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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 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

Dawn : a mission in developement for exploration of main belt asteroids Vesta and Ceres

Dawn is in development for a 2006 launch on a mission to explore main belt asteroids in order to yield insights into important questions about the formation and evolution of the solar system. Its objective is to acquire detailed data from orbit around two complementary bodies, Vesta and Ceres, the two most massive asteroids. The project relies on extensive heritage from other deep-space and Earth-orbiting missions, thus permitting the ambitious objectives to be accomplished with an affordable budget.

asteroids↗
NASA NTRS1993

Early lunar rover mission studies

Results of lunar mission studies aimed at developing mission goals and high level requirements are reported. A mission concept to meet the mission requirements was developed and the design of mission hardware was to follow. Mission concepts not only included operations analysis and plans but also fabrication and test planning, quality control measures, and project organization. The design of mission concepts and hardware identified issues that are not easily resolved. Although none of the issues identified appear to be unresolvable, many will be difficult to resolve within Space Exploration Initiative constraints. These issues discussed which appear to have the potential for negative project impact are rover mobility, power, imaging, telemanagment, and remote control.

Gillespie, Vernon P.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Characterization of in-Space Propulsion Trade Space to Support Initial Human Mars Segment

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate has been developing architecture concepts for human missions to Mars in alignment with the agency’s Moon to Mars blueprint objectives. The focus of the Architecture Development Office has been to decompose the blueprint objectives into the characteristics and needs for both lunar and Mars missions and develop functional needs to enable an integrated end-to-end mission architecture. One of the key components of a human Mars mission is the in-space transportation system that delivers crew and cargo to Mars vicinity and return crew safely back to Earth. The Mars Architecture Team has been evaluating four in-space transportation options to satisfy this functional need: 1) Hybrid Nuclear Electric/ Chemical Propulsion, 2) Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, 3) Hybrid Solar Electric/ Chemical Propulsion, and 4) All-Chemical propulsion. To answer the question “which transportation option is best?” decision makers will need to understand the performance characteristics—and limitations—for each architecture in the context of their preferred metric. Each option could be considered “better” than the others, depending on whether the primary selection criteria is fast, cheap, maximum cross-government applicability, maximizes commercial capabilities, and/or any other desired metrics. The Mars Architecture Team has completed considerable analysis on the Hybrid Nuclear Electric/Chemical Propulsion concept over the past three years. The Space Nuclear Propulsion program has also conducted significant work on the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion concept. The Hybrid Solar Electric/Chemical Propulsion concept, derived from technology planned for the Gateway program, was originally configurated for minimum vehicle stack mass (and, hence, minimum Earth-launched mass/cost), leveraging a highly efficient propulsion system on a minimum energy Conjunction Class trajectory. Historically, All-Chemical concepts were considered impractical due to the enormous propellant mass required, even for minimum energy Conjunction Class/long stay mission opportunities. However, considering the emerging commercial heavy-lift capabilities, the concept must be reevaluated across a range of concepts that leverage reusable launch vehicle capabilities to reduce the cost of launching large quantities of transportation elements needed for missions of various duration. This paper aims to provide an overview of the in-space transportation assessment work that is on-going within NASA.

Mars↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Characterization of in-Space Propulsion Trade Space to Support Initial Human Mars Segment

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate has been developing architecture concepts for human missions to Mars in alignment with the agency’s Moon to Mars blueprint objectives. The focus of the Architecture Development Office has been to decompose the blueprint objectives into the characteristics and needs for both lunar and Mars missions and develop functional needs to enable an integrated end-to-end mission architecture. One of the key components of a human Mars mission is the in-space transportation system that delivers crew and cargo to Mars vicinity and return crew safely back to Earth. The Mars Architecture Team has been evaluating four in-space transportation options to satisfy this functional need: 1) Hybrid Nuclear Electric/ Chemical Propulsion, 2) Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, 3) Hybrid Solar Electric/ Chemical Propulsion, and 4) All-Chemical propulsion. To answer the question “which transportation option is best?” decision makers will need to understand the performance characteristics—and limitations—for each architecture in the context of their preferred metric. Each option could be considered “better” than the others, depending on whether the primary selection criteria is fast, cheap, maximum cross-government applicability, maximizes commercial capabilities, and/or any other desired metrics. The Mars Architecture Team has completed considerable analysis on the Hybrid Nuclear Electric/Chemical Propulsion concept over the past three years. The Space Nuclear Propulsion program has also conducted significant work on the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion concept. The Hybrid Solar Electric/Chemical Propulsion concept, derived from technology planned for the Gateway program, was originally configurated for minimum vehicle stack mass (and, hence, minimum Earth-launched mass/cost), leveraging a highly efficient propulsion system on a minimum energy Conjunction Class trajectory. Historically, All-Chemical concepts were considered impractical due to the enormous propellant mass required, even for minimum energy Conjunction Class/long stay mission opportunities. However, considering the emerging commercial heavy-lift capabilities, the concept must be reevaluated across a range of concepts that leverage reusable launch vehicle capabilities to reduce the cost of launching large quantities of transportation elements needed for missions of various duration. This paper aims to provide an overview of the in-space transportation assessment work that is on-going within NASA.

