Public communication strategy for NASA’s planetary protection program: Expanding the dialogue

Recent history has not been kind to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Problems with many major missions – Galileo's stuck antenna, Hubble's aberrant mirror, and incessant problems with the space shuttle – continue to embarrass the agency. The space station, which has had the distinction of being ridiculed by the leaders of almost every US professional science organisation, has mutated from a shining centrepiece to a $30bn albatross. There are signs, however, that NASA may be facing up to the draw-backs of investing in so much megascience.

Space travel: medicine in extremes

Personal computers of the past were limited to running computational fluid dynamics codes in serial mode. With the advent of multicore technology and suitable compilers, personal computers nowadays can execute codes in a parallel fashion similar to that of supercomputers and cluster computer systems. This article investigated what performance can be achieved when executing an aerodynamic code on an Intel quad core based personal computer with an OpenMP compiler in a Windows environment. The code solved the Euler equations to find the flowfield around a NACA0012 aerofoil on an O-type boundary fitted structured grid system. A speedup of up to 350% was obtainable in double precision accuracy. The reduced computation time means that, for small scale problems, more accurate Euler codes can replace commonly used transonic small disturbance codes. For larger problems, this information serves as a reference for developers of hybrid MPI/OpenMP algorithms for cluster computer systems. References Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), AMD FireStream 9170: Industry's First GPU with Double-Precision Floating Point, 2007, http://ati.amd.com/products/streamprocessor/specs.html Allmaras, S. R., Venkatakrishnan, V., and Johnson, F. T., Farfield Boundary Conditions for 2-D Airfoils, AIAA Paper 2005-4711, AIAA, 2005. Bailey, D., Barszcz, E., Barton, J., Browning, D., Carter, R., Dagum, L., Fatoohi, R., Fineberg, S., Frederickson, P., Lasinski, T., Schreiber, R., Simon, H., Venkatakrishnan, V., and Weeratunga, S., The NAS Parallel Benchmarks, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Contractor Report 203186, USA, 1994, http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19970014936_1997021577.pdf Dong, S., and Karniadakis, G. E., Dual-Level Parallelism for High-Order CFD Methods, Parallel Computing, 30, Jan. 2004, pp. 1--20. Hirsch, C., Numerical Computation of Internal and External Flows (Volume 2): Computational Methods for Inviscid and Viscous Flows, John Wiley and Sons, Great Britain, 1992. Hoffmann, K. A., Computational Fluid Dynamics for Engineers, Engineering Educational System, Texas, USA, 1989. Intel, Tera-scale Computing Research Program, c.2007, http://www.intel.com/research/platform/terascale/ Jin, H., Frumkin, M., and Yan, J., The OpenMP Implementation of NAS Parallel Benchmarks and its Performance, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Technical Report NAS-99-011, Moffett Field, USA, 1999. Liu, Y., and Vinokur, M., Nonequilibrium Flow Computations 1: An Analysis of Numerical Formulations of Conservation Laws, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Contractor Report 177489, California, USA, 1988, http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19880021000_1988021000.pdf Lock, R. C., Test Cases for Numerical Methods in Two-Dimensional Transonic Flows, Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD), Report Number 575, 1970. Ly, E., Improved Approximate Factorisation Algorithm for the Steady Subsonic and Transonic Flow over an Aircraft Wing, Proceedings of the 21st Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS98), ICAS and AIAA, Melbourne, Australia, 1998, Paper A98-31699. Ly, E., and Gear, J. A., Time-Linearized Transonic Computations Including Shock Wave Motion Effects, Journal of Aircraft, 39, 6, Nov/Dec. 2002, pp. 964--972. Ly, E., and Nakamichi, J., Time-Linearised Transonic Computations Including Entropy, Vorticity and Shock Wave Motion Effects, The Aeronautical Journal, Nov. 2003, pp. 687--695. Ly, E., and Norrison, D., Automatic Elliptic Grid Generation by an Approximate Factorisation Algorithm, ANZIAM Journal, 48 (CTAC2006), pp. C188--C202, July 2007, http://anziamj.austms.org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/48. Ly, E., and Norrison, D., Generating Elliptic Grids in Three Dimensions by a Method of False Transients, ANZIAM Journal, 49 (EMAC2007), pp. C170--C183, Nov. 2007, http://anziamj.austms.org.au/ojs/index.php/ANZIAMJ/article/view/313. Nvidia, The Era of the Personal Supercomputer, 2007, http://www.nvidia.com/content/events/siggraph_2007/supercomputing.html Pope, S. B., A Perspective on Turbulence Modeling, Modeling Complex Turbulent Flows, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, 1999. Pulliam, T., Kutler, P., and Rossow, V., Harvard Lomax: His Quiet Legacy to Computational Fluid Dynamics, 14th AIAA Computational Fluid Dynamics Conference, Norfolk, VA, 28 June-1 July, 1999, http://people.nas.nasa.gov/ pulliam/mypapers/lomax_la.ps Steger, J. L., and Warming, R. F., Flux Vector Splitting of the Inviscid Gasdynamic Equations with Application to Finite Difference Methods, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Technical Memorandum 78605, California, USA, 1979, http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19790020779_1979020779.pdf Thompson, J. R., Warsi, Z. U. A., and Mastin, C. W., Numerical Grid Generation: Foundations and Applications, Elsevier Science Publishing Co. Inc., New York, USA, 1985. Van Leer, B., Flux-Vector Splitting for the Euler Equations, Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Numerical Methods in Fluid Dynamics, Aachen, West Germany, 1982.

