Features of the Gravity Probe B Space Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Reeve, William; Green, Gaylord

2007-04-01

Space vehicle performance enabled successful relativity data collection throughout the Gravity Probe B mission. Precision pointing and drag-free translation control was maintained using proportional helium micro-thrusters. Electrical power was provided by rigid, double sided solar arrays. The 1.8 kelvin science instrument temperature was maintained using the largest cryogenic liquid helium dewar ever flown in space. The flight software successfully performed autonomous operations and safemode protection. Features of the Gravity Probe B Space Vehicle mechanisms include: 1) sixteen helium micro-thrusters, the first proportional thrusters flown in space, and large-orifice thruster isolation valves, 2) seven precision and high-authority mass trim mechanisms, 3) four non-pyrotechnic, highly reliable solar array deployment and release mechanism sets. Early incremental prototyping was used extensively to reduce spacecraft development risk. All spacecraft systems were redundant and provided multiple failure tolerance in critical systems. Lockheed Martin performed the spacecraft design, systems engineering, hardware and software integration, environmental testing and launch base operations, as well as on-orbit operations support for the Gravity Probe B space science experiment.

Design Optimization of Space Launch Vehicles Using a Genetic Algorithm

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Bayley, Douglas J

2007-01-01

.... A genetic algorithm (GA) was employed to optimize the design of the space launch vehicle. A cost model was incorporated into the optimization process with the goal of minimizing the overall vehicle cost...

Life Science on the International Space Station Using the Next Generation of Cargo Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, J. A.; Phillion, J. P.; Hart, A. T.; Comella, J.; Edeen, M.; Ruttley, T. M.

2011-01-01

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the transition of the International Space Station (ISS) from assembly to full laboratory capabilities, the opportunity to perform life science research in space has increased dramatically, while the operational considerations associated with transportation of the experiments has changed dramatically. US researchers have allocations on the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). In addition, the International Space Station (ISS) Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) contract will provide consumables and payloads to and from the ISS via the unmanned SpaceX (offers launch and return capabilities) and Orbital (offers only launch capabilities) resupply vehicles. Early requirements drove the capabilities of the vehicle providers; however, many other engineering considerations affect the actual design and operations plans. To better enable the use of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory, ground and on-orbit facility development can augment the vehicle capabilities to better support needs for cell biology, animal research, and conditioned sample return. NASA Life scientists with experience launching research on the space shuttle can find the trades between the capabilities of the many different vehicles to be confusing. In this presentation we will summarize vehicle and associated ground processing capabilities as well as key concepts of operations for different types of life sciences research being launched in the cargo vehicles. We will provide the latest status of vehicle capabilities and support hardware and facilities development being made to enable the broadest implementation of life sciences research on the ISS.

Space commercialization: Launch vehicles and programs; Symposium on Space Commercialization: Roles of Developing Countries, Nashville, TN, Mar. 5-10, 1989, Technical Papers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shahrokhi, F.; Greenberg, J.S.; Al-saud, Turki.

1990-01-01

The present volume on progress in astronautics and aeronautics discusses the advent of commercial space, broad-based space education as a prerequisite for space commercialization, and obstacles to space commercialization in the developing world. Attention is given to NASA directions in space propulsion for the year 2000 and beyond, possible uses of the external tank in orbit, power from the space shuttle and from space for use on earth, Long-March Launch Vehicles in the 1990s, the establishment of a center for advanced space propulsion, Pegasus as a key to low-cost space applications, legal problems of developing countries' access to space launch vehicles, and international law of responsibility for remote sensing. Also discussed are low-cost satellites and satellite launch vehicles, satellite launch systems of China; Raumkurier, the German recovery program; and the Ariane transfer vehicle as logistic support to Space Station Freedom

An investigation of the double layers caused by space vehicles moving through the ionosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Sanqiu; Liao Jingjing

2010-01-01

On the basis of non-steady-state nonlinear coupling equations of high-frequency field, density disturbance and potential, the evolution of double layers in the wake region of space vehicles moving through the ionosphere is numerically simulated in the non-static limit case. The results show that the interactions among plasmas, the vehicle and high-frequency electromagnetic waves radiated from the antenna system of the vehicle can lead to the formation of double layers. It is shown that the double layer is a nonlinear entity-caviton. Potential disturbance far away from the vehicle and the peak value of potential near the vehicle in the double layer are obvious. This is very important for detecting space vehicles with a stealth characteristic and preventing space vehicles from being harmed by double layers.

Robust on-off pulse control of flexible space vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wie, Bong; Sinha, Ravi

1993-01-01

The on-off reaction jet control system is often used for attitude and orbital maneuvering of various spacecraft. Future space vehicles such as the orbital transfer vehicles, orbital maneuvering vehicles, and space station will extensively use reaction jets for orbital maneuvering and attitude stabilization. The proposed robust fuel- and time-optimal control algorithm is used for a three-mass spacing model of flexible spacecraft. A fuel-efficient on-off control logic is developed for robust rest-to-rest maneuver of a flexible vehicle with minimum excitation of structural modes. The first part of this report is concerned with the problem of selecting a proper pair of jets for practical trade-offs among the maneuvering time, fuel consumption, structural mode excitation, and performance robustness. A time-optimal control problem subject to parameter robustness constraints is formulated and solved. The second part of this report deals with obtaining parameter insensitive fuel- and time- optimal control inputs by solving a constrained optimization problem subject to robustness constraints. It is shown that sensitivity to modeling errors can be significantly reduced by the proposed, robustified open-loop control approach. The final part of this report deals with sliding mode control design for uncertain flexible structures. The benchmark problem of a flexible structure is used as an example for the feedback sliding mode controller design with bounded control inputs and robustness to parameter variations is investigated.

Coupled radiative gasdynamic interaction and non-equilibrium dissociation for large-scale returned space vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Surzhikov, S.

2012-01-01

Graphical abstract: It has been shown that different coupled vibrational dissociation models, being applied for solving coupled radiative gasdynamic problems for large size space vehicles, exert noticeable effect on radiative heating of its surface at orbital entry on high altitudes (h ⩾ 70 km). This influence decreases with decreasing the space vehicles sizes. Figure shows translational (solid lines) and vibrational (dashed lines) temperatures in shock layer with (circle markers) and without (triangles markers) radiative-gasdynamic interaction for one trajectory point of entering space vehicle. Highlights: ► Nonequilibrium dissociation processes exert effect on radiation heating of space vehicles (SV). ► The radiation gas dynamic interaction enhances this influence. ► This influence increases with increasing the SV sizes. - Abstract: Radiative aerothermodynamics of large-scale space vehicles is considered for Earth orbital entry at zero angle of attack. Brief description of used radiative gasdynamic model of physically and chemically nonequilibrium, viscous, heat conductive and radiative gas of complex chemical composition is presented. Radiation gasdynamic (RadGD) interaction in high temperature shock layer is studied by means of numerical experiment. It is shown that radiation–gasdynamic coupling for orbital space vehicles of large size is important for high altitude part of entering trajectory. It is demonstrated that the use of different models of coupled vibrational dissociation (CVD) in conditions of RadGD interaction gives rise temperature variation in shock layer and, as a result, leads to significant variation of radiative heating of space vehicle.

The Road from the NASA Access to Space Study to a Reusable Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Richard W.; Cook, Stephen A.; Lockwood, Mary Kae

1998-01-01

NASA is cooperating with the aerospace industry to develop a space transportation system that provides reliable access-to-space at a much lower cost than is possible with today's launch vehicles. While this quest has been on-going for many years it received a major impetus when the U.S. Congress mandated as part of the 1993 NASA appropriations bill that: "In view of budget difficulties, present and future..., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall ... recommend improvements in space transportation." NASA, working with other organizations, including the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Defense identified three major transportation architecture options that were to be evaluated in the areas of reliability, operability and cost. These architectural options were: (1) retain and upgrade the Space Shuttle and the current expendable launch vehicles; (2) develop new expendable launch vehicles using conventional technologies and transition to these new vehicles beginning in 2005; and (3) develop new reusable vehicles using advanced technology, and transition to these vehicles beginning in 2008. The launch needs mission model was based on 1993 projections of civil, defense, and commercial payload requirements. This "Access to Space" study concluded that the option that provided the greatest potential for meeting the cost, operability, and reliability goals was a rocket-powered single-stage-to-orbit fully reusable launch vehicle (RLV) fleet designed with advanced technologies.

Cyber threat impact assessment and analysis for space vehicle architectures

Science.gov (United States)

McGraw, Robert M.; Fowler, Mark J.; Umphress, David; MacDonald, Richard A.

2014-06-01

This paper covers research into an assessment of potential impacts and techniques to detect and mitigate cyber attacks that affect the networks and control systems of space vehicles. Such systems, if subverted by malicious insiders, external hackers and/or supply chain threats, can be controlled in a manner to cause physical damage to the space platforms. Similar attacks on Earth-borne cyber physical systems include the Shamoon, Duqu, Flame and Stuxnet exploits. These have been used to bring down foreign power generation and refining systems. This paper discusses the potential impacts of similar cyber attacks on space-based platforms through the use of simulation models, including custom models developed in Python using SimPy and commercial SATCOM analysis tools, as an example STK/SOLIS. The paper discusses the architecture and fidelity of the simulation model that has been developed for performing the impact assessment. The paper walks through the application of an attack vector at the subsystem level and how it affects the control and orientation of the space vehicle. SimPy is used to model and extract raw impact data at the bus level, while STK/SOLIS is used to extract raw impact data at the subsystem level and to visually display the effect on the physical plant of the space vehicle.

Investigation of Vehicle Requirements and Options for Future Space Tourism

Science.gov (United States)

Olds, John R.

2001-01-01

The research in support of this grant was performed by the PI, Dr. John Olds, and graduate students in the Space Systems Design Lab (SSDL) at Georgia Tech over the period December 1999 to December 2000. The work was sponsored by Dr. Ted Talay, branch chief of the Vehicle Analysis Branch at the NASA Langley Research Center. The objective of the project was to examine the characteristics of future space tourism markets and to identify the vehicle requirements that are necessary to enable this emerging new business segment.

Orbital Dynamics of Low-Earth Orbit Laser-Propelled Space Vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamakawa, Hiroshi; Funaki, Ikkoh; Komurasaki, Kimiya

2008-01-01

Trajectories applicable to laser-propelled space vehicles with a laser station in low-Earth orbit are investigated. Laser vehicles are initially located in the vicinity of the Earth-orbiting laser station in low-earth orbit at an altitude of several hundreds kilometers, and are accelerated by laser beaming from the laser station. The laser-propelled vehicles start from low-earth orbit and finally escape from the Earth gravity well, enabling interplanetary trajectories and planetary exploration

Sensor Systems for Vehicle Environment Perception in a Highway Intelligent Space System

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Xiaofeng; Gao, Feng; Xu, Guoyan; Ding, Nenggen; Cai, Yao; Ma, Mingming; Liu, Jianxing

2014-01-01

A Highway Intelligent Space System (HISS) is proposed to study vehicle environment perception in this paper. The nature of HISS is that a space sensors system using laser, ultrasonic or radar sensors are installed in a highway environment and communication technology is used to realize the information exchange between the HISS server and vehicles, which provides vehicles with the surrounding road information. Considering the high-speed feature of vehicles on highways, when vehicles will be passing a road ahead that is prone to accidents, the vehicle driving state should be predicted to ensure drivers have road environment perception information in advance, thereby ensuring vehicle driving safety and stability. In order to verify the accuracy and feasibility of the HISS, a traditional vehicle-mounted sensor system for environment perception is used to obtain the relative driving state. Furthermore, an inter-vehicle dynamics model is built and model predictive control approach is used to predict the driving state in the following period. Finally, the simulation results shows that using the HISS for environment perception can arrive at the same results detected by a traditional vehicle-mounted sensors system. Meanwhile, we can further draw the conclusion that using HISS to realize vehicle environment perception can ensure system stability, thereby demonstrating the method's feasibility. PMID:24834907

Carbon composites in space vehicle structures

Science.gov (United States)

Mayer, N. J.

1974-01-01

Recent developments in the technology of carbon or graphite filaments now provide the designer with greatly improved materials offering high specific strength and modulus. Besides these advantages are properties which are distinctly useful for space applications and which provide feasibility for missions not obtainable by other means. Current applications include major and secondary structures of communications satellites. A number of R & D projects are exploring carbon-fiber application to rocket engine motor cases, advanced antenna systems, and space shuttle components. Future system studies are being made, based on the successful application of carbon fibers for orbiting space telescope assemblies, orbital transfer vehicles, and very large deployable energy generation systems. Continued technology development is needed in analysis, material standards, and advanced structural concepts to exploit the full potential of carbon filaments in composite materials.

Some Problems of Rocket-Space Vehicles' Characteristics co- ordination

Science.gov (United States)

Sergienko, Alexander A.

2002-01-01

of the XX century suffered a reverse. The designers of the United States' firms and enterprises of aviation and rocket-space industry (Boeing, Rocketdyne, Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas, Rockwell, etc.) and NASA (Marshall Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, Langley Research Center and Lewis Research Center and others) could not correctly co-ordinate the characteristics of a propulsion system and a space vehicle for elaboration of the "Single-Stage-To-Orbit" reusable vehicle (SSTO) as an integral whole system, which is would able to inject a payload into an orbit and to return back on the Earth. jet nozzle design as well as the choice of propulsion system characteristics, ensuring the high ballistic efficiency, are considered in the present report. The efficiency criterions for the engine and launch system parameters optimization are discussed. The new methods of the nozzle block optimal parameters' choice for the satisfaction of the object task of flight are suggested. The family of SSTO with a payload mass from 5 to 20 ton and initial weight under 800 ton is considered.

Space imaging infrared optical guidance for autonomous ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Akiyama, Akira; Kobayashi, Nobuaki; Mutoh, Eiichiro; Kumagai, Hideo; Yamada, Hirofumi; Ishii, Hiromitsu

2008-08-01

We have developed the Space Imaging Infrared Optical Guidance for Autonomous Ground Vehicle based on the uncooled infrared camera and focusing technique to detect the objects to be evaded and to set the drive path. For this purpose we made servomotor drive system to control the focus function of the infrared camera lens. To determine the best focus position we use the auto focus image processing of Daubechies wavelet transform technique with 4 terms. From the determined best focus position we transformed it to the distance of the object. We made the aluminum frame ground vehicle to mount the auto focus infrared unit. Its size is 900mm long and 800mm wide. This vehicle mounted Ackerman front steering system and the rear motor drive system. To confirm the guidance ability of the Space Imaging Infrared Optical Guidance for Autonomous Ground Vehicle we had the experiments for the detection ability of the infrared auto focus unit to the actual car on the road and the roadside wall. As a result the auto focus image processing based on the Daubechies wavelet transform technique detects the best focus image clearly and give the depth of the object from the infrared camera unit.

The Ergonomics of Human Space Flight: NASA Vehicles and Spacesuits

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, Christopher R.; Rajulu, Sudhakar

2014-01-01

Space...the final frontier...these are the voyages of the starship...wait, wait, wait...that's not right...let's try that again. NASA is currently focusing on developing multiple strategies to prepare humans for a future trip to Mars. This includes (1) learning and characterizing the human system while in the weightlessness of low earth orbit on the International Space Station and (2) seeding the creation of commercial inspired vehicles by providing guidance and funding to US companies. At the same time, NASA is slowly leading the efforts of reestablishing human deep space travel through the development of the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) known as Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS) with the interim aim of visiting and exploring an asteroid. Without Earth's gravity, current and future human space travel exposes humans to micro- and partial gravity conditions, which are known to force the body to adapt both physically and physiologically. Without the protection of Earth's atmosphere, space is hazardous to most living organisms. To protect themselves from these difficult conditions, Astronauts utilize pressurized spacesuits for both intravehicular travel and extravehicular activities (EVAs). Ensuring a safe living and working environment for space missions requires the creativity of scientists and engineers to assess and mitigate potential risks through engineering designs. The discipline of human factors and ergonomics at NASA is critical in making sure these designs are not just functionally designed for people to use, but are optimally designed to work within the capacities specific to the Astronaut Corps. This lecture will review both current and future NASA vehicles and spacesuits while providing an ergonomic perspective using case studies that were and are being carried out by the Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility (ABF) at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Gravity Probe B Space Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

2003-01-01

The space vehicle for Gravity Probe B (GP-B) arrives at the launch site at Vandenburg Air Force Base. GP-B is the relativity experiment being developed at Stanford University to test two extraordinary predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. The experiment will measure, very precisely, the expected tiny changes in the direction of the spin axes of four gyroscopes contained in an Earth-orbiting satellite at a 400-mile altitude. So free are the gyroscopes from disturbance that they will provide an almost perfect space-time reference system. They will measure how space and time are very slightly warped by the presence of the Earth, and, more profoundly, how the Earth's rotation very slightly drags space-time around with it. These effects, though small for the Earth, have far-reaching implications for the nature of matter and the structure of the Universe. GP-B is among the most thoroughly researched programs ever undertaken by NASA. This is the story of a scientific quest in which physicists and engineers have collaborated closely over many years. Inspired by their quest, they have invented a whole range of technologies that are already enlivening other branches of science and engineering. Scheduled for launch in 2003 and managed for NASA by the Marshall Space Flight Center, development of the GP-B is the responsibility of Stanford University, with major subcontractor Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Experiments in teleoperator and autonomous control of space robotic vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Harold L.

1991-01-01

A program of research embracing teleoperator and automatic navigational control of freely flying satellite robots is presented. Current research goals include: (1) developing visual operator interfaces for improved vehicle teleoperation; (2) determining the effects of different visual interface system designs on operator performance; and (3) achieving autonomous vision-based vehicle navigation and control. This research program combines virtual-environment teleoperation studies and neutral-buoyancy experiments using a space-robot simulator vehicle currently under development. Visual-interface design options under investigation include monoscopic versus stereoscopic displays and cameras, helmet-mounted versus panel-mounted display monitors, head-tracking versus fixed or manually steerable remote cameras, and the provision of vehicle-fixed visual cues, or markers, in the remote scene for improved sensing of vehicle position, orientation, and motion.

The study of field and density cavity in the near wake region of a space vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luo Qing; Wang Jing; Hu Taoping

2011-01-01

Under the static limit,using the method of Fourier transformation, the non-steady, nonlinear interactions between plasma and field in the near wake region of a space vehicle are investigated. Numerical calculations are performed and the results show that there are the formation of the electromagnetic soliton and density caviton in the near wake region of the space vehicle, which can be detected due to the collapse of electric field. Therefore, we can trace out the space vehicle by means of observing the structure and intensity of the density caviton and electromagnetic soliton although the space vehicle may be have a disguised characteristic. (authors)

A Comprehensive CFD Tool for Aerothermal Environment Around Space Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The goal of this SBIR project is to develop an innovative, high fidelity computational tool for accurate prediction of aerothermal environment around space vehicles....

A Comprehensive CFD Tool for Aerothermal Environment Around Space Vehicles, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The goal of this SBIR project is to develop an innovative, high fidelity computational tool for accurate prediction of aerothermal environment around space vehicles....

Space vehicle electromechanical system and helical antenna winding fixture

Science.gov (United States)

Judd, Stephen; Dallmann, Nicholas; Guenther, David; Enemark, Donald; Seitz, Daniel; Martinez, John; Storms, Steven

2017-12-26

A space vehicle electromechanical system may employ an architecture that enables convenient and practical testing, reset, and retesting of solar panel and antenna deployment on the ground. A helical antenna winding fixture may facilitate winding and binding of the helical antenna.

Analyzing Damping Vibration Methods of Large-Size Space Vehicles in the Earth's Magnetic Field

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. A. Shcheglov

2016-01-01

Full Text Available It is known that most of today's space vehicles comprise large antennas, which are bracket-attached to the vehicle body. Dimensions of reflector antennas may be of 30 ... 50 m. The weight of such constructions can reach approximately 200 kg.Since the antenna dimensions are significantly larger than the size of the vehicle body and the points to attach the brackets to the space vehicles have a low stiffness, conventional dampers may be inefficient. The paper proposes to consider the damping antenna in terms of its interaction with the Earth's magnetic field.A simple dynamic model of the space vehicle equipped with a large-size structure is built. The space vehicle is a parallelepiped to which the antenna is attached through a beam.To solve the model problems, was used a simplified model of Earth's magnetic field: uniform, with intensity lines parallel to each other and perpendicular to the plane of the antenna.The paper considers two layouts of coils with respect to the antenna, namely: a vertical one in which an axis of magnetic dipole is perpendicular to the antenna plane, and a horizontal layout in which an axis of magnetic dipole lies in the antenna plane. It also explores two ways for magnetic damping of oscillations: through the controlled current that is supplied from the power supply system of the space vehicle, and by the self-induction current in the coil. Thus, four objectives were formulated.In each task was formulated an oscillation equation. Then a ratio of oscillation amplitudes and their decay time were estimated. It was found that each task requires the certain parameters either of the antenna itself, its dimensions and moment of inertia, or of the coil and, respectively, the current, which is supplied from the space vehicle. In each task for these parameters were found the ranges, which allow us to tell of efficient damping vibrations.The conclusion can be drawn based on the analysis of tasks that a specialized control system

Definition of technology development missions for early space stations orbit transfer vehicle serving. Phase 2, task 1: Space station support of operational OTV servicing

Science.gov (United States)

1983-01-01

Representative space based orbital transfer vehicles (OTV), ground based vehicle turnaround assessment, functional operational requirements and facilities, mission turnaround operations, a comparison of ground based versus space based tasks, activation of servicing facilities prior to IOC, fleet operations requirements, maintenance facilities, OTV servicing facilities, space station support requirements, and packaging for delivery are discussed.

Advanced Data Mining and Deployment for Integrated Vehicle Health Management and the Space Vehicle Lifecycle, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — In a successful Phase 1 project for NASA SBIR topic A1.05, "Data Mining for Integrated Vehicle Health Management," Michigan Aerospace Corporation (MAC) demonstrated...

Numerical study for flame deflector design of a space launch vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Hwayoung; Lee, Jungil; Um, Hyungsik; Huh, Hwanil

2017-04-01

A flame deflector is a structure that prevents damage to a launch vehicle and a launch pad due to exhaust plumes of a lifting-off launch vehicle. The shape of a flame deflector should be designed to restrain the discharged gas from backdraft inside the deflector and to reflect the impact to the surrounding environment and the engine characteristics of the vehicle. This study presents the five preliminary flame deflector configurations which are designed for the first-stage rocket engine of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II and surroundings of the Naro space center. The gas discharge patterns of the designed flame deflectors are investigated using the 3D flow field analysis by assuming that the air, in place of the exhaust gas, forms the plume. In addition, a multi-species unreacted flow model is investigated through 2D analysis of the first-stage engine of the KSLV-II. The results indicate that the closest Mach number and temperature distributions to the reacted flow model can be achieved from the 4-species unreacted flow model which employs H2O, CO2, and CO and specific heat-corrected plume.

TP-Space RRT – Kinematic Path Planning of Non-Holonomic Any-Shape Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jose Luis Blanco

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The autonomous navigation of vehicles typically combines two kinds of methods: a path is first planned, and then the robot is driven by a local obstacle-avoidance controller. The present work, which focuses on path planning, proposes an extension to the well-known rapidly-exploring random tree (RRT algorithm to allow its integration with a trajectory parameter-space (TP-space as an efficient method to detect collision-free, kinematically-feasible paths for arbitrarily-shaped vehicles. In contrast to original RRT, this proposal generates navigation trees, with poses as nodes, whose edges are all kinematically-feasible paths, suitable to being accurately followed by vehicles driven by pure reactive algorithms. Initial experiments demonstrate the suitability of the method with an Ackermann-steering vehicle model whose severe kinematic constraints cannot be obviated. An important result that sets this work apart from previous research is the finding that employing several families of potential trajectories to expand the tree, which can be done efficiently under the TP-space formalism, improves the optimality of the planned trajectories. A reference C++ implementation has been released as open-source.

Worldwide Space Launch Vehicles and Their Mainstage Liquid Rocket Propulsion

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Shamim A.

2010-01-01

Space launch vehicle begins with a basic propulsion stage, and serves as a missile or small launch vehicle; many are traceable to the 1945 German A-4. Increasing stage size, and increasingly energetic propulsion allows for heavier payloads and greater. Earth to Orbit lift capability. Liquid rocket propulsion began with use of storable (UDMH/N2O4) and evolved to high performing cryogenics (LOX/RP, and LOX/LH). Growth versions of SLV's rely on strap-on propulsive stages of either solid propellants or liquid propellants.

Spacesuit and Space Vehicle Comparative Ergonomic Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

England, Scott; Benson, Elizabeth; Cowley, Matthew; Harvill, Lauren; Blackledge, Christopher; Perez, Esau; Rajulu, Sudhakar

2011-01-01

With the advent of the latest manned spaceflight objectives, a series of prototype launch and reentry spacesuit architectures were evaluated for eventual down selection by NASA based on the performance of a set of designated tasks. A consolidated approach was taken to testing, concurrently collecting suit mobility data, seat-suit-vehicle interface clearances and movement strategies within the volume of a Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle mockup. To achieve the objectives of the test, a requirement was set forth to maintain high mockup fidelity while using advanced motion capture technologies. These seemingly mutually exclusive goals were accommodated with the construction of an optically transparent and fully adjustable frame mockup. The mockup was constructed such that it could be dimensionally validated rapidly with the motion capture system. This paper will describe the method used to create a motion capture compatible space vehicle mockup, the consolidated approach for evaluating spacesuits in action, as well as the various methods for generating hardware requirements for an entire population from the resulting complex data set using a limited number of test subjects. Kinematics, hardware clearance, suited anthropometry, and subjective feedback data were recorded on fifteen unsuited and five suited subjects. Unsuited subjects were selected chiefly by anthropometry, in an attempt to find subjects who fell within predefined criteria for medium male, large male and small female subjects. The suited subjects were selected as a subset of the unsuited subjects and tested in both unpressurized and pressurized conditions. Since the prototype spacesuits were fabricated in a single size to accommodate an approximately average sized male, the findings from the suit testing were systematically extrapolated to the extremes of the population to anticipate likely problem areas. This extrapolation was achieved by first performing population analysis through a comparison of suited

Navigation simulator for the Space Tug vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Colburn, B. K.; Boland, J. S., III; Peters, E. G.

1977-01-01

A general simulation program (GSP) for state estimation of a nonlinear space vehicle flight navigation system is developed and used as a basis for evaluating the performance of a Space Tug navigation system. An explanation of the iterative guidance mode (IGM) guidance law, derivation of the dynamics, coordinate frames and state estimation routines are given in order to clarify the assumptions and approximations made. A number of simulation and analytical studies are used to demonstrate the operation of the Tug system. Included in the simulation studies are (1) initial offset vector parameter study; (2) propagation time vs accuracy; (3) measurement noise parametric study and (4) reduction in computational burden of an on-board implementable scheme. From the results of these studies, conclusions and recommendations concerning future areas of practical and theoretical work are presented.

Preliminary Assessment of Artificial Gravity Impacts to Deep-Space Vehicle Design

Science.gov (United States)

Joosten, B. Kent

2007-01-01

Even after more than thirty years of scientific investigation, serious concerns regarding human physiological effects of long-duration microgravity exposure remain. These include loss of bone mineral density, skeletal muscle atrophy, and orthostatic hypertension, among others. In particular, "Safe Passage: Astronaut Care for Exploration Missions," states "loss of bone density, which apparently occurs at a rate of 1% per month in microgravity, is relatively manageable on the short-duration missions of the space shuttle, but it becomes problematic on the ISS [International Space Station]. ...If this loss is not mitigated, interplanetary missions will be impossible." While extensive investigations into potential countermeasures are planned on the ISS, the delay in attaining full crew complement and onboard facilities, and the potential for extending crews tours of duty threaten the timely (definitive design requirements, especially acceptable artificial gravity levels and rotation rates, the perception of high vehicle mass and performance penalties, the incompatibility of resulting vehicle configurations with space propulsion options (i.e., aerocapture), the perception of complications associated with de-spun components such as antennae and photovoltaic arrays, and the expectation of effective crew micro-gravity countermeasures. These perception and concerns may have been overstated, or may be acceptable alternatives to countermeasures of limited efficacy. This study was undertaken as an initial step to try to understand the implications of and potential solutions to incorporating artificial gravity in the design of human deep-space exploration vehicles. Of prime interest will be the mass penalties incurred by incorporating AG, along with any mission performance degradation.

Prospects for the use of thermionic nuclear power plants for interorbital transfers of space vehicles in near space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andreev, P.V.; Zhabotinskii, E.E.; Nikonov, A.M.

1993-01-01

In a previous study the authors considered the use of thermionic nuclear power plants with a thermal reactor for interorbital transfers of space vehicles by electrojet propulsion systems (EJPSs), opening up broad prospects for putting payloads into a high orbit with relatively inexpensive means for a launch into a reference orbit, e.g., the Proton launch vehicle. This is of major importance for the commercial use of space technology, in particular, for erecting technological platforms for the production of various materials. In the work reported here the authors continue the study of interorbital transfers and explore the potentialities of thermionic NPPs with a thermal reactor and with a fast reactor. In boosted operation the electrical power of the latter may reach several hundred kilowatts. What type of NPP is desirable for testing an electrojet propulsion system in interorbital transfers from a reference orbit to a high orbit, providing that the time is limited, depends on the class of the launch vehicle characterized by the mass M o that the vehicle can carry into the reference orbit, where radiation safety conditions allow the NPP to be started up. Results of studies are presented that give an idea of the rational choice of type of thermionic NPP for the organization in interorbital transfers

The General-Use Nodal Network Solver (GUNNS) Modeling Package for Space Vehicle Flow System Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Jason; Moore, Michael

2013-01-01

The General-Use Nodal Network Solver (GUNNS) is a modeling software package that combines nodal analysis and the hydraulic-electric analogy to simulate fluid, electrical, and thermal flow systems. GUNNS is developed by L-3 Communications under the TS21 (Training Systems for the 21st Century) project for NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), primarily for use in space vehicle training simulators at JSC. It has sufficient compactness and fidelity to model the fluid, electrical, and thermal aspects of space vehicles in real-time simulations running on commodity workstations, for vehicle crew and flight controller training. It has a reusable and flexible component and system design, and a Graphical User Interface (GUI), providing capability for rapid GUI-based simulator development, ease of maintenance, and associated cost savings. GUNNS is optimized for NASA's Trick simulation environment, but can be run independently of Trick.

New space vehicle archetypes for human planetary missions

Science.gov (United States)

Sherwood, Brent

1991-01-01

Contemporary, archetypal, crew-carrying spacecraft concepts developed for NASA are presented for: a lunar transportation system, two kinds of Mars landers, and five kinds of Mars transfer vehicles. These cover the range of propulsion technologies and mission modes of interest for the Space Exploration Initiative, and include both aerobraking and artificial gravity as appropriate. They comprise both upgrades of extant archetypes and completely new ones. Computer solid models, configurations and mass statements are presented for each.

Automated space vehicle control for rendezvous proximity operations

Science.gov (United States)

Lea, Robert N.

1988-01-01

Rendezvous during the unmanned space exploration missions, such as a Mars Rover/Sample Return will require a completely automatic system from liftoff to docking. A conceptual design of an automated rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking system is being implemented and validated at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). The emphasis is on the progress of the development and testing of a prototype system for control of the rendezvous vehicle during proximity operations that is currently being developed at JSC. Fuzzy sets are used to model the human capability of common sense reasoning in decision making tasks and such models are integrated with the expert systems and engineering control system technology to create a system that performs comparably to a manned system.

Process Improvement for Next Generation Space Flight Vehicles: MSFC Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Housch, Helen

2008-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the lessons learned from process improvement for Next Generation Space Flight Vehicles. The contents include: 1) Organizational profile; 2) Process Improvement History; 3) Appraisal Preparation; 4) The Appraisal Experience; 5) Useful Tools; and 6) Is CMMI working?

Demonstration of Self-Training Autonomous Neural Networks in Space Vehicle Docking Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, M. Clinton; Thaler, Stephen L.; Stevenson-Chavis, Katherine

2006-01-01

Neural Networks have been under examination for decades in many areas of research, with varying degrees of success and acceptance. Key goals of computer learning, rapid problem solution, and automatic adaptation have been elusive at best. This paper summarizes efforts at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center harnessing such technology to autonomous space vehicle docking for the purpose of evaluating applicability to future missions.

SIGMA/B, Doses in Space Vehicle for Multiple Trajectories, Various Radiation Source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jordan, T.M.

2003-01-01

1 - Description of problem or function: SIGMA/B calculates radiation dose at arbitrary points inside a space vehicle, taking into account vehicle geometry, heterogeneous placement of equipment and stores, vehicle materials, time-weighted astronaut positions and many radiation sources from mission trajectories, e.g. geomagnetically trapped protons and electrons, solar flare particles, galactic cosmic rays and their secondary radiations. The vehicle geometry, equipment and supplies, and man models are described by quadric surfaces. The irradiating flux field may be anisotropic. The code can be used to perform simultaneous dose calculations for multiple vehicle trajectories, each involving several radiation sources. Results are presented either as dose as a function of shield thickness, or the dose received through designated outer sections of the vehicle. 2 - Method of solution: Automatic sectoring of the vehicle is performed by a Simpson's rule integration over angle; the dose is computed by a numerical angular integration of the dose attenuation kernels about the dose points. The kernels are curve-fit functions constructed from input data tables. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: The code uses variable dimensioning techniques to store data. The only restriction on problem size is the available core storage

Levitation characteristics of a high-temperature superconducting Maglev system for launching space vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Wenjiang; Liu Yu; Chen Xiaodong; Wen Zheng; Duan Yi; Qiu Ming

2007-01-01

Maglev launch assist is viewed as an effective method to reduce the cost of space launch. The primary aerodynamic characteristics of the Maglev launch vehicle and the space vehicle are discussed by analyzing their aerodynamic shapes and testing a scale mode in a standard wind tunnel. After analyzing several popular Maglev systems, we present a no-controlling Maglev system with bulk YBaCuO high-temperature superconductors (HTSs). We tested a HTS Maglev system unit, and obtained the levitation force density of 3.3 N/cm 2 and the lateral force density of 2.0 N/cm 2 . We also fabricated a freely levitated test platform to investigate the levitation characteristics of the HTS Maglev system in load changing processes. We found that the HTS system could provide the strong self-stable levitation performance due to the magnetic flux trapped in superconductors. The HTS Maglev system provided feasibility for application in the launch vehicle

A FMM-FFT accelerated hybrid volume surface integral equation solver for electromagnetic analysis of re-entry space vehicles

KAUST Repository

Yü cel, Abdulkadir C.; Gomez, Luis J.; Liu, Yang; Bagci, Hakan; Michielssen, Eric

2014-01-01

Space vehicles that re-enter the atmosphere often experience communication blackout. The blackout occurs when the vehicle becomes engulfed in plasma produced by interactions between the vehicle surface and the atmosphere. The plasma often

Space and Missile Systems Center Standard: Test Requirements for Launch, Upper-Stage and Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-05

Aviation Blvd. El Segundo, CA 90245 4. This standard has been approved for use on all Space and Missile Systems Center/Air Force Program...140 Satellite Hardness and Survivability; Testing Rationale for Electronic Upset and Burnout Effects 30. JANNAF-GL-2012-01-RO Test and Evaluation...vehicle, subsystem, and unit lev- els . Acceptance testing shall be conducted on all subsequent flight items. The protoqualification strategy shall require

Distributed Model Predictive Control over Multiple Groups of Vehicles in Highway Intelligent Space for Large Scale System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tang Xiaofeng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the three time warning distances for solving the large scale system of multiple groups of vehicles safety driving characteristics towards highway tunnel environment based on distributed model prediction control approach. Generally speaking, the system includes two parts. First, multiple vehicles are divided into multiple groups. Meanwhile, the distributed model predictive control approach is proposed to calculate the information framework of each group. Each group of optimization performance considers the local optimization and the neighboring subgroup of optimization characteristics, which could ensure the global optimization performance. Second, the three time warning distances are studied based on the basic principles used for highway intelligent space (HIS and the information framework concept is proposed according to the multiple groups of vehicles. The math model is built to avoid the chain avoidance of vehicles. The results demonstrate that the proposed highway intelligent space method could effectively ensure driving safety of multiple groups of vehicles under the environment of fog, rain, or snow.

Powered Explicit Guidance Modifications and Enhancements for Space Launch System Block-1 and Block-1B Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Von der Porten, Paul; Ahmad, Naeem; Hawkins, Matt; Fill, Thomas

2018-01-01

NASA is currently building the Space Launch System (SLS) Block-1 launch vehicle for the Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) test flight. NASA is also currently designing the next evolution of SLS, the Block-1B. The Block-1 and Block-1B vehicles will use the Powered Explicit Guidance (PEG) algorithm (of Space Shuttle heritage) for closed loop guidance. To accommodate vehicle capabilities and design for future evolutions of SLS, modifications were made to PEG for Block-1 to handle multi-phase burns, provide PEG updated propulsion information, and react to a core stage engine out. In addition, due to the relatively low thrust-to-weight ratio of the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) and EUS carrying out Lunar Vicinity and Earth Escape missions, certain enhancements to the Block-1 PEG algorithm are needed to perform Block-1B missions to account for long burn arcs and target translunar and hyperbolic orbits. This paper describes the design and implementation of modifications to the Block-1 PEG algorithm as compared to Space Shuttle. Furthermore, this paper illustrates challenges posed by the Block-1B vehicle and the required PEG enhancements. These improvements make PEG capable for use on the SLS Block-1B vehicle as part of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) System.

Soft Spaces as Vehicles for Neoliberal Transformations of Strategic Spatial Planning?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Kristian

2012-01-01

This paper analyses how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped in new soft spaces emerging in Danish spatial planning at subnational scales, and how policy-making in these soft spaces seeks to influence formal planning arenas. The paper demonstrates how the new soft planning spaces in Danis...... spatial planning, being used as vehicles for neoliberal transformations of strategic spatial planning. This paper therefore argues for a need to maintain a critical stance towards the emergence of soft spaces in spatial planning.......This paper analyses how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped in new soft spaces emerging in Danish spatial planning at subnational scales, and how policy-making in these soft spaces seeks to influence formal planning arenas. The paper demonstrates how the new soft planning spaces in Danish...... spatial planning primarily are concerned with promoting policy agendas centred on economic development, whilst doing limited work in filling in the gaps between formal scales of planning, as envisaged in the planning literature. Instead, soft spaces seem to add to the increasing pressures on statutory...

Development of a Refined Space Vehicle Rollout Forcing Function

Science.gov (United States)

James, George; Tucker, Jon-Michael; Valle, Gerard; Grady, Robert; Schliesing, John; Fahling, James; Emory, Benjamin; Armand, Sasan

2016-01-01

For several decades, American manned spaceflight vehicles and the associated launch platforms have been transported from final assembly to the launch pad via a pre-launch phase called rollout. The rollout environment is rich with forced harmonics and higher order effects can be used for extracting structural dynamics information. To enable this utilization, processing tools are needed to move from measured and analytical data to dynamic metrics such as transfer functions, mode shapes, modal frequencies, and damping. This paper covers the range of systems and tests that are available to estimate rollout forcing functions for the Space Launch System (SLS). The specific information covered in this paper includes: the different definitions of rollout forcing functions; the operational and developmental data sets that are available; the suite of analytical processes that are currently in-place or in-development; and the plans and future work underway to solve two immediate problems related to rollout forcing functions. Problem 1 involves estimating enforced accelerations to drive finite element models for developing design requirements for the SLS class of launch vehicles. Problem 2 involves processing rollout measured data in near real time to understand structural dynamics properties of a specific vehicle and the class to which it belongs.

A FMM-FFT accelerated hybrid volume surface integral equation solver for electromagnetic analysis of re-entry space vehicles

KAUST Repository

Yücel, Abdulkadir C.

2014-07-01

Space vehicles that re-enter the atmosphere often experience communication blackout. The blackout occurs when the vehicle becomes engulfed in plasma produced by interactions between the vehicle surface and the atmosphere. The plasma often is concentrated in a relatively thin shell around the vehicle, with higher densities near its nose than rear. A less structured, sometimes turbulent plasma wake often trails the vehicle. The plasma shell severely affects the performance of side-mounted antennas as it alters their characteristics (frequency response, gain patterns, axial ratio, and impedance) away from nominal, free-space values, sometimes entirely shielding the antenna from the outside world. The plasma plume/turbulent wake similarly affect the performance of antennas mounted at the back of the vehicle. The electromagnetic characteristics of the thin plasma shell and plume/turbulent wake heavily depend on the type of re-entry trajectory, the vehicle\\'s speed, angles of attack, and chemical composition, as well as environmental conditions. To analyze the antennas\\' performance during blackout and to design robust communication antennas, efficient and accurate simulation tools for charactering the antennas\\' performance along the trajectory are called for.

Cascade Storage and Delivery System for a Multi Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV)

Science.gov (United States)

Yagoda, Evan; Swickrath, Michael; Stambaugh, Imelda

2012-01-01

NASA is developing a Multi Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV) for missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The MMSEV is a pressurized vehicle used to extend the human exploration envelope for Lunar, Near Earth Object (NEO), and Deep Space missions. The Johnson Space Center is developing the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for the MMSEV. The MMSEV s intended use is to support longer sortie lengths with multiple Extra Vehicular Activities (EVAs) on a higher magnitude than any previous vehicle. This paper presents an analysis of a high pressure oxygen cascade storage and delivery system that will accommodate the crew during long duration Intra Vehicular Activity (IVA) and capable of multiple high pressure oxygen fills to the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) worn by the crew during EVAs. A cascade is a high pressure gas cylinder system used for the refilling of smaller compressed gas cylinders. Each of the large cylinders are filled by a compressor, but the cascade system allows small cylinders to be filled without the need of a compressor. In addition, the cascade system is useful as a "reservoir" to accommodate low pressure needs. A regression model was developed to provide the mechanism to size the cascade systems subject to constraints such as number of crew, extravehicular activity duration and frequency, and ullage gas requirements under contingency scenarios. The sizing routine employed a numerical integration scheme to determine gas compressibility changes during depressurization and compressibility effects were captured using the Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) equation of state. A multi-dimensional nonlinear optimization routine was used to find the minimum cascade tank system mass that meets the mission requirements. The sizing algorithms developed in this analysis provide a powerful framework to assess cascade filling, compressor, and hybrid systems to design long duration vehicle ECLSS architecture. 1

Closed Loop Guidance Trade Study for Space Launch System Block-1B Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Von der Porten, Paul; Ahmad, Naeem; Hawkins, Matt

2018-01-01

NASA is currently building the Space Launch System (SLS) Block-1 launch vehicle for the Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) test flight. The design of the next evolution of SLS, Block-1B, is well underway. The Block-1B vehicle is more capable overall than Block-1; however, the relatively low thrust-to-weight ratio of the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) presents a challenge to the Powered Explicit Guidance (PEG) algorithm used by Block-1. To handle the long burn durations (on the order of 1000 seconds) of EUS missions, two algorithms were examined. An alternative algorithm, OPGUID, was introduced, while modifications were made to PEG. A trade study was conducted to select the guidance algorithm for future SLS vehicles. The chosen algorithm needs to support a wide variety of mission operations: ascent burns to LEO, apogee raise burns, trans-lunar injection burns, hyperbolic Earth departure burns, and contingency disposal burns using the Reaction Control System (RCS). Additionally, the algorithm must be able to respond to a single engine failure scenario. Each algorithm was scored based on pre-selected criteria, including insertion accuracy, algorithmic complexity and robustness, extensibility for potential future missions, and flight heritage. Monte Carlo analysis was used to select the final algorithm. This paper covers the design criteria, approach, and results of this trade study, showing impacts and considerations when adapting launch vehicle guidance algorithms to a broader breadth of in-space operations.

