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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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At least 127 records · Page 7

Bone, Calcium and Spaceflight: A Living Systems Experiment Relating Animals and Plants the Effects of Calcium on Plant Growth and Development

This NASA-sponsored educational outreach activity provided local students with information about Ames Research Center's (ARC) role in conducting life sciences research in space. Students were introduced to the scientific method while conducting a plant experiment that correlated with the Spacelab Life Sciences-2 (SLS-2) flight animal experiment of Dr. Emily Morey-Holton entitled "Bone, Calcium and Spaceflight". Students made daily observations, collected data and reported on their findings. Students also had the opportunity to witness the STS-58 landing at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California and attended a briefing given by the Payload Commander, Dr. Rhea Seddon at ARC last month. This classroom experiment providing a hands-on learning opportunity about terrestrial and space biology and, hopefully, introduced the students to new fields of study for future endeavors.

Reiss-Bubenheim, D.↗

Bone, Calcium and Spaceflight: A Living Systems Experiment Relating Animals and Plants the Effects of Calcium on Plant Growth and Development

This educational outreach activity provided students with information about ARC's role in conducting life sciences research in space. Students were introduced to the scientific method while conducting a plant experiment that was correlated to the flight animal experiment. Students made daily observations, collected data and reported on their findings. This classroom experiment providing a hands-on learning opportunity about terrestrial and space biology in which exposed the students to new fields of study for future endeavors.

Reiss-Bubenheim, Debra↗

Project Planet Earth: A Joint Project Between the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland

Scientists of the NASA/GSFC and the staff of the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland (GSCM) have teamed up to introduce more girls and young women to earth system science. The girls now have the opportunity to earn the specially designed Planet Earth Council Patch. The Patch program includes a set of requirements tailored to the specific age level of the girl and the resource material to help the girl complete the requirements. At completion of the requirements the girl is awarded a patch to sew onto the back of her sash or vest. Girls do hands-on physical experiments, practice taking data, visit science centers and perform skits in order to complete the requirements. In addition to the Patch program, Project Planet Earth continues to encourage strong collaboration between the Girl Scouts of Maryland and NASA/GSFC. Girls volunteer at the GSFC visitor center during community events and in turn scientists are called on as keynote speakers and consultants for the Council. A special science interest group is forming for the teenage Girl Scouts of the Council that will network with scientists and help these young women pursue their interests, find internships and make career decisions.

Mattoo, Shana↗

Code Parallelization with CAPO: A User Manual

A software tool has been developed to assist the parallelization of scientific codes. This tool, CAPO, extends an existing parallelization toolkit, CAPTools developed at the University of Greenwich, to generate OpenMP parallel codes for shared memory architectures. This is an interactive toolkit to transform a serial Fortran application code to an equivalent parallel version of the software - in a small fraction of the time normally required for a manual parallelization. We first discuss the way in which loop types are categorized and how efficient OpenMP directives can be defined and inserted into the existing code using the in-depth interprocedural analysis. The use of the toolkit on a number of application codes ranging from benchmark to real-world application codes is presented. This will demonstrate the great potential of using the toolkit to quickly parallelize serial programs as well as the good performance achievable on a large number of toolkit to quickly parallelize serial programs as well as the good performance achievable on a large number of processors. The second part of the document gives references to the parameters and the graphic user interface implemented in the toolkit. Finally a set of tutorials is included for hands-on experiences with this toolkit.

Jin, Hao-Qiang↗

The Henry Cecil Ranson McBay Chair in Space Science

The goals and objectives of the Henry Cecil Ransom McBay Chair in Space Sciences were to: (1) provide leadership in developing and expanding Space Science curriculum; (2) contribute to the research and education endeavors of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program; (3) expand opportunities for education and hands-on research in Space and Earth Sciences; (4) enhance scientific and technological literacy at all educational levels and to increase awareness of opportunities in the Space Sciences; and (5) develop a pipeline, starting with high school, of African American students who will develop into a cadre of well-trained scientists with interest in Space Science Research and Development.

Bota, Kofi B.↗

Under Attack

Diversified High Technologies, Inc. (DHT) has supported the Avionics Software Development Environment Pathfinder (ASDEP) program throughout its phases. For the first two years, DHT operated as the technology facilitator providing technical coordination between vendors, contractors, and NASA. This evolved to hands-on technical support such as systems installation, upgrades, and integration. DHT has recently been providing support in secure technology migration path planning and the incorporation of new security technologies in response to evolving program requirements.

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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↗

Science/Engineering: Open Doors

Trends in American society are changing the role of women in science and engineering, but all the elements in our society change at different rates. Women, like men, must choose during their teenage years to continue their training in math or science, or they close the door that can lead them to futures in the interesting and satisfying fields of science and engineering. The key is to keep girls involved in the hard sciences through the adolescent crisis. Many mentoring and outreach programs exist to help young women cross this threshold. These programs include hands-on science experiences, mentoring or putting young women in contact with women scientists and engineers, and internships, Viewpoints and histories of contemporary women engineers are discussed.

