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A Discussion of the Need to Sustain Mission Ready TPS and for Continued Development of Innovative Entry System TechnologiesFlight proven entry system and TPS technologies are critical for the successful execution of in-situ science missions at Venus. Emerging new technologies point to new possibilities and offer innovative approaches to delivering small satellites for orbital science. Venus entry can be very demanding and there are only a few flight proven TPS, some developed by Industry and others by NASA, capable of meeting the mission needs. NASA developed TPS has predominately been transferred to Industry and it is assumed industry will maintain the fabrication capability. However, lack of mission needs may result in obsolence of TSP fabrication capability if there is no money and no motivation. Even within NASA, its' expertise could be diverted to higher priority objectives and thereby the readiness for particular material systems can be impacted or lost. Atrophy of capabilities can come about in other ways as well such as changes to raw materials. Even small manufacturing process changes can demand requalification and TRL may be degraded. Carbon-Phenolic is a text book example. After a long period of absence of US Venus missions, VEXG and the Science community is making the case for future missions. It is insufficient to assume the TSP technologies will be there in 5 or 10 years without active and continual planning and assessment. After Galileo, Carbon-Phenolic materials and fabrication skills were allowed to atrophy. Then when missions needed it, in early 2000, it was no longer possible to make the heritage Carbon-Phenolic. What do we need to do? The first step is to advocate for the establishment of TPS readiness assess-ment. The assessment will involve understanding threats and opportunities, and the development of risk mitigation strategies. VEXAG needs to advocate for such an active monitoring of the needed capabilities, assessment of emerging risks and development of risk mitigation strategies with implementation plans. Such an approach reduces the threat of material obsolence and helps maintain the availability of entry system and TPS technology capabilities, both old and new. Venus probes, landers, balloons and other variable altitude missions, and skimmer missions such as "Cu-pid's Arrow" as well as aerocapture missions to deliver small spacecraft require qualified entry systems and ablative TPS. VEXAG advocated for HEEET in 2013/2014 and the community is well versed with the need to sustain it. But, other TPS that need to be sustained may not be apparent to VEXAG community. The following figure summarizes the ablative TPS capabilities vs Venus mission needs for both primary heatshield and backshell.
Document ID
20190032602
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Poster
Authors
Venkatapathy, Ethiraj
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Ellerby, Donald T.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Gasch, Matthew J.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Gage, Peter J.
(Millennium Engineering and Integration Co. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Muppidi, Suman
(Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Hwang, Helen H.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Hash, David B.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
November 8, 2019
Publication Date
November 6, 2019
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Report/Patent Number
ARC-E-DAA-TN72566
Meeting Information
Meeting: Meeting of the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG)
Location: Boulder, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: November 6, 2019
End Date: November 8, 2019
Sponsors: NASA Ames Research Center
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNA13AC87C
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNA15BB15C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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