Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Principal Investigator”

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 307 records · Page 17

Residual acceleration data on IML-1: Development of a data reduction and dissemination plan

A residual acceleration data analysis plan is developed that will allow principal investigators of low-gravity experiments to efficiently process their experimental results in conjunction with accelerometer data. The basic approach consisted of the following program of research: (1) identification of sensitive experiments and sensitivity ranges by order of magnitude estimates, numerical modelling, and investigator input; (2) research and development towards reduction, supplementation, and dissemination of residual acceleration data; and (3) implementation of the plan on existing acceleration data bases.

Rogers, Melissa J. B.↗

Eos payloads - Description, requirements and implementation

NASA has selected a preliminary payload for the earth observing system (Eos) program to be flown in the mid-to-late 1990s. This selection was based on the scientific guidance of various NASA Eos scientific advisory groups. The majority of the instruments have been assigned to two NASA-provided polar platforms. The payload for the NASA polar platforms consists of NASA research facility instruments, principal investigator instruments, and foreign-provided research facility instruments. The payload has been intentionally oversubscribed during the project definition phase, and will be down-selected before the execution phase begins. The measurements acquired by Eos will lead to a better understanding of the entire Earth system.

Vane, Deborah↗

MIT-NASA/KSC space life science experiments - A telescience testbed

Experiments performed at MIT to better define Space Station information system telescience requirements for effective remote coaching of astronauts by principal investigators (PI) on the ground are described. The experiments were conducted via satellite video, data, and voice links to surrogate crewmembers working in a laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Teams of two PIs and two crewmembers performed two different space life sciences experiments. During 19 three-hour interactive sessions, a variety of test conditions were explored. Since bit rate limits are necessarily imposed on Space Station video experiments surveillance video was varied down to 50 Kb/s and the effectiveness of PI controlled frame rate, resolution, grey scale, and color decimation was investigated. It is concluded that remote coaching by voice works and that dedicated crew-PI voice loops would be of great value on the Space Station.

Oman, Charles M.↗

A strategy for residual acceleration data reduction and dissemination

A data reduction plan is being developed to efficiently process residual acceleration data from orbiting space laboratories. Implementation of the reduction plan will result in a useful, manageable accelerometer data base which can be readily employed by principal investigators during post-flight analysis of experimental results. The data reduction plan will also assist in the characterization of the acceleration environment of orbiters, which is important for the planning of future experimental missions. Prototype versions of the reduction plan are being tested using accelerometer data recorded during the Spacelab 3 (SL3) mission. Transient disturbances caused by shuttle and experiment operations and crew activities are being cataloged. The magnitudes of such disturbances can be as much as 0.01 g, but are rarely sustained for more than a fraction of a second and tend to vary greatly in orientation. It is found that the recorded frequency components of the SL3 disturbances do not exceed tolerance limits determined from modeling for a selected experiment set.

Rogers, Melissa J. B.↗

Mars high-resolution mapping

A series of photomosaics of high-resolution Viking Orbiter images of Mars is being prepared and published to support the Mars 1:500,000 scale geologic mapping program. More than 100 of these photomosaics were made manually, but for the last several years they have all been made digitally. The digital mosaics are published on the Mars Transverse Mercator (MTM) system, and they are also available to the appropriate principal investigators as digital files in the mosaicked digital image model (MDIM) format. The mosaics contain Viking Orbiter images with the highest available resolution: in some areas as high as 10 m/pixel. This resolution, where it exists, will support a 1:100,000 map scale. The full resolution of a mosaic is preserved in a digital file, but conventional lithographic publication of such large-scale inset maps will be done only if required by the geologic map author. When high-resolution images do not full the neatlines of an MTM quadrangle, the medium-resolution (1/256 degrees/pixel, or 231 m/pixel) MDIM is used. The mosaics are tied by image-matching to the planetwide MDIM, in which random errors as large as 5 km (10 mm at 1:500,000 scale) are common; a few much larger, worst-case errors also occur. Because of the distribution of the errors, many large discrepancies appear along the cutlines between frames with very different resolutions. Furthermore, each block of quadrangles is compiled on its own local control system, and adjacent blocks, compiled later, are unlikely to match. Selection of areas to be mapped is based on geologic mapping proposals reviewed and recommended by the Mars 1:500,000 scale geologic mapping review panel. There is no intention to map the entire planet at this scale.

Batson, R. M.↗

An application for multi-person task synchronization

Computer applications are studied that will enable a group of people to synchronize their actions when following a predefined task sequence. It is assumed that the people involved only have computer workstations available to them for communication. Hence, the approach is to study how the computer can be used to help a group remain synchronized. A series of applications were designed and developed that can be used as vehicles for experimentation. An example of how this technique can be used for a remote coaching capability is explained in a report describing an experiment that simulated a Life Sciences experiment on-board Space Station Freedom, with a ground based principal investigator providing the expertise by coaching the on-orbit mission specialist.

