Jet MAY Propulsion 2007 Laboratory volume 37

number 5

Crew members inspect the sounding rocket Smooth used for a Space Technology 9 test mission at White Sands Missile landings Range, N.M. At center is JPL’s JPL wins New Millennium mission Paolo Bellutta, Space Technology 9 who served as the lead experi- ment engineer for By Mark Whalen the JPL equip- ment flown on the mission. In an effort to help future NASA missions land safely at more desirable but potentially perilous locales, JPL will develop a prototype of an automated, onboard system to “Inevitably we will want to go to a place that’s scary campaigns. The new plan, Thurman said, includes enable pinpoint navigation along with the detection and in terms of trying to land. Our system will allow a three such flight tests, the first of which would be avoidance of hazards during a spacecraft’s descent to the spacecraft to see where it’s going, recognize features in 2008 and the last two in 2011. A single field surface. you might want to go to and take you there while test campaign would be conducted in parallel with Through a series of flights using the New Mexico desert recognizing hazards that should be avoided.” preparations for the 2008 flight test. as an analog for deep-space outposts, the project, Space In this extended Phase A study, the project team At the heart of the project is the terrain-relative Technology 9, is the newest in NASA’s New Millennium is working to replan its schedule and budget, as di- guidance system, which integrates computer vision Program to test leading-edge technologies and reduce rected by NASA Headquarters, by the end of July. “We and inertial sensing to perform terrain-relative navi- their risk for future spaceflight. believe we can achieve NASA’s goal of a 40 percent gation, hazard detection and landing-site targeting. “We want to give the science community the ability, in cost reduction,” Thurman said, adding that pending “This is the Holy Grail,” Thurman said, “in that the the future, to send robotic spacecraft to new and scientifi- Headquarters approval to go forward, the project system can see if it’s headed for the inside of a cra- cally interesting places that we can’t go to right now be- would start in fiscal 2008. ter you don’t want to land in, or any other hazard. cause it’s too dangerous from an engineering standpoint,” The original proposal called for four different sub- You know it’s coming and you’re able to avoid it.” said Project Manager Sam Thurman. orbital flight test missions and three major field test Continued on page 3

