Grading NASA's Solar System Exploration Program A Midterm Report (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix C: Technology Background
Appendix C: Technology Background
Pages 75-83
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From page 75... ...
and in deep space. NASA also initiated work on advanced converter technologies under the Radioisotope Power Converter Technology (RPCT)
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From page 76... ...
The work on producing units using Stirling converters is planned out and, if successful, will take pressure off plutonium inventory issues for power supplies and also enable new missions using radioisotope electric propulsion (REP) , providing that specific power in excess of ~8 W(e)
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From page 77... ...
Ion engines coupled with solar power were used to flight qualify solar electric propulsion (SEP) on the Deep Space-1 (DS-1)
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From page 78... ...
The autonomy program was canceled in 2004, with no funding in this area since then. ADVANCED AVIONICS MINIATURIZATION AND PACKAGING Advanced avionics miniaturization and packaging are generally taken to mean increased performance, including increased spacecraft autonomy, increased radiation hardness, increased thermal range of operations, advanced software, and less mass.
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From page 79... ...
Termination of the CETDP Advanced Measurements and Devices program has shut off innovation in device technology of the type that is currently making significant contributions, specifically in advanced diffraction gratings used on the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and thermal detectors used on MRO and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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From page 80... ...
This effort partially overlaps with the development of miniaturized instrumentation -- and for many of the same reasons -- and is heavily tied to, but not limited to, surface landers and/or rovers, for example, the Stardust sample return mission. ASCENT VEHICLES The selection and return of samples from a wide number of solar system bodies are required for detailed analysis of pristine material with respect to isotopic, elemental, and mineralogic properties.
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From page 81... ...
(RPSs) In the second half of this decade the RPS program can produce advanced flight-qualified radioisotope thermoelectric generators that could be flown on the Europa Geophysical Explorer and the Jupiter Polar Orbiter with Probes, and on the Mars Science Laboratory.
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From page 82... ...
In situ instruments -- extreme environments: The VISE mission will require in situ instruments that can survive the Venus surface environment and that can accomplish radiometric age-dating and chemical and mineralogical analysis of surface samples; long-lived, high-temperature, and high-pressure systems will be required for Venus sample return and surface stations such as seismic networks; for the Jupiter Orbiter Probe mission, lightweight mass spectrometers for sampling at high pressures with internal gas processing for complex analysis are the key science instrument technology. Remote sensing: Active remote-sensing instruments, including synthetic-aperture radar and laser-activated techniques, will be enabled by fission power sources.
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From page 83... ...
A Mars-Earth return system, including an ascent vehicle and in-space rendezvous and sample capture, comprises key technologies that can evolve from the vehicles developed for the South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return mission. The perfection of Mars sample-return technology should be followed by its adaptation for return of samples from the surface of Venus.
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