By Lori Keesey
NASA

It currently takes 90 minutes to transmit high-resolution images from Mars, but NASA would like to dramatically reduce that time to just minutes. A new optical communications system that NASA plans to demonstrate in 2016 will lead the way and even allow the streaming of high-definition video from distances beyond the Moon.

This dramatically enhanced transmission speed will be demonstrated by the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), one of three projects selected by NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) for a trial run. To be developed by a team led by engineers at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., LCRD is expected to fly as a hosted payload on a commercial communications satellite developed by Space Systems/Loral, of Palo Alto, Calif.

“We want to take NASA’s communications capabilities to the next level,” said LCRD Principal Investigator Dave Israel, who is leading a multi-organizational team that includes NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. and Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. Although NASA has developed higher data-rate radio frequency systems, data-compression, and other techniques to boost the amount of data that its current systems can handle, the Agency’s capabilities will not keep pace with the projected data needs of advanced instruments and future human exploration, Israel added.

“Just as the home Internet user hit the wall with dial-up, NASA is approaching the limit of what its existing communications network can handle,” he said.

The solution is to augment NASA’s legacy radio-based network, which includes a fleet of tracking and data relay satellites and a network of ground stations, with optical systems, which could increase data rates by anywhere from 10 to 100 times. “This transition will take several years to complete, but the eventual payback will be very large increases in the amount of data we can transmit, both downlink and uplink, especially to distant destinations in the solar system and beyond,” said James Reuther, director of OCT’s Crosscutting Technology Demonstrations Division.

First Step

The LCRD is the next step in that direction, Israel said, likening the emerging capability to land-based fiber-optic systems, such as Verizon’s FiOS network. “In a sense, we’re moving FiOS to space.”

To demonstrate the new capability, the Goddard team will encode digital data and transmit the information via laser light from specially equipped ground stations to an experimental payload hosted on the commercial communications satellite.

The payload will include telescopes, lasers, mirrors, detectors, a pointing and tracking system, control electronics, and two different types of modems. One modem is ideal for communicating with deep space missions or tiny, low-power smallsats operating in low-Earth orbit. The other can handle much higher data rates, particularly from Earth-orbiting spacecraft, including the International Space Station. “With the higher-speed modem type, future systems could support data rates of tens of gigabits per second,” Israel said.

Once the payload receives the data, it would then relay it back to ground stations now scheduled to operate in Hawaii and Southern California.

The multiple ground stations are important to demonstrating a fully operational system, Israel said. Cloud cover and turbulent atmospheric conditions impede laser communications, requiring a clear line of sight between the transmitter and receiver. If bad weather prevents a signal from being sent or received at one location, the network could hand over the responsibility to one of the other ground stations or store it for later retransmission.

The demonstration is expected to run two to three years.

Follow-On to LADEE Experiment

The project isn’t NASA’s first foray into laser communications. Goddard engineers are now developing a laser communications payload for NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), which the Agency plans to launch in 2013 to characterize the Moon’s wisp-thin atmosphere and dust environment. The main goal of the LADEE experiment is proving fundamental concepts of laser-based communications and transferring up to 622 megabits per second, which is about five times the current state-of-the-art from lunar distances.

However, the LADEE payload, called the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD), is equipped with only one modem, the lower-speed model best suited for deep space communications. In addition, LADEE is a short-duration mission. LLCD is expected to operate for only 16 days of the LADEE mission, not enough time to demonstrate a fully operational laser-communications network, Israel said.

“What we’re trying to do is get ahead of the curve,” Israel said. “We want to get to the point where communications is no longer a constraint on scientists who want to gather more data, but are worried about getting their data back from space.”

The Bruno rover in the Mars yard. (Credit: Astrium)

UKSA PR — Earlier this month the latest Mars rover prototype developed by UK engineers demonstrated its autonomous navigation capability in a specially constructed mock-up of a Martian landscape – a ‘Mars yard’ – at Astrium’s Stevenage site.

With work on the robot’s Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) system now finalised, this was the first public test of a technology that truly puts this rover – nicknamed Bruno – in a class of its own. This new class of rover will be able to decide on its own course across the Red Planet’s uneven, boulder-strewn and gully-pitted surface, identifying hazards such as rocks, slopes and drops, and plotting out the most appropriate route to a given destination. The human controllers simply provide the coordinates of a target location; the rover works out how best to get there, and trundles off.

Less waiting about means that Bruno will be able to spend more time usefully getting on with his mission – exploring our neighbouring planet for signs of past or even present life.

In the Mars yard tests, Bruno proved that he could recognise an insurmountable obstacle blocking the direct route to the target location (in this case a large pile of rocks), devised and followed a path to circumnavigate it step by step, and arrived successfully at his appointed destination.

He also showed that he can make real-time locomotion adjustments to correct for disturbances as he goes – steering himself to the right, for example, to compensate for being slightly deflected to the left while traversing a large rock. This constitutes a significant advance over his robotic predecessors, which could not make on-the-move path corrections like this.

The rover prototype has been developed under the European Space Agency’s ExoMars programme, a collaborative undertaking with NASA for Mars exploration. The original mission envisaged two rovers, one European and one American, travelling together and descending to the same spot on the surface of the Red Planet. Lately, however, budget restrictions and programme revisions have led to a new focus on sending a single rover to investigate our neighbouring planet, with a launch slated for 2018.

Through the UK Space Agency, the UK is the second largest subscriber to the ExoMars programme. Astrium UK is leading the build of the rover and there is considerable UK involvement from a number of academic institutions, with the on-board instruments and software, and the rover’s autonomous operations.

ExoMars Background Information

ExoMars is part of the European Space Agency’s Aurora programme and lays the foundations for future human exploration of the Solar System.

Its aim is to examine the geological environment on Mars and search for evidence of environments that may have once, and perhaps could still, support life. It will also assist in preparing for other robotic missions, including a Mars Sample Return mission, and possible future human exploration. Data from the mission will also provide invaluable input for broader studies of martian geochemistry, environmental science and exobiology – the search for evidence of life on other planets.

It is planned that ExoMars, now likely to be part of a joint ESA-NASA mission in 2018, will be one half of this two-rover mission that will traverse the surface of Mars. As the first European rover to do so it will carry a unique drill that can burrow up to two metres into the martian surface allowing the rover’s scientific instruments to analyse and sample the soil, determine its mineral content and composition, and search for evidence of whether past environments could once have harboured life.

The UK is the second largest contributor to the ExoMars mission. At the ESA ministerial meeting in November 2008, the UK confirmed extra funding to bring its contribution to €165 million. This will contribute both to the 2018 rover mission and a likely preceding orbiter mission in 2016. The UK also confirmed funding of €6.5 million to the Mars Robotic Exploration Preparation Programme component. As a result of its support, the UK is involved in many aspects of the 2018 mission and is responsible for building the rover.

Mission facts

• The rover’s payload will be devoted to geology, geochemistry and exobiology. It will search Mars’ surface for evidence of environments that may once have supported life, and may even still do so today.
• The 2016 mission will concentrate on orbital science observations, particularly those of the methane in Mars’ atmosphere, first detected by ESA’s Mars Express mission in 2003. The 2016 mission may also include a lander, though this is yet to be confirmed, which will demonstrate European entry, descent and landing technologies and carry out some simple science observations.
• Mission control will be at the European Space Agency Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.
• ExoMars will influence whether Europe contributes to the future Mars Sample Return mission.

Technology

The rover will roam around the Martian surface by using electrical power generated from its solar arrays.

The rover’s software will have a degree of ‘intelligence’ and autonomy to make certain decisions on the ground and will navigate using optical sensors.

PanCam (the UK-led panoramic camera system on the rover) will provide imagery of Mars’ surface that will allow reconstruction by 3-D digital terrain mapping. It will also provide context for drill sampling and rover instrumentation.

Our brave marsonauts may face the most monotonous phase of their mission, but they’re not bored because they are not boring! Have a look at their inventive cookery to celebrate their one full year in the isolation!

In early June the Mars500 crew celebrated their one full year inside the modules simulating an interplanetary spaceship. They are now flying virtually back to Earth and due to a delay in communications, introduced to make the simulation more real, some material reaches the outside world slowly. As they get nearer to Earth the communications delayed is reduced.

By September the ship will only be be only two months away from the Earth.

Franklin Chang-Diaz’s VASIMR engine? No, that test is still a couple of years off.

The propulsion system is called NOFBX. It’s a green fuel system developed by a little-known Mojave-based R&D company called Firestar Technologies. And it could well be one of those “game changing” technologies that NASA officials believe will make space travel a lot more affordable.

