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NASA NTRS2020

SAGE III/ISS Contamination Monitoring Package: Observations in Orbit

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) telescope and instrument assembly employ the methods of solar occultation and lunar occultation to retrieve near-global vertical profiles of atmospheric ozone, water vapor, nitrogen dioxide, aerosol extinctions, and other gaseous species and atmospheric state parameters. The SAGE III grating spectrometer measures light within the spectral range of 280 nm to 1037 nm at approximately 1 nm resolution, but retrievals in the Ultraviolet (UV) are particularly sensitive to contamination of the optical train. Therefore, a contamination door that contains a quartz optical window can be closed over the telescope aperture during periods of enhanced external contaminant flux. This optically transparent window permits continued science event acquisition at an acceptably diminished signal-to-noise ratio, which is expected to decline with ongoing accretion of contaminant material. To date, this impact has been short term, and science quality through the window returns to baseline performance after a contamination source is removed and spontaneous desorption removes material from the low-affinity quartz surface. Two Contamination Monitoring Packages (CMPs) consisting of eight Thermoelectric Quartz Crystal Microbalances (TQCMs) from QCM Research provide characterization and redundant monitoring of contaminant deposition from the 2pi steradian solid angle on the payload side of the Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station (ExPRESS) Payload Adapter. CMP data are closely examined by the SAGE III team to determine when the contamination door should remain closed during science events and in what direction the instrument assembly scan head should stow when not acquiring science measurements. Additionally, should the CMPs indicate an unacceptable accretion rate, the flight computer will close the contamination door as part of the automatic fault detection system. Along with spectrometer measurements of the quartz window's transmission, the payload CMPs enable auditing of the mission contamination budget. The process of Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) can be used to help identify chemical constituents accreted on the CMP sensors. To be presented here along with an explanation of the CMP systems are the first two and a half years of observations of the contaminant deposition environment around the payload in quiescence and during special events like docking vehicles.

Tyler T Dawson↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Urban Air Mobility Noise: Current Practice, Gaps, and Recommendations

AN Air Mobility (UAM) is an opportunity for aviation to improve transportation systems across the world. Representative UAM vehicle attributes include electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles that can accommodate up to 6 passengers (or equivalent cargo), are possibly autonomous, perform missions of up to 100 nautical miles at altitudes up to 3000 ft. above ground level, have flight speeds up to 200 knots, and weigh between 800 and 8000 pounds. Along with the many anticipated benefits, there will be noise issues that need to be addressed. In 2018, NASA formed an Urban Air Mobility Noise Working Group (UNWG) to assemble noise experts from industry, universities and government agencies to identify, discuss, and address UAM noise issues. This oral presentation summarizes technology gaps and goals associated with four areas of interest: Tools & Technologies, Ground & Flight Testing, Human Response & Metrics, and Regulation & Policy, and is drawn from a draft white paper [1] by the same title. Tools & Technologies include noise prediction tools and noise reduction technologies that have been developed for conventional rotorcraft and fixed-wing vehicles that may be applicable or need to be modified for UAM. Prediction tools need to be able to account for variable speed rotors and other temporal variation effects that impact community noise. A reprioritization of noise sources needs to be done since UAM vehicles include multiple rotors/propellers, often in proximity to one another and/or the airframe, with dynamic transition, and new noise sources such as electric motors or hybrid-electric propulsion. Scattering and propagation methods need to be developed that include the vehicle components and surfaces near a receiver such as buildings and vertiports. Validation databases are needed to quantify prediction uncertainties. Prediction tools used to evaluate community noise will need source models appropriate for a wide range of UAM vehicles. Existing noise reduction technologies need to be evaluated and new noise reduction technologies should be developed in anticipation of future noise requirements. Although the prediction and treatment of interior cabin noise is a secondary goal, it is recognized that new tools and methods may be needed due to the uniqueness of the vehicle design and the presence of both acoustic and structure-borne loads. Ground & Flight Testing has been a critical part of validating noise reduction technologies and verifying that an air vehicle is ready for certification. UAM vehicles introduce new challenges for test procedures such as different source noise directivity, unsteady sources due to maneuvers, and a variety of takeoff and approach trajectories. The operating environment will be more complex than current aircraft with the introduction of vertiports in populated areas with “urban canyons” making reflections an important part of noise prediction and annoyance. It is expected that new test procedures and measurement methods will be necessary. Consideration will need to be given for both piloted and autonomous operations. Human Response & Metrics may be very different for UAM noise compared to current experience with airport noise. Current metrics used to certify rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft may not be as useful for evaluating UAM noise. Operations at lower altitudes may influence annoyance. Psychoacoustic and community testing will be needed to quantify annoyance and assess appropriate metrics. In addition to conventional noise level metrics, considerations such as audibility and temporal variation of the sound may be required. Differences between indoor or outdoor exposure will have an impact with dependence on urban and residential flight paths. Aircraft noise is currently regulated at a national level and typically involves partnerships with the industry to establish regulations. Regulators realize that current policies and procedures may not be appropriate for some of the emerging air vehicles and new procedures may be needed to address UAM noise. Development of new policies and procedures are needed so that local communities do not hastily attempt to establish their own restrictions that will both limit growth of the market and create an inconsistent and confusing regulatory environment. To expedite this development, it is crucial early measurement data are shared through partnership arrangements to support both noise certification and noise modeling/noise assessment. At the same time, an effective engagement strategy should be developed to address local community noise issues associated with UAM vehicles and flight operations as they arise.

