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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2018

International Space Station Operational Experience and Its Impacts on Future Mission Supportability

Operational experience gained on the International Space Station (ISS) has enabled significant improvements in failure rate estimates for various Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs). These improved estimates, in turn, allow more efficient and accurate spare parts allocations for future missions, enabling significant reductions in both logistics mass and risk. This paper examines the value of ISS experience to date in terms of its impact on supportability for future missions. A supportability model is presented that assesses the spares required as a function of mission endurance and risk, taking into account uncertainty in failure rate estimates. Changes in ISS Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) ORU failure rate estimates are described and discussed, both in terms of the overall population of ORUs and the evolution of failure rate estimates over time for a particular item. The value of those updated failure rate estimates is assessed by calculating the estimated spares mass requirements for two cases, using the initial, pre-ISS estimates and using the estimates informed by on-orbit experience. Hidden risk resulting from underestimated failure rates is also assessed. These results indicate that, for a 1,200-day Mars mission, ISS experience has enabled a 3.9 t to 6.0 t reduction in ECLSS spares mass required and uncovered failure rate underestimates that would have resulted in an order of magnitude increase in risk had they not been discovered and corrected. The implications of these results for system development and mission planning are discussed, including approaches to accelerate the rate of failure rate refinement and the risks associated with making changes or introducing new systems. Overall, test time is a critical factor that must be carefully considered in system development, and new systems must budget appropriate time for testing in a relevant environment or accept higher risk and logistics requirements on future missions.

Owens, Andrew C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Space station operations task force. Panel 2 report: Ground operations and support systems

The Ground Operations Concept embodied in this report provides for safe multi-user utilization of the Space Station, eases user integration, and gives users autonomy and flexibility. It provides for meaningful multi-national participation while protecting U.S. interests. The concept also supports continued space operations technology development by maintaining NASA expertise and enabling technology evolution. Given attention here are pre/post flight operations, logistics, sustaining engineering/configuration management, transportation services/rescue, and information systems and communication.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1993

Operator Performance Support System (OPSS)

In the complex and fast reaction world of military operations, present technologies, combined with tactical situations, have flooded the operator with assorted information that he is expected to process instantly. As technologies progress, this flow of data and information have both guided and overwhelmed the operator. However, the technologies that have confounded many operators today can be used to assist him -- thus the Operator Performance Support Team. In this paper we propose an operator support station that incorporates the elements of Video and Image Databases, productivity Software, Interactive Computer Based Training, Hypertext/Hypermedia Databases, Expert Programs, and Human Factors Engineering. The Operator Performance Support System will provide the operator with an integrating on-line information/knowledge system that will guide expert or novice to correct systems operations. Although the OPSS is being developed for the Navy, the performance of the workforce in today's competitive industry is of major concern. The concepts presented in this paper which address ASW systems software design issues are also directly applicable to industry. the OPSS will propose practical applications in how to more closely align the relationships between technical knowledge and equipment operator performance.

Conklin, Marlen Z.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Orchestrator Telemetry Processing Pipeline

Orchestrator is a software application infrastructure for telemetry monitoring, logging, processing, and distribution. The architecture has been applied to support operations of a variety of planetary rovers. Built in Java with the Eclipse Rich Client Platform, Orchestrator can run on most commonly used operating systems. The pipeline supports configurable parallel processing that can significantly reduce the time needed to process a large volume of data products. Processors in the pipeline implement a simple Java interface and declare their required input from upstream processors. Orchestrator is programmatically constructed by specifying a list of Java processor classes that are initiated at runtime to form the pipeline. Input dependencies are checked at runtime. Fault tolerance can be configured to attempt continuation of processing in the event of an error or failed input dependency if possible, or to abort further processing when an error is detected. This innovation also provides support for Java Message Service broadcasts of telemetry objects to clients and provides a file system and relational database logging of telemetry. Orchestrator supports remote monitoring and control of the pipeline using browser-based JMX controls and provides several integration paths for pre-compiled legacy data processors. At the time of this reporting, the Orchestrator architecture has been used by four NASA customers to build telemetry pipelines to support field operations. Example applications include high-volume stereo image capture and processing, simultaneous data monitoring and logging from multiple vehicles. Example telemetry processors used in field test operations support include vehicle position, attitude, articulation, GPS location, power, and stereo images.

Powell, Mark↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Uncrewed Lunar Surface Operations and Support Activities

This presentation summarizes the contents of the uncrewed lunar surface operations and support activities paper. It outlines the functions, features, and capabilities that support sustained human and robotic surface operations. It summarizes the complexities associated with the development and operation of autonomous systems and discusses a simulation tool for integrated surface operations planning.

