Minimizing Risk Associated with Imaging Payloads: Lessons Learned from a CCD Experiment Gone Awry

The number of uses for imaging devices in space is rapidly increasing. To evaluate suitability for space-based surveillance and star tracker operation, an experimental payload was developed based on an experimental Charge Coupled imaging Device (CCD). This payload was to have flown on the small STRV-1d satellite (a joint US and British program) to collect data during 600+ minute highly elliptical orbits. These orbits were intended to expose the CCD to high radiation levels and possibly significant solar flare events. The main objective of the experiment was to measure the degradation of the Charge Transfer Efficiency (CTE) of the device, and to characterize its overall performance in an orbit that would provide a significant radiation threat. Due to the inherent complexities and fragility of experimental CCD devices, many hardware and software obstacles were encountered and many lessons were learned. Vibration and environmental testing issues were of particular significance. By underestimating the difficulty of mechanical mounting, cooling, software operation and clocking, and environmental stability, our project did not make satellite integration deadlines despite considerable effort

Ares First Stage "Systemology" - Combining Advanced Systems Engineering and Planning Tools to Assure Mission Success

Ares is an integral part of NASA s Constellation architecture that will provide crew and cargo access to the International Space Station as well as low earth orbit support for lunar missions. Ares replaces the Space Shuttle in the post 2010 time frame. Ares I is an in-line, two-stage rocket topped by the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, its service module, and a launch abort system. The Ares I first stage is a single, five-segment reusable solid rocket booster derived from the Space Shuttle Program's reusable solid rocket motor. The Ares second or upper stage is propelled by a J-2X main engine fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. This paper describes the advanced systems engineering and planning tools being utilized for the design, test, and qualification of the Ares I first stage element. Included are descriptions of the current first stage design, the milestone schedule requirements, and the marriage of systems engineering, detailed planning efforts, and roadmapping employed to achieve these goals

Space Testing of the Advanced Instrument Controller

An extremely compact, low-power instrument controller and data processor system has been developed for space-based applications. Known as the Advanced Instrument Controller (AIC), this hybrid device contains both digital and analog components in a package less than 5 grams in weight and 2 x 3 em in size. Based on the Intel 8031151 microprocessor and implementing a superset of the 8051 instruction set, the AIC supports l28k of SRAM, 128k of EEPROM, four 8-bit parallel ports, six serial communications ports, 32 analog l2-bit AID channels, and eight D/A channels. Rugged (30k g) with a wide operating temperature range (-120 to +80 C), the AIC supports a number of power saving modes, nominally consuming \u3c 50m W with 0.5m W in standby sleep mode. A space experiment was designed to exercise the controller in a harsh environment. Flying on the small STRV-ld satellite, a joint US and British program, the experiment will collect data on AIC operation during 600+ minute highlyelliptical orbits which will expose the experiment to high radiation levels and possibly significant solar flare events. Scheduled to fly in spring 2000, STRV-ld will be commissioned for one year

Experience with a Computerized Interactive Protocol System Using HELP

journal articleBiomedical Informatic

Lunar regolith bagging system

A design of a lunar regolith bag and bagging system is described. The bags of regolith are to be used for construction applications on the lunar surface. The machine is designed to be used in conjunction with the lunar SKITTER currently under development. The bags for this system are 1 cu ft volume and are made from a fiberglass composite weave. The machinery is constructed mostly from a boron/aluminum composite. The machine can fill 120 bags per hour and work for 8 hours a day. The man hours to machine hours ratio to operate the machine is .5/8

Identifying Activities and Determining Costs and Risks Associated with the Presence Of' Hazardous Materials and Generation of Wastes

Current organization's decision analysis techniques are not designed to handle major environmental costs. As environmental regulations increase, the costs become a larger portion of overall operational expenses. The environmental costs are generally unknown and accounted for in overhead. Organizations are in a reactive mode to new health, safety, and environmental (HSE) laws and regulations. This research's purpose is to help organizations be proactive in considering new process methods. It allows the HSE concerns to be quantified and compared with the directly affected elements

Drawing crime and justice in Latin American crime comics and graphic novels 1970-2015

This project investigates contemporary Latin American crime comics in order to interrogate how these popular culture texts represent concepts of crime and justice. This study looks to crime comics that fall into the detective or private investigator genre between 1970 and 2015 from Mexico and Chile, precisely because they confront crime directly. In particular, the Mexican comic character El Pantera, created by Daniel Muñoz, and Ramón Díaz Eterovic’s detective Heredia from Chile are the primary focuses of this investigation. These two characters have formed a part of their respective cultural imaginaries over the last four decades and as such they serve as reference points for how concepts of crime and justice have evolved in Mexico and Chile. The investigation of these comic narratives brings to light that economic and political policies related to neoliberalism are seen as sources of crime and violence. This investigation proposes that Mexican and Chilean comics reveal that neoliberalism is criminal through the lens of popular criminology and that these comic texts are means of processing neoliberal violence and disappearance in the realm of popular culture. This research proposes new approaches to the study of Latin America comics by putting Mexican and Chilean crime comics into dialogue with comic theories by Scott McCloud, Thierry Groensteen, and Nick Souanis, as well as Latin American comic research by Bruce Campbell, Ana Merino, Anne Rubenstein, Harold Hinds and Charles Tatum. In addition, these comic texts are investigated through critical theories by Giorgio Agamben, Michel De Cearteau, Pierre Nora, Slavoj Žižek, and Sergio Villalobos-Ruminott. This research represents a unique approach to Latin American comics that take the contextual realities of contemporary neoliberal practices into consideration, and offers new comic theories such as the multibraid network, new gutter spaces, and the idea of “Ashes in the Gutter” to bring McCloud’s writings in touch with Mexican and Chilean realities. In addition, this dissertation provides one of the only histories of the Chilean comic industry written in English.Spanish and Portugues

Generalized Sums over Histories for Quantum Gravity II. Simplicial Conifolds

This paper examines the issues involved with concretely implementing a sum over conifolds in the formulation of Euclidean sums over histories for gravity. The first step in precisely formulating any sum over topological spaces is that one must have an algorithmically implementable method of generating a list of all spaces in the set to be summed over. This requirement causes well known problems in the formulation of sums over manifolds in four or more dimensions; there is no algorithmic method of determining whether or not a topological space is an n-manifold in five or more dimensions and the issue of whether or not such an algorithm exists is open in four. However, as this paper shows, conifolds are algorithmically decidable in four dimensions. Thus the set of 4-conifolds provides a starting point for a concrete implementation of Euclidean sums over histories in four dimensions. Explicit algorithms for summing over various sets of 4-conifolds are presented in the context of Regge calculus. Postscript figures available via anonymous ftp at black-hole.physics.ubc.ca (137.82.43.40) in file gen2.ps.Comment: 82pp., plain TeX, To appear in Nucl. Phys. B,FF-92-

SMEs and Certified Management Standards: The Effect of Motives and Timing on Implementation and Commitment

Existing research on certifiable management standards (CMS) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) tends to focus on large companies and is characterised by disagreement about the role of these standards as drivers of CSR. We contribute to the literature by shifting the analytical focus to the behaviour of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that subscribe to multiple CSR related standards. We argue that, in respect of motive and commitment, SMEs are not as different from large companies as the literature suggests, as they are guided by similar institutional and economic motives. Results, based on ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified SMEs in Greece, demonstrate that later adopters are more susceptible to coercive and mimetic motives and are less likely to commit fully to the CMS requirements, while earlier adopters react to normative motives and considerations of internal efficiency gains and tend to carry out CMS requirements with greater diligence