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At least 343 records · Page 19

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NASA NTRS2000

Problem Definition and Solution Concept for En Route Constrained Airspace Problems

NASA's AATT Program is investigating potential ground-based decision support tool (DST) development for en route controllers and managers. NASA's previous work in en route DST development has focused on Transition airspace, where aircraft are impacted by constraints associated with the transition of aircraft from en route to terminal airspace. This paper investigates the problems associated with aircraft in non-transitional en route airspace, termed Constrained Airspace. A literature search was performed to catalog previously identified constrained airspace problems. The results of this search were investigated with industry representatives to validate these problems were significant in constrained airspace. Three general problem areas were identified. The first problem area involves negative impacts caused by a loss of airspace (e.g., activation of Special Use Airspace (SUA), weather cell formation, and overloaded sectors). The second problem area is the lack of identifying and taking advantage of gained airspace (e.g., SUA deactivation, weather dissipation, and sector loading reductions). The third problem area is unforeseen negative impacts caused by the acceptance of user routing requests (e.g., a route change into an area of congestion that negated the users intended benefit). Based upon the problems identified, an operational concept was developed for a DST to help handle these problems efficiently. The goal is to strategically identify constrained airspace problems and to provide functionality to support ARTCC TMUs in resolving the identified impacts. The capability lends itself well to TMU and Airline Operations Center (AOC) collaboration.

Green, Steven↗

NASA NTRS2004

Monitoring and Testing the Parts Cleaning Stations, Abrasive Blasting Cabinets, and Paint Booths

I have the opportunity to work in the Environmental Management Office (EMO) this summer. One of the EMO's tasks is to make sure the Environmental Management System is implemented to the entire Glenn Research Center (GRC). The Environmental Management System (EMS) is a policy or plan that is oriented toward minimizing an organization's impact to the environment. Our EMS includes the reduction of solid waste regeneration and the reduction of hazardous material use, waste, and pollution. With the Waste Management Team's (WMT) help, the EMS can be implemented throughout the NASA Glenn Research Center. The WMT is responsible for the disposal and managing of waste throughout the GRC. They are also responsible for the management of all chemical waste in the facility. My responsibility is to support the waste management team by performing an inventory on parts cleaning stations, abrasive cabinets, and paint booths through out the entire facility. These booths/stations are used throughout the center and they need to be monitored and tested for hazardous waste and material. My job is to visit each of these booths/stations, take samples of the waste, and analyze the samples.

Jordan, Tracee M.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Solar Power System Evaluated for the Human Exploration of Mars

