Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Gateway”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 901 records · Page 50
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2021

BioSensor Users' Guide

The BioSensor is a fully autonomous 3-color LED-based spectrophotometer paired with a fluidics system that supports microbes in liquid culture. Originally developed for the BioSentinel CubeSat mission to study the response of a wild type and mutant strain of yeast to the deep space environment, the BioSensor consists of a series of 16-well, independently plumbed fluidics cards. The cards utilize filters to allow the fluidic system to administer reagents while constraining the microbes in their wells. Heaters on each card incubate to the appropriate growth temperature once the experiment begins. During the active experiment, the LED/detector system measures the transmission of light through each well at three specific wavelengths, similar to a standard benchtop spectrophotometer. The transmission/absorbance kinetics curves for each well are telemetered back to Earth, along with temperature data, for analysis on the ground. The BioSensor is being upgraded from its original CubeSat free-flyer interface to be a secondary payload on lunar landers, Gateway, and other BLEO applications, while maintaining the same functionality and science utility for future experiments.

Matthew Lera↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Technology Development for Exploration: 2020 to 2021 Overview

This paper provides an overview of NASA supported activities developing Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) technologies in the following capability areas: life support, environmental monitoring, fire safety, and logistics. NASA has been refining technology needs for deep space missions including Gateway, lunar surface, Mars transit, and Mars surface missions. Validating technologies in relevant environments, both in low earth orbit (LEO) and ground tests is critical in understanding technology performance and long duration performance. On-orbit and ground tests inform NASA’s technology decisions to fill exploration gaps. NASA has multiple technology projects across the technology readiness spectrum with potential to fill or partially fill exploration gaps. For each capability area, this paper will describe select capability gaps, NASA technology project maturation over the past year, and key performance parameters (KPPs). KPPs are evolving but they still provide a useful measure in communicating progress and identifying development needs to fill exploration gaps. The intent is to provide a very high-level overview describing the projects that are supporting gap closure and provide references to additional technical details, progress, and KPPs.

James Lee Broyan↗
NASA NTRS2021

BioSensor Users' Guide

The BioSensor is a fully autonomous 3-color LED-based spectrophotometer paired with a fluidics system that supports microbes in liquid culture. Originally developed for the BioSentinel CubeSat mission to study the response of a wild type and mutant strain of yeast to the deep space environment, the BioSensor consists of a series of 16-well, independently plumbed fluidics cards. The cards utilize filters to allow the fluidic system to administer reagents while constraining the microbes in their wells. Heaters on each card incubate to the appropriate growth temperature once the experiment begins. During the active experiment, the LED/detector system measures the transmission of light through each well at three specific wavelengths, similar to a standard benchtop spectrophotometer. The transmission/ absorbance kinetics curves for each well are telemetered back to Earth, along with temperature data, for analysis on the ground. The BioSensor is being upgraded from its original CubeSat free-flyer interface to be a secondary payload on lunar landers, Gateway, and other BLEO applications, while maintaining the same functionality and science utility for future experiments.

Matthew Lera↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Technology Development for Exploration: 2020 to 2021 Overview

This PowerPoint presentation supports the following paper submission's abstract (STRIVES 20210015025). This paper provides an overview of NASA supported activities developing Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) technologies in the following capability areas: life support, environmental monitoring, fire safety, and logistics. NASA has been refining technology needs for deep space missions including Gateway, lunar surface, Mars transit, and Mars surface missions. Validating technologies in relevant environments, both in low earth orbit (LEO) and ground tests is critical in understanding technology performance and long duration performance. On-orbit and ground tests inform NASA’s technology decisions to fill exploration gaps. NASA has multiple technology projects across the technology readiness spectrum with potential to fill or partially fill exploration gaps. For each capability area, this paper will describe select capability gaps, NASA technology project maturation over the past year, and key performance parameters (KPPs). KPPs are evolving but they still provide a useful measure in communicating progress and identifying development needs to fill exploration gaps. The intent is to provide a very high-level overview describing the projects that are supporting gap closure and provide references to additional technical details, progress, and KPPs.

Life Support↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Extended Performance Characterization of the 12.5-kW Advanced Electric Propulsion System Engineering Test Unit Hall Thruster

This work presents a summary of the first detailed performance assessment of the Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) Engineering Test Unit 2 (ETU-2) thruster produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne at the throttle conditions most relevant for AEPS application on the Gateway Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). First, an assessment was performed of ETU-2 performance and backpressure sensitivity at the previously-tested throttle points of 300 V/6.25 kW, 400 V/8.33 kW, 500 V/10.42 kW, and 600 V/12.5 kW that confirmed ETU-2 and the test facility were both operating nominally and consistent with historical baselines. ETU-2 performance and stability were then assessed throughout the PPE throttle range of 2.6-12 kW and shown to be in-family with predictions based on the scaling of previous results. Taken together, these results will help inform application of AEPS on PPE as the AEPS design progresses towards its Critical Design Review.

