Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “science user facilities”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2000

The Life Cycle Application of Intelligent Software Modeling for the First Materials Science Research Rack

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has been funding development of intelligent software models to benefit payload ground operations for nearly a decade. Experience gained from simulator development and real-time monitoring and control is being applied to engineering design, testing, and operation of the First Material Science Research Rack (MSRR-1). MSRR-1 is the first rack in a suite of three racks comprising the Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) which will operate on the International Space Station (ISS). The MSRF will accommodate advanced microgravity investigations in areas such as the fields of solidification of metals and alloys, thermo-physical properties of polymers, crystal growth studies of semiconductor materials, and research in ceramics and glasses. The MSRR-1 is a joint venture between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to study the behavior of different materials during high temperature processing in a low gravity environment. The planned MSRR-1 mission duration is five (5) years on-orbit and the total design life is ten (IO) years. The MSRR-1 launch is scheduled on the third Utilization Flight (UF-3) to ISS, currently in February of 2003). The objective of MSRR-1 is to provide an early capability on the ISS to conduct material science, materials technology, and space product research investigations in microgravity. It will provide a modular, multi-user facility for microgravity research in materials crystal growth and solidification. An intelligent software model of MSRR-1 is under development and will serve multiple purposes to support the engineering analysis, testing, training, and operational phases of the MSRR-1 life cycle development. The G2 real-time expert system software environment developed by Gensym Corporation was selected as the intelligent system shell for this development work based on past experience gained and the effectiveness of the programming environment. Our approach of multi- uses of the simulation model and its intuitive graphics capabilities is providing a concurrent engineering environment for rapid prototyping and development. Operational schematics of the MSRR-1 electrical, thermal control, vacuum access, and gas supply systems, and furnace inserts are represented graphically in the environment. Logic to represent first order engineering calculations is coded into the knowledge base to simulate the operational behavior of the MSRR-1 systems. An example of engineering data provided includes electrical currents, voltages, operational power, temperatures, thermal fluid flow rates. pressures, and component status indications. These type of data are calculated and displayed at appropriate instrumentation points, and the schematics are animated to reflect the simulated operational status of the MSRR-1. The software control functions are also simulated to represent appropriate operational behavior based on automated control and response to commands received by the crew or ground controllers. The first benefit of this simulation environment is being realized in the high fidelity engineering analysis results from the electrical power system G2 model. Secondly, the MSRR-1 simulation model will be embedded with a hardware mock-up of the MSRR-1 to provide crew training on MSRR-1 integrated payload operations. G2 gateway code will output the simulated instrumentation values, termed as telemetry, in a flight-like data stream so that the crew has realistic and accurate simulated MSRR-1 data on the flight displays which will be designed for crew use. The simulation will also respond appropriately to crew or ground initiated commands, which will be part of normal facility operations. A third use of the G2 model is being planned; the MSRR-1 simulation will be integrated with additional software code as part of the test configuration of the primary onboard computer, or Master Controller, for MSRR-1. We will take advantage of the G2 capability to simulate the flight like data stream to test flight software responses and behavior. A fourth use of the G2 model will be to train the Ground Support Personnel that will monitor the MSRR-1 systems and payloads while they are operating aboard the ISS. The intuitive, schematic based environment will provide an excellent foundation for personnel to understand the integrated configuration and operation of the MSRR-1, and the anticipated telemetry feedback based on operational modes of the equipment. Expert monitoring features will be enhanced to provide a smart monitoring environment for the operators. These features include: (1) Animated, intuitive schematic-based displays which reflect telemetry values, (1) Real-time plotting of simulated or incoming sensor values, (3) High/Low exception monitoring for analog data, (4) Expected state monitoring for discrete data, (5) Data trending, (6) Automated malfunction procedure execution to diagnose problems, (7) Look ahead capability to planned MSRR-1 activities in the onboard timeline. And finally, the logic to calculate telemetry values will be deactivated, and the same environment will interface to the incoming data for the real-time telemetry stream to schematically represent the onboard hardware configuration. G2 will be the foundation for the real-time monitoring and control environment. In summary, our MSRR-1 simulation model spans many elements of the life cycle development of this project: Engineering Analysis, Test and Checkout, Training of Crew and Ground Personnel, and Real-time monitoring and control. By utilizing the unique features afforded by an expert system development environment, we have been able to synergize a powerful tool capable of addressing our project needs at every phase of project development.

