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NASA NTRS2014

NASA's Space Launch System: An Enabling Capability for Discovery

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Space Launch System (SLS) Program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is making progress toward delivering a new capability for human spaceflight and scientific missions beyond Earth orbit. Developed with the goals of safety, affordability, and sustainability in mind, the SLS rocket will launch the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), equipment, supplies, and major science missions for exploration and discovery. Making its first uncrewed test flight in 2017 and its first crewed flight in 2021, the SLS will evolve into the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown, capable of supporting human missions into deep space and to Mars. This paper will summarize the planned capabilities of the vehicle, the progress the SLS Program has made in the years since the Agency formally announced its architecture in September 2011, and the path the program is following to reach the launch pad in 2017 and then to evolve the 70 metric ton (t) initial lift capability to 130 t lift capability. The paper will outline the milestones the program has already reached, from developmental milestones such as the manufacture of the first flight hardware and recordbreaking engine testing, to life-cycle milestones such as the vehicle's Preliminary Design Review in the summer of 2013. The paper will also discuss the remaining challenges in both delivering the 70 t vehicle and in evolving its capabilities to the 130 t vehicle, and how the program plans to accomplish these goals. In addition, this paper will demonstrate how the Space Launch System is being designed to enable or enhance not only human exploration missions, but robotic scientific missions as well. Because of its unique launch capabilities, SLS will support simplifying spacecraft complexity, provide improved mass margins and radiation mitigation, and reduce mission durations. These capabilities offer attractive advantages for ambitious science missions by reducing infrastructure requirements, cost, and schedule. A traditional baseline approach for a mission to investigate the Jovian system would require a complicated trajectory with several gravity-assist planetary fly-bys to achieve the necessary outbound velocity. The SLS rocket, offering significantly higher C3 energies, can more quickly and effectively take the mission directly to its destination, providing scientific results sooner and at lower operational cost. The SLS rocket will launch payloads of unprecedented mass and volume, such as "monolithic" telescopes and in-space infrastructure, and will revolutionize science mission planning and design for years to come. As this paper will explain, SLS is making measurable progress toward becoming a global infrastructure asset for robotic and human scouts of all nations by harnessing business and technological innovations to deliver sustainable solutions for space exploration.

Creech, Stephen D.↗
NASA NTRS2014

NASA's Space Launch System: An Enabling Capability for Discovery

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Space Launch System (SLS) Program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is making progress toward delivering a new capability for human spaceflight and scientific missions beyond Earth orbit. Developed with the goals of safety, affordability, and sustainability in mind, the SLS rocket will launch the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), equipment, supplies, and major science missions for exploration and discovery. Making its first uncrewed test flight in 2017 and its first crewed flight in 2021, the SLS will evolve into the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown, capable of supporting human missions into deep space and to Mars. This paper will summarize the planned capabilities of the vehicle, the progress the SLS Program has made in the years since the Agency formally announced its architecture in September 2011, and the path the program is following to reach the launch pad in 2017 and then to evolve the 70 metric ton (t) initial lift capability to 130 t lift capability. The paper will outline the milestones the program has already reached, from developmental milestones such as the manufacture of the first flight hardware and recordbreaking engine testing, to life-cycle milestones such as the vehicle's Preliminary Design Review in the summer of 2013. The paper will also discuss the remaining challenges in both delivering the 70 t vehicle and in evolving its capabilities to the 130 t vehicle, and how the program plans to accomplish these goals. In addition, this paper will demonstrate how the Space Launch System is being designed to enable or enhance not only human exploration missions, but robotic scientific missions as well. Because of its unique launch capabilities, SLS will support simplifying spacecraft complexity, provide improved mass margins and radiation mitigation, and reduce mission durations. These capabilities offer attractive advantages for ambitious science missions by reducing infrastructure requirements, cost, and schedule. A traditional baseline approach for a mission to investigate the Jovian system would require a complicated trajectory with several gravity-assist planetary fly-bys to achieve the necessary outbound velocity. The SLS rocket, offering significantly higher C3 energies, can more quickly and effectively take the mission directly to its destination, providing scientific results sooner and at lower operational cost. The SLS rocket will launch payloads of unprecedented mass and volume, such as "monolithic" telescopes and in-space infrastructure, and will revolutionize science mission planning and design for years to come. As this paper will explain, SLS is making measurable progress toward becoming a global infrastructure asset for robotic and human scouts of all nations by harnessing business and technological innovations to deliver sustainable solutions for space exploration.

Creech, Stephen D.↗
NASA NTRS2011

In Situ Observations and Sampling of Volcanic Emissions with Unmanned Aircraft: A NASA/UCR Case Study at Turrialba Volcano, Costa Rica