Effect of Space Vehicle Structure Vibration on Control Moment Gyroscope Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Dobrinskaya, Tatiana

2008-01-01

Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) are used for non-propulsive attitude control of satellites and space stations, including the International Space Station (ISS). CMGs could be essential for future long duration space missions due to the fact that they help to save propellant. CMGs were successfully tested on the ground for many years, and have been successfully used on satellites. However, operations have shown that the CMG service life on the ISS is significantly shorter than predicted. Since the dynamic environment of the ISS differs greatly from the nominal environment of satellites, it was important to analyze how operations specific to the station (dockings and undockings, huge solar array motion, crew exercising, robotic operations, etc) can affect the CMG performance. This task became even more important since the first CMG failure onboard the ISS. The CMG failure resulted in the limitation of the attitude control capabilities, more propellant consumption, and additional operational issues. Therefore, the goal of this work was to find out how the vibrations of a space vehicle structure, caused by a variety of onboard operations, can affect the CMG dynamics and performance. The equations of CMG motion were derived and analyzed for the case when the gyro foundation can vibrate in any direction. The analysis was performed for unbalanced CMG gimbals to match the CMG configuration on ISS. The analysis showed that vehicle structure vibrations can amplify and significantly change the CMG motion if the gyro gimbals are unbalanced in flight. The resonance frequencies were found. It was shown that the resonance effect depends on the magnitude of gimbal imbalance, on the direction of a structure vibration, and on gimbal bearing friction. Computer modeling results of CMG dynamics affected by the external vibration are presented. The results can explain some of the CMG vibration telemetry observed on ISS. This work shows that balancing the CMG gimbals decreases the effect

Weight and cost forecasting for advanced manned space vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Raymond

1989-01-01

A mass and cost estimating computerized methology for predicting advanced manned space vehicle weights and costs was developed. The user friendly methology designated MERCER (Mass Estimating Relationship/Cost Estimating Relationship) organizes the predictive process according to major vehicle subsystem levels. Design, development, test, evaluation, and flight hardware cost forecasting is treated by the study. This methodology consists of a complete set of mass estimating relationships (MERs) which serve as the control components for the model and cost estimating relationships (CERs) which use MER output as input. To develop this model, numerous MER and CER studies were surveyed and modified where required. Additionally, relationships were regressed from raw data to accommodate the methology. The models and formulations which estimated the cost of historical vehicles to within 20 percent of the actual cost were selected. The result of the research, along with components of the MERCER Program, are reported. On the basis of the analysis, the following conclusions were established: (1) The cost of a spacecraft is best estimated by summing the cost of individual subsystems; (2) No one cost equation can be used for forecasting the cost of all spacecraft; (3) Spacecraft cost is highly correlated with its mass; (4) No study surveyed contained sufficient formulations to autonomously forecast the cost and weight of the entire advanced manned vehicle spacecraft program; (5) No user friendly program was found that linked MERs with CERs to produce spacecraft cost; and (6) The group accumulation weight estimation method (summing the estimated weights of the various subsystems) proved to be a useful method for finding total weight and cost of a spacecraft.

REFINED MODEL OF THE OPTICAL SYSTEM FOR SPACE MINI-VEHICLES WITH LASER PROPULSION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. S. Egorov

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Simulation results for on-board optical system of a space mini-vehicle with laser propulsion are presented. This system gives the possibility for receiving theremote laser radiation power independently of a system telescope mutual orientation to the vehicle orbiting direction. The on-board optical system is designed with the use of such optical elements as optical hinges and turrets. The system incorporates the optical switch that is a special optical system adapting optically both receiving telescope and laser propulsion engines. Modeling and numerical simulation of the system have been performed with the use of ZEMAX software (Radiant Ltd. The object matter of calculations lied in size definition of system optical elements, requirements to accuracy of their manufacturing and reciprocal adjusting to achieve an efficient radiation energy delivery to laser propulsion engine. Calculations have been performed with account to the limitations on the mini-vehicle mass, its overall dimensions, and radiation threshold density of the optical elements utilized. The requirements to the laser beam quality at the entrance aperture of laser propulsion engine have been considered too. State-of-the-art optical technologies make it possible to manufacture space reflectors made of CO-115M glassceramics with weight-reducing coefficient of 0.72 and the radiation threshold of 5 J/cm2 for the radiation with a 1.064 microns wavelength at 10-20 ns pulse duration. The optimal diameter of a receiving telescope primary mirror has been 0.5 m when a coordinated transmitting telescope diameter is equal to 1 m. This provides the reception of at least 84% of laser energy. The main losses of radiation energy are caused by improper installation of receiving telescope mirrors and by in-process errors arising at manufacturing the telescope mirrors with a parabolic surface. It is shown that requirements to the in-process admissible errors for the on-board optical system elements

Comparative Ergonomic Evaluation of Spacesuit and Space Vehicle Design

Science.gov (United States)

England, Scott; Cowley, Matthew; Benson, Elizabeth; Harvill, Lauren; Blackledge, Christopher; Perez, Esau; Rajulu, Sudhakar

2012-01-01

With the advent of the latest human spaceflight objectives, a series of prototype architectures for a new launch and reentry spacesuit that would be suited to the new mission goals. Four prototype suits were evaluated to compare their performance and enable the selection of the preferred suit components and designs. A consolidated approach to testing was taken: concurrently collecting suit mobility data, seat-suit-vehicle interface clearances, and qualitative assessments of suit performance within the volume of a Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle mockup. It was necessary to maintain high fidelity in a mockup and use advanced motion-capture technologies in order to achieve the objectives of the study. These seemingly mutually exclusive goals were accommodated with the construction of an optically transparent and fully adjustable frame mockup. The construction of the mockup was such that it could be dimensionally validated rapidly with the motioncapture system. This paper describes the method used to create a space vehicle mockup compatible with use of an optical motion-capture system, the consolidated approach for evaluating spacesuits in action, and a way to use the complex data set resulting from a limited number of test subjects to generate hardware requirements for an entire population. Kinematics, hardware clearance, anthropometry (suited and unsuited), and subjective feedback data were recorded on 15 unsuited and 5 suited subjects. Unsuited subjects were selected chiefly based on their anthropometry in an attempt to find subjects who fell within predefined criteria for medium male, large male, and small female subjects. The suited subjects were selected as a subset of the unsuited medium male subjects and were tested in both unpressurized and pressurized conditions. The prototype spacesuits were each fabricated in a single size to accommodate an approximately average-sized male, so select findings from the suit testing were systematically extrapolated to the extremes

The Application of the Human Engineering Modeling and Performance Laboratory for Space Vehicle Ground Processing Tasks at Kennedy Space Center

Science.gov (United States)

Woodbury, Sarah K.

2008-01-01

The introduction of United Space Alliance's Human Engineering Modeling and Performance Laboratory began in early 2007 in an attempt to address the problematic workspace design issues that the Space Shuttle has imposed on technicians performing maintenance and inspection operations. The Space Shuttle was not expected to require the extensive maintenance it undergoes between flights. As a result, extensive, costly resources have been expended on workarounds and modifications to accommodate ground processing personnel. Consideration of basic human factors principles for design of maintenance is essential during the design phase of future space vehicles, facilities, and equipment. Simulation will be needed to test and validate designs before implementation.

Preliminary Investigation of Impact on Multiple-Sheet Structures and an Evaluation of the Meteoroid Hazard to Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Nysmith, C. Robert; Summers, James L.

1961-01-01

Small pyrex glass spheres, representative of stoney meteoroids, were fired into 2024-T3 aluminum alclad multiple-sheet structures at velocities to 11,000 feet per second to evaluate the effectiveness of multisheet hull construction as a means of increasing the resistance of a spacecraft to meteoroid penetrations. The results of these tests indicate that increasing the number of sheets in a structure while keeping the total sheet thickness constant and increasing the spacing between sheets both tend to increase the penetration resistance of a structure of constant weight per unit area. In addition, filling the space between the sheets with a light filler material was found to substantially increase structure penetration resistance with a small increase in weight. An evaluation of the meteoroid hazard to space vehicles is presented in the form of an illustrative-example for two specific lunar mission vehicles, a single-sheet, monocoque hull vehicle and a glass-wool filled, double-sheet hull vehicle. The evaluation is presented in terms of the "best" and the "worst" conditions that might be expected as determined from astronomical and satellite measurements, high-speed impact data, and hypothesized meteoroid structures and compositions. It was observed that the vehicle flight time without penetration can be increased significantly by use of multiple-sheet rather than single-sheet hull construction with no increase in hull weight. Nevertheless, it is evident that a meteoroid hazard exists, even for the vehicle with the selected multiple-sheet hull.

Soyuz-TM-based interim Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV) for the Space Station Freedom

Science.gov (United States)

Semenov, Yu. P.; Babkov, Oleg I.; Timchenko, Vladimir A.; Craig, Jerry W.

1993-01-01

The concept of using the available Soyuz-TM Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV) spacecraft for the assurance of the safety of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) crew after the departure of the Space Shuttle from SSF was proposed by the NPO Energia and was accepted by NASA in 1992. The ACRV will provide the crew with the capability to evacuate a seriously injured/ill crewmember from the SSF to a ground-based care facility under medically tolerable conditions and with the capability for a safe evacuation from SSF in the events SSF becomes uninhabitable or the Space Shuttle flights are interrupted for a time that exceeds SSF ability for crew support and/or safe operations. This paper presents the main results of studies on Phase A (including studies on the service life of ACRV; spacecraft design and operations; prelaunch processing; mission support; safety, reliability, maintenance and quality and assurance; landing, and search/rescue operations; interfaces with the SSF and with Space Shuttle; crew accommodation; motion of orbital an service modules; and ACRV injection by the Expendable Launch Vehicles), along with the objectives of further work on the Phase B.

Comparison and Validation of FLUKA and HZETRN as Tools for Investigating the Secondary Neutron Production in Large Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Rojdev, Kristina; Koontz, Steve; Reddell, Brandon; Atwell, William; Boeder, Paul

2015-01-01

NASA's exploration goals are focused on deep space travel and Mars surface operations. To accomplish these goals, large structures will be necessary to transport crew and logistics in the initial stages, and NASA will need to keep the crew and the vehicle safe during transport and any surface activities. One of the major challenges of deep space travel is the space radiation environment and its impacts on the crew, the electronics, and the vehicle materials. The primary radiation from the sun (solar particle events) and from outside the solar system (galactic cosmic rays) interact with materials of the vehicle. These interactions lead to some of the primary radiation being absorbed, being modified, or producing secondary radiation (primarily neutrons). With all vehicles, the high energy primary radiation is of most concern. However, with larger vehicles that have large shielding masses, there is more opportunity for secondary radiation production, and this secondary radiation can be significant enough to cause concern. When considering surface operations, there is also a secondary radiation source from the surface of the planet, known as albedo, with neutrons being one of the most significant species. Given new vehicle designs for deep space and Mars missions, the secondary radiation environment and the implications of that environment is currently not well understood. Thus, several studies are necessary to fill the knowledge gaps of this secondary radiation environment. In this paper, we put forth the initial steps to increasing our understanding of neutron production from large vehicles by comparing the neutron production resulting from our radiation transport codes and providing a preliminary validation of our results against flight data. This paper will review the details of these results and discuss the finer points of the analysis.

Vehicle Based Vector Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-28

buoyant underwater vehicle with an interior space in which a length of said underwater vehicle is equal to one tenth of the acoustic wavelength...underwater vehicle with an interior space in which a length of said underwater vehicle is equal to one tenth of the acoustic wavelength; an...unmanned underwater vehicle that can function as an acoustic vector sensor. (2) Description of the Prior Art [0004] It is known that a propagating

A space vehicle rotating with a uniform angu- lar velocity about a ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

IAS Admin

A space vehicle rotating with a uniform angu- lar velocity about a vertical axis fixed to it is falling freely vertically downwards, say, with its engine shut off. It carries two astronauts inside it. One astronaut throws a tiny tool towards the other astronaut. The motion of the tiny tool with reference to a rotating frame rigidly fixed.

Analytic Shielding Optimization to Reduce Crew Exposure to Ionizing Radiation Inside Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Gaza, Razvan; Cooper, Tim P.; Hanzo, Arthur; Hussein, Hesham; Jarvis, Kandy S.; Kimble, Ryan; Lee, Kerry T.; Patel, Chirag; Reddell, Brandon D.; Stoffle, Nicholas;

LauncherOne: Virgin Orbit's Dedicated Launch Vehicle for Small Satellites & Impact to the Space Enterprise Vision

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughn, M.; Kwong, J.; Pomerantz, W.

Virgin Orbit is developing a space transportation service to provide an affordable, reliable, and responsive dedicated ride to orbit for smaller payloads. No longer will small satellite users be forced to make a choice between accepting the limitations of flight as a secondary payload, paying dramatically more for a dedicated launch vehicle, or dealing with the added complexity associated with export control requirements and international travel to distant launch sites. Virgin Orbit has made significant progress towards first flight of a new vehicle that will give satellite developers and operators a better option for carrying their small satellites into orbit. This new service is called LauncherOne (See the figure below). LauncherOne is a two stage, air-launched liquid propulsion (LOX/RP) rocket. Air launched from a specially modified 747-400 carrier aircraft (named “Cosmic Girl”), this system is designed to conduct operations from a variety of locations, allowing customers to select various launch azimuths and increasing available orbital launch windows. This provides small satellite customers an affordable, flexible and dedicated option for access to space. In addition to developing the LauncherOne vehicle, Virgin Orbit has worked with US government customers and across the new, emerging commercial sector to refine concepts for resiliency, constellation replenishment and responsive launch elements that can be key enables for the Space Enterprise Vision (SEV). This element of customer interaction is being led by their new subsidiary company, VOX Space. This paper summarizes technical progress made on LauncherOne in the past year and extends the thinking of how commercial space, small satellites and this new emerging market can be brought to bear to enable true space system resiliency.

Small star trackers for modern space vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kouzmin, Vladimir; Jushkov, Vladimir; Zaikin, Vladimir

2017-11-01

Based on experience of many years creation of spacecrafts' star trackers with diversified detectors (from the first star trackers of 60's to tens versions of star trackers in the following years), using technological achievements in the field of optics and electronics the NPP "Geofizika-Cosmos" has provided celestial orientation for all the space vehicles created in Russia and now has developed a series of new star trackers with CCD matrix and special processors, which are able to meet needs in celestial orientation of the modern spacecrafts for the nearest 10-15 years. In the given article the main characteristics and description of some star trackers' versions are presented. The star trackers have various levels of technical characteristics and use both combined (Russian and foreign) procurement parts, and only national (Russian) procurement parts for the main units.

The Role of Habitability Studies in Space Facility and Vehicle Design

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Constance M.

1999-01-01

This document is a viewgraph presentation which reviews the role of the space architect in designing a space vehicle with habitability as a chief concern. Habitability is composed of the qualities of the environment or system which support the crew in working and living. All the impacts from habitability are interdependent; i.e., impacts to well-being can impact performance, safety or efficiency. After reviewing the issues relating to habitability the presentation discusses the application of these issues in two case studies. The first studies the Bio-Plex Hab chamber which includes designs of the living and working areas. The second case study is the ISS-TransHab which is being studied as a prototype for Mars transit.

MRV - Modular Robotic Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Ridley, Justin; Bluethmann, Bill

2015-01-01

The Modular Robotic Vehicle, or MRV, completed in 2013, was developed at the Johnson Space Center in order to advance technologies which have applications for future vehicles both in space and on Earth. With seating for two people, MRV is a fully electric vehicle modeled as a "city car", suited for busy urban environments.

Necessity of Mutual Understandings in Supply Chain Management of Lithium-Ion Battery for Space Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Kiyokawa, T.; Nakajima, M.; Mori, Y.

2012-01-01

Application of Lithium Ion Battery (LIB) is getting growth these days in space industry. Through the supply chain of LIB, it is very important to establish deepen mutual understandings between space industry people and non-space industry people in order to meet requirements of space grade quality control. Furthermore, this approach has positive effects for safety handling and safety transportation. This paper explains necessity of mutual understandings based on the analysis of aviation incident report. The study is focused on its background and issues on each related industry. These contents are studied and discussed in the New Work Item Proposal of the International Standard of LIB for space vehicle.

Standards and Specifications for Ground Processing of Space Vehicles: From an Aviation-Based Shuttle Project to Global Application

Science.gov (United States)

Ingalls, John; Cipolletti, John

2011-01-01

Proprietary or unique designs and operations are expected early in any industry's development, and often provide a competitive early market advantage. However, there comes a time when a product or industry requires standardization for the whole industry to advance...or survive. For the space industry, that time has come. Here, we will focus on standardization of ground processing for space vehicles and their ground systems. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, and emergence of a new global space race, affordability and sustainability are more important now than ever. The growing commercialization of the space industry and current global economic environment are driving greater need for efficiencies to save time and money. More RLV's (Reusable Launch Vehicles) are being developed for the gains of reusability not achievable with traditional ELV's (Expendable Launch Vehicles). More crew/passenger vehicles are also being developed. All of this calls for more attention needed for ground processing-repeatedly before launch and after landing/recovery. RLV's should provide more efficiencies than ELV's, as long as MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) is well-planned-even for the unplanned problems. NASA's Space Shuttle is a primary example of an RLV which was supposed to thrive on reusability savings with efficient ground operations, but lessons learned show that costs were (and still are) much greater than expected. International standards and specifications can provide the commonality needed to simplify design and manufacturing as well as to improve safety, quality, maintenance, and operability. There are standards organizations engaged in the space industry, but ground processing is one of the areas least addressed. Challenges are encountered due to various factors often not considered during development. Multiple vehicle elements, sites, customers, and contractors pose various functional and integration difficulties. Resulting technical publication structures

Space and Missile Systems Center Standard: Technical Requirements for Electronic Parts, Materials, and Processes used in Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-12

glass or oxide passivation over junctions . 4.3 Screening (100 percent). Screening (100 percent) shall be in accordance with section 1400 for the JAN...75 VCE = 75 IC = 75 VCE = 75 IC = 75 Hetero - junction Bipolar Transistor Gallium Arsenide 3/ 105 125 N/A N/A 75 75 Current...HDBK-339 Custom Large Scale Integrated Circuit Development and Acquisition for Space Vehicles MIL-STD-403C Preparation for and Installation of

The Design and Operation of Suborbital Low Cost and Low Risk Vehicle to the Edge of Space (SOLVES)

Science.gov (United States)

Ridzuan Zakaria, Norul; Nasrun, Nasri; Rashidy Zulkifi, Mohd; Izmir Yamin, Mohd; Othman, Jamaludin; Rafidi Zakaria, Norul

2013-09-01

Inclusive in the planning of Spaceport Malaysia are 2 local suborbital vehicles development. One of the vehicles is called SOLVES or Suborbital Low Cost and Low Risk Vehicle to the Edge of Space. The emphasis on the design and operation of SOLVES is green and robotic technology, where both green technology and robotic technology are used to protect the environment and enhance safety. As SOLVES climbs, its center of gravity stabilizes and remains at the bottom as its propellant being used until it depletes, due to the position of the vehicle's passenger cabin and its engines at its lower end. It will reach 80km from sea level generally known as "the edge of space" due to its momentum although its propellant will be depleted at a lower altitude. As the suborbital vehicle descends tail first, its wings automatically extend and rotate at horizontal axes perpendicular to the fuselage. These naturally and passively rotating wings ensure controlled low velocity and stable descend of the vehicle. The passenger cabin also rotates automatically at a steady low speed at the centerline of its fuselage as it descends, caused naturally by the lift force, enabling its passengers a surrounding 360 degrees view. SOLVES is steered automatically to its landing point by an electrical propulsion system with a vectoring nozzle. The electrical propulsion minimizes space and weight and is free of pollution and noise. Its electrical power comes from a battery aided by power generated by the naturally rotating wings. When the vehicle lands, it is in the safest mode as its propellant is depleted and its center of gravity remains at the bottom of its cabin. The cabin, being located at the bottom of the fuselage, enables very convenient, rapid and safe entry and exit of its passengers. SOLVES will be a robotic suborbital vehicle with green technology. The vehicle will carry 4 passengers and each passenger will be trained to land the vehicle manually if the fully automated landing system fails

Fuels and Space Propellants for Reusable Launch Vehicles: A Small Business Innovation Research Topic and Its Commercial Vision

Science.gov (United States)

Palaszewski, Bryan A.

1997-01-01

Under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program (and with NASA Headquarters support), the NASA Lewis Research Center has initiated a topic entitled "Fuels and Space Propellants for Reusable Launch Vehicles." The aim of this project would be to assist in demonstrating and then commercializing new rocket propellants that are safer and more environmentally sound and that make space operations easier. Soon it will be possible to commercialize many new propellants and their related component technologies because of the large investments being made throughout the Government in rocket propellants and the technologies for using them. This article discusses the commercial vision for these fuels and propellants, the potential for these propellants to reduce space access costs, the options for commercial development, and the benefits to nonaerospace industries. This SBIR topic is designed to foster the development of propellants that provide improved safety, less environmental impact, higher density, higher I(sub sp), and simpler vehicle operations. In the development of aeronautics and space technology, there have been limits to vehicle performance imposed by traditionally used propellants and fuels. Increases in performance are possible with either increased propellant specific impulse, increased density, or both. Flight system safety will also be increased by the use of denser, more viscous propellants and fuels.

Cryogenic Moisture Uptake in Foam Insulation for Space Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Fesmire, James E.; ScholtensCoffman, Brekke E.; Sass, Jared P.; Williams, Martha K.; Smith, Trent M.; Meneghelli, Barrry J.

2008-01-01

Rigid polyurethane foams and rigid polyisocyanurate foams (spray-on foam insulation), like those flown on Shuttle, Delta IV, and will be flown on Ares-I and Ares-V, can gain an extraordinary amount of water when under cryogenic conditions for several hours. These foams, when exposed for eight hours to launch pad environments on one side and cryogenic temperature on the other, increase their weight from 35 to 80 percent depending on the duration of weathering or aging. This effect translates into several thousand pounds of additional weight for space vehicles at lift-off. A new cryogenic moisture uptake apparatus was designed to determine the amount of water/ice taken into the specimen under actual-use propellant loading conditions. This experimental study included the measurement of the amount of moisture uptake within different foam materials. Results of testing using both aged specimens and weathered specimens are presented. To better understand cryogenic foam insulation performance, cryogenic moisture testing is shown to be essential. The implications for future launch vehicle thermal protection system design and flight performance are discussed.

Ariane transfer vehicle scenario

Science.gov (United States)

Deutscher, Norbert; Cougnet, Claude

1990-10-01

ESA's Ariane Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is a vehicle design concept for the transfer of payloads from Ariane 5 launch vehicle orbit insertion to a space station, on the basis of the Ariane 5 program-developed Upper Stage Propulsion Module and Vehicle Equipment Bay. The ATV is conceived as a complement to the Hermes manned vehicle for lower cost unmanned carriage of logistics modules and other large structural elements, as well as waste disposal. It is also anticipated that the ATV will have an essential role in the building block transportation logistics of any prospective European space station.

Near Space Hypersonic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Dynamic Surface Backstepping Control Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinyong YU

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Compared with traditional aircraft, the near space hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle control system design must deal with the extra prominent dynamics characters, which are differ from the traditional aircrafts control system design. A new robust adaptive control design method is proposed for one hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle (HSUAV uncertain MIMO nonaffine block control system by using multilayer neural networks, feedback linearization technology, and dynamic surface backstepping. Multilayer neural networks are used to compensate the influence from the uncertain, which designs the robust terms to solve the problem from approach error. Adaptive backstepping is adopted designed to ensure control law, the dynamic surface control strategy to eliminate “the explosion of terms” by introducing a series of first order filters to obtain the differentiation of the virtual control inputs. Finally, nonlinear six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF numerical simulation results for a HSUAV model are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A two stage launch vehicle for use as an advanced space transportation system for logistics support of the space station

Science.gov (United States)

1987-01-01

This report describes the preliminary design specifications for an Advanced Space Transportation System consisting of a fully reusable flyback booster, an intermediate-orbit cargo vehicle, and a shuttle-type orbiter with an enlarged cargo bay. It provides a comprehensive overview of mission profile, aerodynamics, structural design, and cost analyses. These areas are related to the overall feasibility and usefullness of the proposed system.

Air-Conditioning for Electric Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Popinski, Z.

1984-01-01

Combination of ammonia-absorption refrigerator, roof-mounted solar collectors, and 200 degrees C service electric-vehicle motor provides evaporative space-heating/space cooling system for electric-powered and hybrid fuel/electric vehicles.

A Morphing Radiator for High-Turndown Thermal Control of Crewed Space Exploration Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Cognata, Thomas J.; Hardtl, Darren; Sheth, Rubik; Dinsmore, Craig

2015-01-01

Spacecraft designed for missions beyond low earth orbit (LEO) face a difficult thermal control challenge, particularly in the case of crewed vehicles where the thermal control system (TCS) must maintain a relatively constant internal environment temperature despite a vastly varying external thermal environment and despite heat rejection needs that are contrary to the potential of the environment. A thermal control system is in other words required to reject a higher heat load to warm environments and a lower heat load to cold environments, necessitating a quite high turndown ratio. A modern thermal control system is capable of a turndown ratio of on the order of 12:1, but for crew safety and environment compatibility these are massive multi-loop fluid systems. This paper discusses the analysis of a unique radiator design which employs the behavior of shape memory alloys (SMA) to vary the turndown of, and thus enable, a single-loop vehicle thermal control system for space exploration vehicles. This design, a morphing radiator, varies its shape in response to facesheet temperature to control view of space and primary surface emissivity. Because temperature dependence is inherent to SMA behavior, the design requires no accommodation for control, instrumentation, nor power supply in order to operate. Thermal and radiation modeling of the morphing radiator predict a turndown ranging from 11.9:1 to 35:1 independent of TCS configuration. Stress and deformation analyses predict the desired morphing behavior of the concept. A system level mass analysis shows that by enabling a single loop architecture this design could reduce the TCS mass by between 139 kg and 225 kg. The concept is demonstrated in proof-of-concept benchtop tests.

Maneuverability Strategy for Assistive Vehicles Navigating within Confined Spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Auat Cheein

2011-08-01

Full Text Available In this work, a path planning strategy for both a car-like and a unicycle type assistive vehicles is presented. The assistive vehicles are confined to restricted environments. The path planning strategy uses the environment information to generate a kinematically plausible path to be followed by the vehicle. The environment information is provided by a SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping algorithm implemented on the vehicles. The map generated by the SLAM algorithm compensates the lack of sensor at the back of the vehicles' chassis. A Monte Carlo-based technique is used to find the optimum path given the SLAM information. A visual and user-friendly interface enhances the user-vehicle communication allowing him/her to select a desired position and orientation (pose that the vehicle should reach within the mapped environment. A trajectory controller drives the vehicle until it reaches a neighborhood of the desired pose. Several real-time experimental results within real environments are also shown herein.

Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Development and Global Competitiveness of US Space Transportation Industry: Critical Success Factors Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Enyinda, Chris I.

2002-01-01

In response to the unrelenting call in both public and private sectors fora to reduce the high cost associated with space transportation, many innovative partially or fully RLV (Reusable Launch Vehicles) designs (X-34-37) were initiated. This call is directed at all levels of space missions including scientific, military, and commercial and all aspects of the missions such as nonrecurring development, manufacture, launch, and operations. According to Wertz, tbr over thirty years, the cost of space access has remained exceedingly high. The consensus in the popular press is that to decrease the current astronomical cost of access to space, more safer, reliable, and economically viable second generation RLVs (SGRLV) must be developed. Countries such as Brazil, India, Japan, and Israel are now gearing up to enter the global launch market with their own commercial space launch vehicles. NASA and the US space launch industry cannot afford to lag behind. Developing SGRLVs will immeasurably improve the US's space transportation capabilities by helping the US to regain the global commercial space markets while supporting the transportation capabilities of NASA's space missions, Developing the SGRLVs will provide affordable commercial space transportation that will assure the competitiveness of the US commercial space transportation industry in the 21st century. Commercial space launch systems are having difficulty obtaining financing because of the high cost and risk involved. Access to key financial markets is necessary for commercial space ventures. However, public sector programs in the form of tax incentives and credits, as well as loan guarantees are not yet available. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate discussion and assess the critical success factors germane for RLVs development and US global competitiveness.

Vehicle systems design optimization study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gilmour, J. L.

1980-04-01

The optimization of an electric vehicle layout requires a weight distribution in the range of 53/47 to 62/38 in order to assure dynamic handling characteristics comparable to current production internal combustion engine vehicles. It is possible to achieve this goal and also provide passenger and cargo space comparable to a selected current production sub-compact car either in a unique new design or by utilizing the production vehicle as a base. Necessary modification of the base vehicle can be accomplished without major modification of the structure or running gear. As long as batteries are as heavy and require as much space as they currently do, they must be divided into two packages - one at front under the hood and a second at the rear under the cargo area - in order to achieve the desired weight distribution. The weight distribution criteria requires the placement of batteries at the front of the vehicle even when the central tunnel is used for the location of some batteries. The optimum layout has a front motor and front wheel drive. This configuration provides the optimum vehicle dynamic handling characteristics and the maximum passsenger and cargo space for a given size vehicle.

The Application of the NASA Advanced Concepts Office, Launch Vehicle Team Design Process and Tools for Modeling Small Responsive Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Threet, Grady E.; Waters, Eric D.; Creech, Dennis M.

2012-01-01

The Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) Launch Vehicle Team at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is recognized throughout NASA for launch vehicle conceptual definition and pre-phase A concept design evaluation. The Launch Vehicle Team has been instrumental in defining the vehicle trade space for many of NASA s high level launch system studies from the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) through the Augustine Report, Constellation, and now Space Launch System (SLS). The Launch Vehicle Team s approach to rapid turn-around and comparative analysis of multiple launch vehicle architectures has played a large role in narrowing the design options for future vehicle development. Recently the Launch Vehicle Team has been developing versions of their vetted tools used on large launch vehicles and repackaged the process and capability to apply to smaller more responsive launch vehicles. Along this development path the LV Team has evaluated trajectory tools and assumptions against sounding rocket trajectories and air launch systems, begun altering subsystem mass estimating relationships to handle smaller vehicle components, and as an additional development driver, have begun an in-house small launch vehicle study. With the recent interest in small responsive launch systems and the known capability and response time of the ACO LV Team, ACO s launch vehicle assessment capability can be utilized to rapidly evaluate the vast and opportune trade space that small launch vehicles currently encompass. This would provide a great benefit to the customer in order to reduce that large trade space to a select few alternatives that should best fit the customer s payload needs.

Systems Challenges for Hypersonic Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, James L.; Laruelle, Gerard; Wagner, Alain

1997-01-01

This paper examines the system challenges posed by fully reusable hypersonic cruise airplanes and access to space vehicles. Hydrocarbon and hydrogen fueled airplanes are considered with cruise speeds of Mach 5 and 10, respectively. The access to space matrix is examined. Airbreathing and rocket powered, single- and two-stage vehicles are considered. Reference vehicle architectures are presented. Major systems/subsystems challenges are described. Advanced, enhancing systems concepts as well as common system technologies are discussed.

Integration Assessment of Visiting Vehicle Induced Electrical Charging of the International Space Station Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Kramer, Leonard; Kerslake, Thomas W.; Galofaro, Joel T.

2010-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) undergoes electrical charging in low Earth orbit (LEO) due to positively biased, exposed conductors on solar arrays that collect electrical charges from the space plasma. Exposed solar array conductors predominately collect negatively charged electrons and thus drive the metal ISS structure electrical ground to a negative floating potential (FP) relative to plasma. This FP is variable in location and time as a result of local ionospheric conditions. ISS motion through Earth s magnetic field creates an addition inductive voltage up to 20 positive and negative volts across ISS structure depending on its attitude and location in orbit. ISS Visiting Vehicles (VVs), such as the planned Orion crew exploration vehicle, contribute to the ISS plasma charging processes. Upon physical contact with ISS, the current collection properties of VVs combine with ISS. This is an ISS integration concern as FP must be controlled to minimize arcing of ISS surfaces and ensure proper management of extra vehicular activity crewman shock hazards. This report is an assessment of ISS induced charging from docked Orion vehicles employing negatively grounded, 130 volt class, UltraFlex (ATK Space Systems) solar arrays. To assess plasma electron current collection characteristics, Orion solar cell test coupons were constructed and subjected to plasma chamber current collection measurements. During these tests, coupon solar cells were biased between 0 and 120 V while immersed in a simulated LEO plasma. Tests were performed using several different simulated LEO plasma densities and temperatures. These data and associated theoretical scaling of plasma properties, were combined in a numerical model which was integrated into the Boeing Plasma Interaction Model. It was found that the solar array design for Orion will not affect the ISS FP by more than about 2 V during worst case charging conditions. This assessment also motivated a trade study to determine

Operations and support cost modeling of conceptual space vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ebeling, Charles

1994-01-01

The University of Dayton is pleased to submit this annual report to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center which documents the development of an operations and support (O&S) cost model as part of a larger life cycle cost (LCC) structure. It is intended for use during the conceptual design of new launch vehicles and spacecraft. This research is being conducted under NASA Research Grant NAG-1-1327. This research effort changes the focus from that of the first two years in which a reliability and maintainability model was developed to the initial development of an operations and support life cycle cost model. Cost categories were initially patterned after NASA's three axis work breakdown structure consisting of a configuration axis (vehicle), a function axis, and a cost axis. A revised cost element structure (CES), which is currently under study by NASA, was used to established the basic cost elements used in the model. While the focus of the effort was on operations and maintenance costs and other recurring costs, the computerized model allowed for other cost categories such as RDT&E and production costs to be addressed. Secondary tasks performed concurrent with the development of the costing model included support and upgrades to the reliability and maintainability (R&M) model. The primary result of the current research has been a methodology and a computer implementation of the methodology to provide for timely operations and support cost analysis during the conceptual design activities.

Modeling and Simulation for Multi-Missions Space Exploration Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Max

2011-01-01

Asteroids and Near-Earth Objects [NEOs] are of great interest for future space missions. The Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle [MMSEV] is being considered for future Near Earth Object missions and requires detailed planning and study of its Guidance, Navigation, and Control [GNC]. A possible mission of the MMSEV to a NEO would be to navigate the spacecraft to a stationary orbit with respect to the rotating asteroid and proceed to anchor into the surface of the asteroid with robotic arms. The Dynamics and Real-Time Simulation [DARTS] laboratory develops reusable models and simulations for the design and analysis of missions. In this paper, the development of guidance and anchoring models are presented together with their role in achieving mission objectives and relationships to other parts of the simulation. One important aspect of guidance is in developing methods to represent the evolution of kinematic frames related to the tasks to be achieved by the spacecraft and its robot arms. In this paper, we compare various types of mathematical interpolation methods for position and quaternion frames. Subsequent work will be on analyzing the spacecraft guidance system with different movements of the arms. With the analyzed data, the guidance system can be adjusted to minimize the errors in performing precision maneuvers.

Navier-Stokes structure of merged layer flow on the spherical nose of a space vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, A. C.; Woods, G. H.

1988-01-01

Hypersonic merged layer flow on the forepart of a spherical surface of a space vehicle has been investigated on the basis of the full steady-state Navier-Stokes equations using slip and temperature jump boundary conditions at the surface and free-stream conditions far from the surface. The shockwave-like structure was determined as part of the computations. Using an equivalent body concept, computations were carried out under conditions that the Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) Vehicle would encounter at 15 and 20 seconds in its flight path. Emphasis was placed on understanding the basic nature of the flow structure under low density conditions. Particular attention was paid to the understanding of the structure of the outer shockwave-like region as the fluid expands around the sphere. Plots were drawn for flow profiles and surface characteristics to understand the role of dissipation processes in the merged layer of the spherical nose of the vehicle.

Definition of technology development missions for early space station, orbit transfer vehicle servicing. Volume 1: Executive summary

Science.gov (United States)

1983-01-01

Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) servicing study scope, propellant transfer, storage and reliquefaction technology development missions (TDM), docking and berthing TDM, maintenance TDM, OTV/payload integration TDM, combined TDMS design, summary space station accomodations, programmatic analysis, and TDM equipment operational usage are discussed.

The Profile Envision and Splice Tool (PRESTO): Developing an Atmospheric Wind Analysis Tool for Space Launch Vehicles Using Python

Science.gov (United States)

Orcutt, John M.; Barbre, Robert E., Jr.; Brenton, James C.; Decker, Ryan K.

2017-01-01

Tropospheric winds are an important driver of the design and operation of space launch vehicles. Multiple types of weather balloons and Doppler Radar Wind Profiler (DRWP) systems exist at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), co-located on the United States Air Force's (USAF) Eastern Range (ER) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), that are capable of measuring atmospheric winds. Meteorological data gathered by these instruments are being used in the design of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) and other space launch vehicles, and will be used during the day-of-launch (DOL) of SLS to aid in loads and trajectory analyses. For the purpose of SLS day-of-launch needs, the balloons have the altitude coverage needed, but take over an hour to reach the maximum altitude and can drift far from the vehicle's path. The DRWPs have the spatial and temporal resolutions needed, but do not provide complete altitude coverage. Therefore, the Natural Environments Branch (EV44) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed the Profile Envision and Splice Tool (PRESTO) to combine balloon profiles and profiles from multiple DRWPs, filter the spliced profile to a common wavelength, and allow the operator to generate output files as well as to visualize the inputs and the spliced profile for SLS DOL operations. PRESTO was developed in Python taking advantage of NumPy and SciPy for the splicing procedure, matplotlib for the visualization, and Tkinter for the execution of the graphical user interface (GUI). This paper describes in detail the Python coding implementation for the splicing, filtering, and visualization methodology used in PRESTO.

Prediction of shock-layer ultraviolet radiation for hypersonic vehicles in near space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niu Qinglin

2016-10-01

Full Text Available A systemic and validated model was developed to predict ultraviolet spectra features from the shock layer of near-space hypersonic vehicles in the “solar blind” band region. Computational procedures were performed with 7-species thermal non-equilibrium fluid mechanics, finite rate chemistry, and radiation calculations. The thermal non-equilibrium flow field was calculated with a two-temperature model by the finite volume technique and verified against the bow-shock ultra-violet (BSUV flight experiments. The absorption coefficient of the mixture gases was evaluated with a line-by-line method and validated through laboratory shock tube measurements. Using the line of sight (LOS method, radiation was calculated from three BSUV flights at altitudes of 38, 53.5 and 71 km. The investigation focused on the level and structure of ultraviolet spectra radiated from a NO band system in wavelengths of 200–400 nm. Results predicted by the current model show qualitative spatial agreement with the measured data. At a velocity of 3.5 km/s (about Mach 11, the peak absolute intensity at an altitude of 38 km is two orders of magnitude higher than that at 53.5 km. Under the same flight conditions, the spectra structures have quite a similar distribution at different viewing angles. The present computational model performs well in the prediction of the ultraviolet spectra emitted from the shock layer and will contribute to the investigation and analysis of radiative features of hypersonic vehicles in near space.

Practical Methodology for the Inclusion of Nonlinear Slosh Damping in the Stability Analysis of Liquid-Propelled Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ottander, John A.; Hall, Robert A.; Powers, J. F.

2018-01-01

A method is presented that allows for the prediction of the magnitude of limit cycles due to adverse control-slosh interaction in liquid propelled space vehicles using non-linear slosh damping. Such a method is an alternative to the industry practice of assuming linear damping and relying on: mechanical slosh baffles to achieve desired stability margins; accepting minimal slosh stability margins; or time domain non-linear analysis to accept time periods of poor stability. Sinusoidal input describing functional analysis is used to develop a relationship between the non-linear slosh damping and an equivalent linear damping at a given slosh amplitude. In addition, a more accurate analytical prediction of the danger zone for slosh mass locations in a vehicle under proportional and derivative attitude control is presented. This method is used in the control-slosh stability analysis of the NASA Space Launch System.

Advanced Space Vehicle Design Taking into Account Multidisciplinary Couplings and Mixed Epistemic/Aleatory Uncertainties

OpenAIRE

Balesdent , Mathieu; Brevault , Loïc; Price , Nathaniel; Defoort , Sébastien; Le Riche , Rodolphe; Kim , Nam-Ho; Haftka , Raphael T.; Bérend , Nicolas

2016-01-01

International audience; Space vehicle design is a complex process involving numerous disciplines such as aerodynamics, structure, propulsion and trajectory. These disciplines are tightly coupled and may involve antagonistic objectives that require the use of specific methodologies in order to assess trade-offs between the disciplines and to obtain the global optimal configuration. Generally, there are two ways to handle the system design. On the one hand, the design may be considered from a d...

Quantity Distance for the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building for Solid Propellant Fueled Launchers

Science.gov (United States)

Stover, Steven; Diebler, Corey; Frazier, Wayne

2006-01-01

The NASA KSC VAB was built to process Apollo launchers in the 1960's, and later adapted to process Space Shuttles. The VAB has served as a place to assemble solid rocket motors (5RM) and mate them to the vehicle's external fuel tank and Orbiter before rollout to the launch pad. As Space Shuttle is phased out, and new launchers are developed, the VAB may again be adapted to process these new launchers. Current launch vehicle designs call for continued and perhaps increased use of SRM segments; hence, the safe separation distances are in the process of being re-calculated. Cognizant NASA personnel and the solid rocket contractor have revisited the above VAB QD considerations and suggest that it may be revised to allow a greater number of motor segments within the VAB. This revision assumes that an inadvertent ignition of one SRM stack in its High Bay need not cause immediate and complete involvement of boosters that are part of a vehicle in adjacent High Bay. To support this assumption, NASA and contractor personnel proposed a strawman test approach for obtaining subscale data that may be used to develop phenomenological insight and to develop confidence in an analysis model for later use on full-scale situations. A team of subject matter experts in safety and siting of propellants and explosives were assembled to review the subscale test approach and provide options to NASA. Upon deliberations regarding the various options, the team arrived at some preliminary recommendations for NASA.

Improved Fractal Space Filling Curves Hybrid Optimization Algorithm for Vehicle Routing Problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Yue, Yi-xiang; Zhang, Tong; Yue, Qun-xing

2015-01-01

Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is one of the key issues in optimization of modern logistics system. In this paper, a modified VRP model with hard time window is established and a Hybrid Optimization Algorithm (HOA) based on Fractal Space Filling Curves (SFC) method and Genetic Algorithm (GA) is introduced. By incorporating the proposed algorithm, SFC method can find an initial and feasible solution very fast; GA is used to improve the initial solution. Thereafter, experimental software was developed and a large number of experimental computations from Solomon's benchmark have been studied. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the HOA.

Advanced automation for in-space vehicle processing

Science.gov (United States)

Sklar, Michael; Wegerif, D.

1990-01-01

The primary objective of this 3-year planned study is to assure that the fully evolved Space Station Freedom (SSF) can support automated processing of exploratory mission vehicles. Current study assessments show that required extravehicular activity (EVA) and to some extent intravehicular activity (IVA) manpower requirements for required processing tasks far exceeds the available manpower. Furthermore, many processing tasks are either hazardous operations or they exceed EVA capability. Thus, automation is essential for SSF transportation node functionality. Here, advanced automation represents the replacement of human performed tasks beyond the planned baseline automated tasks. Both physical tasks such as manipulation, assembly and actuation, and cognitive tasks such as visual inspection, monitoring and diagnosis, and task planning are considered. During this first year of activity both the Phobos/Gateway Mars Expedition and Lunar Evolution missions proposed by the Office of Exploration have been evaluated. A methodology for choosing optimal tasks to be automated has been developed. Processing tasks for both missions have been ranked on the basis of automation potential. The underlying concept in evaluating and describing processing tasks has been the use of a common set of 'Primitive' task descriptions. Primitive or standard tasks have been developed both for manual or crew processing and automated machine processing.

Vehicle systems design optimization study

Science.gov (United States)

Gilmour, J. L.

1980-01-01

The optimum vehicle configuration and component locations are determined for an electric drive vehicle based on using the basic structure of a current production subcompact vehicle. The optimization of an electric vehicle layout requires a weight distribution in the range of 53/47 to 62/38 in order to assure dynamic handling characteristics comparable to current internal combustion engine vehicles. Necessary modification of the base vehicle can be accomplished without major modification of the structure or running gear. As long as batteries are as heavy and require as much space as they currently do, they must be divided into two packages, one at front under the hood and a second at the rear under the cargo area, in order to achieve the desired weight distribution. The weight distribution criteria requires the placement of batteries at the front of the vehicle even when the central tunnel is used for the location of some batteries. The optimum layout has a front motor and front wheel drive. This configuration provides the optimum vehicle dynamic handling characteristics and the maximum passenger and cargo space for a given size vehicle.

