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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Technology Development and Maturation for Exploration: 2015 to 2016 Overview

Over the last year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has continued to refine the understanding and prioritization of technology gaps that must be closed in order to achieve Evolvable Mars Campaign objectives and near term objectives in the cislunar proving ground. These efforts are reflected in updates to the technical area roadmaps released by NASA in 2015 and have guided technology development and maturation tasks that have been sponsored by various programs. This paper provides an overview of the refined Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) strategic planning, as well as a synopsis of key technology and maturation project tasks that occurred in 2014 and early 2015 to support the strategic needs. Plans for the remainder of 2015 and subsequent years are also described.

Schneider, Walter F.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Solar Cruiser Technology Maturation Plans

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed the Solar Cruiser mission concept to mature solar sail technology for use in future Heliophysics missions, as well as missions of interest across a broad user community (e.g., space weather and Earth polar observatories). Solar Cruiser will serve as a pathfinder for missions that observe the solar environment from unique vantage points such as a high inclination solar mission opening a fundamentally new range of observational capabilities for the Heliophysics Program and for space weather monitoring. Sustained observations away from the Sun-Earth line (SEL) present unique opportunities for answering the outstanding science questions of Heliophysics, improving space-weather monitoring and prediction, and revealing new information about our Sun and solar system. Propellantless solar sails can be used to create artificial equilibria and maintain indefinite station-keeping at locations sunward of L1 along the SEL, or at any desired offset from the SEL leading or trailing the Earth in its orbit. They can change the heliocentric inclination of a spacecraft from the ecliptic to as high as solar polar, stopping and remaining at any intermediate inclination orbit in between. Sails can be used to hover over the Earth’s poles, using solar photon pressure to offset the Earth’s gravitational attraction, creating functional equivalents of geostationary earth orbits. The Solar Cruiser mission would fly a small spacecraft with a large (>1,600 square meter) solar sail containing embedded reflectivity control devices (RCDs) and photovoltaic cells. The mission concept includes successful deployment of the solar sail, validation of all sail subsystems, controlled station-keeping inside of the Sun-Earth L1 point, attitude control of the sail with the RCDs (including spinning and de-spinning), demonstration of pointing performance for science imaging, and an increase in heliocentric inclination (out of the ecliptic). To demonstrate the requisite sail technology, the Solar Cruiser project will design, fabricate, deploy, and fly the Solar Sail Propulsion Element (SSPE). The SSPE incorporates the following three systems: • The Solar Sail System (SSS) provides the large propulsive surface required for acceleration and smaller reflectivity-changing surfaces for roll control. • The Active Mass Translator System (AMT) provides SSPE motion with respect to the sailcraft bus for pitch and yaw control. • The Solar Sail Attitude Determination and Control System (SSADCS) consists of embedded software to 1) provide autonomous sailcraft attitude estimation, attitude pointing control, and reaction wheel momentum management following sail deployment and 2) execute the uplinked inertial attitude pointing commands to maintain the desired sailcraft trajectory. The plans for maturing each of these technology systems to TRL 5 and beyond are described herein.

Solar Sail↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Decade of NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology Investments: Technology Maturation, Infusion, and Other Benefits

NASA’s Astrophysics Division (APD) funds development of cutting-edge technology to enable its missions to achieve ambitious and groundbreaking science goals. These technology development efforts are managed by the Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS), Cosmic Origins (COR), and Exoplanet Exploration (ExE) Programs. The NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program was established in 2009 as a new technology maturation program to fill the gap in the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) range from 3 to 6. Since program inception, 100 SAT grants have been openly competed and awarded, along with dozens of direct-funded projects, leading to a host of technologies advancing their TRLs and/or being infused into space and suborbital missions and ground-based projects. We present the portfolio distribution in terms of specific technology areas addressed, including optics, detectors, coatings, coronagraphs, starshades, lasers, electronics, cooling systems, and micro-thruster subsystems. We show an analysis of the rate of TRL advances, infusion success stories, and other benefits such as training the future astrophysics workforce, including students and postdoctoral fellows hired by projects. Finally, we present APD’s current strategic technology maturation priorities for investment, enabling a range of future strategic astrophysics missions

NASA, astrophysics, technology development, optics↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Maturation of In-space Welding in Reduced Gravity and Reduced Pressure Environments Through Progression to Suborbital Flight Experiments

