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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

Pumped Storage Hydropower FAST Commissioning Technical Analysis

This report is designed to address barriers and solutions to modern pumped storage hydropower (PSH) development by establishing baseline project development knowledge, defining key aspects of project development, and identifying opportunities to reduce project timelines, costs, and risks. This report’s scope includes post-licensing activities and excludes factors related to permitting or licensing. The U.S. PSH fleet is composed of 43 projects providing the majority (95%) of utility-scale electricity storage in the US. However, only one new PSH facility has become operational in the past 20 years. Several factors contribute to diminishing PSH growth in the US, including the magnitude of project costs and financing interest during development and construction; the length of time from project investment until project revenue; permitting challenges and construction risks; competition from other storage technologies; and unrecognized energy storage valuation. Although innovative PSH concepts (including underground, small, and modular systems) have been investigated, widespread application has yet to occur. In short, the time, cost, and risk associated with modern PSH development has resulted in limited recent growth in the United States, despite the rising energy storage demand from increased deployment of variable renewable technologies. To address these challenges, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office initiated the PSH Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time to (FAST) Commissioning project, aimed at catalyzing new solutions, designs, and strategies to accelerate PSH development. This report uses available data from previous license applications, ongoing project cost data, and other global PSH project information based on a typical closed-loop PSH project.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

Bion-M2

Bion-M2, scheduled to launch in April 2023, continues the 30+ year collaboration between the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBMP RAS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Bion-M2 is the second biosatellite in the Bion-M series and its goal is to investigate how the space environment affects living organisms, with emphasis on physiological changes in rodents, gravitational biology using a wide variety of specimens, and radiation biology. The Bion-M2 biosatellite will complete a 30-day low earth orbit (LEO) flight to study the combined effects of microgravity and ionizing radiation (IR) on multiple organisms, where the payload may be exposed to IR at 20-30 times thedose rate seen on the International Space Station. Following return, nine U.S. collaborators selected through the NASA Space Biology Research Announcement will conduct post-flight rodent experiments using male C57BL/6 mice. The post-flight experiments will investigate the effects of the space environment on bone and skeletal muscle health, cardiac function, reproductive system function, neurovascular systems, protein composition in plasma, and thermoregulation in the mice. Currently, the Bion-M2 mission is in the development phase of theproject lifecycle. The mission objectives, constraints, requirements, and timeline have been defined in the project plan and contracts. Technology for the mission is under development and science procedures will be finalized by FY22. The aim of this presentation is to highlight the importance of the Bion-M2 mission and provide insight into the mission development process, including an overview of the project plan and the tissue sharing plan that will be utilized during the post-flight dissection procedures.

Bion-M2↗

Development of a Ground Test and Analysis Protocol for NASA's NextSTEP Phase 2 Habitation Concepts

The NASA Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program is a public-private partnership model that seeks commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support human spaceflight missions around and beyond cislunar space. NASA first issued the Phase 1 NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement to U.S. industries in 2014, which called for innovative cislunar habitation concepts that leveraged commercialization plans for low-Earth orbit. These habitats will be part of the Deep Space Gateway (DSG), the cislunar space station planned by NASA for construction in the 2020s. In 2016, Phase 2 of the NextSTEP program selected five commercial partners to develop ground prototypes. A team of NASA research engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs) have been tasked with developing the ground-test protocol that will serve as the primary means by which these Phase 2 prototypes will be evaluated. Since 2008, this core test team has successfully conducted multiple spaceflight analog mission evaluations utilizing a consistent set of operational tools, methods, and metrics to enable the iterative development, testing, analysis, and validation of evolving exploration architectures, operations concepts, and vehicle designs. The purpose of implementing a similar evaluation process for the Phase 2 Habitation Concepts is to consistently evaluate different commercial partner ground prototypes to provide data-driven, actionable recommendations for Phase 3. This paper describes the process by which the ground test protocol was developed and the objectives, methods, and metrics by which the NextSTEP Phase 2 Habitation Concepts will be rigorously and systematically evaluated. The protocol has been developed using both a top-down and bottom-up approach. Top-down development began with the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) exploration objectives and ISS Exploration Capability Study Team (IECST) candidate flight objectives. Strategic questions and associated rationales, derived from these candidate architectural objectives, provide the framework by which the ground-test protocol will address the DSG stack elements and configurations, systems and subsystems, and habitation, science, and EVA functions. From these strategic questions, high-level functional requirements for the DSG were drafted and associated ground-test objectives and analysis protocols were established. Bottom-up development incorporated objectives from NASA SMEs in autonomy, avionics and software, communication, environmental control and life support systems, exercise, extravehicular activity, exploration medical operations, guidance navigation and control, human factors and behavioral performance, human factors and habitability, logistics, Mission Control Center operations, power, radiation, robotics, safety and mission assurance, science, simulation, structures, thermal, trash management, and vehicle health. Top-down and bottom-up objectives were integrated to form overall functional requirements - ground-test objectives and analysis mapping. From this mapping, ground-test objectives were organized into those that will be evaluated through inspection, demonstration, analysis, subsystem standalone testing, and human-in-the-loop (HITL) testing. For the HITL tests, mission-like timelines, procedures, and flight rules have been developed to directly meet ground test objectives and evaluate specific functional requirements. Data collected from these assessments will be analyzed to determine the acceptability of habitation element configurations and the combinations of capabilities that will result in the best habitation platform to be recommended by the test team for Phase 3.

