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Grazier, Kevin R.

Publications and source records attributed to Grazier, Kevin R..

The Search for the Gamma Lyrid Progenitor

On 5 February 2015, a previously unknown meteor shower, the γ Lyrids were observed for the first time. Because of the Sun-Earth-Moon viewing geometry, however, stream members were observed almost exclusively by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR). The γ Lyrids did not appear again until 2018, and that outburst was stronger than in 2015. This study analyzed the 2015 and 2018 CMOR data in order to determine the orbital parameters of the stream in an attempt to determine the γ Lyrid parent body. Of primary importance is to determine if the γ Lyrids will recur in a predictable manner. Two bodies, with dramatically different orbital parameters and evolutionary behaviors, emerged as the leading candidates: 2003 EH1 and 1854 R1.

Grazier, Kevin R.↗

Cassini Tour Atlas Automated Generation

During the Cassini spacecraft s cruise phase and nominal mission, the Cassini Science Planning Team developed and maintained an online database of geometric and timing information called the Cassini Tour Atlas. The Tour Atlas consisted of several hundreds of megabytes of EVENTS mission planning software outputs, tables, plots, and images used by mission scientists for observation planning. Each time the nominal mission trajectory was altered or tweaked, a new Tour Atlas had to be regenerated manually. In the early phases of Cassini s Equinox Mission planning, an a priori estimate suggested that mission tour designers would develop approximately 30 candidate tours within a short period of time. So that Cassini scientists could properly analyze the science opportunities in each candidate tour quickly and thoroughly so that the optimal series of orbits for science return could be selected, a separate Tour Atlas was required for each trajectory. The task of manually generating the number of trajectory analyses in the allotted time would have been impossible, so the entire task was automated using code written in five different programming languages. This software automates the generation of the Cassini Tour Atlas database. It performs with one UNIX command what previously took a day or two of human labor.

Grazier, Kevin R.↗

Automating the Generation of the Cassini Tour Atlas Database

The Tour Atlas is a large database of geometrical tables, plots, and graphics used by Cassini science planning engineers and scientists primarily for science observation planning. Over time, as the contents of the Tour Atlas grew, the amount of time it took to recreate the Tour Atlas similarly grew--to the point that it took one person a week of effort. When Cassini tour designers estimated that they were going to create approximately 30 candidate Extended Mission trajectories--which needed to be analyzed for science return in a short amount of time--it became a necessity to automate. We report on the automation methodology that reduced the amount of time it took one person to (re)generate a Tour Atlas from a week to, literally, one UNIX command.

Cassini↗