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NASA NTRS2017

Effect of Solution pH and Chloride Concentration on Akaganeite Precipitation: Implications for Akaganeite Formation on Mars

Akaganeite (Beta-FeOOH, chloride-containing Fe(III) (hydr)oxide) has been recently discovered on the surface of Mars by the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover in Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars [1] and from orbit by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in Robert Sharp crater and Antoniadi basin [2]. However, the mechanism and aqueous environmental conditions of akaganeite formation (e.g., pH and chloride concentration) remain unknown. We have investigated formation of akaganeite through Fe(III) hydrolysis at variable initial pH and chloride concentrations. The formed Fe(III) precipitates were characterized by instruments similar to instruments on Mars robotic spacecraft. Syntheses were performed through hydrolysis of Fe(III) perchlorate with addition of Na cloride (Fe/Cl ratio between 0.5 and 5) and at initial pH of 1.5, 2, 4, 6 and 8 at 90degC. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed formation of akaganeite alone or in mixture with goethite, hematite and ferrihydrite at all initial pHs and Fe/Cl ratio between 0.5 and 2 while akaganeite precipitated only at pH 1.5 and Fe/Cl greater than2. Chloride content of akaganeite was affected by initial pH and decreased from 20-60 mg/g at pH 1.5 to less than 0.1 mg/g at pH 8. The synthesized akaganeite samples were also characterized by Mössbauer and infrared spectroscopy and volatiles were analysed by thermal and evolved gas analysis. The obtained characterization data will be compared to published data from rover and orbital missions [1-3] to determine martian akaganeite composition, crystallinity and formation conditions.

Peretyazhko, T. A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) Pathfinder for Artemis Gateway

The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission was developed by NASA in collaboration with Advanced Space, LLC of Westminster, Colorado. This technology demonstration mission serves as a pathfinder for near rectilinear halo orbit (NHRO) operations around the Moon. The NHRO, (Perilune = 3,200 km; Apolune = 70,000 km) is the intended orbit for NASA’s Artemis Gateway, a small, human-tended space station planned for lunar orbit. The CAPSTONE mission will validate simulations and confirm operational planning for Gateway while also validating performance of navigation and station-keeping requirements for Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element. Thus, this mission will provide operational experience to NASA, commercial, and international missions for operations in a demanding orbital regime. The CAPSTONE mission consists of a 12-unit (U) CubeSat developed, integrated, and tested by the Terran Orbital Corporation that carries a payload communications system capable of cross-link ranging with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). CAPSTONE contains a chip scale atomic clock (CSAC) for a one-way ranging experiment with NASA’s Deep Space Network, a dedicated payload flight computer for software demonstration, and a camera. The launch, coordinated by NASA’s Launch Services Program, was provided by Rocket Lab on its Electron launch vehicle utilizing their Photon upper stage to deploy the CAPSTONE spacecraft into lunar orbit. The mission launched June 28, 2022. The CAPSTONE spacecraft deployed from Rocket Lab’s Photon stage and traversed an approximately 4 month highly efficient transfer phase entering the NRHO Novermber 13, 2022 for a six-month primary mission phase. The mission is currently in a twelve-month technology enhancement operations phase. The CAPSTONE technology demonstration mission is lead by Advanced Space, LLC. Spacecraft development and mission operations is conducted by Terran Orbital Corporation of Irvine, California. Noted accomplishments for the CAPSTONE mission include demonstration of the accessibility of NHROs, validation of key operational concepts in the NHRO environment, laying the foundation for commercial support of future lunar operations, and accelerating the availability of peer-to-peer navigation capabilities provided by the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS). The CAPSTONE mission is funded through NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program, which is one of several programs within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program is chartered to develop and demonstrate technologies to enhance and expand the capabilities of small spacecraft with a particular focus on enabling new mission architectures through the use of small spacecraft, expanding the reach of small spacecraft to new destinations, and augmenting future missions with supporting small spacecraft. The CAPSTONE mission launch was provided by NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Missions Directorate’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division. Coordination and acquisition of the launch was managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program. The CAPSTONE mission and project status will be presented.

Elwood Agasid↗
NASA NTRS2007

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Aerobraking Daily Operations and Collision Avoidance

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reached Mars on March 10, 2006 and performed a Mars orbit insertion maneuver of 1 km/s to enter into a large elliptical orbit. Three weeks later, aerobraking operations began and lasted about five months. Aerobraking utilized the atmospheric drag to reduce the large elliptical orbit into a smaller, near circular orbit. At the time of MRO aerobraking, there were three other operational spacecraft orbiting Mars and the navigation team had to minimize the possibility of a collision. This paper describes the daily operations of the MRO navigation team during this time as well as the collision avoidance strategy development and implementation.

