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The Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD) provides mission-critical space operations services to both NASA customers and other partners within the U.S. and throughout the world: operating the International Space Station (ISS); ensuring safe and reliable access to space, and ensuring the health and safety of astronauts. Additionally, the SOMD is chartered with enabling the development of a ro ...

A number of space exploration missions to planetary bodies have noted significant deleterious effects due to extreme environments. Fine dust can foul mechanisms, alter thermal properties, obscure optical systems, abrade textiles, and scratch surfaces. Temperatures on the lunar surface vary from 35 K to 400 K, imposing extreme operational constraints on architectural elements. The goal of this fo ...

Scope Title:Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM)Scope Description:This subtopic seeks technologies related to cryogenic propellant (e.g., hydrogen, oxygen, methane) storage and transfer to support NASA's space exploration goals. This includes a wide range of applications, scales, and environments consistent with future NASA missions. Such missions include, but are not limited to, upper stages, asc ...

Scope Title:Nuclear Electric PropulsionScope Description: Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) is a subtopic that develops low-TRL systems that use fission energy, rather than combustion, for propulsion. Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) uses fission energy in a heat exchanger to directly heat a propellant for thermal expansion through a traditional nozzle. Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) uses a fissio ...

Scope Title:High-Temperature, High-Voltage Electric Propulsion Harness Connectors and CablesScope Description:In EP systems, power, commands, and telemetry are relayed between the power processing unit (PPU) and the thruster via dedicated electrical harness assemblies. These harnesses must support the voltage and current needs of the thruster, survive in-space conditions and the operational therma ...

Scope Title:Energy Storage for Extreme EnvironmentsScope Description:NASA's Planetary Science Division is working to implement a balanced portfolio, within the available budget and based on a decadal survey, that will continue to make exciting scientific discoveries about our solar system. This balanced suite of missions shows the need for low-mass/-volume energy storage that can effectively o ...

Scope Title:Photovoltaic Energy ConversionScope Description:This subtopic is seeking photovoltaic cell and blanket technologies that lead to significant improvements in overall solar array performance for missions in areas of scientific interest including those of high-intensity, high-temperature (HIHT) such as near the Sun and at the inner planets; low-intensity, high-temperature (LIHT) like in t ...

Scope Title:Dynamic and Solid-State Power ConversionScope Description:NASA is developing thermoelectric and dynamic radioisotope power systems (DRPSs) for unmanned robotic missions to the Moon and other solar system bodies of interest. This technology directly aligns with the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) strategic technology investment plan for space power and energy storage and could be infu ...

Scope Title:Radiation-Tolerant, High-Voltage Converters for Lunar and Mars MissionsScope Description:NASA seeks technologies that will enable high-voltage power transmission on the lunar surface. While advancements in high-voltage, wide-bandgap devices have made great progress in terrestrial uses, we are finding that these new devices are particularly vulnerable to high-energy single-event upsets ...

Scope Title:Radiation Tolerant Neuromorphic Learning HardwareScope Description:This hardware scope is for embedded radiation tolerant neuromorphic processors and neural net accelerators that provide hardware support for efficient adaptation and learning in the space environment. The adaptation can be deep learning, reinforcement learning, Hebbian learning, or other machine learning paradigms. To q ...