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At least 19 records

Ocean in Motion

Under a data purchase agreement with Goddard Space Flight Center, Orbital Sciences Corporation has been able to contract building of the Sea-Viewing Wide-Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWIFS). Orbital Sciences was then able commercialized the data that the satellite produces. These data are used to create daily fish finding maps, allowing fishing fleets to focus on locations where many commercially important surface feeding fish, like tuna and swordfish, congregate. In agriculture and forestry, SeaWIFS' images offer an alternative to direct on-site inspection or expensive serial photography.

Source record↗

The SEL Adapts to Meet Changing Times

Since 1976, the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) has been dedicated to understanding and improving the way in which one NASA organization, the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) at Goddard Space Flight Center, develops, maintains, and manages complex flight dynamics systems. It has done this by developing and refining a continual process improvement approach that allows an organization such as the FDD to fine-tune its process for its particular domain. Experimental software engineering and measurement play a significant role in this approach. The SEL is a partnership of NASA Goddard, its major software contractor, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), and the University of Maryland's (LTM) Department of Computer Science. The FDD primarily builds software systems that provide ground-based flight dynamics support for scientific satellites. They fall into two sets: ground systems and simulators. Ground systems are midsize systems that average around 250 thousand source lines of code (KSLOC). Ground system development projects typically last 1 - 2 years. Recent systems have been rehosted to workstations from IBM mainframes, and also contain significant new subsystems written in C and C++. The simulators are smaller systems averaging around 60 KSLOC that provide the test data for the ground systems. Simulator development lasts up to 1 year. Most of the simulators have been built in Ada on workstations. The SEL is responsible for the management and continual improvement of the software engineering processes used on these FDD projects.

Pajerski, Rose S.↗

Performance of a Fuel-Cell-Powered, Small Electric Airplane Assessed

Rapidly emerging fuel-cell-power technologies may be used to launch a new revolution of electric propulsion systems for light aircraft. Future small electric airplanes using fuel cell technologies hold the promise of high reliability, low maintenance, low noise, and - with the exception of water vapor - zero emissions. An analytical feasibility and performance assessment was conducted by NASA Glenn Research Center's Airbreathing Systems Analysis Office of a fuel-cell-powered, propeller-driven, small electric airplane based on a model of the MCR-01 two-place kitplane (Dyn'Aero, Darois, France). This assessment was conducted in parallel with an ongoing effort by the Advanced Technology Products Corporation and the Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology Education. Their project - partially funded by a NASA grant - is to design, build, and fly the first manned, continuously propelled, nongliding electric airplane. In our study, an analytical performance model of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell propulsion system was developed and applied to a notional, two-place light airplane modeled after the MCR-01 kitplane. The PEM fuel cell stack was fed pure hydrogen fuel and humidified ambient air via a small automotive centrifugal supercharger. The fuel cell performance models were based on chemical reaction analyses calibrated with published data from the fledgling U.S. automotive fuel cell industry. Electric propeller motors, rated at two shaft power levels in separate assessments, were used to directly drive a two-bladed, variable-pitch propeller. Fuel sources considered were compressed hydrogen gas and cryogenic liquid hydrogen. Both of these fuel sources provided pure, contaminant-free hydrogen for the PEM cells.

Berton, Jeffrey J.↗

Asbestos Exposure Assessment Database

Exposure to particular hazardous materials in a work environment is dangerous to the employees who work directly with or around the materials as well as those who come in contact with them indirectly. In order to maintain a national standard for safe working environments and protect worker health, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set forth numerous precautionary regulations. NASA has been proactive in adhering to these regulations by implementing standards which are often stricter than regulation limits and administering frequent health risk assessments. The primary objective of this project is to create the infrastructure for an Asbestos Exposure Assessment Database specific to NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) which will compile all of the exposure assessment data into a well-organized, navigable format. The data includes Sample Types, Samples Durations, Crafts of those from whom samples were collected, Job Performance Requirements (JPR) numbers, Phased Contrast Microscopy (PCM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) results and qualifiers, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and names of industrial hygienists who performed the monitoring. This database will allow NASA to provide OSHA with specific information demonstrating that JSC s work procedures are protective enough to minimize the risk of future disease from the exposures. The data has been collected by the NASA contractors Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and Wyle Laboratories. The personal exposure samples were collected from devices worn by laborers working at JSC and by building occupants located in asbestos-containing buildings.

