SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “administration tool”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 163 records · Page 9

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2016

Reducing Departure Delays for Adjacent Center Airports using Time-Based Flow Management Scheduler: Checkbox On or Off?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has enhanced the Time-Based Flow Management (TBFM) scheduling tool with a "Checkbox ON" vs. "OFF" function which allows Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) to make room in a crowded arrival stream for a departure. When scheduling a departure, having the checkbox ON can delay the Scheduled Times of Arrivals (STAs) of the airborne flights upstream of the TBFM freeze horizons and can compress these flights to their minimum required spacing, thereby creating a slot for a departure. Hence, having the checkbox ON can reduce the frequent ground delays of aircraft departing near high volume airports but can increase delays for airborne arrivals. A Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) simulation compared arrival and departure delays to Newark Airport (EWR) with the checkbox ON vs. OFF as the default position. Three other conditions in this HITL involved various National Airspace System (NAS)-wide approaches for timely delivery of aircraft to the TBFM region. These conditions were: Baseline, using current Mile-in-Trail (MIT) spacing restrictions; Integrated Demand Management (IDM), where all aircraft were given departure times (Expect Departure Clearance Times, or EDCTs), ultimately based on the EWR Airport Arrival Rate; and IDM plus Required Time of Arrival (RTA), a flight deck tool which allowed some aircraft to meet a controlled time of arrival to the TBFM area more precisely. Results showed that the checkbox tool was powerful: with the checkbox ON, departure delays decreased and airborne delays increased, as predicted. However, assuming that the cost ratio of a minute of airborne delay to a minute of departure delay is in the range of 1.2 to 3, as commonly indicated by the literature, checkbox ON and checkbox OFF conditions showed approximately equal total delay costs, i.e., the cost of delays in the air balanced the cost of the delay on the ground. The three scheduling conditions also had approximately equal total delay costs, although a simulation artifact may have reduced the delays in the Baseline condition. In the debrief following the simulation, the TMCs concluded that the checkbox should be used flexibly depending on the current delay situation, and suggested modifications to the checkbox tool which would help them use it in this way, along with enhanced training. The relatively similar total cost of both checkbox default options in this simulation indicates that this might be a fruitful approach, and replace the necessity to have the checkbox rigidly set to either ON or OFF.

departure delay↗

NASA NTRS2000

Aerospace Systems Design in NASA's Collaborative Engineering Environment

Past designs of complex aerospace systems involved an environment consisting of collocated design teams with project managers, technical discipline experts, and other experts (e.g., manufacturing and systems operation). These experts were generally qualified only on the basis of past design experience and typically had access to a limited set of integrated analysis tools. These environments provided less than desirable design fidelity, often lead to the inability of assessing critical programmatic and technical issues (e.g., cost, risk, technical impacts), and generally derived a design that was not necessarily optimized across the entire system. The continually changing, modern aerospace industry demands systems design processes that involve the best talent available (no matter where it resides) and access to the the best design and analysis tools. A solution to these demands involves a design environment referred to as collaborative engineering. The collaborative engineering environment evolving within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a capability that enables the Agency's engineering infrastructure to interact and use the best state-of-the-art tools and data across organizational boundaries. Using collaborative engineering, the collocated team is replaced with an interactive team structure where the team members are geographical distributed and the best engineering talent can be applied to the design effort regardless of physical location. In addition, a more efficient, higher quality design product is delivered by bringing together the best engineering talent with more up-to-date design and analysis tools. These tools are focused on interactive, multidisciplinary design and analysis with emphasis on the complete life cycle of the system, and they include nontraditional, integrated tools for life cycle cost estimation and risk assessment. NASA has made substantial progress during the last two years in developing a collaborative engineering environment. NASA is planning to use this collaborative engineering engineering infrastructure to provide better aerospace systems life cycle design and analysis, which includes analytical assessment of the technical and programmatic aspects of a system from "cradle to grave." This paper describes the recent NASA developments in the area of collaborative engineering, the benefits (realized and anticipated) of using the developed capability, and the long-term plans for implementing this capability across Agency.

