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NASA NTRS2005

Future Visions for Scientific Human Exploration

Today, humans explore deep-space locations such as Mars, asteroids, and beyond, vicariously here on Earth, with noteworthy success. However, to achieve the revolutionary breakthroughs that have punctuated the history of science since the dawn of the Space Age has always required humans as "the discoverers," as Daniel Boorstin contends in this book of the same name. During Apollo 17, human explorers on the lunar surface discovered the "genesis rock," orange glass, and humans in space revamped the optically crippled Hubble Space Telescope to enable some of the greatest astronomical discoveries of all time. Science-driven human exploration is about developing the opportunities for such events, perhaps associated with challenging problems such as whether we can identify life beyond Earth within the universe. At issue, however, is how to safely insert humans and the spaceflight systems required to allow humans to operate as they do best in the hostile environment of deep space. The first issue is minimizing the problems associated with human adaptation to the most challenging aspects of deep space space radiation and microgravity (or non-Earth gravity). One solution path is to develop technologies that allow for minimization of the exposure time of people to deep space, as was accomplished in Apollo. For a mission to the planet Mars, this might entail new technological solutions for in-space propulsion that would make possible time-minimized transfers to and from Mars. The problem of rapid, reliable in-space transportation is challenged by the celestial mechanics of moving in space and the so-called "rocket equation." To travel to Mars from Earth in less than the time fuel-minimizing trajectories allow (i.e., Hohmann transfers) requires an exponential increase in the amount of fuel. Thus, month-long transits would require a mass of fuel as large as the dry mass of the ISS, assuming the existence of continuous acceleration engines. This raises the largest technological stumbling block to moving humans on site as deep-space explorers, delivering the masses required for human spaceflight systems to LEO or other Earth orbital vantage points using the existing or projected fleet of Earth-to-orbit (ETO) launch vehicles. Without a return to Saturn V-class boosters or an alternate path, one cannot imagine emplacing the masses that would be required for any deep-space voyage without a prohibitive number of Shuttle-class launches. One futurist solution might involve mass launch systems that could be used to move the consumables, including fuel, water, food, and building materials, to LEO in pieces rather than launching integrated systems. This approach would necessitate the development of robotic assembly and fuel-storage systems in Earth orbit, but could provide for a natural separation of low-value cargo (e.g., fuel, water).

Garvin, James↗

NASA NTRS2023

Gateway Program Safety and Mission Assurance Integration - The Future of Safe Deep Space Human Exploration

Helen Vaccaro↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Gateway Program Safety and Mission Assurance Integration - the Future of Safe Deep Space Human Exploration

As a foundational element of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Artemis Campaign, the Gateway is an incrementally built cislunar spacecraft that will serve as a platform for deep space human exploration, science, and technology demonstration. The Gateway will be a unifying catalyst for international partners around the world to establish sustained deep space scientific investigations, lunar surface access, and missions to Mars. As human exploration moves farther away from Earth, spacecraft designs must prioritize and optimize mass and volume allocations, while minimizing human and spacecraft risk. To accomplish this objective, the Gateway Program Safety and Mission Assurance functions develop, implement, and ensure compliance with requirements, in concert with the accurate characterization and transparent communication of residual hazard risks, for integrated safety, reliability and maintainability and quality assurance. Safety and Mission Assurance was a key contributor during Gateway program pre-formulation and formulation activities where safety and reliability analysis was embedded in the Gateway Systems Engineering and Integration team. During these early program stages, a preliminary Gateway Integrated Hazard Analysis and Preliminary Gateway Probabilistic Risk Assessment assisted in Gateway architectural and operational definition as part of a risk-informed design process. As the deep space architecture has matured, the integrated Safety and Mission Assurance analyses have matured, new safety review processes have been developed, and requirements have been refined to ensure compliance with integrated safety and mission assurance objectives. The Gateway Program is currently concluding the preliminary design review informed milestone, where the primary objectives included: - Ensured completeness and consistency of the preliminary design, including the meeting of all requirements within appropriate margins and acceptable risk posture. - Identification of any major issues moving forward to the Critical Design phase. At this milestone, Safety and Mission Assurance provided numerous products, including Gateway Top Risks and Risk Mitigation Plans, updated integrated hazard analyses, updated probabilistic risk assessment, Crew Survival Analysis Report, and updated Safety and Mission Assurance Requirements and Plans. These products provide a many-faceted perspective on the inherent risk and available mitigations involved in flying the current proposed vehicle design and anticipated stack configurations. In addition, Safety and Mission Assurance identified top technical, process and workforce concerns to be addressed as the program progresses toward the critical design phase. This paper will detail the evolution of the Gateway Program Safety and Mission Assurance integration functions, provide its current status and lessons learned for future human spaceflight programs. Throughout this paper the key tenets of the Gateway Program Safety and Mission Assurance will be discussed: - Application of a risk-informed approach to identify and mitigate areas of highest risk. - Leverage of valuable processes and lessons learned from earlier spaceflight programs. - Development of Safety and Mission Assurance products to inform design risk trades. - Utilization of common Safety and Mission Assurance practices to identify safety risks for multiple perspectives: top-down, bottom-up, and across lines of integration. - Approval of safety hazards at the appropriate level of authority, keeping most deliberation closest to design expertise and elevating risks of greatest concern for program-level consideration. - Championing of Safety and Mission Assurance processes and forums to foster a pervasive safety culture that is transparent, inclusive, and collaborative between all partners. These tenets have allowed the Gateway Safety and Mission Assurance function to play a key role in optimized vehicle design evolution, and early identification and mitigation of Gateway program and Artemis mission risk.

