Results for “System resiliency” — Page 7

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Cyber Resiliency and the Implementation of a Host-Based Intrusion Detection System in an Urban Air Mobility Environment

With the growth in Urban Air Mobility systems and the increasing reliance on interconnected technologies, ensuring the security of these complex components has become critical. As cities evolve into smart urban centers, the vulnerability to cyber threats escalates, possibly endangering citizens safety and the efficiency of transportation networks.In response to these challenges, this paper presents a study on the need for cyber resilient techniques within future air traffic environments. It will pay specific attention to the implementation of a Host-Based Intrusion Detection System (HIDS) utilizing Atomic OSSEC software, tailored specifically to a NASA simulation of an UrbanAirMobility environments’ unique demands. Further, this study seeks to outline the rational for NASA’s recommendation for a HIDS in such environments. It explores the design, development, and deployment of the proposed HIDS, focusing on its adaptability to monitor the hybrid nature of the Urban Air Mobility environment. Leveraging machine learning algorithms and anomaly detection techniques, the HIDS is equipped to continuously monitor and analyze the behavior of individual host systems, vehicles, and devices, thereby providing a proactive approach to threat detection. Implementing a HIDS is a pivotal strategy for enhancing cyber resiliency, as it gives an organization granular visibility into internal system activities, enables rapid detection and response to anomalous behavior and cyber threats, and fortifies the organizations overall cybersecurity posture. Finally, this study aims to provide recommendations and include learned takeaways that the Urban Air Mobility industry should consider. In brief, this paper highlights the significance of host-based intrusion detection in UrbanAirMobility environments and underscores the necessity of tailored security solutions to safeguard against emerging cyber threats.

UAM↗

NASA NTRS2016

Risk Interfaces to Support Integrated Systems Analysis and Development

Objectives for systems analysis capability: Develop integrated understanding of how a complex human physiological-socio-technical mission system behaves in spaceflight. Why? Support development of integrated solutions that prevent unwanted outcomes (Implementable approaches to minimize mission resources(mass, power, crew time, etc.)); Support development of tools for autonomy (need for exploration) (Assess and maintain resilience -individuals, teams, integrated system). Output of this exercise: -Representation of interfaces based on Human System Risk Board (HSRB) Risk Summary information and simple status based on Human Research Roadmap; Consolidated HSRB information applied to support communication; Point-of-Departure for HRP Element planning; Ability to track and communicate status of collaborations. 4

Mindock, Jennifer↗

NASA NTRS2023

Enabling Human Space Exploration Missions Through Progressively Earth Independent Medical Operations (EIMO)

Goal: Current Space Medicine operations depend on terrestrial support to manage medical events. As astronauts travel to destinations such as the Moon, Mars, and beyond, distance will substantially limit this support and require increasing medical autonomy from the crew. This paper defines Earth Independent Medical Operations (EIMO) and identifies key elements of a conceptual EIMO system. Methods: The NASA Human Research Program Exploration Medical Capability Element held a 2-day conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX with NASA experts representing all aspects of Space Medicine. Results: EIMO will be a process enabling progressively resilient deep space exploration systems and crews to reduce risk and increase mission success. Terrestrial assets will continue to provide pre-mission screening, planning, health maintenance, and prevention, while onboard medical care will increasingly be the purview of the crew. Conclusions: This paper defines and describes the key components of EIMO.

ExMC↗

NASA NTRS2015

Enhancing Interdisciplinary Human System Risk Research Through Modeling and Network Approaches

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) supports research to reduce human health and performance risks inherent in future human space exploration missions. Understanding risk outcomes and contributing factors in an integrated manner allows HRP research to support development of efficient and effective mitigations from cross‐disciplinary perspectives, and to enable resilient human and engineered systems for spaceflight. The purpose of this work is to support scientific collaborations and research portfolio management by utilizing modeling for analysis and visualization of current and potential future interdisciplinary efforts.

