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N O T I C E THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED FROM MICROFICHE. ALTHOUGH IT IS RECOGNIZED THAT CERTAIN PORTIONS ARE ILLEGIBLE, IT IS BEING RELEASED IN THE INTEREST OF MAKING AVAILABLE AS MUCH INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE ... :; .:'; ^^'. ^ 4...--zr^^,.^R^wn.-arnr^e.csw.:,fa •e^iMeht :. .. .,,.c:.; ^""'^'rJlw.e'n.:^+e::a....+.e...or+.+wr...n. qp , •^ L UAH/NASA WORKSHOP ON SPACE SCIENCE PLATFORM (NASA-TM-82204) UAH/NASA WORKSHOP ON SPACE NSO-32414 SCIENCE PLATFORM (NASA) 2.05 p HC 00IMF A01 CSCL 22B Onclas GJ/ 14 34123 THE SUMMARY OF THE PANEL REPORTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE/ NASA WORKSHOP CONDUCTED AUGUST 21-25, 111e Uf1^Ve1'SRY 1978, AT .JOE WHEELER STATE PARK RESORT, Of Alabama ALABAMA ( In Hurftville t EDITED BY 'S. T, Wu SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 35807 ' AND SAMUEL MORGAN NASA/MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 35812 4 REVISED DECEMBER 1978 ^Y UAHAASA WORKSHOP ON SPACE SCIENCE PLATFORM f THE SUMMARY OF THE PANEL REPORTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLEAASA WORKSHOP CONDUCTED AUGUST 21-25, 1978, AT JOE WHEELER STATE PARK RESORT, ALABAMA EDITED BY S. T. WU SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUN TSVILLE HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 35807 AND SAMUEL MORGAN NASA MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 35812 PREFACE The Space Transportation System (STS) and Spacelab represent Important new capabilities for space science. These new systems, which will become operational in the early 1980's, will facilitate the launch, ^ retrieval, refurbishment and reflight of scientific payloads. These pay- loads will be in the form of traditional free-flying spacecraft and as Spacelab (STS-attached) payloads. This new retrieval capability, coupled with the large weight-carrying and power capabilities of the STS, makes possible the evolutionary development of large and complex instruments and facilities. The assembly of complementary groups of instruments t^ that may be reconfigured from flight to flight to address different i, scientific problems will also be possible. The STS and Spacelab are limited in one important commodity- time in orbit. Currently planned Spacelab missions range in duration from 7 days to a possible 20-30 days. However, many of the major space science instruments and facilities, once developed, will derive considerable scientific benefit from extended observing periods in space. At this • time such periods can only be achieved through multiple Spacelab missions or by reconfiguring the instruments to be compatible with traditional free-flying spacecraft. An alternative approach has recently been proposed which may prove to be a simpler and more cost-effective solution to the problem of long term flight. This approach involves the use of some form of orbiting space platform onto which Spacelab instruments can be off- loaded. Power, telemetry and stabilization and other support services, otherwise provided by Spacelab, would be duplicated by the platform. This would provide the instruments with a common spacecraft interface. Once offloaded, the instruments or groups of instruments, would remain in space for as long as required to achieve their scientific objectives. They would be serviced or even manually operated during occasional visits of the STS to the platform. Upon completion of their programs, the instruments would be returned to earth by STS for possible refurbish- ment, reconfiguration and reuse. It is not apparent at this time what form such a platform should take; how many platforms are required to satisfy the needs of the user communities; or whether such systems are, in fact, cost-effective alternatives to multiple Spacelab missions or to a series of traditional free-flying spacecraft. Thus, there is clearly a need to identify and quantify the scientific requirements for such platforms so that these questions may be addressed. r s Frc t I The purpose of this Workshop is to define the scientific user requirements for a Space Science Platform. Subsequent definition activities will involve a number of other offices within NASA. These include the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST), the Office of Space Transportation Systems (OSTS), and the Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA). The European apace Agency (ESA) is also interested in possible collaborations in this area. It is our Intent that by the spring of 1979 the potential user benefits, tech- nological implications, and cost of space platforms will be identified and the cost-effectiveness of such capabilities determined. This will then enable the Agency to decide whether this potentially attractive addition to the STS system will, in fact, play a role in the follow- on Spacelab program. A. Timothy Assistant Associate Administrator, Office of Space Science, NASA e .1 ii TABLE OF CONT !. rS Page PREFACE i PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES iv I. SUMMARY 1 Charles R. O'Dell II. HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS PANEL REPORT 7 Arthur B. C. Walker III. ASTRONOMY PANEL REPORT 36 H. Warren Moos IV. LUNAR AND PLANETARY PANEL REPORT 53 William Baum V. SOLAR PHYSICS PANEL REPORT 71 Ron Moore VI. SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS PANEL REPORT 86 John Winkler VII. ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES PANEL REPORT 111 Rex McGill VIII. LIFE SCIENCES PANEL REPORT 121 Calvin Ward APPENDIX A Agenda and Participants' List A-1 APPENDIX B A-8 Space Science Platform and Approaches Prepared by Program Development/MSFC iii t PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES The availability of the Space Shuttle Transportation System (STS) in the 1980's will greatly enhance the capability of the scientist to do Space Research. With STS the placing of large masses and volume in orbit as well as the ability to revisit for purposes of refurbishment and retrieval is possible. Studies are also being conducted on the con- struction of large structures in space. The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the Office of Space Science (OSS) have been exploring various preliminary concepts of an orbit..+.ng Space Science Platform (SSP) to accommodate experiment programs. In order to ensure proper direction, OSS felt that the participation of the scientific community at a very early stage of the planning process was essential. To accomplish this, OSS requested that MSFC determine the scientific benefits and requirements of an SSP. The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), with the cooperationof MSFC, undertook to obtain this information by organizing a Workshop. To this end, UAH invited interested scientists from universities, private industry and government agencies to a five-day Workshop at Joe Wheeler State Park Resort, Alabama, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the concept of a Space Science Plat- form and to discuss the scientific justification and requirements for potential scientific experiments that might benefit from the SSP. Based on the activities of OSS, the discussions were centered in the following panels: High Energy Astrophysics ! Astronomy Lunar and Planetary Sciences Solar Physics Space Plasma Physics Atmospheric Sciences Life Sciences. A detailed account of the panel reports is included in the following chapters. In particular, we wish to draw the reader's attention to the summary discussions in Chapter I, which will give a general view of those participating in the Workshop. As the coordinators of this Workshop, we would like to acknowledge those scientists whose cooperations made this activity so useful and successful. In particular, we would like to thank the co-chairpersons, Dr. A. Timothy of OSS, and Dr. R. O'Dell of MSFC, and the panel chairmen for preparing accurate panel reports for publication. Also the encourage- ments of Dr. J. Dowdle, Vice President for Administration and Dean J. Hoomani of The University of Alabama in Huntsville are greatly appreciated, as is the support of Ms. Virginia Tomme for facility arrangements. Finally, iv I 1. t ^- but certainly not least, we would like to give our great appreciation to Ms. Carol Holladay who served distinguishably as secretary and typist throughout this activity. S. T. Wu The University of Alabama in Huntsville Samuel H. Morgan NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center i^ v -e1 f. 1. I CHAPTER I SUMMARY E ^- i- ^I by Charles R. O'Dell Associate Director for Science i NASA/ Marshall Space Flight Center i- r F { 1 D^ f t- t 1 s SUMMARY .t The scientists participating in the SSP Workshop were able to identify many applications of a space platform to their disciplines and several examples of where their science could be done uniquely well. Very clearly, experiments done while attached to the Space Shuttle will have important limitations due to the relatively short flight duration, low duty cycle, and power, mass and volume constraints. These limitations would prevent realizing many of the scientific goals set by these scientists even though the state of technology of detectors, stabilization and cryogenics would allow the necessary measurements to be made, given the appropriate vehicle. The workshop participants did not attempt to evaluate other alternatives to Shuttle attached operation, such as standardized spacecraft, or to evaluate the cost of various recommendations but were directed to assume the position of characrerizing the utility of Space Science Platforms and of separating out only a relatively few experiments that clearly and naturally fell into the major facilities category. Space Science Platforms have enormous potential during the 1980's and beyond; however, NASA may wish to assess other ways of achieving some of the experiments projected here. There was a spectrum of enthusiasm for the SSP that ranged from the position that platforms would be useful to identification of plat- forms as the logical and most desirable way of carrying out the scientific goals of their disciplines. The overwhelming assessment of the Workshop participants was that the Space Science Platform concept should be studied further. The Workshop participants assumed that their task was to generate requirements for Space Science Platforms rather than defining experiments compatible with the engineering concepts shown at the beginning of the meeting.