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At least 955 records · Page 53

Earth science information: Planning for the integration and use of global change information

Activities and accomplishments of the first six months of the Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN's) 1992 technical program have focused on four main missions: (1) the development and implementation of plans for initiation of the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) as part of the EOSDIS Program; (2) the pursuit and development of a broad-based global change information cooperative by providing systems analysis and integration between natural science and social science data bases held by numerous federal agencies and other sources; (3) the fostering of scientific research into the human dimensions of global change and providing integration between natural science and social science data and information; and (4) the serving of CIESIN as a gateway for global change data and information distribution through development of the Global Change Research Information Office and other comprehensive knowledge sharing systems.

Lousma, Jack R.↗

Tracking and data system support for the Pioneer project. Volume 1: Pioneer 10-prelaunch planning through second trajectory correction, 4 December 1969 - 1 April 1972

The tracking and data system support of the launch, near-earth, and deep space phases of the Pioneer 10 mission, which sent a Pioneer spacecraft into a flyby of Jupiter that would eventually allow the spacecraft to escape the solar system is discussed. The support through the spacecraft's second trajectory correction is reported. During this period, scientific instruments aboard the spacecraft registered information relative to interplanetary particles and fields, and radiometric data generated by the network continued to improve knowledge of the celestial mechanics of the solar system. In addition to network support activity detail, network performance and special support activities are covered.

Siegmeth, A. J.↗

Tracking and data system support for the Pioneer project. Volume 2: Pioneer 11 prelaunch planning through second trajectory correction, to 1 May 1973

The tracking and data system support of the planning, testing, launch, near-earth, and deep space phases of the Pioneer 11 Jupiter Mission are described, including critical phases of spacecraft flight and guidance. Scientific instruments aboard the spacecraft registered information relative to interplanetary particles and fields. Knowledge of the celestial mechanics of the solar system was improved through radiometric data gathering. Network performance, details of network support activity, and special support activities are discussed.

Barton, W. R.↗

Computer-based communication in support of scientific and technical work

Results are reported of the first experiments for a computer conference management information system at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Between August 1975 and March 1976, two NASA projects with geographically separated participants (NASA scientists) used the PLANET computer conferencing system for portions of their work. The first project was a technology assessment of future transportation systems. The second project involved experiments with the Communication Technology Satellite. As part of this project, pre- and postlaunch operations were discussed in a computer conference. These conferences also provided the context for an analysis of the cost of computer conferencing. In particular, six cost components were identified: (1) terminal equipment, (2) communication with a network port, (3) network connection, (4) computer utilization, (5) data storage and (6) administrative overhead.

Vallee, J.↗

DataHub: Science data management in support of interactive exploratory analysis

The DataHub addresses four areas of significant needs: scientific visualization and analysis; science data management; interactions in a distributed, heterogeneous environment; and knowledge-based assistance for these functions. The fundamental innovation embedded within the DataHub is the integration of three technologies, viz. knowledge-based expert systems, science visualization, and science data management. This integration is based on a concept called the DataHub. With the DataHub concept, science investigators are able to apply a more complete solution to all nodes of a distributed system. Both computational nodes and interactives nodes are able to effectively and efficiently use the data services (access, retrieval, update, etc), in a distributed, interdisciplinary information system in a uniform and standard way. This allows the science investigators to concentrate on their scientific endeavors, rather than to involve themselves in the intricate technical details of the systems and tools required to accomplish their work. Thus, science investigators need not be programmers. The emphasis on the definition and prototyping of system elements with sufficient detail to enable data analysis and interpretation leading to information. The DataHub includes all the required end-to-end components and interfaces to demonstrate the complete concept.

Handley, Thomas H., Jr.↗

DataHub - Science data management in support of interactive exploratory analysis

DataHub addresses four areas of significant need: scientific visualization and analysis; science data management; interactions in a distributed, heterogeneous environment; and knowledge-based assistance for these functions. The fundamental innovation embedded within the DataHub is the integration of three technologies, viz. knowledge-based expert systems, science visualization, and science data management. This integration is based on a concept called the DataHub. With the DataHub concept, science investigators are able to apply a more complete solution to all nodes of a distributed system. Both computational nodes and interactive nodes are able to effectively and efficiently use the data services (access, retrieval, update, etc.) in a distributed, interdisciplinary information system in a uniform and standard way. This allows the science investigators to concentrate on their scientific endeavors, rather than to involve themselves in the intricate technical details of the systems and tools required to accomplish their work. Thus, science investigators need not be programmers. The emphasis is on the definition and prototyping of system elements with sufficient detail to enable data analysis and interpretation leading to information. The DataHub includes all the required end-to-end components and interfaces to demonstrate the complete concept.

