Category: Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS)

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New Study Updates NASA on Space-Based Solar Power

Source: NASA

Space-based solar power offers tantalizing possibilities for sustainable energy – in the future, orbital collection systems could harvest energy in space, and beam it wirelessly back to Earth. These systems could serve remote locations across the planet to supplement the terrestrial power transmission infrastructure required today.
Countries around the world are investing in space-based solar power research and development, and international organizations are focused on reducing carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050. NASA is considering how best to support space-based solar power development. “Space-Based Solar Power,” a new report from the NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) aims to provide NASA with the information it needs to determine how it can support the development of this field of research.
“This analysis compares the lifecycle cost of two conceptual space-based solar power systems versus their potential for net emissions reductions,” said Charity Weeden, who leads NASA OTPS. “By considering scenarios like these, OTPS helps NASA understand the technological, policy, and economic implications that would need to be addressed.”
The OTPS report considered the conditions under which space-based solar power would be a competitive option to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions when compared to other sustainable solutions. The report also considered what role NASA could play in the development of space-based solar power systems.
Creating a space-based solar power system would require addressing several significant capability gaps. Researchers would need to find ways to assemble and maintain large systems in orbit, enable those systems to operate autonomously, and develop efficient power-beaming to bring the harvested energy to Earth. These systems may need to operate in geostationary orbit, higher than the low-Earth orbit paths used by many of today’s satellites, which would carry additional challenges.
And prior to the point of bringing space-based solar power systems online, launch and manufacturing costs would need to be addressed – moving all that mass into orbit would require many sustained missions to carry infrastructure into space.
The OTPS report considered the potential of a space-based solar power system that could begin operating in 2050. Based on that timeline, the report found that space-based solar power would be more expensive than terrestrial sustainable alternatives, although those costs could fall if current capability gaps can be addressed. The report shows that emissions from space-based solar power could be similar to those from terrestrial alternative power sources but it noted that this issue requires more detailed assessments.
NASA is already developing technologies for its current mission portfolio that will indirectly benefit space-based solar power, the report found. These include projects focusing on the development of autonomous systems, wireless power beaming, and in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing.
NASA frequently reevaluates how it approaches issues that could affect the agency’s missions. The report noted that further analysis of space-based solar power could be warranted – including evaluations of the technology for potential lunar applications – as the technology progresses and capability gaps are addressed.
The report and other OTPS documents advising NASA on technology, policy, and strategy issues are available on the office’s webpage.
Space–Based Solar Power (PDF)

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Save the Date: Apophis 2029 Innovation (A29I) Listening Workshop

Source: NASA

Save the Date
Apophis 2029 Innovation (A29I) Listening Workshop
February 7, 2024
Please refer to this web page for any updated information
OVERVIEW:
NASA’s Agency Chief Technologist (ACT) within the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) is hosting a listening workshop on February 7, 2024, on innovative approaches to conduct missions during the Earth flyby of the asteroid Apophis in 2029. This workshop is co-hosted with NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) in the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) as well as with NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).
The Apophis 2029 Innovation (A29I) Listening Workshop will engage the public to explore innovative approaches for a low-cost mission to the asteroid Apophis. Specifically, the workshop seeks information from the commercial space sector, academia, researchers, technology developers, transportation providers, other government agencies, international space agencies, and other interested parties on innovative programmatic, financial, and partnership approaches. Participation by other U.S. government agencies and international space agencies is highly encouraged. The agenda will feature an overview briefing by NASA officials followed by pre-scheduled one-on-one listening sessions between NASA and interested parties.
PROGRAM
The listening workshop will be held on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C. The workshop is divided into two parts.
The first part is a widely attended morning overview briefing that will be held at the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters (West Lobby, 300 E St SW, Washington, DC 20024), starting at 9:00 AM Eastern Time. Doors will open at 8:15 AM Eastern Time. 
The second part will be one-on-one sessions between NASA representatives and external organizations. These one-on-one sessions will begin at 11:00 AM Eastern Time. NASA will determine the final schedule of one-on-one sessions and will contact organizations directly to confirm logistics, location, and assigned session time. The location will be within close proximity to NASA headquarters. Each organization requesting a one-on-one session is limited to up to three participants per organization. The one-on-one sessions will be no more than 30 minutes in length for each organization.
For the one-on-one sessions, please do not prepare a slide deck or presentation material as audio/visual equipment will not be provided nor will be permitted. NASA also will not accept any written or electronic material. Please do not provide any confidential or proprietary information during the one-on-one sessions. The one-one-one sessions will not be recorded; however, notes may be taken by NASA civil servants or its support contractor(s).
For those organizations and individuals interested in participating in the overview briefing and/or the one-on-one sessions please RSVP by January 19, 2024 by providing the following for all individuals attending from your organization:
Name
Title (if applicable)
Affiliation
Email
Phone number
Attending overview briefing: Y/N
Attending one-on-one session: Y/N
Please RSVP by sending an email to taelor.n.jones@nasa.gov using the subject line “Apophis 2029 Workshop.”
There are no associated activities (e.g., procurement, cooperative agreement, Space Act agreement, etc.) planned at this time.
REFERENCES:

