Comparing CRRES Internal Discharge Monitor results with ground tests and published guidelines
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Grounding architecture, including its implementation, is an important part of overall mission success for spacecraft.
Semiconductor laser diodes emit coherent light by simulated emission generated inside the cavity formed by the cleaved end facets of a slab of semiconductor that is typically less than a millimeter in any dimension for single emitters. The diode is pumped by current injection in the p-n junction through the metallic contacts. Laser diodes emitting in the range of 0.8 micron to 1.06 micron have a wide variety of applications from pumping erbium doped fiber amplifiers, dual-clad fiber lasers, solid-state lasers used in telecom, aerospace, military, medical purposes and all the way to CD players, laser printers and other consumer and industrial products. Laser diode bars have many single emitters side by side and spaced approximately .5 mm on a single slab of semiconductor material approximately .5 mm x 10 mm. The individual emitters are connected in parallel maintaining the voltage at -2V but increasing the current to ~50-100A/bar. Stacking these laser diode bars in multiple layers, 2 to 20+ high, yields high power laser diode arrays capable of emitting several hundreds of Watts. Electrically the bars are wired in series increasing the voltage by 2V/bar but maintaining the total current at ~50-100A. These arrays are one of the enabling technologies for efficient, high power solid-state lasers. Traditionally these arrays are operated in QCW (Quasi CW) mode with pulse widths ~10-200 (mu)s and with repetition rates of ~10-200Hz. In QCW mode the wavelength and the output power of the laser reaches steady-state but the temperature does not. The advantage is a substantially higher output power than in CW mode, where the output power would be limited by the internal heating and hence the thermal and heat sinking properties of the device. The down side is a much higher thermal induced mechanical stress caused by the constant heating and cooling cycle inherent to the QCW mode.
High-power laser diode arrays (LDAs) are used for a variety of space-based remote sensor laser programs as an energy source for diode-pumped solid-state lasers. LDAs have been flown on NASA missions including MOLA, GLAS and MLA and have continued to be viewed as an important part of the laser-based instrument component suite. There are currently no military or NASA-grade, -specified, or - qualified LDAs available for "off-the-shelf" use by NASA programs. There has also been no prior attempt to define a standard screening and qualification test flow for LDAs for space applications. Initial reliability studies have also produced good results from an optical performance and stability standpoint. Usage experience has shown, howeve that the current designs being offered may be susceptible to catastrophic failures due to their physical construction (packaging) combined with the electro-optical operational modes and the environmental factors of space application. design combined with operational mode was at the root of the failures which have greatly reduced the functionality of the GLAS instrument. The continued need for LDAs for laser-based science instruments and past catastrophic failures of this part type demand examination of LDAs in a manner which enables NASA to select, buy, validate and apply them in a manner which poses as little risk to the success of the mission as possible.
This document is a User's Manual describing the C3 Simulation capabilities. The subject work was designed to simulate the communications involved in the flight of a Remotely Operated Aircraft (ROA) using the Opnet software. Opnet provides a comprehensive development environment supporting the modeling of communication networks and distributed systems. It has tools for model design, simulation, data collection, and data analysis. Opnet models are hierarchical -- consisting of a project which contains node models which in turn contain process models. Nodes can be fixed, mobile, or satellite. Links between nodes can be physical or wireless. Communications are packet based. The model is very generic in its current form. Attributes such as frequency and bandwidth can easily be modified to better reflect a specific platform. The model is not fully developed at this stage -- there are still more enhancements to be added. Current issues are documented throughout this guide.
Turon s methodology for determining optimal analysis parameters for the simulation of progressive delamination is reviewed. Recommended procedures for determining analysis parameters for efficient delamination growth predictions using the Abaqus/Standard cohesive element and relatively coarse meshes are provided for single and mixed-mode loading. The Abaqus cohesive element, COH3D8, and a user-defined cohesive element are used to develop finite element models of the double cantilever beam specimen, the end-notched flexure specimen, and the mixed-mode bending specimen to simulate progressive delamination growth in Mode I, Mode II, and mixed-mode fracture, respectively. The predicted responses are compared with their analytical solutions. The results show that for single-mode fracture, the predicted responses obtained with the Abaqus cohesive element correlate well with the analytical solutions. For mixed-mode fracture, it was found that the response predicted using COH3D8 elements depends on the damage evolution criterion that is used. The energy-based criterion overpredicts the peak loads and load-deflection response. The results predicted using a tabulated form of the BK criterion correlate well with the analytical solution and with the results predicted with the user-written element.
