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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Integrated Refrigeration and Storage for Advanced Liquid Hydrogen Operations

NASA has used liquefied hydrogen (LH2) on a large scale since the beginning of the space program as fuel for the Centaur and Apollo upper stages, and more recently to feed the three space shuttle main engines. The LH2 systems currently in place at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) launch pads are aging and inefficient compared to the state-of-the-art. Therefore, the need exists to explore advanced technologies and operations that can drive commodity costs down, and provide increased capabilities. The Ground Operations Demonstration Unit for Liquid Hydrogen (GODU-LH2) was developed at KSC to pursue these goals by demonstrating active thermal control of the propellant state by direct removal of heat using a cryocooler. The project has multiple objectives including zero loss storage and transfer, liquefaction of gaseous hydrogen, and densification of liquid hydrogen. The key technology challenge was efficiently integrating the cryogenic refrigerator into the LH2 storage tank. A Linde LR1620 Brayton cycle refrigerator is used to produce up to 900W cooling at 20K, circulating approximately 22 g/s gaseous helium through the hydrogen via approximately 300 m of heat exchanger tubing. The GODU-LH2 system is fully operational, and is currently under test. This paper will discuss the design features of the refrigerator and storage system, as well as the current test results.

Liquefaction↗
NASA NTRS1993

An Experimental Parametric Study of Geometric, Reynolds Number, and Ratio of Specific Heats Effects in Three-Dimensional Sidewall Compression Scramjet Inlets at Mach 6

Since mission profiles for airbreathing hypersonic vehicles such as the National Aero-Space Plane include single-stage-to-orbit requirements, real gas effects may become important with respect to engine performance. The effects of the decrease in the ratio of specific heats have been investigated in generic three-dimensional sidewall compression scramjet inlets with leading-edge sweep angles of 30 and 70 degrees. The effects of a decrease in ratio of specific heats were seen by comparing data from two facilities in two test gases: in the Langley Mach 6 CF4 Tunnel in tetrafluoromethane (where gamma=1.22) and in the Langley 15-Inch Mach 6 Air Tunnel in perfect gas air (where gamma=1.4). In addition to the simulated real gas effects, the parametric effects of cowl position, contraction ratio, leading-edge sweep, and Reynolds number were investigated in the 15-Inch Mach 6 Air Tunnel. The models were instrumented with a total of 45 static pressure orifices distributed on the sidewalls and baseplate. Surface streamline patterns were examined via oil flow, and schlieren videos were made of the external flow field. The results of these tests have significant implications to ground based testing of inlets in facilities which do not operate at flight enthalpies.

Holland, Scott D.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Distributed Observer Network

The Distributed Observer network (DON) is a NASA-collaborative environment that leverages game technology to bring three-dimensional simulations to conventional desktop and laptop computers in order to allow teams of engineers working on design and operations, either individually or in groups, to view and collaborate on 3D representations of data generated by authoritative tools such as Delmia Envision, Pro/Engineer, or Maya. The DON takes models and telemetry from these sources and, using commercial game engine technology, displays the simulation results in a 3D visual environment. DON has been designed to enhance accessibility and user ability to observe and analyze visual simulations in real time. A variety of NASA mission segment simulations [Synergistic Engineering Environment (SEE) data, NASA Enterprise Visualization Analysis (NEVA) ground processing simulations, the DSS simulation for lunar operations, and the Johnson Space Center (JSC) TRICK tool for guidance, navigation, and control analysis] were experimented with. Desired functionalities, [i.e. Tivo-like functions, the capability to communicate textually or via Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) among team members, and the ability to write and save notes to be accessed later] were targeted. The resulting DON application was slated for early 2008 release to support simulation use for the Constellation Program and its teams. Those using the DON connect through a client that runs on their PC or Mac. This enables them to observe and analyze the simulation data as their schedule allows, and to review it as frequently as desired. DON team members can move freely within the virtual world. Preset camera points can be established, enabling team members to jump to specific views. This improves opportunities for shared analysis of options, design reviews, tests, operations, training, and evaluations, and improves prospects for verification of requirements, issues, and approaches among dispersed teams.

