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At least 1,279 records · Page 71

Using Satellite Remote Sensing and Household Survey Data to Assess Human Health and Nutrition Response to Environmental Change

Climate change and degradation of ecosystem services functioning may threaten the ability of current agricultural systems to keep up with demand for adequate and inexpensive food and for clean water, waste disposal and other broader ecosystem services. Human health is likely to be affected by changes occurring across multiple geographic and time scales. Impacts range from increasing transmissibility and the range of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever, to undermining nutrition through deleterious impacts on food production and concomitant increases in food prices. This paper uses case studies to describe methods that make use of satellite remote sensing and Demographic and Health Survey data to better understand individual-level human health and nutrition outcomes. By bringing these diverse datasets together, the connection between environmental change and human health outcomes can be described through new research and analysis.

Health↗

Commercialization and Standardization Progress Towards an Optical Communications Earth Relay

NASA is planning to launch the next generation of a space based Earth relay in 2025 to join the current Space Network, consisting of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites in space and the corresponding infrastructure on Earth. While the requirements and architecture for that relay satellite are unknown at this time, NASA is investing in communications technologies that could be deployed to provide new communications services. One of those new technologies is optical communications. The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) project, scheduled for launch in 2018 as a hosted payload on a commercial communications satellite, is a critical pathfinder towards NASA providing optical communications services on the next generation space based relay. This paper will describe NASA efforts in the on-going commercialization of optical communications and the development of inter-operability standards. Both are seen as critical to making optical communications a reality on future NASA science and exploration missions. Commercialization is important because NASA would like to eventually be able to simply purchase an entire optical communications terminal from a commercial provider. Inter-operability standards are needed to ensure that optical communications terminals developed by one vendor are compatible with the terminals of another. International standards in optical communications would also allow the space missions of one nation to use the infrastructure of another.

lasers↗

Human Exploration of the Solar System by 2100

It has been suggested that the U.S., in concert with private entities and international partners, set itself on a course to accomplish human exploration of the solar system by the end of this century. This is a strikingly bold vision intended to revitalize the aspirations of HSF in service to the security, economic, and scientific interests of the nation. Solar system distance and time scales impose severe requirements on crewed space transportation systems, however, and fully realizing all objectives in support of this goal will require a multi-decade commitment employing radically advanced technologies - most prominently, space habitats capable of sustaining and protecting life in harsh radiation environments under zero gravity conditions and in-space propulsion technologies capable of rapid deep space transits with earth return, the subject of this paper. While near term mission destinations such as the moon and Mars can be accomplished with chemical propulsion and/or high power SEP, fundamental capability constraints render these traditional systems ineffective for solar system wide exploration. Nuclear based propulsion and alternative energetic methods, on the other hand, represent potential avenues, perhaps the only viable avenues, to high specific power space transport evincing reduced trip time, reduced IMLEO, and expanded deep space reach. Here, very long term HSF objectives for solar system wide exploration are examined in relation to the advanced propulsion technology solution landscape including foundational science, technical/engineering challenges, and developmental prospects.

Transportation↗

NASA Weather Support 2017

In the mid to late 1980's, as NASA was studying ways to improve weather forecasting capabilities to reduce excessive weather launch delays and to reduce excessive weather Launch Commit Criteria (LCC) waivers, the Challenger Accident occurred and the AC-67 Mishap occurred.[1] NASA and USAF weather personnel had advance knowledge of extremely high levels of weather hazards that ultimately caused or contributed to both of these accidents. In both cases, key knowledge of the risks posed by violations of weather LCC was not in the possession of final decision makers on the launch teams. In addition to convening the mishap boards for these two lost missions, NASA convened expert meteorological boards focusing on weather support. These meteorological boards recommended the development of a dedicated organization with the highest levels of weather expertise and influence to support all of American spaceflight. NASA immediately established the Weather Support Office (WSO) in the Office of Space Flight (OSF), and in coordination with the United Stated Air Force (USAF), initiated an overhaul of the organization and an improvement in technology used for weather support as recommended. Soon after, the USAF established a senior civilian Launch Weather Officer (LWO) position to provide meteorological support and continuity of weather expertise and knowledge over time. The Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) was established by NASA, USAF, and the National Weather Service to support initiatives to place new tools and methods into an operational status. At the end of the Shuttle Program, after several weather office reorganizations, the WSO function had been assigned to a weather branch at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This branch was dismantled in steps due to further reorganization, loss of key personnel, and loss of budget line authority. NASA is facing the loss of sufficient expertise and leadership required to provide current levels of weather support. The recommendation proposed herein is to re-establish the WSO under a high level office, with funding set at about the same levels as today, with a revitalized charter and focus to allow for the WSO to operate as originally intended.

