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NASA NTRS1992

NASA metric transition plan

NASA science publications have used the metric system of measurement since 1970. Although NASA has maintained a metric use policy since 1979, practical constraints have restricted actual use of metric units. In 1988, an amendment to the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 required the Federal Government to adopt the metric system except where impractical. In response to Public Law 100-418 and Executive Order 12770, NASA revised its metric use policy and developed this Metric Transition Plan. NASA's goal is to use the metric system for program development and functional support activities to the greatest practical extent by the end of 1995. The introduction of the metric system into new flight programs will determine the pace of the metric transition. Transition of institutional capabilities and support functions will be phased to enable use of the metric system in flight program development and operations. Externally oriented elements of this plan will introduce and actively support use of the metric system in education, public information, and small business programs. The plan also establishes a procedure for evaluating and approving waivers and exceptions to the required use of the metric system for new programs. Coordination with other Federal agencies and departments (through the Interagency Council on Metric Policy) and industry (directly and through professional societies and interest groups) will identify sources of external support and minimize duplication of effort.

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NASA NTRS1992

Information models of software productivity - Limits on productivity growth

Research into generalized information-metric models of software process productivity establishes quantifiable behavior and theoretical bounds. The models establish a fundamental mathematical relationship between software productivity and the human capacity for information traffic, the software product yield (system size), information efficiency, and tool and process efficiencies. An upper bound is derived that quantifies average software productivity and the maximum rate at which it may grow. This bound reveals that ultimately, when tools, methodologies, and automated assistants have reached their maximum effective state, further improvement in productivity can only be achieved through increasing software reuse. The reuse advantage is shown not to increase faster than logarithmically in the number of reusable features available. The reuse bound is further shown to be somewhat dependent on the reuse policy: a general 'reuse everything' policy can lead to a somewhat slower productivity growth than a specialized reuse policy.

Tausworthe, Robert C.↗
NASA NTRS1966

New developments in NASA quality assurance

The purpose of this talk is to examine and discuss NASA's basic quality concept, the policy and procedures which define and implement this concept and subsequently explore the NASA-Industry quality relationships which are essential to the success of NASA's quality assurance concept. It is important to emphasize that NASA's Quality Assurance program is predicated on the concept of an individually tailored quality program for each significant NASA procurement - particularly, large space systems. As a result, NASA's Quality Assurance program - to be effective - must be responsive to various technologies, hardware systems, and space missions. In addition, the program must be responsive to changing policies and practices in research, engineering and procurement. Key issues in the NASA-Contractor quality relationships in the framework of an over all NASA-Industry partnership include: (1) the necessity for NASA to effectively discharge its responsibility for providing clear and complete definition of quality requirements at all phases of the procurement cycle; (2) the right of the contractor to expect an explicit definition of NASA quality requirements in each RFP and contract and to request same if it is not provided; (3) the necessity for the contractor to have a dynamic and responsive quality program which is directed towards assuring that the hardware meets all technical requirements and to accomplish this in an effective and efficient manner; and (4) the critical need for investigation and study of the economic aspects of quality and an evaluation of our policies and practices based upon the results of such a study.

Condon, John E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Aircraft operations management manual

The NASA aircraft operations program is a multifaceted, highly diverse entity that directly supports the agency mission in aeronautical research and development, space science and applications, space flight, astronaut readiness training, and related activities through research and development, program support, and mission management aircraft operations flights. Users of the program are interagency, inter-government, international, and the business community. This manual provides guidelines to establish policy for the management of NASA aircraft resources, aircraft operations, and related matters. This policy is an integral part of and must be followed when establishing field installation policy and procedures covering the management of NASA aircraft operations. Each operating location will develop appropriate local procedures that conform with the requirements of this handbook. This manual should be used in conjunction with other governing instructions, handbooks, and manuals.

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NASA NTRS1993

Space commerce in a global economy: Comparison of US and Australian approaches

The United States and Australia are among the 20 or more nations of the world having industries currently engaging in some form of space commerce. As a matter of national policy, the United States has encouraged private investment and involvement in space activities since 1984, when the Congress declared it in the best interest of the Nation that NASA '...seek and encourage to the maximum extent possible, the fullest commercial use of space.' Australia's space policy, announced in 1986, has the objective of encouraging greater involvement by industry in space research and development, and the development of commercial space activities. This paper discusses the underlying policies, current status, and prospects for the future of commercial space business activities in the two countries.

