Achieving Leadership Support for Roadmap to Resiliency - NASA Perspectives
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Overview of inflatable softgoods and their emerging role in enabling large, resilient space habitats and infrastructure. It highlights the advantages of inflatable systems, such as exceptional packing efficiency and scalable habitable volume, while also addressing challenges related to outfitting, complex material behavior, structural design, manufacturing precision, and testing limitations. Core architectural elements of crewed inflatable habitats are described, along with shell layer composition, structural interfaces, and examples of conceptual habitat configurations for transit, lunar, and surface applications. The presentation concludes by outlining key technology shortfalls, including structural health monitoring, ultra‑high‑strength materials, lifetime performance, and integration strategies, emphasizing the need for continued development to support future in‑space manufacturing and exploration missions.
Traditionally, the transportation system’s resiliency to the impacts of weather is an area where neglected or incorrect assumptions can lead to difficulties later in the research and development lifecycle. To mitigate this, NASA has ongoing efforts to develop a set of research roadmaps for organizing, integrating, and communicating research into new aviation infrastructure and transportation modalities, within which weather is being addressed early on. An effort has been undertaken to add weather assumptions and requirements to an already-existing roadmap for the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) airspace, seeking to integrate weather requirements early in the system design. This effort addresses the way in which state-of-the art and evolving weather science and technology can enable safe and efficient travel with increasing tempo of UAM operations over time. This paper describes the addition of weather as one of 10 capabilities into the UAM Airspace research roadmap, laying out the anticipated weather technology and information requirements needed to facilitate operations at various UAM Maturity Levels. The process developed and exercised by MIT Lincoln Laboratory researchers produced 41 unique requirements to be satisfied by a Weather capability for the UAM ecosystem, with more than 300 dependencies identified across the system. These requirements cover measurement, analysis, modeling, forecasting, decision support, dissemination, and overarching policy, and are provided with an overview of weather challenges for UAM. The requirements were mainly defined based on subject matter expert review of existing UAM Airspace system requirements, and refined based on iterative feedback with various stakeholders including regulators, academia, and industry. Going forward, this roadmap will help researchers and developers align to a common vision in ensuring that weather is appropriately considered in the UAM ecosystem.
Traditionally, the transportation system’s resiliency to the impacts of weather is an area where neglected or incorrect assumptions can lead to difficulties later in the research and development lifecycle. To mitigate this, NASA has ongoing efforts to develop a set of research roadmaps for organizing, integrating, and communicating research into new aviation infrastructure and transportation modalities, within which weather is being addressed early on. An effort has been undertaken to add weather assumptions and requirements to an already-existing roadmap for the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) airspace, seeking to integrate weather requirements early in the system design. This effort addresses the way in which state-of-the art and evolving weather science and technology can enable safe and efficient travel with increasing tempo of UAM operations over time. This paper describes the addition of weather as one of 10 capabilities into the UAM Airspace research roadmap, laying out the anticipated weather technology and information requirements needed to facilitate operations at various UAM Maturity Levels. The process developed and exercised by MIT Lincoln Laboratory researchers produced 41 unique requirements to be satisfied by a Weather capability for the UAM ecosystem, with more than 300 dependencies identified across the system. These requirements cover measurement, analysis, modeling, forecasting, decision support, dissemination, and overarching policy, and are provided with an overview of weather challenges for UAM. The requirements were mainly defined based on subject matter expert review of existing UAM Airspace system requirements, and refined based on iterative feedback with various stakeholders including regulators, academia, and industry. Going forward, this roadmap will help researchers and developers align to a common vision in ensuring that weather is appropriately considered in the UAM ecosystem.
Presentation will highlight the Space Shuttle Program Lessons Learned with a simulation of the complexity, volatility and multi-functional relationships of the supplier base followed by a review of a key element in the NASA KSC Supply Chain/Logistics Strategic Roadmap to include supply chain resiliency modeling as impacted by 3D Printing technology maturation and campaign-level network flow modeling for logistics nodal positioning of critical product needed to support space operations and In-Space Manufacturing beyond Low Earth Orbit.
