Category Archives: In Space Infrastructure

FISO: Update on the Sunjammer solar sail navigation demonstration

February 18, 2014 TopSpacer

The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. The zip file includes the Powerpoint presentation, two animations, and the audio for the talk titled, Sunjammer – A Solar Sail Navigation Demonstration by Nathan Barnes , L.Garde Inc., February 12, 2014.

The talk describes the NASA/NOAA sponsored Sunjammer solar sail project, for which L’Garde Inc. (Tustin, CA) is the primary contractor. The steerable 1200 square meter sail is scheduled to be launched in January 2015 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

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Here’s a video overview of the project:

Here’s an animation of the deployment:

Find several more videos here.

In Space Infrastructure, Space Systems

FISO: Innovative robotic systems for in-space operations – UMD SSL

January 25, 2014 TopSpacer

The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. Both slides (pdf) and audio (mp3) are available for the talk, Innovative Robotic Systems for In-Space Operations, Dave Akin, U. Maryland – Jan.22.14

Akin reviews the many robotic projects at the Univ. of Maryland Space Systems Lab. Here is a sampling of his slides:

Asteroids & Comets, In Space Infrastructure, Space Systems

FISO: Exploring earth’s minimoons

January 16, 2014 TopSpacer

The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. There are slides and a video in a zip file plus an audio file (mp3) available for the talk, Minimoons: New Prospective Targets for Human Exploration, Bill Bottke, SWRI Boulder – Jan.15.14

Occasionally, near earth asteroids are captured temporarily in orbits around earth. Bottke calls these Minimoons:

TheEarth-Sun Lagrange points minimum areas are of particular interest.

The objects can last for just one simple orbit –

Or for many complex orbits:

Lifetimes in the earth region can span many years:

They estimate a couple of dozen such Minimoons are in orbit around earth at any given time:

Bottke goes on to discuss ideas for improving the detection of Minimoons and for targeting them for exploratory missions, including human missions.

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

FISO: Co-Robots and the future of space activity – Madhu Thangavelu

January 10, 2014 TopSpacer 2 Comments

The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. Both slides (pdf) and audio (mp3) are available for the talk, Co-Robots and the Future of Space Activity, Madhu Thangavelu , USC – Jan.8.14

Space exploration and development is often presented as a robot versus manned binary choice but it is really robot versus manned + robot. To accomplish significant development in space, humans will need the productivity multipliers provided by robots, particularly tele-operated ones. Resource extraction and processing, construction, and other tasks in the vacuum and radiation of space, in the dust of the Moon, etc will be controlled by people nearby in safe and cozy habitats.

Thangavelu’s presentation discusses many topics related to such scenarios. He starts with the CoRobot concept, in which robots work closely with people to assist them in different ways. He then moves to the SARA (Surrogate Astronaut Robot Avatar) concept in which a person wears an elaborate suit whose movements are mimicked by a robot out, say, on the surface of the Moon. Thangavelu lays out a plan for developing and testing SARA systems starting with a facility on the ISS.

Here is a sampling of his many slides:

In Space Infrastructure, Space Policy

FISO: The Global Exploration Roadmap

December 13, 2013 TopSpacer

The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. Both slides (pdf) and audio (mp3) are available for the talk, ISECG and Global Exploration Roadmap, Kathy Laurini, NASA JSC, Dec.11.13.

Laurini describes the grand Global Exploration Roadmap (or framework or scenario or dreamlike hallucination) that NASA and 11 other global space agencies (International Space Exploration Coordination Group or ISECG)have laid out for their human space exploration plans for the next few decades: