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NASA NTRS2008

Structural Definition and Mass Estimation of Lunar Surface Habitats for the Lunar Architecture Team Phase 2 (LAT-2) Study

The Lunar Architecture Team Phase 2 study defined and assessed architecture options for a Lunar Outpost at the Moon's South Pole. The Habitation Focus Element Team was responsible for developing concepts for all of the Habitats and pressurized logistics modules particular to each of the architectures, and defined the shapes, volumes and internal layouts considering human factors, surface operations and safety requirements, as well as Lander mass and volume constraints. The Structures Subsystem Team developed structural concepts, sizing estimates and mass estimates for the primary Habitat structure. In these studies, the primary structure was decomposed into a more detailed list of components to be sized to gain greater insight into concept mass contributors. Structural mass estimates were developed that captured the effect of major design parameters such as internal pressure load. Analytical and empirical equations were developed for each structural component identified. Over 20 different hard-shell, hybrid expandable and inflatable soft-shell Habitat and pressurized logistics module concepts were sized and compared to assess structural performance and efficiency during the study. Habitats were developed in three categories; Mini Habs that are removed from the Lander and placed on the Lunar surface, Monolithic habitats that remain on the Lander, and Habitats that are part of the Mobile Lander system. Each category of Habitat resulted in structural concepts with advantages and disadvantages. The same modular shell components could be used for the Mini Hab concept, maximizing commonality and minimizing development costs. Larger Habitats had higher volumetric mass efficiency and floor area than smaller Habitats (whose mass was dominated by fixed items such as domes and frames). Hybrid and pure expandable Habitat structures were very mass-efficient, but the structures technology is less mature, and the ability to efficiently package and deploy internal subsystems remains an open issue.

Dorsey, John T.↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Human Spaceflight Architecture Team Lunar Destination Activities

NASA's Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT) Lunar Destination Team has been developing a number of "Design Reference Missions" (DRM) to inform exploration architecture development, transportation approaches, and destination elements and operations. There are four destinations being considered in the HAT studies: Cis-Lunar, Lunar, Near Earth Asteroids and Mars. The lunar destination includes all activities that occur on the moon itself, but not low lunar orbit operations or Earth Moon LaGrange points which are the responsibility of the HAT Cis-Lunar Team. This paper will review the various surface DRMs developed as representative scenarios that could occur in a human lunar return. The approaches have been divided into two broad categories: a seven day short stay mission with global capabilities and a longer extended duration stay of 28 days which is limited to the lunar poles as a landing zone. The surface elements, trade studies, traverses, concept of operations and other relevant issues and methodologies will be presented and discussed in the context and framework of the HAT ground rules and assumptions which are constrained by NASA's available transportation systems. An international collaborative effort based on the 2011 Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) will also be examined and evaluated.

Connolly, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Human Spaceflight Architecture Team: Lunar Surface Exploration Strategies

NASA s agency wide Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT) has been developing Design Reference Missions (DRMs) to support the ongoing effort to characterize NASA s future human exploration strategy. The DRM design effort includes specific articulations of transportation and surface elements, technologies and operations required to enable future human exploration of various destinations including the moon, Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and Mars as well as interim cis-lunar targets. In prior architecture studies, transportation concerns have dominated the analysis. As a result, an effort was made to study the human utilization strategy at each specific destination and the resultant impacts on the overall architecture design. In particular, this paper considers various lunar surface strategies as representative scenarios that could occur in a human lunar return, and demonstrates their alignment with the internationally developed Global Exploration Roadmap (GER).

