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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.

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At least 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

Special Purpose Crew Restraints for Teleoperation

With permanent human presence onboard the International Space Station (ISS), and long duration space missions being planned for the moon and Mars, humans will be living and working in microgravity over increasingly long periods of time. In addition to weightlessness, the confined nature of a spacecraft environment results in ergonomic challenges such as limited visibility, and access to the activity area. These challenges can result in prolonged periods of unnatural postures for the crew, ultimately causing pain, injury, and loss of productivity. Determining the right set of human factors requirements and providing an ergonomically designed environment is crucial to mission success. While a number of general purpose restraints have been used on ISS (handrails, foot loops), experience has shown that these general purpose restraints may not be optimal, or even acceptable for some tasks that have unique requirements. For example, some onboard activities require extreme stability (e.g., glovebox microsurgery), and others involve the use of arm, torso and foot movements in order to perform the task (e-g. robotic teleoperation); standard restraint systems will not work in these situations. The Usability Testing and Analysis Facility (WAF) at the NASA Johnson Space Center began evaluations of crew restraints for these special situations by looking at NASAs Robonaut. Developed by the Robot Systems Technology Branch, Robonaut is a humanoid robot that can be remotely operated through a tetepresence control system by an operator. It was designed to perform work in hazardous environments (e.g., Extra Vehicular Activities). A Robonaut restraint was designed, modeled for the population, and ultimately tested onboard the KC-135 microgravity aircraft. While in microgravity, participants were asked to get in and out of the restraint from different locations, perform maximum reach exercises, and finally to teleoperate Robonaut while in the restraint. The sessions were videotaped, and participants completed a questionnaire at the end of each flight day. Results from this evaluation are being used to develop the human factors design requirements for teleoperation tasks in microgravity.

Whitmore, Mihriban↗
NASA NTRS2012

FERMI/GLAST Integrated Trending and Plotting System Release 5.0

An Integrated Trending and Plotting System (ITPS) is a trending, analysis, and plotting system used by space missions to determine performance and status of spacecraft and its instruments. ITPS supports several NASA mission operational control centers providing engineers, ground controllers, and scientists with access to the entire spacecraft telemetry data archive for the life of the mission, and includes a secure Web component for remote access. FERMI/GLAST ITPS Release 5.0 features include the option to display dates (yyyy/ddd) instead of orbit numbers along orbital Long-Term Trend (LTT) plot axis, the ability to save statistics from daily production plots as image files, and removal of redundant edit/create Input Definition File (IDF) screens. Other features are a fix to address invalid packet lengths, a change in naming convention of image files in order to use in script, the ability to save all ITPS plot images (from Windows or the Web) as GIF or PNG format, the ability to specify ymin and ymax on plots where previously only the desired range could be specified, Web interface capability to plot IDFs that contain out-oforder page and plot numbers, and a fix to change all default file names to show yyyydddhhmmss time stamps instead of hhmmssdddyyyy. A Web interface capability sorts files based on modification date (with newest one at top), and the statistics block can be displayed via a Web interface. Via the Web, users can graphically view the volume of telemetry data from each day contained in the ITPS archive in the Web digest. The ITPS could be also used in nonspace fields that need to plot data or trend data, including financial and banking systems, aviation and transportation systems, healthcare and educational systems, sales and marketing, and housing and construction.

Ritter, Sheila↗
NASA NTRS2017

Data Descriptor: A Land Data Assimilation System for Sub-Saharan Africa Food and Water Security Applications

Seasonal agricultural drought monitoring systems, which rely on satellite remote sensing and land surface models (LSMs), are important for disaster risk reduction and famine early warning. These systems require the best available weather inputs, as well as a long-term historical record to contextualize current observations. This article introduces the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation System (FLDAS), a custom instance of the NASA Land Information System (LIS) framework. The FLDAS is routinely used to produce multi-model and multi-forcing estimates of hydro-climate states and fluxes over semi-arid, food insecure regions of Africa. These modeled data and derived products, like soil moisture percentiles and water availability, were designed and are currently used to complement FEWSNETs operational remotely sensed rainfall, evapotranspiration, and vegetation observations. The 30+ years of monthly outputs from the FLDAS simulations are publicly available from the NASA Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) and recommended for use in hydroclimate studies, early warning applications, and by agro-meteorological scientists in Eastern, Southern, and Western Africa.