Helen Vaccaro↗

NASA NTRS2018

NASA's Space Launch System and Deep-Space Opportunities for SmallSats

Designed to provide the significant capability required for human deep-space exploration, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) also provides a unique opportunity for lower-cost deepspace science in the form of small-satellite secondary payloads. This opportunity will be leveraged beginning with the rocket's first flight; a launch of the SLS's Block 1 configuration, capable of delivering >26 metric tons (t) to Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI), which will see the Orion crew vehicle travel around the Moon and return to Earth. On that flight, SLS will also deploy 13 6U CubeSat-class payloads to multiple destinations including deep space. These secondary payloads will include not only NASA research, but also spacecraft from international partners, industry and academia. The payloads represent a variety of disciplines including, but not limited to, studies of the Moon, Earth, Sun, and asteroids, along with technology demonstrations that could pave the way for even more ambitious smallsat missions in the future. As the SLS Program is making significant progress toward that first launch, preparations are already under way for future missions, which will see the booster evolve to its more-capable Block 1 B configuration, able to deliver 40 metric tons to TLI. That configuration will have the capability to carry large payloads co-manifested with the Orion spacecraft, or to utilize an 8.4- meter (m) fairing to carry payloads several times larger than are currently possible. SLS will evolve to its full Block 2 configuration, with a TLI capability of >45 metric tons. Both the Block lB and Block 2 versions of SLS will be able to carry larger secondary payloads than the Block 1 configuration, creating even more opportunities for affordable scientific exploration of deep space. This lecture will provide a status of the SLS development and outline the progress being made toward flying smallsats on the first flight of SLS, and discuss future opportunities for smallsats on subsequent flights.

Bookout, Paul S.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Space Launch System Completes Green Run Testing, Begins Assembly

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Program is poised in 2021 to shift its focus to the launch site with the completion of its last major integrated hardware and software test. SLS is NASA’s evolvable super heavy-lift launch vehicle for deep space exploration. Using proven propulsion technologies, SLS will be the most powerful launch vehicle in the world. That capability translates not only into more mass and volume to destinations but also simplified payload design and mission operations and greater opportunity for mission success. These capabilities will be important for the Artemis program, NASA’s plan to return humans to the Moon to stay in a sustainable way in order to develop and test technologies and operations needed for human missions to Mars and other destinations. SLS will anchor the transportation leg of an innovative, sustainable program of lunar exploration with commercial and international partners as the first step of human exploration of deep space. While all major hardware and software efforts made significant progress in 2020 and 2021, the most visible was the Green Run test series of the Artemis I core stage conducted at NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC) on the B-2 test stand. The series validated core stage design, performance, workmanship, and readiness for shipment to NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for final processing, integration and launch. The core stage provides the backbone for SLS’ main propulsion system, consisting of two five-segment solid rocket boosters and four RS-25 liquid hydrogen (LH2)/liquid oxygen (LOX) engines. SLS also includes an Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) that will insert the Orion crew spacecraft into a lunar trajectory.

