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NASA NTRS2014

Range Safety Flight Elevation Limit Calculation Software

This program was developed to fill a need within the Wallops Flight Facility workflow for automation of the development of vertical plan limit lines used by flight safety officers during the conduct of expendable launch vehicle missions. Vertical plane present-position-based destruct lines have been used by range safety organizations at numerous launch ranges to mitigate launch vehicle risks during the early phase of flight. Various ranges have implemented data submittal and processing workflows to develop these destruct lines. As such, there is significant prior art in this field. The ElLimits program was developed at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility to automate the process for developing vertical plane limit lines using current computing technologies. The ElLimits program is used to configure launch-phase range safety flight control lines for guided missiles. The name of the program derives itself from the fundamental quantity that is computed - flight elevation limits. The user specifies the extent and resolution of a grid in the vertical plane oriented along the launch azimuth. At each grid point, the program computes the maximum velocity vector flight elevation that can be permitted without endangering a specified back-range location. Vertical plane x-y limit lines that can be utilized on a present position display are derived from the flight elevation limit data by numerically propagating 'streamlines' through the grid. The failure turn and debris propagation simulation technique used by the application is common to all of its analysis options. A simulation is initialized at a vertical plane grid point chosen by the program. A powered flight failure turn is then propagated in the plane for the duration of the so-called RSO reaction time. At the end of the turn, a delta-velocity is imparted, and a ballistic trajectory is propagated to impact. While the program possesses capability for powered flight failure turn modeling, it does not require extensive user inputs of vehicle characteristics (e.g., thrust and aerodynamic data), nor does it require reams of turn data after the traditional fashion of the Air Force ranges. The program requires a nominal trajectory table (time, altitude, range, velocity, and flight elevation) and makes heavy use of it to initialize and model a failure turn.

Lanzi, Raymond J↗

NASA NTRS2009

Measurement and Characterization of Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor Plume Acoustics

Lift-off acoustic environments generated by the future Ares I launch vehicle are assessed by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) acoustics team using several prediction tools. This acoustic environment is directly caused by the Ares I First Stage booster, powered by the five-segment Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRMV). The RSRMV is a larger-thrust derivative design from the currently used Space Shuttle solid rocket motor, the Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM). Lift-off acoustics is an integral part of the composite launch vibration environment affecting the Ares launch vehicle and must be assessed to help generate hardware qualification levels and ensure structural integrity of the vehicle during launch and lift-off. Available prediction tools that use free field noise source spectrums as a starting point for generation of lift-off acoustic environments are described in the monograph NASA SP-8072: "Acoustic Loads Generated by the Propulsion System." This monograph uses a reference database for free field noise source spectrums which consist of subscale rocket motor firings, oriented in horizontal static configurations. The phrase "subscale" is appropriate, since the thrust levels of rockets in the reference database are orders of magnitude lower than the current design thrust for the Ares launch family. Thus, extrapolation is needed to extend the various reference curves to match Ares-scale acoustic levels. This extrapolation process yields a subsequent amount of uncertainty added upon the acoustic environment predictions. As the Ares launch vehicle design schedule progresses, it is important to take every opportunity to lower prediction uncertainty and subsequently increase prediction accuracy. Never before in NASA s history has plume acoustics been measured for large scale solid rocket motors. Approximately twice a year, the RSRM prime vendor, ATK Launch Systems, static fires an assembled RSRM motor in a horizontal configuration at their test facility in Utah. The remaining RSRM static firings will take place on elevated terrain, with the nozzle exit plume being mostly undeflected and the landscape allowing placement of microphones within direct line of sight to the exhaust plume. These measurements will help assess the current extrapolation process by direct comparison between subscale and full scale solid rocket motor data.

