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<p> Improve the use of land cover data by developing an advanced framework for robust classification using multi-source datasets:<br /> Develop, validate and optimize a generalized multi-kernel, active learning (MKL-AL) pattern recognition framework for multi-source data fusion.<br /> Develop both single- and ensemble-classifier versions (MKL-AL and Ensemble-MKL-AL) of the system.<br /> Utilize multi-source remotely sensed and in situ data to create land-cover classification and perform accuracy assessment with available labeled data; utilize first results to query new samples that, if inducted into the training of the system, will significantly improve classification performance and accuracy.<br />  </p>

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<p>This proposal will complete testing of existing straight channel test articles with enhanced instrumentation.  Analytical work will focus on upgrades to the in-house modeling tool Regeneratively-Cooled Combustor Equilibrium Tool (RCCET-M) to allow modeling of 2-D heat transfer and dynamic boiling instability.</p>

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<p>Provide fast, new capability for Loose SmallSat Constellation with solar sail and impulsive propulsion to nonlinear heliocentric orbits, high inclination, low energy transfer (see tubes). These include orbits around L3, 4, 5, NEO rendezvous (e.g. Earth Trojans), capture, sample return & for space weather monitoring.</p>

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<p> Develop a service-oriented hazard/disaster monitoring data system enabling both science and decision-support communities to monitor ground motion in areas of interest with InSAR and GPS.<br /> Enable high-volume and low-latency automatic generation of NASA Solid Earth science data products (InSAR and GPS) to support hazards monitoring.<br /> Enable improved understanding through visualization, mining, and cross-agency sharing of results.<br /> Enable interoperable discovery, access, and sharing of derived actionable products for hazards monitoring.<br />  </p>

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<p> Spacesuit mobility has been historically difficult to define and therefore, difficult to write requirements for.  Most previous efforts have concentrated on establishing metrics for isolated joints – often multiple movements for each joint – and characterizing the range of motion of that joint – as well as the corresponding joint torque through said range of motion.  However, there have been multiple issues with this approach:  First, it has been shown through multiple tests at JSC that joint torque data lacks repeatability, even with the same test setup and subject; Second, a suit can often meet defined mobility requirements yet exhibit lackluster or anomalous mobility behavior (or vice versa); Third, defining mobility at the isolated joint level does not capture the mobility of the comprehensive suit system in real application, with multiple joints often working in harmony or in discord.  Lastly, there lacks a standardized testing protocol with which JSC and suit contractors can assess suited mobility in a repeatable and predictable manner.  The proposal contained herein aims to mitigate all of these problems through investigating a new method of suited mobility characterization: by measuring the relative metabolic cost associated with performing a series of functional tasks as compared to performing those same tasks in a shirtsleeve environment.</p>

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<p>Assemble catalog of multi-wavelength data on evolved disks around relatively young stars, and information about models for such debris disks.</p>

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<p>The entire Agency supports development of a Commodity for Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (CARD) as outlined in the Agency-wide Community of Practice whitepaper entitled: “A Strategy for the U.S. to Develop and Maintain a Mainstream Capability for Automated/Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking in Low Earth Orbit and Beyond”.  The whitepaper establishes that 1) the US is in a continual state of AR&D point-designs and therefore there is no US “off-the-shelf” AR&D capability in existence today, 2) the US has fallen behind our foreign counterparts particularly in the autonomy of AR&D systems, 3) development of an AR&D commodity is a national need that would benefit NASA, our commercial partners, and DoD, and 4) an initial estimate indicates that the development of a standardized AR&D capability could save the US approximately $60M for each AR&D project and cut each project’s AR&D flight system implementation time in half.  </p><p>As designed, each element of the AR&D commodity is to be evolvable so that as sensor, computer technology, and algorithm advances occur, the commodity will harness these advances and allow the new hardware and software to be integrated with a minimum of difficulty because the interfaces have been well-defined.  Since the majority of the effort in any AR&D mission involves solving systems integration challenges, having an 80% solution will go a long way toward reducing time and cost – and risk -- of future missions.</p><p>This project’s objective is to develop a CARD software and hardware package (which goes well beyond this IR&D proposal and is a long-term endeavor) that will provide a cross-cutting starting point that will provide 80% of the functionality necessary to carry out any conceivable AR&D mission.  The remaining 20% will need to be tailored to a particular mission.  One of the key elements of this commodity is a set of well-defined, standardized interfaces.</p><p> </p><p>To date, all of the work performed for AR&D has focused on either Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or Low Lunar Orbit (LLO).  We seek to advance AR&D technology by focusing this IRaD on rendezvous in a weak gravity environment –either at L2 or around an asteroid.  We choose to focus our IRaD effort on the AR&D algorithms and software for the Waypoint Mission, thus broadening our scope, maintaining our cutting-edge capability, and advancing US manned space exploration.  Our goal is to be flexible enough to meet the needs of the NASA vision as it applies to any AR&D mission the Agency chooses to embark upon.</p>

