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NASA NTRS2016

Pharmaceuticals Exposed to the Space Environment: Problems and Prospects

The NASA Human Research Program (HRP) Health Countermeasures Element maintains ongoing efforts to inform detailed risks, gaps, and further questions associated with the use of pharmaceuticals in space. Most recently, the Pharmacology Risk Report, released in 2010, illustrates the problems associated with maintaining pharmaceutical efficacy. Since the report, one key publication includes evaluation of pharmaceutical products stored on the International Space Station (ISS). This study shows that selected pharmaceuticals on ISS have a shorter shelf-life in space than corresponding terrestrial controls. The HRP Human Research Roadmap for planetary exploration identifies the risk of ineffective or toxic medications due to long-term storage during missions to Mars. The roadmap also identifies the need to understand and predict how pharmaceuticals will behave when exposed to radiation for long durations. Terrestrial studies of returned samples offer a start for predictive modeling. This paper shows that pharmaceuticals returned to Earth for post-flight analyses are amenable to a Weibull distribution analysis in order to support probabilistic risk assessment modeling. The paper also considers the prospect of passive payloads of key pharmaceuticals on sample return missions outside of Earth's magnetic field to gather additional statistics. Ongoing work in radiation chemistry suggests possible mitigation strategies where future work could be done at cryogenic temperatures to explore methods for preserving the strength of pharmaceuticals in the space radiation environment, perhaps one day leading to an architecture where pharmaceuticals are cached on the Martian surface and preserved cryogenically.

pharmacology↗

NASA NTRS2017

Core/Combustor Noise - Research Overview

Contributions from the combustor to the overall propulsion noise of civilian transport aircraft are starting to become important due to turbofan design trends and advances in mitigation of other noise sources. Future propulsion systems for ultra-efficient commercial air vehicles are projected to be of increasingly higher bypass ratio from larger fans combined with much smaller cores, with ultra-clean burning fuel-flexible combustors. Unless effective noise-reduction strategies are developed, combustor noise is likely to become a prominent contributor to overall airport community noise in the future. This presentation gives a brief overview of the NASA outlook on pertinent issues and far-term research needs as well as current and planned research in the core/combustor-noise area. The research described herein is aligned with the NASA Ultra-Efficient Commercial Transport strategic thrust and is supported by the NASA Advanced Air Vehicle Program, Advanced Air Transport Technology Project, under the Aircraft Noise Reduction Subproject. The overarching goal of the Advanced Air Transport Technology (AATT) Project is to explore and develop technologies and concepts to revolutionize the energy efficiency and environmental compatibility of fixed wing transport aircrafts. These technological solutions are critical in reducing the impact of aviation on the environment even as this industry and the corresponding global transportation system continue to grow.

Turbomachinery Noise↗

NASA NTRS1994

The Next Generation Airborne Observatory: SOFIA

NASA, DARA, and the astronomical community have planned SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) to extend and expand the capabilities of airborne astronomy. Just as the Kuiper Airborne Observatory telescope has three times the aperture of its Learjet predecessor, SOFIA's aperture (2.5 m) will be three times that of the KAO. Thus SOFIA will surpass the angular resolution of the KAO by a factor of three and its per-pixel sensitivity by a factor approximately 10 at wavelengths beyond 10 micrometers. Following the tradition of the KAO and Learjet programs, the user community will provide most of the SOFIA focal plane instruments. Scientists will fly their new instruments as soon as they become operational, assuring immediate application of state-of-the-art technology throughout the anticipated 20 year observatory lifetime. Annual peer review of submitted proposals guarantees a vigorous observing program. Armed by 15-20 different instrument teams, reinforced by an additional approximately 50 guest investigator groups, and flying 160 8-hour sorties per year, SOFIA will be used to attack a very broad range of astronomical problems. To name just a few, observations made from SOFIA will: greatly extend our understanding of the star-formation process, including collapse, accretion, and outflow phenomena; penetrate the obscuring dust of the Milky way to reveal gas motions, the luminosity distribution, and possibly the powerful excitation mechanism at the center of our Galaxy; and probe km-scale structure of planetary atmospheres and ring systems. The Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey (Bahcall) committee ranked SOFIA as the highest priority moderate cost new mission for NASA in the 1990s. SOFIA has been thoroughly studied and is ready to start development. If funding is available in 1996 as currently planned by NASA and DARA Astrophysics Offices, SOFIA could be flying by the end of the decade.

