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NASA NTRS2020

Implementation Concept of Operation for a Multi-Purpose Cassegrain Solar Concentrator, Micro-Spectrometers, and Electrostatic Neutralizers to Enable In Situ Construction Activities plus Lunar, Planetary, and Deep Space Science Exploration on the Moon

The ability to utilize regolith would support human missions to the Moon and Mars by both stabilizing the surface as well as the use of indigenous resources. Precision landing requirements include surface stabilization to prevent damage or contamination due to regolith projectiles as a result of plume interaction with regolith. The use of indigenous resources rather than hauling materials from Earth appears to be economically a palatable option by converting indigenous resources to usable products. However, such activities have new technical challenges to overcome the issues related to lunar environmental conditions, a wide range of temperature fluctuation, extremely high vacuum, and electrostatically charged fine regolith dusts. For both the regolith sintering and extraction of resources onsite, a Cassegrain solar concentrator was studied for not only sintering lunar regolith into a hardened stabilized surface, but also other multiple applications. This report illustrates a Cassegrain solar concentrator that has multi-functional capabilities for space missions. Proper design and implementation of high-performance lightweight composite materials for the primary mirror of the Cassegrain concentrator can offer multiple capabilities to be performed on the Moon. The multiple applications studied with Cassegrain concentrators are (1) Solar sintering for landing pad and habitats, (2) Harvest of volatiles: H2O, O2, H2, and He-3, (3) Space antenna for telemetry and telecommunication, and (4) Space telescope with 20-meter aperture that exceeds the space telescopes to date in terms of the State-of-Art (SOA) in resolution and aperture diameter. In this study, a key emphasis was placed on the NASA Langley-developed boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) nanocomposite technology which is ideal for the segmented primary mirror structure of the Cassegrain system because it promises a very low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and negligible Poisson ratio. Also, BNNT nanocomposites offer several noticeable benefits, such as light weight, radiation shielding capability, and mechanical strength for structural applications. Additionally, the NASA Langley-developed bullet-like micro-spectrometer and electrostatic power generator were reviewed for mineral mapping applications and electrostatic power generation and dust mitigation from electrostatically charged regolith.

landing pad↗

NASA NTRS2020

The Spectral Radiance of Indirectly Illuminated Surfaces in Regions of Permanent Shadow on the Moon

Regions of permanent shadow at the lunar poles have been suggested to host water ice and potentially other volatile compounds owing to their extremely low temperatures. Imaging in permanent shadow using indirect lighting from nearby topographic highs illuminated by the Sun has demonstrated the feasibility of optical remote sensing of permanent shadow surfaces, and a near-IR detection of water ice spectral features demonstrates the ability to collect usable spectroscopic data. The infrared emission of the lunar surface is largely in radiative equilibrium, so the temperature of surfaces in permanent shadow is driven by the intensity of the indirect illumination. This means that surfaces at very low temperatures, of high interest owing to their ability to trap and retain volatile compounds, will be the most challenging to measure. We provide estimates of indirect spectral radiance as a function of permanent shadow temperature from 400 nm to 14 μm using empirical data on permanent shadow temperature and broadband visible and near IR radiance, coupled with known reflectance properties of lunar materials. The relationships show there is ample radiance and photon radiance for reflectance imaging and spectroscopy from 400 nm to 8 μm at temperatures of regions of permanent shadow above 60K with appropriately designed instruments. Beyond 8 μm lunar spectral properties reduce the available radiance substantially, making reflectance observations challenging.

P. G. Lucey↗

NASA NTRS2018

Radiometric Stability in 16 years of AIRS Hyperspectral Infrared Data (SPIE OP-431-20)

With global warming at the rate of 10 mK/yr, it is important to at least characterize any trend in the AIRS data, which may impact the use of AIRS data for climate change research. We evaluated the stability of the AIRS v5 calibration for seven atmospheric window channels between 2002 and 2018 under tropical ocean clear conditions. Trends for the channels between 961, 1128 and 1231 cm-1 channels are typically +3 mK/yr; for 790 and 901 cm-1 the trend is 6 mK/yr, i.e. the observations are increasingly getting warmer than expected. The trends are day/night consistent. The trend for the 2508 and 2616 cm-1 channels is close to 10 mK/yr at night, but closer to 6 mK/yr during the day. On an absolute scale these trends are small, but not when viewed in the context of global warming at a 10 mK/yr rate. While the warming trends are consistent with increased scattering from the scan mirrors, which create an error in reading the Onboard Blackbody Calibration, the resulting changes in the gain are a factor of about five larger than observed changes in the gain. The effects of scattering due to scan mirror contamination are evident at extremely cold temperatures, but scattering does not produce the observed warming at warm temperatures. It is possible that much of the observed warming in the AIRS window channels is a geophysical effect related to the warming of the oceans, resulting in a shift in the diurnal cycle and skin effect correction. This requires more careful evaluation.

