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NASA NTRS2011

Development of Methodologies, Metrics, and Tools for Investigating Human-Robot Interaction in Space Robotics

Human-robot systems are expected to have a central role in future space exploration missions that extend beyond low-earth orbit [1]. As part of a directed research project funded by NASA s Human Research Program (HRP), researchers at the Johnson Space Center have started to use a variety of techniques, including literature reviews, case studies, knowledge capture, field studies, and experiments to understand critical human-robot interaction (HRI) variables for current and future systems. Activities accomplished to date include observations of the International Space Station s Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), Robonaut, and Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV), as well as interviews with robotics trainers, robot operators, and developers of gesture interfaces. A survey of methods and metrics used in HRI was completed to identify those most applicable to space robotics. These methods and metrics included techniques and tools associated with task performance, the quantification of human-robot interactions and communication, usability, human workload, and situation awareness. The need for more research in areas such as natural interfaces, compensations for loss of signal and poor video quality, psycho-physiological feedback, and common HRI testbeds were identified. The initial findings from these activities and planned future research are discussed. Human-robot systems are expected to have a central role in future space exploration missions that extend beyond low-earth orbit [1]. As part of a directed research project funded by NASA s Human Research Program (HRP), researchers at the Johnson Space Center have started to use a variety of techniques, including literature reviews, case studies, knowledge capture, field studies, and experiments to understand critical human-robot interaction (HRI) variables for current and future systems. Activities accomplished to date include observations of the International Space Station s Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), Robonaut, and Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV), as well as interviews with robotics trainers, robot operators, and developers of gesture interfaces. A survey of methods and metrics used in HRI was completed to identify those most applicable to space robotics. These methods and metrics included techniques and tools associated with task performance, the quantification of human-robot interactions and communication, usability, human workload, and situation awareness. The need for more research in areas such as natural interfaces, compensations for loss of signal and poor video quality, psycho-physiological feedback, and common HRI testbeds were identified. The initial findings from these activities and planned future research are discussed.

Ezer, Neta↗

NASA NTRS1977

Experimental design studies and flow visualization of proportional laminar-flow fluidic amplifiers

The effects of certain parameter variations on the performance characteristics of laminar, proportional, jet-deflection fluidic amplifiers were studied. The matching and staging of amplifiers to obtain high pressure gain was included, but dynamic effects were not. The parameter variations considered were aspect ratio, setback, control length, splitter distance, receiver-duct width, width of center-vent duct, and bias pressure. Usable pressure gains of 19 per stage were achieved, and 5 amplifier stages were integrated to yield an overall pressure gain of 2,000,000.

Hellbaum, R. F.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Dormancy and Recovery Testing for Biological Wastewater Processors

Resource recovery and recycling waste streams to usable water via biological water processors is a plausible component of an integrated water purification system. Biological processing as a pretreatment can reduce the load of organic carbon and nitrogen compounds entering physiochemical systems downstream. Aerated hollow fiber membrane bioreactors, have been proposed and studied for a number of years as an approach for treating wastewater streams for space exploration.

Dormancy↗

NASA NTRS2022

Realizability Checking of Requirements in FRET

Requirements formalization has become increasingly popular in industrial settings as an effort to disambiguate designs and optimize development time and costs for critical system components. Formal requirements elicitation also enables the employment of analysis tools to prove important properties, such as consistency and realizability. In this report, we present the realizability analysis framework that we developed as part of the Formal Requirements Elicitation Tool (FRET). Our framework prioritizes usability, and employs state-of-the-art analysis algorithms that support infinite theories. We demonstrate the workflow for realizability checking, showcase the diagnosis process that supports visualization of conflicts between requirements and simulation of counterexamples, and discuss results from industrial-level case studies.

