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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Insights From Routine Microbiological Monitoring of Air in Astromaterials Curation Cleanrooms

NASA maintains nine separate cleanrooms at the Johnson Space Center to curate and preserve astromaterials samples. Routine microbial monitoring of the surfaces in these cleanrooms began in 20181. Until recently, materials compatibility requirements prevented monitoring airborne biological particles in all but one of these cleanrooms. New astromaterials collections from carbon rich asteroids are more susceptible to biological degradation than previous collections. Therefore, it is important to monitor the bioburden in the air and on surfaces in these labs. Establishing a comprehensive microbial monitoring program will help inform the monitoring and curation plans for Mars sample return which will include samples that are extremely biologically sensitive. In April of 2022 we began routinely collecting air samples in seven of the nine curation cleanrooms (Meteorite ISO 7 equivalent, Lunar ISO 6 equivalent, Stardust, Hayabusa2, OSIRIS-REx ISO 5 equivalent, and Genesis ISO 4 equivalent) using a sampling device that collects airborne biological particles on an electret filter instead conventional sampler that collect cells in a liquid media or onto organic rich Petri dishes. Electret is a generic term for electrostatically charged media. The charge on these materials increases particle trapping when compared to non-charged filters of similar thickness. N95 respirators also use electret filters. This dry sample collection method allows us to meet materials requirements for all the curation labs and reduces the risk of inadvertently introducing contamination as part of our monitoring effort. This method also allows us to preserve a portion of each sample for DNA extraction and next generation sequencing. DNA sequencing helps us to characterize the portion of the cleanroom microbiome that we cannot culture. We will present the results of our first 8 months of monitoring, compare these results to particle counts in the labs and to measurements made directly onto Petri dishes when possible. We will also make recommendations for modifications to the sampling method to improve sampling efficiency and preserve diversity.

A. B. Regberg↗

NASA NTRS2002

Aircraft Icing Weather Data Reporting and Dissemination System

The long-term operational concept of this research is to develop an onboard aircraft system that assesses and reports atmospheric icing conditions automatically and in a timely manner in order to improve aviation safety and the efficiency of aircraft operations via improved real-time and forecast weather products. The idea is to use current measurement capabilities on aircraft equipped with icing sensors and in-flight data communication technologies as a reporting source. Without requiring expensive avionics upgrades, aircraft data must be processed and available for downlink. Ideally, the data from multiple aircraft can then be integrated (along with other real-time and modeled data) on the ground such that aviation-centered icing hazard metrics for volumes of airspace can be assessed. As the effect of icing on different aircraft types can vary, the information should be displayed in meaningful ways such that multiple types of users can understand the information. That is, information must be presented in a manner to allow users to understand the icing conditions with respect to individual concerns and aircraft capabilities. This research provides progress toward this operational concept by: identifying an aircraft platform capable of digitally capturing, processing, and downlinking icing data; identifying the required in situ icing data processing; investigating the requirements for routing the icing data for use by weather products; developing an icing case study in order to gain insight into major air carrier needs; developing and prototyping icing display concepts based on the National Center for Atmospheric Research's existing diagnostic and forecast experimental icing products; and conducting a usability study for the prototyped icing display concepts.

Bass, Ellen J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Orbit Determination Toolbox

The Orbit Determination Toolbox is an orbit determination (OD) analysis tool based on MATLAB and Java that provides a flexible way to do early mission analysis. The toolbox is primarily intended for advanced mission analysis such as might be performed in concept exploration, proposal, early design phase, or rapid design center environments. The emphasis is on flexibility, but it has enough fidelity to produce credible results. Insight into all flight dynamics source code is provided. MATLAB is the primary user interface and is used for piecing together measurement and dynamic models. The Java Astrodynamics Toolbox is used as an engine for things that might be slow or inefficient in MATLAB, such as high-fidelity trajectory propagation, lunar and planetary ephemeris look-ups, precession, nutation, polar motion calculations, ephemeris file parsing, and the like. The primary analysis functions are sequential filter/smoother and batch least-squares commands that incorporate Monte-Carlo data simulation, linear covariance analysis, measurement processing, and plotting capabilities at the generic level. These functions have a user interface that is based on that of the MATLAB ODE suite. To perform a specific analysis, users write MATLAB functions that implement truth and design system models. The user provides his or her models as inputs to the filter commands. The software provides a capability to publish and subscribe to a software bus that is compliant with the NASA Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) standards, to exchange data with other flight dynamics tools to simplify the flight dynamics design cycle. Using the publish and subscribe approach allows for analysts in a rapid design center environment to seamlessly incorporate changes in spacecraft and mission design into navigation analysis and vice versa.

