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Hecht, Michael

Publications and source records attributed to Hecht, Michael.

13 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

A Tall Ship and a Star to Steer Her By

Two visionary innovations were proposed to allow spacecraft to assume the burden of navigation. The first extends the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) to include not only orientation references (quasars), but also time (pulsars) and frequency (maser) references that allow position and velocity to be determined relative to the terrestrial reference frame (TRF) or planetary reference frames (PRFs). The second provides spacecraft with a direct means to determine their own position relative to the ICRF.

Hecht, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2012

In-Situ Geochronology as a Mission-Enabling Technology

Although there are excellent estimates of ages of terrains on Mars from crater counting, even a few absolute ages would serve to validate the calibration. Results with uncertainties, although much larger than those that could be achieved in labs on Earth, would be extremely valuable. While there are other possibilities for in-situ geochronology instruments, we describe here to alternative technologies, being developed in JPL. There are two common features of both. The first is analysis by means of miniature mass spectrometer. The second is use of laser sampling to reduce or avoid sample handling, preparation and pre-treatment and equally importantly, to allow analysis of individual, textually resolved minerals in coarse-grained rocks. This textural resolved minerals in coarse-grained rocks. This textural resolution will aid in selection of grains more or less enriched in the relevant elements and allow construction of isochrons for more precise dating. Either of these instruments could enable missions to Mars and other planetary bodies.

geochronology↗
NASA NTRS2005

Subsurface Ice Probe

The subsurface ice probe (SIPR) is a proposed apparatus that would bore into ice to depths as great as hundreds of meters by melting the ice and pumping the samples of meltwater to the surface. Originally intended for use in exploration of subsurface ice on Mars and other remote planets, the SIPR could also be used on Earth as an alternative to coring, drilling, and melting apparatuses heretofore used to sample Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets. The SIPR would include an assembly of instrumentation and electronic control equipment at the surface, connected via a tether to a compact assembly of boring, sampling, and sensor equipment in the borehole (see figure). Placing as much equipment as possible at the surface would help to attain primary objectives of minimizing power consumption, sampling with high depth resolution, and unobstructed imaging of the borehole wall. To the degree to which these requirements would be satisfied, the SIPR would offer advantages over the aforementioned ice-probing systems.

Hecht, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2003

ASK Talks with Dr. Michael Hecht

Michael Hecht has been a member of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) staff since 1982. He is currently Project Manager and co-investigator for the Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA)

Hecht, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2002

Keeping the Deal

On the 4th of July 1997, I lay on a blanket with my family at a fireworks display near our home in Los Angeles, California. The pyrotechnics, they tell me, were dazzling. I wouldn't know. My attention was fixed on a tiny orange dot in the sky - Mars. A month earlier, NASA had released an Announcement of Opportunity for a supplementary payload on the Mars Surveyor Lander mission scheduled for launch in 2001. The Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) organization had been authorized to make the most preliminary of investigations into the feasibility of sending humans to Mars. Among the requested investigations was an opportunity to study the dust and soil of the Red Planet, emphasizing possible hazards to human explorers. I spent that summer of '97 working on a proposal for the project I would eventually lead, the Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA). MECA was selected in February of '98. We promised to deliver four new instruments by April 2000 with a modest budget of $5M. This is a story about some of the people who created MECA.

Hecht, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2001

Miniature micromachined quadrupole mass spectrometer array and method of making the same

The present invention provides a quadrupole mass spectrometer and an ion filter for use in the quadrupole mass spectrometer. The ion filter includes a thin patterned layer including a two-dimensional array of poles forming one or more quadrupoles. The patterned layer design permits the use of very short poles and with a very dense spacing of the poles, so that the ion filter may be made very small. Also provided is a method for making the ion filter and the quadrupole mass spectrometer. The method involves forming the patterned layer of the ion filter in such a way that as the poles of the patterned layer are formed, they have the relative positioning and alignment for use in a final quadrupole mass spectrometer device.

