Goddard Technologists and Scientists Prepare for a New Era of Human Exploration

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center logo.

March 13, 2019

NASA scientists, engineers, and technologists are preparing for a new era of human exploration at the Moon, which includes a new launch system, capsule, and lunar-orbiting outpost that will serve as the jumping-off point for human spaceflight deeper into the Solar System.

Image above: Goddard will provide laser communications services to NASA’s Orion vehicle, shown in this artist concept. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is playing a vital role in these initiatives, particularly in the areas of communications and instrument development as evidenced by the recent award of five proposals under NASA’s Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation (DALI) to advance spacecraft-based instrument for use in lunar-landing missions.

The technologies needed for sustainable exploration at the Moon will have to be powerful, multipurpose, and fast, said Jake Bleacher, Chief Scientist for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.

Transition to Laser Communications

Goddard’s legacy role of providing communications between the ground and next-generation spacecraft will be the center’s most significant contribution to the exploration of the Moon and Mars with NASA’s Space Launch System, Orion spacecraft, and the Gateway.

“Houston may have broadcast Neil Armstrong’s first words, but they had to first come through Goddard’s communications hub,” said Noah Petro, the project scientist on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, which has thoroughly mapped the lunar surface — data that will inform future Moon landings.

Image above: Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin moves toward a position to deploy two components of the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package, or EASEP, on the lunar surface. Image Credit: NASA.

Radio frequency (RF)-based systems have historically consisted of a vast network of ground antennas and land lines, and more recently NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, or TDRS. These systems are giving way to optical or laser communications. Although radio-based systems will continue playing a role, laser communications will be able to support the demand for high-definition video and increased data loads.

NASA also plans to add laser communication capabilities on next-generation relay satellites in geosynchronous orbit — similar to the radio-based TDRS constellation —. “We’re working to develop the next-generation of relay satellites that provide optical services,” said Dave Israel, a communications architect for Goddard’s Exploration and Space Communications division.

To demonstrate an operational laser communications system, Goddard is expected to launch the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration, or LCRD, mission aboard a U.S. Air Force spacecraft that will operate 22,000 miles above Earth’s surface in geosynchronous orbit. Over the mission’s lifespan, LCRD will relay data encoded onto beams of infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, between two Earth terminals in California and Hawaii.

In 2021, NASA is expected to demonstrate the first fully operational end-to-end laser communications system, called ILLUMA-T, on the International Space Station. There, the Goddard-developed technology will serve as a laser communications terminal for the space station, communicating data from low-Earth orbit to the ground through the LCRD relay. This will demonstrate the potential for laser communications at rates that are 10 to 100 times better than radio-frequency systems, using less power and mass.

NASA will later fly crew aboard the Orion spacecraft to travel around the Moon and back with the Goddard-developed Optical to Orion Communications System, or O2O, to provide high-speed data and high-definition video streaming during the mission. After the initial flight, Goddard technologists expect to add more laser communications terminals on future exploration missions, including a terminal on Gateway.

The New Normal: Multipurpose Scientific Instruments

Goddard’s role in human spaceflight is not limited to communications. During the Apollo era, the center developed several instrument packages, and that role will continue in the next era of lunar exploration.

Image above: In this artist’s concept image, the Gateway is shown mid-assembly. The first logistics module carrying cargo and other goods is docked to the spaceship as it orbits the Moon. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA’s Gateway in orbit around the Moon will be an outpost to explore the lunar surface, conduct experiments, and prepare for spaceflights to more distant destinations, and instruments that can be used for multiple purposes will be important to optimizing potential science and exploration.

“Our job is to think of other ways that a science instrument could be used,” Bleacher said.

An example of this multipurpose philosophy is the Goddard-developed Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, as well as a multifunctional sensor platform now under development, Bleacher said.