Mars↗
NASA NTRS2004

James Webb Space Telescope: Supporting Multiple Ground System Transitions in One Year

Ideas, requirements, and concepts developed during the very early phases of the mission design often conflict with the reality of a situation once the prime contractors are awarded. This happened for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as well. The high level requirement of a common real-time ground system for both the Integration and Test (I&T), as well as the Operation phase of the mission is meant to reduce the cost and time needed later in the mission development for re-certification of databases, command and control systems, scripts, display pages, etc. In the case of JWST, the early Phase A flight software development needed a real-time ground system and database prior to the spacecraft prime contractor being selected. To compound the situation, the very low level requirements for the real-time ground system were not well defined. These two situations caused the initial real-time ground system to be switched out for a system that was previously used by the Bight software development team. To meet the high-!evel requirement, a third ground system was selected based on the prime spacecraft contractor needs and JWST Project decisions. The JWST ground system team has responded to each of these changes successfully. The lessons learned from each transition have not only made each transition smoother, but have also resolved issues earlier in the mission development than what would normally occur.

Detter, Ryan↗
NASA NTRS2023

Adaptive Mission Assurance (AMA) – A Conceptual Guide for NASA Missions

NASA is well acquainted with and skilled in conducting Risk Class A Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA). Class A missions are characterized as having highly specific performance with an ultra-low risk tolerance for risk and mission failure. But space is rapidly changing, and the space enterprise is challenged to pursue faster more agile mission developments with fewer resources and directed schedules. To meet this demand mission development teams face accepting more risk and trading performance within strict cost and schedule constraints. In responding to this challenge, The Aerospace Corporation has evolved the Adaptive Mission Assurance (AMA) approach. The benefit of an “adaptive” approach is most realized for smaller Research and Development (R&D), or Science and Technology (S&T) demonstration missions constrained by significantly smaller budgets and directed schedules. The challenge for these “risk tolerant, constraints-driven” missions is how to identify the most valuable mission assurance tasks that will fit within strict budgetary and schedule constraints for “gracefully” accepting risk that still achieves an agreeable expectation of mission success. AMA can respond to this challenge with little to no impact to team staffing or existing workload. This conceptual guide introduces AMA as a potential implementation for NASA Risk Class D and Sub-Class D missions.

Douglas A. Harris↗
NASA NTRS1996

The MARS pathfinder end-to-end information system: A pathfinder for the development of future NASA planetary missions

The development of the Mars pathfinder is considered with emphasis on the End-to-End Information System (EEIS) development approach. The primary mission objective is to successfully develop and deliver a single flight system to the Martian surface, demonstrating entry, descent and landing. The EEIS is a set of functions distributed throughout the flight, ground and Mission Operation Systems (MOS) that inter-operate in order to control, collect, transport, process, store and analyze the uplink and downlink information flows of the mission. Coherence between the mission systems is achieved though the EEIS architecture. The key characteristics of the system are: a concurrent engineering approach for the development of flight, ground and mission operation systems; the fundamental EEIS architectural heuristics; a phased incremental EEIS development and test approach, and an EEIS design deploying flight, ground and MOS operability features, including integrated ground and flight based toolsets.

Cook, Richard A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Techniques and software for optimum and efficient mission science sequence development

Highly successful mission operations require efficient and cost-effective science sequence development. Of key importance is the Science Planning and Operations Team's (SPOT's) ability to complete science observation design and integration early in the sequence development process (i.e., before the sequence enters into a formal change control process). Once under formal change control, careful change paper documentation, Flight Team checks, and mission software checks make sequence changes more labor-intensive. This paper discusses team organization, strategies, scheduling, and software employed by the Voyager and Galileo SPOT's to complete science observation design and integration early in the sequence development process.

Bliss, David A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Problems and concepts of space station guidance, navigation, and control

The Space Station System is defined as a network of space and ground assets which work together to support a variety of missions including commercial missions, science and applications missions, and technology development missions. The elements of the Space Station System include a Space Station Base, Space Platforms, Free Flyers, a Teleoperator Manuevering System (TMS), Orbital Transfer Vehicles (OTV), Orbiter Berthing Equipment, and Ground Support Equipment and Facilities. Guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) subsystem requirements are considered along with configuration trades.

