Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “sample delivery”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2006

Pulse-Flow Microencapsulation System

The pulse-flow microencapsulation system (PFMS) is an automated system that continuously produces a stream of liquid-filled microcapsules for delivery of therapeutic agents to target tissues. Prior microencapsulation systems have relied on batch processes that involve transfer of batches between different apparatuses for different stages of production followed by sampling for acquisition of quality-control data, including measurements of size. In contrast, the PFMS is a single, microprocessor-controlled system that performs all processing steps, including acquisition of quality-control data. The quality-control data can be used as real-time feedback to ensure the production of large quantities of uniform microcapsules.

Morrison, Dennis R.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Life Sciences Research in the Centrifuge Accommodation Module of the International Space Station

The Centrifuge Accommodation Module (CAM) will be the home of the fundamental biology research facilities on the International Space Station (ISS). These facilities are being built by the Biological Research Project (BRP), whose goal is to oversee development of a wide variety of habitats and host systems to support life sciences research on the ISS. The habitats and host systems are designed to provide life support for a variety of specimens including cells, bacteria, yeast, plants, fish, rodents, eggs (e.g., quail), and insects. Each habitat contains specimen chambers that allow for easy manipulation of specimens and alteration of sample numbers. All habitats are capable of sustaining life support for 90 days and have automated as well as full telescience capabilities for sending habitat parameters data to investigator homesite laboratories. The habitats provide all basic life support capabilities including temperature control, humidity monitoring and control, waste management, food, media and water delivery as well as adjustable lighting. All habitats will have either an internal centrifuge or are fitted to the 2.5-meter diameter centrifuge allowing for variable centrifugation up to 2 g. Specimen chambers are removable so that the specimens can be handled in the life sciences glovebox. Laboratory support equipment is provided for handling the specimens. This includes a compound and dissecting microscope with advanced video imaging, mass measuring devices, refrigerated centrifuge for processing biological samples, pH meter, fixation and complete cryogenic storage capabilities. The research capabilities provided by the fundamental biology facilities will allow for flexibility and efficiency for long term research on the International Space Station.

Dalton, Bonnie P.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Interfacing with USSTRATCOM and UTTR during Stardust Earth Return

The Stardust Sample Return Capsule separated from the main spacecraft four hours prior to atmospheric entry. Between this time and the time at which the SRC touched down at the Utah Test and Training Range, two organizations external to JPL were involved in tracking the Sample Return Capsule. Orbit determination for the Stardust spacecraft during deep space cruise, the encounters of asteroid Annefrank and comet Wild 2, and the final approach to Earth used X-band radio metric Doppler and range data obtained through the Deep Space Network. The SRC lacked the electronics needed for coherently transponded radio metric tracking, so the DSN was not able to track the SRC after it separated from the main spacecraft. Although the expected delivery accuracy at atmospheric entry was well within the capability needed to target the SRC to the desired ground location, it was still desirable to obtain direct knowledge of the SRC trajectory in case of anomalies. For this reason U.S. Strategic Command was engaged to track the SRC between separation and atmospheric entry. Once the SRC entered the atmosphere, ground sensors at UTTR were tasked to acquire the descending SRC and maintain track during the descent in order to determine the landing location, to which the ground recovery team was then directed. This paper discusses organizational interfaces, data products, and delivery schedules, and the actual tracking operations are described.

Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR)↗
NASA NTRS2006

CFDP Performance over Weather-Dependent Ka-Band Channel

This study presents an analysis of the delay performance of the CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP) over weather-dependent Ka-band channel. The Ka-band channel condition is determined by the strength of the atmospheric noise temperature, which is weather dependent. Noise temperature data collected from the Deep Space Network (DSN) Madrid site is used to characterize the correlations between good and bad channel states in a two-state Markov model. Specifically, the probability distribution of file delivery latency using the CFDP deferred Negative Acknowledgement (NAK) mode is derived and quantified. Deep space communication scenarios with different file sizes and bit error rates (BERs) are studied and compared. Furthermore, we also examine the sensitivity of our analysis with respect to different data sampling methods. Our analysis shows that while the weather-dependent channel only results in fairly small increases in the average number of CFDP retransmissions required, the maximum number of transmissions required to complete 99 percentile, on the other hand, is significantly larger for the weather-dependent channel due to the significant correlation of poor weather states.

weather↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Nature of Extraterrestrial Amino Acids in Carbonaceous Chondrites and Links to Their Parent Bodies

