Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “small target”

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.

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

At least 217 records · Page 12

Small Satellites and the DARPA/Air Force Falcon Program

The FALCON ((Force Application and Launch from CONUS) program is a technology demonstration effort with three major components: a Small Launch Vehicle (SLV), a Common Aero Vehicle (CAV), and a Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV). Sponsored by DARPA and executed jointly by the United States Air Force and DARPA with NASA participation, the objectives are to develop and demonstrate technologies that will enable both near-term and far-term capability to execute time-critical, global reach missions. The focus of this paper is on the SLV as it relates to small satellites and the implications of lower cost to orbit for small satellites. The target recurring cost for placing 1000 pounds payloads into a circular reference orbit of 28.5 degrees at 100 nautical miles is $5,000,000 per launch. This includes range costs but not the payload or payload integration costs. In addition to the nominal 1000 pounds to LEO, FALCON is seeking delivery of a range of orbital payloads from 220 pounds to 2200 pounds to the reference orbit. Once placed on alert status, the SLV must be capable of launch within 24 hours.

Weeks, David J.↗

Accuracy and adaptation of reaching and pointing in pitched visual environments

Visually perceived eye level (VPEL) and the ability of subjects to reach with an unseen limb to targets placed at VPEL were measured in a statically pitched visual surround (pitchroom). VPEL was shifted upward and downward by upward and downward room pitch, respectively. Accuracy in reaching to VPEL represented a compromise between VPEL and actual eye level. This indicates that VPEL shifts reflect in part a change in perceived location of objects. When subjects were provided with terminal visual feedback about their reaching, accuracy improved rapidly. Subsequent reaching, with the room vertical, revealed a negative aftereffect (i.e., reaching errors that were opposite those made initially in the pitched room). In a second study, pointing accuracy was assessed for targets located both at VPEL and at other positions. Errors were similar for targets whether located at VPEL or elsewhere. Additionally, pointing responses were restricted to a narrower range than that of the actual target locations. The small size of reaching and pointing errors in both studies suggests that factors other than a change in perceived location are also involved in VPEL shifts.

NASA Center ARC↗

Global Erratum for Kepler Q0-Q17 and K2 C0-C5 Short Cadence Data

An accounting error has scrambled much of the short-cadence collateral smear data used to correct for the effects of Keplers shutterless readout. This error has been present since launch and affects approximately half of all short-cadence targets observed by Kepler and K2 to date. The resulting calibration errors are present in both the short-cadence target pixel files and the short-cadence light curves for Kepler Data Releases 1-24 and K2 Data Releases 1-7. This error does not affect long-cadence data. Since it will take some time to correct this error and reprocess all Kepler and K2 data, a list of affected targets is provided. Even though the affected targets are readily identified, the science impact for any particular target may be difficult to assess. Since the smear signal is often small compared to the target signal, the effect is negligible for many targets. However, the smear signal is scene-dependent, so time varying signals can be introduced into any target by the other stars falling on the same CCD column. Some tips on how to assess the severity of the calibration error are provided in this document.

Caldwell, Douglas↗

Performance Evaluation of Intravehicular Activity Spacesuit Without the Use of a Liquid Cooling Garment

The Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) suit is equipped with safety technology that protects the crew during launch and re-entry and Intravehicular Activities (IVA). It was designed to be used with a Liquid Cooling Garment (LCG), an undergarment with tubes that circulate water to remove excess heat from a crew member. The objective of this study is to determine if the Modified Advanced Crew Escape Suit (MACES), which has very similar material, assembly, and pressure characteristics as the OCSS suit, can be used without the LCG to maintain the crew within their heat storage requirements where exceedances can lead to cognitive and physiological impairment. Testing was completed for both hot and cold environments where test subjects wore varying configurations of the MACES suit ensemble without the LCG. The tests were conducted in a temperature and humidity-controlled chamber with four test subjects ranging from extra small to large. Target metabolic rates were reached using an arm ergometer. To represent the different suit configurations seen in the concept of operations, the suit was tested with visor-down, visor-up, and without helmet and gloves. The test data was analyzed to determine how the environment, test subject size, metabolic rate, and suit configuration affected heat storage. Furthermore, the test data was used to correlate the METMAN model, a transient metabolic man program that simulates the heat transfer within a crew member’s body and from a crew member to the surrounding environment. The METMAN correlation showed good agreement between predicted heat storage and test data at the end of the test duration, with a coefficient of determination (R 2 ) value of 0.8999 for visor-down cases and R 2 of 0.8902 for visor-up and helmet off cases. A correlated METMAN model allows for the analysis and prediction of IVA suit performance without an LCG in additional scenarios.