NICER is designed primarily to study neutron stars, but it also carries built-in software that uses timing data from pulsing neutron stars to stitch together autonomous navigational solutions, similar to how the Global Positioning System, widely known as GPS, provides positioning, navigation, and timing services to users on Earth. This technology, demonstrated in an experiment called Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology, or SEXTANT, provides a new option for deep space navigation that could work in concert with existing spacecraft-based radio and optical systems.

This year, NICER Principal Investigator Keith Gendreau and his team are expected to showcase yet another potentially groundbreaking technology with the NICER payload — X-ray communications, or XCOM, in space. Although very early in its development, XCOM could usher in the next generation of communications technologies.

Image above: Geologist-Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 Lunar Module pilot, is photographed next to the American Flag during NASA’s final lunar landing mission in the Apollo series — a mission that included an instrument developed by Goddard scientist Otto Berg. The photo was taken at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The highest part of the flag appears to point toward planet Earth in the distant background. Image Credit: NASA.

“NICER is the model we want to apply to everything,” Bleacher said. “My goal is to maximize the time of use for any technology we develop. It’s a multipurpose tool and finding all the ways we can use it is where exploration gets interesting.”

NASA is going to the Moon and on to Mars, in a measured, sustainable way. The direction from Space Policy Directive-1 builds on the hard work NASA is doing on its SLS and Orion spacecraft, agency efforts to enable commercial partners, its work with international partners at the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit, and what NASA learns from its current robotic missions at the Moon and Mars.

For more Goddard technology news, go to https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/winter_2019_final_web_version.pdf

Related articles:

Gateway to the Moon
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/03/gateway-to-moon.html

NASA Set to Demonstrate X-ray Communications in Space
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/02/nasa-set-to-demonstrate-x-ray.html

Related links:

NASA’s Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation (DALI): https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/five-teams-win-nasa-dali-awards-to-advance-future-lunar-missions

Moon and Mars: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars

Optical to Orion Communications System (O2O): https://c/Users/kahamble/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/69S01WMC/Optical%20to%20Orion

Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER): https://www.nasa.gov/nicer

Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT): https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-team-first-to-demonstrate-x-ray-navigation-in-space

Space Policy Directive-1: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/new-space-policy-directive-calls-for-human-expansion-across-solar-system

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC): https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Lynn Jenner/Goddard Space Flight Center, by Lori Keesey.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

China Space Station to be completed in 2022

CASC - China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation logo.

March 12, 2019

China Space Station

The China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) announced Monday that the core module of the country's space station, the Long March-5B carrier rocket and its payloads will be sent to the launch site in the second half of this year, to make preparations for the space station missions.

China is scheduled to complete the construction of the space station around 2022. It will be the country's space lab in long-term stable in-orbit operation.

The space station will have a core module and experiment modules, which are under development and will be launched into space by the Long March-5B.

Joint exercises will be carried out in the Wenchang Space Launch Center at the end of 2019 for the maiden flight of the Long March-5B.

Programs to select and train astronauts are underway.

China Space Station to be completed in 2022

Video above: China Space Station is expected to be completed in 2022. In 2019, a Long March-5B rocket is scheduled to launch the first module, the Tianhe-1 core module. Zhang Bainan, chief engineer, China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), explains the progress so far and the path forward. Video Credits: China Central Television (CCTV)/SciNews.

China is committed to making the country's space station an international platform for scientific and technological cooperation, according to the CMSEO.

In June this year, the CMSEO will work with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs to complete the application selection of China's space station and launch a number of cooperation projects.

China's Tiangong-2 space lab, launched on Sept. 15, 2016, is conducting in-orbit tests and will de-orbit after July this year.

Related links:

CASC Press Release: http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/n17212/c2509363/content.html

For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), visit: http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html

Image, Video (mentioned), Text, Credit: CASC.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA Selects Teams to Study Untouched Moon Samples

NASA - Apollo 17 Mission patch.

March 12, 2019

NASA has selected nine teams to continue the science legacy of the Apollo missions by studying pieces of the Moon that have been carefully stored and untouched for nearly 50 years. A total of $8 million has been awarded to the teams.

