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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA pilot Nils Larson, and flight test engineer and pilot Wayne Ringelberg, head for a mission debrief after flying a NASA F/A-18 at Mach 1.38 to create sonic booms as part of the Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence flight series at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, to study sonic boom signatures with and without the element of atmospheric turbulence.NASA/Lauren Hughes NASA research pilots are experts on how to achieve the right flight-test conditions for experiments and the tools needed for successful missions. It is that expertise that enables pilots to help researchers learn how an aircraft can fly their technology innovations and save time and money, while increasing the innovation’s readiness for use.
NASA pilots detailed how they help researchers find the right fit for experiments that might not advance without proving that they work in flight as they do in modeling, simulation, and ground tests at the Ideas to Flight Workshop on Sept. 18 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. “Start the conversation early and make sure you have the right people in the conversation,” said Tim Krall, a NASA Armstrong flight operations engineer. “What we are doing better is making sure pilots are included earlier in a flight project to capitalize on their experience and knowledge.”
Flight research is often used to prove or refine computer models, try out new systems, or increase a technology’s readiness. Sometimes, pilots guide a research project involving experimental aircraft. For example, pilots play a pivotal role on the X-59 aircraft, which will fly faster than the speed of sound while generating a quiet thump, rather than a loud boom. In the future, NASA’s pilots with fly the X-59 over select U.S. communities to gather data about how people on the ground perceive sonic thumps. NASA will provide this information to regulators to potentially change regulations that currently prohibit commercial supersonic flight over land.
Mark Russell, center, a research pilot at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, explains the differences in flight environments at different NASA centers. Jim Less, a NASA pilot at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, left, Russell, and Nils Larson, NASA Armstrong chief X-59 aircraft pilot and senior advisor on flight research, provided perspective on flight research at the Ideas to Flight Workshop on Sept. 18 at NASA Armstrong.NASA/Genaro Vavuris “We have been involved with X-59 aircraft requirements and design process from before it was an X-plane,” said Nils Larson, NASA chief X-59 aircraft pilot and senior advisor on flight research. “I was part of pre-formulation and formulation teams. I was also on the research studies and brought in NASA pilot Jim Less in for a second opinion. Because we had flown missions in the F-15 and F-18, we knew the kinds of systems, like autopilots, that we need to get the repeatability and accuracy for the data.”
NASA pilots’ experience can provide guidance to enable a wide range of flight experiments. A lot of times researchers have an idea of how to get the required flight data, but sometimes, Larson explains, while there are limits to what an aircraft can do – like flying the DC-8 upside down, there are maneuvers that given the right mitigations, training, and approval could simulate those conditions.
Less says he’s developed an approach to help focus researchers: “What do you guys really need? A lot of what we do is mundane, but anytime you go out and fly, there is some risk. We don’t want to take a risk if we are going after data that nobody needs, or it is not going to serve a purpose, or the quality won’t work.”
Justin Hall, left, attaches the Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Land on Mars, or Prandtl-M, glider onto the Carbon-Z Cub, which Justin Link steadies. Hall and Link are part of a team from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, that uses an experimental magnetic release mechanism to air launch the glider.NASA/Lauren Hughes Sometimes, a remotely piloted aircraft can provide an advantage to achieve NASA’s research priorities, said Justin Hall, NASA Armstrong’s subscale aircraft laboratory chief pilot. “We can do things quicker, at a lower cost, and the subscale lab offers unique opportunities. Sometimes an engineer comes in with an idea and we can help design and integrate experiments, or we can even build an aircraft and pilot it.”
Most research flights are straight and level like driving a car on the highway. But there are exceptions. “The more interesting flights require a maneuver to get the data the researcher is looking for,” Less said. “We mounted a pod to an F/A-18 with the landing radar that was going to Mars and they wanted to simulate Martian reentry using the airplane. We went up high and dove straight at the ground.”
Another F/A-18 experiment tested the flight control software for the Space Launch System rocket for the Artemis missions. “A rocket takes off vertically and it has to pitch over 90 degrees,” Less explained. “We can’t quite do that in an F-18, but we could start at about a 45-degree angle and then push 45 degrees nose low to simulate the whole turn. That’s one of the fun parts of the job, trying to figure out how to get the data you want with the tools we have.”
NASA pilot Jim Less is assisted by life support as he is fitted with a pilot breathing monitoring system. The sensing system is attached to a pilot’s existing gear to capture real-time physiological, breathing gas, and cockpit environmental data.NASA/Carla Thomas Share
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Last Updated Oct 16, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactJay Levinejay.levine-1@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
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By NASA
Mars Sample Return MSR Home Mission Concept Overview Perseverance Rover Sample Retrieval Lander Mars Ascent Vehicle Sample Recovery Helicopters Earth Return Orbiter Science Overview Bringing Mars Samples to Earth Mars Rock Samples MSR Science Community Member Sign up News and Features Multimedia Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 4 min read
New Team to Assess NASA’s Mars Sample Return Architecture Proposals
NASA announced Wednesday a new strategy review team will assess potential architecture adjustments for the agency’s Mars Sample Return Program, which aims to bring back scientifically selected samples from Mars, and is a key step in NASA’s quest to better understand our solar system and help answer whether we are alone in the universe.
