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At least 343 records · Page 19

Development Status of the CECE Cryogenic Deep Throttling Demonstrator Engine

As one of the first technology development programs awarded by NASA under the U.S. Space Exploration Policy (USSEP), the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) Deep Throttling, Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine (CECE) program was selected by NASA in November 2004 to begin technology development and demonstration toward a deep throttling, cryogenic engine supporting ongoing trade studies for NASA's Lunar Lander descent stage. The CECE program leverages the maturity and previous investment of a flight-proven hydrogen/oxygen expander cycle engine, the PWR RLI0, to develop and demonstrate an unprecedented combination of reliability, safety, durability, throttlability, and restart capabilities in a high-energy, cryogenic engine. The testbed selected for the deep throttling demonstration phases of this program was a minimally modified RL10 engine, allowing for maximum current production engine commonality and extensibility with minimum program cost. Two series of demonstrator engine tests, the first in April-May 2006 and the second in March-April 2007, have demonstrated in excess of 10:1 throttling of the hydrogen/oxygen expander cycle engine. Both test series have explored a combustion instability ("chug") environment at low throttled power levels. These tests have provided an early demonstration of an enabling cryogenic propulsion concept with invaluable system-level technology data acquisition toward design and development risk mitigation for future CECE Demonstrator engine tests.

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TPSAS-NF1676L-31995-DND

The Osa Peninsula, located in the southern region of Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast, is one of the most biologically-diverse places on Earth and is a popular ecotourism destination. However, the area faces watershed degradation and loss of biodiversity due to deforestation, pollution from agriculture, and human settlement. The NASA DEVELOP National Program worked with Osa Conservation to analyze land use and land cover change in the Osa Peninsula to better understand threats to river water quality and mangrove health. This project used Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), and Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) to create a land cover time series map from 1987 to 2017. These time series data were used to compare land use over time, as well as patterns in water quality, mangrove health, erosion, and deforestation. The time series also helped to identify the impact of the creation of protected areas and the 1996 Forest Law 7575, which aimed to support reforestation and riparian health. Osa Conservation will use and distribute results to the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), and local communities to inform land management decisions, policy enforcement, education and outreach initiatives, and watershed restoration and monitoring.

Suravi Shrestha↗

NASA GEOS-CF: Overview, Applications, Future Direction

Since 2019, the NASA Global Earth Observing System (GEOS) model has been used to generate global, near-real-time estimates and daily five-day forecasts of atmospheric composition at a horizontal resolution of 0.25 degrees (~25 km) from the surface up to the lower mesosphere. This composition forecast system (“GEOS-CF”) combines the GEOS weather forecasting model with the state-of-the-science GEOS-Chem chemistry module to deliver detailed analysis of a wide range of air pollutants, including the policy-relevant species such as ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Because GEOS-CF includes atmospheric levels up through the stratosphere, this system has been leveraged to support the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) satellite mission and provide stratospheric intrusion alerts to ground-based monitoring stations. We will present recent advances to GEOS-CF which includes assimilation of satellite observations to produce more accurate model analyses. We further discuss our future plans for a composition reanalysis.

K. Emma Knowland↗

Global-to-local air quality forecasts using the NASA GEOS Composition Forecast System

Since 2019, the NASA Global Earth Observing System (GEOS) model has been used to generate global, near-real-time estimates and daily five-day forecasts of atmospheric composition at a horizontal resolution of 0.25 degrees (~25 km) from the surface up to the lower mesosphere. This composition forecast system (“GEOS-CF”) combines the GEOS weather forecasting model with the state-of-the-science GEOS-Chem chemistry module to deliver detailed analysis of a wide range of air pollutants, including the policy-relevant species such as ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Because GEOS-CF includes atmospheric levels up through the stratosphere, this system has been leveraged to support the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) satellite mission and provide stratospheric intrusion alerts to ground-based monitoring stations. We will present recent advances to GEOS-CF which target increased computational efficiency and accuracy. These include the incorporation of simplified chemistry mechanisms to accelerate model forecasts, use of model-observation data fusion techniques to provide highly localized forecasts, and assimilation of satellite observations to produce more accurate model analyses. We further discuss our attempts to make these tools publicly available on platforms outside the NASA domain, such as Google Earth Engine and Amazon Web Services with the goal to facilitate the integration of state-of-the-science air quality information onto platforms used by stakeholders, air quality managers, and the public.

