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NASA NTRS2011

Integration of In-Flight and Post-Flight Water Monitoring Resources in Addressing the U.S. Water Processor Assembly Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Anomaly

Beginning in June of 2010, the total organic carbon (TOC) concentration in the U.S. Water Processor Assembly (WPA) product water started to increase. A surprisingly consistent upward TOC trend was observed through weekly ISS total organic carbon analyzer (TOCA) monitoring. As TOC is a general organic compound indicator, return of water archive samples was needed to make better-informed crew health decisions on the specific compounds of concern and to aid in WPA troubleshooting. TOCA-measured TOC was more than halfway to the health-based screening limit of 3,000 g/L before archive samples were returned. Archive samples were returned on 22 Soyuz in September 2010 and on ULF5 in November of 2010. The samples were subjected to extensive analysis. Although TOC was confirmed to be elevated, somewhat surprisingly, none of the typical target compounds were detected at high levels. After some solid detective work, it was confirmed that the TOC was associated with a compound known as dimethylsilanediol (DMSD). DMSD is believed to be a breakdown product of siloxanes which are thought to be ubiquitous in the ISS atmosphere. A toxicological limit was set for DMSD and a forward plan was developed for conducting operations in the context of understanding the composition of the TOC measured in flight. This required careful consideration of existing ISS flight rules, coordination with ISS stakeholders, and development of a novel approach for the blending of inflight TOCA data with archive results to protect crew health. Among other challenges, team members had to determine how to utilize TOCA readings when making decisions about crew consumption of WPA water. This involved balancing very real concerns associated with the assumption that TOC would continue to be comprised of only DMSD. Demonstrated teamwork, multidisciplinary awareness, and innovative problem-solving were required to respond effectively to this anomaly.

Straub, John E., II↗
NASA NTRS2010

The ICARE Method

The ICARE method is a flexible, widely applicable method for systems engineers to solve problems and resolve issues in a complete and comprehensive manner. The method can be tailored by diverse users for direct application to their function (e.g. system integrators, design engineers, technical discipline leads, analysts, etc.). The clever acronym, ICARE, instills the attitude of accountability, safety, technical rigor and engagement in the problem resolution: Identify, Communicate, Assess, Report, Execute (ICARE). This method was developed through observation of Space Shuttle Propulsion Systems Engineering and Integration (PSE&I) office personnel approach in an attempt to succinctly describe the actions of an effective systems engineer. Additionally it evolved from an effort to make a broadly-defined checklist for a PSE&I worker to perform their responsibilities in an iterative and recursive manner. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Systems Engineering Handbook states, engineering of NASA systems requires a systematic and disciplined set of processes that are applied recursively and iteratively for the design, development, operation, maintenance, and closeout of systems throughout the life cycle of the programs and projects. ICARE is a method that can be applied within the boundaries and requirements of NASA s systems engineering set of processes to provide an elevated sense of duty and responsibility to crew and vehicle safety. The importance of a disciplined set of processes and a safety-conscious mindset increases with the complexity of the system. Moreover, the larger the system and the larger the workforce, the more important it is to encourage the usage of the ICARE method as widely as possible. According to the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook, elements of a system can include people, hardware, software, facilities, policies and documents; all things required to produce system-level results, qualities, properties, characteristics, functions, behavior and performance. The ICARE method can be used to improve all elements of a system and, consequently, the system-level functional, physical and operational performance. Even though ICARE was specifically designed for a systems engineer, any person whose job is to examine another person, product, or process can use the ICARE method to improve effectiveness, implementation, usefulness, value, capability, efficiency, integration, design, and/or marketability. This paper provides the details of the ICARE method, emphasizing the method s application to systems engineering. In addition, a sample of other, non-systems engineering applications are briefly discussed to demonstrate how ICARE can be tailored to a variety of diverse jobs (from project management to parenting).

