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NASA NTRS2002

Factors in International Space Station Integration Feasibility Assessments

The International Space Station, ISS, is a growing vehicle. The ISS configuration changes internally and externally with each ISS flight. Each flight adds resources and capabilities such as docking/berthing ports, power, stowage volume, heat rejection, and data processing capability. The configuration, capabilities and performance characteristics of the vehicle will be in flux until assembly complete. At the same time the knowledge about what is required to support humans involved in long duration space flight is also being greatly expanded. In addition to the changes occurring on-orbit, the situation on the ground is also very dynamic. Proposals for new ISS elements, proposed deletions of elements, changes to the ISS requirements, and changes to the planned configuration are always under evaluation. Furthermore, budgetary issues have driven the need to explore alternative options for the ISS . This environment has made the role of the technical integrator in the ISS program unique in that the baseline against which proposals are evaluated is always changing. The nature of the International Space Station Program adds another dimension to the integrators task. ISS program activities are spread across several centers: KSC, MSFC, GRC, DFRC, ARC and JSc. There are six International Partners/participants each with their own unique organizations. The prime contractor is in Texas, California and Alabama. And, the Space Shuttle Program as the launch vehicle provider is another major interface. In spite of the fluidity of the technical baseline, projections and organizational complexity, in the course of evaluating proposals and producing feasibility assessments there are factors, which frequently emerge as significant. These factors tend to be the limiting conditions when they come into play. The finite resources, which tend to limit the options for ISS are: upmass, life support and crew rescue capability, crew time, utilities, exercise equipment, and docking/berthing ports. Upmass requirements need to be developed for each option proposed. Short term and long term impacts to upmass are the result of the implementation and long term operations. The upmass requirements need to be met by the existing launch vehicles and any change in flight rate will be a significant cost driver. In addition, when any item is brought to the ISS careful consideration must be given to the on-board stowage and crew time available to unpack, transfer, stow and use these items. If stowage is not available then something must be returned, use of non-standard stowage negotiated or the item in question stays on the ground. Additional crew time requirements will impact available utilization time or crew off-duty time. When the human element is affected, such as, by increasing the number of crew members or changing the duration of the crew stay (longer or shorter) there is an additional set of factors that come into play. The main considerations are: rescue capability, exercise requirements and availability of equipment, resupply, and life support capability.

Watson, Patricia M.↗
NASA NTRS2010

HDU Pressurized Excursion Module (PEM) Prototype Systems Integration

The Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU) project team constructed an analog prototype lunar surface laboratory called the Pressurized Excursion Module (PEM). The prototype unit subsystems were integrated in a short amount of time, utilizing a skunk-works approach that brought together over 20 habitation-related technologies from a variety of NASA centers. This paper describes the system integration strategies and lessons learned, that allowed the PEM to be brought from paper design to working field prototype using a multi-center team. The system integration process included establishment of design standards, negotiation of interfaces between subsystems, and scheduling fit checks and installation activities. A major tool used in integration was a coordinated effort to accurately model all the subsystems using CAD, so that conflicts were identified before physical components came together. Some of the major conclusions showed that up-front modularity that emerged as an artifact of construction, such as the eight 45 degree "pie slices" making up the module whose steel rib edges defined structural mounting and loading points, dictated much of the configurational interfaces between the major subsystems and workstations. Therefore, 'one of the lessons learned included the need to use modularity as a tool for organization in advance, and to work harder to prevent non-critical aspects of the platform from dictating the modularity that may eventually inform the fight system.