Passive Shielding Effect on Space Profile of Magnetic Field Emissions for Wireless Power Transfer to Vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Batra, Tushar; Schaltz, Erik

2015-01-01

Magnetic fields emitted by wireless power transfer systems are of high importance with respect to human safety and health. Aluminum and ferrite are used in the system to reduce the fields and are termed as passive shielding. In this paper, the influence of these materials on the space profile has...... fields for wireless power transfer for vehicle applications....

Exercise Equipment Usability Assessment for a Deep Space Concept Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodes, Brooke M.; Reynolds, David W.

2015-01-01

With international aspirations to send astronauts to deep space, the world is now faced with the complex problem of keeping astronauts healthy in unexplored hostile environments for durations of time never before attempted by humans. The great physical demands imparted by space exploration compound the problem of astronaut health, as the astronauts must not only be healthy, but physically fit upon destination arrival in order to perform the scientific tasks required of them. Additionally, future deep space exploration necessitates the development of environments conducive to long-duration habitation that would supplement propulsive vehicles. Space Launch System (SLS) core stage barrel sections present large volumes of robust structure that can be recycled and used for long duration habitation. This assessment will focus on one such conceptual craft, referred to as the SLS Derived Habitat (SLS-DH). Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC) Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) has formulated a high-level layout of this SLS-DH with parameters such as floor number and orientation, floor designations, grid dimensions, wall placement, etc. Yet to be determined, however, is the layout of the exercise area. Currently the SLS-DH features three floors laid out longitudinally, leaving 2m of height between the floor and ceilings. This short distance between levels introduces challenges for proper placement of exercise equipment such as treadmills and stationary bicycles, as the dynamic envelope for the 95th percentile male astronauts is greater than 2m. This study aims to assess the optimal equipment layout and sizing for the exercise area of this habitat. Figure 1 illustrates the layout of the DSH concept demonstrator located at MSFC. The exercise area is located on the lower level, seen here as the front half of the level occupied by a crew member. This small volume does not allow for numerous or bulky exercise machines, so the conceptual equipment has been limited to a treadmill and

Mobility Systems For Robotic Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Chun, Wendell

1987-02-01

The majority of existing robotic systems can be decomposed into five distinct subsystems: locomotion, control/man-machine interface (MMI), sensors, power source, and manipulator. When designing robotic vehicles, there are two main requirements: first, to design for the environment and second, for the task. The environment can be correlated with known missions. This can be seen by analyzing existing mobile robots. Ground mobile systems are generally wheeled, tracked, or legged. More recently, underwater vehicles have gained greater attention. For example, Jason Jr. made history by surveying the sunken luxury liner, the Titanic. The next big surge of robotic vehicles will be in space. This will evolve as a result of NASA's commitment to the Space Station. The foreseeable robots will interface with current systems as well as standalone, free-flying systems. A space robotic vehicle is similar to its underwater counterpart with very few differences. Their commonality includes missions and degrees-of-freedom. The issues of stability and communication are inherent in both systems and environment.

The space shuttle ascent vehicle aerodynamic challenges configuration design and data base development

Science.gov (United States)

Dill, C. C.; Young, J. C.; Roberts, B. B.; Craig, M. K.; Hamilton, J. T.; Boyle, W. W.

1985-01-01

The phase B Space Shuttle systems definition studies resulted in a generic configuration consisting of a delta wing orbiter, and two solid rocket boosters (SRB) attached to an external fuel tank (ET). The initial challenge facing the aerodynamic community was aerodynamically optimizing, within limits, this configuration. As the Shuttle program developed and the sensitivities of the vehicle to aerodynamics were better understood the requirements of the aerodynamic data base grew. Adequately characterizing the vehicle to support the various design studies exploded the size of the data base to proportions that created a data modeling/management challenge for the aerodynamicist. The ascent aerodynamic data base originated primarily from wind tunnel test results. The complexity of the configuration rendered conventional analytic methods of little use. Initial wind tunnel tests provided results which included undesirable effects from model support tructure, inadequate element proximity, and inadequate plume simulation. The challenge to improve the quality of test results by determining the extent of these undesirable effects and subsequently develop testing techniques to eliminate them was imposed on the aerodynamic community. The challenges to the ascent aerodynamics community documented are unique due to the aerodynamic complexity of the Shuttle launch. Never before was such a complex vehicle aerodynamically characterized. The challenges were met with innovative engineering analyses/methodology development and wind tunnel testing techniques.

Optimal Vehicle Design Using the Integrated System and Cost Modeling Tool Suite

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-01

Space Vehicle Costing ( ACEIT ) • New Small Sat Model Development & Production Cost O&M Cost Module  Radiation Exposure  Radiation Detector Response...Reliability OML Availability Risk l l Tools CEA, SRM Model, POST, ACEIT , Inflation Model, Rotor Blade Des, Microsoft Project, ATSV, S/1-iABP...space STK, SOAP – Specific mission • Space Vehicle Design (SMAD) • Space Vehicle Propulsion • Orbit Propagation • Space Vehicle Costing ( ACEIT ) • New

Multiple Model-Based Synchronization Approaches for Time Delayed Slaving Data in a Space Launch Vehicle Tracking System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haryong Song

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the inherent characteristics of the flight mission of a space launch vehicle (SLV, which is required to fly over very large distances and have very high fault tolerances, in general, SLV tracking systems (TSs comprise multiple heterogeneous sensors such as radars, GPS, INS, and electrooptical targeting systems installed over widespread areas. To track an SLV without interruption and to hand over the measurement coverage between TSs properly, the mission control system (MCS transfers slaving data to each TS through mission networks. When serious network delays occur, however, the slaving data from the MCS can lead to the failure of the TS. To address this problem, in this paper, we propose multiple model-based synchronization (MMS approaches, which take advantage of the multiple motion models of an SLV. Cubic spline extrapolation, prediction through an α-β-γ filter, and a single model Kalman filter are presented as benchmark approaches. We demonstrate the synchronization accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed MMS approaches using the Monte Carlo simulation with the nominal trajectory data of Korea Space Launch Vehicle-I.

A Spherical Torus Nuclear Fusion Reactor Space Propulsion Vehicle Concept for Fast Interplanetary Travel

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Craig H.; Borowski, Stanley K.; Dudzinski, Leonard A.; Juhasz, Albert J.

1998-01-01

A conceptual vehicle design enabling fast outer solar system travel was produced predicated on a small aspect ratio spherical torus nuclear fusion reactor. Initial requirements were for a human mission to Saturn with a greater than 5% payload mass fraction and a one way trip time of less than one year. Analysis revealed that the vehicle could deliver a 108 mt crew habitat payload to Saturn rendezvous in 235 days, with an initial mass in low Earth orbit of 2,941 mt. Engineering conceptual design, analysis, and assessment was performed on all ma or systems including payload, central truss, nuclear reactor (including divertor and fuel injector), power conversion (including turbine, compressor, alternator, radiator, recuperator, and conditioning), magnetic nozzle, neutral beam injector, tankage, start/re-start reactor and battery, refrigeration, communications, reaction control, and in-space operations. Detailed assessment was done on reactor operations, including plasma characteristics, power balance, power utilization, and component design.

High Power Orbit Transfer Vehicle

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gulczinski, Frank

2003-01-01

... from Virginia Tech University and Aerophysics, Inc. to examine propulsion requirements for a high-power orbit transfer vehicle using thin-film voltaic solar array technologies under development by the Space Vehicles Directorate (dubbed PowerSail...

Pellet bed reactor for nuclear propelled vehicles: Part 2: Missions and vehicle integration trades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haloulakos, V.E.

1991-01-01

Mission and vehicle integration tradeoffs involving the use of the pellet bed reactor (PBR) for nuclear powered vehicles is discussed, with much of the information being given in viewgraph form. Information is given on propellant tank geometries, shield weight requirements for conventional tank configurations, effective specific impulse, radiation mapping, radiation dose rate after shutdown, space transfer vehicle design data, a Mars mission summary, sample pellet bed nuclear orbit transfer vehicle mass breakdown, and payload fraction vs. velocity increment

Pellet bed reactor for nuclear propelled vehicles: Part 2: Missions and vehicle integration trades

Science.gov (United States)

Haloulakos, V. E.

1991-01-01

Mission and vehicle integration tradeoffs involving the use of the pellet bed reactor (PBR) for nuclear powered vehicles is discussed, with much of the information being given in viewgraph form. Information is given on propellant tank geometries, shield weight requirements for conventional tank configurations, effective specific impulse, radiation mapping, radiation dose rate after shutdown, space transfer vehicle design data, a Mars mission summary, sample pellet bed nuclear orbit transfer vehicle mass breakdown, and payload fraction vs. velocity increment.

An Analytical Solution for Yaw Maneuver Optimization on the International Space Station and Other Orbiting Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Dobrinskaya, Tatiana

2015-01-01

This paper suggests a new method for optimizing yaw maneuvers on the International Space Station (ISS). Yaw rotations are the most common large maneuvers on the ISS often used for docking and undocking operations, as well as for other activities. When maneuver optimization is used, large maneuvers, which were performed on thrusters, could be performed either using control moment gyroscopes (CMG), or with significantly reduced thruster firings. Maneuver optimization helps to save expensive propellant and reduce structural loads - an important factor for the ISS service life. In addition, optimized maneuvers reduce contamination of the critical elements of the vehicle structure, such as solar arrays. This paper presents an analytical solution for optimizing yaw attitude maneuvers. Equations describing pitch and roll motion needed to counteract the major torques during a yaw maneuver are obtained. A yaw rate profile is proposed. Also the paper describes the physical basis of the suggested optimization approach. In the obtained optimized case, the torques are significantly reduced. This torque reduction was compared to the existing optimization method which utilizes the computational solution. It was shown that the attitude profiles and the torque reduction have a good match for these two methods of optimization. The simulations using the ISS flight software showed similar propellant consumption for both methods. The analytical solution proposed in this paper has major benefits with respect to computational approach. In contrast to the current computational solution, which only can be calculated on the ground, the analytical solution does not require extensive computational resources, and can be implemented in the onboard software, thus, making the maneuver execution automatic. The automatic maneuver significantly simplifies the operations and, if necessary, allows to perform a maneuver without communication with the ground. It also reduces the probability of command

An automated rendezvous and capture system design concept for the cargo transfer vehicle and Space Station Freedom

Science.gov (United States)

Fuchs, Ron; Marsh, Steven

1991-01-01

A rendezvous sensor system concept was developed for the cargo transfer vehicle (CTV) to autonomously rendezvous with and be captured by Space Station Freedom (SSF). The development of requirements, the design of a unique Lockheed developed sensor concept to meet these requirements, and the system design to place this sensor on the CTV and rendezvous with the SSF are described .

Affordable Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) Testing on Large Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Aldridge, Edward; Curry, Bruce; Scully, Robert

2015-01-01

Objective: Perform System-Level EMI testing of the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) spacecraft in situ in the Kennedy Space Center's Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout (O&C) Facility in 6 days. The only way to execute the system-level EMI testing and meet this schedule challenge was to perform the EMI testing in situ in the Final Assembly & System Test (FAST) Cell in a reverberant mode, not the direct illumination mode originally planned. This required the unplanned construction of a Faraday Cage around the vehicle and FAST Cell structure. The presence of massive steel platforms created many challenges to developing an efficient screen room to contain the RF energy and yield an effective reverberant chamber. An initial effectiveness test showed marginal performance, but improvements implemented afterward resulted in the final test performing surprisingly well! The paper will explain the design, the challenges, and the changes that made the difference in performance!

Operation and evaluation of the Terminal Configured Vehicle Mission Simulator in an automated terminal area metering and spacing ATC environment

Science.gov (United States)

Houck, J. A.

1980-01-01

This paper describes the work being done at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Langley Research Center on the development of a mission simulator for use in the Terminal Configured Vehicle Program. A brief description of the goals and objectives of the Terminal Configured Vehicle Program is presented. A more detailed description of the Mission Simulator, in its present configuration, and its components is provided. Finally, a description of the first research study conducted in the Mission Simulator is presented along with a discussion of some preliminary results from this study.

Advanced Range Safety System for High Energy Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Claxton, Jeffrey S.; Linton, Donald F.

2002-01-01

The advanced range safety system project is a collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the United States Air Force to develop systems that would reduce costs and schedule for safety approval for new classes of unmanned high-energy vehicles. The mission-planning feature for this system would yield flight profiles that satisfy the mission requirements for the user while providing an increased quality of risk assessment, enhancing public safety. By improving the speed and accuracy of predicting risks to the public, mission planners would be able to expand flight envelopes significantly. Once in place, this system is expected to offer the flexibility of handling real-time risk management for the high-energy capabilities of hypersonic vehicles including autonomous return-from-orbit vehicles and extended flight profiles over land. Users of this system would include mission planners of Space Launch Initiative vehicles, space planes, and other high-energy vehicles. The real-time features of the system could make extended flight of a malfunctioning vehicle possible, in lieu of an immediate terminate decision. With this improved capability, the user would have more time for anomaly resolution and potential recovery of a malfunctioning vehicle.

Launch Vehicle Demonstrator Using Shuttle Assets

Science.gov (United States)

Threet, Grady E., Jr.; Creech, Dennis M.; Philips, Alan D.; Water, Eric D.

2011-01-01

The Marshall Space Flight Center Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) has the leading role for NASA s preliminary conceptual launch vehicle design and performance analysis. Over the past several years the ACO Earth-to-Orbit Team has evaluated thousands of launch vehicle concept variations for a multitude of studies including agency-wide efforts such as the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS), Constellation, Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV), Heavy Lift Propulsion Technology (HLPT), Human Exploration Framework Team (HEFT), and Space Launch System (SLS). NASA plans to continue human space exploration and space station utilization. Launch vehicles used for heavy lift cargo and crew will be needed. One of the current leading concepts for future heavy lift capability is an inline one and a half stage concept using solid rocket boosters (SRB) and based on current Shuttle technology and elements. Potentially, the quickest and most cost-effective path towards an operational vehicle of this configuration is to make use of a demonstrator vehicle fabricated from existing shuttle assets and relying upon the existing STS launch infrastructure. Such a demonstrator would yield valuable proof-of-concept data and would provide a working test platform allowing for validated systems integration. Using shuttle hardware such as existing RS-25D engines and partial MPS, propellant tanks derived from the External Tank (ET) design and tooling, and four-segment SRB s could reduce the associated upfront development costs and schedule when compared to a concept that would rely on new propulsion technology and engine designs. There are potentially several other additional benefits to this demonstrator concept. Since a concept of this type would be based on man-rated flight proven hardware components, this demonstrator has the potential to evolve into the first iteration of heavy lift crew or cargo and serve as a baseline for block upgrades. This vehicle could also serve as a demonstration

Human Engineering of Space Vehicle Displays and Controls

Science.gov (United States)

Whitmore, Mihriban; Holden, Kritina L.; Boyer, Jennifer; Stephens, John-Paul; Ezer, Neta; Sandor, Aniko

2010-01-01

Proper attention to the integration of the human needs in the vehicle displays and controls design process creates a safe and productive environment for crew. Although this integration is critical for all phases of flight, for crew interfaces that are used during dynamic phases (e.g., ascent and entry), the integration is particularly important because of demanding environmental conditions. This panel addresses the process of how human engineering involvement ensures that human-system integration occurs early in the design and development process and continues throughout the lifecycle of a vehicle. This process includes the development of requirements and quantitative metrics to measure design success, research on fundamental design questions, human-in-the-loop evaluations, and iterative design. Processes and results from research on displays and controls; the creation and validation of usability, workload, and consistency metrics; and the design and evaluation of crew interfaces for NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle are used as case studies.

Cooperative Path-Planning for Multi-Vehicle Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qichen Wang

2014-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a collision avoidance algorithm for multi-vehicle systems, which is a common problem in many areas, including navigation and robotics. In dynamic environments, vehicles may become involved in potential collisions with each other, particularly when the vehicle density is high and the direction of travel is unrestricted. Cooperatively planning vehicle movement can effectively reduce and fairly distribute the detour inconvenience before subsequently returning vehicles to their intended paths. We present a novel method of cooperative path planning for multi-vehicle systems based on reinforcement learning to address this problem as a decision process. A dynamic system is described as a multi-dimensional space formed by vectors as states to represent all participating vehicles’ position and orientation, whilst considering the kinematic constraints of the vehicles. Actions are defined for the system to transit from one state to another. In order to select appropriate actions whilst satisfying the constraints of path smoothness, constant speed and complying with a minimum distance between vehicles, an approximate value function is iteratively developed to indicate the desirability of every state-action pair from the continuous state space and action space. The proposed scheme comprises two phases. The convergence of the value function takes place in the former learning phase, and it is then used as a path planning guideline in the subsequent action phase. This paper summarizes the concept and methodologies used to implement this online cooperative collision avoidance algorithm and presents results and analysis regarding how this cooperative scheme improves upon two baseline schemes where vehicles make movement decisions independently.

Effectiveness of media awareness campaigns on the proportion of vehicles that give space to ambulances on roads: An observational study.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaikh, Shiraz; Baig, Lubna A; Polkowski, Maciej

2017-01-01

The findings of the Health Care in Danger project in Karachi suggests that there is presence of behavioral negligence among vehicle operators on roads in regards to giving way to ambulances. A mass media campaign was conducted to raise people's awareness on the importance of giving way to ambulances. The main objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the campaign on increasing the proportion of vehicles that give way to ambulances. This was a quasi-experimental study that was based on before and after design. Three observation surveys were carried out in different areas of the city in Karachi, Pakistan before, during and after the campaign by trained observers who recorded their findings on a checklist. Each observation was carried out at three different times of the day for at least two days on each road. The relationship of the media campaign with regards to a vehicle giving space to an ambulance was calculated by means of odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using multivariate logistic regression. Overall, 245 observations were included in the analysis. Traffic congestion and negligence/resistance, by vehicles operators who were in front of the ambulance, were the two main reasons why ambulances were not given way. Other reasons include: sudden stops by minibuses and in the process causing obstruction, ambulances not rushing through to alert vehicle operators to give way and traffic interruption by VIP movement. After adjustment for site, time of day, type of ambulance and number of cars in front of the ambulance, vehicles during (OR=2.13, 95% CI=1.22-3.71, p=0.007) and after the campaign (OR=1.73, 95% CI=1.02-2.95, p=0.042) were significantly more likely give space to ambulances. Mass media campaigns can play a significant role in changing the negligent behavior of people, especially when the campaign conveys a humanitarian message such as: giving way to ambulances can save lives.

33 CFR 127.1311 - Motor vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Motor vehicles. 127.1311 Section... Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Hazardous Gas Operations § 127.1311 Motor vehicles. (a) When LHG is... operator shall ensure that no person— (1) Stops or parks a motor vehicle in a space other than a designated...

Project Freebird: An orbital transfer vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Aneses, Carlos A.; Blanchette, Ryan L.; Brann, David M.; Campos, Mario J.; Cohen, Lisa E.; Corcoran, Daniel J., III; Cox, James F.; Curtis, Trevor J.; Douglass, Deborah A.; Downard, Catherine L.

1994-08-01

Freebird is a space-based orbital transfer vehicle designed to repair and deorbit orbital assets. Freebird is based at International Space Station Alpha (ISSA) at an inclination of 51.6 deg and is capable of three types of missions: crewed and teleoperated LEO missions, and extended robotic missions. In a crewed local configuration, the vehicle can visit inclinations between 30.8 deg and 72.4 deg at altitudes close to 390 km. Adding extra fuel tanks extends this range of inclination up to 84.9 deg and down to 18.3 deg. Furthermore, removing the crew module, using the vehicle in a teleoperated manner, and operating with extra fuel tanks allows missions to polar and geosynchronous orbits. To allow for mission flexibility, the vehicle was designed in a semimodular configuration. The major system components include a crew module, a 'smart box' (which contains command, communications, guidance, and navigation equipment), a propulsion pack, extra fuel tanks, and a vehicle storage facility (VSF) for storage purposes. To minimize risk as well as development time and cost, the vehicle was designed using only proven technology or technology which is expected to be flight-qualified in time for the intended launch date of 2002. And, because Freebird carries crew and operates near the space station, it must meet or exceed the NASA reliability standard of 0.994, as well as other standard requirements for such vehicles. The Freebird program was conceived and designed as a way to provide important and currently unavailable satellite repair and replacement services of a value equal to or exceeding operational costs.

Milestones Towards Hot CMC Structures for Operational Space Rentry Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Hald, H.; Weihs, H.; Reimer, T.

2002-01-01

Hot structures made of ceramic matrix composites (CMC) for space reentry vehicles play a key role regarding feasibility of advanced and reusable future space transportation systems. Thus realization of applicable flight hardware concerning hot primary structures like a nose cap or body flaps and thermal protection systems (TPS) requires system competence w.r.t. sophisticated know how in material processing, manufacturing and qualification of structural components and in all aspects from process control, use of NDI techniques, arc jet testing, hot structure testing to flight concept validation. This goal has been achieved so far by DLR while following a dedicated development road map since more than a decade culminating at present in the supply of the nose cap system for NASA's X-38; the flight hardware has been installed successfully in October 2001. A number of unique hardware development milestones had to be achieved in the past to finally reach this level of system competence. It is the intention of this paper to highlight the most important technical issues and achievements from the essential projects and developments to finally provide a comprehensive insight into DLR's past and future development road map w.r.t. CMC hot structures for space reentry vehicles. Based on DLR's C/C-SiC material which is produced with the inhouse developed liquid silicon infiltration process (LSI) the development strategy first concentrated on basic material properties evaluation in various arc jet testing facilities. As soon as a basic understanding of oxidation and erosion mechanisms had been achieved further efforts concentrated on inflight verification of both materials and design concepts for hot structures. Consequently coated and uncoated C/C-SiC specimens were integrated into the ablative heat shield of Russian FOTON capsules and they were tested during two missions in 1992 and 1994. Following on, a hot structure experiment called CETEX which principally was a kind of a

Energy Management of the Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle Using a Goal-Oriented Control System

Science.gov (United States)

Braman, Julia M. B.; Wagner, David A.

2010-01-01

Safe human exploration in space missions requires careful management of limited resources such as breathable air and stored electrical energy. Daily activities for astronauts must be carefully planned with respect to such resources, and usage must be monitored as activities proceed to ensure that they can be completed while maintaining safe resource margins. Such planning and monitoring can be complex because they depend on models of resource usage, the activities being planned, and uncertainties. This paper describes a system - and the technology behind it - for energy management of the NASA-Johnson Space Center's Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicles (SEV), that provides, in an onboard advisory mode, situational awareness to astronauts and real-time guidance to mission operators. This new capability was evaluated during this year's Desert RATS (Research and Technology Studies) planetary exploration analog test in Arizona. This software aided ground operators and crew members in modifying the day s activities based on the real-time execution of the plan and on energy data received from the rovers.

Vehicle logo recognition using multi-level fusion model

Science.gov (United States)

Ming, Wei; Xiao, Jianli

2018-04-01

Vehicle logo recognition plays an important role in manufacturer identification and vehicle recognition. This paper proposes a new vehicle logo recognition algorithm. It has a hierarchical framework, which consists of two fusion levels. At the first level, a feature fusion model is employed to map the original features to a higher dimension feature space. In this space, the vehicle logos become more recognizable. At the second level, a weighted voting strategy is proposed to promote the accuracy and the robustness of the recognition results. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, extensive experiments are performed, which demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve high recognition accuracy and work robustly.

Technology Improvement for the High Reliability LM-2F Launch Vehicle

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

QIN Tong; RONG Yi; ZHENG Liwei; ZHANG Zhi

2017-01-01

The Long March 2F (LM-2F) launch vehicle,the only launch vehicle designed for manned space flight in China,successfully launched the Tiangong 2 space laboratory and the Shenzhou ll manned spaceship into orbits in 2016 respectively.In this study,it introduces the technological improvements for enhancing the reliability of the LM-2F launch vehicle in the aspects of general technology,control system,manufacture and ground support system.The LM2F launch vehicle will continue to provide more contributions to the Chinese Space Station Project with its high reliability and 100％ success rate.

Innovative Vehicle Concept for the Integration of Alternative Power Trains

OpenAIRE

Steinle, Philipp; Kriescher, Michael; Friedrich, Horst E.

2010-01-01

Abstract: The Institute of Vehicle Concepts is developing a safe, modularisable vehicle concept in rib and space frame design for tomorrow’s vehicles with alternative power trains. The vehicle can be powered either by a fuel cell system, a free-piston linear generator developed at the DLR, or a traction battery. Taking into account the given boundary conditions, the challenge is to design a body structure that is light and performs well in the event of an accident. The rib and space fra...

Trajectory generation for an on-road autonomous vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Horst, John; Barbera, Anthony

2006-05-01

We describe an algorithm that generates a smooth trajectory (position, velocity, and acceleration at uniformly sampled instants of time) for a car-like vehicle autonomously navigating within the constraints of lanes in a road. The technique models both vehicle paths and lane segments as straight line segments and circular arcs for mathematical simplicity and elegance, which we contrast with cubic spline approaches. We develop the path in an idealized space, warp the path into real space and compute path length, generate a one-dimensional trajectory along the path length that achieves target speeds and positions, and finally, warp, translate, and rotate the one-dimensional trajectory points onto the path in real space. The algorithm moves a vehicle in lane safely and efficiently within speed and acceleration maximums. The algorithm functions in the context of other autonomous driving functions within a carefully designed vehicle control hierarchy.

Vehicle systems and payload requirements evaluation. [computer programs for identifying launch vehicle system requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Rea, F. G.; Pittenger, J. L.; Conlon, R. J.; Allen, J. D.

1975-01-01

Techniques developed for identifying launch vehicle system requirements for NASA automated space missions are discussed. Emphasis is placed on development of computer programs and investigation of astrionics for OSS missions and Scout. The Earth Orbit Mission Program - 1 which performs linear error analysis of launch vehicle dispersions for both vehicle and navigation system factors is described along with the Interactive Graphic Orbit Selection program which allows the user to select orbits which satisfy mission requirements and to evaluate the necessary injection accuracy.

A Compendium of Wind Statistics and Models for the NASA Space Shuttle and Other Aerospace Vehicle Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, O. E.; Adelfang, S. I.

1998-01-01

The wind profile with all of its variations with respect to altitude has been, is now, and will continue to be important for aerospace vehicle design and operations. Wind profile databases and models are used for the vehicle ascent flight design for structural wind loading, flight control systems, performance analysis, and launch operations. This report presents the evolution of wind statistics and wind models from the empirical scalar wind profile model established for the Saturn Program through the development of the vector wind profile model used for the Space Shuttle design to the variations of this wind modeling concept for the X-33 program. Because wind is a vector quantity, the vector wind models use the rigorous mathematical probability properties of the multivariate normal probability distribution. When the vehicle ascent steering commands (ascent guidance) are wind biased to the wind profile measured on the day-of-launch, ascent structural wind loads are reduced and launch probability is increased. This wind load alleviation technique is recommended in the initial phase of vehicle development. The vehicle must fly through the largest load allowable versus altitude to achieve its mission. The Gumbel extreme value probability distribution is used to obtain the probability of exceeding (or not exceeding) the load allowable. The time conditional probability function is derived from the Gumbel bivariate extreme value distribution. This time conditional function is used for calculation of wind loads persistence increments using 3.5-hour Jimsphere wind pairs. These increments are used to protect the commit-to-launch decision. Other topics presented include the Shuttle Shuttle load-response to smoothed wind profiles, a new gust model, and advancements in wind profile measuring systems. From the lessons learned and knowledge gained from past vehicle programs, the development of future launch vehicles can be accelerated. However, new vehicle programs by their very

Ground Vehicle Convoying

Science.gov (United States)

Gage, Douglas W.; Pletta, J. Bryan

1987-01-01

Initial investigations into two different approaches for applying autonomous ground vehicle technology to the vehicle convoying application are described. A minimal capability system that would maintain desired speed and vehicle spacing while a human driver provided steering control could improve convoy performance and provide positive control at night and in inclement weather, but would not reduce driver manpower requirements. Such a system could be implemented in a modular and relatively low cost manner. A more capable system would eliminate the human driver in following vehicles and reduce manpower requirements for the transportation of supplies. This technology could also be used to aid in the deployment of teleoperated vehicles in a battlefield environment. The needs, requirements, and several proposed solutions for such an Attachable Robotic Convoy Capability (ARCC) system will be discussed. Included are discussions of sensors, communications, computers, control systems and safety issues. This advanced robotic convoy system will provide a much greater capability, but will be more difficult and expensive to implement.

Vehicle health management for guidance, navigation and control systems

Science.gov (United States)

Radke, Kathleen; Frazzini, Ron; Bursch, Paul; Wald, Jerry; Brown, Don

1993-01-01

The objective of the program was to architect a vehicle health management (VHM) system for space systems avionics that assures system readiness for launch vehicles and for space-based dormant vehicles. The platforms which were studied and considered for application of VHM for guidance, navigation and control (GN&C) included the Advanced Manned Launch System (AMLS), the Horizontal Landing-20/Personnel Launch System (HL-20/PLS), the Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV) and the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO). This set was selected because dormancy and/or availability requirements are driving the designs of these future systems.

Conceptual shape optimization of entry vehicles applied to capsules and winged fuselage vehicles

CERN Document Server

Dirkx, Dominic

2017-01-01

This book covers the parameterization of entry capsules, including Apollo capsules and planetary probes, and winged entry vehicles such as the Space Shuttle and lifting bodies. The aerodynamic modelling is based on a variety of panel methods that take shadowing into account, and it has been validated with flight and wind tunnel data of Apollo and the Space Shuttle. The shape optimization is combined with constrained trajectory analysis, and the multi-objective approach provides the engineer with a Pareto front of optimal shapes. The method detailed in Conceptual Shape Optimization of Entry Vehicles is straightforward, and the output gives the engineer insight in the effect of shape variations on trajectory performance. All applied models and algorithms used are explained in detail, allowing for reconstructing the design tool to the researcher’s requirements. Conceptual Shape Optimization of Entry Vehicles will be of interest to both researchers and graduate students in the field of aerospace engineering, an...

Automation for Vehicle and Crew Operations, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Modern space systems such as the International Space Station (ISS) and the proposed Constellation vehicles and habitats are complex entities with hundreds of...

Conceptual Design of In-Space Vehicles for Human Exploration of the Outer Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, R. B.; Alexander, R. A.; Chapman, J. M.; Fincher, S. S.; Hopkins, R. C.; Philips, A. D.; Polsgrove, T. T.; Litchford, R. J.; Patton, B. W.; Statham, G.

2003-01-01

During FY-2002, a team of engineers from TD30/Advanced Concepts and TD40/Propulsion Research Center embarked on a study of potential crewed missions to the outer solar system. The study was conducted under the auspices of the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts activity administered by Langley Research Center (LaRC). The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) team interacted heavily with teams from other Centers including Glenn Research Center, LaRC, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Johnson Space Center. The MSFC team generated five concept missions for this project. The concept missions use a variety of technologies, including magnetized target fusion (MTF), magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, solid core reactors, and molten salt reactors in various combinations. The Technical Publication (TP) reviews these five concepts and the methods used to generate them. The analytical methods used are described for all significant disciplines and subsystems. The propulsion and power technologies selected for each vehicle are reviewed in detail. The MSFC team also expended considerable effort refining the MTF concept for use with this mission. The results from this effort are also contained within this TP. Finally, the lessons learned from this activity are summarized in the conclusions section.

Space transportation activities in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Gabris, Edward A.

1994-01-01

The status of the existing space transportation systems in the U.S. and options for increased capability is being examined in the context of mission requirements, options for new vehicles, cost to operate the existing vehicles, cost to develop new vehicles, and the capabilities and plans of other suppliers. This assessment is addressing the need to build and resupply the space station, to maintain necessary military assets in a rapidly changing world, and to continue a competitive commercial space transportation industry. The Department of Defense (DOD) and NASA each conducted an 'access to space' study using a common mission model but with the emphasis on their unique requirements. Both studies considered three options: maintain and improve the existing capability, build a new launch vehicle using contemporary technology, and build a new launch vehicle using advanced technology. While no decisions have been made on a course of action, it will be influenced by the availability of funds in the U.S. budget, the changing need for military space assets, the increasing competition among space launch suppliers, and the emerging opportunity for an advanced technology, low cost system and international partnerships to develop it.

Visiting Vehicle Ground Trajectory Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Hamm, Dustin

2013-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) Visiting Vehicle Group needed a targeting tool for vehicles that rendezvous with the ISS. The Visiting Vehicle Ground Trajectory targeting tool provides the ability to perform both realtime and planning operations for the Visiting Vehicle Group. This tool provides a highly reconfigurable base, which allows the Visiting Vehicle Group to perform their work. The application is composed of a telemetry processing function, a relative motion function, a targeting function, a vector view, and 2D/3D world map type graphics. The software tool provides the ability to plan a rendezvous trajectory for vehicles that visit the ISS. It models these relative trajectories using planned and realtime data from the vehicle. The tool monitors ongoing rendezvous trajectory relative motion, and ensures visiting vehicles stay within agreed corridors. The software provides the ability to update or re-plan a rendezvous to support contingency operations. Adding new parameters and incorporating them into the system was previously not available on-the-fly. If an unanticipated capability wasn't discovered until the vehicle was flying, there was no way to update things.

Project ARGO: The design and analysis of an all-propulsive and an aeroassisted version of a manned space transportation vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, H.; Seifert, D.; Waidelich, J.; Mileski, M.; Herr, D.; Wilks, M.; Law, G.; Folz, A.

1989-01-01

The Senior Aerospace System Design class at the University of Michigan undertook the design of a manned space transportation vehicle (STV) that would transport payloads between low earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO). Designated ARGO after the ship of the Greek adventurer Jason, two different versions of an STV that would be based, refueled, and serviced at the Space Station Freedom were designed and analyzed by the class. With the same 2-man/7-day nominal mission of transporting a 10,000-kg payload up to GEO and bringing a 5000-kg payload back to LEO, the two versions of ARGO differ in the manner in which the delta V is applied to insert the vehicle into LEO upon return from GEO. The all-propulsive ARGO (or CSTV for chemical STV) uses thrust from its LH2/LOX rocket engines to produce the delta V during all phases of its mission. While the aeroassisted ARGO (or ASTV for aeroassisted STV) also uses the same engines for the majority of the mission, the final delta V used to insert the ASTV into LEO is produced by skimming the Earth's atmosphere and using the drag on the vehicle to apply the required delta V. This procedure allows for large propellant, and thus cost, savings, but creates many design problems such as the high heating rates and decelerations experienced by a vehicle moving through the atmosphere at hypersonic velocities. The design class, consisting of 43 senior aerospace engineering students, was divided into one managerial and eight technical groups. The technical groups consisted of spacecraft configuration and integration, mission analysis, atmospheric flight, propulsion, power and communications, life support and human factors, logistics and support, and systems analysis. Two committees were set up with members from each group to create the scale models of the STV's and to produce the final report.

Risk Perception and Communication in Commercial Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Hardy, Terry L.

2005-12-01

A number of inventors and entrepreneurs are currently attempting to develop and commercially operate reusable launch vehicles to carry voluntary participants into space. The operation of these launch vehicles, however, produces safety risks to the crew, to the space flight participants, and to the uninvolved public. Risk communication therefore becomes increasingly important to assure that those involved in the flight understand the risk and that those who are not directly involved understand the personal impact of RLV operations on their lives. Those involved in the launch vehicle flight may perceive risk differently from those non-participants, and these differences in perception must be understood to effectively communicate this risk. This paper summarizes existing research in risk perception and communication and applies that research to commercial reusable launch vehicle operations. Risk communication is discussed in the context of requirements of United States law for informed consent from any space flight participants on reusable suborbital launch vehicles.

Operations Assessment of Launch Vehicle Architectures using Activity Based Cost Models

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Torres, Alex J.; McCleskey, Carey

2000-01-01

The growing emphasis on affordability for space transportation systems requires the assessment of new space vehicles for all life cycle activities, from design and development, through manufacturing and operations. This paper addresses the operational assessment of launch vehicles, focusing on modeling the ground support requirements of a vehicle architecture, and estimating the resulting costs and flight rate. This paper proposes the use of Activity Based Costing (ABC) modeling for this assessment. The model uses expert knowledge to determine the activities, the activity times and the activity costs based on vehicle design characteristics. The approach provides several advantages to current approaches to vehicle architecture assessment including easier validation and allowing vehicle designers to understand the cost and cycle time drivers.

Launch vehicle selection model

Science.gov (United States)

Montoya, Alex J.

1990-01-01

Over the next 50 years, humans will be heading for the Moon and Mars to build scientific bases to gain further knowledge about the universe and to develop rewarding space activities. These large scale projects will last many years and will require large amounts of mass to be delivered to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). It will take a great deal of planning to complete these missions in an efficient manner. The planning of a future Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV) will significantly impact the overall multi-year launching cost for the vehicle fleet depending upon when the HLLV will be ready for use. It is desirable to develop a model in which many trade studies can be performed. In one sample multi-year space program analysis, the total launch vehicle cost of implementing the program reduced from 50 percent to 25 percent. This indicates how critical it is to reduce space logistics costs. A linear programming model has been developed to answer such questions. The model is now in its second phase of development, and this paper will address the capabilities of the model and its intended uses. The main emphasis over the past year was to make the model user friendly and to incorporate additional realistic constraints that are difficult to represent mathematically. We have developed a methodology in which the user has to be knowledgeable about the mission model and the requirements of the payloads. We have found a representation that will cut down the solution space of the problem by inserting some preliminary tests to eliminate some infeasible vehicle solutions. The paper will address the handling of these additional constraints and the methodology for incorporating new costing information utilizing learning curve theory. The paper will review several test cases that will explore the preferred vehicle characteristics and the preferred period of construction, i.e., within the next decade, or in the first decade of the next century. Finally, the paper will explore the interaction

Intelligent Vehicle Health Management

Science.gov (United States)

Paris, Deidre E.; Trevino, Luis; Watson, Michael D.

2005-01-01

As a part of the overall goal of developing Integrated Vehicle Health Management systems for aerospace vehicles, the NASA Faculty Fellowship Program (NFFP) at Marshall Space Flight Center has performed a pilot study on IVHM principals which integrates researched IVHM technologies in support of Integrated Intelligent Vehicle Management (IIVM). IVHM is the process of assessing, preserving, and restoring system functionality across flight and ground systems (NASA NGLT 2004). The framework presented in this paper integrates advanced computational techniques with sensor and communication technologies for spacecraft that can generate responses through detection, diagnosis, reasoning, and adapt to system faults in support of INM. These real-time responses allow the IIVM to modify the affected vehicle subsystem(s) prior to a catastrophic event. Furthermore, the objective of this pilot program is to develop and integrate technologies which can provide a continuous, intelligent, and adaptive health state of a vehicle and use this information to improve safety and reduce costs of operations. Recent investments in avionics, health management, and controls have been directed towards IIVM. As this concept has matured, it has become clear the INM requires the same sensors and processing capabilities as the real-time avionics functions to support diagnosis of subsystem problems. New sensors have been proposed, in addition, to augment the avionics sensors to support better system monitoring and diagnostics. As the designs have been considered, a synergy has been realized where the real-time avionics can utilize sensors proposed for diagnostics and prognostics to make better real-time decisions in response to detected failures. IIVM provides for a single system allowing modularity of functions and hardware across the vehicle. The framework that supports IIVM consists of 11 major on-board functions necessary to fully manage a space vehicle maintaining crew safety and mission

Space Shuttle and Space Station Radio Frequency (RF) Exposure Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Hwu, Shian U.; Loh, Yin-Chung; Sham, Catherine C.; Kroll, Quin D.

2005-01-01

This paper outlines the modeling techniques and important parameters to define a rigorous but practical procedure that can verify the compliance of RF exposure to the NASA standards for astronauts and electronic equipment. The electromagnetic modeling techniques are applied to analyze RF exposure in Space Shuttle and Space Station environments with reasonable computing time and resources. The modeling techniques are capable of taking into account the field interactions with Space Shuttle and Space Station structures. The obtained results illustrate the multipath effects due to the presence of the space vehicle structures. It's necessary to include the field interactions with the space vehicle in the analysis for an accurate assessment of the RF exposure. Based on the obtained results, the RF keep out zones are identified for appropriate operational scenarios, flight rules and necessary RF transmitter constraints to ensure a safe operating environment and mission success.

The Space of Aerospace Power: Why and How

Science.gov (United States)

2000-05-01

SSTO - MSP/SOV/SMV - TAV - Micro-SATs - Cryogenic Fuels - HYFLEX Control Missile Detection and Space Defense - MIDAS - Satellite Inspector...Missile System Center SMV Space Maneuvering Vehicle SOA State of the Art SOV Space Operations Vehicle SRD System Requirements Document SSTO

Maneuverability Strategy for Assistive Maneuverability Strategy for Assistive Vehicles Navigating within Confined Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Auat Cheein

2011-08-01

Full Text Available In this work, a path planning strategy for both a car-like and a unicycle type assistive vehicles is presented. The assistive vehicles are confined to restricted environments. The path planning strategy uses the environment information to generate a kinematically plausible path to be followed by the vehicle. The environment information is provided by a SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping algorithm implemented on the vehicles. The map generated by the SLAM algorithm compensates the lack of sensor at the back of the vehicles' chassis. A Monte Carlo-based technique is used to find the optimum path given the SLAM information. A visual and user-friendly interface enhances the user-vehicle communication allowing him/her to select a desired position and orientation (pose that the vehicle should reach within the mapped environment. A trajectory controller drives the vehicle until it reaches a neighborhood of the desired pose. Several real-time experimental results within real environments are also shown herein.

Results of a jet plume effects test on Rockwell International integrated space shuttle vehicle using a vehicle 5 configuration 0.02-scale model (88-OTS) in the 11 by 11 foot leg of the NASA/Ames Research Center unitary plan wind tunnel (IA19), volume 1

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, M. E.

1975-01-01

Results are presented of jet plume effects test IA19 using a vehicle 5 configuration integrated space shuttle vehicle 0.02-scale model in the NASA/Ames Research Center 11 x 11-foot leg of the unitary plan wind tunnel. The jet plume power effects on the integrated vehicle static pressure distribution were determined along with elevon, main propulsion system nozzle, and solid rocket booster nozzle effectiveness and elevon hinge moments.

NASA 3D Models: Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is one of the largest buildings in the world. It was originally built for assembly of Apollo/Saturn vehicles and was later...

Structural Weight Estimation for Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Cerro, Jeff; Martinovic, Zoran; Su, Philip; Eldred, Lloyd

2002-01-01

This paper describes some of the work in progress to develop automated structural weight estimation procedures within the Vehicle Analysis Branch (VAB) of the NASA Langley Research Center. One task of the VAB is to perform system studies at the conceptual and early preliminary design stages on launch vehicles and in-space transportation systems. Some examples of these studies for Earth to Orbit (ETO) systems are the Future Space Transportation System [1], Orbit On Demand Vehicle [2], Venture Star [3], and the Personnel Rescue Vehicle[4]. Structural weight calculation for launch vehicle studies can exist on several levels of fidelity. Typically historically based weight equations are used in a vehicle sizing program. Many of the studies in the vehicle analysis branch have been enhanced in terms of structural weight fraction prediction by utilizing some level of off-line structural analysis to incorporate material property, load intensity, and configuration effects which may not be captured by the historical weight equations. Modification of Mass Estimating Relationships (MER's) to assess design and technology impacts on vehicle performance are necessary to prioritize design and technology development decisions. Modern CAD/CAE software, ever increasing computational power and platform independent computer programming languages such as JAVA provide new means to create greater depth of analysis tools which can be included into the conceptual design phase of launch vehicle development. Commercial framework computing environments provide easy to program techniques which coordinate and implement the flow of data in a distributed heterogeneous computing environment. It is the intent of this paper to present a process in development at NASA LaRC for enhanced structural weight estimation using this state of the art computational power.

An expert systems application to space base data processing

Science.gov (United States)

Babb, Stephen M.