Burgeoning new technology in the design and development of robotic aircraft-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)-presents unprecedented opportunities for the volcanology community to observe, measure, and sample eruption plumes and drifting volcanic clouds in situ. While manned aircraft can sample dilute parts of such emissions, demonstrated hazards to air breathing, and most particularly turbine, engines preclude penetration of the zones of highest ash concentrations. Such areas within plumes are often of highest interest with respect to boundary conditions of applicable mass-loading retrieval models, as well as Lagrangian, Eulerian, and hybrid transport models used by hazard responders to predict plume trajectories, particularly in the context of airborne hazards. Before the 2010 Ejyafyallajokull eruption in Iceland, ICAO zero-ash-tolerance rules were typically followed, particularly for relatively uncrowded Pacific Rim airspace, and over North and South America, where often diversion of aircraft around ash plumes and clouds was practical. The 2010 eruption in Iceland radically changed the paradigm, in that critical airspace over continental Europe and the United Kingdom were summarily shut by local civil aviation authorities and EURO CONTROL. A strong desire emerged for better real-time knowledge of ash cloud characteristics, particularly ash concentrations, and especially for validation of orbital multispectral imaging. UAV platforms appear to provide a viable adjunct, if not a primary source, of such in situ data for volcanic plumes and drifting volcanic clouds from explosive eruptions, with prompt and comprehensive application to aviation safety and to the basic science of volcanology. Current work is underway in Costa Rica at Turrialba volcano by the authors, with the goal of developing and testing new small, economical UAV platforms, with miniaturized instrument payloads, within a volcanic plume. We are underway with bi-monthly deployments of tethered SO2-sondes and are in the planning stages for the deployment of the SIERRA UAV to our site in March 2013. We will be conducting in situ observations simultaneously with ASTER orbital multispectral TIR data acquisitions, in order to compare in situ measurements with estimates of SO2 mass loading and dispersion derived from ASTER data. Though small UAVs are now being considered for use in active volcanic areas for in situ sampling of emissions (e.g., efforts by our group, and by our colleagues at the INGV in Italy and the Applied Science University in Dusseldorf, Germany, and others in the United Kingdom and Iceland), and also for remote sensing, much more needs to be done in the way of instrument development, and in developing small UAVs for both low altitude (tropospheric) and high altitude (stratospheric) applications. In particular, the development of all weather and day/night operational flight capabilities in close proximity to hazardous topography is crucial to a truly responsive volcano in situ measurement system. Finally, it is imperative that national civil aviation authorities recognize the unique benefits of such platforms. It is important that authorities understand that severely restricting or not deploying such tools in airspace over restless volcanoes or within eruption plumes, ostensibly because of the perceived (small) risk that such unmanned aircraft pose to manned air operations, itself poses a bigger transcendental risk to proximal populations and particularly to the aviation community, itself.

Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAACs)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Savannah River Site H-Canyon Advancing Technologies for Remote Inspections - 20345

In 2017, the DOE Environmental Management Office of Technology Development (DOE-EM TD) sponsored the H-Canyon Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) to demonstrate to DOE facilities the value of using new commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and near-ready technologies to solve difficult problems and enhance worker safety. The DOE Savannah River Site (SRS) H-Canyon Air Exhaust Tunnel (HCAEX) inspection task was identified as representative of the hazardous, human denied environments which could benefit from advanced technologies. The HCAEX underground concrete tunnel is visually inspected biannually using a camera mounted on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) designed and built by SRNL. While tunnel images have provided valuable visual information, it is desirable to have a higher order of understanding of the environment to support a more thorough structural integrity (SI) analysis and for long term planning purposes. As part of the ATD, the Concrete Integrated Product Team (CIPT) was formed to identify and evaluate available sensors and methods mature enough to remotely obtain tunnel concrete characterization data of high value and with a high probability of success. The team included SMEs and H-Canyon stakeholders in the field of concrete, nondestructive examination (NDE), structural integrity, sensors and remote systems from SRNL, SRNS, LANL, DOE-SR and the Army Corps of Engineering. The CIPT completed an in-depth identification of customer concrete inspection needs and potential technology solutions. Sensors and methods were evaluated on performance, data usefulness, cost and the feasibility of a successful deployment given the unique tunnel access challenges and environment. Two technologies were identified as promising by the CIPT for near term demonstration and evaluation: Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) 3-dimensional (3D) mapping and remote robotic deployment of NDE instrumentation. Laser spectroscopy to characterize tunnel surface chemical changes was also of interest, but presently cost prohibitive. This paper will include a discussion of the two efforts underway to evaluate and implement the CIPT recommendations. First, the status of the November 2019 deployment of Lidar at a single location into the tunnel is presented. This initial deployment provided the team a learning curve and lessons learned on the challenges of tunnel deployment to include remote operation and data collection, stabilization of the sensor in high air flow (∼30 mph), ability to achieve a tolerance accuracy of 0.25-inches, and the probability to identify change in tunnel dimensions over time. Secondly, a discussion on the development of the Robotic Arm Concrete Inspection Test Bed capable of deploying NDE instruments to examine custom concrete forms will be presented. Concrete forms simulating the rough concrete surfaces, strength, composition and potential structural defects that can be found at our DOE EM facilities have been designed and built for the test bed. Two state-of-the art concrete NDE instruments have been identified as having potential to work on rough concrete walls, they are being tested and characterized as to their ability to provide desired structural integrity data to include wall thickness and defect identification on the developed test beams. Lastly, lessons learned, and the path forward will be presented. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS2015

NASA's Space Launch System Mission Capabilities for Exploration

Designed to enable human space exploration missions, including eventual landings on Mars, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) represents a unique launch capability with a wide range of utilization opportunities, from delivering habitation systems into the lunar vicinity to high-energy transits through the outer solar system. Developed with the goals of safety, affordability and sustainability in mind, SLS is a foundational capability for NASA's future plans for exploration, along with the Orion crew vehicle and upgraded ground systems at the agency's Kennedy Space Center. Substantial progress has been made toward the first launch of the initial configuration of SLS, which will be able to deliver more than 70 metric tons of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO), greater mass-to-orbit capability than any contemporary launch vehicle. The vehicle will then be evolved into more powerful configurations, culminating with the capability to deliver more than 130 metric tons to LEO, greater even than the Saturn V rocket that enabled human landings on the moon. SLS will also be able to carry larger payload fairings than any contemporary launch vehicle, and will offer opportunities for co-manifested and secondary payloads. Because of its substantial mass-lift capability, SLS will also offer unrivaled departure energy, enabling mission profiles currently not possible. Early collaboration with science teams planning future decadal-class missions have contributed to a greater understanding of the vehicle's potential range of utilization. This presentation will discuss the potential opportunities this vehicle poses for the planetary sciences community, relating the vehicle's evolution to practical implications for mission capture. As this paper will explain, SLS will be a global launch infrastructure asset, employing sustainable solutions and technological innovations to deliver capabilities for space exploration to power human and robotic systems beyond our Moon and in to deep space.