Gill, Tracy R.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Secondary Forests from Agricultural Abandonment in Amazonia 2000-2009

Ongoing negotiations to include reducing emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in a post-Kyoto climate agreement highlight the critical role of satellite data for accurate and transparent accounting of forest cover changes. In addition to deforestation and degradation, knowledge of secondary forest dynamics is essential for full carbon accounting under REDD+. Land abandonment to secondary forests also frames one of the key tradeoffs for agricultural production in tropical forest countries-whether to incentivize secondary forest growth (for carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation) or low-carbon expansion of agriculture or biofuels production in areas of secondary forests. We examined patterns of land abandonment to secondary forest across the arc of deforestation in Brazil and Bolivia using time series of annual Landsat and MODIS data from 2000-2009. Rates of land abandonment to secondary forest during 2002-2006 were less than 5% of deforestation rates in these years. Small areas of new secondary forest were scattered across the entire arc of deforestation, rather than concentrated in any specific region of the basin. Taken together, our analysis of the satellite data record emphasizes the difficulties of addressing the pool of new secondary forests in the context of REDD+ in Amazonia. Due to the small total area of secondary forests, land sparing through agricultural intensification will be an important element of efforts to reduce deforestation rates under REDD+ while improving agricultural productivity in Amazonia.

Morton, Douglas↗
NASA NTRS2011

Electro-Mechanical Systems for Extreme Space Environments

Exploration beyond low earth orbit presents challenges for hardware that must operate in extreme environments. The current state of the art is to isolate and provide heating for sensitive hardware in order to survive. However, this protection results in penalties of weight and power for the spacecraft. This is particularly true for electro-mechanical based technology such as electronics, actuators and sensors. Especially when considering distributed electronics, many electro-mechanical systems need to be located in appendage type locations, making it much harder to protect from the extreme environments. The purpose of this paper to describe the advances made in the area of developing electro-mechanical technology to survive these environments with minimal protection. The Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), the Glenn Research Center (GRC), the Langley Research Center (LaRC), and Aeroflex, Inc. over the last few years have worked to develop and test electro-mechanical hardware that will meet the stringent environmental demands of the moon, and which can also be leveraged for other challenging space exploration missions. Prototype actuators and electronics have been built and tested. Brushless DC actuators designed by Aeroflex, Inc have been tested with interface temperatures as low as 14 degrees Kelvin. Testing of the Aeroflex design has shown that a brushless DC motor with a single stage planetary gearbox can operate in low temperature environments for at least 120 million cycles (measured at motor) if long life is considered as part of the design. A motor control distributed electronics concept developed by JPL was built and operated at temperatures as low as -160 C, with many components still operational down to -245 C. Testing identified the components not capable of meeting the low temperature goal of -230 C. This distributed controller is universal in design with the ability to control different types of motors and read many different types of sensors. The controller form factor was designed to surround or be at the actuator. Communication with the slave controllers is accomplished by a bus, thus limiting the number of wires that must be routed to the extremity locations. Efforts have also been made to increase the power capability of these electronics for the ability to power and control actuators up to 2.5KW and still meet the environmental challenges. For commutation and control of the actuator, a resolver was integrated and tested with the actuator. Testing of this resolver demonstrated temperature limitations. Subsequent failure analysis isolated the low temperature failure mechanism and a design solution was negotiated with the manufacturer. Several years of work have resulted in specialized electro-mechanical hardware to meet extreme space exploration environments, a test history that verifies and finds limitations of the designs and a growing knowledge base that can be leveraged by future space exploration missions.

Mojarradi, Mohammad M.↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Rule Based Approach to ISS Interior Volume Control and Layout

Traditional human factors design involves the development of human factors requirements based on a desire to accommodate a certain percentage of the intended user population. As the product is developed human factors evaluation involves comparison between the resulting design and the specifications. Sometimes performance metrics are involved that allow leniency in the design requirements given that the human performance result is satisfactory. Clearly such approaches may work but they give rise to uncertainty and negotiation. An alternative approach is to adopt human factors design rules that articulate a range of each design continuum over which there are varying outcome expectations and interactions with other variables, including time. These rules are based on a consensus of human factors specialists, designers, managers and customers. The International Space Station faces exactly this challenge in interior volume control, which is based on anthropometric, performance and subjective preference criteria. This paper describes the traditional approach and then proposes a rule-based alternative. The proposed rules involve spatial, temporal and importance dimensions. If successful this rule-based concept could be applied to many traditional human factors design variables and could lead to a more effective and efficient contribution of human factors input to the design process.

