NASA Contributions Research Articles

Planning space exploration: Appraising and appreciating a curated collection of NASA's roadmap visualizations

For supporting strategic planning and communication amongst stakeholders, roadmapping is a widespread practice across many industries. However, there is a notable gap in acknowledging and appreciating the pioneering roadmap visualizations published by NASA. This paper will address this gap by presenting and critiquing a curated collection of 10 exemplar visualizations, each representing a distinctive design form. Despite potential aesthetic limitations, these examples offer themselves as convenient and useful templates for other organizations seeking to develop their own roadmaps. By deconstructing these formats and emphasizing their unique features, this paper aims to broaden the adoption and adaptation of these foundational visual schemes, while recognizing NASA's contributions to the practice of roadmapping.

A data‐oriented strategy to support water resource managers and researchers

AbstractGiven the wide diversity of data services provided to national water management agencies, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in collaboration with the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) developed the approach described in the report, Implementing the GEOSS Water Strategy—From Observations to Decisions to develop more coherent and equitable data services for water management through the use of Earth observations. Among other water resource issues, it recognized the need to enhance data‐enriched water management services to support decision making related to drought monitoring, flood warning, tracking and improving sustainable development and monitoring and ameliorating the impacts of climate change. Needs associated with the Strategy's four themes: improved data acquisition for essential water variables, research and product development, interoperability and coordination, and capacity development and decision support, are reviewed. Responses to the recommendations have been undertaken by GEO, led by its Global Water Sustainability (GEOGloWS) initiative which includes NASA contributions, CEOS, and the Global Terrestrial Network for Hydrology (GTN‐H). Progress on the themes is reviewed and benefits of these developments for international and US water management are identified. The commentary concludes with a summary of what has been achieved, what remains to be done, and the priority focus areas for implementation in the final year of the Strategy.

NASA's Role in Gas Turbine Technology Development: Accelerating Technical Progress Via Collaboration Between Academia, Industry, and Government Agencies

Abstract Given the maturity of the gas turbine engine since its invention and considering the limited resources expected to be allocated for NASA aeronautics research and development, we ask the question are NASA technology investments still needed to enable future turbine engine-based propulsion systems? If so, what is NASA's unique role to justify NASA's investment? To address this topic, we first summarize NASA's role and contributions to turbine engine development, specific to both (1) NASA's role in conducting experiments to understand flow physics and provide relevant benchmark validation experiments for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code development, validation, and assessment and (2) the impact of technologies resulting from NASA collaborations with industry, academia, and other government agencies. Note that the scope of the discussion is limited to the NASA technology contributions with which the author was intimately associated and does not represent the entirety of the NASA contributions to turbine engine technology. The specific research, development, and demonstrations discussed herein were selected to both (1) provide a comprehensive review and reference list of the technology and its impact and (2) identify NASA's unique role and highlight how NASA's involvement resulted in additional benefit to the gas turbine engine community. Second, we will discuss current NASA collaborations that are in progress and provide a status of the results. Finally, we discuss the challenges anticipated for future turbine engine-based propulsion systems for civil aviation and identify potential opportunities for collaboration where NASA involvement would be beneficial.

NASA Hyperwall and Remote Sensing Outreach in Japan [Education

Reports on a student-oriented presentation at the 2019 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS 2019) in Yokohama, Japan. Dr. Gail Skofronick-Jackson shared NASA satellite remote sensing examples at the conference. A program manager at NASA headquarters, Science Mission Directorate, Dr. Skofronick- Jackson provides scientific expertise and management support for the Research and Analysis Weather Focus Area. She was assisted by an interpreter, Mami Sugaya of the Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC), who relayed eager questions from the students in addition to translating Skofronick-Jackson’s message into Japanese. Eighty 10–15-year-old local area students and their parents were challenged to envision the NASA contributions to, and use of, remote sensing techniques.