Mueller, Rob P.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Lunar Architecture Team - Phase 2 Habitat Volume Estimation: "Caution When Using Analogs"

The lunar surface habitat will serve as the astronauts' home on the moon, providing a pressurized facility for all crew living functions and serving as the primary location for a number of crew work functions. Adequate volume is required for each of these functions in addition to that devoted to housing the habitat systems and crew consumables. The time constraints of the LAT-2 schedule precluded the Habitation Team from conducting a complete "bottoms-up" design of a lunar surface habitation system from which to derive true volumetric requirements. The objective of this analysis was to quickly derive an estimated total pressurized volume and pressurized net habitable volume per crewmember for a lunar surface habitat, using a principled, methodical approach in the absence of a detailed design. Five "heuristic methods" were used: historical spacecraft volumes, human/spacecraft integration standards and design guidance, Earth-based analogs, parametric "sizing" tools, and conceptual point designs. Estimates for total pressurized volume, total habitable volume, and volume per crewmember were derived using these methods. All method were found to provide some basis for volume estimates, but values were highly variable across a wide range, with no obvious convergence of values. Best current assumptions for required crew volume were provided as a range. Results of these analyses and future work are discussed.

Rudisill, Marianne↗
NASA NTRS2010

A Summary of NASA Architecture Studies Utilizing Fission Surface Power Technology

Beginning with the Exploration Systems Architecture Study in 2005, NASA has conducted various mission architecture studies to evaluate implementation options for the U.S. Space Policy (formerly the Vision for Space Exploration). Several of the studies examined the use of Fission Surface Power (FSP) systems for human missions to the lunar and Martian surface. This paper summarizes the FSP concepts developed under four different NASA-sponsored architecture studies: Lunar Architecture Team, Mars Architecture Team, Lunar Surface Systems/Constellation Architecture team, and International Architecture Working Group-Power Function team. The results include a summary of FSP design characteristics, a compilation of mission-compatible FSP configuration options, and an FSP concept-of-operations that is consistent with the overall mission objectives.

Mason, Lee↗
NASA NTRS2011

A Summary of NASA Architecture Studies Utilizing Fission Surface Power Technology

Beginning with the Exploration Systems Architecture Study in 2005, NASA has conducted various mission architecture studies to evaluate implementation options for the U.S. Space Policy. Several of the studies examined the use of Fission Surface Power (FSP) systems for human missions to the lunar and Martian surface. This paper summarizes the FSP concepts developed under four different NASA-sponsored architecture studies: Lunar Architecture Team, Mars Architecture Team, Lunar Surface Systems/Constellation Architecture Team, and International Architecture Working Group-Power Function Team.

Mason, Lee S.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Constellation Architecture Team-Lunar Scenario 12.0 Habitation Overview

This paper will describe an overview of the Constellation Architecture Team Lunar Scenario 12.0 surface habitation approach, concept, and assessments performed during the study definition. The Lunar Scenario 12 architecture study focused on two primary habitation approaches: a horizontally-oriented habitation module (LS-12.0) and a vertically-oriented habitation module (LS-12.1). This paper will provide an overview of 12.0 lunar surface campaign, the associated outpost architecture, habitation functionality, concept description, system integration strategy, mass and power resource estimates. The Scenario 12 architecture resulted from combining three previous scenarios after the Lunar Surface Systems (LSS) Project Office meeting in April 28-30, 2009. The best attributes from Scenario 4 "Optimized Exploration", Scenario 5 "Fission Surface Power System" and Scenario 8 "Initial Extensive Mobility" were combined into Scenario 12 along with an added emphasis on defining the excursion ConOps while the crew is away from the outpost location.

Kennedy, Kriss J.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Constellation Architecture Team-Lunar Scenario 12.0 Habitation Overview

