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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Informing Wildfire Needs: The Expanded User Interface of NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (Firms)

As the global community continues to experience, and respond to, living in a changing environment, access to tools, technologies, and timely data utilized by an increasingly diverse set of stakeholders is increasing. This year, 2023, has thus far seen an unprecedented number of extreme events, increasingly driven by changes in the climate and a strong 2023 ENSO pattern. In Canada, a record number of wildfires, and associated weather events, evacuations, and infrastructure and habitat destruction has taken place, and is ongoing. Large swaths of Greece have experienced similar wildfire destruction. Most recently, Maui has experienced destructive wildfires, and early 2023 saw massive wildfires in Chile. NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System, or FIRMS, has a fifteen-year history of providing timely and comprehensive data and information on wildfires to stakeholders. FIRMS was initially developed in 2007 by the University of Maryland, with funds from NASA's Applied Sciences Program and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO), to provide near real-time active fire Locations to natural resource managers that faced challenges obtaining timely satellite-derived fire information. FIRMS has consistently evolved to address the needs of stakeholders Living in a changing environment; in 2012 it transitioned to NASA LANCE and in 2021 through a partnership between NASA and the US Forest Service, an updated version of FIRMS was released for the US and Canada. As NASA and other federal agencies continue to accelerate Open Science through integrated efforts such as the Year of Open Science, the provision of readily discoverable, findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable data represents a major focus to facilitate equitable outcomes. FIRMS supports this acceleration in Open Science by continuing to provision data and information for its traditional user base, while addressing the novel user needs of an increasingly diverse set of stakeholders seeking robust, reliable, transparently generated data and information. Increasingly, FIRMS is utilized by citizen scientists and individuals directly affected by wildfires - through evacuations, risks to structures/homes, poor air quality. etc. FIRMS has also been Leveraged to detect and assess the impacts resulting from ongoing conflicts. This further highlights the multi-faceted impacts of wildfires and other events. In the Fall of 2023, FIRMS will release an expanded User Interface (UI). This interface captures and reflects the needs of, and input from, a multitude of users. These users range from federal agency representatives to non-government organizations to the private sector to citizen science entities. To respond to this expansive and diverse user need base, the updated FIRMS UI will capture a range of features to support those beginning to explore the range of data and tools available to inform wildfire awareness and knowledge. These users are supported through a Basic Mode interface, furnishing access to a light set of functionalities that provision straight-forward, readily usable information and data, and ingestible knowledge. The Advanced Mode interface supports those stakeholder groups already proficient in navigating FIRMS. These stakeholders, representing fire managers and others, perform active fire management and tactical wildfire response activities. For these stakeholders, additional datasets have been included which require in-depth knowledge of both the utility as well as the caveats of such datasets. Additional functionalities have also been embedded to aid specific user queries. The expanded UI will introduce a new Experimental Mode. The focus of this UI will be to support the provision of emerging and innovative datasets that are in development for review and comment by the user community Examples include post-fire products generated by NASA's Earth Information System (EIS) Fire. This presentation will provide an overview of the expanded FIRMS UI. We will discuss how this UI is designed to be scalable and support the unique needs of an expanding and diverse user base. We will highlight key features, elements, and datasets, and describe how user needs have informed and guided the design of the UI. We will also share recent use cases to convey, and increase awareness, among conference participants. As the global community faces more extreme wildfires, due to climate variability and change, there is an increased need for reliable data to inform, manage, and mitigate the impacts of these events. Through this work, NASA FIRMS is striving to level the playing field, by making information accessible to all; from policy makers to the private sector to historically marginalized communities. In doing so, NASA is promoting the all-hands-on-deck response needed to minimize the impacts of wildfires and harness the strengths of open science to address the greatest environmental challenge faced.