Peacock, Brian↗
NASA NTRS2006

Reconfigurable Software for Controlling Formation Flying

Software for a system to control the trajectories of multiple spacecraft flying in formation is being developed to reflect underlying concepts of (1) a decentralized approach to guidance and control and (2) reconfigurability of the control system, including reconfigurability of the software and of control laws. The software is organized as a modular network of software tasks. The computational load for both determining relative trajectories and planning maneuvers is shared equally among all spacecraft in a cluster. The flexibility and robustness of the software are apparent in the fact that tasks can be added, removed, or replaced during flight. In a computational simulation of a representative formation-flying scenario, it was demonstrated that the following are among the services performed by the software: Uploading of commands from a ground station and distribution of the commands among the spacecraft, Autonomous initiation and reconfiguration of formations, Autonomous formation of teams through negotiations among the spacecraft, Working out details of high-level commands (e.g., shapes and sizes of geometrically complex formations), Implementation of a distributed guidance law providing autonomous optimization and assignment of target states, and Implementation of a decentralized, fuel-optimal, impulsive control law for planning maneuvers.

Mueller, Joseph B.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Complexity Management Using Metrics for Trajectory Flexibility Preservation and Constraint Minimization

The growing demand for air travel is increasing the need for mitigating air traffic congestion and complexity problems, which are already at high levels. At the same time new surveillance, navigation, and communication technologies are enabling major transformations in the air traffic management system, including net-based information sharing and collaboration, performance-based access to airspace resources, and trajectory-based rather than clearance-based operations. The new system will feature different schemes for allocating tasks and responsibilities between the ground and airborne agents and between the human and automation, with potential capacity and cost benefits. Therefore, complexity management requires new metrics and methods that can support these new schemes. This paper presents metrics and methods for preserving trajectory flexibility that have been proposed to support a trajectory-based approach for complexity management by airborne or ground-based systems. It presents extensions to these metrics as well as to the initial research conducted to investigate the hypothesis that using these metrics to guide user and service provider actions will naturally mitigate traffic complexity. The analysis showed promising results in that: (1) Trajectory flexibility preservation mitigated traffic complexity as indicated by inducing self-organization in the traffic patterns and lowering traffic complexity indicators such as dynamic density and traffic entropy. (2)Trajectory flexibility preservation reduced the potential for secondary conflicts in separation assurance. (3) Trajectory flexibility metrics showed potential application to support user and service provider negotiations for minimizing the constraints imposed on trajectories without jeopardizing their objectives.

Idris, Husni↗
NASA NTRS2011

HELIO: The Heliophysics Integrated Observatory

Heliophysics is a new research field that explores the Sun-Solar System Connection; it requires the joint exploitation of solar, heliospheric, magnetospheric and ionospheric observations. HELIO, the Heliophysics Integrated Observatory, will facilitate this study by creating an integrated e-Infrastructure that has no equivalent anywhere else. It will be a key component of a worldwide effort to integrate heliophysics data and will coordinate closely with international organizations to exploit synergies with complementary domains. HELIO was proposed under a Research Infrastructure call in the Capacities Programme of the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (FP7). The project was selected for negotiation in January 2009; following a successful conclusion to these, the project started on 1 June 2009 and will last for 36 months.

