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NASA NTRS1975

Tracking and data system support for the Pioneer project. Volume 3: Pioneer 10 from 1 April 1972 through the Jupiter encounter period, January 1974

The Tracking and Data Systems support of the Pioneer 10 mission from April 1, 1972 through the Jupiter encounter period which ended January 5, 1974 is described. The period covered involves operations in the interplanetary environment from the time of completion of the second trajectory correction to the start of Jupiter encounter; the implementation, planning, and testing that lead to the Jupiter encounter; and the operations during the 60 day encounter period.

Miller, R. B.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Assurance of Fault Management: Risk-Significant Adverse Condition Awareness

Fault Management (FM) systems are ranked high in risk-based assessment of criticality within flight software, emphasizing the importance of establishing highly competent domain expertise to provide assurance for NASA projects, especially as spaceflight systems continue to increase in complexity. Insight into specific characteristics of FM architectures seen embedded within safety- and mission-critical software systems analyzed by the NASA Independent Verification Validation (IVV) Program has been enhanced with an FM Technical Reference (TR) suite. Benefits are aimed beyond the IVV community to those that seek ways to efficiently and effectively provide software assurance to reduce the FM risk posture of NASA and other space missions. The identification of particular FM architectures, visibility, and associated IVV techniques provides a TR suite that enables greater assurance that critical software systems will adequately protect against faults and respond to adverse conditions. The role FM has with regard to overall asset protection of flight software systems is being addressed with the development of an adverse condition (AC) database encompassing flight software vulnerabilities.Identification of potential off-nominal conditions and analysis to determine how a system responds to these conditions are important aspects of hazard analysis and fault management. Understanding what ACs the mission may face, and ensuring they are prevented or addressed is the responsibility of the assurance team, which necessarily should have insight into ACs beyond those defined by the project itself. Research efforts sponsored by NASAs Office of Safety and Mission Assurance defined terminology, categorized data fields, and designed a baseline repository that centralizes and compiles a comprehensive listing of ACs and correlated data relevant across many NASA missions. This prototype tool helps projects improve analysis by tracking ACs, and allowing queries based on project, mission type, domain component, causal fault, and other key characteristics. The repository has a firm structure, initial collection of data, and an interface established for informational queries, with plans for integration within the Enterprise Architecture at NASA IVV, enabling support and accessibility across the Agency. The development of an improved workflow process for adaptive, risk-informed FM assurance is currently underway.

Software Verification & Validation↗

NASA NTRS2017

Risk-Significant Adverse Condition Awareness Strengthens Assurance of Fault Management Systems

As spaceflight systems increase in complexity, Fault Management (FM) systems are ranked high in risk-based assessment of software criticality, emphasizing the importance of establishing highly competent domain expertise to provide assurance. Adverse conditions (ACs) and specific vulnerabilities encountered by safety- and mission-critical software systems have been identified through efforts to reduce the risk posture of software-intensive NASA missions. Acknowledgement of potential off-nominal conditions and analysis to determine software system resiliency are important aspects of hazard analysis and FM. A key component of assuring FM is an assessment of how well software addresses susceptibility to failure through consideration of ACs. Focus on significant risk predicted through experienced analysis conducted at the NASA Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) Program enables the scoping of effective assurance strategies with regard to overall asset protection of complex spaceflight as well as ground systems. Research efforts sponsored by NASAs Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) defined terminology, categorized data fields, and designed a baseline repository that centralizes and compiles a comprehensive listing of ACs and correlated data relevant across many NASA missions. This prototype tool helps projects improve analysis by tracking ACs and allowing queries based on project, mission type, domain/component, causal fault, and other key characteristics. Vulnerability in off-nominal situations, architectural design weaknesses, and unexpected or undesirable system behaviors in reaction to faults are curtailed with the awareness of ACs and risk-significant scenarios modeled for analysts through this database. Integration within the Enterprise Architecture at NASA IV&V enables interfacing with other tools and datasets, technical support, and accessibility across the Agency. This paper discusses the development of an improved workflow process utilizing this database for adaptive, risk-informed FM assurance that critical software systems will safely and securely protect against faults and respond to ACs in order to achieve successful missions.

