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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 379 records · Page 21
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Space station microscopy: Beyond the box

Microscopy aboard Space Station Freedom poses many unique challenges for in-flight investigations. Disciplines such as material processing, plant and animal research, human reseach, enviromental monitoring, health care, and biological processing have diverse microscope requirements. The typical microscope not only does not meet the comprehensive needs of these varied users, but also tends to require excessive crew time. To assess user requirements, a comprehensive survey was conducted among investigators with experiments requiring microscopy. The survey examined requirements such as light sources, objectives, stages, focusing systems, eye pieces, video accessories, etc. The results of this survey and the application of an Intelligent Microscope Imaging System (IMIS) may address these demands for efficient microscopy service in space. The proposed IMIS can accommodate multiple users with varied requirements, operate in several modes, reduce crew time needed for experiments, and take maximum advantage of the restrictive data/ instruction transmission environment on Freedom.

Hunter, N. R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A shared-world conceptual model for integrating space station life sciences telescience operations

Mental models of the Space Station and its ancillary facilities will be employed by users of the Space Station as they draw upon past experiences, perform tasks, and collectively plan for future activities. The operational environment of the Space Station will incorporate telescience, a new set of operational modes. To investigate properties of the operational environment, distributed users, and the mental models they employ to manipulate resources while conducting telescience, an integrating shared-world conceptual model of Space Station telescience is proposed. The model comprises distributed users and resources (active elements); agents who mediate interactions among these elements on the basis of intelligent processing of shared information; and telescience protocols which structure the interactions of agents as they engage in cooperative, responsive interactions on behalf of users and resources distributed in space and time. Examples from the life sciences are used to instantiate and refine the model's principles. Implications for transaction management and autonomy are discussed. Experiments employing the model are described which the authors intend to conduct using the Space Station Life Sciences Telescience Testbed currently under development at Ames Research Center.

Johnson, Vicki↗
NASA NTRS1986

ADAMS: AIRLAB data management system user's guide

The AIRLAB Data Management System (ADAMS) is an online environment that supports research at NASA's AIRLAB. ADAMS provides an easy to use interactive interface that eases the task of documenting and managing information about experiments and improves communication among project members. Data managed by ADAMS includes information about experiments, data sets produced, software and hardware available in AIRLAB as well as that used in a particular experiment, and an on-line engineer's notebook. The User's Guide provides an overview of the ADAMS system as well as details of the operations available within ADAMS. A tutorial section takes the user step-by-step through a typical ADAMS session. ADAMS runs under the VAX/VMS operating system and uses the ORACLE database management system and DEC/FMS (the Forms Management System). ADAMS can be run from any VAX connected via DECnet to the ORACLE host VAX. The ADAMS system is designed for simplicity, so interactions within the underlying data management system and communications network are hidden from the user.

Conrad, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Utilization of Space Station Freedom for technology research

Space Station Freedom presents a unique opportunity for technology developers to conduct research in the space environment. Research can be conducted in the pressurized volume of the Space Station's laboratories or attached to the Space Station truss in the vacuum of space. Technology developers, represented by the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST), will have 12 percent of the available Space Station resources (volume, power, data, crew, etc.) to use for their research. Most technologies can benefit from research on Space Station Freedom and all these technologies are represented in the OAST proposed traffic model. This traffic model consists of experiments that have been proposed by technology developers but not necessarily selected for flight. Experiments to be flown in space will be selected through an Announcement of Opportunity (A.O.) process. The A.O. is expected to be released in August, 1992. Experiments will generally fall into one of the 3 following categories: (1) Individual technology experiments; (2) Instrumented Space Station; and (3) Guest investigator program. The individual technology experiments are those that do not instrument the Space Station nor directly relate to the development of technologies for evolution of Space Station or development of advanced space platforms. The Instrumented Space Station category is similar to the Orbiter Experiments Program and allows the technology developer to instrument subsystems on the Station or develop instrumentation packages that measure products or processes of the Space Station for the advancement of space platform technologies. The guest investigator program allows the user to request data from Space Station or other experiments for independent research. When developing an experiment, a developer should consider all the resources and infrastructure that Space Station Freedom can provide and take advantage of these to the maximum extent possible. Things like environment, accommodations, carriers, and integration should all be taken into account. In developing experiments at Langley Research Center, an iterative approach is proving useful. This approach uses Space Station utilization and subsystem experts to advise and critique experiment designs to take advantage of everything the Space Station has to offer. Also, solid object modeling and animation computer tools are used to fully visualize the experiment and its processes. This process is very useful for attached payloads and allows problems to be detected early in the experiment design phase.

