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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.

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At least 163 records · Page 9
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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Application of Stuffed Whipple Shield to Robotic Spacecraft

Protection of human life onboard the International Space Station (ISS) requires reinforced shielding of crewed modules to prevent penetration of micro-meteoroid and orbital debris (MMOD), while optimizing the necessary mass for that application. An efficient way to achieve that protection consists in combining metal plates with ceramic and Kevlar fabrics in critical areas, a configuration known as the “Stuffed Whipple Shield”. In robotic spacecraft, fuel tanks are particularly vulnerable to MMOD impacts due to their pressurized contents and thin walls. Risk assessment of the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft using the Bumper3-Sat hypervelocity impact simulation tool demonstrated that the risk of propulsion tank damage due to MMOD particles coming from the ram direction (Launch Vehicle Adapter side) violated NASA requirements to limit the generation of orbital debris and threatened mission success. To mitigate the risk and achieve compliance, the basic configuration of the ISS Stuffed Whipple shield was scaled down and adapted to become a tank shield in the spacecraft ram direction. This paper will describe the adaptation of the ISS Stuffed Shield to a robotic spacecraft, while also comparing the effectiveness of the proposed shield design with more traditional single-wall and double-wall alternatives used in robotic spacecraft under similar conditions.

Ivonne M. Rodriguez↗
NASA NTRS2005

A Unifying Multibody Dynamics Algorithm Development Workbench

The development of new and efficient algorithms for multibody dynamics has been an important research area. These algorithms are used for modeling, simulation, and control of systems such as spacecraft, robotic systems, automotive applications, the human body, manufacturing operations, and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). At JPL's Dynamics and Real Time Simulation (DARTS) Laboratory we have developed software that serves as a computational workbench for these algorithms. This software utilizes the mathematical perspective of the spatial operator algebra, which allows the development of dynamics algorithms and new insights into multibody dynamics.

Ziegler, John L.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Development of an Adsorption System for the Trash Compaction Processing System designed for operation in the International Space Station Express Rack

A water recovery system that utilizes adsorption to work with the Trash Compaction Processing System, formerly known as the Heat Melt Compactor, is being designed at NASA Ames Research Center as an option to current state of the art micro-gravity water management systems and contaminant control systems used in space. The adsorption system will be used in conjunction with the International Space Station Vacuum Exhaust system to avoid both the complexities of gas liquid phase separation in micro-gravity and venting of Trash Compaction Processing System effluents to the spacecraft cabin. The adsorption system will allow the water and gaseous effluents generated during the Trash Compaction System operation to be removed in a matter that meets the Vacuum Exhaust System venting rate requirements. The Trash Compaction Processing System is planned to fly as a Technology Demonstration on the International Space Station in the space station EXPRESS Rack facility. This paper describes the trade space that the adsorption system must operate in using the EXPRESS Rack facilities resources including the use of the Space Station Vacuum Exhaust System. Also described in this paper are design solutions to allow the adsorption system to function within the Express Rack and Vacuum Exhaust System Parameters.

Heat Melt Compactor↗
NASA NTRS2004

Open-systems Architecture of a Standardized Command Interface Chip-set for Switching and Control of a Spacecraft Power Bus

This viewgraph presentation reviews the architecture of the The CIA-AlA chip-set is a set of mixed-signal ASICs that provide a flexible high level interface between the spacecraft's command and data handling (C&DH) electronics and lower level functions in other spacecraft subsystems. Due to the open-systems architecture of the chip-set including an embedded micro-controller a variety of applications are possible. The chip-set was developed for the missions to the outer planets. The chips were developed to provide a single solution for both the switching and regulation of a spacecraft power bus. The Open-Systems Architecture allows for other powerful applications.

power switch slice (PSS)↗
NASA NTRS2007

Analysis of Cometary Dust Impact Residues in the Aluminum Foil Craters of Stardust