Guha, A. K.↗
NASA NTRS2005

VERSE - Virtual Equivalent Real-time Simulation

Distributed real-time simulations provide important timing validation and hardware in the- loop results for the spacecraft flight software development cycle. Occasionally, the need for higher fidelity modeling and more comprehensive debugging capabilities - combined with a limited amount of computational resources - calls for a non real-time simulation environment that mimics the real-time environment. By creating a non real-time environment that accommodates simulations and flight software designed for a multi-CPU real-time system, we can save development time, cut mission costs, and reduce the likelihood of errors. This paper presents such a solution: Virtual Equivalent Real-time Simulation Environment (VERSE). VERSE turns the real-time operating system RTAI (Real-time Application Interface) into an event driven simulator that runs in virtual real time. Designed to keep the original RTAI architecture as intact as possible, and therefore inheriting RTAI's many capabilities, VERSE was implemented with remarkably little change to the RTAI source code. This small footprint together with use of the same API allows users to easily run the same application in both real-time and virtual time environments. VERSE has been used to build a workstation testbed for NASA's Space Interferometry Mission (SIM PlanetQuest) instrument flight software. With its flexible simulation controls and inexpensive setup and replication costs, VERSE will become an invaluable tool in future mission development.

virtual real time↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Modeling Logistics and Supportability for Crewed Missions Beyond Low Earth Orbit

NASA’s future missions aim to establish a sustained human presence on the lunar surface and send humans to Mars. These missions will send crews farther from home than previous missions, limiting the opportunities for resupply missions. Additionally, the use of multiple launches and reusable elements will increase mission and campaign complexity. Logistics and supportability analysis evaluates the link between mission and system characteristics and key metrics such as logistics and spares mass and volume, crew time, and risk. As missions become increasingly complex and crews are logistically isolated for longer periods of time, logistics and supportability will become more powerful drivers of risk and cost and, therefore, more important considerations during system and mission development. When logistics and supportability are considered from the beginning of system and mission development, opportunities arise to create more efficient, lower-risk systems. Design choices made without detailed consideration of logistics and supportability have the potential to result in greater risks and increased costs as all options may not have been analyzed. This paper provides an overview of a methodology used for space mission logistics and supportability analysis, including key metrics, assumptions, and required inputs. Example applications of this methodology to explore the impacts of system architecture, dormancy, and synergies between lunar and Mars missions are also presented. Conducting these holistic analyses enables informed decision-making for mission planning and system design, which can help mitigate the risk of loss of mission, vehicle, or crew. Using the knowledge of historical missions, experiences gained on the lunar surface, and logistics and supportability analyses, NASA can examine and optimize supportability characteristics for safer and more effective operations for future lunar and Mars missions.

Supportability↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Modeling Logistics and Supportability for Crewed Missions Beyond Low Earth Orbit

NASA’s future missions aim to establish a sustained human presence on the lunar surface and send humans to Mars. These missions will send crews farther from home than previous missions, limiting the opportunities for resupply missions. Additionally, the use of multiple launches and reusable elements will increase mission and campaign complexity. Logistics and supportability analysis evaluates the link between mission and system characteristics and key metrics such as logistics and spares mass and volume, crew time, and risk. As missions become increasingly complex and crews are logistically isolated for longer periods of time, logistics and supportability will become more powerful drivers of risk and cost and, therefore, more important considerations during system and mission development. When logistics and supportability are considered from the beginning of system and mission development, opportunities arise to create more efficient, lower-risk systems. Design choices made without detailed consideration of logistics and supportability have the potential to result in greater risks and increased costs as all options may not have been analyzed. This paper provides an overview of a methodology used for space mission logistics and supportability analysis, including key metrics, assumptions, and required inputs. Example applications of this methodology to explore the impacts of system architecture, dormancy, and synergies between lunar and Mars missions are also presented. Conducting these holistic analyses enables informed decision-making for mission planning and system design, which can help mitigate the risk of loss of mission, vehicle, or crew. Using the knowledge of historical missions, experiences gained on the lunar surface, and logistics and supportability analyses, NASA can examine and optimize supportability characteristics for safer and more effective operations for future lunar and Mars missions.

Supportability↗
NASA NTRS1991

Computer system evolution requirements for autonomous checkout of exploration vehicles

This study, now in its third year, has had the overall objective and challenge of determining the needed hooks and scars in the initial Space Station Freedom (SSF) system to assure that on-orbit assembly and refurbishment of lunar and Mars spacecraft can be accomplished with the maximum use of automation. In this study automation is all encompassing and includes physical tasks such as parts mating, tool operation, and human visual inspection, as well as non-physical tasks such as monitoring and diagnosis, planning and scheduling, and autonomous visual inspection. Potential tasks for automation include both extravehicular activity (EVA) and intravehicular activity (IVA) events. A number of specific techniques and tools have been developed to determine the ideal tasks to be automated, and the resulting timelines, changes in labor requirements and resources required. The Mars/Phobos exploratory mission developed in FY89, and the Lunar Assembly/Refurbishment mission developed in FY90 and depicted in the 90 Day Study as Option 5, have been analyzed in detailed in recent years. The complete methodology and results are presented in FY89 and FY90 final reports.

