Summer Series Colloquia
2010 Summer Seminar Series
Dr. Darlene Lim
On Tuesday, June 8, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Dr. Darlene Lim will present the first colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “Pavilion Lake Research Project: Using Underwater Field Science to Prepare Humans for Future Planetary Exploration.” This presentation will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees and especially our Ames summer students are cordially invited.
Abstract:
Analog field science and exploration research can approximate the Earth’s past as well as humanity’s future in space. Analog field research affords the opportunity to study modern terrestrial systems and acquire geochemical, physical, technical, social and other data relatable to historical or future scenarios that cannot be accessed directly. Such is the case with the research of the Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP). The PLRP – a multi-disciplinary, science and exploration endeavor – focuses on understanding the morphogenesis of modern microbialites in Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada. Microbialite is a general term used to describe organo-sedimentary structures, which include stromatolites that are commonly formed through the trapping and binding of sediment and/or mineralization of microbes. By characterizing the biological and physiochemical controls that influence the development of microbialites in Pavilion Lake, we are afforded an opportunity to test hypotheses related to factors that controlled the distribution and occurrence of microbialites in the fossil record. Over the years, the PLRP has employed a suite of lab and field based methods to accomplish their scientific and exploration goals. In doing so, it became apparent that this project presented another analog application – human planetary exploration. The project’s field research demands the seamless integration of science and exploration field activities in an underwater environment inherently hostile to humans. The physical, mental and operational rigors associated with PLRP field science and exploration activities are comparable to extra-vehicular activities (EVA) where scientific exploration is a key driver. Darlene will present a synopsis of the analog science and exploration activities at Pavilion Lake and discuss the forthcoming 2010 field season that is weeks away from commencing.
Biography:
Darlene is a limnologist based at the NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute. She has spent over a decade conducting earth science and astrobiology research around the world. She has been involved in Mars and Lunar analog research for numerous years. Some of the larger analog programs she has contributed to include the Haughton Mars Project, Desert RATs, and the Pavilion Lake Research Project. She is currently the Principal Investigator of the Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) (www.pavilionlake.com).
Dr. Anthony Colaprete
On Tuesday, June 15, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Dr. Anthony Colaprete, will present the second colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “Results from the LCROSS Experiment.” Anthony Colaprete is the principal investigator on the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) project, an extremely successful mission that has provided new insights into the presence of volatiles on the moon’s surface. His presentation will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees and especially our Ames summer students are cordially invited.
Abstract:
On Oct. 9, 2009, at approximately 11:31:19 UTC the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Centaur impacted within about 100 meters of the planned target on the moon. The impact resulted in an ejecta cloud that was observed to expand to over 10 km across and to a height of more than 15 km above the surface. All instruments on the LCROSS spacecraft performed well and a wealth of data was collected. All portions of the impact, including the flash, ejecta curtain and resulting crater, were observed. From the data the presence of water ice was confirmed, as was the presence of several other compounds. In this presentation an overview of the results will be presented.
Biography:
Dr. Anthony (Tony) Colaprete received his B.A in physics from the University of Colorado in 1992, and his Ph.D in astrophysical, planetary and atmospheric science from the University of Colorado in 2000. Colaprete has worked on a variety of space projects ranging from sounding rocket and space shuttle flights, to micro and small satellites. He has contributed to various projects at Ames including the Pascal Scout Mission for which he is the deputy principal investigator, the Mars Polar Drill Scout mission for which he is leading the effort on the meteorology package, and the Lunar Robotic program for which he is the science/payload lead on one of the Ames proposals. This is all in addition to his role as principal investigator on LCROSS. In addition to his project and instrumentation work, Colaprete is internationally recognized for his work on the nature of the Martian climate system. He has developed state-of-the-art cloud microphysical schemes and incorporated them into the NASA/Ames Mars General Circulation Model. He has used these models to show that carbon dioxide ice clouds on early Mars warm the surface through a scattering greenhouse process, but not to the levels previously thought. He has shown that impact events on early Mars can dramatically alter the planet’s climate system and could provide an explanation for many of the fluvial features.
Dr. Kai Goebel
On Tuesday, June 22, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Dr. Kai Goebel, will present the third colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “When will it Break? Prognostics and Health Management in Aeronautics and Space Applications.” This is an opportunity to learn about some of the world-class research that is being performed in the Intelligent Systems Division at Ames Research Center. His presentation will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees and especially our Ames summer students are cordially invited.
