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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Aerothermal Analysis and Thermal Protection System Design of the Mars Sample Retrieval Lander [SRL].

Mars Sample Retrieval Lander, part of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, is being designed to land the heaviest payload yet, to the surface of Mars. SRL is being designed to carry the Lander, Sample Transfer System, Mars Acent Vehicle, and two Sample Recovery Helicopters. Compared to MSL and Mars 2020, SRL has a significantly higher ballistic coefficient, and flies at a higher lift/drag configuration. While the SRL heatshield is very similar to that of MSL and M2020, the backshell is very different, so as to accommode the payload. SRL is shielded by the same TPS materials as MSL and Mars 2020, with changes to design reflecting the SRL configuration and ConOPS. The aerothermal analysis and TPS design methodology of SRL relies on the successes of MSL and Mars 2020, and the lessons learned from MEDLI and MEDLI2. However, the constraints on mass require us to revisit all of our prediction models and analysis assumptions, in an attempt to reduce conservatism and TPS mass. MSL and Mars 2020 reconstruction, and detailed comparisons against MEDLI/MEDLI2 data are being used to justify our analysis approach and refine uncertainties and margins.

Mars↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Aerothermal Analysis and Environment Predictions for the Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL)

Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) is the next mission to Mars, and an integral part of the proposed Mars Sample Return (MSR) Program. Aerothermal Analysis of the SRL capsule takes advantage of the design and analysis of the Mars Science Laboratory and the Mars 2020 missions, findings from the MEDLI and MEDLI2 heatshield instrumentation campaigns, and developments in predictive capabilities over the last 20 years. In particular, SRL is being designed to enter the Mars atmosphere at velocities as high as 8 km/s, which would be the highest for a Mars entry, and is expected to encounter additional shock layer radiation physics compared to previous missions to Mars. This paper presents the status of analysis including the overall methodology, models and assumptions of the aerothermal environment predictions, with a focus on differences from the approaches and modeling used for Mars 2020 and MSL.

Mars↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Aerothermal Analysis and Environment Predictions for the Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL)

Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) is the next mission to Mars, and an integral part of the proposed Mars Sample Return (MSR) Program. Aerothermal Analysis of the SRL capsule takes advantage of the design and analysis of the Mars Science Laboratory and the Mars 2020 missions, findings from the MEDLI and MEDLI2 heatshield instrumentation campaigns, and developments in predictive capabilities over the last 20 years. In particular, SRL is being designed to enter the Mars atmosphere at velocities as high as 8 km/s, which would be the highest for a Mars entry, and is expected to encounter additional shock layer radiation physics compared to previous missions to Mars. This paper presents the status of analysis including the overall methodology, models and assumptions of the aerothermal environment predictions, with a focus on differences from the approaches and modeling used for Mars 2020 and MSL.

Mars↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Sample Retrieval Lander Thermal Protection System Design

The Mars Sample Return (MSR) Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) was slated to launch in 2031 and enter Mars’ atmosphere after a 15-month cruise. After several iterations of vehicle design and trajectories, the latest mission architecture included a 4.72-meter diameter entry capsule entering the Martian atmosphere at 8 km/s, marking a 3.5x increase in kinetic energy when entering the atmosphere in comparison to Mars 2020. Designed to be the heaviest and fastest vehicle to enter Mars’ atmosphere, SRL required slim mass margins, and as such, the thermal protection system (TPS) design methodology needed to be tailored appropriately. The entry capsule aeroshell is composed of a heatshield, backshell, parachute support cone, and parachute lid, as shown in Fig. 1.

Hannah Alpert↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Sample Return, Sample Retrieval Lander, Reaction Control System Jet Interaction Supersonic Wind Tunnel Test Overview with CFD Predictions