This paper will describe an overview of the Constellation Architecture Team Lunar Scenario 12.0 (LS-12) surface habitation approach and concept performed during the study definition. The Lunar Scenario 12 architecture study focused on two primary habitation approaches: a horizontally-oriented habitation module (LS-12.0) and a vertically-oriented habitation module (LS-12.1). This paper will provide an overview of the 12.0 lunar surface campaign, the associated outpost architecture, habitation functionality, concept description, system integration strategy, mass and power resource estimates. The Scenario 12 architecture resulted from combining three previous scenario attributes from Scenario 4 "Optimized Exploration", Scenario 5 "Fission Surface Power System" and Scenario 8 "Initial Extensive Mobility" into Scenario 12 along with an added emphasis on defining the excursion ConOps while the crew is away from the outpost location. This paper will describe an overview of the CxAT-Lunar Scenario 12.0 habitation concepts and their functionality. The Crew Operations area includes basic crew accommodations such as sleeping, eating, hygiene and stowage. The EVA Operations area includes additional EVA capability beyond the suitlock function such as suit maintenance, spares stowage, and suit stowage. The Logistics Operations area includes the enhanced accommodations for 180 days such as enhanced life support systems hardware, consumable stowage, spares stowage, interconnection to the other habitation elements, a common interface mechanism for future growth, and mating to a pressurized rover or Pressurized Logistics Module (PLM). The Mission & Science Operations area includes enhanced outpost autonomy such as an IVA glove box, life support, medical operations, and exercise equipment.

Kennedy, Kriss J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

A Notional Example of Understanding Human Exploration Traverses on the Lunar Surface

Mr. Gruener received an M.S. in physical science, with an emphasis in planetary geology, from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 1994. He then began working with NASA JSC.s Solar System Exploration Division on the development of prototype planetary science instruments, the development of a mineral-based substrate for nutrient delivery to plant growth systems in bio-regenerative life support systems, and in support of the Mars Exploration Rover missions in rock and mineral identification. In 2004, Mr. Gruener again participated in a renewed effort to plan and design missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. He participated in many exploration planning activities, including NASA.s Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS), Global Exploration Strategy Workshop, Lunar Architecture Team 1 and 2, Constellation Lunar Architecture Team, the Global Point of Departure Lunar Exploration Team, and the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Workshop on Science Associated with the Lunar Exploration Architecture. Mr. Gruener has also been an active member of the science team supporting NASA.s Desert Research and Technology Studies (RATS).

Gruener, John↗
NASA NTRS2008

Constellation Architecture Team-Lunar: Lunar Habitat Concepts

This paper will describe lunar habitat concepts that were defined as part of the Constellation Architecture Team-Lunar (CxAT-Lunar) in support of the Vision for Space Exploration. There are many challenges to designing lunar habitats such as mission objectives, launch packaging, lander capability, and risks. Surface habitats are required in support of sustaining human life to meet the mission objectives of lunar exploration, operations, and sustainability. Lunar surface operations consist of crew operations, mission operations, EVA operations, science operations, and logistics operations. Habitats are crewed pressurized vessels that include surface mission operations, science laboratories, living support capabilities, EVA support, logistics, and maintenance facilities. The challenge is to deliver, unload, and deploy self-contained habitats and laboratories to the lunar surface. The CxAT-Lunar surface campaign analysis focused on three primary trade sets of analysis. Trade set one (TS1) investigated sustaining a crew of four for six months with full outpost capability and the ability to perform long surface mission excursions using large mobility systems. Two basic habitat concepts of a hard metallic horizontal cylinder and a larger inflatable torus concept were investigated as options in response to the surface exploration architecture campaign analysis. Figure 1 and 2 depicts the notional outpost configurations for this trade set. Trade set two (TS2) investigated a mobile architecture approach with the campaign focused on early exploration using two small pressurized rovers and a mobile logistics support capability. This exploration concept will not be described in this paper. Trade set three (TS3) investigated delivery of a "core' habitation capability in support of an early outpost that would mature into the TS1 full outpost capability. Three core habitat concepts were defined for this campaign analysis. One with a four port core habitat, another with a 2 port core habitat, and the third investigated leveraging commonality of the lander ascent module and airlock pressure vessel hard shell. The paper will describe an overview of the various habitat concepts and their functionality. The Crew Operations area includes basic crew accommodations such as sleeping, eating, hygiene and stowage. The EVA Operations area includes additional EVA capability beyond the suit-port airlock function such as redundant airlock(s), suit maintenance, spares stowage, and suit stowage. The Logistics Operations area includes the enhanced accommodations for 180 days such as closed loop life support systems hardware, consumable stowage, spares stowage, interconnection to the other Hab units, and a common interface mechanism for future growth and mating to a pressurized rover. The Mission & Science Operations area includes enhanced outpost autonomy such as an IVA glove box, life support, and medical operations.

