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At least 613 records · Page 34
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2006

IMU/GPS System Provides Position and Attitude Data

A special navigation system is being developed to provide high-quality information on the position and attitude of a moving platform (an aircraft or spacecraft), for use in pointing and stabilization of a hyperspectral remote-sensing system carried aboard the platform. The system also serves to enable synchronization and interpretation of readouts of all onboard sensors. The heart of the system is a commercially available unit, small enough to be held in one hand, that contains an integral combination of an inertial measurement unit (IMU) of the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) type, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, a differential GPS subsystem, and ancillary data-processing subsystems. The system utilizes GPS carrier-phase measurements to generate time data plus highly accurate and continuous data on the position, attitude, rotation, and acceleration of the platform. Relative to prior navigation systems based on IMU and GPS subsystems, this system is smaller, is less expensive, and performs better. Optionally, the system can easily be connected to a laptop computer for demonstration and evaluation. In addition to airborne and spaceborne remote-sensing applications, there are numerous potential terrestrial sensing, measurement, and navigation applications in diverse endeavors that include forestry, environmental monitoring, agriculture, mining, and robotics.

Lin, Ching Fang↗
NASA NTRS1973

Ecological effects of strip mining in Ohio

The author has identified the following significant results. One result significant as a practical application and for cost benefit analysis is the relative ease with which ERTS-1 will monitor new and unclaimed stripping activities in Southeastern Ohio and in all of Appalachia. Band 5 resolution appears to be better than the often reported 80 meters. The strip mines stand out well enough to be easily identified without other graphic aids. Standing water within the strip mined area stands out in either bands 6 or 7. Areas of several acres are visible. Significant increases in surface extent of water of stripped areas should be detectable on a comparative basis. The degree of reclamation is observable in the imagery in rather gross percentage steps and for areas larger than the bare earth sizes in the table. The gradation in tones in the different bands indicates that probability density imagery using the four bands in CCT data (and statistical processing) is likely to separate degrees of vegetative reclamation.

Chase, P. E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ICE-RASSOR: Intelligent Capabilities Enhanced Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot

NASA’s Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) is principally designed to mine and deliver regolith for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)processing. RASSOR’s design enables it to efficiently collect and deposit regolith, return collected material for processing, and myriad related ISRU activities. To reliably perform these operations on the lunar surface, RASSOR software and sensory systems need to be robust and maximize the information extracted from a reduced sensor payload. Herein, we present preliminary findings from the Intelligent Capabilities Enhanced RASSOR project. We apply supervised learning using real data to estimate the soil mass collected without the need for mass flow rate monitors or other explicate sensing techniques. We also create a reduced-order simulation environment to develop autonomous trenching controllers via reinforcement learning and prototype state estimation architectures. Our initial results suggest that excavated regolith mass can be inferred within 2.9% RMS error of full scale, and reinforcement learning for autonomous operations has learned viable trenching strategies and helped identify desirable sensing capabilities, arrangements, and considerations. Future work includes regolith mass estimation during dynamic operation, expanding our simulation to more complex environments, and transfer learning from simulation to hardware.

machine learning↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ICE-RASSOR: Intelligent Capabilities Enhanced Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot

NASA’s Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) is principally designed to mine and deliver regolith for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) processing. RASSOR’s design enables it to efficiently collect and deposit regolith, return collected material for processing, and myriad related ISRU activities. To reliably perform these operations on the lunar surface, RASSOR software and sensory systems need to be robust and maximize the information extracted from on-board sensory. Herein, we present preliminary findings from the Intelligent Capabilities Enhanced RASSOR project. We apply supervised learning using real data to estimate the soil mass collected without the need for mass flow rate monitors or other explicate sensing techniques. We also create a reduced-order simulation environment to develop autonomous trenching controllers via reinforcement learning and proto-type state estimation architectures. Our initial results suggest that excavated regolith mass can be inferred within 2.9% RMS error of full scale, and reinforcement learning for autonomous operations has learned viable trenching strategies and helped identify desirable sensing capabilities, arrangements, and considerations. Future work includes regolith mass estimation during dynamic operation, expanding our simulation to more complex environments, and transfer learning from simulation to hardware.