ESA ExoMars program: The next step in exploring Mars

The ExoMars program is an ESA–Roscosmos cooperation with some NASA contributions. ExoMars consists of two missions, one in 2016 and one in 2018. The 2016 mission includes an orbiting satellite dedicated to the study of atmospheric trace gases to acquire information on possible on-going geological or biological processes, and a European entry, descent, and landing demonstrator module (EDM) to achieve a successful soft landing on Mars. The orbiter can also provide data communication services for all surface missions landing on Mars until the end of 2022. The 2018 mission is planned to deliver a 300-kg-class rover and an instrumented landing platform to the Martian surface using a landing system developed by Roscosmos. The 2018 mission is to pursue one of the most outstanding questions of our time by attempting to establish whether life ever existed, or is still present, on Mars today. The article gives an overview of the ExoMars program.

Farewell to the Space Shuttle

The US Space Shuttle program helped start many careers and companies and initiate countless breakthroughs in computing hardware and software, medicine, life sciences, materials research, propulsion, and electromechanical technologies. The author looks at the program's legacy and ponders how we'll fill the void left behind. This department is part of a special issue on NASA contributions to IT.

NASA's contributions to aeronautics: v.1: Aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, controls; v.2: Flight environment, operations, flight testing and research

NASA's contributions to aeronautics: v.1: Aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, controls; v.2: Flight environment, operations, flight testing and research

Computer celebrates NASA's 50th anniversary

A collection of articles emphasizes NASA's contributions to computer science during its 50-year history.

Humans in Space: NASA's Contributions to Medical Technology and Health Care

The experimental models of weightlessness employed by NASA researchers to solve the numerous questions necessary to safely send humans into space for extended periods of time have also provided very useful medical devices and insight into the medical management of hospitalized patients

Ceramic bearings for use in gas turbine engines

Three decades of research by U.S. industry and government laboratories have produced a vast array of data related to the use of ceramic rolling element bearings and bearing components for aircraft gas turbine engines. Materials such as alumina, silicon carbide, titanium carbide, silicon nitride, and a crystallized glass ceramic have been investigated. Rolling element endurance tests and analysis of full complement bearings have been performed. Materials and bearing design methods have continuously improved over the years. This paper reviews a wide range of data and analyses with emphasis on how early NASA contributions as well as more recent data can enable the engineer or metallurgist to determine just where ceramic bearings are most applicable for gas turbines.

Ceramic Bearings for Use in Gas Turbine Engines

Three decades of research by U.S. industry and government laboratories have produced a vast array of data related to the use of ceramic rolling-element bearings and bearing components for aircraft gas turbine engines. Materials such as alumina, silicon carbide, titanium carbide, silicon nitride, and a crystallized glass ceramic have been investigated. Rolling-element endurance tests and analysis of full-complement bearings have been performed. Materials and bearing design methods have improved continuously over the years. This paper reviews a wide range of data and analyses with emphasis on how early NASA contributions as well as more recent data can enable the engineer or metallurgist to determine just where ceramic bearings are most applicable for gas turbines.

NASA's Manned Spacecraft Computers

Many people believe that NASA's extensive use of computers has kept the agency at the forefront of computer development. This study evaluates the hypothesis in regard to computers used on board manned spacecraft. The results show that NASA's contributions to computer science were made primarily in the areas of software verification and fault tolerance, and that overall, NASA has adopted proved technology for manned space flight operations. This technology is consistently behind the state of the art in terms of hardware, but the continued use of older technology in manned spacecraft is not necessarily a negative development. The computer power used in the Apollo, Gemini, and shuttle programs has been sufficient for the requirements of the missions. Most important, reliability has been ensured.

Recent NASA contributions to biomedical telemetry.

The present work reviews technological progress over the past five years in the field of long-term telemetric monitoring of physiological parameters during space flight. Emphasis is placed on those developments that have direct application to animal or human use on earth. An effort was made in these recent developments to free subjects from encumbering wires: a swallowable telemetry capsule for monitoring body temperature and a wristwatch transmitter connected to EKG leads were two of the devices developed.

Recent NASA contributions to biomedical telemetry.

Recent NASA contributions to biomedical telemetry.