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At least 91 records · Page 5

Lidar Past, Present, and Future in NASA's Earth and Space Science Programs

Lidar is firmly entrenched in the family of remote sensing technologies that NASA is developing and using. Still a relatively new technology, lidar should continue to experience significant advances and progress. Lidar is used in each one of the major research themes, including planetary exploration, in the Earth Sciences Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA has and will continue to generate new lidar applications from ground, air and space for both Earth science and planetary exploration.

Einaudi, Franco↗

MIRAGE: The data acquisition, analysis, and display system

Developed for the NASA Johnson Space Center and Life Sciences Directorate by GE Government Services, the Microcomputer Integrated Real-time Acquisition Ground Equipment (MIRAGE) system is a portable ground support system for Spacelab life sciences experiments. The MIRAGE system can acquire digital or analog data. Digital data may be NRZ-formatted telemetry packets of packets from a network interface. Analog signal are digitized and stored in experimental packet format. Data packets from any acquisition source are archived to a disk as they are received. Meta-parameters are generated from the data packet parameters by applying mathematical and logical operators. Parameters are displayed in text and graphical form or output to analog devices. Experiment data packets may be retransmitted through the network interface. Data stream definition, experiment parameter format, parameter displays, and other variables are configured using spreadsheet database. A database can be developed to support virtually any data packet format. The user interface provides menu- and icon-driven program control. The MIRAGE system can be integrated with other workstations to perform a variety of functions. The generic capabilities, adaptability and ease of use make the MIRAGE a cost-effective solution to many experimental data processing requirements.

Rosser, Robert S.↗

Novel Hyperspectral Sun Photometer for Satellite Remote Sensing Data Radiometric Calibration and Atmospheric Aerosol Studies

A simple and cost-effective, hyperspectral sun photometer for radiometric vicarious remote sensing system calibration, air quality monitoring, and potentially in-situ planetary climatological studies, was developed. The device was constructed solely from off the shelf components and was designed to be easily deployable for support of short-term verification and validation data collects. This sun photometer not only provides the same data products as existing multi-band sun photometers, this device requires a simpler setup, less data acquisition time and allows for a more direct calibration approach. Fielding this instrument has also enabled Stennis Space Center (SSC) Applied Sciences Directorate personnel to cross calibrate existing sun photometers. This innovative research will position SSC personnel to perform air quality assessments in support of the NASA Applied Sciences Program's National Applications program element as well as to develop techniques to evaluate aerosols in a Martian or other planetary atmosphere.

Pagnutti, Mary↗

Novel Hyperspectral Sun Photometer for Satellite Remote Sensing Data Radiometeic Calibration and Atmospheric Aerosol Studies

A simple and cost-effective, hyperspectral sun photometer for radiometric vicarious remote sensing system calibration, air quality monitoring, and potentially in-situ planetary climatological studies, was developed. The device was constructed solely from off the shelf components and was designed to be easily deployable for support of short-term verification and validation data collects. This sun photometer not only provides the same data products as existing multi-band sun photometers but also the potential of hyperspectral optical depth and diffuse-to-global products. As compared to traditional sun photometers, this device requires a simpler setup, less data acquisition time and allows for a more direct calibration approach. Fielding this instrument has also enabled Stennis Space Center (SSC) Applied Sciences Directorate personnel to cross-calibrate existing sun photometers. This innovative research will position SSC personnel to perform air quality assessments in support of the NASA Applied Sciences Program's National Applications program element as well as to develop techniques to evaluate aerosols in a Martian or other planetary atmosphere.

