MIT models interplanetary supply chain

You say you plan to go to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond.

Do you have enough room in your vehicle to take everything you need all
in one trip?

Will you need to get more food later?

Do you have enough tents, pots and pans, and rolls of toilet paper?

Have you studied your charts and maps?
- LRK -

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From the age of instant information:
http://www.wikisky.org/

An article that explains it:

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/
The site features a map of more than half a billion astronomical
objects. You can navigate around it easily by clicking and dragging the
map and using a zoom-in/zoom-out sidebar. You can also search on
specific objects by name from a database, and it seems pretty tolerant
of requests that use informal terms. (Ask for a lobster or a rotten egg
and it will find you one.)
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Will you have any support from the community you left behind?
- LRK -

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http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5048

Griffin maps out NASA's moon and Mars plans up to 2057

By Chris Bergin, 3/15/2007 12:49:05 AM
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has given his thoughts on the direction
the US space program will be taking over the next 50 years, specifically
on the exploration of the moon and eventually Mars.

Griffin outlined the future - which he believes will "begin" once the
shuttle is retired in 2010 - with his projected 2022 end date for the
International Space Station, moon base plans and the potential for nine
missions to Mars within a 20 year period.
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Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

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A bit from the MIT website. - LRK -
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http://spacelogistics.mit.edu/

Interplanetary Supply Chain Network for Space Exploration

The graphic shows planetary surface nodes, orbital nodes and Lagrangian
nodes. The nodes are connected via arcs, representing launch, in-space
trajectories as well as entry-descent-and-landing operations. Elements
are traveling on these arcs, containing human crews, robotic agents,
propellant, collected samples as well as various supply items.

There also exists a supporting information network (not shown).


  MIT Space Logistics Project

Sustainable space exploration will require appropriate interplanetary
supply-chain management. Unlike Apollo, where everything was carried
along, future exploration will have to rely on a complex supply-chain
network on the ground and in space. The primary goal of the
Interplanetary Supply Chain Management and Logistics Architectures
(IPSCM&LA) project is to develop a comprehensive SCM framework and
planning tool for space logistics.

The overall objective of this project is to develop an integrated
capability for guiding the development of the interplanetary supply
chain that will be required to enable sustainable space exploration of
the Earth-Moon-Mars system and beyond. more>>
<http://spacelogistics.mit.edu/about.htm>

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Info below from Larry Klaes e-mail. - LRK -
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MIT models interplanetary supply chain

For Immediate Release

THURSDAY, MAR. 22, 2007

PHOTO, GRAPHICS AVAILABLE - Contact:

Elizabeth A. Thomson, MIT News Office

Phone: 1-617-258-5402

Email: thomson@mit.edu

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--If you think shipping freight from Cincinnati to El
Paso is challenging, imagine trying to deliver an oxygen generation unit
from the Earth to a remote location on the moon.

By 2020, NASA plans to establish a long-term human presence on the moon,
potentially centered on an outpost to be built at the rim of the
Shackleton crater near the lunar South Pole.

To make such a scenario possible, a reliable stream of consumables such
as fuel, food and oxygen, spare parts and exploration equipment would
have to make its way from the Earth to the moon as predictably as any
Earth-based delivery system. Or more predictably: One missed shipment
could have devastating consequences when you can't easily replenish
essential supplies.

To figure out how to do that, MIT researchers Olivier L. de Weck,
associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering
systems, and David Simchi-Levi, professor of engineering systems and
civil and environmental engineering, created SpaceNet, a software tool
for modeling interplanetary supply chains. The latest version, SpaceNet
1.3, was released this month.

The system is based on a network of nodes on planetary surfaces, in
stable orbits around the Earth, the moon or Mars, or at well-defined
points in space where the gravitational force between the two bodies (in
this case, the Earth and the moon) cancel each other out. These nodes
act as a source, point of consumption or transfer point for space
exploration logistics.

"Increasingly, there is a realization that crewed space missions such as
the International Space Station or the buildup of a lunar outpost should
not be treated as isolated missions, but rather as an integrated supply
chain," said de Weck. The International Space Station already relies on
periodic visits by the space shuttle and automated, unpiloted Russian
Progress re-supply vehicles.