Kenny, Jeremy↗

NASA NTRS2006

Materials

NASA Langley Research Center has successfully developed an electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3) process, a rapid metal deposition process that works efficiently with a variety of weldable alloys. The EBF3 process can be used to build a complex, unitized part in a layer-additive fashion, although the more immediate payoff is for use as a manufacturing process for adding details to components fabricated from simplified castings and forgings or plate products. The EBF3 process produces structural metallic parts with strengths comparable to that of wrought product forms and has been demonstrated on aluminum, titanium, and nickel-based alloys to date. The EBF3 process introduces metal wire feedstock into a molten pool that is created and sustained using a focused electron beam in a vacuum environment. Operation in a vacuum ensures a clean process environment and eliminates the need for a consumable shield gas. Advanced metal manufacturing methods such as EBF3 are being explored for fabrication and repair of aerospace structures, offering potential for improvements in cost, weight, and performance to enhance mission success for aircraft, launch vehicles, and spacecraft. Near-term applications of the EBF3 process are most likely to be implemented for cost reduction and lead time reduction through addition of details onto simplified preforms (casting or forging). This is particularly attractive for components with protruding details that would require a significantly large volume of material to be machined away from an oversized forging, offering significant reductions to the buy-to-fly ratio. Future far-term applications promise improved structural efficiency through reduced weight and improved performance by exploiting the layer-additive nature of the EBF3 process to fabricate tailored unitized structures with functionally graded microstructures and compositions.

Glaessgen, Edward H.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Design Limit Loads and Verification Approach for the TESS Observatory

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a NASA Explorer mission. The TESS Observatory is scheduled to launch on Falcon 9 in April 2018. This presentation covers the process used to define and update design limit loads for the observatory, instrument, and components throughout the life of the program. The limit loads that drove the need for a SoftRide isolation system are highlighted. The testing performed to qualify the observatory for launch loads at the instrument and observatory level is also detailed. In addition, exchanges with the launch vehicle provider in terms of loads predictions and hardware for test are discussed along with the associated issues encountered and lessons learned. The loads development and verification success on TESS was a team effort. Orbital ATK is the spacecraft provider, NASA GSFC provides project management and technical oversight, the instrument is managed by MIT Kavli Institute and the instrument cameras are built and tested by MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Since the instrument was designed in parallel with the spacecraft, the instrument design limit loads were developed in partnership with NASA and the instrument team. The three teams collaborated on a regular basis starting in the early design phase and continuing through observatory level testing.

Limit Loads↗

NASA NTRS2007

Global Environmental Micro Sensors Test Operations in the Natural Environment

ENSCO, Inc. is developing an innovative atmospheric observing system known as Global Environmental Micro Sensors (GEMS). The GEMS concept features an integrated system of miniaturized in situ, airborne probes measuring temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and vector wind velocity. In order for the probes to remain airborne for long periods of time, their design is based on a helium-filled super-pressure balloon. The GEMS probes are neutrally buoyant and carried passively by the wind at predetermined levels. Each probe contains onboard satellite communication, power generation, processing, and geolocation capabilities. ENSCO has partnered with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for a project called GEMS Test Operations in the Natural Environment (GEMSTONE) that will culminate with limited prototype flights of the system in spring 2007. By leveraging current advances in micro and nanotechnology, the probe mass, size, cost, and complexity can be reduced substantially so that large numbers of probes could be deployed routinely to support ground, launch, and landing operations at KSC and other locations. A full-scale system will improve the data density for the local initialization of high-resolution numerical weather prediction systems by at least an order of magnitude and provide a significantly expanded in situ data base to evaluate launch commit criteria and flight rules. When applied to launch or landing sites, this capability will reduce both weather hazards and weather-related scrubs, thus enhancing both safety and cost-avoidance for vehicles processed by the Shuttle, Launch Services Program, and Constellation Directorates. The GEMSTONE project will conclude with a field experiment in which 10 to 15 probes are released over KSC in east central Florida. The probes will be neutrally buoyant at different altitudes from 500 to 3000 meters and will report their position, speed, heading, temperature, humidity, and pressure via satellite. The GEMS data will be validated against reference observations provided by current weather instrumentation located at KSC. This paper will report on the results of the GEMSTONE project and discuss the challenges encountered in developing an airborne sensor system.