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<p> Ultrathin, lightweight, flexible, and easily deployable solar cell (SC) capable of specific power greater than 1kW/kg are at an early stage of development for NASA's future missions.  Quantum dots (QDs) and carbon nanostructures are employed in the design.  To date, initial, rudimentary optoelectric devices have been successfully fabricated.  Devices were first fabricated on rigid substrates for ease of manufacture.  These devices show enhanced photoconductivity, indicative of efficient photo-excitation and charge transfer between the QDs and polymer, which is crucial for the production of solar cells (SCs) from these materials.  Plots of the current versus voltage are used to characterize the operation of SCs.  The total film resistance decreases under illumination because photo-excited carriers are efficiently separated at the interfaces between the polymer and QDs.</p> <p>  Device fabrication was then executed on flexible substrates.  The optical absorptions of quantum dot/polymer blends were observed under ultraviolet illumination and the photocurrent responses were observed to be similar to that of the devices fabricated on the rigid substrates.</p> <p> Next steps include investigation of other conductive polymer systems.  Optimization of blends containing ligand-stripped QDs will be sought.  Uniform dispersion of the QDs into the conductive polymer is necessary.  The optimal QD/conductive polymer system will be selected and design of the appropriate novel architecture will commence.  The first approach will be the fabrication of multi-junction layers, followed by the design of patterned structures.  Architectures will be designed in order to optimize photoabsorption, improve charge separation, and increase charge extraction.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  </p>

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<p> Demonstrate the inside-out manufacturing process by manufacturing a complex shaped composite structure with imbedded wiring and fluid handling without the use of a tooling form. Utilize the core as the tool and build parts from the inside-out, placing utilities before composite structure.</p> <p>  </p>

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<p>Develop a state-of-the-art pulsar timing processor to be installed at the DSN to demonstrate precision pulsar timing capability along with a novel signal processing technique to remove the effects of the interstellar medium, thereby allowing us to reach the 100 nsec timing precision necessary for the detection of GW.</p>

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<p>Develop control and planning algorithms for a science-driven spacecraft/rover hybrid, such that the rover is able to autonomously reach designated targets and point instruments traverse performance meets science objectives of 20-30% of traverse distance.</p>

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<p>This delta-sigma technique may be thought of as a form of analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The proposed network offers a means of processing electronic signals from transducers directly into a form of digital representation. By using integrated circuit methodologies, it is expected that very small signals can be measured more accurately than the more usual discrete-evel methods (ie: using discrete parts and printed circuit boards). In this particular study, these techniques are applied to photodetectors. By maintaining the quality of signals in the lower end of the dynamic range, a successful implementation will allow the use of smaller lasers (or further detection range for the same laser power) for a given application while implementing the receiving electronics in a much smaller and lower power package.</p>

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<p>Develop key technologies for capturing and returning a small asteroid and returning it to near the Moon.</p>

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<p>The primary goal is to provide direction of the Low Cost Lander proposal elements and control of the development space. It would evaluate the proposed technologies and their requirements / constraints, how they address the lander requirements, and how they fit with potential design concepts and overall cost. It would also bring together the functional experts for those areas not currently identified as needing funding for technology development. Each area would support and evaluate all other areas to ensure that information flow is unconstrained and transparent – all challenges are shared challenges.</p>

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<p> </p><p>SIRCUS-based calibration relies on a set of monitoring radiometers and tunable laser sources to provide an absolute radiometric calibration that can approach uncertainties <0.3%.  The output of the sources is determined via detector standards characterized against the Primary Optical Watt Radiometer (POWR).  The source is monochromatic in nature allowing the absolute spectral response of the sensor under study to be determined. Bringing this capability to GSFC requires two critical parts that are proposed here: 1) the light source (SIRCUS) and 2) a system to maintain the NIST-traceability of the transfer radiometers. Once these are established, measurement protocols and readiness to calibrate future sensors will be demonstrated by providing absolute radiometric calibration to ORCA, SOLARIS, and G-LiHT.</p><p> </p><p>For background Figure 1 illustrates the traceability of a SIRCUS, in which the transfer radiometer is the linchpin of the entire system.  Absolute calibration of the transfer radiometer allows SIRCUS to achieve accurate absolute radiometric calibration of other sensors. This process is illustrated in the left side of the figure, all of which takes place at NIST.  Briefly, the transfer radiometer is calibrated using the POWR laser.  Traceability of the POWR laser calibration is through the helium-cooled substitution radiometer (Fig. 1a) that determines the amount of electric power needed to match the amount of optical power from the laser.  The end result is that the transfer radiometer is absolutely calibrated with an uncertainty <0.09% (3σ).  A periodic calibration of the transfer radiometer at NIST facilities or a certified substitution radiometer is performed to maintain this level of accuracy.</p><p> </p><p>SIRCUS is the light source enabling the transfer of calibration of the transfer radiometers to the sensor to be calibrated (Fig. 1c to Fig. 1d). These efforts make use of a recently obtained traveling SIRCUS that resides at GSFC’s Optical Characterization Laboratory (OCL) in Building 5. This task will supply the necessary funding to develop the technical expertise and obtain the optical components to properly operate SIRCUS.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>

