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Briefs: Physical Sciences
High-Power, High-Speed Electro-Optic Pockels Cell Modulator
Electro-optic modulators rely on a change in the index of refraction for the optical wave as a function of an applied voltage. The corresponding change in index acts to delay the wavefront in the waveguide. The goal of this work was to develop a high-speed, high-power waveguide-based...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Autonomous Control of Space Nuclear Reactors
Nuclear reactors to support future robotic and manned missions impose new and innovative technological requirements for their control and protection instrumentation. Long-duration surface missions necessitate reliable autonomous operation, and manned missions impose added requirements for failsafe...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Dual-Polarization, Multi-Frequency Antenna Array for use with Hurricane Imaging Radiometer
Advancements in common aperture antenna technology were employed to utilize its proprietary genetic algorithm-based modeling tools in an effort to develop, build, and test a dual-polarization array for Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) applications. Final...
Briefs: Software
Vicura is a developer of manual transmissions and dry dual clutch transmissions, as well as powertrain integration in a large number of front wheel drive and all wheel drive applications....
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Briefs: Software
The design and application of LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting solutions provides new opportunities for thermofluid- mechanical modeling enabled by multiphysics analysis. A coupled...
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Briefs: Software
Increasing demand for more advanced wireless systems necessitates the introduction of novel designs that are capable of simultaneously fulfilling multiple operating and performance criteria. The...
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Supplements
sponsored by co-sponsored by Software Tech Briefs is a special supplement to NASA Tech Briefs. Download the digital version (PDF) at right to learn about new software programs outlined in the table of contents...
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Briefs: Software
Enigma Version 12
Enigma Version 12 software combines model building, animation, and engineering visualization into one concise software package. Enigma employs a versatile user interface to allow average users access to even the most complex pieces of the application. Using Enigma eliminates the need to buy and learn several software packages to...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
In order to have the capability to use satellite data from its own missions to inform future sea-level rise projections, JPL needed a full-fledged ice-sheet/iceshelf flow model, capable of modeling the mass balance...
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Briefs: Software
Planetary Protection Bioburden Analysis Program
This program is a Microsoft Access program that performed statistical analysis of the colony counts from assays performed on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft to determine the bioburden density, 3-sigma biodensity, and the total bioburdens required for the MSL prelaunch reports. It also...
Briefs: Software
Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) Shield Ballistic Limit Analysis Program
This software implements penetration limit equations for common micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) shield configurations, windows, and thermal protection systems. Allowable MMOD risk is formulated in terms of the probability of penetration (PNP) of the spacecraft...
Briefs: Software
Wing Leading Edge RCC Rapid Response Damage Prediction Tool (IMPACT2)
This rapid response computer program predicts Orbiter Wing Leading Edge (WLE) damage caused by ice or foam impact during a Space Shuttle launch (Program “IMPACT2”). The program was developed after the Columbia accident in order to assess quickly WLE damage due to ice, foam,...
Briefs: Software
G-CAT is a covariance analysis tool that enables fast and accurate computation of error ellipses for descent, landing, ascent, and rendezvous scenarios, and...
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Briefs: Software
Phoenix Telemetry Processor
Phxtelemproc is a C/C++ based telemetry processing program that processes SFDU telemetry packets from the Telemetry Data System (TDS). It generates Experiment Data Records (EDRs) for several instruments including surface stereo imager (SSI); robotic arm camera (RAC); robotic arm (RA); microscopy, electrochemistry, and...
Briefs: Software
Contact Graph Routing Enhancements Developed in ION for DTN
The Interplanetary Overlay Network (ION) software suite is an open-source, flight-ready implementation of networking protocols including the Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) Bundle Protocol (BP), the CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) File Delivery Protocol...
Briefs: Software
Spitzer Telemetry Processing System
The Spitzer Telemetry Processing System (SirtfTlmProc) was designed to address objectives of JPL’s Multi-mission Image Processing Lab (MIPL) in processing spacecraft telemetry and distributing the resulting data to the science community. To minimize costs and maximize operability, the software design focused on...
Briefs: Software
Advanced Strategic and Tactical Relay Request Management for the Mars Relay Operations Service
This software provides a new set of capabilities for the Mars Relay Operations Service (MaROS) in support of Strategic and Tactical relay, including a highly interactive relay request Web user interface, mission control over relay planning time periods,...
Briefs: Software
Automated Loads Analysis System (ATLAS)
ATLAS is a generalized solution that can be used for launch vehicles. ATLAS is used to produce modal transient analysis and quasi-static analysis results (i.e., accelerations, displacements, and forces) for the payload math models on a specific Shuttle Transport System (STS) flight using the shuttle math...
Briefs: Software
GFEChutes Lo-Fi
NASA needed to provide a software model of a parachute system for a manned re-entry vehicle. NASA has parachute codes, e.g., the Descent Simulation System (DSS), that date back to the Apollo Program. Since the space shuttle did not rely on parachutes as its primary descent control mechanism, DSS has not been maintained or...
Briefs: Software
Integrated Main Propulsion System Performance Reconstruction Process/Models
The Integrated Main Propulsion System (MPS) Performance Reconstruction process provides the MPS post-flight data files needed for postflight reporting to the project integration management and key customers to verify flight performance. This process/model was used as the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Sally Ride EarthKAM — Automated Image Geo-Referencing Using Google Earth Web Plug-In
Sally Ride EarthKAM is an educational program funded by NASA that aims to provide the public the ability to picture Earth from the perspective of the International Space Station (ISS). A computer-controlled camera is mounted on the ISS in a nadir-pointing window;...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Ionospheric Specifications for SAR Interferometry (ISSI)
The ISSI software package is designed to image the ionosphere from space by calibrating and processing polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data collected from low Earth orbit satellites. Signals transmitted and received by a PolSAR are subject to the Faraday rotation effect as they...
Briefs: Software
NASA Glenn Research and NASA White Sands Test Facility have developed software supporting an automated pressure vessel structural health monitoring (SHM) system based on acoustic emissions (AE)....
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Atmospheric errors due to the troposphere are a limiting error source for spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) imaging. This...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Implementation of a Wavefront-Sensing Algorithm
A computer program has been written as a unique implementation of an image-based wavefront-sensing algorithm reported in “Iterative-Transform Phase Retrieval Using Adaptive Diversity” (GSC-14879-1), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 31, No. 4 (April 2007), page 32. This software was originally intended for...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The HiiHat toolbox developed for CAT/ENVI provides principal investigators direct, immediate, flexible, and seamless interaction with their instruments and data from any location. Offering...
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Products
Keithley Instruments, Cleveland, OH, has introduced the Model 2450 SourceMeter® SMU instrument, the first benchtop source measure unit (SMU) instrument with a capacitive...
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Articles: Imaging
On August 5, 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, landed in Gale Crater in a perfectly executed procedure originally referred to as “7 Minutes of Terror.” A year into its two-year exploration...
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Articles: Aerospace
Building on the success of Curiosity’s landing, NASA has announced plans for the next robotic science rover, which is set to launch in 2020. The proposed 2020 rover mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration...
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