Creech, Stephen D.↗
NASA NTRS2015

NASA'S Space Launch System Mission Capabilities for Exploration

Designed to enable human space exploration missions, including eventual landings on Mars, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) represents a unique launch capability with a wide range of utilization opportunities, from delivering habitation systems into the lunar vicinity to high-energy transits through the outer solar system. Developed with the goals of safety, affordability and sustainability in mind, SLS is a foundational capability for NASA’s future plans for exploration, along with the Orion crew vehicle and upgraded ground systems at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center. Substantial progress has been made toward the first launch of the initial configuration of SLS, which will be able to deliver more than 70 metric tons of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO), greater mass-to-orbit capability than any contemporary launch vehicle. The vehicle will then be evolved into more powerful configurations, culminating with the capability to deliver more than 130 metric tons to LEO, greater even than the Saturn V rocket that enabled human landings on the moon. SLS will also be able to carry larger payload fairings than any contemporary launch vehicle, and will offer opportunities for co-manifested and secondary payloads. Because of its substantial mass-lift capability, SLS will also offer unrivaled departure energy, enabling mission profiles currently not possible. Early collaboration with science teams planning future decadal-class missions have contributed to a greater understanding of the vehicle’s potential range of utilization. This presentation will discuss the potential opportunities this vehicle poses for the planetary sciences community, relating the vehicle’s evolution to practical implications for mission capture. As this paper will explain, SLS will be a global launch infrastructure asset, employing sustainable solutions and technological innovations to deliver capabilities for space exploration to power human and robotic systems beyond our Moon and in to deep space.

Creech, Stephen D.↗
NASA NTRS2013

NASA's Space Launch System: One Vehicle, Many Destinations

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Space Launch System (SLS) Program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is making progress toward delivering a new capability for exploration beyond Earth orbit. Developed with the goals of safety, affordability, and sustainability in mind, the SLS rocket will start its missions in 2017 with 10 percent more thrust than the Saturn V rocket that launched astronauts to the Moon 40 years ago. From there it will evolve into the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown, via an upgrade approach that will provide building blocks for future space exploration and development. The International Space Exploration Coordination Group, representing 12 of the world's space agencies, has created the Global Exploration Roadmap, which outlines paths toward a human landing on Mars, beginning with capability-demonstrating missions to the Moon or an asteroid. The Roadmap and corresponding NASA research outline the requirements for reference missions for all three destinations. This paper will explore the capability of SLS to meet those requirements and enable those missions. It will explain how the SLS Program is executing this development within flat budgetary guidelines by using existing engines assets and developing advanced technology based on heritage systems, from the initial 70 metric ton (t) lift capability through a block upgrade approach to an evolved 130-t capability. It will also detail the significant progress that has already been made toward its first launch in 2017. The SLS will offer a robust way to transport international crews and the air, water, food, and equipment they will need for extended trips to explore new frontiers. In addition, this paper will summarize the SLS rocket's capability to support science and robotic precursor missions to other worlds, or uniquely high-mass space facilities in Earth orbit. As this paper will explain, the SLS is making measurable progress toward becoming a global infrastructure asset for robotic and human scouts of all nations by providing the robust launch capability to deliver sustainable solutions for space exploration.

May, Todd A.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Ares Launch Vehicles Overview: Space Access Society

America is returning to the Moon in preparation for the first human footprint on Mars, guided by the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration. This presentation will discuss NASA's mission, the reasons for returning to the Moon and going to Mars, and how NASA will accomplish that mission in ways that promote leadership in space and economic expansion on the new frontier. The primary goals of the Vision for Space Exploration are to finish the International Space Station, retire the Space Shuttle, and build the new spacecraft needed to return people to the Moon and go to Mars. The Vision commits NASA and the nation to an agenda of exploration that also includes robotic exploration and technology development, while building on lessons learned over 50 years of hard-won experience. NASA is building on common hardware, shared knowledge, and unique experience derived from the Apollo Saturn, Space Shuttle, and contemporary commercial launch vehicle programs. The journeys to the Moon and Mars will require a variety of vehicles, including the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle, which transports the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, and the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle, which transports the Lunar Surface Access Module. The architecture for the lunar missions will use one launch to ferry the crew into orbit, where it will rendezvous with the Lunar Module in the Earth Departure Stage, which will then propel the combination into lunar orbit. The imperative to explore space with the combination of astronauts and robots will be the impetus for inventions such as solar power and water and waste recycling. This next chapter in NASA's history promises to write the next chapter in American history, as well. It will require this nation to provide the talent to develop tools, machines, materials, processes, technologies, and capabilities that can benefit nearly all aspects of life on Earth. Roles and responsibilities are shared between a nationwide Government and industry team. The Exploration Launch Projects Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center manages the design, development, testing, and evaluation of both vehicles and serves as lead systems integrator. A little over a year after it was chartered, the Exploration Launch Projects team is testing engine components, refining vehicle designs, performing wind tunnel tests, and building hardware for the first flight test of Ares I-X, scheduled for spring 2009. The Exploration Launch Projects team conducted the Ares I System Requirements Review (SRR) at the end of 2006. In Ares' first year, extensive trade studies and evaluations were conducted to refine the design initially recommended by the Exploration Systems Architecture Study, conceptual designs were analyzed for fitness, and the contractual framework was assembled to enable a development effort unparalleled in American space flight since the Space Shuttle. Now, the project turns its focus to the Preliminary Design Review (PDR), scheduled for 2008. Taking into consideration the findings of the SRR, the design of the Ares I is being tightened and refined to meet the safety, operability, reliability, and affordability goals outlined by the Constellation Program. The Ares V is in the early design stage, focusing its activities on requirements validation and ways to develop this heavy-lift system so that synergistic hardware commonality between it and the Ares I can reduce the operational footprint and foster sustained exploration across the decades ahead.