Arcot, Divya K.↗

The implementation and use of Ada on distributed systems with high reliability requirements

The general inadequacy of Ada for programming systems that must survive processor loss was shown. A solution to the problem was proposed in which there are no syntatic changes to Ada. The approach was evaluated using a full-scale, realistic application. The application used was the Advanced Transport Operating System (ATOPS), an experimental computer control system developed for a modified Boeing 737 aircraft. The ATOPS system is a full authority, real-time avionics system providing a large variety of advanced features. Methods of building fault tolerance into concurrent systems were explored. A set of criteria by which the proposed method will be judged was examined. Extensive interaction with personnel from Computer Sciences Corporation and NASA Langley occurred to determine the requirements of the ATOPS software. Backward error recovery in concurrent systems was assessed.

Knight, J. C.↗

National Ice Center Visiting Scientist Program

The long-term goal of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Visiting Scientist Program at the National Ice Center (NIC) is to recruit the highest quality visiting scientists in the ice research community for the broad purpose of strengthening the relationship between the operational and research communities in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research supports the scientific community by creating, conducting, and coordinating projects that strengthen education and research in the atmospheric, oceanic and earth sciences. UCAR accomplishes this mission by building partnerships that are national or global in scope. The goal of UCAR is to enable researchers and educators to take on issues and activities that require the combined and collaborative capabilities of a broadly engaged scientific community.

Austin, Meg↗

CANSAT: Design of a Small Autonomous Sounding Rocket Payload

CanSat is an international student design-build-launch competition organized by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The competition is also sponsored by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), AGI, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Praxis Incorporated, and SolidWorks. Specifically, the 2009 Virginia Tech CanSat Team is funded by BAE Systems, Incorporated of Manassas, Virginia. The objective of the 2009 CanSat competition is to complete remote sensing missions by designing a small autonomous sounding rocket payload. The payload designed will follow and perform to a specific set of mission requirements for the 2009 competition. The competition encompasses a complete life-cycle of one year which includes all phases of design, integration, testing, reviews, and launch.

Berman, Joshua↗

Changes and challenges in the Software Engineering Laboratory

Since 1976, the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) has been dedicated to understanding and improving the way in which one NASA organization, the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD), develops, maintains, and manages complex flight dynamics systems. The SEL is composed of three member organizations: NASA/GSFC, the University of Maryland, and Computer Sciences Corporation. During the past 18 years, the SEL's overall goal has remained the same: to improve the FDD's software products and processes in a measured manner. This requires that each development and maintenance effort be viewed, in part, as a SEL experiment which examines a specific technology or builds a model of interest for use on subsequent efforts. The SEL has undertaken many technology studies while developing operational support systems for numerous NASA spacecraft missions.

Pajerski, Rose↗

Optical Design of Multi-field Integral Field Unit Spectrograph for the ORCAS Keck Instrument Development II (ORKID II) Instrument

We have designed an Integral Field Unit Spectrometer for the ORCAS Keck Instrument Development II (ORKID II) Instrument. Building on the success of the ORKID instrument (which achieved 15.1 masec FWHM visible spectrum imaging), ORKID II will add Integral Field Spectroscopy to analyze Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), Supernovae redshift and brightness, and other science observations. Several design options have been explored based on image slicers manufactured by the Canon Corporation’s machining process. Field layouts can include up to three disparate spatial sampling, with a lower limit of 6.7 masec. Spectral resolutions are considered from R 100 to R 10,000. The modular design of the concept allows for configuring the instrument for various observing campaigns.

