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Johnson, K.

Publications and source records attributed to Johnson, K..

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Gradient Compression Garments as a Countermeasure to Post-Space Flight Orthostatic Intolerance: Potential Interactions with the Maximum Absorbency Garment

Astronauts and cosmonauts may experience symptoms of orthostatic intolerance during re-entry, landing, and for several days post-landing following short- and long-duration spaceflight. Presyncopal symptoms have been documented in approximately 20% of short-duration and greater than 60% of long-duration flyers on landing day specifically during 5-10 min of controlled (no countermeasures employed at the time of testing) stand tests or 80 deg head-up tilt tests. Current operational countermeasures to orthostatic intolerance include fluid loading prior to and whole body cooling during re-entry as well as compression garments that are worn during and for up to several days after landing. While both NASA and the Russian space program have utilized compression garments to protect astronauts and cosmonauts traveling on their respective vehicles, a "next-generation" gradient compression garment (GCG) has been developed and tested in collaboration with a commercial partner to support future space flight missions. Unlike previous compression garments used operationally by NASA that provide a single level of compression across only the calves, thighs, and lower abdomen, the GCG provides continuous coverage from the feet to below the pectoral muscles in a gradient fashion (from approximately 55 mm Hg at the feet to approximately 16 mmHg across the abdomen). The efficacy of the GCG has been demonstrated previously after a 14-d bed rest study without other countermeasures and after short-duration Space Shuttle missions. Currently the GCG is being tested during a stand test following long-duration missions (~6 months) to the International Space Station. While results to date have been promising, interactions of the GCG with other space suit components have not been examined. Specifically, it is unknown whether wearing the GCG over NASA's Maximum Absorbency Garment (MAG; absorbent briefs worn for the collection of urine and feces while suited during re-entry and landing) will interfere with the effectiveness of the GCG or conversely whether the GCG will reduce the fluid absorption capabilities of the MAG. Methods: This operational, directed study, will (1) determine whether the effectiveness of the GCG is affected by the MAG with regard to cardiovascular responses to head-up tilt, the standard orthostatic intolerance test employed for astronauts and bed rest subjects; (2) determine whether the effectiveness of the MAG is compromised by the GCG tested by injecting a standard fluid volume (950 ml in 3 separate simulated "urine voids") at a standardized rate (30 ml/sec); and (3) determine whether comfort is affected by wearing the MAG under the GCG using a standardized questionnaire. Results from this study will guide future development and operational use of the GCG and MAG to maximize crew health, safety, and comfort.

Lee, S. M. C.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Development of Field Excavator with Embedded Force Measurement

A semi-intelligent excavation mechanism was developed for use with the NASA-built Centaur 2 rover prototype. The excavator features a continuously rotatable large bucket supported between two parallel arms, both of which share a single pivot axis near the excavator base attached to the rover. The excavator is designed to simulate the collection of regolith, such as on the Moon, and to dump the collected soil into a hopper up to one meter tall for processing to extract oxygen. Because the vehicle can be autonomous and the terrain is generally unknown, there is risk of damaging equipment or using excessive power when attempting to extract soil from dense or rocky terrain. To minimize these risks, it is critical for the rover to sense the digging forces and adjust accordingly. It is also important to understand the digging capabilities and limitations of the excavator. This paper discusses the implementation of multiple strain gages as an embedded force measurement system in the excavator's arms. These strain gages can accurately measure and resolve multi-axial forces on the excavator. In order to validate these sensors and characterize the load capabilities, a series of controlled excavation tests were performed at Glenn Research Center with the excavator at various depths and cut angles while supported by a six axis load cell. The results of these tests are both compared to a force estimation model and used for calibration of the embedded strain gages. In addition, excavation forces generated using two different types of bucket edge (straight vs. with teeth) were compared.

Soils↗
NASA NTRS2011

Benefit of "Push-pull" Locomotion for Planetary Rover Mobility

As NASAs exploration missions on planetary terrains become more aggressive, a focus on alternative modes of locomotion for rovers is necessary. In addition to climbing steep slopes, the terrain in these extreme environments is often unknown and can be extremely hard to traverse, increasing the likelihood of a vehicle or robot becoming damaged or immobilized. The conventional driving mode in which all wheels are either driven or free-rolling is very efficient on flat hard ground, but does not always provide enough traction to propel the vehicle through soft or steep terrain. This paper presents an alternative mode of travel and investigates the fundamental differences between these locomotion modes. The methods of push-pull locomotion discussed can be used with articulated wheeled vehicles and are identified as walking or inchinginch-worming. In both cases, the braked non-rolling wheels provide increased thrust. An in-depth study of how soil reacts under a rolling wheel vs. a braked wheel was performed by visually observing the motion of particles beneath the surface. This novel technique consists of driving or dragging a wheel in a soil bin against a transparent wall while high resolution, high-rate photographs are taken. Optical flow software was then used to determine shearing patterns in the soil. Different failure modes were observed for the rolling and braked wheel cases. A quantitative comparison of inching vs. conventional driving was also performed on a full-scale vehicle through a series of drawbar pull tests in the Lunar terrain strength simulant, GRC-1. The effect of tire stiffness was also compared; typically compliant tires provide better traction when driving in soft soil, however its been observed that rigid wheels may provide better thrust when non-rolling. Initial tests indicate up to a possible 40 increase in pull force capability at high slip when inching vs. rolling.

