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NASA NTRS2024

IVGen Mini Techport May 2024

Intravenous (IV) fluids are an important treatment modality for multiple medical conditions that have the potential to occur during Mars missions and that may lead to adverse crew health and mission outcomes without appropriate treatment. However, carrying sufficient volumes of IV fluids with adequate shelf life to support such missions is currently not feasible due to anticipated mass and volume constraints of future vehicles and the relatively short shelf-life of terrestrial IV fluids. The goal of the IntraVenous Fluid Generation for Exploration Missions, Miniaturized, (IVGen Mini) project is to develop a low mass and volume IV fluid generation device that can produce IV fluids in situ and that reduces the need to launch and store large quantities of IV fluids. It builds on the original IVGEN system developed by the Human Research Program’s Exploration Medical Capability Element that successfully demonstrated the capability to produce in-situ IV fluids aboard the ISS in 2010 using an ISS potable water source. Flight demonstration objectives for this system included purification via packed bed resin, bubble removal, sterilization, passive mixing in microgravity, and United States Pharmacopeia (USP) tested compliance. The project will culminate in a flight technical demonstration on the ISS in 2025/2026.

Courtney M Schkurko↗
NASA NTRS2011

Towards a Standard for Provenance and Context for Preservation of Data for Earth System Science

Long-term data sets with data from many missions are needed to study trends and validate model results that are typical in Earth System Science research. Data and derived products originate from multiple missions (spaceborne, airborne and/or in situ) and from multiple organizations. During the missions as well as well past their termination, it is essential to preserve the data and products to support future studies. Key aspects of preservation are: preserving bits and ensuring data are uncorrupted, preserving understandability with appropriate documentation, and preserving reproducibility of science with appropriate documentation and other artifacts. Computer technology provides adequate standards to ensure that, with proper engineering, bits are preserved as hardware evolves. However, to ensure understandability and reproducibility, it is essential to plan ahead to preserve all the relevant data and information. There are currently no standards to identify the content that needs to be preserved, leading to non-uniformity in content and users not being sure of whether preserved content is comprehensive. Each project, program or agency can specify the items to be preserved as a part of its data management requirements. However, broader community consensus that cuts across organizational or national boundaries would be needed to ensure comprehensiveness, uniformity and long-term utility of archived data. The Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP), a diverse network of scientists, data stewards and technology developers, has a forum for ESIP members to collaborate on data preservation issues. During early 2011, members discussed the importance of developing a Provenance and Context Content Standard (PCCS) and developed an initial list of content items. This list is based on the outcome of a NASA and NOAA meeting held in 1998 under the auspices of the USGCRP, documentation requirements from NOAA and our experience with some of the NASA Earth science missions. The items are categorized into the following 8 high level categories: Preflight/Pre-Operations, Products (Data), Product Documentation, Mission Calibration, Product Software, Algorithm Input, Validation, Software Tools.

Ramaprian, Hampapuram K.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Commercial Research and Development: Power to Explore, Opportunities from Discovery