Carpenter, James R.↗

NASA NTRS2020

InSight Entry, Descent and Landing Pre-Flight Performance Predictions

On November 26, 2018, the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. Over its seven-plus year development, NASA Langley Research Center’s (LaRC) Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II (POST2) was used to assess the mission’s Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) vehicle system performance against related requirements across the full range of possible environmental and spacecraft conditions. Much of the simulation code was derived from the Phoenix mission, for which this vehicle is very similar. The InSight six degree-of-freedom simulation included models for Mars atmosphere, gravity and digital elevation maps of the landing location. Additionally, vehicle specific aerodynamic, parachute, engine, navigation sensor, flight software and landing radar models were also included. A set of dispersions for each model, as well as for additional simulation input parameters, were also included in order to provide a statistical, Monte Carlo prediction of the EDL system performance. An overview of the pre-flight performance assessments completed, including the various simulation campaigns used, will be provided. Ultimately, this work was critical in the assessment of readiness for InSight launch. A brief description of the use of this simulation in support of flight operations is also discussed.

Robert W Maddock↗

NASA NTRS2009

Virtual Diagnostic Interface: Aerospace Experimentation in the Synthetic Environment

The Virtual Diagnostics Interface (ViDI) methodology combines two-dimensional image processing and three-dimensional computer modeling to provide comprehensive in-situ visualizations commonly utilized for in-depth planning of wind tunnel and flight testing, real time data visualization of experimental data, and unique merging of experimental and computational data sets in both real-time and post-test analysis. The preparation of such visualizations encompasses the realm of interactive three-dimensional environments, traditional and state of the art image processing techniques, database management and development of toolsets with user friendly graphical user interfaces. ViDI has been under development at the NASA Langley Research Center for over 15 years, and has a long track record of providing unique and insightful solutions to a wide variety of experimental testing techniques and validation of computational simulations. This report will address the various aspects of ViDI and how it has been applied to test programs as varied as NASCAR race car testing in NASA wind tunnels to real-time operations concerning Space Shuttle aerodynamic flight testing. In addition, future trends and applications will be outlined in the paper.

Schwartz, Richard J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Virtual Diagnostic Interface: Aerospace Experimentation in the Synthetic Environment

Schwartz, Richard J.↗

NASA NTRS2016

The Value of Successful MBSE Adoption

The value of successful adoption of Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) practices is hard to quantify. Most engineers and project managers look at the success in terms of cost. But there are other ways to quantify the value of MBSE and the steps necessary to achieve adoption. The Glenn Research Center (GRC) has been doing Model-Based Engineering (design, structural, etc.) for years, but the system engineering side has not. Since 2010, GRC has been moving from documents centric to MBSE/SysML. Project adoption of MBSE has been slow, but is steadily increasing in both MBSE usage and complexity of generated products. Sharing of knowledge of lessons learned in the implementation of MBSE/SysML is key for others who want to be successful. Along with GRC's implementation, NASA is working hard to increase the successful implementation of MBSE across all the other centers by developing guidelines, templates and libraries for projects to utilize. This presentation will provide insight into recent GRC and NASA adoption efforts, lessons learned and best practices.

MBSE↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Eye Glance Behaviors of Ground Control Station Operators in a Simulated Urban Air Mobility Environment

Research into concepts such as advanced air mobility (AAM) and urban air mobility (UAM) offers an opportunity for successfully and safely adding new classes of vehicles into the National Airspace System. However, a need exists for research into the human factors associated with these concepts. In this paper, we evaluate the gaze behaviors of three remote ground control station operators (GCSOs) conducting simulated UAM operations. The participants monitored and controlled an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) from pre-flight to landing using ground control station (GCS) software across nine scenarios within a remote UAS operations center at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). As this work was exploratory, descriptive statistics were calculated to provide some initial insight into GCSO gaze patterns associated with the GCS display. Scenarios that required the operator to directly interact with an airspace scheduling system off-screen resulted in fewer on-screen glances than scenarios that did not include direct interactions with the off-screen system. After investigating several areas of interest (AOIs) within the GCS display, participants primarily viewed three AOIs: the map, vehicle status, and operations checklist. The results yielded several GCS design and operational improvement recommendations to include: (a) adding altitude information to the vehicle icon, (b) adding additional traffic information, and (c) including additional GCS training, to reduce the need to scan an operations checklist, which would allow allocation of visual attention towards other AOIs.