Erickson, E. F.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Design Evolution and Verification of the A-3 Chemical Steam Generator

Following is an overview of the Chemical Steam Generator system selected to provide vacuum conditions for a new altitude test facility, the A-3 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Bay St. Louis, MS. A-3 will serve as NASA s primary facility for altitude testing of the J-2X rocket engine, to be used as the primary propulsion device for the upper stages of the Ares launch vehicles. The Chemical Steam Generators (CSGs) will produce vacuum conditions in the test cell through the production and subsequent supersonic ejection of steam into a diffuser downstream of the J-2X engine nozzle exit. The Chemical Steam Generators chosen have a rich heritage of operation at rocket engine altitude test facilities since the days of the Apollo program and are still in use at NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) in New Mexico. The generators at WSTF have been modified to a degree, but are still very close to the heritage design. The intent for the A-3 implementation is to maintain this heritage design as much as possible, making minimal updates only where necessary to substitute for obsolete parts and to increase reliability. Reliability improvements are especially desired because the proposed system will require 27 generators, which is nine times the largest system installed in the 1960s. Improvements were suggested by the original design firm, Reaction Motors, by NASA SSC and NASA WSTF engineers, and by the A-3 test stand design contractor, Jacobs Technology, Inc. (JTI). This paper describes the range of improvements made to the design to date, starting with the heritage generator and the minor modifications made over time at WSTF, to the modernized configuration which will be used at A-3. The paper will discuss NASA s investment in modifications to SSC s E-2 test facility fire a full-scale Chemical Steam Generator in advance of the larger steam system installation at A-3. Risk mitigation testing will be performed in early 2009 at this test facility to verify that the CSGs operate as expected. The generator which will undergo this testing is of the most recent A-3 configuration, and will be instrumented far in excess of what is normally required for operation. The extra data will allow for easier troubleshooting and more complete knowledge of expected generator performance. In addition, the early testing will give SSC personnel experience in operating the CSG systems, which will expedite the process of installation and activation at A-3. Each Chemical Steam Generator is supported by a complement of valves, instruments, and flow control devices, with the entire assembly called a "module." The generators will be installed in groups of three, historically called "units". A module is so called because of its modular ability to be replaced or serviced without disturbing the other two modules installed on the same unit. A module is pictured in Figure 1, shown with its generator secured by white bands in its shipping (vs. installed) configuration. The heritage system at WSTF is composed of a single unit (three generator modules), pictured in Figure 2 as it was installed in 1965. In contrast, A-3 will have nine units operating in parallel to achieve vacuum conditions appropriate for testing the J-2X engine. Each of the combustors operates in two modes and achieves the so-called "full-steam" mode after all three of its stages ignite. Ignition of the first stage is achieved by exciting a spark plug; the second stage and main stage are lit by the flame front of the previous stage. The main stage burns approximately 97% of the total propellant flow and uses the heat energy to vaporize water into superheated steam. While the main stage remains unlit, the combustor is in so-called "idle" mode. In the WSTF system, this idle mode is not optimized for water usage, and does not need to be, as the water is pumped from a large reservoir. The water supply at A-3 will be contained in tanks with finite volume, so water optimization is preferred for the modnized configuration. Multiple solutions for this issue have been proposed, with the leading concept being a change to the operational definition of "idle mode," with the generator running in a lower heat flux condition.

Kirchner, Casey K.↗

NASA NTRS1994

New potentials of NIICHIMMASH's thermal vacuum facilities

The potentialities of existing test facilities as to simulating space environment governing factors for spacecraft successful development thermal vacuum testing are analyzed, ways of modernizing existing test facilities and specific proposals on their redesign are considered. The problem of spacecraft (S/C) ground development in simulated external environments, the solution of which started more than 30 years ago, has not lost its urgency today. Stringent requirements on S/C active lifetime under space conditions, module large dimensions, great number of extension elements and complicated mode of their interaction in long mission do not allow S/C designers to abandon ground tests. S/C thermal modes development is a combination of calculations, thermal vacuum tests and actions on improving S/C design and its thermal control system. Traditionally, tests are carried out by stages from component and end unit level verifications to complex tests of modules and S/C as a whole. In our opinion, sufficient correctness of calculated models and experience gained in organizations designing space systems allow to reduce cost and time of autonomous tests. Unfortunately, this is not true for complex (integrated) thermal vacuum tests. More than that, their recent programs include tasks of verifying other (than thermal control system) systems if S/C for operation under space simulated conditions. The outlined circumstances are the main reason for critical review of the potentialities of the existing test base, and of NIICHIMMASH's two large thermal vacuum chambers, first of all. The reasons for and ways of enlargement of these facilities potentially are analyzed and the results attained are described.

