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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Viper Science Operations: Lunar Dynamic Science Table and ‘Tracker’ Tool.

Introduction: The NASA VIPER lunar rover mission [1] presents a unique operational paradigm within the history of robotic spaceflight. The proximity of the Moon to the Earth and the terrain elements (surface characteristics, light/shadow dynamics, communication links) of the Lunar South Polar landing site create unprecedented operational conditions between these two planetary bodies. Apollo era lunar science and exploration included humans in situ to operate instruments and assimilate observational inputs in real-time. Previous lunar orbital missions have worked to operational timescales, e.g., decisional timelines and communication exchanges, that were weeks in duration. Mars rover missions have worked to operational timescales, e.g., decisional timelines and communication exchanges between Mars and Earth, that were hours, days, and weeks in length. In the case of the VIPER mission, our operational decisioning for rover driving and instrument commanding will be compressed to minute-scale timeframes. These operational conditions will directly impact the workflow and speed with which the VIPER Science Team (VST) will be required to synthesize and analyze data and produce timely science-driven decisions throughout surface mission operations [2]. The VST in the VIPER Mission Science Center (MSC) and the Mission Operations Center (MOC) shall provide mission-enhancing scientific input to guide traverse planning and drill site confirmation/selection throughout surface operations. Further, the VST input will be of vital importance to the mission’s ability to maximize science return and to meet broader NASA objectives for future lunar ISRU and exploration activities. Specifically, the VST in the MSC and MOC will provide science-driven, consensus-based, timely input and decision-making to enhance mission operations and align mission science return with broader Agency goals. They will enable the characterization of the distribution (lateral and vertical extent, concentration, variability), form (chemical/physical state of these reservoirs of lunar water and key isotopes), and context (e.g., accessibility/overburden, environment, soil mechanics, trafficability, and temperatures) of lunar polar volatiles and water content for the VIPER mission. Additionally, the MSC will be selecting or reconfirming the location and path towards and from the third drill site (Drill Site Charlie) within each Science Station [6]. To enable scientific decision-making within the operational paradigm of the VIPER lunar rover mission requires detailed articulation of the VST’s scientific objectives and goals, and the operationalization of these objectives and goals through their association with specific data products, tasks, and decisional procedures. Further, defining and tracking scientific success metrics throughout surface operations will enable the VST to have a quantified understanding of the mission’s evolving ability to accomplish the stated scientific objectives and goals both during and after the mission. This abstract provides an overview of the methods and development activities towards defining, operationalizing, and tracking scientific objectives and goals throughout VIPER surface operations. Specifically, we focus on the VIPER Lunar Dynamic Science Table (LDST) and the VIPER “Tracker” tool.

Darlene Sze Shien Lim↗
NASA NTRS2004

Science Goal Monitor: Science Goal Driven Automation for NASA Missions

Infusion of automation technologies into NASA s future missions will be essential because of the need to: (1) effectively handle an exponentially increasing volume of scientific data, (2) successfully meet dynamic, opportunistic scientific goals and objectives, and (3) substantially reduce mission operations staff and costs. While much effort has gone into automating routine spacecraft operations to reduce human workload and hence costs, applying intelligent automation to the science side, i.e., science data acquisition, data analysis and reactions to that data analysis in a timely and still scientifically valid manner, has been relatively under-emphasized. In order to introduce science driven automation in missions, we must be able to: capture and interpret the science goals of observing programs, represent those goals in machine interpretable language; and allow spacecrafts onboard systems to autonomously react to the scientist's goals. In short, we must teach our platforms to dynamically understand, recognize, and react to the scientists goals. The Science Goal Monitor (SGM) project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is a prototype software tool being developed to determine the best strategies for implementing science goal driven automation in missions. The tools being developed in SGM improve the ability to monitor and react to the changing status of scientific events. The SGM system enables scientists to specify what to look for and how to react in descriptive rather than technical terms. The system monitors streams of science data to identify occurrences of key events previously specified by the scientist. When an event occurs, the system autonomously coordinates the execution of the scientist s desired reactions. Through SGM, we will improve om understanding about the capabilities needed onboard for success, develop metrics to understand the potential increase in science returns, and develop an operational prototype so that the perceived risks associated with increased use of automation can be reduced.