Conroy, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2000

Constitutive and Stability Behavior of Soils in Microgravity Environment

All aspects of soil stability, bearing capacity, slope stability, the supporting capacity of deep foundations, and penetration resistance depend on soil strength. The stress-deformation and stress-deformation-time behavior of soils are of importance in any problem where ground movements are of interest. In most engineering materials, the strength is derived from internal chemical and physico-chemical forces of interaction, which bond the atoms, molecules, and particles together. In soils, the constitutive relations are mainly derived from interparticle friction between particles and particle groups and dilatancy, and to a lesser extent from particle bonding by weak electrostatic, physico-chemical, and coulomb forces. For engineering purposes, soils are classified as cohesive (clays and silts; typical particle sizes range from 10 nm to 10 micrometers) and cohesionless (sand and gravel; typical particle sizes range from 10 micrometers to 75 mm). The mechanical or constitutive properties of cohesionless soils or granular materials are highly fabric-dependent, highly non-linear, and non-conservative with engineering properties primarily depending on the effects of gravity through self-weight and on the tractions or forces applied to the soil mass. Under moderate-to-high stress levels, the influence of gravity on the behavior of laboratory test specimens may not be pronounced and, therefore, the test results in terrestrial (1-g) environment may be sufficiently conclusive. However at low interparticle stresses, which can result either from low applied (confining) stresses or from excess pore fluid pressures developed within the soil mass without corresponding changes in the applied stresses, the presence of gravitational body forces acting on solid particles and interstitial fluids exerts a pronounced influence on movement of individual particles or particle groups. Such motions, in turn, cause changes in soil fabric which results in significant changes in the interparticle friction forces contributing to the soil's strength and deformation characteristics.

Alshibli, Khalid A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Analysis of the March 30, 2011 Hail Event at Shuttle Launch Pad 39A

The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Hail Monitor System, a joint effort of the NASA KSC Physics Lab and the KSC Engineering Services Contract (ESC) Applied Technology Lab, was first deployed for operational testing in the fall of 2006. Volunteers from the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) in conjunction with Colorado State University have been instrumental in validation testing using duplicate hail monitor systems at sites in the hail prone high plains of Colorado. The KSC Hail Monitor System (HMS), consisting of three stations positioned approximately 500 ft from the launch pad and forming an approximate equilateral triangle, as shown in Figure 1, was first deployed to Pad 39B for support of STS-115. Two months later, the HMS was deployed to Pad 39A for support of STS-116. During support of STS-117 in late February 2007, an unusually intense (for Florida standards) hail event occurred in the immediate vicinity of the exposed space shuttle and launch pad. Hail data of this event was collected by the HMS and analyzed. Support of STS-118 revealed another important application of the hail monitor system. Ground Instrumentation personnel check the hail monitors daily when a vehicle is on the launch pad, with special attention after any storm suspected of containing hail. If no hail is recorded by the HMS, the vehicle and pad inspection team has no need to conduct a thorough inspection of the vehicle immediately following a storm. On the afternoon of July 13, 2007, hail on the ground was reported by observers at the Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) and Launch Control Center (LCC), about three miles west of Pad 39A, as well as at several other locations at KSC. The HMS showed no impact detections, indicating that the shuttle had not been damaged by any of the numerous hail events which occurred on that day.

Lane, John E.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Impact of Flight Enthalpy, Fuel Simulant, and Chemical Reactions on the Mixing Characteristics of Several Injectors at Hypervelocity Flow Conditions