Afanassiev, N. A.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Preliminary Study of Electron Emission for Use in the PIC Portion of MAFIA

This memorandum summarizes a study undertaken to apply the program MAFIA to the modeling of an electron gun in a traveling wave tube (TWT). The basic problem is to emit particles from the cathode in the proper manner. The electrons are emitted with the classical Maxwell-Boltzmann (M-B) energy distribution; and for a small patch of emitting surface; the distribution with angle obeys Lambert's law. This states that the current density drops off as the cosine of the angle from the normal. The motivation for the work is to extend the analysis beyond that which has been done using older codes. Some existing programs use the Child-Langmuir, or 3/2 power law, for the description of the gun. This means the current varies as the 3/2 power of the anode voltage. The proportionality constant is termed the perveance of the gun. This is limited, however, since the 3/2 variation is only an approximation. Also, if the cathode is near saturation, the 3/2 law definitely will not hold. In most of the older codes, the electron beam is decomposed into current tubes, which imply laminar flow in the beam; even though experiments show the flow to be turbulent. Also, the proper inclusion of noise in the beam is not possible. These older methods of calculation do, however, give reasonable values for parameters of the electron beam and the overall gun, and these values will be used as the starting point for a more precise particle-in-cell (PIC) calculation. To minimize the time needed for a given computer run, all beams will use the same number of particles in a simulation. This is accomplished by varying the mass and charge of the emitted particles (macroparticles) in a certain manner, to be consistent with the desired beam current.

Freeman, Jon C.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

MISR Level 1B2 Terrain Data (MI1B2T_V3)

The MISR instrument consists of nine pushbroom cameras which measure radiance in four spectral bands. Global coverage is achieved in nine days. The cameras are arranged with one camera pointing toward the nadir, four cameras pointing forward and four cameras pointing aftward. It takes 7 minutes for all nine cameras to view the same surface location. The view angles relative to the surface reference ellipsoid, are 0, 26.1, 45.6, 60.0, and 70.5 degrees. The spectral band shapes are nominally gaussian, centered at 443, 555, 670, and 865 nm. The Terrain data are re-projected to the terrain altitude. In this product, surface data from all cameras will appear in the same geographic location. Thus, this product is the primary input to Level 2 aerosol/surface processing, which requires co-registration of the L1B2 imagery at the surface. Clouds will still be displaced due to their elevation above the surface, but this time with respect to the terrain rather than the ellipsoid. (The mountain location T is now assigned the geographic location at T, and the Cloud at F appears at the geographic location T.) In Level 2 aerosol/surface processing, algorithms are applied to screen out the clouds. Terrain data only exist for MISR blocks containing some land. [Location=GLOBAL LAND] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=2000-02-24; Stop_Date=] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=563.2 km (cross-track); Longitude_Resolution=140.8 km (along-track).; Temporal_Resolution=about 15 orbits/day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=about 15 orbits/day].

IMAGERY↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thermal Band Observations of the May 2022 Total Lunar Eclipse by the Landsat Thermal Infrared Sensors

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instruments on board Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 provide routine thermal band image measurements of the Earth for the Landsat program. Although these observatories are specifically designed for mapping the Earth’s surface from their 705-km altitude orbits, they were recently utilized to image the Moon during the total lunar eclipse of May 2022. The full Moon is frequently used as a calibration target for Landsat. However, the imaging of the lunar eclipse provided a unique opportunity to gather accurate temporal thermal band data over the full lunar disc as solar illumination is removed. This campaign required a large effort by the Landsat Flight Operations teams to coordinate acquisitions and technical constraints on both observatories to capture the long temporal extent of the eclipse. The result of this effort was a series of resolved thermal images of the Moon at discrete times as the Earth’s shadow swept across the lunar surface through the start, partial, and total phases of the eclipse. This sequence of images showed an overall drop in surface temperature from approximately 370 K to 180 K in about 300 minutes as solar insolation was removed. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of cooling rates from this unique event provided information about different material properties (density and thermal inertia) across the lunar surface and showed a clear distinction among mare, highlands, and impact craters.

