NASA's Analog Missions: Driving Exploration Through Innovative Testing

Feasibility Study for a Commercial Space Station in Low Earth Orbit

Forty-one different polymers are being exposed to the low Earth orbit (LEO) environment on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) for one year as part of MISSE (Materials International Space Station Experiment). MISSE is a materials flight experiment sponsored by the Air Force Research Lab/Materials Lab and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A second set of the same polymers is planned to be flown as part of PEACE (Polymer Erosion And Contamination Experiment), a short duration shuttle flight experiment, and therefore these forty-one polymers on ISS are collectively called the MISSE PEACE Polymers. The objective of the MISSE PEACE Polymers experiment is to accurately determine the atomic oxygen (AO) erosion yield of a wide variety of polymeric materials. The polymers range from those commonly used for spacecraft applications, such as Teflon FEP, to more recently developed polymers, such as high temperature polyimide PMR (polymerization of monomer reactants). Additional polymers were included to explore erosion yield dependence upon chemical composition. Details on the specific polymers being flown, flight sample fabrication, and pre-flight characterization techniques will be discussed. The MISSE PEACE Polymers experiment was placed on the exterior of ISS during a spacewalk on August 16, 2001 and is planned to be retrieved in the fall of 2002. The erosion yield data obtained from this experiment will be compared with data from the future short duration experiment PEACE and with predicted results from models developed by a Canadian group that predicts the AO erosion yield of organic materials based on their chemical structure. Having flight data, and comparing flight data with the predictive model results, will be valuable for spacecraft design purposes.

Space travel: medicine in extremes

<div class="htmlview paragraph">The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is working towards future long duration manned space flights beyond low earth orbit. During these missions, vegetable crops may be grown on the transit vehicle as well as the lunar or planetary surface. The vegetable crops will provide the crew with added nutrition and variety. The vegetable crops, unlike the prepackaged foods, will add bright colors, fresh textures (e.g., crispiness), and fresh aromas to the crew’s menu. Ten vegetable crops have been identified for possible use in long duration missions. They are lettuce, spinach, carrot, tomato, green onion, radish, bell pepper, strawberries, fresh herbs, and cabbage. Since these crops do not require any cooking or food processing prior to consumption, careful sanitation procedures need to be performed.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Whether these crops are grown on a transit vehicle (e.g., International Space Station) or on the lunar or planetary surface, it will be necessary to determine how to safely handle the vegetables while maintaining acceptability. Since hydrogen peroxide degrades into water and oxygen and is generally recognized as safe (GRAS), hydrogen peroxide has been recommended as the sanitizer.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">The objective of this research was to determine the required effective concentration of hydrogen peroxide without adversely affecting the quality of the vegetables. Store bought vegetables were dipped in deionized distilled water, 1% hydrogen peroxide, 3% hydrogen peroxide, or 5% hydrogen peroxide. Treated produce and controls were stored in plastic bags at 5°C for up to 14 days. Sensory, color, texture, and total plate count were measured.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">Although each vegetable reacts to hydrogen peroxide differently, the data suggest that with the exception of green onions, which may require a 5% dip, the other vegetables will only require a 0% or 1% hydrogen peroxide dip to reduce the microbial total count while not adversely affecting the quality of the vegetable. More testing still needs to be done on actual chamber grown vegetables. It is expected that chamber grown vegetables will have a lower microbial count and may not need as strong a treatment of hydrogen peroxide.</div>

