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NASA NTRS2000

Information Power Grid: Distributed High-Performance Computing and Large-Scale Data Management for Science and Engineering

We use the term "Grid" to refer to distributed, high performance computing and data handling infrastructure that incorporates geographically and organizationally dispersed, heterogeneous resources that are persistent and supported. This infrastructure includes: (1) Tools for constructing collaborative, application oriented Problem Solving Environments / Frameworks (the primary user interfaces for Grids); (2) Programming environments, tools, and services providing various approaches for building applications that use aggregated computing and storage resources, and federated data sources; (3) Comprehensive and consistent set of location independent tools and services for accessing and managing dynamic collections of widely distributed resources: heterogeneous computing systems, storage systems, real-time data sources and instruments, human collaborators, and communications systems; (4) Operational infrastructure including management tools for distributed systems and distributed resources, user services, accounting and auditing, strong and location independent user authentication and authorization, and overall system security services The vision for NASA's Information Power Grid - a computing and data Grid - is that it will provide significant new capabilities to scientists and engineers by facilitating routine construction of information based problem solving environments / frameworks. Such Grids will knit together widely distributed computing, data, instrument, and human resources into just-in-time systems that can address complex and large-scale computing and data analysis problems. Examples of these problems include: (1) Coupled, multidisciplinary simulations too large for single systems (e.g., multi-component NPSS turbomachine simulation); (2) Use of widely distributed, federated data archives (e.g., simultaneous access to metrological, topological, aircraft performance, and flight path scheduling databases supporting a National Air Space Simulation systems}; (3) Coupling large-scale computing and data systems to scientific and engineering instruments (e.g., realtime interaction with experiments through real-time data analysis and interpretation presented to the experimentalist in ways that allow direct interaction with the experiment (instead of just with instrument control); (5) Highly interactive, augmented reality and virtual reality remote collaborations (e.g., Ames / Boeing Remote Help Desk providing field maintenance use of coupled video and NDI to a remote, on-line airframe structures expert who uses this data to index into detailed design databases, and returns 3D internal aircraft geometry to the field); (5) Single computational problems too large for any single system (e.g. the rotocraft reference calculation). Grids also have the potential to provide pools of resources that could be called on in extraordinary / rapid response situations (such as disaster response) because they can provide common interfaces and access mechanisms, standardized management, and uniform user authentication and authorization, for large collections of distributed resources (whether or not they normally function in concert). IPG development and deployment is addressing requirements obtained by analyzing a number of different application areas, in particular from the NASA Aero-Space Technology Enterprise. This analysis has focussed primarily on two types of users: the scientist / design engineer whose primary interest is problem solving (e.g. determining wing aerodynamic characteristics in many different operating environments), and whose primary interface to IPG will be through various sorts of problem solving frameworks. The second type of user is the tool designer: the computational scientists who convert physics and mathematics into code that can simulate the physical world. These are the two primary users of IPG, and they have rather different requirements. The results of the analysis of the needs of these two types of users provides a broad set of requirements that gives rise to a general set of required capabilities. The IPG project is intended to address all of these requirements. In some cases the required computing technology exists, and in some cases it must be researched and developed. The project is using available technology to provide a prototype set of capabilities in a persistent distributed computing testbed. Beyond this, there are required capabilities that are not immediately available, and whose development spans the range from near-term engineering development (one to two years) to much longer term R&D (three to six years). Additional information is contained in the original.

Johnston, William E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

STS-42/Discovery/IML-1 Admiral Richard Truly Press Briefing

A press briefing is presented by Admiral Richard Truly about the STS-42 Discovery International Microgravity Laboratory-1 (IML). He describes the launch that took place on the morning of January 22, 1992. It was NASA's first launch of 1992 following the Challenger disaster. Life Sciences and materials science microgravity experiments were flown on the STS-42 to study the behavior of materials and living things in microgravity. The briefing ends with a short question and answer period.

