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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Spaceport Command and Control System Software Development

There is an immense challenge in organizing personnel across a large agency such as NASA, or even over a subset of that, like a center's Engineering directorate. Workforce inefficiencies and challenges are bound to grow over time without oversight and management. It is also not always possible to hire new employees to fill workforce gaps, therefore available resources must be utilized more efficiently. The goal of this internship was to develop software that improves organizational efficiency by aiding managers, making employee information viewable and editable in an intuitive manner. This semester I created an application for managers that aids in optimizing allocation of employee resources for a single division with the possibility of scaling upwards. My duties this semester consisted of developing frontend and backend software to complete this task. The application provides user-friendly information displays and documentation of the workforce to allow NASA to track diligently track the status and skills of its workforce. This tool should be able to prove that current employees are being effectively utilized and if new hires are necessary to fulfill skill gaps.

SCCS↗
NASA NTRS1975

Space Tug avionics definition study. Volume 1: Executive summary

A top down approach was used to identify, compile, and develop avionics functional requirements for all flight and ground operational phases. Such requirements as safety mission critical functions and criteria, minimum redundancy levels, software memory sizing, power for tug and payload, data transfer between payload, tug, shuttle, and ground were established. Those functional requirements that related to avionics support of a particular function were compiled together under that support function heading. This unique approach provided both organizational efficiency and traceability back to the applicable operational phase and event. Each functional requirement was then allocated to the appropriate subsystems and its particular characteristics were quantified.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2010

Handling Emergency Management in [an] Object Oriented Modeling Environment

It has been understood that protection of a nation from extreme disasters is a challenging task. Impacts of extreme disasters on a nation's critical infrastructures, economy and society could be devastating. A protection plan itself would not be sufficient when a disaster strikes. Hence, there is a need for a holistic approach to establish more resilient infrastructures to withstand extreme disasters. A resilient infrastructure can be defined as a system or facility that is able to withstand damage, but if affected, can be readily and cost-effectively restored. The key issue to establish resilient infrastructures is to incorporate existing protection plans with comprehensive preparedness actions to respond, recover and restore as quickly as possible, and to minimize extreme disaster impacts. Although national organizations will respond to a disaster, extreme disasters need to be handled mostly by local emergency management departments. Since emergency management departments have to deal with complex systems, they have to have a manageable plan and efficient organizational structures to coordinate all these systems. A strong organizational structure is the key in responding fast before and during disasters, and recovering quickly after disasters. In this study, the entire emergency management is viewed as an enterprise and modelled through enterprise management approach. Managing an enterprise or a large complex system is a very challenging task. It is critical for an enterprise to respond to challenges in a timely manner with quick decision making. This study addresses the problem of handling emergency management at regional level in an object oriented modelling environment developed by use of TopEase software. Emergency Operation Plan of the City of Hampton, Virginia, has been incorporated into TopEase for analysis. The methodology used in this study has been supported by a case study on critical infrastructure resiliency in Hampton Roads.

Tokgoz, Berna Eren↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Data Preservation Strategies for Ensuring Ongoing Use and Access: Leveraging the Capabilities at the NASA DAACs

As NASA prepares for the follow on to EOS through the deployment of many new space and airborne-based assets envisioned under the ESO initiative, the need for ensuring user access to the very large and diverse archive of past missions remains a critical endeavor for current and future research. The ESDIS team has been working for many years on developing strategies and implementations that will make the linkage between the data held in our archives and the emerging missions possible. The focus on how best to preserve these past data has proven to be a collaborative effort, and one that may well benefit from the adoption of innovative technical tools that enable organizational efficiencies. This poster reveals both aspects of NASA’s EOS data repository strategy by discussing the collaborative community efforts of development of ISO 19165-2 – an international standard supported by a team from many countries around the world, the use by EOSDIS DAACs of a Preservation Content Specification, and ongoing work with mission teams to ensure mission data and all associated information are preserved and available for current and future use.