Rice, Amanda↗
DOE OSTI2020

Sample Identifiers and Metadata Reporting Format for Environmental Systems Science

The ESS-DIVE sample identifiers and metadata reporting format primarily follows the System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR) Global Sample Number (IGSN) guide and template, with modifications to address Environmental Systems Science (ESS) sample needs and practicalities (IGSN-ESS). IGSNs are associated with standardized metadata to characterize a variety of different sample types (e.g. object type, material) and describe sample collection details (e.g. latitude, longitude, environmental context, date, collection method). Globally unique sample identifiers, particularly IGSNs, facilitate sample discovery, tracking, and reuse; they are especially useful when sample data is shared with collaborators, sent to different laboratories or user facilities for analyses, or distributed in different data files, datasets, and/or publications. To develop recommendations for multidisciplinary ecosystem and environmental sciences, we first conducted research on related sample standards and templates. We provide a comparison of existing sample reporting conventions, which includes mapping metadata elements across existing standards and Environment Ontology (ENVO) terms for sample object types and environmental materials. We worked with eight U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded projects, including those from Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and Subsurface Biogeochemical Research Scientific Focus Areas. Project scientists tested the process of registering samples for IGSNs and associated metadata in workflows for multidisciplinary ecosystem sciences. We provide modified IGSN metadata guidelines to account for needs of a variety of related biological and environmental samples. While generally following the IGSN core descriptive metadata schema, we provide recommendations for extending sample type terms, and connecting to related templates geared towards biodiversity (Darwin Core) and genomic (Minimum Information about any Sequence, MIxS) samples and specimens. ESS-DIVE recommends registering samples for IGSNs through SESAR, and we include instructions for registration using the IGSN-ESS guidelines. Our resulting sample reporting guidelines, template (IGSN-ESS), and identifier approach can be used by any researcher with sample data for ecosystem sciences.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Brief Survey of Data Streaming Technologies

Streaming data is data that is emitted at variable volumes in a continuous, incremental manner with the goal of low-latency processing often at a different physical location. Network infrastructure is used to facilitate the connection between data sources and sinks, and must be robust to handle the requirements of the workflow. The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE SC) a federal agency supporting fundamental scientific research for energy and the Nation’s largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences. DOE SC has the responsibility for operating $\mathbf{1 0}$ National Laboratories, and 28 scientific user facilities supporting advanced supercomputers, particle accelerators, large x-ray light sources, neutron scattering sources, and other specialized facilities for nanoscience and genomics. This paper investigates the state of streaming data workfows, and details some of the approaches to this challenging problem.

Kissel, Ezra↗
DOE OSTI2025

Upgrading Fermilab’s accelerator control system with ACORN

The Fermilab Accelerator Complex is the largest national user facility in the Office of High Energy Physics (DOE/HEP) program and the only national user facility operating at Fermilab. Fermilab serves as the host to the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility/Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (LBNF/DUNE), the laboratory’s flagship project for neutrino science that is under construction. LBNF/DUNE will be powered by megawatt beams from an upgraded accelerator, the Proton Improvement Plan II (PIP-II) that will replace the laboratory’s aging linear accelerator with a new one based on superconducting radio-frequency cavities. The Accelerator Controls Operations Research Network (ACORN) Project will support LBNF/DUNE and PIP-II by modernizing the accelerator control system. The project is at the conceptual design phase and looking to achieve Critical Decision 1 (CD-1) later this year. The scope and structure of the project will be presented, along with an overview of how that has changed in the past year. Current design and technology choices will be shared. Specific challenges facing the project will be addressed, along with current thinking on solutions.

Roehrig, Christian [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2024

ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Merged Value-Added Product Report for Historical G-1 Field Campaigns

