, power, transportation, and life support consumables sent from Earth to keep the crew alive and working. As the distance from Earth increases, the cost of transportation and the risks due to failures and logistics disruptions also increases. By using resources found at the site of exploration to make mission critical consumables (such as propellants, fuel cell reactants and life support commodities), spare parts, and infrastructure needed to support surface activities (such as landing pads, roads, habitats/shelters, and power/thermal systems) commonly referred to as In Situ Resource Utilization, a significant amount of launch mass and cost can be saved and risk reduced. The ability to do these things also changes how exploration is performed from Earth Reliant to NASA’s goal of ‘Earth Independent’ exploration. After the US Apollo program was over, people began to recognize that it had been an inspiration for a generation of young students to go into Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields, and that the US industry and economy had significantly grown and lived off these students and the technological advances made to achieve these missions for decades. Space exploration should no longer be focused solely on scientific advancement or national pride, but for economic growth and population standard of living advancement. Considering the economic value of human exploration and how it could expand the economy of the US was brought to full light in a speech by John Marburger, the director of US Office of Science and Technology Policy under George W Bush at the Goddard Symposium in 2006. In his speech he highlighted that the ultimate goal was not to just Explore space but to Use space for the benefit of mankind. He further stated that the use of off-planet resources, in this case from the Moon, should be a critical architectural consideration for human space exploration to make it more affordable and sustainable. This could be achieved in two ways. The first is to start by encouraging and commercializing the extraction and production of transportation and life support related products from space resources, which could than lead to other resource uses once an affordable transportation architecture is established. The second is to encourage the spin-in of terrestrial technologies into space applications and spin-off of space technologies into terrestrial applications to increase the efficiency and profitability of terrestrial industries.

Sanders, Gerald B.↗

NASA NTRS2005

On Automating Failure Mode Analysis and Enforcing its Integrity

This paper reports our experience on the development of a design-for-safety (DFS) workbench called Risk Assessment and Management Environment (RAME) for microelectronic avionics systems. Our objective is to transform DFS practice from an ad-hoc, inefficient, error-prone approach to a stringent engineering process such that DFS can keep up with the rapidly growing complexity of avionics systems. In particular, RAME is built upon an information infrastructure that comprises a fault model, a knowledge base, and a failure reporting/tracking system. This infrastructure permits systematic learning from prior projects and enables the automation of failure modes, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA). Among other unique features, the most important advantage of RAME is its capability of directly accepting design source code in hardware description languages (HDLs) for automated failure mode analysis, which enables RAME to be compatible and to evolve with most electronic-computer-aided-design systems. Through an initial experimental evaluation of the RAME prototype, we show that our approach to FMECA automation improves failure mode analysis turn-around-time, completeness, and accuracy.

design for safety↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Flow Visualization for Plume-Surface Interaction Testing Within Large-Scale Vacuum Environments at Conditions Relevant to Lunar and Martian Landers

Interactions between rocket exhaust plumes and the landing surface during powered spacecraft descent on the Moon and Mars pose significant risks to the landing vehicle, landing site, and nearby infrastructure. Understanding the underlying plume-surface interaction phenomena through ground test data can provide critical insights on the sensitivities of parameters such as the spacecraft altitude and thrust. In the present work, we summarize a scaled ground test recently conducted within a 20-ft vacuum chamber environment located in the historical East Test Area at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The ground test featured a Mach 5.3 inert gas plume impinging upon an instrumented flat plate. Planar laser-induced fluorescence, which is a 2D laser-based flow field measurement technique, was performed at this test area for the first time to visualize salient flow features such as the barrel shock, stagnation shock, and wall jet. Measurements were obtained at discrete lander altitudes, made dimensionless using the nozzle exit diameter, corresponding to h/D = 10, 8, 5, 4, 3, and 2. The stagnation pressures of the plume were varied from approximately 0.04 to 1 MPa, providing sensitivity to the engine thrust of a powered spacecraft. The unique test facility allowed for near-lunar conditions to be obtained at initial vacuum chamber pressures less than 0.1 Pa. Martian-relevant measurements were also performed at ambient pressures near 600 Pa. Furthermore, a third set of measurements were obtained at so called lunar-relevant conditions near 3 Pa chamber pressure

