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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS1973

Environmental monitoring via the ERTS-1 Data Collection System.

The Data Collection System (DCS) provides users with near real-time environmental data from earth-based sensors relayed via the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-1) to Goddard Space Flight Center. Data is received at Goddard at least twice per day from each sensor and distributed to users (who operate the sensors and transmitters) by mail and teletype. Data collection platforms are discussed together with DCS equipment and the ground receiving and processing equipment.

Painter, J. E.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Role of Process Control in Improving Space Vehicle Safety A Space Shuttle External Tank Example

Developing a safe and reliable space vehicle requires good design and good manufacturing, or in other words "design it right and build it right". A great design can be hard to build or manufacture mainly due to difficulties related to quality. Specifically, process control can be a challenge. As a result, the system suffers from low quality which leads to low reliability and high system risk. The Space Shuttle has experienced some of those cases, but has overcome these difficulties through extensive redesign efforts and process enhancements. One example is the design of the hot gas temperature sensor on the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), which resulted in failure of the sensor in flight and led to a redesign of the sensor. The most recent example is the Space Shuttle External Tank (ET) Thermal Protection System (TPS) reliability issues that contributed to the Columbia accident. As a result, extensive redesign and process enhancement activities have been performed over the last two years to minimize the sensitivities and difficulties of the manual TPS application process.

Safie, Fayssal M.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Research study of pressure instrumentation

To obtain a more vibration resistant pressure sensor for use on the Space Shuttle Main Engine, a proximity probe based, diaphragm type pressure sensor breadboard was developed. A fiber optic proximity probe was selected as the sensor. In combination with existing electronics, a thermal stability evaluation of the entire probe system was made. Based upon the results, a breadboard design of the pressure sensor and electronics was made and fabricated. A brief series of functional experiments was made with the breadboard to calibrate, thermally compensate, and linearize its response. In these experiments, the performance obtained in the temperature range of -320 F (liquid N2) to +200 F was comparable to that of the strain gage based sensor presently in use on the engine. In tests at NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), after some time at or near liquid nitrogen temperatures, the sensor output varied over the entire output range. These large spurious signals were attributed to condensation of air in the sensing gap. In the next phase of development of this sensor, an evaluation of fabrication techniques toward greater thermal and mechanical stability of the fiber probe assembly must be made. In addition to this, a positive optics to metal seal must be developed to withstand the pressure that would result from a diaphragm failure.

Hoogenboom, L.↗

NASA NTRS2006

STS-121: Discovery Pre-Flight Crew News Briefing

The STS-121 crew is shown during this pre-flight news briefing. Steve Lindsey, Commander, begins with saying that they are only a few weeks from flight and the vehicle is in good shape. Mark Kelly, Pilot, is introduced by Lindsey and he discusses Kelly's main objective which is to direct the three spacewalks scheduled. Kelly introduces Mike Fossum, Mission Specialist. Kelly says that Fossum will be involved in three spacewalks. Fossum introduces Lisa Nowak, Mission Specialist, who is involved in robotics. Also Stephanie Wilson, Mission Specialist, will be involved in robotics. Piers Sellers, Mission Specialist, is introduced by Wilson, who is the lead spacewalker for this mission. Sellers then introduce Thomas Reiter, Mission Specialist, who is involved in spacewalks. The educational background of each crew member is given. Questions from the news media on the subjects of long term flights on the International Space Station, Ice frost ramp replacement, Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) stability, foam loss during STS-114 flight, duration of the mission, and mental preparation for test flights are addressed.

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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Design, Fabrication, Testing and Validation of a Ruggedized Fiber Optic Sensing System (FOSS) for Launch Application

Fiber-optic sensors based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is desirable for structural health monitoring and is used for various aerospace applications such as measuring strain and temperature, where a single optical fiber can multiplex hundreds of FBG sensors. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) (Edwards, California) has been developing an optical fiber-based sensing suite called Fiber Optics Sensing System (FOSS) over the past two decades. Successful strain monitoring flight demonstrations such as the NASA Ikhana (General Atomics, San Diego, California) remotely piloted aircraft and the X-56A Multi-Utility Technology Testbed (Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, Maryland) remotely piloted subscale aircraft have been performed. Interest in adapting fiber-optic sensors for aerospace applications has led to commissioning the development of a ruggedized FOSS system for spaceflight through the NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) at the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) (Merritt Island, Florida). In this paper, a ruggedized FOSS suitable for a launch environment is discussed in detail. Thermal analysis and enclosure design will be discussed as well as environmental testing such as shock, random vibration, thermal vacuum, and electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC). With all relevant environmental testing completed, a ruggedized FOSS unit has successfully passed all testing and is now deemed space-launch ready.

