In-flight testing of the space shuttle orbiter thermal control system

In-flight thermal control system testing of a complex manned spacecraft such as the space shuttle orbiter and the considerations attendant to the definition of the tests are described. Design concerns, design mission requirements, flight test objectives, crew vehicle and mission risk considerations, instrumentation, data requirements, and real-time mission monitoring are discussed. An overview of the tests results is presented

SAMP, the Simple Application Messaging Protocol: Letting applications talk to each other

SAMP, the Simple Application Messaging Protocol, is a hub-based communication standard for the exchange of data and control between participating client applications. It has been developed within the context of the Virtual Observatory with the aim of enabling specialised data analysis tools to cooperate as a loosely integrated suite, and is now in use by many and varied desktop and web-based applications dealing with astronomical data. This paper reviews the requirements and design principles that led to SAMP's specification, provides a high-level description of the protocol, and discusses some of its common and possible future usage patterns, with particular attention to those factors that have aided its success in practice.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for Virtual Observatory special issue of Astronomy and Computin

Realistic error bounds for a reduced-state model-reference controller

Realistic error bounds for reduced-state model-reference controlle

String loop corrections to gauge and Yukawa couplings

We report on the recent progress in computing the effective supergravity action from superstring scattering amplitudes beyond the tree approximation. We discuss the moduli-dependent string loop corrections to gauge, gravitational and Yukawa couplings.Comment: 11 pages, CPTH-C218.0193 (Based on talks presented at the Rome Workshop STRINGS 92, at the 7th Meeting of the American Physical Society, and at the 26th Erice Workshop: ``From Superstrings to Supergravity"