Results for “Storage Management Plan” — Page 4

NASA NTRS2023

Exploring the Complexities of Drug Formulation Selection, Storage, and Shelf-Life for Exploration Spaceflight

Medications have been a part of space travel dating back as far as the Apollo missions. Currently, medical kits aboard the ISS contain medications and supplies to help crew members cope with a variety of possible medical events. NASA reported that 1,867 medical events occurred from 1981 to 1998 on space shuttle flights, STS-1 to STS-89; 498 out of the 508 crewmembers on those flights reported experiencing a medical event other than space motion sickness. In 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened a committee of experts, Committee on Creating a Vision for Space Medicine during Travel beyond Earth Orbit, to examine the issues surrounding astronaut health and safety for long duration space missions. The primary theme of the committee’s final report is that there is not enough known about the risks to human health during long-duration missions beyond Earth’s orbit and ways to effectively mitigate those risks in an environment of deep space. In 2014, the IOM convened the Committee on Ethics Principles and Guidelines for Health Standards for Long Duration and Exploration Spaceflights and released a report emphasizing the importance of prevention, mitigation, and treatment of major risks to human health during exploration spaceflight. NASA’s Human Research Program has organized five distinct categories of spaceflight hazards summarized by the acronym “RIDGE” (Space Radiation, Isolation and Confinement, Distance from Earth, Gravity fields, and Hostile/Closed Environments) that astronauts may encounter during exploration spaceflight. From those hazards, NASA further derived 30 of the most critical human health and performance risks, including limits to medical care resulting from pharmaceutical degradation. As we prepare for more distant exploration missions to Mars and beyond, risk management planning for astronaut healthcare should include the assembly of a medication formulary that is comprehensive enough to prevent or treat anticipated medical events, remains safe and chemically stable, and retains sufficient potency to last for the duration of the mission. The present editorial will summarize the current state of knowledge regarding innovative formulary optimization strategies, pharmaceutical stability assessment techniques, and storage and packaging solutions that could enhance drug safety and efficacy for future exploration spaceflight missions.

drug degradation risk assessment↗

NASA NTRS1994

(abstract) Pluto Integrated Camera-Spectrometer (PICS): a Low Mass, Low Power Instrument for Planetary Exploration

The concept we describe is an integrated instrument (a Pluto Integrated Camera-Spectrometer -- PICS) that will perform the functions of all three optical instruments required by the Pluto Fast Flyby Mission: the near-IR spectrometer, the camera, and the UV spectrometer. This integrated approach minimizes mass and power use. It also forced us early in the conceptual design to consider integrated observational sequences and integrated power management, thus ensuring compatible duty cycles (i.e., exposure times, readout rates) to meet the composite requirements for data collection, compression, and storage. Based on flight mission experience we believe that this integrated approach will result in substantial cost savings, both in reworking instrument designs during accommodation, as well as in sequence planning and integration. Finally, this integrated payload automatically yields a cohesive mission data set, optimized for correlative analysis. The presentation will provide details of the PICS instrument design and describe the fabrication and testing of the integrated SiC structure and optics at SSG Inc. Final integration and test plans for the prototype will also be described.

Pluto↗

NASA NTRS1982

Yield model development project implementation plan

Tasks remaining to be completed are summarized for the following major project elements: (1) evaluation of crop yield models; (2) crop yield model research and development; (3) data acquisition processing, and storage; (4) related yield research: defining spectral and/or remote sensing data requirements; developing input for driving and testing crop growth/yield models; real time testing of wheat plant process models) and (5) project management and support.

