Space Shuttle ground processing with monitoring agents

To ensure that all shuttle systems are ready for launch, KSC engineers monitor tens of thousands of telemetry measurements. This intense data monitoring occurs constantly during ground processing, peaking in the weeks leading up to launch. KSC engineers developed and deployed a software agent $the NASA Engineering Shuttle Telemetry Agent - to assist in this around-the-clock monitoring. NESTA acts as a software agent for the NASA engineer. For this discussion, we define an agent as rule - based, autonomous software that reacts to its environment and communicates results to a human $the NASA engineer.     

Finite element design of manipulator-coupled spacecraft for a research testbed

This paper describes the design and analysis of a research testbed developed to study the control of manipulator-coupled spacecraft with independent attitude control systems. This scenario could present itself in the assembly of Space Station Freedom (SSF). SSF assembly calls for a rendezvous of the Space Shuttle (SS) with SSF. Part of the assembly process requires that both spacecraft be coupled via the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System. An additional criterion that poses increased complexity is that the Space Shuttle controls and Space Station controls can not communicate. The technical issue involved is unwanted vibrations of the coupled-configuration that occur retraction and the complications due to non-interacting control systems. To understand these vibrations and possible complications, a research testbed has been built at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.To build the testbed, the manipulator links joints, and vehicles that represent the Space Shuttle and Space Station had to be designed. Pre-design simulation studies using ANSYS [1] (a Finite Element Computer Code) is used to size and design the manipulator links for the experimental facility. The ANSYS results were verified by the development of the Lagrangian Equations of motion. The Harmonic drives used as joints for the two link, three joint manipulator have been dissected into free body diagrams to ensure proper load paths in the ANSYS models. Accurate simulation of manipulator-coupled spacecraft is an important technology for NASA to understand. This paper outlines the methodology behind the preliminary design of a research testbed developed to help NASA gain knowledge in this area.     

Evaluation of software testing metrics for NASA's Mission Control Center

Software metrics are used to evaluate the software developmentprocess and the quality of the resultingproduct. We used five metrics during the testing phase of the Shuttle Mission Control Center (MCC) Upgrade (MCCU) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Johnson Space Center. All but one metric provided useful information. Based on our experience we recommend using metrics during the test phase of software development and propose additional candidate metrics for further study.     

Solar radiation over Turkey and its analysis

Ground-based solar-radiation observations have rather high random errors, which were sourced from maintenance, calibration and/or inaccurate instruments in Turkey. Satellite-based radiation data obtained from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were compared with reliable ground observations, and it was found that the global solar incident insolation data of the NASA Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy (SSE) dataset is usable, with a rather low mean relative error of about 4%. Therefore, monthly and annual spatial distribution over Turkey and solar-radiation time series were analysed in order to detect the potential of solar radiation and to find out variations and trends, respectively.     

Semantic decoupling: reducing the impact of requirement changes

The continuous stream of requirements changes that often takes place during software development and can create major problems in the development process. This paper defines a concept we call semantic coupling that can be used during all the phases of a system specification and design to reduce the impact of changing requirements. Within the general framework of the intent specifications, traceability matrices representing the mappings between different abstraction levels are used to evaluate the sensitivity of a given design to requirement changes. The practicality of using the approach on real software is demonstrated using the specification of the control software for a NASA robot designed to service the heat-resistant tiles on the Space Shuttle.     

MOMS-02 sensor simulation and spectral band selection

Abstract

MOMS-02 is a push-broom scanner with four spectral bands in the 450–810 nm region (each with a 15 m ground resolution element at a 310 km orbit) and a panchromatic (520–760 nm) stereo mode with on-track stereoscopic capability. The stereo mode employs three look angles: nadir (with a 5 m ground resolution element), 24° forward and backward (each with a 10 m ground resolution element). The sensor which is funded by the German Ministry for Research and Technology (BMFT) is scheduled for launch on a Space Shuttle mission at the end of 1991. The selection and radiometric performance of the panchromatic and the multispectral bands are discussed.     

The UK element of the Maestro-1 SAR campaign†

Abstract

As part of a campaign organized by ESA and the Joint Research Centre Ispra, two sorties of the NASA DC-8 aircraft took place during August 1989 over three East Anglian test sites. The aircraft was equipped with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory P-/L-/C-band SAR and the characteristics of the radar are outlined and the associated calibration campaign described. An extensive ground data collection campaign was undertaken by a series of UK groups for forestry, agricultural and hydrological applications. The collection of forestry ground data is described in some detail. The anticipated uses of the ground data in the analysis of the radar images helped to determine the strategy for the selection of parameters to be measured.     