Formal Requirements Elicitation Tool↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TOLNet’s FAIR Journey: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

The Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) has generated over a decade of ozone vertical profile data products over North America and contributed to several air quality focused field studies. The science value of the TOLNet data has been demonstrated in numerous peer-reviewed publications on air quality and ozone relevant research. As the broad scientific community has moved towards adopting FAIR Principles to make data more findable, accessible, interoperable, and (re)usable, the TOLNet team has been consistently making data more FAIR. This effort has many challenges, partially reflecting on the FAIR principles being domain agnostic while the implementation needs to be domain specific. The FAIR principles declare the dependence on the community standards, domain-relevant metadata, and rich metadata. This presentation uses the TOLNet data and data system as an example to explore the best practices to implement FAIR principle. Particularly, we will examine the metadata and the “richness” to support findability and usability as well as machine-to-machine actionability via API. Last year, as part of our FAIR journey, we launched the TOLNet website (https://tolnet.larc.nasa.gov/) and the API (https://tolnet.larc.nasa.gov/api/). Part of this process included extracting and cataloging metadata across the entire TOLNet mission timeframe. This enabled users to search through the mission by various metadata criteria, improving the findability and accessibility. And computers could connect directly to the TOLNet API to extract both metadata and data, providing a level of interoperability never present before for TOLNet data. On top of that, all new TOLNet data is now automatically validated using the API to ensure it complies with GEOMS standards, aiding in reusability. It takes both technology and scientists working together to make progress. The next step is to evaluate the current TOLNet offerings against NASA’s Practical Guide for Open, Free & FAIR NASA Earth Science Data Products (https://doi.org/10.5067/DOC/ESCO/ESDSWG-0002V1).

TOLNet↗

NASA NTRS1985

The MST Radar Technique

The past ten year have witnessed the development of a new radar technique to examine the structure and dynamics of the atmosphere between roughly 1 to 100 km on a continuous basis. The technique is known as the MST (for Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere) technique and is usable in all weather conditions, being unaffected by precipitation or cloud cover. MST radars make use of scattering from small scale structure in the atmospheric refractive index, with scales of the order of one-half the radar wavelength. Pertinent scale sizes for middle atmospheric studies typically range between a fraction of a meter and a few meters. The structure itself arises primarily from atmospheric turbulence. The technique is briefly described along with the meteorological parameters it measures.

Balsley, B. B.↗

NASA NTRS2000

BOREAS Level-3a Landsat TM Imagery: Scaled At-sensor Radiance in BSQ Format

For BOREAS, the level-3a Landsat TM data, along with the other remotely sensed images, were collected in order to provide spatially extensive information over the primary study areas. This information includes radiant energy, detailed land cover, and biophysical parameter maps such as FPAR and LAI. Although very similar in content to the level-3s Landsat TM products, the level-3a images were created to provide users with a more usable BSQ format and to provide information that permitted direct determination of per-pixel latitude and longitude coordinates. Geographically, the level-3a images cover the BOREAS NSA and SSA. Temporally, the images cover the period of 22-Jun-1984 to 30-Jul-1996. The images are available in binary, image-format files. With permission from CCRS and RSI, several of the full-resolution images are included on the BOREAS CD-ROM series. Due to copyright issues, the images not included on the CD-ROM may not be publicly available. See Sections 15 and 16 for information about how to acquire the data. Information about the images not on the CD-ROMs is provided in an inventory listing on the CD-ROMs.

Nickerson, Jaime↗

NASA NTRS2000

BOREAS Level-3b Landsat TM Imagery: At-sensor Radiances in BSQ Format

For BOREAS, the level-3b Landsat TM data, along with the other remotely sensed images, were collected in order to provide spatially extensive information over the primary study areas. This information includes radiant energy, detailed land cover, and biophysical parameter maps such as FPAR and LAI. Although very similar in content to the level-3a Landsat TM products, the level-3b images were created to provide users with a directly usable at-sensor radiance image. Geographically, the level-3b images cover the BOREAS NSA and SSA. Temporally, the images cover the period of 22-Jun-1984 to 09-Jul-1996. The images are available in binary, image format files.

Hall, Forrest G.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Fabrication and evaluation of a weak zone plate for monitoring performance of large orbiting telescopes

An experimental study of the feasibility of monitoring the optical performance of a large telescope by means of a very faint phase hologram imprinted upon the primary mirror is reported. Tests have been made using an f/5 telescope with a 0.3 m aperture. The results indicate that a usable hologram can be so faint and so restricted in area that it will probably not interfere significantly with normal operation of a 3.0 m telescope at wavelengths longer than 100 nm for stars brighter than magnitude 29.

