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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 NTRS1995

NASA science communications strategy

In 1994, the Clinton Administration issued a report, 'Science in the National Interest', which identified new national science goals. Two of the five goals are related to science communications: produce the finest scientists and engineers for the 21st century, and raise scientific and technological literacy of all Americans. In addition to the guidance and goals set forth by the Administration, NASA has been mandated by Congress under the 1958 Space Act to 'provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination concerning its activities and the results thereof'. In addition to addressing eight Goals and Plans which resulted from a January 1994 meeting between NASA and members of the broader scientific, education, and communications community on the Public Communication of NASA's Science, the Science Communications Working Group (SCWG) took a comprehensive look at the way the Agency communicates its science to ensure that any changes the Agency made were long-term improvements. The SCWG developed a Science Communications Strategy for NASA and a plan to implement the Strategy. This report outlines a strategy from which effective science communications programs can be developed and implemented across the agency. Guiding principles and strategic themes for the strategy are provided, with numerous recommendations for improvement discussed within the respective themes of leadership, coordination, integration, participation, leveraging, and evaluation.

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NASA NTRS1998

Multimodal Perception and Multicriterion Control of Nested Systems: Coordination of Postural Control and Vehicular Control - 1

The purpose of this report is to identify the essential characteristics of goal-directed whole-body motion. The report is organized into three major sections (Sections 2, 3, and 4). Section 2 reviews general themes from ecological psychology and control-systems engineering that are relevant to the perception and control of whole-body motion. These themes provide an organizational framework for analyzing the complex and interrelated phenomena that are the defining characteristics of whole-body motion. Section 3 of this report applies the organization framework from the first section to the problem of perception and control of aircraft motion. This is a familiar problem in control-systems engineering and ecological psychology. Section 4 examines an essential but generally neglected aspect of vehicular control: coordination of postural control and vehicular control. To facilitate presentation of this new idea, postural control and its coordination with vehicular control are analyzed in terms of conceptual categories that are familiar in the analysis of vehicular control.

Riccio, Gary E.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Proceedings from the 1998 Occupational Health Conference: Benchmarking for Excellence

The theme of the 1998 NASA Occupational Health Conference was "Benchmarking for Excellence." Conference participants included NASA and contractor Occupational Health professionals, as well as speakers from NASA, other Federal agencies and private companies. Addressing the Conference theme, speakers described new concepts and techniques for corporate benchmarking. They also identified practices used by NASA, other Federal agencies, and by award winning programs in private industry. A two-part Professional Development Course on workplace toxicology and indoor air quality was conducted a day before the Conference. A program manager with the International Space Station Office provided an update on station activities and an expert delivered practical advice on both oral and written communications. A keynote address on the medical aspects of space walking by a retired NASA astronaut highlighted the Conference. Discipline breakout sessions, poster presentations, and a KSC tour complemented the Conference agenda.

G Wyckliffe Hoffler↗
NASA NTRS1998

The Consortium for Advancing Renewable Energy Technology (CARET)

The Consortium for Advancing Renewable Energy (CARET) is a research and education program which uses the theme of renewable energy to build a minority scientist pipeline. CARET is also a consortium of four universities and NASA Lewis Research Center working together to promote science education and research to minority students using the theme of renewable energy. The consortium membership includes the HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Fisk, Wilberforce and Central State Universities as well as Kent State University and NASA Lewis Research Center. The various stages of this pipeline provide participating students experiences with a different emphasis. Some emphasize building enthusiasm for the classroom study of science and technology while others emphasize the nature of research in these disciplines. Still others focus on relating a practical application to science and technology. And, of great importance to the success of the program are the interfaces between the various stages. Successfully managing these transitions is a requirement for producing trained scientists, engineers and technologists. Presentations describing the CARET program have been given at this year's HBCU Research Conference at the Ohio Aerospace Institute and as a seminar in the Solar Circle Seminar series of the Photovoltaic and Space Environments Branch at NASA Lewis Research Center. In this report, we will describe the many positive achievements toward the fulfillment of the goals and outcomes of our program. We will begin with a description of the interactions among the consortium members and end with a description of the activities of each of the member institutions .

Gordon, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1997

An overview of IACG campaign 4: Solar sources of heliospheric structure observed out of the ecliptic

In 1994, the Inter Agency Consultative Group (IACG), with represenation from ESA, the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, the Russian Space Agency, and NASA, initiated a data analysis campaign entitled: 'solar sources of heliospheric structure observed out of the ecliptic' (IACG campaign 4). The primary campaign themes are: the large-scale heliosphere and its dependence on solar photospheric and coronal phenomena; the topology of coronal streamers; the 3D shape of coronal hole boundaries, and solar wind source and acceleration. These themes emphasize the collaborative analysis of remote sensing and in situ data sets for solar features such as coronal holes, coronal mass ejections, and other other solar sources of heliospheric structure. The key observation intervals, covering June 1994 to January 1997, were selected based on the timeline of the unique trajectory of the Ulysses mission. The capabilities and opportunities afforded by the core campaing missions, Ulysses and Yohkoh, and the availability of supportin solar ground observatories and other spacecraft missions, make this campaign of special interest to the solar and heliospheric communities.

