Engineering Papers⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Harris, H. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Harris, H. M..

Planning Orbiter Flights

Shuttle Mission Design and Operations Software (SMDOS) assists in design and operation of missions involving spacecraft in low orbits around Earth by providing orbital and graphics information. SMDOS performs following five functions: display two world and two polar maps or any user-defined window 5 degrees high in latitude by 5 degrees wide in longitude in one of eight standard projections; designate Earth sites by points or polygon shapes; plot spacecraft ground track with 1-min demarcation lines; display, by means of different colors, availability of Tracking and Data Relay Satellite to Shuttle; and calculate available times and orbits to view particular site, and corresponding look angles. SMDOS written in Laboratory Micro-systems FORTH (1979 standard)

Harris, H. M.↗

Interactive mission planning for a Space Shuttle flight experiment - A case history

Scientific experiments which use the Space Shuttle as a platform require the development of new operations techniques for the command and control of the instrument. Principal among these is the ability to simulate the complex maneuvers of the orbiter's path realistically. Computer generated graphics provide a window into the actual and predicted performance of the instrument and allow sophisticated control of the instrument under varying conditions. In October of 1984 the Shuttle carried a synthetic aperture radar built by JPL for the purpose of recording images of the earth surface. The mission deviated from planned operation in almost every conceivable way and provided an exacting test bed for concepts of interactive mission planning.

Harris, H. M.↗

Mission planning and operations of a Space Shuttle payload experiment: SIR-A

In November 1981 the first scientific payload was carried on board the second flight of the Space Shuttle. The principal instrument on that flight was a synthetic aperture radar. This paper is concerned with the operational concepts developed to achieve the objective of terrestrial geologic mapping by radar from earth orbit for this mission. Computer software was developed as an aid to mission design prior to the mission and as a replanning tool used during the mission: The first step in the development of software for future missions where such tools will become indispensable to meet the apparently contradictory objectives of complex observations and low cost.

Harris, H. M.↗