urban air mobility↗
NASA NTRS2018

ISS Columbus Heat Exchanger Close Call Investigation Case Study

During International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 38, just days before Christmas 2013, the External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS) on the ISS Columbus Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Interface Heat Exchanger (IFHX) shut down due to low temperatures. Engineers on the ground scrambled for several days to troubleshoot a pump module Flow Control Valve (FCV) problem, however; no one recognized that the core temperature of the Columbus MTL IFHX was continuing to drop, to the point that water in the system could freeze. Freezing could rupture the core, resulting in high pressure ammonia entering the cabin of the ISS. With no way to clean up the ammonia, ISS crew would have to evacuate the U.S. segment of the station. Columbus MTL IFHX rupture is considered a catastrophic failure and could potentially result in a loss of crew/loss of vehicle. How did engineers miss this potentially catastrophic issue?

Joyce B Abbey↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Space Launch System Payload Stage Capability for Ultra-High Characteristic Energy Missions

The Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle is NASA’s cornerstone capability for a new era of human and robotic exploration of deep space. The unrivalled performance of SLS provides the capability to launch the first woman and next man to walk on the lunar surface and to support development of a sustained human presence in cislunar space, and ultimately human missions to Mars. As an evolvable capability with unique launch performance, the opportunities enabled by SLS also include game-changing benefits for science missions, including probes to the outer solar system and beyond. For the last two years, the SLS Program has worked with the Interstellar Probe team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory(APL) to provide data that describe how SLS could support a mission that would break through the boundary of the heliosphere and into pristine interstellar space only a decade after launch, enabling earlier science return and greatly increasing spacecraft life in the interstellar medium. In record-breaking time, the ISP as launched on SLS may answer questions raised by the extended mission of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. While SLS and its efficient Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) offer benefits for exploration of the outer planets, adding one or more additional stages to this architecture makes it even more capable for missions beyond our solar system, offering more realistically appealing flight times that would allow the mission scientists to reap the rewards of exploration. During the time the SLS Program has been working with the Interstellar Probe team, it has identified an expedited path to the Block 2 capability planned for the Interstellar Probe mission, and further matured performance numbers for diverse multi-stage configurations using a combination of commercially available liquid hydrogen (LH2)/liquid oxygen (LOX) upper stages and solid motor kick stages. That work has demonstrated the SLS payload stage capability provides significant benefits and opens trade space for multiple missions in consideration during planning for the next Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. This presentation details the significant benefits SLS can provides for very high characteristic (C3) energy missions by coupling the capabilities of SLS to current commercial rocket propulsion stage systems. These capabilities are explored specifically in the context of an Interstellar Probe architecture in which a small, capable science probe, coupled with carefully tailored mission design trajectories, could be used to explore the outer solar system and the interstellar medium. The presentation will also address the operational logistics of integrating such a mission, explaining the options available for “non-standard” SLS payloads, including processing those with radioisotope power generators or additional propulsion stages. An SLS system overview and capabilities will be presented, along with vehicle configuration and orbit performance capability studies, explaining how SLS is enabling for a variety of high-energy science mission profiles, including launching an exploratory probe bound for interstellar space only a decade after launch.

