Transforming a Single-Use Spaceport to Multi-Use

The end of the Space Shuttle program brought new challenges as well as new opportunities to the John F. Kennedy Space Center. The challenge is to engineer a more flexible Spaceport to be capable of supporting manufacturing, assembly, testing, processing and launch operations for multiple spacecrafts and launch vehicle configurations. The new spaceport must support multiple commercial as well as government entities while leveraging existing infrastructure to the greatest extent possible. This paper addresses key engineering challenges during Spaceport design and development and will look at possible engineering solutions while considering reusability of legacy systems and infrastructure adaptability with emphasis on flexibility and reduction of operating cost

Stability of Nitrogen in Planetary Atmospheres in Contact with Liquid Water

Molecular nitrogen is the most commonly assumed background gas that supports habitability on rocky planets. Despite its chemical inertness, nitrogen molecules are broken by lightning, hot volcanic vents, and bolide impacts, and can be converted into soluble nitrogen compounds and then sequestered in the ocean. The very stability of nitrogen, and that of nitrogen-based habitability, is thus called into question. Here we determine the lifetime of molecular nitrogen vis-à-vis aqueous sequestration, by developing a novel model that couples atmospheric photochemistry and oceanic chemistry. We find that HNO, the dominant nitrogen compound produced in anoxic atmospheres, is converted to N2O in the ocean, rather than oxidized to nitrites or nitrates as previously assumed. This N₂O is then released back into the atmosphere and quickly converted to N₂. We also find that the deposition rate of NO is severely limited by the kinetics of the aqueous-phase reaction that converts NO to nitrites in the ocean. Putting these insights together, we conclude that the atmosphere must produce nitrogen species at least as oxidized as NO₂ and HNO₂ to enable aqueous sequestration. The lifetime of molecular nitrogen in anoxic atmospheres is determined to be >1 billion years on temperate planets of both Sun-like and M dwarf stars. This result upholds the validity of molecular nitrogen as a universal background gas on rocky planets

Results of a NASA Kennedy Space Center Earned Value Management Pilot Project

The Earn Value Management Pilot provided a tremendous amount of data on the strengths and weaknesses of the new financial system, the ability to support EVM from many viewpoints, the lack of tools for small to medium projects implementing EVM, and the training and environment necessary to successfully deploy EVM to all projects. This data along with other pilots will prove invaluable. Deploying EVM should not be taken lightly - a full assessment of capabilities and supporting infrastructure should be done prior to any deployment, and some very basic questions should be asked. For instance, will sufficient training be provided? Can the project managers readily and easily obtain all the necessary data? If EVM is to thrive in all projects regardless of cost, the transition should be as seamless as possible, minimizing cost and effort, and with the end user in mind. In setting up an EVM implementation, the question, "How does the project manager benefit from this process?" must remain at the forefront. Further research in this area is needed to answer the question,"Is EVM cost effective in small projects?" The authors welcome knowledge sharing with other organizations that are striving to gain the benefits of EVM on small projects

Adapting New Space System Designs into Existing Ground Infrastructure

As routine space operations extend beyond earth orbit, the ability for ground infrastructures to take on new launch vehicle systems and a more complex suite of spacecraft and payloads has become a new challenge. The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration and its Constellation Program provides opportunities for our space operations community to meet this challenge. Presently, as new flight and ground systems add to the overall groundbased and space-based capabilities for NASA and its international partners, specific choices are being made as to what to abandon, what to retain, as well as what to build new. The total ground and space-based infrastructure must support a long-term, sustainable operation after it is all constructed, deployed, and activated. This paper addresses key areas of engineering concern during conceptual design, development, and routine operations, with a particular focus on: (1) legacy system reusability, (2) system supportability attributes and operations characteristics, (3) ground systems design trades and criteria, and (4) technology application survey. Each key area explored weighs the merits of reusability of the infrastructure in terms of: engineering analysis methods and techniques; top-level facility, systems, and equipment design criteria; and some suggested methods for making the operational system attributes (the "-ilities") highly visible to the design teams and decisionmakers throughout the design process

Conocimientos, actitudes y practicas de riesgo de infecciones de transmision sexual en mujeres de 10-40 años, usuarias del puesto de salud Agustin Winchang Municipio de La Cruz de Rio Grande-RACS de Junio a Diciembre del 2014

Las infecciones de transmisión sexual (ITS) están entre las causas más comunes de enfermedades en el mundo. La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) manifiesta una gran preocupación por el marcado aumento que se observa en el número de ITS. La falta de control de los impulsos, ambivalencia emocional, los cambios emotivos y de la conducta, además, su maduración sexual cada vez más temprana lleva al individuo a la búsqueda de relaciones sexuales riesgosa. No podemos dejar de destacar que el padecimiento de una ITS, principalmente los síndromes ulcerativos predisponen 10 veces más al riesgo del virus de Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida y al SIDA. La incidencia de Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual (ITS) al concluir el año 2012 en Nicaragua, se reporta en 38 x 100,000 habitantes, se notificaron un total de 2,271 eventos de ITS a través de la oficina de estadísticas del Ministerio de Salud (MINSA) presentando un ligero incremento del 6% en relación al mismo periodo del año 2012 donde se reporta una incidencia de 32 x 100,000 habitantes, 1,879 casos. En el municipio de La Cruz de Rio Grande, donde el ministerio de salud y otros organismo no gubernamentales vienen trabajando para reducir la adquisición de VIH-SIDA fenómeno último que puede vivir un individuo a las infecciones de transmisión sexual se ha vuelto una necesidad de conocer cifras y comportamiento sexuales de riesgo en esta población ya que de manera empírica se sabe que la afluencia de mujeres con este padecimiento es muy frecuente. Se realizó un estudio CAP sobre las ITS en este municipio que está ubicado a 283km de la capital que tiene una población de 1250 habitantes donde se entrevistaron a 104 mujeres en edad fértil que acuden a la atención médica en el puesto de salud Agustín Winchang. En el periodo de Junio a Diciembre del 2014. Se elaboró un instrumento de recolección de la información que contenía en su mayoría preguntas cerradas con el propósito de dar repuesta a los objetivos planteados. Dichas preguntas fueron tomadas de otros instrumentos relacionados al mismo tema, se adecuaron al léxico y elementos culturales de la religió

Towards a Quantum Software Modeling Language

We set down the principles behind a modeling language for quantum software. We present a minimal set of extensions to the well-known Unified Modeling Language (UML) that allows it to effectively model quantum software. These extensions are separate and independent of UML as a whole. As such they can be used to extend any other software modeling language, or as a basis for a completely new language. We argue that these extensions are both necessary and sufficient to model, abstractly, any piece of quantum software. Finally, we provide a small set of examples that showcase the effectiveness of the extension set

Root Cause Failure Analysis for Machinery and Piping Part 1: Introduction to RCFA

Short Cours

Field Performance Testing Centrifugal and Reciprocating Compressors

Short CourseField performance testing is often necessary to verify guaranteed as-installed aerodynamic and mechanical performance of new machinery. It can also be used to monitor long-term machinery performance, track degradation patterns, and determine appropriate maintenance practices. In order to obtain useful performance data, it is necessary to use appropriate instrumentation, follow adequate installation practices, use accurate performance calculation methods (including equations of state), and include uncertainty analysis. This short course provides a detailed overview of performance testing and provides guidelines from published documents such as ASME PTC-10, API 618, ISO 1217, and GMRC guidelines, including basic theory and calculations, instrumentation selection and location, installation and measurement accuracy, test methodology, and sources of uncertainty