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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 NTRS2010

Mars Earth Return Vehicle (MERV) Propulsion Options

The COMPASS Team was tasked with the design of a Mars Sample Return Vehicle. The current Mars sample return mission is a joint National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) mission, with ESA contributing the launch vehicle for the Mars Sample Return Vehicle. The COMPASS Team ran a series of design trades for this Mars sample return vehicle. Four design options were investigated: Chemical Return /solar electric propulsion (SEP) stage outbound, all-SEP, all chemical and chemical with aerobraking. The all-SEP and Chemical with aerobraking were deemed the best choices for comparison. SEP can eliminate both the Earth flyby and the aerobraking maneuver (both considered high risk by the Mars Sample Return Project) required by the chemical propulsion option but also require long low thrust spiral times. However this is offset somewhat by the chemical/aerobrake missions use of an Earth flyby and aerobraking which also take many months. Cost and risk analyses are used to further differentiate the all-SEP and Chemical/Aerobrake options.

Oleson, Steven R.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Habitable Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) Concept

NASA's ultimate goal is the human exploration of Mars. Among the many difficult aspects of a trip to Mars is the return mission that would transport the astronauts from the Martian surface back into Mars orbit. One possible conceptual design to accomplish this task is a two-stage Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). In order to assess this design, a general layout and configuration for the spacecraft must be developed. The objective of my internship was to model a conceptual MAV design to support NASA's latest human Mars mission architecture trade studies, technology prioritization decisions, and mass, cost, and schedule estimates.

Dang, Victor↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mars Observer screen display design for a multimission environment

The Multi Mission Control Team (MMCT) is responsible for support to real time operations of the Mars Observer Mission. The team has the responsibility for monitoring the ground data system for the integrity of the telemetry and command data links. It also supports the Mars Observers Spacecraft Team in monitoring spacecraft events. The Data Monitor and Display subsystem (DMD) workstation provides the data interface with the ground data system. DMD workstation displays were developed to support the Mission Controllers in accomplishing their assigned tasks for supporting the Mars Observer mission. The display design concepts that were used in the Mar Observer MMCT displays to minimize the cognitive demands on the controllers and enhance the MMCT operations were presented. The Data Monitor and Display subsystem (DMD) is the controllers window into the spacecraft and the ground data system. The DMD is a workstation that provides a variety of formatted data displays to the controller. The displays present both spacecraft telemetry data and ground system monitor data. Some displays are preplanned and developed prior to the operations in which they are used. These are called fixed displays and are quite versatile in format and content. Other displays and plots can be created in real time. These displays have limited formats but flexibility in content. These are called list or message displays. They can be rapidly generated by the controller as needed. The MMCT display repertoire provides a mix of displays appropriate to the needs of the MMCT controllers.

Chafin, Roy L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Automation, robotics, and inflight training for manned Mars missions

The automation, robotics, and inflight training requirements of manned Mars missions will be supported by similar capabilities developed for the space station program. Evolutionary space station onboard training facilities will allow the crewmembers to minimize the amount of training received on the ground by providing extensive onboard access to system and experiment malfunction procedures, maintenance procedures, repair procedures, and associated video sequences. Considerable on-the-job training will also be conducted for space station management, mobile remote manipulator operations, proximity operations with the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (and later the Orbit Transfer Vehicle), and telerobotics and mobile robots. A similar approach could be used for manned Mars mission training with significant additions such as high fidelity image generation and simulation systems such as holographic projection systems for Mars landing, ascent, and rendezvous training. In addition, a substantial increase in the use of automation and robotics for hazardous and tedious tasks would be expected for Mars mission. Mobile robots may be used to assist in the assembly, test and checkout of the Mars spacecraft, in the handling of nuclear components and hazardous chemical propellent transfer operations, in major spacecraft repair tasks which might be needed (repair of a micrometeroid penetration, for example), in the construction of a Mars base, and for routine maintenance of the base when unmanned.