Cook, Steve↗
NASA NTRS2020

Space Weather Architecture Options to Support Human and Robotic Deep Space Exploration

Understanding solar energetic particle (SEP) event characteristics is critical to the proper design of human and robotic space missions. This report details a study of operational response time for monitoring space weather for crewed flights, specifically targeting lunar and Mars missions. The NESC assessment team evaluated the required minimum latency for data streams and forecasts that will directly affect mission operations using a 41-year database (i.e., European Space Agency (ESA) Solar Energetic Particle Environment Modeling (SEPEM) RSDv2.0) of SEP events. The database contained 192 SEP events that resulted in a dose increase above background levels. Of those, 10% were “multiple events,” or events that occurred in quick succession. The analysis provides probabilistic values for time to peak flux and dose rate for the duration of each event. This NESC assessment also evaluated the SEP threshold levels for exploration missions to determine the relevant energy range of required proton measurements.

Solar energetic particle↗
DOE OSTI2024

High Velocity Joining of Multi-material Stacks Containing 3rd Generation Advanced High-Strength Stainless Steel and Aluminum Extrusion and Casting (Abstract)

Advanced lightweight materials, including multi-phase steels, aluminum extrusions and aluminum castings, have increasingly replaced mild steel to meet original equipment manufacturer (OEM) demand for increased fuel economy and crash-safety requirements. Third Generation (Gen 3) AHSS provides a superior combination of strength and ductility for crash energy management components in the vehicle body-in-white (BIW). Aluminum extrusions are widely used for bumper, door rocker panel, cradle and battery frame applications. Aluminum castings are increasingly being used in electric vehicles to provide part consolidation, weight saving and increased driving range. Rocker panels are, for example, an important component of the battery electric vehicle (BEV) body structure. The rocker panel serves several purposes, including structural support, crash resistance, protection for the vehicle's underbody and battery tray, and contributing to the overall aesthetics. In order to reduce weight, rocker panels are usually constructed using outer panels consisting of 3rd generation advanced high strength steels (AHSS) and an inner multicell aluminum extrusion structure for energy absorption which protects the batteries in a crash event. It is well known, however, that these material combinations provide significant challenges for joining and are susceptible to liquid metal embrittlement and loss of strength. The overall goal is to find a solution that addresses these challenges in order to produce multi-material vehicle components with reduced weight and minimal galvanic and recyclability issues. The approach being proposed here is to utilize a novel high velocity (HiVe) riveting and clinching technique recently demonstrated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to join (2T/3T) sheets of aluminum alloys and steel. This process will not only address the aforementioned challenges but also help significantly reduce the joining cycle time. This work will also demonstrate use of HiVe assemblies to be retrofitted to existing body-shop robots thus having minimal impact to existing body shop operations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2013

Mars Sample Return Using Commercial Capabilities: ERV Trajectory and Capture Requirements

Mars Sample Return was presented as the highest priority planetary science mission of the next decade [1]. Lemke et al. [2] present a Mars Sample Return mission concept in which the sample is returned directly from the surface of Mars to an Earth orbit. The sample is recovered in Earth Orbit instead of being transferred between spacecraft in Mars Orbit. This paper provides the details of this sample recovery in Earth orbit and presents as such a sub-element of the overall Mars sample return concept given in [2]. We start from the assumption that a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), initially landed on Mars using a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule, has successfully delivered the sample, already contained within an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV), to a parking orbit around Mars. From the parking orbit, the ERV imparts sufficient Delta-V to inject itself into an earthbound trajectory and to be captured into an Earth orbit eventually. We take into account launch window and Delta-V considerations as well as the additional constraint of increased safety margins imposed by planetary protection regulations. We focus on how to overcome two distinct challenges of the sample return that are driven by the issues of planetary protection: (1) the design of an ERV trajectory meeting all the requirements including the need to avoid contamination of Earth's atmosphere; (2) the concept of operations for retrieving the Martian samples in Earth orbit in a safe way. We present an approach to retrieve the samples through a rendezvous between the ERV and a second SpaceX Dragon capsule. The ERV executes a trajectory that brings it from low Mars orbit (LMO) to a Moon-trailing Earth orbit at high inclination with respect to the Earth-Moon plane. After a first burn at Trans-Earth Injection (TEI), the trajectory uses a second burn at perigee during an Earth flyby maneuver to capture the ERV in Earth orbit. The ERV then uses a non-propulsive Moon flyby to come to a near-circular Moon-trailing orbit. To perform the Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR), a second Dragon capsule is then launched from Earth and a similar lunar flyby is performed to rendezvous with the ERV. The requirements for rendezvous, close proximity operations and capture of the sample canister are described. A concept of operations for sample retrieval is presented along with design specifications of the ERV, the required modifications to the Dragon capsule, as well as the hardware, software, sensors, actuators, and capture mechanisms used. In our concept, a container is mounted to the front hatch of Dragon, capable of accommodating the sample canister and sealing it from the rest of the capsule. The sample canister is captured using a robotic arm with a magnetic grappling mechanism. Dragon then performs a propulsive maneuver to return to Earth for a controlled re-entry while the ERV (sans sample container) is left in the Moon trailing orbit. Contingency cases and related mitigation strategies are also discussed, including the advantages and disadvantages of performing the ERV rendezvous with a crew.