The electric power system is a crucial element of any mission for the human exploration of the Martian surface. The bulk of the power generated will be delivered to crew life support systems, extravehicular activity suits, robotic vehicles, and predeployed in situ resource utilization (ISRU) equipment. In one mission scenario, before the crew departs for Mars, the ISRU plant operates for 435 days producing liquefied methane and oxygen for ascent-stage propellants and water for crew life support. About 200 days after ISRU production is completed, the crew arrives for a 500-day surface stay. In this scenario, the power system must operate for a total of 1130 days (equivalent to 1100 Martian "sols"), providing 400 MW-hr of energy to the ISRU plant and up to 18 kW of daytime user power. A photovoltaic power-generation system with regenerative fuel cell (RFC) energy storage has been under study at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. The conceptual power system is dominated by the 4000- m2 class photovoltaic array that is deployed orthogonally as four tent structures, each approximately 5 m on a side and 100-m long. The structures are composed of composite members deployed by an articulating mast, an inflatable boom, or rover vehicles, and are subsequently anchored to the ground. Array panels consist of thin polymer membranes with thin-film solar cells. The array is divided into eight independent electrical sections with solar cell strings operating at 600 V. Energy storage is provided by regenerative fuel cells based on hydrogen-oxygen proton exchange membrane technology. Hydrogen and oxygen reactants are stored in gaseous form at 3000 psi, and the water produced is stored at 14.7 psi. The fuel cell operating temperature is maintained by a 40-m2 deployable pumped-fluid loop radiator that uses water as the working fluid. The power management and distribution (PMAD) architecture features eight independent, regulated 600-Vdc channels. Power management and distribution power cables use various gauges of copper conductors with ethylene tetrafluoroethylene insulation. To assess power system design options and sizing, we developed a dedicated Fortran code to predict detailed power system performance and estimate system mass. This code also modeled the requisite Mars surface environments: solar insolation, Sun angles, dust storms, dust deposition, and thermal and ultraviolet radiation. Using this code, trade studies were performed to assess performance and mass sensitivities to power system design parameters (photovoltaic array geometry and orientation) and mission parameters (landing date and landing site latitude, terrain slope, and dust storm activity). Mission analysis cases were also run. Power results are shown in this graph for an analysis case with a September 1, 2012, landing date; 18.95 North latitude landing site; two seasonal dusts storms; and tent arrays. To meet user load requirements and the ISRU energy requirement, an 8-metric ton (MT) power system and 4000-m2 photovoltaic array area were required for the assumed advanced CuInS2 thin-film solar cell technology. In this figure, the top curve is the average daytime photovoltaic array power, the middle curve is average daytime user load power, and the bottom curve is nighttime power. At mission day 1, daytime user power exceeds 120 kW before falling off to 80 kW at the end of the mission. Throughout the mission, nighttime user power is set to the nighttime power requirement. In this analysis, "nighttime" is defined as the 13- to 15-hr period when array power output is below the daytime power requirement. During dust storms, power system capability falls off dramatically so that by mission day 900, a daily energy balance cannot be maintained. Under these conditions, the ISRU plant is placed in standby mode, and the regenerative fuel cell energy storage is gradually discharged to meet user loads.

Kerslake, Thomas W.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Challenges and lessons learned in the application of autonomy to space operations

challenges↗

NASA NTRS2008

Advancing NASA's Satellite Control Capabilities: More than Just Better Technology

This viewgraph presentation reviews the work of the Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) in the development of the NASA's satellite control capabilities. The purpose of the presentation is to provide a quick overview of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and our approach to coordinating the ground system resources and development activities across many different missions. NASA Goddard's work in developing and managing the current and future space exploration missions is highlighted. The GMSEC, was established to to coordinate ground and flight data systems development and services, to create a new standard ground system for many missions and to reflect the reality that business reengineering and mindset were just as important.

Smith, Danford↗

NASA NTRS2010

A History of NASA Remote Sensing Contributions to Archaeology

During its long history of developing and deploying remote sensing instruments, NASA has provided a scientific data that have benefitted a variety of scientific applications among them archaeology. Multispectral and hyperspectral instrument mounted on orbiting and suborbital platforms have provided new and important information for the discovery, delineation and analysis of archaeological sites worldwide. Since the early 1970s, several of the ten NASA centers have collaborated with archaeologists to refine and validate the use of active and passive remote sensing for archeological use. The Stennis Space Center (SSC), located in Mississippi USA has been the NASA leader in archeological research. Together with colleagues from Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), SSC scientists have provided the archaeological community with useful images and sophisticated processing that have pushed the technological frontiers of archaeological research and applications. Successful projects include identifying prehistoric roads in Chaco canyon, identifying sites from the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery exploration and assessing prehistoric settlement patterns in southeast Louisiana. The Scientific Data Purchase (SDP) stimulated commercial companies to collect archaeological data. At present, NASA formally solicits "space archaeology" proposals through its Earth Science Directorate and continues to assist archaeologists and cultural resource managers in doing their work more efficiently and effectively. This paper focuses on passive remote sensing and does not consider the significant contributions made by NASA active sensors. Hyperspectral data offers new opportunities for future archeological discoveries.

