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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2022

Multi-Agent Control Approach to the Stability of Linear Deployable Systems

Collisions and undesired dynamic responses may occur during the expansion phase of deployable elements on a spacecraft. This problem is more pronounced in large and complex deployable elements where characterization of transient dynamics using testing and simulation can be challenging. This paper introduces a multi-agent control theory approach to address the problem of collisions and transient behavior in deployable lattice systems. We introduce the graph theoretic and relative error vector-based state-space structures to represent the geometry of a lattice-based deploy system. We show that under the assumption of almost-strict dissipativity, the closed-loop feedback gains of the relative error dynamics are the spring and damper constants in the structure. Moreover, we introduce the control perspective of shaping transient dynamics using eigenstructure assignment and balanced coordinate transformation.

Pablos, Juan L. de↗
NASA NTRS1990

Payload deployment systems and advanced manipulators

The results of discussions on future development of avionics to support payload deployment systems and advanced manipulators are discussed. The discussions summarized here were held during the Space Transportation Avionics Technology Symposium in Williamsburg, Virginia on November 7 to 9, 1989. Symposium participants agreed that this subpanel would have benefitted from more participation by users. It was suggested that inputs from Shuttle payload users should be incorporated, either by direct discussions with users or by incorporating comments from users as kept by Payload Accommodations. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Goddard, and Langley, as builders of payloads, and the Space Station Utilization Office could also provide useful inputs. Other potential users for future systems should also be identified as early as possible to determine what they anticipate their needs to be. Symposium participants also recognized that payload deployment is normally not a safety critical area, and as such, is vulnerable to budget cuts that defer costs from development to operations. This does give opportunities for upgrades of operational systems, but these must be very cost effective to compete with vehicle requirements that enhance safety or increase lifetime.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1989

Small Expendable-tether Deployer System (SEDS) development status

Plans for proposed flight of the Small Expendable-tether Deployer System (SEDS) on a Delta II launch vehicle are discussed. The SEDS tether concept and mission requirements are outlined. Results are presented from calculations of the tether dynamics and computer modeling to determine tether behavior. The tether's thermal characteristics, electronics system, material, data collection procedure, payload, and orbital trace are described.

Harrison, James K.↗
NASA NTRS1990

First evaluation of the main parameters in the dynamics of the Small Expendable Deployer System (SEDS) for a tethered satellite

The dynamics of the motion of the Small Expendable Deployer System (SEDS) is studied by using a simplified model in which no external forces (except the gravity gradient field) are applied on the tethered body and the tether is assumed massless. The dynamics of SEDS operation is modeled as a sequence of two phases: the deployment phase and the swing phase. For the first one the velocity dependent forces are found to force the tether forward from the local vertical. When the deployment ends, Coriolis effects vanish and the swing phase begins, which is characterized by a wide free libration. The time duration as well as velocity, acceleration and tension of the tethered body are estimated for both deployment and swing phases.

Deluca, Luigi↗
NASA NTRS1989

Initial flight test of a ground deployed system for flying qualities assessment

In order to provide a safe, repeatable, precise, high-gain flying qualities task a ground deployed system was developed and tested at the NASA Ames Research Center's Dryden Flight Research Facility. This system, the adaptable target lighting array system (ATLAS), is based on the German Aerospace Research Establishment's ground attack test equipment (GRATE). These systems provide a flying-qualities task, emulating the ground-attack task with ground deployed lighted targets. These targets light in an unpredictable sequence and the pilot has to aim the aircraft at whichever target is lighted. Two flight-test programs were used to assess the suitability of ATLAS. The first program used the United States Air Force (USAF) NT-33A variability stability aircraft to establish that ATLAS provided a task suitable for use in flying qualities research. A head-up display (HUD) tracking task was used for comparison. The second program used the X-29A forward-swept wing aircraft to demonstrate that the ATLAS task was suitable for assessing the flying qualities of a specific experimental aircraft. In this program, the ground-attack task was used for comparison. All pilots who used ATLAS found it be highly satisfactory and thought it to be superior to the other tasks used in flying qualities evaluations. It was recommended that ATLAS become a standard for flying qualities evaluations.

