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NASA NTRS2003

Advancement in LIDAR Data Collection: NASA's Experimental Airborne Advanced Research LIDAR

The NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research LIDAR (EAARL) is a new developmental LIDAR designed to investigate and advance LIDAR techniques using a adaptive time resolved backscatter information for complex coastal research and monitoring applications. Information derived from such an advanced LIDAR system can potentially improve the ability of resource managers and policy makers to make better informed decisions. While there has been a large amount of research using LIDAR in coastal areas, most are limited in the amount of information captured from each laser pulse. The unique design of the EAARL instrument permits simultaneous acquisition of coastal environments which include subaerial bare earth topography, vegetation biomass, and bare earth beneath vegetated areas.

Riordan, Kevin↗

NASA NTRS2003

Life support approaches for Mars missions

Life support approaches for Mars missions are evaluated using an equivalent system mass (ESM) approach, in which all significant costs are converted into mass units. The best approach, as defined by the lowest mission ESM, depends on several mission parameters, notably duration, environment and consequent infrastructure costs, and crew size, as well as the characteristics of the technologies which are available. Generally, for the missions under consideration, physicochemical regeneration is most cost effective. However, bioregeneration is likely to be of use for producing salad crops for any mission, for producing staple crops for medium duration missions, and for most food, air and water regeneration for long missions (durations of a decade). Potential applications of in situ resource utilization need to be considered further. c2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of COSPAR.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗

NASA NTRS1978

Tech House

The members of the Swain family- Dr. Charles "Bill" Swain, wife Elaine, daughter Carol, 17, son "Chuck", 12, and dog Susie have an interesting assignment. They are active participants in an important NASA research program involving the application of space-age technology to home construction. b' Transplanted Floridians, the Swains now reside in NASA's Tech House, lo~atedat Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Their job is to use and help evaluate the variety of advanced technology systems in Tech House. A contemporary three-bedroom home, Tech House incorporates NASA technology, the latest commercial building techniques and other innovations, all designed to reduce energy and water consumption and to provide new levels of comfort, convenience, security and fire safety. Tech House equipment performed well in initial tests, but a house is not a home until it has people. That's where the Swains come in. NASA wants to see how the various systems work under actual living conditions, to confirm the effectiveness of the innovations or to determine necessary modifications for improvement. The Swains are occupying the house for a year, during which NASA engineers are computer monitoring the equipment and assembling a record of day-to-day performance. . Tech House is a laboratory rather than a mass production prototype, but its many benefits may influence home design and construction. In a period of sharply rising utility costs, widespread adoption of Tech House features could provide large-scale savings to homeowners and potentially enormous national benefit in resources conservation. Most innovations are aerospace spinoffs: Some of the equipment is now commercially available; other systems are expected to be in production within a few years. Around 1980, a Tech House-type of home could be built for $45-50,000 (1 976 dollars). It is estimated that the homeowner would save well over $20,000 (again 1976 dollars) in utility costs over the average mortgage span of 20 years.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2011

The Planning Execution Monitoring Architecture

The Planning Execution Monitoring (PEM) architecture is a design concept for developing autonomous cockpit command and control software. The PEM architecture is designed to reduce the operations costs in the space transportation system through the use of automation while improving safety and operability of the system. Specifically, the PEM autonomous framework enables automatic performance of many vehicle operations that would typically be performed by a human. Also, this framework supports varying levels of autonomous control, ranging from fully automatic to fully manual control. The PEM autonomous framework interfaces with the core flight software to perform flight procedures. It can either assist human operators in performing procedures or autonomously execute routine cockpit procedures based on the operational context. Most importantly, the PEM autonomous framework promotes and simplifies the capture, verification, and validation of the flight operations knowledge. Through a hierarchical decomposition of the domain knowledge, the vehicle command and control capabilities are divided into manageable functional "chunks" that can be captured and verified separately. These functional units, each of which has the responsibility to manage part of the vehicle command and control, are modular, re-usable, and extensible. Also, the functional units are self-contained and have the ability to plan and execute the necessary steps for accomplishing a task based upon the current mission state and available resources. The PEM architecture has potential for application outside the realm of spaceflight, including management of complex industrial processes, nuclear control, and control of complex vehicles such as submarines or unmanned air vehicles.