For 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science supported an instrumented Grumman Gulfstream-1 (G-1) aircraft for atmospheric field campaigns. Data from the final decade of G-1 operations were archived by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility Data Center (ADC) and made publicly available at no cost to all registered users. To ensure a consistent data format and to improve the accessibility of the ARM airborne data, an integrated data set was recently developed covering the final six years of G-1 operations (2013 to 2018). The integrated data set includes data collected from 236 flights (766.4 hours). Four of the seven field campaigns were based in the U.S. One campaign collected data from the wildfires in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and agricultural burns in the lower Mississippi River valley as part of the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) in 2013. In 2015, the ARM Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment provided data on atmospheric rivers and associated aerosol-cloud interactions that produce heavy precipitation on the U.S. west coast during the early spring. Research data from Airborne Carbon Measurements-V (ACME-V), collected during the summer of 2015, gave scientists insight into trends and variability of trace gases in the atmosphere over the North Slope of Alaska to improve arctic climate models. In the early summer and autumn of 2016, the Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems (HI-SCALE) campaign provided an extensive data set geared toward coupled processes that affect the life cycle of shallow clouds through the interaction among aerosol, cloud, land surface, and ecosystems. In 2014 (March and October), the airborne sampling moved outside of the U.S. to the city of Manaus in central Amazonia, Brazil, where residential and industrial emissions were extensively characterized by flights of the G-1. The GoAmazon2014/15 aircraft campaign data are being integrated with aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem measurements to quantify anthropogenic perturbations to a usually pristine tropical environment. Another international airborne mission was carried out in the Eastern North Atlantic region. The Aerosol and Cloud Experiments in the Eastern North Atlantic (ACE-ENA) campaign saw the G-1 aircraft fly from Terceira Island in the Azores during the summer of 2017 and the winter of 2018. The campaign studied both seasons to measure key aerosol and cloud processes under various meteorological and cloud conditions with different aerosol sources. Then the G-1 deployed to the Sierras de Córdoba range in central Argentina from October to November 2018 for the Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) campaign to study orographic convective cloud interactions with their surrounding environment. These comprehensive datastreams provide much-needed insight into spatiotemporal variability of thermodynamic quantities, aerosol and cloud states, and properties for addressing essential science questions in Earth system process studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2008

Concept of Operations Visualization for Ares I Production

Establishing Computer Aided Design models of the Ares I production facility, tooling and vehicle components and integrating them into manufacturing visualizations/simulations allows Boeing and NASA to collaborate real time early in the design/development cycle. This collaboration identifies cost effective and lean solutions that can be easily shared with Ares stakeholders (e.g., other NASA Centers and potential science users). These Ares I production visualizations and analyses by their nature serve as early manufacturing improvement precursors for other Constellation elements to be built at the Michoud Assembly Facility such as Ares V and the Altair Lander. Key to this Boeing and Marshall Space Flight Center collaboration has been the use of advanced virtual manufacturing tools to understand the existing Shuttle era infrastructure and trade potential modifications to support Ares I production. These approaches are then used to determine an optimal manufacturing configuration in terms of labor efficiency, safety and facility enhancements. These same models and tools can be used in an interactive simulation of Ares I and V flight to the Space Station or moon to educate the human space constituency (e.g., government, academia, media and the public) in order to increase national and international understanding of Constellation goals and benefits.

Chilton, Jim↗
DOE OSTI2024

ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) Merged Value-Added Product Report for Historical G-1 Field Campaigns

For 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science supported an instrumented Grumman Gulfstream-1 (G-1) aircraft for atmospheric field campaigns. Data from the final decade of G-1 operations were archived by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility Data Center (ADC) and made publicly available at no cost to all registered users. To ensure a consistent data format and to improve the accessibility of the ARM airborne data, an integrated data set was recently developed covering the final six years of G-1 operations (2013 to 2018). The integrated data set includes data collected from 236 flights (766.4 hours). Four of the seven field campaigns were based in the U.S. One campaign collected data from the wildfires in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and agricultural burns in the lower Mississippi River valley as part of the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP) in 2013. In 2015, the ARM Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment provided data on atmospheric rivers and associated aerosol-cloud interactions that produce heavy precipitation on the U.S. west coast during the early spring. Research data from Airborne Carbon Measurements-V (ACME-V), collected during the summer of 2015, gave scientists insight into trends and variability of trace gases in the atmosphere over the North Slope of Alaska to improve arctic climate models. In the early summer and autumn of 2016, the Holistic Interactions of Shallow Clouds, Aerosols, and Land-Ecosystems (HI-SCALE) campaign provided an extensive data set geared toward coupled processes that affect the life cycle of shallow clouds through the interaction among aerosol, cloud, land surface, and ecosystems. In 2014 (March and October), the airborne sampling moved outside of the U.S. to the city of Manaus in central Amazonia, Brazil, where residential and industrial emissions were extensively characterized by flights of the G-1. The GoAmazon2014/15 aircraft campaign data are being integrated with aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem measurements to quantify anthropogenic perturbations to a usually pristine tropical environment. Another international airborne mission was carried out in the Eastern North Atlantic region. The Aerosol and Cloud Experiments in the Eastern North Atlantic (ACE-ENA) campaign saw the G-1 aircraft fly from Terceira Island in the Azores during the summer of 2017 and the winter of 2018. The campaign studied both seasons to measure key aerosol and cloud processes under various meteorological and cloud conditions with different aerosol sources. Then the G-1 deployed to the Sierras de Córdoba range in central Argentina from October to November 2018 for the Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) campaign to study orographic convective cloud interactions with their surrounding environment. These comprehensive datastreams provide much-needed insight into spatiotemporal variability of thermodynamic quantities, aerosol and cloud states, and properties for addressing essential science questions in Earth system process studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Science Plan for the Deployment of the Third ARM Mobile Facility to the Southeastern United States at the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama (AMF3 BNF)