Monell, Donald W.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Aerospace Systems Design in NASA's Collaborative Engineering Environment

Past designs of complex aerospace systems involved an environment consisting of collocated design teams with project managers, technical discipline experts, and other experts (e.g. manufacturing and systems operations). These experts were generally qualified only on the basis of past design experience and typically had access to a limited set of integrated analysis tools. These environments provided less than desirable design fidelity, often lead to the inability of assessing critical programmatic and technical issues (e.g., cost risk, technical impacts), and generally derived a design that was not necessarily optimized across the entire system. The continually changing, modern aerospace industry demands systems design processes that involve the best talent available (no matter where it resides) and access to the best design and analysis tools. A solution to these demands involves a design environment referred to as collaborative engineering. The collaborative engineering environment evolving within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a capability that enables the Agency's engineering infrastructure to interact and use the best state-of-the-art tools and data across organizational boundaries. Using collaborative engineering, the collocated team is replaced with an interactive team structure where the team members are geographically distributed and the best engineering talent can be applied to the design effort regardless of physical location. In addition, a more efficient, higher quality design product is delivered by bringing together the best engineering talent with more up-to-date design and analysis tools. These tools are focused on interactive, multidisciplinary design and analysis with emphasis on the complete life cycle of the system, and they include nontraditional, integrated tools for life cycle cost estimation and risk assessment. NASA has made substantial progress during the last two years in developing a collaborative engineering environment. NASA is planning to use this collaborative engineering infrastructure to provide better aerospace systems life cycle design and analysis, which includes analytical assessment of the technical and programmatic aspects of a system from "cradle to grave." This paper describes the recent NASA developments in the area of collaborative engineering, the benefits (realized and anticipated) of using the developed capability, and the long-term plans for implementing this capability across the Agency.

Monell, Donald W.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Initial Evaluation of a Conflict Detection Tool in the Terminal Area

Despite the recent economic recession and its adverse impact on air travel, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to forecast an increase in air traffic demand that may see traffic double or triple by the year 2025. Increases in air traffic will burden the air traffic management system, and higher levels of safety and efficiency will be required. The air traffic controllers primary task is to ensure separation between aircraft in their airspace and keep the skies safe. As air traffic is forecasted to increase in volume and complexity [1], there is an increased likelihood of conflicts between aircraft, which adds risk and inefficiency to air traffic management and increases controller workload. To attenuate these factors, recent ATM research has shown that air and ground-based automation tools could reduce controller workload, especially if the automation is focused on conflict detection and resolution. Conflict Alert is a short time horizon conflict detection tool deployed in the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), which has limited utility due to the high number of false alerts generated and its use of dead reckoning to predict loss of separation between aircraft. Terminal Tactical Separation Assurance Flight Environment (T-TSAFE) is a short time horizon conflict detection tool that uses both flight intent and dead reckoning to detect conflicts. Results of a fast time simulation experiment indicated that TTSAFE provided a more effective alert lead-time and generated less false alerts than Conflict Alert [2]. TSAFE was previously tested in a Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) simulation study that focused on the en route phase of flight [3]. The current study tested the T-TSAFE tool in an HITL simulation study, focusing on the terminal environment with current day operations. The study identified procedures, roles, responsibilities, information requirements and usability, with the help of TRACON controllers who participated in the experiment. Metrics such as lead alert time, alert response time, workload, situation awareness and other measures were statistically analyzed. These metrics were examined from an overall perspective and comparisons between conditions (altitude resolutions via keyboard entry vs. ADS-B entry) and controller positions (two final approach sectors and two feeder sectors) were also examined. Results of these analyses and controller feedback provided evidence of T-TSAFE s potential promise as a useful air traffic controller tool. Heuristic analysis also provided information on ways in which the T-TSAFE tool can be improved. Details of analyses results will be presented in the full paper.

