Partnership Successes

New Uses for Ultrasound Technology Aboard the ISS and on Earth

Astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) are using ultrasound to look inside themselves as part of a NASA project called ADUM, short for “ADvanced Ultrasound in Micrograv-ity.” Dr. Scott Dulchavsky, a surgeon at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, heads the project. His team, which includes co-investigators Doug Hamilton, Shannon Melton, and Ashot Sargsyan, of Wyle Laboratories, Inc., in Houston, is studying how ultrasound can be used to diagnose medical problems onboard spacecraft.

Onboard the International Space Station, Gennady Palalka performs an ultrasound examination on Mike Fincke.

Here on Earth, doctors can look at broken bones with an X-ray machine; they can look for tumors with a CAT scanner; and they can examine the brain with an MRI. None of those bulky instruments is available on any NASA spacecraft. There is, however, an ultrasound machine onboard the ISS. Ultrasound offers several advantages. Compared to other diagnostic imaging tools, ultrasound machines are compact and lightweight. This is important on cramped spacecraft where every ounce of payload costs money to launch. Furthermore, ultrasound images appear instantly. Crews need not wait for films to be developed. Ultrasound can identify problems quickly.

Typically, ultrasound has been used to look at internal organs. It is often used to examine fetuses. But Dulchavsky and his team have been expanding its repertoire. They are working out ways to look at eyes, teeth, lungs, bones, and muscles. They believe that ultrasound can be used for about two-thirds of a list of approximately 500 medical conditions that might hypothetically occur on a spacecraft.

In some cases, ultrasound works even better in space than it does on Earth, because in low gravity, internal organs move around. The result is that organs often end up closer to each other. Sound waves move from one to the other with less distortion, providing a clearer ultrasound picture.

Traditionally, ultrasound probes are operated by technicians with several hundred hours of training. Astronauts only receive about four hours of training. As the astronauts work the probe, they are in constant contact with experts on the ground.

This technique, non-doctors using ultrasound to obtain diagnostic quality pictures under the guidance of remote experts, turns out to have important applications on Earth—on battlefields, for instance, or in rural areas where doctors are far away.

The process has already been used successfully on the ground, in the locker room of the Red Wings, Detroit’s hockey team. “Players get hurt a lot in NHL games,” says Dulchavsky, a fan. “Last season, we trained one of their trainers to use the probe. It worked famously.”

It is also being used by Major League Baseball’s, Detroit Tigers, as well as by the Olympic Committee
for assessing injuries in snowboarding accidents and ski jump mishaps.

Dulchavsky and his colleagues are analyzing their data. The next step, he says, is to put together a program that will teach the astronauts to do more and more on their own. This would enable ultrasound to be used even on long-range exploration missions, like trips to Mars, where guidance from the ground is less practical. The ADUM project is significant, says Dulchavsky, because it has pushed the limits of what ultrasound technology can do. He and his colleagues plan to push those boundaries even more.

Atomic Oxygen Restores Artwork

NASA research into the damage to satellites caused by atomic oxygen in low-Earth orbit has led to a new way to restore damaged artwork. Atomic oxygen is an elemental form of oxygen that does not exist in Earth’s atmosphere. In space, however, it is common in the area where satellites orbit Earth. There, it exposes satellites and spacecraft to damaging corrosion. Researchers at Glenn Research Center study these damaging effects in order to find materials and methods to extend the lifetime of communication satellites, the Space Shuttles, and the International Space Station.

The left photograph was taken after the Cleveland Museum of Art staff used acetone and methylene chloride to clean and restore the painting. The right photo was taken after Glenn researchers used the atomic oxygen technique to clean the painting.

While developing methods to prevent damage from atomic oxygen, researchers discovered that atomic oxygen could remove layers of soot or other organic (carbon-based) materials from a surface. Because atomic oxygen will not react with inorganic oxides, such as most paint pigments, it could be used to restore paintings damaged by soot. For paintings containing organic pigments (which could be damaged by the atomic oxygen), the exposure could be carefully timed so that the removal would stop just short of the paint pigment.

It has been estimated that, worldwide, an average of one collection or gallery suffers fire damage every day, and paintings damaged by charring are very resistant to traditional cleaning techniques. Current processes used to restore artwork generally use chemical solvents to remove dirt, varnish, and thin layers of soot. With damage from heavy deposits of soot, or even charring or graffiti, these techniques are not effective.