Handley, Thomas H., Jr.↗

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 388)

This bibliography lists 132 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

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Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A Continuing Bibliography

This bibliography lists reports, articles and other documents recently introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information database. Subject coverage includes: Aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life and flightcrew behavior and performance.

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Lunar Flashlight: Mapping Lunar Surface Volatiles Using a Cubesat

Water ice and other volatiles may be located in the Moon's polar regions, with sufficient quantities for in situ extraction and utilization by future human and robotic missions. Evidence from orbiting spacecraft and the LCROSS impactor suggests the presence of surface and/or nearsurface volatiles, including water ice. These deposits are of interest to human exploration to understand their potential for use by astronauts. Understanding the composition, quantity, distribution, and form of water/H species and other volatiles associated with lunar cold traps is identified as a NASA Strategic Knowledge Gap (SKG) for Human Exploration. These polar volatile deposits could also reveal important information about the delivery of water to the Earth- Moon system, so are of scientific interest. The scientific exploration of the lunar polar regions was one of the key recommendations of the Planetary Science Decadal Survey. In order to address NASA's SKGs, the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) program selected three lowcost 6-U CubeSat missions for launch as secondary payloads on the first test flight (EM1) of the Space Launch System (SLS) scheduled for 2017. The Lunar Flashlight mission was selected as one of these missions, specifically to address the SKG associated with lunar volatiles. Development of the Lunar Flashlight CubeSat concept leverages JPL's Interplanetary Nano- Spacecraft Pathfinder In Relevant Environment (INSPIRE) mission, MSFC's intimate knowledge of the Space Launch System and EM-1 mission, small business development of solar sail and electric propulsion hardware, and JPL experience with specialized miniature sensors. The goal of Lunar Flashlight is to determine the presence or absence of exposed water ice and its physical state, and map its concentration at the kilometer scale within the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole. After being ejected in cislunar space by SLS, Lunar Flashlight deploys its solar panels and solar sail and maneuvers into a low-energy transfer to lunar orbit. The solar sail and attitude control system work to bring the satellite into an elliptical polar orbit spiraling down to a perilune of 30-10 km above the south pole for data collection. Lunar Flashlight uses its solar sail to shine reflected sunlight into permanently shadowed regions, measuring surface albedo with a four-filter point spectrometer at 1.1, 1.5 1.9, and 2.0 microns. Water ice will be distinguished from dry regolith from these measurements in two ways: 1) spatial variations in absolute reflectance (water ice is much brighter in the continuum channels), and 2) reflectance ratios between absorption and continuum channels. Derived reflectance and reflectance ratios will be mapped onto the lunar surface in order to distinguish the composition of the PSRs from that of the sunlit terrain. Lunar Flashlight enables a low-cost path to in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) by identifying operationally useful deposits (if there are any), which is a game-changing capability for expanded human exploration.

Cohen, B. A.↗

Communication System Architecture for Planetary Exploration

Future human missions to Mars will require effective communications supporting exploration activities and scientific field data collection. Constraints on cost, size, weight and power consumption for all communications equipment make optimization of these systems very important. These information and communication systems connect people and systems together into coherent teams performing the difficult and hazardous tasks inherent in planetary exploration. The communication network supporting vehicle telemetry data, mission operations, and scientific collaboration must have excellent reliability, and flexibility.

Braham, Stephen P.↗

NASA EOSDIS 20 Years of Data Usage and User Assessment in Support of Open Science Initiative

