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Looking at Earth from space

This vendor equipment list was developed with NASA funding by the Dallas Remote Imaging Group (DRIG) and the Maryland Pilot Earth Science and Technology Education Network (MAPS-NET) project as a reference guide to low-cost ground station equipment for direct readout, the capability to acquire information directly from environmental satellites. Products were tested with the following standards in mind: ease of use; user friendliness and completeness of manual and instructions; total system cost for computer, geostationary operational environmental satellites (GOES), and automatic picture transmission (APT) capability under $4000; and vendor stability in the industry.

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Human Interfaces In Teleoperations And Virtual Environments

Conference report contains compilation of papers relating to interactions between humans and machines from perspectives of telepresence and sensorimotor adaptation, measurement and evaluation of performance, and design principles and predictive models. Topics discussed include neural networks, sensory technology, display, and feedback controls. Covers state of art of remote sensing and control by humans for space or other operations.

Durlach, Nathaniel I.↗

Looking at Earth from Space: Teacher's Guide with Activities for Earth and Space Science

The Maryland Pilot Earth Science and Technology Education Network (MAPS-NET) project was sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to enrich teacher preparation and classroom learning in the area of Earth system science. This publication includes a teacher's guide that replicates material taught during a graduate-level course of the project and activities developed by the teachers. The publication was developed to provide teachers with a comprehensive approach to using satellite imagery to enhance science education. The teacher's guide is divided into topical chapters and enables teachers to expand their knowledge of the atmosphere, common weather patterns, and remote sensing. Topics include: weather systems and satellite imagery including mid-latitude weather systems; wave motion and the general circulation; cyclonic disturbances and baroclinic instability; clouds; additional common weather patterns; satellite images and the internet; environmental satellites; orbits; and ground station set-up. Activities are listed by suggested grade level and include the following topics: using weather symbols; forecasting the weather; cloud families and identification; classification of cloud types through infrared Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) imagery; comparison of visible and infrared imagery; cold fronts; to ski or not to ski (imagery as a decision making tool), infrared and visible satellite images; thunderstorms; looping satellite images; hurricanes; intertropical convergence zone; and using weather satellite images to enhance a study of the Chesapeake Bay. A list of resources is also included.

Steele, Colleen↗

Tenth Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies in Cooperation with the Nineteenth IEEE Symposium on Mass Storage Systems

This document contains copies of those technical papers received in time for publication prior to the Tenth Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies which is being held in cooperation with the Nineteenth IEEE Symposium on Mass Storage Systems at the University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference Center April 15-18, 2002. As one of an ongoing series, this Conference continues to provide a forum for discussion of issues relevant to the ingest, storage, and management of large volumes of data. The Conference encourages all interested organizations to discuss long-term mass storage requirements and experiences in fielding solutions. Emphasis is on current and future practical solutions addressing issues in data management, storage systems and media, data acquisition, long-term retention of data, and data distribution. This year's discussion topics include architecture, future of current technology, storage networking with emphasis on IP storage, performance, standards, site reports, and vendor solutions. Tutorials will be available on perpendicular magnetic recording, object based storage, storage virtualization and IP storage.

Kobler, Benjamin↗

Adopting Internet Standards for Orbital Use

After a year of testing and demonstrating a Cisco mobile access router intended for terrestrial use onboard the low-Earth-orbiting UK-DMC satellite as part of a larger merged ground/space IP-based internetwork, we reflect on and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of integration and standards reuse for small satellite missions. Benefits include ease of operation and the ability to leverage existing systems and infrastructure designed for general use, as well as reuse of existing, known, and well-understood security and operational models. Drawbacks include cases where integration work was needed to bridge the gaps in assumptions between different systems, and where performance considerations outweighed the benefits of reuse of pre-existing file transfer protocols. We find similarities with the terrestrial IP networks whose technologies we have adopted and also some significant differences in operational models and assumptions that must be considered.

Wood, Lloyd↗

Secure Networks for First Responders and Special Forces

When NASA needed help better securing its communications with orbiting satellites, the Agency called on Western DataCom Co., Inc., to help develop a prototype Internet Protocol (IP) router. Westlake, Ohio-based Western DataCom designs, develops, and manufactures hardware that secures voice, video, and data transmissions over any IP-based network. The technology that it jointly developed with NASA is now serving as a communications solution in military and first-response situations.