The technical and economic goals of commercial use of space are laudable, and are addressed as a high priority by almost every national space program and most major aerospace companies the world over. Yet, the focus of most organizational agendas and discussions tends to focus on one or two very narrow enabling aspects of this potentially large technological and economic opportunity. While government sponsored commercial launch activities and private space platforms are an integral part of efforts to leverage the commercial use of space, these activities are possibly one of the smallest parts of creating, a viable and sustainable market for the commercial use of space. Most of the current programs usually do not appropriately address some of the critical issues of the current, already interested, potential space user communities. Current programs place the focus of the majority of the user requirements on the vehicle payload weight and mass performance considerations as the primary payload economical factor in providing a commercial market with a stimulating price for gaining access to the space environment. The larger user challenges of transformation from Earth-based research and development approaches to space environment approaches are not addressed early enough in programs to impact the new business considerations of potential users. Currently, space-based research and development user activities require a large user investment in time, in development of new areas of support expertise, in development of new systems, in risk of schedule to completion, and in long term capital positioning. The larger opportunities for stimulating a strong market driven interest in commercial use of space that could result from the development of vehicle payload "leap ahead technologies" for users are being missed, and there is a real risk of limiting the potentially broader market base to support a more technologically advanced and economically lucrative outcome. A major driving force for strengthening the commercial space activities is not only the technological advances in launch vehicle, or newer satellites, but the myriad of enabling payloads technologies that could, as a goal, result in an almost transparent facilitation to regular CD a, -n access to space and microgravity environments by the future users from the existing Earth-based research and development organizations market segments. Rather than focusing only on developing high lift performance launch vehicles and then developing payloads to fit them, the real focus from a business model perspective should to be on the customer payloads requirements, and on designing launch vehicles and platforms systems for a space transportation and facility infrastructure to support all aspects of the business model for the user market. To harness the full potential of space commercialization, new efforts need to be made to comprehensively examine all the critical business model areas for commercial research, development, and manufacturing in space so as to identify specific products and efforts; to determine how such operations must be both similar to and different from current Earth-based activities; to evaluate the enabling technological devices, processes and efforts so that like efforts can be addressed in a synergistic fashion for maximum user cost effectiveness; to delineate the services that are both needed and can be provided by such activities; and to use this information to drive design and development of space commercialization efforts and policy.

Casas, Joseph C.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Description of the NASA Hypobaric Decompression Sickness Database (1982-1998)

The availability of high-speed computers, data analysis software, and internet communication are compelling reasons to describe and make available computer databases from many disciplines. Methods: Human research using hypobaric chambers to understand and then prevent decompression sickness (DCS) during space walks has been conducted at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) from 1982 to 1998. The data are archived in the NASA Hypobaric Decompression Sickness Database, within an Access 2003 Relational Database. Results: There are 548 records from 237 individuals that participated in 31 unique tests. Each record includes physical characteristics, the denitrogenation procedure that was tested, and the outcome of the test, such as the report of a DCS symptom and the intensity of venous gas emboli (VGE) detected with an ultrasound Doppler bubble detector as they travel in the venous blood along the pulmonary artery on the way to the lungs. We documented 84 cases of DCS and 226 cases where VGE were detected. The test altitudes were 10.2, 10.1, 6.5, 6.0, and 4.3 pounds per square inch absolute (psia). 346 records are from tests conducted at 4.3 psia, the operating pressure of the current U.S. space suit. 169 records evaluate the Staged 10.2 psia Decompression Protocol used by the Space Shuttle Program. The mean exposure time at altitude was 242.3 minutes (SD = 80.6), with a range from 120 to 360 minutes. Among our test subjects, 96 records of exposures are females. The mean age of all test subjects was 31.8 years (SD = 7.17), with a range from 20 to 54 years. Discussion: These data combined with other published databases and evaluated with metaanalysis techniques would extend our understanding about DCS. A better understanding about the cause and prevention of DCS would benefit astronauts, aviators, and divers.