Manning, Evan M.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Radiometric Stability in 16 years of AIRS Hyperspectral Infrared Data (SPIE OP-431-20)

Manning, Evan M.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Thermal cycling testing to failure of a ceramic column grid array package for space applications

Ceramic column grid array (CCGA) packages have been used increasingly in logic and microprocessor functions, telecommunications, flight avionics boards, payload electronics boards, engineering navigational and science cameras, electronic assemblies, and other applications, because of their inherent advantages such as high electrical interconnect density, very good thermal and electrical performance, and compatibility with standard surface-mount technology (SMT) packaging assembly processes. Because these advanced electronic packages tend to have less solder-joint strain-relief than do leaded flat-pack electronic packages, the reliability of CCGA packages in challenging thermal environments is a very important consideration for their short- and long-term use in JPL-NASA space missions. In this study, we assembled daisy chains of polyimide printed wiring boards from CCGA-interconnect packages, inspected the boards nondestructively, and then subjected them to thermal cycling to assess their reliability in thermal environments from +125°C to -40°C±25°C. The test hardware consists of a CCGA 1752 package (CN version). The package was divided into four daisy-chained sections that were electrically monitored for their continuity during thermal cycling. The CCGA 1752 package is roughly 45 mm × 45 mm with a 42-mm × 42-mm array of 80%/20% Pb/Sn columns on a 1.00-mm pitch. The resistance of the daisy-chained CCGA interconnects was continuously monitored during thermal cycling in a gaseous nitrogen environment. Electrical continuity resistance measurements as a function of thermal cycling are reported here; tests to date have shown significant change to an open circuit in daisy-chain resistance as a function of thermal cycling. The change in interconnect resistance becomes increasingly noticeable with increasing number of thermal cycles. This paper describes the experimental thermal-cycling test results of CCGA 1752 package reliability testing under an extremely wide temperature range. The first failure was observed at 1479th thermal cycle. We report the thermal-cycle reliability test data for ~2500 thermal cycles.

Ramesham, Rajeshuni↗

NASA NTRS2019

Europa lander mission concept power architecture

The Europa Lander mission concept team seeks to optimize a power system architecture to search for evidence of life on the surface of Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter. Environmental and mission challenges included radiation, extreme low temperatures, planetary protection, mission duration, and the limitations of the launch vehicle. Leveraging heritage from NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, the baseline architecture is highly reliable, capable of meeting all science objectives, and comprises of three vehicles: a solar powered carrier stage, a secondary battery powered descent vehicle, and a primary battery powered lander.

Carr, Gregory↗

NASA NTRS2021

Astromaterial Curation and Research at NASA

Astromaterial sample return missions from other planetary bodies (e.g., the Moon, asteroids, the Sun) and astromaterial sample collection missions here on Earth (e.g., Antarctic Meteorites, Cosmic Dust) have been a vital part of NASA’s science vision since nearly its inception. Beginning with the Apollo missions to the Moon and extending to the recent successful sample collection by the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, these astromaterials collections have been an invaluable resource to scientists and educators around the world. Sample studies continue to provide fundamental insight into how our solar system and its constituent bodies formed and evolved over the past 4.5 billion years. As evidence of their broad impact, there are over 19,141 samples on loan to 433 Principal Investigators in 24 countries [1]. As we plan for exploration missions through 2050, sample return missions will continue to play a vital role in NASA’s science vision. Returned samples truly are the gift that keeps on giving. Having the samples accessible on Earth allows new generations of scientists and new generations of instrumentation to pursue ever evolving scientific questions. For example, the Apollo samples were collected ~50 years ago, yet our views of how the Earth-Moon system formed, the role of volatiles in the early inner solar system, and even the positions of the gas giants in the outer solar system have changed dramatically as a result of Apollo sample analyses conducted very recently. Vital to the long-term viability of any sample return mission is the careful curation of the samples. Curatorial efforts need to begin early in the project lifecycle, not with the return of the samples, but at mission conception. The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at NASA Johnson Space Center is responsible for curating all of NASA’s current and future extraterrestrial samples. Looking at possible sample return missions over the next 35+ years [2], many samples would require curation efforts a step beyond current capabilities, e.g., cold or cryogenic curation, organically and biologically clean curation, curation of gases and ices, and curation of samples with extreme pressure, temperature, or redox requirements. During the lecture, we discuss the current curatorial efforts in JSC curation, as well as discoveries from the astromaterial research. [1] Zeigler, R. A. et al. (2017) Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop. [2] McCubbin F. M. et al. (2017) Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop.