So what is NOFBX? It is a high-performance nitrous oxide/fuel/emulsifer blended mono-propellant that is non-toxic, low cost and easy to produce, says Greg Mungas, its developer and CEO of Firestar Technologies. The fuel has a number of key applications, including on space stations, commercial crew vehicles, sample return missions, and human expeditions to the moon and Mars.

The goal is to replace toxic hypergolic propellants that are now used on spacecraft. NOFBX can be made from chemicals that are widely available, and it can be transported and handled without excessive precautions. And that makes everything easier, safer and cheaper. For example, when the Air Force’s X-37 reusable space plane landed in California last year, it was surrounded by a group of technicians dressed in safety suits because of toxic fumes. NOFBX also reduces liability. It takes almost a metric ton of fuel to get a spacecraft back on the ground. Carrying that much fuel, which resembles Agent Orange, over a populated area is a large liability for companies.

“It’s a technology that helps reduce cost. Companies that have big cost models and understand what that impact is, they come in and they appreciate it immediately,” Mungas said.

Developers of reusuable spacecraft are eyeing clean fuels for their vehicles. Mungas said that it is possible that Firestar will supply NOFBX for future Dragon flights to the International Space Station.

“We have an ongoing discussion, and we are folding in requirements and needs from SpaceX to make sure that we can support upgrading their systems to a non-toxic system in the future,” Mungas said.

The toxicity of current fuels causes problems for space station astronauts. Every time a thruster is fired on the station, there is not enough pressure in the chamber to cause combustion. As a result, a cloud of thin film gets emitted that floats around the station and eventually sticks to it, Mungas explained. ISS has now accumulation of thin gel of hydrazine based sulfur that spacewalking astronauts are beginning to bring it back in. That problem will only become larger as the space station grows older, he added.

In the ISS test, a NOFBX engine will fly on a pallet aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft or Japanese HTV freighter. After the Canadian arm will attach it to the truss of the space station, engineers will put the engine through a series of critical thrust modes, including station reboost, rendezvous and docking, and deorbit burns.

There is an 18-month window between contract signing and the flight, which is a fairly turnaround time. Before anything goes to ISS, it must be approved by the Safety Review Panel, a rigorous process that Mungas calls the “gold standard certification for flight.” Once the panel approves the technology, getting it on unmanned ships will be easy, he added.

In addition to the space station, another really useful application is in planetary exploration. Non-toxic fuels will not contaminate a landing site on Mars where a robot will collect samples for return to Earth. Astronauts at a lunar base will not have to worry about contaminating their habitats with toxins that have been deposited by repeated landings at the same site.

Planetary exploration is really where Firestar got its start in non-toxic propellants. The company was founded in 2002, and it got involved in some initial Mars sample return studies. Two years later, Firestar got a big contract from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory develop a non-toxic fuel. That project lasted until 2007.

Firestar soon got pulled into exploring the use of NOFBX in supporting NASA’s Constellation program, which aimed at sending humans back to the moon. The company received a 2008 subcontract to support work on the Altair lunar lander. At the time, NASA was looking at sending astronauts down on the moon at the same location on a repeated basis, requiring clean propellants.

Firestar is now working on a NASA contract to research, develop, and test a compact, restartable Single-Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) ascent engine for NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) vehicle. The SSTO would take off from the surface and rendezvous with an orbital spacecraft that would return samples to Earth.

A Mars single-stage-to-orbit sample return vehicle.

Overall, it is a very busy time for Firestar, an R&D company that does about 80 percent of its work in the propulsion field.  The main goal is to generate intellectual property, and it has spun off several companies to work in specific areas.  The 2012 ISS test, for example, is actually being done by a team led by one of Firestar’s spinoffs, Innovative Space Propulsion Systems (ISPS). The Houston-based manufacturing company is a partnership of: Odyssey Space Research; Firestar Technologies, LLC; Ventions, LLC; Micro Cooling Concepts (MC2); mv2Space; and Lightning Aircraft Corporation.

Firestar also has been hard at work on another project: a spinoff from a military project that has applications much closer to home. But, that’s another story that I will write about tomorrow.

]]> http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/08/09/a-non-toxic-fuel-from-the-mojave-desert/feed/ 4 http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/08/08/astrobotic-wins-nasa-award-to-study-lunar-and-martian-lava-tubes-caves/ http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/08/08/astrobotic-wins-nasa-award-to-study-lunar-and-martian-lava-tubes-caves/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:36:31 +0000 Doug Messier http://www.parabolicarc.com/?p=28143 PITTSBURGH, PA – Astrobotic PR – NASA today selected Astrobotic Technology Inc. to research breakthroughs in methods to explore lava tubes, caves and recently discovered “skylights” leading down into these features on the Moon and Mars.

Lava tubes and other types of caves can shelter astronauts and robots from harsh off-world environments, which on the Moon means micrometeorite bombardment, intense radiation and extreme temperature swings of 500 degrees from day to night. Cave-dwelling by early astronauts and robots likely will be less expensive than bringing shelter materials all the way from Earth.

Astrobotic Technology, in cooperation with Carnegie Mellon University, is preparing a robotic expedition to the Moon to be launched in the December 2013 – July 2014 time frame.

Astrobotic was one of 30 companies, universities and NASA organizations that were selected for negotiation today by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program in the Office of Chief Technologist. The approximately $100,000 award is to cover a year-long study starting next month.

Astrobotic will be eligible for a $500,000 Phase 2 award next year to continue the work.

Green and other NASA officials also announced last week that Curiosity would explore a layered mountain inside the planet’s Gale crater after it lands next August. The target crater spans 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter and holds a mountain rising higher from the crater floor than Mount Rainier rises above Seattle. Gale is about the combined area of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Layering in the mound suggests it is the surviving remnant of an extensive sequence of deposits. The crater is named for Australian astronomer Walter F. Gale.

During a prime mission lasting one Martian year — nearly two Earth years — researchers will use the rover’s tools to study whether the landing region had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed.

“Scientists identified Gale as their top choice to pursue the ambitious goals of this new rover mission,” Green said. “The site offers a visually dramatic landscape and also great potential for significant science findings.”

“Mars is firmly in our sights,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Curiosity not only will return a wealth of important science data, but it will serve as a precursor mission for human exploration to the Red Planet.”

In 2006, more than 100 scientists began to consider about 30 potential landing sites during worldwide workshops. Four candidates were selected in 2008. An abundance of targeted images enabled thorough analysis of the safety concerns and scientific attractions of each site. A team of senior NASA science officials then conducted a detailed review and unanimously agreed to move forward with the MSL Science Team’s recommendation. The team is comprised of a host of principal and co-investigators on the project.

Curiosity is about twice as long and more than five times as heavy as any previous Mars rover. Its 10 science instruments include two for ingesting and analyzing samples of powdered rock that the rover’s robotic arm collects. A radioisotope power source will provide heat and electric power to the rover. A rocket-powered sky crane suspending Curiosity on tethers will lower the rover directly to the Martian surface.

The portion of the crater where Curiosity will land has an alluvial fan likely formed by water-carried sediments. The layers at the base of the mountain contain clays and sulfates, both known to form in water.

“One fascination with Gale is that it’s a huge crater sitting in a very low-elevation position on Mars, and we all know that water runs downhill,” said John Grotzinger, the mission’s project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. “In terms of the total vertical profile exposed and the low elevation, Gale offers attractions similar to Mars’ famous Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system.”

Curiosity will go beyond the “follow-the-water” strategy of recent Mars exploration. The rover’s science payload can identify other ingredients of life, such as the carbon-based building blocks of biology called organic compounds. Long-term preservation of organic compounds requires special conditions. Certain minerals, including some Curiosity may find in the clay and sulfate-rich layers near the bottom of Gale’s mountain, are good at latching onto organic compounds and protecting them from oxidation.

“Gale gives us attractive possibilities for finding organics, but that is still a long shot,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at agency headquarters. “What adds to Gale’s appeal is that, organics or not, the site holds a diversity of features and layers for investigating changing environmental conditions, some of which could inform a broader understanding of habitability on ancient Mars.”

The rover and other spacecraft components are being assembled and are undergoing final testing. The mission is targeted to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of Caltech.

To view the landing site and for more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .

Source: NASA press release

Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov

ROSCOSMOS PRESS RELEASES

Mission to Mars shall be implemented under international cooperation, Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov stated, answering the questions from the Twitter in Echo-Moscow web.

“No country is able of performing Martian mission by its own in the nearest future. That’s an issue of propulsion. In our program, we have human flight to Mars no earlier than 2035. On the other hand, advanced nuclear propulsion can be developed in 8 years or so, provided necessary funding. With this system, you can get to Mars in about 90 days,” Roscosmos head said.

