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This brief report summarizes research and planning conducted during Summer 1993 for MSFC on the subjects of risk identification, assessment, and management. Research findings are presented, citing useful references. The major output of this work, the AXAF-S Project Risk Management Plan is outlined.
This final report summarizes activities conducted during the three years of the NASA High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS). With primary interest in the Sky Survey activity, the principal investigator attended nine Working Group meetings and traveled independently to conduct experiments or present results at other meetings. The major activity involved evaluating the effects of spaceborne radio frequency interference (RFI) on both the SETI sky survey and targeted search. The development of a database of all unclassified earth or biting and deep space transmitters, along with accompanying search software, was a key accomplishment. The software provides information about potential sources of interference and gives complete information regarding the frequencies, positions and levels of interference generated by the spacecraft. A complete description of this search system (called HRS, or HRMS RFI Search) is provided. Other accomplishments include development of a 32,000 channel Fast-Fourier-Transform Spectrum analyzer for use in studies of interference from satellites and in a 1.4 mm SETI observational study. The latest revision of HRS has now been distributed to the extended radio astronomy and SETI community.
This reference guide for developers of intelligent monitoring systems is based on lessons learned by developers of the DEcision Support SYstem (DESSY), an expert system that monitors Space Shuttle telemetry data in real time. DESSY makes inferences about commands, state transitions, and simple failures. It performs failure detection rather than in-depth failure diagnostics. A listing of rules from DESSY and cue cards from DESSY subsystems are included to give the development community a better understanding of the selected model system. The G-2 programming tool used in developing DESSY provides an object-oriented, rule-based environment, but many of the principles in use here can be applied to any type of monitoring intelligent system. The step-by-step instructions and examples given for each stage of development are in G-2, but can be used with other development tools. This guide first defines the authors' concept of real-time monitoring systems, then tells prospective developers how to determine system requirements, how to build the system through a combined design/development process, and how to solve problems involved in working with real-time data. It explains the relationships among operational prototyping, software evolution, and the user interface. It also explains methods of testing, verification, and validation. It includes suggestions for preparing reference documentation and training users.
This video features the different NASA research centers and their contribution toward NASA's space program. It includes the following research centers: NASA headquarters, Ames Research Center, Goddard Flight Research Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Space Flight Center, Kennedy Space Flight Center, Langley Research Center, Lewis Research Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center.
For three decades, magnetospheric field and plasma measurements have been made by diverse instruments flown on spacecraft in may different orbits, widely separated in space and time, and under various solar and magnetospheric conditions. Scientists have used this information to piece together an intricate, yet incomplete view of the magnetosphere. A simultaneous global view, using various light wavelengths and energetic neutral atoms, could reveal exciting new data nd help explain complex magnetospheric processes, thus providing a clear picture of this region of space. This report documents the scientific rational for such a magnetospheric imaging mission and provides a mission concept for its implementation.
For three decades, magnetospheric field and plasma measurements have been made by diverse instruments flown on spacecraft in many different orbits, widely separated in space and time, and under various solar and magnetospheric conditions. Scientists have used this information to piece together an intricate, yet incomplete view of the magnetosphere. A simultaneous global view, using various light wavelengths and energetic neutral atoms, could reveal exciting new data and help explain complex magnetospheric processes, thus providing a clear picture of this region of space. This report summarizes the scientific rationale for such a magnetospheric imaging mission and outlines a mission concept for its implementation.
Topics considered include: Calibration and Astrometry Pipeline; Astrometry Anomaly Analysis; The STAT pipeline and software analysis tools; GTO Program; Parallaxes of Astrophysically Interesting Objects; HST- Hipparcos Extragalactic Link; Ground-Based Observations of Radial Velocities; GTO Globular Cluster Internal Motions; and GTO Hyades Cluster Member FGS Parallaxes.
Personnel representing several NASA field centers have formulated a "Reference Mission" addressing human exploration of Mars. This report summarizes their work and describes a plan for the first human missions to Mars, using approaches that are technically feasible, have reasonable risks, and have relatively low costs. The architecture for the Mars Reference Mission builds on previous work of the Synthesis Group (1991) and Zubrin's (1991) concepts for the use of propellants derived from the Martian Atmosphere. In defining the Reference Mission, choices have been made. In this report, the rationale for each choice is documented; however, unanticipated technology advances or political decisions might change the choices in the future.
