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NASA NTRS2017

R2U2: Tool Overview

R2U2 (Realizable, Responsive, Unobtrusive Unit) is an extensible framework for runtime System HealthManagement (SHM) of cyber-physical systems. R2U2 can be run in hardware (e.g., FPGAs), or software; can monitorhardware, software, or a combination of the two; and can analyze a range of different types of system requirementsduring runtime. An R2U2 requirement is specified utilizing a hierarchical combination of building blocks: temporal formula runtime observers (in LTL or MTL), Bayesian networks, sensor filters, and Boolean testers. Importantly, the framework is extensible; it is designed to enable definitions of new building blocks in combination with the core structure. Originally deployed on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), R2U2 is designed to run on a wide range of embedded platforms, from autonomous systems like rovers, satellites, and robots, to human-assistive ground systems and cockpits. R2U2 is named after the requirements it satisfies; while the exact requirements vary by platform and mission, the ability to formally reason about realizability, responsiveness, and unobtrusiveness is necessary for flight certifiability, safety-critical system assurance, and achievement of technology readiness levels for target systems. Realizability ensures that R2U2 is suficiently expressive to encapsulate meaningful runtime requirements while maintaining adaptability to run on different platforms, transition between different mission stages, and update quickly between missions. Responsiveness entails continuously monitoring the system under test, real-time reasoning, reporting intermediate status, and as-early-as-possible requirements evaluations. Unobtrusiveness ensures compliance with the crucial properties of the target architecture: functionality, certifiability, timing, tolerances, cost, or other constraints.

Rozier, Kristin Y.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Integration of Mirror Design with Suspension System using NASA's New Mirror Modeling Software

Advances in mirror fabrication is making very large space based telescopes possible. In the many applications, only monolithic mirrors meet the performance requirements. The existing and near-term planned heavy launch vehicles place a premium on lowest possible mass. Again, available and planned payload shroud size limits near term designs to 4 meter class mirror. Practical 8 meter and beyond designs could encourage planners to include larger shrouds if it can be proven that such mirrors can be manufactured. These two factors lower mass and larger mirrors, presents the classic optimization problem. There is a practical upper limit to how large a mirror can be supported by a purely kinematic mount system and be launched. This paper shows how the design of the suspension system and mirror blank needs to be designed simultaneously. We will also explore the concepts of auxiliary support systems, which act only during launch and disengage on orbit. We will define required characteristics of these systems and show how they can substantially reduce the mirror mass. The AMTD project is developing and maturing the processes for future replacements for HUBBLE, creating the design tools, validating the methods and techniques necessary to manufacture, test and launch extremely large optical missions. This paper will use the AMTD 4 meter "design point" as an illustration of the typical use of the modeler in generating the multiple models of mirror and suspension systems used during the conceptual design phase of most projects. The influence of Hexapod geometry, mirror depth, cell size and construction techniques (Exelsis Deep Core Low Temperature Fusion (c) versus Corning Frit Bonded (c) versus Schott Pocket Milled Zerodur (c) in this particular study) are being evaluated. Due to space and time consideration we will only be able to present snippets of the study in this paper. The advances in manufacturing techniques for lightweight mirrors, such as EXELSIS deep core low temperature fusion, Corning's continued improvements in the Frit bonding process and the ability to cast large complex designs, combined with water-jet and conventional diamond.

