A report proposes the development of a white-light nulling interferometer to be used in conjunction with a single-aperture astronomical telescope that would be operated in outer space. When such a telescope is aimed at a given star, the interferometer would suppress the light of that star...

A report describes the Laser Mapper (LAMP) — a lightweight, compact, low-power lidar system under development for guidance of a spacecraft or exploratory robotic vehicle (rover) at Mars or another planet. The LAMP is intended especially for use during rendezvous of two spacecraft in orbit,...

A report discusses a computational- simulation study of phase- front propagation in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), in which space telescopes would transmit and receive metrological laser beams along 5-Gm interferometer arms. The main objective of the study was to determine the...

The Integrated Composite Analyzer (ICAN) computer program, originally written in the FORTRAN language, has been completely recoded in Java to make it more widely usable. Whereas the original ICAN could be executed on only a limited number of platforms, ICAN/JAVA is compatible with almost all...

Research at Langley Research Center has developed a special fiber- Bragg grating optical filter for use in aircraft or spaceborne differential absorption lidar (DIAL) systems for measuring water vapor in the atmosphere of the Earth. The filter is an optical fiber containing two Bragg...

A report proposes a design concept for synthesizing a reflecting telescope with a large-aperture (diameter ≈100 m) primary mirror from a sparse arrangement of four smaller (diameter ≈10 m) primary mirrors. The telescope would be placed in orbit for viewing Earth with high resolution....

An algorithm that can discover potentially interesting objects in image data has been formulated and implemented in software. The algorithm is intended for applications in which the target objects are mathematically ill-defined and/or not known or specified in advance. Potential applications include...

The Advanced Life Support Automated Remote Manipulator (ALSARM) is a three-degree-of-freedom robotic system that positions an array of sensors inside a closed-system hydroponic chamber used in research on the production of biomass and the use of hydroponic subsystems of life-support...

Parameter Identification in Thermal Networks (PITN) is a computer program developed to satisfy a need to update parameters in mathematical models of thermal systems in order to make the temperatures computed by the models equal to the temperatures measured in tests of the corresponding real...

Experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of making mirror structures that comprise a thin face plate of chemical-vapor-deposited (CVD) pyrolytic graphite (PG) integrated with a thicker backing plate of CVD PG open-cell foam. The backing plate serves as a stiff structural support for the face plate,...

A lidar apparatus called a microaltimeter has been proposed for use aboard a spacecraft in orbit around the Earth for mapping land and sea surfaces, including such features of special interest as ice, tree canopies, and flood plains. The microaltimeter is short for "microlaser altimeter" and...

A report describes a program to develop a multi-function telescope to be carried aboard spacecraft of the planned X2000 series of planetary missions. [A related multi-function telescope was described in "Telescope for Imaging and Laser Communication" (NPO-20388), NASA Tech Briefs,...

A report discusses the design of fast stochastic observers for spacecraft pointing control. In this special context, "observers" signifies mathematical algorithms, implemented on computers aboard spacecraft, through which one processes sensory data (principally, the outputs of star trackers and...