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The IVTB concept is to validate spacecraft system designs and evaluate new technologies; its focus is to identify and resolve problems at the early stages of development and facilitate new technology transfer.
Weather prediction and hurricane tracking would greatly benefit of a continuous imaging capability of a hemisphere at millimeter wave frequencies. We are developing a synthetic thinned aperture radiometer (STAR) prototype operating from 50 to 56 GHz as a ground-based testbed to demonstrate the technologies needed to do full earth disk atmospheric temperature soundings from Geostationary orbit with very high spatial resolution. The prototype consists of a Y-array of 24 MMIC receivers that are compact units implemented with low noise InP MMIC LNAs, second harmonic I-Q mixers, low power IF amplifiers and include internal digital bias control with serial line communication to enable low cost testing and system integration. Furthermore, this prototype STAR includes independent LO and noise calibration signal phase switching circuitry for each arm of the Y-array to verify the operation and calibration of the system.
The goal of the UAS Integration in the NAS Project is to contribute capabilities that reduce technical barriers related to the safety and operational challenges associated with enabling routine UAS access to the NAS This goal will be accomplished through a two-phased approach of system-level integration of key concepts, technologies and/or procedures, and demonstrations of integrated capabilities in an operationally relevant environment. Technical objectives include: PHASE 1: a) Validating the key technical areas identified by this project. System-level analyses, a State of the Art Analysis (SOAA), and a ConOps will identify the challenges and barriers preventing routine UAS access to the NAS. b) Developing a national roadmap and gap analysis identifying specific deliverables in the area of operations, procedures, and technologies that will impact future policy decisions. PHASE 2: a) Provide regulators with a methodology for developing airworthiness requirements for UAS and data to support development of certifications standards and regulatory guidance. b) Provide systems-level integrated testing of concepts and/or capabilities that address barriers to routine access to the NAS. Through simulation and flight testing, address issues including separation assurance, communications requirements, and Pilot Aircraft Interfaces (PAIs) in operationally relevant environments
The DDS SDOGS Integration Manager (DSIM) provides translation between native control and status formats for systems within DDS and SDOGS, and the ASIST (Advanced Spacecraft Integration and System Test) control environment in the SDO MOC (Solar Dynamics Observatory Mission Operations Center). This system was created in response for a need to centralize remote monitor and control of SDO Ground Station equipments using ASIST control environment in SDO MOC, and to have configurable table definition for equipment. It provides translation of status and monitoring information from the native systems into ASIST-readable format to display on pages in the MOC. The manager is lightweight, user friendly, and efficient. It allows data trending, correlation, and storing. It allows using ASIST as common interface for remote monitor and control of heterogeneous equipments. It also provides failover capability to back up machines.
System Design, Development, and Fabrication: Design, develop, and fabricate or procure MB-60 component hardware compliant with the imposed technical requirements and in sufficient quantities to fulfill the overall MB-60 development effort. System Development, Assembly, and Test: Manage the scope of the development, assembly, and test-related activities for MB-60 development. This scope includes engine-level development planning, engine assembly and disassembly, test planning, engine testing, inspection, anomaly resolution, and development of necessary ground support equipment and special test equipment. System Integration: Provide coordinated integration in the realms of engineering, safety, quality, and manufacturing disciplines across the scope of the MB-60 design and associated products development Safety and Mission Assurance, structural design, fracture control, materials and processes, thermal analysis. Systems Engineering and Analysis: Manage and perform Systems Engineering and Analysis to provide rigor and structure to the overall design and development effort for the MB-60. Milestone reviews, requirements management, system analysis, program management support Program Management: Manage, plan, and coordinate the activities across all portions of the MB-60 work scope by providing direction for program administration, business management, and supplier management.
The NASA Fundamental Aeronautics Program Subsonic Fixed Wing Project and Integrated Systems Research Program Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project in the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate are conducting research on advanced aircraft technology to address the environmental goals of reducing fuel burn, noise and NOx emissions for aircraft in 2020 and beyond. Both Projects, in collaborative partnerships with U.S. Industry, Academia, and other Government Agencies, have made significant progress toward reaching the N+2 (2020) and N+3 (beyond 2025) installed fuel burn goals by fundamental aircraft engine technology development, subscale component experimental investigations, full scale integrated systems validation testing, and development validation of state of the art computation design and analysis codes. Specific areas of propulsion technology research are discussed and progress to date.