White, Susan↗

Toy Gliders

Toy designers at Hasbro, Inc. wanted to create a foam glider that a child could fly with little knowledge of aeronautics. But early in its development, the Areo Nerf gliders had one critical problem: they didn't fly so well. Through NASA's Northeast Regional Technology Transfer Center, Hasbro was linked with aeronautical experts at Langley Research Center. The engineers provided information about how wing design and shape are integral to a glider's performance. The Hasbro designers received from NASA not only technical guidance but a hands-on tutorial on the physics of designing and flying gliders. Several versions of the Nerf glider were realized from the collaboration. For instance, the Super Soaring Glider can make long-range, high performance flights while the Ultra-Stunt Glider is ideal for performing aerial acrobatics.

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STS-112 Crew Training Clip

Footage shows the crew of STS-112 (Jeffrey Ashby, Commander; Pamela Melroy, Pilot; David Wolf, Piers Sellers, Sandra Magnus, and Fyodor Yurchikhin, Mission Specialists) during several parts of their training. The video is arranged into short segments. In 'Topside Activities at the NBL', Wolf and Sellers are fitted with EVA suits for pool training. 'Pre-Launch Bailout Training in CCT II' shows all six crew members exiting from the hatch on a model of a shuttle orbiter cockpit. 'EVA Training in the VR Lab' shows a crew member training with a virtual reality simulator, interspersed with footage of Magnus, and Wolf with Melroy, at monitors. There is a 'Crew Photo Session', and 'Pam Melroy and Sandy Magnus at the SES Dome' also features a virtual reality simulator. The final two segments of the video involve hands-on training. 'Post Landing Egress at the FFT' shows the crew suiting up into their flight suits, and being raised on a harness, to practice rapelling from the cockpit hatch. 'EVA Prep and Post at the ISS Airlock' shows the crew assembling an empty EVA suit onboard a model of a module. The crew tests oxygen masks, and Sellers is shown on an exercise bicycle with an oxygen mask, with his heart rate monitored (not shown).

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Museum Exhibit

A TSP from NASA Tech Briefs provided the solution to an electrical problem at a Florida museum. When a model train would not start without a jerk, a Marshall Space Flight Center development called pulse width control was adapted. The new circuit enables the train to start smoothly and reduces construction and maintenance costs. The same technology is also used in another hands-on exhibit. Applications of other TSPs are anticipated.

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NASA/State Education Cooperation

NASA is cooperating with state departments of education in a number of special education programs. An example is Maryland Summer Centers for Gifted and Talented Students sponsored by the Maryland State Department of Education. Some 2,600 students participated in the 1990 program. One of the 12 centers is the Center for Space Science and Technology at Goddard Space Flight Center, which provides instruction to students of the 9-12 grade level. This center is operated by a three organization partnership that includes the Maryland State Department of Education, the University of Maryland and Goddard Space Flight Center, which hosts the instructional program and provides volunteer scientists and engineers as instructors. Typical two-week space intern program includes panel discussions, lectures, tours, field trips and hands-on activity focusing on various space science topics. Senior high students benefit from a one-to-one mentor relationship with a volunteer scientist or engineer. Another example was the Paducah (Kentucky) NASA Community Involvement Project, a joint educational effort of Langley and Lewis Research Centers, Marshall Space Flight Center, the Kentucky Department of Education, the City of Paducah and Paducah Independent Schools. It was a 16 day exposition/symposium featuring seminars on space subjects.

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Project LASER

NASA formally launched Project LASER (Learning About Science, Engineering and Research) in March 1990, a program designed to help teachers improve science and mathematics education and to provide 'hands on' experiences. It featured the first LASER Mobile Teacher Resource Center (MTRC), is designed to reach educators all over the nation. NASA hopes to operate several MTRCs with funds provided by private industry. The mobile unit is a 22-ton tractor-trailer stocked with NASA educational publications and outfitted with six work stations. Each work station, which can accommodate two teachers at a time, has a computer providing access to NASA Spacelink. Each also has video recorders and photocopy/photographic equipment for the teacher's use. MTRC is only one of the five major elements within LASER. The others are: a Space Technology Course, to promote integration of space science studies with traditional courses; the Volunteer Databank, in which NASA employees are encouraged to volunteer as tutors, instructors, etc; Mobile Discovery Laboratories that will carry simple laboratory equipment and computers to provide hands-on activities for students and demonstrations of classroom activities for teachers; and the Public Library Science Program which will present library based science and math programs.

