National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Small Business Innovation Research 2001 Program Solicitation

TOPIC E2 Platform Technologies for Earth Science

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E2.01 Structures and Materials
E2.02 Guidance, Navigation and Control
E2.03 Command and Data Handling
E2.04 Advanced Communication Technologies for Near-Earth Missions
E2.05 On-Board Propulsion
E2.06 Distributed Spacecraft Systems
E2.07 Storage and Energy Conversion and Power Management and Distribution
E2.08 Life-Cycle Integration, Validation, and Distributed Collaboration Technologies

NASA is fostering innovations that support implementation of the Earth Science (ES) program, an integrated international enterprise to study the Earth system. ES uses the unique perspective available from orbit to study land cover and land use changes, short and long term climate variability, natural hazards, and environmental changes. Additionally, ES uses terrestrial and airborne measurements to complement those acquired from Earth orbit. ES has a parallel development effort to these platforms which include the largest ground and data system ever undertaken which will provide the facility for command and control of flight segments and for data processing, distribution, storage, and archival of vast amounts of ES research data. The ES Program defines Platforms as the host systems for ES Instruments. That is, they provide the infrastructure for an instrument or suite of instruments. Traditionally, the term 'platform' would be synonymous with 'spacecraft,' and it certainly does include spacecraft. However, 'platform' is intended to be much broader in application than spacecraft and is intended to include nontraditional hosts for sensors and instruments such as airborne platforms (piloted and unpiloted aircraft, balloons, drop sondes), terrestrial platforms, sea surface and subsurface platforms, and even surface penetrators. These application examples are given to illustrate the wide diversity of possibilities for acquiring ES data consistent with the future vision of the ES Program and indicate types of platforms for which technology development is required.

E2.01 Structures and Materials
Lead Center: LaRC
Participating Center(s): ARC, GSFC, JPL, JSC

Advanced materials and structures technologies are needed for future ES platforms. These include materials and multifunctional structures that enable significant weight reduction and that possess extended life in the space environment, novel structural concepts for deployment to allow packaging of large structures on small launch vehicles, and innovative materials and technologies to enable dynamically and thermally stable platforms. Specific topics of interest include:

• High strength-to-weight carbon nanotube-based composite materials for application to thrust structure, high-strength booms, thin shells, and membranes.
• Lightweight shielding, self-healing materials, and other countermeasures to protect spacecraft systems from harmful effects of space radiation, including materials development.
• Ultra-lightweight large structural concepts such as deployable and/or inflatable booms, membranes, and apertures for radiometer and synthetic aperture radar missions.
• Concepts, components, and materials to enable large, lightweight, diffraction limited optical systems including membrane optics.
• Dynamically stable structures utilizing integral vibration control and disturbance/payload isolation including spacecraft launch load isolation systems.
• Modular multifunctional structures with flexible imbedded electronics.
• Modular multifunctional structural material with imbedded fluids and control functions.
• Thermally stable materials and components and integrated thermal/structural concepts for high efficiency passive thermal management.
• Low cost, high power-to-weight efficiency deployable/inflatable solar arrays and structures.
• Technologies for mitigating the effects of meteoroids on critical platform components applicable to near-Earth missions.
• Methods for predicting and controlling contamination resulting from the deployment and outgassing of large platforms.
• Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) lightweight material and structure concepts.
• UAV material systems which enable multiple year mission operations.
  

E2.02 Guidance, Navigation and Control
Lead Center: GSFC
Participating Center(s): None

Future ES architectures will include collaborating assets used in performing coordinated scientific observations. These assets will include spacecraft, balloons, aircraft (both piloted and unpiloted), sounding rockets, and surface based systems. Advanced GN&C technology is required for each of these platforms that address low power, low mass, and low maintenance. A vigorous effort is needed to develop guidance, navigation and control methodologies, algorithms, sensors and actuator technologies to enable revolutionary Earth science missions. Exploiting new vantage points, developing new sensing strategies, and implementing system-wide techniques that promote agility, adaptability, evolvability, scalability, and affordability are characteristic of the technological challenges faced and are representative of the significant leap beyond the current state of the art required. Specific areas of research include:

