SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Operations Personnel”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 181 records · Page 10

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1993

HL-20 operations and support requirements for the Personnel Launch System mission

The processing, mission planning, and support requirements were defined for the HL-20 lifting-body configuration that can serve as a Personnel Launch System. These requirements were based on the assumption of an operating environment that incorporates aircraft and airline support methods and techniques that are applicable to operations. The study covered the complete turnaround process for the HL-20, including landing through launch, and mission operations, but did not address the support requirements of the launch vehicle except for the integrated activities. Support is defined in terms of manpower, staffing levels, facilities, ground support equipment, maintenance/sparing requirements, and turnaround processing time. Support results were drawn from two contracted studies, plus an in-house analysis used to define the maintenance manpower. The results of the contracted studies were used as the basis for a stochastic simulation of the support environment to determine the sufficiency of support and the effect of variance on vehicle processing. Results indicate the levels of support defined for the HL-20 through this process to be sufficient to achieve the desired flight rate of eight flights per year.

Morris, W. D.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Representing operations procedures using temporal dependency networks

DSN Link Monitor & Control (LMC) operations consist primarily of executing procedures to configure, calibrate, test, and operate a communications link between an interplanetary spacecraft and its mission control center. Currently the LMC operators are responsible for integrating procedures into an end-to-end series of steps. The research presented in this paper is investigating new ways of specifying operations procedures that incorporate the insight of operations, engineering, and science personnel to improve mission operations. The paper describes the rationale for using Temporal Dependency Networks (TDN's) to represent the procedures, a description of how the data is acquired, and the knowledge engineering effort required to represent operations procedures. Results of operational tests of this concept, as implemented in the LMC Operator Assistant Prototype (LMCOA), are also presented.

Fayyad, Kristina E.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Automated Traffic Management System and Method

A data management system and method that enables acquisition, integration, and management of real-time data generated at different rates, by multiple heterogeneous incompatible data sources. The system achieves this functionality by using an expert system to fuse data from a variety of airline, airport operations, ramp control, and air traffic control tower sources, to establish and update reference data values for every aircraft surface operation. The system may be configured as a real-time airport surface traffic management system (TMS) that electronically interconnects air traffic control, airline data, and airport operations data to facilitate information sharing and improve taxi queuing. In the TMS operational mode, empirical data shows substantial benefits in ramp operations for airlines, reducing departure taxi times by about one minute per aircraft in operational use, translating as $12 to $15 million per year savings to airlines at the Atlanta, Georgia airport. The data management system and method may also be used for scheduling the movement of multiple vehicles in other applications, such as marine vessels in harbors and ports, trucks or railroad cars in ports or shipping yards, and railroad cars in switching yards. Finally, the data management system and method may be used for managing containers at a shipping dock, stock on a factory floor or in a warehouse, or as a training tool for improving situational awareness of FAA tower controllers, ramp and airport operators, or commercial airline personnel in airfield surface operations.

Glass, Brian J.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Development and Implementation of an Empirical Ionosphere Variability Model

Spacecraft designers and operations support personnel involved in space environment analysis for low Earth orbit missions require ionospheric specification and forecast models that provide not only average ionospheric plasma parameters for a given set of geophysical conditions but the statistical variations about the mean as well. This presentation describes the development of a prototype empirical model intended for use with the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) to provide ionospheric Ne and Te variability. We first describe the database of on-orbit observations from a variety of spacecraft and ground based radars over a wide range of latitudes and altitudes used to obtain estimates of the environment variability. Next, comparison of the observations with the IRI model provide estimates of the deviations from the average model as well as the range of possible values that may correspond to a given IRI output. Options for implementation of the statistical variations in software that can be run with the IRI model are described. Finally, we provide example applications including thrust estimates for tethered satellites and specification of sunrise Ne, Te conditions required to support spacecraft charging issues for satellites with high voltage solar arrays.