Instrumentation and Photography↗

Achievable Human Exploration of Mars: Highlights from The Fourth Community Workshop (AM IV)

About a half decade ago, several professionals working mainly in industry on scenarios for initial human exploration of Mars together recognized that, under generally similar assumptions, there was a fair degree of similarity among these scenarios. Moreover, opportunities should be sought for greater community input into NASA's own scenario-building for the future of human space flight. A series of focused community workshops were considered to be effective to assess these scenarios and involve more directly the science community, including planetary protection, with industry. Four workshops to date each involve about sixty professional scientists, engineers, technologists, and strategists from NASA, academia, aerospace corporations, the National Academies, consulting organizations, and potential international partners.

human mission of Mars↗

Science Outreach at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

At the end of World War II Duane Deming, an internationally known economist enunciated what later came to be called "Total Quality Management" (TQM). The basic thrust of this economic theory called for companies and governments to identify their customers and to do whatever was necessary to meet their demands and to keep them satisfied. It also called for companies to compete internally. That is, they were to build products that competed with their own so that they were always improving. Unfortunately most U.S. corporations failed to heed this advice. Consequently, the Japanese who actively sought Deming's advice and instituted it in their corporate planning, built an economy that outstripped that of the U.S. for the next three to four decades. Only after U.S. corporations reorganized and fashioned joint ventures which incorporated the tenets of TQM with their Japanese competitors did they start to catch up. Other institutions such as the U.S. government and its agencies and schools face the same problem. While the power of the U.S. government is in no danger of being usurped, its agencies and schools face real problems which can be traced back to not heeding Deming's advice. For example, the public schools are facing real pressure from private schools and home school families because they are not meeting the needs of the general public, Likewise, NASA and other government agencies find themselves shortchanged in funding because they have failed to convince the general public that their missions are important. In an attempt to convince the general public that its science mission is both interesting and important, in 1998 the Science Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) instituted a new outreach effort using the interact to reach the general public as well as the students. They have called it 'Science@NASA'.

George Lebo↗

NASA Mission Operations Directorate Preparations for the COTS Visiting Vehicles

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle looming, a series of new spacecraft is under development to assist in providing for the growing logistical needs of the International Space Station (ISS). Two of these vehicles are being built under a NASA initiative known as the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. These visiting vehicles ; Space X s Dragon and Orbital Science Corporation s Cygnus , are to be domestically produced in the United States and designed to add to the capabilities of the Russian Progress and Soyuz workhorses, the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and the Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV). Most of what is known about the COTS program has focused on the work of Orbital and SpaceX in designing, building, and testing their respective launch and cargo vehicles. However, there is also a team within the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) at NASA s Johnson Space Center working with their operational counterparts in these companies to provide operational safety oversight and mission assurance via the development of operational scenarios and products needed for these missions. Ensuring that the operational aspect is addressed for the initial demonstration flights of these vehicles is the topic of this paper. Integrating Dragon and Cygnus into the ISS operational environment has posed a unique challenge to NASA and their partner companies. This is due in part to the short time span of the COTS program, as measured from initial contract award until first launch, as well as other factors that will be explored in the text. Operational scenarios and products developed for each COTS vehicle will be discussed based on the following categories: timelines, on-orbit checkout, ground documentation, crew procedures, software updates and training materials. Also addressed is an outline of the commonalities associated with the operations for each vehicle. It is the intent of the authors to provide their audience with a better understanding of the mission assurance that MOD brings to commercial ventures to the ISS

Shull, Sarah A.↗

Final Report for the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) from Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation

The Advanced Camera for Surveys ACS was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia just before dawn on March 1, 2002. After successfully docking with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), several components were replaced. One of the components was the Advanced Camera for Surveys built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (BATC) in Boulder, Colorado. Over the life of the HST contract at BATC hundreds of employees had the pleasure of working on the concept, design, fabrication, assembly and test of ACS. Those employees thank NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center and the science team at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) for the opportunity to participate in building a great science instrument for HST. After installation in HST a mini-functional test was performed and later a complete functional test. ACS performed well and has continued performing well since then. One of the greatest rewards for the BATC employees is a satisfied science team. Following is an excerpt from the JHU final report, "The foremost promise of ACS was to increase Hubble's capability for surveys in the near infrared by a factor of 10. That promise was kept. "