John Honeycutt↗

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 NTRS2003

The Hematopoietic Stem Cell Therapy for Exploration of Deep Space

It is hypothesized that the hematopoietic stem cell therapy (HSCT) might countermeasure various space-caused disorders so as to maintain astronauts' homeostasis. If this were achievable, the HSCT could promote human exploration of deep space. Using animal models of disorders (hindlimb suspension unloading system and beta-thalassemia), the HSCT was tested for muscle loss, immunodeficiency and space anemia. The results indicate feasibility of HSCT for these disorders. To facilitate the HSCT in space, growth of HSCs were optimized in the NASA Rotating Wall Vessel (RWV) culture systems, including Hydrodynamic Focusing Bioreactor (HFB).

Ohi, Seigo↗

NASA NTRS2022

Space Weather Operations and the need for Multiple Solar Observational Vantage Points

The current operational dimension available for space weather analysis and operations is not suitable for deep space exploration. As NASA plans for missions beyond the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), new advancements in modeling, observations and communications are needed to establish a suitable monitoring and protection environment for the missions and the crew. The initial step is to establish multiple observational points that will improve the current capabilities and extend them to deep space exploration missions. We described the value and the current gaps with some examples, and then offered ideas on missions and international collaborations that will fill up the current gaps. These missions are the key for a successful future in human deep space exploration.

Yaireska Collado-Vega↗

NASA NTRS2018

NASA Additive Manufacturing Initiatives for Deep Space Human Exploration

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is being infused into aerospace industries at an accelerated pace. Reasons for this rapid adoption include: (1) Innovation Capability e.g. design features such as topology optimization, integrated fluid passages, and mesh structures; (2) Rapid Development and Optimization - ability to quickly iterate the design, development, and test cycle; (3) Affordability - reductions in part counts, cost, and schedule. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has taken a leadership role in application of AM technologies for deep space human exploration, leading the Agency's In Space Manufacturing (ISM) initiative and the application of AM for a broad variety of space propulsion systems. MSFC has championed the development of ISM capabilities since our first reduced-gravity aircraft experiment flew in 1999. Partnering with Made In Space, MSFC placed the first 3D Printer on ISS in 2014 and the second generation printer, the Additive Manufacturing Facility, in 2016. The next ISS technology demonstration will be the Refabricator, a recycler/basic printer scheduled to launch in late Fall 2018. Ground-based development is progressing in common use materials, metals 3D printing, printed electronics, and the new cornerstone of ISM, the FabLab. The latest developments in each area will be described. An overview of NASA's In Space Robotic Manufacturing and Assembly (IRMA) ground-based risk reduction projects will also be presented. MSFC has aggressively incorporated AM capabilities for design and development of space propulsion components. The capabilities have been rapidly matured and extensively exercised to produce and hot-fire test the Additive Manufacturing Demonstrator Engine, an in-space class prototype engine. This experience base has been extended to support Aerojet Rocketdyne in the application of AM to the RS-25, the Space Launch System Core Stage engine, and to small propulsion systems and thrusters for small satellites and cubesats. The latest developments will be described. In responding to a request from NASA's Commercial Crew Program for a consistent methodology for evaluation of AM processes and parts, MSFC began development of a draft standard for AM space flight hardware in late 2014. The draft was broadly disseminated for comments in mid-2015, and subsequently revised into two documents, a standard and a specification for AM space flight hardware, which were formally released by MSFC in October 2017. An overview of the key elements of these documents will be presented.

Clinton, Raymond↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Destination: Mars. Biology Research to Support Human Space Exploration

This is a public talk about astronaut health risks during deep space exploration, including exposure to deep space radiation (galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events), microgravity and other stressors, and about the research currently being done at NASA Ames and other institutions to investigate and mitigate these risks. I will specifically focus on the risk posed by exposure to deep space radiation, and will briefly describe my own research on developing human brain-on-a-chip models to investigate its impact on the central nervous system.

human spaceflight, space radiation, organ-on-a-chi↗

NASA NTRS2016

International Docking Standard (IDSS) Interface Definition Document (IDD) : Revision - E

