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Articles: Imaging
With an airborne camera capable of making precise and detailed ecological observations, biologists at Applied Ecological Services (Brodhead, WI) are bringing satellite imagery closer to...
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Briefs: Software
Mars Relay Lander and Orbiter Overflight Profile Estimation
This software allows science and mission operations to view graphs of geometric overflights of satellites and landers within the Mars (or other planetary) networks. It improves on the MaROS Web interface within any modern Web browser, in that it adds new capabilities to the MaROS suite.
Briefs: Physical Sciences
In-Situ Wire Damage Detection System
An In-Situ Wire Damage Detection System (ISWDDS) has been developed that is capable of detecting damage to a wire insulation, or a wire conductor, or to both. The system will allow for real-time, continuous monitoring of wiring health/integrity and reduce the number of false negatives and false positives while...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Seismic Imager Space Telescope
A concept has been developed for a geostationary seismic imager (GSI), a space telescope in geostationary orbit above the Pacific coast of the Americas that would provide movies of many large earthquakes occurring in the area from Southern Chile to Southern Alaska. The GSI movies would cover a field of view as long as...
Briefs: Information Technology
Estimating Sea Surface Salinity and Wind Using Combined Passive and Active L-Band Microwave Observations
Several L-band microwave radiometer and radar missions have been, or will be, operating in space for land and ocean observations. These include the NASA Aquarius mission and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission, both of which use...
Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Top Ten Most Popular Entries
Visitors to the Create the Future Design Contest Web site were invited to vote on their favorite entries. Here are the top ten most popular entries, winners of a SpaceMouse Pro 3D mouse from 3Dconnexion. Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies (ET3)™ Daryl Oster, ET3 Global Alliance This global transportation system is...
Application Briefs: Test & Measurement
NASA’s Curiosity rover landed in the Gale Crater on Mars on August 5, having flown over 127 million miles since its November 2011 launch. As part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program,...
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Articles: Research Lab
Over the course of its history, NASA has nurtured partnerships with the private sector to facilitate the transfer of NASA-developed technologies. The benefits of these partnerships have reached...
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Briefs: Software
Global Swath and Gridded Data Tiling
This software generates cylindrically projected tiles of swath-based or gridded satellite data for the purpose of dynamically generating high-resolution global images covering various time periods, scaling ranges, and colors called “tiles.” It reconstructs a global image given a set of tiles covering a...
Briefs: Software
GOES-R: Satellite Insight
GOES-R: Satellite Insight seeks to bring awareness of the GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite — R Series) satellite currently in development to an audience of all ages on the emerging medium of mobile games. The iPhone app (Satellite Insight) was created for the GOES-R Program. The app describes in...
Briefs: Software
Aquarius iPhone Application
The Office of the CIO at JPL has developed an iPhone application for the Aquarius/SAC-D mission. The application includes specific information about the science and purpose of the Aquarius satellite and also features daily mission news updates pulled from sources at Goddard Space Flight Center as well as Twitter. The...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Measurement Techniques for Clock Jitter
NASA is in the process of modernizing its communications infrastructure to accompany the development of a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to replace the shuttle. With this effort comes the opportunity to infuse more advanced coded modulation techniques, including low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes that...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Single-Pole Double-Throw MMIC Switches for a Microwave Radiometer
In order to reduce the effect of gain and noise instabilities in the RF chain of a microwave radiometer, a Dicke radiometer topology is often used, as in the case of the proposed surface water and ocean topography (SWOT) radiometer instrument. For this topology, a single-pole...
Briefs: Software
Jet and Tropopause Products for Analysis and Characterization (JETPAC)
This suite of IDL programs provides identification and comprehensive characterization of the dynamical features of the jet streams in the upper troposphere, the lower stratospheric polar night jet, and the tropopause. The output of this software not only provides comprehensive...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Earth-Science Data Co-Locating Tool
This software is used to locate Earthscience satellite data and climate-model analysis outputs in space and time. This enables the direct comparison of any set of data with different spatial and temporal resolutions. It is written in three separate modules that are clearly separated for their functionality and...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Hardware Implementation of Lossless Adaptive Compression of Data From a Hyperspectral Imager
Efficient onboard data compression can reduce the data volume from hyperspectral imagers on NASA and DoD spacecraft in order to return as much imagery as possible through constrained downlink channels. Lossless compression is important for signature...
Briefs: Information Technology
JPL Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) Portal
Satellite observations can play a very important role in airborne field campaigns, since they provide a comprehensive description of the environment that is essential for the experiment design, flight planning, and post-experiment scientific data analysis. In the past, it has been...
Application Briefs: Software
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA, has implemented Maple, MapleSim, and MapleNet modeling and simulation software from Maplesoft in its various...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Fast and Adaptive Lossless Onboard Hyperspectral Data Compression System
Modern hyperspectral imaging systems are able to acquire far more data than can be downlinked from a spacecraft. Onboard data compression helps to alleviate this problem, but requires a system capable of power efficiency and high throughput. Software solutions have limited...
Who's Who: Aerospace
NASA is helping to lead an international effort to upgrade the systems that supply crucial location information and earth science measurements. Stephen...
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Briefs: Software
Multi-Scale Three- Dimensional Variational Data Assimilation System for Coastal Ocean Prediction
A multi-scale three-dimensional variational data assimilation system (MS-3DVAR) has been formulated and the associated software system has been developed for improving high-resolution coastal ocean prediction. This system helps improve coastal ocean...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Lunar Navigation Determination System — LaNDS
A portable comprehensive navigational system has been developed that both robotic and human explorers can use to determine their location, attitude, and heading anywhere on the lunar surface independent of external infrastructure (needs no Lunar satellite network, line of sight to the Sun or Earth,...
Application Briefs: Software
Lockheed Martin Corp. is supporting the upgrade of the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Mission Control Center’s Core Trajectory Subsystem (CTS) using a.i. solutions’...
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Application Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Johns Hopkins engineers, recognized as experts in medical robotics, are helping NASA with a space dilemma: How can the agency fix valuable satellites that are breaking...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
An ultimate goal of the climate change, snow science, and hydrology communities is to measure snow water equivalent (SWE) from satellite measurements. Seasonal...
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Who's Who: Aerospace
Dr. Bruce Wielicki, senior Earth scientist within the Science Directorate at Langley Research Center, works as lead of the Climate Absolute Radiance and...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Fault-Tolerant, Radiation-Hard DSP
Commercial digital signal processors (DSPs) for use in high-speed satellite computers are challenged by the damaging effects of space radiation, mainly single event upsets (SEUs) and single event functional interrupts (SEFIs). Inno vations have been developed for mitigating the effects of SEUs and SEFIs, enabling...
Briefs: Information Technology
Kalman Orbit Optimized Loop Tracking
Under certain conditions of low signal power and/or high noise, there is insufficient signal to noise ratio (SNR) to close tracking loops with individual signals on orbiting Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. In addition, the processing power available from flight computers is not great enough...
Briefs: Software
The legacy communications link analysis software currently used at Wallops Flight Facility involves processes that are different for command destruct, radar, and telemetry. There is a clear advantage to...
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