Geomorphological changes associated with underground coal mining in the Fushun area,northeast China revealed by multitemporal satellite remote sensing data

Fushun is a famous coal-mining city in northeastern China with more than 100 years of history. Long-term underground coal mining has caused serious surface subsidence in the eastern part of the city. In this study, multitemporal and multisource satellite remote sensing data were used to detect subsidence and geomorphological changes associated with underground coal mining over a 10-year period (1996–2006). A digital elevation model (DEM) was generated through Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interferometry processing using data from a pair of European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS) SAR images acquired in 1996. In addition, a Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) DEM obtained from data in 2000 and an Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) DEM from 2006 were used for this study. The multitemporal DEMs indicated that the maximum vertical displacement due to subsidence was around 13 m from 1996 to 2006. Multitemporal ASTER images showed that the flooded water area associated with subsidence had increased by 1.73 km² over the same time period. Field investigations and ground level measurements confirmed that the results obtained from the multitemporal remote sensing data agreed well with ground truth data. This study demonstrates that DEMs derived from multisource satellite remote sensing data can provide a powerful tool to map geomorphological changes associated with underground mining activities.     

Near misses: Murphy's law is wrong [design engineering]

It has been said that you learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. Best of all is when you can learn from someone else's mistakes. So this article looks at three test cases. (1) What did engineers and computer scientists learn about product development when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded? (2) What did you resolve to do better after the Hubble Space Telescope error? (3) What did you learn from the Mars Climate Orbiter error? In all three of these cases, there is plenty of learning to be had for anyone doing design in any field. Murphy's law ("If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong") is clearly incorrect. When the Challenger exploded, the problem was quickly traced to the O-rings in the solid rocket boosters because those O-rings were already under suspicion due to charring and hot-gas "blow-by" in half of the previous 25 Shuttle missions. Murphy's law implies those earlier flights should have blown up, but the lesson embedded in those near misses went unheeded. NASA says there were even hints during the Mars Climate Orbiter flight that something was wrong. Perkin Elmer ignored several indications that something was wrong with Hubble's main mirror. Near misses are nature's way of telling us that something's wrong and we'd better fix it fast. If we ignore them, that's when Murphy comes calling     

What can software engineers learn from manufacturing to improve software process and product?

The purpose of this paper is to provide the software engineer with tools from the field of manufacturing as an aid to improving software process and product quality. Process involves classical manufacturing methods, such as statistical quality control applied to product testing, which is designed to monitor and correct the process when the process yields product quality that fails to meet specifications. Product quality is measured by metrics, such as failure count occurring on software during testing. When the process and product quality are out of control, we show what remedial action to take to bring both the process and product under control. NASA Space Shuttle failure data are used to illustrate the process methods.     

包敦其河冲积扇全极化SAR数据同极化相关特征分析

冲积扇蕴涵气候演变信息,极化合成孔径雷达（Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar-PolSAR）能够获取丰富的地表信息,更有效地提取冲积扇所在地区气候演变过程。不同极化正交基对应的同极化相关特征是反映地物特征的重要参数之一,其绝对值为同极化相关系数,辐角为相位差。利用全极化SIR-C L波段数据,提取并分析包敦其河冲积扇不同极化正交基对应的同极化相关特征,发现水平-垂直（h,v）线性正交基对应的同极化相关特征能够有效地反映该冲积扇的不同特征区域。此外,对同极化相关特征随包敦其河冲积扇地表粗糙度以及湿度的变化规律进行统计分析,结果表明（h,v）线性正交基对应的同极化相位差以及右旋-左旋（r,l）极化正交基对应的同极化相关系数对地表参数敏感,能够描述包敦其河冲积扇地表参数的变化。     

A microcomputer-based interactive presentation development system

Under the primary sponsorship of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL) NASA PC R&D project is conducting a variety of research activities addressing microcomputer-based support for instructional activities. The Interactive Presentation Development System (IPDS), one product of this research, is intended to minimize the overhead involved in the preparation and presentation of instructional material while significantly increasing instructor control over the dynamics of such presentations. This paper presents a brief overview of the USL NASA PC R&D project, a detailed explanation of IPDS capabilities, and an analysis of IPDS's effect on the instructional presentation process.     

SRTM DEM accuracy assessment over vegetated areas in Norway

Results from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) are presented. The SRTM C‐band and X‐band digital elevation models (DEMs) are evaluated with regard to elevation accuracies over agricultural fields, forest areas and man‐made features in Norway. High‐resolution digital maps and satellite images are used as background data. In general, many terrain details can be observed in the SRTM elevation datasets. The elevation accuracy (90% confidence level) of the two SRTM systems is estimated to less than 6.5 m for open agricultural fields and less than 11 m considering all land surface covers. This is better than specifications. Analysis of dense Norwegian forest stands shows that the SRTM system will produce elevation data that are as much as 15 m higher than the ground surface. The SRTM DEM products will therefore partly indicate canopy elevations in forested areas. We also show that SRTM data can be used to update older DEMs obtained from other sources, as well as estimating the volume of rock removed from large man‐made gravel pits.     

