Artemis – Page 6

Part 2: Artificial Intelligence and NASA’s First Robotic Lunar Rover

In our last post, we described how VIPER, NASA’s first robotic Moon rover, is using artificial intelligence to create several options for the VIPER team to plan the rover’s path during its mission to the lunar South Pole.

Today, we’ll share more about how AI also is used to help human operators drive VIPER and create highly accurate maps of the rover’s mission area on the Moon.

Like a self-driving car, VIPER has cameras that monitor the environment around the rover and software that detects hazardous locations where it shouldn’t go. However, unlike self-driving cars, this software isn’t on board the rover; it’s back on Earth, and presents its conclusions to the rover drivers who use this information, along with many other sources, to decide how the rover should move.

One reason AI isn’t completely given the reins to the VIPER mission, is that AI techniques require a lot of training data – and this is the first time NASA will be remotely driving a robotic rover on the Moon. Using AI while always keeping humans in the loop provides a balance of risk and reward by using innovative and efficient techniques while avoiding unnecessary risk.

“VIPER is using AI as a tool; we’re not giving it the keys to the car,” said Mark Shirley, who created the original deterministic planner for VIPER at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “And for this science mission, we don’t have to – the Moon is close enough that we can monitor these systems that are still learning this new environment and watch everything, like how you’d want to watch over a new driver.”

We don’t know everything about the environment of the Moon, but we do know a lot – and we can use AI to help us fill in the blanks.

Learning the Terrain

Planning routes and sensing hazards aren’t the only ways VIPER is using artificial intelligence. Other AI techniques are helping generate very high-resolution terrain maps. Most of our data about the Moon comes from LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), including several hundred photographs of VIPER’s mission area and topographical data obtained by shooting a laser down at the lunar surface and seeing how long it took to bounce back up.

A subfield of AI, called computer vision, can determine what the local slope is at each pixel using points of altitude, images, and our knowledge of the lunar environment, including how lunar regolith reflects light, where the Sun is in relation to the Moon, what direction the camera is facing, and how bright each pixel is.

All those slopes can be combined to create a terrain model that helps the VIPER team know the shape of the lunar surface. This shape can be used to calculate how the shadows move as the sun moves, and these moving shadows inform SHERPA’s – short for the System Health Enabled Real-time Planning Advisor – route planning. It is especially important to know how the shadows move because VIPER runs on solar power. Being stuck in a shadow for too long could be deadly for the rover.

All these pieces fit together. The high-resolution terrain maps created from LRO data generate maps of moving shadows, which SHERPA accounts for planning VIPER’s route. Temporal constraint techniques help mesh activities on the ground with activities on board the rover. Finally, the hazards pointed out automatically from the rover’s camera images help the VIPER team navigate the minute-to-minute decisions that come up while exploring another world.

As AI continues to develop as a field, many of its methods will end up becoming part of the regular toolkit for engineers and scientists. VIPER uses some of the current well-trodden techniques, while also pushing the boundaries of AI’s applications. In the case of SHERPA, the cutting-edge techniques come from a subfield of AI called decision making under uncertainty. This will be the first time these techniques are used on a space mission, and if successful, could open the door to similar AI approaches being deployed on other missions to worlds beyond our own.

Follow us @NASAAmes for more details about how artificial intelligence supports NASA’s VIPER mission and efforts to explore the unknown in space for the benefit of humanity.

Part 1: Artificial Intelligence and NASA’s First Robotic Lunar Rover

When NASA’s VIPER (short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) lands on the surface of the Moon on a mission to better understand the environment where NASA plans to send astronauts as part of the increasingly complex Artemis missions, its journey will be guided by the human ingenuity of its human team – and several key tools that use artificial intelligence. From helping the science team choose a landing site at the lunar mountain Mons Mouton, to planning out its path, the VIPER team has developed and used artificial intelligence algorithms to help assess risk and optimize decision making.

Artificial intelligence is a wide field, and the resulting techniques are still far from the self-aware robots of science fiction. Instead, the field contributes tools to help space missions deal with some of the uncertainties that come with planning and executing a real-time mission in a challenging, largely unexplored environment.

“AI allows VIPER to be more adaptable, flexible, resilient, and efficient,” said Edward Balaban, VIPER’s lead for strategic planning at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “It’s a tool that allows us to use change as a strength.”

These tools don’t replace human input – NASA scientists design these systems in the first place, input the relevant data, and then use the AI’s outputs as a baseline for mission-related decisions. During VIPER mission operations, the team plans to use AI interactively to help map out various routes for the operations team members to choose from. This AI system is called SHERPA – the System Health Enabled Real-time Planning Advisor.

