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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 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Partitioned -Task Parallel Implementation of the NASA Multiscale Analysis Tool for High Performance Computing

The NASA Multiscale Analysis Tool (NASMAT) is a “plug and play” software package that allows users to conduct massively multiscale modeling of hierarchical and nonlinear materials. This work extends the scalability and improves the High Performance Computing friendliness of NASMAT by adopting a Partitioned Task-Parallel approach. Interoperability of NASMAT with external software is enhanced through preCICE, a open source library for multiphysics coupling in a partitioned manner. Enhancement through preCICE allows for easy integration of NASMAT to other macro solvers and dissociates the parallelization strategy adopted within NASMAT from the macro solver. The task-parallel framework based on Master-Worker approach is implemented as the parallelization scheme. The scheme accounts for hierarchy of multiple scales (task-dependence) and heterogeneous nature (dynamic load balancing) of computations. The applicability and scalability of the framework will be evaluated by analyzing large scale engineering problems through massively multiscale methods.

NASMAT↗
DOE OSTI2026

Carbon-Based Quantum Information Science with Symmetry Protected Topological States (Final Report, DOE-BES award DE-SC0023105)

This research program established the scientific foundation for the rational, bottom-up design, synthesis, isolation, and investigation of symmetry-protected topological (SPT) electron spin qubits embedded in graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). The work focused on integrating atomically precise low-dimensional carbon nanostructures with emerging quantum logic architectures, providing a pathway toward scalable quantum materials for next-generation computing and sensing technologies. A central component of the program was the elucidation of fundamental relationships between real-space molecular architecture, local spin density distributions, electronic band dispersion, and energy level alignment in atomically precise GNR systems. These correlations define key operational parameters of SPT qubits and were systematically investigated to establish quantitative benchmarks against established molecular and solid-state spin qubit platforms. Attention was given to properties critical for quantum device performance, e.g. decoherence times, spectral sharpness of energy transitions, and tunable exchange interactions between spin states. The research demonstrated that these parameters can be engineered with atomic precision through scalable bottom-up synthetic strategies. Theory-guided design played a central role in identifying candidate structures hosting topologically protected spin states. Experimental validation was performed using both ensemble measurements and single-molecule characterization. In addition to advances in quantum materials synthesis, the program developed and applied spin-sensitive scanning probe microscopy techniques capable of directly probing quantum states and dynamic processes with atomic-scale spatial resolution. These capabilities enabled direct observation and characterization of quantum structures at the single-atom level. While the research activities were primarily hypothesis-driven fundamental investigations, the program adopted a comprehensive materials-by-design framework aimed at translating scientific discoveries into technological concepts compatible with scalable and intelligent manufacturing approaches.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1989

Advances in computational design and analysis of airbreathing propulsion systems

The development of commercial and military aircraft depends, to a large extent, on engine manufacturers being able to achieve significant increases in propulsion capability through improved component aerodynamics, materials, and structures. The recent history of propulsion has been marked by efforts to develop computational techniques that can speed up the propulsion design process and produce superior designs. The availability of powerful supercomputers, such as the NASA Numerical Aerodynamic Simulator, and the potential for even higher performance offered by parallel computer architectures, have opened the door to the use of multi-dimensional simulations to study complex physical phenomena in propulsion systems that have previously defied analysis or experimental observation. An overview of several NASA Lewis research efforts is provided that are contributing toward the long-range goal of a numerical test-cell for the integrated, multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization of propulsion systems. Specific examples in Internal Computational Fluid Mechanics, Computational Structural Mechanics, Computational Materials Science, and High Performance Computing are cited and described in terms of current capabilities, technical challenges, and future research directions.