machine learning↗
NASA NTRS1991

Mars manned fusion spaceship

Fusion Propulsion has an enormous potential for space exploration in the near future. In the twenty-first century, a usable and efficient fusion rocket will be developed and in use. Because of the great distance between other planets and Earth, efficient use of time, fuel, and payload is essential. A nuclear spaceship would provide greater fuel efficiency, less travel time, and a larger payload. Extended missions would give more time for research, experiments, and data acquisition. With the extended mission time, a need for an artificial environment exists. The topics of magnetic fusion propulsion, living modules, artificial gravity, mass distribution, space connection, and orbital transfer to Mars are discussed. The propulsion system is a magnetic fusion reactor based on a tandem mirror design. This allows a faster, shorter trip time and a large thrust to weight ratio. The fuel proposed is a mixture of deuterium and helium-3. Helium-3 can be obtained from lunar mining. There will be minimal external radiation from the reactor resulting in a safe, efficient propulsion system.

Hedrick, James↗
NASA NTRS1990

Remote Detection and Mapping of Supergene Iron Oxides in the Cripple Creek Mining District, Colorado

The Geophysical and Environmental Research Imaging Spectrometer (GERIS) was flown over the Cripple Creek mining district in south-central Colorado to improve the geological understanding of the district. As part of the study, an airborne mapping technique was developed for the discrimination of the ferric iron minerals hematite, goethite, and jarosite, minerals often important indicators of the distribution of economic mineralization. A software technique was developed which uses the binary encoding of spectral slopes to identify the mineral hematite from the group goethite/jarosite. Mixtures of hematite and goethite can also be detected with GERIS data. The study included district-wide field mapping and spectral measurements to evaluate the accuracy of the image classifications. The ARC/INFO geographic information system (GIS) was a useful tool which allowed quantitative comparison of the field mapping and GERIS image data sets. The study results demonstrate the ability to discriminate individual iron minerals using imaging spectroscopy, and the development of a rapid mapping technique useful in the reconnaissance stage of minerals exploration.

Taranik, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Relevance of ERTS-1 to the State of Ohio

The author has identified the following significant results. During the first year of project effort the ability of ERTS-1 imagery to be used for mapping and inventorying strip-mined areas in south eastern Ohio, the potential of using ERTS-1 imagery in water quality and coastal zone management in the Lake Erie region, and the extent that ERTS-1 imagery could contribute to localized (metropolitan/urban), multicounty, and overall state land use needs were experimentally demonstrated and reported as significant project results. Significant research accomplishments were achieved in the technological development of manual and computerized methods to extract multi-feature information as well as singular feature information from ERTS-1 data as is exemplified by the forestry transparency overlay. Fabrication of an image transfer device to superimpose ERTS-1 data onto existing maps and other data sources was also a significant analytical accomplishment.

Sweet, D. C.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ICE-RASSOR: Intelligent Capabilities Enhanced

NASA’s Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) is principally designed to mine and deliver regolith for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) processing. RAS-SOR’s design enables it to efficiently collect and deposit regolith, return collected material for processing, and myriad related ISRU activities. To reliably perform these operations on the lunar sur-face, RASSOR software and sensory systems need to be robust and maximize the information extracted from on-board sensing. Herein, we present preliminary findings from the Intelligent Capabilities Enhanced RASSOR project. We apply supervised learning using real data to estimate the soil mass collected without the need for mass flow rate monitors or other explicate sensing techniques. We also create a reduced-order simulation environment to develop autonomous trenching controllers via reinforcement learning and proto-type state estimation architectures. Our initial results suggest that excavated regolith mass can be inferred within 2.9% RMS error of full scale, and reinforcement learning for autonomous operations has learned viable trenching strategies and helped identify desirable sensing capabilities, arrangements, and considerations. Future work includes regolith mass estimation during dynamic operation, expanding our simulation to more complex environments, and transfer learning from simulation to hardware.

machine learning↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Role of Antecedent Soil Moisture and Vegetation Stress in Lightning-Initiated Wildfires

Lightning-caused wildfires are a small percentage of all wildfire events within the Conterminous U.S. (CONUS), but they account for over 56% of the acreage burned. The atmospheric conditions favoring wildfire and rapid growth are well understood: large dewpoint depressions, unstable planetary boundary layer, strong winds, etc. However, antecedent land surface conditions affecting dead and live fuel moisture is more difficult to quantify. This study examines over 20 years of antecedent land surface, vegetation stress, and wildfire characteristic data associated with nearly 77,000 lightning-initiated wildfires from the U.S. Forest Service Wildfire Database. We will invoke two in-house databases generated by the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center: an observations-driven, climatological run of the Noah land surface model within the NASA Land Information System (i.e., SPoRT-LIS) to depict soil moisture deficits / anomalies, and a satellite-constrained Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) product to denote areas of stressed vegetation. We will mine these datasets associated with lightning-caused (and null) events to determine important relationships, distributions, and delineators that correspond to elevated threat areas for lightning-initiated wildfires.

