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At least 199 records · Page 11

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NASA NTRS1982

Aerospace mechanical reliability practice

The impact of mechanical-reliability practice on the Saturn/Apollo launch program is considered with reference to the interrelationship of analysts and designers with management. Rocket engine development, ground testing, and launch facilities in the Saturn/Apollo program are discussed, and the Saturn reliability approach is examined in regard to management style, decision making, human error control, and reliability analyses. It is noted that the use of conservative design philosophy contributed to achieved reliability.

Fedor, O. H.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Integration issues of a plasma contactor Power Electronics Unit

A hollow cathode-based plasma contactor is baselined on International Space Station Alpha (ISSA) for spacecraft charge control. The plasma contactor system consists of a hollow cathode assembly (HCA), a power electronics unit (PEU), and an expellant management unit (EMU). The plasma contactor has recently been required to operate in a cyclic mode to conserve xenon expellant and extend system life. Originally, a DC cathode heater converter was baselined for a continuous operation mode because only a few ignitions of the hollow cathode were expected. However, for cyclic operation, a DC heater supply can potentially result in hollow cathode heater component failure due to the DC electrostatic field. This can prevent the heater from attaining the proper cathode tip temperature for reliable ignition of the hollow cathode. To mitigate this problem, an AC cathode heater supply was therefore designed, fabricated, and installed into a modified PEU. The PEU was tested using resistive loads and then integrated with an engineering model hollow cathode to demonstrate stable steady-state operation. Integration issues such as the effect of line and load impedance on the output of the AC cathode heater supply and the characterization of the temperature profile of the heater under AC excitation were investigated.

Pinero, Luis R.↗

NASA NTRS2021

Carolina Coastal Plain Ecological Forecasting: Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Map Suitable Venus Flytrap Habitat in an Effort to Inform Conservation, Seed Banking, and Reintroduction in the Carolina Coastal Plain and Sandhills Regions

Although the carnivorous plant Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is recognized globally, its native range is restricted to a small portion of the North and South Carolina Coastal Plain and Sandhills. Within this limited range, Venus flytrap populations are threatened by habitat loss, fire suppression, and poaching. NASA DEVELOP partnered with the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG), the University of North Carolina Herbarium (NCU), and the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program (NCNHP) to support Venus flytrap conservation. The team developed models based on species presence data and environmental variables using the Software for Assisted Habitat Modeling (SAHM) to create a 2021 habitat suitability map for Venus flytrap. These models incorporated Earth observations collected by Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR), and Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI). To predict areas at high risk of development, the team produced a 2050 land-use change map using TerrSet Land Change Modeler. The team found potential areas of conflict between predicted habitat and forecasted future development. Many areas of suitable habitat were concentrated along the coast where development was likely to occur, placing populations there at risk of extirpation. Overlaying suitable habitat with forecasted land change also identified suitable habitats with minimal risk of development, which may serve as lasting Venus flytrap habitat. These results can inform the NCBG and NCNHP’s conservation decision-making, including targeted seed banking, reintroduction, and prioritization of enduring habitats for protection and management.

Monika Rock↗

NASA NTRS2022

Carolina Coastal Plain Ecological Forecasting

Monika Rock↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Informing Dionaea muscipula (Venus Flytrap) Conservation Through Habitat Modeling and Forecasted Land Cover Change

The carnivorous Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap, Droseraceae) is threatened by habitat loss, fire suppression, and poaching. For rare plant species like D. muscipula with specialized habitat requirements and fragmented distribution, habitat suitability modeling is an important method for guiding conservation efforts. To support the D. muscipula conservation, this study: 1) modeled suitable habitat across the extent of the species’ known range and 2) forecasted land cover change due to development in the study area to the year 2050. Habitat modeling was conducted by overlaying high-confidence presence data observed since 1980 (n=292) with environmental predictor variables (n=23). Suitable habitats were then compared with land cover change to identify areas at risk of habitat loss due to human development. According to those models, nearly half (107.1km2) of modeled highly suitable D. muscipula habitat outside of protected lands are likely to face development pressure. On the other hand, 39.4% (139.9km2) of highly suitable habitats overlap with protected lands and may serve as lasting D. muscipula habitat. Results from this study can inform D. muscipula conservation, including targeted seed banking of populations at risk of extirpation, prioritization of habitats for protection and management, and reintroduction to suitable habitats within protected areas.