Urban Air Mobility↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Verification of the Generalized Aerospace Simulation in Simulink

NASA uses six-degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) simulations tools to design, test, develop Guidance Navigation and Control (GN&C) software, and certify vehicle performance prior to flight. Therefore, it is critical that the 6-DOF tools used for vehicle design and certification are validated. The focus of this work is the validation of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 6-DOF “GeneraLized Aerospace Simulation in Simulink” (GLASS) framework tool. The GLASS tool framework is currently used to support NASA GN&C insight for the Human Landing System (HLS) project, simulating vehicle dynamics during lunar descent and ascent. The GLASS framework utilizes the off-the-shelf Mathworks (R) Simscape (TM) Multibody (TM) toolbox to model vehicle multi-body dynamics. NASA’s Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) provides a set of 6-DOF simulation verification “check cases” that are available to any user needing to verify 6-DOF tools. The check cases contain seventeen atmospheric and twenty-six orbital test scenarios are provided to validate equations of motion, environmental models (e.g., atmosphere, gravitation, and geodesy) and tool propagators. This paper compares GLASS 6-DOF simulation results against the NESC check cases’ results via simulation-to-simulation comparisons. The comparison demonstrates that GLASS simulation results are “in family” with the outputs of the applicable NASA NESC check-cases and verify the GLASS core framework dynamics and the implementation of the check case scenario models.

6-Dof↗

NASA NTRS2013

The Antarctic Search for Meteorites: A Model for Deep Space Exploration

In an era of shrinking buying power and reduced flight opportunities, NASA must extract the greatest possible value from all sources of insight into the future of human space exploration. Antarctica is one such source. The history of Antarctic exploration has many political and technical parallels with the development of space, and Antarctica's remoteness and harsh climate make it an excellent proxy for space (e.g., [1,2]). Links between exploration of space and of the Antarctic date back to the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, which saw both the launch of Sputnik 1 and the establishment of a station at the South Pole. The Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) is an annual expedition to the south polar plateau to collect meteorites. Although its intent is not to simulate a space mission, the handful of astronauts who have participated in ANSMET agree that it is very similar to a long-duration space flight. Independently, NASA and other space agencies have simulated deep space exploration missions in "analog" activities at remote field sites on Earth (e.g., [3]). These include NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) [4,5], Desert Research And Technology Studies (Desert RATS) [6,7], and the Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP or simply Pavilion Lake) [8]. This report focuses on NEEMO, Desert RATS, and PLRP because of the author's firsthand experience with them. Other noteworthy analogs, such as the arctic Haughton Mars Project and the European Space Agency's underground Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills (CAVES), are not treated here. NASA analogs often include fully staffed control centers, astronauts serving as crew, and realistic mission timelines lasting one to two weeks. Analogs have provided key insights into system architectures and operational concepts for the future human exploration of deep space. They have pioneered techniques for human communication with significant speed-of-light delays, for conducting spacewalks on natural objects with negligible surface gravity, and for empowering exploration crews to work with reduced dependence on a ground control center. They have field-tested dozens of emerging technologies including spacewalking tools and full-scale prototype vehicles and habitats. They have provided valuable experience for astronauts preparing for their first space flight, and for flown crewmembers who will take command roles on later flights. Some analogs, especially PLRP, have connected observers in the field with science teams in remotely located control centers to produce high-quality, publishable scientific results. The analogs have accomplished all of this at a tiny fraction of the cost of an actual space flight. This report treats ANSMET as space flight analog. The chapter following this introduction describes ANSMET in depth. The report then presents data on logistics and crew considerations that may be useful for developers of future human space exploration missions. It offers detailed comparisons between ANSMET and past, present, and future space flights on the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station (ISS), and a proposed Mars mission. Those comparisons are intended to complement the work of Eppler [2], who compares ANSMET to the Apollo moon flights. This report also compares ANSMET with the Desert RATS, NEEMO, and PLRP analogs. It then presents observations and makes recommendations related to ANSMET's value as a simulated space mission. The report ends with a short conclusion. The remainder of this introductory chapter provides background material to help readers interpret the rest of the report. It gives brief overviews of Space Shuttle and ISS missions along with information on a notional future human flight to Mars. It also presents the general features of three of NASA's space flight "analog" projects. With those points of reference in place, the chapter concludes with an overview of ANSMET.

