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At least 829 records · Page 46
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Autonomous Detection and Classification of Lunar Minerals Using a Convolutional Neural Network Based Framework for the SUCR DALI Project

NASA’s long-term goal is to deploy humans to the Moon and, from there, advance human exploration to Mars, with Artemis missions as pivotal milestones. Raman spectroscopy can uniquely identify minerals, compounds, water states, and other materials, providing distinctive fingerprints for classification. A Raman instrument has been successfully deployed and utilized on the Mars surface via the Perseverance rover, but has not yet been utilized at the lunar surface The SUCR DALI project is working towards developing a Raman spectroscopy instrument to be applied in various lunar mission concepts, including within the Artemis program. The objective of my research is to assist in the maturation of the proposed SUCR DALI lunar Raman instrument through the development of an autonomous detection and classification model capable of identifying minerals and water states on the Moon’s surface.

Convolutional Neural Networks↗
NASA NTRS2003

Evidence for the Buried "Pre-Noachian" Crust Pre-Dating the Oldest Observed Surface Units on Mars

MOLA gridded data shows clear evidence for Quasi-Circular Depressions not visible on images in Early Noachian (EN) terrain units on Mars. We suggest these are buried impact basins that pre-date the superimposed craters whose high density makes these EN units the oldest visible at the surface of Mars. There is crust older than the oldest visible terrain units on Mars, and these EN units cannot date from 4.6 BYA. These and other Noa-chian units have similar total (visible + buried) crater retention ages, suggesting a common "pre-Noachian" crustal age OR crater saturation beyond which we cannot see.

Frey, H. V.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Evidence for Buried "Pre-Noachian" Crust Pre-Dating the Oldest Observed Surface Units on Mars

MOLA gridded data shows clear evidence for Quasi-Circular Depressions not visible on images in Early Noachian (EN) terrain units on Mars. We suggest these are buried impact basins that pre-date the superimposed craters whose high density makes these EN units the oldest visible at the surface of Mars. There is crust older than the oldest visible terrain units on Mars, and these EN units cannot date from 4.6 BYA. These and other Noachian units have similar total (visible + buried) crater retention ages, suggesting a common "pre-Noachian" crustal age OR crater saturation beyond which we cannot see.

Frey, H. V.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Mars: Its atmosphere and surface

Spectral experiments on Mars Orbiter show that solar energy is absorbed by the planet and its atmosphere and eventually re-emitted in the infrared as thermal emission. The majority of the radiances at the north polar Mars area follows very closely the radiance from a black body of about 145 degrees kelvin, which indicates a frozen CO2 surface; the south polar region radiance indicates a temperature inversion in the atmosphere, and the emission of atmospheric dust as well as emissions from frozen CO2.

Hanel, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Workshop on Innovative Instrumentation for the In Situ Study of Atmosphere-Surface Interactions on Mars

The speakers in the first session of the workshop addressed some of the continuing enigmas regarding the atmospheric composition, surface composition, and atmosphere-surface interactions on Mars; provided a description of a database of proposed payloads and instruments for SEI missions that is scheduled to be accessible in 1993; discussed potential uses of atmospheric imaging from landed stations on Mars; and advocated the collection and employment of high-spectral-resolution reflectance and emission data.

Fegley, Bruce, Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Surface navigation on Mars with a Navigation Satellite

Radiometric navigation data from the Deep Space Network (DSN) stations on the earth to transponders and other surface elements such as rovers and landers on Mars, can determine their positions to only within a kilometer in inertial space. The positional error is mostly in the z-component of the surface element parallel to the Martian spin-axis. However, with Doppler and differenced-Doppler data from a Navigation Satellite in orbit around Mars to two or more of such transponders on the planetary surface, their positions can be determined to within 15 meters (or 20 meters for one-way Doppler beacons on Mars) in inertial space. In this case, the transponders (or other vehicles) on Mars need not even be capable of directly communicating to the earth. When the Navigation Satellite data is complemented by radiometric observations from the DSN stations also, directly to the surface elements on Mars, their positions can be determined to within 3 meters in inertial space. The relative positions of such surface elements on Mars (relative to one another) in Mars-fixed coordinates, however, can be determined to within 5 meters from simply range and Doppler data from the DSN stations to the surface elements. These results are obtained from covariance studies assuming X-band data noise levels and data-arcs not exceeding 10 days. They are significant in the planning and deployment of a Mars-based navigation network necessary to support real-time operations during critical phases of manned exploration of Mars.

Vijayaraghavan, A.↗
NASA NTRS1962

ATMOSPHERE AND SURFACE PROPERTIES OF MARS AND VENUS

From a critical study of the available evidence, the following conclusions regarding the surface properties of the two nearest planets are arrived at. Particular attention is given to controversial problems which have been weighed w-ith due consideration for all existing data.

VENUS ATMOSPHERE↗
NASA NTRS2013

A Moderate D/H Ratio for a Surficial Water Reservoir on Mars

Martian surface morphology implies that Mars was once warm enough to maintain persistent liquid water on its surface and that water played a significant role in the formation of weathered/altered terrains [e.g., 1, 2, 3]. Volatiles exhaled by volcanic activity would have been the dominant greenhouse gases and would have significantly affected the Martian climate. The enrichment of some volatile elements in the atmosphere, which would have dissolved in surface water, could also have influenced water chemistry (e.g., acidity) and played a significant role in weathering and aqueous alteration processes. While much of this picture is qualitative, Martian meteorites contain records of major Martian volatile reservoirs. This study characterizes Martian surficial volatile reservoirs based on in situ ion microprobe analyses of volatile abundances and H-isotopes of glassy phases (groundmass glass [GG] and impact melt [IM]) in Martian basalts (shergottites). Although these meteorites are of igneous origin, some glassy phases underwent impact-induced modification that trapped surficial and atmospheric volatile components [4, 5]; e.g., inert gases contained in IMs from EETA79001 (EETA79) match the relative abundances of modern Martian atmosphere [6]. Analyses of these glassy phases demonstrate that surficial volatile reservoirs have distinct D/H ratios from their magmatic volatiles.

Usui, Tomohiro↗
NASA NTRS2006

Mars Exploration Rover Surface Mission: Thermal Performance for More Than an Entire Martian Year

This viewgraph presentation reviews the thermal performance of the Mars Exploration Rovers. The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project landed two identical roving science vehicles on Mars in January 2004; they have continued to perform geological science data collection well beyond their surface design lifetime of 90 sols. The design of the thermal system is described. Pictures from the rovers are also included,

flight performance↗
NASA NTRS1987

MEVTV Workshop on Nature and Composition of Surface Units on Mars

Topics addressed include: SNC meteorites and their potential for providing information about the geochemical evolution of Mars; remote sensing; photogeological inferences of Martian surface compositions; and interactions of the surface with volatiles in either the surface or the atmosphere.

Zimbelman, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1987

The surface composition of Mars from earthbased observations

The current knowledge of the Martian surface from earth-based spectral reflectance observations, and what can (or can not) be determined from orbital reflectance and spectral imaging are discussed. Soils, dust, and primary crustal materials are briefly examined.

Singer, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Photovoltaic Cell Operation on Mars

The Martian surface environment provides peculiar challenges for the operation of solar arrays: low temperature, solar flux with a significant scattered component that varies in intensity and spectrum with the amount of suspended atmospheric dust, and the possibility of performance loss due to dust deposition on the array surface. This paper presents theoretical analyses of solar cell performance on the surface of Mars and measurements of cells under Martian conditions.

Landis, Geoffrey A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Unmanned surface traverses of Mars and Moon: Science objectives, payloads, operations

Science objectives and properties to be measured are outlined for long surface traverse missions on Mars and the Moon, with remotely-controlled roving vehicles. A series of candidate rover payloads is proposed for each planet, varying in weight, cost, purpose, and development needed. The smallest weighs 35 kg; the largest almost 300 kg. A high degree of internal control will be needed on the Mars rover, including the ability to carry out complex science sequences. Decision-making by humans in the Mars mission includes supervisory control of rover operations and selection of features and samples of geological and biological interest. For the lunar mission, less control on the rover and more on earth is appropriate. Science portions of the rover mission profile are outlined, with timelines and mileage breakdowns. Operational problem areas for Mars include control, communications, data storage, night operations, and the mission operations system. For the moon, science data storage on the rover would be unnecessary and control much simpler.