Minow, Joesph I.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Lunar Regolith Albedos Using Monte Carlos

The analysis of planetary regoliths for their backscatter albedos produced by cosmic rays (CRs) is important for space exploration and its potential contributions to science investigations in fundamental physics and astrophysics. Albedos affect all such experiments and the personnel that operate them. Groups have analyzed the production rates of various particles and elemental species by planetary surfaces when bombarded with Galactic CR fluxes, both theoretically and by means of various transport codes, some of which have emphasized neutrons. Here we report on the preliminary results of our current Monte Carlo investigation into the production of charged particles, neutrons, and neutrinos by the lunar surface using FLUKA. In contrast to previous work, the effects of charm are now included.

Wilson, T. L.↗

NASA NTRS1998

A PC-based Workstation for Robotic Discectomy

Ths paper describes a PC-based controller for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. The development is motivated by the need of reducing the exposure of operating room personnel to X-rays during surgical procedures such as percutanrous discectomy.

control force monitoring small system envelope↗

NASA NTRS1995

Laser Opto-Electronic Correlator for Robotic Vision Automated Pattern Recognition

A compact laser opto-electronic correlator for pattern recognition has been designed, fabricated, and tested. Specifically it is a translation sensitivity adjustable compact optical correlator (TSACOC) utilizing convergent laser beams for the holographic filter. Its properties and performance, including the location of the correlation peak and the effects of lateral and longitudinal displacements for both filters and input images, are systematically analyzed based on the nonparaxial approximation for the reference beam. The theoretical analyses have been verified in experiments. In applying the TSACOC to important practical problems including fingerprint identification, we have found that the tolerance of the system to the input lateral displacement can be conveniently increased by changing a geometric factor of the system. The system can be compactly packaged using the miniature laser diode sources and can be used in space by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ground commercial applications which include robotic vision, and industrial inspection of automated quality control operations. The personnel of Standard International will work closely with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to transfer the technology to the commercial market. Prototype systems will be fabricated to test the market and perfect the product. Large production will follow after successful results are achieved.

Laser Opto-Electronic↗

NASA NTRS1992

Representing Operations Procedures Using Temporal Dependency Algorithms

The research presented in this paper is investigating new ways of specifying operations procedures that incorporate the insight of operations, engineering, and science personnel to improve mission operations. The paper describes the rationale for using Temporal Dependency Networks to represent the procedures, a description of how the data is acquired, and the knowledge engineering effort required to represent operations procedures.

automation knowledge engineering operations↗

NASA NTRS2007

Evaluation of Radiation Belt Space Weather Forecasts for Internal Charging Analyses

A variety of static electron radiation belt models, space weather prediction tools, and energetic electron datasets are used by spacecraft designers and operations support personnel as internal charging code inputs to evaluate electrostatic discharge risks in space systems due to exposure to relativistic electron environments. Evaluating the environment inputs is often accomplished by comparing whether the data set or forecast tool reliability predicts measured electron flux (or fluence over a given period) for some chosen period. While this technique is useful as a model metric, it does not provide the information necessary to evaluate whether short term deviances of the predicted flux is important in the charging evaluations. In this paper, we use a 1-D internal charging model to compute electric fields generated in insulating materials as a function of time when exposed to relativistic electrons in the Earth's magnetosphere. The resulting fields are assumed to represent the "true" electric fields and are compared with electric field values computed from relativistic electron environments derived from a variety of space environment and forecast tools. Deviances in predicted fields compared to the "true" fields which depend on insulator charging time constants will be evaluated as a potential metric for determining the importance of predicted and measured relativistic electron flux deviations over a range of time scales.

Minow, Joseph I.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Space Transportation System Liftoff Debris Mitigation Process Overview