Bentley, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Ice Particle Transport Analysis With Phase Change for the E(sup 3) Turbofan Engine Using LEWICE3D Version 3.2

Ice Particle trajectory calculations with phase change were made for the Energy Efficient Engine (E(sup 3)) using the LEWICE3D Version 3.2 software. The particle trajectory computations were performed using the new Glenn Ice Particle Phase Change Model which has been incorporated into the LEWICE3D Version 3.2 software. The E(sup 3) was developed by NASA and GE in the early 1980 s as a technology demonstrator and is representative of a modern high bypass turbofan engine. The E(sup 3) flow field was calculated using the NASA Glenn ADPAC turbomachinery flow solver. Computations were performed for the low pressure compressor of the E(sup 3) for a Mach 0.8 cruise condition at 11,887 m assuming a standard warm day for ice particle sizes of 5, 20, and 100 microns and a free stream particle concentration of 0.3 g/cu m. The impingement efficiency results showed that as particle size increased average impingement efficiencies and scoop factors increased for the various components. The particle analysis also showed that the amount of mass entering the inner core decreased with increased particle size because the larger particles were less able to negotiate the turn into the inner core due to particle inertia. The particle phase change analysis results showed that the larger particles warmed less as they were transported through the low pressure compressor. Only the smallest 5 micron particles were warmed enough to produce melting and the amount of melting was relatively small with a maximum average melting fraction of 0.836. The results also showed an appreciable amount of particle sublimation and evaporation for the 5 micron particles entering the engine core (22 percent).

Bidwell, Colin, S.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Contrasting Patterns of Damage and Recovery in Logged Amazon Forests From Small Footprint LiDAR Data

Tropical forests ecosystems respond dynamically to climate variability and disturbances on time scales of minutes to millennia. To date, our knowledge of disturbance and recovery processes in tropical forests is derived almost exclusively from networks of forest inventory plots. These plots typically sample small areas (less than or equal to 1 ha) in conservation units that are protected from logging and fire. Amazon forests with frequent disturbances from human activity remain under-studied. Ongoing negotiations on REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus enhancing forest carbon stocks) have placed additional emphasis on identifying degraded forests and quantifying changing carbon stocks in both degraded and intact tropical forests. We evaluated patterns of forest disturbance and recovery at four -1000 ha sites in the Brazilian Amazon using small footprint LiDAR data and coincident field measurements. Large area coverage with airborne LiDAR data in 2011-2012 included logged and unmanaged areas in Cotriguacu (Mato Grosso), Fiona do Jamari (Rondonia), and Floresta Estadual do Antimary (Acre), and unmanaged forest within Reserva Ducke (Amazonas). Logging infrastructure (skid trails, log decks, and roads) was identified using LiDAR returns from understory vegetation and validated based on field data. At each logged site, canopy gaps from logging activity and LiDAR metrics of canopy heights were used to quantify differences in forest structure between logged and unlogged areas. Contrasting patterns of harvesting operations and canopy damages at the three logged sites reflect different levels of pre-harvest planning (i.e., informal logging compared to state or national logging concessions), harvest intensity, and site conditions. Finally, we used multi-temporal LiDAR data from two sites, Reserva Ducke (2009, 2012) and Antimary (2010, 2011), to evaluate gap phase dynamics in unmanaged forest areas. The rates and patterns of canopy gap formation at these sites illustrate potential issues for separating logging damages from natural forest disturbances over longer time scales. Multi-temporal airborne LiDAR data and coincident field measurements provide complementary perspectives on disturbance and recovery processes in intact and degraded Amazon forests. Compared to forest inventory plots, the large size of each individual site permitted analyses of landscape-scale processes that would require extremely high investments to study using traditional forest inventory methods.

