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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.

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At least 1,189 records · Page 66
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2015

Technology Development of Automated Rendezvous and Docking/Capture Sensors and Docking Mechanism for the Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission

This paper will describe the technology development efforts NASA has underway for Automated Rendezvous and Docking/Capture (AR and D/C) sensors and a docking mechanism and the challenges involved. The paper will additionally address how these technologies will be extended to other missions requiring AR and D/C whether robotic or manned. NASA needs AR&D/C sensors for both the robotic and crewed segments of the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). NASA recently conducted a commonality assessment of the concept of operations for the robotic Asteroid Redirect Vehicle (ARV) and the crewed mission segment using the Orion crew vehicle. The commonality assessment also considered several future exploration and science missions requiring an AR and D/C capability. Missions considered were asteroid sample return, satellite servicing, and planetary entry, descent, and landing. This assessment determined that a common sensor suite consisting of one or more visible wavelength cameras, a threedimensional LIDAR along with long-wavelength infrared cameras for robustness and situational awareness could be used on each mission to eliminate the cost of multiple sensor developments and qualifications. By choosing sensor parameters at build time instead of at design time and, without having to requalify flight hardware, a specific mission can design overlapping bearing, range, relative attitude, and position measurement availability to suit their mission requirements with minimal nonrecurring engineering costs. The resulting common sensor specification provides the union of all performance requirements for each mission and represents an improvement over the current systems used for AR and D/C today. These sensor specifications are tightly coupled to the docking system capabilities and requirements for final docking conditions. The paper will describe NASA's efforts to develop a standard docking system for use across NASA human spaceflight missions to multiple destinations. It will describe the current design status and the considerations and technologies involved in developing this docking mechanism.

Hinkel, Heather↗
DOE OSTI2015

A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF CRYSTALLINE SILICA IN RETURNED COMETARY SAMPLES: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN ASTROPHYSICAL AND METEORITICAL OBSERVATIONS

Crystalline silica (SiO{sub 2}) is recurrently identified at the percent level in the infrared spectra of protoplanetary disks. By contrast, reports of crystalline silica in primitive meteorites are very unusual. This dichotomy illustrates the typical gap existing between astrophysical observations and meteoritical records of the first solids formed around young stars. The cometary samples returned by the Stardust mission in 2006 offer an opportunity to have a closer look at a silicate dust that experienced a very limited reprocessing since the accretion of the dust. Here, we provide the first extended study of silica materials in a large range of Stardust samples. We show that cristobalite is the dominant form. It was detected in 5 out of 25 samples. Crystalline silica is thus a common minor phase in Stardust samples. Furthermore, olivine is generally associated with this cristobalite, which put constraints on possible formation mechanisms. A low-temperature subsolidus solid–solid transformation of an amorphous precursor is most likely. This crystallization route favors the formation of olivine (at the expense of pyroxenes), and crystalline silica is the natural byproduct of this transformation. Conversely, direct condensation and partial melting are not expected to produce the observed mineral assemblages. Silica is preserved in cometary materials because they were less affected by thermal and aqueous alterations than their chondritic counterparts. The common occurrence of crystalline silica therefore makes the cometary material an important bridge between the IR-based mineralogy of distant protoplanetary disks and the mineralogy of the early solar system.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2014

NASA's Automated Rendezvous and Docking/Capture Sensor Development and Its Applicability to the GER