Francis Lindsay↗
NASA NTRS2009

A Systems Approach to Lower Cost Missions: Following the Rideshare Paradigm

Small-satellite rideshare capabilities and opportunities for low-cost access to space have been evolving over the past 10 years. Small space launch vehicle technology is rapidly being developed and demonstrated, including the Minotaur series and the Space X Falcon, among others, along with the lower cost launch facilities at Alaska's Kodiak Launch Complex, NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, and the Reagan Test Site in the Pacific. Demonstrated capabilities for the launch of multiple payloads have increased (and continue to increase) significantly. This will allow more efficient and cost-effective use of the various launch opportunities, including utilizing the excess capacity of the emerging Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)-based missions. The definition of standardized interfaces and processes, along with various user guides and payload implementation plans, has been developed and continues to be refined. Top-level agency policies for the support of low-cost access to space for small experimental payloads, such as the DoD policy structure on auxiliary payloads, have been defined and provide the basis for the continued refinement and implementation of these evolving technologies. Most importantly, the coordination and cooperative interfaces between the various stakeholders continues to evolve. The degree of this coordination and technical interchange is demonstrated by the wide stakeholder participation at the recent 2008 Small Payload Rideshare Workshop, held at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. This annual workshop has been the major platform for coordination and technical interchange within the rideshare community and with the various sponsoring agencies. These developments have provided the foundation for a robust low-cost small payload rideshare capability. However, the continued evolution, sustainment, and utilization of these capabilities will require continued stakeholder recognition, support, and nourishing. Ongoing, coordinated effort, partnering, and support between stakeholders is essential to acquire the improved organizational processes and efficiencies required to meet the needs of the growing small payload community for low-cost access to space. Further, a mix of capabilities developed within the space community for Operationally Responsive Space, an international committee investigating space systems cross-compatibility, and an industry-based organization seeking small satellite "standardization" all work toward a new paradigm: sharing or leveraging resources amongst multiple users. The challenge: where are those users, and what is the best way to leverage them? What is leveraged-mass, power, cost-sharing? And how does one sort through these options? What policies may prevent the use of some options? Who are the "other users" that might share or leverage capabilities? This paper presents a systematic look at both the users and the launch options, and suggests a way forward.

access to space↗
NASA NTRS1993

A neural-network approach to robotic control

An artificial neural-network paradigm for the control of robotic systems is presented. The approach is based on the Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller created by James Albus and incorporates several extensions. First, recognizing the essential structure of multibody equations of motion, two parallel modules are used that directly reflect the dynamical characteristics of multibody systems. Second, the architecture of the proposed network is imbued with a self-organizational capability which improves efficiency and accuracy. Also, the networks can be arranged in hierarchical fashion with each subsequent network providing finer and finer resolution.

Graham, D. P. W.↗
NASA NTRS1995

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Report 35: The use of computer networks in aerospace engineering

This research used survey research to explore and describe the use of computer networks by aerospace engineers. The study population included 2000 randomly selected U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists who subscribed to Aerospace Engineering. A total of 950 usable questionnaires were received by the cutoff date of July 1994. Study results contribute to existing knowledge about both computer network use and the nature of engineering work and communication. We found that 74 percent of mail survey respondents personally used computer networks. Electronic mail, file transfer, and remote login were the most widely used applications. Networks were used less often than face-to-face interactions in performing work tasks, but about equally with reading and telephone conversations, and more often than mail or fax. Network use was associated with a range of technical, organizational, and personal factors: lack of compatibility across systems, cost, inadequate access and training, and unwillingness to embrace new technologies and modes of work appear to discourage network use. The greatest positive impacts from networking appear to be increases in the amount of accurate and timely information available, better exchange of ideas across organizational boundaries, and enhanced work flexibility, efficiency, and quality. Involvement with classified or proprietary data and type of organizational structure did not distinguish network users from nonusers. The findings can be used by people involved in the design and implementation of networks in engineering communities to inform the development of more effective networking systems, services, and policies.