Toups, Larry↗
NASA NTRS2009

Surface Habitat Systems

The Surface Habitat Systems (SHS) Focused Investment Group (FIG) is part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) effort to provide a focused direction and funding to the various projects that are working on human surface habitat designs and technologies for the planetary exploration missions. The overall SHS-FIG effort focuses on directing and guiding those projects that: 1) develop and demonstrate new surface habitat system concepts, innovations, and technologies to support human exploration missions, 2) improve environmental systems that interact with human habitats, 3) handle and emplace human surface habitats, and 4) focus on supporting humans living and working in habitats on planetary surfaces. The activity areas of the SHS FIG described herein are focused on the surface habitat project near-term objectives as described in this document. The SHS-FIG effort focuses on mitigating surface habitat risks (as identified by the Lunar Surface Systems Project Office (LSSPO) Surface Habitat Element Team; and concentrates on developing surface habitat technologies as identified in the FY08 gap analysis. The surface habitat gap assessment will be updated annually as the surface architecture and surface habitat definition continues to mature. These technologies are mapped to the SHS-FIG Strategic Development Roadmap. The Roadmap will bring to light the areas where additional innovative efforts are needed to support the development of habitat concepts and designs and the development of new technologies to support of the LSSPO Habitation Element development plan. Three specific areas of development that address Lunar Architecture Team (LAT)-2 and Constellation Architecture Team (CxAT) Lunar habitat design issues or risks will be focused on by the SHS-FIG. The SHS-FIG will establish four areas of development that will help the projects prepare in their planning for surface habitat systems development. Those development areas are the 1) surface habitat concept definition, 2) inflatable surface habitat development, and 3) autonomous habitat operations, and 4) cross-cutting / systems engineering. In subsequent years, the SHS-FIG will solicit a call for innovations and technologies that will support the development of these four development areas. The other development areas will be assessed yearly and identified on the SHS-FIG s Strategic Development Roadmap. Initial investment projects that are funded by the Constellation Program Office (CxPO), LSSPO, or the Exploration Technology Development Projects (ETDP) will also be included on the Roadmap. For example, in one or two years from now, the autonomous habitat operations and testbed would collaborations with the Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) and Automation for Operations ETDP projects, which will give the surface habitat projects an integrated habitat autonomy testbed to test software and systems. The SHS-FIG scope is to provide focused direction for multiple innovations, technologies and subsystems that are needed to support humans at a remote planetary surface habitat during the concept development, design definition, and integration phases of that project. Subsystems include: habitability, lightweight structures, power management, communications, autonomy, deployment, outfitting, life support, wireless connectivity, lighting, thermal and more.

Kennedy, Kriss J.↗
NASA NTRS2007

The Nation's Vision for Exploration: An Update

I.Current key activities: a) Constellation Level2-System Engineering. b) Lunar Architecture Team (LAT)2-technology assessment and architectural option for the lander. c) Mars Architecture Team-system engineering support, Science integration, precursor program planning. d) Lunar Lander Project Core Team-GN&C and Flight system engineering. e) Technology program-supporting multiple projects in robotics, power systems, aero entry technology. f) Mission Operation Project-Mission operations system engineering. g) Advanced Environmental Monitoring Instruments. H. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter instrument (Diviner). II. Mission Proposals a) Lunar Sample return. b) Lunar Gravity field mapper.

