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At least 217 records · Page 12

Ensuring US National Aeronautics Test Capabilities

U.S. leadership in aeronautics depends on ready access to technologically advanced, efficient, and affordable aeronautics test capabilities. These systems include major wind tunnels and propulsion test facilities and flight test capabilities. The federal government owns the majority of the major aeronautics test capabilities in the United States, primarily through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Defense (DoD). However, changes in the Aerospace landscape, primarily the decrease in demand for testing over the last 20 years required an overarching strategy for management of these national assets. Therefore, NASA established the Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) as a two-pronged strategic initiative to: (1) retain and invest in NASA aeronautics test capabilities considered strategically important to the agency and the nation, and (2) establish a strong, high level partnership with the DoD. Test facility utilization is a critical factor for ATP because it relies on user occupancy fees to recover a substantial part of the operations costs for its facilities. Decreasing utilization is an indicator of excess capacity and in some cases low-risk redundancy (i.e., several facilities with basically the same capability and overall low utilization). However, low utilization does not necessarily translate to lack of strategic importance. Some facilities with relatively low utilization are nonetheless vitally important because of the unique nature of the capability and the foreseeable aeronautics testing needs. Unfortunately, since its inception, the customer base for ATP has continued to shrink. Utilization of ATP wind tunnels has declined by more than 50% from the FY 2006 levels. This significant decrease in customer usage is attributable to several factors, including the overall decline in new programs and projects in the aerospace sector; the impact of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) on the design, development, and research process; and the reductions in wind tunnel testing requirements within the largest consumer of ATP wind tunnel test time, the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). Retirement of the Space Shuttle Program and recent perturbations of NASA's Constellation Program will exacerbate this downward trend. Therefore it is crucial that ATP periodically revisit and determine which of its test capabilities are strategically important, which qualify as low-risk redundancies that could be put in an inactive status or closed, and address the challenges associated with both sustainment and improvements to the test capabilities that must remain active. This presentation will provide an overview of the ATP vision, mission, and goals as well as the challenges and opportunities the program is facing both today and in the future. We will discuss the strategy ATP is taking over the next five years to address the National aeronautics test capability challenges and what the program will do to capitalize on its opportunities to ensure a ready, robust and relevant portfolio of National aeronautics test capabilities.

Marshall, Timothy J.↗

Center for Nonlinear Studies (CNLS) Leader Position [Slides]

The Center Director provides scientific leadership and line management of the CNLS while fostering collaborations with scientists throughout the Laboratory. The CNLS Center Director is expected to develop and lead a program to target and create cooperative long-term research programs consistent with the Laboratory’s strategic research objectives, to develop a strong working relationship with the CNLS External Advisory Committee, and to maintain effective working relationships throughout all levels of the Laboratory, government entities, academia and industry. The successful candidate will be expected to maintain an active research program while providing technical vision to nurture and support existing programs of others at the Center.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Strategic Energy Plan, Town of Cranberry Isles

This report details the strategic energy plan for the Town of Cranberry Isles, Maine. This project was spearheaded by the Cranberry Isles Community Solar Association (CICSA), and supported by Island Institute and Sandia National Laboratories, in partnership with the National Laboratory of the Rockies and Versant Power. The plan details the energy vision, goals, and focus areas for the community, provides technical analysis of the current energy system, and outlines potential projects to support community energy. Throughout the energy planning process, the project team engaged with members of the community to gather input and ideas to shape the plan. The project team and Versant also completed an extensive data collection to better inform the project. Sandia National Laboratories completed baseline technical assessments and feasibility studies to better understand potential feasible options for future projects. These potential projects, high-level costs, and next steps are a key output of this report.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Experiments in cooperative manipulation: A system perspective

In addition to cooperative dynamic control, the system incorporates real time vision feedback, a novel programming technique, and a graphical high level user interface. By focusing on the vertical integration problem, not only these subsystems are examined, but also their interfaces and interactions. The control system implements a multi-level hierarchical structure; the techniques developed for operator input, strategic command, and cooperative dynamic control are presented. At the highest level, a mouse-based graphical user interface allows an operator to direct the activities of the system. Strategic command is provided by a table-driven finite state machine; this methodology provides a powerful yet flexible technique for managing the concurrent system interactions. The dynamic controller implements object impedance control; an extension of Nevill Hogan's impedance control concept to cooperative arm manipulation of a single object. Experimental results are presented, showing the system locating and identifying a moving object catching it, and performing a simple cooperative assembly. Results from dynamic control experiments are also presented, showing the controller's excellent dynamic trajectory tracking performance, while also permitting control of environmental contact force.

