PSA: A program to streamline orbit determination for launch support operations

An interactive, menu driven computer program was written to streamline the orbit determination process during the critical launch support phase of a mission. Residing on a virtual memory minicomputer, this program retains the quantities in-core needed to obtain a least squares estimate of the spacecraft trajectory with interactive displays to assist in rapid radio metric data evaluation. Menu-driven displays allow real time filter and data strategy development. Graphical and tabular displays can be sent to a laser printer for analysis without exiting the program. Products generated by this program feed back to the main orbit determination program in order to further refine the estimate of the trajectory. The final estimate provides a spacecraft ephemeris which is transmitted to the mission control center and used for antenna pointing and frequency predict generation by the Deep Space Network. The development and implementation process of this program differs from that used for most other navigation software by allowing the users to check important operating features during development and have changes made as needed

Giotto navigation support

Cooperative efforts between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) in supporting the flight of Giotto to Halley's Comet included prelaunch checks of ESA navigation software and delivery of validated DSN radio metric tracking data during the mission. Effects of drag from passing through the coma are seen in data received pre and post encounter. The post encounter Giotto trajectory provides a solar occultation in January 1988, prior to returning to the Earth in 1990 for possible retargeting to yet another comet

Navigation of the space VLBI mission-HALCA

In February 1997, the Japanese Space Agency ISAS launched the first space VLBI satellite, HALCA, with an 8 meter diameter wire mesh antenna and radio astronomy receivers capable of observing at 1.6, 4.8, and 22 Ghz. In a 560 by 21000 km orbit with a 6 hour period and 31 degree inclination, it observes celestial radio sources in conjunction with a world wide network of ground radio telescopes as part of an international collaborative effort which includes facilities in Japan, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe. JPL is providing tracking and navigation support using a dedicated subnet of 11 meter antennas as well as co-observations using the DSN 70 meter antennas. This paper describes the spacecraft dynamics model and orbit determination strategies developed to meet the stringent trajectory accuracy requirements for generating predictions for the transfer of a stable uplink frequency to the spacecraft and for determining reconstructed orbits for delivery to the NRAO VLBI correlator and the international VLBI science community

Tracking system analytic calibration activities for the Mariner Mars 1969 mission

Calibration activity of Deep Space Network in support of Mars encounter phase of Mariner Mars 1969 missio

Tracking system analytic calibration activities for the Mariner Mars 1971 mission

Data covering various planning aspects of Mariner Mars 1971 mission are summarized. Data cover calibrating procedures for tracking stations, radio signal propagation in the troposphere, effects of charged particles on radio transmission, orbit calculation, and data smoothing

First report of the parasitoid wasp Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston, 1858) in Austria (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae)

Im Sommer 2021 wurden parasitierte Eigelege der Grünen Reiswanze Nezara viridula (Linnaeus, 1758) in Wiener Privatgärten festgestellt. Die morphologischen und molekularbiologischen Untersuchungen ergaben, dass es sich um den Eiparasitoiden Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston, 1858) handelt. Dies ist der erste Nachweis von Trissolcus basalis aus Nezara viridula Eigelegen in Österreich.Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston, 1858) was recorded for the first time in Austria. The scelionid wasp parasitized egg masses of the southern green stink bug Nezara viridula (Linnaeus, 1758), which were collected in private gardens in Vienna in summer 2021

Collegiate Coaches’ Knowledge of the Female Athlete Triad in Relation to Their Characteristics

The purpose of this study was to determine what coaches of female athletes know about the female athlete triad. The sample involved 472 NCAA Division I coaches of female athletes. The variables studied were coaches’ knowledge and confidence about the triad and coaches’ characteristics (coach’s gender, age, type of coach, degree held, years of experience in coaching females, continuing education participation specific to the triad and/or triad components, and sport coached). Coaches’ knowledge of the female athlete triad is higher for coaches who have received triad education. No differences regarding knowledge of the female athlete triad were found by gender, degree, experience in coaching female athletes, or coach type. Higher knowledge was found in sports emphasizing low body weight compared to sports that do not emphasize weight. The article discusses the results’ implications and the need for future interventions in this population