Wessel, J. H., III↗
NASA NTRS2018

NASA 2018 Green Propulsion Roadmap

The Green Propulsion Working Group (GPWG) is a technical guidance working group formed April 2017 under the Agency's Capability Leadership Team The GPWG was tasked with recommending an agency road map and providing guidance to NASA on green propulsion technology development and infusion The GPWG's efforts focus on ionic liquid propellants and related technologies The GPWG was chartered with three representatives from NASA Centers currently exploring green propulsion technologies As other Centers may explore programs that utilize green propulsion, membership of the working group can be expanded to include more interested parties Working group also solicits and coordinates with other government agencies (e.g. AFRL, MDA) In 2015, JANNAF hosted a Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) on Green Monopropellant Alternatives to Hydrazine (GMAH) Included both Government and non-Government contributions on the State-of-the-Art in Green Propulsion Technology Following the TIM, a Government-only session (USAF/AFRL/NASA/MDA/DLA) reviewed and identified remaining technical gaps in Green Propulsion In 2016, an inter-agency team (AFRL/NASA/MDA) worked together to develop an informal inter-agency "roadmap" based on the outcome of the TIM Approach consisted of near-term, mid-term, and long-term technology advancement areas, approaching incrementally larger thrust classes The NASA Green Propulsion Working Group reviewed the work of the 2016 Inter-Agency Working Group, and concurs that the identified technical gaps and technology development areas are still relevant and necessary to see green propulsion technology advanced The GPWG recommends the 2016 roadmap be adopted as baseline for NASA needs, with some additions The focus of the 2016 inter-agency roadmap was primarily on the thruster technology. The Agency must also invest in understanding the broader propulsion system-level technology gaps in parallel. Timeframes are considered suggested from a priority standpoint, but are also flexible as some efforts will need to occur in the nearer term or concurrently in order to meet specific mission requirements The GPWG developed 2018 roadmap breaks down the technology development goals into Technology Development Areas (TDA's), and identifies the near-, mid, and long-term sub-goals within those areas. Those TDA's are: Thruster Hardware Development Modeling & Tools Development Materials Properties and Compatibility Propellant Development.

Cavender, Dan↗
NASA NTRS2019

The Acquisition, Containment, and Curation of Mars Samples on Earth

The Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office at NASA Johnson Space Center (henceforth AACO) is responsible for receiving and curating all of NASA’s extraterrestrial samples, current and future (as per NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 7100.10E “Curation of Extraterrestrial Materials”). As such, the AACO coordinates sample capture, containment, and transportation to the curation facility as well as documents, preserves, prepares, and distributes all of the samples within NASA’s astromaterial collections for research, education, and public outreach. Since the lunar rock and soil samples returned during the Apollo Program, NASA’s first Class V Restricted Earth Return Missions, the AACO curates six other astromaterials collections. Lessons learned from each collection and respective missions (e.g. Apollo, Genesis, Stardust) as well as advancements in science and technology have informed the AACO’s plan for acquiring and curating Martian samples. Given the nature of the collection, a mobile and modular facility is recommended. The two broad requirements a Mars sample facility must maintain are: 1) the ability to contain the samples to protect the public from exposure of an “unknown unknown” biological agent and 2) ensure the scientific integrity of the samples are maintained (while maximizing scientific outcome). Although Apollo samples were eventually deemed safe and released to the scientific community for evaluation, there is no guarantee that this will be the case for Martian samples. Therefore, the facility in which the samples will be contained and investigated must be modular and able to accommodate an array of instrumentation that could be highly variable depending on the initial scientific outcomes. Furthermore, in order to facilitate proper sample capture and containment upon landing as well as sample distribution to other laboratories with proper containment, a mobile facility is a valuable investment.

Harrington, Andrea D.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Future Exploration Missions' Tasks Associated with the Risk of Inadequate Design of Human and Automation/Robotic Integration

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) funds research efforts aimed at mitigating various human health and performance risks, including the Risk of Inadequate Design of Human and Automation/Robotic Integration (HARI). As such, within HRP, the Human Factors and Behavioral Performance (HFBP) Element tasked an evaluation of future HARI needs in order to scope and focus the HARI risk research plan. The objective was to provide a systematic understanding of the critical factors associated with effective HARI that will be necessary to achieve the future mission goals for near- and deep-space exploration. Future mission goals are specified by NASA Design Reference Missions (DRMs) that are pertinent to the HRP. The outcome of this evaluation is a set of NASA-relevant HARI tasks, factors, and interactions required for exploration-class missions.

space operations↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Proof-of-Concept for a Long-Term Health Metric to Quantify End of Mission Health Status in Astronauts

