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NASA NTRS2022

Artemis, Gateway, the Return to the Moon and Forward to Mars for Heliophysics

Over a 100 years ago we humans first landed on Antarctica. At the time we could not have imagined the heliophysics scientific gains that would be got from this continent. Sixty-five years ago we had the first international geophysical year aimed at deployment of instrumentation across this southern most continent and around the globe in recognition of the potential advancements from this integrated system of measurements. This potential has been realized and continues to grow as Antarctica returns science results across most disciplines, inspires artists and athletes, and has touched the lives of many through these gains. Today we are on the precipice of a future new Antarctica with the launch of Artemis 1 and plans for the return of humans to the lunar surface and human exploration to Mars. Heliophysics and space weather are necessary components for the success of these dreams and will benefit greatly from the fundamental science exploration that Artemis and mission to Mars will enable. Within this paper we will discuss the ways in which Artemis and the mission to Mars will benefit Heliophysics and space weather and end with recommendations for steps we see needed to actualize these dreams.

Alexa J Halford↗

NASA NTRS2022

Artemis, Gateway, the Return to the Moon and Forward to Mars for Heliophysics

Alexa Halford↗

NASA NTRS2016

Geocam Space: Enhancing Handheld Digital Camera Imagery from the International Space Station for Research and Applications

Handheld astronaut photography of the Earth has been collected from the International Space Station (ISS) since 2000, making it the most temporally extensive remotely sensed dataset from this unique Low Earth orbital platform. Exclusive use of digital handheld cameras to perform Earth observations from the ISS began in 2004. Nadir viewing imagery is constrained by the inclined equatorial orbit of the ISS to between 51.6 degrees North and South latitude, however numerous oblique images of land surfaces above these latitudes are included in the dataset. While unmodified commercial off-the-shelf digital cameras provide only visible wavelength, three-band spectral information of limited quality current cameras used with long (400+ mm) lenses can obtain high quality spatial information approaching 2 meters/ground pixel resolution. The dataset is freely available online at the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth site (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov), and now comprises over 2 million images. Despite this extensive image catalog, use of the data for scientific research, disaster response, commercial applications and visualizations is minimal in comparison to other data collected from free-flying satellite platforms such as Landsat, Worldview, etc. This is due primarily to the lack of fully-georeferenced data products - while current digital cameras typically have integrated GPS, this does not function in the Low Earth Orbit environment. The Earth Science and Remote Sensing (ESRS) Unit at NASA Johnson Space Center provides training in Earth Science topics to ISS crews, performs daily operations and Earth observation target delivery to crews through the Crew Earth Observations (CEO) Facility on board ISS, and also catalogs digital handheld imagery acquired from orbit by manually adding descriptive metadata and determining an image geographic centerpoint using visual feature matching with other georeferenced data, e.g. Landsat, Google Earth, etc. The lack of full geolocation information native to the data makes it difficult to integrate astronaut photographs with other georeferenced data to facilitate quantitative analysis such as urban land cover/land use classification, change detection, or geologic mapping. The manual determination of image centerpoints is both time and labor-intensive, leading to delays in releasing geolocated and cataloged data to the public, such as the timely use of data for disaster response. The GeoCam Space project was funded by the ISS Program in 2015 to develop an on-orbit hardware and ground-based software system for increasing the efficiency of geolocating astronaut photographs from the ISS (Fig. 1). The Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA Ames Research Center leads the development of both the ground and on-orbit systems in collaboration with the ESRS Unit. The hardware component consists of modified smartphone elements including cameras, central processing unit, wireless Ethernet, and an inertial measurement unit (gyroscopes/accelerometers/magnetometers) reconfigured into a compact unit that attaches to the base of the current Nikon D4 camera - and its replacement, the Nikon D5 - and connects using the standard Nikon peripheral connector or USB port. This provides secondary, side and downward facing cameras perpendicular to the primary camera pointing direction. The secondary cameras observe calibration targets with known internal X, Y, and Z position affixed to the interior of the ISS to determine the camera pose corresponding to each image frame. This information is recorded by the GeoCam Space unit and indexed for correlation to the camera time recorded for each image frame. Data - image, EXIF header, and camera pose information - is transmitted to the ground software system (GeoRef) using the established Ku-band USOS downlink system. Following integration on the ground, the camera pose information provides an initial geolocation estimate for the individual film frame. This new capability represents a significant advance in geolocation from the manual feature-matching approach for both nadir and off-nadir viewing imagery. With the initial geolocation estimate, full georeferencing of an image is completed using the rapid tie-pointing interface in GeoRef, and the resulting data is added to the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth online database in both Geotiff and Keyhole Markup Language (kml) formats. The integration of the GeoRef software component of Geocam Space into the CEO image cataloging workflow is complete, and disaster response imagery acquired by the ISS crew is now fully georeferenced as a standard data product. The on-orbit hardware component (GeoSens) is in final prototyping phase, and is on-schedule for launch to the ISS in late 2016. Installation and routine use of the Geocam Space system for handheld digital camera photography from the ISS is expected to significantly improve the usefulness of this unique dataset for a variety of public- and private-sector applications.

