IWS Directors Report: Science Enables Exploration Exploration Enables Science
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David Baumann↗
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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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Measurements and Analyses to Enable Science for the Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE)
Coastal cities provide the opportunity to characterize the substantial effects of manmade particles on marine cloud properties and processes. La Jolla lies to the north of San Diego, California, but it is often about a day directly downwind of the major pollution sources located in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The large dynamic range of aerosol particle concentrations combined with the multi-hour to multi-day persistence of stratocumulus cloud layers makes the site ideal for investigating the seasonal changes in cloud and aerosol properties as well as the quantitative relationships between cloud and aerosol properties. The Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE) characterized the extent, radiative properties, aerosol interactions, and precipitation characteristics of stratocumulus clouds in the Eastern Pacific across all four seasons at two coastal sites in La Jolla. This project was designed to enhance and expand the scientific uses of the ARM AMF1 measurements from EPCAPE. The goal was to ensure meaningful observations were collected that would enable science. The project included the following objectives: (1) Reviewing the ARM AMF1 measurements [ARM, 2021a; b] and circulating a summary of the measurements each week, (2) Comparing AMF1 measurements to those provided by collaborators (including filter measurements at the pier), (3) Collecting and analyzing filter samples from Scripps Pier by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), (4) Assisting in operations of instruments provided by Guest PIs when possible, and (5) Providing an initial compilation of EPCAPE aerosol and cloud seasonal differences. The expected outcomes of these objectives were enhanced proposals and publications using EPCAPE measurements by helping to identify instrument issues, expanded data access and awareness by distributing weekly plots and related summaries, improved source-related attribution of aerosols with elemental tracers, additional observations provided by Guest PIs, and accelerated ACI studies enabled by the compiled seasonal summaries of aerosol and cloud properties. Three examples of the science enabled by this project are findings that (i) aerosol and cloud aqueous production contributes more than half of sulfate particle mass concentration, (ii) upwind sources make chemical composition very similar at nearby sites despite local differences in meteorology, and (iii) most of the large mass concentration of semi-volatile organic components is co-emitted and co-evaporated with nitrate. Together these findings illustrate how ARM extended field campaigns in coastal regions can be used to constrain ACI processes with direct observations. By using the unique ARM suite of cloud radiative products in addition to the measured aerosol properties at a coastal location, we were able to address the more specific question of which aerosol particles cause how much of the effects on clouds. Identifying this signature in coastal areas provides an opportunity to test the representation of aerosol sources by global models in a range of clean and urban-influenced conditions.
Russell, Lynn [Univ. of California, San Diego, CA ↗
Science Enabling ASICs and FEEs for the JUICE and JEO Missions
A family of science enabling radiation hard Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Front End Electronics (FEEs) and Event Processing Systems, with flight heritage on many NASA missions, is presented. These technologies play an important role in the miniaturization of instruments -and spacecraft systems- at the same time increasing performance and reducing power. The technologies target time of flight, position sensing, and energy measurements as well as standard housekeeping and telemetry functions for particle and fields instruments, but find applications in other instrument categories too. More specifically the technologies include: the TOF chip, 1D and 2D Delay Lines with MCP detectors, for high precision fast and low power time of flight and position sensing; the Energy chip for multichannel SSD readout with time over threshold and standard voltage read out for TDC and ADC digitization; Fast multi channel read out chip with commandable thresholds; the TRIO chip for multiplexed ADC and housekeeping etc. It should be mentioned that the ASICs include basic trigger capabilities to enable random event processing in a heavy background of penetrators and UV foreground. Typical instruments include time of flight versus energy and look angle particle analyzers such as: plasma composition, energetic particle, neutral atom imaging as well as fast plasma and deltaE/E ion/electron telescopes. Flight missions include: Cassini/LEMMS, IMAGE/HENA, MESSENGER/EPPS/MLA/X-ray/MLA, STEREO, PLUTO-NH/PEPSSI/LORI, IBEX-Lo, JUNO/JEDI, RBSP/RBSPICE, MMS/HPCA/EPD, SO/SIS. Given the proven capability on heavy radiation missions such as JUNO, MMS and RBSB, as well diverse long duration missions such as MESSENGER, PLUTO and Cassini, it is expected that these technologies will play an important role in the particle and fields (at least) instruments on the upcoming JUICE and JEO missions.