President's interview Behrooz Fattahi is coordinator, Heavy Oil Development, Aera Energy, a California E&P company jointly owned by affiliates of Shell and ExxonMobil. He began his industry career in 1977 and subsequently worked as a reservoir engineer, reservoir-engineering manager, and team leader for Osco/Shell International, Shell Western E&P, Shell Offshore, and Shell affiliate CalResources. Before joining the petroleum industry, Fattahi conducted research for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the US National Science Foundation and taught courses in fluid dynamics and solid mechanics at Iowa State University. He is a past member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Association of University Professors. Fattahi has served on the SPE Board as director of the Western North America Region, and as vice president, Finance. Additionally, he has been chairman of the SPE Continuing Education Committee, a member of the SPE President's Learning Initiatives Task Force, and executive editor of SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, and was chairman of the San Joaquin Valley Section. Fattahi holds PhD degrees in aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering from Iowa State University. How did you get involved with SPE? I joined the oil industry in 1977, working in Iran for Osco/Shell Company. There was an interruption in my SPE membership because of all the events in Iran at the time, but when I came back to the US in 1985 to work for Shell in New Orleans, I became a member again. At the time, I had a passion to work on behalf of SPE but I did not really know how to, and I suspect that there are a lot of people today who have that problem—they want to get involved but they do not know the avenues to take and where to start. It was not until I began working in Bakersfield, California, in the early 1990s that I really got involved with SPE. One day I received a call from a friend at Chevron who was on the board of the SPE local section and he asked me if I could help him with the continuing education program because he was going to move the next year. And that turned out to be the opportunity that I was looking for. I got involved in that program and, after he left, I was able to become the section's Continuing Education director and significantly increase the size of the continuing education program.

Owing to its temporal resolution of 10-day and its polar orbit allowing several crossings over large lakes, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) missions including Topex/Poseidon, Jason-1/2/3 demonstrated strong capabilities for the continuous and long-term monitoring (starting in 1992) of large and medium-sized water bodies. However, the presence of heterogeneous targets in the altimeter footprint, such as ice cover in boreal areas, remains a major issue to obtain estimates of water level over subarctic lakes of similar accuracy as over other inland water bodies using satellite altimetry (i.e., R ≥ 0.9 and RMSE ≤ 10 to 20 cm when compared to in-situ water stages). In this study, we aim to automatically identify the Jason-2 altimetry measurements corresponding to open water, ice and transition (water-ice) to improve the estimations of water level during freeze and thaw periods using only the point measurements of open water. Four Canadian lakes were selected to analyze active (waveform parameters) and passive (brightness temperature) microwave data acquired by the Jason-2 radar altimetry mission: Great Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca, Lake Winnipeg, and Lake of the Woods. To determine lake surface states, backscattering coefficient and peakiness at Ku-band derived from the radar altimeter waveform and brightness temperature at 18.7 and 37 GHz measured by the microwave radiometer contained in the geophysical data records (GDR) of Jason-2 were used in two different unsupervised classification techniques to define the thresholds of discrimination between open water and ice measurements. K-means technique provided better results than hierarchical clustering based upon silhouette criteria and the Calinski-Harabz index. Thresholds of discrimination between ice and water were validated with the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) snow cover products of the MODIS satellite. The use of open water threshold resulted in improved water level estimation compared to in situ water stages, especially in the presence of ice. For the four lakes, the Pearson coefficient (r) increased on average from about 0.8 without the use of the thresholds to more than 0.90. The unbiased RMSE were generally lower than 20 cm when the threshold of open water was used and more than 22 cm over smaller lakes, without using the thresholds.