Kathryn Caruso↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Predicting the Likelihood of Human-Elephant Conflict and Assessing Patterns in Elephant Movements Over Varying Habitat Conditions in the Kavango-Zambezi Area

In the Kavango-Zambezi area of southern Africa, three million people live within areas frequently traveled by free-ranging elephants. As the region continues to develop rapidly, urban and agricultural settlements further encroach upon the land that these elephants use. As elephants come into more frequent contact with urban and agricultural areas, human populations face financial loss through crop damage and the potential for injury from direct conflict with elephants. Elephant populations are also at risk of injuries from conflict as well as illness related to the consumption of waste. In order to implement human-elephant conflict mitigation strategies, local conservation groups need to be informed on best practices for coexistence. This project aided The Ecoexist Project and Connected Conservation in understanding the ecological factors that drive elephant movement into human settlements and provided Earth observation data to support conflict management in the future. The team used Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data to create land use land cover maps and calculate vegetation indices, and used TerraClimate data to analyze drought conditions. These classified maps allowed us to display a time series of human settlement from 1990 to the present and were made explorable alongside other environmental variables in an updated Google Earth Engine (GEE) tool. This project also provided heat maps that show the risk of human-elephant conflict based on historical data of HEC locations. This analysis will provide support for conservation experts in determining best practices for future mitigation and prevention of human-elephant conflict.

Ariel Calle↗

NASA NTRS2010

The Application of Remotely Sensed Data and Models to Benefit Conservation and Restoration Along the Northern Gulf of Mexico Coast

New data, tools, and capabilities for decision making are significant needs in the northern Gulf of Mexico and other coastal areas. The goal of this project is to support NASA s Earth Science Mission Directorate and its Applied Science Program and the Gulf of Mexico Alliance by producing and providing NASA data and products that will benefit decision making by coastal resource managers and other end users in the Gulf region. Data and research products are being developed to assist coastal resource managers adapt and plan for changing conditions by evaluating how climate changes and urban expansion will impact land cover/land use (LCLU), hydrodynamics, water properties, and shallow water habitats; to identify priority areas for conservation and restoration; and to distribute datasets to end-users and facilitating user interaction with models. The proposed host sites for data products are NOAA s National Coastal Data Development Center Regional Ecosystem Data Management, and Mississippi-Alabama Habitat Database. Tools will be available on the Gulf of Mexico Regional Collaborative website with links to data portals to enable end users to employ models and datasets to develop and evaluate LCLU and climate scenarios of particular interest. These data will benefit the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program in ongoing efforts to protect and restore the Fish River watershed and around Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The usefulness of data products and tools will be demonstrated at an end-user workshop.

Quattrochi, Dale↗

NASA NTRS2010

Use of NASA Satellite Data to Improve Coastal Cypress Forest Management

Problem: Information gaps exist regarding health status and location of cypress forests in coastal Louisiana (LA). Such information is needed to aid coastal forest conservation and restoration programs. Approach to Issue Mitigation: Use NASA data to revise cypress forest cover type maps. Landsat and ASTER data. Use NASA data to identify and track cypress forest change. Landsat, ASTER, and MODIS data. Work with partners and end-users to transfer useful products and technology.

Spurce, Joseph↗

NASA NTRS2009

Developing New Coastal Forest Restoration Products Based on Landsat, ASTER, and MODIS Data