both assigned missions and ones that are competed, we are in a very strong position. Remember that one-third of the NASA budget goes to space science. That’s $5.5 bil- ON THE HORIZON lion a year, more than three times the JPL annual budget. If we remain competitive, JPL Director Charles Elachi reflects on a recent retreat where Executive Council JPL will do well. members discussed the Lab’s status, plans and strategies for the near future. How do we strengthen our ability to come up with new ideas? One example is the Purple Pigeons plan, where JPLers are offering innovative mission and instrument By Mark Whalen concepts. Also, we would like employees to consider career options in the advanced- Q: What were the main topics of discussion? concept area—coming up with new ideas, refining them, positioning JPL for compet- We are in the midst of one of the busiest periods in our history. We have 17 space- ing for them—as well as opportunities in research and new technologies. craft flying, with 10 launches between 2007 and 2011—from Dawn, which has just The key thing is to make sure we have top-notch people in each of those areas. shipped to the Cape, to Juno, which is still in the early definition phase. Our focus was on what’s going to happen after that. What are we doing to keep JPL Q: How is JPL doing in acquiring work through the competitive equally vibrant in the following five years? process? First, we need to make sure the Dawn and Phoenix launches this We discussed the fact that none of our proposals were selected for the recent Scout summer are successful, but we also should communicate to the mission awards. Employees have concern that there’s a message there. But JPL had public and to Congress the challenges that these missions four out of the six finalists in Category 1. Then NASA decided, for programmatic represent. There is always a concern to make sure people reasons, to focus on aeronomy missions, and we didn’t have any. I didn’t look at it as don’t think this is a routine business. Risks are there and anything negative about JPL; in fact, I thought we were very competitive. setbacks could happen. But also, the scientific opportunities But I was delighted that Space Technology 9 was selected. There were five finalists and payoffs are high. in the competition, including two from JPL, and NASA selected one of the JPL mis- sions. That showed me that we are still a very powerful and imaginative organization Q: What is the Lab’s outlook for future work? in new concepts. But in the world of competition, you should never relax. That’s why The key discussion we had is how to best position we put an emphasis on coming up with new ideas. JPL to work as part of the NASA team so that with Continued on page 2 2 Retreat Continued from page 1 Q: How does the Mars Program look right now? What about Earth science and the rest of planetary? For example, in the New Frontiers Program there are some very specific objectives suggested by the academy—including a Venus surface study, lunar I think we have a very thoughtful Mars program that is a good example of a niverse sample return, comet sample return and others. The key challenges for our long-term strategy. Between Mars and the rest of planetary, there’s a respect- U Advanced Studies Office are to understand the strategic goals of NASA and able NASA budget of $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion per year. So the planetary the community; to assure that we have made the appropriate investment so program is reasonably healthy. the technology is ready; to see that we have the talent to come up with the im- Most of the non-Mars activity is competed. Opportunities in the New Fron- plementation; and to give NASA and the review board confidence that we have tiers Program come up every three years, and with the Discovery Program it’s the right science, the right management, and the right technical approach. every year and a half. And there is now discussion at Headquarters about a There will also be opportunities for us in astrophysics. NASA has to com- flagship outer-planets mission. Because of its size, most likely this will be an plete the James Webb Space Telescope and Sofia, and then beyond that there assigned mission. In a sense, it’s a follow-on to the Voyager, Galileo and Cas- will be discussions about future missions. There are two areas of particular sini missions. interest to JPL—one is in exoplanets, looking at neighboring solar systems; In general, I’d say the planetary program is pretty healthy. There are oppor- that’s an area of high scientific and public interest. The other area is the un- tunities for JPL, but we will have to earn it; it won’t be just handed to us. derstanding of dark energy and dark matter; there may be a number of mis- In Earth science, a recent report laid out what the scientific community sions there. The combination of Campus and JPL researchers put us in a very recommends be done over the next decade, and they suggested a series of strong position in this area. missions in three-year blocks. For at least half of those, JPL is strongly po- sitioned to either make the case for an assigned mission or can successfully compete for it. Q: Will JPL see more non-NASA work in the next few years? There are a lot of opportunities in all of those key areas, and we have to Even though the space science program is reasonably healthy, we need work with NASA Headquarters to determine how JPL can best contribute. to expand our technology investment. And considering all the demands on NASA—space science, the crew exploration vehicle and going beyond Earth Q: How is JPL benefiting from its relationship with the campus? orbit—it has put stress on the technology budget. One approach we’re taking is to expand our customer base for technology JPL and the campus have an excellent relationship and we need to keep work that is of mutual interest to NASA and other agencies. We have demon- that strong. We now have joint faculty and research appointments, and strong strated technologies that are useful for both the Department of Defense and engagement from Caltech’s new president, Jean-Lou Chameau, who is very NASA. There is a lot of common ground—in optics, telescopes, radar, GPS, positive in helping JPL stay at the forefront. I would say our interactions with communications, robotics and more. the campus are probably the best I’ve seen in the 36 years I’ve been here. I also value tremendously the benefit we get from the Caltech Board of Trustees. These are very distinguished, experienced people from the aerospace industry, government and private sector, and their advice helps us stay on the leading edge of excellence. We are also looking at continuing to strengthen our relationships with other universities, which are key players in defining our strategic approach to imple- menting future missions.

