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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Interface Consistency: Phase I Results & Phase II Status

Future exploration missions will rely on designing and developing vehicles and complex systems from within NASA and through multiple external commercial partners to meet mission goals. Despite existing consistency-related agency requirements, NASA’s approach to commercial spaceflight development encourages providers’ flexibility and innovation. This strategy is resulting in significant design diversity across Artemis vehicles. Design best practices and guidelines champion interface consistency to promote mental model development and knowledge transfer. However, research investigating the benefits of consistency is mixed, and little is known about its role in complex systems. Determining the level of risk that system diversity presents is difficult, as there is no established method for quantifying the degree of consistency within and across interfaces, nor is there information about the differential impacts of different types of inconsistency. Phase I of this project (Characterization and Measurement) served as a starting point to better understand the construct of consistency, its application, and the range of studies and methods for measuring it. The project team created a taxonomy of consistency to apply to interfaces as a framework to guide the development of tools to assess intersystem consistency. Checklist and cognitive walkthrough methods were developed for use by human factors (HF) and human-computer interaction (HCI) experts. The Intersystem Consistency Scale (ICS) was developed for interface evaluations with crew. A pilot study evaluated the methods’ ability to distinguish differences between Artemis-like prototype pairs exhibiting either high or low design consistency. In addition, click errors and time on task were collected within the ICS (crew-like) group. Results from our exploratory analysis and lessons learned from the pilot study will be discussed. The project team will also present the status of Phase II (Risk Assessment, Standards and Guidelines). This includes incorporating feedback to redesign the assessment tools, and inputs from displays and training Subject Matter Experts to update tasks and prototype designs. The team will present the risk assessment study design to identify the types and levels of inconsistency that pose the greatest risk to performance. Plans to apply these results toward agency standards and guideline recommendations will also be discussed.

Human-Computer Interaction↗

NASA NTRS1986

Optimal design of structures with multiple design variables per group and multiple loading conditions on the personal computer

A finite element based programming system for minimum weight design of a truss-type structure subjected to displacement, stress, and lower and upper bounds on design variables is presented. The programming system consists of a number of independent processors, each performing a specific task. These processors, however, are interfaced through a well-organized data base, thus making the tasks of modifying, updating, or expanding the programming system much easier in a friendly environment provided by many inexpensive personal computers. The proposed software can be viewed as an important step in achieving a 'dummy' finite element for optimization. The programming system has been implemented on both large and small computers (such as VAX, CYBER, IBM-PC, and APPLE) although the focus is on the latter. Examples are presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the code. The present programming system can be used stand-alone or as part of the multilevel decomposition procedure to obtain optimum design for very large scale structural systems. Furthermore, other related research areas such as developing optimization algorithms (or in the larger level: a structural synthesis program) for future trends in using parallel computers may also benefit from this study.

Nguyen, D. T.↗

NASA NTRS1993

MACH 3: Past and future approaches to intelligent tutoring

In 1986, the U.S. Army Research Institute created an intelligent tutoring system as a proof-of-concept for artificial intelligence applications in Army training. The Maintenance Aid Computer HAWK Intelligent Institutional Instructor (MACH 3) taught student mechanics to maintain and troubleshoot the AN/MPQ-57 High Power Illuminator Radar (HPIR) of the HAWK Air Defense Missile System. In 1989, TRADOC Analysis Command compared the effectiveness of MACH 3 to traditional paper-based troubleshooting drills. For the study, all students received lecture and hands-on training as usual. However, during troubleshooting drills, students traced faults using either MACH 3 or the traditional paper-based method. Class records showed that the MACH 3 group completed significantly more troubleshooting tasks and progressed through tasks of greater difficulty than the paper-based group. Upon completion of training, students took written, practical, and oral essay tests. Mean test scores showed that students performed similarly regardless of the drill method used. However, significantly different standard deviations showed that the MACH 3 group performed more consistently than the paper-based group. Furthermore, significantly different time measures showed that the MACH 3 group reached faster troubleshooting solutions on the actual radar transmitter than the paper-based group. We will present the study results and discuss how updating the design of the MACH 3 can include desktop computing in a virtual environment.

