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NASA NTRS2008

Overview of the MEDLI Project

The Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI) Project s objectives are to measure aerothermal environments, sub-surface heatshield material response, vehicle orientation, and atmospheric density for the atmospheric entry and descent phases of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) entry vehicle. The flight science objectives of MEDLI directly address the largest uncertainties in the ability to design and validate a robust Mars entry system, including aerothermal, aerodynamic and atmosphere models, and thermal protection system (TPS) design. The instrumentation suite will be installed in the heatshield of the MSL entry vehicle. The acquired data will support future Mars entry and aerocapture missions by providing measured atmospheric data to validate Mars atmosphere models and clarify the design margins for future Mars missions. MEDLI thermocouple and recession sensor data will significantly improve the understanding of aeroheating and TPS performance uncertainties for future missions. MEDLI pressure data will permit more accurate trajectory reconstruction, as well as separation of aerodynamic and atmospheric uncertainties in the hypersonic and supersonic regimes. This paper provides an overview of the project including the instrumentation design, system architecture, and expected measurement response.

Gazarik, Michael J.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Sequencing System Building Blocks: Using a Component Architecture for Sequencing Software

Over the last few years software engineering has made significant strides in making more flexible architectures and designs possible. However, at the same time, spacecraft have become more complex and flight software has become more sophisticated. Typically spacecraft are often one-of-a-kind entities that have different hardware designs, different capabilities, different instruments, etc. Ground software has become more complex and operations teams have had to learn a myriad of tools that all have different user interfaces and represent data in different ways. At Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) these themes have collided to require a new approach to producing ground system software. Two different groups have been looking at tackling this particular problem. One group is working for the JPL Mars Technology Program in the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Focused Technology area. The other group is the JPL Multi-Mission Planning and Sequencing Group. The major concept driving these two approaches on a similar path is to provide software that can be a more cohesive flexible system that provides a set of planning and sequencing system of services. This paper describes the efforts that have been made to date to create a unified approach from these disparate groups.

multi mission planning↗

NASA NTRS2009

Tele-Supervised Adaptive Ocean Sensor Fleet

The Tele-supervised Adaptive Ocean Sensor Fleet (TAOSF) is a multi-robot science exploration architecture and system that uses a group of robotic boats (the Ocean-Atmosphere Sensor Integration System, or OASIS) to enable in-situ study of ocean surface and subsurface characteristics and the dynamics of such ocean phenomena as coastal pollutants, oil spills, hurricanes, or harmful algal blooms (HABs). The OASIS boats are extended- deployment, autonomous ocean surface vehicles. The TAOSF architecture provides an integrated approach to multi-vehicle coordination and sliding human-vehicle autonomy. One feature of TAOSF is the adaptive re-planning of the activities of the OASIS vessels based on sensor input ( smart sensing) and sensorial coordination among multiple assets. The architecture also incorporates Web-based communications that permit control of the assets over long distances and the sharing of data with remote experts. Autonomous hazard and assistance detection allows the automatic identification of hazards that require human intervention to ensure the safety and integrity of the robotic vehicles, or of science data that require human interpretation and response. Also, the architecture is designed for science analysis of acquired data in order to perform an initial onboard assessment of the presence of specific science signatures of immediate interest. TAOSF integrates and extends five subsystems developed by the participating institutions: Emergent Space Tech - nol ogies, Wallops Flight Facility, NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Carnegie Mellon University, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The OASIS Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) system, which includes the vessels as well as the land-based control and communications infrastructure developed for them, controls the hardware of each platform (sensors, actuators, etc.), and also provides a low-level waypoint navigation capability. The Multi-Platform Simulation Environment from GSFC is a surrogate for the OASIS ASV system and allows for independent development and testing of higher-level software components. The Platform Communicator acts as a proxy for both actual and simulated platforms. It translates platform-independent messages from the higher control systems to the device-dependent communication protocols. This enables the higher-level control systems to interact identically with heterogeneous actual or simulated platforms.

Lefes, Alberto↗

NASA NTRS2010

Achieving a Risk-Informed Decision-Making Environment at NASA: The Emphasis of NASA's Risk Management Policy

This slide presentation reviews the evolution of risk management (RM) at NASA. The aim of the RM approach at NASA is to promote an approach that is heuristic, proactive, and coherent across all of NASA. Risk Informed Decision Making (RIDM) is a decision making process that uses a diverse set of performance measures along with other considerations within a deliberative process to inform decision making. RIDM is invoked for key decisions such as architecture and design decisions, make-buy decisions, and budget reallocation. The RIDM process and how it relates to the continuous Risk Management (CRM) process is reviewed.