Emma Knowland↗

Current Status of NASA's Heavy Lift Plans

Numerous studies since the Apollo Program of the 1960s have highlighted the benefits of - and the need for - a national heavy lift launch capability to support human exploration, science, national security, and commercial development of space. NASA's most recent and most refined effort to develop that heavy lift capability is the Ares V. Ares V is a key element of NASA's Constellation Program. It s overall goal s part of approved national space policy is to retire the Space Shuttle and develop its successor, complete the International Space Station, and resume human exploration beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), beginning with exploration of the Moon as a step to other destinations in the Solar System. Ares V s first role is that of cargo vehicle to carry a lunar lander into Earth orbit, rendezvous with astronauts launched on the smaller Ares I crew launch vehicle, and perform the trans lunar injection (TLI) mission to send the mated crew and lander vehicles to the Moon. The design reference missions (DRMs) envisioned for it also include direct lunar cargo flights and a human Mars mission. Although NASA's priority from the start of the Constellation Program to the present has been development of the Ares I and Orion crew vehicle to replace the retiring Shuttle fleet, the Ares team has made significant progress in understanding the performance, design trades, technology needs, mission scenarios, ground and flight operations, cost, and other factors associated with heavy lift development. The current reference configuration was selected during the Lunar Capabilities Concept Review (LCCR) in fall 2008. That design has served since then as a point of departure for further refinements and trades among five participating NASA field centers. Ares V development to date has benefited from progress on the Ares I due to commonality between the vehicles. The Ares I first stage completed a successful firing of a 5-segment solid rocket motor. The Ares I-X launch Numerous studies since the Apollo Program of the 1960s have highlighted the benefits of and the need for - a national heavy lift launch capability to support human exploration, science, national security, and commercial development of space. NASA s most recent and most refined effort to develop that heavy lift capability is the Ares V. Ares V is a key element of NASA s Constellation Program. It s overall goal s part of approved national space policy is to retire the Space Shuttle and develop its successor, complete the International Space Station, and resume human exploration beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), beginning with exploration of the Moon as a step to other destinations in the Solar System. Ares V s first role is that of cargo vehicle to carry a lunar lander into Earth orbit, rendezvous with astronauts launched on the smaller Ares I crew launch vehicle, and perform the trans lunar injection (TLI) mission to send the mated crew and lander vehicles to the Moon. The design reference missions (DRMs) envisioned for it also include direct lunar cargo flights and a human Mars mission. Although NASA s priority from the start of the Constellation Program to the present has been development of the Ares I and Orion crew vehicle to replace the retiring Shuttle fleet, the Ares team has made significant progress in understanding the performance, design trades, technology needs, mission scenarios, ground and flight operations, cost, and other factors associated with heavy lift development. The current reference configuration was selected during the Lunar Capabilities Concept Review (LCCR) in fall 2008. That design has served since then as a point of departure for further refinements and trades among five participating NASA field centers. Ares V development to date has benefited from progress on the Ares I due to commonality between the vehicles. The Ares I first stage completed a successful firing of a 5-segment solid rocket motor. The Ares I-X launch successfully demonstrated in suborbital flighhe ability to assemble, prepare, launch, control and recover the Ares I configuration and compare performance to computer models. Component tests continue on the J-2X engine, which will put both the Ares I and Ares V upper stages into orbit. In addition, more than 100,000 parts have been manufactured or on the assembly line for the first J-2X powerpack and the first two development engines, with hot fire tests to begin in 2011. This paper will further detail the progress to date on the Ares V and planned activities for the remainder of 2010. In addition, the Ares V team has continued its outreach to potential user communities in science and national security. Through the Constellation Program, NASA has amassed an enormous knowledge base in the design, technologies, and operations of heavy lift launch vehicles that will be a national asset for any future launch vehicle decision. This early phase of the design presents the best opportunity to incorporate where possible the insights and needs of other users.

