|
   |
 |
                 
|
UPDATE # 121 - May 8, 2000 PART 1: Two important notice TWO IMPORTANT NOTICES:
Cancellation note: Wednesday, May 17, Landing to Launch Webcast: The launch pad This webcast had to be cancelled due to the delay in the launch of STS-101, now scheduled for May 18. We will combine the final (June) webcast with the spotlight on the launch pad. For details see: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/events/ksc99 In honor of Global Science and Technology Week, May 7-13, 2000, NASA Quest will produce a week-long series of interactive online events to celebrate NASA women working on international scientific collaborations and the international diversity of our female scientists. Students, parents and schools worldwide are invited to join in and gain an appreciation for international perspectives that will better prepare them to participate in the world's interdependent high-tech economy and the global scientific community. For complete details, see: http://quest.nasa.gov/women/GSTW/overview.html Linda Conrad lindac@quest.nasa.gov UPCOMING EVENTS:
Note: Most chats require pre-registration, so please plan ahead. If you need some help with how to chat, see the NASA QuestChat Information Center at: http://quest.nasa.gov/qchats/ ->Tuesday, May 9, 10:30-11:30am PDT (1:30-2:30pm EDT, Chat with Brion Au 5:30-6:30pm GMT) Brion works with former Astronaut Dr. Sally Ride. Together, they help middle school students conduct research projects using images of Earth taken from space by EarthKAM. Brion is also responsible for ensuring EarthKAM works the way it has been designed and tested, and astronauts are trained to set up and operate it. See Brion's profile at: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/au.html Pre-register and join the chat from: http://quest.nasa.gov/common/events.cgi?prj_sto ->Wednesday, 10-11am PDT (1-2pm EDT, 5-6pm GMT) Chat with Jim Draus Jim monitors and reviews work conducted as part of shuttle processing and launch activities. He is responsible for verifying that goals for safety, cost, schedule and performance in these areas are being met. See Jim's profile at: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/draus.html Pre-register and join the chat from: http://quest.nasa.gov/common/events.cgi?prj_sto ->Thursday, May 11, 2-3pm PDT (5-6pm EDT, 9-10pm GMT) Chat with Laura Hoppe Laura is one of many controllers responsible for the orbiter's communication and instrumentation systems. Her responsibilities include sending commands to reconfigure and control the orbiter. See Laura's profile at: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/hoppe.html Pre-register and join the chat from: http://quest.nasa.gov/common/events.cgi?prj_sto ->Tuesday, May 16, 9-10am PDT (Noon-1pm EDT, 4-5pm GMT) Chat with Lonnie Moffitt Lonnie follows hardware developments for improving the aging orbiter fleet. He also works closely with different astronaut crews, and keeps the crew office updated on the status any orbiter hardware problems. See Lonnie's profile at: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/moffitt.html Pre-register and join the chat from: http://quest.nasa.gov/common/events.cgi?prj_sto ->Tuesday, May 16, There will be three Tours: 7-7:30am PDT (10-10:30am EDT, 1-2:30pm GMT) 9:45-10:30am PDT (12:45-1:30pm EDT, 4:45-5:30pm GMT) 10:45-11:30am PDT (1:45-2:30pm EDT, 5:45-6:30pm GMT) Webcast from the International Space Station Mock-Up and Training Facility at Johnson Space Center. See: http://quest.nasa.gov/space/events/iss99 [Editor's note: Tony Bruins works with a group on developing state-of-the-art technology to support flight controllers in the Mission Control Center.] MEETING OF THE MINDS http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/bruins.html May 1, 2000 Interviewer: Lori Keith I have been quite busy since the last time I did a journal. In November of 1999, the EVA Technology Forum was held at Clemson University, in South Carolina. I have organized the last three forums, and this last one was the best by far. I worked on this one with Dr. Larry Dooley, who is the Head of the Department of Bioengineering, at Clemson University. These forums are held so many different members of the EVA community can come together for a "meeting of the minds." The EVA community is made up of engineers, scientists, students, education folks from universities working on new technologies, NASA and its contractors - people involved in research and/or development of space hardware for suits, materials and life support systems. Each year someone different in the EVA community hosts the forum. This year, Clemson University was the host, which was great because they also have a renowned world-class service apparel facility, serving the military. They also had a brand new facility built to hold these types of events. November's forum was a world-class event, including media coverage. It really set the standard for all other EVA Forums to follow. A compact disc was produced from this event. This year's forum will be held at the University of Minnesota, next fall. These are what we consider external forums. In June 2000, here at Johnson Space Center, we will be holding an internal forum to define architectures, requirements, and operations concepts for exploration and other things. This will be our first internal forum in years. This will help us when we have external forums so we can let the EVA community know what NASA needs and is looking for. Organizing the internal forum will be much easier than the external forums. Things we want to learn more about based on the Clemson University forum are tri-axial weaving and soft spacesuit bearings. Bearings are the rings around the suit - around the shoulders and waist, etc. On the suits used right now, the bearings are hard, and the suits weigh about 275 pounds, but when we go to Mars, we will need something more light weight - like between 60 and 90 pounds. [Editor's note: In this journal, added to the above, Tony describes a process innovating the design and sizing of spacesuits. The persistence it takes to develop this type of technology helps us to begin to understand his nickname. See his bio for more information.] S3 PROJECT AND HUMAN BODY SCANNING