Giardino, Marco J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

A Modular Instrumentation System for NASA's Habitat Demonstration Unit

NASA's human spaceflight program is focused on developing technologies to expand the reaches of human exploration and science activities beyond low earth orbit. A critical aspect of living in space or on planetary surfaces is habitation, which provides a safe and comfortable space in which humans can live and work. NASA is seeking out the best option for habitation by exploring several different concepts through the Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU) project. The purpose of this HDU is to develop a fully autonomous habitation system that enables human exploration of space. One critical feature of the HDU project that helps to accomplish its mission of autonomy is the instrumentation system that monitors key subsystems operating within a Habitat configuration. The following paper will discuss previous instrumentation systems used in analog habitat concepts and how the current instrumentation system being implemented on the HDU1-PEM, or pressurized excursion module, is building upon the lessons learned of those previous systems. Additionally, this paper will discuss the benefits and the limitations of implementing a wireless sensor network (WSN) as the basis for data transport in the instrumentation system. Finally, this paper will address the experiences and lessons learned with integration, testing prior to deployment, and field testing at the JSC rock yard. NASA is developing the HDU1-PEM as a step towards a fully autonomous habitation system that enables human exploration of space. To accomplish this purpose, the HDU project is focusing on development, integration, testing, and evaluation of habitation systems. The HDU will be used as a technology pull, testbed, and integration environment in which to advance NASA's understanding of alternative mission architectures, requirements, and operations concepts definition and validation. This project is a multi-year effort. In 2010, the HDU1-PEM will be in a pressurized excursion module configuration, and in 2011 the module will be reconfigured for a pressurized core module configuration. Each year the HDU configurations will undergo testing at NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RaTS) in Arizona [1]. As part of this project, a modular instrumentation system is developed to meet the monitoring needs of the HDU subsystems and to integrate with the current command and data handling infrastructure that has been developed for the project. The main objective of this study is to provide for the monitoring needs of the HDU. The requirements necessary to meet this objective are developed by working with the subsystem managers of the HDU to understand their monitoring needs. Additionally, the instrumentation system design leverages knowledge and lessons learned from previous studies, such as the inflatable habitat health monitoring system that was deployed in Antarctica [2], the integrated health monitoring system developed for NASA's Microhab [3], and the JSC Lunar Habitat Wireless Testbed to demonstrate a "standardsbased" approach to a wireless instrumentation system [4]. The HDU also requires flexibility in reconfiguration options, and it is necessary to demonstrate and evaluate a modular approach to an instrumentation system. Thus, the instrumentation system is designed in two parts: the primary system employs a standard WSN configuration, and the secondary system employs a wired USB hub. The WSN design provides for reconfiguration or replacement of sensors due to malfunctions or upgrades by using a wireless node that accepts ten instrument inputs and wirelessly transmits the data to the command and data handling system. The USB hub is necessary for those instruments that operate using a wired USB connection, although the design attempts to limit the amount of sensors that need to be wired connections.

Rojdev, Kristina↗

NASA NTRS2001

Challenges and Lessons Learned in the Application of Autonomy to Space Operations

