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Kring, David

Publications and source records attributed to Kring, David.

15 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2018

CubeX: A Compact X-Ray Telescope Enables Both X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging Spectroscopy and Pulsar Timing Based Navigation

This paper describes the miniaturized X-ray telescope payload, CubeX, in the context of a lunar mission. The first part describes the payload in detail, the second part summarizes a small satellite mission concept that utilizes its compact form factor and performance. This instrument can be used for both X-ray fluorescence (XRF) imaging spectroscopy and X-ray pulsar timing-based navigation (XNAV). It combines high angular resolution (<1 arcminutes) Miniature Wolter-I X-ray optics (MiXO) with a common focal plane consisting of high spectral resolution (<150 eV at 1 keV) CMOS X-ray sensors and a high timing resolution (< 1 μsec) SDD X-ray sensor. This novel combination of the instruments enables both XRF measurements and XNAV operations without moving parts, in a small form factor (~1×1×6U, <6 kg). In this paper we illustrate one potential application for a lunar mission concept: The elemental composition of the Moon holds keys to understanding the origin and evolution of both the Moon and the Earth. X-ray fluorescence (XRF), induced either by solar X-ray flux or energetic ions, carries decisive signatures of surface elemental composition. In between XRF observations, CubeX also leverages the technology of high resolution X-ray imaging and time series measurements to conduct XNAV operations and evaluate their performance.

Lunar Science↗
NASA NTRS2017

Impact Record of a Asteroid Regolith Recorded in a Carbonaceous Chrondrite

C-class asteroids frequently exhibit reflectance spectra consistent with thermally metamor-phosed carbonaceous chondrites [1], or a mixture of phyllosilicate-rich material along with regions where they are absent [2]. One particularly important example appears to be asteroid 162173 Ryugu, the target of the Hayabusa 2 mission [1], although most spectra of Ryugu are featureless, suggesting a heterogeneous regolith [3]. Here we explore an alternative cause of dehydration of regolith of C-class asteroids - impact shock melting. Impact shock melting has been proposed to ex-plain some mineralogical characteristics of CB chondrites [4], but has rarely been considered a major process for hydrous carbonaceous chondrites [5]. Jbilet Winselwan (JW) is a very fresh CM breccia from Morocco, with intriguing characteristics. While some lithologies are typical of CM2s (Figure 1, top), other clasts show evidence of brief, though significant impact brecciation and heating. The first evidence for this came from preliminary petrographic and stable isotope studies [6,7]. We contend that highly-brecciated, partially-shocked, and dehydrated lithologies like those in JW dominate C-class asteroid regolith.

Zolensky, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Nature of C Asteroid Regolith Revealed from the Jbilet Winselwan CM Chondrite

C-class asteroids frequently exhibit reflectance spectra consistent with thermally metamorphosed carbonaceous chondrites, or a mixture of phyllosilicate-rich material along with regions where they are absent. One particularly important example appears to be asteroid 162173 Ryugu, the target of the Hayabusa 2 mission, although most spectra of Ryugu are featureless, suggesting a heterogeneous regolith. Here we explore an alternative cause of dehydration of regolith of C-class asteroids - impact shock melting. Impact shock melting has been proposed to ex-plain some mineralogical characteristics of CB chondrites, but has rarely been considered a major process for hydrous carbonaceous chondrites.

Zolensky, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2016

Unique View of C Asteriod Regolith from the Jbilet Winselwan CM Chondrite

C-class asteroids frequently exhibit reflectance spectra consistent with thermally metamor-phosed carbonaceous chondrites, or a mixture of phyllosilicate-rich material along with regions where they are absent. One particularly important example appears to be asteroid 162173 Ryugu, the target of the Hayabusa 2 mission, although most spectra of Ryugu are featureless, suggesting a heterogeneous regolith. Here we explore an alternative cause of dehydration of regolith of C-class asteroids impact shock melting. Impact shock melting has been proposed to explain some mineralogical characteristics of CB chondrites, but has rarely been considered a major process for hydrous carbonaceous chondrites. Jbilet Winselwan (JW) is a very fresh CM breccia from Morocco, with intriguing characteristics. While some lithologies are typical of CM2s, other clasts show evidence of brief, though significant impact brecciation and heating. The first evidence for this came from preliminary petrographic and stable isotope studies. We contend that highly-brecciated, partially-shocked, and dehydrated lithologies like those in JW dominate C-class asteroid regolith.