NASA's Mars Sample Return campaign will be launching several missions over the next decade that will work together to return rock samples from Mars back to Earth. The Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) will deliver the Mars Ascent Vehicle and fetch rover to the surface of Mars in 2006. Rock samples collected by the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, landing in early 2021, will be loaded on the the ascent vehicle to be launched into Mars orbit for retrieval by yet another spacecraft. The Sample Retrieval Lander will be a blunt entry capsule similar to past Mars entry vehicles like Mars Science Laboratory and Viking. The vehicle will fly a guided entry, using a small lift vector produced by a non-zero trim angle of attack to eliminate downrange and crossrange position errors at the point of parachute deploy. This energy and heading management is achieved with a reaction control system (RCS) that directs the bank angle of the vehicle and also minimizes unwanted capsule dynamics. The reaction control system and control design is based on the Mars Science Laboratory and Mars 2020 RCS systems. However, due to packaging constraints, the backshell of this new entry vehicle has a different geometry than those earlier designs. To certify the RCS system for flight the project must characterize the jet plume interactions with the capsule backshell that could impair or significantly augment the RCS control authority. This characterization will be done through a combination of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and wind tunnel test. Two candidate arrangements of the RCS jets have been identified for the SRL vehicle and are currently under evaluation before final selection. The aero/RCS plume interactions of these candidate configurations have been measured in a supersonic wind tunnel test in NASA Langley's Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel. The test was conducted in the fall of 2020 and data is currently being reduced. An overview of the candidate RCS configurations are presented here with an overview of the wind tunnel model design, jet scaling and scaled nozzle design, and the test matrix. Preliminary CFD runs are presented with an assessment of the predicted plumes and their interaction with the wake flow of the vehicle. The predicted effects of the model sting is provided as well. This high fidelity wind tunnel test is being conducted much earlier in the SRL project than would normally be done. The test was funded as part of a CFD evaluation task funded by NASA's Aerosciences Evaluation and Test Capabilities Project. The objective of the evaluation task was to compare the ability of CFD to predict complex flows with data that can be measured in the Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel. RCS Jet interactions were selected as a type of complex flow that is important to NASA missions. In addition to providing useful data to the SRL project, there was added emphasis on quantifying the accuracy of the CFD predictions and wind tunnel test data. An overview of the uncertainty quantification methodologies for computational and experimental portions of this test is presented.

blunt body↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

An Assessment of Turbulence Models for MSR Sample Retrieval Lander Aerothermal Design

Several cases from past entries in the T9 and T5 hypersonic test facilities are examined using various turbulence models and shock-layer thermochemistries with the objectives of verifying/validating turbulence models and determining appropriate multiplicative factors on predicted turbulent heating for use in aerothermal design of the heatshield of the Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) Flagship mission. The zero-equation turbulence models of Baldwin-Lomax and Cebeci-Smith are shown to replicate measurements to within experimental uncertainty for the T9 cases. For T5 cases, the zero-equation model of Baldwin-Lomax can also replicate measurements provided the shock-layer thermochemistry is modified. The modified thermochemistry resolves a dichotomy from past CFD that required different wall catalycity assumptions in the laminar and turbulent flow regimes. The present work shows that such assumptions are not necessary. Finally, an initial estimate for a multiplicative factor on turbulent heating is estimated for the SST turbulence model – the chosen model for SRL aerothermal design simulations.

Mars entry↗
NASA NTRS2018

Mars Sample Return Conceptual Mission Overview

This talk will provide an overview of an overall Mars Sample Return campaign architecture, and the current concepts and options for the architecture and design of a Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (called Sample Retrieval Lander, SRL). The overall SRL mission concept and key mission objectives will be described, including the mission’s concept of operations and a notional timeline from launch to entry, through surface operations, to delivery of the samples to Mars orbit. The overall lander vehicle concept will be described, including current options being evaluated. Key lander element options will be discussed, including a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), Fetch Rover, Orbiting Sample container (OS), and tube transfer robotics systems. Details of the notional Fetch Rover functions, constraints and operations will be discussed. Specific challenges and approaches for addressing those challenges will be discussed, including key technical margins and planetary protection. Major trade studies and implementation approaches and a proposed schedule will also be discussed. The information provided about possible Mars sample return architectures and concepts is for planning and discussion purposes only. NASA and ESA have made no official decisions to implement Mars Sample Return.

Beyer, Friederike↗
NASA NTRS2018

Mars Sample Return Conceptual Mission Overview

This talk will provide an overview of an overall Mars Sample Return campaign architecture, and the current concepts and options for the architecture and design of a Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (called Sample Retrieval Lander, SRL). The overall SRL mission concept and key mission objectives will be described, including the mission’s concept of operations and a notional timeline from launch to entry, through surface operations, to delivery of the samples to Mars orbit. The overall lander vehicle concept will be described, including current options being evaluated. Key lander element options will be discussed, including a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), Fetch Rover, Orbiting Sample container (OS), and tube transfer robotics systems. Details of the notional Fetch Rover functions, constraints and operations will be discussed. Specific challenges and approaches for addressing those challenges will be discussed, including key technical margins and planetary protection. Major trade studies and implementation approaches and a proposed schedule will also be discussed. The information provided about possible Mars sample return architectures and concepts is for planning and discussion purposes only. NASA and ESA have made no official decisions to implement Mars Sample Return.

