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At least 703 records · Page 39

Shuttle sortie simulation using a Lear jet aircraft: Mission no. 1 (assess program)

The shuttle sortie simulation mission of the Airborne Science/Shuttle Experiments System Simulation Program which was conducted using the CV-990 aircraft is reported. The seven flight, five day mission obtained data on experiment preparation, type of experiment components, operation and maintenance, data acquisition, crew functions, timelines and interfaces, use of support equipment and spare parts, power consumption, work cycles, influence of constraints, and schedule impacts. This report describes the experiment, the facilities, the operation, and the results analyzed from the standpoint of their possible use in aiding the planning for experiments in the Shuttle Sortie Laboratory.

Mulholland, D. R.↗

Design and operational features of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope flight and ground software

The NASA Office of Space Sciences and Applications is sponsoring a series of Space Shuttle missions named Astro-n which are dedicated to a variety of astronomical projects. These missions will be the first in which the Space Shuttle crew will be interactively operating an astronomical observatory which is fixed in the payload bay. The operation of an instrument in such an environment requires a considerable amount of software both on board and on the ground. The Spacelab Experiment Computer provides generalized interactive telemetry display and command processing services through the Experiment Computer Operating System. The experimenter must then design a software package for his Dedicated Experiment Processor which can provide complete control of his instrument as well as communicate with the Experiment Computer. This paper describes the design considerations and operational features of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope Dedicated Experiment Processor and Instrument Ground Support Equipment software.

Parise, R. A.↗

Effects of Space Environments: Techniques and Lessons from Selected Flight Experiments

Data describing long-term materials performance under exposure to space environments has accumulated gradually over the past four decades. The authors present here selected results from several previous flight experiments and operational spacecraft, and a few examples from a current flight experiment. As examples of environmental effects on materials, analysis of Gortex samples from the Passive Optical Sample Assembly II (POSA II) experiment on the MIR-Shuttle docking module will be described. Results from a previous evaluation of radiation on silverized Teflon from over ten individual satellites will be summarized. Several examples of contamination effects on materials properties will be presented. These include outgassing of solar arrays onto nearby surfaces of the POSA I experiment and contamination of certain surfaces of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). Results from experiments with silicone contamination on satellites in geosynchronous orbit will be compared with measurements on the Solar Maximum satellite and the LDEF. A number of techniques are being attempted to extend the range of exposure conditions present on selected experiments. Use of focusing concentrators on the Effect of Space Environments on Materials (ESEM), POSA, and Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) will be described. A technique for obtaining time-resolved data from a passive materials experiment will be described. The status of an on-going materials flight experiment, MISSE, will be reported. Finally, the authors will draw some conclusions about the current state of knowledge relating to materials chosen for spacecraft applications. Understanding of degradation mechanisms, state of predictive models, and the need to strengthen model inputs will be discussed.

Golden, J. L.↗

Demand Capacity Balancing at Vertiports for Initial Strategic Conflict Management of Urban Air Mobility Operations