Galvin, A. B.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Proton Effects and Test Issues for Satellite Designers: Ionization Effects - Section 4

This portion of the Short Course is divided into two segments to separately address the two major proton-related effects confronting satellite designers: ionization effects and displacement damage effects. While both of these topics are deeply rooted in "traditional" descriptions of space radiation effects, there are several factors at play to cause renewed concern for satellite systems being designed today. For example, emphasis on Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) technologies in both commercial and government systems increases both Total Ionizing Dose (TID) and Single Event Effect (SEE) concerns. Scaling trends exacerbate the problems, especially with regard to SEEs where protons can dominate soft error rates and even cause destructive failure. In addition, proton-induced displacement damage at fluences encountered in natural space environments can cause degradation in modern bipolar circuitry as well as in many emerging electronic and opto-electronic technologies. A crude, but nevertheless telling, indication of the level of concern for proton effects follows from surveying the themes treated in papers presented at this conference. The table lists themes found in the IEEE Transaction on Nuclear Science (TNS) December issue from the past year and compares them with the December issue's content a decade earlier. Ten years ago there were nine papers, or about 10% of the total, dealing with the four indicated topics. At that time, single event effects from protons were the primary concern, and these were thought to be possible only when a nuclear reaction initiated energetic recoil atoms. This is shown in the table as the 'traditional" SEE subject. A decade later, submissions addressing this topic had doubled, while papers devoted to displacement damage studies had increased from one to nine! More importantly, displacement damage effects in the natural space environments have become a concern for degradation in modern devices (other than solar cells), and this was not so ten years earlier.

Marshall, Paul W.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Cosmic Journeys. To the Edge of Gravity, Space and Time: Structure and Evolution of the Universe Roadmap: 2003-2023

The Roadmap for the Structure and Evolution of the Universe (SEU) Theme embraces three fundamental, scientific quests: (1) To explain structure in the Universe and forecast our cosmic destiny, (2) To explore the cycles of matter and energy in the evolving Universe, (3) To examine the ultimate limits of gravity and energy in the Universe. We develop these quests into six focused research campaigns: (1) Identify dark matter and learn how it shapes galaxies and systems of galaxies, (2) Explore where and when the chemical elements were made (3) Understand the cycles in which matter, energy, and magnetic field are exchanged between stars and the gas between stars, (4) Discover how gas flows in disks and how cosmic jets are formed, (5) Identify the sources of gamma-ray bursts and high-energy cosmic rays, (6) Measure how strong gravity operates near black holes and how it affects the early Universe. These campaigns lead to a portfolio of future major missions of great scientific interest and popular appeal, strongly endorsed by the scientific community. Many have undergone significant initial study. Some are in a state of readiness that make them ideal candidates for the present Office of Space Science Strategic Plan; others may well feature in the next Plan. Each provides a golden scientific opportunity to advance our understanding of the Universe. We have identified three top-priority near-term science objectives together with missions to accomplish these goals. The three problems span a diverse range of subdisciplines, of observational technique, of timescales, and of cost, and are thus complementary, forming a coherent core program for the SEU theme in the 2003-2007 timeframe.These are : (1) Obtain precise measures of the chemical composition and physical conditions in objects ranging from the closest stars to the most distant quasars, (2) Utilize gravitational radiation as a probe of supermassive blackholes throughout the universe, (3) determine the nature of the highest energy cosmic rays. We also describe a small number of exciting missions which are strong candidates for new start status in the midterm, 2008-2013, pending technology development. These missions tackle fundamental problems through the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from the radio through gamma rays, and in many cases develop fascinating technologies with applicability not only elsewhere in NASA but outside of space science as well. Finally, we describe a set of "vision missions," which stretch our scientific imagination and set technology challenges for our field.

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NASA NTRS2000

The Earth Science Vision

NASA's Earth Science Enterprise's long range vision is to enable the development of a national proactive environmental predictive capability through targeted scientific research and technological innovation. Proactive environmental prediction means the prediction of environmental events and their secondary consequences. These consequences range from disasters and disease outbreak to improved food production and reduced transportation, energy and insurance costs. The economic advantage of this predictive capability will greatly outweigh the cost of development. Developing this predictive capability requires a greatly improved understanding of the earth system and the interaction of the various components of that system. It also requires a change in our approach to gathering data about the earth and a change in our current methodology in processing that data including its delivery to the customers. And, most importantly, it requires a renewed partnership between NASA and its sister agencies. We identify six application themes that summarize the potential of proactive environmental prediction. We also identify four technology themes that articulate our approach to implementing proactive environmental prediction.