Erickson, K. E.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Development of potassium ion conducting hollow glass fibers

Potassium ion conducting glasses, chemically resistant to potassium, potassium sulfide and sulfur, were made and their possible utility as the membrane material for a potassium/sulfur battery was evaluated. At least one satisfactory candidate was found. It possesses an electrical resistance which makes it usable as a membrane in the form of a fine hollow fiber. It's chemical and electrochemical resistances are excellent. The other aspects of the possible potassium sulfur battery utilizing such fine hollow fibers, including the header (or tube sheet) and a cathode current collector were studied. Several cathode materials were found to be satisfactory. None of the tube sheet materials studied possessed all the desired properties. Multi-fiber cells had very limited life-time due to physical failure of fibers at the fiber/tube sheet junctions.

Tsang, F. Y.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exemplifying the Usability of NASA Earth Observations to Analyze Potential Risk Factors that Predispose Wildfires in the Rural-Urban Areas of Córdoba, Argentina

In recent years, Córdoba, Argentina has experienced intensified wildfire activity, with fires in 2020 alone scorching over 300,000 hectares within the province. Potential causes for the increased burn area include climate change, the expanding wildland-urban interface, and inadequate fire management practices. Previous studies have produced fire frequency maps for the region, but gaps remain in understanding the parameters influencing fire behavior and growth. This project partnered with the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria to address these gaps by utilizing NASA’s remote sensing capabilities to analyze key wildfire risk factors. Using a combination of data inputs from Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG), and Aqua/Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), a ten-year baseline was created using environmental variables to determine anomalies that influenced the fires of 2020. Of these anomalies, the baseline data were used to calculate the statistical significance of the environmental factors to the wildfires. This study found that the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and precipitation were the strongest indicators for the September 2020 wildfires. Using the environmental risk factors, this project created a wildfire risk map for the province of Córdoba, which can be used to enhance partner’s fire management strategies and decision-making processes.

Chassety Raines↗

NASA NTRS2004

Intelligent Systems Technologies and Utilization of Earth Observation Data

The addition of raw data and derived geophysical parameters from several Earth observing satellites over the last decade to the data held by NASA data centers has created a data rich environment for the Earth science research and applications communities. The data products are being distributed to a large and diverse community of users. Due to advances in computational hardware, networks and communications, information management and software technologies, significant progress has been made in the last decade in archiving and providing data to users. However, to realize the full potential of the growing data archives, further progress is necessary in the transformation of data into information, and information into knowledge that can be used in particular applications. Sponsored by NASA s Intelligent Systems Project within the Computing, Information and Communication Technology (CICT) Program, a conceptual architecture study has been conducted to examine ideas to improve data utilization through the addition of intelligence into the archives in the context of an overall knowledge building system (KBS). Potential Intelligent Archive concepts include: 1) Mining archived data holdings to improve metadata to facilitate data access and usability; 2) Building intelligence about transformations on data, information, knowledge, and accompanying services; 3) Recognizing the value of results, indexing and formatting them for easy access; 4) Interacting as a cooperative node in a web of distributed systems to perform knowledge building; and 5) Being aware of other nodes in the KBS, participating in open systems interfaces and protocols for virtualization, and achieving collaborative interoperability.

Ramapriyan, H. K.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Beyond Fair: Engagement, Data Usability, and Open Community Productivity through the NASA Open Science Data Repository

