Engineering topics

Osburg, Jan

Publications and source records attributed to Osburg, Jan.

3 records

NASA NTRS2011

Advancing Aeronautics: A Decision Framework for Selecting Research Agendas

Publicly funded research has long played a role in the development of aeronautics, ranging from foundational research on airfoils to development of the air-traffic control system. Yet more than a century after the research and development of successful controlled, sustained, heavier-than-air flight vehicles, there are questions over the future of aeronautics research. The field of aeronautics is relatively mature, technological developments within it have become more evolutionary, and funding decisions are sometimes motivated by the continued pursuit of these evolutionary research tracks rather than by larger factors. These developments raise questions over whether public funding of aeronautics research continues to be appropriate or necessary and at what levels. Tightened federal budgets and increasing calls to address other public demands make these questions sharper still. To help it address the questions of appropriate directions for publicly funded aeronautics research, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) asked the RAND Corporation to assess the elements required to develop a strategic view of aeronautics research opportunities; identify candidate aeronautic grand challenges, paradigms, and concepts; outline a framework for evaluating them; and exercise the framework as an example of how to use it. Accordingly, this research seeks to address these questions: What aeronautics research should be supported by the U.S. government? What compelling and desirable benefits drive government-supported research? How should the government--especially NASA--make decisions about which research to support? Advancing aeronautics involves broad policy and decisionmaking challenges. Decisions involve tradeoffs among competing perspectives, uncertainties, and informed judgment.

AERONAUTICS↗

NASA NTRS2009

An Update of the Nation's Long-Term Strategic Needs for NASA's Aeronautics Test Facilities

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) major wind tunnel (WT), propulsion test (PT), and simulation facilities exist to serve NASA's and the nation's aeronautics needs. RAND Corporation researchers conducted a prior study of these facilities from 2002 to 2003, identifying (1) NASA's continuing ability to serve national needs, (2) which facilities appear strategically important from an engineering perspective given the vehicle classes the nation investigates and produces, and (3) management challenges and issues. This documented briefing (DB) is the final report from a new, one-year study (conducted from September 2006 through January 2008), partially updating the prior assessment. The study focuses on updating the list of facilities in the prior study that were deemed to be strategically important (again, from an engineering perspective) in serving those needs. This update also adds a new assessment of national needs for six major aeronautics simulators at NASA and lists those deemed strategically important.

NASA FACILITIES↗

NASA NTRS2005

Enhancing the Design Process for Complex Space Systems through Early Integration of Risk and Variable-Fidelity Modeling

An important enabler of the new national Vision for Space Exploration is the ability to rapidly and efficiently develop optimized concepts for the manifold future space missions that this effort calls for. The design of such complex systems requires a tight integration of all the engineering disciplines involved, in an environment that fosters interaction and collaboration. The research performed under this grant explored areas where the space systems design process can be enhanced: by integrating risk models into the early stages of the design process, and by including rapid-turnaround variable-fidelity tools for key disciplines. Enabling early assessment of mission risk will allow designers to perform trades between risk and design performance during the initial design space exploration. Entry into planetary atmospheres will require an increased emphasis of the critical disciplines of aero- and thermodynamics. This necessitates the pulling forward of EDL disciplinary expertise into the early stage of the design process. Radiation can have a large potential impact on overall mission designs, in particular for the planned nuclear-powered robotic missions under Project Prometheus and for long-duration manned missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond under Project Constellation. This requires that radiation and associated risk and hazards be assessed and mitigated at the earliest stages of the design process. Hence, RPS is another discipline needed to enhance the engineering competencies of conceptual design teams. Researchers collaborated closely with NASA experts in those disciplines, and in overall space systems design, at Langley Research Center and at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This report documents the results of this initial effort.

Mavris, Dimitri↗