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NASA NTRS2003

Applications of UAVs for Remote Sensing of Critical Infrastructure

The surveillance of critical facilities and national infrastructure such as waterways, roadways, pipelines and utilities requires advanced technological tools to provide timely, up to date information on structure status and integrity. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are uniquely suited for these tasks, having large payload and long duration capabilities. UAVs also have the capability to fly dangerous and dull missions, orbiting for 24 hours over a particular area or facility providing around the clock surveillance with no personnel onboard. New UAV platforms and systems are becoming available for commercial use. High altitude platforms are being tested for use in communications, remote sensing, agriculture, forestry and disaster management. New payloads are being built and demonstrated onboard the UAVs in support of these applications. Smaller, lighter, lower power consumption imaging systems are currently being tested over coffee fields to determine yield and over fires to detect fire fronts and hotspots. Communication systems that relay video, meteorological and chemical data via satellite to users on the ground in real-time have also been demonstrated. Interest in this technology for infrastructure characterization and mapping has increased dramatically in the past year. Many of the UAV technological developments required for resource and disaster monitoring are being used for the infrastructure and facility mapping activity. This paper documents the unique contributions from NASA;s Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program to these applications. ERAST is a UAV technology development effort by a consortium of private aeronautical companies and NASA. Details of demonstrations of UAV capabilities currently underway are also presented.

Wegener, Steve↗

NASA NTRS2008

ESMD Space Grant Faculty Report

The strength of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate ESMD Faculty Project lies in its ability to meet National Aeronautics Space Administration NASA's Strategic Educational Outcome 1 by developing a sustainable and long-term integration of student involvement at academic institutions with all NASA Centers. This outcome is achieved by a three-fold approach: 1) by collecting Senior Design projects pertaining to Constellation work performed at each of the ten NASA Centers, 2) by engaging students at Minority Serving Institutions in the art of systems engineering and systems design of technologies required for space exploration, and 3) by identifying potential internships at each Center relative to exploration that provide students who are supported by their institutional Space Grant to engage in on-going mission-level and explorative systems designs. The objectives of the ESMD Faculty Project are to: 1. Aid the Centers (both Education Offices and associated technical organizations) in providing relevant opportunities for the ESMD Space Grant Program to support student and faculty in Senior Design projects 2. Enable better matches between the ESMD work required and what the Space Grant Consortia can do to effectively contribute to NASA programs 3. Provide the Space Grant Consortia an opportunity to strengthen relations with the NASA Centers 4. Develop better collective understanding of the U.S. Space Exploration Policy by the Center, Space Grant, faculty, Education Office, and students 5. Enable Space Grant institution faculty to better prepare their students to meet current and future NASA needs 6. Enable the Center Education Offices to strengthen their ties to their technical organizations and Space Grant Consortia 7. Aid KSC in gaining a greater and more detailed understanding of each of the Center activities Senior Design projects are intended to stimulate undergraduate students on current NASA activities related to lunar, Mars, and other planetary missions and to bring out innovative and novel ideas that can be used to complement those currently under development at respective NASA Centers. Additionally, such academic involvement would better the prospects for graduating seniors to pursue graduate studies and to seek careers in the space industry with a strong sense for systems engineering and understanding of design concepts. Internships, on the other hand, are intended to provide hands-on experience to students by engaging them in diverse state-of-the-art technology development, prototype bread-boarding, computer modeling and simulations, hardware and software testing, and other activities that provide students a strong perspective of NASA's vision and mission in enhancing the knowledge of Earth and space planetary sciences. Ten faculty members, each from a Space Grant Consortium-affiliated university, worked at ten NASA Centers for five weeks between June 2 and July 3, 2008. The project objectives listed above were achieved. In addition to collecting data on Senior Design ideas and identifying possible internships that would benefit NASA/ESMD, the faculty fellows promoted and collected data when required for other ESMD-funded programs and helped the Center's Education Office, as,needed. 4

Guo, Jiang↗

NASA NTRS1997

Minority Universities Systems Engineering (MUSE) Program at the University of Texas at El Paso

In 1995, The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) responded to the suggestion of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) to form a consortium comprised of California State University at Los Angeles (CSULA), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University (NCAT), and UTEP from which developed the Minority Universities Systems Engineering (MUSE) Program. The mission of this consortium is to develop a unique position for minority universities in providing the nation's future system architects and engineers as well as enhance JPL's system design capability. The goals of this collaboration include the development of a system engineering curriculum which includes hands-on project engineering and design experiences. UTEP is in a unique position to take full advantage of this program since UTEP has been named a Model Institution for Excellence (MIE) by the National Science Foundation. The purpose of MIE is to produce leaders in Science, Math, and Engineering. Furthermore, UTEP has also been selected as the site for two new centers including the Pan American Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences (PACES) directed by Dr. Scott Starks and the FAST Center for Structural Integrity of Aerospace Systems directed by Dr. Roberto Osegueda. The UTEP MUSE Program operates under the auspices of the PACES Center.