Stefanov, William L.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Development of High Power Hall Thruster Systems to Enable the NASA Exploration Vision

The next phase of space exploration missions requires high power Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) systems for large-scale science missions and cargo transportation. Development is underway at Aerojet Rocketdyne on Hall thruster systems that are intended to bracket the needs of future NASA SEP missions in support of space exploration. The Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) program is developing and qualifying a 13.3kW Hall thruster system to be demonstrated on the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), which is intended to be the first element of a Lunar Outpost Platform - Gateway (LOP-G). The NextSTEP program is integrating a nested Hall thruster into a 100kW system and testing it for 100 hours. These two programs will provide a path to efficient in-space propulsion that will allow NASA to transfer the large amounts of cargo that is needed to support human missions - first to the moon and then on to Mars. The Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) program is completing development, qualification and delivery of five flight 13.3kW EP systems to NASA. The flight AEPS system includes a magnetically shielded long-life Hall thruster, Power Processing Unit (PPU) and a Xenon Flow Controller (XFC). The Hall thruster, developed and demonstrated by NASA, operates at input powers up to 12.5kW while providing a specific impulse over an estimated 2800s at an input voltage of 600V. The power processor is designed to accommodate an input voltage range of 95-140V, consistent with operation beyond the orbit of Mars. The integrated system input power is continuously throttleable between 3 and 13.3kW. Component level testing of the EP String has begun with prototype hardware. The NextSTEP program is developing a 100kW Electric Propulsion (EP) system using a nested Hall thruster designed for powers up to 250kW, a modular power processor and a modular mass flow controller. While the program objective is to operate the integrated EP system continuously at 100kW for 100hrs to demonstrate thermal stability and support the development of system life time models, it builds on decades of experience with long-life Hall thrusters and the design is evolvable to a capability of 250kW. Design upgrades that demonstrate the 100kW EP system have been completed and tested. Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) is excited to support NASA as it extends human reach into deep space and believes that these programs will provide the propulsion to make such missions affordable and sustainable. These systems provide NASA with a range of options to power its deep space transport vehicles. This paper presents the mission requirements for supporting the NASA exploration vision, as well as the status for the high power Hall thruster systems in development.

Jackson, Jerry↗

NASA NTRS2018

Development of High Power Hall Thruster Systems to Enable the NASA Exploration Vision

The next phase of space exploration missions requires high power Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) systems for large-scale science missions and cargo transportation. Development is underway at Aerojet Rocketdyne on Hall thruster systems that are intended to bracket the needs of future NASA SEP missions in support of space exploration. The Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) program is developing and qualifying a 13.3kW Hall thruster system to be demonstrated on the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), which is intended to be the first element of a Lunar Outpost Platform - Gateway (LOP-G). The NextSTEP program is integrating a nested Hall thruster into a 100 kW system and testing it for 100 hours. These two programs will provide a path to efficient in-space propulsion that will allow NASA to transfer the large amounts of cargo that is needed to support human missions - first to the moon and then on to Mars. The Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) program is completing development, qualification and delivery of five flight 13.3kW EP systems to NASA. The flight AEPS system includes a magnetically shielded long-life Hall thruster, Power Processing Unit (PPU) and a Xenon Flow Controller (XFC). The Hall thruster, developed and demonstrated by NASA, operates at input powers up to 12.5 kW while providing a specific impulse over an estimated 2800s at an input voltage of 600V. The power processor is designed to accommodate an input voltage range of 95-140V, consistent with operation beyond the orbit of Mars. The integrated system input power is continuously throttleable between 3 and 13.3kW. Component level testing of the EP String has begun with prototype hardware. The NextSTEP program is developing a 100kW Electric Propulsion (EP) system using a nested Hall thruster designed for powers up to 250kW, a modular power processor and a modular mass flow controller. While the program objective is to operate the integrated EP system continuously at 100kW for 100 hours to demonstrate thermal stability and support the development of system life time models, it builds on decades of experience with long-life Hall thrusters and the design is evolvable to a capability of 250kW. Design upgrades that demonstrate the 100kW EP system have been completed and tested. Aerojet Rocketdyne is excited to support NASA as it extends human reach into deep space and believes that these programs will provide the propulsion to make such missions affordable and sustainable. These systems provide NASA with a range of options to power its deep space transport vehicles. This paper presents the mission requirements for supporting the NASA exploration vision, as well as the status for the high power Hall thruster systems in development.

