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At least 937 records · Page 52
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2005

Circadian rhythms, sleep, and performance in space

Maintaining optimal alertness and neurobehavioral functioning during space operations is critical to enable the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) vision "to extend humanity's reach to the Moon, Mars and beyond" to become a reality. Field data have demonstrated that sleep times and performance of crewmembers can be compromised by extended duty days, irregular work schedules, high workload, and varying environmental factors. This paper documents evidence of significant sleep loss and disruption of circadian rhythms in astronauts and associated performance decrements during several space missions, which demonstrates the need to develop effective countermeasures. Both sleep and circadian disruptions have been identified in the Behavioral Health and Performance (BH&P) area and the Advanced Human Support Technology (AHST) area of NASA's Bioastronautics Critical Path Roadmap. Such disruptions could have serious consequences on the effectiveness, health, and safety of astronaut crews, thus reducing the safety margin and increasing the chances of an accident or incident. These decrements oftentimes can be difficult to detect and counter effectively in restrictive operational environments. NASA is focusing research on the development of optimal sleep/wake schedules and countermeasure timing and application to help mitigate the cumulative effects of sleep and circadian disruption and enhance operational performance. Investing research in humans is one of NASA's building blocks that will allow for both short- and long-duration space missions and help NASA in developing approaches to manage and overcome the human limitations of space travel. In addition to reviewing the current state of knowledge concerning sleep and circadian disruptions during space operations, this paper provides an overview of NASA's broad research goals. Also, NASA-funded research, designed to evaluate the relationships between sleep quality, circadian rhythm stability, and performance proficiency in both ground-based simulations and space mission studies, as described in the 2003 NASA Task Book, will be reviewed.

Review↗
NASA NTRS2008

NASA Tech Briefs, September 2008

Topics covered include: Nanotip Carpets as Antireflection Surfaces; Nano-Engineered Catalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells; Capillography of Mats of Nanofibers; Directed Growth of Carbon Nanotubes Across Gaps; High-Voltage, Asymmetric-Waveform Generator; Magic-T Junction Using Microstrip/Slotline Transitions; On-Wafer Measurement of a Silicon-Based CMOS VCO at 324 GHz; Group-III Nitride Field Emitters; HEMT Amplifiers and Equipment for their On-Wafer Testing; Thermal Spray Formation of Polymer Coatings; Improved Gas Filling and Sealing of an HC-PCF; Making More-Complex Molecules Using Superthermal Atom/Molecule Collisions; Nematic Cells for Digital Light Deflection; Improved Silica Aerogel Composite Materials; Microgravity, Mesh-Crawling Legged Robots; Advanced Active-Magnetic-Bearing Thrust- Measurement System; Thermally Actuated Hydraulic Pumps; A New, Highly Improved Two-Cycle Engine; Flexible Structural-Health-Monitoring Sheets; Alignment Pins for Assembling and Disassembling Structures; Purifying Nucleic Acids from Samples of Extremely Low Biomass; Adjustable-Viewing-Angle Endoscopic Tool for Skull Base and Brain Surgery; UV-Resistant Non-Spore-Forming Bacteria From Spacecraft-Assembly Facilities; Hard-X-Ray/Soft-Gamma-Ray Imaging Sensor Assembly for Astronomy; Simplified Modeling of Oxidation of Hydrocarbons; Near-Field Spectroscopy with Nanoparticles Deposited by AFM; Light Collimator and Monitor for a Spectroradiometer; Hyperspectral Fluorescence and Reflectance Imaging Instrument; Improving the Optical Quality Factor of the WGM Resonator; Ultra-Stable Beacon Source for Laboratory Testing of Optical Tracking; Transmissive Diffractive Optical Element Solar Concentrators; Delaying Trains of Short Light Pulses in WGM Resonators; Toward Better Modeling of Supercritical Turbulent Mixing; JPEG 2000 Encoding with Perceptual Distortion Control; Intelligent Integrated Health Management for a System of Systems; Delay Banking for Managing Air Traffic; and Spline-Based Smoothing of Airfoil Curvatures.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2011