In January 2006, the sample return capsule from NASA s Stardust spacecraft successfully returned to Earth after its seven year mission to comet Wild-2. While the principal capture medium for comet dust was low-density graded silica aerogel, the 1100 series aluminum foil (approximately 100 m thick) which wrapped around the T6064 aluminum frame of the sample tray assembly (STA) contains micro-craters that constitute an additional repository for Wild-2 dust. Previous studies of similar craters on spacecraft surfaces, e.g. the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), have shown that impactor material can be preserved for elemental and mineralogical characterization, although the quantity of impact residue in Stardust craters far exceeds previous missions. The degree of shock-induced alteration experienced by the Wild-2 particles impacting on foil will generally be greater than for those captured in the low-density aerogel. However, even some of the residues found in LDEF craters showed not only survival of crystalline silicates but even their solar flare tracks, which are extremely fragile structures and anneal at around 600 C. Laboratory hypervelocity experiments, using analogues of Wild-2 particles accelerated into flight-grade foils under conditions close to those of the actual encounter, showed retention of abundant projectile residues at the Stardust encounter velocity of 6.1 km/s. During the preliminary examination (PE) of the returned foils, using optical and electron microscopy studies, a diverse range in size and morphologies of micro-craters was identified. In this abstract we consider the state of residue preservation in a diverse range of craters with respect to their elemental composition and inferred mineralogy of the original projectiles.

Graham, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

18-Degree-of-Freedom Controller Design for the ST7 Disturbance Reduction System

This paper presents the overall design and analysis process of the spacecraft controller being developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to close the loop between the GRS and the micro-newton colloidal thrusters. The essential dynamics of the ST7-DRS are captured in a simulation including eighteen rigid-body dynamic degrees of freedom: three translations and three rotations for the spacecraft and for each test mass. The ST7 DRS comprises three control systems: the attitude control system (ACS) to maintain a sun-pointing attitude; the drag free control (DFC) to center the spacecraft about the test masses; and the test mass suspension control. This paper summarizes the control design and analysis of the ST7-DRS 18-DOF model, and is an extension of previous analyses employing a 7-DOF planar model of ST-7.

Markley, F. L.↗
NASA NTRS2003

NASA Tech Briefs, January 2003

Topics covered include: Optoelectronic Tool Adds Scale Marks to Photographic Images; Compact Interconnection Networks Based on Quantum Dots; Laterally Coupled Quantum-Dot Distributed-Feedback Lasers; Bit-Serial Adder Based on Quantum Dots; Stabilized Fiber-Optic Distribution of Reference Frequency; Delay/Doppler-Mapping GPS-Reflection Remote-Sensing System; Ladar System Identifies Obstacles Partly Hidden by Grass; Survivable Failure Data Recorders for Spacecraft; Fiber-Optic Ammonia Sensors; Silicon Membrane Mirrors with Electrostatic Shape Actuators; Nanoscale Hot-Wire Probes for Boundary-Layer Flows; Theodolite with CCD Camera for Safe Measurement of Laser-Beam Pointing; Efficient Coupling of Lasers to Telescopes with Obscuration; Aligning Three Off-Axis Mirrors with Help of a DOE; Calibrating Laser Gas Measurements by Use of Natural CO2; Laser Ranging Simulation Program; Micro-Ball-Lens Optical Switch Driven by SMA Actuator; Evaluation of Charge Storage and Decay in Spacecraft Insulators; Alkaline Capacitors Based on Nitride Nanoparticles; Low-EC-Content Electrolytes for Low-Temperature Li-Ion Cells; Software for a GPS-Reflection Remote-Sensing System; Software for Building Models of 3D Objects via the Internet; "Virtual Cockpit Window" for a Windowless Aerospacecraft; CLARAty Functional-Layer Software; Java Library for Input and Output of Image Data and Metadata; Software for Estimating Costs of Testing Rocket Engines; Energy-Absorbing, Lightweight Wheels; Viscoelastic Vibration Dampers for Turbomachine Blades; Soft Landing of Spacecraft on Energy-Absorbing Self-Deployable Cushions; Pneumatically Actuated Miniature Peristaltic Vacuum Pumps; Miniature Gas-Turbine Power Generator; Pressure-Sensor Assembly Technique; Wafer-Level Membrane-Transfer Process for Fabricating MEMS; A Reactive-Ion Etch for Patterning Piezoelectric Thin Film; Wavelet-Based Real-Time Diagnosis of Complex Systems; Quantum Search in Hilbert Space; Analytic Method for Computing Instrument Pointing Jitter; and Semiselective Optoelectronic Sensors for Monitoring Microbes.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2005

