61
26,86,87,88,96,97,99,100,101,169,197,949,950,973,1001,1007
-1
13530
30
Briefs: Information Technology
SHINE Virtual Machine Model for In-flight Updates of Critical Mission Software
This software is a new target for the Spacecraft Health Inference Engine (SHINE) knowledge base that compiles a knowledge base to a language called Tiny C — an interpreted version of C that can be embedded on flight processors. This new target allows portions of a...
Briefs: Information Technology
Mars Image Collection Mosaic Builder
A computer program assembles images from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Observer Camera Narrow Angle (MOCNA) collection to generate a uniform-high-resolution, georeferenced, uncontrolled mosaic image of the Martian surface. At the time of reporting the information for this article, the mosaic covered 7...
Briefs: Information Technology
Providing Internet Access to High-Resolution Mars Images
The OnMars server is a computer program that provides Internet access to high-resolution Mars images, maps, and elevation data, all suitable for use in geographical information system (GIS) software for generating images, maps, and computational models of Mars. The OnMars server is an...
Briefs: Information Technology
Providing Internet Access to High-Resolution Lunar Images
The OnMoon server is a computer program that provides Internet access to high-resolution Lunar images, maps, and elevation data, all suitable for use in geographical information system (GIS) software for generating images, maps, and computational models of the Moon. The OnMoon server...
Briefs: Information Technology
Expressions Module for the Satellite Orbit Analysis Program
The Expressions Module is a software module that has been incorporated into the Satellite Orbit Analysis Program (SOAP). The module includes an expressions-parser submodule built on top of an analytical system, enabling the user to define logical and numerical variables and constants. The...
Briefs: Information Technology
Virtual Satellite
Virtual Satellite (VirtualSat) is a computer program that creates an environment that facilitates the development, verification, and validation of flight software for a single spacecraft or for multiple spacecraft flying in formation. In this environment, enhanced functionality and autonomy of navigation, guidance, and control...
Briefs: Information Technology
Small-Body Extensions for the Satellite Orbit Analysis Program (SOAP)
An extension to the SOAP software allows users to work with tri-axial ellipsoid-based representations of planetary bodies, primarily for working with small, natural satellites, asteroids, and comets. SOAP is a widely used tool for the visualization and analysis of space missions....
Briefs: Information Technology
Scripting Module for the Satellite Orbit Analysis Program (SOAP)
This add-on module to the SOAP software can perform changes to simulation objects based on the occurrence of specific conditions. This allows the software to encompass simulation response of scheduled or physical events. Users can manipulate objects in the simulation environment under...
Briefs: Information Technology
Core Technical Capability Laboratory Management System
The Core Technical Capability Lab - oratory Management System (CTCLMS) consists of dynamically generated Web pages used to access a database containing detailed CTC lab data with the software hosted on a server that allows users to have remote access. Users log into the system with their KSC...
Briefs: Information Technology
MRO SOW Daily Script
The MRO SOW daily script (wherein "MRO" signifies "Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" and "SOW" signifies "sequence systems engineer of the week") is a computer program that automates portions of the MRO daily SOW procedure, which includes checking file-system sizes and automated sequence processor (ASP) log files. The MRO SOW daily...
Articles: Aerospace
NASA Celebrates 50 Years
"The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join it or not, and it is one of the greatest adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space. "We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to...
Articles: Aerospace
50 Years of Inspiration
We wanted NASA Tech Briefs readers to be a part of our special issue celebrating NASA's 50th anniversary. So, we asked you to tell us how NASA, and NASA Tech Briefs, have inspired you over the past 50 years. We wanted to know how NASA helped you in your career or business, or improved your everyday life. What benefits have...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A proposed tool would be used to inspect alignments of mating twinaxial-connector assemblies on interconnecting wiring harnesses. More specifically, the tool would be used to inspect the...
Articles: Aerospace
NASA’s predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), began a legacy of aeronautical innovation that continues today. While much of the focus of NASA’s...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An ATP System for Deep-Space Optical Communication
An acquisition, tracking, and pointing (ATP) system is proposed for aiming an optical- communications downlink laser beam from deep space. In providing for a direction reference, the concept exploits the mature technology of star trackers to eliminate the need for a costly and potentially hazardous...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Polar Traverse Rover Instrument
A Polar Traverse Rover (PTR) is a device designed to determine the role of Antarctica in the global climate system by determining typical paths of continental air that passes the South Pole, and by obtaining insight into the relationship between events at the Antarctic and the meteorology of sub- polar altitudes. The...
Briefs: Medical
A recently invented method of measuring concentrations of phycocynanin- pigmented algae and bacteria in water is based on measurement of the spectrum of reflected sunlight. When...
Briefs: Medical
The Expert System is an enclosed, controlled environment for growing plants, which incorporates a computerized, knowledge-based software program that is designed to capture the...
Articles: Aerospace
“Space exploration is all about inspiration, innovation, and discovery. It’s about imagining the future. It’s about taking new steps, and exploring beyond our limitations, and creating something bigger...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Dimethyl acetamide (DMAC) and N-methyl pyrrolidinone (NMP) have been found to be useful as high- temperature- resilience-enhancing additives to a baseline electrolyte used in rechargeable...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A miniature mass spectrometer that incorporates features not typically found in prior mass spectrometers is undergoing development. This mass spectrometer is designed to simultaneously...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Waveguide Harmonic Generator for the SIM
A second-harmonic generator (SHG) serves as the source of the visible laser beam in an onboard calibration scheme for NASA's planned Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), which requires an infrared laser beam and a visible laser beam coherent with the infrared laser beam. The SHG includes quasi-phase-matched...
Articles: Nanotechnology
The 2008 NASA Tech Briefs National Nano Engineering Conference (NNEC), be held November 12-13 at the Boston Colonnade Hotel, is for design engineers who want to know what’s real, what’s close to...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Whispering Gallery Mode Resonator With Orthogonally Reconfigurable Filter Function
An optical resonator has been developed with reconfigurable filter function that has resonant lines that can be shifted precisely and independently from each other, creating any desirable combination of resonant lines. This is achieved by changing the axial...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Bimaterial thermal compensators have been proposed as inexpensive means of preventing (to first order) or reducing temperature-related changes in the resonance frequencies of...
Application Briefs: Energy
Lithium-ion batteries Yardney Technical Products Pawcatuck, CT 860-599-1100 www.yardney.com
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander landed safely near the planet’s north polar...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Stable Calibration of Raman Lidar Water-Vapor Measurements
A method has been devised to ensure stable, long-term calibration of Raman lidar measurements that are used to determine the altitude-dependent mixing ratio of water vapor in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Because the lidar measurements yield a quantity proportional to the...
Application Briefs: Aerospace
Constellation Space Suit Station (CSSS) Oceaneering International Houston, TX 281-228-5300 www.oceaneering.com
Oceaneering International has secured a contract from NASA to design...
NASA Tech Needs
The NASA Regolith Excavation Challenge was held on August 2 and 3 on the campus of the California Poly - technic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. The competition required teams to build a roving excavator that...
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