Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “international monitoring system”

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 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2014

The TSO Logic and G2 Software Product

This internship assignment for spring 2014 was at John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in NASAs Engineering and Technology (NE) group in support of the Control and Data Systems Division (NE-C) within the Systems Hardware Engineering Branch. (NEC-4) The primary focus was in system integration and benchmarking utilizing two separate computer software products. The first half of this 2014 internship is spent in assisting NE-C4s Electronics and Embedded Systems Engineer, Kelvin Ruiz and fellow intern Scott Ditto with the evaluation of a newly piece of software, called G2. Its developed by the Gensym Corporation and introduced to the group as a tool used in monitoring launch environments. All fellow interns and employees of the G2 group have been working together in order to better understand the significance of the G2 application and how KSC can benefit from its capabilities. The second stage of this Spring project is to assist with an ongoing integration of a benchmarking tool, developed by a group of engineers from a Canadian based organization known as TSO Logic. Guided by NE-C4s Computer Engineer, Allen Villorin, NASA 2014 interns put forth great effort in helping to integrate TSOs software into the Spaceport Processing Systems Development Laboratory (SPSDL) for further testing and evaluating. The TSO Logic group claims that their software is designed for, monitoring and reducing energy consumption at in-house server farms and large data centers, allows data centers to control the power state of servers, without impacting availability or performance and without changes to infrastructure and the focus of the assignment is to test this theory. TSOs Aaron Rallo Founder and CEO, and Chris Tivel CTO, both came to KSC to assist with the installation of their software in the SPSDL laboratory. TSOs software is installed onto 24 individual workstations running three different operating systems. The workstations were divided into three groups of 8 with each group having its own operating system. The first group is comprised of Ubuntus Debian -based Linux the second group is windows 7 Professional and the third group ran Red Hat Linux. The highlight of this portion of the assignment is to compose documentation expressing the overall impression of the software and its capabilities.

TSO Logic↗
NASA NTRS1990

Space Station Freedom CHeCS overview

The current status, progress, and future plans for development of the Crew Health Care System (CHeCS) for the International Space Station Freedom are presented. Essential operational biomedical support requirements for the astronauts, including medical care, environmental habitat monitoring, and countermeasures for the potentially maladaptive physiological effects of space flight will be provided by the CHeCS. Three integral parts will make up the system: a health maintenance facility, an environmental health system, and the exercise countermeasures facility. Details of each of the major systems and their subsystems are presented.

Boyce, Joey B.↗
NASA NTRS2017

GEER Status Update

History: The Glenn Extreme Environments Rig (GEER) first became operational in the early part of 2015. Since that time GEER has completed a number of scientific tests and has undergone improvements in the chemical delivery system and analytics following a year of operations experience. Recent Updates: In June 2016, the GEER process system was rebuilt to provide a more robust system, higher accuracy and new capabilities. New insulation was installed on the exterior of the pressure vessel and gas lines. The newly revamped GEER plumbing system can provide extremely precise custom gas mixtures using any gas desired by the investigator in any combination. GEER can heat the resulting mixture up to 500 deg C and 1500 psia. The 304 stainless steel vessel walls were polished to reduce corrosion rate and reduce unwanted chemical reactions. The process lines were replaced with high purity Sulfinert coated tubing. The GEER team added the ability to individually boost specialty gases to GEER thus allowing operators to make very precise changes to the gas chemistry inside of GEER during a test while at high temperature and pressure. High accuracy mass flow meters were added to further improve gas mixing accuracy and precision. An in-line, integrated Inficon MicroGC Fusion was added for real time gas analysis along with a high purity gas sampling system, providing fully automated, real time analysis of the gas chemistry inside of GEER in minutes. This complements a co-located mass spectrometer and both are used for regular monitoring of the vessel chemistry. All internal vessel components were replaced with polished 304SS equivalents. Hot vent down capability was increased. Finally, an automated liquid injection system was added and is rated for max vessel operating conditions of (1500 psia, 500 C). Recent Results and Publications: In May 2016, GEER completed a test that exposed high temperature electronics to Venus surface conditions for 21.5 days. This demonstrated the potential for operating robotic spacecraft in the Venus environment without the need for thermal or environmental protection. Results from this test were published in December 2016 and received national media attention. In April 2017 GEER implemented an 80 day test at Venus surface conditions to simulate chemical weathering of expected Venus minerals. This test supported a ROSES award to a team led by Prof. Ralph Harvey of Case Western Reserve University. The test concluded in July 2017 and nearly doubled previous operation record of 42 days at Venus surface conditions. Preliminary results of these and previous experiments were presented at the recent Venus Modeling Workshop. In June 2017, NASA TM2017-219437 "Chemical and Microstructural Changes in Metallic and Ceramic Materials Exposed to Venusian Surface Conditions" was published. This report provides an extensive and valuable resource detailing the behavior of a variety of engineering materials at Venus surface conditions. Community Involvement: An external science advisory panel has been formed.