The high total temperatures or total enthalpies required to duplicate the high-speed flight conditions in ground experiments often place stringent requirements on the material selection and cooling needs for the test articles and intrusive flow diagnostic equipment. Furthermore, for internal flows, these conditions often complicate the use of nonintrusive diagnostics that need optical access to the test section and interior portions of the flowpath. Because of the technical challenges and increased costs associated with experimentation at high values of total enthalpy, an attempt is often made to reduce it. This is the case for the Enhanced Injection and Mixing Project (EIMP) currently underway in the Arc-Heated Scramjet Test Facility at the NASA Langley Research Center. The EIMP aims to investigate supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) fuel injection and mixing physics, improve the understanding of underlying physical processes, and develop enhancement strategies and functional relationships between mixing performance and losses relevant to flight Mach numbers greater than 8. The experiments will consider a "direct-connect" approach and utilize a Mach 6 nozzle to simulate the combustor entrance flow of a scramjet engine. However, while the value of the Mach number is matched to that expected at the combustor entrance in flight, the maximum value of the total enthalpy for these experiments is limited by the thermal-structural limits of the uncooled experimental hardware. Furthermore, the fuel simulant is helium, not hydrogen. The use of "cold" flows and non-reacting mixtures of fuel simulants for mixing experiments is not new and has been extensively utilized as a screening technique for scramjet fuel injectors. In this study, Reynolds-averaged simulations are utilized (RAS) to systematically verify the implicit assumptions used by the EIMP. This is accomplished by first performing RAS of mixing for two injector configurations at planned nominal experimental conditions. The mixing parameters of interest, such as mixing efficiency and total pressure recovery, are then computed and compared to the values obtained from RAS under the true enthalpy conditions and using helium and hydrogen. Finally, the impact of combustion on mixing, often deemed small enough to neglect at hypervelocity conditions, is assessed by comparing the results obtained from the hydrogen-fueled reacting and non-reacting RAS. For reacting flows, in addition to mixing efficiency and total pressure recovery, the combustion efficiency and thrust potential are also considered. In all of the simulations, the incoming air Mach number and the fuel-to-air ratio are the same, while the total pressure, total enthalpy, and the fuel simulant vary depending on the case considered. It is found that under some conditions the "cold" flow experiments are a good approximation of the flight.

Drozda, Tomasz G.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Explaining and predicting human behavior and social dynamics in simulated virtual worlds: reproducibility, generalizability, and robustness of causal discovery methods

Ground Truth program was designed to evaluate social science modeling approaches using simulation test beds with ground truth intentionally and systematically embedded to understand and model complex Human Domain systems and their dynamics Lazer et al. (Science 369:1060–1062, 2020). Our multidisciplinary team of data scientists, statisticians, experts in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and visual analytics had a unique role on the program to investigate accuracy, reproducibility, generalizability, and robustness of the state-of-the-art (SOTA) causal structure learning approaches applied to fully observed and sampled simulated data across virtual worlds. In addition, we analyzed the feasibility of using machine learning models to predict future social behavior with and without causal knowledge explicitly embedded. In this paper, we first present our causal modeling approach to discover the causal structure of four virtual worlds produced by the simulation teams—Urban Life, Financial Governance, Disaster and Geopolitical Conflict. Our approach adapts the state-of-the-art causal discovery (including ensemble models), machine learning, data analytics, and visualization techniques to allow a human-machine team to reverse-engineer the true causal relations from sampled and fully observed data. We next present our reproducibility analysis of two research methods team’s performance using a range of causal discovery models applied to both sampled and fully observed data, and analyze their effectiveness and limitations. We further investigate the generalizability and robustness to sampling of the SOTA causal discovery approaches on additional simulated datasets with known ground truth. Our results reveal the limitations of existing causal modeling approaches when applied to large-scale, noisy, high-dimensional data with unobserved variables and unknown relationships between them. We show that the SOTA causal models explored in our experiments are not designed to take advantage from vasts amounts of data and have difficulty recovering ground truth when latent confounders are present; they do not generalize well across simulation scenarios and are not robust to sampling; they are vulnerable to data and modeling assumptions, and therefore, the results are hard to reproduce. Finally, when we outline lessons learned and provide recommendations to improve models for causal discovery and prediction of human social behavior from observational data, we highlight the importance of learning data to knowledge representations or transformations to improve causal discovery and describe the benefit of causal feature selection for predictive and prescriptive modeling.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2005

SQL-RAMS

SQL-RAMS (where "SQL" signifies Structured Query Language and "RAMS" signifies Rocketdyne Automated Management System) is a successor to the legacy version of RAMS -- a computer program used to manage all work, nonconformance, corrective action, and configuration management on rocket engines and ground support equipment at Stennis Space Center. The legacy version resided in the File-Maker Pro software system and was constructed in modules that could act as standalone programs. There was little or no integration among modules. Because of limitations on file-management capabilities in FileMaker Pro, and because of difficulty of integration of FileMaker Pro with other software systems for exchange of data using such industry standards as SQL, the legacy version of RAMS proved to be limited, and working to circumvent its limitations too time-consuming. In contrast, SQL-RAMS is an integrated SQL-server-based program that supports all data-exchange software industry standards. Whereas in the legacy version, it was necessary to access individual modules to gain insight into a particular workstatus document, SQL-RAMS provides access through a single-screen presentation of core modules. In addition, SQL-RAMS enables rapid and efficient filtering of displayed statuses by predefined categories and test numbers. SQL-RAMS is rich in functionality and encompasses significant improvements over the legacy system. It provides users the ability to perform many tasks, which in the past required administrator intervention. Additionally, many of the design limitations have been corrected, allowing for a robust application that is user centric.