Creech, Steve↗

Delta mission planning in the Shuttle transition era

Delta mission planning is aimed at providing Shuttle transition era user support which is flexible, dependable, and reliable. The flexibility of support is being enhanced by the development of a new Delta vehicle model, the 3920, capable of providing backup compatible performance for Shuttle SSUS-D (solid spinning upper stage) users. Reliable interfaces, flexible scheduling policies, and new launch facilities will help satisfy increased user demand.

Grimes, D. W.↗

Metrication report to the Congress

NASA's principal metrication accomplishments for FY 1990 were establishment of metrication policy for major programs, development of an implementing instruction for overall metric policy and initiation of metrication planning for the major program offices. In FY 1991, development of an overall NASA plan and individual program office plans will be completed, requirement assessments will be performed for all support areas, and detailed assessment and transition planning will be undertaken at the institutional level. Metric feasibility decisions on a number of major programs are expected over the next 18 months.

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Climate Hazard Assessment for Stakeholder Adaptation Planning in New York City

This paper describes a time-sensitive approach to climate change projections, developed as part of New York City's climate change adaptation process, that has provided decision support to stakeholders from 40 agencies, regional planning associations, and private companies. The approach optimizes production of projections given constraints faced by decision makers as they incorporate climate change into long-term planning and policy. New York City stakeholders, who are well-versed in risk management, helped pre-select the climate variables most likely to impact urban infrastructure, and requested a projection range rather than a single 'most likely' outcome. The climate projections approach is transferable to other regions and consistent with broader efforts to provide climate services, including impact, vulnerability, and adaptation information. The approach uses 16 Global Climate Models (GCMs) and three emissions scenarios to calculate monthly change factors based on 30-year average future time slices relative to a 30- year model baseline. Projecting these model mean changes onto observed station data for New York City yields dramatic changes in the frequency of extreme events such as coastal flooding and dangerous heat events. Based on these methods, the current 1-in-10 year coastal flood is projected to occur more than once every 3 years by the end of the century, and heat events are projected to approximately triple in frequency. These frequency changes are of sufficient magnitude to merit consideration in long-term adaptation planning, even though the precise changes in extreme event frequency are highly uncertain

Horton, Radley M.↗

Safety Sufficiency for NextGen: Assessment of Selected Existing Safety Methods, Tools, Processes, and Regulations

NextGen is a complex socio-technical system and, in many ways, it is expected to be more complex than the current system. It is vital to assess the safety impact of the NextGen elements (technologies, systems, and procedures) in a rigorous and systematic way and to ensure that they do not compromise safety. In this study, the NextGen elements in the form of Operational Improvements (OIs), Enablers, Research Activities, Development Activities, and Policy Issues were identified. The overall hazard situation in NextGen was outlined; a high-level hazard analysis was conducted with respect to multiple elements in a representative NextGen OI known as OI-0349 (Automation Support for Separation Management); and the hazards resulting from the highly dynamic complexity involved in an OI-0349 scenario were illustrated. A selected but representative set of the existing safety methods, tools, processes, and regulations was then reviewed and analyzed regarding whether they are sufficient to assess safety in the elements of that OI and ensure that safety will not be compromised and whether they might incur intolerably high costs.