Volmer, Paul↗

SIM Lite Astrometric Observatory Progress Report

The SIM Lite Astrometric Observatory (aka SIM Lite), a micro-arcsecond astrometry space mission, has been developed in response to NASA's indefinite deferral of the SIM PlanetQuest mission. The SIM Lite mission, while significantly more affordable than the SIM PlanetQuest mission concept, still addresses the full breadth of SIM science envisioned by two previous National Research Council (NRC) Astrophysics Decadal Surveys at the most stringent 'Goal' level of astrometric measurement performance envisioned in those surveys. Over the past two years, the project has completed the conceptual design of the SIM Lite mission using only the completed SIM technology; published a 250 page book describing the science and mission design (available at the SIM website: http://sim.jpl.nasa.gov); been subject to an independent cost and technical readiness assessment by the Aerospace Corporation; and submitted a number of information responses to the NRC Astro2010 Decadal Survey. The project also conducted an exoplanet-finding capability double blind study that clearly demonstrated the ability of the mission to survey 60 to 100 nearby sun-like dwarf stars for terrestrial, habitable zone planets in complex planetary systems. Additionally, the project has continued Engineering Risk Reduction activities by building brassboard (form, fit and function to flight) version of key instrument elements and subjecting them to flight qualification environmental and performance testing. This paper summarizes the progress over the last two years and the current state of the SIM Lite project.

exoplanet↗

An Open Computing Infrastructure that Facilitates Integrated Product and Process Development from a Decision-Based Perspective

Computer applications for design have evolved rapidly over the past several decades, and significant payoffs are being achieved by organizations through reductions in design cycle times. These applications are overwhelmed by the requirements imposed during complex, open engineering systems design. Organizations are faced with a number of different methodologies, numerous legacy disciplinary tools, and a very large amount of data. Yet they are also faced with few interdisciplinary tools for design collaboration or methods for achieving the revolutionary product designs required to maintain a competitive advantage in the future. These organizations are looking for a software infrastructure that integrates current corporate design practices with newer simulation and solution techniques. Such an infrastructure must be robust to changes in both corporate needs and enabling technologies. In addition, this infrastructure must be user-friendly, modular and scalable. This need is the motivation for the research described in this dissertation. The research is focused on the development of an open computing infrastructure that facilitates product and process design. In addition, this research explicitly deals with human interactions during design through a model that focuses on the role of a designer as that of decision-maker. The research perspective here is taken from that of design as a discipline with a focus on Decision-Based Design, Theory of Languages, Information Science, and Integration Technology. Given this background, a Model of IPPD is developed and implemented along the lines of a traditional experimental procedure: with the steps of establishing context, formalizing a theory, building an apparatus, conducting an experiment, reviewing results, and providing recommendations. Based on this Model, Design Processes and Specification can be explored in a structured and implementable architecture. An architecture for exploring design called DREAMS (Developing Robust Engineering Analysis Models and Specifications) has been developed which supports the activities of both meta-design and actual design execution. This is accomplished through a systematic process which is comprised of the stages of Formulation, Translation, and Evaluation. During this process, elements from a Design Specification are integrated into Design Processes. In addition, a software infrastructure was developed and is called IMAGE (Intelligent Multidisciplinary Aircraft Generation Environment). This represents a virtual apparatus in the Design Experiment conducted in this research. IMAGE is an innovative architecture because it explicitly supports design-related activities. This is accomplished through a GUI driven and Agent-based implementation of DREAMS. A HSCT design has been adopted from the Framework for Interdisciplinary Design Optimization (FIDO) and is implemented in IMAGE. This problem shows how Design Processes and Specification interact in a design system. In addition, the problem utilizes two different solution models concurrently: optimal and satisfying. The satisfying model allows for more design flexibility and allows a designer to maintain design freedom. As a result of following this experimental procedure, this infrastructure is an open system that it is robust to changes in both corporate needs and computer technologies. The development of this infrastructure leads to a number of significant intellectual contributions: 1) A new approach to implementing IPPD with the aid of a computer; 2) A formal Design Experiment; 3) A combined Process and Specification architecture that is language-based; 4) An infrastructure for exploring design; 5) An integration strategy for implementing computer resources; and 6) A seamless modeling language. The need for these contributions is emphasized by the demand by industry and government agencies for the development of these technologies.

