NIAC 2021 - FLOAT

 Niethen Shaler FLOAT Flexible Levitation on a Track

jpl.nasa.gov

Notes by Paul Fischer

The first lunar railway system to move 200k kg per day that can be rolled directly onto a path or track to complete repetitive tasks

These have other added benefits

The challenge is how to process autonomous, in an inhospitable environment, transport

The innovation in FLOAT is to devise a very simple robot that permanently levitate over a track, we take advantage of graphite’s diamagnetic capabilities and are able to deliver over 33 kg/m^2 payload to a surface on the moon, directional control also possible

Collaborators at SRI developed microscale robots and FLOAT is responsible to upscale this millimeter approach up to meters

We are refining our estimates, experiments of small-scale models

The primary architectural mission we are focused on

A robust ice water mining operation

These provide fuels and basic supplies 

Requirement to produce 3,000 kg of regulate per day

The transportation options are a low-cost …

Most lunar parts and regulars. Autonomous driving and float tracks creat well defined routes 

Performance estimates

For benchmarking the overall float system

The thickness of the graphite in the track, the payload, and the height

System design

We are also considering one, three track configurations as well as two and three parallel track configurations

We are also proposing a modular track design, such as junctions and curves in the track, each with their own power mechanics.

To allow us to use multi-white junctions and curves.

A multi-white system to design to work in reverse and allow us to work in the concept of deployment

Ongoing float performance estimates and experiments

Limited by both robot and track geometry, we better conform to non-planarity of the track, efficacy of the track curvature and debriclearning

Q: Seeing a centimeter scale model of this?

FLOAT and the original DM3 technology, but it means that the robots cannot carry a heavy payload if deployed on earth, but this can work well on lower gravity

PHLOTE Mission

PHLOTE Mission

Kevin Kempton

Phobos as a captured asteroid, early in Mars’ formation, how did it form without having a rubble body surface?

Identifying if it has water etc in it?

There are grooves on it, is it starting to get pulled apart.

A lot of talk about a precursor mission to Phobos, thoughts to go to Phobos first.

Radiation environments, dust environments, oxygen as a consumable and 85% of propellant reactions. If we can stay there, it would be a nice thing to have.

Public interest, having an eye in the sky view decomposing of Phobos, with a precursor crew.

Small body with low gravity, very close to mars, a perfect playpen for preparing L1 operations. An extended mission could be useful

The Phlote spacecraft is compromised of the main spacecraft, with subsystems, … , and a sensor sytem attached with a tether system.

Mars Observational Monitor (MOM) is the main spacecraft, mass allocation is 40kg

S-band patch antenna, tether reel and deployer, navigation lira, transceivers, solar array actuation, battery array…

Tangible launch vehicle to show a credible design. High inclination launch sight with a small bipropellant thruster to get PHLOTE past the majority of earths radiation belts.

When we do get to mars we will be going into a mapping orbit around phobos, we will need to get L1 and L2 locations identified quickly for lextended ops.

The spacecraft cannot fight periodic motion, but allowing it to go with periodic motion, and the tether system avoids use of propellant to stay in one place while mapping.

Description of drift rates

The tech making this possible are navigation doppler liar 

Op range: 6000 m 

Velocity error .2cm /sec

Range error: 23 cm.

Low gravity means low tension, like a dime on a 6m thread

How to avoid a ball of spaghetti on the tether: pretensionors.

Cold gas thrusters may minimize the impulse inanition to a spring mechanism.

Thermal expansion in the tether will also be a factor as the craft will be going into eclipse regularly

Precursor mission by 2023 for PDR, land 2026.

Data also provided for a similar application on Titan Operation Tether Experiment (TOTE), can be applicable to many others…

QA

What are your rying to do with the tether?

Allows you to sample and do observations. Stability and control. 

But you are going to land anyway?

The tether will help with a low cost mission, including after landing, having the tether.

Does the tether provide any services to the landing op? MOM to POP?

Yeah, we thought about that first, but we are moving away from that, instead above the sensor platform we are going to have such a system that is conductive, but we have an abrasive tether, it will be noncontinuous to the main space craft, allowing the craft to be reeled in and out appropriately...

What about landing in multiple spots?

SDK did not like the rough surface, so the tether won out after such an orbital analysis.

I am glad to see attention given to PHLOBOS, as the Russians, I see it as among the most valuable locations in the solar system. Why have you not mentioned the elephant of the room, that if you can anchor with the tether? You would have a space elevator. The first space elevator dynamic testing as well as a counterweight.

We want to have a low-cost dynamic mission, and the scale cannot be increased.

If we are looking at ISRU from the moon, one thing we have done is boulder grabbing. I am intrigued by the use of the system to bring a boulder back to the processor, it could eliminate the heavy propellants.

I agree because the free end of a tether is a great place to put an American flag.

I know! I can tell the Russians we worked with and they will say, ‘Isn’t that great!”