Robbins, Mary Clare↗

NASA NTRS2004

Biophotonics and Bone Biology

One of the more serious side effects of extended space flight is an accelerated bone loss. Rates of bone loss are highest in the weight-bearing bones of the hip and spine regions, and the average rate of bone loss as measured by bone mineral density measurements is around 1.2% per month for persons in a microgravity environment. It is well known that bone remodeling responds to mechanical forces. We are developing two-photon microscopy techniques to study bone tissue and bone cell cultures to better understand the fundamental response mechanism in bone remodeling. Osteoblast and osteoclast cell cultures are being studied, and the goal is to use molecular biology techniques in conjunction with Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) to study the physiology of in-vitro cell cultures in response to various stimuli, such as fluid flow induced shear stress and mechanical stress. We have constructed a two-photon fluorescence microscope for these studies, and are currently incorporating FLIM detection. Current progress will be reviewed. This work is supported by the NASA John Glenn Biomedical Engineering Consortium.

Zimmerli, Gregory↗

NASA NTRS2004

Materials Characterization at Utah State University: Facilities and Knowledge-base of Electronic Properties of Materials Applicable to Spacecraft Charging

In an effort to improve the reliability and versatility of spacecraft charging models designed to assist spacecraft designers in accommodating and mitigating the harmful effects of charging on spacecraft, the NASA Space Environments and Effects (SEE) Program has funded development of facilities at Utah State University for the measurement of the electronic properties of both conducting and insulating spacecraft materials. We present here an overview of our instrumentation and capabilities, which are particularly well suited to study electron emission as related to spacecraft charging. These measurements include electron-induced secondary and backscattered yields, spectra, and angular resolved measurements as a function of incident energy, species and angle, plus investigations of ion-induced electron yields, photoelectron yields, sample charging and dielectric breakdown. Extensive surface science characterization capabilities are also available to fully characterize the samples in situ. Our measurements for a wide array of conducting and insulating spacecraft materials have been incorporated into the SEE Charge Collector Knowledge-base as a Database of Electronic Properties of Materials Applicable to Spacecraft Charging. This Database provides an extensive compilation of electronic properties, together with parameterization of these properties in a format that can be easily used with existing spacecraft charging engineering tools and with next generation plasma, charging, and radiation models. Tabulated properties in the Database include: electron-induced secondary electron yield, backscattered yield and emitted electron spectra; He, Ar and Xe ion-induced electron yields and emitted electron spectra; photoyield and solar emittance spectra; and materials characterization including reflectivity, dielectric constant, resistivity, arcing, optical microscopy images, scanning electron micrographs, scanning tunneling microscopy images, and Auger electron spectra. Further details of the instrumentation used for insulator measurements and representative measurements of insulating spacecraft materials are provided in other Spacecraft Charging Conference presentations. The NASA Space Environments and Effects Program, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Boeing Corporation, NASA Graduate Research Fellowships, and the NASA Rocky Mountain Space Grant Consortium have provided support.

Dennison, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Overview of the Small Aircraft Transportation System Project Four Enabling Operating Capabilities