Paschalidis, Nicholas↗
Planetary Remote Sensing Science Enabled by MIDAS (Multiple Instrument Distributed Aperture Sensor)
The science capabilities and features of an innovative and revolutionary approach to remote sensing imaging systems, aimed at increasing the return on future space science missions many fold, are described. Our concept, called Multiple Instrument Distributed Aperture Sensor (MIDAS), provides a large-aperture, wide-field, diffraction-limited telescope at a fraction of the cost, mass and volume of conventional telescopes, by integrating optical interferometry technologies into a mature multiple aperture array concept that addresses one of the highest needs for advancing future planetary science remote sensing.
Pitman, Joe↗
Science Enabling Roles and Services of SPDF
The current Heliophysics Science Data Management Policy defines the roles of the Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) project as a heliophysics active Final Archive, a focus for critical data infrastructure services and a center of excellence for data and ancillary information services. This presentation will highlight some of our current activities and our understanding of why and how our services are useful to researchers, as well as SPDF's programmatic emphasis in the coming year. We will discuss how. in cooperation with the Heliophysics Virtual discipline Observatories (VxOs), we are working closely with the RBSP and MMS mission teams to support their decisions to use CDF as a primary format for their public data products, to leverage the ongoing data flows and capabilities of CDAWeb (directly and through external clients such as Autoplot) to serve their data in a multi-mission context and to use SSCWeb to assist community science planning and analysis. Among other current activities, we will also discuss and demonstrate our continuing effort to make the Virtual Space Physics Observatory (VSPO) service comprehensive in all significant and NASA relevant heliophysics data. The OMNI and OMNI High Resolution datasets remain current and heavily cited in publications. We are expanding our FTP file services to include online archived non-CDF data from all active missions, which is a re-hosting of this function from NSSDC's FTP site. We have extended the definitions of time in CDF to unambiguously and consistently handle leap seconds. We are improving SSCWeb for much faster per1ormance, more capabilities and a web services inter1ace to Query functionality. We will also review how CDAWeb data can be easily accessed within IDL and new features in CDAWeb.
McGuire, Robert E.↗
Heliophysics Science Enabled By the Return to the Moon
The lunar plasma and radiation environment and those physical processes that drive and control it, are intrinsically part of the science domain of the Heliophysics Division. Since the inception of the space program with Explorer 1 in 1958 and continuing to the present, scientists in the Heliophysics community have concentrated on characterizing and understanding the connected Sun-Earth system including the regions the Moon traverses and the interaction of plasmas and radiation with large and small bodies. This has been accomplished with in situ and remote sensing instrumentation and physics- and numerically-based models that provide understanding of the dominant mechanisms that define the environment in which the Moon is immersed. Therefore, the Heliospheric science community is uniquely and in many cases exclusively qualified to address interesting and compelling science problems that are enabled by the return to the Moon. This talk will provide an overview of representative, high-priority science investigations that are made possible by the return to the lunar surface. The content of this presentation is a result of an ongoing effort to inventory and articulate compelling science topics and how they are enabled by the return to the Moon.
Spann, James F.↗
The Science Enabled by a Dedicated Solar System Space Telescope
The National Academy Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science (CAPS) made a recommendation to study a large/medium-class dedicated space telescope for planetary science, going beyond the Discovery-class dedicated planetary space telescope endorsed in Visions and Voyages. Such a telescope would observe targets across the entire solar system, engaging a broad spectrum of the science community. It would ensure that the high-resolution, high-sensitivity observations of the solar system in visible and UV wavelengths revolutionized by the Hubble Space Telescope could be extended. A dedicated telescope for solar system science would a) transform our understanding of time-dependent phenomena in our solar system that cannot be studied currently under programs to observe and visit new targets and b) enable a comprehensive survey and spectral characterization of minor bodies across the solar system, which requires a large time allocation not supported by existing facilities. The time-domain phenomena to be explored are critically reliant on UV observations and include: interaction of planetary magnetospheres with the solar wind and internal plasma sources, Venus and giant planet atmospheric dynamics, icy satellite geologic activity and surface evolution, cometary evolution, and evolving ring phenomena. This paper presents science themes and key questions that require a long-lasting space telescope dedicated to planetary science that can capture high-quality, consistent data at the required cadences that are free from the complicating effects of the terrestrial atmosphere and differences across observing facilities. Such a telescope would have excellent synergy with astrophysical facilities by placing planetary discoveries made by astrophysics assets in temporal context, as well as triggering detailed follow-up observations using larger telescopes. The telescope would also support future missions to the Ice Giants, Ocean Worlds, and minor bodies across the solar system by placing the results of such targeted missions in the context of longer records of temporal activities and larger sample populations.