In 1996, Glenn researchers Bruce Banks and Sharon Miller were contacted by conservators from the Cleveland Museum of Art about the possibility of using new restoration techniques at the NASA Electro-Physics Branch. The Electro-Physics Branch had facilities (simulating the low-Earth orbit environment) that produce atomic oxygen, which could potentially be used to restore artwork. The first tests were done on two religious paintings damaged by an arson fire at St. Alban’s Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Both paintings were found to be unsalvageable by conventional art restoration wet chemistry techniques and were provided to NASA to test its atomic oxygen cleaning process. The technique not only removed the soot, but it cleaned the paintings so effectively that colors that had been faded by time were brighter, and more detail could be seen than before the fire. The success encouraged the art community to risk more important works of art to test the technique further.

In 1998, the atomic oxygen restoration system had its first big success. The Andy Warhol painting “Bathtub,” estimated to be worth several hundred thousand dollars, had been kissed by a vandal during a party at the museum. Because Warhol had not varnished the painting, conservators at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh were concerned that traditional solvents would cause the lipstick to soak into the painting and make things worse.

Until they heard about Glenn’s atomic oxygen restoration system, conservators had been resigned to keeping the painting in permanent storage. Glenn researchers built a portable version of the atomic oxygen device and transported it to the museum. Preliminary tests were done outside of the viewing area; then the device was used successfully to remove the lipstick smudge.

In addition to the St. Alban and Andy Warhol paintings, a fire-damaged Roy Lichtenstein ink drawing on paper has been cleaned along with two smoke-damaged paintings from St. Stanislaus Church in Cleveland.

In the upper reaches of the atmosphere, about 200 to 500 miles above the Earth, atomic oxygen is created by exposure to intense solar ultraviolet light. Oxygen molecules (two oxygen atoms bonded together as O2) decompose into two separate oxygen atoms, or atomic oxygen. Because the unpaired atoms react very easily with other materials, they are very destructive to spacecraft and satellites, but very beneficial for cleaning Earthly surfaces. Atomic oxygen can remove any organic coating (a compound containing carbon) from a painting that contains inorganic paint pigments by reacting with the organic coating. This forms a gaseous byproduct while leaving the inorganic pigments undisturbed.

The process is environmentally “green.” No solvents are used or produced and the only byproducts of the atomic oxygen formation and reaction processes are trace amounts of ozone, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide.

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Atomic oxygen treatment can restore works of art when there is surface char or when there are defacements or contaminants on surfaces on which solvents cannot be used. The invention can remove all types of organic protective coatings uniformly over the surface without physical contact, which could alter the painting. Low spots and high spots on the painting surface can be cleaned equally well.

Art restorers are extremely cautious, because careless cleaning could easily damage the unique and highly valuable paintings and prints that they are called on to restore. So, in recent years, the process has been tested to determine its ability to safely treat the range of media typically used by artists (oil paint, acrylic paint, acrylic gesso, watercolors, pen and ink, and others). In 2001, validation testing was completed, and the process was deemed to be acceptable for functional art restoration and ready for licensing. Atomic oxygen is now safe for cleaning artwork where conventional techniques have not been effective.

The experience gained from studying atomic oxygen damage to spacecraft led to its use for restoring works of art. Now NASA is applying the experience gained restoring art to further understand space exposure, as well as to a variety of other medical and industrial applications. One interesting application is the removal of biocontaminants from the surfaces of orthopedic implants (such as artificial hip joints) prior to surgery. NASA researchers continue to turn the damaging effects of atomic oxygen on spacecraft into beneficial uses here on Earth.

Human Genome Activity

Results of NASA scientists’ recent research on human DNA are enhancing our knowledge about human genetics and may help us to better understand human diseases.

Scientists at Ames Research Center, in collaboration with scientists from Yale University, have designed a complete map of all gene activities in human tissue.

“As a result of this research, we have a more comprehensive view of human gene activity. This will enable scientists to better understand gene responses to space flight and help NASA ensure astronauts’ well-being during long-duration space flights or exploring the Moon and Mars,” said Dr. Viktor Stolc, director of the Genome Research Facility at Ames.

Using advanced technology, researchers attached short pieces of DNA that recognized sequences in the human genetic blueprint, called the genome, to specially patterned glass slides. These slide arrays were used to measure levels of ribonucleic acid, biochemical copies of the DNA produced when genes are activated to make proteins. Researchers used high-resolution imaging technology to look at human genome to see previously unknown and unmapped activities.

“In our previous work, we mapped the genome of a fruit fly, which is a model organism for biological processes,” Stolc said. “Now, we are making an essential step towards understanding human illness by mapping out the complete human genome activity. We discovered many DNA sequences, originally counted as non-functioning segments, actually do encode active genes. These findings are going to allow us to dissect human diseases and help us find new treatments,” he added.