Adams, Mark L.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Maturation of Additive Manufactured Aerospace Alloys and Development of Mechanical and Thermophysical Properties for Space Applications

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been involved in the development and maturation of metal additive manufacturing (AM) for space applications since the late 2000’s. Several efforts have focused on the understanding of AM processes through design optimization, component fabrication, material characterization, testing, standards development, and infusion into propulsion development for flight applications. NASA and partners have matured commonly used aerospace alloys from various alloy families (Nickel, Steel, Iron, Aluminum, and Titanium) and AM processes. An extensive effort has been ongoing between NASA, industry partners, and academia to complete detailed AM process and heat treatment characterization, in addition to generating temperature-dependent mechanical and thermophysical properties. This presentation highlights the characterization and property results using laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) processes among various alloys. In addition to commonly used alloys, there is a need for ongoing AM optimized alloys using integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) and process development for high performance applications. The applications targeted are launch vehicles, liquid rocket engines, advanced propulsion systems, advanced power systems, and in-space propulsion with high heat fluxes, high pressure, and that utilize propellants such as hydrogen, which can degrade alloys. This presentation will also discuss some of the ongoing novel alloy development and maturation using AM for use in these harsh environments, such as GRCop-42, GRCop-84, NASA HR-1, and C-103. The results from these processes have demonstrated that AM can enable rapid development and new AM optimized alloys can yield higher performance. These alloys have undergone modeling, fundamental metallurgical evaluations, heat treatment studies, and microstructure characterization and mechanical testing campaigns. This, combined with direct application-specific component fabrication and hot-fire testing, can enable the increase of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) through high duty-cycle testing. This presentation provides a background and overview of these various common and AM-enabled alloys and processing developments including the initial effort related to metallurgical, mechanical, and thermophysical property studies. It also covers the latest advancement in the parallel component development, hot-fire testing, and future developments for these alloys.

Additive Manufacturing↗

NASA NTRS2022

Controlling Triboelectrification Effects on Spacecraft Ethernet Cabling

Triboelectric charging of a spacecraft and launch vehicles on ascent may occur due to the process of contact and separation between the vehicle skin and aerosols, dust, ice, water droplets, smoke, and other particulates encountered in the flight path. Depending on characteristics at the atomic and molecular levels of the vehicle skin’s surface and the substances and particulates encountered, electrical charge will transfer between the vehicle and the encountered substances, resulting in an accumulation of electrical charge on the vehicle skin. If the vehicle skin is conductive and electrically bonded such that in its entirety it presents an equipotential surface, then the accumulated electrical charge will spread in a nearly uniform manner leaving all regions with a nearly equal potential with respect to each other and the surrounding environment. Regions that are not electrically bonded as described, or surfaces that have resistivity values, can reach different potentials than the surrounding surfaces. When this happens, the differing potentials may grow to very large magnitudes, leading to electrostatic discharge events between the regions. As the vehicle rises in altitude, the breakdown potential between these regions of differing potential decreases commensurate with decreases in atmospheric density and pressure. If the potential differences between surfaces of the vehicle become equal to or exceed the breakdown potential, one or more discharge events may occur, each of them generating voltage and current transients that can easily damage or interfere with the designed operation of on-board electrical, avionic, and communications and navigation systems. This lesson learned discusses an in-flight anomaly caused by triboelectric discharge events and exacerbated by the lack of adequate cable shielding that affected flight computer communication links. Also discussed are mitigations to prevent this occurrence.

Ethernet↗

NASA NTRS2002

Physics of Colloids in Space: Microgravity Experiment Launched, Installed, and Activated on the International Space Station

The Physics of Colloids in Space (PCS) experiment is a Microgravity Fluids Physics investigation that is presently located in an Expedite the Process of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack on the International Space Station. PCS was launched to the International Space Station on April 19, 2001, activated on May 31, 2001, and will continue to operate about 90 hr per week through May 2002.

Doherty, Michael P.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Atmospheric Measurements by the 2002 Geoscience Laser Altimeter System Mission

The NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) program is a multiple platform NASA initiative for the study of global change. As part of the EOS project, the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) was selected as a laser sensor filling complementary requirements for several earth science disciplines including atmospheric and surface applications. Late in 2002, the GaAs instrument is to be launched for a three to five year observational mission. For the atmosphere, the instrument is designed to full fill comprehensive requirements for profiling of radiatively significant cloud and aerosol. Algorithms have been developed to process the cloud and aerosol data and provide standard data products. After launch there will be a three-month project to analyze and understand the system performance and accuracy of the data products. As an EOS mission, the GaAs measurements and data products will be openly available to all investigators. An overview of the instrument, data products and evaluation plan is given.

Spinhirne, James D.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Automated Hybridization of X-ray Absorber Elements-A Path to Large Format Microcalorimeter Arrays

In the design of microcalorimeters, it is often desirable to produce the X-ray absorber separately from the detector element. In this case, the attachment of the absorber to the detector element with the required thermal and mechanical characteristics is a major challenge. In such arrays, the attachment has been done by hand. This process is not easily extended to the large format arrays required for future X- ray astronomy missions such as the New x-ray Telescope or NeXT. In this paper we present an automated process for attaching absorber tiles to the surface of a large-scale X-ray detector array. The absorbers are attached with stycast epoxy to a thermally isolating polymer structure made of SU-8. SU-8 is a negative epoxy based photo resist produced by Microchem. We describe the fabrication of the X-ray absorbers and their suspension on a handle die in an adhesive matrix. We describe the production process for the polymer isolators on the detector elements. We have developed a new process for the alignment, and simultaneous bonding of the absorber tiles to an entire detector array. This process uses equipment and techniques used in the flip-chip bonding industry and approaches developed in the fabrication of the XRS-2 instrument. XRS-2 was an X-ray spectrometer that was launched on the Suzaku telescope in July 10, 2005. We describe the process and show examples of sample arrays produced by this process. Arrays with up to 300 elements have been bonded. The present tests have used dummy absorbers made of Si. In future work, we will demonstrate bonding of HgTe absorbers.

Moseley, S.↗

NASA NTRS2005

STS-114: Discovery Launch Readiness Press Conference

This press conference, attended by representatives from the national, Florida, and aerospace media, addresses launch, weather, and safety issues related to Space Shuttle Discovery prior to its launch on the STS-114 Return to Flight mission. The Master of Ceremonies is George Diller from NASA Public Affairs, and the panelists are: Space Shuttle Program Manager Bill Parsons, ISS Program Manager (JSC) Bill Gerstenmaier, Space Shuttle Deputy Program Manager Wayne Hale, Director of Shuttle Processing Mike Wetmore, ISS Program Manager (JAXA) Dr. Kuniaki Shiraki, and Launch Weather Officer (USAF) Mindy Chavez. Questions included the following topics: predicted weather conditions at launch, contingency rescue plans, countdown procedures, and risk management, as well as implications of the Return to Flight for the International Space Station (ISS).

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2019

Space Launch System and Missions to Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits

The first major evolution of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) will begin its flights starting in the mid-2020’s. This new configuration, called Block 1B, replaces the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage with a larger Exploration Upper Stage (EUS). The additional capability provided by the new upper stage will allow SLS to send heavier payloads into deep space. One destination of interest to the SLS program is called a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO). This is a type of lunar orbit with multiple advantages for deep space exploration. These benefits include Earth/lunar access, low station-keeping requirements, and high communication potential with Earth. Therefore, it is a leading candidate for the proposed Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G). This paper will provide a detailed assessment of the SLS Block 1B requirements and capabilities for sending payloads to an NRHO. Analysts at Marshall Space Flight Center are producing a multi-year mission availability scan for the SLS Block 1B configuration to a predefined NRHO orbit. The analysis produces an optimized trajectory for each day of the scan window. A maximized payload and minimized propellant requirement are determined for each day. All maneuvers from launch to the end of the Trans-Lunar-Injection (TLI) are being modeled as finite burns. Injections into an NRHO are being modeled as impulsive maneuvers. The payload element is arbitrary, but includes sufficient mass to represent a large habitat or propulsion module. The resulting parameters of payload capability, delta-v requirements, and launch windows length vary over the course of the scan. Many launch days in the scan are eliminated in post-processing as they violate mission constraints such as payload mass and propellant usage to insert into an NRHO. Based off previous one-year scan results for the SLS Block 1B Design Analysis Cycle 2 (DAC-2), it is expected that there will be one to three days per week where the payload is able to insert into an NRHO within SLS constraints objectives. This scan provides results for longer than one-year, allowing analysts to better understand the launch availability and energy requirements of SLS Block 1B over time. The in-space mission design and scans utilize Copernicus, an n-body trajectory optimization tool originally developed out of the University of Texas at Austin with further development at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. To seed the in-space trajectory, Copernicus uses a plugin to call a database of SLS ascent trajectories optimized in the Program to Simulate Optimized Trajectories II (POST2). The ascent trajectories are developed using a framework that parametrizes payload mass and LEO inclination, and targets a 100 nmi (nautical mile) altitude circular parking orbit. Though this analysis is specific to the SLS program, it will provide a summary of mission design benefits and constraints associated with generic NRHO access, and may be applied to other programs or concepts that will utilize this orbit.