Schneider, Stanley A.↗

DOE BSSD Performance Management Metrics Report Q1

Microbes play key roles in our biosphere, from driving global nutrient cycling to impacting plant, animal and human health and disease. Complex data from microbial genomes, proteins, and metabolites provide a window into these tiny engines that drive life on our planet. Yet these data are dispersed among researchers’ laboratories and various repositories, making it difficult to access. This calls for new ways of managing data, improving data interoperability, advancing community standards, and creating an infrastructure where data are shared efficiently. We have built the National Microbiome Data Collaborative (NMDC) to advance how scientists create, use, and reuse data to redefine the way we understand and harness the power of microbes. The vision of the National Microbiome Data Collaborative (NMDC) is to drive a microbiome data sharing network connecting data, people, and ideas to advance microbiome innovation and discovery. The NMDC was launched in 2019 and brought together DOE National Laboratories to collaborate across resources, capabilities, and expertise. The NMDC team was strategically assembled to include software developers, microbial researchers, metadata experts, and multi-omics specialists. The diversity of the NMDC team reflects the inherently interdisciplinary nature of microbiome science, and we leverage the strengths of the DOE National Laboratory system. Towards BER’s goal of advancing an iterative systems biology approach to the understanding of microbial genomes, the NMDC serves as a foundation for infrastructure, data standards, and community building. Together with the flagship DOE User Facilities, the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), we are developing core capabilities in metadata standards for environmental descriptors and sample handling and processing; standardized bioinformatic workflows; an interface for data search and access; and robust community engagement activities. The NMDC production platform supports long-term data infrastructure and community building for BER’s bioenergy and environmental research goals. Our approach leverages lessons learned and an ambitious framework for collaborative, interdisciplinary data infrastructure to support microbiome research. The NMDC supports data, information, and knowledge access through three defined software tools – the Submission Portal, NMDC EDGE, and the Data Portal – driven by community needs. Herein, we describe the value proposition for the microbiome research community, our overarching strategy, and challenges and opportunities for developing the NMDC as both an infrastructure and community engagement program.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

The Regolith Biters: A Divide-And-Conquer Architecture for Sample-Return Missions

The collective interaction of simple systems can be leveraged to attain complex goals. Based on this principle, we envision space system architectures where the core functional components are decoupled, autonomous, and cooperative. We aim to pursue this vision in the context of small-body sample-return missions. After all, no experimental study sheds more light into our understanding of the origin and evolution of the Solar System than the analysis of samples from asteroids and comets. We also believe that their study is important from a strategic perspective: meteorite impacts pose a direct and credible threat to life on Earth, and the development of contingency small-body deflection missions presupposes some knowledge of the target body. The current architectural paradigm for sample-return missions is centered around a design where spacecraft and sampling device are merged into a single, complex system. We argue that this monolithic approach couples the navigation and sample-collection problems, making both more difficult. In contrast, we propose a decoupled system based on the coordinated interaction between a spacecraft and a collective of small, simple devices - the Regolith Biters (RBs). A spacecraft carrying a number of RBs would travel to the vicinity of a small body. From a favorable vantage point, and while remaining within a safe distance in a non-colliding trajectory, it would release the RBs towards the target body. Upon encountering the body, they would bite the regolith (thus retaining a sample), and eject back to orbit. The spacecraft, being endowed with appropriate navigation and tracking capabilities, would rendezvous with and collect those RBs within its reach, and bring them back to Earth. Separating the navigation and sampling concerns removes the need for proximity operations with the small body-the stage in current architectures that carries the most challenges and risks. Eliminating the need for proximity operations brings back to the discussion the exploration of exciting prospects, like highly active comets, fast-rotating bodies, and binary systems. Distributing the sampling problem among a collective of agents provides the opportunity to sample multiple regions in a single mission. It also provides robustness to various environmental conditions, and may enable the distributed, in situ characterization of the body. In the search for reliability, current architectures rely on complexity: an elaborate system should succeed at once. We rely on numbers: a given agent may fail at any stage, but success is attained by the collective.