Love, Stanley G.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Verification of the Generalized Aerospace Simulation in Simulink (R)

NASA uses six-degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) simulations tools to design, test, develop Guidance Navigation and Control (GN&C) software, and certify vehicle performance prior to flight. Therefore, it is critical that the 6-DOF tools used for vehicle design and certification are validated. The focus of this work is the vali-dation of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 6-DOF “GeneraLized Aero-space Simulation in Simulink” (GLASS) framework tool. The GLASS tool framework is currently used to support NASA GN&C insight for the Human Landing System (HLS) project, simulating vehicle dynamics during lunar descent and as-cent. The GLASS framework utilizes the off-the-shelf Mathworks ® Simscape Multibody® toolbox to model vehicle multi-body dynamics. NASA’s Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) provides a set of 6-DOF simulation verification “check cases” that are available to any user needing to verify 6-DOF tools. The check cases contain seventeen atmospheric and twenty-six orbital test scenarios are provided to validate equations of motion, environmental models (e.g., atmosphere, gravitation, and geodesy) and tool propagators. This paper compares GLASS 6-DOF simulation results against the NESC check cases’ results via simulation-to-simulation comparisons. The comparisons demonstrate that GLASS simulation results are “in family” with the outputs of the applicable NASA NESC check cases and verifies the GLASS core framework dynamics and the correct implementation of the check case scenario models.

6-Dof↗

NASA NTRS1993

Metals combustion in normal gravity and microgravity

The study of the combustion characteristics of metallic materials has been an ongoing area of research at the NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF). This research has been in support of both government and industrial operations and deals not only with the combustion of specific metallic materials but also with the relative flammabilities of these materials under similar conditions. Since many of the metallic materials that are characterized at WSTF for aerospace applications are to be used in microgravity environments, it was apparent that the testing of these materials needed to proceed in a microgravity environment. It was believed that burning metallic materials in a microgravity environment would allow the evaluation of the validity of applying normal gravity combustion tests to characterize metallic materials to be used in microgravity environments. It was also anticipated that microgravity testing would provide insight into the general combustion process of metallic materials. The availability of the NASA Lewis Research Center's (LeRC) 2.2-second drop tower provided the necessary facility to accomplish the microgravity portion of the testing while the normal gravity testing was conducted at NASA WSTF. The tests, both at LeRC and WSTF, were conducted in the same instrumented system and utilized the standard metal flammability test of upward propagation burning of cylindrical rod samples.

Steinberg, Theodore A.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Adaptation of Motility Analysis Apparatus for Space Science and Microgravity Ground-Based Experiments

Previous space flight studies have described unfavorable effects of microgravity on testicular morphology and spermatogenesis (Cosmos 1887 Biosputnik flight, 9/29/87 - 10/12/87). The flight animals demonstrated small reductions in testicular and epididymal size, the phenomenon explained as resulting water loss. Yet, light microscopic histological preparations revealed few spermatozoa in the rete testis of the flight males compared to control animals. The cause for this finding was subjectively assessed to be due to "the anatomical dislocation of the organs... and a disturbance in testicular blood supply". Unfortunately, the reported effects of microgravity on the reproductive processes (particularly within males) are few and divergent. If habitation in space is a futuristic goal, more objective testing (of male and female gametes) in a microgravity environment will provide insight to the developmental potential of these reproductive cells. As part of the Marshall Space Flight Centers' Summer Faculty Fellowship Program within the Biophysics Branch, a key component of the research investigation was to develop a test to evaluate individual cell motility and orientation in varying gravitational environments, using computerized assessment of sperm cell concentration, morphology and motility to provide objective, quantitative experimental control. In previous work performed jointly by the author and a NASA colleague, it has been shown that macroscopic motile aggregates of spermatozoa were not altered by the absence of microgravity. Variations in the number of normal versus abnormal sperm due to microgravity influences have yet to be established. It is therefore of interest to monitor the cytoskeletal matrix (microtubulin) of these organisms as a possible indicator of cell viability and/or function.

Johnson, Jacqueline U.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Evolution of Local Microstructures: Spatial Instabilities of Coarsening Clusters