Stone, Barbara A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Generating and evaluating alternate schedules

The demand for and availability of Space Network resources are subject to short-term fluctuations and long-term changes. Generation of acceptable schedules under changing demand and resource availability will require the use of different scheduling policies. This paper identifies several such scheduling policies. It defines metrics for evaluating schedules using the criteria directly related to these scheduling policies. Then it applies the metrics to compare several schedules generated for a scenario representative of 1998 SN demand and resources. Finally, the paper describes a method for using these metrics to evaluate schedules based on multiple criteria.

Reddy, Surender D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Attitude stability of a spinning spacecraft during appendage deployment/retraction

The work presented is motivated by the need for a national satellite rescue policy, not the ad hoc policy now in place. In studying different approaches for a national policy, the issue of capture and stabilization of a tumbling spacecraft must be addressed. For a rescue mission involving a tumbling spacecraft, it may be advantageous to have a rescue vehicle which is compact and 'rigid' during the rendezvous/capture phase. After capture, passive stabilization techniques could be utilized as an efficient means of detumbling the resulting system (i.e., both the rescue vehicle and captures spacecraft). Since the rescue vehicle is initially compact and 'rigid,' significant passive stabilization through energy dissipation can only be achieved through the deployment of flexible appendages. Once stabilization is accomplished, retraction of the appendages before maneuvering the system to its final destination may also prove advantageous. It is therefore of paramount interest that we study the effect of appendage deployment/retraction on the attitude stability of a spacecraft. Particular interest should be paid to appendage retraction, since if this process is destabilizing, passive stabilization as proposed may not be useful. Over the past three decades, it has been an 'on-again-off-again affair' with the problem of spacecraft appendage deployment. In most instances, these studies have been numerical simulations of specific spacecraft configurations for which there were specific concerns. The primary focus of these studies was the behavior of the appendage during deployment; the effects of appendage retraction was considered only in one of these studies. What is missing in the literature is a thorough study of the effects of appendage deployment/retraction on the attitude stability of a spacecraft. This paper presents a rigorous analysis of the stability of a spinning spacecraft during the deployment or the retraction of an appendage. The analysis is simplified such that meaningful insights into the problem can be inferred; it is not overly simplified such that critical dynamical behavior is neglected. The system is analyzed assuming that the spacecraft hub is rigid. The appendage deployment mechanism is modeled as a point mass on a massless rod whose length undergoes prescribed changes. Simplified flexibility effects of the appendage are included. The system is examined for stability by linearizing the equations in terms of small deviations from steady, noninterfering coning motion. Routh's procedure for analyzing small deviations from steady motion in dynamical systems is utilized in the analysis. The system of equations are nondimensionalized to facilitate parametric studies. The results are presented in terms of a reduced number of nondimensional parameters so that some general conclusions may be drawn. Verification of the linear analysis is presented through numerical simulations of the complete nonlinear, nonautonomous, coupled equations.

Fitz-Coy, Norman↗
NASA NTRS1996

An Analysis of NASA Technology Transfer

A review of previous technology transfer metrics, recommendations, and measurements is presented within the paper. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of NASA's technology transfer efforts is performed. As a relative indicator, NASA's intellectual property performance is benchmarked against a database of over 100 universities. Successful technology transfer (commercial sales, production savings, etc.) cases were tracked backwards through their history to identify the key critical elements that lead to success. Results of this research indicate that although NASA's performance is not measured well by quantitative values (intellectual property stream data), it has a net positive impact on the private sector economy. Policy recommendations are made regarding technology transfer within the context of the documented technology transfer policies since the framing of the Constitution. In the second thrust of this study, researchers at NASA Langley Research Center were surveyed to determine their awareness of, attitude toward, and perception about technology transfer. Results indicate that although researchers believe technology transfer to be a mission of the Agency, they should not be held accountable or responsible for its performance. In addition, the researchers are not well educated about the mechanisms to perform, or policies regarding, technology transfer.