Arnold, William↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Simplified Model of VIPER Thermal Management System. Part II: Integrated Vehicle

NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) thermal management system (TMS) relies on four loop heat pipes (LHPs) to transport electronic waste heat to the vehicle cooling radiative surface and avoid overheating. The TMS has also ten constant conductance heat pipes (CCHPs) dedicated to balance the thermal load within the internal environment where the avionics boxes are mounted, also called warm electronic box (WEB), and to transport the heat from two of the science payload instruments. The TMS also uses two thermal straps to thermally link the batteries to the WEB. These thermal components, in addition to heaters, thermostat, multi-layer insulation (MLIs), and isolators forms the core of the VIPER TMS. The complex heat transport balance managed by the TMS is challenging to characterize and model. The more fidelity and granularity of a model, the more costly the computational resources needed and the longer the simulation and modeling time. When the priority is to provide quick but reliable assessments of the thermal performance or real time thermal feedback for training of console operators, simplified modeling tools are needed. To satisfy that need, this paper describes the effort to develop and correlate a model of VIPER TMS based on control volume approach. The correlation effort in particular focuses on hibernation, cold thermal balance, and hot thermal balance data from the integrated vehicle thermal vacuum (TVAC) test. Thus, the correlated model captures the heat leaks during hibernations and the performance at two extremes, bounding, operating scenarios.

Loop Heat Pipe↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Simplified Model of VIPER Thermal Management System. Part II: Integrated Vehicle

Thermal Modeling↗

NASA NTRS2007

Standardization of XML Database Exchanges and the James Webb Space Telescope Experience

Personnel from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Project have been working with various standard communities such the Object Management Group (OMG) and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) to assist in the definition of a common extensible Markup Language (XML) for database exchange format. The CCSDS and OMG standards are intended for the exchange of core command and telemetry information, not for all database information needed to exercise a NASA space mission. The mission-specific database, containing all the information needed for a space mission, is translated from/to the standard using a translator. The standard is meant to provide a system that encompasses 90% of the information needed for command and telemetry processing. This paper will discuss standardization of the XML database exchange format, tools used, and the JWST experience, as well as future work with XML standard groups both commercial and government.

Gal-Edd, Jonathan↗

NASA NTRS2012

Flat-Spectrum Radio Sources as Likely Counterparts of Unidentified INTEGRAL Sources (Research Note)

Many sources in the fourth INTEGRAL/IBIS catalogue are still unidentified since they lack an optical counterpart. An important tool that can help in identifying and classifying these sources is the cross-correlation with radio catalogues, which are very sensitive and positionally accurate. Moreover, the radio properties of a source, such as the spectrum or morphology, could provide further insight into its nature. In particular, flat-spectrum radio sources at high Galactic latitudes are likely to be AGN, possibly associated to a blazar or to the compact core of a radio galaxy. Here we present a small sample of 6 sources extracted from the fourth INTEGRAL/IBIS catalogue that are still unidentified or unclassified, but which are very likely associated with a bright, flat-spectrum radio object. To confirm the association and to study the source X-ray spectral parameters, we performed X-ray follow-up observations with Swift/XRT of all objects. We report in this note the overall results obtained from this search and discuss the nature of each individual INTEGRAL source. We find that 5 of the 6 radio associations are also detected in X-rays; furthermore, in 3 cases they are the only counterpart found. More specifically, IGR J06073−0024 is a flat-spectrum radio quasar at z = 1.08, IGR J14488−4008 is a newly discovered radio galaxy, while IGR J18129−0649 is an AGN of a still unknown type. The nature of two sources (IGR J07225−3810 and IGR J19386−4653) is less well defined, since in both cases we find another X-ray source in the INTEGRAL error circle; nevertheless, the flat-spectrum radio source, likely to be a radio loud AGN, remains a viable and, in fact, a more convincing association in both cases. Only for the last object (IGR J11544−7618) could we not find any convincing counterpart since the radio association is not an X-ray emitter, while the only X-ray source seen in the field is a G star and therefore unlikely to produce the persistent emission seen by INTEGRAL.