Beyer, Friederike↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment 2 (ASPIRE2) Flight Mechanics and Parachute Performance

The Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Re-search Experiment-2 (ASPIRE2) program consists of a sounding rocket flight test to be launched at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) in 2025. This effort seeks to qualify the supersonic parachute for the Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) under the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, building off the successes of its predecessor program, ASPIRE, which launched in both 2017 and 2018. The conops for the ASPIRE2 mission are shown in Figure 1 relative to its predecessor. While the ASPIRE pro-gram qualified a 21.5 m diameter disk-gap band parachute deployed at Mach 1.7, the SRL parachute will be increased to 24 m in diameter and target a Mach 2.1 parachute deployment condition, the largest diameter supersonic parachute deployed at the highest Mach number to date. These requirements are driven by the increased landing mass of the sample retrieval lander, which is roughly a 50% increase over that of the Mars2020 entry vehicle. These changes necessitate ASPIRE2 to certify the parachute performance under similar deployment conditions. This work will cover the 6-DoF para-chute model implementation and flight mechanics performance for the ASPIRE2 campaign and discuss how these results will impact the design of the test article. The ASPIRE2 trajectory is simulated using a multi-body flight dynamics tool, Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II (POST2). This work will summarize both the flight mechanics and parachute modeling (from payload separation until splashdown) and performance for this mission. Various design trades will be assessed such as para-chute tuning parameters as well as vehicle center of gravity location.

Evan Roelke↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

MBSE Applications for the MSR SRC Mars Ascent Vehicle

The objective of the NASA Mars Sample Return (MSR) Campaign is to collect samples from the surface of Mars and return them to Earth for scientific research. The Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) will be integrated into a larger Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) for transit to and storage on Mars. After all Martian samples have been collected and loaded into the MAV payload assembly, MAV will deliver the samples from the Martian surface to Mars orbit. A separate spacecraft, the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) will retrieve the samples from Mars orbit and return them to Earth. To address common systems engineering challenges associated with using traditional systems engineering practices on complex projects, the MAV systems engineering team has explored implementation of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools and languages. This paper describes the current state of implementation and development of the MAV MBSE model with the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) within the scope of the MAV Systems Requirement Cycle (SRC) systems engineering workflow. The MAV MBSE model has been developed within Magic Draw – a SysML editor commonly used to implement MBSE. The MAV MBSE model has been used to develop mission phase functional flow diagrams for the Concept of Operations, decompose mission to vehicle subsystem functions, develop a functional decomposition, derive functional requirements, trace requirements up to customer-imposed requirements, trace requirements within MAV requirement space, identify requirements trace gaps, define and map the physical design space architecture, allocate requirements to subsystems, develop validation items, define assembly, integration, and test (AI&T) operations, and trace these items across driving goals to develop an integrated digital thread of systems engineering information used to drive design specifications, decision making, and ultimately design verification and validation. Findings and results associated with implementing MBSE in these ways, alongside traditional methods will be discussed.

MBSE↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

MBSE Applications for the MSR SRC Mars Ascent Vehicle

The objective of the NASA Mars Sample Return (MSR) Campaign is to collect samples from the surface of Mars and return them to Earth for scientific research. The Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) will be integrated into a larger Mars Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) for transit to and storage on Mars. After all Martian samples have been collected and loaded into the MAV payload assembly, MAV will deliver the samples from the Martian surface to Mars orbit. A separate spacecraft, the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) will retrieve the samples from Mars orbit and return them to Earth. To address common systems engineering challenges associated with using traditional systems engineering practices on complex projects, the MAV systems engineering team has explored implementation of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools and languages. This paper describes the current state of implementation and development of the MAV MBSE model with the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) within the scope of the MAV Systems Requirement Cycle (SRC) systems engineering workflow. The MAV MBSE model has been developed within Magic Draw – a SysML editor commonly used to implement MBSE. The MAV MBSE model has been used to develop mission phase functional flow diagrams for the Concept of Operations, decompose mission to vehicle subsystem functions, develop a functional decomposition, derive functional requirements, trace requirements up to customer-imposed requirements, trace requirements within MAV requirement space, identify requirements trace gaps, define and map the physical design space architecture, allocate requirements to subsystems, develop validation items, define assembly, integration, and test (AI&T) operations, and trace these items across driving goals to develop an integrated digital thread of systems engineering information used to drive design specifications, decision making, and ultimately design verification and validation. Findings and results associated with implementing MBSE in these ways, alongside traditional methods will be discussed.

