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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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NASA NTRS2014

Performance Comparison Between a Head-Worn Display System and a Head-Up Display for Low Visibility Commercial Operations

Research, development, test, and evaluation of flight deck interface technologies is being conducted by NASA to proactively identify, develop, and mature tools, methods, and technologies for improving overall aircraft safety of new and legacy vehicles operating in Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Under the Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies (VSST) project in the Aviation Safety Program, one specific area of research is the use of small Head-Worn Displays (HWDs) as an equivalent display to a Head-Up Display (HUD). Title 14 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 91.175 describes a possible operational credit which can be obtained with airplane equipage of a HUD or an "equivalent" display combined with Enhanced Vision (EV). If successful, a HWD may provide the same safety and operational benefits as current HUD-equipped aircraft but for significantly more aircraft in which HUD installation is neither practical nor possible. A simulation experiment was conducted to evaluate if the HWD, coupled with a head-tracker, can provide an equivalent display to a HUD. Comparative testing was performed in the Research Flight Deck (RFD) Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF) full mission, motion-based simulator at NASA Langley. Twelve airline crews conducted approach and landing, taxi, and departure operations during low visibility operations (1000' Runway Visual Range (RVR), 300' RVR) at Memphis International Airport (Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identifier: KMEM). The results showed that there were no statistical differences in the crews performance in terms of touchdown and takeoff. Further, there were no statistical differences between the HUD and HWD in pilots' responses to questionnaires.

Arthur, Jarvis J., III↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Feasibility Study to Interactive Workshop: Building End-user Capacity to Integrate Earth Observation Data into Federally Endangered Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) Habitat Monitoring in Main

Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, along with alterations in land cover threaten ongoing conservation efforts for Federally Endangered Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in Maine. Earth observation data offers a unique perspective for habitat monitoring that can complement habitat restoration and conservation activity on the ground. As a dual capacity building program, the NASA DEVELOP National Program strives to build the capacity of program participants by leveraging Earth observation data to address environmental concerns across the globe, while also building capacity in partner organizations to integrate Earth observation data into their decision making practices. Between September 2021 and August 2022, three NASA DEVELOP teams demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing NASA Earth observations including Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Terra MODIS, Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 8 Operation Land Imager (OLI), and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) in conjunction with Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) to assess temperature, precipitation, and land use land cover (LULC) over time throughout salmon habitat in Maine. While the first two teams completed projects that were categorized as NASA DEVELOP’s traditional feasibility projects, the third and final project team generated resources and planned an interactive workshop to transfer project methods to end-user organizations. Ultimately, the goal of this work was to not only inform the partner’s ongoing salmon population recovery and habitat restoration initiatives but provide tools that allow partner organizations to continue integrating Earth observation data into their work beyond their partnership with the program. This project serves as a case study within the NASA DEVELOP Program and provides lessons learned for moving beyond traditional feasibility studies to more interactive partner engagement and knowledge transfer practices.

Nicole Ramberg-Pihl↗
NASA NTRS1977

Evaluating the benefits of government funded R & D aimed at the private sector

Federal funding of technological research and development is discussed with regard to the procedures for an economic analysis with the goals of (1) determining when the public sector should invest in a research and development program, (2) evaluating the likelihood of private sector participation in terms of public sector participation, and (3) considering the major factors in the formulation of a research and development program in terms of defining initiatives. Public sector investments are evaluated, noting procedures for determining whether benefits exceed costs. The role of the public sector research and development planning is described, considering the procedure for private sector implementation decisions and a methodology for evaluating the possibility of private sector commercialization. The economic value of the public sector research and development program is presented with attention given to a specific case of NASA-sponsored research and development aimed toward the commercialization of new public communications services.