albedo↗
NASA NTRS2009

Real-Time Assessment of Robot Performance During Remote Exploration Operations

To ensure that robots are used effectively for exploration missions, it is important to assess their performance during operations. We are investigating the definition and computation of performance metrics for assessing remote robotic operations in real-time. Our approach is to monitor data streams from robots, compute performance metrics, and provide Web-based displays of these metrics for assessing robot performance during operations. We evaluated our approach for measuring robot performance with the K10 rovers from NASA Ames Research Center during a field test at Moses Lake Sand Dunes (WA) in June 2008. In this paper we present the results of evaluating our software for robot performance and discuss our conclusions from this evaluation for future robot operations.

SBIR TOPIC X7.02 PHASE 1↗
NASA NTRS2002

A Ground Systems Architecture Transition for A Distributed Operations System

The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Ground Systems Department (GSD) recently undertook an architecture change in the product line that serves the ISS program. As a result, the architecture tradeoffs between data system product lines that serve remote users versus those that serve control center flight control teams were explored extensively. This paper describes the resulting architecture that will be used in the ISS payloads program, and the resulting functional breakdown of the products that support that architecture. It also describes the lessons learned from the path that was followed, as a migration of products cause the need to reevaluate the allocation of functions across the architecture. The result is a set of innovative ground system solutions that is scalable so it can support facilities of wide-ranging sizes, from a small site up to large control centers. Effective use of system automation, custom components, design optimization for data management, data storage, data transmissions, and advanced local and wide area networking architectures, plus the effective use of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products, provides flexible Remote Ground System options that can be tailored to the needs of each user. This paper offers a description of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Ground Systems architectural options that have been implemented, and includes successful implementation examples and lessons learned.

Sellers, Donna↗
NASA NTRS2003

A Ground Systems Architecture Transition for a Distributed Operations System

The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Ground Systems Department (GSD) recently undertook an architecture change in the product line that serves the ISS program. As a result, the architecture tradeoffs between data system product lines that serve remote users versus those that serve control center flight control teams were explored extensively. This paper describes the resulting architecture that will be used in the International Space Station (ISS) payloads program, and the resulting functional breakdown of the products that support this architecture. It also describes the lessons learned from the path that was followed, as a migration of products cause the need to reevaluate the allocation of functions across the architecture. The result is a set of innovative ground system solutions that is scalable so it can support facilities of wide-ranging sizes, from a small site up to large control centers. Effective use of system automation, custom components, design optimization for data management, data storage, data transmissions, and advanced local and wide area networking architectures, plus the effective use of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products, provides flexible Remote Ground System options that can be tailored to the needs of each user. This paper offers a description of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Ground Systems architectural options that have been implemented, and includes successful implementation examples and lessons learned.

Sellers, Donna↗
NASA NTRS2000

Feasibility Activities Completed for the Direct Data Distribution (D(sup )3) Experiment

The Direct Data Distribution (D(sup 3)) project being designed at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field will demonstrate a high-performance communications system that transmits information at up to 1.2 gigabits per second (Gbps) from an advanced technology payload carried by the space shuttles in low Earth orbit to small (0.9-m) autonomously tracking terminals on the Earth. The flight communications package features a solid-state, phased-array antenna operating in the commercial K-band frequency that electronically steers two independently controlled downlink beams toward low-cost tracking ground terminals. The array enables agile, vibration-free beam steering at reduced size and weight with increased reliability over traditional mechanically steered reflectors. The flight experiment will also demonstrate efficient digital modulation technology that allows transmission of substantially increased amounts of latency-tolerant data (up to 72 Gb of data per minute of contact time) with very high quality (10(exp -11) bit error rate). D(sup 3) enables transmission from low-Earth-orbit science spacecraft, the shuttles, or the International Space Station directly to NASA field centers and principle investigator sites, or directly into the commercial terrestrial telecommunications network for remote distribution and archive. The ground terminal features a cryocooled receiver for ultralow noise and a reduced antenna aperture as well as open-loop tracking for unattended operations. The D(sup 3) technology validation and service demonstration will help to facilitate NASA's transition from using Government-owned communications assets to using commercially provided services.