Alfaro, Victor O.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

BioNutrients-1: Development of an On-Demand Nutrient Production System for Long-Duration Missions

Future long-duration missions beyond low-Earth orbit will require advances in food technologies to address the documented problem of degradation of vitamins and nutrients in supplied foods stored long-term. To begin to address the issue of nutrient degradation, we are developing and flight-testing a platform biomanufacturing technology for in situ production of target nutrients. This technology is being tested over a five-year duration on the International Space Station (ISS). As part of the BioNutrients-1 project we have developed an on-demand system for the production of two carotenoids, β-carotene and zeaxanthin, by genetically engineering distinct strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, more commonly known as baker’s yeast. The on-orbit nutrient production packs contain a desiccated yeast strain and edible growth substrate. Once hydrated, the contents of the production packs are intended to grow and produce a desired amount of ready-to-consume nutrients. In this current version the production packs will not be consumed and future missions will require an inactivation of microorganisms before consumption. In addition to the on-orbit hydration of the production packs a series of valuable microorganisms are currently being stored in stasis packs on the ISS including probiotics organisms, bacterial strains used in yogurt production, and organisms with potential use for future biomanufacturing. Analysis of returned ISS stasis packs and ground controls will include multi-omics studies and provide insight into long-term survival of organisms stored in a space environment. Both stasis packs and hydrated production packs will be intermittently returned to Earth for analysis. Preliminary data from long-term storage studies of stasis packs stored on the ISS for 47 days versus their ground control counterparts have shown no significant difference in viability. Currently no production packs have been processed.

Yeast↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Impact of NASA’s Entry Systems Modeling Project on Planetary Mission Design

Planetary missions continue to grow larger and more complex. Furthermore, the current focus on human exploration of the Moon and Mars, as well as Mars Sample Return(MSR), place increas-ingly stringent requirements on the reliability of the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) system that ensures the safe delivery of payload or crew to their destination. Planetary EDL is an area in which mission designers are critically reliant on modeling and simulation to demonstrate the reliability of the system, as there are no ground facilities that are able to fully test these systems in a flight-relevant environment. NASA’s state-of-the-art modeling and simulation capability must continually evolve to meet the needs of the next generation of planetary EDL. To accomplish this aim, NASA’s Entry Systems Modeling (ESM) Project was formed in 2013and is funded bythe Space Technology Mission Directorate(STMD) and Science Mission Directorate (SMD). ESM is the Agency’s only cross-cutting effort for advancing entry systems modeling and simulation capabilities across a range of technical disciplines and Solar System destinations. ESM is a portfolio project covering a variety of mid-TRL research efforts within four core EDL-related areas of investment: (1) Thermal protection material modeling, (2) Shock layer kinetics and radiation, (3) Aerosciences, and (4) Guidance, navigation, and con-trol. The material modeling group creates detailed material response modelsof thermal protection systems (TPS)from the micro to macro scale, and at the fun-damental and engineering levels. Shock layer kinetics and radiation focuses on radiative heating of space-craft, quantum chemistry and benchmark experiments for validation.Aerosciences is a broad research area that impacts many aspects of entry systems, including parachutes, aerodynamics, and turbulent heating augmentation due to TPS roughness.The guidance, navigation,and control effort under ESM is expanding the capabilities of NASA’s main flight mechanics tool, POST2, for use on high-performance computing architectures and to generalize interoperability with external applications for more detailed end-to-end simula-tion.In addition, several focusedresearch topics have been approvedto augment ESM’s core portfolio. These include efforts for deep post-flight analysis of Mars 2020/MEDLI2 flight data; development ofTPS failure models; improvement of hypersonic wakeflow models; and a recently concluded effort to provide material response models for NuSil-coated PICA heat-shield material. This presentation will discuss each of these investment areas and demonstrate via real mission examples how advances to the state-of-the-art enabled by ESM are directly impacting the missions of today and tomorrow, including InSight, Mars 2020, Mars Sample Return, Orion, and Dragonfly.