Greenberg, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS2011

NASA Game Changing Development Program Manufacturing Innovation Project

This presentation examines the new NASA Manufacturing Innovation Project. The project is a part of the Game Changing Development Program which is one element of the Space Technology Programs Managed by Office of the Chief Technologist. The project includes innovative technologies in model-based manufacturing, digital additive manufacturing, and other next generation manufacturing tools. The project is also coupled with the larger federal initiatives in this area including the National Digital Engineering and Manufacturing Initiative and the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership. In addition to NASA, other interagency partners include the Department of Defense, Department of Commerce, NIST, Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation. The development of game-changing manufacturing technologies are critical for NASA s mission of exploration, strengthening America s manufacturing competitiveness, and are highly related to current challenges in defense manufacturing activities. There is strong consensus across industry, academia, and government that the future competitiveness of U.S. industry will be determined, in large part, by a technologically advanced manufacturing sector. This presentation highlights the prospectus of next generation manufacturing technologies to the challenges faced NASA and by the Department of Defense. The project focuses on maturing innovative/high payoff model-based manufacturing technologies that may lead to entirely new approaches for a broad array of future NASA missions and solutions to significant national needs. Digital manufacturing and computer-integrated manufacturing "virtually" guarantee advantages in quality, speed, and cost and offer many long-term benefits across the entire product lifecycle. This paper addresses key enablers and emerging strategies in areas such as: Current government initiatives, Model-based manufacturing, and Additive manufacturing.

Tolbert, Carol↗
NASA NTRS2012

Hexavalent Chrome Free Coatings for Electronics Applications: Joint Test Report

Regardless of the corrosivity of the environment, all metals require periodic maintenance activity to guard against the insidious effects of corrosion and thus ensure that alloys meet or exceed design or performance life. The standard practice for protecting metallic substrates is the application of a coating system. Applied coating systems work via a variety of methods (barrier, galvanic, and/or inhibitor) and adhere to the substrate through a combination of chemical and physical bonds. For years hexavalent chromium has been a widely used element within applied coating systems because of its self healing and corrosion resistant properties. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) studies have concluded that hexavalent chromium (hex chrome) is carcinogenic and poses significant risk to human health. On May 5, 2011 amendments to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) were issued in the Federal Register. Subpart 223.73 prohibits contracts from requiring hexavalent chromium in deliverables unless certain exceptions apply. These exceptions include authorization from a general or flag officer and members of the Senior Executive Service from a Program Executive Office, and unmodified legacy systems. Otherwise, Subpart 252.223-7008 provides the contract clause prohibiting contractors from using or delivering hexavalent chromium in a concentration greater than 0.1 percent by weight for all new contracts and to be included down to subcontractors for supplies, maintenance and repair services, and construction materials. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Defense (DoD), and industry stakeholders continue to search for alternatives to hex chrome in coatings applications that meet their performance requirements in corrosion protection, cost, operability, and health and safety, while typically specifying that performance must be equal to or greater than existing systems.

Kessel, Kurt↗
NASA NTRS1984

Guidelines for assessment and control of noise

There is an obvious need for guidelines and standards with respect to what intensities and durations of noise exposure is considered incompatible with the health and well-being of the people exposed. These guidelines would presumably be useful for the zoning of land areas to avoid overexposure of people to environmental noise and for legislative-judicial adjudication of liabilities for possible damages to individuals and groups from exposure to noise. A number of guidelines for noise exposure were promulgated by various governmental agencies for these purposes. Partly because of the need for an integrated and consistent program of noise control for all elements of the government, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established. In addition to previously issuing some specific documents regarding safe noise exposure limits, the EPA joined several Federal operating and regulatory agencies in issuing guidelines for considering noise in land use planning and control. Government guideline documents, as well as some issued by non-government agencies, are examined. Also, newly proposed guidelines for noise in residential areas, and the scientific basis for these guidelines, are presented.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1992

Space education in the context of U.S. government multiagency efforts in science and mathematics education

The educational activities of NASA which is one of 16 agencies on the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering and Technology is discussed. NASA's education mission is to utilize its unique facilities and its specialized workforce to conduct and to leverage externally conducted science, mathematics, and technology education programs and activities. These efforts aimed at meeting the national education goals should help to preserve U.S. leadership in aeronautics, space science, and technology.