Pagnutti, Mary↗

Science Outreach at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

At the end of World War II Duane Deming, an internationally known economist enunciated what later came to be called "Total Quality Management" (TQM). The basic thrust of this economic theory called for companies and governments to identify their customers and to do whatever was necessary to meet their demands and to keep them satisfied. It also called for companies to compete internally. That is, they were to build products that competed with their own so that they were always improving. Unfortunately most U.S. corporations failed to heed this advice. Consequently, the Japanese who actively sought Deming's advice and instituted it in their corporate planning, built an economy that outstripped that of the U.S. for the next three to four decades. Only after U.S. corporations reorganized and fashioned joint ventures which incorporated the tenets of TQM with their Japanese competitors did they start to catch up. Other institutions such as the U.S. government and its agencies and schools face the same problem. While the power of the U.S. government is in no danger of being usurped, its agencies and schools face real problems which can be traced back to not heeding Deming's advice. For example, the public schools are facing real pressure from private schools and home school families because they are not meeting the needs of the general public, Likewise, NASA and other government agencies find themselves shortchanged in funding because they have failed to convince the general public that their missions are important. In an attempt to convince the general public that its science mission is both interesting and important, in 1998 the Science Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) instituted a new outreach effort using the interact to reach the general public as well as the students. They have called it 'Science@NASA'.

George Lebo↗

Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA)

In the early days of spaceflight, space life sciences data were been collected and stored in numerous databases, formats, media-types and geographical locations. While serving the needs of individual research teams, these data were largely unknown/unavailable to the scientific community at large. As a result, the Space Act of 1958 and the Science Data Management Policy mandated that research data collected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration be made available to the science community at large. The Biomedical Informatics and Health Care Systems Branch of the Space Life Sciences Directorate at JSC and the Data Archive Project at ARC, with funding from the Human Research Program through the Exploration Medical Capability Element, are fulfilling these requirements through the systematic population of the Life Sciences Data Archive. This program constitutes a formal system for the acquisition, archival and distribution of data for Life Sciences-sponsored experiments and investigations. The general goal of the archive is to acquire, preserve, and distribute these data using a variety of media which are accessible and responsive to inquiries from the science communities.

Fitts, M.↗

Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA) in the Post-Shuttle Era

Now, more than ever before, NASA is realizing the value and importance of their intellectual assets. Principles of knowledge management, the systematic use and reuse of information/experience/expertise to achieve a specific goal, are being applied throughout the agency. LSDA is also applying these solutions, which rely on a combination of content and collaboration technologies, to enable research teams to create, capture, share, and harness knowledge to do the things they do well, even better. In the early days of spaceflight, space life sciences data were been collected and stored in numerous databases, formats, media-types and geographical locations. These data were largely unknown/unavailable to the research community. The Biomedical Informatics and Health Care Systems Branch of the Space Life Sciences Directorate at JSC and the Data Archive Project at ARC, with funding from the Human Research Program through the Exploration Medical Capability Element, are fulfilling these requirements through the systematic population of the Life Sciences Data Archive. This project constitutes a formal system for the acquisition, archival and distribution of data for HRP-related experiments and investigations. The general goal of the archive is to acquire, preserve, and distribute these data and be responsive to inquiries from the science communities.

Fitts, Mary A.↗

Life Sciences Data Archives (LSDA) in the Post-Shuttle Era

Now, more than ever before, NASA is realizing the value and importance of their intellectual assets. Principles of knowledge management-the systematic use and reuse of information, experience, and expertise to achieve a specific goal-are being applied throughout the agency. LSDA is also applying these solutions, which rely on a combination of content and collaboration technologies, to enable research teams to create, capture, share, and harness knowledge to do the things they do well, even better. In the early days of spaceflight, space life sciences data were collected and stored in numerous databases, formats, media-types and geographical locations. These data were largely unknown/unavailable to the research community. The Biomedical Informatics and Health Care Systems Branch of the Space Life Sciences Directorate at JSC and the Data Archive Project at ARC, with funding from the Human Research Program through the Exploration Medical Capability Element, are fulfilling these requirements through the systematic population of the Life Sciences Data Archive. This project constitutes a formal system for the acquisition, archival and distribution of data for HRP-related experiments and investigations. The general goal of the archive is to acquire, preserve, and distribute these data and be responsive to inquiries for the science communities. Information about experiments and data, as well as non-attributable human data and data from other species' are available on our public Web site http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov. The Web site also includes a repository for biospecimens, and a utilization process. NASA has undertaken an initiative to develop a Shuttle Data Archive repository. The Shuttle program is nearing its end in 2010 and it is critical that the medical and research data related to the Shuttle program be captured, retained, and usable for research, lessons learned, and future mission planning. Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. LSDA works with the HRP community of practice to ensure that we are preserving the relevant research and data they need in the LSDA repository. An evidence-based approach to risk management is required in space life sciences. Evidence changes over time. LSDA has a pilot project with Collexis, a new type of Web-based search engine. Collexis differentiates itself from full-text search engines by making use of thesauri for information retrieval. The high-quality search is based on semantics that have been defined in a life sciences ontology. Additionally, Collexis' matching technology is unique, allowing discovery of partially matching dicuments. Users do not have to construct a complicated (Boolean) search query, but can simply enter a free text search without the risk of getting "no results". Collexis may address these issues by virtue of its retrieval and discovery capabilities across multiple repositories.