Schoeberl, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2000

New Strategy for Exploration Technology Development: The Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) Exploration/Commercialization Technology Initiative

In FY 2001, NASA will undertake a new research and technology program supporting the goals of human exploration: the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) Exploration/Commercialization Technology Initiative (HTCI). The HTCI represents a new strategic approach to exploration technology, in which an emphasis will be placed on identifying and developing technologies for systems and infrastructures that may be common among exploration and commercial development of space objectives. A family of preliminary strategic research and technology (R&T) road maps have been formulated that address "technology for human exploration and development of space (THREADS). These road maps frame and bound the likely content of the HTCL Notional technology themes for the initiative include: (1) space resources development, (2) space utilities and power, (3) habitation and bioastronautics, (4) space assembly, inspection and maintenance, (5) exploration and expeditions, and (6) space transportation. This paper will summarize the results of the THREADS road mapping process and describe the current status and content of the HTCI within that framework. The paper will highlight the space resources development theme within the Initiative and will summarize plans for the coming year.

Mankins, John C.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Proceedings of the Fifth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference

The Fifth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference provided the scientific community the opportunity to view the current scope of the Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Program and research opportunities and plans for the near future. Consistent with the conference theme "Microgravity Research an Agency-Wide Asset" the conference focused not only on fundamental research but also on applications of this knowledge towards enabling future space exploration missions. The conference included 14 invited plenary talks, 61 technical paper presentations, 61 poster presentations, exhibits and a forum on emerging research themes focusing on nanotechnology and biofluid mechanics. This web-based proceeding includes the presentation and poster charts provided by the presenters of technical papers and posters that were scanned at the conference site. Abstracts of all the papers and posters are included and linked to the presentations charts. The invited and plenary speakers were not required to provide their charts and are generally not available for scanning and hence not posted. The conference program is also included.

Singh, Bhim S.↗
NASA NTRS2003

The NASA Scientific Data Purchase: Summary and Evaluation

This report summarizes the results of the NASA Scientific Data Purchase (SDP) program implemented by the Stennis Space Center Earth Science Application Directorate in fiscal years 1998-2002. The SDP was conducted in support of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) program (currently known as NASA's Earth Science Enterprise). This Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) provides major observational capabilities for NASA's Earth system science research and the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Observations supported through the SDP were selected based upon their application to the five science themes of the MTPE/ESE: 1) Land cover and land use change research; 2) Seasonal to interannual climate variability and prediction; 3) Natural hazards research and applications; 4) Long-term climate: Natural variability and change research; 5) Atmospheric ozone research. The MTPE/ESE science themes, although they have evolved over time, are driven by a set of key science questions that help focus the research program on characterizing the Earth system.

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NASA NTRS2000

Is it really so bad? A comparison of positive and negative experiences in Antarctic winter stations

This study examined the range of positive and negative themes reported by 104 Australian Antarctic winter personnel at four stations during two austral winters. Reports from the expeditioners were subjected to a content analysis using the TextSmart software from SPSS, Inc. Results indicated that, although the list of negative experiences is lengthy, most events are relatively rare. On the other hand, although the list of positive experiences is short, the frequencies with which they are reported are much greater than for most of the problems. Possible explanations for these themes and for future directions are discussed.

NASA Discipline Space Human Factors↗
NASA NTRS2001

Neuroprotection for the new millennium. Matchmaking pharmacology and technology

A major theme of the 1990s in the pathophysiology of nervous system injury has been the multifactorial etiology of irreversible injury. Multiple causes imply multiple opportunities for therapeutic intervention--hence the abandonment of the "magic bullet" single pharmacologic agent for neuroprotection in favor of pharmacologic "cocktails". A second theme of the 1990s has been the progress in technology for neuroprotection, minimally- or non-invasive monitoring as well as treatment. Cardiac stenting has eliminated the need, in many cases, for open heart surgery; deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease has offered significant improvement in quality of life for many who had exhausted cocktail drug treatment for their disease. Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus offers a novel treatment for Parkinson's disease where a technological advance may actually be an intervention with effects that are normally expected from pharmacologic agents. Rather than merely "jamming" the nervous system circuits involved in Parkinson's disease, deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus appears to improve the neurotransmitter imbalance that lies at the heart of Parkinson's disease. It may also slow the progression of the disease. Given the example of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus for Parkinson's disease, in future one may expect other technological or "hardware" interventions to influence the programming or "software" of the nervous system's physiologic response in certain disease states.