Asteroids↗

Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0

This document reviews the Design Reference Architecture (DRA) for human exploration of Mars. The DRA represents the current best strategy for human missions. The DRA is not a formal plan, but provides a vision and context to tie current systems and technology developments to potential missions to Mars, and it also serves as a benchmark against which alternative architectures can be measured. The document also reviews the objectives and products of the 2007 study that was to update NASA's human Mars mission reference architecture, assess strategic linkages between lunar and Mars strategies, develop an understanding of methods for reducing cost/risk of human missions through investment in research, technology development and synergy with other exploration plans. There is also a review of the process by which the DRA will continue to be refined. The unique capacities of human exploration is reviewed. The possible goals and objectives of the first three human missions are presented, along with the recommendation that the mission involve a long stay visiting multiple sites.The deployment strategy is outlined and diagrammed including the pre-deployment of the many of the material requirements, and a six crew travel to Mars on a six month trajectory. The predeployment and the Orion crew vehicle are shown. The ground operations requirements are also explained. Also the use of resources found on the surface of Mars is postulated. The Mars surface exploration strategy is reviewed, including the planetary protection processes that are planned. Finally a listing of the key decisions and tenets is posed.

Drake, Bret G.↗

NASA's Microgravity Fluid Physics Strategic Research Roadmap

The Microgravity Fluid Physics Program at NASA has developed a substantial investigator base engaging a broad crosssection of the U.S. scientific community. As a result, it enjoys a rich history of many significant scientific achievements. The research supported by the program has produced many important findings that have been published in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Physics of Fluids, and many others. The focus of the program so far has primarily been on fundamental scientific studies. However, a recent shift in emphasis at NASA to develop advanced technologies to enable future exploration of space has provided motivation to add a strategic research component to the program. This has set into motion a year of intense planning within NASA including three workshops to solicit inputs from the external scientific community. The planning activities and the workshops have resulted in a prioritized list of strategic research issues along with a corresponding detailed roadmap specific to fluid physics. The results of these activities were provided to NASA s Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) to support the development of the Enterprise Strategy document. This paper summarizes these results while showing how the planned research supports NASA s overall vision through OBPR s organizing questions.

Motil, Brian J.↗

Middlesex South FUSRAP Site: Collaboration Towards Beneficial Reuse - 20338

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management (LM) manages DoE's post-closure responsibilities and ensures the future protection of human health and the environment with respect to sites that have no continuing DOE mission after undergoing remediation. LM's beneficial reuse program promotes the LM strategic goal to sustainably manage and optimize use of public lands. The beneficial reuse program aims to repurpose former contaminated sites to restore the environment, protect the public health, revitalize communities, and spur economic growth. Benefits from the reuse of a site may increase the local tax base, facilitate job growth, utilize existing infrastructure, and enhance or protect natural resources. Beneficial reuse also promotes protectiveness by ensuring activities are compatible with long-term maintenance and protection of public health and the environment, as well as by retaining good stewardship of natural resources. LM actively participates in promoting the economic development vision of the surrounding communities by collaborating with local communities to promote regional or municipal initiatives. The Borough of Middlesex, New Jersey, has prepared the Lincoln Boulevard Redevelopment Plan, which will reinvent a once-viable downtown and enhance the quality of life for the community. The Middlesex South, New Jersey, Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) site lies within the boundaries of this redevelopment area. In support of this development plan, the Borough is interested in acquiring the site for its Department of Public Works and to increase street access in the future commercial district to be built near adjacent properties. The opportunity to put the FUSRAP site into productive use aligns with LM's mission and strategic goals. In support of beneficial reuse activities, DOE can dispose of excess real property using several mechanisms. The two disposal options applicable to the Middlesex south site include (1) utilizing the US General Services Administration (GSA) or (2) using the Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations Section 770, 'Transfer of Real Property at Defense Nuclear Facilities for Economic Development' (known as a '770 transfer') process. Using the 770 transfer requires economic development as the primary driver, and a specific redevelopment proposal must be submitted. If there is no interest in specific economic development, the GSA option becomes the default mechanism for disposal of the property. In the case of the Middlesex south site, the 770 transfer process is being utilized and the Borough has submitted its economic development proposal to LM. Although LM is encouraged by the opportunity to put the site into productive use, the Middlesex south site is currently on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Priorities List and remediation is being performed by the US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Consequently, any property transfer must meet the requirements under CERCLA Section 120(h), 'Property Transferred by Federal Agencies.' As the groundwater remedy will not be in place for several years, approval would be required from the US EPA administrator and the governor of the state of New Jersey to perform an early transfer of the site (before all response actions have been completed). The time frame for these approvals to occur under the normal process conflicts with the proposed redevelopment schedule; therefore, various options for expedited sale, transfer, or lease of portions of the site to the Borough were evaluated. The subsequent decision on a mutually beneficial path forward was the result of a collaborative effort between LM, USACE, the Borough and its redevelopment team, EPA, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Computer Vision Pipeline for Image Analysis for Freeze‐Fracture Electron Microscopy: Rosette Cellulose Synthase Complexes Case

