1994 SEE PROPOSALS AWARDED

Proposal Source        Distribution	SEE Funding         Distribution

Summary of NRA 94-LaRC-1 SEE Proposals Awarded

1.   Development of Design Standards and Guidelines for Electromagnetic Compatibility and Lightning Protection for Spacecraft Utilizing Composite Structures

Organization:  TEC-MASTERS, Inc.
Principal Investigator:  Dennis W. Camp

Objectives:

• Develop guidelines to help designers to assure adequate electrical bonding and grounding through various composite materials used on spacecraft.
• Determine the shielding effectiveness of composite materials and provide guidelines for their use.
• Develop design guidelines on the ability of composite materials to withstand lightning strikes, including guidelines for the protection of internal circuitry as well.
  

2.   Development of an On-Orbit Electromagnetic Environment Publication

Organization:  GB Tech, Inc. 
Principal Investigator:  Ralph Lawton

Objective:

• Develop a usable and informative publication (monograph) for use by NASA, Air Force, and government contractors of the on-orbit RF electromagnetic field intensities resulting from ground-based sources.
  

3.   System Design Guidelines for Implementing and Testing EME Safety Margins on Safety Critical Circuits

Organization:  GB Tech, Inc.
Principal Investigator:  Ralph Lawton

Objective:

• Provide assurance for any systems design that crew and spacecraft will survive the electrical noise environment. This proposal describes projections to produce the required Systems Design Guidelines. This study will develop practical methodology and guidelines for critical circuit definition and margin demonstrations that are both rigorous and affordable.

IONIZING RADIATION ENVIRONMENT

1.   The Ionizing Radiation Environment and its Effects on Satellites

Organization:  Naval Research Laboratory
Principal Investigator:  James H. Adams, Jr.

Objectives:

• Update the current model of galactic cosmic radiation.
• Provide a new model of solar energetic particle events.
• Provide a new model of trapped anomalous cosmic rays.
• Update the model for geomagnetic transmission on ionizing particles
• Update the cross sections in the HZETRN radiation transport code.
• Provide a tool to estimate the effects of ionizing radiation on satellites.
• Validate the models at several levels of development with experimental data.
• Document the new and updated models and tools.
  

2.   Trapped Radiation Models-Uncertainties for Spacecraft Design

Organization:  Science Applications International Corporation
Principal Investigator:  Tony Armstrong

Objectives:

• Establish design margins needed by spacecraft/payload designers to account for uncertainties in trapped radiation models.
• Evaluate uncertainties from comprehensive comparisons with current/upcoming flight data, including extensive database of Russian satellite measurements.
• Include all radiation belt models (NASA AE8/AP8, new CRRES models, and Russian models) in uncertainty assessments.
  

3.   Low-Altitude Trapped Radiation Model

Organization:  McDonnell Douglas Aerospace
Principal Investigator:  K. A. Pfitzer

Objective:

• Develop an improved model of the low-altitude trapped radiation environment based on the TIROS/NOAA data and other spacecraft data.

MATERIALS AND PROCESSES

1.   Development of Tailorable Electrically Conductive Thermal Control Material Systems

Organization:  IIT Research Institute
Principal Investigator:  M. S. Deshpande

Objective:

• Develop both white and black electrically conductive thermal control coatings and demonstrate the coatings survivability in the space environment.
  

2.   AO and VUV Resistant PAE-Polymers for the LEO Space Environment

Organization:  Triton Systems, Inc.
Principal Investigator:  Allan Shepp

Objectives:

• Alleviate the threat of critical damage to space vehicles that will result from the attack of atomic oxygen and vacuum ultraviolet radiation in low Earth orbit on key polymers-as observed on STS-8, LDEF and space shuttle flight experiments.
• Test PAE-Polymers for synergistic AO/VUV resistance using three AO/VUV test facilities.
• Fabricate PAE-Polymer-Al and PAE-Polymer-Ag thermal blanket samples and test them for thermal blanket performance at the NASA MSFC, relative to the presently used Kapton-Al and Teflon-Ag blankets that were critically damaged in the STS, LDEF, and EOIM-3 space experiments.
• Develop new AO/VUV resistant PAE-Polymers as protective coatings and thermal blankets, using pilot plant production of polymers, films, and thermal blanket materials. We will continue to do ground test and, as a part of an going arrangement with NASA-MSFC, we will furnish specimens for inclusion on LP/S Phase 1 IPT (joint NASA-Russian Experiment on the Space Station Mir in 1996).
• Develop new AO/VUV resistant polymer and thermal blanket products based on the results of extensive ground testing and of space flight testing that may have been done in year 2 or year 3.

METEOROIDS AND ORBITAL DEBRIS

1.   BUMPER/SPENV Code Integration

Organization:  POD Associates, Inc.
Principal Investigator:  Dale R. Atkinson
Status: Cancelled 

Objectives:

• Develop unified space debris impact damage scaling laws.
• Develop end-to-end hazard prediction, damage prediction, and shielding design code capability.
• Provide validated data analysis and interpretation tool for meteoroid and debris researchers and satellite designers.
• Reduce cost and complexity of designing impact-hardened satellites.

NEUTRAL EXTERNAL CONTAMINATION

1.   Comparison of Spacecraft Contamination Models with Well Defined Flight Experiments

Organization:  Boeing Defense & Space Group
Principal Investigator:  Gary Pippin

Objective:

• Define the deposition of molecular contamination on the Long Duration Exposure Facility including geometry, orientation, and environmental exposure, and compare these results to existing contamination models such as MOLFLUX and ISEM.
  