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NASA NTRS2000

The Earth Science Vision

NASA's Earth Science Enterprise's long range vision is to enable the development of a national proactive environmental predictive capability through targeted scientific research and technological innovation. Proactive environmental prediction means the prediction of environmental events and their secondary consequences. These consequences range from disasters and disease outbreak to improved food production and reduced transportation, energy and insurance costs. The economic advantage of this predictive capability will greatly outweigh the cost of development. Developing this predictive capability requires a greatly improved understanding of the earth system and the interaction of the various components of that system. It also requires a change in our approach to gathering data about the earth and a change in our current methodology in processing that data including its delivery to the customers. And, most importantly, it requires a renewed partnership between NASA and its sister agencies. We identify six application themes that summarize the potential of proactive environmental prediction. We also identify four technology themes that articulate our approach to implementing proactive environmental prediction.

Schoeberl, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2000

Dam Failure Inundation Map Project

At the end of the first year, we remain on schedule. Property owners were identified and contacted for land access purposes. A prototype software package has been completed and was demonstrated to the Division of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), National Weather Service (NWS) and Pacific Disaster Center (PDC). A field crew gathered data and surveyed the areas surrounding two dams in Waimea. (A field report is included in the annual report.) Data sensitivity analysis was initiated and completed. A user's manual has been completed. Beta testing of the software was initiated, but not completed. The initial TNK and property owner data collection for the additional test sites on Oahu and Kauai have been initiated.

Johnson, Carl↗
NASA NTRS2001

Did I Say Terabyte? I Meant Petabyte: Data Archiving in the Era of SDO

Two years ago (Gurman 1999, Bull, AAS, 31, 955), we discussed the treatment of archives of the order of 10 Tbyte per year from solar physics missions in the period 2004 - 2006 (e.g. Solar-B and STEREO). By early 2007, we expect that the Sun-Earth Connections community will have to deal with data sets from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) of order I Tbyte per day. As in the previous work, we examine several alternatives for dealing with data flow and service on a fire-hose scale, and show that off-the shelf, network-attached storage can provide an inexpensive and scaleable solution. We discuss some of the differences between an SDO data archive, as well as the range of requirements for data integrity, disaster recovery, &c. in various scenarios for archive concentration or distribution.

Gurman, Joseph B.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Automated Theorem Proving in High-Quality Software Design

The amount and complexity of software developed during the last few years has increased tremendously. In particular, programs are being used more and more in embedded systems (from car-brakes to plant-control). Many of these applications are safety-relevant, i.e. a malfunction of hardware or software can cause severe damage or loss. Tremendous risks are typically present in the area of aviation, (nuclear) power plants or (chemical) plant control. Here, even small problems can lead to thousands of casualties and huge financial losses. Large financial risks also exist when computer systems are used in the area of telecommunication (telephone, electronic commerce) or space exploration. Computer applications in this area are not only subject to safety considerations, but also security issues are important. All these systems must be designed and developed to guarantee high quality with respect to safety and security. Even in an industrial setting which is (or at least should be) aware of the high requirements in Software Engineering, many incidents occur. For example, the Warshaw Airbus crash, was caused by an incomplete requirements specification. Uncontrolled reuse of an Ariane 4 software module was the reason for the Ariane 5 disaster. Some recent incidents in the telecommunication area, like illegal "cloning" of smart-cards of D2GSM handies, or the extraction of (secret) passwords from German T-online users show that also in this area serious flaws can happen. Due to the inherent complexity of computer systems, most authors claim that only a rigorous application of formal methods in all stages of the software life cycle can ensure high quality of the software and lead to real safe and secure systems. In this paper, we will have a look, in how far automated theorem proving can contribute to a more widespread application of formal methods and their tools, and what automated theorem provers (ATPs) must provide in order to be useful.