This work examines the diffusional growth of discrete phase particles dispersed within a matrix. Engineering materials are microstructurally heterogeneous, and the details of the microstructure determine how well that material performs in a given application. Critical to the development of designing multiphase microstructures with long-term stability is the process of Ostwald ripening. Ripening, or phase coarsening, is a diffusion-limited process which arises in polydisperse multiphase materials. Growth and dissolution occur because fluxes of solute, driven by chemical potential gradients at the interfaces of the dispersed phase material, depend on particle size. The kinetics of these processes are "competitive," dictating that larger particles grow at the expense of smaller ones, overall leading to an increase of the average particle size. The classical treatment of phase coarsening was done by Todes, Lifshitz, and Slyozov, (TLS) in the limit of zero volume fraction, V(sub v), of the dispersed phase. Since the publication of TLS theory there have been numerous investigations, many of which sought to describe the kinetic scaling behavior over a 0 range of volume fractions. Some studies in the literature report that the relative increase in coarsening rate at low (but not zero) volume fractions compared to that predicted by TLS is proportional to v(sub v)(exp 1/2), whereas others suggcest V(sub v)(exp 1/3). This issue has been resolved recently by simulation studies at low volume fractions in three dimensions by members of the Rensselaer/MSFC team. Our studies of ripening behavior using large-scale numerical simulations suggest that although there are different circumstances which can lead to either scaling law, the most important length scale at low volume fractions is the diffusional analog of the Debye screening length. The numerical simulations we employed exploit the use of a recently developed "snapshot" technique, and identifies the nature of the coarsening dynamics at various volume fractions. Preliminary results of numerical and experimental investigations, focused on the growth of finite particle clusters, provide important insight into the nature of the transition between the two scaling regimes. The companion microgravity experiment centers on the growth within finite particle clusters, and follows the temporal dynamics driving microstructural evolution, using holography.

Frazier, Donald O.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Operational Assimilation of GOES Data into a Mesoscale Model

A technique has been developed for assimilating GOES-derived skin temperature tendencies and insolation into the surface energy budget equation of a mesoscale model so that the simulated rate of temperature change closely agrees with the satellite observations. A critical assumption of the technique is that the availability of moisture (either from the soil or vegetation) is the least known term in the model's surface energy budget. Therefore, the simulated latent heat flux, which is a function of surface moisture availability, is adjusted based upon differences between the modeled and satellite- observed skin temperature tendencies. An advantage of this technique is that satellite temperature tendencies are assimilated in an energetically consistent manner that avoids energy imbalances and surface stability problems that arise from direct assimilation of surface shelter temperatures. The fact that the rate of change of the satellite skin temperature is used rather than the absolute temperature means that sensor calibration is not as critical. The technique has been employed on a semi-operational basis at the Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC) within the Penn State/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) since 1 November 1998. We performed the assimilation on a model grid centered over the Southeastern US. In addition, a control run without assimilation was performed to provide insight into the performance of the assimilation technique. Bulk verification statistics (BIAS and RMSE) of surface air temperature and relative humidity of more than 250 case days has been performed to date. Results show that assimilation of the satellite data results reduces both the bias and RMSE for simulations of surface air temperature and relative humidity. We are working with forecasters at the National Weather Service Forecast Office located in Birmingham, AL to evaluate the impact of the assimilation on precipitation forecasts. In addition, work is currently underway to determine the ability of both the assimilation technique and Early Eta to sense the significant changes that occur in both leaf expansion and soil moisture conditions during the Spring-Summer of 1999. This will be accomplished via examination of the simulated surface energy budgets from both modeling systems.

Lapenta, William↗

NASA NTRS2001

Studies on Automated Manufacturing of High Performance Composites

The NASA Langley Research Center fiber placement facility has proven to be a valuable asset for obtaining data, experience, and insights into the automated fabrication of high performance composites. The facility consists of two automated devices: an Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) robotic arm with a modified heated head capable of hot gas and focused infrared heating and a 7' x 17' gantry containing a feeder head, rotating platform, focused infrared lamp and e-beam gun. While uncured thermoset tow and tape, e.g., epoxy and cyanate prepreg, can be placed with a robot, the placement facility s most powerful attribute is the ability to place thermoplastic and e-beam curable material to net shape. In recent years, ribbonizing techniques have been developed to make high quality thermoplastic and thermoset dry material forms to the standards required for robotic placement. A variety of composites have been fabricated from these ribbons by heated head tow and tape placement including both flat plates and cylinders. Composite mechanical property values of the former were between 85 and 100 percent of those obtained by hand lay-up/autoclave processing.

Cano, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Space Flight Software Development Software for Intelligent System Health Management

The slide presentation examines the Marshall Space Flight Center Flight Software Branch, including software development projects, mission critical space flight software development, software technical insight, advanced software development technologies, and continuous improvement in the software development processes and methods.

Trevino, Luis C.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Chemistry Research

Philip Morris research center scientists use a computer program called CECTRP, for Chemical Equilibrium Composition and Transport Properties, to gain insight into the behavior of atoms as they progress along the reaction pathway. Use of the program lets the scientist accurately predict the behavior of a given molecule or group of molecules. Computer generated data must be checked by laboratory experiment, but the use of CECTRP saves the researchers hundreds of hours of laboratory time since experiments must run only to validate the computer's prediction. Philip Morris estimates that had CECTRP not been available, at least two man years would have been required to develop a program to perform similar free energy calculations.

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