National Security Space (NSS) presents multi-faceted S and T challenges. We must continually innovate enterprise and information management; provide decision support; develop advanced materials; enhance sensor technology; transform communication technology; develop advanced propulsion and resilient space architectures and capabilities; and enhance multiple additional S and T domains. These challenges are best met by leveraging advanced S and T research and technology development from a number of DoD agencies and civil agencies such as NASA. The authors of this paper have engaged in these activities since 2006 and over the past decade developed multiple strategic S and T relationships. This paper highlights the Office of the Space Missile Systems Center (SMC) Chief Scientist (SMC/ST) collaboration with the NASA Office of Chief Technologist (NASA OCT), which has multiple S and T activities that are relevant to NSS. In particular we discuss the development of the Technology Roadmaps that benefit both Civil Space and NSS. Our collaboration with NASA OCT has been of mutual benefit to multiple participants. Some of the other DoD components include the Defense Advanced Research Projects agency (DARPA), Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), The USAF Office of Chief Scientist, the USAF Science Advisory Board (SAB), Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), and a number of other services and agencies. In addition, the human talent is a key enabler of advanced S and T activities; it is absolutely critical to have a strong supply of talent in the fields of Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Consequently, we continually collaborate with the USAF Institute of Technology (AFIT), other service academies and graduate schools, and other universities and colleges. This paper highlights the benefits that result from such strategic S and T partnerships and recommends a way forward that will continually build upon these achievements into the future.
Objectives for systems analysis capability: Develop integrated understanding of how a complex human physiological-socio-technical mission system behaves in spaceflight. Why? Support development of integrated solutions that prevent unwanted outcomes (Implementable approaches to minimize mission resources(mass, power, crew time, etc.)); Support development of tools for autonomy (need for exploration) (Assess and maintain resilience -individuals, teams, integrated system). Output of this exercise: -Representation of interfaces based on Human System Risk Board (HSRB) Risk Summary information and simple status based on Human Research Roadmap; Consolidated HSRB information applied to support communication; Point-of-Departure for HRP Element planning; Ability to track and communicate status of collaborations. 4
NASA's newly restructured Mars Exploration Program (MEP) is finally on the way to Mars with the successful April 7 launch of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter. In addition, the announcement by the Bush Administration that the exploration of Mars will be a priority within NASA's Office of Space Science further cements the first decade of the new millennium as one of the major thrusts to understand the "new" Mars. Over the course of the past year and a half, an integrated team of managers, scientists, and engineers has crafted a revamped MEP to respond to the scientific as well as management and resource challenges associated with deep space exploration of the Red Planet. This article describes the new program from the perspective of its guiding philosophies, major events, and scientific strategy. It is intended to serve as a roadmap to the next 10-15 years of Mars exploration from the NASA viewpoint. [For further details, see the Mars Exploration Program web site (URL): http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov]. The new MEP will certainly evolve in response to discoveries, to successes, and potentially to setbacks as well. However, the design of the restructured strategy is attentive to risks, and a major attempt to instill resiliency in the program has been adopted. Mars beckons, and the next decade of exploration should provide the impetus for a follow-on decade in which multiple sample returns and other major program directions are executed. Ultimately the vision to consider the first human scientific expeditions to the Red Planet will be enabled. By the end of the first decade of this program, we may know where and how to look for the elusive clues associated with a possible martian biological record, if any was every preserved, even if only as "chemical fossils.".
A research and development (R&D) approach is proposed for developing and validating concepts and technologies to achieve vehicle autonomy goals of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) through Simplified Vehicle Operations (SVO). The approach applies resilience-engineering and human-automation teaming (HAT) principles to a framework for defining vehicle-based functions for the management of missions and flight trajectories, focusing initially on the en route flight domain. To achieve the SVO goal of reducing pilot training requirements and thereby increasing the pilot pool for AAM, while at the same time promoting ever-safer operations, a framework for identifying essential functions is proposed. In this framework, functions are first categorized by high-level functional purpose (mission management, flightpath management, tactical operations, and vehicle control) and then subcategorized by attributes of resilient-performing systems (abilities to monitor, respond, learn, and anticipate). The categorization by functional purpose provides structure within which HAT designs can be holistically explored and total levels of human vs. automation responsibility can be varied. The subcategorization by resilient-system attributes provides a mechanism for capturing safety-critical functions that may not be codified in current operational procedures and training curricula, particularly those where humans proactively enhance safety in currently undocumented ways. An R&D approach consisting of seven strategies is proposed in which automation engineering and human-factors communities can collaborate in the research, development, and design of an SVO roadmap to enable the ambitious objectives of AAM.