Schumann, Johann↗
NASA NTRS2001

Importance of the Annual Cycles of SST and Solar Irradiance for Circulation and Rainfall: A Climate Model Simulation Study

Annual cycle of climate and precipitation is related to annual cycle of sunshine and sea-surface temperatures. Understanding its behavior is important for the welfare of humans worldwide. For example, failure of Asian monsoons can cause widespread famine and grave economic disaster in the subtropical regions. For centuries meteorologists have struggled to understand the importance of the summer sunshine and associated heating and the annual cycle of sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) on rainfall in the subtropics. Because the solar income is pretty steady from year to year, while SSTs depict large interannual variability as consequence of the variability of ocean dynamics, the influence of SSTs on the monsoons are better understood through observational and modeling studies whereas the relationship of annual rainfall to sunshine remains elusive. However, using NASA's state of the art climate model(s) that can generate realistic climate in a computer simulation, one can answer such questions. We asked the question: if there was no annual cycle of the sunshine (and its associated land-heating) or the SST and its associated influence on global circulation, what will happen to the annual cycle of monsoon rains? By comparing the simulation of a 4-year integration of a baseline Control case with two parallel anomaly experiments: 1) with annual mean solar and 2) with annual mean sea-surface temperatures, we were able to draw the following conclusions: (1) Tropical convergence zone and rainfall which moves with the Sun into the northern and southern hemispheres, specifically over the Indian, African, South American and Australian regions, is strongly modulated by the annual cycles of SSTs as well as solar forcings. The influence of the annual cycle of solar heating over land, however, is much stronger than the corresponding SST influence for almost all regions, particularly the subtropics; (2) The seasonal circulation patterns over the vast land-masses of the Northern Hemisphere at mid and high latitudes also get strongly influenced by the annual cycles of solar heating. The SST influence is largely limited to the oceanic regions of these latitudes; (3) The annual mode of precipitation over Amazonia has an equatorial regime revealing a maxima in the month of March associated with SST, and another maxima in the month of January associated with the solar annual cycles, respectively. The baseline simulation, which has both annual cycles, depicts both annual modes and its rainfall is virtually equal to the sum of those two modes; (4) Rainfall over Sahelian-Africa is significantly reduced (increased) in simulations lacking (invoking) solar irradiation with (without) the annual cycle. In fact, the dominant influence of solar irradiation emerges in almost all monsoonal-land regions: India, Southeast Asia, as well as Australia. The only exception is the Continental United States, where solar annual cycle shows only a relatively minor influence on the annual mode of rainfall.

Sud, Yogesh C.↗
NASA NTRS2001

ASK Magazine

Not everyone looks forward to reviews. Dog and pony shows I've heard them called. Exercises in putting together Power Point charts. Other less tasteful descriptions abound, but I won't bother to summarize these. This is a tasteful magazine after all. In this issue, we've assembled a number of articles on the subject of reviews, particularly as they occur in the NASA project world (although we cover the subject from other perspectives too). Veteran NASA Project Manager Marty Davis, in his article Tangled Up in Reviews, writes, "Many people regard reviews as something onerous, but if we can tailor them so that they're not as bad as they have to be, it can be a great benefit to a project manager." Great benefits to the project manager is what you'll find in Marty's story as he describes not only tailoring a single review but the entire lifecycle of reviews in his project. In Jo Gunderson's story, Calling Down the Fire on Yourself, she describes a young NASA Project Manager who does just that because, as he tells her, I needed to know if there was anything that I had overlooked." How he brings fire down on himself at his project review will inspire other young Project Managers, seasoned managers, and anyone else who reads this powerful story. Leave Your Ego at the Door, by Jenny Baer-Reidhart and Ray Morgan, uses reviews to highlight the creative collaboration that existed between NASA and one of its industry partners. The protagonist of this story is a company who took advantage of NASAs expert advice during reviews and accomplished amazing feats as a result. The story also examines how disasters might well have been avoided by two other NASA partners had they been as open-minded as the first company during their reviews. In Roy Malone's story, Standing Offer, a NASA Project Manager describes how he used a crack review team to help him pass a critical certification inspection while he was a Combat Systems Officer in the Navy. Malone invited the reviewers to come back several times so that they would be able to focus in detail on the many areas of the program that would be scrutinized during the certification inspection. These are just a sampling of some of the articles you'll find in this issue of ASK. We believe this issue offers ample evidence that talented Project Managers know how to use reviews to the great benefit of their projects. A talented Project Manager will typically figure out a way to turn any onerous task into a useful learning exercise. These Project Managers demonstrate that the real value of reviews is that they provide a chance to learn something. No dog and pony shows here.