Mindock, Jennifer↗

NASA NTRS2018

Overview of NASA's Air Traffic Management - eXploration (ATM-X) Project

Projected increases in new vehicle types, new missions, and the continual growth in traditional (e.g., airlines, general aviation) aviation will require changes to the current air traffic system, particularly to accommodate the desire of operators to be more involved in air traffic decisions. To address these challenges, the National Airspace System needs to undergo a transformation to a more scalable, flexible, user-focused system that addresses safety and security requirements and resiliency for current and new users. A system designed to integrate modular software services, provided by users, third parties and government for air traffic management functions, will be scalable and more easily allow modernization and for collaboration between users and service providers. ATM-X is responding to NASA's pivot towards integrating projected new, diverse entrants into the NAS, while also leveraging NASA's prior ATM achievements that continue to improve traditional airspace operations. This project is a two-phased approach to conduct research and focused evaluations to assess the feasibility of a service-based approach and to identify critical design considerations to enable airspace access for new entrants, integrated with current traditional operations. Phase 1 research will be conducted to determine what is needed to reach the ATM-X goals based on specific use-cases to enable large-scale, passenger-carrying Urban Air Mobility operations in a metroplex environment, and also to improve traditional operations in the Northeast Region leveraging mature NASA technologies. Some of these evaluations will be conducted in simulations and field activities. Phase 2 will build upon Phase 1 towards more defined, focused research and field demonstrations in real-world environments to integrate multiple elements of a scalable, service-based ATM-X concept.

air traffic management↗

NASA NTRS2012

Spacecraft Avionics Software Development Then and Now: Different but the Same

NASA has always been in the business of balancing new technologies and techniques to achieve human space travel objectives. NASA s historic Software Production Facility (SPF) was developed to serve complex avionics software solutions during an era dominated by mainframes, tape drives, and lower level programming languages. These systems have proven themselves resilient enough to serve the Shuttle Orbiter Avionics life cycle for decades. The SPF and its predecessor the Software Development Lab (SDL) at NASA s Johnson Space Center (JSC) hosted flight software (FSW) engineering, development, simulation, and test. It was active from the beginning of Shuttle Orbiter development in 1972 through the end of the shuttle program in the summer of 2011 almost 40 years. NASA s Kedalion engineering analysis lab is on the forefront of validating and using many contemporary avionics HW/SW development and integration techniques, which represent new paradigms to NASA s heritage culture in avionics software engineering. Kedalion has validated many of the Orion project s HW/SW engineering techniques borrowed from the adjacent commercial aircraft avionics environment, inserting new techniques and skills into the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Orion program. Using contemporary agile techniques, COTS products, early rapid prototyping, in-house expertise and tools, and customer collaboration, NASA has adopted a cost effective paradigm that is currently serving Orion effectively. This paper will explore and contrast differences in technology employed over the years of NASA s space program, due largely to technological advances in hardware and software systems, while acknowledging that the basic software engineering and integration paradigms share many similarities.

Mangieri, Mark L.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Flight Results of the NF-15B Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) Aircraft with Adaptation to a Longitudinally Destabilized Plant

Adaptive flight control systems have the potential to be resilient to extreme changes in airplane behavior. Extreme changes could be a result of a system failure or of damage to the airplane. The goal for the adaptive system is to provide an increase in survivability in the event that these extreme changes occur. A direct adaptive neural-network-based flight control system was developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NF-15B Intelligent Flight Control System airplane. The adaptive element was incorporated into a dynamic inversion controller with explicit reference model-following. As a test the system was subjected to an abrupt change in plant stability simulating a destabilizing failure. Flight evaluations were performed with and without neural network adaptation. The results of these flight tests are presented. Comparison with simulation predictions and analysis of the performance of the adaptation system are discussed. The performance of the adaptation system is assessed in terms of its ability to stabilize the vehicle and reestablish good onboard reference model-following. Flight evaluation with the simulated destabilizing failure and adaptation engaged showed improvement in the vehicle stability margins. The convergent properties of this initial system warrant additional improvement since continued maneuvering caused continued adaptation change. Compared to the non-adaptive system the adaptive system provided better closed-loop behavior with improved matching of the onboard reference model. A detailed discussion of the flight results is presented.

Bosworth, John T.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NextSTEP Appendix A Modular ECLSS Effort Lessons Learned

