Multiple Spacecraft Formations as Collaborating Autonomous Agents
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program has two simultaneously-operating, autonomous search systems on two geographically-separated 1.2-m telescopes; one at the Maui Space Surveillance System (NEAT/MSSS) and the other on the Palomar Observatory's Oschin telescope (NEAT/Palomar). This paper will focus exclusively on the NEAT/MSSS system.
NASA and Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) have agreed to cooperate on the first mission to collect samples from the surface of an asteroid and return them to Earth for in-depth study.
In this paper, we will discuss how the partnership formed between the engineering and archival disciplines at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is working to improve lifecycle management for all users.
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We describe here our project and plans to develop methods, software tools, and infrastructure tools to address challenges relating to geographically distributed software development. Specifically, this work is creating an infrastructure that supports applications working over distributed geographical and organizational domains and is using this infrastructure to develop a tool that supports project development using risk management and analysis techniques where the participants are not collocated.
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The Robot Construction Crew (RCC) is a heterogeneous multi-robot system for autonomous construction of a structure through assembly of Long components. The two robot team demonstrates component placement into an existing structure in a realistic environment. The task requires component acquisition, cooperative transport, and cooperative precision manipulation. A behavior-based architecture provides adaptability. The RCC approach minimizes computation, power, communication, and sensing for applicability to space-related construction efforts, but the techniques are applicable to terrestrial construction tasks.
This viewgraph document reviews the Radiation Interuniversity Science and Engineering (RaISE) Project, which is a project that has as its goals strengthening and furthering the curriculum in radiation sciences at two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University. Those were chosen in part because of the proximity to NASA Johnson Space Center, a lead center for the Space Radiation Health Program. The presentation reviews the courses that have been developed, both in-class, and on-line.
The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration commits the United States to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 using the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle and Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle. Like the Apollo program of the 1960s and 1970s, this effort will require preliminary reconnaissance in the form of robotic landers and probes. Unlike Apollo, some of the data NASA will rely upon to select landing sites and conduct science will be based on international missions as well, including SMART-1, SELENE, and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Opportunities for international cooperation on the moon also lie in developing lunar exploration technologies. The European Space Agency's SMART-1 orbiter (Figure 1) is making the first comprehensive inventory of key chemical elements in the lunar surface. It is also investigating the impact theory of the moon's formation.'
We have continued to develop a concept for use of autonomous rovers, originally developed for use in planetary exploration, in polar science on Earth; the concept was the subject of a workshop, and this report summarizes and extends that workshop. The workshop on Antarctic Autonomous Scientific Vehicles and Traverses met at the National Geographic Society on February 14 and 15, 2001 to discuss scientific objectives and benefits of the use of autonomous rovers. The participants enthusiastically viewed rovers as being uniquely valuable for such tasks as data taking on tedious or repetitive routes, traverses in polar night, difficult or hazardous routes, extremely remote regions, routes requiring only simple instrumentation, traverses that must be conducted at low speed, augments of manned traverses, and scientific procedures not compatible with human presence or combustion engines. The workshop has concluded that instrumented autonomous vehicles, of the type being developed for planetary exploration, have the potential to contribute significantly to the way science in conducted in Antarctica while also aiding planetary technology development, and engaging the public's interest. Specific objectives can be supported in understanding ice sheet mass balance, sea ice heat and momentum exchange, and surface air chemistry processes. In the interval since the workshop, we have concluded that organized program to employ such rovers to perform scientific tasks in the Fourth International Polar Year would serve the objectives of that program well.
HELIX-Atlanta was developed to support current and future state and local EPHT programs to implement data linking demonstration projects which could be part of the CDC EPHT Network. HELIX-Atlanta is a pilot linking project in Atlanta for CDC to learn about the challenges the states will encounter. NASA/MSFC and the CDC are partners in linking environmental and health data to enhance public health surveillance. ~ The use of NASA technology creates value added geospatial products from existing environmental data sources to facilitate public health linkages. Proving the feasibility of the approach is the main objective
Emerging information technologies are reshaping the following: shifts in the knowledge and skills society values, development of new methods of teaching and learning, and changes in the characteristics of learning.
A Williams International FJ44-3A 3000-lb thrust class turbofan engine was used as a demonstrator for foam-metal liner installed in close proximity to the fan. Two foam metal liner designs were tested and compared to the hardwall. Traditional Single-Degree-of-Freedom liner designs were also evaluated to provide a comparison. Normalized information on farfield acoustics is presented in this paper. The results show that up to 5 dB PWL overall attenuation was achieved in the forward quadrant. In general, the foam-metal liners performed better when the fan tip speed was below sonic.
We present a heterogeneous multi-robot system for autonomous construction of a structure through assembly of long components. Placement of a component within an existing structure in a realistic environment is demonstrated on a two-robot team. The task requires component acquisition, cooperative transport, and cooperative precision manipulation. Far adaptability, the system is designed as a behavior-based architecture. Far applicability to space-related construction efforts, computation, power, communication, and sensing are minimized, though the techniques developed are also applicable to terrestrial construction tasks.
This poster reviews the collarborative research approaches that NASA has been designing and implementing for the Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Project. The inputs for the technical plan are reviewed, the Research Test and Integration Plan (RTIP) WIKI, is used to create and propose a multi-themed and multi-partner research testing opportunities. The outputs are testing opportunities.
Because high-energy gamma rays can be produced by processes that also produce neutrinos, the gamma-ray survey of the sky by the Fermi (Gamma-ray Space Telescope offers a view of potential targets for neutrino observations. Gamma-ray bursts. Active Galactic Nuclei, and supernova remnants are all sites where hadronic, neutrino-producing interactions are plausible. Pulsars, pulsar wind nebulae, and binary sources are all phenomena that reveal leptonic particle acceleration through their gamma-ray emission. While important to gamma-ray astrophysics, such sources are of less interest to neutrino studies. This talk will present a broad overview of the constantly changing sky seen with the Large Area Telescope (LAT)on the Fermi spacecraft.
With the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) nearing completion and the support of a full-time crew of six, a new era of utilization for research is beginning. For more than 15 years, the ISS international partnership has weathered financial, technical and political challenges proving that nations can work together to complete assembly of the largest space vehicle in history. And while the ISS partners can be proud of having completed one of the most ambitious engineering projects ever conceived, the challenge of successfully using the platform remains. During the ISS assembly phase, the potential benefits of space-based research and development were demonstrated; including the advancement of scientific knowledge based on experiments conducted in space, development and testing of new technologies, and derivation of Earth applications from new understanding. The configurability and human-tended capabilities of the ISS provide a unique platform. The international utilization strategy is based on research ranging from physical sciences, biology, medicine, psychology, to Earth observation, human exploration preparation and technology demonstration. The ability to complete follow-on investigations in a period of months allows researchers to make rapid advances based on new knowledge gained from ISS activities. During the utilization phase, the ISS partners are working together to track the objectives, accomplishments, and the applications of the new knowledge gained. This presentation will summarize the consolidated international results of these tracking activities and approaches. Areas of current research on ISS with strong international cooperation will be highlighted including cardiovascular studies, cell and plant biology studies, radiation, physics of matter, and advanced alloys. Scientific knowledge and new technologies derived from research on the ISS will be realized through improving quality of life on Earth and future spaceflight endeavours. Extension of the ISS through 2020 and beyond will insure that the benefits of research will be achievable for the International Partnership.