Based on a pilot experiment that studied the genome of a fruit fly, the method used by Stolc and Michael Snyder of Yale proved successful, even on human DNA sequences that are much longer and more complex. “We had to overcome bioinformatics challenges, but at the end, we were rewarded with a comprehensive picture of human tissue DNA,” Stolc noted. In a separate-but-related research effort, Stolc and his team of genome researchers collaborated with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), to create the first complete map of the gene activity of flagella (microscopic hairs) on single-cell microorganisms—a partnership that aims to provide more insight into a life-threatening kidney disease that has affected more than 600,000 Americans and an estimated 12.5 million people worldwide.

“Hairs on the cell surface in algae are virtually identical to human cilia, short hairs inside a human body that drive fluids across the surface of a cell. Understanding the genetic make-up of the cilia-like structures, through studying the complete genetic code in microorganisms, helps scientists gain a better understanding of polycystic kidney disease (PKD),” said Stolc. According to the PKD Foundation, of Kansas City, Missouri, PKD is the most common genetic, life-threatening disease.

“Gene PKGD1 encodes a protein that is responsible for PKD among human subjects and is also a component of primary cilia in the kidney,” Stolc said.

“In fact, several of the genes identified in the study are known to be involved in control of cell behavior and other tissues, raising the possibility these same genes could be the missing link between cilia and polycystic kidney symptoms,” said Dr. Wallace Marshall, assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF.

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Scientists believe understanding cilia functions may lead to the development of countermeasures to prevent PKD, which is one cause of kidney stone formation.

The study results are published in the March 8, 2005 online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

Tsunami Recovery and Relief Efforts

Imagery from three NASA spaceborne instruments has shed valuable insight into the Indian Ocean tsunami that resulted from the magnitude-9 earthquake southwest of Sumatra on December 26, 2004.

The images offer several unique views of portions of the affected region. The data are and will be used by scientists and government agencies to assist with disaster recovery, mitigate the effects of future natural hazards, and increase our understanding of how and why tsunamis strike. The data were acquired by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer instruments on NASA’s Terra spacecraft, as well as from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.

The Indian Ocean coastline near Phuket, Thailand, is a major tourist destination that was in the path of the tsunami produced by a giant offshore earthquake on December 26, 2004. These simulated natural-color Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer images show a 17-mile-long stretch of coastline 50 miles north of the Phuket airport on December 31 (middle) and also 2 years earlier (left). The changes along the coast show (changing from green to grey) where the vegetation was stripped away by the tsunami. The image on the right shows areas, in red, that have elevations within 33 feet of sea level. This elevation information was supplied by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The red areas appear to include most of the tsunami-inundated areas.

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer imagery includes the only known animations produced by a remote-sensing instrument to capture tsunami waves in motion as they make landfall. The image set and animations were collected December 26 as Terra passed over the eastern Indian coast about an hour and a half after the first waves hit shore. The first animation shows tsunami waves breaking along the shores of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, near the mouth of the Godavari River. Because the instrument’s multiple cameras imaged the coast over several minutes and the waves were unusually large, the instrument captured unique time-lapse imagery of them. The still images show frames from four of the instrument’s cameras, and span a period of about 2.5 minutes. In the second animation, waves break further to the south, near the mouth of the Krishna River.

The data indicate the location and timing of some of the waves; their angle, relative to the shoreline; and their speed, estimated from these data to be about 48 miles per hour. Together, with measurements of ocean depth, these data can be used to refine models of how tsunamis originate and travel. Better understanding of how tsunamis interact with coastal areas is one factor needed to improve near-real-time forecasts of tsunami arrival times and effects, and to reduce damage from such waves in the future.

Terra’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer instrument acquired images of the area around Phuket on the Indian Ocean coast of Thailand, on December 31. A pair of simulated natural- color images shows a 17-mile stretch of coastline north of the Phuket airport on December 31, 2004, compared to an image acquired 2 years earlier. The changes along the coast are self-evident, clearly indicating the extent of vegetation stripped by the waves.

The images are being used to create damage assessment maps for the U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance.

The separate image trio depicts these same before and after views and contrasts them with a third view created with Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data. Elevations below 10 meters are highlighted in red, and include most of the areas inundated by the tsunami, through offshore ocean depth variations, coastal landforms, distance from the coast, and additional factors. Elevation measurements provided by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission give a general indication of areas at risk and can help planners better predict which areas of a region are in the most danger and help develop mitigation plans in the event of particular flood events.

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission has also produced a color-coded, shaded relief map of the island nation of Sri Lanka, highlighting regions below 10 meters in elevation. The data were collected during the 11-day Space Shuttle mission in February 2000 and released publicly in July 2003. The low-coastal elevations extend 3.1 to 6.2 miles inland and are especially vulnerable to flooding associated with storm surges, rising sea level, and tsunami conditions.

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The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer was built and is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry built the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer; and Goddard Space Flight Center manages the Terra satellite. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is a collaboration of NASA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the German and Italian space agencies.