System Enhancements for Mechanical Inspection Processes

Quality inspection of parts is a major component to any project that requires hardware implementation. Keeping track of all of the inspection jobs is essential to having a smooth running process. By using HTML, the programming language ColdFusion, and the MySQL database, I created a web-based job management system for the 170 Mechanical Inspection Group that will replace the Microsoft Access based management system. This will improve the ways inspectors and the people awaiting inspection view and keep track of hardware as it is in the inspection process. In the end, the management system should be able to insert jobs into a queue, place jobs in and out of a bonded state, pre-release bonded jobs, and close out inspection jobs.

inspection processes↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

MPATH (Measuring Performance for Autonomy Teaming with Humans) Ground Control Station: Design Approach and Initial Usability Results

Envisioned future Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) operations will require a transition of aircraft command and control from onboard pilots to remote operators. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed a research ground control station (GCS) software called MPATH (Measuring Performance for Autonomy Teaming with Humans) to study the human factors of remote operators in a representative AAM environment, where small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS; simulated or real) act as surrogates for larger AAM aircraft. A primary focus of the research being conducted with the MPATH GCS is scalability (i.e., one human managing multiple vehicles). MPATH has demonstrated to be a useful capability for human factors research and remote operations. Two initial usability studies and a multi-vehicle control assessment were recently conducted, and usability data and operator feedback were collected. Generally, participants rated MPATH high on usability and interface quality, whereas information quality was rated slightly lower. These results were supported by specific feedback. Several generalized GCS design recommendations are proposed based on the results and feedback from these flight activities. Future updates to MPATH will incorporate the proposed recommendations. In practice, these recommendations could be used by any GCS software designer or developer to promote usability and safety.

Advanced Air Mobility↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Faster, Better, Cheaper Approach to Space Missions: An Engineering Management Assessment

NASA was chartered as an independent civilian space agency in 1958 following the Soviet Union's dramatic launch of the Sputnik 1 (1957). In his state of the union address in May of 1961, President Kennedy issued to the fledging organization his famous challenge for a manned lunar mission by the end of the decade. The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs that followed put the utmost value on high quality, low risk (as low as possible within the context of space flight), quick results, all with little regard for cost. These circumstances essentially melded NASAs culture as an organization capable of great technological achievement but at extremely high cost. The Space Shuttle project, the next major agency endeavor, was put under severe annual budget constraints in the 1970's. NASAs response was to hold to the high quality standards, low risk and annual cost and let schedule suffer. The result was a significant delay in the introduction of the Shuttle as well as overall total cost growth. By the early 1990's, because NASA's budget was declining, the number of projects was also declining. Holding the same cost and schedule productivity levels as before was essentially causing NASA to price itself out of business. In 1992, the helm of NASA was turned over to a new Administrator. Dan Goldin's mantra was "faster, better, cheaper" and his enthusiasm and determination to change the NASA culture was not to be ignored. This research paper documents the various implementations of "faster, better, cheaper" that have been attempted, analyzes their impact and compares the cost performance of these new projects to previous NASA benchmarks. Fundamentally, many elements of "faster, better, cheaper" are found to be working well, especially on smaller projects. Some of the initiatives are found to apply only to smaller or experimental projects however, so that extrapolation to "flagship" projects may be problematic.

Hamaker, Joseph W.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Factors affecting handling qualities of a lift-fan aircraft during steep terminal area approaches

The XV-5B lift-fan aircraft was used to explore the factors affecting handling qualities in the terminal area. A 10 deg ILS approach task was selected to explore these problems. Interception of the glide slope at 457.2 m, glide slope tracking, deceleration along the glide slope to a spot hover were considered. Variations in airplane deck angle, deceleration schedule, and powered-lift management were studied. The overall descent performance envelope was identified on the basis of fan stall, maximum comfortable descent rate, and controllability restrictions. The collective-lift stick provided precise glide slope tracking capability. The pilot preferred a deck-parallel attitude for which he used powered lift to control glide slope and pitch attitude to keep the angle of attack near zero. Workload was reduced when the deceleration schedule was delayed until the aircraft was well established on the glide slope, since thrust vector changes induced flight path disturbances.

