Goddard IRAD Annual Report 2021

One - page 2 Message from the Chief Technologist Resilience: building in the strength to overcome adversity

Two - page 3 FY21 Achievements at a Glance Breakdown of FY21 IRAD and CIF Awards FY21 Agency New Technology Reports (NTRs) CTI Recognized as NASA Technology of the Year LISA Laser Delivered JWST – Giant Leap Forward LCRD – Revolution in Space Communications

Three - page 7 TThe Best in Innovation – Mike Amato Kept DAVINCI on Track

Four - page 8 Significant FY21 Successes

About the Cover Fiscal 2021 saw a gradual re-opening of laboratory space on Goddard’s campuses, freeing many Internal Research and Development investigators to resume projects at somewhere closer to full capacity. While safety protocols remain in place for on-center work, some investigators like Bethany Theiling (center), have had time to work alone in her lab (Page 10). Some of these images were captured before lab spaces closed and protective masks became mandatory when sharing lab space. While many IRAD investigators showed remarkable flexibility and creativity in keeping their work moving during the center closure, the prolonged nature of the pandemic and ongoing shortages of equipment and materials enabled our innovators to hone a different skillset – resilience.

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Message from the Chief Technologist

Over the last year, Goddard’s laboratory spaces gradually reopened as pandemic restrictions eased and the Center returned to 50 percent in-person capacity. Although some of our innovators had received clearance to improvise workspaces in basements and garages at home, the return to fully equipped, professional lab space couldn’t come quickly enough. If 2020 was a year of adaptation, 2021 showcased the strength and resilience of Goddard’s technology program in responding to adversity and continuing forward progress. Goddard’s elite innovators not only showed that we have the technical and scientific acumen to boost the nation’s space exploration program, but they demonstrated the competence and confidence to recover from ongoing difficulties and spring back into action.

This was also a year of fruition and recognition for many long-term development efforts incubated or boosted by Goddard’s Internal Research and Development (IRAD) program. From the delivery this summer of an ultra-stable prototype laser to ESA for the LISA mission, to a fall lined with launches, IRAD-funded Goddard technologies power some of the Agency’s powerhouse missions. The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), which will demonstrate an order-of-magnitude improvement in communication bandwidth, and Cusp Plasma Imaging Detector (CuPID), that will image the boundary where Earth’s magnetic field interacts with the Sun’s, received IRAD funding early in their development. Also in 2021, NASA selected the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging, or DAVINCI mission, which depended heavily on IRAD funding to develop, test and prove the technologies that would keep the probe safe through Venus’ toxic environment. Awards recognizing the technology behind the Compact Thermal Imager (CTI), and the atmosphere-probing Aeropod’s contributions to education boosted the prestige of Goddard Innovators both within the Agency and throughout our Industry and academia. We watched with pride as the core Flight Software, or cFS, was chosen to power the Artemis Gateway station. And we would be remis if we neglected to mention Goddard’s contributions to JWST’s early technology

development. Certainly, we take considerable pride in watching its launch and deployment.

Strategic developments like these, in technologies to power future missions or advance entire fields of science, are the ultimate objective of a forward-reaching research and development portfolio.

We also saw significant growth and development in the use of lasers in communications, navigation, and scientific data capture across almost all lines of business. More stable, precise, and ultrafast laser applications are being developed at Goddard, enabling NASA’s exploration and science objectives.

We are investing in another class of technologies which are helping us put more effective, powerful, and efficient instruments, electronics, control, and communications packages into some of our smallest explorers: SmallSats and CubeSats. Innovations will reduce the size, weight, and power of proven sensors and detectors to fit in a CubeSat architecture, train small missions to coordinate and intelligently choose science targets and communicate higherquality data back to scientists on the ground.

Even as we get back into the lab spaces, supply-line disruptions continue to challenge the nation as well as our innovators, some of whom continue waiting on deliveries needed to complete their FY21 investigations. However, our people continue to impress and amaze, showing a strength and resilience in difficult times that gives me confidence in Goddard’s continued ability to play a pivotal, unique, and valued role in exploration and scientific discovery.

Peter Hughes Chief Technologist NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

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FY21 IRAD and CIF Awards

Goddard leadership values research and development and, thus, is committed to funding and effectively managing Goddard’s Internal Research and Development (IRAD) program and the NASA Headquarters-funded Center Innovation Fund (CIF).

Goddard leadership knows R&D attracts, retains, and cultivates talented scientists and engineers. The IRAD program

creates experts in the critical and advanced technologies NASA needs to fulfill its goals. This dual investment in the workforce and innovative technologies positions the Center to continue winning new missions and instrument starts in areas important to NASA and to Goddard’s leadership in certain scientific disciplines and technical capabilities.

FY21 IRAD Allocations Science SmallSat Technology 8 %

Suborbital Platforms and Range Services 2 %

Planetary Science 16%

Heliophysics 12%

Astrophysics 21%

Communication and Navigation 11%

Cross Cutting Capabilities 15% Earth Science 19%

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New Technology Reports (NTRs) Provide Benchmark for Gauging Success By the close of FY21, Goddard technologists filed 214 reports. Of all NASA’s field centers, Goddard came in second in the number of NTRs submitted, and led the Agency with 120 NTRs submitted by civil servants (CS).

NTRs capture information about technical discoveries, improvements, innovations, and inventions so that NASA can disseminate these technologies appropriately under its mandated technology-transfer program. Since many of these NTRs result from IRAD- or CIF-funded efforts, they also gauge the success of our Research and Development programs.

FY21 Agency NTRs GODDARD STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS OFFICE

382 Contractor(s) Only 1 CS Minimum

214

203 164 172

131

125 59

49 21 ARC AFRC

10 GRC GSFC

HQ

JPL

JSC

KSC

382 105

33

99

101

8

98

26

65

71

2

81

18

70

94

46

50

3

55

120

3

0

LaRC MSFC

SSC

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NASA’s Invention of the Year - CTI

Photo Credit: Murzy Jhabvala

Goddard’s newest compact infrared sensor is licensed for commercial CubeSats, and under consideration for NASA Earth science missions. In 2021, the thermal imager was named co-winner of NASA’s Invention of the Year Award: honoring inventions that significantly contributed to NASA programs.