Avery, Don E.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Evaluation of Usability and Workload with Paper Strips as Compared to Virtual Flight Strips Used for Ramp Operations

This paper describes an experiment designed to compare the use of paper strips with the use of a new user interface, the Ramp Traffic Console (RTC), designed for use by ramp controllers to be used in place of paper strips. A Human-In-the-Loop (HITL) experiment was performed as the fifth study in a series of six HITL simulation experiments designed to evaluate a concept that provided advisories to the users. The RTC was designed to be used as a Decision Support Tool (DST) that provided advisories to ramp controllers regarding metering or pushback such that most of the delay was taken at the gate to save fuel and emissions. In addition to being a DST, an added benefit of the RTC is that it can provide real-time updates of flight data, airport and airspace status to the controller including Traffic Management Initiatives (TMI). The RTC was designed as new user interface that displays virtual strips on a terminal map drawn on a 27-inch touch screen monitor. The RTC was used in some conditions of the experiment by ramp controllers in place of paper strips and paper maps in the HITL environment. In other conditions the controllers were given paper strips and paper maps similar to what they currently use at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). The study described here, evaluated the use of the virtual strips displayed on the RTC as compared to the use of paper strips and paper map, using current ramp tower controllers at CLT as participants. The research question being asked was - How does management of ramp traffic affect user workload and usability ratings while using RTC to manage traffic in the ramp verses using paper strips? Workload for our purposes is defined by four components of the NASA-TLX (Task Load Index). Usability was assessed with two sets of usability questions - One set of usability questions addressed traffic management performance and the other set addressed issues of resources and efficiency. Both Post Run and Post Study questionnaire responses were gathered and the results were analyzed to assess controller workload and usability ratings under both conditions, virtual strips shown on RTC and Paper Strips. The results indicate that controllers perceived lower workload while using virtual strips displayed on RTC to manage ramp traffic. Usability ratings for Traffic management performance questions are lower in the virtual strip/RTC condition than in the paper strip condition showing a preference for RTC over Paper. Usability ratings for Resources and efficiency questions show mixed results. Additionally, the Post Study Questions show preference for RTC over paper strips. Results of this data analysis will be presented in this paper. This DST evaluation was an important step in researching and improving the tool, which was planned to be deployed in the field.

Aviation Decision Support Tools↗
NASA NTRS2004

Wave Propagation in 2-D Granular Matrix and Dust Mitigation of Fabrics for Space Exploration Mission

Wave Propagation study is essential to exploring the soil on Mars or Moon and Dust Mitigation is a necessity in terms of crew's health in exploration missions. The study of Dust Mitigation has a significant impact on the crew s health when astronauts track dust back into their living space after exploration trips. We are trying to use piezoelectric fiber to create waves and vibrations at certain critical frequencies and amplitudes so that we can shake the particles off from the astronaut s fabrics. By shaking off the dust and removing it, the astronauts no longer have to worry about breathing in small and possibly hazardous materials, when they are back in their living quarters. The Wave Propagation in 2-D Granular Matrix studies how the individual particles interact with each other when a pressure wave travels through the matrix. This experiment allows us to understand how wave propagates through soils and other materials. By knowing the details about the interactions of particles when they act as a medium for waves, we can better understand how wave propagates through soils and other materials. With this experiment, we can study how less gravity effects the wave propagation and hence device a way to study soils in space and on Moon or Mars. Some scientists treat the medium that waves travel through as a "black box", they did not pay much attention to how individual particles act as wave travels through them. With this data, I believe that we can use it to model ways to measure the properties of different materials such as density and composition. In order to study how the particles interact with each other, I have continued Juan Agui's experiment of the effects of impacts on a 2-D matrix. By controlling the inputs and measuring the outputs of the system, I will be able to study now the particles in that system interact with each other. I will also try to model this with the software called PFC2D in order to obtain theoretical data to compare with the experiment. PFC2D is a program that allows the user to control the number of particle's characteristic, and the environment of the particle. With this I can run simulations that mimic the impulse test. This software uses a language called FISH, probably created by the creator of the software. This means that in order to model anything, one must use the command terminal instead of GUI's. I will also use this program to simulate the Moon/Mars simulate adhering to the fabric for the Dust Mitigation project. My goals for this summer are just to complete preliminary studies of the feasibility of the Shaking Fabric, learn the PFC-2D program, and to complete building and testing the wave propagation experiment.