Plume Surface Interaction↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Flow Visualization for Plume-Surface Interaction Testing Within Large-Scale Vacuum Environments at Conditions Relevant to Lunar and Martian Landers

Plume Surface Interaction↗

NASA NTRS2016

Integrated Test and Evaluation (ITE) Flight Test Series 4

The integrated Flight Test 4 (FT4) will gather data for the UAS researchers Sense and Avoid systems (referred to as Detect and Avoid in the RTCA SC 228 ToR) algorithms and pilot displays for candidate UAS systems in a relevant environment. The technical goals of FT4 are to: 1) perform end-to-end traffic encounter test of pilot guidance generated by DAA algorithms; 2) collect data to inform the initial Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for Detect and Avoid systems. FT4 objectives and test infrastructure builds from previous UAS project simulations and flight tests. NASA Ames (ARC), NASA Armstrong (AFRC), and NASA Langley (LaRC) Research Centers will share responsibility for conducting the tests, each providing a test lab and critical functionality. UAS-NAS project support and participation on the 2014 flight test of ACAS Xu and DAA Self Separation (SS) significantly contributed to building up infrastructure and procedures for FT3 as well. The DAA Scripted flight test (FT4) will be conducted out of NASA Armstrong over an eight-week period beginning in April 2016.

ITE↗

NASA NTRS2001

Advanced Communication and Networking Technologies for Mars Exploration

Next-generation Mars communications networks will provide communications and navigation services to a wide variety of Mars science vehicles including: spacecraft that are arriving at Mars, spacecraft that are entering and descending in the Mars atmosphere, scientific orbiter spacecraft, spacecraft that return Mars samples to Earth, landers, rovers, aerobots, airplanes, and sensing pods. In the current architecture plans, the communication services will be provided using capabilities deployed on the science vehicles as well as dedicated communication satellites that will together make up the Mars network. This network will evolve as additional vehicles arrive, depart or end their useful missions. Cost savings and increased reliability will result from the ability to share communication services between missions. This paper discusses the basic architecture that is needed to support the Mars Communications Network part of NASA's Space Science Enterprise (SSE) communications architecture. The network may use various networking technologies such as those employed in the terrestrial Internet, as well as special purpose deep-space protocols to move data and commands autonomously between vehicles, at disparate Mars vicinity sites (on the surface or in near-Mars space) and between Mars vehicles and earthbound users. The architecture of the spacecraft on-board local communications is being reconsidered in light of these new networking requirements. The trend towards increasingly autonomous operation of the spacecraft is aimed at reducing the dependence on resource scheduling provided by Earth-based operators and increasing system fault tolerance. However, these benefits will result in increased communication and software development requirements. As a result, the envisioned Mars communications infrastructure requires both hardware and protocol technology advancements. This paper will describe a number of the critical technology needs and some of the ongoing research activities.

Bhasin, Kul↗

NASA NTRS2005

Space Technologies for Enhancing the Resilience and Sustainability of Indigenous Reindeer Husbandry in the Russian Arctic

To adapt successfully to the major changes - climate, environment, economic, social and industrial - which have taken place across the Arctic. in recent years, indigenous communities such as reindeer herders must become increasingly empowered with the best available technologies to add to their storehouse of traditional knowledge. Remotely-sensed data and observations are providing increased capabilities for monitoring, risk mapping, and surveillance of parameters critical to the characterization of pasture quality and migratory routes, such as vegetation distribution, snow cover, infrastructure development, and pasture damages due to fires. This paper describes a series of remote sensing capabilities, which are useful to reindeer husbandry, and gives the results of the first year of a project, "Reindeer Mapper", which is a remote sensing and GIs-based system to bring together space technologies with indigenous knowledge for sustainable reindeer husbandry in the Russian Arctic. In this project, reindeer herders and scientists are joining together to utilize technologies to create a system for collecting and sharing space-based and indigenous knowledge in the Russian Arctic. The "Reindeer Mapper" system will help make technologies more readily available to the herder community for observing, data collection and analysis, monitoring, sharing, communications, and dissemination of information - to be integrated with traditional, local knowledge. This paper describes some of the technologies which comprise the system including an intranet system to enable to the team members to work together and share information electronically, remote sensing data for monitoring environmental parameters important to reindeer husbandry (e.g., SAR, Landsat, AVHRR, MODIS), indigenous knowledge about important environmental parameters, acquisition of ground- based measurements, and the integration of all useful data sets for more informed decision-making.