This paper discusses an ongoing effort to develop new geospatial information products for aiding coastal forest restoration and conservation efforts in coastal Louisiana and Mississippi. This project employs Landsat, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data in conjunction with airborne elevation data to compute coastal forest cover type maps and change detection products. Improved forest mapping products are needed to aid coastal forest restoration and management efforts of State and Federal agencies in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) region. In particular, such products may aid coastal forest land acquisition and conservation easement procurements. This region's forests are often disturbed and subjected to multiple biotic and abiotic threats, including subsidence, salt water intrusion, hurricanes, sea-level rise, insect-induced defoliation and mortality, altered hydrology, wildfire, and conversion to non-forest land use. In some cases, such forest disturbance has led to forest loss or loss of regeneration capacity. In response, a case study was conducted to assess and demonstrate the potential of satellite remote sensing products for improving forest type maps and for assessing forest change over the last 25 years. Change detection products are needed for assessing risks for specific priority coastal forest types, such as live oak and baldcypress-dominated forest. Preliminary results indicate Landsat time series data are capable of generating the needed forest type and change detection products. Useful classifications were obtained using 2 strategies: 1) general forest classification based on use of 3 seasons of Landsat data from the same year; and 2) classification of specific forest types of concern using a single date of Landsat data in which a given targeted type is spectrally distinct compared to adjacent forested cover. When available, ASTER data was useful as a complement to Landsat data. Elevation data helped to define areas in which targeted forest types occur, such as live oak forests on natural levees. MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index time series data aided visual assessments of coastal forest damage and recovery from hurricanes. Landsat change detection products enabled change to be identified at the stand level and at 10- year intervals with the earliest date preceding available change detection products from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and from the U.S. Geological Survey. Additional work is being done in collaboration with State and Federal agency partners in a follow-on NASA ROSES project to refine and validate these new, promising products. The products from the ROSES project will be available for aiding NGOM coastal forest restoration and conservation.

Spruce, Joseph P.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Myanmar Ecological Forecasting: Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Monitor, Map, and Analyze Mangrove Forests in Myanmar for Enhanced Conservation

Mangroves supply many essential environmental amenities, such as preventing soil erosion, filtering water pollution, and protecting shorelines from harmful waves, floods, storms and winds. The Mangroves in Myanmar not only provide citizens with a food source, but they also offer firewood, charcoal, and construction materials. The depletion of mangroves is threatening more than the biodiversity however; Myanmar's fiscal livelihood is also in harm's way. Mangroves are valued at $100,000 to $277,000 per square kilometer and if managed in a sustainable fashion, can infuse constant income to the emerging Myanmarese economy. This study analyzed three coastline regions, the Ayeyarwady Delta, Rakhine and Tanintharyi, and mapped the spatial extent of mangrove forest during the dry season in 2000 and 2013. The classifications were derived from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Landsat 8 Operation Land Imager (OLI) imagery, as well as the Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) digital elevation model information. This data was atmospherically corrected, mosaicked, masked and classified in ENVI, followed by ArcGIS to perform raster calculations and create final products. Forest degradation collected from 2000 to 2013 was later used to forecast the density and health of Mangroves in the year 2030. These results were subsequently presented to project partners Dr. Peter Leimgruber and Ellen Aiken at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, VA. After the presentation of the project to the partners, these organizations formally passed on to the Myanmar Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Forestry for policy makers and forest managers to utilize in order to protect the Myanmar mangrove ecosystem while sustaining a healthy economy.

Weber, Samuel J.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Measurement of the fluorescence of crop residues: A tool for controlling soil erosion

Management of crop residues, the portion of a crop left in the field after harvest, is an important conservation practice for minimizing soil erosion and for improving water quality. Quantification of crop residue cover is required to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation tillage practices. Methods are needed to quantify residue cover that are rapid, accurate, and objective. The fluorescence of crop residue was found to be a broadband phenomenon with emission maxima at 420 to 495 nm for excitations of 350 to 420 nm. Soils had low intensity broadband emissions over the 400 to 690 nm region for excitations of 300 to 600 nm. The range of relative fluorescence intensities for the crop residues was much greater than the fluorescence observed of the soils. As the crop residues decompose their blue fluorescence values approach the fluorescence of the soil. Fluorescence techniques are concluded to be less ambiguous and better suited for discriminating crop residues and soils than reflectance methods. If properly implemented, fluorescence techniques can be used to quantify, not only crop residue cover, but also photosynthetic efficiency in the field.

Daughtry, C. S. T.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Kennedy Space Center’s Energy and Water Conservation Program

America Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Space Coast Section - Our presenter will be Jennifer Hill, PE, LEED AP, Energy Manager for NASA at Kennedy Space Center. Ms. Hill will present on the NASA KSC Energy Program, providing an overview of KSC’s energy program and of projects that have been implemented to reduce energy and water intensity, increase renewable energy usage, and to improve resilience in support of the NASA KSC Mission.