astromaterial↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

RadBREAD: Radiation Biology Research at an Elevated Altitude through Dosimetry – A student-designed payload

NASA uses extreme environment platforms (ground testing facilities, high-altitude balloons and aircraft, and CubeSats) to provide greater understanding of the conditions and limitations of extra-terrestrial environments. As part of a two-week flight planned for summer 2021, RadBREAD (Radiation Biology Research at an Elevated Altitude through Dosimetry) will fly as a secondary payload consisting of a M-42C (German Aerospace Center, DLR) ionizing radiation dosimeter, UV micro-logger, and multiple desiccated yeast samples. The platform is a novel high-altitude solar-powered aircraft: the Swift Engineering High-Altitude samples. The platform is a novel high-altitude solar-powered aircraft: the Swift Engineering High-Altitude Long-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft System (HALE UAS), which offers significantly longer flight durations than other high-altitude platforms. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae will provide meaningful biological correlation for the sensor readings, due to its resistance to extremely low temperature and pressure when desiccated, ease of genetic manipulation, and homology to human genes. The RadBREAD team comprises the 2020 cohort of NASA’s Space Life Sciences Training Program (SLSTP) research associates as well as NASA scientists, engineers and radiation experts from NASA and the DLR. Yeast survival, metabolic, and transcriptomic changes will be correlated with environmental data collected during long-term exposure to the upper atmosphere. Additionally, the team will evaluate the upper atmospheric environment (radiation, pressure, and temperature) provided by the HALE UAS platform as a Mars surface analog for biological payloads. We hypothesize that exposure to upper atmospheric conditions during the HALE UAS flight will alter the survival, metabolism, and transcriptome of desiccated wild-type S. cerevisiae upon rehydration compared to sensitive and tolerant yeast strains exposed to the same conditions, and between the flight samples compared to asynchronous ground controls.

radiation exposure↗

NASA NTRS2021

Fairfax County Urban Development: Identifying Urban Heat Mitigation Strategies for Climate Adaptation Planning in Fairfax County, Virginia

Extreme high temperatures lead to increased instances of cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and even death, as well as increased energy consumption and infrastructure costs. People in urbanized areas experience higher temperatures than rural areas due to diminished vegetation and increased impervious surfaces which absorb and radiate heat. Fairfax County, Virginia has embarked on Resilient Fairfax, a program aimed at addressing climate adaptation and resilience. The DEVELOP team partnered with the Fairfax County Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC) to assess the extent of the urban heat island effect on the county and its most vulnerable populations. The team used data from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), as well as the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) for the years 2013 to 2021 and found that the hottest spots were in densely urbanized areas, with temperatures as much as 47°F above that of undeveloped reference areas. The team used the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) urban cooling model and determined that areas with higher tree canopy cover had greater heat mitigation capacity. Estimates from the InVEST model showed that a 4.5% increase in canopy cover across the county could result in a temperature reduction of up to 2.4°F in some areas. The results will allow partners to assess heat distribution across Fairfax County and implement effective mitigation strategies, including locating prime locations for cooling centers and increasing canopy cover.