Maynard, Nancy G.↗

NASA NTRS2018

NASA's Space Launch System Moves into Testing and Integration

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) has moved from design and manufacturing into testing and integration for its first flight as early as December 2019. In 2017, the NASA/industry team completed manufacturing of all major structural elements for the launch vehicle for Exploration Mission-I (EM-1 ). That work included shipping the first major flight hardware element to the launch site. The team processed all four RS-25 engines for stage integration, cast all 10 booster flight motor segments, and manufactured all five major sections of the core stage. The program also completed major structural work on the B-2 test stand at Stennis Space Center, which will be used for the core stage "green run" test; delivered the core stage and engine simulators used for training; and much of the transportation equipment for the core stage. Engineers completed structural testing on the upper stage/payload section of the vehicle as well as the engine section test article. In 2018, the program will deliver the Orion Stage Adapter (OSA) to Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) at KSC and send the test articles for the core stage liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, and intertank to NASA's Marshall Space Flight center for structural testing. Additionally, workers will begin the challenging process of integrating the major sections of the 212-foot EM-1 core stage. This work is focused on the initial Block 1 variant of SLS, capable of launching more than 70 metric tons (t) to low Earth orbit (LEO). However, work concurrently is underway on the Block lB variant, which will enable 105 t to LEO and more than 37t to trans-lunar injection (TLI). Block lB will be the workhorse vehicle of NASA's lunar exploration plans. As the needs of the nation's deep space exploration program grow, SLS performance is designed to evolve to a payload mass of 130 t to LEO and up to 45t to TLI. The advantages of this mass - as well as volume- are critical to the entire exploration architecture for deep space exploration. They translate to greater capability, greater infrastructure and operational simplicity, less overall mission risk, and opportunities to accomplish unprecedented exploration and discovery. This paper will discuss SLS progress to date and planned future work.

Honeycutt, John↗

NASA NTRS2018

NASA's Space Launch System Moves into Testing and Integration

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) has moved from design and manufacturing into testing and integration for its first flight in fiscal year 2020. In 2017, the NASA/industry team completed manufacturing of all major structural elements for the launch vehicle for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). This work included shipping the first major flight hardware element to the launch site. Current work is focused on the initial Block 1 variant of SLS, capable of launching more than 70 metric tons (t) to low Earth orbit (LEO). As the needs of the nation's deep space exploration program grow, SLS performance is designed to evolve to a payload mass of 130 t to LEO and up to 45 metric tons (t) to trans-lunar injection (TLI). The advantages of this mass - as well as volume - are critical to the entire exploration architecture for deep space exploration. They translate to greater capability, greater infrastructure and operational simplicity, less overall mission risk, and opportunities to accomplish unprecedented exploration and discovery.

Honeycutt, John↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Overview of NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge

The goal of NASA’s Artemis program is to return to the Moon and put in place a sustainable infrastructure that will enable permanent presence on the Moon. In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is critical in making the permanent presence on the Moon possible. One of the most important of these resources is water. On the Moon, water is trapped in icy regolith at the lunar poles, including inside permanently dark and cold craters. Excavating icy regolith and extracting water from it needs development of technologies that can operate reliably in the extreme lunar environmental conditions. Prize competitions are a well-known way of accelerating the development of new technologies and have been successfully used throughout the history. NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program(CCP) has been developing and executing prize competitions for past 15 years. Several of these competitions resulted in breakthrough technologies for in-space and terrestrial applications. In 2019, NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) tasked CCP to develop a challenge to address the technology gaps in the areas of Lunar Excavation, Manufacturing, and Construction. This paper provides the background, status and ongoing plans by CCP in developing “Break the Ice Lunar Challenge”. The challenge is scheduled to open for registration in late 2020. This challenge will enable the development of excavation technologies that can operate in the extreme conditions on the Moon.

centennial challenges↗