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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

EVA Planning: Using Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) Training to Predict in-Flight Energy Expenditure

Metabolic rate (“met rate”) is the amount of energy expended over a period of time and is influenced by many factors including body composition, level of physical activity, resting metabolic rate, sex, age, and food intake. Met rate is measured during Extravehicular Activity (EVA) training at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) and during in-flight EVAs through indirect calorimetry, calculating energy expenditure from respiratory measurements of O 2 consumption and/or CO 2 production. During Extravehicular Activity (EVA) planning, metabolic cost is important to consider and is used to inform EVA duration based on spacesuit consumables associated with life support systems. Currently, NBL and previous ISS EVA met rate data for specified crewmembers are utilized to predict in-flight EVA metabolic costs based on a proposed EVA timeline. Timeline data collected during training is used to relate met rates to specific EVA activities, which are in turn assigned to more generalized EVA task categories, categorizing by both task type and restraint type. EVA task categories include EVA Setup/Cleanup, Worksite Setup/Cleanup, Cable Routing, Bolts, Fluid Connectors, Electrical Connectors, R&R Work, Miscellaneous Work, Incapacitated Crew Rescue (being rescued or performing), Assisted Crew Rescue (being assisted or performing), and Translation. Restraint types consist of Free-Float, Body Restraint Tether (BRT), Articulating Portable Foot Restraint (APFR), and Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). From a crewmember’s historical data, individualized 10th, 50th and 90th percentile met rate estimates are generated for each task category and used to estimate the proposed EVA timeline metabolic cost. In-flight metabolic data (“As-Executed”) from recent ISS US EVAs 85-88 (totaling eight EVA crewmember met rates) was compared with their predicted metabolic cost (“As-Planned”) to evaluate the accuracy of the current met rate estimation method. Across the four EVAs, As-Executed Cumulative EVA Total Metabolic Cost (M = 5893.78 BTU, SD = 816.60) was not significantly different compared to As-Planned Cumulative EVA Total Metabolic Cost (M = 6106.60 BTU, SD = 826.62; t(7) = 0.751 , p = .477). Though not a significant difference, generally, As-Planned total estimates were slightly higher than As-Executed total metabolic cost. Relative Error for Cumulative EVA Total Metabolic Cost ranged from -33% to 14.7%, depending on the crewmember and EVA. When comparing As-Planned to A-Executed EVA task categories for Bolts, Electrical Connectors, EVA Cleanup, EVA Setup, Miscellaneous Work, Translation, Worksite Cleanup, and Worksite Setup during these EVAs, no significant differences were observed, however, there was a significant difference in As-Planned (M = 783.71 BTU, SD = 408.88) compared to As-Executed (M = 608.87 BTU, SD = 425.29) metabolic cost for the task category of Repair-and-Replace (R&R) Work (t(17) = 3.21 , p = .005). Looking closer within the R&R Work task category, As-Executed R&R Work with Free-Float restraint type (M = 706.17 BTU, SD = 352.18) was significantly less than As-Planned R&R Work with Free-Float restraint type (M= 887.96 BTU, SD = 381.42; t(12) = 2.59, p < .024). As-Executed R&R Work with SSRMS Restraint type (M = 355.89 BTU, SD = 534.65) was not significantly different from As-Planned values (M = 512.69 BTU, SD = 383.34; t(4) = 1.88, p = 0.132). These findings suggest that the energy expended performing R&R Work (Free-Float) is lower in flight than predicted. Accurate predictions of the metabolic cost of EVA are essential for planning and executing successful ISS EVAs. Overall, the current met rate prediction method is similar to actual in-flight values, slightly erring on the side of overestimation. Future work includes analysis of more historical in-flight EVA data to increase the power of the analysis, evaluating the NBL-ISS met rate conversion factor between NBL and ISS tasks, as well as exploring methods of substitution when crewmembers are missing prior task category data.