Gerdes, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

System for the Management of Trauma and Emergency Surgery in Space

The need to develop a systems approach to the management of trauma and other major clinical medical events in space along with appropriate development and evaluation of surgical techniques and required hardware was investigated. A prototype zero gravity surgical module was constructed and tested aboard a KC-135 aircraft during parabolic arc zero G flight. To insure parity of quality care to that available on Earth, it was recommended that a clinical medical and bioengineering advisory committee define and help develop the necessary components of the clinical medical care system for the space station and lunar base. Key components of the system are aerospace surgical training, medical equipment development, including support hardware and software, rapid access to a network of specialty expertise, and continued research and development.

Houtchens, B.↗
NASA NTRS1993

NASA safety program activities in support of the Space Exploration Initiatives Nuclear Propulsion program

The activities of the joint NASA/DOE/DOD Nuclear Propulsion Program Technical Panels have been used as the basis for the current development of safety policies and requirements for the Space Exploration Initiatives (SEI) Nuclear Propulsion Technology development program. The Safety Division of the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Quality has initiated efforts to develop policies for the safe use of nuclear propulsion in space through involvement in the joint agency Nuclear Safety Policy Working Group (NSPWG), encouraged expansion of the initial policy development into proposed programmatic requirements, and suggested further expansion into the overall risk assessment and risk management process for the NASA Exploration Program. Similar efforts are underway within the Department of Energy to ensure the safe development and testing of nuclear propulsion systems on Earth. This paper describes the NASA safety policy related to requirements for the design of systems that may operate where Earth re-entry is a possibility. The expected plan of action is to support and oversee activities related to the technology development of nuclear propulsion in space, and support the overall safety and risk management program being developed for the NASA Exploration Program.

Sawyer, J. C., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Tensoral: A system for post-processing turbulence simulation data

Many computer simulations in engineering and science -- and especially in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) -- produce huge quantities of numerical data. These data are often so large as to make even relatively simple post-processing of this data unwieldy. The data, once computed and quality-assured, is most likely analyzed by only a few people. As a result, much useful numerical data is under-utilized. Since future state-of-the-art simulations will produce even larger datasets, will use more complex flow geometries, and will be performed on more complex supercomputers, data management issues will become increasingly cumbersome. My goal is to provide software which will automate the present and future task of managing and post-processing large turbulence datasets. My research has focused on the development of these software tools -- specifically, through the development of a very high-level language called 'Tensoral'. The ultimate goal of Tensoral is to convert high-level mathematical expressions (tensor algebra, calculus, and statistics) into efficient low-level programs which numerically calculate these expressions given simulation datasets. This approach to the database and post-processing problem has several advantages. Using Tensoral the numerical and data management details of a simulation are shielded from the concerns of the end user. This shielding is carried out without sacrificing post-processor efficiency and robustness. Another advantage of Tensoral is that its very high-level nature lends itself to portability across a wide variety of computing (and supercomputing) platforms. This is especially important considering the rapidity of changes in supercomputing hardware.

Dresselhaus, Eliot↗
NASA NTRS2006

Towards Designing an Integrated Earth Observation System for the Provision of Solar Energy Resource and Assessment

The GEOSS strategic plan specifically targets the area of improved energy resource management due to the importance of these to the economic and social viability of every nation of the world. With the world s increasing demand for energy resources, the need for new alternative energy resources grows. This paper overviews a new initiative within the International Energy Agency that addresses needs to better manage and develop solar energy resources worldwide. The goal is to provide the solar energy industry, the electricity sector, governments, and renewable energy organizations and institutions with the most suitable and accurate information of the solar radiation resources at the Earth's surface in easily-accessible formats and understandable quality metrics. The scope of solar resource assessment information includes historic data sets and currently derived data products using satellite imagery and other means. Thus, this new task will address the needs of the solar energy sector while at the same time will serve as a model that satisfies GEOSS objectives and goals.

