Search NASASearch

Engineering topics

Burns, Jack

Publications and source records attributed to Burns, Jack.

Testing Astronaut-Controlled Telerobotic Operation of Rovers From the International Space Station as a Precursor to Lunar Missions

Missions to Earth-Moon libration points can advance capabilities for human exploration and provide unique opportunities to advance scientific knowledge. For example, NASA’s Orion spacecraft, currently under development, could serve as a platform from which astronauts would explore the lunar farside using robots that they remotely operate from a libration point. During Summer 2013, we conducted initial testing of this “surface telerobotics” concept of operations using the International Space Station (ISS) as a proxy for Orion orbiting the Moon. Over the course of three test sessions, Expedition 36 astronauts Chris Cassidy, Luca Parmitano, and Karen Nyberg on the ISS remotely operated NASA’s “K10” planetary rover in an outdoor terrain located at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC). In this paper, we discuss the motivation for Earth-Moon libration point missions, describe the surface telerobotics tests performed to date, and outline directions for future ISS testing.

Fong, Terrence

Lunar Science

Lunar Laser Ranging will provide critical data to determine the initial composition of the Moon and the Earth-­Moon system. Specifically, LLR uniquely measures the properties of the lunar core via librations. LUNAR is advancing LLR: APOLLO recovery of Lunokhod 1, thus dramatically improving measurements of librations; Technology development of next generation retroreflectors; New drilling techniques. Dual-­use Low Frequency Radio arrays will constrain: Lunar ionosphere density via riometry; Nano-­size interplanetary dust particles responsible for surface weathering.

lunar laser ranging

When clusters collide - A numerical Hydro/N-body simulation of merging galaxy clusters

A 3D numerical simulation of two merging clusters of galaxies, using a hybrid Hydro/N-body code, is presented. The hydrodynamics of the code is solved by an Eulerian finite difference method. Initial results disclose that the X-ray emission of the dominant cluster becomes elongated and broadened; heating occurs at the core of the dominant cluster as a result of multiple shocks, and high velocity gas motions within the intracluster medium. It is predicted that clusters which have undergone recent mergers and do not have cooling flows will have high peculiar gas velocities and that the shocks and turbulence generated during the merger may power cluster-wide radio halos. Prolonged high-velocity gas motions through the dominant cluster core possibly play a major role in the formation and shaping of wide-angle tailed radio sources associated with central dominant galaxies. The N-body component of the simulation reveals the subcluster to be dispersed as it passes through the dominant cluster.

Roettiger, Kurt

Optical monitoring of GRO phase 1 objects

A brief overview is given of the three phases of our Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) optical monitoring program. The acquisition of simultaneous GRO/optical data on targeted Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) objects, the collection of noncoincident observations of suspected GRO gamma ray emitters to determine their level of activity, and the optical imaging of burst fields in an attempt to identify the burst source are discussed. Finally, a table of future simultaneous optical observations of Phase 1 GRO targets is presented along with plans for the rapid optical imaging of gamma ray burst fields.

Mcnamara, Bernard