1988-01-01

The advent of space vehicles with their increased data requirements are reflected in the complexity of future telemetry systems. Space based operations with its immense operating costs will shift the burden of data processing and routine analysis from the space station to the Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV). A research and development project is described which addresses the real time onboard data processing tasks associated with a space based vehicle, specifically focusing on an implementation of an expert system.

A Hybrid Power Management (HPM) Based Vehicle Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Eichenberg, Dennis J.

2011-01-01

Society desires vehicles with reduced fuel consumption and reduced emissions. This presents a challenge and an opportunity for industry and the government. The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center (GRC) has developed a Hybrid Power Management (HPM) based vehicle architecture for space and terrestrial vehicles. GRC's Electrical and Electromagnetics Branch of the Avionics and Electrical Systems Division initiated the HPM Program for the GRC Technology Transfer and Partnership Office. HPM is the innovative integration of diverse, state-of-the-art power devices in an optimal configuration for space and terrestrial applications. The appropriate application and control of the various power devices significantly improves overall system performance and efficiency. The basic vehicle architecture consists of a primary power source, and possibly other power sources, providing all power to a common energy storage system, which is used to power the drive motors and vehicle accessory systems, as well as provide power as an emergency power system. Each component is independent, permitting it to be optimized for its intended purpose. This flexible vehicle architecture can be applied to all vehicles to considerably improve system efficiency, reliability, safety, security, and performance. This unique vehicle architecture has the potential to alleviate global energy concerns, improve the environment, stimulate the economy, and enable new missions.

Automated guidance algorithms for a space station-based crew escape vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

Flanary, R; Hammen, D G; Ito, D; Rabalais, B W; Rishikof, B H; Siebold, K H

2003-04-01

An escape vehicle was designed to provide an emergency evacuation for crew members living on a space station. For maximum escape capability, the escape vehicle needs to have the ability to safely evacuate a station in a contingency scenario such as an uncontrolled (e.g., tumbling) station. This emergency escape sequence will typically be divided into three events: The first separation event (SEP1), the navigation reconstruction event, and the second separation event (SEP2). SEP1 is responsible for taking the spacecraft from its docking port to a distance greater than the maximum radius of the rotating station. The navigation reconstruction event takes place prior to the SEP2 event and establishes the orbital state to within the tolerance limits necessary for SEP2. The SEP2 event calculates and performs an avoidance burn to prevent station recontact during the next several orbits. This paper presents the tools and results for the whole separation sequence with an emphasis on the two separation events. The first challenge includes collision avoidance during the escape sequence while the station is in an uncontrolled rotational state, with rotation rates of up to 2 degrees per second. The task of avoiding a collision may require the use of the Vehicle's de-orbit propulsion system for maximum thrust and minimum dwell time within the vicinity of the station vicinity. The thrust of the propulsion system is in a single direction, and can be controlled only by the attitude of the spacecraft. Escape algorithms based on a look-up table or analytical guidance can be implemented since the rotation rate and the angular momentum vector can be sensed onboard and a-priori knowledge of the position and relative orientation are available. In addition, crew intervention has been provided for in the event of unforeseen obstacles in the escape path. The purpose of the SEP2 burn is to avoid re-contact with the station over an extended period of time. Performing this maneuver requires

A study of upwind schemes on the laminar hypersonic heating predictions for the reusable space vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Feng; Sun, Di; Zuo, Guang

2018-06-01

With the rapid development of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Accurate computing hypersonic heating is in a high demand for the design of the new generation reusable space vehicle to conduct deep space exploration. In the past years, most researchers try to solve this problem by concentrating on the choice of the upwind schemes or the definition of the cell Reynolds number. However, the cell Reynolds number dependencies and limiter dependencies of the upwind schemes, which are of great importance to their performances in hypersonic heating computations, are concerned by few people. In this paper, we conduct a systematic study on these properties respectively. Results in our test cases show that SLAU (Simple Low-dissipation AUSM-family) is with a much higher level of accuracy and robustness in hypersonic heating predictions. Also, it performs much better in terms of the limiter dependency and the cell Reynolds number dependency.

Study of the suit inflation effect on crew safety during landing using a full-pressure IVA suit for new-generation reentry space vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wataru, Suzuki

Recently, manned space capsules have been recognized as beneficial and reasonable human space vehicles again. The Dragon capsule already achieved several significant successes. The Orion capsule is going to be sent to a high-apogee orbit without crews for experimental purposes in September 2014. For such human-rated space capsules, the study of acceleration impacts against the human body during splashdown is essential to ensure the safety of crews. Moreover, it is also known that wearing a full pressure rescue suit significantly increases safety of a crew, compared to wearing a partial pressure suit. This is mainly because it enables the use of a personal life support system independently in addition to that which installed in the space vehicle. However, it is unclear how the inflation of the full pressure suit due to pressurization affects the crew safety during splashdown, especially in the case of the new generation manned space vehicles. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to investigate the effect of the suit inflation on crew safety against acceleration impact during splashdown. For this objective, the displacements of the safety harness in relation with the suit, a human surrogate, and the crew seats during pressurizing the suit in order to determine if the safety and survivability of a crew can be improved by wearing a full pressure suit. For these tests, the DL/H-1 full pressure IVA suit, developed by Pablo de Leon and Gary L. Harris, will be used. These tests use image analysis techniques to determine the displacements. It is expected, as a result of these tests, that wearing a full pressure suit will help to mitigate the impacts and will increase the safety and survivability of a crew during landing since it works as a buffer to mitigate impact forces during splashdown. This work also proposes a future plan for sled test experiments using a sled facility such as the one in use by the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) for experimental validation

Development of a large scale Chimera grid system for the Space Shuttle Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Pearce, Daniel G.; Stanley, Scott A.; Martin, Fred W., Jr.; Gomez, Ray J.; Le Beau, Gerald J.; Buning, Pieter G.; Chan, William M.; Chiu, Ing-Tsau; Wulf, Armin; Akdag, Vedat

1993-01-01

The application of CFD techniques to large problems has dictated the need for large team efforts. This paper offers an opportunity to examine the motivations, goals, needs, problems, as well as the methods, tools, and constraints that defined NASA's development of a 111 grid/16 million point grid system model for the Space Shuttle Launch Vehicle. The Chimera approach used for domain decomposition encouraged separation of the complex geometry into several major components each of which was modeled by an autonomous team. ICEM-CFD, a CAD based grid generation package, simplified the geometry and grid topology definition by provoding mature CAD tools and patch independent meshing. The resulting grid system has, on average, a four inch resolution along the surface.

Urban planning for autonomous vehicles

OpenAIRE

Fourie, Pieter J.; Ordoñez Medina, Sergio A.; Maheshwari, Tanvi; Wang, Biyu; Erath, Alexander; Cairns, Stephen; Axhausen, Kay W.

2018-01-01

In land-scarce Singapore, population growth and increasingly dense development are running up against limited remaining space for mobility infrastructure expansion. Autonomous Vehicles (AV) promise to relieve some of this pressure, through more efficient use of road space through platooning and intersection coordination, reducing the need for parking space, and reducing overall reliance on privately owned cars, realising Singapore’s vision of a “car-lite” future. In a collaborative resear...

NASA Mission Operations Directorate Preparations for the COTS Visiting Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Shull, Sarah A.; Peek, Kenneth E.

2011-01-01

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle looming, a series of new spacecraft is under development to assist in providing for the growing logistical needs of the International Space Station (ISS). Two of these vehicles are being built under a NASA initiative known as the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. These visiting vehicles ; Space X s Dragon and Orbital Science Corporation s Cygnus , are to be domestically produced in the United States and designed to add to the capabilities of the Russian Progress and Soyuz workhorses, the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and the Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV). Most of what is known about the COTS program has focused on the work of Orbital and SpaceX in designing, building, and testing their respective launch and cargo vehicles. However, there is also a team within the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) at NASA s Johnson Space Center working with their operational counterparts in these companies to provide operational safety oversight and mission assurance via the development of operational scenarios and products needed for these missions. Ensuring that the operational aspect is addressed for the initial demonstration flights of these vehicles is the topic of this paper. Integrating Dragon and Cygnus into the ISS operational environment has posed a unique challenge to NASA and their partner companies. This is due in part to the short time span of the COTS program, as measured from initial contract award until first launch, as well as other factors that will be explored in the text. Operational scenarios and products developed for each COTS vehicle will be discussed based on the following categories: timelines, on-orbit checkout, ground documentation, crew procedures, software updates and training materials. Also addressed is an outline of the commonalities associated with the operations for each vehicle. It is the intent of the authors to provide their audience with a better

Large Scale System Safety Integration for Human Rated Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Massie, Michael J.

2005-12-01

Since the 1960s man has searched for ways to establish a human presence in space. Unfortunately, the development and operation of human spaceflight vehicles carry significant safety risks that are not always well understood. As a result, the countries with human space programs have felt the pain of loss of lives in the attempt to develop human space travel systems. Integrated System Safety is a process developed through years of experience (since before Apollo and Soyuz) as a way to assess risks involved in space travel and prevent such losses. The intent of Integrated System Safety is to take a look at an entire program and put together all the pieces in such a way that the risks can be identified, understood and dispositioned by program management. This process has many inherent challenges and they need to be explored, understood and addressed.In order to prepare truly integrated analysis safety professionals must gain a level of technical understanding of all of the project's pieces and how they interact. Next, they must find a way to present the analysis so the customer can understand the risks and make decisions about managing them. However, every organization in a large-scale project can have different ideas about what is or is not a hazard, what is or is not an appropriate hazard control, and what is or is not adequate hazard control verification. NASA provides some direction on these topics, but interpretations of those instructions can vary widely.Even more challenging is the fact that every individual/organization involved in a project has different levels of risk tolerance. When the discrete hazard controls of the contracts and agreements cannot be met, additional risk must be accepted. However, when one has left the arena of compliance with the known rules, there can be no longer be specific ground rules on which to base a decision as to what is acceptable and what is not. The integrator must find common grounds between all parties to achieve

Results of investigations conducted in the LaRC 8-foot transonic pressure tunnel using the 0.010-scale 72-OTS model of the space shuttle integrated vehicle (IA93), volume 2

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, M. E.

1976-01-01

Test procedures, history, and plotted coefficient data are presented for an aero-loads investigation on the updated configuration-5 space shuttle launch vehicle at Mach numbers from 0.600 to 1.205. Six-component vehicle forces and moments, base and sting-cavity pressures, elevon hinge moments, wing-root bending and torsion moments, and normal shear force data were obtained. Full simulation of updated vehicle protuberances and attach hardware was employed.

Weight savings in aerospace vehicles through propellant scavenging

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Steven J.; Reed, Brian D.

1988-01-01

Vehicle payload benefits of scavenging hydrogen and oxygen propellants are addressed. The approach used is to select a vehicle and a mission and then select a scavenging system for detailed weight analysis. The Shuttle 2 vehicle on a Space Station rendezvous mission was chosen for study. The propellant scavenging system scavenges liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen from the launch propulsion tankage during orbital maneuvers and stores them in well insulated liquid accumulators for use in a cryogenic auxiliary propulsion system. The fraction of auxiliary propulsion propellant which may be scavenged for propulsive purposes is estimated to be 45.1 percent. The auxiliary propulsion subsystem dry mass, including the proposed scavenging system, an additional 20 percent for secondary structure, an additional 5 percent for electrical service, a 10 percent weight growth margin, and 15.4 percent propellant reserves and residuals is estimated to be 6331 kg. This study shows that the fraction of the on-orbit vehicle mass required by the auxiliary propulsion system of this Shuttle 2 vehicle using this technology is estimated to be 12.0 percent compared to 19.9 percent for a vehicle with an earth-storable bipropellant system. This results in a vehicle with the capability of delivering an additional 7820 kg to the Space Station.

Weight savings in aerospace vehicles through propellant scavenging

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Steven J.; Reed, Brian D.

1988-05-01

Vehicle payload benefits of scavenging hydrogen and oxygen propellants are addressed. The approach used is to select a vehicle and a mission and then select a scavenging system for detailed weight analysis. The Shuttle 2 vehicle on a Space Station rendezvous mission was chosen for study. The propellant scavenging system scavenges liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen from the launch propulsion tankage during orbital maneuvers and stores them in well insulated liquid accumulators for use in a cryogenic auxiliary propulsion system. The fraction of auxiliary propulsion propellant which may be scavenged for propulsive purposes is estimated to be 45.1 percent. The auxiliary propulsion subsystem dry mass, including the proposed scavenging system, an additional 20 percent for secondary structure, an additional 5 percent for electrical service, a 10 percent weight growth margin, and 15.4 percent propellant reserves and residuals is estimated to be 6331 kg. This study shows that the fraction of the on-orbit vehicle mass required by the auxiliary propulsion system of this Shuttle 2 vehicle using this technology is estimated to be 12.0 percent compared to 19.9 percent for a vehicle with an earth-storable bipropellant system. This results in a vehicle with the capability of delivering an additional 7820 kg to the Space Station.

Modulational instability for an induced field in the far-wake region of a space vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liao Jingjing; Deng Qian; Qu Wen

2012-01-01

The behavior of the induced field and the generation of density cavitons in the far-wake region (|k 0 | → 0) of a space vehicle can be described by a set of nonlinear coupling equations. Modulational instability of the induced field is investigated on the basis of the nonlinear equations. The results show that the induced field is modulationally unstable and will collapse into spatial localized structures; meanwhile, density cavitons will be generated. The characteristic scale and the maximum growth rate of the induced field depend not only on the angle between the amplitude of pump waves E 0 and the perturbation wave vector k, but also on the energy density of pump waves |E 0 | 2 . (paper)

FAST20XX: Achievements On European Suborbital Space Flight

Science.gov (United States)

Mack, A.; Steelant, J.; Adirim, H.; Lentsch, A.; Marini, M.; Pilz, N.

2011-05-01

In Europe, the EC co-funded project FAST20XX aims at exploring the borderline between aviation and space by investigating suborbital vehicles. The main focus is the identification and mastering of critical technologies for such vehicles rather than the vehicle development itself. Besides the objectives and overall layout of the project, the paper addresses also the progress made during the first period of the project. Two vehicle concepts are considered. A first one is a space vehicle launched from an airplane providing a low-energy ballistic flight experience using hybrid propulsion. The second is a vertically starting two-stage rocket space vehicle system concept taken as a basis to identify the conditions and constraints experienced during high- energy suborbital ultra-fast transport. The paper mainly discusses the two actual reference vehicles and the technical aspects of prerequisites for commercial operation including safety, human spaceflight, business cases, environmental and legal issues.

Space-Based Counterforce in the Second Nuclear Age

Science.gov (United States)

2015-04-01

but also open wide the gates of the solar system to large-scale human exploration and development. Instead of offering only a dark age of...by the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne vehicle that won the Ansari X-PRIZE in 2004 or Virgin Galactic’s space tourism vehicle SpaceShipTwo. It was

EDIN0613P weight estimating program. [for launch vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Hirsch, G. N.

1976-01-01

The weight estimating relationships and program developed for space power system simulation are described. The program was developed to size a two-stage launch vehicle for the space power system. The program is actually part of an overall simulation technique called EDIN (Engineering Design and Integration) system. The program sizes the overall vehicle, generates major component weights and derives a large amount of overall vehicle geometry. The program is written in FORTRAN V and is designed for use on the Univac Exec 8 (1110). By utilizing the flexibility of this program while remaining cognizant of the limits imposed upon output depth and accuracy by utilization of generalized input, this program concept can be a useful tool for estimating purposes at the conceptual design stage of a launch vehicle.

Electronic Prognostics for Vehicle Health Management, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — All electronic systems are prone to wear-out and eventual failure and this has direct implications for Vehicle Health Management for NASA with its long space...

Flexible Composites for Space

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Payload mass reduction and packaging efficiency in launch vehicles are essential for deep space exploration.  Inflatable softgoods have been identified as attractive...

Probabilistic risk assessment of the Space Shuttle. Phase 3: A study of the potential of losing the vehicle during nominal operation. Volume 2: Integrated loss of vehicle model

Science.gov (United States)

Fragola, Joseph R.; Maggio, Gaspare; Frank, Michael V.; Gerez, Luis; Mcfadden, Richard H.; Collins, Erin P.; Ballesio, Jorge; Appignani, Peter L.; Karns, James J.

1995-01-01

The application of the probabilistic risk assessment methodology to a Space Shuttle environment, particularly to the potential of losing the Shuttle during nominal operation is addressed. The different related concerns are identified and combined to determine overall program risks. A fault tree model is used to allocate system probabilities to the subsystem level. The loss of the vehicle due to failure to contain energetic gas and debris, to maintain proper propulsion and configuration is analyzed, along with the loss due to Orbiter, external tank failure, and landing failure or error.

A Common Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Infrastructure for Accommodating Space Vehicles in the Next Generation Air Transportation System

Science.gov (United States)

VanSuetendael, RIchard; Hayes, Alan; Birr, Richard

2008-01-01

Suborbital space flight and space tourism are new potential markets that could significantly impact the National Airspace System (NAS). Numerous private companies are developing space flight capabilities to capture a piece of an emerging commercial space transportation market. These entrepreneurs share a common vision that sees commercial space flight as a profitable venture. Additionally, U.S. space exploration policy and national defense will impose significant additional demands on the NAS. Air traffic service providers must allow all users fair access to limited airspace, while ensuring that the highest levels of safety, security, and efficiency are maintained. The FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) will need to accommodate spacecraft transitioning to and from space through the NAS. To accomplish this, space and air traffic operations will need to be seamlessly integrated under some common communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) infrastructure. As part of NextGen, the FAA has been developing the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) which utilizes the Global Positioning System (GPS) to track and separate aircraft. Another key component of NextGen, System-Wide Information Management/ Network Enabled Operations (SWIM/NEO), is an open architecture network that will provide NAS data to various customers, system tools and applications. NASA and DoD are currently developing a space-based range (SBR) concept that also utilizes GPS, communications satellites and other CNS assets. The future SBR will have very similar utility for space operations as ADS-B and SWIM has for air traffic. Perhaps the FAA, NASA, and DoD should consider developing a common space-based CNS infrastructure to support both aviation and space transportation operations. This paper suggests specific areas of research for developing a CNS infrastructure that can accommodate spacecraft and other new types of vehicles as an integrated part of NextGen.

The reusable launch vehicle technology program

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, S.

1995-01-01

Today's launch systems have major shortcomings that will increase in significance in the future, and thus are principal drivers for seeking major improvements in space transportation. They are too costly; insufficiently reliable, safe, and operable; and increasingly losing market share to international competition. For the United States to continue its leadership in the human exploration and wide ranging utilization of space, the first order of business must be to achieve low cost, reliable transportatin to Earth orbit. NASA's Access to Space Study, in 1993, recommended the development of a fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) rocket vehicle as an Agency goal. The goal of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology program is to mature the technologies essential for a next-generation reusable launch system capable of reliably serving National space transportation needs at substantially reduced costs. The primary objectives of the RLV technology program are to (1) mature the technologies required for the next-generation system, (2) demonstrate the capability to achieve low development and operational cost, and rapid launch turnaround times and (3) reduce business and technical risks to encourage significant private investment in the commercial development and operation of the next-generation system. Developing and demonstrating the technologies required for a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) rocket is a focus of the program becuase past studies indicate that it has the best potential for achieving the lowest space access cost while acting as an RLV technology driver (since it also encompasses the technology requirements of reusable rocket vehicles in general).

The reusable launch vehicle technology program

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, S.

Today's launch systems have major shortcomings that will increase in significance in the future, and thus are principal drivers for seeking major improvements in space transportation. They are too costly; insufficiently reliable, safe, and operable; and increasingly losing market share to international competition. For the United States to continue its leadership in the human exploration and wide ranging utilization of space, the first order of business must be to achieve low cost, reliable transportatin to Earth orbit. NASA's Access to Space Study, in 1993, recommended the development of a fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) rocket vehicle as an Agency goal. The goal of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology program is to mature the technologies essential for a next-generation reusable launch system capable of reliably serving National space transportation needs at substantially reduced costs. The primary objectives of the RLV technology program are to (1) mature the technologies required for the next-generation system, (2) demonstrate the capability to achieve low development and operational cost, and rapid launch turnaround times and (3) reduce business and technical risks to encourage significant private investment in the commercial development and operation of the next-generation system. Developing and demonstrating the technologies required for a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) rocket is a focus of the program becuase past studies indicate that it has the best potential for achieving the lowest space access cost while acting as an RLV technology driver (since it also encompasses the technology requirements of reusable rocket vehicles in general).

Mars Earth Return Vehicle (MERV) Propulsion Options

Science.gov (United States)

Oleson, Steven R.; McGuire, Melissa L.; Burke, Laura; Fincannon, James; Warner, Joe; Williams, Glenn; Parkey, Thomas; Colozza, Tony; Fittje, Jim; Martini, Mike;

Ares Launch Vehicles Lean Practices Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Doreswamy, Rajiv; Self, Timothy A.

2007-01-01

The Ares launch vehicles team, managed by the Ares Projects Office (APO) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, has completed the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle System Requirements Review and System Definition Review and early design work for the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle. This paper provides examples of how Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen events, and Six Sigma practices are helping APO deliver a new space transportation capability on time and within budget, while still meeting stringent technical requirements. For example, Lean philosophies have been applied to numerous process definition efforts and existing process improvement activities, including the Ares I-X test flight Certificate of Flight Readiness (CoFR) process, risk management process, and review board organization and processes. Ares executives learned Lean practices firsthand, making the team "smart buyers" during proposal reviews and instilling the team with a sense of what is meant by "value-added" activities. Since the goal of the APO is to field launch vehicles at a reasonable cost and on an ambitious schedule, adopting Lean philosophies and practices will be crucial to the Ares Project's long-term SUCCESS.

A space exploration strategy that promotes international and commercial participation

Science.gov (United States)

Arney, Dale C.; Wilhite, Alan W.; Chai, Patrick R.; Jones, Christopher A.

2014-01-01

NASA has created a plan to implement the Flexible Path strategy, which utilizes a heavy lift launch vehicle to deliver crew and cargo to orbit. In this plan, NASA would develop much of the transportation architecture (launch vehicle, crew capsule, and in-space propulsion), leaving the other in-space elements open to commercial and international partnerships. This paper presents a space exploration strategy that reverses that philosophy, where commercial and international launch vehicles provide launch services. Utilizing a propellant depot to aggregate propellant on orbit, smaller launch vehicles are capable of delivering all of the mass necessary for space exploration. This strategy has benefits to the architecture in terms of cost, schedule, and reliability.

Reaction Control Engine for Space Launch Initiative

Science.gov (United States)

2002-01-01

Engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) have begun a series of engine tests on a new breed of space propulsion: a Reaction Control Engine developed for the Space Launch Initiative (SLI). The engine, developed by TRW Space and Electronics of Redondo Beach, California, is an auxiliary propulsion engine designed to maneuver vehicles in orbit. It is used for docking, reentry, attitude control, and fine-pointing while the vehicle is in orbit. The engine uses nontoxic chemicals as propellants, a feature that creates a safer environment for ground operators, lowers cost, and increases efficiency with less maintenance and quicker turnaround time between missions. Testing includes 30 hot-firings. This photograph shows the first engine test performed at MSFC that includes SLI technology. Another unique feature of the Reaction Control Engine is that it operates at dual thrust modes, combining two engine functions into one engine. The engine operates at both 25 and 1,000 pounds of force, reducing overall propulsion weight and allowing vehicles to easily maneuver in space. The low-level thrust of 25 pounds of force allows the vehicle to fine-point maneuver and dock while the high-level thrust of 1,000 pounds of force is used for reentry, orbit transfer, and coarse positioning. SLI is a NASA-wide research and development program, managed by the MSFC, designed to improve safety, reliability, and cost effectiveness of space travel for second generation reusable launch vehicles.

Benefits of Government Incentives for Reusable Launch Vehicle Development

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Eric J.; Hamaker, Joseph W.; Prince, Frank A.

1998-01-01

Many exciting new opportunities in space, both government missions and business ventures, could be realized by a reduction in launch prices. Reusable launch vehicle (RLV) designs have the potential to lower launch costs dramatically from those of today's expendable and partially-expendable vehicles. Unfortunately, governments must budget to support existing launch capability, and so lack the resources necessary to completely fund development of new reusable systems. In addition, the new commercial space markets are too immature and uncertain to motivate the launch industry to undertake a project of this magnitude and risk. Low-cost launch vehicles will not be developed without a mature market to service; however, launch prices must be reduced in order for a commercial launch market to mature. This paper estimates and discusses the various benefits that may be reaped from government incentives for a commercial reusable launch vehicle program.

Second Generation RLV Space Vehicle Concept

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, M. D.; Daniel, C. C.

2002-01-01

NASA has a long history of conducting development programs and projects in a consistant fashion. Systems Engineering within those programs and projects has also followed a given method outlined by such documents as the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook. The relatively new NASA Space Launch Initiative (SLI) is taking a new approach to developing a space vehicle, with innovative management methods as well as new Systems Engineering processes. With the program less than a year into its life cycle, the efficacy of these new processes has yet to be proven or disproven. At 776M for phase I, SLI represents a major portion of the NASA focus; however, the new processes being incorporated are not reflected in the training provided by NASA to its engineers. The NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership (APPL) offers core classes in program and project management and systems engineering to NASA employees with the purpose of creating a "knowledge community where ideas, skills, and experiences are exchanged to increase each other's capacity for strong leadership". The SLI program is, in one sense, a combination of a conceptual design program and a technology program. The program as a whole doesn't map into the generic systems engineering project cycle as currently, and for some time, taught. For example, the NASA APPL Systems Engineering training course teaches that the "first step in developing an architecture is to define the external boundaries of the system", which will require definition of the interfaces with other systems and the next step will be to "define all the components that make up the next lower level of the system hierarchy" where fundamental requirements are allocated to each component. Whereas, the SLI technology risk reduction approach develops architecture subsystem technologies prior to developing architectures. The higher level architecture requirements are not allowed to fully develop and undergo decomposition and allocation down to the subsystems

Passive shielding effect on space profile of magnetic field emissions for wireless power transfer to vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batra, T.; Schaltz, E.

2015-01-01

Magnetic fields emitted by wireless power transfer systems are of high importance with respect to human safety and health. Aluminum and ferrite are used in the system to reduce the fields and are termed as passive shielding. In this paper, the influence of these materials on the space profile has been investigated with the help of simulations on Comsol for the four possible geometries—no shielding, ferrite, aluminum, and full shielding. As the reflected impedance varies for the four geometries, the primary current is varied accordingly to maintain constant power transfer to the secondary side. Surrounding magnetic field plots in the vertical direction show that maxima's of the two coils for the no shielding geometry are centered at the respective coils and for the remaining three are displaced closer to each other. This closeness would lead to more effective addition of the two coil fields and an increase in the resultant field from space point of view. This closeness varies with distance in the horizontal direction and vertical gap between the coils and is explained in the paper. This paper provides a better understanding of effect of the passive shielding materials on the space nature of magnetic fields for wireless power transfer for vehicle applications

Passive shielding effect on space profile of magnetic field emissions for wireless power transfer to vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Batra, T., E-mail: tba@et.aau.dk; Schaltz, E. [Department of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg 9220 (Denmark)

2015-05-07

Magnetic fields emitted by wireless power transfer systems are of high importance with respect to human safety and health. Aluminum and ferrite are used in the system to reduce the fields and are termed as passive shielding. In this paper, the influence of these materials on the space profile has been investigated with the help of simulations on Comsol for the four possible geometries—no shielding, ferrite, aluminum, and full shielding. As the reflected impedance varies for the four geometries, the primary current is varied accordingly to maintain constant power transfer to the secondary side. Surrounding magnetic field plots in the vertical direction show that maxima's of the two coils for the no shielding geometry are centered at the respective coils and for the remaining three are displaced closer to each other. This closeness would lead to more effective addition of the two coil fields and an increase in the resultant field from space point of view. This closeness varies with distance in the horizontal direction and vertical gap between the coils and is explained in the paper. This paper provides a better understanding of effect of the passive shielding materials on the space nature of magnetic fields for wireless power transfer for vehicle applications.

Analysis of Wheel Hub Motor Drive Application in Electric Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sun Yuechao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the comparative analysis of the performance characteristics of centralized and distributed drive electric vehicles, we found that the wheel hub motor drive mode of the electric vehicles with distributed drive have compact structure, high utilization ratio of interior vehicle space, lower center of vehicle gravity, good driving stability, easy intelligent control and many other advantages, hence in line with the new requirements for the development of drive performance of electric vehicles, and distributed drive will be the ultimate mode of electric vehicles in the future.

Designing Light Electric Vehicles for urban freight transport

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Balm, S.H.; Hogt, Roeland

2017-01-01

The number of light commercial vehicles (LCV) in cities is growing, which puts increasing pressure on the livability of cities. Freight vehicles are large contributors to polluting air and CO2 emissions and generate problems in terms of safety, noise and loss of public space. Small electric freight

Designing Light Electric Vehicles for urban freight transport

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hogt, Roeland; Balm, S.H.; Warmerdam, J.M.

2017-01-01

The number of light commercial vehicles (LCV) in cities is growing, which puts increasing pressure on the liveability of cities. Small electric freight vehicles and cargo bikes can offer a solution, as they take less space, can manoeuvre easily and free from polluting emissions. Within the two-year

The ParaShield Entry Vehicle Concept: Basic Theory and Flight Test Development

OpenAIRE

Akin, David

1990-01-01

With the emergence of microsatellite launch vehicle technology and the development of interest in space commercialization, there is a renewed need for entry vehicle technology to return mass from low earth orbit. This paper documents the ParaShield concept of the Space Systems Laboratory, which is an ultra-low ballistic coefficient (ULβ) entry vehicle. Trajectory simulations show that as the ballistic coefficient is lowered into the range of 100-150 Pa (2-3lb/ft2) the total heat load and peak...

Nytrox Oxidizers for NanoSat Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Space Propulsion Group, Inc. proposes to conduct systems studies to quantify the performance and cost advantages of Nytrox oxidizers for small launch vehicles. This...

Program to determine space vehicle response to wind turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkening, H. D.

1972-01-01

Computer program was developed as prelaunch wind monitoring tool for Saturn 5 vehicle. Program accounts for characteristic wind changes including turbulence power spectral density, wind shear, peak wind velocity, altitude, and wind direction using stored variational statistics.

Mitigating vestibular disturbances during space flight using virtual reality training and reentry vehicle design guidelines

Science.gov (United States)

Stroud, Kenneth Joshua

Seventy to eighty percent of astronauts reportedly exhibit undesirable vestibular disturbances during the first few days of weightlessness, including space motion sickness (SMS) and spatial disorientation (SD). SMS presents a potentially dangerous situation, both because critical piloted tasks such as docking maneuvers and emergency reentry may be compromised, and because of the potential for asphyxiation should an astronaut vomit while wearing a space suit. SD can be provocative for SMS as well as become dangerous during an emergency in which it is critical for an astronaut to move quickly through the vehicle. In the U.S. space program, medication is currently used both for prevention and treatment of SMS. However, this approach has had only moderate success, and the side effects of drowsiness and lack of concentration are undesirable. Research suggests that preflight training in virtual reality devices can simulate certain aspects of microgravity and may prove to be an effective countermeasure for SMS and SD. It was hypothesized that exposing subjects preflight to variable virtual orientations, similar to those encountered during space flight, will reduce the incidence and/or severity of SMS and SD. Results from a study conducted at the NASA Johnson Space Center as part of this research demonstrated that this type of training is effective for reducing motion sickness and improving task performance in potentially disorienting visual surroundings, thus suggesting the possibility that such training may prove an effective countermeasure for SMS, SD and related performance decrements that occur in space flight. In addition to the effects associated with weightlessness, almost all astronauts experience vestibular disturbances associated with gravity-transitions incurred during the return to Earth, which could be exacerbated if traveling in a spacecraft that is designed differently than a conventional aircraft. Therefore, for piloted descent and landing operations

Esrange Space Center, a Gate to Space

Science.gov (United States)

Widell, Ola

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) is operating the Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden. Space operations have been performed for more than 40 years. We have a unique combination of maintaining balloon and rocket launch operations, and building payloads, providing space vehicles and service systems. Sub-orbital rocket flights with land recovery and short to long duration balloon flights up to weeks are offered. The geographical location, land recovery area and the long term experience makes Swedish Space Corporation and Esrange to an ideal gate for space activities. Stratospheric balloons are primarily used in supporting atmospheric research, validation of satellites and testing of space systems. Balloon operations have been carried out at Esrange since 1974. A large number of balloon flights are yearly launched in cooperation with CNES, France. Since 2005 NASA/CSBF and Esrange provide long duration balloon flights to North America. Flight durations up to 5 days with giant balloons (1.2 Million cubic metres) carrying heavy payload (up to 2500kg) with astronomical instruments has been performed. Balloons are also used as a crane for lifting space vehicles or parachute systems to be dropped and tested from high altitude. Many scientific groups both in US, Europe and Japan have indicated a great need of long duration balloon flights. Esrange will perform a technical polar circum balloon flight during the summer 2008 testing balloon systems and flight technique. We are also working on a permission giving us the opportunity on a circular stratospheric balloon flight around the North Pole.

Space Transportation Infrastructure Supported By Propellant Depots

Science.gov (United States)

Smitherman, David; Woodcock, Gordon

2012-01-01

A space transportation infrastructure is described that utilizes propellant depot servicing platforms to support all foreseeable missions in the Earth-Moon vicinity and deep space out to Mars. The infrastructure utilizes current expendable launch vehicle (ELV) systems such as the Delta IV Heavy, Atlas V, and Falcon 9, for all crew, cargo, and propellant launches to orbit. Propellant launches are made to Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) Depot and an Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 1 (L1) Depot to support a new reusable in-space transportation vehicles. The LEO Depot supports missions to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) for satellite servicing and to L1 for L1 Depot missions. The L1 Depot supports Lunar, Earth-Sun L2 (ESL2), Asteroid and Mars Missions. New vehicle design concepts are presented that can be launched on current 5 meter diameter ELV systems. These new reusable vehicle concepts include a Crew Transfer Vehicle (CTV) for crew transportation between the LEO Depot, L1 Depot and missions beyond L1; a new reusable lunar lander for crew transportation between the L1 Depot and the lunar surface; and Mars orbital Depot are based on International Space Station (ISS) heritage hardware. Data provided includes the number of launches required for each mission utilizing current ELV systems (Delta IV Heavy or equivalent) and the approximate vehicle masses and propellant requirements. Also included is a discussion on affordability with ideas on technologies that could reduce the number of launches required and thoughts on how this infrastructure include competitive bidding for ELV flights and propellant services, developments of new reusable in-space vehicles and development of a multiuse infrastructure that can support many government and commercial missions simultaneously.

Estimating Vehicle Fuel Consumption and Emissions Using GPS Big Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Kan, Zihan; Tang, Luliang; Kwan, Mei-Po; Zhang, Xia

2018-03-21

The energy consumption and emissions from vehicles adversely affect human health and urban sustainability. Analysis of GPS big data collected from vehicles can provide useful insights about the quantity and distribution of such energy consumption and emissions. Previous studies, which estimated fuel consumption/emissions from traffic based on GPS sampled data, have not sufficiently considered vehicle activities and may have led to erroneous estimations. By adopting the analytical construct of the space-time path in time geography, this study proposes methods that more accurately estimate and visualize vehicle energy consumption/emissions based on analysis of vehicles' mobile activities ( MA ) and stationary activities ( SA ). First, we build space-time paths of individual vehicles, extract moving parameters, and identify MA and SA from each space-time path segment (STPS). Then we present an N-Dimensional framework for estimating and visualizing fuel consumption/emissions. For each STPS, fuel consumption, hot emissions, and cold start emissions are estimated based on activity type, i.e., MA , SA with engine-on and SA with engine-off. In the case study, fuel consumption and emissions of a single vehicle and a road network are estimated and visualized with GPS data. The estimation accuracy of the proposed approach is 88.6%. We also analyze the types of activities that produced fuel consumption on each road segment to explore the patterns and mechanisms of fuel consumption in the study area. The results not only show the effectiveness of the proposed approaches in estimating fuel consumption/emissions but also indicate their advantages for uncovering the relationships between fuel consumption and vehicles' activities in road networks.

NASA Exploration Launch Projects Overview: The Crew Launch Vehicle and the Cargo Launch Vehicle Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Snoddy, Jimmy R.; Dumbacher, Daniel L.; Cook, Stephen A.

2006-01-01

The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration (January 2004) serves as the foundation for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) strategic goals and objectives. As the NASA Administrator outlined during his confirmation hearing in April 2005, these include: 1) Flying the Space Shuttle as safely as possible until its retirement, not later than 2010. 2) Bringing a new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) into service as soon as possible after Shuttle retirement. 3) Developing a balanced overall program of science, exploration, and aeronautics at NASA, consistent with the redirection of the human space flight program to focus on exploration. 4) Completing the International Space Station (ISS) in a manner consistent with international partner commitments and the needs of human exploration. 5) Encouraging the pursuit of appropriate partnerships with the emerging commercial space sector. 6) Establishing a lunar return program having the maximum possible utility for later missions to Mars and other destinations. In spring 2005, the Agency commissioned a team of aerospace subject matter experts to perform the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS). The ESAS team performed in-depth evaluations of a number of space transportation architectures and provided recommendations based on their findings? The ESAS analysis focused on a human-rated Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) for astronaut transport and a heavy lift Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) to carry equipment, materials, and supplies for lunar missions and, later, the first human journeys to Mars. After several months of intense study utilizing safety and reliability, technical performance, budget, and schedule figures of merit in relation to design reference missions, the ESAS design options were unveiled in summer 2005. As part of NASA's systems engineering approach, these point of departure architectures have been refined through trade studies during the ongoing design phase leading to the development phase that

Hyperspectral Vehicle BRDF Learning: An Exploration of Vehicle Reflectance Variation and Optimal Measures of Spectral Similarity for Vehicle Reacquisition and Tracking Algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Svejkosky, Joseph

The spectral signatures of vehicles in hyperspectral imagery exhibit temporal variations due to the preponderance of surfaces with material properties that display non-Lambertian bi-directional reflectance distribution functions (BRDFs). These temporal variations are caused by changing illumination conditions, changing sun-target-sensor geometry, changing road surface properties, and changing vehicle orientations. To quantify these variations and determine their relative importance in a sub-pixel vehicle reacquisition and tracking scenario, a hyperspectral vehicle BRDF sampling experiment was conducted in which four vehicles were rotated at different orientations and imaged over a six-hour period. The hyperspectral imagery was calibrated using novel in-scene methods and converted to reflectance imagery. The resulting BRDF sampled time-series imagery showed a strong vehicle level BRDF dependence on vehicle shape in off-nadir imaging scenarios and a strong dependence on vehicle color in simulated nadir imaging scenarios. The imagery also exhibited spectral features characteristic of sampling the BRDF of non-Lambertian targets, which were subsequently verified with simulations. In addition, the imagery demonstrated that the illumination contribution from vehicle adjacent horizontal surfaces significantly altered the shape and magnitude of the vehicle reflectance spectrum. The results of the BRDF sampling experiment illustrate the need for a target vehicle BRDF model and detection scheme that incorporates non-Lambertian BRDFs. A new detection algorithm called Eigenvector Loading Regression (ELR) is proposed that learns a hyperspectral vehicle BRDF from a series of BRDF measurements using regression in a lower dimensional space and then applies the learned BRDF to make test spectrum predictions. In cases of non-Lambertian vehicle BRDF, this detection methodology performs favorably when compared to subspace detections algorithms and graph-based detection algorithms that

Future orbital transfer vehicle technology study. Volume 2: Technical report

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, E. E.

1982-01-01

Missions for future orbit transfer vehicles (1995-2010) are identified and the technology, operations and vehicle concepts that satisfy the transportation requirements are defined. Comparison of reusable space and ground based LO2/LH2 OTV's was made. Both vehicles used advanced space engines and aero assist capability. The SB OTV provided advantages in life cycle cost, performance and potential for improvement. Comparison of an all LO2/LH2 OTV fleet with a fleet of LO2/LH2 OTVs and electric OTV's was also made. The normal growth technology electric OTV used silicon cells with heavy shielding and argon ion thrusters. This provided a 23% advantage in total transportation cost. The impact of accelerated technology was considered in terms of improvements in performance and cost effectiveness. The accelerated technology electric vehicle used GaAs cells and annealing but did not result in the mixed fleet being any cheaper than an all LO2/LH2 OTV fleet. It is concluded that reusable LO2/LH2 OTV's can serve all general purpose cargo roles between LEO and GEO for the forseeable future. The most significant technology for the second generation vehicle would be space debris protection, on-orbit propellant storage and transfer and on-orbit maintenance capability.

Robotic Vehicle Proxy Simulation, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Energid Technologies proposes the development of a digital simulation that can replace robotic vehicles in field studies. This proxy simulation will model the...

X-43 Hypersonic Vehicle Technology Development

Science.gov (United States)

Voland, Randall T.; Huebner, Lawrence D.; McClinton, Charles R.

2005-01-01

NASA recently completed two major programs in Hypersonics: Hyper-X, with the record-breaking flights of the X-43A, and the Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) Program. The X-43A flights, the culmination of the Hyper-X Program, were the first-ever examples of a scramjet engine propelling a hypersonic vehicle and provided unique, convincing, detailed flight data required to validate the design tools needed for design and development of future operational hypersonic airbreathing vehicles. Concurrent with Hyper-X, NASA's NGLT Program focused on technologies needed for future revolutionary launch vehicles. The NGLT was "competed" by NASA in response to the President s redirection of the agency to space exploration, after making significant progress towards maturing technologies required to enable airbreathing hypersonic launch vehicles. NGLT quantified the benefits, identified technology needs, developed airframe and propulsion technology, chartered a broad University base, and developed detailed plans to mature and validate hypersonic airbreathing technology for space access. NASA is currently in the process of defining plans for a new Hypersonic Technology Program. Details of that plan are not currently available. This paper highlights results from the successful Mach 7 and 10 flights of the X-43A, and the current state of hypersonic technology.

Vehicle System Management Modeling in UML for Ares I

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, Newton W.; Biehn, Bradley A.; Curry, Tristan D.; Martinez, Mario R.

2011-01-01

The Spacecraft & Vehicle Systems Department of Marshall Space Flight Center is responsible for modeling the Vehicle System Management for the Ares I vehicle which was a part of the now canceled Constellation Program. An approach to generating the requirements for the Vehicle System Management was to use the Unified Modeling Language technique to build and test a model that would fulfill the Vehicle System Management requirements. UML has been used on past projects (flight software) in the design phase of the effort but this was the first attempt to use the UML technique from a top down requirements perspective.

Space Shuttle Program (SSP) Dual Docked Operations (DDO)

Science.gov (United States)

Sills, Joel W., Jr.; Bruno, Erica E.

2016-01-01

This document describes the concept definition, studies, and analysis results generated by the Space Shuttle Program (SSP), International Space Station (ISS) Program (ISSP), and Mission Operations Directorate for implementing Dual Docked Operations (DDO) during mated Orbiter/ISS missions. This work was performed over a number of years. Due to the ever increasing visiting vehicle traffic to and from the ISS, it became apparent to both the ISSP and the SSP that there would arise occasions where conflicts between a visiting vehicle docking and/or undocking could overlap with a planned Space Shuttle launch and/or during docked operations. This potential conflict provided the genesis for evaluating risk mitigations to gain maximum flexibility for managing potential visiting vehicle traffic to and from the ISS and to maximize launch and landing opportunities for all visiting vehicles.