Ambroziak, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS2021

Orion Meteoroid and Debris Analysis with a Single Kevlar® Layer Enhancement to the Propulsion Tank Multi-Layer Insulation: Comparison of the Observed Data and the Adjusted Ballistic Models

In a continual mass optimization effort for the Orion vehicle by NASA and its prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space, along with the European Space Agency (ESA) and its contractors Airbus and Thales Alenia Space-Italy (TAS-I), a series of shield characterization shots have been performed to quantify the ballistic enhancement of a single-layer of Kevlar® in multi-layer insulation (MLI). This enhanced MLI is part of Orion’s propulsion subsystem, and it is planned to replace a double-layer Kevlar® configuration starting at the Artemis IV mission. This effort has included fifty-two shield characterization shots for five different shield configurations over the four Orion propellant storage vessels. These storage vessels are located in the European Service Module (ESM). This shield characterization has been managed by the Hypervelocity Impact Technology (HVIT) group in NASA Astromaterials Research and Exploration Sciences at Johnson Space Center (JSC) for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) and the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) program office in coordination with Lockheed Martin Space and Thales Alenia Space-Italy (TAS-I). The shield characterization has used the two-stage, light-gas-gun at the Remote Hypervelocity Test Laboratory (RHTL) of NASA JSC White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) for acceleration of projectiles to representative orbital impact speeds. From this shield characterization effort, a revised ballistic limiting equation (BLE) has been developed for each of the five representative shielding configurations of the ESM pressure vessels. This document provides a brief description of the shield configurations considered for the Orion program and the shield characterization findings. These results are compared to the assumed BLE for each configuration going into the Artemis missions that utilize this version of ballistic enhanced MLI. The models are integrated into a fourteen day High Lunar Orbit (HLO) mission as a representative reliability prediction impact for Orion, and it has been found that the predicted risk of a loss-of-crew (LOC) event is actually a little less than half of the assumed value that launched this design modification opportunity.

Joshua E Miller↗

NASA NTRS1998

The mass storage testing laboratory at GSFC

Industry-wide benchmarks exist for measuring the performance of processors (SPECmarks), and of database systems (Transaction Processing Council). Despite storage having become the dominant item in computing and IT (Information Technology) budgets, no such common benchmark is available in the mass storage field. Vendors and consultants provide services and tools for capacity planning and sizing, but these do not account for the complete set of metrics needed in today's archives. The availability of automated tape libraries, high-capacity RAID systems, and high- bandwidth interconnectivity between processor and peripherals has led to demands for services which traditional file systems cannot provide. File Storage and Management Systems (FSMS), which began to be marketed in the late 80's, have helped to some extent with large tape libraries, but their use has introduced additional parameters affecting performance. The aim of the Mass Storage Test Laboratory (MSTL) at Goddard Space Flight Center is to develop a test suite that includes not only a comprehensive check list to document a mass storage environment but also benchmark code. Benchmark code is being tested which will provide measurements for both baseline systems, i.e. applications interacting with peripherals through the operating system services, and for combinations involving an FSMS. The benchmarks are written in C, and are easily portable. They are initially being aimed at the UNIX Open Systems world. Measurements are being made using a Sun Ultra 170 Sparc with 256MB memory running Solaris 2.5.1 with the following configuration: 4mm tape stacker on SCSI 2 Fast/Wide; 4GB disk device on SCSI 2 Fast/Wide; and Sony Petaserve on Fast/Wide differential SCSI 2.

Venkataraman, Ravi↗

NASA NTRS2003

Baseline Testing of the Club Car Carryall With Asymmetric Ultracapacitors

The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center initiated baseline testing of the Club Car Carryall with asymmetric ultracapacitors as a way to reduce pollution in industrial settings, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and reduce operating costs for transportation systems. The Club Car Carryall provides an inexpensive approach to advance the state of the art in electric vehicle technology in a practical application. The project transfers space technology to terrestrial use via non-traditional partners, and provides power system data valuable for future space applications. The work was done under the Hybrid Power Management (HPM) Program, which includes the Hybrid Electric Transit Bus (HETB). The Carryall is a state of the art, ground up, electric utility vehicle. A unique aspect of the project was the use of a state of the art, long life ultracapacitor energy storage system. Innovative features, such as regenerative braking through ultracapacitor energy storage, are planned. Regenerative braking recovers much of the kinetic energy of the vehicle during deceleration. The Carryall was tested with the standard lead acid battery energy storage system, as well as with an asymmetric ultracapacitor energy storage system. The report concludes that the Carryall provides excellent performance, and that the implementation of asymmetric ultracapacitors in the power system can provide significant performance improvements.