W. Pierce Holloway↗

NASA NTRS2020

Mars 2020 Rover Adaptive Caching Assembly: Caching Martian Samples for Potential Earth Return

The Adaptive Caching Assembly (ACA) is part of the Sampling and Caching System on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover, and consists of multiple stations that process, hermetically seal, and store sample tubes containing collected Martian material, either rock cores or regolith samples, in preparation for caching on the surface of Mars. The ACA stations consist of seven active degrees-of-freedom, as well as a large number of passive mechanisms that must operate in extreme Mars temperature and pressure conditions. A robotic arm within the Rover manipulates the sample tubes between ACA stations as part of an end-to-end sampling sequence, and utilizes a compliant end effector to accommodate misalignments during station interactions. Stringent hardware cleanliness requirements were dictated to ensure collected samples would not be compromised, which significantly impacted the design, assembly, and test operations of the ACA. Three ACAs were assembled to support ground testing and flight operations, which were exposed to environmental testing to validate functionality in Mars-like conditions. A number of challenges existed from design through test, including volume constraints, mechanism controllability and operation, the effects of tight tolerances, and cleanliness requirements.

Lin, Justin↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Roman Space Telescope - Demonstration of Integrated Thermal Control System Test for the Optical Telescope

On-orbit optical stability of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST) is a key requirement that enables multiple science objectives and drives multiple aspects of telescope design and analysis. Thermoelastic changes are typically large contributors to optical instability, and both extremely low CTE materials and extremely stable temperatures are needed to achieve the RST optical stability requirements. We will present the results from a test that demonstrated the L3Harris capability to sense and control temperatures to milli-kelvin levels of stability across a range of operating temperatures.

RST, Roman Space Telescope, Temperature Sensing, T↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Roman Space Telescope – Demonstration of Integrated Thermal Control System Test for the Optical Telescope Assembly

Peter Miller↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Advancement of Extreme Environment Additively Manufactured Alloys for Next Generation Space Propulsion Applications

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been involved in the development and maturation of metal additive manufacturing (AM) for space applications since the late 2000’s. Several efforts focused on the understanding of AM processes through material characterization and testing, standards development, component fabrication, and infusion into propulsion development and flight applications. NASA matured commonly used aerospace alloys from various alloy families (Nickel, Copper, Stainless and Steel, Aluminum, and Titanium-based) through detailed AM process and heat treatment characterization, in addition to mechanical and thermophysical testing. While these alloys are actively used in many propulsion applications, there is a need for ongoing AM optimized alloys using integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) and process development for high performance applications. The applications targeted are liquid rocket engines; advanced propulsion systems; and in-space propulsion with high heat fluxes, high pressure, and/or that use propellants that can degrade alloys (e.g., hydrogen). This paper highlights the characterization and physical properties of the more common AM alloys using laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) processes. Additionally, this paper discusses some of the ongoing novel alloy development and maturation using AM for use in these harsh environments, such as GRCop42, GRCop-84, NASA HR-1, GRX-810, and C-103. The results from these processes demonstrated that AM could enable rapid development and ongoing efforts for optimized alloys using ICME, yielding higher performances. These alloys have undergone modeling, fundamental metallurgical evaluations, heat treatment studies, detailed microstructure characterization, and mechanical testing campaigns. This, combined with direct application-specific component fabrication and hot-fire testing, enabled the increase of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) through high duty-cycle testing. A background and overview of these novel AM-enabled alloys and AM processing developments including metallurgical and mechanical property studies is presented here. The latest advancement in the parallel component development and hot-fire testing and future developments for these alloys is also discussed.

Additive Manufacturing↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Advancement of Extreme Environment Additively Manufactured Alloys for Next Generation Space Propulsion Applications

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been involved in the development and maturation of metal additive manufacturing (AM) for space applications since the late 2000’s. Several efforts focused on the understanding of AM processes through material characterization and testing, standards development, component fabrication, and infusion into propulsion development and flight applications. NASA matured commonly used aerospace alloys from various alloy families (Nickel, Copper, Stainless and Steel, Aluminum, and Titanium-based) through detailed AM process and heat treatment characterization, in addition to mechanical and thermophysical testing. While these alloys are actively used in many propulsion applications, there is a need for ongoing AM optimized alloys using integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) and process development for high performance applications. The applications targeted are liquid rocket engines; advanced propulsion systems; and in-space propulsion with high heat fluxes, high pressure, and/or that use propellants that can degrade alloys (e.g., hydrogen). This paper highlights the characterization and physical properties of the more common AM alloys using laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) processes. Additionally, this paper discusses some of the ongoing novel alloy development and maturation using AM for use in these harsh environments, such as GRCop-42, GRCop-84, NASA HR-1, GRX-810, and C-103. The results from these processes demonstrated that AM could enable rapid development and ongoing efforts for optimized alloys using ICME, yielding higher performances. These alloys have undergone modeling, fundamental metallurgical evaluations, heat treatment studies, detailed microstructure characterization, and mechanical testing campaigns. This, combined with direct application-specific component fabrication and hot-fire testing, enabled the increase of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) through high duty-cycle testing. A background and overview of these novel AM-enabled alloys and AM processing developments including metallurgical and mechanical property studies is presented here. The latest advancement in the parallel component development and hot-fire testing and future developments for these alloys is also discussed.