Options for development flight testing (DFT) of the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) are discussed. The Ares-I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) is being developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to launch the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) into low Earth Orbit (LEO). The Ares-I implements one of the components of the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE), providing crew and cargo access to the International Space Station (ISS) after retirement of the Space Shuttle and, eventually, forming part of the launch capability needed for lunar exploration. The role of development flight testing is to demonstrate key sub-systems, address key technical risks, and provide flight data to validate engineering models in representative flight environments. This is distinguished from certification flight testing, which is designed to formally validate system functionality and achieve flight readiness. Lessons learned from Saturn V, Space Shuttle, and other flight programs are examined along with key Ares-I technical risks in order to provide insight into possible development flight test strategies. A strategy for the first test flight of the Ares I, known as Ares I-1, is presented.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing high-tolerance, radiation-hardened electronics for missions in and beyond Low Earth orbit. Ferroelectric-based electronics are highly viable candidates for these electronics because of their inherent radiation-hardened property. Since standard memory devices are prone to damage caused by radiation, ferroelectric memory may provide the needed radiation-tolerance. To test the effectiveness of ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) in Low Earth orbit, a 512 K Ramtron FRAM will be flown on a Low Earth orbit satellite that will be launched by NASA. This paper discusses the advantages of ferroelectric electronics and outlines the Low Earth orbit ferroelectric memory test experiment.

Space environmental effects on materials are very severe and complex because of the synergistic interaction of orbital environments such as high-energy radiation particles, atomic oxygen, micrometeoroids, orbital debris, and ultraviolet irradiation interacting synergistically, along with thermal exposure. In addition, surface degradation associated with contamination can negatively impact optics performance. Materials flight experiments are critical to understanding the engineering performance of materials exposed to specific space environments. Likewise, the spacecraft designer must have an understanding of the specific environment in which a spacecraft will operate, enabling appropriate selection of materials to maximize engineering performance, increase mission lifetimes, and reduce risk. This article will present a methodology for assessing the engineering performance of materials baselined for a specific spacecraft or mission. In addition, an overview of the space environment, from low Earth orbit to interplanetary space, will be provided along with an overview on the effects of the space environment on materials performance. The majority of this article is devoted to materials flight experiments from the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Some of the experiments reviewed include ESA's Materials Exposure and Degradation Experiment on the International Space Station (ISS), JAXA's Micro-Particles Capturer and Space Environment Exposure Device experiments on the ISS Service Module and on the ISS Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility, and NASA's Long Duration Exposure Facility satellite and the Materials International Space Station Experiment series flown on the exterior of ISS.

The International Space Station (ISS) is the product of the efforts of sixteen nations over the course of several decades. It is now complete, operational, and has been continuously occupied since November of 20001. Since then the ISS has been carrying out a wide variety of research and technology development experiments, and starting to produce some pleasantly startling results. The ISS has a mass of 420 metric tons, supports a crew of six with a yearly resupply requirement of around 30 metric tons, within a pressurized volume of 916 cubic meters, and a habitable volume of 388 cubic meters. Its solar arrays produce up to 84 kilowatts of power. In the course of developing the ISS, many lessons were learned and much valuable expertise was gained. Where do we go from here? The ISS offers an existence proof of the feasibility of sustained human occupation and operations in space over decades. It also demonstrates the ability of many countries to work collaboratively on a very complex and expensive project in space over an extended period of time to achieve a common goal. By harvesting best practices and lessons learned, the ISS can also serve as a useful model for exploring architectures for beyond low- earth-orbit (LEO) space development. This paper will explore the concept and feasibility for a Lunar Station. The Station concept can be implemented by either putting the equivalent capability of the ISS down on the surface of the Moon, or by developing the required capabilities through a combination of delivered materials and equipment and in situ resource utilization (ISRU). Scenarios that leverage existing technologies and capabilities as well as capabilities that are under development and are expected to be available within the next 3-5 years, will be examined. This paper will explore how best practices and expertise gained from developing and operating the ISS and other relevant programs can be applied to effectively developing Lunar Station.