This paper will address how a common Automated Rendezvous and Docking/Capture (AR&D/C) sensor suite can support Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) missions, and discuss how the model of common capability development to support multiple missions can enable system capability level partnerships and further GER objectives. NASA has initiated efforts to develop AR&D/C sensors, that are directly applicable to GER. NASA needs AR&D/C sensors for both the robotic and crewed segments of the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). NASA recently conducted a commonality assessment of the concept of operations for the robotic Asteroid Redirect Vehicle (ARV) and the crewed mission segment using the Orion crew vehicle. The commonality assessment also considered several future exploration and science missions requiring an AR&D/C capability. Missions considered were asteroid sample return, satellite servicing, and planetary entry, descent, and landing. This assessment determined that a common sensor suite consisting of one or more visible wavelength cameras, a three-dimensional LIDAR along with long-wavelength infrared cameras for robustness and situational awareness could be used on each mission to eliminate the cost of multiple sensor developments and qualifications. By choosing sensor parameters at build time instead of at design time and, without having to requalify flight hardware, a specific mission can design overlapping bearing, range, relative attitude, and position measurement availability to suit their mission requirements with minimal nonrecurring engineering costs. The resulting common sensor specification provides the union of all performance requirements for each mission and represents an improvement over the current systems used for AR&D/C today. NASA's AR&D/C sensor development path could benefit the International Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) and support the GER mission scenario by providing a common sensor suite upon which GER objectives could be achieved while minimizing development costs. The paper will describe the concepts of operations of these missions and how the common sensors are utilized by each mission. It will also detail the potential partnerships and contribution of the International community in the development of this common AR&D/C sensor suite.

Hinkel, Heather↗
NASA NTRS2016

Technology Development of Automated Rendezvous and Docking/Capture Sensors and Docking Mechanism for the Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission

This paper will describe the technology development efforts NASA has underway for Automated Rendezvous and Docking/Capture (AR&D/C) sensors and a docking mechanism and the challenges involved. The paper will additionally address how these technologies will be extended to other missions requiring AR&D/C whether robotic or manned. NASA needs AR&D/C sensors for both the robotic and crewed segments of the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). NASA recently conducted a commonality assessment of the concept of operations for the robotic Asteroid Redirect Vehicle (ARV) and the crewed mission segment using the Orion spacecraft. The commonality assessment also considered several future exploration and science missions requiring an AR&D/C capability. Missions considered were asteroid sample return, satellite servicing, and planetary entry, descent, and landing. This assessment determined that a common sensor suite consisting of one or more visible wavelength cameras, a three-dimensional LIDAR along with long-wavelength infrared cameras for robustness and situational awareness could be used on each mission to eliminate the cost of multiple sensor developments and qualifications. By choosing sensor parameters at build-time instead of at design-time and, without having to requalify flight hardware, a specific mission can design overlapping bearing, range, relative attitude, and position measurement availability to suit their mission requirements with minimal non-recurring engineering costs. The resulting common sensor specification provides the union of all performance requirements for each mission and represents an improvement over the current systems used for AR&D/C today. These sensor specifications are tightly coupled to the docking system capabilities and requirements for final docking conditions. The paper will describe NASA's efforts to develop a standard docking system for use across NASA human spaceflight missions to multiple destinations. It will describe the current design status and the considerations and technologies involved in developing this docking mechanism.

Hinkel, Heather↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Stuff of Other Worlds

Extraterrestrial material eternally rains down on Earth. Meteorites flare in the night sky. Cosmic rays plow into Earth's atmosphere, creating invisible bursts of secondary particles. These processes began when the Earth formed in the primordial solar system and have continued ever since, indifferent to the exceedingly recent presence of human intelligence. For us to seek out stuff of other worlds, in contrast, takes a great deal of determined ingenuity. First we have to send a spacecraft somewhere else in the solar system. Indigenous material has to be collected and then brought back to Earth without exposure to conditions that might significantly alter it. The material must undergo meaningful scientific analysis. Most important, part of the material is preserved intact for future investigations. Beginning with bringing back Moon rocks, and now moving onward in the form of new missions to capture the hot thin solar wind and cold thin atmosphere of comets, extraterrestrial sample return takes place on the cutting edge of scientific technology. Sample return is also the fulcrum of an energetic debate about how to do planetary science missions. Scientists and engineers are debating whether to rely on remote sensing and in situ analysis, or to plan missions to undertake sample return. The latter is definitely more expensive on a per mission basis, and is usually technologically more challenging. But for an initially high investment of money and technology, bringing the stuff of other worlds back to Earth yields an incomparable return in scientific results.

