Investigation on in-situ water ice recovery considering energy efficiency at the lunar south pole

A human mission to Mars has long been an exploration goal of the United States and the international community, with a more recent focus on humans returning to the moon. To achieve these goals, NASA is developing the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion crew capsule as key elements in the architecture for missions to the moon and Mars. However, these aggressive goals are complicated by the need to optimize the use of government resources during a period when budgets are challenged. This paper discusses potential near-term missions that leverage Orion and SLS, as well as the Lunar Orbital Platform – Gateway, in order to establish an outpost on the lunar surface, as part of the overall campaign to eventually reach Mars. This proposed campaign of lunar surface missions will create an outpost that can then be resupplied by commercial cargo and crew providers, while SLS and Orion continue to deliver the large components needed at the Gateway to test Mars exploration systems, finally culminating in a crewed Mars mission.

SLS, the Gateway, and a Lunar Outpost in the Early 2030s

Spacecraft that rely on self-localization based on optical terrain images require suitable landmark information along their flight paths. When navigating within the vicinity of the moon, a lunar crater is an intuitive choice. However, in highland areas or regions having low solar altitudes, craters are less reliable because of heavy shadowing, which results in infrequent and unpredictable crater detections. This paper, therefore, presents a method for suggesting navigation landmarks that are usable, even with unfavorable illumination and rough terrain, and it provides a procedure for applying this method to a lunar flight plan. To determine a good landmark, a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based object detector is trained to distinguish likely landmark candidates under varying lighting geometries and to predict landmark detection probabilities along flight paths attributable to various dates. Dates having more favorable detection probabilities can be determined in advance, providing a useful tool for mission planning. Numerical experiments show that the proposed landmark detector generates usable navigation information at sun elevations of less than 1.8° in highland areas.

/pdf/deep-neural-network-based-landmark-selection-method-for-ig1f7n9d9q.pdf

Deep Neural Network-Based Landmark Selection Method for Optical Navigation on Lunar Highlands

With the proliferation of massive explorations on Lunar Far-side Surface (LFS), deployments of scientific infrastructures have drawn substantial attention with the aids of relay satellites for the moon, i.e., China’s “Queqiao”, which allows real-time reporting for current status information from the landing equipment and space vehicles. Without suitable constellation with well-designed scheduling scheme, it would be very difficult to get timely information if depending only on single Halo relay satellite due to large coverage gap and limited energy budget for the communication links. In this paper, we design a hybrid circular-Halo orbital multi-relay constellation system for the LFS communication by minimizing the average per-device Age of Information (AoI) of users on the earth. In particular, we develop an age-optimal scheduling strategy with constellation design for accessing different relay satellite of constellation by solving a Constrained Markov Decision Process (CMDP) optimization problem to significantly reduce the average coverage gap in LFS area. Simulation results show that the average per-device AoI of the proposed scheduling algorithm with the well-designed constellation could achieve 16.20% less in time than that of single Halo satellite relay system compared with typical algorithms.

Towards the age in Cislunar Communication: an AoI-Optimal Multi-Relay Constellation with Heterogeneous Orbits

/pdf/system-architecture-design-and-development-for-a-reusable-19bhvc4cs1.pdf

System Architecture Design and Development for a Reusable Lunar Lander

As NASA turns its near-term exploration focus back to the cislunar vicinity, attention is on the Gateway and concepts for lunar surface systems to enable both scientific discovery as well as technology demonstration. One objective during a lunar exploration campaign is to support the ultimate goal for Mars extensibility, including flexibility to incorporate enabling technologies as they become available during the lunar exploration campaign, toward a safe and capable human exploration architecture, while at the same time maintaining a reasonable schedule and technical risk posture for near-term exploration goals. The Gateway, a small human-tended facility orbiting around the Moon, supports human and robotic lunar exploration in a manner that creates opportunities for multiple sectors to advance key goals. The lunar vicinity is an ideal location for exploration of the moon. It can support lunar exploration spacecraft parking, refueling, and refurbishment, serve as a point for direct observation of the lunar surface, and serve as a center of control for robotic surface assets. It is, similarly, ideal for Mars missions by offering a location for the outfitting and aggregation of Mars transit vehicles and a place to refuel and restore vehicles that have returned from Mars. Direct exploration of the lunar surface, i.e. not through the Gateway, will be an option that could appear to have a lower cost. However, direct exploration does not create any residual architecture for use in future endeavors. While the Apollo program was a crowning achievement in US spaceflight, it left no residual assets behind for future use. This approach has left us now in the position of having to start future lunar exploration from scratch. Investing in a robust and sustainable architecture, including a Gateway, enables future programs and avoids future costs. Most critically, commercial interests will be much more likely to appear in deep space when there is existing infrastructure to support them and defray mission costs. This paper describes a progressive series of increasingly capable missions, utilizing the Gateway for robotic and human surface lander missions, and discusses the implications of various choices in developing a lunar exploration architecture. The role of a Gateway is examined in a robust lunar exploration program. The importance and value of a Gateway to all exploration options are examined and compared to direct exploration of the lunar surface. Finally, the commercial options and advantages of a robust deep space architecture are discussed. The paper will describe how investments in lunar exploration provide maximum value by leaving a residual architecture to enable commercial endeavors and provide maximum cost benefit both during lunar exploration and beyond.

Lander and Cislunar Gateway Architecture Concepts for Lunar Exploration

A Crewed Lunar Lander Concept Utilizing the Cislunar Deep Space Gateway

As NASA focuses on Mars mission readiness, a crewed lunar lander concept may be timely, as there are both Mars exploration and lunar exploration motives for its development. A lunar lander can be used as a Mars lander technology demonstrator, including demonstrating technologies used in the final phase of Mars descent/landing, as well as technologies/techniques for habitation and ascent to orbit. Utilizing the cislunar Deep Space Gateway and Space Launch System (SLS) transportation capabilities, the addition of a lander would enable international and scientific communities to explore the lunar surface The Boeing lunar lander concept supports a crew of four on a two week (one lunar day) surface sortie and is extensible to longer duration missions with the addition of separately delivered surface assets such as a mobile habitat. The lander is optimized to take advantage of the cislunar Deep Space Gateway architecture; the lander elements are delivered using the SLS Block 2 cargo launch capability and the SLS Orion/cargo co-manifest capability. Overall mass of the ascent module was minimized by allocating habitation and crew surface access functions to the descent module. Recurring costs were reduced by designing a reusable ascent module. This paper will describe the lander design and operation concept, key trade studies and rationale for the selected options. Trade studies were conducted in areas such as spacecraft elements, engines, propellant, airlock, and life support subsystems. Analysis of the Deep Space Gateway orbit is discussed with respect to its compatibility with: a) surface landing operations, b) earth-to-orbit element/cargo delivery operations, and c) access to various lunar surface regions. The paper will show that use of the SLS, Orion and the Deep Space Gateway in support of a human lunar lander exploration architecture is feasible and practical and will explain how the design described can be extensible to future Mars lander designs.

A crewed lunar lander concept utilizing the SLS, Orion, and the cislunar Deep Space Gateway

Mapping Exploration Extensibility from Moon to Mars

Artificial Gravity System Configurations Informed by Physiological Spin-Tolerance Research

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