Verma Savita Arora↗

NASA NTRS2012

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Safety Inhibit Timeline Tool

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Observatory is a joint mission under the partnership by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has the lead management responsibility for NASA on GPM. The GPM program will measure precipitation on a global basis with sufficient quality, Earth coverage, and sampling to improve prediction of the Earth's climate, weather, and specific components of the global water cycle. As part of the development process, NASA built the spacecraft (built in-house at GSFC) and provided one instrument (GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) developed by Ball Aerospace) JAXA provided the launch vehicle (H2-A by MHI) and provided one instrument (Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) developed by NTSpace). Each instrument developer provided a safety assessment which was incorporated into the NASA GPM Safety Hazard Assessment. Inhibit design was reviewed for hazardous subsystems which included the High Gain Antenna System (HGAS) deployment, solar array deployment, transmitter turn on, propulsion system release, GMI deployment, and DPR radar turn on. The safety inhibits for these listed hazards are controlled by software. GPM developed a "pathfinder" approach for reviewing software that controls the electrical inhibits. This is one of the first GSFC in-house programs that extensively used software controls. The GPM safety team developed a methodology to document software safety as part of the standard hazard report. As part of this process a new tool "safety inhibit time line" was created for management of inhibits and their controls during spacecraft buildup and testing during 1& Tat GSFC and at the Range in Japan. In addition to understanding inhibits and controls during 1& T the tool allows the safety analyst to better communicate with others the changes in inhibit states with each phase of hardware and software testing. The tool was very useful for communicating compliance with safety requirements especially when working with a foreign partner.

Dion, Shirley↗

NASA NTRS2009

NASA Global Hawk: A New Tool for Earth Science Research

Scientists have eagerly anticipated the performance capability of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Global Hawk for over a decade. In 2009 this capability becomes operational. One of the most desired performance capabilities of the Global Hawk aircraft is very long endurance. The Global Hawk aircraft can remain airborne longer than almost all other jet-powered aircraft currently flying, and longer than all other aircraft available for airborne science use. This paper describes the NASA Global Hawk system, payload accommodations, concept of operations, and the first scientific data-gathering mission: Global Hawk Pacific 2009.

Naftel, J. Chris↗

NASA NTRS2009

NASA Global Hawk: A New Tool for Earth Science Research

Naftel, J. Chris↗

NASA NTRS2014

Aviation Trends Related to Atmospheric Environment Safety Technologies Project Technical Challenges

Current and future aviation safety trends related to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Atmospheric Environment Safety Technologies Project's three technical challenges (engine icing characterization and simulation capability; airframe icing simulation and engineering tool capability; and atmospheric hazard sensing and mitigation technology capability) were assessed by examining the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident database (1989 to 2008), incidents from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) accident/incident database (1989 to 2006), and literature from various industry and government sources. The accident and incident data were examined for events involving fixed-wing airplanes operating under Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Parts 121, 135, and 91 for atmospheric conditions related to airframe icing, ice-crystal engine icing, turbulence, clear air turbulence, wake vortex, lightning, and low visibility (fog, low ceiling, clouds, precipitation, and low lighting). Five future aviation safety risk areas associated with the three AEST technical challenges were identified after an exhaustive survey of a variety of sources and include: approach and landing accident reduction, icing/ice detection, loss of control in flight, super density operations, and runway safety.

Reveley, Mary S.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Low-Income Energy Affordability Data - LEAD Tool - 2022 Update

The Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool was created by the Better Building's Clean Energy for Low Income Communities Accelerator (CELICA) to help state and local partners understand housing and energy characteristics for the low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities they serve. The LEAD Tool provides estimated LMI household energy data based on income, energy expenditures, fuel type, housing type, and geography, which stakeholders can use to make data-driven decisions when planning for their energy goals. From the LEAD Tool website, users can also create and download customized heat-maps and charts for various geographies, housing, energy characteristics, and population demographics and educational attainment. Datasets are available for 50 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington D.C., along with their cities, counties, and census tracts, as well as tribal areas. The file below, "01. Description of Files," provides a list of all files included in this dataset. A description of the abbreviations and units used in the LEAD Tool data can be found in the file below titled "02. Data Dictionary 2022". A list of geographic regions used in the LEAD Tool can be found in files 04-11. The Low-Income Energy Affordability Data comes primarily from the 2022 U.S. Census American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Samples and is calibrated to 2022 U.S. Energy Information Administration electric utility (Survey Form-861) and natural gas utility (Survey Form-176) data. The methodology for the LEAD Tool can viewed below (3. Methodology Document). For more information, and to access the interactive LEAD Tool platform, please visit the "10. LEAD Tool Platform" resource link below. For more information on the Better Building's Clean Energy for Low Income Communities Accelerator (CELICA), please visit the "11. CELICA Website" resource below.