The FAIR principle (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) governs the storage and sharing of NASA space biology and health data[1]. These guiding principles maximize reuse of data and the reproducibility of scientific findings. The NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR; an expansion of NASA GeneLab) was built on the FAIR principles and houses over 500 studies and close to 1000 datasets from decades of space life sciences experiments. OSDR embodies the FAIR principles through data governance that includes mediated, embargoed, and fully open access data. The FAIR data governance principles were recently proposed to be expanded to encompass a FAIREST framework for assessing research data repositories (FAIR + Engagement, Social connections, and Trust)[2]. FAIREST emphasizes the importance of data repositories engaging with the scientific community and gaining the trust of researchers regarding data quality. Trust also refers to the TRUST principles developed for assessment of digital repositories: Transparency, Responsibility, User Focus, Sustainability, Technology[3]. We present the “Open Science for Life in Space” Analysis Working Groups (AWGs) as evidence regarding the power of engagement, social connections, and trust which has enhanced OSDR’s capabilities and productivity. AWG members engage in two main activities. One, members provide feedback on OSDR scientific standards for data ingestion, curation, and reuse (study, subject and assay metadata; processing pipelines; dataset formats and uniformed structures for machine-readability). Two, AWG members collaborate to mine-reuse OSDR data to conduct scientific analysis. With nearly 800 active members, the AWGs have resulted in 32 publications re-using OSDR data and contributed many papers in two major special issues in Cell (2020) and Nature (2024). AWGs also serve as networking groups, facilitate social connections between researchers at all levels of experience, and also have a social online ‘Forum’ used to keep members informed on projects and opportunities. This community-centric, productive, and trustworthy data culture has resulted in a broader effect with international space agencies, academics, and the commercial space sector wanting to submit their data to OSDR. Ten studies of Inspiration 4 data were recently publicly released by OSDR, as were some JAXA human data. Coming up soon in OSDR are data submissions from the European Space Agency, Virgin Galactic PIs, and SpaceX Polaris Dawn. A major benefit of OSDR is the array of standardized and uniformly formatted data (which was developed through AWG member consensus), from which visualization tools, analysis tools, and machine learning models can be built or trained. This talk will cover the Multi-Study Visualization Tool, the Environmental Data Application, RadLab, and a UCSF-NSF funded knowledge graph biomedical health discovery tool ‘SPOKE’ currently being integrated with OSDR. OSDR also provides training programs in bioinformatics and machine learning to improve the scientific community’s awareness of data availability and to boost their ability to perform data analysis. The increasing engagement of the scientific community and the public with technologies powered by artificial intelligence (AI) heightens the need for data analysis to be transparent. The AI for Life in Space initiative leverages the data products provided in OSDR to train AI models, with an emphasis on explainable and trustworthy AI, which would not be possible without FAIR data and metadata. Overall, here we will demonstrate the importance for NASA life sciences data repositories to adhere to the FAIREST framework, by providing examples and success stories from different aspects of OSDR.

data↗

NASA NTRS1975

Measurement of Raman spectra of H2O and SO4(-) in seawater

A study of applying laser Raman spectroscopy to remote sensing of the sulfate ion in sea water is in progress. The SO4 Raman spectrum has been obtained from true sea water samples in the laboratory using a CW laser Raman spectrometric system. Radiometric calculations indicate the feasibility of obtaining usable SO4 Raman signals in a field experiment. One of serious difficulties expected in the field experiment would be from fluorescence of phytoplankton and organics.

Houghton, W. M.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Exploring the Model Design Space for Battery Health Management

Battery Health Management (BHM) is a core enabling technology for the success and widespread adoption of the emerging electric vehicles of today. Although battery chemistries have been studied in detail in literature, an accurate run-time battery life prediction algorithm has eluded us. Current reliability-based techniques are insufficient to manage the use of such batteries when they are an active power source with frequently varying loads in uncertain environments. The amount of usable charge of a battery for a given discharge profile is not only dependent on the starting state-of-charge (SOC), but also other factors like battery health and the discharge or load profile imposed. This paper presents a Particle Filter (PF) based BHM framework with plug-and-play modules for battery models and uncertainty management. The batteries are modeled at three different levels of granularity with associated uncertainty distributions, encoding the basic electrochemical processes of a Lithium-polymer battery. The effects of different choices in the model design space are explored in the context of prediction performance in an electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) application with emulated flight profiles.

Saha, Bhaskar↗

NASA NTRS2020

Implementation Concept of Operation for a Multi-Purpose Cassegrain Solar Concentrator, Micro-Spectrometers, and Electrostatic Neutralizers to Enable In Situ Construction Activities plus Lunar, Planetary, and Deep Space Science Exploration on the Moon

The ability to utilize regolith would support human missions to the Moon and Mars by both stabilizing the surface as well as the use of indigenous resources. Precision landing requirements include surface stabilization to prevent damage or contamination due to regolith projectiles as a result of plume interaction with regolith. The use of indigenous resources rather than hauling materials from Earth appears to be economically a palatable option by converting indigenous resources to usable products. However, such activities have new technical challenges to overcome the issues related to lunar environmental conditions, a wide range of temperature fluctuation, extremely high vacuum, and electrostatically charged fine regolith dusts. For both the regolith sintering and extraction of resources onsite, a Cassegrain solar concentrator was studied for not only sintering lunar regolith into a hardened stabilized surface, but also other multiple applications. This report illustrates a Cassegrain solar concentrator that has multi-functional capabilities for space missions. Proper design and implementation of high-performance lightweight composite materials for the primary mirror of the Cassegrain concentrator can offer multiple capabilities to be performed on the Moon. The multiple applications studied with Cassegrain concentrators are (1) Solar sintering for landing pad and habitats, (2) Harvest of volatiles: H2O, O2, H2, and He-3, (3) Space antenna for telemetry and telecommunication, and (4) Space telescope with 20-meter aperture that exceeds the space telescopes to date in terms of the State-of-Art (SOA) in resolution and aperture diameter. In this study, a key emphasis was placed on the NASA Langley-developed boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) nanocomposite technology which is ideal for the segmented primary mirror structure of the Cassegrain system because it promises a very low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and negligible Poisson ratio. Also, BNNT nanocomposites offer several noticeable benefits, such as light weight, radiation shielding capability, and mechanical strength for structural applications. Additionally, the NASA Langley-developed bullet-like micro-spectrometer and electrostatic power generator were reviewed for mineral mapping applications and electrostatic power generation and dust mitigation from electrostatically charged regolith.