Matthew Montanaro↗

NASA NTRS2005

A Methodology for Quantifying Certain Design Requirements During the Design Phase

A methodology for developing and balancing quantitative design requirements for safety, reliability, and maintainability has been proposed. Conceived as the basis of a more rational approach to the design of spacecraft, the methodology would also be applicable to the design of automobiles, washing machines, television receivers, or almost any other commercial product. Heretofore, it has been common practice to start by determining the requirements for reliability of elements of a spacecraft or other system to ensure a given design life for the system. Next, safety requirements are determined by assessing the total reliability of the system and adding redundant components and subsystems necessary to attain safety goals. As thus described, common practice leaves the maintainability burden to fall to chance; therefore, there is no control of recurring costs or of the responsiveness of the system. The means that have been used in assessing maintainability have been oriented toward determining the logistical sparing of components so that the components are available when needed. The process established for developing and balancing quantitative requirements for safety (S), reliability (R), and maintainability (M) derives and integrates NASA s top-level safety requirements and the controls needed to obtain program key objectives for safety and recurring cost (see figure). Being quantitative, the process conveniently uses common mathematical models. Even though the process is shown as being worked from the top down, it can also be worked from the bottom up. This process uses three math models: (1) the binomial distribution (greaterthan- or-equal-to case), (2) reliability for a series system, and (3) the Poisson distribution (less-than-or-equal-to case). The zero-fail case for the binomial distribution approximates the commonly known exponential distribution or "constant failure rate" distribution. Either model can be used. The binomial distribution was selected for modeling flexibility because it conveniently addresses both the zero-fail and failure cases. The failure case is typically used for unmanned spacecraft as with missiles.

Adams, Timothy↗

NASA NTRS2018

Assimilating GCOM-W AMSR2 Radiance Data in Future GEOS Reanalysis

Surface and atmospheric radiation are being measured by space-borne conical scanning microwave radiometers with high accuracy and spatial resolution since 1980s'. These radiometers include Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) onboard various NOAA's polar-orbiting satellites, Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder (SSMIS) onboard Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI), and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) onboard NASA and JAXA's satellites. Atmospheric temperature, humidity, clouds, and precipitation are retrieved using brightness temperature data at frequencies between 22 GHz â€“ 183 GHz. Some of the brightness temperature and retrieved rain rate data made by these imagers are assimilated in NASA Global Modelling and Assimilation Office (GMAO)'s weather and climate data sets including the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) and its version 2 (MERRA-2) data sets. However, those radiance data are assimilated with the Goddard Earth Observing System model, version 5 (GEOS-5) only in clear-sky conditions. Recently, we started assimilate GPM/GMI radiance data with GEOS-5's atmospheric data assimilation system GSI under all-sky conditions in order to have better constraints in analyzed hydrological properties. GMAO plans to assimilate more microwave radiometers' brightness temperature data in its analyses. In this talk, we will discuss TMI and AMSR2 data's impact in temperature, humidity, clouds and precipitation under all-sky conditions in future GEOS reanalysis.

Jin, Jianjun↗

NASA NTRS1991

Hubble Space Telescope nickel-hydrogen flight spare battery test

For several years, MSFC has been engaged in a series of battery tests in support of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Program. Now that the HST is in orbit, many of these tests will continue in order to give those responsible for the HST a reasonable prediction on the performance of the flight batteries. These tests will also be a source of needed low earth orbit (LEO) data for nickel hydrogen (Ni-H2) batteries and cells. One of the tests currently in progress at MSFC is a mission simulation test on a 22-cell Ni-H2 battery. This battery is composed of spare cells taken from the lot of cells out of which the Flight Spare Module was assembled. This module is one of two modules launched on the HST. This battery has been on test since Jun. 1989 and has completed nearly 8000 LEO cycles. A series of characterization tests were run prior to the start of the mission simulation and a launch scenario test was run in Feb. and Mar. 1990 to test the behavior of the cells through a simulated launch. The results from these tests as well as the overall performance of the battery as it continues to cycle are reported.