Gernhardt, Michael L.↗

NASA's Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) Mission

The Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) Mission is one of the first Earth observation satellites being formulated by NASA in response to the 2007 National Research Council s Decadal Survey. SMAP will make global measurements of soil moisture at the Earth's land surface and its freeze-thaw state. These measurements will allow significantly improved estimates of water, energy and carbon transfers between the land and atmosphere. Soil moisture measurements are also of great importance in assessing flooding and monitoring drought. Knowledge gained from SMAP observations can help mitigate these natural hazards, resulting in potentially great economic and social benefits. SMAP observations of soil moisture and freeze/thaw timing over the boreal latitudes will also reduce a major uncertainty in quantifying the global carbon balance and help to resolve an apparent missing carbon sink over land. The SMAP mission concept will utilize an L-band radar and radiometer sharing a rotating 6-meter mesh reflector antenna flying in a 680 km polar orbit with an 8-day exact ground track repeat aboard a 3-axis stabilized spacecraft to provide high-resolution and high-accuracy global maps of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state every two to three days. In addition, the SMAP project will use these surface observations with advanced modeling and data assimilation to provide estimates of deeper root-zone soil moisture and net ecosystem exchange of carbon. SMAP recently completed its Phase A Mission Concept Study Phase for NASA and transitioned into Phase B (Formulation and Detailed Design). A number of significant accomplishments occurred during this initial phase of mission development. The SMAP project held several open meetings to solicit community feedback on possible science algorithms, prepared preliminary draft Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents (ATBDs) for each mission science product, and established a prototype algorithm testbed to enable testing and evaluation of the performance of candidate algorithms. SMAP conducted an Applications Workshop in September 2009 to coordinate with potential application users interested in the mission data. A draft Applications Plan describing the Project s planned outreach to potential applications users has been prepared and will be updated during Phase B. SMAP made a significant evaluation of the potential terrestrial radio frequency interference (RFI) source environment and established radiometer and radar flight hardware and ground processing mitigation approaches. SMAP finalized its science orbit and orbit injection approach to optimize launch mass and prepared launch and commissioning scenarios and timeline. A science data communications approach was developed to maximize available science data volume to improve science margins while maintaining moderately short data product latencies to support many potential applications using existing ground assets and with minimum impact to the flight system. SMAP developed rigid multi-body and flexible body dynamics and control models and system designs for the 6-meter rotating instrument reflector-boom assembly (RBA) and flight system to confirm pointing and control performance, and devised strategies to efficiently implement on-orbit balancing if needed. Industry partners were selected for the spin mechanism assembly (SMA) and RBA. Preliminary designs for the radar and radiometer were initiated, including constructing breadboards of key assemblies.

Kellogg, Kent↗

High Current Density Cables for Simpler HTS Magnets in Fusion Energy Systems

High current density cables are needed for the engineering design of potentially low cost, simpler geometry high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets in the promising magnetic configurations as a fusion pilot plant (FPP) option. Significant technology maturation efforts are underway by privately funded startups with the goal to demonstrate mature HTS magnet technology. Test results, however, indicate critical engineering issues remain to be addressed to meet performance goals, and demonstrate HTS coil operation repeatability and reliability. To this end, exploring and enabling multiple viable conductor and cable options is vital. Partnering with a private fusion startup and manufacturers of superconducting strands and cables, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is exploring and seeking to de-risk the aggressive high field approach presently targeted by others. Our main objective is to develop, test and calibrate novel high current density cables for a broad deployment of affordable and reliable coils using Bi-2212 conductors. If successful, such a project will provide technical feasibility for promising FPP configurations including spherical tokamaks (ST) and compact stellarators. Here, we aim at the state-of-the-art Bi-2212 cable technologies toward a current density of 100 A/mm 2 at 16 T and 4.2 K–10 K operation for low cost, simpler geometry toroidal field (TF) coils for compact stellarators developed by fusion startup companies on a timeline consistent with the FPP initiatives and beyond.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

NoiseSpotter Feedback

NoiseSpotter is currently designed for a 2-week deployment. This timeline will likely be problematic for MHK developers. Developers will want a robust/proven system that they can deploy and not worry about for longer than 2 weeks (especially for the continued monitoring of a site).