Statham, T. L.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Contamination on LDEF: Sources, distribution, and history

An introduction to contamination effects observed on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) is presented. The activities reported are part of Boeing's obligation to the LDEF Materials Special Investigation Group. The contamination films and particles had minimal influence on the thermal performance of the LDEF. Some specific areas did have large changes in optical properties. Films also interfered with recession rate determination by reacting with the oxygen or physically shielding underlying material. Generally, contaminant films lessen the measured recession rate relative to 'clean' surfaces. On orbit generation of particles may be an issue for sensitive optics. Deposition on lenses may lead to artifacts on photographic images or cause sensors to respond inappropriately. Particles in the line of sight of sensors can cause stray light to be scattered into sensors. Particles also represent a hazard for mechanisms in that they can physically block and/or increase friction or wear on moving surfaces. LDEF carried a rather complex mixture of samples and support hardware into orbit. The experiments were assembled under a variety of conditions and time constraints and stored for up to five years before launch. The structure itself was so large that it could not be baked after the interior was painted with chemglaze Z-306 polyurethane based black paint. Any analysis of the effects of molecular and particulate contamination must account for a complex array of sources, wide variation in processes over time, and extreme variation in environment from ground to launch to flight. Surface conditions at certain locations on LDEF were established by outgassing of molecular species from particular materials onto adjacent surfaces, followed by alteration of those species due to exposure to atomic oxygen and/or solar radiation.

Pippin, Gary↗

NASA NTRS2003

Unexplained Discontinuity in the US Radiosonde Temperature Data: Stratosphere - Part 2

In part I of this paper, the United States (US) radiosonde temperature data are shown to have significant and unexplained inhomogeneities in the mid-troposphere. This part discusses the differences between observations taken at 0 and 12 UTC especially in the stratosphere by the Vaisala RS80 radiosondes that are integrated within the National Weather Service's (NWS) Micro-ART system. The results show that there is a large maxima in the horizontal distribution of the monthly means of the 0/12 UTC differences over the central US that is absent over Canada and this maxima is as large as 5 C at 10 hPa. The vertical profiles of the root-mean-square of the monthly means are much larger in the US than those else where. The data clearly shows that the 0/12 UTC differences are largely artificial especially over the central US and originate in the post processing software at observing stations, thus confirming the findings in part I. Special flight data from the NWS's test facility at Sterling, Va. have been obtained. This data can be used to deduce the bias correction applied by Vaisala's post processing system. By analyzing the correction data, it can be shown that the inconsistencies with non-US Vaisala RS80 data as well as most of the large 0/12 UTC differences over the US can be accounted for by multiplying the reported elapsed time (i.e. time since launch) by the factor which is incorrectly applied by the post processing software. After being presented with the findings in this paper, Vaisala further isolated the source of the inconsistencies to a software coding error in the radiation bias correction scheme. The error effects only the software installed at US stations.

Redder, Christopher R.↗

NASA NTRS2017

VIIRS Thermal Emissive Bands L1B Calibration Uncertainty

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a key instrument on-board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) spacecraft. The S-NPP launched in October 2011 and it has been collecting valuable Earth science data with VIIRS and four other instruments for more than five years. The VIIRS Characterization Support Team (VCST) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS) is designed to support the VIIRS sensor pre-launch geometric and radiometric characterization and to access on-orbit long-term Level-1B (L1B) calibration and performance. This paper reviews the VIIRS thermal emissive bands (TEB), covering wavelengths from 3.7 to 12.0 μm, L1B radiometric calibration algorithms and presents the calibration uncertainty methodology which will be implanted in the L1B processing software. Discussions will be focused on the key uncertainty parameters and the application in L1B.

