After NASA’s Perseverance Rover landed on Mars successfully in February, Carl Sandifer received a lot of attention for his role in providing the rover’s radioisotope power system – and rightfully so.

Mr. Sandifer, deputy chief of the Space Science Project Office at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, earned a Bachelor of Science in applied mathematics in 2005 from Bowling Green State University.

Mr. Sandifer and other researchers at the Glenn Research Center haven’t rested on their laurels in the months since the Mars rover landing. They have several projects in the works as part of the science portfoliofor NASA Glenn.

Electric power on the moon

When astronauts go back to the Moon as part of the Artemis mission, slated for the mid-to-late 2020s, they will need access to electric power to live and perform their duties on the moon’s surface. Solar power is an option to sustain human life and science.

“The plan is to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon, which I think is phenomenal and shows the agency’s drive for diversity and inclusion,” Mr. Sandifer said.

“Astronauts are going to need plenty of electric power and solar power is going to be one of the primary options to sustain human life and operations.”

A solar power experiment designed by a team of investigators at Glenn will launch to the Moon on Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander. Using state-of-the-art solar cells like the ones on today’s orbiting satellites and next-generation space solar cell technologies, Photovoltaic Investigation on the Lunar Surface (PILS) will demonstrate light-to-electricity power conversion devices for future missions. The experiment will also collect data on the electrical charging environment of the lunar surface using a small array of solar cells. The hardware was shipped to Astrobotic on Oct. 13.

“It’s a mission to demonstrate the ability for light-to-electricity, power-conversion devices in the lunar environment for future use by astronauts,” he said. “The bottom line is, we're going to be able to support astronauts and having the power required to conduct science experiments and crew operations will be critical.”

Durable spring tires

Glenn is developing incredibly durable and flexible spring tires, which will be used on the proposed Mars Sample Return Mission to bring back samples collected by the Perseverance rover. The revolutionary tires are non-pneumatic and flexible, so they can traverse the rocky terrain on Mars without puncturing. The technology is also a viable alternative to pneumatic tires here on Earth.

“Perseverance is currently roving throughout the Martian surface along with the Ingenuity helicopter, and portions of the overall Mars sample return mission are being worked in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA),” Mr. Sandifer said. “It's exciting to continue supporting various aspects of the overall mission effort. Our team at Glenn is making spring tires. ...The Mars Spring Tires Project is a huge focus for us.”

Mission to redirect asteroid

“Another key area of interest is the DART Mission,” he said. “It’s called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART for short, and it's NASA's first planetary defense experiment. DART, led by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA, is a mission to demonstrate our ability to deflect asteroids utilizing kinetic impactor technology.”

NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT–C) will be demonstrated on the DART Mission.

Developed by NASA Glenn and Aerojet Rocketdyne, NEXT-C is designed for improved performance and fuel efficiency compared to its predecessors. Its inclusion on the mission will allow for in-flight testing and demonstrate the potential for applications to future deep-space  missions.

“Didymos, DART’s ideal target candidate, is the planned binary asteroid system to support the experiment,” Mr. Sandifer said. “We’re demonstrating our ability to change the course of an asteroid in an effective way in the event that a threatening asteroid is ever discovered in the future.”

“The launch window for the mission [began] Nov. 23, 2021, but the actual impact is slated for next year during the fall of 2022,” he noted. “As a part of our technology maturation process, when opportunities arise, we work to demonstrate new technologies on missions along the way, so that we can build confidence in its ability to enable future missions.”

To learn more about the Bowling Green State University applied mathematics program in the College of Arts and Sciences, go to BGSU.edu.

First Published November 29, 2021, 12:25 p.m.