Earlier this year, the agency commissioned design studies from the NASA community and eight selected industry teams on how to return Martian samples to Earth in the 2030s while lowering the cost, risk, and mission complexity. The new strategy review team will assess 11 studies conducted by industry, a team across NASA centers, the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The team will recommend to NASA a primary architecture for the campaign, including associated cost and schedule estimates.
“Mars Sample Return will require a diversity of opinions and ideas to do something we’ve never done before: launch a rocket off another planet and safely return samples to Earth from more than 33 million miles away,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “It is critical that Mars Sample Return is done in a cost-effective and efficient way, and we look forward to learning the recommendations from the strategy review team to achieve our goals for the benefit of humanity.”
Returning samples from Mars has been a major long-term goal of international planetary exploration for more than three decades, and the Mars Sample Return Program is jointly planned with ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Perseverance rover is collecting compelling science samples that will help scientists understand the geological history of Mars, the evolution of its climate, and potential hazards for future human explorers. Retrieval of the samples also will help NASA’s search for signs of ancient life.
The team’s report is anticipated by the end of 2024 and will examine options for a complete mission design, which may be a composite of multiple studied design elements. The team will not recommend specific acquisition strategies or partners. The strategy review team has been chartered under a task to the Cornell Technical Services contract. The team may request input from a NASA analysis team that consists of government employees and expert consultants. The analysis team also will provide programmatic input such as a cost and schedule assessment of the architecture recommended by the strategy review team.
The Mars Sample Return Strategy Review Team is led by Jim Bridenstine, former NASA administrator, and includes the following members:
Greg Robinson, former program director, James Webb Space Telescope Lisa Pratt, former planetary protection officer, NASA Steve Battel, president, Battel Engineering; Professor of Practice, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Phil Christensen, regents professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe Eric Evans, director emeritus and fellow, MIT Lincoln Lab Jack Mustard, professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Science, Brown University Maria Zuber, E. A. Griswold professor of Geophysics and presidential advisor for science and technology policy, MIT The NASA Analysis Team is led by David Mitchell, chief program management officer at NASA Headquarters, and includes the following members:
John Aitchison, program business manager (acting), Mars Sample Return Brian Corb, program control/schedule analyst, NASA Headquarters Steve Creech, assistant deputy associate administrator for Technical, Moon to Mars Program Office, NASA Headquarters Mark Jacobs, senior systems engineer, NASA Headquarters Rob Manning, chief engineer emeritus, NASA JPL Mike Menzel, senior engineer, NASA Goddard Fernando Pellerano, senior advisor for Systems Engineering, NASA Goddard Ruth Siboni, chief of staff, Moon to Mars Program Office, NASA Headquarters Bryan Smith, director of Facilities, Test and Manufacturing, NASA Glenn Ellen Stofan, under secretary for Science and Research, Smithsonian For more information on NASA’s Mars Sample Return, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-sample-return
Dewayne Washington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
dewayne.a.washington@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 16, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA operations engineer Daniel Velasquez, left, is reviewing the Mobile Vertipad Sensor Package system as part of the Air Mobility Pathways test project at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Oct. 17, 2023.NASA/Steve Freeman Lee esta historia en Español aquí.
Born and raised in Peru, Daniel Velasquez moved to the United States when was 10 years old. While that decision was a big transition for his family, it also created many opportunities for him. Now Velasquez is an operations engineer for NASA’s Air Mobility Pathfinders project at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
Velasquez develops flight test plans for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, specifically testing how they perform during various phases of flight, such as taxi, takeoff, cruise, approach, and landing. He was drawn to NASA Armstrong because of the legacy in advancing flight research and the connection to the Space Shuttle program.
“Being part of a center with such a rich history in supporting space missions and cutting-edge aeronautics was a major motivation for me,” Velasquez said. “One of the biggest highlights of my career has been the opportunity to meet (virtually) and collaborate with an astronaut on a possible future NASA project.”
Daniel Velasquez stands next to the main entrance sign at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in 2022.Daniel Velasquez Velasquez is incredibly proud of his Latino background because of its rich culture, strong sense of community and connection to his parents. “My parents are my biggest inspiration. They sacrificed so much to ensure my siblings and I could succeed, leaving behind the comfort of their home and family in Peru to give us better opportunities,” Velasquez said. “Their hard work and dedication motivate me every day. Everything I do is to honor their sacrifices and show them that their efforts weren’t wasted. I owe all my success to them.”
Velasquez began his career at NASA in 2021 as an intern through the Pathways Internship Program while he was studying aerospace engineering at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Through that program, he learned about eVTOL modeling software called NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft to create a help guide for other NASA engineers to reference when they worked with the software.