By Tony Bruins http://quest.nasa.gov/space/team/bruins.html May 2, 2000 Interviewer: Lori Keith We now have the capability to scan in the human body and build a suit around it, if we decide to. Body scanning technology is changing all the time and becoming more sophisticated. The next spacesuit designers will be bio-engineers, and will involve a human-centered design approach. This is the heart of my project. We start with the human body and work out to accommodate it, as opposed to designing something generic that the astronauts must make some sacrifices to accommodate the generic design. (Currently, NASA has body scanned all astronauts and astronaut candidates. This information is a part of what is known as the CAESAR Database. CAESAR stands for Civilian American and European Surface Anthropometry Resource.) NASA/JSC will be developing its own database for scanned astronauts, which will be apart of the NASA/JSC Anthropometric Initiative. This works around the 3D interactive virtual human that I am working to develop. My hopes are to scan in an astronaut's body, giving us a 3-D representation enabling us to see how he or she moves, by computer modeling. Technology is at a point where we can scan in an existing spacesuit, or a prototype (test model), and see how the astronaut will fit in that suit, including the astronaut's range of motion. The special software that would be used will show us where the suit is too tight or too loose, or when an astronaut will feel muscle fatigue after so many movements or repetitive movements. We plan to scan several suits - our current EMU, and four existing prototypes costing about $500,000 each. This allows us to do virtual and rapid prototyping, and is what we call the S3 Project, or the Somatic Sciences Simulation. Somatic means the body's neuromuscular skeletal system. This project is 3D and interactive and can simulate all types of gravity - 1/3g, 1/6g, 0g and 1g. S3 will simulate body mechanics (static and dynamic), and the forces/loads exerted by body movement, and the relationship between joint and muscle action (kinematics). Part of my job includes finding funding for this project each year. This is a never-ending job. I have secured funding for this fiscal year, and each year we make more advances in the S3 Project. This is the project I work with Dr. Rice on, and you can read more about it in my previous journals. In 1997, Dr. Rice funded the "Proof of Concept" and began working on the back, shoulder and skeleton. In 1998, we did the upper extremities - fingers, hand, wrist and arm attached to shoulder. In 1999, we did the lower extremities - toes, foot, ankles, legs and hips. This year we are working on the thorax - chest, abdomen and pelvis. Next year, we will finish with the head and neck, providing funding is received. This is all for somatic, or the basic neuromuscular skeletal, systems. Once we have this part completed, we want to start on the visceral systems, or the internal components of the body like the heart, lungs, and other organs. Our primary objective is to model the entire body, internally and externally, so we can monitor the entire body when astronauts go to Mars, in real time. The first couple of years were spent doing research, and now we must begin proving applied research. Applied research involves showing how our project will support an existing problem and how this technology will support new spacesuit designs. In October of this year, we should be finished with the development, and by December the training module should be desktop-ready. I am slated (this is my challenge) to deliver an on-site desktop-capability to do virtual and rapid prototyping. The computer programming and advanced mathematical computations supporting this project is being done at the University of Houston Virtual Environment Research Institute. It is high-end computational computer science done by graduate and Ph.D. students. The end result will be condensed down to a software training module to run on desktop computers. Virtual and rapid prototyping is being done in many industries now - companies building ships, airliners, roller coasters, cars, etc. You can design, develop, and test before spending a bunch of money and time, allowing for system engineering/integration, end-to-end testing, and validation and/or rewriting of systems and functional requirements which saves time and money. Build a little, test a little, build a little more, and test a little more and doing it all in "parallel" in the computer is what virtual and rapid prototyping is all about. You can read more about this technology and this project in an article written by Audrey Doyle, in December 1999 Computer Graphics World. The Discovery Channel is doing a special on this, too, which is scheduled to air in the fall. I'll let you know when.
RE: MISSION: STS-101, 3rd ISS Flight (2A.2a) - carrying SPACEHAB Shuttle Processing Note: Work at Launch Pad 39A continues on schedule this week for launch of Shuttle Atlantis targeted for the morning of May 18. Last Thursday routine systems tests continued on the orbiter at the pad. Friday and Saturday, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tankers were to replenish the pad's cryogenics that are used by the Shuttle's main engines. For a launch on May 18, the countdown clock is scheduled to begin at the T-43 hour mark on Monday morning, May 15. The seven-member crew will also arrive May 15.
|
||
|
|
|