The future of spaceflight will yield increasingly more ambitious missions to support civil, national security, and commercial space sectors. Achieving these ambitious missions is not feasible using the traditional paradigm of launching an integrated, fully functioning system on a single launch vehicle. For example, science and human exploration missions will desire payloads that are larger than any foreseeable launch vehicle fairing, national security missions will require persistent assets that are mobile and resilient, and commercial space missions will require cost-effective ways to update to the latest technology on orbit. In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) can vastly expand the performance, availability, and lifetime of space systems compared to the traditional paradigm of launching an asset with no intent to ever touch it again. ISAM capabilities foster an ecosystem that changes the space operations paradigm, creating the foundation for sustainable exploration and serving as a multiplier for other capabilities like space logistics, power generation, and reusability. Previous achievements in ISAM have enabled ambitious human and robotic space missions. NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) operations and maintenance, servicing missions of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) demonstrate the dramatic operational missions that can be achieved using ISAM capabilities. Many current and upcoming flight demonstrations are advancing areas that will enable the next generation of civil, national security, and commercial space missions. This document describes the current state of ISAM missions, capabilities, and developments. Compiling and organizing the available ISAM capabilities will help mission designers incorporate ISAM technologies into their concepts, create the starting point for technology development plans and roadmaps, and provide technologists a survey of the field they are developing. This document divides the ISAM capabilities into 11 capability areas that describe the functions or activities that would be performed in space using ISAM. This version of the ISAM State of Play is part of a continuing journey to encourage the use of ISAM capabilities in space. Compiling and organizing the current state of ISAM provides a simple resource for those working in the ISAM ecosystem to ensure that the advancements being made build upon the investments of the past. The state of play is ever changing as new capabilities are developed, and this document will be periodically updated to ensure that it is relevant to those who need it in the future.
Future space systems will rely on autonomous Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) functions to efficiently manage safe and precise self-directed operations in uncertain complex environments. Fundamentally, the GNC system plays a key role in mission performance and safety because it computes the ideal trajectory (Guidance), determines the actual trajectory (Navigation), and executes the ideal trajectory (Control) of a vehicle’s position and attitude. Our current GNC systems are highly automated and already have a high degree of complexity. As missions become more ambitious, GNC systems for launch vehicles and space platforms (e.g., spacecraft, probes, and landers) will require higher levels of performance and autonomous operation than previously encountered, for example, this includes GNC for optimizing aerodynamic and/or propulsion performance during planetary entry. This GNC Verification and Validation (V&V) paper highlights concerns with what undoubtedly will be a trend towards increased complexity as fully autonomous GNC systems are developed for future space missions. Clearly, complex GNC systems pose challenges in the prelaunch V&V phase, which is a relatively expensive part of a mission’s life cycle. Essentially the V&V phase is focused on checking that the system effectively meets all the design and operational requirements for the mission. The authors of this paper (i.e., the Inter-Agency Working Group of GNC subject matter experts) focused on this fundamental question over the past few years: Will the GNC engineering community of practice be sufficiently prepared to perform the necessary V&V on evolving GNC architectures that are driven by very demanding requirements for autonomy, resiliency, reconfigurability, adaptability, and mission cost-benefit balance? It is the viewpoint of our Inter-Agency team that the GNC V&V approaches and processes needed to address the next generation of complex GNC systems, which likely will employ various forms of modern GNC technology, are not currently established to the level the community will need in the future. While researchers and practitioners have made some progress in developing new GNC V&V methods for modern GNC systems, a good deal of work remains to be done to codify such methods in a comprehensive and systematic manner. Thus, the Inter-Agency team’s partner organizations [the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the French Aerospace Lab (ONERA), and ISAE-SUPAERO] have conducted preliminary investigations into advancing GNC V&V techniques, which resulted in the identification of the need for education, new V&V tools, and benchmark problems for the GNC community. The necessary proactive steps to be taken to meet the challenges and fill the gaps in GNC V&V are summarized in this paper. The first steps include identifying advanced analysis tools, developing a GNC V&V roadmap, and expanding education and training programs for GNC practitioners. This paper is a call to action and proposes a comprehensive set of recommended actions for all our stakeholders: space agencies, researchers, and industry.