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In search of new worlds: NASA's astronomical search for origins

This paper describes the missions, the scientific endeavors, and the network of technology investments that are the Navigator Program, and which are at the heart of the Astronomical Search for Origins.

origins navigator program exo-planets planet findi↗

Juno Mission Simulation

The Juno spacecraft is planned to launch in August of 2012 and would arrive at Jupiter four years later. The spacecraft would spend more than one year orbiting the planet and investigating the existence of an ice-rock core; determining the amount of global water and ammonia present in the atmosphere, studying convection and deep- wind profiles in the atmosphere; investigating the origin of the Jovian magnetic field, and exploring the polar magnetosphere. Juno mission management is responsible for mission and navigation design, mission operation planning, and ground-data-system development. In order to ensure successful mission management from initial checkout to final de-orbit, it is critical to share a common vision of the entire mission operation phases with the rest of the project teams. Two major challenges are 1) how to develop a shared vision that can be appreciated by all of the project teams of diverse disciplines and expertise, and 2) how to continuously evolve a shared vision as the project lifecycle progresses from formulation phase to operation phase. The Juno mission simulation team addresses these challenges by developing agile and progressive mission models, operation simulations, and real-time visualization products. This paper presents mission simulation visualization network (MSVN) technology that has enabled a comprehensive mission simulation suite (MSVN-Juno) for the Juno project.

space vehicles↗

Responding to the Event Deluge

We present the VOEventNet infrastructure for large-scale rapid follow-up of astronomical events, including selection, annotation, machine intelligence, and coordination of observations. The VOEvent.standard is central to this vision, with distributed and replicated services rather than centralized facilities. We also describe some of the event brokers, services, and software that .are connected to the network. These technologies will become more important in the coming years, with new event streams from Gaia, LOF AR, LIGO, LSST, and many others

Williams, Roy D.↗

Antenna Design Considerations for the Advanced Extravehicular Mobility Unit

NASA is designing an Advanced Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AEMU)to support future manned missions beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO). A key component of the AEMU is the communications assembly that allows for the wireless transfer of voice, video, and suit telemetry. The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) currently used on the International Space Station (ISS) contains a radio system with a single omni-directional resonant cavity antenna operating slightly above 400 MHz capable of transmitting and receiving data at a rate of about 125 kbps. Recent wireless communications architectures are calling for the inclusion of commercial wireless standards such as 802.11 that operate in higher frequency bands at much higher data rates. The current AEMU radio design supports a 400 MHz band for low-rate mission-critical data and a high-rate band based on commercial wireless local area network (WLAN) technology to support video, communication with non-extravehicular activity (EVA) assets such as wireless sensors and robotic assistants, and a redundant path for mission-critical EVA data. This paper recommends the replacement of the existing EMU antenna with a new antenna that maintains the performance characteristics of the current antenna but with lower weight and volume footprints. NASA has funded several firms to develop such an antenna over the past few years, and the most promising designs are variations on the basic patch antenna. This antenna technology at UHF is considered by the authors to be mature and ready for infusion into NASA AEMU technology development programs.

antenna design↗

Next-Generation NASA Earth-Orbiting Relay Satellites: Fusing Microwave and Optical Communications

NASA is currently considering architectures and concepts for the generation of relay satellites that will replace the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation, which has been flying since 1983. TDRS-M, the last of the second TDRS generation, launched in August 2017, extending the life of the TDRS constellation beyond 2030. However, opportunities exist to re-engineer the concepts of geosynchronous Earth relay satellites. The needs of the relay satellite customers have changed dramatically over the last 34 years since the first TDRS launch. There is a demand for greater bandwidth as the availability of the traditional RF spectrum for space communications diminishes and the demand for ground station access grows. The next generation of NASA relay satellites will provide for operations that have factored in these new constraints. In this paper, we describe a heterogeneous constellation of geosynchronous relay satellites employing optical and RF communications. The new constellation will enable new optical communications services formed by user-to-space relay, space relay-to-space relay and space relay-to-ground links. It will build upon the experience from the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration from 2013 and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration to be launched in 2019.Simultaneous to establishment of the optical communications space segment, spacecraft in the TDRS constellation will be replaced with RF relay satellites with targeted subsets of the TDRS capabilities. This disaggregation of the TDRS service model will allow for flexibility in replenishing the needs of legacy users as well as addition of new capabilities for future users. It will also permit the U.S. government access to launch capabilities such as rideshare and to hosted payloads that were not previously available. In this paper, we also explore how the next generation of Earth relay satellites provides a significant boost in the opportunities for commercial providers to the communications space segment. For optical communications, the backbone of this effort is adoption of commercial technologies from the terrestrial high-bandwidth telecommunications industry into optical payloads. For RF communications, the explosion of software-defined radio, high-speed digital signal processing technologies and networking from areas such as 5G multicarrier will be important. Future commercial providers will not be limited to a small set of large aerospace companies. Ultimately, entirely government-owned and -operated satellite communications will phase out and make way for commercial business models that satisfy NASAs satellite communications requirements. The competition being provided by new entrants in the space communications business may result in a future in which all NASA communications needs can be satisfied commercially.