Eichenberg, Dennis J.↗

NASA NTRS2023

Development of Two High-Energy Bus ‘Cores’ for Rapid Support of Low-TRL and Educational Payloads: A Software-Configured EPS Combined with Flexible C&DH

For several years the TechEdSat flight series (TES-n), developed by the Nano Orbital Workshop (NOW) group at NASA Ames, has relied upon an in-house developed unit to serve both EPS (Electrical Power System) and C&DH (Command and Data Handling) roles along with low data-rate telemetry functions, i.e., serving as the ‘core’ of the spacecraft bus. This ‘core’ has a considerable task given the rapid cadence of the TES program and the typically low-TRL of payloads; configurability and compatibility are key to prevent mission-specific hardware. However, at only 15 watts the current core has become insufficient to support the program’s growing missions and increasingly demanding payloads. To this end, the NOW program is developing new cores to support two TES mission classes: a single-PCB ‘MiniCore’ designed to support 80-watt missions 6U or smaller in LEO, and a three-PCB, radiation-tolerant ‘StackCore’ designed to support 6U and larger missions over 500 watts in LEO and beyond. The ‘MiniCore’ design consists of three main segments: a processor-agnostic C&DH, a software-configured EPS, and a backup low data-rate radio. The design philosophy was to enable rapid-manufacture in a turbulent supply chain, hence the design consists of COTS parts with a focus on those able to be drop-in replaced with radiation-tolerant versions when demanded by the mission. As a single PC-104 sized circuit board, power density and ease of integration also dominated design, demanding the use of modern features such as single-point USB-C for easy charging and monitoring of the spacecraft on the ground. The ‘MiniCore’ can support 80 watts of load, 140 watt-hours of storage, and over 20 watts of optimized solar generation with extensive power monitoring throughout. The ‘MiniCore’ supports one battery pack, six solar-panels, six loads, five actuators, Iridium SBD, and an internal 802.15.4 network. Additionally, the processor-agnostic design can accept any PJRC Teensy 3.x or Adafruit Feather microcontroller unit to enable processor scaling with mission requirements or environment. It is expected a development unit of this design will be completed before conference. The ‘StackCore’ design consists of three stacked PC-104 sized circuit boards: one dedicated to power generation and storage, one dedicated to power distribution, and one dedicated to C&DH tasks. This delineation is necessary to support the transition from highly integrated ICs to discrete analog circuitry, enabling a primarily analog control power system able to operate without software in a radiation environment with finer monitoring compared to the ‘MiniCore’ design. The planned base architecture supports over 500 watts of load, 250 watt-hours of storage, and over 80 watts of optimized solar generation. The power distribution board allows for the use of daughter cards hosting custom converters or interfaces for payloads, in addition to the software-configured supplies used on the ‘MiniCore’. This core stack will be managed by a Vorago ARM M4 microcontroller and support the same wireless communications as the ‘MiniCore’, with optional integration of a NOW S-band radio and attitude determination sensors for ‘black box’ functionality. It is expected the prototype will still be in development during conference.

