SAILING THE PLANETS: PLANETARY EXPLORATION FROM GUIDED BALLOONS. 7 th Annual Meeting of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts

Transcription

1 SAILING THE PLANETS: PLANETARY EXPLORATION FROM GUIDED BALLOONS 7 th Annual Meeting of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts DR. ALEXEY PANKINE GLOBAL AEROSPACE CORPORATION SAILING THE PLANETS 1

2 MARS ROVERS ARE A GREAT SUCCESS Spirit view from Husband Hill summit (NASA/JPL) but their range is very limited SAILING THE PLANETS Columbia Hills surroundings 2 (NASA/JPL/MSSS)

3 DARE NEW PLATFROM FOR PLANETRAY EXPLORATION An airplane will last for just a few hours Airships propulsion systems make them prohibitively heavy Ordinary balloons are at the mercy of the winds Directed Aerial Robot Explorers (DARE) - guided long-duration balloon platforms Mars Express/ESA-GAC SAILING THE PLANETS 3

4 NEW ARCHITECTURE FOR PLANETARY EXPLORATION KEY ELEMENTS: Long-Duration Planetary Balloon Platforms Balloon Flight Path Guidance Autonomous Navigation & Control Lightweight Power Generation & Energy Storage Miniaturized Science Sensors Small Deployable Science Packages Communication Relay Orbiter (MTO) Synergy Between Platforms Comprising Architecture SAILING THE PLANETS 4

5 MARS DARE PLATFORM SCHEMATICS Superpressure balloon (Al top, white paint bottom, D=20-70 m) Gondola: Science payload (~100 kg) Power generation & energy storage Communications Microprobes BGS deployment system (a winch) Tether (5-11 km) Balloon Guidance System (BGS)

6 DARE ARCHITECTURE APPLICATIONS AND EXPLORATION CAPABILITIES SAILING THE PLANETS 6

7 EXPLORATION CAPABILITIES Global planetary coverage Heavy, power-intensive payloads (90 kg and 200 W in 3 to 10 years, 170 kg and 400 W >10 years) Long flight duration: 700 days (1 Mars year) Targeted overflight of surface sites and precise delivery of science probes Proximity to surface enables highresolution imaging, elemental, magnetic and gravity surveys not possible or challenging from orbit Olivine outcrop and DS-2 landing ellipse (NASA/JPL/ASU) In situ atmospheric chemistry and circulation Landing sites reconnaissance, navigation beacon emplacement SAILING THE PLANETS Water ice lake inside a crater on Mars 7 (ESA)

8 FRACTIONATION OF METHANE ISOTOPES IN THE ATMOSPHERE Methane-making organisms discriminate between isotopes as they feed on a global reservoir of CO2 Measure the C 12 /C 13 ratio in the methane. If it is different from the isotope ratio in the CO 2, it would offer strong evidence for a biological source. Tunable Laser Spectrometer for Atmospheric and Sub-surface gas measurements on Mars (NASA JPL) DARE enables planetary-wide search for surface biological sources SAILING THE PLANETS 8

9 SURFACE TARGETS FOR HIGH- RESOLUTION IMAGING Very small craters Boulders Dichotomy boundary Layers in canyon/crater walls Origins of the outflow channels 10 cm 10 km SAILING THE PLANETS 9

10 EMPLACEMENT OF SURFACE NETWORKS ON MARS Single DARE platform can carry tens of mini-labs Meteorological & seismological networks Surface labs locations NetLander Surface Module (ESA) Mars Microprobe (NASA) as an example of a mini-lab SAILING THE PLANETS 10

11 MARS SAMPLE RETURN ASSIST Multiple rovers collect samples at different sites Samples and transferred to Sample Return Vehicle by DARE platform Science results: several samples from distinct sites SAILING THE PLANETS 11

12 SAILING ACROSS MARTIAN EQUATOR Simulated DARE trajectory over elevation contour map DARE trajectory over MOLA topography (NASA) 90-day late Southern spring, 1 m/s control velocity Objective: navigate from Southern to Northern midlatitudes SAILING THE PLANETS 12

13 DARE AT VENUS, TITAN, JUPITER VENUS - Targeted overflight of surface sites and precise delivery of geophysical probes - Wind profiles and atmospheric composition at multiple locations TITAN - Global measurements of winds, gas abundances, surface chemistry with probes JUPITER - Solar-Infrared Montgolfier balloons - Sample with probes distinct regions of the atmosphere (Great Red Spot, belt/zone) SAILING THE PLANETS 13

14 KEY TECHNOLOGIES SAILING THE PLANETS 14

15 KEY TECHNOLOGIES Three technological time horizons: Current (0-3 years, TRL 8-9), Near (3-10 years, TRL 3-6), Far (beyond 10, TRL 1-3) Advanced Balloon Materials Balloon Guidance System (BGS) Entry, Descent and Inflation (EDI) Navigation & Guidance in Mars winds Mars Balloon performance modeling SAILING THE PLANETS 15

16 MARS DARE BALLOON Low-mass high-strength envelope material composite material 1-µm Mylar/38-Denier PBO thread/3- µm PE film areal density of kg/m 2 Nano-tubes fabric in future? Superpressure sphere Al top, white bottom to prevent CO 2 condensation Mars balloon concept SAILING THE PLANETS Composite Mars balloon material 16

17 BALLOON GUIDANCE SYSTEM (BGS) BGS is an aerodynamic surface suspended on a tether several km below the balloon Tether could be Zylon fiber, 5 to 20 times stronger than steel, by weight. 10 km long tether weighs 0.5 kg Dual-wing BGS Variation in atmospheric wind and density with altitude result in a sideways lifting force 1 m 2 BGS creates sideways control velocity of 1-2 m/s in typical Martian winds and 8 km tether BGS wing operates at low Reynolds numbers at Mars (~1000), lift coefficients of Single-wing and Dual-wing BGS designs are being studied Single-wing BGS SAILING THE PLANETS 17

18 ENTRY, DESCENT & INFLATION (EDI) Parachute deploys Inflation commences Parachute cut-off Inflation equipment jettisoned Platform ascends to floating altitude The BGS is deployed Altitude profile SAILING THE PLANETS 18

19 SYSTEM TRADES AND EXAMPLE DESIGN SAILING THE PLANETS 19

20 PAYLOAD VS. ALTITUDE Height of atmospheric density levels lower by 4 km in dusty atmosphere DARE to float 2-3 km above southern highlands in dust storm 6 km at τ=3 M=87 kg, R=17.2 m Altitude of 10 km at normal conditions

21 ALTITUDE CHANGE AFTER PROBE RELEASE Releasing 30 kg of probes raises altitude by 3 km Increase in super-pressure can be relieved by venting 1 kg of gas (out of 8 kg) SAILING THE PLANETS 21

22 ENTRY VEHICLE Delta 7326 launch rocket, 616 kg Mars injection capability 340 kg Pathfinder-type entry vehicle EDI hardware 200 kg, balloon flight system 140 kg SAILING THE PLANETS 22

23 BALLOON FLIGHT SYSTEM SAILING THE PLANETS 23

24 GONDOLA DESIGN SAILING THE PLANETS 24

25 SUMMARY DARE enables revolutionary planetary exploration capabilities at Mars and other planets DARE addresses NASA's Mars Exploration Program (MEP) goals by returning unique measurements in critical science themes SAILING THE PLANETS 25