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ISO Key Project: Exploring The Full Range of Quasar/AGN Properties

While most of the work on this program has been completed, as previously reported, the portion of the program dealing with the sub topic of ISO LWS data analysis and reduction for the LWS Extragalactic Science Team and its leader, Dr. Howard Smith, is still active. This program in fact continues to generate results, and newly available computer modeling has extended the value of the datasets, As a result the team has requested and been granted an obtained a no-cost extension to this program, through December 31, 2003. The essence of the proposal is to perform ISO spectroscopic studies, including data analysis and modeling, of star formation regions using an ensemble of archival space-based data from the Infrared Space Observatory's Long Wavelength Spectrometer and Short Wavelength Spectrometer, but including as well some other spectroscopic data bases. Four kinds of regions are considered in the studies: (1) disks around more evolved objects; (2) young, low or high mass pre-main sequence stars in star formation regions; (3) star formation in external, bright IR galaxies; and (4) the galactic center. One prime focus of the program is the OH lines in the far infrared. The program has the following goals: (1) refine the data analysis of ISO observations, to obtain deeper and better SNR results on selected sources. The ISO data itself underwent "pipeline 10" reductions in early 2001, and additional "hands-on data reduction packages" were supplied by the ISO teams in 2001. The Fabry-Perot database in particularly sensitive to noise can slight calibration errors. (2) model the atomic and molecular line shapes, in particular the OH lines, using revised Monte-Carlo techniques developed by the SWAS team at the Center for Astrophysics; (3) attend scientific meetings and workshops; (4) do E&PO activities related to infrared astrophysics and/or spectroscopy.

Wilkes, Belinda↗

Commercial Instrumentation Technology Associates Inc. Biomedical Experiments Payload (CIBX-2)

Experiments to find solutions for a range of biomedical issues are being hosted by the Commercial Instrumentation Technology Associates Inc. (ITA) Biomedical Experiments (CIBX-2) payload. This research encompasses more than 20 separate experiments including cancer research, commercial experiments and hands-on student experiments from 10 schools as part of ITA's ongoing University Among the Stars program. Protein crystal growth experiments will address the structure of urokinase - a protein that has been identified as a key enzyme in the spread of brain, lung, colon, prostate and breast cancers. Crystals of Bence Jones, a protein associated with bone cancer, will also be grown. Understanding their structures may help scientists develop treatments. In a related area, the Microencapsulation of Drugs (MEPS) is an anti-cancer drug delivery system, based on a 10-year partnership with NASA's Johnson Space Center. On this mission, the co-encapsulation of antibodies and immune stimulants will be made in submicron microcapsules to target pulmonary and bacterial infections.

Morrison, Dennis↗

S'COOL Provides Research Opportunities and Current Data for Today's Technological Classroom

NASA's Students' Cloud Observations On-Line (S'COOL) project, a hands-on educational project, was an innovative idea conceived by the scientists in the Radiation Sciences Branch at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, in 1996. It came about after a local teacher expressed the idea that she wanted her students to be involved in real-life science. S'COOL supports NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument, which was launched on the Tropical Rainforest Measuring Mission (TRMM) in November, 1997, as part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. With the S'COOL project students observe clouds and related weather conditions, compute data and note vital information while obtaining ground truth observations for the CERES instrument. The observations can then be used to help validate the CERES measurements, particularly detection of clear sky from space. In addition to meeting math, science and geography standards, students are engaged in using the computer to obtain, report and analyze current data, thus bringing modern technology into the realm of classroom, a paradigm that demands our attention.

Green, Carolyn J.↗

S'COOL Takes Students to New Heights

Students Cloud Observations On-Line (S'COOL) is a hands-on educational project which supports NASA's Clouds and the Earth s Radiant Energy System (CERES) satellite instrument; part of the Earth Science Enterprise studying our planet. S'COOL meets science, math, technology and geography Standards of Learning (SOLs) as students observe clouds and related weather conditions, compute data and locate vital information while obtaining ground truth observations for the CERES instrument. These observations can then be used to help validate the CERES measurements; particularly detection of clear sky from space. Participants to date have been in 20 states and 5 countries and have reported great interest and learning among their students. Many have used this project as a stepping stone to further learning in other areas of Earth Science; and to do more with the Internet in the classroom. Satellite images and clues to their interpretation are used on the website ( http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/) . Background information is also given on Earth's Radiation Budget and it s importance in understanding our climate. Students can retrieve both their observations and the corresponding satellite data and participate in the validation efforts. A number of suggestions for studies to be done with the data, and related lesson plans, are available. Teachers can tailor this project to the appropriate level and subject matter needed for their students. The recommended grade level is 4th through 12th grade. The project is now open to new participants. We particularly seek schools in more remote areas, to obtain wider geographic coverage for ground truth data; so the project has been designed to use, but not require, computer technology. AGU participants attending the S'COOL presentation will be given a handout describing the project. Material for introducing the project in the classroom will be demonstrated in a participatory style.

Green, Carolyn J.↗

Saturn in your kitchen and back yard

The Saturn in your kitchen program is a series of hands-on activities that seeks to introduce students to one of the science or engineering concepts relating to the Cassini mission.

Cassini saturn education standard activity↗