Wildfire↗
NASA NTRS1981

Program on stimulating operational private sector use of Earth observation satellite information

Ideas for new businesses specializing in using remote sensing and computerized spatial data systems were developd. Each such business serves as an 'information middleman', buying raw satellite or aircraft imagery, processing these data, combining them in a computer system with customer-specific information, and marketing the resulting information products. Examples of the businesses the project designed are: (1) an agricultural facility site evaluation firm; (2) a mass media grocery price and supply analyst and forecaster; (3) a management service for privately held woodlots; (4) a brokerage for insulation and roofing contractors, based on infrared imagery; (5) an expanded real estate information service. In addition, more than twenty-five other commercially attractive ideas in agribusiness, forestry, mining, real estate, urban planning and redevelopment, and consumer information were created. The commercial feasibility of the five business was assessed. This assessment included market surveys, revenue projections, cost analyses, and profitability studies. The results show that there are large and enthusiastic markets willing to pay for the services these businesses offer, and that the businesses could operate profitably.

Eastwood, L. F., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Method for Locating a Concealed Object

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for detecting anomalies in microwave penetrable material that may be used for locating plastic mines or pipes underneath the ground. A transmitter is positioned at a plurality of different positions above the ground. A microwave signal is transmitted that is stepped over a plurality of frequencies. At each position, a plurality of reflections are received corresponding to each of the plurality of frequencies that were transmitted. A complex target vector may be produced at each position that contains complex values corresponding to magnitude, phase, and time delay for each of the plurality of reflections received at that location. A complex reference data vector may be produced, either based on predetermined values or based on data from the received plurality of reflections. A comparison is made between the complex target vector and the complex reference data vector to produce a channel vector. In one embodiment, an operator may be applied to the channel vector such as a complex filter matrix or to add a complex conjugate. A response signal is produced and anomalies are detected by variations in the response signal with respect to the plurality of positions.

G Dickey Arndt↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Case Study for Lunar ISRU Systems Utilizing Polar Water

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is key to long term presence at any extraterrestrial destination. Current NASA direction is to achieve a sustainable presence on the lunar surface by 2028. Mission plans currently target the lunar South Pole to leverage the extended periods of solar illumination and allows for potential access to water ice in the permanently shadowed areas around the poles. With water, it is possible to produce both fuel and oxidizer to fully refuel a vehicle. In order to address ISRU infusion into mission planning, a study of an end-to-end ISRU propellant production system was initiated to assess ISRU architectures and obtain mass and power estimates for each. The results of these case studies will be presented. For this study, The ISRU system architecture involved two sites; the mine site in a shadowed crater where water ice is excavated and extracted from the regolith and the propellant production site at an illuminated ridge where the water is processed into liquefied O2 and H2 propellants. Fixed hardware would be emplaced at each site, with two alternating water tankers to transport water between them. Notional lunar sites were identified for this architecture for baseline environmental parameters. Technology solutions for each subsystem were selected based on those with the highest fidelity models or those that have empirical laboratory data to anchor to. While power needs were identified for each location, a power solution was not prescribed, therefore the masses presented do not include surface power systems. The baseline case in this study assumed that 10 mT of oxygen, along with enough hydrogen to support a propulsion mixture ratio of 6, must be produced in 225 days. Therefore 15 mT of water would need to be collected and processed. The baseline solution resulted in a system mass of5 mT and a total required power of 68kW. The majority of the mass was split between the ridge site system and the two water tankers (2.6 mTand 1.8mTrespectively). The majority of the required power was with three subsystems at approximately 20 kW each: hydrogen liquefaction, electrolysis, and the water extractor subsystem. Trades for four key variables are also presented, namely production rate, water concentration, dry overburden depth, and number of water transport trips. This can be compared to a system that targets oxygen from the minerals in the surface regolith material. A carbothermal reduction reactor system was used for this comparison. The use of direct solar thermal energy to process the regolith and the ease of access of the resource resulted in significantly lower values for the oxygen case: approximately 2.7 mT and 11.8 kW. However, the mass trade would favor the water case over successive missions where the hydrogen up-mass of 2 mT per mission will accrue against the oxygen system.1Aerospace Research Engineer, Chemical and Thermal Propulsion Systems Branch, Senior Member.2Mechanical Engineer, Propulsion and Power Division/Energy Conversion Systems, 2101 Nasa Pkwy/Mailcode EP3 Houston, TX 77058, AIAA member.