Kremic, Tibor↗
NASA NTRS1994

International data transfer for space very long baseline interferometry

Space very long baseline interferometry (SVLBI) experiments using a TDRSS satellite have successfully demonstrated the capability of using spacecraft to extend the effective baseline length of VLBI observations beyond the diameter of the Earth, thereby improving the resolution for imaging of active galactic nuclei at centimeter wavelengths. As a result, two spacecraft dedicated to SVLBI, VSOP (Japan) and RadioAstron (Russia), are scheduled to be launched into high Earth orbit in 1996 and 1997. The success of these missions depends on the cooperation of the international community in providing support from ground tracking stations, ground radio telescopes, and correlation facilities. The timely exchange and monitoring of data among the participants requires a well-designed and automated international data transfer system. In this paper, we will discuss the design requirements, data types and flows, and the operational responsibilities associated with the SVLBI data transfer system.

Wiercigroch, Alexandria B.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Gene-Based Detection of Microorganisms in Environmental Samples Using PCR

Contaminating microorganisms pose a serious potential risk to the crew's well being and water system integrity aboard the International Space Station (ISS). We are developing a gene-based microbial monitor that functions by replicating specific segments of DNA as much as 10(exp 12) x. Thus a single molecule of DNA can be replicated to detectable levels, and the kinetics of that molecule's accumulation can be used to determine the original concentration of specific microorganisms in a sample. Referred to as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), this enzymatic amplification of specific segments of the DNA or RNA from contaminating microbes offers the promise of rapid, sensitive, quantitative detection and identification of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. We envision a small instrument capable of assaying an ISS water sample for 48 different microbes in a 24 hour period. We will report on both the developments in the chemistry necessary for the PCR assays to detect microbial contaminants in ISS water, and on progress towards the miniaturization and automation of the instrumentation.

Glass, John I.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Background: Preflight Screening, In-flight Capabilities, and Postflight Testing

Recommendations for minimal in-flight capabilities: Retinal Imaging - provide in-flight capability for the visual monitoring of ocular health (specifically, imaging of the retina and optic nerve head) with the capability of downlinking video/still images. Tonometry - provide more accurate and reliable in-flight capability for measuring intraocular pressure. Ultrasound - explore capabilities of current on-board system for monitoring ocular health. We currently have limited in-flight capabilities on board the International Space Station for performing an internal ocular health assessment. Visual Acuity, Direct Ophthalmoscope, Ultrasound, Tonometry(Tonopen):

Gibson, Charles Robert↗
NASA NTRS2017

The Earth Observing System (EOS)

