Space Environments and Effects Concept: Transitioning Research to Operations and Applications

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a course to expand human presence beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) while expanding its mission to explore the solar system. Destinations such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), Mars and its moons, and the outer planets are but a few of the mission targets. NASA has established numerous offices specializing in specific space environments disciplines that will serve to enable these missions. To complement these existing discipline offices, a concept focusing on the development of space environment and effects application is presented. This includes space climate, space weather, and natural and induced space environments. This space environment and effects application is composed of 4 topic areas; characterization and modeling, engineering effects, prediction and operation, and mitigation and avoidance. These topic areas are briefly described below. Characterization and modeling of space environments will primarily focus on utilization during Program mission concept, planning, and design phases. Engineering effects includes materials testing and flight experiments producing data to be used in mission planning and design phases. Prediction and operation pulls data from existing sources into decision-making tools and empirical data sets to be used during the operational phase of a mission. Mitigation and avoidance will develop techniques and strategies used in the design and operations phases of the mission. The goal of this space environment and effects application is to develop decision-making tools and engineering products to support the mission phases of mission concept through operations by focusing on transitioning research to operations. Products generated by this space environments and effects application are suitable for use in anomaly investigations. This paper will outline the four topic areas, describe the need, and discuss an organizational structure for this space environments and effects application

A NASA Applied Spaceflight Environments Office Concept

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is launching a bold and ambitious new space initiative. A significant part of this new initiative includes exploration of new worlds, the development of more innovative technologies, and expansion our presence in the solar system. A common theme to this initiative is the exploration of space beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO). As currently organized, NASA does not have an Agency-level office that provides coordination of space environment research and development. This has contributed to the formation of a gap between spaceflight environments knowledge and the application of this knowledge for multi-program use and for use outside NASA. This paper outlines a concept to establish a NASA-level Applied Spaceflight Environments (ASE) office that will provide coordination and funding for sustained multi-program support in three technical areas that have demonstrated these needs through customer requests. These technical areas are natural environments characterization and modeling, materials and systems analysis and test, and operational space environments modeling. Additionally the ASE office will serve as an entry point of contact for external users who wish to take advantage of data and assets associated with space environments, including space weather. This paper will establish the need for the ASE, discuss a concept for organizational structure and outline the scope in the three technical areas

The Influence of Free Space Environment in the Mission Life Cycle: Material Selection

The natural space environment has a great influence on the ability of space systems to perform according to mission design specification. Understanding the natural space environment and its influence on space system performance is critical to the concept formulation, design, development, and operation of space systems. Compatibility with the natural space environment is a primary factor in determining the functional lifetime of the space system. Space systems being designed and developed today are growing in complexity. In many instances, the increased complexity also increases its sensitivity to space environmental effects. Sensitivities to the natural space environment can be tempered through appropriate design measures, material selection, ground processing, mitigation strategies, and/or the acceptance of known risks. The design engineer must understand the effects of the natural space environment on the space system and its components. This paper will discuss the influence of the natural space environment in the mission life cycle with a specific focus on the role of material selection

Has COVID-19 affected dementia diagnosis rates in England?

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the provision of care and routine activity of all National Health Service (NHS) services. While General Practitioner referrals to memory services in England have returned to pre-pandemic levels, the estimated dementia diagnosis rate (DDR) fell by 5.4% between March 2020 and February 2023. METHODS: In this paper we explore whether this reduction is accurate or is an artefact of the way the NHS collects data. RESULTS: We explore the processes that may have affected national dementia diagnosis rates during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: We discuss what action could be taken to improve the DDR in the future

Novel approaches to the construction of miniaturized analytical instrumentation

This paper focuses on the design, construction, preliminary testing, and potential applications of three forms of miniaturized analytical instrumentation. The first is an optical fiber instrument for monitoring pH and other cations in aqueous solutions. The instrument couples chemically selective indicators that were immobilized at porous polymeric films with a hardware package that provides the excitation light source, required optical components, and detection and data processing hardware. The second is a new form of a piezoelectric mass sensor. The sensor was fabricated by the deposition of a thin (5.5 micron) film of piezoelectric aluminum nitride (AIN). The completed deposition process yields a thin film resonator (TFR) that is shaped as a 400 micron square and supports a standing bulk acoustic wave in a longitudinal mode at frequencies of approx. 1 GHz. Various deposition and vapor sorption studies indicate that the mass sensitivity of the TFR's rival those of the most sensitive mass sensors currently available, though offering such performance in a markedly smaller device. The third couples a novel form of liquid chromatography with microlithographic miniaturization techniques. The status of the miniaturization effort, the goal of which is to achieve chip-scale separations, is briefly discussed

Concepts for a NASA Applied Spaceflight Environments Office

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is launching a bold and ambitious new space initiative. A significant part of this new initiative includes exploration of new worlds, the development of more innovative technologies, and expansion our presence in the solar system. A common theme to this initiative is the exploration of space beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO). As currently organized, NASA does not have an Agency-level office that provides coordination of space environment research and development. This has contributed to the formation of a gap between spaceflight environments knowledge and the application of this knowledge for multi-program use. This paper outlines a concept to establish a NASA-level Applied Spaceflight Environments (ASE) office that will provide coordination and funding for sustained multi-program support in three technical areas that have demonstrated these needs through customer requests. These technical areas are natural environments characterization and modeling, materials and systems analysis and test, and operational space environments modeling and prediction. This paper will establish the need for the ASE, discuss a concept for organizational structure and outline the scope in the three technical area