Initially funded by the Goddard IRAD program, CTI’s strained layer superlattice (SLS) IR detector technology was

subsequently advanced through SBIR and ESTO investments.

CTI is 10 times more sensitive than current flight instruments, and it can operable at much warmer temperatures, allowing the technology to fly on smaller platforms with lighter and less power-intensive cooling systems. PI Murzy Jhabvala is currently working on a CTI-2 with ESTO funding, which will incorporate optical filters directly attached to an SLS detector hybrid, providing multi-spectral data.

In May, NASA specialists working with industry partners delivered the first prototype laser for the European Space Agency-led Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA, mission. This unique laser instrument is designed to detect the telltale ripples in gravitational fields caused by the mergers of neutron stars, black holes, and supermassive black holes in space.

From early work simulating the physics of black hole mergers, through developing the laser interferometers to measure Earth’s gravitational field and enable

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ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission, Goddard’s Internal Research and Development program played a significant role in lighting the way for the LISA laser technology.

Photo Credit: Reto Duriet/CSEM

LISA Laser delivered

From the mirror phasing algorithms that help align it’s 18-piece composite mirror to astronomical precision, to the microshutters that defend it’s innovative infrared detectors, to the cryocooler and cryogenic capable systems-on-a-chip,

LCRD – Revolution in Space Communications NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and a NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory space weather payload to study the Sun’s radiation lifted off successfully on Dec. 7. LCRD will demonstrate the benefits of space-toground laser communications, also called optical commu-

Goddard R&D Funding helped prove many essential JWST capabilities early in the flagship mission’s development.

The Office of the Chief Technologist joins with the agency and the world in celebrating the launch, deployment and science mission of the next Great Observatory.

nications. LCRD will send and receive data at a rate of 1.2 gigabits per second from geosynchronous orbit to Earth. At that speed, you could download a movie in under a minute.

Developed with an early assist from IRAD funding, laser communications systems are smaller, lighter, and use less power than radio frequency systems. These advantages, combined with laser communications’ higher bandwidth, can advance robotic and human exploration across the solar system.

Image Credit: NASA

JWST – Giant Leap Forward

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The Best in Innovation

“There was a cadre of us pushing new boundaries on planetary at that time, and one of the bright young engineers involved was Michael Amato. He was the trusted, encouraging innovator who got the engineers together to keep going, even when people said we aren’t really the center that does planetary probe missions.”

Michael Amato kept the DAVINCI planetary probe mission to Venus on track through multiple iterations and more than a decade of innovations.

Fueled by six IRAD-funded technologies and capable of carrying advanced analytical instruments into a hostile planetary atmosphere, DAVINCI will be the first NASA-built probe to explore the atmosphere of Venus, and the first U.S.-built Venus probe since 1978.

Photo Credit: Deb Amato

— Dr. James Garvin, DAVINCI principal investigator

In 2021, DAVINCI was selected as a NASA Discovery Program planetary probe mission, vindicating the hard work, research and development and persistence of a team of scientists and engineers determined to probe the secrets of Earth’s sister planet.

Perhaps few embody that grit, determination, and positive attitude than Amato. He led the development of a lander subsystem, atmospheric science probe, window seal technology and parachute technologies capable of surviving Venus’s punishing atmosphere. His sustained, visionary leadership ultimately led to this exciting planetary lander mission win – a first for Goddard.

Amato’s colleagues describe him as a trusting, encouraging innovator, one with the tenacity and connections to keep the Venus lander mission concept going through multiple proposals as far back as 2009.

On receiving the Goddard Innovator of the Year award award at the conclusion of the 2021 IRAD Poster Session,

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Amato shared the recognition with the Goddard community and his colleagues.

“Obviously it takes a team - a lot of people,” he said. “And the IRAD program is so amazing because it gives us a lot of time to pursue strategic technologies. We couldn’t do most of these things without that program.”

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Significant FY21 Successes: The Fruits of R&D Investment and demonstrate their technologies in a space or near-space environment aboard sounding rockets, research aircraft, highaltitude balloons, CubeSats/SmallSats, and the International Space Station.

Our researchers typically follow a specific path to success.

They flesh out their ideas with IRAD and CIF support, seek follow-on funding through other NASA funding programs,

In the end, the goal is to infuse these technologies into new missions or instrument builds that broaden our understanding of the Sun, Earth, solar system, and universe.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

Autonomous Transient Assay, or CLEoPATRA, mission would provide a second, simultaneous gravitational microlensing parallax measurement to allow mass estimates for exoplanets.

The team led by Richard Barry worked with collaborators from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of Auckland, to calculate the detectability of microlensing events and the parallax signal under different assumptions of orbital separation and instrument aperture size.

(Investment Area: Heliophysics)

FY21 saw a burst of IRAD activity in planning, designing, and training artificial intelligences (AI) in multiple lines of business.

Scientists look to AI and machine learning (ML) techniques to train the next generation of robotic explorers to analyze data from high-output instruments in order to identify and prioritize the return of higher-value science data, while engineers work to fit more processing power into smaller boxes, enabling AI in SmallSat and CubeSat formats.

Mission Concept: CLEoPATRA Microlensing Uniform Surveyor When the flagship Roman Space Telescope begins its science mission, it will identify exoplanets - those orbiting other stars, in addition to rogue planets wandering through space without any parent star. This IRAD defines the science case for an observatory to support the Roman mission by improving mass estimates for exoplanets and providing estimates for rogue planets which pass in front of a background star, distorting that star’s light. The Contemporaneous Lensing Parallax - and -

A Jupiter-like planet drifts alone in the dark of space, without a parent star.

Image Credit: NASA/Frank Reddy

Goddard’s IRAD and CIF programs provide seed funding for promising, sometimes risky technologies that have the potential to enable revolutionary ways to explore the world and universe around us.

