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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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NASA NTRS2018

High-Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC) Project Overview

The High Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC) multi-core processor Chiplet will provide a nearly two orders-of-magnitude improvement above the current state of the art for spaceflight processors, while also providing an unprecedented flexibility to tailor performance, power consumption, and fault tolerance to meet widely varying mission needs. These advancements will provide game changing improvements in computing performance, power efficiency, and flexibility, which will significantly improve the onboard processing capabilities of future NASA and Air Force space missions. HPSC is funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), Science Mission Directorate (SMD), and the United States Air Force. The HPSC project is managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the HPSC contract is managed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Within the HPSC project, Boeing is under contract to NASA to develop prototype Chiplets, system software, and evaluation boards. As another development within the project, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are developing middleware that will simplify application development for HPSC-based onboard processors.

multi-core processor↗

NASA NTRS2018

Planned Improvements to the Venus Global Reference Atmospheric Model

The Venus Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Venus-GRAM) is an engineering-level atmospheric model applicable for engineering design analyses, mission planning, and operational decision making. Missions to Venus have generated a wealth of atmospheric data, however, Venus-GRAM has not been updated since its development and release in 2005. GRAM upgrades and maintenance have depended on inconsistent and waning project-specific support. The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has agreed to provide funding support in Fiscal Year 2018 and 2019 to upgrade the GRAMs. This presentation will provide an overview of Venus-GRAM and the objectives, tasks, and milestones related to the GRAM upgrades.

Justh, H. L.↗

NASA NTRS2019

NASA CA Operations Devolution: Status Update

What is Devolution? Devolution is a spreading of CA (Conjunction Assessment) operations responsibilities to mission FOTs (Flight Operations Teams): Permits efficiencies in handling the increased workload caused by Space Fence and large constellations; Missions given more flexibility in choosing specific approach to CA requirements that resonates best with their particular needs; CARA (Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis) retains Agency oversight through an established NASA Standard - will establish requirements for devolved CA preparations, processing, and operations conduct. Devolution is a PROPOSED paradigm under consideration by SMD (Space Missions Directorate): Number of activities required before Agency-level decision can be rendered; Agency requirements established via approved CA Standard; Operational experience testimony from two separate pilot programs; After these activities complete, decision will be made whether devolution is a feasible option for missions; CARA is recommending devolution to exist as an option for missions.

conjunction↗

NASA NTRS2016

Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) Development Status

The Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) Project is a NASA STMD (Space Technology Mission Directorate) and SMD (Science Mission Directorate) co-funded effort. The goal is to develop and mission infuse a new ablative Thermal Protection System that can withstand extreme entry. It is targeted to support NASA's high priority missions, as defined in the latest decadal survey, to destinations such as Venus and Saturn in-situ robotic science missions. Entry into these planetary atmospheres results in extreme heating. The entry peak heat-flux and associated pressure are estimated to be between one and two orders of magnitude higher than those experienced by Mars Science Laboratory or Lunar return missions. In the recent New Frontiers community announcement NASA has indicated that it is considering providing an increase to the PI (Principal Investigator) managed mission cost (PIMMC) for investigations utilizing the Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) and in addition, NASA is considering limiting the risk assessment to only their accommodation on the spacecraft and the mission environment.

Thermal Protection System↗

NASA NTRS2018

Improving NASA Earth Science Data and Information Access Through Natural Language Processing Based Data Analysis and Visualization

NASA: The Research Access initiative is part of the agency's framework for increasing public access to scientific publications and digital scientific data. The initiative follows the release of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) memorandum "Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research," to ensure federally funded research is available to the public within one year of publication. NASA answered the mandate by creating an agency plan entitled "NASA Plan for Increasing Access to the Results of Scientific Research" and associated policy, NPD 2230.1, Research Data and Publication Access. Principles in NASA SMD Strategic Plan for Scientific Data and Computing: Continued free and open access to scientific data for any use. Improved ease of use and discoverability. Enhanced science applications and new use cases. Incorporates best practices and "state of the art" through partnerships. Earth Data and Systems are Evolving: Increasing archive and file sizes. More complicated data structures. More user-friendly and data services. What is the future direction?

Liu, Zhong↗

NASA NTRS2018

Serving NASA GES DISC Multi-Spatiotemporal Earth Science Data to the GIS community

NASA Earth Science (ES) data is essential to a wide range of GIS research and applications. However, for many GIS users, searching, accessing, using and analyzing NASA ES data can be of a great challenge- ranging from the sheer data volumes, types of science parameters, and to the complexity of data encoding formats. As one of the twelve NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Data Centers, Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) archives and distributes petabytes of ES parameters covering atmosphere, land, and ocean fields. Most data are multidimensional and multi-spatiotemporal in nature and are encoded in different science data formats (e.g, HDF, HDF-EOS, netCDF, GRIB, binary), which usually contain multiple variables and different metadata information. By far, GES DISC has been developing a number of services and online tools to help GIS users to easily explore our data products. In this presentation, we will describe our ArcGIS-based data accessing and visualization services and portals, which allow users directly exploring the multi-spatiotemporal ES data in ArcGIS clients without having to pre-download/import the data. The ArcGIS services are also compliant with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Coverage Service (WCS) and Web Map Service (WMS) protocols and can be accessed by any other WCS/WMS clients to get customized GES DISC EO data on-the-fly from such services.