In order to meet the space transportation needs for a new century, America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has implemented an Integrated Space Transportation Plan to produce safe, economical, and reliable access to space. One near term objective of this initiative is the design and development of a next-generation vehicle and launch system that will transport crew and cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS), the Orbital Space Plane (OSP). The OSP system is composed of a manned launch vehicle by an existing Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). The OSP will provide emergency crew rescue from the ISS by 2008, and provide crew and limited cargo transfer to and from the ISS by 2012. A key requirement is for the OSP to be safer and more reliable than the Soyuz and Space Shuttle, which currently provide these capabilities.NASA has taken an integrated systems approach in designing the OSP launch system and related ground operations and launch support services. This “System-Centric” approach, as opposed to a “Vehicle-Centric” approach, presents unique challenges in terms of meeting the desired safety and reliability requirements As a result, NASA is utilizing PRA, a methodology for quantitative risk assessment, on the entire system during the design process and throughout the life of the system. When PRA is performed early in the design and development cycle with full engineering design and operations involvement, the PRA based integrated system model will provide a means for methodical and objective optimisation of the conceptual design.This paper discusses the development and implementation of PRA in the OSP Program. The OSP Program is the first major NASA program to perform and use PRA during the concept formulation phase of the program and is expected to produce the paradigm by which future space launch systems can be designed to meet successively higher safety and reliability demands [1].KeywordsInternational Space StationSpace ShuttleQuantitative Risk AssessmentProbabilistic Risk AssessmentIntegrate System ModelThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Office of the Administrator Washington DC May 24, 2006 Dear Dr. Chang Diaz, We have followed, with interest, the privatization of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) project and are pleased with the success of our collaboration as defined in the Space Act Agreement signed June 26, 2005, between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Ad Astra Rocket Company. We have monitored your progress in the development of this technology with private funds and believe that your company’s initiative could one day be applicable to NASA’s exploration goals. We fully endorse such private efforts, and consistent with our Agency’s needs, will consider using these capabilities when they come to fruition. More specifically, we understand that one of your company’s near-term objectives is the development of a 100 kilowatt VASIMR engine, together with a space power and propulsion test facility, to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS). Such capability might be useful in providing drag compensation for the orbital complex or might evolve into a test bed for advanced electric plasma rockets in the future. NASA is interested in these concepts and willing to explore the feasibility of an addendum to the Space Act Agreement between NASA and your company. In order to determine if such an addendum is warranted, we should first collaboratively define the physical and functional interfaces required for the integration of such a system on the ISS, as well as your company’s ability to sustain the development and operation phases. In the long term, technologies such as VASIMR, once successfully demonstrated, could play a role in the evolving space exploration architecture. I am directing William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for Space Operations, to assign someone to work with your team on the potential for expanding our collaborative framework. I look forward to the continuation of a very productive relationship. Sincerely Michael D. Griffin Administrator

Personal computers of the past were limited to running computational fluid dynamics codes in serial mode. With the advent of multicore technology and suitable compilers, personal computers nowadays can execute codes in a parallel fashion similar to that of supercomputers and cluster computer systems. This article investigated what performance can be achieved when executing an aerodynamic code on an Intel quad core based personal computer with an OpenMP compiler in a Windows environment. The code solved the Euler equations to find the flowfield around a NACA0012 aerofoil on an O-type boundary fitted structured grid system. A speedup of up to 350% was obtainable in double precision accuracy. The reduced computation time means that, for small scale problems, more accurate Euler codes can replace commonly used transonic small disturbance codes. For larger problems, this information serves as a reference for developers of hybrid MPI/OpenMP algorithms for cluster computer systems. 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Hirsch, C., Numerical Computation of Internal and External Flows (Volume 2): Computational Methods for Inviscid and Viscous Flows, John Wiley and Sons, Great Britain, 1992. Hoffmann, K. A., Computational Fluid Dynamics for Engineers, Engineering Educational System, Texas, USA, 1989. Intel, Tera-scale Computing Research Program, c.2007, http://www.intel.com/research/platform/terascale/ Jin, H., Frumkin, M., and Yan, J., The OpenMP Implementation of NAS Parallel Benchmarks and its Performance, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Technical Report NAS-99-011, Moffett Field, USA, 1999. Liu, Y., and Vinokur, M., Nonequilibrium Flow Computations 1: An Analysis of Numerical Formulations of Conservation Laws, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Contractor Report 177489, California, USA, 1988, http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19880021000_1988021000.pdf Lock, R. C., Test Cases for Numerical Methods in Two-Dimensional Transonic Flows, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD), Report Number 575, 1970. Ly, E., Improved Approximate Factorisation Algorithm for the Steady Subsonic and Transonic Flow over an Aircraft Wing, Proceedings of the 21st Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS98), ICAS and AIAA, Melbourne, Australia, 1998, Paper A98-31699. Ly, E., and Gear, J. A., Time-Linearized Transonic Computations Including Shock Wave Motion Effects, Journal of Aircraft, 39, 6, Nov/Dec. 2002, pp. 964--972. Ly, E., and Nakamichi, J., Time-Linearised Transonic Computations Including Entropy, Vorticity and Shock Wave Motion Effects, The Aeronautical Journal, Nov. 2003, pp. 687--695. Ly, E., and Norrison, D., Automatic Elliptic Grid Generation by an Approximate Factorisation Algorithm, ANZIAM Journal, 48 (CTAC2006), pp. C188--C202, July 2007, http://anziamj.austms.org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/48. Ly, E., and Norrison, D., Generating Elliptic Grids in Three Dimensions by a Method of False Transients, ANZIAM Journal, 49 (EMAC2007), pp. C170--C183, Nov. 2007, http://anziamj.austms.org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/313. Nvidia, The Era of the Personal Supercomputer, 2007, http://www.nvidia.com/content/events/siggraph_2007/supercomputing.html Pope, S. B., A Perspective on Turbulence Modeling, Modeling Complex Turbulent Flows, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, 1999. Pulliam, T., Kutler, P., and Rossow, V., Harvard Lomax: His Quiet Legacy to Computational Fluid Dynamics, 14th AIAA Computational Fluid Dynamics Conference, Norfolk, VA, 28 June-1 July, 1999, http://people.nas.nasa.gov/ pulliam/mypapers/lomax_la.ps Steger, J. 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The next Landsat satellite: The Landsat Data Continuity Mission