Advanced nuclear propulsion of mega-watt class may be available in 6-9 years, provided necessary funding, Perminov stated. Advanced nuclear propulsion system is currently in its draft design stage. Several countries have revealed their interest towards the system. Roscosmos considers the opportunities for international cooperation in the project.

“The advanced nuclear propulsion will be a breakthrough in the space industry,” Roscosmos Head believes.

Talking about space tourism, he noted that only Soyuz today provides real opportunity for touristic space missions.

“With my greatest respect towards Mr. Branson, I have to emphasize that his SpaceShip has not delivered/returned any human to space so far… Soyuz is the only real vehicle for space tourists today,” Perminov said, adding that Soyuz won’t be available for tourist for 2-3 years, as Russia is committed to maintain crew rotations in the ISS program.

“That’s a difficult task… Soyuz has no backup,” Roscosmos Head said.

Whole Mars500 crew in portrait, September 2010: (clockwise from top left) Sukhrob Kamolov, Romain Charles, Diego Urbina, Yue Wang, Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Alexey Sitev. Credit: ESA

In this 11th Mars500 Mission Diary, Diego Urbina writes about the preparations for the ‘arrival’ at Mars on 1 February and about his feelings now that the action is hotting up.

Unlike the International Space Station, which ports a wonderful Italian-made Cupola with windows that gives magnificent sights of the Earth and stars , we do not have any windows.

Knowing that we would soon get to Mars, I was a bit troubled about this fact, and some time ago decided to spend a bit of my free time calculating our trajectory and then coding scripts in a planetarium software, it turned out quite well!

The script allowed us to see every day ‘real time’ how we were approaching Mars, with pretty graphics and information on the distance to Earth, distance to Mars, communications delay, etc. Looking at this virtual window was surprisingly fascinating, in spite of it being just a simulated view.

First you see just a reddish dot that is just somewhat bigger than Mars seen from Earth. At a couple of million kilometres away, it becomes a little orange ball somehow resembling a planet, and then you see two tiny dots, Deimos and Phobos, the two Martian moons with the spooky names (one means Dread and the other Fear). Finally, in a matter of a couple of days, this little rusty red ball becomes a behemoth that occupies whole screen – or window, if you will. I can already see how this progression of views could blow the minds of whoever will be approaching the real Mars.

Now, when we are ‘seeing’ this planet from so close, we have got a vast set of new tasks. This makes our days different; generally more loaded, and hence… better. The activity and growing expectation of what is coming, broke the monotony into little pieces and fed them to the god Ares.

Soon, the crew will be divided in two, a surface crew and an orbital crew. The orbital crew, with our Flight Engineer Romain Charles on board, will be our eye in the sky, busy supporting the tasks on the ground and driving a virtual rover over the Martian surface (just the fact that you are close to Mars makes driving a rover on its surface in real time possible), plus other tasks involving mostly getting the spaceship ready to go back to the Blue Marble.

The work of the second group, the Martian surface crew including myself, will be composed of virtual and real tasks. Virtual, with a series of computer simulations of things that a Martian crew would most likely have to do on the surface of the planet, and real, with some of those very tasks executed on the planetary surface on the second floor of the Mars500 facility. It will be the most extensive place we will have seen in 8 months, even though we will have to see it from the rather closed spacesuit system.

Unlike the pressurized modules, the walls of the surface dome are quite thin, and the crew that will be working might hear someone if they were close by, threatening the realism of the simulation, therefore nobody will be around the facility when we work on an EVA (extra vehicular activity or spacewalk). Instead, all the people that need to see the EVA, will be located in Mission Control Moscow (MCC-M) located in Korolev City. This is the same legendary place where the Mir space station was controlled and that is, apart from Houston, one of the control centres of the International Space Station now.

We are currently training on the upcoming activities, reading a bunch of updates to our manuals and checking our communication protocols, then, on 1 February, we will open the Martian landing module, transfer consumables and hardware from the orbiter to the landing module and vice versa (the landing module acted as a storage volume during the first half of the mission), and finally, configure all the hardware that will be used on the surface.

After one week of intense preparation of the landing module by the whole crew, Aleksandr Smoleevsky, Wang Yue and I, will transfer to the 50 cubic metres of volume of the landing module and live there in ‘further’ isolation for a month, on a simulated red planet. Wish us luck!

Diego

ESA PROGRAM UPDATE

After more than eight months ‘flying’ to the Red Planet, the isolated Mars500 crew will finally take their first steps onto a mock-Mars surface on 14 February.

Mars500 is the most realistic spaceflight simulation possible without leaving the ground: its six volunteers are locked inside a sealed nest of modules at Moscow’s Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) for a total of 520 days, the time it would take to fly to Mars and back.

The programme’s emphasis on realism extends to the mission’s first Marswalk – stepping from a mock lander into a simulated martian environment, overseen from Russia’s real-life Mission Control Centre (TsUP) in the Moscow suburbs, just as a real spacewalk would be.

Further adding to the realism, spacesuited crewmen and controllers alike will be working around a 20-minute communications delay – the time it takes radio signals to travel between Mars and Earth.

The first footsteps are scheduled to take place around 13:00 Moscow time (11:00 CET).

Preparations for this event will begin on 1 February, when the Mars500 ‘spacecraft’ docks with a Mars lander already in orbit. Half the crew will then transfer to the lander – Russian commander Alexey Sitev, Europe’s Diego Urbina and China’s Wang Yue – to prepare for Mars landing on 12 February. The 14 February Marswalk is the first of three to take place during the ten-day stay.

Altair on the moon

This week in The Space Review…

EML-1: the next logical destination
One potential destination for human spaceflight beyond Earth orbit is the Earth-Moon L-1 point. Ken Murphy discusses the various roles a human presence there could play in supporting space exploration and development.

The Grand Tour: Uranus
Twenty-five years ago today Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Uranus, becoming the first, and so far only, spacecraft to visit the seventh planet. Andrew LePage recounts the challenges of getting a spacecraft designed primarily for Jupiter and Saturn to continue the exploration of the outer solar system.

Fly me to the stars
Given the near-term challenges of just getting beyond Earth orbit, does it make sense to think about how to travel to other stars? Lou Friedman explains the benefits of long-term planning for interstellar missions, as DARPA and NASA are currently exploring.

Sub-scale and classified: the top secret CIA model of a Soviet launch pad
During the race to the Moon in the 1960s, the CIA built models of the Soviet N-1 launch pad to help them better understand the launch site infrastructure. Dwayne Day describes the discovery of one of those vintage models in an unexpected location.

Review: The Four Percent Universe
Discoveries in recent years have revolutionized the field of cosmology, indicating that ordinary matter makes up on a small fraction of the universe. Jeff Foust reviews a book that examines the search for dark matter and dark energy.

This week in The Space Review….

Human operations beyond LEO by the end of the decade: An affordable near-term stepping stone
Where should humans go next beyond Earth orbit, and how quickly? Harley Thronson, Dan Lester, and Ted Talay make the case for quickly and affordably establishing an outpost at the Earth-Moon Lagrange points.

Public interest and space exploration
The general public remains fascinated with many aspects of space exploration, from the Hubble Space Telescope’s observations of the cosmos to the activities of the Mars rovers. Lou Friedman notes that this interest must be taken into account when dealing with troubled current programs and planning future ones.

C.S. Lewis and his Space Trilogy, then and now
While best known for his Narnia books, C.S. Lewis also wrote a “Space Trilogy”. Taylor Dinerman examines those novels and their underlying message about space exploration before the beginning of the Space Age.

Review: Talking About Life
Astrobiology has gained traction in recent years as an interdisciplinary field seeking to answer one of the most fundamental questions: is there life elsewhere in the universe? Jeff Foust reviews a book where scientists and others talk about their work in this field.

NASA faces a number of technical challenges to overcome for is Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. One can get a good sense of what those obstacles are by looking at the Small Business Innovative Research projects that the agency selected to fund earlier this month.

Below are summaries of the projects that were selected. They are broken down into key phases of the mission: aerocapture, entry, descent and landing; sample collection and surface operations; planetary ascent; and orbital rendezvous with the return vehicle.