Jenny Hewson↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Functional Volume Assessment of an Early Version of the Mars Transit Habitat

During the summer of 2020, the NASA Mars Architecture Team (MAT) conducted a functional volume assessment of the Transit Habitat (TH). The TH has evolved substantially since that time and the current TH does not share the same internal configuration, but the insights gained from the assessment remain relevant. In virtually all architectures involving chemical, electric, or nuclear propulsion, the majority of the crew mission is spent aboard the TH. The Earth to Mars transit durations may vary from architecture to architecture, but all are on the order of hundreds of days, regardless of whether an opposition or conjunction class trajectory is selected, and regardless of whether the propulsion system is chemical, electric, or nuclear. Thus, the TH must provide capabilities appropriate to a very long duration. So, despite significant changes in the current Mars architecture over the past few years, this evaluation still provides useful recommendations in the form of habitability guidance that can be applied to current and future TH concepts. This assessment had six primary objectives: provide a sanity check to the BOC-derived TH layout; understand if we can fit the hardware and functional tasks in the volume; provide a high-level assessment of how aggressive the layout is; generate a list of challenges or assumptions necessary to make it work; generate a list of future work to refine understanding; and identify proposed requirements. All of this information is critical to drive habitat sizing studies and key architecture decisions. It was clear that a human-in-the-loop (HITL) evaluation of some kind would be necessary, but several challenges were immediately identified. The most information could be gleaned from a Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) type of mission operations test (MOT), but the TH concept was too low fidelity to construct the type of prototype necessary to conduct a MOT, nor were their financial resources to do so. The next best option – and really the one most appropriate for the BOC’s stage of maturity – is a Virtual Reality (VR) walk-through evaluation. However, NASA was in a shutdown state due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the VR labs were inaccessible. As a result, a tabletop evaluation was created, using .jpg imagery from the ECM CAD model along with Excel-based datasheets. High-level crew living and working functions within the habitat were identified for evaluation. Questionnaires using Likert scales assessed acceptability of habitat functions and sim quality – the degree to which the function was represented in CAD. This enabled the evaluation to be conducted by personnel working remotely. Each function was evaluated individually along with several overarching habitability parameters and vehicle subsystems. The results of this evaluation are discussed, including methodological challenges and rating challenges. Acceptability results are discussed for functions that the participants were able to rate and participant comments for functions that could not be related are also described. Final conclusions are described, including challenges or assumptions needed to make the TH design acceptable, future work needed to refine understanding of the TH, and proposed habitat requirements based on test data.

Transit Habitat↗
NASA NTRS2016

Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Methane Integrated Power and Propulsion

The proposed paper will cover ongoing work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) on integrated power and propulsion for advanced human exploration. Specifically, it will present findings of the integrated design, testing, and operational challenges of a liquid oxygen / liquid methane (LOx/LCH4) propulsion brassboard and Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) system. Human-Mars architectures point to an oxygen-methane economy utilizing common commodities, scavenged from the planetary atmosphere and soil via In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), and common commodities across sub-systems. Due to the enormous mass gear-ratio required for human exploration beyond low-earth orbit, (for every 1 kg of payload landed on Mars, 226 kg will be required on Earth) increasing commonality between spacecraft subsystems such as power and propulsion can result in tremendous launch mass and volume savings. Historically, propulsion and fuel cell power subsystems have had little interaction outside of the generation (fuel cell) and consumption (propulsion) of electrical power. This was largely due to a mismatch in preferred commodities (hypergolics for propulsion; oxygen & hydrogen for fuel cells). Although this stove-piped approach benefits from simplicity in the design process, it means each subsystem has its own tanks, pressurization system, fluid feed system, etc. increasing overall spacecraft mass and volume. A liquid oxygen / liquid methane commodities architecture across propulsion and power subsystems would enable the use of common tankage and associated pressurization and commodity delivery hardware for both. Furthermore, a spacecraft utilizing integrated power and propulsion could use propellant residuals - propellant which could not be expelled from the tank near depletion due to hydrodynamic considerations caused by large flow demands of a rocket engine - to generate power after all propulsive maneuvers are complete thus utilizing previously wasted mass. Such is the case for human and robotic planetary landers. Although many potential benefits through integrated power & propulsion exist, integrated operations have yet to be successfully demonstrated and many challenges have already been identified the most obvious of which is the large temperature gradient. SOFC chemistry is exothermic with operating temperatures in excess of 1,000 K; however, any shared commodities will be undoubtedly stored at cryogenic temperatures (90-112 K) for mass efficiency reasons. Spacecraft packaging will drive these two subsystems in close proximity thus heat leak into the commodity tankage must be minimized and/or mitigated. Furthermore, commodities must be gasified prior to consumption by the SOFC. Excess heat generated by the SOFC could be used to perform this phase change; however, this has yet to be demonstrated. A further identified challenge is the ability of the SOFC to handle the sudden power spikes created by the propulsion system. A power accumulator (battery) will likely be necessary to handle these sudden demands while the SOFC thermally adjusts. JSC's current SOFC test system consists of a 1 kW fuel cell designed by Delphi. The fuel cell is currently undergoing characterization testing at the NASA JSC Energy Systems Test Area (ESTA) after which a Steam Methane Reformer (SMR) will be integrated and the combined system tested in closed-loop. The propulsion brassboard is approximately the size of what could be flown on a sounding rocket. It consists of one 100 lbf thrust "main" engine developed for NASA by Aerojet and two 10 lbf thrusters to simulate a reaction control system developed at NASA JSC. This system is also under development and initial testing at ESTA. After initial testing, combined testing will occur which will provide data on the fuel cell's ability to sufficiently handle the power spikes created by the propulsion system. These two systems will also be modeled using General-Use Nodal Network Solver (GUNNS) software. Once anchored with test data, this model will be used to extrapolate onto other firing profiles and used to size the power accumulator.