Fitts, Mary A.↗

STS-93: Columbia / Chandra Mission Overview (from JSC)

A press briefing held on July 7, 1999 reviews the progress of the Chandra X ray Observatory project. The tape begins with an animated view of the launch of the Chandra X ray Observatory from the shuttle, as it was planned. Next is a press briefing. Bryan Austin, the Lead Flight Director, discusses the five day mission, and the reason for the shortened length, due to the added weight from the Chandra Observatory. He also reviews the other payloads, and activities that will take place during the mission. Kenneth Ledbetter, Science Director Mission Development, discusses the 4 great observatories and the role of each. They are the Hubble, which observed visible light; Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra, and the Space Infrared Telescope Facility. A time line of the expected operational lifetime of each of the 4 great observatories is shown. Specific information about the Chandra Telescope is reviewed. The last press briefing presenter is Fred Wojtalik, who is the Chandra Program Manager. He reviews the Chandra's components, and acknowledges a few of the many companies that contributed to its building. He also reviews the orbital activation and checkout sequences. Question that follows, center around contingency plans if some part of the planned sequence is not successful. The costs are reviewed, and concerns about the Initial Upper Stage, the propulsion unit required to take the Chandra to its high orbit are addressed. The Chandra is planned to take an eliptical orbit, which is higher than the other space telescopes, thus far launched due to the requirement to avoid Earth generated X rays.

Source record↗

Technology Drives Exploration: How NASA Is Embracing Additive Manufacturing

NASA has over 60 years of technology development that enabled human space and space science exploration “for the benefit of all humankind”. This presentation will start with the overview of NASA’s organization structure; the roles NASA’s leadership plays as well as 10 regional centers’ focused areas and capabilities. It will also highlight NASA’s Mission Directorates –Science, Human, Aeronautics, and Technology. With the onset of the newer and still evolving procurement business model (NASA being a buyer, instead of maker), a question remains: which is the right framework under which NASA can best integrate the capabilities of commercial, international, and other US government entities into a coherent exploration strategy? Another critical consideration is identifying which critical technologies to invest in NASA and which capabilities are better suited for commercialization as NASA as a buyer. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is certainly changing the space industry and providing new opportunities to travel to low earth orbit and explore our universe. New design opportunities –not previously possible –for new high performance metal alloys, light-weighting, managing thermal, structural, and dynamic loads are being enabled by AM. This presentation will showcase the vast portfolio of NASA’s AM activities in the last 13 years; transportation from Earth to Destination, Habitat at Destination, Lander from Station to Surface, and Science mission spacecrafts. NASA’s technical excellence is being leveraged heavily in the AM and Commercial Space community through collaborative projects, partnership agreements, tech transfer program. Examples of challenges of AM implementation as well as opportunities will be discussed.

