NIAC 2021 - Keynote Address

 Keynote Address Moogega Cooper

NIAC is a great mech to push our understanding and beyond…

Parents met in South Korea

Grew up in a home with divorce didn’t have a home developed in science

Didn’t understand why science classes were useful

Once I saw the cosmos, everything improved and I had a purpose for my journey

Spent the school years under Dr. James Russel III and learned how to program, analyze and validate atmospheric data and make a scientific contribution

Langley will always be the home away from home

Continued nasa journey as a postdoc at JPL

Began in the clean room with JPL and understanding the cleanliness of the spacecraft and the clean room

Began working on radar tech dev, then jumped from mission to mission

Also did some outreach work thanks to Mary voyteg

Then met Carl Sagan and he is largely the reason I am here today

Returned toMSL on Curiosity then picked upside work on plasma research to sterilize samples from mars before they are returned dot earth

This rolled into Mars 2020 and eventually lead the mission for planetary protection

Along with Europa Lander and am currently the planetary protection supervisor

History of Rover in-situ science, we are standing on the shoulder of giants

The questions today are enabled by those previous mars rovers, questions, exploration and discoveries

Bulk chemistry was a big deal with sojourner in 1997

Then spirit/opp was abrasion and bulk geochemistry

With curiosity power drilling was added

Now in mars 2020 we are able to take full core samples and see the changes with depth

Potential biomolecueles can be seen there

Prepare for humans on mars and to be able to fly a helicopter on mars

This was fortunately done successfully.

As samples are being collected, they will be deposited on the surface of mars

There is a deep post strategy there that will allow the samples for retrieval

It takes a village to make these missions successful, that is a multi agency effort

We hope the sample will be returned by the 2030s

NASA hardware that leaves … we all need to consider planetary protection

The first component is exploration of planets moons and others, we hope to avoid any earth based microbial contamination, this is the mantra of leave no trace, especially if we are searching for potential ancient life

We need to do so in a way that will protect earths own biosphere

From design through the build through test through the operations

Design something that is cleanable, and keeping it clean, for example with the use of bunny suits

Test these in huge chambers and make sure that the chambers are clean

Sample storage assembly

Tubes taht will touch the martian soil must be pristinely clean

We bake them out and take a sample, by growing the sample on swabs that we collect

We have sterile swabs and would sample the spacecraft with that

Then we archive the microbes and we have a catalogue going back to Atlas

Traditional culturing takes more than seven days to complete

Then we extract the DNA and we take a set to archive and the other part to put it through hybrid sequencing that will tell the ATCGs and what contaminants might be present

Our high throughput sequencing can shorten the process to three days

Against increasing, one example is about 8 months before launch, and the team goes from jet propulsion lab in Southern California to the cape Canaveral preparation for launch, we stack and launch

The aeroshell is actually built by Lockheed Martin

We hopped over to Denver, one thing that happened that we did not anticipate, created an anomaly on the tubes, and one of the flight tubes… about 8 months before launch and components must be installed about 3 months before launch

The issue was fixed and while managing the lab spaces across the coast, we were able to build across the US and test build and launch

With the global pandemic, it was impossible to go back home. Against increasing odds, we were able to come together beyond the pandemic and a dirty set of tubes and work past issues to really get to the launch pad

Have a common goal

Creativity in finding solutions and innovating new paths stem from teams with a. Common goal

Just remind one another that we all have a common goal and we can achieve that successs and issues that were troubleshooted and overcome, and we had to keep in mind we wanted to get to that launch pad with the highest level of integrity possible. I wanted to highlight the importance of having a diverse team, and to say I did this, and while I am the lead, I am nothing without my team, and this tema pictured has thousands of people who supported them as well.

