Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “New Mexico”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 973 records · Page 54
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Extending the Life of NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)-8: TDRS-8 Power Challenges And Planning for End of Mission

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Near Space Network’s Space Relay (SR) System provides communication relay services to a number of scientific and manned space missions with its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation. NASA’s eighth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) has been experiencing a decline in the health of its power subsystem, and recent reliability analyses indicate that the end of its mission serving the Space Relay is imminent. Launched in 2000, TDRS-8 is the oldest TDRS built upon a Boeing 601 platform, and as such it is the first TDRS to experience these age-related failures. The most prevalent elements of the power subsystem to decline are the solar array circuitry and the Bus Voltage Limiters (BVLs), which prevent too much power from the solar arrays being transferred to the bus by shunting excess current. This means that while the loss of solar array circuits introduces concerns that the solar arrays will continue providing the spacecraft with enough current to remain power positive, the loss of BVLs introduces a concern that the bus may not be adequately protected from overvoltage events. Spacecraft engineers at the TDRS primary ground terminal, the White Sands Complex (WSC) in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) have also been working in collaboration with Boeing to develop innovative techniques to extend the serviceable life of TDRS-8.

tdrs↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

HALE-X -- A USFS-NASA Partnership with Swift Engineering to Demonstrate Sustained IR Imagery for Weeks to Months with Next Generation Solar-electric Uncrewed Aircraft Systems UAS

HALE-X (High Altitude Long Endurance experiment) is an innovative partnership between the US Forest Service, NASA and Swift Engineering designed to test high altitude UAS capabilities for providing persistent, real-time mapping and intelligence over a wildfire incident. Platform and payload testing is scheduled to occur during summer 2021 at SpacePort America and adjacent airspace in New Mexico.

HALE-X↗
NASA NTRS2021

Improvements to the Search for Cosmic Dawn Using the Long Wavelength Array

We present recent improvements to the search for the global Cosmic Dawn signature using the Long Wavelength Array station located on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, USA (LWA{SV). These improvements are both in the methodology of the experiment and the hardware of the station. An improved observing strategy along with more sophisticated temperature calibration and foreground modelling schemes have led to improved residual RMS limits. A large improvement over previous work using LWA{SV is the use of a novel achromatic beamforming technique which has been developed for LWA{SV. We present results from an observing campaign which contains 29 days of observations between March 10th, 2021 and April 10th 2021. The reported residual RMS limits are 6 times above the amplitude of the potential signal reported by the Experiment to Detect the Global EoR Signature (EDGES) collaboration.

Christopher Dilullo↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Topographic Quintet: Comparing Five Methods for Measuring Ultra-High Resolution Topography

We compare different methods for collecting ultra-high resolution topography data within an analog planetary, human landing site scale area. Our aim is to investigate the cost and benefits of different 3D terrain mapping techniques, their associated data collection methods, and how their different specifications (e.g., range, spatial resolution, scanning-time, mobility, operating constraints, GPS-Denied operation, etc.) might be applied to landing-site characterization and mission operations. We compare 3D terrain data collected during a field campaign in November 2021 from an outcrop at Kilbourne Hole in southern New Mexico using different Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors on the ground and stereo-derived 3D data from framing cameras mounted on small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS).Our foci for this experiment are ground-based, surveying, and autonomous vehicle-type 3D scanning sensors that might be used for planetary surface exploration from landed assets (e.g., lander, rover, astronaut-mounted sensors, decent imaging, hoppers, or drones).[e.g. 1]This test is not meant to benchmark these scanners against one another, nor provide a recommendation for a specific make or model. Rather, our goal is to quantify time, effort, resolution, and operational trade-offs that are important for selecting a topographic instrument/methodology for a given scope of terrain characterization. Our results indicate that each technique is capable of exceptional quality terrain characterization for planetary exploration and scientific inquiry, but we hypothesize the appropriate technique is highly dependent on the scope of operational specifications and science requirements.

P Whelley↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Challenges, Lessons Learned, and Methodologies from the LCRD Optical Communication System AI&T

The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) is a space flight technology demonstration mission, led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland and sponsored by NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM) Program and Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program Office. The LCRD payload is hosted on the Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program (STP) Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) space vehicle and will operate in geostationary orbit (GEO). Launching in late 2021, the mission will conduct a minimum of two years of communication experiments with optical terminals at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Table Mountain Facility, in Hawaii, on the International Space Station in LEO, and via a high bandwidth radio link to White Sands Complex (WSC), New Mexico. This paper focuses on the assembly, integration, and test (AI&T) campaign spanning more than four years, using multiple test facilities, and involving multiple partner collaborations.