Thanh, Phi Hung X.↗
NASA NTRS1994

RoboLab and virtual environments

A useful adjunct to the manned space station would be a self-contained free-flying laboratory (RoboLab). This laboratory would have a robot operated under telepresence from the space station or ground. Long duration experiments aboard RoboLab could be performed by astronauts or scientists using telepresence to operate equipment and perform experiments. Operating the lab by telepresence would eliminate the need for life support such as food, water and air. The robot would be capable of motion in three dimensions, have binocular vision TV cameras, and two arms with manipulators to simulate hands. The robot would move along a two-dimensional grid and have a rotating, telescoping periscope section for extension in the third dimension. The remote operator would wear a virtual reality type headset to allow the superposition of computer displays over the real-time video of the lab. The operators would wear exoskeleton type arms to facilitate the movement of objects and equipment operation. The combination of video displays, motion, and the exoskeleton arms would provide a high degree of telepresence, especially for novice users such as scientists doing short-term experiments. The RoboLab could be resupplied and samples removed on other space shuttle flights. A self-contained RoboLab module would be designed to fit within the cargo bay of the space shuttle. Different modules could be designed for specific applications, i.e., crystal-growing, medicine, life sciences, chemistry, etc. This paper describes a RoboLab simulation using virtual reality (VR). VR provides an ideal simulation of telepresence before the actual robot and laboratory modules are constructed. The easy simulation of different telepresence designs will produce a highly optimum design before construction rather than the more expensive and time consuming hardware changes afterwards.

Giarratano, Joseph C.↗
NASA NTRS1976

User's guide to the data obtained by the Skylab/ATM NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center/The Aerospace Corporation S-056 X-ray experiment

The S-056 observations consist of 27,000 photographs (filterheliograms) obtained by the X-ray telescope and 1,100 h of proportional counter data obtained by the X-ray event analyzer in the soft X-ray region of the solar spectrum. A description of the S-056 data together with additional relevant information that may be needed by users of the data is given.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1977

Feasibility and systems definition study for Microwave Multi-Application Payload (MMAP)

Work completed on three Shuttle/Spacelab experiments is examined: the Adaptive Multibeam Phased Array Antenna (AMPA) Experiment, Electromagnetic Environment Experiment (EEE) and Millimeter Wave Communications Experiment (MWCE). Results included the definition of operating modes, sequence of operation, radii of operation about several ground stations, signal format, foot prints of typical orbits and preliminary definition of ground and user terminals. Conceptual hardware designs, Spacelab interfaces, data handling methods, experiment testing and verification studies were included. The MWCE-MOD I was defined conceptually for a steerable high gain antenna.

Horton, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS2001

ScienceOrganizer System and Interface Summary

ScienceOrganizer is a specialized knowledge management tool designed to enhance the information storage, organization, and access capabilities of distributed NASA science teams. Users access ScienceOrganizer through an intuitive Web-based interface that enables them to upload, download, and organize project information - including data, documents, images, and scientific records associated with laboratory and field experiments. Information in ScienceOrganizer is "threaded", or interlinked, to enable users to locate, track, and organize interrelated pieces of scientific data. Linkages capture important semantic relationships among information resources in the repository, and these assist users in navigating through the information related to their projects.

Keller, Richard M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Thermal enclosure system functional simulation user's manual

A form and function simulation of the thermal enclosure system (TES) for a microgravity protein crystal growth experiment has been developed as part of an investigation of the benefits and limitations of intravehicular telerobotics to aid in microgravity science and production. A user can specify the time, temperature, and sample rate profile for a given experiment, and menu options and status are presented on an LCD display. This report describes the features and operational procedures for the functional simulation.

Morris, A. Terry↗
NASA NTRS1972

The Nimbus 5 user's guide

Background information on the Nimbus 5 spacecraft and experiments is presented as a basis for selecting, obtaining, and utilizing the data in research studies. The basic spacecraft system operation and the objectives of the Nimbus 5 flight are outlined, followed by a detailed discussion of each of the experiments. The format, archiving, and access to the data, and the contents and format of the Nimbus 5 Data Catalogs are described.

