Exploration Technologies for Operations

Although the International Space Station (ISS) assembly has been completed, the Operations support teams continue to seek more efficient and effective ways to prepare for and conduct the ISS operations and future exploration missions beyond low earth orbit. This search for improvement has led to a significant collaboration between the NASA research and advanced software development community at NASA Ames Research Center and the Mission Operations community at NASA Johnson Space Center. Since 2001, NASA Ames Research Center has been developing and applying its advanced intelligent systems and human systems integration research to mission operations tools for several of the unmanned Mars missions operations. Since 2006, NASA Ames Research Center has also been developing and applying its advanced intelligent systems and human systems integration research to mission operations tools for manned operations support with the Mission Operations Directorate at NASA Johnson Space Center. This paper discusses the completion of the development and deployment of a variety of intelligent and human systems technologies adopted for manned mission operations. The technologies associated with the projects include advanced software systems for operations and human-centered computing. Human-centered computing looks to the processes and procedures that people do to perform any given job, then attempts to identify opportunities to improve these processes and procedures. In particular, for mission operations, improvements are quantified by specifically identifying how a tool can increase a persons efficiency, enhance a persons functional capability, andor improve the assurance of a persons decisions. The Ames development team has collaborated with the Mission Operations team to identify areas of efficiencies through technology infusion applications in support of the Plan, Train, and Fly activities of human-spaceflight mission operations. The specific applications discussed in this paper are in the areas of mission planning systems, mission operations design modeling and workflow automation, advanced systems monitoring, mission control technologies, search tools, training management tools, spacecraft solar array management, spacecraft power management, and spacecraft attitude planning. We discuss these specific projects between the Ames Research Center and the Johnson Space Centers Mission Operations Directorate, and how these technologies and projects are enhancing the mission operations support for the International Space Station. We also discuss the challenges, problems, and successes associated with long-distance and multi-year development projects between the research team at Ames and the Mission Operations customers at Johnson Space center. Finally, we discuss how these technology infusion applications and underlying technologies might be used in the future to support on-board operations of the crew and spacecraft systems as human exploration expands beyond low earth orbit to destinations in the solar system where communications delays will require more on-board autonomy and planning by the crew. Longer communications delays will require that the ground mission operations support will be primarily strategic in nature, while the tactical level of planning, systems monitoring and control, and failure analysisisolationrecovery will be the responsibility of both the spacecraft autonomous systems and the crew. Our expectation is that the technologie

Mission Operations, Cubed: NASA Marshall Operations Support for SmallSats

SmallSats have come a long way since the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center supported its first “minisatellite” mission in 2010. And just as SmallSats themselves have evolved in those 12 years, so too has the HOSC’s mission support for SmallSats. Marshall Space Flight Center has a long history with payload and mission operations, including support for the Apollo missions to the moon, the Space Shuttle program, and 21 years of continuous around-the-clock science operations support for research aboard the International Space Station. Today, the HOSC is a multi-tenant facility, supporting not only ISS, but also NASA’s Commercial Crew program, the Space Launch System, the Hubble and Chandra observatories and others – including multiple SmallSat missions. Two SmallSat solar sail missions will be among those taking advantage of the HOSC’s resources for planning, training for and executing mission operations – the Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout and Solar Cruiser missions. One of 10 6U CubeSats manifest on the Artemis I launch of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket this year, NEA Scout’s three-year mission will be supported through a more traditional operations concept, with a dedicated Flight Controller staff operating within the HOSC. Scheduled to launch as part of the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) in February 2025, Solar Cruiser’s 11-month mission will take a next[1]generation approach to operations by utilizing a multi-mission flight controller concept, as well as Marshall’s Telescience Resource Kit (TreK). TreK provides a suite of software applications and libraries that allow the Mission Operations Center to serve as an in-house ground system which incorporates remote and automation capability options for engineers and scientists. This presentation will compare the approaches the HOSC will use to support these two missions as a way of demonstrating the array of options NASA MSFC offers for operations support for CubeSat and SmallSat missions