The paraglider was conceived during the 1950s as a lightweight hybrid of parachute and inflated wing that might allow astronauts to pilot spacecraft to airfield landings. From 1961 to 1964, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sought to convert the idea into a practical landing system for the Gemini spacecraft. The spacecraft would carry the paraglider safely tucked away through most of a mission. Only after re-entering the atmosphere from orbit would the crew deploy the wing. Having now converted their spacecraft into a makeshift glider, they could fly to an airfield landing. How and why this ingenious scheme failed is the subject of this paper.

Orbit determination and gravity field recovery from Doppler tracking data to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Humans have committed themselves to the exploration of space and the quest for a habitable planet. Central to the development of a sustainable ecosystem that can provide essential resources like food and water is the implementation of space plant cultivation systems. In the pursuit of bio-regenerative life support systems for human space exploration, the inclusion of plants is imperative. This study focuses on assessing potential challenges associated with cultivating Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) under simulated Martian conditions. Potatoes exhibit adaptability to extremely cold and dry environments, making them a promising candidate for extraterrestrial agriculture. The advantages of potatoes include their high yield, rich content of easily digestible carbohydrates, elevated protein levels, and simplicity of propagation. When induced to tuberize, potatoes can achieve a harvest index exceeding 80%, approximately double that of traditional grain crops. Notably, unlike certain crops such as soybeans and certain grains, potatoes do not necessitate elaborate processing procedures before consumption. The Potato, specifically varieties like Norland, Denali, and Russet Burbank, has garnered attention in research funded by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Tests have revealed that these cultivars can successfully undergo tuberization even under constant bright light conditions, emphasizing their potential suitability for life support functions in space exploration contexts

Within the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) is leading the effort in developing new, CubeSat- and SmallSat-class instruments and instrument technologies for Earth observations. ESTO has been on forefront of the CubeSat related activities through In-space Validation of Earth Science Technology program. In 2010 ESTO supported a pilot for early CubeSat developments in 1 U - 3U form factors. With the success of these CubeSats a formal program was launched with a solicitation in 2012 followed by 3 more in 2015, 2017 and 2020. Early on, the program was targeted towards validation of technology in the space environment. Over time demonstrations of emerging technologies have made possible unique science from new mission architectures on smaller satellite platforms at more rapid development and lower cost. Simultaneous multi-point observations, for example, are now possible challenging what can be achieved scientifically through innovative and disruptive approaches alternative to the traditional larger spacecraft missions. However, it has also been shown that measurements from smaller platforms have their own limitations. Experience and knowledge acquired through these efforts is instrumental in the development of future missions. This presentation will summarize CubeSat concepts, the progress to date, the preliminary science results, and their impact on future missions.

the USSR launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, and with it the Space Age itself.In February 2023, China's National Museum put on a grand exhibition marking thirty years since the start of the Chinese human space program. 1The environment in space is very different from that of Earth.The extremes in temperatures, from less than -150 degrees Celcius to more than 150 degrees, the lack of atmospheric pressure, and other issues mean that the margin for error to achieve success is zero.Even the most experienced space powers, the United States and Russia, can fail.Luna 25, Russia's first probe to the Moon in nearly fifty years, crashed there in August 2023.The difficulties of space travel are challenging for countries and companies relatively new to the space race.China, during a period of about thirty years, has not just overcome these hurdles but also surpassed many other countries, including Russia, to become the world's number 2 space power. Launching rocketsOne way to measure the progress China has made is by the number of rocket launches.The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which put the first people on the Moon, now primarily relies on private companies to launch its spacecraft, including crewed missions.SpaceX is one of the companies doing most of this work for NASA.SpaceX can launch multiple rockets per week, sometimes every day, while having the rocket boosters return to Earth to be refuelled and reused.In 2022, the United States achieved a total of seventy-four orbital launches, sixty-one by SpaceX; China boasted sixty-four.Far behind was Russia at twenty-one, and fourth was New Zealand's RocketLab at nine. 2 SpaceX rockets often take multiple, and in some cases, nearly a hundred satellites into space whereas Chinese rockets usually only carry one or two.This is not because China lacks the capability but because it is sending larger satellites and only one or two can fit.However, China is rapidly developing the capability to do these missions that take multiple satellites, called ride-share.

