• NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission Completes Design Milestone

    From baalke@1:2320/100 to sci.space.news on Mon Aug 22 02:32:32 2016
    From Newsgroup: sci.space.news


    http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6593

    NASA Asteroid Redirect Mission Completes Design Milestone
    Jet Propulsion Laboratory
    August 15, 2016

    Following a key program review, NASA approved the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) to proceed to the next phase of design and development for the mission's robotic segment. ARM is a two-part mission that will integrate robotic
    and crewed spacecraft operations in the proving ground of deep space to demonstrate key capabilities needed for NASA's journey to Mars.

    The milestone, known as Key Decision Point-B, or KDP-B, was conducted
    in July and formally approved by agency management Aug. 15. It is one
    in a series of project lifecycle milestones that every spaceflight mission
    for the agency passes as it progresses toward launch. At KDP-B, NASA established
    the content, cost, and schedule commitments for Phase B activities.

    Earlier this year, NASA updated the target launch date for the robotic
    mission to December 2021 in order to incorporate acquisition of industry robotic spacecraft development into the project schedule. To reflect this
    new target date, the project's cost cap was increased at KDP-B from $1.25 billion to $1.4 billion. This figure does not include the launch vehicle
    or the post-launch operations phase. The crewed segment, targeted for
    launch in 2026, remains in an early mission concept phase, or pre-formulation.

    ARM will demonstrate advanced, high-power, high-throughput solar electric propulsion; advanced autonomous high-speed proximity operations at a low-gravity
    planetary body; controlled touchdown and liftoff with a multi-ton mass
    from a low-gravity planetary body, astronaut spacewalk activities for
    sample selection, extraction, containment and return; and mission operations of integrated robotic and crewed vehicle stack -- all key components of
    future in-space operations for human missions to Mars.

    During Phase B of the robotic mission, the program will develop a baseline mission design to meet requirements consistent with NASA's direction on
    risk, cost and schedule, and will conduct an independent review of the baseline project design.

    "This is an exciting milestone for the Asteroid Redirect Mission," said
    NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot. "Not only is ARM leveraging agency-wide capabilities, it will test a number of new technologies already
    in development."

    Completing KDP-B is a catalyst for increased external involvement in the robotic mission development, explained Michele Gates, program director
    for ARM at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

    "Since its early formulation, NASA has invited mission concept feedback
    and development ideas from the planetary science community, general public, U.S. and global industry, and international partners," said Gates. "With
    KDP-B under our belt, ARM can now move forward to define partnerships
    and opportunities for long-term engagement."

    The robotic ARM project, led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, will issue a request for proposals for the spacecraft to a
    set of aerospace companies that previously worked with the ARM robotic
    design team on a six-month study of spacecraft concepts to meet mission requirements. KDP-B serves as authority for JPL to proceed with the next procurement phase.

    NASA plans to issue a solicitation in September that will include a call
    for partner-provided payloads on the robotic flight system. This call
    for partner-provided payloads is in addition to potential cooperation
    under discussion with the Italian Space Agency. NASA will provide spacecraft integration, power, data storage and communication capabilities for selected payloads, which the agency will choose based on contributions to both
    partner goals and ARM objectives, with consideration for those that may support risk reduction for the mission.

    This solicitation also will include a membership call for an ARM Investigation Team, which will be a multidisciplinary group of U.S. industry, academia, government, and international members. The Investigation Team will operate
    on an initial three-to-five year term, providing technical expertise to
    the ARM robotic and crewed project teams.

    The team will conduct analyses of spacecraft and mission design, and investigate
    concepts to support robotic mission objectives, including overall science, planetary defense, asteroid resource use and deep-space capability demonstrations.
    Led out of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the Investigation
    Team work will continue some of the research conducted by the ARM Formulation Assessment and Support Team, which helped define mission concepts and
    inform mission requirements and risks over a three-month period in 2015.

    The robotic component of ARM will demonstrate the world's most advanced
    and most efficient solar electric propulsion system as it travels to a near-Earth asteroid (NEA). NEAs are asteroids that are fewer than 121
    million miles (1.3 AU) from the sun at the closest point in their orbit. Although the target asteroid is not expected to be officially selected
    until 2020, NASA is using 2008 EV5 as the reference asteroid while the
    search continues for potential alternates.

    A target asteroid such as 2008 EV5 is particularly appealing to the scientific,

    exploration, and industrial communities because it is a primitive, C-type (carbonaceous) asteroid, believed to be rich in volatiles, water and organic compounds. The ability to extract core samples from the captured boulder
    will allow us to evaluate how its composition varies with depth and could unlock clues to the origins of our solar system. Astronaut sampling and potential commercial activities could indicate the value of C-type asteroids for commercial mining purposes, which in turn could have significant impacts on how deep space missions are designed in the future.

    After collecting a multi-ton boulder from the asteroid, the robotic spacecraft will slowly redirect the boulder to an orbit around the moon, using the
    moon's gravity for an assist, where NASA plans to conduct a series of
    proving ground missions in the 2020s. There, astronauts will be able to select, extract, collect and return samples from the multi-ton asteroid
    mass, and conduct other human-robotic and spacecraft operations in the
    proving ground that will validate concepts for NASA's journey to Mars.

    News Media Contact
    DC Agle
    818-393-9011
    Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
    agle@jpl.nasa.gov

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