Wang, Lui↗

NASA NTRS2014

Enhancement of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Group's Website and Related Projects

The major problem addressed throughout the term was the need to update the group's current website, as it was outdated and required streamlining and modernization. The old Gateway to Astronaut Photography of the Earth website had multiple components, many of which involved searches through expansive databases. The amount of work required to update the website was large and due to a desired release date, assistance was needed to help build new pages and to transfer old information. Additionally, one of the tools listed on the website called Image Detective had been underutilized in the past. It was important to address why the public was not using the tool and how it could potentially become more of a resource for the team. In order to help with updating the website, it was necessary to first learn HTML. After assisting with small edits, I began creating new pages. I utilized the "view page source" and "developer" tools in the internet browser to observe how other websites created their features and to test changes without editing the code. I then edited the code to create an interactive feature on the new page. For the Image Detective Page I began an evaluation of the current page. I also asked my fellow interns and friends at my University to offer their input. I took all of the opinions into account and wrote up a document regarding my recommendations. The recommendations will be considered as I help to improve the Image Detective page for the updated website. In addition to the website, other projects included the need for additional, and updated image collections, along with various project requests. The image collections have been used by educators in the classroom and the impact crater collection was highly requested. The glaciers collection focused mostly on South American glaciers and needed to include more of the earth's many glaciers. The collections had not been updated or created due to the fact that related imagery had not been catalogued. The process of cataloging involves identifying the center point location of the image and feature identification. Other project needs included collecting night images of India in for publishing. Again, many of the images were not catalogued and the database was lacking in night time imagery for that region. The last project was to calculate the size of mega fans in South Africa. Calculating the fan sizes involved several steps. To expedite the study, calculations needed to be made after the base maps had been created. Using data files that included an outline of the mega fans on a topographic map, I opened the file in Photoshop, determined the number of pixels within the outlined area, created a one degree squared box, determined the pixels within the box, converted the pixels within the box to kilometers, and then calculated the fan size using this information. Overall, the internship has been a learning experience for me. I have learned how to use new programs and I developed new skills. These These skills can help me as I enter into the next phase of my career. Learning Photoshop and HTML in addition to coding in Dreamweaver are highly sought after skills that are used in a variety of fields. Additionally, the exposure to different aspects of the team and working with different people helped me to gain a broader set of skills and allowed me to work with people with different experiences. The various projects I have worked on this summer have directly benefitted the team whether it was completing projects they did not have the time to do, or by helping the team reach deadlines sooner. The new website will be the best place to see all of my work as it will include the newly designed pages and will feature my updates to collections.

Coffin, Ashley↗

NASA NTRS2016

Partnering to Enhance Education and Public Engagement Programs

Collaborating with partners is a fundamental aspect of the Lunar and Planetary Institute's (LPI) educational and public engagement efforts. Such partnerships enable scientists and educators to include members of the audience in program planning and execution. Ultimately, partnerships strengthen programs by providing diverse resources, expertise, and expanding the potential audience.