The Influence of Free Space Environment in the Mission Life Cycle

No abstract availabl

Space Environments and Spacecraft Effects Organization Concept

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a course to expand human presence beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) while also expanding its mission to explore the solar system. Destinations such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), Mars and its moons, and the outer planets are but a few of the mission targets. Each new destination presents an opportunity to increase our knowledge of the solar system and the unique environments for each mission target. NASA has multiple technical and science discipline areas specializing in specific space environments disciplines that will help serve to enable these missions. To complement these existing discipline areas, a concept is presented focusing on the development of a space environments and spacecraft effects (SENSE) organization. This SENSE organization includes disciplines such as space climate, space weather, natural and induced space environments, effects on spacecraft materials and systems and the transition of research information into application. This space environment and spacecraft effects organization will be composed of Technical Working Groups (TWG). These technical working groups will survey customers and users, generate products, and provide knowledge supporting four functional areas: design environments, engineering effects, operational support, and programmatic support. The four functional areas align with phases in the program mission lifecycle and are briefly described below. Design environments are used primarily in the mission concept and design phases of a program. Engineering effects focuses on the material, component, sub-system and system-level selection and the testing to verify design and operational performance. Operational support provides products based on real time or near real time space weather to mission operators to aid in real time and near-term decision-making. The programmatic support function maintains an interface with the numerous programs within NASA, other federal government agencies, and the commercial sector to ensure that communications are well established and the needs of the programs are being met. The programmatic support function also includes working in coordination with the program in anomaly resolution and generation of lessons learned documentation. The goal of this space environment and spacecraft effects organization is to develop decision-making tools and engineering products to support all mission phases from mission concept through operations by focusing on transitioning research to application. Products generated by this space environments and effects application are suitable for use in anomaly investigations. This paper will describe the scope of the TWGs and their relationship to the functional areas, and discuss an organizational structure for this space environments and spacecraft effects organization

An Overview of the Space Environments and Spacecraft Effects Organization Concept

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a course to expand human presence beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) while also expanding its mission to explore our Earth, and the solar system. Destinations such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), Mars and its moons, and the outer planets are but a few of the mission targets. Each new destination presents an opportunity to increase our knowledge on the solar system and the unique environments for each mission target. NASA has multiple technical and science discipline areas specializing in specific space environments fields that will serve to enable these missions. To complement these existing discipline areas, a concept is presented focusing on the development of a space environment and spacecraft effects (SESE) organization. This SESE organization includes disciplines such as space climate, space weather, natural and induced space environments, effects on spacecraft materials and systems, and the transition of research information into application. This space environment and spacecraft effects organization will be composed of Technical Working Groups (TWG). These technical working groups will survey customers and users, generate products, and provide knowledge supporting four functional areas: design environments, engineering effects, operational support, and programmatic support. The four functional areas align with phases in the program mission lifecycle and are briefly described below. Design environments are used primarily in the mission concept and design phases of a program. Environment effects focuses on the material, component, sub-system, and system-level response to the space environment and include the selection and testing to verify design and operational performance. Operational support provides products based on real time or near real time space weather to mission operators to aid in real time and near-term decision-making. The programmatic support function maintains an interface with the numerous programs within NASA, other federal government agencies, and the commercial sector to ensure that communications are well established and the needs of the programs are being met. The programmatic support function also includes working in coordination with the program in anomaly resolution and generation of lessons learned documentation. The goal of this space environment and spacecraft effects organization is to develop decision-making tools and engineering products to support all mission phases from mission concept through operations by focusing on transitioning research to application. Products generated by this space environments and effects application are suitable for use in anomaly investigations. This paper will describe the scope and purpose of the space environments and spacecraft effects organization and describe the TWG's and their relationship to the functional areas

Drivers of the changing abundance of European birds at two spatial scales

Detecting biodiversity change and identifying its causes is challenging because biodiversity is multifaceted and temporal data often contain bias. Here, we model temporal change in species' abundance and biomass by using extensive data describing the population sizes and trends of native breeding birds in the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). In addition, we explore how species’ population trends vary with species’ traits. We demonstrate significant change in the bird assemblages of the UK and EU, with substantial reductions in overall bird abundance and losses concentrated in a relatively small number of abundant and smaller sized species. In contrast, rarer and larger birds had generally fared better. Simultaneously, overall avian biomass had increased very slightly in the UK and was stable in the EU, indicating a change in community structure. Abundance trends across species were positively correlated with species’ body mass and with trends in climate suitability, and varied with species’ abundance, migration strategy, and niche associations linked to diet. Our work highlights how changes in biodiversity cannot be captured easily by a single number; care is required when measuring and interpreting biodiversity change given that different metrics can provide very different insight