NASA also worked to provide Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite Hyperion sensor data collections and historical data to the U.S. Navy, to help them safely bring ships involved in the relief effort into ports damaged by debris and sediments.

Forecasting Earthquakes

Shifting from tsunamis to earthquakes, a NASA-funded earthquake prediction program has accurately predicted the locations of 15 of California’s 16 largest earthquakes this decade, including the magnitude-6 quake that shook the state’s Parkfield region in late 2004.

The 10-year Rundle-Tiampo Forecast was developed by researchers at the University of Colorado (now at the University of California, Davis) and JPL, with funding from NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

“We’re elated our computer-modeling technique has revealed a relationship between past and future earthquake locations,” said Dr. John Rundle, director of the Computational Science and Engineering initiative at the University of California, Davis. “We’re nearly batting a thousand, and that’s a powerful validation of the promise this forecasting technique holds,” he added.

	Collapsed and burned buildings shown at Beach and Divisadero streets in the Marina District, San Francisco.
Image courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey, C.E. Meyer.

Of 16 earthquakes, magnitude 5 and higher since January 1, 2000, 15 fall on “hotspots” identified by the forecasting approach. The forecast “scorecard” uses records of earthquakes from 1932 onward to predict locations most likely to have quakes of magnitude 5 or greater between 2000 and 2010. According to Rundle, small earthquakes of magnitude 3 and above may indicate stress is building up along a fault. While activity continues on most faults, some of those faults will show increasing numbers of small quakes, building up to a big quake, while some faults will appear to shut down. Both effects may herald the possible occurrence of large events.

The scorecard is one component of NASA’s QuakeSim project. “QuakeSim seeks to develop tools for quake forecasting. It integrates high-precision, space-based measurements from Global Positioning System satellites and interferometric synthetic aperture radar with numerical simulations and pattern-recognition techniques,” said JPL’s Dr. Andrea Donnellan, QuakeSim principal investigator. “It includes historical data, geological information, and satellite data to make updated forecasts of quakes, similar to a weather forecast.”

JPL software engineer Jay Parker said, “QuakeSim aims to accelerate the efforts of the international earthquake science community to better understand earthquake sources and develop innovative forecasting methods. We expect adding more types of data and analyses will lead to forecasts with substantially better precision than we have today.”

The scorecard forecast generated a map of California from the San Francisco Bay area to the Mexican border and then divided it into approximately 4,000 boxes, or “tiles.” For each tile, researchers calculated the seismic potential and assigned color-coding to show the areas most likely to experience quakes over a 10-year period.

“In California, quake activity happens at some level almost everywhere. This method narrows the locations of the largest future events to about 6 percent of the state,” Rundle said. “This information will help engineers and government decision makers prioritize areas for further testing and seismic retrofits.”

So far, the technique has only missed one earthquake, a magnitude of 5.2, on June 15, 2004, under the ocean near San Clemente Island. Rundle believes this “miss” may be due to larger uncertainties in locating earthquakes in this offshore region of the state. San Clemente Island is at the edge of the coverage area for southern California’s seismograph network. The research team is working to refine the method and find new ways to visualize the data.

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Laser Technology Tracks Changes in Mount St. Helens

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA scientists studying Mount St. Helens are using high-tech light detection and ranging (lidar) technology to analyze changes in the surface elevation of the volcanic crater, which began deforming in late September 2004.

With data derived from airborne lidar, scientists can accurately map, often in exquisite detail, the dimensions of the uplift and create better models to forecast volcanic hazards. lidar shows, in the 2 weeks before October 4, the new uplift grew to the height of a 35-story building and the area of 29 football fields.

“This is the first time USGS and NASA have teamed to use lidar to measure volcano deformation,” said USGS scientist Ralph Haugerud. He noted that lidar technology enables researchers to compare with greater accuracy than ever before the topography before and after volcanic events.

Mount St. Helens as seen from above. NASA is working with the U.S. Geological Survey to study the still-active volcano.

“The resulting pictures of topographic change can reveal information found in no other kind of data set,” added David Harding, a scientist at Goddard.

In 2003, the USGS contracted a lidar survey of Mount St. Helens. In early September 2004, USGS and NASA scientists began detailed planning for a second survey. The survey, contracted by NASA, extended the area covered by the first survey. But when the mountain began rumbling on September 23, USGS and NASA scientists accelerated plans and re-surveyed the mountain on October 4.

Some of the Mount St. Helens features related to the volcanic unrest visualized in the new lidar-derived digital elevation model include growth of a new volcanic dome south of the 1980-1986 volcanic dome and new steam-and-ash vents.

Additional changes between the two lidar surveys unrelated to the volcanic unrest include shrinking snow fields, several rock falls, movement of three rock glaciers, and growth of the crater glacier, which has been an ongoing subject of USGS research at Mount St. Helens.