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a new transportation concept that enables highly automated, cooperative, passenger or cargo-carrying air transportation services in and around urban areas. To achieve the high level of operational density and complexity desired by the UAM community, an airspace system that allows UAM operators to readily access and operate safely and efficiently in the airspace is needed. This airspace system will require air traffic management designed to reduce the risk of conflicts and loss of separation between UAM flights. In general, strategic conflict management is considered as the first layer of conflict management for safe flight operations to condition the traffic to reduce the need for airborne separation provision, the second layer of conflict management. Demand Capacity Balancing (DCB) is one of the concept components to achieve strategic conflict management. DCB strategically evaluates traffic demand and resource capacities to allow UAM operators to determine when, where and how they operate, while mitigating conflicting needs for airspace and vertiport capacity. DCB can be applied whenever UAM demand exceeds the capacity in airspace or at vertiports. As the UAM ecosystem evolves with advanced technologies and matured operational procedures, more complicated conflict management will likely be needed. In the current UAM ‘Concept of Operation (ConOps) 1.0’ operational stage defined by FAA, however, it will be meaningful to explore the demand capacity balancing at vertiports only, as an initial strategic conflict management approach for UAM operations because vertiport capacity seems to be a bottleneck of UAM traffic. For this research, we developed a demand-capacity imbalance detection and resolution service for UAM. This DCB service identifies the demand from operators and compares the demand to a given capacity at the shared resources (i.e., vertiports) over the upcoming time horizon which is divided into time bins having a constant interval. When a new flight plan is submitted, the algorithm embedded in the DCB service checks the available time bins based on the desired departure time and estimated arrival time at origin and destination vertiports, respectively. If the time bins for the originally desired times are already occupied by other flights (i.e., demand is at or above capacity), the algorithm finds the next available time bins for takeoff and landing and shifts the conflicting departure time to the earliest time that satisfies the capacity constraints at both origin and destination vertiports. The details of the algorithm will be described in the final manuscript. Figure 1 shows that the proposed DCB algorithm works well for a sample traffic scenario. In this example, a total of 144 flights, split between two operators, are planned over 2 hours, traveling 10 routes between five vertiports. In the heatmaps, the horizontal axis shows 12 time bins where each bin represents a 12-minute interval, and the vertical axis shows five vertiports. The number in each cell shows the number of operations, counting both departures and arrivals, at a specific vertiport in each time bin. For the given capacity of 2 operations/vertiport/bin, Figure 1 shows that the original demand sometimes exceeds the capacity, but the modified demand is reduced to the given capacity after resolving demand-capacity imbalances. When UAM flights are operated, it is expected that many practical issues would arise in the federated system architecture with multiple operators. UAM operators may experience a time synchronization issue due to communication delay between operator and vehicle. UAM vehicles would fly at different flight speeds, depending on vehicle models. Actual departure and arrival times can have large variations, compared to the schedule. The lead time from flight plan submission to desired departure time can vary by service type (e.g., regular shuttle service vs. on-demand service). Using the proposed DCB algorithm, we also investigated how the actual flight schedule and DCB performance are affected by these uncertainties such as unsynchronized times between operators, flight speed differences, lead time differences, and departure time errors. The final manuscript will include the background of this research work, the description of the DCB algorithm and its use cases with traffic scenarios. It will also provide the analytical results about the impact of various uncertainties that can occur in actual UAM operations on the DCB at vertiports, in terms of demand distribution changes, number of simultaneous operations, and delay propagation.

Urban Air Mobility↗

GPS Global Tracking Network Operations At JPL During the 1992 IGS Experiment and Beyond

The GPS Network Operations center at JPL Provides resources for the collection, distribution and maintenance of GPS data from global network of GPS receivers. This includes the ability to remotely diagnosis receiver problems, communicate with receivers and operators of receivers, to automatically collect, process and distribute data for 14 stations in the IGS network. This amounts to 35 megabytes of raw, finished data and products daily.

GPS receiver Global Network↗

Stability and Phase Noise Tests of Two Cryo-Cooled Sapphire Oscillators

A cryocooled Compensated Sapphire Oscillator (CSO), developed for the Cassini Ka-band Radio Science experiment, and operating in the 8K - 10K temperature range was previously demonstrated to show ultra-high stability of sigma(sub y) = 2.5 x 10 (exp -15) for measuring times 200 seconds less than or equal to tau less than or equal to 600 seconds using a hydrogen maser as reference. We present here test results for a second unit which allows CSO short-term stability and phase noise to be measured for the first time. Also included are design details of a new RF receiver and an intercomparison with the first CSO unit. Cryogenic oscillators operating below about 10K offer the highest possible short term stability of any frequency sources. However, their use has so far been restricted to research environments due to the limited operating periods associated with liquid helium consumption. The cryocooled CSO is being built in support of the Cassini Ka-band Radio Science experiment and is designed to operate continuously for periods of a year or more. Performance targets are a stability of 3-4 x 10 (exp -15) (1 second less than or equal to tau less than or equal to 100 seconds) and phase noise of -73dB/Hz @ 1Hz measured at 34 GHz. Installation in 5 stations of NASA's deep space network (DSN) is planned in the years 2000 - 2002. In the previous tests, actual stability of the CSO for measuring times tau less than or equal to 200 seconds could not be directly measured, being masked by short-term fluctuations of the H-maser reference. Excellent short-term performance, however, could be inferred by the success of an application of the CSO as local oscillator (L.O.) to the JPL LITS passive atomic standard, where medium-term stability showed no degradation due to L.O. instabilities at a level of (sigma)y = 3 x 10 (exp -14)/square root of tau. A second CSO has now been constructed, and all cryogenic aspects have been verified, including a resonator turn-over temperature of 7.907 K, and Q of 7.4 x 10 (exp 8). These values compare to a turn-over of 8.821 K and Q of 1.0 x 10 (exp 9) for the first resonator. Operation of this second unit provides a capability to directly verify for the first time the short-term (1 second less than or equal to tau less than or equal to 200 seconds) stability and the phase noise of the CSO units. The RF receiver used in earlier tests was sufficient to meet Cassini requirements for tau greater than or equal to 10 seconds but had short-term stability limited to 2-4 x 10 (exp -14) at tau = 1 second, a value 10 times too high to meet our requirements. A new low-noise receiver has been designed to provide approximately equal to 10-15 performance at 1 second, and one receiver is now operational, demonstrating again short-term CSO performance with H maser-limited stability. Short-term performance was degraded in the old receiver due to insufficient tuning bandwidth in a 100MHZ quartz VCO that was frequency-locked to the cryogenic sapphire resonator. The new receivers are designed for sufficient bandwidth, loop gain and low noise to achieve the required performance.

