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The presentation captures the background on the addition of the European Service Module International partner to the Orion Program and lessons learned on managing a multi-Agency international effort.
During the past academic year the focal point of this project has been to enhance the economical flight simulator system by incorporating it into the aero engineering educational environment. To accomplish this goal it was necessary to develop appropriate software modules that provide a foundation for student interaction with the system. In addition experiments had to be developed and tested to determine if they were appropriate for incorporation into the beginning flight simulation course, AERO-41B. For the most part these goals were accomplished. Experiments were developed and evaluated by graduate students. More work needs to be done in this area. The complexity and length of the experiments must be refined to match the programming experience of the target students. It was determined that few undergraduate students are ready to absorb the full extent and complexity of a real-time flight simulation. For this reason the experiments developed are designed to introduce basic computer architectures suitable for simulation, the programming environment and languages, the concept of math modules, evaluation of acquired data, and an introduction to the meaning of real-time. An overview is included of the system environment as it pertains to the students, an example of a flight simulation experiment performed by the students, and a summary of the executive programming modules created by the students to achieve a user-friendly multi-processor system suitable to an aero engineering educational program.
The MISR instrument consists of nine pushbroom cameras which measure radiance in four spectral bands. Global coverage is achieved in nine days. The cameras are arranged with one camera pointing toward the nadir, four cameras pointing forward and four cameras pointing aftward. It takes 7 minutes for all nine cameras to view the same surface location. The view angles relative to the surface reference ellipsoid, are 0, 26.1, 45.6, 60.0, and 70.5 degrees. The spectral band shapes are nominally gaussian, centered at 443, 555, 670, and 865 nm. The Terrain data are re-projected to the terrain altitude. In this product, surface data from all cameras will appear in the same geographic location. Thus, this product is the primary input to Level 2 aerosol/surface processing, which requires co-registration of the L1B2 imagery at the surface. Clouds will still be displaced due to their elevation above the surface, but this time with respect to the terrain rather than the ellipsoid. (The mountain location T is now assigned the geographic location at T, and the Cloud at F appears at the geographic location T.) In Level 2 aerosol/surface processing, algorithms are applied to screen out the clouds. Terrain data only exist for MISR blocks containing some land. [Location=GLOBAL LAND] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=2000-02-24; Stop_Date=] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=563.2 km (cross-track); Longitude_Resolution=140.8 km (along-track).; Temporal_Resolution=about 15 orbits/day; Temporal_Resolution_Range=about 15 orbits/day].
Current National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) occupant protection standards and requirements are based on extrapolations of biodynamic models, which were based on human tests performed under pre-Space Shuttle human flight programs where the occupants were in different suit and seat configurations than is expected for the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and Commercial Crew programs. As a result, there is limited statistical validity to the occupant protection standards. Furthermore, the current standards and requirements have not been validated in relevant spaceflight suit, seat configurations or loading conditions. The objectives of this study were to develop new standards and requirements for occupant protection and rigorously validate these new standards with sub-injurious human testing. To accomplish these objectives we began by determining which critical injuries NASA would like to protect for. We then defined the anthropomorphic test device (ATD) and the associated injury metrics of interest. Finally, we conducted a literature review of available data for the Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint New Technology (THOR-NT) ATD to determine injury assessment reference values (IARV) to serve as a baseline for further development. To better understand NASA s environment, we propose conducting sub-injurious human testing in spaceflight seat and suit configurations with spaceflight dynamic loads, with a sufficiently high number of subjects to validate no injury during nominal landing loads. In addition to validate nominal loads, the THOR-NT ATD will be tested in the same conditions as the human volunteers, allowing correlation between human and ATD responses covering the Orion nominal landing environment and commercial vehicle expected nominal environments. All testing will be conducted without the suit and with the suit to ascertain the contribution of the suit to human and ATD responses. In addition to the testing campaign proposed, additional data analysis is proposed to mine existing human injury and response data from other sources, including military volunteer testing, automotive Crash Injury Research Engineering Network (CIREN), and IndyCar impact and injury data. These data sources can allow a better extrapolation of the ATD responses to off-nominal conditions above the nominal range that can safely be tested. These elements will be used to develop injury risk functions for each of the injury metrics measured from the ATD. These risk functions would serve as the basis for the NASA standards. Finally, we propose defining standard test methodology for evaluating future spacecraft designs against the IARVs, including developing a star-rating system to allow crew safety comparisons between vehicles.
