The Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging Plus (DAVINCI+) mission is one of four finalists now in Phase A study as part of the ongoing Discovery Program competition [1-5]. If selected for flight, DAVINCI+ will be the first mission to Venus to incorporate flybys, a descent probe, and an orbital phase into one unified architecture – at the cost of a Discovery mission. The result will be a transformative new understanding of the atmosphere, surface, and evolutionary path of Venus as a once-habitable planet [6] (and model exoplanet) that is now host to a certainly unhabitable surface environment.

In May of 2011, NASA selected the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid sample return mission as the third mission in the New Frontiers program. The other two New Frontiers missions are New Horizons, which explored Pluto during a flyby in July 2015 and is on its way for a flyby of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019, and Juno, an orbiting mission that is studying the origin, evolution, and internal structure of Jupiter. The spacecraft departed for near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 evolved expendable launch vehicle at 7:05 p.m. EDT on September 8, 2016, on a seven-year journey to return samples from Bennu. The spacecraft is on an outbound-cruise trajectory that will result in a rendezvous with Bennu in August 2018. The science instruments on the spacecraft will survey Bennu to measure its physical, geological, and chemical properties, and the team will use these data to select a site on the surface to collect at least 60 g of asteroid regolith. The team will also analyze the remote-sensing data to perform a detailed study of the sample site for context, assess Bennus resource potential, refine estimates of its impact probability with Earth, and provide ground-truth data for the extensive astronomical data set collected on this asteroid. The spacecraft will leave Bennu in 2021 and return the sample to the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) on September 24, 2023.

Das Beispiel des von der Volkswagen-Konzernforschung entwickelten Temporary Auto Pilot (TAP) zeigt, wie eine hochautomatische Fahrfunktion zukuenftig aussehen kann und wie sich die Huerden auf dem Weg zu dieser Funktion meistern lassen. Der TAP buendelt hochautomatische, vom Fahrer ueberwachte Fahrfunktionen mit anderen etablierten Fahrerassistenzsystemen (FAS) zu einer integralen Gesamtfunktion. Im Pilot-Modus uebernimmt der TAP auf Autobahnen zwischen 0 und 130 km/h in monotonen Fahrsituationen die Quer-und Laengsfuehrung des Fahrzeugs. Hierdurch sollen Unfaelle durch Fahrfehler eines unaufmerksamen, abgelenkten Fahrers verhindert werden. Der Fahrer behaelt immer die Kontrolle: Er kann das System jederzeit uebersteuern beziehungsweise deaktivieren und muss dieses dauerhaft ueberwachen. Dies kontrolliert eine Fahrerzustandserfassung. Ausserhalb des definierten Anwendungsszenarios kommen etablierte Fahrerassistenzsysteme wie ACC oder Lane Departure Warning (LDW) zum Einsatz. Durch eine Auswahl von Systemstatusdiagramm und -anzeige gelingt eine harmonische, fuer den Fahrer transparente Funktionsintegration des Piloten mit den etablierten FAS. Technische Grundlage des TAP ist eine vergleichsweise seriennahe Sensorplattform bestehend aus Radar-, Kamera-, Laser- und Ultraschallsensoren, ergaenzt durch einen elektronischen Horizont. Deren Messdaten werden in einem modularen Umfeldmodell fusioniert, das sich aus einem Objekt- und Fahrbahnmodell sowie einem Belegungsgitter zusammensetzt. Auf diesem Umfeldmodell basieren alle nachfolgenden Aktionsplaner und -entscheider. Um einem Fehlgebrauch des TAP vorzubeugen, werden Fahreraufmerksamkeit und -muedigkeit durch direkte und indirekte Messmethoden ermittelt und in einem Fahrermodell zusammengefuehrt. (A) ABSTRACT IN ENGLISH: Fully automatic driving does not have to remain fiction. Highly automated driving, in other words driving functions that are monitored by the driver, might already be available on the market in the near future as the next evolution step for driver assistance systems. The example of the Temporary Auto Pilot (TAP) developed by Volkswagen Group Research shows what such a highly automated driving function might look like in the future and how the obstacles on the path to this function can be overcome. (A)

