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NASA NTRS2016

NASA's Space Launch System: Developing the World's Most Powerful Solid Booster

NASA's Journey to Mars has begun. Indicative of that challenge, this will be a multi-decadal effort requiring the development of technology, operational capability, and experience. The first steps are under way with more than 15 years of continuous human operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and development of commercial cargo and crew transportation capabilities. NASA is making progress on the transportation required for deep space exploration - the Orion crew spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket that will launch Orion and large components such as in-space stages, habitat modules, landers, and other hardware necessary for deep-space operations. SLS is a key enabling capability and is designed to evolve with mission requirements. The initial configuration of SLS - Block 1 - will be capable of launching more than 70 metric tons (t) of payload into low Earth orbit, greater mass than any other launch vehicle in existence. By enhancing the propulsion elements and larger payload fairings, future SLS variants will launch 130 t into space, an unprecedented capability that simplifies hardware design and in-space operations, reduces travel times, and enhances the odds of mission success. SLS will be powered by four liquid fuel RS-25 engines and two solid propellant five-segment boosters, both based on space shuttle technologies. This paper will focus on development of the booster, which will provide more than 75 percent of total vehicle thrust at liftoff. Each booster is more than 17 stories tall, 3.6 meters (m) in diameter and weighs 725,000 kilograms (kg). While the SLS booster appears similar to the shuttle booster, it incorporates several changes. The additional propellant segment provides additional booster performance. Parachutes and other hardware associated with recovery operations have been deleted and the booster designated as expendable for affordability reasons. The new motor incorporates new avionics, new propellant grain, asbestos-free case insulation, a redesigned nozzle, streamlined manufacturing processes, and new inspection techniques. New materials and processes provide improved performance, safety, and affordability but also have led to challenges for the government/industry development team. The team completed its first full-size qualification motor test firing in early 2015. The second is scheduled for mid-2016. This paper will discuss booster accomplishments to date, as well as challenges and milestones ahead.

Priskos, Alex↗

NASA NTRS1977

An evaluation of SEASAT-A candidate ocean industry economic verification experiments

A description of the candidate economic verification experiments which could be performed with SEASAT is provided. Experiments have been identified in each of the areas of ocean-based activity that are expected to show an economic impact from the use of operational SEASAT data. Experiments have been identified in the areas of Arctic operations, the ocean fishing industry, the offshore oil and natural gas industry, as well as ice monitoring and coastal zone applications.

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NASA NTRS1997

Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) Data Sets for Global Environment and Climate Change Studies

For a number of years there has been considerable interest in the earth's radiation budget (ERB) or energy balance, and entails making the best measurements possible of absorbed solar radiation, reflected shortwave radiation (RSW), thermal outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), and net radiation. ERB data are fundamental to the development of realistic climate models and studying natural and anthropogenic perturbations of the climate. Much of the interest and investigations in the earth's energy balance predated the age of earth-orbiting satellites (Hunt et al., 1986). Beginning in the mid 1960's earth-orbiting satellites began to play an important role in making measurements of the earth's radiation flux although much effort had gone into measuring ERB parameters prior to 1960 (House et al., 1986). Beginning in 1974 and extending until the present time, three different satellite experiments (not all operating at the same time) have been making radiation budget measurements almost continually in time. Two of the experiments were totally dedicated to making radiation budget measurements of the earth, and the other experiment flown on NOAA sun-synchronous AVHRR weather satellites produced radiation budget parameters as a by-product. The heat budget data from the AVHRR satellites began collecting data in June 1974 and have operated almost continuously for 23 years producing valuable data for long term climate monitoring.

Bess, T. Dale↗

NASA NTRS2014

Optimal Design of Calibration Signals in Space Borne Gravitational Wave Detectors

Future space borne gravitational wave detectors will require a precise definition of calibration signals to ensure the achievement of their design sensitivity. The careful design of the test signals plays a key role in the correct understanding and characterization of these instruments. In that sense, methods achieving optimal experiment designs must be considered as complementary to the parameter estimation methods being used to determine the parameters describing the system. The relevance of experiment design is particularly significant for the LISA Pathfinder mission, which will spend most of its operation time performing experiments to characterize key technologies for future space borne gravitational wave observatories. Here we propose a framework to derive the optimal signals in terms of minimum parameter uncertainty to be injected to these instruments during its calibration phase. We compare our results with an alternative numerical algorithm which achieves an optimal input signal by iteratively improving an initial guess. We show agreement of both approaches when applied to the LISA Pathfinder case.