Allen R. Parker, Jr↗

NASA NTRS1993

A Survey and Experimental Evaluation of Proximity Sensors for Space Robotics

This paper provides an overview of our selction process for proximity sensors for manipulator collison avoidance. Five categories of sensors have been considered for this use in space operations: Intensity of reflection, triangulation, time of flight, capacitive, and iductive.

Space Robotics Sensors↗

NASA NTRS2010

Flight Results from the HST SM4 Relative Navigation Sensor System

On May 11, 2009, Space Shuttle Atlantis roared off of Launch Pad 39A enroute to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to undertake its final servicing of HST, Servicing Mission 4. Onboard Atlantis was a small payload called the Relative Navigation Sensor experiment, which included three cameras of varying focal ranges, avionics to record images and estimate, in real time, the relative position and attitude (aka "pose") of the telescope during rendezvous and deploy. The avionics package, known as SpaceCube and developed at the Goddard Space Flight Center, performed image processing using field programmable gate arrays to accelerate this process, and in addition executed two different pose algorithms in parallel, the Goddard Natural Feature Image Recognition and the ULTOR Passive Pose and Position Engine (P3E) algorithms

Naasz, Bo↗

NASA NTRS2023

Refinement of Transition-Edge Sensor Dimensions for the X-ray Integral Field Unit on ATHENA

At NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, we have previously demonstrated a kilo-pixel array of transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters capable of meeting the energy resolution requirements of the future X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) instrument that is being developed for the Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA) observatory satellite. The TES design in this array was a square device with side length of 50 μm. Here, we describe studies of TES designs with small variations of the dimensions, exploring lengths, parallel to the current direction, ranging from 75μm to 50μm and widths, perpendicular to the current direction, ranging from 50μm to 15 μm. We describe how these changes impact transition properties, thermal conductance and magnetic field sensitivity. In particular, we show that using a TES with a length of 50μm and width of 30μm may be a promising route to reduce the maximum time-derivative of the TES current in an X-ray pulse and reduce the sensitivity of the TES to magnetic field.

N A Wakeham↗

NASA NTRS2011

The Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM)

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), a joint NASA and United States Geological Survey (USGS) mission, is scheduled for launch in December, 2012. The LDCM instrument payload will consist of the Operational Land Imager (OLI), provided by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation (BATC) under contract to NASA and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This paper will describe the design, capabilities and status of the OLI and TIRS instruments. The OLI will provide 8 channel multispectral images at a spatial resolution of 30 meters and panchromatic images at 15 meter spatial resolution. The TIRS is a 100 meter spatial resolution push-broom imager whose two spectral channels, centered at 10.8 and 12 microns, split the ETM+ thermal bands. The two channels allow the use of the "split-window" technique to aid in atmospheric correction. The TIRS focal plane consists of three Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) arrays to span the 185 km swath width. The OLI and TIRS instruments will be operated independently but in concert with each other. Data from both instruments will be merged into a single data stream at the (USGS)/Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) facility. The ground system, being developed by USGS, includes an Image Assessment System (lAS), similar to Landsat-7's, to operationally monitor, characterize and update the calibrations of the two sensors.

Reuter, Dennis↗

NASA NTRS2017

Development of the Space Debris Sensor (SDS)

The Space Debris Sensor (SDS) is a NASA experiment scheduled to fly aboard the International Space Station (ISS) starting in 2018. The SDS is the first flight demonstration of the Debris Resistive/Acoustic Grid Orbital NASA-Navy Sensor (DRAGONS) developed and matured at NASA Johnson Space Center's Orbital Debris Program Office. The DRAGONS concept combines several technologies to characterize the size, speed, direction, and density of small impacting objects. With a minimum two-year operational lifetime, SDS is anticipated to collect statistically significant information on orbital debris ranging from 50 microns to 500 microns in size. This paper describes the features of SDS and how data from the ISS mission may be used to update debris environment models. Results of hypervelocity impact testing during the development of SDS and the potential for improvement on future sensors at higher altitudes will be reviewed.