MARS AEROCAPTURE, ENTRY, DESCENT AND LANDING TECHNOLOGIES

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

Renewed interest in missions to explore other planets has created a need for new advanced heat shield systems that will protect spacecraft from the severe heating encountered during hypersonic flight through planetary atmospheres. Both reusable and ablative TPS have been developed to protect spacecraft. Typically, reusable TPS have been used for the Shuttle where the reentry conditions are relatively mild while ablative TPS materials have been used on planetary entry probes where high heating rates are generated. Additional advances in TPS design are needed to deliver large payloads to the moon and Mars, and to explore the outer planets. Flexible or deployable aeroshells offer an approach for achieving larger aeroshell surface areas for entry vehicles than otherwise attainable without deployment. Larger surface area aeroshells offer the ability to decelerate high-mass entry vehicles at relatively low ballistic coefficients. However, for an aeroshell to perform even at the low ballistic coefficients attainable with deployable aeroshells, a flexible thermal protection system (TPS) is required that is capable of surviving reasonably high heat flux and durable enough to survive the rigors of construction, handling, and deployment. Aspen Aerogels proposes to develop ablative flexible reinforced aerogels to meet this challenge.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The multifunctional aerogel-based materials developed during this project will have applications as ablative TPS for use on many NASA spacecraft.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The aerogels developed in this project would find applications for military hypersonic vehicles.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Aerogels
Ceramics
Composites
Entry, Descent, & Landing (see also Planetary Navigation, Tracking, & Telemetry)
Isolation/Protection/Shielding (Acoustic, Ballistic, Dust, Radiation, Thermal)
Nanomaterials
Polymers

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

Future NASA exploration plans will realize significant performance advantages with aerocapture and aerobraking of large, heavy payloads for Mars, Titan, and the gas giant planets. During a previous NASA LaRC funded High Mass Mars Entry System study, Andrews Space found that while inflatable aerobrake designs potentially offer the lowest-mass solution, they are challenged from the uncertainties of dynamic response of large soft structures at the sizes required, and from the risks associated with cleanly separating the lander/payload from the decelerator. A “Petal Brake” concept was introduced as an integrated hypersonic entry system design that addresses these issues. The design performs hypersonic aerocapture and entry maneuvers as a biconic aeroshell, then deploys to provide higher drag just prior to terminal descent and landing. It covers a wide range of EDL environments, is structurally determinate, with minimal aero-elastic issues, and with positive separation characteristics during jettison. During Phase I of this project, Andrews proposes to further advance the operational Petal Brake concept by designing and evaluating a point-of-departure petal-brake design for Mars entry, defining a potential test program, then generating a detailed subscale petal-brake design suitable for manufacture, wind tunnel testing, and high altitude deployment testing in Phase II.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The petal brake decelerator has primary application to the aerocapture and aerobraking of large payloads into Mars or other planetary atmospheres. This has direct benefit to future planetary exploration missions. A smaller deployable petal brake could be used for recovery of payloads from Earth orbit as well. A petal brake could be used for controlled de-orbit and disposal, recovery of materials testing cargo, to recover biological and high value cargo from low earth orbit free flyers or from the International Space Station. Larger deployable petal brake configurations could also be used to retrofit existing cargo vehicles, such as the Orbital Cygnus, ATV or HTV and enable a recovery capability.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The petal brake decelerator has commercial applicability to the recovery of large and small payloads from suborbital conditions or from Earth orbit to support low cost launch or cargo recovery. One application of this innovation may include recovery of launch stage hardware for reuse. SpaceX is planning on recovering their Falcon 1E and Falcon 9 second stage, and the deployable petal brake could be an enabler given their physical size and configuration. Booster recovery could also be enhanced by deployable interstage drag devices. A small deployable petal brake could be used to recover biological samples, high value cargo, instrumentation, or defense-related payloads from low earth orbit free flyers.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Aerobraking/Aerocapture
Deployment
Entry, Descent, & Landing (see also Astronautics)
Entry, Descent, & Landing (see also Planetary Navigation, Tracking, & Telemetry)

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

NASA has defined a need for higher performance ablative Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials for future exploration of our solar system’s inner and outer planets than is currently available. Of particular interest are:

1) Materials with performance analogous to fully dense, heritage rayon-based carbon phenolic ;

2) Mid-density ablative systems ; and

3) Highly insulative, low-density materials.

New Frontiers, Mars Sample Return (MSR), and Mars Entry, Descent & Landing (Mars EDL) are all potential missions for these new and/or enhanced TPS materials, but the general desire is that these TPS be tunable for cross-cutting mission applications. In addition to improved TPS performance, NASA would benefit from a TPS integrated with the sub-structure thereby improving thermal efficiency, insulation performance, system thermal-structural performance, and system integrity with the goal of achieving increased system reliability, reduced areal mass, and/or decreased costs over the current state-of-the-art (SOTA). FMI proposes developing its multi-layered, graded, hybrid ICS system for application to NASA missions. The system is comprised of distinct material layers encompassing different fillers or reinforcements, but maintaining the same resin so the materials are compatible for co-curing to yield a continuous rigid heatshield and sub-structure (ICS).

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

NASA has defined a need for higher performance ablative Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials for future exploration of our solar system’s inner and outer planets than is currently available. New Frontiers, Mars Sample Return (MSR), and Mars Entry, Descent & Landing (Mars EDL) are all potential missions for these new and/or enhanced TPS materials, but the general desire is that these TPS be tunable for cross-cutting mission applications.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The proposed multi-layered Integrated Composite Structure airframe technologies will be advantageous for DoD applications, including Missile Defense interceptor airframes, and aeroshell/insulation systems for Air Force and AMRDEC extended-flight vehicles.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Composites
Entry, Descent, & Landing (see also Planetary Navigation, Tracking, & Telemetry)
In Situ Manufacturing
Isolation/Protection/Shielding (Acoustic, Ballistic, Dust, Radiation, Thermal)
Joining (Adhesion, Welding)
Passive Systems
Processing Methods

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 5

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

FMI currently manufactures Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) material for Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) systems, such as the Stardust Sample Return Capsule and the Mars Science Laboratory Aeroshell. FMI plans to further develop TPS in support of future sample return missions such as MoonRise and OSIRIS-REx. Development of a PICA TPS with reduced mass, thermal performance enhancements, and optimized single-section near net-shape preforms are enabling technologies for these applications. It is the objective of the proposed program to develop a graded density preform to achieve a reduction in PICA TPS areal mass, to assess the performance of such a TPS, and to develop a plan for manufacturing scale-up.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The Stardust Sample Return Capsule completed its objective with earth re-entry in January of 2006. The Mars Science Laboratory Aeroshell heat shield has been completed, and delivery of the Curiosity rover to Mars is scheduled for 2015. With the successful fabrication of these PICA TPS heat shields in support of NASA flight missions, FMI has quoted and is prepared to continue supporting PICA heat shield missions. The advancements in the development of the preform material proposed in this program will support future NASA missions, including New Frontiers Sample Return Capsules, which are proposed to utilize a Stardust-like heat shield.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The proposed advanced ablative TPS preform material would support commercial space applications including Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS). During 2008, NASA entered into contracts with Orbital Sciences and SpaceX to utilize their COTS cargo vehicles, Cygnus and Dragon, respectively, for cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS). In addition, FMI small return vehicles such as the Re-Entry Break-Up Recorder would benefit from improvements in preform material.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Composites
Entry, Descent, & Landing (see also Planetary Navigation, Tracking, & Telemetry)
Passive Systems
Processing Methods

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 4

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

During this program Fiber Materials, Inc. (FMI) will develop innovative yet practical methods for preparing Phenolic Impregnated Felt (PIF) materials for thermal protection system (TPS) segments and heat shield assemblies. Future mission flight environments and designs, such as those anticipated for Mars EDL missions, will require a variety TPS options to accommodate entry system designs. The capability of the developed PIF solutions will address various vehicle shapes, integration methods and the ability to deploy a flexible TPS. Testing of mechanical and thermal robustness, heat exposure and surface recession under representative mission conditions will be conducted in a two phase program approach. The Phase I program will assess materials, designs and processing options that can be cost effectively manufactured and assembled. The material approaches, design options, fabrication/assembly methods, Phase II work plan, Phase II proposal and final report are delivered at the conclusion of the Phase I program. During the Phase II program, a mission-applicable PIF TPS utilizing the developed material system will be demonstrated and tested under representative flight conditions. The proposed materials, designs and methods are currently TRL 3. It is anticipated that TRL 5 will be achieved at the conclusion of a successful Phase I and Phase II program.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The Stardust Sample Return Capsule completed its objective with earth reentry in January 2006. Mars Science Laboratory Aeroshell heat shield has been completed and delivery of the Curiosity rover to Mars is scheduled for 2015. FMI’s successful fabrication of carbon preform phenolic matrix composite TPS heat shields in support NASA flight missions demonstrates the capability and basis of the proposed material system. FMI is prepared to continue supporting NASA mission thermal protection by providing additional enabling material options for a variety of thermal exposures. The program proposed will assist FMI in long term support of future NASA missions including Mars EDL development.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

PIF solutions developed under this program coupled with PICA would support commercial space operations including Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS). During 2008, NASA entered into contracts with Orbital Sciences and SpaceX to utilize their COTS cargo vehicles, Cygnus and Dragon respectively, for cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS). PIF can be enabling technology for all commercial space return or planetary missions requiring TPS.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Aerobraking/Aerocapture Composites
Entry, Descent, & Landing (see also Planetary Navigation, Tracking, & Telemetry)
Isolation/Protection/Shielding (Acoustic, Ballistic, Dust, Radiation, Thermal)
Passive Systems
Processing Methods

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 5

SAMPLE COLLECTION AND SURFACE OPERATIONS

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

NASA is investigating a Mars Sample Return Mission, consisting of at least three separate missions:

1) Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher, MAX-C (sample acquisition and caching),
2) A fetch rover and the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV),
3) Earth Return Vehicle (ERV).