Meteorites and samples returned from asteroids and comets provide an important record of the physical and chemical processes that occurred in the early solar system and represent some of the oldest solid materials currently available for laboratory analyses. The delivery of organic matter by extraterrestrial material to the early Earth could have been an important source of complex prebiotic organic molecules available for the emergence of life. Analyses of primitive carbonaceous chondrites over the last five decades have revealed a major insoluble organic component [1,2], as well as a complex and highly diverse suite of soluble organic molecules of prebiotic importance [3,4] that includes carboxylic acids, N-heterocycles, sugars, amino acids, amines, and many other organic molecules that have not yet been identified [5]. Amino acids continue to be a primary focus of many soluble organic analyses in carbonaceous chondrites because (1) these molecules are essential components of life (as the monomers of proteins), (2) they have structural diversity (multiple possible isomers) that can be used to help constrain formation mechanisms and parent body conditions, and (3) most amino acids identified in carbonaceous chondrites are chiral, a property that can be used to distinguish between amino acids of extraterrestrial and terrestrial origins. The degree of parent body hydrothermal alteration has been shown to have a major influence on the formation and destruction of amino acids in carbonaceous meteorites as observed in the measured abundances and molecular distributions [6]. Aqueous alteration in primitive asteroids could have also led to the preferential enrichment of some left-handed amino acids over their right-handed forms, an astounding discovery that suggests that the origin of life on Earth or elsewhere was biased toward left-handed amino acid homochirality [7,8]. This talk will give an overview of what is known about the amino acid composition of carbonaceous chondrites, present some key unanswered questions, and discuss how the analysis of samples returned from asteroids Ryugu and Bennu will further advance our understanding of parent body chemistry and potential contributions from carbonaceous asteroids to the origin of life on Earth or elsewhere.

Daniel P. Glavin↗
NASA NTRS1991

The integration of microgravity science experiments into shared or previously existing experiment facilities

The overall flow for integrating a sample into an experiment facility, specifically materials science is discussed using the Crystal Growth Furnace as an example. A typical preflight timeline for an experiment is discussed, including identification of all documentation and hardware deliveries. Each of the items presented is discussed in detail including the experiment requirements document, the announcement opportunity response, the experiment specific equipment, safety reviews, mission plan, and hardware integration plan. These items are addressed both individualy and with respect to their relevance to the program as a whole.

Baer-Peckham, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Distribution of Amino Acids in Lunar Regolith

One of the most eagerly studied questions upon initial return of lunar samples was whether significant amounts of organic compounds, including amino acids, were present. Analyses during the 1970s produced only tentative and inconclusive identifications of indigenous amino acids. Those analyses were hampered by analytical difficulties including relative insensitivity to certain compounds, the inability to separate chiral enantiomers, and the lack of compound-specific isotopic measurements, which made it impossible to determine whether the detected amino acids were indigenous to the lunar samples or the results of contamination. Numerous advances have been made in instrumentation and methodology for amino acid characterization in extraterrestrial samples in the intervening years, yet the origin of amino acids in lunar regolith samples has been revisited only once for a single lunar sample, (3) and remains unclear. Here, we present initial data from the analyses of amino acid abundances in 12 lunar regolith samples. We discuss these abundances in the context of four potential amino acid sources: (1) terrestrial biological contamination; (2) contamination from lunar module (LM) exhaust; (3) derivation from solar windimplanted precursors; and (4) exogenous delivery from meteorites.

Elsila, J. E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Use of Immersion Rigs for High Temperature Hydrogen Exposure Testing Within the Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator (NTREES): NTREES-5 Hydrogen Heat Exchanger (N5HHX-01)

The Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator (NTREES) facility at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) subjects materials and components typically found on nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) systems to non-nuclear simulations of prototypic NTP reactor thermohydraulic environments. With 1.2 MW of inductive power available, the currently employed methods to simulate nuclear heating in NTREES consist of 1) inductively heating a test specimen, which typically cannot be performed on ceramic materials, or 2) heating gas that envelops the test specimen. The latter of these has provided a basis for developing so-called “immersion rigs” to be used in NTREES. Furthermore, immersion rigs are especially useful in the case of smaller, technically challenging test specimens. One such device, the “NTREES-5 Hydrogen Heat Exchanger” (N5HHX-01), designed and deployed to test small material coupons to ~0.5 g/s of 2800 K, 500 psi Hydrogen, is discussed herein. To achieve this desired delivery temperature level, the most suitable material for the N5HHX’s construction was pure tungsten, which imposed budgetary and manufacturing challenges. Also discussed in this paper is the design of the N5HHX rig’s sample container, which became the first iteration of improving NTREES small material coupon test operations by permitting rapid changeout of different material samples.