NASA's Space Operations Management Office (SOMO) is working toward a goal of providing an integrated infrastructure of mission and data services for space missions undertaken by NASA enterprises. A significant portion of this effort is focused on reducing the cost of these services. We are interested in the potential of autonomy to reduce operations costs. SOMO services support space missions, but are not part of the mission objectives; therefore the level of acceptable risk is very low. In fact, SOMO could be effective ly prevented from applying autonomy if customers merely perceive it as adding risk to their mission(s). We are interested in this workshop from the standpoint of understanding what can be done to realize the potential cost savings due to autonomy while maintaining acceptable risk and serving the needs of our customers. We would like to present our lessons learned so far in adopting autonomy and automation, which we think will contribute to clarifying the challenges facing the use of such technology. SOMO provides services to a diverse and ambitious set of mission customers. Many of these missions are groundbreaking missions for which communications, data, and other operations requirements sometimes cannot be clearly articulated early in the program. This motivates a need for systems that are robust in the face of unanticipated situations so that customer missions are not unreasonably constrained or impacted by "shortcomings" in SOMO services. One of SOMO's primary goals is to realize a paradigm in which SOMO acts as a service provider to organizations that fly space missions for NASA, other government agencies, and even the commercial sector. These organizations purchase SOMO services "by the pound" as customers. We have to provide systems that are not experiments themselves, but rather stable bases from which to do bold experiments. To this end, SOMO also seeks to work closely with industry to see that robust autonomy technology gets infused into products and services for the space industry and beyond. The potential for application of these technologies spans space-based communications networks (e.g. TDRSS) and ground-based assets including communication and tracking antenna systems, data networks, and control centers. There are several problems that are candidates for the application of autonomy, if it can be made reliable enough, including: antenna control, antenna scheduling, communication link scheduling and operation, navigation, attitude determination, fault detection, isolation, and reconfiguration (for spacecraft or ground assets), and mission-level planning and scheduling. Some attempts have been made to apply autonomy and automation in these areas in the past with varying degrees of success. We will present relevant case histories and the lessons inferred from them. Combining this past experience with anticipated future needs, we can clarify the challenges that must be met in order to realize the benefits of autonomy.

Forrest, David J.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Analogs and the BHP Risk Reduction Strategy for Future Spaceflight Missions

In preparation for future exploration missions to distant destinations (e.g., Moon, Near Earth Objects (NEO), and Mars), the NASA Human Research Program s (HRP) Behavioral Health and Performance Element (BHP) conducts and supports research to address four human health risks: Risk of Behavioral Conditions; Risk of Psychiatric Conditions; Risk of Performance Decrements Due to Inadequate Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, and Psychosocial Adaptation within a Team; and Risk of Performance Errors due to Sleep Loss, Fatigue, Circadian Desynchronization, and Work Overload (HRP Science Management Plan, 2008). BHP Research, in collaboration with internal and external research investigators, as well as subject matter experts within NASA operations including flight surgeons, astronauts, and mission planners and others within the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD), identifies knowledge and technology gaps within each Risk. BHP Research subsequently manages and conducts research tasks to address and close the gaps, either through risk assessment and quantification, or the development of countermeasures and monitoring technologies. The resulting deliverables, in many instances, also support current Medical Operations and/or Mission Operations for the International Space Station (ISS).

Whitmire, Sandra↗

NASA NTRS2011

Evaluation of Cable Harness Post-Installation Testing

The Cable Harness Post-Installation Testing Report was written in response to an action issued by the Ares Project Control Board (PCB). The action for the Ares I Avionics & Software Chief Engineer and the Avionics Integration and Vehicle Systems Test Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Manager in the Vehicle Integration Office was to develop a set of guidelines for electrical cable harnesses. Research showed that post-installation tests have been done since the Apollo era. For Ares I-X, the requirement for post-installation testing was removed to make it consistent with the avionics processes used on the Atlas V expendable launch vehicle. Further research for the report involved surveying government and private sector launch vehicle developers, military and commercial aircraft, spacecraft developers, and harness vendors. Responses indicated crewed launch vehicles and military aircraft perform post-installation tests. Key findings in the report were as follows: Test requirements identify damage, human-rated vehicles should be tested despite the identification of statistically few failures, data does not support the claim that post-installation testing damages the harness insulation system, and proper planning can reduce overhead associated with testing. The primary recommendation of the report is for the Ares projects to retain the practice of post-fabrication and post-installation cable harness testing.

