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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Ceres Planetary Mission Concept Study: Exploration of Ceres' Habitability

Dwarf planet Ceres is a compelling target as an evolved ocean world with recent and potentially ongoing geological activity. As the most water-rich body in the inner solar system after Earth (in absolute abundance), it is a representative of the population of planetesimals that brought volatiles and organics to the inner solar system. And, situated in the Main Belt of Asteroids, it is accessible enough to return a sample from within the resources of a typical medium-class (New Frontiers) NASA mission. Habitability is addressed via a combination of geological, geophysical, and compositional investigations. Past and ongoing activity is addressed via high-resolution imaging and gravity measurements from orbit near landforms interpreted as volcanic structures based on the Dawn observations. The depth of deep brines would be probed via electromagnetic sounding. Sample return would enable a vast range of experimental techniques to be applied with sensitivities and accuracies beyond those feasible with in situ instruments and would benefit from future facilities developments. Sample return could be executed with a single flight system with solar electric propulsion. The baseline design of the sample return capsule is inherited from the OSIRIS-REx mission. This concept also relies on the availability of key technologies: an enhanced landing vision system leveraging investments for Mars 2020; retractable/redeployable solar arrays, which have been demonstrated on the International Space Station but not at Ceres’ gravity; and a new design for sample transfer from the pneumatic sampling system to the sample return capsule based off Honeybee Robotics’ design for the MMX mission. The authors acknowledge support from NASA’s Planetary Mission Concept Study program. The information in this abstract is pre-decisional and is provided for planning and discussion purposes only.

K. E. Miller↗

NASA NTRS2014

Next Generation Life Support Project Status

Next Generation Life Support (NGLS) is one of over twenty technology development projects sponsored by NASA's Game Changing Development Program. The NGLS Project develops selected life support technologies needed for humans to live and work productively in space, with focus on technologies for future use in spacecraft cabin and space suit applications. Over the last three years, NGLS had five main project elements: Variable Oxygen Regulator (VOR), Rapid Cycle Amine (RCA) swing bed, High Performance (HP) Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Glove, Alternative Water Processor (AWP) and Series-Bosch Carbon Dioxide Reduction. The RCA swing bed, VOR and HP EVA Glove tasks are directed at key technology needs for the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) and pressure garment for an Advanced Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). Focus is on prototyping and integrated testing in cooperation with the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Advanced EVA Project. The HP EVA Glove Element, new this fiscal year, includes the generation of requirements and standards to guide development and evaluation of new glove designs. The AWP and Bosch efforts focus on regenerative technologies to further close spacecraft cabin atmosphere revitalization and water recovery loops and to meet technology maturation milestones defined in NASA's Space Technology Roadmaps. These activities are aimed at increasing affordability, reliability, and vehicle self-sufficiency while decreasing mass and mission cost, supporting a capability-driven architecture for extending human presence beyond low-Earth orbit, along a human path toward Mars. This paper provides a status of current technology development activities with a brief overview of future plans.

Barta, Daniel J.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Mars Orbiter Sample Return Power Design

Mars has greatly intrigued scientists and the general public for many years because, of all the planets, its environment is most like Earth's. Many scientists believe that Mars once had running water, although surface water is gone today. The planet is very cold with a very thin atmosphere consisting mainly of CO2. Mariner 4, 6, and 7 explored the planet in flybys in the 1960s and by the orbiting Mariner 9 in 1971. NASA then mounted the ambitious Viking mission, which launched two orbiters and two landers to the planet in 1975. The landers found ambiguous evidence of life. Mars Pathfinder landed on the planet on July 4, 1997, delivering a mobile robot rover that demonstrated exploration of the local surface environment. Mars Global Surveyor is creating a highest-resolution map of the planet's surface. These prior and current missions to Mars have paved the way for a complex Mars Sample Return mission planned for 2003 and 2005. Returning surface samples from Mars will necessitate retrieval of material from Mars orbit. Sample mass and orbit are restricted to the launch capability of the Mars Ascent Vehicle. A small sample canister having a mass less than 4 kg and diameter of less than 16 cm will spend from three to seven years in a 600 km orbit waiting for retrieval by a second spacecraft consisting of an orbiter equipped with a sample canister retrieval system, and a Earth Entry Vehicle. To allow rapid detection of the on-orbit canister, rendezvous, and collection of the samples, the canister will have a tracking beacon powered by a surface mounted solar array. The canister must communicate using RF transmission with the recovery vehicle that will be coming in 2006 or 2009 to retrieve the canister. This paper considers the aspect and conclusion that went into the design of the power system that achieves the maximum power with the minimum risk. The power output for the spherical orbiting canister was modeled and plotted in various views of the orbit by the Satellite Orbit Analysis Program (SOAP).