Wald, Lawrence W.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Crew Restraint Design for the International Space Station

With permanent human presence onboard the International Space Station (ISS), crews will be living and working in microgravity, dealing with the challenges of a weightless environment. In addition, the confined nature of the spacecraft environment results in ergonomic challenges such as limited visibility and access to the activity areas, as well as prolonged periods of unnatural postures. Without optimum restraints, crewmembers may be handicapped for performing some of the on-orbit tasks. Currently, many of the tasks on ISS are performed with the crew restrained merely by hooking their arms or toes around handrails to steady themselves. This is adequate for some tasks, but not all. There have been some reports of discomfort/calluses on the top of the toes. In addition, this type of restraint is simply insufficient for tasks that require a large degree of stability. Glovebox design is a good example of a confined workstation concept requiring stability for successful use. They are widely used in industry, university, and government laboratories, as well as in the space environment, and are known to cause postural limitations and visual restrictions. Although there are numerous guidelines pertaining to ventilation, seals, and glove attachment, most of the data have been gathered in a 1-g environment, or are from studies that were conducted prior to the early 1980 s. Little is known about how best to restrain a crewmember using a glovebox in microgravity. Another ISS task that requires special consideration with respect to restraints is robotic teleoperation. The Robot Systems Technology Branch at the NASA Johnson Space Center is developing a humanoid robot astronaut, or Robonaut. It is being designed to perform extravehicular activities (EVAs) in the hazardous environment of space. An astronaut located inside the ISS will remotely operate Robonaut through a telepresence control system. Essentially, the robot mimics every move the operator makes. This requires the operator to be stable enough to prevent inadvertent movements, while allowing the flexibility to accomplish the controlled movements of the robot. Some type of special purpose restraint will be required to operate Robonaut and similar devices.

Norris, Lena↗
NASA NTRS2010

RESOLVE's Field Demonstration on Mauna Kea, Hawaii 2010

In cooperation with the Canadian Space Agency, and the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology, Inc., NASA has undertaken the In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) project called RESOLVE (Regolith and Environment Science & Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction). This project is an Earth-based lunar precursor demonstration of a system that could be sent to explore permanently shadowed polar lunar craters, where it would drill into regolith, quantify the volatiles that are present, and extract oxygen by hydrogen reduction of iron oxides. The resulting water could be electrolyzed into oxygen to support exploration and hydrogen, which would be recycled through the process. The RESOLVE chemical processing system was mounted on a Canadian Space Agency mobility chasis and successfully demonstrated on Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano in February 2010. The RESOLVE unit is the initial prototype of a robotic prospecting mission to the Moon. RESOLVE is designed to go to the poles of the Moon to "ground truth" the form and concentration of the hydrogen/water/hydroxyl that has been seen from orbit (M3, Lunar Prospector and LRO) and to test technologies to extract oxygen from the lunar regolith. RESOLVE has the ability to capture a one-meter core sample of lunar regolith and heat it to determine the volatiles that may be released and then demonstrate the production of oxygen from minerals found in the regolith. The RESOLVE project, which is led by KSC, is a multi-center and multi-organizational effort that includes representatives from KSC, JSC, GRC, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Northern Center for Advanced Technology (NORCAT). This paper details the results obtained from four days of lunar analog testing that included gas chromatograph analysis for volatile components, remote control of chemistry and drilling operations via satalite communications, and real-time water quantification using a novel capacitance measurement technique.