Human Thermal Modeling↗

Performance Evaluation of Intravehicular Activity Spacesuit Without the Use of a Liquid Cooling Garment

The Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) suit is equipped with safety technology that protects the crew during launch and re-entry and Intravehicular Activities (IVA). It was designed to be used with a Liquid Cooling Garment (LCG), an undergarment with tubes that circulate water to remove excess heat from a crew member. The objective of this study is to determine if the Modified Advanced Crew Escape Suit (MACES), which has very similar material, assembly, and pressure characteristics as the OCSS suit, can be used without the LCG to maintain the crew within their heat storage requirements where exceedances can lead to cognitive and physiological impairment. Testing was completed for both hot and cold environments where test subjects wore varying configurations of the MACES suit ensemble without the LCG. The tests were conducted in a temperature and humidity-controlled chamber with four test subjects ranging from extra small to large. Target metabolic rates were reached using an arm ergometer. To represent the different suit configurations seen in the concept of operations, the suit was tested with visor-down, visor-up, and without helmet and gloves. The test data was analyzed to determine how the environment, test subject size, metabolic rate, and suit configuration affected heat storage. Furthermore, the test data was used to correlate the METMAN model, a transient metabolic man program that simulates the heat transfer within a crew member’s body and from a crew member to the surrounding environment. The METMAN correlation showed good agreement between predicted heat storage and test data at the end of the test duration, with a coefficient of determination (R 2 ) value of 0.8999 for visor-down cases and R 2 of 0.8902 for visor-up and helmet off cases. A correlated METMAN model allows for the analysis and prediction of IVA suit performance without an LCG in additional scenarios.

Spacesuit↗

A Methodology for determining optimal milling parameters for low-taper microtensile sample production

Femtosecond lasers are beginning to see an increase in interest for industrial and high throughput microsample milling applications. Despite this, much of the literature regarding removal rate studies for ultrashort pulse laser milling continues to focus on single-pulse or similar experiments that have a very small time on target. The material volume removal rates of femtosecond milling can vary wildly depending on parameters like laser scan speed, hatch spacing, z-axis step size, and pulses on the material. Currently, there is no established methodology for determining the optimal values of these parameters for micromilling applications. This methodology was developed in this study. The methodology consists of a pulse study, a repeat study, and a z-step study that will return the milling parameters that resulted in the largest volume removal rate for the laser used for this research. The methodology was created for the laser system used in this study, and was tested on 316 Stainless Steel, but was developed in such a way that it may be adapted to any material, and with some tweaking of variables might be used in other laser systems. The laser system used in this study utilizes a novel positioning stage that introduces 6 degrees of freedom to the translation of laser samples, being able to tilt and move in all three axes. Using both the developed methodology and the unique capabilities of the laser microtensile samples were produced with taper angles of <1° in 316 Stainless Steel.

Barker, Zachary Wayne↗

A New Drug Discovery Platform: Application to DNA Polymerase Eta and Apurinic/Apyrimidinic Endonuclease 1

The ability to quickly discover reliable hits from screening and rapidly convert them into lead compounds, which can be verified in functional assays, is central to drug discovery. The expedited validation of novel targets and the identification of modulators to advance to preclinical studies can significantly increase drug development success. Our SaXPyTM (“SAR by X-ray Poses Quickly”) platform, which is applicable to any X-ray crystallography-enabled drug target, couples the established methods of protein X-ray crystallography and fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) with advanced computational and medicinal chemistry to deliver small molecule modulators or targeted protein degradation ligands in a short timeframe. Our approach, especially for elusive or “undruggable” targets, allows for (i) hit generation; (ii) the mapping of protein–ligand interactions; (iii) the assessment of target ligandability; (iv) the discovery of novel and potential allosteric binding sites; and (v) hit-to-lead execution. These advances inform chemical tractability and downstream biology and generate novel intellectual property. We describe here the application of SaXPy in the discovery and development of DNA damage response inhibitors against DNA polymerase eta (Pol η or POLH) and apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1 or APEX1). Notably, our SaXPy platform allowed us to solve the first crystal structures of these proteins bound to small molecules and to discover novel binding sites for each target.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Probing shock dynamics inside micro-wire targets after high-intensity laser irradiation using small angle x-ray scattering of a free-electron laser