Jason D Frieman↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hierarchical Control of Distributed Battery Energy Storage Systems in a DC Microgrid

Contents - NASA Future Power Systems - DC Microgrid with Distributed Battery Energy Storage - A simplified gateway power system - Droop Control (Primary Control) - Distributed battery units, droop control, and load sharing characteristics - Simulation results - Three-Level Hierarchical Control of Distributed Battery Units During Eclipse - Secondary Control - Objective and definition of unit control error - Implementation of secondary control - Simulation results - Tertiary Control - Schedule BU current sharing with the objective of equal SoC - Simulation results•Conclusions

Jing Zhang↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Distributed Approach to High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking Within a Virtualized Environment

The High-Rate Delay Tolerant Networking (HDTN) project has taken a distributed service-based approach to the development of a highly efficient delay tolerant networking (DTN) implementation. Through the analysis of many DTN implementations, system and mission requirements as well as the DTN protocol specifications, HDTN has worked to infuse modern computing technologies into the NASA approach to interplanetary networking. The initial use case of the HDTN software runs on a hypervisor representative of the International Space Station (ISS) DTN Gateway. In this scenario, multiple emulated payloads will send science data through HDTN to a mission operations center. HDTN will provide store and forward capability as well as network flow management. This paper discusses the infusion path of cognitive networking technologies in the NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) networks using the DTN architecture and protocols as the basis for cognitive routing and network management capabilities. HDTN has been developing the Bundle Protocol encoding and decoding mechanisms and messaging framework that can be used as the basis for integrating DTN with various learning and decision-making processes. The concepts of distributed computing, network virtualization, software defined networking and delay tolerant networking are basic building blocks which will further the development of cognitive networking. In addition to discussion of the HDTN software development and testing, this paper examines the role that each of these technologies play in the evolution of the current state of space networking into an intelligent network of networks.

Rachel Mary Dudukovich↗
NASA NTRS2021

Advanced Multimodal Solutions for Information Presentation

High-workload, fast-paced, and degraded sensory environments are the likeliest candidates to benefit from multimodal information presentation. For example, during extra-vehicular activity (EVA) and telerobotic operations, the sensory restrictions associated with such a hostile environment provide a major challenge to maintaining the situation awareness (SA) required for safe operations. In particular, orientation, navigation, and collision avoidance are critical aspects of EVA tasks that need to be addressed to ensure the safety of the crew and the success of the mission. Multimodal displays hold promise to enhance situation awareness and task performance by utilizing different sensory modalities and maximizing their effectiveness based on appropriate interaction between modalities. Multimodal displays will also play an important role for long-duration information systems and will likely begin to be developed in the early phases of cislunar Gateway, and later lunar or Mars transit missions. Information systems are envisioned for LDEMs that require spacecraft with greater crew autonomy and increased dependence on computer-provided information needed to perform routine tasks, as well as time- and safety critical tasks. Such a system will require a single, common interface that is easy to learn and use and accesses key information from all relevant vehicle/habitat systems to enable task performance in both nominal and emergency conditions. Understanding of multimodal display technologies and their interactions will help to inform interface guidelines for LDEMs. The scope of the current report is an analysis of potential multimodal display technologies for long duration missions and, in particular, will focus on their potential role in EVA activities. The review will address multimodal (combined visual, auditory and/or tactile) displays investigated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), industry, and Department of Defense (DoD). It also considers the need for adaptive information systems to accommodate a variety of operational contexts such as crew status (e.g., fatigue, workload level) and task environment (e.g., EVA, habitat, rover, spacecraft). Current approaches to guidelines and best practices for combining modalities for the most effective information displays are also reviewed. Potential issues in developing interface guidelines for LDEMs are briefly considered.

multimodal displays↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Extended Performance Characterization of the 12.5-kW Advanced Electric Propulsion System Engineering Test Unit Hall Thruster

This work presents a summary of the first detailed performance assessment of the Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) Engineering Test Unit 2 (ETU-2) thruster produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne at the throttle conditions most relevant for AEPS application on the Gateway Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). First, an assessment was performed of ETU-2 performance and backpressure sensitivity at the previously-tested throttle points of 300 V/6.25 kW, 400 V/8.33 kW, 500 V/10.42 kW, and 600 V/12.5 kW that confirmed ETU-2 and the test facility were both operating nominally and consistent with historical baselines. ETU-2 performance and stability were then assessed throughout the PPE throttle range of 2.6-12 kW and shown to be in-family with predictions based on the scaling of previous results. Taken together, these results will help inform application of AEPS on PPE as the AEPS design progresses towards its Critical Design Review.