At the same time, he is also a staff sergeant in the U.S Army Reserves and responsible for overseeing the training and development of junior soldiers during monthly assemblies. He plans, creates, and presents classes for soldiers to stay up-to-date and refine their skills while supervising practical exercises, after action reviews, and gathering lessons learned during trainings.
Daniel Velasquez graduated in 2023 from Rutgers University in New Jersey while he was an intern at NASA. Behind him is the New York City skyline.Daniel Velasquez “This job is different than what I do day-to-day at NASA, but it has helped me become a more outspoken individual,” he said. “Being able to converse with a variety of people and be able to do it well is a skill that I acquired and refined while serving my country.”
Velasquez said he never imagined working for NASA as it was something he had only seen in movies and on television, but he is so proud to be working for the agency after all the hard work and sacrifices he made that lead him to this point. “I am incredibly proud to work every day with some of the most motivated and dedicated individuals in the industry.”
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Last Updated Oct 16, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Daniel Velásquez, ingeniero de operaciones de la NASA, a la izquierda, revisa el sistema Mobile Vertipad Sensor Package como parte del proyecto de pruebas Air Mobility Pathways en el Centro de Investigación de Vuelo Armstrong de la NASA en Edwards, California, el 17 de octubre de 2023.NASA/Steve Freeman Read this story in English here.
Nacido y criado en Perú, Daniel Velásquez se estableció en los Estados Unidos cuando tenía 10 años. Aunque esa decisión fue una gran transición para su familia, también le creó muchas oportunidades. Ahora Velásquez es ingeniero de operaciones del proyecto Pathfinders de Movilidad Aérea de la NASA en el Centro de Investigación de Vuelo Armstrong de la NASA en Edwards, California.
Velásquez desarrolla ensayos de vuelo para aeronaves eléctricas de despegue y aterrizaje vertical (eVTOL, por sus siglas en inglés), poniendo a prueba específicamente su rendimiento durante varias fases del vuelo, como el rodaje, el despegue, el crucero, la aproximación y el aterrizaje. Se interesó en el centro Armstrong de la NASA debido a su legado en el avance de la investigación de vuelo y a su contribución al programa del Transbordador Espacial.
“Formar parte de un centro con una historia tan rica en el apoyo a las misiones espaciales y la aeronáutica avanzada fue una motivación importante para mí,” dice Velásquez. “Uno de los mayores hitos de mi carrera ha sido la oportunidad de conocer (virtualmente) y colaborar con un astronauta en un posible proyecto de la NASA.”
Daniel Velásquez se encuentra junto al letrero de la entrada principal del Centro de Investigación de Vuelo Armstrong de la NASA en Edwards, California.Daniel Velásquez Velásquez está increíblemente orgulloso de su origen latino por su rica cultura, su fuerte sentido de comunidad y la conexión a sus padres. “Mis padres son mi mayor inspiración. Sacrificaron mucho para asegurarse de que mis hermanos y yo pudiéramos tener éxito, dejando atrás la comodidad de su hogar y su familia en Perú para darnos mejores oportunidades,” dice Velásquez. “Su esfuerzo y dedicación me motivan cada día. Todo lo que hago es para honrar sus sacrificios y demostrarles que sus esfuerzos no fueron un vano. Todo mi éxito se lo debo a ellos.”
Velásquez comenzó su carrera en la NASA en 2021 como un pasante en el Programa de Pasantías Pathways mientras estudiaba ingeniería aeroespacial en la Universidad Rutgers en New Brunswick, New Jersey. A través de ese programa, el aprendió sobre un software de modelado eVTOL que se llama Diseño y Análisis de Aeronaves de Alas Giratorias de la NASA y creó una guía de ayuda que otros ingenieros de la NASA pudieran consultar cuando trabajaban con el software.
Al mismo tiempo, también es un sargento primero de la Reserva del Ejército de EE. UU. y es responsable de supervisar el entrenamiento y el desarrollo de los soldados subalternos durante las reuniones mensuales. Planifica, crea y presenta clases para que los soldados se mantengan al día y refinen sus habilidades, a la vez que supervisa los ejercicios prácticos, las revisiones posteriores de acción y recopila lecciones aprendidas durante los entrenamientos.
Daniel Velásquez se graduó en la Universidad Rutgers en mayo de 2023 mientras trabajaba como pasante en la NASA. Aquí está posando con el horizonte de Nueva York al fondo.Daniel Velásquez “Este trabajo es diferente de lo que hago día a día en la NASA, pero me ha ayudado a convertirme en una persona más franca,” dice. “Ser capaz de conversar con una variedad de personas y poder hacerlo bien es una habilidad que adquirí y refiné mientras servía a mi país.”
Velásquez explica que nunca imaginó trabajar para la NASA, ya que era algo que sólo había visto en las películas y en la televisión, pero está muy orgulloso de trabajar para la agencia después de todo el trabajo duro y los sacrificios que lo llevaron hasta aquí. “Estoy increíblemente orgulloso de trabajar cada día con algunas de las personas más motivadas y dedicadas en la industria.”
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Last Updated Oct 16, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactElena Aguirreelena.aguirre@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
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