Image above: 11 December 1972 -- Scientist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt collects lunar rake samples at Station 1 during the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. Schmitt is the lunar module pilot. The Lunar Rake, an Apollo Lunar Geology Hand Tool, is used to collect discrete samples of rocks and rock chips ranging in size from one-half inch (1.3 cm) to one inch (2.5 cm). Image Credits: Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 Commander.

“By studying these precious lunar samples for the first time, a new generation of scientists will help advance our understanding of our lunar neighbor and prepare for the next era of exploration of the Moon and beyond, “ said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC. “This exploration will bring with it new and unique samples into the best labs right here on Earth.”

Six of the nine teams will look at one of the three remaining lunar samples, from Apollo missions 15, 16, and 17, which have never been exposed to Earth’s atmosphere. The particular sample these teams will study came to Earth vacuum-sealed on the Moon by the Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Gene Cernan in 1972.

The Apollo 17 sample comprises about 800 grams (1.8 pounds) of material, still encased in a “drive tube” that was pounded into the lunar regolith to collect a core of material. That core preserves not just the rocks themselves but also the stratigraphy from below the surface so today’s scientists can, in a laboratory, study the rock layers exactly as they existed on the Moon. The core has been carefully stored at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, since December 1972.

Earth's Moon. Image Credit: NASA

Other teams will be studying samples that have also been specially curated, some from Apollo 17 that were brought to Earth and then kept frozen, and samples from the Apollo 15 mission which have been stored in helium since 1971.

NASA has only collected samples from a few places on the Moon so far, but NASA knows from the remote sensing data that the Moon is a complex geologic body. From orbit, the agency has identified types of rocks and minerals that are not present in the Apollo sample collection. 

“Returned samples are an investment in the future. These samples were deliberately saved so we can take advantage of today’s more advanced and sophisticated technology to answer questions we didn’t know we needed to ask,” said Lori Glaze, acting director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division in Washington, DC.

The nine institutions include:

NASA Ames Research Center/Bay Area Environmental Research Institute: A team led by Alexander Sehlke will complete an experiment started 50 years ago by studying the frozen lunar samples from Apollo 17 to see how volatiles like water are stored in the radiation environment of the lunar surface, which is not protected by an atmosphere like Earth.

NASA Ames – A team led by David Blake and Richard Walrothwill study the vacuum-sealed sample to study “space weathering” or how exposure to the space environment affects the Moon’s surface.

NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center: A team led by Jamie Elsila Cook will study the vacuumed-sealed sample to better understand how small organic molecules—namely, precursors to amino acids—are preserved on the Moon.

NASA Goddard: A team led by Barbara Cohen and Natalie Curran will study the vacuum-sealed sample to investigate the geologic history of the Apollo 17 site. They’ll specifically be looking at the abundance of noble gases in the sample, which can tell them about the sample’s age.

University of Arizona: A team led by Jessica Barnes will study how curation affects the amount of hydrogen-bearing minerals in lunar soil, which will help us better understand how water is locked in minerals on the Moon.

University of California Berkeley: A team led by Kees Welten will study how micrometeorite and meteorite impacts may have affected the geology of the lunar surface.

US Naval Research Laboratory. A team led by Katherine Burgess will look at the frozen samples and the samples stored in helium to study how airless bodies are affected by exposure to the space environment.

University of New Mexico: A team led by Chip Shearer will look at the vacuum-sealed sample to study the geologic history of the Apollo 17 site. They will be studying samples from a region that had been cold enough for water to freeze—called a “cold trap.” This will be the first time a sample from one of these cold traps will be examined in the lab.

Mount Holyoke College/Planetary Science Institute: A team led by Darby Dyar will look at both the vacuum-sealed samples and samples stored on helium to study volcanic activity on the Moon. They’ll specifically look at tiny glass beads that formed rapidly during an ancient lunar eruption.

