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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 1,765 records · Page 98
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Small Particulate Contamination Survey Of Genesis Flight Sample 61423

The Genesis mission collected solar wind and brought it back to Earth in order to provide precise knowledge of solar isotopic and elemental compositions. The ions in the solar wind stop in the collectors at depths on the order of 10 to a few hundred nanometers. This shallow implantation layer is critical for scientific analysis of the composition of the solar wind and must be preserved throughout sample handling, cleaning, processing, distribution, preparation and analysis. We continue to work with the community of scientists analyzing Genesis samples using our unique laboratory facilities -- and, where needed, our unique cleaning techniques -- to significantly enhance the science return from the Genesis mission. This work is motivated by the need to understand the submicron contamination on the collectors in the Genesis payload as recovered from the crash site in the Utah desert, and -- perhaps more importantly -- how to remove it. We continue to evaluate the effectiveness of the wet-chemical "cleaning" steps used by various investigators, to enable them to design improved methods of stripping spacecraft and terrestrial contamination from surfaces while still leaving the solar-wind signal intact.

Kuhlman, K. R.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Cellulose Acetate Replica Cleaning Study of Genesis Non-Flight Sample 3CZ00327

The Genesis mission collected solar wind and brought it back to Earth in order to provide precise knowledge of solar isotopic and elemental compositions. The ions in the solar wind were stopped in the collectors at depths on the order of 10 to a few hundred nanometers. This shallow implantation layer is critical for scientific analysis of the composition of the solar wind and must be preserved throughout sample handling, cleaning, processing, distribution, preparation and analysis. We are working interactively with the community of scientists analyzing Genesis samples, using our unique laboratory facilities -- and, where needed, our unique cleaning techniques -- to significantly enhance the science return from the Genesis mission. This work is motivated by the need to understand the submicron contamination on the collectors in the Genesis payload as recovered from the crash site in the Utah desert, and -- perhaps more importantly -- how to remove it. That is, we are evaluating the effectiveness of the wet-chemical "cleaning" steps used by various investigators, to enable them to design improved methods of stripping terrestrial contamination from surfaces while still leaving the solar-wind signal intact.

Kuhlman, K. R.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Designing to Sample the Unknown: Lessons from OSIRIS-REx Project Systems Engineering

On September 8, 2016, the third NASA New Frontiers mission launched on an Atlas V 411. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) will rendezvous with asteroid Bennu in 2018, collect a sample in 2020, and return that sample to Earth in September 2023. The development team has overcome a number of challenges in order to design and build a system that will make contact with an unexplored, airless, low-gravity body. This paper will provide an overview of the mission, then focus in on the system-level challenges and some of the key system-level processes. Some of the lessons here are unique to the type of mission, like discussion of operating at a largely-unknown, low-gravity object. Other lessons, particularly from the build phase, have broad implications. The OSIRIS-REx risk management process was particularly effective in achieving an on-time and under-budget development effort. The systematic requirements management and verification and the system validation also helped identify numerous potential problems. The final assessment of the OSIRIS-REx performance will need to wait until the sample is returned in 2023, but this post-launch assessment will capture some of the key systems-engineering lessons from the development team.

Asteroid↗
NASA NTRS2018

Probing the Composition of Primitive Solar System Materials with a Compact Laser Mass Spectrometer

To contribute to and complement our understanding of the processes governing the formation,distribution, and evolution of primitive materials throughout the solar system, it will be critical toform connections between broad remote sensing spectroscopic surveys, laboratorymeasurements of analogs and samples delivered to Earth, and in situ measurements of thesurface composition on future primitive body missions. Recently, a laboratory prototypeemploying resonance two-step laser mass spectrometry [Getty et al., 2012] has been coupledto a cryogenic sample stage to enable measurements of analog samples that are relevant tothese fundamental questions. Analyses of mineral-aromatic mixtures and meteorite powderswill be presented. Our goals are twofold: (1) to conduct laboratory studies on solar systemanalog, meteoritic, and potentially returned samples to elucidate composition, and (2) toprovide a compact but capable analytical instrument for discovery-driven in situ interrogationof surface chemistry on a future mission, such as to a Trojan asteroid, comet, or icy moon.

Getty, Stephanie A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Mineralogic and petrologic studies of meteorites and lunar samples

During a 13 year period beginning in 1971, the Extraterrestrial Petrology Group examined lunar soils from all 6 Apollo missions and those returned by the Soviet Luna 16, Luna 20, and Luna 24 missions. In addition, the properties and apparent origin of the carbonaceous chondrites were examined. Chondrules, calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (CAI) and the fine grained matrix materials that accompany chondrules and CAI's in primitive meteorites were investigated. The effects of planetary hydrothermal alteration of matrix materials in the C1 chondrite was also investigated. Full length papers and extended abstracts published during the grant are listed chronologically.