Koratkar, Anuradha↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Artemis Internal Science Team Update: Artemis Science Flight Operations

The Artemis Internal Science Team (AIST) is positioned across NASA to provide crossmission Science leadership across the Agency and Artemis. To prepare for the next generation of planetary surface exploration-based extravehicular activities (EVAs), we draw heavily from experience with Apollo, SkyLab, Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), and analog tests to design the structure by which science will be integrated in the Plan, Train, and Fly phases of Artemis missions. AIST members have been working for years to integrate science into the Artemis flight operations structure, most notably through a tight collaboration with the NASA JSC Flight Operations Directorate (FOD). This abstract describes several examples of this integration, including Structure of RealTime Science Integration, the development of the EVA Science Officer Flight Controller Position, the development and testing of the Science Evaluation Room, and the development of Training for Artemis Science Teams.

K E Young↗
NASA NTRS1995

Space Science for the 21st Century: The Space Science Enterprise Strategic Plan

Throughout its history, the U.S. Space Science technologies program has been enormously productive. Its accomplishments have rewritten the textbooks. But now, the economic environment has changed dramatically. The Nation's scientific and technological goals are being reexamined and redefined.And the social contract between the scientific community and the Federal Government is being rewritten. There is an expectation that the American public should receive more direct benefits from its investment in science and technology. This Strategic Plan reflects this new paradigm. It presents a carefully selected set of new scientific initiatives that build on past accomplishments to continue NASA's excellence in Space Science. At the same time, it responds to fiscal constraints by defining a new approach to planning, developing, and operating Space Science missions. In particular, investments in new technologies will permit major scientific advances to be made with smaller, more focused, and less costly missions. With the introduction of advanced technologies, smaller does not have to mean less capable. The focus on new technologies also provides and opportunity for the Space Science program to enhance its direct contribution to the country's economic base. At the same time, the program can build on public interest to strengthen its contributions to education and scientific literacy. With this plan we are taking the first steps toward shaping the Space Science program of the 21st century. In doing so, we face major challenges. It will be a very different program than might have been envisioned even a few years ago. But it will be a program that remains at the forefront of science, technology, and education. We intend to continue rewriting the textbooks.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1998

NASA's Earth Science Enterprise: Future Science Missions, Objectives and Challenges

NASA has been actively involved in studying the planet Earth and its changing environment for well over thirty years. Within the last decade, NASA's Earth Science Enterprise has become a major observational and scientific element of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. NASA's Earth Science Enterprise management has developed a comprehensive observation-based research program addressing all the critical science questions that will take us into the next century. Furthermore, the entire program is being mapped to answer five Science Themes (1) land-cover and land-use change research (2) seasonal-to-interannual climate variability and prediction (3) natural hazards research and applications (4) long-term climate-natural variability and change research and (5) atmospheric ozone research. Now the emergence of newer technologies on the horizon and at the same time continuously declining budget environment has lead to an effort to refocus the Earth Science Enterprise activities. The intent is not to compromise the overall scientific goals, but rather strengthen them by enabling challenging detection, computational and space flight technologies those have not been practically feasible to date. NASA is planning faster, cost effective and relatively smaller missions to continue the science observations from space for the next decade. At the same time, there is a growing interest in the world in the remote sensing area which will allow NASA to take advantage of this by building strong coalitions with a number of international partners. The focus of this presentation is to provide a comprehensive look at the NASA's Earth Science Enterprise in terms of its brief history, scientific objectives, organization, activities and future direction.

Habib, Shahid↗
NASA NTRS1996

NASA Science Institutes Plan. Report of the NASA Science Institutes Team: Final Publication (Incorporating Public Comments and Revisions)

This NASA Science Institute Plan has been produced in response to direction from the NASA Administrator for the benefit of NASA Senior Management, science enterprise leaders, and Center Directors. It is intended to provide a conceptual framework for organizing and planning the conduct of science in support of NASA's mission through the creation of a limited number of science Institutes. This plan is the product of the NASA Science Institute Planning Integration Team (see Figure A). The team worked intensively over a three-month period to review proposed Institutes and produce findings for NASA senior management. The team's activities included visits to current NASA Institutes and associated Centers, as well as approximately a dozen non-NASA research Institutes. In addition to producing this plan, the team published a "Benchmarks" report. The Benchmarks report provides a basis for comparing NASA's proposed activities with those sponsored by other national science agencies, and identifies best practices to be considered in the establishment of NASA Science Institutes. Throughout the team's activities, a Board of Advisors comprised of senior NASA officials (augmented as necessary with other government employees) provided overall advice and counsel.