Spacecraft↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of Two High-Energy Bus ‘Cores’ for Rapid Support of Low-TRL and Educational Payloads: A Software-Configured EPS Combined with Flexible C&DH

For several years the TechEdSat flight series (TES-n), developed by the Nano Orbital Workshop (NOW) group at NASA Ames, has relied upon an in-house developed unit to serve both EPS (Electrical Power System) and C&DH (Command and Data Handling) roles along with low data-rate telemetry functions, i.e., serving as the ‘core’ of the spacecraft bus. This ‘core’ has a considerable task given the rapid cadence of the TES program and the typically low-TRL of payloads; configurability and compatibility are key to prevent mission-specific hardware. However, at only 15 watts the current core has become insufficient to support the program’s growing missions and increasingly demanding payloads. To this end, the NOW program is developing new cores to support two TES mission classes: a single-PCB ‘MiniCore’ designed to support 80-watt missions 6U or smaller in LEO, and a three-PCB, radiation-tolerant ‘StackCore’ designed to support 6U and larger missions over 500 watts in LEO and beyond. The ‘MiniCore’ design consists of three main segments: a processor-agnostic C&DH, a software-configured EPS, and a backup low data-rate radio. The design philosophy was to enable rapid-manufacture in a turbulent supply chain, hence the design consists of COTS parts with a focus on those able to be drop-in replaced with radiation-tolerant versions when demanded by the mission. As a single PC-104 sized circuit board, power density and ease of integration also dominated design, demanding the use of modern features such as single-point USB-C for easy charging and monitoring of the spacecraft on the ground. The ‘MiniCore’ can support 80 watts of load, 140 watt-hours of storage, and over 20 watts of optimized solar generation with extensive power monitoring throughout. The ‘MiniCore’ supports one battery pack, six solar-panels, six loads, five actuators, Iridium SBD, and an internal 802.15.4 network. Additionally, the processor-agnostic design can accept any PJRC Teensy 3.x or Adafruit Feather microcontroller unit to enable processor scaling with mission requirements or environment. It is expected a development unit of this design will be completed before conference. The ‘StackCore’ design consists of three stacked PC-104 sized circuit boards: one dedicated to power generation and storage, one dedicated to power distribution, and one dedicated to C&DH tasks. This delineation is necessary to support the transition from highly integrated ICs to discrete analog circuitry, enabling a primarily analog control power system able to operate without software in a radiation environment with finer monitoring compared to the ‘MiniCore’ design. The planned base architecture supports over 500 watts of load, 250 watt-hours of storage, and over 80 watts of optimized solar generation. The power distribution board allows for the use of daughter cards hosting custom converters or interfaces for payloads, in addition to the software-configured supplies used on the ‘MiniCore’. This core stack will be managed by a Vorago ARM M4 microcontroller and support the same wireless communications as the ‘MiniCore’, with optional integration of a NOW S-band radio and attitude determination sensors for ‘black box’ functionality. It is expected the prototype will still be in development during conference.

Spacecraft↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of Two High-Energy Bus ‘Cores’