Lunar↗
NASA NTRS1989

Considerations for a design and operations knowledge support system for Space Station Freedom

Engineering and operations of modern engineered systems depend critically upon detailed design and operations knowledge that is accurate and authoritative. A design and operations knowledge support system (DOKSS) is a modern computer-based information system providing knowledge about the creation, evolution, and growth of an engineered system. The purpose of a DOKSS is to provide convenient and effective access to this multifaceted information. The complexity of Space Station Freedom's (SSF's) systems, elements, interfaces, and organizations makes convenient access to design knowledge especially important, when compared to simpler systems. The life cycle length, being 30 or more years, adds a new dimension to space operations, maintenance, and evolution. Provided here is a review and discussion of design knowledge support systems to be delivered and operated as a critical part of the engineered system. A concept of a DOKSS for Space Station Freedom (SSF) is presented. This is followed by a detailed discussion of a DOKSS for the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and Work Package-2 portions of SSF.

Erickson, Jon D.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Space Station Freedom flight operations in support of exploration missions

The operational requirements on Space Station Freedom (SSF) for supporting the Lunar Phase of the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) are examined, and a concept is developed for carrying out these operations. Attention is given to the types of events and tasks that must be performed on the SSF to process the lunar vehicles, as well as to resources required for the SSF and the methods of meeting the operational requirements of the lunar missions. Critical technology areas and needs that must be addressed to enable lunar missions are also discussed.

Brender, Karen D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Operations and support for the next-generation space transportation system

The role of operations and support in the design of future space transportation systems (STSs) is studied. There is a need to reduce launch and operation costs for future space systems. Methods for reducing the cost of ground operations and supports for a STS are described. Technological advances such as expert systems, robotics, and sensors, and reduction in management of operations are discussed. Changes in the management of flight operations and control, from a manpower intensive monitoring to a strong vehicle autonomy, are examined. The development of equipment and procedures to improve space operations and reduce costs is analyzed. The use of a clean sheet approach for building a STS is proposed.

Sawaya, G. J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Workstation-Based Real-Time Mesoscale Modeling Designed for Weather Support to Operations at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Station

This paper describes the capabilities and operational utility of a version of the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS) that has been developed to support operational weather forecasting at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS). The implementation of local, mesoscale modeling systems at KSC/CCAS is designed to provide detailed short-range (less than 24 h) forecasts of winds, clouds, and hazardous weather such as thunderstorms. Short-range forecasting is a challenge for daily operations, and manned and unmanned launches since KSC/CCAS is located in central Florida where the weather during the warm season is dominated by mesoscale circulations like the sea breeze. For this application, MASS has been modified to run on a Stardent 3000 workstation. Workstation-based, real-time numerical modeling requires a compromise between the requirement to run the system fast enough so that the output can be used before expiration balanced against the desire to improve the simulations by increasing resolution and using more detailed physical parameterizations. It is now feasible to run high-resolution mesoscale models such as MASS on local workstations to provide timely forecasts at a fraction of the cost required to run these models on mainframe supercomputers. MASS has been running in the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) at KSC/CCAS since January 1994 for the purpose of system evaluation. In March 1995, the AMU began sending real-time MASS output to the forecasters and meteorologists at CCAS, Spaceflight Meteorology Group (Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas), and the National Weather Service (Melbourne, Florida). However, MASS is not yet an operational system. The final decision whether to transition MASS for operational use will depend on a combination of forecaster feedback, the AMU's final evaluation results, and the life-cycle costs of the operational system.

Manobianco, John↗
NASA NTRS2020

Use of Navigation Beacons to Support Lunar Vehicle Operations

To support a wide variety of lunar missions in a condensed regime, solutions are needed outside of the use of Earth-based orbit determination. This research presents an alternate approach to in-situ navigation through the use of beacons, similar to that used on Earth as well as under technology development efforts. An overview of the current state of navigation aids included as well as discussion of the Lunar Node – 1 payload being built at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center. Expected navigation results of this beacon payload for planned operation from the lunar surface are provided. Applications of navigation beacons to multiple stages of the proposed human lunar landing architecture are given, with initial analysis showing performance gains from the use of this technology. This work provides a starting point for continued analysis and design, laying out the foundation of how navigation beacons can be incorporated into the architecture to enable continued analysis, design, and future expanded capability.

Lunar node-1↗
NASA NTRS2008

CCMC Plans to Support SDO Operations

The CCMC will actively support the SDO Mission. It will do this, wherever feasible, by installing and running those models which the SDO science planners deem both appropriate and necessary to enable the science goals of SDO. In this presentation I will outline our philosophy in offering this support, the models we are actively pursuing to enable this, and the modes in which we intend to run these models. I will discuss how users of SDO data will be able to request model runs and analyse their outputs. I will also describe the facilities which we have at our disposal to support this effort, and our expectations for the resource requirements which this support will need.