Control Technologies

• Advanced sensors, actuators, and components with new or enhanced capabilities and performance, as well as reduced cost, mass, power, volume, and reduced complexity for all spacecraft GN&C system elements. Additional emphasis is placed on improved stability, accuracy, and lower noise.
• Low power, low mass, and low cost propulsive actuators and related subsystem components for generating attitude/orbit control torques/forces. Actuators to consume less than one watt of power at three volts, providing impulse bits on the order of one micro-N-sec for 3-axis control or 40 milli-N-sec for spin-stabilized control.
• Control theory, filtering techniques, processing advances, software architectures, and improved environmental models for attitude and trajectory determination and prediction. Filtering techniques and expert systems applications for near real-time trajectory determination and control. Methods for in-flight attitude sensor alignment and transfer function calibration.
• Autonomous execution of system functions including attitude and trajectory determination, monitoring of spacecraft functions and environmental conditions, assessing ground system and spacecraft health status, ground system fault detection, orbital event and attitude dependent prediction support utilizing advanced techniques such as fuzzy logic and neural networks.
• Techniques for autonomous in-flight fault detection/identification, fault correction and/or system reconfiguration.

Component and Design Technology

• Innovative testbed development capabilities and computer aided engineering, simulation and design tools with parallel algorithms for analysis and development of advanced GN&C systems. Open architecture object-oriented simulation tools and testbed systems for modeling and evaluting complex dynamic space systems.
• Vision-based GN&C system concepts, subsystems, hardware components and supporting algorithms/flight software. Innovative applications of high performance video image processing technology to provide alternative solutions to challenging GN&C problems such as spacecraft relative range/attitude determination while in close formation or during rendezvous/proximity operations.
• Rigid and flexible body control methods that are robust to parametric uncertainty and modeling error.
• Advanced GN&C solutions for balloon-borne stratospheric science payloads, including sub-arcsecond pointing control, sub-arcsecond attitude knowledge determination and trajectory guidance
• Concepts for autonomous guidance and control of spacecraft systems during atmospheric flight phases.

Spaceborne GPS Navigation/Attitude/Time System Technology

• Innovations in Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver hardware and algorithms that use GPS code and carrier signals to provide spacecraft navigation, attitude, and time:
• Combined navigation/attitude space receivers, including advanced antenna designs/configurations
• Navigation techniques that may employ Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) corrections
• Navigation, attitude, and control for spacecraft proximity operations
• Innovative uses of GPS which enable new Earth science measurements; for example, the use of differential GPS in repeating aircraft flight patterns and the use of ocean-reflected GPS signals
  

E2.03 Command and Data Handling
Lead Center: GSFC
Participating Center(s): None

Advancing science with reduced levels of mission funding, shorter mission development schedules and reduced availability of flight electronic components create new requirements for spacecraft Command and Data Handling (C&DH) systems. Specific technology areas for which proposals are being sought include:

On-board Processing

• Volatile data storage - large capacity solid state storage media and data formatter are required to store instrument data until the next ground contact are currently weight and cost constrained. Development of components and packaging techniques that would allow greater density and lower cost components are necessary to support the higher science data rates, higher data volumes and smaller spacecraft of the future.
• General purpose data processing - higher levels of spacecraft autonomy require higher levels of general purpose CISC and RISC processing with fault tolerance and error correction (system and application). Development of spacecraft computers that match or exceed the commercially available desktop computers is essential to meeting the "lights out" spacecraft control requirements.
• Special purpose data processing - higher levels of automated on-board science data processing such as histogramming, feature recognition and image registration are necessary to match the data gathering capabilities of future instruments with the limits of spacecraft to Earth communications. Development of technologies such as Digital Signal Processors (DSP) and of related hardware is necessary to address these future needs.
• Reconfigurable computing hardware - achieving pure hardware processing capabilities with the flexibility of reprogammability would allow different science objectives to be met with the same hardware platform. Development of technologies such as radiation hardened Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and of similar components for data communications and processing is necessary to achieve this goal.
• Low-power electronics - in order to provide higher capabilities on smaller less expensive spacecraft, lower power consumption components are essential to reducing solar array and battery sizes, affecting the overall spacecraft design. Development of low voltage, such as 3.3V or 2.5V or lower technologies, is essential to achieving the power constraints of smaller spacecraft.