Banker, Brian↗
NASA NTRS2016

S&MA Internship to Support Orion and the European Service Module

As a University Space Research Association (USRA) intern for NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) during the summer 2016 work term, I worked on three main projects for the Space Exploration Division (NC) of the Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Directorate. I worked on all three projects concurrently. One of the projects involved facilitating the status and closure of technical actions that were created during European Service Module (ESM) safety reviews by the MPCV Safety & Engineering Review Panel (MSERP). The two main duties included accurately collecting and summarizing qualitative data, and communicating that information to the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus (ESA's prime contractor) in a clear, succinct and precise manner. This project also required that I create a report on the challenges and opportunities of international S&MA. With its heavy emphasis on soft skills, this project taught me how to communicate better, by showing me how to present and share information in an easy-to-read and understandable format, and by showing me how to cooperate with and culturally respect international partners on a technical project. The second project involved working with the Orion Thermal Protection System (TPS) Process Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (PFMEA) Working Group to create the first full version of the Orion TPS PFMEA. The Orion TPS PFMEA Working Group met twice a week to analyze the Avcoat block installation process for failure modes, the failure modes effects, and how such failure modes could be controlled. I was in charge of implementing changes that were discussed in meeting, but were not implemented real time. Another major task included creating a significant portion of the content alongside another team member outside the two weekly meetings. This project caused me to become knowledgeable about TPS, heatshields, space-rated manufacturing, and non-destructive evaluation (NDE). The project also helped me to become better at working with a small team and helped improved my technical communication skills. My main duty for the third project was creating a Safety Verification Tracking Log (SVTL) for the Orbital Maneuvering System Engine (OMS-E), and contacting subject matter experts to close Hazard Report (HR) control verifications. This project also required me to support other OMS-E safety process tasks, like monitoring OMS-E vibration testing for Quality Assurance (QA) purposes. This project helped me become even more proficient in Excel. Throughout the project, I gained knowledge about the OMS-E system and improved my understanding of pressure systems and propellant systems. In terms of education goals, this work term has affirmed my desire to take a few more space-related courses, like orbital mechanics, so that I can have a better understanding of human spaceflight and the industry surrounding it. However, the work term did not persuade me to pursue a master's degree. In terms of career goals, this work term has helped me clarify the direction I would like to head in the future. The perspective of three summer terms working for NASA in S&MA has allowed me to observe that most S&MA employees joined S&MA after working in other NASA directorates, such as Engineering or Flight Operations. It is my belief that it would be advantageous for both NASA and I for me to broaden my knowledge base and technical skill set by completing hands-on technical work on human spaceflight projects, and for me to integrate my safety experience directly into technical work in other directorates. The other significant advantage to this proposed situation is that if I were to eventually return to S&MA, I would be returning with a substantial set of hands-on technical experience and knowledge, which would be a significant resource for S&MA tasks and projects.