The need to fly UAS in the NAS to perform missions of vital importance to national security and defense, emergency management, science, and to enable commercial applications has been continually increasing over the past few years. To address this need, the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) Integrated Aviation Systems Program (IASP) formulated and funded the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project (hereafter referred to as UAS‐NAS Project) from 2011 to 2016. The UAS‐NAS Project identified the following need statement: The UAS community needs routine access to the global airspace for all classes of UAS. The Project identified the following goal: To provide research findings to reduce technical barriers associated with integrating UAS into the NAS utilizing integrated system level tests in a relevant environment. This report provides a summary of the collaborations between the UAS-NAS Project and its primary stakeholders and how the Project applied and incorporated the feedback.
My main project was to determine and implement updates to be made to MODEAR (Mission Operations Data Enterprise Architecture Repository) process definitions to be used for CST-100 (Crew Space Transportation-100) related missions. Emphasis was placed on the scheduling aspect of the processes. In addition, I was to complete other tasks as given. Some of the additional tasks were: to create pass-through command look-up tables for the flight controllers, finish one of the MDT (Mission Operations Directorate Display Tool) displays, gather data on what is included in the CST-100 public data, develop a VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) script to create a csv (Comma-Separated Values) file with specific information from spreadsheets containing command data, create a command script for the November MCC-ASIL (Mission Control Center-Avionics System Integration Laboratory) testing, and take notes for one of the TCVB (Terminal Configured Vehicle B-737) meetings. In order to make progress in my main project I scheduled meetings with the appropriate subject matter experts, prepared material for the meetings, and assisted in the discussions in order to understand the process or processes at hand. After such discussions I made updates to various MODEAR processes and process graphics. These meetings have resulted in significant updates to the processes that were discussed. In addition, the discussions have helped the departments responsible for these processes better understand the work ahead and provided material to help document how their products are created. I completed my other tasks utilizing resources available to me and, when necessary, consulting with the subject matter experts. Outputs resulting from my other tasks were: two completed and one partially completed pass through command look-up tables for the fight controllers, significant updates to one of the MDT displays, a spreadsheet containing data on what is included in the CST-100 public data, a tool to create a csv file with specific information from spreadsheets containing command data, a command script for the November MCC-ASIL testing which resulted in a successful test day identifying several potential issues, and notes from one of the TCVB meetings that was used to keep the teams up to date on what was discussed and decided. I have learned a great deal working at NASA these last four months. I was able to meet and work with amazing individuals, further develop my technical knowledge, expand my knowledge base regarding human spaceflight, and contribute to the CST-100 missions. My work at NASA has strengthened my desire to continue my education in order to make further contributions to the field, and has given me the opportunity to see the advantages of a career at NASA.
The NASA Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Life Support Systems (LSS) project strives to develop reliable, energy-efficient, and low-mass spacecraft systems to provide envi-ronmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) critical to enabling long duration human missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). Highly reliable, closed-loop life support systems are among the capabilities required for the longer duration human space exploration missions planned in the mid-2020s and beyond. The LSS Project is focused on three life support areas: air revitalization, wastewater processing/water management and environmental monitoring. Building upon the International Space Station (ISS) LSS systems (where applicable), the three-fold mission of the LSS Project is to address discrete LSS technology gaps, to improve the reliability of LSS systems, and to advance LSS systems toward integrated testing aboard the ISS. This paper is a follow on to the AES LSS development status reported in 2017 and provides additional details on the progress made since that publication with specific attention to the status of the Aerosol Sampler ISS Flight Experiment, the Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor (SAM) Flight Experiment, the Brine Processor Assembly (BPA) Flight Experiment as well as the progress of the terrestrial development in air, water and environmental monitoring technologies.
The Goal of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Mi SMEX), is to expand understanding of high-energy astrophysical processes and sources, in support of NASA’s first science objective in Astrophysics: “Discover how the universe works.” IXPE, an international collaboration, will conduct X-ray imaging polarimetry for multiple categories of cosmic X-ray sources such as neutron stars, stellar-mass black holes, supernova remnants and active galactic nuclei. The Observatory uses a single science operational mode capturing the X-ray data from the targets. The IXPE Observatory consists of spacecraft and payload modules built up in parallel to form the Observatory during system integration and test. The payload includes three X-ray telescopes each consisting of a polarization-sensitive, gas pixel X-ray detector, paired with its corresponding grazing incidence mirror module assembly (MMA). A deployable boom provides the correct separation (focal length) between the detector units (DU) and MMAs. These payload elements are supported by the IXPE spacecraft which is derived from the BCP-small spacecraft architecture. This paper summarizes the IXPE mission science objectives, updates the Observatory implementation concept including the payload and spacecraft ts and summarizes the mission status since last year’s conference.