It has become evident that our commercial air transportation system is reaching its peak in terms of capacity, with numerous delays in the system and the demand still steadily increasing. NASA, FAA, and the National Consortium for Aviation Mobility (NCAM) have partnered to aid in increasing the mobility throughout the United States through the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) project. The SATS project has been a five-year effort to provide the technical and economic basis for further national investment and policy decisions to support a small aircraft transportation system. The SATS vision is to enable people and goods to have the convenience of on-demand point-to-point travel, anywhere, anytime for both personal and business travel. This vision can be obtained by expanding near all-weather access to more than 3,400 small community airports that are currently under-utilized throughout the United States. SATS has focused its efforts on four key operating capabilities that have addressed new emerging technologies, procedures, and concepts to pave the way for small aircraft to operate in nearly all weather conditions at virtually any runway in the United States. These four key operating capabilities are: Higher Volume Operations at Non-Towered/Non-Radar Airports, En Route Procedures and Systems for Integrated Fleet Operations, Lower Landing Minimums at Minimally Equipped Landing Facilities, and Increased Single Pilot Performance. The SATS project culminated with the 2005 SATS Public Demonstration in Danville, Virginia on June 5th-7th, by showcasing the accomplishments achieved throughout the project and demonstrating that a small aircraft transportation system could be viable. The technologies, procedures, and concepts were successfully demonstrated to show that they were safe, effective, and affordable for small aircraft in near all weather conditions. The focus of this paper is to provide an overview of the technical and operational feasibility of the four operating capabilities, and explain how they can enable a small aircraft transportation system.

Viken, Sally A.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Overview of the Small Aircraft Transportation System Project Four Enabling Operating Capabilities

Viken, Sally A.↗

NASA NTRS2020

Characterization of the Nucleus, Morphology, and Activity of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov by Optical and Near-infrared GROWTH, Apache Point, IRTF, ZTF, and Keck Observations

We present visible and near-infrared (NIR) photometric and spectroscopic observations of interstellar object (ISO) 2I/Borisov taken from 2019 September 10 to 2019 December 20 using the GROWTH, the Apache Point Observatory Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5 m, and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility 3.0 m combined with pre- and postdiscovery observations of 2I obtained by the Zwicky Transient Facility from 2019 March 17 to 2019 May 5. Comparison with imaging of distant solar system comets shows an object very similar to mildly active solar system comets with an outgassing rate of ∼1027 mol s−1. The photometry, taken in filters spanning the visible and NIR range, shows a gradual brightening trend of ∼0.03 mag day−1 since 2019 September 10 UTC for a reddish object becoming neutral in the NIR. The light curve from recent and prediscovery data reveals a brightness trend suggesting the recent onset of significant H2O sublimation with the comet being active with super volatiles such as CO at heliocentric distances >6 au consistent with its extended morphology. Using the advanced capability to significantly reduce the scattered light from the coma enabled by high-resolution NIR images from Keck adaptive optics taken on 2019 October 4, we estimate a diameter for 2I’s nucleus of <~1.4 km. We use the size estimates of 1I/’Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov to roughly estimate the slope of the ISO size distribution, resulting in a slope of ∼3.4 ± 1.2, similar to solar system comets and bodies produced from collisional equilibrium.

Bryce T Bolin↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

LISA EDU Status

LISA will be the first space-based gravitational wave observatory, enabling orders of magnitude greater sensitivity than the state-of-the-art LIGO facility. L3Harris is developing an engineering development unit (EDU) telescope in support of NASA, ESA and the LISA Consortium. The LISA EDU telescope validates a flight-like telescope design and reduces risks associated with stability, materials, assembly, integration, and testing. Mission requirements are unlike any other and require picometer-level stability across the entire telescope’s beam path, even in the presence of temperature variation and jitter. As a result, an all-glass telescope design was developed. The brittle structure represents a new state of the art for stable telescopes, but also introduces challenges with managing assembly, manufacturability, and survivability. From 2019-2024, the LISA EDU project has increased manufacturing readiness and technology readiness for the optical telescope element.

Brian VanRensselaer↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Space-based Sensor for Extreme Fire Weather Events

Catastrophic bushfires are becoming increasingly prevalent as climate change advances. Impacts extend beyond national borders. Multinational efforts can inform new science and management practices. Space-based sensors and integrated data facilities will play an important role. This paper describes a collaborative project between a consortium of Australian universities and NASA Centers to develop and implement a small satellite platform comprising highly integrated thermal and lightning sensors coupled with AI-based edge computing to help predict, detect, and track bushfires, supporting mitigation activities. This will fill an important capability gap since Australia does not currently have any sovereign Earth observation satellites. This program is enabled by and builds on Australia-NASA collaboration and will also support fire science and management activities in the broader global context.

wildfire↗

NASA NTRS2002

ACTS of Education

Now in its ninth year of operations, the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) program has continued, although since May 2000 in a new operations arrangement involving a university based consortium, the Ohio Consortium for Advanced Communications Technology (OCACT), While NASA has concluded its experimental intentions of ACTS, the spacecraft's ongoing viability has permitted its further operations to provide educational opportunities to engineering and communications students interested in satellite operations, as well as a Ka-band test bed for commercial interests in utilizing Kaband space communications. The consortium has reached its first year of operations. This generous opportunity by NASA has already resulted in unique educational opportunities for students in obtaining "hands-on" experience, such as, in satellite attitude control. An update is presented on the spacecraft and consortium operations.