Zolensky, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2016

Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute: Year Three Annual Report 2016

NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) is pleased to present the 2016 Annual Report. Each year brings new scientific discoveries, technological breakthroughs, and collaborations. The integration of basic research and development, industry and academic partnerships, plus the leveraging of existing technologies, has further opened a scientific window into human exploration. SSERVI sponsorship by the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) continues to enable the exchange of insights between the human exploration and space science communities, paving a clearer path for future space exploration. SSERVI provides a unique environment for scientists and engineers to interact within multidisciplinary research teams. As a virtual institute, the best teaming arrangements can be made irrespective of the geographical location of individuals or laboratory facilities. The interdisciplinary science that ensues from virtual and in-person interactions, both within the teams and across team lines, provides answers to questions that many times cannot be foreseen. Much of this research would not be accomplished except for the catalyzing, collaborative environment enabled by SSERVI. The SSERVI Central Office, located at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, provides the leadership, guidance and technical support that steers the virtual institute. At the start of 2016, our institute had nine U.S. teams, each mid-way through their five-year funding cycle, plus nine international partnerships. However, by the end of the year we were well into the selection of four new domestic teams, selected through NASA's Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) process, and a new international partnership. Understanding that human and robotic exploration is most successful as an international endeavor, international partnerships collaborate with SSERVI domestic teams on a no-exchange of funds basis, but they bring a richness to the institute that is priceless. The international partner teams interact with the domestic teams in a number of ways, including sharing students, scientific insights, and access to facilities. We are proud to introduce our newest partnership with the Astrophysics and Planetology Research Institute (IRAP) in Toulouse, France. In 2016, Principal Investigator Dr. Patrick Pinet assembled a group of French researchers who will contribute scientific and technological expertise related to SSERVI research. SSERVI's domestic teams compete for five-year funding opportunities through proposals to a NASA CAN every few years. Having overlapping proposal selection cycles allows SSERVI to be more responsive to any change in direction NASA might experience, while providing operational continuity for the institute. Allowing new teams to blend with the more seasoned teams preserves corporate memory and expands the realm of collaborative possibilities. A key component of SSERVI's mission is to grow and maintain an integrated research community focused on questions related to the Moon, Near-Earth asteroids, and the moons of Mars. The strong community response to CAN-2 demonstrated the health of that effort. NASA Headquarters conducted the peer-review of 22 proposals early in 2017 and, based on recommendations from the SSERVI Central Office and NASA SSERVI program officers, the NASA selecting officials determined the new teams in the spring of 2017. We are pleased to welcome the CAN-2 teams into the institute, and look forward to the collaborations that will develop with the current teams. The new teams are: The Network for Exploration and Space Science (NESS) team (Principal Investigator (PI) Prof. Jack Burns/U. Colorado); the Exploration Science Pathfinder Research for Enhancing Solar System Observations (ESPRESSO) team (PI Dr. Alex Parker/Southwest Research Institute); the Toolbox for Research and Exploration (TREX) team (PI Dr. Amanda Hendrix/ Planetary Science Institute); and the Radiation Effects on Volatiles and Exploration of Asteroids & Lunar Surfaces (REVEALS) team (PI Prof. Thomas Orlando/ Georgia Institute of Technology). In this report, you will find an overview of the 2016 leadership activities of the SSERVI Central Office, reports prepared by the U.S. teams from CAN-1, and achievements from several of the SSERVI international partners. Reflecting on the past year's discoveries and advancements serves as a potent reminder that there is still a great deal to learn about NASA's target destinations. Innovation in the way we access, sample, measure, visualize, and assess our target destinations is needed for further discovery. At the same time, let us celebrate how far we have come, and strongly encourage a new generation that will make the most of future opportunities.

Pendleton, Yvonne↗
NASA NTRS2013

Large Meteoroid Impact on the Moon 17 March 2013

NASA's routine monitoring of lunar impact flashes has recorded nearly 300 impacts since 2006. On 17 March 2013 the brightest event to date was observed in two 0.35m telescopes at the Marshall Space Flight Center. With a peak red magnitude brighter than 4.3 and an impact flash visible for over 1 second, the impact kinetic energy was equivalent to nearly 5 tons of TNT. A possible association with a meteor shower observed in the Earth's atmosphere will be described. Corresponding crater dimensions and observability of the impact crater by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will also be discussed.