The role of laser determined orbits in geodesy and geophysics

A Ground Support Biobarrier (GSB) for recontamination prevention

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has formed the Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP) at the Marshall Space Flight Center to address advanced space transportation technologies. The main focus of the ASTP Office is directed to those technologies that will be needed to reduce the cost of both Earth-toorbit and in-space transportation. The current focus of the advanced reusable technologies (ART) Project is the development of those critical technologies required to enable a rocket-based combined-cycle (RBCC) engine and ultimately an RBCC-based reusable launch vehicle. Additional effort is also being expended to address those associated technologies that would be required to not only support an RBCC-based vehicle but other advanced reusable transportation systems as well. This paper will describe the work that has been performed since the last project status was presented to the 1997 Joint Propulsion Conference.' Currently, NASA and its industry partners are performing ground testing of hydrogen-fueled rocketbased combined-cycle flowpaths. Successful ramjet and scramjet testing at Mach 6 and scramjet testing at Mach 8 have been performed. Cold flow mixing tests have also been successfully performed as have inlet operability tests. Additional testing of RBCC flowpaths at air augmented rocket and rocket only modes is underway. Additional work will be performed on technologies that will support an RBCC-powered launch vehicle and will be focused in the following areas: structures and materials; avionics and operations; propulsion turbomachinery; and thermal protection systems. Chief Engineer, Advanced Reusable Technologies Project, NASA/ MSFC, Senior Member AIAA Project Manager, Advanced Reusable Technologies Project, NASA/MSFC, Member AIAA Copyright © 1998 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. No copyright is asserted in the United States under Title 17, U.S. Code. The U.S. Government has a royalty-free license to exercise all rights under the copyright claimed herein for Governmental Purposes. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner. Introduction The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP), part of the Space Transportation Program (STP) Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), is focusing on those technologies that will be needed to reduce the cost of both Earth-to-orbit and in-space transportation. NASA's strategy is to advance innovative space transportation technology development through the X-33, X-34, ASTP, and the Future-X programs to enable reduction of these costs. The ASTP consists of three major technology areas: focused, core, and research technologies. The ART project currently manages the work that is covered under NASA Research Announcements 8-16 and 8-21. The project's primary focus over the last 2 years has been on rocket-based combined-cycle (RBCC) technology development activities awarded under NRA 8-16. The current aerospace and academic organizations listed in Figure 1 are performing testing and analysis supporting the RBCC propulsion activities. The engine contractors, Aerojet, Pratt & Whitney, and Rocketdyne are currently either testing or preparing to test their RBCC engine flowpaths. Direct connect testing has been performed at Mach 6 flight conditions in both ramjet and scramjet modes and at Mach 8 flight conditions in the scramjet mode. Testing has also been performed at sealevel static conditions and at Mach 3.4 ramjet conditions.