Bush, Lance B.↗
NASA NTRS1997

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 62: The Influence of Knowledge Diffusion on Aeronautics Innovation: The Research, Development, and Production of Large Commercial Aircraft in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom

This paper focuses on how European public policies-individually and collectively - influence the diffusion of knowledge and technology. It begins with an overview of the roles played historically and currently by European governments in the research, development and production (RD&P) of large commercial aircraft (LCA). The analytical framework brings together literature from global political economy, comparative politics, business management, and science and technology policy studies. It distinguishes between the production of knowledge, on the one hand, and the dissemination of knowledge, on the other. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom serve as the analytical cases. The paper concludes with a call for additional research in this area, some tentative lessons learned, and a discussion of the consequences of national strategies and policies for the diffusion of knowledge and technology in an era of globalization.

Pinelli, Thomas E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Conflict Detection and Resolution for Future Air Transportation Management

With a Free Flight policy, the emphasis for air traffic control is shifting from active control to passive air traffic management with a policy of intervention by exception. Aircraft will be allowed to fly user preferred routes, as long as safety Alert Zones are not violated. If there is a potential conflict, two (or more) aircraft must be able to arrive at a solution for conflict resolution without controller intervention. Thus, decision aid tools are needed in Free Flight to detect and resolve conflicts, and several problems must be solved to develop such tools. In this report, we analyze and solve problems of proximity management, conflict detection, and conflict resolution under a Free Flight policy. For proximity management, we establish a system based on Delaunay Triangulations of aircraft at constant flight levels. Such a system provides a means for analyzing the neighbor relationships between aircraft and the nearby free space around air traffic which can be utilized later in conflict resolution. For conflict detection, we perform both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional analyses based on the penetration of the Protected Airspace Zone. Both deterministic and non-deterministic analyses are performed. We investigate several types of conflict warnings including tactical warnings prior to penetrating the Protected Airspace Zone, methods based on the reachability overlap of both aircraft, and conflict probability maps to establish strategic Alert Zones around aircraft.

Krozel, Jimmy↗
NASA NTRS1997

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 62: The Influence of Knowledge Diffusion on Aeronautics Innovation: The Research, Development, and Production of Large Commercial Aircraft in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom

This paper focuses on how European public policies-individually and collectively - influence the diffusion of knowledge and technology. It begins with an overview of the roles played historically and currently by European governments in the Research, Development and Production (RD&P) of Large Commercial Aircraft (LCA). The analytical framework brings together literature from global political economy, comparative politics, business management, and science and technology policy studies. It distinguishes between the production of knowledge, on the one hand, and the dissemination of knowledge, on the other. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom serve as the analytical cases. The paper concludes with a call for additional research in this area, some tentative lessons learned, and a discussion of the consequences of national strategies and policies for the diffusion of knowledge and technology in an era of globalizaton.

Golich, Vicki L.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Application of Domain Knowledge to Software Quality Assurance

This work focused on capturing, using, and evolving a qualitative decision support structure across the life cycle of a project. The particular application of this study was towards business process reengineering and the representation of the business process in a set of Business Rules (BR). In this work, we defined a decision model which captured the qualitative decision deliberation process. It represented arguments both for and against proposed alternatives to a problem. It was felt that the subjective nature of many critical business policy decisions required a qualitative modeling approach similar to that of Lee and Mylopoulos. While previous work was limited almost exclusively to the decision capture phase, which occurs early in the project life cycle, we investigated the use of such a model during the later stages as well. One of our significant developments was the use of the decision model during the operational phase of a project. By operational phase, we mean the phase in which the system or set of policies which were earlier decided are deployed and put into practice. By making the decision model available to operational decision makers, they would have access to the arguments pro and con for a variety of actions and can thus make a more informed decision which balances the often conflicting criteria by which the value of action is measured. We also developed the concept of a 'monitored decision' in which metrics of performance were identified during the decision making process and used to evaluate the quality of that decision. It is important to monitor those decision which seem at highest risk of not meeting their stated objectives. Operational decisions are also potentially high risk decisions. Finally, we investigated the use of performance metrics for monitored decisions and audit logs of operational decisions in order to feed an evolutionary phase of the the life cycle. During evolution, decisions are revisisted, assumptions verified or refuted, and possible reassessments resulting in new policy are made. In this regard we implemented a machine learning algorithm which automatically defined business rules based on expert assessment of the quality of operational decisions as recorded during deployment.