Acchione-Noel, Sylvia↗

NASA NTRS2003

An On-line Technology Information System (OTIS) for Advanced Life Support

OTIS is an on-line communication platform designed for smooth flow of technology information between advanced life support (ALS) technology developers, researchers, system analysts, and managers. With pathways for efficient transfer of information, several improvements in the ALS Program will result. With OTIS, it will be possible to provide programmatic information for technology developers and researchers, technical information for analysts, and managerial decision support. OTIS is a platform that enables the effective research, development, and delivery of complex systems for life support. An electronic data collection form has been developed for the solid waste element, drafted by the Solid Waste Working Group. Forms for other elements (air revitalization, water recovery, food processing, biomass production and thermal control) will also be developed, based on lessons learned from the development of the solid waste form. All forms will be developed by consultation with other working groups, comprised of experts in the area of interest. Forms will be converted to an on-line data collection interface that technology developers will use to transfer information into OTIS. Funded technology developers will log in to OTIS annually to complete the element- specific forms for their technology. The type and amount of information requested expands as the technology readiness level (TRL) increases. The completed forms will feed into a regularly updated and maintained database that will store technology information and allow for database searching. To ensure confidentiality of proprietary information, security permissions will be customized for each user. Principal investigators of a project will be able to designate certain data as proprietary and only technical monitors of a task, ALS Management, and the principal investigator will have the ability to view this information. The typical OTIS user will be able to read all non-proprietary information about all projects.Interaction with the database will occur over encrypted connections, and data will be stored on the server in an encrypted form. Implementation of OTIS will initiate a community-accessible repository of technology development information. With OTIS, ALS element leads and managers will be able to carry out informed technology selection for programmatic decisions. OTIS will also allow analysts to make accurate evaluations of technology options. Additionally, the range and specificity of information solicited will help educate technology developers of program needs. With augmentation, OTIS reporting is capable of replacing the current fiscal year-end reporting process. Overall, the system will enable more informed R&TD decisions and more rapid attainment of ALS Program goals.

Levri, Julie A.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Response Timing: Low Airspeed (Energy) Alerting

In response to NTSB Safety Recommendation A-14-043, the FAA was asked to task a panel of human factors, aviation operations, and aircraft design specialists, such as the Avionics Systems Harmonization Working Group (ASHWG), to develop design requirements for context-dependent low energy alerting systems for airplanes engaged in commercial operations. This recommendation is in association to the July 6, 2013, accident involving a Boeing 777-200ER, Korean registration HL7742, operating as Asiana Airlines flight 214, which was on approach to runway 28L when it struck a seawall at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Francisco, California. The FAA asked for human factor support from NASA in developing design requirements for context-dependent low energy alerting systems for airplanes engaged in commercial operations. Recently the ASHWG chair asked for continued support in examining flightcrew alert response timing and requested that NASA update the previous working paper on this subject. This product/paper will be provided to the ASHWG as part of the ongoing assignments from each of the ASHWG members in support of developing requirements and guidance for context-dependent low energy alerting systems for airplanes. The ASHWG is made up of interested parties from government and industry.

response timing↗

NASA NTRS1989

Generic POCC architecture: Revised recommended refinements and object-oriented interfaces

This document is a sequel to the report entitled Generic POCC Architectures, dated April 5, 1989, prepared by CTA under Contract NAS5-31500, Task 28-11600. That document presented a generic architecture based upon current technology, and a series of three refinements based on object-oriented analysis principles and expectations for POCC evolution. The current document revisits the object-oriented analysis of POCC's. We have reassessed the functional groupings that best adhere to object-oriented principles and have revised the recommended architecture accordingly. We present an updated view of the recommended generic POCC architecture using the same graphical models as the previous document: entity-relationship diagrams, dataflow diagrams, and composition graphs. In addition, we present another view in the form of entity-interface diagrams (EID's). EID's may be viewed as a precursor to object diagrams which are the basic construct of the general object-oriented design (GOOD) methodology. The entity-interface diagrams, together with their textual annotations, constitute our specification of object-oriented interfaces in the generic architecture.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2011

Data Interconnection Exploration

This project involves innovating the way the Quality Assurance organization at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) tracks the receiving inspection of JPL Critical Items (JCI) procured from suppliers. The Quality Assurance organization uses a Microsoft Access based front-end to enter items into an inspection queue. The current design has grown to be much more than was expected when the inspection queue system was created in 2007. The goal is to migrate to a web based solution that will allow the handling of more data, multiple input interfaces, and customizable display options. This has been achieved by implementing a divided tables scheme, the use of ColdFusion programming language, and the usage of Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX and jQuery. These updates will allow for future expansion as well as the standardization of inspection queues for the Quality Assurance organization. When engineers and scientists order flight hardware, they cannot use it straight away. After a spacecraft or a satellite has been launched, it will be impossible to repair; therefore, the parts used must be inspected to make sure they are operating correctly and within the required specifications. The task of inspecting these JPL Critical Items (JCI) falls on the Quality Assurance organization. One of the tools the receiving inspection group uses is a database to maintain a queue of inspections that need to be done and of inspections that have been completed. The current Access interface has worked well but increased amounts of data, multiple input interfaces, and changes to how data is handled have made it necessary to seek a new way of organizing items for inspection. In addition, the different inspection groups have recently been merged and each has different ways of keeping track of inspection information. The ultimate goal is for the new group to have one shared inspection queue and website. To achieve this goal, I have been working with Ian Luczon of Procurement Quality Assurance and 3 Myers Hawkins, another intern, to not only create the new queue for receiving inspection but also a central web portal for the newly combined inspection group.