Jennifer Hill↗

NASA NTRS2008

Clearing the Air: New Approaches to Life Support in Outer Space

This article reports on research into atmospheric revitalization systems for long-term space travel and the use ofCOMSOL Multiphysics to understand how structured sorbents can be used to improve the performance of adsorption processes via thermal management. We are developing the next generation of atmosphere revitalization systems, which will reach for new levels of resource conservation via a high percentage of loop closure. For example, a high percentage of carbon dioxide, exhaled by crew, can be converted via reaction to drinking water, closing the loop from human metabolic waste to supply. Adsorption processes play a lead role in these new/closed loop systems.

Knox, J.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Using Science Skills to Understand Ecophysiology and Manage Resources

Presentation will be for a general audience and focus on plant science and ecosystem science in NASA. Examples from the projects involving the presenter will be used to illustrate. Specifically, the California Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta project. This collaboration supports the goals of the Delta Plan in developing science-based, adaptive-management strategies. The mission is to improve reliability of water supply and restore a healthy Delta ecosystem while enhancing agriculture and recreation. NASA can contribute gap-filling science understanding of overall functions in the Delta ecosystem and assess and help develop management plans for specific issues. Airborne and satellite remote-sensing, ecosystem modeling, and biological studies provide underlying data needed by Delta stakeholders to assess and address water, ecosystem restoration, and environmental and economic impacts of potential actions in the Delta. The California Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the hub for California's water supply, supports important ecosystem services for fisheries, supplies drinking water for millions, and distributes water from Northern California to agriculture and urban communities to the south; millions of people and businesses depend on Delta water. Decades of competing demands for Delta resources and year-to-year variability in precipitation has resulted in diminished overall health of the Delta. Declines in fish populations, threatened ecosystems, endangered species, invasive plants and animals, cuts in agricultural exports, and increased water conservation is the result. NASA and the USDA, building on previous collaborations, aide local Delta stakeholders in assessing and developing an invasive weed management approach. Aquatic, terrestrial, and riparian invasive weeds threaten aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem restoration efforts. Aquatic weeds are currently detrimental economically, environmentally, and sociologically in the Delta. They negatively impact the redistribution of water and disrupt the ecology of the Bay Delta food web. Filling current science gaps in the Delta Plan and improving management practices within the Delta are important to achieving the mission of improved Delta health. Methods developed can become routine land and water management tools. New high-resolution NASA sensor systems could be used to provide data packages specifically designed for water system The presenter will also speak about his personal experience and the role Delaware Valley College played in preparation for a professional career science.

Water↗

NASA NTRS2009

A Landsat-Based Assessment of Mobile Bay Land Use and Land Cover Change from 1974 to 2008

The Mobile Bay region has experienced noteworthy land use and land cover (LULC) change in the latter half of the 20th century. Accompanying this change has been urban expansion and a reduction of rural land uses. Much of this LULC change has reportedly occurred since the landfall of Hurricane Frederic in 1979. The Mobile Bay region provides great economic and ecologic benefits to the Nation, including important coastal habitat for a broad diversity of fisheries and wildlife. Regional urbanization threatens the estuary s water quality and aquatic-habitat dependent biota, including commercial fisheries and avian wildlife. Coastal conservation and urban land use planners require additional information on historical LULC change to support coastal habitat restoration and resiliency management efforts. This presentation discusses results of a Gulf of Mexico Application Pilot project that was conducted in 2008 to quantify and assess LULC change from 1974 to 2008. This project was led by NASA Stennis Space Center and involved multiple Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA) partners, including the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (NEP), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration s (NOAA s) National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC), and the NOAA Coastal Services Center. Nine Landsat images were employed to compute LULC products because of their availability and suitability for the application. The project also used Landsat-based national LULC products, including coastal LULC products from NOAA s Coastal Change & Analysis Program (C-CAP), available at 5-year intervals since 1995. Our study was initiated in part because C-CAP LULC products were not available to assess the region s urbanization prior to 1995 and subsequent to post Hurricane Katrina in 2006. This project assessed LULC change across the 34-year time frame and at decadal and middecadal scales. The study area included the majority of Mobile and Baldwin counties that encompass Mobile Bay. In doing so, each date of Landsat data was classified using an end-user defined modified Anderson level 1 classification scheme. LULC classifications were refined using a decision rule approach in conjunction with available C-CAP products. Individual dates of LULC classifications were validated by image interpretation of stratified random locations on raw Landsat color composite imagery in combination with higher resolution remote sensing and in-situ reference data. The results indicate that during the 34-year study period, urban areas increased from 96,688 to 150,227 acres, representing a 55.37% increase, or 1.63% per annum. Most of the identified urban expansion results from conversion of rural forest and agriculture to urban cover types. Final LULC mapping and metadata products were produced for the entire study area as well as watersheds of concern within the study area. Final project products, including LULC trend information, were incorporated into the Mobile Bay NEP State of the Bay report. Products and metadata were transferred to NOAA NCDDC to allow free online accessibility and use by GOMA partners and by the public.