Rob Stough↗
NASA NTRS2020

Hardness-Strength Correlations in Zr(Cu)-Based BMG Alloys for QA Purposes

Quality assurance (QA) of bulk metallic glass (BMG) components would be expedited if hardness testing could provide a ready estimate of material strength. Consequently, a compilation of published data for Zr(Cu)-based alloys on the relationship between Vickers hardness (HV) and tensile/compressive strength (σ) is presented. An assessment reveals that the majority of data are confined within the hardness range of HV = 4.4−6.2 GPa and the strength range of σ = 1.4−2.3 GPa. Assuming a linear relationship, the statistical average of the hardness-strength correlation for BMGs (HV/σ = 2.87 ± 0.35) is very close to that established for non-austenitic steels (HV/σ = 2.86 ± 0.05). Unfortunately, the standard deviation of the BMG data is too broad for any type of correlation to be exploited for QA purposes. However, the narrow hardness range suggests that significant departures from the fully amorphous state resulting from processing variations may be detectable via indentation testing. Therefore, the relationship between hardness and volume/distribution of crystallinity for a specific alloy system warrants further investigation.

Bulk metallic glass↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

MIP: the First ISRU Flight Experiment

The Mars ISPP Precursor, “MIP”, was a flight experiment on the 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander that was designed to demonstrate In-situ Propellant Production-- ISPP-- for the first time on Mars. The experiment was designed to show that it was possible to produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide atmosphere, and to demonstrate the individual technology components that would go into a full-scale production plant. The aimpoint of the oxygen production was to showcase the possibility of producing oxygen for use as rocket fuel, ultimately as an enabling technology for a future human expedition to Mars. The MIP team built and qualified flight hardware for the experiment to fly on the Surveyor-2001 lander, but following the failure of the 1999 Mars Polar Lander spacecraft, the Surveyor-2001 lander mission was cancelled, and the MIP experiment was never flown. The experience in building and testing the hardware did show that the carbon dioxide electrolysis process was feasible, and led to incorporation of in-situ propellant production into the NASA reference plans for human Mars missions. Twenty years later, the technology is flying to Mars in the form of the MOXIE experiment on the Perseverance rover.

Geoffrey A Landis↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

MIP: the First ISRU Flight Experiment

In 2020, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) will fly to Mars as part of the Mars-2020 “Perseverance” rover’s experiment package, and for the first time will demonstrate the use of in-situ resources of another planet, by using the carbon dioxide atmosphere of Mars as a feedstock to produce oxygen. MOXIE, however, was not the first flight experiment proposed to test in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The Mars ISPP Precursor, “MIP”, was a flight experiment on the 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander that was designed to demonstrate In-situ Propellant Production--ISPP--for the first time on Mars. The experiment was designed to show that it was possible to produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide atmosphere, and to demonstrate the individual technology components that would go into a full-scale production plant. The aim point of the oxygen production was to showcase the possibility of producing oxygen for use as rocket fuel, ultimately as an enabling technology for a future human expedition to Mars.

Geoffrey A Landis↗
NASA NTRS2020

Introduction to ISS Crew Displays

The International Space Station (ISS) began payload operations in earnest in 2000 with the arrival of the Expedition 1. To date, ISS has offered Principal Investigators (PIs) a reliable platform for microgravity research, having hosted thousands of onboard science experiments. Most of this research is supported by experiment hardware and software and many include a crew‐operated Graphical User Interface (GUI). The purpose of this article is to share information with PIs and Payload Developer (PD) teams about the processes, standards, and guidelines applicable to crew GUI design that must be complied with when planning payload software. The goal is not to enumerate all of the ISS display standards, but rather to highlight design guidelines and the ISS Program milestones for verification and approval of onboard crew displays.

Graphical User Interface↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VALENTInE: A Concept for a New Frontiers Class Long Duration In-Situ Balloon Mission to Venus