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Models for Facilitating Government-Funded Activities in the Post-ISS LEO Ecosystem

Source: NASA

In September 2022, the National Space Council directed NASA to “develop a plan for the next generation microgravity national lab in a commercial space station world.” NASA has been working to develop this strategy, to include considerations for establishing robust international partner pathways outlined in a report from NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy titled “Models for Facilitating Government-Funded Activities in the Post-International Space Station (ISS) Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Ecosystem,” as one step in NASA’s effort to define and develop a comprehensive strategy. 

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NASA Researcher Honored by Goddard Tech Office for Earth Science Work

Source: NASA

Goddard researcher Dr. Antonia Gambacorta the 2023 IRAD Innovator of the Year for her work developing hyperspectral microwave technology to dissect Earth’s atmosphere from orbit.

Earth science researcher Dr. Antonia Gambacorta earned the 2023 Goddard IRAD Technology Leadership award for pioneering new ways to measure lower layers of Earth’s atmosphere from space.
The award from the chief technologist of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, recognizes Gambacorta’s work demonstrating how hyperspectral microwave sounding, the measurement of hundreds of thousands of wavelengths of microwave light, could dissect Earth’s atmospheric planetary boundary layer (PBL). She also conceptualized a microwave photonics radiometer instrument to reveal these measurements.

The part of Earth’s atmosphere people live in, and have the most experience studying, is the hardest to measure from space due to the volume and complex behavior of the air above it, Gambacorta said. Developing the ability to probe and measure the boundary layer on a global, routine basis is important to better understanding its connections to the rest of our atmosphere, the land surface, and the oceans.
“The unique challenge of the PBL requires a novel path forward that will bring together traditionally disparate observing system components in order to enable transformative scientific advances in Earth system science,” said fellow researcher Joseph Santanello. “To that end, Dr. Gambacorta’s efforts extend beyond individual technology developments, and are represented in her aspirational vision of PBL sounding as ‘the tie that binds.’ Just as notably, Dr. Gambacorta’s passion, enthusiasm, and respect for her colleagues has been evident through each of stage of the project’s development.”
In seeking solutions to measure the boundary layer, Gambacorta stepped up to lead Goddard’s hyperspectral microwave projects and became the face of the center’s Decadal Survey Incubation (DSI) efforts. Through multiple Internal Research and Development, or IRAD grants, she and her team performed fundamental research to show the effectiveness of hyperspectral microwave sounding, conceptualized a microwave photonics radiometer instrument, and more recently began developing a framework to integrate data from multiple sensors for boundary layer science observations.

“Antonia’s innovation rises above her individual successes as a capable and creative innovator,” said Goddard Chief Technologist Peter Hughes. “She capitalized on multiple programs to incubate new technology while engaging expertise from across agencies and around the world to connect to other resources.”
Her cutting-edge innovations and research earned support from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office and from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Specifically, Gambacorta built on her IRAD successes to secure an Earth Science Technology Office Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) project award to further develop her team’s microwave photonics radiometer concept and DSI funding to advance the multi-sensor fusion framework. Additionally, her momentum enabled a DSI-funded airborne instrument project attempting to transform CoSMIR, Goddard’s Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Radiometer, into a hyperspectral sensor. That project is led by up-and-coming instrument scientist Rachael Kroodsma.
This entire portfolio that Gambacorta now manages also culminated in a successful NOAA Broad Agency Announcement proposal to demonstrate hyperspectral microwave radiometry. Through her engagement with colleagues in ESTO, NOAA, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, Hughes said Goddard’s hyperspectral microwave and PBL initiatives are regarded globally as the trusted strategy for understanding the planetary boundary layer. Goddard is widely viewed as a pioneer in the use of integrated photonics for Earth remote sensing due to Gambacorta’s leadership, he added.
“Antonia serves as a true inspiration to the technologists and scientists on her teams,” her colleague Santanello added. “Her innovation and contribution to Goddard and the larger community can also be measured in each of these ways.”
By Karl B. Hille
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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NASA Engineer Earns Goddard Innovation Award for Sun-studying Photon Sieves

Source: NASA

Goddard Engineer Kevin Denis receives innovation award for photon sieves.

Goddard’s Office of the Chief Technologist named engineer Steven Denis as the FY23 Internal Research and Development (IRAD) Innovator of the Year, an honor the office bestows annually on individuals who demonstrate the best in innovation.