Brown, Robert L.↗

NSSDC data listing

The purpose here is to identify, in a highly summarized way, data available from the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC). Most data are maintained as offline data sets gathered from individual instruments carried on spacecraft; these comprise the Satellite Data Listing. Descriptive names, time spans, data form, and quality of these data sets are identified in the listing, which is sorted alphabetically, first by spacecraft name and then by the principal investigator's or team leader's last name. Several data sets not associated with individual spaceflight instruments are identified in separate listings following the Satellite Data Listing. These include composite spacecraft data sets, ground based data, models, and computer routines. NSSDC also offers data via special services and systems in a number of areas, including the Astronomical Data Center, Coordinated Data Analysis Workshops, NASA Climate Data System, Pilot Land Data System, and Crustal Dynamics Data Information System.

Horowitz, Richard↗

A search for periodicity in the x ray spectrum of black hole candidate A0620-00

The archived data from the SAS-3 observations of the X-ray nova A0620-00, the best of the stellar blackhole candidates, were exhaustively examined for evidence of variable phenomena correlated with the orbital motion of the binary system of which it is a member. The original analysis of these data was completed before discovery of the binary companion and determination of the orbital period of the system. New interest was drawn to the task of a reexamination of the archive data by the recent discovery of the massive nature of the X-ray source through analysis of the Doppler variations and ellipsoidal light variations of the faint K-star companion by McClintock and Remillard. The archive research, carried out under the supervision of the principal investigator, was the topic of the thesis submitted to the MIT Department of Physics by Kenneth Plaks in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Plaks' effort was focused on the elimination of fluctuations in the data due to errors in attitude solutions and other extraneous causes. The first products of his work were long-term light curves of the X-ray intensities in the various energy channels as functions of time during the time from outbursts in August 1975 to quiescence approximately 6 months later. These curves, are refined versions of the preliminary results published in 1976 (Matilsky et al. 1976). Smooth exponentials were fitted to these long term light curves to provide the basis for detrending the data, thereby permitting a calculation of residuals derived by subtracting the fitted curve from the data. The residuals were then analyzed by Fourier analysis to search for variations with the period of the binary orbit, namely 7.75 hours. No evidence of an orbital periodicity was found. However, the refined light curve provides a much clearer picture of the outburst and subsequent decay of the X-ray luminosity. In fact, there were two outbursts, each followed by an exponential decay with similar time constants of about 25 days. Previous evidence of a three-oscillation variation with a 7.8 day period were confirmed. Substantial theoretical effort has been devoted to attempts to account for the decay characteristics as the result of the gradual eating up of an accretion disk by a stellar-mass blackhole (e.g., Huang and Wheeler 1989). The improved decay curves will provide significant new constraints on the theoretical analyses.

Clark, George W.↗

Aerodynamic heating on AFE due to nonequilibrium flow with variable entropy at boundary layer edge

A method of predicting the aerobrake aerothermodynamic environment on the NASA Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) vehicle is described. Results of a three dimensional inviscid nonequilibrium solution are used as input to an axisymmetric nonequilibrium boundary layer program to predict AFE convective heating rates. Inviscid flow field properties are obtained from the Euler option of the Viscous Reacting Flow (VRFLO) code at the boundary layer edge. Heating rates on the AFE surface are generated with the Boundary Layer Integral Matrix Procedure (BLIMP) code for a partially catalytic surface composed of Reusable Surface Insulation (RSI) times. The 1864 kg AFE will fly an aerobraking trajectory, simulating return from geosynchronous Earth orbit, with a 75 km perigee and a 10 km/sec entry velocity. Results of this analysis will provide principal investigators and thermal analysts with aeroheating environments to perform experiment and thermal protection system design.

Ting, P. C.↗

Long duration exposure facility post-flight thermal analysis: Orbital/thermal environment data package

A post flight mission thermal environment for the Long Duration Exposure Facility was created as part of the thermal analysis data reduction effort. The data included herein is the thermal parameter data used in the calculation of boundary temperatures. This boundary temperature data is to be released in the near future for use by the LDEF principal investigators in the final analysis of their particular experiment temperatures. Also included is the flight temperature data as recorded by the LDEF Thermal Measurements System (THERM) for the first 90 days of flight.

Berrios, William M.↗

Facing page test for the astronaut science advisor presentation

The goal of the Astronaut Science Advisor (ASA) project is to improve the scientific return of experiments performed in space by providing astronaut experimenters with an 'intelligent assistant' that encapsulates much of the domain- and experiment-related knowledge commanded by the Principal Investigator (PI) on the ground. By using expert systems technology and the availability of flight-qualified personal computers, it is possible to encode the requisite knowledge and make it available to astronauts as they perform experiments in space. The system performs four major functions: diagnosis and troubleshooting of experiment apparatus, data collection, protocol management, and detection of interesting data. The experiment used for development of the system measures human adaptation to weightlessness in the context of the neurovestibular system. This so-called 'Rotating Dome' experiment was flown on the recent Spacelab Life Sciences One (SLS-1) Mission. This mission was used as an opportunity to test some of the system's functionality. Experiment data was downlinked from the orbiter, and the system then captured the data and analyzed it in real time. The system kept track of the time being used by the experiment, recognized occurrences of interesting data, summarized data statistically and generated potential new protocols that could be used to optimize the course of the experiment.

