Search Results

Entrepreneurial innovation that spurs economic development requires a collaborative cluster of cooperative effort, across a diverse ecosystem of partners. Literature provides resounding evidence to support the notion that an innovative, entrepreneurial ecosystem is critical to both successful economic development and industry sector growth. The UAS/AUS industry sector is a fast-growing sector across the United States, with regional leadership demonstrated in North Dakota, California, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. This case study is focused on investigating how the North Dakota autonomous systems ecosystem continues to evolves and develop mechanisms and partnerships to address industry pain points, facilitate cutting edge research, ensure high-quality UAS/AUS testing, and support an adaptive business development pipeline across the entrepreneurial life cycle.

The North Dakota Citation Research Aircraft is a Cessna Citation II twin-engine fan-jet aircraft modified to be an atmospheric research platform that has been used on many field projects since the 1970s. The typical sampling speed of the modified Citation II is 160 knots indicated air speed (IAS), with sampling at altitudes up to 12.1 km (40,000 ft). The Citation Research Aircraft was operated by the University of North Dakota (UND) for many years but is now operated by Weather Modification International (WMI) of Fargo, North Dakota. WMI and UND together provide a unique test facility that is capable of deploying a wide range of instrumentation. WMI has the experience to install the custom instrumentation required for a specific field project and the expertise to conduct the most demanding aircraft sampling, including thunderstorm in-situ measurements.

The objective of this paper is to detail the development of the DL/H-1 full pressure suit, which was developed by De Leon Technologies LLC, with the assistance of the University of North Dakota. The DL/H-1 was specifically developed to fulfill the needs for a full pressure suit for private spaceflight in case of decompression or in the need of bailout of the spacecraft. This work also details the objectives, basis for design, problems encountered by the designers, final development of the DL/H-1 full pressure suit and testing in the high altitude chamber at the School of Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota. The authors believe that during experimental flights of private spaceflight, orbital or suborbital a full pressure suit will be required to augment safety during all flight phases where in the case of cabin pressure loss, without personal protection, the loss of crew and vehicle could result.

This work represents an extended analysis of the mathematical model which was originally developed in an attempt to analyze the process of plant biomass incineration as a source of carbon dioxide for plant photosynthesis and growth and its effects on closed ecological system stability, Mathematical modeling has demonstrated that when the limit value of intensity of production processes and matter turnover specific for every closed ecosystem is exceeded, the gaseous toxic agents destroy the system. In order to illustrate further the performance and application of the proposed model, the hypothetical optimized ecological life support system was investigated, The preliminary results suggest appropriate system parameters for further engineering implementation. The results of the theoretical analysis are verified and supported by quantitative estimates from the Russian Closed Ecosystem (CES) BIOS-3 which was tested for extended life support between 1970 and 1990.

This work (summarizing the results of experimentation with Closed Ecological System BIOS-3, Krasnoyarsk, and Russian Siberia in 1989-1998) is an attempt to analyze the process of plant biomass incineration as a source of carbon dioxide for plant photosynthesis and growth and its effects on closed system stability. It is common knowledge that incineration of phytomass supplies into the atmosphere of a Closed Ecological System (CES) not carbon dioxide only, but also gaseous toxic agents inhibiting photosynthetic processes. Mathematical modeling has demonstrated that when the limit value of intensity of production processes and matter turnover specific for every closed ecosystem is exceeded the gaseous toxic agents destroy the system. This value is proportional to CES buffer absorption capacity and is non-linearly dependent on the tolerance of the plant component to the impact of flue gases.

As humans continue to explore the solar system, psychological problems brought about by the high stress of living in a space environment will continue to increase. Five astronauts and cosmonauts representing three space agencies: ESA, RSA, and JAXA were surveyed regarding their experiences with ten general categories of psychological stressors and eight subcategories of interpersonal conflict. Results suggest psychological stressors are more likely to increase in quantity and severity in longer duration spaceflight. A conceptual mathematical model for stress estimates is suggested. This method appears to be in agreement with qualitative estimates of stressor roles in different space mission durations.

Over a one-year period beginning in March, 2005, and with a materials budget of approximately $25,000, the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium developed a pressurized planetary space suit concept demonstrator in conjunction with institutions of higher education across the state. This project sought to combine educational instruction in space suit design and manufacturing while simultaneously developing a usable test article incorporating technical approaches appropriate to the project's schedule and budgetary constraints. The North Dakota Experimental (NDX) Suit serves as a testbed for new planetary suit materials and component assemblies. Designed around a dual-plane enclosure ring built on a composite hard upper torso (HUT), the NDX is designed for an operating differential pressure of 26.2 kPa. In order to test a two-chamber suit concept, the NDX features a neck dam assembly that divides the helmet breathing cavity from the body below the neck.

The proposed NASA Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) has been labeled “not as a repetition of Apollo, but instead what Apollo should have been.” While this designation is certainly ripe for debate, there is no debating that the space suit community has, up to this point, had limited or no input into the on-going design of the CEV. However, it is important that the community take the opportunity to influence the configuration of the proposed CEV so as to optimize its orbital and planetary/lunar EVA capability, flexibility and safety. This “window of opportunity” will not remain open for long, as the CEV’s configuration is rapidly congealing. This paper covers: 1. Brief space suit configurations, employment and history. 2. Brief descriptions and comparisons of IVA, EVA and IEVA space suits. 3. How history can be a guide to optimize EVA for the Crew Exploration Vehicle.