In materials science, plant biology, agriculture, and environmental research, the automated analysis of high-magnification, complex microscopy images, such as those generated by freeze-fracture electron microscopy (FF-TEM), remains a critical challenge that limits the scalability of data interpretation. We present a deep learning computer vision pipeline for high-throughput detection and morphological characterization analysis of cellulose synthase complexes (CSCs, or rosettes) in FF-TEM images. The pipeline integrates preprocessing, detection, human-in-the-loop verification, and semantic segmentation to quantify features such as rosette diameter and inter-lobe spacing. The approach was trained and tested on a curated dataset of high-resolution FF-TEM micrographs of Physcomitrium patens, expanded via strategic tiling and augmentation to over 650 images. We compare YOLOv8 and YOLOv9 architectures and demonstrate that YOLOv9 achieves superior performance in both localization accuracy (mAP50-95 = 0.854) and inference speed. The resulting distributions revealed biological variability consistent with prior manual studies, validating the approach for high-throughput applications. Our results show that the pipeline achieves human-expert level accuracy while dramatically reducing analysis time, enabling scalable, reproducible structural characterization of intramembrane protein complexes. The pipeline is broadly applicable to other domains requiring precise interpretation of complex microscopy data and establishes a foundation for future artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted workflows in biological imaging.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Restoration Hydro: A Watershed Approach to Standard Modular New Hydropower

The objectives of FOA DE- FOA-0001836- “Standard Modular Hydropower” included designing a standardized, modular, and environmentally compatible hydropower schematic for implementation in greenfield sites that generate up to 10 MW of capacity. Utilizing funds competitively awarded under DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office, the Natel Energy team developed a concept for modular new stream reach (NSR) hydropower that incorporates multi species upstream and downstream fish passage, improved river channel connectivity, and recreational modules. The in-stream design of the collective modules minimized site specific design and maximized the opportunities for modularity. Financial data was also presented using actual costs from regional suppliers, with figures provided in 2022 dollars. While the project team did not address potential permitting process improvements, the site selection criteria did consider established barriers to hydropower development such as tribal and preserved lands, interconnection proximity, and endangered species to exclude or deprioritize. The project’s design schematic met the objectives of the FOA, and presented a unique solution that targets alluvial pockets as natural features for sustainable development. Natel’s concept also incorporated the company's fish-safe Restoration Hydro Turbine for safe downstream passage, while featuring a rock arch that integrates fish passage, water, recreation, and grade control modules (including sediment). Alignment with the Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) “Innovative Design Concepts for Standard Modular Hydropower and Pumped-Storage Hydropower” Program: According to the Hydropower Vision (DOE, 2016), approximately 16 GW of hydropower growth is possible with the development of technology solutions that balance efficiency, economics, and environmental sustainability. The desired outcome of the SMH program is transformational innovation specifically in the site identification, conceptual, and detailed design phases of technology development lifecycles (DOE, 2018). In developing the SMH design schematic, the team aimed to address the opportunities outlined in the Vision through an inverted design philosophy; rather than singularly prioritizing efficiency and power production, the team focused on integrating hydropower with restoration of degraded streams to optimal ecosystem function and provision of exceptional recreation value as design criteria. To achieve this, Restoration Hydro incorporates the principles of nature-based engineering (WWAP, 2018) and biomimicry (Biomimicry NL.) to strategically deploy complementary combinations of permanent, semi-permanent, and ephemeral low-head structures - such as natural and engineered log jams - that harness geomorphological and hydrological processes at the landscape-scale. Primary applications of Restoration Hydro include: 1) restoration of degraded watersheds’ natural ecological function and enhancement of hydrological connectivity; and 2) creation of associated co-benefits to hydro production, including increased groundwater recharge, improved sediment transport and management, improved water security and water quality. Restoration Hydro projects build upon proven watershed restoration engineering techniques by integrating hydropower turbines into low-head structures using innovative and evolving civil works concepts that facilitate fish and sediment passage, and in some cases create additional revenue-generating recreational opportunities. Powering low-head structures creates a directly monetizable layer of economic value in the form of flexible, reliable, renewable energy on top of the already high-value water, environmental and recreational benefits of watershed and river restoration. The approach aims to create a virtuous, self-reinforcing cycle whereby Restoration Hydro projects support the scaling of ecosystem restoration activities, creating a water-energy-carbon multiplier effect that, through the principles of adaptive change management: 1) improves the resilience of landscapes and downstream population centers for changing hydrological cycles; 2) creates a reliable energy resource that facilitates the integration of intermittent renewable power sources into grids; and 3) supports climate change mitigation through grid decarbonization and enhanced ecosystem carbon capture and retention.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe Strategic Energy Plan