Stansbery, EIleen K.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Organic and inorganic contamination control approaches for return sample investigation on Mars 2020

The Mars 2020 Rover mission will have the capability to collect and cache samples for potential Mars sample return. Specifically, the sample caching system (SCS) is designed for coring Mars samples and acquiring regolith samples as well as handling, sealing and caching on Mars. As the potential first Martian samples that could be returned to Earth, assuring low levels of terrestrial contamination is of the utmost concern. In developing the SCS, the project prioritizes limiting sample contamination in organic, inorganic and biological areas. The focus of this paper is on the strategies being implemented to limit terrestrial organic and inorganic contamination in the samples.

Steltzner, Adam↗
NASA NTRS2007

Sample Curation at a Lunar Outpost

The six Apollo surface missions returned 2,196 individual rock and soil samples, with a total mass of 381.6 kg. Samples were collected based on visual examination by the astronauts and consultation with geologists in the science back room in Houston. The samples were photographed during collection, packaged in uniquely-identified containers, and transported to the Lunar Module. All samples collected on the Moon were returned to Earth. NASA's upcoming return to the Moon will be different. Astronauts will have extended stays at an out-post and will collect more samples than they will return. They will need curation and analysis facilities on the Moon in order to carefully select samples for return to Earth.

Allen, Carlton C.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Extending the Reach of IGSN Beyond Earth: Implementing IGSN Registration to Link Nasa's Apollo Lunar Samples and Their Data

The rock and soil samples returned from the Apollo missions from 1969-72 have supported 46 years of research leading to advances in our understanding of the formation and evolution of the inner Solar System. NASA has been engaged in several initiatives that aim to restore, digitize, and make available to the public existing published and unpublished research data for the Apollo samples. One of these initiatives is a collaboration with IEDA (Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance) to develop MoonDB, a lunar geochemical database modeled after PetDB (Petrological Database of the Ocean Floor). In support of this initiative, NASA has adopted the use of IGSN (International Geo Sample Number) to generate persistent, unique identifiers for lunar samples that scientists can use when publishing research data. To facilitate the IGSN registration of the original 2,200 samples and over 120,000 subdivided samples, NASA has developed an application that retrieves sample metadata from the Lunar Curation Database and uses the SESAR API to automate the generation of IGSNs and registration of samples into SESAR (System for Earth Sample Registration). This presentation will describe the work done by NASA to map existing sample metadata to the IGSN metadata and integrate the IGSN registration process into the sample curation workflow, the lessons learned from this effort, and how this work can be extended in the future to help deal with the registration of large numbers of samples.

Todd, Nancy S.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Introduction to the 2018 iMOST Study

The analysis in Earth laboratories of samples that could be returned from Mars is of extremely high interest to the Mars exploration community, and on an international basis. IMEWG (the International Mars Exploration Working Group) is currently exploring options to involve the international community in the planning for returned sample science, including the analysis of the returned samples. The Mars 2020 sample-caching rover mission is an essential component of the Mars Sample Return campaign, so its existence constitutes a critical opportunity-MSR is more real now than it has ever been. The Mars 2020 samples, when returned, would provide the basis for performing a variety of Earth-based experiments including ones related to the search for the signs of life.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1975

Biowaste monitoring system for shuttle

The acquisition of crew biomedical data has been an important task on all manned space missions from Project Mercury through the recently completed Skylab Missions. The monitoring of metabolic wastes from the crew is an important aspect of this activity. On early missions emphasis was placed on the collection and return of biowaste samples for post-mission analysis. On later missions such as Skylab, equipment for inflight measurement was also added. Life Science experiments are being proposed for Shuttle missions which will require the inflight measurement and sampling of metabolic wastes. In order to minimize the crew impact associated with these requirements, a high degree of automation of these processes will be required. This paper reviews the design and capabilities of urine biowaste monitoring equipment provided on past-manned space programs and defines and describes the urine volume measurement and sampling equipment planned for the Shuttle Orbiter program.

Fogal, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Advanced solar electric propulsion (ASEP) for planetary missions

This paper defines an advanced SEP concept based upon demonstrated ion thruster technology improvements and projected improvements in solar array technology. The ASEP concept utilizes an 'integrated' rather than a 'stage' approach and assumes 30 cm Hg ion thrusters capable of operation near 7 kWe each. The mission performance using the ASEP system is presented for three missions: (1) Saturn orbiter, (2) comet rendezvous and (3) comet sample return. The ASEP system provides significant mission performance improvements. The simpler, fewer thruster ASEP system design may provide cost as well as performance benefits for the missions examined when compared to ballistic or SEP stage mission options.