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<p>Spaceflight results in adverse health effects on the human body.   These effects may result in increased clinical risk to crewmembers participating in exploration-class deep-space missions.  For clinical monitoring of astronauts and for in-flight biomedical research, laboratory instruments must be designed which function in the spaceflight environment.    Currently there is no instrument capable of generating a white blood cell (WBC) count and differential during spaceflight, even though this is an existing National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) medical requirement.  We evaluated a new commercial analyzer in the context of spaceflight requirements and compatibility with the zero gravity environment.  Reduced gravity analysis was performed during terrestrial parabolic flight. The analyzer was found to uniquely meet the basic requirements for spaceflight and should be appropriate for measuring WBC parameters onboard the International Space Station.  </p>

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<p><strong><em>We propose to evaluate the </em></strong><strong><em>Intevac Photonics </em></strong><strong><em>NightVista<sup>®</sup> M711 Low Light Level Camera as the baseline detector of a new Compact EUV imager (C–EUVI)</em></strong><strong>.</strong>  To accomplish this task, we will procure a prototype model M711 camera — w/o image intensification — design and implement an appropriate prototype comm-interface, place the unit under vacuum and then test/validate the efficiency/sensitivity of the camera to a range of EUV wavelengths.  The effort will also test/validate the uniformity of — i.e., “flat-field” — the detector.   The resulting data set will then used to <em>baseline</em> the viability of implementing this commercially available camera/detector for solar/heliospheric imaging applications.</p><p>Development of a <em>compact</em>, <em>cube–sat</em>-based EUV imager exploits the advantages of using a [prototype,] commercially available, back-illuminated CMOS anode, low-light level camera. Numerous advantages to exploiting this approach exist, including:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Minimal technical risk since the bulk of the camera development is complete;</li><li><em>Cube–sat</em> compatible dimensions and power requirements;</li><li>Use of a CMOS detector is advantageous since it:<ul style="list-style-type: circle;"><li>Avoids the need for active thermal control required by a CCD detector;</li><li>Provides stable detection in radiation environments; and finally</li></ul></li><li>Has a predicted QE > 40% from 2–600Å (soft X-ray to EUV wavelengths).</li></ul><p> </p>

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<p>Two-phase heat rejection offers vast potential in reducing the thermal control footprint of vehicles and equipment in terms of mass, volume, and parasitic power loss. This potential follows from the latent heat associated with phase change: in order to remove the same heat as a single phase water loop having a 20C temperature rise, a two-phase loop needs only 5% the flow rate, and consequently 3 orders of magnitude lesser pumping power, while simultaneously providing a constant heat rejection temperature.<br />A key issue in consideration of two-phase, however, is predicting behavior in partial and micro-gravity environments. Recent research indicates that the performance of forced boiling in constrained channels, e.g. micro-channels or micro- heat exchangers, is not affected by the presence or lack of gravity. This is a consequence of a characteristic length scale small enough that surface tension forces dominate flow behavior rather than buoyancy forces which dominate at conventional scales. This project proposes to demonstrate a pumped two-phase cooling loop, e.g. one that collects heat from heat sources through forced micro-channel boiling, mitigating unknowns of microgravity boiling, and does not employ a compressed vapor phase.<br /> </p>

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<p>The goals of the proposed work are to Investigate the film thickness (10–50 nm), substrate material (c-plane sapphire, MgO), and temperature (20-35 K) dependencies of the IF bandwidth in order to understand its upper limit; Investigate the operation of mixer devices of different lateral size (0.2-5 μm2) and establish the minimum size limit not leading to the degradation of the microdevice characteristics (TC, critical current, resistivity); Validate the THz operation of quasioptical MgB2 mixers through measurements of the noise temperature, IF bandwidth (ΔfIF), and required LO power at 0.6 THz, 1.5 THz, and 2.5 THz. The targets are: TM ≤ 1000K, PLO ≈10 μW, ΔfIF ≈ 20 GHz.</p>

