Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

1

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

www.nasa.gov

NASA Flight Opportunities

Session will start at 10 a.m. PT – Please mute your microphone and turn off your camera

Community of Practice Webinar Series – May 4, 2022

Jerry Larson, President, UP Aerospace

Adam Sidor, Ph.D., NASA’s Johnson Space Center

Lisa Valencia, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing 

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Welcome to the Community of Practice Webinar Series!

First, a bit of housekeeping...

• Please mute your microphone and turn off your camera

• Today’s session will be recorded

• Recordings for all future sessions are on the Flight Opportunities website

• Please engage!

• Use the chat throughout the session to ask questions

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Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

2

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Flight Opportunities Mission

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The Flight Opportunities program facilitates rapid 

demonstration of promising technologies for 

space exploration, discovery, and the expansion 

of space commerce through suborbital testing 

with industry flight providers.

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Join us for future Community of Practice webinars!

Subscribe to our newsletter 

to see next month’s topic!

https://go.usa.gov/xupxP

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Future webinars

• Webinars are held 1st Wednesday of each 

month at 10 a.m. PT

• Topics will be announced in the Flight 

Opportunities newsletter and website

• Session recordings will be posted on the 

Flight Opportunities website

• Let us know session topics you would like 

to see covered

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Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

3

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Upcoming Opportunities

NASA TechLeap Prize - Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge No.1 

Seeking proposals for sensing systems that can detect hazards from an 

altitude of 250 meters or higher and process the data in real time to help 

spacecraft land safely in the dark

• Open to researchers from qualified commercial businesses and academic 

institutions, as well as individual entrepreneurs and other innovators

• Register by May 5, 2022!

• Applications due May 19, 2022

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Upcoming Opportunities

NASA TechFlights 2022

• Provides up to $750K for testing space technologies in relevant environments through flights on 

U.S. commercial suborbital rockets, rocket-powered lander vehicles, high-altitude balloons, and aircraft 

following reduced-gravity flight profiles, as well as for payloads hosted on commercial orbital platforms.

• STMD is strongly committed to ensuring that proposal review is performed in an equitable and fair manner 

that reduces the impacts of any unconscious bias. To this end, this year’s TechFlights solicitation will employ a 

dual-anonymous peer review (DAPR) process.

Key Dates

• Live Q&A: May 9, 2022, at 9am PDT

• Mandatory Preliminary Proposals due: June 2, 2022

• Full proposals (by invitation only) due: August 29, 2022

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Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

4

NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Today’s Speakers

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Lisa Valencia 

Engineer and Project Manager

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

Jerry Larson 

President 

UP Aerospace

Adam Sidor, Ph.D. 

Aerospace Technologist

NASA’s Johnson Space Center 

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

www.nasa.gov

NASA Flight Opportunities

Community of Practice

Lisa Valencia | May 2022

8
Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

5

Lisa Valencia, Project Manager and Systems Engineer

NASA HQ/Overlook Systems

Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) 

and

GNSS GPS-Galileo Interoperability Payloads

Flight Opportunities Program

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What is AFTS?

• Concept of Autonomous Flight Termination 

System

– Box on the vehicle (AFTU)

• Tracking from GPS and INS sensors

• Rule set built in pre-flight period

• If a rule is violated the flight is terminated

– Radar and Command stations recede into past

– Telemetry down-link drops from safety critical 

to sit awareness, post-flight, & mishap

• Advantages

– Cost reduction due to decreased need for groundbased assets

– Global coverage (vehicle does not have to be 

launched from a range)

– Increased launch responsiveness

– Boundary limits increase due to 3-5 second gain 

from not having MFCO

– Can support multiple vehicles simultaneously (such 

as flyback boosters)

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Cost reduction

because offsite

radar and 

command sites 

are eliminated

Fouled range

Telemetry

dish

Range officers

Command

Center

S-band

signal

downlink

Aborted launch

Multiple L-band signal

GPS sources

(4 minimum)

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Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