Holt, Alan C.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Innovative Approaches to Using the International Space Station as a Mars Transit Analog

Human research on the International Space Station (ISS) crew has made significant advances in understanding of the effects of physiology on human health in space missions. However, ISS has not been as suitable for research on other hazards of human spaceflight such as isolation and communications delay. NASA recently completed a special assessment of whether modifications could be made to operations or facilities so that ISS could be used more effectively as an analog to simulate long-duration crew missions beyond low earth orbit. A cross-disciplinary team met to identify concept of operations, trade spaces, challenges, and opportunities to making ISS more operationally relevant as a Mars transit mission analog, and the results and implementation plans are summarized in this manuscript. In addition to the use case of 12-month missions (already in planning by the NASA ISS Program to bound expected Mars transit durations), three new use cases where ISS could provide valuable high-fidelity experience were identified. (1) Testing of operations procedures and medical care could be enhanced by demonstrating crew handling a simulated medical event in microgravity, autonomously, and with significant communications delay. (2) Isolation and confinement effects of deep space transit could be studied on ISS to validate current habitable volume requirements for Mars transit as well as provide context for evaluating the results of the extensive ground-based simulations in HERA and NEK. A trade study of possible operational and hardware changes that would make ISS applicable to these use cases was completed. (3) Surface operations after the physiological deconditioning of a long transit could be conducted to validate crew ability to perform critical ground tasks after 6-month Mars transit and aid in conceptual design of Mars surface element architectures. Each of the case studies includes a trade space between operational impacts on nominal ISS activities and degree of fidelity. A phased approach to implementation means that several "quick start" activities can be done in 2019-2020 at the same time as planning continues for more complex exploration analog options beginning as early as 2022. The team determined that many of these quick-start tasks could be done with available assets, entirely independent of other exploration system development timelines (such as Orion, Space Launch System). The consideration of the full suite of human spaceflight capabilities in the lunar vicinity can also be included as each step in human exploration serves as a simulation opportunity for some aspect of subsequent missions. Further discussions of options with the international community are critical for considering the benefits as well as impacts of simulation activities on ISS, as well as to better formulate future mission architectures.

Robinson, Julie A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Biological Contamination of Mars: Issues and Recommendations

The ad hoc Task Group on Planetary Protection formed by the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Research Council focused on making recommendations concerning the protection of Mars from forward contamination (i.e., Earth to Mars) during upcoming missions by both the United States and the former Soviet Union. In so doing, it distinguished between missions whose goals include reconnaissance and measurement and those that specifically include experiments to detect life. The task group also discussed what additional knowledge will be needed in order to assure that future recommendations regarding contamination of Earth from Mars might be made with a higher degree of certainty than is now possible. Following a short introduction to the rationale underlying planetary exploration (Chapter 1) is a brief summary of approved and contemplated missions to Mars (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 briefly reviews the state of knowledge in several areas pertinent to the problem of planetary protection, in the limits of life on Earth and the abilities of known terrestrial organisms to withstand extreme environment conditions, as well as new approaches to detecting life forms. Chapter 5 includes a review and comments (made in light of current knowledge)- on the recommendations made in 'Recommendations on Quarantine Policy for Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Titan'. Updates to the recommendations made in 1978 are also given in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 gives additional recommendations concerning collection of essential data, spacecraft sterilization and bioburden assessment, and future research, as well as legal and social issues and NASA's overall planetary protection program.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1994

Increases in Efficiency and Enhancements to the Mars Observer Non-stored Commanding Process

The Mars Observer team was, until the untimely loss of the spacecraft on August 21, 1993, performing flight operations with greater efficiency and speed than any previous JPL mission of its size. This level of through-put was made possible by a Mission Operations System which was composed of skilled personnel using sophisticated sequencing and commanding tools. During cruise flight operations, however, it was realized by the project that this commanding level was not going to be sufficient to support the activities planned for the mapping operations. The project had committed to providing the science instrument principle investigators with a much higher level of commanding during mapping. Thus, the project began taking steps to enhance the capabilities of the flight team. One mechanism used by project management was a tool available from Total Quality Management (TQM). This tool is known as a Process Action Team (PAT). The Mars Observer PAT was tasked to increase the capacity of the flight team's non-stored commanding process by fifty percent with no increase in staffing and a minimal increase in risk. The outcome of this effort was to, in fact, increase the capacity by a factor of 2.5 rather than the desired fifty percent and actually reduce risk. The majority of these improvements came from the automation of the existing command process. The results required very few changes to the existing mission operations system. Rather, the PAT was able to take advantage of automation capabilities inherent in the existing system and make changes to the existing flight team procedures. This paper will describe in detail the enhancements recommended by the PAT for the non-stored command generation process on Mars Observer. This will be contrasted with the process used by the flight team prior to implementation of these improvements. Finally, there will be a discussion of the applicability of the techniques devised by the PAT for enhancement of the non-stored command process to present and future projects.

Process↗
NASA NTRS2010

Bringing a Chemical Laboratory Named Sam to Mars on the 2011 Curiosity Rover

An important goal of upcoming missions to Mars is to understand if life could have developed there. The task of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments [1] and the other Curiosity investigations [2] is to move us steadily toward that goal with an assessment of the habitability of our neighboring planet through a series of chemical and geological measurements. SAM is designed to search for organic compounds and inorganic volatiles and measure isotope ratios. Other instruments on Curiosity will provide elemental analysis and identify minerals. SAM will analyze both atmospheric samples and gases evolved from powdered rocks that may have formed billions of years ago with Curiosity providing access to interesting sites scouted by orbiting cameras and spectrometers.

Mahaffy, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Performance Characteristics of Lithium-Ion Prototype Batteries for Mars Surveyor Program 2001 Lander

A viewgraph presentation outlines the scientific payload, expected launch date and tasks, and an image of the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander components. The Lander's battery specifications are given. The program objectives for the Li-ion cells for the Lander are listed, and results performance evaluation and cycle life performance tests are outlined for different temperatures. Cell charge characteristics are described, and test data is presented for charge capacity at varying temperatures. Capacity retention and storage characteristics tests are described and results are shown.

Smart, M. C.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Optical Depth Retrievals from HRSC Stereo Images

Mars Express is due to arrive in orbit around Mars during the last days of 2003. A primary task of its mission is to map Mars in stereo with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) at a spatial resolution of up to 12 m. The Martian atmosphere contains large amounts of dust and other aerosols that scatter light and influence the images. Therefore, image analysis requires careful consideration of these atmospheric effects. An essential parameter to consider is the optical depth. It will be possible to map the optical depth of the Martian atmosphere from HRSC stereo images by analyzing contrast differences. Software to this purpose has been developed at the Max-Planck Institute for Aeronomy in Lindau Germany. We present examples of optical depth-retrievals from airborne HRSC-A images of a region in the French Alps.

N M Hoekzema↗
NASA NTRS1999

Sensitivity of Temperature Profiles Retrieved from Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (MGS/TES) Observations to the GSFC Synthetic Mars Model Atmosphere

Part of the task of interpreting IR spectral features observed by MGS/TES due to surface minerals requires distinguishing those IR signatures from atmospheric signatures of gas and dust. Surface-atmosphere separation for MGS/TES depends on knowledge of the retrieved temperature profile. In turn, the temperature retrieval Erom the observed data depends on molecular parameters including 15 micron CO2 line shape or line intensities which contribute to defining the Mars synthetic radiative transfer model. Using a simple isothermal, homogeneous single layer model of Pinnock and Shine, we find the ratio of (the error in degrees Kelvin of the retrieved temperature profile) to (the percentage error in the absorption coefficient) (deg K/percent) to be 0.4 at 200K. This ratio at 150K and 250K is 0.2 and 0.6, respectively. A more refined model, incorporating observed MGS/TES retrieved temperature profiles, the TES instrumental resolution and the most recent molecular modelling, will yield an improved knowledge of this error sensitivity. We present results of such a sensitivity study to determine the dependence of temperature profiles inverted from MGS/TES on these and other molecular parameters. This work was supported in part by NASA's Mars Data Analysis Program.

Maguire, William C.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Mars power system concept definition study. Volume 2: Appendices

This report documents the work performed by Rockwell International's Rocketdyne Division on NASA Contract No. NAS3-25808 (Task Order No. 16) entitled 'Mars Power System Definition Study'. This work was performed for NASA's Lewis Research Center (LeRC). The report is divided into two volumes as follows: Volume 1 - Study Results; and Volume 2 - Appendices. The results of the power system characterization studies, operations studies, and technology evaluations are summarized in Volume 1. The appendices include complete, standalone technology development plans for each candidate power system that was investigated.