Planning for Crew Exercise for Future Deep Space Mission Scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Cherice; Ryder, Jeff

2015-01-01

Providing the necessary exercise capability to protect crew health for deep space missions will bring new sets of engineering and research challenges. Exercise has been found to be a necessary mitigation for maintaining crew health on-orbit and preparing the crew for return to earth's gravity. Health and exercise data from Apollo, Space Lab, Shuttle, and International Space Station missions have provided insight into crew deconditioning and the types of activities that can minimize the impacts of microgravity on the physiological systems. The hardware systems required to implement exercise can be challenging to incorporate into spaceflight vehicles. Exercise system design requires encompassing the hardware required to provide mission specific anthropometrical movement ranges, desired loads, and frequencies of desired movements as well as the supporting control and monitoring systems, crew and vehicle interfaces, and vibration isolation and stabilization subsystems. The number of crew and operational constraints also contribute to defining the what exercise systems will be needed. All of these features require flight vehicle mass and volume integrated with multiple vehicle systems. The International Space Station exercise hardware requires over 1,800 kg of equipment and over 24 m3 of volume for hardware and crew operational space. Improvements towards providing equivalent or better capabilities with a smaller vehicle impact will facilitate future deep space missions. Deep space missions will require more understanding of the physiological responses to microgravity, understanding appropriate mitigations, designing the exercise systems to provide needed mitigations, and integrating effectively into vehicle design with a focus to support planned mission scenarios. Recognizing and addressing the constraints and challenges can facilitate improved vehicle design and exercise system incorporation.

Locating Depots for Capacitated Vehicle Routing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gørtz, Inge Li; Nagarajan, Viswanath

2016-01-01

We study a location-routing problem in the context of capacitated vehicle routing. The input to the k-location capacitated vehicle routing problem (k-LocVRP) consists of a set of demand locations in a metric space and a fleet of k identical vehicles, each of capacity Q. The objective is to locate k...... depots, one for each vehicle, and compute routes for the vehicles so that all demands are satisfied and the total cost is minimized. Our main result is a constant-factor approximation algorithm for k-LocVRP. In obtaining this result, we introduce a common generalization of the k-median and minimum...... spanning tree problems (called k median forest), which might be of independent interest. We give a local-search based (3+ε)-approximation algorithm for k median forest, which leads to a (12+ε)-approximation algorithm for k-LocVRP, for any constant ε>0....

Locating Depots for Capacitated Vehicle Routing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gørtz, Inge Li; Nagarajan, Viswanath

2016-01-01

depots, one for each vehicle, and compute routes for the vehicles so that all demands are satisfied and the total cost is minimized. Our main result is a constant-factor approximation algorithm for k-LocVRP. In obtaining this result, we introduce a common generalization of the k-median and minimum...... spanning tree problems (called k median forest), which might be of independent interest. We give a local-search based (3+ε)-approximation algorithm for k median forest, which leads to a (12+ε)-approximation algorithm for k-LocVRP, for any constant ε>0.......We study a location-routing problem in the context of capacitated vehicle routing. The input to the k-location capacitated vehicle routing problem (k-LocVRP) consists of a set of demand locations in a metric space and a fleet of k identical vehicles, each of capacity Q. The objective is to locate k...

Distributed Propulsion Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyun Dae

2010-01-01

Since the introduction of large jet-powered transport aircraft, the majority of these vehicles have been designed by placing thrust-generating engines either under the wings or on the fuselage to minimize aerodynamic interactions on the vehicle operation. However, advances in computational and experimental tools along with new technologies in materials, structures, and aircraft controls, etc. are enabling a high degree of integration of the airframe and propulsion system in aircraft design. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been investigating a number of revolutionary distributed propulsion vehicle concepts to increase aircraft performance. The concept of distributed propulsion is to fully integrate a propulsion system within an airframe such that the aircraft takes full synergistic benefits of coupling of airframe aerodynamics and the propulsion thrust stream by distributing thrust using many propulsors on the airframe. Some of the concepts are based on the use of distributed jet flaps, distributed small multiple engines, gas-driven multi-fans, mechanically driven multifans, cross-flow fans, and electric fans driven by turboelectric generators. This paper describes some early concepts of the distributed propulsion vehicles and the current turboelectric distributed propulsion (TeDP) vehicle concepts being studied under the NASA s Subsonic Fixed Wing (SFW) Project to drastically reduce aircraft-related fuel burn, emissions, and noise by the year 2030 to 2035.

Smart and secure charging of electric vehicles in public parking spaces

OpenAIRE

Strobbe, Matthias; Mets, Kevin; Tahon, Mathieu; Tilman, M; Spiessens, F; Gheerardyn, J; De Craemer, K; Vandael, S; Geebelen, K; Lagaisse, B; Claessens, B; Develder, Chris

2012-01-01

Governments worldwide are starting to give incentives to promote the use of (hybrid) electrical vehicles to achieve cleaner and more energy-efficient road transport with a low carbon footprint. Through tax/VAT reductions and free additional services — such as free parking, and/or battery charging or lower traffic congestion taxes — private users, public organizations and car fleet operators are stimulated to adopt the plug-in (hybrid) electrical vehicle (PHEV). This upcoming breakthrough of P...

Space station propulsion requirements study

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, C. L.; Brennan, S. M.

1985-01-01

Propulsion system requirements to support Low Earth Orbit (LEO) manned space station development and evolution over a wide range of potential capabilities and for a variety of STS servicing and space station operating strategies are described. The term space station and the overall space station configuration refers, for the purpose of this report, to a group of potential LEO spacecraft that support the overall space station mission. The group consisted of the central space station at 28.5 deg or 90 deg inclinations, unmanned free-flying spacecraft that are both tethered and untethered, a short-range servicing vehicle, and a longer range servicing vehicle capable of GEO payload transfer. The time phasing for preferred propulsion technology approaches is also investigated, as well as the high-leverage, state-of-the-art advancements needed, and the qualitative and quantitative benefits of these advancements on STS/space station operations. The time frame of propulsion technologies applicable to this study is the early 1990's to approximately the year 2000.

China’s strategy in space

CERN Document Server

Solomone, Stacey

2013-01-01

This book addresses why China is going into space and provides up- to-date information on all aspects of the Chinese Space Program in terms of launch vehicles, launch sites and infrastructure, crew vehicles for space exploration, satellite applications and scientific exploration capabilities. Beyond mere capabilities, it is important to understand how Chinese aerospace leaders think, how they make decisions, and what their ultimate goal is during their space endeavors. What are Chinese intentions in space? To what extent does culture and ethics influence Chinese strategic decision-making within the highest levels of the aerospace industrial complex? This book examines these questions and offers four potential scenarios on where the Chinese space program is headed based on this new perspective of understanding China’s space goals. This book is not only required reading for policy makers and military leaders in the US government, but also for the general population, students, and professionals interested in t...

The Advantages, Potentials and Safety of VTOL Suborbital Space Tourism Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Ridzuan Zakaria, N.; Nasrun, N.; Abu, J.; Jusoh, A.; Azim, L.; Said, A.; Ishak, S.; Rafidi Zakaria, N.

2012-01-01

Suborbital space tourism offers short-time zero gravity and Earth view from space to its customers, and a package that can offer the longest duration of zero- gravity and the most exciting Earth view from space to its customer can be considered a better one than the others. To increase the duration of zero gravity time involves the design and engineering of the suborbital vehicles, but to improve the view of Earth from space aboard a suborbital vehicle, involves more than just the design and engineering of the vehicle, but more on the location of where the vehicle operates. So far, most of the proposed operations of suborbital space tourism vehicles involve a flight to above 80km and less than 120km and taking-off and landing at the same location. Therefore, the operational location of the suborbital vehicle clearly determines the view of earth from space that will be available to its passengers. The proposed operational locations or spaceports usually are existing airports such as the airport at Curacao Island in the Caribbean or spaceport specially built at locations with economic interests such as Spaceport America in New Mexico or an airport that is going to be built, such as SpaceportSEA in Selangor, Malaysia. Suborbital vehicles operating from these spaceports can only offer limited views of Earth from space which is only few thousand kilometers of land or sea around their spaceports, and a clear view of only few hundred kilometers of land or sea directly below them, even though the views can be enhanced by the application of optical devices. Therefore, the view of some exotic locations such as a colorful coral reef, and phenomena such as a smoking volcano on Earth which may be very exciting when viewed from space will not be available on these suborbital tourism packages. The only possible way for the passengers of a suborbital vehicle to view such exotic locations and phenomena is by flying above or near them, and since it will not be economic and will be

Optimization of ACC system spacing policy on curved highway

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Jun; Qian, Kun; Gong, Zaiyan

2017-05-01

The paper optimizes the original spacing policy when adopting VTH (Variable Time Headway), proposes to introduce the road curve curvature K to the spacing policy to cope with following the wrong vehicle or failing to follow the vehicle owing to the radar limitation of curve in ACC system. By utilizing MATLAB/Simulink, automobile longitudinal dynamics model is established. At last, the paper sets up such three common cases as the vehicle ahead runs at a uniform velocity, an accelerated velocity and hits the brake suddenly, simulates these cases on the curve with different curvature, analyzes the curve spacing policy in the perspective of safety and vehicle following efficiency and draws the conclusion whether the optimization scheme is effective or not.

Diagram of Saturn V Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

1971-01-01

This is a good cutaway diagram of the Saturn V launch vehicle showing the three stages, the instrument unit, and the Apollo spacecraft. The chart on the right presents the basic technical data in clear detail. The Saturn V is the largest and most powerful launch vehicle in the United States. The towering 363-foot Saturn V was a multistage, multiengine launch vehicle standing taller than the Statue of Liberty. Altogether, the Saturn V engines produced as much power as 85 Hoover Dams. Development of the Saturn V was the responsibility of the Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Alabama, directed by Dr. Wernher von Braun.

The Ares Launch Vehicles: Critical for America's Continued Leadership in Space

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Stephen A.

2009-01-01

This video is designed to accompany the presentation of the paper delivered at the Joint Army, Navy, NASA, Airforce (JANNAF) Propulsion Meeting held in 2009. It shows various scenes: from the construction of the A-3 test stand, construction of portions of the vehicles, through various tests of the components of the Ares Launch Vehicles, including wind tunnel testing of the Ares V, shell buckling tests, and thermal tests of the avionics, to the construction of the TPS thermal spray booth.

Longitudinal Control of a Platoon of Road Vehicles Equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zeeshan Ali Memon

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Automotive vehicle following systems are essential for the design of automated highway system. The problem associated with the automatic vehicle following system is the string stability of the platoon of vehicles, i.e. the problem of uniform velocity and spacing errors propagation. Different control algorithm for the longitudinal control of a platoon are discussed based on different spacing policies, communication link among the vehicles of a platoon, and the performance of a platoon have been analysed in the presence of disturbance (noise and parametric uncertainties. This paper presented the PID (Proportional Integral Derivative feedback control algorithm for the longitudinal control of a platoon in the presence of noise signal and investigates the performance of platoon under the influence of sudden acceleration and braking in severe conditions. This model has been applied on 6 vehicles moving in a platoon. The platoon has been analysed to retain the uniform velocity and safe spacing among the vehicles. The limitations of PID control algorithm have been discussed and the alternate methods have been suggested. Model simulations, in comparison with the literature, are also presented.

Human space flight and future major space astrophysics missions: servicing and assembly

Science.gov (United States)

Thronson, Harley; Peterson, Bradley M.; Greenhouse, Matthew; MacEwen, Howard; Mukherjee, Rudranarayan; Polidan, Ronald; Reed, Benjamin; Siegler, Nicholas; Smith, Hsiao

2017-09-01

Some concepts for candidate future "flagship" space observatories approach the payload limits of the largest launch vehicles planned for the next few decades, specifically in the available volume in the vehicle fairing. This indicates that an alternative to autonomous self-deployment similar to that of the James Webb Space Telescope will eventually be required. Moreover, even before this size limit is reached, there will be significant motivation to service, repair, and upgrade in-space missions of all sizes, whether to extend the life of expensive facilities or to replace outworn or obsolete onboard systems as was demonstrated so effectively by the Hubble Space Telescope program. In parallel with these challenges to future major space astronomy missions, the capabilities of in-space robotic systems and the goals for human space flight in the 2020s and 2030s offer opportunities for achieving the most exciting science goals of the early 21st Century. In this paper, we summarize the history of concepts for human operations beyond the immediate vicinity of the Earth, the importance of very large apertures for scientific discovery, and current capabilities and future developments in robot- and astronaut-enabled servicing and assembly.

Results of investigations conducted in the LaRC 8-foot transonic pressure tunnel using the 0.010-scale 72-OTS model of the space shuttle integrated vehicle (IA93)

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, M. E.

1976-01-01

Test procedures, history, and data from the wind tunnel test are presented. Aero-loads were investigated on the updated configuration-5 space shuttle launch vehicle at Mach numbers from 0.600 to 1.205. Six-component vehicle forces and moments, base and sting-cavity pressures, elevon hinge moments, wing-root bending and torsion moments, and normal shear force data were obtained. Full simulation of updated vehicle protuberances and attach hardware was employed. Various elevon deflection angles were tested with two different forward orbiter-to-external-tank attach-strut configurations. The entire model was supported by means of a balance mounted in the orbiter through its base and suspended from a sting.

Requirements for a near-earth space tug vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Gunn, Charles R.

1990-01-01

The requirement for a small but powerful space tug, which will be capable of autonomous orbital rendezvous, docking and translating cargos between near-earth orbits by the end of this decade to support the growing national and international space infrastructure focused near the Space Station Freedom, is described. An aggregate of missions drives the need for a space tug including reboosting decaying satellites back to their operational altitudes, retrieving failed or exhausted satellites to Shuttle or SSF for on-orbit refueling or repair, and transporting a satellite servicer system with an FTS to ailing satellites for supervised in-place repair. It is shown that the development and operation of a space tug to perform such numerous missions is more cost effective than separate module and satellite systems to perform the same tasks.

[Design and application of portable rescue vehicle].

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Ying; Qi, Huaying; Wang, Shen

2017-12-01

The disease of critically ill patients was with rapid changes, and at any time faced the risk of emergency. The current commonly used rescue vehicles were larger and bulky implementation, which were not conducive to the operation, therefore the design of a portable rescue vehicle was needed. This new type of rescue vehicle is multi-layer folding structure, with small footprint, large storage space, so a variety of first aid things can be classified and put, easy to be cleaned and disinfected. In the rescue process, the portable rescue vehicles can be placed in the required position; box of various emergency items can be found at a glance with easy access; the height of the infusion stand can adjust freely according to the user height; the rescue vehicle handle can be easy to pull and adjust accord with human body mechanics principle. The portable rescue vehicle facilitates the operation of medical staff, and is worthy of clinical application.

Prediction of temperature variation in a rotating spacecraft in space environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gadalla, Mohamed A.

2005-01-01

This paper presents a closed-form prediction model for the temperature distribution of a thick-walled cylindrical space vehicle subjected to solar heating in deep space. The model is based on the coupling between dynamics and solar radiation. Since solar radiation is, in general, incident from a fixed direction, one side of the space vehicle will be shone bright, and the other side dark. Thus the space astronauts, instruments, and cryogenic-fuel tanks are gaining heat on the bright side and losing heat from the dark side. This radiative heat gain and loss become equally significant as the conductive heat transfer through the interior of the space vehicle. Thermal analysis is carried out to predict the effect of the spinning speed and angular position on the temperature variation and gradients attained by speed vehicles outside the Earth's atmosphere. This analysis is based on the non-linearity of the radiative heat dissipation, the significant conductive heat transfer role, and combined boundary conditions that involve the temperature and angular position of the vehicle. An exact analytical solution is obtained inspite of the non-linearity and non-homogeneity in the boundary conditions. The results indicate that the temperature distribution on the outer surface of the space vehicle is nearly independent of the angular position; at sub-cylindrical surface, this independence is achieved at low angular velocity

OPTIMUM PROGRAMMABLE CONTROL OF UNMANNED FLYING VEHICLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. А. Lobaty

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers an analytical synthesis problem pertaining to programmable control of an unmanned flying vehicle while steering it to the fixed space point. The problem has been solved while applying a maximum principle which takes into account a final control purpose and its integral expenses. The paper presents an optimum law of controlling overload variation of a flying vehicle that has been obtained analytically

Space Structure Development

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Thomas

2015-01-01

The duration of my Summer 2015 Internship Tour at NASA's Johnson Space Center was spent working in the Structural Engineering Division's Structures Branch. One of the two main roles of the Structures Branch, ES2, is to ensure the structural integrity of spacecraft vehicles and the structural subsystems needed to support those vehicles. The other main objective of this branch is to develop the lightweight structures that are necessary to take humans beyond Low-Earth Orbit. Within ES2, my four projects involved inflatable space structure air bladder material testing; thermal and impact material testing for spacecraft windows; structural analysis on a joint used in the Boeing CST-100 airbag system; and an additive manufacturing design project.

Estimation and Prediction of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Trajectories, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — There is serious concern about the introduction of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in the National Air Space (NAS) because of their potential to increase the risk of...

Radiation protection considerations in space station missions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peddicord, K.L.; Bolch, W.E.

1991-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently studying the degree to which the baseline design of space station Freedom (SSF) would permit its evolution to a transportation node for lunar or Mars expeditions. To accomplish NASA's more ambitious exploration goals, nuclear-powered vehicles could be used in SSF's vicinity. This enhanced radiation environment around SSF could necessitate additional crew shielding to maintain cumulative doses below recommended limits. This paper presents analysis of radiation doses received upon the return and subsequent unloading of Mars vehicles utilizing either nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) or nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) propulsion systems. No inherent shielding by the vehicle structure or space station is assumed; consequently, the only operational parameters available to control radiation doses are the source-to-target distance and the reactor shutdown time prior to the exposure period. For the operations planning, estimated doses are shown with respect to recommended dose limits and doses due solely to the natural space environment in low Earth orbit

In-Space Structural Assembly: Applications and Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Belvin, W. Keith; Doggett, Bill R.; Watson, Judith J.; Dorsey, John T.; Warren, Jay; Jones, Thomas C.; Komendera, Erik E.; Mann, Troy O.; Bowman, Lynn

2016-01-01

As NASA exploration moves beyond earth's orbit, the need exists for long duration space systems that are resilient to events that compromise safety and performance. Fortunately, technology advances in autonomy, robotic manipulators, and modular plug-and-play architectures over the past two decades have made in-space vehicle assembly and servicing possible at acceptable cost and risk. This study evaluates future space systems needed to support scientific observatories and human/robotic Mars exploration to assess key structural design considerations. The impact of in-space assembly is discussed to identify gaps in structural technology and opportunities for new vehicle designs to support NASA's future long duration missions.

High Performance Hybrid Upper Stage for NanoLaunch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Parabilis Space Technologies, Inc. (Parabilis), in collaboration with Utah State University (USU), proposes a low cost, high performance launch vehicle upper stage...

X-38 vehicle #131R arrives at NASA Dryden via NASA'S Super Guppy transport aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

2000-01-01

NASA's Super Guppy transport aircraft landed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. on July 11, 2000, to deliver the latest version of the X-38 drop vehicle to Dryden. The X-38s are intended as prototypes for a possible 'crew lifeboat' for the International Space Station. The X-38 vehicle 131R will demonstrate a huge 7,500 square-foot parafoil that will that will enable the potential crew return vehicle to land on the length of a football field after returning from space. The crew return vehicle is intended to serve as a possible emergency transport to carry a crew to safety in the event of problems with the International Space Station. The Super Guppy evolved from the 1960s-vintage Pregnant Guppy, used for transporting outsized sections of the Apollo moon rocket. The Super Guppy was modified from 1950s-vintage Boeing C-97. NASA acquired its Super Guppy from the European Space Agency in 1997.

Application of statistical distribution theory to launch-on-time for space construction logistic support

Science.gov (United States)

Morgenthaler, George W.

1989-01-01

The ability to launch-on-time and to send payloads into space has progressed dramatically since the days of the earliest missile and space programs. Causes for delay during launch, i.e., unplanned 'holds', are attributable to several sources: weather, range activities, vehicle conditions, human performance, etc. Recent developments in space program, particularly the need for highly reliable logistic support of space construction and the subsequent planned operation of space stations, large unmanned space structures, lunar and Mars bases, and the necessity of providing 'guaranteed' commercial launches have placed increased emphasis on understanding and mastering every aspect of launch vehicle operations. The Center of Space Construction has acquired historical launch vehicle data and is applying these data to the analysis of space launch vehicle logistic support of space construction. This analysis will include development of a better understanding of launch-on-time capability and simulation of required support systems for vehicle assembly and launch which are necessary to support national space program construction schedules. In this paper, the author presents actual launch data on unscheduled 'hold' distributions of various launch vehicles. The data have been supplied by industrial associate companies of the Center for Space Construction. The paper seeks to determine suitable probability models which describe these historical data and that can be used for several purposes such as: inputs to broader simulations of launch vehicle logistic space construction support processes and the determination of which launch operations sources cause the majority of the unscheduled 'holds', and hence to suggest changes which might improve launch-on-time. In particular, the paper investigates the ability of a compound distribution probability model to fit actual data, versus alternative models, and recommends the most productive avenues for future statistical work.

Protection from Induced Space Environments Effects on the International Space Station

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, Carlos; Mikatarian, Ron; Stegall, Courtney; Schmidl, Danny; Huang, Alvin; Olsen, Randy; Koontz, Steven

2010-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) is one of the largest, most complex multinational scientific projects in history and protection from induced space environments effects is critical to its long duration mission as well as to the health of the vehicle and safety of on-orbit operations. This paper discusses some of the unique challenges that were encountered during the design, assembly and operation of the ISS and how they were resolved. Examples are provided to illustrate the issues and the risk mitigation strategies that were developed to resolve these issues. Of particular importance are issues related with the interaction of multiple spacecraft as in the case of ISS and Visiting Vehicles transporting crew, hardware elements, cargo and scientific payloads. These strategies are applicable to the development of future long duration space systems, not only during design, but also during assembly and operation of these systems.

Minimum stiffness criteria for ring frame stiffeners of space launch vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Friedrich, Linus; Schröder, Kai-Uwe

2016-12-01

Frame stringer-stiffened shell structures show high load carrying capacity in conjunction with low structural mass and are for this reason frequently used as primary structures of aerospace applications. Due to the great number of design variables, deriving suitable stiffening configurations is a demanding task and needs to be realized using efficient analysis methods. The structural design of ring frame stringer-stiffened shells can be subdivided into two steps. One, the design of a shell section between two ring frames. Two, the structural design of the ring frames such that a general instability mode is avoided. For sizing stringer-stiffened shell sections, several methods were recently developed, but existing ring frame sizing methods are mainly based on empirical relations or on smeared models. These methods do not mandatorily lead to reliable designs and in some cases the lightweight design potential of stiffened shell structures can thus not be exploited. In this paper, the explicit physical behaviour of ring frame stiffeners of space launch vehicles at the onset of panel instability is described using mechanical substitute models. Ring frame stiffeners of a stiffened shell structure are sized applying existing methods and the method suggested in this paper. To verify the suggested method and to demonstrate its potential, geometrically non-linear finite element analyses are performed using detailed finite element models.

Marine vehicle path following using inner-outer loop control.

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Maurya, P.K.; Agular, A.P.; Pascoal, A.M.

constraints are imposed on the motion of the vehicle. This is in striking contrast with trajectory tracking, where the reference for the vehicle motion is given explicitly in terms of ”space versus time” coordinates. This strategy is seldom pursued in practice... that its output variables can be tracked infinitely fast by the inner dynamic loop. In practice, this does not hold true. Furthermore, many vehicle suppliers equip their platforms with inner dynamic control loops for which only a general characterization...

Macroeconomic Benefits of Low-Cost Reusable Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Eric J.; Greenberg, Joel

1998-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initiated its Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Technology Program to provide information on the technical and commercial feasibility of single-stage to orbit (SSTO), fully-reusable launchers. Because RLVs would not depend on expendable hardware to achieve orbit, they could take better advantage of economies of scale than expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) that discard costly hardware on ascent. The X-33 experimental vehicle, a sub-orbital, 60%-scale prototype of Lockheed Martin's VentureStar SSTO RLV concept, is being built by Skunk Works for a 1999 first flight. If RLVs achieve prices to low-earth orbit of less than $1000 US per pound, they could hold promise for eliciting an elastic response from the launch services market. As opposed to the capture of existing market, this elastic market would represent new space-based industry businesses. These new opportunities would be created from the next tier of business concepts, such as space manufacturing and satellite servicing, that cannot earn a profit at today's launch prices but could when enabled by lower launch costs. New business creation contributes benefits to the US Government (USG) and the US economy through increases in tax revenues and employment. Assumptions about the costs and revenues of these new ventures, based on existing space-based and aeronautics sector businesses, can be used to estimate the macroeconomic benefits provided by new businesses. This paper examines these benefits and the flight prices and rates that may be required to enable these new space industries.

14 CFR 1204.1600 - Issuance of motor vehicle for home-to-work.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Issuance of motor vehicle for home-to-work... ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY AND POLICY Temporary Duty Travel-Issuance of Motor Vehicle for Home-to-Work Transportation § 1204.1600 Issuance of motor vehicle for home-to-work. When a NASA employee on temporary duty...

Electric machine for hybrid motor vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, John Sheungchun

2007-09-18

A power system for a motor vehicle having an internal combustion engine and an electric machine is disclosed. The electric machine has a stator, a permanent magnet rotor, an uncluttered rotor spaced from the permanent magnet rotor, and at least one secondary core assembly. The power system also has a gearing arrangement for coupling the internal combustion engine to wheels on the vehicle thereby providing a means for the electric machine to both power assist and brake in relation to the output of the internal combustion engine.

Aerial vehicles collision avoidance using monocular vision

Science.gov (United States)

Balashov, Oleg; Muraviev, Vadim; Strotov, Valery

2016-10-01

In this paper image-based collision avoidance algorithm that provides detection of nearby aircraft and distance estimation is presented. The approach requires a vision system with a single moving camera and additional information about carrier's speed and orientation from onboard sensors. The main idea is to create a multi-step approach based on a preliminary detection, regions of interest (ROI) selection, contour segmentation, object matching and localization. The proposed algorithm is able to detect small targets but unlike many other approaches is designed to work with large-scale objects as well. To localize aerial vehicle position the system of equations relating object coordinates in space and observed image is solved. The system solution gives the current position and speed of the detected object in space. Using this information distance and time to collision can be estimated. Experimental research on real video sequences and modeled data is performed. Video database contained different types of aerial vehicles: aircrafts, helicopters, and UAVs. The presented algorithm is able to detect aerial vehicles from several kilometers under regular daylight conditions.

Launch vehicle design and GNC sizing with ASTOS

Science.gov (United States)

Cremaschi, Francesco; Winter, Sebastian; Rossi, Valerio; Wiegand, Andreas

2018-03-01

The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently involved in several activities related to launch vehicle designs (Future Launcher Preparatory Program, Ariane 6, VEGA evolutions, etc.). Within these activities, ESA has identified the importance of developing a simulation infrastructure capable of supporting the multi-disciplinary design and preliminary guidance navigation and control (GNC) design of different launch vehicle configurations. Astos Solutions has developed the multi-disciplinary optimization and launcher GNC simulation and sizing tool (LGSST) under ESA contract. The functionality is integrated in the Analysis, Simulation and Trajectory Optimization Software for space applications (ASTOS) and is intended to be used from the early design phases up to phase B1 activities. ASTOS shall enable the user to perform detailed vehicle design tasks and assessment of GNC systems, covering all aspects of rapid configuration and scenario management, sizing of stages, trajectory-dependent estimation of structural masses, rigid and flexible body dynamics, navigation, guidance and control, worst case analysis, launch safety analysis, performance analysis, and reporting.

Executive Summary of Propulsion on the Orion Abort Flight-Test Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Daniel S.; Brooks, Syri J.; Barnes, Marvin W.; McCauley, Rachel J.; Wall, Terry M.; Reed, Brian D.; Duncan, C. Miguel

2012-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Orion Flight Test Office was tasked with conducting a series of flight tests in several launch abort scenarios to certify that the Orion Launch Abort System is capable of delivering astronauts aboard the Orion Crew Module to a safe environment, away from a failed booster. The first of this series was the Orion Pad Abort 1 Flight-Test Vehicle, which was successfully flown on May 6, 2010 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This report provides a brief overview of the three propulsive subsystems used on the Pad Abort 1 Flight-Test Vehicle. An overview of the propulsive systems originally planned for future flight-test vehicles is also provided, which also includes the cold gas Reaction Control System within the Crew Module, and the Peacekeeper first stage rocket motor encased within the Abort Test Booster aeroshell. Although the Constellation program has been cancelled and the operational role of the Orion spacecraft has significantly evolved, lessons learned from Pad Abort 1 and the other flight-test vehicles could certainly contribute to the vehicle architecture of many future human-rated space launch vehicles

Cosmic perspectives in space physics

CERN Document Server

Biswas, Sukumar

2000-01-01

In the early years of the twentieth century, Victor Hess of Germany flew instruments in balloons and so discovered in 1912 that an extra-~errestial radiation of unknown origin is incident on the earth with an almost constant intensity at all times. These penetrating non­ solar radiations which were called Cosmic Rays by Millikan, USA, opened the new frontier of space physics and many leading scientists were attracted to it. At the end of World War II a number of space vehicles, e.g. stratospheric balloons, rockets and satellites were developed. In 1950 and onwards, these vehicles enabled spectacular advances in space physics and space astrophysics. New horizons were opened in the explorations of cosmic rays, the earth's magnetosphere, the Sun and the heliosphere, the moon and the planets. Using space-borne instruments, exciting discoveries were made of stars, and galaxies in the infra-red, ultra violet, x-ray and gamma-ray wavelengths. In this text book these fascinating new findings are presented in depth a...

The Initial Nine Space Settlements

Science.gov (United States)

Gale, Anita E.; Edwards, Richard P.

2003-01-01

The co-authors describe a chronology of space infrastructure development illustrating how each element of infrastructure enables development of subsequent more ambitious infrastructure. This is likened to the ``Southern California freeway phenomenon'', wherein a new freeway built in a remote area promotes establishment of gas stations, restaurants, hotels, housing, and eventually entire new communities. The chronology includes new launch vehicles, inter-orbit vehicles, multiple LEO space stations, lunar mining, on-orbit manufacturing, tourist destinations, and supporting technologies required to make it all happen. The space settlements encompassed by the chronology are in Earth orbit (L5 and L4), on the lunar surface, in Mars orbit, on the Martian surface, and in the asteroid belt. Each space settlement is justified with a business rationale for construction. This paper is based on materials developed for Space Settlement Design Competitions that enable high school students to experience the technical and management challenges of working on an industry proposal team.

Classification Of Road Accidents From The Perspective Of Vehicle Safety Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jirovský Václav

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Modern road accident investigation and database structures are focused on accident analysis and classification from the point of view of the accident itself. The presented article offers a new approach, which will describe the accident from the point of view of integrated safety vehicle systems. Seven main categories have been defined to specify the level of importance of automated system intervention. One of the proposed categories is a new approach to defining the collision probability of an ego-vehicle with another object. This approach focuses on determining a 2-D reaction space, which describes all possible positions of the vehicle or other moving object in the specified amount of time in the future. This is to be used for defining the probability of the vehicles interacting - when the intersection of two reaction spaces exists, an action has to be taken on the side of ego-vehicle. The currently used 1-D quantity of TTC (time-to-collision can be superseded by the new reaction space variable. Such new quantity, whose basic idea is described in the article, enables the option of counting not only with necessary braking time, but mitigation by changing direction is then easily feasible. Finally, transparent classification measures of a probable accident are proposed. Their application is highly effective not only during basic accident comparison, but also for an on-board safety system.

Estimating Vehicle Fuel Consumption and Emissions Using GPS Big Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zihan Kan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The energy consumption and emissions from vehicles adversely affect human health and urban sustainability. Analysis of GPS big data collected from vehicles can provide useful insights about the quantity and distribution of such energy consumption and emissions. Previous studies, which estimated fuel consumption/emissions from traffic based on GPS sampled data, have not sufficiently considered vehicle activities and may have led to erroneous estimations. By adopting the analytical construct of the space-time path in time geography, this study proposes methods that more accurately estimate and visualize vehicle energy consumption/emissions based on analysis of vehicles’ mobile activities (MA and stationary activities (SA. First, we build space-time paths of individual vehicles, extract moving parameters, and identify MA and SA from each space-time path segment (STPS. Then we present an N-Dimensional framework for estimating and visualizing fuel consumption/emissions. For each STPS, fuel consumption, hot emissions, and cold start emissions are estimated based on activity type, i.e., MA, SA with engine-on and SA with engine-off. In the case study, fuel consumption and emissions of a single vehicle and a road network are estimated and visualized with GPS data. The estimation accuracy of the proposed approach is 88.6%. We also analyze the types of activities that produced fuel consumption on each road segment to explore the patterns and mechanisms of fuel consumption in the study area. The results not only show the effectiveness of the proposed approaches in estimating fuel consumption/emissions but also indicate their advantages for uncovering the relationships between fuel consumption and vehicles’ activities in road networks.

Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Testing of Manned Spacecraft: Historical Precedent

Science.gov (United States)

Lemke, Paul R.; Tuma, Margaret L.; Askins, Bruce R.

2008-01-01

For the first time in nearly 30 years, NASA is developing a new manned space flight launch system. The Ares I will carry crew and cargo to not only the International Space Station, but onward for the future exploration of the Moon and Mars. The Ares I control system and structural designs use complex computer models for their development. An Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Test (IVGVT) will validate the efficacy of these computer models. The IVGVT will reduce the technical risk of unexpected conditions that could place the vehicle or crew in jeopardy. The Ares Project Office's Flight and Integrated Test Office commissioned a study to determine how historical programs, such as Saturn and Space Shuttle, validated the structural dynamics of an integrated flight vehicle. The study methodology was to examine the historical record and seek out members of the engineering community who recall the development of historic manned launch vehicles. These records and interviews provided insight into the best practices and lessons learned from these historic development programs. The information that was gathered allowed the creation of timelines of the historic development programs. The timelines trace the programs from the development of test articles through test preparation, test operations, and test data reduction efforts. These timelines also demonstrate how the historical tests fit within their overall vehicle development programs. Finally, the study was able to quantify approximate staffing levels during historic development programs. Using this study, the Flight and Integrated Test Office was able to evaluate the Ares I Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Test schedule and workforce budgets in light of the historical precedents to determine if the test had schedule or cost risks associated with it.

In-Space Repair and Refurbishment of Thermal Protection System Structures for Reusable Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, M.

2007-01-01

Advanced repair and refurbishment technologies are critically needed for the thermal protection system of current space transportation systems as well as for future launch and crew return vehicles. There is a history of damage to these systems from impact during ground handling or ice during launch. In addition, there exists the potential for in-orbit damage from micrometeoroid and orbital debris impact as well as different factors (weather, launch acoustics, shearing, etc.) during launch and re-entry. The GRC developed GRABER (Glenn Refractory Adhesive for Bonding and Exterior Repair) material has shown multiuse capability for repair of small cracks and damage in reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) material. The concept consists of preparing an adhesive paste of desired ceramic with appropriate additives and then applying the paste to the damaged/cracked area of the RCC composites with an adhesive delivery system. The adhesive paste cures at 100-120 C and transforms into a high temperature ceramic during reentry conditions. A number of plasma torch and ArcJet tests were carried out to evaluate the crack repair capability of GRABER materials for Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) composites. For the large area repair applications, Integrated Systems for Tile and Leading Edge Repair (InSTALER) have been developed and evaluated under various ArcJet testing conditions. In this presentation, performance of the repair materials as applied to RCC is discussed. Additionally, critical in-space repair needs and technical challenges are reviewed.

Metric Tracking of Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA needs reliable, accurate navigation for launch vehicles and other missions. GPS is the best world-wide navigation system, but operates at low power making it...

Public open space as the only urban space for walking: Sumatera Utara experience

Science.gov (United States)

Nasution, A. D.; Zahrah, W.; Ginting, Nurlisa

2018-03-01

One of successful public open space (POS) criteria is the proper pedestrian linkage. Furthermore, a good quality POS should pay attention to pedestrian activities. This will contribute to the physical and mental health of people and enhance their quality of life. The research means to investigate how POS accommodate the pedestrians. The study takes place in twenty small towns in Sumatra Utara province, Indonesia. The analysis is a descriptive, explorative study that collects data about physical elements of POS. The survey also uses a set of questionnaire to get information about the visitors walking tradition. The result of the study shows that most of the citizens approach and get to the POS by vehicle, both cars, and motorcycles. They use their private vehicles although the distance between their houses and the POS is less than one kilometer. There is no pedestrian linkage that connects the POS with the other part of urban space. However, the POS is active by various physical activities, such as walking, playing and exercising. These events occur both in pedestrian ways in the periphery, inside the POS, and in the other spots of the POS, such as grass field or multipurpose plaza. The visitors’ vehicle tradition relates to the whole urban space which is planned in a car-oriented way. Thus, the POS becomes the only space that people can walk and enjoy the environment.

A telescopic cinema sound camera for observing high altitude aerospace vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Slater, Dan

2014-09-01

Rockets and other high altitude aerospace vehicles produce interesting visual and aural phenomena that can be remotely observed from long distances. This paper describes a compact, passive and covert remote sensing system that can produce high resolution sound movies at >100 km viewing distances. The telescopic high resolution camera is capable of resolving and quantifying space launch vehicle dynamics including plume formation, staging events and payload fairing jettison. Flight vehicles produce sounds and vibrations that modulate the local electromagnetic environment. These audio frequency modulations can be remotely sensed by passive optical and radio wave detectors. Acousto-optic sensing methods were primarily used but an experimental radioacoustic sensor using passive micro-Doppler radar techniques was also tested. The synchronized combination of high resolution flight vehicle imagery with the associated vehicle sounds produces a cinema like experience that that is useful in both an aerospace engineering and a Hollywood film production context. Examples of visual, aural and radar observations of the first SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket launch are shown and discussed.

A Rocket Powered Single-Stage-to-Orbit Launch Vehicle With U.S. and Soviet Engineers

Science.gov (United States)

MacConochie, Ian O.; Stnaley, Douglas O.

1991-01-01

A single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle is used to assess the applicability of Soviet Energia high-pressure-hydrocarbon engine to advanced U.S. manned space transportation systems. Two of the Soviet engines are used with three Space Shuttle Main Engines. When applied to a baseline vehicle that utilized advanced hydrocarbon engines, the higher weight of the Soviet engines resulted in a 20 percent loss of payload capability and necessitated a change in the crew compartment size and location from mid-body to forebody in order to balance the vehicle. Various combinations of Soviet and Shuttle engines were evaluated for comparison purposes, including an all hydrogen system using all Space Shuttle Main Engines. Operational aspects of the baseline vehicle are also discussed. A new mass properties program entitles Weights and Moments of Inertia (WAMI) is used in the study.

Results of investigations conducted in the LaRC 4-foot unitary plan wind tunnel leg no. 1 using the 0.010-scale 72-OTS model of the space shuttle integrated vehicle (IA94A)

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, M. E.

1976-01-01

Aero-loads investigations were conducted on the updated configuration-5 space shuttle launch vehicle at Mach numbers 2.50, 3.50, and 4.50. Six-component vehicle forces and moments, base and sting-cavity pressures, elevon hinge moments, wing-root bending and torsion moments, and normal shear force data were obtained. Full simulation of updated vehicle protuberances and attach hardware was employed. Various elevon deflection angles were tested, with two different forward orbiter-to-external-tank attach-strut configurations. The entire vehicle model 72-OTS was supported by means of a balance mounted in the orbiter through its base and suspended from an appropriate sting for the specific tunnel.

LauncherOne Small Launch Vehicle Propulsion Advancement

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Virgin Orbit, LLC (“Virgin Orbit”) is currently well into the development for our LauncherOne (L1) small satellite launch vehicle. LauncherOne is a dedicated small...

Locating Depots for Capacitated Vehicle Routing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gørtz, Inge Li; Nagarajan, Viswanath

2011-01-01

that all demands are satisfied and the total cost is minimized. Our main result is a constant-factor approximation algorithm for k-LocVRP. To achieve this result, we reduce k-LocVRP to the following generalization of k median, which might be of independent interest. Given a metric (V, d), bound k...... median forest, which leads to a (12+E)-approximation algorithm for k-LocVRP, for any constant E > 0. The algorithm for k median forest is t-swap local search, and we prove that it has locality gap 3 + 2 t ; this generalizes the corresponding result for k median [3]. Finally we consider the k median......We study a location-routing problem in the context of capacitated vehicle routing. The input to k-LocVRP is a set of demand locations in a metric space and a fleet of k vehicles each of capacity Q. The objective is to locate k depots, one for each vehicle, and compute routes for the vehicles so...

Robotics development for the enhancement of space endeavors

Science.gov (United States)

Mauceri, A. J.; Clarke, Margaret M.

Telerobotics and robotics development activities to support NASA's goal of increasing opportunities in space commercialization and exploration are described. The Rockwell International activities center is using robotics to improve efficiency and safety in three related areas: remote control of autonomous systems, automated nondestructive evaluation of aspects of vehicle integrity, and the use of robotics in space vehicle ground reprocessing operations. In the first area, autonomous robotic control, Rockwell is using the control architecture, NASREM, as the foundation for the high level command of robotic tasks. In the second area, we have demonstrated the use of nondestructive evaluation (using acoustic excitation and lasers sensors) to evaluate the integrity of space vehicle surface material bonds, using Orbiter 102 as the test case. In the third area, Rockwell is building an automated version of the present manual tool used for Space Shuttle surface tile re-waterproofing. The tool will be integrated into an orbiter processing robot being developed by a KSC-led team.

Habitability Designs for Crew Exploration Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Woolford, Barbara

2006-01-01

NASA's space human factors team is contributing to the habitability of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), which will take crews to low Earth orbit, and dock there with additional vehicles to go on to the moon's surface. They developed a task analysis for operations and for self-sustenance (sleeping, eating, hygiene), and estimated the volumes required for performing the various tasks and for the associated equipment, tools and supplies. Rough volumetric mockups were built for crew evaluations. Trade studies were performed to determine the size and location of windows. The habitability analysis also contributes to developing concepts of operations by identifying constraints on crew time. Recently completed studies provided stowage concepts, tools for assessing lighting constraints, and approaches to medical procedure development compatible with the tight space and absence of gravity. New work will be initiated to analyze design concepts and verify that equipment and layouts do meet requirements.

Automation of vibroacoustic data bank for random vibration criteria development. [for the space shuttle and launch vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ferebee, R. C.

1982-01-01

A computerized data bank system was developed for utilization of large amounts of vibration and acoustic data to formulate component random vibration design and test criteria. This system consists of a computer, graphics tablet, and a dry-silver hard copier which are all desk-top type hardware and occupy minimal space. The data bank contains data from the Saturn V and Titan III flight and static test programs. The vibration and acoustic data are stored in the form of power spectral density and one-third octave band plots over the frequency range from 20 to 2000 Hz. The data was stored by digitizing each spectral plot by tracing with the graphics tablet. The digitized data was statistically analyzed and the resulting 97.5% probability levels were stored on tape along with the appropriate structural parameters. Standard extrapolation procedures were programmed for prediction of component random vibration test criteria for new launch vehicle and payload configurations. This automated vibroacoustic data bank system greatly enhances the speed and accuracy of formulating vibration test criteria. In the future, the data bank will be expanded to include all data acquired from the space shuttle flight test program.

Ariane Transfer Vehicle in service of man in orbit

Science.gov (United States)

Deutscher, N.; Schefold, K.; Cougnet, C.

1988-10-01

The Ariane Transfer Vehicle (ATV), an unmanned propulsion system that is designed to be carried by the Ariane 5 launch vehicle, will undertake the logistical support required by the International Space Station and the Man-Tended Free Flyer, carrying both pressurized and unpressurized cargo to these spacecraft and carrying away wastes. The ATV is an expendable vehicle, disposed of by burn-up during reentry, and will be available for initial operations in 1996. In order to minimize development costs and recurrent costs, the ATV design will incorporate existing hardware and software.

Aerodynamic Efficiency Enhancements for Air Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The need for aerodynamics-based efficiency enhancements for air vehicles is presented. Concepts are presented for morphing aircraft, to enable the aircraft to...