Morton, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS2012

UAS Integration Into the NAS: An Examination of Baseline Compliance in the Current Airspace System

As a result of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are expected to be integrated into the National Airspace System (NAS) by 2015. Several human factors challenges need to be addressed before UAS can safely and routinely fly in the NAS with manned aircraft. Perhaps the most significant challenge is for the UAS to be non-disruptive to the air traffic management system. Another human factors challenge is how to provide UAS pilots with intuitive traffic information in order to support situation awareness (SA) of their airspace environment as well as a see-and-avoid capability comparable to manned aircraft so that a UAS pilot could safely maneuver the aircraft to maintain separation and collision avoidance if necessary. A simulation experiment was conducted to examine baseline compliance of UAS operations in the current airspace system. Researchers also examined the effects of introducing a Cockpit Situation Display (CSD) into a UAS Ground Control Station (GCS) on UAS pilot performance, workload and situation awareness while flying in a positively controlled sector. Pilots were tasked with conducting a highway patrol police mission with a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAS in L.A. Center airspace with two mission objectives: 1) to reroute the UAS when issued new instructions from their commander, and 2) to communicate with Air Traffic Control (ATC) to negotiate flight plan changes and respond to vectoring and altitude change instructions. Objective aircraft separation data, workload ratings, SA data, and subjective ratings regarding UAS operations in the NAS were collected. Results indicate that UAS pilots were able to comply appropriately with ATC instructions. In addition, the introduction of the CSD improved pilot SA and reduced workload associated with UAS and ATC interactions.

Fern, Lisa↗
NASA NTRS2012

Air traffic management evaluation tool

Methods for evaluating and implementing air traffic management tools and approaches for managing and avoiding an air traffic incident before the incident occurs. A first system receives parameters for flight plan configurations (e.g., initial fuel carried, flight route, flight route segments followed, flight altitude for a given flight route segment, aircraft velocity for each flight route segment, flight route ascent rate, flight route descent route, flight departure site, flight departure time, flight arrival time, flight destination site and/or alternate flight destination site), flight plan schedule, expected weather along each flight route segment, aircraft specifics, airspace (altitude) bounds for each flight route segment, navigational aids available. The invention provides flight plan routing and direct routing or wind optimal routing, using great circle navigation and spherical Earth geometry. The invention provides for aircraft dynamics effects, such as wind effects at each altitude, altitude changes, airspeed changes and aircraft turns to provide predictions of aircraft trajectory (and, optionally, aircraft fuel use). A second system provides several aviation applications using the first system. Several classes of potential incidents are analyzed and averted, by appropriate change en route of one or more parameters in the flight plan configuration, as provided by a conflict detection and resolution module and/or traffic flow management modules. These applications include conflict detection and resolution, miles-in trail or minutes-in-trail aircraft separation, flight arrival management, flight re-routing, weather prediction and analysis and interpolation of weather variables based upon sparse measurements. The invention combines these features to provide an aircraft monitoring system and an aircraft user system that interact and negotiate changes with each other.

Sridhar, Banavar↗
NASA NTRS2012

Communicating the Needs of Climate Change Policy Makers to Scientists

This chapter will describe the challenges that earth scientists face in developing science data products relevant to decision maker and policy needs, and will describe strategies that can improve the two-way communication between the scientist and the policy maker. Climate change policy and decision making happens at a variety of scales - from local government implementing solar homes policies to international negotiations through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Scientists can work to provide data at these different scales, but if they are not aware of the needs of decision makers or understand what challenges the policy maker is facing, they are likely to be less successful in influencing policy makers as they wished. This is because the science questions they are addressing may be compelling, but not relevant to the challenges that are at the forefront of policy concerns. In this chapter we examine case studies of science-policy partnerships, and the strategies each partnership uses to engage the scientist at a variety of scales. We examine three case studies: the global Carbon Monitoring System pilot project developed by NASA, a forest biomass mapping effort for Silvacarbon project, and a forest canopy cover project being conducted for forest management in Maryland. In each of these case studies, relationships between scientists and policy makers were critical for ensuring the focus of the science as well as the success of the decision-making.

