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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2019

Piloted Full-Motion Simulation in Simulink®

A recent experiment at NASA Ames Research Center’s Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) successfully combined a real-time, human in-the-loop architecture with the flexibility of operating in the Simulink® graphical model-based engineering environment. The VMS is a large amplitude flight simulator designed to be adaptable to provide rapid integration and development of a wide variety of vehicles and support diverse aeronautical investigations. Math models are often programmed in Simulink. Typically, to run Simulink models in real time, they are converted to C code. However, the conversion and integration process can be time consuming and cumbersome. Thus, the VMS facility capabilities were expanded to allow a Simulink vehicle math model to run in the MathWorks’ MATLAB environment during a piloted full-motion simulation experiment. The MATLAB Simulink based approach to driving the VMS was found to decrease development time by allowing quick integration of math model changes and providing the ability to run the same version of the model on researcher’s desktop computers. This accomplishment demonstrated that the development ease of the graphical Simulink environment could be retained, while working within the real-time environment of the VMS architecture and maintaining the unique flexibility of the VMS.

Lewis, Emily K.↗
NASA NTRS2017

An Integrated Examination of AMSR2 Products over Ocean

Integrated processing and analysis are presented for oceanic retrievals of precipitation, sea ice concentration, columnar water vapor and cloud water, sea surface temperature, and near surface wind from the advanced microwave scanning radiometer-2 (AMSR2) sensor. By developing a common algorithmic framework and permitting iterative interaction between historically separate science algorithms, ambiguous and contradictory retrieval results are minimized. The integration also serves to improve each algorithm individually, decreasing reliance on ancillary datasets. Case studies are presented that exemplify both ongoing challenges for these retrievals and potential research uses of such an integrated satellite product. Two cases are presented each for precipitation at high latitudes and marginal sea ice detection, with analysis supplemented by satellite data from CloudSat profiles and Himawari-8 imagery. Detection and retrieval of snowfall remains a challenge, while light rainfall detection can be aided by a variational algorithm. Sea ice concentrations below 20% cause disagreements, but the algorithms otherwise agree well on the sea ice edge. Potential mitigation strategies for ambiguous areas of light rainfall and marginal sea ice are discussed. The analysis demonstrates potential avenues for future algorithm development, but also some physical limitations of remote sensing with the AMSR2 frequencies.

variational methods↗
NASA NTRS2024

Crew Health and Performance Integrated Data Architecture (CHP-IDA) Project

BACKGROUND: Future Human Exploration missions introduce a new paradigm as crews move further from the resupply and near real-time ground support typical of Low Earth Orbit missions today. Without immediate support from ground-based personnel, exploration crews will be more reliant on inflight data and technology to respond to emergencies and anomalies. A data architecture to support a new generation of technologies, employing advanced analytical and predictive modeling techniques, is needed to enable crew autonomy. OVERVIEW: The Crew Health and Performance Integrated Data Architecture (CHP-IDA) project funded by NASA’s Exploration Medical Integrated Product Team (XMIPT) is laying a foundation for future in-flight informatics by providing a back-end architecture for collecting, storing, and integrating multiple sources of data generated by and around the crew. CHP-IDA provides a platform for common data models and Application Programming Interfaces to access, integrate, process, and display CHP data (e.g., environmental, exercise, medical, sleep, performance, etc.). This will facilitate the increased situation awareness and decision support required by the crew and remote support of exploration missions. This presentation will describe the currently ongoing effort to develop and evaluate a path-to-flight concept of the CHP-IDA software and its core capabilities. Current integrations will be discussed, including analytics for Extravehicular Activity metabolic rate and data ingestion from a multi-functional integrated medical device. The presentation will also provide examples of scenarios used to demonstrate the CHP-IDA through human-in-the-loop test bed activities as well as examples of appropriate system performance metrics. DISCUSSION: Today, in-flight data is often siloed, unsynchronized, and largely inaccessible in real time. Many data sets require manual entry and/or data transfer between vehicles and the ground. These issues contribute to risks in supporting exploration medical capabilities. The CHP-IDA is a back-end data system providing core capabilities needed for timely and meaningful data insights across CHP domains to crew and remote personnel to enable increased crew autonomy. Future work includes collaboration with additional CHP domains, new technology integrations, and further demonstrations of the IDA within different vehicle and communication latency contexts. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. The audience will understand that the CHP-IDA is a back-end system, providing a platform to facilitate access, promote decision tools, and provide meaningful insights to crew and to remote stakeholders during exploration missions. 2. The audience will gain insight into human-centered research and activities used to discover CHP domain data needs and pain points and how this information is used to guide development of the IDA.