Wei, Jennifer↗

NASA NTRS2019

Improving Accuracy of Structural Dynamic Modification with Augmented Residual Vectors

It is often important to perform sensitivity analysis to determine how a structural model will be impacted by design changes. Often, the structural analysts will manually make changes to the finite element model (FEM) to determine the effects. But when dealing with a large FEM with millions of degrees of freedom these manual changes can be cumbersome and calculation of the effects can computationally expensive. Therefore, it is desirable to determine the effects of model changes through approximation methods. One common technique is to determine the analytical sensitivity of the FEM model with respect to the given change. These analytical sensitivities are valid when small changes are made to the structural model, but invalid if large changes need to be assessed. Another approach is to use Structural Dynamic Modification (SDM) to create a surrogate model to analyze model changes. SDM is a widely-used sensitivity method and is used in applications of model updating, uncertainty quantification, and model design studies. SMD is valid for moderate (10-20 percent) changes in the structural model, but model approximations are often needed for large parameter changes (greater than 20 percent). Structural Dynamic Modification can be improved by using residual vectors to augment the surrogate model formulation from SDM. Adding the residual modes increases the fidelity of the surrogate model while keeping the computational cost low. This paper discusses the application and limitations of the augmented residual modes method to two structures: the Integrated Spacecraft and Payload Element (ISPE) of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the full SLS as it is configured during its Integrated Modal Test (IMT).

Stewart, Eric C.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Evolving NASA's Data and Information Systems for Earth Science

The Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) project at GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) maintains and operates a data and information system for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and its Earth Science Division (ESD) to support multidisciplinary research in Earth science and public data access.

Ramachandran, Rahul↗

NASA NTRS2019

Progress in Manufacturing & Characterizing Domestic Lyocell PICA (PICA-D) and Comparison to Heritage PICA

NASA ARC (Ames Research Center) is working with SMD-PSD (NASA Science Mission Directorate- Planetary Science Directorate) to address PICA ( Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator) rayon sustainability concerns. In FY16/17, Lyocell Based PICA (PICA-D (Domestic)) was manufactured and limited testing performed showing it to be a good candidate as a potential replacement for heritage rayon. Establishing PICA-D as a "drop in replacement" will allow missions to depend on and design missions with PICA without any risk typical of a replacement. Establishing the extended capability of PICA-D will allow Sample Return Missions with higher entry speed that were not considered before.

Lyocell↗

NASA NTRS2019

Technology Readiness Assessment for HEEET TPS

The HEEET project was conceived to develop a heatshield with a high performance ablative thermal protection material that can withstand the extreme entry environment produced as a result of rapid deceleration during high speed entry into Venus, Saturn, Uranus or higher speed entry into Earth's atmosphere. Successful maturation of HEEET supports future New Frontiers and Discovery AO's, as well as Flagship and directed missions in the longer term. In addition, HEEET has the potential to evolve and to support re-entry to Earth, for missions such as Mars Sample Return.The primary goal of the HEEET Project was to develop an ablative TPS heat-shield based on woven TPS technology to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6. Key evidence to support the TRL evaluation includes: Demonstration of reproducible manufacturing of a dual layer material over a range of thicknesses and integrated on to a heatshield engineering test unit at a scale that is applicable to near term Discovery as the highest priority and future NF missions as secondary priority set of missions. Demonstration of predictable and stable performance of the dual layer TPS over a range of entry environments that are applicable to near term Discovery and NF missions of interest to SMD.Includes completion of coupon arc jet and laser testing and development of a mid-fidelity thermal response model that correlates with test results. Demonstration of flight heatshield system design for a range of sizes and loads that are relevant to near term Discovery and NF missions of interest to SMD. Includes completion of structural testing to validate analytic thermal/structural models and development of a material property database. Includes structural testing of a ~1m Engineering Test Unit under relevant entry loads.

Gage, Peter↗

NASA NTRS2019

Sustaining Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) for Future NASA Missions Including Discovery and New Frontiers

Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) was invented in the mid 1990's and due to its relatively low density and efficient performance has been the heat shield TPS of choice for a range of missions includ-ing, Stardust, OSIRIS-Rex, Mars Science Laboratry (MSL) and Mars 2020. PICA has also been the TPS solution on numerous Discovery and New Frontiers proposals, as both the heat shield and back shell TPS and is under consideration as both for the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV) and the heat shield on the Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL). Recently NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has funded an activity to develop a more sus-tainable version of PICA and to expand the demon-strated capabilities of PICA both in manufacturing and aerothermal performance.

