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NASA NTRS2017

Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking for the International Space Station (ISS)

Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) is an emerging data networking technology designed to abstract the hardware communication layer from the spacecraft/payload computing resources. DTN is specifically designed to operate in environments where link delays and disruptions are common (e.g., space-based networks). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has demonstrated DTN on several missions, such as the Deep Impact Networking (DINET) experiment, the Earth Observing Mission 1 (EO-1) and the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD). To further the maturation of DTN, NASA is implementing DTN protocols on the International Space Station (ISS). This paper explains the architecture of the ISS DTN network, the operational support for the system, the results from integrated ground testing, and the future work for DTN expansion.

Schlesinger, Adam↗

NASA NTRS2017

The Nitty Gritty: How We Make Analogs Work

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) is becoming increasingly reliant on Isolated, Confined and Controlled (ICC) analogs to accomplish many of its research objectives. Compared to other research platforms, ICC analogs present a unique set of operational challenges that must be addressed in order to ensure a high fidelity research environment. In particular, the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) habitat, which is classified as an ICC environment, has been developed over the past three years to accommodate the operational needs of research investigations from each of the HRP Elements. During the development period, various types of requirements have contributed to the current operational model, which strives to achieve the highest possible level of mission fidelity with limited resources. This presentation will focus on the operational aspects of the HERA habitat, with emphasis on how we develop the analog research environment to meet researchers' needs. Specific discussion topics include mission scenario development, operational tasks, mission timeline integration, stressor implementation, console support, and improvements based on lessons learned. The information is intended to help investigators better understand the details behind HERA operations and the benefits to their research goals.

Self, A. L.↗

NASA NTRS2017

SO-QT: Collaborative Tool to Project the Future Space Object Population

Earth orbit gets increasingly congested, a challenge to space operators, both in governments and industry. We present a web tool that provides: 1) data on todays and the historic space object environments, by aggregating object-specific tracking data; and 2) future trends through a collaboration platform to collect information on planed launches. The collaborative platform enables experts to pool and compare their data in order to generate future launch scenarios. The tool is intended to support decision makers and mission designers while they investigate future missions and scholars as they develop strategies for space traffic management.

space debris↗

NASA NTRS2018

Pterodactyl: Integrated Control Design for Precision Targeting of Deployable Entry Vehicles

Deployable Entry Vehicles (DEVs) enable in-situ scientific exploration at destinations with atmospheres across the solar system. Because they stow in a compact form and deploy only when ready to enter the atmosphere, DEVs relax the volume constraint imposed by rigid aeroshells. This work seeks to do for a DEV what the Wright Brothers did to propel modern day aviation: develop the guidance and control (G&C) methods that will make maneuvering and precision landing of DEV a reality. The Pterodactyl project objective is to deliver an integrated G&C methodology for a DEV, based on a detailed analysis that utilizes a Multi-disciplinary, Design, Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) framework. The current state-of-the-art for blunt body entry, G&C is rooted in the precision landing of vehicles such as Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and Apollo, which used a propulsive reaction control system (RCS) to steer. Recent research has taken a particular interest in non-propulsive control for DEVs, including direct force control (angle of attack modulation via control surfaces or mass movement) and drag modulation (discrete change in ballistic coefficient). Using the MDAO framework that includes a guidance and control model to explore multiple control concepts for a DEV will shed light on the best design approach for these vehicles. In Pterodactyl, we will complete this study for a novel DEV concept, and then we will fabricate a functional prototype to help validate the design. The project is expected to down-select to a final control architecture by the end of 2018, and complete fabrication of the prototype by the end of 2019.The DEV chosen for detailed study in this project is the Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT). ADEPT uses a revolutionary 3D-woven carbon fabric that is foldable, can serve as primary structure, and can survive the extreme heating environment of atmospheric entry. The specific configuration of ADEPT under investigation is called Lifting Nano-ADEPT (LNA). LNA is designed for secondary payloads missions that require precision landing either for scientific objectives at a target destination or for payload recovery at Earth.The MDAO framework being created through this research, called COBRA-Pt (Composite Beam Roll-Up Solar Array-Prototype), will combine three critical elements of the system design: a guidance algorithm with Monte Carlo, a parametric control model, and vehicle geometry details. Novel control models being studied are deployable aerodynamic surfaces as well as shape morphing. These concepts will be compared at the system level with a more traditional propulsive RCS by comparing several key performance parameters. Upon completion of the design study, a functional prototype of LNA will be fabricated that will include the integration of guidance software and relevant control actuators. We expect this study will provide critical data that could feed into the development of an Earth-based flight test of LNA. The COBRA-Pt framework will provide a modular system by which to study any DEV concept in any atmosphere.