Lauren Cox↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data-driven Community-centered Resilient Assessment and Planning Toolkit for Nexus of Energy and Water (DCRAPT-NEW)

Urban areas, including Detroit and Pittsburgh, have suffered significant dual outages of the electrical and water infrastructure in the past decade due, in part, to the increasing number of extreme weather events. With increasing temperatures and rainfall intensity, these regions need to prepare for increasing extreme events through community-based energy and water resilience analysis, planning, and enhancement. This project developed a suite of open-source, open-access, community-centered, data-driven assessment and distributed energy resource (DER) and planning tools for energy and water resilience enhancement in urban areas. Through establishing a multi-level community awareness and engagement mechanism and a comprehensive collection of power outage and flooding data, an innovative group of community energy and water resilience assessment and planning tools have been developed for a wide range of users with differing and variable sets of data available to them. The developed tools include (1) DOE EAGLE-I data-driven, deep-learning assisted resilience assessment and DER planning tools at the county level with socioeconomic factors incorporated; (2) Utility annual power outage data-driven tools for long term resilience assessment and DER planning and 15-min power outage data-driven tools for short term resilience assessment and planning; (3) Detailed engineering tools for energy and water systems resilience assessment and planning when the system topology and component fragility curves are available; (4) Alternative Resiliency Metric Calculation that extracts and separates outage and restoration processes; and (5) Co-optimization tools that evaluate the resilience of the power and sewage system and allow users to conduct joint planning with energy and wastewater systems. The developed tools provide planners, decision-makers, and stakeholders with powerful capabilities to systematically evaluate system/community resilience and optimal and actionable guidance for enhancing resilience while prioritizing DER investments. The tools have been used and validated in Detroit and Pittsburgh and can be used in other areas of the nation. In addition, this project will (1) advance the knowledge and applications of machine-learning methods in analyzing and fusing different layers of information and generating meaningful data points such as generating rare weather events; (2) significantly improve the energy and water resilience of the identified communities in Detroit and Pittsburgh and prepare for more frequent and severe weather conditions; (3) help communities assess extreme weather event impacts and address short-term and long-term resilience-related issues The developed tools have been made public via GitHub and demonstrated to community stakeholders and utility companies via the two annual workshops and numerous community engagement meetings. The project outcomes are also disseminated through publications in various journals and conference proceedings, and presentations at top conferences.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Uruguay's Action Plan and Experience for Power Sector Decarbonization

A collaborative report from the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), Lessons Learned for Rapid Decarbonization of Power Sectors, was delivered to energy ministers and presented at the 13th CEM (CEM13) in the United States in September 2022. In light of these lessons learned and discussed at CEM13, several jurisdictions signaled intent to develop Action Plans for power sector decarbonization. The first cohort of Action Plans was released at CEM14 in India in July 2023. The Uruguay Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining is pleased to release this Action Plan as a contribution to the second cohort of Action Plans released at CEM15 in Brazil in October 2024. The Action Plans, supported by the 21st Century Power Partnership, and other CEM workstreams via direct technical assistance and capacity building, are intended to focus on select implementation actions given each country's existing power sector goals and activities, and are an opportunity for countries to display leadership in power sector decarbonization. The Action Plans are organized in a framework for planning, building, and operating, as well as stakeholder engagement where appropriate based on country priorities. They complement, but are differentiated from, other international power sector initiatives such as the Breakthrough Agenda (whose broad purpose is to raise collective ambition) and the Global Power System Transformation Consortium (whose goals are to convene power system operators to accelerate research innovations and foster peer learning). These Action Plans are voluntary, developed by each country individually, not comprehensive of all activities within the jurisdiction, and are living documents that are subject to change.

21st Century Power Partnership↗
DOE OSTI2024

Investigating the effects of cooperative transmission expansion planning on grid performance during heat waves with varying spatial scales

There is growing recognition of the advantages of interregional transmission capacity to decarbonize electricity grids. A less explored benefit is potential performance improvements during extreme weather events. This study examines the impacts of cooperative transmission expansion planning using an advanced modeling chain to simulate power grid operations of the United States Western Interconnection in 2019 and 2059 under different levels of collaboration between transmission planning regions. Two historical heat waves in 2019 with varying geographical coverage are replayed under future climate change in 2059 to assess the transmission cooperation benefits during grid stress. The results show that cooperative transmission planning yields the best outcomes in terms of reducing wholesale electricity prices and minimizing energy outages both for the whole interconnection and individual transmission planning regions. Compared to individual planning, cooperative planning reduces wholesale electricity prices by 64.3 % and interconnection-wide total costs (transmission investments + grid operations) by 34.6 % in 2059. It also helps decrease greenhouse gas emissions by increasing renewable energy utilization. However, the benefits of cooperation diminish during the widespread heat wave when all regions face extreme electricity demand due to higher space cooling needs. Despite this, cooperative transmission planning remains advantageous, particularly for California Independent System Operator with significant diurnal solar generation capacity. This study suggests that cooperation in transmission planning is crucial for reducing costs and increasing reliability both during normal periods and extreme weather events. It highlights the importance of optimizing the strategic investments to mitigate challenges posed by wider-scale extreme weather events of the future.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2004