The primary goal of the MAX-C mission is to acquire ~20 cores, 1cm diameter by 5cm long, and place them in a cache for return back to Earth. Before deciding which cores to return, scientists would also need to analyze rocks in-situ. The tasks required for the MAX-C mission therefore would include:

1. Acquisition of 1cm x 5 cm core for Earth return
2. Acquisition of a core for in-situ analysis
3. Acquisition of rock powder for in situ analysis
4. Brushing of rocks for in situ analysis (as done on MER)
5. Abrading of rocks for in situ analysis (as done on MER)

In this proposal we are advocating an approach used every day in terrestrial applications; that is having a single appliance (drill) with many attachments (various bit types for coring, caching, abrading, brushing and powder acquisition) for different applications. This approach offers mass, cost and volume savings and thus will be particularly attractive to the MAX-C mission.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Future robotic astrobiology and geology missions such as Mars Sample Return, Astrobiology Field Laboratory and other Mid-Range Rover missions will benefit greatly from the ability to produce and capture rock and regolith cores, abrade and brush rock surfaces using an arm-deployed, compact, low mass, low power device.

A system utilizing a surface drill and a suite of bits for different applications could be deployed during lunar sortie missions by astronauts (i.e., hand held coring drill) since it is desirable to bring small cores back as opposed to large rocks, and/or abrade rocks in situ.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Scientists often use small drills to acquire core samples for the study of everything from geological classification to ocean drilling and surveying. Traditionally, petroleum engineers will use large cores to extract information about boundaries between sandstone, limestone, and shale. This process is time consuming so smaller cores are sometimes taken. This method of sampling is called sidewall coring and provides more information to the petroleum engineer than simply logged data. Scientists studying earthquake mechanics could also benefit in a similar fashion. Automation of this process would save time and money; enabling the science goals of the research with reduced schedule and budget risk/impact.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Robotics (see also Control & Monitoring; Sensors)
Teleoperation

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is currently considering various sample cache and return missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids. These missions involve the use of a coring tool to produce rock and soil cores. The MEPAG committee recommends that core acquisition take place directly into an individual encapsulation sleeve with a pressed-in cap. The improved sample encapsulation technology of this proposal can be activated while the drill bit is still in the drill hole, thus preserving sample integrity before the core is even extracted. It also insures the sample does not fall out during bit extraction. The sleeves can handle cores of rock, soil or regolith; and are translucent or transparent enabling inspection of the core after extraction. They preserve stratigraphy, volatiles, voids and gaps, and incomplete cores. A unique aspect of the sleeves instills the ability to preserve core integrity even in the vibration and shock environment of a sample return mission. This proposed Phase 1 effort involves a design trade study, analysis and a proof-of-concept test. At the end of Phase 1, the innovations will be at TRL 4. A proposed Phase 2 effort would involve integration into a core drill design, environmental testing, and shock and vibration testing to advance the technology to TRL 6.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The Sample Encapsulation Technology of this proposal could be used for any sample collection or return mission to the Moon, Mars or Asteroids. There are two of three Phase A projects competing for NASA’s 2018 New Frontiers Mission which could utilize the technology of this application. OSIRIS-REX is an asteroid sample return mission and MoonRise is a Lunar South Pole sample return mission. Additionally there will be a Mars 2018 sample collection mission to support a sample return mission in the 2020′s. The potential Mars MAX-C mission has been proposed by the MEPAG’s MMR-SAG committee for this purpose.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

There are a number of potential non-NASA applications for this Sample Encapsulation Technology including earth sciences research and the oil and gas industry. Down-hole core encapsulation is an important technique for the oil and gas industry during exploratory drilling.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Deployment
Machines/Mechanical Subsystems
Resource Extraction
Robotics (see also Control & Monitoring; Sensors)

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 4

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

The Mars Regolith Water Extractor (MRWE) is a system for acquiring water from the Martian soil. In the MRWE, a stream of CO2 is heated by solar energy or waste heat from a nuclear reactor and then passed through a vessel containing Martian soil freshly removed from the ground. The hot CO2 will cause water absorbed in the Martian soil to outgas, whereupon it will be swept along by the CO2 to a condenser chamber where ambient Martian cold temperatures will be used to condense the water from the CO2. The CO2 is then pumped back to the heater where it is reheated and recirculated back to the soil vessel to remove more water. Measurements taken by the Viking mission showed that randomly gathered Martian soil contains at least 1% water by weight, and probably more than 3%. This being the case, the MWRE should prove to be a highly effective way of acquiring water on Mars. By doing so, it will eliminate the requirement to transport hydrogen to Mars in order to make methane fuel, and allow all the propellant needed for a Mars to Earth return flight to be manufactured on Mars using a Sabatier/electrolysis (S/E) cycle, without any need for auxiliary oxygen production through zirconia cells, reverse water gas shift cycles, or other systems. This is highly advantageous since the S/E cycle is the simplest and easiest to implement of all Mars in-situ propellant production methods. The ability to extract water from Mars will also serve to supply the crew of a Mars missions with copious supplies of water itself, which after propellant, is the most massive logistic component of a Mars mission. By eliminating the need to transport fuel, oxygen, and water to Mars, the MWRE will have a major effect in reducing the mass, cost, and risk or human Mars exploration.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The primary initial application of the MRWE is to provide a reliable, low cost, low mass technology to produce water, hydrogen, and liquid oxygen on the surface of Mars out of indigenous materials at low power. By doing so, it will eliminate the requirement to transport hydrogen to Mars in order to make methane fuel, and allow all the propellant needed for a Mars to Earth return flight to be manufactured on Mars using a Sabatier/electrolysis (S/E) cycle, without any need for auxiliary oxygen production through zirconia cells, reverse water gas shift cycles, or other systems. This is highly advantageous since the S/E cycle is the simplest and easiest to implement of all Mars in-situ propellant production methods. The ability to extract water from Mars will also serve to supply the crew of a Mars missions with copious supplies of water itself, which after propellant, is the most massive logistic component of a Mars mission. By eliminating the need to transport fuel, oxygen, and water to Mars, the MWRE will have a major effect in reducing the mass, cost, and risk or human Mars exploration. In addition, small versions of the MWRE could be used to help make the return propellant for a Mars sample return (MSR) mission on the Martian surface, thereby making such a mission both cheaper to launch and much easier to land, as the landing mass limits of current aeroshells will not be exceeded. This could be an enabling development for the MSR mission.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The MRWE could be useful in arid terrestrial climates. Nations in arid areas, particularly the Middle East and North Africa, have spent billions of dollars on construction of evaporative and reverse osmosis desalination plants for irrigation and use for the populace. Yet water is still routinely rationed in many of these countries. Even in the driest regions of the Earth, the soil is several times wetter than on Mars, and the MRWE will operate an order of magnitude more efficiently. Even if desalination technology remains more economical in coastal areas, MWRE units using solar concentrators to provide heat offer many advantages for millions of potentials users in landlocked nations such as Mali, Niger, or Chad. Regions that are too far from the coastline to economically pipe water in, such as the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia, or the Western Desert in the United States, may also be potential markets. It should be noted that in contrast to water obtained from natural liquid sources, the condensate obtained from water vaporized out of the ground will be pure, and much safer to drink than other supplies that may be available in underdeveloped areas. MRWE units sized for vehicles traveling in desert regions are also an attractive option. Such units could reduce logistical requirements for the military and could also supply civilians operating in remote areas. The MRWE concept would be ideal for these applications since it is very lightweight, cheap, and portable.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Conversion
Essential Life Resources (Oxygen, Water, Nutrients)
Fuels/Propellants
Generation
Heat Exchange
In Situ Manufacturing
Pressure & Vacuum Systems
Processing Methods
Resource Extraction
Robotics (see also Control & Monitoring; Sensors)
Surface Propulsion

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 5

MARS ASCENT TECHNOLOGIES

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

Decomposing monopropellant hydrazine across a spontaneous catalyst bed is the gold standard for small propulsion systems responsible for attitude control on satellites and spacecraft. Such a propulsion system is both simple and reliable, and offers reasonable performance. However, the simplicity and reliability enjoyed today is the result of a nearly two-decade effort designed to identify and perfect a spontaneous catalyst. Modern hydrazine replacements generally do not work well with hydrazine catalysts, so the enormous costs associated with a new catalyst development effort have stalled the widespread acceptance of potential hydrazine replacements.