Captain, Janine↗
NASA NTRS2021

Practical Operational Readiness Gambits: Operations Training Simulations for the Curiosity Rover

The Mars Science Laboratory team had been puttingin effort to make a Training Venue to allow for parallel shadowtactical operations for trainees to actively work alongside theprime tactical operations personnel without affecting operations,since staffing constraints and shortened operations timelineswere straining the tactical process in supporting operationstrainees in the traditional way. The COVID- 19 Pandemic presentedfurther challenges in continuing on-console training forMSL operations trainees. The MSL operations team switched tofully remote operations, thus hampering the direct mentorshipa trainee would normally receive while on site at JPL. TheMars 2020 training team had developed a concept for roveroperations training simulations based on Johnson Space Center’sextensive simulations training program for astronauts andflight controllers. The MSL team borrowed this idea, and implementedthese training simulations which are called PracticalOperational Readiness Gambits (PORGs). The PORGs so farhave focused on the Science Planner and Rover Planner roles,which are two crucial roles in tactical operations that engagein key interactions throughout a shift. PORGs are based onactual sol scenarios that have occurred on Mars and follow thetactical operations process and timeline as closely as possible.However, unlike an operations shift, PORGs can slow down orpause to allow for more mentoring time. PORGs can focus onparticular skills to test the trainees on their understanding ofa concept. PORGs increase in complexity with each scenario toease the trainees into more typical tactical operations workloads.As more trainees join the MSL operations team, more roles arebeing incorporated into PORGs. There are plans to incorporatecertified operations personnel into PORGs to practice anomalyresponse situations. PORGs have become an essential part of theMSL operations training program and will continue even afterthe return to on-site operations at JPL.

Gajeway, Jocelyn↗
NASA NTRS2024

Platte River Basin Water Resources II: Predicting Land Cover Change in the Platte River Basin to Select Wetland Protection Sites Vulnerable to Urban Encroachment

The Platte River Basin (PRB) represents a critical dynamic ecosystem where wetlands play a pivotal role as essential habitats for local and migratory birds, as well as various flora and fauna. It also provides many crucial ecosystem services that directly and indirectly benefit human welfare. However, it is threatened by anthropogenic activity, climate change, and urbanization. Our team partnered with Audubon Great Plains, the regional office of a national non-profit organization (NGO), to analyze the future potential development of the region and its potential impact on the wetlands. We utilized remotely sensed data, such as Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Suomi National Polar Orbiting Partnership (NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), as well as NASA Socioeconomic Data and Application Center (SEDAC) data, to simulate urban growth potential up to 2050 using the open-source model FUTure Urban-Regional Environment Simulation (FUTURES) model. Our results for two proposed scenarios (all wetlands are protected, and no wetlands are protected) revealed that at least 56 counties out of 81 in the PRB would experience growth by the year 2050. The results for the first scenario show that there will be no loss of wetlands in the future. However, the results for the second scenario indicate a basin-wide reduction of 43.22 square kilometers (0.58%) in wetland areas, leading to a significant loss of bird habitat, critical for conservation. The results will help Audubon Great Plains' Urban Woods and Prairies Initiative to lead awareness workshops for communities about wetland protection and to form impactful conservation strategies.