Finarelli, Margaret G.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Characterization of Days Based On Analysis of National Airspace System Performance Metrics

Days of operations in the National Airspace System can be described in term of traffic demand, runway conditions, equipment outages, and surface and enroute weather conditions. These causes manifest themselves in terms of departure delays, arrival delays, enroute delays and traffic flow management delays, Traffic flow management initiatives such as, ground stops, ground delay programs, miles-in-trail restrictions, rerouting and airborne holding are imposed to balance the air traffic demand with respect to the available capacity, In order to maintain operational efficiency of the National Airspace System, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains delay sad other statistics in the Air Traffic Operations Network (OPSNET) and the Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) databases. OPSNET data includes reportable delays of fifteen minutes ox more experienced by Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) flights. Numbers of aircraft affected by departure delays, enroute delays, arrival delays and traffic flow delays are recorded in the OPSNET data. ASPM data consist of number of actual departures, number of canceled departures, percentage of on time departures, percentage of on time gate arrivals, taxi-out delays. taxi-in delays, gate delays, arrival delays and block delays. Surface conditions at the major U.S. airports are classified in terms of Instrument Meteorological Condition (IMC) and Visual Meteorological Condition (VMC) as a function of the time of the day in the ASPM data. The main objective of this paper is to use OPSNET and ASPM data to classify the days in the datasets into few distinct groups, where each group is separated from the other groups in terms of a distance metric. The motivations for classifying the days are two-fold, 1) to enable selection of days of traffic with particular operational characteristics for concept evaluation using system-wide simulation systems such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Airspace Concepts Evaluation Tool (ACES) and 2) to enable evaluation of a given day with respect to the characteristics of the classified groups. The first part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of major trends seen in the OPSNET and ASPM data. The second part of the paper is devoted to describing features or measures derived from the OPSNET and ASPM data that are suitable for characterizing days, and the classification algorithm used for grouping the days. Finally, the method for evaluating the characteristics of a given day with respect to the properties of the groups is described.

Chatterji, Gano B.↗
NASA NTRS2017

NASA's EOSDIS, Trust and Certification

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) has been in operation since August 1994, managing most of NASA's Earth science data from satellites, airborne sensors, filed campaigns and other activities. Having been designated by the Federal Government as a project responsible for production, archiving and distribution of these data through its Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), the Earth Science Data and Information System Project (ESDIS) is responsible for EOSDIS, and is legally bound by the Office of Management and Budgets circular A-130, the Federal Records Act. It must follow the regulations of the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) and National Archive and Records Administration (NARA). It must also follow the NASA Procedural Requirement 7120.5 (NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management). All these ensure that the data centers managed by ESDIS are trustworthy from the point of view of efficient and effective operations as well as preservation of valuable data from NASA's missions. Additional factors contributing to this trust are an extensive set of internal and external reviews throughout the history of EOSDIS starting in the early 1990s. Many of these reviews have involved external groups of scientific and technological experts. Also, independent annual surveys of user satisfaction that measure and publish the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), where EOSDIS has scored consistently high marks since 2004, provide an additional measure of trustworthiness. In addition, through an effort initiated in 2012 at the request of NASA HQ, the ESDIS Project and 10 of 12 DAACs have been certified by the International Council for Science (ICSU) World Data System (WDS) and are members of the ICSUWDS. This presentation addresses questions such as pros and cons of the certification process, key outcomes and next steps regarding certification. Recently, the ICSUWDS and Data Seal of Approval (DSA) organizations merged their Core Trustworthy Data Repositories Requirements and require that members be recertified every three years. Given the rigor with which NASA manages the ESDIS Project and the DAACs, the recertification through WDSDSA, while involving some additional work, is a relatively simple process.

Certification↗
NASA NTRS2023

Information and Best Practices Related to NASA Nuclear Flight Safety for Space Flights Involving Space Nuclear Systems

The purpose of this handbook is to facilitate a repeatable and robust process that promotes clear and effective interfaces between activities and stakeholders focused on meeting nuclear flight safety requirements for missions utilizing space nuclear systems (SNS), within the context of NASA’s broader nuclear-related activities and interfaces. NPR 8715.26, Nuclear Flight Safety, requires that the NASA project manager “incorporate nuclear flight safety considerations starting with program or project formulation through the point at which the SNS or other radioactive material no longer has the potential to affect Earth’s biosphere.” NASA’s use of SNS inherently involves partnering with other stakeholders to conduct a range of related activities that interface with nuclear flight safety. From a categorical perspective these include: (i) meeting the authorities and licensing requirements for possession and use of nuclear material, as governed by other Federal authorities; (ii) conducting National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) activities for nuclear-enabled missions; (iii) meeting Federal nuclear launch authorization requirements; (iv) conducting radiological contingency planning activities, including those associated with international commitments; (v) performing risk communication and public outreach activities; and (vi) ensuring decommissioning and disposal strategies reflect National policies and interests. It is the intent of this handbook to promote an effective interface between nuclear flight safety and these interrelated categorical activities. In addition to activities undertaken with partnering agencies, there are individual nuclear-related activities and programs that have a nexus to nuclear flight safety, and these include: (i) applicable NASA Standing Review Boards; (ii) the US Department of Energy nuclear safety activities conducted in partnership with NASA under Memoranda of Understanding; (iii) the Department of Defense’s Range Safety activities; (iv) NASA’s general involvement in interagency and international dialogues regarding nuclear safety; (v) the NASA-administered Interagency Nuclear Safety Review Board; (vi) NASA’s program and project governance activities and nuclear-specific Technical Discipline Team activities under the Office of the Chief Engineer; and others. It is the intent of this handbook to promote effective leveraging of these additional interrelated organizational activities, as appropriate.

