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

TOPIC S2 Structure and Evolution of the Universe

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S2.01 Sensors and Detectors for Astrophysics
S2.02 Terrestrial and Extra-Terrestrial Balloons and Aerobots
S2.03 Multiple Coordinated Observatories
S2.04 Thermal Control and Management
S2.05 Optical Technologies
S2.06 Advanced Photon Detectors


The goal of the Space Science Enterprise's Structure and Evolution of the Universe (SEU) Theme is to seek the answer to three fundamental questions: (1) What is the Structure of the Universe and what is our Cosmic Destiny? (2) What are the cycles of matter and energy in the evolving Universe? (3) What are the ultimate limits of gravity and energy in the Universe? SEU's strategy for understanding this interactive system is organized around four fundamental quests designed to pursue the following: (A) Identify dark matter and learn how it shapes galaxies and systems of galaxies, (B) Explore where and when chemicals elements where made, (C) Understand the cycles in which matter, energy and magnetic fields are exchanged between stars and the gas between stars, (D) Discover how gas flows in disks and how cosmic jets formed, (E) Identify the sources of gamma-ray bursts and high energy cosmic rays and F)Measure how strong gravity operates near black holes and how it affects the early universe. The technologies needed to achieve these goals fall into the following categories: (1) Detectors and sensors (2) Optical technologies (3) Long lived thermal control and cryogenic systems (4) Multiple coordinated observatories (5) Advanced detectors technologies (6) Ultra long duration terrestrial and extra-terrestrial balloons and aerobots technologies.

S2.01 Sensors and Detectors for Astrophysics
Lead Center: JPL
Participating Center(s): GSFC

Space science sensor and detector technology innovations are sought in the following areas:

Space VLBI
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) systems with one element in space (called Space VLBI) need development of space-borne, low-power, ultra-low-noise amplifiers (less than 5x the quantum limit at 43 GHz and 86 GHz) to serve as primary receiving instruments. Also needed are lightweight, deployable (up to 50-meters diameter), space-borne radio telescopes with high efficiency at millimeter-wave observing bands (up to 86 GHz) to serve as primary observing instruments.

Far Infrared/Submillimeter
Future, space-based observatories in the 40 micron to 1 mm spectral regime will be cooled to cryogenic temperatures, greatly reducing background noise from the telescope. In order to take advantage of this potentially huge gain in sensitivity, improved detectors and detector arrays are required. The goal is to provide noise equivalent power less than 10-20 W Hz-1/2 over most of the spectral range in a 100x100 pixel detector array, with low-power dissipation array readout electronics. The ideal detector element would count individual photons and provide some energy discrimination. For detailed line mapping (e.g., C+ at 158 micron), heterodyne arrays operating in the same frequency range near the quantum limit are desirable.

X-ray
Improvements in material growth techniques for solid state hard X-ray detectors. Large format detectors for use with "lobster eye" X-ray optics. Could be arrays of CCDs, silicon strip detectors, or gas micro-strip or micro-gap detectors, optimized for low energy X-ray operation in relatively low-rate environments. Micro-well structures on amorphous thin film transistor arrays for two-dimensional pixel readout with fine pitch (few hundred microns) for large X-ray and gamma-ray area arrays (meters scale).

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S2.02 Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Balloons and Aerobots
Lead Center: GSFC
Participating Center(s): JPL, LaRC

Innovations in materials, structures, and systems concepts have enabled buoyant vehicles to play an expanding role in NASA's Space and Earth Science Enterprises. A new generation of large, stratospheric balloons based on advanced balloon envelope technologies will be able to deliver payloads of several thousand kilograms to above 99.9 percent of the Earth's absorbing atmosphere and maintain them there for months of continuous observation. Balloons will also carry scientific payloads on Mars, Venus, Titan, and the outer planets in order to investigate their atmospheres in situ and their surfaces from close proximity. Their envelopes will be subject to extreme environments and must support missions with a range of durations. Robotic balloons, known as aerobots, have a wide range of potential applications both on Earth and on other solar system bodies. NASA is seeking innovative and cost effective technologies in support of terrestrial and extraterrestrial balloons and aerobots in the following areas:

Materials

Support systems

Design and Fabrication

Deployment and inflation of planetary balloons

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S2.03 Multiple Coordinated Observatories
Lead Center: GSFC
Participating Center(s): None

A revolution is taking place in the way we conduct a range of space science missions. Specifically, the next decade will bring over 20 missions which involve formations of coordinated, observing platforms, or virtual platforms (VPs) in order to enable very long baseline imaging systems, high angular resolution interferometry, and complex communications networks to name a few. These distributed systems will operate under virtual infrastructures capable of responding to changing needs and conditions while evolving over time to introduce new capabilities. 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 starts and other points distant in this or other solar system. Some of the more challenging scenarios involve the measurement of gravity waves and the imaging of black holes. These missions have relative measurement and/or control requirements on the order of nano- or even picometers, sometimes at tens, thousands, and even millions of kilometers apart. Frequently, these requirements go beyond the capability of current technology in the ability to sense and control position and orientation. Additionally, distributed spacecraft concepts of collective pointing and phasing of a number of observing systems relative to a target of interest 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.