Laufer, Alexander↗
NASA NTRS1996

NASA Space Missions to Asteroids: Protecting the Earth from NEO Impacts

There is now a general recognition of the hazard of impacts on Earth by comets and asteroids, but there is yet no consensus concerning international actions that should be taken to protect the planet from such impacts. An essential step in the analysis of the situation involves estimating the relative hazard posed by comets and asteroids of different sizes and orbits. All recent studies agree that the larger impacts pose the greater danger, and that our primary concern from the perspective of total risk should be on impacts that are large enough to cause global ecological catastrophe. These global catastrophes are also of special interest, since they (alone among natural disasters) have the potential to destroy civilization. Studies of the sensitivity of the Earth's environment suggest that the energy threshold energy for causing a global catastrophe is at about 1 million megatons, corresponding to impactor diameters of 1.5 to 2 km. This information leads naturally to a strategy of concentrating on the larger NEOs, say those 1 km or more in diameter. This is the rationale for the Spaceguard Survey, which must be the highest priority in mitigation efforts. The second question concerns the value of developing standing defensive systems that could deflect or destroy an incoming NEO. In the case of the asteroids larger than 1 km in diameter, no such system is needed, since there will be ample time (at least several decades) between the discovery of the threatening object by Spaceguard and the requirement to take action against it. In the case of objects smaller than 1 km diameter, development of defensive systems is not cost-effective; there are many greater dangers to persons and property that are much more urgent. Only in the case of large long-period comets is there a rationale for standing defense systems. The question is also raised whether the risks inherent in developing and maintaining a defense system might be greater than the impact risks it is intended to guard against. These and related issues are the focus of much current international debate on defense of the planet against NEO impacts. Meanwhile, the most critical issue remains the expansion of the telescopic search for NEOs.

Morrison, David↗
NASA NTRS2001

Technology Trends and Remote Sensing

The science and application of remote sensing is flourishing in the digital age. Geographical information systems can provide a broad range of information tailored to the specific needs of disaster managers. Recent advances in airborne platforms, sensors and information technologies have come together provide the ability to put geo-registered, multispectral imagery on the web in near real-time. Highlights of a demonstration of NASA's First Response Experiment (FiRE) will be presented.

