615 research outputs found

    PERISCOPE: PERIapsis Subsurface Cave OPtical Explorer

    Get PDF
    In this NIAC report we present a new technique enabling a practical option for mapping these structures at a relatively low cost: Photon Time-of-Flight (PTOF) imaging. Consider a scene with a surface that is in a camera's line of sight, with unknown geometry beyond the line of sight. PTOF works by directing laser pulses onto the visible surface and detecting the returned light after it reflects off the visible surface, onto the hidden surfaces, and back to the detector. An algorithm then reconstructs a 3d model of the hidden surface. The information gained has a wide variety of applications across NASA, the scientific community, the burgeoning commercial space industry, and in commercial and industrial use here on Earth

    Development of systems and techniques for landing an aircraft using onboard television

    Get PDF
    A flight program was conducted to develop a landing technique with which a pilot could consistently and safely land a remotely piloted research vehicle (RPRV) without outside visual reference except through television. Otherwise, instrumentation was standard. Such factors as the selection of video parameters, the pilot's understanding of the television presentation, the pilot's ground cockpit environment, and the operational procedures for landing were considered. About 30 landings were necessary for a pilot to become sufficiently familiar and competent with the test aircraft to make powered approaches and landings with outside visual references only through television. When steep approaches and landings were made by remote control, the pilot's workload was extremely high. The test aircraft was used as a simulator for the F-15 RPRV, and as such was considered to be essential to the success of landing the F-15 RPRV

    The Mercury-Redstone Program

    Get PDF
    The Mercury-Redstone program is reviewed as to its intended mission and its main results. The progressive results of unmanned, animal, and manned flights of this over-all Project Mercury ballistic training program are presented. A technical description of the major spacecraft systems is presented with some analysis of flight performance. Performance of the spacecraft with and without pilot input is discussed. The influence of the astronaut as an operating link in the over-all system is presented, and relative difficulties of manned versus unmanned flight are briefly commented upon. The program provided information on man as an integral part of a space flight system, demonstrating that man can assume a primary role in space as he does in other realms of flight. The Mercury-Redstone program demonstrated that the Mercury spacecraft was capable of manned space flight, and succeeded in partially qualifying the spacecraft for orbital flight

    Future Challenges for Israel’s Iron Dome Rocket Defenses

    Get PDF
    After Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets at northern Israel during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, the Israeli government began a crash program to find a technological solution to the rocket threat. The result was Iron Dome, which shot down its first rocket on April 7, 2011, and saw large-scale combat during wars in 2012 and 2014. The system has been hailed in Israel and worldwide as a success, with the Israeli military claiming a 90 percent interception rate. Some American defense commentators have even touted Iron Dome as evidence in favor of ballistic missile defense. However, serious questions remain about Iron Dome’s true technical efficacy, both in terms of its past performance and how it is likely to perform in the future under different conditions. Because so much about Iron Dome is classified, information provided by the Israeli military cannot be independently verified. Analyses performed by outside experts—both those questioning Iron Dome’s efficacy and those defending the Israeli government’s claims—are inconclusive. Assuming for the sake of argument that Iron Dome did, in fact, perform as advertised during its previous engagements, it is far from certain that it will be as successful in future engagements, where the volume of rocket fire will be higher and the rockets more accurate. This paper argues that Israel may have already reached “peak Iron Dome,” and the system’s military and political benefits will decrease in future wars until another technological breakthrough is made on rocket defense. This is not to say that Iron Dome was not worth the cost and should not have been procured. But expectations about Iron Dome from the Israeli military, Israeli civilians, and interested parties abroad should be tempered. If they are not, Iron Dome’s decreased success rate in future wars may pose political problems for Israel domestically and give Israel’s adversaries a decisive propaganda victory

    Second United States manned three-pass orbital mission/Mercury-Atlas 7, spacecraft 18/. Description and performance analysis

    Get PDF
    Orbital mission Mercury-Atlas 7, spacecraft 18 - prelaunch and launch, flight control, recovery, aeromedical analysis, astronaut activities, and spacecraft performance and descriptio

    Lindbergh makes the First Nonstop Solo Flight across the Atlantic Ocean

    Get PDF
    In his high-wing monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, Lindbergh became the first aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, making the trip from New York to Paris in 33.5 hours