Dick, G. John↗

Air Traffic Management Technology Demostration Phase 1 (ATD) Interval Management for Near-Term Operations Validation of Acceptability (IM-NOVA) Experiment

The Interval Management for Near-term Operations Validation of Acceptability (IM-NOVA) experiment was conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) in support of the NASA Airspace Systems Program's Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration-1 (ATD-1). ATD-1 is intended to showcase an integrated set of technologies that provide an efficient arrival solution for managing aircraft using Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) surveillance, navigation, procedures, and automation for both airborne and ground-based systems. The goal of the IMNOVA experiment was to assess if procedures outlined by the ATD-1 Concept of Operations were acceptable to and feasible for use by flight crews in a voice communications environment when used with a minimum set of Flight Deck-based Interval Management (FIM) equipment and a prototype crew interface. To investigate an integrated arrival solution using ground-based air traffic control tools and aircraft Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) tools, the LaRC FIM system and the Traffic Management Advisor with Terminal Metering and Controller Managed Spacing tools developed at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) were integrated into LaRC's Air Traffic Operations Laboratory (ATOL). Data were collected from 10 crews of current 757/767 pilots asked to fly a high-fidelity, fixed-based simulator during scenarios conducted within an airspace environment modeled on the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Terminal Radar Approach Control area. The aircraft simulator was equipped with the Airborne Spacing for Terminal Area Routes (ASTAR) algorithm and a FIM crew interface consisting of electronic flight bags and ADS-B guidance displays. Researchers used "pseudo-pilot" stations to control 24 simulated aircraft that provided multiple air traffic flows into the DFW International Airport, and recently retired DFW air traffic controllers served as confederate Center, Feeder, Final, and Tower controllers. Analyses of qualitative data revealed that the procedures used by flight crews to receive and execute interval management (IM) clearances in a voice communications environment were logical, easy to follow, did not contain any missing or extraneous steps, and required the use of an acceptable workload level. The majority of the pilot participants found the IM concept, in addition to the proposed FIM crew procedures, to be acceptable and indicated that the ATD-1 procedures could be successfully executed in a nearterm NextGen environment. Analyses of quantitative data revealed that the proposed procedures were feasible for use by flight crews in a voice communications environment. The delivery accuracy at the achieve-by point was within +/-5 sec, and the delivery precision was less than 5 sec. Furthermore, FIM speed commands occurred at a rate of less than one per minute, and pilots found the frequency of the speed commands to be acceptable at all times throughout the experiment scenarios.

Kibler, Jennifer L.↗

The 1980 Aircraft Safety and Operating Problems, Part 2

Terminal area operations, avionics and human factors, atmospheric environment, and operating problems and potential solutions are discussed. Other topics include flight experiences, ground operations, and acoustics and noise reduction.