AMI↗

NASA NTRS2017

Advanced Ceramic Matrix Composites: Science and Technology of Materials, Design, Applications, Performance and Integration

Overview of NASA Transformational Tools and Technologies Project's 2700F CMC/EBC Technology Challenge J. Hurst, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH USA Key Words: ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), SiC/SiC composites, environmental barrier coatings (EBCs), CMC modeling, simulated engine testing As advanced gas turbine engine designs continue to move toward both higher operating temperatures and increased pressures, materials capable of functioning under these extreme conditions are being sought by both government and industry. As part of its mission, the NASA's Transformational Tools and Technologies Project, under the auspices of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, has been pursuing a five year Technology Challenge problem. This challenge problem has sought to develop high temperature materials for turbine engines that enable a 6% reduction in fuel burn for commercial aircraft, compared to current SOA materials. Specifically this is accomplished by the development and demonstration of a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) and environmental barrier coating (EBC) system capable of sustained performance at temperature of 2700F. The NASA Glenn Research Center has continued its two decade long interest in CMC/EBCs technology by pursuing this 2700F performance goal. This ambitious effort included an array of vendors, universities and engine companies. Included in this challenge was fiber development, fiber architecture considerations, ceramic matrix composition, environmental barrier compositions and processing routes as well as test development. Evaluation of the CMC/EBC materials included a variety of testing, from coupon testing for strength and creep resistance, to testing aimed at determining material behavior under more engine-like conditions. The development and validation of thermomechanical models and computational tools for design, analysis, and life prediction, have been an important part of this effort as well. Simulated engine testing of vane subcomponents by P&W was the final step following years of development. In addition to achieving the temperature goals and enhanced durability performance of the Tech Challenge, an additional goal achieved by this work was reaching a Technology Readiness Level of 5 for the 3-D CMC/EBC system. As this five year Technical Challenge comes to a conclusion, future development interests in environmental barrier coatings and environmental modeling are discussed.

SiC/SiC composites↗

NASA NTRS1995

Defining a Mechanism of Educational Interface Between NASA Life Sciences the Nation's Students

Harnessing our greatest national resource, as represented by the nation's students, will require a thoughtful, well developed and administered program that includes precise, executable strategies and valid evaluation tools. Responding to a national education outreach priority, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Life and Biomedical Sciences and Applications Division has initiated a process or organizing and implementing various strategies through a steering committee that includes representatives from Headquarters and three field centers with major Life Sciences programs. The mandate of the Life Sciences Education Outreach Steering Committee is to develop ways of communicating space life science issues to America's students through the nation's teachers by curriculum enhancement and direct participation in the education process with an emphasis in the primary and secondary schools. Metrics are also developed for each individually defined process so that the mechanis can be continuously refined and improved.

Chamberland, D.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Assessment of EOS Aqua AMSR-E Arctic Sea Ice Concentrations using Landsat-7 and Airborne Microwave Imagery

An assessment of Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) sea ice concentrations under winter conditions using ice concentrations derived from Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) imagery obtained during the March 2003 Arctic sea ice validation field campaign is presented. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Technology Laboratory's Airborne Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer Measurements, which were made from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration P 3B aircraft during the campaign, were used primarily as a diagnostic tool to understand the comparative results and to suggest improvements to the AMSR-E ice concentration algorithm. Based on the AMSR-E/ETM+ comparisons, a good overall agreement with little bias (approx. 1%) for areas of first year and young sea ice was found. Areas of new ice production result in a negative bias of about 5% in the AMSR-E ice concentration retrievals, with a root mean square error of 8%. Some areas of deep snow also resulted in an underestimate of the ice concentration (approx. 10%). For all ice types combined and for the full range of ice concentrations, the bias ranged from 0% to 3%, and the rms errors ranged from 1% to 7%, depending on the region. The new-ice and deep-snow biases are expected to be reduced through an adjustment of the new-ice and ice-type C algorithm tie points.