Smith, Brandon↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-33992-DND

The CERES Science Team integrates and fuses observations from 6 CERES instruments aboard the Terra, Aqua, S-NPP, and NOAA-20 missions with data from more than 20 other unique data sources. Following the November 2017 launch of CERES Flight Model 6 (FM6) onboard NOAA20, CERES has now amassed over 80 instrument-years of valuable Earth radiation budget data. The rapidly growing volume of CERES data coupled with the introduction of new data products alongside improvements to existing science algorithms fosters the requirement for faster, more flexible, and scalable data production and orchestration. New virtualized, cloud-centric compute hardware hosted by the NASA Langley Research Center’s (LaRC) Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (ASDC) provides an ideal environment for these ever-increasing data production demands for CERES. This poster discusses updates to the implementation of the CERES Data Management Team’s (DMT) CERES AuTomAted job Loading sYSTem (CATALYST), a custom data processing workflow engine for CERES, to use on-demand computing resources to perform automated CERES data production processing in a Linux-based container environment. Linux containers provide CERES the flexibility to build multiple production environments in containers tailored for specific workloads and allow effortless provisioning of resources based on the CERES Science Team’s data production requirements.

Thomas N. Hillyer↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-17800-DND

Currently, there are two national challenge problems that guide much of the research in durability and damage tolerance at NASA Langley. The first, Airframe Digital Twin, is a concept that combines as-built vehicle components, as-experienced loads and environments, and other vehicle-specific characteristics to enable ultrahigh fidelity modeling of aircraft and spacecraft throughout their service lives. The second, Materials Genome Initiative, is an analog to the Human Genome Project, and is intended to improve the rate at which materials scientists can discover, understand fundamental physics, and improve material systems. This presentation will highlight several research projects ongoing at NASA Langley that are in support of the above challenge problems. Two of those topics will be the subject of detailed discussion. First, investigations of microstructurally-small fatigue cracking (MSFC) in Al-2Cu and Al-4Cu, fabricated in-house, will be presented. Single- and oligo-crystals of Al-Cu specimens were loaded in uniaxial fatigue, while high-resolution in-situ measurements of deformation were made using image correlation (IC) in a scanning-electron microscope (SEM). The Al-Cu specimens were then replicated as crystal plasticity finite element models (CPFEM), where evolution of slip localization near grain boundaries was computed. Comparison among experiment and CPFEM is made. In addition, XRay diffraction measurements of the as-fabricated specimens were carried out, where direct measurements of the embedded copper precipitates were made, and their influence on growing MSFCs were directly observed. The second main topic will illustrate ongoing work in the area of so-called damage-sensing particles. In this work, shape-memory alloys are embedded in an aluminum alloy matrix. Upon the propagation of a fatigue crack, these particles undergo a strain-induced phase transformation which is detected using an acoustic sensor, providing real-time information on propagating cracks. Experiments and simulations regarding the development of this system will also be detailed.

Jacob Hochhalter↗

NASA NTRS2020

Determination of the Complex Refractive Indices of Aerosol Analogs Formed at Low Temperatures with the NASA Ames Optical Constants Facility (OCF)

The NASA Ames COsmic SImulation Chamber (COSmIC) [1] is a unique experimental facility that allows: 1) cooling a gas mixture to low temperature (150 K) in a jet expansion before inducing chemistry by plasma; and 2) controlling the extent of the chemical reactions by employing a pulsed plasma discharge. This enables the study of the early stages of aerosol production, as well as specific chemical pathways in planetary environments (e.g. Titan’s and Pluto’s atmospheres). Both the gas and solid products can be studied. For a decade COSmIC has been used to simulate Titan’s atmospheric chemistry at low, Titan-like temperature [2]. New developments on the COSmIC facility are investigating formation of aerosols in tenuous, or transitory, atmospheres of other icy bodies [3-5], as well as cool exoplanets atmospheres having a hydrocarbon component, that results in formation of hazes and/or surface deposits of refractory materials. The new Ames Optical Constants Facility enables determination of the aerosol analogs' complex refractive indices, n and k, from 0.59 to 200 μm [2]. Here we report efforts of determining n and k from ex-situ transmission measurements of solid samples produced from binary N-CH and Ar-CH, and tertiary N-CH-CH and Ar-CH-CHgas mixtures in COSmIC, and deposited onto various substrates. A computational technique [6] that addresses interference fringes observed in the laboratory transmission data, particularly at wavelengths < 3 μm, has been implemented and applied to determine n and k for the samples. At visible and near-infrared wavelengths(0.4-1.6 μm) the deposit thickness, and its variation, as well as n and k were determined by a commercial entity. These data provide the ability to compare results, from independent methods, in the region of overlap between the two approaches.