Hale, Mark A.↗

Hardware Development Process for Human Research Facility Applications

The simple goal of the Human Research Facility (HRF) is to conduct human research experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) astronauts during long-duration missions. This is accomplished by providing integration and operation of the necessary hardware and software capabilities. A typical hardware development flow consists of five stages: functional inputs and requirements definition, market research, design life cycle through hardware delivery, crew training, and mission support. The purpose of this presentation is to guide the audience through the early hardware development process: requirement definition through selecting a development path. Specific HRF equipment is used to illustrate the hardware development paths. The source of hardware requirements is the science community and HRF program. The HRF Science Working Group, consisting of SCientists from various medical disciplines, defined a basic set of equipment with functional requirements. This established the performance requirements of the hardware. HRF program requirements focus on making the hardware safe and operational in a space environment. This includes structural, thermal, human factors, and material requirements. Science and HRF program requirements are defined in a hardware requirements document which includes verification methods. Once the hardware is fabricated, requirements are verified by inspection, test, analysis, or demonstration. All data is compiled and reviewed to certify the hardware for flight. Obviously, the basis for all hardware development activities is requirement definition. Full and complete requirement definition is ideal prior to initiating the hardware development. However, this is generally not the case, but the hardware team typically has functional inputs as a guide. The first step is for engineers to conduct market research based on the functional inputs provided by scientists. CommerCially available products are evaluated against the science requirements as well as modifications needed to meet program requirements. Options are consolidated and the hardware development team reaches a hardware development decision point. Within budget and schedule constraints, the team must decide whether or not to complete the hardware as an in-house, subcontract with vendor, or commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) development. An in-house development indicates NASA personnel or a contractor builds the hardware at a NASA site. A subcontract development is completed off-site by a commercial company. A COTS item is a vendor product available by ordering a specific part number. The team evaluates the pros and cons of each development path. For example, in-bouse developments utilize existing corporate knowledge regarding bow to build equipment for use in space. However, technical expertise would be required to fully understand the medical equipment capabilities, such as for an ultrasound system. It may require additional time and funding to gain the expertise that commercially exists. The major benefit of subcontracting a hardware development is the product is delivered as an end-item and commercial expertise is utilized. On the other hand, NASA has limited control over schedule delays. The final option of COTS or modified COTS equipment is a compromise between in-house and subcontracts. A vendor product may exist that meets all functional requirements but req uires in-house modifications for successful operation in a space environment. The HRF utilizes equipment developed using all of the paths described: inhouse, subcontract, and modified COTS.

