Engineering Research and Technology Development on the Space Station (1996) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER
FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER
Pages 48-57
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 48... ...
External experimenters currently must deal with a series of NASA procedures and technical interface requirements that add little value but that can cause significant delays and increase the cost of experimentation. To be sure, the goals that have motivated these procedures and interface requirements crew safety and operational efficiency are plainly valid.
|
From page 49... ...
Instead of creating and enforcing additional requirements, NASA would assist ERTD experimenters in meeting ISS integration and safety requirements and overcoming the technical difficulties involved in space experimentation. Experimenters could then focus their attention on ensuring that the experiment performs properly.
|
From page 50... ...
develop, for the benefit of potential researchers, a database containing detailed descriptions of experimental apparatus, "best practices," and problems experienced in previous space ERTD research develop and disseminate a standard set of integration procedures, including safety rules function as an integration and safety ombudsman, ascertaining whether experiments meet safety and integration rules while guaranteeing protection of proprietary information In more general terms, the organization would be responsible for assisting researchers in developing experiments for space, while allowing responsibility for the experiment's success to rest with the investigator.
|
From page 51... ...
ERTD would advance more effectively under a more standardized and customer-friendly regime. MODIFYING TECHNICAL INTERFACES TO FACILITATE ERTD The technical interfaces including the payload accommodations, power supply, lab support equipment, and communications protocols through which the ISS will provide support for experiments could be modified in a number of ways to facilitate ERTD.
|
From page 52... ...
One laboratory support system that clearly would benefit from regular upgrades would be the communications link between ISS experiments and experimenters on Earth. If the planned 33 international standard payload racks 6 attached payloads, and JEM exposed facility were to downlink at 20 percent of their net capacity, the data rate required would be in excess of 1 Gbps.
|
From page 53... ...
Facilities for ERTD Experiments Many of the ISS payload accommodations for life and microgravity sciences experiments will contain large generic facilities, such as furnaces for melting materials and glove boxes for handling samples. Such facilities, which are designed to support a number of different experiments, can provide capabilities superior to those that can be achieved by individual experiments, and may permit reductions in the size and cost of the hardware required for the individual experiments that use the facilities.
|
From page 54... ...
the sub-centimeter accuracy location and orientation information required for a controlled environment for robotics activities onboard the ISS, thus reducing the crew time required to aid and oversee robotic activities. The hardware needs for such a system would be small: a GPS transmitter ensemble to provide a fixed point location grid relative to the space station's position, and a GPS receiver and cellular-type communications link to an intra-station network to relay the information.
|
From page 55... ...
Such modifications might include the printing of bar codes on external station elements to facilitate future robotic activity or the stringing of additional fiber-optic cables in the laboratory modules to allow the upgrading of communications capabilities. Chapter 3 suggests a number of facility and hardware modifications that could be incorporated into the ISS design, but detailed analysis must be performed to determine which of them are the most worthy to be implemented with the limited funds available.
|
From page 57... ...
instrument the ISS for structural dynamics and space environment research, and (2) embed fiber-optic cables throughout the ISS to facilitate future communications upgrades.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.