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Huynh, Loc C.

Publications and source records attributed to Huynh, Loc C..

Physics-based Entry, Descent and Landing Risk Model

A physics-based risk model was developed to assess the risk associated with thermal protection system failures during the entry, descent and landing phase of a manned spacecraft mission. In the model, entry trajectories were computed using a three-degree-of-freedom trajectory tool, the aerothermodynamic heating environment was computed using an engineering-level computational tool and the thermal response of the TPS material was modeled using a one-dimensional thermal response tool. The model was capable of modeling the effect of micrometeoroid and orbital debris impact damage on the TPS thermal response. A Monte Carlo analysis was used to determine the effects of uncertainties in the vehicle state at Entry Interface, aerothermodynamic heating and material properties on the performance of the TPS design. The failure criterion was set as a temperature limit at the bondline between the TPS and the underlying structure. Both direct computation and response surface approaches were used to compute the risk. The model was applied to a generic manned space capsule design. The effect of material property uncertainty and MMOD damage on risk of failure were analyzed. A comparison of the direct computation and response surface approach was undertaken.

descent and landing

Mars Sample Return Using Commercial Capabilities: Propulsive Entry, Descent, and Landing of a Capsule Form Vehicle

This paper describes a critical portion of the work that has been done at NASA, Ames Research Center regarding the use of the commercially developed Dragon capsule as a delivery vehicle for the elements of a high priority Mars Sample Return mission. The objective of the investigation was to determine entry and landed mass capabilities that cover anticipated mission conditions. The "Red Dragon", Mars configuration, uses supersonic retro-propulsion, with no required parachute system, to perform Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) maneuvers. The propulsive system proposed for use is the same system that will perform an abort, if necessary, for a human rated version of the Dragon capsule. Standard trajectory analysis tools are applied to publically available information about Dragon and other legacy capsule forms in order to perform the investigation. Trajectory simulation parameters include entry velocity, flight path angle, lift to drag Ratio (L/D), landing site elevation, atmosphere density, and total entry mass, in addition engineering assumptions for the performance of the propulsion system are stated. Mass estimates for major elements of the overall proposed architecture are coupled to this EDL analysis to close the overall architecture. Three synodic launch opportunities, beginning with the 2022 opportunity, define the arrival conditions. Results state the relations between the analysis parameters as well as sensitivities to those parameters. The EDL performance envelope includes landing altitudes between 0 and -4 km referenced to the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter datum as well as minimum and maximum atmosphere density. Total entry masses between 7 and 10 mt are considered with architecture closure occurring between 9.0 and 10 mt. Propellant mass fractions for each major phase of the EDL - Entry, Terminal Descent, and Hazard Avoidance - have been derived. An assessment of the effect of the entry conditions on the Thermal Protection System (TPS) currently in use for Dragon missions shows no significant stressors. A useful payload mass of 2.0 mt is provided and includes mass and grow allowance for a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), Earth Return Vehicle (ERV), and mission unique equipment. The useful payload supports an architecture that receives a sample from another surface asset and sends it directly back to Earth for recovery in a high Earth orbit. The work shows that emerging commercial capabilities as well as previously studied EDL methodologies can be used to efficiently support an important planetary science objective. The work also has applications for human exploration missions that will also use propulsive EDL techniques

EDL

Mars Sample Return Using Commercial Capabilities: Mission Architecture Overview

Mars Sample Return (MSR) is the highest priority science mission for the next decade as recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science. This presentation provides an overview of a feasibility study for a MSR mission in which emerging commercial capabilities are used alongside other sources of mission elements. Goal is to reduce the number of mission systems and launches required to return the samples, with the goal of reducing mission cost.. Major elements required for the MSR mission are described. We report the feasibility of a complete and closed MSR mission design

Red Dragon

Mars Sample Return Using Commercial Capabilities: Propulsive Entry, Descent and Landing

Mars Sample Return (MSR) is the highest priority science mission for the next decade as recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science. The objective of the study was to determine whether emerging commercial capabilities can be integrated into to such a mission. The premise of the study is that commercial capabilities can be more efficient than previously described systems, and by using fewer systems and fewer or less extensive launches, overall mission cost can be reduced. This presentation describes an EDL technique using planned upgrades to the Dragon capsule to perform a Supersonic Retropulsion Entry - Red Dragon concept. Landed Payload capability meets mission requirements for a MSR Architecture that reduces complexity.

Entry

Mars Sample Return: Mars Ascent Vehicle Mission and Technology Requirements

A Mars Sample Return mission is the highest priority science mission for the next decade recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science, the key community input process that guides NASAs science missions. A feasibility study was conducted of a potentially simple and low cost approach to Mars Sample Return mission enabled by the use of developing commercial capabilities. Previous studies of MSR have shown that landing an all up sample return mission with a high mass capacity lander is a cost effective approach. The approach proposed is the use of an emerging commercially available capsule to land the launch vehicle system that would return samples to Earth. This paper describes the mission and technology requirements impact on the launch vehicle system design, referred to as the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV).

ascent

Mars Sample Return: Mars Ascent Vehicle Mission and Technology Requirements

A Mars Sample Return mission is the highest priority science mission for the next decade recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science, the key community input process that guides NASA's science missions. A feasibility study was conducted of a potentially simple and low cost approach to Mars Sample Return mission enabled by the use of new commercial capabilities. Previous studies of MSR have shown that landing an all up sample return mission with a high mass capacity lander is a cost effective approach. The approach proposed is the use of a SpaceX Dragon capsule to land the launch vehicle system that would return samples to Earth. This paper describes the mission and technology requirements impact on the launch vehicle system design, referred to as the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV).