Lunar↗
NASA NTRS1991

Flight test and numerical simulation of transonic flow around YAV-8B Harrier II wing

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is used to study the aerodynamics of the YAV-8B Harrier II wing in the transonic region. A numerical procedure is developed to compute the flow field around the complicated wing-pylon-fairing geometry. The surface definition of the wing and pylons were obtained from direct measurement using theodolite triangulation. A thin-layer Navier-Stokes code with the Chimera technique is used to compute flow solutions. The computed pressure distributions at several span stations are compared with flight test data and show good agreement. Computed results are correlated with flight test data that show the flow is severely separated in the vicinity of the wing-pylon junction. Analysis shows that shock waves are induced by pylon swaybrace fairings, that the flow separation is much stronger at the outboard pylon and that the separation is caused mainly by the crossflow passing the geometry of wing-pylon junction.

Gea, Lie-Mine↗
NASA NTRS2020

Apollo to Artemis: Mining 50-Year Old Records to Inform Future Human Lunar Landing Systems

Under the Artemis lunar exploration program, NASA is committed to landing American astronauts on the moon by 2024. While NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule will carry astronauts from Earth to the Gateway, the human lunar landing system has not yet been fully defined. As in the Apollo program, there are concerns for vehicle weight and internal volume such that seats may not be desirable, and standing during lunar descent and ascent may be a preferred engineering solution. With such a design, astronauts will experience +GZ (head-to-foot) accelerations during capsule accelerations, and it is unclear whether spaceflight deconditioned astronauts can tolerate these. Apollo astronauts stood during lunar descent and ascent, and the data contained in the early program records for those missions represent a unique resource that may provide insights to the cardiovascular stress associated with this human landing system design.

Petersen, D.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Analyzing Carbon Dioxide and Methane Emissions in California Using Airborne Measurements and Model Simulations

Greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations have increased over the past decades and are linked to global temperature increases and climate change. These changes in climate have been suggested to have varying effects, and uncertain consequences, on agriculture, water supply, weather, sea-level rise, the economy, and energy. To counteract the trend of increasing atmospheric concentrations of GHGs, the state of California has passed the California Global Warming Act of 2006 (AB-32). This requires that by the year 2020, GHG (e.g., carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4)) emissions will be reduced to 1990 levels. To quantify GHG fluxes, emission inventories are routinely compiled for the State of California (e.g., CH4 emissions from the California Greenhouse Gas Emissions Measurement (CALGEM) Project). The major sources of CO2 and CH4 in the state of California are: transportation, electricity production, oil and gas extraction, cement plants, agriculture, landfills/waste, livestock, and wetlands. However, uncertainties remain in these emission inventories because many factors contributing to these processes are poorly quantified. To alleviate these uncertainties, a synergistic approach of applying air-borne measurements and chemical transport modeling (CTM) efforts to provide a method of quantifying local and regional GHG emissions will be performed during this study. Additionally, in order to further understand the temporal and spatial distributions of GHG fluxes in California and the impact these species have on regional climate, CTM simulations of daily variations and seasonality of total column CO2 and CH4 will be analyzed. To assess the magnitude and spatial variation of GHG emissions and to identify local “hot spots”, airborne measurements of CH4 and CO2 were made by the Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment (AJAX) over the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) and San Joaquin Valley (SJV) in January and February 2013 during the Discover-AQ-CA study. High mixing ratios of GHGs were observed in-flight with a high degree of spatial variability. To provide an additional method to quantify GHG emissions, and analyze AJAX measurement data, the GEOS-Chem CTM is used to simulate SFBA/SJV GHG measurements. A nested-grid version of GEOS-Chem will be applied and utilizes varying emission inventories and model parameterizations to simulate GHG fluxes/emissions. The model considers CO2 fluxes from fossil fuel use, biomass/biofuel burning, terrestrial and oceanic biosphere exchanges, shipping and aviation, and production from the oxidation of carbon monoxide, CH4, and non-methane volatile organic carbons. The major sources of CH4 simulated in GEOS-Chem are domesticated animals, rice fields, natural gas leakage, natural gas venting/flaring (oil production), coal mining, wetlands, and biomass burning. Preliminary results from the comparison between available observations (e.g., AJAX and CALGEM CH4 emission maps) and GEOS-Chem results will be presented, along with a discussion of CO2 and CH4 source apportionment and the use of the GEOS-Chem-adjoint to perform inverse GHG modeling.

