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Communications and telemetry subsystem analyses for Manned Orbital Research Laboratory system improvement study
A management information system (MIS), including a database management system (DBMS) and a decision support system (DSS), was developed to dynamically analyze the variable nutritional content of foods grown and prepared in an Advanced Life Support System (ALSS) such as required for long-duration space missions. The DBMS was designed around the known nutritional content of a list of candidate crops and their prepared foods. The DSS was designed to determine the composition of the daily crew diet based on crop and nutritional information stored in the DBMS. Each of the selected food items was assumed to be harvested from a yet-to-be designed ALSS biomass production subsystem and further prepared in accompanying food preparation subsystems. The developed DBMS allows for the analysis of the nutrient composition of a sample 20-day diet for future Advanced Life Support missions and is able to determine the required quantities of food needed to satisfy the crew's daily consumption. In addition, based on published crop growth rates, the DBMS was able to calculate the required size of the biomass production area needed to satisfy the daily food requirements for the crew. Results from this study can be used to help design future ALSS for which the integration of various subsystems (e.g., biomass production, food preparation and consumption, and waste processing) is paramount for the success of the mission.
The Simulation Computer System (SCS) is the computer hardware, software, and workstations that will support the Payload Training Complex (PTC) at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The PTC will train the space station payload scientists, station scientists, and ground controllers to operate the wide variety of experiments that will be on-board the Freedom Space Station. The further analysis performed on the SCS study as part of task 2-Perform Studies and Parametric Analysis-of the SCS study contract is summarized. These analyses were performed to resolve open issues remaining after the completion of task 1, and the publishing of the SCS study issues report. The results of these studies provide inputs into SCS task 3-Develop and present SCS requirements, and SCS task 4-develop SCS conceptual designs. The purpose of these studies is to resolve the issues into usable requirements given the best available information at the time of the study. A list of all the SCS study issues is given.
A proposed special-purpose infrared imaging system would be a compact, portable, less-expensive alternative to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) systems heretofore used to study brain function. Whereas a typical fMRI system fills a large room, and must be magnetically isolated, this system would fit into a bicycle helmet. The system would include an assembly that would be mounted inside the padding in a modified bicycle helmet or other suitable headgear. The assembly would include newly designed infrared photodetectors and data-acquisition circuits on integrated-circuit chips on low-thermal-conductivity supports in evacuated housings (see figure) arranged in multiple rows and columns that would define image coordinates. Each housing would be spring-loaded against the wearer s head. The chips would be cooled by a small Stirling Engine mounted contiguous to, but thermally isolated from, the portions of the assembly in thermal contact with the wearer s head. Flexible wires or cables for transmitting data from the aforementioned chips would be routed to an integrated, multichannel transmitter and thence through the top of the assembly to a patch antenna on the outside of the helmet. The multiple streams of data from the infrared-detector chips would be sent to a remote site, where they would be processed, by software, into a three-dimensional display of evoked potentials that would represent firing neuronal bundles and thereby indicate locations of neuronal activity associated with mental or physical activity. The 3D images will be analogous to current fMRI images. The data would also be made available, in real-time, for comparison with data in local or internationally accessible relational databases that already exist in universities and research centers. Hence, this system could be used in research on, and for the diagnosis of response from the wearer s brain to physiological, psychological, and environmental changes in real time. The images would also be stored in a relational database for comparison with corresponding responses previously observed in other subjects.
Steering system and control circuit for Lunar Surface Vehicle /LSV/ - Apollo project
Mission planning and systems design of lunar surface photographic reconnaissance capsule
Specific system options are defined and identified for a cost effective space station capable of orderly growth with regard to both function and orbit location. Selected program options are analyzed and configuration concepts are developed to meet objectives for the satellite power system, earth servicing, space processing, and supporting activities. Transportation systems are analyzed for both LEO and GEO orbits.
Studies are summarized on the application of advanced analytical and computational methods to the development of mathematical models of human controllers in multiaxis manual control systems. Specific accomplishments include the following: (1) The development of analytical and computer methods for the measurement of random parameters in linear models of human operators. (2) Discrete models of human operator behavior in a multiple display situation were developed. (3) Sensitivity techniques were developed which make possible the identification of unknown sampling intervals in linear systems. (4) The adaptive behavior of human operators following particular classes of vehicle failures was studied and a model structure proposed.