Reactor Testing↗
NASA NTRS2000

Stardust Navigation Covariance Analysis

The Stardust spacecraft was launched on February 7, 1999 aboard a Boeing Delta-II rocket. Mission participants include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Lockheed Martin Astronautics (LMA) and the University of Washington. The primary objective of the mission is to collect in-situ samples of the coma of comet Wild-2 and return those samples to the Earth for analysis. Mission design and operational navigation for Stardust is performed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). This paper will describe the extensive JPL effort in support of the Stardust pre-launch analysis of the orbit determination component of the mission covariance study. A description of the mission and it's trajectory will be provided first, followed by a discussion of the covariance procedure and models. Predicted accuracy's will be examined as they relate to navigation delivery requirements for specific critical events during the mission. Stardust was launched into a heliocentric trajectory in early 1999. It will perform an Earth Gravity Assist (EGA) on January 15, 2001 to acquire an orbit for the eventual rendezvous with comet Wild-2. The spacecraft will fly through the coma (atmosphere) on the dayside of Wild-2 on January 2, 2004. At that time samples will be obtained using an aerogel collector. After the comet encounter Stardust will return to Earth when the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) will separate and land at the Utah Test Site (UTTR) on January 15, 2006. The spacecraft will however be deflected off into a heliocentric orbit. The mission is divided into three phases for the covariance analysis. They are 1) Launch to EGA, 2) EGA to Wild-2 encounter and 3) Wild-2 encounter to Earth reentry. Orbit determination assumptions for each phase are provided. These include estimated and consider parameters and their associated a-priori uncertainties. Major perturbations to the trajectory include 19 deterministic and statistical maneuvers planned for the mission. The spacecraft is three axis stabilized and has unbalanced thrusters for attitude control. Accelerations due to the attitude control system are treated stochastically. The tracking scenario for the study is patterned after the actual schedule employed during the different phases of the mission. Conventional X-band two-way Doppler and SRA range data was simulated and the standard accuracy for these data types was assumed throughout most of the mission. However, a deweighting scheme was used for the Doppler data during times of low Sun-Earth-Probe angles, especially in the case of the DSM. Optical data is assumed to be available starting at 50 days prior to the comet encounter. The optical data will be used to improve the ephemeris of Wild-2, which is considered crucial to properly target the comet flyby. Results of the covariance analysis are presented for all mission phases. Navigation capability will be discussed in terms of the uncertainty in the encounter B-Plane (B.R and B.T) and linearized time of flight. Delivery errors based on the final maneuver prior to the comet encounter will be presented. The most stringent navigation requirement is for the Earth reentry. The uncertainty in the flight path angle must be less than 0.02 degree (orbit determination and maneuver performance) to assure successful recovery of the SRC. Results presented show that this requirement can be met.

Menon, Premkumar R.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Real Time Nitrogen Monitoring and Quality Control System for NASA Astromaterials Collection

The Nitrogen system is a vital utility supporting the curation office within NASA's Astromaterials Re-search and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at the Johnson Space center (JSC). Since the Apollo samples were returned in 1969. It has played an essential role in preserving NASA’s astromaterial collections (now nine collections) by maintaining contamination-free, controlled environments required for long term curation and advanced scientific research. To meet the stringent purity requirements for contamination control, high purity modified Grade C Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) is delivered weekly by an industrial gas vendor to a 15,000-gallon tank located outside at NASA JSC near the ARES facility. This nitrogen is vital for creating an inert atmosphere to store the collection in, ensuring they are continuously shielded from contaminants and alterations through a constant N2purge. For most of the past 65 years deliveries of LN2 have required a CoA (Certificate of Analysis) prior to delivery. If those were not available, then LN2 deliver were sent to third-party laboratories for verification, creating an operational bottleneck and quality gap. To address this challenge and maintain rigorous quality control, NASA JSC Infrastructure and Astromaterials Acquisition & Curation Office initiated the development of an on-site Analytical Gas Sampling (AGS) Laboratory. Designed to streamline quality verification if a CoA unavailable, the AGS lab was constructed by a subcontractor in Newton, NJ. After a successful factory acceptance test conducted by the NASA ARES Infrastructure team, the lab was trans-ported to NASA JSC, where it was anchored and integrated into the site’s nitrogen pressure system using stainless steel, oxygen-cleaned tubing. The ARES nitrogen system was modified to provide parallel flows to the AGS lab for quality control and to the astromaterials collection labs for maintaining an inert environment. The AGS lab features two operational modes: (1)Primary: Gaseous Nitrogen (GN2) Quality Monitoring –The AGS system continuously samples the site’s GN2 supply every 15 minutes to ensure compliance with required purity levels. (2) Secondary: LN2 Quality Verification when a comprehensive CoA is not available, a cryogenic vaporizer converts LN2 to GN2, which is then analyzed for impurities: H₂, Ar, O₂, CO, CO₂, H₂O, and total hydrocarbons (THC). By significantly enhancing on-site analytical capabilities, the AGS lab eliminates reliance on external testing, ensures uninterrupted quality monitoring of the nitrogen pressure system, and reinforces NASA’s commitment to preserving pristine astromaterials under the highest standards of curation and research integrity.