TROPIX (Transfer Orbit Plasma Interaction Experiment) is both a scientific experiment and a flight demonstration of a solar electric propulsion space vehicle. The research supported by this grant resulted in the specific definition of magnetospheric and planetary science missions that can be uniquely implemented with SEP within the resources available in the MIDEX program. A plasma instrument suitable for inclusion on TROPIX was defined.
The Reference Mission was developed over a period of several years and was published in NASA Special Publication 6107 in July 1997. The purpose of the Reference Mission was to provide a workable model for the human exploration of Mars, which is described in enough detail that alternative strategies and implementations can be compared and evaluated. NASA is continuing to develop the Reference Mission and expects to update this report in the near future. It was the purpose of the Reference Mission to develop scenarios based on the needs of scientists and explorers who want to conduct research on Mars; however, more work on the surface-mission aspects of the Reference Mission is required and is getting under way. Some aspects of the Reference Mission that are important for the consideration of the surface mission definition include: (1) a split mission strategy, which arrives at the surface two years before the arrival of the first crew; (2) three missions to the outpost site over a 6-year period; (3) a plant capable of producing rocket propellant for lifting off Mars and caches of water, O, and inert gases for the life-support system; (4) a hybrid physico-chemical/bioregenerative life-support system, which emphasizes the bioregenerative system more in later parts of the scenario; (5) a nuclear reactor power supply, which provides enough power for all operations, including the operation of a bioregenerative life-support system as well as the propellant and consumable plant; (6) capability for at least two people to be outside the habitat each day of the surface stay; (7) telerobotic and human-operated transportation vehicles, including a pressurized rover capable of supporting trips of several days' duration from the habitat; (7) crew stay times of 500 days on the surface, with six-person crews; and (8) multiple functional redundancies to reduce risks to the crews on the surface. New concepts are being sought that would reduce the overall cost for this exploration program and reducing the risks that are indigenous to Mars exploration. Among those areas being explored are alternative space propulsion approaches, solar vs. nuclear power, and reductions in the size of crews.
The intent of Stanford University's SciVis group is to develop technologies that enabled comparative analysis and visualization techniques for simulated and experimental flow fields. These techniques would then be made available under the Joint Research Interchange for potential injection into the DARWIN Workspace Environment (DWE). In the past, we have focused on techniques that exploited feature based comparisons such as shock and vortex extractions. Our current research effort focuses on finding a quantitative comparison of general vector fields based on topological features. Since the method relies on topological information, grid matching and vector alignment is not needed in the comparison. This is often a problem with many data comparison techniques. In addition, since only topology based information is stored and compared for each field, there is a significant compression of information that enables large databases to be quickly searched. This report will briefly (1) describe current technologies in the area of comparison techniques, (2) will describe the theory of our new method and finally (3) summarize a few of the results.
The intent of Stanford University's SciVis group is to develop technologies that enabled comparative analysis and visualization techniques for simulated and experimental flow fields. These techniques would then be made available un- der the Joint Research Interchange for potential injection into the DARWIN Workspace Environment (DWE). In the past, we have focused on techniques that exploited feature based comparisons such as shock and vortex extractions. Our current research effort focuses on finding a quantitative comparison of general vector fields based on topological features. Since the method relies on topological information, grid matching an@ vector alignment is not needed in the comparison. This is often a problem with many data comparison techniques. In addition, since only topology based information is stored and compared for each field, there is a significant compression of information that enables large databases to be quickly searched. This report will briefly (1) describe current technologies in the area of comparison techniques, (2) will describe the theory of our new method and finally (3) summarize a few of the results.
Papers to be included in this symposium are: Detecting the Attenuation of Blazar Gamma-Ray Emission by Extragalactic Background Light with GLAST; Some Aspects of the Radio Emission of EGRET-Detected Blazars; GeV Outburst in Mrk 501; Spectral Modeling of the EGRET 3EG Gamma Ray Sources Near the Galactic Plane; X-ray and Gamma-ray Observations of the COS-B Field 2CG 075+00; Multiwavelength Studies of the Peculiar Gamma-Ray Source 3EG J1835+5918; EGRET/COMPTER Observations of an Unusual, Steep-Spectrum Gamma-Ray Source; Preliminary Results from a New Analysis Method for EGRET Data; and A Systematic Search for Short-term Variability of EGRET Sources.