Davis, Tom↗
NASA NTRS2020

Space Chicken: A Historical Look at How the Critical Path Changes over a Mission’s Development

The critical path in schedule analysis defines the series of tasks that have no schedule slack leading to the delivery of a system. The critical path for NASA science missions, which typically runs through a spacecraft subsystem or a scientific instrument, is dynamic and changes over the development lifetime of a project. Often the critical path at the start of preliminary design will be through a specific spacecraft subsystem while the final, delivered critical path item is often a scientific instrument that is delivered late. The research for this paper looks at the postulated critical path at different milestones, and the actual critical path item at final delivery, for a variety of NASA science missions to understand what elements are impacting the delivery schedule the most. Recommendations are made based on these quantitative results relative to what elements should potentially be considered more often in early development schedules to more robustly plan for development issues.

Bitten, Robert↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Establishing the Framework for e-VTOL Flight Mission Scenario Development for Urban Air Mobility Research using Cognitive Task Analysis

This paper focuses on applying specific protocol aspects of Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) methods to formulate non-routine flight mission use-case scenarios in support of a potential research study at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center under the Air Traffic Management – eXploration (ATM-X) Urban Air Mobility (UAM) sub-project. The objective of use-case scenarios is to provide a hypothetical situation to elicit expert knowledge and feedback in a specific subject matter area. Use-case scenarios in the field of aviation, including UAM, can help to support the safe integration of these vehicles into the National Airspace System (NAS) through the examination of airspace procedures during non-routine events. Inherent in this type of research is the need to study in-flight non-routine scenarios that the UAM vehicle could encounter. Situations categorized as non-routine events are any events that occur outside of the original flight plan such as a mechanical malfunction or other in-flight emergency requiring special procedures, which can include diversions to a specified, or non-specified, emergency landing area. In specific instances, some non-routine events could be considered as “routine” during in-flight operations, such as the need to perform a go-around due to a balked landing. As the rate of technological expansion surrounding UAM grows rapidly in modern aviation, so does the need for research that focuses on the safe integration of these vehicles including research with a focus on the methods and development of airspace operational procedures. Research rooted in CTA methods provides a framework for developing use-case scenarios appropriate for environments where mental demands are substantial. Substantial mental demands exist while operating in the NAS for pilots, airline dispatchers, and air traffic controllers among many others. With the focus on UAM in mind, it is critical to frame a baseline use-case scenario using information as it pertains to current-day airspace operations. According to Dr. Robert R. Hoffman’s “Protocols for Cognitive Task Analysis,” one of the first steps to applying CTA methods to research is the concept of “bootstrapping” in which the researcher(s) familiarize themselves with the domain that is being studied. To formulate the non-routine flight mission use-case scenarios for the purpose of this potential NASA ATM-X UAM research study, and to inform the baseline use-case scenario, the practice of bootstrapping was utilized to acquire knowledge of current-day airspace procedures.

Heidi S Glaudel↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VIPER: Mission Design & Development

The NASA Artemis Program plans to return humans to the Moon to stay. Extended human stays on the Moon will require substantial resources to sustain human presence over the long-term, requiring continuous supplies delivered from the Earth. However, if some of the resources were indigenously available, substantial logistical complexity and costs could be saved by “living off the land”, wherever possible. The LCROSS, LRO and other missions have confirmed the presence of resources such as volatiles in polar regions, so the next step is to understand the scientific nature and physical distribution of those candidate resources. Those local volatiles could be processed into propellants and human life-supporting needs, reducing risk of maintaining a permanent human presence on the Moon. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Resource (VIPER) is a surface mobility scientific platform, designed to spend ~100 days mapping and surveying four different Ice Stability Regions to understand the scientific nature and distribution of water and other volatiles. VIPER will also provide scientific mineralogical context of the lunar regolith, such as the presence of silicon and light metals in lunar regolith, providing a composite picture of resource availability and sustainment. This paper will discuss the latest development progress by the VIPER team, following our initial introduction to this mission at IAC2021. The VIPER team has passed both its NASA Preliminary Design Review (PDR) and Critical Design Reviews (CDR), and is now looking to performing significant testing of engineering units representing the design, prior to the team turning its attention to building the flight hardware. VIPER is managed within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), utilizing the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) delivery model with partner, Astrobotic, Inc.

Daniel Andrews↗