For several years the TechEdSat flight series (TES-n), developed by the Nano Orbital Workshop (NOW) group at NASA Ames, has relied upon an in-house developed unit to serve both EPS (Electrical Power System) and C&DH (Command and Data Handling) roles along with low data-rate telemetry functions, i.e., serving as the ‘core’ of the spacecraft bus. This ‘core’ has a considerable task given the rapid cadence of the TES program and the typically low-TRL of payloads; configurability and compatibility are key to prevent mission-specific hardware. However, at only 15 watts the current core has become insufficient to support the program’s growing missions and increasingly demanding payloads. To this end, the NOW program is developing new cores to support two TES mission classes: a single-PCB ‘MiniCore’ designed to support 80-watt missions 6U or smaller in LEO, and a three-PCB, radiation-tolerant ‘StackCore’ designed to support 6U and larger missions over 500 watts in LEO and beyond. The ‘MiniCore’ design consists of three main segments: a processor-agnostic C&DH, a software-configured EPS, and a backup low data-rate radio. The design philosophy was to enable rapid-manufacture in a turbulent supply chain, hence the design consists of COTS parts with a focus on those able to be drop-in replaced with radiation-tolerant versions when demanded by the mission. As a single PC-104 sized circuit board, power density and ease of integration also dominated design, demanding the use of modern features such as single-point USB-C for easy charging and monitoring of the spacecraft on the ground. The ‘MiniCore’ can support 80 watts of load, 140 watt-hours of storage, and over 20 watts of optimized solar generation with extensive power monitoring throughout. The ‘MiniCore’ supports one battery pack, six solar-panels, six loads, five actuators, Iridium SBD, and an internal 802.15.4 network. Additionally, the processor-agnostic design can accept any PJRC Teensy 3.x or Adafruit Feather microcontroller unit to enable processor scaling with mission requirements or environment. It is expected a development unit of this design will be completed before conference. The ‘StackCore’ design consists of three stacked PC-104 sized circuit boards: one dedicated to power generation and storage, one dedicated to power distribution, and one dedicated to C&DH tasks. This delineation is necessary to support the transition from highly integrated ICs to discrete analog circuitry, enabling a primarily analog control power system able to operate without software in a radiation environment with finer monitoring compared to the ‘MiniCore’ design. The planned base architecture supports over 500 watts of load, 250 watt-hours of storage, and over 80 watts of optimized solar generation. The power distribution board allows for the use of daughter cards hosting custom converters or interfaces for payloads, in addition to the software-configured supplies used on the ‘MiniCore’. This core stack will be managed by a Vorago ARM M4 microcontroller and support the same wireless communications as the ‘MiniCore’, with optional integration of a NOW S-band radio and attitude determination sensors for ‘black box’ functionality. It is expected the prototype will still be in development during conference.

Avery Brock↗

NASA NTRS1994

Landsat Pathfinder tropical forest information management system

A Tropical Forest Information Management System_(TFIMS) has been designed to fulfill the needs of HTFIP in such a way that it tracks all aspects of the generation and analysis of the raw satellite data and the derived deforestation dataset. The system is broken down into four components: satellite image selection, processing, data management and archive management. However, as we began to think of how the TFIMS could also be used to make the data readily accessible to all user communities we realized that the initial system was too project oriented and could only be accessed locally. The new system needed development in the areas of data ingest and storage, while at the same time being implemented on a server environment with a network interface accessible via Internet. This paper summarizes the overall design of the existing prototype (version 0) information management system and then presents the design of the new system (version 1). The development of version 1 of the TFIMS is ongoing. There are no current plans for a gradual transition from version 0 to version 1 because the significant changes are in how the data within the HTFIP will be made accessible to the extended community of scientists, policy makers, educators, and students and not in the functionality of the basic system.

Salas, W.↗

NASA NTRS2007

NASA Tech Briefs, January 2007

Topics covered include: Flexible Skins Containing Integrated Sensors and Circuitry; Artificial Hair Cells for Sensing Flows; Video Guidance Sensor and Time-of-Flight Rangefinder; Optical Beam-Shear Sensors; Multiple-Agent Air/Ground Autonomous Exploration Systems; A 640 512-Pixel Portable Long-Wavelength Infrared Camera; An Array of Optical Receivers for Deep-Space Communications; Microstrip Antenna Arrays on Multilayer LCP Substrates; Applications for Subvocal Speech; Multiloop Rapid-Rise/Rapid Fall High-Voltage Power Supply; The PICWidget; Fusing Symbolic and Numerical Diagnostic Computations; Probabilistic Reasoning for Robustness in Automated Planning; Short-Term Forecasting of Radiation Belt and Ring Current; JMS Proxy and C/C++ Client SDK; XML Flight/Ground Data Dictionary Management; Cross-Compiler for Modeling Space-Flight Systems; Composite Elastic Skins for Shape-Changing Structures; Glass/Ceramic Composites for Sealing Solid Oxide Fuel Cells; Aligning Optical Fibers by Means of Actuated MEMS Wedges; Manufacturing Large Membrane Mirrors at Low Cost; Double-Vacuum-Bag Process for Making Resin- Matrix Composites; Surface Bacterial-Spore Assay Using Tb3+/DPA Luminescence; Simplified Microarray Technique for Identifying mRNA in Rare Samples; High-Resolution, Wide-Field-of-View Scanning Telescope; Multispectral Imager With Improved Filter Wheel and Optics; Integral Radiator and Storage Tank; Compensation for Phase Anisotropy of a Metal Reflector; Optical Characterization of Molecular Contaminant Films; Integrated Hardware and Software for No-Loss Computing; Decision-Tree Formulation With Order-1 Lateral Execution; GIS Methodology for Planning Planetary-Rover Operations; Optimal Calibration of the Spitzer Space Telescope; Automated Detection of Events of Scientific Interest; Representation-Independent Iteration of Sparse Data Arrays; Mission Operations of the Mars Exploration Rovers; and More About Software for No-Loss Computing.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1989