NASA has long used Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) when high-stakes decisions need to be made about complex systems. For spaceflight medical risk, the Human Research Program’s Medical Extensible Dynamic Probabilistic Risk Assessment Tool (MEDPRAT) is a significant step towards robustly quantifying the risk to crew health during exploration missions. However, there remains a significant gap in the ability to comprehensively characterize and assess risk across the disparate functionalities and capabilities which comprise the entire Crew Health and Performance (CHP) system. To fill this gap, the Crew Health and Performance – Probabilistic Risk Assessment (CHP-PRA) project aims to perform risk characterization for the CHP system by assessing performance risk in addition to medical risk. This effort also includes quantifying Long-Term Health (LTH) risk in addition to in-mission risk outcomes within the CHP-PRA results. LTH risk encompasses the timeframe from immediately post-flight, through the rest of an astronaut’s career, through retirement, and until death. A proof-of-concept LTH risk metric is based on medical condition end-state, as defined by the Evidence Library, capturing the spaceflight specific medical impacts persisting into post-flight[1]. Condition outcomes in the Evidence Library progress through three Clinical Phases (CP): the diagnostic phase (CP1), the treatment/convalescent phase (CP2), and the end-state phase (CP3) which represents the detrimental effects of the condition after the crew member has recovered to the maximal extent. Each CP has an associated Task Impairment (TI), defined as the degree of crew incapacity due to experiencing the condition, and is quantified with a 0-1 range. Conditions with an associated CP3 (e.g. Sepsis, Traumatic Hypovolemic Shock, Sudden Cardiac Arrest, etc.) typically have serious consequences that can cause an astronaut to be fully or partially debilitated throughout the remainder of the mission. Consequently, the Cumulative CP3 TI End-of-Mission Health Status Metric is developed by CHP-PRA to quantify the cumulative effects of all conditions which progressed to the CP3 state throughout the entirety of the mission. Hence, this End-of-Mission Health Status Metric attempts to serve as an indicator of an astronaut’s health state at the time of landing. The severity of the lingering effects of in-mission medical events are dependent on mission activities and the level of available in-mission medical care. This allows the associated cumulative TI metric to be used in comparison with the crew’s end of mission health status for different levels of in-mission resources. This presentation provides the strategy for using CP3 as an LTH metric component, as well as a proof-of-concept demonstration of LTH risk characterization using this component.

long term health↗
NASA NTRS2007

Automated Target Planning for FUSE Using the SOVA Algorithm

The SOVA algorithm was originally developed under the Resilient Systems and Operations Project of the Engineering for Complex Systems Program from NASA s Aerospace Technology Enterprise as a conceptual framework to support real-time autonomous system mission and contingency management. The algorithm and its software implementation were formulated for generic application to autonomous flight vehicle systems, and its efficacy was demonstrated by simulation within the problem domain of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle autonomous flight management. The approach itself is based upon the precept that autonomous decision making for a very complex system can be made tractable by distillation of the system state to a manageable set of strategic objectives (e.g. maintain power margin, maintain mission timeline, and et cetera), which if attended to, will result in a favorable outcome. From any given starting point, the attainability of the end-states resulting from a set of candidate decisions is assessed by propagating a system model forward in time while qualitatively mapping simulated states into margins on strategic objectives using fuzzy inference systems. The expected return value of each candidate decision is evaluated as the product of the assigned value of the end-state with the assessed attainability of the end-state. The candidate decision yielding the highest expected return value is selected for implementation; thus, the approach provides a software framework for intelligent autonomous risk management. The name adopted for the technique incorporates its essential elements: Strategic Objective Valuation and Attainability (SOVA). Maximum value of the approach is realized for systems where human intervention is unavailable in the timeframe within which critical control decisions must be made. The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite, launched in 1999, has been collecting science data for eight years.[1] At its beginning of life, FUSE had six gyros in two IRUs and four reaction wheels. Over time through various failures, the satellite has been left with one reaction wheel on the vehicle skew axis and two gyros. To remain operational, a control scheme has been implemented using the magnetic torque rods and the remaining momentum wheel.[2] As a consequence, there are attitude regions where there is insufficient torque authority to overcome environmental disturbances (e.g. gravity gradient torques). The situation is further complicated by the fact that these attitude regions shift inertially with time as the spacecraft moves through earth s magnetic field during the course of its orbit. Under these conditions, the burden of planning targets and target-to-target slew maneuvers has increased significantly since the beginning of the mission.[3] Individual targets must be selected so that the magnetic field remains roughly aligned with the skew wheel axis to provide enough control authority to the other two orthogonal axes. If the field moves too far away from the skew axis, the lack of control authority allows environmental torques to pull the satellite away from the target and can potentially cause it to tumble. Slew maneuver planning must factor the stability of targets at the beginning and end, and the torque authority at all points along the slew. Due to the time varying magnetic field geometry relative to any two inertial targets, small modifications in slew maneuver timing can make large differences in the achievability of a maneuver.

