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NASA’s Fission Surface Power Project Energizes Lunar Exploration
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By NASA
When designing a new spacecraft or exploration vehicle, there is intense focus on its technical performance. Do its systems perform as expected? What kind of power does it need? Will it safely reach its destination?
Equally important, however, is whether that vehicle also works for the humans inside. Can astronauts easily reach critical controls? Do the seats conform to a crew member regardless of their height and body size? Does the layout of crew workstations, translation paths, stowage, and other items support effective working and living conditions?
Those are just a few of the questions NASA’s Center for Design and Space Architecture (CDSA) seeks to answer. Based within the Human Health and Performance Directorate at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the CDSA is NASA’s conceptual, human-centered design studio. It creates advanced concepts for spacecraft, exploration vehicles, and habitats that put crew needs first. The team provides a full spectrum of design services, from concept sketches to CAD models, to scaled mockups and virtual reality (VR), to full-size prototype fabrication.
Carl Conlee, Evan Twyford, and Dr. Robert Howard perform a window node visibility study on the mockup of the Space Exploration Vehicle. NASA The CDSA has been an integral partner in the design of everything from dining tables for the International Space Station to ergonomic seats for the Orion spacecraft, and private sleeping bunks for the Space Exploration Vehicle (also known as the Small Pressurized Rover). The multidisciplinary team also played key roles in the design and construction of analog habitats onsite at Johnson, including the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) and the Crew Health And Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) habitats where volunteer crews recently completed simulated Mars missions.
Dr. Robert Howard, CDSA co-lead and habitability domain lead, explained that the current HERA habitat was initially developed as the ground-test version of a lunar habitat envisioned by the Constellation Program. The CDSA team built medical operations and suit maintenance workstations, stowage systems, cameras, and outfitting supplies for the habitat, known then as the Habitat Demonstration Unit. Later, the team added a galley, exercise and stowage space, and crew quarters to university-built inflatable upper decks. They also outfitted the interior of a hygiene module provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, helped Kennedy Space Center’s plant growth team locate their experiments in the habitat, and worked with the Human Factors Engineering Laboratory to develop crew procedures for testing the habitats at Johnson and in Arizona.
“The plan was to excess the habitat when the program ended, but CDSA realized the asset was too valuable and we campaigned to find a new owner for the mockup,” Howard said. “That led to the birth of HERA. The Human Research Program now performs the day-to-day maintenance and conducts the HERA missions.”
Dr. Robert Howard (left) briefs Apollo astronauts Gene Cernan, Neil Armstrong, and Harrison Schmitt on the Altair lunar lander mockup. NASA For CHAPEA, the CDSA worked with NASA teams and commercial partners to determine the habitat’s necessary functions and layout, assisted with furniture installation, provided design consultation and fabrication assistance for an external airlock, and designed and built a docking node.
Another part of the CDSA’s work is the development of NASA test units for partner-produced vehicles and spacecraft. “In the early phases of a project, these test units can help NASA understand what requirements we want to levy on the partner,” Howard explained. “Later, they can be used to emulate partner concepts and NASA can perform independent studies with them, either to assess partner capabilities or to predict the impacts of possible changes.”
The CDSA team can also build replicas of contractor mockups for crew training or additional testing. They are currently supporting development of lunar surface logistics, a pressurized rover, and Gateway components, too.
Center for Design and Space Architecture team members test a Gateway habitat mockup. From left are Brett Montoya, Taylor Phillips-Hungerford, and Zachary Taylor. NASA/Robert Markowitz In addition to Howard, the CDSA team includes Maijinn Chen, the technical discipline lead for space architecture, and Nathan Moore, the technical discipline lead for fabrication, as well as nearly a dozen contractors who serve as space architects, industrial designers, mechanical engineers, and VR developers. “It is a very multidisciplinary team, so we are able to leverage different skillsets to complete our work,” Howard said. “All of the team members are well-versed in design ideation, so we can collaborate when developing concepts, whether for high-level architectures, individual vehicle assets, subsystem components, or even crew-worn items.”
Howard explained that the CDSA almost always works as a sub-team within a larger effort. “We can support a team at any point in a spacecraft lifecycle, but it is best when we are brought in at the very beginning,” he said. “That is where human-centered design processes can have the greatest impact in improving a space system for the lowest cost. It is also very helpful in ensuring that the requirements levied on our contractors and international partners reflect the needs of the future astronaut crews.”
Howard can trace his passion for space exploration back to his early childhood. “I feel like I was born interested! My mom said when I was three, I might not watch ‘The Electric Company,’ but I would not miss ‘Star Trek’ or ‘Space 1999,” he said. “As I got older, I would gravitate toward the space section of the library and read anything I could about NASA. I was always more interested in human spaceflight than in unmanned vehicles and I suppose that was the beginning of my path towards habitability and human-centered design.”
For Howard, the most rewarding part of the CDSA team’s work is creating things that have never existed. “I love it when we find a way to do something that was previously considered impossible, or beyond the scope of what was considered likely,” he said. “I consider it a personal calling to find ways to make space more habitable for humanity.”
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By NASA
3 Min Read NASA Sponsors New Research on Orbital Debris, Lunar Sustainability
From lunar orbit, astronauts pointed cameras out the window of their spacecraft to capture photos of the moon's surface. Credits: NASA As part of NASA’s commitment to foster responsible exploration of the universe for the benefit of humanity, the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) is funding space sustainability research proposals from five university-based teams to analyze critical economic, social, and policy issues related to Earth’s orbit and cislunar space.
The new research awards reflect the agency’s commitment identified in NASA’s Space Sustainability Strategy to ensure safe, peaceful, and responsible space exploration for future generations, and encourage sustainable behaviors in cislunar space and on the lunar surface by ensuring that current operations do not impact those yet to come.
