Robotic Asteroid Prospector (RAP)

This report presents the results from the nine-month, Phase 1 investigation for the Robotic Asteroid Prospector (RAP). This project investigated several aspects of developing an asteroid mining mission. It conceived a Space Infrastructure Framework that would create a demand for in space-produced resources. The resources identified as potentially feasible in the near-term were water and platinum group metals. The project's mission design stages spacecraft from an Earth Moon Lagrange (EML) point and returns them to an EML. The spacecraft's distinguishing design feature is its solar thermal propulsion system (STP) that can provide for three functions:propulsive thrust, process heat for mining and mineral processing, and electricity. The preferred propellant is water since this would allow the spacecraft to refuel at an asteroid for its return voyage to Cis-Lunar space thus reducing the mass that must be staged out of the EML point.The spacecraft will rendezvous with an asteroid at its pole, match rotation rate, and attach to begin mining operations. The team conducted an experiment in extracting and distilling water from frozen regolith simulant

Reliability and performance evaluation of systems containing embedded rule-based expert systems

A method for evaluating the reliability of real-time systems containing embedded rule-based expert systems is proposed and investigated. It is a three stage technique that addresses the impact of knowledge-base uncertainties on the performance of expert systems. In the first stage, a Markov reliability model of the system is developed which identifies the key performance parameters of the expert system. In the second stage, the evaluation method is used to determine the values of the expert system's key performance parameters. The performance parameters can be evaluated directly by using a probabilistic model of uncertainties in the knowledge-base or by using sensitivity analyses. In the third and final state, the performance parameters of the expert system are combined with performance parameters for other system components and subsystems to evaluate the reliability and performance of the complete system. The evaluation method is demonstrated in the context of a simple expert system used to supervise the performances of an FDI algorithm associated with an aircraft longitudinal flight-control system

The application of expert systems in parenteral nutrition

Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) is a medical technique used to provide a patient\u27s nutritional requirements via intravenous feeding. Critically ill patients must have adequate nutrition but must also have a stable physiology compensated for or treated by drugs. Several factors such as the complex nature of the TPN solution, the cost of the ingredients and the possible interaction of nutrient and drugs has led to the development of small expert system to assist the hospital medical staff in formulating the TPN constituents and assist the pharmacy staff in producing the final solution. This text will describe a small knowledge-based diagnostic system which when combined with conventional programming techniques has led to tangible benefits within a hospital Intensive Care Unit and Pharmacy

Development of a knowledge-based system for open stope mine design

Imperial Users onl

Fifth annual conference on Alaskan placer mining

An abridged format of papers, presentations and addresses given during the 1983 conference held on March 30-31, 1983 compiled and edited by Bruce W. Campbell, Jim Madonna, and M. Susan Husted.Partial funding was provided by the Carl G. Parker Memorial Publishing Fund, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and the Mining and Mineral Resources Research Institute, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines

Workshop on Advanced Technologies for Planetary Instruments, part 1

This meeting was conceived in response to new challenges facing NASA's robotic solar system exploration program. This volume contains papers presented at the Workshop on Advanced Technologies for Planetary Instruments on 28-30 Apr. 1993. This meeting was conceived in response to new challenges facing NASA's robotic solar system exploration program. Over the past several years, SDIO has sponsored a significant technology development program aimed, in part, at the production of instruments with these characteristics. This workshop provided an opportunity for specialists from the planetary science and DoD communities to establish contacts, to explore common technical ground in an open forum, and more specifically, to discuss the applicability of SDIO's technology base to planetary science instruments

Space resources. Volume 1: Scenarios

A number of possible future paths for space exploration and development are presented. The topics covered include the following: (1) the baseline program; (2) alternative scenarios utilizing nonterrestrial resources; (3) impacts of sociopolitical conditions; (4) common technologies; and issues for further study

Resources of Near-Earth Space: Abstracts

The objectives are by theory, experiment, and bench-level testing of small systems, to develop scientifically-sound engineering processes and facility specifications for producing propellants and fuels, construction and shielding materials, and life support substances from the lithospheres and atmospheres of lunar, planetary, and asteroidal bodies. Current emphasis is on the production of oxygen, other usefull gases, metallic, ceramic/composite, and related byproducts from lunar regolith, carbonaceous chrondritic asteroids, and the carbon dioxide rich Martian atmosphere