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NASA NTRS1992

Lidar Monitoring of Mexico City's Atmosphere During High Air Pollution Episodes

Over the last two decades, Mexico City, like many large industrial and populous urban areas, has developed a serious air pollution problem, especially during the winter months when there are frequent temperature inversions and weak winds. The deteriorating air quality is the result of several factors. The basin within which Mexico City lies in Mexico's center of political, administrative and economic activity, generating 34 percent of the gross domestic product and 42 percent of the industrial revenue, and supporting a population which is rapidly approaching the 20 million mark. The basin is surrounded by mountains on three sides which end up preventing rapid dispersal of pollutants. Emissions from the transportation fleet (more than 3 million vehicles) are one of the primary pollution sources, and most are uncontrolled. Catalytic converters are just now working their way into the fleet. The Mexico City Air Quality Research Initiative in an international collaboration project between the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Mexican Petroleum Institute are dedicated to the investigation of the air quality problem in Mexico City. The main objective of the project is to identify and assess the cost and benefits of major options being proposed to improve the air quality. The project is organized into three main activity areas: (1) modeling and simulation; (2) characterization and measurements; and (3) strategic evaluation.

Quick, C. R., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Revision of certification standards for aviation maintenance personnel

Part 65, Subparts D and E, of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) identify the certification requirements for aviation mechanics and aviation repairmen. The training, experience, privileges, ratings, recordkeeping, and currency requirements for aviation maintenance personnel are also addressed by these parts of the FAR. The recent emergence of the aging fleet problem and the introduction of new technologies, aircraft, engines, and aeronautical products has caused certain portions of these rules to become obsolete. Further, international political arrangements, such as bilateral airworthiness and maintenance agreements, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, certain international agreements for maintenance personnel training, and mechanic certificate reciprocity, have all impacted on the current regulatory policy.

Aging Aircraft↗
NASA NTRS1992

Five experiments in materials science for less than $10.00

Diffusion, twinning, fatigue, acoustic emission, and aging can be studied using readily available materials and the household oven. Each experiment can be expanded to a more extensive investigation of the properties of the material investigated, as well as other materials, and offers an opportunity for the student to learn about the relationship between engineering, science, society, and politics.

Spiegel, F. Xavier↗
NASA NTRS1992

The light of a new age

Given here is the address of NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin to the Association of Space Explorers. Mr. Goldin's remarks are on the topic of why we should go to Mars, a subject he approaches by first answering the question, What would it mean if we decided today not to go to Mars? After a discussion of the meaning of Columbus' voyage to America, he answers the question by saying that if we decide not to go to Mars, our generation will truly achieve a first in human history - we will be the first to stop at a frontier. After noting that the need to explore is intrinsic to life itself, Mr. Goldin presents several reasons why we should go to the Moon and go to Mars. One reason is economic, another is to increase our scientific knowledge, and yet another is to further the political evolution of humankind through the international cooperation required for building settlements on the Moon and Mars. He concludes by expanding upon the idea that this nation has never been one to shrink from a challenge.

Goldin, Daniel S.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Pathways of Understanding: the Interactions of Humanity and Global Environmental Change

How humans, interacting within social systems, affect and are affected by global change is explored. Recognizing the impact human activities have on the environment and responding to the need to document the interactions among human activities, the Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) commissioned a group of 12 scientists to develop a framework illustrating the key human systems that contribute to global change. This framework, called the Social Process Diagram, will help natural and social scientists, educators, resource managers and policy makers envision and analyze how human systems interact among themselves and with the natural system. The Social Process Diagram consists of the following blocks that constitute the Diagram's structural framework: (1) fund of knowledge and experience; (2) preferences and expectations; (3) factors of production and technology; (4) population and social structure; (5) economic systems; (6) political systems and institutions; and (7) global scale environmental processes. To demonstrate potential ways the Diagram can be used, this document includes 3 hypothetical scenarios of global change issues: global warming and sea level rise; the environmental impact of human population migration; and energy and the environment. These scenarios demonstrate the Diagram's usefulness for visualizing specific processes that might be studied to evaluate a particular global change issues. The scenario also shows that interesting and unanticipated questions may emerge as links are explored between categories on the Diagram.