Denis demonstrated persistence and innovation in developing hair-thin photon sieves to focus extreme ultraviolet light – a difficult wavelength to capture. Thin membranes matter for solar science, he said, because these sieves transmit up to seven times more light than thicker materials. Denis’s work will open new ways to study the Sun in better detail and understand its influence on Earth and the solar system.
Working closely with solar scientists over many years through Goddard ’s IRAD, or Internal Research and Development program, Denis developed new ways to create wider and thinner membranes of silicon and niobium. These photon sieves, created in Goddard’s Detector Development Laboratory, are so thin they must be supported by a honeycomb lattice of thicker silicon to prevent tearing. Etched with microscopic holes in a circular pattern, they refract light similar to Fresnel lenses used in lighthouses. Extreme ultraviolet light passing through this sieve is bent gradually inward to a distant receiver.

“It’s a sheer physical challenge to construct sieves with such precision,” said Goddard heliophysicist Dr. Doug Rabin. “Their smallest features are a few microns across. Kevin has really responded to that challenge with very creative solutions.”
Denis’s photon sieves should eventually be able to resolve features near the surface of the Sun 10 to 50 times smaller than can be seen today with the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s EUV imager, Rabin said.
Denis takes inspiration from working closely with scientists to overcome barriers to advancing their field, he said. “With this project in particular, scientists Rabin and Adrian Daw have done a great job using the sieves in near-term science applications while we push the technology for larger and more capable missions.”
Denis’s work was highlighted in Physics Today, a publication of the American Institute for Physics, for its importance in advancing pivotal technology that can address outstanding questions of how coronal heating and acceleration happens in the Sun’s lower atmosphere.
With two patents already awarded based on this project, Denis is submitting a new application for his latest fabrication process.
While he continues to push the limits of engineering, Denis said he is looking forward to seeing them used in missions of increasing complexity and capability. “It’s a great motivation to see they are going to be used for new science.”
By Karl B. Hille
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

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NASA Improves GIANT Optical Navigation Technology for Future Missions

Source: NASA

Goddard’s GIANT optical navigation software helped guide the OSIRIS-REx mission to the Asteroid Bennu. Today its developers continue to add functionality and streamline useability for future missions.

As NASA scientists study the returned fragments of asteroid Bennu, the team that helped navigate the mission on its journey refines their technology for potential use in future robotic and crewed missions.
The optical navigation team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, served as a backup navigation resource for the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission to near-Earth asteroid Bennu. They double-checked the primary navigation team’s work and proved the viability of navigation by visual cues.

Optical navigation uses observations from cameras, lidar, or other sensors to navigate the way humans do. This cutting edge technology works by taking pictures of a target, such as Bennu, and identifying landmarks on the surface. GIANT software – that’s short for the Goddard Image Analysis and Navigation Tool – analyzes those images to provide information, such as precise distance to the target, and to develop three-dimensional maps of potential landing zones and hazards. It can also analyze a spinning object to help calculate the target’s mass and determine its center – critical details to know for a mission trying to enter an orbit.
“Onboard autonomous optical navigation is an enabling technology for current and future mission ideas and proposals,” said Andrew Liounis, lead developer for GIANT at Goddard. “It reduces the amount of data that needs to be downlinked to Earth, reducing the cost of communications for smaller missions, and allowing for more science data to be downlinked for larger missions. It also reduces the number of people required to perform orbit determination and navigation on the ground.”

During OSIRIS-REx’s orbit of Bennu, GIANT identified particles flung from the asteroid’s surface. The optical navigation team used images to calculate the particles’ movement and mass, ultimately helping determine they did not pose a significant threat to the spacecraft.
Since then, lead developer Andrew Liounis said they have refined and expanded GIANT’s backbone collection of software utilities and scripts.
New GIANT developments include an open-source version of their software released to the public, and celestial navigation for deep space travel by observing stars, the Sun, and solar system objects. They are now working on a slimmed-down package to aid in autonomous operations throughout a mission’s life cycle.
“We’re also looking to use GIANT to process some Cassini data with partners at the University of Maryland in order to study Saturn’s interactions with its moons,” Liounis said.
Other innovators like Goddard engineer Alvin Yew are adapting the software to potentially aid rovers and human explorers on the surface of the Moon or other planets.
Adaptation, Improvement
Shortly after OSIRIS-REx left Bennu, Liounis’ team released a refined, open-source version for public use. “We considered a lot of changes to make it easier for the user and a few changes to make it run more efficiently,” he said.
An intern modified their code to make use of a graphics processor for ground-based operations, boosting the image processing at the heart of GIANT’s navigation.
A simplified version called cGIANT works with Goddard’s autonomous Navigation, Guidance, and Control software package, or autoNGC in ways that can be crucial to both small and large missions, Liounis said.
Liounis and colleague Chris Gnam developed a celestial navigation capability which uses GIANT to steer a spacecraft by processing images of stars, planets, asteroids, and even the Sun. Traditional deep space navigation uses the mission’s radio signals to determine location, velocity, and distance from Earth. Reducing a mission’s reliance on NASA’s Deep Space Network frees up a valuable resource shared by many ongoing missions, Gnam said.
Next on their agenda, the team hopes to develop planning capabilities so mission controllers can develop flight trajectories and orbits within GIANT – streamlining mission design.
“On OSIRIS-REx, it would take up to three months to plan our next trajectory or orbit,” Liounis said. “Now we can reduce that to a week or so of computer processing time.”
Their innovations have earned the team continuous support from Goddard’s Internal Research and Development program, individual missions, and NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program.
“As mission concepts become more advanced,” Liounis said, “optical navigation will continue to become a necessary component of the navigation toolbox.”
By Karl B. Hille
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. 