Hamilton, J.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) for the International Space Station (ISS): Mission Description and Science Goals

In recent years, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and their partners have developed and demonstrated space-based lightning observations as an effective remote sensing tool for Earth science research and applications. The Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) continues to provide global observations of total lightning after 17 years on-orbit. In April 2013, a space-qualified LIS built as the flight spare for TRMM, was selected for flight as a science mission on the International Space Station. The ISS LIS (or I-LIS as Hugh Christian prefers) will be flown as a hosted payload on the Department of Defense Space Test Program (STP) H5 mission, which has a January 2016 baseline launch date aboard a SpaceX launch vehicle for a 2-4 year or longer mission. The LIS measures the amount, rate, and radiant energy of global lightning. More specifically, it measures lightning during both day and night, with storm scale resolution, millisecond timing, and high, uniform detection efficiency, without any land-ocean bias. Lightning is a direct and most impressive response to intense atmospheric convection. It has been found that the characteristics of lightning that LIS measures can be quantitatively coupled to both thunderstorm and other geophysical processes. Therefore, the ISS LIS lightning observations will provide important gap-filling inputs to pressing Earth system science issues across a broad range of disciplines, including weather, climate, atmospheric chemistry, and lightning physics. A unique contribution from the ISS platform will be the availability of real-time lightning, especially valuable for operational applications over data sparse regions such as the oceans. The ISS platform will also uniquely enable LIS to provide simultaneous and complementary observations with other payloads such as the European Space Agency's Atmosphere-Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM) that will be exploring the connection between thunderstorms and lightning with terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs). Another important function of the ISS LIS will be to provide cross-sensor calibration/validation with a number of other payloads, including the TRMM LIS and the next generation geostationary lightning mappers (e.g., GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper and Meteosat Third Generation Lightning Imager). This inter-calibration will improve the long term climate monitoring provided by all these systems. Finally, the ISS LIS will extend the time-series climate record of LIS lightning observations and expand the latitudinal coverage of LIS lightning to the climate significant upper middle-latitudes.

Blakeslee, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) for the International Space Station (ISS): Mission Description and Science Goals

Blakeslee, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Intelligent Memory Module Overcomes Harsh Environments

Solar cells, integrated circuits, and sensors are essential to manned and unmanned space flight and exploration, but such systems are highly susceptible to damage from radiation. Especially problematic, the Van Allen radiation belts encircle Earth in concentric radioactive tori at distances from about 6,300 to 38,000 km, though the inner radiation belt can dip as low as 700 km, posing a severe hazard to craft and humans leaving Earth s atmosphere. To avoid this radiation, the International Space Station and space shuttles orbit at altitudes between 275 and 460 km, below the belts range, and Apollo astronauts skirted the edge of the belts to minimize exposure, passing swiftly through thinner sections of the belts and thereby avoiding significant side effects. This radiation can, however, prove detrimental to improperly protected electronics on satellites that spend the majority of their service life in the harsh environment of the belts. Compact, high-performance electronics that can withstand extreme environmental and radiation stress are thus critical to future space missions. Increasing miniaturization of electronics addresses the need for lighter weight in launch payloads, as launch costs put weight at a premium. Likewise, improved memory technologies have reduced size, cost, mass, power demand, and system complexity, and improved high-bandwidth communication to meet the data volume needs of the next-generation high-resolution sensors. This very miniaturization, however, has exacerbated system susceptibility to radiation, as the charge of ions may meet or exceed that of circuitry, overwhelming the circuit and disrupting operation of a satellite. The Hubble Space Telescope, for example, must turn off its sensors when passing through intense radiation to maintain reliable operation. To address the need for improved data quality, additional capacity for raw and processed data, ever-increasing resolution, and radiation tolerance, NASA spurred the development of the Radiation Tolerant Intelligent Memory Stack (RTIMS).

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NASA NTRS1985

Interactive information processing for NASA's mesoscale analysis and space sensor program

The Atmospheric Sciences Division (ASD) of the Systems Dynamics Laboratory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is currently involved in interactive information processing for the Mesoscale Analysis and Space Sensor (MASS) program. Specifically, the ASD is engaged in the development and implementation of new space-borne remote sensing technology to observe and measure mesoscale atmospheric processes. These space measurements and conventional observational data are being processed together to gain an improved understanding of the mesoscale structure and the dynamical evolution of the atmosphere relative to cloud development and precipitation processes. To satisfy its vast data processing requirements, the ASD has developed a Researcher Computer System consiting of three primary computer systems which provides over 20 scientists with a wide range of capabilities for processing and displaying a large volumes of remote sensing data. Each of the computers performs a specific function according to its unique capabilities.