Jackson, Jerry↗

NASA NTRS2020

The Flexible Lunar Architecture for Exploration (FLARE): Designed for the Artemis-3 Moon 2024 Mission and Beyond

The Flexible Lunar Architecture for Exploration (FLARE) is a concept to deliver four crew to the lunar surface for 7 to 14 days and then return them safely to Earth by 2024. This meets NASA’s internal 2024 lunar landing deadline directed by President Trump (Trump, 2017) and the “5-year” goal set forth by Vice President Pence (Pence, 2019). FLARE is an alternative to NASA’s Human Landing System reference architecture from the Design Analysis Cycle (DAC) #2 (NASA, 2019b). The minimum FLARE concept uses one Space Launch System launch, one Orion, one European Service Module (ESM), and one human lander to deliver four crew to the Moon for a minimum surface duration of 7 days and return them to Earth. FLARE adds a new capability, called the SpaceTug, based upon the mature and successful United Launch Alliance “Common” Centaur Upper Stage vehicle, with modifications. In FLARE, the SpaceTug provides propulsion needed to return the Orion+ESM from the Moon to Earth. The SpaceTug also provides propulsion to deliver the human lander Descent Element (DE) and Ascent Element (AE) separately to lunar orbit. The Orion+ESM then completes a rendezvous with the mated DE+AE in lunar orbit. FLARE also offers optional phases to the Moon 2024 mission. The SpaceTug can also deliver components of the planned Gateway - including the Power and Propulsion Element and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost - to lunar orbit; however, the planned FLARE destination is a Low Lunar Frozen Polar Orbit unlike the NASA DAC2 plan for a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit. FLARE also provides an option to deliver precursor equipment - including a habitation module, crew mobility devices and an In-Situ Resource Utilization demonstration - to the lunar surface for enhanced crew exploration and science with the extended 14-day surface mission.

Commercial Launch Vehicles (CLV)↗

NASA NTRS2024

A Collaborative Vision for Deep Space Human Exploration

Artemis will be the first cooperative campaign among nations for crewed planetary exploration. This paradigm shift reflects a collaborative vision for deep space human exploration that embraces the concept that, “If you want to go fast, go alone; If you want to go far, go together.” This paper elaborates on the way the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA)is striving to make its Moon to Mars effort a collaborative endeavor for long-term human exploration of deep space and for the international space community. The agency is making great strides in unifying its workforce, mission directorates, technical authorities, and centers behind shared goals and processes. Enhanced communication and a reinvigoration of systems engineering ideals have been a hallmark of that effort, guided by the Moon to Mars Architecture, which defines what NASA aims to accomplish and how it will execute those goals. This interdisciplinary approach ensures the Artemis campaign supports NASA’s engineering, science, and technology development goals. As of September 2024, over 43 nations have signed the Artemis Accords, which establish a common set of principles for peaceful cooperation in civil space exploration. Building off these efforts, NASA has been engaging in separate and distinct discussions about partner contributions to Artemis. International partnerships for the Artemis campaign include long-standing partners as well as agencies with which NASA has only more recently begun collaborating. The Gateway Program is an early example of both –benefitting from partnerships with Canada, Japan, and Europe forged though decades of cooperation on the International Space Station, as well as a new partnership with the United Arab Emirates. The agency’s Moon to Mars Objectives and Architecture unify the NASA workforce with common goals and shared systems-engineering processes. The architecture offers pathways for broader participation from industry, academia, and international partners. The agency evolves this collaborative approach through its annual Architecture Concept Review cycle, seeking input from the NASA workforce, and through workshops, from industry, academia, and the international space community to refine NASA’s roadmap for exploration. Exploring together, NASA and its partners are setting humanity on the path to long-term presence at the Moon and our eventual journey to Mars