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NASA NTRS2003

Operation of MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE): Maximizing Science Participation

Science return from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) will be optimized by maximizing science participation in the experiment. MRO is expected to arrive at Mars in March 2006, and the primary science phase begins near the end of 2006 after aerobraking (6 months) and a transition phase. The primary science phase lasts for almost 2 Earth years, followed by a 2-year relay phase in which science observations by MRO are expected to continue. We expect to acquire approx. 10,000 images with HiRISE over the course of MRO's two earth-year mission. HiRISE can acquire images with a ground sampling dimension of as little as 30 cm (from a typical altitude of 300 km), in up to 3 colors, and many targets will be re-imaged for stereo. With such high spatial resolution, the percent coverage of Mars will be very limited in spite of the relatively high data rate of MRO (approx. 10x greater than MGS or Odyssey). We expect to cover approx. 1% of Mars at approx. 1m/pixel or better, approx. 0.1% at full resolution, and approx. 0.05% in color or in stereo. Therefore, the placement of each HiRISE image must be carefully considered in order to maximize the scientific return from MRO. We believe that every observation should be the result of a mini research project based on pre-existing datasets. During operations, we will need a large database of carefully researched 'suggested' observations to select from. The HiRISE team is dedicated to involving the broad Mars community in creating this database, to the fullest degree that is both practical and legal. The philosophy of the team and the design of the ground data system are geared to enabling community involvement. A key aspect of this is that image data will be made available to the planetary community for science analysis as quickly as possible to encourage feedback and new ideas for targets.

E Eliason↗
NASA NTRS2007

Report of the NASA Science Definition Team for the Mars Science Orbiter (MSO)

NASA is considering that its Mars Exploration Program (MEP) will launch an orbiter to Mars in the 2013 launch opportunity. To further explore this opportunity, NASA has formed a Science Definition Team (SDT) for this orbiter mission, provisionally called the Mars Science Orbiter (MSO). Membership and leadership of the SDT are given in Appendix 1. Dr. Michael D. Smith chaired the SDT. The purpose of the SDT was to define the: 1) Scientific objectives of an MSO mission to be launched to Mars no earlier than the 2013 launch opportunity, building on the findings for Plan A [Atmospheric Signatures and Near-Surface Change] of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) Second Science Analysis Group (SAG-2); 2) Science requirements of instruments that are most likely to make high priority measurements from the MSO platform, giving due consideration to the likely mission, spacecraft and programmatic constraints. The possibilities and opportunities for international partners to provide the needed instrumentation should be considered; 3) Desired orbits and mission profile for optimal scientific return in support of the scientific objectives, and the likely practical capabilities and the potential constraints defined by the science requirements; and 4) Potential science synergies with, or support for, future missions, such as a Mars Sample Return. This shall include imaging for evaluation and certification of future landing sites. As a starting point, the SDT was charged to assume spacecraft capabilities similar to those of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The SDT was further charged to assume that MSO would be scoped to support telecommunications relay of data from, and commands to, landed assets, over a 10 Earth year period following orbit insertion. Missions supported by MSO may include planned international missions such as EXOMARS. The MSO SDT study was conducted during October - December 2007. The SDT was directed to complete its work by December 15, 2007. This rapid turn-around was required in order to allow time to prepare an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for science investigations, to be released in early 2008.

Smith, Michael↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The NASA Earth Science Applied Sciences Disasters Program: Making EO Data and Expertise Available through the Disasters Mapping Portal to Inform Decision-Makers throughout the Disaster Cycle

The NASA Earth Science Applied Sciences Disasters Program promotes the use of Earth Observations (EO) to inform disaster risk reduction and resilience throughout the disaster cycle, from local to global scales, by harnessing NASA science and technology capabilities, through engagement with end users to demonstrate the value and impact of EO to support decision-making, and by supporting end users in their use of EO in decision-making while developing relationships to grow as a trusted source of relevant science and useful results. Through the NASA Earth Science Applied Sciences Disasters Program Mapping Portal, an Esri-backed hub of geospatially enabled disaster products, event-based and near-real-time products are hosted to provide end users with analysis-ready data and data services, keeping in mind their expressed EO needs. In this presentation, case studies of past events will be highlighted, showcasing how EO data and services were provided by the Program and utilized by end users during the disaster cycle. Additionally, this presentation will highlight some of the Program’s ongoing collaboration activities to assist end users in understanding and preparing for utilization of EO data from the Mapping Portal to inform their decision-making throughout the disaster cycle. Ongoing efforts to advance the science provided by the Program on the Mapping Portal through new developments and capabilities will be highlighted, and common challenges and data needs end users often encounter when using EO data and our Program’s innovative solutions to these challenges will be addressed. Furthermore, this presentation will touch on the challenges faced and the solutions created by the Mapping Portal team in managing and hosting a plethora of EO data for end users across various disciplines.