In this paper, we present an experiment that explores the plasma dynamics of a 7μm diameter carbon wire after being irradiated with a near-relativistic-intensity short pulse laser. Using an x-ray free electron laser pulse to measure the small angle x-ray scattering signal, we observe that the scattering surface is bent and prone to instability over tens of picoseconds. The dynamics of this process are consistent with the presence of a sharp, propagating shock front inside the wire, moving at a speed close to the hole boring velocity or that expected from a thermal shock at a few tens of Mbar.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Hypervelocity Impact (HVI): WLE Small-Scale Fiberglass Panel Flat Multi-Layer Targets A-1, A-2, and B-1 - Volume 2

During 2003 and 2004, the Johnson Space Center's White Sands Testing Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico conducted hypervelocity impact tests on the space shuttle wing leading edge. Hypervelocity impact tests were conducted to determine if Micro-Meteoroid/Orbital Debris impacts could be reliably detected and located using simple passive ultrasonic methods. The objective of Targets A-1, A-2, and B-2 was to study hypervelocity impacts through multi-layered panels simulating Whipple shields on spacecraft. Impact damage was detected using lightweight, low power instrumentation capable of being used in flight.

Gorman, Michael R.↗

Selective inhibition of human translation termination by a drug-like compound

Methods to directly inhibit gene expression using small molecules hold promise for the development of new therapeutics targeting proteins that have evaded previous attempts at drug discovery. Among these, small molecules including the drug-like compound PF-06446846 (PF846) selectively inhibit the synthesis of specific proteins, by stalling translation elongation. These molecules also inhibit translation termination by an unknown mechanism. Using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and biochemical approaches, we show that PF846 inhibits translation termination by arresting the nascent chain (NC) in the ribosome exit tunnel. The arrested NC adopts a compact α-helical conformation that induces 28 S rRNA nucleotide rearrangements that suppress the peptidyl transferase center (PTC) catalytic activity stimulated by eukaryotic release factor 1 (eRF1). These data support a mechanism of action for a small molecule targeting translation that suppresses peptidyl-tRNA hydrolysis promoted by eRF1, revealing principles of eukaryotic translation termination and laying the foundation for new therapeutic strategies.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Microbial identification by immunohybridization assay of artificial RNA labels

Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and engineered stable artificial RNAs (aRNAs) are frequently used to monitor bacteria in complex ecosystems. In this work, we describe a solid-phase immunocapture hybridization assay that can be used with low molecular weight RNA targets. A biotinylated DNA probe is efficiently hybridized in solution with the target RNA, and the DNA-RNA hybrids are captured on streptavidin-coated plates and quantified using a DNA-RNA heteroduplex-specific antibody conjugated to alkaline phosphatase. The assay was shown to be specific for both 5S rRNA and low molecular weight (LMW) artificial RNAs and highly sensitive, allowing detection of as little as 5.2 ng (0.15 pmol) in the case of 5S rRNA. Target RNAs were readily detected even in the presence of excess nontarget RNA. Detection using DNA probes as small as 17 bases targeting a repetitive artificial RNA sequence in an engineered RNA was more efficient than the detection of a unique sequence.

Non-NASA Center↗

Spatial covert attention increases contrast sensitivity across the CSF: support for signal enhancement

This study is the first to report the benefits of spatial covert attention on contrast sensitivity in a wide range of spatial frequencies when a target alone was presented in the absence of a local post-mask. We used a peripheral precue (a small circle indicating the target location) to explore the effects of covert spatial attention on contrast sensitivity as assessed by orientation discrimination (Experiments 1-4), detection (Experiments 2 and 3) and localization (Experiment 3) tasks. In all four experiments the target (a Gabor patch ranging in spatial frequency from 0.5 to 10 cpd) was presented alone in one of eight possible locations equidistant from fixation. Contrast sensitivity was consistently higher for peripherally- than for neutrally-cued trials, even though we eliminated variables (distracters, global masks, local masks, and location uncertainty) that are known to contribute to an external noise reduction explanation of attention. When observers were presented with vertical and horizontal Gabor patches an external noise reduction signal detection model accounted for the cueing benefit in a discrimination task (Experiment 1). However, such a model could not account for this benefit when location uncertainty was reduced, either by: (a) Increasing overall performance level (Experiment 2); (b) increasing stimulus contrast to enable fine discriminations of slightly tilted suprathreshold stimuli (Experiment 3); and (c) presenting a local post-mask (Experiment 4). Given that attentional benefits occurred under conditions that exclude all variables predicted by the external noise reduction model, these results support the signal enhancement model of attention.