Objective↗

NASA NTRS2018

Enabling Technologies for Deep Space Motion Imagery

From the beginning of the Space Age, imagery, particularly motion imagery, has been a part of crewed and uncrewed missions. As technologies have evolved the imagery gets better, more compelling, and more useful for operations and monitoring of systems, crew, and spacecraft. Film, video and live television have engaged the public and sparked the imaginations of engineers, scientists, and artists alike. As we look forward now to crewed missions beyond low-Earth orbit, such as the Deep Space Gateway being considered as a pre-cursor to future crewed Mars missions, there are both opportunities and challenges in implementing a multi-faceted imaging system that advances mission capabilities and technology.This paper will present a vision for an imaging system that is relevant for operations of the ISS and future crewed missions in deep space, with a detailed look at some of the key innovative technologies required to enable such a system. In addition, impacts to Space Operations, video distribution to the public and to science investigators, and video system interoperability will be presented. Opportunities where standardization can enable interoperability are also identified for those imagery and communications functions planned for inclusion in the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Blue Book.

Grubbs, Rodney↗

NASA NTRS1999

NASA Langley Teacher Resource Center at the Virginia Air and Space Center

Nation's education goals through expanding and enhancing the scientific an technological competence of students and educators. To help disseminate NASA instructional materials and educational information, NASA's Education Division has established the Educator Resource Center Network. Through this network (ERCN), educators are provided the opportunity to receive free instructional information, materials, consultation, and training workshops on NASA educational products. The Office of Education at NASA Langley Research Center offers an extension of its Precollege Education program by supporting the NASA LARC Educator Resource Center at the Virginia Air & Space Center, the official visitor center for NASA LARC. This facility is the principal distribution point for educators in the five state service region that includes Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina. The primary goal, to provide expertise and facilities to help educators access and utilize science, mathematics, and technology instructional products aligned with national standards and appropriate state frameworks and based on NASA's unique mission and results, has been accomplished. This ERC had 15,200 contacts and disseminated over 190,000 instructional items during the period of performance. In addition the manager attended 35 conferences, workshops, and educational meetings as an GR, presenter, or participant. The objective to demonstrate and facilitate the use of educational technologies has been accomplished through the following: The ERC's web page has been developed as a cyber-gateway to a multitude of NASA and other educational resources as well as to Our own database of current resource materials. NASA CORE CD-ROM technology is regularly demonstrated and promoted using the center's computers. NASA TV is available, demonstrated to educators, and used to facilitate the downlinking of NASA educational programming.

Maher, Kim L.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Behavior of High-Velocity Dust Generated by Lander Plumes in the Lunar Environment

Lunar lander plumes have been determined to generate fine ejecta at speeds exceeding 2 km/s [1], and recent work [2] has shown that Escape Velocity Domain (EVD) ejecta may remain in orbit for extended periods of time. By confining this study to expected near-term lunar activity and the known cone of dust generated by lunar landings, the behavior of high-velocity dust is characterized in an effort to understand its impact on orbiting lunar infrastructure such as the Gateway as well as the footprint of reimpacting dust on the lunar surface. In addition to the regular 3-body gravitation effects, the effects of Solar Radiation Pressure and charge are both quantified and modeled.