Jones, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Low power DIPS design for NASA missions

Conceptual designs of low power dynamic isotope power systems (DIPS) for NASA's future deep space missions are being developed to characterize the power system's unique features in the 0.5-1.0 kilowatt-electric (kWe) range. The August 1990 Mariner Mark II spacecraft design was used for the spacecraft integration study. One basic design with slight mission specific variations was developed for the Cassini, Comet Nucleus Sample Return, and Outer Planet Orbiter Probe missions. A low power DIPS flight unit offers comparable specific power values to the MOD-RTG unit with a factor-of-three improvement in radioisotope fuel requirements. This was accomplished by fully exploiting the dynamic power conversion technology available in the DIPS program.

Johnson, Richard A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Solar wind and terrestrial atmosphere effects on lunar sample surface composition

Samples returned from the Apollo missions have been shown to have undergone a partial surface oxidation with the degree of oxidation being dependent on the intensity and duration of exposure to a terrestrial or other oxidizing atmosphere. Exposure to atomic hydrogen at room temperature, or molecular hydrogen above 100 C results in a surface reduction. The adsorption of water vapor on a test sample was found to be only slightly dependent on the state of surface oxidation, a situation consistent with the formation of hydroxyl groups on the surface when a sample is exposed to hydrogen. That hydroxyl groups are indeed formed is substantiated by the release of water vapor (and by release of heavy water following exposure to deuterium), indicating that water vapor can be synthesized from solar wind hydrogen and sample oxygen. Observations of trace amounts of methane indicate that the reduction process is by no means restricted to the formation of water vapor.

Cadenhead, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Understanding the Activation and Solution Properties of Lunar Dust for Future Lunar Habitation

The decision to return humans to the moon by 2020 makes it imperative to understand the effects of lunar dust on human and mechanical systems.( Bush 2004; Gaier 2005; Mendell 2005) During the Apollo missions, dust was found to cause numerous problems for various instruments and systems. Additionally, the dust may have caused health issues for some of the astronauts.(Gaier 2005; Rowe 2007) It is necessary, therefore, for studies to be carried out in a variety of disciplines in order to mitigate the effects of the dust as completely as possible. Due to the lack of an atmosphere, there is nothing to protect the lunar soil from ultraviolet radiation, solar wind, and meteorite impacts. These processes could all serve to "activate" the soil, or produce reactive surface species. In order to understand the possible toxic effects of the reactive dust, it is necessary to "reactivate" the dust, as samples returned during the Apollo missions were exposed to the atmosphere of the Earth. We have used grinding and exposure to UV radiation in order to mimic some of the processes occurring on the lunar surface. To monitor the reactivity of the dust, we have measured the ability of the dust to produce hydroxyl radicals in solution. These radicals have been measured using a novel fluorescent technique developed in our laboratory,(Wallace et al. 2008) as well as using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR).

Wallace, William T.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Results of the JIMO Follow-on Destinations Parametric Studies

NASA's proposed Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter (JIMO) mission currently in conceptual development is to be the first one of a series of highly capable Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) science driven missions. To understand the implications of a multi-mission capability requirement on the JIMO vehicle and mission, the NASA Prometheus Program initiated a set of parametric high-level studies to be followed by a series of more in-depth studies. The JIMO potential follow-on destinations identified include a Saturn system tour, a Neptune system tour, a Kuiper Belt Objects rendezvous, an Interstellar Precursor mission, a Multiple Asteroid Sample Return and a Comet Sample Return. This paper shows that the baseline JIMO reactor and design envelop can satisfy five out of six of the follow-on destinations. Flight time to these destinations can significantly be reduced by increasing the launch energy or/and by inserting gravity assists to the heliocentric phase.

nuclear electric propulsion↗
NASA NTRS2000

Mars Network: Strategies for Deploying Enabling Telecommunications Capabilities in Support of Mars Exploration

The coming decade of Mars exploration will involve a diverse set of robotic science missions, including in situ and sample return investigations, and ultimately moving towards sustained robotic presence on the Martian surface. In supporting this mission set, NASA must establish a robust telecommunications architecture that meets the specific science needs of near-term missions while enabling new methods of future exploration. This paper will assess the anticipated telecommunications needs of future Mars exploration, examine specific options for deploying capabilities, and quantify the performance of these options in terms of key figures of merit.