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a workshop for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) (Mather and Voyles 2013) user facility to discuss critical climate challenges and locations where key ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) observational assets could impact Earth system modeling (ESM). As an outcome, the southeast United States (SE U.S.) was identified as a high-priority region to target climate-process studies that promote a deeper understanding of the climate system and bolster ARM interactions with the community to drive ESM advancement. The DOE ARM user facility is a globally recognized leader in deploying and operating strategically located observation sites around the world for studying the properties of aerosols and clouds and their interaction with radiation, precipitation, and the Earth’s surface. In partnering with the DOE Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program, ARM solicited a multi-agency Site Science Team approach to provide input and close interaction with ARM management towards a successful SE U.S. deployment of the ARM third Mobile Facility (AMF3) (Miller et al. 2016). These efforts included identifying key locations, science drivers and instruments, and measurement strategies to address the wider climate-process needs and ESM improvement. Community input served a vital role in establishing, refining, and informing the relevant drivers and decisions regarding this AMF3 deployment. The team has identified Northern Alabama (N. AL) as regionally representative to unlock the key opportunities that will improve our understanding and model representation of aerosol, cloud, and land-surface processes and their couplings in the SE U.S. A defining aspect of the AMF3 deployment is its commitment to long-term (anticipated five-year) observations to mitigate potential seasonal-to-annual variability that often limits appropriate attribution of phenomena to local or larger-scale processes. The proposed location may leverage nearby surface networks and multi-agency and partner assets to enrich this multi-year deployment. One motivation is to understand the role of spatiotemporal variability (thermodynamic, land-surface) across aspects of the climate system, with our AMF3 team anticipating future demands on characterizing the relationships between local-to-regional cloud development and surface processes across a diverse patchwork of natural, managed, and urban landscapes as found throughout the N. AL regions. The main site targets an intact, representative, forested region – the Bankhead National Forest (BNF) – underscoring further team commitment to regionally important land-atmosphere two-way interactive studies “from the canopy to the clouds”, with enhanced tower instrumentation augmenting traditional ARM capabilities adjacent to this site. Multiple supplemental sites will also be distributed across this region, prioritizing added needs for biodiversity. Anticipated high-priority cloud science themes will target N. AL as a regional SE U.S. hotbed for high-impact weather, convective cloud onset, and shallow-to-deep cloud transitioning. Anticipated aerosol drivers will focus on chemical processes that control the evolution of organic aerosol, the seasonality and spatial distribution of water vapor and particle-phase water, and its role on aerosol optical properties. Anticipated land-atmosphere drivers consider the two-way feedbacks between surface influence on aerosols, clouds, and precipitation properties and the associated radiative impacts on plant physiology and canopy-scale fluxes. Emphasis will include the study of the impact of surface processes on aerosols via precursor emission, and on clouds via moisture flux and thermal development.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Science Plan for the Deployment of the Third ARM Mobile Facility to the Southeastern United States at the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama (AMF3 BNF)