Stickle, J. W.↗

Thermal Performance of the Mars Science Laboratory Rover During Mars Surface Operations

On November 26, 2011, NASA launched a large (900 kg) rover as part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to Mars. Eight months later, on August 5, 2012, the MSL rover (Curiosity) successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. As of the writing of this paper, the rover had completed over 200 Sols of Mars surface operations in the Gale Crater landing site (4.5 degrees South latitude). This paper describes the thermal performance of the MSL Rover during the early part of its two Earth-0.year (670 Sols) prime surface mission. Curiosity landed in Gale Crater during early Spring (Solar longitude=151) in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars. This paper discusses the thermal performance of the rover from landing day (Sol 0) through Summer Solstice (Sol 197) and out to Sol 204. The rover surface thermal design performance was very close to pre-landing predictions. The very successful thermal design allowed a high level of operational power dissipation immediately after landing without overheating and required a minimal amount of survival heating. Early morning operations of cameras and actuators were aided by successful heating activities. MSL rover surface operations thermal experiences are discussed in this paper. Conclusions about the rover surface operations thermal performance are also presented.

thermal performance↗

Thermal Performance of the Mars Science Laboratory Rover During Mars Surface Operations

On November 26, 2011, NASA launched a large (900 kg) rover as part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to Mars. Eight months later, on August 5, 2012, the MSL rover (Curiosity) successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. As of the writing of this paper, the rover had completed over 200 Sols of Mars surface operations in the Gale Crater landing site (4.5 deg S latitude). This paper describes the thermal performance of the MSL Rover during the early part of its two Earth-0.year (670 Sols) prime surface mission. Curiosity landed in Gale Crater during early Spring (Ls=151) in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars. This paper discusses the thermal performance of the rover from landing day (Sol 0) through Summer Solstice (Sol 197) and out to Sol 204. The rover surface thermal design performance was very close to pre-landing predictions. The very successful thermal design allowed a high level of operational power dissipation immediately after landing without overheating and required a minimal amount of survival heating. Early morning operations of cameras and actuators were aided by successful heating activities. MSL rover surface operations thermal experiences are discussed in this paper. Conclusions about the rover surface operations thermal performance are also presented.

thermal design↗

How to Make a Microgravity Drop Tower for Your Classroom

Microgravity is quite often seen as exotic and special as astronauts float around in the International Space Station, eating MM's in mid-air, and performing science experiments, all done seemingly without gravity being present. Surprisingly enough, up on the ISS there is about 90 of the same gravity that holds you to the floor in your classroom or museum exhibit hall. Participate in this session and you will understand that and more. You can use simple devices to demonstrate microgravity conditions in your classroom or museum exhibit hall. This will be the same microgravity condition that astronauts experience on the ISS, just for a much shorter period of time. Contrary to popular opinion of some people, microgravity is NOT caused by zero gravity up there. Microgravity on the ISS is due to free fall within the Earth's gravitational field. That means you can drop an item in free fall in your classroom and museum exhibit hall and that item will experience microgravity. In this session, a short theory segment will explain and reinforce these concepts so that you may explain to others. The session will concentrate on showing the session participants how to make an effective, but inexpensive, drop tower for use in the classroom. Such a drop tower may be used to reinforce classroom instruction in physics and forces motion as well as serve as a platform for student investigations, classroom competitions, and student science or technology fair entries. Session participants will build their own simple microgravity experiment and operate them in a drop tower, compare results, and modify their experiment based on results. This material is also useful for public demonstrations at school open houses, travelling museum exhibits, fixed museum exhibits, and independent student projects or experiments. These free fall concepts also connect terrestrial demonstrations with planetary moon motion, comet trajectory, and more.

forces↗

NASA's Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) Experiment Program: Characterization and Initial Operations

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) completed the first 18 months of its Experiment Program in December 2023. Geosynchronous-ground experiments to date have included demonstrations of optimetrics and of Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN), and measurements of the effects of the atmosphere on lasercom performance and availability. Future operational scenarios have been emulated. This paper provides an overview and highlights of the first 18 months of LCRD experiments, and a preview of the upcoming experiments, including relaying data to and from the International Space Station.

optical communications↗

Apollo 16 far-ultraviolet camera/spectrograph - Instrument and operations.

A far-ultraviolet camera/spectrograph experiment was designed and constructed for studies of the terrestrial upper atmosphere and geocorona, the interplanetary medium, and celestial objects from the lunar surface. The experiment was successfully operated during the Apollo 16 mission 21-23 April 1972. Discussed are the design and operating principles of the instrument, the actual events and operations during the Apollo 16 mission, and also anomalies encountered and suggested improvements for future experiments of this type. This experiment demonstrated the utility of the electronographic technique in space astronomy, as well as the great potential of the lunar surface as a base for astronomical observations.

