Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “mission progress”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2008

The DAWN Project's Transition to Mission Operations: on Its Way to Rendezvous with (4) Vesta and (1) Ceres

Dawn launched on 27 September 2007 on a mission to orbit main belt asteroids (4) Vesta in 2011 - 2012 and (1) Ceres in 2015. The operations team conducted an extensive set of assessments of the engineering subsystems and science instruments during the first 80 days of the mission. A major objective of this period was to thrust for one week with the ion propulsion system to verify flight and ground systems readiness for typical interplanetary operations. Upon successful conclusion of the checkout phase, the interplanetary cruise phase began, most of which will be devoted to thrusting. The flexibility afforded by the use of ion propulsion enabled the project to accommodate a launch postponement of more than 3 months caused by a combination of launch vehicle and tracking system readiness, unfavorable weather, and then conflicts with other launches. Even with the shift in the launch date, all of the science objectives are retained with the same schedule and greater technical margins. This paper describes the conclusion of the development phase of the project, launch operations, and the progress of mission operations.

launch operations↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Small Spacecraft Technologies: The Evolution of CubeSat Spacecraft Platforms

The maturity of small spacecraft technology is indicated by the continued growth in the number of missions, mission complexity, and the expansion of smallsat subsystem capability. The inception of the CubeSat platform has incentivized the space industry to achieve a broad collection of science for less cost, and there is an evolving trend in the overall utilization of the CubeSat platform seen in the last decade. CubeSats’ initial purpose was to serve as a platform to demonstrate specific technologies while also serving as an educational platform for students and professional engineers alike. In the ten years since, CubeSats are being designed for more complex science missions around the Moon, Sun, or to deep space, and the projection for 10 years from now is that CubeSats will be performing more complex deep space missions. The progress of overall small spacecraft technology development is captured in the most recent 2020 Small Spacecraft Technology State-of-the-Art (SoA) report, the objective of which is to assess and provide an overview on the current development status across all subsystem architectures. The SoA report summarizes the results of a variety of surveys covering device performance, capabilities, and flight history, as presented in publicly available literature. The focus of these surveys is on devices or systems that can be commercially procured or appear on a path towards being commercial availability. The work toward the 2020 edition of the SoA report was managed by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) and performed by several contractor staff. The S3VI is jointly funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate.

Small Spacecraft Technologies↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Maturation of In-space Welding in Reduced Gravity and Reduced Pressure Environments Through Progression to Suborbital Flight Experiments

Development of in-space welding (ISW) is a key and enabling manufacturing technology as welding is currently involved in producing approximately 90% of durable goods, and this trend is expected to hold for in-space manufacturing as well. ISW is critical to a sustainable space economy. To mature in-space welding, numerous gaps must be closed since NASA has not made a weld in space in 50 years. Advancing laser beam welding (LBW) towards a suborbital flight demonstration will help mature the process for in-space assembly & manufacturing (ISAM) through demonstration in relevant environments and achieving technology readiness milestones. LBW technologies and science improved by this work will benefit in-space manufacturing, long-term sustainability of space structures & operations, and the overall space economy. Ground-based welding of aerospace hardware requires an Edisonian approach to qualify a welding process; however, this approach is infeasible for ISW qualification due to mass, volume, logistic, and cost challenges inherent to the space environment. To address this challenge, we are conducting ground and suborbital tests with partners performing parabolic flights to gather data on LBW processes and infuse them into NASA & partner missions. This progression from ground to flight experiments will elucidate relevant physics during LBW: 1) reduced gravity, 2) reduced pressure, and 3) extreme temperature. Data from post-flight evaluation and in situ instrumentation will feed integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) tools to reduce the burden of ISW infusion by establishing a link between space and terrestrial environments, ultimately accelerating the qualification of LBW in space.

in-space welding↗
NASA NTRS1972

Proceedings of the Space Shuttle Sortie Workshop. Volume 2: Working group reports

Details are presented on the mission planning progress in each of the working paper reports. The general topics covered are the following: space technology; materials processing and space manufacturing; communications and navigation; earth and ocean physics; oceanography; earth resources and surface environmental quality; meteorology and atmospheric environmental quality; life sciences; atmospheric and space physics; solar physics; high energy cosmic rays; X-ray and gamma ray astronomy; ultraviolet-optical astronomy; planetary astronomy; and infrared astronomy.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1991