IV&V↗

NASA NTRS2017

Risk-Significant Adverse Condition Awareness Strengthens Assurance of Fault Management Systems

As spaceflight systems increase in complexity, Fault Management (FM) systems are ranked high in risk-based assessment of software criticality, emphasizing the importance of establishing highly competent domain expertise to provide assurance. Adverse conditions (ACs) and specific vulnerabilities encountered by safety- and mission-critical software systems have been identified through efforts to reduce the risk posture of software-intensive NASA missions. Acknowledgement of potential off-nominal conditions and analysis to determine software system resiliency are important aspects of hazard analysis and FM. A key component of assuring FM is an assessment of how well software addresses susceptibility to failure through consideration of ACs. Focus on significant risk predicted through experienced analysis conducted at the NASA Independent Verification Validation (IVV) Program enables the scoping of effective assurance strategies with regard to overall asset protection of complex spaceflight as well as ground systems. Research efforts sponsored by NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance defined terminology, categorized data fields, and designed a baseline repository that centralizes and compiles a comprehensive listing of ACs and correlated data relevant across many NASA missions. This prototype tool helps projects improve analysis by tracking ACs and allowing queries based on project, mission type, domaincomponent, causal fault, and other key characteristics. Vulnerability in off-nominal situations, architectural design weaknesses, and unexpected or undesirable system behaviors in reaction to faults are curtailed with the awareness of ACs and risk-significant scenarios modeled for analysts through this database. Integration within the Enterprise Architecture at NASA IVV enables interfacing with other tools and datasets, technical support, and accessibility across the Agency. This paper discusses the development of an improved workflow process utilizing this database for adaptive, risk-informed FM assurance that critical software systems will safely and securely protect against faults and respond to ACs in order to achieve successful missions.

Fault management↗

NASA NTRS2004

Automated Processing of ISIS Topside Ionograms into Electron Density Profiles

Modeling of the topside ionosphere has for the most part relied on just a few years of data from topside sounder satellites. The widely used Bent et al. (1972) model, for example, is based on only 50,000 Alouette 1 profiles. The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) (Bilitza, 1990, 2001) uses an analytical description of the graphs and tables provided by Bent et al. (1972). The Alouette 1, 2 and ISIS 1, 2 topside sounder satellites of the sixties and seventies were ahead of their times in terms of the sheer volume of data obtained and in terms of the computer and software requirements for data analysis. As a result, only a small percentage of the collected topside ionograms was converted into electron density profiles. Recently, a NASA-funded data restoration project has undertaken and is continuing the process of digitizing the Alouette/ISIS ionograms from the analog 7-track tapes. Our project involves the automated processing of these digital ionograms into electron density profiles. The project accomplished a set of important goals that will have a major impact on understanding and modeling of the topside ionosphere: (1) The TOPside Ionogram Scaling and True height inversion (TOPIST) software was developed for the automated scaling and inversion of topside ionograms. (2) The TOPIST software was applied to the over 300,000 ISIS-2 topside ionograms that had been digitized in the fkamework of a separate AISRP project (PI: R.F. Benson). (3) The new TOPIST-produced database of global electron density profiles for the topside ionosphere were made publicly available through NASA s National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) ftp archive at . (4) Earlier Alouette 1,2 and ISIS 1, 2 data sets of electron density profiles from manual scaling of selected sets of ionograms were converted fiom a highly-compressed binary format into a user-friendly ASCII format and made publicly available through nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov. The new database for the topside ionosphere established as a result of this project, has stimulated a multitude of new studies directed towards a better description and prediction of the topside ionosphere. Marinov et al. (2004) developed a new model for the upper ion transition height (Oxygen to Hydrogen and Helium) and Bilitza (2004) deduced a correction term for the I N topside electron density model. Kutiev et al. (2005) used this data to develop a new model for the topside ionosphere scale height (TISH) as a function of month, local time, latitude, longitude and solar flux F10.7. Comparisons by Belehaki et al. (2005) show that TISH is in general agreement with scale heights deduced from ground ionosondes but the model predicts post-midnight and afternoon maxima whereas the ionosonde data show a noon maximum. Webb and Benson (2005) reported on their effort to deduce changes in the plasma temperature and ion composition from changes in the topside electron density profile as recorded by topside sounders. Limitations and possible improvements of the IRI topside model were discussed by Coisson et al. (2005) including also the possible use of the NeQuick model, Our project progressed in close collaboration and coordination with the GSFC team involved in the ISIS digitization effort. The digitization project was highly successful producing a large amount of digital topside ionograms. Several no-cost extensions of the TOPIST project were necessary to keep up with the pace and volume of the digitization effort.