NASA’s Artemis program provides the first steps for earth-independent exploration starting with crewed habitats in cislunar space and progressing toward crewed landings on the lunar surface that will prepare systems and crews for the exploration of Mars. The Next Space Technology for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) is a public-private partnership model that facilitates commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities in support of more extensive human spaceflight missions in and beyond cislunar space. NASA issued the original NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to U.S. industry in late 2014 and issued the second BAA (NextSTEP-2) in April 2016. The first appendix under NextSTEP-2, Appendix A, focused on developing deep space habitation concepts, engineering design and development, and risk reduction efforts leading to a habitation capability in cislunar space. NASA solicited concepts to develop and refine the evolvable, modular architecture, functional allocation options, standards, and common interfaces required to enable interoperability of the aggregate system to provide long duration deep space transit habitation, specifically enhancements and testing of deep space Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS). Collins Aerospace, formerly UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS), was awarded a Phase 1 and subsequent Phase 2 contract to “develop concepts that group ECLS systems into logical modules maximizing the use of common components and the development of unique methods and design concepts that support in-flight maintenance and repair for future exploration systems.” This paper summarizes the work accomplished under this effort, the lessons that can be applied to development of forthcoming habitation elements, and the gaps remaining to achieve a more resilient, maintainable, repairable and adaptable system capable of installation on a wide variety of habitat platforms. A primary accomplishment of this effort is the development and maturation of a modular palletization concept to enable standard rack interfaces, post-launch outfitting, and decoupling of structural supports that withstand launch environments from those needed for lower on-orbit loads in order to reduce installed mass and repurposing of panels within the habitat. In the course of the effort, Collins assessed numerous architecture trades, including the use of condensing and noncondensing heat exchangers, the ability of modular units to accommodate various habitat volumes and thermal loading, and the most appropriate order of and timing of delivery of regenerative ECLSS hardware to orbital habitats. In addition to the modularity of hardware elements, Collins developed software approaches for distributed/modular command, control, and communication systems and innovative Bayesian fault detection and isolation techniques. Finally, the effort explored advanced maintainability and supportability concepts including the definition of maintenance units (MUs) in place of the traditional Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs), increasing parts commonality to reduce the number and type of spare parts, the use of augmented reality to guide crews during maintenance and repair procedures, and how crews would prepare for and recover from long durations of habitat dormancy. Now that the NextSTEP Modular ECLSS effort has come to a close, it’s important to identify the lessons learned and where they can be leveraged to improve NASA’s broader program of ECLSS technology development and demonstration and ultimately how they can increase the performance of future surface and orbital habitats.

NextSTEP↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NextSTEP Appendix A Modular ECLSS Effort Lessons Learned

NASA’s Artemis program provides the first steps for earth-independent exploration starting with crewed habitats in cislunar space and progressing toward crewed landings on the lunar surface that will prepare systems and crews for the exploration of Mars. The Next Space Technology for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) is a public-private partnership model that facilitates commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities in support of more extensive human spaceflight missions in and beyond cislunar space. NASA issued the original NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to U.S. industry in late 2014 and issued the second BAA (NextSTEP-2) in April 2016. The first appendix under NextSTEP-2, Appendix A, focused on developing deep space habitation concepts, engineering design and development, and risk reduction efforts leading to a habitation capability in cislunar space. NASA solicited concepts to develop and refine the evolvable, modular architecture, functional allocation options, standards, and common interfaces required to enable interoperability of the aggregate system to provide long duration deep space transit habitation, specifically enhancements and testing of deep space Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS). Collins Aerospace, formerly UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS), was awarded a Phase 1 and subsequent Phase 2 contract to “develop concepts that group ECLS systems into logical modules maximizing the use of common components and the development of unique methods and design concepts that support in-flight maintenance and repair for future exploration systems.” This paper summarizes the work accomplished under this effort, the lessons that can be applied to development of forthcoming habitation elements, and the gaps remaining to achieve a more resilient, maintainable, repairable and adaptable system capable of installation on a wide variety of habitat platforms. A primary accomplishment of this effort is the development and maturation of a modular palletization concept to enable standard rack interfaces, post-launch outfitting, and decoupling of structural supports that withstand launch environments from those needed for lower on-orbit loads in order to reduce installed mass and repurposing of panels within the habitat. In the course of the effort, Collins assessed numerous architecture trades, including the use of condensing and noncondensing heat exchangers, the ability of modular units to accommodate various habitat volumes and thermal loading, and the most appropriate order of and timing of delivery of regenerative ECLSS hardware to orbital habitats. In addition to the modularity of hardware elements, Collins developed software approaches for distributed/modular command, control, and communication systems and innovative Bayesian fault detection and isolation techniques. Finally, the effort explored advanced maintainability and supportability concepts including the definition of maintenance units (MUs) in place of the traditional Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs), increasing parts commonality to reduce the number and type of spare parts, the use of augmented reality to guide crews during maintenance and repair procedures, and how crews would prepare for and recover from long durations of habitat dormancy. Now that the NextSTEP Modular ECLSS effort has come to a close, it’s important to identify the lessons learned and where they can be leveraged to improve NASA’s broader program of ECLSS technology development and demonstration and ultimately how they can increase the performance of future surface and orbital habitats.