Alison Park↗

NASA Johnson Space Center's Planetary Sample Analysis and Mission Science (PSAMS) Laboratory: A National Facility for Planetary Research

NASA Johnson Space Center's (JSC's) Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division, part of the Exploration Integration and Science Directorate, houses a unique combination of laboratories and other assets for conducting cutting edge planetary research. These facilities have been accessed for decades by outside scientists, most at no cost and on an informal basis. ARES has thus provided substantial leverage to many past and ongoing science projects at the national and international level. Here we propose to formalize that support via an ARES/JSC Plane-tary Sample Analysis and Mission Science Laboratory (PSAMS Lab). We maintain three major research capa-bilities: astromaterial sample analysis, planetary process simulation, and robotic-mission analog research. ARES scientists also support planning for eventual human ex-ploration missions, including astronaut geological training. We outline our facility's capabilities and its potential service to the community at large which, taken together with longstanding ARES experience and expertise in curation and in applied mission science, enable multi-disciplinary planetary research possible at no other institution. Comprehensive campaigns incorporating sample data, experimental constraints, and mission science data can be conducted under one roof.

Draper, D. S.↗

Lessons from Communicating Space Science Over the Web

The Science Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center uses the web in an aggressive manner to expand communications beyond the traditional "public affairs" or "media relations" routines. The key to success has been developing a balanced process that A) involves laboratory personnel and the NASA center community through a weekly Science Communications Roundtable, B) vests ownership and development of the product (i.e., the story) in the scientist a writer resident in the laboratory, and C) seeks taps the talents of the outside communications community through the Research/Roadmap Communications activity. The process is flexible and responsive, allowing Science@NASA to provide daily coverage for events, such as two materials science missions managed by NASA/Marshall. In addition to developing materials for the web, Science@NASA has conducted extensive research to determine what subjects people seek on the web, and the best methods to position stories so they will be found and read.

Dooling, David, Jr.↗

1235 Preparing for TEMPO: A Review of Planned Metadata, Data Structure, and Distribution by NASA’s Atmospheric Science Data Center

The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is in the Science Directorate located at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), in Hampton, Virginia. The ASDC is one of NASA’s Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAAC) and supports over 60 projects and provides access to more than 1,000 archived collections. These datasets were created from satellite measurements, field experiments, and modeled data products. ASDC projects focus on the following Earth science disciplines: Radiation Budget, Clouds, Aerosols, and Tropospheric Composition. The ASDC is the official Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) of record for the upcoming Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument.. The instrument will share a ride on a commercial satellite as a hosted payload and will be launched to an orbit about 22,000 miles above Earth's equator. The investigation will, for the first time, use a space-based instrument to make accurate observations of tropospheric pollution concentrations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and aerosols with high resolution and frequency over the U.S, Canada, and Mexico.

Ashlee Autore↗

1235 Preparing for TEMPO: A Review of Planned Metadata, Data Structure, and Distribution by NASA’s Atmospheric Science Data Center

The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is in the Science Directorate located at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), in Hampton, Virginia. The ASDC is one of NASA’s Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAAC) and supports over 60 projects and provides access to more than 1,000 archived collections. These datasets were created from satellite measurements, field experiments, and modeled data products. ASDC projects focus on the following Earth science disciplines: Radiation Budget, Clouds, Aerosols, and Tropospheric Composition. The ASDC is the official Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) of record for the upcoming Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument.. The instrument will share a ride on a commercial satellite as a hosted payload and will be launched to an orbit about 22,000 miles above Earth's equator. The investigation will, for the first time, use a space-based instrument to make accurate observations of tropospheric pollution concentrations of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and aerosols with high resolution and frequency over the U.S, Canada, and Mexico.

Ashlee Autore↗

Plasma Oscillation Characterization of NASA's HERMeS Hall Thruster via High Speed Imaging

For missions beyond low Earth orbit, spacecraft size and mass can be dominated by onboard chemical propulsion systems and propellants that may constitute more than 50 percent of the spacecraft mass. This impact can be substantially reduced through the utilization of Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) due to its substantially higher specific impulse. Studies performed for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate have demonstrated that a 50kW-class SEP capability can be enabling for both near term and future architectures and science missions. A high-power SEP element is integral to the Evolvable Mars Campaign, which presents an approach to establish an affordable evolutionary human exploration architecture. To enable SEP missions at the power levels required for these applications, an in-space demonstration of an operational 50kW-class SEP spacecraft has been proposed as a SEP Technology Demonstration Mission (TDM). In 2010 NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) began developing high-power electric propulsion technologies. The maturation of these critical technologies has made mission concepts utilizing high-power SEP viable.

