Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Harris, Henry M..
With the downsizing or outright elimination of nuclear power capability in space in progress, it is important to understand what this means to science in terms of capability lost. This paper is a survey of the scientific possiblities inherent in the potential availablility of between 15 to 30kW though electrical nuclear power in space.
Over a period of three years, a FORTH-based system was developed by JPL for the operations of a major scientific instrument onboard the Space Shuttle. The software had to meet a very demanding operations environment where the interactiveness of the software was not merely desirable but essential to the success of the mission. Forth was chosen for its capability of integrating divergent software needs into an interactive package. The mission flown in October 1984 was beset with numerous hardware failures and challenged the capability of the system to its fullest.