NextSTEP↗

NASA NTRS2022

Supporting Hazard Analysis for Wildfire Response Using fmdtools and MIKA

The System Wide Safety (SWS) Safety Demonstrator (SD) Series drives development of an increasingly capable In-Time Aviation Safety Management System (IASMS) focusing on humanitarian applications, starting with wildfire response (SD-1). The goals of this report are to (1) provide an early hazard analysis and mitigation evaluation of wildfire response to support these efforts and (2) provide a demonstration of capabilities of the Fault Model Design Tools (fmdtools) and Manager for Intelligent Knowledge Access (MIKA) tools. fmdtools provides a modeling, simulation, and resiliency analysis framework in which a wildfire response model, the System Modeling and Analysis of Resiliency in Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations (SMARt-STEReO), is built. MIKA is an intelligent knowledge manager with several capabilities, including assisting in hazard analysis by extracting and analyzing hazards from historical incident reports. The following topics are covered in the report: Understanding Wildfire Hazard Dynamics. We provide a description and simulated examples of how hazards occur in the SMARt-STEReO model of wildfire response and their effect on its outcome. This provides a common mental model and focuses the analysis presented in the remainder of the report. Wildfire Hazard Identification. MIKA identifies wildfire hazards from three relevant datasets: the ICS-209-PLUS, SAFECOM, and SAFENET. Hazards are manually organized into a taxonomy and MIKA analyzes each hazard’s effects, likelihood, severity, and risk. Evaluating Mitigation Strategies. The SMARt-STEReO wildfire response model built in fmdtools evaluates a subset of identified hazards. Specifically, we simulate the effect of communications faults and equipment faults on operator safety, the effect of changing winds and flammability, and a scenario with multiple ignition points and heavy smoke. Tool Limitations and Usage Considerations. We provide a discussion of appropriate tool use cases as well as limitations and considerations for usage. The tool findings are used to synthesize recommendations for wildfire response operations, which can be captured as part of an IASMS. Key recommendations are as follows: Hazards are identified from a broad spectrum of sources including aircraft subsystems, operational sources, and ground crew operations. Highest risk operational environment hazards identified are Evacuations. The highest risk manned aerial operations hazard categorized is Jumper Operations Mishap. Ground crew hazards that are highest risk are Burns, Cargo Operations Overhead, Dehydration, Entrapment, Falling Objects, Heart Attacks, Heat Exhaustion, Inadequate Training or Certification, Vehicle Breakdown, and Vehicle Collision. Modelled containment failures arise from a mismatch between the difficulty of the firefighting scenario and the capacity (e.g., speed, effectiveness, awareness) of the response. In firefighting scenarios where containment is possible (e.g., because the fire does not spread too quickly), these mismatches can occur because of a change in environmental conditions (e.g., wind, flammability, etc) or because of planning, equipment, or communications faults. Improvements to communications increase the capacity of the firefighting response by reducing the time needed to respond to the fire. While surveillance does not increase this capacity by itself, it increases operator safety by increasing state awareness, enabling firefighters to evade approaching fires. Increasing both has a synergistic effect. In general, these performance and resilience increases generalize over fault scenarios as well as unforeseen changes to circumstances (i.e., wind, aridity, etc.). However, these improvements need to be designed so as not to make the system prone to persistent large-scale communications outages, which can reduce performance.

Hazard analysis↗

NASA NTRS2012

Modeling Off-Nominal Behavior in SysML

Specification and development of fault management functionality in systems is performed in an ad hoc way - more of an art than a science. Improvements to system reliability, availability, safety and resilience will be limited without infusion of additional formality into the practice of fault management. Key to the formalization of fault management is a precise representation of off-nominal behavior. Using the upcoming Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) mission for source material, we have modeled the off-nominal behavior of the SMAP system during its initial spin-up activity, using the System Modeling Language (SysML). In the course of developing these models, we have developed generic patterns for capturing off-nominal behavior in SysML. We show how these patterns provide useful ways of reasoning about the system (e.g., checking for completeness and effectiveness) and allow the automatic generation of typical artifacts (e.g., success trees and FMECAs) used in system analyses.

fault protection↗

NASA NTRS2023

Structural Chokepoints Determine the Resilience of Agri-Food Supply Chains in the United States