Ronan Lucey↗
DOE OSTI2023

A research agenda for the science of actionable knowledge: Drawing from a review of the most misguided to the most enlightened claims in the science-policy interface literature

Linking science with action affords a prime opportunity to leverage greater societal impact from research and increase the use of evidence in decision-making. Success in these areas depends critically upon processes of producing and mobilizing knowledge, as well as supporting and making decisions. For decades, scholars have idealized and described these social processes in different ways, resulting in numerous assumptions that now variously guide engagements at the interface of science and society. We systematically catalog these assumptions based on prior research on the science-policy interface, and further distill them into a set of 26 claims. We then elicit expert perspectives (n = 16) about these claims to assess the extent to which they are accurate or merit further examination. Out of this process, we construct a research agenda to motivate future scientific research on actionable knowledge, prioritizing areas that experts identified as critical gaps in understanding of the science-society interface. The resulting agenda focuses on how to define success, support intermediaries, build trust, and evaluate the importance of consensus and its alternatives – all in the diverse contexts of science-society-decision-making interactions. We further raise questions about the centrality of knowledge in these interactions, discussing how a governance lens might be generative of efforts to support more equitable processes and outcomes. We offer these suggestions with hopes of furthering the science of actionable knowledge as a transdisciplinary area of inquiry.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Perceived Costs and Benefits of ICON Science and Foundational Documents associated with “Integrated, Coordinated, Open, and Networked (ICON) Science to Advance the Geosciences: Introduction and Synthesis of a Special Collection of Commentary Articles"

This data package is associated with the publication "Integrated, Coordinated, Open, and Networked (ICON) Science to Advance the Geosciences: Introduction and Synthesis of a Special Collection of Commentary Articles" in Earth and Space Science (Goldman et al. 2022; https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA002099). The manuscript is an introductory article for a special collection of commentary articles across 19 geoscience disciplines that explore the challenges and opportunities associated with the use of ICON science principles. These principles focus on research intentionally designed to be Integrated, Coordinated, Open, and Networked (ICON) with the goal of maximizing mutual benefit (among stakeholders) and cross-system transferability of science outcomes. This data package contains data, figures, and R scripts associated with the cost/benefit analysis presented in the manuscript. The writing teams involved in the special collection placed each letter of ICON on a plot with perceived cost on one axis and perceived benefit on the other to summarize their perceptions of pursuing each principle of ICON science. These data were subsequently quantified and analyzed. Files are saved as .csv, .R, and .pdf. This data package also contains (1) the public foundational and instructional documents that enabled the crowdsourced creation of the special collection; (2) file-level metadata (flmd) that lists each file in the data package with a description; (3) data dictionary (dd) that defines column headers that appear in csv files. Files are saved as .pdf and .csv.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Grassroots Network and Community Roadmap for Interconnected Autonomous Science Laboratories for Accelerated Discovery

Scientific discovery is being revolutionized by AI and autonomous systems, yet current autonomous laboratories remain isolated islands unable to collaborate across institutions. We present the Autonomous Interconnected Science Lab Ecosystem (AISLE), a grassroots network transforming fragmented capabilities into a unified system that shorten the path from ideation to innovation to impact and accelerates discovery from decades to months. AISLE addresses five critical dimensions: (1) cross-institutional equipment orchestration, (2) intelligent data management with FAIR compliance, (3) AI-agent driven orchestration grounded in scientific principles, (4) interoperable agent communication interfaces, and (5) AI/ML-integrated scientific education. By connecting autonomous agents across institutional boundaries, autonomous science can unlock research spaces inaccessible to traditional approaches while democratizing cutting-edge technologies. This paradigm shift toward collaborative autonomous science promises breakthroughs in sustainable energy, materials development, and public health.

Ferreira da Silva, Rafael [Oak Ridge National Labo↗
NASA NTRS1980

Contribution of corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Ye. A. Korovin to the science of international space law. Anniversary of corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Professor Ye. A. Korovin

The Soviet Union's participation in the solution of international legal problems as space flights became possible is reviewed with emphasis on the efforts of the most prominent Soviet international lawyer. Some of the professor's 230 writings are highlighted.

Zhukov, G. P.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Imaging Science Panel. Multispectral Imaging Science Working Group joint meeting with Information Science Panel: Introduction

The state-of-the-art of multispectral sensing is reviewed and recommendations for future research and development are proposed. specifically, two generic sensor concepts were discussed. One is the multispectral pushbroom sensor utilizing linear array technology which operates in six spectral bands including two in the SWIR region and incorporates capabilities for stereo and crosstrack pointing. The second concept is the imaging spectrometer (IS) which incorporates a dispersive element and area arrays to provide both spectral and spatial information simultaneously. Other key technology areas included very large scale integration and the computer aided design of these devices.

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