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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Developing a Vision for Heliophysics Infrastructure: The LIKED Resource and the DIARieS Ecosystem

Heliophysics data and computational infrastracture are not equipped for 21st science, suffering from holes in the know-how to build better systems. Without a clear vision, efforts to improve the infrastructure have been incremental and incoherent. This poster presents both the vision and the technology required: an online LIbrary KnowledgE and Discovery (LIKED) resource for discovering and implementing knowledge, data, and infrastructure resources; and an online analysis ecosystem to simplify Discovery, Implementation, Analysis, Reproducibility, and Sharing (DIARieS) of scientific results and environments. The LIKED and DIARieS solutions adopt FAIR data principles and the best practices from the budding field of open science. The proposed new infrastructure components will close many of the current gaps in heliophysics’ infrastructure, such as the ability to search for data and knowledge by phenomenon across domains, and to find software and examples relevant to the desired data set (including model data). Further, these components will enable community members to more efficiently use the resources already present and improve upon the content via a community-curated and trusted library. Combining these solutions lowers the barriers to heliophysics resources for all, increasing the return on our investments. Finally, the structure behind these ideas are topic-agnostic, so they are fully extensible to other fields, leading to invaluable connections to other disciplines. Just as with the development and construction of a long-term satellite mission, we must work together as a community to build a vision of the infrastructure that will most benefit the community, and then collaborate to construct, assemble, and test all the necessary pieces individually and as a unit. Our purpose in presenting this work is to not only describe the proposed vision, but also to gather feedback from the community on this topic.

infrastructure↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Space Superhighway: Space Infrastructure for the 21st Century

This paper introduces a concept for space infrastructure developed with input from multiple U.S. government agencies called the Space Superhighway, which could support civil, commercial, and national security space activities. The Space Superhighway is a commercial-first space infrastructure that contains three primary components: regional hubs, a sustainable transportation network, and Earth-to-orbit logistics. Civil, commercial, and national security space sectors could use this common infrastructure to support missions such as satellite servicing, Earth science, and space domain awareness, among others. It utilizes a commercial-first, “infrastructure-as-a-service” approach which contains industry-owned and operated assets with government anchor tenants for commercial services, enabling extended mission lifetime, on-orbit repair, maneuver without regret, and debris mitigation and removal. The Space Superhighway is the space infrastructure needed for the 21st century.

space superhighway↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Space Superhighway: Space Infrastructure for the 21st Century

This poster introduces a concept for space infrastructure developed with input from multiple U.S. government agencies called the Space Superhighway, which could support civil, commercial, and national security space activities. The Space Superhighway is a commercial-first space infrastructure that contains three primary components: regional hubs, a sustainable transportation network, and Earth-to-orbit logistics. Civil, commercial, and national security space sectors could use this common infrastructure to support missions such as satellite servicing, Earth science, and space domain awareness, among others. It utilizes a commercial-first, “infrastructure-as-a-service” approach which contains industry-owned and operated assets with government anchor tenants for commercial services, enabling extended mission lifetime, on-orbit repair, maneuver without regret, and debris mitigation and removal. The Space Superhighway is the space infrastructure needed for the 21st century.

space infrastructure↗
NASA NTRS2009

Controlling Infrastructure Costs: Right-Sizing the Mission Control Facility

Johnson Space Center's Mission Control Center is a space vehicle, space program agnostic facility. The current operational design is essentially identical to the original facility architecture that was developed and deployed in the mid-90's. In an effort to streamline the support costs of the mission critical facility, the Mission Operations Division (MOD) of Johnson Space Center (JSC) has sponsored an exploratory project to evaluate and inject current state-of-the-practice Information Technology (IT) tools, processes and technology into legacy operations. The general push in the IT industry has been trending towards a data-centric computer infrastructure for the past several years. Organizations facing challenges with facility operations costs are turning to creative solutions combining hardware consolidation, virtualization and remote access to meet and exceed performance, security, and availability requirements. The Operations Technology Facility (OTF) organization at the Johnson Space Center has been chartered to build and evaluate a parallel Mission Control infrastructure, replacing the existing, thick-client distributed computing model and network architecture with a data center model utilizing virtualization to provide the MCC Infrastructure as a Service. The OTF will design a replacement architecture for the Mission Control Facility, leveraging hardware consolidation through the use of blade servers, increasing utilization rates for compute platforms through virtualization while expanding connectivity options through the deployment of secure remote access. The architecture demonstrates the maturity of the technologies generally available in industry today and the ability to successfully abstract the tightly coupled relationship between thick-client software and legacy hardware into a hardware agnostic "Infrastructure as a Service" capability that can scale to meet future requirements of new space programs and spacecraft. This paper discusses the benefits and difficulties that a migration to cloud-based computing philosophies has uncovered when compared to the legacy Mission Control Center architecture. The team consists of system and software engineers with extensive experience with the MCC infrastructure and software currently used to support the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle program (SSP).