Mars Observer as a precursor to intensive exploration of Mars

The Mars Observer Mission, to be launched by the United States in September 1992, is designed to perform an extended orbital study of the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate, and gravitational and magnetic fields using a spacecraft in Mars orbit for one Martian year. This information will add to the global data base that is necessary for increasing scientific understanding of Mars, as well as for planning the next stages of intensive exploration of the planet. Future missions will progress from more specific robotic exploration to eventual human exploration, and will require progressively more detailed engineering information. Mars Observer will provide key basic data including planet shape, gravity field, geodetic framework, topography, characteristics of the surface, atmospheric profiles, dust content of the atmosphere, and wind field. Special data products for engineering purposes could be obtained from the currently planned data return, and additional engineering data could be returned by augmentation to the basic Mars Observer's operation.

Cunningham, Glenn E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

STS-86 Day 02 Highlights

On this second day of the STS-86 mission, the flight crew, Cmdr. James D. Wetherbee, Jr., Pilot Michael J. Bloomfield, Mission Specialists Scott E. Parazynski, Jean-Loup Chretien, Vladimir G. Titov, Wendy B. Lawrence and David A. Wolf discuss the mission's progress with reporters as part of the traditional crew news conference. Also included are various panoramic views of the earth as viewed from cameras mounted in the payload bay.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1997

Optimization of 2005 Sample Return for Mars Exopaleontology

If we wish to retain the search for past/present life as an objective in the program, exobiological milestones need to be addressed at each opportunity. At this stage of Mars exploration, these milestones are complimentary to those of other disciplines. Achieving the goals of the exobiological community will require a long-term view of the problem and a phased plan of exploration. Decision trees are a realistic way to assess present needs and to benefit from future missions. Timely progress in achieving milestones identified will ensure we are moving ahead at each opportunity in meeting what the Agency (and public!) regards as an essential part of the program. It is clear that life-related issues must be handled carefully as they are presented to NASA and the public not to create an imbalance, or more importantly, misunderstanding about where we are in the exploration plan.

Farmer, Jack D.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Strategy for the Exploration of Mars

This abstract discusses a strategy for the scientific exploration of Mars by reviewing those that have been proposed previously by various science advisory groups. The strategy for exploration is based on first obtaining a global assessment or reconnaissance level of knowledge about Mars before more detailed study of specific locations with large rovers and sample returns. It also suggests a progression of missions and information needed for setting up outposts and ultimately eventual human exploration.

Golombek, M. P.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Mission Lifecycle Modeling and Simulation

Mission synthesis and simulation research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory addresses mission model taxonomy, progressive lifecycle representation, model-based mission design, and simulation-in-the-loop design.

Modeling Simulation↗
NASA NTRS2008

Recent STEREO Observations of Coronal Mass Ejections

Over 400 CMEs have been observed by STEREO SECCHI COR1 during the mission's three year duration (2006-2009). Many of the solar activity indicators have been at minimal values over this period, and the Carrington rotation-averaged CME rate has been comparable to that measured during the minima between Cycle 21-22 (SMM C/P) and Cycle 22-23 (SOHO LASCO). That rate is about 0.5 CMEs/day. During the current solar minimum (leading to Cycle 24), there have been entire Carrington rotations where no sunspots were detected and the daily values of the 2800 MHz solar flux remained below 70 sfu. CMEs continued to be detected during these exceptionally quiet periods, indicating that active regions are not necessary to the generation of at least a portion of the CME population. In the past, researchers were limited to a single view of the Sun and could conclude that activity on the unseen portion of the disk might be associated with CMEs. But as the STEREO mission has progressed we have been able to observe an increasing fraction of the Sun's corona with STEREO SECCHI EUVI and were able to eliminate this possibility. Here we report on the nature of CMEs detected during these exceptionally quiet periods, and we speculate on how the corona remains dynamic during such conditions.