The objective of the Multi-Path Redundant Avionics Suite (MPRAS) program is the development of a set of avionic architectural modules which will be applicable to the family of launch vehicles required to support the Advanced Launch System (ALS). To enable ALS cost/performance requirements to be met, the MPRAS must support autonomy, maintenance, and testability capabilities which exceed those present in conventional launch vehicles. The multi-path redundant or fault tolerance characteristics of the MPRAS are necessary to offset a reduction in avionics reliability due to the increased complexity needed to support these new cost reduction and performance capabilities and to meet avionics reliability requirements which will provide cost-effective reductions in overall ALS recurring costs. A complex, real-time distributed computing system is needed to meet the ALS avionics system requirements. General Dynamics, Boeing Aerospace, and C.S. Draper Laboratory have proposed system architectures as candidates for the ALS MPRAS. The purpose of this document is to report the results of independent performance and reliability characterization and assessment analyses of each proposed candidate architecture and qualitative assessments of testability, maintainability, and fault tolerance mechanisms. These independent analyses were conducted as part of the MPRAS Part 2 program and were carried under NASA Langley Research Contract NAS1-17964, Task Assignment 28.
This document describes the FY2010 plan for the management and execution of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Concepts and Technology Development (CTD) Project. The document was developed in response to guidance from the Airspace Systems Program (ASP), as approved by the Associate Administrator of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), and from guidelines in the Airspace Systems Program Plan. Congress established the multi-agency Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) in 2003 to develop a vision for the 2025 Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and to define the research required to enable it. NASA is one of seven agency partners contributing to the effort. Accordingly, NASA's ARMD realigned the Airspace Systems Program in 2007 to "directly address the fundamental research needs of the Next Generation Air Transportation System...in partnership with the member agencies of the JPDO." The Program subsequently established two new projects to meet this objective: the NextGen-Airspace Project and the NextGen-Airportal Project. Together, the projects will also focus NASA s technical expertise and world-class facilities to address the question of where, when, how and the extent to which automation can be applied to moving aircraft safely and efficiently through the NAS and technologies that address optimal allocation of ground and air technologies necessary for NextGen. Additionally, the roles and responsibilities of humans and automation influence in the NAS will be addressed by both projects. Foundational concept and technology research and development begun under the NextGen-Airspace and NextGen-Airportal projects will continue. There will be no change in NASA Research Announcement (NRA) strategy, nor will there be any change to NASA interfaces with the JPDO, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Research Transition Teams (RTTs), or other stakeholders
This report details the development of a reliability based multi-objective design tool for solving structural optimization problems. Based on two different optimization techniques, namely sequential unconstrained minimization and nonlinear goal programming, the developed design method has the capability to take into account the effects of variability on the proposed design through a user specified reliability design criterion. In its sequential unconstrained minimization mode, the developed design tool uses a composite objective function, in conjunction with weight ordered design objectives, in order to take into account conflicting and multiple design criteria. Multiple design criteria of interest including structural weight, load induced stress and deflection, and mechanical reliability. The nonlinear goal programming mode, on the other hand, provides for a design method that eliminates the difficulty of having to define an objective function and constraints, while at the same time has the capability of handling rank ordered design objectives or goals. For simulation purposes the design of a pressure vessel cover plate was undertaken as a test bed for the newly developed design tool. The formulation of this structural optimization problem into sequential unconstrained minimization and goal programming form is presented. The resulting optimization problem was solved using: (i) the linear extended interior penalty function method algorithm; and (ii) Powell's conjugate directions method. Both single and multi-objective numerical test cases are included demonstrating the design tool's capabilities as it applies to this design problem.
The International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program is an internationally coordinated multi-spacecraft mission that will study the production of the supersonic magnetized solar wind, its interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere, and the resulting transport of plasma, momentum and energy through the magnetosphere and into the ionosphere and upper atmosphere. The mission will involve l4spacecraft to be launched between 1992 and 1996, along with complementary ground-based observations and theoretical programs. A list of the spacecraft, their nominal orbits, and responsible agencies is shown.
Our LTSA (Long Term Space Astrophysics) research has utilized current NASA and ESA spacecraft, supporting ground-based IR, radio, and sub-mm telescopes, and the extensive archives of HST (Hubble Space Telescope), IUE (International Ultraviolet Explorer), ROSAT, EUVE (Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer), and other missions. Our research effort has included observational work (with a nonnegligible groundbased component), specialized processing techniques for imaging and spectral data, and semiempirical modelling, ranging from optically thin emission measure studies to simulations of optically thick resonance lines. In our previous LTSA efforts, we have had a number of major successes, including most recently: organizing and carrying out an extensive cool star UV survey in HST cycle eight; obtaining observing time with new instruments, such as Chandra and XMM (X-ray Multi-Mirror) in their first cycles; collaborating with the Chandra GTO program and participating with the Chandra Emission Line Project on multi-wavelength observations of HR 1099 and Capella. These are the main broad-brush themes of our previous investigation: a) Where do Coronae Occur in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram? b) Winds of Coronal and Noncoronal Stars; c) Activity, Age, Rotation Relations; d) Atmospheric Inhomogeneities; e) Heating Mechanisms, Subcoronal Flows, and Flares; f) Development of Analysis and Modelling Tools.
