This paper describes a telerobotic multi-sensor inspection system for space platforms developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A multi-sensor inspection end-cffcctor incorporates cameras and lighting for visual inspection, as well as temperature and gas leakdetection sensors. A graphical ,user interface at the remotely located operator workstation provides utilities to plan telerobot inspect...

The invention of the CMOS active pixel image sensor “camera-on-a-chip” at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech and its subsequent development and commercialization via the spinoff company Photobit Corporation are discussed. The article traces the arc of the technology from innovation, technology transfer, and entrepreneurial startup to its use today in nearly all mobile phone cameras, ...

Electrospray is the technique to soft-ionize liquids by applying a high electric potential to a liquid meniscus. The liquid meniscus is deformed into a cone [1], and charged species are emitted from its apex. The emission can be solvated ions, charged droplets, or a mix of the two. This low-divergence charged species source can be used in diverse applications such as mass spectrometry, propulsi...

This memo is a brief overview of the work being performed by the QuikSCAT/SeaWinds algorithm group for improving the performance of scatterometer data processing. We summarize recent efforts to adopt an efficient use of the median filter and a physically-based model to improve the ambiguity removal processing. We also review the study to enhance the performance of the processing by devising the...

The terminal navigation of the NEAR spacecraft during its close flyby of asteroid 253 Mathilde involved coordinated efforts first to determine the heliocentric orbits of the spacecraft and Mathilde and then to determine the relative trajectory of the spacecraft with respect to Mathilde. From ground-based optical observations alone, the error of Mathilde’s ephemeris at the time of encounter was ...

tion (NASA) is being challenged to perform more frequent and intensive space-exploration missions at greatly reduced cost. Nowhere is this challenge more acute than among robotic planetary exploration missions that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) conducts for NASA. This article describes recent and ongoing work on spacecraft autonomy and ground systems that builds on a legacy of existing su...

Our objective is to provide a framework of automated tools and techniques for reducing operational and maintenance costs in the NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The focus of our technology application is fault diagnostics and prognostics for ground systems during DSN tracking operations. The domain chosen to demonstrate our capability is the new DSN Full Spectrum Processing Array configuration ...

NASA Tech Briefs, November 2010 yield this behavior. Previous work on mean-square error characterization for ML estimators has predominantly focused on additive Gaussian noise. This work demonstrates that the discrete nature of the Poisson noise process leads to a distinctly different error behavior. This work was done by Baris I. Erkmen and Bruce E. Moision of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion...

A second generation image sensor technology has been developed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a result of the continuing need to miniaturize space science imaging instruments. Implemented using standard CMOS, the active pixel sensor (APS) technology permits the integration of the detector array with on-chip timing, control and signal chain electronics, including analog-to­ digital con...