Venus and Earth are similar in bulk composition, size, density, and approximate distance from the Sun, yet Venus’s modern-day climate and surface geology is distinctly different [1]. Previous missions to Venus revealed unusual volcanic features, possible continental crust, widespread volcanic plains, a weak magnetic field [2], and insights into the Venusian atmosphere [3,4]. Unfortunately, data from these missions were limited in spatial and temporal resolution and global extent. A future mission to Venus is critical to address fundamental questions surrounding the chemical composition and dynamics of the Venusian atmosphere [5], its geologic history [6,7], its internal structure [8,9], and its habitability throughout time [10,11]. We present the Venus Air and Land Expedition: a Novel Trailblazer for In situ Exploration (VALENTInE) mission to meet this need. VALENTInE is a variable altitude balloon that will passively float in Venus’s atmosphere between 45 and 55 km altitude. VALENTInE will acquire atmospheric data at varying latitudes and longitudes in addition to mapping the surface geomorphology and mineralogy across multiple terrains. Mission Objectives: The VALENTInE mission concept is driven by four main science objectives: 1. Determine whether the driving force of the superrotation of Venus’s atmosphere is caused by horizontal or vertical momentum transport. 2. Determine whether the atmospheric composition and noble gas inventory of the Venusian atmosphere is a product of outgassing from the initial protoplanetary source or if there are significant contributions from exogenic sources. 3. Determine whether the tesserae regions (particularly Aphrodite Terra) are felsic and relatively older than surrounding regions. 4. Determine if there is any evidence of a recent dynamo preserved in the rock record of Venus. Mission Overview: A balloon architecture provides a robust system that can survive long-term in the Venusian environment while taking accurate measurements of the lower cloud deck and surface. Two prior balloon missions to Venus, VEGA 1 and VEGA 2 in 1984, have demonstrated the potential for such planetary exploration; however, these missions were short-lived (46 hr), with limited range (54 km). Our spacecraft concept consists of a battery powered balloon with a gondola and flyby carrier stage (Fig. 1). Our novel design allows for at least 15 days of atmospheric exploration, including multiple ascents and descents in the Venus atmosphere. VALENTInE is baselined to launch in 2032, cruise on solar power for 128 days, enter, descend, and inflate (EDI) into Venus’s atmosphere above Aphrodite Terra, and float in Venus’s atmosphere for a total nominal mission duration of 15 days. The balloon, able to control its altitude by changing its buoyancy, will make one full circumnavigation every 4–8 days and move poleward ~1 o latitude per day; it will be passively directed by the horizontal air currents on Venus. The balloon can only be controlled in the z direction, and the expected latitude range is ±10° from EDI. The balloon itself will be a tracer for atmospheric structures such as zonal winds [5, 12]. During the 15-day operational period, there will be five dips to 45 km for a compositional study of the lower atmosphere and geological and magnetic mapping of the surface. Dips are used to take images and measurements closer to the surface and to obtain in situ vertical atmospheric profiles between 45 and 55 km. Instruments: The VALENTInE instrument payload will allow for extensive study of the geology, atmosphere, and interior of Venus. The instrument suite consists of six instruments. The mission profile for each instrument is shown in Fig. 2. Lower Atmosphere Meteorology Analyzer (LAMA) is an atmospheric structure instrument consisting of a thermometer, barometer, and accelerometer to continuously measure temperature and pressure as a function of altitude, longitude, and latitude. TracE and Noble Gas Investigator (TENGI) is aneutral mass spectrometer used to sample the dense atmosphere. TENGI will operate continuously at 45 km and 55 km and will measure D/H ratios, as well as Ne, Ar, and O isotopic ratios. Kilometer Scale Spectral Imager (KSSI) is amultispectral imager (850-1150 nm) used to resolve surface features on the order of km. Near InfraRed Multispectral Photometer (NIRMP) is an Infrared (IR) photometer used to image the surface through the clouds to characterize mineral assemblages at five different areas of the surface. NIRMP will be operated during dwell. ELevation REConnaissance (ELREC) is a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) instrument used for measuring topography at five different areas of the surface. The ELREC data will be combined with those of NIRMP to determine mineral assemblages and how they correlate to topography. Magnetic Exploration and Interior Detective (MEID) is a magnetometer used to detect any near-surface magnetic anomalies. The magnetometer will continuously operate at all altitudes. Mission Design: The spacecraft’s propulsion system will have a wet mass of 930 kg and will be launched on an Atlas V rocket. The spacecraft will jettison the payload upon arrival in Venus’s atmosphere before decelerating to orbital velocity. Figure 2. Notional power-dip profile while the balloon is on the dayside. Risks and Challenges: Raising and lowering the spacecraft to dip beneath the haze layer require a large amount of energy. This issue was partly compensated by limiting the number of dips over the 15 day prime mission. Power needs for pumping helium are reduced by slowing the descent speed, which consequently increases spatial resolution of in situ measurements between 45 and 55 km. The main limitation for the duration of the mission is the need to carry 15 days’ worth of batteries. The bus experiences external Venusian temperatures ranging from ~27°C at 55 km altitude to ~110°C at 45 km altitude. These high atmospheric temperatures require thermal protection for the bus (instruments, electronics, and flight systems) during its descent, dwell at 45 km, and ascent. The bus is maintained at a mechanically safe temperature range of -10°C to 50°C using white external paint, multi-layer insulation (MLI), mechanical/thermal isolation (e.g. Ti, composites), and ~57 kg of Phase Change Materials (PCM). Images and spectra taken below the haze dominate the available data transmission regardless of the time spent at 45 km. Therefore, less time at the lower altitude mainly reduces the coverage of in situ measurements there. Further, we assumed an unrealistically low-density material for the helium storage tanks on the gondola. However, this issue is partially resolved if we were to jettison 75% of the spent helium storage tanks. After the entry process, the balloon volume remains mostly inflated and storage tanks are required only for reducing balloon volume in dipping to 45 km. This mission was planned against an expected New Frontiers 5 (NF5) cost cap of $1B, as the NF5 call had not yet been released. The mission we describe fits within the predicted cost cap if the flyby carrier stage, responsible for powering the spacecraft during cruise and for relaying in situ measurements back to Earth, can be contributed by another space agency. Acknowledgments: We thank the JPL Planetary Science Summer School, especially A. Nash, J. Scully, K. Mitchell, L. Lowes, and J. Armijo, and our mentors from JPL Team X. Thank you to our review panel for their insightful review. References: [1] Kane, S. et al. (2019) JGR:Ps, 124 , 2015–2028. [2] Phillips, J. L., & Russell, C. T. (1987). JGR: Space Physics , 92 (A3), 2253-2263. [3] Nakamura, M. et al. (2018) Earth Planets Space, 70 (1), 144. [4] Svedhem, H. et al. (2009) JGR:P 114 (E5). [5] Limaye et al. (2009) Decadal Survey White Paper . [6] Ivanov, M. and Head, J. (2011) PSS, 59 (13) , 1559-1600. [7] Smrekar, S. et al. (2018) Space Sci Rev, 214 (5), 88. [8] O’Rourke, J. et al. (2018) EPSL, 502 , 46-56. [9] O’Rourke J. et al. (2019) GRL , (46), 5768–5777 [10] Way, M. et al. (2016) GRL, 43 (16), 8376-8383. [11] Way, M. et al. (2020) JGR:P, 125 (5), e2019JE006276. [12] Preston, R. A. et al. (1986) Science, 231 (4744), 1414-1416.

Mission Concept↗
NASA NTRS1996

Evaluation of Cryogenic Power Conditioning Subsystems for Electric Propulsion Spacecraft

The power requirement of vehciles desgined to transport cargo supporting a piloted expedition to Mars is in the range of megawatts. Therefore, it is imperative that the megawatt - class power processing unit designed for high-power nuclear electric propulsion vehicles using turboalternators and advanced magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters shouls be such that the overall system efficienty is as high as possible with minimum system specific mass.

cryogenic↗
NASA NTRS1996

Development of the Cassini Spacecraft Propulsion Subsystem

The Cassini Spacecraft will be launched on an expedition to Saturn in October 1997. The mission is an eleven year operation, the first seven years traveling to Saturn via a combination of propulsion burns and Venus-Venus-Earth-Jupiter gravity-assist, and the remaining four years orbiting Saturn while exploring the planet, it's moons, rings, and nearby icy satellites.

Cassini↗
NASA NTRS2019

Mars 2020 Entry, Descent, and Landing system overview

Building upon the success of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) landing and surface mission, the Mars 2020 project is a flagship-class science mission intended to address key questions about the potential for life on Mars and collect samples for possible Earth return by a future mission. [1] Mars 2020 will also demonstrate technologies needed to enable future human expeditions to Mars. Utilizing the groundbreaking entry, descent, and landing (EDL) architecture pioneered by the MSL, [2] [3] Mars 2020 will launch in July 2020 and land on Mars in February 2021.

