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Elimination of clock errors in a GPD based tracking system

This paper discusses the estimation problem for a GPS based tracking system which is used for low earth satellite orbit determination and for geodynamic research. The clock errors involved in the measurements are eliminated in order to obtain a solution. Two methods used to eliminate the clock errors, the double differencing method and the linear combination method are discussed and compared. The accuracy of the solution, the redundancy and the correlation of the differenced or the combined data are investigated. Numerical results of the two methods are presented.

Wu, J.-T.↗

ASIC Readout Circuit Architecture for Large Geiger Photodiode Arrays

The objective of this work was to develop a new class of readout integrated circuit (ROIC) arrays to be operated with Geiger avalanche photodiode (GPD) arrays, by integrating multiple functions at the pixel level (smart-pixel or active pixel technology) in 250-nm CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) processes. In order to pack a maximum of functions within a minimum pixel size, the ROIC array is a full, custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design using a mixed-signal CMOS process with compact primitive layout cells. The ROIC array was processed to allow assembly in bump-bonding technology with photon-counting infrared detector arrays into 3-D imaging cameras (LADAR). The ROIC architecture was designed to work with either common- anode Si GPD arrays or common-cathode InGaAs GPD arrays. The current ROIC pixel design is hardwired prior to processing one of the two GPD array configurations, and it has the provision to allow soft reconfiguration to either array (to be implemented into the next ROIC array generation). The ROIC pixel architecture implements the Geiger avalanche quenching, bias, reset, and time to digital conversion (TDC) functions in full-digital design, and uses time domain over-sampling (vernier) to allow high temporal resolution at low clock rates, increased data yield, and improved utilization of the laser beam.

Vasile, Stefan↗

Size and metabolic properties of single muscle fibers in rat soleus after hindlimb suspension

The effect of 28-day-long hind-limb suspension (HS) combined with 10 daily forceful lengthening contractions of the limb on the morphological and metabolic properties of individual fibers of the soleus was studied in rats, using quantitative histochemical techniques. Compared with nonsuspended controls (CON), soleus wet weights of HS rats were decreased by 49 percent; the fibers staining lightly for myosin ATPase ('light-ATPase' fibers) atrophied more than the 'dark-ATPase' fibers. Single-fiber alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activities were higher in HS than in CON rats. Daily forceful lengthening contractions did not prevent the HS-induced changes. The results support the view that the soleus fibers can change from a slow-twitch oxidative to a fast-twitch oxidative-glycolytic profile, but rarely to a fast-twitch glycolytic one, and that the SDH and GPD activities per volume of tissue can be increased even when there are severe losses of contractile proteins.

Hauschka, Edward O.↗

Size and metabolic properties of fibers in rat fast-twitch muscles after hindlimb suspension

The effect of hind-limb suspension (HS) on single fibers of the medial gastrocnemius (MG) and the tibialis anterior (TA) muscles were studied in rats. Fiber area and the activities of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) were determined in tissue sections using an image analysis system. After 28 days of HS, the MG atrophied 28 percent, whereas the TA weight was maintained. Both dark- and light-ATPase fibers in the deep region of the MG had decreased cross-sectional areas following HS, with the atrophic response being twice as great in the light-ATPase fibers than in the dark-ATPase fibers. Following HS, mean SDH activities of both fiber types were significantly lower in the MG and TA than in the CON; by contrast, mean GPD activities were either maintained at the CON level or were higher in both MG and TA muscles. The data suggest an independence of the mechanisms determining the muscle fiber size and the metabolic adaptations associated with HS.

Roy, Roland R.↗

Influence of spaceflight on rat skeletal muscle

The effect of a 7-day spaceflight (aboard NASA's SL-3) on the size and the metabolism of single fibers from several rat muscles was investigated along with the specificity of these responses as related to the muscle type and the size of fibers. It was found that the loss of mass after flight was varied from 36 percent in the soleus to 15 percent in the extensor digitorum longus. Results of histochemical analyses showed that the succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity in muscles of flight-exposed rats was maintained at the control levels, whereas the alpha-glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) activity was either maintained or increased. The analyses of the metabolic profiles of ATPase, SDH, and GPD indicated that, in some muscles, there was an increase in the poportion of fast oxidative-glycolytic fibers.

Martin, Thomas P.↗

Metabolic and morphologic properties of single muscle fibers in the rat after spaceflight, Cosmos 1887

The adaptation of a slow (soleus, Sol) and a fast (medial gastrocnemius, MG) skeletal muscle to spaceflight was studied in five young male rats. The flight period was 12.5 days and the rats were killed approximately 48 h after returning to 1 g. Five other rats that were housed in cages similar to those used by the flight rats were maintained at 1 g for the same period of time to serve as ground-based controls. Fibers were classified as dark or light staining for myosin adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase). On the average, the fibers in the Sol of the flight rats atrophied twice as much as those in the MG. Further, the fibers located in the deep (close to the bone and having the highest percentage of light ATPase and high oxidative fibers in the muscle cross section) region of the MG atrophied more than the fibers located in the superficial (away from the bone and having the lowest percentage of light ATPase and high oxidative fibers in the muscle cross-section) region of the muscle. Based on quantitative histochemical assays of single muscle fibers, succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity per unit volume was unchanged in fibers of the Sol and MG. However, in the Sol, but not the MG, the total amount of SDH activity in a 10-microns-thick section of a fiber decreased significantly in response to spaceflight. Based on population distributions, it appears that the alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) activities were elevated in the dark ATPase fibers in the Sol, whereas the light fibers in the Sol and both fiber types in the MG did not appear to change. The ratio of GPD to SDH activities increased in the dark (but not light) fibers of the Sol and was unaffected in the MG. Immunohistochemical analyses indicate that approximately 40% of the fibers in the Sol of flight rats expressed a fast myosin heavy chain compared with 22% in control rats. Further, 31% of the fibers in the Sol of flight rats expressed both fast and slow myosin heavy chains compared with 8% in control rats. Immunohistochemical changes in the MG were minimal. These data suggest that the magnitude and direction of enzymatic activity and cell volume changes are dependent on the muscle, the region of the muscle, and the type of myosin expressed in the fibers. Further, the ability of fibers to maintain normal or even elevated activities per unit volume of some metabolic enzymes is remarkable considering the marked and rapid decrease in fiber volume.