HE ownership of resulting from T government financed research and development constitutes a very controversial problem. The federal government mainly the Department of Defense (DOD) has permitted industrial firms to obtain the patent rights to most of the inventions emerging from its contract research, under the so-called with the government acquiring royaltyfree licenses on the inventions. Our task here is an empirical investigation of one of the issues in the controversy over federal patent policy, namely, the concentration of resulting from the operation of the license policy. One of the strongest objections to the license policy rests on the belief that it causes undue concentration of economic power. The objection has been raised repeatedly by attorneys general, by legislators, and by economists who favor the so-called ' under which the government retains ownership of resulting from its contract research. From records of the United States Patent Office, we have compiled data for the period 1946 to 1962 on the numbers of assigned to business firms that have been the research and development (R and D) for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the Department of Defense, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The data are neither estimates nor samples; they are complete counts. The three agencies account for nearly all of the issued under the license policy to contractors. Henceforth, we shall refer to these as license-policy patents. We also have data on the private patents resulting from the company financed R and D of the same contractors. The major R and D contractors are 177 business firms that were among the first 100 of DOD in any fiscal year from 1955 to 1962, or who had contract awards of $2 million or more from the AEC or from NASA.2 Of these 177 firms, 40 are among the first 100 in Fortune's list for 1962. Another 49 are among Fortune's 500 companies. A further 36 have been officially stamped as small businesses. With the exception of a few of the bigger chemical and oil companies that have done little or no research for the federal government, the names of nearly all the Schumpeterian giants of American industry are on our list. By treating each firm and its subsidiaries as a unit, we overstate patent concen* The research underlying this article was supported by a grant (NsG 425) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to The George Washington University. 1 Department of Justice, Investigations of Government Patent Practices and Policies: Report and Recommendations of the Attorney General to the President 1 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947), 37; Report of the Attorney General Pursuant to Section 708 (e) of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended (Nov. 9, 1956, mimeo.); Clair Wilcox, Public Policies Toward Business (Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, 1960), 191; Walter Adams and Horace M. Gray, Monopoly in America: The Government as Promotor (New York: Macmillan, 1955), 47, 94, and 148-152. Testimony against the license policy and in favor of the title policy was given to a Senate subcommittee in 1963 by Horace M. Gray, Robert F. Lanzillotti, Wassily W. Leontief, Richard R. Nelson, and Lee E. Preston. See Aspects of Government Patent Policies, Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Select Committee on Small Business, United States Senate, 88th Congress, First Session, Impact of Government Patent Policies on Economic Growth, Scientific and Technological Progress, Competition, and Opportunities for Small Business, March 7, 8, 13, and 14, 1963 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963). Only Leontief (p. 236), however, addressed himself specifically to the question of concentration. 2 Department of Defense, 500 Contractors Listed According to Net Value of Military Prime Contract Awards for Experimental, Development Test and Research Work (Fiscal years 1955 through 1962, mimeo.); and Files of the Atomic Energy Commission and published reports of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 'Usually, government employees are required to assign title to the government. However, if a government employee, with his own resources, produces an invention that his agency wants, the government frequently files the patent application in exchange for a royalty-free license. Also, if an agency does not want a government financed invention made by an employee, the employee often is permitted to acquire title. Regulations governing employees were tightened in 1950. This fact and the relative growth of contract research are the causes of the decline in the number of licenses from employees after 1950.

Hot dust-obscured galaxies (hot DOGs), selected from Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer’s all-sky infrared
\nsurvey, host some of the most powerful active galactic nuclei known and may represent an important stage in the
\nevolution of galaxies. Most known hot DOGs are located at z > 1.5, due in part to a strong bias against identifying
\nthem at lower redshift related to the selection criteria. We present a new selection method that identifies 153 hot
\nDOG candidates at z ~ 1, where they are significantly brighter and easier to study. We validate this approach by
\nmeasuring a redshift z = 1.009 and finding a spectral energy distribution similar to that of higher-redshift hot
\nDOGs for one of these objects, WISE J1036+0449 ( LBol ~= 8 x 10^46 erg s^-1). We find evidence of a broadened
\ncomponent in Mg II, which would imply a black hole mass of MBH ~= 2 x 10^8 M(solar) and an Eddington ratio of
\nLambdaEdd ~= 2.7. WISE J1036+0449 is the first hot DOG detected by the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, and
\nobservations show that the source is heavily obscured, with a column density of NH = 2-15 x 10^23 cm^-2 . The
\nsource has an intrinsic 2–10 keV luminosity of ~ 6 x 10^44 erg s^-1, a value significantly lower than that expected
\nfrom the mid-infrared/X-ray correlation. We also find that other hot DOGs observed by X-ray facilities show a
\nsimilar deficiency of X-ray flux. We discuss the origin of the X-ray weakness and the absorption properties of hot
\nDOGs. Hot DOGs at z ~< 1 could be excellent laboratories to probe the characteristics of the accretion flow and of
\nthe X-ray emitting plasma at extreme values of the Eddington ratio.