Robert H. King

Trade Study of Excavation Tools and Equipment for Lunar Outpost Development and ISRU

The NASA Lunar Architecture Team (LAT) has developed a candidate architecture to establish a lunar outpost that includes in‐situ resource utilization (ISRU). Outpost development requires excavation for landing and launch sites, roads, trenches, foundations, radiation and thermal shielding, etc. Furthermore, ISRU requires excavation as feed stock for water processing and oxygen production plants. The design environment for lunar excavation tools and equipment including low gravity, cost of launching massive equipment, limited power, limited size, high reliability, and extreme temperatures is significantly different from terrestrial excavation equipment design environment. Consequently, the lunar application requires new approaches to developing excavation tools and equipment in the context of a systems engineering approach to building a Lunar Outpost. Several authors have proposed interesting and innovative general excavation approaches in the literature, and the authors of this paper will propose adaptati...

A Prototype Bucket Wheel Excavator for the Moon, Mars and Phobos

Excavation of surface regolith material is the first step in processes to extract volatile materials from planetary surface regolith for the production of propellant and life support consumables. Typically, concentrations of volatiles are low, so relatively large amounts of material must be excavated. A bucket wheel excavator is proposed, which has the capability of continuous excavation, which is readily adapted to granular regolith materials as found on the Moon, in drift deposits on Mars, and probably on the surface of asteroids and satellites, such as Phobos. The bucket wheel excavator is relatively simple, compared to machines such as front end loaders. It also has the advantage that excavation forces are principally horizontal rather than vertical, which minimizes the need for excavator mass and suits it to operations in reduced gravity fields. A prototype small bucket wheel excavator has been built at approximately the scale of the rovers that are carried to Mars on the Mars Exploration Rover Missi...

Computer assisted guidance of an underground mine truck

This paper describes component installation and testing of computer assisted control of an underground, diesel-powered, articulated haul truck. The sensing components are four ultrasonic transducers, four wheel encoders and two steering-cylinder linear potentiometers. On-board, 68030-processor based computing hardware controls engine idle, fuel shutoff transmission direction and speed selector, engine starter, parking and driving brakes, and steering. Control algorithms are encoded in C using the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Real-time Control System (RCS) architecture. A 480 kHz transmitter and receiver enables remote manual control. The truck successfully negotiated a simulated mine corridor located on the Colorado School of Mines campus 17 times in first and second gear without collisions.<<ETX>>

Corneal abnormalities associated with incontinentia pigmenti

PURPOSE To report corneal abnormalities associated with incontinentia pigmenti. CASE REPORTS Two girls, aged 2 1/2 and 5 years, with incontinentia pigmenti from one family underwent a complete ophthalmic examination. RESULTS We found vortex (whorl-like) epithelial keratitis characterized by epithelial microcysts that stained with fluorescein and midstromal radial mild haziness in daughters of a family with incontinentia pigmenti. CONCLUSION Incontinentia pigmenti should be included in the differential diagnosis of children with keratitis, particularly if there is evidence of characteristic dermatologic or other systemic manifestations.

An interactive system for creating object models from range data based on simulated annealing

Sensing to recognize and locate objects is a critical need for robotic operations in unstructured environments. An accurate 3D model of objects in the scene is necessary for efficient high level control of robots. Drawing upon concepts from supervisory control, we have developed an interactive system for creating object models from range data, based on simulated annealing. Site modeling is a task that is typically performed using purely manual or autonomous techniques, each of which has inherent strengths and weaknesses. However, an interactive modeling system combines the advantages of both manual and autonomous methods, to create a system that has high operator productivity as well as high flexibility and robustness. Our system is unique in that it can work with very sparse range data, tolerate occlusions, and tolerate cluttered scenes. We have performed an informal evaluation with four operators on 16 different scenes, and have shown that the interactive system is superior to either manual or automatic methods in terms of task time and accuracy.

An Interplanetary Rapid Transit System Between Earth and Mars

A revolutionary interplanetary rapid transit concept for transporting scientists and explorers between Earth and Mars is presented by Global Aerospace Corporation under funding from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) with support from the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and others. We describe an innovative architecture that uses highly autonomous, solar‐powered, xenon ion‐propelled spaceships, dubbed Astrotels; small Taxis for trips between Astrotels and planetary Spaceports; Shuttles that transport crews to and from orbital space stations and planetary surfaces; and low‐thrust cargo freighters that deliver hardware, fuels and consumables to Astrotels and Spaceports. Astrotels can orbit the Sun in cyclic orbits between Earth and Mars and Taxis fly hyperbolic planetary trajectories between Astrotel and Spaceport rendezvous. Together these vehicles transport replacement crews of 10 people on frequent, short trips between Earth and Mars. Tw...

Intelligent waveform analysis for ultrasonic ranging in a cluttered environment

It is shown that, in a limited domain, ultrasonic rangers can be used with model-based reasoning to identify one or two objects represented in the return signal. It is also shown that characteristics that are useful in helping discriminate include average amplitude times distance, standard deviation of the amplitude as a percentage of the maximum amplitude, and characteristics of the echo signal such as maximum echo amplitude times the square of the distance. It was found many of the characteristics (such as maximum amplitude) were not helpful in discriminating between objects at various distances. It was found that a list of line features describing perimeter shape was not useful when objects were considered at various distances. The results obtained are pertinent to the Autonomous Land Vehicle (ALV).<<ETX>>

Laboratory Evaluation of Underground Coal Mine Trailing Cable Splices

Laboratory tests were developed for evaluating portable cable splices prior to their use in underground coal mines. The tests simulate mechanical and electrical destructive effects on cables supplying power to shuttle cars. Tests for splice tension, conductivity, flexibility, dielectric withstand, abrasion, and workmanship qualities are explained.

NONDESTRUCTIVE, NON‐CONTACT HYDROGEN CONTENT ASSESSMENT OF COATED STEEL LINEPIPE WELDS

A nondestructive, non‐contact hydrogen sensor has been developed to assess hydrogen content of coated steel linepipe welds utilizing low frequency impedance measurements. Low frequency impedance measurements are influenced by sources of electron scattering, such as temperature, microstructure, strain, and alterations in the lattice potentials as seen through the effective mass of the conduction electron. Calibration of this sensor must successfully account for these sources of scattering. The effects of coating thickness, weld microstructure, and remanent magnetic field strength on hydrogen content assessment of steel linepipe welds are presented and discussed.

Development of a Non-Contact Hydrogen Sensor for Coated Pipeline Steel Weldments

Only a few parts per million of hydrogen are needed to produce detrimental results in higher strength pipeline steels. The cost of removal and subsequent replacement of a pipeline coating is high; thus a working hydrogen detector for field measurements must operate through the pipeline coating. An in-field sensor must utilize technology that provides rapid (or real-time) non-contact nondestructive measurements. Nondestructive low frequency impedance measurements can be used to determine hydrogen content in operating pipeline steel and weldments as well as through structural coatings. Low frequency impedance measurements have been correlated to hydrogen content in pipeline steel both in the laboratory and in the field. The use of real-time low frequency impedance measurements to monitor hydrogen content in coated steel weldments is presented.© 2010 ASME