Parker, K. G.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Real-time sensor data validation

This report describes the status of an on-going effort to develop software capable of detecting sensor failures on rocket engines in real time. This software could be used in a rocket engine controller to prevent the erroneous shutdown of an engine due to sensor failures which would otherwise be interpreted as engine failures by the control software. The approach taken combines analytical redundancy with Bayesian belief networks to provide a solution which has well defined real-time characteristics and well-defined error rates. Analytical redundancy is a technique in which a sensor's value is predicted by using values from other sensors and known or empirically derived mathematical relations. A set of sensors and a set of relations among them form a network of cross-checks which can be used to periodically validate all of the sensors in the network. Bayesian belief networks provide a method of determining if each of the sensors in the network is valid, given the results of the cross-checks. This approach has been successfully demonstrated on the Technology Test Bed Engine at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Current efforts are focused on extending the system to provide a validation capability for 100 sensors on the Space Shuttle Main Engine.

Bickmore, Timothy W.↗

NASA NTRS2002

A Lightning Channel Retrieval Algorithm for the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (LMA)

A new multi-station VHF time-of-arrival (TOA) antenna network is, at the time of this writing, coming on-line in Northern Alabama. The network, called the Lightning Mapping Array (LMA), employs GPS timing and detects VHF radiation from discrete segments (effectively point emitters) that comprise the channel of lightning strokes within cloud and ground flashes. The network will support on-going ground validation activities of the low Earth orbiting Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) satellite developed at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. It will also provide for many interesting and detailed studies of the distribution and evolution of thunderstorms and lightning in the Tennessee Valley, and will offer many interesting comparisons with other meteorological/geophysical wets associated with lightning and thunderstorms. In order to take full advantage of these benefits, it is essential that the LMA channel mapping accuracy (in both space and time) be fully characterized and optimized. In this study, a new revised channel mapping retrieval algorithm is introduced. The algorithm is an extension of earlier work provided in Koshak and Solakiewicz (1996) in the analysis of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) system. As in the 1996 study, direct algebraic solutions are obtained by inverting a simple linear system of equations, thereby making computer searches through a multi-dimensional parameter domain of a Chi-Squared function unnecessary. However, the new algorithm is developed completely in spherical Earth-centered coordinates (longitude, latitude, altitude), rather than in the (x, y, z) cartesian coordinates employed in the 1996 study. Hence, no mathematical transformations from (x, y, z) into spherical coordinates are required (such transformations involve more numerical error propagation, more computer program coding, and slightly more CPU computing time). The new algorithm also has a more realistic definition of source altitude that accounts for Earth oblateness (this can become important for sources that are hundreds of kilometers away from the network). In addition, the new algorithm is being applied to analyze computer simulated LMA datasets in order to obtain detailed location/time retrieval error maps for sources in and around the LMA network. These maps will provide a more comprehensive analysis of retrieval errors for LMA than the 1996 study did of LDAR retrieval errors. Finally, we note that the new algorithm can be applied to LDAR, and essentially any other multi-station TWA network that depends on direct line-of-site antenna excitation.

Koshak, William↗

NASA NTRS1992

Low Current Magnet

Because Goddard Space Flight Center needed a way to cool sensors aboard the AXAF, a low current superconducting magnet was developed under contract by Cryomagnetics, Inc. The magnet, now commercially available, reduced the rate of helium consumption, extending the lifetime of the AXAF's x-ray spectrometer. On Earth, it offers a way to reduce operating costs through smaller, less expensive power supplies and reduced use of coolant. The magnet has particular advantages for MRI systems, as it is safer and has lower maintenance requirements.

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NASA NTRS2003

Mathematical Inversion of Lightning Data: Techniques and Applications

A survey of some interesting mathematical inversion studies dealing with radio, optical, and electrostatic measurements of lightning are presented. A discussion of why NASA is interested in lightning, what specific physical properties of lightning are retrieved, and what mathematical techniques are used to perform the retrievals are discussed. In particular, a relatively new multi-station VHF time-of-arrival (TOA) antenna network is now on-line in Northern Alabama and will be discussed. The network, called the Lightning Mapping Array (LMA), employs GPS timing and detects VHF radiation from discrete segments (effectively point emitters) that comprise the channel of lightning strokes within cloud and ground flashes. The LMA supports on-going ground-validation activities of the low Earth orbiting Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) satellite developed at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. The LMA also provides detailed studies of the distribution and evolution of thunderstorms and lightning in the Tennessee Valley, and offers interesting comparisons with other meteorological/geophysical datasets. In order to take full advantage of these benefits, it is essential that the LMA channel mapping accuracy (in both space and time) be fully characterized and optimized. A new channel mapping retrieval algorithm is introduced for this purpose. To characterize the spatial distribution of retrieval errors, the algorithm has been applied to analyze literally tens of millions of computer-simulated lightning VHF point sources that have been placed at various ranges, azimuths, and altitudes relative to the LMA network. Statistical results are conveniently summarized in high-resolution, color-coded, error maps.

Koshak, William↗