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Company
Portfolio Data
ASCENDING NODE TECHNOLOGIES LLC
UEI: E41AEJA3FAF8
Number of Employees: 7
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2019
4
Phase I Awards
3
Phase II Awards
75%
Conversion Rate
$523,040
Phase I Dollars
$2,249,808
Phase II Dollars
$2,772,848
Total Awarded
Awards

Observation Planning in Spaceline
Amount: $749,937 Topic: S5
Observation planning for any NASA mission is essential for demonstrating a spacecraftrsquo;s ability to achieve goals, whether the target is Earth or any other astronomical body. As demands have grown, so has the fidelity, complexity, and precision of spacecraft observations. In addition, modern spacecraft communications bandwidth allows for the transmission of more data than ever. These increased capabilities have placed extra demands on spacecraft science observations; for example, the recent OSIRIS-REx mission regularly executed observation plans with sub-second timing for up to 300 targets each day. Although creating observation plans is usually relegated to the flight operations period of a mission, teams can benefit by considering these observation designs through early stages of mission planning as well. Exceptional collaboration between science teams and operations teams requires a complex web of cumbersome technology for sharing and integrating observation plans and their resulting data. This significant complexity hinders the ability of responsible parties to make informed, sensible, and rapid decisions. Spaceline solves this problem with an application that every party involved can access. Additionally, Spacelinersquo;s flexible access allows users of both browser-based GUI or WebAPI to work with Spaceline directly or link Spaceline to their own tools, maintaining a known provenance for every kernel.nbsp;Spaceline is a server- and web-based application developed under two in-progress NASA SBIR Phase II contracts. The Spaceline application consists of three core capabilities: SPICE kernel management, 3D interactive display of a scene, and simulation of science data for any onboard instrument for a given instant in time. We propose to extend the core functionality of Spaceline from supporting only pre-compiled observation plans (in the form of uploaded CKs) to allowing users to create observation plans directly within Spaceline.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2022
NASA

Coverage and Access Analysis in Spaceline
Amount: $149,438 Topic: S17
We propose to expand Spacelinersquo;s capability to perform concept of operations (ConOps) feasibility analysis. Coverage Analysis calculates to what extent a region has been observed by a set of instruments. Access Analysis determines the timespans when entities are within unobstructed line-of-sight to each other. The inputs to Coverage Analysis include orbit, target availability, instrument field of view, downlink, and solar charging opportunities. The proposed addition of Coverage Analysis includes ground coverage for planetary missions and celestial sphere coverage; the proposed Access Analysis will allow Spaceline users to ensure that their spacecraft will fulfill their downlink, communication, and solar charging requirements even with complex data relay setups. The proposed innovation of integrating this utility into Spaceline increases its accessibility to a wider variety of mission proposal teams.nbsp;Spaceline can fill a valuable role in providing mission teams a single stable platform to share and communicate all the details associated with designing, planning, and analyzing a mission. Interviews with members of the spaceflight sector pinpointed several issues that Spaceline will address: (1) Spaceline will enable the rapid development of mission concept of operations, (2) Spaceline will provide a robust and flexible schema allowing for the design and review of plans in multiple coordinate systems, and (3) Spaceline will greatly reduce the overhead to communicate complex mission plans among team members. The proposed innovations of Coverage and Access Analysis to Spaceline will provide increased utility across all three use cases. Early in the lifecycle of a mission, while the ConOps is still in development, users will execute the analysis tools to calculate a baseline efficacy of a mission plan to support their proposal efforts. This baseline can then be used as a reference point for comparison against more complicated plans.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2022
NASA

Advanced Science Modeling for Mission Planning & Analysis
Amount: $749,909 Topic: S5
Simulating science objectives is an essential component of NASA missions to reduce risk. As technology has improved, so has the fidelity, complexity, and precision of scientific instrumentation. In addition, the communications bandwidth of the modern spacecraft allows for the transmission of more data than ever. These increased capabilities have placed extra demands on science data generation. Simulated science data for use in planning are required for a successful mission, not only in flight, but through all stages of mission planning as well. nbsp;Unprecedented collaboration between science and operations teams requires large swaths of cumbersome technology for sharing, integrating, and visualizing simulated data. This significant complexity hinders the ability of responsible parties to make informed, sensible, and rapid decisions.Spaceline is a server- and web-based application developed under an in-progress NASA SBIR Phase II contract. The Spaceline application consists of three core capabilities: SPICE kernel management, 3D interactive display of a scene, and simulation of science data for any onboard instrument for a given instant in time. We propose to extend this core functionality further by extending Spacelinersquo;s features from supporting just planetary surface imagers to supporting a wide range of different sensors that would interact with a variety of different target models. Each target model in turn represents different scientific phenomena ranging from planetary atmospheres to magnetic and gravity fields to the eruptive emission of volatiles and particles. Spaceline will also support the design and planning of astronomical observations. nbsp;
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2021
NASA