Review Literature↗
NASA NTRS2004

NASA/IEEE MSST 2004 Twelfth NASA Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies in cooperation with the Twenty-First IEEE Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies

MSST2004, the Twelfth NASA Goddard / Twenty-first IEEE Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies has as its focus long-term stewardship of globally-distributed storage. The increasing prevalence of e-anything brought about by widespread use of applications based, among others, on the World Wide Web, has contributed to rapid growth of online data holdings. A study released by the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California, Berkeley, estimates that over 5 exabytes of data was created in 2002. Almost 99 percent of this information originally appeared on magnetic media. The theme for MSST2004 is therefore both timely and appropriate. There have been many discussions about rapid technological obsolescence, incompatible formats and inadequate attention to the permanent preservation of knowledge committed to digital storage. Tutorial sessions at MSST2004 detail some of these concerns, and steps being taken to alleviate them. Over 30 papers deal with topics as diverse as performance, file systems, and stewardship and preservation. A number of short papers, extemporaneous presentations, and works in progress will detail current and relevant research on the MSST2004 theme.

Kobler, Ben↗
NASA NTRS2005

Pre-Launch GOES-R Risk Reduction Activities for the Geostationary Lightning Mapper

The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is a new instrument planned for GOES-R that will greatly improve storm hazard nowcasting and increase warning lead time day and night. Daytime detection of lightning is a particularly significant technological advance given the fact that the solar illuminated cloud-top signal can exceed the intensity of the lightning signal by a factor of one hundred. Our approach is detailed across three broad themes which include: Data Processing Algorithm Readiness, Forecast Applications, and Radiance Data Mining. These themes address how the data will be processed and distributed, and the algorithms and models for developing, producing, and using the data products. These pre-launch risk reduction activities will accelerate the operational and research use of the GLM data once GOES-R begins on-orbit operations. The GLM will provide unprecedented capabilities for tracking thunderstorms and earlier warning of impending severe and hazardous weather threats. By providing direct information on lightning initiation, propagation, extent, and rate, the GLM will also capture the updraft dynamics and life cycle of convective storms, as well as internal ice precipitation processes. The GLM provides information directly from the heart of the thunderstorm as opposed to cloud-top only. Nowcasting applications enabled by the GLM data will expedite the warning and response time of emergency management systems, improve the dispatch of electric power utility repair crews, and improve airline routing around thunderstorms thereby improving safety and efficiency, saving fuel and reducing delays. The use of GLM data will assist the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service in quickly detecting lightning ground strikes that have a high probability of causing fires. Finally, GLM data will help assess the role of thunderstorms and deep convection in global climate, and will improve regional air quality and global chemistry/climate modeling. The GLM has a robust design that benefits and improves upon its strong heritage of NASA-developed LEO predecessors, the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) and the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS). GLM will have a substantially larger number of pixels within the focal plane, two lens systems, and multiple Real-Time Event Processors REPS for on-board event detection and data compression to provide continuous observations of the Americas and adjacent oceans.

Goodman, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Autonomous Navigation and the Sojourner Microrover

The Mars exploration program has as an overarching theme the search for and understanding of life, climate and resources on Mars. The ability to move about the surface of Mars is key to making measurements and the gathering of the data which address this theme.

Mars Pathfinder harzard avoidance autonomous navig↗
NASA NTRS1997

Rovers in the U.S. Mars Exploration Program

The U.S. Mars Exploration Program comprises at least on Discovery mission (Mars Pathfinder), and Mars Surveyor Program, plus sample return missions and other missions to prepare for possible human expeditions to Mars. The original themes of the Mars Surveyor Program (which are still the official program goals) are to understand Life, Climate and Resources on Mars, with these themes tied together by the common thread of Water. The ability to move about the Martian surface is key to the Mars Exploration Program. This paper addresses the overall Mars Exploration Program strategy, with an emphasis of the role of rovers in the program. Specifically, the need for improvements in rover performance is addressed.

Mars Global Surveyor MGS martian surface cost-cons↗
NASA NTRS2008

Workshop Report on Deep Mars: Accessing the Subsurface of Mars on Near Term Missions

The workshop encompassed three major themes. The first theme was the scientific objectives of drilling, which center on the search for clues to the existence of past life and to the geological and climate history of Mars. Key questions are where and how deep to drill? Planetary protection issues were stressed as an important consideration in the design of any drilling mission. Secondly, architectures for drilling missions were discussed, including an overview of most of the current drills in operation that would be applicable to drilling on Mars. Considerable emphasis was placed on remote operation and drilling automation technologies. Finally, alternatives to conventional drilling were discussed. These included underground moles, penetrometers, horizontal drilling, impactors, and access to the subsurface from subsurface cavities. Considerable discussion centered on the possible Mars drilling missions that could be performed in both the near and longer term. The workshop participants concluded that useful science could be obtained today using low-cost impactors, with or without a sheperding spacecraft.

Langhoff, Stephanie R.↗