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a workshop for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) (Mather and Voyles 2013) user facility to discuss critical climate challenges and locations where key ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) observational assets could impact Earth system modeling (ESM). As an outcome, the southeast United States (SE U.S.) was identified as a high-priority region to target climate-process studies that promote a deeper understanding of the climate system and bolster ARM interactions with the community to drive ESM advancement. The DOE ARM user facility is a globally recognized leader in deploying and operating strategically located observation sites around the world for studying the properties of aerosols and clouds and their interaction with radiation, precipitation, and the Earth’s surface. In partnering with the DOE Atmospheric System Research (ASR) program, ARM solicited a multi-agency Site Science Team approach to provide input and close interaction with ARM management towards a successful SE U.S. deployment of the ARM third Mobile Facility (AMF3) (Miller et al. 2016). These efforts included identifying key locations, science drivers and instruments, and measurement strategies to address the wider climate-process needs and ESM improvement. Community input served a vital role in establishing, refining, and informing the relevant drivers and decisions regarding this AMF3 deployment. The team has identified Northern Alabama (N. AL) as regionally representative to unlock the key opportunities that will improve our understanding and model representation of aerosol, cloud, and land surface processes and their couplings in the SE U.S. A defining aspect of the AMF3 deployment is its commitment to long-term (anticipated five-year) observations to mitigate potential seasonal-to-annual variability that often limits appropriate attribution of phenomena to local or larger-scale processes. The proposed location may leverage nearby surface networks and multi-agency and partner assets to enrich this multi-year deployment. One motivation is to understand the role of spatiotemporal variability (thermodynamic, land-surface) across aspects of the climate system, with our AMF3 team anticipating future demands on characterizing the relationships between local-to-regional cloud development and surface processes across a diverse patchwork of natural, managed, and urban landscapes as found throughout the N. AL regions. The main site targets an intact, representative, forested region – the Bankhead National Forest (BNF) – underscoring further team commitment to regionally important land atmosphere two-way interactive studies “from the canopy to the clouds”, with enhanced tower instrumentation augmenting traditional ARM capabilities adjacent to this site. Multiple supplemental sites will also be distributed across this region, prioritizing added needs for biodiversity. Anticipated high-priority cloud science themes will target N. AL as a regional SE U.S. hotbed for high-impact weather, convective cloud onset, and shallow to-deep cloud transitioning. Anticipated aerosol drivers will focus on chemical processes that control the evolution of organic aerosol, the seasonality and spatial distribution of water vapor and particle-phase water, and its role on aerosol optical properties. Anticipated land atmosphere drivers consider the two-way feedbacks between surface influence on aerosols, clouds, and precipitation properties and the associated radiative impacts on plant physiology and canopy-scale fluxes. Emphasis will include the study of the impact of surface processes on aerosols via precursor emission, and on clouds via moisture flux and thermal development.

Doppler lidar, aerosols, convection↗
DOE OSTI2026

Environmental Extremes: Building a New Research Partnership between the University of Nevada Reno and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Final Report)

This project focused on strengthening research partnership and collaboration between the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) and the Pacific Northwest National laboratory (PNNL) in two focused areas: wildfires and hydrology in the context of environmental extremes. The goal was to overcome barriers and bring UNR university researchers, students, and postdocs up to speed and entrained into DOE/SC/BER /Earth and Environmental System Science Division’s (EESSD) environmental research enterprise. UNR continues to work with the Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate (EBSD) at PNNL to create a broad new collaborative research program connecting scientists and research faculty at the two institutions. This research partnership has been designed to increase the capabilities and velocities of both institutions by developing long-term relationships between researchers from each institution, exposing university researchers to the deep capabilities in the DOE National Laboratories and user facilities, and establishing a pipeline of skilled and experienced graduate students and postdoctoral researchers ready to work alongside DOE scientists to take on grand challenge science problems. These collaborations are intended to ultimately benefit the public by advancing scientific discovery, unleashing the scientific potentials through collaboration and connection, enriching the technical and scientific competitiveness of our nation, and enabling the development of a skilled workforce to tackle the critical scientific challenges that face our nation’s security, infrastructure, and prosperity.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1993

Conceptual design for the Space Station Freedom fluid physics/dynamics facility

A study team at NASA's Lewis Research Center has been working on a definition study and conceptual design for a fluid physics and dynamics science facility that will be located in the Space Station Freedom's baseline U.S. Laboratory module. This modular, user-friendly facility, called the Fluid Physics/Dynamics Facility, will be available for use by industry, academic, and government research communities in the late 1990's. The Facility will support research experiments dealing with the study of fluid physics and dynamics phenomena. Because of the lack of gravity-induced convection, research into the mechanisms of fluids in the absence of gravity will help to provide a better understanding of the fundamentals of fluid processes. This document has been prepared as a final version of the handout for reviewers at the Fluid Physics/Dynamics Facility Assessment Workshop held at Lewis on January 24 and 25, 1990. It covers the background, current status, and future activities of the Lewis Project Study Team effort. It is a revised and updated version of a document entitled 'Status Report on the Conceptual Design for the Space Station Fluid Physics/Dynamics Facility', dated January 1990.