The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe's Strategic Energy Plan (SEP) details the outcomes and efforts of a 1.5-year Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Program (ETIPP) project. This collaboration involved the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, Spark Northwest, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Project partners supported the Tribe in identifying key energy research focus areas and the Tribe's energy vision. As the technical lead on the project, PNNL led a series of research initiatives to evaluate potential pathways for the Tribe to achieve its energy goals, subsequently providing associated recommendations. The SEP offers a comprehensive analysis encompassing several critical aspects including: -The Tribe's current energy landscape -Availability of renewable resources -Potential microgrid designs, developed by Säzän Group -Critical infrastructure analysis -Electric vehicle integration -An energy workforce development framework, led by Spark Northwest The analysis results come with recommended next steps, categorized by implementation timeframe (short-term, medium-term, long-term) and priority.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Electronic manufacturing and packaging in Japan

This report summarizes the status of electronic manufacturing and packaging technology in Japan in comparison to that in the United States, and its impact on competition in electronic manufacturing in general. In addition to electronic manufacturing technologies, the report covers technology and manufacturing infrastructure, electronics manufacturing and assembly, quality assurance and reliability in the Japanese electronics industry, and successful product realization strategies. The panel found that Japan leads the United States in almost every electronics packaging technology. Japan clearly has achieved a strategic advantage in electronics production and process technologies. Panel members believe that Japanese competitors could be leading U.S. firms by as much as a decade in some electronics process technologies. Japan has established this marked competitive advantage in electronics as a consequence of developing low-cost, high-volume consumer products. Japan's infrastructure, and the remarkable cohesiveness of vision and purpose in government and industry, are key factors in the success of Japan's electronics industry. Although Japan will continue to dominate consumer electronics in the foreseeable future, opportunities exist for the United States and other industrial countries to capture an increasingly large part of the market. The JTEC panel has identified no insurmountable barriers that would prevent the United States from regaining a significant share of the consumer electronics market; in fact, there is ample evidence that the United States needs to aggressively pursue high-volume, low-cost electronic assembly, because it is a critical path leading to high-performance electronic systems.

Kelly, Michael J.↗

NASA Capability Roadmaps Executive Summary

This document is the result of eight months of hard work and dedication from NASA, industry, other government agencies, and academic experts from across the nation. It provides a summary of the capabilities necessary to execute the Vision for Space Exploration and the key architecture decisions that drive the direction for those capabilities. This report is being provided to the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) team for consideration in development of an architecture approach and investment strategy to support NASA future mission, programs and budget requests. In addition, it will be an excellent reference for NASA's strategic planning. A more detailed set of roadmaps at the technology and sub-capability levels are available on CD. These detailed products include key driving assumptions, capability maturation assessments, and technology and capability development roadmaps.