Heatwole, Scott↗
NASA NTRS2016

Developing Personalized Sensorimotor Adaptability Countermeasures for Spaceflight

Astronauts experience sensorimotor disturbances during their initial exposure to microgravity and during the re-adaptation phase following a return to an Earth-gravitational environment. Interestingly, astronauts who return from spaceflight show substantial differences in their abilities to readapt to a gravitational environment. The ability to predict the manner and degree to which individual astronauts would be affected would improve the effectiveness of countermeasure training programs designed to enhance sensorimotor adaptability. In this paper we will be presenting results from our ground-based study that show how behavioral, brain imaging and genomic data may be used to predict individual differences in sensorimotor adaptability to novel sensorimotor environments. This approach will allow us to better design and implement sensorimotor adaptability training countermeasures against decrements in post-mission adaptive capability that are customized for each crewmember's sensory biases, adaptive capacity, brain structure, functional capacities, and genetic predispositions. The ability to customize adaptability training will allow more efficient use of crew time during training and will optimize training prescriptions for astronauts to ensure expected outcomes.

Mulavara, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Photometry of Pluto-Charon mutual events and Hirayama family asteroids

Once every 124 years, nature provides earth-bound astronomers with the opportunity to observe occultation and transit phenomena between Pluto and its satellite, Charon. Ground-based observations of these events will allow precise physical parameters for the Pluto-Charon system to be derived which are unlikely to be improved upon until in situ spacecraft observations are obtained. The proposed program will continue to support photometry observations from McDonald Observatory, a critical location in an international Pluto Campaign network. Knowledge of the diameters, masses, densities, and compositions derived from these observations will augment our understanding of Pluto's origin and its context within the problem of solar system formation. A second task will continue to research the evolutionary processes which have occurred in the asteroid belt by measuring the physical properties of specific Hirayama family members. Photoelectric lightcurve observations of Koronis and Themis family members will be used to investigate the individual catastrophic collision events which formed each family. By comparing these properties with results of laboratory and numerical experiments, the outcomes of catastrophic disruptions and collisional evolution may be more precisely determined.

Binzel, Richard P.↗
NASA NTRS2024

Review of the Natural History of Renal Stones in U.S. Astronauts

BACKGROUND: The formation of renal stones in astronauts may pose a considerable threat to crew health and to the completion of mission objectives. Although a history of prior renal stones is an exclusion criterion for initial selection, there have been reported cases of renal stones that have developed after selection. This led to the establishment, nine years ago, of a standardized protocol to screen for the development of renal stones pre-and post-spaceflight in all active astronauts. OVERVIEW: Literature regarding stone makeup, size, location, time to passage, and outcomes were reviewed, as well as incidence of renal stones in astronaut analog populations such as military pilots and the general population. The Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health (LSAH) database was queried and as of 2015 there have been 22 crew members who have reported 36 renal stone events from a population of 357 astronauts, with an incidence of 0.32 events per year. This compares favorably to the incidence of 0.37 to 0.46events per year in commercial pilots. DISCUSSION: The physiologic changes associated with spaceflight have been thought to present an increased risk for the development of stones, including hypercalciuria, decreased urine pH, and reduced urine volume. NASA’s screening program, based on a rigorous ultrasound method, has now provided nine years of clinical data used to reduce the risk of flying an astronaut with a renal stone that could threaten health and mission objectives. This work and data from the ultrasound screening program was used to update the clinical practice guideline for renal stone surveillance and treatment, and other NASA documents and programs that track this risk.