Lidar mapping uses a scanning laser rangefinder mounted in a small aircraft to measure distances from the aircraft to the ground several tens of thousands of times each second. It commonly measures the ground position at points a meter apart with vertical accuracy as good as 10 centimeters.

“NASA scientists and engineers in the 1980s and 1990s pioneered airborne lidar mapping,” Harding said. “Because of its very high accuracy and fast turnaround of results, lidar is rapidly becoming the preferred method for detailed topographic mapping and is conducted worldwide on a commercial basis by numerous companies,” he added.

Creating Earth’s Most Extensive Global Topographic Map

Culminating more than 4 years of processing data, NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency this year completed Earth’s most extensive global topographic map.

The data, extensive enough to fill the U.S. Library of Congress, were gathered during Endeavour’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, in 2000.

The digital elevation maps encompass 80 percent of Earth’s landmass. They reveal for the first time large, detailed swaths of Earth’s topography, previously obscured by persistent cloudiness. The data will benefit scientists, engineers, government agencies, and the public with an ever-growing array of uses.

“This is among the most significant science missions the Shuttle has ever performed, and it’s probably the most significant mapping mission of any single type ever,” said Dr. Michael Kobrick, the mission project scientist from JPL.

The final data release covers Australia and New Zealand in unprecedented uniform detail. It also covers more than 1,000 islands comprising much of Polynesia and Melanesia in the South Pacific, as well as islands in the South Indian and Atlantic oceans.
“Many of these islands have never had their topography mapped,” Kobrick said.

The resulting data are being used for applications ranging from land-use planning to “virtual” Earth exploration. “Future missions using similar technology could monitor changes in Earth’s topography over time, and even map the topography of other planets,” said Dr. John LaBrecque, manager of NASA’s Solid Earth and Natural Hazards Program, at NASA Headquarters.

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Monitoring the Environment in Central America

A state-of-the-art environmental monitoring facility in Panama is the first to employ NASA Earth science research and space-based observations to provide Central American decision makers with early warning about a variety of ecological and climatic changes.

Developed by NASA scientists, the innovative regional monitoring system is called SERVIR, the Spanish acronym for the Regional Visualization and Monitoring Sys-tem. It is also a Spanish term meaning “to serve.”

The SERVIR system is designed to make NASA Earth observations and predictions freely and readily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Designed to track weather, climate, and ecological events, the system has already shown results in Central America, monitoring wildfires, red tides, and blooms of toxic algae threatening local fishing areas.

Featuring a massive, Web-based data archive of maps and satellite imagery, decision-support tools, and interactive visualization capabilities, SERVIR is designed to aid government and industry across the seven countries of Central America and the southern Mexican states. “NASA’s science mission begins here on Earth, with greater awareness and understanding of our changing planet, and new solutions for protecting our environment, resources, and human lives,” said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Science. “SERVIR technology, our partnership with various organizations, and with the people of Central America reflects NASA’s commitment to improving life on our home planet for all people,” he said.

The system contains user-friendly, interactive tools. It is designed to make NASA Earth observations and predictions freely and readily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Designed to track weather, climate, and ecological events, the system has already shown results in Central America, monitoring wildfires, red tides, and blooms of toxic algae threatening local fishing areas. “SERVIR is an excellent tool for gauging slow or periodic shifts in climate that could lead to drought and other long-term problems, as well as identifying quick-forming weather phenomena that threaten human lives and operations on land and at sea,” said Daniel Irwin, SERVIR project manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

NASA devised the system in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development; the World Bank; the City of Knowledge, Panama; the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC); the Central American Com-mission on Environment and Development; and Cable & Wireless Panama.

“We’re extremely proud of this combined effort,” said Tom Sever, SERVIR principal investigator at Marshall. “Without the partnership of these organizations, we never could have integrated the resources to create such a robust system—combining space-based observations with local knowledge of ecosystems to enable constant, real-time monitoring of this environmentally vital region.”

The Panamanian SERVIR center is housed in the City of Knowledge, at CATHALAC. The City of Knowledge is an international consortium of health, science, and academic organizations including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; the World Food Programme; numerous universities; and research institutes.

NASA’s Supercomputer Is Ranked Among the World’s Fastest

NASA announced that its newest supercomputer, “Columbia,” was named one of the world’s most powerful production supercomputers by the TOP500 project at SC2004, the international conference of high-performance computing, networking, and storage.

Columbia, which achieved a benchmark rating of 51.9 teraflop/s on 10,240 processors, was ranked second on the TOP500 list, just behind “Blue Gene,” IBM’s supercomputer at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

“Large, integrated simulation environments like those we have at Ames are crucial to NASA’s missions, and Columbia has provided a breakthrough increase in our computational power,” said G. Scott Hubbard, director of Ames. “A high rating on the TOP500 list is an impressive achievement, but for NASA, the immediate availability to analyze important issues like ‘Return to Flight’ for the Space Shuttle, space science, Earth modeling, and aerospace vehicle design for exploration, is the true measure of success.”