Bernie Edwards↗
NASA NTRS2018

Adrianite, Ca12(Al4Mg3Si7)O32Cl6, a New Cl-rich Silicate Mineral From the Allende Meteorite: An Alteration Phase in a Ca-Al-rich Inclusion

Adrianite (IMA 2014-028), Ca12(Al4Mg3Si7)O32Cl6, is a new Cl-rich silicate mineral and the Si,Mg analog of wadalite. It occurs with monticellite, grossular, wadalite, and hutcheonite in altered areas along some veins between primary melilite, spinel, and Ti,Al-diopside in a Type B1 FUN (Fractionation and Unidentified Nuclear effects) Ca-Al-rich inclusion (CAI), Egg-3, from the Allende CV3 carbona-ceous chondrite. The mean chemical composition of type adrianite by electron probe microanalysis is (wt%) CaO 41.5, SiO2 27.5, Al2O3 12.4, MgO 7.3, Na2O 0.41, Cl 13.0, O=Cl –2.94, total 99.2, giving rise to an empirical formula of (Ca11.69Na0.21)(Al3.85Mg2.88Si7.23)O32Cl5.80. The end-member formula is Ca12(Mg5Si9)O32Cl6. Adrianite has the I43d wadalite structure with a = 11.981 Å, V = 1719.8 Å3, and Z = 2, as revealed by electron backscatter diffraction. The calculated density using the measured composition is 3.03 g/cm3. Adrianite is a new secondary mineral in Allende, apparently formed by alkali-halogen metasomatic alteration of primary CAI minerals such as melilite, anorthite, perovskite, and Ti,Al-diopside on the CV chondrite parent asteroid. Formation of secondary Cl-rich minerals sodalite, adrianite, and wadalite during metasomatic alteration of the Allende CAIs suggests that the metasomatic fluids had Cl-rich compositions. The mineral name is in honor of Adrian J. Brearley, mineralogist at the University of New Mexico, U.S.A., in recognition of his many contributions to the understanding of secondary mineralization in chondritic meteorites.

Chi Ma↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Volcanic Field Sites for Artemis Testing and Training

The Artemis Program will reestablish human presence on the Moon and lead to a new era of scientific discovery and exploration. Led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Artemis Program is a collaboration of space agencies and companies around the world. An integrated effort between various disciplines of science, engineering, and mission operations is currently developing methods, facilities, and analog field locations to train astronauts and test hardware and concepts of operations. These efforts aim to best prepare for the next steps of human exploration on the lunar surface and beyond. Numerous terrestrial volcanic field sites were evaluated and selected for their unique roles in helping to prepare for the lunar surface mission phases. This effort heavily leveraged the comprehensive academic research conducted at these field sites, as well as the tremendous Apollo heritage. The currently selected volcanic field sites include the San Francisco Volcanic Field in Northern Arizona, the Potrillo Volcanic Field in southern New Mexico, the highlands of Iceland, and the Southwestern Nevada Volcanic Field. Within each of these volcanic field sites numerous specific testing and training locations are being further developed utilizing the analogous terrain and unique features in these regions. Recent Artemis testing and training events have been conducted at a number of these volcanic field sites by both a dedicated Artemis Geology Training Team and a Joint Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) Testing Team. This presentation will highlight the selected sites as well as the objectives and accomplishments of some of the recent field-testing events and training courses. Additionally, we continually strive to pursue additional sites, locations, data sets, collaborations, and partnerships in this endeavor and welcome knowledge transfer and community input.

Trevor Graff↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

MaGIXS 2: Preparations for the Second Flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer

Overview MaGIXS is a slitless soft X-ray (SXR) imaging spectrometer designed to observe solar active regions. - The instrument produces spatially resolved SXR spectra, known as “overlappograms.” (Athiray et al. 2019 & Champey et al., 2022) The first sounding rocket flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer occurred on July 30, 2021 from the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. - Spectrally pure images of X-ray bright points were obtained through the inversion of overlappograms, e.g. Fig. 3 (Savage et al., 2022). MaGIXS 2 is a simplified version of the original design, less the spectrometer mirror pair. - Eliminating the spectrometer mirror pair improves spatial resolution, increases effective area and the field of view (Table 1). No field stop in this design, data will be an overlappogram with the same spatial and spectral plate scale.

x-ray spectrometer, x-ray optics, solar corona, so↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Perception Testing in Fog for Autonomous Flight