Command and Data Transfer

• Subsystem data transfer - communications between various spacecraft subsystems become increasingly important in order to achieve higher autonomy. Development of technologies and architectures that increase the rate of data transfer above 20 Mbits/s are necessary to achieve the self-diagnosis, autonomous control, and science data transfer requirements.
• Intra-system data transfer - communications within the spacecraft subsystem (between cards within a box) are currently a limiting factor in achieving higher overall data throughputs. Development of technologies for communications within a box that would replace the conventional passive backplane is necessary to achieve higher science data throughput.

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E2.04 Advanced Communication Technologies for Near-Earth Missions
Lead Center: GRC
Participating Center(s): None

To realize the ES Enterprise vision of Sensor-Web, a host of in-space and terrestrial communication link technologies are required. These technologies are likely to perform in an internet-based multi-point to multi-point communication architecture. Furthermore, in this architecture the spacecraft as well as the ground systems will be fully capable of interfacing to commercial communication networks to transport data directly to the users. Innovations are sought in space communications technologies for data delivery from NASA's future Earth Science enterprise near-Earth spacecraft, constellations and platforms directly to users. Advanced techniques and products are solicited that support communication among NASA spacecraft and commercial GEO networks for data delivery to users in a cost-effective manner. In addition, ever increasing demands are being placed on missions conserving bandwidth and power resources while driving up the demands for data transmission and access. Innovative communications technologies are sought at the device, subsystem and system levels in such areas as microwave, millimeter wave and optical communications; digital processing, modulation and coding; communications architectures and network technologies. Specifically, the required products are described below but are not limited to the following:

Data Communications Technology

• High rate data communication microwave or optical system technologies for supporting multi-Gigabit/sec data rates between and from spacecraft LEO, MEO or GEO orbits to ground networks. Communications include routing, encoding, encrypting of data to allow services on demand to address the need for autonomous spacecraft operations.
• Direct data distribution communication architectures (including multicasting) from LEO spacecraft directly to several users at various data rates and associated communication subsystems. Small, highly efficient, integrated communication receivers and transmitters for inter-spacecraft and constellation communications are needed.
• Communication link technologies to transfer data from an Earth observing balloon or airplane where the collection and transmission of data is by Internet protocols.

Component Technology

• Innovative approaches to enable higher frequency, miniature, power efficient Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiers (TWTAs) operating at millimeter wave frequencies. Of particular interest is the development of TWTA's that can operate at communication bit rates of 10 Gbps or higher.
• High, power wide, bandgap devices and amplifiers based on nitride semiconductors for efficient microwave power circuits.
• Low loss MEMS based RF switches are needed that would enable the development of reconfigurable antennas and filters for in flight control of the radiating frequency bandwidth and power.
• RF component and sub system technologies that enable integration for system on chip packaging type, such as mixed signal (analog/digital/optical) communication systems. Low cost, Ka band flat plate array antennas and low noise block down-converters are desired for small Earth terminals applications. Low cost, precision tracking Ka-band Earth terminals for high data rate (OC-3 to OC-12), direct-to-Earth downlinks from LEO/MEO spacecraft are also of interest. Wide scan angle (+/-60 degrees), low profile, transmit/receive kA-band antennas; Ku-kA band transcievers and closed loop acquisition/tracking algorithms for low-orbit space platforms and communication satellites are desired. Fractal-Element antennas are required for size reduction, broad or multi-bandedness, increased gain and beam agility.
• Digital components enabling space-based networking. Routers, switches, network interface cards, network processors, transceivers, etc. which can lead to integration and implementations in FPGA, ASIC, DSP chip solutions. Internet-based protocol modules and architectures that will provide seamless network continuity between terrestrial and aerospace-based platforms and environments.