space exploration↗
NASA NTRS2007

The Earth Based Ground Stations Element of the Lunar Program

The Lunar Architecture Team (LAT) is responsible for developing a concept for building and supporting a lunar outpost with several exploration capabilities such as rovers, colonization, and observatories. The lunar outpost is planned to be located at the Moon's South Pole. The LAT Communications and Navigation Team (C&N) is responsible for defining the network infrastructure to support the lunar outpost. The following elements are needed to support lunar outpost activities: A Lunar surface network based on industry standard wireless 802.xx protocols, relay satellites positioned 180 degrees apart to provide South Pole coverage for the half of the lunar 28-day orbit that is obscured from Earth view, earth-based ground stations deployed at geographical locations 120 degrees apart. This paper will focus on the Earth ground stations of the lunar architecture. Two types of ground station networks are discussed. One provides Direct to Earth (DTE) support to lunar users using Kaband 23/26Giga-Hertz (GHz) communication frequencies. The second supports the Lunar Relay Satellite (LRS) that will be using Ka-band 40/37GHz (Q-band). This paper will discuss strategies to provide a robust operational network in support of various lunar missions and trades of building new antennas at non-NASA facilities, to improve coverage and provide site diversification for handling rain attenuation.

Gal-Edd, Jonathan↗
NASA NTRS2008

Lunar Surface Habitat Configuration Assessment: Methodology and Observations

The Lunar Habitat Configuration Assessment evaluated the major habitat approaches that were conceptually developed during the Lunar Architecture Team II Study. The objective of the configuration assessment was to identify desired features, operational considerations, and risks to derive habitat requirements. This assessment only considered operations pertaining to the lunar surface and did not consider all habitat conceptual designs developed. To examine multiple architectures, the Habitation Focus Element Team defined several adequate concepts which warranted the need for a method to assess the various configurations. The fundamental requirement designed into each concept included the functional and operational capability to support a crew of four on a six-month lunar surface mission; however, other conceptual aspects were diverse in comparison. The methodology utilized for this assessment consisted of defining figure of merits, providing relevant information, and establishing a scoring system. In summary, the assessment considered the geometric configuration of each concept to determine the complexity of unloading, handling, mobility, leveling, aligning, mating to other elements, and the accessibility to the lunar surface. In theory, the assessment was designed to derive habitat requirements, potential technology development needs and identify risks associated with living and working on the lunar surface. Although the results were more subjective opposed to objective, the assessment provided insightful observations for further assessments and trade studies of lunar surface habitats. This overall methodology and resulting observations will be describe in detail and illustrative examples will be discussed.

Carpenter, Amanda↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Rapid Assessment of a Lunar Surface Laboratory Module

Johnson Space Center is piloting an innovation team known as the Forge to perform rapid turnaround, concurrent engineering studies. The Forge is intended to be able to pull together a team of strategically selected domain experts to innovatively solve a specified problem within a short period of time. The Forge’s inaugural project being the development of a Lunar Surface Laboratory Module concept. The lab module is intended as an option for the Artemis program’s Lunar Architecture Team. The lab module may allow for increased science productivity and return on investment than a surface architecture with only the habitat. This paper will discuss the configuration of the Lunar Laboratory module, including the pressure vessel, its placement relative to the Surface Habitat and Pressurized Rover, and internal architecture. In order to determine the suitability of such a design, a human factors evaluation is conducted. Historically, a human factors evaluation of a habitable volume could require a month or longer, including time needed to prepare a test plan, conduct the evaluation, compile the data, and produce a report. The entire Forge effort will only last for five weeks, forcing the creation of a rapid assessment process. This rapid assessment includes three evaluation studies, all conducted and processed in the space of a single day, to determine the acceptability of the resulting design. The first evaluation is a card sort evaluation of the laboratory instruments. A brief discussion of the card sort evaluation is provided. This card sort is focused on the relative positioning of the laboratory instruments, determining whether a given instrument should be adjacent to, or separated from, another. It will use human factors personnel and both life and physical scientists as subject matter experts. The second evaluation is a science productivity tabletop evaluation. This evaluation focuses on the selection of instruments and the number of instruments, attempting to assess the amount of work the crew will be able to use the facility to do. It uses life and physical science personnel as subject matter experts. The third evaluation is a CAD or Virtual Reality human factors walkthrough evaluation. This evaluation focuses on the layout of the lab module and its connectivity to the basecamp’s pressurized elements. If possible, astronauts will be used as subject matter experts. Each of these evaluations will focus primarily on objective data with limited subjective comments, reducing the time required for processing responses. The results of each evaluation and their implications will be discussed. Based on the evaluation data, an overall acceptability of the Lunar Surface Laboratory Module produced by the Forge study can be determined. Lessons learned and recommendations for future use of the human factors rapid assessment process in early design trades will also be provided.