With all those challenges, delivered most comprehensive protection implementation to date

The areas highlighted in yellow are specifically connected to planetary protection

HEPA filtered region means microbial load outside will not be able to enter

There are several things that have been done and we were able to show against all odds and increaseing odds that we were able to meet cleanliness goals with 25.4% margin

Seeing that rocket lift off was on many people’s shoulders that day

Animation of the sample collection sample was vaporized and pulverized so we were able to see an acquired sample there

Sample handling key steps

Measure volume 

Seal with pictures first

See that seal is seated properly and actuated 

Answer the question are we alone out there and that can preserve the blue marble, and remember that our exploration beyond earth should be done in a responsible way

Q: applications to earth?

A: we only understand within our own problem as we can only look at the framework within the earth, we can see that prions actually wreak havoc on the brain from mad cow disease, so there is information of how to treat microbial life

Q: PP considerations for Europa Clipper?

A: Clipper did not use anything new persay, the policy dictates how spacecraft treat going to icy bodies, and you need to go to a model to get that 10^-4 probability, and really tackle that to think outside of the box

Q: Commercial enterprises to conduct NASA explorations?

A: not speaking on behalf of NASA, get into the field and the discipline responsibly, how to t acquire a sample in a way that it will not contaminate the environment it was collected and to return it without contamination here

Q: is it actually worth it for NASA to do this by itself or there talks with other countries or enterprises to conduct their own rules?

A: as long as the country is sending a spacecraft that is going to space, then these rules must be followed by those individual countries

Q: are there any major challenges or hurdles that we see in the near term or the far term?

A: need to communicate effectively and interface the hardware…

Q: C2 resource utilization?

A: we reinforce the rules for planetary protection, as long as you can submit a proposal we use app at a kit to look at the amount of energy as a metric for the amount that are there, can that be improved? Yes, and if you can help us do so, please do that

Q: core samples present before storage?

A: Sherlock can look at the core shavings and look in situ at the top surface and see the geology and mineralogy that will allow us to collect that sample, we want to know what is in the core before it is acquired, initial inspections and volume inspection… we can actually do science in the borehole, that is almost immediate

Q: how to protect the environment when each asteroid only brings 10^13 microbes with them?

A: humans must not go in certain zones of mars while leaving some areas pristine

Q: what are your thoughts on cognition of mars as a whole?

A: what are the ethics of going to mars, is this an extension of colonialism? It is a really tough question to answer and in some way we have to understand our environment? We should do exploration in a way that is more ethical than the ways that are done in the past

Q: are there international standards for PP and what are enforcement actions for violations of PP?

A: lots of much more interesting details of policies and policies that exist within the USA, NASA is not a regulatory agency, so we rely on the FAA, not sure how that works internationally

Q: can we take a small tree?

A: Elon musk wanted to bring a plant to mars, many plants have been brought to the international space station, to understand how plants function and thrive in space if not on earth

Q: do planetary protection policies apply to space corporations such as space

A: yes, they do

Q: natural to bring theory of astrophysics to other ?

A: there is an idea that there could be life on a rock that may have traveled across solar systems to see where ti could go. Even where we would goto expose the hardiest of hardy and expose it to the places it would still live, and could be protected by radiation and kill life off into space.

Q: any other destinations that are of interest to you or the PP community within the solar system?

A: yes, Europa and icy worlds, where we find water there we find life, and make sure our germs are being kept to ourselves because the implications are very high

Q: Venus and the inner planets?

A: demonstrates the ability to evolve, and we are starting to learn in the upper atmosphere that life could exist in that sort of environment

Q: first thing to leave solar system was the voyager system?

A: the thing with voyager and the modeling we talked about earlier with clipper and the ing-radiation leaves so much gamma radiation and for such a long duration of time, will kill most of the microbes that we have on earth, clearly with the record that was placed, possible other intelligent …

Q: can we use plants like a cactus to detect water beneath the surface?

A: how does use of a plant change the environment or the alternative of using a robotic system

Q: what happens if a space company breaks the PP rules or protocol?

A: that is far above the pay grade, and it would be trouble to hypothesize

Q: what do you recommend for those who wish to explore space?