Bowles, Jeffrey V.

Advanced vehicle concepts systems and design analysis studies

The work conducted by the ELORET Institute under this Cooperative Agreement includes the modeling of hypersonic propulsion systems and the evaluation of hypersonic vehicles in general and most recently hypersonic waverider vehicles. This work in hypersonics was applied to the design of a two-stage to orbit launch vehicle which was included in the NASA Access to Space Project. Additional research regarded the Oblique All-Wing (OAW) Project at NASA ARC and included detailed configuration studies of OAW transport aircraft. Finally, work on the modeling of subsonic and supersonic turbofan engines was conducted under this research program.

Waters, Mark H.

Analysis of a hypersonic waverider research vehicle with a hydrocarbon scramjet engine

The results of a feasibility study of a hypersonic waverider research vehicle with a hydrocarbon scramjet engine are presented. The integrated waverider/scramjet geometry is first optimized with a vehicle synthesis code to produce a maximum product of the lift-to-drag ratio and the cycle specific impulse, hence cruise range. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is then employed to provide a nose-to-tail analysis of the system at the on-design conditions. Some differences are noted between the results of the two analysis techniques. A comparison of experimental, engineering analysis and CFD results on a waverider forebody are also included for validation.

Molvik, Gregory A.

Analysis of a hydrocarbon scramjet with augmented preburning

This paper presents the results of a feasibility study of a hydrocarbon scramjet design utilizing an augmented preburner upstream of the main fuel injector locations. The combustor design evaluated here is for a small hypersonic research vehicle. It consists of a preburner into which a small amount of fuel is burned with on-board liquid oxygen and injected into the main airflow, upstream of the main fuel injector locations, thus ensuring that combustion is present and uninterrupted. Two degrees of analysis are presented including a one-dimensional cycle analysis and a complete computational fluid dynamic analysis with finite-rate chemistry and a two-equation turbulence model. Comparison of these analyses show good agreement when the CFD-predicted fuel consumption schedule is used in the cycle analysis.

Molvik, Gregory A.

Comparison of elastic and rigid blade-element rotor models using parallel processing technology for piloted simulations

A piloted comparison of rigid and aeroelastic blade-element rotor models was conducted at the Crew Station Research and Development Facility (CSRDF) at Ames Research Center. A simulation development and analysis tool, FLIGHTLAB, was used to implement these models in real time using parallel processing technology. Pilot comments and qualitative analysis performed both on-line and off-line confirmed that elastic degrees of freedom significantly affect perceived handling qualities. Trim comparisons show improved correlation with flight test data when elastic modes are modeled. The results demonstrate the efficiency with which the mathematical modeling sophistication of existing simulation facilities can be upgraded using parallel processing, and the importance of these upgrades to simulation fidelity.

Hill, Gary

Comparisons of elastic and rigid blade-element rotor models using parallel processing technology for piloted simulations

A piloted comparison of rigid and aeroelastic blade-element rotor models was conducted at the Crew Station Research and Development Facility (CSRDF) at Ames Research Center. A simulation development and analysis tool, FLIGHTLAB, was used to implement these models in real time using parallel processing technology. Pilot comments and quantitative analysis performed both on-line and off-line confirmed that elastic degrees of freedom significantly affect perceived handling qualities. Trim comparisons show improved correlation with flight test data when elastic modes are modeled. The results demonstrate the efficiency with which the mathematical modeling sophistication of existing simulation facilities can be upgraded using parallel processing, and the importance of these upgrades to simulation fidelity.

Hill, Gary

A piloted comparison of elastic and rigid blade-element rotor models using parallel processing technology

A piloted comparison of rigid and aeroelastic blade-element rotor models was conducted at the Crew Station Research and Development Facility (CSRDF) at Ames Research Center. FLIGHTLAB, a new simulation development and analysis tool, was used to implement these models in real time using parallel processing technology. Pilot comments and quantitative analysis performed both on-line and off-line confirmed that elastic degrees of freedom significantly affect perceived handling qualities. Trim comparisons show improved correlation with flight test data when elastic modes are modeled. The results demonstrate the efficiency with which the mathematical modeling sophistication of existing simulation facilities can be upgraded using parallel processing, and the importance of these upgrades to simulation fidelity.

Hill, Gary

A comparison of real-time blade-element and rotor-map helicopter simulations using parallel processing

In recent efforts by NASA, the Army, and Advanced Rotorcraft Technology, Inc. (ART), the application of parallel processing techniques to real-time simulation have been studied. Traditionally, real-time helicopter simulations have omitted the modeling of high-frequency phenomena in order to achieve real-time operation on affordable computers. Parallel processing technology can now provide the means for significantly improving the fidelity of real-time simulation, and one specific area for improvement is the modeling of rotor dynamics. This paper focuses on the results of a piloted simulation in which a traditional rotor-map mathematical model was compared with a more sophisticated blade-element mathematical model that had been implemented using parallel processing hardware and software technology.

Corliss, Lloyd

Dynamic modelling and estimation of the error due to asynchronism in a redundant asynchronous multiprocessor system

The use of Redundant Asynchronous Multiprocessor System to achieve ultrareliable Fault Tolerant Control Systems shows great promise. The development has been hampered by the inability to determine whether differences in the outputs of redundant CPU's are due to failures or to accrued error built up by slight differences in CPU clock intervals. This study derives an analytical dynamic model of the difference between redundant CPU's due to differences in their clock intervals and uses this model with on-line parameter identification to idenitify the differences in the clock intervals. The ability of this methodology to accurately track errors due to asynchronisity generate an error signal with the effect of asynchronisity removed and this signal may be used to detect and isolate actual system failures.

Huynh, Loc C.