Donald Helton↗
NASA NTRS1986

Power conditioning subsystems for photovoltaic central-station power plants - State-of-the-art and advanced technology

An overview is given of the technical and near-term cost requirements that must be met to develop economically viable power conditioning subsystems (PCS) for large-scale, central photovoltaic power stations. Various commercially available PCS hardware suitable for use in today's central photovoltaic power stations are also surveyed. Federal and industrial activities in the research and development of advanced PCSs that will contribute to the attainment of fully competitive, large-scale photovoltaic power stations are reviewed. The status of the DOE central station PCS program is discussed.

Bulawka, A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Summary of the Geocarto International Special Issue on "NASA Earth Science Satellite Data for Applications to Public Health" to be Published in Early 2014

At the 2011 Applied Science Public Health review held in Santa Fe, NM, it was announced that Dr. Dale Quattrochi from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, John Haynes, Program Manager for the Applied Sciences Public Health program at NASA Headquarters, and Sue Estes, Deputy Program Manager for the NASA Applied Sciences Public Health Program located at the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) at the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) in Huntsville, AL, would edit a special issue of the journal Geocarto International on "NASA Earth Science Satellite Data for Applications to Public Health". This issue would be focused on compiling research papers that use NASA Earth Science satellite data for applications to public health. NASA's Public Health Program concentrates on advancing the realization of societal and economic benefits from NASA Earth Science in the areas of infectious disease, emergency preparedness and response, and environmental health (e.g., air quality). This application area as a focus of the NASA Applied Sciences program, has engaged public health institutions and officials with research scientists in exploring new applications of Earth Science satellite data as an integral part of public health decision- and policy-making at the local, state and federal levels. Of interest to this special issue are papers submitted on are topics such as epidemiologic surveillance in the areas of infectious disease, environmental health, and emergency response and preparedness, national and international activities to improve skills, share data and applications, and broaden the range of users who apply Earth Science satellite data in public health decisions, or related focus areas.. This special issue has now been completed and will be published n early 2014. This talk will present an overview of the papers that will be published in this special Geocarto International issue.

Quattrochi, Dale A.↗
NASA NTRS2008

The Lunar Polesitter

Here-to-fore, sailcraft mission and system studies have focused on sailcraft applications in support of NASA's science missions and, in a few studies, on the needs of other federal agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Department of Defense (DoD). These studies have identified numerous promising applications for solar sails, leading NASA to support proposal efforts for three NASA New Millennium Program (NMP) flight demonstration opportunities (the Space Technology-5, -7, and -9 opportunities) as well as an extensive three-year ground development program in FY 2003-2005 sponsored by the NASA In-Space Propulsion Technology (ISPT) Program. What has not been done to date, however, is to investigate how the technology might also benefit the nation's (and NASA's) emerging interest in the Human Exploration Initiative (HEI). This paper reports on the first effort to address this shortfall in mission applications studies in support of HEI: the use of solar-sail-propelled Lunar Polesitter spacecraft which make use of the natural properties of the Earth-Moon L2 point and solar sail propulsion to enable their positioning near the Lunar poles to serve as communications relay stations. Suitably positioned, such spacecraft enable continuous communications to and from the Earth from any point on the lunar far side. The paper shows that a viable sailcraft system design exists permitting station-keeping of a Lunar Polesitter relay station at 40 Lunar radii from the Moon in the anti-Earth direction, displaced 6-8 Lunar radii below the Earth- Moon plane.