Ella M Sciamma-O'Brien↗

NASA NTRS2015

Evaluation and Validation of Organic Materials for Advanced Stirling Convertors (ASCs): Overview

Various organic materials are used as essential parts in Stirling Convertors for their unique properties and functionalities such as bonding, potting, sealing, thread locking, insulation, and lubrication. More efficient Advanced Stirling Convertors (ASC) are being developed for future space applications especially with a long mission cycle, sometimes up to 17 years, such as deep space exploration or lunar surface power or Mars rovers, and others. Thus, performance, durability, and reliability of those organics should be critically evaluated in every possible material-process-fabrication-service environment relations based on their mission specifications. In general, thermal stability, radiation hardness, outgassing, and material compatibility of the selected organics have been systematically evaluated while their process and fabrication conditions and procedures were being optimized. Service environment-simulated long term aging tests up to 4 years were performed as a function of temperature for durability assessment of the most critical organic material systems.

Validation↗

NASA NTRS1972

Maintainability design criteria for packaging of spacecraft replaceable electronic equipment.

Maintainability must be designed into long-duration spacecraft and equipment to provide the required high probability of mission success with the least cost and weight. The ability to perform repairs quickly and easily in a space environment can be achieved by imposing specific maintainability design criteria on spacecraft equipment design and installation. A study was funded to investigate and define design criteria for electronic equipment that would permit rapid removal and replacement in a space environment. The results of the study are discussed together with subsequent simulated zero-g demonstration tests of a mockup with new concepts for packaging.

Kappler, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Performance of a Heterogeneous Grid Partitioner for N-body Applications

An important characteristic of distributed grids is that they allow geographically separated multicomputers to be tied together in a transparent virtual environment to solve large-scale computational problems. However, many of these applications require effective runtime load balancing for the resulting solutions to be viable. Recently, we developed a latency tolerant partitioner, called MinEX, specifically for use in distributed grid environments. This paper compares the performance of MinEX to that of METIS, a popular multilevel family of partitioners, using simulated heterogeneous grid configurations. A solver for the classical N-body problem is implemented to provide a framework for the comparisons. Experimental results show that MinEX provides superior quality partitions while being competitive to METIS in speed of execution.

Harvey, Daniel J.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Systemic Alterations with Spaceflight Associated Health Risks Originating from Both Circulating miRNAs and Mitochondrial Biology

The many known health risks currently associated with space travel include increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, central nervous system related diseases, muscle degeneration, and changes with host-gut microbiome interactions that can have profound impact with these and other health risks. The majority of the risk from space travel stem of the two components of the space environment which are microgravity and radiation. Two specific systemic effects have been uncovered by us to impact the body as a whole due to the space environment. One factor is related from our earlier work (Beheshti et al, PLOS One, 2018), we predicted that there is a systemic component of the host that causes general increased health risks due to spaceflight driven by a circulating microRNA (miRNA) signature consisting of 13 miRNAs that directly regulates both p53 and TGF1. MiRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules with a negative and post-transcriptional regulation on gene expression) are increasingly recognized as major systemic regulators of responses to stressors, including microgravity, oxidative stress, and DNA damage. In addition, due to the size and stability of miRNAs, it is known that miRNAs can circulate throughout the body and have been found in the majority of the bodily fluids including blood, urine, saliva, and tears. Here, we start to dissect the actual impact of this miRNA signature on both the radiation and microgravity components and prove that this miRNA signature actually exists in the circulation of a host. The other systemic factor we uncovered was the impact the mitochondria on the whole body due to spaceflight. We hypothesize that spaceflight may promote a physiologic response driven by systemic mitochondria pathways leading to metabolic disorder stemming from the liver and directly impacting other organs and tissues. A systems biology method was implemented utilizing GeneLab datasets that involved in vitro experiments performed at the low Earth orbit, in vivo experiments involving mice flown to space, and finally human physiological data from astronauts. A comprehensive multi-omics approach was implemented which involved correlating transcriptomic analysis with proteomics, metabolomics, and methylation analysis. This approach led us to confirm our hypothesis that a systemic mitochondrial driven response is responsible for increasing potential health risk and is conserved from the in vitro studies, to the in vivo studies, and finally confirmed in astronauts.