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E2.05 On-board Propulsion
Lead Center: GRC
Participating Center(s): GSFC, JSC

This subtopic seeks propulsion technologies that will significantly increase capabilities and reduce costs for Earth science platforms. Propulsion functions include orbit insertion, orbit maintenance, precision positioning, in-space maneuvering, and de-orbit. Innovations in chemical and electric propulsion technology are sought for a range of spacecraft platform sizes to provide reduced mass, volume, and power while also providing increased flexibility in performing missions. Of particular interest are innovations in propulsion that lead to smaller-sized, integrated, autonomous spacecraft. The following specific areas are of interest:

Miniature/Precision Propulsion

• Propulsion technologies for nanospacecraft (< 20 kg) that emphasize system simplicity, low power requirements, and minimal mass. This includes concepts with fundamentally different approaches to propulsion than for macroscale spacecraft, leveraging micro-electromechanial system (MEMS) fabrication techniques. More robust substrate materials are also sought in addition to innovations in fabricating miniature propulsion systems.
• Propulsion technologies to provide high-precision (impulse bit < 100 milliNewton-second) stationkeeping and attitude control.
• Innovative, low-cost, reliable, self-contained propulsion systems for end of life de-orbit.

Thruster Technology

• High-performance, high-efficiency electric propulsion technologies, including thrusters and advanced power processing, for small, power-limited spacecraft.
• High-performance (specific impulse > 230 s), high-density monopropellant technologies, including propellant formulations, catalytic and noncatalytic decomposition methods, and chamber materials.
• High-performance (specific impulse > 325 s) bipropellant technologies for either non-toxic or hypergolic propellant systems.

Propulsion System Components
Propellant management components for electric and chemical propulsion systems that reduce total propulsion system mass and volume by a factor of two or better while improving reliability and life of existing components. Technology areas include:

• Materials compatible with high-temperature, oxidizing, and reactive environments
• Components for fluid isolation, pressure/mass flow regulation, relief quick disconnect, and flow control
• Techniques for metering, injection, and ignition of fluids in combustion devices
• Propellant (liquid and gaseous) storage and pressurization systems
• Components for xenon storage and flow control

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E2.06 Distributed Spacecraft Systems
Lead Center: GSFC
Participating Center(s): JPL

Over the next 10 years, NASA will be launching ten distributed, spacecraft systems specifically for Earth science data collection. These distributed systems of orbiting components, which include spacecraft and support elements, such as mirrors and communication relays, will revolutionize approaches to conducting earth science. Distributed systems will operate under virtual infrastructures capable of responding to changing needs and conditions while evolving over time to introduce new capabilities. Distributed spacecraft systems also enable science investigations needed for the understanding of the total Earth system and the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment. Representative mission scenarios include maintaining a specified satellite formation geometry at key points in the trajectory, maintaining the relative motion among co-orbiting spacecraft throughout the orbit, or maintaining relative positioning and attitude for targeting points on the Earth or capturing reflected angles off the Earth's surface or atmosphere. Distributed spacecraft concepts of collective pointing (pointing the formation at a particular target) or coordinated pointing (pointing the formation to collect related data from different selected angles) are critical to many of these mission scenarios. In addition to the dynamic behavior of each individual spacecraft, the collective behavior of all the spacecraft in the formation will determine the quality and the magnitude of the science return. Other formations such as large sparse antennas formed by a collection of miniature autonomous spacecraft containing the basic antenna elements arranged in an optimal geometric pattern represent an emerging novel approach to space-borne antenna design.

These distributed systems define a new paradigm in how we analyze, design, operate, and maintain space missions. In particular, in many cases, many of the spacecraft bus components, which were at one time virtually decoupled from the payload or science sensor, are now fully integrated and fully coupled together operationally. For example, there are a number of missions where the wavefront measured on an aperture distributed over multiple spacecraft would also be the primary information available for feedback as opposed to having independent navigation, ranging, or attitude determination sensors. Likewise, many of the elements of the bus which have generally been considered decoupled and virtually independent now are continuously, dynamically interacting, which significantly complicates the control. A primary example here is that the sensing and control of the attitude and orbit of the vehicle, for many formation flying missions, are interacting at rates from several times per orbit to several times per second. This drives the need for fully-autonomous, on-board, integrated control as opposed to traditional ground-based orbit corrections which happen very infrequently.