NASA EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS) has been distributing data to world-wide users free with open access. Since the launch of NASA’s Terra satellite in 1999, more than 10,000 distinct EOS data products have been archived and distributed by NASA-funded Earth Science data centers encompassed by the EOSDIS. As of September 30, 2022, more than 90 PB of data archived by EOSDIS have been made available to public users and during FY 2023 over 60 PB have been distributed to public users worldwide. Over these twenty and more years, it has shown significant increase in the distribution of various data products. This has been possible due to free and open access of the data thereby a step towards open science initiative. The purposes of this study are 1) to perform a comprehensive investigation of the archive and distribution patterns of EOSDIS data products for last 20 years, 2) to identify and characterize the global user community for those data, 3) analyze the increased demand for data products, 4) evaluate distribution of higher level products because those are the ones most frequently used in the studies of natural disasters by public users (those data requestors not involved directly in the production or validation of the data products.) and contribute globally to the advance scientific understanding of the Earth-Atmosphere Systems. Funded by the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project, the ESDIS Metrics System (EMS) collects archive, distribution, and user information from EOSDIS data centers. The information (comprising all data products including heritage datasets going back to the 1990s) is stored in a relational database from which it can be analyzed in many ways. We present several metrics analyses that include data distribution patterns for all, as well as the most frequently requested data products; and user characterizations by country, domain, and Earth Science discipline (e.g., Land, Ocean, Cryosphere) of the requested products. Due to the enormous quantity of data handled by EOSDIS data centers and requirements of future data systems to archive increasing amounts of Earth Science data from future and current Earth Science missions effectively, the results of this study can provide insight on how the user communities have accessed the data and provide guidance for open science initiative.

Lalit Wanchoo↗

NASA Tech Briefs, March 2012

The topics include: 1) Spectral Profiler Probe for In Situ Snow Grain Size and Composition Stratigraphy; 2) Portable Fourier Transform Spectroscopy for Analysis of Surface Contamination and Quality Control; 3) In Situ Geochemical Analysis and Age Dating of Rocks Using Laser Ablation-Miniature Mass Spectrometer; 4) Physics Mining of Multi-Source Data Sets; 5) Photogrammetry Tool for Forensic Analysis; 6) Connect Global Positioning System RF Module; 7) Simple Cell Balance Circuit; 8) Miniature EVA Software Defined Radio; 9) Remotely Accessible Testbed for Software Defined Radio Development; 10) System-of-Systems Technology-Portfolio-Analysis Tool; 11) VESGEN Software for Mapping and Quantification of Vascular Regulators; 12) Constructing a Database From Multiple 2D Images for Camera Pose Estimation and Robot Localization; 13) Adaption of G-TAG Software for Validating Touch and Go Asteroid Sample Return Design Methodology; 14) 3D Visualization for Phoenix Mars Lander Science Operations; 15) RxGen General Optical Model Prescription Generator; 16) Carbon Nanotube Bonding Strength Enhancement Using Metal Wicking Process; 17) Multi-Layer Far-Infrared Component Technology; 18) Germanium Lift-Off Masks for Thin Metal Film Patterning; 19) Sealing Materials for Use in Vacuum at High Temperatures; 20) Radiation Shielding System Using a Composite of Carbon Nanotubes Loaded With Electropolymers; 21) Nano Sponges for Drug Delivery and Medicinal Applications; 22) Molecular Technique to Understand Deep Microbial Diversity; 23) Methods and Compositions Based on Culturing Microorganisms in Low Sedimental Fluid Shear Conditions; 24) Secure Peer-to-Peer Networks for Scientific Information Sharing; 25) Multiplexer/Demultiplexer Loading Tool (MDMLT); 26) High-Rate Data-Capture for an Airborne Lidar System; 27) Wavefront Sensing Analysis of Grazing Incidence Optical Systems; 28) Foam-on-Tile Damage Model; 29) Instrument Package Manipulation Through the Generation and Use of an Attenuated-Fluent Gas Fold; 30) Multicolor Detectors for Ultrasensitive Long-Wave Imaging Cameras; 31) Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Command and Data Handling Flight Electronics Subsystem; and 32) Electro-Optic Segment-Segment Sensors for Radio and Optical Telescopes.

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Science Data Preservation: Implementation and Why It Is Important

Remote Sensing data generation by NASA to study Earth s geophysical processes was initiated in 1960 with the launch of the first Television Infrared Observation Satellite Program (TIROS), to develop a meteorological satellite information system. What would be deemed as a primitive data set by today s standards, early Earth science missions were the foundation upon which today s remote sensing instruments have built their scientific success, and tomorrow s instruments will yield science not yet imagined. NASA Scientific Data Stewardship requirements have been documented to ensure the long term preservation and usability of remote sensing science data. In recent years, the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners and NASA s Earth Science Data System Working Groups have organized committees that specifically examine standards, processes, and ontologies that can best be employed for the preservation of remote sensing data, supporting documentation, and data provenance information. This presentation describes the activities, issues, and implementations, guided by the NASA Earth Science Data Preservation Content Specification (423-SPEC-001), for preserving instrument characteristics, and data processing and science information generated for 20 Earth science instruments, spanning 40 years of geophysical measurements, at the NASA s Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). In addition, unanticipated preservation/implementation questions and issues in the implementation process are presented.