Dezfuli, Homayoon↗

NASA NTRS2010

Exploration Roadmap Working Group (ERWG) Data Collection, NASA's Inputs

This slide presentation reviews four areas for further space exploration: (1) Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0, (2) Robotic Precursors targeting Near Earth Objects (NEO) for Human Exploration, (3) Notional Human Exploration of Near Earth Objects and (4) Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Refueling to Augment Human Exploration. The first presentation reviews the goals and objectives of the Mars DRA, presents a possible mission profile, innovation requirements for the mission and key risks and challenges for human exploration of Mars. The second presentation reviews the objective and goals of the robotic precursors to the NEO and the mission profile of such robotic exploration. The third presentation reviews the mission scenario of human exploration of NEO, the objectives and goals, the mission operational drivers, the key technology needs and a mission profile. The fourth and last presentation reviews the examples of possible refueling in low earth orbit prior to lunar orbit insertion, to allow for larger delivered payloads for a lunar mission.

Drake, Bret↗

NASA NTRS2010

FPGA Coprocessor Design for an Onboard Multi-Angle Spectro-Polarimetric Imager

A multi-angle spectro-polarimetric imager (MSPI) is an advanced camera system currently under development at JPL for possible future consideration on a satellite-based Aerosol-Cloud-Environ - ment (ACE) interaction study. The light in the optical system is subjected to a complex modulation designed to make the overall system robust against many instrumental artifacts that have plagued such measurements in the past. This scheme involves two photoelastic modulators that are beating in a carefully selected pattern against each other. In order to properly sample this modulation pattern, each of the proposed nine cameras in the system needs to read out its imager array about 1,000 times per second. The onboard processing required to compress this data involves least-squares fits (LSFs) of Bessel functions to data from every pixel in realtime, thus requiring an onboard computing system with advanced data processing capabilities in excess of those commonly available for space flight. As a potential solution to meet the MSPI onboard processing requirements, an LSF algorithm was developed on the Xilinx Virtex-4FX60 field programmable gate array (FPGA). In addition to configurable hardware capability, this FPGA includes Power -PC405 microprocessors, which together enable a combination hardware/ software processing system. A laboratory demonstration was carried out based on a hardware/ software co-designed processing architecture that includes hardware-based data collection and least-squares fitting (computationally), and softwarebased transcendental function computation (algorithmically complex) on the FPGA. Initial results showed that these calculations can be handled using a combination of the Virtex- 4TM Power-PC core and the hardware fabric.

Pingree, Paula J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Injury Potential Testing of Suited Occupants During Dynamic Spacecraft Flight Phases

In support of the Constellation Program, a space-suit architecture was envisioned for support of Launch, Entry, Abort, Micro-g EVA, Post Landing crew operations, and under emergency conditions, survival. This space suit architecture is unique in comparison to previous launch, entry, and abort (LEA) suit architectures in that it utilized rigid mobility elements in the scye and the upper arm regions. The suit architecture also employed rigid thigh disconnect elements to allow for quick disconnect functionality above the knee which allowed for commonality of the lower portion of the suit across two suit configurations. This suit architecture was designed to interface with the Orion seat subsystem, which includes seat components, lateral supports, and restraints. Due to this unique configuration of spacesuit mobility elements, combined with the need to provide occupant protection during dynamic landing events, risks were identified with potential injury due to the suit characteristics described above. To address the risk concerns, a test series was developed to evaluate the likelihood and consequences of these potential issues. Testing included use of Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs), Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS), and representative seat/suit hardware in combination with high linear acceleration events. The ensuing treatment focuses o detailed results of the testing that has ben conducted under this test series thus far.

McFarland, Shane M.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Injury Potential Testing of Suited Occupants During Dynamic Spacecraft Flight Phases

In support of the NASA Constellation Program, a space-suit architecture was envisioned for support of Launch, Entry, Abort, Micro-g EVA, Post Landing crew operations, and under emergency conditions, survival. This space suit architecture is unique in comparison to previous launch, entry, and abort (LEA) suit architectures in that it utilized rigid mobility elements in the scye and the upper arm regions. The suit architecture also employed rigid thigh disconnect elements to allow for quick disconnect functionality above the knee which allowed for commonality of the lower portion of the suit across two suit configurations. This suit architecture was designed to interface with the Orion seat subsystem, which includes seat components, lateral supports, and restraints. Due to this unique configuration of spacesuit mobility elements, combined with the need to provide occupant protection during dynamic landing events, risks were identified with potential injury due to the suit characteristics described above. To address the risk concerns, a test series was developed to evaluate the likelihood and consequences of these potential issues. Testing included use of Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs), Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS), and representative seat/suit hardware in combination with high linear acceleration events. The ensuing treatment focuses on detailed results of the testing that has been conducted under this test series thus far.