Cassini science planning process

The mission design for Cassini-Huygens calls for a four-year orbital survey of the Saturnian system and the descent into the Titan atmosphere and eventual soft-landing of the Huygens probe. The Cassini orbiter tour consists of 76 orbits around Saturn with 44 close Titan flybys and 8 targeted icy satellite flybys. The Cassini orbiter spacecraft carries twelve scientific instruments that will perform a wide range of observations on a multitude of designated targets. The science opportunities, frequency of encounters, the length of the Tour, and the use of distributed operations pose significant challenges for developing the science plan for the orbiter mission. The Cassini Science Planning Process is the process used to develop and integrate the science and engineering plan that incorporates an acceptable level of science required to meet the primary mission objectives far the orbiter. The bulk of the integrated science and engineering plan will be developed prior to Saturn Orbit Insertion (Sol). The Science Planning Process consists of three elements: 1) the creation of the Tour Atlas, which identifies the science opportunities in the tour, 2) the development of the Science Operations Plan (SOP), which is the conflict-free timeline of all science observations and engineering activities, a constraint-checked spacecraft pointing profile, and data volume allocations to the science instruments, and 3) an Aftermarket and SOP Update process, which is used to update the SOP while in tour with the latest information on spacecraft performance, science opportunities, and ephemerides. This paper will discuss the various elements of the Science Planning Process used on the Cassini Mission to integrate, implement, and adapt the science and engineering activity plans for Tour.

Cassini↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Plan-Property Dependencies are Useful: A User Study

The trade-offs between different desirable plan properties –e. g. PDDL temporal plan preferences – are often difficult to understand. Recent work proposes to address this by iterative planning with explanations elucidating the dependencies between such plan properties. Users can ask questions of the form “Why does the plan you suggest not satisfy property p?”, which are answered by “Because then we would have to forego q” where ¬q is entailed by p in plan space. It has been shown that such plan-property dependencies can be computed reasonably efficiently. But is this form of explanation actually useful for users? We contribute a user study evaluating that question. We design use cases from three domains and run a large user study (N= 40 for each domain, ca. 40 minutes work time per user and domain) on the internet platform Prolific. Comparing users with vs. without access to the explanations, we find that the explanations tend to enable users to identify better trade-offs between the plan properties, indicating an improved understanding of the task.

Explainable Planning↗
DOE OSTI2026

Generative large language models for predictive maintenance planning

Maintenance planning and the generation of necessary components for tasks can prove time-consuming and complex. Automating the creation of recurring or similar tasks by leveraging previous planning packages and data, while uncovering insights to automate planning package generation, presents an opportunity to conserve valuable time and resources. This work aims to harness the textual and probabilistic capabilities of large language models (LLMs) to automate the generation of planning packages. Utilizing diverse data sources ranging from raw data to handwritten text, both singular and collaborative LLMs are trained and tested. Results demonstrate their capability to generate essential planning package components, effectively replicating the statistical patterns in the data. This demonstrates the use of these tools inside a digital asset for automated planning. This work outlines a methodology for constructing datasets, a training suite, and evaluation methods for LLM-based textual and conversational planning tools utilized in an asset digital twin. Results indicate that the fine-tuned models generate estimated planning information within the statistical ranges observed in real maintenance data. The models achieve high accuracy (>90%) in document question-answering and instruction generation tasks. Furthermore, the conversational retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) assistant system achieves 100% document retrieval accuracy, while conversational information capture exceeds 98% across the majority of work-package assistant modules.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1986

Impact of the 1985 Space World Administrative Radio Conference on frequency/orbit planning and use

The 1985 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC-ORB-85) was held to determine which space radio services should be planned and which planning methods should be used. The second session of this Conference (WARC-ORB-88) will meet to develop the required plans. This paper presents the results of WARC-ORB-85, assesses the impact of those decisions, and identifies the intersessional work to be conducted by administrations and the CCIR (Consultative Committee on International Radio). The major decisions of WARC-ORB-85 were: (1) the restriction of additional planning to the fixed satellite service at identified frequencies; and (2) the selection of a planning method consisting of two parts (a) an allotment plan, and (b) improved procedures. The paper also discusses WARC-ORB-85 decisions relative to the Region 2 broadcast satellite service plans at 12 GHz, feederlink planning for Regions 1 and 3 broadcast satellites at 12 GHz, and sound broadcast satellite service.