The samples won’t be opened right away. First, the teams will work together and with the curation staff at NASA Johnson to determine the best way to open the sample to avoid contaminating them and maximize the science to be gained.

The teams for the Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis grants were selected by the Planetary Science Division and will be funded by the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program.

NASA is going to the Moon and on to Mars, in a measured, sustainable way. The direction from Space Policy Directive-1 builds on the hard work NASA is doing on its SLS and Orion spacecraft, agency efforts to enable commercial partners, its work with international partners at the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit, and what NASA learns from its current robotic missions at the Moon and Mars. Learn more at: https://www.nasa.gov/moontomars

Related links:

Apollo 17: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo17.html

Apollo: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/index.html

Space Policy Directive-1: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/new-space-policy-directive-calls-for-human-expansion-across-solar-system

Earth's Moon: http://www.nasa.gov/moon

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tricia Talbert/Noah Michelsohn/Dwayne Brown/JoAnna Wendel.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Before Launch and Spacewalks, Science Reigns Supreme Aboard Orbiting Lab

ISS - Expedition 58 Mission patch.

March 12, 2019

As the Soyuz MS-12 that will carry the Expedition 59 crew to the International Space Station Thursday was erected on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 58 resumed research and routine maintenance after their off-duty day Monday.

Image above: On March 12, 2019, the Soyuz rocket is raised into vertical position on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA astronaut Anne McClain conducted botany work with the VEG-03 experiment, which builds on what scientists have initially learned about harvesting vegetation in space with VEG-01. This time around, testing will demonstrate plant growth with a new batch of crops, including red romaine lettuce, extra dwarf Pak Choi, red Russian kale and wasabi mustard. McClain also spent time on life-support system upkeep in the Kibo lab module and maintenance in the U.S. lab on an EXPRESS rack—hardware integral to providing structural interfaces and support for science experiments with power, data, cooling, water and other items needed for successful operations.

Soyuz-FG with TPK Soyuz MS-12 installed at the launch-pad

In the Quest airlock, Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques completed additional prep work for upcoming spacewalks slated for March 22, 29 and April 8 by scrubbing cooling loops and performing leak checks on the spacesuits. After resupplying the Human Research Facility-2 rack, Saint Jacques added input to a questionnaire for Behavioral Core Measures, an investigation that seeks to create a standardized toolkit to rapidly and reliably assess the risk of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders that could occur with longer space missions.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

Meanwhile, Commander Oleg Kononenko from Roscosmos ticked off additional maintenance tasks by cleaning panels in the Zvezda service module and performing fluid transfers to the Progress 71 resupply ship.

Related links:

Expedition 58: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition58/index.html

Expedition 59: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition59/index.html

VEG-03: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=842

Kibo lab module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/japan-kibo-laboratory

EXPRESS rack—hardware: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=598

Quest airlock: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/joint-quest-airlock

Human Research Facility-2: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=58

Behavioral Core Measures: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7537

Zvezda service module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/zvezda-service-module.html

Progress 71: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2018/11/16/russias-cargo-craft-blasts-off-to-station-for-sunday-delivery/

NASA TV: https://www.nasa.gov/live/

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Catherine Williams/Roscosmos.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Opportunity's Parting Shot Was a Beautiful Panorama

NASA - Mars Exploration Rover B (MER-B) patch.

March 12, 2019

Over 29 days last spring, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity documented this 360-degree panorama from multiple images taken at what would become its final resting spot in Perseverance Valley. Located on the inner slope of the western rim of Endurance Crater, Perseverance Valley is a system of shallow troughs descending eastward about the length of two football fields from the crest of Endeavor's rim to its floor.

Image above: This image is a cropped version of the last 360-degree panorama taken by the Opportunity rover's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) from May 13 through June 10, 2018. The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU.