STARDUST, a NASA Discovery-class mission, is the first to return samples from a comet. Grains from comet Wild 2's coma-the gas and dust envelope that surrounds the nucleus-will be collected as well as interstellar dust. The mission which launched on February 7, 1999 will encounter the comet on January 10, 2004. As the spacecraft passes through the coma, a tray of silica aerogel will be exposed, and coma grains will impact there and become captured. Following the collection, the aerogel tray is closed for return to Earth in 2006. A dust impact mass spectrometer on board the STARDUST spacecraft will be used to gather spectra. of dust during the entire mission, including the coma passage. This instrument will be the best chance to obtain data on volatile grains, which will not be well-collected in the aerogel. The dust impact mass spectrometer will also be used to study the composition of interstellar grains. In the past 5 years, analysis of data from dust detectors aboard the Ulysses and Galileo spacecraft have revealed that there is a stream of interstellar dust flowing through our solar system. These grains will be captured during the cruise phase of the STARDUST mission, as the spacecraft travels toward the comet. The sample return capsule will parachute to Earth in February 2006, and will land in western Utah. Once on y the ground, the sample return capsule will be placed into a dry nitrogen environment and flown to the curation lab at JSC.
This report results from a benchmarking study undertaken by NASA as part of its planning for the possible creation of new science Institutes. Candidate Institutes under consideration cover a range of scientific and technological activities ranging from biomedical to astrophysical research and from the global hydrological cycle to microgravity material science. Should NASA create these Institutes, the intent will be to preserve and strengthen key science and technology activities now being performed by Government employees at NASA Field Centers. Because the success of these projected non-Government-operated Institutes is vital for the continued development of space science and applications, NASA has sought to identify the best practices of successful existing scientific and technological research institutions as they carry out those processes that will be most important for the new science Institutes. While many individuals and organizations may be interested in our findings, the primary use of this report will be to formulate plas for establishing the new science Institutes. As a result, the report is organized to that the "best practices" of the finest institutes are associated with characteristics of all institutes. These characteristics or "attributes" serve as the headings for the main body of this report.
In a unique partnership between three minority-serving institutions and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a new course sequence, including a multidisciplinary capstone design experience, is to be developed and implemented at each of the schools with the ambitious goal of designing, constructing and launching a low-orbit Earth-resources satellite. The three universities involved are North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T), University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP), and California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA). The schools form a consortium collectively known as MUSES - Minority Universities System Engineering and Satellite. Four aspects of this project make it unique: (1) Including all engineering disciplines in the capstone design course, (2) designing, building and launching an Earth-resources satellite, (3) sustaining the partnership between the three schools to achieve this goal, and (4) implementing systems engineering pedagogy at each of the three schools. This paper will describe the partnership and its goals, the first design of the satellite, the courses developed at NCA&T, and the implementation plan for the course sequence.
Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) has operated at Mars for a full Mars year and provided a new geodetic and geophysical view of the planet. As the spacecraft enters into the Extended Mission, MOLA will concentrate its observations on the seasonal variability of the icecaps and martian clouds. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.
The following is an interim annual report. Dr. Smith is currently on an extended TDY to the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) at the Consilio Nazionale delle Richerche (CNR) in Rome, Italy, where he has been working on a related NASA grant in support of analysis of Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) data on star formation in Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies and our galaxy. Work emphasizes development of metal mesh grids for use in spacecraft, and the design and fabrication of test elements by the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C. Work has progressed well, but slowly, on that program due to the departure of a key engineer. NASA has been advised of the delay, and granted a no-cost extension, whereby SAO has authorized a delay in the final report from NRL. Nevertheless NRL has continued to make progress. Two papers have been submitted to refereed journals related to this program, and a new design for mesh operating in the 20-40 micron region has been developed. Meetings continue through the summer on these items. A new technical scientist has been made a job offer and hopefully will be on board NRL shortly, although most of the present grant work is already completed. A more complete report, with copies of the submitted papers, designs, and other measures of progress, will be submitted to NASA in September when Dr. Smith returns from his current TDY.