Faber, Nicolas F.↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA's Space Launch System: A Flagship for Exploration Beyond Earth's Orbit

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration s (NASA) Space Launch System (SLS) Program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is making progress toward delivering a new capability for exploration beyond Earth orbit in an austere economic climate. This fact drives the SLS team to find innovative solutions to the challenges of designing, developing, fielding, and operating the largest rocket in history. To arrive at the current SLS plan, government and industry experts carefully analyzed hundreds of architecture options and arrived at the one clear solution to stringent requirements for safety, affordability, and sustainability over the decades that the rocket will be in operation. This paper will explore ways to fit this major development within the funding guidelines by using existing engine assets and hardware now in testing to meet a first launch by 2017. It will explain the SLS Program s long-range plan to keep the budget within bounds, yet evolve the 70 metric ton (t) initial lift capability to 130-t lift capability after the first two flights. To achieve the evolved configuration, advanced technologies must offer appropriate return on investment to be selected through a competitive process. For context, the SLS will be larger than the Saturn V that took 12 men on 6 trips for a total of 11 days on the lunar surface over 4 decades ago. Astronauts train for long-duration voyages on the International Space Station, but have not had transportation to go beyond Earth orbit in modern times, until now. NASA is refining its mission manifest, guided by U.S. Space Policy and the Global Exploration Roadmap. Launching the Orion Multi-Purpose Cargo Vehicle s first autonomous certification flight in 2017, followed by a crewed flight in 2021, the SLS will offer a robust way to transport international crews and the air, water, food, and equipment they need for extended trips to asteroids, Lagrange Points, and Mars. In addition, the SLS will accommodate high-priority science experiments. SLS affordability initiatives include streamlining interfaces, applying risk-based insight into contracted work, centralizing systems engineering and integration, and nurturing a learning culture that continually benchmarks its performance against successful ventures. As this paper will explain, the SLS is making measurable progress toward becoming a global infrastructure asset for robotic and human scouts of all nations by harnessing business and technological innovations to deliver sustainable solutions for space exploration.

May, Todd↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA's Space Launch System: A Flagship for Exploration Beyond Earth's Orbit

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Launch System (SLS) Program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is making progress toward delivering a new capability for exploration beyond Earth orbit in an austere economic climate. This fact drives the SLS team to find innovative solutions to the challenges of designing, developing, fielding, and operating the largest rocket in history. To arrive at the current SLS plan, government and industry experts carefully analyzed hundreds of architecture options and arrived at the one clear solution to stringent requirements for safety, affordability, and sustainability over the decades that the rocket will be in operation. This paper will explore ways to fit this major development within the funding guidelines by using existing engine assets and hardware now in testing to meet a first launch by 2017. It will explain the SLS Program s long-range plan to keep the budget within bounds, yet evolve the 70 metric ton (t) initial lift capability to 130-t lift capability after the first two flights. To achieve the evolved configuration, advanced technologies must offer appropriate return on investment to be selected through a competitive process. For context, the SLS will be larger than the Saturn V that took 12 men on 6 trips for a total of 11 days on the lunar surface over 4 decades ago. Astronauts train for long-duration voyages on the International Space Station, but have not had transportation to go beyond Earth orbit in modern times, until now. NASA is refining its mission manifest, guided by U.S. Space Policy and the Global Exploration Roadmap. Launching the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle s (MPCV s) first autonomous certification flight in 2017, followed by a crewed flight in 2021, the SLS will offer a robust way to transport international crews and the air, water, food, and equipment they need for extended trips to asteroids, Lagrange Points, and Mars. In addition, the SLS will accommodate high-priority science experiments. SLS affordability initiatives include streamlining interfaces, applying risk-based insight into contracted work, centralizing systems engineering and integration, and nurturing a learning culture that continually benchmarks its performance against successful ventures. As this paper will explain, the SLS is making measurable progress toward becoming a global infrastructure asset for robotic and human scouts of all nations by harnessing business and technological innovations to deliver sustainable solutions for space exploration.