C McNerlin↗
NASA NTRS2011

ISSLive!

The ISSLive! project is a JSC innovation award- winning, combined MOD/Education project to publish export control and PAO-approved ISS telemetry, and simplified and scrubbed crew timelines. The publication of this data will be real-time or near real time and will include links to the crew's social media feeds and existing streaming public video/audio feeds, via public-friendly website, mobile devices and tablet applications. Additionally, the project will offer interactive virtual 3D views of an ISS model based on real-time telemetry and a 3D virtual mission control center based on existing Front Room console positions in made for public displays. The ISSLive! project is MOD-managed and includes collaborations with subject-matter expertise from the ISS flight controllers regarding daily operations and planning, education program specialists from the JSC Office of Education, instructional designers, human computer interface experts, and software/hardware experts from MOD facility organization, and senior web designers. In support of the Agency s Strategic Goal #6 with respect to using the ISS National Laboratory for education activities, ISSLive! uses the Station itself as STEM education subject matter and provides data for STEM-based lessons plans using national standards. Specifically, ISSLive! supports and enables the National Laboratory Education (NLE) project to address the Agency s Strategic Goal #6. This goal mandates, sharing NASA with the public, educators, and students to provide opportunities to participate in our Mission, foster innovation .. ISSLive! satisfies the Agency s outcomes of Strategic Goal; that is, engages the public in NASA's missions by providing new pathways for participation (Outcome 6.3) and it informs, engages, and inspires the public by sharing NASA s missions, challenges, and results (Outcome 6.4). Additionally, ISSLive! enables MOD s support of JSC Outreach and NASA's Open Data and Open Government Initiatives. The audience for the ISSLive! website and its application(s) are: teachers, students, citizen scientists, and the general public who will be given new and interactive insights on how the ISS Operates.

Price, Jennifer B.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Asthma and Air Quality in the Presence of Fires - A Foundation for Public Health Policy in Florida

Outdoor air quality and its associated impacts on respiratory problems in Florida are of public health significance. Air quality in Florida can be poor during the extended wildfire season, threatening persons with compromised respiratory systems each year. Studies have demonstrated that particulate matter, which is generally elevated in the vicinity of wildfires, is associated with increases in hospital admissions and occurrences of acute asthma exacerbations. However, few studies have examined the modifying effect of socio-demographic characteristics of cities or regional areas on the relationship between air quality and health outcomes. In an ongoing university/multi-agency project, asthma hospital/emergency room (patient) data are being used to create a health outcome indicator of human response to environmental air quality. Environmental data are derived from satellite measurements, with special attention being given to the effect of wildfires and prescribed burns on air quality. This presentation will focus on the environmental data sets particulate matter, location of fires, smoke plumes that are being collected and processed for linkage with health data. After this linkage has been performed, space-time models of asthma rates as a function of air quality data and socio-demographic variables will be developed and validated. The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) will work with county health department staff and representatives from the medical community to establish a protocol with triggers for issuing public health advisories/alerts based on the developed and validated health outcome indicators. From this effort, a science-based policy for issuing public health advisories/alerts for asthma relating to air quality will be developed, giving FDOH the ability to (1) predict, with stated levels of uncertainty, case load of hospital admissions based on air quality, (2) reduce asthma exacerbations by forewarning asthmatics to limit outside activities on poor air quality days, (3) apply management practices on the rates of hospital/emergency room visits for asthma, and (4) provide information that would help translate interventions into policy decisions, thereby reducing the economic burden and increasing well being of asthmatics. Further, the results of the study will be incorporated into Florida s Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) program, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) EPHT network.

