298,959 research outputs found
Power systems facility
In 1984, the President directed NASA to undertake the development of Space Station Freedom, the next step in a broad-based U.S. civil space program to develop space-flight capabilities and to exploit space for scientific, technological, and commercial purposes. Under that direction, NASA awarded contracts in 1985 for concept definition and preliminary design studies. Those studies have been completed and the Space Station Freedom Program is now in the final design and development phase, leading to a permanently manned space station that will be operational in the mid-1990's. Here at the Lewis Research Center, with Rocketdyne, we are developing and building the S.S. Freedom electric power system (EPS) hardware and software. A major portion of the EPS will be tested at Lewis. The Power Systems Facility was specifically designed for testing the EPS and uses the latest in testing equipment
Light Microscopy Module Imaging Tested and Demonstrated
The Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR), a facility-class payload, and the Light Microscopy Module (LMM), a subrack payload, are integrated research facilities that will fly in the U.S. Laboratory module, Destiny, aboard the International Space Station. Both facilities are being engineered, designed, and developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center by Northrop Grumman Information Technology. The FIR is a modular, multiuser scientific research facility that is one of two racks that make up the Fluids and Combustion Facility (the other being the Combustion Integrated Rack). The FIR has a large volume dedicated for experimental hardware; easily reconfigurable diagnostics, power, and data systems that allow for unique experiment configurations; and customizable software. The FIR will also provide imagers, light sources, power management and control, command and data handling for facility and experiment hardware, and data processing and storage. The first payload in the FIR will be the LMM. The LMM integrated with the FIR is a remotely controllable, automated, on-orbit microscope subrack facility, with key diagnostic capabilities for meeting science requirements--including video microscopy to observe microscopic phenonema and dynamic interactions, interferometry to make thin-film measurements with nanometer resolution, laser tweezers to manipulate micrometer-sized particles, confocal microscopy to provide enhanced three-dimensional visualization of structures, and spectrophotometry to measure the photonic properties of materials. Vibration disturbances were identified early in the LMM development phase as a high risk for contaminating the science microgravity environment. An integrated FIR-LMM test was conducted in Glenn's Acoustics Test Laboratory to assess mechanical sources of vibration and their impact to microscopic imaging. The primary purpose of the test was to characterize the LMM response at the sample location, the x-y stage within the microscope, to vibration emissions from the FIR and LMM support structures
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Probe Project Status and Accomplishments - Year Two
The Probe project has established a facility for storage- and network-related research, development and testing. With sites at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), Probe is investigating local-area or wide-area distributed storage issues ranging from data mining to optimizing retrieval operations from tape devices. Probe has completed its second full year of operation. In this document we will describe the status of the project as of December 31, 2001. This year we will structure this document by category of work, rather than by project status. We will present sections describing Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computation (SciDAC) projects, network research and research on data mining and distributed cluster analysis. Another section will describe data-transfer application development and testing and other types of hardware- and software-related testing and development activities. We will then describe the work undertaken for presentation at the SC2001 conference. The final section will summarize this year's publications. Individual projects described in this document have used some Probe resource--equipment, software, staff or funding. By describing these projects we do not imply that the work should be entirely credited to Probe, although we do assert that Probe's existence and assistance provided benefit to the work. The Probe project is funded by the Mathematical, Information, and Computer Sciences (MICS) department of the Advanced Scientific Computing Research office, Office of Science, Department of Energy
Robotic Habitat Technologies for Minimizing Crew Maintenance Requirements
NASA’s Lunar Gateway aims to be deployed later in the decade and will serve as an outpost orbiting the moon. This habitat will be utilized as a base for lunar operations as well as future missions to Mars. Unlike the International Space Station (ISS), which maintains three to six astronauts at any given time, the Lunar Gateway will be uncrewed for eleven months out of the year. Over 80% of crew time onboard the ISS is dedicated to logistics, repair, and maintenance, leaving minimal time for scientific research and experimentation. In order to maintain Gateway, robotic systems must be implemented to accomplish maintenance and operational tasks. This paper discusses our team’s proposed dexterous robotic system, which will address routine and contingency operational and maintenance tasks on Gateway. The project is experimentally-based, and split into three approaches: cataloging robotic capabilities via robot/taskboard interactions, logistics management of Cargo Transfer Bags (CTBs), and software development of an AprilTag situational development system. This research project utilizes the unique capabilities of the University of Maryland (UMD) Space Systems Laboratory (SSL), which houses various dexterous robotic manipulators, mock-ups of space habitats, and the Neutral Buoyancy Research Facility (NBRF), a 50-foot diameter, 25-foot deep water tank used to simulate microgravity conditions. By incorporating robotic systems into the architecture of the Lunar Gateway, it will allow for the lunar outpost to be continually operated and maintained while uncrewed, and will allow for astronauts, when present, to focus on maximizing scientific discoveries.NASA RASC-AL 202
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SOAR (Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research) Annual Report 1994/1995
The Support Office for Aerogeophysical Research (SOAR) was a facility of the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs whose mission is to make airborne geophysical observations available to the broad research community of geology, glaciology and other sciences. The central office of the SOAR facility is located in Austin, Texas within the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics. Other institutions with significant responsibilities are the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and the Geophysics Branch of the U.S . Geological Survey. This report summarizes the goals and accomplishments of the SOAR facility during 1994/1995 and plans for the next year.National Science Foundation's Office of Polar ProgramsInstitute for Geophysic
Yucca Mountain Saturated Zone Carbon-14
This Scientific Investigation Plan (SIP) provides an overview of the work described in “Yucca Mountain Saturated Zone Carbon-14”, a proposal funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Repository Development under the UCCSN/YMP Co-op in support of the Science and Technology Initiatives. The objective of this work is to provide improved estimates of the time required for ground water to travel from the site of the proposed high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to the accessible environment
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