Exploration↗
NASA NTRS1974

Computation of solar perturbations with Poisson series

Description of a project for computing first-order perturbations of natural or artificial satellites by integrating the equations of motion on a computer with automatic Poisson series expansions. A basic feature of the method of solution is that the classical variation-of-parameters formulation is used rather than rectangular coordinates. However, the variation-of-parameters formulation uses the three rectangular components of the disturbing force rather than the classical disturbing function, so that there is no problem in expanding the disturbing function in series. Another characteristic of the variation-of-parameters formulation employed is that six rather unusual variables are used in order to avoid singularities at the zero eccentricity and zero (or 90 deg) inclination. The integration process starts by assuming that all the orbit elements present on the right-hand sides of the equations of motion are constants. These right-hand sides are then simple Poisson series which can be obtained with the use of the Bessel expansions of the two-body problem in conjunction with certain interation methods. These Poisson series can then be integrated term by term, and a first-order solution is obtained.

Broucke, R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The effect of varying task difficulty on subjective workload

The effect of different difficulty distribution patterns on subjective workload, and the presence of a primacy/recency effect in subjective ratings are examined. Eight subjects performed the perceptual central processing required for response selection and manual target acquisition for response execution. The reaction time, movement time, and the percent of correct pattern matching and arithmetic equations are analyzed. The data reveal that subjective rating is unaffected by different task difficulty and no primacy/recency effects are observed in subjective ratings. It is concluded that subjective workload reflects the experience of an ongoing integration process.

Yeh, Y.-Y.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Review of Exploration Systems Development (ESD) Integrated Hazard Development Process: Appendices - Volume 1

The Chief Engineer of the Exploration Systems Development (ESD) Office requested that the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) perform an independent assessment of the ESD's integrated hazard development process. The focus of the assessment was to review the integrated hazard analysis (IHA) process and identify any gaps/improvements in the process (e.g., missed causes, cause tree completeness, missed hazards). This document contains the outcome of the NESC assessment.

Smiles, Michael D.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Review of Exploration Systems Development (ESD) Integrated Hazard Development Process: Volume 2 - Appendices

The Chief Engineer of the Exploration Systems Development (ESD) Office requested that the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) perform an independent assessment of the ESD's integrated hazard development process. The focus of the assessment was to review the integrated hazard analysis (IHA) process and identify any gaps/improvements in the process (e.g. missed causes, cause tree completeness, missed hazards). This document contains the outcome of the NESC assessment.

Smiles, Michael D.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Elements of computational engine-airframe integration

Computerized flow simulation methods are being developed to refine the traditional engine-airframe integration process. These analyses reduce design risk, minimize wind tunnel and flight test requirements, and provide detailed design information not available by any other means. This paper describes computational tools which have matured sufficiently to permit project applications. Several applications are combined with research studies to illustrate the prediction of high-speed nonlinear phenomena associated with engine inlet flow rate, nacelle shape and position, afterbody shape and integration, propeller slipstream interactions, airframe-induced inlet flow, and pylon integration. Both fighter and transport configurations are used to highlight current capabilities and future requirements.