Radiation↗

NASA NTRS1994

Evolving software reengineering technology for the emerging innovative-competitive era

This paper reports on a multi-tool commercial/military environment combining software Domain Analysis techniques with Reusable Software and Reengineering of Legacy Software. It is based on the development of a military version for the Department of Defense (DOD). The integrated tools in the military version are: Software Specification Assistant (SSA) and Software Reengineering Environment (SRE), developed by Computer Command and Control Company (CCCC) for Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and Joint Logistics Commanders (JLC), and the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) STARS Software Engineering Environment (SEE) developed by Boeing for NAVAIR PMA 205. The paper describes transitioning these integrated tools to commercial use. There is a critical need for the transition for the following reasons: First, to date, 70 percent of programmers' time is applied to software maintenance. The work of these users has not been facilitated by existing tools. The addition of Software Reengineering will also facilitate software maintenance and upgrading. In fact, the integrated tools will support the entire software life cycle. Second, the integrated tools are essential to Business Process Reengineering, which seeks radical process innovations to achieve breakthrough results. Done well, process reengineering delivers extraordinary gains in process speed, productivity and profitability. Most importantly, it discovers new opportunities for products and services in collaboration with other organizations. Legacy computer software must be changed rapidly to support innovative business processes. The integrated tools will provide commercial organizations important competitive advantages. This, in turn, will increase employment by creating new business opportunities. Third, the integrated system will produce much higher quality software than use of the tools separately. The reason for this is that producing or upgrading software requires keen understanding of extremely complex applications which is facilitated by the integrated tools. The radical savings in the time and cost associated with software, due to use of CASE tools that support combined Reuse of Software and Reengineering of Legacy Code, will add an important impetus to improving the automation of enterprises. This will be reflected in continuing operations, as well as in innovating new business processes. The proposed multi-tool software development is based on state of the art technology, which will be further advanced through the use of open systems for adding new tools and experience in their use.

Hwang, Phillip Q.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Nondeterministic data base for computerized visual perception

A description is given of the knowledge representation data base in the perception subsystem of the Mars robot vehicle prototype. Two types of information are stored. The first is generic information that represents general rules that are conformed to by structures in the expected environments. The second kind of information is a specific description of a structure, i.e., the properties and relations of objects in the specific case being analyzed. The generic knowledge is represented so that it can be applied to extract and infer the description of specific structures. The generic model of the rules is substantially a Bayesian representation of the statistics of the environment, which means it is geared to representation of nondeterministic rules relating properties of, and relations between, objects. The description of a specific structure is also nondeterministic in the sense that all properties and relations may take a range of values with an associated probability distribution.

Yakimovsky, Y.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Towards a Reference Architecture for Model-Based Engineering Environments

A key aspect of adopting model-based systems engineering as a practice in an organization is the design and development, and adoption of corresponding processes and tools that support the model-based paradigm. In an effort to enable the unified implementation of such processes and tools, this paper introduces a reference architecture model that serves as a specification for a model-based engineering environment. Current systems engineering practices, products, processes and technologies are used as input for continuously refining the architecture model. In the paper, we introduce and report on the current status of this reference architecture model, and present the methodology applied in developing the reference architecture. We conclude that while there are a very large number of domain- or application-specific processes requiring specialized behavior, these can be reduced through abstraction to a small set of core functions that need to be supported by a realization of a model-based engineering environment. Only very few organization-domain- or application-specific aspects require specialized consideration.

Herzig, Sebastian J. I.↗

NASA NTRS1980

FAME, a microprocessor based front-end analysis and modeling environment

Higher order software (HOS) is a methodology for the specification and verification of large scale, complex, real time systems. The HOS methodology was implemented as FAME (front end analysis and modeling environment), a microprocessor based system for interactively developing, analyzing, and displaying system models in a low cost user-friendly environment. The nature of the model is such that when completed it can be the basis for projection to a variety of forms such as structured design diagrams, Petri-nets, data flow diagrams, and PSL/PSA source code. The user's interface with the analyzer is easily recognized by any current user of a structured modeling approach; therefore extensive training is unnecessary. Furthermore, when all the system capabilities are used one can check on proper usage of data types, functions, and control structures thereby adding a new dimension to the design process that will lead to better and more easily verified software designs.