Long, Stacia M.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Texturecam: A Smart Camera for Microscale, Mesoscale, and Deep Space Applications

The TextureCam project is developing a 'smart camera' that can classify geologic surfaces in planetary images. This would allow autonomous spacecraft to collect data opportunisitcally during intervals between communications with Earth, such as during long traverses. Its surface classifications can identify new targets that were not anticipated in advance. The spacecraft might use this information to target these features with high-resolution instruments such as spectrometers nd narrow-field cameras. Classifications could also inform data 'triage' decisions, identifying high value images for prioritized downlink. Finally, the surface classification can serve as compressed maps of image content. Each of these strategies can improve the science data returned at each command cycle and speed reconnaissance during site survey and astrobiology investigation. Our first year of development has completed the image analysis algorithms and validated them in software tests. Here we survey these initial results and explore several application areas relevant to Mars and beyond.

Hyperspectral imagery↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) Pathfinder for Artemis Gateway

The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission was developed by NASA in collaboration with Advanced Space, LLC of Westminster, Colorado. This technology demonstration mission serves as a pathfinder for near rectilinear halo orbit (NHRO) operations around the Moon. The NHRO, (Perilune = 3,200 km; Apolune = 70,000 km) is the intended orbit for NASA’s Artemis Gateway, a small, human-tended space station planned for lunar orbit. The CAPSTONE mission will validate simulations and confirm operational planning for Gateway while also validating performance of navigation and stationkeeping requirements for Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element. Therefore, this mission will provide operational experience to NASA, commercial, and international missions for operations in a demanding orbital regime. The CAPSTONE mission consists of a 12-unit (U)+ CubeSat developed, integrated, and tested by the Terran Orbital Corporation that carries a payload communications system capable of crosslink ranging with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). CAPSTONE contains a chip-scale atomic clock (CSAC) for a one-way ranging experiment with NASA’s Deep Space Network, a dedicated payload flight computer for software demonstration, and a camera. The launch, coordinated by NASA’s Launch Services Program, was provided by Rocket Lab on its Electron launch vehicle using their Photon upper stage to deploy the CAPSTONE spacecraft. The mission launched June 28, 2022. The CAPSTONE spacecraft deployed from the Photon stage and traversed an approximately 4-month, highly fuel-efficient transfer phase entering the NRHO November 13, 2022, for a six-month primary mission phase. The mission is currently in a twelve-month technology enhancement operations phase. The CAPSTONE technology demonstration mission is led by Advanced Space, LLC. Spacecraft development and mission operations are conducted by Terran Orbital Corporation of Irvine, California. Noted accomplishments for the CAPSTONE mission include demonstrating the accessibility of NHROs; validating key operational concepts in the NHRO environment; laying the foundation for commercial support of future lunar operations; and accelerating the availability of peer-to-peer navigation capabilities provided by the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS). The CAPSTONE mission is funded through NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program, which is one of several programs within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program is chartered to develop and demonstrate technologies to enhance and expand the capabilities of small spacecraft with a particular focus on enabling new mission architectures through the use of small spacecraft, expanding the reach of small spacecraft to new destinations, and augmenting future missions with supporting small spacecraft. The CAPSTONE mission launch was provided by NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Missions Directorate’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division. Coordination and acquisition of the launch was managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program. The CAPSTONE mission and project status will be presented.

Elwood Agasid↗
NASA NTRS2007

An Overview of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Science Mission