Mardesich, N.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith (Vapor) on the Moon using Mass Spectrometry

The identification of lunar resources such as water is a fundamental component of the the NASA Vision for Space Exploration. The Lunar Prospector mission detected high concentrations of hydrogen at the lunar poles that may indicate the presence of water or other volatiles in the lunar regolith [1]. One explanation for the presence of enhanced hydrogen in permanently shadowed crater regions is long term trapping of water-ice delivered by comets, asteroids, and other meteoritic material that have bombarded the Moon over the last 4 billion years [2]. It is also possible that the hydrogen signal at the lunar poles is due to hydrogen implanted by the solar wind which is delayed from diffusing out of the regolith by the cold temperatures [3]. Previous measurements of the lunar atmosphere by the LACE experiment on Apollo 17, suggested the presence of cold trapped vola'tiles that were expelled by solar heating [4]. In situ composition and isotopic analyses of the lunar regolith will be required to establish the abundance, origin, and distribution of water-ice and other volatiles at the lunar poles. Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith (VAPoR) on the Moon using mass spectrometry is one technique that should be considered. The VAPoR pyrolysis-mass spectrometer (pyr-MS) instrument concept study was selected for funding in 2007 by the NASA Lunar Sortie Science Opportunities (LSSO) Program. VAPoR is a miniature version of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite currently being developed at NASA Goddard for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory mission (Fig. 1).

Glavin, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS2005

A Reusable Design for Precision Lunar Landing Systems

The top-level architecture to accomplish NASA's Vision for Space Exploration is to use Lunar missions and systems not just as an end in themselves, but also as testbeds for the more ambitious goals of Human Mars Exploration (HME). This approach means that Lunar missions and systems are most likely going to be targeted for (Lunar) polar missions, and also for long-duration (months) surface stays. This overacting theme creates basic top-level requirements for any next-generation lander system: 1) Long duration stays: a) Multiple landers in close proximity; b) Pinpoint landings for "surface rendezvous"; c) Autonomous landing of pre-positioned assets; and d) Autonomous Hazard Detection and Avoidance. 2) Polar and deep-crater landings (dark); 3) Common/extensible systems for Moon and Mars, crew and cargo. These requirements pose challenging technology and capability needs. Compare and contrast: 4) Apollo: a) 1 km landing accuracy; b) Lunar near-side (well imaged and direct-to-Earth com. possible); c) Lunar equatorial (landing trajectories offer best navigation support from Earth); d) Limited lighting conditions; e) Significant ground-in-the-loop operations; 5) Lunar Access: a) 10-100m landing precision; b) "Anywhere" access includes polar (potentially poor nav. support from Earth) and far side (poor gravity and imaging; no direct-to-Earth com); c) "Anytime" access includes any lighting condition (including dark); d) Full autonomous landing capability; e) Extensible design for tele-operation or operator-in-the-loop; and f) Minimal ground support to reduce operations costs. The Lunar Access program objectives, therefore, are to: a) Develop a baseline Lunar Precision Landing System (PLS) design to enable pinpoint "anywhere, anytime" landings; b) landing precision 10m-100m; c) Any LAT, LON; and d) Any lighting condition; This paper will characterize basic features of the next generation Lunar landing system, including trajectory types, sensor suite options and a reference system architecture.