Our proposed effort will explore the use of an alternative ignition source that eliminates the need for a catalyst bed entirely. It achieves the same simplicity enjoyed by traditional monopropellant propulsion systems, but dramatically increases thruster response time on both startup and especially shutdown. It requires low power because it exploits a unique property of most of the propellants often cited as the future replacement for hydrazine. It is also low cost because it requires a very low part count and development issues will be trivial.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Hydrazine monopropellant systems have been used on a number of satellites and spacecraft, including the Deep Space Climate Observatory, the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, the New Horizons satellite, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Mars Phoenix Lander, and the Advanced Composition Explorer. Adopting a green, safe monopropellant that does not require a catalyst bed will find use throughout the Agency’s inventory of future spacecraft and satellites that otherwise would have used hydrazine. As a non-catalyst based ignition system is developed and flown, acceptance of a safe, green monopropellant will be rapid across the civil space community.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

As with NASA applications, the primary non-NASA applications must necessarily include commercial satellites, a huge commercial market. In addition, future missile defense kill vehicles will use divert and attitude control systems that operate with green propellants to eliminate hazards of shipping, using, and de-militarizing systems. They also must comply with strict insensitive munitions requirements, which hydrazine cannot meet. Auxiliary power units on ships and aircraft are an additional commercial use for a safe, green hydrazine replacement.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Fuels/Propellants
Launch Engine/Booster
Maneuvering/Stationkeeping/Attitude Control Devices
Spacecraft Main Engine
Surface Propulsion

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 6

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

Physical Sciences Inc. proposes to design, develop, and demonstrate, a novel high performance monopropellant for application in future planetary ascent vehicles. Our non-carcinogenic, non-cryogenic, monopropellants will significantly augment specific impulse and density specific impulse over conventional monopropellant and bi-propellant systems. In Phase I, the proposed investigation will focus upon characterizing critical thermal and chemical behavior of our monopropellants to ensure realistic system level design and maximum performance of future planetary ascent vehicles.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Successful demonstration of our high performance monopropellants will have applications in multiple NASA’s planetary exploration missions. Our monopropellant provides a propulsion system that will maximize engine performance, minimize logistical operational expenses associated with most high performing liquid systems, and provide a more compact propulsion system. It also provides a low cost technology solution to achieve high thrust profiles expected from future planetary ascent vehicles.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Successful demonstration of our liquid monopropellant will have applications in both commercial and military technology ranging from expendable and reusable launch vehicles to small tactical missiles. Development of a low cost monopropellant solution capable of producing high thrust profiles will allow for critical technology development in strategic and space defense.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Propulsion
Fuels/Propellants
Launch Engine/Booster
Maneuvering/Stationkeeping/Attitude Control Devices
Spacecraft Main Engine
Surface Propulsion

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 1
End: 2

MARS ORBITAL RENDEZVOUS

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

The Electroadhesive “Sticky Boom”, an innovative method for rendezvous and docking, is proposed for the Orbiting Sample Capture (OSC) portion of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. This technology carries the advantages of greatly reducing the probability of accidental collisions, high inherent reliability from mechanical and guidance simplicity, lower propellant consumption, avoidance of plume impingement, high tolerance for relative spacecraft misalignment, very low mass and volume requirements, and reliable non-mechanical contact and proximity detection. The system consists of an electrically activated electro-adhesive pad used for spacecraft capture, mounted flexibly on the end of a low volume/weight retractable boom. The research proposed in phase 1 aims to design a system optimized for MSR mission and demonstrate the reliable functionality of the system in simulated space environments raising the TRL from a 2 to a 3. This effort ends with a system design for a flight testbed for testing during Phase 2, thus further elevating the TRL to 5-6. Also covered are numerous other applications of the technology, which allows for docking with spacecraft not design for docking as well as capture of uncooperative targets and debris. Interest in application of this technology has been show by industry entities such as ULA.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

In addition to the Mars Sample Return OSC retrieval mission, technology based on the Sticky Boom concept has applications in:

• Any of the Flagship Technology Demonstrator missions which focus on autonomous rendezvous and docking
• Propellant depots, as reliable docking will be key to mission success
• Capture devices for active removal of orbital debris

The electrostatic adhesion pad itself, once proven for use in the space environment also has other applications separate from boom rendezvous:

• Robotic systems such as Robonaut which could benefit from more flexible means of movement on space stations rather than current rail bases systems
• Gripping surfaces for boots and gloves to improve EVA safety and flexibility.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Outside NASA, there is significant interest in rendezvous and docking systems that do not require the target vehicle to be predesigned for the mission, cooperative, or even controlled at all. Applications of this sort include:

• Space tugs for refueling or servicing existing space craft
• “Uncooperative” rendezvous and docking efforts, which DoD is interested in
• Debris capture for paid orbital debris removal services.
• “Life-extension” services or “orbital rescue” services, where a satellite that has either lost control, or is near the end of its propellant reserves can have its life extended by a servicing satellite.
• Other orbital servicing missions including ORU replacement
• A docking system enabling high-tempo delivery of propellants to propellant depots using “dumb” propellant tankers
• Simplification of the rendezvous/docking process for crew/cargo deliveries to orbital facilities.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Contact/Mechanical
Deployment
Fasteners/Decouplers
Robotics (see also Control & Monitoring; Sensors)

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission scenario utilizes a small Orbiting Sample (OS) satellite, launched from the surface of Mars, which will rendezvous with an Orbiter/Earth Return Vehicle (ERV). When the radio beacon-equipped OS is within range of the ERV’s optical sensors, the ERV will optically track and approach the OS, maneuvering itself to place the OS within its capture device.

One of the key technologies required to accomplish this mission involves a low-mass, highly reliable mechanism that detects contact with and captures the OS, and, once the OS is captured, moves the OS to a containment area for the return trip to Earth. There is an on-going body of research into such capture mechanism designs and the various advantages and challenges of these technologies. Aurora Flight Sciences and its research partner, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Space Systems Laboratory (SSL), propose to develop a flight-quality OS-detection and capture mechanism design based on research data and experience with the Mars Orbiting Sample Retrieval test bed and develop a risk-mitigation strategy that utilizes the International Space Station as a system checkout and launch platform for system testing in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This proposal leverages the state-of-the-art research into sample capture mechanisms, contact dynamics and capture mechanism detection methods and builds on the team’s experience with the Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, and Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) system to develop a low cost, LEO test strategy that minimizes the risk for later Mars deployment.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The primary application for the Capture Mechanism and SPHERES/ISS test strategy is in support of the NASA Mars Sample Return mission. A successful Phase1/Phase 2 project would result in a system design ready for implementation, integration, test and deployment with the MSR mission. While designed for MSR, the capture mechanism design and risk-mitigation test approach has applications for additional NASA sample-return missions, such icy-moons. Additionally, a successful demonstration of the cost-effective use of the ISS as a system checkout and launch platform has significant benefits to NASA in reducing the cost and risk of testing small systems in LEO.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

We anticipate that there are also applications beyond NASA, particularly in the military and commercial sectors. For example, the capture mechanism design may have applications such as the capture and control of space debris in Earth Orbit threatening strategic and/or commercial assets within similar orbits. Such a mechanism, when used in conjunction with a debris tracking and control system, could approach and capture such debris and then maneuver the captured material either to a different orbit, or, if in LEO, to a reentry trajectory to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Actuators & Motors
Autonomous Control (see also Control & Monitoring)
Deployment
Relative Navigation (Interception, Docking, Formation Flying; see also Control & Monitoring; Planetary Navigation, Tracking, & Telemetry)

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 6
End: 6

One of the SBIRs involves a collaboration with MIT to develop a system to capture a Martian sample return capsule launched from the surface of the Red Planet for a NASA mission. The STTR proposal is a collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology Center for Space Systems to develop a system to allow small small probes to return experiments from Earth orbit.

Details for both projects are shown below. I’ve also included information about three other SBIR projects that include an ISS battery recharging system, catalytic combustors for very high altitude air-breathing propulsion, and propulsion control sampling algorithms.