Brewer, Jeffrey C.↗

NASA NTRS2004

JDD, Inc. Database

JDD Inc, is a maintenance and custodial contracting company whose mission is to provide their clients in the private and government sectors "quality construction, construction management and cleaning services in the most efficient and cost effective manners, (JDD, Inc. Mission Statement)." This company provides facilities support for Fort Riley in Fo,rt Riley, Kansas and the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field here in Cleveland, Ohio. JDD, Inc. is owned and operated by James Vaughn, who started as painter at NASA Glenn and has been working here for the past seventeen years. This summer I worked under Devan Anderson, who is the safety manager for JDD Inc. in the Logistics and Technical Information Division at Glenn Research Center The LTID provides all transportation, secretarial, security needs and contract management of these various services for the center. As a safety manager, my mentor provides Occupational Health and Safety Occupation (OSHA) compliance to all JDD, Inc. employees and handles all other issues (Environmental Protection Agency issues, workers compensation, safety and health training) involving to job safety. My summer assignment was not as considered "groundbreaking research" like many other summer interns have done in the past, but it is just as important and beneficial to JDD, Inc. I initially created a database using a Microsoft Excel program to classify and categorize data pertaining to numerous safety training certification courses instructed by our safety manager during the course of the fiscal year. This early portion of the database consisted of only data (training field index, employees who were present at these training courses and who was absent) from the training certification courses. Once I completed this phase of the database, I decided to expand the database and add as many dimensions to it as possible. Throughout the last seven weeks, I have been compiling more data from day to day operations and been adding the information to the database. It now consists of seven different categories of data (carpet cleaning, forms, NASA Event Schedules, training certifications, wall and vent cleaning, work schedules, and miscellaneous) . I also did some field inspecting with the supervisors around the site and was present at all of the training certification courses that have been scheduled since June 2004. My future outlook for the JDD, Inc. database is to have all of company s information from future contract proposals, weekly inventory, to employee timesheets all in this same database.

Miller, David A., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2007

A Coupled GCM-Cloud Resolving Modeling System, and a Regional Scale Model to Study Precipitation Processes

Recent GEWEX Cloud System Study (GCSS) model comparison projects have indicated that cloud-resolving models (CRMs) agree with observations better than traditional single-column models in simulating various types of clouds and cloud systems from different geographic locations. Current and future NASA satellite programs can provide cloud, precipitation, aerosol and other data at very fine spatial and temporal scales. It requires a coupled global circulation model (GCM) and cloud-scale model (termed a superparameterization or multi-scale modeling framework, MMF) to use these satellite data to improve the understanding of the physical processes that are responsible for the variation in global and regional climate and hydrological systems. The use of a GCM will enable global coverage, and the use of a CRM will allow for better and more sophisticated physical parameterization. NASA satellite and field campaign cloud related datasets can provide initial conditions as well as validation for both the MMF and CRMs. The Goddard MMF is based on the 2D Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model and the Goddard finite volume general circulation model (fvGCM), and it has started production runs with two years results (1998 and 1999). Also, at Goddard, we have implemented several Goddard microphysical schemes (2ICE, several 31CE), Goddard radiation (including explicitly calculated cloud optical properties), and Goddard Land Information (LIS, that includes the CLM and NOAH land surface models) into a next generatio11 regional scale model, WRF. In this talk, I will present: (1) A brief review on GCE model and its applications on precipitation processes (microphysical and land processes), (2) The Goddard MMF and the major difference between two existing MMFs (CSU MMF and Goddard MMF), and preliminary results (the comparison with traditional GCMs), and (3) A discussion on the Goddard WRF version (its developments and applications).

Tao, Wei-Kuo↗

NASA NTRS2011

Space Shuttle Day-of-Launch Trajectory Design Operations

A top priority of any launch vehicle is to insert as much mass into the desired orbit as possible. This requirement must be traded against vehicle capability in terms of dynamic control, thermal constraints, and structural margins. The vehicle is certified to specific structural limits which will yield certain performance characteristics of mass to orbit. Some limits cannot be certified generically and must be checked with each mission design. The most sensitive limits require an assessment on the day-of-launch. To further minimize vehicle loads while maximizing vehicle performance, a day-of-launch trajectory can be designed. This design is optimized according to that day s wind and atmospheric conditions, which increase the probability of launch. The day-of-launch trajectory design and verification process is critical to the vehicle s safety. The Day-Of-Launch I-Load Update (DOLILU) is the process by which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Shuttle Program tailors the vehicle steering commands to fit that day s environmental conditions and then rigorously verifies the integrated vehicle trajectory s loads, controls, and performance. This process has been successfully used for almost twenty years and shares many of the same elements with other launch vehicles that execute a day-of-launch trajectory design or day-of-launch trajectory verification. Weather balloon data is gathered at the launch site and transmitted to the Johnson Space Center s Mission Control. The vehicle s first stage trajectory is then adjusted to the measured wind and atmosphere data. The resultant trajectory must satisfy loads and controls constraints. Additionally, these assessments statistically protect for non-observed dispersions. One such dispersion is the change in the wind from the last measured balloon to launch time. This process is started in the hours before launch and is repeated several times as the launch count proceeds. Should the trajectory design not meet all constraint criteria, Shuttle would be No-Go for launch. This Shuttle methodology is very similar to other unmanned launch vehicles. By extension, this method would likely be employed for any future NASA launch vehicle. This paper will review the Shuttle s day-of-launch trajectory optimization and verification operations as an example of a more generic application of day-of-launch design and validation. With Shuttle s retirement, it is fitting to document the current state of this critical process and capture lessons learned to benefit current and future launch vehicle endeavors.