Lefland, Mallory↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Designing Autonomy into Interfaces for Long-Duration Missions

As NASA develops technologies for long-duration crewed missions, we must understand how communication between ground control teams and astronauts differs from the current dynamic to adapt new concepts for long-duration mission operations. Today, ground control teams support astronauts with immediate availability to answer questions, resolve issues, and manage activities. In the near future, however, extended communication delays during long-duration missions will require astronauts to become more autonomous. As many of the responsibilities shift from the ground control teams to the astronauts on-board, the concept of operations must also change from how it functions today. With increased astronaut autonomy, software tools must be developed that enable efficient completion of mission tasks without increased mental workload. Designing software tools to facilitate crew autonomy requires development teams to know which data will enhance quick decision making while providing necessary context for situational awareness of systems being managed on-board. NASA's Autonomous Systems and Operations (ASO) team is presently developing a software interface tool, EXPRESS (EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments for Space Station) 2.5 to enable a long-duration crew to schedule activities for and operate autonomous systems. This paper describes details of the integrated human factors approach that drove the design of the elements of the software tool, including self-managed scheduling, constraint-driven planning, autonomous system fault recovery, and recommended troubleshooting actions. Additionally, this paper will chronicle ASO modifications of the user interface after the team's first flight demonstration, how it was based on lessons learned during software development, as well as from crew feedback in order to develop the current version which will be demonstrated on ISS in 2021. In the upcoming ISS demonstration, the astronaut crew will be given scenarios for scheduling and operating autonomous system activities, including off-nominal scenarios and autonomous system recoveries. The demonstration of the EXPRESS 2.5 tool is a step towards improved levels of autonomy as our new journeys take us farther into space.

autonomy↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

AMO-EXPRESS-2.5: Crew Autonomy Onboard the International Space Station

NASA is committed to landing American astronauts, including the first woman and the next man, on the Moon by 2024. Currently, the crew cannot take on all functions performed by the ground today, so the future crews will need more automation to reduce the crew workload for future missions. Of significant importance for these missions is the balance between crew autonomy and vehicle automation. The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Autonomous Systems and Operations (ASO) Project has been investigating the ability to evaluate crew self-scheduling and activity monitoring for future space missions. The ASO project designed the Autonomous Mission and Operations- EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station Rack-2.5 (AMO-EXPRESS-2.5) payload to evaluate crew self-scheduling and activity monitoring. The AMO-EXPRESS-2.5 builds on the previous AMO-EXPRESS and AMO-EXPRESS-2.0 demonstrations on ISS. The AMO-EXPRESS-2.5 demonstration goals are to prove crew self-scheduling by planning through diagnosing systems expertise, failure detection, procedure recommendation and situational awareness. This paper will describe the development, test and execution results of the AMO-EXPRESS-2.5 demonstration, and will also outline the future planned development and operational efforts to enable autonomy for future deep space manned missions.

Brooke C. Allen↗
NASA NTRS2020

Exploring the human-nature dynamics of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai, Earth's newest landmass

This paper examines the human-nature dynamics of volcanic eruptions through a multidisciplinary exploration of the recently-formed Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha‘apai (HTHH) landmass in the Kingdom of Tonga. HTHH was formed in early 2015 in the Ha‘apai island group in southwestern Tonga. This landmass has persisted longer than expected, providing a rare opportunity to examine pathways of erosion and biological colonization, and offering a glimpse into the cultural dynamics of a continuously changing Polynesian seascape. In 2018 and 2019, a collaborative partnership between the Kingdomof Tonga, Sea Education Association (SEA), and the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ran expeditions to HTHH to calibrate satellite observations via field, ship, and drone-based measurements. In accessing HTHH via SEA's sailing school vessel (SSV) the Robert C. Seamans, a team of scientists and students combined fieldwork in anthropology, oceanography, and physical volcanology to study micro- and macro-scale dynamics of this classical surtseyan eruption site. In this pathfinding paper, we discuss the value of involving students in the process of real-time scientific discovery with on-the-fly adaptive hypothesis testing; this collaborative project provided mutual benefit to initiatives in science and education by offering robust data collection, while expanding environmental and cultural literacy. Additionally, we integrate collaborative research on HTHH with ethnographic research to understand how this ever changing “sea of islands” or intimately interconnected island spaces impact social-cultural relations within Oceania. We emphasize the importance of such multidisciplinary research in understanding the complexity of human-nature relations in a rapidly changing world.