SBIR

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission scenario utilizes a small Orbiting Sample (OS) satellite, launched from the surface of Mars, which will rendezvous with an Orbiter/Earth Return Vehicle (ERV). When the radio beacon-equipped OS is within range of the ERV’s optical sensors, the ERV will optically track and approach the OS, maneuvering itself to place the OS within its capture device.

One of the key technologies required to accomplish this mission involves a low-mass, highly reliable mechanism that detects contact with and captures the OS, and, once the OS is captured, moves the OS to a containment area for the return trip to Earth. There is an on-going body of research into such capture mechanism designs and the various advantages and challenges of these technologies. Aurora Flight Sciences and its research partner, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Space Systems Laboratory (SSL), propose to develop a flight-quality OS-detection and capture mechanism design based on research data and experience with the Mars Orbiting Sample Retrieval test bed and develop a risk-mitigation strategy that utilizes the International Space Station as a system checkout and launch platform for system testing in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This proposal leverages the state-of-the-art research into sample capture mechanisms, contact dynamics and capture mechanism detection methods and builds on the team’s experience with the Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, and Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) system to develop a low cost, LEO test strategy that minimizes the risk for later Mars deployment.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The primary application for the Capture Mechanism and SPHERES/ISS test strategy is in support of the NASA Mars Sample Return mission. A successful Phase1/Phase 2 project would result in a system design ready for implementation, integration, test and deployment with the MSR mission. While designed for MSR, the capture mechanism design and risk-mitigation test approach has applications for additional NASA sample-return missions, such icy-moons. Additionally, a successful demonstration of the cost-effective use of the ISS as a system checkout and launch platform has significant benefits to NASA in reducing the cost and risk of testing small systems in LEO.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

We anticipate that there are also applications beyond NASA, particularly in the military and commercial sectors. For example, the capture mechanism design may have applications such as the capture and control of space debris in Earth Orbit threatening strategic and/or commercial assets within similar orbits. Such a mechanism, when used in conjunction with a debris tracking and control system, could approach and capture such debris and then maneuver the captured material either to a different orbit, or, if in LEO, to a reentry trajectory to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Actuators & Motors
Autonomous Control (see also Control & Monitoring)
Deployment
Relative Navigation (Interception, Docking, Formation Flying; see also Control & Monitoring; Planetary Navigation, Tracking, & Telemetry)

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:

Begin: 6
End: 6

STTR

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

Analogous to the CubeSat standardization of micro-satellites, the SPORE flight system architecture will utilize a modular design approach to provide low-cost on-orbit operation and recovery of small payloads. The Phase 1 investigation will evaluate a scalable flight system architecture consisting of a service module for on-orbit operations and deorbit maneuvering, and an entry vehicle to perform entry, descent and landing (EDL). The design space for the SPORE system architecture is shown in Figure 1. Flight system designs capable of accommodating payload volumes ranging from 1-unit (1U) dimensions of 10x10x10 cm to 4U dimensions of 20x20x20 cm will be investigated. The proposed system will be capable of flight operations and return from low-Earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). The SPORE design can be launched as a primary or secondary payload into LEO or GTO, or it can be deployed from the International Space Station (ISS).

A CubeSat

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Aurora believes the market for a science platform that allows access to the space environment while returning the experiment for laboratory examination is growing rapidly. Microgravity experiments traditionally flown on the Shuttle mid-deck for up to a week before returning to Earth will require alternative flight platforms. There is a forthcoming capability gap between sounding rocket flights and longer duration ISS flights. SPORE has the benefit of filling a market niche not filled by short duration sounding rockets providers, and where ISS flight time is unavailable or too complex or expensive. Researchers requiring longer duration exposure to the space environment lack a capability in between several minute sounding rockets flights and months-long ISS missions. SPORE also provides lower cost and flexible scheduling for ISS downmass.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Aurora has already begun looking at additional markets for the SPORE system. In addition to commercial launch vechile TPS testing and commercial experimental payload missions, SPORE subsystem technology can be inserted into non re-entering CubeSats. CubeSats have become a de-facto standard for low-cost access to space. SPORE however adds significant capability to the basic CubeSat platform. For this reason Aurora feels that in addition to marketing complete SPORE systems, many SPORE technologies can be inserted into commercial CubeSats providing additional capabilities and expanding the revenue potential of SPORE. Examples of these technologies include propulsion system concepts which could provide CubeSats a limited altitude or plane change capability or payload accommodation architecture that could allow CubeSats to provide greater payload support in the form of thermal control or data handling.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Entry, Descent, & Landing (see also Planetary Navigation, Tracking, & Telemetry)
Spacecraft Design, Construction, Testing, & Performance (see also Engineering; Testing & Evaluation)

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

SBIR

International Space Station

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

With the retiring of the shuttle fleet, up-mass and down-mass to ISS are at a premium. The space station itself has a limited lifecycle as well, thus long-term and/or high-risk development programs pose issues for science ‘return on investment’, if the technology cannot be adequately matured before the station is decommissioned. Thus innovative systems and technologies that minimize impact on limiting resources such as up-mass and down-mass, and can do so in the near- to mid-term, are highly desirable. One such area includes the various rechargeable battery systems on ISS used extensively for cameras, camcorders, laptops, communication systems and other portable science and diagnostic equipment.

All new rechargeable batteries intended for use on ISS must undergo an extensive and costly qualification process, to ensure they meet safety criteria for charge, discharge, short-circuit, temperature, containment and other parameters. The associated recharging systems must also undergo rigorous safety analysis before obtaining flight approval. To alleviate this requirement, new battery powered equipment for ISS is often selected based on legacy technology already approved for crewed-space applications, and not on operational need. The use of shared battery resources (battery packs, battery chargers or both), for future ISS payloads could reduce or eliminate the time and cost needed to obtain battery system safety approval, and reduce the burden on valuable up-mass resources.

A common (universal) battery charging system for ISS, with the flexibility to accommodate current and future rechargeable battery requirements for payloads and equipment, could reduce the cost use of the ISS by future payload developers. This would not only simplify the safety and integration process for these programs, but also reduce up-mass by making use of existing ISS resources.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The proposed innovation serves to increase the science capability of ISS, by enabling the extended use of SPHERES and other battery-operated facilities. The establishment of the ISS as a National Laboratory has significantly enhanced the accessibility of its facilities to organizations outside of NASA and the DOD, including other governmental agencies, research institutions and commercial entities. The universal charger enables use of these facilities beyond the retirement of the shuttle.

On the government side, the development of a universal charger forms the basis for space research that is at the core of NASA and the DOD. The proposed system provides an upgrade to existing ISS facilities to greatly increase the lifetime of onboard assets. The addition of a universal charger to the SPHERES testbed and other facilities allows for increased research capabilities.

SPHERES itself has multiple applications: it is a precursor to technology maturation for inspection satellites for ISS and other manned and unmanned NASA vehicles. Its forthcoming visual-based navigation system enables algorithm development in support of new applications such as standoff cameras for unmanned systems, imaging terminal capture for mars sample return missions, and will support a constantly changing workspace during robotic assembly and servicing missions. All of these applications will require additional battery systems and could benefit from the use of a universal charging system for ISS.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

DoD applications include the enabled use of ISS research facilities for multiple purposes. Additionally, opportunities may exist in the commercial, institutional and government sectors to ‘sell’ test time on SPHERES (and other ISS facilities that have been enabled by this innovation) to organizations for developing and validating vision and assembly capability for future satellite applications. This service could be analogous to the way in which the National Testing Service (NTS) provides facility rental and support for both commercial entities and institutions. Table 1 shows projected return on investment for selling SPHERES test time on ISS. Since SPHERES is the only known long duration, microgravity test facility for the development of satellite maneuvering algorithms, an opportunity exists to extend usage of this testbed to organizations outside of NASA.

