Volume 10, Number 5 • September/October 2002 • Technology Transfer
Various Innovations Earn Awards
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“Space Vision” goggles developed by Dr. Rafat Ansari could someday be used to remotely monitor eye health. Photo courtesy of NASA Glenn Research Center.
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The innovations that earn Space Act Awards are varied. Awards have been received for innovations ranging from software to medical devices. Below are a few of the award winners for 2002.
Ames Research Center:
Comprehensive Toolset for Model-Based Health Monitoring and Diagnostics—Rick
Alena, Jim Cockrell, Bill Hindson, Ann Patterson-Hine, Dwight Sanderfer
and Julie Schonfeld of NASA Ames Research Center with Kevin Cavanaugh,
Somnath Deb, Charles Domagala, Sudipto Ghoshal, Venkata Malepati, Venkatesulu
Malepati, Krishna Pattipati and Roshan Shrestha of Qualtech Systems, Inc.
developed software for designing and developing diagnostic applications
such as those required in Integrated Vehicle Health Management systems.
Three software tools that support systems engineering, systems design
and testability, automated diagnostics and troubleshooting, and system
autonomy have been developed during a seven-year collaboration between
researchers at Ames and Qualtech. The three tools are: TEAMSTM 5.0, the
Testability Engineering And Maintenance System, a tool used in static
design/analysis phases of complex systems; TEAMS-RTTM, a real-time diagnostic
engine that provides diagnostic functionality for integrated vehicle health
systems onboard a flight vehicle or embedded into a run-time architecture;
and RDSTM, the Remote Diagnosis Server, an application that can support
multiple simultaneous diagnostic sessions from a variety of remote systems.
Programs that will benefit from this technology include commercial and
military aviation, advanced transportation systems, space shuttles, the
International Space Station and robotic and autonomous explorers.
Method and System for an Automated Tool for
En-Route Traffic Controllers (Direct-To)—This tool is based on
the trajectory analysis methodology and software resident in the Center/TRACON
Automation System (CTAS). In today’s air traffic control system,
aircraft fly on fixed airways, and air traffic controllers maintain aircraft
separation by visual monitoring of radar position, heading and altitude
information. The fixed airway structure and the lack of automation for
radar controllers result in inefficient routings and air traffic control
operations. The Direct-To tool continuously and automatically analyzes
all aircraft routings to identify those aircraft that can save time by
flying directly to a downstream fix on their route of flight. Direct-To
displays route advisories, critical aircraft
separation information and other information that helps controllers determine
when direct routes are
possible given current traffic conditions, allowing controllers to quickly
assess route and altitude options without being distracted from their
primary responsibility for safe aircraft separation. Those honored with
this award include Danny Chiu, Heinz Erzberger, David McNally and Philippe
Stassart of Ames.
Glenn Research Center:
Hydroformed Ion Optics and Spall-Resistant Woven Screen Surfaces for
Ion Thrusters—Bruce Banks developed this contribution that consists
of the conception and development of two technologies which solved problems
that had been inhibiting the functional application of ion thrusters on
spacecraft. The technologies addressed performance and durability issuescritical
to the successful use of ion thrusters. The technologies consist of a
process for the fabrication of hydroformed ion thruster optics and spall-resistant
surfaces for the prevention of the formation of large, sputtered flake
particles. Both technologies were conceived, developed, patented and successfully
demonstrated on the ion thruster in the Deep Space I mission, as well
as being functionally used on 18 commercial communication spacecraft.
Microgravity Analysis Software System (MASS)—MASS primarily supports
the NASA Biological and Physical Research Enterprise in the mission to
“use the space environment as a laboratory to test the fundamental
principles of physics, chemistry and biology.” MASS adds value to
all space experiments by documenting the conditions of the laboratory.
MASS results allow the PIMS (Principal Investigator Microgravity Services)
project to provide expertise to experimenters in the areas of microgravity
experiment requirements, vibration isolation and the implementation of
requirements for different spacecraft. MASS also supports the NASA Human
Exploration and Development of Space Enterprise mission of “enabling
humans to live and work permanently in space.” Boeing and NASA Johnson
Space Center engineers use MASS results to analyze ISS structural modes
of vibration, improving the ISS.
MASS is a runner-up for the Software of the Year award for 2002. It was developed by Kevin McPherson and Ted Wright of Glenn and Ken Hrovat, Eric Kelly, Gene Liberman, Nissim Lugasy and Tim Reckart of ZIN Technologies.
MASS supports research with NASA-specific goals, including projects in
the science disciplines of biotechnology, combustion, fluid physics, fundamental
physics and material science; the study of ISS vehicle dynamics and spacecraft
fire safety; and the microgravity measurement programs: SAMS, SAMS-II,
SAMS-FF, MAMS, OARE, MEL ISS active rack isolation system (ARIS).
The NASA Government Invention of the Year—Michael Patterson,
Tim Verhey and George Soulas invented a hollow cathode assembly that is
the primary component of the International Space Station’s plasma
contactor system. This mission-critical system protects the station and
its crew from the dangers associated with electrical charges.