6

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AFTU Overview

• < 1.3kg

• Nominally <7 watts at 28 V DC

• Estimate 5cm X 14cm X 19cm

• Outputs discrete signals or up to 5.5 amps at 28 V DC

• Term or TermNOT (for normally closed valves) 

configurable 

• Using Mil-spec parts (simplified piece parts plan) in 

critical circuits

• Qualified to AF/NASA/FAA range requirements

• Up to 5 sensor combinations may be connected to one 

AFTU

• -GPS, INS, GPS/INS hybrid or IMU

• Single or cross strapped configurations

• No single point failure (failsafe exception for single 

AFTU)

• Ensure no inadvertent termination

• 0.999 Reliable at 95% Confidence

AFTS Hardware

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• NASA AFRC Flight Opportunities Program (FOP) purchased 6 units; two units were flown on the 

UP Aerospace SL-12 launch, two were flown on a RL launch, the two from SL-12 were recovered 

and re-flown on UP Aerospace SL-14, and the last two were sent to NASA WFF for software 

testing in their AFTS lab 12

Rocket Lab Electron Launch

UP Aerospace Spaceloft Launch

AFTS Hardware Launch Demonstrations 

Sounding Rocket at WFF

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Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

7

13

AFTS Operational Launch

• After successfully completing several shadow/certification flights, the NASA/DARPA AFTU was used 

operationally for the first time on Rocket Lab Electron Launch 10 from New Zealand on Dec 6, 2019.

• Several launch vehicles have baselined the NASA/DARPA AFTS units into their vehicles for 

operational use in the future.

• Several DoD weapons test programs are leveraging the NASA/DARPA AFTU design and 

miniaturizing the unit for their applications.

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GPS is already being used in HEO because it significantly improves real-time navigation 

performance, supports quick trajectory maneuver recovery, reduces need for expensive on-board 

clocks, and supports increased satellite autonomy while lowering operations costs

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GPS Use in High Earth Orbit (HEO)

Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission: 

Demonstrated GPS main and slide lobe signal tracking halfway to the Moon

GOES-R: GOES-16 launched in 2016. Operational use of 

GPS main and side lobe signals at GEO altitude to meet 

stringent navigation requirements needed for improved 

weather forecasting. 

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Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

8

If space users could rely on signals from more than one GNSS constellation, then signal coverage 

would greatly be improved. There would also be an increase in the diversity of system 

architecture, frequencies, and geometry. This, in turn, will further improve the overall PNT 

performance available to space users.

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Pursuing GPS-Galileo Interoperability

UP Aerospace SL-14: GPS & 

Galileo tracked in highly dynamic 

environment. Launched Nov. 2019. 

GPS-Galileo Receiver:

Weight: 0.7 Kg 

Size: 16.8 x 12.6 x 3.5 cm 

Power: 5V, 1A, 5W

Commercial Lunar 

Payload Services (CLPS) 

19D: GPS & Galileo to 

Lunar Surface on Firefly 

Blue Ghost Lander 2024

UP Aerospace SL-15: GPS & 

Galileo integrated with AFTS in 

highly dynamic environment. 

Launch scheduled for Nov 2022 

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

www.nasa.gov

NASA Flight Opportunities

Community of Practice

Dr. Adam Sidor | May 2022

16
Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

9

AMTPS

Additive Manufacturing of Thermal Protection 

Systems (AMTPS)

Project and Flight Test Overview

PI: Adam Sidor (adam.t.sidor@nasa.gov) 

NASA Johnson Space Center

5/4/22

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An Early Career Initiative (ECI) funded by NASA 

Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD)

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Developing additive manufacturing for heat shields AMTPS

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Traditional Approaches Additive Manufacturing of Thermal 

Protection Systems (AMTPS) Manual fabrication, bonding in 

segments, single formulation

Automated, monolithic fabrication, 

graded formulation

Apollo

Orion

Mars Science Laboratory Photo Credits

Left: B. Anthony Stewart/National Geographic/Getty Images, The Amazing Handmade 

Tech That Powered Apollo 11’s Moon Voyage – HISTORY

Top right: NASA/Isaac Watson, Heat Shield Milestone Complete for First Orion Mission 

with Crew | NASA

Bot right: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin, Large Heat Shield for Mars Science 

Laboratory – NASA’s Mars Exploration Program

3D Printed Structure

Insulative Layer

(Transition Layers)

Robust Layer

Video: G. Larsen/ORNL

FY21/22 Early Career Initiative (ECI) funded by NASA 

Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD)

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Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