The agricultural and food systems of the United States are critical for ensuring the stability of both domestic and global food systems. Thus, it is essential to understand the structural resilience of the country’s agri-food supply chains to a suite of threats. Here we employ complex network statistics to identify the spatially resolved structural chokepoints in the agri-food supply chains of the United States. We identify seven chokepoints at county scale: Riverside CA, San Bernardino CA, Los Angeles CA, Shelby TN, Maricopa AZ, San Diego CA and Cook IL; as well as seven chokepoints at freight analysis framework scale: Los Angeles–Long Beach CA, Chicago– Naperville IL, New York–New Jersey NJ, New York–New Jersey NY, Remainder of Texas, Remainder of Pennsylvania, and San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland CA. These structural chokepoints are generally consistent through time (2007, 2012, 2017), particularly for processed food commodities. This study improves our understanding of agri-food supply-chain security and may aid policies aimed at enhancing its resilience.

Agriculture↗

NASA NTRS2007

Flight Test Results from the NF-15B Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) Project with Adaptation to a Simulated Stabilator Failure

Adaptive flight control systems have the potential to be more resilient to extreme changes in airplane behavior. Extreme changes could be a result of a system failure or of damage to the airplane. A direct adaptive neural-network-based flight control system was developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NF-15B Intelligent Flight Control System airplane and subjected to an inflight simulation of a failed (frozen) (unmovable) stabilator. Formation flight handling qualities evaluations were performed with and without neural network adaptation. The results of these flight tests are presented. Comparison with simulation predictions and analysis of the performance of the adaptation system are discussed. The performance of the adaptation system is assessed in terms of its ability to decouple the roll and pitch response and reestablish good onboard model tracking. Flight evaluation with the simulated stabilator failure and adaptation engaged showed that there was generally improvement in the pitch response; however, a tendency for roll pilot-induced oscillation was experienced. A detailed discussion of the cause of the mixed results is presented.

Bosworth, John T.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Flight Test Results from the NF-15B Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) Project with Adaptation to a Simulated Stabilator Failure

Adaptive flight control systems have the potential to be more resilient to extreme changes in airplane behavior. Extreme changes could be a result of a system failure or of damage to the airplane. A direct adaptive neural-network-based flight control system was developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NF-15B Intelligent Flight Control System airplane and subjected to an inflight simulation of a failed (frozen) (unmovable) stabilator. Formation flight handling qualities evaluations were performed with and without neural network adaptation. The results of these flight tests are presented. Comparison with simulation predictions and analysis of the performance of the adaptation system are discussed. The performance of the adaptation system is assessed in terms of its ability to decouple the roll and pitch response and reestablish good onboard model tracking. Flight evaluation with the simulated stabilator failure and adaptation engaged showed that there was generally improvement in the pitch response; however, a tendency for roll pilot-induced oscillation was experienced. A detailed discussion of the cause of the mixed results is presented.

Bosworth, John T.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Flight Test Results from the NF-15B Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) Project with Adaptation to a Simulated Stabilator Failure

Adaptive flight control systems have the potential to be more resilient to extreme changes in airplane behavior. Extreme changes could be a result of a system failure or of damage to the airplane. A direct adaptive neural-network-based flight control system was developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NF-15B Intelligent Flight Control System airplane and subjected to an inflight simulation of a failed (frozen) (unmovable) stabilator. Formation flight handling qualities evaluations were performed with and without neural network adaptation. The results of these flight tests are presented. Comparison with simulation predictions and analysis of the performance of the adaptation system are discussed. The performance of the adaptation system is assessed in terms of its ability to decouple the roll and pitch response and reestablish good onboard model tracking. Flight evaluation with the simulated stabilator failure and adaptation engaged showed that there was generally improvement in the pitch response; however, a tendency for roll pilot-induced oscillation was experienced. A detailed discussion of the cause of the mixed results is presented.

Bosworth, John T.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Li-Ion Cells Employing Electrolytes With Methyl Propionate and Ethyl Butyrate Co-Solvents

