EMIT: Delivering a Complex Payload for the International Space Station

EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source InvesTigation) was selected in February 2018 as part of the Second Stand Alone Mission of Opportunity Notice (SALMON-2), Program Element Appendix (PEA): Earth Venture Instrument-4. From the start, the EMIT integration and test program faced complications due to the complexity of the payload and restrictions and being able to perform the dynamics qualification in the full flight configuration. During the formulation phase (Phase B), the team elected to separate the instrument into three structurally independent elements-one for the optics, one for the avionics, and one for the enclosure and radiators. This approach complicated the planning for the assembly phase but offered several potential advantages in planning the integration and test program. After the EMIT project's assembly flow was defined for the Preliminary Design Review (PDR), those plans were upended by the arrival of COVID. The EMIT team faced late delivery of most components, with uncertainties on the relative delays. The overall uncertainty led to review of the assembly flow to identify ways to decouple the three primary integration flows. Other considerations included building additional ground support equipment to permit work to continue in the event critical flight parts arrived even later than expected. In hindsight, the fixation on finding schedule resiliency should have been part of the original plan. This paper provides an overview of the instrument design and how the three major assemblies were designed to be tested independently. The paper also describes the specific decisions made to ensure maximum flexibility to maintain progress and reduce technical risk should key elements be delivered late, including building extra copies of engineering models, creating temporary facilities to optimize the test flow, and rearranging the test orders.

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Published
2025-03-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/aero63441.2025.11068621
Primary Topic
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

EMIT: Delivering a Complex Payload for the International Space Station

Charlene Ung, Lisa de las Fuentes, Elizabeth Romo, Philip G. Brodrick et al.
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
article

EMIT: Delivering a Complex Payload for the International Space Station

Charlene Ung, Lisa de las Fuentes, Elizabeth Romo, Philip G. Brodrick, Ernesto Diaz, Sanghamitra B. Dutta, Diane L. Hope, Emily Brageot, Daniel Ku, Thomas A. Werne, Jeff Cha, Kelsey Reichenbach, Erik Thingvold, Michael Bernas, Theresa Pace, Christine Bradley, P. T. Gallagher, William Kert, K. Reath, Winston Olson-Duvall, S. Lundeen, Robert Valencia, Robert O. Green, Lorea Flores, David R. Thompson, Perry G. Ramsey, Bogdan Oaida, Richard L. Purcell, N. M. Mahowald, Jack Pempejian, Oscar Deng, Michael L. Eastwood, David Dolman, Lucas Shaw, Natalie Blackway, Elliott Liggett, S. Burchfiel, Vatsal A. Jhalani, Matthew Bennett, Lori Bator, Ben L. Phillips, Randy Pollock, Amit Sen, Michael Joyce, Alberto Ortega, Johannes Größ, Manny Soriano, Thang Pham, Marissa Herron, Didier Keymeulen, Joseph W. Reiter, Josh Schoolcraft, Charles Webb, Jared Keller, M. Klimesh, A. Liem, Helenann Kwong-Fu, Matt Klimesh, Bryan Elberly, Joseph Johnescu, Alexander Zepata, Ilya Josefson, Morgan Locandro, Catherine Murray-Woodell
article en

Abstract

EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source InvesTigation) was selected in February 2018 as part of the Second Stand Alone Mission of Opportunity Notice (SALMON-2), Program Element Appendix (PEA): Earth Venture Instrument-4. From the start, the EMIT integration and test program faced complications due to the complexity of the payload and restrictions and being able to perform the dynamics qualification in the full flight configuration. During the formulation phase (Phase B), the team elected to separate the instrument into three structurally independent elements-one for the optics, one for the avionics, and one for the enclosure and radiators. This approach complicated the planning for the assembly phase but offered several potential advantages in planning the integration and test program. After the EMIT project's assembly flow was defined for the Preliminary Design Review (PDR), those plans were upended by the arrival of COVID. The EMIT team faced late delivery of most components, with uncertainties on the relative delays. The overall uncertainty led to review of the assembly flow to identify ways to decouple the three primary integration flows. Other considerations included building additional ground support equipment to permit work to continue in the event critical flight parts arrived even later than expected. In hindsight, the fixation on finding schedule resiliency should have been part of the original plan. This paper provides an overview of the instrument design and how the three major assemblies were designed to be tested independently. The paper also describes the specific decisions made to ensure maximum flexibility to maintain progress and reduce technical risk should key elements be delivered late, including building extra copies of engineering models, creating temporary facilities to optimize the test flow, and rearranging the test orders.

Langley Research Center (US), National Association of Social Workers (US), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US), Texas Lutheran University (US), Cornell University (US), Victoria University of Wellington (NZ), Parallel Consulting (United States) (US)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Openalex Percentile: Top 84%
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
DOISourceOpenAlex
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