McFarland, Shane M.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Rad-Hard, Miniaturized, Scalable, High-Voltage Switching Module for Power Applications Rad-Hard, Miniaturized

A paper discusses the successful development of a miniaturized radiation hardened high-voltage switching module operating at 2.5 kV suitable for space application. The high-voltage architecture was designed, fabricated, and tested using a commercial process that uses a unique combination of 0.25 micrometer CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) transistors and high-voltage lateral DMOS (diffusion metal oxide semiconductor) device with high breakdown voltage (greater than 650 V). The high-voltage requirements are achieved by stacking a number of DMOS devices within one module, while two modules can be placed in series to achieve higher voltages. Besides the high-voltage requirements, a second generation prototype is currently being developed to provide improved switching capabilities (rise time and fall time for full range of target voltages and currents), the ability to scale the output voltage to a desired value with good accuracy (few percent) up to 10 kV, to cover a wide range of high-voltage applications. In addition, to ensure miniaturization, long life, and high reliability, the assemblies will require intensive high-voltage electrostatic modeling (optimized E-field distribution throughout the module) to complete the proposed packaging approach and test the applicability of using advanced materials in a space-like environment (temperature and pressure) to help prevent potential arcing and corona due to high field regions. Finally, a single-event effect evaluation would have to be performed and single-event mitigation methods implemented at the design and system level or developed to ensure complete radiation hardness of the module.

Adell, Philippe C.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Phaeton Mast Dynamics: On-Orbit Characterization of Deployable Masts

This presentation discusses the Phaeton Mast Dynamics (PMD) instrument architecture and design, including design constraints, design solutions, and instrument results. Since the design and build phases were completed with PMD as a NuSTAR payload, the presentation discusses NuSTAR's constraints and initial accommodations. The instrument results presented here are independent of the host mission, but the effects of a host mission's data handling design on PMD capabilities is discussed in 2011 IEEEAC Paper 1305.

Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR)↗

NASA NTRS2013

Investigating System Dependability Modeling Using AADL

This report describes Architecture Analysis & Design Language (AADL) models for a diverse set of fault-tolerant, embedded data networks and describes the methods and tools used to created these models. It also includes error models per the AADL Error Annex. Some networks were modeled using Error Detection Isolation Containment Types (EDICT). This report gives a brief description for each of the networks, a description of its modeling, the model itself, and evaluations of the tools used for creating the models. The methodology includes a naming convention that supports a systematic way to enumerate all of the potential failure modes.

Hall, Brendan↗

NASA NTRS2013

Auralization Architectures for NASA?s Next Generation Aircraft Noise Prediction Program

Aircraft community noise is a significant concern due to continued growth in air traffic, increasingly stringent environmental goals, and operational limitations imposed by airport authorities. The assessment of human response to noise from future aircraft can only be afforded through laboratory testing using simulated flyover noise. Recent work by the authors demonstrated the ability to auralize predicted flyover noise for a state-of-the-art reference aircraft and a future hybrid wing body aircraft concept. This auralization used source noise predictions from NASA's Aircraft NOise Prediction Program (ANOPP) as input. The results from this process demonstrated that auralization based upon system noise predictions is consistent with, and complementary to, system noise predictions alone. To further develop and validate the auralization process, improvements to the interfaces between the synthesis capability and the system noise tools are required. This paper describes the key elements required for accurate noise synthesis and introduces auralization architectures for use with the next-generation ANOPP (ANOPP2). The architectures are built around a new auralization library and its associated Application Programming Interface (API) that utilize ANOPP2 APIs to access data required for auralization. The architectures are designed to make the process of auralizing flyover noise a common element of system noise prediction.

Rizzi, Stephen A.↗

NASA NTRS2014

International Human Mission to Mars: Analyzing A Conceptual Launch and Assembly Campaign

In July of 2013, U.S. Congressman Kennedy (D-Mass.) successfully offered an amendment to H.R. 2687, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2013. "International Participation—The President should invite the United States partners in the International Space Station program and other nations, as appropriate, to participate in an international initiative under the leadership of the United States to achieve the goal of successfully conducting a crewed mission to the surface of Mars." This paper presents a concept for an international campaign to launch and assemble a crewed Mars Transfer Vehicle. NASA’s “Human Exploration of Mars: Design Reference Architecture 5.0” (DRA 5.0) was used as the point of departure for this concept. DRA 5.0 assumed that the launch and assembly campaign would be conducted using NASA launch vehicles. The concept presented utilizes a mixed fleet of NASA Space Launch System (SLS), U.S. commercial and international launch vehicles to accomplish the launch and assembly campaign. This concept has the benefit of potentially reducing the campaign duration. However, the additional complexity of the campaign must also be considered. The reliability of the launch and assembly campaign utilizing SLS launches augmented with commercial and international launch vehicles is analyzed and compared using discrete event simulation.