Xu, Xidong↗

Payload Utilization in NASA's Space Launch System

With Space Policy Directive 1, the United States administration has directed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Human Exploration & Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) to return to the Moon with missions and infrastructure designed to support a sustained presence in cislunar space, with robotic and human lunar surface operations. NASA’s new deep space exploration system — the super heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), the Orion crew spacecraft and revamped launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) — will enable NASA and its commercial and international partners to meet this goal for human exploration of deep space. SLS is the most capable launch vehicle for these efforts, as well as for sending robotic missions deep into the solar system, or even to interstellar space. The vehicle will be available in crew and cargo configurations in progressively more powerful block variants. The initial Block 1 lift capability of at least 26 metric tons (t) to trans-lunar injection (TLI) will be followed by a more powerful Block 1B with the power to loft more than 37 t to TLI. The ultimate Block 2 variant will lift more than 45 t to TLI. For payload accommodation, the Block 1 vehicle can utilize a 5 meter (m) fairing in its cargo configuration with the crew version also able to provide berths for 6U and 12U CubeSats as secondary payloads. The Block 1B crew vehicle will provide as much volume as the space shuttle payload bay in a Universal Stage Adapter (USA) for co-manifested payloads (CPLs). Block 1B cargo vehicles will offer 8.4 m-diameter fairings in 19.1 m and possibly longer lengths, with enough volume to accommodate lunar-orbiting habitat modules and other elements of NASA’s Gateway science outpost. For Mars-class payloads, larger fairings for the Block 2 cargo launcher are under consideration. For missions beyond the Earth-Moon system, SLS offers greater characteristic energy (C3) than any other launch vehicle, enabling shorter transit times or heavier payloads with more robust science packages for missions to the outer solar system. Indeed, the unmatched combination of thrust, payload volume and departure energy that SLS provides opens new opportunities for human and robotic exploration of deep space. This paper will provide an overview of the various vehicle block configurations, their capabilities and payload accommodations for sending primary, co-manifested and secondary payloads to deep space

Creech, Stephen D.↗

International Space Station Multilateral Medical Policy Board Transitions in Space Medicine 25 Years in Photos

This collection of photographic highlights covers the past 25 years of international collaboration in human spaceflight. Beginning in 1993, the international community came together to develop the medical systems for an international space station. Initially, this collaboration was bilateral in support of the Shuttle / Mir Space Station (Phase 1). However, the framework that was established to serve as the medical authority structure provided a foundation for the multilateral boards and panel, which were codified in the memoranda of understanding.

Doarn, Charles R.↗

Integrating Earth Observations and Socioeconomic Data to Address Health, Equity, and Environmental Justice

Access to reliable data about the characteristics of populations is a crucial component of decision making, policy development, and the assessment of progress towards strategic goals. Social determinants of health provide insight into the status of social and economic conditions within populations that have profound effects on public health, equity, and vulnerability. International frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) fundamentally focus on equality, but to efficiently address targets and indicators, socioeconomic data and Earth observations must be integrated to help identify populations most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, natural disasters, health disparities, and poor policy planning. The ability to identify vulnerable populations with data analysis has the potential to empower community stakeholders with spatial awareness needed to inform decision-making that addresses equity and environmental justice issues within their communities. The EPA defines environmental justice (EJ) as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.” NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) recognizes the benefits that Earth observations with NASA satellites create by equipping individuals with the knowledge to address community challenges. NASA’s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) supports the integration of socioeconomic and Earth science data as an “informational gateway.” This integration of data is advancing health, equity, and environmental justice initiatives.

Natasha Johnson-Griffin↗

Support for Systematic Code Reviews with the SCRUB Tool

SCRUB is a code review tool that supports both large, team-based software development efforts (e.g., for mission software) as well as individual tasks. The tool was developed at JPL to support a new, streamlined code review process that combines human-generated review reports with program-generated review reports from a customizable range of state-of-the-art source code analyzers. The leading commercial tools include Codesonar, Coverity, and Klocwork, each of which can achieve a reasonably low rate of false-positives in the warnings that they generate. The time required to analyze code with these tools can vary greatly. In each case, however, the tools produce results that would be difficult to realize with human code inspections alone. There is little overlap in the results produced by the different analyzers, and each analyzer used generally increases the effectiveness of the overall effort. The SCRUB tool allows all reports to be accessed through a single, uniform interface (see figure) that facilitates brows ing code and reports. Improvements over existing software include significant simplification, and leveraging of a range of commercial, static source code analyzers in a single, uniform framework. The tool runs as a small stand-alone application, avoiding the security problems related to tools based on Web browsers. A developer or reviewer, for instance, must have already obtained access rights to a code base before that code can be browsed and reviewed with the SCRUB tool. The tool cannot open any files or folders to which the user does not already have access. This means that the tool does not need to enforce or administer any additional security policies. The analysis results presented through the SCRUB tool s user interface are always computed off-line, given that, especially for larger projects, this computation can take longer than appropriate for interactive tool use. The recommended code review process that is supported by the SCRUB tool consists of three phases: Code Review, Developer Response, and Closeout Resolution. In the Code Review phase, all tool-based analysis reports are generated, and specific comments from expert code reviewers are entered into the SCRUB tool. In the second phase, Developer Response, the developer is asked to respond to each comment and tool-report that was produced, either agreeing or disagreeing to provide a fix that addresses the issue that was raised. In the third phase, Closeout Resolution, all disagreements are discussed in a meeting of all parties involved, and a resolution is made for all disagreements. The first two phases generally take one week each, and the third phase is concluded in a single closeout meeting.