An artist’s concept of the completed design of NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER. VIPER will get a close-up view of the location and concentration of ice and other resources at the Moon’s South Pole, bringing us a significant step closer to NASA’s ultimate goal of a long-term presence on the Moon – making it possible to eventually explore Mars and beyond.

Traversing the Lunar Surface

The VIPER mission will run for about 100 days after landing on Mons Mouton near the lunar South Pole. Throughout its journey, VIPER will make many stops at several science stations – sites selected for their potential to achieve the mission’s science objectives. These objectives include understanding the factors that control the distribution of water on the surface of the Moon, understanding the delivery history of water to the Moon, determining the origin of lunar water and other , and determining how volatiles evolve over time after they are deposited on the surface. How the rover moves from one of these sites to the other, and where it can find a safe place, referred to as a “safe haven,” to pause while temporarily out of communications with Earth — without getting stuck in an extremely cold and dark shadow — is a complex question requiring analysis of vast amounts of data. Factors such as the Moon’s rugged terrain, VIPER’s needs and limits, and the potential of the various science stations all need to be considered.

SHERPA is able to process all these factors and present the VIPER team with several options while planning the rover’s traverse before mission operations. It can assess the various risks of different routes by running thousands of mission simulations, and even provide contingency branches for where to go if something changes or doesn’t go according to plan. But after launch, SHERPA’s work won’t be over – it’ll also be used for real-time, dynamic problem solving, giving the VIPER team potential solutions to adjust the rover’s traverse when it’s presented with new scientific or operational information.

A traverse from SHERPA isn’t just a one-and-done plan. The AI will provide a template that humans consider and revise. Any changes made are then run back through SHERPA to determine if it’s feasible or if there are any issues. Those revisions won’t be corrections in the traditional sense or enacted by default, but allow team members to make adjustments based on factors the AI may not be able to consider, such as constraints related to staffing for the team members driving the rover or operating the rover science instruments.

Another set of techniques from a subfield of AI known as temporal constraint planning helps VIPER make its to-do list, by essentially presenting an algorithm with the problem of scheduling a set of activities within a certain time.

Follow us here or @NASAAmes for a follow-up post with more details about how artificial intelligence supports NASA’s VIPER mission and efforts to explore the unknown in space for the benefit of humanity.

NASA Logo Installed on Lander for First Robotic Artemis Moon Flight

Teams with Astrobotic install the NASA meatball decal on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Peregrine will launch onboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket targeted for no earlier than Dec. 24, 2023, from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The lander will carry a suite of NASA payloads to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis program. Photo credit: NASA/Isaac Watson

Teams have installed the NASA meatball logo onboard Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis program ahead of its upcoming launch on Dec. 24 from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Peregrine will carry NASA payloads to a mare – an ancient hardened lava flow – outside of the Gruithuisen Domes, a geologic enigma along the mare/highlands boundary on the northeast border of Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, the largest dark spot on the Moon. The payloads will investigate the lunar exosphere, thermal properties of the lunar regolith, hydrogen abundances in the soil at the landing site, magnetic fields, and conduct radiation environment monitoring.

After arriving on Oct. 30 at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, teams with Astrobotic and ULA (United Launch Alliance) are finishing final preparations before they integrate Peregrine with ULA’s Vulcan rocket.

While NASA is the primary customer purchasing lunar delivery services, CLPS vendors also work with other customers to send non-NASA payloads to the Moon. CLPS providers are responsible for managing their activities to ensure they are compliant with NASA schedule requirements. Astrobotic will keep the agency informed of the launch date, lunar landing date, and duration of lunar surface operations, as well as provide updates on the temperature the payloads will experience during transit to the Moon and at the lunar South Pole.

A successful landing will help prove the CLPS model for commercial payload deliveries to the lunar surface. As a CLPS customer, NASA is investing in lower-cost methods of regular Moon deliveries and aims to be one many customers onboard CLPS flights. The robotic deliveries will help deliver agency science and technology demonstrations to the Moon for the benefit of all.

Learn more about CLPS activities by following the Artemis blog, @NASAMoon and @NASAArtemis on Twitter, as well as the NASA Moon Facebook and Artemis Instagram accounts.

Artemis II Orion Crew and Service Modules Joined Together

Mating of the crew and service modules for the Artemis II Orion spacecraft was recently completed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. — Intergration of the crew and service modules for the Artemis II Orion spacecraft was recently completed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA

On Oct. 19, the Orion crew and service modules for the Artemis II mission were joined together inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

After successfully completing hardware installations and testing over the past several months, engineers connected the two major components of Orion that will fly NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a mission around the Moon and bring them home safely.