Fuhrman, Linda↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Challenges, Considerations, and Opportunities for Exercise and Medical Accommodation Inside a Small Pressurized Rover

Pressurized Rovers (PR) can enable crew to explore away from a lander or surface habitat at distances not possible on foot or even in unpressurized rovers. Sustaining crew for multiple days, they can rove for weeks, independent of other surface elements. Because these are essentially mobile habitats, it is critical that they provide sufficient volume to accommodate the exercise and medical systems to maintain human health in remote, low gravity environments such as the Moon and Mars. This is an area of extensive unknowns as requirements have not yet been developed for exercise or medical systems in pressurized rovers. Yet they must be considered in vehicle sizing studies as they are significant volume drivers, requiring allocation for stowed and deployed hardware inside the rover cabin. Previously flown spacecraft have allocated varying amounts of volume based on the expected crew mission and the state of the art in these systems. NASA-STD-3001 provides high-level requirements for standards of medical care and exercise capabilities. Crew injuries are possible both inside the cabin and on extravehicular activities (EVA), therefore requiring medical capability. Exercise countermeasures are needed to counteract the debilitating effects of lowered gravity. This may include both reconditioning following a lengthy microgravity transit as well as ongoing countermeasures against the effect of low surface gravity. The NASA reference concept for the PR dates back to the Constellation Program and prototypes have been extensively tested in NASA’s Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) program as well as at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The PR cabin is designed to accommodate two crewmembers and is subdivided into a forward cockpit area and a main body for crew habitation. EVAs are accomplished by transitioning through suit ports in the aft bulkhead into spacesuits. While no exercise devices have been developed for the PR, some have been prototyped and demonstrated in DRATS analog missions. A cycle ergometer performed reasonably well in DRATS testing as an aerobic exercise device and recent analysis work has theorized that a combination aerobic and resistive device could be packaged into a form factor similar to the DRATS ergometer. It is therefore suitable for use as an initial volumetric placeholder. No sensorimotor devices have been considered for the PR to aid in adaptation to surface gravity. However, there are commercially available treadmills that at minimum represent examples of the type of exercise system that could potentially be used for such a purpose. A combination of field test data, analysis, and CAD modeling will be used to perform a first pass assessment of whether these exercise devices can be stowed and deployed within the PR. Medical inventories from the International Space Station will be used as a volume placeholder for the PR medical system. A configuration will be discussed for medical deployment, including positioning of caregiver, patient, and medical equipment / supplies.

Pressurized Rover↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Integrated Logistics and Supportability Challenges of Sustained Human Lunar Exploration

NASA’s Artemis program plans to establish a sustained human presence on the lunar surface. The International Space Station other space station programs have demonstrated long-duration human spaceflight operations that reuse infrastructure in Low Earth Orbit, sometimes including long uncrewed “dormant” periods. In contrast, human lunar exploration to date has consisted solely of relatively short sortie missions, rather than a sustained presence. A sustained human outpost on the Moon that can support month-long crewed exploration missions and be reused by multiple crews will be more challenging than past operations, particularly from the perspective of logistics, supportability, and risk. This paper examines the integrated logistics and supportability challenges of sustained human lunar exploration and provides a review of historical spaceflight experience in terms of crewed mission endurance, uncrewed duration, transportation overhead, and access to abort. Planned Artemis Base Camp crewed mission endurance is approximately 2.5 times longer than past lunar surface crewed mission endurance, but similar to average time between resupply for the International Space Station. Sustained human spacecraft have only twice experienced uncrewed durations longer than the planned interval between Artemis Base Camp missions, and Artemis surface assets will face long uncrewed periods more regularly than any past sustained human spacecraft. Transportation of crew and cargo to and from the Moon will be more difficult and time-consuming than transportation to and from Low Earth Orbit, and crew access to abort will be more limited. The implications of Artemis lunar operations for crewed Mars mission planning are also discussed. Historical approaches to risk management—including logistics, supportability, and abort strategies—should be reexamined and re-optimized for this new mission context. Sustained lunar operations will provide a valuable proving ground for testing new approaches to crewed space exploration.