Thompson, Robert L.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Opportunities for retrieval and tool augmented large language models in scientific facilities

Upgrades to advanced scientific user facilities such as next-generation x-ray light sources, nanoscience centers, and neutron facilities are revolutionizing our understanding of materials across the spectrum of the physical sciences, from life sciences to microelectronics. However, these facility and instrument upgrades come with a significant increase in complexity. Driven by more exacting scientific needs, instruments and experiments become more intricate each year. This increased operational complexity makes it ever more challenging for domain scientists to design experiments that effectively leverage the capabilities of and operate on these advanced instruments. Large language models (LLMs) can perform complex information retrieval, assist in knowledge-intensive tasks across applications, and provide guidance on tool usage. Using x-ray light sources, leadership computing, and nanoscience centers as representative examples, we describe preliminary experiments with a Context-Aware Language Model for Science (CALMS) to assist scientists with instrument operations and complex experimentation. With the ability to retrieve relevant information from facility documentation, CALMS can answer simple questions on scientific capabilities and other operational procedures. With the ability to interface with software tools and experimental hardware, CALMS can conversationally operate scientific instruments. By making information more accessible and acting on user needs, LLMs could expand and diversify scientific facilities’ users and accelerate scientific output.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1989

Space physics analysis network node directory (The Yellow Pages): Fourth edition

The Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) is a component of the global DECnet Internet, which has over 17,000 host computers. The growth of SPAN from its implementation in 1981 to its present size of well over 2,500 registered SPAN host computers, has created a need for users to acquire timely information about the network through a central source. The SPAN Network Information Center (SPAN-NIC) an online facility managed by the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) was developed to meet this need for SPAN-wide information. The remote node descriptive information in this document is not currently contained in the SPAN-NIC database, but will be incorporated in the near future. Access to this information is also available to non-DECnet users over a variety of networks such as Telenet, the NASA Packet Switched System (NPSS), and the TCP/IP Internet. This publication serves as the Yellow Pages for SPAN node information. The document also provides key information concerning other computer networks connected to SPAN, nodes associated with each SPAN routing center, science discipline nodes, contacts for primary SPAN nodes, and SPAN reference information. A section on DECnet Internetworking discusses SPAN connections with other wide-area DECnet networks (many with thousands of nodes each). Another section lists node names and their disciplines, countries, and institutions in the SPAN Network Information Center Online Data Base System. All remote sites connected to US-SPAN and European-SPAN (E-SPAN) are indexed. Also provided is information on the SPAN tail circuits, i.e., those remote nodes connected directly to a SPAN routing center, which is the local point of contact for resolving SPAN-related problems. Reference material is included for those who wish to know more about SPAN. Because of the rapid growth of SPAN, the SPAN Yellow Pages is reissued periodically.

Peters, David J.↗
DOE OSTI2021

APS Science 2020 (Vol. 1)

The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Photon Source (APS) is one of the world’s most productive x-ray light source facilities. Each year, the APS provides high-brightness x-ray beams to a diverse community of more than 5,000 researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter physics, the life and environmental sciences, and applied research. Researchers using the APS produce over 2,000 publications each year detailing impactful discoveries, and solve more vital biological protein structures than users of any other x-ray light source research facility. APS x-rays are ideally suited for explorations of materials and biological structures; elemental distribution; chemical, magnetic, electronic states; and a wide range of technologically important engineering systems from batteries to fuel injector sprays, all of which are the foundations of our nation’s economic, technological, and physical well-being. The APS occupies an 80-acre site on the Argonne campus, about 25 miles from downtown Chicago, Illinois. It shares a site with the Center for Nanoscale Materials and the Advanced Protein Characterization Facility.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ice Fog Field Experiment at Oliktok Point Campaign Report

The Ice Fog Field Experiment at Oliktok Point (IFFExO) on the North Slope of Alaska was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility and took place during November, 2020.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Sample Return (MSR) Sample Receiving Facility (SRF) Assessment Study (MSAS)