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Side View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

A side-view of an early desk-top model of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X,' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, which has been developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Front View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

A front view of an early desk-top model of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X,' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, which has been developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic

Heavy Duty Vehicle Futures Analysis.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Askin, Amanda Christine; Barter, Garrett.; West, Todd H.; Manley, Dawn Kataoka

2014-05-01

This report describes work performed for an Early Career Research and Development project. This project developed a heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) sector model to assess the factors influencing alternative fuel and efficiency technology adoption. This model builds on a Sandia light duty vehicle sector model and provides a platform for assessing potential impacts of technological advancements developed at the Combustion Research Facility. Alternative fuel and technology adoption modeling is typically developed around a small set of scenarios. This HDV sector model segments the HDV sector and parameterizes input values, such as fuel prices, efficiencies, and vehicle costs. This parameterization enables sensitivity and trade space analyses to identify the inputs that are most associated with outputs of interest, such as diesel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Thus this analysis tool enables identification of the most significant HDV sector drivers that can be used to support energy security and climate change goals.

SpaceX making commercial spaceflight a reality

CERN Document Server

Seedhouse, Erik

2013-01-01

2012 - the year when the first ever privately-developed spacecraft visited the International Space Station. This is the story of how one company is transforming commercial space flight. It describes the extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement that have resulted in the world's first fully reusable launch vehicles and the prospect of human travel to Mars. SpaceX - The First Ten Years: - explores the philosophy behind the success of SpaceX; - explains the practical management that enables SpaceX to keep it simple, reliable, and affordable; - details the developmentof the Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets and the technology of the Merlin engines; - describes the collaboration with NASA; - introduces current SpaceX projects, including the Grasshopper reusable launch vehicle and the Stratolaunch System. SpaceX - The First Ten Years is a portrait of one of the most spectacular spaceflight triumphs of the 21st century, one that is laying the foundation for humanity to become a spacefaring c...

11th International Space Conference on Protection of Materials and Structures from Space Environment

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

The proceedings published in this book document and foster the goals of the 11th International Space Conference on “Protection of Materials and Structures from Space Environment” ICPMSE-11 to facilitate exchanges between members of the various engineering and science disciplines involved in the development of space materials. Contributions cover aspects of interaction with space environment of LEO, GEO, Deep Space, Planetary environments, ground-based qualification and in-flight experiments, as well as lessons learned from operational vehicles that are closely interrelated to disciplines of atmospheric sciences, solar-terrestrial interactions and space life sciences.

Interplanetary magnetic field according to measurements on the Fobos-1,-2 space vehicles. 3. Heliospheric substorm of August 5-7, 1988

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanov, K.G.

1995-01-01

Three-phase disturbance of the interplanetary magnetic field was observed by FOBOS-1 and Fobos-2 space vehicles being at 10 million km distance from the Earth and by IMP-8 near-the-Earth satellite. Disturbance configuration and structure demonstrate that passing of nonstandard bend of heliospheric current layer is the reason of it. Structure, intensity and origination of disturbance enable to classify it as belonging to a category of heliospheric substorms. All three phases of interplanetary disturbance were represented in special near-the-Earth geomagnetic variations of polar cap. 9 refs

Space tourism optimized reusable spaceplane design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Penn, J.P.; Lindley, C.A. [The Aerospace Corporation El Segundo, California90245-4691 (United States)

1997-01-01

Market surveys suggest that a viable space tourism industry will require flight rates about two orders of magnitude higher than those required for conventional spacelift. Although enabling round-trip cost goals for a viable space tourism business are about {dollar_sign}240 per pound ({dollar_sign}529/kg), or {dollar_sign}72,000 per passenger round-trip, goals should be about {dollar_sign}50 per pound ({dollar_sign}110/kg) or approximately {dollar_sign}15,000 for a typical passenger and baggage. The lower price will probably open space tourism to the general population. Vehicle reliabilities must approach those of commercial aircraft as closely as possible. This paper addresses the development of spaceplanes optimized for the ultra-high flight rate and high reliability demands of the space tourism mission. It addresses the fundamental operability, reliability, and cost drivers needed to satisfy this mission need. Figures of merit similar to those used to evaluate the economic viability of conventional commercial aircraft are developed, including items such as payload/vehicle dry weight, turnaround time, propellant cost per passenger, and insurance and depreciation costs, which show that infrastructure can be developed for a viable space tourism industry. A reference spaceplane design optimized for space tourism is described. Subsystem allocations for reliability, operability, and costs are made and a route to developing such a capability is discussed. The vehicle{close_quote}s ability to also satisfy the traditional spacelift market is shown. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}

Space Transportation Materials and Structures Technology Workshop. Volume 2: Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cazier, F.W. Jr.; Gardner, J.E.

1993-02-01

The Space Transportation Materials and Structures Technology Workshop was held on September 23-26, 1991, in Newport News, Virginia. The workshop, sponsored by the NASA Office of Space Flight and the NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology, was held to provide a forum for communication within the space materials and structures technology developer and user communities. Workshop participants were organized into a Vehicle Technology Requirements session and three working panels: Materials and Structures Technologies for Vehicle Systems, Propulsion Systems, and Entry Systems. Separate abstracts have been prepared for papers in this report

Does the Constellation Program Offer Opportunities to Achieve Space Science Goals in Space?

Science.gov (United States)

Thronson, Harley A.; Lester, Daniel F.; Dissel, Adam F.; Folta, David C.; Stevens, John; Budinoff, Jason G.

2008-01-01

Future space science missions developed to achieve the most ambitious goals are likely to be complex, large, publicly and professionally very important, and at the limit of affordability. Consequently, it may be valuable if such missions can be upgraded, repaired, and/or deployed in space, either with robots or with astronauts. In response to a Request for Information from the US National Research Council panel on Science Opportunities Enabled by NASA's Constellation System, we developed a concept for astronaut-based in-space servicing at the Earth-Moon L1,2 locations that may be implemented by using elements of NASA's Constellation architecture. This libration point jobsite could be of great value for major heliospheric and astronomy missions operating at Earth-Sun Lagrange points. We explored five alternative servicing options that plausibly would be available within about a decade. We highlight one that we believe is both the least costly and most efficiently uses Constellation hardware that appears to be available by mid-next decade: the Ares I launch vehicle, Orion/Crew Exploration Vehicle, Centaur vehicle, and an airlock/servicing node developed for lunar surface operations. Our concept may be considered similar to the Apollo 8 mission: a valuable exercise before descent by astronauts to the lunar surface.

Aerodynamic Efficiency Enhancements for Air Vehicles, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The need for aerodynamics-based efficiency enhancements for air vehicles is presented. The results of the Phase I investigation of concepts for morphing aircraft are...

Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) and Hot Structures for Hypersonic Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Glass, David E.

2008-01-01

Thermal protection systems (TPS) and hot structures are required for a range of hypersonic vehicles ranging from ballistic reentry to hypersonic cruise vehicles, both within Earth's atmosphere and non-Earth atmospheres. The focus of this paper is on air breathing hypersonic vehicles in the Earth's atmosphere. This includes single-stage to orbit (SSTO), two-stage to orbit (TSTO) accelerators, access to space vehicles, and hypersonic cruise vehicles. This paper will start out with a brief discussion of aerodynamic heating and thermal management techniques to address the high heating, followed by an overview of TPS for rocket-launched and air-breathing vehicles. The argument is presented that as we move from rocket-based vehicles to air-breathing vehicles, we need to move away from the insulated airplane approach used on the Space Shuttle Orbiter to a wide range of TPS and hot structure approaches. The primary portion of the paper will discuss issues and design options for CMC TPS and hot structure components, including leading edges, acreage TPS, and control surfaces. The current state-of-the-art will be briefly discussed for some of the components. The two primary technical challenges impacting the use of CMC TPS and hot structures for hypersonic vehicles are environmental durability and fabrication, and will be discussed briefly.

Combat Vehicle Technology Report

Science.gov (United States)

1992-05-01

reducing fuel storage under armor , and using manual instead of automatic transmissions, these decisions involve definite operational trade-offs...turn. 20 The application of ceramic materials has made possible the adiabatic -aiesel concept that reduces under - armor cooling system size requirements...systems will eliminate all conventional torsion bar suspension volume under armor space claim, and will have a very direct effect on reducing vehicle

NASA Space Launch System Operations Outlook

Science.gov (United States)

Hefner, William Keith; Matisak, Brian P.; McElyea, Mark; Kunz, Jennifer; Weber, Philip; Cummings, Nicholas; Parsons, Jeremy

2014-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Launch System (SLS) Program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), is working with the Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) Program, based at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), to deliver a new safe, affordable, and sustainable capability for human and scientific exploration beyond Earth's orbit (BEO). Larger than the Saturn V Moon rocket, SLS will provide 10 percent more thrust at liftoff in its initial 70 metric ton (t) configuration and 20 percent more in its evolved 130-t configuration. The primary mission of the SLS rocket will be to launch astronauts to deep space destinations in the Orion Multi- Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), also in development and managed by the Johnson Space Center. Several high-priority science missions also may benefit from the increased payload volume and reduced trip times offered by this powerful, versatile rocket. Reducing the lifecycle costs for NASA's space transportation flagship will maximize the exploration and scientific discovery returned from the taxpayer's investment. To that end, decisions made during development of SLS and associated systems will impact the nation's space exploration capabilities for decades. This paper will provide an update to the operations strategy presented at SpaceOps 2012. It will focus on: 1) Preparations to streamline the processing flow and infrastructure needed to produce and launch the world's largest rocket (i.e., through incorporation and modification of proven, heritage systems into the vehicle and ground systems); 2) Implementation of a lean approach to reach-back support of hardware manufacturing, green-run testing, and launch site processing and activities; and 3) Partnering between the vehicle design and operations communities on state-of-the-art predictive operations analysis techniques. An example of innovation is testing the integrated vehicle at the processing facility in parallel, rather than

Efficient Composite Repair Methods for Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Polymer matrix composites are increasingly replacing traditional metallic materials in NASA launch vehicles. However, the repair and subsequent inspection methods...

Power for Vehicle Embedded MEMS Sensors, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Embedded wireless sensors of the future will enable flight vehicle systems to be "highly aware" of onboard health and performance parameters, as well as the external...

Power for Vehicle Embedded MEMS Sensors, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Embedded wireless sensors of the future will enable flight vehicle systems to be "highly aware" of onboard health and performance parameters, as well as the external...

Intelligent behaviors through vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Richard D.; Sturgeon, Purser; Brown, Mike

2012-06-01

The last decade has seen a significant increase in intelligent safety devices on private automobiles. These devices have both increased and augmented the situational awareness of the driver and in some cases provided automated vehicle responses. To date almost all intelligent safety devices have relied on data directly perceived by the vehicle. This constraint has a direct impact on the types of solutions available to the vehicle. In an effort to improve the safety options available to a vehicle, numerous research laboratories and government agencies are investing time and resources into connecting vehicles to each other and to infrastructure-based devices. This work details several efforts in both the commercial vehicle and the private auto industries to increase vehicle safety and driver situational awareness through vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. It will specifically discuss intelligent behaviors being designed to automatically disable non-compliant vehicles, warn tractor trailer vehicles of unsafe lane maneuvers such as lane changes, passing, and merging, and alert drivers to non-line-of-sight emergencies.

Final report of the SPS space transportation workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1980-10-01

After a brief description of space power system concepts and the current status of the SPS program, issues relevant to earth-surface-to-low-earth-orbit (ESLEO) and orbit-to-orbit transport are discussed. For ESLEO, vehicle concepts include shuttle transportation systems, heavy lift launch vehicles, and single-stage-to-orbit vehicles. Orbit transfer vehicle missions include transport of cargo and the SPS module from low earth orbit to geosynchronous earth orbit as well as personnel transport. Vehicles discussed for such missions include chemical rocket orbital transfer vehicles, and electric orbital transfer vehicles. Further discussions include SPS station-keeping and attitude control, intra-orbit transport, and advanced propulsion and vehicle concepts. (LEW)

Vehicle Systems Engineering and Integration Activities - Phase 5

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-31

payload, 10,300 lb gross vehicle weight. The Expanded Capacity Vehicle (ECV, 1993-present) has a 6.5 liter turbo diesel Bolt on armor required...installed by the maintenance unit. A proposed ECV2 (not currently in production) has an improved 6.5 liter turbo diesel engine, a new transmission...frame (3 piece welded), integral “A” armor with attachment points for “B” armor kit, increased cab space (14 cubic feet), enhanced 6500 turbo diesel

Aerospace Vehicle Design, Spacecraft Section. Volume 1: Project Groups 3-5

Science.gov (United States)

1989-01-01

Three groups of student engineers in an aerospace vehicle design course present their designs for a vehicle that can be used to resupply the Space Station Freedom and provide an emergency crew return to earth capability. The vehicle's requirements include a lifetime that exceeds six years, low cost, the capability for withstanding pressurization, launch, orbit, and reentry hazards, and reliability. The vehicle's subsystems are analyzed. These subsystems are structures, communication and command data systems, attitude and articulation control, life support and crew systems, power and propulsion, reentry and recovery systems, and mission management, planning, and costing.

A Lane-Level LBS System for Vehicle Network with High-Precision BDS/GPS Positioning

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Chi; Guo, Wenfei; Cao, Guangyi; Dong, Hongbo

2015-01-01

In recent years, research on vehicle network location service has begun to focus on its intelligence and precision. The accuracy of space-time information has become a core factor for vehicle network systems in a mobile environment. However, difficulties persist in vehicle satellite positioning since deficiencies in the provision of high-quality space-time references greatly limit the development and application of vehicle networks. In this paper, we propose a high-precision-based vehicle network location service to solve this problem. The major components of this study include the following: (1) application of wide-area precise positioning technology to the vehicle network system. An adaptive correction message broadcast protocol is designed to satisfy the requirements for large-scale target precise positioning in the mobile Internet environment; (2) development of a concurrence service system with a flexible virtual expansion architecture to guarantee reliable data interaction between vehicles and the background; (3) verification of the positioning precision and service quality in the urban environment. Based on this high-precision positioning service platform, a lane-level location service is designed to solve a typical traffic safety problem. PMID:25755665

GPS Attitude Determination for Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Toyon Research Corporation proposes to develop a family of compact, low-cost GPS-based attitude (GPS/A) sensors for launch vehicles. In order to obtain 3-D attitude...

Space Launch System Ascent Flight Control Design

Science.gov (United States)

Orr, Jeb S.; Wall, John H.; VanZwieten, Tannen S.; Hall, Charles E.

2014-01-01

A robust and flexible autopilot architecture for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) family of launch vehicles is presented. The SLS configurations represent a potentially significant increase in complexity and performance capability when compared with other manned launch vehicles. It was recognized early in the program that a new, generalized autopilot design should be formulated to fulfill the needs of this new space launch architecture. The present design concept is intended to leverage existing NASA and industry launch vehicle design experience and maintain the extensibility and modularity necessary to accommodate multiple vehicle configurations while relying on proven and flight-tested control design principles for large boost vehicles. The SLS flight control architecture combines a digital three-axis autopilot with traditional bending filters to support robust active or passive stabilization of the vehicle's bending and sloshing dynamics using optimally blended measurements from multiple rate gyros on the vehicle structure. The algorithm also relies on a pseudo-optimal control allocation scheme to maximize the performance capability of multiple vectored engines while accommodating throttling and engine failure contingencies in real time with negligible impact to stability characteristics. The architecture supports active in-flight disturbance compensation through the use of nonlinear observers driven by acceleration measurements. Envelope expansion and robustness enhancement is obtained through the use of a multiplicative forward gain modulation law based upon a simple model reference adaptive control scheme.

A methodology for the validated design space exploration of fuel cell powered unmanned aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Moffitt, Blake Almy

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are the most dynamic growth sector of the aerospace industry today. The need to provide persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance for military operations is driving the planned acquisition of over 5,000 UAVs over the next five years. The most pressing need is for quiet, small UAVs with endurance beyond what is capable with advanced batteries or small internal combustion propulsion systems. Fuel cell systems demonstrate high efficiency, high specific energy, low noise, low temperature operation, modularity, and rapid refuelability making them a promising enabler of the small, quiet, and persistent UAVs that military planners are seeking. Despite the perceived benefits, the actual near-term performance of fuel cell powered UAVs is unknown. Until the auto industry began spending billions of dollars in research, fuel cell systems were too heavy for useful flight applications. However, the last decade has seen rapid development with fuel cell gravimetric and volumetric power density nearly doubling every 2--3 years. As a result, a few design studies and demonstrator aircraft have appeared, but overall the design methodology and vehicles are still in their infancy. The design of fuel cell aircraft poses many challenges. Fuel cells differ fundamentally from combustion based propulsion in how they generate power and interact with other aircraft subsystems. As a result, traditional multidisciplinary analysis (MDA) codes are inappropriate. Building new MDAs is difficult since fuel cells are rapidly changing in design, and various competitive architectures exist for balance of plant, hydrogen storage, and all electric aircraft subsystems. In addition, fuel cell design and performance data is closely protected which makes validation difficult and uncertainty significant. Finally, low specific power and high volumes compared to traditional combustion based propulsion result in more highly constrained design spaces that are

Commercial Space Transportation and Approaches to landing sites over Maritime Areas

OpenAIRE

Morlang, Frank; Hampe, Jens; Kaltenhäuser, Sven; Schmitt, Dirk-Roger

2015-01-01

Commercial Space Transportation becomes an international business and requires landing opportunities all over the world. Hence the integration of space vehicles in other airspace than the US NAS is an important topic to be considered. The Single European Sky ATM Research Programme (SESAR) is preparing the implementation of a new ATM system in Europe. The requirements are defined by the concept of the shared Business Trajectory and System Wide Information Management (SWIM). Space vehicle op...

Ecological aspects of the space-rocket technology effect on the magnetosphere and the near space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shushkova, V.B.; Khanan'yan, A.A.

1991-01-01

A brief review of the main types of authropogenic contamination of near-Earth space, linked with destruction of space vehicles and propulsion system operation is given. It is mentioned, that fragments of artificial origin including radioactive ones, represent a real danger now, while global changes of the environment (ionosphere exhaustion, exosphere density increase, climatic changes, etc.) can take place under the further intensification of space activity

Space Station fluid management logistics

Science.gov (United States)

Dominick, Sam M.

1990-01-01

Viewgraphs and discussion on space station fluid management logistics are presented. Topics covered include: fluid management logistics - issues for Space Station Freedom evolution; current fluid logistics approach; evolution of Space Station Freedom fluid resupply; launch vehicle evolution; ELV logistics system approach; logistics carrier configuration; expendable fluid/propellant carrier description; fluid carrier design concept; logistics carrier orbital operations; carrier operations at space station; summary/status of orbital fluid transfer techniques; Soviet progress tanker system; and Soviet propellant resupply system observations.

Atoms for space

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buden, D.

1990-10-01

Nuclear technology offers many advantages in an expanded solar system space exploration program. These cover a range of possible applications such as power for spacecraft, lunar and planetary surfaces, and electric propulsion; rocket propulsion for lunar and Mars vehicles; space radiation protection; water and sewage treatment; space mining; process heat; medical isotopes; and self-luminous systems. In addition, space offers opportunities to perform scientific research and develop systems that can solve problems here on Earth. These might include fusion and antimatter research, using the Moon as a source of helium-3 fusion fuel, and manufacturing perfect fusion targets. In addition, nuclear technologies can be used to reduce risk and costs of the Space Exploration Initiative. 1 fig.

Atoms for space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buden, D.

1990-10-01

Nuclear technology offers many advantages in an expanded solar system space exploration program. These cover a range of possible applications such as power for spacecraft, lunar and planetary surfaces, and electric propulsion; rocket propulsion for lunar and Mars vehicles; space radiation protection; water and sewage treatment; space mining; process heat; medical isotopes; and self-luminous systems. In addition, space offers opportunities to perform scientific research and develop systems that can solve problems here on Earth. These might include fusion and antimatter research, using the Moon as a source of helium-3 fusion fuel, and manufacturing perfect fusion targets. In addition, nuclear technologies can be used to reduce risk and costs of the Space Exploration Initiative. 1 fig

Mathematical model of parking space unit for triangular parking area

Science.gov (United States)

Syahrini, Intan; Sundari, Teti; Iskandar, Taufiq; Halfiani, Vera; Munzir, Said; Ramli, Marwan

2018-01-01

Parking space unit (PSU) is an effective measure for the area size of a vehicle, including the free space and the width of the door opening of the vehicle (car). This article discusses a mathematical model for parking space of vehicles in triangular shape area. An optimization model for triangular parking lot is developed. Integer Linear Programming (ILP) method is used to determine the maximum number of the PSU. The triangular parking lot is in isosceles and equilateral triangles shape and implements four possible rows and five possible angles for each field. The vehicles which are considered are cars and motorcycles. The results show that the isosceles triangular parking area has 218 units of optimal PSU, which are 84 units of PSU for cars and 134 units of PSU for motorcycles. Equilateral triangular parking area has 688 units of optimal PSU, which are 175 units of PSU for cars and 513 units of PSU for motorcycles.

Cooperative path planning of unmanned aerial vehicles

CERN Document Server

Tsourdos, Antonios; Shanmugavel, Madhavan

2010-01-01

An invaluable addition to the literature on UAV guidance and cooperative control, Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is a dedicated, practical guide to computational path planning for UAVs. One of the key issues facing future development of UAVs is path planning: it is vital that swarm UAVs/ MAVs can cooperate together in a coordinated manner, obeying a pre-planned course but able to react to their environment by communicating and cooperating. An optimized path is necessary in order to ensure a UAV completes its mission efficiently, safely, and successfully. Focussing on the path planning of multiple UAVs for simultaneous arrival on target, Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles also offers coverage of path planners that are applicable to land, sea, or space-borne vehicles. Cooperative Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles is authored by leading researchers from Cranfield University and provides an authoritative resource for researchers, academics and engineers working in...

Advanced Control System Design for Hypersonic Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Guidance and control system design for hypersonic vehicles is more challenging than their subsonic and supersonic counterparts. Some of these challenges are (i)...

Space rescue system definition (system performance analysis and trades)

Science.gov (United States)

Housten, Sam; Elsner, Tim; Redler, Ken; Svendsen, Hal; Wenzel, Sheri

This paper addresses key technical issues involved in the system definition of the Assured Crew Return Vehicle (ACRV). The perspective on these issues is that of a prospective ACRV contractor, performing system analysis and trade studies. The objective of these analyses and trade studies is to develop the recovery vehicle system concept and top level requirements. The starting point for this work is the definition of the set of design missions for the ACRV. This set of missions encompasses three classes of contingency/emergency (crew illness/injury, space station catastrophe/failure, transportation element catastrophe/failure). The need is to provide a system to return Space Station crew to Earth quickly (less than 24 hours) in response to randomly occurring contingency events over an extended period of time (30 years of planned Space Station life). The main topics addressed and characterized in this paper include the following: Key Recovery (Rescue) Site Access Considerations; Rescue Site Locations and Distribution; Vehicle Cross Range vs Site Access; On-orbit Loiter Capability and Vehicle Design; and Water vs. Land Recovery.

National Security Space Launch Report

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

Company Clayton Mowry, President, Arianespace Inc., North American—“Launch Solutions” Elon Musk , CEO and CTO, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX...technologies to the NASA Exploration Initiative (“…Moon, Mars and Beyond.”).1 EELV Technology Needs The Atlas V and Delta IV vehicles incorporate current... Mars and other destinations.” 46 National Security Space Launch Report Figure 6.1 U.S. Government Liquid Propulsion Rocket Investment, 1991–2005

Zero emission vehicle for dense grid urban public transportation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D' Ovidio, G. [University of l' Aquila, Faculty of Engineering, DAU (Italy)

2000-07-01

This paper reports the operating scheme of a public transportation vehicle with zero polluting emission, working in urban areas in a transport network which has short and regular stop spacing not greater than 400-500 m, and by segments covered by 'shuttle-type' vehicles with high operating frequencies. In particular, the traction of the vehicle, of electric type exclusively, is supported by the functional coupling of an accumulation and alimentation system composed respectively of Fuel Cell e Flywheel Energy Storage Unite. This study proposes and analyzes a typology of hybrid vehicle of which the configuration of traction is specialized for the exigency connected to the different phases of the motion. The study contains the analysis and the measurement of the principal components of the propulsion system to the vary of the loading capabilities of the vehicles and of the geometric characteristic of the transport network.

Fast space travel by vacuum zero-point field perturbations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Froning, H. D. Jr.

1999-01-01

Forces acting upon an accelerating vehicle that is 'warping' its surrounding space are estimated, using the techniques of computational gas/fluid dynamics. Disturbances corresponding to perturbation of spacetime metric and vacuum zero-point fields by electromagnetic discharges are modeled as changes in the electric permittivity and magnetic permeability characteristics of the vacuum of space. And it is assumed that resistance to acceleration (vehicle inertia) is, in part, a consequence of zero-point radiation pressure field anisotropy in the warped space region surrounding the craft. The paper shows that resistance to vehicle acceleration can be diminished by spacetime warping that increases light propagation speed within the warped region. If sufficient warping is achieved, ship speed is slower than light speed within the region that surrounds it-even if it is moving faster-than-light with respect to earth

Optimal Routing for Heterogeneous Fixed Fleets of Multicompartment Vehicles

OpenAIRE

Wang, Qian; Ji, Qingkai; Chiu, Chun-Hung

2014-01-01

We present a metaheuristic called the reactive guided tabu search (RGTS) to solve the heterogeneous fleet multicompartment vehicle routing problem (MCVRP), where a single vehicle is required for cotransporting multiple customer orders. MCVRP is commonly found in delivery of fashion apparel, petroleum distribution, food distribution, and waste collection. In searching the optimum solution of MCVRP, we need to handle a large amount of local optima in the solution spaces. To overcome this proble...

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Top Front View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

A top front view of an early desk-top model of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X,' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic vehicles will

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Top Rear View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

This aft-quarter model view of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle shows its sleek, geometric design. The X-43A was developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen

X-43A Vehicle During Ground Testing

Science.gov (United States)

1999-01-01

The X-43A Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, or 'Hyper-X' is seen here undergoing ground testing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California in December 1999. The X-43A was developed to research a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only

The worldwide growth of launch vehicle technology and services : Quarterly Launch Report : special report

Science.gov (United States)

1997-01-01

This report will discuss primarily those vehicles being introduced by the newly emerging space nations. India, Israel, and Brazil are all trying to turn launch vehicle assets into profitable businesses. In this effort, they have found the technologic...

Aero-thermo-dynamic analysis of the Spaceliner-7.1 vehicle in high altitude flight

Science.gov (United States)

Zuppardi, Gennaro; Morsa, Luigi; Sippel, Martin; Schwanekamp, Tobias

2014-12-01

SpaceLiner, designed by DLR, is a visionary, extremely fast passenger transportation concept. It consists of two stages: a winged booster, a vehicle. After separation of the two stages, the booster makes a controlled re-entry and returns to the launch site. According to the current project, version 7-1 of SpaceLiner (SpaceLiner-7.1), the vehicle should be brought at an altitude of 75 km and then released, undertaking the descent path. In the perspective that the vehicle of SpaceLiner-7.1 could be brought to altitudes higher than 75 km, e.g. 100 km or above and also for a speculative purpose, in this paper the aerodynamic parameters of the SpaceLiner-7.1 vehicle are calculated in the whole transition regime, from continuum low density to free molecular flows. Computer simulations have been carried out by three codes: two DSMC codes, DS3V in the altitude interval 100-250 km for the evaluation of the global aerodynamic coefficients and DS2V at the altitude of 60 km for the evaluation of the heat flux and pressure distributions along the vehicle nose, and the DLR HOTSOSE code for the evaluation of the global aerodynamic coefficients in continuum, hypersonic flow at the altitude of 44.6 km. The effectiveness of the flaps with deflection angle of -35 deg. was evaluated in the above mentioned altitude interval. The vehicle showed longitudinal stability in the whole altitude interval even with no flap. The global bridging formulae verified to be proper for the evaluation of the aerodynamic coefficients in the altitude interval 80-100 km where the computations cannot be fulfilled either by CFD, because of the failure of the classical equations computing the transport coefficients, or by DSMC because of the requirement of very high computer resources both in terms of the core storage (a high number of simulated molecules is needed) and to the very long processing time.

9 CFR 3.15 - Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). 3.15 Section 3.15 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH... conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). (a) The animal cargo space of primary conveyances used to...

9 CFR 3.138 - Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). 3.138 Section 3.138 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH... (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). (a) The animal cargo space of primary conveyances used in...

9 CFR 3.88 - Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). 3.88 Section 3.88 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH... conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). (a) The animal cargo space of primary conveyances used to...

9 CFR 3.62 - Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). 3.62 Section 3.62 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH... (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). (a) The animal cargo space of primary conveyances used in...

9 CFR 3.37 - Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 9 Animals and Animal Products 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). 3.37 Section 3.37 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH... conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air, and marine). (a) The animal cargo space of primary conveyances used in...

Space engineering modeling and optimization with case studies

CERN Document Server

Pintér, János

2016-01-01

This book presents a selection of advanced case studies that cover a substantial range of issues and real-world challenges and applications in space engineering. Vital mathematical modeling, optimization methodologies and numerical solution aspects of each application case study are presented in detail, with discussions of a range of advanced model development and solution techniques and tools. Space engineering challenges are discussed in the following contexts: •Advanced Space Vehicle Design •Computation of Optimal Low Thrust Transfers •Indirect Optimization of Spacecraft Trajectories •Resource-Constrained Scheduling, •Packing Problems in Space •Design of Complex Interplanetary Trajectories •Satellite Constellation Image Acquisition •Re-entry Test Vehicle Configuration Selection •Collision Risk Assessment on Perturbed Orbits •Optimal Robust Design of Hybrid Rocket Engines •Nonlinear Regression Analysis in Space Engineering< •Regression-Based Sensitivity Analysis and Robust Design ...

Vehicle Trajectory Estimation Using Spatio-Temporal MCMC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francois Bardet

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an algorithm for modeling and tracking vehicles in video sequences within one integrated framework. Most of the solutions are based on sequential methods that make inference according to current information. In contrast, we propose a deferred logical inference method that makes a decision according to a sequence of observations, thus processing a spatio-temporal search on the whole trajectory. One of the drawbacks of deferred logical inference methods is that the solution space of hypotheses grows exponentially related to the depth of observation. Our approach takes into account both the kinematic model of the vehicle and a driver behavior model in order to reduce the space of the solutions. The resulting proposed state model explains the trajectory with only 11 parameters. The solution space is then sampled with a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC that uses a model-driven proposal distribution in order to control random walk behavior. We demonstrate our method on real video sequences from which we have ground truth provided by a RTK GPS (Real-Time Kinematic GPS. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms a sequential inference solution (particle filter.

Design of Fuzzy Enhanced Hierarchical Motion Stabilizing Controller of Unmanned Ground Vehicle in Three DimensionalSpace

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yue Ma

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, stabilizing control of tracked unmanned ground vehicle in 3-D space was presented. Firstly, models of major modules of tracked UGV were established. Next, to reveal the mechanism of disturbances applied on the UGV, two kinds of representative disturbances (slope and general disturbances in yaw motion were discussed in depth. Consequently, an attempting PID method was employed to compensate the impacts of disturbances andsimulation results proved the validity for disturbance incited by slope force, but revealed the lack for general disturbance on yaw motion. Finally, a hierarchical fuzzy controller combined with PID controller was proposed. In lower level, there were two PID controllers to compensate the disturbance of slope force, and on top level, the fuzzy logic controller was employed to correct the yaw motion error based on the differences between the model and the real UGV, which was able to guide the UGV maintain on the stable state. Simulation results demonstrated the excellent effectiveness of the newly designed controller.

Indian space transportation programme: Near term outlook and issues for commercialisation

Science.gov (United States)

Nagendra, Narayan Prasad

2015-05-01

The Indian space transportation programme has grown from strength to strength with the launching of sounding rockets in the 60's to the development of heavy lift vehicles for telecommunication satellites in the present decade. With the growing market confidence in Indian Space Research Organisation's ability to reliably deliver payloads to low Earth orbit with its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, there is an inherent opportunity for India to cater to the commercial market. The present work assesses the current launch capacity of India in retrospect of international launches and provides India's outlook for the space transportation in the current decade. Launch capacity correlation with the requirements within the Indian space programme as well as the current space transportation infrastructure have been considered to identify bottlenecks in catering to the current national requirements alongside securing a greater market share in the international launch market. The state of commercialisation of launch vehicle development has been presented to provide an overview of policy and organisational issues for commercialisation of space transportation in India.

Analysis of Vehicle Steering and Driving Bifurcation Characteristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xianbin Wang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The typical method of vehicle steering bifurcation analysis is based on the nonlinear autonomous vehicle model deriving from the classic two degrees of freedom (2DOF linear vehicle model. This method usually neglects the driving effect on steering bifurcation characteristics. However, in the steering and driving combined conditions, the tyre under different driving conditions can provide different lateral force. The steering bifurcation mechanism without the driving effect is not able to fully reveal the vehicle steering and driving bifurcation characteristics. Aiming at the aforementioned problem, this paper analyzed the vehicle steering and driving bifurcation characteristics with the consideration of driving effect. Based on the 5DOF vehicle system dynamics model with the consideration of driving effect, the 7DOF autonomous system model was established. The vehicle steering and driving bifurcation dynamic characteristics were analyzed with different driving mode and driving torque. Taking the front-wheel-drive system as an example, the dynamic evolution process of steering and driving bifurcation was analyzed by phase space, system state variables, power spectral density, and Lyapunov index. The numerical recognition results of chaos were also provided. The research results show that the driving mode and driving torque have the obvious effect on steering and driving bifurcation characteristics.

Strut Attachment System for In-Space Robotic Assembly, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The size of space systems is currently limited to payload envelopes of existing launch vehicles. Due to this and the customized nature of satellites, existing space...

Strut Attachment System for In-Space Robotic Assembly, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The size of space systems is currently limited to payload envelopes of existing launch vehicles. Due to this and the customized nature of satellites, existing space...

Diagram of the Saturn V Launch Vehicle in Metric

Science.gov (United States)

1971-01-01

This is a good cutaway diagram of the Saturn V launch vehicle showing the three stages, the instrument unit, and the Apollo spacecraft. The chart on the right presents the basic technical data in clear metric detail. The Saturn V is the largest and most powerful launch vehicle in the United States. The towering, 111 meter, Saturn V was a multistage, multiengine launch vehicle standing taller than the Statue of Liberty. Altogether, the Saturn V engines produced as much power as 85 Hoover Dams. Development of the Saturn V was the responsibility of the Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Alabama, directed by Dr. Wernher von Braun.

Space Launch System Complex Decision-Making Process

Science.gov (United States)

Lyles, Garry; Flores, Tim; Hundley, Jason; Monk, Timothy; Feldman,Stuart

2012-01-01

The Space Shuttle program has ended and elements of the Constellation Program have either been cancelled or transitioned to new NASA exploration endeavors. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has worked diligently to select an optimum configuration for the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy lift vehicle that will provide the foundation for future beyond low earth orbit (LEO) large-scale missions for the next several decades. From Fall 2010 until Spring 2011, an SLS decision-making framework was formulated, tested, fully documented, and applied to multiple SLS vehicle concepts at NASA from previous exploration architecture studies. This was a multistep process that involved performing figure of merit (FOM)-based assessments, creating Pass/Fail gates based on draft threshold requirements, performing a margin-based assessment with supporting statistical analyses, and performing sensitivity analysis on each. This paper focuses on the various steps and methods of this process (rather than specific data) that allowed for competing concepts to be compared across a variety of launch vehicle metrics in support of the successful completion of the SLS Mission Concept Review (MCR) milestone.

Performance Efficient Launch Vehicle Recovery and Reuse

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, John G.; Ragab, Mohamed M.; Cheatwood, F. McNeil; Hughes, Stephen J.; Dinonno, J.; Bodkin, R.; Lowry, Allen; Brierly, Gregory T.; Kelly, John W.

2016-01-01

For decades, economic reuse of launch vehicles has been an elusive goal. Recent attempts at demonstrating elements of launch vehicle recovery for reuse have invigorated a debate over the merits of different approaches. The parameter most often used to assess the cost of access to space is dollars-per-kilogram to orbit. When comparing reusable vs. expendable launch vehicles, that ratio has been shown to be most sensitive to the performance lost as a result of enabling the reusability. This paper will briefly review the historical background and results of recent attempts to recover launch vehicle assets for reuse. The business case for reuse will be reviewed, with emphasis on the performance expended to recover those assets, and the practicality of the most ambitious reuse concept, namely propulsive return to the launch site. In 2015, United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced its Sensible, Modular, Autonomous Return Technology (SMART) reuse plan for recovery of the booster module for its new Vulcan launch vehicle. That plan employs a non-propulsive approach where atmospheric entry, descent and landing (EDL) technologies are utilized. Elements of such a system have a wide variety of applications, from recovery of launch vehicle elements in suborbital trajectories all the way to human space exploration. This paper will include an update on ULA's booster module recovery approach, which relies on Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) and Mid-Air Retrieval (MAR) technologies, including its concept of operations (ConOps). The HIAD design, as well as parafoil staging and MAR concepts, will be discussed. Recent HIAD development activities and near term plans including scalability, next generation materials for the inflatable structure and heat shield, and gas generator inflation systems will be provided. MAR topics will include the ConOps for recovery, helicopter selection and staging, and the state of the art of parachute recovery systems using large parafoils

Risk Informed Design Using Integrated Vehicle Rapid Assessment Tools

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — A successful proof of concept was performed in FY 2012 integrating the Envision tool for parametric estimates of vehicle mass and the Rapid Response Risk Assessment...

Lunar All-Terrain Utility Vehicle for EVA, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — ProtoInnovations, LLC proposes to develop a new type of planetary rover called a Lunar All-terrain Utility Vehicle ("Lunar ATV") to assist extra-vehicular activities...

Lunar All-Terrain Utility Vehicle for EVA, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — ProtoInnovations, LLC proposes to develop a new type of planetary rover called a Lunar All-terrain Utility Vehicle ("LATUV") to assist extra-vehicular activities in...

Ceramic Adhesive and Methods for On-Orbit Repair of Re-Entry Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Riedell, James A.; Easler, Timothy E.

2013-01-01

This adhesive is capable of repairing damaged leading edge components of reentry vehicles while in space, and is novel with regard to its ability to be applied in the vacuum of space, and in a microgravity environment. Once applied, the adhesive provides thermal and oxidation protection to the substrate (in this case, reinforced carbon/carbon composites, RCCs) during re-entry of a space vehicle. Although there may be many formulations for repair adhesives, at the time of this reporting, this is the first known adhesive capable of an on-orbit repair. The adhesive is an engineered ceramic material composed of a pre-ceramic polymer and refractory powders in the form of a paste or putty that can be applied to a scratched, cracked, or fractured composite surface, covering and protecting the damaged area. The adhesive is then "cured" with a heat cycle, thereby cross-linking the polymer into a hardened material and bonding it to the substrate. During the heat of reentry, the material is converted to a ceramic coating that provides thermal and oxidative stability to the repaired area, thus allowing the vehicle to pass safely from space into the upper atmosphere. Ceramic powders such as SiC, ZrB2 and Y2O3 are combined with allylhydridopolycarbosilane (AHPCS) resin, and are mixed to form a paste adhesive. The material is then applied to the damaged area by brush, spatula, trowel, or other means to fill cracks, gaps, and holes, or used to bond patches onto the damaged area. The material is then cured, in a vacuum, preferably at 250F (approximately equal to 121C) for two hours. The re-entry heating of the vehicle at temperatures in excess of 3,000F (approximately equal to 1,650C) then converts this material into a ceramic coating. This invention has demonstrated advantages in resistance to high temperatures, as was demonstrated in more than 100 arc-jet tests in representative environments at NASA. Extensive testing verified oxidation protection for the repaired substrate (RCC

Expandable External Payload Carrier for Existing Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Numerous existing launch vehicles have excess performance that is not being optimized. By taking advantage of excess, unused, performance, additional NASA...

Robustness of Supercavitating Vehicles Based on Multistability Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yipin Lv

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Supercavity can increase speed of underwater vehicles greatly. However, external interferences always lead to instability of vehicles. This paper focuses on robustness of supercavitating vehicles. Based on a 4-dimensional dynamic model, the existence of multistability is verified in supercavitating system through simulation, and the robustness of vehicles varying with parameters is analyzed by basins of attraction. Results of the research disclose that the supercavitating system has three stable states in some regions of parameters space, namely, stable, periodic, and chaotic states, while in other regions it has various multistability, such as coexistence of two types of stable equilibrium points, coexistence of a limit cycle with a chaotic attractor, and coexistence of 1-periodic cycle with 2-periodic cycle. Provided that cavitation number varies within a small range, with increase of the feedback control gain of fin deflection angle, size of basin of attraction becomes smaller and robustness of the system becomes weaker. In practical application, robustness of supercavitating vehicles can be improved by setting parameters of system or adjusting initial launching conditions.

Space Handbook: Astronautics and its Applications

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Buchheim, Robert W

2007-01-01

... in the space environment, rocket vehicles, propulsion systems, propellants, internal power sources, structures and materials, flight path and orientation control, guidance, communication, observation...

The Standard Deviation of Launch Vehicle Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Yunis, Isam

2005-01-01

Statistical analysis is used in the development of the launch vehicle environments of acoustics, vibrations, and shock. The standard deviation of these environments is critical to accurate statistical extrema. However, often very little data exists to define the standard deviation and it is better to use a typical standard deviation than one derived from a few measurements. This paper uses Space Shuttle and expendable launch vehicle flight data to define a typical standard deviation for acoustics and vibrations. The results suggest that 3dB is a conservative and reasonable standard deviation for the source environment and the payload environment.

Hot Gas TVC For Planetary Ascent Vehicle, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — A Mars ascent vehicle (MAV) uses solid rocket motors to propel soil samples into orbit, but the motors cannot provide steering. Flexseal TVC control is planned for...

Hot Gas TVC For Planetary Ascent Vehicle, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — A Mars ascent vehicle (MAV) uses solid rocket motors to propel soil samples into orbit, but the motors cannot provide steering. Cold gas thrusters are used for...

NASDA and the Space Industry in Japan

Science.gov (United States)

Takamatsu, Hideo

2002-01-01

With over 30 years of history in space activities, Japan is now recognized as one of space powers in the world. Compared to other countries though, the features of Japanese space development are unique in several aspects. At first, its efforts are directed solely toward peaceful purposes and strictly separated from military uses. Secondly, there are many space related governmental agencies and institutes which are under supervision of different ministries. Thirdly, although the government budget is moderate and sales revenue of space industries is not so large, many large companies in aerospace or electronics industries see the importance of this business and compete each other mainly in the domestic market. NASDA, founded in 1969, is the largest governmental space organization and has played an important role in realizing practical applications of space activities. It has rapidly caught up the technology gap behind leading countries and has achieved remarkable successes with its own launch vehicles and satellites. Space industries, under the guidance of NASDA, have learned much from the U.S. companies and improved their technology levels and enjoyed steady growth during the early stage of Japanese space development. But before they became competitive enough in the world space business, the trade conflict between Japan and the U.S. made the procurement of Japanese non-R&D satellites open to the foreign satellite companies. Furthermore, interruptions of space activities due to recent successive failures of launch vehicles as well as Japanese economic slump have made space industries face hard situations. Under these circumstances, M&A of launch vehicle companies as well as satellite makers took place for the first time in Japanese aero-space history. Also at the government level, reorganization of space agencies is now under process. It is expected as a natural consequence of the merge of the Ministry of Education and the Science an Technology Agency, three space

Approximate Pressure Distribution in an Accelerating Launch-Vehicle Fuel Tank

Science.gov (United States)

Nemeth, Michael P.