Toward abiotic sugar synthesis from CO2 electrolysis

<div> <p>The Low Earth Orbital (LEO) setting has been the frontline for validating and testing technologies human spaceflight, robotic spaceflight, and human-robotics relations for the past 60 years. The Moon is the essential next step for constructing and testing surface-based robotics, both for Lunar and Martian purposes. Underground water-ice and mineral-rich regolith allows for vital Lunar human long-term sustainable habitation. Earth-based Lunar analogs are essential elements for preflight verification and risk minimization.</p> <p>With the CRADLE (California Research Analog for Deep Space and Lunar Exploration) location in Lucerne Valley, CA, a new way that allows human-in-the-loop ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization) operations using exploration hardware such as rovers, robots, and surface habitats can now be enabled. Simulating Lunar ISRU operations with remote mission control and surface assets, including tele-robotics and a crewed habitat, will help to identify potential efficiencies and constraints for real Lunar and potential Martian long-term human settlements.</p> <p>During the summer months of 2020, a team of researchers comprised of physicians, scientists, individuals from both public and private space agencies, and students from undergrad to Ph. D levels conducted a plethora of human-in-the-loop ISRU tests and experiments focused around human habitation in an analog Lunar environment and interactions with ISRU analog technologies that operated in similar Lunar analog conditions — all within the vast CRADLE facilities in Lucerne Valley, CA. These tests included, but were not limited to, radio astronomy using small-scale portable radio telescopes in order to demonstrate potential radio astronomy science done near the southern Lunar pole, hydroponics development and maintenance, safe and efficient waste disposal, “EVA”s in mock astronaut suits, command and control of various robotic ground assets near the habitat, and regolith ISRU in order to attempt to produce building materials from regolith-like geology and robotic manufacturing of said materials. The team consisted of 3 men and 3 women and each person spent 3 days within the CRADLE primary site where the habitat is located. Psychological, physical, and emotional evaluations of each participate were performed both before, during, and after the habitation period.</p> <p>Next year the team plans to perform a trade study comparing various habitat construction techniques using these ISRU capabilities. Through the simulation of technical, operational and even legal scenarios, these efforts will improve mission safety, execution and value. The CRADLE facility helps provide rapid iteration and design augmentation while testing and validating future technologies alongside human factors requirement.</p> </div> <p> </p>

Chapter 9 - Practical Applications of Asteroidal ISRU in Support of Human Exploration