Strap In! NASA Aeroshell Material Takes Extended Space Trip

Components of a NASA technology that could one day help crew and cargo enter harsh planetary environments, like that of Mars, are taking an extended trip to space courtesy of the United States Space Force.

On Aug. 21, several pieces of webbing material, known as Zylon, which comprise the straps of the HIAD (Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator) aeroshell developed by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, launched to low Earth orbit along with other experiments aboard the Space Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. This trip will help researchers characterize how the Zylon webbing responds to long-duration exposure to the harsh vacuum of space.

The strap material on the HIAD aeroshell serves two purposes – short strap lengths hold together HIAD’s inflatable rings and longer pieces help to distribute the load more evenly across the cone-shaped structure. The HIAD aeroshell technology could allow larger spacecraft to safely descend through the atmospheres of celestial bodies like Mars, Venus, and even Saturn’s moon, Titan.

“We’re researching how HIAD technology could help get humans to Mars. We want to look at the effects of long-term exposure to space – as if the Zylon material is going for a potential six to nine-month mission to Mars,” said Robert Mosher, HIAD materials and processing lead at NASA Langley. “We want to make sure we know how to protect those structural materials in the long term.”

Flying Zylon material aboard the Space Force’s X-37B mission will help NASA researchers understand what kind of aging might occur to the webbing on a long space journey before it experiences the extreme environments of atmospheric entry, during which it has to retain strength at high temperatures.

Multiple samples are in small canisters on the X-37B. Mosher used two different techniques to put the strap material in the canisters. Some he tightly coiled up, others he stuffed in.

“Typically, we pack a HIAD aeroshell kind of like you pack a parachute, so they’re compressed,” he said. “We wanted to see if there was a difference between tightly coiled material and stuff-packed material like you would normally see on a HIAD.”

Some of the canisters also include tiny temperature and humidity sensors set to collect readings at regular intervals. When the Space Force returns the samples from the X-37B flight, Mosher will compare them to a set of samples that have remained in canisters here on Earth to look for signs of degradation.

“Getting this chance to have the Zylon material exposed to space for an extended period of time will begin to give us some data on the long-term packing of a HIAD,” Mosher said.

Uninflated HIAD aeroshells can be packed into small spaces within a spacecraft. This results in a decelerator that can be much larger than the diameter of its launch vehicle and can therefore land much heavier loads and deliver them to higher elevations on a planet or other celestial body.

Rigid aeroshells, the sizes of which are dictated by the diameters of their launch vehicles, typically 4.5 to 5 meters, are capable of landing well-equipped, car-sized rovers on Mars. By contrast, an inflatable HIAD, with an 18-20m diameter, could land the equivalent of a small, fully furnished ranch house with a car in the garage on Mars.

NASA’s HIAD aeroshell developments build on the success of the agency’s LOFTID (Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator) mission that launched on Nov. 10, 2022, resulting in valuable insights into how this technology performs under the stress of re-entering Earth’s atmosphere after being exposed to space for a short time period.

Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/space-technology-mission-directorate/tdm/

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NASA Seeks Volunteers to Track Artemis II Mission

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NASA Seeks Volunteers to Track Artemis II Mission

NASA seeks volunteers to passively track the Artemis II Orion spacecraft as the crewed mission travels to the Moon and back to Earth.

The Artemis II test flight, a launch of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft, will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on an approximately 10-day mission around the Moon.

The mission, targeted for no later than April 2026, will rely on NASA’s Near Space Network and Deep Space Network for primary communications and tracking support throughout its launch, orbit, and reentry. However, with a growing focus on commercialization, NASA wants to further understand industry’s tracking capabilities.  

This collaboration opportunity builds upon a previous request released by NASA’s SCaN (Space Communication and Navigation) Program during the Artemis I mission, where ten volunteers successfully tracked the uncrewed Orion spacecraft in 2022 on its journey thousands of miles beyond the Moon and back.

During the Artemis I mission, participants – ranging from international space agencies, academic institutions, commercial companies, nonprofits, and private citizens – attempted to receive Orion’s signal and use their respective ground antennas to track and measure changes in the radio waves transmitted by Orion.

This data will help inform our transition to a commercial-first approach, ultimately strengthening the infrastructure needed to support long-term Moon to Mars objectives.

Kevin Coggins

Deputy Associate Administrator for SCaN

“By offering this opportunity to the broader aerospace community, we can identify available tracking capabilities outside the government,” said Kevin Coggins, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for SCaN at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This data will help inform our transition to a commercial-first approach, ultimately strengthening the infrastructure needed to support Artemis missions and our long-term Moon to Mars objectives.” 