Klineberg, John M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Advances in computational design and analysis of airbreathing propulsion systems

The development of commercial and military aircraft depends, to a large extent, on engine manufacturers being able to achieve significant increases in propulsion capability through improved component aerodynamics, materials, and structures. The recent history of propulsion has been marked by efforts to develop computational techniques that can speed up the propulsion design process and produce superior designs. The availability of powerful supercomputers, such as the NASA Numerical Aerodynamic Simulator, and the potential for even higher performance offered by parallel computer architectures, have opened the door to the use of multi-dimensional simulations to study complex physical phenomena in propulsion systems that have previously defied analysis or experimental observation. An overview of several NASA Lewis research efforts is provided that are contributing toward the long-range goal of a numerical test-cell for the integrated, multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization of propulsion systems. Specific examples in Internal Computational Fluid Mechanics, Computational Structural Mechanics, Computational Materials Science, and High Performance Computing are cited and described in terms of current capabilities, technical challenges, and future research directions.

Klineberg, John M.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Damage Detection Response Characteristics of Open Circuit Resonant (SansEC) Sensors

The capability to assess the current or future state of the health of an aircraft to improve safety, availability, and reliability while reducing maintenance costs has been a continuous goal for decades. Many companies, commercial entities, and academic institutions have become interested in Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) and a growing effort of research into "smart" vehicle sensing systems has emerged. Methods to detect damage to aircraft materials and structures have historically relied on visual inspection during pre-flight or post-flight operations by flight and ground crews. More quantitative non-destructive investigations with various instruments and sensors have traditionally been performed when the aircraft is out of operational service during major scheduled maintenance. Through the use of reliable sensors coupled with data monitoring, data mining, and data analysis techniques, the health state of a vehicle can be detected in-situ. NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is developing a composite aircraft skin damage detection method and system based on open circuit SansEC (Sans Electric Connection) sensor technology. Composite materials are increasingly used in modern aircraft for reducing weight, improving fuel efficiency, and enhancing the overall design, performance, and manufacturability of airborne vehicles. Materials such as fiberglass reinforced composites (FRC) and carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) are being used to great advantage in airframes, wings, engine nacelles, turbine blades, fairings, fuselage structures, empennage structures, control surfaces and aircraft skins. SansEC sensor technology is a new technical framework for designing, powering, and interrogating sensors to detect various types of damage in composite materials. The source cause of the in-service damage (lightning strike, impact damage, material fatigue, etc.) to the aircraft composite is not relevant. The sensor will detect damage independent of the cause. Damage in composite material is generally associated with a localized change in material permittivity and/or conductivity. These changes are sensed using SansEC. The unique electrical signatures (amplitude, frequency, bandwidth, and phase) are used for damage detection and diagnosis. An operational system and method would incorporate a SansEC sensor array on select areas of the aircraft exterior surfaces to form a "Smart skin" sensing surface. In this paper a new method and system for aircraft in-situ damage detection and diagnosis is presented. Experimental test results on seeded fault damage coupons and computational modeling simulation results are presented. NASA LaRC has demonstrated with individual sensors that SansEC sensors can be effectively used for in-situ composite damage detection of delamination, voids, fractures, and rips. Keywords: Damage Detection, Composites, Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring (IVHM), Aviation Safety, SansEC Sensors

Dudley, Kenneth L.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Applications of Flow Control to Wing High-Lift Leading Edge Devices on a Commercial Aircraft

Active flow control was applied to the leading edge region of a representative future short/medium-range twin-engine airplane to improve aerodynamic performance during high-lift operations. The study is aimed at enhanced lift over the practical angle of attack range, including stall, and at reduced drag. These benefits translate to airplane performance improvements, such as longer range or larger payload. Various flow control applications were explored using Computational Fluid Dynamics and the aerodynamic performance enhancements were benchmarked against the baseline configuration. The computational analyses are used to quantify aerodynamic benefits, as well as the input required for actuation. The results were used in a system integration study for identifying potential practical implementations, which are described in a companion paper. Combined with the integration analysis, the objective of this project is to identify the most promising flow control candidates that potentially provide material net airplane level enhancements using onboard fluidic sources. Depending on the implementation of active flow control, the current study indicates that up to 1.5% net improvement in L/D at takeoff and 4% increase in maximum lift during landing are potentially achievable, after accounting for factors of system integration.