Bauer, Liz↗

Digital Beamforming Scatterometer

This paper discusses scatterometer measurements collected with multi-mode Digital Beamforming Synthetic Aperture Radar (DBSAR) during the SMAP-VEX 2008 campaign. The 2008 SMAP Validation Experiment was conducted to address a number of specific questions related to the soil moisture retrieval algorithms. SMAP-VEX 2008 consisted on a series of aircraft-based.flights conducted on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware in the fall of 2008. Several other instruments participated in the campaign including the Passive Active L-Band System (PALS), the Marshall Airborne Polarimetric Imaging Radiometer (MAPIR), and the Global Positioning System Reflectometer (GPSR). This campaign was the first SMAP Validation Experiment. DBSAR is a multimode radar system developed at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center that combines state-of-the-art radar technologies, on-board processing, and advances in signal processing techniques in order to enable new remote sensing capabilities applicable to Earth science and planetary applications [l]. The instrument can be configured to operate in scatterometer, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), or altimeter mode. The system builds upon the L-band Imaging Scatterometer (LIS) developed as part of the RadSTAR program. The radar is a phased array system designed to fly on the NASA P3 aircraft. The instrument consists of a programmable waveform generator, eight transmit/receive (T/R) channels, a microstrip antenna, and a reconfigurable data acquisition and processor system. Each transmit channel incorporates a digital attenuator, and digital phase shifter that enables amplitude and phase modulation on transmit. The attenuators, phase shifters, and calibration switches are digitally controlled by the radar control card (RCC) on a pulse by pulse basis. The antenna is a corporate fed microstrip patch-array centered at 1.26 GHz with a 20 MHz bandwidth. Although only one feed is used with the present configuration, a provision was made for separate corporate feeds for vertical and horizontal polarization. System upgrades to dual polarization are currently under way. The DBSAR processor is a reconfigurable data acquisition and processor system capable of real-time, high-speed data processing. DBSAR uses an FPGA-based architecture to implement digitally down-conversion, in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) demodulation, and subsequent radar specific algorithms. The core of the processor board consists of an analog-to-digital (AID) section, three Altera Stratix field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), an ARM microcontroller, several memory devices, and an Ethernet interface. The processor also interfaces with a navigation board consisting of a GPS and a MEMS gyro. The processor has been configured to operate in scatterometer, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and altimeter modes. All the modes are based on digital beamforming which is a digital process that generates the far-field beam patterns at various scan angles from voltages sampled in the antenna array. This technique allows steering the received beam and controlling its beam-width and side-lobe. Several beamforming techniques can be implemented each characterized by unique strengths and weaknesses, and each applicable to different measurement scenarios. In Scatterometer mode, the radar is capable to.generate a wide beam or scan a narrow beam on transmit, and to steer the received beam on processing while controlling its beamwidth and side-lobe level. Table I lists some important radar characteristics

Rincon, Rafael F.↗

The Fast Alternative Cryogenic Experiment Testbed

One of the challenges in the area of cryogenics for space exploration in the next millennium is providing the capability for inexpensive, frequent, access to space. Faced with this challenge during the International Space Station (ISS) build era, when other Space Shuttle manifesting opportunities are unavailable, a "proof of concept" cryostat has been developed to demonstrate the ability to accommodate low temperature science investigations within the constraints of the Hitchhiker siderail carrier. The Hitchhiker siderail carrier is available on a "mass available" basis during the ISS build era. In fact, several hitchhiker payloads flew with the deployment of the Unity module. Hitchhiker siderail carrier payloads have historically flown an average of about four times a year. A hybrid Solid Neon - Superfluid Helium cryostat has been developed with Janis Research Company to accommodate instruments of 16.5 cm diameter and 30 cm. length. This hybrid approach was taken in part to provide adequate on-orbit lifetime for instruments with high (conducted) heat loads from the instrumentation wiring. Mass, volume, lifetime and the launch hold scenario were all design drivers. In addition, with Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, a multichannel VME architecture Germanium Resistance Thermometer (GRT) readout and heater control servo system has been developed. In a flight system, the cryostat and electronics payloads would be umbilically attached in a paired Hitchhiker siderail mount, and permit on-orbit command and telemetry capability. The results of performance tests of both the cryostat, and a helium sample instrument will be presented. The instrument features a self contained, miniaturized, nano-Kelvin resolution High Resolution Thermometer (HRT). This high level of thermal resolution is achieved through the utilization of a dc Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID). Although developed for the Low Temperature Microgravity Fundamental Physics investigator community, many design features are applicable in fields such as infrared and x-ray astronomy.

Nash, Alfred↗