As the path towards Urban Air Mobility (UAM) continues to take shape, there are outstanding technical challenges to achieving safe and effective air transportation operations under this new paradigm. To inform and guide technology development for UAM, NASA is investigating the current state-of-the-art in key technology areas including traffic management, detect-and-avoid, and autonomy. In support of this effort, a new perception testbed was developed at NASA Ames Research Center to collect data from an array of sensing systems representative of those that could be found on a future UAM vehicle. This testbed, featuring a Light-Detection-and-Ranging (LIDAR) instrument, a long-wave infrared sensor, and a visible spectrum camera was deployed for a multiday test campaign in the Fog Chamber at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), in Albuquerque, New Mexico. During the test campaign, fog conditions were created for tests with targets including a human, a resolution chart, and a small unmanned aerial vehicle (sUAV). This paper describes in detail, the developed perception testbed, the experimental setup in the fog chamber, the resulting data, and presents an initial result from analysis of the data with the evaluation of methods to increase contrast through filtering techniques.

advanced air mobility↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

An Overview of MaGIXS-2, The Second Flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer

MaGIXS is a slitless soft X-ray (SXR) imaging spectrometer designed to observe solar active regions. - The instrument produces spatially resolved SXR spectra, known as “overlappograms.” (Athiray et al. 2019 & Champey et al., 2022) The first sounding rocket flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer occurred on July 30, 2021 from the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. - Spectrally pure images of X-ray bright points were obtained through the inversion of overlappograms, e.g. Fig. 3 (Savage et al., 2022). MaGIXS 2 is a simplified version of the original design, less the spectrometer mirror pair. - Eliminating the spectrometer mirror pair improves spatial resolution, increases effective area and the field of view (Table 1). No field stop in this design, data will be an overlappogram with the same spatial and spectral plate scale.

x-ray spectrometer, x-ray optics, solar corona, so↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Design and Performance of a Multi-mode Photon-counting Receiver for the NASA O2O Mission

The NASA Orion O2O mission was designed and tested to support high-rate bi-directional optical communications between one of multiple ground sites and a crewed capsule during a 10-day mission. This paper focuses on the design and performance of the receiver that will be based at the NASA White Sands Complex, New Mexico, USA. The main receiver components consist of two 40-cm apertures, each coupled to a specialty multi-mode optical fiber; each fiber coupled to a custom array of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors; a high-speed, high-channel-count time-to-digital converter; and custom digitizing electronics to perform deserialization, demodulation, clock recovery, and forward error correction with a powerful serially-concatenated pulse-position-modulation turbo code. We show error-free data communication performance up to the maximum required data rate of 267 Mb/s.

optical↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) Experiment Program: Characterization And Initial Operations

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) completed the first 18 months of its Experiment Program in December 2023. The LCRD geosynchronous payload includes two laser communications terminals interconnected via an onboard electronic switch. The payload can relay information between any two of a set of three ground stations. Two optical ground stations are located in California and Hawaii, and an RF ground station is located in New Mexico. Experiments to date have included demonstration of optimetrics, demonstrations of Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN), and measurements of the effects of the atmosphere (turbulence, weather) on the performance and availability of lasercom (pointing, tracking, communications, and adaptive optics). Furthermore, future operational scenarios including robotic and exploration missions with various network service configurations have been emulated. This paper provides an overview and highlights of the first 18 months of LCRD experiments, and a preview of the upcoming experiments, including relaying data to and from the Integrated LCRD Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) on the International Space Station. LCRD is a joint project involving NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL).

David J. Israel↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Planning a Sustainable World

I will present to a planning class in the Geography Department at New Mexico State University including planning experience I have had while a site master planner with NASA. The audience may include foreign national students and staff.

planning↗
NASA NTRS2024

Three-Dimensional Atmospheric Dynamics of Jupiter from Ground-Based Doppler Imaging Spectroscopy in the Visible

We present three-dimensional (3D) maps of Jupiter’s atmospheric circulation at cloud-top level from Doppler-imaging data obtained in the visible domain with JIVE, the second node of the JOVIAL network, which is mounted on the Dunn Solar Telescope at Sunspot, New Mexico. We report on 12 nights of observations between May 4 and May 30, 2018, representing a total of about 80 hours. Firstly, the average zonal wind profile derived from our data is compatible with that derived from cloud-tracking measurements performed on Hubble Space Telescope images obtained in April 2018 from the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program. Secondly, we present the first ever two-dimensional maps of Jupiter’s atmospheric circulation from Doppler measurements. The zonal velocity map highlights well-known atmospheric features, such as the equatorial hot spots and the Great Red Spot (GRS). In addition to zonal winds, we derive meridional and vertical velocity fields from the Doppler data. The motions attributed to vertical flows are mainly located at the boundary between the equatorial belts and tropical zones, which could indicate active motion in these regions. Qualitatively, these results compare well to recent Juno data that have unveiled the three-dimensional structure of Jupiter’s wind field. To the contrary, the motions attributed to meridional circulation are very different from what is obtained by cloud tracking, except at the GRS. Because of limitations with data resolution and processing techniques, we acknowledge that our measurement of vertical or meridional flows of Jupiter are still to be confirmed.