flight hardware↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Countermeasures for Mitigation of Sensorimotor Decrements Following Head-Down Bed Rest

BACKGROUND Astronauts experience postflight disturbances in postural and locomotor control due to sensorimotor adaptations during spaceflight. These alterations may have adverse consequences if a rapid egress is required after landing. Although exercise is partially effective for mitigating cardiovascular and muscular deconditioning, additional countermeasures are needed to further preserve sensorimotor function for exploration missions. We have identified proprioceptive training and electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) as promising in-flight countermeasures. Since prolonged head down bed rest (HDBR) is a spaceflight analog for body unloading and causes postural and locomotor control decrements that parallel those observed after spaceflight, it can be used to accelerate the development of these countermeasures. METHODS This study will determine the effects of proprioceptive training and EMS on functional task performance and sensorimotor function following 60 days of 6° HDBR. Subjects will be randomly assigned to one of four groups: 1) an EMS arm, 2) a proprioceptive training arm, 3) an exercise plus proprioceptive training arm, and 4) a control arm. The EMS countermeasure will include daily bilateral stimulation of the quadriceps femoris muscle (30 minutes per session). Proprioceptive training will be performed three days per week (20 minutes per session) consisting of body-loaded postural tasks in the horizontal position on an air bearing sled. Exercise training will mimic current protocols used on the International Space Station, but treadmill aerobic exercise will be replaced with additional cycling aerobic exercise. Primary outcome measures will include pre and post HDBR functional tests that are representative of high priority exploration mission tasks and require high demand for dynamic control of postural stability. Additional measures will be used to identify the key physiological factors contributing to countermeasure benefits. Given the constrained samples size, a Bayesian modelling approach will be used to quantify the probability that there is an effect of a given magnitude. COUNTERMEASURE UPDATES Proprioceptive countermeasure design enhancements and human in the loop pilot testing continued through the Crew Health Countermeasures (CHC) Systems Capability Leadership Team (SCLT). The primary goals of this work were to enhance the visual feedback system’s capabilities and develop a proprioceptive training program for 60 days of HDBR. Six healthy non-astronaut volunteers participated in four pilot training sessions to systematically examine how each training variable (e.g., axial load, foot placement, and software profile) affects the overall proprioceptive challenge. The resulting training program will maintain an appropriate challenge during 60 days of HDBR by progressively decreasing the subject’s base of support, increasing tilt board target distances, and increasing axial loads using both subjective verbal feedback and objective performance data. RELEVANCE The deliverable from this project will be proof-of-concept sensorimotor countermeasure designs for functional task performance with full assessment of efficacy in a spaceflight analog. If the countermeasures are effective, they will be translated for validation with the suite of operationally implemented in-flight countermeasures.

T R Macaulay↗

NASA NTRS2019

ISEP: A Joint SRAG/CCMC Collaboration to Improve Mitigation of Space Weather Effects on Crew Health in the Exo-LEO Era

The Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG) at Johnson Space Center (JSC) is tasked with monitoring changes to space weather and mitigating any resultant impacts to crew health and safety. As human spaceflight goals extend from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) missions like the International Space Station (ISS) to the moon, Mars and beyond, SRAG will need to update their current approach for crew monitoring of and protection from radiation exposure due to energetic Solar Particle Events (ESPEs). Challenges faced in planning exo-LEO missions include the lack of protection from the Earth’s geomagnetic field employed by the ISS in addition to limited communication capability between the crew and the ground. In the event of an ESPE, the current ISS trajectory ensures that the vehicle is only traveling through fields of higher radiation exposure for a brief period of time; the Earth’s geomagnetic field prevents the penetration of the high-energy particles of concern throughout the majority of the orbit. Exo-LEO missions, on the other hand, require that the vehicle travel through free space, exposing vehicle and crew to the full impact of the ESPE. NASA has combined multiple approaches to resolve this radiation exposure issue. New vehicles are designed to take advantage of advances in particle transport modeling capabilities and shielding technology, allowing redistribution of mass throughout the vehicle to areas of thinner shielding when the energetic particle flux has increased to levels of concern. Although vehicle shielding is an important aspect of radiation exposure protection, there is a continued requirement to monitor and predict the space weather environment. To this end, SRAG maintains a console position in Mission Control with 24/7 mission support capability. In the event of increased solar activity, SRAG collaborates with the Flight Control Team (FCT) to determine if crew action (i.e., shelter) is required. During any increase in solar activity, the FCT needs three pieces of information to effectively decide the crew response in light of other required mission tasks: if an event (ESPE) will occur, how ‘intense’ an observed event will be, and how long will an observed event will last. An ideal alert system limits false alarms, therefore causing the crew to take action unnecessarily, without ignoring events that pose a hazard to the crew. SRAG’s current operational concept for ISS missions focuses on short-term forecasts, best described as ‘now-casting’. Console operators are in daily communication with the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) for situational awareness purposes. When conditions exist that may lead to increased solar activity, operators receive notifications from SWPC. In the case of a well-connected ESPE, the console operator may only have on the order of minutes to several hours to notify the FCT of the event and provide a recommendation for crew action. As NASA shifts to exo-LEO missions, the increased time in free space as well as the reduced ability to communicate with the crew will force a transition in crew protection strategy that emphasizes improvments to both the accuracy and the lead time in forecasting capabilities.