logistics↗

NASA NTRS2005

Down-to-Earth Benefits of Space Exploration: Past, Present, Future

A ventricular device that helps a weakened heart keep pumping while awaiting a transplant. A rescue tool for extracting victims from dangerous situations such as car wrecks. A video analysis tool used to investigate the bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. A sound-differentiation tool for safer air traffic control. A refrigerator that run without electricity or batteries. These are just a few of the spin-offs of NASA technology that have benefited society in recent years. Now, as NASA sets its vision on space exploration, particularly of the moon and Mars, even more benefits to society are possible. This expansion of societal benefits is tied to a new emphasis on technology infusion or spin-in. NASA is seeking partners with industry, universities, and other government laboratories to help the Agency address its specific space exploration needs in five areas: (1) advanced studies, concepts, and tools; (2) advanced materials; (3) communications, computing, electronics, and imaging; (4) software, intelligent systems, and modeling; and (5) power, propulsion, and chemical systems. These spin-in partnerships will offer benefits to U.S. economic development as well as new products for the global market. As a complement to these spin-in benefits, NASA also is examining the possible future spin-outs of the innovations related to its new space exploration mission. A matrix that charts NASA's needs against various business sectors is being developed to fully understand the implications for society and industry of spin-in and spin-out. This matrix already has been used to help guide NASA s efforts to secure spin-in partnerships. This paper presents examples of NASA spin-offs, discusses NASA s present spin-in/spin-out projects for pursuing partnerships, and considers some of the future societal benefits to be reaped from these partnerships. This paper will complement the proposed paper by Frank Schowengerdt on the Innovative Partnerships Program structure and how to work with the PP.

Neumann, Benjamin↗

NASA NTRS2009

General Purpose Data-Driven Monitoring for Space Operations

As modern space propulsion and exploration systems improve in capability and efficiency, their designs are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex. Determining the health state of these systems, using traditional parameter limit checking, model-based, or rule-based methods, is becoming more difficult as the number of sensors and component interactions grow. Data-driven monitoring techniques have been developed to address these issues by analyzing system operations data to automatically characterize normal system behavior. System health can be monitored by comparing real-time operating data with these nominal characterizations, providing detection of anomalous data signatures indicative of system faults or failures. The Inductive Monitoring System (IMS) is a data-driven system health monitoring software tool that has been successfully applied to several aerospace applications. IMS uses a data mining technique called clustering to analyze archived system data and characterize normal interactions between parameters. The scope of IMS based data-driven monitoring applications continues to expand with current development activities. Successful IMS deployment in the International Space Station (ISS) flight control room to monitor ISS attitude control systems has led to applications in other ISS flight control disciplines, such as thermal control. It has also generated interest in data-driven monitoring capability for Constellation, NASA's program to replace the Space Shuttle with new launch vehicles and spacecraft capable of returning astronauts to the moon, and then on to Mars. Several projects are currently underway to evaluate and mature the IMS technology and complementary tools for use in the Constellation program. These include an experiment on board the Air Force TacSat-3 satellite, and ground systems monitoring for NASA's Ares I-X and Ares I launch vehicles. The TacSat-3 Vehicle System Management (TVSM) project is a software experiment to integrate fault and anomaly detection algorithms and diagnosis tools with executive and adaptive planning functions contained in the flight software on-board the Air Force Research Laboratory TacSat-3 satellite. The TVSM software package will be uploaded after launch to monitor spacecraft subsystems such as power and guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C). It will analyze data in real-time to demonstrate detection of faults and unusual conditions, diagnose problems, and react to threats to spacecraft health and mission goals. The experiment will demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of integrated system health management (ISHM) technologies with both ground and on-board experiments.

Iverson, David L.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Integrated Logistics and Supportability Challenges of Sustained Human Lunar Exploration

NASA’s Artemis program plans to establish a sustained human presence on the lunar surface. The International Space Station and other space station programs have demonstrated long-duration human spaceflight operations that reuse infrastructure in Low Earth Orbit, sometimes including long uncrewed “dormant” periods. In contrast, all human exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit to date has consisted solely of relatively short sortie missions, rather than a sustained presence. A sustained human outpost on the Moon that can support month-long crewed exploration missions and be reused by multiple crews will be more challenging than past operations, particularly from the perspective of logistics, supportability, and risk. This paper examines the integrated logistics and supportability challenges of sustained human lunar exploration and provides a review of historical spaceflight experience in terms of crewed mission endurance, uncrewed duration, transportation overhead, and access to abort. Planned Artemis Base Camp crewed mission endurance is approximately 2.5 times longer than past lunar surface crewed mission endurance, but similar to the average time between resupply for the International Space Station. Sustained human spacecraft have only twice experienced uncrewed durations longer than the planned interval between Artemis Base Camp missions, and Artemis surface assets will face long uncrewed periods more regularly than any past sustained human spacecraft. Transportation of crew and cargo to and from the Moon will be more difficult and time-consuming than transportation to and from Low Earth Orbit, and crew access to abort will be more limited. The implications of Artemis lunar operations for crewed Mars mission planning are also discussed. Historical approaches to risk management—including logistics, supportability, and abort strategies—should be reexamined and re-optimized for this new mission context. Sustained lunar operations will provide a valuable proving ground for testing new approaches to crewed space exploration.

logistics↗

NASA NTRS2006

Mechanically Strong, Polymer Cross-linked Aerogels (X-Aerogels)

Aerogels comprise a class of low-density, high porous solid objects consisting of dimensionally quasi-stable self-supported three-dimensional assemblies of nanoparticles. Aerogels are pursued because of properties above and beyond those of the individual nanoparticles, including low thermal conductivity, low dielectric constant and high acoustic impedance. Possible applications include thermal and vibration insulation, dielectrics for fast electronics, and hosting of functional guests for a wide variety of optical, chemical and electronic applications. Aerogels, however, are extremely fragile materials, hence they have found only limited application in some very specialized environments, for example as Cerenkov radiation detectors in certain types of nuclear reactors, aboard spacecraft as collectors of hypervelocity particles (refer to NASA's Stardust program) and as thermal insulators on planetary vehicles on Mars (refer to Sojourner Rover in 1997 and Spirit and Opportunity in 2004). Along these lines, the X-Aerogel is a new NASA-developed strong lightweight material that has resolved the fragility problem of traditional (native) aerogels. X-Aerogels are made by applying a conformal polymer coating on the surfaces of the skeletal nanoparticles of native aerogels (see Scanning Electron Micrographs). Since the relative amounts of the polymeric crosslinker and the backbone are comparable, X-Aerogels can be viewed either as aerogels modified by the templated accumulation of polymer on the skeletal nanoparticles, or as nanoporous polymers made by remplated casting of polymer on a nanostructured framework. The most striking feature of X-Aerogels is that for a nominal 3-fold increase in density (still a ultralighweight material), the mechanical strength can be up to 300 times higher than the strength of the underlying native aerogel. Thus, X-Aerogels combine a multiple of the specific compressive strength of steel, with the the thermal conductivity of styrofoam. X-Aerogels have been demonstrated with several polymers such as polyurethanes/polyureas, epoxies and polyolefins, while crosslinking of approximately 35 different oxide aerogels yields a range of dimensionally stable, porous lightweight materials with unique combinations of structural, magnetic and optical properties. The main theme in materials development for space exploration is multifunction. For example, use of one material for thermal insulation/structural component will free weight for useful payload. In that regard, X-aerogels are evaluated at NASA for cryogenic fuel storage tanks and for spacesuits. Along the same lines, major impact fro X-Aerogels is also expected in commercial applications for thermal/acoustic insulation, in catalytic reformers and converters, in filtration membranes and membranes for fuel cells, as platforms for optical, electrical and magnetic sensors, and as lightweight structural component for aircraft and satellites.

Leventis, Nicholas↗

NASA NTRS2013

Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP)

The Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP) is being used in the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission for downlink data visualization and command sequence generation. RSVP reads and writes downlink data products from the operations data server (ODS) and writes uplink data products to the ODS. The primary users of RSVP are members of the Rover Planner team (part of the Integrated Planning and Execution Team (IPE)), who use it to perform traversability/articulation analyses, take activity plan input from the Science and Mission Planning teams, and create a set of rover sequences to be sent to the rover every sol. The primary inputs to RSVP are downlink data products and activity plans in the ODS database. The primary outputs are command sequences to be placed in the ODS for further processing prior to uplink to each rover. RSVP is composed of two main subsystems. The first, called the Robot Sequence Editor (RoSE), understands the MSL activity and command dictionaries and takes care of converting incoming activity level inputs into command sequences. The Rover Planners use the RoSE component of RSVP to put together command sequences and to view and manage command level resources like time, power, temperature, etc. (via a transparent realtime connection to SEQGEN). The second component of RSVP is called HyperDrive, a set of high-fidelity computer graphics displays of the Martian surface in 3D and in stereo. The Rover Planners can explore the environment around the rover, create commands related to motion of all kinds, and see the simulated result of those commands via its underlying tight coupling with flight navigation, motor, and arm software. This software is the evolutionary replacement for the Rover Sequencing and Visualization software used to create command sequences (and visualize the Martian surface) for the Mars Exploration Rover mission.