As the ISS floats through space in low-Earth orbit, the surface of the structure builds up a static high-voltage charge. The plasmacontactor system safely grounds the station from this high voltage, protecting it from arcing that could severely damage its surface. This device is unique in that it reduces the static charge in a self-regulating manner to levels safe enough for astronaut space walks.
The technology was developed from a laboratory device to flight-qualified hardware at Glenn. The innovators then manufactured the space flight hardware for the orbiting research platform. Their efforts increased hollow cathodes lifetimes with inert gases from 500 to 28,000 hours, which enables their use on ion thrusters, a key propulsion tech-nology for NASA spacecraft missions such as Deep Space 1.
Noninvasive Fiber-Optic Probe for Early Detection of Eye and Bodily Diseases—From the weightlessness of space to Glenn Research Center’s National Center for Microgravity Research on Fluids and Combustion, Dr. Rafat Ansari has devoted himself to researching down-to-Earth applications of his dynamic light-scattering (DLS) technique. His research has advanced the development of ophthalmic instruments used to detect early signs of eye diseases such as uveitis, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). There is also a possibility that the instruments could be used to detect Alzheimer’s disease. Since the eye is easily accessed by light, the optical technologies created by Ansari also can be used for the evaluation of structure and physiology in health, aging and disease.
“Surgeries in a space environment or on distant planets during an expedition phase may not be a viable option,” Ansari explained. “With space-vision goggles, doctors will not only be able to remotely monitor the astronauts and cosmonauts for the possibilities of radiation-induced cataracts but also observe EEG (electroencephalograph) and heart monitors, and record body temperatures. Blood sugar and cholesterol levels could also be monitored without taking a blood sample.”
Ansari’s laboratory is in the process of designing and constructing
space-vision goggles. The goggles include a compact device based on his
technique of DLS and other optical techniques and sensors
supported by an Internet web system to monitor an astronaut’s health
during long-term space travel.
Until recently, Ansari’s efforts have focused largely on four areas
of research—cataracts, diabetes, AMD and Alzheimer’s disease.
Cataracts, AMD and Alzheimer’s disease primarily target people throughout the world over the age of 60. Cataracts are the gradual formation of protein clumps that eventually cloud the lens of the eye. Protein deposits called amyloids are present in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. With the adoption of DLS techniques, physicians will be able to look into the lens, cornea, aqueous, retina and vitreous of an eye for amyloid protein. Detecting the disease in its earlier stages may lead to treatment with anti-inflammatories, antioxidants or hormone-replacement therapies.
Although there remains no cure for cataracts, ongoing clinical research conducted between NASA and the National Eye Institute/National Institutes of Health using Ansari’s DLS Probe has led to successful clinical testing of this new optical technology. It has enhanced ophthalmologist’s ability to trace the beginning stages of eye disease painlessly, noninvasively and quantitatively in humans.
Kennedy Space Center:
The Hazardous Gas Detection System (HGDS) 2000 Software—The Space Shuttle Program requirements mandate “hazardous gas detection in all purged cavities.” KSC personnel designed and wrote the HGDS 2000 Software to control a mass spectrometer system that samples Orbiter Aft Fuselage (main engines), Mid-Body (fuel cells), Payload Bay and External Tank (ET) inter-tank (hydrogen and oxygen tanks) systems. The mass spectrometer also samples the Hydrogen Tail Service Mast for hydrogen, oxygen, argon and helium in concentrations from low parts per million (ppm) to percent levels. The HGDS is operated from a console in the Launch Control Center Firing Room and is used during propellant loading in the hours just prior to launch, as well as during fuel-cell servicing a few days before launch to ensure that the space shuttle does not launch with a potentially dangerous leak that could ignite or detonate during ascent. Therefore, an operational HGDS is mandatory for loading operations and launch. The improved technologies incorporated into the design of this software would have prevented the abort of STS-93 at T-8 seconds.
The HGDS 2000 Software provides the system with the ability to utilize custom algorithms to improve the detection capability of the instrument vendor’s software from 50–100 ppm to better than 1 ppm. These algorithms also improve the ppm accuracy of the instrument to 1 ppm, compared with the vendor’s software capability of 100–1,000 ppm. The software can be utilized to support residual gas analyzers (RGAs) and medical gas analyzers used in anesthesiology, quantitative analysis in chemical research or industrial processes like the manufacture of semiconductors, where gas concentration analysis to the ppm level is required.
In FY2002, NASA awarded more than 1,800 innovators who contributed almost 800 technologies to NASA’s aeronautical and space activities. Q
For more information, contact Betsy Robinson at Ames Research Center, M/S 202A-3, Moffett Field, CA, brobinson@mail.arc.nasa.gov, phone: 650/604-3360; Laurel Stauber at Glenn Research Center, phone: 216/433-2028, laurel.j.stauber@mail.grc.nasa.gov; or Pam Bookman at Kennedy Space Center, phone: 321/867-6381, Pamela.Bookman-1@ksc.nasa.gov. Please mention you read about it in Innovation.
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