NASA Experiment Number COS 1887-26↗

XIPE the X-Ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer

X-ray polarimetry, sometimes alone, and sometimes coupled to spectral and temporal variability measurements and to imaging, allows a wealth of physical phenomena in astrophysics to be studied. X-ray polarimetry investigates the acceleration process, for example, including those typical of magnetic reconnection in solar flares, but also emission in the strong magnetic fields of neutron stars and white dwarfs. It detects scattering in asymmetric structures such as accretion disks and columns, and in the so-called molecular torus and ionization cones. In addition, it allows fundamental physics in regimes of gravity and of magnetic field intensity not accessible to experiments on the Earth to be probed. Finally, models that describe fundamental interactions (e.g. quantum gravity and the extension of the Standard Model) can be tested. We describe in this paper the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE), proposed in June 2012 to the first ESA call for a small mission with a launch in 2017. The proposal was, unfortunately, not selected. To be compliant with this schedule, we designed the payload mostly with existing items. The XIPE proposal takes advantage of the completed phase A of POLARIX for an ASI small mission program that was cancelled, but is different in many aspects: the detectors, the presence of a solar flare polarimeter and photometer and the use of a light platform derived by a mass production for a cluster of satellites. XIPE is composed of two out of the three existing JET-X telescopes with two Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD) filled with a He-DME mixture at their focus. Two additional GPDs filled with a 3-bar Ar-DME mixture always face the Sun to detect polarization from solar flares. The Minimum Detectable Polarization of a 1 mCrab source reaches 14 in the 210 keV band in 105 s for pointed observations, and 0.6 for an X10 class solar flare in the 1535 keV energy band. The imaging capability is 24 arcsec Half Energy Width (HEW) in a Field of View of 14.7 arcmin 14.7 arcmin. The spectral resolution is 20 at 6 keV and the time resolution is 8 s. The imaging capabilities of the JET-X optics and of the GPD have been demonstrated by a recent calibration campaign at PANTER X-ray test facility of the Max-Planck-Institut fr extraterrestrische Physik (MPE, Germany). XIPE takes advantage of a low-earth equatorial orbit with Malindi as down-link station and of a Mission Operation Center (MOC) at INPE (Brazil). The data policy is organized with a Core Program that comprises three months of Science Verification Phase and 25 of net observing time in the following 2 years. A competitive Guest Observer program covers the remaining 75 of the net observing time.

Astronomy X-ray Polarimetry↗

ANOPP2’s Farassat Formulations Internal Functional Module (AFFIFM) Reference Manual

This manual documents version 1.4.0 of ANOPP2’s Farassat Formulations Internal Functional Modules (AFFIFMs) developed by NASA Langley Research Center’s Aeroacoustics Branch. The AFFIFMs provide the capability of calculating an acoustic pressure time history (APTH), or similar metric, provided one or more Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings (FWH) surfaces. AFFIFMs also allow for compact line sources. This application programming interface (API) is part of a larger toolkit called the Aircraft NOise Prediction Program 2 (ANOPP2). The goal of ANOPP2 is to provide the ability to independently: (1) assess aircraft system noise; (2) assess aircraft component noise; and (3) evaluate aircraft noise reduction technologies and flight procedures. Additionally, ANOPP2 is designed to provide a capability for understanding the fundamental physics involved in noise generation to support experiments and flight demonstration activities. As a component of ANOPP2, ANOPP2’s Farassat Formulations Internal Functional Modules and this document may be included as part of the ANOPP2 distribution, or they may be provided independent of that distribution. This is the ANOPP2 internal version of this document. It supersedes the NASA Internal Distribution(NID), US General Distribution (UGD), and General Public Distribution (GPD) versions.

Acoustics↗

Design for Minimum Casualty Area – The IXPE Case

The Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a new international space observatory in NASA’s Small Explorer program, designed in a collaboration between the Italian Space Agency and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and built by Ball Aerospace. IXPE has an expected launch in November 2021, to a 600-km altitude equatorial orbit. IXPE is an astrophysics mission using three telescope assemblies to measure the polarization of cosmic X-rays. Each assembly is composed of a mirror module assembly (MMA) with 24 nested nickel-cobalt cylindrical shells and a unique, polarization-sensitive, gas pixel detector (GPD) within the detector unit (DU). As a NASA mission, IXPE must adhere to the orbital debris mitigation requirements specified in NASA Standard 8719.14 [1]; in the present work, we will only discuss reentry human casualty risk. As initially designed, the IXPE observatory exceeded NASA’s casualty risk threshold. IXPE does not include a propulsion system to perform a controlled reentry at the end of mission to mitigate the ground casualty risk. To reduce the risk from the uncontrolled reentry of this observatory, the IXPE design team worked with the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office to reduce the debris casualty area through design-for-demise and containment methods. The flight design of IXPE is now compliant with the ground casualty risk requirement at a casualty probability of 1:13,100 compared to a casualty requirement of better than 1:10,000.

C Ostrom↗

Network issues

In this paper we review the IGS network as it currently exists and its effectiveness in supporting the IGS suite of precise products.

International GPD Service GPS network space geodes↗