The Earth Observing System is a US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) program consisting of a science segment, a data system, and a space segment made up of a series of polar-orbiting and mid-inclination satellites for long-term monitoring of the Earth as an integrated system, including observations of the land surface, biosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere, and oceans. Initially conceived in the mid-late 1980s, it was implemented as a series of large "flagship" missions and smaller focused satellites, often in partnership with instruments and sometimes spacecraft from other nations. In 1984 NASA formed several instrument panels to develop concepts for “facility instruments” that would provide comprehensive support to the scientific and applications’ communities, each with a supporting science team competitively selected via peer-review. An Announcement of Opportunity was released in 1988 and proposals were solicited for three types of proposals: (i) instrument investigations that would include the provision of instrumentation for flight on a polar platform, including non-Earth science payloads requiring polar orbits (PI instruments), (ii) research facility instrument team member and team leader investigations for facility instruments, and (iii) interdisciplinary science investigations to provide data analysis and modeling, preparing to use data acquired from the space platforms. The initial selections made in 1989 included support for 24 instrument investigations, 6 research facility instrument investigations, and 28 interdisciplinary investigations. Although considerable changes were made over the years in the structure and orbital configuration of the various instruments and platforms, a total of 10 different missions were eventually flown, as shown in Fig. 1. These included three multiinstrument flagship platforms known as Terra (launched in 1999), Aqua (launched in 2002), and Aura (launched in 2004), where the Terra mission emphasis was primarily on land processes, Aqua on the hydrological cycle, and Aura on atmospheric chemistry. In addition to these flagship missions the EOS missions included Landsat 7 (land cover classification and change), QuikScat (wind speed and direction over the oceans), Jason-1 (ocean surface topography and sea level), ACRIMSAT (total solar irradiance (TSI)), SAGE III (stratospheric aerosol and ozone levels), ICESat (ice, cloud, and land elevation), and SORCE (Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment; total and spectral solar irradiance). In addition EOS supported CERES (an Earth radiation budget sensor) and LIS (a lightning sensor), that flew as part of the NASA/JAXA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (1997), and SeaWinds (wind speed and direction), that flew as part of the short-lived ADEOS II (Midori II, 2002) mission of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). The EOS contributions are too numerous to present in detail in this article, but can be viewed for convenience as a means of obtaining global measurements (with appropriate characteristics) of the 24 variables and variable groups listed in Table 1. This table was created by the EOS community in the late 1990s as a way to succinctly indicate which instruments on the various EOS platforms were expected to contribute to each of the specified variables in primary (bold), secondary (bold italics), or contributing (roman) roles. All of the science data products produced by these space missions are available without charge throughout the world, and are thus highly valued for their many contributions to applications such as air quality, fires, land cover change, and the state of the oceans, as well as for science and monitoring of the state of the Earth system and its changes over time. These and other international satellites have played a crucial role in understanding and documenting global change, including (i) global surface temperature and atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles, (ii) glacial retreat, (iii) sea ice extent and change, (iv) solar radiation into and out of the Earth-atmosphere system, (v) atmospheric aerosol and cloud properties, (vi) sources and sinks of

ICESat↗
DOE OSTI2025

Novel technology of non-contact real-time radiation damage sensors for high power targets.

This report summarizes the contributions of an intern participating in the Community College Internship (CCI) program at Fermilab, focusing on the development of a novel, non-contact, real-time radiation damage sensor technology. The core objective is to create a reliable sensor capable of measuring radiation-induced degradation on high-power targets without physical contact. The experiment involves using a Class 3B supercontinuum laser directed toward a single material sample placed within a vacuum test chamber. The laser beam reflects off the sample's surface, with changes in reflectivity, indicative of radiation damage, measured by a spectrometer positioned at the chamber’s output port. The intern’s primary responsibilities included designing an interlock system to ensure laser operational safety, developing a camera-based monitoring system using Raspberry Pi devices, and creating structural supports using 3D modeling and printing techniques. Components for the interlock and camera systems were successfully designed and ordered, with preliminary 3D models printed and refined through iterative testing. Challenges encountered in the 3D printing process, such as fragile initial prototypes and difficult support removal, were overcome by adjusting printer settings and incorporating design enhancements like chamfered edges. Future activities, pending component delivery, involve installing and configuring the interlock and camera systems, as well as further improving the structural supports. Overall, the internship significantly enhanced the intern’s technical proficiency in hardware design, software integration, and advanced 3D printing, contributing directly to Fermilab’s operational safety standards and experimental effectiveness in high-energy physics research.

Pumarino Meza, Rafael [Unlisted; Fermilab]↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effects of Ambient Alcohol Levels on the Real-time Monitoring of the Atmosphere of the International Space Station

Monitoring of the spacecraft environment is required to ensure the health of the crew and the vehicle systems. For the ISS atmosphere, routine volatile organic compound (VOC) monitoring has been performed for almost a decade by Air Quality Monitors (AQMs). The target compounds measured by the AQMs include three types of chemicals: 1) those compounds that would be harmful to crew, 2) those compounds that have been detected regularly in archival samples, and 3) compounds that, while not necessarily harmful to crew health, could present problems for Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS). Following the docking of SpaceX-Demo1 (SpX-DM1), the AQMs began to report high levels of isopropanol (IPA). While elevated IPA is routinely observed with visiting vehicles, the level measured by the AQM, and its continued presence following multiple days of scrubbing, caused concerns regarding the U.S. Water Recovery System. Following the departure of SpX-DM1, the IPA levels decreased to nominal levels, allowing the team to investigate the cause of the elevated measurements. Based on the changes in the shape of the gas chromatograph (GC) traces in the IPA region during docked operations, it appeared that an unknown coeluting species was causing problems with quantification. However, with the docking of Northrup-Grumman-11 (NG-11), the elevated IPA returned, as well as the changes in GC traces. In contrast to the SpX-DM1 results, the AQM IPA results did not return to nominal levels following the departure of NG-11, suggesting that the changes could not be tied directly to the visiting vehicle. In this paper, we will discuss a number of potential causes for both the genuine (measured in archival samples) increases in IPA as well as the much higher levels measured by the AQM. Additionally, we will discuss methods being explored to decrease the potential for a reoccurrence in the future.