Q: Is there room for improvement on JPL’s interactions with the outside science community? In general, the outside community looks positively at JPL. But often it’s a

Dutch Slager / JPL Photolab challenge for scientists or faculty members, accustomed to working within small groups, to communicate with a large organization like JPL. So let’s make Remember that one-third of the NASA budget goes to space science. That’s JPL more science-friendly, so that the outside community sees us as a place $5.5 billion a year, more than three times the JPL annual budget. So if we get that is anxious to help and work with them. For example, when I talk to the news media, they tell me what a great ex- about 50 percent of the future activities not yet assigned, JPL will do well. perience it is to deal with JPL. They always get their questions answered and always are treated in a friendly way. I would like to see that image across all This has been very successful recently. We envision that about 10 percent of JPL’s interaction with the outside world—that we are a very open, respect- of JPL’s work will be with DoD next year. Beyond that, with the relationship ful place, despite all the bureaucratic limitations. between developing energy sources, global change and how they impact our environment, JPL has a lot of capability to offer in the study and mitigation Q: Have plans been worked out to staff the new Flight Projects of global environmental issues of our planet. Building? The challenge will be to not only develop cleaner, better or more green energy sources, but also how these energy sources affect the environment. The building will provide space for 500 to 600 people. We will remove some With our capability on global monitoring, atmospheric chemistry, our un- of the trailers and other lesser-quality space, accounting for 150 to 200 derstanding of many energy sources that we use in our spacecraft—solar, people, so we’ll have 300 to 400 newly available spaces. We want to improve batteries and liquid hydrogen—I think we can assist the nation from an the quality of space for staff members already here at the Lab, so people end-to-end, system engineering point of view. have more elbow room. I would like to see a well-organized effort to co-locate There might also be some broader interest in working with other agen- some divisions. I’d also like to better accommodate people doing science and cies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the research who need offices next to labs. And we don’t want group supervisors Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. sharing an office with one of their employees. On April 25 we had an all-hands discussion on global change, and I plan A group representing various divisions has been formed to identify the best on holding other sessions to see if there are ideas that capitalize on our ways to manage that space. The new building will become available in ap- space experience and are complementary with NASA’s interests. proximately fall 2008. Continued on page 4 Space Technology 9 Continued from page 1 3