NIAC 2016 Symposium Notes

2017 NIAC Symposium Boulder CO: target, Fall 2017

Space Technology Portfolio

9 programs

-Transformative and Crosscutting Technology Breakthroughs

   Tech Demo Missions

   Small Spacecraft Tech Program

   Game Changing Dev.

-Pioneering Concepts/Developing Innovation Community

   NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts

   Space Tech Research Grants

   Center Innovation Fund

-Creating Markets and Growing Innovation Economy

    Centennial Challenges

    Flight Opp

    Small Business Innovation Research and Small Bus. Tech. Transfer

Three stage portfolio

Other Student programs are research programs

Civil Service and Education

Challenge Program

Innovative Electrical Airplanes

Space Elevators

??? Planned?? Helicopters

**Governmentwide program

Widget to design overall program architecture

Pipeline:

Early Stage

-NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts

-Space Tech Research Grants

-Center Innovation Fund

Mid TRL

Game Changing Development ie. Small Spacecraft Tech.??

Comm Partnerships

SBIR/STTR

Flight Opp

Cent Challenges

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GO LAND LIVE

Astroid Retrieval Mission

HIAD

Supersonic retropropulsion

surface power

advanced…

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STMD Thrust Areas

Critical towards sustainable life on Mars

QA

Analogy for low TRI funding in general - a turkey on Thanksgiving

Small turkeys have a higher number of units per pound (energy)

So for NASA, taking larger percentages of small investments will make more sense

The budget has been constrained by bulky contracts

In order to have a larger budget, looking at smaller projects over greater time will have a greater impact and a greater value for researchers

Phase ones and Phase twos

encouraging outreach and sharing, the coming symposium in Boulder

Pathways, 508 compliance (NASA comm needs ORIGINAL file to convert)

PDF format on the NIAC website

sensitive information must be protected (e.g. separate appendix

Final clients produce views, ITAR Compliance is important

Essential parts of a presentation include a table, graph, and even cards

Something like sugar….?

Please credit NASA and NIAC in all products or articles associated with NIAC studies (include logos)

Mention your NIAC award as funding/contributing to your effort

Please notify Kathy Reilly - ideas and presentation

Please… ???

Associate Director ???

Sputnik story absolutely riveting: Roger D. Launius National aerospace Museum

Working for the Air Force to Director of aerospace program, ownership of the museum (joke)

DO NOT touch the actual spacecraft, just the plexiglass

1950s - The Space Exploration Advocate’s Agenda (painting)

Space transportation system part of an aggressive agenda partially to Mars

Replication in 2001 A Space Odyssey

Environment, imprint

Advocates for Space exploration, German Immigre

(BREAK)

[Insert and return to notes here]

Slamming together of Agencies >> clash and fight over ideas

Sputnik Crisis moves into NASA

Army efforts - jet propulsion lab

Low budget and attempt to create an Agency

-> NASA with early opposition from Eisenhower

DARPA creation and his concern was that we were behind, no necessity to create a bureaucracy existed for him

There will not be a space race with the Chinese as there was from Russia

There is no mutual desire for nuclear war

There are some rivalries, but there is not the death struggle fight with the Chinese as there was with Russia, children used to crawl under the desks many days, this was the environment of the space race

Remaining Incentives for Spaceflight

-Nat. Security and Military Applications

-Scientific Discovery and Understanding

-Economic Competitiveness and Commercial Activities (making $ in space), Jeff Bosen - “I’m not doing this for myself, I want to make money” without this there was the potential to pull the plug

-Geopolitics and national prestige

Mapping the schedule of American Independence with Space Exploration

Christopher Columbus >>> Yuri Gagarin

Lost Colony of Roanoke >>>> Apollo 11

Jamestown >>>> 1st Mars Colony

US Independence >>>> 1st Off-World Republic

Keeping in mind the long periods of centuries involved

Challenges for Future of Human Spaceflight

Exploit historical rationales

Build on initial experiences; broaden international activities

Enhance national security, exploration, science, technology development, commerce, and infrastructure

Step 2: “then a miracle occurs”

Scientist says, “I think you should be more explicit here in step two.”

(Joke)

QA:

What will we do now that there is no space program? Need?

1. Weather security
2. Military Aggression
3. Necessity to make $, comm. success
4. Extension of human frontier in knowledge, education, and culture: What do you mean there is no space frontier? As the correct response to the above question

Robot program out in Pluto, Shuttle program, only wakes up in event of disaster, without the shuttle program, mainstream appeal should be appropriate

What would have happened if Niel Armstrong had planted a flag and claimed territory in the name of the United States?

Outer Space treaty of 1967 we were party to, so this was prohibited in any case.

What if the first words had been drink Coca-Cola? That was an offer that was refused as well.

The only thing with economic value is a photon or an electron, how to get back to moving atoms rather than bits? The grand transit of a material transportation industry? [ie how to get results rather than spreading information only]

If you ran a train from Chicago to New York and threw away the train for tardiness, then the train would be late every time!