Crosson, William↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Countermeasures for Mitigation of Sensorimotor Decrements Following Head-Down Bed Rest

BACKGROUND Astronauts experience postflight disturbances in postural and locomotor control due to sensorimotor adaptations during spaceflight. These alterations may have adverse consequences if a rapid egress is required after landing. Although exercise is partially effective for mitigating cardiovascular and muscular deconditioning, additional countermeasures are needed to further preserve sensorimotor function for exploration missions. We have identified proprioceptive training and electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) as promising in-flight countermeasures. Since prolonged head down bed rest (HDBR) is a spaceflight analog for body unloading and causes postural and locomotor control decrements that parallel those observed after spaceflight, it can be used to accelerate the development of these countermeasures. METHODS This study will determine the effects of proprioceptive training and EMS on functional task performance and sensorimotor function following 60 days of 6° HDBR. Subjects will be randomly assigned to one of four groups: 1) an EMS arm, 2) a proprioceptive training arm, 3) an exercise plus proprioceptive training arm, and 4) a control arm. The EMS countermeasure will include daily bilateral stimulation of the quadriceps femoris muscle (30 minutes per session). Proprioceptive training will be performed three days per week (20 minutes per session) consisting of body-loaded postural tasks in the horizontal position on an air bearing sled. Exercise training will mimic current protocols used on the International Space Station, but treadmill aerobic exercise will be replaced with additional cycling aerobic exercise. Primary outcome measures will include pre and post HDBR functional tests that are representative of high priority exploration mission tasks and require high demand for dynamic control of postural stability. Additional measures will be used to identify the key physiological factors contributing to countermeasure benefits. Given the constrained samples size, a Bayesian modelling approach will be used to quantify the probability that there is an effect of a given magnitude. COUNTERMEASURE UPDATES Proprioceptive countermeasure design enhancements and human in the loop pilot testing continued through the Crew Health Countermeasures (CHC) Systems Capability Leadership Team (SCLT). The primary goals of this work were to enhance the visual feedback system’s capabilities and develop a proprioceptive training program for 60 days of HDBR. Six healthy non-astronaut volunteers participated in four pilot training sessions to systematically examine how each training variable (e.g., axial load, foot placement, and software profile) affects the overall proprioceptive challenge. The resulting training program will maintain an appropriate challenge during 60 days of HDBR by progressively decreasing the subject’s base of support, increasing tilt board target distances, and increasing axial loads using both subjective verbal feedback and objective performance data. RELEVANCE The deliverable from this project will be proof-of-concept sensorimotor countermeasure designs for functional task performance with full assessment of efficacy in a spaceflight analog. If the countermeasures are effective, they will be translated for validation with the suite of operationally implemented in-flight countermeasures.

T R Macaulay↗
NASA NTRS2012

An Affordability Comparison Tool (ACT) for Space Transportation

NASA bas recently emphasized the importance of affordability for Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDP), Space Launch Systems (SLS) and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). System architects and designers are challenged to come up with architectures and designs that do not bust the budget. This paper describes the Affordability Comparison Tool (ACT) analyzes different systems or architecture configurations for affordability that allows for a comparison of: total life cycle cost; annual recurring costs, affordability figures-of-merit, such as cost per pound, cost per seat, and cost per flight, as well as productivity measures, such as payload throughput. Although ACT is not a deterministic model, the paper develops algorithms and parametric factors that use characteristics of the architectures or systems being compared to produce important system outcomes (figures-of-merit). Example applications of outcome figures-of-merit are also documented to provide the designer with information on the relative affordability and productivity of different space transportation applications.