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3D Deep Learning for Planetary Science and Exploration Last year, Matthew Brandt taught a machine to identify individual terrain features, including craters, cliffs, and plains, from Lunar 3D surface data known as point clouds – a data type obtained from lidar-based instruments. This year’s IRAD extended the work to full semantic segmentation, meaning that the software can now map and classify entire regions of planetary or lunar terrain. “Development of our deep learning terrain feature recognition software provides a crucial element for conducting science operations in lunar and planetary environments,” Brant said, “and saves cost and time from manual identification of geologic features and hazards at landing and science sites by rapidly performing semantic segmentation and map generation of terrain features.”

(Investment Area: Planetary)

In a related investigation, early career innovator Bethany Theiling (below)is using machine learning to demonstrate how a future probe could determine the composition of an ocean world’s water. Her projects use algorithms that target predictive features or defining characteristics of data from a specific chemical system that makes the data look the way they do. “Our effort has the potential to result in development of software that would enhance the science return of these missions by streamlining the ground-in-the-loop data analysis from the Europa Clipper and Dragonfly mass spectrometers,” she said. “It could be deployed onboard the proposed Europa Lander for real-time analysis or data transmission prioritization.”

(Investment Area: Planetary)

Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Communication-Limited Science Missions

Justin Goodwill’s team is assessing two different techniques focused on the data produced by hyperspectral imaging for remote sensing, which generates large amounts of data and could benefit from onboard data selection. Unsupervised models operate by first learning features of the data and subsequently clustering them into classes. Supervised learning means that training is performed on the ground using the limited data sent back from the spacecraft, and only inference is performed onboard the satellite.

(Investment Area: Crosscutting Capabilities)

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Photo Credit: Rebecca Roth

Traveling to other planets or through deep space limits satellite communication bandwidth, which can bottleneck data returns. Meanwhile, new, complex, and high-resolution sensors are generating ever-increasing amounts of data, driving the need to classify data onboard autonomously and robustly, and prioritize the downlink of high-impact science data.

Two FY21 IRADs explore deep learning and AI techniques to teach robotic explorers to prioritize the most significant data for downlink.

Using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) frameworks onboard spacecraft presents challenges, because common spacecraft processors cannot provide comparable performance to terrestrial datacenters and advanced deep-learning networks.

One FY21 project leveraged an IRAD into an experiment for the International Space Station to complete a significant demonstration of new technology. Christopher Wilson’s prototype SpaceCube Intelligent Multi-Purpose System (IMPS) system is a modular system reconfigured to support the Space Test Program – Houston 9’s (STP-H9) SpaceCube Edge Node Intelligent Collaboration (SCENIC) Experiment.

STP-H9/SCENIC is an International Space Station-based testbed to evaluate and validate artificial intelligence and machine learning technology (AI/ML) on FPGA and custom AI microchip platforms in space. “One of the major benefits of this computer system is we can rapidly mix and match cards for innovative CubeSat systems,” Wilson said.

(Investment Area: Crosscutting Capabilities)

Gary Crum’s IRAD developed a CubeSat-sized coprocessor card based on a Google processor, known as the SpaceCube Low-power Edge Artificial Intelligence Resilient Node (SC-LEARN). The speed and processing limitations of common spacecraft processors make small, low-power AI microchip architectures, such as the Google Coral Edge Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), attractive for space missions where the application-specific design enables both high-performance and power-efficient computing for AI applications. The Edge TPU is a small, low-power ASIC capable of performing 4 tera-operations per second (TOPS) on only 2 watts of power. To increase its reliability, SC-LEARN features three redundant Coral Edge TPU Accelerator modules supplemented by rad-hard power and monitoring circuitry. As such, SC-LEARN has three operational modes: a

high-performance parallel-processing mode, a fault-tolerant mode for onboard resilience, and a power-saving mode with cold spares.

(Investment Area: SmallSats)

New AI Technology Could Speed Up Fault Diagnosis in Spacecraft Figuring out what went wrong and how to fix it is an expensive but necessary part of space mission support traditionally performed by people in ground control. An AI could speed up physical fault diagnosis in spacecraft and spaceflight systems, improving mission efficiency by reducing downtime and dependence on human controllers. Research in Artificial Intelligence for Spacecraft Resilience (RAISR), by Goddard Pathways Intern Evana Gizzi, could diagnose faults real-time in spacecraft and spaceflight systems in general. So far, the AI has demonstrated a 70 to 77 percent accuracy rate in performance testing and requires minimal training to maintain and operate. RAISR made considerable strides toward enabling autonomous self-healing and resilience in spacecraft.

(Investment Area: Crosscutting Capabilities)

Machine Learning to Detect Earth’s Planetary Boundary Layer The team behind Goddard’s Time-varying Optical Measurements of Clouds and Aerosol Transport (TOMCAT) lidar worked to advance algorithms for detecting planetary boundary layer (PBL) height using machine learning (ML) algorithms. The PBL is the layer of the atmosphere most affected

by Earth’s surface topography and thermal and studying it is a priority identified by the National Academies of Science.

The team also worked to reduce the technical risk of the TOMCAT laser performance (shown below) to better position the instrument for an Earth Venture Mission – 3 proposal as well as the Atmosphere Observing System mission endorsed by the 2017 Earth Decadal Survey. Finally, this IRAD studied optimal modifications to Goddard’s Airborne Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (ACATS) lidar to improve the aerosol and cloud data quality and determine feasibility of potential spaceborne operations.

(Investment Area: Earth Science)

Image Credit: NASA

Getting the Hardware Right – Big Brain Power in Small Packages

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Autonomous Navigation Guidance and Control

Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Services, Center-based Distributed System Missions architectures, and SCaN funding.

Building on successes from the OSIRIS-REx sample return mission and other investigations, Goddard technicians are working to enable satellites to guide, navigate, and control autonomously without always needing human controllers on the ground in the loop.