Abstract:
To ensure mission success, NASA has at its disposal a suite of tools and methods. These include the use of reliable components that are designed to ensure that mean time between failure satisfies mission requirements. Next, hardware redundancy is employed to provide backup capability of critical components. Active health management can be carried out where autonomous online component performance monitoring is performed and where indications of abnormal behavior are determined. This talk centers around the advanced capability of this technology. Questions that we try to answer include: How does one detect the early onset of faults with limited sensing? How does one ensure that sensor misbehavior does not throw off the analysis? How does one determine when a component will fail? The talk will illuminate the past, present, and future of this field with a number of examples.
Biography:
Goebel holds M.S. (1993) and Ph.D. (1996) degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He is the director of the Prognostics Center of Excellence at NASA Ames Research Center and the associate principal investigator for Prognostics for NASA’s Integrated Vehicle Health Management Program. Before joining Ames, he spent a decade at General Electric Corporate R&D. He has co-authored more than 150 papers and holds 13 patents in the area of systems health management.
Dr. Natalie Batalha
On Tuesday, June 29, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Dr. Natalie Batalha will present the fourth colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “Catching Shadows: Kepler’s Search for New Worlds.” The Kepler mission is NASA’s first mission capable of finding Earth-size and smaller planets around other stars. The results from this Discovery-class mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the galaxy. Her presentation will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees and especially our Ames summer students are cordially invited.
Abstract:
Humankind’s speculation about the existence of other worlds like our own has turned into a veritable quest with the launch of NASA’s Kepler spacecraft in March 2009. The mission is designed to survey a slice of the Milky Way Galaxy to identify planets as small as Earth in or near the habitable zone and determine their frequency. Dr. Batalha will describe the techniques employed by Kepler to identify Earth-like planets and share the tantalizing first results that have been released after just one year of operations. Biography: Dr. Natalie Batalha is a professor of physics and astronomy at San Jose State University in the heart of Silicon Valley, California and co-investigator on NASA’s Kepler Mission. She holds a bachelor’s in physics from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, and a doctorate in astrophysics from UC Santa Cruz. Dr. Batalha started her career as a stellar spectroscopist studying young, sun-like stars. After a post-doctoral fellowship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dr. Batalha returned to California. Inspired by the growing number of exoplanet discoveries, she joined the team led by William Borucki at NASA’s Ames Research Center working on transit photometry — an emerging technology for finding exoplanets. Eleven years later, she stands poised with the Kepler team to make discoveries that humans, up to now, have left to the imagination and the realms of science fiction.
Dr. Ramakrishna Nemani
On Tuesday, July 6, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Dr. Ramakrishna Nemani will present the fifth colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “Earth Science Collaborative for Ecological Forecasting.” This work has the potential to revolutionize the way we use NASA satellite data to improve the efficient use of natural resources such as water in agriculture, as well as to develop climate mitigation strategies. His presentation will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees and especially our Ames summer students are cordially invited.
Abstract:
Earth observing satellites from NASA and other international space agencies collect every day several terabytes of data about oceans, land, and the atmosphere. However, access to these datasets and the computing resources required to analyze are limited. To address this problem, Ames is building the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX), a collaborative compute platform for the Earth science community, creating new ways for scientific interaction and knowledge sharing. Funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, NEX combines state-of-the-art supercomputing, Earth system modeling, workflow management, NASA remote sensing data feeds, and a social networking platform to deliver a complete work environment in which users can explore and analyze large datasets, run modeling codes, collaborate on new or existing projects, and quickly share results among Earth science communities. A primary focus of NEX is the integration of ground, airborne and satellite observations with weather, climate, and ecosystem models to produce ecological forecasts, biological equivalents of climate forecasts. Robust ecological forecasts developed through community participation are an important component of improving the efficiency of natural resources use such as better water management in agriculture and for developing climate mitigation strategies.
Biography:
Ramakrishna Nemani is a research scientist with the Biospheric Sciences Branch at NASA Ames Research Center, where he directs the Ecological Forecasting Lab. Prior to arriving at NASA Ames in 2003, he was a research professor at the University of Montana. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed papers in ecology, climatology and remote sensing. He is a team member of the Earth Observing System and Landsat Data Continuity Missions. He has received several awards at Ames, including the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement award in 2008.