"This final panorama embodies what made our Opportunity rover such a remarkable mission of exploration and discovery," said Opportunity project manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "To the right of center you can see the rim of Endeavor Crater rising in the distance. Just to the left of that, rover tracks begin their descent from over the horizon and weave their way down to geologic features that our scientists wanted to examine up close. And to the far right and left are the bottom of Perseverance Valley and the floor of Endeavour crater, pristine and unexplored, waiting for visits from future explorers."

Image above: This image is an edited version of the last 360-degree panorama taken by the Opportunity rover's Pancam from May 13 through June 10, 2018. The version of the scene is presented in approximate true color. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU.

The trailblazing mission ended after nearly 15 years of exploring the surface of Mars, but its legacy will live on. Opportunity's scientific discoveries contributed to our unprecedented understanding of the planet's geology and environment, laying the groundwork for future robotic and human missions to the Red Planet.

The panorama is composed of 354 individual images provided by the rover's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) from May 13 through June 10, or sols (Martian days) 5,084 through 5,111. This view combines images taken through three different Pancam filters. The filters admit light centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet).

Image above: This image is a cropped version of the last 360-degree panorama taken by the Opportunity rover's Pancam from May 13 through June 10, 2018. The panorama appears in 3D when seen through blue-red glasses with the red lens on the left. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU.

A few frames (bottom left) remain black and white, as the solar-powered rover did not have the time to record those locations using the green and violet filters before a severe Mars-wide dust storm swept in on June 2018.

Image above: Taken on June 10, 2018 (the 5,111th Martian day, or sol, of the mission) this “noisy,” incomplete image was the last data NASA's Opportunity rover sent back from Mars. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU.

The gallery includes the last images Opportunity obtained during its mission (black-and-white thumbnail images from the Pancam that were used to determine how opaque the sky was on its last day) and also the last piece of data the rover transmitted (a "noisy," incomplete full-frame image of a darkened sky).

Image above: These two thumbnail images, with the ghostly dot of a faint Sun near the middle of each, are the last images NASA's Opportunity rover took on Mars. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU.

After eight months of effort and sending more than a thousand commands in an attempt to restore contact with the rover, NASA declared Opportunity's mission complete on Feb. 13, 2019.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, managed the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 

For more information about Opportunity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/.

For more information about the agency's Mars Exploration program, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mars

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/Dwayne Brown/JoAnna Wendel/JPL/DC Agle.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Nitrogen dioxide pollution mapped

ESA - Sentinel-5P Mission logo.

12 March 2019

New maps that use information from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite reveal nitrogen dioxide emission being released into the atmosphere in cities and towns across the globe.

 Nitrogen dioxide worldwide

Air pollution is a global environmental health problem that is responsible for millions of people dying prematurely every year. With air quality a serious concern, the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite was launched in October 2017 to map a multitude of air pollutants around the globe.

The satellite carries the most advanced sensor of its type to date: Tropomi. This state-of-the-art instrument detects the unique fingerprint of atmospheric gases to image air pollutants more accurately and at a higher spatial resolution than ever before.

Nitrogen dioxide over Europe

“The European Commission is extremely satisfied with the performance of its satellite,” says Mauro Facchini from the European Commission. “It is a major step forward for Copernicus and European Union’s capacity to monitor air quality.”

It has already delivered key information on sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide, for example. Now measurements gathered between April and September 2018 have been averaged to show exactly where nitrogen dioxide is polluting the air.

This kind of pollution results from traffic and the combustion of fossil fuel in industrial processes. It can cause significant health issues by irritating the lungs and can contribute to respiratory problems.

Henk Eskes, from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), comments, “The map shows emissions from major cities, but also medium-size towns. With Copernicus Sentinel-5P’s Tropomi instrument, we can observe pollution from individual power plants and other industrial complexes, major highways, and we can identify many more ship tracks than we could before.

Nitrogen dioxide levels over the Middle East

“The Tropomi instrument has a spatial resolution of 3.5 x 7 km, compared to the resolution of 24 × 13 km we had from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA’s Aura mission. Tropomi is basically ten times better.