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Goddard Engineers Improve NASA Lidar Tech for Exploration, Navigation

Source: NASA

Lidar technology improvements will help NASA scientists and explorers with remote sensing and surveying, mapping, 3D-image scanning, hazard detection and avoidance, and navigation.

Like a sonar using light instead of sound, lidar technology increasingly helps NASA scientists and explorers with remote sensing and surveying, mapping, 3D-image scanning, hazard detection and avoidance, and navigation.
Cutting edge innovations by NASA researchers seek to refine lidars into smaller, lighter, more versatile tools for exploration.
“There are a lot of flavors of lidar right now,” said Cheryl Gramling, assistant chief for technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s such an important technology because of the precision and versatility that it offers.”
Light detection and ranging, or lidar, is a remote sensing technology related to sonar and radar. Lidar uses pulses of light to measure distances and properties of objects accurately, by measuring the time it takes the light to reflect back to the lidar sensor.
Goddard innovators are looking to expand the usefulness of lidar applications in communication and navigation, planetary exploration, and space operations. Here are a few of the current investigations.
Foldable, Flat Lidar Optics

Research engineer Mark Stephen is developing a deployable, segmented telescope to capture the returning light signal using state-of-the-art flat-panel optics organized in foldable, origami-inspired panels. Working with researchers at Brigham Young University, their team seeks to provide future missions with the benefits of lidar technology without the current technologies’ high cost and limited efficiency.
Lidar typically is a high-cost technology that may not make the cut for tomorrow’s smaller, lighter, and more efficient missions. Size, weight, and power demands limit the technology’s ability to be implemented in more missions.
“Most people want really high performance,” Stephen said, “But they want it in a small, light, and power-efficient package. We’re trying to find the best balance, and cost matters. Often the cost comes more from the size, weight, and power than it does from the actual development if we’re launching something into space. That is where it gets expensive.”
Stephen is wrapping up a three-year effort to improve lidars through a Radical Innovation Initiative grant within Goddard’s Internal Research and Development (IRAD) program. Their project has been picked up by NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office to fund further improvements.
Typically, lidar receivers depend on bulky lenses to capture light, each lens needs a specific curvature and size to bend the light, in addition to the structures which hold the lenses, and other mechanics, Stephen said. Larger lenses are more effective, and that is where lidar technology tends to get heavy.
Flat optics use new types of nano-structured materials to manipulate individual photons, he said. These meta-materials allow thin and lightweight optics to perform the same functions as much larger and more expensive three-dimensional counterparts.

“We are working toward being able to have a family of instruments where we have some flexibility and agility to meet the needs of a given mission,” Stephen said. “We want to develop a tool where you can make a better trade in terms of size, weight and power versus performance.”
One Laser, Many Wavelengths
Goddard engineer Guangning Yang is looking to improve lidar by producing multiple wavelengths of light from a single beam. Most modern lidars use multiple beams of a single wavelength to increase their accuracy.
Yang is the primary investigator for CASALS, or Concurrent Artificially intelligent Spectrometry and Adaptive Lidar System, a lidar technology that can sweep a large area more efficiently.
CASALS starts with one laser pulse, but instead of splitting that pulse into the many directions it needs to travel, their technology changes the wavelength of the laser at a very high speed. The different wavelengths of light then exit the laser transmitter at different angles based on their wavelength.
This pulse sequence produces a broom-like array sweeping across the object, landscape, or celestial body being studied.
“We have improved the efficiency,” Yang said, “and that will allow us to reduce the instrument’s size dramatically.”
Along with improvements in efficiency, CASALS is smaller than a typical lidar instrument. Yang said CASALS could help provide higher-density mapping of Earth and of other planets and moons as well as assisting with autonomous descents and landings.
Both flat optics and wavelength scanning offer new possibilities for lidar technology and are part of an array of investigations expected to unlock new opportunities in science and navigating distant worlds, Gramling said.
By Elizabeth Markham
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.