Additive Manufacturing↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Photovoltaic Systems for Lunar Surface Survivability During the Lunar Day and Night

While photovoltaic systems will not be operating during the lunar night, it is still important to ensure that the cells, structure, and other components are able to survive the extreme low temperature conditions during times of low to no illumination. The Photovoltaics team at NASA GRC has expertise in low temperature solar cell operation, thermal cycling of solar cell coupons and array components, and the design of lunar solar arrays for long duration surface missions.

Solar power↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Isotopic Tracers for CO 2 Produced During A Planetary Impact Into Limestone Target Rocks

Terrestrial meteorite impacts have been directly linked with multiple mass extinction events throughout Earth’s history. Among these impacts, those that land in sedimentary target rocks are thought to generate large quantities of CO 2 via decarbonation. This injection of CO 2 into the atmosphere has the potential to alter the climate and threaten terrestrial habitability. The magnitude of this change depends upon the net amount of CO 2 released, which is controlled by how much CO 2 is produced by the impact, how much CO 2 is removed by back-reactions after the impact, and other post-impact CO 2 sinks. To interrogate the behavior of CO 2 release into the impact atmosphere, we present carbon (δ 13 C), oxygen (δ 18 O), and clumped (Δ 47 ) isotope results from carbonate clasts preserved within the impact breccia of the Steen River Impact Structure (SRIS) in Alberta, Canada. These clasts exhibit a ~65‰ range in δ 13 C and a ~5‰ variation in δ 18 O. However, while δ 13 C and δ 18 O are positively correlated, Δ 47 unexpectedly has a negative relationship with δ 13 C and δ 18 O. Based on prior assumptions, there would either be (1) no relationship with carbonate Δ 47 and the bulk ratios because Δ 47 would be reset at extreme impact temperatures, or (2) Δ 47 would have a positive correlation with the bulk ratios, reflecting gradual Δ 47 ‘resetting.’ To reconcile the SRIS result with these expectations, we conducted a series of in vacuo heating experiments at temperatures above calcite decomposition. As predicted by Rayleigh fractionation, these heating experiments generated depletions in δ 13 C and δ 18 O that increased with reaction time. Mimicking the SRIS results, these experiments also produced concomitant increases in Δ 47 . Using an adaptation of a mechanistic model for decomposition fractionation (Hayles & Killingsworth, 2022) we hypothesize that these exotic isotope trends are caused by Rayleigh fractionation and a Δ 47 kinetic isotope effect that results from the disproportionation of O to CaO and CO 2 during thermal decomposition. This high Δ 47 CO 2 subsequently exchanges with the residual CaCO 3 . This work highlights a potential pathway for identifying and quantifying CO 2 generation by impacts and builds on the relatively limited literature characterizing the behavior of carbonate clumped isotopes at very high geologic temperatures.

Multi-isotope systems↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Collaborative Evaluation of GaN FETs and Gate Drivers

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Wide Bandgap Power Electronics↗

NASA NTRS2024

Shape Memory Alloy Material Maturation (SMA)

The Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) project will evaluate, process, and refine 3 SMA materials that have the potential to provide the properties needed to enable various technologies for human exploration missions on the Moon and Mars. The work will focus on the development and identification of a new SMA alloy targeted at enabling compliant rover tires capable of the extreme demands (high loads, faster drive speeds, extreme cold temperatures and exceedingly long mission durations). The necessary work will include the development of key material testing capabilities that will enable material properties development from 40K – 400K for all properties needed to qualify space flight hardware (Tensile, Fatigue/Durability, etc.). The SMA wire properties will be input into a database and model, ultimately to disseminate material property design data (for 1 alloy only) as parameters for finite element modeling of a tire structure.

Andrea Marchica↗