Flexible and Scalable Genotyping-by-Sequencing Strategies for Population Studies

Background: Many areas critical to agricultural production and research, such as the breeding and trait mapping in plants and livestock, require robust and scalable genotyping platforms. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) is a one such method highly suited to non-human organisms. In the GBS protocol, genomic DNA is fractionated via restriction digest, then reduced representation is achieved through size selection. Since many restriction sites are conserved across a species, the sequenced portion of the genome is highly consistent within a population. This makes the GBS protocol highly suited for experiments that require surveying large numbers of markers within a population, such as those involving genetic mapping, breeding, and population genomics. We have modified the GBS technology in a number of ways. Custom, enzyme specific adaptors have been replaced with standard Illumina adaptors compatible with blunt-end restriction enzymes. Multiplexing is achieved through a dual barcoding system, and bead-based library preparation protocols allows for in-solution size selection and eliminates the need for columns and gels. Results: A panel of eight restriction enzymes was selected for testing on B73 maize and Nipponbare rice genomic DNA. Quality of the data was demonstrated by identifying that the vast majority of reads from each enzyme aligned to restriction sites predicted in silico. The link between enzyme parameters and experimental outcome was demonstrated by showing that the sequenced portion of the genome was adaptable by selecting enzymes based on motif length, complexity, and methylation sensitivity. The utility of the new GBS protocol was demonstrated by correctly mapping several in a maize F2 population resulting from a B73 × Country Gentleman test cross. Conclusions: This technology is readily adaptable to different genomes, highly amenable to multiplexing and compatible with over forty commercially available restriction enzymes. These advancements represent a major improvement in genotyping technology by providing a highly flexible and scalable GBS that is readily implemented for studies on genome-wide variation

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Interplanetary Cruise Navigation

Carrying six science instruments and three engineering payloads, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is the first mission in a low Mars orbit to characterize the surface, subsurface, and atmospheric properties with unprecedented detail. After a seven-month interplanetary cruise, MRO arrived at Mars executing a 1.0 km/s Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) maneuver. MRO achieved a 430 km periapsis altitude with the final orbit solution indicating that only 10 km was attributable to navigation prediction error. With the last interplanetary maneuver performed four months before MOI, this was a significant accomplishment. This paper describes the navigation analyses and results during the 210-day interplanetary cruise. As of August 2007 MRO has returned more than 18 Terabits of scientific data in support of the objectives set by the Mars Exploration Program (MEP). The robust and exceptional interplanetary navigation performance paved the way for a successful MRO mission

Identification of the Maize Gravitropism Gene \u3ci\u3elazy plant1\u3c/i\u3e by a Transposon-Tagging Genome Resequencing Strategy

Since their initial discovery, transposons have been widely used as mutagens for forward and reverse genetic screens in a range of organisms. The problems of high copy number and sequence divergence among related transposons have often limited the efficiency at which tagged genes can be identified. A method was developed to identity the locations of Mutator (Mu) transposons in the Zea mays genome using a simple enrichment method combined with genome resequencing to identify transposon junction fragments. The sequencing library was prepared from genomic DNA by digesting with a restriction enzyme that cuts within a perfectly conserved motif of the Mu terminal inverted repeats (TIR). Paired-end reads containing Mu TIR sequences were computationally identified and chromosomal sequences flanking the transposon were mapped to the maize reference genome. This method has been used to identify Mu insertions in a number of alleles and to isolate the previously unidentified lazy plant1 (la1) gene. The la1 gene is required for the negatively gravitropic response of shoots and mutant plants lack the ability to sense gravity. Using bioinformatic and fluorescence microscopy approaches, we show that the la1 gene encodes a cell membrane and nuclear localized protein. Our Mu-Taq method is readily adaptable to identify the genomic locations of any insertion of a known sequence in any organism using any sequencing platform