Estimating above‐ground burned biomass and CO2 emissions for tropical Africa for the year 1990 with the NOAA–NASA Pathfinder AVHRR 8 km land dataset

Biomass burning combusts Earth's vegetation (in forests, savannas and agricultural lands) and occurs over huge areas of the Earth's surface. Global estimates of biomass burning are thus required in order to provide exact figures of the gas fluxes derived from this source. In this paper we use coarse resolution images for estimating above‐ground burned biomass and CO₂ emissions for tropical Africa for the year 1990. The burned land cover areas have been derived from burn scar and land cover maps using the global daily National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration–National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NOAA–NASA) Pathfinder AVHRR 8?km land dataset. A burned area estimation of (742±222)?Mha has been considered. Monthly maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) composites and biomass density measurements have been used for modelling the temporal behaviour of above‐ground biomass for the main seasonal vegetation classes in Africa (humid savanna, derived humid savanna, dry savanna grassland and broadleaf savanna). The amount of above‐ground burned biomass and therefore CO₂ emissions can be estimated from burned land cover area, above‐ground biomass density, burn efficiency and emission factor of trace gas by land cover class. A total of 6494 (3675–9312) Tg for CO₂ emissions was computed for tropical Africa for the year 1990.     

A fast and robust bulk-loading algorithm for indexing very large digital elevation datasets: I. Algorithm

Digital elevation models (DEMs) constitute a valuable source of data for a number of geoscience-related applications. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) collected and made available to the public the world's largest DEM (composed of billions of points) until that date. The SRTM DEM is stored on the NASA repository as a well-organized collection of flat files. The retrieval of this stored topographic information about a region of interest involves one selection of a proper list of files, their downloading, data filtering in the desired region, and their processing according to user needs. With the aim to provide an easier and faster access to this data by improving its further analysis and processing, we have indexed the SRTM DEM by means of a spatial indexing based on the kd-tree data structure, called the Q-tree. This paper is the first in a two-part series that describes the method followed to build an index on such huge amounts of data, minimizing the number of insert operations. We demonstrate that our method can build a very efficient space-partitioning index, with good performance in both point and range queries on the spatial data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only successful spatial indexing proposal in the literature that deals with such a huge volume of data.     

Comparison between in situ and MODIS-derived spectral reflectances of snow and sea ice in the Amundsen Sea,Antarctica

The spectral albedo and directional reflectance of snow and sea ice were measured on sea ice of various types, including nilas, grey ice, pancake ice, multi-year pack ice, and land-fast ice in the Ross, Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas during a summer cruise in February through March 2000. Measurements were made using a spectroradiometer that has 512 channels in the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) region in which 16 of the 36 bands of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are covered. Directional reflectance is also retrieved from the MODIS radiometrically calibrated data (Level 1B) concurrently acquired from the first National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite, Terra. The locations of the ground ice stations are identified accurately on the MODIS images, and the spectral albedo and directional reflectance values at the 16 VNIR MODIS bands are extracted for those pixel locations. MODIS-derived reflectance is then corrected for the intervening atmosphere whose parameters are retrieved from the MODIS atmospheric profiles product (MOD07_L2) for the same granule. The corresponding spectral albedo and directional reflectance with the same viewing geometry as MODIS are derived from our ground-based spectroradiometer measurements. Because the footprint of the ground spectroradiometer is much smaller than the pixel sizes of MODIS images, the averaged spectral reflectance and albedo in the vicinity of each ice station are simulated for the corresponding MODIS pixel from the ground spectral measurements by weighting over different surface types (various ice types and open water). An accurate determination of ice concentration is important in deriving ground reflectance of a simulated pixel from in situ measurements. The best agreement between the in situ and MODIS measurements was found when the ground had 10/10 ice concentration (discrepancy range 0.2–11.69%, average 4.8%) or was oneice-type dominant (discrepancy range 0.8–16.9%, average 6.2%). The more homogeneous the ground surface and the less variable the ground topography, the more comparable between the in situ and satellite-derived reflectance is expected.     

NASA astronaut photography depiction of the spatial and temporal characteristics of biomass burning

NASA astronaut photographs of the Earth's surface, in the Space Shuttle Earth Observation Photographic database, have been examined for their ability to provide information on remote sensing of temporal and spatial distributions of biomass burning. Over 4554 photos of biomass burning are identified in a dataset containing 347 678 photos accumulated since 1961. Distributions of the entire database, and of the biomass burning photos it contains, are displayed by mission, month, year, season, latitude and hemisphere. The relative frequency of biomass burning photos was determined by removing the effects of the number of days in space and the number of photos taken. Distributions of the photos of burning are shown in relation to characteristics of global climatic and vegetation characteristics which favor biomass burning. The strengths and weaknesses of the photographic database as a tool for remote sensing of biomass burning are also discussed briefly.     