Liftoff debris is a top risk to the Space Shuttle Vehicle. To manage the Liftoff debris risk, the Space Shuttle Program created a team with in the Propulsion Systems Engineering & Integration Office. The Shutt le Liftoff Debris Team harnesses the Systems Engineering process to i dentify, assess, mitigate, and communicate the Liftoff debris risk. T he Liftoff Debris Team leverages off the technical knowledge and expe rtise of engineering groups across multiple NASA centers to integrate total system solutions. These solutions connect the hardware and ana lyses to identify and characterize debris sources and zones contribut ing to the Liftoff debris risk. The solutions incorporate analyses sp anning: the definition and modeling of natural and induced environmen ts; material characterizations; statistical trending analyses, imager y based trajectory analyses; debris transport analyses, and risk asse ssments. The verification and validation of these analyses are bound by conservative assumptions and anchored by testing and flight data. The Liftoff debris risk mitigation is managed through vigilant collab orative work between the Liftoff Debris Team and Launch Pad Operation s personnel and through the management of requirements, interfaces, r isk documentation, configurations, and technical data. Furthermore, o n day of launch, decision analysis is used to apply the wealth of ana lyses to case specific identified risks. This presentation describes how the Liftoff Debris Team applies Systems Engineering in their proce sses to mitigate risk and improve the safety of the Space Shuttle Veh icle.

Mitchell, Michael↗

NASA NTRS2007

Chemochromic Hydrogen Sensors

As fossil fuel supplies decline, hydrogen is quickly becoming an increasingly important fuel source. Currently hydrogen is the prime fuel of today's space vehicles (e.g., Space Shuttle) and featured as a fuel for some prototype vehicles such as the BMW seven series model. Hydrogen is a colorless, odorless gas with a 4% lower explosive limit which makes leak detection a priority. In an effort to support the use of hydrogen, a chemochromic (color changing) sensor was developed that is robust, simple to use, and does not require active operation. It can be made into a thin tape which can be conveniently used for leak detection at flanges, valves, or outlets. Chemochromic sensors can be either reversible or irreversible; however, irreversible chemochromic sensors will be analyzed in this report. The irreversible sensor is useful during hazardous operations when personnel cannot be present. To actively monitor leaks, testing of the irreversible sensor against environmental effects was completed and results indicated this material is suitable for outdoor use in the harsh beachside environment of Kennedy Space Center. The experiments in this report will give additional results to the environmental testing by adding solid rocket booster residue as a variable. The primary motivation for these experiments is to prepare the sensors for the launch pad environment at the Kennedy Space Center. In an effort to simulate the atmosphere at the pads before and after launch, the chemochromic sensors are exposed to solid rocket residue under various conditions.

Wiggins, Bryan C.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Wind Flow Simulation Around NASA KSC Vehicle Assembly Building

A model of the wind flow conditions around Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Vehicle Assembly Building (VA B) is presented. An incompressible Navier-Stokes flow solver was used to compute the flow field around fixed Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) buildings and structures. The 3-D flow field. including velocity magnitude and velocity vectors, was established to simulate the localized wind speeds and directions at specified locations in and around LC-39 buildings and structures. The results of this study not only help explain the physical phenomena of the flow patterns around LC-39 buildings but also are useful to the Shuttle personnel. Current Operations and Maintenance Requirements and Specifications (OMRS) for vehicle transfer operations are based on empirically derived historical data, and no detailed mathematical analysis of wind conditions around LC-39 structures has ever been accomplished.

Vu, B. T.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Evolution of Software-Only-Simulation at NASA IV and V

Software-Only-Simulations have been an emerging but quickly developing field of study throughout NASA. The NASA Independent Verification Validation (IVV) Independent Test Capability (ITC) team has been rapidly building a collection of simulators for a wide range of NASA missions. ITC specializes in full end-to-end simulations that enable developers, VV personnel, and operators to test-as-you-fly. In four years, the team has delivered a wide variety of spacecraft simulations that have ranged from low complexity science missions such as the Global Precipitation Management (GPM) satellite and the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), to the extremely complex missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Space Launch System (SLS).This paper describes the evolution of ITCs technologies and processes that have been utilized to design, implement, and deploy end-to-end simulation environments for various NASA missions. A comparison of mission simulators are discussed with focus on technology and lessons learned in complexity, hardware modeling, and continuous integration. The paper also describes the methods for executing the missions unmodified flight software binaries (not cross-compiled) for verification and validation activities.