Bauer, Robert↗

NASA NTRS2002

Space Product Development: NASA Partnering With Industry For Out of This World Results

True space commercialization can only be achieved through having the broadest possible industrial participation. Commercial paradigms focused simply on commercial launch operations are not viable since there are limited payload launch opportunities in terms of satellites and similar vehicles, and there are not yet sufficient markets to support large-scale operations and innovation. What is required to expand commercial operations to the point of viability is a broad base of industry that understands the opportunities of commercial space and microgravity operations, and is eager to take advantage of it. Interesting non-aerospace companies in commercial space and microgravity research or operations is a major challenge, since these companies must be educated about the opportunities, introduced into the process in an effective and comfortable manner, and encouraged to continue and expand their work in this area. The NASA Space Product Development Program does this through fifteen Commercial Space Centers located across the United States, each focusing on a different area of interest to industry rather than of interest to NASA. These Centers serve as a consortium of industry, academia, and government, bringing the synergistic effects of membership to the benefit of all. This paper will discuss the guiding philosophies of this program, its organization, the successes obtained by industry in a variety of fields, and the success NASA is experiencing in building the broad base of industry needed to achieve true space commercialization.

Nall, Mark E.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Virginia Space Grant Consortium Management of National General Aviation Design Competition

This report summarizes the management of the National General Aviation Design Competition on behalf of NASA, the FAA and the Air Force by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) for the time period October 1, 2000 through September 30, 2001. This was the VSGC's seventh and final year of managing the Competition, which the Consortium originally designed, developed and implemented for NASA and the FAA. The competition is now being managed in-house by NASA. Awards to winning university teams were presented at a ceremony held at AirVenture 2001, the Experimental Aircraft Association's Annual Convention and Fly-In at Oshkosh, Wis. by NASA and FAA officials. The competition called for individuals or teams of undergraduate and graduate students from U.S. engineering schools to participate in a major national effort to rebuild the U.S. general aviation sector. Participants were challenged to meet the engineering goals of the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiment (AGATE) project. For the purpose of the contest, general aviation aircraft are typically defined as single or twin engine (turbine or piston), single-pilot, fixed-wing aircraft for 2 - 6 passengers. The competition seeks to raise student awareness of the importance of general aviation by having students address design challenges for a small aircraft transportation system. NASA, AFRL and the FAA hope to stimulate breakthroughs in technology and their application in the general aviation marketplace. National goals for revitalizing the industry offer excellent, open-ended design challenges with real world applications for the Innovative Design Category. Both individual and team submissions were encouraged. University faculty advisors and students consistently cite the value of this kind of educational experience for their engineering students. Eight proposals were submitted for the 2001 Competition for the Innovative Design Category. Eleven faculty members and 124 students participated. Since inception, more than 785 students and 60 faculty members have participated in the Competition. A review panel comprised of general aviation experts from the FAA, EAA, NASA and industry representatives reviewed the design packages and selected the winners. The VSGC coordinated marketing of the competition to a mailing list which included selected deans and department chairs from ABET-accredited institutions, Space Grant affiliates, faculty who had previously participated in or expressed interest in the Competition, and others.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1998

RIACS

The Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) was established by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) on June 6, 1983. RIACS is privately operated by USRA, a consortium of universities that serves as a bridge between NASA and the academic community. Under a five-year co-operative agreement with NASA, research at RIACS is focused on areas that are strategically enabling to the Ames Research Center's role as NASA's Center of Excellence for Information Technology. The primary mission of RIACS is charted to carry out research and development in computer science. This work is devoted in the main to tasks that are strategically enabling with respect to NASA's bold mission in space exploration and aeronautics. There are three foci for this work: (1) Automated Reasoning. (2) Human-Centered Computing. and (3) High Performance Computing and Networking. RIACS has the additional goal of broadening the base of researcher in these areas of importance to the nation's space and aeronautics enterprises. Through its visiting scientist program, RIACS facilitates the participation of university-based researchers, including both faculty and students, in the research activities of NASA and RIACS. RIACS researchers work in close collaboration with NASA computer scientists on projects such as the Remote Agent Experiment on Deep Space One mission, and Super-Resolution Surface Modeling.