Barzilla, Janet E.↗

NASA NTRS1995

From LDEF to a national Space Environment and Effects (SEE) program: A natural progression

As the LDEF program draws to a close, it leaves in place the fundamental building blocks for a Space Environment and Effects (SEE) program. Results from LDEF data analyses and investigations now form a substantial core of knowledge on the long term effects of the space environment on materials, system and structures. In addition, these investigations form the basic structure of a critically-needed SEE archive and database system. An agency-wide effort is required to capture all elements of a SEE program to provide a more comprehensive and focused approach to understanding the space environment, determining the best techniques for both flight and ground-based experimentation, updating the models which predict both the environments and those effects on subsystems and spacecraft, and, finally, ensuring that this multitudinous information is properly maintained, and inserted into spacecraft design programs. Many parts and pieces of a SEE program already exist at various locations to fulfill specific needs. The primary purpose of this program, under the direction of the Office of Advanced Concepts and Technology (OACT) in NASA Headquarters, is to take advantage of these parts; apply synergisms where possible; identify and when possible fill-in gaps; coordinate and advocate a comprehensive SEE program. The SEE program must coordinate and support the efforts of well-established technical communities wherein the bulk of the work will continue to be done. The SEE program will consist of a NASA-led SEE Steering Committee, consisting of government and industry users, with the responsibility for coordination between technology developers and NASA customers; and Technical Working Groups with primary responsibility for program technical content in response to user needs. The Technical Working Groups are as follows: Materials and Processes; Plasma and Fields; Ionizing Radiation; Meteoroids and Orbital Debris; Neutral External Contamination; Thermosphere, Thermal, and Solar Conditions; Electromagnetic Effects; Integrated Assessments and Databases. Specific technology development tasks will be solicited through a NASA Research Announcement to be released in May of 1994. The areas in which tasks are solicited include: (1) engineering environment definitions, (2) environments and effects design guidelines, (3) environments and effects assessment models and databases, and (4) flight/ground simulation/technology assessment data.

Bowles, David E.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of the Suited Injury Modes and Effects Analysis for Identification of Top Injury Risks in Lunar Missions and Training

A new Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) suit is being designed to replace the current Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Artemis program to return astronauts to the lunar surface. This new suit will allow for increased range of motion compared to the current EMU and Apollo era suits and additional features will enhance the health and safety of exploration. With the design of lunar missions and the xEVAS suit progressing, it is important to consider possible injuries and injury mechanisms that could occur in the suit. To address these concerns, the suited Injury Modes and Effects Analysis (IMEA) was developed to outline suited injury scenarios and rank them based on risk score. The IMEA documents possible scenarios and underlying mechanisms of injury. History has shown that more suit injuries occur during training than in flight; therefore, currently planned training events to prepare for lunar missions and tasks during lunar surface EVAs were considered. Each scenario is ranked with likelihood and consequence scorings based on our current understanding of suit and application of Artemis design reference missions. The scoring allowed identification of the high-risk cases that will drive further work in suited injury. Mechanisms of injury, injury outcomes, and mitigation strategies are evaluated within each scenario. The Suited Injury Summit was held on January 5, 2022, to vet the IMEA with external experts. This was an all-day virtual meeting with the suited injury team; ergonomists; suit engineers; safety engineers; the flight operations directorate; flight doctors; astronauts; astronaut strength, conditioning, and rehabilitation specialists (ASCRS); and external subject matter experts (SMEs). External SMEs consisted of surgeons with varying specialties. The intent of this meeting was to walk through the top injury risks identified in the analysis, identify any gaps that were not captured, and discuss mitigations. With participation from all groups, countless lessons-learned came from the Summit meeting. Using these, the top 10 risks have been identified: neutral buoyancy laboratory training, hand/glove injuries, poor suit fit, field training, specific EVA tasks/design of task, boots/ankle injuries, falls from heights, background radiation, repetitive contact, and ambulation/longdistance ambulation. Mitigation steps have also been determined for each of the top risks. The IMEA and documentation of top risks is a living document. Yearly meetings are planned to update the analysis and reevaluate top risks and mitigations. The IMEA is being used to drive work in suited injury, and this work will continue to evolve with IMEA and lunar mission updates.