integral↗

NASA NTRS2015

Development of the Resource Prospector Planetary Rover

The Resource Prospector (RP) is an In-‐Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) lunar rover mission under study by NASA. RP is planned to launch in 2020 to prospect for subsurface volatiles and to extract oxygen from lunar regolith. The mission will address several of NASA's "Strategic Knowledge Gaps" for lunar exploration. The mission will also address the Global Exploration Roadmap's strategic goal of using local resources for human exploration. The distribution of lunar subsurface volatiles drives the mission requirement for mobility. The spatial distribution is hypothesized to be governed by impact cratering with the top 0.5 m being patchy at scales of 100 m. The mixing time scale increases with depth (less frequent larger impacts). Consequently, increased mobility reduces the depth requirement for sampling. The target RP traverse will extend 1 km radially from the landing site to sample craters of varying sizes. Sampling craters with different ages will reveal possible volatile emplacement history. In 1 Ga, approximately 60-70 craters of 10 m diameter form per km2. Thus, the rover will need to sample at least ten of these craters, which may require a total traverse path length of 2-‐3 km. During 2014-2015, we developed an initial prototype rover for RP. The current design is a solar powered, four-wheeled vehicle, with hub motor drive, offset four wheel steering, and active suspension. Active suspension provides capabilities including changing vehicle ride height, traversing comparatively large obstacles, and controlling load on the wheels. All-wheel steering enables the vehicle to point arbitrarily while roving, e.g., to keep the solar array pointed at the sun while in motion. The offset steering combined with active suspension improves driving in soft soil. The rover's on-board software utilizes NASA's Core Flight Software, which is a reusable flight software environment. During 2015, we completed the initial rover software build, which provides low-level hardware interfaces, basic mobility control, waypoint driving, odometry, basic error checking, and camera services. Development of the prototype rover has enabled maturation of many of the subsystems to TRL 5. During the next year, we will conduct integrated testing of concepts of operation, navigation, and remote driving tools. In addition, we will perform environmental tests including radiation (avionics), thermal and thermal/vacuum (mechanisms), and gravity offload (mobility).

robotics↗

NASA NTRS2001

CFD Modeling for Active Flow Control

This presentation describes current work under UEET Active Flow Control CFD Research Tool Development. The goal of this work is to develop computational tools for inlet active flow control design. This year s objectives were to perform CFD simulations of fully gridded vane vortex generators, micro-vortex genera- tors, and synthetic jets, and to compare flowfield results with wind tunnel tests of simple geometries with flow control devices. Comparisons are shown for a single micro-vortex generator on a flat plate, and for flow over an expansion ramp with sidewall effects. Vortex core location, pressure gradient and oil flow patterns are compared between experiment and computation. This work lays the groundwork for evaluating simplified modeling of arrays of devices, and provides the opportunity to test simple flow control device/sensor/ control loop interaction.

Buning, Pieter G.↗

NASA NTRS2003

The NASA Education Enterprise: Inspiring the Next Generation of Explorers

On April 12, 2002, NASA Administrator Sean O Keefe opened a new window to the future of space exploration with these words in his Pioneering the Future address. Thus began the conceptual framework for structuring the new Education Enterprise. The Agency s mission is to understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe in search for life; and to inspire the next generation of explorers as only NASA can. In adopting this mission, education became a core element and is now a vital part of every major NASA research and development mission. NASA s call to inspire the next generation of explorers is now resounding throughout the NASA community and schools of all levels all around the country. The goal is to capture student interest, nurture their natural curiosities, and intrigue their minds with new and exciting scientific research; as well as to provide educators with the creative tools they need to improve America s scientific literacy. The future of NASA begins with America s youngest scholars. According to Administrator O Keefe s address, if NASA does not motivate the youngest generation now, there is little prospect this generation will choose to pursue scientific disciplines later. Since embracing Administrator O Keefe s educational mandate over a year ago, NASA has been fully devoted to broadening its roadmap to motivation. The efforts have generated a whole new showcase of thoughtprovoking and fun learning opportunities, through printed material, Web sites and Webcasts, robotics, rocketry, aerospace design contests, and various other resources as only NASA can.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2006