Wegener, Steve↗
NASA NTRS2002

The Science Behind the NASA/NOAA Electronic Theater 2002

Details of the science stories and scientific results behind the Etheater Earth Science Visualizations from the major remote sensing institutions around the country will be explained. The NASA Electronic Theater presents Earth science observations and visualizations in a historical perspective. Fly in from outer space to Temple Square and the University of Utah Campus. Go back to the early weather satellite images from the 1960s see them contrasted with the latest US/Europe/Japan global weather data. See the latest images and image sequences from NASA & NOAA missions like Terra, GOES, NOAA, TRMM, SeaWiFS, Landsat 7 visualized with state-of-the art tools. A similar retrospective of numerical weather models from the 1960s will be compared with the latest "year 2002" high-resolution models. See the inner workings of a powerful hurricane as it is sliced and dissected using the University of Wisconsin Vis-5D interactive visualization system. The largest super computers are now capable of realistic modeling of the global oceans. See ocean vortexes and currents that bring up the nutrients to feed phitoplankton and zooplankton as well as draw the crill fish, whales and fisherman. See the how the ocean blooms in response to these currents and El Nino/La Nina climate regimes. The Internet and networks have appeared while computers and visualizations have vastly improved over the last 40 years. These advances make it possible to present the broad scope and detailed structure of the huge new observed and simulated datasets in a compelling and instructive manner. New visualization tools allow us to interactively roam & zoom through massive global images larger than 40,000 x 20,000 pixels. Powerful movie players allow us to interactively roam, zoom & loop through 4000 x 4000 pixel bigger than HDTV movies of up to 5000 frames. New 3D tools allow highly interactive manipulation of detailed perspective views of many changing model quantities. See the 1m resolution before and after shots of lower Manhattan and the Pentagon after the September 11 disaster as well as shots of Afghanistan from the Space Imaging IKONOS as well as debris plume images from Terra MODIS and SPOT Image. Shown by the SGI-Octane Graphics-Supercomputer are visualizations of hurricanes Michelle 2001, Floyd, Mitch, Fran and Linda. Our visualizations of these storms have been featured on the covers of the National Geographic, Time, Newsweek and Popular Science. Highlights will be shown from the NASA's large collection of High Definition TV (HDTV) visualizations clips New visualizations of a Los Alamos global ocean model, and high-resolution results of a NASA/JPL Atlantic ocean basin model showing currents, and salinity features will be shown. El Nino/La Nina effects on sea surface temperature and sea surface height of the Pacific Ocean will also be shown. The SST simulations will be compared with GOES Gulf Stream animations and ocean productivity observations. Tours will be given of the entire Earth's land surface at 500 m resolution from recently composited Terra MODIS data, Visualizations will be shown from the Earth Science Etheater 2001 recently presented over the last years in New Zealand, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Sydney, Melbourne, Honolulu, Washington, New York City, Pasadena, UCAR/Boulder, and Penn State University. The presentation will use a 2-CPU SGI/CRAY Octane Super Graphics workstation with 4 GB RAM and terabyte disk array at 2048 x 768 resolution plus multimedia laptop with three high resolution projectors. Visualizations will also be featured from museum exhibits and presentations including: the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, IMAX theater at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, the James Lovell Discovery World Science museum in Milwaukee, the American Museum of Natural History (NYC) Hayden Planetarium IMAX theater, etc. The Etheater is sponsored by NASA, NOAA and the American Meteorological Society. This presentation is brought to you by the University of Utah College of Mines and Earth Sciences and, the Utah Museum of Natural History.

Hasler, A. Fritz↗
NASA NTRS2002

An Automated Method to Compute Orbital Re-Entry Trajectories with Heating Constraints

Determining how to properly manipulate the controls of a re-entering re-usable launch vehicle (RLV) so that it is able to safely return to Earth and land involves the solution of a two-point boundary value problem (TPBVP). This problem, which can be quite difficult, is traditionally solved on the ground prior to flight. If necessary, a nearly unlimited amount of time is available to find the "best" solution using a variety of trajectory design and optimization tools. The role of entry guidance during flight is to follow the pre-determined reference solution while correcting for any errors encountered along the way. This guidance method is both highly reliable and very efficient in terms of onboard computer resources. There is a growing interest in a style of entry guidance that places the responsibility of solving the TPBVP in the actual entry guidance flight software. Here there is very limited computer time. The powerful, but finicky, mathematical tools used by trajectory designers on the ground cannot in general be made to do the job. Nonconvergence or slow convergence can result in disaster. The challenges of designing such an algorithm are numerous and difficult. Yet the payoff (in the form of decreased operational costs and increased safety) can be substantial. This paper presents an algorithm that incorporates features of both types of guidance strategies. It takes an initial RLV orbital re-entry state and finds a trajectory that will safely transport the vehicle to a Terminal Area Energy Management (TAEM) region. During actual flight, the computed trajectory is used as the reference to be flown by a more traditional guidance method.

Zimmerman, Curtis↗
NASA NTRS1991

Weather Information Processing

Science Communications International (SCI), formerly General Science Corporation, has developed several commercial products based upon experience acquired as a NASA Contractor. Among them are METPRO, a meteorological data acquisition and processing system, which has been widely used, RISKPRO, an environmental assessment system, and MAPPRO, a geographic information system. METPRO software is used to collect weather data from satellites, ground-based observation systems and radio weather broadcasts to generate weather maps, enabling potential disaster areas to receive advance warning. GSC's initial work for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center resulted in METPAK, a weather satellite data analysis system. METPAK led to the commercial METPRO system. The company also provides data to other government agencies, U.S. embassies and foreign countries.