Reinisch, bodo W.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Tracking and data system support for the Pioneer project. Volume 1: Pioneer 10-prelaunch planning through second trajectory correction, 4 December 1969 - 1 April 1972

The tracking and data system support of the launch, near-earth, and deep space phases of the Pioneer 10 mission, which sent a Pioneer spacecraft into a flyby of Jupiter that would eventually allow the spacecraft to escape the solar system is discussed. The support through the spacecraft's second trajectory correction is reported. During this period, scientific instruments aboard the spacecraft registered information relative to interplanetary particles and fields, and radiometric data generated by the network continued to improve knowledge of the celestial mechanics of the solar system. In addition to network support activity detail, network performance and special support activities are covered.

Siegmeth, A. J.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Project Integration Architecture: Application Architecture

The Project Integration Architecture (PIA) implements a flexible, object-oriented, wrapping architecture which encapsulates all of the information associated with engineering applications. The architecture allows the progress of a project to be tracked and documented in its entirety. Additionally, by bringing all of the information sources and sinks of a project into a single architectural space, the ability to transport information between those applications is enabled.

Jones, William Henry↗

DOE OSTI2020

NA-22 Quarterly Report: April-June, 2020

At LLNL we contribute to two projects in NNSA-IAEC Science and Technology Working Group Area V: Basic Science of Waste Management & Subsurface Science. The motivation behind Topic Area V is to evaluate the scientific and safety case for an intermediate borehole to house Israel’s nuclear waste. WM1 (SNL lead) is Thermomechanical Damage (initially called Damage Accumulation and Wellbore Stability). This work focuses on evaluating the damage to the host rock induced by excavation and heat released from a possible radioactive waste repository/borehole. WM2 (LLNL lead) is Radionuclide Facilitated Transport in Carbonate Rock (initially called Colloidal Transport of Radionuclides). This work focuses on better understanding the transport of radionuclides and colloids from a nuclear waste repository/borehole in a vadose zone environment through experimentation and modeling. In the second quarter (this report) our work has been delayed in part due to COVID-19. LLNL went into shelter in place (SIP), minimum safe operations mid-March. Operations at LLNL have been slowly ramping up with 50% of the workforce back onsite in limited capacity and telecommuting widely used. The good news is that our labs opened up the last week in June and experiments are expected to start up again for WM2 Radionuclide Facilitated Transport in July. LLNL’s contribution to WM1 Thermochemical Damage modeling efforts also started back up in late June. We expect to be able to catch up on much of our work by the end of next quarter. The three national laboratories communication on a bi-monthly basis to make sure Area V projects remain on track and we have a monthly conference call with our Israeli counterparts to make sure we are communicating priorities and coordinating project details.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

DOE OSTI2020

NA-22 Quarterly Report: April-June, 2020

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2016

Hexapod Robot

The project I am working on at NASA-Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX is a hexapod robot. This project was started by various engineers at the Trick Lab. The goal of this project is to have the hexapod track a yellow ball or possibly another object from left to right and up/down. The purpose is to have it track an object like a real creature. The project will consist of using software and hardware. This project started with a hexapod robot which uses a senor bar to track a yellow ball but with a limited field of vision. The sensor bar acts as the robots "head." Two servos will be added to the hexapod to create flexion and extension of the head. The neck and head servos will have to be programmed to be added to the original memory map of the existing servos. I will be using preexisting code. The main programming language that will be used to add to the preexisting code is C++. The trick modeling and simulation software will also be used in the process to improve its tracking and movement. This project will use a trial and error approach, basically seeing what works and what does not. The first step is to initially understand how the hexapod works. To get a general understanding of how the hexapod maneuvers and plan on how to had a neck and head servo which works with the rest of the body. The second step would be configuring the head and neck servos with the leg servos. During this step, limits will be programmed specifically for the each servo. By doing this, the servo is limited to how far it can rotate both clockwise and counterclockwise and this is to prevent hardware damage. The hexapod will have two modes in which it works in. The first mode will be if the sensor bar does not detect an object. If the object it is programmed to look for is not in its view it will automatically scan from left to right 3 times then up and down once. The second mode will be if the sensor bar does detect the object. In this mode the hexapod will track the object from left to right or up and down. The hexapod will eventually be able to track the object moving its head and body in sync with on another and being able to rotate its body at 360 degrees. This is the plans and possible end results for the hexapod robot I will be working on during my summer internship at NASA Johnson Space Center. Since working on the hexapod project I have gained an increase interest in robotics. I enjoy the process of critical thinking. Also will working on this project I was challenged in a way that made more passionate to strive even more to become an engineer. I've learned that asking questions is an important part of the learning process. Also I learn that much more is accomplished when teamwork is applied.