This subtopic calls for novel approaches to autonomous control of distributed spacecraft and the management of large fleets of heterogeneous and/or homogeneous assets. Submissions should focus on one or several of the following technologies and system-level concepts:

• Formation self-organization
• Reconfigurable control laws
• Robust and fault-tolerant control laws
• Algorithms for autonomous formation reconfiguration
• Nonlinear, robust estimation algorithms
• Integrated formation guidance and control
• On-board, closed-loop responsiveness to sensed events
• Low-cost approaches for formation navigation and control exploiting technologies such as GPS
• Optimal (e.g., minimum fuel, minimum time) approaches for formation maintenance and maneuvering
• Unique concepts for dealing with relevant perturbations and disturbances such as J2, solar radiation pressure, etc.
• New modeling techniques to support the technologies and concepts listed above

It is of significant interest to incorporate the use of expert systems, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, neural networks, discrete-event system methods, etc. as tools to support the proposed activities.

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E2.07 Storage and Energy Conversion and Power Management and Distribution
Lead Center: GRC
Participating Center(s): JPL

Earth science observation missions will employ spacecraft, balloons, sounding rockets, surface assets, and piloted and robotic aircraft and marine craft. Advanced power technologies are required for each of these platforms that address issues of size, mass, capacity, reliability, and operational costs. A vigorous effort is needed to develop energy storage, power conversion, and power management and distribution technologies that will enable the revolutionary Earth science missions. Exploiting innovative technological opportunities, developing power systems for adverse environments, and implementing system-wide techniques which promote scalability, adaptability, flexibility, and affordability are characteristic of the technological challenges to be faced and are representative of the type of developments required beyond the current state of the art.

Storage and Energy Conversion Technologies
The energy storage and conversion technologies solicited include photovoltaics, batteries, regenerative fuel cells, alternative high-power-density storage technologies such as dual-use lightweight flywheels and ultra-capacitors. Specific areas of interest are:

• Battery technologies are needed for spacecraft requiring greater than a 100 watt-hour per kilogram specific energy density and a 10-year lifetime in LEO and GEO. Rechargeable lithium ion batteries with advanced anode and cathode materials and liquid/polymer electrolytes and other advanced battery systems capable of meeting the above performance criteria are of interest. For some terrestrial missions, batteries are needed which are capable of delivering 30-50 percent of their ambient specific energy at temperatures as low as -100° C.
• Regenerative fuel cell technology is of interest to NASA because it is an enabling technology for some robotic terrestrial Earth observation missions. Improvements in specific energy cycle life, cost, and operational overhead are needed for small regenerative fuel cells utilized in balloon and other terrestrial observation missions.
• Future micro-spacecraft require distributed power sources that are integrated with microelectronics devices/instruments. These microelectronic devices/instruments require rechargeable batteries/fuel cells that can provide power in the micro to milliwatt range. Due to the low thermal mass of the micro-spacecraft in LEO, these spacecraft must operate over a wide temperature range (-100° to 100° C). Long cycle life performance capability is also needed for micro-rechargeable batteries.
• Power systems based on micromachining fabrication techniques and in energy storage components based upon carbon nano-tube technology and ultracapacitors.
• Photovoltaic technology with significant improvement(s) in: efficiencies, cost, radiation resistance, and wide/low temperature operation are solicited. Potential concepts include rigid arrays, thin film arrays, and various concentrator configurations.
• Advanced solar thermal power conversion technologies for Earth orbiting spacecraft and/or orbit transfer vehicles are of interest. Concentrators may be rigid or inflatable, primary or secondary and address issues such as manufacturing, coatings, efficiency, packaging/deployment, and pointing/tracking. Receivers may utilize heat pipe or direct absorption technologies intended to minimize mass and volume. Topics of interest in power conversion include the investigation of compact heat exchangers, advanced materials, and control methods as they relate to life, reliability and manufacturability. Heat rejection areas of interest include composite materials, heat pipes, pumped loop systems, and packaging and deployment. Also of interest are highly integrated systems that combine elements of the above subsystems and show system level benefits.

