The evolution of an orbiting sample container for potential Mars sample return
| Autor: | Vahraz Jamnejad, Zach Ousnamer, Marcus Lobbia, Darren Cooper, Matthew Redmond, Louis Giersch, Carl Spurgers, David Rosing, Scott Perino, David B. Spencer, Tom Komarek |
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| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Martian
020301 aerospace & aeronautics Engineering Electromagnetics Planetary protection Operations research business.industry Sample (statistics) Functional requirement 02 engineering and technology Mars Exploration Program 01 natural sciences 0203 mechanical engineering 0103 physical sciences Container (abstract data type) Systems engineering business Baseline (configuration management) 010303 astronomy & astrophysics |
| Zdroj: | 2017 IEEE Aerospace Conference. |
| DOI: | 10.1109/aero.2017.7943979 |
| Popis: | Although NASA has no specific plans at this time to return samples from Mars, the Program Formulation Office of the Mars Exploration Program sponsors ongoing mission concept studies, systems analyses, and technology investments which explore different strategies for the potential return of samples from Mars, consistent with the charter of the program and stated priorities of the science community. A critical component of such a campaign would be an Orbiting Sample container (OS), which would contain the Mars samples to be returned to Earth. This paper discusses the most recent efforts by the JPL's Mars Formulation Office to mature an OS design planned for use on a potential Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. Similar to the “Decadal Study Architecture” [1], the current MSR architecture envisions as a three-mission campaign with each mission serving a critical role towards returning Martian rock and atmospheric samples back to Earth. An OS would be a central piece of hardware in the proposed MSR architecture due to its interfaces to all the three missions of the potential campaign. Additionally, numerous stakeholders and subsystems such as science and planetary protection impose challenging requirements on the OS's functions and capabilities. As a result, designing an OS that meets all the requirements is challenging and quite complex. The story of the OS's evolution from black box concept thru to the current-and-still-maturing baseline design is the focus of this paper. From the OS's launch off Earth aboard a Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) through to return to Earth, the design and functional requirements generated by and for each stage of the OS's mission are discussed. Then, with an understanding of what the OS would be required to do, a mapping of the main requirements to the design features of the current OS concept is explained. Many tests and analyses have been conducted to support and validate the current OS design. Results from test and analysis in the areas of aerothermal, impact dynamics, optical tracking, and radio electromagnetics are presented. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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