Low cost environmental sensors for Spaceflight : NMP Space Environmental Monitor (SEM) requirements

An outstanding problem in spaceflight is the lack of adequate sensors for monitoring the space environment and its effects on engineering systems. By adequate, we mean low cost in terms of mission impact (e.g., low price, low mass/size, low power, low data rate, and low design impact). The New Millennium Program (NMP) is investigating the development of such a low-cost Space Environmental Monitor (SEM) package for inclusion on its technology validation flights. This effort follows from the need by NMP to characterize the space environment during testing so that potential users can extrapolate the test results to end-use conditions. The immediate objective of this effort is to develop a small diagnostic sensor package that could be obtained from commercial sources. Environments being considered are: contamination, atomic oxygen, ionizing radiation, cosmic radiation, EMI, and temperature. This talk describes the requirements and rational for selecting these environments and reviews a preliminary design that includes a micro-controller data logger with data storage and interfaces to the sensors and spacecraft. If successful, such a sensor package could be the basis of a unique, long term program for monitoring the effects of the space environment on spacecraft systems.

Galileo↗
NASA NTRS2005

Low Cost Environmental Sensors for Spaceflight: NMP Space Environmental Monitor (SEM) Requirements

An outstanding problem in spaceflight is the lack of adequate sensors for monitoring the space environment and its effects on engineering systems. By adequate, we mean low cost in terms of mission impact (e.g., low price, low mass/size, low power, low data rate, and low design impact). The New Millennium Program (NMP) is investigating the development of such a low-cost Space Environmental Monitor (SEM) package for inclusion on its technology validation flights. This effort follows from the need by NMP to characterize the space environment during testing so that potential users can extrapolate the test results to end-use conditions. The immediate objective of this effort is to develop a small diagnostic sensor package that could be obtained from commercial sources. Environments being considered are: contamination, atomic oxygen, ionizing radiation, cosmic radiation, EMI, and temperature. This talk describes the requirements and rational for selecting these environments and reviews a preliminary design that includes a micro-controller data logger with data storage and interfaces to the sensors and spacecraft. If successful, such a sensor package could be the basis of a unique, long term program for monitoring the effects of the space environment on spacecraft systems.

New Millennium Program (NMP)↗
NASA NTRS2015

3D Printing the Complete CubeSat

The 3D Printing the Complete CubeSat project is designed to advance the state-of-the-art in 3D printing for CubeSat applications. Printing in 3D has the potential to increase reliability, reduce design iteration time and provide greater design flexibility in the areas of radiation mitigation, communications, propulsion, and wiring, among others. This project is investigating the possibility of including propulsion systems into the design of printed CubeSat components. One such concept, an embedded micro pulsed plasma thruster (mPPT), could provide auxiliary reaction control propulsion for a spacecraft as a means to desaturate momentum wheels.