Jacobson, Harold K.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The 30th AAS Goddard Memorial Symposium. World space programs and fiscal reality: Synopsis

A full proceedings of the symposium will be issued later in the year. This synopsis consists of summations of three sessions by appointed rapporteurs. International figures in space and in politics spoke at the sessions. Themes of international cooperation and fiscal reality pervaded the conference. International speakers from Canada, the European Space Agency, Russia, Japan and China and other countries addressed the topic of the symposium. American representation included Senator Barbara Mikulski, former NASA administrator James Beggs and other speakers.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1991

A mission design for International Manned Mars Mission - From the 1991 International Space University (ISU) Design Project

The International Space University (ISU) conducted a study of an international program to support human exploration of Mars as its annual Design Project activity during its 1991 summer session in Toulouse, France. Although an ISU Design Project strives to produce an in-depth analysis during the intense 10-week summer session, the International Mars Mission (IMM) project was conducted in a manner designed to provide a learning experience for young professionals working in an unusual multidisciplinary and multinational environment. The breadth of the IMM study exceeds that of most Mars mission studies of the past, encompassing political organization for long-term commitment, multinational management structure, cost analysis, mission architecture, vehicle configuration, crew health, life support, Mars surface infrastructure, mission operations, technology evaluation, risk assessment, scientific planning, exploration, communication networks, and Martian resource utilization. The IMM Final Report has particular value for those seeking insight into the choices made by a multinational group working in an apolitical environment on the problems of international cooperation in space.

Mendell, Wendell W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Integrated INS/GPS/GLONASS navigation aid for manned space flight

While both the U.S. Navstar GPS and the Soviet GLONASS will furnish users consistent global coverage for position fixes, neither system is certifiable as a sole-source navigation system because not enough of its satellites will be in view of vehicular receivers at one time to satisfy the redundancy and system-monitoring standards of the FAA and ICAO. A hybrid receiver employing combined signals from both satellite fleets will overcome this problem. While recent test flight results confirm the feasibility of precision landing approaches conducted by these means, issues bearing on calibration, standardization, and organization remain to be resolved politically and diplomatically.

Anderman, Alfred↗
NASA NTRS1991

The use of activity-based cost estimation as a management tool for cultural change

It will be shown that the greatest barrier to American exploration of the planet Mars is not the development of the technology needed to deliver humans and return them safely to earth. Neither is it the cost of such an undertaking, as has been previously suggested, although certainly, such a venture may not be inexpensive by some measures. The predicted costs of exploration have discouraged serious political dialog on the subject. And, in fact, even optimistic projections of the NASA budget do not contain the resources required, under the existing development and management paradigm, for human space exploration programs. It will be demonstrated that the perception of the costs of such a venture, and the cultural responses to the perceptions are factors inhibiting American exploration of the moon and the planet Mars. Cost models employed in the aerospace industry today correctly mirror the history of past space programs, and as such, are representative of the existing management and development paradigms. However, if, under this current paradigm no major exploration programs are feasible, then cost analysis methods based in the past may not have great utility in exploring the needed cultural changes. This paper explores the use of a new type of model, the activity based cost model, which will treat management style as an input variable, in a sense providing a tool whereby a complete, affordable program might be designed, including both the technological and management aspects.

Mandell, Humboldt↗
NASA NTRS1992

The meteorite of Ensisheim - 1492 to 1992

The history of the 127 kg stony meteorite that fell at Ensisheim in Alsace on November 7, 1492 is reviewed along with people's responses to it through the 500 years since the fall. Stories surrounding the various theories of the time are shown by poems, religious tracts, graphic illustrations and paintings, and broadsheets issued over various periods in the context of politics. Consideration is given to the Ensisheim Stone as analyzed in Paris and Berlin.