Shupla, C.↗

NASA NTRS2017

NASA's Solar System Treks: Online Portals for Planetary Mapping and Modeling

NASA's Solar System Treks are a suite of web-based of lunar and planetary mapping and modeling portals providing interactive visualization and analysis tools enabling mission planners, planetary scientists, students, and the general public to access mapped lunar data products from past and current missions for the Moon, Mars, Vesta, and more. New portals for additional planetary bodies are being planned. This presentation will recap significant enhancements to these toolsets during the past year and look ahead to future features and releases. Moon Trek is a new portal replacing its predecessor, the Lunar Mapping and Modeling Portal (LMMP), that significantly upgrades and builds upon the capabilities of LMMP. It features greatly improved navigation, 3D visualization, fly-overs, performance, and reliability. Additional data products and tools continue to be added. These include both generalized products as well as polar data products specifically targeting potential sites for NASA's Resource Prospector mission as well as for missions being planned by NASA's international partners. The latest release of Mars Trek includes new tools and data products requested by NASA's Planetary Science Division to support site selection and analysis for Mars Human Landing Exploration Zone Sites. Also being given very high priority by NASA Headquarters is Mars Trek's use as a means to directly involve the public in upcoming missions, letting them explore the areas the agency is focusing upon, understand what makes these sites so fascinating, follow the selection process, and get caught up in the excitement of exploring Mars. Phobos Trek, the latest effort in the Solar System Treks suite, is being developed in coordination with the International Phobos/Deimos Landing Site Working Group, with landing site selection and analysis for JAXA's MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) mission as a primary driver.

Day, Brian↗

NASA NTRS2019

Versatile Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP)

A study was initiated to investigate propulsion stage and mission architecture options potentially enabled by fission energy. One initial concept is a versatile Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system with a maximum specific impulse of 900 s and a maximum thrust (per engine) of 15 klbf. The system assumes a monopropellant stage (hydrogen), and is designed to also provide 300 lbf of thrust (potentially split between multiple thrusters) at an Isp > 500 s for orbital maneuvering and station keeping. Boost pumps are used to assist with engine decay heat removal and low thrust engine burns, and to compensate for partial tank depressurization during full thrust engine burns. Potential stage assembly orbits that take full advantage of launch vehicle payload mass and volume capabilities are being assessed. The potential for using NTP engines to also generate a small to moderate amount of electrical power is also being evaluated. A first generation versatile NTP stage could enable 8 of 9 upcoming opportunities for short (less than 24 month) round trip human missions to Mars. A second generation versatile NTP is under consideration that could potentially provide a maximum specific impulse of 1800 s at 15 klbf, and enable ambitious missions throughout the solar system. The second generation NTP system under consideration would also allow a choice of volatiles to be used as propellant. This would potentially allow in-situ resources such as water, ammonia, methane, or other compounds to be used directly as propellant by the second generation engine.

Houts, Michael G.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Versatile Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP)

Houts, Mike↗

NASA NTRS2019

Cost Breakeven Analysis of Lunar ISRU for Human Lunar Surface Architectures

The return of humans to the lunar surface encompasses a range of possible architectures from brief Apollo-like sorties to long-term sustainment of human presence. Any architecture in this span requires propellant for the crew’s ascent from the lunar surface, as well as consumables to support their presence on the Moon. Oxygen and hydrogen are candidates for the propellant for the ascent vehicle due to their high specific impulse and potential for production from lunar resources and also constitute important consumables for the crew. Thus, the production of oxygen and/or hydrogen from lunar resources could significantly reduce the mass that must be sent from Earth to enable future human lunar missions. To assess the merits of using lunar resources, the costs associated with developing, producing, launching, operating, and maintaining those systems must be considered relative to the costs of delivering the needed resources from Earth. The demand for those resources depends upon the nature of the lunar mission, while the costs of both Earth-derived and lunar-derived resources depend on the performance requirements and technology capabilities associated with each approach. Thus, determining which approach is more cost efficient requires modeling the performance and cost of the associated systems as well as the range of possible architectures over which such a determination might apply. This research proposes a model that parametrically captures the factors influencing the relevant costs of providing propellant and crew consumables on the lunar surface from Earth and from the Moon. Two ISRU system models are assessed relative to propellant delivery from Earth. In this model, lunar ISRU breaks even with propellant delivery from Earth at high propellant demands and mission durations with multi-year ISRU system lifetimes; however, the costs of developing the necessary technologies to support a highly reliable and autonomous lunar ISRU system were not included.