McCleskey, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS2008

ESMD Space Grant Faculty Report

The strength of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate ESMD Faculty Project lies in its ability to meet National Aeronautics Space Administration NASA's Strategic Educational Outcome 1 by developing a sustainable and long-term integration of student involvement at academic institutions with all NASA Centers. This outcome is achieved by a three-fold approach: 1) by collecting Senior Design projects pertaining to Constellation work performed at each of the ten NASA Centers, 2) by engaging students at Minority Serving Institutions in the art of systems engineering and systems design of technologies required for space exploration, and 3) by identifying potential internships at each Center relative to exploration that provide students who are supported by their institutional Space Grant to engage in on-going mission-level and explorative systems designs. The objectives of the ESMD Faculty Project are to: 1. Aid the Centers (both Education Offices and associated technical organizations) in providing relevant opportunities for the ESMD Space Grant Program to support student and faculty in Senior Design projects 2. Enable better matches between the ESMD work required and what the Space Grant Consortia can do to effectively contribute to NASA programs 3. Provide the Space Grant Consortia an opportunity to strengthen relations with the NASA Centers 4. Develop better collective understanding of the U.S. Space Exploration Policy by the Center, Space Grant, faculty, Education Office, and students 5. Enable Space Grant institution faculty to better prepare their students to meet current and future NASA needs 6. Enable the Center Education Offices to strengthen their ties to their technical organizations and Space Grant Consortia 7. Aid KSC in gaining a greater and more detailed understanding of each of the Center activities Senior Design projects are intended to stimulate undergraduate students on current NASA activities related to lunar, Mars, and other planetary missions and to bring out innovative and novel ideas that can be used to complement those currently under development at respective NASA Centers. Additionally, such academic involvement would better the prospects for graduating seniors to pursue graduate studies and to seek careers in the space industry with a strong sense for systems engineering and understanding of design concepts. Internships, on the other hand, are intended to provide hands-on experience to students by engaging them in diverse state-of-the-art technology development, prototype bread-boarding, computer modeling and simulations, hardware and software testing, and other activities that provide students a strong perspective of NASA's vision and mission in enhancing the knowledge of Earth and space planetary sciences. Ten faculty members, each from a Space Grant Consortium-affiliated university, worked at ten NASA Centers for five weeks between June 2 and July 3, 2008. The project objectives listed above were achieved. In addition to collecting data on Senior Design ideas and identifying possible internships that would benefit NASA/ESMD, the faculty fellows promoted and collected data when required for other ESMD-funded programs and helped the Center's Education Office, as,needed. 4

Guo, Jiang↗
NASA NTRS2024

Enabling America on the Space Frontier: The Evolution of NASA’s Commercial Space Development Toolkit

Throughout NASA’s history, the Agency has supported the development and growth of the U.S. commercial space sector via various mechanisms that have nurtured the technology, companies, people, and ideas driving an industry that today is a significant contributor to the American and global economies. This report identifies 17 such mechanisms and qualitatively examines how they have been applied across four distinct periods in NASA’s history: 1915–1960, which covers NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), and NASA’s pre-Apollo years; 1961–1980, the Apollo era; 1981–2010, the Space Shuttle era; and 2011–present, the post-Shuttle commercial era. These eras are defined by dominant technologies, programs, or economic trends. Not all 17 mechanisms were applied during each era; some are relatively recent conceptions, while others have been used throughout the history of NASA and NACA. Additionally, there is inevitably some overlap between the mechanisms; this overlap adds an element of subjectivity to the categorizations in this report. In most eras, and for most mechanisms, there are far more examples than can reasonably be summarized in a single document. Therefore, this report should not be considered an exhaustive review of every iteration of any given mechanism’s implementation. Finally, with many of these mechanisms, such as contracts, commercial space capabilities sometimes resulted as a serendipitous by-product rather than a planned outcome.

economic policy↗