Cavalieri, Donald J.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Annual Report 2008

Nothing is more exciting than when science mines the far end of our knowledge for the new and the unexpected. In 2008, the world was taken by surprise when JPL astronomers announced the discovery of organic compounds on a planet orbiting another star. We were equally excited to learn from the Spitzer Space Telescope that many, if not most, sun-like stars have rocky planets roughly similar to Earth. Together these are very intriguing clues in our quest to learn if there is life elsewhere in the universe, which certainly has to be one of the most profound mysteries of our age.There are times when, dealing with unknowns, we are reminded to be humble. Very impressive progress is being made by the team developing our next flagship mission, Mars Science Laboratory. Ther conclusion, however, is that it would not be safe to try to fly during the Mars launch window in 2009, and reset for the next opportunity in 2011. We are lucky to have valuable assets that support us as we venture into the unknown. One is the global Deep Space Network, which functions both as our communication gateway to our spacecraft across the solar system as well as a research tool itself in conducting radar astronomy. Our successes depend on our entire team, administrators and business specialists as much as technical people. There are those who help share our missions with the public, finding imaginative venues such as sending out dispatches on the Internet's Twitter.com during the Phoenix mission. We also benefit greatly from the intellectual infusion that comes from our unique identity as a division of the California Institute of Technology and a member of the NASA family.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAS↗

NASA NTRS2012

NASA's Analog Missions: Driving Exploration Through Innovative Testing

Human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) will require a unique collection of advanced, innovative technologies and the precise execution of complex and challenging operational concepts. One tool we in the Analog Missions Project at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) utilize to validate exploration system architecture concepts and conduct technology demonstrations, while gaining a deeper understanding of system-wide technical and operational challenges, is our analog missions. Analog missions are multi-disciplinary activities that test multiple features of future spaceflight missions in an integrated fashion to gain a deeper understanding of system-level interactions and integrated operations. These missions frequently occur in remote and extreme environments that are representative in one or more ways to that of future spaceflight destinations. They allow us to test robotics, vehicle prototypes, habitats, communications systems, in-situ resource utilization, and human performance as it relates to these technologies. And they allow us to validate architectural concepts, conduct technology demonstrations, and gain a deeper understanding of system-wide technical and operational challenges needed to support crewed missions beyond LEO. As NASA develops a capability driven architecture for transporting crew to a variety of space environments, including the moon, near-Earth asteroids (NEA), Mars, and other destinations, it will use its analog missions to gather requirements and develop the technologies that are necessary to ensure successful human exploration beyond LEO. Currently, there are four analog mission platforms: Research and Technology Studies (RATS), NASA s Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO), In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), and International Space Station (ISS) Test bed for Analog Research (ISTAR).

Reagan, Marcum L.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Analysis of At-Altitude LTE Power Spectra for C2 Communications for UAS Traffic Management