This is Volume 2, Programs and Projects 1958-1968, of a multi-volume series providing a 20-year compilation of summary statistical and other data descriptive of NASA's programs in aeronautics and manned and unmanned spaceflight. This series is an important component of NASA published historical reference works, used by NASA personnel, managers, external researchers, and other government agencies.
This is Volume 3, Programs and Projects 1969-1978, of a multi-volume series providing a 20-year compilation of summary statistical and other data descriptive of NASA's programs in aeronautics and manned and unmanned spaceflight. This series is an important component of NASA published historical reference works, used by NASA personnel, managers, external researchers, and other government agencies.
NASA has always been in the business of balancing new technologies and techniques to achieve human space travel objectives. NASA s historic Software Production Facility (SPF) was developed to serve complex avionics software solutions during an era dominated by mainframes, tape drives, and lower level programming languages. These systems have proven themselves resilient enough to serve the Shuttle Orbiter Avionics life cycle for decades. The SPF and its predecessor the Software Development Lab (SDL) at NASA s Johnson Space Center (JSC) hosted flight software (FSW) engineering, development, simulation, and test. It was active from the beginning of Shuttle Orbiter development in 1972 through the end of the shuttle program in the summer of 2011 almost 40 years. NASA s Kedalion engineering analysis lab is on the forefront of validating and using many contemporary avionics HW/SW development and integration techniques, which represent new paradigms to NASA s heritage culture in avionics software engineering. Kedalion has validated many of the Orion project s HW/SW engineering techniques borrowed from the adjacent commercial aircraft avionics environment, inserting new techniques and skills into the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Orion program. Using contemporary agile techniques, COTS products, early rapid prototyping, in-house expertise and tools, and customer collaboration, NASA has adopted a cost effective paradigm that is currently serving Orion effectively. This paper will explore and contrast differences in technology employed over the years of NASA s space program, due largely to technological advances in hardware and software systems, while acknowledging that the basic software engineering and integration paradigms share many similarities.
Multicable configuration analyses and computer programs on aerodynamic characteristics and stability of captive balloons for airborne instrumentation
Results of a test program designed to determine the effects of 100 temperature and compressive loading cycles on several multilayer insulation materials and composites. A total of four reflector materials, four separator materials, eight face-sheet systems, and one fastener material were subjected to 100 temperature cycles from -320 to 400 or 650 F. Generic types of materials studied included Mylar, Kapton, Dacron, Nomex, and Beta Glass. The temperature cycling was followed by visual inspection, metal adhesion tests on the reflectors, and tensile tests of the face sheets, fastener, and separators. A total of six composites were subjected to compressive cycles between zero and 0.15 psi, and density changes were measured. Application of the experimental results to the shuttle orbiter is discussed.
The program input and output are described, and the program listing is presented. A sample program output for an infinite swept wing calculation is shown.
The compiler is a large multi-phase design and can be broken into four phases: Phase 1 inputs the source language and does a syntactic and semantic analysis generating the source listing, a file of instructions in an internal format (HALMAT) and a collection of tables to be used in subsequent phases. Phase 1.5 massages the code produced by Phase 1, performing machine independent optimization. Phase 2 inputs the HALMAT produced by Phase 1 and outputs machine language object modules in a form suitable for the OS-360 or FCOS linkage editor. Phase 3 produces the SDF tables. The four phases described are written in XPL, a language specifically designed for compiler implementation. In addition to the compiler, there is a large library containing all the routines that can be explicitly called by the source language programmer plus a large collection of routines for implementing various facilities of the language.
The focus of our research program is the achievement of a quantitative understanding of the spatial distribution and temporal variation of chemical species in the terrestrial middle atmosphere, with emphasis on ozone. Although not directed at assessments of anthropogenic impacts, our activities contribute to a refinement of model descriptions of chemical and dynamical processes that are needed for assessment tasks. A unique feature of our research effort is a close interaction with the chemical kinetics group at JPL and the field measurement groups at JPL. The principal tools used in our investigations are l-D and 2-D photochemical models. The advective component of the meridional transport in these models is approximated by the diabatic circulation, which is derived diagnostically from the net radiative heating rates. We are developing accurate radiative transfer algorithms to find the net heating rates and the diabatic circulation for use in the 2-D model.
The end of the Space Shuttle program brought new challenges as well as new opportunities to the John F. Kennedy Space Center. The challenge is to engineer a more flexible Spaceport to be capable of supporting manufacturing, assembly, testing, processing and launch operations for multiple spacecrafts and launch vehicle configurations. The new spaceport must support multiple commercial as well as government entities while leveraging existing infrastructure to the greatest extent possible. This paper addresses key engineering challenges during Spaceport design and development and will look at possible engineering solutions while considering reusability of legacy systems and infrastructure adaptability with emphasis on flexibility and reduction of operating cost.