The requirements for coordinating these platforms have necessitated a major change in how we analyze, design, operate, and maintain space-based observatories. In particular, in many cases, several 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. This is the case for a wide range of interferometry missions where the interferometric measurements, which provide the primary science product, are the only measurements available at the precision required to maintain the spacecraft formation. This concept, fitting largely into a category of "real-scene wavefront sensing," is the primary technology focus for this call.

This subtopic calls for novel approaches to high precision relative and/or absolute sensing of multiple spacecraft position and orientation errors for the purpose of controlling the fleet as a collective and coordinated observatory. Specifically, we are looking for proposals which address as many of the following technologies and concepts:

We would like to see solutions that involve integrated algorithms, software, and/or hardware, resulting in ground or space-based demonstrations, focused on supporting a range of unique and challenging missions in the SEU program.

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S2.04 Thermal Control and Management
Lead Center: GSFC
Participating Center(s): JPL, MSFC

Future spacecraft and instruments for NASA's Space Science Enterprise will require increasingly sophisticated thermal control technology to meet the demands of tight control with minimal mass and power resources. Cryogenic structures and other large-scale applications (down to a few Kelvin) are clearly an emerging trend. Stringent optical alignment and sensor needs are requiring ever tighter temperature control, and heat flux levels from lasers and other similar devices are increasing. Large, distributed structures such as mirrors will require creative techniques to integrate structural, mechanical alignment, and thermal control functions. Nano and micro spacecraft will also drive the need for new technologies, particularly since such small spacecraft will have low thermal capacitance. This situation, combined with the need for tighter temperature control, will present a challenging situation when such spacecraft/instruments undergo transients. The use of "off-the-shelf" commercial spacecraft buses for science instruments will also present challenges. In general, high performance, low cost, low weight, and high reliability are prime technology drivers. Specific areas for which innovative proposals are sought include:

Many future space missions will have operational lifetimes of 5 to 15 years and will require similar lifetimes for cryogenic cooling systems. Both the lifetime and the reliability of the cryogenic systems are critical performance concerns. Mechanical coolers, thermoelectric coolers, radiative coolers, magnetic coolers, and combinations of these will be considered. Of interest are cryogenic coolers for cooling detectors, telescopes and instruments with long life, low vibration, low mass, low cost, and high efficiency. Specific areas of interest include:

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S2.05 Optical Technologies
Lead Center: GSFC
Participating Center(s): JPL, LaRC, MSFC

The NASA Space Science Enterprise is studying future missions to explore the Structure and Evolution of the Universe, which will require very large space observatories. In order to understand the Structure and Evolution of the Universe, a variety of observatories are necessary to observe cosmic phenomena from radio waves to the highest energy cosmic rays. These observatories will peer farther and view objects more fainter than current Earth-based or space-based observatories and therefore will have increased resolution and light-gathering ability by greatly increasing the aperture size. It also will be necessary to operate some of these telescopes at cryogenic temperatures and at a substantial distance from the Earth. Apertures for normal incidence optics are required in the range of 20 - 40 m in diameter, while grazing incidence optics are required to support apertures up to 10 m in diameter. For some missions, these apertures will form a constellation of telescopes operating as interferometers. These interferometric observatories will have effective apertures in the 100 - 1000 m diameter range. The observatories required for many future SEU missions will also be operated at cryogenic temperatures (30 K) and at a substantial distance from the Earth. Therefore, low mass of critical components such as the primary mirror and support and/or deployment structure is extremely important. It is also essential to develop actuators, deformable mirrors and other components for operation in a cryogenic environment. In order to meet the stringent optical alignment and tolerances necessary for a high quality telescope and to provide a robust design, there are potential significant benefits possible from employing systems that can adaptively correct for image degrading sources from inside and outside the spacecraft. This subtopic also includes correction systems for large aperture space telescopes that require control across the entire wavefront, typically at low bandwidth. The following technologies are sought:


Novel optical materials, specialized optical fabrication techniques, and new optical metrology instruments and components for Earth- and space-based applications are needed as follows:

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S2.06 Advanced Photon Detectors
Lead Center: GSFC
Participating Center(s): JPL

The technical requirements to support the Structure and Evolution of the Universe (SEU) science theme missions are extremely diverse, which is a consequence of the wide-ranging nature of the investigations. Technology developments are sought in the system context from energy detection through data reduction and scientific visualization needed to implement SEU missions.

The next generation of astrophysics observatories for the infrared (IR), ultra-violet (UV), x-ray, and gamma-ray bands require order-of-magnitude performance advances in detectors, detector arrays, readout electronics and other supporting and enabling technologies. Although the relative value of the improvements may differ among the four energy regions, many of the parameters where improvements are needed are present in all four bands. In particular, all bands need improvements in spatial and spectral resolutions, in the ability to cover large areas, and in the ability to support the readout of the thousands/millions of resultant spatial resolution elements. The SEU program seeks innovative technologies to enhance the scope, efficiency and resolution of instrument systems at all energies/wavelengths.

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