Martin, Keith↗
NASA NTRS2012

Future Concepts for Integrating the Space Launch System and the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle into a Reusable Space Transportation Infrastructure

A space transportation infrastructure is described that utilizes the Space Launch System (SLS), the Mulit-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), the International Space Station (ISS), and propellant depot servicing platforms to support all foreseeable missions in the Earth-Moon vicinity and deep space out to Mars. The infrastructure utilizes current expendable launch vehicle (ELV) systems such as the Delta IV Heavy, Atlas V, and Falcon 9, for commercial crew, cargo, and propellant launches to a Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) Depot and/or the ISS. The SLS provides all payload and propellant launches to the Earth-Moon Langrange Point 1 (EML1) Depot to support new reusable in-space transportation vehicles. The ISS or follow-on LEO Depot supports missions to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) for satellite servicing and to Earth-Moon L1 for EML1 Depot missions. The EML1 Depot supports Lunar, Earth-Sun L2 (ESL2), Asteroid, and Mars missions. New vehicle design concepts are presented that can be launched utilizing the SLS and current ELV systems. These new reusable vehicle concepts include a Crew Transfer Vehicle (CTV) derived from the MPCV and a reusable Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (CPS) for crew transportation between the LEO Depot, EML1 Depot and missions beyond the Earth-Moon vicinity; a new reusable Lunar Lander for crew transportation between the EML1 Depot and the lunar surface; and a new reusable Deep Space Habitat (DSH) with a CTV to support crew missions from the EML1 Depot to ESL2, Asteroids, and a Mars Orbital Depot. The LEO Depot, EML1 Depot, and Mars Orbital Depot are based on International Space Station (ISS) heritage hardware. Data provided includes the number of launches required for each mission utilizing SLS and current ELV systems (Delta IV Heavy or equivalent) and the approximate vehicle masses and propellant requirements. Also included is a discussion on affordability with ideas on technologies that could reduce the number of launches required and thoughts on how this infrastructure might be implemented incrementally over the next few decades. The potential benefits of this infrastructure include competitive bidding for ELV flights and propellant services, development of new reusable in-space vehicles, and development of a robust multiuse infrastructure that can support many government and commercial missions simultaneously.

Smitherman, David↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Initiatives to Support Renewable Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure

Initiatives to build and manage climate-resilient infrastructure require spatially explicit environmental and climate information. NASA’s vantage point of Earth from space provides valuable observations that, in concert with additional information, can be used to inform both the design and operation of infrastructure that builds resilience to climate stressors. In this presentation, we provide an overview of how NASA Earth science is used to support decision-making associated with climate adaptation and mitigation, with a particular focus on renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. Much of this work is currently delivered through NASA’s Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) project, which generates high quality solar and meteorological data products that are customized to the needs of user communities. Importantly, these products are delivered through a variety of web-based applications that make it easier for users to access relevant and timely information. We will highlight several examples of how the impact of POWER is scaled via a robust user community and discuss further plans to expand impact. Additionally, this presentation will highlight efforts of the NASA Earth Science Division’s Energy & Infrastructure Applications program to expand collaborative activities with researchers and practitioners that work on renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure.

Allison K Leidner↗
NASA NTRS2023

Ground-Based Capabilities for Lunar Infrastructure Testing

A focus of NASA’s Moon-to-Mars objectives is the development of the infrastructure on the lunar surface that will be needed to support broader lunar surface operations. This infrastructure is intended to support both United States and international partners to expand human presence on the lunar surface. As this lunar infrastructure is designed and established, it will be critical to ensure that the various hardware elements work together to both enable the capabilities and to avoid unintended actions. NASA’s Glenn Research Center (GRC) is establishing ground-based testing and emulation facilities to mimic the lunar environment that the surface power and communications infrastructure will operate in. These facilities are intended to represent power and communications providers, users, and interfaces to ensure that systems operate as intended to support the lunar economy. They will empower industry to rapidly evaluate new technologies under realistic conditions. In 2023 GRC is opening a new, state-of-the-art, Aerospace Communications Facility featuring hardware-in-the-loop and ground-to-orbit testbeds. The Multiple Asset Testbed for Research in Innovative Communications Systems (MATRICS) capability will emulate the lunar communications environment, enabling validation of mission concepts and technologies to reduce risk through performance and operations testing, training, and uncover potential issues in compatibility among communication systems providers and users. In addition to the communications testbed, GRC is also developing a full-scale power grid to reduce lunar mission risk. The Adaptable Surface Power Integration and Research (ASPIRE) project aims to reduce mission and hardware risk via high-fidelity integrated testing and pave the way for commercially supplied utility power on the lunar surface. The facility will be scalable and highly adaptable and will be available to NASA, Industry, Academia, and International Partners. ASPIRE will allow developers to integrate and demonstrate their power solutions in a relevant environment, and it will be able to characterize the lunar power performance in representative mission contexts.