LISA Path_nder mission↗

NASA NTRS2017

Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua and Aura Space Weather Effects on Operational Collision Avoidance

This presentation will describe recent EOS Aqua and Aura operational collision avoidance experience during periods of solar and geomagnetic storm activity. It will highlight challenges faced by the operations team during short-notice, high-risk predicted close approaches. The presentation will highlight the evolution of the operational collision avoidance process for the EOS Aqua and Aura missions. The presentation will highlight operational challenges that have occurred, process improvements that have been implemented and identify potential future challenges.

Guit, Bill↗

NASA NTRS2017

Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua & Aura Space Weather Effects on Operational Collision Avoidance

Operational collision avoidance↗

NASA NTRS2008

GSFC Technical Outreach: The Capitol College Model

In February 2005, as part of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) Technical Outreach Program, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) awarded Capitol College of Laurel, Maryland an Educational Grant to establish a Space Operation academic curriculum to meet the future needs of mission operations engineers. This was in part due to the aerospace industry and GSFC concerns that a large number of professional engineers are projected to retire in the near term with evidence showing that current enrollment in engineering schools will not produce sufficient number of space operation trained engineers that will meet industry and government demands. Capitol College, under the agreement of the Educational Grant, established the Space Operations Institute (SOI) with a new curriculum in Space Operations that was approved and certified by the State of Maryland. The SO1 programs focuses on attracting, recruiting, and training a pipeline of highly qualified engineers with experience in mission operations, system engineering and development. The selected students are integrated as members of the engineering support team in any of the missions supported by the institute. The students are mentored by professional engineers from several aerospace companies that support GSFC. Initially, the institute was involved in providing console engineers and mission planning trainees for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) and the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer mission (TOMS). Subsequently, the students were also involved in the technology refresh of the TOMS ground system and other mission operations development. Further mission assignment by GSFC management included participation in the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) mission operations and ground system technology refresh. The SOI program has been very successful. Since October 2005, sixty-four students have been enrolled in the SOI program and twenty-five have already graduated from the program, nineteen of whom are employed by company's supporting GSFC. Due to the success of the program, the initial grant period was extended for another period of two years. This paper presents the process that established the SOI as a viable pipeline of mission operations engineers, the lessons learned in the process of dealing with grants, and experience gained in mentoring engineering students that are responsible for particular areas of expertise and functionality. This paper can also be considered a case study and model for integrating a student team with government and industry professionals in the real world of mission operations.

Marius, Julio L.↗

NASA NTRS1999

The Use of Human Factors Simulation to Conserve Operations Expense

In preparation for on-orbit operations, NASA performs experiments aboard a KC-135 which performs parabolic maneuvers, resulting in short periods of microgravity. While considerably less expensive than space operations, the use of this aircraft is costly. Simulation of tasks to be performed during the flight can allow the participants to optimize hardware configuration and crew interaction prior to flight. This presentation will demonstrate the utility of such simulation. The experiment simulated is the fluid dynamics of epoxy components which may be used in a patch kit in the event of meteoroid damage to the International Space Station. Improved configuration and operational efficiencies were reflected in early and increased data collection.

Hamilton, George S.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Final S020 Skylab experiment report

After the loss of the meteroid shield required using the solar scientific airlock to erect the sun shade, methods were improvised to operate the S020 experiment on EVA's. Almost no data was obtained in the wavelength range 10 to 110 A. From 110 to 280 A the spectra were 10 to 100 time less intense than expected. A probable cause in loss of instrument sensitivity is the contamination of the filters by the spacecraft coolant. A list of observed lines in presented. Although less data was obtained than expected, several lines not previously observed were recorded; and the spectra serve to confirm many very faintly observed weak lines recorded from sounding rockets by other experiments.

Tousey, R.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Mission Operations Planning with Preferences: An Empirical Study

This paper presents an empirical study of some nonexhaustive approaches to optimizing preferences within the context of constraint-based, mixed-initiative planning for mission operations. This work is motivated by the experience of deploying and operating the MAPGEN (Mixed-initiative Activity Plan GENerator) system for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Responsiveness to the user is one of the important requirements for MAPGEN, hence, the additional computation time needed to optimize preferences must be kept within reasonabble bounds. This was the primary motivation for studying non-exhaustive optimization approaches. The specific goals of rhe empirical study are to assess the impact on solution quality of two greedy heuristics used in MAPGEN and to assess the improvement gained by applying a linear programming optimization technique to the final solution.