Kempler, Steven J.↗

2023 Operational Assessment Report: Argonne Leadership Computing Facility

In 2004, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program established the Leadership Computing Facility (LCF) with a mission to provide the world’s most advanced computational resources to the open science community. The LCF is a huge investment in the nation’s scientific and technological future, inspired by a growing demand for large-scale computing and its impact on science and engineering. The LCF operates two world-class centers in support of open science at Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge) and deploys diverse machines that are among the most powerful systems in the world today. The LCF ranks among the top U.S. scientific facilities delivering impactful science. The work performed at these centers informs policy decisions and advances innovations in far-reaching areas such as energy assurance, ecological sustainability, and global security. The leadership-class systems at Argonne and Oak Ridge operate around the clock every day of the year. The high level of services these centers provide and the exceptional science they produce justify their existence to the DOE Office of Science and the U.S. Congress

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Viking orbiter and its Mariner inheritance

Improvements to the design of the Mariner spacecraft resulted in the Viking spacecraft. The Viking spacecraft would consist of two major systems - an orbiter and a lander, while the lander would provide the means for safely delivering the scientific instruments to the surface, house, and provide the necessary power source and communication links for those experiments, the orbiter would transport the lander to Mars, rovide a platform for the Viking imaging system so that proposed landing sites could be surveyed and certified, relay lander science information back to Earth, and conduct scientific observations in its own right.

Source record↗

Lessons Learned From Developing Three Generations of Remote Sensing Science Data Processing Systems

The Biospheric Information Systems Branch at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center has developed three generations of Science Investigator-led Processing Systems for use with various remote sensing instruments. The first system is used for data from the MODIS instruments flown on NASA s Earth Observing Systems @OS) Terra and Aqua Spacecraft launched in 1999 and 2002 respectively. The second generation is for the Ozone Measuring Instrument flying on the EOS Aura spacecraft launched in 2004. We are now developing a third generation of the system for evaluation science data processing for the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) to be flown by the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) in 2006. The initial system was based on large scale proprietary hardware, operating and database systems. The current OMI system and the OMPS system being developed are based on commodity hardware, the LINUX Operating System and on PostgreSQL, an Open Source RDBMS. The new system distributes its data archive across multiple server hosts and processes jobs on multiple processor boxes. We have created several instances of this system, including one for operational processing, one for testing and reprocessing and one for applications development and scientific analysis. Prior to receiving the first data from OMI we applied the system to reprocessing information from the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) and Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instruments flown from 1978 until now. The system was able to process 25 years (108,000 orbits) of data and produce 800,000 files (400 GiB) of level 2 and level 3 products in less than a week. We will describe the lessons we have learned and tradeoffs between system design, hardware, operating systems, operational staffing, user support and operational procedures. During each generational phase, the system has become more generic and reusable. While the system is not currently shrink wrapped we believe it is to the point where it could be readily adopted, with substantial cost savings, for other similar tasks.

Tilmes, Curt↗

The proposal entry processor: Telescience applications for Hubble Space Telescope science operations

The Proposal Entry Processor (PEP) System supports the submission, entry, technical evaluation review, selection and implementation of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observing proposals. The PEP system is described concentrating on features which illustrate principles of telescience as applied to the HST. These principles are applicable to other observatories, both space and ground based. The PEP proposal forms allow a scientist to specify scientific objectives without becoming needlessly involved in implementation details. The Remote Proposal Submission System (RPSS) allows proposers to submit proposals electronically via Telenet, SPAN, and other networks. The RPSS performs syntax and sematic checks on proposals. The PEP uses a fourth generation database system to store proposal information and to allow general queries and reports. The Transformation subsystem uses an expert system written in OPS5 to cast a scientific description of an observing program into parameters used by the planning and scheduling system. The TACOS system is a natural language database which supports the proposal selection process. Technical evaluations for resource usage and duplicate science are performed using rulebased systems.

Jackson, Robert↗