Brown, Molly E.↗
NASA NTRS2012

The Role of Game Based Learning in the Health Literacy of African American Adolescent Males

Twenty-first century literacy is more than being able to encode for spelling ability, decode for reading comprehension, and calculate for numeric reasoning. It demands the skills to negotiate the world of technology. Health literacy is lower than general literacy, and general literacy is lower among African American males than the overall population. The authors discuss the prospects of incorporating Game Based Learning approaches into strategies for teaching health literacy. Results of a survey administered to youth to determine their level of involvement in video game playing indicate that key elements must be in place to ensure that a game will be played. These include action, strategy, and entertainment. Future investigation will examine the knowledge level of African American adolescent males of the nexus of certain concepts of climate change and health literacy. Climate change has significant implications for human health. This understanding will produce a scientifically based foundation for curricular and instructional decisions that include GBL. Results of this study will be used to design a video game concept and will contribute to the body of knowledge concerning environmental justice and empower individuals to make informed decisions about their own health and those they influence.

Connell, Judith↗
NASA NTRS2012

Developing Culture-Adaptive Competency Through Experiences with Expressive Avatars

Modern Warfighters often find themselves in a variety of non-combat roles such as negotiator, peacekeeper, reconstruction, and disaster relief. They are expected to perform these roles within a culture alien to their own. Each individual they encounter brings their own set of values to the interaction that must be understood and reconciled. To navigate the human terrain of these complex interactions, the Warfighter must not only consider the specifics of the target culture, but also identify the stakeholders, recognize the influencing cultural dimensions, and adapt to the situation to achieve the best possible outcome. Vcom3D is using game-based scenarios to develop culturally adaptive competency. The avatars that represent the stakeholders must be able to portray culturally accurate behavior, display complex emotion, and communicate through verbal and non-verbal cues. This paper will discuss the use of emerging game technologies to better simulate human behavior in cross-cultural dilemmas. Nomenclature: culture, adaptive, values, cultural values dimensions, dilemmas, virtual humans, non-verbal communications

Silverglate, Daniel S.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Automating Mid- and Long-Range Scheduling for the NASA Deep Space Network

NASA has recently deployed a new mid-range scheduling system for the antennas of the Deep Space Network (DSN), called Service Scheduling Software, or S(sup 3). This system was designed and deployed as a modern web application containing a central scheduling database integrated with a collaborative environment, exploiting the same technologies as social web applications but applied to a space operations context. This is highly relevant to the DSN domain since the network schedule of operations is developed in a peer-to-peer negotiation process among all users of the DSN. These users represent not only NASA's deep space missions, but also international partners and ground-based science and calibration users. The initial implementation of S(sup 3) is complete and the system has been operational since July 2011. This paper describes some key aspects of the S(sup 3) system and on the challenges of modeling complex scheduling requirements and the ongoing extension of S(sup 3) to encompass long-range planning, downtime analysis, and forecasting, as the next step in developing a single integrated DSN scheduling tool suite to cover all time ranges.

Deep Space Network↗
NASA NTRS2012

Sliding GAIT Algorithm for the All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE)

The design of a surface robotic system typically involves a trade between the traverse speed of a wheeled rover and the terrain-negotiating capabilities of a multi-legged walker. The ATHLETE mobility system, with both articulated limbs and wheels, is uniquely capable of both driving and walking, and has the flexibility to employ additional hybrid mobility modes. This paper introduces the Sliding Gait, an intermediate mobility algorithm faster than walking with better terrain-handling capabilities than wheeled mobility.

terrain anomaly↗
NASA NTRS2007

Traceability of Software Safety Requirements in Legacy Safety Critical Systems

How can traceability of software safety requirements be created for legacy safety critical systems? Requirements in safety standards are imposed most times during contract negotiations. On the other hand, there are instances where safety standards are levied on legacy safety critical systems, some of which may be considered for reuse for new applications. Safety standards often specify that software development documentation include process-oriented and technical safety requirements, and also require that system and software safety analyses are performed supporting technical safety requirements implementation. So what can be done if the requisite documents for establishing and maintaining safety requirements traceability are not available?

Hill, Janice L.↗