landing pad↗

NASA NTRS1982

Ohio's Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Program: a Study of Data Collection and Evaluation Techniques

The planning process for a statewide reclamation plan of Ohio abandoned minelands in response to the Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 included: (1) the development of a screening and ranking methodology; (2) the establishment of a statewide review of major watersheds affected by mining; (3) the development of an immediate action process; and (4) a prototypical study of a priority watershed demonstrating the data collection, analysis, display and evaluation to be used for the remaining state watersheds. Historical methods for satisfying map information analysis and evaluation, as well as current methodologies being used were discussed. Various computer mapping and analysis programs were examined for their usability in evaluating the priority reclamation sites. Hand methods were chosen over automated procedures; intuitive evaluation was the primary reason.

Sperry, S. L.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Large-Vortex Capture by a Wing at Very High Angles of Attack

In generating the lift on a wing, the static stall is a severe barrier. As the angle of attack, alpha, increases to the stall angle, alpha(sub stall) the flow separation point on the upper surface of the wing moves to the leading edge, so that on a two-dimensional airfoil or a large-aspect-ratio wing, the lift abruptly drops to a very low level. Therefore, the first generation of aeronautical flow type, i.e., the attached steady flow, has been limited to alpha less than alpha(sub stall). Owing to the obvious importance in applications, therefore, a great effort has been made in the past two decades to enlarge the range of usable angles of attack by various flow controls for a large-aspect-ratio wing. Basically, relevant works fall into two categories. The first category is usually refereed to as separation control, which concentrates on partially separated flow at alpha less than alpha(sub stall). Since the first experimental study of Collins and Zelenevitz, there has been ample literature showing that a partially separated flow can be turned to almost fully attached by flow controls, so that the lift is recovered and the stall is delayed (for a recent work see Seifert et al.). It has been well established that, in this category, unsteady controls are much more effective than steady ones and can be realized at a very low power-input level (Wu et al.; Seifert et al.). The second and more ambitious category of relevant efforts is the post-stall lift enhancement. Its possibility roots at the existence of a second lift peak at a very high angle of attack. In fact, As alpha further increases from alpha(sub stall), the completely separated flow develops and gradually becomes a bluff-body flow. This flow gives a normal force to the airfoil with a lift component, which reaches a peak at a maximum utilizable angle of attack, alpha(sub m) approx.= 40 deg. This second peak is of the same level as the first lift peak at alpha(sub stall). Meanwhile, the drag is also quickly increased (e.g., Fage and Johansen ; Critzos et al.). Figure 1 shows a typical experimental lift and drag coefficients of NACA-0012 airfoil in this whole range of angle of attack. Obviously, without overcoming the lift crisis at alpha(sub stall) the second lift peak is completely useless. Thus, the ultimate goal of post-stall lift enhancement is to fill the lift valley after stall by flow controls, so that a wing and/or flap can work at the whole range of 0 deg less than alpha less than alpha(sub m). Relevant early experimental studies have been extensively reviewed by Wu et al., who concluded that, first, similar to the leading-edge vortex on a slender wing, the lift enhancement on a large-aspect-ratio wing should be the result of capturing a vortex on the upper surface of the wing; and, second, using steady controls cannot reach the goal, and one must rely on unsteady controls with low-level power input as well. Wu et al. also conjectured that the underlying physics of post-stall lift enhancement by unsteady controls consists of a chain of mechanisms: vortex layer instability - receptivity resonance - nonlinear streaming.

Wu, J. M.↗