Non-NASA Center↗

Production, purification and availability of 211 At: Near term steps towards global access

We report the promising characteristics of the 7.2-h radiohalogen 211 At have long been recognized; including having chemical properties suitable for labeling targeting vectors ranging from small organic molecules to proteins, and the emission of only one α-particle per decay, providing greater control over off-target effects. Unfortunately, the impact of 211 At within the targeted α-particle therapy domain has been constrained by its limited availability. Paradoxically, the most commonly used production method – via the 209 Bi(α,2n) 211 At reaction – utilizes a widely available natural material (bismuth) as the target and straightforward cyclotron irradiation methodology. On the other hand, the most significant impediment to widespread 211 At availability is the need for an accelerator capable of generating ≥28 MeV α-particles with sufficient beam intensities to make clinically relevant levels of 211 At. In this review, current methodologies for the production and purification of 211 At – both by the direct production route noted above and via a 211 Rn generator system – will be discussed. The capabilities of cyclotrons that currently produce 211 At will be summarized and the characteristics of other accelerators that could be utilized for this purpose will be described. Finally, the logistics of networks, both academic and commercial, for facilitating 211 At distribution to locations remote from production sites will be addressed.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Multi-spectral image dissector camera system

The image dissector sensor for the Earth Resources Program is evaluated using contrast and reflectance data. The ground resolution obtainable for low contrast at the targeted signal to noise ratio of 1.8 was defined. It is concluded that the system is capable of achieving the detection of small, low contrast ground targets from satellites.

Source record↗

Probabilistic-learning-based stochastic surrogate model from small incomplete datasets for nonlinear dynamical systems

We consider a high-dimensional nonlinear computational model of a dynamical system, parameterized by a vector-valued control parameter, in the presence of uncertainties represented by an uncontrolled parameter modeled by a vector-valued random variable, and possibly with stochastic excitation. The objective is to construct a statistical surrogate model where the input is any deterministic value of the control parameter, and the output is a vector-valued observation of the computational model, which is a random vector whose probability measure is updated using a target dataset. To construct this statistical surrogate model, the stochastic response of the computational model must be built, which is a vector-valued time-discretized stochastic process in high dimension, depending on the control parameter. It is assumed that the computational cost of a single evaluation of the deterministic model is high. For the probabilistic updating, we consider a subset of the components of the observation of the computational model, defined as the “identification observation” of the computational model, for which a small target dataset is available. Therefore, the target dataset is associated with partial observability, corresponding to an incomplete data case. Given a prior probability model of the random control and uncontrolled parameters, a training dataset is constructed, consisting of realizations of the random triplet composed of the stochastic response, the random identification observation, and the random control parameter. Since the computational cost of a single evaluation of the deterministic model is assumed to be large, the training dataset is also of small size. The main challenges in this problem are the high dimensionality, partial observability leading to incomplete data in the target dataset for the identification observation of the computational model (which is not sufficient to identify the computational stochastic responses), and the availability of a small training dataset. To address these challenges, we propose a methodology based on statistical methods for constructing necessary reduced representations, direct probabilistic learning under constraints using probabilistic learning on manifolds (PLoM) constrained by the target dataset, and the use of a weak formulation of the Fourier transform of probability measures. Statistical conditioning is also employed to explore the learned dataset. The constructed predictive statistical surrogate model can be implemented in the context of online computation. Here, we apply this approach to a problem of nonlinear stochastic dynamics in high dimensions within the framework of deformable solids mechanics.

Engineering↗

Video guidance sensor for autonomous capture

A video-based sensor has been developed specifically for the close-range maneuvering required in the last phase of autonomous rendezvous and capture. The system is a combination of target and sensor, with the target being a modified version of the standard target used by the astronauts with the Remote Manipulator System (RMS). The system, as currently configured, works well for autonomous docking maneuvers from approximately forty feet in to soft-docking and capture. The sensor was developed specifically to track and calculate its position and attitude relative to a target consisting of three retro-reflective spots, equally spaced, with the center spot being on a pole. This target configuration was chosen for its sensitivity to small amounts of relative pitch and yaw and because it could be used with a small modification to the standard RMS target already in use by NASA.

Howard, Richard T.↗