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) project works to develop tools and technologies essential for safely enabling civilian low-altitude small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS, also known as drones) operations. This paper presents results of work completed in the paper [1] presented at the 2018 ICNS conference where proposed approaches were explored for evaluating and analyzing sUAS Command and Control (C2) links based on commercial cellular networks. This paper focuses on the UTM Project’s Technology Capability Level 3 (TCL-3) test results which address the communications portion identified within the same paper. A software defined radio (SDR) was flown as a sUAS payload to capture received signal spectrum in Long Term Evolution (LTE) frequency bands of interest. The purpose was to measure the RF environment at UTM altitudes to characterize the interference potential. The SDR payload was flown at various stationary altitudes where the LTE over-the-air complex (I/Q) samples were captured by the SDR and later post-processed. The SDR received inputs through an omnidirectional antenna. The complex samples captured were an aggregate of transmissions received from all line-of-sight (LOS) towers within the geographic area for the specific radio frequency bandwidth the SDR is programmed to capture. Using this approach, the complex samples captured do not distinguish between the various eNodeB's (Long Term Evolution (LTE) transmitting towers). The complex samples were post processed via a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) algorithm to view the captured spectrum along with the power levels across the captured LTE bandwidth. This SDR payload process of capturing complex samples was done at two different regions within the US: 1) NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC) in Moffett Field, CA, and 2) Griffiss Airfield in Rome, NY. The data capture at the ARC site was done at two physical locations within the Ames campus where many stationary altitude captures where done as high as 800 ft. above ground level (AGL). The data captured at the Griffiss Airport (also known as the NY Corridor Site) were acquired at one location with three specific stationary altitude levels – {Ground Level (GL), 300 ft., and 400 ft.}. The LTE spectrum power levels were captured for two LTE carriers, AT&T and Verizon, at both sites where their respective spectra and power levels were measured and compared at various altitudes. The overall results show that there is an increase in LTE spectrum power levels at higher altitudes for drones. A detailed analysis of this data and conclusions drawn from the results are presented in this paper.

Kerczewski, Robert J.↗

NASA NTRS1993

ATTIRE (analytical tools for thermal infrared engineering): A sensor simulation and modeling package

The Advanced Sensor Development Laboratory (ASDL) at the Stennis Space Center develops, maintains and calibrates remote sensing instruments for the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA). To perform system design trade-offs, analysis, and establish system parameters, ASDL has developed a software package for analytical simulation of sensor systems. This package called 'Analytical Tools for Thermal InfraRed Engineering' - ATTIRE, simulates the various components of a sensor system. The software allows each subsystem of the sensor to be analyzed independently for its performance. These performance parameters are then integrated to obtain system level information such as Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Noise Equivalent Radiance (NER), Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) etc. This paper describes the uses of the package and the physics that were used to derive the performance parameters.

Jaggi, S.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Human Factors Assessment: The Passive Final Approach Spacing Tool (pFAST) Operational Evaluation

Automation to assist air traffic controllers in the current terminal and en route air traff ic environments is being developed at Ames Research Center in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration. This automation, known collectively as the Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS), provides decision- making assistance to air traffic controllers through computer-generated advisories. One of the CTAS tools developed specifically to assist terminal area air traffic controllers is the Passive Final Approach Spacing Tool (pFAST). An operational evaluation of PFAST was conducted at the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas, Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility. Human factors data collected during the test describe the impact of the automation upon the air traffic controller in terms of perceived workload and acceptance. Results showed that controller self-reported workload was not significantly increased or reduced by the PFAST automation; rather, controllers reported that the levels of workload remained primarily the same. Controller coordination and communication data were analyzed, and significant differences in the nature of controller coordination were found. Controller acceptance ratings indicated that PFAST was acceptable. This report describes the human factors data and results from the 1996 Operational Field Evaluation of Passive FAST.

Lee, Katharine K.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Construction and Resource Utilization Explorer: Regolith Characterization Using a Modular Instrument Suite and Analysis Tools

The Construction Resource Utilization Explorer (CRUX) is a technology maturation project for the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration to provide enabling technology for lunar and planetary surface operations (LPSO). The CRUX will have 10 instruments, a data handling function (Mapper - with features of data subscription, fusion, interpretation, and publication through geographical information system [GIs] displays), and a decision support system DSS) to provide information needed to plan and conduct LPSO. Six CRUX instruments are associated with an instrumented drill to directly measure regolith properties (thermal, electrical, mechanical, and textural) and to determine the presence of water and other hydrogen sources to a depth of about 2 m (Prospector). CRUX surface and geophysical instruments (Surveyor) are designed to determine the presence of hydrogen, delineate near subsurface properties, stratigraphy, and buried objects over a broad area through the use of neutron and seismic probes, and ground penetrating radar. Techniques to receive data from existing space qualified stereo pair cameras to determine surface topography will also be part of the CRUX. The Mapper will ingest information from CRUX instruments and other lunar and planetary data sources, and provide data handling and display features for DSS output. CRUX operation will be semi-autonomous and near real-time to allow its use for either planning or operations purposes.

Moon↗