Printing CubeSat subsystems↗
NASA NTRS2011

The O/OREOS Mission - Astrobiology in Low Earth Orbit

The O/OREOS (Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses) nanosatellite is the first science demonstration spacecraft and flight mission of the NASA Astrobiology Small- Payloads Program (ASP). O/OREOS was launched successfully on November 19, 2010, to a high-inclination (72°), 650-km Earth orbit aboard a US Air Force Minotaur IV rocket from Kodiak, Alaska. O/OREOS consists of 3 conjoined cubesat (each 1000 cu.cm) modules: (i) a control bus, (ii) the Space Environment Survivability of Living Organisms (SESLO) experiment, and (iii) the Space Environment Viability of Organics (SEVO) experiment. Among the innovative aspects of the O/OREOS mission are a real-time analysis of the photostability of organics and biomarkers and the collection of data on the survival and metabolic activity for micro-organisms at 3 times during the 6-month mission. We will report on the spacecraft characteristics, payload capabilities and first operational phase of the O/OREOS mission. The science and technology rationale of O/OREOS supports NASA’s scientific exploration program by investigating the local space environment as well as space biology relevant to Moon and Mars missions. It also serves as precursor for experiments on small satellites, the International Space Station (ISS), future free-flyers and lunar surface exposure facilities.

Ehrenfreund, P.↗
NASA NTRS2011

The O/OREOS Mission - Astrobiology in Low Earth Orbit

The O/OREOS (Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses) nanosatellite is the first science demonstration spacecraft and flight mission of the NASA Astrobiology Small- Payloads Program (ASP). O/OREOS was launched successfully on November 19, 2010, to a high-inclination (72°), 650-km Earth orbit aboard a US Air Force Minotaur IV rocket from Kodiak, Alaska. O/OREOS consists of 3 conjoined cubesat (each 1000 cu.cm) modules: (i) a control bus, (ii) the Space Environment Survivability of Living Organisms (SESLO) experiment, and (iii) the Space Environment Viability of Organics (SEVO) experiment. Among the innovative aspects of the O/OREOS mission are a real-time analysis of the photostability of organics and biomarkers and the collection of data on the survival and metabolic activity for micro-organisms at 3 times during the 6-month mission. We will report on the spacecraft characteristics, payload capabilities and first operational phase of the O/OREOS mission. The science and technology rationale of O/OREOS supports NASA’s scientific exploration program by investigating the local space environment as well as space biology relevant to Moon and Mars missions. It also serves as precursor for experiments on small satellites, the International Space Station (ISS), future free-flyers and lunar surface exposure facilities.

Ehrenfreund, P.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Space Technology 5: Changing the Mission Design without Changing the Hardware

The Space Technology 5 (ST-5) Project is part of NASA's New Millennium Program. The validation objectives are to demonstrate the research-quality science capability of the ST-5 spacecraft; to operate the three spacecraft as a constellation; and to design, develop, test and flight-validate three capable micro-satellites with new technologies. A three-month flight demonstration phase is planned, beginning in March 2006. This year, the mission was re-planned for a Pegasus XL dedicated launch into an elliptical polar orbit (instead of the Originally-planned Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.) The re-plan allows the mission to achieve the same high-level technology validation objectives with a different launch vehicle. The new mission design involves a revised science validation strategy, a new orbit and different communication strategy, while minimizing changes to the ST-5 spacecraft itself. The constellation operations concepts have also been refined. While the system engineers, orbit analysts, and operations teams were re-planning the mission, the implementation team continued to make progress on the flight hardware. Most components have been delivered, and the first spacecraft is well into integration and test.

Carlisle, Candace C.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Space Technology 5 Observations of Auroral Field-Aligned Currents