Francois-Xavier Schmider↗
NASA NTRS2024

Observations of the Polarized Solar Corona During the Annular Eclipse of 14 October 2023

We present results of a dual eclipse expedition to observe the solar corona from two sites during the annular solar eclipse of 14 October 2023 using a novel coronagraph designed to be accessible for amateurs and students to build and deploy. The coronagraph (CATEcor) builds on the standardized eclipse observing equipment developed for the Citizen CATE 2024 experiment. The observing sites were selected for likelihood of clear observations, for historic relevance (near the Climax site in the Colorado Rocky Mountains), and for centrality to the annular eclipse path (atop Sandia Peak above Albuquerque, New Mexico). The novel portion of CATEcor is an external occulter assembly that slips over the front of a conventional dioptric telescope, forming a shaded-truss externally occulted coronagraph. CATEcor is specifically designed to be easily constructed in a garage or “makerspace” environment. We successfully observed some bright features in the solar corona to an altitude of approximately 2.25 R during the annular phases of the eclipse. Future improvements to the design, in progress now, will reduce both stray light and image artifacts; our objective is to develop a design that can be operated successfully by amateur astronomers at sufficient altitude even without the darkened skies of a partial or annular eclipse.

Solar instrumentation↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Completion of NASA’s Two-Year Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) Experiment Program

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) completed its two-year experiment program in June 2024. The LCRD geosynchronous payload includes two laser communications terminals interconnected via an onboard electronic switch. The payload relays data between two optical ground stations located in California and Hawaii and can also exchange data with an RF ground station in New Mexico. The addition of the Integrated LCRD Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) on the International Space Station in 2023 enabled data relay demonstrations between a laser terminal in low Earth orbit and either one of the optical ground stations or the RF ground station. The experiment program has included a variety of experiments originating within the LCRD project, NASA, and industry. The experiments have included measurements of the effects of the atmospheric optical channel (turbulence, weather) on the performance and availability of laser communications, adaptive optics characterization, demonstration of optimetrics techniques, and demonstration of Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN). Furthermore, various future operational scenarios including robotic and exploration missions and various network service configurations have been emulated. This conference paper provides an overview and highlights of the LCRD experiment program with an emphasis on activities and results since the start of the ILLUMA-T testing in December 2023. A discussion of the expectations for the next phase of the LCRD mission, as well as how LCRD results may be applied to future applications is also included. LCRD is a joint project involving NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL).

Laser communications↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Completion of NASA’s Two-Year Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) Experiment Program

"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) completed its two-year experiment program in June 2024. The LCRD geosynchronous payload includes two laser communications terminals interconnected via an onboard electronic switch. The payload relays data between two optical ground stations located in California and Hawaii and can also exchange data with an RF ground station in New Mexico. The addition of the Integrated LCRD Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T) on the International Space Station in 2023 enabled data relay demonstrations between a laser terminal in low Earth orbit and either one of the optical ground stations or the RF ground station. The experiment program has included a variety of experiments originating within the LCRD project, NASA, and industry. The experiments have included measurements of the effects of the atmospheric optical channel (turbulence, weather) on the performance and availability of laser communications, adaptive optics characterization, demonstration of optimetrics techniques, and demonstration of Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN). Furthermore, various future operational scenarios including robotic and exploration missions and various network service configurations have been emulated. This conference paper provides an overview and highlights of the LCRD experiment program with an emphasis on activities and results since the start of the ILLUMA-T testing in December 2023. A discussion of the expectations for the next phase of the LCRD mission, as well as how LCRD results may be applied to future applications is also included. LCRD is a joint project involving NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL). "

Lasercom↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

SuperHERO X-ray Telescope Balloon Mission

The SuperHERO hard X-ray telescope will observe extended sources at unprecedented imaging resolution, revealing the origins of non-thermal emission in extreme astrophysical environments. Employing NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s replicated NiCo full-shell X-ray mirror technology to achieve better than 10-arcsecond half-power diameter (HPD) angular resolution on a balloon platform, SuperHERO consists of seven identical, co-aligned telescopes with a combined effective area of 45 cm² at 30 keV. SuperHERO was selected in the APRA 2023 call as a five-year mission, with an inaugural two-day flight scheduled from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, in the fall of 2028. For its initial target, SuperHERO will observe the Crab pulsar wind nebula, localizing hard X-ray emission. Mission development is currently underway, with updates and status to be provided in this presentation.

Nick Thomas↗