NASAs Exploration Architecture

AMY BARTLETTNASA MESSENGER FELLOWRAYMOND S. KELLIS H.S.MARE GILMORE, M.Ed.LIED CHILDRENS MUSEUML.U.N.A.R.Eggs-PrizeLanding Unique Navigable Astronaut-Controlled Rovers

16976.2Payload ProtectionPayload = anything in the spacecraftAstronautsFoodMedical equipmentScience ExperimentsElectronicsSize limited by vehicleMeans of protection:Reducing spacecraft speed/impactRestraintCushioningTrapped airExpendable cushioning material2Our primary concern in this session is payload protection. A payload includes anything in the spacecraft that is essential to your reason for flying the mission. Your astronauts, their personal effects, medical equipment, science experiments, and data support (ie, computers and measurement devices for the experiments) are all payload. Your job as a payload scientist will be to protect payloads from harm during every phase of the mission.

The size of your payload container is limited by the lift capability and diameter of your vehicle.

Methods you might use to protect:Reduce jarring events in the first place (vibration during launch, hard impacts during landing)If you can keep your payload from striking a hard surface (like the wall of the spacecraft) during impact, you may reduce injury. Example: seatbeltsUse cushioning to reduce the effects of unavoidable impactTrapping air within an elastic material allows the payload to bounce and keeps it from striking the side of its container. They are generally reusable. Examples include styrofoam packing peanuts and the little airbags some shipping companies use in packages.Collapsible materials will absorb energy as they are destroyed. Examples include airbags and the styrofoam in bicycle helmets (never re-use your hemet after a crash!)

6976.3Apollo Payload RecoveryAblative heat shieldWater landingParachute for ocean recovery

3How have payload been protected in the past?Apollo era payload returned to Earth in a capsule. Payload was protected from heat by use of an ablative heat shield. Ablation causes the TPS layer to char, melt, and convert into vapor. Parachutes helped the capsule slow its fall. When a space capsule approaches a planet's surface, it needs to slow down. If it slows down decelerates too fast, the capsule and its contents can be crushed. Shape is important in controlling how the spacecraft slows. Engineers design capsules with a blunt shape rather than a streamlined one; this causes more resistance and helps the spacecraft to slow, but it also causes the capsule to heat up as it passes through an atmosphere. Parachutes may also be used to create more drag and slow the capsule's descent. Water cushions the capsule so that a braking rocket is not needed.

Apollo era payload returned to Earth in a capsule. Payload was protected from heat by use of an ablative heat shield. Ablation causes the TPS layer to char, melt, and convert into vapor. Parachutes helped the capsule slow its fall. When a space capsule approaches a planet's surface, it needs to slow down. If it slows down decelerates too fast, the capsule and its contents can be crushed. Shape is important in controlling how the spacecraft slows. Engineers design capsules with a blunt shape rather than a streamlined one; this causes more resistance and helps the spacecraft to slow, but it also causes the capsule to heat up as it passes through an atmosphere. Parachutes may also be used to create more drag and slow the capsule's descent. Water cushions the capsule so that a braking rocket is not needed.6976.4Shuttle Payload RecoveryHeat TilesBeta ClothS-Curve

4The Space Shuttle landed differently than a capsule. The Shuttle was an engine-less glider on descent. It leaves orbit at 17,000 miles per hour (find metric conversion). Roughly half an hour after the deorbit burn, the orbiter will begin to encounter the effects of the atmosphere. Called entry interface, this point usually takes place at an altitude of about 80 miles, and more than 5,000 statute miles from the landing site.

Early in reentry, the orbiter's orientation is controlled by the aft steering jets, part of the reaction control system. But during descent, the vehicle flies less like a spacecraft and more like an aircraft. Its aerosurfaces -- the wing flaps and rudder -- gradually become active as air pressure builds. As those surfaces become usable, the steering jets turn off automatically. To use up excess energy, the orbiter performs a series of four steep banks, rolling over as much as 80 degrees to one side or the other, to slow down. The series of banks gives the shuttle's track toward landing an appearance similar to an elongated letter "S."

The orbiter's main landing gear touches down on the runway at 214 to 226 miles per hour, (find metric) followed by the nose gear. The drag chute is deployed, and the orbiter coasts to a stop.

The Shuttle is protected from the heat of re-entry by 20,000+ heat tiles and Nomex blanketing. Tiles come in 3 colors each offering a different level of protection. They are comprised primarily of air.6976.5Phoenix - EDL

55 minute video (EDL- Entry, Descent and Landing)Phoenix was the first mission to return data from either polar region of Mars (north pole). Phoenix : (1) study the history of water in the Martian arctic and (2) search for evidence of a habitable zone and assess the biological potential of the ice-soil boundary.

Phoenix could not function if it did not land safely. It landed on May 25, 2008, mission completed November 2008 and was declared dead on May 12, 2010.

Phoenix entered the Martian atmosphere at nearly 21,000km (13,000 miles) per hour, and within 7 minutes had decreased its speed to 8 kilometres per hour (5.0mph) before touching down on the surface. Video discusses reducing friction, decreasing speed, heat protection, stopping, landing.

Parachute reduces speed from 900 to 200 mph6976.6Spirit and Opportunity - EDL

62 minute video (EDL- Entry, Descent and Landing)

Shows heat shield, parachutes, rockets and airbags used to safely land the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Rovers started descent at about 13,000 mph and had about 6 minutes of drop time to slow to safe speed for landing.Parachute opens at Mach 2 (1000 mph) and slows vehicle quickly.

Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity EDL

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

6976.8Lunar Lander - Past

2 crew members Seven days on the surface

Return to Earth

Airlock for surface activities

Descent stage:Aerozine 50 (fuel) Nitrogen tetroxide (oxidizer)

Ascent stage:Aerozine 50 (fuel)Nitrogen tetroxide (oxidizer)8The astronauts in the Lunar Module put the engine into full throttle to begin their descent to the moon. More than a dozen small thrust motors helped control the direction and speed of the descent to land the module gently. Because the moon has no atmosphere, the crew could not calculate their altitude and airspeed. The Lunar Module sent out microwave beams to the moon's surface to provide information on the spacecraft's position.At just a few thousand feet above the moon's surface, a computer on board the spacecraft initiated the approach phase. The computer needed to adjust both horizontal and vertical speeds to almost zero, while the crew had to adjust for craters and other formations on the moon's surface to avoid crashing.

6976.9DestinationsISSMoonMarsEarth ReturnAsteroids

K.I.S.S.

SafetyLaunch Abort SystemRobust Thermal ProtectionLanding Choices (land or water)Possible Destinations

9The Space Shuttle retired in July 2011, leaving the U.S. in need of a new human spaceflight vehicle. Many companies are working toward the building of a new crew vehicle. What can we expect or hope for from a new crew vehicle ?

The new crew vehicle should be designed for missions to the ISS (6 for a complete crew swap), the Moon (4 people), Mars (4-6 people) or any other deep space destination. The vehicle will also need to provide safe return to Earth for the crew.

Designs might follow the KISS principle Keep It Simple, Stupid. That is, work on what we already know no need to recreate the wheel.

Safety Bringing back a Launch Abort System that separates the capsule and Service Module from the rest of the rocket should an anomaly happen during launch offers crew protection shuttle era astronauts did not have.Thermal protection system - will most likely be ablative (similar to Apollo designs and less fragile than the Shuttles RCC and tiles).

Landing design improvements would allow water landing as before, but also earth landings. This would keep the capsule from being exposed to salt water and therefore possibly making it reusable.Landing Sites: Past:Future:

For years, humans have envisioned building an outpost on the moon. In the 1960s and 1970s, astronauts ventured to the nearside of the moon in just 3 days time and brought back hundreds of pounds of lunar rock and dust samples. With the recent discovery of ice at the lunar poles (2009, LRO), the prospect of colonizing the moon has become more of a reality. Our moon could be the first off planet destination where humans can learn to live and work on other planetary bodies. It will essentially serve as a dress rehearsal for colonizing other planets, like Mars. LRO Maps for Landing Site Selection6976.11

Each group will be analyzing scientific data obtained from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on the lunar south pole. There are 7 sites that have been pre-selected based on the fact that they represent a range of environments. As a group, you are to determine which sites are most ideal for a lunar colony based on 4 environmental factors: temperature, illumination, water supply, and communications. Lets consider why these 4 criteria might be important factors. Lunar Landing Site Selection6976.12

Rank sites based on criteria, determine weights of each criteria, and calculate scores to determine the best landing site. Ideally, in class students will become one of four experts in charge of analyzing and recording their data. There is a Communications Technician looking at the Earth Visibility Map and identifying how many days of the year Earth is above the horizon and, consequently in communication with, each site. The Energy Technician analyzes the Sun Visibility Map, this time looking for how many Earth days the sun is visible in its entirety above the horizon. The Thermal Analyst uses the yearly average surface temperatures derived from the Diviner measurements to find the ideal locations based on the temperatures that occur at one meter or more below the surface. Finally, the Hydrologist looks at the LEND neutron map and identifies the sites that have the most potential for water/ice. After ranking each site, team members come back together and, using their data and the weighting of the 4 criteria, they determine which landing site is the ideal location. Presentations are then given to the class. Where should we land?Bigelow BA330 Model

Google Lunar X PRIZE Video Clip

6976.16Payload PackageDestination: Moon Payload: raw eggDrop test: 15-25 feetLocation TBD when we arriveGuidelines:Self-deployedContained within cardboard (when dropped) or attached at top only16Trainee challenge safe return of your payload from space.6976.17You will be given the following materials:30 cm x 45 cm sheet of cardboard (Orion size limitation)30 cm of duct tapeEgg (your delicate payloadyes, its raw)

100 credits for additional materialsBalloons 20Nylons 15 Ripstop Nylon 15Tissue Paper 5 Cotton balls 2Straws 2 String (30 cm)2Duct tape (1 cm) 1

Surviving egg requiredLow budget spacecraft wantedPayload Ops Specifications: Your lander17Payload Ops Specifications: Your rover6976.18You will be given the following materials:30 cm x 45 cm sheet of cardboard (Orion size limitation)30 cm of duct tape

100 credits for additional materialsWater bottle20Balloon 20Dowel rod 10Cardboard tube5Wheel 5Pipe cleaner 5Craft stick 5Straw2Duct tape (1 cm) 1

Must ride inside the podMust work without repair after landing18Payload Ops Scoring6976.19Rovers packed in pod, dropped No repairs allowed on rover after dropEgg rides in ziplock bag in or on the rover

Surviving egg required Points awarded for the accuracy of the landingPoints awarded for the distance covered by roverPoints awarded for unused credits in the budget

100 credits is max on each build activity. Trainees granted points this way:

100 used credits X 2 for budget on each(if they use 80 credits on pod they start with 100-80= 20 X 2 = 40 for the pod)

Award 2 points for each inch the rover travels

Add all points.19Commercial Spaceflight Videohttp://www.commercialspaceflight.org/