ISRU↗

NASA NTRS2020

Science of the Moon

Science of the Moon discusses the present state of knowledge of the Moon, as well as the scientific questions remaining about the Moon's history and current attributes. This chapter covers events in lunar history, the geology of the Moon, properties and modification of the lunar regolith, the effects of radiation on the lunar surface, volatiles including those in the lunar Permanently Shadowed Regions, as well as the lunar seismic environment and what it indicates about the lunar interior. The chapter also lists instruments that, when deployed on the Moon or utilized in a lunar sample analysis facility in a lunar base, contribute to knowledge of the Moon. Presented within the chapter are unanswered questions regarding cratering on the lunar surface, the transition from bedrock to regolith, lunar tectonism, the crustal structure and composition of the Moon, reserve potential for in-situ resources, and the nature of the volatiles on the Moon.

Lunar science, Moon, geology, geophysics↗

NASA NTRS2021

Cold Season Performance of the NU-WRF Regional Climate Model in the Great Lakes Region

As Earth’s largest collection of freshwater, the Laurentian Great Lakes have enormous ecological and socio-economic value. Their basin has become a regional hotspot of climatic and limnological change, potentially threatening its vital natural resources. Consequentially, there is a need to assess the current state of climate models regarding their performance across the Great Lakes region and develop the next generation of high-resolution regional climate models to address complex limnological processes and lake-atmosphere interactions. In response to this need, the current paper focuses on the generation and analysis of a 20-member ensemble of 3-km National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-Unified Weather Research and Forecasting (NU-WRF) simulations for the 2014-2015 cold season. The study aims to identify the model’s strengths and weaknesses; optimal configuration for the region; and the impacts of different physics parameterizations, coupling to a 1D lake model, time-variant lake-surface temperatures, and spectral nudging. Several key biases are identified in the cold-season simulations for the Great Lakes region, including an atmospheric cold bias that is amplified by coupling to a 1D lake model but diminished by applying the Community Atmosphere Model radiation scheme and Morrison microphysics scheme; an excess precipitation bias; anomalously early initiation of fall lake turnover and subsequent cold lake bias; excessive and overly persistent lake ice cover; and insufficient evaporation over Lakes Superior and Huron. The research team is currently addressing these key limitations by coupling NU-WRF to a 3D lake model in support of the next generation of regional climate models for the critical Great Lakes Basin.

Michael Notaro↗

NASA NTRS2021

Compact Electric Bi-Directional Pulley Actuator

While significant work has been dedicated to the study of potential uses of in situ resources once mined, the methods to mine the raw materials has not been fully explored. This paper presents the first attempt at producing a drop in replacement for hydraulic cylinders on heavy construction equipment with an electromechanical actuator utilizing pulleys for the conversion of a single motor’s rotational motion to bidirectional linear motion. By utilizing a twin block and tackle arrangement and paired spools, the system can generate bidirectional motion nearly identical to a hydraulic cylinder. More importantly, the use of rope builds in shock resistance to the system which is often a weak point for screw style actuators. Significant work remains to refine the concept into flight hardware, but the concept shows promise. The produced actuator can be applied or scaled for near direct replacement of hydraulic cylinders on terrestrial mining and construction equipment for faster development of off Earth use.

Kevin Peterson↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Forecasting with the GEOS-CF System and Other NASA Resources to Support Air Quality Management

Air quality (AQ) is a major and growing concern for public health around the world. Economic development, population growth, and climate change are all expected to exacerbate already poor AQ in many regions. Furthermore, AQ is often only sparsely monitored with reference-grade in-situ instruments. NASA resources and products have the potential to help in addressing this AQ data gap. The GEOS-CF (Goddard Earth Observing System – Composition Forecasting) global atmospheric composition modeling system is run each day at a global scale to provide recent estimates and five-day forecasts at hourly temporal resolution of atmospheric constituents relevant to AQ. NASA satellite missions (along with those of other space agencies) provide remotely-sensed estimates of atmospheric composition relevant to AQ. This paper gives a brief overview of these capabilities, and outlines the efforts underway to combine model forecasts, satellite retrievals, and surface-based measurements to provide more comprehensive and accurate estimates and forecasts of local AQ which will be broadly applicable and accessible globally.