Henke, Luke↗
NASA NTRS2010

Selected KSC Applied Physics Lab Responses to Shuttle Processing Measurement Requests

The KSC Applied Physics Lab has been supporting Shuttle Ground Processing for over 20 years by solving problems brought to us by Shuttle personnel. Roughly half of the requests to our lab have been to find ways to make measurements, or to improve on an existing measurement process. This talk will briefly cover: 1) Centering the aft end of the External Tank between the Solid Rocket Boosters; 2) Positioning the GOX Vent Hood over the External Tank; 3) Remote Measurements of External Tank Damage; 4) Strain Measurement in the Orbiter Sling; and 5) Over-center Distance Measurement in an Over-center Mechanism.

Youngquist, Robert C.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Crowd Sourcing for Challenging Technical Problems and Business Model

Crowd sourcing may be defined as the act of outsourcing tasks that are traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to an undefined, generally large group of people or community (a crowd) in the form of an open call. The open call may be issued by an organization wishing to find a solution to a particular problem or complete a task, or by an open innovation service provider on behalf of that organization. In 2008, the Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD), with the support of Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering, established and implemented pilot projects in open innovation (crowd sourcing) to determine if these new internet-based platforms could indeed find solutions to difficult technical challenges. These unsolved technical problems were converted to problem statements, also called "Challenges" or "Technical Needs" by the various open innovation service providers, and were then posted externally to seek solutions. In addition, an open call was issued internally to NASA employees Agency wide (10 Field Centers and NASA HQ) using an open innovation service provider crowd sourcing platform to post NASA challenges from each Center for the others to propose solutions). From 2008 to 2010, the SLSD issued 34 challenges, 14 externally and 20 internally. The 14 external problems or challenges were posted through three different vendors: InnoCentive, Yet2.com and TopCoder. The 20 internal challenges were conducted using the InnoCentive crowd sourcing platform designed for internal use by an organization. This platform was customized for NASA use and promoted as NASA@Work. The results were significant. Of the seven InnoCentive external challenges, two full and five partial awards were made in complex technical areas such as predicting solar flares and long-duration food packaging. Similarly, the TopCoder challenge yielded an optimization algorithm for designing a lunar medical kit. The Yet2.com challenges yielded many new industry and academic contacts in bone imaging, microbial detection and even the use of pharmaceuticals for radiation protection. The internal challenges through NASA@Work drew over 6000 participants across all NASA centers. Challenges conducted by each NASA center elicited ideas and solutions from several other NASA centers and demonstrated rapid and efficient participation from employees at multiple centers to contribute to problem solving. Finally, on January 19, 2011, the SLSD conducted a workshop on open collaboration and innovation strategies and best practices through the newly established NASA Human Health and Performance Center (NHHPC). Initial projects will be described leading to a new business model for SLSD.

Davis, Jeffrey R.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Suborbital Research and Development Opportunities

This slide presentation reviews the new strategies for problem solving in the life sciences in the suborbital realm. Topics covered are: an overview of the space life sciences, the strategic initiatives that the Space Life Sciences organization engaged in, and the new business model that these initiatives were developed. Several opportunities for research are also reviewed.

Davis, Jeffrey R.↗
NASA NTRS2011

NASA's Applied Sciences for Water Resources

The Earth Systems Division within NASA has the primary responsibility for the Earth Science Applied Science Program and the objective to accelerate the use of NASA science results in applications to help solve problems important to society and the economy. The primary goal of the Earth Science Applied Science Program is to improve future and current operational systems by infusing them with scientific knowledge of the Earth system gained through space-based observation, assimilation of new observations, and development and deployment of enabling technologies, systems, and capabilities. This paper discusses one of the major problems facing water resources managers, that of having timely and accurate data to drive their decision support tools. It then describes how NASA?s science and space based satellites may be used to overcome this problem. Opportunities for the water resources community to participate in NASA?s Water Resources Applications Program are described.

