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Recommendations and requirements for the preparation of personnel with some scientific or technological background to enter fields of public policy and administration are reported. University efforts to provide science administration graduate programs are outlined and increased cooperation between government and university resources is outlined.
The system requirements of three selected Life Science laboratory concepts are defined for the mission phases of prelaunch, launch, on orbit, descent, and post landing. For Vol. 1, see N76-15765.
Working data on the equipment items within the Life Sciences Laboratory Common Equipment Inventory are presented. For Vol. 1, see N76-15765.
Methods are defined for implementing quality assurance policy and requirements for life sciences laboratory equipment, experimental hardware, integration and test support equipment, and integrated payloads.
Specific activity in information extraction science (taken to include data handling) is needed to: help identify the bounds of practical missions; identify potential data handling and analysis scenarios; identify the required enabling technology; and identify the requirements for a design data base to be used by the disciplines in determining potential parameters for future missions. It was defined that specific analysis topics were a function of the discipline involved, and therefore no attempt was made to define any specific analysis developments required. Rather, it was recognized that a number of generic data handling requirements exist whose solutions cannot be typically supported by the disciplines. The areas of concern were therefore defined as: data handling aspects of system design considerations; enabling technology for data handling, with specific attention to rectification and registration; and enabling technology for analysis. Within each of these areas, the following topics were addressed: state of the art (current status and contributing factors); critical issues; and recommendations for research and/or development.
Adoption of an aggressive computer science research and technology program within NASA will: (1) enable new mission capabilities such as autonomous spacecraft, reliability and self-repair, and low-bandwidth intelligent Earth sensing; (2) lower manpower requirements, especially in the areas of Space Shuttle operations, by making fuller use of control center automation, technical support, and internal utilization of state-of-the-art computer techniques; (3) reduce project costs via improved software verification, software engineering, enhanced scientist/engineer productivity, and increased managerial effectiveness; and (4) significantly improve internal operations within NASA with electronic mail, managerial computer aids, an automated bureaucracy and uniform program operating plans.
Research continues to focus on improving the type, quantity, and quality of information which can be derived from remotely sensed data. The focus is on remote sensing and application for the Earth Observing System (Eos) and Space Station, including associated polar and co-orbiting platforms. The remote sensing research activities are being expanded, integrated, and extended into the areas of global science, georeferenced information systems, machine assissted information extraction from image data, and artificial intelligence. The accomplishments in these areas are examined.
The Spacelab Life Sciences 1 (SLS-1) mission is discussed, and an overview of the SLS-1 Spacelab configuration is shown. Twenty interdisciplinary experiments, planned for this mission, are intended to explore the early stages of human and animal physiological adaptation to space flight conditions. Biomedical and gravitational biology experiments include cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary deconditioning, altered vestibular functions, altered metabolic functions (including altered fluid-electrolyte regulation), muscle atrophy, bone demineralization, decreased red blood cell mass, and altered immunologic responses.
Results from investigations conducted in preparation for the first Spacelab life-sciences mission are summarized in selected previously published papers. Topics discussed are the role of calcium in osteoporosis, orthostaic hypotension, cardiovascular adjustments to gravitational stress, cell biology, exposure to stressful environments, heart-lung interactions in aerospace medicine, effects of weightlessness on human fluid and electrolyte physiology, macular bioaccelerometers on earth and in space, and metabolism of nonessential N-15-labeled amino acids and the measurement of human whole-body protein synthesis rates.
A general review is presented of flight data and related hardware developments for Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS) 1 with an eye toward applying this knowledge to projected flight planning. Specific attention is given to the Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF), the General Purpose Work Station (GPWS), the Small Mass Measuring Instrument (SMMI), and the Animal Enclosure Module (AEM). Preflight and in-flight testing methods are detailed including biocompatibility tests, parametric engineering sensitivity analyses, measurements of environmental parameters, and studies of operational interfaces. Particulate containment is demonstrated for some of the equipment, and successful use of the GPWS, RAHF, AEM, and SMMI are reported. The in-flight data are useful for developing more advanced hardware such as the AEM for SLS flight 2 and the modified RAHF for SLS flight 3.
Successful exploration of space depends on the health and well-being of people who travel and work there. For this reason, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has dedicated several Space Shuttle missions to examine how living and working in space affects the human body. Spacelab Life Sciences 1 (SLS-1) is the first of these missions. The main purpose of the SLS-1 mission is to study the mechanisms, magnitudes, and time courses of certain physiological changes that occur during space flight and to investigate the consequences of the body's adaptation to microgravity and readjustment to gravity upon return to Earth. How does space flight influence the heart and circulatory system, metabolic processes, the muscles and bones, and the cells? If responses to weightlessness are undesirable, how can they be prevented or controlled? Will the human body maintain its physical and chemical equilibrium during months aboard a space station and years-long missions to Mars? When crews return to Earth, what can they expect to experience as their bodies readjust to Earth's gravity? With the SLS-1 experiments, NASA is addressing some of these questions. Various aspects of the SLS-1 are discussed.
The purpose of this document is to introduce Geographical Information System (GIS) terminology and summarize interviews conducted with scientists in the Earth Science and Applications Division (ESAD). There is a growing need in ESAD for GIS technology. With many different data sources available to the scientists comes the need to be able to process and view these data in an efficient manner. Since most of these data are stored in vastly different formats, specialized software and hardware are needed. Several ESAD scientists have been using a GIS, specifically the Man-computer Interactive Data Access System (MCIDAS). MCIDAS can solve many of the research problems that arise, but there are areas of research that need more powerful tools; one such example is the multispectral image analysis which is described in this document. Given the strong need for GIS in ESAD, we recommend that a requirements analysis and implementation plan be developed using this document as a basis for further investigation.