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is the latest addition to the suite of missions on or orbiting Mars as part of the NASA Mars Exploration Program. Launched on 12 August 2005, the orbiter successfully entered Mars orbit on 10 March 2006 and finished aerobraking on 30 August 2006. Now in its near-polar, near-circular, low-altitude (approximately 300 km), 3 p.m. orbit, the spacecraft is operating its payload of six scientific instruments throughout a one-Mars-year Primary Science Phase (PSP) of global mapping, regional survey, and targeted observations. Eight scientific investigations were chosen for MRO, two of which use either the spacecraft accelerometers or tracking of the spacecraft telecom signal to acquire data needed for analysis. Six instruments, including three imaging systems, a visible-near infrared spectrometer, a shallow-probing subsurface radar, and a thermal-infrared profiler, were selected to complement and extend the capabilities of current working spacecraft at Mars. Whether observing the atmosphere, surface, or subsurface, the MRO instruments are designed to achieve significantly higher resolution while maintaining coverage comparable to the current best observations. The requirements to return higher-resolution data, to target routinely from a low-altitude orbit, and to operate a complex suite of instruments were major challenges successfully met in the design and build of the spacecraft, as well as by the mission design. Calibration activities during the seven-month cruise to Mars and limited payload operations during a three-day checkout prior to the start of aerobraking demonstrated, where possible, that the spacecraft and payload still had the functions critical to the science mission. Two critical events, the deployment of the SHARAD radar antenna and the opening of the CRISM telescope cover, were successfully accomplished in September 2006. Normal data collection began 7 November 2006 after solar conjunction. As part of its science mission, MRO will also aid identification and characterization of the most promising sites for future landed missions, both in terms of safety and in terms of the scientific potential for future discovery. Ultimately, MRO data will advance our understanding of how Mars has evolved and by which processes that change occurs, all within a framework of identifying the presence, extent, and role of water in shaping the planet s climate over time.

astronomical instruments↗
NASA NTRS2010

Tracking Data Certification for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

This paper details the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Facility (FDF) tracking data certification effort of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Space Communications Network (SCN) complement of tracking stations consisting of the NASA White Sands 1 antenna (WS1), and the commercial provider Universal Space Network (USN) antennas at South Point, Hawaii; Dongara Australia; Weilheim, Germany; and Kiruna, Sweden. Certification assessment required the cooperation and coordination of parties not under the control of either the LRO project or ground stations as uplinks on cooperating spacecraft were necessary. The LRO range-tracking requirement of 10m 1 sigma could be satisfactorily demonstrated using any typical spacecraft capable of range tracking. Though typical Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) or Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting (GEO) spacecraft may be adequate for range certification, their measurement dynamics and noise would be unacceptable for proper Doppler certification of 1-3mm/sec 1 sigma. As LRO will orbit the Moon, it was imperative that a suitable target spacecraft be utilized which can closely mimic the expected lunar orbital Doppler dynamics of +/-1.6km/sec and +/-1.5m/sq sec to +/-0.15m/sq sec, is in view of the ground stations, supports coherent S-Band Doppler tracking measurements, and can be modeled by the FDF. In order to meet the LRO metric tracking data specifications, the SCN ground stations employed previously uncertified numerically controlled tracking receivers. Initial certification testing revealed certain characteristics of the units that required resolution before being granted certification.

Morinelli, Patrick J.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Planetary Protection Compliance Of NASA Missions Past, Present and Future

NASA monitors its spacecraft from a planetary protection (PP) perspective, to ensure continued compliance with planetary protection requirements. This report to COSPAR on previous, ongoing and future missions will describe the issues and considerations regarding the PP implementation and compliance status of each mission, with changes noted as appropriate from previous reports. Missions not described in other presentations will be covered, including (but not limited to): Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), Juno, New Horizons, Parker Solar Probe, Dragonfly, Artemis I and its secondary payloads, and NASA partnered missions.

NASA↗
NASA NTRS2008

Automatic Hazard Detection for Landers

Unmanned planetary landers to date have landed 'blind'; that is, without the benefit of onboard landing hazard detection and avoidance systems. This constrains landing site selection to very benign terrain,which in turn constrains the scientific agenda of missions. The state of the art Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) technology can land a spacecraft on Mars somewhere within a 20-100km landing ellipse.Landing ellipses are very likely to contain hazards such as craters, discontinuities, steep slopes, and large rocks, than can cause mission-fatal damage. We briefly review sensor options for landing hazard detection and identify a perception approach based on stereo vision and shadow analysis that addresses the broadest set of missions. Our approach fuses stereo vision and monocular shadow-based rock detection to maximize spacecraft safety. We summarize performance models for slope estimation and rock detection within this approach and validate those models experimentally. Instantiating our model of rock detection reliability for Mars predicts that this approach can reduce the probability of failed landing by at least a factor of 4 in any given terrain. We also describe a rock detector/mapper applied to large-high-resolution images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) for landing site characterization and selection for Mars missions.

hazard detection↗
NASA NTRS2008

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter In-flight Anomalies and Lessons Learned: An Update

