Workshop on Extreme Environments Technologies for Space Exploration

Date: May 14-16, 2003

Location: Pasadena Convention Center
AND
Pasadena Sheraton Hotel
Pasadena, California

Hosted by:
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Calfornia Institute of Technology

Invitation:

You are cordially invited to participate in the upcoming workshop on Space Systems for Extreme Environments to be held on May 14-16, 2003 at the Pasadena Convention Center and the Pasadena Sheraton Hotel in Pasadena, California. The workshop will focus on the technology needs for NASA missions operating in the environments of extreme high/low temperatures, pressures, and radiation levels that far exceed the limits of operation and survival of commercial or space-rated systems.

Objective:

The primary objective of this workshop is to bring together industry, government and the academic research community to assist NASA in assessing state-of-the-art technologies for systems operating in extreme environments. All solar system exploration planetary missions will need to survive and operate in extreme environments and thus require systems which can operate under these unique conditions. Venus exploration and Solar Probe missions, for example, involve extremely high temperature environments. Venus is the second planet from the Sun and features a dense, CO₂ atmosphere completely covered by clouds with sulfuric acid aerosols, a surface temperature of 460 ºC and a surface pressure of 90 bars. Although already explored by various orbiters and short-lived atmospheric probes and landers, Venus retains many secrets pertaining to its formation and evolution. NASA is interested in expanding its ability to explore the deep atmosphere and surface of Venus through use of long lived (days or weeks) balloons and landers. On the other hand, planned missions to explore Comets, Titan (a moon of Saturn), the Moon, Mars and Europa (a moon of Jupiter) must survive in extremely cold environments. In addition, some missions (such as a planned Europa Lander) present the challenge of surviving in an extremely cold and high-radiation environment.

There is no single severe environment technology solution that satisfies the operational requirements of all of these planned missions. A traditional approach to survivability in extreme temperature/pressure environments is to use passive (insulation and heat sinking) or active thermal control so components are not exposed to the environment and the whole system is maintained at a conventional temperature and normal pressure. Another approach is to develop hardware components that can reliably operate and survive in extreme temperatures, thus eliminating the need for thermal control. Finally the hybrid combination of these two approaches would involve an architecture where all temperature-sensitive components are maintained inside an insulated thermal enclosure and any hardware that is located outside is capable of survival in that environment (perhaps coupled with some limited local thermal control). This approach, the most feasible from a technology development needs perspective, requires less-complicated and lower mass thermal control and enables more advanced surface and aerial operations.

The workshop is envisioned as a combination of general presentations covering areas of electronics, packaging, materials, power generation and storage, thermal control, sensors and actuators, all for extreme environments operation. The workshop will also include talks on terrestrial applications of these technologies, such as for the automotive, well logging, and oil drilling industries. Finally, there will be panel discussions focusing on the applications and benefits of these technologies to NASA missions.

We will use the inputs provided by presenters and participants on state-of-the-art and future trends in various fields to help us define future NASA technology development programs for systems operating in extreme environments.

Sponsored By:

• NASA Code R-Enabling Concepts and Technologies Program
• JPL Office of Advanced Concepts Technology Innovation
• NASA Code S Solar System Exploration Program
• JPL Chief Scientist and Chief Technologist Offices