Miller, E. F.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Impact of the 1985 space World Administrative Radio Conference on frequency/orbit planning and use

The 1985 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC-ORB-85) was held to determine which space radio services should be planned and which planning methods should be used. The second session of this Conference (WARC-ORB-88) will meet to develop the required plans. This paper presents the results of WARC-ORB-85, assesses the impact of those decisions, and identifies the intersessional work to be conducted by administrations and the CCIR (consultative Committee on International Radio). The major decisions of WARC-ORB-85 were: (1) the restriction of additional planning to the fixed satellite service at identified frequencies; and (2) the selection of a planning method consisting of two parts: (a) an allotment plan, and (b) improved procedures. The paper also discusses WARC-ORB-85 decisions relative to the Region 2 broadcast satellite service plans at 12 GHz, feederlink planning for Regions 1 and 3 broadcast satellites at 12 GHz, and sound broadcast satellite service.

Miller, E. F.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Space Station Mission Planning System (MPS) development study. Volume 1: Executive summary

The basic objective of the Space Station (SS) Mission Planning System (MPS) Development Study was to define a baseline Space Station mission plan and the associated hardware and software requirements for the system. A detailed definition of the Spacelab (SL) payload mission planning process and SL Mission Integration Planning System (MIPS) software was derived. A baseline concept was developed for performing SS manned base payload mission planning, and it was consistent with current Space Station design/operations concepts and philosophies. The SS MPS software requirements were defined. Also, requirements for new software include candidate programs for the application of artificial intelligence techniques to capture and make more effective use of mission planning expertise. A SS MPS Software Development Plan was developed which phases efforts for the development software to implement the SS mission planning concept.

Klus, W. J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Mission planning for autonomous systems

Planning is a necessary task for intelligent, adaptive systems operating independently of human controllers. A mission planning system that performs task planning by decomposing a high-level mission objective into subtasks and synthesizing a plan for those tasks at varying levels of abstraction is discussed. Researchers use a blackboard architecture to partition the search space and direct the focus of attention of the planner. Using advanced planning techniques, they can control plan synthesis for the complex planning tasks involved in mission planning.

Pearson, G.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Space Station Freedom operations planning

The Space Station Freedom program is developing an operations planning structure which assigns responsibility for planning activities to three tiers of management. The strategic level develops the policy, goals and requirements for the program over a five-year horizon. Planning at the tactical level emphasizes program integration and planning for a two-year horizon. The tactical planning process, architecture, and products have been documented and discussed with the international partners. Tactical planning includes the assignment of user and system hardware as well as significant operational events to a time increment (the period of time from the arrival of one Shuttle to the manned base to the arrival of the next). Execution-level planning emphasizes implementation, and each organization produces detailed plans, by increment, that are specific to its function.

Accola, Anne L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Optimum-AIV: A planning and scheduling system for spacecraft AIV

A project undertaken for the European Space Agency (ESA) is presented. The project is developing a knowledge based software system for planning and scheduling of activities for spacecraft assembly, integration, and verification (AIV). The system extends into the monitoring of plan execution and the plan repair phase. The objectives are to develop an operational kernel of a planning, scheduling, and plan repair tool, called OPTIMUM-AIV, and to provide facilities which will allow individual projects to customize the kernel to suit its specific needs. The kernel shall consist of a set of software functionalities for assistance in initial specification of the AIV plan, in verification and generation of valid plans and schedules for the AIV activities, and in interactive monitoring and execution problem recovery for the detailed AIV plans. Embedded in OPTIMUM-AIV are external interfaces which allow integration with alternative scheduling systems and project databases. The current status of the OPTIMUM-AIV project, as of Jan. 1991, is that a further analysis of the AIV domain has taken place through interviews with satellite AIV experts, a software requirement document (SRD) for the full operational tool was approved, and an architectural design document (ADD) for the kernel excluding external interfaces is ready for review.

