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At least 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

BurstCube: Behind the Scenes of a Do-No-Harm I&T Production

BurstCube is one of the most recent 6-U CubeSats built and developed by NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center (GSFC). As an astrophysics mission, BurstCube will be a rapid detection alert end-to-end mission system for short astrophysical gamma-ray bursts with the aim of increasing the chance of coincident detection of gamma-ray bursts. In addition, the mission is intended to augment the current fleet of gamma-ray astronomy satellites. The payload instrument includes 4 scintillator heads read out by arrays of silicon photomultipliers which will detect short astrophysical gamma-ray bursts. BurstCube provides a high field of view previously unavailable to larger missions and is intended to provide rapid alerts for follow up observations with other assets, increasing the chance of a coincident detection of an event. From the design to the integration and test phases, the project aimed to provide realistic test plans and stimulus to help verify and validate reachable areas of this innovative payload/instrument system and even spacecraft performance. Typical robust integration and test phases for space missions are unaligned with the budget and risk postures of small satellite or CubeSat missions, often designated as “Do No Harm” projects where the primary requirement is not harming the host platform or other payloads. Despite this status, CubeSats are complex missions that mix new and prior technologies. Integration and test for these missions requires responsible engineering, creative collaboration, and careful observation to deliver a reliable mission. This paper will provide an overview of the payload instrument and mission system, areas of injected automation (current and future), environmental testing results, and lessons learned during the integration and test phase.

CubeSats↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

FT-01: Autonomous Helicopter Flight Testing Over Long Island Sound Special Session - Hazard Perception and Avoidance Tech Area

This presentation is included as part of a panel reporting on the Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) flight test series. The IAS series concluded in October 2023 and was conducted under NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility project and in partnership with Sikorsky and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The flight test effort included two crewed rotorcraft platforms. The first, a modified S-76B helicopter, served as the “ownship” for the duration of the flight test. The second vehicle, a modified S-70, served as the intruder aircraft. One Sikorsky pilot and one NASA test pilot was onboard each aircraft for every test point, with the NASA test pilot responsible for interacting with the research systems under test. This portion of the panel presentation focuses on the results of the flight test that assessed the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) next-generation collision avoidance system, the Airborne Collision Avoidance System X for Rotorcraft (ACAS Xr). The two configurations available within ACAS Xr – the Collision Avoidance System (CAS) configuration and the Detect and Avoid (DAA) configuration – were flown with an onboard pilot under Visual Flight Rules in controlled airspace over the Long Island Sound (Connecticut, USA). A total of 33 flight test cards were flown with ACAS Xr active. Results showed that the ACAS Xr alerting and guidance was largely effective and rated positively by the NASA test pilots, exemplified by zero instances of the pilots overriding an ACAS Xr Resolution Advisory (RA). Key areas of improvement, however, were noted, particularly with regards to the lack of an aural alert indicating a need to accelerate when receiving an RA at low speed and the occurrence of multiple RAs that the pilots found to be unacceptable.

detect and avoid↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Detect and Avoid and Collision Avoidance Flight Test Results with ACAS Xr

In October 2023, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) completed its Integration of Automated Systems flight test series, conducted under NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility project and in partnership with Sikorsky and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The flight test effort included two crewed rotorcraft platforms. The first, a modified S-76B helicopter, served as the “ownship” for the duration of the flight test. The second vehicle, a modified S-70, served as the intruder aircraft. One Sikorsky pilot and one NASA test pilot was onboard each aircraft for every test point, with the NASA test pilot responsible for interacting with the research systems under test. Approximately half of the flight test was devoted to assessing the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) next-generation collision avoidance system, the Airborne Collision Avoidance System X for Rotorcraft (ACAS Xr). The two configurations available within ACAS Xr – the Collision Avoidance System (CAS) configuration and the Detect and Avoid (DAA) configuration – were flown with an onboard pilot under Visual Flight Rules in controlled airspace over the Long Island Sound (Connecticut, USA). A total of 33 flight test cards were flown with ACAS Xr active. The ownship was equipped with ACAS Xr and the intruder was equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). The test points were blocked by ACAS Xr configuration, with individual encounters varying the ownship speed (90 knots or 20 knots), the intruder designation (en-route, terminal area, or structured airspace), and method of RA execution (automated or manually executed). Results showed that the ACAS Xr alerting and guidance was largely effective and rated positively by the NASA test pilots, exemplified by zero instances of the pilots overriding an ACAS Xr Resolution Advisory (RA). Key areas of improvement, however, were noted, particularly with regards to the lack of an aural alert indicating a need to accelerate when receiving an RA at low speed and the occurrence of multiple RAs that the pilots found to be unacceptable.

detect and avoid↗
NASA NTRS2018

Responder: Notification Acknowledgement Android Phone Application

Responder is designed to provide easier viewing and acknowledging of multiple messages. It gives the user a quick look at all recently received messages in an organized and clean manner that prevents notifications from being lost during a large burst of messages. It makes it easier to find and review old messages received and Responder was designed to give the user more flexibility in setting up how and what alerts will notify them when they are received by the phone. Since the implementation of Responder the FOT (Flight Operations Team) members are more informed and are able to focus more on problem solving the reason a notification was received then trying to keep up with sending cumbersome acknowledgements over text message or email. Responder is only able to receive and send SMS (Short Message Service) text messages but by using email-to-text services provided by the cellular carrier it is able to send and receive emails.

application↗
NASA NTRS2014

Investigating the Impacts of a Separation Standard for UAS Operations in Enroute and Transition Airspace

