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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 685 records · Page 38
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

MastCam Multispectral Examination of Rocks in the Sulfate-Bearing Terrain of Marker Band Valley, Gale Crater, Mars

A primary objective of the 4th extended mission of the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity is to characterize the sulfate-bearing beds exposed on the slopes of Mt. Sharp (Aeolis Mons) above the clay-bearing beds of the Glen Torridon region characterized in the 3rd extended mission. Orbital reflectance spectroscopy from CRISM has indicated the presence of polyhydrated Mg sulfates in the portion of Mt. Sharp dubbed “Marker Band Valley” (MBV). The Marker Band is a darker toned, high-Ca pyroxene bearing unit that extends around much of Mt. Sharp above the first exposures of sulfate-bearing beds. Standoff imaging of the Marker Band indicates that it is not monolithic, but contains at least two subunits. Curiosity measures multispectral reflectance in the 430 to 1012 nm range with its Mastcam. While diagnostic spectral features of Mg-sulfates are not present in the Mastcam spectral range, a water overtone feature of some polyhydrated sulfates can be observed as a drop in reflectance in the longest wavelength one to three bands of Mastcam multispectral data. Other minerals associated with sulfate-generating alteration processes, most notably Fe-bearing minerals, are more readily detectable in Mastcam multispectral data.

W H Farrand↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Examination of Mars2020 Shock-Layer Conditions Via Infrared Emission Spectroscopy of CO2

A new test series was performed in the Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST) facility, with the aim of reproducing flight conditions encountered during the Mars2020 mission entry into Mars atmosphere. For this test series, the EAST facility was instrumented with two spectrometers for Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) measurements and three mid-infrared lasers for Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS). This study focuses on the spectrally and spatially resolved radiance measured with OES. Comparison with CEA/NEQAIR and DPLR/NEQAIR simulations were made. For velocity above 2.7 km/s, measurements are found to lie between the different tested kinetic models, within ± 10%. Below 2.7 km/s, the chemistry appears to be frozen and measured radiance profiles are typically 10% above CEA predictions. This difference is explained by shock deceleration effects. Finally, comparison between OES and TDLAS data are made and show a good agreement on the measured temperature and CO2 number density profiles using the two diagnostics, typically within 10 and 5%, respectively.

Augustin Tibère-Inglesse↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Examining Performance and Usability of Situation Awareness Communication Tool for NASA's High Density Vertiplex (HDV) Team

Purpose: As cities get more crowded, the roadway infrastructure cannot keep up with the travel demands. Aviation can be a solution. Organizations supporting NASA’s Urban Air Mobility (UAM) concept are conducting studies on feasible concepts of operations for the new air traffic management system required to implement UAM. NASA’s High Density Vertiplex (HDV) team conducts studies using both live flights and simulations. Significance: The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a communication tool developed for this team to enhance team situation awareness. Specifically, the study aims to determine if the communication tool is effective in allowing NASA-Langley and NASA-Ames team members playing different roles to understand what others are doing so that completed steps can be communicated to the whole team. Methods: This study asks participants to conduct four distinct scenarios using an Adobe XD prototype. Participants included five members of the target audience, who each received up to 15 minutes of training on how to use the Adobe XD prototype. The participants were NASA-Ames or NASA-Langley researchers, developers or tech leads who had 0 to 15 years of experience. Their ages ranged from 20 to 40 years old, and they were of both genders. After training, each participant was asked to do 4 tasks of varying difficulty, using the prototype testbed. After each task they reported on task difficulty and after all tasks were completed they were asked to fill out the System Usability Survey (SUS). Performance will be assessed through task completion time and accuracy rating. Results: User perception was evaluated by the SUS which showed a mean score over the six participants of 84. All the participants were above the acceptable range which was 70 and nobody was in the marginal usability zone between 50 and 70. In addition, most of the participants did well in terms of time on task, success rate and task difficulty on all the tasks except for Task 3. Participants had two minutes to do the task correctly to succeed at the task, otherwise it was marked as a failure. The geomean for Task 1 for completion time was 22.20; Task 2 was 58.28; Task 3 was 84.68 and Task 4 was 19.61. In Task 3, three out of six people failed this task but all five scored this with an average score 4.2 out of 5 for self-rating on task difficulty.

human factors↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Marin County Wildland Fires: Examining Fuel Load and Land Cover Change to Inform Fire Prevention and Suppression Decisions in Marin County, CA

Heightened occurrence of severe wildfires in the Western United States is increasing the need to better understand regions of high potential wild fire severity and develop methodologies for identifying the best locations for fuels reduction and active wildfire suppression, especially in populated regions such as Marin County, California. Marin County, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, has had significant development in the wildland-urban interface and periods of highly wildfire-prone conditions. The NASA DEVELOP team collaborated with Fire Foundry, a Marin-based fire service work force development program, to develop new models to assist with fire management. Using data from Sentinel-2A, Planet Scope, ECOSTRESS, a county-wide LiDAR mapping effort, Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+), and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), the team developed several input data layers to three models evaluating wild fire severity. One model performed a suitability analysis with weights based on scientific literature, another utilized machine learning based on past fires in Marin and neighboring Sonoma County to predict the difference normalized burn ratio, and the third inputted data layers into the Flam Map tool, which outputs risk categories. The team compared model outputs and, using the best-fit model, performed fuzzy logic analysis to identify specific locations where a fire break could be constructed to interrupt the progress of an active fire. These tools were proven useful and will assist partners in preparing for and managing an active wildfire event.

