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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Integrated Electrical Wire Insulation Repair System
An integrated system tool will allow a technician to easily and quickly repair damaged high-performance electrical wire insulation in the field. Low-melt polyimides have been developed that can be processed into thin films that work well in the repair of damaged polyimide or fluoropolymer...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
LVGEMS Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry on Satellites
NASA’s investigations of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere require measurements of composition of the neutral air and ions. NASA is able to undertake these observations, but the instruments currently in use have their limitations. NASA has extended the scope of its research in the atmosphere...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The Space Shuttle Orbiter windows were damaged both by micrometeor impacts and by handling, and required careful inspection before they could be reused. The launch commit criteria...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Per-Pixel, Dual-Counter Scheme for Optical Communications
Free space optical communications links from deep space are projected to fulfill future NASA communication requirements for 2020 and beyond. Accurate laser-beam pointing is required to achieve high data rates at low power levels. For the highest pointing accuracy, a laser beacon transmitted...
Briefs: Information Technology
Certification-Based Process Analysis
Space mission architects are often challenged with knowing which investment in technology infusion will have the highest return. Certification-based analysis (CBA) gives architects and technologists a means to communicate the risks and advantages of infusing technologies at various points in a process. Various...
Briefs: Information Technology
Surface Navigation Using Optimized Waypoints and Particle Swarm Optimization
The design priority for manned space exploration missions is almost always placed on human safety. Proposed manned surface exploration tasks (lunar, asteroid sample returns, Mars) have the possibility of astronauts traveling several kilometers away from a home base....
Briefs: Information Technology
Smart-Divert Powered Descent Guidance to Avoid the Backshell Landing Dispersion Ellipse
A smart-divert capability has been added into the Powered Descent Guidance (PDG) software originally developed for Mars pinpoint and precision landing. The smart-divert algorithm accounts for the landing dispersions of the entry backshell, which separates from...
Briefs: Information Technology
Adaptive Sampling of Spatiotemporal Phenomena With Optimization Criteria
This work was designed to find a way to optimally (or near optimally) sample spatiotemporal phenomena based on limited sensing capability, and to create a model that can be run to estimate uncertainties, as well as to estimate covariances. The goal was to maximize (or...
Briefs: Information Technology
Estimating Foreign-Object- Debris Density From Photogrammetry Data
Within the first few seconds after launch of STS-124, debris traveling vertically near the vehicle was captured on two 16-mm film cameras surrounding the launch pad. One particular piece of debris caught the attention of engineers investigating the release of the flame trench fire...
Briefs: Information Technology
Building a 2.5D Digital Elevation Model From 2D Imagery
When projecting imagery into a georeferenced coordinate frame, one needs to have some model of the geographical region that is being projected to. This model can sometimes be a simple geometrical curve, such as an ellipse or even a plane. However, to obtain accurate projections, one needs to...
Briefs: Software
Eyes on the Earth 3D
Eyes on the Earth 3D software gives scientists, and the general public, a realtime, 3D interactive means of accurately viewing the real-time locations, speed, and values of recently collected data from several of NASA’s Earth Observing Satellites using a standard Web browser (climate.nasa.gov/eyes). Anyone with Web access can...
Briefs: Software
Target Trailing With Safe Navigation for Maritime Autonomous Surface Vehicles
This software implements a motion-planning module for a maritime autonomous surface vehicle (ASV). The module trails a given target while also avoiding static and dynamic surface hazards. When surface hazards are other moving boats, the motion planner must apply...
Briefs: Software
Adams-Based Rover Terramechanics and Mobility Simulator — ARTEMIS
The Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs), Spirit and Opportunity, far exceeded their original drive distance expectations and have traveled, at the time of this reporting, a combined 29 kilometers across the surface of Mars. The Rover Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP), the...
Briefs: Software
ISTP CDF Skeleton Editor
Basic Common Data Format (CDF) tools (e.g., cdfedit) provide no specific support for creating International Solar-Terrestrial Physics/Space Physics Data Facility (ISTP/SPDF) standard files. While it is possible for someone who is familiar with the ISTP/SPDF metadata guidelines to create compliant files using just the basic...