Spruce, Joseph↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Satellite-assisted Evaluation of Irrigation Application Efficiency for Lettuce in the Salinas Valley

The Salinas Valley region of California’s Central Coast is a majorU.S. vegetable producer. Lettuce is a leading commodity, grown on about 100,000 acres with annual value near $1.4B (2022 Monterey County Ag Report). Vegetables crops in the area aretypically well watered and fertilized in pursuit of commercial yield and quality standards. Information on irrigation application efficiency, meanwhile, can enhance waterresource sustainability and mitigate impacts of nitrate infiltrationon groundwater quality. The Crop Consumptive Use Fraction (CCUF), previously recommended by the California Department of Water Resources, is a metric that expresses evapotranspiration (ET) of applied water relative to total applied water. More recently under Assembly Bill 1668 addressing water conservation and drought planning, the metric can be used to help quantify application efficiency to support preparation of agricultural water management plans in the state. This study will report CCUF evaluations from several commercial lettuce plantings in the Salinas Valley during the 2022 dry season (late spring-early fall). The evaluations were derived from satellite-based observations of cropET from the OpenETcloud application, and applied water monitored by in-line flowmetersand supplemented by grower reports of irrigation system runtime. The study will also compare observed (satellite-based) ET with modeled ET from the CropManage irrigationand nutrient management decision-support system operated by Cooperative Extension. Additional study in cool-season vegetables is ongoing in 2023.

Satellite-assisted↗

NASA NTRS2023

Decommissioning of Air Sparge System at Vertical Processing Facility, Solid Waste Management Unit 077 Implementation Report

This document discusses the decommissioning of the air sparge (AS) system at the Vertical Processing Facility (VPF), Solid Waste Management Unit 077 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida completed between January 30, 2023, and February 8, 2023. A 2005 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Facility Investigation identified chlorinated volatile organic compound impacts at the site. Following assessment activities, an AS system was in operation intermittently from April 2012 through October 2017, when the system was permanently shutdown due to equipment failure. Trichloroethene and vinyl chloride remained above their groundwater cleanup target levels in several monitoring wells and the site was moved into the Industrial Area Long Term Monitoring Program. VPF continues to be sampled biennially; the most recent event was May 2022. Successful implementation of this decommissioning project will reduce the risk of accidental AS and soil vapor extraction well damage and will lower operating costs associated with maintaining obsolete AS systems. Decommissioning the AS system at VPF included vegetation clearing to access AS wells and associated piping, abandonment of all on site AS wells, temporary electrical outage, and site restoration. At the completion of demobilization and site restoration activities, the site was returned to its original or better than original condition.

Jason J Bublitz↗

NASA NTRS1980

Shipboard fisheries management terminals

The needs of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMGS), National Weather Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard for locational, biological, and environmental data were assessed. The fisheries conservation zones and the yellowfin tuna jurisdiction of the NMFS operates observer programs on foreign and domestic fishing vessels. Data input terminal and data transfer and processing technology are reviewed to establish available capability. A matrix of implementation options is generated to identify the benefits of each option, and preliminary cost estimates are made. Recommendations are made for incremental application of available off the shelf hardware to obtain improved performance and benefits within a well bounded cost. Terminal recommendations are made for three interdependent shipboard units emphasizing: (1) the determination of location and fishing activity; (2) hand held data inputting and formatting in the fishing work areas; and (3) data manipulation, merging, and editing.

Nagler, R. G.↗