Littman, Franklin D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Increases in efficiency and enhancements to the Mars Observer non-stored commanding process

The Mars Observer team was, until the untimely loss of the spacecraft on August 21, 1993, performing flight operations with greater efficiency and speed than any previous JPL mission of its size. This level of through-put was made possible by a mission operations system which was composed of skilled personnel using sophisticated sequencing and commanding tools. During cruise flight operations, however, it was realized by the project that this commanding level was not going to be sufficient to support the activities planned for mapping operations. The project had committed to providing the science instrument principle investigators with a much higher level of commanding during mapping. Thus, the project began taking steps to enhance the capabilities of the flight team. One mechanism used by project management was a tool available from total quality management (TQM). This tool is known as a process action team (PAT). The Mars Observer PAT was tasked to increase the capacity of the flight team's nonstored commanding process by fifty percent with no increase in staffing and a minimal increase in risk. The outcome of this effort was, in fact, to increase the capacity by a factor of 2.5 rather than the desired fifty percent and actually reduce risk. The majority of these improvements came from the automation of the existing command process. These results required very few changes to the existing mission operations system. Rather, the PAT was able to take advantage of automation capabilities inherent in the existing system and make changes to the existing flight team procedures.

Brooks, Robert N., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2012

VML 3.0 Reactive Sequencing Objects and Matrix Math Operations for Attitude Profiling

VML (Virtual Machine Language) has been used as the sequencing flight software on over a dozen JPL deep-space missions, most recently flying on GRAIL and JUNO. In conjunction with the NASA SBIR entitled "Reactive Rendezvous and Docking Sequencer", VML version 3.0 has been enhanced to include object-oriented element organization, built-in queuing operations, and sophisticated matrix / vector operations. These improvements allow VML scripts to easily perform much of the work that formerly would have required a great deal of expensive flight software development to realize. Autonomous turning and tracking makes considerable use of new VML features. Profiles generated by flight software are managed using object-oriented VML data constructs executed in discrete time by the VML flight software. VML vector and matrix operations provide the ability to calculate and supply quaternions to the attitude controller flight software which produces torque requests. Using VML-based attitude planning components eliminates flight software development effort, and reduces corresponding costs. In addition, the direct management of the quaternions allows turning and tracking to be tied in with sophisticated high-level VML state machines. These state machines provide autonomous management of spacecraft operations during critical tasks like a hypothetic Mars sample return rendezvous and docking. State machines created for autonomous science observations can also use this sort of attitude planning system, allowing heightened autonomy levels to reduce operations costs. VML state machines cannot be considered merely sequences - they are reactive logic constructs capable of autonomous decision making within a well-defined domain. The state machine approach enabled by VML 3.0 is progressing toward flight capability with a wide array of applicable mission activities.

VML (Virtual Machine Language)↗
NASA NTRS2024

Development of Cryogenic Phase Change Materials for Lunar Sample Return

One of the scientific goals of NASA’s Artemis missions is to return regolith samples from the lunar surface. To maintain scientific integrity of these samples, including any volatiles that may exist, cryogenic stowage is desired. FROSTE (Frozen Return Of Samples To Earth) is the element of the Moon to Mars architecture that is tasked with developing and advancing concepts related to this goal. Both active and passive solutions are being considered, but active solutions (cryo-coolers) have high mass and cost penalties. Phase change materials (PCMs) are commonly used as passive thermal management solutions, particularly for sensitive scientific samples. However, there are currently no PCMs capable of providing cooling at the cryogenic temperatures needed to enable lunar sample return with volatiles intact (<120 K). FROSTE has identified two possible candidate materials that could fill this gap. Testing is required to verify the thermal performance of these materials, as well as gain experience with their handling characteristics. We are conducting this testing at the Marshall Space Flight Center’s Space Environmental Effects laboratory, in vacuum, with liquid nitrogen providing cooling ability below the freezing point of the materials. In this talk, we will present an overview of the FROSTE program element and share results from the initial development testing of two cryogenic phase change materials.