glove box↗
NASA NTRS2001

Nuclear Electric Propulsion for the Exploration of the Outer Planets

New power and propulsion technology efforts such as the DS-1 ion propulsion system demonstration and renewed interest in space nuclear power sources call for a reassessment of the mission benefits of Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP). In this study, a large emphasis has been placed in defining the NEP vehicle configuration and corresponding subsystem elements in order to produce an estimate of the vehicle's payload delivery capability which is as credible as possible. Both a 100 kWe and a 1 MWe system are defined. Various Outer Planet missions are evaluated using NEP, such as a Pluto Orbiter, a Europa Lander and Sample Return, attain/Saturn Sample Return and a Neptune Orbiter. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Noca, M.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Self-Guided Multimedia Stress Management and Resilience Training for Flight Controllers

Stress and anxiety-related problems are among the most common and costly behavioral health problems in society, and for those working in operational environments (i.e. astronauts, flight controllers, military) this can seriously impact crew performance, safety, and wellbeing. Technology-based interventions are effective for treating behavioral health problems, and can significantly improve the delivery of evidence-based health care. This study is evaluating the effectiveness, usefulness, and usability of a self-guided multimedia stress management and resilience training program in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a sample of flight controllers at Johnson Space Center. The intervention, SMART-OP (Stress Management and Resilience Training for Optimal Performance), is a six-session, cognitive behavioral-based computer program that uses self-guided, interactive activities to teach skills that can help individuals build resilience and manage stress. In a prior RCT with a sample of stressed but otherwise healthy individuals, SMART-OP reduced perceived stress and increased perceived control over stress in comparison to an Attention Control (AC) group. SMART-OP was rated as "highly useful" and "excellent" in usability and acceptability. Based on α-amylase data, individuals in SMART-OP recovered quicker and more completely from a social stress test as compared to the AC group [1]. In the current study, flight controllers are randomized either to receive SMART-OP training, or to a 6-week waitlist control period (WLC) before beginning SMART-OP. Eligible participants include JSC flight controllers and instructors without any medical or psychiatric disorder, but who are stressed based on self-report. Flight controllers provide a valid analog sample to astronauts in that they work in an operational setting, use similar terminology to astronauts, are mission-focused, and work under the same broader work culture. The study began in December 2014, and to date 79 flight controllers and instructors have expressed interest in the study, 49 of those were cleared for participation, we have screened 44 for eligibility, and 23 have met inclusion criteria. Recruitment is ongoing and the study will continue until December 2016. Outcome measures include perceived stress, perceived control over stress, resilience, mood, personality, emotion regulation, sleep, health behaviors, and psychophysiological data such as 24-hour heart rate, alpha amylase, and urinary and salivary cortisol. We are also collecting user feedback such as usability, working alliance, usefulness, and treatment credibility.