West, John L.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Importance and Incorporation of User Feedback in Data Stewardship

Since August 1994, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Earth Observation System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) has been serving a global community of over 3 million users with Earth science data in a variety of disciplines. During the entire life of EOSDIS, various mechanisms for user feedback have been extremely important and valuable to its evolution and proven performance. Some inputs from user groups have resulted in fundamental changes in the architecture, design and operations of EOSDIS, while others have provided ideas for incremental changes. The purpose of this paper is to share this experience and the benefits that have resulted from the user feedback.In early to mid-1990s, the EOSDIS Advisory Panel (a.k.a. Data Panel) provided significant inputs for the architecture and design of EOSDIS resulting in NASA's establishment of a set of Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) and development of a "working prototype with operating elements" called Version 0 EOSDIS, which went into operation in August 1994. The Data Panel also participated in many of the requirement and design reviews and influenced the design of EOSDIS through their comments.In 1995, the U.S. National Research Council's Committee on Global Change Research conducted a review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program and NASA's Mission to Planet Earth/EOS, including the plans for EOSDIS. One of this committee's recommendations was that the "Responsibility for product generation and publication and for user services should be transferred to a federation of partners selected through a competitive process open to all". In response, NASA initiated an experiment with a "self-governing" federation called the Working Prototype ESIP (WP-ESIP) Federation. This federation, with support from NASA, NOAA and USGS, has now grown into the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) with over 140 member organizations.The EOSDIS DAACs' User Working Groups (UWGs) represent broad user communities served by the respective DAACs. As regular users of the DAACs and experts in their scientific disciplines, the UWG members provide valuable inputs for planning and prioritizing the services as well as addition of new datasets for the benefit of the community.

Research Integrity↗
NASA NTRS2024

Ensuring Safety of Government Personnel During Suborbital Spaceflight

The NASA Suborbital Crew (SubC) project is focused on enabling flights by NASA civil servants, such as scientists and engineers conducting research, on suborbital vehicles. A broader goal is ensuring that commercial human spaceflight is both viable and safe. Within the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), the SubC project is exploring game-changing methods to perform safety assessments to enable NASA personnel to fly on suborbital missions. Commercial suborbital space flight capabilities are anticipated to be more accessible, affordable, and available than missions to the International Space Station and could provide additional opportunities for testing and qualification of space flight hardware, human-tended microgravity research, and further cutting-edge research enabled by the space environment. Although NASA currently permits human tended suborbital payloads for non-civil servants under auspices of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, the SubC effort will enable civil servant scientists, researchers, and even engineers to accompany their experiments and tests into the space microgravity environment. Figure 1 illustrates how the SubC program complements other microgravity experimental platforms. The targeted scope for SubC includes end-to-end suborbital capabilities reaching ~80km with several minutes of sustained microgravity (Table 1). The NASA SubC project office is working with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA-AST) and the commercial suborbital space transportation industry to develop an efficient and holistic approach to a safety review and eventual government participation in suborbital flight. The current FAA certification process for suborbital launches is congressionally mandated to only consider public safety. NASA is responsible for understanding the risks to its employees should they fly on a commercially available suborbital flight. The SubC project is employing a Safety Case approach, applied to commercial suborbital providers, which is not a traditional certification process as was used for the SpaceX Dragon and Boeing Starliner vehicles. Rather, it is an assessment using elements of NASA’s Risk-Informed Safety Case and the Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Airworthiness Assessment process.

Elizabeth C Blome↗
NASA NTRS2018

Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute's Federated Databases and State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Technology Report

NASA's Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI) is collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory and Space Dynamics Laboratory on the development of a small spacecraft parts database called SmallSat Parts On Orbit Now (SPOON). The SPOON database contains small spacecraft parts and technologies categorized by major satellite subsystems developed by industry, academia and government. The State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Technology report reflects small spacecraft parts submitted to the SPOON database and technologies compiled from other sources that were assessed as the current state of the art in each of the major subsystems. The report, first commissioned by NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program in mid-2013, is developed in response to the continuing growth in interest in using small spacecraft for many types of missions in Earth orbit and beyond. Due to the high market penetration of CubeSats, particular emphasis is placed on the state of the art of CubeSat-related technology. The 2018 report is planned for release in late summer. A review of SPOON database functionality, federation of additional NASA-internal and external databases along with a common search capability, as well as an overview of the State of the Art of Small Spacecraft Technology report will be presented. The S3VI is jointly sponsored by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate.