This document serves as the final report for the SMAAART AFC-Enabled Vertical Tail System Integration Study. Included are the ground rule assumptions which have gone into the study, layouts of the baseline and AFC-enabled configurations, critical sizing information, system requirements and architectures, and assumed system properties that result in an NPV assessment of the two candidate AFC technologies.
Reusable nuclear shuttle mission specifications and design requirements
SOPSA (Shuttle Orbit Injection Propulsion System Analysis) is a computer program to aid in the preliminary design of propellant feed systems for the space shuttle orbiter main engines. The primary purpose of the program is to evaluate propellant tank ullage pressure requirements imposed by the need to accelerate propellants rapidly during the engine start sequence. These requirements can influence the system design for a given engine as well as the suitability of a given system for use with different engines. During the vehicle design phase, the SOPSA program is used to establish feed system weight variations as a function of nominal line diameter and component and line configurations. The weight data are used in conjunction with pertinent cost data to establish optimum feed system designs.
The Earth Observatory Satellite (EOS) data management system (DMS) is discussed. The DMS is composed of several subsystems or system elements which have basic purposes and are connected together so that the DMS can support the EOS program by providing the following: (1) payload data acquisition and recording, (2) data processing and product generation, (3) spacecraft and processing management and control, and (4) data user services. The configuration and purposes of the primary or high-data rate system and the secondary or local user system are explained. Diagrams of the systems are provided to support the systems analysis.
The purpose of this extension to the OTV Concept Definition and Systems Analysis Study was to improve the definition of the OTV Program that will be most beneficial to the nation in the 1995 to 2010 timeframe. The implications of the defined mission and defined launch vehicle are investigated. The key mission requirements identified for the Space Transportation Architecture Study (STAS) were established and reflect a need for early capability and more ambitious capability growth. The key technical objectives and related issues addressed are summarized. The analyses of selected areas including aerobrake design, proximity operations, and the balance of EVA and IVA operations used in the support of the OTV at the space-base were enhanced. Sensitivity studies were conducted to establish how the OTV program should be tailored to meet changing circumstances.
The results of the Astrometric Telescope Facility (ATF) Preliminary System Definition Study conducted in the period between March and September 1986 are described. The main body of the report consists primarily of the charts presented at the study final review which was held at NASA Ames Research Center on July 30 and 31, 1986. The charts have been revised to reflect the results of that review. Explanations for the charts are provided on the adjoining pages where required. Note that charts which have been changed or added since the review are dated 10/1/86; unchanged charts carry the review date 7/30/86. In addition, a narrative summary is presented of the study results and two appendices. The first appendix is a copy of the ATF Characteristics and Requirements Document generated as part of the study. The second appendix shows the inputs to the Space Station Mission Requirements Data Base submitted in May 1986. The report is issued in three volumes. Volume 1 contains an executive summary of the ATF mission, strawman design, and study results. Volume 2 contains the detailed study information. Volume 3 has the ATF cost estimate, and will have limited distribution.
This position paper assesses the Pilot Breathing Assessment’s driving requirement to collect missing data on pilot breathing pressure, flow, rate, oxygen and CO2, simultaneously with aircraft data. Repeat measures data were collected over a 2-year period from 5 NASA test-pilots flying 8 flight profiles on NASA F-15 and F/A-18 (A, B) aircraft. This Pilot Breathing Assessment Systems Engineering (PiBASE) position paper serves as a case-study of systems engineering that accommodates the human as a distinct part of the whole. It acknowledges that a successful machine design intended for human use must include human systems biology/physiology as an integral part of planning, design, and implementation.
An autoclavable all-glass system for studying microbial dynamics at permeable surfaces is described. Standard hydrophobic or hydrophilic membranes (46-mm diameter) of various pore sizes were supported on a glass frit through which nutrient solutions were pumped by a peristaltic pump. The pump provided a precisely controlled flow at speeds of 0.5 to 500 ml of defined or natural cell exudates per h, which passed through the membrane into a receiving vessel. The construction allowed a choice of membranes, which could be modified. The system was tested with a bacterium, isolated from rape plant roots (Brassica napus L.), that was inoculated on a hydrophilic membrane filter and allowed to develop into a biofilm. A defined medium with a composition resembling that of natural rape root exudate was pumped through the membrane at 0.5 ml/h. Scanning electron microscopic examinations indicated that the inoculum formed microcolonies embedded in exopolymers evenly distributed over the membrane surface. The lipid composition and content of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate in free-living and adhered cells were determined by gas chromatography. The bacterial consumption of amino acids in the exudate was also studied.