Edwards, C. D.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Simulations of Coupled Shoulder Ablation of A Conceptual Aeroshell

The current study explores coupled numerical simulations of flow dynamics and material response affect ablation of the shoulder region of an entry capsule used in space missions like the Mars Sample Return (MSR) project. A new computational tool named Ares, developed at NASA Ames Research Center, is applied to carry out the coupled simulations by interconnecting well-established US3D (flow solver) and Icarus (material response solver), and the material considered is three-dimensional mid-density carbon phenolic (3MDCP). Particularly, this work extends the uncoupled analysis of Shrestha et al. 2022 by incorporating the coupling mechanism across the ablating surface between fluid and the capsule geometry. For simplicity, an axisymmetric geometry of the entry system is considered. A few mission-relevant parametric studies such as angles of orientation of the material layers with respect to the streamwise direction, backshell boundary conditions, and alternation of convective heat-transfer coefficients are investigated to essentially explore Ares capability with the primary focus on shoulder location.

Coupled Ablation Modeling↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Sample Return, Sample Retrieval Lander, Reaction Control System Jet Interaction Supersonic Wind Tunnel Test Overview with CFD Predictions

NASA's Mars Sample Return campaign will be launching several missions over the next decade that will work together to return rock samples from Mars back to Earth. The Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) will deliver the Mars Ascent Vehicle and fetch rover to the surface of Mars in 2006. Rock samples collected by the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, landing in early 2021, will be loaded on the the ascent vehicle to be launched into Mars orbit for retrieval by yet another spacecraft. The Sample Retrieval Lander will be a blunt entry capsule similar to past Mars entry vehicles like Mars Science Laboratory and Viking. The vehicle will fly a guided entry, using a small lift vector produced by a non-zero trim angle of attack to eliminate downrange and crossrange position errors at the point of parachute deploy. This energy and heading management is achieved with a reaction control system (RCS) that directs the bank angle of the vehicle and also minimizes unwanted capsule dynamics. The reaction control system and control design is based on the Mars Science Laboratory and Mars 2020 RCS systems. However, due to packaging constraints, the backshell of this new entry vehicle has a different geometry than those earlier designs. To certify the RCS system for flight the project must characterize the jet plume interactions with the capsule backshell that could impair or significantly augment the RCS control authority. This characterization will be done through a combination of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and wind tunnel test. Two candidate arrangements of the RCS jets have been identified for the SRL vehicle and are currently under evaluation before final selection. The aero/RCS plume interactions of these candidate configurations have been measured in a supersonic wind tunnel test in NASA Langley's Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel. The test was conducted in the fall of 2020 and data is currently being reduced. An overview of the candidate RCS configurations are presented here with an overview of the wind tunnel model design, jet scaling and scaled nozzle design, and the test matrix. Preliminary CFD runs are presented with an assessment of the predicted plumes and their interaction with the wake flow of the vehicle. The predicted effects of the model sting is provided as well. This high fidelity wind tunnel test is being conducted much earlier in the SRL project than would normally be done. The test was funded as part of a CFD evaluation task funded by NASA's Aerosciences Evaluation and Test Capabilities Project. The objective of the evaluation task was to compare the ability of CFD to predict complex flows with data that can be measured in the Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel. RCS Jet interactions were selected as a type of complex flow that is important to NASA missions. In addition to providing useful data to the SRL project, there was added emphasis on quantifying the accuracy of the CFD predictions and wind tunnel test data. An overview of the uncertainty quantification methodologies for computational and experimental portions of this test is presented.

blunt body↗