Space Communications↗

Next-Generation NASA Earth-Orbiting Relay Satellites: Fusing Optical and Microwave Communications

NASA is currently considering architectures and concepts for the generation of relay satellites that will replace the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation, which has been flying since 1983. TDRS-M, the last of the second TDRS generation, launched in August 2017, extending the life of the TDRS constellation beyond 2030. However, opportunities exist to re-engineer the concepts of geosynchronous Earth relay satellites. The needs of the relay satellite customers have changed dramatically over the last 34 years since the first TDRS launch. There is a demand for greater bandwidth as the availability of the traditional RF spectrum for space communications diminishes and the demand for ground station access grows. The next generation of NASA relay satellites will provide for operations that have factored in these new constraints. In this paper, we describe a heterogeneous constellation of geosynchronous relay satellites employing optical and RF communications. The new constellation will enable new optical communications services formed by user-to-space relay, space relay-to-space relay and space relay-to-ground links. It will build upon the experience from the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration from 2013 and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration to be launched in 2019.Simultaneous to establishment of the optical communications space segment, spacecraft in the TDRS constellation will be replaced with RF relay satellites with targeted subsets of the TDRS capabilities. This disaggregation of the TDRS service model will allow for flexibility in replenishing the needs of legacy users as well as addition of new capabilities for future users. It will also permit the U.S. government access to launch capabilities such as rideshare and to hosted payloads that were not previously available.In this paper, we also explore how the next generation of Earth relay satellites provides a significant boost in the opportunities for commercial providers to the communications space segment. For optical communications, the backbone of this effort is adoption of commercial technologies from the terrestrial high-bandwidth telecommunications industry into optical payloads. For RF communications, the explosion of software-defined radio, high-speed digital signal processing technologies and networking from areas such as 5G multicarrier will be important. Future commercial providers will not be limited to a small set of large aerospace companies. Ultimately, entirely government-owned and -operated satellite communications will phase out and make way for commercial business models that satisfy NASA's satellite communications requirements. The competition being provided by new entrants in the space communications business may result in a future in which all NASA communications needs can be satisfied commercially.

Space Communications↗

A Flexible Control Center Architecture for Support of Diverse Spaceflight Missions

The Ames Multi-Mission Operations Center (MMOC) enables and supports flight and science operations for Ames' spaceflight missions. The MMOC is composed of the facilities, networks, information technology equipment, software, and system administration services needed by flight projects to effectively and efficiently perform all mission functions, including planning, scheduling, command, telemetry processing, and science analysis. The MMOC's ready-to-use services reduce start-up time, shorten procurement and provisioning and allow mission planning efforts to focus more on science and less on infrastructure. The architecture of the MMOC was designed from the start for flexibility, so that it can readily support multiple missions of greatly varying size and complexity while simultaneously keeping costs low.

Differding, Joan C.↗

Participatory Technology Assessment for Mars Mission Planning: Public Values and Rationales

Public support and interest are needed to design an ambitious human spaceflight program. However, it is difficult to understand what the public values and would support. And it is even more challenging and rare to consider public views prior to actually developing a mission. Participatory technology assessment (pTA) is a method that aims to understand public preferences and values in order to inform upstream government decision-making. We assess a recently completed experiment in pTA, the "Informing NASA's Asteroid Initiative" project. Through a cooperative agreement with NASA, the Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology (ECAST) network conducted a pTA-based forum on NASA's Asteroid Initiative and the Journey to Mars. ECAST organized two citizen forums in Phoenix, Arizona and Boston, Massachusetts in November 2014, with a total of 183 citizens selected so as to minimize self-selection biases. This paper focuses on the "Journey to Mars" session, which had the primary goal of soliciting citizen perceptions about different Mars exploration scenarios and mission planning approaches. Citizens were given background information about three potential Mars exploration scenarios that NASA could carry out: 1) Crewed orbital mission to direct robots on the surface of Mars; 2) Short exploratory crewed mission to the surface of Mars; and 3) establishing a permanent settlement. Citizens then engaged in structured facilitated discussions about their preferences among the scenarios and NASA's mission planning approach. Using a grounded theory coding approach, we analyzed participants' written rationales and dialogue about Mars exploration. In general, participants did not show a strong preference for any particular mission profile, but there was a slight preference for the crewed orbital robotics scenario. Participants who supported this approach saw it as the quickest, safest, and least costly road to a successful mission. However, many participants were interested in seeing "boots on the ground," as they believed this would propel scientific advancement, increase excitement about space exploration, and make humans a "two-planet species."

Bertrand, Pierre↗

Creating an Energy Intelligent Campus: Data Integration Challenges and Solutions at a Large Research Campus

Rich, well-organized building performance and energy consumption data enable a host of analytic capabilities for building owners and operators, from basic energy benchmarking to detailed fault detection and system optimization. Unfortunately, data integration for building control systems is challenging and costly in any setting. Large portfolios of buildings--campuses, cities, and corporate portfolios--experience these integration challenges most acutely. These large portfolios often have a wide array of control systems, including multiple vendors and nonstandard communication protocols. They typically have complex information technology (IT) networks and cybersecurity requirements and may integrate distributed energy resources into their infrastructure. Although the challenges are significant, the integration of control system data has the potential to provide proportionally greater value for these organizations through portfolio-scale analytics, comprehensive demand management, and asset performance visibility. As a large research campus, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) experiences significant data integration challenges. To meet them, NREL has developed an architecture for effective data collection, integration, and analysis, providing a comprehensive view of data integration based on functional layers. The architecture is being evaluated on the NREL campus through deployment of three pilot implementations.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