Introduction: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been flying in its nominal, or mapping, orbit of ~50 km above the surface of the Moon since September 15, 2009 [1]. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Narrow Angle Camera (LROC-NAC) takes high resolution images using two identical line scan cameras (NACL and NACR) with pointing offset from each other by ~2.79o cross-track and ~0.082o along-track. This results in a measured average alongtrack offset of ~67-127 lines, depending on summing mode and scanning rate, and an overlap of the L-R footprints of 68 or 136 pixels in summed or nonsummed mode, respectively. The along-track offset was planned to provide a measure of pointing jitter at a higher frequency than is provided by the spacecraft Attitude Control System (ACS). The high spatial resolution (10 μrad IFOV, or up to 0.5 m pixel scale) [2] makes NAC images susceptible to spacecraft jitter that results in geometric distortions in line scan images. This was shown to occur and to have negative effects on Digital Terrain Model (DTM) quality during the Commissioning Phase of LRO [3,4]. Here we present the ongoing study of mapping orbit jitter, its effects on DTMs, and potential mitigation strategies. LRO is currently operating in the Science Phase of the mission and plans are to return to an orbit similar to that of the Commissioning Phase (fixed 27x216 km elliptical orbit) in the latter part of 2011. Measuring Jitter in LROC-NAC Images: The method for measuring jitter from non map-projected images remains much the same as in [3]. The overlapping portion of each NACL and NACR images is cropped out. The Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers Version 3 (ISIS3) application coreg [5] is used to measure pixel offsets in the line (alongtrack) and sample (cross-track) directions in the overlapping area. Improved radiometric calibration for LROC-NAC incorporated into ISIS results in measurements of high confidence at the sub-pixel level. Pixel offsets are measured in images without any a priori pointing information (fig. 1). Mapping Phase vs. Commissioning Phase Jitter: Spacecraft jitter was lessened when the spacecraft went from the Commissioning orbit to the 50-km circular Primary Phase orbit. This reduction was demonstrable by the improved quality of DTMs using mapping orbit stereo images. The suspected cause of the improvement is the range of solar array disturbance frequencies during the Commissioning Phase included dominant solar array resonance modes that affect NAC stereo images, whereas in the mapping orbit the dominant resonance modes were outside of the range of disturbance frequencies. The solar arrays are stowed in the beta=90o position during beta>53o, which improves stability during optimal NAC stereo imaging conditions. However, jitter does still occur in the mapping orbit, causing noise and artifacts in DTMs (fig. 2), although for the most part these effects are typically 10x less than those seen in the Commissioning Phase orbit. Jitter effects in DTMs: In almost all cases, spacecraft jitter causes no obvious distortions in LROCNAC images. However, even imperceptible geometric distortions degrade the results of stereo matching software used in DTM production. These effects have been observed in some DTMs produced from NAC stereo images by all groups making DTMs, regardless of the method or software [4,6]. A significant number of stereo images acquired in the Commissioning Phase had a level of jitter that caused a distinctive ripple pattern in the DTM [3,4] (fig. 2, left). This pattern is parallel to the cross-track direction, indicating that the distortions responsible are predominantly in the sample, or spacecraft roll, direction [7]. Distortions in the line direction, or spacecraft pitch, cause y-parallax during stereo

As of June 19, 2010, the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, an instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, has collected over 2.0 × 109 measurements of elevation that collectively represent the highest resolution global model of lunar topography yet produced. These altimetric observations have been used to improve the lunar geodetic grid to ∼10 m radial and ∼100 m spatial accuracy with respect to the Moon's center of mass. LOLA has also provided the highest resolution global maps yet produced of slopes, roughness and the 1064‐nm reflectance of the lunar surface. Regional topography of the lunar polar regions allows precise characterization of present and past illumination conditions. LOLA's initial global data sets as well as the first high‐resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) of polar topography are described herein.

The Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) is one of the payload science instruments on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, which launched on August 3, 2004. The altimeter will measure the round-trip time of flight of transmitted laser pulses reflected from the surface of the planet that, in combination with the spacecraft orbit position and pointing data, gives a high-precision measurement of surface topography referenced to Mercury's center of mass. MLA will sample the planet's surface to within a 1-m range error when the line-of-sight range to Mercury is less than 1,200 km under spacecraft nadir pointing or the slant range is less than 800 km. The altimeter measurements will be used to determine the planet's forced physical librations by tracking the motion of large-scale topographic features as a function of time. MLA's laser pulse energy monitor and the echo pulse energy estimate will provide an active measurement of the surface reflectivity at 1,064 nm. This paper describes the instrument design, prelaunch testing, calibration, and results of postlaunch testing.

The High resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC) and the Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera II (SHARC II) will use almost identical versions of an ion-implanted silicon bolometer array developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The GSFC "Pop-Up" Detectors (PUD's) use a unique folding technique to enable a 12 × 32-element close-packed array of bolometers with a filling factor greater than 95 percent. A kinematic Kevlar suspension system isolates the 200 mK bolometers from the helium bath temperature, and GSFC - developed silicon bridge chips make electrical connection to the bolometers, while maintaining thermal isolation. The JFET preamps operate at 120 K. Providing good thermal heat sinking for these, and keeping their conduction and radiation from reaching the nearby bolometers, is one of the principal design challenges encountered. Another interesting challenge is the preparation of the silicon bolometers. They are manufactured in 32-element, planar rows using Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) semiconductor etching techniques, and then cut and folded onto a ceramic bar. Optical alignment using specialized jigs ensures their uniformity and correct placement. The rows are then stacked to create the 12 × 32-element array. Engineering results from the first light run of SHARC II at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) are presented.

We report the design, testing, and performance verification of the Mercury Laser Altimeter, which is one of the payload science instruments on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry, and Ranging mission, scheduled to be launched in July-August 2004. The altimeter will provide measurement of the Mercury surface topography via laser pulse time-of-flight. The instrument is capable of ranging to greater than 800km distance at a ranging error standard deviation of 0.15-m.

High-resolution Airborne Wide-band Camera (HAWC[Formula: see text]) is the facility far-infrared imager and polarimeter for SOFIA, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. It is designed to cover the portion of the infrared spectrum that is completely inaccessible to ground-based observatories and which is essential for studies of astronomical sources with temperatures between tens and hundreds of degrees Kelvin. Its ability to make polarimetric measurements of aligned dust grains provides a unique new capability for studying interstellar magnetic fields. HAWC[Formula: see text] began commissioning flights in April 2016 and was accepted as a facility instrument in early 2018. In this paper, we describe the instrument, its operational procedures, and its performance on the observatory.

We report the design and test results of the mercury laser altimeter on the MESSENGER mission to be launched in July-August 2004. The altimeter will provide planet surface topography measurements via laser pulse time-of-flight.