Teresa Reiber↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of the Suited Injury Modes and Effects Analysis for Identification of Top Injury Risks in Lunar Missions and Training

A new Exploration Extravehicular Activity Suit (xEVAS) is being designed to replace the current Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Artemis program to return astronauts to the lunar surface. This new suit will allow for increased range of motion compared the current EMU and Apollo era suits and will have additional features that will enhance the health and safety of exploration. With the design of lunar missions and the xEVAS progressing, it is important to consider possible injuries and injury mechanisms that could occur in the suit. To address these concerns, the suited Injury Modes and Effects Analysis (IMEA) was developed to outline suited injury scenarios and rank them based on risk score. The IMEA documents possible scenarios and underlying mechanisms of injury while wearing an extravehicular activity (EVA) suit. Tasks during lunar surface EVA as well as training events to prepare for lunar missions were considered as history has shown that more suit injuries occur during training than in flight. Each scenario is ranked with a consequence and likelihood scoring based on our current understanding of the suit and Artemis design reference missions to identify high-risk cases that will drive further work in suited injury. Injuries, mechanisms of injury, and mitigation strategies are evaluated within each scenario. The Suited Injury Summit was held on January 5, 2022, to vet the IMEA with external experts. This was an all-day virtual meeting with the suited injury team, ergonomists, suit engineers, safety engineers, the flight operations directorate, flight doctors, astronauts, astronaut strength, conditioning, and rehabilitation specialists (ASCRS), and external subject matter experts (SMEs). External SMEs consisted of surgeons with varying specialties. The intent of this meeting was to walk through the top injury risks identified in the analysis, identify any gaps that were not captured, and discuss mitigations. With participation from all groups, countless lessons-learned came from the Summit meeting. Using the lessons-learned and discussion from the Summit, the top 10 risks have been identified: neutral buoyancy laboratory training, hand/glove injuries, poor suit fit, field training, specific EVA tasks/design of task, boots/ankle injuries, falls from heights, background radiation, repetitive contact, and ambulation/long-distance ambulation. Mitigation steps have also been determined for each of the top risks. The IMEA and documentation of top risks is a living document. Yearly meetings are planned to update the analysis and reevaluate top risks and mitigations. The IMEA is being used to drive work in suited injury, and this work will continue to evolve with IMEA and lunar mission updates.

Teresa Reiber↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of the Suited Injury Modes and Effects Analysis for Identification of Top Injury Risks in Lunar Missions and Training

Tessa Reiber↗

NASA NTRS2017

Digital Model-Based Engineering: Expectations, Prerequisites, and Challenges of Infusion

Digital model-based engineering (DMbE) is the use of digital artifacts, digital environments, and digital tools in the performance of engineering functions. DMbE is intended to allow an organization to progress from documentation-based engineering methods to digital methods that may provide greater flexibility, agility, and efficiency. The term 'DMbE' was developed as part of an effort by the Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Infusion Task team to identify what government organizations might expect in the course of moving to or infusing MBSE into their organizations. The Task team was established by the Interagency Working Group on Engineering Complex Systems, an informal collaboration among government systems engineering organizations. This Technical Memorandum (TM) discusses the work of the MBSE Infusion Task team to date. The Task team identified prerequisites, expectations, initial challenges, and recommendations for areas of study to pursue, as well as examples of efforts already in progress. The team identified the following five expectations associated with DMbE infusion, discussed further in this TM: (1) Informed decision making through increased transparency, and greater insight. (2) Enhanced communication. (3) Increased understanding for greater flexibility/adaptability in design. (4) Increased confidence that the capability will perform as expected. (5) Increased efficiency. The team identified the following seven challenges an organization might encounter when looking to infuse DMbE: (1) Assessing value added to the organization. Not all DMbE practices will be applicable to every situation in every organization, and not all implementations will have positive results. (2) Overcoming organizational and cultural hurdles. (3) Adopting contractual practices and technical data management. (4) Redefining configuration management. The DMbE environment changes the range of configuration information to be managed to include performance and design models, database objects, as well as more traditional book-form objects and formats. (5) Developing information technology (IT) infrastructure. Approaches to implementing critical, enabling IT infrastructure capabilities must be flexible, reconfigurable, and updatable. (6) Ensuring security of the single source of truth (7) Potential overreliance on quantitative data over qualitative data. Executable/ computational models and simulations generally incorporate and generate quantitative vice qualitative data. The Task team also developed several recommendations for government, academia, and industry, as discussed in this TM. The Task team recommends continuing beyond this initial work to further develop the means of implementing DMbE and to look for opportunities to collaborate and share best practices.