Cates, Grant↗

NASA NTRS2015

Mars Soil-Based Resource Processing and Planetary Protection

The ability to extract and process resources at the site of exploration into products and services, commonly referred to as In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), can have significant benefits for robotic and human exploration missions. In particular, the ability to use in situ resources to make propellants, fuel cell reactants, and life support consumables has been shown in studies to significantly reduce mission mass, cost, and risk, while enhancing or enabling missions not possible without the incorporation of ISRU. In December 2007, NASA completed the Mars Human Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0 study. For the first time in a large scale Mars architecture study, water from Mars soil was considered as a potential resource. At the time of the study, knowledge of water resources (their form, concentration, and distribution) was extremely limited. Also, due to lack of understanding of how to apply planetary protection rules and requirements to ISRU soil-based excavation and processing, an extremely conservative approach was incorporated where only the top several centimeters of ultraviolet (UV) radiated soil could be processed (assumed to be 3% water by mass). While results of the Mars DRA 5.0 study showed that combining atmosphere processing to make oxygen and methane with soil processing to extract water provided the lowest mission mass, atmosphere processing to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen was baselined for the mission since it was the lowest power and risk option. With increased knowledge and further clarification of Mars planetary protection rules, and the recent release of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) report on "Special Regions and the Human Exploration of Mars", it is time to reexamine potential water resources on Mars, options for soil processing to extract water, and the implications with respect to planetary protection and Special Regions on Mars.

Sanders, G. B.↗

NASA NTRS2013

The Development of the MSL Guidance, Navigation, and Control System for Entry, Descent, and Landing

On August 5, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission successfully delivered the Curiosity rover to its intended target. It was the most complex and ambitious landing in the history of the red planet. A key component of the landing system, the requirements for which were driven by the mission ambitious science goals, was the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) system. This paper will describe the technical challenges of the MSL GN&C system, the resulting architecture and design needed to meet those challenges, and the development process used for its implementation and testing.

entry, descent, and landing.↗

NASA NTRS2013

The Development of the MSL Guidance, Navigation, and Control System for Entry, Descent, and Landing

GN&C↗

NASA NTRS2010

Implementation of a Relay Coordination System for the Mars Network

Mars network relay operations involve the coordination of lander and orbiter teams through long-term and short-term planning, tactical changes and post-pass analysis. Much of this coordination is managed through email traffic and point-to-point file data exchanges. It is often difficult to construct a complete and accurate picture of the relay situation at any given moment, as there is no centralized store of correlated relay data. The Mars Relay Operations Service (MaROS) is being implemented to address the problem of relay coordination for current and next-generation relay missions. The service is provided for the purpose of coordinating communications sessions between landed spacecraft assets and orbiting spacecraft assets at Mars. The service centralizes a set of functions previously distributed across multiple spacecraft operations teams, and as such greatly improves visibility into the end-to-end strategic coordination process. Most of the process revolves around the scheduling of communications sessions between the spacecraft during periods of time when a landed asset on Mars is geometrically visible by an orbiting spacecraft. These "relay" sessions are used to transfer data both to and from the landed asset via the orbiting asset on behalf of Earth-based spacecraft operators. This paper will discuss the relay coordination problem space, overview the architecture and design selected to meet system requirements, and describe the first phase of system implementation

Allard, Daniel A.↗

NASA NTRS2015

On TTEthernet for Integrated Fault-Tolerant Spacecraft Networks

There has recently been a push for adopting integrated modular avionics (IMA) principles in designing spacecraft architectures. This consolidation of multiple vehicle functions to shared computing platforms can significantly reduce spacecraft cost, weight, and de- sign complexity. Ethernet technology is attractive for inclusion in more integrated avionic systems due to its high speed, flexibility, and the availability of inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. Furthermore, Ethernet can be augmented with a variety of quality of service (QoS) enhancements that enable its use for transmitting critical data. TTEthernet introduces a decentralized clock synchronization paradigm enabling the use of time-triggered Ethernet messaging appropriate for hard real-time applications. TTEthernet can also provide two forms of event-driven communication, therefore accommodating the full spectrum of traffic criticality levels required in IMA architectures. This paper explores the application of TTEthernet technology to future IMA spacecraft architectures as part of the Avionics and Software (A&S) project chartered by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) program.

Loveless, Andrew↗