Shuttle remote manipulator system mission preparation and operations

The preflight planning, analysis, procedures development, and operations support for the Space Transportation System payload deployment and retrieval missions utilizing the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System are summarized. Analysis of the normal operational loads and failure induced loads and motion are factored into all procedures. Both the astronaut flight crews and the Mission Control Center flight control teams receive considerable training for standard and mission specific operations. The real time flight control team activities are described

A computer program for fitting smooth surfaces to three-dimensional aircraft configurations

A computer program developed to fit smooth surfaces to the component parts of three-dimensional aircraft configurations was described. The resulting equation definition of an aircraft numerical model is useful in obtaining continuous two-dimensional cross section plots in arbitrarily defined planes, local tangents, enriched surface plots and other pertinent geometric information; the geometry organization used as input to the program has become known as the Harris Wave Drag Geometry

Sensitivity analysis of the space shuttle to ascent wind profiles

A parametric sensitivity analysis of the space shuttle ascent flight to the wind profile is presented. Engineering systems parameters are obtained by flight simulations using wind profile models and samples of detailed (Jimsphere) wind profile measurements. The wind models used are the synthetic vector wind model, with and without the design gust, and a model of the vector wind change with respect to time. From these comparison analyses an insight is gained on the contribution of winds to ascent subsystems flight parameters

A vectorization of the Hess McDonnell Douglas potential flow program NUED for the STAR-100 computer

The computer program NUED for analyzing potential flow about arbitrary three dimensional lifting bodies using the panel method was modified to use vector operations and run on the STAR-100 computer. A high speed of computation and ability to approximate the body surface with a large number of panels are characteristics of NUEDV. The new program shows that vector operations can be readily implemented in programs of this type to increase the computational speed on the STAR-100 computer. The virtual memory architecture of the STAR-100 facilitates the use of large numbers of panels to approximate the body surface

Vacuum chamber translation/positioning mechanism and welding power supply controller

Welding in the vacuum of space represents an important and fundamental problem for space exploration. Repairs or connection of metal components on orbit or during travel to the moon or distant planets may be required. Cracks or holes in spacecraft skin or supporting structures external to the pressurized section will require some type of repair that must be permanently made to the skin or support by welding. The development of a translation/positioning system that will permit research into welding of metal samples in a small vacuum chamber located at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is addressed. The system and associated software was tested to the extent possible without the availability of the welder power supply or control computer that must be supplied by MSFC. Software has been developed for straight line welding. More extensive and varied translations are possible with simple alterations to the operating software to use the full capabilities of this three axes system. The source code 'VW.BAS' has been provided to serve as an example for further development of the vacuum welder translation system

Cast iron freezing mechanisms

This task focused on liquid phase sintering and infiltration studies of refractory metals and metal composites. Particular emphases was placed on those powered metal compacts which produce liquid alloys in sintering. For this class of materials, heating to a two phase region causes the constituent components to react, forming an alloy liquid which must wet the solid phase. Densification is initially driven by the free energy effects which cause rapid rearrangement. Further densification occurs by evaporation and condensation, surface diffusion, bulk flow, and volume diffusion

Automated weld torch guidance control system

A device for automatically controlling the movement of a welding torch while welding an elongated joint is described. A charge injection television camera is carried on a movable support. The camera includes a matrix of individual light sensing video elements which generate voltages responsive to light reflected off of the joint and surrounding areas of the work piece. The voltages produced by the pixels are converted to digital words which are fed to a microprocessor for generating an error signal. This error signal is fed to a digital motor which is used to drive a movable support upon which the television camera is carried

Understanding how institutional initiatives contribute to minority male student persistence and success in a community college setting : a comparative case study

This comparative case study examined how institutional initiatives contribute to minority male student persistence and success in two Southeastern community colleges. Using Padilla’s local model of successful minority students (LMSMS) (Padilla, 1997) as a framework, six themes and 12 subthemes emerged from semi-structured interviews of 10 African American males. Findings of this study revealed that (a) meaningful interactions with minority male mentors and college staff contribute to minority male persistence and success; (b) college student success courses contribute to minority male student persistence and success by assisting students to become aware of campus resources for success, and (c) student clubs and organizations, especially minority male mentoring programs, contribute to minority male persistence and success through engaging activities and peer support. Theoretical implications of this study include inserting peer support and hunger in Padilla’s LMSMS lack of nurturing barrier. Finally, practical implications for community colleges included the following: (1) implement aggressive financial aid assistance for minority males; (2) require enrollment in a College Success Course during the first semester of enrollment; (3) create food pantries and meal plans for community colleges; (4) fund campus clubs and organizations to reduce fund raisers and increase student service learning; (5) dedicate facility resources for the minority male mentoring programs; (6) incorporate minority male students in recruiting efforts to increase enrollment of minority males by demonstrating a welcoming, nurturing, peer supported environment; (7) allocated institutional funds to support minority male mentoring programs; (8) implement minority male learning communities and cohorts; (9) scale up minority male mentoring programs to impact a larger percentage of students, and (10) provide professional development for staff and faculty regarding the importance of meaningful student interactions and the barriers minority students have to overcome to pursue higher education

The Soul is We

Engage the soul, and you engage history - the history of a person and the history of a people. This statement should help us to perceive the soul as both a personal and communal reality