Eric Stoker’s project would help two co-orbiting spacecraft maintain proper orientation using proven hardware. The team developed and proved the functionality of an autonomous navigation system called Angles & Illumination Data Navigation. AIDnav uses a camera and solar panel photodiodes to record inter-satellite angle and illumination measurements.

These are filtered to estimate the absolute position and velocity of two co-orbiting spacecraft. AIDnav would reduce

Meanwhile, Sean Semper leveraged his OSIRIS-REx experience to develop an Advance Optical Navigation Camera for use by autonoNGC. Semper’s navigation team began characterizing and adapting a SONY camera into a hardware package. This prototype hardware development seeks to match the harsh demands of sensing through the dynamic optical and lighting environments encountered in autoNGC applications.

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Image Credit: Josh Lyzhoft

Sun Hur Diaz used follow-on ollow-on IRAD funding to continue developing her Autonomous Navigation, Guidance, and Control (autoNGC) to develop a multi-mission, Core Flight Software (cFS)-compatible onboard software platform. In FY21 the team demonstrated a lunar lander use case using terrain relative navigation – an optical navigation tool used by OSIRISREx that uses images of terrain to guide the spacecraft. The team was able to reach a significant milestone of developing the Retina cFS app to process simulated lunar surface images to output bearing measurements for Terrain-Relative Navigation helped select and touch down at Sample site Nightingale, OSIRISREx’s primary sample collection site on asteroid Bennu. Goddard IRAD funding helped develop processing by the GPS-Enhanced optical navigation techniques like these.

Photo Credit: /Goddard/University of Arizona Onboard Navigation System.

An early visual flight software created this shape model of Vesta from the Dawn mission.

Optical navigation uses images to determine relative location and distance to a target.

A second, related IRAD funded the development of an Integrated Navigation Hardware-in-the-loop Testbed for autoNGC. Semper’s team developed the architecture and implementation plan for a hardware testbed to simulate various flight scenarios, terrain-relative navigation, and autonomous position, navigation, and timing services to support autoNGC efforts. Future funding will come from

the demand on Deep Space Network assets by enabling lowsize, weight, and power coordination between co-orbiting satellites, and uses existing hardware already onboard most satellites: photodiodes and a camera. Next the team will seek PICASSO funding for a science instrument for atmospheric sounding using AIDnav.

(Investment Area: Navigation and Communication)

Making Magic with Photons

(Investment Area: Crosscutting Capabilities)

Next-Generation Lunar Laser Ranging

Image Credit: NASA

When the James Webb Space Telescope deploys in 2022, a complex and precise laser metrology system will ensure the telescope’s 18 mirror segments provide a unified image of the early infrared universe. Steward Wu’s concept would dramatically simplify the existing metrology system in size and mass and would improve performance by integrating components into photonics integrated circuits (PIC) with a much smaller footprint. This year, his team is verifying a chipscale laser metrology system by packaging and evaluating the fabricated PICs, which include all essential laser metrology functions necessary for active alignment. The technology would benefit next-generation, multi-segmented telescopes which will search for life on planets orbiting other stars.

The telescope has options for an 8- or 15-meter segmented mirror, compared to James Webb’s 6.5-meter mirror.

(Investment Area: Astrophysics)

Reinventing 3D Mapping Lidars 3D mapping lidar systems will help missions like the octocopter Dragonfly probe navigate while hopping around Saturn’s moon Titan. Mark Stephen’s project modeled, tested, and quantified the performance of new technologies to develop high fidelity, light-weight systems to establish a selfsustaining product line of 3-D mapping lidars. Among other accomplishments, he invented a frequency-doubling concept that enables broad band and efficient wavelength conversion, with many applications beyond lidars. He filed a patent for a coded-aperture compressive-sensing lidar, and used machine learning to develop smaller, lighter frames to house lidar systems.

New laser technologies could bring in a new paradigm for Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR): one of a high firing frequency, low pulse energy, but high average laser power with a highly efficient detector array. Evan Hoffman’s team studied a mercury cadmium telluride avalanche photodiode array and a high repetition rate 1.6 um laser, leveraging communication expertise that exists at Goddard to support the Artemis lunar exploration program.

(Investment Area: Planetary) Photo Credits: NASA/Goddard

Photonics-on-a-Chip Laser Metrology System for LUVOIR

Lasers like those at the Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory bounce light off of retroreflectors left by American astronauts on the Moon, and have shown that the Moon is receding from the Earth at a rate of 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) per year.

Obtaining a Precise Laser Wavelength to Nail Down Water Ice Signatures There are multiple wavelengths of laser that can identify water on the Moon or other planets, but one wavelength rules them all. Yingxin Bai and his team are developing a 6.08-micron wavelength laser that cannot be fooled by hydroxides. The team proposed to develop an oscillator to efficiently convert a 2.051-micron laser to 6.08-microns.

Under the support of NASA’s Laser Risk Reduction program, Goddard matured 1-micron laser technology for space applications, and Langley Research Center (LaRC) developed 2-micron laser technology. They are collaborating with Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii, and BAE Systems, to build the 6.08 micron lidar system.

(Investment Area: Planetary)

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Combined Science and Navigation Lidar for CAESAR New Frontiers

Photo Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

CAESAR is a New Frontiers finalist mission concept to return a sample from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This mission requires precise navigation capabilities for touchand-go (TAG) surface sampling. The SALi asteroid lidar under development at Goddard under MatISSE funding is the leading candidate for inclusion on CAESAR. The lidar would

support TAG as a navigation lidar for CAESAR, as well as add unique value to the mission by functioning as a science mapping instrument during the orbital mission phases. The Korean Space Agency inquired about our ability to develop a version of SALi for their Pathfinder mission. This project will expand Goddard’s expertise from planetary science lidars to include navigation and small body lidars.