Now that the crew and service modules are integrated, the team will power up the combined crew and service module for the first time. After power on tests are complete, Orion will begin altitude chamber testing, which will put the spacecraft through conditions as close as possible to the environment it will experience in the vacuum of deep space.

All Engines Added to NASA’s Artemis II Moon Rocket Core Stage

Engineers and technicians from NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Boeing at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have installed all four RS-25 engines to the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket that will help power the first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. The yellow core stage is seen in a horizontal position in the final assembly area at Michoud. The engines are arranged at the bottom of the rocket stage in a square pattern, like legs on a table. Photo Credit: NASA/Eric Bordelon

Teams at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have structurally joined all four RS-25 engines onto the core stage for NASA’s Artemis II Moon rocket. The flight test is the agency’s first crewed mission under Artemis.

Technicians added the first engine to NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage Sept. 11. Teams installed the second engine onto the stage Sept. 15 with the third and fourth engines Sept. 19 and Sept. 20. Technicians with NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company and the RS-25 engines lead contractor, along with Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, now will focus efforts on the complex task of fully securing the engines to the stage and integrating the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure.

The SLS core stage, at 212 feet, is the backbone of the Moon rocket. Its two huge propellant tanks provide more than 733,000 gallons of super-chilled liquid propellant to the four RS-25 engines, while the stage’s flight computers, avionics, and electrical systems act as the “brains” of the rocket. During Artemis II, the RS-25 engines will together provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust for eight minutes of flight, helping to send the Artemis II crew beyond low-Earth orbit to venture around the Moon.

NASA is working to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

For more on NASA SLS visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/sls

Artemis II Astronauts Successfully Conduct Launch Day Demonstration

Artemis II astronauts, from left, NASA astronaut Victor Glover (left), CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman stand on the crew access arm of the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as part of an integrated ground systems test at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 20. The test ensures the ground systems team is ready to support the crew timeline on launch day. Photo Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

The Artemis II crew and teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program successfully completed the first in a series of integrated ground system tests at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for their mission around the Moon.

On Wednesday, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, practiced the procedures they will undergo on launch day to prepare for their ride to space.

The crew awoke at their crew quarters inside Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkouts building before putting on test versions of the Orion crew survival system spacesuits they will wear on launch day. They then departed in NASA’s new Artemis crew transportation fleet to take them to Launch Pad 39B, traversing the nine-mile journey to the pad. Wiseman and Glover headed over in the first electric vehicle as Koch and Hansen followed them in the second.

Upon arrival at the pad, the crew headed onto the mobile launcher and proceeded up the tower to the white room inside the crew access arm. From this area, the astronauts will have access to enter and exit the Orion spacecraft – only for this test, there was no Orion or SLS (Space Launch System) rocket.

“When we walked out that crew access arm, I just had images of all those Apollo launches and shuttle launches that I saw as a kid and it was unreal,” Glover said. “I actually had to stop and just stay in the moment to really let it all sink in.”

Successful completion of this test ensures both the crew and the ground systems teams at Kennedy are prepared and understand the timeline of their events for launch day.

SpaceX Completes Engine Tests for NASA’s Artemis III Moon Lander

NASA is working with SpaceX to develop its Starship human landing system (HLS) for use during the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions to land American astronauts near the South Pole of the Moon. The Starship HLS will be powered by two variants of the company’s Raptor engines—one optimized to operate in atmospheric pressure at sea-level and one optimized to operate in space, or in a vacuum, where there is no atmosphere.

Last month, SpaceX demonstrated a vacuum-optimized Raptor’s performance through a test that successfully confirmed the engine can be started in the extreme cold conditions resulting from extended time in space. One challenge that differentiates Artemis missions from those in low Earth orbit is that the landers may sit in space without firing for an extended period of time, causing the temperature of the hardware to drop to a level below what they would experience on a much shorter low Earth orbit mission.

One of the first testing milestones SpaceX completed under its Artemis III contract in Nov. 2021 was also an engine test, demonstrating Raptor’s capability to perform a critical phase of landing on the Moon. In a 281-second-long test firing, Raptor demonstrated the powered descent portion of the mission, when the Starship HLS leaves its orbit over the lunar surface and begins its descent to the Moon’s surface to land. The test had two goals: to show Raptor’s ability to change the level of engine power over time, known as its throttle profile, and for the engine to burn the full length of time of the powered descent phase. The successful test provided NASA with early confidence in the company’s engine development.