ground-based testing↗
NASA NTRS1989

The development of a cislunar space infrastructure

The primary objective of this Advanced Mission Design Program is to define the general characteristics and phased evolution of a near-Earth space infrastructure. The envisioned foundation includes a permanently manned, self-sustaining base on the lunar surface, a space station at the Libration Point between earth and the moon (L1), and a transportation system that anchors these elements to the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) station. The implementation of this conceptual design was carried out with the idea that the infrastructure is an important step in a larger plan to expand man's capabilities in space science and technology. Such expansion depends on low cost, reliable, and frequent access to space for those who wish to use the multiple benefits of this environment. The presence of a cislunar space infrastructure would greatly facilitate the staging of future planetary missions, as well as the full exploration of the lunar potential for science and industry. The rationale for, and a proposed detailed scenario in support of, the cislunar space infrastructure are discussed.

Buck, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Space Station Freedom commercial infrastructure

NASA policy concerning the commercial infrastructure of the Space Station is examined. Plans for receiving and evaluating unsolicited proposals to provide commercial infrastructure are outlined. The guidelines for development of the commercial infrastructure and examples of opportunities for industry are listed. Also, a program for industry feedback concerning the commercial infrastructure policy is discussed.

Barquinero, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS1990

Space Station Freedom commercial infrastructure

Several approaches to initiating the provision of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) commercial infrastructure are discussed, including proposals from the private sector, the commercial development of infrastructure, and the commercial operation of infrastructure. Specific options for SSF commercial infrastructure which are currently being studied by NASA are described. One candidate for commercial service is the supplemental power for SSF beyond the Assembly Complete phase. The methods which a company could use in providing supplemental power are discussed, with special attention given to the use of solar dynamic power elements attached ot the SSF evolution structure. Another option under evaluation is commercial provision of SSF logistics services using ELVs.

Barquinero, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS1991

Commercial infrastructure participation in the Space Station Freedom program

The contribution of the private sector in developing the infrastructure for the Space Station Freedom (SSF) is analyzed, and approaches are proposed for initiating commercial infrastructural input. The opportunities for commercial infrastructure in the SSF program include power, transportation, and communication services that are ground-based and on-orbit. SSF commercial activities reduce NASA's up-front expenditures, expands the support base for the SSF, and creates new markets and technological possibilities for the private sector. NASA can identify opportunities for the SSF commercial infrastructure by: (1) receiving unsolicited proposals; (2) soliciting proposals for commercial development; and (3) soliciting proposals for commercial operation. Contributions to the SSF program from the private sector can enhance both the efficiency of the program itself and of the emerging space industry.

Watkins, Alison↗
NASA NTRS1988

The development of a cislunar space infrastructure

The primary objective of the University of Colorado Advanced Mission Design Program is to define the characteristics and evolution of a near-Earth space infrastructure. The envisioned foundation includes a permanently manned, self-sustaining base on the lunar surface, an L1 space station, and a transportation system that anchors these elements to a low Earth orbit (LEO) station. The motivation of this project was based on the idea that a near-Earth space infrastructure is not an end but an important step in a larger plan to expand man's capabilities in space science and technology. The presence of a cislunar space infrastructure would greatly facilitate the staging of future planetary missions, as well as facilitating the full exploration of the potential for science and industry on the lunar surface. This paper will provide a sound rationale and a detailed scenario in support of the cislunar infrastructure design.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1999

Architectural Design for a Mars Communications and Navigation Orbital Infrastructure

