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Press information on the STS-9/SPACELAB 1 mission is provided. Launch preparations, launch window, flight objectives, experiments, life sciences baseline data collection, SPACELAB 1 payload operations and control crew and specialists, and tracking and data management are among the topics explained.
The Heliosphere Instrument for Spectral, Composition, and Anisotropy at Low Energies (HI-SCALE) designed to measure interplanetary ions and electrons is described. Ions and electrons are detected by five separate solid-state detector telescopes oriented to give complete pitch angle coverage from the spinning spacecraft. Ion elemental abundances are determined by a telescope using a thin front detector element in a three-element telescope. Experiment operation is controlled by a microprocessor-based data system. Inflight calibration is provided by radioactive sources mounted on closable telescope covers. Ion and electron spectral information is determined using broad-energy-range rate channels, and a pulse-height analyzer for more detailed spectra. The instrument weighs 5.775 kg and uses 4.0 W power.
Characteristic modulation detected, enabling rejection of multimode signals. Monitoring circuit senses multiple longitudinal mode oscillation of transversely excited, atmospheric-pressure (TEA) CO2 laser. Facility developed for inclusion into coherent detection laser radar (LIDAR) system. However, circuit described of use in any experiment where desireable to record data only when laser operates in single longitudinal mode.
In this paper, we propose a new heuristic scheduling algorithm based on the statistical analysis of the cumulative frequency distribution of operations among control steps. It has a tendency of escaping from local minima and therefore reaching a globally optimal solution. The presented algorithm considers the real world constraints such as chained operations, multicycle operations, and pipelined data paths. The result of the experiment shows that it gives optimal solutions, even though it is greedy in nature.
The concepts behind operations engineering as applied to the requirements, design, development and testing of data processing systems are presented, together with the associated benefits. The objective of operations engineering is to reduce the overall life cycle costs by integrating operations experience with the development process. To achieve this goal, operations engineering seeks to reduce the development costs by that assuring operational requirements are incorporated into the design and development process as early as possible, and reduce the operational costs by decreasing operations staffing requirements and other related costs through improved system capabilities. The areas for improved system capabilities include: system recovery; data recovery; fault isolation; system operability; system flexibility; system automation; and system reporting. It is described how operations engineering is integrated with the development process, and the difficulties and misconceptions experienced in using operations engineering are discussed.
This document presents the bas'c hardware design developed by the EE 499 class during the spring semester of the 1999-2000 academic year. This design covers the electrical components to supply power to the experiments, the computer software and interfaces to control the experiments, and the ground data processing to provide an operator interface. This document is a follow-on to the Payload Mission description document and the System Requirements document developed during the EE 498 class during the fall semester. The design activities are broken down by functional area within the structure. For each area, we give the requirements that need to be met and the design to meet the requirements. For each of these areas, a prototype selection of hardware and/or software was done by the class and the components assembled as part of the class to verify that they worked as intended.
To enable the next generation of robotic and human exploration of the solar system, improvements are needed to enable robust and accurate autonomous navigation. The purpose of this work is to take advantage of the growth in and use of software-defined platforms to incorporate additional navigation capability on existing assets, while also incorporating with new vehicle designs. The Software-driven Navigation for Station Experiment focuses on implementing two soft solutions to this: transmitting pseudolite signals to perform ranging and Doppler measurements as part of the signal coding (similar to underlying Global Navigation Satellite System approaches), and the Multi-spacecraft Autonomous Positioning System, which uses existing communication protocols to embed navigation and timing information to be shared among all assets in a peer-to-peer network. These technologies were implemented on the SCaN Testbed onboard the International Space Station and exercised over the course of mid-June and late-July 2018. This paper will discuss the operational architecture, experiment plan, and initial results from the data collected. One of the key conclusions of this work is the strong need for stable accurate clock synchronization across the dispersed space network.
NASA has impaneled several internal working groups to provide recommendations to NASA management on ways to evolve and improve Earth Science Data Systems. One of these working groups is the Standards Process Group (SPC). The SPG is drawn from NASA-funded Earth Science Data Systems stakeholders, and it directs a process of community review and evaluation of proposed NASA standards. The working group's goal is to promote interoperability and interuse of NASA Earth Science data through broader use of standards that have proven implementation and operational benefit to NASA Earth science by facilitating the NASA management endorsement of proposed standards. The SPC now has two years of experience with this approach to identification of standards. We will discuss real examples of the different types of candidate standards that have been proposed to NASA's Standards Process Group such as OPeNDAP's Data Access Protocol, the Hierarchical Data Format, and Open Geospatial Consortium's Web Map Server. Each of the three types of proposals requires a different sort of criteria for understanding the broad concepts of "proven implementation" and "operational benefit" in the context of NASA Earth Science data systems. We will discuss how our Standards Process has evolved with our experiences with the three candidate standards.