Briefs: Information Technology
Uplink Summary Generator (ULSGEN) Version 1.0
The Uplink Summary Generator (ULSGEN) provides a convenient means of gathering together a set of uplink related files, parsing and analyzing these files, and producing a summary of their contents, which may then be electronically signed by one or more reviewers to verify the commands. Spacecraft...
Briefs: Software
Robotics On-Board Trainer (ROBoT)
ROBoT is an on-orbit version of the ground-based Dynamics Skills Trainer (DST) that astronauts use for training on a frequent basis. This software consists of two primary software groups. The first series of components is responsible for displaying the graphical scenes. The remaining components are responsible for...
Briefs: Information Technology
Software Engineering Tools for Scientific Models
Software tools were constructed to address issues the NASA Fortran development community faces, and they were tested on real models currently in use at NASA. These proof-of-concept tools address the High-End Computing Program and the Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction Program. Two examples are the...
Briefs: Information Technology
Automatic Data Filter Customization Using a Genetic Algorithm
This work predicts whether a retrieval algorithm will usefully determine CO2 concentration from an input spectrum of GOSAT (Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite). This was done to eliminate needless runtime on atmospheric soundings that would never yield useful results. A space of 50...
Briefs: Software
Tracker Toolkit
This software can track multiple moving objects within a video stream simultaneously, use visual features to aid in the tracking, and initiate tracks based on object detection in a subregion. A simple programmatic interface allows plugging into larger image chain modeling suites. It extracts unique visual features for aid in...
Briefs: Information Technology
Towards Efficient Scientific Data Management Using Cloud Storage
A software prototype allows users to backup and restore data to/from both public and private cloud storage such as Amazon’s S3 and NASA’s Nebula. Unlike other off-the-shelf tools, this software ensures user data security in the cloud (through encryption), and minimizes users’...
Briefs: Information Technology
On a Formal Tool for Reasoning About Flight Software Cost Analysis
A report focuses on the development of flight software (FSW) cost estimates for 16 Discovery-class missions at JPL. The techniques and procedures developed enabled streamlining of the FSW analysis process, and provided instantaneous confirmation that the data and processes used for...
Briefs: Materials
A Nanostructured Composites Thermal Switch Controls Internal and External Short Circuit in Lithium Ion Batteries
A document discusses a thin layer of composite material, made from nano scale particles of nickel and Teflon, placed within a battery cell as a layer within the anode and/or the cathode. There it conducts electrons at room temperature,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Spacecraft Crew Cabin Condensation Control
A report discusses a new technique to prevent condensation on the cabin walls of manned spacecraft exposed to the cold environment of space, as such condensation could lead to free water in the cabin. This could facilitate the growth of mold and bacteria, and could lead to oxidation and weakening of the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
This work focused on developing, fabricating, and fully calibrating a flow-angle probe for aeronautics research by utilizing the latest...
Briefs: Medical
Nanoscale Surface Plasmonics Sensor With Nanofluidic Control
Conventional quantitative protein assays of bodily fluids typically involve multiple steps to obtain desired measurements. Such methods are not well suited for fast and accurate assay measurements in austere environments such as spaceflight and in the aftermath of disasters. Consequently,...
Briefs: Information Technology
Advanced Dispersed Fringe Sensing Algorithm for Coarse Phasing Segmented Mirror Telescopes
Segment mirror phasing, a critical step of segment mirror alignment, requires the ability to sense and correct the relative pistons between segments from up to a few hundred microns to a fraction of wavelength in order to bring the mirror system to its full...
Briefs: Information Technology
Neural Network Back-Propagation Algorithm for Sensing Hypergols
Fast, continuous detection of a wide range of hazardous substances simultaneously is needed to achieve improved safety for personnel working with hypergolic fuels and oxidizers, as well as other hazardous substances, with a requirement for such detection systems to warn personnel...
Briefs: Medical
Bulk Moisture and Salinity Sensor
Measurement and feedback control of nutrient solutions in plant root zones is critical to the development of healthy plants in both terrestrial and reduced gravity environments. In addition to the water content, the amount of fertilizer in the nutrient solution is important to plant health. This typically requires...
Briefs: Software
Change-Based Satellite Monitoring Using Broad Coverage and Targetable Sensing
A generic software framework analyzes data from broad coverage sweeps or general larger areas of interest. Change detection methods are used to extract subsets of directed swath areas that intersect areas of change. These areas are prioritized and allocated to targetable...
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