The planet Mars has become the focus of an intensive series of missions that span decades of time, a wide array of international agencies and an evolution from robotics to humans. The number of missions to Mars at any one time, and over a period of time, is unprecedented in the annals of space exploration. To meet the operational needs of this exploratory fleet will require the implementation of new architectural concepts for communications and navigation. To this end, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has begun to define and develop a Mars communications and navigation orbital infrastructure. This architecture will make extensive use of assets at Mars, as well as use of traditional Earth-based assets, such as the Deep Space Network, DSN. Indeed, the total system can be thought of as an extension of DSN nodes and services to the Mars in-situ region. The concept has been likened to the beginnings of an interplanetary Internet that will bring the exploration of Mars right into our living rooms. The paper will begin with a high-level overview of the concept for the Mars communications and navigation infrastructure. Next, the mission requirements will be presented. These will include the relatively near-term needs of robotic landers, rovers, ascent vehicles, balloons, airplanes, and possibly orbiting, arriving and departing spacecraft. Requirements envisioned for the human exploration of Mars will also be described. The important Mars orbit design trades on telecommunications and navigation capabilities will be summarized, and the baseline infrastructure will be described. A roadmap of NASA's plan to evolve this infrastructure over time will be shown. Finally, launch considerations and delivery to Mars will be briefly treated.

Ceasrone R. J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

The Computing and Data Grid Approach: Infrastructure for Distributed Science Applications

With the advent of Grids - infrastructure for using and managing widely distributed computing and data resources in the science environment - there is now an opportunity to provide a standard, large-scale, computing, data, instrument, and collaboration environment for science that spans many different projects and provides the required infrastructure and services in a relatively uniform and supportable way. Grid technology has evolved over the past several years to provide the services and infrastructure needed for building 'virtual' systems and organizations. We argue that Grid technology provides an excellent basis for the creation of the integrated environments that can combine the resources needed to support the large- scale science projects located at multiple laboratories and universities. We present some science case studies that indicate that a paradigm shift in the process of science will come about as a result of Grids providing transparent and secure access to advanced and integrated information and technologies infrastructure: powerful computing systems, large-scale data archives, scientific instruments, and collaboration tools. These changes will be in the form of services that can be integrated with the user's work environment, and that enable uniform and highly capable access to these computers, data, and instruments, regardless of the location or exact nature of these resources. These services will integrate transient-use resources like computing systems, scientific instruments, and data caches (e.g., as they are needed to perform a simulation or analyze data from a single experiment); persistent-use resources. such as databases, data catalogues, and archives, and; collaborators, whose involvement will continue for the lifetime of a project or longer. While we largely address large-scale science in this paper, Grids, particularly when combined with Web Services, will address a broad spectrum of science scenarios. both large and small scale.

Johnston, William E.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Orbital Aggregation and Space Infrastructure Systems (OASIS)

This paper summarizes the results of a NASA lead study performed to identify synergistic opportunities and concepts between human exploration initiatives and commercialization of space. The goal of this initiative, called Orbital Aggregation & Space Infrastructure Systems (OASIS), is to develop an in-space architecture and associated concepts that provide common infrastructure for enabling a large class of space missions. The concepts include communications, navigation and power systems, propellant modules, tank farms, habitats, and in-space transportation systems using several propulsion technologies. OASIS features in-space aggregation of systems and resources in support of mission objectives. The concepts feature a high level of reusability and are supported by inexpensive launch of propellant and logistics payloads from the Earth/moon system. Industry, NASA and other users could share infrastructure costs. The anticipated benefits of synergistic utilization of space infrastructure are reduced mission costs and increased mission flexibility for future space exploration and commercialization initiatives.

Troutman, Patrick A.↗
NASA NTRS2006

A Case for Developing a Ground Based Replication of the Earth, Moon and Mars Spaceflight Infrastructure