Inter-calibrating Brightness Temperatures of a Constellation of Radiometers

In 2010, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) of the U.S.A. and the Japanese Exploration Agency (JAXA) of Japan in cooperation with other U.S. and international partners will launch the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The mission center-piece is a core U.S. provided satellite holding a scanning microwave imager provided by the U.S. A. and a dual-frequency precipitation radar provided by Japan. The core satellite is in a 65 deg inclination (the current Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission -TRMM is in a 35 deg inclination). Joining the core satellite are a constellation of approximately 8 satellites containing scanning radiometers. The purpose of the constellation is to increase the global sampling capability of the mission. One constellation satellite will be provided by NASA. Some of the constellation radiometers will provided by other U.S. agencies with existing (e.g. SSMI/S) or planned (NPOESS) radiometer assets. International groups have also expressed interest in contributing to the GPM mission including providing radiometer data for the GPM constellation. The use of a heterogeneous group of scanning radiometers each with its own unique purpose, characteristics and calibration offers a significant challenge for combining brightness temperatures or rain retrievals to create meaningful combined global radiometer products. However, the availability of active dual precipitation radar on the GPM core in combination with a well-calibrated radiometer on the same platform offers the possibility of inter-calibrating the constellation radiometers using the core satellite as a calibrator. This paper describes a joint NASA/GSFC and Colorado State University prototype effort at inter-calibrating existing radiometers using such a core calibrator approach. In the prototype, existing radiometers (i.e. SSM/I and AMSR-E) are intercalibrated, as required, using the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) and TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) as the calibration core. This prototype includes four basic steps: provide the data in a normalized-common logical radiometer format, convert all data to a granule that stops and starts at the southernmost latitude rather than at the equator, perform basic processing and finally inter-calibrate the radiometers with the TRMM core as appropriate. Basic processing includes quality control, cross-track bias correction as well as the core action of converting T(sub a), to T(sub b). The purpose of the inter-calibration step is to provide consistent brightness temperatures for the various SSMA sensors, TMI and AMSR-E. The C appended to the level of the product indicates common brightness temperature (T(sub c)). The paper provides a summary of each of these actions. The details of the processing as well as data format and tools can be obtained by connecting to the website at mrain.atmos.colostate.eduLEVEL1C .

Stocker, Erich Franz↗

NASA NTRS2024

Crew Health and Performance Integrated Data Architecture (CHP-IDA) Project

BACKGROUND: Future Human Exploration missions introduce a new paradigm as crews move further from the resupply and near real-time ground support typical of Low Earth Orbit missions today. Without immediate support from ground-based personnel, exploration crews will be more reliant on inflight data and technology to respond to emergencies and anomalies. A data architecture to support a new generation of technologies, employing advanced analytical and predictive modeling techniques, is needed to enable crew autonomy. OVERVIEW: The Crew Health and Performance Integrated Data Architecture (CHP-IDA) project funded by NASA’s Exploration Medical Integrated Product Team (XMIPT) is laying a foundation for future in-flight informatics by providing a back-end architecture for collecting, storing, and integrating multiple sources of data generated by and around the crew. CHP-IDA provides a platform for common data models and Application Programming Interfaces to access, integrate, process, and display CHP data (e.g., environmental, exercise, medical, sleep, performance, etc.). This will facilitate the increased situation awareness and decision support required by the crew and remote support of exploration missions. This presentation will describe the currently ongoing effort to develop and evaluate a path-to-flight concept of the CHP-IDA software and its core capabilities. Current integrations will be discussed, including analytics for Extravehicular Activity metabolic rate and data ingestion from a multi-functional integrated medical device. The presentation will also provide examples of scenarios used to demonstrate the CHP-IDA through human-in-the-loop test bed activities as well as examples of appropriate system performance metrics. DISCUSSION: Today, in-flight data is often siloed, unsynchronized, and largely inaccessible in real time. Many data sets require manual entry and/or data transfer between vehicles and the ground. These issues contribute to risks in supporting exploration medical capabilities. The CHP-IDA is a back-end data system providing core capabilities needed for timely and meaningful data insights across CHP domains to crew and remote personnel to enable increased crew autonomy. Future work includes collaboration with additional CHP domains, new technology integrations, and further demonstrations of the IDA within different vehicle and communication latency contexts. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. The audience will understand that the CHP-IDA is a back-end system, providing a platform to facilitate access, promote decision tools, and provide meaningful insights to crew and to remote stakeholders during exploration missions. 2. The audience will gain insight into human-centered research and activities used to discover CHP domain data needs and pain points and how this information is used to guide development of the IDA.