Cooper, Brian K.↗

NASA NTRS2000

The Pascal Discovery Mission: A Mars Climate Network Mission

The climate of Mars is a major focus of Mars exploration. With the loss of MCO, however, it remains uncertain how it will be achieved. We argue that a truly dedicated climate mission to Mars should have both orbital and landed components, and that these should operate simultaneously for at least I Mars year if not longer. Pascal is Discovery mission that emphasizes the landed component. Its principal goal is to establish a network of 24 small weather stations on the surface of Mars that will operate for 2 Mars years, with an extended mission option for an additional 8 Mars years bringing the total mission lifetime up to 10 Mars years. The stations will collect hourly measurements of pressure, temperature, and optical depth. After delivering the probes to Mars, Pascal's carrier spacecraft will go into an elliptical orbit which will serve as a relay for the landers, and a platform for synoptic imaging. These simultaneous measurements from the surface and from orbit will allow us to characterize the planet's general circulation and its interaction with the dust, water, and CO2 cycles. During entry, descent, and landing, each of Pascal's 24 probes will also measure the temperature structure of the atmosphere and acquire images of the surface. These data will allow us to determine the global structure of the atmosphere between 15 and 130 km, and characterize the local terrain to help interpret the landed data. The descent images are part of Pascal's outreach program, as the probe camera system will be developed by faculty-supervised student project. The intent is to generate enthusiasm for the Pascal mission by directly involving students. Pascal will be launched on a Delta 11-7925 in August of 2005. A type I trajectory will deliver Pascal to Mars in January of 2006. On approach, the three-axis stabilized carrier spacecraft will spring deploy the Pascal probes in 4 separate salvo's of 6 each. Global coverage is achieved with small time-of-arrival adjustments in between each salvo. Pascal's probes utilize an aeroshell, parachute, and crushable material for entry, descent and landing. On the surface, their long life and global coverage is enabled by a Micro Thermal Power Source with demonstrated heritage. After all probes are released, the carrier spacecraft will execute a small bum for insertion into an elliptical orbit. The long lifetime of the Pascal network was chosen in part to maximize the chances that orbital sounding, like that planned with MCO, would occur at some point during the mission. If Pascal is selected for launch in -05, this could occur if MCO-like science is reflown in the '05 opportunity or, if it is reflown in '03, the mission is extended to overlap with Pascal. The combination of temperature sounding from orbit, and surface pressure mapping from the surface will allow a direct determination of the full 3-D wind field for the first time.

Haberle, Robert M.↗

NASA NTRS2021

Exploration Medical Capability Medical Scenarios

Medical systems supporting exploration class missions to cislunar space, the lunar surface, and the vicinity of Mars require an evolution in medical capability beyond that available for today’s low Earth orbit centric paradigm. Progress in developing more capable medical systems will be driven by the requirements of prolonged mission duration, increasing distance from Earth, and the realities of orbital mechanics, all necessitating a concomitant need for progressively Earth independent medical decision-making capabilities. These medical systems (which include the crewmembers) are expected to be capable of evaluating, diagnosing, treating and managing a defined list of medical conditions as well as addressing unanticipated medical conditions that may arise. The prioritized medical capabilities and associated resources needed to treat these medical conditions and support anticipated inflight medical events provide robust content that informs system designers and allows for a more complete evaluation of both medical and overall mission risk. Communication of these medical capabilities to system, vehicle, and mission designers can be enhanced using scenarios that characterize the system’s operations. Carefully considered scenarios provide the context needed to explore expected human and system interfaces, roles of ground and inflight crew (including periods of interrupted or delayed communications), identify training needs, assess data needs, etc. Mission-based scenario content varies dependent upon the needs, medical capabilities, conditions and context they are intended to illustrate. This document explicitly seeks to capture and codify those scenarios that have been useful to the Exploration Medical Capability Element of the Human Research Program in defining the enhanced medical systems required for future space exploration. It is expected that this document will continue to evolve through the refinement and characterization of current and future scenarios, respectively, as our knowledge grows, and requirements increasingly focus on Earth independent spaceflight operations.