Hale, J. P.↗

NASA NTRS2006

High-Resolution Analysis Products to Support Severe Weather and Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Threat Assessments over Florida

The Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) located at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) implemented an operational configuration of the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) Data Analysis System (ADAS), as well as the ARPS numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. Operational, high-resolution ADAS analyses have been produced from this configuration at the National Weather Service in Melbourne, FL (NWS MLB) and the Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG) over the past several years. Since that time, ADAS fields have become an integral part of forecast operations at both NWS MLB and SMG. To continue providing additional utility, the AMU has been tasked to implement visualization products to assess the potential for supercell thunderstorms and significant tornadoes, and to improve assessments of short-term cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning potential. This paper and presentation focuses on the visualization products developed by the AMU for the operational high-resolution ADAS and AR.PS at the NWS MLB and SMG. The two severe weather threat graphics implemented within ADAS/ARPS are the Supercell Composite Parameter (SCP) and Significant Tornado Parameter (SIP). The SCP was designed to identify areas with supercell thunderstorm potential through a combination of several instability and shear parameters. The SIP was designed to identify areas that favor supercells producing significant tornadoes (F2 or greater intensity) versus non-tornadic supercells. Both indices were developed by the NOAAINWS Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and were normalized by key threshold values based on previous studies. The indices apply only to discrete storms, not other convective modes. In a post-analysis mode, the AMU calculated SCP and SIP for graphical output using an ADAS configuration similar to the operational set-ups at NWS MLB and SMG. Graphical images from ADAS were generated every 15 minutes for 13 August 2004, the day that Hurricane Charley approached and made landfall on the Florida peninsula. Several tornadoes struck the interior of the Florida peninsula in advance of Hurricane Charley's landfall during the daylight hours of 13 August. Since SPC had previously examined this case using SCP and SIP graphics generated from output of the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) model, this day served as a good benchmark to compare and validate the high-resolution ADAS graphics against the smoother RUC analyses, which serves as background fields to the ADAS analyses. The ADAS-generated SCP and STP graphics have been integrated into the suite of products examined operationally by NWS MLB forecasters and are used to provide additional guidance for assessment of the near-storm environment during convective situations.

Case, Jonathan↗

NASA NTRS1992

Space Resources

Space resources must be used to support life on the Moon and exploration of Mars. Just as the pioneers applied the tools they brought with them to resources they found along the way rather than trying to haul all their needs over a long supply line, so too must space travelers apply their high technology tools to local resources. The pioneers refilled their water barrels at each river they forded; moonbase inhabitants may use chemical reactors to combine hydrogen brought from Earth with oxygen found in lunar soil to make their water. The pioneers sought temporary shelter under trees or in the lee of a cliff and built sod houses as their first homes on the new land; settlers of the Moon may seek out lava tubes for their shelter or cover space station modules with lunar regolith for radiation protection. The pioneers moved further west from their first settlements, using wagons they had built from local wood and pack animals they had raised; space explorers may use propellant made at a lunar base to take them on to Mars. The concept for this report was developed at a NASA-sponsored summer study in 1984. The program was held on the Scripps campus of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), under the auspices of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). It was jointly managed under the California Space Inst. and the NASA Johnson Space Center, under the direction of the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) at NASA Headquarters. The study participants (listed in the addendum) included a group of 18 university teachers and researchers (faculty fellows) who were present for the entire 10-week period and a larger group of attendees from universities, Government, and industry who came for a series of four 1-week workshops. The organization of this report follows that of the summer study. Space Resources consists of a brief overview and four detailed technical volumes: (1) Scenarios; (2) Energy, Power, and Transport; (3) Materials; (4) Social Concerns. Although many of the included papers got their impetus from workshop discussions, most have been written since then, thus allowing the authors to base new applications on established information and tested technology. All these papers have been updated to include the authors' current work. This overview, drafted by faculty fellow Jim Burke, describes the findings of the summer study, as participants explored the use of space resources in the development of future space activities and defined the necessary research and development that must precede the practical utilization of these resources. Space resources considered included lunar soil, oxygen derived from lunar soil, material retrieved from near-Earth asteroids, abundant sunlight, low gravity, and high vacuum. The study participants analyzed the direct use of these resources, the potential demand for products from them, the techniques for retrieving and processing space resources, the necessary infrastructure, and the economic tradeoffs. This is certainly not the first report to urge the utilization of space resources in the development of space activities. In fact, Space Resources may be seen as the third of a trilogy of NASA Special Publications reporting such ideas arising from similar studies. It has been preceded by Space Settlements: A Design Study (NASA SP-413) and Space Resources and Space Settlements (NASA SP-428). And other, contemporaneous reports have responded to the same themes. The National Commission on Space, led by Thomas Paine, in Pioneering the Space Frontier, and the NASA task force led by astronaut Sally Ride, in Leadership and America's Future in Space, also emphasize expansion of the space Infrastructure; more detailed exploration of the Moon, Mars, and asteroids; an early start on the development of the technology necessary for using space resources; and systematic development of the skills necessary for long-term human presence in space. Our report does not represent any Government-authorized view or official NASA policy. NASA's official response to these challenging opportunities must be found in the reports of its Office of Exploration, which was established in 1987. That office's report, released in November 1989, of a 90-day study of possible plans for human exploration of the Moon and Mars is NASA's response to the new initiative proposed by President Bush on July 20, 1989, the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon: "First, for the coming decade, for the 1990s, Space Station Freedom, our critical next step in all our space endeavors. And next, for the new century, back to the Moon, back to the future, and this time, back to stay. And then a journey into tomorrow, a journey to another planet, a manned mission to Mars." This report, Space Resources, offers substantiation for NASA's bid to carry out that new initiative.