May, Todd A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

A Mars Sample Return Sample Handling System

We present a sample handling system, a subsystem of the proposed Dragon landed Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission [1], that can return to Earth orbit a significant mass of frozen Mars samples potentially consisting of: rock cores, subsurface drilled rock and ice cuttings, pebble sized rocks, and soil scoops. The sample collection, storage, retrieval and packaging assumptions and concepts in this study are applicable for the NASA's MPPG MSR mission architecture options [2]. Our study assumes a predecessor rover mission collects samples for return to Earth to address questions on: past life, climate change, water history, age dating, understanding Mars interior evolution [3], and, human safety and in-situ resource utilization. Hence the rover will have "integrated priorities for rock sampling" [3] that cover collection of subaqueous or hydrothermal sediments, low-temperature fluidaltered rocks, unaltered igneous rocks, regolith and atmosphere samples. Samples could include: drilled rock cores, alluvial and fluvial deposits, subsurface ice and soils, clays, sulfates, salts including perchlorates, aeolian deposits, and concretions. Thus samples will have a broad range of bulk densities, and require for Earth based analysis where practical: in-situ characterization, management of degradation such as perchlorate deliquescence and volatile release, and contamination management. We propose to adopt a sample container with a set of cups each with a sample from a specific location. We considered two sample cups sizes: (1) a small cup sized for samples matching those submitted to in-situ characterization instruments, and, (2) a larger cup for 100 mm rock cores [4] and pebble sized rocks, thus providing diverse samples and optimizing the MSR sample mass payload fraction for a given payload volume. We minimize sample degradation by keeping them frozen in the MSR payload sample canister using Peltier chip cooling. The cups are sealed by interference fitted heat activated memory alloy caps [5] if the heating does not affect the sample, or by crimping caps similar to bottle capping. We prefer cap sealing surfaces be external to the cup rim to prevent sample dust inside the cups interfering with sealing, or, contamination of the sample by Teflon seal elements (if adopted). Finally the sample collection rover, or a Fetch rover, selects cups with best choice samples and loads them into a sample tray, before delivering it to the Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) in the MSR Dragon capsule as described in [1] (Fig 1). This ensures best use of the MSR payload mass allowance. A 3 meter long jointed robot arm is extended from the Dragon capsule's crew hatch, retrieves the sample tray and inserts it into the sample canister payload located on the ERV stage. The robot arm has capacity to obtain grab samples in the event of a rover failure. The sample canister has a robot arm capture casting to enable capture by crewed or robot spacecraft when it returns to Earth orbit

Wilson, David↗
NASA NTRS2015

SPHERES: From Ground Development to Operations on ISS

SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) is an internal International Space Station (ISS) Facility that supports multiple investigations for the development of multi-spacecraft and robotic control algorithms. The SPHERES Facility on ISS is managed and operated by the SPHERES National Lab Facility at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) at Moffett Field California. The SPHERES Facility on ISS consists of three self-contained eight-inch diameter free-floating satellites which perform the various flight algorithms and serve as a platform to support the integration of experimental hardware. To help make science a reality on the ISS, the SPHERES ARC team supports a Guest Scientist Program (GSP). This program allows anyone with new science the possibility to interface with the SPHERES team and hardware. In addition to highlighting the available SPHERES hardware on ISS and on the ground, this presentation will also highlight ground support, facilities, and resources available to guest researchers. Investigations on the ISS evolve through four main phases: Strategic, Tactical, Operations, and Post Operations. The Strategic Phase encompasses early planning beginning with initial contact by the Principle Investigator (PI) and the SPHERES program who may work with the PI to assess what assistance the PI may need. Once the basic parameters are understood, the investigation moves to the Tactical Phase which involves more detailed planning, development, and testing. Depending on the nature of the investigation, the tactical phase may be split into the Lab Tactical Phase or the ISS Tactical Phase due to the difference in requirements for the two destinations. The Operations Phase is when the actual science is performed; this can be either in the lab, or on the ISS. The Post Operations Phase encompasses data analysis and distribution, and generation of summary status and reports. The SPHERES Operations and Engineering teams at ARC is composed of experts who can guide the Payload Developer (PD) and Principle Investigator (PI) in reaching critical milestones to make their science a reality using the SPHERES platform. From performing integrated safety and verification assessments, to assisting in developing crew procedures and operations products, to organizing, planning, and executing all test sessions, to helping manage data products, the SPHERES team at ARC is available to support microgravity research with the SPEHRES Guest Scientist Program.

ISS Research↗
NASA NTRS2005

Magnetically Attached Multifunction Maintenance Rover

A versatile mobile telerobot, denoted the magnetically attached multifunction maintenance rover (MAGMER), has been proposed for use in the inspection and maintenance of the surfaces of ships, tanks containing petrochemicals, and other large ferromagnetic structures. As its name suggests, this robot would utilize magnetic attraction to adhere to a structure. As it moved along the surface of the structure, the MAGMER would perform tasks that could include close-up visual inspection by use of video cameras, various sensors, and/or removal of paint by water-jet blasting, laser heating, or induction heating. The water-jet nozzles would be mounted coaxially within compressed-air-powered venturi nozzles that would collect the paint debris dislodged by the jets. The MAGMER would be deployed, powered, and controlled from a truck, to which it would be connected by hoses for water, compressed air, and collection of debris and by cables for electric power and communication (see Figure 1). The operation of the MAGMER on a typical large structure would necessitate the use of long cables and hoses, which can be heavy. To reduce the load of the hoses and cables on the MAGMER and thereby ensure its ability to adhere to vertical and overhanging surfaces, the hoses and cables would be paid out through telescopic booms that would be parts of a MAGMER support system. The MAGMER would move by use of four motorized, steerable wheels, each of which would be mounted in an assembly that would include permanent magnets and four pole pieces (see Figure 2). The wheels would protrude from between the pole pieces by only about 3 mm, so that the gap between the pole pieces and the ferromagnetic surface would be just large enough to permit motion along the surface but not so large as to reduce the magnetic attraction excessively. In addition to the wheel assemblies, the MAGMER would include magnetic adherence enhancement fixtures, which would comprise arrays of permanent magnets and pole pieces that could be adjusted to maximize or minimize the overall attractive magnetic force. Even with a paint thickness of 2 mm, a preliminary design provides a safety factor of 5 in the magnetic force in the upside- down, water-jets-operating condition, in which the total load (including the weight of the MAGMER and cables and the water-jet force) would be about 260 lb (the weight of 118 kg). Optionally, the MAGMER could carry magnetic shielding and/or could be equipped with a demagnetizing module to remove residual magnetism from the structure. The MAGMER would carry four charge-coupled-device cameras for visual inspection, monitoring of operation, navigation, and avoidance of collisions with obstacles. The control system of the MAGMER would include navigation and collision-avoidance subsystems that would utilize surface features as landmarks, in addition to direct images of obstacles.