lessons learned↗

Space-Borne Cloud-Native Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB) Models Using ICESat-2 And Sentinel-2

Shallow nearshore coastal waters provide a wealth of societal, economic and ecosystem services, yet their topographic structure is poorly mapped due to a reliance upon expensive and time intensive methods. Space‐borne bathymetric mapping has helped address these issues, but has remained largely dependent upon in situ measurements. Here we fuse ICESat‐2 lidar data with Sentinel‐2 optical imagery, within the Google Earth Engine cloud platform, to create openly available spatially continuous high‐resolution bathymetric maps at regional‐to‐national scales in Florida, Crete and Bermuda. ICESat‐2 bathymetric classified photons are used to train three Satellite Derived Bathymetry (SDB) methods, including Lyzenga, Stumpf and Support Vector Regression algorithms. For each study site the Lyzenga algorithm yielded the lowest RMSE (approx. 10‐15%) when compared with validation data. We demonstrate a means of using ICESat‐2 for both model calibration and validation, thus cementing a pathway for fully space‐borne estimates of nearshore bathymetry in shallow, clear water environments.

N. Thomas↗

The Satellite Flythrough and Reconstruction Softwares at CCMC

The next-generation of model data visualization to be offered at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) will be based on Kamodo, an open source python package. To increase the usefulness of our services, we are also developing new capabilities based on this software, called the satellite flythrough and the reconstruction tools, to be offered both as packages for offline analysis and through an online interface (coming soon). The satellite flythrough software ‘flies’ a satellite trajectory, whether real or imaginary, through either model data hosted at CCMC or on a personal machine. This service greatly simplifies the complexity of users’ access to model data, abstracting away the time-consuming details of model data formats and interpolation. We demonstrate execution times of a few seconds to a few minutes for several example flythroughs of a trajectory stretching over a few days, depending on the parameters chosen. We also demonstrate a reconstruction tool built on top of the satellite flythrough software, for use with mission planning and model-data comparisons. This tool, based on reconstructions provided for the GDC Science and Technology Definition Team, converts multiple, simultaneous satellite flythroughs into two-dimensional reconstructions. The reconstruction tool provides a software capability for satellite constellations to determine how many satellites are needed and in what configuration to resolve the desired features in the model data. Both tools are currently available through GitHub for a selection of CCMC-hosted ITM models. Finally, we present initial results from work in progress and plans for future work, including an expansion of the reconstruction tool to provide 3D reconstruction capabilities and a line-of-sight calculation tool.

software, python↗

The NASA Earth Science Applied Sciences Disasters Program: Making EO Data and Expertise Available through the Disasters Mapping Portal to Inform Decision-Makers throughout the Disaster Cycle

The NASA Earth Science Applied Sciences Disasters Program promotes the use of Earth Observations (EO) to inform disaster risk reduction and resilience throughout the disaster cycle, from local to global scales, by harnessing NASA science and technology capabilities, through engagement with end users to demonstrate the value and impact of EO to support decision-making, and by supporting end users in their use of EO in decision-making while developing relationships to grow as a trusted source of relevant science and useful results. Through the NASA Earth Science Applied Sciences Disasters Program Mapping Portal, an Esri-backed hub of geospatially enabled disaster products, event-based and near-real-time products are hosted to provide end users with analysis-ready data and data services, keeping in mind their expressed EO needs. In this presentation, case studies of past events will be highlighted, showcasing how EO data and services were provided by the Program and utilized by end users during the disaster cycle. Additionally, this presentation will highlight some of the Program’s ongoing collaboration activities to assist end users in understanding and preparing for utilization of EO data from the Mapping Portal to inform their decision-making throughout the disaster cycle. Ongoing efforts to advance the science provided by the Program on the Mapping Portal through new developments and capabilities will be highlighted, and common challenges and data needs end users often encounter when using EO data and our Program’s innovative solutions to these challenges will be addressed. Furthermore, this presentation will touch on the challenges faced and the solutions created by the Mapping Portal team in managing and hosting a plethora of EO data for end users across various disciplines.