“Columbia allows NASA to perform numerical simulations at the cutting edge of science and engineering,” said Dr. Walter Brooks, chief of the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames. “As the largest example of an important high-end computing architecture developed in the U.S., part of this system will be available to the nation’s best research teams. The swift design and deployment of Columbia has redefined the concept of supercomputer development.”

With Columbia at its core, said Brooks, the NAS facility provides an integrated computing, visualization, and data storage environment to help NASA meet its mission goals and the Vision for Space Exploration.

Within days of completion of the supercomputer’s installation, Columbia achieved a Linpack benchmark rating of 42.7 teraflop/s on just 16 nodes with an 88-percent efficiency rating, exceeding the previously best reported performance by a significant margin. This was followed almost immediately by a 51.7 teraflop/s rating reported for the entire system.

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“What is most noteworthy is that we were able to post such a significant and efficient Linpack result in such a short time,” said Bob Ciotti, chief systems engineer for the Columbia installation project. “Not only was the system deployed in less than 120 days, but the code used to achieve this result was conceived and developed in that same time frame, and is much more straightforward than the traditional approach. Our simplified implementation, allowed by shared memory systems like the SGI Altix, translates directly into improved effectiveness for users of our systems.”

The supercomputer was named to honor the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia, lost February 1, 2003.

Debugging Computer Code

Ames Research Center’s Willem Visser stands in front of a projection of a Java PathFinder software computer screen.

NASA scientists announced in April that they are releasing free software that will find “bugs,” or defects, in Java computer code.

The new software, Java PathFinder, is classified as open source software, which is computer code that scientists make publicly available, often at no cost, so users can freely utilize and modify it. Java is a computer language that software developers frequently use to write programs for computer networks, such as the Internet.

According to John Penix, a computer scientist at Ames, the open source offering will enable other people to help Ames improve the PathFinder software for NASA’s benefits, too.

The Java PathFinder work “is part of an effort to develop tools and methods to identify and eliminate software errors in NASA’s increasingly complex and mission-critical software systems,” said David Korsmeyer, who leads Ames’s Intelligent Systems Division. “Java PathFinder was used to detect inconsistencies in the executive software for the K9 Rover at NASA Ames,” Korsmeyer added. The K9 is a six-wheeled, solar-powered rover developed jointly at Ames and JPL.

In addition, computer scientists used elements of Java PathFinder to develop verification computer code for Livingstone 2 software, a diagnosis system that is now flying on the EO-1 spacecraft and, “an example of the kind of autonomy software that will be crucial to future NASA missions,” emphasized Korsmeyer.

According to scientists, if PathFinder finds an error in a Java application, the software checker reports the whole process that leads to the bug. “Unlike a normal debugger, Java PathFinder keeps track of every step the software checker takes to find a defect,” Penix noted.

“PathFinder already has been enhanced and tested by several universities and companies,” Penix said. “Now, additional universities can add more features to PathFinder.”

The software is in its sixth year of active development.

High-Tech X-Ray Equipment Examines Dinosaur Skull

As NASA charts a bold new course into the future, the Space Agency is briefly taking a step back in time to examine a dinosaur skull. NASA scientists are using equipment at Marshall to scan the skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex). The state-of-the-art equipment was originally designed to examine rocket motor assemblies and turbine blades. Discovered on a South Dakota ranch in 1992, it is believed to be the most complete and well-preserved T. rex skull ever found. Discoverers dubbed the find “Samson,” recognizing the beast’s reputation as the strongest dinosaur to roam the Earth during the late Cretaceous period.

“Marshall is one of the few places in the world with the technology needed for such a complex scan,” said Dr. Chris Beard, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. “We are very excited NASA has agreed to provide space-age technology for this project.”

A fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex skull is being tested by researchers at Marshall, using a high-tech tomography scanner originally designed to examine rocket motor assemblies and turbine blades.

Dr. Ron Beshears is leading the project at the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing located at Marshall. Beshears’s laboratory team is running various tests on the skull with a high-tech computed tomography scanner used for nondestructive testing of parts and equipment destined for space. The scans provide Carnegie Museum experts with detailed cross-section images of the skull. Such detail will help museum experts better understand the basic anatomy and lifestyle of the T. rex.

“The idea of working with 65 million-year-old dinosaur bones alongside next-generation space technologies is something we’re quite excited about,” Beshears said. “We’re happy we can use our facility to assist in a scientific investigation of the dinosaur fossil.”