(Investment Area: Planetary)

This composite is a mosaic of images taken from 19 miles (31 kilometers) from the center of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

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Fast and Widely-Tunable Mid-IR Laser Spectrometer for Lunar Landers High-speed, tunable laser spectrometers will help future NASA lunar surface missions find water and other volatiles from lunar landers. The proposed laser transmitter enables spectroscopic identification of water ice as well as analysis of other volatiles without the influence of the surface thermal emission and sun angle. For this year’s follow-on IRAD, Kenji Numata focused on testing the new wavelength-tunable laser based on a nonlinear frequency converter (waveguide) pumped by a high-power, tunable laser, and on preparing the cryo-vacuum chamber for measurement demonstration. His team designed and procured the new waveguide crystal and began work on demonstrating tunability and measuring water ice on simulated Lunar soil.

(Investment Area: Planetary)

Small-scale Laser Ranging to Measure Upper Atmosphere Behavior

Lasers Enabling Small Spacecraft to Form a Large Observatory The equivalent of a large space telescope could be constructed using two small, inexpensive spacecraft through precision formation flying, enabling flagship-class science with Explorer class budgets and development times. A laser range-finder and retroreflective coatings would allow the spacecraft to measure not only precise distance, but also alignment with their partner craft. The focal length could not vary more than 1 mm for a 100 m focal length, and the transverse position would need to be fixed to within 10 nanometers to avoid image smearing for heliophysics science. The team adapted their ranger to measure sideto-side movement more precisely by attaching a 45-degree surface covered in a retroreflective material. This provides a difference in ranging based on where on the surface the laser is reflected.

(Investment Area: Heliophysics

Photo Credit: Kevin J. Novo-Gradac

Rob Pfaff developed a laser position sensing concept to provide precise knowledge of the position of electric field spheres at the end of booms, from which information of upper atmosphere properties can be determined. Movement of these booms can provide scientific knowledge of the atmospheric density and winds, essential prime measurements

for low-Earth-orbit, non-spinning missions, and improve electric field measurement accuracy. The team performed calculations to show atmosphere variations are measurable at orbits lower than 87 miles (140 km). They determined that a 10-micron deflection is our “baseline” showing that this is inherently measurable by lasers.

(Investment Area: Heliophysics)

Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac works on a laser test bench.

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Technology to Watch: Quantum Amplifier Dr. Omid Noroozian lays out the case for demonstrating a proof-of-concept for a radically innovative and gamechanging amplifier technology called the Kinetic Inductance Traveling-Wave Parametric Amplifier (KI-TWPA) applicable in the microwave to the terahertz range (0.001 – 1 THz).

These “paramps” can exhibit ultra-low noise, reaching the fundamental standard quantum limit, along with a very wide bandwidth of an octave or more, and large input dynamic range – all attributes that are enabling for a wide-range of quantum-enhanced sensing applications. Paramps can drastically increase observation speed and sensitivity of space-based receivers and imagers for NASA’s flagships Lynx and OST and increase submillimeter spectroscopy survey speeds by a revolutionary factor of 50-100. For ground-based telescopes such as ALMA, the speed up from integration time improvement is equivalent to doubling the size of the antenna array. They are also a critical enabling technology for space VLBI tests of general relativity (GR) using concepts such as the PRT (Photon Ring Telescope). This work is a collaboration with Dr. Peter Day from JPL and Prof.

Dan Marrone from the University of Arizona.

(Investment Area: Astrophysics)

Handheld and Astronaut-Deployed Instruments for Exploration Astronauts will need to place, use, and manipulate instruments and sensors for Artemis missions beginning as early as 2024, but no designs or solutions currently exist, said Mike Amato.

His IRAD took the first critical steps to mature a conceptual design for a package which will hold and operate a series of needed sensors, including the critical sample assay, landing site evaluation, and environment – as well as other science instruments. HQ has funded the deployed Lunar Experiment Survival System and Handling (LESSH) version and decided to compete the handheld. The team expects to receive small HQ seed funding in FY22.

(Investment Area: Planetary Science)

An ANGEL With a Heart Monitor Lisa Mazzuca’s work on advanced Angel Search and Rescue Beacons integrates monitors for heartrate, radiation, suit pressure, time remaining in EVA, and lunar transverse data to better look after the health and well-being of astronaut explorers. Additionally, the prototype provides forward link text messaging services into the existing NASA Advanced Next Generation Emergency Locator (ANGEL) waveforms as a key IRAD element.

(Investment Area: Communications and Navigation)

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Expanding on core Flight Software James Marshall explored using the programming language Rust for cFS software extensions to prevent bugs by using memory-safe programming. Rust is a safe-systems programming language developed 10 years ago by Mozilla, Marshall said. It uses strict compile-time checks to prevent many common programming errors. By writing simple software extensions to cFS with minimal changes to cFS and without introducing errors, he demonstrated reduced time in testing and validation; errors that might be discovered during testing can now be fixed earlier in the development cycle.

Now he is working to develop a safe wrapper to integrate cFS and Rust and to test integration using a more complex app. Marshall also developed a template to show others how to integrate with cFS to reduce risk for a CubeSat or SmallSat mission.

Bringing it All Together Jonathan Boblitt conducted a wireless communication demonstration on a combination of hardware, software and the cFS bundle that integrates radio and optical communications in a high-performance FlatSat testbed. This FPGA-based FlatSat system will be representative of real flight capabilities because future communications satellites will have both radio and optical communications capabilities: S-band to communicate to nearby swarm/constellation satellites, and optical for long distance or to ground with high data rates. Applications include interferometry, radiometry, radar, communication, and navigation. This development effort is a critical for providing a flight-capable system described for LunaNet. Additionally, the features and capabilities of this design will be included within the SpaceCube Catalog.

(Investment Area: Communications and Navigation)

Soft Landing Maneuvers and Plume Deflectors to Preserve Surface Conditions for Science With the Mars copter Ingenuity demonstrating flight on another planet, and the Dragonfly Octocopter under development to explore Saturn’s moon, Titan, the concept of a rover that hops from place to place to conduct science is taking off. Alvin Yew spent some time in FY21 thinking about how propulsion-based hoppers could preserve their landing site from the contamination that thrusters can cause.