Moore, Robert C.↗

NASA NTRS1998

RIACS

The Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) was established by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) on June 6, 1983. RIACS is privately operated by USRA, a consortium of universities that serves as a bridge between NASA and the academic community. Under a five-year co-operative agreement with NASA, research at RIACS is focused on areas that are strategically enabling to the Ames Research Center's role as NASA's Center of Excellence for Information Technology. Research is carried out by a staff of full-time scientist,augmented by visitors, students, post doctoral candidates and visiting university faculty. The primary mission of RIACS is charted to carry out research and development in computer science. This work is devoted in the main to tasks that are strategically enabling with respect to NASA's bold mission in space exploration and aeronautics. There are three foci for this work: Automated Reasoning. Human-Centered Computing. and High Performance Computing and Networking. RIACS has the additional goal of broadening the base of researcher in these areas of importance to the nation's space and aeronautics enterprises. Through its visiting scientist program, RIACS facilitates the participation of university-based researchers, including both faculty and students, in the research activities of NASA and RIACS. RIACS researchers work in close collaboration with NASA computer scientists on projects such as the Remote Agent Experiment on Deep Space One mission, and Super-Resolution Surface Modeling.

Moore, Robert C.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Between a Map and a Data Rod

A Digital Divide has long stood between how NASA and other satellite-derived data are typically archived (time-step arrays or maps) and how hydrology and other point-time series oriented communities prefer to access those data. In essence, the desired method of data access is orthogonal to the way the data are archived. Our approach to bridging the Divide is part of a larger NASA-supported data rods project to enhance access to and use of NASA and other data by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) Hydrologic Information System (HIS) and the larger hydrology community. Our main objective was to determine a way to reorganize data that is optimal for these communities. Two related objectives were to optimally reorganize data in a way that (1) is operational and fits in and leverages the existing Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) operational environment and (2) addresses the scaling up of data sets available as time series from those archived at the GES DISC to potentially include those from other Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data archives. Through several prototype efforts and lessons learned, we arrived at a non-database solution that satisfied our objectivesconstraints. We describe, in this presentation, how we implemented the operational production of pre-generated data rods and, considering the tradeoffs between length of time series (or number of time steps), resources needed, and performance, how we implemented the operational production of on-the-fly (virtual) data rods. For the virtual data rods, we leveraged a number of existing resources, including the NASA Giovanni Cache and NetCDF Operators (NCO) and used data cubes processed in parallel. Our current benchmark performance for virtual generation of data rods is about a years worth of time series for hourly data (9,000 time steps) in 90 seconds. Our approach is a specific implementation of the general optimal strategy of reorganizing data to match the desired means of access. Results from our project have already significantly extended NASA data to the large and important hydrology user community that has been, heretofore, mostly unable to easily access and use NASA data.

machine learning↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Summary of Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) and Insights for Artemis Preliminary Examination Activities

Analyses of Apollo samples have provided fundamental insights into the origin and history of the Earth-Moon system and the solar system broadly. With great foresight, a subset of samples from Apollo were left unprocessed so that they could be studied by future generations with their modern technology. To prepare for the return of samples from the Moon by the Artemis Program, NASA initiated the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program (ANGSA) to analyze a subset of the previously unprocessed Apollo samples. The ANGSA consortium consisted of 9 original teams funded by NASA that combined into a single science team referred to as the ANGSA Science Team. ANGSA was designed to function like the sample analysis phase of a sample return mission with a goal to investigate the lower portion of a double drive tube previously sealed on the lunar surface (73001), the upper portion of that drive tube that had remained unopened (73002), and a variety of Apollo 17 samples that had remained stored at -20 ºC for approximately 50 years.

Francis M. McCubbin↗

NASA NTRS1989

A NASA/University/Industry Consortium for Research on Aircraft Ice Protection

From 1982 through 1987, an unique consortium was functioning which involved government (NASA), academia (Wichita State Univ.) and twelve industries. The purpose was the development of a better ice protection systems for aircraft. The circumstances which brought about this activity are described, the formation and operation recounted, and the effectiveness of the ventue evaluated.

Zumwalt, Glen W.↗