Doorn, Bradley↗
NASA NTRS2011

NASA'S Water Resources Element Within the Applied Sciences Program

The NASA Earth Systems Division has the primary responsibility for the Applied Science Program and the objective to accelerate the use of NASA science results in applications to help solve problems important to society and the economy. The primary goal of the NASA Applied Science Program is to improve future and current operational systems by infusing them with scientific knowledge of the Earth system gained through space-based observation, assimilation of new observations, and development and deployment of enabling technologies, systems, and capabilities. This paper discusses major problems facing water resources managers, including having timely and accurate data to drive their decision support tools. It then describes how NASA's science and space based satellites may be used to overcome this problem. Opportunities for the water resources community to participate in NASA's Water Resources Applications Program are described.

Toll, David↗
NASA NTRS2011

Leveraging M and S in Soft Skills Training for the DoD

Soft skills, also called "people skills," are typically hard to observe, quantify and measure. These skills have to do with how we relate to each other; communicating, listening, engaging in dialogue, giving feedback, cooperating as a team member, solving problems and resolving conflicts. Most of the soft skills training is scenario based, utilizing written or video-based scenarios. with limited or no branching, as well as quantitative feedback. This paper will outline a game-based approach to configurable, scenario-based, soft skills training. The paper will discuss the application of realistic visual behavior cues (e.g. body language, vocal inflection, facial expressions) and how these can benefit the learner. Using the concept of a "virtual vignette" this paper will discuss a prototype system intended to leach suicide prevention and provide qualitative feedback to the learner. The paper will also explore other soft skills training applications for this technology

Cimino, James D.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Modeling Flight: The Role of Dynamically Scaled Free-Flight Models in Support of NASA's Aerospace Programs

The state of the art in aeronautical engineering has been continually accelerated by the development of advanced analysis and design tools. Used in the early design stages for aircraft and spacecraft, these methods have provided a fundamental understanding of physical phenomena and enabled designers to predict and analyze critical characteristics of new vehicles, including the capability to control or modify unsatisfactory behavior. For example, the relatively recent emergence and routine use of extremely powerful digital computer hardware and software has had a major impact on design capabilities and procedures. Sophisticated new airflow measurement and visualization systems permit the analyst to conduct micro- and macro-studies of properties within flow fields on and off the surfaces of models in advanced wind tunnels. Trade studies of the most efficient geometrical shapes for aircraft can be conducted with blazing speed within a broad scope of integrated technical disciplines, and the use of sophisticated piloted simulators in the vehicle development process permits the most important segment of operations the human pilot to make early assessments of the acceptability of the vehicle for its intended mission. Knowledgeable applications of these tools of the trade dramatically reduce risk and redesign, and increase the marketability and safety of new aerospace vehicles. Arguably, one of the more viable and valuable design tools since the advent of flight has been testing of subscale models. As used herein, the term "model" refers to a physical article used in experimental analyses of a larger full-scale vehicle. The reader is probably aware that many other forms of mathematical and computer-based models are also used in aerospace design; however, such topics are beyond the intended scope of this document. Model aircraft have always been a source of fascination, inspiration, and recreation for humans since the earliest days of flight. Within the scientific community, Leonardo da Vinci, George Cayley, and the Wright brothers are examples of early aviation pioneers who frequently used models during their scientific efforts to understand and develop flying machines. Progress in the technology associated with model testing in worldwide applications has firmly established model aircraft as a key element in new aerospace research and development programs. Models are now routinely used in many applications and roles, including aerodynamic data gathering in wind tunnel investigations for the analysis of full-scale aircraft designs, proof-of-concept demonstrators for radical aeronautical concepts, and problem-solving exercises for vehicles already in production. The most critical contributions of aerospace models are to provide confidence and risk reduction for new designs and to enhance the safety and efficiency of existing configurations.

Chambers, Joseph↗
NASA NTRS2005

Fuzzy Logic Engine

The Fuzzy Logic Engine is a software package that enables users to embed fuzzy-logic modules into their application programs. Fuzzy logic is useful as a means of formulating human expert knowledge and translating it into software to solve problems. Fuzzy logic provides flexibility for modeling relationships between input and output information and is distinguished by its robustness with respect to noise and variations in system parameters. In addition, linguistic fuzzy sets and conditional statements allow systems to make decisions based on imprecise and incomplete information. The user of the Fuzzy Logic Engine need not be an expert in fuzzy logic: it suffices to have a basic understanding of how linguistic rules can be applied to the user's problem. The Fuzzy Logic Engine is divided into two modules: (1) a graphical-interface software tool for creating linguistic fuzzy sets and conditional statements and (2) a fuzzy-logic software library for embedding fuzzy processing capability into current application programs. The graphical- interface tool was developed using the Tcl/Tk programming language. The fuzzy-logic software library was written in the C programming language.