Bar-Cohen, Yoseph↗
NASA NTRS2022

NASA Utilization of Space Nuclear Systems for Robotic and Human Exploration Missions: Response to EO 13972: Promoting Small Nuclear Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration

Space Nuclear Systems (SNS) technology development offers a wide range of capabilities to support NASA’s current and future missions. Executive Order (EO) 13972, “Promoting Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration” [1], issued 5 January 2021, directs NASA to define requirements for NASA utilization of nuclear energy systems for human and robotic exploration missions through 2040 and analyze the costs and benefits of such requirements.” Although it is premature to define requirements and cost for future exploration missions that have not yet been formulated, this report describes planned objectives and missions by 2040 that are enabled or enhanced by nuclear systems while taking into account a number of unique considerations for nuclear energy in the space environment. Nuclear energy systems are enabling for space missions and critical capabilities where conventional forms of energy production are impractical or impossible due to mass constraints, mission duration, or distance from the Sun. Space nuclear technologies available or in development for use by 2040 utilize radioisotope decay or nuclear fission and fall into three categories: heat, power, and propulsion. Current applications utilize radioisotope power systems that provide consistent and reliable performance in the sub-kilowatt power range. More advanced SNS can enable new mission objectives where high energy density solutions are critical, or where access to solar solutions is prohibitive. Higher power radioisotope and fission systems are under development within NASA for a wide variety of human exploration and science mission applications. Planned missions designed to use radioisotope systems include Dragonfly, a rotorcraft that will explore the surface of Titan, and Persephone, a mission concept for a Pluto orbiter. Nuclear fission systems have the key advantage of providing significantly higher power, lower mass solutions from tens to even thousands of kilowatts. Fission power is enabling to a sustained human presence on the Moon and developing a robust lunar economy. Fission propulsion is enabling for missions within and beyond cis-lunar space. This report examines NASA-envisioned mission applications and associated performance needs for SNS over the next twenty years leading to 2040 along with the unique technical considerations posed by space nuclear technology development. This includes engineering and operational logistics for ground handling, thermal management, survival of the space environment, operational safety, power requirements, and service longevity. Safety to the public, the NASA work force, and agency assets remains a top priority for NASA and particular attention is given to this aspect in the design, hardware assembly, ground operation, launch, and mission operation of an SNS. NASA relies on the Department of Energy as nuclear authority and its legacy of rigorous safety procedures as standards for ground development, test, transportation, and launch site operation. The principal concern is preventing unintended radiological release to the public or environment. Radioisotope system experience has established processes, including ground operation, transportation, and launch, that are considered directly applicable to emerging fission systems; however, fission systems have unique design needs that impact the safety and performance requirements. High efficiency power conversion from both fission and radioisotope systems requires high operating temperatures necessitating both passive and active thermal management to maintain safe and nominal operating conditions. Effective cooling and waste heat rejection have special considerations for space applications, whether in zero-g or reduced gravity. Fluid and heat transfer within the reactor system is not anticipated to be impacted by reduced or zero-g environments. Cryogenic working fluids and propellant supplies utilized in some space nuclear applications will need low mass, high capacity cryocoolers to meet the long-term storage and near zero-boiloff needs. Integrated, high power density SNS capable of being packaged in a single vehicle is a key consideration for NASA. Due to concerns for complexity and reliability, in space reactor assembly and reactor refueling are not current design considerations. Expanding into a new era for space exploration depends on mass-efficient, high-energy solutions to power deep-space vehicles, operate in harsh environments, and increase mission flexibility. NASA nuclear technology investments are targeting power for surface operations and propulsion for fast-transit, deep-space missions, all with the ability to reliably operate without the need for repair or refueling. NASA’s goals, enabled by nuclear technologies, provide for exciting advances in scientific objectives and human exploration, ushering in a new space age that enables a human presence on bodies beyond our Earth.

nuclear↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TRIDENT Drill Validation at Mars and Lunar Analog Field Sites

