Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Howard, Regan.
The paper discusses the following: 1. Living with a Star (LWS) program: space environment testbed (SET); natural space environment. 2. Carrier plus: goals and benefits. 3. ON-orbit sensor measurements. 4. Carrier plus architecture. 5. Participation in carrier plus.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTR4) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center are collaborating to develop the Carrier Plus sensor experiment platform as a capability of the Space Environments Testbed (SET). The Space Environment Testbed (SET) provides flight opportunities for technology experiments as part of NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) program. The Carrier Plus will provide new capability to characterize sensor technologies such as state-of-the-art visible focal plane arrays (FPAs) in a natural space radiation environment. The technical objectives include on-orbit validation of recently developed FPA technologies and performance prediction methodologies, as well as characterization of the FPA radiation response to total ionizing dose damage, displacement damage and transients. It is expected that the sensor experiment will carry 4-6 FPAs and associated radiation correlative environment monitors (CEMs) for a 2006-2007 launch. Sensor technology candidates may include n- and p-charge coupled devices (CCDs), active pixel sensors (APS), and hybrid CMOS arrays. The presentation will describe the Carrier Plus goals and objectives, as well as provide details about the architecture and design. More information on the LWS program can be found at http://lws.gsfc.nasa.gov/. Business announcements for LWS/SET and program briefings are posted at http://lws-set.gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA is planning to fly a series of Space Environment Testbeds (SET) as part of the Living With A Star (LWS) Program. The goal of the testbeds is to improve and develop capabilities to mitigate and/or accommodate the affects of solar variability in spacecraft and avionics design and operation. This will be accomplished by performing technology validation in space to enable routine operations, characterize technology performance in space, and improve and develop models, guidelines and databases. The anticipated result of the LWS/SET program is improved spacecraft performance, design, and operation for survival of the radiation, spacecraft charging, meteoroid, orbital debris and thermosphere/ionosphere environments. The program calls for a series of NASA Research Announcements (NRAs) to be issued to solicit flight validation experiments, improvement in environment effects models and guidelines, and collateral environment measurements. The selected flight experiments may fly on the SET experiment carriers and flights of opportunity on other commercial and technology missions. This paper presents the status of the project so far, including a description of the types of experiments that are intended to fly on SET-1 and a description of the SET-1 carrier parameters.
The GEMnet(TM) (Global Electronics Message network) will provide global digital data communications anywhere in the world at any time for minimum cost. GEMnet(TM) is an end-to-end Non-Voice Non-Geostationary Mobile Satellite (NVNG) (sometimes dubbed 'Little LEO') System which consists of a constellation of 38 low Earth orbiting small satellites and a ground segment. The GEMnet(TM) ground segment will consist of subscriber user terminals, gateway stations, a Network Operational Center(NOC), and a backbone network interconnecting the NOC and gateways. This paper will describe the GEMnet(TM) system concept including ground and space segments, system heritage, data communication services, and protocols.