Embedded↗

NASA NTRS2015

Dynamic Emulation of NASA Missions for IVandV: A Case Study of JWST and SLS

Software-Only-Simulations are an emerging but quickly developing field of study throughout NASA. The NASA Independent Verification Validation (IVV) Independent Test Capability (ITC) team has been rapidly building a collection of simulators for a wide range of NASA missions. ITC specializes in full end-to-end simulations that enable developers, VV personnel, and operators to test-as-you-fly. In four years, the team has delivered a wide variety of spacecraft simulations ranging from low complexity science missions such as the Global Precipitation Management (GPM) satellite and the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), to the extremely complex missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Space Launch System (SLS).

Emulation↗

NASA NTRS1990

A Personnel Launch System for safe and efficient manned operations

Several Conceptual designs for a simple, rugged Personnel Launch System (PLS) are presented. This system could transport people to and from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) starting in the late 1990's using a new modular Advanced Launch System (ALS) developed for the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI). The PLS is designed to be one element of a new space transportation architecture including heavy-lift cargo vehicles, lunar transfer vehicles, and multiple-role spcecraft such as the current Space Shuttle. The primary role of the PLS would be to deliver crews embarking on lunar or planetary missions to the Space Station, but it would also be used for earth-orbit sortie missions, space rescue missions, and some satellite servicing missions. The PLS design takes advantage of emerging electronic and structures technologies to offer a robust vehicle with autonomous operating and quick turnaround capabilities. Key features include an intact abort capability anywhere in the operating envelope, and elimination of all toxic propellants to streamline ground operations.

Petro, Andrew J.↗

NASA NTRS1967

Remotely operated high pressure valve protects test personnel

High pressure valve used in testing certain spacecraft systems is safely opened and closed by a remotely stationed operator. The valve is self-regulating in that if the incoming pressure drops below a desired value the valve will automatically close, warning the operator that the testing pressure has dropped to an undesired level.

Howland, B. T.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Leadership Challenges in ISS Operations: Lessons Learned from Junior and Senior Mission Control Personnel

The International Space Station (ISS) is operated by a multi-national, multi-organizational team that is dispersed across multiple locations, time zones, and work schedules. At NASA, both junior and senior mission control personnel have had to find ways to address the leadership challenges inherent in such work, but neither have had systematic training in how to do so. The goals of this study were to examine the major leadership challenges faced by ISS mission control personnel and to highlight the approaches that they have found most effective to surmount them. We pay particular attention to the approaches successfully employed by the senior personnel and to the training needs identified by the junior personnel. We also evaluate the extent to which responses are consistent across the junior and senior samples. Further, we compare the issues identified by our interview survey to those identified by a standardized questionnaire survey of mission control personnel and a contrasting group of space station crewmembers. We studied a sample of 14 senior ISS flight controllers and a contrasting sample of 12 more junior ISS controllers. Data were collected using a semi-structured qualitative interview and content analyzed using an iterative process with multiple coders and consensus meetings to resolve discrepancies. To further explore the meaning of the interview findings, we also conducted new analyses of data from a previous questionnaire study of 13 American astronauts, 17 Russian cosmonauts, and 150 U.S. and 36 Russian mission control personnel supporting the ISS or Mir space stations. The interview data showed that the survey respondents had substantial consensus on several leadership challenges and on key strategies for dealing with them, and they offered a wide range of specific tactics for implementing these strategies. Interview data from the junior respondents will be presented for the first time at the meeting. The questionnaire data showed that the US mission control sample reported a level of support from their management that compared favorably to national norms. American mission control personnel and Russian crewmembers reported higher supervisor support than American crewmembers and Russian mission control personnel. We will present the specific issues underlying these findings and compare and contrast the results from the two datasets. Although specific to space station personnel, our results are consistent with recent management, cultural, and aerospace research. We aim to use our results to improve training for current and future mission control personnel.

Clement, James L.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Medical Operation KC-135 Familiarization Flight

As new personnel join the Medical Operations Branch, it is critical that they understand the effects of microgravity on medical procedures, hardware, and supplies. The familiarization flight provided new personnel with a better understanding of the effects of microgravity on (1) medical procedures, (2) patient and rescuer restraint, (3) medical fluids, and (4) medical training for space flight. The flight process also provided experience in flight proposal preparation, flight test plan preparation and execution, and final report preparation. In addition, first time flyers gained insight on their performance level in microgravity for future flights.

Dawson, Chris↗