The 281-second throttle test demonstrated the engine’s ability to meet the demands of a descent burn to the lunar surface. Credit: SpaceX

Testing critical technologies and hardware under simulated and actual flight conditions is key for the development of Artemis Moon landers. These tests provide early and mission-like validation of the systems necessary for carrying astronauts to and from the lunar surface. Data reviews following these tests provide NASA with continually increasing confidence in U.S. industry’s readiness for the mission. SpaceX’s Raptor engines will next be put to the test during the company’s second integrated flight test of Starship and Super Heavy.

First RS-25 Engine Installed to NASA’s Artemis II Moon Rocket

Engineers and technicians from Aerojet Rocketdyne and Boeing at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have installed the first of four RS-25 engines to the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket that will help power the first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. The yellow core stage is seen in a horizontal position in the final assembly area at Michoud. One RS-25 engine, engine number E2059, has been installed in the top left corner at the base of the 212-foot-tall core stage. Photo credit: NASA

Technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have installed the first of four RS-25 engines on the core stage of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. During Artemis II, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will launch on SLS and journey around the Moon inside the Orion spacecraft during an approximately 10-day mission in preparation for future lunar missions.

The Sept. 11 engine installation follows the joining of all five major structures that make up the SLS core stage earlier this spring. NASA, lead RS-25 engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3 Harris Technologies company, and Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, will continue integrating the remaining three engines into the stage and installing the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure.

All four RS-25 engines are located at the base of the core stage within the engine section, which protects the engines from the extreme temperatures during launch and has an aerodynamic boat tail fairing to channel airflow. During launch and flight, the four engines will fire nonstop for over eight minutes, consuming propellant from the core stage’s two massive propellant tanks at a rate of 1,500 gallons (5,678 liters) per second.

Each SLS engine has a different serial number. The serial number for the engine installed Sept. 11 in position two on the core stage is E2059. It along with the engine in position one, E2047, previously flew on space shuttle flights. E2047 is the most veteran engine of the entire set flying on Artemis II with 15 shuttle flights, including STS-98, which delivered the Destiny Laboratory Module to the International Space Station in 2001. The engines installed in positions three and four (E2062 and E2063) are new engines that include previously flown hardware.

For more on NASA SLS visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/sls

Mobile Launcher Arrives at Launch Pad 39B for Artemis ll Preps

The top part of mobile launcher 1, carried by the crawler-transporter 2, rolls out from its park site location to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 16, 2023. — The mobile launcher, carried by the crawler-transporter 2, rolls out from its park site location to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 16, 2023. While at the pad, it will undergo testing for the agency’s Artemis II mission. Under Artemis, the mobile launcher will transport NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to pad 39B for liftoff. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

After an approximately four-mile journey over the course of two days, mobile launcher 1 arrived on Aug. 17 at Launch Pad 39B from its park site location at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will remain at the pad for several months as teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program prepare for Artemis ll, the first crewed mission under Artemis.

Teams will conduct a variety of tests and continue ground systems upgrades on both structures. These preparations include testing the pad’s new 1.4-million-gallon liquid hydrogen sphere and emergency egress system.

After testing at the pad is complete, the mobile launcher will travel to the Vehicle Assembly Building in preparation for rocket stacking operations ahead of launching Artemis ll.

Mobile Launcher Rolls to Launch Pad for Artemis ll Testing

Under bright blue skies, the mobile launcher 1 is seen behind the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 16, 2023 as it gets ready to roll to Launch Pad 39B. — Mobile launcher 1 is on its way to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare for Artemis ll, the first crewed mission on the agency’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon under Artemis.
Photo credit: NASA/Chad Siwik

Mobile launcher 1 is on its way to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare for Artemis ll, the first crewed mission on the agency’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon under Artemis. The ground structure began its trek from the west park site at approximately 8:27 a.m. EDT on Aug.16 atop the crawler-transporter 2. It will stop at the gate of pad 39B and resume its journey on Aug. 17.

At 380 feet tall above the ground, the mobile launcher is used to assemble, process, and launch NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft. It contains all of the connection lines – known as umbilicals – and ground support equipment that will provide the rocket and spacecraft with the power, communications, fuel and coolant necessary for launch.

Once the mobile launcher is at the launch pad, teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will conduct a series of tests and continue ground systems upgrades for both the mobile launcher 1 and the launch pad. These preparations will range from a launch day demonstration for the crew, closeout crew, and the pad rescue team to rehearse operations to testing the emergency egress system and the new liquid hydrogen sphere.