Carnegie Museum researchers will use results to compare Samson’s skull with previous computed tomography scans of less well-preserved T. rex fossils, establishing a baseline to determine anomalies in future finds. Although privately owned, Samson is being prepared and studied by the museum for 2 years. The dinosaur arrived at the Carnegie Museum in May 2004.

The skull, separated from its skeleton by the museum for study, is largely encrusted in rock. It arrived at Marshall enclosed in a shipping crate approximately 5 feet by 3.5 feet and weighed approximately 1,600 pounds. Because of the skull’s fragility, it will not be removed from the crate while tests are performed. After tests and examinations are completed, it will be returned to the Carnegie Museum to recreate the once-fearsome predator.

Eradicating Invasive Species

In February, NASA accepted an invitation to join the National Invasive Species Council (NISC), to assist 12 other Federal agencies in combating invasive species across the country.

An invasive species is an organism, such as a microbe, plant, or animal, which entered America through natural processes or with human assistance and whose presence poses a threat to public health or the economy. One example, salt cedar, is an invasive plant widespread in the western United States. It replaced native species and may have significant negative effects on water resources.

	The Emerald Ash Borer is an exotic beetle that was discovered in southeastern Michigan near Detroit in the summer of 2002. Since its discovery, the invasive species has killed at least 8 to 10 million ash trees in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
Image courtesy of David Cappaert, www.forestryimages.org and www.invasive.org.

“NASA is pleased with this invitation from NISC. The agency is eager to continue our active engagement in applied research projects whose results advance management of invasive species,” said Edwin Sheffner, manager of the invasive species program element in the Applied Sciences Program at NASA Headquarters. “Efforts to manage invasive species annually cost the country tens of billions of dollars,” he said.

NASA will enhance its partners’ abilities to respond effectively and efficiently to invasive species’ challenges. Its track record of achievement in invasive species monitoring led to the invitation to join the council.

An example of the Space Agency’s impact is work completed by the USGS on invasive species in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The USGS improved the accuracy and timeliness of predictive maps of invasive species in the monument with enhancements to decision support tools from NASA data, predictive models, and systems engineering.

MODIS data from NASA’s Terra satellite provides daily information about vegetation conditions. Statistical models applied by the USGS, with NASA’s assistance, convert MODIS and other data sources into predictive maps of plant species distribution. The USGS is incorporating NASA’s research capabilities to improve the national response to invasive species through the National Invasive Species Forecasting System.

NASA Technology Supports Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer

GlobalFlyer landed safely in Salina, Kansas, after the first solo, non-stop, non-refueled, around-the-world airplane trip. NASA technology contributed to the safety and success of the mission by enhancing communications between pilot Steve Fossett and his ground control team. NASA’s real-time video hookup allowed aviation enthusiasts around the globe to follow the landmark flight.

The flight tested NASA’s advanced experimental Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) transceiver, called the Low Power Transceiver (LPT). As a side benefit, the NASA device allowed GlobalFlyer’s mission control to communicate with Fossett for almost 3 days of flight through a live video connection.

“We at NASA applaud private sector record- setting achievements like this one. NASA is committed to increasing its engagement with entrepreneurs and industry alike in pursuit of the Vision for Space Exploration,” said NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations, William Readdy. “We’re proud of our very talented, dedicated people and cutting-edge technologies and look forward to even more partnering in the future.”

NASA researchers believe the LPT holds promise as a flexible and less expensive option for relaying information to and from spacecraft. TDRSS already supports space operations by providing uninterrupted data relay and communications between orbiting spacecraft and the ground.

From the LPT testing on GlobalFlyer, NASA hopes to learn more about how the device operated during flight, especially when transmitting video. Four NASA facilities, Goddard Space Flight Center, Dryden Flight Research Center, Kennedy Space Center, and the White Sands Test Facility, contributed technology to the video project and monitored the GlobalFlyer mission.

NASA also loaned GlobalFlyer its Personal Cabin Pressure Monitor, which alerts a pilot of potentially dangerous or deteriorating cabin pressure. Because Fossett’s cockpit was exceedingly loud, too loud for an alarm, the device was modified to vibrate when signaling a problem.

Preventing Air Traffic Bottlenecks

No one is happy with long lines and delays at our Nation’s airports. In response to the growing need to improve the National Airspace System, NASA is developing tools to ensure future air travel will be safe and efficient.

NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the MITRE Corporation, of McLean, Virginia, successfully conducted tests of the Multi-Center Traffic Management Advisor (McTMA) at air traffic facilities responsible for the northeastern United States. Initial results indicate the software’s scheduling capabilities helped air traffic managers prevent bottlenecks.

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NASA researchers are hard at work to make airline travel safer and more efficient.