C. L. Young↗
Building Upon the ISS and HST Experience. Science Enabled by Returning Humans to the Moon: An Architectural Overview
This viewgraph presentation discusses the science that can be accomplished by returning humans to space, and to the moon. With modest modifications to the planned future Constellation vehicle (i.e., the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle), astronomers, and other scientist can anticipate major scientific accomplishments that would not otherwise be possible. Much of this can be attributed to the experience gained from the International Space Station Construction and the Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions.
Thronson, Harley A.↗
Potential Science Enabled By A Long-Duration Venus Lander
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space Science↗
Science Enabled by the Ares V: A Large Monolithic Telescope Placed at the Second Sun-Earth Lagrange Point
The payload mass and volume capabilities of the planned Ares V launch vehicle provide the science community with unprecedented opportunities to place large science payloads into low earth orbit and beyond. One example, the outcome of a recent study conducted at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, is a large, monolithic telescope with a primary mirror diameter of 6.2 meters placed into a halo orbit about the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2, approximately 1.5 million kin beyond Earth's orbit. Operating in the visible and ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, such a large telescope would allow astronomers to detect bio-signatures and characterize the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets, provide high resolution imaging three or more times better than the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, and observe the ultraviolet light from warm baryonic matter.
Hopkins, Randall C.↗
Design Reference Mission Development for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Enabled Science Missions
Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) presents a distinct alternative in the advanced propulsion landscape, providing “medium” efficiencies relative to the “high” efficiency of electric propulsion and the “low” efficiency of chemical propulsion. In exchange for this medium efficiency, NTP provides high acceleration, enabling much shorter operating times than the higher efficiency alternatives, often resulting in shorter trip times. This compromise has led to NTP’s frequent consideration in human missions, where crew health and logistics benefit significantly from the schedule advantages provided by NTP. However, the logistics and timeliness of science return from science missions also potentially stand to benefit from reduced schedules, as many of the high energy missions exceed a decade in trip time. Presented here are the results of analysis looking at three missions: A mission to Neptune’s moon, Triton, a solar polar orbiter, and a mission to interstellar space. Comparisons to results found in literature for conventional, and future propulsion technologies are presented.
Stephen Edwards↗
Data Science Enabled Enabled Discovery of Superconductors (Final Progress Report)
This Final Technical Report describes efforts by 4 PIs at the University of Florida (Peter Hirschfeld, Richard Hennig, Greg Stewart and James Hamlin), over the period September 2019-August 2023, to use data science and machine learning techniques to discover new conventional superconductors. The PIs constructed a discovery loop with two theorists and two experimentalists to: develop algorithms to machine learn descriptors correlating strongly with the critical temperature Tc (PI's Peter Hirschfeld, UF Physics and Richard Hennig, UF Materials Science and En), synthesize and measure properties of promising materials, and feed back the knowledge gained into the prediction algorithm. This work was motivated by the theoretical prediction and experimental discovery of high-pressure, high-pressure hydride superconductors, and to find ways to recreate the high critical temperatures in these systems at ambient pressure. Highlights from the grant include: 1) a new equation for Tc in terms of moments of the electron-phonon spectral function, improving on the so-called Allen-Dynes equation (1975); 2) study of the metastable A15 superconductor Nb3Si, formed under explosive compression at ~1000GPa to determine the kinetic barrier to the ground state structure; 3) the development of ultra-fast machine-learned atomic potentials for molecular dynamics, and 4) the discovery of superconductivity at 19K in WB2 arising from metastable defect structures in the crystal.
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
Terrestrial Analog Field Investigations to Enable Science and Exploration Studies of Impacts and Volcanism on the Moon, NEAs, and Moons of Mars
Terrestrial analog studies are a critical component for furthering our understanding of geologic processes on the Moon, near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), and the moons of Mars. Carefully chosen analog sites provide a unique natural laboratory with high relevance to the associated science on these solar system target bodies. Volcanism and impact cratering are fundamental processes on the Moon, NEAs, and Phobos and Deimos. The terrestrial volcanic and impact records remain invaluable for our understanding of these processes throughout our solar system, since these are our primary source of firsthand knowledge on volcanic landform formation and modification as well as the three-dimensional structural and lithological character of impact craters. Regarding impact cratering, terrestrial fieldwork can help us to understand the origin and emplacement of impactites, the history of impact bombardment in the inner Solar System, the formation of complex impact craters, and the effects of shock on planetary materials. Volcanism is another dominant geologic process that has significantly shaped the surface of planetary bodies and many asteroids. Through terrestrial field investigations we can study the processes, geomorphic features and rock types related to fissure eruptions, volcanic constructs, lava tubes, flows and pyroclastic deposits. Also, terrestrial analog studies have the advantage of enabling simultaneous robotic and/or human exploration testing in a low cost, low risk, high fidelity environment to test technologies and concepts of operations for future missions to the target bodies. Of particular interest is the importance and role of robotic precursor missions prior to human operations for which there is little to no actual mission experience to draw upon. Also critical to understanding new worlds is sample return, and analog studies enable us to develop the appropriate procedures for collecting samples in a manner that will best achieve the science objectives.