NASA, in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), is seeking to return Martian geological and atmospheric samples to Earth for scientific study in the early 2030s. Due to the possibility that the samples could contain extraterrestrial life, Mars Sample Return (MSR) is classified as a Category V: Restricted Earth Return mission by the NASA Planetary Protection Office. As a result of this classification, a MSR Sample Receiving Facility (SRF) must not only provide a pristine environment to ensure samples are protected from terrestrial contamination for scientific investigations, it must also provide high-containment (biosafety level 4 [BSL-4]-equivalence) to isolate the samples from Earth’s biosphere until the samples are deemed safe for release and/or sterilized. The nominal utilization period for a SRF is anticipated to be 2-5 years and is intended to enable curation activities, biohazard assessment, select early science activities, and the rapid release of samples to the scientific community. However, to account for possible delays in schedule or the identification of extant life, this anticipated period of time must be flexible to accommodate schedule extensions and contingency plans. Due to requirements for high-level biological containment and cleanliness, a traditional receiving/curation facility cannot be utilized for MSR. Therefore, beginning in 2022, NASA Johnson Space Center is performing a MSR SRF Assessment Study (MSAS) to investigate the most optimal facility modality for a MSR SRF, as well as start to define programmatic early estimate of costs and schedules before the initial design phase begins. NASA is partnering with industry contractors (architectural and engineering firms with BSL-4 and cleanroom technology experience, as well as other contracted infrastructure and construction specialists) along with selected experts from NASA, ESA, existing U.S. BSL-4 facilities, and other U.S. government agencies, to carry out the assessment study. The MSAS should also aid in the future refinement of the science requirements (e.g., contamination control, equipment accommodations) before site-specific design would commence. As part of the MSAS, NASA is planning to assess an array of possibilities for a MSR SRF. One of the main considerations is the facility modality and whether an existing BSL-4 facility can be utilized (for some or all functions); or, if new constructure would be required, would a traditional fixed facility or a modular facility the best choice. MSAS will also investigate the ability of the modalities to accommodate two different facility capability endmembers: 1) a minimal facility focusing on biohazard assessment and curation tasks with a small footprint, and 2) an enhanced facility with additional capabilities to enable expedited processing and the completion of time-sensitive and (some) sterilization-sensitive science. The assessment is intended to generate information that will inform the selection of facility modalities for high-level conceptual design development. While the assessment study will focus on SRF requirements for accommodating curation, science, and sample safety assessment infrastructure, it will also consider an array of other factors, such as ease of access for international users, decommissioning, repurposing, future sale or lease following MSR’s use of the facility, and uncontained preparatory laboratory spaces. Upon completion of the study, the preferred modality and refined requirements would be utilized for site-specific design but will not be finalized until NASA’s completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process.

A.D. Harrington↗
DOE OSTI2021

Improved Acquisition and Reconstruction for Wavelength-Resolved Neutron Tomography

Wavelength-resolved neutron tomography (WRNT) is an emerging technique for characterizing samples relevant to the materials sciences in 3D. WRNT studies can be carried out at beam lines in spallation neutron or reactor-based user facilities. Because of the limited availability of experimental time, potential imperfections in the neutron source, or constraints placed on the acquisition time by the type of sample, the data can be extremely noisy resulting in tomographic reconstructions with significant artifacts when standard reconstruction algorithms are used. Furthermore, making a full tomographic measurement even with a low signal-to-noise ratio can take several days, resulting in a long wait time before the user can receive feedback from the experiment when traditional acquisition protocols are used. In this paper, we propose an interlaced scanning technique and combine it with a model-based image reconstruction algorithm to produce high-quality WRNT reconstructions concurrent with the measurements being made. The interlaced scan is designed to acquire data so that successive measurements are more diverse in contrast to typical sequential scanning protocols. The model-based reconstruction algorithm combines a data-fidelity term with a regularization term to formulate the wavelength-resolved reconstruction as minimizing a high-dimensional cost-function. Using an experimental dataset of a magnetite sample acquired over a span of about two days, we demonstrate that our technique can produce high-quality reconstructions even during the experiment compared to traditional acquisition and reconstruction techniques. In summary, the combination of the proposed acquisition strategy with an advanced reconstruction algorithm provides a novel guideline for designing WRNT systems at user facilities.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