Stackouse, Paul W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Precision Cleaning - Path to Premier

ITT Space Systems Division s new Precision Cleaning facility provides critical cleaning and packaging of aerospace flight hardware and optical payloads to meet customer performance requirements. The Precision Cleaning Path to Premier Project was a 2007 capital project and is a key element in the approved Premier Resource Management - Integrated Supply Chain Footprint Optimization Project. Formerly precision cleaning was located offsite in a leased building. A new facility equipped with modern precision cleaning equipment including advanced process analytical technology and improved capabilities was designed and built after outsourcing solutions were investigated and found lacking in ability to meet quality specifications and schedule needs. SSD cleans parts that can range in size from a single threaded fastener all the way up to large composite structures. Materials that can be processed include optics, composites, metals and various high performance coatings. We are required to provide verification to our customers that we have met their particulate and molecular cleanliness requirements and we have that analytical capability in this new facility. The new facility footprint is approximately half the size of the former leased operation and provides double the amount of throughput. Process improvements and new cleaning equipment are projected to increase 1st pass yield from 78% to 98% avoiding $300K+/yr in rework costs. Cost avoidance of $350K/yr will result from elimination of rent, IT services, transportation, and decreased utility costs. Savings due to reduced staff expected to net $4-500K/yr.

Mackler, Scott E.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Progress on the Development of Future Airport Surface Wireless Communications Network

Continuing advances in airport surface management and improvements in airport surface safety are required to enable future growth in air traffic throughout the airspace, as airport arrival and departure delays create a major system bottleneck. These airport management and safety advances will be built upon improved communications, navigation, surveillance, and weather sensing, creating an information environment supporting system automation. The efficient movement of the digital data generated from these systems requires an underlying communications network infrastructure to connect data sources with the intended users with the required quality of service. Current airport surface communications consists primarily of buried copper or fiber cable. Safety related communications with mobile airport surface assets occurs over 25 kHz VHF voice and data channels. The available VHF spectrum, already congested in many areas, will be insufficient to support future data traffic requirements. Therefore, a broadband wireless airport surface communications network is considered a requirement for the future airport component of the air transportation system. Progress has been made on defining the technology and frequency spectrum for the airport surface wireless communications network. The development of a test and demonstration facility and the definition of required testing and standards development are now underway. This paper will review the progress and planned future work.

Kerczewski, Robert J.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Water: A Critical Material Enabling Space Exploration

Water is one of the most critical materials in human spaceflight. The availability of water defines the duration of a space mission; the volume of water required for a long‐duration space mission becomes too large, heavy, and expensive for launch vehicles to carry. Since the mission duration is limited by the amount of water a space vehicle can carry, the capability to recycle water enables space exploration. In addition, water management in microgravity impacts spaceflight in other respects, such as the recent emergency termination of a spacewalk caused by free water in an astronaut's spacesuit helmet. A variety of separation technologies are used onboard spacecraft to ensure that water is always available for use, and meets the stringent water quality required for human space exploration. These separation technologies are often adapted for use in a microgravity environment, where water behaves in unique ways. The use of distillation, membrane processes, ion exchange and granular activated carbon will be reviewed. Examples of microgravity effects on operations will also be presented. A roadmap for future technologies, needed to supply water resources for the exploration of Mars, will also be reviewed.

Pickering, Karen D.↗
NASA NTRS2017

NISAR L-SAR Digital Electronics Subsystem - A Multichannel Distributed Processing System with Synchronous Timing Control for Digital Beam Forming and Multiple Echo Tracking

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) L-band SAR instrument employs multiple digital channels to optimize resolution while keeping a large swath on a single pass. High-speed digitization with fine synchronization and digital beam forming are necessary in order to facilitate this new technique called SweepSAR. An architecture employing multiple FPGA based digital signal processors has been conceived to facilitate digital calibration on an individual channel basis as well as digital signal processing to optimize the receive signal. On-board processing and data compression has been implemented to reduce the volume of data in order to satisfy the operational requirements of near global coverage for the desired science targets. A novel command and timing architecture was developed to manage this complex system while providing detailed control of individual channel receive window timing required for digital beam forming. The NISAR L-band Digital Electronics Subsystem is the combination of the hardware, firmware and software components architected and implemented to operate this radar and return the desired quantity and quality of data for the science community.