Howard, Ayanna↗
NASA NTRS2011

Multi-Scale Hydrometeorological Modeling, Land Data Assimilation and Parameter Estimation with the Land Information System

The Land Information System (LIS; http://lis.gsfc.nasa.gov) is a flexible land surface modeling framework that has been developed with the goal of integrating satellite-and ground-based observational data products and advanced land surface modeling techniques to produce optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes. As such, LIS represents a step towards the next generation land component of an integrated Earth system model. In recognition of LIS object-oriented software design, use and impact in the land surface and hydrometeorological modeling community, the LIS software was selected as a co-winner of NASA?s 2005 Software of the Year award.LIS facilitates the integration of observations from Earth-observing systems and predictions and forecasts from Earth System and Earth science models into the decision-making processes of partnering agency and national organizations. Due to its flexible software design, LIS can serve both as a Problem Solving Environment (PSE) for hydrologic research to enable accurate global water and energy cycle predictions, and as a Decision Support System (DSS) to generate useful information for application areas including disaster management, water resources management, agricultural management, numerical weather prediction, air quality and military mobility assessment. LIS has e volved from two earlier efforts -- North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) that focused primarily on improving numerical weather prediction skills by improving the characterization of the land surface conditions. Both of GLDAS and NLDAS now use specific configurations of the LIS software in their current implementations.In addition, LIS was recently transitioned into operations at the US Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) to ultimately replace their Agricultural Meteorology (AGRMET) system, and is also used routinely by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) for their land data assimilation systems to support weather and climate modeling. LIS not only consolidates the capabilities of these two systems, but also enables a much larger variety of configurations with respect to horizontal spatial resolution, input datasets and choice of land surface model through "plugins". LIS has been coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to support studies of land-atmosphere coupling be enabling ensembles of land surface states to be tested against multiple representations of the atmospheric boundary layer. LIS has also been demonstrated for parameter estimation, who showed that the use of sequential remotely sensed soil moisture products can be used to derive soil hydraulic and texture properties given a sufficient dynamic range in the soil moisture retrievals and accurate precipitation inputs.LIS has also recently been demonstrated for multi-model data assimilation using an Ensemble Kalman Filter for sequential assimilation of soil moisture, snow, and temperature.Ongoing work has demonstrated the value of bias correction as part of the filter, and also that of joint calibration and assimilation.Examples and case studies demonstrating the capabilities and impacts of LIS for hydrometeorological modeling, assimilation and parameter estimation will be presented as advancements towards the next generation of integrated observation and modeling systems

Peters-Lidard, Christa D.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Best-Fit Conic Approximation of Spacecraft Trajectory

A computer program calculates a best conic fit of a given spacecraft trajectory. Spacecraft trajectories are often propagated as conics onboard. The conic-section parameters as a result of the best-conic-fit are uplinked to computers aboard the spacecraft for use in updating predictions of the spacecraft trajectory for operational purposes. In the initial application for which this program was written, there is a requirement to fit a single conic section (necessitated by onboard memory constraints) accurate within 200 microradians to a sequence of positions measured over a 4.7-hour interval. The present program supplants a prior one that could not cover the interval with fewer than four successive conic sections. The present program is based on formulating the best-fit conic problem as a parameter-optimization problem and solving the problem numerically, on the ground, by use of a modified steepest-descent algorithm. For the purpose of this algorithm, optimization is defined as minimization of the maximum directional propagation error across the fit interval. In the specific initial application, the program generates a single 4.7-hour conic, the directional propagation of which is accurate to within 34 microradians easily exceeding the mission constraints by a wide margin.