“This is very valuable in improving our knowledge on how different sectors contribute to the overall emission of nitrogen oxides.”

Sentinel-5P

Claus Zehner, ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission manager, added, “Although we are not thrilled to see all this pollution, we are very happy to see that the satellite is delivering on its promise.

“The spatial resolution really sets the mission apart, which is exactly what is needed to monitor air pollution and understand where it is coming from.”

Nitrogen dioxide levels over China and Japan

Vincent–Henri Peuch from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) says, “The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, known as CAMS, and operated by ECMWF on behalf of the European Union, is monitoring these nitrogen dioxide data in its daily operations.

“Current data assimilation tests show a positive impact on the air-quality forecasts, and we expect to upgrade from monitoring to operational assimilation in the coming months.”

CAMS senior scientist, Antje Inness, added, “CAMS is indeed testing the use of the nitrogen dioxide data in its global forecasting system and hopes to operationally implement this later this year.”

Tropospheric column nitrogen dioxide over Europe

“The Tropomi data show amazing details, but the combination of forecast models and satellite observations within CAMS adds extra value.

“While Tropomi provides incredible views of pollution hot spots from above, the CAMS global and European forecast models translate this information into concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants at ground level. CAMs then forecasts the values for the next four to five days.”

Related links:

Sentinel-5P: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-5P

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service: https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/

ECMWF: https://www.ecmwf.int/

Netherlands Space Office: http://www.spaceoffice.nl/en/

DLR: http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10002/

NASA Aura–OMI: https://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/omi.html

Images, Text, Credits: ESA/Contains modified Copernicus data (2018), processed by KNMI.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA is With You When You Fly, Even on Mars

NASA - Mars Rover 2020 logo.

March 12, 2019

According to the 1958 law that established NASA, where the first “A” in NASA stands for aeronautics, the agency is charged with solving the problems of flight within the atmosphere.

But the law doesn’t say which planet’s atmosphere.

NASA Mars Helicopter Technology Demonstration

Video above: NASA Aeronautics researchers helped to refine the design and operations of the Mars Helicopter, a technology demonstration that will travel to the Red Planet with the Mars 2020 rover. Video Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

In that spirit, when the decision was made to add a small helicopter to the Mars 2020 rover mission to the Red Planet, experts at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California looked to the agency’s finest aeronautical innovators on this planet for help.

“Flying a heavier-than-air vehicle within Mars’ thin atmosphere has never been done before, and we’re excited our aeronautics experts could help with this important space mission” said Susan Gorton, NASA’s manager for the Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) project.

This first Mars Helicopter will serve as a technology demonstrator that, if successful, will enable future scientists to remotely explore regions of the planet’s surface far from its mothership’s landing site.

“The Mars Helicopter’s initial flight will represent that planet’s version of the Wright Brothers’ achievement at Kitty Hawk and the opening of a new era,” Gorton said. “For those of us whose research revolves around all things related to flight, that would be a remarkable, historic moment.”

Still, there are no guarantees.

Cleared for Take Off

The problems facing the Mars Helicopter design team were and are daunting. The vehicle must fly in Mars’ thin atmosphere, survive brutally cold nights, and operate essentially on its own since it’s millions of miles from the nearest pilot on Earth.

Nevertheless, the engineers at JPL came up with a design that can deal with those concerns, and more.

For example, take the Martian atmosphere. At the surface where the Mars 2020 rover is targeted to land, the atmospheric pressure is equivalent to about 100,000 feet above the Earth’s surface. No helicopter has ever reached even half that distance above Earth.

Yet the Mars Helicopter will be able to fly as high as about 15 feet above the Red Planet thanks to its two sets of rotor blades – each four feet long, tip-to-tip – spinning at 2,400 rotations per minute, which is about 10 times faster than an Earth helicopter.

The smallness of the main helicopter body helps too. It’s only about the size of a softball and will weigh just under four pounds.