Exploration↗

NASA NTRS2018

2040 Vision: A Roadmap for Integrated, Multiscale Materials and System Modeling and Simulation

Over the last few decades, advances in high-performance computing, new materials characterization methods, and, more recently, an emphasis on integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) and additive manufacturing have been a catalyst for multiscale modeling and simulation-based design of materials and structures in the aerospace industry. While these advances have driven significant progress in the development of aerospace components and systems, that progress has been limited by persistent technology and infrastructure challenges that must be overcome to realize the full potential of integrated materials and systems design and simulation modeling throughout the supply chain. As a result, NASA's Transformational Tools and Technology (TTT) Project sponsored a study (performed by a team led by Pratt & Whitney) to define the potential 25-year future state required for integrated multiscale modeling of materials and systems (e.g., load-bearing structures) to accelerate the pace and reduce the expense of innovation in future aerospace and aeronautical systems. This talk will describe the findings of this 2040 Vision study (e.g., the 2040 vision state; the required interdependent core technical work areas, Key Element (KE); associated critical gaps and actions to close those gaps; and major recommendations). This roadmap is a community consensus document and is a result of over 450 professionals input obtain via: i) four society workshops (AIAA, NAFEMS, and two TMS), ii) community-wide survey, and iii) the establishment of 9 expert panels (one per key element) consisting on average 10 non-team members from academia, government and industry to review, update content, and prioritize gaps and actions. It is NASA's hope and desire that this roadmap provides the strategic guidance to both public and private research and development decision makers to make the proposed 2040 vision state a reality and thereby provide a significant advancement in the United States global competitiveness.

Multiscale Modeling↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Modeling and Simulation Efforts to Support Improved Comfort in ARGOS

BACKGROUND: The Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) provides an analog environment for extravehicular activity (EVA) testing and training. Discomfort has been observed during longer suited test sessions. While the subject’s core is offloaded during surface EVA evaluations, his/her arms experience full Earth gravity and can become overly fatigued, especially during suited tests which involve reaching and prolonged arm extensions. A device (ARGOS Negation of Gravitational Effects on the Limbs: ANGEL) to offload the weight of the arms and suit sleeves is being developed by JSC’s Flight Systems Branch, and here we present preliminary modeling of that device using the open-source biomechanical tool OpenSim [1,2] with an in-house developed plugin. We analyze a series of motions performed by a single shirt-sleeved subject with goals of characterizing the device, validating the model, and predicting whether reduced gravity conditions (i.e., lunar gravity (Lg) or Martian gravity (Mg)) can be accurately simulated with the device, as well as providing comfort to the ARGOS user. METHODS AND RESULTS: To model the offload device, we augment the OpenSim human model topology with the offload mechanism components and joints, using CAD models to represent the mechanism graphically. The joint angles of the device are either obtained from (1) inverse kinematics (IK) using motion capture markers on the various components of the device or (2) calculated in the OpenSim plugin by modeling how the components configure themselves under the offloading spring tension given a particular IK-derived arm position. Given the joint angles of the device, the resulting force on the arm is computed by the plugin and applied as an external load in inverse dynamics (ID) in order to enable study of overall shoulder joint torques as well as offload achieved. We verify the calculated joint angles by using the inverse kinematic data and the forces from manual measurements of the spring both independently and integrated within the device. We found that calculated joint angles generally represent the angles measured and computed with IK, supporting a possible analysis workflow inputting human motion data and observing system behavior under varied design parameters. In two different device configurations in which the maximum applied force was 131 N, our current model accurately captured force with a difference of 2-3 N from measured loads. Though our initial test was performed with a shirt-sleeve subject, arm weights were added to emulate the weight of the suit sleeve and the subject was positioned in a test stand with a Mark-III Hard Upper Torso (HUT) and Portable Life Support System (PLSS) mockup. Arm range of motion tasks were performed outside of the HUT, inside the HUT, and inside the HUT while using the device. A variety of other upper body tasks were completed as well. In summary, we have developed a model to investigate and verify an upper limb offload device currently in development. We believe this model will be a valuable tool not only for device characterization but also to predict proper configurations to simulate Lg or Mg conditions, investigate range of motion concerns, predict limitations such as internal collisions and contacts, and inform future design improvements.

L B Nilsson↗

NASA NTRS1988

How successful were the lunar sampling tools: Implications for sampling Mars

Like the Mars Sample Return endeavor, the Apollo lunar-sample program began with definition of strategy for sample collection and of scientific requirements for sampling hardware design. Several lessons can be illustrated by specific tools. The evolution of drive tubes from narrow 2 cm diameter, thick-walled tubes (used on Apollo 11, 12 and 14) to 4 cm diameter, thin-walled tubes used on Apollo 15, 16, and 17) as an example of the improvements made possible during multiple missions. The original Apollo 11 drive tube was designed to work in fluffy soil; thus, only 50 percent of the relatively dense lunar soil was recovered, and the core was distorted. The final configuration resulted in nearly 100 pct recovery with little distortion. The surface samplers (Contact Soil Sampling Devices) were designed to collect the upper 100 micrometer or the upper 1 mm of soil. It was over 2 years after the mission before these particularly specific samplers were opened because interest in them waned. Both core tubes and surface samplers were difficult to open in the laboratory. The Apollo Lunar Sample Return Containers (ALSRCs) were constructed with one indium and 2 Viton seals. They were closed on the lunar surface. Interior container pressures measured upon return to the laboratory indicate that these seals were not reliable in the lunar environment. Also, choice of indium as a sealing material interfered with siderophile analyses of samples.

Allton, J. H.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Development and analysis of SCR requirements tables for system scenarios

We describe the use of scenarios to develop and refine requirement tables for parts of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing EOSDIS as part of its Mission-To-Planet-Earth (MTPE) project to accept instrument/platform observation requests from end-user scientists, schedule and perform requested observations of the Earth from space, collect and process the observed data, and distribute data to scientists and archives. Current requirements for the system are managed with tools that allow developers to trace the relationships between requirements and other development artifacts, including other requirements. In addition, the user community (e.g., earth and atmospheric scientists), in conjunction with NASA, has generated scenarios describing the actions of EOSDIS subsystems in response to user requests and other system activities. As part of a research effort in verification and validation techniques, this paper describes our efforts to develop requirements tables from these scenarios for the EOSDIS Core System (ECS). The tables specify event-driven mode transitions based on techniques developed by the Naval Research Lab's (NRL) Software Cost Reduction (SCR) project. The SCR approach has proven effective in specifying requirements for large systems in an unambiguous, terse format that enhance identification of incomplete and inconsistent requirements. We describe development of SCR tables from user scenarios and identify the strengths and weaknesses of our approach in contrast to the requirements tracing approach. We also evaluate the capabilities of both approach to respond to the volatility of requirements in large, complex systems.