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission has as its primary objectives: advance our understanding of the current Mars climate, the processes that have formed and modified the surface of the planet and the extent to which water has played a role in surface processes; identify sites of possible aqueous activity indicating environments that may have been or are conducive to biological activity; and thus identify and characterize sites for future landed missions; and provide forward and return relay services for current and future Mars landed assets. MRO's crucial role in the long term strategy for Mars exploration requires a high level of reliability during its 5.4 year mission. This requires an architecture which incorporates extensive redundancy and cross-strapping. Because of the distances and hence light-times involved, the spacecraft itself must be able to utilize this redundancy in responding to time-critical failures. For cases where fault protection is unable to recognize a potentially threatening condition, either due to known limitations or software flaws, intervention by ground operations is required. These aspects of MRO's design were discussed in a previous paper [Ref. 1]. This paper provides an update to the original paper, describing MRO's significant in-flight anomalies over the past year, with lessons learned for redundancy and fault protection architectures and for ground operations.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter↗
NASA NTRS1975

The gravity and shape of the moon

This review discusses the current knowledge of the gravity and geometry of the moon, and their implications as to lunar structure. Measurements pertaining to the gravity field are, first and foremost, Doppler tracking of spacecraft that have orbited the moon, but also the laser ranging from the earth to the moon and the gravity meters and accelerometers landed with the Apollo spacecraft. Measurements pertaining to the geometry include (1) those related to the shape: the metric photography and laser altimeters on Apollo 15, 16, and 17; the electromagnetic sounder on Apollo 17; the landmark tracking from earlier Apollo orbiters; and occupations, plus (2) measurements related to the orientation: the laser ranging and interferometry from the earth. The review does not cover determinations of topography from photography taken for geologic or landing reconnaissance purposes. The discussion of tectonic implications is limited to inferences of a quantitative nature. The emphasis is on work since 1970; see Kaula [1969, 1971] for reviews of earlier work.

William M. Kaula↗
NASA NTRS2014

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Orbit Determination Accuracy Analysis

LRO definitive and predictive accuracy requirements were easily met in the nominal mission orbit, using the LP150Q lunar gravity model. center dot Accuracy of the LP150Q model is poorer in the extended mission elliptical orbit. center dot Later lunar gravity models, in particular GSFC-GRAIL-270, improve OD accuracy in the extended mission. center dot Implementation of a constrained plane when the orbit is within 45 degrees of the Earth-Moon line improves cross-track accuracy. center dot Prediction accuracy is still challenged during full-Sun periods due to coarse spacecraft area modeling - Implementation of a multi-plate area model with definitive attitude input can eliminate prediction violations. - The FDF is evaluating using analytic and predicted attitude modeling to improve full-Sun prediction accuracy. center dot Comparison of FDF ephemeris file to high-precision ephemeris files provides gross confirmation that overlap compares properly assess orbit accuracy.

Gravitation↗
NASA NTRS2016

Frequency-Range Distribution of Boulders Around Cone Crater: Relevance to Landing Site Hazard Avoidance

Boulders represent a landing hazard that must be addressed in the planning of future landings on the Moon. A boulder under a landing leg can contribute to deck tilt and boulders can damage spacecraft during landing. Using orbital data to characterize boulder populations at locations where landers have safely touched down (Apollo, Luna, Surveyor, and Chang'e-3 sites) is important for determining landing hazard criteria for future missions. Additionally, assessing the distribution of boulders can address broader science issues, e.g., how far craters distribute boulders and how this distribution varies as a function of crater size and age. The availability of new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images [1] enables the use of boulder size- and range frequency distributions for a variety of purposes [2-6]. Boulders degrade over time and primarily occur around young or fresh craters that are large enough to excavate bedrock. Here we use NAC images to analyze boulder distributions around Cone crater (340 m diameter) at the Apollo 14 site. Cone crater (CC) was selected because it is the largest crater where astronaut surface photography is available for a radial traverse to the rim. Cone crater is young (approximately 29 Ma [7]) relative to the time required to break down boulders [3,8], giving us a data point for boulder range-frequency distributions (BRFDs) as a function of crater age.

Clegg-Watkins, R. N.↗
NASA NTRS2019

New Moon Explorer Mission Concept

New Moon Explorer (NME) is a smallsat reconnaissance mission concept to explore Earth’s ‘New Moon’, the recently discovered Earth orbital companion asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (formerly 2016HO3), using solar sail propulsion. NME would determine Kamoʻoalewa’s spin rate, pole position, shape, structure, mass, density, chemical composition, temperature, thermal inertia, regolith characteristics, and spectral type using onboard instrumentation. If flown, NME would demonstrate multiple enabling technologies, including solar sail propulsion, large-area thin film power generation, and small spacecraft technology tailored for interplanetary space missions. Leveraging the solar sail technology and mission expertise developed by NASA for the Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout mission, affordably learning more about our newest near neighbor is now a possibility. The mission is not yet planned for flight.