Ronan Lucey↗

Lessons Learned from the Arecibo Observatory Auxiliary M4N Socket Analysis and Implications for Future Observatory Designs

The Arecibo Observatory collapsed after a progressive structural failure stemming from the failure of a single socket joint cable termination. A failure investigation was conducted to identify the cause of the first failed cable termination socket. Due to the nature of the suspended observatory receiver, the dominant source of loading in the suspension cables was due to deadload, with secondary contributions coming from environmental effects and observatory operation. The high ratio of deadload vs. live load applied to the cable over many years resulted in a creep failure mode of the cast zinc within the socket which further induced stress into the highly stress wires at the entrance of the socket. The design of the socket joint did not explicitly consider socket constituent stress margins and time-dependent damage mechanisms such as creep. Lessons learned from this investigation led to recommendations for revising civil engineering cable standards, and recommendations for manufacturers and designers. The design of cables employing socket terminations should consider the cumulative damage effects from creep and cyclic loading identify their corresponding worst-case inspectable defects or establish a sufficiently high factor of safety so that the design is sufficiently robust to defects and time-dependent failure modes. The design should specify end-of-life capability and set service life inspection intervals with pass/fail inspection criteria. Finally, trial studies on design iterations were conducted to increase the reliability of cables with socket joints.

Pavel Babuska↗

ETM Industry: Tabletop Defining Notions for Cooperative Operating Practices

This tabletop plans to cover 3 main topics in regards to the research that NASA has conducted for High-E Traffic Management (ETM), as well as implementing it to stand up an ETM system in the Airspace Operations Lab to invite industry participants to join us in a collaborative evaluation at the end of 2023. (Or earlier for system architectural connectivity). Working to define the notions that go into Cooperative Operating Practices for a collaborative traffic management process, we will be showing and training to some of our early prototype concepts and discussing: 1. Operational Intent: We have built an OI generation tool and would like to discuss specifics to the requirements of OI size, update rates, and duration. 2. Strategic Conflict Detection: We have built a concept to detect overlapping OI’s and would like to discuss the output information; time horizon, geometry and confidence level of intersection. In addition we are looking at a service that would provide all users with additional information in regards to the probability of your actual flight intent getting within a specified separation envelope. 3. Cooperative Operating Practices (COPS): Specifically looking at COPs for strategic deconfliction, we are looking to industry to build the actual COPS based on various criteria; vehicle-to-vehicle interactions, or company to company agreements. What is the strategy when OIs intersect; wait and see, take a pre-negotiated COPS action, or ad-hoc negotiation and discuss what that looks like.

High-E Traffic Management (ETM)↗

Quinones having high capacity retention for use as electrolytes in aqueous redox flow batteries

We disclose quinone compounds and related species (Formula I) that possess significant advantages when used as a redox active material in a battery, e.g., a redox flow battery. In particular, the compounds provide redox flow batteries (RFBs) with extremely high capacity retention. For example, RFBs of the invention can be cycled for 500 times with negligible loss of capacity, and such batteries could be employed for years of service. Thus, the invention provides a high efficiency, long cycle life redox flow battery with reasonable power cost, low energy cost, and all the energy scaling advantages of a flow battery.

Aziz, Michael J.↗

Fixed-range optimum trajectories for short-haul aircraft

An algorithm, based on the energy-state method, is derived for calculating optimum trajectories with a range constraint. The basis of the algorithm is the assumption that optimum trajectories consist of, at most, three segments: an increasing energy segment (climb); a constant energy segment (cruise); and a decreasing energy segment (descent). This assumption allows energy to be used as the independent variable in the increasing and decreasing energy segments, thereby eliminating the integration of a separate adjoint differential equation and simplifying the calculus of variations problem to one requiring only pointwise extremization of algebraic functions. The algorithm is used to compute minimum fuel, minimum time, and minimum direct-operating-cost trajectories, with range as a parameter, for an in-service CTOL aircraft and for an advanced STOL aircraft. For the CTOL aircraft and the minimum-fuel performance function, the optimum controls, consisting of air-speed and engine power setting, are continuous functions of the energy in both climb and descent as well as near the maximum or cruise energy. This is also true for the STOL aircraft except in the descent where at one energy level a nearly constant energy dive segment occurs, yielding a discontinuity in the airspeed at that energy. The reason for this segment appears to be the relatively high fuel flow at idle power of the engines used by this STOL aircraft. Use of a simplified trajectory which eliminates the dive increases the fuel consumption of the total descent trajectory by about 10 percent and the time to fly the descent by about 19 percent compared to the optimum.

Erzberger, H.↗

A Probabilistic Tool that Aids Logistics Engineers in the Establishment of High Confidence Repair Need-Dates at the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot

The NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot (NSLD) is tasked with the responsibility for repair and manufacture of Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) hardware and components to support the Space Shuttle Orbiter. Due to shrinking budgets, cost effective repair of LRU's becomes a primary objective. To achieve this objective, is imperative that resources be assigned to those LRU's which have the greatest expectation of being needed as a spare. Forecasting the times at which spares are needed requires consideration of many significant factors including: failure rate, flight rate, spares availability, and desired level of support, among others. This paper summarizes the results of the research and development work that has been accomplished in producing an automated tool that assists in the assignment of effective repair start-times for LRU's at the NSLD. This system, called the Repair Start-time Assessment System (RSAS), uses probabilistic modeling technology to calculate a need date for a repair that considers the current repair pipeline status, as well as, serviceable spares and projections of future demands. The output from the system is a date for beginning the repair that has significantly greater confidence (in the sense that a desired probability of support is ensured) than times produced using other techniques. Since an important output of RSAS is the longest repair turn-around time that will ensure a desired probability of support, RSAS has the potential for being applied to operations at any repair depot where spares are on-hand and repair start-times are of interest. In addition, RSAS incorporates tenants of Just-in-Time (JIT) techniques in that the latest repair start-time (i.e., the latest time at which repair resources must be committed) may be calculated for every failed unit This could reduce the spares inventory for certain items, without significantly increasing the risk of unsatisfied demand.

Bullington, J. V.↗

An active learning framework for the rapid assessment of galvanic corrosion

The current present in a galvanic couple can define its resistance or susceptibility to corrosion. However, as the current is dependent upon environmental, material, and geometrical parameters it is experimentally costly to measure. To reduce these costs, Finite Element (FE) simulations can be used to assess the cathodic current but also require experimental inputs to define boundary conditions. Due to these challenges, it is crucial to accelerate predictions and accurately predict the current output for different environments and geometries representative of in-service conditions. Machine learned surrogate models provides a means to accelerate corrosion predictions. However, a one-time cost is incurred in procuring the simulation and experimental dataset necessary to calibrate the surrogate model. Therefore, an active learning protocol is developed through calibration of a low-cost surrogate model for the cathodic current of an exemplar galvanic couple (AA7075-SS304) as a function of environmental and geometric parameters. The surrogate model is calibrated on a dataset of FE simulations, and calculates an acquisition function that identifies specific additional inputs with the maximum potential to improve the current predictions. This is accomplished through a staggered workflow that not only improves and refines prediction, but identifies the points at which the most information is gained, thus enabling expansion to a larger parameter space. The protocols developed and demonstrated in this work provide a powerful tool for screening various forms of corrosion under in-service conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The Use of the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (NALMA) in the Real-Time Operational Warning Environment During the March 2nd, 2012 Severe Weather Outbreak in Northern Alabama

The North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (NALMA) is a three-dimensional very high frequency (VHF) detection network consisting of 11 sensors spread across north central Alabama and two sensors located in the Atlanta, Georgia region. The primary advantage of this network is that it detects total lightning, or the combination of both cloud-to-ground and intra-cloud lightning, instead of cloud-to-ground lightning alone. This helps to build a complete picture of storm evolution and development, and can serve as a proxy for storm updraft strength, particularly since intra-cloud lightning makes up the majority of all lightning in a typical thunderstorm. While the NALMA data do not directly indicate severe weather, they can indirectly indicate when a storm is strengthening (weakening) due to increases (decreases) in updraft strength, as the updraft is responsible for charging mechanisms within the storm. Data output are VHF radiation sources, which are produced during lightning breakdown processes. These sources are made into 2x2 km source density grids and are ported into the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) for National Weather Service (NWS) offices in Huntsville, AL, Nashville, TN, Morristown, TN, and Birmingham, AL, in near real-time. An increase in sources, or source densities, correlates to increased lightning activity and trends in updraft magnitude as long as the storm is within about 125 km of the center of the LMA network. Operationally, these data have been used at the Huntsville NWS office since early 2003 through a collaborative effort with NASA s Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center. Since then, total lightning observations have become an essential tool for forecasters during real-time warning operations. One of the operational advantages of the NALMA is the two-minute temporal resolution of the data. This provides forecasters with two to three updates during a typical volume scan of the WSR-88D radar.

