A Notional Example of Understanding Human Exploration Traverses on the Lunar Surface

Mr. Gruener received an M.S. in physical science, with an emphasis in planetary geology, from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 1994. He then began working with NASA JSC.s Solar System Exploration Division on the development of prototype planetary science instruments, the development of a mineral-based substrate for nutrient delivery to plant growth systems in bio-regenerative life support systems, and in support of the Mars Exploration Rover missions in rock and mineral identification. In 2004, Mr. Gruener again participated in a renewed effort to plan and design missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. He participated in many exploration planning activities, including NASA.s Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS), Global Exploration Strategy Workshop, Lunar Architecture Team 1 and 2, Constellation Lunar Architecture Team, the Global Point of Departure Lunar Exploration Team, and the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Workshop on Science Associated with the Lunar Exploration Architecture. Mr. Gruener has also been an active member of the science team supporting NASA.s Desert Research and Technology Studies (RATS)

Comparing Geologic Data Sets Collected by Planetary Analog Traverses and by Standard Geologic Field Mapping: Desert Rats Data Analysis

Geologic mapping involves interpreting relationships between identifiable units and landforms to understand the formative history of a region. Traditional field techniques are used to accomplish this on Earth. Mapping proves more challenging for other planets, which are studied primarily by orbital remote sensing and, less frequently, by robotic and human surface exploration. Systematic comparative assessments of geologic maps created by traditional mapping versus photogeology together with data from planned traverses are limited. The objective of this project is to produce a geologic map from data collected on the Desert Research and Technology Studies (RATS) 2010 analog mission using Apollo-style traverses in conjunction with remote sensing data. This map is compared with a geologic map produced using standard field techniques

An analysis of lecture video utilization in undergraduate medical education: associations with performance in the courses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increasing numbers of medical schools are providing videos of lectures to their students. This study sought to analyze utilization of lecture videos by medical students in their basic science courses and to determine if student utilization was associated with performance on exams.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Streaming videos of lectures (n = 149) to first year and second year medical students (n = 284) were made available through a password-protected server. Server logs were analyzed over a 10-week period for both classes. For each lecture, the logs recorded time and location from which students accessed the file. A survey was administered at the end of the courses to obtain additional information about student use of the videos.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a wide disparity in the level of use of lecture videos by medical students with the majority of students accessing the lecture videos sparingly (60% of the students viewed less than 10% of the available videos. The anonymous student survey revealed that students tended to view the videos by themselves from home during weekends and prior to exams. Students who accessed lecture videos more frequently had significantly (p < 0.002) lower exam scores.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that videos of lectures are used by relatively few medical students and that individual use of videos is associated with the degree to which students are having difficulty with the subject matter.</p

NASA's Desert RATS Science Backroom: Remotely Supporting Planetary Exploration

NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert RATS) is a multi-year series of tests designed to exercise planetary surface hardware and operations in conditions where long-distance, multi-day roving is achievable. In recent years, a D-RATS science backroom has conducted science operations and tested specific operational approaches. Approaches from the Apollo, Mars Exploration Rovers and Phoenix missions were merged to become the baseline for these tests. In 2010, six days of lunar-analog traverse operations were conducted during each week of the 2-week test, with three traverse days each week conducted with voice and data communications continuously available, and three traverse days conducted with only two 1-hour communications periods per day. In 2011, a variety of exploration science scenarios that tested operations for a near-earth asteroid using several small exploration vehicles and a single habitat. Communications between the ground and the crew in the field used a 50-second one-way delay, while communications between crewmembers in the exploration vehicles and the habitat were instantaneous. Within these frameworks, the team evaluated integrated science operations management using real-time science operations to oversee daily crew activities, and strategic level evaluations of science data and daily traverse results. Exploration scenarios for Mars may include architectural similarities such as crew in a habitat communicating with crew in a vehicle, but significantly more autonomy will have to be given to the crew rather than step-by-step interaction with a science backroom on Earth

Geologic Interpretation of Data Sets Collected by Planetary Analog Geology Traverses and by Standard Geologic Field Mapping

Geologic maps integrate the distributions, contacts, and compositions of rock and sediment bodies as a means to interpret local to regional formative histories. Applying terrestrial mapping techniques to other planets is challenging because data is collected primarily by orbiting instruments, with infrequent, spatiallylimited in situ human and robotic exploration. Although geologic maps developed using remote data sets and limited "Apollo-style" field access likely contain inaccuracies, the magnitude, type, and occurrence of these are only marginally understood. This project evaluates the interpretative and cartographic accuracy of both field- and remote-based mapping approaches by comparing two 1:24,000 scale geologic maps of the San Francisco Volcanic Field (SFVF), north-central Arizona. The first map is based on traditional field mapping techniques, while the second is based on remote data sets, augmented with limited field observations collected during NASA Desert Research & Technology Studies (RATS) 2010 exercises. The RATS mission used Apollo-style methods not only for pre-mission traverse planning but also to conduct geologic sampling as part of science operation tests. Cross-comparison demonstrates that the Apollo-style map identifies many of the same rock units and determines a similar broad history as the field-based map. However, field mapping techniques allow markedly improved discrimination of map units, particularly unconsolidated surficial deposits, and recognize a more complex eruptive history than was possible using Apollo-style data. Further, the distribution of unconsolidated surface units was more obvious in the remote sensing data to the field team after conducting the fieldwork. The study raises questions about the most effective approach to balancing mission costs with the rate of knowledge capture, suggesting that there is an inflection point in the "knowledge capture curve" beyond which additional resource investment yields progressively smaller gains in geologic knowledge