10

AMTPS

Launch

A.1: Re-entry @ ~Mach 9

A.3: 2-stage Parachute 

Deployment

A.5: Capsule Landing 

& Recovery

Payload B: TPS coupon applied to 

rocket nosecone

Payload A: AMTPS Flight Test 

Article (FTA)

A.4: Transmit 

Tracking Data and 

Telemetry

B.3: Nosecone Landing & 

Recovery

B.1: Nosecone Descent

Apogee 

(~420km)

A.2: Peak stag pt. heating > 100 W/cm2 (goal)

B.2: Parachute 

Deployment

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Hypersonic flight 

test in development

Capsule Jettison

Payload B: Nosecone

Supported by

White Sands Missile Range

Photo Credit: UpAerospace

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Overview of Flight Test Article (FTA) AMTPS

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Design:

14” dia. 45-degree sphere-cone

30 kg capsule

2-stage parachute (drogue → main)

Ballast

TPS

Main Parachute

TPS

Drogue Parachute

SECTION VIEW

INSTRUMENTATION LAYOUT

P1, P2, ... = Pressure ports

TC1, TC2, ... = Thermocouple groups (3 T/Cs at each 

location with varying depths)

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Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

11

Why a flight test? AMTPS

• Demonstrate AMTPS as a viable, flight proven TPS 

solution for entry vehicles

‒ End-to-end test of AMTPS manufacturing, integration, 

instrumentation, flight, and recovery in a representative flight 

environment

• Obtain flight data (“test like you fly”)

‒ In-depth temperatures of AMTPS heat shield used to improve 

thermal response model

‒ Post-flight retrieval, inspection, and analysis of a flown AMTPS

‒ Expose alternate TPS materials to ascent heating and recover 

for post-flight analysis

• Personnel development 

‒ Team composed of almost entirely early career (EC) personnel

o 6 EC Civil Servants, 2 Graduate Students, many interns

‒ Start-to-finish execution of a flight test

o Plan → Design → PDR → Prototype build → CDR → Flight hardware build →

Conduct flight → Post-flight Analysis

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FTA Prototype Build

MDU Prototype Build

MDU Final Build

Testing

Suborbital Flight Test

on Spyder

ECI Project

Follow on 

Project

April/May 2022

June/July 2022

Aug/Sept 2022

Oct/Nov 2022

FY23+

FTA Final Build

Testing

Testing

Testing

14” dia.

28” dia.

28” dia.

14” dia.

FY22

Tentative Build Schedule

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

www.nasa.gov

NASA Flight Opportunities

Community of Practice

Jerry Larson | May 2022

22
Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

12

NASA Flight Opportunities Program

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• 7 launches completed 

since 2013

– NASA AFTU mission (Fall 

2022)

– Tech Rise student mission 

(Spring 2023)

• Microgravity missions

• Separation missions

1. Maraia re-entry capsule 

(NASA JSC)

2. ADEPT (AMES Research 

Center)

3. Los Alamos National Labs

NASA Maraia

NASA ADEPT

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NASA Tipping Point (Spyder Development)

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• Propulsion Static Flight 

Qualification Tests (NASA 

MSFC)

• Attitude Control System 

Flight Tested onboard 

SpaceLoft

• Flight Termination System 

Ordnance Tests

SL-16 Attitude 

Control System 

Flight Test

Spyder Full Scale Motor Static Test

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Sounding Rockets as a Platform for Suborbital Technology Testing

Jerry Larson, Adam Sidor, Lisa Valencia

May 4, 2022

Community of Practice Webinar Series

NASA Flight Opportunities

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/flightopportunities/community-of-practice

13

Spyder Hypersonic Sub-Orbital Launch Vehicle

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• Launch site: Spaceport 

America / WSMR

• First flight Sept 2023

• 17.25 inch diameter

• Mach 9+ missions (with 

single stage)

• Accent canard guidance 

system

• Exo-atmospheric Attitude 

Control System

• Payload separation system

• Recovery systems

• NASA Automated Flight 

Termination Unit (AFTU)

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NASA FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

26 www.nasa.gov

Thank you! 

Flight Opportunities website: 

http://nasa.gov/flightopportunities

Contact us:

NASA-FlightOpportunities@mail.nasa.gov

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