CFD↗
NASA NTRS2023

Flow Control for Enhanced Aileron Effectiveness on a Commercial Aircraft

Active flow control was applied to the ailerons of a representative future short/medium-range twin-engine airplane to improve aerodynamic performance during high-lift operations. The study is aimed at reduced drag and enhanced lift over the range of practical angles of attack, including stall. These benefits translate to airplane performance improvements, such as longer range or larger payload. Various flow control techniques were explored using Computational Fluid Dynamics and the aerodynamic performance enhancements were benchmarked against the baseline configuration. The computational analyses are used to quantify aerodynamic benefits, as well as the input required for actuation. The results were used in a system integration study for identifying potential practical implementations, which are described in a companion paper. Combined with the integration analysis, the objective of this project is to identify the most promising flow control candidates that potentially provide material net airplane level enhancements using onboard fluidic sources. The current study indicates that up to 5% net improvement in L/D at takeoff is potentially achievable using active flow control on the aileron, after accounting for factors of system integration.

CFD↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Finite Difference informed Random Walk solver for simulating radiation defect evolution in polycrystalline structures with strongly inhomogeneous diffusivity

Diffusivity of species and defects on grain boundaries is usually several orders of magnitude larger than that inside grains. Such strongly inhomogeneous diffusivity requires prohibitively high computational demands for modeling microstructural evolution. Here, this paper presents a highly-efficient numerical solver, combining the Finite Difference method and Random Walk model, designed for accurately modeling strongly inhomogeneous diffusion within polycrystalline structures. The proposed solver, termed Finite Difference informed Random Walk (FDiRW), integrates a customized Finite Difference (cFD) scheme tailored for fast diffusion along thin grain boundaries represented by a single-layer of nodes. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the FDiRW solver achieves an impressive efficiency gain of 1560x compared to traditional Finite Difference methods while maintaining accuracy, making it feasible for personal computer machines to handle diffusional systems with strongly inhomogeneous diffusivity across static polycrystalline microstructures. The model has been successfully applied to simulate radiation defect evolution, showcasing its scalability to engineering scales in both length and time dimensions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1992

Ramp Technology and Intelligent Processing in Small Manufacturing

To address the issues of excessive inventories and increasing procurement lead times, the Navy is actively pursuing flexible computer integrated manufacturing (FCIM) technologies, integrated by communication networks to respond rapidly to its requirements for parts. The Rapid Acquisition of Manufactured Parts (RAMP) program, initiated in 1986, is an integral part of this effort. The RAMP program's goal is to reduce the current average production lead times experienced by the Navy's inventory control points by a factor of 90 percent. The manufacturing engineering component of the RAMP architecture utilizes an intelligent processing technology built around a knowledge-based shell provided by ICAD, Inc. Rules and data bases in the software simulate an expert manufacturing planner's knowledge of shop processes and equipment. This expert system can use Product Data Exchange using STEP (PDES) data to determine what features the required part has, what material is required to manufacture it, what machines and tools are needed, and how the part should be held (fixtured) for machining, among other factors. The program's rule base then indicates, for example, how to make each feature, in what order to make it, and to which machines on the shop floor the part should be routed for processing. This information becomes part of the shop work order. The process planning function under RAMP greatly reduces the time and effort required to complete a process plan. Since the PDES file that drives the intelligent processing is 100 percent complete and accurate to start with, the potential for costly errors is greatly diminished.

Rentz, Richard E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

NASA/CARES dual-use ceramic technology spinoff applications

NASA has developed software that enables American industry to establish the reliability and life of ceramic structures in a wide variety of 21st Century applications. Designing ceramic components to survive at higher temperatures than the capability of most metals and in severe loading environments involves the disciplines of statistics and fracture mechanics. Successful application of advanced ceramics material properties and the use of a probabilistic brittle material design methodology. The NASA program, known as CARES (Ceramics Analysis and Reliability Evaluation of Structures), is a comprehensive general purpose design tool that predicts the probability of failure of a ceramic component as a function of its time in service. The latest version of this software, CARESALIFE, is coupled to several commercially available finite element analysis programs (ANSYS, MSC/NASTRAN, ABAQUS, COSMOS/N4, MARC), resulting in an advanced integrated design tool which is adapted to the computing environment of the user. The NASA-developed CARES software has been successfully used by industrial, government, and academic organizations to design and optimize ceramic components for many demanding applications. Industrial sectors impacted by this program include aerospace, automotive, electronic, medical, and energy applications. Dual-use applications include engine components, graphite and ceramic high temperature valves, TV picture tubes, ceramic bearings, electronic chips, glass building panels, infrared windows, radiant heater tubes, heat exchangers, and artificial hips, knee caps, and teeth.