Rosenbaum, J. D.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Testing Destruction of Clay Minerals By Silica-Poor Brines in Gale Crater, Mars Using Laboratory and Field Experiments

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover landed in Gale crater to investigate the cause for mineralogical changes seen from orbit, including the clay-sulfate mineral transition observed on its central mound, Aeolis Mons. The lower strata show spectral signatures of clay minerals, hematite, and hydrated Mg sulfates, and the upper strata are dominated by hydrated Mg sulfate signatures. This significant transition has been observed in other locations on Mars, and therefore processes related to the clay mineral-sulfate transition are likely important broadly across Mars. The bulk mineralogy of ~3.7 Ga sedimentary rocks in Gale crater is a product of variations in sediment sources and depositional processes, with overprinting by episodes of early and late diagenetic alteration. Sedimentary analyses of the smectite clay minerals observed in the Glen Torridon (GT) region of Mount Sharp suggest formation in a lacustrine aqueous environment. Examination of the Vera Rubin ridge (VRR) strata indicate that it was formed at the same time as GT and later altered by extensive diagenesis. Recent work suggests that the observed mineral transition from smectites and talc-serpentinites in GT to iron oxides and oxyhydroxides and VRR may have resulted from extensive diagenetic alteration by density driven, silica-poor brines sourced from the overlying sulfur-bearing unit on Mount Sharp. This process of alteration by silica-poor brines is observed in limited locations on Earth. We are therefore working to demonstrate the impacts of silica poor brines on clay mineral alteration in laboratory column and terrestrial analog burial experiments. Column experiments allow the investigation of dissolution and precipitation under conditions that represent a closer analog to natural environments, while burial experiments allow examination of weathering reactions of a known starting material after a specific period of time in a natural field environment. Both methods are valuable for interpreting the water-rock interactions between clay minerals and brines. In preparation for these longer-term column and burial experiments, we are performing preliminary batch dissolution experiments on materials relevant to Glen Torridon: nontronite and serpentinite. We are using magnesium sulfate brine solutions relevant to those proposed on Mars. The results of this study can provide constraints on the characteristics of the diagenetic fluids that formed the altered minerals in Gale crater. They can also provide insights into the role of brine density-driven diagenesis in past aqueous environments on Mars, which have been proposed to be widespread.

J E Valdueza↗

NASA NTRS1994

Adaptation of a Control Center Development Environment for Industrial Process Control

In the control center, raw telemetry data is received for storage, display, and analysis. This raw data must be combined and manipulated in various ways by mathematical computations to facilitate analysis, provide diversified fault detection mechanisms, and enhance display readability. A development tool called the Graphical Computation Builder (GCB) has been implemented which provides flight controllers with the capability to implement computations for use in the control center. The GCB provides a language that contains both general programming constructs and language elements specifically tailored for the control center environment. The GCB concept allows staff who are not skilled in computer programming to author and maintain computer programs. The GCB user is isolated from the details of external subsystem interfaces and has access to high-level functions such as matrix operators, trigonometric functions, and unit conversion macros. The GCB provides a high level of feedback during computation development that improves upon the often cryptic errors produced by computer language compilers. An equivalent need can be identified in the industrial data acquisition and process control domain: that of an integrated graphical development tool tailored to the application to hide the operating system, computer language, and data acquisition interface details. The GCB features a modular design which makes it suitable for technology transfer without significant rework. Control center-specific language elements can be replaced by elements specific to industrial process control.

Killough, Ronnie L.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Selection Factors for Space Crops

NASA is actively researching space crop production to determine its potential to contribute to food system security on long duration missions beyond Low Earth Orbit. Our near-term focus is on nutrient and variety supplementation of prepackaged food with fresh produce that requires little or no processing. The longer-term goal is caloric replacement to become less dependent on Earth, and this will require cultivation of staple crops, processing and cooking equipment, integration with spacecraft air, water, and power systems, and automation. There are numerous technology and knowledge gaps remaining for sustainable space crop production systems, but one high-impact area is in the development of crops specifically customized to meet the needs of controlled environment crop production, astronaut health and well-being, and space-unique environments. Modern crop breeding and genome engineering tools are allowing for rapid development of new genotypes with incredible specificity. Targeted aspects to optimize crops for space have been identified and characterized into five categories: plant growth and development, plant physiology, produce nutrition, produce organoleptic acceptability, and postharvest characteristics. Within each category there are several targets that further the development of crop production systems for spaceflight, such as crop size and harvest index, tolerance to specific environmental stresses, optimizing target nutrients that are low or degrade in the packaged diet, maintenance time requirements, and less indigestible structural material. NASA-funded PIs are already beginning to develop candidate crops, and spaceflight testing and validation of novel space crops is on the horizon. Crops developed for space also have the potential to benefit terrestrial controlled environment agriculture crop production systems. This research was supported by NASA’s Space Biology and Human Research Programs.

Space Crop Production↗