William T. Wallace↗
NASA NTRS2002

HI-STAR. Health Improvements through Space Technologies and Resources: Executive Summary

Our mission is to develop and promote a global strategy to help combat malaria using space technology. Like the tiny yet powerful mosquito, HI-STAR (Health Improvements Through Space Technologies and Resources) is a small program that aspires to make a difference. Timely detection of malaria danger zones is essential to help health authorities and policy makers make decisions about how to manage limited resources for combating malaria. In 2001, the technical support network for prevention and control of malaria epidemics published a study. HI-STAR focuses on malaria because it is the most common and deadly of the vector-borne diseases. Malaria also shares many commonalities with other diseases, which means the global strategy developed here may also be applicable to other parasitic diseases. HI-STAR would like to contribute to the many malaria groups already making great strides in the fight against malaria. Some examples include: Roll Back Malaria, The Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM). Other important groups that are among the first to include space technologies in their model include: The Center for Health Application of Aerospace Related Technologies (CHAART) and Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa (MARA). Malaria is a complex and multi-faceted disease. Combating it must therefore be equally versatile. HI-STAR incorporates an interdisciplinary, international, intercultural approach.called 'Malaria Early Warning Systems; Concepts, Indicators and Partners.' This study, funded by Roll Back Malaria, a World Health Organization initiative, offers a framework for a monitoring and early warning system. HI-STAR seeks to build on this proposal and enhance the space elements of the suggested framework. It is the work of fifty-three professionals and students from the International Space University's 2002 Summer Session Program held in California, USA.

Finarelli, Margaret G.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Optimizing Transmission of Acoustic Signals to Monitor Internal Conditions of Canisters for Dry Storage of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel

Safe storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is critical to the nuclear fuel cycle and the future of nuclear energy. In the United States, SNF is stored primarily via two methods regulated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission: wet storage in SNF pools and dry storage in dry cask storage systems (DCSSs). After about five years of cooling in spent fuel pools, the fuel assemblies are transferred into DCSSs, and the systems are filled with helium and sealed by welding. Deterioration of conditions inside of a DCSS is reflected in changes in the internal gas properties; this motivates the development of acoustic techniques to monitor internal gas properties, over extended storage periods, using sensors mounted on the exterior of the storage packages. However, a major challenge in collecting acoustic signals is the impedance mismatch between the steel canister shell and the gas. Only a small fraction of the ultrasonic signal can be transmitted through the gas medium. This paper documents experimental studies conducted on a full-scale canister mock-up to capture the gas-borne signals. Damping materials were pasted on the outside, and blocking and unblocking tests were conducted to identify the gas-borne signal. The results show that the excitation frequency plays an important role in maximizing the gas-borne signals. The gas-borne signal was successfully detected at around the theoretical time-of-flight. A high signal-to-noise ratio was achieved in the measurements. Next, the acoustic impedance matching layers were introduced, and the gas signal was drastically improved compared with that using no AIM layers.

Spent nuclear fuel (SNF), Canisters, Internal cond↗
NASA NTRS1992

Microbiology operations and facilities aboard restructured Space Station Freedom

With the restructure and funding changes for Space Station Freedom, the Environmental Health System (EHS)/Microbiology Subsystem revised its scheduling and operational requirements for component hardware. The function of the Microbiology Subsystem is to monitor the environmental quality of air, water, and internal surfaces and, in part, crew health on board Space Station. Its critical role shall be the identification of microbial contaminants in the environment that may cause system degradation, produce unsanitary or pathogenic conditions, or reduce crew and mission effectiveness. EHS/Microbiology operations and equipment shall be introduced in concert with a phased assembly sequence, from Man Tended Capability (MTC) through Permanently Manned Capability (PMC). Effective Microbiology operations and subsystem components will assure a safe, habitable, and useful spacecraft environment for life sciences research and long-term manned exploration.