Wild, Christian W.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Engineered Solutions to Reduce Occupational Noise Exposure at the NASA Glenn Research Center: A Five-Year Progress Summary (1994-1999)

At the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field (formerly the Lewis Research Center), experimental research in aircraft and space propulsion systems is conducted in more than 100 test cells and laboratories. These facilities are supported by a central process air system that supplies high-volume, high-pressure compressed air and vacuum at various conditions that simulate altitude flight. Nearly 100,000 square feet of metalworking and specialized fabrication shops located on-site produce prototypes, models, and test hardware in support of experimental research operations. These activities, comprising numerous individual noise sources and operational scenarios, result in a varied and complex noise exposure environment, which is the responsibility of the Glenn Research Center Noise Exposure Management Program. Hearing conservation, community noise complaint response and noise control engineering services are included under the umbrella of this Program, which encompasses the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard on occupational noise exposure, Sec. 29CFR 1910.95, as well as the more stringent NASA Health Standard on Hearing Conservation. Prior to 1994, in the absence of feasible engineering controls, strong emphasis had been placed on personal hearing protection as the primary mechanism for assuring compliance with Sec. 29CFR 1910.95 as well as NASA's more conservative policy, which prohibits unprotected exposure to noise levels above 85 dB(A). Center policy and prudent engineering practice required, however, that these efforts be extended to engineered noise controls in order to bring existing work areas into compliance with Sec. 29CFR 1910.95 and NASA's own policies and to ensure compliance for new installations. Coincident with the establishment in 1995 of a NASA wide multi-year commitment of funding for environmental abatement projects, the Noise Exposure Management Program was established, with its focus on engineering approaches to reducing occupational and community noise exposure. The organization and mission of this Program were documented shortly after its inception, and individual programmatic components have been the subject of subsequent papers. This paper summarizes the status and accomplishments of the engineering aspects of the Program from a five-year retrospective viewpoint and includes a review of retrofit noise control solution strategies, which have not been previously documented.

Cooper, Beth A.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Scheduling for Parallel Supercomputing: A Historical Perspective of Achievable Utilization

The NAS facility has operated parallel supercomputers for the past 11 years, including the Intel iPSC/860, Intel Paragon, Thinking Machines CM-5, IBM SP-2, and Cray Origin 2000. Across this wide variety of machine architectures, across a span of 10 years, across a large number of different users, and through thousands of minor configuration and policy changes, the utilization of these machines shows three general trends: (1) scheduling using a naive FIFO first-fit policy results in 40-60% utilization, (2) switching to the more sophisticated dynamic backfilling scheduling algorithm improves utilization by about 15 percentage points (yielding about 70% utilization), and (3) reducing the maximum allowable job size further increases utilization. Most surprising is the consistency of these trends. Over the lifetime of the NAS parallel systems, we made hundreds, perhaps thousands, of small changes to hardware, software, and policy, yet, utilization was affected little. In particular these results show that the goal of achieving near 100% utilization while supporting a real parallel supercomputing workload is unrealistic.

Jones, James Patton↗
NASA NTRS1997

The Conference Proceedings of the 1997 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG) of the WCTR Society

The Aviation Institute University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Monograph series has published the Conference Proceedings of the 1997 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG) of the World Conference on Transportation Research Society (WCTR) volume 1, number 3. The topics included in this document are: 1) Industrial Reform and Air Transport Development in China; 2) The Economic Effects of Airline Deregulation and the Open-Sky Policy of Korea; 3) The Economic Effects of Airline Deregulation and the Open-Sky Policy of Korea; 4) "Open Skies" in India-Is the policy succeeding? 5) The Japanese Domestic Air Fares under the Regulatory Regime: What will be expected after the revision of current charging system? 6) The Competitive Position of Airline Networks; and 7) Air Transport and Regional Economic Development in the European Union.