This International Docking System Standard (IDSS) Interface Definition Document (IDD) is the result of a collaboration by the International Space Station membership to establish a standard docking interface to enable on-orbit crew rescue operations and joint collaborative endeavors utilizing different spacecraft. This IDSS IDD details the physical geometric mating interface and design loads requirements. The physical geometric interface requirements must be strictly followed to ensure physical spacecraft mating compatibility. This includes both defined components and areas that are void of components. The IDD also identifies common design parameters as identified in section 3.0, e.g., docking initial conditions and vehicle mass properties. This information represents a recommended set of design values enveloping a broad set of design reference missions and conditions, which if accommodated in the docking system design, increases the probability of successful docking between different spacecraft. This IDD does not address operational procedures or off-nominal situations, nor does it dictate implementation or design features behind the mating interface. It is the responsibility of the spacecraft developer to perform all hardware verification and validation, and to perform final docking analyses to ensure the needed docking performance and to develop the final certification loads for their application. While there are many other critical requirements needed in the development of a docking system such as fault tolerance, reliability, and environments (e.g. vibration, etc.), it is not the intent of the IDSS IDD to mandate all of these requirements; these requirements must be addressed as part of the specific developer's unique program, spacecraft and mission needs. This approach allows designers the flexibility to design and build docking mechanisms to their unique program needs and requirements. The purpose of the IDSS IDD is to provide basic common design parameters to allow developers to independently design compatible docking systems. The IDSS is intended for uses ranging from crewed to autonomous space vehicles, and from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to deep-space exploration missions.The purpose of the IDSS IDD is to provide basic common design parameters to allow developers to independently design compatible docking systems. The IDSS is intended for uses ranging from crewed to autonomous space vehicles, and from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to deep-space exploration missions. The purpose of the IDSS IDD is to provide basic common design parameters to allow developers to independently design compatible docking systems. The IDSS is intended for uses ranging from crewed to autonomous space vehicles, and from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to deep-space exploration missions.

docking↗

NASA NTRS1982

Deep space communication - A one billion mile noisy channel

Deep space exploration is concerned with the study of natural phenomena in the solar system with the aid of measurements made at spacecraft on deep space missions. Deep space communication refers to communication between earth and spacecraft in deep space. The Deep Space Network is an earth-based facility employed for deep space communication. It includes a network of large tracking antennas located at various positions around the earth. The goals and achievements of deep space exploration over the past 20 years are discussed along with the broad functional requirements of deep space missions. Attention is given to the differences in space loss between communication satellites and deep space vehicles, effects of the long round-trip light time on spacecraft autonomy, requirements for the use of massive nuclear power plants on spacecraft at large distances from the sun, and the kinds of scientific return provided by a deep space mission. Problems concerning a deep space link of one billion miles are also explored.

Smith, J. 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 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

Clinical Decision Support Project

As NASA plans for exploration missions into deep space, significant challenges are realized due to the distance from Earth. Beside the effects of microgravity and radiation exposure, the astronauts face the additional constraints of isolation, lack of resupply, increasingly difficult evacuation, and delayed and disrupted communication with ground-based medical care providers. These constraints require a paradigm shift from current medical care where crews rely on the real-time communications with ground-based medical care providers toward Earth-independent medical operations for astronaut medical care. Medical expertise and decision-making are ground-based for current International Space Station and planned Lunar missions. However, a deep space exploration crew will need to autonomously perform the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of medical conditions. One approach to provide Earth-independent medical operations is to augment the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) of a time-constrained crew—operating under stressful conditions, combatting fatigue, and facing a potential medical crisis—with a robust clinical decision support system (CDSS). The CDSS is envisioned as an integrated, software-based tool deployed on a laptop computer or handheld device. The CDSS will assist the crew and ground support when interacting with knowledge/data bases (e.g. records, pharmacy, schedule), instrumentation (e.g. imaging, physiological monitoring devices), and habitat (e.g. wellness system, task performance system) and vehicle systems (e.g. environmental system, communication system). In addition, the human interface will employ a context-based approach that accounts for the crew’s situation. Thus, extraneous and clinically/operationally non-relevant information are reduced to avoid an increase in cognitive load. The framework of an ideal spaceflight CDSS is to include core and advanced analytical features that maintain a flexible platform for integrating new technology in the future. The Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) Element of the Human Research Program (HRP) is expanding the boundaries of space medical systems to advance the care of astronauts on future exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit by actively identifying and testing next-generation medical care and crew health maintenance technologies. The Clinical Decision Support (CDS) project addressed ap Medical-701 within the Inflight Medical Conditions risk: “We need to increase inflight medical capabilities and identify new capabilities that (a) maximize benefit and/or (b) reduce “costs” on human system/mission/vehicle resources.” Though mass, volume, and power will face increasing constraints, the projected computational capabilities of spacecraft systems will increase exponentially as information technology advances in this decade and beyond. Hence, data, software, and computational resources will play an essential and synergistic role in maintaining crew health, wellness, and performance in deep space missions. The focus of the CDS project was to develop recommended requirements for an in-vehicle CDSS that acts as a ‘virtual assistant’ for delivering optimal health, performance, and medical care during exploration missions. In fiscal year 2022 (FY22), the CDS project was chartered to baseline and/or revise all CDS project related documentation and update the CDS project model to include the revised CDSS Concept of Operations, revised systems-based modeling language (SysML) activity diagrams, and baseline requirements. The focus of this presentation will be an overview of the CDS products and CDS model content.

