Space Food and Nutrition in a Long Term Manned Mission

Abstract Fulfillment of space exploration mission is key, but much more important are the lives of the explorers. Keeping the astronauts alive, jolly and healthy for long term manned mission has recently being a major and important research area. A major contribution seems to be the food they eat. For short term space manned missions, astronauts food could be taken along with them from Earth, but for manned missions to the Moon, Mars and Venus which are the current research destinations for long term space missions, they must find a means for their nutrition such as growing plants and finding any other alternatives for their survival. As most of these proposed missions have being designed to be one-way missions whereby the astronauts will not come back to the Earth. Good food and nutrition for astronauts help to keep their psychology and physiology in good shape. In this paper, solutions will be made on the various alternatives for feeding astronauts in the long term missions to various celestial bodies: Moon, Mars and Venus, where the atmosphere, gravity, soil, radiation and other conditions vary from one to the other and may not support germination, growth and development of plants. Therefore, review will be done on the following: having fore knowledge of how plants will grow on these celestial bodies by simulating their soils; using mathematical/theoretical models to get the growth rate of plants in relation to the gravity available on these celestial bodies using available data from terrestrial growth (1 g growth) and microgravity/microgravity simulations facilities; getting to know how the plants will be grown such as using greenhouse method as a result of the atmosphere and radiation in these celestial bodies; and other various alternatives for growing plants and having the astronauts well-nourished such as using aeroponics and hydroponics methods. A brief discussion will also be done on food choice for astronauts considering psychosocial and cultural factors

On Orbit Servicing GNC through a dual quaternion approach

On Orbit Servicing (OOS) is an ever-growing topic in the space sector. OOS mission concepts may include refueling, orbital inspection, orbit insertion, subsystem repair or substitution, bus augmentation and even planned decommissioning. In order to propose an appealing product, OOS providers will need to have a strong business plan and high quality of services. The latter is achieved through reliable and robust in-orbit operations relying on a dedicated guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system as well as on a proper robotics system to achieve the desired tasks. Relative position and attitude GNC is the first element to be addressed. In this article a dual quaternion (DQ) parametrization will be used to derive a robust GNC system capable of achieving desired performances under uncertainties and complex non-linear effects. The ability to cope with non-foreseeable customer satellite parameter changes as well as servicer satellite mass and inertia changes is required to ensure the safety of operations. Special focus will be given to the benefits given by the DQ formulation as well as the known problematics of unwinding and higher dimensionality. The use of DQ allows to easily determine data fusion schemes as well as solving relative pose estimation problems arising from the use of sensors like cameras. The approach is general and can be applied to several other cases where relative position and attitude control is necessary. In fact, the acquired GNC strategy will be also applied to robotic arm guidance and control, evaluating the scalability and flexibility of the approach. A simulation case, using a custom developed multibody space simulator based on dual quaternions, is performed to verify robustness of the proposed GNC system

A Note on a Geometrical Method to Solve Spacecraft Formation Flying Control

Spacecraft formation flying is becoming more important since the use of multiple satellites has been demonstrated to be cost-effective. In some applications, the spacecraft need to satisfy certain geometrical constraints; e. g. regarding formation pointing. In this paper an efficient method has been devised that minimises the variation of orbital elements to achieve the requested states. The positions that minimise displacement from a reference plane are computed, and the compatible velocities that reduce shape and plane variation for all S/C are evaluated. This allows to find optimal values for a TPBVP. The algorithm has been applied to close-range GEO formations

Chapter 10: "Control"

Modern Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control: From System Modeling to AI and Innovative Applications provides a comprehensive foundation of theory and applications of spacecraft GNC, from fundamentals to advanced concepts, including modern AI-based architectures with focus on hardware and software practical applications. Divided into four parts, this book begins with an introduction to spacecraft GNC, before discussing the basic tools for GNC applications. These include an overview of the main reference systems and planetary models, a description of the space environment, an introduction to orbital and attitude dynamics, and a survey on spacecraft sensors and actuators, with details of their modeling principles. Part 2 covers guidance, navigation, and control, including both on-board and ground-based methods. It also discusses classical and novel control techniques, failure detection isolation and recovery (FDIR) methodologies, GNC verification, validation, and on-board implementation. The final part 3 discusses AI and modern applications featuring different applicative scenarios, with particular attention on artificial intelligence and the possible benefits when applied to spacecraft GNC. In this part, GNC for small satellites and CubeSats is also discussed. Modern Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control: From System Modeling to AI and Innovative Applications is a valuable resource for aerospace engineers, GNC/AOCS engineers, avionic developers, and AIV/AIT technicians

Chapter 14: "Applicative GNC cases and examples"

Modern Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control: From System Modeling to AI and Innovative Applications provides a comprehensive foundation of theory and applications of spacecraft GNC, from fundamentals to advanced concepts, including modern AI-based architectures with focus on hardware and software practical applications. Divided into four parts, this book begins with an introduction to spacecraft GNC, before discussing the basic tools for GNC applications. These include an overview of the main reference systems and planetary models, a description of the space environment, an introduction to orbital and attitude dynamics, and a survey on spacecraft sensors and actuators, with details of their modeling principles. Part 2 covers guidance, navigation, and control, including both on-board and ground-based methods. It also discusses classical and novel control techniques, failure detection isolation and recovery (FDIR) methodologies, GNC verification, validation, and on-board implementation. The final part 3 discusses AI and modern applications featuring different applicative scenarios, with particular attention on artificial intelligence and the possible benefits when applied to spacecraft GNC. In this part, GNC for small satellites and CubeSats is also discussed. Modern Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control: From System Modeling to AI and Innovative Applications is a valuable resource for aerospace engineers, GNC/AOCS engineers, avionic developers, and AIV/AIT technicians