Suggs, Robert M.↗
NASA NTRS2012

A Lunar L2-Farside Exploration and Science Mission Concept with the ORion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and a Teleoperated Lander/Rover

A novel concept is presented in this paper for a human mission to the lunar L2 (Lagrange) point that would be a proving ground for future exploration missions to deep space while also overseeing scientifically important investigations. In an L2 halo orbit above the lunar farside, the astronauts would travel 15% farther from Earth than did the Apollo astronauts and spend almost three times longer in deep space. Such missions would validate the Orion MPCV's life support systems, would demonstrate the high-speed re-entry capability needed for return from deep space, and would measure astronauts' radiation dose from cosmic rays and solar flares to verify that Orion would provide sufficient protection, as it is designed to do. On this proposed mission, the astronauts would teleoperate landers and rovers on the unexplored lunar farside, which would obtain samples from the geologically interesting farside and deploy a low radio frequency telescope. Sampling the South Pole-Aitkin basin (one of the oldest impact basins in the solar system) is a key science objective of the 2011 Planetary Science Decadal Survey. Observations of the Universe's first stars/galaxies at low radio frequencies are a priority of the 2010 Astronomy & Astrophysics Decadal Survey. Such telerobotic oversight would also demonstrate capability for human and robotic cooperation on future, more complex deep space missions.

Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV)↗
NASA NTRS2012

Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) 2010 Science Operations: Operational Approaches and Lessons Learned for Managing Science during Human Planetary Surface Missions

Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert RATS) is a multi-year series of hardware and operations tests carried out annually in the high desert of Arizona on the San Francisco Volcanic Field. These activities are designed to exercise planetary surface hardware and operations in conditions where long-distance, multi-day roving is achievable, and they allow NASA to evaluate different mission concepts and approaches in an environment less costly and more forgiving than space.The results from the RATS tests allows election of potential operational approaches to planetary surface exploration prior to making commitments to specific flight and mission hardware development. In previous RATS operations, the Science Support Room has operated largely in an advisory role, an approach that was driven by the need to provide a loose science mission framework that would underpin the engineering tests. However, the extensive nature of the traverse operations for 2010 expanded the role of the science operations and tested specific operational approaches. Science mission operations approaches from the Apollo and Mars-Phoenix missions were merged to become the baseline for this test. Six days of traverse operations were conducted during each week of the 2-week test, with three traverse days each week conducted with voice and data communications continuously available, and three traverse days conducted with only two 1-hour communications periods per day. Within this framework, the team evaluated integrated science operations management using real-time, tactical science operations to oversee daily crew activities, and strategic level evaluations of science data and daily traverse results during a post-traverse planning shift. During continuous communications, both tactical and strategic teams were employed. On days when communications were reduced to only two communications periods per day, only a strategic team was employed. The Science Operations Team found that, if communications are good and down-linking of science data is ensured, high quality science returns is possible regardless of communications. What is absent from reduced communications is the scientific interaction between the crew on the planet and the scientists on the ground. These scientific interactions were a critical part of the science process and significantly improved mission science return over reduced communications conditions. The test also showed that the quality of science return is not measurable by simple numerical quantities but is, in fact, based on strongly non-quantifiable factors, such as the interactions between the crew and the Science Operations Teams. Although the metric evaluation data suggested some trends, there was not sufficient granularity in the data or specificity in the metrics to allow those trends to be understood on numerical data alone.

Eppler, Dean↗
NASA NTRS1996

Precise Chemical Analyses of Planetary Surfaces

We identify the chemical elements and element ratios that should be analyzed to address many of the issues identified by the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX). We determined that most of these issues require two sensitive instruments to analyze the necessary complement of elements. In addition, it is useful in many cases to use one instrument to analyze the outermost planetary surface (e.g. to determine weathering effects), while a second is used to analyze a subsurface volume of material (e.g., to determine the composition of unaltered planetary surface material). This dual approach to chemical analyses will also facilitate the calibration of orbital and/or Earth-based spectral observations of the planetary body. We determined that in many cases the scientific issues defined by COMPLEX can only be fully addressed with combined packages of instruments that would supplement the chemical data with mineralogic or visual information.

Kring, David↗