Rose, R. D.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Elevating the Quality of Space Omics Sequencing Data: Innovations and Methodologies from NASA GeneLab Sample Processing Laboratory

NASA’s GeneLab, part of the NASA Open Science Data Repository, is a space-related database that hosts a diverse range of transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics and genomics data. The NASA GeneLab Sample Processing Laboratory (SPL) generates omics data from biological experiments conducted aboard the International Space Station, Space Shuttle and space related ground experiments, this omics data then hosted on the GeneLab repository. Samples generated such experiments pose numerous technical challenges such as small experimental sample size, variance in dissection times, limited tissue preservation methods, prolonged storage time, and more. GeneLab SPL team had developed specialized expertise in nucleic acid extraction, library preparation and sequencing of such biological samples via extensive training and years of experience. In order to ensure data accuracy and consistency across experiments, SPL has developed standardized protocols for each species and tissue type. These protocols in conjunction with quality control metrics and data standards are crucial in generating of high-quality data. SPL protocols and standards have been developed in collaboration with the scientific community and had been made publicly available on the GeneLab portal, guaranteeing comparability of datasets across spaceflight experiments. To ensure reliability of data generation, SPL leverages cutting-edge innovations in laboratory automation for sample processing. By leveraging these state-of-the-art platforms, SPL achieves high levels of data reproducibility while significantly minimizing sources of bias and variability, especially across experiments with large numbers of samples. Over the past few years, the space biology investigator community has accessed SPL-generated data from the Open Science Data Repository for a myriad of data re-analysis and re-use studies. We observe a trend that in-house SPL-generated data consistently outperforms outsourced sequencing data in terms of technical standards, quality control metrics, timeliness of data delivery, and sequencing and reagent efficiency. Superior data generation has and will continue to enable discoveries in disease, diagnostic tools, and the biological effects of long duration spaceflight.

GeneLab↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Implementation of a Hybrid Edge Node-Centroid Node Approach for the Generation of Reduced Thermal Models

Reduced thermal models are often required for delivery to organizations that manage observatory or launch models at the highest levels of assembly. However, the effort to generate reduced models, and verify against their detailed counterparts, is a challenge that has not yet been conclusively solved. Higher level organizations often place a limit on the number of nodes for delivered models with the assumption that smaller models generally result in less computation time. However, the burden of producing and verifying the accuracy of the reduced models is placed primarily on the lower-level organizations, which in turn consumes resources needed to produce these models. Limiting the total number of allowable nodes may also prevent users from taking full advantage of software capabilities that allow for faster generation of models, such as finite elements, which generally require more nodes than older centroid based models. A methodology using Thermal Desktop was described in 2010 which used: (1) finite elements and edge nodes for a conduction matrix, (2) centroid nodes for capacitance and radiative computations, and (3) the super network feature to produce a conduction matrix based only on the centroid nodes. At that time, the methodology was clear, but the implementation would have had to be done manually; however, with the inclusion of the OpenTD Application Programming Interface, this methodology can now be implemented programmatically and for the first time, be a viable approach for the generation of reduced models. The approach was implemented and developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for the Capture, Containment, and Return System (CCRS) payload on the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) as part of the Mars Sample Return mission, resulting in the TCYEE tool. ERO features a spacecraft bus provided by Airbus through the European Space Agency with node limitations on the delivered CCRS model provided by GSFC. TCYEE was used to generate the reduced model for this delivery and the predictions compared favorably to the detailed model currently in use for the thermal performance evaluation. Furthermore, TCYEE is being explored for potential use on the Roman Space Telescope (RST) for the generation of reduced models for delivery to the launch provider, which also has node limit requirements on the RST observatory model for use in launch simulation analyses. This paper describes the methodology, its implementation, and compares the performance of reduced models generated by TCYEE to their detailed counterparts.

Thermal Desktop↗
NASA NTRS2012

Amino Acids in Asteroids and Comets: Implications for the Origin of Life on Earth and Possibly Elsewhere

Meteorites provide a record of the chemical processes that occurred in the early solar system before life began on Earth. The delivery of organic matter by asteroids, comets, and their fragments to the Earth and other planetary bodies in our solar system could have been an important source of the prebiotic organic inventory needed for the emergence of life. Amino acids are essential components of proteins and enzymes in life on Earth and these prebiotic organic compounds have been detected in a wide variety of carbon-rich meteorites, the majority of which have been determined to be extraterrestrial in origin. In addition, many amino acids are structurally chiral (they possess handedness) and with a few very rare exceptions, only left handed (L) amino acids are found in biology, while all known abiotic syntheses of amino acids result in equal mixtures of left and right handed (L~D) amino acids. The discovery of a significant left handed amino acid imbalance of up to 20% in several different carbonaceous meteorites, could point toward a possible prebiotic contribution to the origin of biological homochirality by the exogenous delivery of extraterrestrial organic material to the early Earth. In this talk, I will focus on recent state-of-the-art measurements of the distribution, chirality, and isotopic composition of amino acids in meteorites and cometary samples carried out at the Goddard Astrobiology Analytical Laboratory. Results from the analyses of a variety of Antarctic meteorites, samples from comet Wild 2 returned by the STARDUST mission, and meteorite fragments of asteroid 2008 TC3 called Almahata Sitta recovered from northern Sudan will be discussed