HERMeS↗
NASA NTRS2021

Extreme High Greenland Blocking Index Leads to the Reversal of Davis and Nares Strait Net Transport Towards the Arctic Ocean

Baffin Bay exports Arctic Water to the North Atlantic while receiving northward flowing Atlantic Water. Warm Atlantic Water has impacted the retreat of tidewater glaciers draining the Greenland Ice Sheet. Periods of enhanced Atlantic Water transport into Baffin Bay have been observed, but the oceanic processes are still not fully explained. At the end of 2010 the net transport at Davis Strait, the southern gateway to Baffin Bay, reversed from southward to northward for a month, leading to significant northward oceanic heat transport into Baffin Bay. This was associated with an extreme high in the Greenland Blocking Index and a stormtrack path that shifted away from Baffin Bay. Thus fewer cyclones in the Irminger Sea resulted in less frequent northerly winds along the western coast of Greenland, allowing anomalous northward penetration of warm waters, reversing the volume and heat transport at Davis Strait.

Davis Strait↗
NASA NTRS2021

Dynamic Radioisotope Power System (DRPS) Permanently Shadowed Region (PSR) Demonstrator Rover

This conceptual design study investigated trading several Dynamic Radioisotope Power Systems (DRPS) in development to supply power to a lunar science rover which operates for long periods (months) in permanently shadowed regions (PSR) over many years. The design was conducted by the Compass team and relied heavily on the planned VIPER rover design, which is limited to only a few hours of operations in PSRs and less than a month near the south pole. As such this conceptual design shows what a DRPS can do for a follow-on type VIPER rover. In addition to the long duration, go anywhere DRPS power system, the Compass team added a communications system that utilizes the Gateway spacecraft as a relay node for nearly 24/7 communications link to the DRPS rover in lunar craters not visible from the earth. The Compass design includes a notional conops, launch and delivery, subsystem designs of power, mobility, structures, science, command and data handling, communications, guidance and control, and thermal. The thermal design was especially important due the low temperatures in PSRs where the science environment needs to be shielded from the waste heat from the DRPS.

Dynamic Radioisotope Power Systems↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Impact of Thermochromic Coatings on Thermal Management for Human Spacecraft Applications

Thermochromic variable emittance coatings (VECs) allow for passive, dynamic thermal management of space vehicles due to their temperature dependent optical properties. Ideally, a thermochromic material should exhibit low mid-IR emissivity for lower temperatures and switch to high mid-IR emissivity for higher temperatures; one promising material that demonstrates these characteristics is Lanthanum Strontium Manganite (LSM). The transition temperatures of LSM are dependent on the Lanthanum-to-Strontium ratio x, La1-xSrxMnO3. La0.8Sr0.2MnO3, which has an emittance of 0.5 for < 270 K, then a linear increase in emittance to 0.8 over an increase of 70 K where it will saturate at ~340K, is commonly utilized but this is tunable by changing the Sr concentration. The tunability of the transition temperature range of LSM motivates a need to understand the optimal thermal transition range for human spacecraft. Additionally, LSM has high solar absorptance and to combat this issue the VEC will be micropatterned on top of a highly solar reflective layer of Barium Sulfate (BaSO4). Consequently, this work will elucidate the tradeoffs between solar absorptance and variable emittance for this technology since the micropattern adversely couples the solar absorptance to the mid-IR emittance. This work develops a computational model using Thermal Desktop to study the utility of VECs on human spacecraft, such as Orion, subjected to mission phases such as lunar transit and Gateway docking. The model considers both external heat loads, from solar irradiation and planetary IR, as well as vehicle heat loads, from avionics and crew, as an input into the body mounted thermochromic radiators. There are several design targets for VECs, i.e. achieving the largest change in emittance, finding the optimal temperature range for the transition, and achieving the highest emittance in the high temperature phase. This work prioritizes these design targets for LSM to achieve the optimal heat rejection for a human spacecraft. The VECs are compared with static emittance coatings and the efficiency gains are quantified. Thermochromic VECs will ultimately lead to simplifications of active cooling systems which synergistically correlates to mass reduction and less energy consumption for space vehicles.