A: if your child doesn’t do well, don’t give up on them. Don’t stay grounded and give people all of the answers that they trust, help me to navigate some tough situations… make sure to stay grounded with someone that you trust

Q: if we do happen to rendezvous with an interstellar object, what to do ourselves?

A: depending on how long you think it has been journeying through space, it might break up,  but you don’t know, handle that with caution, treat everything as a biohazard until proven otherwise

Q: any other defining moments?

A: every moment is a defining moment. There are certain situations that one could find human, being frustrated is a natural human response, how to prevent this in the future… mantra for every day and the scenario to go through

Q: in terms of interstellar exploration, stars to other probes or on their own?

A: Planetary protection officer, is the person who reaches across all of the missions not only with NASA but also with other agencies and organizations

Q: terraforming?

A: terraforming is interesting and is possible as a mechanism that can be terraformed and take care of their own planet, everything is possible but if you are using it as a reason, then it is urged to reassessed the point of view

Q: what constitutes as life? Does microbial life count? What happens if we deem a planet not to bear life but there is some life there?

A: that is the whole scientific process. Bacteria fungi multiple living and nonliving things are considered. If someone comes with additional evidence to say someone is not right, then you would write an academic journal and inquire about that. Results change and understandings change and more information so the view doesn’t support the current understanding, a really interesting position to find ourselves in of course

Q: what additional planetary thoughts are needed for fluidic planets or regions like Europa?

A: think about heat to create a fluidic environment

Q: lots of outreach, do you talk to young children?

A: yes, because elementary and middle school students will often make me take a seat. What is going to be the final answer, involving a lot more people and how to involve commercial entities to make sure they do the right thing

Q: can a clean room be designed for a spacecraft?

A: yes, in fact the spacecraft is designed in a clean room. There is a baseline component and we can see people tracking in the dirt from the California area and how it changes to the east coast and the more wet environment and micro organisms as well

Q: well there be need for a clean room in outer space such as on the moon or mars, being able to contain our microbes so we can keep our germs to ourselves, no way to see a way to build a clean room for ourselves, and we have shown that the ISS is fairly close to a clean room we would not need additional efforts there

Q: given improving biological science, can data be used to resurrect or rebuild an alien microbe?

A: secretions that are at least 20% of micro organisms that are a spike that allow them to puncture other organisms and use their cells as food, so lots of organisms can function on their own

Q: mining in the permanently shadowed regions?

A: the planetary protection requirement changes and the hardware requirements would be more stringent if you are in that region of the moon

NIAC 2021 - Light Bender Power Distribution

 Chuck Taylor

Langley research center

Notes by Paul Fischer

Light bender

Power distribution possibility

They want water, how do they get the water?

Oxygen and hydrogen can be brought back up to the rim of the crater

Power at the rim of the crater with solar arrays there

But how to get the power to our assets 3-4 km away?

The system itself is designed to land, deploy and enter use autonomously

A small stowed volume…

The other feature of light bender includes new users and consumers

We are not tied to what other architects did on earth to provide power

More importantly we will draw cables from producers to consumers, eg. Deep craters may not allow the use of cables

Until we get to very long distances, RF/beam power transfer will be the power transfer use of choice

1. Power distribution system
1. Use optical elements to move light to power

So lets step back

Independent optic systems direct the beam towards anyone on the surface

Our original calculations  were wrong because there was an error in the code first principles of optics determined that long-haul light distribution was not appropriate for light beam distribution, the periscope created an increased …

The first thing we had to address was the long-haul component

We had to collect two flat mirrors in tandem, which did not create the divergent issue, the combination of the light beam and the periscope allowed the dynamic nature to remain in the architecture

We estimate we could give 1kW of usable power to a consumer at a distance of over 5km

The goal is less than 250kg with a packaging bogey of 10 cubic meters

What makes us unique is the product packaging through a small commercial lander, therefore we will just languish along the status quo

The Stowed volume constraint is the problem, currently at 36 cubic meters

That can be cut in Half in phase ii, but getting under 10 cubic meters can be difficult

Use of the CLPS as a proxy for our design effort

And in a difficult place in order to get sunlight prior to a sustained presence I period in the full lunar exploration

Q: the mirrors fold, how can you make sure they are flat enough in a tight enough beam?