Observation Planning in Spaceline
Amount: $123,911 Topic: S5
Observation planning for any NASA mission is essential for demonstrating a spacecraftrsquo;s ability to achieve goals, whether the target is Earth or any other astronomical body. As demands have grown, so has the fidelity, complexity, and precision of spacecraft observations. In addition, modern spacecraft communications bandwidth allows for the transmission of more data than ever. These increased capabilities have placed extra demands on spacecraft science observations. Although creating observation plans is usually relegated to the flight operations period of a mission, teams can benefit by considering these observation designs during early stages of mission planning as well. Collaboration between science teams and operations teams requires a complex web of cumbersome technology for sharing and integrating observation plans and their resulting data. This significant complexity hinders the ability of responsible parties to make informed, sensible, and rapid decisions. Spaceline solves this problem with an application that every party involved can access. Additionally, Spacelinersquo;s flexible access allows users of both browser-based GUI or WebAPI to work with Spaceline directly or link Spaceline to their own tools, maintaining a known provenance for every kernel.nbsp;We propose to extend the core functionality of Spaceline from supporting only pre-compiled observation plans to allowing users to create observation plans directly within Spaceline. The expanded capability will require an additional user interface. Users will define a collection of components including points, vectors, and coordinate frames that define the explicit attitude targets of an observation plan.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
NASA

Interactive Rapid Generation of Simulated Science Data
Amount: $749,962 Topic: S5
Simulating science objectives is an essential component of NASA missions to reduce risk, whether the target is Earth or any solar system body.nbsp;nbsp;As technology has improved, so has the fidelity, complexity, and precision of scientific instrumentation.nbsp;nbsp;In addition, modern communications bandwidth of the spacecraft allows for the transmit of more data than ever.nbsp;nbsp;These increased capabilities have placed extra demands on science data generation.nbsp;nbsp;Simulated science data for use innbsp;planningnbsp;are required for a successful mission, not only in flight, butnbsp;through all stages of mission planning as well.nbsp;nbsp;Unprecedented collaboration between science teams and operations teams require large swaths of cumbersome technology for sharing, integrating, and visualizing simulated data.nbsp;nbsp;This significant complexity hinders the ability of responsible parties to make informed, sensible, and rapid decisions.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2020
NASA

Advanced Science Modeling for Mission Planning & Analysis
Amount: $124,851 Topic: S5
Simulating science objectives is an essential component of NASA missions to reduce risk. As technology has improved, so has the fidelity, complexity, and precision of scientific instrumentation. In addition, the communications bandwidth of the modern spacecraft allows for the transmission of more data than ever. These increased capabilities have placed extra demands on science data generation. Simulated science data for use innbsp;planningnbsp;are required for a successful mission, not only in flight, butnbsp;through all stages of mission planning as well.nbsp;nbsp;Unprecedented collaboration between science and operations teams require large swaths of cumbersome technology for sharing, integrating, and visualizing simulated data. This significant complexity hinders the ability of responsible parties to make informed, sensible, and rapid decisions.nbsp;Spaceline is a server- and web-based application developed under a previous NASA SBIR Phase I contract. The Spaceline application consists of three core capabilities: SPICE kernel management, 3D interactive display of a scene, and simulation of science data for any onboard instrument for a given instant in time. We propose to extend this core functionality further by extending Spacelinersquo;s features from supporting just visible wavelength imagers to supporting a wide range of different sensors that would interact with a variety of different target models. Each target model in turn represents different scientific phenomena ranging from planetary interiors to magnetic fields to the emission of volatiles and particles.nbsp;We will investigate how to best support exoplanet surveys with Spaceline and what features can be added to effectively simplify the considerations necessary for users who are designing sensors for exoplanet surveys as well as those who are planning and operating such missions.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2020
NASA

Interactive Rapid Generation of Simulated Science Data
Amount: $124,840 Topic: S5
Simulating science objectives is an essential component of NASA missions to reduce risk, whether the target is Earth or any solar system body.nbsp;nbsp;As technology has improved, so has the fidelity, complexity, and precision of scientific instrumentation.nbsp;nbsp;In addition, modern communications bandwidth of the spacecraft allows for the transmit of more data than ever.nbsp;nbsp;These increased capabilities have placed extra demands on science data generation. Simulated science data for use innbsp;planningare required for a successful mission, not only in flight, butnbsp;through all stages of mission planning as well.nbsp;Unprecedented collaboration between science teams and operations teams require large swaths of cumbersome technology for sharing, integrating, and visualizing simulated data.nbsp;nbsp;This significant complexity hinders the ability of responsible parties to make informed, sensible, and rapid decisions.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2019
NASA