2010-01-01

A detailed derivation of the equations governing the pressure in a generic liquid-fuel launch vehicle tank subjected to uniformly accelerated motion is presented. The equations obtained are then for the Space Shuttle Superlightweight Liquid-Oxygen Tank at approximately 70 seconds into flight. This generic derivation is applicable to any fuel tank in the form of a surface of revolution and should be useful in the design of future launch vehicles

Large size space construction for space exploitation

Science.gov (United States)

Kondyurin, Alexey

2016-07-01

Space exploitation is impossible without large space structures. We need to make sufficient large volume of pressurized protecting frames for crew, passengers, space processing equipment, & etc. We have to be unlimited in space. Now the size and mass of space constructions are limited by possibility of a launch vehicle. It limits our future in exploitation of space by humans and in development of space industry. Large-size space construction can be made with using of the curing technology of the fibers-filled composites and a reactionable matrix applied directly in free space. For curing the fabric impregnated with a liquid matrix (prepreg) is prepared in terrestrial conditions and shipped in a container to orbit. In due time the prepreg is unfolded by inflating. After polymerization reaction, the durable construction can be fitted out with air, apparatus and life support systems. Our experimental studies of the curing processes in the simulated free space environment showed that the curing of composite in free space is possible. The large-size space construction can be developed. A project of space station, Moon base, Mars base, mining station, interplanet space ship, telecommunication station, space observatory, space factory, antenna dish, radiation shield, solar sail is proposed and overviewed. The study was supported by Humboldt Foundation, ESA (contract 17083/03/NL/SFe), NASA program of the stratospheric balloons and RFBR grants (05-08-18277, 12-08-00970 and 14-08-96011).

ELECTROMAGNETIC BIOSPHERE POLLUTION BY MOTOR TRANSPORT (VEHICLES, ELECTRIC VEHICLES, HYBRID VEHICLES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Selivanov

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The physics of the electromagnetic field is considered. The analysis of electromagnetic radiation on the human-being, the origin of which is the vehicle the electric vehicle, the hybrid vehicle is being considered. The monitoring of electromagnetic radiation of vehicles is carried out.

Hybrid Computational Model for High-Altitude Aeroassist Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — A hybrid continuum/noncontinuum computational model will be developed for analyzing the aerodynamics and heating on aeroassist vehicles. Unique features of this...

A Simulation Base Investigation of High Latency Space Systems Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zu Qun; Crues, Edwin Z.; Bielski, Paul; Moore, Michael

2017-01-01

NASA's human space program has developed considerable experience with near Earth space operations. Although NASA has experience with deep space robotic missions, NASA has little substantive experience with human deep space operations. Even in the Apollo program, the missions lasted only a few weeks and the communication latencies were on the order of seconds. Human missions beyond the relatively close confines of the Earth-Moon system will involve missions with durations measured in months and communications latencies measured in minutes. To minimize crew risk and to maximize mission success, NASA needs to develop a better understanding of the implications of these types of mission durations and communication latencies on vehicle design, mission design and flight controller interaction with the crew. To begin to address these needs, NASA performed a study using a physics-based subsystem simulation to investigate the interactions between spacecraft crew and a ground-based mission control center for vehicle subsystem operations across long communication delays. The simulation, built with a subsystem modeling tool developed at NASA's Johnson Space Center, models the life support system of a Mars transit vehicle. The simulation contains models of the cabin atmosphere and pressure control system, electrical power system, drinking and waste water systems, internal and external thermal control systems, and crew metabolic functions. The simulation has three interfaces: 1) a real-time crew interface that can be use to monitor and control the vehicle subsystems; 2) a mission control center interface with data transport delays up to 15 minutes each way; 3) a real-time simulation test conductor interface that can be use to insert subsystem malfunctions and observe the interactions between the crew, ground, and simulated vehicle. The study was conducted at the 21st NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission between July 18th and Aug 3rd of year 2016. The NEEMO

Complex Decision-Making Applications for the NASA Space Launch System

Science.gov (United States)

Lyles, Garry; Flores, Tim; Hundley, Jason; Feldman, Stuart; Monk, Timothy

2012-01-01

The Space Shuttle program is ending and elements of the Constellation Program are either being cancelled or transitioned to new NASA exploration endeavors. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has worked diligently to select an optimum configuration for the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy lift vehicle that will provide the foundation for future beyond low earth orbit (LEO) large-scale missions for the next several decades. Thus, multiple questions must be addressed: Which heavy lift vehicle will best allow the agency to achieve mission objectives in the most affordable and reliable manner? Which heavy lift vehicle will allow for a sufficiently flexible exploration campaign of the solar system? Which heavy lift vehicle configuration will allow for minimizing risk in design, test, build and operations? Which heavy lift vehicle configuration will be sustainable in changing political environments? Seeking to address these questions drove the development of an SLS decision-making framework. From Fall 2010 until Spring 2011, this framework was formulated, tested, fully documented, and applied to multiple SLS vehicle concepts at NASA from previous exploration architecture studies. This was a multistep process that involved performing figure of merit (FOM)-based assessments, creating Pass/Fail gates based on draft threshold requirements, performing a margin-based assessment with supporting statistical analyses, and performing sensitivity analysis on each. This paper discusses the various methods of this process that allowed for competing concepts to be compared across a variety of launch vehicle metrics. The end result was the identification of SLS launch vehicle candidates that could successfully meet the threshold requirements in support of the SLS Mission Concept Review (MCR) milestone.

Improving Conceptual Design for Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Olds, John R.

1998-01-01

This report summarizes activities performed during the second year of a three year cooperative agreement between NASA - Langley Research Center and Georgia Tech. Year 1 of the project resulted in the creation of a new Cost and Business Assessment Model (CABAM) for estimating the economic performance of advanced reusable launch vehicles including non-recurring costs, recurring costs, and revenue. The current year (second year) activities were focused on the evaluation of automated, collaborative design frameworks (computation architectures or computational frameworks) for automating the design process in advanced space vehicle design. Consistent with NASA's new thrust area in developing and understanding Intelligent Synthesis Environments (ISE), the goals of this year's research efforts were to develop and apply computer integration techniques and near-term computational frameworks for conducting advanced space vehicle design. NASA - Langley (VAB) has taken a lead role in developing a web-based computing architectures within which the designer can interact with disciplinary analysis tools through a flexible web interface. The advantages of this approach are, 1) flexible access to the designer interface through a simple web browser (e.g. Netscape Navigator), 2) ability to include existing 'legacy' codes, and 3) ability to include distributed analysis tools running on remote computers. To date, VAB's internal emphasis has been on developing this test system for the planetary entry mission under the joint Integrated Design System (IDS) program with NASA - Ames and JPL. Georgia Tech's complementary goals this year were to: 1) Examine an alternate 'custom' computational architecture for the three-discipline IDS planetary entry problem to assess the advantages and disadvantages relative to the web-based approach.and 2) Develop and examine a web-based interface and framework for a typical launch vehicle design problem.

The HAL 9000 Space Operating System Real-Time Planning Engine Design and Operations Requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Stetson, Howard; Watson, Michael D.; Shaughnessy, Ray

2012-01-01

In support of future deep space manned missions, an autonomous/automated vehicle, providing crew autonomy and an autonomous response planning system, will be required due to the light time delays in communication. Vehicle capabilities as a whole must provide for tactical response to vehicle system failures and space environmental effects induced failures, for risk mitigation of permanent loss of communication with Earth, and for assured crew return capabilities. The complexity of human rated space systems and the limited crew sizes and crew skills mix drive the need for a robust autonomous capability on-board the vehicle. The HAL 9000 Space Operating System[2] designed for such missions and space craft includes the first distributed real-time planning / re-planning system. This paper will detail the software architecture of the multiple planning engine system, and the interface design for plan changes, approval and implementation that is performed autonomously. Operations scenarios will be defined for analysis of the planning engines operations and its requirements for nominal / off nominal activities. An assessment of the distributed realtime re-planning system, in the defined operations environment, will be provided as well as findings as it pertains to the vehicle, crew, and mission control requirements needed for implementation.

Accumulation patterns of proper point defects in thermo-regulating coatings based on ZnO for space vehicles under electron irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikhajlov, M.M.; Sharafutdinova, V.V.

1998-01-01

The expansion of the band of the induced absorption of zinc oxide powders and thermo-regulating coatings based on ZnO for space vehicles is carried out after the 30 keV electron irradiation. Singularities of the growth of the intensity of individual components as a function of the accelerated electron flow are studied. It is found that power and exponential dependences with one or two components are characteristic for different color centers and different thermo-regulating coatings. The kinetics of the accumulation of free electrons is characterized by the maximum value of the electron flows at which the generation of color centers on pre-radiation defects is realized by the radiolysis of the pigment lattice

Computational Tool for Aerothermal Environment Around Transatmospheric Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The goal of this Project is to develop a high-fidelity computational tool for accurate prediction of aerothermal environment on transatmospheric vehicles. This...

A customer-friendly Space Station

Science.gov (United States)

Pivirotto, D. S.

1984-01-01

This paper discusses the relationship of customers to the Space Station Program currently being defined by NASA. Emphasis is on definition of the Program such that the Space Station will be conducive to use by customers, that is by people who utilize the services provided by the Space Station and its associated platforms and vehicles. Potential types of customers are identified. Scenarios are developed for ways in which different types of customers can utilize the Space Station. Both management and technical issues involved in making the Station 'customer friendly' are discussed.

NASA Space Environments Technical Discipline Team Space Weather Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Minow, J. I.; Nicholas, A. C.; Parker, L. N.; Xapsos, M.; Walker, P. W.; Stauffer, C.

2017-12-01

The Space Environment Technical Discipline Team (TDT) is a technical organization led by NASA's Technical Fellow for Space Environments that supports NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer through the NASA Engineering and Safety Center. The Space Environments TDT conducts independent technical assessments related to the space environment and space weather impacts on spacecraft for NASA programs and provides technical expertise to NASA management and programs where required. This presentation will highlight the status of applied space weather activities within the Space Environment TDT that support development of operational space weather applications and a better understanding of the impacts of space weather on space systems. We will first discuss a tool that has been developed for evaluating space weather launch constraints that are used to protect launch vehicles from hazardous space weather. We then describe an effort to better characterize three-dimensional radiation transport for CubeSat spacecraft and processing of micro-dosimeter data from the International Space Station which the team plans to make available to the space science community. Finally, we will conclude with a quick description of an effort to maintain access to the real-time solar wind data provided by the Advanced Composition Explorer satellite at the Sun-Earth L1 point.

Finite Element Multidisciplinary Optimization Simulation of Flight Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed effort is concerned with the development of a novel optimization scheme and computer software for the effective design of advanced aerospace vehicles....

A Space-Time Network-Based Modeling Framework for Dynamic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Routing in Traffic Incident Monitoring Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jisheng Zhang

2015-06-01

Full Text Available It is essential for transportation management centers to equip and manage a network of fixed and mobile sensors in order to quickly detect traffic incidents and further monitor the related impact areas, especially for high-impact accidents with dramatic traffic congestion propagation. As emerging small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs start to have a more flexible regulation environment, it is critically important to fully explore the potential for of using UAVs for monitoring recurring and non-recurring traffic conditions and special events on transportation networks. This paper presents a space-time network- based modeling framework for integrated fixed and mobile sensor networks, in order to provide a rapid and systematic road traffic monitoring mechanism. By constructing a discretized space-time network to characterize not only the speed for UAVs but also the time-sensitive impact areas of traffic congestion, we formulate the problem as a linear integer programming model to minimize the detection delay cost and operational cost, subject to feasible flying route constraints. A Lagrangian relaxation solution framework is developed to decompose the original complex problem into a series of computationally efficient time-dependent and least cost path finding sub-problems. Several examples are used to demonstrate the results of proposed models in UAVs’ route planning for small and medium-scale networks.

MSFC Advanced Concepts Office and the Iterative Launch Vehicle Concept Method

Science.gov (United States)

Creech, Dennis

2011-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the work of the Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) with particular emphasis on the method used to model launch vehicles using INTegrated ROcket Sizing (INTROS), a modeling system that assists in establishing the launch concept design, and stage sizing, and facilitates the integration of exterior analytic efforts, vehicle architecture studies, and technology and system trades and parameter sensitivities.

Central Vehicle Dynamics Control of the Robotic Research Platform ROboMObil

OpenAIRE

Bünte, Tilman; Ho, Lok Man; Satzger, Clemens; Brembeck, Jonathan

2014-01-01

The ROboMObil is DLR’s space-robotics driven by-wire electro-mobile research platform for mechatronic actuators, vehicle dynamics control, human machine interfaces, and autonomous driving (DLR = German Aerospace Center). Due to its four highly integrated identical Wheel Robots it exhibits an extraordinary manoeuvrability even allowing for driving sideward or rotating on the spot. Topics related to vehicle dynamics control are addressed in this article.

Retrofits Convert Gas Vehicles into Hybrids

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Successful space missions can rarely be attributed to a single thing. Rather, they are the result of a system of systems: integrated elements functioning effectively in their individual roles and together with related components, then those systems interacting with and supporting other systems to form a collaborative whole - from the spacecraft itself to the engineering and research teams that design and build it. An example is found in spacecraft power systems. Unlike a gas-powered car or a battery-powered laptop, most spacecraft are powered by multiple energy sources - such as photovoltaic panels, fuel cells, and batteries - working in tandem to ensure the spacecraft functions throughout the course of a mission. As with any system, the appropriate combination of elements and the method of their management are key to high performance and efficiency. One initiative at Glenn Research Center, the Hybrid Power Management (HPM) program, focused on joining new and mature technologies for optimal power systems applications in space and on Earth, with the goal not only to develop ultra-efficient space power systems, but to advance HPM to address global energy issues. The HPM program emerged from Glenn s long history of electric vehicle research dating back to the 1970s, including the NASA Hybrid Electric Transit Bus (HETB) project in the 1990s, which was the largest vehicle to use supercapacitor energy storage.

The Role of Guidance, Navigation, and Control in Hypersonic Vehicle Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Ouzts, Peter J.; Soloway, Donald I.; Moerder, Daniel D.; Wolpert, David H.; Benavides, Jose Victor

2009-01-01

Airbreathing hypersonic systems offer distinct performance advantages over rocket-based systems for space access vehicles. However, these performance advantages are dependent upon advances in current state-of-the-art technologies in many areas such as ram/scramjet propulsion integration, high temperature materials, aero-elastic structures, thermal protection systems, transition to hypersonics and hypersonic control elements within the framework of complex physics and new design methods. The complex interactions between elements of an airbreathing hypersonic vehicle represent a new paradigm in vehicle design to achieve the optimal performance necessary to meet space access mission objectives. In the past, guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) analysis often follows completion of the vehicle conceptual design process. Individual component groups design subsystems which are then integrated into a vehicle configuration. GNC is presented the task of developing control approaches to meet vehicle performance objectives given that configuration. This approach may be sufficient for vehicles where significant performance margins exist. However, for higher performance vehicles engaging the GNC discipline too late in the design cycle has been costly. For example, the X-29 experimental flight vehicle was built as a technology demonstrator. One of the many technologies to be demonstrated was the use of light-weight material composites for structural components. The use of light-weight materials increased the flexibility of the X- 29 beyond that of conventional metal alloy constructed aircraft. This effect was not considered when the vehicle control system was designed and built. The impact of this is that the control system did not have enough control authority to compensate for the effects of the first fundamental structural mode of the vehicle. As a result, the resulting pitch rate response of the vehicle was below specification and no post-design changes could recover the

State Machine Modeling of the Space Launch System Solid Rocket Boosters

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Joshua A.; Patterson-Hine, Ann

2013-01-01

The Space Launch System is a Shuttle-derived heavy-lift vehicle currently in development to serve as NASA's premiere launch vehicle for space exploration. The Space Launch System is a multistage rocket with two Solid Rocket Boosters and multiple payloads, including the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. Planned Space Launch System destinations include near-Earth asteroids, the Moon, Mars, and Lagrange points. The Space Launch System is a complex system with many subsystems, requiring considerable systems engineering and integration. To this end, state machine analysis offers a method to support engineering and operational e orts, identify and avert undesirable or potentially hazardous system states, and evaluate system requirements. Finite State Machines model a system as a finite number of states, with transitions between states controlled by state-based and event-based logic. State machines are a useful tool for understanding complex system behaviors and evaluating "what-if" scenarios. This work contributes to a state machine model of the Space Launch System developed at NASA Ames Research Center. The Space Launch System Solid Rocket Booster avionics and ignition subsystems are modeled using MATLAB/Stateflow software. This model is integrated into a larger model of Space Launch System avionics used for verification and validation of Space Launch System operating procedures and design requirements. This includes testing both nominal and o -nominal system states and command sequences.

Requirements and approach for a space tourism launch system

Science.gov (United States)

Penn, Jay P.; Lindley, Charles A.

2003-01-01

Market surveys suggest that a viable space tourism industry will require flight rates about two orders of magnitude higher than those required for conventional spacelift. Although enabling round-trip cost goals for a viable space tourism business are about 240/pound (529/kg), or 72,000/passenger round-trip, goals should be about 50/pound (110/kg) or approximately 15,000 for a typical passenger and baggage. The lower price will probably open space tourism to the general population. Vehicle reliabilities must approach those of commercial aircraft as closely as possible. This paper addresses the development of spaceplanes optimized for the ultra-high flight rate and high reliability demands of the space tourism mission. It addresses the fundamental operability, reliability, and cost drivers needed to satisfy this mission need. Figures of merit similar to those used to evaluate the economic viability of conventional commercial aircraft are developed, including items such as payload/vehicle dry weight, turnaround time, propellant cost per passenger, and insurance and depreciation costs, which show that infrastructure can be developed for a viable space tourism industry. A reference spaceplane design optimized for space tourism is described. Subsystem allocations for reliability, operability, and costs are made and a route to developing such a capability is discussed. The vehicle's ability to satisfy the traditional spacelift market is also shown.

Hybrid Computational Model for High-Altitude Aeroassist Vehicles, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed effort addresses a need for accurate computational models to support aeroassist and entry vehicle system design over a broad range of flight conditions...

Active and semi-active control of suspension systems for commercial vehicles based on preview

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kok, J.J.; van Heck, J.G.A.M.; Muijderman, J.H.E.A.; Veldpaus, F.E.

1997-01-01

The performance of a vehicle axle/wheel suspension system is primarily determined by the comfort of the occupants, the required working space, the handling properties and, for commercial vehicles in particular, the dynamic tire forces and the load on the chassis components and on the cargo. General

Hyper-X Research Vehicle - Artist Concept in Flight

Science.gov (United States)

1997-01-01

An artist's conception of the X-43A Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, or 'Hyper-X' in flight. The X-43A was developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic vehicles will

IVHM Framework for Intelligent Integration for Vehicle Health Management

Science.gov (United States)

Paris, Deidre; Trevino, Luis C.; Watson, Michael D.

2005-01-01

Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) systems for aerospace vehicles, is the process of assessing, preserving, and restoring system functionality across flight and techniques with sensor and communication technologies for spacecraft that can generate responses through detection, diagnosis, reasoning, and adapt to system faults in support of Integrated Intelligent Vehicle Management (IIVM). These real-time responses allow the IIVM to modify the affected vehicle subsystem(s) prior to a catastrophic event. Furthermore, this framework integrates technologies which can provide a continuous, intelligent, and adaptive health state of a vehicle and use this information to improve safety and reduce costs of operations. Recent investments in avionics, health management, and controls have been directed towards IIVM. As this concept has matured, it has become clear that IIVM requires the same sensors and processing capabilities as the real-time avionics functions to support diagnosis of subsystem problems. New sensors have been proposed, in addition to augment the avionics sensors to support better system monitoring and diagnostics. As the designs have been considered, a synergy has been realized where the real-time avionics can utilize sensors proposed for diagnostics and prognostics to make better real-time decisions in response to detected failures. IIVM provides for a single system allowing modularity of functions and hardware across the vehicle. The framework that supports IIVM consists of 11 major on-board functions necessary to fully manage a space vehicle maintaining crew safety and mission objectives. These systems include the following: Guidance and Navigation; Communications and Tracking; Vehicle Monitoring; Information Transport and Integration; Vehicle Diagnostics; Vehicle Prognostics; Vehicle Mission Planning, Automated Repair and Replacement; Vehicle Control; Human Computer Interface; and Onboard Verification and Validation. Furthermore, the presented

A hybrid metaheuristic for the time-dependent vehicle routing problem with hard time windows

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Rincon-Garcia

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This article paper presents a hybrid metaheuristic algorithm to solve the time-dependent vehicle routing problem with hard time windows. Time-dependent travel times are influenced by different congestion levels experienced throughout the day. Vehicle scheduling without consideration of congestion might lead to underestimation of travel times and consequently missed deliveries. The algorithm presented in this paper makes use of Large Neighbourhood Search approaches and Variable Neighbourhood Search techniques to guide the search. A first stage is specifically designed to reduce the number of vehicles required in a search space by the reduction of penalties generated by time-window violations with Large Neighbourhood Search procedures. A second stage minimises the travel distance and travel time in an ‘always feasible’ search space. Comparison of results with available test instances shows that the proposed algorithm is capable of obtaining a reduction in the number of vehicles (4.15%, travel distance (10.88% and travel time (12.00% compared to previous implementations in reasonable time.

Structural weights analysis of advanced aerospace vehicles using finite element analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bush, Lance B.; Lentz, Christopher A.; Rehder, John J.; Naftel, J. Chris; Cerro, Jeffrey A.

1989-01-01

A conceptual/preliminary level structural design system has been developed for structural integrity analysis and weight estimation of advanced space transportation vehicles. The system includes a three-dimensional interactive geometry modeler, a finite element pre- and post-processor, a finite element analyzer, and a structural sizing program. Inputs to the system include the geometry, surface temperature, material constants, construction methods, and aerodynamic and inertial loads. The results are a sized vehicle structure capable of withstanding the static loads incurred during assembly, transportation, operations, and missions, and a corresponding structural weight. An analysis of the Space Shuttle external tank is included in this paper as a validation and benchmark case of the system.

Vision-based control in driving assistance of agricultural vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khadraoui, D.; Martinet, P.; Bonton, P.; Gallice, J. [Univ. Blaise Pascal, Aubiere (France). Lab. des Sciences et Materiaux pour l`Electronique et d`Automatique; Debain, C. [Inst. de Recherche pour l`Ingenierie de l`Agriculture et de l`Environment, Montoldre (France). Div. Techniques du Machinisme Agricole; Rouveure, R. [Inst. de Recherche pour l`Ingenierie de l`Agriculture et de l`Environment, Antony (France). Div. Electronique et Intelligence Artificielle

1998-10-01

This article presents a real-time control system for an agricultural mobile machine (vehicle) based on an on-board vision system using a single camera. This system has been designed to help humans in repetitive and difficult tasks in the agricultural domain. The aim of the robotics application concerns the control of the vehicle with regard to the reap limit detected in image space. The perception aspect in relation to the application has been described in previous work, and here the authors deal with the control aspect. They integrate image features issues from the modeling of the scene in the control loop to perform an image-based servoing technique. The vehicle behavior described here concerns bicycle and neural models, and three control laws are then synthesized. The first and the second are modeling approaches and use an interaction between the scene and the image space. They are based on the regulation of a task function. The third is a black-box modeling technique, and is based on a neural network. Finally, experimental results obtained with these different control laws in different conditions are presented and discussed.

Accelerated Lane-Changing Trajectory Planning of Automated Vehicles with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Collaboration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haijian Bai

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Considering the complexity of lane changing using automated vehicles and the frequency of turning lanes in city settings, this paper aims to generate an accelerated lane-changing trajectory using vehicle-to-vehicle collaboration (V2VC. Based on the characteristics of accelerated lane changing, we used a polynomial method and cooperative strategies for trajectory planning to establish a lane-changing model under different degrees of collaboration with the following vehicle in the target lane by considering vehicle kinematics and comfort requirements. Furthermore, considering the shortcomings of the traditional elliptical vehicle and round vehicle models, we established a rectangular vehicle model with collision boundary conditions by analysing the relationships between the possible collision points and the outline of the vehicle. Then, we established a simulation model for the accelerated lane-changing process in different environments under different degrees of collaboration. The results show that, by using V2VC, we can achieve safe accelerated lane-changing trajectories and simultaneously satisfy the requirements of vehicle kinematics and comfort control.

Z-1 Prototype Space Suit Testing Summary

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Amy

2013-01-01

The Advanced Space Suit team of the NASA-Johnson Space Center performed a series of test with the Z-1 prototype space suit in 2012. This paper discusses, at a summary level, the tests performed and results from those tests. The purpose of the tests were two-fold: 1) characterize the suit performance so that the data could be used in the downselection of components for the Z-2 Space Suit and 2) develop interfaces with the suitport and exploration vehicles through pressurized suit evaluations. Tests performed included isolated and functional range of motion data capture, Z-1 waist and hip testing, joint torque testing, CO2 washout testing, fit checks and subject familiarizations, an exploration vehicle aft deck and suitport controls interface evaluation, delta pressure suitport tests including pressurized suit don and doff, and gross mobility and suitport ingress and egress demonstrations in reduced gravity. Lessons learned specific to the Z-1 prototype and to suit testing techniques will be presented.

Commercial Space Travel, Ethics and Society

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, N. L. J.

2002-01-01

For the past two decades interest in the possibilities of commercial (manned) space travel or space tourism has increased among engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and also citizens. A continuously growing collection of papers is being published on space tourism itself and associated subjects, like new reusable launch vehicles, space habitats, space entertainment and corresponding law and regulation. Market research promises sufficient interest in tourist space travel to take off and develop into a multi billion-dollar business. The basic engineering knowledge and expertise is available to start development and designing of safe and affordable reusable vertical lift off and landing vehicles, like the Kankoh-Maru. However, many issues remain fairly untouched in literature. These include, for example, regulations, law, international agreement on space traffic control and also insurance policy. One important topic however has been barely touched upon. This concerns the ethical issues in commercial (manned) space travel, which need to be considered thoroughly, preferably before actual take off of the first regular space tourist services. The answer to the latter question comprises the major part of the paper. First, the paper deals with the issue of who wants, needs and will go to space at what stage in the development of the space tourism industry. A schematic pyramid differentiating between several community groups is made. Secondly, it discusses the way we can and should deal with our environment. Space is still fairly unspoiled, although there is a lot of (government) debris out there. Rules of the space tourist game need to be established. A few general directions are presented, for example on debris cleaning and garbage disposal. Also our right to exploit the asteroids and the moon for material is discussed. In the last part of this paper, the risks involved with the harsh environment of space are considered. Is it safe and responsible to eject people into outer

Reusable launch vehicle facts and fantasies

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Marshall H.

2002-01-01

Many people refuse to address many of the realities of reusable launch vehicle systems, technologies, operations and economics. Basic principles of physics, space flight operations, and business limitations are applied to the creation of a practical vision of future expectations. While reusable launcher concepts have been proposed for several decades, serious review of potential designs began in the mid-1990s, when NASA decided that a Space Shuttle replacement had to be pursued. A great deal of excitement and interest was quickly generated by the prospect of ``orders-of-magnitude'' reduction in launch costs. The potential for a vastly expanded space program motivated the entire space community. By the late-1990s, and after over one billion dollars were spent on the technology development and privately-funded concepts, it had become clear that there would be no new, near-term operational reusable vehicle. Many factors contributed to a very expensive and disappointing effort to create a new generation of launch vehicles. It began with overly optimistic projections of technology advancements and the belief that a greatly increased demand for satellite launches would be realized early in the 21st century. Contractors contributed to the perception of quickly reachable technology and business goals, thus, accelerating the enthusiasm and helping to create a ``gold rush'' euphoria. Cost, schedule and performance margins were all highly optimistic. Several entrepreneurs launched start up companies to take advantage of the excitement and the availability of investor capital. Millions were raised from private investors and venture capitalists, based on little more than flashy presentations and animations. Well over $500 million were raised by little-known start up groups to create reusable systems, which might complete for the coming market in launch services. By 1999, it was clear that market projections, made just two years earlier, were not going to be realized. Investors

Terrestrial Environment (Climatic) Criteria Guidelines for use in Aerospace Vehicle Development. 2008 Revision

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, D. L. (Editor)

2008-01-01

This document provides guidelines for the terrestrial environment that are specifically applicable in the development of design requirements/specifications for NASA aerospace vehicles, payloads, and associated ground support equipment. The primary geographic areas encompassed are the John F. Kennedy Space Center, FL; Vandenberg AFB, CA; Edwards AFB, CA; Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, LA; John C. Stennis Space Center, MS; Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX; George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL; and the White Sands Missile Range, NM. This document presents the latest available information on the terrestrial environment applicable to the design and operations of aerospace vehicles and supersedes information presented in NASA-HDBK-1001 and TM X-64589, TM X-64757, TM-78118, TM-82473, and TM-4511. Information is included on winds, atmospheric thermodynamic models, radiation, humidity, precipitation, severe weather, sea state, lightning, atmospheric chemistry, seismic criteria, and a model to predict atmospheric dispersion of aerospace engine exhaust cloud rise and growth. In addition, a section has been included to provide information on the general distribution of natural environmental extremes in the conterminous United States, and world-wide, that may be needed to specify design criteria in the transportation of space vehicle subsystems and components. A section on atmospheric attenuation has been added since measurements by sensors on certain Earth orbital experiment missions are influenced by the Earth s atmosphere. There is also a section on mission analysis, prelaunch monitoring, and flight evaluation as related to the terrestrial environment inputs. The information in these guidelines is recommended for use in the development of aerospace vehicle and related equipment design and associated operational criteria, unless otherwise stated in contract work specifications. The terrestrial environmental data in these guidelines are

Stability Analysis of a Predecessor-Following Platoon of Vehicles With Two Time Delays

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Ghasemi

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The problem of controlling a platoon of vehicles moving in one dimension is considered so that they all follow a lead vehicle with constant spacing between successive vehicles. The stability and the string stability of a platoon of vehicles with two independent and uncertain delays, one in the inter-vehicle distance and the other in the relative velocity information channels, are considered. The main objectives of this paper are: (1 using a simplifying factorization procedure and deploying the cluster treatment of characteristic roots (CTCR paradigm to obtain exact stability boundaries in the domain of the delays, and (2 for the purpose of disturbance attenuation, the string stability analysis is examined. Finally, a simulation example of multiple vehicle platoon control is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The Cost-Optimal Size of Future Reusable Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Koelle, D. E.

2000-07-01

The paper answers the question, what is the optimum vehicle size — in terms of LEO payload capability — for a future reusable launch vehicle ? It is shown that there exists an optimum vehicle size that results in minimum specific transportation cost. The optimum vehicle size depends on the total annual cargo mass (LEO equivalent) enviseaged, which defines at the same time the optimum number of launches per year (LpA). Based on the TRANSCOST-Model algorithms a wide range of vehicle sizes — from 20 to 100 Mg payload in LEO, as well as launch rates — from 2 to 100 per year — have been investigated. It is shown in a design chart how much the vehicle size as well as the launch rate are influencing the specific transportation cost (in MYr/Mg and USS/kg). The comparison with actual ELVs (Expendable Launch Vehicles) and Semi-Reusable Vehicles (a combination of a reusable first stage with an expendable second stage) shows that there exists only one economic solution for an essential reduction of space transportation cost: the Fully Reusable Vehicle Concept, with rocket propulsion and vertical take-off. The Single-stage Configuration (SSTO) has the best economic potential; its feasibility is not only a matter of technology level but also of the vehicle size as such. Increasing the vehicle size (launch mass) reduces the technology requirements because the law of scale provides a better mass fraction and payload fraction — practically at no cost. The optimum vehicle design (after specification of the payload capability) requires a trade-off between lightweight (and more expensive) technology vs. more conventional (and cheaper) technology. It is shown that the the use of more conventional technology and accepting a somewhat larger vehicle is the more cost-effective and less risky approach.

Flight Testing of Wireless Networking for Nanosat Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The innovation proposed here addresses the testing and evaluation of wireless networking technologies for small launch vehicles by leveraging existing nanosat launch...

Computational Modeling of Flow Control Systems for Aerospace Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Clear Science Corp. proposes to develop computational methods for designing active flow control systems on aerospace vehicles with the primary objective of...

A New Approach to Uncertainty Reduction in Launch Vehicle Compartment Venting

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Launch vehicle compartments are vented to the external environment during ascent to minimize undesirable structural loading. Prediction of venting performance is an...

Current Hypersonic and Space Vehicle Flight Test and Instrumentation

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-22

ground station hardware and software. B. Space- based Platforms There are already in place several satellite based options to collecting and... Transceive data over very long range at low to very high altitudes DARPA: XS-1 Ground Based Aircraft Based Space Based Future Data...412TW-PA-15264 AIR FORCE TEST CENTER EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE , CALIFORNIA AIR FORCE MATERIEL COMMAND UNITED STATES AIR FORCE REPORT

Bringing Gravity to Space

Science.gov (United States)

Norsk, P.; Shelhamer, M.

2016-01-01

This panel will present NASA's plans for ongoing and future research to define the requirements for Artificial Gravity (AG) as a countermeasure against the negative health effects of long-duration weightlessness. AG could mitigate the gravity-sensitive effects of spaceflight across a host of physiological systems. Bringing gravity to space could mitigate the sensorimotor and neuro-vestibular disturbances induced by G-transitions upon reaching a planetary body, and the cardiovascular deconditioning and musculoskeletal weakness induced by weightlessness. Of particular interest for AG during deep-space missions is mitigation of the Visual Impairment Intracranial Pressure (VIIP) syndrome that the majority of astronauts exhibit in space to varying degrees, and which presumably is associated with weightlessness-induced fluid shift from lower to upper body segments. AG could be very effective for reversing the fluid shift and thus help prevent VIIP. The first presentation by Dr. Charles will summarize some of the ground-based and (very little) space-based research that has been conducted on AG by the various space programs. Dr. Paloski will address the use of AG during deep-space exploration-class missions and describe the different AG scenarios such as intra-vehicular, part-of-vehicle, or whole-vehicle centrifugations. Dr. Clement will discuss currently planned NASA research as well as how to coordinate future activities among NASA's international partners. Dr. Barr will describe some possible future plans for using space- and ground-based partial-G analogs to define the relationship between physiological responses and G levels between 0 and 1. Finally, Dr. Stenger will summarize how the human cardiovascular system could benefit from intermittent short-radius centrifugations during long-duration missions.

Vertical dynamics of the Maglev vehicle Transrapid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haegele, Nora; Dignath, Florian

2009-01-01

The Maglev vehicle Transrapid is levitated by magnetic forces which pull the vehicles levitation frames toward the guideway from below. The magnets possess poles with alternating fluxes which are part of the synchronous long stator linear motor. Although the Transrapid glides along its guideway without mechanical contact, this alternation as well as the loading and unloading of the guideway girders excite vibrations of the ground. In order to calculate the time behavior of the vibrational emissions, a simulation of the transfer of a Transrapid vehicle over several guideway girders is proposed. The equations of motion for the vehicle and the girders are calculated separately by the MBS software NEWEUL and assembled and numerically integrated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The control law for the magnet forces is simplified by the characteristics of linear spring-damper elements. The controlled magnet forces travel along the guideway continuously and include the dynamic component due to the alternating fluxes and the geometry of the poles and stator. Results of a complete vehicle moving along a guideway consisting of several girders can be obtained within a few minutes of computation time. Therefore, the mechanism of excitations can be analyzed by numerical time integration in the full state space. The results are validated by measurements of the forces in the joints of the guideway girders. The vibrational emission along the Transrapid guideway differs from the vibrations of contact-afflicted vehicles as no impacts and fewer stochastic effects occur

Vertical dynamics of the Maglev vehicle Transrapid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haegele, Nora [University of Stuttgart, Institute of Engineering and Computational Mechanics (Germany)], E-mail: Nora.Haegele@gmx.de; Dignath, Florian [ThyssenKrupp Transrapid, Basic Technologies (Germany)], E-mail: Florian.Dignath@ThyssenKrupp.com

2009-04-15

The Maglev vehicle Transrapid is levitated by magnetic forces which pull the vehicles levitation frames toward the guideway from below. The magnets possess poles with alternating fluxes which are part of the synchronous long stator linear motor. Although the Transrapid glides along its guideway without mechanical contact, this alternation as well as the loading and unloading of the guideway girders excite vibrations of the ground. In order to calculate the time behavior of the vibrational emissions, a simulation of the transfer of a Transrapid vehicle over several guideway girders is proposed. The equations of motion for the vehicle and the girders are calculated separately by the MBS software NEWEUL and assembled and numerically integrated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The control law for the magnet forces is simplified by the characteristics of linear spring-damper elements. The controlled magnet forces travel along the guideway continuously and include the dynamic component due to the alternating fluxes and the geometry of the poles and stator. Results of a complete vehicle moving along a guideway consisting of several girders can be obtained within a few minutes of computation time. Therefore, the mechanism of excitations can be analyzed by numerical time integration in the full state space. The results are validated by measurements of the forces in the joints of the guideway girders. The vibrational emission along the Transrapid guideway differs from the vibrations of contact-afflicted vehicles as no impacts and fewer stochastic effects occur.

Fuzzy logic control of vehicle suspensions with dry friction nonlinearity

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Fuzzy logic control; active vehicle suspension; suspension space. 1. ... surface unevenness, stability and directional control during handling ..... Burton A W, Truscott A J, Wellstead P E 1995 Analysis, modeling and control of an advanced.

Ares-I-X Vehicle Preliminary Range Safety Malfunction Turn Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Beaty, James R.; Starr, Brett R.; Gowan, John W., Jr.

2008-01-01

Ares-I-X is the designation given to the flight test version of the Ares-I rocket (also known as the Crew Launch Vehicle - CLV) being developed by NASA. As part of the preliminary flight plan approval process for the test vehicle, a range safety malfunction turn analysis was performed to support the launch area risk assessment and vehicle destruct criteria development processes. Several vehicle failure scenarios were identified which could cause the vehicle trajectory to deviate from its normal flight path, and the effects of these failures were evaluated with an Ares-I-X 6 degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) digital simulation, using the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories Version 2 (POST2) simulation framework. The Ares-I-X simulation analysis provides output files containing vehicle state information, which are used by other risk assessment and vehicle debris trajectory simulation tools to determine the risk to personnel and facilities in the vicinity of the launch area at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and to develop the vehicle destruct criteria used by the flight test range safety officer. The simulation analysis approach used for this study is described, including descriptions of the failure modes which were considered and the underlying assumptions and ground rules of the study, and preliminary results are presented, determined by analysis of the trajectory deviation of the failure cases, compared with the expected vehicle trajectory.

Effects of vehicle power on passenger vehicle speeds.

Science.gov (United States)

McCartt, Anne T; Hu, Wen

2017-07-04

During the past 2 decades, there have been large increases in mean horsepower and the mean horsepower-to-vehicle weight ratio for all types of new passenger vehicles in the United States. This study examined the relationship between travel speeds and vehicle power, defined as horsepower per 100 pounds of vehicle weight. Speed cameras measured travel speeds and photographed license plates and drivers of passenger vehicles traveling on roadways in Northern Virginia during daytime off-peak hours in spring 2013. The driver licensing agencies in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia provided vehicle information numbers (VINs) by matching license plate numbers with vehicle registration records and provided the age, gender, and ZIP code of the registered owner(s). VINs were decoded to obtain the curb weight and horsepower of vehicles. The study focused on 26,659 observed vehicles for which information on horsepower was available and the observed age and gender of drivers matched vehicle registration records. Log-linear regression estimated the effects of vehicle power on mean travel speeds, and logistic regression estimated the effects of vehicle power on the likelihood of a vehicle traveling over the speed limit and more than 10 mph over the limit. After controlling for driver characteristics, speed limit, vehicle type, and traffic volume, a 1-unit increase in vehicle power was associated with a 0.7% increase in mean speed, a 2.7% increase in the likelihood of a vehicle exceeding the speed limit by any amount, and an 11.6% increase in the likelihood of a vehicle exceeding the limit by 10 mph. All of these increases were highly significant. Speeding persists as a major factor in crashes in the United States. There are indications that travel speeds have increased in recent years. The current findings suggest the trend toward substantially more powerful vehicles may be contributing to higher speeds. Given the strong association between travel speed and crash

Multi-Mission Earth Vehicle Subsonic Dynamic Stability Testing and Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Glaab, Louis J.; Fremaux, C. Michael

2013-01-01

Multi-Mission Earth Entry Vehicles (MMEEVs) are blunt-body vehicles designed with the purpose of transporting payloads from outer space to the surface of the Earth. To achieve high-reliability and minimum weight, MMEEVs avoid use of limited-reliability systems, such as parachutes, retro-rockets, and reaction control systems and rely on the natural aerodynamic stability of the vehicle throughout the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) phase of flight. The Multi-Mission Systems Analysis for Planetary Entry (M-SAPE) parametric design tool is used to facilitate the design of MMEEVs for an array of missions and develop and visualize the trade space. Testing in NASA Langley?s Vertical Spin Tunnel (VST) was conducted to significantly improve M-SAPE?s subsonic aerodynamic models. Vehicle size and shape can be driven by entry flight path angle and speed, thermal protection system performance, terminal velocity limitations, payload mass and density, among other design parameters. The objectives of the VST testing were to define usable subsonic center of gravity limits, and aerodynamic parameters for 6-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) simulations, for a range of MMEEV designs. The range of MMEEVs tested was from 1.8m down to 1.2m diameter. A backshell extender provided the ability to test a design with a much larger payload for the 1.2m MMEEV.

Soviet Space Program Handbook.

Science.gov (United States)

1988-04-01

in advance and some events were even broadcast live. Immediately following the first success- ful launch of their new Energia space launch vehicle in...early 1988. Just as a handbook written a couple of years ago would need updating with Mir, Energia , and the SL-16, this handbook will one day need up...1986. Johnson, Nicholas L. The Soviet Year in Space 1983. Colorado Springs, CO: Teledyne Brown Engineering, 1984. Lawton, A. " Energia - Soviet Super

9 CFR 3.114 - Primary conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air and marine).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

..., rail, air and marine). 3.114 Section 3.114 Animals and Animal Products ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH... conveyances (motor vehicle, rail, air and marine). (a) The animal cargo space of primary conveyances used in.... (e) The interiors of animal cargo spaces in primary conveyances must be kept clean. (f) Live marine...

Space 2035: Technology, Transparency, and Trusted Immunity

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-17

12 Figure 2: Maglev -Assisted RLV Concepts .................................................................................. 14...reusable launch vehicles (RLVs). 12, 13 14 Figure 2: Maglev -Assisted RLV Concepts 14 By 2035, several innovative concepts for space...transportation may emerge. These include magnetically-levitated and assisted ( maglev ) RLVs; a novel Space Pier concept, which comprises a series of

Launch vehicle operations cost reduction through artificial intelligence techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Tom C., Jr.

1988-01-01

NASA's Kennedy Space Center has attempted to develop AI methods in order to reduce the cost of launch vehicle ground operations as well as to improve the reliability and safety of such operations. Attention is presently given to cost savings estimates for systems involving launch vehicle firing-room software and hardware real-time diagnostics, as well as the nature of configuration control and the real-time autonomous diagnostics of launch-processing systems by these means. Intelligent launch decisions and intelligent weather forecasting are additional applications of AI being considered.

Partial Path Column Generation for the Vehicle Routing Problem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jepsen, Mads Kehlet; Petersen, Bjørn

This paper presents a column generation algorithm for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) and the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW). Traditionally, column generation models of the CVRP and VRPTW have consisted of a Set Partitioning master problem with each column...... of the giant tour’; a so-called partial path, i.e., not necessarily starting and ending in the depot. This way, the length of the partial path can be bounded and a better control of the size of the solution space for the pricing problem can be obtained....

NASA's Internal Space Weather Working Group

Science.gov (United States)

St. Cyr, O. C.; Guhathakurta, M.; Bell, H.; Niemeyer, L.; Allen, J.

2011-01-01

Measurements from many of NASA's scientific spacecraft are used routinely by space weather forecasters, both in the U.S. and internationally. ACE, SOHO (an ESA/NASA collaboration), STEREO, and SDO provide images and in situ measurements that are assimilated into models and cited in alerts and warnings. A number of years ago, the Space Weather laboratory was established at NASA-Goddard, along with the Community Coordinated Modeling Center. Within that organization, a space weather service center has begun issuing alerts for NASA's operational users. NASA's operational user community includes flight operations for human and robotic explorers; atmospheric drag concerns for low-Earth orbit; interplanetary navigation and communication; and the fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, high altitude aircraft, and launch vehicles. Over the past three years we have identified internal stakeholders within NASA and formed a Working Group to better coordinate their expertise and their needs. In this presentation we will describe this activity and some of the challenges in forming a diverse working group.

Occupant-vehicle dynamics and the role of the internal model

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, David J.