At the heart of McTMA is a powerful “trajectory synthesis” engine capable of converting radar data, flight plans, and weather information into accurate forecasts of air traffic congestion. McTMA uses these forecasts and input from air traffic personnel to generate a specific advisory, typically a small delay, for each aircraft predicted to encounter congestion.

“McTMA is an advanced air traffic management system that makes possible a fundamental shift in air traffic control form from distance-based to time-based metering of aircraft,” said Tom Edwards, deputy director of the Aeronautics Directorate at Ames. “Time-based metering can reduce airborne delays and improve coordination and planning between adjacent air traffic control facilities,” he added.

Tests were conducted with managers at the Air Route Traffic Control Centers in New York, Washington, Boston, and Cleveland, as well as the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control and the National Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Herndon, Virginia.

The successful tests validated the McTMA “distributed scheduling architecture,” and helped air traffic managers prevent bottlenecks at the Philadelphia Inter-national Airport.

“The evaluation successfully demonstrated the advantages of the McTMA departure metering capability over current techniques,” said Tom Davis, principal investigator for McTMA and chief of the Terminal Area Air Traffic Management Research Branch at Ames. “During several periods at Philadelphia, when airborne holding is routinely encountered, no such holding was observed when McTMA was in use,” Davis added.

Frequently, adjustments of just a few minutes at the point of origin can alleviate airborne traffic jams at the destination. The result is safer and more efficient operations for airlines and the flying public as the system produces a steady but manageable flow of air traffic.

“Future tests will seek to gradually expand the McTMA operational envelope to demonstrate multi-center, time-based metering of departures, arrivals and en route flows to multiple destinations,” Davis said.

Earlier versions of the system are used to schedule arriving aircraft at Dallas-Ft. Worth, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Denver, Houston, Miami, and Atlanta airports.

Testing of the newer McTMA system continues in 2005 at the same facilities. If fully successful, NASA and the FAA will work together to bring the technology into future operations to benefit air travelers.

The program is managed by the Airspace Systems Division of NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. The software was developed at Ames.

NASA Deploys ChemSecure Hazmat Management System

NASA Dryden chemical crib technician Christina Urias first enters information about the hazardous material into the Hazardous Materials Management System, allowing the radio frequency identification sensor tag, affixed to each container, to send accurate information to emergency responders.

Dryden Flight Research Center is implementing an extensive wireless, sensor-based system aimed at improving the management of hazardous materials to enhance security and safety, while significantly reducing ongoing supply chain costs. The ChemSecure pilot program integrates radio frequency identification (RFID) and sensor-based technology with the U.S. Department of Defense’s existing Web-based Hazardous Materials Management System (HMMS) database to automate the real-time management of hazardous materials including usage, shipment, tracking, and storage.

The first project of its kind, Dryden developed ChemSecure in close partnership with the Department of Defense and leading private sector companies.

“The ChemSecure program is a testament to NASA’s commitment to using advanced technology and business processes to create safer, more secure management systems for hazardous material movement and storage,” said Ralph Anton, chemical program manager at Dryden.

“ChemSecure’s guiding business processes and technology foundation are not limited to the hazardous materials environment—we see numerous applications for tracking of a variety of materials, in the public and private sectors, and plan to help agencies and organizations take advantage of the system.”

ChemSecure places RFID tags on hazardous material containers and uses Oracle Sensor-Based Services to capture, manage, analyze, and respond to any movement or other change of the chemicals. Dryden applies the real-time information in the HMMS database to make informed decisions about the transportation and storage of hazardous materials, and provides automatic alerts—text messaging, voice alerts, and e-mails—to professionals in security, safety, health, and environment to warn them of any changes with the chemicals.

In addition to helping organizations significantly reduce hazardous materials management costs and errors, the ChemSecure program includes many additional capabilities that enhance safety and security measures such as:

• Supplying critical data to first responders and decision makers so they are equipped to make timely decisions for the safety, security, and protection of people, as well as the physical assets in the environment during an emergency evacuation involving a chemical spill;
  
  
• Monitoring personnel when they handle hazardous containers and providing accountability by crosschecking personnel information with container information to reduce theft, error, and fraud;
  
  
• Providing end-to-end visibility of the hazardous materials transportation and storage life cycle for improved decision making and auditing;
  
  
• Ensuring chemicals are placed in appropriate and safe locations to avoid adverse reactions with other chemicals; and
  
  
• Making sure personnel are properly authorized and trained to work with the chemicals to reduce human error.
  

Dryden is planning a second phase of the ChemSecure project that will provide enhanced features for scrutinizing all vehicles entering and leaving unguarded access points; and for maintaining full inventory management throughout the facility, extending the homeland security element of this project. Additionally, the sensor-based technology will track all climate-controlled chemicals in restricted environments.

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