Yew’s team studied models of modified or interrupted descent trajectories and deflectors that can be rotated

into the thruster plume. The trajectory technique modeling suggested that a 2% increase in fuel expenditure could reduce contamination by more than half at the landing site, with promise for orbit-to-surface landers as well. They found similar improvements from deflecting the thrust as well. Surface contamination from thrusters – both chemical and physical like the copters – can be counterproductive to exploration science goals. The simulations (seen above) showed these techniques are ready for laboratory or field testing.

(Investment Area: Planetary Science)

Image courtesy: Alvin Yew

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High-Energy Physics Explorations Seek to Unlock Sun’s Mysteries

Photo Credit: Nikolaos Paschalidis

One instrument to better understand them all – Nikolaos Paschalidis’ comprehensive space weather instrument would help better measure and comprehend the time-sequence of solar hard X-rays, energetic neutral atoms, and solar energetic particles (HXRs, ENAs, SEPs). The Helio – ENA instrument (HELENA) would help measure and understand SEP acceleration and provide an early warning tool against these potentially harmful particles of one to two hours. Last year’s effort produced a single pixel design and partial prototyping in support of the SETH proposal. The FY21 effort will conclude the single pixel prototype and test with a A HELENA one-pixel prototype, assembled for testing particle beam of intense UV and Traditional solutions like aluminum filters block all low-energy HXRs. The results will be used to develop a complete solar X-rays, making it nearly impossible to address many science disk pointing telescope with the capability to resolve in time goals that require access to low-energy readings. The goal is sequence the radiation and particles produced during solar to develop and prove the technology so it can be included in flares. A HELENA variant was proposed with the STORIE a future spectroscopic X-ray imaging instrument such as FOXSI mission for ISS deployment and is presently under evaluation. (in collaboration with Minnesota University) or a MIDEX such ESA is also considering this instrument for the their L5 space as FIERCE. weather mission.

Kyle Gregory is working to develop a Caliste-based hard X-ray detector for CubeSats. Gregory’s team succeeded in designing a Caliste hard X-ray imaging spectrometer module, including building a characterization system to test the Caliste detectors, investigating the methods and technology needed for an active shield system, and developing a flight-like instrument design that can be used to achieve TRL-6. The team is slated to provide a Caliste-based instrument compatible with a 6U+ CubeSat for the PADRE H-TIDES-funded proposal led by U.C. Berkeley.

Even X-ray detectors sometimes need shades. Gregory is working with Eliad Peretz to create pixelated attenuator arrays that can handle a flood of X-ray flux at low-energies without being over-saturated or blocking all X-rays at this energy level. Technological advances in pixelated detectors used to conduct spectroscopic X-ray imaging will advance our understanding of solar eruptions by exploring the particle acceleration and energy release processes that power them.

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Lobster optics are grids of micron-sized pores that provide wide-angle sensing of X-ray sources by reflecting radiation to a sensor. Atomic layer deposition is a cost effective nano-additive manufacturing technique that allows coating substrates, including lobster-optic grids, with atom-level control. Vivek Dwivedi’s team developed techniques for coating glass and grid surfaces with nickel, using either ruthenium or nickel oxide to prepare the surface to receive the nickel coating.

A follow-on IRAD was awarded as well as support” with “in addition to follow-on support from STORM, in order use the technology in the Solar-Terrestrial Observer for the Response of the Magnetosphere (STORM) mission. STORM will observe Earth’s magnetic fields and provide in situ monitoring of the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field.

(Investment Area: Heliophysics)

Photo Credit: NASA / W. Hrybyk

This image shows how the photon sieve brings red laser light to a pinpoint focus on its optical axis but produces exotic diffraction patterns when viewed from the side.

Photon Sieves Help Solar Imagers Reduce or Eliminate Straylight

Increasing INMS sensitivity, Mass Resolution and Mass Dynamic Range Ion neutral mass spectrometers yield a wealth of information about the solar wind, ionosphere and the space weather interface between the Earth and Sun. Sarah Jones’ team developed a second generation, enhanced, mini-INMS with increased sensitivity, mass dynamic range and mass resolution.

Their sensor is already baselined for a number of new proposals, HFORT funded missions, and upcoming decadal missions.

(Investment Area: Heliophysics) Image Credit: NASA

Adrian Daw’s IRAD fabricated two types of photon sieves using microlithography to develop larger apertures and improved efficiency as well as to provide diffraction-limited angular resolution in the extreme ultraviolet with a collecting area to support fast cadence imaging of transient events.

Photon sieves (like the one shown above)offer a path to high resolution imaging (50 milliarcseconds and better) to allow next generation heliophysics applications to achieve 10-20 times better EUV resolution than current or planned missions. The technology will help address two important scientific questions for the heliophysics community. How is the Sun’s outer atmosphere heated? How is energy stored and released to cause eruptions: flares and coronal mass ejections? They successfully completed the first 170-mm silicon

(blocking) photon sieve, 80 μm thick, and a 170 mm CoC polymer phase contrast sieve, 0.3 μm thick. The increase in sieve diameter from 80 mm to 170 mm results in a proportional increase in resolution, as well as higher collecting area.

(Investment Area: Heliophysics)

Earth’s giant magnetic field, or magnetosphere is defined not only by the planet’s north and south magnetic poles, but also by a steady stream of particles coming in from the sun called the solar wind. Several IRAD efforts seek to study these phenomena.

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Printed traces around a 90-degree bend survived 40 hours in the X-Ray test chamber.

Printing Hybrid Electronics and Detectors on Flexible and 3D Geometries Printing circuits and detectors on curved or flexible surfaces can reduce the volume required for electronics in future spacecraft as NASA looks to send smaller instruments farther out into space. Beth Paquette completed interconnect demonstrations from two different vendors for ink jet printing: nScrypt’s syringe tool and Optomec’s 5-Axis aerosol jet printer. The team worked with the Next Generation X-ray Polarimeter team to create a design for printing over a 3D substrate and incorporating the readout board. Next year, printed hybrid electronics will be integrated into the waterproof payload door of a Sub-Tec 9 sounding rocket, including a microcontroller circuit, temperature sensor and a humidity sensor developed by Marshall Space Flight Center.