MBSE↗
NASA NTRS2020

Thermal Architecture of A Conceptual Mars Sample Return Lander during Cruise and on Mars

A Pre-Project team is currently studying a conceptual Mars Sample Return (MSR) architecture that would return samples collected by Mars 2020 to Earth. The basic architecture comprises of acquisition of these samples using a sample retrieval lander (SRL), which also would also house the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and Sample Fetch Rover (SFR). The MAV would put the orbiting sample container (OS) in a Martian orbit, which would then rendezvous with an Earth return orbiter (ERO) and be sent to Earth. This paper focuses on the SRL portion of the potential MSR campaign. The thermal architecture of this mission during cruise to Mars presents several challenges that pertain to the thermal control of the spacecraft and the lander/MAV/rover throughout cruise under varying thermal environments & operating conditions. Additionally, the control of these systems within their allowable operating temperature limits on the Martian surface is very challenging because of the large fluctuations in the environment, operating conditions and limited electrical power and energy availability. This paper will describe the thermal architecture for a potential SRL mission, the key thermal requirements and interfaces.It should be noted that the decision to implement MSR will not be finalized until NASA’s completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. This document is being made available for information purposes only.

Nicholas, Austin↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Qualification of Domestic Lyocell Based Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA-D) for NASA Missions

Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) is a low-density ablator that has been used as the planetary entry heatshield for several NASA missions since the late 90’s. Its low density and efficient performance characteristics have proven effective for use from Discovery to Flag-ship class missions, from Sample Return missions such as Stardust, OSIRIS-REx to large Mars Lander missions such as Mars Science Lab (MSL) and Mars 2020. The rayon-based carbon precursor raw material used in PICA preform manufacturing has experienced multiple supply chain issues. The challenge involved in finding a replacement fiber source is in processing as well as in the final performance of the ablator. Each replacement necessitates the requalification of the PICA. This has happened at least twice in the past 25 years, and a third substitution is now needed. Due to the obsolescence of the input foreign rayon fiber source, a new variant of PICA has been developed using a domestic rayon-like fiber source, Lyocell. Due to its flight heritage and proven capability, PICA is baselined as the Thermal Protection System (TPS) for Dragonfly and Mars Sample Return Sample Retrieval Lander mission and is being considered for the backshell of the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System. All three missions are due to be launched between 2026 and 2028. The challenge this time is to ensure the PICA made with domestic material is a suitable replacement to the heritage PICA used in MSL and Mars 2020 so that the design of the heatshield can be matured without much risk. Results are presented from the recent efforts of 22 PICA-D billets that were Lot Acceptance Tested. Thermal, mechanical, and representative environment arc-jet tests have been conducted. Testing of PICA-Domestic (PICA-D) indicates very comparable performance with respect to “heritage” PICA materials and thus PICA-D is expected to be a sustainable and nearly a “drop-in” replacement solution for future NASA missions.

Matt Gasch↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Qualification of Domestic Lyocell Based Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA-D) for NASA Missions

Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) is a low-density ablator that has been used as the planetary entry heatshield for several NASA missions since the late 90’s. Its low density and efficient performance characteristics have proven effective for use from Discovery to Flag-ship class missions, from Sample Return missions such as Stardust, OSIRIS-REx to large Mars Lander missions such as Mars Science Lab (MSL) and Mars 2020. The rayon-based carbon precursor raw material used in PICA preform manufacturing has experienced multiple supply chain issues. The challenge involved in finding a replacement fiber source is in processing as well as in the final performance of the ablator. Each replacement necessitates the requalification of the PICA. This has happened at least twice in the past 25 years, and a third substitution is now needed. Due to the obsolescence of the input foreign rayon fiber source, a new variant of PICA has been developed using a domestic rayon-like fiber source, Lyocell. Due to its flight heritage and proven capability, PICA is baselined as the Thermal Protection System (TPS) for Dragonfly and Mars Sample Return Sample Retrieval Lander mission and is being considered for the backshell of the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System. All three missions are due to be launched between 2026 and 2028. The challenge this time is to ensure the PICA made with domestic material is a suitable replacement to the heritage PICA used in MSL and Mars 2020 so that the design of the heatshield can be matured without much risk. Results are presented from the recent efforts of 22 PICA-D billets that were Lot Acceptance Tested. Thermal, mechanical, and representative environment arc-jet tests have been conducted. Testing of PICA-Domestic (PICA-D) indicates very comparable performance with respect to “heritage” PICA materials and thus PICA-D is expected to be a sustainable and nearly a “drop-in” replacement solution for future NASA missions.

PICA↗