A: with the ultra flex, there are ribs that come up because all you lose is the cosign angle, you will notice we do that with the flat mirrors and positing on the flat level, on one grain with a parabolic mirror we quickly discovered the mirror would ….

For the flat mirrors probably looking at a mylar film rather than the system such as the ultra flex

Q: durability of the mirrors?

A: moonquakes would require more stability of the mast, and we are looking at the same quality of the mass and micrometeorites slowly degrading the quality of the mirrors… if advertised as a dynamic architecture, lunar dust might get involved, no attempt to get a signal, just an absolute photon count. 

Q: How close to real-world testing of the concept?

A: small pieces of shape memory alloy if anyone is used to working with that, so usually it is only in very small pieces, where we can shape the material into a stowed configuration and have it opened back up to form the mirror, but each of these have problems with the packaging

Q: speaking of the packaging have you looked at origami and other types of folding techniques?

A: different techniques for flat mirrors and curved mirrors

Q: given the packaging and mass constraints other materials?

A: yes, consideration for mylar and down that line

Q: clear at all times for electrics and statics to clear dust?

A: one key thing to point out is that there is an assumption for a habitat area that would encapsulate a launch area etc… we are offering a remote area with a landing, a deployment and letting the dust settle, so not as much of a dust fuse

Q: uniqueness in the packaging of these mirrors instead of cables?

A: it is not an architecture that has been adopted to present. Very mass comepettivei if not downright winning in terms of cabling. How to realize the vision so to speak, innovation owed to Tesla, but still very unique

Q: applications of concept as it is being developed?

A: not only less light, but atmosphere on mars or earth would degrade the beam but maybe in Antartica.

NIAC 2021 - Solar System Pony Express

 Joshua Vander Hook on NASA JPL

Solar system pony express

Notes by Paul Fischer

The data from HiRise and CRISM over 4 years, getting terabyte scale data back has been difficult, why can’t we take full mars maps every year?

We would need 1000x data for continuous surveillance

The opposite is also true

Mule because it carries the data physically, the alternative is a DTE direct to earth Link with deep space network DSN

During flyby, data mules can do more communication with mars than we could in years with a DSN

The data mule can stay near mars as long as it is needed to

For every bit of data sent to earth, ten bits can be stashed on the data mule

Eventually the data can be quickly downloaded to the data mule

Many multishotorbits could be and a multi cycler trajectory can be simulated to see the tractor in the future

Science context at mars

The total data volume would be approximately one petabit per year

Impact craters on mars… with a high resolution images to see the surface of mars

What about Saturn and Jupiter?

The farther you get away from earth, the more incentive that you have to use a data mule

The Jupiter question has an elephant in the room which is always radiation

The ultimate data compression technique, though Venus is pretty close, if you are going to make a round-trip, why not include a few hard drives?

The context beyond mars, increasing the data to under 5 petabits would allow a full planetary image of Venus, for Saturn load would be difficult even with a rideshare

Summary, here is what we know: pretty cheap using one shot trajectories, multi-use and each mule could also be doing science and tech with a big dataset of cycler orbit trajectories and link budget analyses

The main thing we had to do was to prove to ourselves that we would have to prove with the highest resolution models that we can get

Trajectories were the next hardest to get

After that it would be a lot of very little, and very large problems left

Q: the pony express would have to extrapolate a number of other linear solar concepts

A: how to connect to the DSN the deep space network that will be online in the next twenty or thirty years

Q: applications for interstellar missions far in the future?

A: I don’t feel qualified to talk about that, actually. The best way to transfer a lot of data and to tie it to a rock and send it over might be the case

Q: what about mars?