During its three month long technology validation mission, Space Technology 5 (ST-5) returned high quality multi-point measurements of the near-Earth magnetic field. Its three micro-satellites were launched into a 300 x 4500 km, dawn - dusk, sun synchronous orbit (inclination = 105.60) orbit with a period of 138 min by a Pegasus launch vehicle on March 22, 2006. The spacecraft were maintained in a "pearls on a sting" constellation with controlled spacings ranging from just over 5000 km down to under 50 km. The individual micro-satellites were 48 cm tall octagons with diameters of 50 cm. They were spin-stabilized at approximately 20 rpm at deployment and slowly spun-down to about 15 rpm by the end of the mission. Each spacecraft carried a miniature tri-axial fluxgate magnetometer (MAG) provided by the University of California at Los Angeles mounted at the end of a ultra-low mass 72 cm boom. These data allow, for the first time, the separation of temporal and spatial variations in field-aligned current (FAC) perturbations measured in low-Earth orbit on time scales of 10 sec to 10 min. The constellation measurements are used to directly determine field-aligned current sheet motion, thickness. and current density. Two multi-point methods for the inference of FAC current density that have not previously been possible in low-Earth orbit are demonstrated: 1) the -standard method." based upon s/c velocity, but corrected for FAC current sheet motion. and 2) the "gradiometer method" which uses simultaneous magnetic field measurements at two points with known separation. Future studies will apply these methods to the entire ST-5 data sct and expand to include horizontal ionospheric currents. ULF waves and geomagnetic field gradient analyses.

Slavin, James↗
NASA NTRS2004

SIM trajectory design

SIM (Space Interferometry Mission) is a mission scheduled to launch in 2010 and will be the first spacecraft to use interferometry to measure the positions of stars to within 1 micro-arcsecond - a degree of precision never to before achieve. The flight hardware required to achieve this level of precision is very sensitive to its external environment, which places a number of challenging constraints on the trajectory design. This paper discusses the various trajectory options that were considered.

Titan Mission↗
NASA NTRS2008

Global Daily Atmospheric State Profiles from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) is a hyperspectral infrared instrument on the EOS Aqua Spacecraft, launched on May 4, 2002. AIRS has 2378 infrared channels ranging from 3.7 (micro)m to 15.4 (micro)m and a 13.5 km footprint. AIRS, in conjunction with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), produces temperature profiles with 1K/km accuracy on a global scale, as well as water vapor profiles, clouds, dust and trace gas amounts for CO2, CO, SO2, O3 and CH4.[1] AIRS data are used for weather forecasting and studies of global climate change. The AIRS is a 'facility' instrument developed by NASA as an experimental demonstration of advanced technology for remote sensing and the benefits of high resolution infrared spectra to science investigations.

sounder↗
NASA NTRS2021

Erosion of Volatiles by Micro-Meteoroid Bombardment on Ceres, and Comparison to the Moon and Mercury

Ceres, the largest reservoir of water in the main-belt, was recently visited by the Dawn spacecraft that revealed several areas bearing H2O-ice features. Independent telescopic observations showed a water exosphere of currently unknown origin. We explore the effects of meteoroid impacts on Ceres considering the topography obtained from the Dawn mission using a (Replaced: full-fledged replaced with: widely-used) micro-meteoroid model and ray-tracing techniques. Meteoroid populations with 0.01-2 mm diameters are considered. We analyze the short-term effects Ceres experiences during its current orbit as well as long-term effects over the entire precession cycle. We find the entire surface is subject to meteoroid bombardment leaving no areas in permanent shadow with respect to meteoroid influx. The equatorial parts of Ceres produce 80% more ejecta than the polar regions due to the large impact velocity of long-period comets. Mass flux, energy flux, and ejecta production vary seasonally by a factor of (Replaced: a few replaced with: 3–7) due to the inclined eccentric orbit. Compared to Mercury and the Moon, Ceres experiences significantly smaller effects of micro-meteoroid bombardment, with a total mass flux of 4.5±1.2×10(exp −17)kg m(exp −2)s(exp −1). On average Mercury is subjected to a 50× larger mass flux and generates 700× more ejecta than Ceres, while the lunar mass flux is 10× larger, and the ejecta generation is 30× larger than on Ceres. For these reasons, we find that meteoroid impacts are an unlikely candidate for the production of a water exosphere or significant excavation of surface features. The surface turnover rate from the micro-meteoroid populations considered is estimated to be 1.25 Myr on Ceres.

minor planets↗