The team worked to streamline the design process for engineers and mission designers.

(Investment Area: Crosscutting Capabilities)

Advancing Infrared and Submillimeter Polarimetry for Ice Cloud Remote Sensing Ian Adams is building a suite of polarimeters for an Earth Venture mission proposal to study connections between ice clouds, hydrometeors, and their impacts on climate and weather. The team defined the science case for the instruments and began work fabricating and testing filters, including a 640 by 512 strained layer superlattice detector arrays.

They produced and tested filter assemblies including purchased vertical and horizontal polarizing filters and a bandpass filter. Future funding to refine and develop these polarimeters will be sought through the Earth Venture and specific mission sources.

(Investment Area: Earth Science)

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The Earth Science Decadal Survey recommended the Atmosphere Observing System, formerly known as the Aerosol and Cloud, Convection and Precipitation (ACCP) mission concept, to better characterize the composition of Earth’s atmosphere. Several IRADS seek to support this mission.

The Advanced Limb Infrared Chemistry Experiment (ALICE) is a high-spectral resolution IR limb scanning Dyson imaging spectrometer (wavelengths ~4.5-14.1 m), which will measure important tropospheric and stratospheric constituents (including O3, H2O, CO, CH4, N2O, NO2, CFCs, clouds, temperature, and aerosols) with high vertical resolution (~1 km) from the mid-troposphere through the stratosphere. Luke Oman’s primary IRAD goal was to reduce the size weight and power of ALICE and plan the maturation of a mission/ instrument concept for the Earth System Explorer Mission program in response to the Survey’s targeted observables of “Ozone and Trace Gases.” This work was conducted with Ball Aerospace as well academic partners at the University of Washington and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The continued investment in this instrument will increase Goddard’s expertise in IR instrumentation, which also has applications to astronomy, planetary, and Earth Sciences. Oman successfully brought the mass down from 134 kg from last year to 85 kg now, and reduced power needs from 443 W down to 346 W with similar percentage reductions in the overall size of the instrument.

Image Credit: NASA/Goddard

Photo Credit: Beth Paquette

Supporting the Decadal-Recommended Atmosphere Observing System

This image shows levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) as measured by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite in March 2020.

In a related investigation, Steve Bailey used a technique called Cavity-Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (CEAS) measure in-situ NO2. This year, Bailey tested various aspects of miniaturization to determine the feasibility of using this technique in an airborne sonde to measure NO2. They succeeded in downsizing cell, optics, and processor hardware while maintaining accuracy and using primarily off-the-shelf components. The team received a Follow-on IRAD to build and fly an NO2 sonde in 2022.

(Investment Area: Earth Science)

Technologies to Watch

Ku/X-band Smallsat Precipitation Radar Concept Gerald Heymsfield conducted a very successful Instrument Design Lab study for a Ku-band large aperture (6-meter), nadir-pointing, multi-beam Doppler radar. Northrop Grumman Space Systems (NGSS) supplied the deployable radar antenna and NG antenna engineers participated in this study. All components were TRL 5 or higher, and TRL 6 and above could be accomplished with some additional analysis but no technology development. Ku band suffers less interference from clouds and water droplets, allowing capture of air and wind motion in storms, and the technology has the potential to achieve a 2 km footprint compared to GPMs 5 km footprint, Heymsfield said.

(Investment Area: Earth Science)

Stopgap Nyquist Imaging Radiometer for K to W-band Image Courtesy: Thomas Holmes

All of the U.S. conical-scanning radiometers have exceeded their design lifetime and are in extended operations, Thomas Holmes said during his IRAD presentation. The number of microwave imagers in prime mission is presently at a historic low not seen since 1990. Continuity in combination with improved sampling fidelity is a priority for this class of satellite measurements, which can resolve details such as hail-producing cores of storms from orbit. Developing a SmallSat mission capable of detecting K, Ka and W band by instruments with lower mass, volume and power requirements vastly improves the science return in this area. Holmes’ team designed an instrument 1.6 m tall, deployed, weighing approximately 20 kg – a reduction from WindSat’s instrument which was 3.4 m tall and 330 Kg. The team applied for ROSES IIP to conduct a technology demonstration.

(Investment Area: Earth Science)

Focusing on 511 keV: the Energy Signature of the Positron Annihilation Line Grazing incidence optics are a promising technology for a gamma-ray focusing telescope which could uncover the source of galactic positrons. A feasibility study showed this technology can work up to 650 keV, however, such an instrument is years away from a solid concept. The optics and necessary precision formation flying technologies are both less than TRL 4. To develop an instrument in the coming years, Carolyn Kieran’s team matured the science requirements for a 511 keV focusing telescope with grazing incidence optics as an early stage which could eventually zero in on the source of these positrons. By investing the time and resources to develop science requirements now, Goddard will be better prepared to advance the technology in future proposal calls.

(Investment Area Highlight: Astrophysics)

Enabling Future Space Telescopes Using Transition-edge Sensor Detectors Peter Nagler is working to develop transition-edge sensor (TES) detectors – calorimeters in the near and mid-infrared (NIR, MIR), and bolometers in the far-infrared (FIR) – that can meet the requirements of the three flagship Astro 2020 Decadal Survey missions that operate in these bands.

Detectors meeting the requirements of these missions do not currently exist, and advancements made under this proposal will position Goddard to win a large future flight instrument. Nagler’s detectors offer record-setting efficiency and sensitivity, coupled with simple fabrication and mechanically-robust architectures. Beyond improving Goddard’s competitive posture for the Decadal missions, these advancements will enable Goddard to win nearerterm suborbital and orbital instruments, as well as HQfunded technology development proposals. The far-infared bolometer work will transition to HQ funding in FY22.