Dr. S. Pete Worden
On Tuesday, July 13, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Ames Center Director Dr. S. Pete Worden will present the sixth colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “Protecting Earth from Asteroids.” There has been growing interest and attention by the public and the scientific community in identifying potentially hazardous asteroids and considering mitigation strategies. Congress has assigned NASA these tasks. In this talk, Worden will review the current status of these studies and programs, as well as introduce some future possibilities and issues. This talk will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees, and especially our summer students, are cordially invited to attend. This is an opportunity to learn about what can be done to protect the planet from asteroid impacts.
Biography:
Dr. Simon P. Worden (Brig. Gen., USAF, ret.) is the director of NASA Ames Research Center. Prior positions for Worden include: research professor of Astronomy, Optical Sciences and Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona; director of Development and Transformation, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command; Consultant to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on space-related issues; Congressional Fellow with the Office of Senator Sam Brownback as advisor on NASA and space issues; staff officer for the President’s National Space Council. Worden spearheaded efforts to revitalize U.S. civil space exploration and Earthmonitoring systems. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific technical papers in astrophysics, space sciences and strategic studies, served as a scientific coinvestigator for two NASA space science missions and is a recognized expert on space issues – both civil and military. Worden retired in 2004 after 29 years of active service in the United States Air Force.
Laura Kushner
On Tuesday, July 20, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Laura Kushner will present the seventh colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “Experimentation in Aerodynamics.” This is an opportunity to learn about some of the cool work we do in the wind tunnels at Ames Research Center. Her presentation will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees, and especially our Ames summer students, are cordially invited.
Abstract:
The Fluid Mechanics Laboratory (FML) at NASA Ames Research Center uses a variety of advanced measurement techniques to investigate the flow around models of aeronautical and aerospace interest. This presentation will give an overview of some of the techniques commonly used by members of the FML and how these techniques are combined to get a complete picture of what is happening around and on the object of interest. Techniques include: Pressure Sensitive Paint, Schlieren, Background Oriented Schlieren, Particle Image Velocimetry, and Fringe Imagining Skin Friction. Projects include: CEV (Orion), FAITH, Peregrine Rocket, Space Shuttle, Mars Science Lab (MSL) and Truck/Coal Car Aerodynamics.
Biography:
Laura Kushner received her BS in physics and astronomy from the University of Washington in 2007. She first came to Ames as an intern, and was hired full-time when she graduated. At Ames, Kushner focuses on optical methods for making aeronautical measurements. She has worked on numerous projects including Orion, Mars Science Laboratory, LCROSS and various rotorcraft projects.
Dr. Tori Hoehler
On Tuesday, July 27, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Dr. Tori Hoehler will present the eighth colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “A ‘Follow the Energy’ Approach in Astrobiology.” This is an opportunity to learn about some of the work we do in astrobiology at Ames Research Center. His presentation will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees, and especially our Ames summer students, are cordially invited.
Abstract:
The core astrobiology concepts of habitability and biosignatures are presently conceived in largely empirical terms, by reference to the Earthly example of life. Recent progress and coming challenges in astrobiological exploration illustrate a need to transition from an empirical to a mechanistic and quantitative understanding of these concepts. One approach for doing so places life in the context of energy flow – all life requires energy (a constraint on habitability), and life as we know it “manages” energy flow in ways not found in abiotic processes (a form of biosignature). This perspective holds potential to add quantitative rigor, by enabling thermodynamic descriptions of habitability and biosignatures, while also avoiding some of the bias that may result from extensive reference to terrestrial life. In current work, a “follow the energy” approach is being applied to understanding habitability in the Martian subsurface, and the utilization of “disequilibrium” as a biosignature for exoplanetary atmospheres.
Biography:
Dr. Hoehler received his B.S. in Chemistry (1992) and Ph.D. in Marine Chemistry (1998) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Tori Hoehler has been a part of the Exobiology Branch at Ames since 1998, first as an NRC postdoctoral fellow, and subsequently as a staff scientist. With a background in chemistry and oceanography, he now studies microbial community dynamics in extreme and analog environments, from the deep sea floor to the high arctic. His work focuses on the relationship between life and energy flow, particularly as it bears on the core astrobiology concepts of habitability and biosignatures. Tori is a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, where he also serves as a science advisor for content development, a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, and was the American Geophysical Union’s Carl Sagan Lecturer for 2009.