A sounding Sounding rockets are small vehicles used mostly to carry rocket test science experiments into space for short periods of time and spacecraft and its parachute they’re typically built around rocket motors from surplus or niverse (right) after retired military ordnance. The Space Technology 9 test mis- U touching down in the White sions, for example, would last about 15 minutes. By compari- Sands Missile son, the Mars Exploration Rovers took about 10 minutes from Range. The two atmospheric entry to touchdown. JPL camera lenses are vis- “Sounding rockets are useful because they achieve very high ible in this end of accelerations and speeds comparable to those of a decelerat- the spacecraft. JPL’s Andrew ing planetary lander, during both ascent and re-entry,” noted Johnson (left), Thurman. who developed A developmental test flight last year at White Sands ob- the complex algorithms used tained inertial sensor data over a 122-kilometer-high (75 to recognize ter- mile) trajectory and low-altitude imaging data from about rain features and to locate space- 20,000 feet on down, Thurman said. “We didn’t have a com- craft descent puter vision system onboard but we used the pictures and images on a sensor data to test the software we’d eventually run in an digital reference map, surveys the onboard computer. The test flight we plan for next year will exact touchdown allow us to get images of the ground taken from space for the location of the test spacecraft. first time (as well as inertial sensing again), then use that knowledge, along with the results from our first flight, to do a detailed design of the onboard computer system and soft- ware.” If all goes well in testing over the next two years, two end- Andrew John- son (left) and to-end test flights would be scheduled for 2011. Paolo Bellutta “This would give us redundant opportunities to prove our in a U.S. Army onboard computer system for real,” Thurman said. “We have helicopter just before it lifts two of them for the same reason we had two Mars Exploration off from the Rovers. If problems or difficulties are encountered during the recovery site. first of those two final missions, we’ll have another opportu- nity to incorporate fixes and corrections based on what we’ve learned.” The results of the first test mission last year also provided an unexpected bonus for the Phoenix Mars lander, scheduled to launch in August. In evaluating candidate landing sites last fall, the Phoenix Photos courtesy of Sam Thurman Project learned that Larry Matthies, Space Technology 9’s computer vision principal investigator, was developing a rec- Rather than having a spacecraft rely solely on inertial sensors for guidance, ognition algorithm for the terrain-relative guidance system, and asked if they could use Space Technology 9’s computer vision system will provide for images to deter- these algorithms to analyze their high-resolution images from Mars Reconnaissance mine location before deceleration and atmospheric entry and additional imaging Orbiter. updates during terminal descent. Phoenix also benefited from the data obtained from the rocket’s inertial sensors during “One of the reasons computer vision as a means for terrain-relative guid- the Space Technology 9 test flight. “Like Phoenix, our terrain-relative guidance system ance is so appealing is because it can work at so many different places,” Thur- has an inertial measurement unit with gyroscopes and accelerometers used for inertial man noted. “Europa, for example, has bizarre features caused by stresses and navigation,” Thurman said. “So we’re using the test data from the rocket to test the strains in its icy crust, leading to sharp ridges and chasms that crisscross all inertial navigation software on Phoenix to make sure it works right.” over the surface. Earth’s moon and Mars have many relatively large flat spots to Thurman lauded JPL’s “time-honored approach” where test and validation objectives send landers but there really aren’t any large flat spots on Europa. So it’s much for new systems are achieved incrementally over multiple tests, enhancing the quality harder to eventually go to a place like Europa without having some kind of abil- of computer-model validation efforts and minimizing risk. “One of the benefits is you get ity to see terrain, recognize where you want to go—and don’t want to go—and products and knowledge along the way that you can use for other beneficial purposes get there safely.” you didn’t realize ahead of time,” he said. “When we started that first flight test, I had Besides the benefit of avoiding hazards, Space Technology 9 looks to provide no idea we’d be able to use the results to help Phoenix out, but we have. the most precise landings ever attempted on planetary bodies. “We want to be “But that’s what the New Millennium Program is for, to make just that kind of thing able to deliver future landers or impactors to within 100 meters (about 328 happen.” feet) of a targeted landing site, with 99 percent probability, and in conjunction JPL’s Calina Seybold is Space Technology 9’s concept study team leader. Other key with that, we want a system that can recognize meter-size landing hazards,” JPL participants include Matthies; Robert Locke, project system engineer; Shawn Thurman said. “For comparison, the Mars Exploration Rovers were designed to Goodman, flight system manager; and Shyam Bhaskaran, project technologist. land, with a 99 percent probability, within 35 to 37 kilometers (22 to 23 miles) “We hope that within the next 10 years the first operational use of the terrain-relative of where we wanted to be.” guidance system will take place,” Thurman said, noting that possibilities could include The project will test the system with a series of sounding rocket missions at an asteroid sample return mission as well as the human spaceflight program. White Sands Missile Range, N.M., chosen due to its geology and variety of ter- “One of the things I like about this capability is its potential widespread usage—hu- rain types, many of which are similar to surfaces of the moon and Mars. These man flights to the moon, space science missions, Mars, Europa, asteroids and comets,” missions will be conducted in a partnership with the Wallops Flight Facility, Thurman said. “That’s been JPL’s history—push the boundaries of what’s been done and which runs the NASA Sounding Rocket Program, and Langley Research Center. do new things, and that’s almost always meant going to places we’ve never been before.” S D A D E I F I S S A L C T I M B U S D N A D A E R T JPL’ P J AT 4 Pasadena, CA 91109. CA Pasadena, Drive, Grove Oak 4800 Laboratory, Propulsion Jet the of Education and Communications of Office the by published is Universe Universe universe@jpl.nasa.gov s o http://dailyplanet E N I L N JPL Photo Lab Photo JPL Photography DavidHinkle Production AudreySteffan Design Whalen Mark Editor

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