A: so that is tied to the DSN vs. the data mules, whatever is done to increase the communications to mars, would also facilitate the data mule

Q: expand on the viability for one of the multi-shot data mules?

A: do it on an esper ring, the range of estimates based on what we are getting etc… look at how to launch six cycler orbits at once

Q: would it be possible to do those all at once or sequentially?

A: there could be simultaneous or the original would be a cascading launch, so there could also be something sent later to pick up data. The most squeamishness in terms of logistics, but it does depend on how the numbers play out

Q: the diagrams really show what is happening on a trajectory?

A: managing the network that would be idle for a couple of times, ten years in cruise and how much propellant would be needed the committee suggested we would need something in terms of solar sales

Q: important in terms of crucial and game changing technology

A: somebody has to do all of the work, there is no one person that can say aha I know how that works, each piece needs to be designed for a complete design so the huge factor increase in what you are getting…

Q: scaled in some sort of smaller application?

A: someone asked what about the moon? Well there is no point in smaller scale use. We are hoping to scale up rather than to scale down.

Q: what are the means for constructing the mule?

A: mostly hard drives and of course shielding. Tackle that with redundancy, we don’t need any miracles.

ITech 2018 Jim Reuter Deputy Associate Administrator NASA Space Technology

ITech 2018 Jim Reuter Deputy Associate Administrator NASA Space Technology

Notes Transcribed by Paul Andreas Fischer

If you are in the imaging business and you look at it from the input to the output, the possibilities for application are limitless.

As long as you have a measure of urgency, you can use academic debate to reach a solution.

Ten winners have been selected and another 3 will be given.

Today is the day ten years ago that Columbia happened. Remembering Columbia.

I remember exactly where I was at the time. I was at Time Square.  It was the 15th birthday of my twin daughters. 

Strategic thrusts

4 mega drivers lead to 6 technology thrusts

Mega drivers:

Increasing access- to our systems

Accelerating pace of discovery - all we have to do is look at the planetary exploration and the emergence of private industrial investment, and even of private finances leading the way

Democratization of space - much broader participation, emphasis on public partnerships, and greater international participation. NGO investments in space was 3.9 billion, the increase was exponential after being flat for years, beginning in earnest in ’15. ISS as a cohesive agent.

Growing utilization of space - the nascent form of industry, sees manufacturing for use in space and on earth, assembly and mining  

These were four concepts when we considered which thrust to emphasize.

Strategic thrust

Accelerate industrialization - servicing, manufacturing, assembly there are many different parts to the process. Searching for life on another planet is an example. If we can assemble machinery onsite it will be faster and safer to transport the mechanisms

Safe and efficiency - even if we have to travel interstellar by the gram-size using directed laser energy, that is an example of how we have been willing to spend 100 million before.

increasing access to planetary surfaces - good places to land tend to be lest interesting, so hazard landing etc is important, we have a mechanism on landing Mars 2020

enable next generations of space discovery - we hope to greatly enhance data quantity and quality. Where those next generations can be on our icy moons, such as Europa. We believe there to be water and volcanic activity, yielding the essential ingredients to life, if we can drill through 5 miles of ice, and radiation and other hurdles.

enable humans t o live and explore in space and on planetary surfaces - Space habitation, radiation protection, increased crew effectiveness. I worked 7 years on the ISS from 1993 to 2000 on life support. We went through alot of iterations on how we could make ISS with multiple partners, with the Russians, we had the advantage of doing so close to earth, with a solid logistical supply. Our return capability on Mars will make us limited, we need robotics and other capabilities to enhance our abilities.

Grow and utilize the US industrial and academic base - iTech is part of achieving Nasa’s dream. Most of the time, 35 years at NASA, have been spent in logistics. We never bought services, we never did any of the cooperation with the private sector that we do today, so once you are used to doing something in one way, you have to adapt.

Space Technology Programs

Early Stage

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts

Space Tech Research Grants

Center Innovation Fund

Game Changing Development

Small Spacecraft Tech

\
Commercial partnerships

iTech

SBIR/STTR

tech transfer

Flight opp

Centinial challenge

Regional econ dev

I do not have time to go through all of these.