Powers, Lynn M.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Liquid Crystal Orientation and Shape Optimization for the Active Response of Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are responsive materials that can undergo large reversible deformations upon exposure to external stimuli, such as electrical and thermal fields. Controlling the alignment of their liquid crystals mesogens to achieve desired shape changes unlocks a new design paradigm that is unavailable when using traditional materials. While experimental measurements can provide valuable insights into their behavior, computational analysis is essential to exploit their full potential. Accurate simulation is not, however, the end goal; rather, it is the means to achieve their optimal design. Such design optimization problems are best solved with algorithms that require gradients, i.e., sensitivities, of the cost and constraint functions with respect to the design parameters, to efficiently traverse the design space. In this work, a nonlinear LCE model and adjoint sensitivity analysis are implemented in a scalable and flexible finite element-based open source framework and integrated into a gradient-based design optimization tool. To display the versatility of the computational framework, LCE design problems that optimize both the material, i.e., liquid crystal orientation, and structural shape to reach a target actuated shapes or maximize energy absorption are solved. Multiple parameterizations, customized to address fabrication limitations, are investigated in both 2D and 3D. The case studies are followed by a discussion on the simulation and design optimization hurdles, as well as potential avenues for improving the robustness of similar computational frameworks for applications of interest.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Attempting to Develop the World’s Most Cost-Effective Metal 3D Printing Technology Through Industrial Adoption of a High-Temperature Electro-Magnetic Nozzle for 3D Printing and Computer Numerical Control Integration

This project aimed to make a practical system capable of sustained metal deposition in air engineered with industrial integration and controls. The Al-Ce wire feedstock was tailored with appropriate deposition and solidification properties for direct reactive interface printing (DRIP), and the goal was to integrate onto a Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies system for producing test parts without a controlled environment.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Description of FY25 Theory and Simulation Performance Target: Development of an integrated modeling framework for fusion reactor design and assessment

The urgency to deliver fusion power is growing now more than ever, with increasing pressure for both public programs and private companies to meet milestones timelines and overcome significant remaining technical challenges to ensure growth of a nascent fusion industry in time to meet rapidly growing clean energy demands. With incredible advancements in computation and years of investment in fusion model development and validation, integrated modeling is poised to fill a key role in accelerating the timeline to a fusion pilot plant (FPP). Future fusion pilot plants will operate in regimes far beyond current experience, and device design will rely on physics-based prediction and extrapolation. Many concepts will also rely on simulation to assess safety (shielding, tritium management, materials activation and lifetimes), economics and scalability before the decision to build. Importantly, integrated simulation can be used to reveal and solve the complexities of system integration that may otherwise not be apparent in physical components or models developed in isolation. New experimental test facilities that produce relevant conditions to validate and resolve key technical challenges for various subsystems (materials, blankets, fuel cycle, etc.) have been repeatedly called for by the fusion community but are not yet realized. Integrated modeling has an important role in identifying realistic load conditions (thermal, electromagnetic, plasma, neutron and photon loads, etc.) and defining the components and experiments for these test facilities in order to ensure meaningful validation that sufficiently reduces modeling uncertainties and technical risk for the full integrated reactor. The Fusion REactor Design and Assessment (FREDA) SciDAC project is building a component-based integrated modeling framework & data structure to enable self-consistent, multi-fidelity, iterative optimization workflows for the fusion reactor design process. FREDA aims to shorten the time to viable designs by providing a set of flexible workflows to support the various stages of the design process using an integrated model hierarchy, ranging from the simple analytic descriptions to the highest fidelity, theory-based plasma and engineering modeling developed by the fusion and fission communities. These tools are expected to be needed for timely support of FPP design in the milestone program and in the FIRE collaboratives. The plasma simulation backbone of FREDA is IPS-FASTRAN with newly developed coupled Core-Edge Pedestal-SOL (CESOL) workflows, which is being extended to the far-SOL region up to the plasma facing components. FREDA incorporates the FERMI engineering modeling suite and will enable self-consistent evaluation of the thermal shields, limiters, blanket, magnets, and other surrounding structures with predictions of temperatures, erosion, dpa, activation, tritium generation and transport, creep, corrosion, material degradation, etc. Parametric generation of 3D CAD enables rapid iteration of component geometry in response to plasma and loading specifications.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Tale of Two Domains: Cyber - Physical