Joseph Peoples↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

IMPACT 1.0—Task Impairment: A Novel Approach for Assessing Impairment during Exploration-Class Missions

Exploration-class and International Space Station (ISS) missions have significantly different levels of associated medical risk for crewmembers. The Integrated Medical Model (IMM), the probabilistic risk assessment tool used for ISS medical trade-space analyses, uses a Functional Impairment (FI) metric to determine quality time lost should a crewmember be afflicted with a medical condition. While IMM-based FI has been successful for ISS operations, it has limitations when applied to exploration-class missions. As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) looks ahead to Gateway, Artemis, and Martian missions, a novel, dynamic, and mission-appropriate impairment paradigm is necessary for accurate contingency planning. This paradigm, Task Impairment (TI), fulfills that need by utilizing mission-specific tasks. TI will allow future capability for a loss of mission metric, previously not available with IMM. TI serves as a replacement metric for FI within IMPACT, the next-generation trade-space analysis tool suite created to replace the IMM. IMPACT significantly increases the fidelity of probabilistic risk assessment for exploration-class missions. The Human Exploration of Mars Preliminary List of Crew Tasks (MTL, a source of 1100+ exploration-class mission-specific tasks for crewmembers) was used to calculate TI. Using the Task List, 18 individual Human System Categories were identified as being required to perform each task (e.g., Cardiopulmonary, Cognitive, etc.). Each of the 1200+ tasks were mapped to the Human System categories listed in the Task List. The total number of tasks in each category were tallied to determine how many tasks required each Human System. Lastly, each of the 120 medical conditions from the IMPACT condition list were mapped to the Human System categories to complete the TI calculation. NASA subject matter experts across five medical specialties established consensus for the mapping of each condition. The resulting total tasks impaired by each condition were used to calculate discrete TI values. This process was repeated for each of the four severity/resource utilization variants of each condition, and for each of the three phases of clinical care. Through this process, discrete TI values were calculated for each of the 120 IMPACT medical conditions and their variants. The Task Impairment metric provides higher fidelity, dynamic utility, and quicker analysis of medical impairment compared to the previous Functional Impairment metric used for the Integrated Medical Model. TI will be used for higher fidelity medical impairment analysis and contingency planning during Lunar, Martian, and other long-term exploration-class missions.

William L Fernandez↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Launch Vehicle and Spacecraft Transmitter Electromagnetic Compatibility

The Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is the primary gate for acquiring commercial vehicles to provide a cost effective ride to space for NASA spacecraft. With the lunar Gateway, more human tended elements are planned for launch. One challenge facing the space industry is the proliferation of communication and science transmitters at frequencies beyond the qualification of space avionics and instruments. Studies have ensued to examine the intricacies of performing radiated susceptibility testing and analysis above 18 GHz. Changes in the launch vehicle communications interface to the range have also lead to new launch vehicle antenna systems and more reliance on GPS and telemetry systems. Finally, research initiated at KSC in the area of predicted electric field distributions in launch vehicle payload fairings have spawned Small Business Technology Transfer initiatives for industry to investigate statistical algorithm and computational improvements in large payload fairing modeling of transmitters at frequencies in the GHz range. These topics, along with electromagnetic compatibility testing for launch vehicles will be discussed.

Electromagnetic Testing Cavity Statistics↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Smart Crop Farming Systems for Artemis Exploration Missions

Space crop production systems that mitigate risks of crew poor performance or illness due to inadequate food and nutrition are needed during manned Artemis exploration missions beyond LEO. Prototype farms must be designed for deployment on ISS and tested in manned platforms: Gateway, lunar habitats, and Mars trans-hab spacecraft in preparation for human missions to Mars. Food production must be optimal and safe for human consumption. Thus, plant growth facilities (i.e. Veggie and APH) can be enhanced with imaging systems (including hyperspectral, multispectral, lidar, and fluorescence imaging systems) for nondestructive monitoring of plant health, stress and assessing food safety. Databases of crop responses to stress obtained during ground studies can be used to develop novel artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for optimizing crop production (i.e. environmental settings during growth) and for detecting crop indices that ensure food safety. Future farming systems should be sustainable and smart. Novel adaptive AI algorithms requiring limited data sets for calibration are needed for reducing crew intervention during plant cultivation except for maintenance and harvesting events. Eventually, AI driven control systems that include autonomous planting, growing, and harvesting as well as periodic sanitization need evaluation for supplementing crew diets with fresh produce during future Mars exploration missions.