Bishop, Ann P.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Increasing the Cost-efficiency of the DSN

JPL has operated the Deep Space Network (DSN) on behalf of NASA since the 1960's. Over the last two decades, the DSN budget has generally declined in real-year dollars while the aging assets required more attention, and the missions became more complex. As a result, the budget has been increasingly consumed by Operations and Maintenance (O and M), significantly reducing the funding wedge available for technology investment and for enhancing the DSN capability and capacity. Responding to this budget squeeze, the DSN launched an effort to improve the cost-efficiency of the O and M. In this paper we: Analyze the components of O&M. We note for example that, for the DSN, less than 20% of the staff engage in the traditional human-in-front-a-console role, so any effort to increase the cost efficiency must go beyond reducing the number of "Real-time operators." Explain the underlying organizational and cultural structures. Any cost-efficiency activities changes either accept, or carefully modify these structures. For example, the DSN O&M is based on the concept that there are three nearly identical antenna complexes separated by approximately 1200 in latitude and that each antenna complex is operated by a different contractor (driven by international agreements). Explore planned changes in the customer interface, e.g. web-based automated scheduling, and the processes required for a transition. Changes have to be evaluated in the larger end-to-end context, e.g. do the changes provide a net cost-efficiency for the DSN and the missions, or do they merely shift cost from the DSN to the missions. Consider possible significant changes in real-time pass management, e.g. full-remoting of operations, and lights-dim operations, while maintaining (or improving) the performance metrics of the DSN. Investigate how procedural and administrative changes could increase cost-efficiency, in conjunction with changes in the customer interfaces and real-time pass management. Examples would be handling of inter-governmental agreements, improved sharing of resources with other agencies, and better use of commercial (rather than government) resources

Deep Space Network (DSN)↗
NASA NTRS1974

NASA general aviation research overview

Review of current NASA research programs directly focused on general aviation. Significant accomplishments are cited in the areas of airfoil research, stall/spin technology, crashworthiness, and propulsion noise and efficiency. Highlights of recent NASA organizational developments affecting general aviation research are outlined.

Stickle, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS2004

ScyFlow: An Environment for the Visual Specification and Execution of Scientific Workflows

With the advent of grid technologies, scientists and engineers are building more and more complex applications to utilize distributed grid resources. The core grid services provide a path for accessing and utilizing these resources in a secure and seamless fashion. However what the scientists need is an environment that will allow them to specify their application runs at a high organizational level, and then support efficient execution across any given set or sets of resources. We have been designing and implementing ScyFlow, a dual-interface architecture (both GUT and APT) that addresses this problem. The scientist/user specifies the application tasks along with the necessary control and data flow, and monitors and manages the execution of the resulting workflow across the distributed resources. In this paper, we utilize two scenarios to provide the details of the two modules of the project, the visual editor and the runtime workflow engine.

McCann, Karen M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Creating a foundation for a synergistic approach to program management

In order to accelerate the movement of humans into space within reasonable budgetary constraints, NASA must develop an organizational structure that will allow the agency to efficiently use all the resources it has available for the development of any program the nation decides to undertake. This work considers the entire set of tasks involved in the successful development of any program. Areas that hold the greatest promise of accelerating programmatic development and/or increasing the efficiency of the use of available resources by being dealt with in a centralized manner rather than being handled by each program individually are identified. Using this information, an agency organizational structure is developed that will allow NASA to promote interprogram synergisms. In order for NASA to efficiently manage its programs in a manner that will allow programs to benefit from one another and thereby accelerate the movement of humans into space, several steps must be taken. First, NASA must develop an organizational structure that will allow potential interprogram synergisms to be identified and promoted. Key features of the organizational structure are recommended in this paper. Second, NASA must begin to develop the requirements for a program in a manner that will promote overall space program goals rather than achieving only the goals that apply to the program for which the requirements are being developed. Finally, NASA must consider organizing the agency around the functions required to support NASA's goals and objectives rather than around geographic locations.