phase change material↗
NASA NTRS2003

Research Participation in the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter Experiment

This report describes the tasks that have been completed by the Principal Investigator, Gordon Pettengill, and his team during the first year of this grant. Dr. Pettengill was assisted by Dr. Peter Ford and Ms. Joan Quigley. Our main task has been to analyze the polar clouds detected by MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter) during the nominal mission of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) in 1999-2001 and to correlate the results with other data sets, in particular that from TES, the MGS thermal emission spectrometer. Starting with the Martian cloud database that we constructed prior to the start of this grant, we have examined all TES footprints that overlap MOLA clouds in time and space, correlating the thermal signature against specific categories that we assign to MOLA clouds on the basis of visual inspection. We are particularly interested in clouds in the region of "cold spots", areas of anomalously low thermal brightness temperature that have been detected in the polar winter by several instruments beginning with IRIS on Mariner 9. They are thought to indicate regions of active CO2 sublimation or snowfall, and it is hoped that MOLA measurements may tell us more about these regions.

Pettengill, Gordon H.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Comparison of Health and Performance Risk for Accelerated Mars Mission Scenarios

This document details the results for a quantitative estimate of the difference in human health and performance risk that crews would face for two hypothetical variations on Mars mission scenarios: an Accelerated Mars Mission (AMM) and a Standard Mars Mission(SMM).NASA goals for Mars mission concepts, duration, and tasks have varied over the years. While neither of the cases considered here are likely to accurately represent the initial mission to Mars, the exercise of evaluating significant differences in mission duration from an astronaut health perspective can provide bounding insight to the level of risk that is likely to be encountered in an eventual Mars mission. Medical Probabilistic Risk Assessment using the Integrated Medical Model (IMM)(1–3)and the NASA Space Radiation Cancer Risk Model (NSCR)(4,5) are used here to help mission planners gain the best insight currently available into the expected magnitude of impacts to astronaut health when undertaking a Mars mission. These impacts occur both in-mission as well as in the long-term health of the astronauts post-mission. These evaluations are currently the best available modeling estimates to characterize and bound the health risks in a proposed mission domain where humans have no experience.

Erik Antonsen↗
NASA NTRS2005

A New Vehicle for Planetary Surface Exploration: The Mars Tumbleweed

The surface of Mars is currently being explored with a combination of orbiting spacecraft, stationary landers and wheeled rovers. However, only a small portion of the Martian surface has undergone in-situ examination. Landing sites must be chosen to insure the safety of the vehicles (and human explorers) and provide the greatest opportunity for mission success. While wheeled rovers provide the ability to move beyond the landing sites, they are also limited in their ability to traverse rough terrain; therefore, many scientifically interesting sites are inaccessible by current vehicles. In order to access these sites, a capability is needed that can transport scientific instruments across varied Martian terrain. A new "rover" concept for exploring the Martian surface, known as the Mars Tumbleweed, will derive mobility through use of the surface winds on Mars, much like the Tumbleweed plant does here on Earth. Using the winds on Mars, a Tumbleweed rover could conceivably travel great distances and cover broad areas of the planetary surface. Tumbleweed vehicles would be designed to withstand repeated bouncing and rolling on the rock covered Martian surface and may be durable enough to explore areas on Mars such as gullies and canyons that are currently inaccessible by conventional rovers. Achieving Mars wind-driven mobility; however, is not a minor task. The density of the atmosphere on Mars is approximately 60-80 times less than that on Earth and wind speeds are typically around 2-5 m/s during the day, with periodic winds of 10 m/s to 20 m/s (in excess of 25 m/s during seasonal dust storms). However, because of the Martian atmosphere#s low density, even the strongest winds on Mars equate to only a gentle breeze on Earth. Tumbleweed rovers therefore need to be relatively large (4-6 m in diameter), very lightweight (10-20 kg), and equipped with lightweight, low-power instruments. This paper provides an overview of the Tumbleweed concept, presents several notional design concepts, mission scenarios, and highlights recent tests and analyses of Tumbleweed prototypes.

Antol, Jeffrey↗