(Investment Area Highlight: Astrophysics)

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Formation Control of SmallSat Constellations Pavel Galchenko developed a set of software tools to help scientists and engineers visualize, select, and analyze orbits for formation-flying SmallSat missions. These methods and tools would facilitate the mission design process and

CubeSats orbit in close formation.

help identify propellant-efficient formations and control strategies, enabling future formation missions such as constellations, starshades, and servicing. NASA’s 42 simulation framework was selected and updated with new functionality to study various mission concepts. The internal framework was updated to include three formation control types and nine attitude control subtypes, allowing for full six degreeof-freedom simulations. Users can easily generate new mission concept studies quickly through a simple text scripting language.

(Investment Area Highlight: Science SmallSat Technology)

Earth Technologies to Watch: Probing the Planetary Boundary Layer The Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) – just above the Earth’s surface – presents significant challenges for orbital observation and measurement due to the volume of atmosphere between it and orbiting remote sensing missions.

Active sensors can provide adequate range resolution to capture vertical variability within and around the planetary boundary layer. However, the loss of signal over distance for these systems drives the need for high-power, high-cost spaceborne solutions, creating a parallel need for innovative suborbital observing systems.

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Yuekui Yang’s project investigated and developed a path for a tethered balloon system that integrates state-of-the-

art components to provide high-resolution measurements of the boundary layer’s meteorological, radiative, and aerosol properties. They partnered with the Digital Design & Imaging Service, Inc. and successfully conducted two test flights with three selected sensors: BlackSwift Technologies’ Multi-hole Probe, Anasphere’s xTether, and the Ketrel 5500 weather meter. They will target a future Dacadal Survey Incubation (DSI) call for funding to support a Goddard Tethered-Balloon Observation Sensor System (GT-BOSS) system.

Meanwhile, Carey Johnson mounted an early-stage innovation looking at the feasibility and viability of using commercial, off-the-shelf components to develop small, low-cost sensors for observing and characterizing boundary layer clouds from UAVs. The team tested commercially available lidar and radar instruments in a lab and outdoors to characterize suitability for future UAV flights, and will seek follow-on funding through ESTO, ACT and AITT solicitations.

Image Credit: NASA (Investment Area Highlight: Earth Science)

Balloon-Borne Cryogenic Telescope Testbed (BOBCAT) This task develops technology for a new generation of ultralight cryogenic dewars for balloon missions. By decreasing the dewar mass by a factor of three or more, ultra-light dewars enable sub-orbital flight of large (3 meter diameter) telescopes to accomplish science goals otherwise possible only from a billion-dollar Great Observatory. Such a mission would improve the sensitivity and mapping speed of NASA’s existing SOFIA observatory by three to five orders of magnitude. BOBCAT-2 was delayed when their piggyback flight, PIPER, canceled for 2021 and will try again in 2022.

Image Credit: NASA

This image shows BOBCAT hardware used to demonstrate the successful transfer of cryogenic fluids into a dewar at 133,000 feet during a balloon demonstration in August 2019.

Slimming Down Sounding Rocket Payloads for Extended Duration Flights Joshua Yacobucci is working to develop a sounding rocket payload capable of extended duration flight times greater than 700 seconds above 150 km altitude.

The sounding rocket program (SRP) and program scientists have a longstanding desire for flights with extended observation times. A previous SRP analysis showed that a payload weight around 800 pounds (363 Kg) is required to achieve this goal on a Black Brant XII vehicle.

This mass limit means a typical solar or celestial telescope’s total payload weight must drop 20% if a payload recovery system is omitted.

Losing about 30% of mass would enable payload recovery without giving up the desired 700 seconds of observation time. The team examined an integrated system architecture – as opposed to the standard modular architectures – and modeled lighter payload designs in CAD. They also created

Image Courtesy: Joshua Yacobucci

a mass properties budget based on a previously-flown payload. This development has many potential customers, having been endorsed by SRP Principle Investigators across disciplines.

(Investment Area Highlight: Suborbital Platforms and Range Services)

Better Power Systems for CubeSats Through Chemistry Nicholas Franconi reviewed mission architectures, power system requirements and EEE parts studies to assess a scalable power system that is compact, highly-reliable, and efficient using Gallium Nitride (GaN) highelectron mobility transistors HEMT. A followon IRAD will fund assembly and testing to demonstrate key converter functionality across environmental testing in FY22. Both planetary and Earth science Decadal Surveys call for more size-efficient power systems for powerlimited instruments. Additionally, nearly every mission and computing architecture developed in the science data-processing branch over the past few years could have significantly benefited from the GaN converters. Radiation testing of commercial, off-the-shelf devices showed the potential for a cost-effective radhard solution for efficient power systems.

(Investment Area Highlight: Science SmallSat Technology)

Image Courtesy: Nicholas Franconi

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Robin Ripley’s IRAD sought to integrate diverse SmallSat technologies developed under previous IRADs into a single, integrated system to verify that all features of those technologies can operate concurrently in harmony. These technologies include the MARES Command and Data Handling (C&DH), SpaceCube v3.0 Mini (SCv3M) processor, high altitude GPS capable receiver, and a software defined radio (SDR). Several of these technologies have been independently adopted by various funded missions, proposals, and R&D efforts. However, bringing them all together and getting them to work in an integrated system will open up even more opportunities for infusion.

Creating a platform that can re-use code and hardware amongst robust CubeSat solutions MARES Command and Data Handling (C&DH), auxiliary C&DH, SpaceCube v3.0 Mini Processor and GPS card integrated into the backplane. and size, weight and powerlimited SmallSat missions will reduce development costs for individual missions. The architecture will also provide the opportunity to focus on core functionality and standardized implementation.

(Investment Area Highlight: Science SmallSat Technology)

Reliable CubeSat Data Recordery Alessandro Geist design a miniaturized, high-reliability solid-state data recorder (SSDR) for CubeSat or SmallSat applications as well as instrument electronic boxes to withstand varying harsh radiation environment orbits. A follow-on IRAD has been awarded to complete the printed circuit board PCB layout, fabricate, assemble, and test the card, and develop prototype FPGA code and software.

(Investment Area Highlight: Science SmallSat Technology)

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Image Credit: Robin Ripley

Integration of Advanced Goddard SmallSat Technologies