McKay, Mary Fae↗

NASA NTRS2003

HEASARC Software Archive

(1) Chandra Archive: SAO has maintained the interfaces through which HEASARC gains access to the Chandra Data Archive. At HEASARC's request, we have implemented an anonymous ftp copy of a major part of the public archive and we keep that archive up-to- date. SAO has participated in the ADEC interoperability working group, establishing guidelines or interoperability standards and prototyping such interfaces. We have provided an NVO-based prototype interface, intending to serve the HEASARC-led NVO demo project. HEASARC's Astrobrowse interface was maintained and updated. In addition, we have participated in design discussions surrounding HEASARC's Caldb project. We have attended the HEASARC Users Group meeting and presented CDA status and developments. (2) Chandra CALDB: SA0 has maintained and expanded the Chandra CALDB by including four new data file types, defining the corresponding CALDB keyword/identification structures. We have provided CALDB upgrades for the public (CIAO) and for Standard Data Processing. Approximately 40 new files have been added to the CALDB in these version releases. There have been in the past year ten of these CALDB upgrades, each with unique index configurations. In addition, with the inputs from software, archive, and calibration scientists, as well as CIAO/SDP software developers, we have defined a generalized expansion of the existing CALDB interface and indexing structure. The purpose of this is to make the CALDB more generally applicable and useful in new and future missions that will be supported archivally by HEASARC. The generalized interface will identify additional configurational keywords and permit more extensive calibration parameter and boundary condition specifications for unique file selection. HEASARC scientists and developers from SAO and GSFC have become involved in this work, which is expected to produce a new interface for general use within the current year. (3) DS9: One of the decisions that came from last year's HEADCC meeting was to make the ds9 image display program the primary vehicle for displaying line graphics (as well as images). The first step required to make this possible was to enhance the line graphics capabilities of ds9. SAO therefore spent considerable effort upgrading ds9 to use Tcl 8.4 so that the BLT line graphics package could be built and imported into ds9 from source code, rather than from a pre-built (and generally outdated) shared library. This task, which is nearly complete, allows us to extend BLT as needed for the HEAD community. Following HEADCC discussion concerning archiving and the display of archived data, we extended ds9 to support full access to many astronomical Web-based archives sites, including HEASARC, MAST, CHANDRA, SKYVIEW, ADS, NED, SIMBAD, IRAS, NVRO, SAO TDC, and FIRST. Using ds9's new internal Web access capabilities, these archives can be accessed via their Web page. FITS images, plots, spectra, and journal abstracts can be referenced, down-loaded, and displayed directly and easily in ds9. For more information, see: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/saord/ds9. Also after the HEADCC discussion concerning region filtering, we extended the Funtools sample implementation of region filtering as described in: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/saord/funtools/regions.html. In particular, we added several new composite regions for event and image filtering, including elliptical and box annuli. We also extended the panda (Pie AND Annulus) region support to include box pandas and elliptical pandas. These new composite regions are especially useful in programs that need to count photons in each separate region using only a single pass through the data. Support for these new regions was added to ds9. In the same vein, we developed new region support for filtering images using simple FITS image masks, i.e. 8-bit or 16-bit FITS images where the value of a pixel is the region id number for that pixel. Other important enhancements to DS9 this year, include supporor multiple world coordinate systems, three dimensional event file binning, image smoothing, region groups and tags, the ability to save images in a number of image formats (such as JPEG, TIFF, PNG, FITS), improvements in support for integrating external analysis tools, and support for the virtual observatory. In particular, a full-featured web browser has been implemented within D S 9 . This provides support for full access to HEASARC archive sites such as SKYVIEW and W3BROWSE, in addition to other astronomical archives sites such as MAST, CHANDRA, ADS, NED, SIMBAD, IRAS, NVRO, SA0 TDC, and FIRST. From within DS9, the archives can be searched, and FITS images, plots, spectra, and journal abstracts can be referenced, downloaded and displayed The web browser provides the basis for the built-in help facility. All DS9 documentation, including the reference manual, FAQ, Know Features, and contact information is now available to the user without the need for external display applications. New versions of DS9 maybe downloaded and installed using this facility. Two important features used in the analysis of high energy astronomical data have been implemented in the past year. The first is support for binning photon event data in three dimensions. By binning the third dimension in time or energy, users are easily able to detect variable x-ray sources and identify other physical properties of their data. Second, a number of fast smoothing algorithms have been implemented in DS9, which allow users to smooth their data in real time. Algorithms for boxcar, tophat, and gaussian smoothing are supported.