Singh, Gurkipal↗
NASA NTRS2011

An Earthling to an Astronaut: Medical Challenges

Humans can travel safely into space in low Earth orbit (LEO) or to near-Earth objects if several medical, physiological, environmental, and human factors issues risks are mitigated. Research must be performed in order to set standards in these four areas, and current NASA standards are contained in the Space Flight Human System Standards volumes 1 and 2, and crew medical certification standards. These three sets of standards drive all of the clinical, biomedical research and environmental technology development for the NASA human space flight program. These standards also drive the identification of specific risks to crew health and safety, and we currently manage 65 human system risks within the human space flight program. Each risk has a specific program of research, technology development, and development of operational procedures to mitigate the risks. Some of the more important risks tat will be discussed in this talk include exposure to radiation, behavioral health due to confinement in a closed cabin, physiological changes such as loss of bone, muscle and exercise capability, reduction in immune system capability, environmental threats of maintaining an adequate atmosphere and water for drinking, avoidance of toxic or infectious material, protection of hearing, and human factors issues of equipment and task design. A nutritious and varied food supply must also be provided. All of these risks will be discussed and current strategies for mitigating these risks for long-duration human space flight. In mitigating these 65 human system risks, novel approaches to problem solving must be employed to find the most appropriate research and technology based applications. Some risk mitigations are developed internally to NASA while others are found through research grants, technology procurements, and more recently open innovation techniques to seek solutions from the global technical community. Examples and results will be presented from all of these approaches including the more recent use of prizes to stimulate innovation.

Davis, Jeffrey R.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Expert Seeker

Expert Seeker is a computer program of the knowledge-management-system (KMS) type that falls within the category of expertise-locator systems. The main goal of the KMS system implemented by Expert Seeker is to organize and distribute knowledge of who are the domain experts within and without a given institution, company, or other organization. The intent in developing this KMS was to enable the re-use of organizational knowledge and provide a methodology for querying existing information (including structured, semistructured, and unstructured information) in a way that could help identify organizational experts. More specifically, Expert Seeker was developed to make it possible, by use of an intranet, to do any or all of the following: Assist an employee in identifying who has the skills needed for specific projects and to determine whether the experts so identified are available. Assist managers in identifying employees who may need training opportunities. Assist managers in determining what expertise is lost when employees retire or otherwise leave. Facilitate the development of new ways of identifying opportunities for innovation and minimization of duplicated efforts. Assist employees in achieving competitive advantages through the application of knowledge-management concepts and related systems. Assist external organizations in requesting speakers for specific engagements or determining from whom they might be able to request help via electronic mail. Help foster an environment of collaboration for rapid development in today's environment, in which it is increasingly necessary to assemble teams of experts from government, universities, research laboratories, and industries, to quickly solve problems anytime, anywhere. Make experts more visible. Provide a central repository of information about employees, including information that, heretofore, has typically not been captured by the human-resources systems (e.g., information about past projects, patents, or hobbies). Unify myriad collections of data into Web-enabled repository that could easily be searched for relevant data.