42 ENGINEERING↗

Pumped Storage Hydropower FAST Commissioning Technical Analysis

This report was developed in tandem with the Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time (FAST) to Commissioning PSH Challenge and represents the underlying technical analysis that informed the competition. Lead by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the report is designed to address barriers and solutions to PSH development by establishing baseline project development knowledge, defining key aspects of project development, and identifying opportunities to reduce project timelines, costs, and risks. The document’s scope includes post-licensing activities and excludes factors related to permitting or licensing.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

A Survey of Federal and State-Level Solar System Decommissioning Policies in the United States

In the United States, cumulative installed utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity reached more than 60 gigawatts (GW)dc at the end of 2020 (Davis et al. 2021b). Federal and state renewable energy and net-zero emissions policies will continue to drive solar development in the United States with installed utility-scale PV projected to quadruple (240 GWdc) by 2030 (Davis et al. 2021a; Heeter 2014). Although more than 75% of all U.S. installed utility-scale PV came online in the last 5 years, federal, state, and local governments are planning for system decommissioning (Davis et al. 2021b). Our research found that as of April 2021, one federal agency, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and 15 U.S. states have solar decommissioning policies in place. North Carolina is also in the process of drafting solar decommissioning regulations, and at least 4 states (Maine, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Texas) proposed solar decommissioning bills in the 2021 legislative session. This report provides a survey and brief overview of both federal and U.S. statewide solar decommissioning policies, and a discussion of some of the potential impacts different policy designs may have on utility-scale solar development, including impacts that might influence construction timelines and over project costs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Orbital transfer vehicle concept definition and system analysis study. Volume 4, Appendix A: Space station accommodations. Revision 1

Orbit Transfer Vehicle (OTV) processing at the space station is divided into two major categories: OTV processing and assembly operations, and support operations. These categories are further subdivided into major functional areas to allow development of detailed OTV processing procedures and timelines. These procedures and timelines are used to derive the specific space station accommodations necessary to support OTV activities. The overall objective is to limit impact on OTV processing requirements on space station operations, involvement of crew, and associated crew training and skill requirements. The operational concept maximizes use of automated and robotic systems to perform all required OTV servicing and maintenance tasks. Only potentially critical activities would require direct crew involvement or supervision. EVA operations are considered to be strictly contingency back-up to failure of the automated and robotic systems, with the exception of the initial assembly of Space-Based OTV accommodations at the space station, which will require manned involvement.

Randall, Roger M.↗

GN&C Sequencing for Orion Rendezvous, Proximity Operations, and Docking

As part of the Artemis program to return humans to the lunar surface, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is planning to use the Orion Multi- Purpose Crew Vehicle to transport crew to a small orbital platform called Gate- way in cislunar space. To facilitate this activity, Orion is required to perform Rendezvous, Proximity Operations, and Docking (RPOD) with both the Gate- way and the launch vehicle upper stage. The Orion spacecraft uses sequencing in the form of Phases, Segments, Activities, and Modes (PSAM) to configure Guidance, Navigation, & Control (GN&C) software during each portion of the mission. Significant updates to Orion PSAM definitions are required for RPOD. This paper describes the process of defining these new sequencing elements, implementing them in prototype flight software, and testing them in an integrated simulation environment. First, requirements are specified to determine the nominal and off-nominal sequencing behavior necessary to complete the mission. These requirements also specify which software functions should be fully autonomous and which functions require manual interactions from crew or ground operators. Next, the RPOD concept of operations is defined with detailed events listed in a mission timeline. Third, a state machine diagram is developed to show all PSAM states, including all possible transitions between them. After this, the PSAM states and transitions are entered into a sequencing software emulator and parameter values and modes are defined for GN&C software elements. Finally, the PSAM architecture is tested within an integrated simulation environment by connecting it with prototypes of relevant GN&C flight software elements and with detailed vehicle models. After the sequencing design has been finalized and tested, it is implemented in flight software.