Drilling on Earth is typically a human-intensive activity. Drilling on other planets is further complicated by the lack of prior local field surveys of their target area, hence blindly drilling into uncertain target rocks. Field conditions on the Moon or Mars are also different than for shallow drilling on Earth: lower temperatures and pressures, less power available, low masses (hence less weight-on-bit). Given the cost of transport from Earth, no drilling muds or working fluids are likely to be available to carry away cuttings. And impact-gardened regolith and dust vary mechanically and texturally from most terrestrial soils. The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploration of New Terrains (TRIDENT) is a rotary-percussive 1m-class drill from Honeybee Robotics. It is low-power (rotary and percussive actuators are 200 W each) and lightweight (<20 kg) with the maximum weight on bit limited to 200 N. TRIDENT has been manifested for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) and PRIME-1 lunar south pole missions in 2024, has previously been field tested at a hot, dry analog site in the Atacama Desert, and in lunar conditions in thermal vacuum chamber tests. TRIDENT was also part of the 2019 Icebreaker Mars Discovery proposal, as well as in the Mars Life Explorer concept. During ARADS tests, drill control and fault recovery automation software enabled hands-off operations of a rover-mounted TRIDENT drill. TRIDENT Drill Analog Site Validation: Past TRIDENT tests in thermal vacuum (TVAC) chambers targeted containers of manufactured lunar simulants with added volatiles. 2022 TRIDENT ambient testing at NASA Ames drilled into cemented lunar simulant materials. Low cuttings-permeability led to cuttings buildup, and drill choking and binding was observed. The Atacama analog site in ARADS had desiccated unconsolidated sediments that did not challenge the TRIDENT design. However, lunar polar regolith is expected to be diverse and heterogeneous with varying clast sizes, with abundant impactites and perhaps subsurface ice deposits. Neither the simulants nor Atacama testing had completely covered the TRIDENT-targeted field characteristics, motivating further analog tests prior to the planned lunar missions. To gain more insight into the behavior of the TRIDENT hardware in diverse impactites and subsurface ice, and to verify the software automation in that environment, in August 2023 TRIDENT was brought to Haughton Crater, a field analog site in the Canadian Arctic. In September 2023 the same drill was brought to the Bishop Tuff in southern California to verify whether drilling binding behaviors previously seen in lunar simulant testing would be observed in naturally occurring fine-grained massive layers. The ~22 Ma Haughton Crater impact structure is located at 75 ̊22’ N, 89 ̊41’ W, on northwestern Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada. Numerous deposits of pale-grey crater-fill polymictic impact-melt breccia are found within the crater with a typical thickness reaching ~125 m or greater and covering ~60 km -2 . An approximately 600m-thick permafrost layer is also present with ice typically found within 0.5-0.6m of the surface. The volcanic tableland north of Bishop, CA exposes densely welded tuff laid down during the eruption that created the Long Valley Caldera at approximately 0.76 Ma. Extensional faults and the Owens River gorge expose cross-sections across the plateau. The area is viewed as an analog site for Mars features believed to be of pyroclastic origin. Results: Haughton Crater.Drilling tests were conducted 8-13 August 2023 at a previously undisturbed area separated 5-10 m from past years’ Drill Hill test sites (75.4208, -089.7613). In six days, TRIDENT drilled 8 holes to nearly 1 m depth each, totaling 7.80 m. The active layer/ice boundary was at ~67 cm depth, with a total of approximately 2.4 m drilled into ice or ice-cemented impact breccia. During drilling, five drill fault states were observed and successfully recovered. Holes 23-1, 4 and 7 were drilled under manual control, using Honeybee’s Thorax user interface. Holes 23-5, 6, and 8 were drilled with the Ames IBexec automated drilling control software. TRIDENT was observed to have little difficulty in the thawed uncemented impact breccia above the active layer boundary, but required percussion to make slower headway in the ice-cemented breccia. In Hole 23-7 (Fig.1), drilling slowed down in a massive unit just above the active-layer boundary (perhaps a large rock extending into the ice-cementation?), with only 7cm progress made in 27 minutes of high auger torque and constant percussion, leading to a choking fault and then a binding fault. A similar pattern had been observed in TRIDENT Rio Tinto test data from 2017 [6] as well as in the 2022laboratory tests.Bishop Tuff.A team from NASA Ames and the US Geological Survey deployed the same TRIDENT drill to Bishop Sites 1B and 1C (37.4203, -118.4289; 37.4265, -118.4215) on 13-16 September 2023, on the Bishop Tuff plateau. A third drill site was used 17-18 September 2023(37.4598, -118.3667) in an abandoned pumice mine. Four holes (totaling 2.5m depth) were drilled into the fine-grained, meters-thick tuff units at Sites 1B and 1C, and a further two boreholes (totaling 1.98m depth) were made at the pumice site. Drill behavior in the tuff below 10 cm depth was similar to that seen at 65-74 cm depth in Haughton Hole 23-7 (Fig. 1) and that seen in the 2022 lab simulant drilling. Drill safety torque limits were exceeded multiple times resulting in drill stops downhole. These freezes then required external added torques (with a pipe wrench) to resume rotation, to unstick the drill for withdrawal. To prevent this choking and binding behavior we found that more-frequent cuttings removal was necessary, e.g., reducing the “drill bite” size from the nominal 10 cm to 2 cm per bite --bringing the auger up to the surface more frequently, as seen in Bishop Site 1C Hole 2 (Fig.2). This permitted slow progress without drill binding and without external interventions. Conversely, TRIDENT drilling in the more porous pumice target material showed no cuttings buildup issue, and single bites as large as 40 cm were demonstrated. Discussion: We observed that TRIDENT easily penetrated unconsolidated heterogeneous soils (both above the active layer boundary at Haughton and previously in the Atacama). Cemented or consolidated targets that were cuttings-permeable (icy impact breccia, pumice) required more energy applied and percussion. However, in non-cuttings-permeable targets (welded microporous tuff, cemented simulants, boulder) TRIDENT was observed to be prone to excessive cuttings accumulation leading to choking/binding faults and stalling. The wedge cutting bit, used by TRIDENT in field tests and in its flight versions, pulverizes the target rock and creates fine cuttings that ideally are transported up the auger spirals for removal. In porous, fractured or vesicular target materials (such as at the Bishop pumice site) a significant portion of the cuttings are pushed aside, but for non-fractured, microporous targets the cuttings remain in the borehole and accumulate. Rock powder is relatively incompressible as a working fluid at only 100-200N downward force (TRIDENT limits) and hence eventual drilling progress slows or stops. Our recommended strategy for improving TRIDENT cuttings removal in massive target units with low cuttings-permeability is to reduce TRIDENT bite sizes when encountering these units, from 10cm to as little as 1-2cm, to effectively bail the accumulating cuttings. This approach was demonstrated to reduce choking and allowed slow progress to continue in cuttings-impermeable microporous target units (viz. the Bishop tuff in our September 2023 tests or cemented simulants in 2022 ambient tests).

robotic drilling↗