King, M. S.↗

NASA NTRS2013

An Offload NIC for NASA, NLR, and Grid Computing

This work addresses distributed data management and access dynamically configurable high-speed access to data distributed and shared over wide-area high-speed network environments. An offload engine NIC (network interface card) is proposed that scales at nX10-Gbps increments through 100-Gbps full duplex. The Globus de facto standard was used in projects requiring secure, robust, high-speed bulk data transport. Novel extension mechanisms were derived that will combine these technologies for use by GridFTP, bandwidth management resources, and host CPU (central processing unit) acceleration. The result will be wire-rate encrypted Globus grid data transactions through offload for splintering, encryption, and compression. As the need for greater network bandwidth increases, there is an inherent need for faster CPUs. The best way to accelerate CPUs is through a network acceleration engine. Grid computing data transfers for the Globus tool set did not have wire-rate encryption or compression. Existing technology cannot keep pace with the greater bandwidths of backplane and network connections. Present offload engines with ports to Ethernet are 32 to 40 Gbps f-d at best. The best of ultra-high-speed offload engines use expensive ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) or NPUs (network processing units). The present state of the art also includes bonding and the use of multiple NICs that are also in the planning stages for future portability to ASICs and software to accommodate data rates at 100 Gbps. The remaining industry solutions are for carrier-grade equipment manufacturers, with costly line cards having multiples of 10-Gbps ports, or 100-Gbps ports such as CFP modules that interface to costly ASICs and related circuitry. All of the existing solutions vary in configuration based on requirements of the host, motherboard, or carriergrade equipment. The purpose of the innovation is to eliminate data bottlenecks within cluster, grid, and cloud computing systems, and to add several more capabilities while reducing space consumption and cost. Provisions were designed for interoperability with systems used in the NASA HEC (High-End Computing) program. The new acceleration engine consists of state-ofthe- art FPGA (field-programmable gate array) core IP, C, and Verilog code; novel communication protocol; and extensions to the Globus structure. The engine provides the functions of network acceleration, encryption, compression, packet-ordering, and security added to Globus grid or for cloud data transfer. This system is scalable in nX10-Gbps increments through 100-Gbps f-d. It can be interfaced to industry-standard system-side or network-side devices or core IP in increments of 10 GigE, scaling to provide IEEE 40/100 GigE compliance.

Awrach, James↗

NASA NTRS2014

The History of Orbiter Corrosion Control (1981 - 2011)

After 135 missions and 30 years the Orbiter fleet was retired in 2011. Working with Orbiter project management and a world class engineering team the CCRB was successful in providing successful sustaining engineering support for approximately 20 years. Lessons learned from the Orbiter program have aided NASA and contractor engineers in the design and manufacture of new spacecraft so that exploration of space can continue. The Orbiters are proudly being displayed for all the public to see in New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Corrosion↗

NASA NTRS2014

Data Analysis & Statistical Methods for Command File Errors

This paper explains current work on modeling for managing the risk of command file errors. It is focused on analyzing actual data from a JPL spaceflight mission to build models for evaluating and predicting error rates as a function of several key variables. We constructed a rich dataset by considering the number of errors, the number of files radiated, including the number commands and blocks in each file, as well as subjective estimates of workload and operational novelty. We have assessed these data using different curve fitting and distribution fitting techniques, such as multiple regression analysis, and maximum likelihood estimation to see how much of the variability in the error rates can be explained with these. We have also used goodness of fit testing strategies and principal component analysis to further assess our data. Finally, we constructed a model of expected error rates based on the what these statistics bore out as critical drivers to the error rate. This model allows project management to evaluate the error rate against a theoretically expected rate as well as anticipate future error rates.

Correlation Analysis↗

NASA NTRS2017

Screening and Management of Asymptomatic Renal Stones in Astronauts

Management guidelines were created to screen and manage asymptomatic renal stones in U.S. astronauts. The true risk for renal stone formation in astronauts due to the space flight environment is unknown. Proper management of this condition is crucial to mitigate health and mission risks. The NASA Flight Medicine Clinic electronic medical record and the Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health databases were reviewed. An extensive review of the literature and current aeromedical standards for the monitoring and management of renal stones was also done. This work was used to develop a screening and management protocol for renal stones in astronauts that is relevant to the spaceflight operational environment. In the proposed guidelines all astronauts receive a yearly screening and post-flight renal ultrasound using a novel ultrasound protocol. The ultrasound protocol uses a combination of factors, including: size, position, shadow, twinkle and dispersion properties to confirm the presence of a renal calcification. For mission-assigned astronauts, any positive ultrasound study is followed by a low-dose renal computed tomography scan and urologic consult. Other specific guidelines were also created. A small asymptomatic renal stone within the renal collecting system may become symptomatic at any time, and therefore affect launch and flight schedules, or cause incapacitation during a mission. Astronauts in need of definitive care can be evacuated from the International Space Station, but for deep space missions evacuation is impossible. The new screening and management algorithm has been implemented and the initial round of screening ultrasounds is under way. Data from these exams will better define the incidence of renal stones in U.S. astronauts, and will be used to inform risk mitigation for both short and long duration spaceflights.