Boppe, C. W.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Rapid prototype fabrication processes for high-performance thrust cells

The Thrust Cell Technologies Program (Air Force Phillips Laboratory Contract No. F04611-92-C-0050) is currently being performed by Rocketdyne to demonstrate advanced materials and fabrication technologies which can be utilized to produce low-cost, high-performance thrust cells for launch and space transportation rocket engines. Under Phase 2 of the Thrust Cell Technologies Program (TCTP), rapid prototyping and investment casting techniques are being employed to fabricate a 12,000-lbf thrust class combustion chamber for delivery and hot-fire testing at Phillips Lab. The integrated process of investment casting directly from rapid prototype patterns dramatically reduces design-to-delivery cycle time, and greatly enhances design flexibility over conventionally processed cast or machined parts.

Hunt, K.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Radiant source tracker independent of nonconstant irradiance

A tracker of a radiant source is disclosed. The tracker is composed of a sectored matrix of detectors whose output voltages correspond to their respective levels of irradiance. The voltages are each sampled during a variable length period and the resulting samples are shaped into triangular samples by an integration process. They are supplied to a demodulator which provides an output corresponding to the difference of the time-voltage product of appropriate combinations of the samples. This output, after filtering, represents the angle of incidence on the detectors with respect to a central axis. The triangular samples are also supplied to a demodulator whose output is an AGC voltage which is a function of the sum of the time-voltage integrals of the triangular samples.

Campbell, F. D.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Space Shuttle Payload Information Source

The Space Shuttle Payload Information Source Compact Disk (CD) is a joint NASA and USA project to introduce Space Shuttle capabilities, payload services and accommodations, and the payload integration process. The CD will be given to new payload customers or to organizations outside of NASA considering using the Space Shuttle as a launch vehicle. The information is high-level in a visually attractive format with a voice over. The format is in a presentation style plus 360 degree views, videos, and animation. Hyperlinks are provided to connect to the Internet for updates and more detailed information on how payloads are integrated into the Space Shuttle.

Griswold, Tom↗
NASA NTRS1998

Dark Forward Electrical Test Techniques Developed for Large-Area Photovoltaic Arrays

Spacecraft photovoltaic arrays (PVA's) must be carefully handled during ground integration processing and transportation to the launch site. Care is exercised to avoid damage that could degrade on-orbit electrical performance. Because of this damage risk, however, PVA's are typically deployed and illuminated with a light source so performance characteristics can be measured prior to launch. For large-area arrays, such as the Mir Cooperative Solar Array (2.7- by 18-m) and the International Space Station PVA blankets (4.6- by 31.7-m), this integrity check becomes resource intensive. Large test support structures are needed to offload the array during deployment in 1g, and large-aperture illumination equipment is required to uniformly illuminate array panels. Significant program time, funds, and manpower must be allocated for this kind of test program. Alternatively, launch site electrical performance tests can be bypassed with an attendant increase in risk.