Thermal Protection Material↗

NASA NTRS2019

NASA Undergraduate Student Instrument (USIP) Project--Lessons Learned

NASA offers real-world experiences, with the goal of developing students’ skills and capabilities in science, technology, engineering and math, skills critical to building a STEM-literate workforce and achieving the nation's exploration goals. In 2016, the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and the Office of Education National Space Grant Program (OE Space Grant) awarded $8 million through the Undergraduate Student Instrument Project (USIP) to 47 student teams to conduct hands-on research with 23 of the projects being CubeSat projects. The USIP student teams proposed science or technology experiments that are relevant to NASA missions, and the platform to fly their payload. The platforms include sounding rockets, scientific and hand-held balloons, aircraft, suborbital reusable and commercial launch vehicles, and CubeSats launched as a secondary payload on an orbital vehicle. The mission management for USIP was the responsibility of NASA Goddard Space Flight Centers Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) in Virginia. The university faculty supporting USIP attest to the benefits students are receiving in the hands-on aspects of the projects, as well as the real-world problem resolution. The USIP university teams are receiving an authentic NASA educational experience that will encourage the students to be part of NASA’s or the Nations’ future workforce and leaders.

Winterton, Joyce L.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM) Upgrades

The inability to test planetary spacecraft in the flight environment prior to a mission requires engineers to rely on ground-based testing and models of the vehicle and expected environments. One of the most widely used engineering models of the Martian atmosphere is the Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM) developed and maintained by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has provided funding support to upgrade the planetary GRAMs in Fiscal Year 2018 and 2019. This poster summarizes the upgrades that have been made to Mars-GRAM, the release status of Mars-GRAM, the new GRAMs that are under development, and future Mars-GRAM upgrade plans.

Justh, H. L.↗

NASA NTRS2020

Status of Outer Planet Global Reference Atmospheric Model (GRAM) Upgrades

Justh, H. L.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Integrated laboratory, modeling and observational investigations of the condensation of benzene on Titan's stratospheric aerosols

Aerosols in Titan’s atmosphere play an important role in determining its thermal structure and can act as condensation nuclei for the formation of clouds. The global circulation of Titan’s atmosphere reversed within the two years following the northern spring equinox in August 2009, increasing the mixing ratios of benzene (C6H6) and other species at the South pole. A simultaneous strong cooling above the south pole (dropping temperatures below 120 K) resulted in conditions where molecules could condense at unusually high altitudes (>250 km). C6H6 and HCN ices have been detected by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) and the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), respectively, in the South polar cloud system, but the existing laboratory data is insufficient to allow models to reproduce the formation of the observed cloud system. We will present the preliminary results and the overall scope of a newly funded NASA SMD Cassini Data Analysis Program (CDAP) project which proposes to combine laboratory, modeling and observational studies to investigate the condensation of benzene on Titan’s aerosol as an important component of the cloud system that appeared during the autumn at 300 km above Titan’s South pole.

E. Sciamma-O’Brien↗

NASA NTRS2020

Enabling a new generation of outer solar system missions: engineering design studies for nuclear electric propulsion

We discuss a nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) capability that would (1) enable a class of outer solar system missions that cannot be done with radioisotope power systems and (2) significantly enhance a range of other deep-space mission concepts. NASA plans to develop Kilopower technology for lunar surface power. Kilopower can also serve as a power source for a 10-kWe NEP system; therefore, we highlight 10-kWe NEP benefits to encourage the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) to advocate (as a potential beneficiary) for NASA’s plan to develop Kilopower and to motivate further 10-kWe NEP–related concept studies.

Sotin, Christophe J.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

VIPER: Introduction to the Resource Prospecting Mission

With the Artemis Program, NASA plans to return humans to the Moon to stay, which means if there are local materials available, they could be deployed to help support extended lunar stays. Since the moon’s polar regions have confirmed the presence of volatiles, as revealed by LCROSS, LRO and other lunar missions, the next step is to understand the nature and distribution of those candidate resources and how they might be extracted. Recent studies have even indicated local volatiles could be processed into propellants and human life-supporting resources, significantly aiding in sustaining humans on the Moon, and eventually and later to support missions to Mars. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Resource (VIPER) is an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) mission within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), based on the pathfinding development of the Resource Prospector (RP) mission concept. This clever mission is targeting late 2023 and may spend over 100 days mapping and surveying four different Ice Stability Regions to understand the nature and distribution of water and volatiles already confirmed to be there, including measuring mineralogical content such as silicon and light metals from lunar regolith. The knowledge attained by a mission like VIPER could have many-fold benefits for space exploration, but also commercial applications. VIPER is an essential, early mission supporting the “moon rush” which has developed over the past few years, with both governments and commercial entities making their cases for lunar exploration. VIPER aims to understand just how the water-ice and other volatiles are distributed, both horizontally and vertically, enabling creation of volatiles resource maps, which will guide what might be required to harvest those resources at scale. With sufficient infrastructural investment, led by governments and then optimized by the commercial marketplace, VIPER will be a pathfinder mission addressing key decadal lunar science and early strategic knowledge gaps.

Daniel Andrews↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA and FMI - Developing Enabling TPS

PICA and HEEET/3MDCP are proven and capable TPS solutions that are needed for the majority of future SMD-PSD missions. FMI has been a critical partner in the development of both PICA and HEEET as FMI's manufacturing capabilities are essential for the large-scale processing of PICA, HEEET and 3MDCP TPS materials in support of countless past and future NASA missions acrosss the solar system.

PICA-D↗