Chutjian, Ara↗
NASA NTRS2001

Miniature micromachined quadrupole mass spectrometer array and method of making the same

The present invention provides a quadrupole mass spectrometer and an ion filter for use in the quadrupole mass spectrometer. The ion filter includes a thin patterned layer including a two-dimensional array of poles forming one or more quadrupoles. The patterned layer design permits the use of very short poles and with a very dense spacing of the poles, so that the ion filter may be made very small. Also provided is a method for making the ion filter and the quadrupole mass spectrometer. The method involves forming the patterned layer of the ion filter in such a way that as the poles of the patterned layer are formed, they have the relative positioning and aligrnent for use in a final quadrupole mass spectrometer device.

Chutjian, Ara↗
NASA NTRS2000

Miniature micromachined quadrupole mass spectrometer array and method of making the same

The present invention provides a quadrupole mass spectrometer and an ion filter for use in the quadrupole mass spectrometer. The ion filter includes a thin patterned layer including a two-dimensional array of poles forming one or more quadrupoles. The patterned layer design permits the use of very short poles and with a very dense spacing of the poles, so that the ion filter may be made very small. Also provided is a method for making the ion filter and the quadrupole mass spectrometer. The method involves forming the patterned layer of the ion filter in such a way that as the poles of the patterned layer are formed, they have the relative positioning and alignment for use in a final quadrupole mass spectrometer device.

Chutjian, Ara↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA)

The Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA) will evaluate the Martian environment for soil and dust-related hazards to human exploration as part of the Mars Surveyor Program 2001 Lander. Sponsored by the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) enterprise, MECA's goal is to evaluate potential geochemical and environmental hazards that may confront future martian explorers, and to guide HEDS scientists in the development of high fidelity Mars soil simulants. In addition to objectives related to human exploration, the MECA data set will be rich in information relevant to basic geology, paleoclimate, and exobiology issues. The integrated MECA payload contains a wet-chemistry laboratory, a microscopy station, an electrometer to characterize the electrostatics of the soil and its environment, and arrays of material patches to study the abrasive and adhesive properties of soil grains. MECA is allocated a mass of 10 kg and a peak power usage of 15 W within an enclosure of 35 x 25 x 15 cm (figures I and 2). The Wet Chemistry Laboratory (WCL) consists of four identical cells that will accept samples from surface and subsurface regions accessible to the Lander's robotic arm, mix them with water, and perform extensive analysis of the solution. Using an array of ion-specific electrodes (ISEs), cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical techniques, the chemistry cells will wet soil samples for measurement of basic soil properties of pH, redox potential, and conductivity. Total dissolved material, as well as targeted ions will be detected to the ppm level, including important exobiological ions such as Na, K+, Ca++, Mg++, NH4+, Cl, S04-, HC03, as well as more toxic ions such as Cu++, Pb++, Cd++, Hg++, and C104-. MECA's microscopy station combines optical and atomic-force microscopy (AFM) to image dust and soil particles from millimeters to nanometers in size. Illumination by red, green, and blue LEDs is augmented by an ultraviolet LED intended to excite fluorescence in the sample. Substrates were chosen to allow experimental study of size distribution, adhesion, abrasion, hardness, color, shape, aggregation, magnetic and other properties. To aid in the detection of potentially dangerous quartz dust, an abrasion tool measures sample hardness relative to quartz and a hard glass (Zerodur).

Meloy, Thomas P.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Ballistic Mass And Velocity Analyzer

Proposed device for measuring distribution of masses and velocities of ions in plasma or ion beam of general type denoted variously as mass, velocity, and energy analyzers. Yields indications of charge-to-mass ratios and velocities; from these quantities, one computes masses and energies if one also either measures charges of ions by other means or else makes realistic assumption that each ion carries small number (usually 1) of fundamental units of electric charge. In comparison with older devices of this type, device smaller, and operates faster, yielding simultaneous indications of both charge-to-mass ratios and velocities.

Chutjian, Ara↗
NASA NTRS1996

Atmospheres from Within

In this review of atmospheric investigations from planetary surfaces, a wide variety of measurement and instrument techniques relevant to atmospheric studies from future planetary lander missions are discussed. The diversity of planetary surface environments within the solar system precludes complete or highly specific coverage, but lander investigations for Mars and cometary missions are presented as specific cases that represent the broad range of atmospheric-surface boundaries and that also correspond to high priority goals for future national and international lander missions.

Morgan, Thomas↗