Cioletti, Louis A.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Annual Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2024

This report provides the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the public with information on the level of radioactive and non-radioactive pollutants (if any) that are added to the environment as a result of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory’s (PPPL) operations. This report fulfills the annual public reporting requirements of DOE Order 231.1B. The results of PPPL’s 2024 environmental surveillance and monitoring program are presented and discussed. The report also summarizes environmental initiatives, assessments, and community involvement programs that were undertaken in 2024. PPPL has engaged in fusion energy research since 1951 and at its current locations since 1958. The Laboratory’s mission is to develop the scientific knowledge and advanced engineering to enable fusion to power the US and the world, and to develop the understanding of plasmas from the nano- to the astrophysical scale. PPPL’s primary experiment, the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U) is a collaboration among national laboratories, universities, and national and international research institutions and is a major element in the US Fusion Energy Sciences Program. Its design tests the physics principles of spherical torus (ST) plasmas, playing an important role in the development of smaller, more economical fusion reactors. Due to previous operational issues, NSTX-U did not operate in 2024. PPPL is engaged in a project to replace key NSTX-U components and systems to enable the operation of this international magnetic fusion user facility. In 2024, PPPL’s radiological environmental monitoring program measured tritium in the air at onsite sampling stations. Using highly sensitive air monitors, PPPL is capable of detecting small changes in the ambient levels of tritium. The operation of monitors located on D-site is used to demonstrate compliance with the National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) regulations. Also included in PPPL’s radiological environmental monitoring program, are water monitoring – ground, surface, and waste waters. PPPL’s radiological monitoring program characterized the background levels of tritium in the environment and those data are presented in this report. Ground water monitoring continued under New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP) Site Remediation Program regulations. PPPL monitored for nonradiological contaminants, mainly volatile organic compounds (components of common degreasing solvents). In 2024, PPPL complied with permit limits for surface water and sanitary wastewater discharges. PPPL was honored with an award for EPEAT-certified electronics purchasing from the Global Electronics Council on July 25, 2024.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Quantitative imaging and automated fuel pin identification for passive gamma emission tomography

Compliance of member States to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is monitored through nuclear safeguards. The Passive Gamma Emission Tomography (PGET) system is a novel instrument developed within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) project JNT 1510, which included the European Commission, Finland, Hungary and Sweden. The PGET is used for the verification of spent nuclear fuel stored in water pools. Advanced image reconstruction techniques are crucial for obtaining high-quality cross-sectional images of the spent-fuel bundle to allow inspectors of the IAEA to monitor nuclear material and promptly identify its diversion. In this work, we have developed a software suite to accurately reconstruct the spent-fuel cross sectional image, automatically identify present fuel rods, and estimate their activity. Unique image reconstruction challenges are posed by the measurement of spent fuel, due to its high activity and the self-attenuation. While the former is mitigated by detector physical collimation, we implemented a linear forward model to model the detector responses to the fuel rods inside the PGET, to account for the latter. The image reconstruction is performed by solving a regularized linear inverse problem using the fast-iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm. We have also implemented the traditional filtered back projection (FBP) method based on the inverse Radon transform for comparison and applied both methods to reconstruct images of simulated mockup fuel assemblies. Higher image resolution and fewer reconstruction artifacts were obtained with the inverse-problem approach, with the mean-square-error reduced by 50%, and the structural-similarity improved by 200%. We then used a convolutional neural network (CNN) to automatically identify the bundle type and extract the pin locations from the images; the estimated activity levels finally being compared with the ground truth. The proposed computational methods accurately estimated the activity levels of the present pins, with an associated uncertainty of approximately 5%.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

2022 Annual Site Environment Report, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

This report provides the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the public with information on the level of radioactive and non-radioactive pollutants (if any) that are added to the environment as a result of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory’s (PPPL) operations. This report fulfills the annual public reporting requirements of DOE Order 231.1B. The results of PPPL’s 2022 environmental surveillance and monitoring program are presented and discussed. The report also summarizes environmental initiatives, assessments, and community involvement programs that were undertaken in 2022. PPPL’s on-site operations started to be restored in 2022, following curtailments in 2020 and 2021 for the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. PPPL has engaged in fusion energy research since 1951 and at its current locations since 1958. The Laboratory’s mission is to develop the scientific knowledge and advanced engineering to enable fusion to power the U.S. and the world, and to develop the understanding of plasmas from the nano- to the astrophysical scale. PPPL’s primary experiment, the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U) is a collaboration among national laboratories, universities, and national and international research institutions and is a major element in the US Fusion Energy Sciences Program. Its design tests the physics principles of spherical torus (ST) plasmas, playing an important role in the development of smaller, more economical fusion reactors. Due to previous operational issues, NSTX-U did not operate in 2022. PPPL is engaged in a project to replace key NSTX-U components and systems to enable the operation of this international magnetic fusion user facility. In 2022, PPPL’s radiological environmental monitoring program measured tritium in the air at onsite sampling stations. Using highly sensitive air monitors, PPPL is capable of detecting small changes in the ambient levels of tritium. The operation of monitors located on D-site is used to demonstrate compliance with the National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) regulations. Also included in PPPL’s radiological environmental monitoring program, are water monitoring – ground, surface, and waste waters. PPPL’s radiological monitoring program characterized the background levels of tritium in the environment and those data are presented in this report. Ground water monitoring continued under New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (NJDEP) Site Remediation Program regulations. PPPL monitored for non-radiological contaminants, mainly volatile organic compounds (components of common degreasing solvents). In 2022, PPPL complied with permit limits for surface water and sanitary wastewater discharges. PPPL was honored with an award for EPEAT-certified electronics purchasing from the Global Electronics Council.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2011