This document provides the Software Management Plan for the GLAS Standard Data Software (SDS) supporting the GLAS instrument of the EOS ICESat Spacecraft. The SDS encompasses the ICESat Science Investigator-led Processing System (I-SIPS) Software and the Instrument Support Terminal (IST) Software. For the I-SIPS Software, the SDS will produce Level 0, Level 1, and Level 2 data products as well as the associated product quality assessments and descriptive information. For the IST Software, the SDS will accommodate the GLAS instrument support areas of engineering status, command, performance assessment, and instrument health status.
This document provides the Data Management Plan for the GLAS Standard Data Software (SDS) supporting the GLAS instrument of the EOS ICESat Spacecraft. The SDS encompasses the ICESat Science Investigator-led Processing System (I-SIPS) Software and the Instrument Support Facility (ISF) Software. This Plan addresses the identification, authority, and description of the interface nodes associated with the GLAS Standard Data Products and the GLAS Ancillary Data.
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) received five-year funding to form the Pan American Center for Earth and Environmental Studies (PACES) in July 1995. PACES has as its goals to conduct research contributing to NASA's Mission to Planet Earth and to develop skilled scientists and engineers. PACES seeks to gain a more comprehensive understanding of geological, ecological and environmental processes and changes taking place in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico region. The PACES center has collaborative ties with two NASA field center (Goddard Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The original proposal contained no provision for outreach programs. However, at a meeting in the fall of 1995, Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator, issued the challenge that in order to accomplish NASA's goals to educate more of the citizenry in science and engineering, the Centers should take a broader perspective aimed at younger children.
Although the primary focus of the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) mission will be the characterization and study of Jupiter's icy moons, there will be opportunities throughout the mission for unprecendented observations of Jupiter. With an adaptable suite of payload instruments, the atmospheric data collected by JIMO can help to answer fundamental questions about the largest planet in our solar system that remain after (or were generated by) previous spacecraft reconnaissance (e.g. Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini). Near-IR (0.7-4 micron) spectral imaging will most likely be used to identify mineralogies and ices on the Jovian satellites by virtue of their spectral signatures. This same capability is very well tailored for studies of Jovian atmospheric dynamics and structure. Near-IR methane absorption bands allow 2-D mapping of the horizontal wind field at size scales to tens of kms, as well as the height dependence of this field above the ammonia cloud deck (700 to a few mbar), constraining current models of atmospheric vertical structure. Likewise, atmospheric ice aerosols with unique spectroscopic signatures (ammonia ice near 1.5, 2.0, and 2.8 microns and water ice between 3.0 - 3.5 microns) can be detected and mapped using spectral difference imaging or spectrally inclusive principal-component methods. Spectral imaging of the Jovian aurora via (3)H(+) emission lines between 3 - 4 microns can be used to spatially map the interplay between the satellites) Jupiter's magnetosphere, and Jupiter's atmosphere. Each of these measurements addresses one or more fundamental questions related to the energy balance in Jupiter's atmosphere. All of these tunable imaging objectives can be achieved using acousto-optic tunable filters (AOTF's), which have been used for years in ground-based observing instruments and which have been proposed for numerous planetary missions. The application of this technology to the science objectives of both the icy satellites and Jovian atmospheric components of the JIMO mission will be discussed.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is expected to launch in August 2005, arrive at Mars in March 2006, and begin the primary science phase in November 2006. MRO will carry a suite of remote-sensing instruments and is designed to routinely point off-nadir to precisely target locations on Mars for high-resolution observations. The mission will have a much higher data return than any previous planetary mission, with 34 Tb of returned data expected in the first Mars year in the mapping orbit. The mapping orbit is nearly polar, 255 x 320 km above the surface, 12 orbits per day. The HiRISE camera, features a 0.5 m telescope, 12 m focal length, and 14 CCDs. Basic capabilities are summarized.
The session, "Mars Polar Science and Exploration" included the following reports: Evidence for Possible Exposed Water Ice Deposits in Martian Low Latitude Chasms and Chaos; Stability and Exchange of Subsurface Ice on Mars; Evaporation Rates for Liquid Water and Ice Under Current Martian Conditions; Seasonal Cycle of Carbon Dioxide and Atmospheric Circulation in Mars Southern Hemisphere as Observed by Neutron Spectroscopy; Imaging Polarimetry of Mars with Hubble Space Telescope in 2003 Opposition; GCM Simulations of Tropical Ice Accumulations: Implications for Cold-based Glaciers; Numerical Modeling of Glaciers in Martian Paleoclimates; Valley Glaciers on Mars: Calculation of Flow Rate and Thickness; Internal Structure of the Southern Polar Cap of Mars and Formation Implications; Sublimation at the Base of a Seasonal CO2 Slab on Mars; Impact Crater Abundance of the Martian South Polar Layered Deposits from THEMIS Visible Imaging; Recent Changes in South-Polar-Polygonal Terrain During One Martian Year: Implications for Subsurface Ice-Wedges; and An Historical Search for Unfrozen Water at the Phoenix Landing Site.