    In-flight simulation studies at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility

    Get PDF
    Since the late 1950's the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dryden Flight Research Facility has found in-flight simulation to be an invaluable tool. In-flight simulation has been used to address a wide variety of flying qualities questions, including low lift-to-drag ratio approach characteristics for vehicles like the X-15, the lifting bodies, and the space shuttle; the effects of time delays on controllability of aircraft with digital flight control systems; the causes and cures of pilot-induced oscillation in a variety of aircraft; and flight control systems for such diverse aircraft as the X-15 and the X-29. In-flight simulation has also been used to anticipate problems, avoid them, and solve problems once they appear. This paper presents an account of the in-flight simulation at the Dryden Flight Research Facility and some discussion. An extensive bibliography is included

    Conference on Medical Results of the First U.S. Manned Suborbital Space Flight

    Get PDF
    This document is a compilation of papers presented at a Conference on the Medical Results of the First U.S. Manned Suborbital Space Flight. This conference was held by the NASA, in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health and the National Academy of Sciences, at the U.S. Department of State Auditorium on June 6, 1961. The papers were prepared by representatives of the NASA Space Task Group in collaboration with personnel from various Department of Defense medical installations, the University of Pennsylvania, and McDonnell Aircraft Corporation

    The Four Corners - 1943

    Get PDF
    https://digitalmaine.com/scarborough_books/1104/thumbnail.jp

    Submarine Commander: A Story of World War II and Korea

    Get PDF
    A fascinating personal memoir of underwater combat in World War II, told by a man who played a major role in those dangerous operations. Frank and beautifully written, Submarine Commander’s breezy style and irrepressible humor place it in a class by itself. This book will be of lasting value as a submarine history by an expert and as an enduring military and political analysis. In early 1943 the submarine USS Scorpion, with Paul R. Schratz as torpedo officer, slipped into the shallow waters east of Tokyo, laid a minefield, and made successful torpedo attacks on merchant shipping. Schratz participated in many more patrols in heavily mined Japanese waters as executive officer of the Sterlet and the Atule. At war’s end he participated in the Japanese surrender, aided the release of American POWs, and had a key role in the disarming of enemy suicide submarines. He then took command of the revolutionary new Japanese submarine I-203 and returned it to Pearl Harbor. But this was far from the end of Schratz’s submarine career. In 1949 he commissioned the ultramodern USS Pickerel, the most deadly submarine then afloat, and set a world’s record in a 21-day, 5,200-mile submerged passage from Hong Kong to Honolulu. With the outbreak of the Korean War, the Pickerel was immediately sent to Korea to participate in secret intelligence operations only recently declassified and never before revealed in print. Schratz’s broad military experience makes this a far from ordinary memoir. The U.S. Navy\u27s most innovative, non-conforming, daring skipper tells in intimate detail a gripping and exciting story—unashamed in sorrow, proud in record-setting accomplishment, rich in humor. Great! -- Adm. I.J. Galantin, USN (Ret.), author of Take Her Deep An authoritative, useful, and interesting view of Pacific Ocean submarine operations. -- American Historical Review Provides the layperson with an interesting, exciting, and ultimately satisfying account of submarine service, both during WWII and the Korean War. -- Choice An extraordinary story . . . Schratz is a superb observer! -- Friday Review of Defense Literature An ebullient, consistently engrossing memoir of submarine service in WWII\u27s Pacific theater and during the Korean conflict. -- Kirkus Reviews An action-filled account of the wartime operations of the Navy submarine fleet. -- McCormick (SC) Messenger Serves as a moving testimonial to the many brave men with whom he served. -- Northern Mariner A commanding and well told tale . . . . Schratz succeeds in making wartime submarining come alive for nonsubmariners. -- Shipmate Fascinating . . . A delight to read not only because it is well written but because it is so very real seen through the eyes of a completely involved observer. -- Submarine Review Schratz’s description of life aboard a submarine is one of the single best accounts of the \u27Silent Service\u27 during World War II and the Korean War….The book is highly recommended. -- Leo J. Daugherty III -- World War Quarterlyhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_military_history/1035/thumbnail.jp
    • …
    corecore