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NASA NTRS1991

Earthquake Information System

IAEMIS (Integrated Automated Emergency Management Information System) is the principal tool of an earthquake preparedness program developed by Martin Marietta and the Mid-America Remote Sensing Center (MARC). It is a two-component set of software, data and procedures to provide information enabling management personnel to make informed decisions in disaster situations. The NASA-developed program ELAS, originally used to analyze Landsat data, provides MARC with a spatially-oriented information management system. Additional MARC projects include land resources management, and development of socioeconomic data.

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NASA NTRS1987

Ranger's Legacy

With its Landsat satellites, development of sensors, and advancement of processing techniques, NASA provided the initial technology base for another Earth-benefit application of image processing, Earth resources survey by means of remote sensing. Since each object has its own unique "signature," it is possible to distinguish among surface features and to generate computer-processed imagery identifying specific features of importance to resource managers. This capability, commercialized by Perceptive Scientific Instruments, Inc., offers practical application in such areas as agricultural crop forecasting, rangeland and forest management, land use planning, mineral and petroleum exploration, map making, water quality evaluation and disaster assessment. Major users of the technology have been federal, state, and local governments, but it is making its way into commercial operations, for example, resource exploration companies looking for oil, gas and mineral sources, and timber production firms seeking more efficient treeland management. Supporting both government and private users is a small industry composed of companies producing the processing hardware software. As is the case in the medical application, many of these companies are direct offspring of NASA's work.

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NASA NTRS1984

Suitcase Communicator

A joint development of Ames Research Center and General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY has produced a portable communications system designed to relay messages over long distances by satellite. It consists of a collapsible antenna and computerized transceiver, and a terminal for sending and receiving messages. The whole system fits into two Pullman size suit cases, and is powered from a conventional outlet or a vehicle's battery. Principal use is communications in disasters and other emergencies where it is necessary to get short but vital messages out of the emergency area.

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NASA NTRS2002

An Automated Method to Compute Orbital Re-entry Trajectories with Heating Constraints

Determining how to properly manipulate the controls of a re-entering re-usable launch vehicle (RLV) so that it is able to safely return to Earth and land involves the solution of a two-point boundary value problem (TPBVP). This problem, which can be quite difficult, is traditionally solved on the ground prior to flight. If necessary, a nearly unlimited amount of time is available to find the 'best' solution using a variety of trajectory design and optimization tools. The role of entry guidance during flight is to follow the pre- determined reference solution while correcting for any errors encountered along the way. This guidance method is both highly reliable and very efficient in terms of onboard computer resources. There is a growing interest in a style of entry guidance that places the responsibility of solving the TPBVP in the actual entry guidance flight software. Here there is very limited computer time. The powerful, but finicky, mathematical tools used by trajectory designers on the ground cannot in general be converted to do the job. Non-convergence or slow convergence can result in disaster. The challenges of designing such an algorithm are numerous and difficult. Yet the payoff (in the form of decreased operational costs and increased safety) can be substantiaL This paper presents an algorithm that incorporates features of both types of guidance strategies. It takes an initial RLV orbital re-entry state and finds a trajectory that will safely transport the vehicle to Earth. During actual flight, the computed trajectory is used as the reference to be flown by a more traditional guidance method.

Zimmerman, Curtis↗
NASA NTRS1982

NASA and Mt. St. Helens

NASA technology played an important part in the Mt. St. Helen's aftermath, not only in scientific studies, but also in disaster assessment and relief operations. A particular problem was maintaining communications with rescue ground crews and evacuation helicopters operating in the smoke-obscured area. The key element came from NASA's ATS-3 satellite, which is capable of beaming to and receiving signals from small, simple antennas on the ground, and a communications jeep developed by the Air Force. NASA also helped to assess the environmental impact of the eruption. A specially-instrumented aircraft operated by several NASA Centers took samples of the volcanic material at various points over the U.S. and tracked the volcano's plume. A NASA instrumented balloon penetrated the plume and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment Satellite tracked the global spread of the volcanic "veil."

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