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<p>Develop ultra-low-power, wide-temperature (-150° C to +250 ° C), digital System-on-a-Chip (SOC) ASIC technology in a high resolution, inherently rad-hard IBM Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) CMOS process to enable next-generation flight electronics.  Demonstrate main flight-system electronics (flight processor, high- and low-speed instrument interfaces) in a chip containing a Cortex-M0 microprocessor that has been synthesized using a custom wide-temperature digital logic library developed in the same high resolution IBM SOI CMOS process.</p>

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<p>Design of the three array focal plane includes calculation of the various pixel performance specifications to optimize for each sub-array. Meeting the demanding specifications of each design is complicated by the fact that certain layers in the fabrication (such as the superconducting device layer that determines operation temperature) are common to the three arrays, limiting the design space.</p><p>Additionally, the presence of the different device scales presents a challenge to wiring of the array and the need to develop a low crosstalk crossover method for sorting the array into region that can share common bias of its pixels.  The second phase of the work will focus on improving the heatsinking in these arrays.  The heatsinking will be added last so that it can be varied in properties and heatsunk regions can be segregated.  While more open-ended, this research will explore how improvements in practical array performance can be achieved.</p>

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<p>Our DNA/RNA isolation and preparation device is a fluidic system with components including syringes and pistons, membranes of different capacities, reagents, valves, and a small pump. In Year 1 of the project, we constructed several self-enclosed prototypes for sample preparation, and demonstrated that the quality of the DNA/RNA samples isolated using our device is similar following the standard laboratory procedures. Year 2 of the project is devoted to the development of an automated system that can process multiple samples simultaneously. The project will be completed in Year 3 with the development of the software that controls the movement of the syringe plungers in a programmed manner for processing different biological samples.</p>

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<p> Spacecraft designed for missions beyond low earth orbit (LEO) face a difficult thermal control challenge: they are required to reject a high heat load to warm orbital environments and a low heat load to cold transit environments, necessitating a quite high turn-down ratio. This difficult challenge can be transformed into a tractable design problem for arbitrarily high turn-down ratios through the use of shape memory alloys, materials that exhibit a temperature dependent phase change such that they can be easily deformed below the transition and recover a predefined shape above the transition. In fact, shape memory alloys can be trained to behave in a two-way manner so that it takes one shape above and another below the transition temperature. Such materials make possible a passively deployed heat rejection device which adjusts vehicle and environment loads based on its operating temperature alone. This project seeks to train a shape memory material and evaluate its behavior.</p> <p> This project trained a shape memory material to behave in a two-way manner and evaluated the capability of the two-way shape memory effect. A literature review identified an optimum training method involving alternating constrained and unconstrained thermal cycles. The effect of two bending strain rates were investigated through training rigs of differing radii, both trained in parallel. It was identified that in both cases cold working of the material results in some deformation to the austinite shape. This cold work deformation can be addressed through careful design of the hot set shape of the material.The results indicate that the greatest delta between austinite and martensite shapes is obtained through the lesser training strain (large radius rig). Projection of the results of two-way training of the material indicate that sufficient deformation can be trained to successfully employ in a full sized heat rejection device.</p>

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<p> Develop, integrate, and deploy software-based tools to coordinate asynchronous, distributed missions and optimize observation planning spanning simultaneous observations across multiple sensor systems to improve science return from Earth observing systems<br /> Develop and infuse situation awareness, situation assessment, planning and scheduling technologies for the coordination of independently managed missions into the Draper Earth Phenomena Observation System (EPOS)<br /> Infuse EPOS into NASA Earth science missions including HS3, ATTREX, and EO-1<br /> Demonstrate the resulting integrated “system of systems” targeting disaster data management<br /> <br />  </p>

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<p>The intent of this particular project was to perform the following:</p><ul><li>Provide a breathing capability to be integrated into existing EC5 Ventilation Lab Suited Manikin Test Apparatus (SMTA). </li><li>Evaluate flow controllers and ancillary equipment needed to provide breathing function including proper CO<sub>2</sub> and humidity levels varying appropriately with simulated metabolic rate profiles.</li><li>The SMTA will be upgraded to include the fully capable breathing apparatus components that will be sufficient to simulate human breathing providing the capability to rapidly explore the range of human metabolic activity expected during Extravehicular Activity (EVA).   </li></ul><p>Testing performed with the SMTA will benefit development efforts including Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Advanced Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AEMU) Helmet and Portable Life Support System (PLSS) development and Space Technology Mission Directorate Rapid Cycling Amine development. </p><p>Future upgrades to the SMTA could include the capability to include various helmet designs, human head geometries and positions, and ventilation inlet configurations.  Moreover, the test apparatus will be directly applicable to validating future suit air revitalization hardware and flow components as new technologies become available.</p>