Begody, Ericka↗

DOE OSTI2023

3D track reconstruction of low-energy electrons in the MIGDAL low pressure optical time projection chamber

Here, we demonstrate three-dimensional track reconstruction of electrons in a low pressure (50 Torr) optical TPC consisting of two glass GEMs with an ITO strip readout in CF 4 and CF 4 /Ar mixtures. The reconstructed tracks show a variety of event topologies, including short tracks from photoelectrons induced by 55 Fe 5.9 keV X-rays and long tracks from gamma ray interactions and beta decays. Algorithms for event identification and track ridge detection are discussed as well as multiple methods for integrating information from the camera image and ITO waveforms with the goal of full 3D reconstruction of the track.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2021

Tempus Project (Final Report)

This final technical report tracks the accomplishments of the Tempus Project to the statement of project objectives and resulting deliverables. The objective of the Tempus project was to develop and demonstrate the capabilities of a secure, modular, and customizable time synchronization platform that provides layers of protection from GPS spoofing attacks and other vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities present a challenge to power system operators utilizing GPS-based time synchronization, as time synchronization increasingly plays a critical role in the efficient and reliable operation of power systems. The Tempus project addressed these concerns through the development of a secure, customizable time synchronization platform. The Tempus platform applies a layered approach to time security that protects from manipulation of timing systems used by power utilities. The Tempus platform consists of a component framework utilizing modularized time sources and customizable manipulation detection algorithms. With multiple time sources, and comparisons between sources and tracking sudden or subtle changes to the timing phase and time information, the Tempus system can detect and mitigate compromised timing sources.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA NTRS1980

Utilization of the Venus Station (DSS 13) 26 meter antenna during CY 1979

The various activities for which the Venus Station's 26 m antenna was used are described and the number of manned tracking hours devoted to each activity are given. A brief description of the goal of each activity supported is provided, and, where appropriate, the observing technique is summarized. Projects involving spacecraft tracking, advanced systems development, and radio astronomy are included.

Jackson, E. B.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Utility-Scale Solar, 2021 Edition: Empirical Trends in Deployment, Technology, Cost, Performance, PPA Pricing, and Value in the United States [Slides]

Berkeley Lab’s “Utility-Scale Solar, 2021 Edition” provides an overview of key trends in the U.S. market, with a focus on 2020. Highlights of this year’s update include: A record of nearly 9.6 GWAC of new utility-scale PV capacity came online in 2020, bringing cumulative installed capacity to more than 38.7 GWAC across 43 states. 89% of all new utility-scale PV capacity added in 2020 uses single-axis tracking. Median installed project costs declined to $\$$1.4/WAC (or $\$$1.1/WDC) in 2020. Project-level capacity factors vary widely, from 9% to 36% (on an AC basis), with a sample median of 24%. The report explores drivers of this variation. Utility-scale PV’s LCOE fell to $\$$34/MWh in 2020 ($\$$28/MWh if factoring in the federal investment tax credit, or ITC). PPA prices have largely followed the decline in solar’s LCOE over time, but have stagnated more recently. Prices from a sample of recent contracts average just above $\$$20/MWh (levelized). In 2020, solar’s average market value (defined in the report to include only energy and capacity value) exceeded average wholesale prices in 12 of the 17 balancing authorities analyzed (including 4 of the 7 independent system operators across the United States). Adding battery storage is one way to increase the value of solar. Our public data file tracks metadata for more than 150 PV+battery hybrid projects that are already online or that have secured offtake arrangements. At the end of 2020, there were at least 460 GW of utility-scale solar power capacity within the interconnection queues across the nation, 160 GW of which include batteries. For more information, and to explore related interactive data visualizations, go to utilityscalesolar.lbl.gov.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Utility-Scale Solar, 2022 Edition: Empirical Trends in Deployment, Technology, Cost, Performance, PPA Pricing, and Value in the United States [Slides]