Space construction system analysis. Part 2: Cost and programmatics

Cost and programmatic elements of the space construction systems analysis study are discussed. The programmatic aspects of the ETVP program define a comprehensive plan for the development of a space platform, the construction system, and the space shuttle operations/logistics requirements. The cost analysis identified significant items of cost on ETVP development, ground, and flight segments, and detailed the items of space construction equipment and operations

Potential for Solar Energy in Food Manufacturing, Distribution and Retail

The overall aim of the study was to assess the potential for increasing the use of solar energy in the food sector. For comparative purposes the study also included an assessment of the benefits that could arise from the use of other renewable energy sources, and the potential for more effective use of energy in food retail and distribution. Specific objectives were to: i) establish the current state of the art in relevant available solar technology; ii) identify the barriers for the adoption of solar technology; iii) assess the potential for solar energy capture; iv) appraise the potential of alternative relevant technologies for providing renewable energy; v) assess the benefits from energy saving technologies; vi) compare the alternative strategies for the next 5-10 years and vii) Consider the merits of specific research programmes on solar energy and energy conservation in the food sector. To obtain the views of the main stakeholders in the relevant food and energy sectors on the opportunities and barriers to the adoption of solar energy and other renewable energy technologies by the food industry, personal interviews and structured questionnaires tailored to the main stakeholders (supermarkets, consultants for supermarket design; energy and equipment suppliers) were used. The main findings from the questionnaires and interviews are: - Key personnel in supermarkets and engineers involved in the design of supermarkets are aware of the potential contribution of renewable energy technologies and other energy conservation measures to energy conservation and environmental impact reduction in the food industry. A number of supermarket chains have implemented such technologies at pilot scale to gain operating experience, and more importantly, for marketing reasons, to gain competitive advantage through a green image. - From installations to date in the UK the most notable are a 600 kW wind turbine at a Sainsbury's distribution centre in East Kilbride and a 60 kWp photovoltaic array at a Tesco store in Swansea. - The main barrier to the application of renewable energy technologies in the food sector is the capital cost. Even though significant progress has been made towards the improvement of the energy conversion efficiencies of photovoltaic technologies (PVs) and reduction in their cost, payback periods are still far too long, for them to become attractive to the food industry. - Wind energy can be more attractive than PVs in areas of high wind speed. Apart from relatively high cost, the main barrier to the wide application of wind turbines for local power generation is planning restrictions. This technology is more attractive for application in food distribution centres that are normally located outside build-up areas where planning restrictions can be less severe than in urban areas. In these applications it is likely that preference will be for large wind turbines of more than 1.0 MW power generation capacity as the cost of generation per unit power reduces with the size of the turbine

Photovoltaic module on-orbit assembly for Space Station Freedom

One of the elements of the Space Station Freedom power system is the Photovoltaic (PV) module. These modules will be assembled on-orbit during the assembly phase of the program. These modules will be assembled either from the shuttle orbiter or from the Mobile Servicing Center (MSC). The different types of assembly operations that will be used to assemble PV Modules are described

International Space Station Spacecraft Charging Hazards: Hazard Identification, Management, and Control Methodologies, with Possible Applications to Human Spaceflight Beyond LEO

In this paper, we present an overview of how the International Space Station (ISS) safety engineering methodology directed to controlling extravehicular activity (EVA) crew electrical shock hazards, caused by ISS spacecraft charging, has evolved over the past 25+ years. Long-term measurements of ISS charging severity and frequency-of-occurrence, combined with detailed probabilistic analysis of EVA electric shock- circuit completion, led to a change in hazard control methodology. The requirement for two-fault tolerant EVA shock hazard control during all EVAs was replaced with a less operationally burdensome and risky EVA shock hazard detection and warning process. The applicability of event probability-based detection-and- warning processes to human spaceflight charging hazard control beyond low-earth orbit (LEO) is also considered

Technology for large space systems: A special bibliography with indexes (supplement 03)

A bibliography containing 217 abstracts addressing the technology for large space systems is presented. State of the art and advanced concepts concerning interactive analysis and design, structural concepts, control systems, electronics, advanced materials, assembly concepts, propulsion, solar power satellite systems, and flight experiments are represented