complex impact craters↗
Science Enabling Exploration: Using LRO to Prepare for Future Missions
Discoveries from LRO have transformed our understanding of the Moon, but LRO's instruments were originally designed to collect the measurements required to enable future lunar surface exploration. A high lunar exploration priority is the collection of new samples and their return to Earth for comprehensive analysis. The importance of sample return from South Pole-Aitken is well-established [Jolliff et al., this conference], but there are numerous other locations where sample return will yield important advances in planetary science. Using new LRO data, we have defined an achievability envelope based on the physical characteristics of successful lunar landing sites. Those results were then used to define 1km x 1km regions of interest where sample return could be executed, including: the basalt flows in Oceanus Procellarum (22.1N, 53.9W), the Gruithuisen Domes (36.1N, 39.7W), the Dewar cryptomare (2.2S, 166.8E), the Aristarchus pyroclastic deposit (24.8N, 48.5W), the Sulpicius Gallus formation (19.9N, 10.3E), the Sinus Aestuum pyroclastic deposit (5.2N, 9.2W), the Compton-Belkovich volcanic complex (61.5N, 99.9E), the Ina Irregular Mare Patch (18.7N, 5.3E), and the Marius Hills volcanic complex (13.4N, 55.9W). All of these locations represent safe landing sites where sample returns are needed to advance our understanding of the evolution of the lunar interior and the timescales of lunar volcanism. If LRO is still active when any future mission reaches the surface, LRO's capability to rapidly place surface activities into broader geologic context will provide operational advantages. LRO remains a unique strategic asset that continues to address the needs of future missions.
Lawrence, S. J.↗
Water Cycle Science Enabled By the GRACE and GRACE-FO Satellite Missions
Satellite observations of the time-variable gravity field revolutionized the monitoring of large-scale water storage changes, beginning with the 2002 launch of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission. Most hydrologists were sceptical of the satellite gravimetry approach at first, but validation studies assuaged their concerns and high-profile, GRACE-based groundwater depletion studies caused an explosion of interest. The importance of GRACE observations for hydrologic and cryospheric science became so great that GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) jumped the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Earth science mission queue and launched in 2018. A third mass change mission is currently under development. Here, we review key milestones in satellite gravimetry’s progression from the fringes of hydrology to being a staple of large-scale water cycle and water resources studies and the sole source of observations of what is now an ‘essential climate variable’, terrestrial water storage.
climate change↗
Science and Science-Enabling Activities of the SHERLOC and WATSON Imaging Systems in Jezero Crater, Mars
During its first year of operation, the Perseverance rover explored the cratered and fractured floor of Jezero crater on Mars. Here, we report the use of the Scanning Habitability Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) imaging system that includes two high-resolution cameras, the Autofocus and Contextual Imager (ACI) and Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON). ACI is a fixed focus gray scale imager with a resolution of 10.1 μm/pixel whereas WATSON is a variable field of view, variable focus imager capable of resolution down to 14 μm/pixel. WATSON is a reflight of the MArs Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) imager and has similar capabilities. During first-time activities, WATSON was used to support both science and engineering operations related to sample and abrasion patch assessment and sample collection and caching. WATSON also documented the deployment of the Ingenuity helicopter. The Crater Floor Campaign identified two primary rock units, the Máaz formation and the Séítah formation, which have been interpreted as lava flows and an olivine cumulate, respectively. Interpretation of rock textures with WATSON and ACI images was limited to abraded surfaces because unmodified outcrop surfaces (herein termed “natural surfaces”) show high degrees of dust covering, wind abrasion, and coating by secondary mineral products. WATSON and ACI images support the hypothesis that the material of both the Máaz and Séítah formations consists of largely aqueously altered mafic materials with varying igneous origins.
WATSON↗