As devices and systems continue to modernize and adopt integrated circuits, the use of cyber technology to deploy an application is the expectation. This deployment through cyber assets brings new cyber risk and cybersecurity is the practice of managing this risk. Cyber-risk is constantly changing due to the speed of technology advancement and the changing quality of the adversary. Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) mitigates cyber-risk through engineering controls where as the traditional practice of cybersecurity mitigates cyber-risk through cybersecurity controls. By clearly defining the cyber-physical boundary, engineering controls and cybersecurity controls can clearly demonstrate their complementary nature to provide layered defenses and successfully mitigate cyber-risk through independent controls. In this paper, a layered model of device decomposition of the the cyber-physical boundary is presented to provide clarity where engineering controls are used to reduce cyber-risk within the physics, functional materials, electronic, or integrated circuit layers and where cybersecurity controls are used to reduce cyber-risk within the machine code and application layers. By implementing both traditional cybersecurity controls and engineering controls, a more holistic approach to cybersecurity is achieved in protecting modern devices and systems, as well as a clear awareness in identifying, documenting, and authorizing the system’s cybersecurity protection scheme is achieved.

42 - ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1989

Development of an integrated BEM approach for hot fluid structure interaction

The progress made toward the development of a boundary element formulation for the study of hot fluid-structure interaction in Earth-to-Orbit engine hot section components is reported. The convective viscous integral formulation was derived and implemented in the general purpose computer program GP-BEST. The new convective kernel functions, in turn, necessitated the development of refined integration techniques. As a result, however, since the physics of the problem is embedded in these kernels, boundary element solutions can now be obtained at very high Reynolds number. Flow around obstacles can be solved approximately with an efficient linearized boundary-only analysis or, more exactly, by including all of the nonlinearities present in the neighborhood of the obstacle. The other major accomplishment was the development of a comprehensive fluid-structure interaction capability within GP-BEST. This new facility is implemented in a completely general manner, so that quite arbitrary geometry, material properties and boundary conditions may be specified. Thus, a single analysis code (GP-BEST) can be used to run structures-only problems, fluids-only problems, or the combined fluid-structure problem. In all three cases, steady or transient conditions can be selected, with or without thermal effects. Nonlinear analyses can be solved via direct iteration or by employing a modified Newton-Raphson approach.

Dargush, G. F.↗
NASA NTRS2011

NASA Tech Briefs, February 2011

Topics covered include: Multi-Segment Radius Measurement Using an Absolute Distance Meter Through a Null Assembly; Fiber-Optic Magnetic-Field-Strength Measurement System for Lightning Detection; Photocatalytic Active Radiation Measurements and Use; Computer Generated Hologram System for Wavefront Measurement System Calibration; Non-Contact Thermal Properties Measurement with Low-Power Laser and IR Camera System; SpaceCube 2.0: An Advanced Hybrid Onboard Data Processor; CMOS Imager Has Better Cross-Talk and Full-Well Performance; High-Performance Wireless Telemetry; Telemetry-Based Ranging; JWST Wavefront Control Toolbox; Java Image I/O for VICAR, PDS, and ISIS; X-Band Acquisition Aid Software; Antimicrobial-Coated Granules for Disinfecting Water; Range 7 Scanner Integration with PaR Robot Scanning System; Methods of Antimicrobial Coating of Diverse Materials; High-Operating-Temperature Barrier Infrared Detector with Tailorable Cutoff Wavelength; A Model of Reduced Kinetics for Alkane Oxidation Using Constituents and Species for N-Heptane; Thermally Conductive Tape Based on Carbon Nanotube Arrays; Two Catalysts for Selective Oxidation of Contaminant Gases; Nanoscale Metal Oxide Semiconductors for Gas Sensing; Lightweight, Ultra-High-Temperature, CMC-Lined Carbon/Carbon Structures; Sample Acquisition and Handling System from a Remote Platform; Improved Rare-Earth Emitter Hollow Cathode; High-Temperature Smart Structures for Engine Noise Reduction and Performance Enhancement; Cryogenic Scan Mechanism for Fourier Transform Spectrometer; Piezoelectric Rotary Tube Motor; Thermoelectric Energy Conversion Technology for High-Altitude Airships; Combustor Computations for CO2-Neutral Aviation; Use of Dynamic Distortion to Predict and Alleviate Loss of Control; Cycle Time Reduction in Trapped Mercury Ion Atomic Frequency Standards; and A (201)Hg+ Comagnetometer for (199)Hg+ Trapped Ion Space Atomic Clocks.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mnemosyne