NESC saw the need to study the persistent failure of DC/DC Converters during ground testing and in flight, motivated investigation of causes and mitigation options. Research indicated misapplication and device quality to be root causes. The study took 20 months. Team included multiple NASA Centers : JPL, JSC, MSFC, GSFC Project Background
The stress rupture specification for Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPV) is discussed. The composite shell of the COPV shall be designed to meet the design life considering the time it is under sustained load. A Mechcanical Damage Control Plan (MDCP) shall be created and implemented that assures the COPV will not fail due to mechanical damage due to manufacturing, testing, shipping, installation, or flight. Proven processes and procedures for fabrication and repair shall be used to preclude damage or material degradation during material processing, manufacturing operations, and refurbushment.Selected NDI techniques for the liner and/or boss(es) shall be performed before overwrapping with composite. When visual inspection reveals mechanical damage or defects exceeding manufacturing specification levels (and standard repair procedures), the damaged COPV shall be submitted to a material review board (MRB) for disposition. Every COPV shall be subjected to visual and other non-destructive inspection (NDI), per the inspection plan.
On July 5, 1997, a small robot emerged from its lander like an insect from an egg, crawling out onto the rocky surface of Mars. About the size of a child s wagon, NASA s Sojourner robot was the first successful rover mission to the Red Planet. For 83 sols (Martian days, typically about 40 minutes longer than Earth days), Sojourner - largely remote controlled by NASA operators on Earth - transmitted photos and data unlike any previously collected. Sojourner was perhaps the crowning achievement of the NASA Space Telerobotics Program, an Agency initiative designed to push the limits of robotics in space. Telerobotics - devices that merge the autonomy of robotics with the direct human control of teleoperators - was already a part of NASA s efforts; probes like the Viking landers that preceded Sojourner on Mars, for example, were telerobotic applications. The Space Telerobotics Program, a collaboration between Ames Research Center, Johnson Space Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and multiple universities, focused on developing remote-controlled robotics for three main purposes: on-orbit assembly and servicing, science payload tending, and planetary surface robotics. The overarching goal was to create robots that could be guided to build structures in space, monitor scientific experiments, and, like Sojourner, scout distant planets in advance of human explorers. While telerobotics remains a significant aspect of NASA s efforts, as evidenced by the currently operating Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, the Hubble Space Telescope, and many others - the Space Telerobotics Program was dissolved and redistributed within the Agency the same year as Sojourner s success. The program produced a host of remarkable technologies and surprising inspirations, including one that is changing the way people eat
A systematic study is presented to guide the selection of a numerical solution strategy for URANS computation of a subsonic transport configuration undergoing simulated forced oscillation about its pitch axis. Forced oscillation is central to the prevalent wind tunnel methodology for quantifying aircraft dynamic stability derivatives from force and moment coefficients, which is the ultimate goal for the computational simulations. Extensive computations are performed that lead in key insights of the critical numerical parameters affecting solution convergence. A preliminary linear harmonic analysis is included to demonstrate the potential of extracting dynamic stability derivatives from computational solutions.
The Fast Scattering Code (FSC) is a frequency domain noise prediction program developed at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) to simulate the acoustic field produced by the interaction of known, time harmonic incident sound with bodies of arbitrary shape and surface impedance immersed in a potential flow. The code uses the equivalent source method (ESM) to solve an exterior 3-D Helmholtz boundary value problem (BVP) by expanding the scattered acoustic pressure field into a series of point sources distributed on a fictitious surface placed inside the actual scatterer. This work provides additional code validation studies and illustrates the range of code parameters that produce accurate results with minimal computational costs. Systematic noise prediction studies are presented in which monopole generated incident sound is scattered by simple geometric shapes - spheres (acoustically hard and soft surfaces), oblate spheroids, flat disk, and flat plates with various edge topologies. Comparisons between FSC simulations and analytical results and experimental data are presented.
The LSI community of users is large and varied. To reach all these users as well as potential instrument contributors this document has been organized by measurement parameters of interest such as Leaf Area Index and Land Surface Temperature. These measurement parameters and the data presented in this document are drawn from multiple sources, listed at the end of the document, although the two primary ones are "The Space-Based Global Observing System in 2010 (GOS-2010)" that was compiled for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) by Bizzarro Bizzarri, and the CEOS Missions, Instruments, and Measurements online database (CEOS MIM). For each measurement parameter the following topics will be discussed: (1) measurement description, (2) applications, (3) measurement spectral bands, and (4) example instruments and mission information. The description of each measurement parameter starts with a definition and includes a graphic displaying the relationships to four general land surface imaging user communities: vegetation, water, earth, and geo-hazards, since the LSI community of users is large and varied. The vegetation community uses LSI data to assess factors related to topics such as agriculture, forest management, crop type, chlorophyll, vegetation land cover, and leaf or canopy differences. The water community analyzes snow and lake cover, water properties such as clarity, and body of water delineation. The earth community focuses on minerals, soils, and sediments. The geo-hazards community is designed to address and aid in emergencies such as volcanic eruptions, forest fires, and large-scale damaging weather-related events.