Knoll, Karyn T.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Organizational Influences on Interdisciplinary Interactions during Research and Design of Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems

The design of large-scale complex engineered systems (LaCES) such as an aircraft is inherently interdisciplinary. Multiple engineering disciplines, drawing from a team of hundreds to thousands of engineers and scientists, are woven together throughout the research, development, and systems engineering processes to realize one system. Though research and development (R&D) is typically focused in single disciplines, the interdependencies involved in LaCES require interdisciplinary R&D efforts. This study investigates the interdisciplinary interactions that take place during the R&D and early conceptual design phases in the design of LaCES. Our theoretical framework is informed by both engineering practices and social science research on complex organizations. This paper provides preliminary perspective on some of the organizational influences on interdisciplinary interactions based on organization theory (specifically sensemaking), data from a survey of LaCES experts, and the authors experience in the research and design. The analysis reveals couplings between the engineered system and the organization that creates it. Survey respondents noted the importance of interdisciplinary interactions and their significant benefit to the engineered system, such as innovation and problem mitigation. Substantial obstacles to interdisciplinarity are uncovered beyond engineering that include communication and organizational challenges. Addressing these challenges may ultimately foster greater efficiencies in the design and development of LaCES and improved system performance by assisting with the collective integration of interdependent knowledge bases early in the R&D effort. This research suggests that organizational and human dynamics heavily influence and even constrain the engineering effort for large-scale complex systems.

McGowan, Anna-Maria R.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Planning for Materials Processing in Space

A systems design study to describe the conceptual evolution, the institutional interrelationshiphs, and the basic physical requirements to implement materials processing in space was conducted. Planning for a processing era, rather than hardware design, was emphasized. Product development in space was examined in terms of fluid phenomena, phase separation, and heat and mass transfer. The effect of materials processing on the environment was studied. A concept for modular, unmanned orbiting facilities using the modified external tank of the space shuttle is presented. Organizational and finding structures which would provide for the efficient movement of materials from user to space are discussed.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2004

Spitzer Space Telescope in-orbit checkout and science verification operations

Spitzer Space Telescope, the fourth and final of NASA's great observatories, and the first mission in NASA's Origins Program was launched 25 August 2003 into an Earth-trailing solar orbit. The observatory was designed to probe and explore the universe in the infrared. Before science data could be acquired, however, the observatory had to be initialized, characterized, calibrated, and commissioned. A two phased operations approach was defined to complete this work. These phases were identified as In-Orbit Checkout (IOC) and Science Verification (SV). Because the observatory lifetime is cryogen-limited these operations had to be highly efficient. The IOC/SV operations design accommodated a pre-defined distributed organizational structure and a complex, cryogenic flight system. Many checkout activities were inter-dependent, and therefore the operations concept and ground data system had to provide the flexibility required for a 'short turn-around' environment. This paper describes the adaptive operations system design and evolution, implementation, and lessons-learned from the completion of IOC/SV.

space verification↗
NASA NTRS2001

The Impact of Organization Culture on Satisfaction of Engineers in Technology

In today's technological workplace with the shortage of qualified knowledge workers, the factors that lead to job satisfaction have increasing importance. Several past studies have indicated that knowledge worker job satisfaction increases when Herzberg motivators are present. Other research has indicated that job satisfaction improves as the degree of organic organizational culture increases. After examining the factors that led to knowledge worker job satisfaction, the current study was undertaken. Knowledge workers in varying organizational cultures were surveyed in an effort to determine if there is a relationship between the degree of knowledge worker job satisfaction and the measure of organic organization culture. Two survey instruments, the Organizational Cultural Assessment (OCA) developed by Riegle, and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), were utilized. The OCA delineates degree of organic culture present whereas the MSQ measures job satisfaction. Results of both surveys were statistically analyzed to determine if knowledge workers experience higher satisfaction levels in organic organizational cultures. Once data was analyzed and the hypothesis proven, this could lead companies to move toward an organic culture with emphasis on motivators in an effort to make their organizational culture more conducive to higher employee retention. Through understanding the factors that lead to increased job satisfaction, corporate resources could more efficiently utilized. A total of eight high technology workplaces were surveyed. Five of the eight workplaces yielded statistically significant positive correlation between a positive organizational culture and increased job satisfaction. These initial results indicate the connection between culture and job satisfaction. The relationship will be further analyzed through future surveys of numerous high technology workplaces.

Westbrook, Jerry W.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Low Emissions Alternative Power (LEAP)

This viewgraph presentation provides organizational plans and a schedule for the development of clean, quiet, and efficient propulsion technology for future aircraft.

Seng, Gary T.↗