Lunar Laboratory↗
NASA NTRS2010

Study of Plume Impingement Effects in the Lunar Lander Environment

Plume impingement effects from the descent and ascent engine firings of the Lunar Lander were analyzed in support of the Lunar Architecture Team under the Constellation Program. The descent stage analysis was performed to obtain shear and pressure forces on the lunar surface as well as velocity and density profiles in the flow field in an effort to understand lunar soil erosion and ejected soil impact damage which was analyzed as part of a separate study. A CFD/DSMC decoupled methodology was used with the Bird continuum breakdown parameter to distinguish the continuum flow from the rarefied flow. The ascent stage analysis was performed to ascertain the forces and moments acting on the Lunar Lander Ascent Module due to the firing of the main engine on take-off. The Reacting and Multiphase Program (RAMP) method of characteristics (MOC) code was used to model the continuum region of the nozzle plume, and the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) Analysis Code (DAC) was used to model the impingement results in the rarefied region. The ascent module (AM) was analyzed for various pitch and yaw rotations and for various heights in relation to the descent module (DM). For the ascent stage analysis, the plume inflow boundary was located near the nozzle exit plane in a region where the flow number density was large enough to make the DSMC solution computationally expensive. Therefore, a scaling coefficient was used to make the DSMC solution more computationally manageable. An analysis of the effectiveness of this scaling technique was performed by investigating various scaling parameters for a single height and rotation of the AM. Because the inflow boundary was near the nozzle exit plane, another analysis was performed investigating three different inflow contours to determine the effects of the flow expansion around the nozzle lip on the final plume impingement results.

Marichalar, Jeremiah↗
NASA NTRS2008

Logistics Modeling for Lunar Exploration Systems

The extensive logistics required to support extended crewed operations in space make effective modeling of logistics requirements and deployment critical to predicting the behavior of human lunar exploration systems. This paper discusses the software that has been developed as part of the Campaign Manifest Analysis Tool in support of strategic analysis activities under the Constellation Architecture Team - Lunar. The described logistics module enables definition of logistics requirements across multiple surface locations and allows for the transfer of logistics between those locations. A key feature of the module is the loading algorithm that is used to efficiently load logistics by type into carriers and then onto landers. Attention is given to the capabilities and limitations of this loading algorithm, particularly with regard to surface transfers. These capabilities are described within the context of the object-oriented software implementation, with details provided on the applicability of using this approach to model other human exploration scenarios. Some challenges of incorporating probabilistics into this type of logistics analysis model are discussed at a high level.

Andraschko, Mark R.↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Human Spaceflight Architecture Team Cis-Lunar Analysis

The Cis-Lunar Destination Team of NASA's Human Spaceflight Architecture Teait1 (HAT) has been perfom1ing analyses of a number of cis-lunar locations to infom1 architecture development, transportation and destination elements definition, and operations. The cis-lunar domain is defined as that area of deep space under the gravitation influence of the earth-moon system, including a set of orbital locations (low earth orbit (LEO]. geosynchronous earth orbit [GEO]. highly elliptical orbits [HEO]); earth-moon libration or "Lagrange·· points (EMLl through EMLS, and in particular, EMLI and EML2), and low lunar orbit (LLO). We developed a set of cis-lunar mission concepts defined by mission duration, pre-deployment, type of mission, and location, to develop mission concepts and the associated activities, capabilities, and architecture implications. To date, we have produced two destination operations J concepts based on present human space exploration architectural considerations. We have recently begun defining mission activities that could be conducted within an EM LI or EM L2 facility.

Lupisella, M.↗