Derek M Nusbaum↗

NASA NTRS2000

The Pascal Discovery Mission: A Mars Climate Network Mission

The climate of Mars is a major focus of Mars exploration. With the loss of MCO, however, it remains uncertain how it will be achieved. We argue that a truly dedicated climate mission to Mars should have both orbital and landed components, and that these should operate simultaneously for at least 1 Mars year if not longer. Pascal is a Discovery mission that emphasizes the landed component. Its principal goal is to establish a network of 24 small weather stations on the surface of Mars that will operate for 2 Mars years, with an extended mission option for an additional 8 Mars years bringing the total mission lifetime up to 10 Mars years. The stations will collect hourly measurements of pressure, temperature, and optical depth. After delivering the probes to Mars, Pascal's carrier spacecraft will go into an elliptical orbit which will serve as a relay for the landers, and a platform for synoptic imaging. These simultaneous measurements from the surface and from orbit will allow us to characterize the planet's general circulation and its interaction with the dust, water, and CO2 cycles. During entry, descent, and landing, each of Pascal's 24 probes will also measure the temperature structure of the atmosphere and acquire images of the surface. These data will allow us to determine the global structure of the atmosphere between 15 and 130 km, and characterize the local terrain to help interpret the landed data. The descent images are part of Pascal's outreach program, as the probe camera system will be developed by faculty-supervised student project. The intent is to generate enthusiasm for the Pascal mission by directly involving students. Pascal will be launched on a Delta II-7925 in August of 2005. A type I trajectory will deliver Pascal to Mars in January of 2006. On approach, the three-axis stabilized carrier spacecraft will spring deploy the Pascal probes in 4 separate salvo's of 6 each. Global coverage is achieved with small time-of-arrival adjustments in between each salvo. Pascal's probes utilize an aeroshell, parachute, and crushable material for entry, descent and landing. On the surface, their long life and global coverage is enabled by a Micro Thermal Power Source with demonstrated heritage. After all probes are released, the carrier spacecraft will execute a small burn for insertion into an elliptical orbit. The long lifetime of the Pascal network was chosen in part to maximize the chances that orbital sounding, like that planned with MCO, would occur at some point during the mission. If Pascal is selected for launch in '05, this could occur if MCO-like science is reflown in the '05 opportunity or, if it is reflown in '03, the mission is extended to overlap with Pascal. The combination of temperature sounding from orbit, and surface pressure mapping from the surface will allow a direct determination of the full 3-D wind field for the first time.

Haberle, R. M.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Changes in Plants Developed from Imbibed Seeds Irradiated by Simulated Solar Particle Events

One of the major concerns for long-term exploration missions beyond the Earth’s magnetosphere is radiation risk primarily from solar particle events (SPEs) and galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). With the goal of manned Mars exploration, the production of fresh food during long duration space missions may provide nutritional supplementation and benefit astronauts’ behavioral health. However, the effects of space radiation on plants and plant propagules have not been sufficiently investigated and characterized. In this study, we evaluated the effect of simulated GCRs on dry seeds of mizuna mustard, ‘Outredgeous’ red romaine lettuce, and ‘Red Robin’ dwarf tomato. Seeds were exposed to various doses of simulated GCRs (0, 40, and 80 cGy), either acutely or at a low dose rate (LDR), using the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) facility at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL). Control and irradiated seeds were planted and maintained under space-vehicle relevant controlled environment conditions. Plant/fruit morphometrics and edible fresh mass were measured. In addition, nutrient analyses were performed for both mizuna and ripe tomatoe fruit. Seedlings from irradiated seeds (both 40 cGy and 80 cGy) showed significant changes in cotyledon development, but not in root length or morphology. Interestingly, significant changes in vitamin content were found in mizuna grown from 80 cGy (LDR) irradiated seeds. In addition, 80 cGy (LDR) simulated GCRs significantly affected lettuce and tomato seed quality, delayed tomato fruiting, and reduced the total yield of tomato. Generally, compared to 80 cGy, 40 cGy (LDR) of simulated GCRs displayed some impacts to the seeds and seedlings, but to a much lesser degree. (This study was supported by NASA Human Research Program.)