Three of the five awards will fund research that addresses the growing problem of orbital debris, human-made objects in Earth’s orbit that no longer serve a purpose. This debris can endanger spacecraft, jeopardize access to space, and impede the development of a low-Earth orbit economy.
The remaining two awards focus on lunar surface sustainability and will address key policy questions such as the protection of valuable locations and human heritage sites as well as other technical, economic, or cultural considerations that may factor into mission planning.
“The sustainable use of space is critical to current and future space exploration,” said Ellen Gertsen, deputy associate administrator for the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Mitigating the risks of orbital debris and ensuring future generations can utilize the lunar surface are of paramount importance. These awards will fund research to help us understand the economics, the policy considerations, and the social elements of sustainability, generating new tools and evidence so we can make better-informed decisions.”
A panel of NASA experts selected the following proposals, awarding a total of about $550,000 to fund them:
Lunar surface sustainability
“A RAD Framework for the Moon: Applying Resist-Accept-Direct Decision-Making,” submitted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens of the University of Maryland, College Park “Synthesizing Frameworks of Sustainability for Futures on the Moon,” submitted by research scientist Afreen Siddiqi of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Orbital Debris and Space Sustainability
“Integrated Economic-Debris Modeling of Active Debris Removal to Inform Space Sustainability and Policy,” submitted by researcher Mark Moretto of the University of Colorado, Boulder “Avoiding the Kessler Syndrome Through Policy Intervention,” submitted by aeronautics and astronautics researcher Richard Linares of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology “Analysis of Cislunar Space Environment Scenarios, Enabling Deterrence and Incentive-Based Policy,” submitted by mechanical and aerospace engineering researcher Ryne Beeson of Princeton University Share
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Last Updated Jul 23, 2024 EditorBill Keeter Related Terms
Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS) View the full article
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By NASA
NASA’s VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – sits assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center.Credit: NASA Following a comprehensive internal review, NASA announced Wednesday its intent to discontinue development of its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project.
NASA stated cost increases, delays to the launch date, and the risks of future cost growth as the reasons to stand down on the mission. The rover was originally planned to launch in late 2023, but in 2022, NASA requested a launch delay to late 2024 to provide more time for preflight testing of the Astrobotic lander. Since that time, additional schedule and supply chain delays pushed VIPER’s readiness date to September 2025, and independently its CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) launch aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin lander also has been delayed to a similar time. Continuation of VIPER would result in an increased cost that threatens cancellation or disruption to other CLPS missions. NASA has notified Congress of the agency’s intent.
“We are committed to studying and exploring the Moon for the benefit of humanity through the CLPS program,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The agency has an array of missions planned to look for ice and other resources on the Moon over the next five years. Our path forward will make maximum use of the technology and work that went into VIPER, while preserving critical funds to support our robust lunar portfolio.”
Moving forward, NASA is planning to disassemble and reuse VIPER’s instruments and components for future Moon missions. Prior to disassembly, NASA will consider expressions of interest from U.S. industry and international partners by Thursday, Aug. 1, for use of the existing VIPER rover system at no cost to the government. Interested parties should contact HQ-CLPS-Payload@mail.nasa.gov after 10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 18. The project will conduct an orderly close out through spring 2025.
Astrobotic will continue its Griffin Mission One within its contract with NASA, working toward a launch scheduled for no earlier than fall 2025. The landing without VIPER will provide a flight demonstration of the Griffin lander and its engines.
NASA will pursue alternative methods to accomplish many of VIPER’s goals and verify the presence of ice at the lunar South Pole. A future CLPS delivery – the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) — scheduled to land at the South Pole during the fourth quarter of 2024, will search for water ice and carry out a resource utilization demonstration using a drill and mass spectrometer to measure the volatile content of subsurface materials.
Additionally, future instruments as part of NASA’s crewed missions – for example, the Lunar Terrain Vehicle — will allow for mobile observations of volatiles across the south polar region, as well as provide access for astronauts to the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions for dedicated sample return campaigns. The agency will also use copies of three of VIPER’s four instruments for future Moon landings on separate flights.
The VIPER rover was designed to search Earth’s Moon for ice and other potential resources – in support of NASA’s commitment to study the Moon and help unravel some of the greatest mysteries of our solar system. Through NASA’s lunar initiatives, including Artemis human missions and CLPS, NASA is exploring more of the Moon than ever before using highly trained astronauts, advanced robotics, U.S. commercial providers, and international partners.
For more information about VIPER, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/viper
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Karen Fox / Erin Morton
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-805-9393
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / erin.morton@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 17, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Earth's Moon Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft took this image of Earth’s Moon on Dec. 7, 1992, on its way to explore the Jupiter system in 1995-97. The distinct bright ray crater at the bottom of the image is the Tycho impact basin.Credit: NASA NASA will hold a media teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, July 17, to provide an update on a program within NASA’s Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office.
Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website at:
https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
Participants in the teleconference include:
Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters To ask questions during the teleconference, media must RSVP no later than two hours before the event to Erin Morton at: erin.morton@nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
The Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate ensures science is infused into all aspects of lunar exploration. Through researching the Moon and its environment, and by using the Moon as an observation platform, NASA strives to gain a greater understanding of the Moon itself, the solar system, the universe, and the deep space environment.
To learn more about NASA’s missions for lunar discovery, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/lunar-science
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Karen Fox / Erin Morton
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1275 / 202-805-9393
karen.fox@nasa.gov / erin.morton@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jul 16, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Lunar Science Science & Research Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By Space Force
Space Operations Command completed its first certification exercise, certifying teams as combat ready to enter the first SPAFORGEN’s ‘commit’ phase.
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