1.2-km Timing-Stabilized, Polarization-Maintaining Fiber Link with Sub-Femtosecond Residual Timing Jitter

A 1.2-km timing-stabilized, polarization-maintaining fiber link based on balanced optical cross-correlationwas demonstrated with ~0.9 fs RMS timing jitter over 16 days and ~0.2 fs RMS timing jitter over 3 days

Next Steps on the Moon Report of the Specific Action Team

No abstract availabl

Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) 2010 Science Operations: Operational Approaches and Lessons Learned for Managing Science during Human Planetary Surface Missions

Desert Research and Technology Studies (Desert RATS) is a multi-year series of hardware and operations tests carried out annually in the high desert of Arizona on the San Francisco Volcanic Field. These activities are designed to exercise planetary surface hardware and operations in conditions where long-distance, multi-day roving is achievable, and they allow NASA to evaluate different mission concepts and approaches in an environment less costly and more forgiving than space.The results from the RATS tests allows election of potential operational approaches to planetary surface exploration prior to making commitments to specific flight and mission hardware development. In previous RATS operations, the Science Support Room has operated largely in an advisory role, an approach that was driven by the need to provide a loose science mission framework that would underpin the engineering tests. However, the extensive nature of the traverse operations for 2010 expanded the role of the science operations and tested specific operational approaches. Science mission operations approaches from the Apollo and Mars-Phoenix missions were merged to become the baseline for this test. Six days of traverse operations were conducted during each week of the 2-week test, with three traverse days each week conducted with voice and data communications continuously available, and three traverse days conducted with only two 1-hour communications periods per day. Within this framework, the team evaluated integrated science operations management using real-time, tactical science operations to oversee daily crew activities, and strategic level evaluations of science data and daily traverse results during a post-traverse planning shift. During continuous communications, both tactical and strategic teams were employed. On days when communications were reduced to only two communications periods per day, only a strategic team was employed. The Science Operations Team found that, if communications are good and down-linking of science data is ensured, high quality science returns is possible regardless of communications. What is absent from reduced communications is the scientific interaction between the crew on the planet and the scientists on the ground. These scientific interactions were a critical part of the science process and significantly improved mission science return over reduced communications conditions. The test also showed that the quality of science return is not measurable by simple numerical quantities but is, in fact, based on strongly non-quantifiable factors, such as the interactions between the crew and the Science Operations Teams. Although the metric evaluation data suggested some trends, there was not sufficient granularity in the data or specificity in the metrics to allow those trends to be understood on numerical data alone

Polyfunctional Type-1, -2, and -17 CD8+ T Cell Responses to Apoptotic Self-Antigens Correlate with the Chronic Evolution of Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Caspase-dependent cleavage of antigens associated with apoptotic cells plays a prominent role in the generation of CD8+ T cell responses in various infectious diseases. We found that the emergence of a large population of autoreactive CD8+ T effector cells specific for apoptotic T cell-associated self-epitopes exceeds the antiviral responses in patients with acute hepatitis C virus infection. Importantly, they endow mixed polyfunctional type-1, type-2 and type-17 responses and correlate with the chronic progression of infection. This evolution is related to the selection of autoreactive CD8+ T cells with higher T cell receptor avidity, whereas those with lower avidity undergo prompt contraction in patients who clear infection. These findings demonstrate a previously undescribed strict link between the emergence of high frequencies of mixed autoreactive CD8+ T cells producing a broad array of cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-17, IL-4, IL-2…) and the progression toward chronic disease in a human model of acute infection

A New Frontier Beckons: Space Exploration in the 21st Century

Throughout recorded history, small groups of explorers have Pushed back the edge of the frontier and opened up new territories for others to follow. As the 20th Century closes, history will record that in the 1960's humankind opened the vast frontier beyond Earth's atmosphere. Although the Apollo program blazed a trail of exploration to the Moon, the development of space has only reached into low Earth orbit. The Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs, and the communication and scientific satellite networks established in orbit around the Earth, are all stepping stones that will enable explorers to venture once again beyond our home planet. Exploration is difficult. It is difficult for the people and machines that travel in extreme environments and endure harsh conditions, and it is difficult for the national leaders who must champion and fund the programs that lead to discovery and reward. Christopher Columbus spent many years meeting with the Kings of Portugal, England, and France only to see his dream of sailing west into the vast Atlantic with ships and crew. discredited. Queen Isabella of Spain was willing to look beyond the many problems plaguing her own shores and see the potential reward for her investment in the future. The voyages of Columbus set the stage for more Spanish explorers, who turned Spain into a great world power. The Apollo program and the unpiloted Lunar Orbiter, Surveyor, Mariner and Viking spacecraft that NASA launched in the 1966's &1970's were our country's first investment, in the exploration of the solar system. These human and robotic missions rewarded us with the first close views of the lunar and martian surfaces, and laid before our eyes territories as vast as all the continents of Earth combined. The Lunar Prospector, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, and Mars Pathfinder and Global Surveyor missions are continuing our scientific conquest of the inner solar system, leading the way for humans to follow