This report presents an enhanced performance evaluation of turbine driven pumps (TDPs) at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. The data used in this study are based on the operating experience failure reports from calendar year 1998 through 2022 as reported in the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Industry Reporting and Information System (IRIS). The TDP failure modes considered for standby systems are fail to start (FTS), fail to run (FTR) for one hour of operation (FTR=1H), FTR after one hour of operation (FTR>1H), and for normally running systems FTS and FTR. An eight hour unreliability estimate is also calculated and trended. The component reliability estimates and the reliability data are trended for the most recent 10 year period while yearly estimates for reliability are provided for the entire study period. No increasing trends were identified for TDPs for the most recent 10 year period: The following decreasing trends were identified for TDPs for the most recent 10 year period: • Standby TDP FTR>1H failure rate • Normally running TDP FTR failure rate • Standby TDP unavailability • Standby MDP total unreliability (8-hour mission) • Standby TDP frequency of start demands (demands per reactor year) • Standby TDP frequency of FTR=1H hours (hours per reactor year) • Standby TDP frequency of FTR>1H events (failures per reactor year) • Normally running TDP frequency of start demands • Normally running TDP frequency of run hours • Normally running TDP frequency of FTR events.
This report presents an enhanced performance evaluation of motor-driven pumps (MDPs) at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. The data used in this study are based on the operating experience failure reports from calendar year 1998 through 2022 as reported in the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Industry Reporting and Information System (IRIS). The MDP failure modes considered for standby systems are fail to start (FTS), fail to run (FTR) for one hour of operation (FTR=1H), FTR after one hour of operation (FTR>1H), and for normally running systems FTS and FTR. An eight-hour unreliability estimate is also calculated and trended. The component reliability estimates and the reliability data are trended for the most recent 10-year period while yearly estimates for reliability are provided for the entire study period. The following increasing trends were identified for MDPs for the most recent 10-year period: (1) Standby MDP frequency of start demands (demands per reactor year), (2) Standby MDP frequency of FTR=1H hours (hours per reactor year), (3) Standby MDP frequency of FTR>1H hours, and (4) Normally running MDP frequency of run hours. The following decreasing trends were identified for MDPs for the most recent 10-year period: (1) Standby MDP FTR=1H failure probability, (2) Normally running MDP FTR failure rate, (3) Standby MDP unavailability, (4) Standby MDP total unreliability (8-hour mission), and (5) Normally running MDP total unreliability (8-hour mission).
Experiments by the New England Division (NED), Corps of Engineers with LANDSAT-1 data collection and imaging systems are reported. Data cover the future usefulness of data products received from satellites such as LANDSAT in the day to day operation of NED water resources systems used to control floods.
Preferred approaches and procedures were defined for integrating the space shuttle life sciences payload from experiment solicitation through final data dissemination at mission completion. The payloads operations plan was refined and expended to include current information. The NASA-JSC facility accommodations were assessed, and modifications recommended to improve payload processing capability. Standard format worksheets were developed to permit rapid location of experiment requirements and a Spacelab mission handbook was developed to assist potential life sciences investigators at academic, industrial, health research, and NASA centers. Practical, cost effective methods were determined for accommodating various categories of live specimens during all mission phases.
This report presents an enhanced performance evaluation of turbine driven pumps (TDPs) at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. The data used in this study are based on the operating experience failure reports from calendar year 1998 through 2024 as reported in the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Industry Reporting and Information System (IRIS). The TDP failure modes considered for standby systems are fail to start (FTS), fail to run (FTR) for one hour of operation (FTR=1H), FTR after one hour of operation (FTR>1H), and for normally running systems FTS and FTR. An eight hour unreliability estimate is also calculated and trended. The component reliability estimates and the reliability data are trended for the most recent 10 year period while yearly estimates for reliability are provided for the entire study period. No increasing trends were identified for TDPs for the most recent 10 year period.
This report presents an enhanced performance evaluation of turbine-driven pumps (TDPs) at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. The data used in this study are based on the operating experience failure reports from calendar year 1998 through 2020 as reported in the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Industry Reporting and Information System (IRIS). The TDP failure modes considered for standby systems are fail to start (FTS), fail to run (FTR) for one hour of operation (FTR≤1H), FTR after one hour of operation (FTR>1H), and for normally running systems FTS and FTR. An eight-hour unreliability estimate is also calculated and trended. The component reliability estimates and the reliability data are trended for the most recent 10-year period while yearly estimates for reliability are provided for the entire study period. No increasing trends were identified for TDPs for the most recent 10-year period: The following decreasing trends were identified for TDPs for the most recent 10-year period: • Standby TDP FTR>1H failure rate • Standby TDP unavailability • Standby MDP total unreliability (8-hour mission) • Standby TDP frequency of FTR>1H events (failures per reactor year) • Normally running TDP frequency of start demands (demands per reactor year) • Normally running TDP frequency of run hours (hours per reactor year).