Shafer, Mary F.↗
NASA NTRS2002

The Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS)

This Annual Report covers the following main topics: 1) Updated Reference Mission. The reference ProSEDS (Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System) mission is evaluated for an updated launch date in the Summer of 2002 and for the new 80-s current operating cycle. Simulations are run for nominal solar activity condition at the time of launch and for extreme conditions of dynamic forcing. Simulations include the dynamics of the system, the electrodynamics of the bare tether, the neutral atmosphere and the thermal response of the tether. 2) Evaluation of power delivered by the tether system. The power delivered by the tethered system during the battery charging mode is computed under the assumption of minimum solar activity for the new launch date. 3) Updated Deployment Control Profiles and Simulations. A number of new deployment profiles were derived based on the latest results of the deployment ground tests. The flight profile is then derived based on the friction characteristics obtained from the deployment tests of the F-1 tether. 4) Analysis/estimation of deployment flight data. A process was developed to estimate the deployment trajectory of the endmass with respect to the Delta and the final libration amplitude from the data of the deployer turn counters. This software was tested successfully during the ProSEDS mission simulation at MSFC (Marshall Space Flight Center) EDAC (Environments Data Analysis Center).

Lorenzini, Enrico C.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Robotics Instrument Deployment System Surface Operations for the InSight Mars Lander

This paper describes NASA’s first successful precision robotics instrument placement and release on another astronomical body since Apollo. This operations breakthrough enabled NASA’s InSight lander to detect the first known ‘marsquake’, a faint trembling of Mars’s surface on 6th April 2019, 128 Martian days after landing on Mars on the 26th November 2018. This is the first quake detected on an astronomical body other than Earth or the Moon. This paper describes the operations of the Robotics Instrument Deployment Systems (IDS) that successfully deployed the InSight science payload to the surface of Mars. The payload includes a seismometer (SEIS), Wind and Thermal Shield (WTS) and Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), enabling scientists to perform the first comprehensive surface-based geophysical investigation of Mars’ interior structure. In addition, the paper describes the IDS planning and command sequence generation process used for the successful deployment of SEIS, WTS and HP3 on the surface of Mars. The paper concludes with recommendations based on the experience gained from InSight IDS operations. This includes identified technology gaps in the operations of in-situ manipulators for planetary exploration.

Yen, Jeng↗
NASA NTRS1984

The electron Echo 6 mechanical deployment systems

The Echo 6 sounding rocket payload was flown on a Terrier boosted Black Brant vehicle on March 30, 1983. The experiment requirements resulted in the new design of a rocket propelled Throw Away Detector System (TADS) with onboard Doppler radar, a free-flyer forward experiment designated the Plasma Diagnostic Package (PDP), and numerous other basic systems. The design, developmental testing, and flight preparations of the payload and the mechanical deployment systems are described.

Meyers, S. C.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Demonstrations of Deployable Systems for Robotic Precursor Missions

NASA is developing thin-film based, deployable propulsion, power, and communication systems for small spacecraft that serve as enabling technologies for exploration of the solar system. By leveraging recent advancements in thin films, photovoltaics, deployment systems, and miniaturized electronics, new mission-level capabilities will be demonstrated aboard small spacecraft enabling a new generation of frequent, inexpensive, and highly capable robotic precursor missions with goals extensible to future human exploration. Specifically, thin-film technologies are allowing the development and use of solar sails for propulsion, small, lightweight photovoltaics for power, and omnidirectional antennas for communication as demonstrated by recent advances on the Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout and Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna (LISA-T) projects.

Dervan, J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Research and Development of Satellites, Small Expendable Deployer System (SEDS)

The work proposed in this task order was successfully accomplished. This is reflected in the approval by three NASA centers of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Satellite (SEDSAT) to fly as a payload on the shuttle. All documentation necessary for evaluation of the satellite as a Shuttle payload was submitted and approved by the appropriate safety boards. The Small Expendable Deployer System - SEDS - Earth Atmosphere and Space Imaging System (SEASIS) instrument was demonstrated to work and its inclusion as a SEDSAT payload was accomplished in the task period. Finally, the SEDSAT interface to the NASA GSFC PES was approved by MSFC and GSFC with no substantive issues outstanding. As of the end of the contract date all milestones were met. However the NASA MSFC SEDS program was canceled by the center. Since that time SEDSAT has gone on to be manifested on a Delta vehicle.

Wingo, Dennis Ray↗
NASA NTRS1990

Drop deployment system for crystal growth apparatus

A crystal growth apparatus is presented. It utilizes a vapor diffusion method for growing protein crystals, and particularly such an apparatus wherein a ball mixer is used to mix the fluids that form a drop within which crystals are grown. Particular novelty of this invention lies in utilizing a ball mixer to completely mix the precipitate and protein solutions prior to forming the drop. Additional novelty lies in details of construction of the vials, the fluid deployment system, and the fluid storage system of the preferred embodiment.