Evolutionary space station fluids management strategies

Results are summarized for an 11-month study to define fluid storage and handling strategies and requirements for various specific mission case studies and their associated design impacts on the Space Station. There are a variety of fluid users which require a variety of fluids and use rates. Also, the cryogenic propellants required for NASA's STV, Planetary, and Code Z missions are enormous. The storage methods must accommodate fluids ranging from a high pressure gas or supercritical state fluid to a sub-cooled liquid (and superfluid helium). These requirements begin in the year 1994, reach a maximum of nearly 1800 metric tons in the year 2004, and trail off to the year 2018, as currently planned. It is conceivable that the cryogenic propellant needs for the STV and/or Lunar mission models will be met by LTCSF LH2/LO2 tanksets attached to the SS truss structure. Concepts and corresponding transfer and delivery operations have been presented for STV propellant provisioning from the SS. A growth orbit maneuvering vehicle (OMV) and associated servicing capability will be required to move tanksets from delivery launch vehicles to the SS or co-orbiting platforms. Also, appropriate changes to the software used for OMV operation are necessary to allow for the combined operation of the growth OMV. To support fluid management activities at the Space Station for the experimental payloads and propellant provisioning, there must be truss structure space allocated for fluid carriers and propellant tanksets, and substantial beam strengthening may be required. The Station must have two Mobile Remote Manipulator Systems (MRMS) and the growth OMV propellant handling operations for the STV at the SS. Propellant needs for the Planetary Initiatives and Code Z mission models will most likely be provided by co-orbiting propellant platform(s). Space Station impacts for Code Z mission fluid management activities will be minimal.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1998

Space Solar Power Technical Interchange Meeting 2: SSP TIM 2

The 2nd Space Solar Power Technical Interchange Meeting (SSP TIM 2) was conducted September 21st through 24th with the first part consisting of a Plenary session. The summary results of this Plenary session are contained in part one of this report. The attendees were then organized into Working Breakout Sessions and Integrated Product Team (IPT) Sessions for the purpose of conducting in-depth discussions in specific topic areas and developing a consensus as to appropriate study plans and actions to be taken. The Second part covers the Plenary Summary Session, which contains the summary results of the Working Breakout Sessions and IPT Sessions. The appendix contains the list of attendees. The ob'jective was to provide an update for the study teams and develop plans for subsequent study activities. This SSP TIM 2 was initiated and the results reported electronically over the Internet. The International Space Station (ISS) could provide the following opportunities for conducting research and technology (R&T) which are applicable to SSP: (1) Automation and Robotics, (2) Advanced Power Generation, (3) Advanced Power Management & Distribution (PMAD), (4) Communications Systems and Networks, (5) Energy Storage, (6) In Space Propulsion (ISP), (7) Structural Dynamics and Control, and Assembly and (8) Wireless Power Transmission.