Development of in-space welding (ISW) is a key and enabling manufacturing technology as welding is currently involved in producing approximately 90% of durable goods, and this trend is expected to hold for in-space manufacturing as well. ISW is critical to a sustainable space economy. To mature in-space welding, numerous gaps must be closed since NASA has not made a weld in space in 50 years. Advancing laser beam welding (LBW) towards a suborbital flight demonstration will help mature the process for in-space assembly & manufacturing (ISAM) through demonstration in relevant environments and achieving technology readiness milestones. LBW technologies and science improved by this work will benefit in-space manufacturing, long-term sustainability of space structures & operations, and the overall space economy. Ground-based welding of aerospace hardware requires an Edisonian approach to qualify a welding process; however, this approach is infeasible for ISW qualification due to mass, volume, logistic, and cost challenges inherent to the space environment. To address this challenge, we are conducting ground and suborbital tests with partners performing parabolic flights to gather data on LBW processes and infuse them into NASA & partner missions. This progression from ground to flight experiments will elucidate relevant physics during LBW: 1) reduced gravity, 2) reduced pressure, and 3) extreme temperature. Data from post-flight evaluation and in situ instrumentation will feed integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) tools to reduce the burden of ISW infusion by establishing a link between space and terrestrial environments, ultimately accelerating the qualification of LBW in space.

in-space welding↗
NASA NTRS1993

The distribution of neuropeptide Y and dynorphin immunoreactivity in the brain and pituitary gland of the platyfish, Xiphophorus maculatus, from birth to sexual maturity

Immunoreactive neuropeptide Y and dynorphin have been localized in the brain and pituitary gland of the platyfish, Xiphophorus maculatus, at different ages and stages of development from birth to sexual maturity. Immunoreactive neuropeptide Y was found in perikarya and tracts of the nucleus olfactoretinalis, telencephalon, ventral tegmentum and in the neurohypophysis and in the three regions of the adenohypophysis. Immunoreactive dynorphin was found in nerve tracts in the olfactory bulb and in cells of the pars intermedia and the rostral pars distalis of the pituitary gland.

NASA Discipline Developmental Biology↗
NASA NTRS2005

Assessing Technology Maturity for ST-9 Technology Validation Experiments

This viewgraph presentation reviews the process of assessing the maturity of a technology for use in NASA missions. The NASA New Millennium Program (NMP) identifies and flight validates breakthrough technologi es that will significantly benefit future operational Space and Earth Science missions NMP conducts two types of flight validation projec ts for the Space Science Enterprise: (1) Integrated System Validatio n Projects, and (2) Stand-Alone Subsystem Validation Projects.

Space Technology (ST) 9↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Technology Maturation Plan for the Development of Nuclear Electric Propulsion

Over the last two years NASA’s Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) Project formulated a Technology Maturation Plan (TMP) for development of the sub-systems needed for a MW-class Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) system which, combined with a high thrust chemical propulsion stage, would be suitable for human missions to Mars. Two recent assessments, independently conducted by the National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the NASA Engineering & Safety Center, concluded that the technologies required for a high-power NEP system are immature and the attendant risks insufficiently quantified to justify initiating a flight project. For NEP to be available as a viable option to meet flight opportunities in the late 2030s / 2040s time frame, development of the key sub-systems must begin now. SNP has subdivided the NEP system into five Critical Technology Elements (CTE): the nuclear reactor, power conversion, power management and distribution, electric propulsion sub-system, and the primary heat rejection system. Development plans for each of these CTEs have been drafted which will serve as the template for a focused milestone-driven research and development campaign intended to advance each CTE to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5. This will be accomplished by building and testing hardware at relevant power levels (~ 1 MW) and for relevant durations (2,500 hours, ~10% of the required operational lifetime) and conducting numerical modeling of the CTEs anchored by the accumulated test data to predict system performance and reliability. Concurrent with this work, high-level coupled system/mission modeling will be carried out to refine the key performance parameters that the various CTEs must achieve. Non-advocate reviews will be held at milestone points to assess progress and inform down-select decisions. The strategy for formulating the TMP was described previously; this paper describes ongoing progress on the drafting and baselining of the plan, including key specific details.

Space Nuclear Propulsion↗
NASA NTRS1974

Cost Modeling Techniques for Design Maturity

Cost modeling techniques and factors which either add to or subtract from these estimates are examined. The most important factors for increasing costs are interfacing subsystems, subsystem design and software maturity. Cost decrease depends on hardware, software, and support equipment availability. A cost modeling analysis for reentry shield and aerodynamic decelerator subsystems of a reentry vehicle is presented. Integration problems for the subsystems are also discussed.