Johnson, Matthew S.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Initial vegetation species and senescience/stress indicator mapping in the San Luis Valley, Colorado using imaging spectrometer data

We analyzed AVIRIS data obtained over agricultural areas in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. The data were acquired on September 3, 1993. A combined method of radiative transfer modeling and ground calibration site reflectance was used to correct the flight data to surface reflectance. This method, called Radiative Transfer Ground Calibration, or RTGC, corrects for variable water vapor in the atmosphere and produces spectra free of artifacts with spectral channel to channel noise approaching the signal to noise of the raw data. The calibration site soil samples were obtained on the day of the overflight and measured on our laboratory spectrometer. The site was near the center of the AVIRIS scene and the spectra of the soil is spectrally bland, especially in the region of the chlorophyll absorption in the visible portion of the spectrum. The center of the scene is located at approximately 106 deg 03' longitude, 37 deg 23' latitude, and the scene covers about 92 square kilometers. This scene is one of 28 in the area for a general project to study the Summitville abandoned mine site, located in the mountains west of the San Luis Valley, and its effects on the surrounding environment.

Clark, Roger N.↗
NASA NTRS1997

There's Iron in Them Thar Hills: A Geologic Look at the Aristarchus Plateau as a Potential Landing Site for Human Lunar Return

Lunar pyroclastic deposits are unique among lunar soils. Composed of very fine grained glass beads rich in Fe, Ti and Mg they yield unique spectral signatures. From the spectra two major classes and five subclasses of lunar dark mantling deposits have been identified. Recent work by me and others has shown that the larger regional deposits are more numerous, extensive, thicker, and widely distributed than previously thought, leading us to suggest that they would make ideal resource feedstock for future lunar surface activities. Returned sample studies and the recently collected Galileo and Clementine data also corroborate these findings. Recent planning for return to the Moon indicates that large cost savings can result from using locally produced oxygen, and recent JSC laboratory results indicate that iron-rich pyroclastic dark mantling deposits may be the richest oxygen resource on the Moon. My earlier work demonstrated that instead of using regolith, bulk lunar pyroclastic deposits are better suited for beneficiation as they are thick (lO's m's), unconsolidated, fine-grained deposits. In addition, the lack of rocks and boulders and the typically flat to gently rolling terrain will facilitate their mining and processing. In preparation for the Human Lunar Return (HLR) I have characterized the Aristarchus Plateau (24 deg. N 52 deg. W) as a potential landing site for an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) demonstration. The geologic diversity and large volume of Fe-rich pyroclastic material present at the Aristarchus site make it an ideal target for extracting O2, H2 and halogens. This paper (1) describes the current understanding of the geology of Aristarchus plateau; (2) describes the resource potential of the Aristarchus plateau; and (3) presents several candidate landing sites on the plateau for future lunar activities.

Coombs, Cassandra R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Signal Design for Improved Ranging Among Multiple Transceivers

"Ultra-BOC" (where "BOC" signifies "binary offset carrier") is the name of an improved generic design of microwave signals to be used by a group of spacecraft flying in formation to measure ranges and bearings among themselves and to exchange telemetry needed for these measurements. Ultra-BOC could also be applied on Earth for diverse purposes -- for example, measuring relative positions of vehicles on highways for traffic-control purposes and determining the relative alignments of machines operating in mines and of construction machines and structures at construction sites. Ultra-BOC provides for rapid and robust acquisition of signals, even when signal-to-noise ratios are low. The design further provides that each spacecraft or other platform constantly strives to acquire and track the signals from the other platforms while simultaneously transmitting signals that provide full range, bearing, and telemetry service to the other platforms. In Ultra-BOC, unlike in other signal designs that have been considered for the same purposes, it is not necessary to maneuver the spacecraft or other platforms to obtain the data needed for resolving integer-carrier-cycle phase ambiguities.

Young, Lawrence↗