Sanders, Jim↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of a Test Article to Demonstrate the Long Duration Storage of Liquid Hydrogen via a Two-Stage Active Cooling Approach

A NASA team is developing a test article for the purpose of demonstrating the long duration storage of liquid hydrogen utilizing passive Cryogenic Fluid Management and cryocoolers via a two-stage active cooling approach. Funded by NASA’s Technology Demonstration Mission Program and managed by the Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Project, the team is leveraging demonstrations conducted under pervious NASA activities to develop a fully integrated test article that will demonstrate the zero boil-off storage of liquid hydrogen. This paper discusses the previous activities being leveraged from NASA’s Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer project, the test article design and build, hardware and instrumentation selections, control methodology, and the planned primary and secondary test objectives. The test article assembly and demonstration are both to be conducted in the East Test Area at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and are currently scheduled for Fiscal Year 2024.

Active Cooling↗

NASA NTRS1986

Spacecraft 2000

The Spacecraft 2000 program has been conceived by NASA with the objective to maintain the U.S. in a strong technical position in the space arena. The program is to involve a cooperative NASA/industry effort with long-range technology development aims. The technology areas addressed are related to spacecraft power, spacecraft energy storage, power management and distribution, autonomous operation-control, onboard systems integration, secondary propulsion, communications technologies, and systems/subsystems technology verification. Aspects of Spacecraft 2000 interactions with industry are discussed, taking into account visitations of NASA personnel to selected industrial concerns, most critical concerns (general), major technical concern, technology drivers for future spacecraft power systems, technology considerations for secondary propulsion, and questions of commercialization. Plans related to a Spacecraft 2000 program formulation are also considered.

Faymon, K. A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Silvabase: A flexible data file management system

The need for a more flexible and efficient data file management system for mission planning in the Mission Operations Laboratory (EO) at MSFC has spawned the development of Silvabase. Silvabase is a new data file structure based on a B+ tree data structure. This data organization allows for efficient forward and backward sequential reads, random searches, and appends to existing data. It also provides random insertions and deletions with reasonable efficiency, utilization of storage space well but not at the expense of speed, and performance of these functions on a large volume of data. Mission planners required that some data be keyed and manipulated in ways not found in a commercial product. Mission planning software is currently being converted to use Silvabase in the Spacelab and Space Station Mission Planning Systems. Silvabase runs on a Digital Equipment Corporation's popular VAX/VMS computers in VAX Fortran. Silvabase has unique features involving time histories and intervals such as in operations research. Because of its flexibility and unique capabilities, Silvabase could be used in almost any government or commercial application that requires efficient reads, searches, and appends in medium to large amounts of almost any kind of data.

Lambing, Steven J.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Future remote-sensing programs

User requirements and methods developed to fulfill them are discussed. Quick-look data, data storage on computer-compatible tape, and an integrated capability for production of images from the whole class of earth-viewing satellites are among the new developments briefly described. The increased capability of LANDSAT-C and Nimbus G and the needs of specialized applications such as, urban land use planning, cartography, accurate measurement of small agricultural fields, thermal mapping and coastal zone management are examined. The affect of the space shuttle on remote sensing technology through increased capability is considered.

Schweickart, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Future thrusts of the NASA space power program

General objectives and plan directions are given for current program support in the following areas: (1) solar cells and arrays; (2) batteries and fuel cells; (3) thermoelectric, thermionic, and Brayton cycle conversion systems; (4) circuits and subsystems for the management and distribution of power; and (5) the interactions of the environment with the power system and the spacecraft. Particular emphasis is given to the electrochemical energy conversion storage portion of the program where efforts are directed to improving the energy density and life of nickel cadmium batteries, to validating flight-weight silver hydrogen cells, to promoting the safe use of lithium primary batteries, to completing the silver zinc batteries and the orbital transfer fuel cell technology, to increasing the capacity of space batteries, to and to evaluating new electrochemical concepts for very high energy density. The use of the fuel cell electrolyzer concept for energy storage in both the dedicated and the truly regenerative mode is also being investigated.

Holcomb, L.↗