Glavin, Daniel↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Genesis Solar Wind – Capture, Return, Curate and Analyze: Looking Backward and Creating a Timeline

Introduction: In 1997 NASA’S Discovery Program selected the Genesis mission proposal to return solar wind samples to Earth for laboratory analyses. Principal Investigator Donald S. Burnett and the science team defined the purity of collector materials and ability to analyze solar wind composition to the precision required for planetary science. As a small mission, focused on a well-defined science goal, yet needing careful attention to engineering details, the communication among scientists and engineers, nurtured by Don Burnett, was exceptional. Genesis Mission and Curation Legacy: Genesis, as the first U. S. spacecraft to return astromaterial samples since Apollo, not only integrated the mission planning and flight teams, but also the science and sample curation teams during the mission development period. Since Genesis is a sample return mission, the Science Team was essential in certifying the collectors (sample containers for solar atoms). From inception, Genesis established mission funding for returned sample curation. JSC was lead in contamination control during mission preparation, including establishment of an ISO 4 cleanroom facility and use of ultrapure water (UPW) for cleaning flight hardware (and, as it turned out, for cleaning collectors after the mishap). Reliable, fast communication among scientists, engineers and curators at the hands-on level established deep respect among team members and efficient decision-making. JSC’s 50-years of astromaterial sample curation provided experienced sample processors onsite during recovery in Utah (a deep bench for emergency response). Post-recovery curation included iterative collaboration with science sample users to clean or verify cleanliness of samples. The science legacy from Genesis is addressed by Burnett and Jurewicz, this volume. In The Beginning: After Apollo sample return, Burnett and Marcia Neugebauer at JPL began discussing a solar wind sample return, with Neugebauer arguing that separate collection of solar wind regimes was essential science. By 1992 a solar wind sample return mission was presented at a workshop, and by 1994 a mission was proposed named Suess-Urey. The mission was re-proposed under a new name GENESIS and selected in 1997. Susan Niebur captured the Genesis mission history and stories, from high level management documents and from many interviews with participants [2]. Her account lets readers glimpse personality of participants in quotations from interviews. Need and Scope for Detailed Technical Timeline: A timeline constructed from lower level task documents has been initiated to document the resources and skills actually used, as well as task sequence or concurrency. Timelines for high level mission events are captured in two documents [1] [2] and for detailed re-entry events in [3]. A detailed technical timeline for Genesis mission and curation activities will provide data points for lower level tasks, such as ISO 4 curation facility construction time, preparation for nominal sample field recovery, mishap recovery, and UPW expansion. Changes in technology context 1990-2024: Semiconductor technologies were easily accessible in the U.S.A. (1990-1999), and the Genesis team used those resources for cleanroom design and UPW system expansion. Image documentation was changing from film to digital during cleanroom construction and payload cleaning (1997-2001). Engineering design was done using computer aided design proprietary software, making more difficult the archiving of payload configuration and materials. Email of documents, tracked delivery service and virtual meeting capability greatly improved communication efficiency. Information sources – Pre-launch mission preparation: Examples of mission science, engineering and contamination control are collector purity testing, payload design/fabrication and ISO 4 cleanroom construction. Information on timing of these activities comes from facility readiness reviews, management reviews, shipping documents, procurement documents, test reports, travel documents, laboratory logs, Quality Assurance documents, dates on images, participant notebooks and emails. Information sources – Sample return re-entry and field recovery activities: Information comes from event timelines produced by Mid-Air Recovery team, Lockheed team lead notes and from chase video, JPL Quality Assurance. Information also comes from images and logbooks from UTTR cleanroom operations and from curatorial documents. Information sources – Resulting science and sample cleaning processes: Agendas from the annual gatherings of the science team initially trace testing for collector purity/cleanliness, and after sample recovery, include collector cleaning and cleanliness assessment. Post-recovery documents include curatorial orders and procedures, sample allocation documents and LPSC abstracts. Timeline Objectives: A simple spreadsheet timeline with headers DATE, EVENT, PEOPLE, COMMENT, INFORMATION SOURCE has been initiated and currently has over 90 entries. While this is not definitive historical research, it is a quick look at the evolution of Genesis curation with pointers to documents or people with information. Engineers for future missions may find useful points of comparison for development of facilities. References:[1] Genesis Mission Reference Document, (2011) JPL D-62382.[2] Niebur S. M., edited by Brown D. W. (2023) NASA’s Discovery Program: The First 20 Years of Competitive Planetary Exploration, NASA-SP-2023-4238.[3] Genesis Mishap Investigation Board Report, Vol. 1 (July 2005).