Responses are due by 5 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 27.

NASA’s SCaN Program serves as the management office for the agency’s space communications and navigation systems. More than 100 NASA and non-NASA missions rely on SCaN’s two networks, the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network, to support astronauts aboard the International Space Station and future Artemis missions, monitor Earth’s weather, support lunar exploration, and uncover the solar system and beyond.

Artemis II will help confirm the systems and hardware needed for human deep space exploration. This mission is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step toward new U.S.-crewed missions on the Moon’s surface that will help the agency prepare to send American astronauts to Mars.

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Portrait of an Astronaut

NASA astronaut Zena Cardman poses for a portrait in a photography studio on March 22, 2024, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Cardman is currently aboard the International Space Station, where she perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities. Recently, she took a robotics test on a computer for the portion of the CIPHER study that measures space-caused changes to her brain structure and function; she also installed high-definition cameras on a spacesuit helmet.

Cardman launched to the space station on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission. Members of Crew-11 will contribute to NASA’s Artemis campaign by simulating Moon landing scenarios that future crews may encounter near the lunar South Pole.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog.

Image credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel

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Inside NASA’s New Orion Mission Evaluation Room for Artemis II 

As NASA’s Orion spacecraft is carrying crew around the Moon on the Artemis II mission, a team of expert engineers in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will be meticulously monitoring the spacecraft along its journey. They’ll be operating from a new space in the mission control complex built to host the Orion Mission Evaluation Room (MER). Through the success of Orion and the Artemis missions, NASA will return humanity to the Moon and prepare to land an American on the surface of Mars.

Inside the Mission Evaluation Room, dozens of engineers will be monitoring the spacecraft and collecting data, while the flight control team located in mission control’s White Flight Control Room is simultaneously operating and sending commands to Orion during the flight. The flight control team will rely on the engineering expertise of the evaluation room to help with unexpected spacecraft behaviors that may arise during the mission and help analyze Orion’s performance data.

The Mission Evaluation Room team is made up of engineers from NASA, Lockheed Martin, ESA (European Space Agency), and Airbus who bring deep, expert knowledge of the spacecraft’s subsystems and functions to the mission. These functions are represented across 24 consoles, usually staffed by two engineers in their respective discipline, often hosting additional support personnel during planned dynamic phases of the mission or test objectives.

“The operations team is flying the spacecraft, but they are relying on the Mission Evaluation Room’s reachback engineering capability from the NASA, industry, and international Orion team that has designed, built, and tested this spacecraft.”

Trey PerrymAn

Lead for Orion Mission and Integration Systems at NASA Johnson

Perryman guides the Artemis II Orion Mission Evaluation Room alongside Jen Madsen, deputy manager for Orion’s Avionics, Power, and Software.

With crew aboard, Orion will put more systems to the test, requiring more expertise to monitor new systems not previously flown. To support these needs, and safe, successful flights of Orion to the Moon, NASA officially opened the all-new facility in mission control to host the Orion Mission Evaluation Room on Aug. 15.

During Artemis II, the evaluation room will operate in three daily shifts, beginning about 48 hours prior to liftoff. The room is staffed around the clock throughout the nearly 10 day mission, up until the spacecraft has been safely secured inside the U.S. Navy ship that will recover it after splashdown.

Another key function of the evaluation room is collecting and analyzing the large amount of data Orion will produce during the flight, which will help inform the room’s team on the spacecraft’s performance.

“Data collection is hugely significant,” Perryman said. “We’ll do an analysis and assessment of all the data we’ve collected, and compare it against what we were expecting from the spacecraft. While a lot of that data comparison will take place during the mission, we’ll also do deeper analysis after the mission is over to see what we learned.”

If unplanned situations arise during the mission, the Mission Evaluation Room has additional layers of ability to support any specific need that presents itself.  This includes various engineering support from different NASA centers, Lockheed Martin’s Integrated Test Lab, ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Center, and more.

“It’s been amazing to have helped design and build Orion from the beginning – and now, we’ll be able to see the culmination of all those years of work in this new Mission Evaluation Room.»

Jen Madsen

Deputy Manager for Orion’s Avionics, Power, and Software

“We’ll see our spacecraft carrying our crew to the Moon on these screens and still be continuously learning about all of its capabilities,” said Madsen.

The Artemis II test flight will send NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen around the Moon and return them safely back home. This first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign will set the stage for NASA to return Americans to the lunar surface and help the agency and its commercial and international partners prepare for future human missions to Mars.

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