Lunar↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

BioSentinel: NASA’s First Deep Space Biological Mission

Since Apollo 17 in 1972, NASA has sent no humans or other biological organisms outside of Earth’s protective magnetosphere. NASA’s current Artemis program plans to put astronauts back on the Moon and eventually land human missions on Mars. One of the major challenges to long-duration crewed travel and habitation in deep space is an in-depth understanding of the biological effects of space radiation, often convoluted by the impact of reduced gravity. Such missions will require significant countermeasures, likely both technological and biomedical, to protect organisms from chronic radiation exposure. Small satellite missions like CubeSats can inform these countermeasures by investigating model organisms in relevant space environments. The BioSentinel mission is comprised of four segments developed at NASA Ames Research Center: a 6U CubeSat (1U = 10-cm cube), an ISS payload launched in December 2021 and two ground units, one for the mission’s CubeSat and one for the ISS payload. The last three segments have been operational since January 2022 and serve as experimental controls. BioSentinel’s 6U CubeSat is planned to launch as a secondary payload on the Artemis-1 rocket. It will be deployed on a lunar fly-by trajectory and into a heliocentric orbit. BioSentinel will be the first interplanetary satellite to study the biological response to space radiation outside Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in almost 50 years. BioSentinel is a complete, autonomous spacecraft capable of conducting experiments in deep space. Its 4U BioSensor payload is a fully automated and adaptable platform that can perform biological measurements with a range of microorganisms in multiple space environments, including the ISS, free flyers, and other platforms like the Lunar Gateway and lander vehicles. Once it reaches its orbit, BioSentinel’s CubeSat will measure the DNA damage response to ambient radiation in a model organism, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which will be compared to information provided by an onboard radiation sensor and to data obtained in LEO (on ISS) and on Earth. Once in interplanetary space, fluidic cards containing desiccated yeast will be activated by growth medium addition at different time points throughout the mission. Growth and metabolic activity will be tracked continuously via optical measurements. This paper describes BioSentinel’s objectives, science, data management, and preliminary results from the ISS and ISS ground control segments.

BioSentinel↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

BioSentinel: NASA’s First Deep Space Biological Mission

BioSentinel↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Developing Autonomous Technologies for Biological Missions to Deep Space

In upcoming biological missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), the use of autonomous instrumentation will allow scientists to perform a variety of experiments, including the characterization of the response to different space environments (Moon, Mars, interplanetary space) using biological models like microbes, plants, organoids, and tissue chips. BioSentinel is an ongoing deep space mission, currently at over 50 million kilometers from Earth and the first instrument developed to perform biological experiments beyond LEO. Even though the primary objective of this CubeSat mission was to investigate the effects of the deep space radiation environment on budding yeast, the spacecraft bus (i.e., all the subsystems that support the biological payload like power, thermal, data telemetry, navigation, etc.) can accommodate a variety of biological (and physical) experiments and model organisms. LEIA, an upcoming CLPS mission to the lunar surface, uses a microfluidic and optical instrument based on BioSentinel to study the effects of the lunar environment on different cellular processes and on bioproduction of antioxidants. A new series of science mission concepts are being proposed to be accommodated into platforms like BioSentinel. These missions will investigate the response of a variety of organisms to the deep space environment, including but not limited to single-cell eukaryotes, cyanobacteria, plants (including crops), organoids, and tissue chips. In addition to optical absorbance measurements like the ones performed in BioSentinel (and LEIA), we are investigating the use of fluorescence detection, microscopy, sequencing devices, etc. Thus, instruments like the ones proposed here can be adapted to a variety of platforms like free-flyers, deployable payloads, landers, rovers, and the lunar Gateway. These technologies can be used as steppingstones for establishing a sustained human presence on the Moon and in deep space while providing knowledge for the development of potential countermeasures.

Sergio R Santa Maria↗

NASA NTRS2000

Data Information for Global Change Studies: NASA's Distributed Active Archive Centers and Cooperating Data Centers

The Earth Observing System (EOS) is an integral part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Earth Science Enterprise (ESE). ESE is a long-term global change research program designed to improve our understanding of the Earth's interrelated processes involving the atmosphere, oceans, land surfaces, and polar regions. Data from EOS instruments and other Earth science measurement systems are useful in understanding the causes and processes of global climate change and the consequences of human activities. The EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS) provides a structure for data management and user services for products derived from EOS satellite instruments and other NASA Earth science data. Within the EOSDIS framework, the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) have been established to provide expertise in one or more Earth science disciplines. The DAACs and cooperating data centers provide data and information services to support the global change research community. Much of the development of the DAACs has been in anticipation of the enormous amount of data expected from EOS instruments to be launched within the next two decades. Terra, the EOS flagship launched in December 1999, is the first of a series of EOS satellites to carry several instruments with multispectral capabilities. Some data products from these instruments are now available from several of the DAACs. These and other data products can be ordered through the EOS Data Gateway (EDG) and DAAC-specific online ordering systems.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2012

NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) Presentation

The NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) offers integrated supercomputing, visualization, and data interaction technologies to enhance NASA's weather and climate prediction capabilities. It serves hundreds of users at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, as well as other NASA centers, laboratories, and universities across the US. Over the past year, NCCS has continued expanding its data-centric computing environment to meet the increasingly data-intensive challenges of climate science. We doubled our Discover supercomputer's peak performance to more than 800 teraflops by adding 7,680 Intel Xeon Sandy Bridge processor-cores and most recently 240 Intel Xeon Phi Many Integrated Core (MIG) co-processors. A supercomputing-class analysis system named Dali gives users rapid access to their data on Discover and high-performance software including the Ultra-scale Visualization Climate Data Analysis Tools (UV-CDAT), with interfaces from user desktops and a 17- by 6-foot visualization wall. NCCS also is exploring highly efficient climate data services and management with a new MapReduce/Hadoop cluster while augmenting its data distribution to the science community. Using NCCS resources, NASA completed its modeling contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCG) Fifth Assessment Report this summer as part of the ongoing Coupled Modellntercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Ensembles of simulations run on Discover reached back to the year 1000 to test model accuracy and projected climate change through the year 2300 based on four different scenarios of greenhouse gases, aerosols, and land use. The data resulting from several thousand IPCC/CMIP5 simulations, as well as a variety of other simulation, reanalysis, and observationdatasets, are available to scientists and decision makers through an enhanced NCCS Earth System Grid Federation Gateway. Worldwide downloads have totaled over 110 terabytes of data.

Webster, William P.↗

NASA NTRS2019

NASA’s Space Launch System: Enabling a New Generation of Lunar Exploration

SLS (Space Launch System) is designed to meet the nation’s goals for human exploration, and to be a game-changing launch vehicle for breakthrough science missions. Built to Explore: As you can see, we have a lot of hardware in progress. In fact, most of the EM-1 (Exploration Mission-1) vehicle is manufactured and a lot of it is complete and delivered to KSC (Kennedy Space Center), where it will be stacked and launched. But we’re not just working the first Block 1 vehicle for EM-1. In fact, I work payload integration and we’re actively working on four flights at the moment! So, let me tell you about what we’re doing to create a system for returning astronauts to the Moon and building the Gateway.

Smith, David Alan↗

NASA NTRS2020

NASA’s Human Landing System: The Strategy for the 2024 Mission and Future Sustainability

In response to the 2018 White House Space Policy Directive- sustainable lunar exploration, and to the Vice President’s March 2019 direction to do so by 2024, NASA is working to establish humanity's presence on and around the Moon by: 1) sending payloads to its surface, 2) assembling the Gateway outpost in orbit and 3) demonstrating the first human lunar landings since 1972. NASA’s Artemis program is implementing a multi-faceted and coordinated agency-wide approach with a focus on the lunar South Pole. The Artemis missions will demonstrate new technologies, capabilities and business approaches needed for future exploration, including Mars. Assessing options to accelerate development of required systems, NASA is utilizing public-private engagements through the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate’s NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcements. The design, development and demonstration of the Human Landing System (HLS) is expected to be led by commercial partners. Utilizing efforts across mission directorates, the Artemis effort will benefit from programs from the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). SMD’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative will procure commercial robotic lunar delivery services and the development of science instruments and technology demonstration payloads. The Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) portfolio of technology advancements relative to HLS include lunar lander components and technologies for pointing, navigation and tracking, fuel storage and transfer, autonomy and mobility, communications, propulsion and power. In addition to describing the objectives and requirements of the 2024 Artemis mission, this paper will present NASA’s approach to accessing the lunar surface with an affordable human-rated landing system, current status and the role o a sustainable lunar presence.

Chavers, Greg↗

NASA NTRS1995

ORBCOMM: Initial operations

ORBCOMM, a subsidiary of Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC), has designed a system to provide low-cost mobile two-way data communications for worldwide commercial markets. The primary application areas are data communications and messaging. The ORBCOMM System has been designed so a user can compose, transmit, and receive messages; control and monitor assets; and collect data on hand-held subscriber communicators (SC's). With a constellation of 36 LEO satellites and terrestrial facilities, users in the temperature climate zones around the world will have a satellite in view over 98% of the time, and will have to wait less than two minutes the rest of the time to directly access a satellite. A message transmitted from a SC and received by the satellite is relayed down to a regional gateway earth station (GES). The GES then transmits the message via fiber land-lines to the network control center (NCC). The NCC then determines the location of the recipient of the message and routes the message accordingly. The NCC can receive and transmit messages from terrestrial networks via X.400 and X.25 gateways. The NCC can translate messages from widely used e-mail systems such as Internet, cc:Mail, and Microsoft Mail into X.400 messages for transmission to and from ORBCOMM SC's.

Schoen, David↗