FUTURES↗
NASA NTRS2009

Digital Beamforming Scatterometer

This paper discusses scatterometer measurements collected with multi-mode Digital Beamforming Synthetic Aperture Radar (DBSAR) during the SMAP-VEX 2008 campaign. The 2008 SMAP Validation Experiment was conducted to address a number of specific questions related to the soil moisture retrieval algorithms. SMAP-VEX 2008 consisted on a series of aircraft-based.flights conducted on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware in the fall of 2008. Several other instruments participated in the campaign including the Passive Active L-Band System (PALS), the Marshall Airborne Polarimetric Imaging Radiometer (MAPIR), and the Global Positioning System Reflectometer (GPSR). This campaign was the first SMAP Validation Experiment. DBSAR is a multimode radar system developed at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center that combines state-of-the-art radar technologies, on-board processing, and advances in signal processing techniques in order to enable new remote sensing capabilities applicable to Earth science and planetary applications [l]. The instrument can be configured to operate in scatterometer, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), or altimeter mode. The system builds upon the L-band Imaging Scatterometer (LIS) developed as part of the RadSTAR program. The radar is a phased array system designed to fly on the NASA P3 aircraft. The instrument consists of a programmable waveform generator, eight transmit/receive (T/R) channels, a microstrip antenna, and a reconfigurable data acquisition and processor system. Each transmit channel incorporates a digital attenuator, and digital phase shifter that enables amplitude and phase modulation on transmit. The attenuators, phase shifters, and calibration switches are digitally controlled by the radar control card (RCC) on a pulse by pulse basis. The antenna is a corporate fed microstrip patch-array centered at 1.26 GHz with a 20 MHz bandwidth. Although only one feed is used with the present configuration, a provision was made for separate corporate feeds for vertical and horizontal polarization. System upgrades to dual polarization are currently under way. The DBSAR processor is a reconfigurable data acquisition and processor system capable of real-time, high-speed data processing. DBSAR uses an FPGA-based architecture to implement digitally down-conversion, in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) demodulation, and subsequent radar specific algorithms. The core of the processor board consists of an analog-to-digital (AID) section, three Altera Stratix field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), an ARM microcontroller, several memory devices, and an Ethernet interface. The processor also interfaces with a navigation board consisting of a GPS and a MEMS gyro. The processor has been configured to operate in scatterometer, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and altimeter modes. All the modes are based on digital beamforming which is a digital process that generates the far-field beam patterns at various scan angles from voltages sampled in the antenna array. This technique allows steering the received beam and controlling its beam-width and side-lobe. Several beamforming techniques can be implemented each characterized by unique strengths and weaknesses, and each applicable to different measurement scenarios. In Scatterometer mode, the radar is capable to.generate a wide beam or scan a narrow beam on transmit, and to steer the received beam on processing while controlling its beamwidth and side-lobe level. Table I lists some important radar characteristics

Rincon, Rafael F.↗
NASA NTRS1980

A linear magnetic motor and generator

In linear magnetic motor and generator suitable for remote and hostile environments, magnetic forces drive reciprocating shaft along its axis. Actuator shaft is located in center of cylindrical body and may be supported by either contacting or noncontacting bearings. When device operates as bidirectional motor, drive coil selectively adds and subtracts magnetic flux to and from flux paths, producing forces that drive actuator along axis. When actuator is driven by external reciprocating engine, device becomes ac generator.

Studer, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Juneau Airport Doppler Lidar Deployment: Extraction of Accurate Turbulent Wind Statistics

A 2 micrometer pulsed Doppler lidar was deployed to the Juneau Airport in 1998 to measure turbulence and wind shear in and around the departure and arrival corridors. The primary objective of the measurement program was to demonstrate and evaluate the capability of a pulsed coherent lidar to remotely and unambiguously measure wind turbulence. Lidar measurements were coordinated with flights of an instrumented research aircraft operated by representatives of the University of North Dakota (UND) under the direction of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The data collected is expected to aid both turbulence characterization as well as airborne turbulence detection algorithm development activities within NASA and the FAA. This paper presents a summary of the deployment and results of analysis and simulation which address important issues regarding the measurement requirements for accurate turbulent wind statistics extraction.

Hannon, Stephen M.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Shipboard Sunphotometer Measurements of Aerosol Optical Depth Spectra and Columnar Water Vapor During ACE-2 and Comparison with Selected Land, Ship, Aircraft, and Satellite Measurements

Analyses of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and colurnmn water vapor (CWV) measurements acquired with NASA Ames Research Center's 6-channel Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-6) operated aboard the R/V Professor Vodyanitskiy during the 2nd Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE-2) are discussed. Data are compared with various in situ and remote measurements for selected cases. The focus is on 10 July, when the Pelican airplane flew within 70 km of the ship near the time of a NOAA-14/AVHRR satellite overpass and AOD measurements with the 14-channel Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-14) above the marine boundary layer (MBL) permitted calculation of AOD within the MBL from the AATS-6 measurements. A detailed column closure test is performed for MBL AOD on 10 July by comparing the AATS-6 MBL AODs with corresponding values calculated by combining shipboard particle size distribution measurements with models of hygroscopic growth and radiosonde humidity profiles (plus assumptions on the vertical profile of the dry particle size distribution and composition). Large differences (30-80% in the mid-visible) between measured and reconstructed AODs are obtained, in large part because of the high sensitivity of the closure methodology to hygroscopic growth models, which vary considerably and have not been validated over the necessary range of particle size/composition distributions. The wavelength dependence of AATS-6 AODs is compared with the corresponding dependence of aerosol extinction calculated from shipboard measurements of aerosol size distribution and of total scattering mearured by a shipboard integrating nephelometer for several days. Results are highly variable, illustrating further the great difficulty of deriving column values from point measurements. AATS-6 CWV values are shown to agree well with corresponding values derived from radiosonde measurements during 8 soundings on 7 days and also with values calculated from measurements taken on 10 July with the AATS-14 and the University of Washington Passive Humidigraph aboard the Pelican.

