ICSS: The International Community ‘Space’ Station: Publicness and formation of a resilient and sustainable community in a space habitat

The goal of this thesis is to propose a design for an orbital space station that incubates the future space civilization and is the base for space regulations and governance. A place that is democratizing access to space and resources, and allows for any interested individual to join and contribute to the world at large and their personal...

Collision Probability through Orbital Uncertainty Propagation: The Hybrid Differential Algebra and Gaussian Mixture Model Approach

The number of space objects has largely increased in the recent years, becoming a considerable threat to the present and future of satellite operations and human spaceflight. This introduces a need to accurately compute the risk of collision between satellites and space debris. Current methodologies are limited by the type of encounter and the...

Stable Spinning Deployment Control of a Triangle Tethered Formation System

The tethered formation system has been widely studied due to its extensive use in aerospace engineering, such as Earth observation, orbital location, and deep space exploration. The deployment of such a multitethered system is a problem because of the oscillations and complex formation maintenance caused by the space tether's elasticity and...

Development of a Miniaturized Demonstrator for Foam Rheology Microgravity Experiments

The project under analysis is about the development and qualification of a demonstrator for a miniaturized foam rheology experiment performed in microgravity environment. The thesis is part of a larger feasibility study to evaluate the possibility of implementing such experiment on the International Space Station as an internal payload of the...

Development and operations in the Dutch utilisation centre

At the early beginning (1989) of implementation of the European User Support Organisation (USO) concept, development and implementation of a Dutch Utilisation Centre (DUC) started at NLR premises. After development of several pilot DUC facilities, DUC participated in a Columbus simulation mission and in the 2nd International Micro-gravity...

The orbital-platform concept for nonplanar dynamic testing

A new concept is introduced for large-amplitude nonplanar testing at high incidence. The dynamic test apparatus is characterized by an annular, orbital platform on which the model support and secondary drive mechanisms are mounted. The device can be used as a rotary apparatus, while arbitrary epicyclic motions (including fixed-plane, orbital...

Introduction to possible means of experiment operations on the space station

The present plans for space stations are evolutionary developments from Skylab, ASTP, Spacelab, and recently, MIR. Other forbears can be identified as well, and it is instructive to compare current designs with the drawings that appeared in magazines around 1950, when spaceflight first appeared feasible. The space station that is taken as the...

Development of an optical diagnostic instrument. Final report. Part 1. Executive summary

An optical diagnostic instrument is being developed for fluid physics research in the microgravity environment of a space laboratory. The instrument offers a whole filed observation system with a Schlieren overlay combined with a local narrow field observation capability, the stake system. The latter allows for operation of a variety of optical ...

A preliminary study of a fluid science laboratory for space station (Columbus). Final report. Part 4. Executive summary

The report presents a design study, within a specified envelope of resources, of laboratory for scientific research on fluid material in a space station, A survey of the scientific background of mlcrogravity experiments identifies candidate investigations. A structured description of available facilities, or earlier design studies, provides a...

Feasibility demonstration of a sensor for High-Quality two-phase flow

Two-phase flow heat transport systems for the Columbus Space Platform and the Space Station are expected to incorporate systems to control the liquid flow rates into evaporative cold plates. Candidate components for such a control system are sensors monitoring the (very high) mixture quality at the cold plate exit lines, control algorithms and...

Sensors for a system to control the liquid flow into an evaporative cold plate of a two-phase heat transport system for large spacecraft

Two-phase flow heat transport systems (thermal busses) for the Columbus Space Platform and the Space Station are expected to incorporate systems to control the liquid flow rates into the evaporative cold plates. Such a control system consists of a sensor that monitors the cold plate (performance), a control algorithm and an actuator i.e. a valve...

Control loops with human operators in space operations: part II: robotics operations and manual control experiment

In the study "Control loops with human operators" this volume is concerned with the robot arm case. Servicing of satellites and assembly of space structures require robotic operations. These operations are controlled from the ground by human operators. Five operational modes for the combined space- and ground segment are defined: - high level...

Control loops with human operators in space operations: part IV: research requirements for human-in-the-loop space teleoperator development

This report presents a discussion of short-term human engineering research requirements for developing rendezvous and docking and space telemanipulation capabilities. A catalogue of research topics related to human-in-the-loop teleoperation performance is given. This is followed by an overview of available resources for model analytical...

Control loops with human operators in space operations: part I: human engineering analysis, synthesis and evaluation techniques

This report is a tutorial overview for the European Space Agency (ESA) of human engineering approaches and methodologies which are applicable for analysis of performance of human-machine systems, with specific emphasis on space teleoperator applications. Motivated by the presumed active role of the human operator in future space teleoperation...

Final report on a research facility for critical point phenomena in microgravity

A conceptual design for a research facility for critical point phenomena in Spacelab's microgravity environment is presented. In the critical point facility (CPF) four experiments can be performed in parallel. The CPF consists of five parts: four experiment units and a service module. The experiment units offer the user-provided (instrumented)...