Wood, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

The ISECG* Global Exploration Roadmap as Context for Robotic and Human Exploration Operations

The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) provides a broad international context for understanding how robotic missions and robotic assets can enable future human exploration of multiple destinations. This presentation will provide a brief high-level review of the GER with a focus on key robotic missions and robotic assets that can provide enabling technology advancements and that also raise interesting operational challenges in both the near-term and long-term. The GER presently features a variety of robotic missions and robotic assets that can provide important technology advancements as well as operational challenges and improvements, in areas ranging from: (a) leveraging the International Space Station, (b) planetary science robotic missions to potential human destinations, (c) micro-g body proximity operations (e.g. asteroids), (d) autonomous operations, (e) high and low-latency telerobotics, (f) human assisted sample return, and (g) contamination control. This presentation will highlight operational and technology challenges in these areas that have feed forward implications for human exploration.

telerobotics↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Astrobiological Potential of Rocks Acquired By the Perseverance Rover in Jezero Crater, Mars

The scientific community has prioritized the return of Martian rock samples with known geologic context for more than a decade (Beatty et al., 2019). Thus, the main objectives of the Perseverance rover mission on Mars include identifying past habitable environments, collecting rocks that are likely to preserve biosignaturesand using the rover’s instruments to look for potential biosignatures in these rocks (Farley et al., 2020). Here, we present an overview of the bedrock samples collected bythe Perseverance rover in Jezero crater to date and discuss the potential of the sampled materials to address astrobiological questions upon sample return to Earth.

Mars 2020↗
NASA NTRS1981

Interplanetary navigation in the 1980's and 1990's

Interplanetary space missions for the 1980's and 1990's will require more accurate and more automated navigation than the missions of the 1970's have required. Spacecraft which have orbited Mars and Venus, landed on Mars, and flown past Jupiter and Saturn are giving way to spacecraft which may orbit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, fly past Pluto, fly by or rendezvous with comets and asteroids, return samples from Mars, and fly close to the sun. Starting with the Voyager navigation system as a baseline, anticipated navigation requirements and performance for some of these candidate future missions are discussed, along with navigation system designs and strategies. Various developments in navigation technology, required or desirable for these missions, are treated.

Wood, L. J.↗
NASA NTRS2011

MEPAG Recommendations for a 2018 Mars Sample Return Caching Lander - Sample Types, Number, and Sizes

The return to Earth of geological and atmospheric samples from the surface of Mars is among the highest priority objectives of planetary science. The MEPAG Mars Sample Return (MSR) End-to-End International Science Analysis Group (MEPAG E2E-iSAG) was chartered to propose scientific objectives and priorities for returned sample science, and to map out the implications of these priorities, including for the proposed joint ESA-NASA 2018 mission that would be tasked with the crucial job of collecting and caching the samples. The E2E-iSAG identified four overarching scientific aims that relate to understanding: (A) the potential for life and its pre-biotic context, (B) the geologic processes that have affected the martian surface, (C) planetary evolution of Mars and its atmosphere, (D) potential for future human exploration. The types of samples deemed most likely to achieve the science objectives are, in priority order: (1A). Subaqueous or hydrothermal sediments (1B). Hydrothermally altered rocks or low temperature fluid-altered rocks (equal priority) (2). Unaltered igneous rocks (3). Regolith, including airfall dust (4). Present-day atmosphere and samples of sedimentary-igneous rocks containing ancient trapped atmosphere Collection of geologically well-characterized sample suites would add considerable value to interpretations of all collected rocks. To achieve this, the total number of rock samples should be about 30-40. In order to evaluate the size of individual samples required to meet the science objectives, the E2E-iSAG reviewed the analytical methods that would likely be applied to the returned samples by preliminary examination teams, for planetary protection (i.e., life detection, biohazard assessment) and, after distribution, by individual investigators. It was concluded that sample size should be sufficient to perform all high-priority analyses in triplicate. In keeping with long-established curatorial practice of extraterrestrial material, at least 40% by mass of each sample should be preserved to support future scientific investigations. Samples of 15-16 grams are considered optimal. The total mass of returned rocks, soils, blanks and standards should be approximately 500 grams. Atmospheric gas samples should be the equivalent of 50 cubic cm at 20 times Mars ambient atmospheric pressure.