GEOS-CF↗

NASA NTRS2024

Forecasting with the GESO-CF System and Other NASA Resources to Support Air Quality Management

Air quality (AQ) is a major and growing concern for public health around the world. Economic development, population growth, and climate change are all expected to exacerbate already poor AQ in many regions. Further-more, AQ is often only sparsely monitored with reference-grade in-situ instruments. NASA resources and products have the potential to help in addressing this AQ data gap. The GEOS-CF (Goddard Earth Observing System –Composition Forecasting) global atmospheric composition modeling system is run each day at a global scale to provide recent estimates and five-day forecasts at hourly temporal resolution of atmospheric constituents relevant to AQ. NASA satellite missions (along with those of other space agencies) provide remotely-sensed estimates of atmospheric composition relevant to AQ. This paper gives a brief over-view of these capabilities, and outlines the efforts underway to combine model forecasts, satellite retrievals, and surface-based measurements to provide more comprehensive and accurate estimates and forecasts of local AQ which will be broadly applicable and accessible globally.

Forecasting↗

NASA NTRS1989

Ground data systems resource allocation process

The Ground Data Systems Resource Allocation Process at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory provides medium- and long-range planning for the use of Deep Space Network and Mission Control and Computing Center resources in support of NASA's deep space missions and Earth-based science. Resources consist of radio antenna complexes and associated data processing and control computer networks. A semi-automated system was developed that allows operations personnel to interactively generate, edit, and revise allocation plans spanning periods of up to ten years (as opposed to only two or three weeks under the manual system) based on the relative merit of mission events. It also enhances scientific data return. A software system known as the Resource Allocation and Planning Helper (RALPH) merges the conventional methods of operations research, rule-based knowledge engineering, and advanced data base structures. RALPH employs a generic, highly modular architecture capable of solving a wide variety of scheduling and resource sequencing problems. The rule-based RALPH system has saved significant labor in resource allocation. Its successful use affirms the importance of establishing and applying event priorities based on scientific merit, and the benefit of continuity in planning provided by knowledge-based engineering. The RALPH system exhibits a strong potential for minimizing development cycles of resource and payload planning systems throughout NASA and the private sector.

Berner, Carol A.↗

NASA NTRS1975

The South Dakota cooperative land use effort: A state level remote sensing demonstration project

Remote sensing technology can satisfy or make significant contributions toward satisfying many of the information needs of governmental natural resource planners and policy makers. Recognizing this potential, the South Dakota State Planning Bureau and the EROS Data Center together formulated the framework for an ongoing Land Use and Natural Resource Inventory and Information System Program. Statewide land use/land cover information is generated from LANDSAT digital data and high altitude photography. Many applications of the system are anticipated as it evolves and data are added from more conventional sources. The conceptualization, design, and implementation of the program are discussed.

Tessar, P. A.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Resource Prospector: A Lunar Volatiles Prospecting and ISRU Demonstration Mission

A variety of recent observations have indicated several possible reservoirs of water and other volatiles. These volatiles, and in particular water, have the potential to be a valuable or enabling resource for future exploration. NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) is supporting the development of Resource Prospector (RP) to explore the distribution and concentration of lunar volatiles prospecting and to demonstrate In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). The mission includes a NASA developed rover and payload, and a lander will most likely be a contributed element by an international partner or the Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (CATALYST) initiative. The RP payload is designed to: (1) locate near-subsurface volatiles, (2) excavate and analyze samples of the volatile-bearing regolith, and (3) demonstrate the form. extractability and usefulness of the materials. RP is being designed with thought given to its extensibility to resource prospecting and ISRU on other airless bodies and Mars. This presentation will describe the Resource Prospector mission, the payload and measurements, and concept of operations

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)↗