Presented by: Rick Schnurr/560, James Rash/588, Keith Hogie/CSC, Ron Parise/CSC, and Ed Criscuolo/CSC
When: October 18, 2001 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: GSFC Building 26 Room 205
This seminar describes technology activities at NASA/GSFC that focus on reducing costs and enabling new operations concepts for future NASA science missions by using Internet protocols all the way to the spacecraft. It covers overall concepts, technical details, and results of ground and space based tests.
Agenda 1:00 NASA/GSFC Space Internet Concepts and Plans 1:30 Space Internet Technical and Implementation details 2:15 Space Internet Experimental Results 2:50 Summary/Final Q&AMr. Schnurr will briefly review the activities at NASA/ GSFC related to deploying Internet protocols on future space missions. This includes a range of projects such as flight qualified network hardware components, flight software, RF link projects, and ground system upgrades.
Mr. Rash will review the basic concepts of the Operating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI) project at GSFC. The goal of the OMNI project is to design future satellite communication systems using primarily off-the-shelf Internet network technologies.
Mr. Hogie will discuss detailed technical issues related to space communication and how the OMNI project deals with them using standard Internet communication equipment and protocols. This includes space link characteristics of existing missions and how a layered networking protocol approach can be applied to support future missions. It also includes comparison of Internet protocols and currently used space communication protocols.
Over the last two years the OMNI project has performed tests using standard Internet protocols over space links. These include tests over NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) and on-orbit using the UoSAT-12 spacecraft.
Mr. Parise and Mr. Criscuolo will describe the space and ground modifications made to support Internet protocols in space and tests performed. The ground based tests include delivery of audio, video, and data over TDRSS using Internet protocols. The on-orbit tests include basic connectivity tests (PING), automated spacecraft clock synchronization (NTP), reliable file transfer (FTP), housekeeping and telemetry data delivery (UDP), and general purpose access to the spacecraft with a web browser (HTTP). Current and future tests of onboard Linux, Mobile IP, and IPsec will also be discussed.
Rick Schnurr is currently the Assistant Chief for technology of the Electrical systems center within the Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate at NASA/GSFC. His responsibilities include the coordination all electrical technology activities within the center.
Mr. Schnurr also serves as the Goddard work area manager for Internet in Space activities. In this role Mr. Schnurr coordinates all SOMO IP in space activities at GSFC. Mr. Schnurr's Prime technical interests include new on board computing and networking architectures and advanced flight software architectures. Mr. Schnurr has extensive experience in the development of flight electronics and flight subsystems for Explorer and Shuttle missions.
Trained as a mathematician, Mr. Rash joined NASA/GSFC in 1985. In his career at Goddard, he has pursued analysis of RF space communications, developed a space mission communications scheduling system based on evolutionary programming, and worked to develop artificial intelligence technologies applicable to space missions. For the past several years, he has been pursuing formal methods as a means to enable cost-effective development of high reliability systems. Recently, he has managed the Operating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI) Project, which has successfully demonstrated concepts and technologies for using standard Internet protocols for space communications.
Mr. Hogie has an extensive background in designing and building satellite data processing systems, control centers, and networks at GSFC. He has developed ground data processing systems and control centers for over 14 spacecraft over the last 25 years at NASA/GSFC, and led the development of the NASA Internetworking Laboratory Environment in 1990. He is the technical leader of the OMNI project at GSFC where he is applying his networking and satellite background to develop and demonstrate new communication technologies for future space missions.
In 1984, Dr. Parise was selected as a payload specialist astronaut and was involved in mission planning, simulator development, integration and test activities, flight procedure development, and scientific data analysis. He has logged 615 hours in space as a member of the STS-35 and STS-67 crews. In 1996 Dr. Parise assumed a communications engineering support role for Mir, International Space Station (ISS), and the X-38 project. In 1997 Dr. Parise also began working with the OMNI project as a scientific liaison and systems architect.
Edward Criscuolo Jr. joined Computer Sciences Corp. in 1991 as a Senior Computer Scientist working for the Goddard Space Flight Center. In that time, he has been the task lead for a number of spacecraft ground system projects that span many aspects of Goddard space missions, including Planning & Scheduling systems, spacecraft command management, and level-0 processing of telemetry and science data. In 1999, Mr. Criscuolo joined the OMNI project as a senior project member, where his duties include systems analysis, systems engineering, top-level design, prototype development, and backup technical lead.