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Space Robotics

Historical

Facilities that can no longer be booked under the name on their page. Every measurement is kept: the conditions a result was taken under are what a later reader needs in order to use it. What is gone is the ability to run something new, so nothing here is to be planned around.

  • Michigan State University National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. The final NSCL experiment ran in May 2022 and the coupled K500 and K1200 configuration no longer exists [1]. Heavy ion single event effects work at Michigan State continues at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.
  • US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station. WES ceased to exist as a named organization on 30 September 1999 [2]. Vehicle mobility work continues at the same Vicksburg site under the Engineer Research and Development Center, but the Apollo-era single-wheel dynamometer and soil bins are documented only in reports from 1968 [3] to 1978 [4].
  • NASA GRC Lunar Dust Adhesion Bell Jar. Status not established. Nothing published after 2011 describes a campaign in it [5], and Glenn’s own index of its facilities does not list it [6], but that index omits facilities known to be running, so it settles nothing.

References

  1. Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. (2026). FRIB History. frib.msu.edu/sites/default/files/2026-01/FRIB_history_january-2026.pdf
    BibTeX
    @misc{frib2026history,
  title = {FRIB History},
  author = {{Facility for Rare Isotope Beams}},
  organization = {frib.msu.edu},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://frib.msu.edu/sites/default/files/2026-01/FRIB_history_january-2026.pdf}
}
  2. US Army Engineer Research and Development Center. (1999). Waterways Experiment Station (WES), 1 March 1937 to 30 September 1999. erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/jspui/handle/11681/22942
    BibTeX
    @misc{erdc1999wes,
  title = {Waterways Experiment Station (WES), 1 March 1937 to 30 September 1999},
  author = {{US Army Engineer Research} and {Development Center}},
  organization = {erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil},
  year = {1999},
  url = {https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/jspui/handle/11681/22942}
}
  3. Wiendieck, K. W. (1968). Stress-displacement relations and terrain-vehicle mechanics: a critical discussion . Journal of Terramechanics. Source
    BibTeX
    @article{wiendieck1968stress,
  title = {Stress-displacement relations and terrain-vehicle mechanics: a critical discussion},
  author = {Wiendieck, Klaus W.},
  journal = {Journal of Terramechanics},
  volume = {5},
  pages = {67-85},
  year = {1968},
  doi = {10.1016/0022-4898(68)90081-5}
}
  4. Rush, E. S., Schreiner, B. G. and Willoughby, W. E. (1978). Limited Evaluation of Experimental and Standard Tractor Dozer Blades . U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Miscellaneous Paper M-78-5. Source
    BibTeX
    @techreport{rush1978limited,
  title = {Limited Evaluation of Experimental and Standard Tractor Dozer Blades},
  author = {Rush, Edgar S. and Schreiner, Barton G. and Willoughby, William E.},
  number = {Miscellaneous Paper M-78-5},
  institution = {U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station},
  year = {1978},
  url = {https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/handle/11681/48785}
}
  5. Gaier, J. R., Journey, K., Christopher, S. and Davis, S. (2011). Evaluation of Brushing as a Lunar Dust Mitigation Strategy for Thermal Control Surfaces . International Conference on Environmental Systems, NASA/TM-2011-217231. Source
    BibTeX
    @inproceedings{gaier2011evaluation,
  title = {Evaluation of Brushing as a Lunar Dust Mitigation Strategy for Thermal Control Surfaces},
  author = {Gaier, James R. and Journey, Khrissaundra and Christopher, Steven and Davis, Shanon},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Environmental Systems},
  number = {NASA/TM-2011-217231},
  institution = {NASA},
  address = {Portland, OR},
  year = {2011},
  url = {https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20120000070},
  abstract = {Evaluation of brushing to remove lunar simulant dust from thermal control surfaces is described. First, strip brushes made with nylon, PTFE, or Thunderon (Nihon Sanmo Dyeing Company Ltd.) bristles were used to remove JSC-1AF dust from AZ93 thermal control paint or aluminized FEP (AlFEP) thermal control surface under ambient laboratory conditions. Nylon and PTFE bristles removed a promising amount of dust from AZ93, and nylon and Thunderon bristles from AlFEP. But when these were tested under simulated lunar conditions in the lunar dust adhesion bell jar (LDAB), they were not effective. In a third effort, seven brushes made up of three different materials, two different geometries, and different bristle lengths and thicknesses were tested under laboratory conditions against AZ93 and AlFEP. Two of these brushes, the Zephyr fiberglass fingerprint brush and the Escoda nylon fan brush, removed over 90 percent of the dust, and so were tested in the fourth effort in the LDAB. They also performed well under these conditions recovering 80 percent or more of the original thermal performance (solar absorptance/thermal emittance) of both AZ93 and AgFEP after 20 strokes, and 90 or more percent after 200 strokes}
}
  6. NASA Glenn Research Center. (2026). Glenn Labs and Test Facilities. nasa.gov/glenn-labs-and-test-facilities
    BibTeX
    @misc{grc2026labs,
  title = {Glenn Labs and Test Facilities},
  author = {{NASA Glenn Research Center}},
  organization = {nasa.gov},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.nasa.gov/glenn-labs-and-test-facilities/}
}