Ground Tests↗

Space and Earth Sciences, Computer Systems, and Scientific Data Analysis Support, Volume 1

This Final Progress Report covers the specific technical activities of Hughes STX Corporation for the last contract triannual period of 1 June through 30 Sep. 1993, in support of assigned task activities at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). It also provides a brief summary of work throughout the contract period of performance on each active task. Technical activity is presented in Volume 1, while financial and level-of-effort data is presented in Volume 2. Technical support was provided to all Division and Laboratories of Goddard's Space Sciences and Earth Sciences Directorates. Types of support include: scientific programming, systems programming, computer management, mission planning, scientific investigation, data analysis, data processing, data base creation and maintenance, instrumentation development, and management services. Mission and instruments supported include: ROSAT, Astro-D, BBXRT, XTE, AXAF, GRO, COBE, WIND, UIT, SMM, STIS, HEIDI, DE, URAP, CRRES, Voyagers, ISEE, San Marco, LAGEOS, TOPEX/Poseidon, Pioneer-Venus, Galileo, Cassini, Nimbus-7/TOMS, Meteor-3/TOMS, FIFE, BOREAS, TRMM, AVHRR, and Landsat. Accomplishments include: development of computing programs for mission science and data analysis, supercomputer applications support, computer network support, computational upgrades for data archival and analysis centers, end-to-end management for mission data flow, scientific modeling and results in the fields of space and Earth physics, planning and design of GSFC VO DAAC and VO IMS, fabrication, assembly, and testing of mission instrumentation, and design of mission operations center.

Estes, Ronald H.↗

The Institute on Climate and Planets (ICP): A Research Education Program

Giving students a fair start to become productive and responsible contributors in the 21st century workforce and society depends on our ability to help them develop: (1) A global view of the world; (2) Problem-solving and/or reasoning abilities; (3) Basic scientific and technical literacy; and (4) A multi-disciplinary understanding of how humans and nature interact with the earth system. The Institute on Climate and Planets (ICP) in New York City is NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies' (GISS) response to the national challenge to give students a fair start to become productive in America's workforce and society, GISS is part of the Earth Science Director at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and a component of Columbia University's Earth Institute, a university-wide initiative whose mission is to understand our planet so as to enhance its sustainability. In 1994 Jim Hansen, several of his GISS and Columbia University colleagues and Fitzgerald Bramwell, the former Director of the New York City Alliance for Minority Participation at City University of New York, launched the ICP. ICP contributes to NASA education and minority outreach goals by directly involving underrepresented college, high school and junior high school students and their educators in research. ICP takes advantage of the interest of many civil servants and Columbia University research scientists at GISS to involve students and educators on multi-level research teams working on problems at the core of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise - advancing our understanding of Earth s climate, climate variability, and climate impacts.

Carlson, Barbara↗

Small Business Innovation Research, Post-Phase II Opportunity Assessment

This report outlines current Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Post-Phase II opportunity contract award results for the SBIR technology program from 2007 to 2011 for NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD), Science Mission Directorate (SMD), and Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). The report provides guidelines for incorporating SBIR technology into NASA programs and projects and provides a quantitative overview of the post-Phase II award patterns that correspond with each mission directorate at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). In recent years, one of NASA's goals has been to not only transfer SBIR technologies to commercial industries, but to ensure that NASA mission directorates incorporate SBIR technologies into their program and project activities. Before incorporating technologies into MD programs, it is important to understand each mission directorate structure because each directorate has different objectives and needs. The directorate program structures follow.

infusion process↗