We are probably at about 8 now

Some of these are industry specific

But these can be conducted by anyone, such as NIAC, we pay 125k for research project and if we like it we up the pay to 500k for a further 2 years studying the topic.

We express the privilege to utilize the tech, but beyond that we exercise no additional copyrights

We see ourselves as the best in the world, approval for phase 1 gives 125k for 6 months, and phase 2 gives 750k for two years this leads to a contract phase.

We sponsor payloads for suborbital platforms, and we do not pay for the payloads, but we provide the launch and a small amount of money for integration. Servicer and payload get manifested.

My time is up but I also address regional economic development and centennial challenges.

Zorb

2018 NASA iTech Cycle I

notes transcribed by Paul Andreas Fischer

Tacile interface for communication

Not a map you see, but a map you feel, for blind people, is a centuries old idea

If you think about the technologies you interact with on a day to day basis, probably a screen

Millions of people rely on inefficient communication and their vision and hearing are overloaded

Sematic labs thinks about communication, and believes they have found another way of solving the problem: communicating information by touch

The product is Zorb, as a hardware desing to enable delivery of information through touch

The helmet draws your eyes to areas that need attention, such as an emergency

The sensations created by the software allow creation of sensations to communicate anything.

20 multi-billion dollar business have expressed interest

We have created a pipeline of patented products that allow us to creat an IP viable line

The pre-order campaign raised 25k, and it took 9 months to deliver the first version of the hardware for users

Collection of feedback has allowed the next generation to emerge

3 objectives

Industrial safety

Military coordination

Augmented reality

The technology of touch has not evolved in 20 years.

We are currently raising 500k to evaluate the effectiveness of the technology in specific controlled circumstances. To demonstrate how many lives are saved, how easy it is to send a message by touch, and exactly what efficiency is gained.

Our product is not like a pager, which is on or off, our product allows a wide variety of signals to be sent, from proximity alarms to the value of a pressure gauge.

Our team is comprised of employees from google, entrepreneurs, biologists, and more

So the next concept is how to take this technology to space. There are unique conditions and communication failures that can occur in space. This can be beneficial in a space suit, underwater, or in the factories where equipment is manufactured.

Q you have exclusivity in the field, and the product is already prepared for use. My question is what about security? Sensitive fields such as military might not want to allow hacking that could compromise their objectives? Is your defense an external platform or a cybersecurity focus?

A Our team coordinates with teams in the intelligence communities with separate encryption, our Bluetooth would not be active, the security is handed off on transfer.

Q Is your objective to create a new language of touch that can be used across multiple platforms?

A precisely, you already have specific emotions and responses to specific stimuli and we are able to utilize this to promote the coherency of our technology.

Q you hope to quantify how many lives you expect to save?

A exactly, by using games such as football, and the technology we can use the data from a coach giving insturctions to players as a base line for how effective it will be in the field.

Q where are the signals coming from and how are they controlled?

A right now all of the signals have a human in the loop, so there is a human who initiates the signals. We can coordinate this how you want.

Notes on NIAC 2016 Conference: The E-Sail, Schackleton Crater Illumination, and Chemical Energy Systems

NIAC 2016 Conference

Transcription: Paul Fischer

Bruce Wiegmann, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

HERTS/Electric Sail background information

modeling

tether and deployment specifications

and spacecraft design

Contributions from universities, labs, and technical schools across the country

Distinction of a solar sail from an e-sail

E-sail converts sun’s energy through electrostatic repulsion

wire sheath extends and pushes positively charged protons through

these positively charged tethers are quite different in punch and design from an e-sail

thrust drops by 1/r^2 for the solar sail and 1/r^1.16… for an e-sail

e-sail will provide higher velocity, and have a slower degradation of thrust in dark spots

Voyager took 35 years to reach edge of the solar system, an e-sail could shorten that time significantly