Unmanned aircraft systems will be required to equip with a detect and avoid system in order to satisfy the federal aviation regulations to remain well clear of other aircraft. To comply with regulations in today’s operations manned aircraft must “see and avoid” other aircraft and use subjective judgment to determine whether those aircraft are well clear. For a detect-and- avoid (DAA) system to satisfy the requirement to stay well clear, a quantitative definition of well clear needs to be defined and evaluated. Definitions for the boundary of well clear have been proposed by the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Executive Committee Science and Research Panel (SaRP) and the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) Special Committee 228 on Detect and Avoid Systems. This study investigates the interoperability implications of UAS using proposed well clear definitions as a separation standard for conducting operations in the national airspace system. The first analysis in the study focuses on the effect of variations in well clear definition parameters on the rate of losses of well clear per flight hour. The second analysis considers three well clear definitions and presents the relative state conditions of intruder aircraft as they encroach upon the well clear boundary. The third analysis focuses on the definition of the alerting criteria needed to inform the UAS operator of a potential loss of well clear. All three analyses are conducted in a NAS-wide fast-time simulation environment using UAS aircraft models, proposed UAS missions, and historical air defense radar data to populate the background traffic operating under visual flight rules. The results from the three analyses presented in this study inform the safety case, requirements development, and the operational environment for the DAA minimum operational performance standards.

UAS Seperation Standard↗
NASA NTRS2021

Is the Last Inflight Rest Break Really the Best?

As pilots experienced in augmented long-haul flights know, current FAA regulations limit options for scheduling in-flight rest periods, such that on many long-haul operations the landing pilot needs to use the final bunk period, closest to top of descent (TOD). However, the logistics of a particular flight (e.g., timing of the flight, timing of passenger service) and the pilot’s own physiology may mean that the last rest break isn’t always the best. To study this, we conducted a large survey of pilots flying these operations. Pilots completed the survey after eligible flights and provided us with information on which rest break they used, how much sleep they received, factors that disrupted sleep and ratings on the quality of their sleep, and they also provided fatigue and alertness ratings at top-of-descent. Pilots from another US-based carrier were also surveyed, in collaboration with our research partners at Washington State University, to increase the sample size and gather insights between operations.

in-flight rest↗
NASA NTRS1971

Applications of aerospace technology in industry, a technology transfer profile: Fire safety

The fire safety field is considered as being composed of three parts: an industry, a technology base, and a user base. An overview of the field is presented, including a perspective on the magnitude of the national fire safety problem. Selected NASA contributions to the technology of fire safety are considered. Communication mechanisms, particularly conferences and publications, used by NASA to alert the community to new developments in the fire safety field, are reviewed. Several examples of nonaerospace applications of NASA-generated fire safety technology are also presented. Issues associated with attempts to transfer this technology from the space program to other sectors of the American economy are outlined.

Kottenstette, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Unusual cosmic ray intensity decrease of 18 December 1965

A higher than normal ratio is reported for the decrease of cosmic ray intensity on 18 December 1965. This value was attributed to the depletion of a low rigidity electron component which also contributes to the counting rate of the IMP 3 detector. Significant difference is observed in the onset times recorded by the IMP 3 detector and Alert neutron monitor.

Desai, U. D.↗
NASA NTRS1972

The significant solar proton events in 20th solar cycle for the period October 1964 to March 1970

Solar proton data are presented from observations by the Explorer 21, 28, 34 and 41 satellites. The NASA Solar Particle Alert Network (SPAN) solar optical and radio frequency data for the period May 1967 to March 1970 are associated with the proton events observed by the Explorer 34 and 41 satellites; however, missing data are supplemented with data recorded at other international observatories. From a radiation hazard standpoint, NASA is concerned with solar proton events of the order of 10 to the 8th power proton/sq cm. Radiation dose data are presented for some of the large proton events that have occurred thus far in the 20th solar cycle and are compared with some of the large proton events of the 19th solar cycle. Finally, the results of a simple parametric correlation study are presented for both the 19th and 20th solar cycles.

Atwell, W.↗
NASA NTRS1972

A digital simulation of message traffic for natural disaster warning communications satellite

Various types of weather communications are required to alert industries and the general public about the impending occurrence of tornados, hurricanes, snowstorms, floods, etc. A natural disaster warning satellite system has been proposed for meeting the communications requirements of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Message traffic for a communications satellite was simulated with a digital computer in order to determine the number of communications channels to meet system requirements. Poisson inputs are used for arrivals and an exponential distribution is used for service.

Hein, G. F.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Physiological response in pilot/back-seat man during aerial combat maneuvers in F-4E aircraft.

Comparison of objective/subjective physiological data between the pilot and the back-seat man during training within the G maneuvering envelope. It appears that the psychological requirements for the pilot to be mentally alert and physiologically adapted to a continually changing environment places additional responsibility on him to the extent the physiological signs monitored are indicative of a high stress condition and are increased by a significant amount over the back-seat man who is, in most instances, riding passively.

Leverett, S. D., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Safety monitoring system for radioisotope thermoelectric generators

System alerts personnel of hazards which may develop while they are performing tests on radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). Remedial action is initiated to minimize damage. Five operating conditions are monitored: hot junction temperature, cold junction temperature, thermal shroud coolant flow, vacuum in test chamber, and alpha radiation.

Zoltan, A.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Space vehicle gyroscope sensor applications

Considerations which form the basis for the specification, design and evaluation of gyroscopes for spaceborne sensor applications are presented. The applications are distinguished by basic vehicle category: launch vehicles, spacecraft, entry vehicles and sounding rockets. Specifically excluded from discussion are gyroscope effector applications. Exotic or unconventional gyroscopes for which operational experience is nonexistent are mentioned only briefly to alert the reader of future trends. General requirements for testing and evaluation are discussed.

Source record↗