O Monje↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

SPACE: Three Decades of Spacecraft Power Systems Analysis with Fortran

The SPACE (System Power Analysis for Capability Evaluation) Fortran program developed at NASA Glenn Research Center has enabled power generation predictions and energy balance analyses for spacecraft electrical power systems (EPS) since 1988. SPACE was originally designed to analyze the EPS of the Space Station Freedom and continues to support certifications for visiting vehicles and extravehicular activities on the International Space Station today. Another version of SPACE currently supports design and mission planning operations for the Orion and Gateway vehicles as part of NASA’s Artemis program. In total, over 50 engineers have contributed to the development and use of SPACE on various platforms throughout its history. Ongoing code modernization efforts aim to generalize the program for use with different vehicles and configurations. While SPACE team analysts currently interact with the program via the command line, future development work also includes the creation of a graphical user interface for use by flight operations personnel. The SPACE code thus has a long legacy in spacecraft EPS analysis and will continue to play a critical role in future human spaceflight missions by leveraging the computational power of Fortran.

Fortran↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Enabling a Voice Management System for Space Applications

The sustainable missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) envisioned for NASA’s Artemis program will require autonomous capabilities. Moreover, Artemis mission crews will need a means to efficiently interact with a spacecraft’s autonomous systems. This interaction can be facilitated by voice and speech communications because voice-based controls enable users to interact hands- and eyes-free, allowing the user to better focus on critical tasks. The goal of our project was to explore the knowledge and technology needed to successfully design effective Voice User Interfaces (VUIs) for autonomous systems utilizing Human Centered Design (HCD) principles. The focus of the human factors’ aspect of engineering, pays close attention to psychological and physiological principles in the development of autonomous crew operation systems. A main objective was to understand how a crew member, through voice interaction, could efficiently and intuitively communicate with a notional autonomous vehicle system manager. This project was a part of the NASA Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) 2020 Academic Innovation Challenge. The work from the BLiSS Team, at the University of Michigan, resulted in the design of a system persona, Diego, to which an astronaut may quickly build trust with autonomous systems, to alleviate known stressors on mental health expected during long duration space missions. Optimal software to facilitate integration of the system persona into a reference Lunar orbiting Gateway station was defined. Additionally, a Speech to Text (STT) system and a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that could be implemented in future missions was developed on an Internet of Things (IOT) platform. The Voice User Interface (VUI) design for the M2M X-Hab 2020 project leveraged previous technology developed by the BLiSS team to incorporate a voice-based interface into NASA’s Platform for Autonomous Systems (NPAS) software. This required technologies to convert voice to text, conduct semantic interpretations, and convert responses from the autonomous system to text and to speech; additionally, the spacecraft background noise environment was assessed, a noise mitigation technique was developed, and a relatable personality for the autonomous system was developed in order to facilitate human-like conversations. The success of our effort was largely due to the diversity of the team that included expertise in Space Systems Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Applied Physics. The diverse perspectives fostered elaborate discussions, resulting in the conception of three main subsystems: (1) User-System, (2) NPAS-System, and (3) Environment-System. The VUI was unique and had to be efficient and intuitive. For this project, 5 subteams were formed, each with a separate objective, Voice Design team, Background Noise Mitigation team, Software Integration team and Graphical User Interface team. The BLiSS team crafted a personality for the VUI to enable human-like conversation and drive user adoption and trust. User surveys were completed and used to help determine the required VUI system personality traits by capturing perspectives and expectations of prospective “Artemis Generation Astronauts”. To further simulate human-like conversations, the system had to be able to quickly interpret user speech and be able to integrate with NASA’s NPAS platform for quick and reliable information transfer. The outcomes of our research were: (1) a working prototype user interface, that is compatible with NASA’s NPAS platform; (2) software that demonstrates the ability of the VUI system to interpret user requests and respond appropriately; (3) the capability to implement fully expanded conversations between user and system using intuitive communication in four request categories; and (4) software and hardware recommendations that optimize the system’s ability to operate in a noisy environment. Our research has laid the foundation for the development of VUI’s for autonomy, and provides a baseline for future VUI developments.

Voice user interface↗
NASA NTRS2021

RealTOR TechPort Info

NASA is continuously working to advance optical communications technologies to meet the demand for higher communications data rates by developing and testing low cost ground-based optical receivers for space-to-ground communications required for future space explorations systems such as Artemis and Lunar Gateway Programs. The Real Time Optical Receiver (RealTOR) Project’s goal is to provide a commercial-off-the-shell (COTS) portable, scalable, modular, low cost solution for optical communications ground photon counting receivers. The RealTOR system implements the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications High Photon Efficiency (HPE) standard, which will be used in future photon counting missions such as the Optical Artemis-2 Orion Communications (O2O) mission.

optical communications↗