Kerslake, Thomas W.↗
NASA NTRS2025

Private Astronaut Post-Mission Debrief Interviews Study

BACKGROUND The commercialization of space will increasingly include individuals that are not rigorously-selected, highly-trained professional astronauts. Private astronaut missions (PAMs), such as Axiom-1 in 2022, will continue to travel to the International Space Station in the coming years, but the risk of integrating private astronauts with NASA astronauts has not been clearly quantified nor mitigated. An earlier internal NASA operations assessment, which consisted of a comprehensive literature review and interviews of current NASA experts, found that PAMs are likely to increase the risk to NASA astronauts during integrated missions (Landon, Whiting, Russell, Schorn, Passmore, & Roma, 2022). There are ongoing efforts at NASA to mitigate concerns from a medical, psychological, and technical perspective. NASA experts are working closely with PAM providers to offer recommendations and best practices beyond the limits of requirements to ensure crew health and safety. However, efforts are siloed between groups to some extent, and with the rate of PAMs likely to increase, a more comprehensive and integrated process is needed to reduce the burden on NASA resources. AIMS The purpose of this project is to understand private astronauts’ motivations for journeying to space, their pre-mission preparation period, and their experiences in space. Data will be collected via private astronaut post-mission debrief interviews. This data will inform training needs and in-mission support needed for missions that include private astronauts; the preparation NASA astronauts and mission support personnel will need to work with these integrated crews; and gaps in knowledge to guide research and countermeasure development. Our study aims to (1) Characterize risks posed by commercialization and private astronaut crew integration in spaceflight operations, as it relates to Team, Human Systems Integration Architecture (HSIA), and Behavioral Medicine (BMed) Risks, (2) Recommend potential countermeasures and identify gaps in current research. Countermeasures may be related to crew selection and composition, training, crew support systems (e.g., medical/psychological support, support from Mission Control, on-board resources), and habitability and human factors design. METHOD The BHP Lab will conduct 30-minute interviews with up to eight (8) private astronaut mission (PAM) astronauts (e.g., Axiom) and spaceflight participants (e.g., SFPs or “free flyers” on Polaris Dawn) per year from 2024-2030 to discuss knowledge gaps and needs related to selection and assessment, crew composition, training, crew support systems (e.g., medical/psychological support, support from Mission Control, onboard resources), and habitability and human factors design, which may influence the risk to NASA astronauts. Interviews will then be coded using thematic analysis and interpreted with the assistance of lexical analysis software (e.g., LIWC). As of the end of 2024, we have collected data from one PAM crew. At the conclusion of data collection in 2030, a final report will be prepared integrating all data collected by 2031. SUMMARY Post-return interviews of private astronauts are being conducted to understand their experiences and inform training and countermeasures to ensure the safety of all who journey to the ISS.

Private Astronaut Missions↗
NASA NTRS2015

Interfacing and Verifying ALHAT Safe Precision Landing Systems with the Morpheus Vehicle

The NASA Autonomous precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project developed a suite of prototype sensors to enable autonomous and safe precision landing of robotic or crewed vehicles under any terrain lighting conditions. Development of the ALHAT sensor suite was a cross-NASA effort, culminating in integration and testing on-board a variety of terrestrial vehicles toward infusion into future spaceflight applications. Terrestrial tests were conducted on specialized test gantries, moving trucks, helicopter flights, and a flight test onboard the NASA Morpheus free-flying, rocket-propulsive flight-test vehicle. To accomplish these tests, a tedious integration process was developed and followed, which included both command and telemetry interfacing, as well as sensor alignment and calibration verification to ensure valid test data to analyze ALHAT and Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) performance. This was especially true for the flight test campaign of ALHAT onboard Morpheus. For interfacing of ALHAT sensors to the Morpheus flight system, an adaptable command and telemetry architecture was developed to allow for the evolution of per-sensor Interface Control Design/Documents (ICDs). Additionally, individual-sensor and on-vehicle verification testing was developed to ensure functional operation of the ALHAT sensors onboard the vehicle, as well as precision-measurement validity for each ALHAT sensor when integrated within the Morpheus GNC system. This paper provides some insight into the interface development and the integrated-systems verification that were a part of the build-up toward success of the ALHAT and Morpheus flight test campaigns in 2014. These campaigns provided valuable performance data that is refining the path toward spaceflight infusion of the ALHAT sensor suite.

Carson, John M., III↗
NASA NTRS2016

Atmosphere Processing Module Automation and Catalyst Durability Analysis for Mars ISRU Pathfinder

The Mars In-Situ Resource Utilization Pathfinder was designed to create fuel using components found in the planet’s atmosphere and regolith for an ascension vehicle to return a potential sample return or crew return vehicle from Mars. The Atmosphere Processing Module (APM), a subunit of the pathfinder, uses cryocoolers to isolate and collect carbon dioxide from Mars simulant gas. The carbon dioxide is fed with hydrogen into a Sabatier reactor where methane is produced. The APM is currently undergoing the final stages of testing at Kennedy Space Center prior to process integration testing with the other subunits of the pathfinder. The automation software for the APM cryocoolers was tested and found to perform nominally. The catalyst used for the Sabatier reactor was investigated to determine the factors contributing to catalyst failure. The results from the catalyst testing require further analysis, but it appears that the rapid change in temperature during reactor start up or the elevated operating temperature is responsible for the changes observed in the catalyst.