Hutcheson, Connor↗
NASA NTRS2016

Virtual Microscope Views of the Apollo 11 and 12 Lunar Samples

The Apollo virtual microscope is a means of viewing, over the Internet, polished thin sections of every rock in the Apollo lunar sample collections via software, duplicating many of the functions of a petrological microscope, is described. Images from the Apollo 11 and 12 missions may be viewed at: www.virtualmicroscope.org/content/apollo. Introduction: During the six NASA missions to the Moon from 1969-72 a total of 382 kilograms of rocks and soils, often referred to as "the legacy of Apollo", were collected and returned to Earth. A unique collection of polished thin sections (PTSs) was made from over 400 rocks by the Lunar Sample Curatorial Facility at the Johnson Spacecraft Center (JSC), Houston. These materials have been available for loan to approved PIs but of course they can't be simultaneously investigated by several researchers unless they are co-located or the sample is passed back and forward between them by mail/hand carrying which is inefficient and very risky for irreplaceable material. When The Open University (OU), the world's largest Distance Learning Higher Education Establishment found itself facing a comparable problem (how to supply thousands of undergraduate students with an interactive petrological microscope and a personal set of thin sections), it decided to develop a software tool called the Virtual Microscope (VM). As a result it is now able to make the unique and precious collection of Apollo specimens universally available as a resource for concurrent study by anybody in the world's Earth and Planetary Sciences community. Herein, we describe the first steps of a collaborative project between OU and the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Curatorial Facility to record a PTS for every lunar rock, beginning with those collected by the Apollo 11 and 12 missions. Method: Production of a virtual microscope dedicated to a particular theme divides into four main parts - photography, image processing, building and assembly of virtual microscope components, and publication on a website. Two large research quality microscopes are used to collect all the images required for a virtual microscope. The first is part of an integrated package that utilizes Leica PowerMosaic software and a motorised XYZ stage to generate large area mosaics. It includes a fast acquisition camera and depending on the PTS size normally is used to produce seamless mosaic images consisting of 100-500 individual photographs. If the sample is suitable, three mosaics of each sample are recorded - plane polarised light, between crossed polars and reflected light. In order for the VM to be a true petrological microscope it is necessary to recreate the features of a rotating stage and perform observations using filters to produce polarised light. Thus the petrological VM includes the capability of seeing changes in optical properties (pleochroism and birefringence) during rotation allowing mineral identification. The second microscope in the system provides the functions of the rotating stage. To this microscope we have added a robotically controlled motor to acquire seventy-two images (5 degree intervals) in plane polarised light and between crossed polars. To process the images acquired from the two microscopes involves a combination of proprietary software (Photoshop) and our own in-house code. The final stage involves assembling all the components in an HTML5 environment. Pathfinder investigations: We have undertaken a number of pilot studies to demonstrate the efficacy of the petrological microscope with lunar samples. The first was to make available on-line images collected from the Educational Package of Apollo samples provided by NASA to the UK STFC (Science and Technical Facilities Council) for loan as educational material e.g. for schools. The real PTSs of the samples are now no longer sent out to schools removing the risks associated with transport, accidental breakage and eliminating the possibility of loss. The availability of lunar sample VM-related material was further extended to include twenty-eight specimens from all of the Apollo missions. Some of these samples were made more generally available through an ibook entitled "Moon Rocks: an introduction to the Geology of the Moon," free from the Apple Bookstore. Research possibilities: Although the Virtual Microscope was originally conceived as a teaching aid and was later recognised as a means of public outreach and engagement, we now realize that it also has enormous potential as a high level research tool. Following discussions with the JSC Curators we have received Curation and Analysis Planning Team for Extraterrestrial Materials (CAPTEM) permission to embark on a programme of digitizing the entire lunar sample PTS collection for all three of the above purposes. By the time of the 47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) we will have completed 81 rocks collected during the Apollo 11 and 12 missions and the data, with cross-links to the Lunar Sample Compendium will go live on the Web at the 47th LPSC. The VM images of the Apollo 11 (41 VM images) and 12 (40 VM images) missions can be viewed at: http:/www.virtualmicroscope.org/content/apollo. The lunar sample VM will enable large numbers of skilled/unskilled microscopists (professional and amateur researchers, educators and students, enthusiasts and the simply curious non-scientists) to share the information from a single sample. It will mean that all the PTSs already cut, even historical ones, could be available for new joint investigations or private study. The scientific return from the collection will increase exponentially as a result of further debate and discussion. Simultaneously the VM will remove the need for making unnecessary multiple samplings, avoid consignment of delicate/breakable specimens (all of which are priceless) to insecure mail/courier services and reduce direct labour and indirect costs, travel budgets and unproductive travelling time necessary for co-location of collaborating researchers. For the future we have already recognized further potential for virtual technology. There is nothing that a petrologist likes more than to see the original rock as a hand specimen. It is entirely possible to recreate virtual hand specimens with 3-D hard and software, already developed for viewing fossils, located within the Curatorial Facility, http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/lsc/index.cfm.

Gibson, E. K.↗