Schulte, Peter Z.↗

Counter Unmanned Aircraft System Metrics Tool

SAND2023-05387O The Counter Unmanned Aircraft System (CUAS) Metrics Tool consists of three applications: • The Data Collection Tool is designed to be used during testing and captures details that can be imported into the Figure Creator application. • The Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Log Converter converts different UAS logs into a standardized hierarchical data format with a timeline of geospatial data. • The Figure Creator develops relevant images for the test event. The application includes logic to ingest and correlate data from the Data Collection Tool and the UAS Log Converter to produce the chosen figures. 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.

Mayle, Ashley↗

An Enabling Technology for New Planning and Scheduling Paradigms

The Night Projects Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is developing a new planning and scheduling environment and a new scheduling algorithm to enable a paradigm shift in planning and scheduling concepts. Over the past 33 years Marshall has developed and evolved a paradigm for generating payload timelines for Skylab, Spacelab, various other Shuttle payloads, and the International Space Station. The current paradigm starts by collecting the requirements, called ?ask models," from the scientists and technologists for the tasks that are to be scheduled. Because of shortcomings in the current modeling schema, some requirements are entered as notes. Next, a cadre with knowledge of vehicle and hardware modifies these models to encompass and be compatible with the hardware model; again, notes are added when the modeling schema does not provide a better way to represent the requirements. Finally, the models are modified to be compatible with the scheduling engine. Then the models are submitted to the scheduling engine for automatic scheduling or, when requirements are expressed in notes, the timeline is built manually. A future paradigm would provide a scheduling engine that accepts separate science models and hardware models. The modeling schema would have the capability to represent all the requirements without resorting to notes. Furthermore, the scheduling engine would not require that the models be modified to account for the capabilities (limitations) of the scheduling engine. The enabling technology under development at Marshall has three major components: (1) A new modeling schema allows expressing all the requirements of the tasks without resorting to notes or awkward contrivances. The chosen modeling schema is both maximally expressive and easy to use. It utilizes graphical methods to show hierarchies of task constraints and networks of temporal relationships. (2) A new scheduling algorithm automatically schedules the models without the intervention of a scheduling expert. The algorithm is tuned for the constraint hierarchies and the complex temporal relationships provided by the modeling schema. It has an extensive search algorithm that can exploit timing flexibilities and constraint and relationship options. (3) An innovative architecture allows multiple remote users to simultaneously model science and technology requirements and other users to model vehicle and hardware characteristics. The architecture allows the remote users to submit scheduling requests directly to the scheduling engine and immediately see the results. These three components are integrated so that science and technology experts with no knowledge of the vehicle or hardware subsystems and no knowledge of the internal workings of the scheduling engine have the ability to build and submit scheduling requests and see the results. The immediate feedback will hone the users' modeling skills and ultimately enable them to produce the desired timeline. This paper summarizes the three components of the enabling technology and describes how this technology would make a new paradigm possible.

Jaap, John↗

Advanced Power System Analysis Capabilities

As a continuing effort to assist in the design and characterization of space power systems, the NASA Lewis Research Center's Power and Propulsion Office developed a powerful computerized analysis tool called System Power Analysis for Capability Evaluation (SPACE). This year, SPACE was used extensively in analyzing detailed operational timelines for the International Space Station (ISS) program. SPACE was developed to analyze the performance of space-based photovoltaic power systems such as that being developed for the ISS. It is a highly integrated tool that combines numerous factors in a single analysis, providing a comprehensive assessment of the power system's capability. Factors particularly critical to the ISS include the orientation of the solar arrays toward the Sun and the shadowing of the arrays by other portions of the station.

Source record↗

Enabling a New Planning and Scheduling Paradigm

The Flight Projects Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is developing a new planning and scheduling environment and a new scheduling algorithm to enable a paradigm shift in planning and scheduling concepts. Over the past 33 years Marshall has developed and evolved a paradigm for generating payload timelines for Skylab, Spacelab, various other Shuttle payloads, and the International Space Station. The current paradigm starts by collecting the requirements, called "tasks models," from the scientists and technologists for the tasks that they want to be done. Because of shortcomings in the current modeling schema, some requirements are entered as notes. Next a cadre with knowledge of vehicle and hardware modifies these models to encompass and be compatible with the hardware model; again, notes are added when the modeling schema does not provide a better way to represent the requirements. Finally, another cadre further modifies the models to be compatible with the scheduling engine. This last cadre also submits the models to the scheduling engine or builds the timeline manually to accommodate requirements that are expressed in notes. A future paradigm would provide a scheduling engine that accepts separate science models and hardware models. The modeling schema would have the capability to represent all the requirements without resorting to notes. Furthermore, the scheduling engine would not require that the models be modified to account for the capabilities (limitations) of the scheduling engine. The enabling technology under development at Marshall has three major components. (1) A new modeling schema allows expressing all the requirements of the tasks without resorting to notes or awkward contrivances. The chosen modeling schema is both maximally expressive and easy to use. It utilizes graphics methods to show hierarchies of task constraints and networks of temporal relationships. (2) A new scheduling algorithm automatically schedules the models without the intervention of a scheduling expert. The algorithm is tuned for the constraint hierarchies and the complex temporal relationships provided by the modeling schema. It has an extensive search algorithm which can exploit timing flexibilities and constraint and relationship options. (3) A web-based architecture allows multiple remote users to simultaneously model science and technology requirements and other users to model vehicle and hardware characteristics. The architecture allows the users to submit scheduling requests directly to the scheduling engine and immediately see the results. These three components are integrated so that science and technology experts with no knowledge of the vehicle or hardware subsystems and no knowledge of the internal workings of the scheduling engine have the ability to build and submit scheduling requests and see the results. The immediate feedback will hone the users' modeling skills and ultimately enable them to produce the desired timeline. This paper summarizes the three components of the enabling technology and describes how this technology would make a new paradigm possible.

Jaap, John↗

NASA Advanced Composites Project

The recently-completed NASA Advanced Composites Project (ACP) successfully developed several new technologies aimed at reducing the timeline to design and certify composite aircraft structures. Advancements in the areas of manufacturing simulation, nondestructive inspection and advanced structural design and analysis methodologies were completed in late 2019 under the Advanced Composites Consortium (ACC) public/private partnership as well as NRA-funded university contracts. In the area of Structures, the ACC made significant improvements in rapid design tools for preliminary sizing of structure, along with developing detailed static and fatigue strength prediction methods and methods for modeling high energy impact events in composite structures. These new methodologies and toolsets were validated against a range of representative test data using a comprehensive verification and validation approach which has been published and is now used extensively on other programs. Specific new tool improvements supported by ACC include NASA’s CompDam code and Floating Node Method code. CompDam is now available from NASA as open source code. The team alsoworked on improved impact modeling using LS-Dyna™ and improved delamination modeling using Abaqus™. Rapid design tool improvements are available through Hypersizer. The ACC team released well over 50 publications documenting these method improvements, and the ACP recently received the prestigious NASA Group Achievement Award for their work.Typical Hat Stiffened Panel Test Article Used for Method Validation

ACC↗

Offshore Wind Technology Data Update (2019) [Slides]

The 2019 Offshore Wind Technology Data Update compiles information from peer-reviewed literature, market reports, press releases, industry news reports, manufacturer specification sheets, and offshore wind project announcements to provide a comprehensive snapshot of the state of the global wind industry in 2019. These data, including capacity projections, project characteristics, technology trends, and cost estimates, are categorized, tabulated, and plotted to provide easily recognizable and understandable summaries. A particular focus is given to the United States offshore wind project pipeline, including project announcements, state procurements, deployment timelines, infrastructure investments, grid interconnections, and other related developments. The update is intended to be used as a reference document by researchers, analysts, industry practitioners, and government officials.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development and Qualification Program Overview

Slides discussing the DOE Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development and Qualification Program Overview to include focus on LEU UCO TRISO fuel in cylindrical compacts, with data for fuel qualification in support of reactor licensing and a path to establish a domestic commercial TRISO fuel fabrication capability. Timelines from 2004 through 2029. Major program highlights include: Developed fuel performance models based on past observed behavior, Study to understand differences between US and German (“good”) fuel, Developed and improved fuel fabrication and characterization methods, Fabricated lab-scale fuel (AGR-1) with very high quality; excellent in-pile and post-irradiation high-temperature fuel performance, Scale-up coating fabrication (AGR-2) with excellent in-pile performance, AGR-3/4 fuel fabrication and irradiation experiment to assess FP transport behavior, Scale-up matrix fabrication (AGR-5/6/7); & fuel performance evaluation in progress.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Remote image analysis for Mars Exploration Rover mobility and manipulation operations

NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are two sixwheeled, 175-kg robotic vehicles which have operated on Mars for over a year as of March 2005. The rovers are controlled by teams who must understand the rover's surroundings and develop command sequences on a daily basis. The tight tactical planning timeline and everchanging environment call for tools that allow quick assessment of potential manipulator targets and traverse goals, since command sequences must be developed in a matter of hours after receipt of new data from the rovers. Reachability maps give a visual indication of which targets are reachable by each rover's manipulator, while slope and solar energy maps show the rover operator which terrain areas are safe and unsafe from different standpoints.

image understanding↗