Compton, Michael M.↗

Residual acceleration data on IML-1: Development of a data reduction and dissemination plan

The main thrust of our work in the third year of contract NAG8-759 was the development and analysis of various data processing techniques that may be applicable to residual acceleration data. Our goal is the development of a data processing guide that low gravity principal investigators can use to assess their need for accelerometer data and then formulate an acceleration data analysis strategy. The work focused on the flight of the first International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1) mission. We are also developing a data base management system to handle large quantities of residual acceleration data. This type of system should be an integral tool in the detailed analysis of accelerometer data. The system will manage a large graphics data base in the support of supervised and unsupervised pattern recognition. The goal of the pattern recognition phase is to identify specific classes of accelerations so that these classes can be easily recognized in any data base. The data base management system is being tested on the Spacelab 3 (SL3) residual acceleration data.

Rogers, Melissa J. B.↗

Science Community Interface

The interface is described between NASA HQ, NASA Goddard, and the rocket Principal Investigators. The proposal selection process is described along with the cycle time to flight, constraints imposed by science objectives on operations, campaign modes, and coordination with ground based facilities. There were questions about the success rate of proposals and the primary sources of funding for the payloads program from the branches of the science divisions in OSSA, especially space physics, astrophysics, Earth sciences, and solar system exploration. The presentation is given in the form of viewgraphs.

Neupert, Werner M.↗

Use of the Long Duration Exposure Facility's thermal measurement system for the verification of thermal models

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) postflight thermal model predicted temperatures were matched to flight temperature data recorded by the Thermal Measurement System (THERM), LDEF experiment P0003. Flight temperatures, recorded at intervals of approximately 112 minutes for the first 390 days of LDEF's 2105 day mission were compared with predictions using the thermal mathematical model (TMM). This model was unverified prior to flight. The postflight analysis has reduced the thermal model uncertainty at the temperature sensor locations from +/- 40 F to +/- 18 F. The improved temperature predictions will be used by the LDEF's principal investigators to calculate improved flight temperatures experienced by 57 experiments located on 86 trays of the facility.

Berrios, William M.↗

The use of artificial intelligence techniques to improve the multiple payload integration process

A maximum return of science and products with a minimum expenditure of time and resources is a major goal of mission payload integration. A critical component then, in successful mission payload integration is the acquisition and analysis of experiment requirements from the principal investigator and payload element developer teams. One effort to use artificial intelligence techniques to improve the acquisition and analysis of experiment requirements within the payload integration process is described.

Cutts, Dannie E.↗

LDEF archival system plan

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) Science Office is developing a comprehensive archival system to enable access to LDEF data, analysis, publications, and hardware for further research and design applications. The archival system will be a space environmental effects resource designed to encompass other data relevant to the space environment in addition to that which has resulted from LDEF. Elements of the archival system will include electronically stored data, hardcopies, photographs, hardware, and samples. Currently LDEF data and analytical results are being recorded by principal investigators and special investigation groups in many forms and for both inhouse uses and outside distribution. It is intended that the LDEF archival system will include access to some of these independent sources of information as part of the complete archives. This paper will discuss the LDEF archival system, including the procedures for acquiring information and hardware.

Wilson, Brenda K.↗

Publications of the environmental health program: 1980-1990

A 10-year cumulative bibliography of publications resulting from research supported by the Environmental Health Program of the Life Sciences Division of NASA is given. The goals of this program are to utilize ground based studies to understand the effects of the spacecraft and EVA environments on humans and other organisms; to specify, measure, and control these environments; and to develop countermeasures, where necessary, to optimize crew health, safety, and productivity. The primary subjects encompassed are barophysiology, toxicology, and microbiology. Principal Investigators whose research tasks resulted in publication are identified.

Wallace-Robinson, Janice↗

Deep Space Network information system architecture study

The purpose of this article is to describe an architecture for the Deep Space Network (DSN) information system in the years 2000-2010 and to provide guidelines for its evolution during the 1990s. The study scope is defined to be from the front-end areas at the antennas to the end users (spacecraft teams, principal investigators, archival storage systems, and non-NASA partners). The architectural vision provides guidance for major DSN implementation efforts during the next decade. A strong motivation for the study is an expected dramatic improvement in information-systems technologies, such as the following: computer processing, automation technology (including knowledge-based systems), networking and data transport, software and hardware engineering, and human-interface technology. The proposed Ground Information System has the following major features: unified architecture from the front-end area to the end user; open-systems standards to achieve interoperability; DSN production of level 0 data; delivery of level 0 data from the Deep Space Communications Complex, if desired; dedicated telemetry processors for each receiver; security against unauthorized access and errors; and highly automated monitor and control.

Beswick, C. A.↗