White, Nicholas↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Manual Crew Override of Vehicle Landings Following G-Transitions

BACKGROUND Manual control during exploration spaceflight consists of both planned automated supervisory control and unplanned crew override. This crew override capability is critical to enable overall mission success during landing contingencies. However, the introduction of manual override capabilities must be implemented to enable crews to mitigate risks introduced by human error. Adaptive changes in the sensorimotor system can manifest during g-transitions as spatial disorientation. While training and landing aids enable successful landing through disorientation, these adaptive changes may increase cognitive demand that needs to be accounted for in the manual control strategy. It is important to characterize these effects as soon as possible following the G-transition to develop appropriate countermeasures. METHODS In this study, we will examine operational piloting tasks following International Space Station (ISS) missions in a simulated lunar landing using a six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) motion base. The motion-based simulation will be implemented in our laboratory at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) and will be available within hours following the return from commercial crew landings. The primary goals of this study are (1) to understand the impact of spaceflight on crew ability to perform manual crew override tasks, (2) to examine how adaptive changes in vestibular and cognitive function relate to changes in manual crew override proficiency, and (3) compare performance during late “just-in-time” on-board training with early post-flight crew performance. The impact of spaceflight on piloting capability will be assessed from pre- versus post-flight changes in crewmembers assigned to either short duration (< 30 day) or long duration (~6- month) missions to the International Space Station (ISS). Individual differences in post-flight vestibular and cognitive changes include motion sickness reports, measures of tilt motion perception accuracy and precision, and dual-task tracking. During the 6DOF lunar simulation, the crew will manually takeover attitude and rate-of-descent to the nominal or re-designated landing aim point during the approach phase. The outcome measures for the lunar crew override tasks will be the percent time maintaining actual vehicle states, e.g., attitude and rate-of-descent, within recommended guidance during the landing approach, number and maximum deviation outside limits, and root mean square error (RMSE). Given that “just-in-time” (JIT) training is an operational expectation for the Human Landing System (HLS) program, all participants will perform late inflight JIT training for each manual crew override task in which they will participate. Crew proficiency will be captured inflight during JIT training that will be implemented on a laptop with hand controllers to allow the crewmember to practice the landing task procedures like the approach implemented for JIT training with Shuttle landing and ISS telerobotic tasks. COUNTERMEASURE UPDATES The lunar lander simulation has been implemented onto a two-laptop display system where subjects select from alternative landing points, based upon avoiding hazards that the on-board system identifies during the landing. The subject makes inputs using a rotational hand controller (i.e., joystick) and a translational hand controller, which are processed by simulated vehicle dynamics to update the vehicle attitude and rate of descent. Subjects will utilize a combination of flight, situation, and status displays to monitor the state of the simulated vehicle. The simulation exports tilt and translation movements to a 6DOF motion base synced to visual movements and provides representative vestibular cues to the subject while performing the task inside an enclosed cabin featuring a simulated lunar out-the-window view and a heads-down lander cockpit view. RELEVANCE This project will deliver an operational demonstration of crew override capability following spaceflight and identify potential deficits that may require remediation. Comparison of individual vestibular and cognitive changes with crew override performance will help better characterize the manual control risks associated with sensorimotor alterations. The inclusion of “just-in-time” on-board training will ensure we are characterizing changes in override proficiency with this expected countermeasure in place. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors acknowledge contributions from Draper, HLS Joint Test Panel, Crew HLS Interfaces for Piloting Working Group, and Dynamic Skills Trainer (DST) Lab toward the development of the lunar landing simulation. This project is funded by the Human Health Countermeasures Element.

Austin M Bollinger↗