Berkeley Lab’s “Utility-Scale Solar, 2022 Edition” provides an overview of key trends in the U.S. market, with a focus on 2021. Highlights of this year’s update include: -A record of nearly 12.5 GWAC of new utility-scale PV capacity came online in 2021, bringing cumulative installed capacity to more than 51.3 GWAC across 44 states. -90% of all new utility-scale PV capacity added in 2021 uses single-axis tracking. -Median installed project costs declined to $\$1.35$/WAC (or $\$1.02$/WDC) in 2021. -Project-level capacity factors vary widely, from 9% to 35% (on an AC basis), with a sample median of 24%. The report explores drivers of this variation. -Utility-scale PV’s LCOE fell to $\$33$/MWh in 2021 ($\$27$/MWh if factoring in the federal investment tax credit, or ITC). -PPA prices have largely followed the decline in solar’s LCOE over time, but have recently stagnated and even moved slightly higher. Prices from a sample of recent contracts average around $\$20$/MWh (levelized) in the West and $\$30-40$/MWh elsewhere in the continental US. In 2021, solar’s average market value (defined in the report to include only energy and capacity value) rose by 55% to $\$47$/MWh and exceeded average wholesale prices in 13 of the 17 balancing authorities analyzed. -Adding battery storage is one way to increase the value of solar. Our public data file tracks metadata and PPA prices from 67 PV+battery hybrid projects that are already online or that have secured offtake arrangements. -At the end of 2021, there were at least 674 GW of utility-scale solar power capacity within the interconnection queues across the nation, 284 GW of which include batteries. For more information, and to explore related interactive data visualizations, go to utilityscalesolar.lbl.gov.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS2001

A Low Cost GPS System for Real-Time Tracking of Sounding Rockets

In an effort to minimize the need for costly, complex, tracking radars, the German Space Operations Center has set up a research project for GPS based tracking of sounding rockets. As part of this project, a GPS receiver based on commercial technology for terrestrial applications has been modified to allow its use under the highly dynamical conditions of a sounding rocket flight. In addition, new antenna concepts are studied as an alternative to proven but costly wrap-around antennas.

Markgraf, M.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Spitzer Pre Launch Mission Operations System - The Road to Launch

Spitzer Space Telescope was launched on 25 August 2003 into an Earth-trailing solar orbit to acquire infrared observations from space. Development of the Mission Operations System (MOS) portion prior to launch was very different from planetary missions from the stand point that the MOS teams and Ground Data System had to be ready to support all aspects of the mission at launch (i.e., no cruise period for finalizing the implementation). For Spitzer, all mission-critical events post launch happen in hours or days rather than months or years, as is traditional with deep space missions. At the end of 2000 the Project was dealt a major blow when the Mission Operations System (MOS) had an unsuccessful Critical Design Review (CDR). The project made major changes at the beginning of 2001 in an effort to get the MOS (and Project) back on track. The result for the Spitzer Space Telescope was a successful launch of the observatory followed by an extremely successful In Orbit Checkout (IOC) and operations phase. This paper describes how the project was able to recover the MOS to a successful Delta (CDR) by mid 2001, and what changes in philosophies, experiences, and lessons learned followed. It describes how projects must invest early or else invest heavily later in the development phase to achieve a successful operations phase.

observatory↗

DOE OSTI2023

Utility-Scale Solar, 2023 Edition: Empirical Trends in Deployment, Technology, Cost, Performance, PPA Pricing, and Value in the United States [Slides]

Berkeley Lab’s “Utility-Scale Solar, 2023 Edition” presents analysis of empirical plant-level data from the U.S. fleet of ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV), PV+battery, and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) plants with capacities exceeding 5 MWAC (PV plants of 5 MWAC or less, including residential rooftop systems, are covered separately in Berkeley Lab’s companion annual report, Tracking the Sun). Highlights of this year’s update include: -10.4 GWAC of new utility-scale PV capacity came online in 2022, bringing cumulative installed capacity to more than 61.7 GWAC across 46 states. -94% of all new utility-scale PV capacity added in 2022 uses single-axis tracking. -Median installed project costs declined to $\$1.32$/WAC (or $\$1.07$/WDC) in 2022. -Plant-level capacity factors vary widely, from 9% to 35% (on an AC basis), with a sample median of 24%. The report explores drivers of this variation. -Utility-scale PV’s LCOE fell to $\$39$/MWh in 2022 ($\$29$/MWh if factoring in the federal investment tax credit, or ITC). -PPA prices have largely followed the decline in solar’s LCOE over time, but have recently stagnated and even moved slightly higher. Prices from a sample of recent contracts average around $\$20-30$/MWh (levelized) in the West and $\$30-40$/MWh elsewhere in the continental US. -In 2022, solar’s average market value (defined in the report to include only energy and capacity value) rose by 40% to $\$71$/MWh and exceeded average wholesale prices in 4 of the 7 ISOs/RTOs and 11 of 18 other balancing authorities analyzed. -Adding battery storage is one way to increase the value of solar. Our public data file tracks metadata and PPA prices from ~100 PV+battery hybrid projects that are already online or that have secured offtake arrangements. -the end of 2022, there were at least 947 GW of utility-scale solar power capacity within the interconnection queues across the nation, 456 GW of which include batteries. For more information, and to explore related interactive data visualizations, go to utilityscalesolar.lbl.gov.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