While "supply chain" usually refers to the flow of goods and materials
in and out of manufacturing facilities, distribution centers and retail
stores, de Weck said that a well-designed interplanetary supply chain
would operate on much the same principles, with certain complicating
factors. Transportation delays could be significant-as much as six to
nine months in the case of Mars-and shipping capacity will be very
limited. This will require mission planners to make difficult trade-offs
between competing demands for different types of supplies.

A reliable supply chain will "improve exploration capability and the
quality of scientific results from the missions while minimizing
transportation costs and reducing risks" to crew members, de Weck said.

SpaceNet evaluates the capability of vehicles to carry pressurized and
unpressurized cargo; it simulates the flow of vehicles, crew and supply
items through the trajectories of a space supply network, taking into
account how much fuel and time are needed for single-sortie missions as
well as multiyear campaigns in which an element or cargo shipment might
have to be prepositioned by one set of vehicles or crew members while
being used by another.

In addition to determining a logical route, SpaceNet also allows mission
architects, planners, systems engineers and logisticians to focus on
what will be needed to support crewed exploration missions.

To experience an environment as close as possible to harsh planetary
conditions, MIT conducted an expedition to Devon Island in the Canadian
arctic in 2005. The researchers established a semi-permanent shelter at
the existing NASA-sponsored Haughton-Mars Research Station
(www.marsonearth.org) and compiled an inventory of materials at the
base, including key items such as food, fuel, tools and scientific
equipment, while carefully tracking inbound and outbound flights.

They also experimented with modern logistics technologies, such as radio
frequency identification, that autonomously manage and track assets with
the goal of creating a "smart exploration base" that could increase
safety and save astronauts and explorers precious time.
SpaceNet 1.3 is written in MATLAB, a high-level technical computing
language and interactive environment for algorithm development, data
visualization, data analysis and numerical computation.

The SpaceNet development team includes MIT graduate students,
postdoctoral associates and research staff led by de Weck and
Simchi-Levi, aided by partners at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory;
Payload Systems Inc., which provides science and engineering services
for spaceflight applications; and NASA industry partner United Space
Alliance.

For more information on SpaceNet 1.3, go to spacelogistics.mit.edu.

This work was funded by NASA.

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THE DAY IN SPACE
__________________
In today's space news from SpaceRef:

-- Enceladus Geysers Mask the Length of Saturn's Day
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22197

In a David and Goliath story of Saturnian proportions, the little moon Enceladus is weighing down
giant Saturn's magnetic field so much that the field is rotating slower than the
planet. This phenomenon makes it nearly impossible to measure the length of the Saturn day
using techniques that work at the other giant planets.


-- Mrs. Chippy joins NASA for astrobiology research in the desert!
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=23688

"Remember me?  The adorable  :-)  little teddy bear that sent you e-mails from
Antarctica back in December?  Well I've been invited by a friend of Allan's (Dan Wray from Indiana)
from the NASA Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers to join the Spacebound Mojave expedition
that will be taking place beginning next week in Zzyyxx, California. We'll be teaming up with
NASA astrobiology scientists looking at understanding similar questions to some of
those that we explored in Antarctica - specifically how life can survive in extreme
environments."


-- NASA Studies Life's Limits in China's Extreme Deserts
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22195

"Searching for clues to the potential for life on Mars, NASA scientists recently
explored microbial communities in some of the world's oldest, driest and most remote deserts, in
China's northwest region, and found evidence suggesting that conditions there may be similar to
those in certain regions of Mars."


-- Space Traveler To Talk With Students � Directly From Space
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22194

"In his continued effort to inspire youth in the science of space travel,
Charles Simonyi, Ph.D., the fifth private space traveler, will speak with high school students in three
events across the United States through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
program."


-- NASA Spaceward Bound Scientists and Teachers Study the Mojave
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22193

"NASA scientists and teachers will step back in time as they investigate the Mojave Desert to
study the unique geologic formations and the supremely adapted microbes that
call it home. On March 28, 2007, news media representatives are invited to join the expedition."


-- Worldwide testing and ISS traffic push ATV launch to autumn 2007
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=22192

"Jules Verne, the first of five Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV), stands on the
brink of flight. Its hardware is 100 percent assembled and ready to fly. The inaugural mission, set
for the second half of 2007, will follow an extensive three-year test campaign."

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Keep a watchful eye open while you are on the Moon. - LRK -
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NASA has just released never-before-seen movies of intense activity in
an unexpected place on the sun. The images were captured by a space
telescope onboard Japan's Hinode spacecraft.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/21mar_chromosphere.htm?list965414

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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