Chuang, Chung-Lun↗
NASA NTRS2019

UAS Service Supplier Checkout: How UTM Confirmed Readiness of Flight Tests with UAS Service Suppliers

NASA collaborated with industry partners to develop and test the small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) Traffic Management (UTM) research platform, a software prototype used for developing airspace integration requirements for sUAS operations. The lessons learned from these activities will help inform the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on what is needed to safely manage sUAS operations. A core component of the UTM platform is the UAS Service Supplier (USS), which acts as a communications bridge to meet the regulatory and operational requirements. As the UTM partners began USS flight tests, NASA found that it was difficult to get all USSs functioning at comparable quality levels to ensure successful flight tests. Also, NASA anticipated that the FAA would encounter similar challenges when they begin to register USSs for operational use. These realizations led to the development of USS Checkout, a set of processes and tools designed to increase flight test efficiency. We learned that a good USS Checkout process is balanced for simplicity versus test coverage, and is amenable to automation. We also learned that when USS Checkout is a USS prerequisite for flight tests, flight tests were more efficient and effective.

Smith, Irene Skupniewicz↗
NASA NTRS2020

The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight - A History of the NASA Ames 40- by 80-Foot and 80- by 120-Foot Wind Tunnels

This book describes the history of the facility in some detail. Modifications to the tunnel are described along with much of the research and development testing performed over the years. Often models or aircraft were studied in the facility and then modified and tested again, such that many models and aircraft were tested numerous times over a period of several years. Descriptions generally cover investigations of models that occurred for several years, rather than descriptions of tests performed chronologically. The goal has been to make the descriptions understandable and not particularly technical, but yet clearly state their purposes. Not all tests are described because of the large number of tests performed (on the order of 700), but many representative tests are described that are intended to illustrate the variety and importance of the models and aircraft investigated over the years. A comprehensive list of references is included for those who are interested in more technical details. It should be noted that after the implementation of full-cost recovery, the interest of NASA in producing traditional reports on aerodynamics was substantially reduced. As a result, there were fewer NASA aeronautical reports in later years. This was a disappointing development because of the importance and high quality of the NASA reports and the importance of archiving results of unique experiments. Dates of important events are provided in Appendix A and a list of NFAC tests are provided in Appendix B. This book is organized in four parts: Part I. Design and Construction; Part II. Operation and Management History; Part III. Research History; and Part IV. Concluding Remarks, References, and Appendices.

World’s Largest Wind Tunnels↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) Biennial Survey: Analyzing Satellite Earth Observation Needs Across U.S. Federal Civilian Agencies

The Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) is part of the U.S. Group on Earth Observations (USGEO) and was established to identify high-priority Earth observation satellite needs across U.S. federal civilian agencies. Federal agencies often rely on Earth observation data to fulfill multidisciplinary agency responsibilities such as assessing agricultural crop conditions, detecting wildfires, and monitoring water quality; however, the data sets and tools required to meet these needs are not always readily available or accessible to agency personnel. SNWG conducts a biennial survey of federal satellite needs in order to bridge the gap between Earth observation data providers and their government stakeholders and users. The SNWG Management Office completes an analysis of these survey submissions to gain insight into the types of satellite needs that exist across the government. Within the survey, agencies provide details on how satellite data are used to meet their objectives, measurement requirements needed for their use cases, and gaps that exist in currently available satellite data products and services. For the SNWG 2024 cycle, there were 125 surveys submitted from 25 different agencies. This presentation will discuss findings from the statistical analysis of the SNWG 2024 survey responses and highlight the diverse nature of the needs, common themes in agency requests, and differences in the responses compared to previous cycles. The presentation will also discuss the newly approved SNWG Aggregate Statistics Report that will make these analysis results available to the public and help inform what’s next for science.

Essence Raphael↗
NASA NTRS1983

Identification and management of filament-wound case stiffness parameters

The high specific strength and the high specific modules made graphite epoxy laminate an expedient material substitute for the Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor steel case to substantially increase the payload performance without increasing the composite case axial growth during thrust build up which was constrained to minimize liftoff excitation effects on existing structural elements and interfaces. Parameters associated with axial growth were identified for quality and manufacturing controls. Included is an innovative method for experimentally verifying extensional elastic properties on a laminate pressurized test bottle.

Verderaime, V.↗