Decision Support↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Space Launch System: Progress Toward Launch

The Space Launch System (SLS), NASA’s cornerstone launch capability for a new generation of deep space exploration, has begun assembly at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in preparation for launch in 2021. SLS will provide an unparalleled launch capability for human and robotic deep space exploration missions. Its proven propulsion system, upgrade path to more powerful vehicles, and high-volume payload fairings make it the foundation for ambitious and demanding as part of the Artemis program. Artemis is NASA’s 21st-century plan to put boots on the Moon and to perform sustainable, long-term science in deep space, with eyes toward sending explorers to Mars. The initial SLS vehicle to fly, Block 1 in the crew configuration – with the new Orion spacecraft – is scheduled to lift off from revitalized launch facilities at KSC in 2021 for an uncrewed test flight known as Artemis I. Manufacturing is complete on the vehicle and all elements have been delivered to the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program, except the core stage. The program’s all-new development, the core stage is currently in the midst of a “Green Run” test campaign at Stennis Space Center (SSC). Eight progressively more challenging tests in the Green Run series will culminate in a hot-fire of four flight-proven liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen (LH2/LOX) RS25 engines. Following the Green Run hotfiring, the core stage will ship to KSC. Already at KSC, aft sections of the fivesegment solid rocket boosters are being assembled. Previously delivered elements, including the upper stage, are undergoing final checkouts in preparation for stacking. An exciting 2021 will include such milestones as stacking SLS and Orion in KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), modal testing, roll out to Launch Pad 39B, Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR), and launch. Teams across the country are preparing for launch by finalizing procedures, defining launch constraints and flight rules, training console operators, performing simulations, and more. With the SLS Block 1 vehicle for Artemis I nearing integration and launch, the second Block 1 vehicle in the crew configuration, which will carry astronauts on an Artemis II hybrid lunar flyby mission, has several elements manufactured. In fact, the solid rocket motor segments and RS-25 engines are complete. Those program elements are processing hardware for the third flight and working toward manufacturing the second SLS variant to fly, Block 1B, which will onramp a powerful new upper stage, the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS).