Entry Systems Modeling↗
NASA NTRS2005

SQL-RAMS

SQL-RAMS (where "SQL" signifies Structured Query Language and "RAMS" signifies Rocketdyne Automated Management System) is a successor to the legacy version of RAMS a computer program used to manage all work, nonconformance, corrective action, and configuration management on rocket engines and ground support equipment at Stennis Space Center. The legacy version resided in the FileMaker Pro software system and was constructed in modules that could act as stand-alone programs. There was little or no integration among modules. Because of limitations on file-management capabilities in FileMaker Pro, and because of difficulty of integration of FileMaker Pro with other software systems for exchange of data using such industry standards as SQL, the legacy version of RAMS proved to be limited, and working to circumvent its limitations too time-consuming. In contrast, SQL-RAMS is an integrated SQL-server-based program that supports all data-exchange software industry standards. Whereas in the legacy version, it was necessary to access individual modules to gain insight to a particular work-status documents, SQL-RAMS provides access through a single-screen presentation of core modules. In addition, SQL-RAMS enable rapid and efficient filtering of displayed statuses by predefined categories and test numbers. SQL-RAMS is rich in functionality and encompasses significant improvements over the legacy system. It provides users the ability to perform many tasks which in the past required administrator intervention. Additionally many of the design limitations have been corrected allowing for a robust application that is user centric.

Alfaro, Victor O.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Semi-Automatic Geographic Information System Framework for Creating Photo-Realistic Digital Twin Cities to Support Autonomous Driving Research

Digital twin cities are frequently used in vehicle and traffic simulations to render realistic on-road driving scenarios under various traffic and environmental conditions. These digital twins provide a high-fidelity replica of the physical world (e.g., buildings, roads, infrastructures, traffic) to create three-dimensional (3D) virtual-physical environments to support various emerging vehicle and transportation technologies such as connected and automated vehicles. These virtual environments provide a cost-effective digital proving ground to evaluate, validate, and test emerging technologies that include control algorithms, localization, perception, and sensors. Replicating a real-world traffic scenario in a digital twin using a traditional 3D modeling approach is a time-consuming and labor-intensive effort. Here this paper presents a semi-automated spatial framework to construct realistic 3D digital twin cities to support autonomous driving research using readily available geographic information system (GIS) data and 3D prefabricated (prefab) models. We start with a comprehensive review of geospatial data sources of essential digital entities required in a 3D digital twin city and present an integrated GIS-3D modeling pipeline using customized QGIS/GDAL and Blender scripting in Python. The pipeline outputs are realistic 3D digital twin cities compatible with common vehicle simulation software, such as CARLA and IPG CarMaker. The paper closes with a showcase to demonstrate the quality and usability of a digital twin city created to replicate the Shallowford Road corridor in Chattanooga in both Unity and Unreal engine-based virtual environment. The generated digital twin city can be applied to a hardware-in-the-loop simulation environment with an actual testing vehicle to facilitate autonomous driving research.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS2016

Space Launch System Spacecraft and Payload Elements: Making Progress Toward First Launch

Significant and substantial progress continues to be accomplished in the design, development, and testing of the Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful human-rated launch vehicle the United States has ever undertaken. Designed to support human missions into deep space, SLS is one of three programs being managed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Exploration Systems Development directorate. The Orion spacecraft program is developing a new crew vehicle that will support human missions beyond low Earth orbit, and the Ground Systems Development and Operations program is transforming Kennedy Space Center into next-generation spaceport capable of supporting not only SLS but also multiple commercial users. Together, these systems will support human exploration missions into the proving ground of cislunar space and ultimately to Mars. SLS will deliver a near-term heavy-lift capability for the nation with its 70 metric ton (t) Block 1 configuration, and will then evolve to an ultimate capability of 130 t. The SLS program marked a major milestone with the successful completion of the Critical Design Review in which detailed designs were reviewed and subsequently approved for proceeding with full-scale production. This marks the first time an exploration class vehicle has passed that major milestone since the Saturn V vehicle launched astronauts in the 1960s during the Apollo program. Each element of the vehicle now has flight hardware in production in support of the initial flight of the SLS -- Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), an un-crewed mission to orbit the moon and return. Encompassing hardware qualification, structural testing to validate hardware compliance and analytical modeling, progress in on track to meet the initial targeted launch date in 2018. In Utah and Mississippi, booster and engine testing are verifying upgrades made to proven shuttle hardware. At Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana, the world's largest spacecraft welding tool is producing tanks for the SLS core stage. This paper will particularly focus on work taking place at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and United Launch Alliance in Alabama, where upper stage and adapter elements of the vehicle are being constructed and tested. Providing the Orion crew capsule/launch vehicle interface and in-space propulsion via a cryogenic upper stage, the Spacecraft/Payload Integration and Evolution (SPIE) Element serves a key role in achieving SLS goals and objectives. The SPIE element marked a major milestone in 2014 with the first flight of original SLS hardware, the Orion Stage Adapter (OSA) which was used on Exploration Flight Test-1 with a design that will be used again on EM-1. Construction is already underway on the EM-1 Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), an in-space stage derived from the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage. Manufacture of the Orion Stage Adapter and the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter is set to begin at the Friction Stir Facility located at MSFC while structural test articles are either completed (OSA) or nearing completion (Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter). An overview is provided of the launch vehicle capabilities, with a specific focus on SPIE Element qualification/testing progress, as well as efforts to provide access to deep space regions currently not available to the science community through a secondary payload capability utilizing CubeSat-class satellites.