Future NASA missions aimed at exploring Mars and the outer planets require rechargeable batteries that can operate at low temperatures to satisfy the requirements of such applications as landers, rovers, and penetrators. A number of terrestrial applications, such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) also require energy storage devices that can operate over a wide temperature range (i.e., -40 to +70 C), while still providing high power capability and long life. Currently, the state-of-the-art lithium-ion system has been demonstrated to operate over a wide range of temperatures (-30 to +40 C); however, the rate capability at the lower temperatures is very poor. These limitations at very low temperatures are due to poor electrolyte conductivity, poor lithium intercalation kinetics over the electrode surface layers, and poor ionic diffusion in the electrode bulk. Two wide-operating-temperature-range electrolytes have been developed based on advances involving lithium hexafluorophosphate-based solutions in carbonate and carbonate + ester solvent blends, which have been further optimized in the context of the technology and targeted applications. The approaches employed include further optimization of electrolytes containing methyl propionate (MP) and ethyl butyrate (EB), which are effective co-solvents, to widen the operating temperature range beyond the baseline systems. Attention was focused on further optimizing ester-based electrolyte formulations that have exhibited the best performance at temperatures ranging from -60 to +60 C, with an emphasis upon improving the rate capability at -20 to -40 C. This was accomplished by increasing electrolyte salt concentration to 1.20M and increasing the ester content to 60 percent by volume to increase the ionic conductivity at low temperatures. Two JPL-developed electrolytes 1.20M LiPF6 in EC+EMC+MP (20:20:60 v/v %) and 1.20M LiPF6 in EC+EMC+EB (20:20:60 v/v %) operate effectively over a wide temperature range in MCMB-LiNiCoAlO2 and Li4Ti5O12-LiNi-CoAlO2 prototype cells. These electrolytes have enabled high rate performance at low temperature (i.e., up to 2.0C rates at -50 C and 5.0C rates at -40 C), and good cycling performance over a wide temperature range (i.e., from -40 to +70 C). Current efforts are focused upon improving the high temperature resilience of the methyl propionatebased system through the use of electrolyte additives, which are envisioned to improve the nature of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers.

Smart, Marshall C.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Enabling Reliable, Fault-Tolerant Autonomous Lunar Habitats with High-Performance Spaceflight Computing

The lunar surface presents unfavorable constraints and harsh living conditions. To address these challenges, autonomous habitats will require complex integrated systems that combine advanced software, high-performance hardware, and cutting-edge sensors to ensure sustainability, safety, and operational efficiency. Consequently, maintaining a sustainable presence on the Moon requires reliable infrastructure and efficient development, precise monitoring, and utilization of resources within a lunar installation. These elements are essential not only to ensure that lunar settlement can be long-term, self-sustaining, and resource-efficient, but also to serve as a foundation for future missions and eventual human habitation on Mars. Humans are not native to the Moon; therefore, our survival and ability to thrive will depend on autonomous systems that can foster safety and resilience through high-availability architectures, graceful degradation, and highly fault-tolerant spaceflight hardware capable of continuing operation during failures. This requires advanced human-rated distributed systems architectures with specialized electronics, scalable capabilities, and an integrated design approach. Unlike current practices focused on short-term missions and regularly maintained components, permanent lunar compute systems must be designed for extended operations beyond mission durations. This paper explores the necessity of transitioning toward fault- tolerant, highly autonomous hardware systems designed for multi-year missions. It also identifies critical subsystems that require high levels of autonomy, supported by radiation-hardened processors and extreme thermal loads, which are essential to mitigate long-term degradation and ensure sustainable lunar habitation. Finally, the paper aligns with NASA’s identified Civil Space Shortfalls, particularly in high-performance onboard computing, advanced data acquisition, extreme-environment avionics, radiation monitoring and countermeasures, and autonomous health management. It proposes NASA’s new High-Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC) processor as a turnkey solution, delivering 100 times the performance-per-watt of legacy rad-hard CPUs and enabling onboard AI, edge computing, and fault-tolerant features essential for sustained lunar autonomy and beyond.

Sarkis S Mikaelian↗

NASA NTRS2016

Space: It's Not What It Used to Be. A Goddard Approach to This Challenge, Questions About SmallSats, a Few Answers, and the Need for Transformative Thought in a Transformative Time

The "final frontier" is not what is used to be. Advancements in systems capabilities, easier access to orbit, a rapidly expanding spacefaring community saddled with imagination, and innovative approaches to mitigate chronic fiscal constraints are all converging to create novel spaceflight systems and mission architectures. Persons content to apply yesterday's thought to today's challenges stand the risk of finding themselves following instead of leading. The Dellingr 6U CubeSat project ongoing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is demonstrating that while there is great potential to achieve compelling science, new systems and processes are required to fully leverage the cost and schedule efficiencies small satellites can yield. In addition, realizing the potential of these platforms in environments more challenging than benign low earth orbit requires spacecraft systems designed for reliable or resilient operation, and reliable components and subsystems.

Johnson, Michael A.↗