White, Kristopher↗

Grid Modernization of Cooperatives and Municipal Utilities via Breakthrough System Monitoring, Control and Optimization (CRADA Final Report)

This project aims at developing and demonstrating successful implementation of breakthrough approaches in real-time data visualization as well as real-time distributed DER control and optimization to provide ample benefits to both utilities and end users. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Holy Cross Energy (HCE), National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and Survalent are collaborating to enable Cooperative and Municipal utilities to fully leverage DERs as part of their strategies for providing safe, reliable, and affordable electric services to their customers and help meet DOE Grid modernization goal of achieving at least 10% active devices to provide grid flexibility by 2035. This project will use novel real-time control algorithms and approaches for distributed control recently developed under DOE-funded projects, using the date from the Survalent’s basic SCADA engine, GIS and AMI engines deployed at HCE combined with NRECA’s globally-used MultiSpeak(R) software interoperability specification for seamless and real-time communications between electric utility enterprise software to embrace DER as part of their strategies for providing safe, reliable and affordable electric service to their customers.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA Provides the Capability to Deliver Near Real-Time JPSS Data to Users in Order to Monitor Time-Sensitive Applications Such as Wildfires, Floods, Volcanic Eruptions, Tropical Cyclones and Extreme Weather Events

NASA's Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (Earth Observing System) (LANCE https://earthdata.nasa.gov/lance) serves near real time (NRT) data to monitor time sensitive applications such as monitoring wildfires, floods, volcanic eruptions, tropical cyclones and extreme weather events. It currently serves data and imagery from the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) S NPP (Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership) instruments and is in the process of integrating continuity data products from VIIRS and OMPS onboard the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), via the JPSS data Hub, to continue to meet the needs of agencies, scientists and members of the general public. NASA's Earth Science Division (ESD) sponsored the EOSDIS development of LANCE in 2009 to provide a central point of access to high quality NRT data products and imagery for applications users. LANCE makes data available to the public within 3 hours of satellite observation and imagery within 4-5 hours of satellite observation. Full resolution browse imagery from LANCE are provided through the Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) which also fuels NASA's Worldview tool so that users can interactively browse near real time data. This data supports time critical applications and allows users to view current natural hazards and events and animate the imagery over time.

Near real time↗

A Web Service and Android Application for the Distribution of Rainfall Estimates and Earth Observation Data

The full potential of Satellite Rainfall Estimates (SRE) can only be realized if timely access to the datasets is possible. Existing data distribution web portals are often focused on global products and offer limited customization options, especially for the purpose of routine regional monitoring. Furthermore, most online systems are designed to meet the needs of desktop users, limiting the compatibility with mobile devices. In response to the growing demand for SRE and to address the current limitations of available web portals a project was devised to create a set of freely available applications and services, available at a common portal that can: (1) simplify cross-platform access to Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS) data (including from Android mobile devices), (2) provide customized and continuous monitoring of SRE in response to user demands and (3) combine data from different online data distribution services, including rainfall estimates, river gauge measurements or imagery from Earth Observation missions at a single portal, known as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Explorer. The TRMM Explorer project suite includes a Python-based web service and Android applications capable of providing SRE and ancillary data in different intuitive formats with the focus on regional and continuous analysis. The outputs include dynamic plots, tables and data files that can also be used to feed downstream applications and services. A case study in Southern Angola is used to describe the potential of the TRMM Explorer for SRE distribution and analysis in the context of ungauged watersheds. The development of a collection of data distribution instances helped to validate the concept and identify the limitations of the program, in a real context and based on user feedback. The TRMM Explorer can successfully supplement existing web portals distributing SRE and provide a cost-efficient resource to small and medium-sized organizations with specific SRE monitoring needs, namely in developing and transition countries.

precipitation↗

Robust bidding strategy for aggregation of distributed prosumers in flexiramp market

Distributed prosumers (DPs) are the grid customers that own energy production/storage assets. Due to the flexibility and fast response of their assets, they can procure ancillary service products (ASP) in the wholesale market. An appealing ASP offered by California ISO in the real-time market (RTM) is flexiramp for which market participants do not submit direct offers, and the compensation is based on their energy opportunity costs. Here in this report, we propose a bidding strategy model for DP aggregator participation in the RTM considering energy and flexiramp. First, we develop a risk-averse optimization to determine the optimal energy and reserve product to trade in day-ahead market while considering proper amounts of flexiramp to trade in the RTM. In the RTM, to obtain optimal amounts of energy and flexiramp, the aggregator must submit hourly multi-level price-quantity energy bids for multiple RTM intervals with 15 min time-steps. On this basis, we propose a robust hourly economic bidding strategy model that determines the optimal energy bids in the RTM. We develop an adjustable robust counterpart of the model to address the RTM energy and flexiramp price uncertainties. The simulation results justify the efficacy of our proposed framework in gaining profits from the wholesale market.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