Holzmann, Gerald J.↗

Protecting proprietary rights - A potential Shuttle user's view

Maintaining a high degree of industrial security in the multiple-payload Shuttle environment poses a number of problems for NASA. As a part of Battelle-Columbus' support of NASA's User Development Program, this paper presents a potential user's perspective on this situation. The need for security, the nature of the problem, and precedents for NASA security measures are discussed. Eleven policy guidelines representing desirable features from a potential user's viewpoint are presented for NASA consideration.

Day, J. B.↗

Recommendations resulting from the SPDS Community-Wide Workshop

The Data Systems Panel identified three critical functionalities of a Space Physics Data System (SPDS): the delivery of self-documenting data, the existence of a matrix of translators between various standard formats (IDFS, CDF, netCDF, HDF, TENNIS, UCLA flat file, and FITS), and a network-based capability for browsing and examining inventory records for the system's data holdings. The recommendations resulting from the workshop include the philosophy, funding, and objectives of a SPDS. Access to quality data is seen as the most important objective by the Policy Panel, with curation and information about the data being integral parts of any accessible data set. The Data Issues Panel concluded that the SPDS can supply encouragement, guidelines, and ultimately provide a mechanism for financial support for data archiving, restoration, and curation. The Software Panel of the SPDS focused on defining the requirements and priorities for SPDS to support common data analysis and data visualization tools and packages.

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NASA Earth Observations Informing Renewable Energy Management and Policy Decision Making

The NASA Applied Sciences Program partners with domestic and international governmental organizations, universities, and private entities to improve their decisions and assessments. These improvements are enabled by using the knowledge generated from research resulting from spacecraft observations and model predictions conducted by NASA and providing these as inputs to the decision support and scenario assessment tools used by partner organizations. The Program is divided into eight societal benefit areas, aligned in general with the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) themes. The Climate Application of the Applied Sciences Program has as one of its focuses, efforts to provide for improved decisions and assessments in the areas of renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency, and climate change impacts. The goals of the Applied Sciences Program are aligned with national initiatives such as the U.S. Climate Change Science and Technology Programs and with those of international organizations including the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). Activities within the Program are funded principally through proposals submitted in response to annual solicitations and reviewed by peers.

Eckman, Richard S.↗

Role of Remotely Sensed Observations and Computational Systems in Support of Decision-Making in Developing and Fragile States

The topics covered in this slide presentation are: (1) Post-war growth of U.S scientific enterprise, (2) Success of air quality regulations, (3) Complexity and coupled systems, (4) Advances in remote sensing technology, (5) Development planning in the 21stcentury, (5a) The challenge for policy maker and scientist, (5b) Decision-making science, (5c) Role of public-private partnerships.

Khan, Maudood↗

Parallel DSMC Solution of Three-Dimensional Flow Over a Finite Flat Plate

This paper describes a parallel implementation of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. Runtime library support is used for scheduling and execution of communication between nodes, and domain decomposition is performed dynamically to maintain a good load balance. Performance tests are conducted using the code to evaluate various remapping and remapping-interval policies, and it is shown that a one-dimensional chain-partitioning method works best for the problems considered. The parallel code is then used to simulate the Mach 20 nitrogen flow over a finite-thickness flat plate. It is shown that the parallel algorithm produces results which compare well with experimental data. Moreover, it yields significantly faster execution times than the scalar code, as well as very good load-balance characteristics.

Nance, Robert P.↗