SaintCyr, Chris Orville↗
NASA NTRS2012

Status Update on the James Webb Space Telescope Project

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large (6.6 m), cold <50 K), infrared (IR)-optimized space observatory that will be launched in approx.2018. The observatory will have four instruments covering 0.6 to 28 micron, including a multi-object spectrograph, two integral field units, and grisms optimized for exoplanets. I will review JWST's key science themes, as well as exciting new ideas from the recent JWST Frontiers Workshop. I will summarize the technical progress and mission status. Recent highlights: All mirrors have been fabricated, polished, and gold-coated; the mirror is expected to be diffraction-limited down to a wavelength of 2 microns. The MIRI instrument just completed its cryogenic testing. STScI has released exposure time calculators and sensitivity charts to enable scientists to start thinking about how to use JWST for their science.

Rigby, Jane R.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Progress of the NASA ACE Mission Polarimeter Working Group Instrument Inter-Comparison

The NASA Aerosol-Cloud-Ecosystem (ACE) mission is a National Research Council Decadal Survey recommended mission that will contain an imaging polarimeter for remote sensing of aerosols and clouds. A variety of airborne polarimeter prototypes exist, so the ACE Polarimeter Working Group (ACEPWG) was formed to share information between groups and collectively work for improved measurement techniques, uncertainty characterization, and algorithm development. The initial focus has been on observations made during the Polarimeter Definition Experiment (PODEX), conducted in early 2013 in Southern California. Three ACE mission supported polarimeters were deployed on the high altitude ER-2 aircraft as it flew over a variety of targets. Two of those instruments to date have successfully produced Level 1 (geolocated radiance and polarization) data. Initial matched scene inter-comparisons found little radiometric, but significant polarimetric, bias. After improvement to geolocation in one instrument, and calibration in the other, polarimetric comparisons have improved significantly. We will describe these results, remaining unresolved issues, and future plans.

Polarimeter↗
NASA NTRS2021

The Evolution of CubeSat Spacecraft Platforms

The maturity of small spacecraft technology is indicated by the continued growth in the number of missions, mission complexity, and the expansion of smallsat subsystem capability. The inception of the CubeSat platform has incentivized the space industry to achieve a broad collection of science for less cost, and there is an evolving trend in the overall utilization of the CubeSat platform seen in the last decade. CubeSats’ initial purpose was to serve as a platform to demonstrate specific technologies while also serving as an educational platform for students and professional engineers alike. In the ten years since, CubeSats are being designed for more complex science missions around the Moon, Sun, or to deep space, and the projection for 10 years from now is that CubeSats will be performing more complex deep space missions. The progress of overall small spacecraft technology development is captured in the most recent 2020 Small Spacecraft Technology State-of-the-Art (SoA) report, the objective of which is to assess and provide an overview on the current development status across all subsystem architectures. The SoA report summarizes the results of a variety of surveys covering device performance, capabilities, and flight history, as presented in publicly available literature. The focus of these surveys is on devices or systems that can be commercially procured or appear on a path towards being commercial availability.

Small Spacecraft Technology↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Evolution of CubeSat Spacecraft Platforms

The maturity of small spacecraft technology is indicated by the continued growth in the number of missions, mission complexity, and the expansion of smallsat subsystem capability. The inception of the CubeSat platform has incentivized the space industry to achieve a broad collection of science for less cost, and there is an evolving trend in the overall utilization of the CubeSat platform seen in the last decade. The initial purpose of CubeSats’ was to serve as a platform to demonstrate specific technologies while also serving as an educational platform for students and professional engineers alike. In the ten years since, CubeSats have been designed for more complex science missions around the Moon, Sun, or to deep space, and the projection for ten years from now is that CubeSats will be performing more complex deep space missions. The progress of overall small spacecraft technology development is captured in the most recent 2021 Small Spacecraft Technology State-of-the-Art (SoA) report, the objective of which is to assess and provide an overview on the current development status across all subsystem architectures. The SoA report summarizes the results of a variety of surveys covering device performance, capabilities, and flight history, as presented in publicly available literature. The focus of these surveys is on devices or systems that can be commercially procured or appear on a path toward becoming commercially available.

Small Spacecraft Technology↗