Power Management and Distribution Technologies
Innovative concepts utilizing advanced technologies are needed to manage and distribute power in lighter, smaller, cheaper, more durable, and higher performance are required for terrestrial and space Earth observation missions. Advances for power management and distribution (PMAD) systems are sought in the following areas:

• Technologies which enable materials, surfaces, and components to be durable in atomic oxygen, soft x-ray, electron, proton, and ultraviolet radiation and thermal cycling environments, lightweight electromagnetic interference shielding, and high-performance, environmentally durable radiators are of interest to NASA.
• Advanced electronic materials, devices and circuits are of interest. Capabilities include but are not limited to transformers, transistors, integrated circuits, capacitors, ultra-capacitors, electro-optical devices, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), sensors, low loss magnetic cores. The area of packaging with improved characteristics capable of wide-temperature operation and/or radiation resistance for use in PMAD systems, motor drives, electrical actuation, or electro-mechanical systems are also of interest.
• Thermal control technologies that are integral to electrical devices with high heat flux capability and advanced electronic packaging technologies that reduce volume and mass or combine electromagnetic shielding with thermal control are sought.
• Management, control, and monitoring of power systems for autonomous operation in space are of interest to NASA. Capabilities include: fault detection, isolation, and system reconfiguration with including "smart components", built-in test, vehicle health management concepts, improved wiring system designs, and advanced circuit protection to improve safety, reliability, and performance of terrestrial and space craft.
• Advanced PMAD electronics for small, low cost spacecraft are sought to simplify interfaces, streamline integration and testing, and reduce size and mass.
• Innovative technologies are sought for advanced power-conditioning devices used for housekeeping and control of a wide range of regulated voltages on Earth Science payloads to reduce size and mass utilizing hybrid, multi-chip, and other techniques.
• Modular, integrated spacecraft PMAD building blocks are sought to drastically reduce the system size, mass, and recurring cost through the use of the highest levels of integration based on monolithic, application-specific integrated circuits, mixed mode application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, advanced power packaging techniques, and flexible reusable architectures.

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E2.08 Life-Cycle Integration, Validation, and Distributed Collaboration Technologies
Lead Center: LaRC
Participating Center(s): JPL, LaRC

The NASA Earth Science Missions seeks to address all aspects of design development and life-cycle management, including the ability to determine complete life-cycle requirements and costs early in the design cycle. There is a critical need for modeling, simulation, and asynchronous technologies that support integration throughout the entire life-cycle of a mission, project, or vehicle (a typical NASA life-cycle is on the order of 30 years). This integrated capability must be supported across diverse geographic, cultural, and computational environments and be used in and across Earth Science organizations. This subtopic is focused on component design and commercial advanced technologies that support the advancement of engineering tools, and engineering methodologies in Earth Science integrated program and project laboratories.

There are many emerging technological concepts that show promise as potential integrated technologies. Examples of some existing concepts which HAVE NOT been incorporated into integrated data life-cycle management are: (1) Intelligent Agents (push/portals/information dissemination, (2) Collaborative Analysis and Design, (3) Data Mining, (4) Project Management Integration, (5) Document Collaboration, (6) Library, (7) Workflow/Status Checking, and (8) Information Compartmentalization to reduce information overload. Areas of interest include:

• Software system architectures that enable life-cycle simulation systems to be assembled quickly and tailored for specific vehicles or missions. Such systems must be compatible with legacy software codes and must permit the insertion of research technology by users.
• Rapid model assemblers technology that enables components and a knowledge base to assist the modeler in providing validated model data suitable for the simulation and analysis of the entire life-cycle of a product.
• Advanced rapid life cycle simulation tools.
• Advanced intelligent systems for knowledge capture of design and the design process and engineering process assessment methodologies.
• Software systems and products that reduce the effort required for creating immersive visualization displays of intermediate simulations are necessary to validate real time modeling results. Such systems must be general enough to support the entire life-cycle of NASA's diverse missions and vehicles.
• Distributed collaboration tools that support the integration of life-cycle analysis in both modeling and simulation.
• New technologies that allow collection, storage, and retrieval of various forms of integrated data (graphical, text, photo, email, sound, etc.) associated with a process life-cycle (full life-cycle greater than 30 years).
  

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