Checking Flight Rules with TraceContract: Application of a Scala DSL for Trace Analysis

Typically during the design and development of a NASA space mission, rules and constraints are identified to help reduce reasons for failure during operations. These flight rules are usually captured in a set of indexed tables, containing rule descriptions, rationales for the rules, and other information. Flight rules can be part of manual operations procedures carried out by humans. However, they can also be automated, and either implemented as on-board monitors, or as ground based monitors that are part of a ground data system. In the case of automated flight rules, one considerable expense to be addressed for any mission is the extensive process by which system engineers express flight rules in prose, software developers translate these requirements into code, and then both experts verify that the resulting application is correct. This paper explores the potential benefits of using an internal Scala DSL for general trace analysis, named TRACECONTRACT, to write executable specifications of flight rules. TRACECONTRACT can generally be applied to analysis of for example log files or for monitoring executing systems online.

temporal logic↗
NASA NTRS1981

The SA-2239/WLQ-4(V) Cutty Sark distribution system

A redundant frequency and time distribution system provides a multiplicity of isolated outputs, all of which are derived from three atomic frequency standards. The distribution system monitors input parameters of the signals coming from the Cesium Standards and selects one to be the primary standard, phase locks an internal oscillator which has excellent aging characteristics in the open loop mode and acts as a filter to provide phase noise improvement, and generates 1 megahertz and 100 kHz by direct synthesis. Additionally, the system distributes RF and timing signals consisting of 5 MHz, 1 MHz, 100 kHz, BCD Time-of-Day, 1 pps and 1 ppm.

Vulcan, A.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Ra: The Sun for Science and Humanity

To guide the development of the Ra Strategic Framework, we defined scientific and applications objectives. For our primary areas of scientific interest, we choose the corona, the solar wind, the Sun's effect on the Earth, and solar theory and model development. For secondary areas of scientific interest, we selected sunspots, the solar constant, the Sun's gravitational field, helioseismology and the galactic cosmic rays. We stress the importance of stereoscopic imaging, observations at high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions, as well as of long duration measurements. Further exploration of the Sun's polar regions is also important, as shown already by the Ulysses mission. From an applications perspective, we adopted three broad objectives that would derive complementary inputs for the Strategic Framework. These were to identify and investigate: possible application spin-offs from science missions, possible solar-terrestrial missions dedicated to a particular application, and possible future applications that require technology development. The Sun can be viewed as both a source of resources and of threats. Our principal applications focus was that of threat mitigation, by examining ways to improve solar threat monitoring and early warning systems. We compared these objectives to the mission objectives of past, current, and planned international solar missions. Past missions (1962-1980) seem to have been focused on improvement of scientific knowledge, using multiple instrument spacecraft. A ten year gap followed this period, during which the results from previous missions were analyzed and solar study programmes were prepared in international organizations. Current missions (1990-1996) focus on particular topics such as the corona, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections. In planned missions, Sun/Earth interactions and environmental effects of solar activity are becoming more important. The corona is the centre of interest of almost all planned missions. It seems that no international long-term strategy has yet been adopted. For these plans the number of necessary future missions can be reduced and the onboard instrumentation can be optimized by performing a comparative analysis. The study of the corona must be done from different observing locations, orbits closer to the Sun, and by different means. The Cluster mission replacement is in progress; however, if the replacement is not implemented, the ISTP programme will fade after 1998. Furthermore, the physics of the Sun's interior should be emphasized more in the Mid- and Far-Term programmes. Finally, more emphasis should be placed on monitoring space weather and forecasting Sun/Earth interactions.

Source record↗