This report presents an enhanced performance evaluation of motor-driven pumps (MDPs) at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. The data used in this study are based on the operating experience failure reports from calendar year 1998 through 2020 as reported in the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Industry Reporting and Information System (IRIS). The MDP failure modes considered for standby systems are fail to start (FTS), fail to run (FTR) for one hour of operation (FTR≤1H), FTR after one hour of operation (FTR>1H), and for normally running systems FTS and FTR. An eight-hour unreliability estimate is also calculated and trended. The component reliability estimates and the reliability data are trended for the most recent 10-year period while yearly estimates for reliability are provided for the entire study period. The following increasing trends were identified for MDPs for the most recent 10-year period: • Standby MDP frequency of start demands (demands per reactor year) • Standby MDP frequency of FTR≤1H hours (hours per reactor year) • Standby MDP frequency of FTR>1H hours • Normally running MDP frequency of run hours. The following decreasing trends were identified for MDPs for the most recent 10-year period: • Standby MDP FTR≤1H failure probability • Normally running MDP FTR failure rate • Standby MDP unavailability • Normally running MDP total unreliability (8-hour mission) • Standby MDP frequency of FTR≤1H events (failures per reactor year) • Normally running MDP frequency of FTR events.
This report presents an enhanced performance evaluation of motor-driven pumps (MDPs) at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. The data used in this study are based on the operating experience failure reports from calendar year 1998 through 2024 as reported in the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Industry Reporting and Information System (IRIS). The MDP failure modes considered for standby systems are fail to start (FTS), fail to run (FTR) for one hour of operation (FTR=1H), FTR after one hour of operation (FTR>1H), and for normally running systems FTS and FTR. An eight-hour unreliability estimate is also calculated and trended. The component reliability estimates and the reliability data are trended for the most recent 10-year period while yearly estimates for reliability are provided for the entire study period.
Extensive efforts have been carried out at ANL for the verification and validation of the Argonne Reactor Codes (ARC) software package currently used for the design of Versatile Test Reactor (VTR). The ARC software package consists of steady state neutronics and thermal hydraulics modeling capabilities which are being used by the VTR program to develop most of the VTR reactor design details which will be part of the licensing application. It is anticipated that this software will continue to be used for the design work and for initial operations although additional software may be introduced at a later time. The validation work was focused primarily on obtaining validation data consistent with VTR and usable for the ARC software. Because no critical facilities or operating fast spectrum reactors are available to do experiments for the VTR, the next best option is to identify historical experimental data that can be used as validation data. Early on in VTR, the ZPPR-15 set of experiments was identified as good validation data because of 1) the availability and quality of the data, 2) existing staff that are already familiar with the experimental machine and measurements, 3) most of the ZPPR-15 loadings of interest have already been processed into ARC models, and 4) a full uncertainty quantification has already been done for several loadings of ZPPR-15. The FFTF startup and operations data was identified as the most consistent reactor type that has validation data usable for VTR. Finally, the EBR-II fuel depletion measurements were identified as the best available validation data for VTR. It is important to note that both the FFTF and EBR-II reactors typically come with higher uncertainties than the ZPPR. In the frame of the discussed verification and validation efforts, the present document discusses the analysis of selected FFTF measurements included in the benchmark specifications of the International Reactor Physics Experiment (IRPhE) handbook. The FFTF reactor core configurations from the benchmark specification are presented in Section 2. The analysis is performed with the use of the ARC code suite available at ANL for fast reactor studies and is discussed in Section 3. The reactor parameters from the benchmark include criticality, neutron spectra, effective delayed neutron spectra, control rod worth, isothermal temperature coefficient and low energy gamma-ray spectra. The calculated values and the comparison with the experimental data is discussed in Sections 4 to 9 for each considered reactor parameter. Finally, conclusions are presented in Section 10.
The ATS-6 COMSAT Propagation Experiment was designed to gather statistical data on attenuation caused by rain and snow at 13 and 18 GHz. These data will be used to determine system design parameters for future communications satellite systems operating at frequencies above 10 GHz. The experiment used 25, 18 GHz, and 15, 13 GHz unattended ground transmitters at 25 locations in the eastern U.S. to transmit to the ATS-6. The ATS-6 transponder converts these carriers to frequencies around 4150 MHz and transmits these signals to the COMSAT large horn antenna/data acquisition and receiving facility at Andover, Me. This facility calibrates and digitally records each carrier once per second. These data have been processed and analyzed for the period from July to Nov. 2, 1972. Plans are being made to conduct the experiment in Europe and India during the 35 deg E longitude site phase of ATS-6 operations.