Atmosphere Processing Module↗
NASA NTRS1987

Strategies for Revitalizing Organizations: Regaining the Competitive Edge

During the last decade, the United States has lost competitive stature in the world. Challenged daily by a technically sophisticated and vitalized global economy, industry and Government are examining quality and productivity initiatives with which to meet the foreign competitive challenge. At stake are our quality of life and our standard of living for the remainder of this century and beyond. Being competitive is an ongoing process, tuned to an awareness and understanding of the dynamics of the world marketplace and to the changing nature of the work environment. Solutions to America's quality and productivity problems do not exist independently within any organization or industry or at any given level of society. Success depends on commitment, partnership, meshing of goals and responsibilities, mutual respect and understanding, and a desire to be first. A change in organizational management culture is required. Traditional authoritarian management practices must give way to enlightened leadership initiatives that stress employee involvement and participation. There must be a lessening of adversarial relationships between management and labor and between industry and Government. Quality and productivity are understood to be the end result of an integrated process which begins with vigorous, committed leadership and ends with a satisfied customer. The essential elements in the revitalization process are organized in this report into seven strategies which represent the major findings of the Second NASA Symposium on Quality and Productivity. Each strategy is then broken down into its principal themes which are presented as recommendations. No one strategy can stand apart from any other; all are interrelated and work together.

Nysmith, C. Robert↗
NASA NTRS2020

Bridging the Gap Between Requirements and Model Analysis : Evaluation on Ten Cyber-Physical Challenge Problems

Formal verfication and simulation are powerful tools to validate requirements against complex systems. [Problem] Requirements are developed in early stages of the software lifecycle and are typically written in ambiguous natural language. There is a gap between such requirements and formal notations that can be used by verification tools, and lack of support for proper association of requirements with software artifacts for verification. [Principal idea] We propose to write requirements in an intuitive, structured natural language with formal semantics, and to support formalization and model/code verification as a smooth, well-integrated process. [Contribution] We have developed an end-to-end, open source requirements analysis framework that checks Simulink models against requirements written in structured natural language. Our framework is built in the Formal Requirements Elicitation Tool (fret); we use fret's requirements language named fretish, and formalization of fretish requirements in temporal logics. Our proposed framework contributes the following features: 1) automatic extraction of Simulink model information and association of fretish requirements with target model signals and components; 2) translation of temporal logic formulas into synchronous dataflow cocospec specifications as well as Simulink monitors, to be used by verification tools; we establish correctness of our translation through extensive automated testing; 3) interpretation of counterexamples produced by verification tools back at requirements level. These features support a tight integration and feedback loop between high level requirements and their analysis. We demonstrate our approach on a major case study: the Ten Lockheed Martin Cyber-Physical, aerospace-inspired challenge problems.

Mavridou, Anastasia↗
NASA NTRS1971

Nonlinear, nonlaminar-3D computation of electron motion through the output cavity of a klystron

The equations of motion used in the computation are discussed along with the space charge fields and the integration process. The following assumptions were used as a basis for the computation: (1) The beam is divided into N axisymmetric discs of equal charge and each disc into R rings of equal charge. (2) The velocity of each disc, its phase with respect to the gap voltage, and its radius at a specified position in the drift tunnel prior to the interaction gap is known from available large signal one dimensional programs. (3) The fringing rf fields are computed from exact analytical expressions derived from the wave equation assuming a known field shape between the tunnel tips at a radius a. (4) The beam is focused by an axisymmetric magnetic field. Both components of B, that is B sub z and B sub r, are taken into account. (5) Since this integration does not start at the cathode but rather further down the stream prior to entering the output cavity it is assumed that each electron moved along a laminar path from the cathode to the start of integration.

Albers, L. U.↗