Allen, Carlton C.↗
DOE OSTI2020

OrganiCam: First Camera for Noncontact Biodetection in Space

Los Alamos National Laboratory designed a compact laser-induced fluorescence imaging camera with Raman spectrometer to identify organic molecules and biosignatures in environments such as Martian caves, icy-moons, and asteroid surfaces. OrganiCam is the primary instrument on the Laser-Induced Fluorescence Exploration of Caves for Organics and Volatiles using an Elevated Platform (LIFE COVE) NASA mission concept. OrganiCam could also determine if instruments being sent into space for NASA are sterile and analyze samples returned to Earth. OrganiCam’s robust design for extreme environments, portability, simple operation, and low power requirement build on LANL’s 50+ years designing robotic instruments for space applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1979

Voyager 1: Encounter with Jupiter

An overview of the Voyager is presented along with samples of the nearly 19,000 photographs returned by Voyager 1 spacecraft at the midpoint of its 38-month mission to Jupiter and Saturn. Particular emphasis is given to color photographs of the Great Red Spot, and the surface features of the Gallilean satellites.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1999

Autonomous Rock Tracking and Acquisition from a Mars Rover

Future Mars exploration missions will perform two types of experiments: science instrument placement for close-up measurement, and sample acquisition for return to Earth. In this paper we describe algorithms we developed for these tasks, and demonstrate them in field experiments using a self-contained Mars Rover prototype, the Rocky 7 rover. Our algorithms perform visual servoing on an elevation map instead of image features, because the latter are subject to abrupt scale changes during the approach. 'This allows us to compensate for the poor odometry that results from motion on loose terrain. We demonstrate the successful grasp of a 5 cm long rock over 1m away using 103-degree field-of-view stereo cameras, and placement of a flexible mast on a rock outcropping over 5m away using 43 degree FOV stereo cameras.

Maimone, Mark W.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Mars Surveyor Project Landing Site Activities

The Mars Surveyor Program --now a cooperative program led by NASA and CNES along with other international partners -- is underway. It has the primary science objective of furthering our understanding of the biological potential and possible biological history of Mars and has the complementary objective of improving our understanding of martian climate evolution and planetary history The missions will develop technology and acquire data necessary for eventual human Exploration. Launches of orbiters, landers and rovers will take place in 2001 and in 2003; in 2005 a complete system will be launched capable of returning samples to Earth by 2008. A key aspect of the program is the selection of landing sites. This abstract 1) reports on the status of the landing site selection process that begins with the 2001 lander mission and 2) outlines be opportunities for the Mars community to provide input into the landing site selection process.

Gulick, Virginia C.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Mars Surveyor Project Landing Site Activities

The Mars Surveyor Program -- now a cooperative program led by NASA and CNES along with other international partners -- is underway. It has the primary science objective of furthering our understanding of the biological potential and possible biological history of Mars and has the complementary objective of improving our understanding of martian climate evolution and planetary history. The missions will develop technology and acquire data necessary for eventual human exploration. Launches of orbiters, landers and rovers will take place in 2001 and in 2003; in 2005 a complete system will be launched capable of returning samples to Earth by 2008. A key aspect of the program is the selection of landing sites. This abstract 1) reports on the status of the landing site selection process that begins with the 2001 lander mission and 2) outlines the opportunities for the Mars community to provide input into the landing site selection process.

Gulick, V. C.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Ultrasonic/Sonic Driller/Corer (USDC) as a sampler for future planetary exploration missions

Future NASA exploration missions to Mars, Europa, Titan, comets and asteroids are seeking to perform sampling, in-situ analysis and possibly return of material to Earth for further tests. One of the major limitations of sampling in low gravity environments is the conventional sampling in low gravity environments is the conventional drills need for high axial force. An ultrasonic/sonic driller/corer (USDC) mechanism was developed to address these and other limitations of existing drilling techniques.

Piezoelectrics actuators drill ultrasonic drill↗
NASA NTRS2019

Thermal design of the sample handling assembly in the sampling and caching subsystem on the Mars 2020 rover

The Mars 2020 Rover is scheduled to land on Mars on February 18, 2021. One of the primary mission objectives for the Mars 2020 Rover is to collect a set of Martian regolith samples for potential future return to Earth. Regolith and rock samples will be collected and placed into sample tubes using a coring drill, located at the end of a large Robotic Arm, on the outside of the rover. Filled sample tubes will be transferred from the outside of the Rover into the Adaptive Caching Assembly (ACA), located inside the Rover chassis, via the Bit Carousel. Once the filled sample tube is brought into the ACA, the Sample Handling Assembly (SHA) will transfer it to all of the internal processing stations of the ACA for volume assessment, sealing and finally drop-off on the Martian surface. The ACA is a volume within the rover chassis that is not temperature-controlled. Actuators inside the SHA and its End Effector (EE) must be warmed to above -55°C and -25°C, respectively, prior to use. This paper discusses the thermal design of the SHA that uses heaters and temperature sensors to warm up and maintain the temperature-sensitive arm components within temperature limits during operation. Thermal performance predictions for Mars surface operations are also presented.

Lee, Chern-Jiin↗