Fernandez, Becerra↗
NASA NTRS2005

Research Needs in Electrostatics for Lunar and Mars Space Missions

The new space exploratory vision announced by President Bush on January 14, 2004, initiated new activities at the National Science and Space Administration (NASA) for human space missions to further explore our solar system. NASA is undertaking Lunar exploration to support sustained human and robotic exploration of Mars and beyond. A series of robotic missions to the Moon by 2008 to prepare for human exploration as early as 2015 but no later than 2020 are anticipated. In a similar way, missions to the Moon and Mars are being planned in Europe, Japan and Russia. These space missions will require international participation to solve problems in a number of important technological areas where research is needed, including biomedical risk mitigation as well as life support and habitability on the surface of Mars. Mitigation of dust hazards is one of the most important problems to be resolved for both Lunar and Mars missions. Both Lunar and Martian regolith are unique materials and completely different from the terrestrial soils that we are exposed to on earth. The total absence of water and an atmosphere on the moon and the formation of soil and fine dust by micrometeorite impacts over billions of years resulted in a layer of soil with unique properties. The soil is primarily basaltic in composition with a high glass concentration. The depth of the soil layer varies from a few meters in the mare areas (dark areas on the Lunar near side) to tens of meters in the highland areas (the lighter mountainous areas) and the particle size distribution of this dust layer varies widely with a major mass fraction less than 10 micrometer in diameter. The hard soil from the moon which has been extensively studied by several researchers showed clearly unique properties of Lunar soil. Apollo astronauts became aware of the potentially serious threat to crew health and mission hardware that can be caused by the lunar dust. As reported by McKay and Carrier the mass fraction of the lunar dust with particle diameter smaller than 20p.m probably represents up to 30% of the total mass of regolith. Apollo astronaut Dr. Harrison Schmidt reported that these fine dust particles were clinging to the Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits and to the visors and were limiting the activity on the surface of the moon. The dust particles that were transported with the EVA suits into the lunar module floated throughout the cabin. Crews inhaled the dust particles and noted that they smelled like gun smoke, caused a chocking sensation in the throat and eye irritation. In addition,, some of the mechanical systems were not functioning well because of the dust deposition. It appeared that the dust particles are highly charged electrostatically and Dr. Schmidt noted that future successful Lunar missions will require appropriate dust mitigation technology for protecting astronauts from inhaling toxic particles and mission's life supporting equipment from contamination with the dust particles.

Calle, Carlos I.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Biomimetics and the Development of Humanlike Robots as the Ultimate Challenge

Evolution led to effective solutions to nature's challenges and they were improved over millions of years. Humans have always made efforts to use nature as a model for innovation and problems solving. These efforts became more intensive in recent years where systematic studies of nature are being made towards better understanding and applying more sophisticated capabilities. Making humanlike robots, including the appearance, functions and intelligence, poses the ultimate challenges to biomimetics. For many years, making such robots was considered science fiction, but as a result of significant advances in biologically inspired technologies, such robots are increasingly becoming an engineering reality. There are already humanlike robots that walk, talk, interpret speech, make eye-contact and facial expressions, as well as perform many other humanlike functions. In this paper, the state-of-the-art of humanlike robots, potential applications and issues of concern will be reviewed.

humanlike↗
NASA NTRS2012

Shuttle Transportation System Case-Study Development

A case-study collection was developed for NASA's Space Shuttle Program. Using lessons learned and documented by NASA KSC engineers, analysts, and contractors, decades of information related to processing and launching the Space Shuttle was gathered into a single database. The goal was to provide educators with an alternative means to teach real-world engineering processes and to enhance critical thinking, decision making, and problem solving skills. Suggested formats were created to assist both external educators and internal NASA employees to develop and contribute their own case-study reports to share with other educators and students. Via group project, class discussion, or open-ended research format, students will be introduced to the unique decision making process related to Shuttle missions and development. Teaching notes, images, and related documents will be made accessible to the public for presentation of Space Shuttle reports. Lessons investigated included the engine cutoff (ECO) sensor anomaly which occurred during mission STS-114. Students will be presented with general mission infom1ation as well as an explanation of ECO sensors. The project will conclude with the design of a website that allows for distribution of information to the public as well as case-study report submissions from other educators online.

Ransom, Khadijah↗
NASA NTRS2011

Smackdown: Adventures in Simulation Standards and Interoperability

The paucity of existing employer-driven simulation education and the need for workers broadly trained in Modeling & Simulation (M&S) poses a critical need that the simulation community as a whole must address. This paper will describe how this need became an impetus for a new inter-university activity that allows students to learn about simulation by doing it. The event, called Smackdown, was demonstrated for the first time in April at the Spring Simulation Multi-conference. Smackdown is an adventure in international cooperation. Students and faculty took part from the US and Europe supported by IEEE/SISO standards, industry software and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) content of are supply mission to the Moon. The developers see Smackdown providing all participants with a memorable, interactive, problem-solving experience, which can contribute, importantly to the workforce of the future. This is part of the larger need to increase undergraduate education in simulation and could be a prime candidate for senior design projects.

Elfrey, Priscilla R.↗