MacNeice, Peter↗
NASA NTRS2007

Community Coordinated Modeling Center Support of Operations: Real-Time Simulations and V & V.

In support of Operations Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) performing validation and verification of space weather models. To identify suitable metrics the CCMC focus on parameters most useful to operations that CCMC resident models can provide. The real time simulations carried out at CCMC are an essential tool to test model performance and stability by using input conditions that may occur in nature at any time. Since 2001, the magnetospheric MHD model BATSRUS has been run in real time using ACE real time data. CCMC staff developed an experimental real-time system that controls uploading of the real-time ACE data, monitors continuous model execution, initiates automatic recovery procedure in case of data gaps or hardware failures, synchronizes BATSRUS and FRC runs, and periodically runs IDL based visualization software.

Kuznetsova, M.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Viking mission support

The final operations tests prior to Mars orbit insertion for Viking 1 are discussed together with the real-time operations support for the two months preceding this event. Several special operational strategies and procedures designed to optimize the DSN support during the critical planetary phases of the mission are described. The final phases of Network implementation for Viking and the support afforded to the radio science experiments and Mars radar observations are also included.

Mudgway, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Orbital transfer vehicle concept definition and system analysis study. Volume 4, Appendix A: Space station accommodations. Revision 1

Orbit Transfer Vehicle (OTV) processing at the space station is divided into two major categories: OTV processing and assembly operations, and support operations. These categories are further subdivided into major functional areas to allow development of detailed OTV processing procedures and timelines. These procedures and timelines are used to derive the specific space station accommodations necessary to support OTV activities. The overall objective is to limit impact on OTV processing requirements on space station operations, involvement of crew, and associated crew training and skill requirements. The operational concept maximizes use of automated and robotic systems to perform all required OTV servicing and maintenance tasks. Only potentially critical activities would require direct crew involvement or supervision. EVA operations are considered to be strictly contingency back-up to failure of the automated and robotic systems, with the exception of the initial assembly of Space-Based OTV accommodations at the space station, which will require manned involvement.

Randall, Roger M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Modeling actions and operations to support mission preparation

This paper describes two linked technology development projects to support Space Shuttle ground operations personnel, both during mission preparation analysis and related analyses in missions. The Space Propulsion Robust Analysis Tool (SPRAT) will provide intelligent support and automation for mission analysis setup, interpretation, reporting and documentation. SPRAT models the actions taken by flight support personnel during mission preparation and uses this model to generate an action plan. CONFIG will provide intelligent automation for procedure analyses and failure impact analyses, by simulating the interactions between operations and systems with embedded failures. CONFIG models the actions taken by crew during space vehicle malfunctions and simulates how the planned action sequences in procedures affect a device model. Jointly the SPRAT and CONFIG projects provide an opportunity to investigate how the nature of a task affects the representation of actions, and to determine a more general action representation supporting a broad range of tasks. This paper describes the problems in representing actions for mission preparation and their relation to planning and scheduling.

Malin, Jane T.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Space Mission Operations Ground Systems Integration Customer Service

The facility, which is now the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, has provided continuous space mission and related services for the space industry since 1961, from Mercury Redstone through the International Space Station (ISS). Throughout the long history of the facility and mission support teams, the HOSC has developed a stellar customer support and service process. In this era, of cost cutting, and providing more capability and results with fewer resources, space missions are looking for the most efficient way to accomplish their objectives. One of the first services provided by the facility was fax transmission of documents to, then, Cape Canaveral in Florida. The headline in the Marshall Star, the newspaper for the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center, read "Exact copies of Documents sent to Cape in 4 minutes." The customer was Dr. Wernher von Braun. Currently at the HOSC we are supporting, or have recently supported, missions ranging from simple ISS payloads requiring little more than "bentpipe" telemetry access, to a low cost free-flyer Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite (FASTSAT), to a full service ISS payload Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 (AMS2) supporting 24/7 operations at three operations centers around the world with an investment of over 2 billion dollars. The HOSC has more need and desire than ever to provide fast and efficient customer service to support these missions. Here we will outline how our customer-centric service approach reduces the cost of providing services, makes it faster and easier than ever for new customers to get started with HOSC services, and show what the future holds for our space mission operations customers. We will discuss our philosophy concerning our responsibility and accessibility to a mission customer as well as how we deal with the following issues: initial contact with a customer, reducing customer cost, changing regulations and security, and cultural differences, to ensure an efficient response to customer issues using a small Customer Service Team (CST) and adaptability, constant communication with customers, technical expertise and knowledge of services, and dedication to customer service. The HOSC Customer Support Team has implemented a variety of processes, and procedures that help to mitigate the potential problems that arise when integrating ground system services for a variety of complex missions and the lessons learned from this experience will lead the future of customer service in the space operations industry.

Roth, Karl↗