Validation of surface height from shuttle radar topography mission using shuttle laser altimeter

Spaceborne Interferometric SAR (InSAR) technology used in the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and spaceborne lidar such as Shuttle Laser Altimeter-02 (SLA-02) are two promising technologies for providing global scale digital elevation models (DEMs). Each type of these systems has limitations that affect the accuracy or extent of coverage. These systems are complementary in developing DEM data. In this study, surface height measured independently by SRTM and SLA-02 was cross-validated. SLA data was first verified by field observations, and examinations of individual lidar waveforms. The geolocation accuracy of the SLA height data sets was examined by checking the correlation between the SLA surface height with SRTM height at 90 m resolution, while shifting the SLA ground track within its specified horizontal errors. It was found that the heights from the two instruments were highly correlated along the SLA ground track, and shifting the positions did not improve the correlation significantly. Absolute surface heights from SRTM and SLA referenced to the same horizontal and vertical datum (World Geodetic System (WGS) 84 Ellipsoid) were compared. The effects of forest cover and surface slope on the height difference were also examined. After removing the forest effect on SRTM height, the mean height difference with SLA-02 was near zero. It can be further inferred from the standard deviation of the height differences that the absolute accuracy of SRTM height at low vegetation area is better than the SRTM mission specifications (16 m). The SRTM height bias caused by forest cover needs to be further examined using future spaceborne lidar (e.g. GLAS) data.     

Validating MODIS land surface temperature products using long-term nighttime ground measurements

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), onboard the NASA Terra and Aqua Earth Observing System satellites, provides multiple land surface temperature (LST) products on a daily basis. However, these products have not been adequately validated. This paper presents preliminary results of validating two MODIS Terra daily LST products, MOD11_L2 (version 4) and MOD07_L2 (version 4), using the FLUXNET and Carbon Europe Integrated Project (CarboEurope-IP) long-term ground measurements over eight vegetated sites. Since ground-measured LSTs were only available over one fixed point in each validation site, the study was carefully designed to mitigate the scale mismatch issue by using nighttime ground measurements concurrent to more than 1800 MODIS Terra overpasses.The preliminary results show that MOD11_L2 LSTs have smaller absolute biases and root mean squared errors (RMSE) than those of MOD07_L2 LSTs in most cases. The match of MOD11_L2 LSTs with ground measurements in the Brookings, Audubon, Canaan Valley, and Black Hills sites is good, yielding absolute biases less than 0.8 °C and RMSEs less than 1.7 °C. In the Fort Peck, Hainich, Tharandt, and Bondville sites, MOD11_L2 LSTs were underestimated by 2-3 °C. Biases in MOD11_L2 LSTs correlate to those in MOD07_L2 LSTs. Since the MOD07_L2 LST product is one of the input parameters to the MOD11_L2 LST algorithm, biases in MOD11_L2 LSTs may be influenced by biases in MOD07_L2 LSTs. The errors in both products depend weakly on sensor view zenith angle but are independent of surface air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and soil moisture.     

Validation and analysis of aerosol optical thickness retrieval over land

Aerosol optical thickness (AOT) retrieval from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data has been well established over oceans, but this is not the case over land. In this article, the AOT data sets retrieved by exploiting the synergy of TERRA and AQUA MODIS data (SYNTAM) over land are validated with ground-based measurements from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data, as well as from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) AOT products, amended with a DeepBlue algorithm in Asian (15–60° N and 35–150° E) and American areas (30–40° N and 100–120° W). Overall, AOT retrieval errors of around 10–20% against AERONET data are found at both 1 and 10 km resolutions. The spectral and spatial sensitivities of the AOT correlation are explicitly addressed at both 1 and 10 km resolutions. Three window sizes, 1?×?1, 3?×?3 and 5?×?5, are tested for SYNTAM to evaluate the effect of window size on parameter statistics, and it is found that the accuracy of the SYNTAM method decreases with increasing window size. The validations at three spectral bands of 0.47, 0.55 and 0.66 μm show that the accuracies of different bands are 80–90% similar, and that the band at 0.47 μm has the highest accuracy most of the time. Comparisons between AOT data sets derived from the SYNTAM and AOT products from the NASA Dark Dense Vegetation (DDV) and the DeepBlue algorithms are also conducted using data from the USA. More pixels with AOT values for the area could be retrieved using the SYNTAM method with the NASA DeepBlue algorithm. The AOT values of more than 90% of pixels derived by both methods are very close. This clearly shows that AOT data from SYNTAM are very close to the AOT data set from the NASA DeepBlue algorithm in cloud-free areas. The synergic use of both the SYNTAM and DeepBlue algorithms could produce AOT values over much greater land areas.