Image above: NASA’s Mars Helicopter, a small autonomous rotorcraft, will demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The plan at Mars is to attempt up to five flights, each one flying just a little farther and each lasting up to 90 seconds. A solar array on the top of the vehicle will recharge the batteries, which will be used both to rotate the blades and to keep the vehicle warm, especially at night.

And while just the act of flying the helicopter at Mars is the main goal, a small camera nearly identical in capability to the average smart phone will take pictures of the surface below for transmission back to Earth.

A Little Help

It was just after the overall Mars Helicopter concept was defined that JPL sought out the experts at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia and Ames Research Center in California to help refine and test the vehicle’s design and operation.

“When JPL asked for our expertise, we put together a small but very effective team to help them with configuration, sizing and aerodynamic performance; along with testing and simulation work,” Gorton said.

To do this the team used some of its workhorse computer tools to characterize and better understand how well the Mars Helicopter would fly in the Red Planet’s atmosphere. These included codes used to analyze conceptual design and vehicle sizing called the NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft tool, as well as a more detailed computational fluid dynamics analysis tool known as OVERFLOW.

Animation above: A small but mighty NASA Aeronautics team used computer tools, including special codes, to better understand how the Mars Helicopter would fly in Mars’ atmosphere. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-CalTech.

Their work began in late 2013 and has continued to the present, Gorton said, noting that even during the recent government shutdown, one of the RVLT research engineers was called to duty to help assess the data from a round of final testing.

“When a vehicle goes to Mars it’s going to have to operate autonomously. When it gets there the whole control system and everything that makes it fly must be tuned so that it can fly on its own, which this final round of testing addressed,” Gorton said.

Back on Earth

Although not directly linked to the Mars Helicopter in terms of the technology used, the work NASA Aeronautics is doing with Urban Air Mobility (UAM) also requires many of the same kind of autonomous operational considerations, Gorton said.

One of the most important elements required for UAM to work is for the unmanned vehicle – whether it is carrying cargo or passengers in or around a large city – to be able to make immediate decisions on its own when something unexpected happens.

That could be correcting for a sudden wind shear as it flies between buildings, maneuvering away from another vehicle flying too close, or detecting a technical problem requiring a safe landing as soon as possible.

While the Mars Helicopter isn’t expected to run into any other vehicles flying about, a technical problem or unpredicted change in atmospheric conditions could require the vehicle to immediately cut power and gently drop to the surface.

Image above: Autonomous operations, like those required by the Mars Helicopter, are also required for safe air traffic operations in urban areas of a new variety of vehicles in the not-distant future. Image Credit: NASA.

“That’s what autonomous operations is all about,” Gorton said.

Looking to the future, if the Mars Helicopter works as planned, JPL scientists say future missions to the Red Planet could carry and deploy even more helicopters to extend the scientific reach of the landers they arrived on.

Should that happen, and the skies of Mars start to get a little busy with autonomous helicopters flying about, parts of a drone-related traffic management system descended from work being done today by NASA Aeronautics also could find a home on the Red Planet.

“Whatever the future holds for flight in our atmosphere, the skies above Mars, or over any other planet that’s out there, we’re ready to share the skills and expertise we’ve gained over decades of aeronautics research,” Gorton said.

Related links:

Mars 2020 rover mission: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT): https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/programs/aavp/rvlt

Urban Air Mobility (UAM): https://www.nasa.gov/aero/taking-air-travel-to-the-streets-or-just-above-them

NASA’s Langley Research Center: https://www.nasa.gov/langley

NASA’s Ames Research Center: https://www.nasa.gov/ames

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL): https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft: https://rotorcraft.arc.nasa.gov/ndarc/index.php/reports-and-papers

OVERFLOW: https://overflow.larc.nasa.gov/

Drone-related traffic management system: https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/programs/aosp/utm

Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Lillian Gipson/Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate/Jim Banke.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch