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A new life support approach is proposed for use on the International Space Station (ISS). This involves advanced technologies for water recovery and air revitalization, tested at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), including bioprocessing, reverse-osmosis and distillation, low power carbon dioxide removal, non-expendable trace contaminant control, and carbon dioxide reduction.

The effects of Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD) from low speed rear-end collisions (REC) have been reported in the medical, scientific and engineering literature for several decades. Given the method of analysis, results have varied regarding the nature, onset and severity of spinal injury. While previously conducted laboratory crash tests have advanced the understanding of occupant dynamics from RECs, concern over investigative methodology and experimental artificiality remains. The purpose of this study is to determine if any relationship existed between specific occupant characteristics, vehicular acceleration and the onset and severity of WAD. Ninety-five subjects involved in real world RECs are selected from an active database. Data is collected over an 18-month period. Fifty-nine subjects are females and 70% of the subjects are drivers.

An inexpensive piezoelectric pressure sensor capable of detecting the internal combustion peak pressure position has been developed by Oceana Sensor Technologies for mass production. This paper describes the principle, structure and the Finite Element model of the designed sensor. A state-space model of the piezoelectric input/output system is extracted based on model reduction method. The performance of this sensor is evaluated using test engine and compared with a commercially available sensor.

Long duration human space missions, as planned in the Vision for Space Exploration, will not be possible without applying unprecedented levels of automation to support the human endeavors. The automated and robotic systems must carry the load of routine “housekeeping” for the new generation of explorers, as well as assist their exploration science and engineering work with new precision. Fortunately, the state of automated and robotic systems is sophisticated and sturdy enough to do this work — but the systems themselves have never been human-rated as all other NASA physical systems used in human space flight have. Our intent in this paper is to provide perspective on requirements and architecture for the interfaces and interactions between human beings and the astonishing array of automated systems; and the approach we believe necessary to create human-rated systems and implement them in the space program.

External aerodynamics remains one of the major concerns in designing a new generation road vehicle. In the present study, the external aerodynamics of an Ahmed body at a scale and Reynolds number, that are representative of a car or light truck at highway speeds, is explored. An experimental model test was compared with a computational model using various back angles. In addition, the experiment allowed lift and drag to be measured at yaw angles up to ±15 degrees. Reynolds number effect on drag and lift coefficients was studied and wind averaged drag coefficients were calculated. The numerical calculations used a Reynolds-averaged, unsteady Navier-Stokes formulation. Both experimental and computational results are presented for back angles of 0-, 12.5-, and 25-degrees, then compared with each other and the data available in the literature.

Many vehicle subsystems were in essence mechatronic (electro-mechanical) designs. Modern vehicles have various subsystems which provide mechanical movements which were controlled by electronic and electrical systems. At the same time, they collect and track data about system performance and environmental conditions for on board diagnostics. Advances in mechanical, electrical, and embedded systems were making vehicles more intelligent. However, these mechatronics systems face new challenges including design for compliance and ensuring that all product specifications are transferred into the company's product data management system. This is especially important for electrical and electronic subsystems since they have to comply with ongoing changes related to the management of hazardous substances. Since modern vehicles were being manufactured in a global environment through outsourcing of many different components, this poses challenges with material tracking.

The boundary interference of high blockage models inside open jet test section is studied in three phases. First, a wind tunnel test was performed using a high blockage automotive model inside the 1/15th scale Langley Full Scale Wind tunnel. Second, a CFD simulation was done using CFL3D code (developed by NASA Langley Research Center). Finally, a panel method was used to assess the boundary interference and to study the effect of the collector. The objective of the study is to highlight the challenges in assessing the boundary interference for high blockage models. A secondary object is to present a model to integrate all the available information from the wind tunnel test and the CFD simulation to solve the problem using a panel method.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is interested in characterizing the responses of THOR (test device for human occupant restraint) anthropometric test device (ATD) to representative loading acceleration pulse s. Test conditions were selected both for their applicability to anticipated NASA landing scenarios, and for comparison to human volunteer data previously collected by the United States Air Force (USAF). THOR impact testing was conducted in the fore-to-aft frontal (-x) and in the upward spinal (-z) directions with peak sled accelerations ranging from 8 to 12 G and rise times of 40, 70, and 100ms. Each test condition was paired with historical huma n data sets under similar test conditions that were also conducted on the Horizontal Impulse Accelerator (HIA). A correlation score was calculated for each THOR to human comparison using CORA (CORrelation and Analysis) software.

Application of a formally designed experiment to wind tunnel testing of a sportscar prototype was explored at the Langley Full Scale Tunnel. A two-level fractional factorial design with center points was used to determine the effect of front ride height, rear wing angle, gurney flap height, spoiler height, and yaw angle on the front downforce, rear downforce, drag, and lift-to-drag ratio of the racecar. Regression models were created for each of the responses to provide aerodynamic prediction and optimization capabilities. Prediction models provide an “aerodynamic mapping” that can be used for effective tuning of the car at the track as well as serve as a math model for numerical lap simulations.