While the proposed innovation itself is not expected to be commercially profitable as a stand-alone item, it enables future researchers to reduce ISS payload development costs, and reduces up-mass overhead for future launches to ISS, thus creating a significant return on investment.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Algorithms/Control Software & Systems (see also Autonomous Systems)
Autonomous Control (see also Control & Monitoring)
Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing
Relative Navigation (Interception, Docking, Formation Flying; see also Control & Monitoring; Planetary Navigation, Tracking, & Telemetry)

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:

Begin: 2
End: 3

SBIR

Aurora's Very High-Altitude Propulsion System (VHAPS). (Credit: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation)

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

Aerospace vehicles operating at high altitudes have the potential to be less expensive and more versatile alternatives to space based systems for earth/space science, communications, and surveillance. However, the operational flexibility of these vehicles is limited by the performance of the propulsion system. In gas turbine systems low temperatures and pressures at the combustor inlet are of concern for combustion stability and efficiency at high altitudes. The overall objective of the proposed work is to assess the feasibility of developing a high performance airbreathing combustor for hydrogen-fueled very high altitude aircraft by promoting stable combustion using thermally stable catalytic reactor technology. Our combustor concept baselines the use of strontium-substituted hexaaluminate catalyst supports, which are resilient to temperatures greater than 1500 K. In Phase I an active catalyst that provides high reactivity with hydrogen at representative conditions will be identified through laboratory testing. An empirical model of catalyst reactivity will be developed and integrated with a reactor model to produce a conceptual design of a full scale combustor for a defined very high altitude gas turbine system. The catalytic rector that will be developed through this effort represents a new, enabling technology that will dramatically increase the flexibility of aerospace vehicles.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

NASA has shown recent interest in the use of hydrogen fuel as a means of substantially reducing the carbon emissions from commercial aircraft. A potential problem with a hydrogen-based system is that nitrogen oxides emissions may be difficult to control. The thermally stable catalytic combustor technology that will be developed through this effort may provide an approach to control the NOx emissions from a hydrogen-based aircraft platform. In addition, this technology provides a capability to extend the operating range of hydrogen-based gas turbine based propulsion systems to very high altitudes that may enable new aircraft platforms for earth and atmospheric science initiatives at NASA. Additionally, this catalyst technology could find use in other systems of interest to NASA that operate at high altitudes, such as supersonic/hypersonic vehicles or balloon-based systems, and may require additional thrust, power, or a high heat source.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The proposed thermally stable catalytic combustor technology is a key to providing combustion stability in hydrogen-based gas turbine based propulsion systems operating at very high altitudes. Such propulsion systems are critical to a multitude of missions employing unmanned aerial vehicles. These systems are of significant interest to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In addition, this technology may have potential to provide emissions reduction in stationary gas turbine systems used for power generation. This is of interest to the U. S. Department of Energy.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Atmospheric Propulsion
Fuels/Propellants

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

SBIR

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

Aurora Flight Sciences proposes to develop a system for robust engine control based on incremental sampling, specifically Rapidly-Expanding Random Tree (RRT) algorithms. In this concept, the task of accelerating or decelerating the engine is treated as a path planning exercise. The control system actively searches for actuator inputs that allow the engine to traverse power settings without entering undesired regions of operation. The search is based on the sequential construction of control actions that satisfy feasibility constraints given the system dynamics. These algorithms have been proven to converge to the optimal solution through repeated iteration. RRTs allow for an efficient search of the solution space, reducing the computational expense of determining the best sequence of inputs with which to control the engine. This allows an efficient, online method for an engine to adapt and recalibrate to unexpected operational conditions.

Orion UAV (Credit: Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation)

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The proposed incremental sampling control technology could have a direct impact on the ability of an aircraft engine to autonomously adjust for unforeseen, adverse conditions. NASA has previously been involved in developing these sorts of technologies for aircraft systems in the Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) project. The proposed technology would allow for similar resilient characteristics on engine systems. This technology could be applied to a variety of NASA research areas requiring complex propulsion control, such as hypersonic flight.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

The ability of systems to autonomously perform complicated planning processes is becoming increasingly important in modern aircraft. This is especially true with UAV’s, which do not have the native ability of human operators to analyze and react to unexpected events. The proposed technology can be applied to increase the reliability of a variety of autonomous and remotely piloted vehicles as part of a global robust flight control for almost any UAV application. This can contribute to increased reliability and help reduce concerns about UAV operation over populated areas or in heavily trafficked airspace.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Algorithms/Control Software & Systems (see also Autonomous Systems)
Atmospheric Propulsion

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:

Begin: 1
End: 2

NASA MISSION UPDATE
Dec. 15, 2010

NASA’s Mars Odyssey, which launched in 2001, will break the record Wednesday for longest-serving spacecraft at the Red Planet. The probe begins its 3,340th day in Martian orbit at 8:55 p.m. EST on Wednesday to break the record set by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, which orbited Mars from 1997 to 2006.

Odyssey’s longevity enables continued science, including the monitoring of seasonal changes on Mars from year to year and the most detailed maps ever made of most of the planet. In 2002, the spacecraft detected hydrogen just below the surface throughout Mars’ high-latitude regions. The deduction that the hydrogen is in frozen water prompted NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander mission, which confirmed the theory in 2008. Odyssey also carried the first experiment sent to Mars specifically to prepare for human missions, and found radiation levels around the planet from solar flares and cosmic rays are two to three times higher than around Earth.

Odyssey also has served as a communication relay, handling most of the data sent home by Phoenix and NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Odyssey became the middle link for continuous observation of Martian weather by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Odyssey will support the 2012 landing of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and surface operations of that mission. MSL will assess whether its landing area has had environmental conditions favorable for microbial life and preserving evidence about whether life has existed there. The rover will carry the largest, most advanced set of instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the Martian surface.

“The Mars program clearly demonstrates that world-class science coupled with sound and creative engineering equals success and longevity,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Other recent NASA spacecraft at Mars include the Mars Global Surveyor that began orbiting the Red Planet in 1997. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed on Mars in January 2004. They have been exploring for six years, far surpassing their original 90-day mission. Phoenix landed May 25, 2008, farther north than any previous spacecraft to the planet’s surface. The mission’s biggest surprise was the discovery of perchlorate, an oxidizing chemical on Earth that is food for some microbes, but potentially toxic for others. The solar-powered lander completed its three-month mission and kept working until sunlight waned two months later. MRO arrived at Mars in 2006 on a search for evidence that water persisted on the planet’s surface for a long period of time.

Odyssey is managed by JPL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. JPL and Lockheed Martin collaborate on operating the spacecraft. For more about the Mars Odyssey mission, visit:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey

NASA recently announced that it would be conducting contract negotiations for 350 projects under its SBIR and STTR programs, which are aimed at promoting space technology development by small businesses. Parabolic Arc will be looking at a number of the proposals involving NewSpace companies that it regularly covers or which encompass interesting technologies.

This post looks at Altius Space Machines, a new startup from Jon Goff who is late of Masten Space Systems. Goff’s Colorado-based company is working on a system to assist NASA with its Mars Sample Return mission.

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

The Electroadhesive “Sticky Boom”, an innovative method for rendezvous and docking, is proposed for the Orbiting Sample Capture (OSC) portion of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. This technology carries the advantages of greatly reducing the probability of accidental collisions, high inherent reliability from mechanical and guidance simplicity, lower propellant consumption, avoidance of plume impingement, high tolerance for relative spacecraft misalignment, very low mass and volume requirements, and reliable non-mechanical contact and proximity detection. The system consists of an electrically activated electro-adhesive pad used for spacecraft capture, mounted flexibly on the end of a low volume/weight retractable boom. The research proposed in phase 1 aims to design a system optimized for MSR mission and demonstrate the reliable functionality of the system in simulated space environments raising the TRL from a 2 to a 3. This effort ends with a system design for a flight testbed for testing during Phase 2, thus further elevating the TRL to 5-6. Also covered are numerous other applications of the technology, which allows for docking with spacecraft not design for docking as well as capture of uncooperative targets and debris. Interest in application of this technology has been show by industry entities such as ULA.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

In addition to the Mars Sample Return OSC retrieval mission, technology based on the Sticky Boom concept has applications in:

• Any of the Flagship Technology Demonstrator missions which focus on autonomous rendezvous and docking
• Propellant depots, as reliable docking will be key to mission success
• Capture devices for active removal of orbital debris

The electrostatic adhesion pad itself, once proven for use in the space environment also has other applications separate from boom rendezvous:

• Robotic systems such as Robonaut which could benefit from more flexible means of movement on space stations rather than current rail bases systems
• Gripping surfaces for boots and gloves to improve EVA safety and flexibility.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS

Outside NASA, there is significant interest in rendezvous and docking systems that do not require the target vehicle to be predesigned for the mission, cooperative, or even controlled at all. Applications of this sort include:

• Space tugs for refueling or servicing existing space craft
• “Uncooperative” rendezvous and docking efforts, which DoD is interested in
• Debris capture for paid orbital debris removal services.
• “Life-extension” services or “orbital rescue” services, where a satellite that has either lost control, or is near the end of its propellant reserves can have its life extended by a servicing satellite.
• Other orbital servicing missions including ORU replacement
• A docking system enabling high-tempo delivery of propellants to propellant depots using “dumb” propellant tankers
• Simplification of the rendezvous/docking process for crew/cargo deliveries to orbital facilities.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Contact/Mechanical
Deployment
Fasteners/Decouplers
Robotics (see also Control & Monitoring; Sensors)

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3