John Honeycutt↗

NASA NTRS2018

NASA's Space Launch System: Unprecedented Payload Capabilities

As NASA turns 60 and plans to transition the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth orbit (LEO) activities to commercial enterprises, the Agency's human exploration program turns its focus to deep space. With missions planned to send astronauts back to the Moon and to construct a lunar orbiting Gateway for surface access as well as science experiments and technology demonstrations, NASA requires a vehicle with capabilities for launching more mass and volume than is currently commercially available. To that end, NASA and its private sector partners are building the Space Launch System (SLS) super heavy-lift launch vehicle, which will send the new Orion crew capsule, eventually with a complement of four astronauts, to cislunar space for the first time since the Apollo Program in the 1960s and 1970s. NASA Kennedy Space Center's (KSC's) Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program has upgraded and refurbished ground and launch facilities to process, assemble and launch NASA's new deep space exploration system, which is managed by the Exploration Systems Development (ESD) organization in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD). Offering an unmatched combination of power, payload capacity and departure energy, the evolvable SLS features the world's most proven propulsion system: solid rocket boosters and RS-25 main engines with a modified Delta Cryogenic Second Stage (DCSS) cryogenic upper stage. The initial SLS configuration, Block 1, will deliver at least 26 metric tons (t) to trans-lunar injection (TLI). The second variant, Block 1B, will deliver at least 34 t to TLI in its crew configuration and at least 40 t to TLI in its cargo configuration. The Block 1 cargo vehicle will fly with an industry-standard 5 m fairing while the Block 1B cargo configuration will accommodate 8 m-diameter fairings in varying lengths. The Block 2 vehicle will incorporate upgraded boosters and possibly larger fairings for launching Mars-class payloads to deep space. Although designed to enable human exploration of deep space, the vehicle also provides game-changing benefits for large science payloads and even harnesses excess capacity to provide small satellites with access to deep space. Three flights of the Block 1 vehicle are now planned; the first vehicle, being built for a test flight known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), is nearing completion at NASA and contractor sites across the United States. In fact, hardware for the second mission has also been built. This paper will provide an overview of the SLS vehicle, with a focus on its payload accommodations and the missions enabled by the unprecedented payload volume and departure energy of SLS. This paper also describes the status of the manufacturing and integration for first flight and beyond.

Exploration Mission-1↗

NASA NTRS2003

Electronic Components and Circuits for Extreme Temperature Environments

Planetary exploration missions and deep space probes require electrical power management and control systems that are capable of efficient and reliable operation in very low temperature environments. Presently, spacecraft operating in the cold environment of deep space carry a large number of radioisotope heating units in order to maintain the surrounding temperature of the on-board electronics at approximately 20 C. Electronics capable of operation at cryogenic temperatures will not only tolerate the hostile environment of deep space but also reduce system size and weight by eliminating or reducing the radioisotope heating units and their associate structures; thereby reducing system development as well as launch costs. In addition, power electronic circuits designed for operation at low temperatures are expected to result in more efficient systems than those at room temperature. This improvement results from better behavior and tolerance in the electrical and thermal properties of semiconductor and dielectric materials at low temperatures. The Low Temperature Electronics Program at the NASA Glenn Research Center focuses on research and development of electrical components, circuits, and systems suitable for applications in the aerospace environment and deep space exploration missions. Research is being conducted on devices and systems for reliable use down to cryogenic temperatures. Some of the commercial-off-the-shelf as well as developed components that are being characterized include switching devices, resistors, magnetics, and capacitors. Semiconductor devices and integrated circuits including digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters, DC/DC converters, operational amplifiers, and oscillators are also being investigated for potential use in low temperature applications. An overview of the NASA Glenn Research Center Low Temperature Electronic Program will be presented in this paper. A description of the low temperature test facilities along with selected data obtained through in-house component and circuit testing will also be discussed. Ongoing research activities that are being performed in collaboration with various organizations will also be presented.

Patterson, Richard L.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Electronic Components for use in Extreme Temperature Aerospace Applications

Electrical power management and control systems designed for use in planetary exploration missions and deep space probes require electronics that are capable of efficient and reliable operation under extreme temperature conditions. Space-based infra-red satellites, all-electric ships, jet engines, electromagnetic launchers, magnetic levitation transport systems, and power facilities are also typical examples where the electronics are expected to be exposed to harsh temperatures and to operate under severe thermal swings. Most commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) devices are not designed to function under such extreme conditions and, therefore, new parts must be developed or the conventional devices need to be modified. For example, spacecraft operating in the cold environment of deep space carry a large number of radioisotope heating units in order to maintain the surrounding temperature of the on-board electronics at approximately 20 C. At the other end, built-in radiators and coolers render the operation of electronics possible under hot conditions. These thermal measures lead to design complexity, affect development costs, and increase size and weight. Electronics capable of operation at extreme temperatures, thus, will not only tolerate the hostile operational environment, but also make the overall system efficient, more reliable, and less expensive. The Extreme Temperature Electronics Program at the NASA Glenn Research Center focuses on research and development of electronics suitable for applications in the aerospace environment and deep space exploration missions. Research is being conducted on devices, including COTS parts, for potential use under extreme temperatures. These components include semiconductor switching devices, passive devices, DC/DC converters, operational amplifiers, and oscillators. An overview of the program will be presented along with some experimental findings.

Patterson, Richard L.↗