IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTION - FURTHER DEVELOP THE GAS/SOIL PHYSICS?BASED SIMULATION SOFTWARE, THE UNIFIED F…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTION - FURTHER DEVELOP THE GAS/SOIL PHYSICS?BASED SIMULATION SOFTWARE, THE UNIFIED FLOW SOLVER OR UFS, THAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED IN THE EXISTING STTR PHASE 2 CONTRACT SO THAT IT BECOMES CAPABLE OF SIMULATING A PLUME INDUCED DEBRIS FIELD FOR THE CLASS OF ROBOTIC LANDERS MOST LIKELY TO BE DOING BUSINESS ON THE MOON DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL DECADES; I.E., THOSE THAT ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE INNOVATIVE LUNAR DEMONSTRATIONS DATA (ILDD) PROGRAM AND THE GOOGLE LUNAR X?PRIZE (GLXP) VEHICLES AND THOSE USED BY COMPANIES OPERATING WATER MINING OPERATIONS ON THE MOON. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT CUSTOMER BASE FOR THE UFS FOR SEVERAL REASONS. FIRST, NASA MAY BE FUNDING A SERIES OF ILDD MISSIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AS WELL AS SCIENCE AND THESE MISSIONS WILL NEED PLUME SIMULATION CODES. SECOND, GLXP VEHICLES WILL BE LANDING NEAR THE APOLLO SITES AND THE X?PRIZE FOUNDATION ALONG WITH NASA AND THE GLXP COMPETITORS ARE WORKING TO ENSURE THE APOLLO SITES ARE NOT SANDBLASTED EXCESSIVELY, SO THESE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS NEED A METHOD TO PREDICT THE SANDBLASTING DAMAGE AS THEY DESIGN THEIR SPACECRAFT AND MISSION TRAJECTORIES NEAR THE APOLLO SITES. THIRD, LUNAR MINING COMPANIES (E.G., SHACKLETON ENERGY CORP., MOON EXPRESS, AND ASTROBOTICS, PLUS OTHERS NOT YET IDENTIFIED) NEED METHODS TO LAUNCH THE MINED PRODUCTS LIKE WATER OFF THE MOON TO RETURN THEM TO EARTH OR TO ORBIT IN CISLUNAR SPACE TO SELL TO THEIR CUSTOMERS, AND THIS WILL REQUIRE LAUNCHING AND LANDING REPEATEDLY IN THE PRESENCE OF MINING AND PROCESSING HARDWARE ON THE MOON. THESE COMPANIES WILL REQUIRE PLUME/SOIL PREDICTION SOFTWARE TO AVOID DAMAGING THEIR VALUABLE LUNAR ASSETS. THIS PROJECT S SCOPE IS TO TARGET IMPROVEMENTS TOWARDS THESE EXPECTED FUTURE CUSTOMERS PROVIDING THEM WITH THE CAPABILITY TO PERFORM REALISTIC HIGH FIDELITY SIMULATIONS OF HIGH?RISK SCENARIOS, SUCH AS THOSE IDENTIFIED IN NASA GUIDELINES TO PROTECT LUNAR HISTORIC SITES FOR (NASA?USG_LUNAR_HISTORIC_SITES_REVA?508). THIS PROJECT WILL ADAPT THE SOFTWARE SO THAT IT CAN AS AN ENGINEERING DESIGN TOOL RUNNING ON LARGE, HIGHLY PARALLELIZED SUPERCOMPUTERS FOR QUICK ENGINEERING DECISIONS, QUICK COMPARISON OF MANY POSSIBLE MISSION TRAJECTORIES, AND FOR QUICK REAL?TIME MISSION SUPPORT. THE PROJECT WILL TEST AND FINE TUNE IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPUTATIONAL FIDELITY AND SPEED AND BENCHMARK OPTIMIZED UFS TOOL PERFORMANCE FOR SMALL AUTONOMOUS SPACECRAFT SUCH AS GOOGLE XPRIZE VEHICLES. IT WILL ESTABLISH PRACTICALITY AND AFFORDABILITY OF SIMULATION TECHNOLOGY FOR APPLICATION IN VEHICLE DESIGN PROCESS. THIS BUILDS UPON THE EXISTING PHASE 2 CONTRACT IN WHICH THE BASIC ALGORITHMS WERE DEVELOPED AND ENCODED AND THEN BENCHMARKED IN A LIMITED SET OF CASES ON SMALLER COMPUTING PLATFORMS. IT MOVES THE PHASE 2 TECHNOLOGY TOWARD A PRACTICAL, MORE CUSTOMER?FOCUSED AND MORE ENGINEERING?FOCUSED PACKAGE THAT WILL SUPPORT BOTH GOVERNMENT AND COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS.