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At least 991 records · Page 55
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2013

Development of an Indexing Media Filtration System for Long Duration Space Missions

The effective maintenance of air quality aboard spacecraft cabins will be vital to future human exploration missions. A key component will be the air cleaning filtration system which will need to remove a broad size range of particles derived from multiple biological and material sources. In addition, during surface missions any extraterrestrial planetary dust, including dust generated by near-by ISRU equipment, which is tracked into the habitat will also need to be managed by the filtration system inside the pressurized habitat compartments. An indexing media filter system is being developed to meet the demand for long-duration missions that will result in dramatic increases in filter service life and loading capacity, and will require minimal crew involvement. The filtration system consists of three stages: an inertial impactor stage, an indexing media stage, and a high-efficiency filter stage, packaged in a stacked modular cartridge configuration. Each stage will target a specific range of particle sizes that optimize the filtration and regeneration performance of the system. An 1/8th scale and full-scale prototype of the filter system have been fabricated and have been tested in the laboratory and reduced gravity environments that simulate conditions on spacecrafts, landers and habitats. Results from recent laboratory and reduce-gravity flight tests data will be presented. The features of the new filter system may also benefit other closed systems, such as submarines, and remote location terrestrial installations where servicing and replacement of filter units is not practical.

Filtration↗
NASA NTRS2011

Adding Remote Sensing Data Products to the Nutrient Management Decision Support Toolbox

Some of the primary issues that manifest from nutrient enrichment and eutrophication (Figure 1) may be observed from satellites. For example, remotely sensed estimates of chlorophyll a (chla), total suspended solids (TSS), and light attenuation (Kd) or water clarity, which are often associated with elevated nutrient inputs, are data products collected daily and globally for coastal systems from satellites such as NASA s MODIS (Figure 2). The objective of this project is to inform water quality decision making activities using remotely sensed water quality data. In particular, we seek to inform the development of numeric nutrient criteria. In this poster we demonstrate an approach for developing nutrient criteria based on remotely sensed chla.

Lehrter, John↗
NASA NTRS2005

The systems engineering upgrade intiative at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JPL is implementing an initiative to significantly upgrade our systems engineering capabilities. This Systems Engineering Upgrade Initiative [SUI] has been authorized by the highest level technical management body of JPL and is sponsored with internal funds. The SUI objective is to upgrade system engineering at JPL to a level that is world class, professional and efficient compared to the FY04/05 baseline. JPL system engineering, along with the other engineering disciplines, is intended to support optimum designs; controlled and efficient implementations; and high quality, reliable, cost effective products. SUI technical activities are categorized into those dealing with people, process and tools. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rationale, objectives/plans and current status of the JPL SUI.

Systems Engineering Upgrade Initiative (SUI)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Enhancing Autonomous Satellite Communication Systems with Weather-Aware Scheduling and Reconfiguration

NASA currently provides communication support to over 100 satellite missions, and the agency is driving developments in Ka-band communications and network management automation to support additional future missions. At Ka-band frequencies, rain can degrade a communication link by more than 10 dB, which may be mitigated by agile scheduling and data rate control. We present a weather forecasting module for Ka-band communications that is intended to be used in an autonomous network management service that employs machine-to-machine scheduling systems for dynamic user access opportunities. Our forecasting module (NIMBUS) runs on AWS Cloud, consumes the freely and publicly available NOAA MRMS precipitation rate dataset (1km x 1km x 2-min), produces 30-minute Nowcasts using the pySTEPS algorithm, and publishes high level ground station specific link quality predictions. We evaluate two potential NIMBUS outputs, a binary classifier that predicts rain attenuation greater than 3 dB and a rain attenuation estimator, and we backtest these outputs using one year of power measurement data collected from observations of the geostationary ANIK F2 satellite’s Ka-band beacon. We report, with a 30-minute lead time, a binary classifier accuracy of 84% and an estimator RMSE of 1.67 dB. Additionally, we discuss how the NIMBUS module could be incorporated into a user-initiated service framework to enable weather-aware scheduling and reconfiguration. Operating a static link budget with minimal link margin can increase network operation costs by creating additional scheduling tasks due to failed packets, which may require human intervention and/or lead to inefficient asset utilization. The proposed system aims to increase throughput by reducing link margin, while mitigating increases in network operations costs by leveraging autonomous machine-to-machine scheduling, shortened prediction lead times, and advances in precipitation Nowcasting.

satellite communications↗
NASA NTRS2002

An expert system for fault management assistance on a space sleep experiment

The expert system, Principal Investigator-in-a-box, or [PI], was designed to assist astronauts or other operators in performing experiments outside their expertise. Currently, the software helps astronauts calibrate instruments for a Sleep and Respiration Experiment without contact with the investigator on the ground. It flew on the Space Shuttle missions STS-90 and STS-95. [PI] displays electrophysiological signals in real time, alerts astronauts via the indicator lights when a poor signal quality is detected, and advises astronauts how to restore good signal quality. Thirty subjects received training on the sleep instrumentation and the [PI] interface. A beneficial effects of [PI] and training reduced troubleshooting time. [PI] benefited subjects on the most difficult scenarios, even though its lights were not 100% accurate. Further, questionnaires showed that most subjects preferred monitoring waveforms with [PI] assistance rather than monitoring waveforms alone. This study addresses problems of complex troubleshooting and the extended time between training and execution that is common to many human operator situations on earth such as in power plant operation, and marine exploration.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗
NASA NTRS2003

Requirements UML Tool (RUT) Expanded for Extreme Programming (CI02)

A procedure for capturing and managing system requirements that incorporates XP user stories. Because costs associated with identifying problems in requirements increase dramatically over the lifecycle of a project, a method for identifying sources of software risks in user stories is urgently needed. This initiative aims to determine a set of guide-lines for user stories that will result in high-quality requirement. To further this initiative, a tool is needed to analyze user stories that can assess the quality of individual user stories, detect sources cf software risk's, produce software metrics, and identify areas in user stories that can be improved.

McCoy, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Results of a Telephone Survey of Television Station Managers Concerning the NASA SCI Files(TM) and NASA CONNECT(TM)

A telephone survey of television station managers concerning 2 instructional television programs, the NASA SCI Files(TM) and NASA CONNECT(TM), offered by the NASA Langley Center for Distance Learning (CDL) was conducted. Using a 4-point scale, with 4 being very satisfied, survey participants reported that they were either very satisfied (77.1 percent) or satisfied (19.9 percent) with the overall (educational and technical) quality of the NASA SCI Files(TM). Using a 4-point scale, with 4 being very satisfied, survey participants reported that they were either very satisfied (77.9 percent) or satisfied (19.1 percent) with the overall (educational and technical) quality of NASA CONNECT(TM) .

Pinelli, Thomas E.↗
NASA NTRS2011

ISS Operations Cost Reductions Through Automation of Real-Time Planning Tasks

In 2008 the Johnson Space Center s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) management team challenged their organization to find ways to reduce the costs of International Space station (ISS) console operations in the Mission Control Center (MCC). Each MOD organization was asked to identify projects that would help them attain a goal of a 30% reduction in operating costs by 2012. The MOD Operations and Planning organization responded to this challenge by launching several software automation projects that would allow them to greatly improve ISS console operations and reduce staffing and operating costs. These projects to date have allowed the MOD Operations organization to remove one full time (7 x 24 x 365) ISS console position in 2010; with the plan of eliminating two full time ISS console support positions by 2012. This will account for an overall 10 EP reduction in staffing for the Operations and Planning organization. These automation projects focused on utilizing software to automate many administrative and often repetitive tasks involved with processing ISS planning and daily operations information. This information was exchanged between the ground flight control teams in Houston and around the globe, as well as with the ISS astronaut crew. These tasks ranged from managing mission plan changes from around the globe, to uploading and downloading information to and from the ISS crew, to even more complex tasks that required multiple decision points to process the data, track approvals and deliver it to the correct recipient across network and security boundaries. The software solutions leveraged several different technologies including customized web applications and implementation of industry standard web services architecture between several planning tools; as well as a engaging a previously research level technology (TRL 2-3) developed by Ames Research Center (ARC) that utilized an intelligent agent based system to manage and automate file traffic flow, archiving f data, and generating console logs. This technology called OCAMS (OCA (Orbital Communication System) Management System), is now considered TRL level 9 and is in daily use in the Mission Control Center in support of ISS operations. These solutions have not only allowed for improved efficiency on console; but since many of the previously manual data transfers are now automated, many of the human error prone steps have been removed, and the quality of the planning products has improved tremendously. This has also allowed our Planning Flight Controllers more time to focus on the abstract areas of the job, (like the complexities of planning a mission for 6 international crew members with a global planning team), instead of being burdened with the administrative tasks that took significant time each console shift to process. The resulting automation solutions have allowed the Operations and Planning organization to realize significant cost savings for the ISS program through 2020 and many of these solutions could be a viable

Hall, Timothy A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Earth Observations for Global Water Security

The combined effects of population growth, increasing demands for water to support agriculture, energy security, and industrial expansion, and the challenges of climate change give rise to an urgent need to carefully monitor and assess trends and variations in water resources. Doing so will ensure that sustainable access to adequate quantities of safe and useable water will serve as a foundation for water security. Both satellite and in situ observations combined with data assimilation and models are needed for effective, integrated monitoring of the water cycle's trends and variability in terms of both quantity and quality. On the basis of a review of existing observational systems, we argue that a new integrated monitoring capability for water security purposes is urgently needed. Furthermore, the components for this capability exist and could be integrated through the cooperation of national observational programmes. The Group on Earth Observations should play a central role in the design, implementation, management and analysis of this system and its products.

Earth↗
NASA NTRS1989

Considerations in the design of a communication network for an autonomously managed power system

The considerations involved in designing a communication network for an autonomously managed power system intended for use in space vehicles are examined. An overview of the design and implementation of a communication network implemented in a breadboard power system is presented. An assumption that the monitoring and control devices are distributed but physically close leads to the selection of a multidrop cable communication system. The assumption of a high-quality communication cable in which few messages are lost resulted in a simple recovery procedure consisting of a time out and retransmit process.

Mckee, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

NASA Engineering and Technology Advancement Office: A proposal to the administrator

NASA has continually had problems with cost, schedule, performance, reliability, quality, and safety aspects in programs. Past solutions have not provided the answers needed, and a major change is needed in the way of doing business. A new approach is presented for consideration. These problems are all engineering matters, and therefore, require engineering solutions. Proper engineering tools are needed to fix engineering problems. Headquarters is responsible for providing the management structure to support programs with appropriate engineering tools. A guide to define those tools and an approach for putting them into place is provided. Recommendations include establishing a new Engineering and Technology Advancement Office, requesting a review of this proposal by the Administrator since this subject requires a top level decision. There has been a wide peer review conducted by technical staff at Headquarters, the Field Installations, and others in industry as discussed.

Schulze, Norman R.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Ubiquitous CM and DM

Ubiquitous is a real word. I thank a former Total Quality Coach for my first exposure some years ago to its existence. My version of Webster's dictionary defines ubiquitous as "present, or seeming to be present, everywhere at the same time; omnipresent." While I believe that God is omnipresent, I have come to discover that CM and DM are present everywhere. Oh, yes; I define CM as Configuration Management and DM as either Data or Document Management. Ten years ago, I had my first introduction to the CM world. I had an opportunity to do CM for the Space Station effort at the NASA Lewis Research Center. I learned that CM was a discipline that had four areas of focus: identification, control, status accounting, and verification. I was certified as a CMIl graduate and was indoctrinated about clear, concise, and valid. Off I went into a world of entirely new experiences. I was exposed to change requests and change boards first hand. I also learned about implementation of changes, and then of technical and CM requirements.

Crowley, Sandra L.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Application of MODIS Products to Infer Possible Relationships Between Basin Land Cover and Coastal Waters Turbidity Using the Magdalena River, Colombia, as a Case Study

Basin development and consequent change in basin land cover have been often associated with an increased turbidity in coastal waters because of sediment yield and nutrients loading. The later leads to phytoplankton abundance further exacerbating water turbidity. This subsequently affects biological and physical processes in coastal estuaries by interfering with sun light penetration to coral reefs and sea grass, and even affecting public health. Therefore, consistent estimation of land cover changes and turbidity trend lines is crucial to design environmental and restoration management plans, to predict fate of possible pollutants, and to estimate sedimentary fluxes into the ocean. Ground solely methods to estimate land cover change would be unpractical and traditional methods of monitoring in situ water turbidity can be very expensive and time consuming. Accurate monitoring on the status and trends of basin land cover as well as the water quality of the receiving water bodies are required for analysis of relationships between the two variables. Use of remote sensing (RS) technology provides a great benefit for both fields of study, facilitating monitoring of changes in a timely and cost effective manner and covering wide areas with long term measurements. In this study, the Magdalena River basin and fixed geographical locations in the estuarine waters of its delta are used as a case to study the temporal trend lines of both, land cover change and the reflectance of the water turbidity using satellite technology. Land cover data from a combined product between sensors Terra and Aqua (MCD12Q1) from MODIS will be adapted to the conditions in the Magdalena basin to estimate changes in land cover since year 2000 to 2009. Surface reflectance data from a MODIS, Terra (MOD09GQ), band 1, will be used in lieu of in situ water turbidity for the time period between 2000 and present. Results will be compared with available existing data.

Madrinan, Max Jacobo Moreno↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Enabling Exchange and Adequate Use of Data for Observation Based Atmospheric Research

Systematic long-term field observations have played a vital role in advancing atmospheric research over the past several decades. The use of these observations has expanded from primarily characterizing atmospheric processes and trends to evaluating satellite measurements, assessing models, and improving air quality forecasts. Consequently, the demand for atmospheric chemistry observational data have dramatically increased in terms of scope and coverage of measurements (i.e., parameters/species, spatiotemporal extent). In addition to high quality measurements, certain data reporting standards need to be agreed to ensure the data can be readily exchanged and are sufficiently documented to enable adequate use in different research activities. To this end, WMO has developed and implemented measurement guidelines and community practices for meteorology, climatology, atmospheric and hydrological sciences. In addition, the WMO Expert Team on Metadata Standards manages and evolves the existing metadata standards for the WMO Information System WIS and WMO Integrated Global Observing System WIGOS to support consistent and interoperable data descriptions, ensure relevance to research, and to apply data science principles. This team draws on a wide range of expertise from the research community, including atmospheric measurements, modeling, data management, and data science. The current activities include development of key performance indicators, vocabularies for metadata and the evolution of metadata standards to lower the barrier of application to weather/climate/water/environment data for all communities and the weather enterprise. This presentation intends to promote awareness of ongoing progress and actively solicit community feedback.

Field Observations↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Satellite-assisted Evaluation of Irrigation Application Efficiency for Lettuce in the Salinas Valley

The Salinas Valley region of California’s Central Coast is a majorU.S. vegetable producer. Lettuce is a leading commodity, grown on about 100,000 acres with annual value near $1.4B (2022 Monterey County Ag Report). Vegetables crops in the area aretypically well watered and fertilized in pursuit of commercial yield and quality standards. Information on irrigation application efficiency, meanwhile, can enhance waterresource sustainability and mitigate impacts of nitrate infiltrationon groundwater quality. The Crop Consumptive Use Fraction (CCUF), previously recommended by the California Department of Water Resources, is a metric that expresses evapotranspiration (ET) of applied water relative to total applied water. More recently under Assembly Bill 1668 addressing water conservation and drought planning, the metric can be used to help quantify application efficiency to support preparation of agricultural water management plans in the state. This study will report CCUF evaluations from several commercial lettuce plantings in the Salinas Valley during the 2022 dry season (late spring-early fall). The evaluations were derived from satellite-based observations of cropET from the OpenETcloud application, and applied water monitored by in-line flowmetersand supplemented by grower reports of irrigation system runtime. The study will also compare observed (satellite-based) ET with modeled ET from the CropManage irrigationand nutrient management decision-support system operated by Cooperative Extension. Additional study in cool-season vegetables is ongoing in 2023.

Satellite-assisted↗
NASA NTRS1976

NASA/ESA CT-990 Spacelab simulation. Appendix A: The experiment operator

A joint NASA/ESA endeavor was established to conduct an extensive spacelab simulation using the NASA CV-990 airborne laboratory. The scientific payload was selected to perform studies in upper atmospheric physics and infrared astronomy with principal investigators from France, the Netherlands, England, and several groups from the United States. Two experiment operators from Europe and two from the U.S. were selected to live aboard the aircraft along with a mission manager for a six-day period and operate the experiments in behalf of the principal scientists. This appendix discusses the experiment operators and their relationship to the joint mission under the following general headings: selection criteria, training programs, and performance. The performance of the proxy operators was assessed in terms of adequacy of training, amount of scientific data obtained, quality of data obtained, and reactions to problems that arose in experiment operation.

Reller, J. O., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Implementation of R & QA practices in Research and Development programs

DOE has established a number of broad programs aimed at reducing fuel consumption. Several programs address the R&D of ground transportation propulsion alternatives to the conventional spark-ignition engine. NASA Lewis is responsible for managing the effort between the Government and industry teams involving American and foreign companies. Thus, existing NASA SR&QA procedure were modified/adapted to these R&D programs and implemented to assure that the test hardware design intent was met, the hardware was not hazardous to personnel, it would demonstrate reliable operation, and it would help establish the future R&D quality assurance and maintainability requirements. This successful low-cost approach might be applicable to other similar projects.

Bankaitis, H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The Center for Aerospace Research: A NASA Center of Excellence at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

This report documents the efforts and outcomes of our research and educational programs at NASA-CORE in NCA&TSU. The goal of the center was to establish a quality aerospace research base and to develop an educational program to increase the participation of minority faculty and students in the areas of aerospace engineering. The major accomplishments of this center in the first year are summarized in terms of three different areas, namely, the center's research programs area, the center's educational programs area, and the center's management area. In the center's research programs area, we focus on developing capabilities needed to support the development of the aerospace plane and high speed civil transportation system technologies. In the educational programs area, we developed an aerospace engineering option program ready for university approval.

Lai, Steven H.-Y.↗