The purpose of national and international space debris mitigation guides is to promote the preservation of near-Earth space for applications and exploration missions far into the future. To accomplish this objective, the accumulation of objects, particularly in long-lived orbits, must be eliminated or curtailed.
No abstract available
Better performing Forward Error Correction on the forward link along with adequate power in the data open an uplink operations trade space that enable missions to: Command to greater distances in deep space (increased uplink margin). Increase the size of the payload data (latency may be a factor). Provides space for the security header/trailer of the CCSDS Space Data Link Security Protocol. Note: These higher rates could be used for relief of emergency communication margins/rates and not limited to improving top-end rate performance. A higher performance uplink could also reduce the requirements on flight emergency antenna size and/or the performance required from ground stations. Use of a selective repeat ARQ protocol may increase the uplink design requirements but the resultant development is deemed acceptable, due the factor of 4 to 8 potential increase in uplink data rate.
Vitamin D and its metabolites have clinical significance because they play a critical function in calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism. Although not all of the pathologic mechanisms have been adequately described, vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency, as measured by low levels of 25-OH vitamin D, are associated with a variety of clinical conditions including osteoporosis, falls and fractures in the elderly, decreased immune function, bone pain, and possibly colon cancer and cardiovascular health.2 Apart from inadequate dietary intake, patients may present with low levels of vitamin D if they receive inadequate sunlight. The astronaut population is potentially vulnerable to low levels of vitamin D for several reasons. Firstly, they may train for long periods in Star City, Russia, which by virtue of its northern latitude receives less sunlight in winter months. Secondly, astronauts are deprived of sunlight while aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In addition, ISS crew members are exposed to microgravity for prolonged durations and are likely to develop low bone mineral density despite the use of countermeasures. Therefore, closely monitoring and maintaining adequate vitamin D levels is important for the astronaut corps.
The current Global Hawk flight rules would probably not have been effective in the single event of greatest concern (the Emily encounter). The cloud top had not reached 50,000 ft until minutes before the encounter. The TOT and lightning data would not have been available until near the overflight time since this was a rapidly growing cell. This case would have required a last‐minute diversion when lightning became frequent. Avoiding such a cell probably requires continual monitoring of the forward camera and storm scope, whether or not cloud tops have been exceeding specific limits. However, the current overflight rules as strictly interpreted would have prohibited significant fractions of the successful Global Hawk overpasses of Karl and Matthew that proved not to be hazardous. Many other high altitude aircraft (ER‐2 and Global Hawk) flights in NASA tropical cyclone field programs have successfully overflown deep convective clouds without incident.The convective cell that caused serious concern about the safety of the ER‐2 in Emily was especially strong for a tropical cyclone environment, probably as strong or stronger than any that was overflown by the ER‐2 in 20 previous flights over tropical cyclones. Specifically, what made that cell a safety concern was the magnitude of the vertical velocity of the updraft, at least 20 m/s (4000 ft/minute) at the time the ER‐2 overflew it. Such a strong updraft can generate strong gravity waves at and above the tropopause, posing a potential danger to aircraft far above the maximum altitude of the updraft itself or its associated cloud top. Indeed, the ER‐2 was probably at least 9000 ft above that cloud top. Cloud‐top height, by itself, is not an especially good indicator of the intensity of convection and the likelihood of turbulence. Nor is overflying high cloud tops (i.e. > 50,000 ft) of particular concern unless there is other evidence of very strong convective updrafts beneath those tops in the path of the aircraft. center dot Lightning, especially lightning with a high flash rate, is well correlated with convective intensity. Lightning with a minimal flash rate (say 1‐3 flashes per minute) is indicative of updraft speeds of about 10 m/s in the mixed phase region where charge is being separated, generally at altitudes about 20‐25 kft in a hurricane. That is still stronger than typical updrafts (more like 5 m/s). An unresolved issue is whether there is a high and instantaneous correlation between vertical velocity in the middle troposphere (necessary for lightning generation) and near cloud top (more direct concern for overflights).