Carruthers, G. R.↗

Managing the Implementation of Mission Operations Automation

Reducing the cost of mission operations has necessitated a high level of automation both on spacecraft and ground systems. While automation on spacecraft is implemented during the design phase, ground system automation tends to be implemented during the prime mission operations phase. Experience has shown that this tendency for late automation development can be hindered by several factors: additional hardware and software resources may need to be procured; software must be developed and tested on a non-interference basis with primary operations with limited manpower; and established procedures may not be suited for automation requiring substantial rework. In this paper we will review the experience of successfully automating mission operations for seven on-orbit missions: the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), Interplanetary Physics Laboratory (WIND), Polar Plasma Laboratory (POLAR), and the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE). We will provide lessons learned in areas such as: spacecraft recorder management, procedure development, lights out commanding from the ground system vs. stored command loads, spacecraft contingency response time, and ground station interfaces. Implementing automation strategies during the mission concept and spacecraft integration and test phase as the most efficient method will be discussed.

Sodano, R.↗

Apparatus analysis and preliminary design of low gravity porous solids experiment for STS Orbiter mid-deck

The apparatus analysis laboratory equipment design and fabrication and the preliminary design of the Combustion of Porous Solids Experiment for operation in the mid-deck area of the Shuttle are described. The apparatus analysis indicated that the mid-deck region of the STS was a feasible region of the Shuttle for operation. A sixteen tube concept was developed with tubes of 75 cm length and up to 5.6 cm accommodated. The experiment is viewed by IR sensors and a 16 mm camera. Laboratory equipment was designed and fabricated to test the parible injection, mixing and venting concepts. This equipment was delivered to NASA/LeRC. A preliminary design was made for the experiment based upon the apparatus analysis. The design incorporated results from the Phase ""O'' Safety Review. This design utilizes a closed tube concept in which the particles are stored, injected and burned with no coupling to the Shuttle environment. Drawings of the major components and an assembly are given. The electronics are described for the experiment. An equipment list is presented and an experiment weight estimate is determined. The mission operation requirements are outlined.

Fleeter, R. D.↗

U.S. Coast Guard Boat Recovery Simulation at NASA Ames Vertical Motion Simulator

The Boat Recovery Simulation was a collaboration between the U.S. Coast Guard and NASA. The experiment was conducted at the NASA Ames Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS). The goals were to (1) design a VMS experiment that can accurately simulate the motion of high sea conditions and to (2) collect data for the U.S. Coast Guard on human performance related to small boat recovery operations. The experiment setup included a software operation model designed around empirical boat position data; a replica boat section manufactured to incorporate real-world task elements; and the means to collect objective and subjective data from human participants. The VMS provided a viable testbed to assess certified U.S. Coast Guard crewmember’s task performance while in motion.

Riccobono, Nicholas S.↗

View graphs for GSFC Colloquium on OFMspert

Viewgraphs providing an overview of activities concerned with the development and testing of the Operator Function Model (OFM) expert system (OFMspert) are presented. The OFM is a mathematical tool for representing operator interaction with predominantly automated space ground control systems. OFM provides cognitive task analysis and served as the basis for the design of an intelligent operator's associate called OMFspert. An experimental implementation of OFMspert, referred to as Ally, was developed. An empirical evaluation of Ally was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a supervisory control team consisting of a human operator and Ally versus a control team consisting of two human operators. The experiment was carried out in the GT-MSOCC (Georgia Tech MultiSatellite Operations Control Center) domain, a research tool consisting of a high fidelity implementation of the operator interface to a GSFC ground control system. The viewgraphs outline the experimental design, operator performance measures, and preliminary results.

Mitchell, Christine M.↗

Research Issues in Image Registration for Remote Sensing

Image registration is an important element in data processing for remote sensing with many applications and a wide range of solutions. Despite considerable investigation the field has not settled on a definitive solution for most applications and a number of questions remain open. This article looks at selected research issues by surveying the experience of operational satellite teams, application-specific requirements for Earth science, and our experiments in the evaluation of image registration algorithms with emphasis on the comparison of algorithms for subpixel accuracy. We conclude that remote sensing applications put particular demands on image registration algorithms to take into account domain-specific knowledge of geometric transformations and image content.

Eastman, Roger D.↗