Bresina, John L.↗

NASA NTRS1996

STS-77 Post Flight Presentation

The flight crew of the STS-77 mission, Cmdr. John H. Casper, Pilot Curtis L. Brown, Jr., and Mission Specialists Andrew S.W. Thomas, Ph.D., Daniel W. Bursch, Mario Runco, Jr., and Marc Garneau, Ph.D., present a video mission over-view of their space flight. Images include: pre-launch activities such as eating the traditional breakfast, crew suit-up, and the ride out to the launch pad. Also, included are various panoramic views of the shuttle on the pad. The crew can be seen being readied in the white room' for their mission. After the closing of the hatch and arm retraction, launch activities are shown including countdown, engine ignition, launch, and the separation of the Solid Rocket Boosters. Following an on-time launch, the crew of Endeavor are shown setting up a variety of experiments that will operate for much of the mission. Also seen is the deployment and inflation of the Spartan Satellite, experiments being conducted in the Spacehab module, thruster firing to stabilized the shuttle, and the mission ending re-entry and landing of the shuttle Endeavor. The crew than answers questions from the press.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1996

STS-77 Mission Highlights Resource Tape

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NASA NTRS1982

Space Experiments with Particle Accelerators (SEPAC)

Plans for SEPAC, an instrument array to be used on Spacelab 1 to study vehicle charging and neutralization, beam-plasma interaction in space, beam-atmospheric interaction exciting artificial aurora and airglow, and the electromagnetic-field configuration of the magnetosphere, are presented. The hardware, consisting of electron beam accelerator, magnetoplasma arcjet, neutral-gas plume generator, power supply, diagnostic package (photometer, plasma probes, particle analyzers, and plasma-wave package), TV monitor, and control and data-management unit, is described. The individual SEPAC experiments, the typical operational sequence, and the general outline of the SEPAC follow-on mission are discussed. Some of the experiments are to be joint ventures with AEPI (INS 003) and will be monitored by low-light-level TV.

Obayashi, T.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Automating Trend Analysis for Spacecraft Constellations

Spacecraft trend analysis is a vital mission operations function performed by satellite controllers and engineers, who perform detailed analyses of engineering telemetry data to diagnose subsystem faults and to detect trends that may potentially lead to degraded subsystem performance or failure in the future. It is this latter function that is of greatest importance, for careful trending can often predict or detect events that may lead to a spacecraft's entry into safe-hold. Early prediction and detection of such events could result in the avoidance of, or rapid return to service from, spacecraft safing, which not only results in reduced recovery costs but also in a higher overall level of service for the satellite system. Contemporary spacecraft trending activities are manually intensive and are primarily performed diagnostically after a fault occurs, rather than proactively to predict its occurrence. They also tend to rely on information systems and software that are oudated when compared to current technologies. When coupled with the fact that flight operations teams often have limited resources, proactive trending opportunities are limited, and detailed trend analysis is often reserved for critical responses to safe holds or other on-orbit events such as maneuvers. While the contemporary trend analysis approach has sufficed for current single-spacecraft operations, it will be unfeasible for NASA's planned and proposed space science constellations. Missions such as the Dynamics, Reconnection and Configuration Observatory (DRACO), for example, are planning to launch as many as 100 'nanospacecraft' to form a homogenous constellation. A simple extrapolation of resources and manpower based on single-spacecraft operations suggests that trending for such a large spacecraft fleet will be unmanageable, unwieldy, and cost-prohibitive. It is therefore imperative that an approach to automating the spacecraft trend analysis function be studied, developed, and applied to missions such as DRACO with the intent that mission operations costs be significantly reduced. The goal of the Constellation Spacecraft Trend Analysis Toolkit (CSTAT) project is to serve as the pathfinder for a fully automated trending system to support spacecraft constellations. The development approach to be taken is evolutionary. In the first year of the project, the intent is to significantly advance the state of the art in current trending systems through improved functionality and increased automation. In the second year, the intent is to add an expert system shell, likely through the adaptation of an existing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) or government-off-the-shelf (GOTS) tool to implement some level of the trending intelligence that humans currently provide in manual operations. In the third year, the intent is to infuse the resulting technology into a near-term constellation or formation-flying mission to test it and gain experience in automated trending. The lessons learned from the real missions operations experience will then be used to improve the system, and to ultimately incorporate it into a fully autonomous, closed-loop mission operations system that is truly capable of supporting large constellations. In this paper, the process of automating trend analysis for spacecraft constellations will be addressed. First, the results of a survey on automation in spacecraft mission operations in general, and in trending systems in particular will be presented to provide an overview of the current state of the art. Next, a rule-based model for implementing intelligent spacecraft subsystem trending will be then presented, followed by a survey of existing COTS/GOTS tools that could be adapted for implementing such a model. The baseline design and architecture of the CSTAT system will be presented. Finally, some results obtained from initial software tests and demonstrations will be presented.