solar wind↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Implementation of a Hybrid Edge Node-Centroid Node Approach for the Generation of Reduced Thermal Models

Reduced thermal models are often required for delivery to organizations that manage observatory or launch models at the highest levels of assembly. However, the effort to generate reduced models, and verify against their detailed counterparts, is a challenge that has not yet been conclusively solved. Higher level organizations often place a limit on the number of nodes for delivered models with the assumption that smaller models generally result in less computation time. However, the burden of producing and verifying the accuracy of the reduced models is placed primarily on the lower-level organizations, which in turn consumes resources needed to produce these models. Limiting the total number of allowable nodes may also prevent users from taking full advantage of software capabilities that allow for faster generation of models, such as finite elements, which generally require more nodes than older centroid based models. A methodology using Thermal Desktop was described in 2010 which used: (1) finite elements and edge nodes for a conduction matrix, (2) centroid nodes for capacitance and radiative computations, and (3) the super network feature to produce a conduction matrix based only on the centroid nodes. At that time, the methodology was clear, but the implementation would have had to be done manually; however, with the inclusion of the OpenTD API, this methodology can now be implemented programmatically and for the first time, be a viable approach for the generation of reduced models. The approach was implemented and developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for the Capture, Containment, and Return System (CCRS) payload on the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) as part of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, resulting in the TCYEE tool. ERO features a spacecraft bus provided by Airbus through the European Space Agency (ESA) with node limitations on the delivered CCRS model provided by GSFC. TCYEE was used to generate the reduced model for this delivery and the predictions compared favorably to the detailed model currently in use for the thermal performance evaluation. Furthermore, TCYEE is being explored for potential use on the Roman Space Telescope (RST) for the generation of reduced models for delivery to the launch provider, which also has node limit requirements on the RST observatory model for use in launch simulation analyses. This paper describes the methodology, its implementation, and compares the performance of reduced models generated by TCYEE to their detailed counterparts.

Hume L. Peabody↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Implementation of a Hybrid Edge Node-Centroid Node Approach for the Generation of Reduced Thermal Models

Reduced thermal models are often required for delivery to organizations that manage observatory or launch models at the highest levels of assembly. However, the effort to generate reduced models, and verify against their detailed counterparts, is a challenge that has not yet been conclusively solved. Higher level organizations often place a limit on the number of nodes for delivered models with the assumption that smaller models generally result in less computation time. However, the burden of producing and verifying the accuracy of the reduced models is placed primarily on the lower-level organizations, which in turn consumes resources needed to produce these models. Limiting the total number of allowable nodes may also prevent users from taking full advantage of software capabilities that allow for faster generation of models, such as finite elements, which generally require more nodes than older centroid based models. A methodology using Thermal Desktop was described in 2010 which used: (1) finite elements and edge nodes for a conduction matrix, (2) centroid nodes for capacitance and radiative computations, and (3) the super network feature to produce a conduction matrix based only on the centroid nodes. At that time, the methodology was clear, but the implementation would have had to be done manually; however, with the inclusion of the OpenTD API, this methodology can now be implemented programmatically and for the first time, be a viable approach for the generation of reduced models. The approach was implemented and developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for the Capture, Containment, and Return System (CCRS) payload on the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) as part of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, resulting in the TCYEE tool. ERO features a spacecraft bus provided by Airbus through the European Space Agency (ESA) with node limitations on the delivered CCRS model provided by GSFC. TCYEE was used to generate the reduced model for this delivery and the predictions compared favorably to the detailed model currently in use for the thermal performance evaluation. Furthermore, TCYEE is being explored for potential use on the Roman Space Telescope (RST) for the generation of reduced models for delivery to the launch provider, which also has node limit requirements on the RST observatory model for use in launch simulation analyses. This paper describes the methodology, its implementation, and compares the performance of reduced models generated by TCYEE to their detailed counterparts.

Thermal desktop↗