2.   Contamination Control Design Guidelines for the Aerospace Community

Organization:  Rockwell International Space Systems Division
Principal Investigator:  Alan C. Tribble

Objectives:

• Develop a Contamination Control Engineering Handbook that correlates contamination levels with the performance of specific spacecraft systems.
• Develop a Contamination Control Plan that identifies the process/ facilities needed to maintain specified contamination levels.
• Develop an interactive expert knowledge system, for both the handbook and plan, that can be integrated with existing NASA software architectures, such as Environment WorkBench (EWB).
  

3.   Contamination Effects on EUV Optics

Organization:  NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Principal Investigator:  June L. Tveekrem

Objectives:

• Perform in-vacuum measurements of the specular reflectance and BRDF of deliberately-contaminated optical surfaces as EUV/FUV wavelengths (300-1216 Å). Both molecular and particulate contaminants would be used.
• Quantify the effect of photopolymerization on optical scattering (i.e. BRDF), and to determine the UV intensity needed to initiate the photopolymerization process.
• Compare the laboratory results with predictions from models based on Mie scattering theory, to see whether these models can be applied to EUV/FUV wavelengths and to molecular droplets as well as particulate.
• Make the data available for incorporation into standard optical design software, so that designers can better predict end-of-life performance and contamination requirements for EUV/FUV optical systems.

IONOSPHERE AND THERMOSPHERE

1.   Modeling of Environmentally Induced Charging in Composite Space Structures


Organization:  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Principal Investigator:  Hugh L. McManus
Status: Cancelled

Objectives:

• Obtain a basic understanding of the behavior of composite materials and structures in charging environments.
• Develop design tools and mitigation techniques that will allow the confident use of composite structures in these environments.
  

2.   Continuing Development of a "Hybrid" Model (VSH) of the Neutral Thermosphere

Organization:  University of Michigan
Principal Investigator:  A. G. Burns
Status: Cancelled

Objectives:

• Develop an improved version of an operating hybrid model of the neutral thermosphere based on a vector spherical harmonic (VSH) representation of the output from the National Center for Atmospheric Research - Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Electrodynamic General Circulation Model (NCAR-TIEGCM).
• Improve quiet-time density specifications by going from TIGCM runs to TIEGCM runs as the basis of the VSH model.
• Develop a new scheme to improve the storm time specification of the neutral thermosphere.
• Include Y component effects of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field.
• Perform extensive testing using databases that exist at SPRL to test new algorithms.
  

3.   Solar Activity Prediction Tools

Organization:  NASA/ Marshall Space Flight Center
Principal Investigator:  David H. Hathaway

Objectives:

• Correlate solar activity indices with upper atmospheric density variations.
• Acquire and update solar activity index databases.
• Survey and test solar activity prediction techniques.
• Create computational tools for solar activity predictions.
  

4.   Development of a Physics-Based Solar EUV Irradiance Variability Model for Upper Atmosphere Density Forecasting

Organization:  Naval Research Laboratory
Principal Investigator:  John T. Mariska

Objectives:

• Assemble a complete database of solar emission lines and continua for the wavelength range 0.1 - 120 nm (l=1 to 1200 Å).
• Construct standard emission measure models for the primary features of the solar chromosphere, transition region and corona which contribute to the solar spectral irradiance.
• Develop and validate a model based on proxy solar activity indicators that can be used in combination with the database and emission measures to synthesize the solar irradiance and its variations in any emission line or wavelength band of interest for terrestrial atmospheric modeling.

DATABASES, MODELS & INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT

1.   Database Integration of Space Environment Effects on Materials with Environmental Models

Organization:  TRW Space & Electronics Group
Principal Investigator:  Edward M. Silverman

Objectives:

• Develop a computer-based space environment-spacecraft system material design evaluation and verification tool by leveraging the existing capabilities of a space environment materials selection design guide and an integrated space environment effects analysis tool (Environment WorkBench).
• Integrate design guidelines on the effects of the space environment on materials with the computational space environmental models contained with the EWB analysis tool.
• Create and verify a computer-aided format that would display the output data (i.e., space environment effects on materials) in a space environment/material performance compliance matrix that would allow designers to evaluate and select materials for a specific spacecraft application and space environment. This will enable designers to perform "What if..." scenarios and engineering tradeoffs studies, leading to cost-effective material solutions and optimum design features for specific subsystems requirements.
  

2.   Vehicle-Atmosphere Interaction Glows: FUV-IR

Organization:  Lockheed Research and Development
Principal Investigator:  Gary R. Swenson

Objective:

• Develop 3 engineering models of spacecraft glow including the Far UltraViolet (FUV) to UV (1400-4000 Å), Visible (4000-9000 Å) and Infrared (IR) (0.9-40 microns) spectral regions.
• Models will include analysis from existing laboratory and spacecraft data and the results from the Experimental Investigation of Spacecraft Glow (EISG) flown on STS-62, March 1994.
• Models would include effects resulting from atmospheric density/altitude, spacecraft temperature, spacecraft material (limited information available), and ram angle. Glow brightness would be predicted as a function of distance from surfaces for all wavelengths.
• Models would be provided to NASA in standard computer codes which could be readily incorporated in design calculations for spacecraft and spacecraft based optical systems.
• Design guidelines and suggestions for minimizing (and mitigating) glow will be provided.
   

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