Magazine

The Payload Bay Door Dynamics Simulation (PBDS) computer program simulates the mechanical behavior of the space-shuttle payload bay doors and their latching and driving mechanisms during opening, closing, latching, and unlatching. PBDS was developed to replace an older program that was...

An instrumented buoy measures selected aspects of the spectrum of upwelling light for assessment of "water quality." The buoy carries a previously patented optical-backscatter probe that contains a hyperspectral sensor. The output of the probe is processed by a small onboard computer....

In a proposed improvement on the basic concept of a magnetostrictive heat switch for cryogenic applications, the magnetic field needed for actuation would be generated by a superconducting flux tube (SFT). A closely related concept for a magnetostrictive heat switch was presented in...

Magnetostrictive valves for cryogenic applications would be actuated by superconducting flux tubes (SFTs), according to a proposal. The reasoning behind this proposal closely tracks that of the proposal to use SFTs in magnetostrictive heat switches, as reported in the preceding article.

Engineering Data Summarization Flight Software is a computer program designed for use aboard a spacecraft to implement a concept, called "beacon monitoring," that has been discussed in several prior NASA Tech Briefs articles. The program generates summaries of operational data (e.g., sensor...

A computer program controls the automated acquisition, display, and reduction of data on the dynamics of magnetic bearings. The data gathered by use of this program are expected to enable the verification and enhancement of mathematical models of magnetic-bearing dynamics, thereby...

WebWinds is an interactive computer program that aids the visualization and exploration of scientific data. WebWinds is the successor to LinkWinds, which was reported in "LinkWinds — Flexible Software for Highly Interactive Visual Data Analysis" (NPO-19786), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 20,...

Light modulators of a proposed type would exploit the propagation of lightin "whispering-gallery" electromagnetic modes in microspheres made of electro-optical materials. These modulators would offer advantages of ultrahigh modulation efficiency and increased bandwidth, relative to their...

Thin-walled structures made of strong glassy nickel and glassy nickel-cobalt alloys, with tailorable low residual stresses, and with high resistance to permanent plastic deformation, can be formed by use of an electrodeposition process. This process was developed to enable the fabrication of lightweight,...

The KSC Electronic Documentation System (KEDS) is a computer-intranet system at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the storage and retrieval of engineering drawings and other engineering documents that have been officially released. Prior to the development of the KEDS, microfilm copies of...