Willcoxon, Rita↗

CBRN Situational Awareness Tools for the Modern Age

CBRN Situational awareness (SA) should be a key operational requirement in the CNI area of discussion, not only for the “boots-on-the-ground” warfighter, but at a strategic level. For example, maneuver plans will need to be developed for contamination avoidance and battlefield survivability. Large datasets from instruments dispersed across the battlefield will thus need to be collected and processed into a holistic assessment of the radiological hazard. From there, hazard maps then must be distributed at the tactical level, all while continuing to effectively engage a peer adversary. This vision represents a network of sensors, software tools, data processing algorithms, communications suites, and common operational picture (COP) platforms working in concert to inform warfighters and command echelons alike of evolving nuclear and radiological hazards. This complex system-of-systems and the ultimate goal of effective engagement in a nuclear or radiological-hazard battlefield can be achieved through pursuit of improvement in collaborative SA tools.

Becker, Eric M.↗

National Smart Manufacturing Strategic Plan: To Facilitate More Rapid Development, Deployment and Adoption of Smart Manufacturing Technologies

Smart manufacturing technologies provide real-time data and insight to improve the productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing, creating the potential for new jobs in the manufacturing sector. These technologies can support U.S. manufacturers’ ability to increase throughput and energy efficiency, and decrease waste, defects, and costs. A wide range of manufacturing and industrial subsectors, particularly energy-intensive and energy-dependent industries, have the potential to benefit from smart manufacturing technologies. There are technical improvements still needed to reduce the costs and barriers (trained workforce and upskilling, software-hardware integration, cost, and technical barriers to deployment of advanced sensors, computing, and communication technologies for existing manufacturing assets) to the adoption of smart manufacturing technologies, especially to small and medium-sized manufacturers, and subsequently, increase the overall adoption rate of smart manufacturing technologies. This report outlines the Department of Energy’s (DOE) strategic plan to accelerate the development and implementation of smart manufacturing technologies in the United States and the actions DOE has taken to use these technologies in smart manufacturing for the United States. DOE’s plan to facilitate more rapid development, deployment and widespread adoption of smart manufacturing technologies derive from the 2018 Strategy for American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing. The strategy outlines a vision for America’s leadership in advanced manufacturing including the development of intelligent manufacturing systems to optimize manufacturing facilities and support the manufacturing of transformative materials. DOE’s Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII), a Manufacturing USA Institute, focuses on accelerating the development and adoption of advanced sensors, controls, platforms, and models needed for smart manufacturing. The objective is to enhance U.S. manufacturing productivity and global competitiveness through the research and development of these technologies. Smart manufacturing has the potential to improve the overall performance, energy productivity, and efficiency of manufacturing, fostering the economic competitiveness of the manufacturing sector.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

[The Strategic Organization of Skill]

Eye-movement software was developed in addition to several studies that focused on expert-novice differences in the acquisition and organization of skill. These studies focused on how increasingly complex strategies utilize and incorporate visual look-ahead to calibrate action. Software for collecting, calibrating, and scoring eye-movements was refined and updated. Some new algorithms were developed for analyzing corneal-reflection eye movement data that detect the location of saccadic eye movements in space and time. Two full-scale studies were carried out which examined how experts use foveal and peripheral vision to acquire information about upcoming environmental circumstances in order to plan future action(s) accordingly.

Roberts, Ralph↗

Managing Space Radiation Risk in the New Era of Space Exploration

Space exploration is a risky enterprise. Rockets launch astronauts at enormous speeds into a harsh, unforgiving environment. Spacecraft must withstand the bitter cold of space and the blistering heat of reentry. Their skin must be strong enough to keep the inside comfortably pressurized and tough enough to resist damage from micrometeoroids. Spacecraft meant for lunar or planetary landings must survive the jar of landing, tolerate dust, and be able to take off again. For astronauts, however, there is one danger in space that does not end when they step out of their spacecraft. The radiation that permeates space -- unattenuated by Earth s atmosphere and magnetosphere -- may damage or kill cells within astronauts bodies, resulting in cancer or other health consequences years after a mission ends. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has recently embarked on Project Constellation to implement the Vision for Space Exploration -- a program announced by President George W. Bush in 2004 with the goal of returning humans to the Moon and eventually transporting them to Mars. To adequately prepare for the safety of these future space explorers, NASA s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate requested that the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council establish a committee to evaluate the radiation shielding requirements for lunar missions and to recommend a strategic plan for developing the radiation mitigation capabilities needed to enable the planned lunar mission architecture

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