Johnson, Les↗
NASA NTRS2007

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Operational Aerobraking Phase Assessment

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was inserted into orbit around Mars on March 10, 2005. After a brief delay, it began the process of aerobraking - using the atmospheric drag on the vehicle to reduce orbital period. The aerobraking phase lasted approximately 5 months (April 4 to August 30, 2006), during which teams from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Corporation, and NASA Langley Research Center worked together to monitor and maneuver the spacecraft such that thermal margin on the solar arrays was maintained while schedule margin was upheld to provide a final local mean solar time (LMST) at ascending node of 3:00pm on the final aerobraking orbit. This paper will focus on the contribution of the flight mechanics team at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) during the aerobraking phase of the MRO mission.

Prince, Jill L.↗
NASA NTRS2002

ANTS: Applying A New Paradigm for Lunar and Planetary Exploration

ANTS (Autonomous Nano- Technology Swarm), a mission architecture consisting of a large (1000 member) swarm of picoclass (1 kg) totally autonomous spacecraft with both adaptable and evolvable heuristic systems, is being developed as a NASA advanced mission concept, and is here examined as a paradigm for lunar surface exploration. As the capacity and complexity of hardware and software, demands for bandwidth, and the sophistication of goals for lunar and planetary exploration have increased, greater cost constraints have led to fewer resources and thus, the need to operate spacecraft with less frequent human contact. At present, autonomous operation of spacecraft systems allows great capability of spacecraft to 'safe' themselves and survive when conditions threaten spacecraft safety. To further develop spacecraft capability, NASA is at the forefront of development of new mission architectures which involve the use of Intelligent Software Agents (ISAs), performing experiments in space and on the ground to advance deliberative and collaborative autonomous control techniques. Selected missions in current planning stages require small groups of spacecraft weighing tens, instead of hundreds, of kilograms to cooperate at a tactical level to select and schedule measurements to be made by appropriate instruments onboard. Such missions will be characterizing rapidly unfolding real-time events on a routine basis. The next level of development, which we are considering here, is in the use of autonomous systems at the strategic level, to explore the remote terranes, potentially involving large surveys or detailed reconnaissance.

Clark, P. E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Planetary Protection Compliance of NASA Missions Past, Present and Future

NASA monitors its spacecraft from a planetary protection (PP) perspective, to ensure contin-ued compliance with planetary protection requirements. This report to COSPAR on previous, ongoing and future missions will describe the issues and considerations regarding the PP im-plementation and compliance status of each mission, with changes noted as appropriate from previous reports. Missions not described in other presentations will be covered, including (but not limited to): Mars Odyssey, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), Juno, New Horizons, Parker Solar Probe, Artemis I and its secondary payloads, and NASA partnered missions.

James Benardini↗
NASA NTRS2017

Boulder Distributions at Legacy Landing Sites: Assessing Regolith Production Rates and Landing Site Hazards

Understanding how the distribution of boulders on the lunar surface changes over time is key to understanding small-scale erosion processes and the rate at which rocks become regolith. Boulders degrade over time, primarily as a result of micrometeorite bombardment so their residence time at the surface can inform the rate at which rocks become regolith or become buried within regolith. Because of the gradual degradation of exposed boulders, we expect that the boulder population around an impact crater will decrease as crater age increases. Boulder distributions around craters of varying ages are needed to understand regolith production rates, and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) images provide one of the best tools for conducting these studies. Using NAC images to assess how the distribution of boulders varies as a function of crater age provides key constraints for boulder erosion processes. Boulders also represent a potential hazard that must be addressed in the planning of future lunar landings. A boulder under a landing leg can contribute to deck tilt, and boulders can damage spacecraft during landing. Using orbital data to characterize boulder populations at locations where landers have safely touched down (Apollo, Luna, Surveyor, Chang'e-3) provides validation for landed mission hazard avoidance planning. Additionally, counting boulders at legacy landing sites is useful because: 1) LROC has extensive coverage of these sites at high resolutions (approximately 0.5 meters per pixel). 2) Returned samples from craters at these sites have been radiometrically dated, allowing assessment of how boulder distributions vary as a function of crater age. 3) Surface photos at these sites can be used to correlate with remote sensing measurements.

Watkins, R. N.↗