Harrington, Brian E.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Software for Improved Extraction of Data From Tape Storage

A computer program has been written to replace the original software of Racal Storeplex Delta tape recorders, which are still used at Stennis Space Center but have been discontinued by the manufacturer. Whereas the original software could be activated by a command-line interface only, the present software offers the option of a command-line or graphical user interface. The present software also offers the option of batch-file operation (activation by a file that contains command lines for operations performed consecutively). The present software is also more reliable than was the original software: The original software was plagued by several deficiencies that made it difficult to execute, modify, and test. In addition, when using the original software to extract data that had been recorded within specified intervals of time, the resolution with which one could control starting and stopping times was no finer than about a second (or, in some cases, several seconds). In contrast, the present software is capable of controlling playback times to within 1/100 second of times specified by the user, assuming that the tape-recorder clock is accurate to within 1/100 second.

Cheng, Chiu-Fu↗

NASA NTRS2002

Software for Improved Extraction of Data From Tape Storage

Cheng, Chiu-Fu↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

CERES ERBE-like Instantaneous TOA Estimates (ES-8) in HDF (CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1)

The ES-8 archival data product contains a 24-hour, single-satellite, instantaneous view of scanner fluxes at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reduced from spacecraft altitude unfiltered radiances using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner Inversion algorithms and the ERBE shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) Angular Distribution Models (ADMs). The ES-8 also includes the total (TOT), SW, LW, and window (WN) channel radiometric data; SW, LW, and WN unfiltered radiance values; and the ERBE scene identification for each measurement. These data are organized according to the CERES 3.3-second scan into 6.6-second records. As long as there is one valid scanner measurement within a record, the ES-8 record will be generated. The following CERES ES8 data sets are currently available: CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition1 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Edition2 CER_ES8_TRMM-PFM_Transient-Ops2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition1 CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition2 CER_ES8_Terra-FM2_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition2 CER_ES8_Aqua-FM3_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Aqua-FM4_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV CER_ES8_Terra-FM1_Edition1-CV. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1997-12-27; Stop_Date=2005-11-01] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Temporal_Resolution=1 day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Daily - < Weekly].

TOA FLUX↗

NASA NTRS2008

Development Status of the J-2X

In June 2006, the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne began development of an engine for use on the Ares I crew launch vehicle and the Ares V cargo launch vehicle. The development program will be completed in December 2012 at the end of a Design Certification Review and after certification testing of two flight configuration engines. A team of over 600 people within NASA and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne are currently working to prepare for the fall 2008 Critical Design Review (CDR), along with supporting an extensive risk mitigation test program. The J-2X will power the Ares I upper stage and the Ares V earth departure stage (EDS). The initial use will be in the Ares I, used to launch the Orion crew exploration vehicle. In this application, it will power the upper stage after being sent aloft on a Space Shuttle-derived. 5-segment solid rocket booster first stage. In this mission. the engine will ignite at altitude and provide the necessary acceleration force to allow the Orion to achieve orbital velocity. The Ares I upper stage, along with the J-2X. will then be expended. On the Ares V. first stage propulsion is provided by five RS-68B engines and two 5-segment boosters similar to the Ares I configuration. In the Ares V mission. the J-2X is first started to power the EDS and its payload. the Altair lunar lander. into earth orbit, then shut-down and get prepared for its next start. The EDS/Altair will remain in a parking orbit, awaiting rendezvous and docking with Orion. Once the two spacecraft are mated, the J-2X will be restarted to achieve earth departure velocity. After powering the Orion and Altair, the EDS will be expended. By using the J-2X Engine in both applications, a significant infrastructure cost savings is realized. Only one engine development is required, and the sustaining engineering and flight support infrastructures can be combined. There is also flexibility for changing, the production and flight manifest because a single production line can support both missions with minimal differences between each engine configuration kit.

Kynard, Mike↗