Rhodes, Percy↗
NASA NTRS2002

Thermal Orbital Environmental Parameter Study on the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS) Using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) Data

The natural thermal environmental parameters used on the Space Station Program (SSP 30425) were generated by the Space Environmental Effects Branch at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) utilizing extensive data from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), a series of satellites which measured low earth orbit (LEO) albedo and outgoing long-wave radiation. Later, this temporal data was presented as a function of averaging times and orbital inclination for use by thermal engineers in NASA Technical Memorandum TM 4527. The data was not presented in a fashion readily usable by thermal engineering modeling tools and required knowledge of the thermal time constants and infrared versus solar spectrum sensitivity of the hardware being analyzed to be used properly. Another TM was recently issued as a guideline for utilizing these environments (NASA/TM-2001-211221) with more insight into the utilization by thermal analysts. This paper gives a top-level overview of the environmental parameters presented in the TM and a study of the effects of implementing these environments on an ongoing MSFC project, the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS), compared to conventional orbital parameters that had been historically used.

Sharp, John R.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Deployable System for Crash-Load Attenuation

An externally deployable honeycomb structure is investigated with respect to crash energy management for light aircraft. The new concept utilizes an expandable honeycomb-like structure to absorb impact energy by crushing. Distinguished by flexible hinges between cell wall junctions that enable effortless deployment, the new energy absorber offers most of the desirable features of an external airbag system without the limitations of poor shear stability, system complexity, and timing sensitivity. Like conventional honeycomb, once expanded, the energy absorber is transformed into a crush efficient and stable cellular structure. Other advantages, afforded by the flexible hinge feature, include a variety of deployment options such as linear, radial, and/or hybrid deployment methods. Radial deployment is utilized when omnidirectional cushioning is required. Linear deployment offers better efficiency, which is preferred when the impact orientation is known in advance. Several energy absorbers utilizing different deployment modes could also be combined to optimize overall performance and/or improve system reliability as outlined in the paper. Results from a series of component and full scale demonstration tests are presented as well as typical deployment techniques and mechanisms. LS-DYNA analytical simulations of selected tests are also presented.

Kellas, Sotiris↗
NASA NTRS2014

High Gain Antenna System Deployment Mechanism Integration, Characterization, and Lessons Learned

The integration and deployment testing of the High Gain Antenna System for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission is summarized. The HGAS deployment mechanism is described. The gravity negation system configuration and its influence on vertical, ground-based, deployment tests are presented with test data and model predictions. A focus is made on the late discovery and resolution of a potentially mission degrading deployment interference condition. The interaction of the flight deployment mechanism, gravity negation mechanism, and use of dynamic modeling is described and lessons learned presented.

000000↗
NASA NTRS2014

High Gain Antenna System Deployment Mechanism Integration, Characterization, and Lessons Learned

The integration and deployment testing of the High Gain Antenna System (HGAS) for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission is summarized. The HGAS deployment mechanism is described. The gravity negation system configuration and its influence on vertical, ground-based deployment tests are presented with test data and model predictions. A focus is made on the late discovery and resolution of a potentially mission-degrading deployment interference condition. The interaction of the flight deployment mechanism, gravity-negation mechanism, and use of dynamic modeling is described and lessons learned presented

Parong, Fil↗
NASA NTRS2003

The Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS)

This Final Report covers the following main topics: 1) Brief Description of ProSEDS; 2) Mission Analysis; 3) Dynamics Reference Mission; 4) Dynamics Stability; 5) Deployment Control; 6) Updated System Performance; 7) Updated Mission Analysis; 8) Updated Dynamics Reference Mission; 9) Updated Deployment Control Profiles and Simulations; 10) Updated Reference Mission; 11) Evaluation of Power Delivered by the Tether; 12) Deployment Control Profile Ref. #78 and Simulations; 13) Kalman Filters for Mission Estimation; 14) Analysis/Estimation of Deployment Flight Data; 15) Comparison of ED Tethers and Electrical Thrusters; 16) Dynamics Analysis for Mission Starting at a Lower Altitude; 17) Deployment Performance at a Lower Altitude; 18) Satellite Orbit after a Tether Cut; 19) Deployment with Shorter Dyneema Tether Length; 20) Interactive Software for ED Tethers.

Lorenzini, Enrico C.↗