S-NPP VIIRS TEB Uncertainty↗

NASA NTRS2008

Pre-Launch Algorithms and Risk Reduction in Support of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper for GOES-R and Beyond

The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is a single channel, near-IR optical transient event detector, used to detect, locate and measure total lightning activity over the full-disk as part of a 3-axis stabilized, geostationary weather satellite system. The next generation NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) series with a planned launch in 2014 will carry a GLM that will provide continuous day and night observations of lightning from the west coast of Africa (GOES-E) to New Zealand (GOES-W) when the constellation is fully operational. The mission objectives for the GLM are to 1) provide continuous,full-disk lightning measurements for storm warning and Nowcasting, 2) provide early warning of tornado activity, and 3) accumulate a long-term database to track decadal changes of lightning. The GLM owes its heritage to the NASA Lightning Imaging Sensor (1997-Present) and the Optical Transient Detector (1995-2000), which were developed for the Earth Observing System and have produced a combined 13 year data record of global lightning activity. Instrument formulation studies were completed in March 2007 and the implementation phase to develop a prototype model and up to four flight units is expected to begin in latter part of the year. In parallel with the instrument development, a GOES-R Risk Reduction Team and Algorithm Working Group Lightning Applications Team have begun to develop the Level 2B algorithms and applications. Proxy total lightning data from the NASA Lightning Imaging Sensor on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite and regional test beds (e.g., Lightning Mapping Arrays in North Alabama and the Washington DC Metropolitan area) are being used to develop the pre-launch algorithms and applications, and also improve our knowledge of thunderstorm initiation and evolution. Real time lightning mapping data provided to selected National Weather Service forecast offices in Southern and Eastern Region are also improving our understanding of the application of these data in the severe storm warning process and help to accelerate the development of the pre-launch algorithms and Nowcasting applications.

Goodman, Steven↗

NASA NTRS2008

Pre-Launch Algorithms and Risk Reduction in Support of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper for GOES-R and Beyond

The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is a single channel, near-IR optical transient event detector, used to detect, locate and measure total lightning activity over the full-disk as part of a 3-axis stabilized, geostationary weather satellite system. The next generation NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) series with a planned launch in 2014 will carry a GLM that will provide continuous day and night observations of lightning from the west coast of Africa (GOES-E) to New Zealand (GOES-W) when the constellation is fully operational.The mission objectives for the GLM are to 1) provide continuous,full-disk lightning measurements for storm warning and Nowcasting, 2) provide early warning of tornadic activity, and 3) accumulate a long-term database to track decadal changes of lightning. The GLM owes its heritage to the NASA Lightning Imaging Sensor (1997-Present) and the Optical Transient Detector (1995-2000), which were developed for the Earth Observing System and have produced a combined 13 year data record of global lightning activity. Instrument formulation studies were completed in March 2007 and the implementation phase to develop a prototype model and up to four flight units is expected to begin in latter part of the year. In parallel with the instrument development, a GOES-R Risk Reduction Team and Algorithm Working Group Lightning Applications Team have begun to develop the Level 2B algorithms and applications. Proxy total lightning data from the NASA Lightning Imaging Sensor on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) sate]lite and regional test beds (e.g., Lightning Mapping Arrays in North Alabama and the Washington DC Metropolitan area) are being used to develop the pre-launch algorithms and applications, and also improve our knowledge of thunderstorm initiation and evolution. Real time lightning mapping data provided to selected National Weather Service forecast offices in Southern and Eastern Region are also improving our understanding of the application of these data in the severe storm warning process and help to accelerate the development of the pre-launch algorithms and Nowcasting applications. Abstract for the 3 rd Conference on Meteorological

Goodman, Steven↗

NASA NTRS2004

The Perfect Mate for Safe Fueling

Referred to as the "lifeline for any space launch vehicle" by NASA Space Launch Initiative Program Manager Warren Wiley, an umbilical is a large device that transports power, communications, instrument readings, and fluids such as propellants, pressurization gases, and coolants from one source to another. Numerous launch vehicles, planetary systems, and rovers require umbilical "mating". This process is a driving factor for dependable and affordable space access. With future-generation space vehicles in mind, NASA recently designed a smart, automated method for quickly and reliably mating and demating electrical and fluid umbilical connectors. The new umbilical concept is expected to replace NASA s traditional umbilical systems that release at vehicle lift-off (T-0). The idea is to increase safety by automatically performing hazardous tasks, thus reducing potential failure modes and the time and labor hours necessary to prepare for launch. The new system will also be used as a test bed for quick disconnect development and for advance control and leak detection. It incorporates concepts such as a secondary mate plate, robotic machine vision, and compliant motor motion control, and is destined to advance usage of automated umbilicals in a variety of aerospace and commercial applications.

Source record↗