Schorr, Andrew A.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Spacecraft Adhesive Residue On-Composite Analysis

Tapes are used on space vehicles for numerous reasons. They are used for taping close ports, labeling, and even temporarily attaching something to the spacecraft. This project stemmed from the need to determine which tapes are most effective for our customer's space vehicle during its ground processing stage. During ground processing, there are multiple stages of building where workers need to use tape to temporarily stabilize or close something for a matter of seconds, days, weeks, or even a few months. After peeling these tapes off the flight hardware, the residue left behind by the tape poses potential risks that can lead to incidents, which may not be easily noticeable to the engineers. It is important to identify these issues since nothing can be done once it is in space. The purpose of this project is to assist in research to create an accessible reference for which tapes are preferred on common flight hardware surfaces. Five different substrates and eight tapes were selected for evaluation. The selected substrates were chosen because they comprise the most surface area on the vehicle. The tapes selected were either heritage or new contenders. The adhesive studies were performed for multiple dwell times to study the tendency of different tapes to leave residue behind on various substrates and quantifying that residue. Many other tests were performed to supplement the main objective of the project. These tests included adhesive solubility, peel adhesion, and SEM analyses.

McFadden, Saleah J.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Captain Electronics Technical Report

This report details the current layout of the electronics for the mini-CAPTAIN detector system, as well as the lessons learned during commissioning. We will present some electronics suggestions for future LArTPC systems. Mini-CAPTAIN is one of three detectors used in the Cryogenic Apparatus for Precision Tests of Argon Interactions with Neutrino (CAPTAIN) project at Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). The detector uses many of the same electronic components as current and developing LArTPC experiments. This includes the motherboards, service cards, amplifiers and ADC made by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and the front-end modules (FEM) made by Nevis Labs. The cold electronics performed well in both vacuum and cryogenic environments after months of exposure. Mini-CAPTAIN was tested with two liquid nitrogen and three liquid argon run cycles. The final testing was performed at the Weapons Neutron Research (WNR) facility at LANSCE. Mini-CAPTAIN was able to maintain a clean electrical signal through most of the test cycles. Most noise reduction was achieved with power source filtering and careful attention to the ground configuration. Direct oscilloscope probing on the front-end output provided the fastest analysis and correction of noise sources. Ground path assumptions and integrity were verified with frequent impedance checks. A high voltage break down event damaged some of the channels on the motherboards and a number of the wire decoupling capacitors. This temporarily introduced significant noise on the wire planes due to current leakage. The detector was taken apart and reassembled three times, with successful noise reduction after each activity. The current raw signal-to-noise ratio is 9 to 1.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS2019

Progress Towards Modeling the Mars Science Laboratory PICA-NuSil Heatshield

The data collected by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation, MEDLI, have become an established reference to assess the performance of engineering models of the Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) and to validate hypersonic computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools for entry systems. MEDLI measurements are also extensively used as validation reference for current developments of high-fidelity material response models for PICA. So large has been the scientific output and impact of MEDLI that a follow-up instrumentation suite MEDLI2 is underway for the upcoming Mars 2020 mission.A feature neglected thus far in the modeling of the MSL heatshield, is the presence of a silicone-based room temperature vulcanizing coating designated NuSil CV-1144-0. NuSil was used to coat the entire MSL heatshield, including the MEDLI plugs, to mitigate the spread of phenolic dust from PICA, and limit contamination during clean room operations. NuSil CV-1144-0 is a space grade siloxane copolymer, designed as an oxygen protection barrier for extreme low temperature environment.Assessments conducted during MSL development demonstrated that the presence of NuSil had no adverse effect on the performance of PICA. However, evidence from ground testing of PICA-NuSil (PICA-N) models in the HyMETS arc-jet test facility suggests that the silicone changes the high temperature response of PICA. It is therefore critical to assess the importance of modeling the coating in ongoing code validation efforts.

