NASA STTR 2002 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (SBC):		RESEARCH INSTITUTION (RI):
NAME:	Orbital Technologies Corp	NAME:	University of Texas at Dallas
ADDRESS:	Space Center, 1212 Fourier Drive	ADDRESS:	Physics Department
CITY:	Dr. Eric E. Rice	CITY:	Richardson
STATE/ZIP:	WI   53717 - 1961	STATE/ZIP:	TX   75083 - 0000
PHONE:	( 608 ) 827 - 5000	PHONE:	( 972 ) 883 - 2846

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER(Name,Email):	Dr. Eric E. Rice , ricee@orbitec.com

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS):
ORBITEC, working in cooperation with The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), and others, proposes to develop a low-cost, tethered artificial gravity spacecraft system that can be launched from the STS in a hitchhiker GAS Can or expendible launch vehicle. This variable-gravity platform would be used by scientific researchers of the Texas and Wisconsin Space Grant Consortia as well as college students of Space Grant consortia. This program would allow specific scientific experiments to be flown as part of scientific research and outreach to the public. The Phase I effort involves: Defining the TAG Spacecraft System Requirements and capabilities; conducting deployment/recovery dynamics analysis; evaluation of the launch and operating loads; performing preliminary spacecraft system design specification/definition and analysis required to meet the system requirements; conducting testing of critical subsystem components, a cost analysis, defining the Phase III preliminary design; and establishing a plan for user/outreach program for experiments/payloads. Phase II of this STTR program will culminate in a flight of a model spacecraft in a non-ejected Get-Away-Special (GAS) Canister on the Space Shuttle. It will be operated under the aegis of the Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC). TSGC has such a GAS-CAN that it has agreed to make available to the program. Phase III will involve building and flying the TAGS.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS):
The tethered artificial gravity spacecraft system that can be launched from the STS in a hitchhiker GAS Can or an expendable launch vehicle is a low-cost variable gravity platform that could be used by scientific researchers for experiments that require various g force levels. Variable g levels up to several g?s can be produced by spinning the two end-masses about their common center of mass. This program would allow specific scientific experiments to be flown as part of scientific research and outreach to the public. The platform would also be available for many commercial applications.

POTENTIAL NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS):
It is well-known that prolonged exposure in humans to a microgravity environment leads to significant loss of bone and muscle mass; this presents a formidable obstacle to human exploration of space, particularly for missions requiring travel times of several months or more, such as a trip to Mars. Artificial gravity may be produced by spinning a spacecraft about its center of mass, but unless the distance from the center of rotation is several kilometers, the rotation rate required to generate one ?g? would induce vertigo in the astronauts. By tethering the crew capsule to an object of nearly equal mass (such as the spent final rocket stage) at a distance of a km, the rotation rate would be reduced sufficiently to not cause discomfort for the astronauts. To develop this concept, the dynamics and stability of tethered systems with similar-sized end-masses must be modeled and then tested in space. This is the goal of this STTR proposal. There are many gravity-based research applications to the biological and physical scientific community, once TAGS is fully developed and operational. TAGS can be flown off ELVs, STS, and the ISS.