robotics↗
NASA NTRS2006

Optically Thin Liquid Water Clouds: Their Importance and Our Challenge

Many of the clouds important to the Earth's energy balance, from the tropics to the Arctic, are optically thin and contain liquid water. Longwave and shortwave radiative fluxes are very sensitive to small perturbations of the cloud liquid water path (LWP) when the liquid water path is small (i.e., < g/sq m) and, thus, the radiative properties of these clouds must be well understood to capture them correctly in climate models. We review the importance of these thin clouds to the Earth's energy balance, and explain the difficulties in observing them. In particular, because these clouds are optically thin, potentially mixed-phase, and often (i.e., have large 3-D variability), it is challenging to retrieve their microphysical properties accurately. We describe a retrieval algorithm intercomparison that was conducted to evaluate the issues involved. The intercomparison included eighteen different algorithms to evaluate their retrieved LWP, optical depth, and effective radii. Surprisingly, evaluation of the simplest case, a single-layer overcast cloud, revealed that huge discrepancies exist among the various techniques, even among different algorithms that are in the same general classification. This suggests that, despite considerable advances that have occurred in the field, much more work must be done, and we discuss potential avenues for future work.

Turner, D. D.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Root-growth behavior of the Arabidopsis mutant rgr1. Roles of gravitropism and circumnutation in the waving/coiling phenomenon

In this study we investigated the kinetics of the gravitropic response of the Arabidopsis mutant rgr1 (reduced root gravitropism). Although the rate of curvature in rgr1, which is allelic to axr4, was smaller than in the wild type (ecotype Wassilewskija), curvature was initiated in the same region of the root, the distal elongation zone. The time lag for the response was unaffected in the mutant; however, the gravitropic response of rgr1 contained a feature not found in the wild type: when roots growing along the surface of an agar plate were gravistimulated, there was often an upward curvature that initiated in the central elongation zone. Because this response was dependent on the tactile environment of the root, it most likely resulted from the superposition of the waving/coiling phenomenon onto the gravitropic response. We found that the frequency of the waving pattern and circumnutation, a cyclic endogenous pattern of root growth, was the same in rgr1 and in the wild type, so the waving/coiling phenomenon is likely governed by circumnutation patterns. The amplitudes of these oscillations may then be selectively amplified by tactile stimulation to provide a directional preference to the slanting.

NASA Discipline Plant Biology↗
NASA NTRS1996

Utilization fo the Satellite Test Assistant Robot (STAR) for Visual and Thermal Analysis for Articles in the Thermal Vacuum Test Environment

An innovative new telerobotic inspection system called STAR has been developed to asist engineers in the visual and thermal analysis fo flight hardware being tested in a simulated space environment. This paper describes the architecture of the STAR mechanical and control systems and discusses some uses of STAR to date.

STAR satellite test assistant robot space simulati↗
NASA NTRS1994

Engineering large-scale agent-based systems with consensus

The paper presents the consensus method for the development of large-scale agent-based systems. Systems can be developed as networks of knowledge based agents (KBA) which engage in a collaborative problem solving effort. The method provides a comprehensive and integrated approach to the development of this type of system. This includes a systematic analysis of user requirements as well as a structured approach to generating a system design which exhibits the desired functionality. There is a direct correspondence between system requirements and design components. The benefits of this approach are that requirements are traceable into design components and code thus facilitating verification. The use of the consensus method with two major test applications showed it to be successful and also provided valuable insight into problems typically associated with the development of large systems.

Bokma, A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Refurbishment of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Large Space Simulator

The JPL large space simulator has recently undergone a major refurbishment to restore and enhance its capabilities to provide high fidelity space simulation. The nearly completed refurbishment has included upgrading the vacuum pumping system by replacing old oil diffusion pumps with new cryogenic and turbomolecular pumps; modernizing the entire control system to utilize computerized, distributed control technology; replacing the Xenon arc lamp power supplies with new upgraded units; refinishing the primary collimating mirror; and replacing the existing integrating lens unit and the fused quartz penetration window.

JPL space simulator mirror cryopump solar simulati↗
NASA NTRS1984

Dilution jet mixing program

Parametric tests were conducted to quantify the mixing of opposed rows of jets (two-sided injection) in a confined cross flow. Results show that jet penetrations for two sided injections are less than that for single-sided injections, but the jet spreading rates are faster for a given momentum ratio and orifice plate. Flow area convergence generally enhances mixing. Mixing characteristics with asymmetric and symmetric convergence are similar. For constant momentum ratio, the optimum S/H(0) with in-line injections is one half the optimum value for single sided injections. For staggered injections, the optimum S/H(0) is twice the optimum value for single-sided injection. The correlations developed predicted the temperature distributions within first order accuracy and provide a useful tool for predicting jet trajectory and temperature profiles in the dilution zone with two-sided injections.

Srinivasan, R.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Executive summary, aerothermal modeling program, phase 1

Submodels used in the combustor analytical models that were successfully used in designing advanced technology combustors were assessed. Specific recommendations for further improvement of model accuracy for combustor design purposes were made. Based upon an exhaustive literature survey, a number of test cases were selected to assess accuracy of submodels of turbulence, turbulence/chemistry interaction, spray combustion, and dilution jet mixing processes within a confined cross-stream. These test cases included simple flows and complex flows with and without swirl. Nonrecirculating and recirculating, and nonreactive and reactive flows were investigated. It was concluded that the current models give qualitative trends for the recirculating secondary flows (as encountered in a gas turbine combustor primary zone), but the predictions are good for the dilution zone.

Srinivasan, R.↗