Emily B. Hite↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Vacuum Sealable Container (VSC) and Astronaut Lunar Drill (ALD) for Artemis

Introduction: NASA’s Artemis Program is under development to send first woman and next man to the Moon. Artemis will utilize a suite of new technology for Lunar exploration, including new space vehicles, new space suits, and new Astronaut Tools. Honeybee Robotics has been working with NASA JSC to develop a new Vacuum Sealable Container (VSC) and new Astronaut Lunar Drill (ALD) for the upcoming Artemis missions. Vacuum Sealable Container: Sample return continues to be the “Holy Grail” of space exploration, allowing for the analysis of materials using Earth-based laboratories instead of needing to miniaturize and ruggedize instrumentation for space. The Apollo missions to the Moon had several kinds of Sealable Containers which brought back Lunar samples for analysis [1]. These samples are still being analyzed, fifty years later. The VSC requirements are different from that for Apollo containers and as such, new development was required. One major difference between Artemis samples and those from Apollo is the desire to bring back volatiles which may be part of lunar regolith. The VSC is designed to withstand a high-pressure differential caused by sublimating volatiles. Because of the new, stricter sealing requirements, additional features have been added to the VSC. For example, the seal on the container is required to be more robust, thus required more force to actuate, and the seal must be locked in place with a secondary mechanism. Astronaut Lunar Drill: The ALD is designed to be a multi-functional platform for Lunar sample acquisition. The drill builds on lessons learned from the Apollo Lunar Surface Drill (ALSD), as well as Honeybee’s long history of mechanized sample acquisition devices for space [2]. The main functionality of the ALD is Deep Core Regolith Drilling. Additional functionality includes Surface Rock Coring (SRC), and GeoTech Tools (GTT). The ALD is a rotary-percussive drill designed with deep drilling in mind. The ALD is currently designed to have decoupled rotary and percussion subsystems to allow for maximum battery life and reduced fatigue on the crewmember. Honeybee drill technology will automatically engage the percussion when needed to drill at maximum efficiency. The mechanized drill stand helps improve drilling efficiency; the system utilizes advanced drilling algorithms which only require the crewmember to hold a single switch. Additionally, the stand aids in extraction of deep cores, something which was a problem on Apollo. The SRC functionality of the ALD utilizes Honeybee’s Eccentric Tube Core Breakoff technology to collect and retain rock core samples. This technology has also been infused into the Perseverance rover mission. The ALD is removable from the stand to allow crewmembers to collect samples from large boulders. Bringing back rock cores samples instead of full rocks allows for a wider variety of samples to be returned to Earth for study and puts them in a uniform form-factor for effective sealing and analysis. SRC bits will utilize the power of the drill’s percussion system to drill hard Lunar rocks and expedite sample acquisition. The mechanized stand on the ALD allows for additional attachments for taking geotechnical measurements with a Static Cone Penetrometer (SCP) and a Shear Vane (SV). With the stand, the ALD can take SCP measurements with the touch of a button, storing data for return to Earth. SV measurements utilize the ALD’s Rotary motor to spin the vanes in a controlled manner, getting clean data untampered by human error. References: [1] Bar Cohen and Zacny (2009), Drilling in Extreme Environments - Penetration and Sampling on Earth and Other Planets, Wiley. [2] Bar-Cohen and Zacny, Advances in Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Drilling, CRC Press. [3] Myrick (2003), Core Break-off Mechanism. US Patent No. 6,550,549 Acknowledgements: This work has been supported by NASA via SBIR Phase 3.

Artemis↗
NASA NTRS2021

New Determinations of Tides on the North-Western Ross Ice Shelf

New determinations of ocean tides are extracted from high-rate Global Positioning System (GPS) solutions at nine stations sitting on the Ross Ice Shelf. Five are multi-year time series. Three older time series are only 2–3 weeks long. These are not ideal, but they are still useful because they provide the only in situ tide observations in that sector of the ice shelf. The long tide-gauge observations from Scott Base and Cape Roberts are also reanalysed. They allow determination of some previously neglected tidal phenomena in this region, such as third-degree tides, and they provide context for analysis of the shorter datasets. The semidiurnal tides are small at all sites, yet M2 undergoes a clear seasonal cycle, which was first noted by Sir George Darwin while studying measurements from the Discovery expedition. Darwin saw a much larger modulation than we observe, and we consider possible explanations - instrumental or climatic - for this difference.

Antarctic tides↗