THE NESC IS FORMING A TEAM TO ASSESS THE FLIGHT BATTERY THAT IS CURRENTLY OPERATING ABOARD NASA WILKINSON M…

Public award description

THE NESC IS FORMING A TEAM TO ASSESS THE FLIGHT BATTERY THAT IS CURRENTLY OPERATING ABOARD NASA WILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE. THE TEAM WILL INVESTIGATE THE ANOMALOUS BEHAVIOR OF THE WMAP BATTERY EXPERIENCED TO DATE AND EVALUATE WHAT, IF ANY, ALTERNATIVE OPERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS CAN BE SAFELY ADOPTED TO IMPROVE THE OPERATIONAL LIFETIME OF THE WMAP SPACECRAFT. THE EVALUATION IS EXPECTED TO CONSIST OF REVIEWS OF HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE DATA AND AVAILABLE BATTERY PARAMETERS; IDENTIFICATION AND EXECUTION OF ADDITIONAL DATA, TESTS, OR MODELING REQUIRED TO DEVELOP AND UNDERSTAND THE PRESENT STATE OF THE WMAP BATTERY; PERFORMANCE OF A COMPARABLE STRESS AND DESTRUCTIVE PHYSICAL ANALYSIS (DPA) ON ANY AVAILABLE WMAP FLIGHT LOT CELL; IMPLEMENTATION OF ADDITIONAL ON-ORBIT PERFORMANCE TESTS, IF NEEDED AND POSSIBLE; AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE STAKEHOLDER TO ASSIST IN EXTENDING THE ON-ORBIT LIFE OF THE WMAP BATTERY. THE TEAM WILL PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BATTERY OPERATIONS TO MITIGATE THE RISK OF IMPACTING WMAP SCIENCE OPERATIONS FOR THE REST OF THE PROJECT S MISSION. THE INTEGRATED TEAM WILL COORDINATE AND PREPARE FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND OBSERVATIONS INTO A FINAL TEAM REPORT.