Bessire, Brody K.↗
NASA NTRS2004

MOBI and FEANICS Programming in Labview

The flight software engineering branch provides design and development of embedded real-time software applications for flight and supporting ground systems to support the NASA Aeronautics and Space Programs. In addition, this branch evaluates, develops and implements new technologies for embedded real-time systems, and maintains a laboratory for applications of embedded technology. This branch supports other divisions and is involved with many other projects. My mentor Rochelle and I are involved in the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) project, the MOBI project, and the FEANICS project. The Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) will occupy two powered racks on the International Space Station (ISS). It will be a permanent modular, multiuser facility to accommodate microgravity science experiments onboard the ISS's U.S. Laboratory Module. FCF will support NASA Human Exploration and Development of Space program objectives requiring sustained, systematic research in the disciplines of fluid physics and combustion science. The fluids experiment is called FIR and the combustion experiment is called CIR. The MOBI Experiment is an experiment that is performed to understand the physics of bubble segregation and resuspension in an inertia, monodisperse gas-liquid suspension, and to understand how bubble pressure resists segregation in suspensions with continuous phase inertia. The main focus of FEANICS and the solid combustion experiments will be to conduct basic and applied scientific investigations in fire-safety to support NASA's Bioastronautics Initiative. Based on data obtained in microgravity and experience gained from the beginning of the U.S. manned space program, these normal gravity flammability assessments have been assumed to be conservative with respect to flammability in all environments. However, some of the complex interactions that govern ignition and flame growth can only be evaluated in the long durations of microgravity available on the ISS. Before any of these projects actually go to the ISS, they are going to be tested on NASA's KC-135 Low-G airplane, the KC-135 Low-G Flight Research aircraft (a predecessor of the Boeing 707) is used to fly parabolas to create 20-25 seconds of weightlessness so that the astronauts can experience and researchers can investigate the effects of zero gravity. My mentor and I have been working with Labview to write the programs that are going to acquire, analyze and present the data acquired from these Test flights on the KC-135. We have been working closely with electrical, and mechanical engineers to make sure the program and the hardware can communicate and perform the operations necessary for the flight test. LabVIEW delivers a powerful graphical development environment for signal acquisition, measurement analysis, and data presentation, giving you the flexibility of a programming language without the complexity of traditional development tools. The programming of the control panel and the code are both done in GUIs which allow for flexibility in the code and the program.

Rios, Jeffrey N.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Armstrong Flight Research Center Research Technology and Engineering 2017

I am delighted to present this report of accomplishments at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center. Our dedicated innovators possess a wealth of performance, safety, and technical capabilities spanning a wide variety of research areas involving aircraft, electronic sensors, instrumentation, environmental and earth science, celestial observations, and much more. They not only perform tasks necessary to safely and successfully accomplish Armstrong's flight research and test missions but also support NASA missions across the entire Agency. Armstrong's project teams have successfully accomplished many of the nation's most complex flight research projects by crafting creative solutions that advance emerging technologies from concept development and experimental formulation to final testing. We are developing and refining technologies for ultra-efficient aircraft, electric propulsion vehicles, a low boom flight demonstrator, air launch systems, and experimental x-planes, to name a few. Additionally, with our unique location and airborne research laboratories, we are testing and validating new research concepts. Summaries of each project highlighting key results and benefits of the effort are provided in the following pages. Technology areas for the projects include electric propulsion, vehicle efficiency, supersonics, space and hypersonics, autonomous systems, flight and ground experimental test technologies, and much more. Additional technical information is available in the appendix, as well as contact information for the Principal Investigator of each project. I am proud of the work we do here at Armstrong and am pleased to share these details with you. We welcome opportunities for partnership and collaboration, so please contact us to learn more about these cutting-edge innovations and how they might align with your needs.

yearbook↗

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