When the systems are developed and in place to provide the services needed to operate en route and on the Lunar and Martian surfaces, an Earth based replication will need to be in place for the safety and protection of mission success. The replication will entail all aspects of the flight configuration end to end but will not include any closed loop systems. This would replicate the infrastructure from Lunar and Martian robots, manned surface excursions, through man and unmanned terrestrial bases, through the various types of communication systems and technologies, manned and un-manned space vehicles (large and small), to Earth based systems and control centers. An Earth based replicated infrastructure will enable checkout and test of new technologies, hardware, software updates and upgrades and procedures without putting humans and missions at risk. Analysis of events, what ifs and trouble resolution could be played out on the ground to remove as much risk as possible from any type of proposed change to flight operational systems. With adequate detail, it is possible that failures could be predicted with a high probability and action taken to eliminate failures. A major factor in any mission to the Moon and to Mars is the complexity of systems, interfaces, processes, their limitations, associated risks and the factor of the unknown including the development by many contractors and NASA centers. The need to be able to introduce new technologies over the life of the program requires an end to end test bed to analyze and evaluate these technologies and what will happen when they are introduced into the flight system. The ability to analyze system behaviors end to end under varying conditions would enhance safety e.g. fault tolerances. This analysis along with the ability to mine data from the development environment (e.g. test data), flight ops and modeling/simulations data would provide a level of information not currently available to operations and astronauts. In this paper we will analyze the beginnings of such a replication and what it could do in terms of reducing risk in the near term for development. We will analyze the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) test lab which has to a large extent accomplished this replication for the SSME and has been highly successful in analyzing hardware and software problems and changes. The cost of replicating the flight system as proposed here could be very high if attempted as an afterthought. We will describe the initial steps for the development of a replication of this infrastructure starting with the communication infrastructure. The Constellation of Labs (CofL) under the Command, Control, Communication and Information (C3I) project for the NASA Exploration Initiative will provide the initial foundation upon which to base this replication. Simply put, there is very little margin for error in high latency situations e.g. en-route to/from Mars or in an autonomous process on the Lunar far side. Any thought out approach to reduce risk and increase safety needs to be accomplished end to end with the actual systems configuration.

Bradford, Robert N.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Space Transportation Infrastructure Supported By Propellant Depots

A space transportation infrastructure is described that utilizes propellant depot servicing platforms to support all foreseeable missions in the Earth-Moon vicinity and deep space out to Mars. The infrastructure utilizes current expendable launch vehicle (ELV) systems such as the Delta IV Heavy, Atlas V, and Falcon 9, for all crew, cargo, and propellant launches to orbit. Propellant launches are made to Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) Depot and an Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 1 (L1) Depot to support a new reusable in-space transportation vehicles. The LEO Depot supports missions to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) for satellite servicing and to L1 for L1 Depot missions. The L1 Depot supports Lunar, Earth-Sun L2 (ESL2), Asteroid and Mars Missions. New vehicle design concepts are presented that can be launched on current 5 meter diameter ELV systems. These new reusable vehicle concepts include a Crew Transfer Vehicle (CTV) for crew transportation between the LEO Depot, L1 Depot and missions beyond L1; a new reusable lunar lander for crew transportation between the L1 Depot and the lunar surface; and Mars orbital Depot are based on International Space Station (ISS) heritage hardware. Data provided includes the number of launches required for each mission utilizing current ELV systems (Delta IV Heavy or equivalent) and the approximate vehicle masses and propellant requirements. Also included is a discussion on affordability with ideas on technologies that could reduce the number of launches required and thoughts on how this infrastructure include competitive bidding for ELV flights and propellant services, developments of new reusable in-space vehicles and development of a multiuse infrastructure that can support many government and commercial missions simultaneously.

Smitherman, David↗
NASA NTRS2022

Cross-Cutting Flight Infrastructure Improvements on M2020

Mars2020 (M2020) was formulated as a mission that leveraged as much Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) heritage as possible, while focusing major new development efforts on the original and unique elements needed to accomplish the different mission objectives. Well publicized examples of high profile new developments include precision landing, the sampling and caching system, the specific instrument suite, improved mobility via Autonomous Navigation, and later the addition of the Ingenuity helicopter. Less well known are the refinements to the core flight infrastructure, primarily in the cross-cutting functions of Telecom, Avionics, Data Management, Communications Behaviors, and Parameter Management. These enhancements are introduced predominately via flight software, and represent increases in capability that justified their inclusion in an otherwise heritage-focused project environment.Perseverance’s cross-cutting flight infrastructure improvements fall into and across the following five categories. First is a trimming of the software footprint of infrastructure modules, in order to make room for memory demands elsewhere in the system. Second is the minimization of data volume to be downlinked, through various methods such as the incorporation of new compression options. Third is the maximization of the available downlink bandwidth for data, by curtailing content-less data (fill) and introducing an improved UHF proximity link protocol. Fourth is a reduction in vulnerabilities, through increased file system redundancy, robustness, and software process monitoring. Fifth is an increase in operations efficiency by lowering file system mount times, improving parallelism between simultaneous events, minimizing the time to recover from file system errors, streamlining the purging of obsolete data, and reducing the number of commands to service parameters by a factor of 100.Individually, none of the cross-cutting infrastructure improvements are likely to garner headlines, but collectively they appreciably improve the safety and operability of Perseverance over its predecessor. This paper will describe the improvements, their promise, and where applicable, their actual impact in operations.

Bohannon, Emily↗