How to recreate a tether deployment in an area with a flat floor, should be ready shortly

the cost came to 50,000 for this research

Results of the particle and sail deployment simulations

data generated was reproducible, a charged wire repulsion

ion source and charged box there >>> tunnel without a wire

deflection of protons creates an angle and temperature which will be discovered with these simulations

diagnostic suite to measure ion flow, has yielded good data

Updating MALTO model (Mission Analysis Low Thrust Optimization)

the idea is to change the thrust drop ratio and ??/ ratio

Extra space designers were put to work on a couple billion dollar mission, requiring RTG propulsion

creating a box-set proof that the e-sail can actually work

Can we package it into a 12U box?

three conditions for potential success, the project had failed two years before

Deploy

Accelerate

Steer

acceleration goal is triple that of competing research and many times that of any existing system

Hub and Spoke > Hybrid > Barbell

neither the first nor the third would be feasible at a full scale

Initial issues with the 12U system propellant mass and combinations of 6 U systems which violated maximum spin rates

the hybrid of 10U and two 1U units did not burn out

Use of the NEA scout 6U design with a 6 kV power supply and other modifications

development of a tether trade tree, for advantages of different materials

Materials

synthetic > organic > metallic

Miralon (CNT)

amber strand leading contender

Aluminum

copper

SOS is the vehicle of choice for deployment, because not many NASA vehicles are outside of orbit

Upper stage> 10 or 11 rideshare payloads, which will eject from this stage

Detumble - drives propellant to spin out, 800 grams of cubesets

Uncouple

200 watts of electricity total for solar array deployment, 16 km in approximately 6 hours>> 8 rotations per day

when spacecraft is 30 degrees out of the ecliptic plane, a solar array can be conceivable

QA

As the model is expanded to actual size, the forces at work will also grow, so the 1/r^1.16… is correct

Scale of animation yields questions about the tether system…

It is outside of the Earth’s magnetosphere 2 different electron transmission cables are provided

Initial skepticism was overwhelmed by personal model on a small scale which proved that this actually did work! Would the solar field be guided by the field lines of the magnetic charges which [exist in space or from craft?] are extant

Yuri Millner and interstellar team are interested in this

Transfers for Lunar extreme environments: Adrian Stoica

Project is currently in phase 2

concept of transformers - 

autonomous reflectors deployed from small surface to large surface projects

provide continuous solar illumination into permanently shaded craters

creates an infrastructure that provides power and thermal control to robots as a service

Shape changing robotic space systems that redirect energy

on the rim, can also serve as communication relays

This is not a new thought, but the story of how to bring the sun into the dark place sparked this thought >> Norway in Rio Kant, reflectors provide 50 meters sun exposure

Space mirrors starting with Almond Albet and later Ehricke have been explored conceptually

1) deposits of hydrogen and oxygen are extant

2) tech to power ISRU is permanently shaded areas is lacking

3) locations on the rim of Shackleton crater have long, yet discontinuous, periods of illumination …at most there might only be 3 days (2.5ish) of darkness, so this is also a period which will have to be dealt with

Phase 1 Findings: relatively large reflectors, will necessitate light and small packing

RTG may be ok for prospector rover, but not enough to power ISRU

The rover must survive periodic shortages in hibernation mode

re-usable data

ISRU of icy regolith necessary to extract water, hydrogen, and oxygen

evaluate the possibility to obtain continuous illumination

develop concept and reduce uncertainties, inc. material, unfolding of TF from compact to full sized

Vision

Develop a Lunar Pole South Illumination ???…

capacity of the SPI

Lunar ISRU potential to fuel travel to Mars

Lunar LH2/LO2 propellant from Shackleton Crater may be sufficient

Sustainable and affordable human-mars exploration architecture using self-propelled tanks refueled on Moon

five hundred days of Mars exploration enabled

Deep-Space habitat will use some tanks of fuel

one full tank will be waiting at Leo, while four empty tanks return to Moon for refueling