J.T. Richards↗

NASA NTRS2012

NASA's Space Launch System: A Heavy-Lift Platform for Entirely New Missions

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Space Launch System (SLS) will contribute a new capability for human space flight and scientific missions beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO). The SLS Program, managed at NASA s Marshall Space Flight Center, will develop the heavy-lift vehicle that will launch the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), equipment, supplies, and major science missions for exploration and discovery. Orion will carry crews to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe reentry from deep-space return velocities. Supporting Orion s first autonomous flight to lunar orbit and back in 2017 and its first crewed flight in 2021, the SLS ultimately offers a flexible platform for both human and scientific exploration. The SLS plan leverages legacy infrastructure and hardware in NASA s inventory, as well as continues with advanced technologies now in development, to deliver an initial 70 metric ton (t) lift capability in 2017, evolving to a 130-t capability, using a block upgrade approach. This paper will give an overview of the SLS design and management approach against a backdrop of the missions it will support. It will detail the plan to deliver the initial SLS capability to the launch pad in the near term, as well as summarize the innovative approaches the SLS team is applying to deliver a safe, affordable, and sustainable long-range capability for entirely new missions-opening a new realm of knowledge and a world of possibilities for multiple partners. Design reference missions that the SLS is being planned to support include Mars, Jupiter, Lagrange Points, and near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), among others. The Agency is developing its mission manifest in parallel with the development of a heavy-lift flagship that will dramatically increase total lift and volume capacity beyond current launch vehicle options, reduce trip times, and provide a robust platform for conducting new missions destined to rewrite textbooks with the information they deliver, while creating a framework for further collaboration among domestic and international partners, and potentially spurring economic expansion into new markets.

Creech, Stephen D.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Human Flight to Lunar and Beyond - Re-Learning Operations Paradigms

For the first time since the Apollo era, NASA is planning on sending astronauts on flights beyond Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). The Human Space Flight (HSF) program started with a successful initial flight in Earth orbit, in December 2014. The program will continue with two Exploration Missions (EM) to Lunar orbit: EM-1 will be unmanned and EM-2, carrying astronauts, will follow. NASA established a multi-center team to address the communications, and related navigation, needs. This paper will focus on the lessons learned in the team, planning for the missions' parts that are beyond Earth orbit. Many of these lessons had to be re-learned, as the HSF program after operated for many years in Earth orbit. Fortunately, the experience base from tracking robotic missions in deep space by the Deep Space Network (DSN) and close interaction with the HSF community to understand the unique needs (e.g. 2-way voice) resulted in a ConOps that leverages of both the deep space robotic and the Human LEO experiences. Several examples will be used to highlight the unique operational needs for HSF missions beyond Earth Orbit, including: - Navigation. At LEO, HSF missions can rely on Global Positioning System (GPS) devices for orbit determination. For Lunar-and-beyond HSF missions, techniques such as precision 2-way and 3-way Doppler and ranging, Delta-Difference-of-range, and eventually on-board navigation will be used. - Impact of latency - the delay associated with Round-Trip-Light-Time (RTLT). Imagine trying to have a 2-way discussion (audio or video) with an astronaut, with a 2-3 sec delay inserted (for Lunar distances) or 20 minutes delay (for Mars distances). - Balanced communications link. For robotic missions, there has been a heavy emphasis on the downlink data rates, bringing back science data from the instruments on-board the spacecraft. Uplink data rates were of secondary importance, used to send commands to the spacecraft. The ratio of downlink-to-uplink data rates was often 10:1 or more. For HSF, rates for uplink and downlink, at least for high-quality video, need to be similar.

Kenny, Ted↗