2018-05-01

With the increasing need to reduce time and cost of vehicle development there is increasing advantage in simulating mathematically the dynamic interaction of a vehicle and its occupant. The larger design space arising from the introduction of automated vehicles further increases the potential advantage. The aim of the paper is to outline the role of the internal model hypothesis in understanding and modelling occupant-vehicle dynamics, specifically the dynamics associated with direction and speed control of the vehicle. The internal model is the driver's or passenger's understanding of the vehicle dynamics and is thought to be employed in the perception, cognition and action processes of the brain. The internal model aids the estimation of the states of the vehicle from noisy sensory measurements. It can also be used to optimise cognitive control action by predicting the consequence of the action; thus model predictive control (MPC) theory provides a foundation for modelling the cognition process. The stretch reflex of the neuromuscular system also makes use of the prediction of the internal model. Extensions to the MPC approach are described which account for: interaction with an automated vehicle; robust control; intermittent control; and cognitive workload. Further work to extend understanding of occupant-vehicle dynamic interaction is outlined. This paper is based on a keynote presentation given by the author to the 13th International Symposium on Advanced Vehicle Control (AVEC) conference held in Munich, September 2016.

Electric vehicle equipment for grid-integrated vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kempton, Willett

2013-08-13

Methods, systems, and apparatus for interfacing an electric vehicle with an electric power grid are disclosed. An exemplary apparatus may include a station communication port for interfacing with electric vehicle station equipment (EVSE), a vehicle communication port for interfacing with a vehicle management system (VMS), and a processor coupled to the station communication port and the vehicle communication port to establish communication with the EVSE via the station communication port, receive EVSE attributes from the EVSE, and issue commands to the VMS to manage power flow between the electric vehicle and the EVSE based on the EVSE attributes. An electric vehicle may interface with the grid by establishing communication with the EVSE, receiving the EVSE attributes, and managing power flow between the EVE and the grid based on the EVSE attributes.

Airspace Simulation Through Indoor Operation of Subscale Flight Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — An indoor environment for simulating airspace operations will be designed. Highly maneuverable subscale vehicles can be used to simulate the dynamics of full-scale...

Design and Simulation Tools for Planetary Atmospheric Entry Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Atmospheric entry is one of the most critical phases of flight during planetary exploration missions. During the design of an entry vehicle, experimental and...

Advancing Autonomous Operations for Deep Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Haddock, Angie T.; Stetson, Howard K.

2014-01-01

Starting in Jan 2012, the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Autonomous Mission Operations (AMO) Project began to investigate the ability to create and execute "single button" crew initiated autonomous activities [1]. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) designed and built a fluid transfer hardware test-bed to use as a sub-system target for the investigations of intelligent procedures that would command and control a fluid transfer test-bed, would perform self-monitoring during fluid transfers, detect anomalies and faults, isolate the fault and recover the procedures function that was being executed, all without operator intervention. In addition to the development of intelligent procedures, the team is also exploring various methods for autonomous activity execution where a planned timeline of activities are executed autonomously and also the initial analysis of crew procedure development. This paper will detail the development of intelligent procedures for the NASA MSFC Autonomous Fluid Transfer System (AFTS) as well as the autonomous plan execution capabilities being investigated. Manned deep space missions, with extreme communication delays with Earth based assets, presents significant challenges for what the on-board procedure content will encompass as well as the planned execution of the procedures.

Human Space Exploration: The Moon, Mars, and Beyond

Science.gov (United States)

Sexton, Jeffrey D.

2007-01-01

America is returning to the Moon in preparation for the first human footprint on Mars, guided by the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration. This presentation will discuss NASA's mission, the reasons for returning to the Moon and going to Mars, and how NASA will accomplish that mission in ways that promote leadership in space and economic expansion on the new frontier. The primary goals of the Vision for Space Exploration are to finish the International Space Station, retire the Space Shuttle, and build the new spacecraft needed, to return people to the Moon and go to Mars. The Vision commits NASA and the nation to an agenda of exploration that also includes robotic exploration and technology development, while building on lessons learned over 50 years of hard-won experience. Why the Moon? Many questions about the Moon's potential resources and how its history is linked to that of Earth were spurred by the brief Apollo explorations of the 1960s and 1970s. This new venture will carry more explorers to more diverse landing sites with more capable tools and equipment for extended expeditions. The Moon also will serve as a training ground before embarking on the longer, more difficult trip to Mars. NASA plans to build a lunar outpost at one of the lunar poles, learn to live off the land, and reduce dePendence on Earth for longer missions. America needs to extend its ability to survive in hostile environments close to our home planet before astronauts will reach Mars, a planet very much like Earth. NASA has worked with scientists to define lunar exploration goals and is addressing the opportunities for a range of scientific study on Mars. In order to reach the Moon and Mars within a lifetime and within budget, NASA is building on common hardware, shared knowledge, and unique experience derived from the Apollo Saturn, Space Shuttle and contemporary commercial launch vehicle programs. The journeys to the Moon and Mars will require a variety of vehicles, including the Ares I

Space Launch System for Exploration and Science

Science.gov (United States)

Klaus, K.

2013-12-01

Introduction: The Space Launch System (SLS) is the most powerful rocket ever built and provides a critical heavy-lift launch capability enabling diverse deep space missions. The exploration class vehicle launches larger payloads farther in our solar system and faster than ever before. The vehicle's 5 m to 10 m fairing allows utilization of existing systems which reduces development risks, size limitations and cost. SLS lift capacity and superior performance shortens mission travel time. Enhanced capabilities enable a myriad of missions including human exploration, planetary science, astrophysics, heliophysics, planetary defense and commercial space exploration endeavors. Human Exploration: SLS is the first heavy-lift launch vehicle capable of transporting crews beyond low Earth orbit in over four decades. Its design maximizes use of common elements and heritage hardware to provide a low-risk, affordable system that meets Orion mission requirements. SLS provides a safe and sustainable deep space pathway to Mars in support of NASA's human spaceflight mission objectives. The SLS enables the launch of large gateway elements beyond the moon. Leveraging a low-energy transfer that reduces required propellant mass, components are then brought back to a desired cislunar destination. SLS provides a significant mass margin that can be used for additional consumables or a secondary payloads. SLS lowers risks for the Asteroid Retrieval Mission by reducing mission time and improving mass margin. SLS lift capacity allows for additional propellant enabling a shorter return or the delivery of a secondary payload, such as gateway component to cislunar space. SLS enables human return to the moon. The intermediate SLS capability allows both crew and cargo to fly to translunar orbit at the same time which will simplify mission design and reduce launch costs. Science Missions: A single SLS launch to Mars will enable sample collection at multiple, geographically dispersed locations and a

Measuring space radiation shielding effectiveness

OpenAIRE

Bahadori Amir; Semones Edward; Ewert Michael; Broyan James; Walker Steven

2017-01-01

Passive radiation shielding is one strategy to mitigate the problem of space radiation exposure. While space vehicles are constructed largely of aluminum, polyethylene has been demonstrated to have superior shielding characteristics for both galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events due to the high hydrogen content. A method to calculate the shielding effectiveness of a material relative to reference material from Bragg peak measurements performed using energetic heavy charged particles ...

SPACE MAINTENANCE OF NUCLEAR ROCKET PROPULSION VEHICLES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marjon, P. L.

1963-08-15

Maintenance and repair of spacecraft are discussed from the hardware viewpoint. Interior operations are rather straight forward, but study results show that space suits are not sufficient for exterior repair work. Evaluation of worker requirements leads to a maintenance capsule concept. Capsule application is depicted in contrasting situations: repair of meteoroid damage and nuclear engine replacement. Radiation shielding is also considered. (D.C.W.)

Aerospace Vehicle Design, Spacecraft Section. Final Project Reports. Volume 2; Project Groups 6-8

Science.gov (United States)

1989-01-01

Three groups of student engineers in an aerospace vehicle design course present their designs for a vehicle that can be used to resupply the Space Station Freedam and provide emergency crew return to earth capability. The vehicle's requirements include a lifetime that exceeds six years, low cost, the capability for withstanding pressurization, launch, orbit, and reentry hazards, and reliability. The vehicle's subsystems are structures, communication and command data systems, attitude and articulation control, life support and crew systems, power and propulsion, reentry and recovery systems, and mission management, planning, and costing. Special attention is given to spacecraft communications.

Optimization of vehicle weight for Mars excursion missions

Science.gov (United States)

Ferebee, Melvin J., Jr.

1991-01-01

The excursion class mission to Mars is defined as a mission with one year durations coupled with a stay time of up to 30 days. The fuel budget for such a mission is investigated. The overall figure of merit in such an assessment is the vehicle weight ratio, the ratio between the wet vehicle weight to the dry vehicle weight. It is necessary to minimize the overall fuel budget for the mission in order to maximize the benefits that could be obtained by sending humans to Mars. Assumptions used in the analysis are: each mission will depart and terminate in low-earth-orbit (LEO) (500 km circular) and the maximum stay time at Mars is 30 days. The maximum mission duration is one year (355-375 days). The mass returned to LEO is 135,000 kg, the dropoff mass left at Mars is 168,000 kg. Three propulsive techniques for atmospheric interface are investigated: aerobraking, all-chemical propulsion, and nuclear thermal propulsion. By defining the fuel requirements, the space transfer vehicle's configuration is defined.

Research Opportunities in Space Propulsion

Science.gov (United States)

Rodgers, Stephen L.

2007-01-01

Rocket propulsion determines the primary characteristics of any space vehicle; how fast and far it can go, its lifetime, and its capabilities. It is the primary factor in safety and reliability and the biggest cost driver. The extremes of heat and pressure produced by propulsion systems push the limits of materials used for manufacturing. Space travel is very unforgiving with little room for errors, and so many things can go wrong with these very complex systems. So we have to plan for failure and that makes it costly. But what is more exciting than the roar of a rocket blasting into space? By its nature the propulsion world is conservative. The stakes are so high at every launch, in terms of payload value or in human life, that to introduce new components to a working, qualified system is extremely difficult and costly. Every launch counts and no risks are tolerated, which leads to the space world's version of Catch-22:"You can't fly till you flown." The last big 'game changer' in propulsion was the use of liquid hydrogen as a fuel. No new breakthrough, low cost access to space system will be developed without new efficient propulsion systems. Because there is no large commercial market driving investment in propulsion, what propulsion research is done is sponsored by government funding agencies. A further difficulty in propulsion technology development is that there are so few new systems flying. There is little opportunity to evolve propulsion technologies and to update existing systems with results coming out of research as there is in, for example, the auto industry. The biggest hurdle to space exploration is getting off the ground. The launch phase will consume most of the energy required for any foreseeable space exploration mission. The fundamental physical energy requirements of escaping earth's gravity make it difficult. It takes 60,000 kJ to put a kilogram into an escape orbit. The vast majority (-97%) of the energy produced by a launch vehicle is used

Fuzzy-Skyhook Control for Active Suspension Systems Applied to a Full Vehicle Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aref M.A. Soliman

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, most modern vehicles are equipped with controlled suspension systems for improving the vehicle ride comfort. Therefore, this paper is concerned with a theoretical study for the ride comfort performance of the vehicle. The theoretical investigation includes a suggestion of an active suspension system controller using fuzzy-skyhook control theory, which offers new opportunities for the improvement of vehicle ride performance. The ride comfort of the active suspension system has been evaluated using a 7 degree of freedom full vehicle mathematical model. The simulation results are presented in the time and frequency domain, also in terms of RMS values, and it’s shown that the proposed active suspension system with fuzzy-skyhook control improved the vehicle ride quality in terms of body acceleration, suspension working space and dynamic tyre load in comparison with the passive and skyhook suspension systems.

Three years experience with forward-site mass casualty triage-, evacuation-, operating room-, ICU-, and radiography-enabled disaster vehicles: development of usage strategies from drills and deployments.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffiths, Jane L; Kirby, Neil R; Waterson, James A

2014-01-01

Delineation of the advantages and problems related to the use of forward-site operating room-, Intensive Care Unit (ICU)-, radiography-, and mass casualty-enabled disaster vehicles for site evacuation, patient stabilization, and triage. The vehicles discussed have six ventilated ICU spaces, two ORs, on-site radiography, 21 intermediate acuity spaces with stretchers, and 54 seated minor acuity spaces. Each space has piped oxygen with an independent vehicle-loaded supply. The vehicles are operated by the Dubai Corporate Ambulance Services. Their support hospital is the main trauma center for the Emirate of Dubai and provides the vehicles' surgical, intensivist, anesthesia, and nursing staff. The disaster vehicles have been deployed 264 times in the last 5 years (these figures do not include deployments for drills). Introducing this new service required extensive initial planning and ongoing analysis of the performance of the disaster vehicles that offer ambulance services and receiving hospitals a large array of possibilities in terms of triage, stabilization of priority I and II patients, and management of priority III patients. In both drills and in disasters, the vehicles were valuable in forward triage and stabilization and in the transport of large numbers of priority III patients. This has avoided the depletion of emergency transport available for priority I and II patients. The successful utilization of disaster vehicles requires seamless cooperation between the hospital staffing the vehicles and the ambulance service deploying them. They are particularly effective during preplanned deployments to high-risk situations. These vehicles also potentially provide self-sufficient refuges for forward teams in hostile environments.

GRYPHON: Air launched space booster

Science.gov (United States)

1993-06-01

The project chosen for the winter semester Aero 483 class was the design of a next generation Air Launched Space Booster. Based on Orbital Sciences Corporation's Pegasus concept, the goal of Aero 483 was to design a 500,000 pound air launched space booster capable of delivering 17,000 pounds of payload to Low Earth Orbit and 8,000 pounds of payload to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit. The resulting launch vehicle was named the Gryphon. The class of forty senior aerospace engineering students was broken down into eight interdependent groups. Each group was assigned a subsystem or responsibility which then became their field of specialization. Spacecraft Integration was responsible for ensuring compatibility between subsystems. This group kept up to date on subsystem redesigns and informed those parties affected by the changes, monitored the vehicle's overall weight and dimensions, and calculated the mass properties of the booster. This group also performed the cost/profitability analysis of the Gryphon and obtained cost data for competing launch systems. The Mission Analysis Group was assigned the task of determining proper orbits, calculating the vehicle's flight trajectory for those orbits, and determining the aerodynamic characteristics of the vehicle. The Propulsion Group chose the engines that were best suited to the mission. This group also set the staging configurations for those engines and designed the tanks and fuel feed system. The commercial satellite market, dimensions and weights of typical satellites, and method of deploying satellites was determined by the Payloads Group. In addition, Payloads identified possible resupply packages for Space Station Freedom and identified those packages that were compatible with the Gryphon. The guidance, navigation, and control subsystems were designed by the Mission Control Group. This group identified required tracking hardware, communications hardware telemetry systems, and ground sites for the location of the Gryphon

Automatic vehicle counting system for traffic monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Crouzil, Alain; Khoudour, Louahdi; Valiere, Paul; Truong Cong, Dung Nghy

2016-09-01

The article is dedicated to the presentation of a vision-based system for road vehicle counting and classification. The system is able to achieve counting with a very good accuracy even in difficult scenarios linked to occlusions and/or presence of shadows. The principle of the system is to use already installed cameras in road networks without any additional calibration procedure. We propose a robust segmentation algorithm that detects foreground pixels corresponding to moving vehicles. First, the approach models each pixel of the background with an adaptive Gaussian distribution. This model is coupled with a motion detection procedure, which allows correctly location of moving vehicles in space and time. The nature of trials carried out, including peak periods and various vehicle types, leads to an increase of occlusions between cars and between cars and trucks. A specific method for severe occlusion detection, based on the notion of solidity, has been carried out and tested. Furthermore, the method developed in this work is capable of managing shadows with high resolution. The related algorithm has been tested and compared to a classical method. Experimental results based on four large datasets show that our method can count and classify vehicles in real time with a high level of performance (>98%) under different environmental situations, thus performing better than the conventional inductive loop detectors.

Nonlinear analysis of vehicle control actuations based on controlled invariant sets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Németh Balázs

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In the paper, an analysis method is applied to the lateral stabilization problem of vehicle systems. The aim is to find the largest state-space region in which the lateral stability of the vehicle can be guaranteed by the peak-bounded control input. In the analysis, the nonlinear polynomial sum-of-squares programming method is applied. A practical computation technique is developed to calculate the maximum controlled invariant set of the system. The method calculates the maximum controlled invariant sets of the steering and braking control systems at various velocities and road conditions. Illustration examples show that, depending on the environments, different vehicle dynamic regions can be reached and stabilized by these controllers. The results can be applied to the theoretical basis of their interventions into the vehicle control system.

Soft Spaces as Vehicles for Neoliberal Transformations of Strategic Spatial Planning?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Kristian

focused on the lack of transparency and potential democratic deficits of contemporary spatial planning. Limited critical attention has been paid to how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped in soft spaces, and how these agendas seek to influence formal planning arenas. These questions seem...... spatial planning practices. This paper seeks to broaden the soft space debate in a European context by offering an account of the emergence of soft spaces in Danish spatial planning. The paper analyses how spatial strategy-making is carried out at the scale of two new soft spaces emerging in Danish...... spatial planning at subnational scales. In these soft spaces, the paper explores how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped, and how these agendas seek to influence formal planning arenas. The central argument running through this paper is that soft spaces in neoliberal political climates might...

Building on 50 Years of Systems Engineering Experience for a New Era of Space Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Dumbacher, Daniel L.; Lyles, Garry M.; McConnaughey, Paul K.

2008-01-01

Over the past 50 years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has delivered space transportation solutions for America's complex missions, ranging from scientific payloads that expand knowledge, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, to astronauts and lunar rovers destined for voyages to the Moon. Currently, the venerable Space Shuttle, which has been in service since 1981, provides the United States (US) capability for both crew and heavy cargo to low-Earth orbit to construct the International Space Station, before the Shuttle is retired in 2010. In the next decade, NASA will replace this system with a duo of launch vehicles: the Ares I crew launch vehicle and the Ares V cargo launch vehicle. The goals for this new system include increased safety and reliability coupled with lower operations costs that promote sustainable space exploration for decades to come. The Ares I will loft the Orion crew exploration vehicle, while the heavy-lift Ares V will carry the Altair lunar lander, as well as the equipment and supplies needed to construct a lunar outpost for a new generation of human and robotic space pioneers. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Shuttle's propulsion elements and is managing the design and development of the Ares rockets, along with a host of other engineering assignments in the field of scientific space exploration. Specifically, the Marshall Center's Engineering Directorate houses the skilled workforce and unique facilities needed to build capable systems upon the foundation laid by the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Shuttle programs. This paper will provide details of the in-house systems engineering and vehicle integration work now being performed for the Ares I and planned for the Ares V. It will give an overview of the Ares I system-level testing activities, such as the ground vibration testing that will be conducted in the Marshall Center's Dynamic Test Stand to verify the integrated vehicle stack's structural

New Opportunitie s for Small Satellite Programs Provided by the Falcon Family of Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Dinardi, A.; Bjelde, B.; Insprucker, J.

2008-08-01

The Falcon family of launch vehicles, developed by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), are designed to provide the world's lowest cost access to orbit. Highly reliable, low cost launch services offer considerable opportunities for risk reduction throughout the life cycle of satellite programs. The significantly lower costs of Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 as compared with other similar-class launch vehicles results in a number of new business case opportunities; which in turn presents the possibility for a paradigm shift in how the satellite industry thinks about launch services.

Hybrid Power Management-Based Vehicle Architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Eichenberg, Dennis J.

2011-01-01

Hybrid Power Management (HPM) is the integration of diverse, state-of-the-art power devices in an optimal configuration for space and terrestrial applications (s ee figure). The appropriate application and control of the various power devices significantly improves overall system performance and efficiency. The basic vehicle architecture consists of a primary power source, and possibly other power sources, that provides all power to a common energy storage system that is used to power the drive motors and vehicle accessory systems. This architecture also provides power as an emergency power system. Each component is independent, permitting it to be optimized for its intended purpose. The key element of HPM is the energy storage system. All generated power is sent to the energy storage system, and all loads derive their power from that system. This can significantly reduce the power requirement of the primary power source, while increasing the vehicle reliability. Ultracapacitors are ideal for an HPM-based energy storage system due to their exceptionally long cycle life, high reliability, high efficiency, high power density, and excellent low-temperature performance. Multiple power sources and multiple loads are easily incorporated into an HPM-based vehicle. A gas turbine is a good primary power source because of its high efficiency, high power density, long life, high reliability, and ability to operate on a wide range of fuels. An HPM controller maintains optimal control over each vehicle component. This flexible operating system can be applied to all vehicles to considerably improve vehicle efficiency, reliability, safety, security, and performance. The HPM-based vehicle architecture has many advantages over conventional vehicle architectures. Ultracapacitors have a much longer cycle life than batteries, which greatly improves system reliability, reduces life-of-system costs, and reduces environmental impact as ultracapacitors will probably never need to be

Nonlinear Analysis and Intelligent Control of Integrated Vehicle Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Huang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available With increasing and more stringent requirements for advanced vehicle integration, including vehicle dynamics and control, traditional control and optimization strategies may not qualify for many applications. This is because, among other factors, they do not consider the nonlinear characteristics of practical systems. Moreover, the vehicle wheel model has some inadequacies regarding the sideslip angle, road adhesion coefficient, vertical load, and velocity. In this paper, an adaptive neural wheel network is introduced, and the interaction between the lateral and vertical dynamics of the vehicle is analyzed. By means of nonlinear analyses such as the use of a bifurcation diagram and the Lyapunov exponent, the vehicle is shown to exhibit complicated motions with increasing forward speed. Furthermore, electric power steering (EPS and active suspension system (ASS, which are based on intelligent control, are used to reduce the nonlinear effect, and a negotiation algorithm is designed to manage the interdependences and conflicts among handling stability, driving smoothness, and safety. Further, a rapid control prototype was built using the hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform dSPACE and used to conduct a real vehicle test. The results of the test were consistent with those of the simulation, thereby validating the proposed control.

Omicron space habitat—research stage II

Science.gov (United States)

Doule, Ondřej; Šálený, Vratislav; Hérin, Benoît; Rousek, Tomáš

2012-01-01

The design presented in this paper is in response to the revolution in private space activities, the increasing public interest in commercial flights to space and the utilization of structures such as space hotels or private orbital habitats. The baseline for the Omicron design concept is the Russian Salyut derived space station module. Salyut was the first space station to orbit the Earth. Its unique design and technical features were what made the development of space stations Salyut 1-7, MIR and the International Space Station (ISS) Zwezda service module possible. Due to its versatility and the reliable operating launch vehicle Proton, this space module series has the potential to be adapted for space hotel development. This paper proposes a conceptual design of the space habitat called Omicron, with particular focus on interior design for the microgravity environment. The Omicron concepts address the needs of space tourism with a strong emphasis on the safety and comfort of the spaceflight participants. The Omicron habitat supports three inhabitants in nominal conditions (e.g., two passengers and one astronaut). The habitat provides a flexible interior, facilities and spaces dynamically transforming in order to accommodate various types of activities, which will be performed in an organically formed interior supporting spatial orientation and movement in microgravity. The future development potential of Omicron is also considered. The baseline version is composed solely of one rigid module with an inverted cupola for observations. An alternative version offers more space using an inflatable structure. Finally, a combination of multiple Omicron modules enables the creation of a larger orbital habitat. The Omicron's subsystems support a few days visit by trained passengers. The transport to the habitat would be provided e.g., by the Soyuz TMA spacecraft carried by the Soyuz launch vehicle in the early stage of Omicron's development, before a fully reusable

LV-IMLI: Integrated MLI/Aeroshell for Cryogenic Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Cryogenic propellants have the highest energy density of any rocket fuel, and are used in most NASA and commercial launch vehicles to power their ascent. Cryogenic...

Seamless Mode Switching for Shared Control of Semiautonomous Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Whether it be a crew station, the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS), an unmanned ground rover (UGV) or air vehicle (UAV), or teams thereof, the controllers...

Advanced Engineering Environments for Space Transportation System Development

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, L. Dale; Smith, Charles A.; Beveridge, James

2000-01-01

There are significant challenges facing today's launch vehicle industry. Global competition, more complex products, geographically-distributed design teams, demands for lower cost, higher reliability and safer vehicles, and the need to incorporate the latest technologies quicker, all face the developer of a space transportation system. Within NASA, multiple technology development and demonstration projects are underway toward the objectives of safe, reliable, and affordable access to space. New information technologies offer promising opportunities to develop advanced engineering environments to meet these challenges. Significant advances in the state-of-the-art of aerospace engineering practice are envisioned in the areas of engineering design and analytical tools, cost and risk tools, collaborative engineering, and high-fidelity simulations early in the development cycle. At the Marshall Space Flight Center, work has begun on development of an advanced engineering environment specifically to support the design, modeling, and analysis of space transportation systems. This paper will give an overview of the challenges of developing space transportation systems in today's environment and subsequently discuss the advanced engineering environment and its anticipated benefits.

Building and Leading the Next Generation of Exploration Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Stephen A.; Vanhooser, Teresa

2010-01-01

NASA s Constellation Program is depending on the Ares Projects to deliver the crew and cargo launch capabilities needed to send human explorers to the Moon and beyond. Ares I and V will provide the core space launch capabilities needed to continue providing crew and cargo access to the International Space Station (ISS), and to build upon the U.S. history of human spaceflight to the Moon and beyond. Since 2005, Ares has made substantial progress on designing, developing, and testing the Ares I crew launch vehicle and has continued its in-depth studies of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle. In 2009, the Ares Projects plan to: conduct the first flight test of Ares I, test-fire the Ares I first stage solid rocket motor; build the first integrated Ares I upper stage; continue testing hardware for the J-2X upper stage engine, and continue refining the design of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle. These efforts come with serious challenges for the project leadership team as it continues to foster a culture of ownership and accountability, operate with limited funding, and works to maintain effective internal and external communications under intense external scrutiny.

The GNC Measurement System for the Automated Transfer Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Roux, Y.; da Cunha, P.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is a European Space Agency (ESA) funded spacecraft developed by EADS Space Transportation as prime contractor for the space segment together with major European industrial partners, in the frame of the International Space Station (ISS). Its mission objective is threefold : to supply the station with fret and propellant, to reboost ISS to a higher orbit and to dispose of waste from the station. The ATV first flight, called Jules Verne and planned on 2005, will be the first European Vehicle to perform an orbital rendezvous. The GNC Measurement System (GMS) is the ATV on board function in charge of the measurement data collection and preconditioning for the navigation, guidance and control (GNC) algorithms. The GMS is made up of hardware which are the navigation sensors (with a certain level of hardware redundancy for each of them), and of an on-board software that manages, monitors and performs consistency checks to detect and isolate potential sensor failures. The GMS relies on six kinds of navigation sensors, used during various phases of the mission : the gyrometers assembly (GYRA), the accelerometers assembly (ACCA), the star trackers (STR), the GPS receivers, the telegoniometers (TGM) and the videometers (VDM), the last two being used for the final rendezvous phase. The GMS function is developed by EADS Space Transportation together with other industrial partners: EADS Astrium, EADS Sodern, Laben and Dasa Jena Optronik.

Water: A Critical Material Enabling Space Exploration

Science.gov (United States)

Pickering, Karen D.

2014-01-01

Water is one of the most critical materials in human spaceflight. The availability of water defines the duration of a space mission; the volume of water required for a long-duration space mission becomes too large, heavy, and expensive for launch vehicles to carry. Since the mission duration is limited by the amount of water a space vehicle can carry, the capability to recycle water enables space exploration. In addition, water management in microgravity impacts spaceflight in other respects, such as the recent emergency termination of a spacewalk caused by free water in an astronaut's spacesuit helmet. A variety of separation technologies are used onboard spacecraft to ensure that water is always available for use, and meets the stringent water quality required for human space exploration. These separation technologies are often adapted for use in a microgravity environment, where water behaves in unique ways. The use of distillation, membrane processes, ion exchange and granular activated carbon will be reviewed. Examples of microgravity effects on operations will also be presented. A roadmap for future technologies, needed to supply water resources for the exploration of Mars, will also be reviewed.

Negotiating the Traffic: Can Cognitive Science Help Make Autonomous Vehicles a Reality?

Science.gov (United States)

Chater, Nick; Misyak, Jennifer; Watson, Derrick; Griffiths, Nathan; Mouzakitis, Alex

2018-02-01

To drive safely among human drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, autonomous vehicles will need to mimic, or ideally improve upon, humanlike driving. Yet, driving presents us with difficult problems of joint action: 'negotiating' with other users over shared road space. We argue that autonomous driving provides a test case for computational theories of social interaction, with fundamental implications for the development of autonomous vehicles. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Numerical calculation on infrared characteristics of the special vehicle exhaust system

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Yun-song; Li, Xiao-xia; Jin, Wei

2017-10-01

For mastery of infrared radiation characteristics and flow field of the special vehicle exhaust system, first, a physical model of the special vehicle exhaust system is established with the Gambit, and the mathematical model of flow field is determined. Secondly, software Fluent6.3 is used to simulated the 3-D exterior flow field of the special vehicle exhaust system, and the datum of flow field, such as temperature, pressure and density, are obtained. Thirdly, based on the plume temperature, the special vehicle exhaust space is divided. The exhaust is equivalent to a gray-body. A calculating model of the vehicle exhaust infrared radiation is established, and the exhaust infrared radiation characteristics are calculated by the software MATLAB, then the spatial distribution curves are drawn. Finally, the numerical results are analyzing, and the basic laws of the special vehicle exhaust infrared radiation are explored. The results show that with the increase of the engine speed, the temperature of the exhaust pipe wall of the special vehicle increases, and the temperature and pressure of the exhaust gas flow field increase, which leads to the enhancement of the infrared radiation intensity

Bantam: A Systematic Approach to Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Development

Science.gov (United States)

Griner, Carolyn; Lyles, Garry

1999-01-01

The Bantam technology project is focused on providing a low cost launch capability for very small (100 kilogram) NASA and University science payloads. The cost goal has been set at one million dollars per launch. The Bantam project, however, represents much more than a small payload launch capability. Bantam represents a unique, systematic approach to reusable launch vehicle technology development. This technology maturation approach will enable future highly reusable launch concepts in any payload class. These launch vehicle concepts of the future could deliver payloads for hundreds of dollars per pound, enabling dramatic growth in civil and commercial space enterprise. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has demonstrated a better, faster, and cheaper approach to science discovery in recent years. This approach is exemplified by the successful Mars Exploration Program lead by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the NASA Space Science Enterprise. The Bantam project represents an approach to space transportation technology maturation that is very similar to the Mars Exploration Program. The NASA Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP) and Future X Pathfinder Program will combine to systematically mature reusable space transportation technology from low technology readiness to system level flight demonstration. New reusable space transportation capability will be demonstrated at a small (Bantam) scale approximately every two years. Each flight demonstration will build on the knowledge derived from the previous flight tests. The Bantam scale flight demonstrations will begin with the flights of the X-34. The X-34 will demonstrate reusable launch vehicle technologies including; flight regimes up to Mach 8 and 250,000 feet, autonomous flight operations, all weather operations, twenty-five flights in one year with a surge capability of two flights in less than twenty-four hours and safe abort. The Bantam project will build on this initial

Robust Adaptive Flight Control Design of Air-breathing Hypersonic Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-07

advantages over rocket - based systems for space access vehicles. The major advantage of using air-breathing engine is that the extra oxidizer is not...sideslip angle (β) is calculated as Vt = p u2 + v2 +w2, α= t an−1 ( wu ), β= si n−1 ( vVt ) The rotational dynamic equations of AHV are given as Ṗ = c1QR...inverse controller for hypersonic vehicle. In 2010 International Conference on Information, Networking and Automation (ICINA), volume 2, pages V2 –240

Electrical Power Systems for NASA's Space Transportation Program

Science.gov (United States)

Lollar, Louis F.; Maus, Louis C.

1998-01-01

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) lead center for space transportation systems development. These systems include earth to orbit launch vehicles, as well as vehicles for orbital transfer and deep space missions. The tasks for these systems include research, technology maturation, design, development, and integration of space transportation and propulsion systems. One of the key elements in any transportation system is the electrical power system (EPS). Every transportation system has to have some form of electrical power and the EPS for each of these systems tends to be as varied and unique as the missions they are supporting. The Preliminary Design Office (PD) at MSFC is tasked to perform feasibility analyses and preliminary design studies for new projects, particularly in the space transportation systems area. All major subsystems, including electrical power, are included in each of these studies. Three example systems being evaluated in PD at this time are the Liquid Fly Back Booster (LFBB) system, the Human Mission to Mars (HMM) study, and a tether based flight experiment called the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS). These three systems are in various stages of definition in the study phase.

AVIATR—Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barnes, Jason W.; Lemke, Lawrence; Foch, Rick

2012-01-01

We describe a mission concept for a stand-alone Titan airplane mission: Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance (AVIATR). With independent delivery and direct-to-Earth communications, AVIATR could contribute to Titan science either alone or as part of a sustained Titan...... Exploration Program. As a focused mission, AVIATR as we have envisioned it would concentrate on the science that an airplane can do best: exploration of Titan's global diversity. We focus on surface geology/hydrology and lower-atmospheric structure and dynamics. With a carefully chosen set of seven...... of a Space Vehicle (SV) for cruise, an Entry Vehicle (EV) for entry and descent, and the Air Vehicle (AV) to fly in Titan's atmosphere. Using an Earth-Jupiter gravity assist trajectory delivers the spacecraft to Titan in 7.5 years, after which the AVIATR AV would operate for a 1-Earth-year nominal mission...

Vehicle in the Loop (VIL); Simulations- und Testumgebung fuer Fahrerassistenzsysteme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bock, Th. [Lehrstuhl fuer Realzeit-Computersysteme, TU Muenchen (Germany); Siedersberger, K.H.; Zavrel, M.; Breu, A.; Maurer, M. [Audi AG, Ingolstadt (Germany)

2005-07-01

Up to now the reproducible and safe test of driver assistance systems proves to be very difficult. This is true especially for collision mitigation tests. In this article today's state of the art of test and simulation methods for driver assistance systems is summarised at first. Then a new simulation and test environment is presented: In future the function of driver assistance systems can be tested and evaluated economically, reproducibly and most important without danger for the test person and test vehicle. To achieve this the real test vehicle is integrated into a traffic simulation by means of a vehicle in the loop (VIL) configuration. The vehicle does not move in real traffic but on open spaces or blocked off roads. It resorts to synthetic sensor data of a partly simulated environment. Methods and instruments of the augmented reality integrate the test driver into the synthetic outside traffic. (orig.)

Emerging Needs for Pervasive Passive Wireless Sensor Networks on Aerospace Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, William C.; Juarez, Peter D.

2014-01-01

NASA is investigating passive wireless sensor technology to reduce instrumentation mass and volume in ground testing, air flight, and space exploration applications. Vehicle health monitoring systems (VHMS) are desired on all aerospace programs to ensure the safety of the crew and the vehicles. Pervasive passive wireless sensor networks facilitate VHMS on aerospace vehicles. Future wireless sensor networks on board aerospace vehicles will be heterogeneous and will require active and passive network systems. Since much has been published on active wireless sensor networks, this work will focus on the need for passive wireless sensor networks on aerospace vehicles. Several passive wireless technologies such as microelectromechanical systems MEMS, SAW, backscatter, and chipless RFID techniques, have all shown potential to meet the pervasive sensing needs for aerospace VHMS applications. A SAW VHMS application will be presented. In addition, application areas including ground testing, hypersonic aircraft and spacecraft will be explored along with some of the harsh environments found in aerospace applications.

The situation of hybrid vehicles in Japan; Le point sur les vehicules hybrides au Japon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perran, Th.

2000-01-01

Among the different competitors of the race on hybrid vehicles development, Honda was the fastest with its Insight model presented in November 1, 1999. This mass production hybrid vehicle can reach performances of 35 km/l. This new record could be obtained thanks to the development of more efficient weak mixture internal combustion engines and to the lightening of vehicles thanks to the massive use of aluminium. Today, each Japanese car manufacturer has his own hybrid vehicle prototype and one can expect a wave of performing hybrid vehicles on the automotive market in 2001. Toyota remains at the top with its second model, the future 6 places HV-M4 model which will be the very first four wheel drive mono-space hybrid vehicle. (J.S.)

Expert system isssues in automated, autonomous space vehicle rendezvous

Science.gov (United States)

Goodwin, Mary Ann; Bochsler, Daniel C.

1987-01-01

The problems involved in automated autonomous rendezvous are briefly reviewed, and the Rendezvous Expert (RENEX) expert system is discussed with reference to its goals, approach used, and knowledge structure and contents. RENEX has been developed to support streamlining operations for the Space Shuttle and Space Station program and to aid definition of mission requirements for the autonomous portions of rendezvous for the Mars Surface Sample Return and Comet Nucleus Sample return unmanned missions. The experience with REMEX to date and recommendations for further development are presented.

Reduced Attitude Control of a Robotic Underwater Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bláha Lukáš

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with stabilization and reduced attitude control of a robotic underwater vehicle. The vehicle is assumed to be able to perform a full stable rotations around all axes in underwater space, that is why the standard bottom-heavy structure is not used. The system preferably uses a vectored-thrust arrangement and is built as an overactuated system, which enables to gain a better robustness and guarantees a stable controlled motion even if some thruster suddenly stop working. Because the heading angle cannot be measured, the reduced attitude control strategy is designed and the stability of reduced state of the system is proved using perturbation method.

More space and improved living conditions in cities with autonomous vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vleugel, J.M.; Bal, Frans

2017-01-01

Many people live in cities today. Many more will do so in future. This increases the demand for space and (space for) transport. Space to expand roads is usually scarce. Building tunnels or elevated bridges is very expensive. Solving one bottleneck creates another bottleneck downstream. More road

More space and improved living conditions in cities with autonomous vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vleugel, J.M.; Bal, Frans

2017-01-01

Many people live in cities today. Many more will do so in future. This increases the demand for space and (space for) transport. Space to expand roads is usually scarce. Building tunnels or elevated bridges is very expensive. Solving one bottleneck creates a next bottleneck downstream. More road

3D Path Planning for Autonomous Aerial Vehicles in Constrained Spaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schøler, Flemming

, this planner uses a more analytical approach since it relies on combinations of optimal curves. Both planners operate on an explicit description of the configuration space in a work space containing 3D obstacles. A method was developed that generates convex configuration space obstacles from any point clouds...

Affordable High Power Density Engine Designs for Personal Air Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Next generation General Aviation (GA) Sport Class air vehicles limited to 1200lbs, represent the first opportunity to overhaul the FAA certification process...

Affordable High Power Density Engine Designs for Personal Air Vehicles, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Next generation General Aviation (GA) Sport Class air vehicles limited to 1200lbs, represent the first opportunity to overhaul the FAA certification process...

Planning for Crew Exercise for Deep Space Mission Scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, E. Cherice; Ryder, Jeff

2015-01-01

Exercise which is necessary for maintaining crew health on-orbit and preparing the crew for return to 1G can be challenging to incorporate into spaceflight vehicles. Deep space missions will require further understanding of the physiological response to microgravity, understanding appropriate mitigations, and designing the exercise systems to effectively provide mitigations, and integrating effectively into vehicle design with a focus to support planned mission scenarios. Recognizing and addressing the constraints and challenges can facilitate improved vehicle design and exercise system incorporation.

Performance Evaluation of Target Detection with a Near-Space Vehicle-Borne Radar in Blackout Condition.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yanpeng; Li, Xiang; Wang, Hongqiang; Deng, Bin; Qin, Yuliang

2016-01-06

Radar is a very important sensor in surveillance applications. Near-space vehicle-borne radar (NSVBR) is a novel installation of a radar system, which offers many benefits, like being highly suited to the remote sensing of extremely large areas, having a rapidly deployable capability and having low vulnerability to electronic countermeasures. Unfortunately, a target detection challenge arises because of complicated scenarios, such as nuclear blackout, rain attenuation, etc. In these cases, extra care is needed to evaluate the detection performance in blackout situations, since this a classical problem along with the application of an NSVBR. However, the existing evaluation measures are the probability of detection and the receiver operating curve (ROC), which cannot offer detailed information in such a complicated application. This work focuses on such requirements. We first investigate the effect of blackout on an electromagnetic wave. Performance evaluation indexes are then built: three evaluation indexes on the detection capability and two evaluation indexes on the robustness of the detection process. Simulation results show that the proposed measure will offer information on the detailed performance of detection. These measures are therefore very useful in detecting the target of interest in a remote sensing system and are helpful for both the NSVBR designers and users.

Evaluating the Medical Kit System for the International Space Station(ISS) - A Paradigm Revisited

Science.gov (United States)

Hailey, Melinda J.; Urbina, Michelle C.; Hughlett, Jessica L.; Gilmore, Stevan; Locke, James; Reyna, Baraquiel; Smith, Gwyn E.

2010-01-01

Medical capabilities aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been packaged to help astronaut crew medical officers (CMO) mitigate both urgent and non-urgent medical issues during their 6-month expeditions. Two ISS crewmembers are designated as CMOs for each 3-crewmember mission and are typically not physicians. In addition, the ISS may have communication gaps of up to 45 minutes during each orbit, necessitating medical equipment that can be reliably operated autonomously during flight. The retirement of the space shuttle combined with ten years of manned ISS expeditions led the Space Medicine Division at the NASA Johnson Space Center to reassess the current ISS Medical Kit System. This reassessment led to the system being streamlined to meet future logistical considerations with current Russian space vehicles and future NASA/commercial space vehicle systems. Methods The JSC Space Medicine Division coordinated the development of requirements, fabrication of prototypes, and conducted usability testing for the new ISS Medical Kit System in concert with implementing updated versions of the ISS Medical Check List and associated in-flight software applications. The teams constructed a medical kit system with the flexibility for use on the ISS, and resupply on the Russian Progress space vehicle and future NASA/commercial space vehicles. Results Prototype systems were developed, reviewed, and tested for implementation. Completion of Preliminary and Critical Design Reviews resulted in a streamlined ISS Medical Kit System that is being used for training by ISS crews starting with Expedition 27 (June 2011). Conclusions The team will present the process for designing, developing, , implementing, and training with this new ISS Medical Kit System.

Pembangunan Sistem Penentuan Posisi dan Navigasi Berbasiskan Sistem Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) untuk Survei Batimetri

OpenAIRE

Ratih C, Ni Made Rai; Suwardhi, Deni

2014-01-01

Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) refers to any vehicle that operates on the surface of the water without a crew. Nowadays, not only for military purpose, many of civilian purposes was also taken in considerations Operating the ordinary hydrographic vessel need the wider horizontal and vertical space. USV is more capable for charting the very shallow and narrow waters. This research is intended to build the positioning and navigation system based on Unmanned Surface Vehicle System as the startin...

Multi-rate path-following control for unmanned air vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Guerreiro Tome Antunes, D.J.; Silvestre, C.J.; Cunha, R.

2008-01-01

A methodology is provided to tackle the path-following integrated guidance and control problem for unmanned air vehicles with measured outputs available at different rates. The path-following problem is addressed by defining a suitable non-linear path dependent error space to express the vehicle’s

Deep Space Gateway "Recycler" Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, L.; Fries, M.; Hamilton, J.; Landis, R.; John, K.; O'Hara, W.

2018-02-01

Use of the Deep Space Gateway provides a hub for a reusable planetary sample return vehicle for missions to gather star dust as well as samples from various parts of the solar system including main belt asteroids, near-Earth asteroids, and Mars moon.

Electric vehicle station equipment for grid-integrated vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Kempton, Willett; Kiamilev, Fouad; McGee, Rodney; Waite, Nick

2017-09-05

Methods, systems, and apparatus transferring power between the grid and an electric vehicle are disclosed. The apparatus may include at least one vehicle communication port for interfacing with electric vehicle equipment (EVE) and a processor coupled to the at least one vehicle communication port to establish communication with the EVE, receive EVE attributes from the EVE, and transmit electric vehicle station equipment (EVSE) attributes to the EVE. Power may be transferred between the grid and the electric vehicle by maintaining EVSE attributes, establishing communication with the EVE, and transmitting the EVSE maintained attributes to the EVE.

Dr. von Braun With a Model of a Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)