10 tons of water can be generated per day, and produce 7.5 tons of propellant

Regolith water resource: one meter depth with 5-10% of ice

Total power needs for ISRU

6MW for extraction of water, 50 kJ/g, 24kJ per gram for electrolysis 10 t/day

13MW solar power, 3 MW direct heat and 10 MW energy

Summation of results

LOLA data and 3D models for computer generation

tools allow pretty good comparison of Ray-Tracing and Horizon measurements

Redirection from a region into a two flat mirror system >>>complete illumination along the rim>>> actual illumination through the transformer

should the reflectors be pure or should they be concentrated into lasers?

eg origami opening>>> properties of Spiral and Concentric Crease Patterns

composing solar panel infrastructure, and importance of taking advantage of the Moon before traveling to Mars…

QA No clues on the amount of harvestable ice which might be there, and whether that ice might be needed for lunar settlement

there appears to be enough water for 3000 years of travel to Mars using this method, but technical issues remain

it could be 2000 years, but yeah…

Access remains an issue, shackelton several kilometers across and deep

actual landing and launch will occur from crater.

Michael Paul, presented by Dr. Timothy Miller

Why: Stored Chemical Energy System

continuation of a phase II project

Need:

Power for spacecraft in sunless regions

battery-power leads to short missions (hours)

Not enough plutonium to go around

is there a sweet spot in the design space of missions for combustion?

Combustion of Lithium fuel where a Navy research station did work with power systems

use of all sorts of metals as oxidizers and products are more dense than the actual fuel, which will allow those metals to stay in the system [unlike leaded gasoline, which leaked and combusted into family homes with indoor generators]

Phase two effort follows design for five-days (120-hrs) on the surface of Venus

8Lithium +Sulfuric hexa-Flouride>6dilithiumiSulfite+Heat

standard heat of reaction at 298K is ?? kW

prior stirling demonstration system:

fully integrated system (~.5m diameter)

3kW Stirling Engine

37% efficiency

80 hour Wick Combustor Operation (Fuel exhaustion)

Horizontal, Cylindrical Tank when used has a void space from the Lithium which was present, as products of combustion freeze at a different temperature than Lithium, which can create cracks and breaks in the containment chamber

Lithium Oxide has the highest temperature reaction, so the necessity to create lithium carbide presents

96.5% CO2 and 3.5% N2

in order to obtain clean Lithium, these products must fall away completely

a little over 4 times the system specific energy over a Nitrogen/sulfur based battery

9” by 14” combustion model

1000 degrees fahrenheit yields the blue flame

at 1250 degrees, a scarlet flame is demonstrated which allows some smaller byproducts to form

Li and CO2 yields alot of crap along the top, as the temperatures run began to fluctuate dramatically

a nice sustained combustion process occurs for about 100 minutes before the lithium level sinks below thermal couple one, and proceeds through couple two into couple three

Lithium oxide melts or freezes at a very high temperature, where lithium separates from the crud

this necessitates a wider combuster… will be accomplished shortly

circumferential defraction??? as lithium runs up the sides of lithium oxide and carbide

time progression yields the progression of free carbon

moles products vs. moles CO2

trying this with Nitrogen will be the next goal

For an application on the lunar South Pole, with the engine operating at 2 kW and rejecting heat to only 50 K a run time of 150 hours can be expected.

QA Occupational safety concerns about Lithium, fire safety?

No government body on earth is more restrictive about fuel than US Navy systems, so solid lithium is actually quite benign, unless it accumulates hydrogen… must be used with caution, but is much safer than plutonium or other products

fairly large body of data using no-gravity simulations, but in the third system with the products falling away there may be complications, but there is no indication that the reaction will not occur in zero gravity.

combustion products could sink, but carbon dioxide lithium success does depend on keeping these by-products from sticking to the wall

the holy grail of not having to take an oxidizer

This is the first time of running this project with a Stirling Engine

dependence on segregation has been displayed to be not entirely present

The Navy system was deployed as a steam system