Marvin, Ursula B.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A strategy for investment in space resource utilization

Considerations governing a strategy for investment in the utilization of space resources are discussed. It is suggested on the basis of an examination of current trends in terms of historical processes which operate on new frontiers that the limited markets and unfamiliar technologies associated with space commercialization today may change dramatically in 20 years when lunar resources are accessible. It is argued that the uncertainty of such projections discourages investment at a useful scale unless a strategy for technology development can be implemented which provides tangible and marketable benefits in the intermediate term. At present, technologies can be identified which will be required (and therefore valuable) at the time of lunar settlement, and whose development can be planned to yield marketable intermediate products on earth. It is concluded that the formation of precompetitive collaborative research consortia in the industrial sector could reduce technical and economic risk in the early stages and could promote a favorable political environment for the future growth of space activities.

Mendell, Wendell W.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A multinational Mars mission for the International Space University

The International Space University's 1991 design project activity has yielded a report on the organization and implementation of a multinational program for manned exploration of Mars; the organization encompasses a political as well as a technical component. This International Manned Mission employs an artificial-gravity spacecraft with nuclear-electric propulsion for interplanetary transfer. An unmanned cargo mission precedes the piloted flights to increase the mass deliverable to Mars, as well as to serve as a testbed for interplanetary vehicle design.

Mendell, Wendell W.↗
NASA NTRS1992

An international approach to Mission to Planet Earth

The new international political constellation resulting from the disintegration of the Soviet Union opens up unique opportunities for cooperation in the space arena. Precedents since 1955 indicate a pervasive interest in mutual cooperation to use military reconnaissance and surveillance satellites for space observations to enforce treaty verification and compliance. One of the avenues that offer immediate prospects for fruitful cooperation is the incorporation of the military reconnaissance and surveillance satellite capabilities of both U.S. and Russia into the Mission to Planet Earth. Formation of a United Nations Satellite (UNSAT) fleet drawn from the American and Russian space assets is proposed. The role of UNSAT is to provide world wide monitoring of both military and enviromental activities under the umbrella of the Mission to Planet Earth.

Lawrence, Robert M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Some thoughts on the management of large, complex international space ventures

Management issues relevant to the development and deployment of large international space ventures are discussed with particular attention given to previous experience. Management approaches utilized in the past are labeled as either simple or complex, and signs of efficient management are examined. Simple approaches include those in which experiments and subsystems are developed for integration into spacecraft, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project is given as an example of a simple multinational approach. Complex approaches include those for ESA's Spacelab Project and the Space Station Freedom in which functional interfaces cross agency and political boundaries. It is concluded that individual elements of space programs should be managed by individual participating agencies, and overall configuration control is coordinated by level with a program director acting to manage overall objectives and project interfaces.

Lee, T. J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Space law and space resources

Space industrialization is confronting space law with problems that are changing old and shaping new legal principles. The return to the Moon, the next logical step beyond the space station, will establish a permanent human presence there. Science and engineering, manufacturing and mining will involve the astronauts in the settlement of the solar system. These pioneers, from many nations, will need a legal, political, and social framework to structure their lives and interactions. International and even domestic space law are only the beginning of this framework. Dispute resolution and simple experience will be needed in order to develop, over time, a new social system for the new regime of space.

Goldman, Nathan C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Strategies for broadening public involvement in space developments

There is widespread public interest in and goodwill toward the space program. For NASA's plans for the next 25 years to be achieved, this public reservoir of support needs to be tapped and channeled. NASA endeavors have to reach out beyond the scientific, technological, and aerospace communities to foster wider participation in space exploration and exploitation. To broaden NASA support and spread out the financing of space activities, recommendations for consideration are offered in the area of economics, political, institutional, international, and managerial areas.

Harris, Philip R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Impacts of sociopolitical conditions

Space development scenarios and the choice of technologies to carry them out depend upon the future social, economic, and political factors. A brief discussion concerning the impact of sociopolitical conditions on space exploration is presented. Some of the topics mentioned include: space weapons/warfare, international cooperation, NASA's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Program, and superpower rivelry.

Finney, Ben R.↗