Ruhland, E. W.↗
NASA NTRS1976

A mature Bosch CO2 reduction technology

The reduction of CO2 is one of the steps in closing the oxygen loop for long-duration manned space missions. Several units utilizing the Bosch process, which catalytically reduces CO2 with hydrogen, have been built and operated during the past decade. Each contributed substantial information affecting subsequent designs. Early challenges were primarily concerned with carbon control, materials durability, and reliability of reaction initiation. These were followed by concern about power consumption, expendable weight, volume, and process rate control. Suitable materials and techniques for carbon containment and process reliability have been demonstrated. Power requirements have been reduced by almost an order of magnitude. Methods for significant reductions in expendable weight and volume have been developed. The technology is at a state of maturity directly applicable to designs for space missions.

King, C. D.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Color of kerogen as index of organic maturity

Kerogen from the Tanner basin off southern California was heated under nitrogen at different temperatures and times and subsequently was studied under the transmitted light microscope. Samples darken in color from yellow through shades of brown to black with increasing thermal maturation. The transition from dark brown to very dark brown marks the range of maximum n-alkane generation where the residue attains an atomic H/C of about 0.80 plus or minus 0.05. The apparent activation energy for this transition was about 45 plus or minus 5 kcal per mole.

Peters, K. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Depositional history of core section 74001 - Depth profiles of maturity, FeO, and metal

Samples from every 0.5-cm interval of soil in core section 74001 have been studied by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and magnetic techniques. The values of the FMR maturity index show that the 74001 samples are very immature (the index ranges from 0.14 to 0.29 units) and have not seen appreciable, if any, surface exposure since their deposition. In fact, the small amount of fine-grained metal in the 74001 samples is probably not acquired as a result of their exposure to the micrometeoroid flux at the lunar surface. Thus, the black-glass soil of 74001 was deposited very rapidly, probably in a single episode or several closely spaced episodes of lunar fire fountaining. The average concentration of FeO and its standard deviation for all the 74001 samples are 22.5 + or - 0.3 wt.%. Since the FeO concentration is so uniform, no large variations in the major-element chemistry of 74001 are expected, with the possible exception of the volatile elements. The concentration of coarse-grained metal, which is measured magnetically, and its standard deviation are 0.15 + or - 0.01 wt.%. The coarse-grained metal probably precipitated contemporaneously with the silicate and oxide phases in the black-glass droplets.

Morris, R. V.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Solar-wind and solar-flare maturation of the lunar regolith

Detailed predictions concerning the depth and time-dependent accumulation of solar-wind effects and solar-flare tracks in lunar dust grains were obtained by use of an adaptation of a Monte Carlo soil-mixing computer code described by Duraud et al. (1975). The predictions are compared to experimental measurements obtained by analyzing lunar dust grains as well as artificially irradiated minerals by a variety of techniques. A study of amorphous coatings of solar-wind radiation-damaged material on certain lunar grains sets limits on the integrated residence time of these grains in the ancient solar wind. Other topics discussed include solar wind maturation, the peculiar shape of the experimental distribution of central track densities in 50-micron grains, and the interpretation of both track gradients in 50-micron feldspars and the relatively 'low' concentration of solar-wind species implanted in ilmenite grains.

Bibring, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1979

The effect of variety and maturity on the quality of freeze-dried carrots. The effect of microwave blanching on the nutritional and textural quality of freeze-dried spinach

Using carrots, the quality of freeze-dried products was studied to determine the optimum varieties and maturation stages for quality attributes such as appearance, flavor, texture, and nutritive value. The quality of freeze-dried carrots is discussed in terms of Gardner color, alcohol insoluble solids, viscosity, and core/cortex ratio. Also, microwave blanching of freeze-dried spinach was studied to determine vitamin interrelationships, anatomical changes, and oxidative deteriorations in terms of preprocessing microwave treatments. Statistical methods were employed in the gathering of data and interpretation of results in both studies.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1982

Regolith maturation on the earth and the moon with an example from Apollo 15

Petrographic data on twelve Apollo 15 surface samples and on twelve samples from the double drive tube 15010/011 are presented in the form of triangular AML (agglutinate-monomineralic fragments-lithic fragments) plots. The triangular AML plots for different grain sizes show smoothly varying contour lines only for the solids derived mainly from mare basalts. These contour lines are interpreted as lines of isomaturity. The AML plots with isomature contours are somewhat similar to QFR (quartz-feldspar-rock fragments) triangular plots used for terrestrial clastic sediments. Both kinds of plots are sensitive to maturity and both may be used to predict evolution paths. Soils from predominantly highland areas and from other mixed terrains at Apollo 15 sites do not make smooth contours on AML diagrams. By analogy with QFR diagrams, the lack of smooth contours may be due to mixed source rock families, or to recent mixing, or both.

Basu, A.↗