Jester, Keith | Search NASA

NASA NTRS2005

Computing Q-D Relationships for Storage of Rocket Fuels

The Quantity Distance Measurement Tool is a GIS BASEP computer program that aids safety engineers by calculating quantity-distance (Q-D) relationships for vessels that contain explosive chemicals used in testing rocket engines. (Q-D relationships are standard relationships between specified quantities of specified explosive materials and minimum distances by which they must be separated from persons, objects, and other explosives to obtain specified types and degrees of protection.) The program uses customized geographic-information-system (GIS) software and calculates Q-D relationships in accordance with NASA's Safety Standard For Explosives, Propellants, and Pyrotechnics. Displays generated by the program enable the identification of hazards, showing the relationships of propellant-storage-vessel safety buffers to inhabited facilities and public roads. Current Q-D information is calculated and maintained in graphical form for all vessels that contain propellants or other chemicals, the explosiveness of which is expressed in TNT equivalents [amounts of trinitrotoluene (TNT) having equivalent explosive effects]. The program is useful in the acquisition, siting, construction, and/or modification of storage vessels and other facilities in the development of an improved test-facility safety program.

Jester, Keith↗

NASA NTRS2003

Disaster Response and Preparedness Application: Emergency Environmental Response Tool (EERT)

In 2000, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Environmental Office at the John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) developed an Environmental Geographic Information Systems (EGIS) database. NASA had previously developed a GIS database at SSC to assist in the NASA Environmental Office's management of the Center. This GIS became the basis for the NASA-wide EGIS project, which was proposed after the applicability of the SSC database was demonstrated. Since its completion, the SSC EGIS has aided the Environmental Office with noise pollution modeling, land cover assessment, wetlands delineation, environmental hazards mapping, and critical habitat delineation for protected species. At SSC, facility management and safety officers are responsible for ensuring the physical security of the facilities, staff, and equipment as well as for responding to environmental emergencies, such as accidental releases of hazardous materials. All phases of emergency management (planning, mitigation, preparedness, and response) depend on data reliability and system interoperability from a variety of sources to determine the size and scope of the emergency operation. Because geospatial data are now available for all NASA facilities, it was suggested that this data could be incorporated into a computerized management information program to assist facility managers. The idea was that the information system could improve both the effectiveness and the efficiency of managing and controlling actions associated with disaster, homeland security, and other activities. It was decided to use SSC as a pilot site to demonstrate the efficacy of having a baseline, computerized management information system that ultimately was referred to as the Emergency Environmental Response Tool (EERT).

Smoot, James↗