Dr. Andrew Watson
On Tuesday, Aug. 3, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Dr. Andrew Watson will present the ninth colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “Vision Science and Visual Technology.” This is an opportunity to learn about some of the research going on in the Human Systems Integration Division at Ames Research Center. His presentation will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees and especially our Ames summer students are cordially invited.
Abstract:
As our primary means of gathering information from the world, visual perception is a key focus of human factors research. This is especially true in space and aviation, as humans attempt to navigate through complex and dangerous environments, relying upon direct vision and visual displays. At Ames Research Center, we have addressed this challenge by building computational models of human vision, and applying them to important problems in visual human factors. In this talk I will give a brief summary of the most significant aspects of human vision and show how they can be modeled. I will then show how the models can be used to answer critical questions about human visual performance, and to optimize visual technologies, such as visual displays, digital images, and digital video.
Biography:
Andrew B. Watson attended Columbia University and received a PhD in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. He subsequently did postdoctoral work at the University of Cambridge in England and at Stanford University in California. Since 1980 he has worked at NASA Ames Research Center in California, where he is the Senior Scientist for Vision Research, and where he works on models of vision and their application to visual technology. He is the author of over 100 scientific papers on human vision, visual neuroscience, image quality, and digital imaging. He has five patents, in image compression, video quality, and detection of artifacts in display manufacturing. In 2001, he founded the Journal of Vision (http://journalofvision.org), where he now serves as Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Watson is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, a Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and a Fellow of the Society for Information Display. In 1990, he received from NASA the H. Julian Allen Award for outstanding scientific paper, and in 1993 he was appointed Ames Associate Fellow for exceptional scientific achievement. He is the 2007 recipient of the Otto Schade Award from the Society for Information Display, and the 2008 winner of the Special Recognition Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.
Dr. Stuart Rogers
On Tuesday, August 10th, at 2 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (N201), Dr. Stuart Rogers will present the last colloquium in the 2010 Director’s Colloquium Summer Series entitled, “Aerodynamics and Debris Transport for the Space Shuttle Launch Vehicle.” This is an opportunity to learn about some of the work Ames does in support of the Space Shuttle Program. His presentation will be followed by a reception in the lobby of Building 200. All Ames employees and especially our Ames summer students are cordially invited.
Abstract:
This talk will give an overview of work for the Space Shuttle program analyzing the ascent aerodynamics of the Space Shuttle Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and in developing and applying debris analysis tools. Growth over the past two decades of the NASA supercomputer facilities at Ames, together with maturity and capability of NASA computational simulation capabilities has advanced the ability to add significant detail to the computational models of the SSLV. This ability was used during the investigation of the loss of the Columbia Space Shuttle due to foam-debris damage, and during subsequent return-to-flight efforts. This effort included the use of computational simulations to develop aerodynamic models for foam, ice, and other types of debris. Debris analysis has included evaluation of all possible ice debris from the External tank, leading to a new launch-commit criteria for the formation of ice during the final inspection. The current support for the Space Shuttle debris team includes working from the Mission Control Center at JSC during the final countdown for each Shuttle mission.
Biography:
Stuart Rogers works in the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division, and has worked at NASA Ames Research Center for the past 21 years developing and applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software tools. He began his career working in the area of incompressible flow, authoring the INS2D and INS3D CFD codes and applying them to problems in propulsion, hydrodynamics, and bio-fluid flows. He then moved into high-lift aerodynamics analysis, and the development of overset-grid software tools. Since the 2003 Columbia accident he has been working for the Space Shuttle Program, performing computations studying ascent aerodynamics and debris analysis. During the past two years he has also been performing aerodynamic analysis of the Launch Abort System for the Orion vehicle. He obtained his B.S. (1983) and M.S. (1985) in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado, and Ph.D. (1989) in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford. Dr. Rogers has received two NASA Medals for Exceptional Engineering Achievement, the Ames Honor Award for Engineer, the Ames Honor Award for Scientist; he received the NASA Software of the Year Award in 1994 as well as honorable mention for NASA Software of the Year Award in 1998, and was a recipient of the Arthur Flemming Award in 2000.
