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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Novel Musculoskeletal Loading System for Small Exercise Devices

Long duration spaceflight places astronauts at increased risk for muscle strain and bone fracture upon return to a 1-g or partial gravity environment. Functionally limiting decrements in musculoskeletal health are likely during Mars proving-ground and Earth-independent missions given extended transit times and the vehicle limitations for exercise devices (low-mass, small volume, little to no power). This is particularly alarming for exploration missions because astronauts will be required to perform novel and physically demanding tasks (i.e. vehicle egress, exploration, and habitat building activities) on unfamiliar terrain. Accordingly, NASA's exploration roadmap identifies the need for development of small exercise equipment that can prevent musculoskeletal atrophy and has the ability to assess musculoskeletal health at multiple time points during long-duration missions.

Downs, Meghan↗
NASA NTRS2015

A Geology Sampling System for Small Bodies

Human exploration of Small Bodies is being investigated as a precursor to a Mars surface mission. Asteroids, comets, dwarf planets, and the moons of Mars all fall into this Small Bodies category and some are being discussed as potential mission tar-gets. Obtaining geological samples for return to Earth will be a major objective for any mission to a Small Body. Currently the knowledge base for geology sampling in microgravity is in its infancy. Furthermore, humans interacting with non-engineered surfaces in a microgravity environment poses unique challenges. In preparation for such missions, a team at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) John-son Space Center (JSC) has been working to gain experience on how to safely obtain numerous sample types in such an environment. This abstract briefly summarizes the type of samples the science community is interested in, discusses an integrated geology sampling solution, and highlights some of the unique challenges associated with this type of exploration.

Hood, A. D.↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Geology Sampling System for Small Bodies

Human exploration of microgravity bodies is being investigated as a precursor to a Mars surface mission. Asteroids, comets, dwarf planets, and the moons of Mars all fall into this microgravity category and some are being discussed as potential mission targets. Obtaining geological samples for return to Earth will be a major objective for any mission to a small body. Currently, the knowledge base for geology sampling in microgravity is in its infancy. Humans interacting with non-engineered surfaces in microgravity environment pose unique challenges. In preparation for such missions a team at the NASA Johnson Space Center has been working to gain experience on how to safely obtain numerous sample types in such an environment. This paper describes the type of samples the science community is interested in, highlights notable prototype work, and discusses an integrated geology sampling solution.

Naids, Adam J.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Verification of a Remaining Flying Time Prediction System for Small Electric Aircraft

This paper addresses the problem of building trust in online predictions of a battery powered aircraft's remaining available flying time. A set of ground tests is described that make use of a small unmanned aerial vehicle to verify the performance of remaining flying time predictions. The algorithm verification procedure described here uses a fully functional vehicle that is restrained to a platform for repeated run-to-functional-failure experiments. The vehicle under test is commanded to follow a predefined propeller RPM profile in order to create battery demand profiles similar to those expected in flight. The fully integrated aircraft is repeatedly operated until the charge stored in powertrain batteries falls below a specified lower-limit. The time at which the lower-limit on battery charge is crossed is then used to measure the accuracy of remaining flying time predictions. Accuracy requirements are considered in this paper for an alarm that warns operators when remaining flying time is estimated to fall below a specified threshold.

Hogge, Edward F.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Development of Low-Cost Micromanipulation Systems for Small Extraterrestrial Samples

The analysis of microscale to mm-scale astromaterials often involves the transfer of samples from storage or collection substrates to analytical substrates. These transfers are accomplished by hand (via tweezers or fine-tipped needles) or by utilizing micromanipulation instruments. Freehand manipulation of small particles is extremely challenging due to involuntary hand tremors on the order of 100μm and due to the triboelectric charging induced by frequent contact between the manipulation tool and the support substrate. Months or years of practice may be required before an investigator develops the necessary experience to confidently transfer a 10-20μm particle in this manner. Handling even mm-sized particles with fine-tipped tweezers can be challenging, due to the inability to precisely control the force with which grains are being held. Mechanical, hydraulic, and motorized/electrical micromanipulators enable the precise handling of microscale samples and are often utilized in laboratories where frequent small sample preparation is required. However, the price of such instruments (~ $10,000 to $100,000) makes them cost-prohibitive for some institutions. Graduate students or early-career scientists interested in conducting research on interplanetary dust particles, Itokawa particles returned by Hayabusa, or future samples returned by OSIRIS-REx or Hayabusa2 may experience difficulty in justifying the expense of a micromanipulator to their advisors or principle investigators. Johnson Space Center’s Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office and the Lunar and Planetary Institute conduct annual training for early career scientists and for investigators that require experience with handling of small extraterrestrial samples. In support of this training, we have been developing low-cost mechanical alternatives to expensive micromanipulators that training participants can implement in their respective facilities.

Snead, Christopher J.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Error and Correction Analysis for the FFA@CEBAF Energy Upgrade

An energy upgrade design for the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) is under development, using fixed field alternating gradient (FFA) return arcs to recirculate electron beam up to an additional five times through the accelerating structures at CEBAF. A necessary component of any large accelerator is a beam steering and optical correction system. Small environmental changes and system errors can lower beam quality or even shut down the machine; and in pursuit of the scientific mission of JLab, high quality electron beams must be delivered to the experimental halls on a predictable schedule. Correction in the novel FFA arcs of the current upgrade design is complicated by several factors. These complexities inform the choice of correction algorithm structure and parameter values. A baseline algorithm in addition to diagnostic and correction hardware configuration is presented. The effect of this correction protocol is shown with respect to estimated errors, and several possible extensions of the algorithm are discussed. This work presents an important proof of concept for the FFA@CEBAF design effort, and provides a functional correction strategy which may be simply adjusted and optimized for future design changes.

Coxe, Alex [Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (Unite↗
NASA NTRS1992

An electronic pan/tilt/zoom camera system

A small camera system is described for remote viewing applications that employs fisheye optics and electronics processing for providing pan, tilt, zoom, and rotational movements. The fisheye lens is designed to give a complete hemispherical FOV with significant peripheral distortion that is corrected with high-speed electronic circuitry. Flexible control of the viewing requirements is provided by a programmable transformation processor so that pan/tilt/rotation/zoom functions can be accomplished without mechanical movements. Images are presented that were taken with a prototype system using a CCD camera, and 5 frames/sec can be acquired from a 180-deg FOV. The image-tranformation device can provide multiple images with different magnifications and pan/tilt/rotation sequences at frame rates compatible with conventional video devices. The system is of interest to the object tracking, surveillance, and viewing in constrained environments that would require the use of several cameras.

Zimmermann, Steve↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) Demand Model

The Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) demand modeling is a tool that will be useful for decision-makers to analyze SATS demands in both airport and airspace. We constructed a series of models following the general top-down, modular principles in systems engineering. There are three principal models, SATS Airport Demand Model (SATS-ADM), SATS Flight Demand Model (SATS-FDM), and LMINET-SATS. SATS-ADM models SATS operations, by aircraft type, from the forecasts in fleet, configuration and performance, utilization, and traffic mixture. Given the SATS airport operations such as the ones generated by SATS-ADM, SATS-FDM constructs the SATS origin and destination (O&D) traffic flow based on the solution of the gravity model, from which it then generates SATS flights using the Monte Carlo simulation based on the departure time-of-day profile. LMINET-SATS, an extension of LMINET, models SATS demands at airspace and airport by all aircraft operations in US The models use parameters to provide the user with flexibility and ease of use to generate SATS demand for different scenarios. Several case studies are included to illustrate the use of the models, which are useful to identify the need for a new air traffic management system to cope with SATS.

Long, Dou↗