Requirements and design specifications are a high priority candidate for better software engineering techniques. Most hazardous software safety errors found during system integration and test of two NASA spacecraft were the result of requirements discrepancies or interface specifications. The highest density of major defects found through the use of software inspections was during the requirements phase. This was seven times higher than the density of major defects found in code inspections. Requirements errors are between 10 and 100 times more costly to fix at later phases of the software lifecycle than at the requirements phase itself. One study found that early lifecycle errors are the most likely to lead to catastrophic failures.
The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) Mobile Terminal (AMT) is a proof-of-concept K/Ka-band mobile satellite communications terminal under development by NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Currently, the AMT is undergoing system integration and test in preparation for a July 1993 ACTS launch and the subsequent commencement of mobile experiments in the fall of 1993. The AMT objectives are presented, followed by a discussion of the AMT communications channel, and mobile terminal design and performance.
2021 MIT Annual Report: Employing expertise in electrical, mechanical, structural, thermal, aerodynamics, optical, controls, and software engineering to build, integrate, and test systems for application in the development of advanced technology prototypes.
Laboratory test set for integration of data compression and error correction encoding of digital communications system
This document presents the flight test requirements for the Initial Synthetic Vision Systems Integrated Technology Evaluation flight Test to be flown aboard NASA Langley's ARIES aircraft and the final hardware architecture implemented to meet these requirements. Part I of this document contains the hardware, software, simulator, and flight operations requirements for this light test as they were defined in August 2002. The contents of this section are the actual requirements document that was signed for this flight test. Part II of this document contains information pertaining to the hardware architecture that was realized to meet these requirements as presented to and approved by a Critical Design Review Panel prior to installation on the B-757 Airborne Research Integrated Experiments Systems (ARIES) airplane. This information includes a description of the equipment, block diagrams of the architecture, layouts of the workstations, and pictures of the actual installations.
During the first two weeks of September 2005, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) Advanced Extravehicular Activity (AEVA) team led the field test portion of the 2005 Research and Technology Studies (RATS). The Desert RATS field test activity is the culmination of the various individual science and advanced engineering discipline areas year-long technology and operations development efforts into a coordinated field test demonstration under representative (analog) planetary surface terrain conditions. The purpose of the RATS is to drive out preliminary exploration concept of operations EVA system requirements by providing hands-on experience with simulated planetary surface exploration extravehicular activity (EVA) hardware and procedures. The RATS activities also are of significant importance in helping to develop the necessary levels of technical skills and experience for the next generation of engineers, scientists, technicians, and astronauts who will be responsible for realizing the goals of the Constellation Program. The 2005 Desert RATS was the eighth RATS field test and was the most systems-oriented, integrated field test to date with participants from NASA field centers, the United States Geologic Survey (USGS), industry partners, and research institutes. Each week of the test, the 2005 RATS addressed specific sets of objectives. The first week focused on the performance of surface science astro-biological sampling operations, including planetary protection considerations and procedures. The second week supported evaluation of the Science, Crew, Operations, and Utility Testbed (SCOUT) proto-type rover and its sub-systems. Throughout the duration of the field test, the Communications, Avionics, and Infomatics pack (CAI-pack) was tested. This year the CAI-pack served to provide information on surface navigation, science sample collection procedures, and EVA timeline awareness. Additionally, 2005 was the first year since the Apollo program that two pressurized suited test subjects have worked together simultaneously. Another first was the demonstration of recharge of cryogenic life support systems while in-use by the suited test subjects. The recharge capability allowed the simulated EVA test duration to be doubled, facilitating SCOUT proto-type rover testing. This paper summarizes Desert RATS 2005 test hardware, detailed test objectives, test operations and test results.
The objectives of the flight test and a description on how those objectives are in support of an overall program goal of attaining user application were described. The approach to accomplishment was presented as it applies to integrating the propulsion system with the host spacecraft. A number of known interface design considerations which affect the propulsion system and the spacecraft were discussed. Analogies were drawn comparing the relationship of the organizations involved with this flight test with those anticipated for future operational missions. The paper also expanded upon objectives, system description, mission operations, and measurement of plume effects.