Reyes, David↗

NASA NTRS2017

Screening and Management of Asymptomatic Renal Stones in Astronauts

Reyes, David↗

NASA NTRS2017

UAV Trajectory Modeling Using Neural Networks

Large amount of small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (sUAVs) are projected to operate in the near future. Potential sUAV applications include, but not limited to, search and rescue, inspection and surveillance, aerial photography and video, precision agriculture, and parcel delivery. sUAVs are expected to operate in the uncontrolled Class G airspace, which is at or below 500 feet above ground level (AGL), where many static and dynamic constraints exist, such as ground properties and terrains, restricted areas, various winds, manned helicopters, and conflict avoidance among sUAVs. How to enable safe, efficient, and massive sUAV operations at the low altitude airspace remains a great challenge. NASA's Unmanned aircraft system Traffic Management (UTM) research initiative works on establishing infrastructure and developing policies, requirement, and rules to enable safe and efficient sUAVs' operations. To achieve this goal, it is important to gain insights of future UTM traffic operations through simulations, where the accurate trajectory model plays an extremely important role. On the other hand, like what happens in current aviation development, trajectory modeling should also serve as the foundation for any advanced concepts and tools in UTM. Accurate models of sUAV dynamics and control systems are very important considering the requirement of the meter level precision in UTM operations. The vehicle dynamics are relatively easy to derive and model, however, vehicle control systems remain unknown as they are usually kept by manufactures as a part of intellectual properties. That brings challenges to trajectory modeling for sUAVs. How to model the vehicle's trajectories with unknown control system? This work proposes to use a neural network to model a vehicle's trajectory. The neural network is first trained to learn the vehicle's responses at numerous conditions. Once being fully trained, given current vehicle states, winds, and desired future trajectory, the neural network should be able to predict the vehicle's future states at next time step. A complete 4-D trajectory are then generated step by step using the trained neural network. Experiments in this work show that the neural network can approximate the sUAV's model and predict the trajectory accurately.

Neural Networks↗

NASA NTRS2018

Sharing the NASA Experience

Dr. Obadiah Kegege will share his career experience with the University of Missouri _ Kansas City Students. This experience spans from academia, research and development, working on flight and ground systems for space exploration, to current work in engineering project management. Most of his NASA experience concentrates on supporting the Space Communication and Navigation Program (SCaN) program. SCaN implements, manages, and maintains communications and navigation services to existing and planned space missions. Dr. Kegege's talk will touch on topics like "how do we communicate to space," as well giving an overview of NASA's Near-Earth Network (NEN), Space Network (SN), and the Deep Space Network (DSN). Also, Dr. Kegege will answer a few questions from students, i.e applying for NASA internships, applying for jobs at NASA, etc.

Kegege, Obadiah O.↗

NASA NTRS2019

NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Program Status and Technology Investments Overview

The presentation provides an updated, high-level overview of the NEPP Program. The latest organizational chart is presented that shows the names of the Program and Assistant Program Managers. Additionally, the recent work that is on-going with the updating of several NASA NPDs, NPRs and technical standards is reviewed. Internal and external organizational interfaces are described. Finally, the current technology focus areas are described. These areas include passives, wide-band gap power devices, processor units (CPUs and GPUs), 2.5D and 3D device architectures, memories, and data analytics.

NEPAG↗