Sabatini, R. R.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Active Microwave Users Workshop Report

The following topics were addressed: (1) Seasat land experiments; (2) program planning; (3) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data processing and (4) applications.

Matthews, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

DEB: A Diagnostic Experience Browser using similarity networks

Diagnostic Experience Browser (DEB): a fusion of knowledge base and data base that allows users to examine only the data which is most useful to them is described. The system combines a data base of historical cases of diagnostic trouble-shooting experience with similarity networks. A menu-driven natural language interface receives input about the user's current problem. Similarity networks provide the user with references to past cases that are most similar or most related to those they now face. The user can then choose the case that is most pertinent and browse its full textual description which, in turn, may include references to other related cases.

Casadaban, Cyprian E.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Developing experiment instrument packages

Ground-Support Equipment (GSE) system supports development, calibration, and testing of experiment packages. It is also used for "quick look" processing and in-progress data analysis. User interacts with incoming telemetry data, performs computations, and controls execution of procedures using versatile Experiment Command Interactive Language (ECIL). Program is implemented many ways with minimal modification. It is written in MARCO II and FORTRAN for DEC PDP-11/34 using the RSX-11M operating system.

Herreid, R.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Bi-Component Droplet Combustion Experiment Designed

The combustion of liquid fuels is a major source of energy in the world today, and the majority of these fuels are burned in the form of a spray. The research at the NASA Glenn Research Center in droplet combustion has the overall goal of providing a better understanding of spray combustion by studying the smallest element in a spray, the single droplet. The Bi-Component Droplet Combustion Experiment (BCDCE) extends the work at Glenn from pure, or single-component, fuels to an idealized liquid fuel composed of two completely miscible components. The project is a collaborative effort between Glenn and Prof. B.D. Shaw of the University of California, Davis. The BCDCE project is planned to fly onboard the International Space Station in the Multi-User Droplet Combustion Apparatus. The unique feature of this experiment is that it will be the first droplet combustion experiment to perform a detailed characterization of the flow inside a liquid fuel droplet. The experiment will use a relatively new technique called Digital Particle Imaging Velocimetry (DPIV) to characterize the liquid flow. In this technique, very small (approx. 5-mm diameter) particles are dispersed throughout a liquid droplet. These particles are illuminated by a thin laser sheet. Images of the particle motion are recorded on a computer, which then tracks the motion of the particles to determine the flow characteristics.

Dietrich, Daniel L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Microbial Factories for Solar System Exploration

As humans venture deeper into space for longer duration missions, resupply missions become far more difficult and costly. To address this, alternative methods of in situ biomanufacturing can be developed to provide a reliable source of required nutrients. BioNutrients is an ongoing project including three separate flight experiments that aims to provide on-demand nutrient production through 5-year shelf stable microbial factories for astronauts on long-duration missions. The BioNutrients-3 (BN-3) flight experiment aims to demonstrate on-orbit food safety, user-friendly production pack design, and multi-compound production capability. This current study seeks to support the multiple compound production element of BN-3 by investigating the production of multiple compounds via multiple pathways in one organism. An experiment has been designed to modify an existing strain of Saccharomyces boulardii designed by the BioNutrients team to efficiently produce β-carotene to also efficiently produce a second nutrient, riboflavin. This experiment entails the random shuffling and recombination of gene elements including promoters and terminators of various strengths to identify optimal combinations for the upregulation of the riboflavin production pathway. Implementation of this experiment would provide insight into the efficiency of the multiple pathways production method and pave the way for additional fine tuning of the riboflavin production pathway and additional nutrient production pathways in S. boulardii.

Biomanufacturing↗
NASA NTRS1973

The space shuttle payload planning working groups. Volume 6: Communications and navigation

The findings of the Communications and Navigation working group of the space shuttle payload planning activity are presented. The basic goals to be accomplished are to increase the use of space systems and to develop new space capabilities for providing communication and navigation services to the user community in the 1980 time period. Specific experiments to be conducted for improving space communication and navigation capabilities are defined. The characteristics of the experimental equipment required to accomplish the mission are discussed.

Source record↗