Jaffe, L. D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Reflectance spectroscopy of palagonite and iron-rich montmorillonite clay mixtures - Implications for the surface composition of Mars

The diffuse reflectance spectra of Hawaiian palagonite mixtures with an Fe-rich montmorillonite have prompted their present use as spectral analogs of the Martian surface. Like the Mars spectrum and unlike clays, the 2.2-micron reflectance spectrum absorption band is not present in the palagonite sample; neither is the 2.2-micron Al-OH clay lattice band seen in palagonite-montmorillonite mixtures, where the latter component remains below 15 wt pct. Fe-rich montmorillonite clay may therefore be present in Mars, in combination with palagonite, while remaining undetected in remotely sensed spectra.

Orenberg, James↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Notional Habitat Science Outfitting for a Lunar Surface Habitat or Mars Transit Habitat

Science outfitting is often given insufficient treatment in the development of early conceptual studies for lunar surface habitats. In some cases, only control masses and volumes are used as placeholders. In others, one science discipline may be given detailed treatment while others are largely ignored. It is not unheard of for science outfitting to be entirely forgotten in initial concept layouts. This is exacerbated by the reality that spacecraft design studies are often initiated long before science objectives have been established for any given human spaceflight destination. When those objectives later emerge, they can be difficult to accommodate if sizing studies did not allocate sufficient resources for them. A notional science outfitting can be created for virtually any human exploration habitat, however, utilizing data created by the International Space Station and Constellation programs. Biology, human research, physics, and geology science laboratories and a general-purpose work area for a lunar surface habitat will be derived using equipment identified by the Constellation-era Optimizing Science and Exploration Working Group (OSEWG) or flown on the International Space Station. Early science outfitting definition and inclusion in surface habitat sizing is critical for developing an exploration architecture that meets science needs. The mass, volume, power, and use cases associated with these notional laboratories impacts all of the habitat subsystems, habitat dimensions, hatch dimensions, logistics operations, launch vehicles and landers.

Lunar Habitat↗
NASA NTRS2022

Automating Surface Attitude Positioning and Pointing Operations for Mars 2020

The Surface Attitude Positioning and Pointing (SAPP) subsystem of the Mars Perseverance rover keeps track of the rover’s position and attitude on the surface of Mars. The SAPP Downlink Engineering Operations team members receive data from the rover on a daily basis. They must interpret the data to make sure the rover is staying safe and to support uplink planning. The SAPP team keeps track of the error growth in the rover’s attitude estimate due to noise in the Rover Inertial Measurement Unit’s (RIMU) gyroscopes used to propagate that attitude estimate whenever the rover is moving. Whenever this error grows to a particular threshold, SAPP is responsible for updating the onboard attitude knowledge using the RIMU’s accelerometers to estimate rover roll and pitch and sun imaging to estimate rover yaw, thereby reducing this attitude estimation error. Accurate attitude estimation is required so that the rover can successfully point its High Gain Antenna (HGA) to receive information from Earth and as a backup to the Mars orbiters used for sending data from the rover to Earth, point instruments on its Remote Sensing Mast (RSM), and support safe movement and placement of instruments by the rover’s ARM relative to the Martian surface. The Mars 2020 Engineering Operations team has been working to increase the operational efficiency of the mission and eventually move to a five-hour timeline for daily operations. In pursuit of this goal, the SAPP Engineering Operations team has automated their downlink process by developing a centralized Jupyter notebook to analyze the data received daily from the rover. The SAPP downlink Jupyter notebook automatically collects the data relevant to the SAPP subsystem and visualizes this information in plots and tables that can be easily read by downlink operators to aid them in assessing the status of the subsystem. Various Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have been incorporated into the downlink daily notebook to automate the collection and posting of data, such as gathering and posting data products to the cloud. The SAPP team has also developed a SAPP downlink software library that includes functions to aid the notebook in processing data. In addition to assessing the SAPP subsystem on a daily basis, operators need to assess the long-term trending behavior of the subsystem over time. An automated trending process has been developed to collect information from the daily notebooks in order to plot and analyze that data in a centralized place. These daily and trending processes have expedited the SAPP downlink assessment and laid the groundwork to completely automate the SAPP downlink process so that SAPP operators are unnecessary unless something unexpected occurs. This paper will provide an overview of the functions that the SAPP subsystem carries out on a daily basis, and will then dive into the automations that have been developed for daily and trending downlink assessment. An assessment of the downlink efficiency will be provided, along with a summary of lessons learned and work to go. Finally, the authors will discuss how these types of automated spacecraft health assessments could be more broadly used within mission operations.

Zarifian, Anais↗