Callahan, John R.↗

NASA NTRS2003

NASA GPM GV Science Requirements

An important scientific objective of the NASA portion of the GPM Mission is to generate quantitatively-based error characterization information along with the rainrate retrievals emanating from the GPM constellation of satellites. These data must serve four main purposes: (1) they must be of sufficient quality, uniformity, and timeliness to govern the observation weighting schemes used in the data assimilation modules of numerical weather prediction models; (2) they must extend over that portion of the globe accessible by the GPM core satellite to which the NASA GV program is focused - (approx.65 degree inclination); (3) they must have sufficient specificity to enable detection of physically-formulated microphysical and meteorological weaknesses in the standard physical level 2 rainrate algorithms to be used in the GPM Precipitation Processing System (PPS), i.e., algorithms which will have evolved from the TRMM standard physical level 2 algorithms; and (4) they must support the use of physical error modeling as a primary validation tool and as the eventual replacement of the conventional GV approach of statistically intercomparing surface rainrates fiom ground and satellite measurements. This approach to ground validation research represents a paradigm shift vis-&-vis the program developed for the TRMM mission, which conducted ground validation largely as a statistical intercomparison process between raingauge-derived or radar-derived rainrates and the TRMM satellite rainrate retrievals -- long after the original satellite retrievals were archived. This approach has been able to quantify averaged rainrate differences between the satellite algorithms and the ground instruments, but has not been able to explain causes of algorithm failures or produce error information directly compatible with the cost functions of data assimilation schemes. These schemes require periodic and near-realtime bias uncertainty (i.e., global space-time distributed conditional accuracy of the retrieved rainrates) and local error covariance structure (i.e., global space-time distributed error correlation information for the local 4-dimensional space-time domain -- or in simpler terms, the matrix form of precision error). This can only be accomplished by establishing a network of high quality-heavily instrumented supersites selectively distributed at a few oceanic, continental, and coastal sites. Economics and pragmatics dictate that the network must be made up of a relatively small number of sites (6-8) created through international cooperation. This presentation will address some of the details of the methodology behind the error characterization approach, some proposed solutions for expanding site-developed error properties to regional scales, a data processing and communications concept that would enable rapid implementation of algorithm improvement by the algorithm developers, and the likely available options for developing the supersite network.

Smith, E.↗

NASA NTRS1996

An IRU for Cassini

The JPL Inertial Reference Unit (IRU) is the single most sophisticated assembly on the Cassini Spacecraft. At the core of the IRU is the state-of-the-art, Litton (formerly Delco) Hemispherical Resonator Gyroscope (HRG). Launched in October 1997, Cassini's trajectory utilizes gravity assist manuevers around Venus (twice), Earth, and Jupiter over a seven year period, arriving at Saturn in June 2004.

Cassini IRU Inertial Reference Unit attitude stabi↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Unlocking the Microbiome of the International Space Station

With the start of human occupation more than 22 years ago, the microbiome of International Space Station (ISS) has been monitored to assess risk to both crew and craft. Historically, this monitoring has been achieved through onboard culture and ground-based analyses. Data spanning this timeframe are descriptive of a semi-closed, human occupied environment with associations to crew changes and process escapes within the environmental control and life support systems. While this approach has served to provide alerts to anomalies and overall confidence in the controls in place, the data are limited to the media type and growth conditions used. The bias toward the detection of culturable organisms has depicted an overall lack in biodiversity. As NASA leaves the ISS to focus on exploration, it is critical to fully understand its microbiome and its possible association to the noted positive influence on crew and vehicle health. The implementation of culture-independent, nanopore sequencing-based studies, both onboard the ISS and with returned ground samples, is revealing a more thorough depiction of the microbiome. As noted with pervious culture-based data, there is a common core microbiome across time and location, but key distinct areas of greater diversity exist. Through further investigation, these areas are emerging as unique ecological niches, potentially resulting in environmentally driven microbial selection. Moreover, the presence of some noted taxa within these unique locations has implications for crew health, planetary protection, and controls used in future spacecraft systems. The ability to perform in situ profiling of the ISS microbiome is transforming how NASA assesses risk and is a critical tool towards monitoring the establishment of the environmental microbiome in exploration spacecraft.

Sarah Stahl-Rommel↗