Livingston, John M.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-34528-DND

Since 2006, the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), aboard the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite, has provided a unique vertical perspective of Earth's atmosphere. These measurements have furthered our understanding of the role aerosols and clouds play in the climate system and have been leveraged for atmospheric modeling and air quality studies. In this seminar, the basics of LIDAR remote sensing will first be presented, including its operating principles, setup and geometry, the LIDAR equation, and different LIDAR types and techniques. Next, an overview of the LIDAR systems at NASA Langley Research Center will be provided, with an emphasis on the CALIPSO satellite mission, including available data products and examples of browse images. Lastly, several CALIPSO-based science applications and research projects will be discussed, including cloud contamination in passive satellite aerosol retrievals, aerosol detection limits, trends in aerosol vertical distribution, and air quality (PM2.5 concentrations).

Travis Toth↗
NASA NTRS1980

DSN Monitor and Control System, Mark III-80

The Deep Space Network monitor and control system, Mark III-80 is described. The major implementations required to evolve from the Mark III-78 to the Mark III-80 configuration are identified. The affected facilities are the deep space stations and the network operations control center (NOCC). At the deep space stations a stand-alone host processor is implemented. Included are software (host software) changes which provide downline loading to the stand-alone host processor from a disc unit of any idle data system computer. At deep space stations with a 34 m antenna, the microwave subsystem is provided with an interface which allows remote configuration selection at the central monitor and control operator's position. In the NOCC, software changes are implemented to provide precision power monitor and GCF monitor displays.

Leflang, J. G.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

IceCube: Demonstration of an 883 GHz Radiometer for Ice Cloud Remote Sensing

IceCube was a technology demonstration of an 883 GHz heterodyne radiometer on a 3U CubeSat for ice cloud characterization. The project was a collaboration between Goddard Space Flight Center, Virginia Diodes Inc., and Wallops Flight Facility. IceCube was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2017, and was deployed to the orbit in May 2017. The radiometer measured ice cloud emissions from an ISS orbit for over 15 months. IceCube generated the first 883 GHz cloud map over a large operation temperature range of (5 ºC—37 ºC). Cloud ice plays a major role in the cloud precipitation process and Earth’s energy budget. Ice clouds are used in global circulation models as tuning parameters to achieve model agreement with observation at the top of the atmosphere in the radiation budget and at the bottom for precipitation, however, due to a lack of accurate ice cloud measurements large uncertainties exist in these models. Submillimeter wave remote sensing is capable of addressing this issue by measuring cloud ice mass and microphysical properties in the middle-to-upper troposphere. This fills the sensitivity gap not covered by the visible/infrared and microwave sensors [1]. The goal of IceCube was to increase the TRL of a heterodyne 883 GHz radiometer (using commercial parts) from 5 to 7 by validating the performance in a relevant spaceflight environment. The design of the radiometer was driven by frequency of operation, bandwidth, calibration, available power, and thermal environment requirements. The design included a 15 mm aperture off-axis parabolic reflector with a Potter feed horn, an 883 GHz 2nd-harmonic mixer that is fed by a local oscillator chain with a 24.3 GHz dielectric resonator (MLA), followed by a 6 GHz bandwidth centered at 9 GHz intermediate frequency assembly (IFA), receiver interface card, and power distribution unit. The IFA included an internal noise diode calibration to separate the MLA performance from the rest of the system. For this the radiometer had four operational states: antenna, antenna + noise, reference, and reference + noise; each state’s duration was 10 ms. The total power dissipation of the instrument was 5.6 W. The spacecraft had spinning capabilities to provide a cold sky view for calibration. We present the instrument design, ground test results, challenges, and highlight some of the flight measurements.

N Ehsan↗