Own, Tae Hoon↗
NASA NTRS2000

Mitigating Adverse Effects of a Human Mission On Possible Martian Indigenous Ecosystems

Although human beings are, by most standards, the most capable agents to search for and detect extraterrestrial life, we are also potentially the most harmful. While there has been substantial work regarding forward contamination with respect to robotic missions, the issue of potential adverse effects on possible indigenous Martian ecosystems, such as biological contamination, due to a human mission has remained relatively unexplored and may require our attention now as this presentation will try to demonstrate by exploring some of the relevant scientific questions, mission planning challenges, and policy issues. An informal, high-level mission planning decision tree will be discussed and is included as the next page of this abstract. Some of the questions to be considered are: To what extent could contamination due to a human presence compromise possible indigenous life forms? To what extent can we control contamination? For example, will it be local or global? What are the criteria for assessing the biological status of Mars, both regionally and globally? For example, can we adequately extrapolate from a few strategic missions such as sample return missions? What should our policies be regarding our mission planning and possible interaction with what are likely to be microbial forms of extraterrestrial life? Central to the science and mission planning issues is the role and applicability of terrestrial analogs, such as Lake Vostok for assessing drilling issues, and modeling techniques. Central to many of the policy aspects are scientific value, international law, public concern, and ethics. Exploring this overall issue responsibly requires an examination of all these aspects and how they interrelate.

Lupisella, Mark L.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Lay and Expert Perceptions of Planetary Protection

As space scientists and engineers plan new missions to Mars and other planets in our solar system, they will face critical questions about the potential for biological contamination of planetary surfaces. In a society that places ever-increasing importance on the role of public involvement in science and technology policy, questions about risks of biological contamination will be examined and debated in the media, and will lead to the formation of public perceptions of planetary-contamination risks. These perceptions will, over time, form an important input to the development of space policy. Previous research in public and expert perceptions of technological risks and hazards has shown that many of the problems faced by risk-management organizations are the result of differing perceptions of risk (and risk management) between the general public and scientific and technical experts. These differences manifest themselves both as disagreements about the definition (and level) of risk associated with a scientific, technological or industrial enterprise, and as distrust about the ability of risk-management organizations (both public and private) to adequately protect people's health and safety. This report presents the results of a set of survey studies designed to reveal perceptions of planetary exploration and protection from a wide range of respondents, including both members of the general public and experts in the life sciences. The potential value of this research lies in what it reveals about perceptions of risk and benefit that could improve risk-management policies and practices. For example, efforts to communicate with the public about Mars sample return missions could benefit from an understanding of the specific concerns that nonscientists have about such a mission by suggesting areas of potential improvement in public education and information. Assessment of both public and expert perceptions of risk can also be used to provide an advanced signal of aspects of planetary exploration and protection that may be particularly sensitive or controversial and that could prove problematic from a risk-management standpoint, perhaps warranting a more stringent risk-management approach than would otherwise be the case based on technical considerations alone. The design of the study compares perceptions and attitudes about space exploration relevant to a Mars sample return mission between three respondent groups: (1) members of The Planetary Society, a group representing individuals with a strong interest in space-related issues, (2) a group of university-aged students, representing a population relatively sensitive to environmental hazards, and (3) a group of life scientists outside of the space research community. Members of The Planetary Society received the survey as part of a special issue of The Planetary Report on planetary protection, which contained a number of background articles on planetary protection and related topics. A synopsis of the issue was prepared as an introduction to the survey for the other two groups.

Race, Margaret S.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Report to the President on the US Space Program

The National Space Council is responsible for advising the President on national space policy and strategy, and coordinating the implementation of the President's policies. It was authorized by an act of Congress in 1988 and was established as an agency of the federal government by President Bush on April 20, 1989. The Space Council is chaired by Vice President Dan Quayle, who serves as the President's principal advisor on national space policy and strategy. Content of this report includes: status of the US Space Program - Space Transportation, National Security, Civil Space, and Space Commerce and Trade; and Planning for the Future.

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