We are biologically entities and we do not cognitively articulate specific intellectual approach towards our personal behavior, biological processes might transcend our needs individually and importance of extending our frontiers to fulfill biological needs.

Yes.

Colonization of America success?

Spanish actually did have success

But the North American Colonies?

Successful in production of tobacco

So a product to kickstart space that could be tied to resources or knowledge or non-physical items, the challenge is: What is the product we will tie to space and create a profit from?

Right

Increasing rate of shipwrecks, raising money for an expedition from Spain or Portugal, using JFK’s warning about roaming, unsettled, throughout space to move out capabilities and the approved program for a watch vehicle which proceeds as necessitated. Scientists should not wring hands about the expediency of work, but quality

Yes

The remarkable nature of these people who are daring enough (got the cahones) to take museum spaceships once upon a time, and the importance of keeping this at the forefront of public awareness (these older ships)... stimulation of program from initial Soviet Space Program and the launch of Sputnik, what was Eisenhower’s knowledge on the topic?

He did not know, in 1952 (‘62?) the Soviet Union shot down U2, with a K[L?]-007 with the correct oversight legislation and Sputnik established for the first time legal oversight precedent

MOL - Apollo initial program Director: I am giving the stamp of approval on all of the things which have been said, and the MOL program has now been declassified

Last Question

Colonization in the last 1000 years, brings the issue of novel resources, not just things like gold, known about, but coffee, spices [indies?], which had not before been known about?

Great

Gift of a 3D printed NIAC logo

10 Minute [Break]

E-Glider (electrostatic glider)

Some static electricity allows the balloon to fly around

Properties found in spider silk, electified in teh presence of the earth’s static atmospheric electric field (-120 V/m negative)

Observed flight pattern in spiders can be seen

Benefits to NASA:

Exploration of comets, asteroids, moons and planetary bodies is limited by mobility

[omission]

Phase 1 approach

Analyze a mission scenario using an electrostatic glider

[omission]

Challenges of small bodies

Physics at airless bodies

Microgravity - challenging for locomotion

Cohesions forces - dominate partical interaction through vdW (?) forces

Solar radiation - Constantly in action

Electrostatics - [power source]

Day/night charging environment

Differences on dark side of asteroids vs. the illuminated side (+5V to -1000V)

Effects of solar wind and UV

The environment near the surface of airless bodies is electrically charged due to interactions with the solar  wind plasma and UV radiation

Moon dust fountains

On the Moon, electric fields can reach 50-150 kV [kW?]

Particle ballistics under charging

Still needs to be reached and investigated,

E-glider equilibrium creates a field and static electricity

Electric fields of E`1 kV/m could take place on asteroids and and electric field fo E = -10V

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Debye Shielded Force

In a plasma environment an oppositely charged sheath forms about a charged space object

The electron deby length [formula]

Example JPL 150 m Solar Sail Chargin Analysis

Solar sail front -aluminum back -kapton H, 150m

Spacecraft body aluminum

Solar arrays front - solar cells

Solar array back -black kapton

Boom connecting spacecraft and solar array craft -kapton

Prliminary designs

[atom design]

[butterfly design]

Articulating the wings would lead to electrostatic flight

Electrified tehter strands to harvest energy

May need to generate local charges artificially (ion thrusters)

Telecom etc…

Preliminary levitation analyses

Looking at the level of charge necessary to reach zero force, dependent on geometry

With a computation of the charge, we know the power needed to carry in order to obtain that charge

Simulation of small body missions

Landing control

Station keeping

Soil mechanics

NEO capture

E-Glider DSENDS simulations

Autonomy >< E-Glider >< Environment <> ??

Polyhedron graphic model of ??

Electro static Inflation Experiments

0 kV 3 kV 4 kV 5 kV 9 kV

Field sensor: Langmuir probe

-Solar wind causes charge neutralization within a fraction of a second around the….

Electro-cartographic navigation

Measure the charge and attemtp to identify the potential and path of minimum resistence

E-Glider risk-based mobility analysis

JPL’s CEMAT = Combined EDL-Mobility A_ Tech

Inflation of the wings can be seen in animation, and movement along astroid can be seen

E-gliders in mission context

Landers:

DAS

PROP-F

MINERVA

MUSES

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Science grade instruments are becoming smaller

From mass spectrometers to communications

Conclusions and future work

Getting sight into the physics, and to further develop simulation models, necessity of plasma physics

QA

This work was done in a laboratory in the 70s, earth does have a net electric field

Positive charges were pushed away, but if the field is conductive, there is no guarantee about the charges redistributing themselves

One critical feature is the conductive nature of asteroids, level of propensity might be needed

This has not yet been fully investigated

Control factors of craft?

There is no answer to this, but a minimum level of control necessitated

Substantial transfer of charge - Inbuilt power supply?

Dual-use cables

Solar wind rider cable, could be found in other supplies

Thank you