Arentoft, M. M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A planning language for activity scheduling

Mission planning and scheduling of spacecraft operations are becoming more complex at NASA. Described here are a mission planning process; a robust, flexible planning language for spacecraft and payload operations; and a software scheduling system that generates schedules based on planning language inputs. The mission planning process often involves many people and organizations. Consequently, a planning language is needed to facilitate communication, to provide a standard interface, and to represent flexible requirements. The software scheduling system interprets the planning language and uses the resource, time duration, constraint, and alternative plan flexibilities to resolve scheduling conflicts.

Zoch, David R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Strategic plan, 1991: A strategy for leadership in space through excellence in space science and applications

In 1988, the Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) developed and published a Strategic Plan for the United States' space science and applications program during the next 5 to 10 years. The Plan presented the proposed OSSA program for the next fiscal year and defined a flexible process that provides the basis for near-term decisions on the allocation of resources and the planning of future efforts. Based on the strategies that have been developed by the advisory committees both of the National Academy of Sciences and of NASA, the Plan balances major, moderate, and small mission initiatives, the utilization of Space Station Freedom, and the requirements for a vital research base. The Plan can be adjusted to accommodate varying budget levels, both those levels that provide opportunities for an expanded science and applications program, and those that constrain growth. SSA's strategic planning is constructed around five actions: establish a set of programmatic themes; establish a set of decision rules; establish a set of priorities for missions and programs within each theme; demonstrate that the strategy can yield a viable program; and check the strategy for consistency with resource constraints. The outcome of this process is a clear, coherent strategy that meets both NASA's and OSSA's goals, that assures realism in long-range planning and advanced technology development, and that provides sufficient resiliency to respond and adapt to both known and unexpected internal and external realities. The OSSA Strategic Plan is revised annually to reflect the approval of new programs, improved understanding of requirements and issues, and any major changes in the circumstances, both within NASA and external to NASA, in which OSSA initiatives are considered.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1994

CRI planning and scheduling for space

Computer Resources International (CRI) has many years of experience in developing space planning and scheduling systems for the European Space Agency. Activities range from AIT/AIV planning over mission planning to research in on-board autonomy using advanced planning and scheduling technologies in conjunction with model based diagnostics. This article presents four projects carried out for ESA by CRI with various subcontractors: (1) DI, Distributed Intelligence for Ground/Space Systems is an on-going research project; (2) GMPT, Generic Mission Planning Toolset, a feasibility study concluded in 1993; (3) OPTIMUM-AIV, Open Planning Tool for AIV, development of a knowledge based AIV planning and scheduling tool ended in 1992; and (4) PlanERS-1, development of an AI and knowledge-based mission planning prototype for the ERS-1 earth observation spacecraft ended in 1991.

Aarup, Mads↗
NASA NTRS1995

Architecture for Payload Planning System (PPS) Software Distribution

The complex and diverse nature of the pay load operations to be performed on the Space Station requires a robust and flexible planning approach, and the proper software tools which tools to support that approach. To date, the planning software for most manned operations in space has been utilized in a centralized planning environment. Centralized planning is characterized by the following: performed by a small team of people, performed at a single location, and performed using single-user planning systems. This approach, while valid for short duration flights, is not conducive to the long duration and highly distributed payload operations environment of the Space Station. The Payload Planning System (PPS) is being designed specifically to support the planning needs of the large number of geographically distributed users of the Space Station. This paper problem provides a general description of the distributed planning architecture that PPS must support and describes the concepts proposed for making PPS available to the Space Station payload user community.

Howell, Eric↗
NASA NTRS1996

Mission to Planet Earth Strategic Enterprise Plan 1996-2002

Mission to Planet Earth's (MTPE's) first Strategic Enterprise Plan, issued in May 1995, defined the Agency's major goals and objectives as well as constraints. This update of the Strategic Enterprise Plan identifies the following major changes: a focused Science Research Plan that integrates space-based and in situ observational critical science to address critical science uncertainties; a technology infusion plan to reduce the cost of future missions; a series of flight opportunities to infuse new science into the overall program; and a tighter coupling between NASA and NOAA to reduce costs and to improve the overall program. Three important new initiatives are also under development and are described briefly in this plan: MTPE Education Strategy, MTPE Commercial Strategy, and an emerging concept for an Integrated Global Observing Strategy. This first update to the MTPE Strategic Enterprise Plan captures these new developments, and takes a significant step forward in planning this complex Earth system science endeavor. The plan and other information on MTPE may be viewed via the Internet at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/mtpe/.

Source record↗