Suhani Dalal↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Examining the Relationship between Self-Reported Workload and Resilient Performance in Airline Flight Crews

Workload has long been associated with human performance in aviation. High workload is typically viewed as a system design problem. The aim of this work was to find observable behaviors that guard cognitive resource margins; thus, improve handling of perturbations that arise. Twelve commercial airline flight crews participated in an experiment at NASA Langley Research Center. We explored workload data (NASA Task Load Index) self-reported after completing flight simulation scenarios to see how different individuals, using the same technologies, cope with challenging situations. A trained observer from the same airline as the study participants assessed performance. We differentiated a lower workload crew from a higher workload crew and analyzed their workload and performance. Results indicate that the workload may be a component of pilots’ resilient performance. Initial strategies that reduced workload were classified and these types of behaviors, if implemented correctly, might assist pilots in maintaining functional workload resource margins.

Michael Stewart↗
NASA NTRS2023

Marin County Wildland Fires: Examining Fuel Load and Land Cover Change to Inform Fire Prevention and Suppression Decisions in Marin County, CA

Heightened occurrence of severe wildfires in the Western United States is increasing the need to better understand regions of high potential wildfire severity and develop methodologies for identifying the best locations for fuels reduction and active wildfire suppression, especially in populated regions such as Marin County, California. Marin County, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, has had significant development in the wildland-urban interface and periods of highly wildfire-prone conditions. The NASA DEVELOP team collaborated with Fire Foundry (a Marin-based fire service workforce development program) and the Marin County Fire Department to develop models to assist with fire management. Using data from Sentinel-2A, PlanetScope, ECOSTRESS, a county-wide LiDAR mapping effort, Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+), and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), our team developed a number of input data layers for three different models to evaluate wildfire severity. One model performed a suitability analysis with weights based on scientific literature; another model utilized a U-Net Convolutional Neural Network trained on previous fires in Marin and neighboring Sonoma County to predict the difference normalized burn severity; and the third inputted data layers into the FlamMap tool that outputs risk categories. We compared model outputs and performed a weighted overlay analysis to identify specific locations where a fireline could be constructed to interrupt the progress of an active fire. These tools will assist partners in preparing for and managing active wildfire situations.

Remote sensing↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Examining the Relationship Between Workload and Resilient Performance in Airline Flight Crews

Workload has long been associated with human performance in aviation. High workload is typically viewed as a system design problem. The aim of this work was to find observable behaviors that guard cognitive resource margins; thus, improve handling of perturbations that arise. Twelve commercial airline flight crews participated in an experiment at NASA Langley Research Center. We explored workload data (NASA Task Load Index) self-reported after completing flight simulation scenarios to see how different individuals, using the same technologies, cope with challenging situations. A trained observer from the same airline as the study participants assessed performance. We differentiated a lower workload crew from a higher workload crew and analyzed their workload and performance. Results indicate that the workload may be a component of pilots’ resilient performance. Initial strategies that reduced workload were classified and these types of behaviors, if implemented correctly, might assist pilots in maintaining functional workload resource margins.

Michael Stewart↗
NASA NTRS2023

Preliminary Examination of Returned Samples From Bennu Using Quantitative Particle Analysis in the Scanning Electron Microscope

The sample of regolith collected from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will land in Utah on September 24, 2023. A 100-mg aliquot of fine Bennu dust adhering to the internal surfaces of the sample return capsule and associated hardware will be collected by curation staff during disassembly and analyzed immediately by members of the sample analysis team in a “Quick-Look” (Q-L) procedure. The Q-L objectives are (1) to provide images for release to the public to inform on the nature of the returned sample, and (2) to perform a reconnaissance investigation of the mineralogic characteristics of the returned material for science purposes. We will determine the minerals that occur in the dust, assess their diversity, and determine relative abundances at the >5% level using a combination of optical microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Here we describe the procedures and techniques developed for the Q-L analyses using analog samples analyzed by SEM equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). To test these techniques, we have applied them to several samples, including powders of the Murchison (Fig. 1) and Orgueil meteorites, as well as simulant samples prepared by the mission.

OSIRIS-REx↗
NASA NTRS2023

An Examination of Heavy Ion-Induced Persistent Visual Error Signatures in an Electronic Display Driver Integrated Circuit

Given the ubiquity of electronic displays integration in human-based systems, the impending mission critical, space-based applications of electronic displays will necessitate SEE assessment of components unique to electronic displays. A commercially available DDIC designed to drive a small form factor organic light emitting diode (OLED) was visually monitored during heavy ion irradiation to catalogue radiation induced persistent visual error signatures that require manual intervention (i.e., power cycling) to return to nominal function. These error signatures were able to be reproduced via modification of configuration register values utilizing the instruction set intended for interfacing a microcontroller with the DDIC. This approach to emulation of heavy-ion induced errors on a table-top assists with human perception-based criticality analysis as well as development of mitigation techniques.

Electronic Displays↗
NASA NTRS2023

An Examination of Heavy Ion-Induced Persistent Visual Error Signatures in an Electronic Display Driver Integrated Circuit

Heavy ion irradiation of a display driver integrated circuit (DDIC) was performed, and persistent visual error signatures were captured. Based on the heavy ion results, error signatures were localized to configuration registers motivate potential mitigation techniques and observations relating to single event effect susceptibility. DDICs serve as an integral component of integrated display systems that will require the development of single event effects test methodologies in anticipation of extensive use in crewed spacecrafts outside of the Earth’s geomagnetic protection.

Electronic Displays↗