SAND2024-08570O Mnemosyne is an interactive tool for finding, retrieving, and exploring information about U.S. nuclear tests documented in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s NV-209 report. It also acts as an information architecture and codebase for integrating additional information and computational tools related to these tests at the unclassified and classified levels. Users can search by any number of nuclear test attributes—name, yield range, altitude ranges, purpose of a test—and find all matching tests. Users can also retrieve specific test information published in NV-209. The tool displays geospatial and topological data about test location, and it provides an information architecture for storing additional contextual material, such as photographs. Mnemosyne provides a capability of interfacing with HYCHEM, Sandia's nuclear detonation optical waveform tool. The software is designed for use by government, academia, military, and research institutions. The software will likely be advanced to integrate seismic data and the nuclear detonation optical signal simulation code radCTH. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Fisher, Dustin↗
NASA NTRS2004

The Investigation Of Carbon Contamination And Sputtering Effects Of Xenon Ion Thrusters

The Electro-Physics Branch of the NASA Glenn Research Center investigates the effect of atomic oxygen, environmental durability of high performance power materials and surfaces, and low earth orbit. One of its current projects involves the analysis of ion thrusters. Ion thrusters are devices that initiate a beam of ions to a target area. The type of ion thruster that I have been working with this Summer of 2004 emits positively charged Xenon (Xe(+)) atoms through two grids, the screen grid and the accelerator grid, after it enters an ionization chamber. Insulators are used to mechanically hold and separate these two grids. A propellant isolator, an instrument that closely resembles insulators, is placed in front of the ionization chamber. Both the insulator and isolator are made with a ceramic compound and filled with insulating beads. The main difference between the two devices is that the propellant isolator allows gas to flow through, in this case, the gas is Xe(+) and the insulators do not. In order to avoid carbon deposits and other contaminating chemicals to settle on the insulators and propellant isolator, a metal shadow shield is placed around them. These shadow shields function as a protectant and can be shaped in numerous configurations. Part of my job responsibility this summer is to investigate the effectiveness of different shadow shields that are utilized on three different ion engines: the NSTAR (NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Application Readiness), JIMO (Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter), and NEXIS (Nuclear Electric Xenon Ion System). Using calculus and other mathematical tactics, I was asked to find the total flux of carbon contamination that was able to pass the protectant shadow shield. I familiarized myself with the software program, MathCad2004, to help perform some mathematical computations such as complex integration. Another method of studying the probability of contamination is by experimental simulation. After attaining the precise parameters of the actual shadow shields, I created replicas of three types of shadow shielding to be used to undergo testing. It will be placed in a machine that produces carbon atoms at a high temperature of 200 C. or beam is aimed at a targeted material. As a result of this collision, atoms and other particles are ejected out of the target surface. Another part of my internship consisted of research on sputter ejection, or the angle distribution of sputtered material. This research entailed finding the past results of sputter ejection investigation as well as creating another type of mock simulation. Other minor projects include calculating the path of Xe(+) gas through the insulating beads of the isolators and assisting my mentor in collecting data for his paper for the Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit to be held July 11-14,2004 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Prak, Moline K.↗