Davis, George↗

NASA NTRS1982

Experience with modified aerospace reliability and quality assurance method for wind turbines

The SR&QA approach assures that the machine is not hazardous to the public or operating personnel, can operate unattended on a utility grid, demonstrates reliability operation, and helps establish the quality assurance and maintainability requirements for future wind turbine projects. The approach consisted of modified failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) during the design phase, minimal hardware inspection during parts fabrication, and three simple documents to control activities during machine construction and operation. Five years experience shows that this low cost approach works well enough that it should be considered by others for similar projects.

Klein, W. E.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Astronomy through the Skylab scientific airlocks.

Description of Skylab astronomy experiments (other than the Apollo Telescope Mount experiments) designed to study the earth's atmosphere, particles near the spacecraft, various components of the background skylight, the spectra of the sun, and the features of stars, nebulae, and galaxies. Emphasis is placed on the eight experiments that will operate through the scientific airlocks in the Orbital Workshop. The major features of equipment to be used in each experiment are outlined together with characteristics and relevance of information expected in each case.

Henize, K. G.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Feasibility Study For A Spaceborne Ozone/Aerosol Lidar System

Because ozone provides a shield against harmful ultraviolet radiation, determines the temperature profile in the stratosphere, plays important roles in tropospheric chemistry and climate, and is a health risk near the surface, changes in natural ozone layers at different altitudes and their global impact are being intensively researched. Global ozone coverage is currently provided by passive optical and microwave satellite sensors that cannot deliver high spatial resolution measurements and have particular limitations in the troposphere. Vertical profiling DIfferential Absorption Lidars (DIAL) have shown excellent range-resolved capabilities, but these systems have been large, inefficient, and have required continuous technical attention for long term operations. Recently, successful, autonomous DIAL measurements have been performed from a high-altitude aircraft (LASE - Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment), and a space-qualified aerosol lidar system (LITE - Laser In-space Technology Experiment) has performed well on Shuttle. Based on the above successes, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency are jointly studying the feasibility of developing ORACLE (Ozone Research with Advanced Cooperative Lidar Experiments), an autonomously operated, compact DIAL instrument to be placed in orbit using a Pegasus class launch vehicle.

Campbell, Richard E.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Two-Phase Flow in Filters and Orifices: In preparation for Measurements on ISS Packed Bed Reactor Experiment-Water Recovery Series (PBRE-WRS)

Understanding the hydrodynamics of adiabatic two-phase flows in packed bed reactors offers numerous benefits. It enables the optimization of chemical reactions rates and products, crucial for pharmaceuticals and energy production industries. Additionally, this understanding aids in designing more efficient and compact reactors, reducing space and resource requirements. Insights gained from studying such flows in microgravity contribute to advancements of space technologies and the enhancement of our capabilities for undertaking future long duration safe, and sustainable space exploration missions. The Packed Bed Reactor Experiment-Water Recovery Series (PBRE-WRS) is a flight experiment planned for operation on the Microgravity Science Glove box (MSG) facility of the International Space Station (ISS). The objective of the experiment is to validate hydrodynamic models at a range of gas and liquid flow rates. The microgravity environment allows for measurement and observation of aspects of fluid dynamics that are unique when compared to observations made in full or partial gravity environments. The experiment consists of testing two-phase flow hydrodynamics in three different filters, four (4) orifices and one check valve test articles. The experiment utilizes the hardware of the previously flown PBRE and PBRE-2 with packed beds of different packings materials and sizes. The fluid system of the PBRE-WRS consists of a nitrogen gas delivery and water delivery subsystems. The gas delivery subsystem can accommodate two ranges of gas flow rates, just as for the water delivery system. The nitrogen gas loop is open whereas the water loop is closed. Gas is separated from the water using a gas-liquid phase separator which is located in the water delivery module. Preliminary results from ground testing show the pressure drop increasing at different rates with the liquid and gas flow rates in the Brine filter. In this work, a detailed system description is presented along with a summary of results from ground performance testing of different test sections in an end-to-end preflight testing campaign.

Packed Bed Reactor Experiment↗