Small spacecraft↗
NASA NTRS2008

Organizational Considerations for Implementing Systems Engineering and Integration in the Ares Projects Office

Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) is a critical discipline in developing new space systems. In 2005, NASA performed an internal study of 24 agency and Department of Defense (DoD) programs to evaluate methods of integrating SE&I practices and determine their effectiveness. The goal of the study was to determine the best SE&I implementation strategy for the Ares Projects Office. The study identified six SE&I organizational structures: 1. Lead systems integrator (LSI) with SE&I responsibility and government technical insight. 2a. Integration contractor with government SE&I responsibility (government insight). 2b. Integration contractor with government SE&I responsibility (government oversight). 3a. Prime contractor with SE&I responsibility (government insight). 3b. Prime contractor with SE&I responsibility (government oversight). 3c. Prime contractor with SE&I responsibility (government/industry partnership). 4a.Prime contractor with government SE&I responsibility (government insight). 4b. Prime contractor with government SE&I responsibility (government oversight). 4d.Prime contractors with total system performance responsibility (TSPR). 5. Prime contractor with government SE&I responsibility and integration products through a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC). 6. Government/FFRDC in-house development with SE&I responsibility and function. The organizational structure used most often was number 4, using a prime contractor with government SE&I responsibility and government technical insight. However, data analyses did not establish a positive relationship between program development costs and specific SE&I organizational types, nor did it positively determine the relationship between successful programs or projects and their SE&I structure. The SE&I study reached the following conclusions: (1) Large, long-duration, technically complex programs or projects reach their technical goals, but rarely meet schedule or cost goals. NASA's recent successes have been smaller, short-duration development projects using heritage hardware/software, focused technology development, technical oversight and stable external factors. (2) Programs and projects have failed or been terminated due to lack of technical insight, relaxing of SE&I processes, and unstable external factors. (3) The study did not find a single, clear optimum SE&I organization type to fit all projects. However, while any organizational structure can be made to work, the fewer complexities in the program, the better the likelihood of success. (4) The most common successful SE&I organization structure type in the study was type 4b, where the government maintained integration responsibility, with the prime contractor providing SE&I products and the government providing technical oversight. This study was instrumental in helping the APO select organization structure 4, following the same SE&I and oversight process used during humanlund7s last voyages to the Moon.

Thomas, LeAnn↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Human Landing System: Enabling the Next Generation of Lunar Science

The Human Landing System (HLS) is the mode of transportation that will take astronauts to the lunar surface as part of NASA's Artemis exploration program. HLS also serves as a research platform both on the surface and in lunar orbit, enabling critical scientific investigations on and of the Moon. With support at NASA centers around the country, the HLS program, based at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is working closely with its commercial partners throughout the development process to design and build innovative and technically advanced lunar landers – new vehicles designed for the modern era of space travel – leveraging decades of human spaceflight experience and the speed of the commercial sector. In 2019, NASA asked U.S. industry for proposals to design and develop a human lander for the first human mission to the lunar surface under Artemis. Initial contracts were awarded to Blue Origin Federation, Dynetics, and SpaceX to advance their designs. Following the execution of the ten-month Base Period, NASA announced in April 2021 that the agency selected SpaceX to move forward with its human landing system [1] and land the first two astronauts on the lunar surface during the Artemis III mission. Following two protest periods, NASA awarded the contract, known as Option A, to SpaceX in July 2021 and resumed work in November 2021 (Fig. 1). In parallel, the HLS program has been preparing for the acquisition that will procure regular crewed transportation to the lunar surface following Artemis III. NASA released a request for information (RFI) in July 2021 asking U.S. industry for feedback to help inform the future solicitation, known as Lunar Exploration Transportation Services (LETS) [2]. Also in July 2021, NASA released the NextSTEP-2 Appendix N broad agency announcement soliciting new work from U.S. industry to mature their HLS designs and perform risk reduction activities in advance of the LETS procurement [3]. NASA selected Blue Origin Federation, Dynetics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX to participate [4]. This work will also help better inform the LETS procurement and prepare industry to propose. NASA hopes to release a draft request for proposals (RFP) in Spring 2022.

R C Weber↗