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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2015

Armstrong Flight Research Center Flight Test Capabilities and Opportunities for the Applications of Wireless Data Acquisition Systems

The presentation will overview NASA Armstrong Flight Research Centers flight test capabilities, which can provide various means for flight testing of passive and active wireless sensor systems, also, it will address the needs of the wireless data acquisition solutions for the centers flight instrumentation issues such as additional weight caused by added instrumentation wire bundles, connectors, wire cables routing, moving components, etc., that the Passive Wireless Sensor Technology Workshop may help. The presentation shows the constraints and requirements that the wireless sensor systems will face in the flight test applications.

flight tests↗
NASA NTRS2013

NASA's Reduced Gravity Research Opportunities

Parabolic flight provides ability to measure acute changes in microgravity that is not practical with orbital flight! center dot Parabolic flight will likely be critical for preparing people and payloads for commercial spaceflight (e.g., Virgin Galactic). center dot Constant transitions between g levels can be used to good advantage in many cases.

Wood, Scott↗
NASA NTRS2006

Mars Miniature Science Instruments

For robotic Mars missions, all the science information is gathered through on-board miniature instruments that have been developed through many years of R&D. Compared to laboratory counterparts, the rover instruments require miniaturization, such as low mass (1-2 kg), low power (> 10 W) and compact (1-2 liter), yet with comparable sensitivity. Since early 1990's, NASA recognized the need for the miniature instruments and launched several instrument R&D programs, e.g., PIDDP (Planetary Instrument Definition and Development). However, until 1998, most of the instrument R&D programs supported only up to a breadboard level (TRL 3, 4) and there is a need to carry such instruments to flight qualifiable status (TU 5, 6) to respond to flight AOs (Announcement of Opportunity). Most of flight AOs have only limited time and financial resources, and can not afford such instrument development processes. To bridge the gap between instrument R&D programs and the flight instrument needs, NASA's Mars Technology Program (MTP) created advanced instrumentation program, Mars Instrument Development Project (MIDP). MIDP candidate instruments are selected through NASA Research Announcement (NRA) process [l]. For example, MIDP 161998-2000) selected and developed 10 instruments, MIDP II (2003-2005) 16 instruments, and MIDP III (2004-2006) II instruments.Working with PIs, JPL has been managing the MIDP tasks since September 1998. All the instruments being developed under MIDP have been selected through a highly competitive NRA process, and employ state-of-the-art technology. So far, four MIDP funded instruments have been selected by two Mars missions (these instruments have further been discussed in this paper).

Mars Instrument Development Project (MIDP)↗
NASA NTRS2009

From Research to Flight: Surviving the TRL Valley of Death for Robotic and Human Space Exploration

There must be a plan or opportunities for flight validation: a) To reduce the bottleneck of new technologies at the TRL Valley of Death; b) To allow frequent infusion of new technologies into flight missions. Risk must be tolerated for new technology flight experiments. Risk must also be accepted on early-adopting missions to enable new capabilities. Fundamental research is critical to taking the next giant leap in the scientific exploration of space. Technology push is often required to meet current mission requirements. Technology management requires more than issuing NRAs and overseeing contracts.

Johnson, Les↗
NASA NTRS1992

The space life sciences strategy for the 21st century

In the 21st century, NASA's long-term strategy for the exploration of the solar system will combine the assurance of human health and performance for long periods in space with investigations aimed at searching for traces of life on other planets and acquiring fundamental scientific knowledge of life processes. Implementation of this strategy will involve a variety of disciplines including radiation health, life support, human factors, space physiology and countermeasures, medical care, environmental health, and exobiology. It will use both ground-based and flight research opportunities such as those found in current ongoing programs, on Spacelab and unmanned biosatellite flights, and during Space Station Freedom missions.

Nicogossian, Arnauld E.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Partnership Opportunities with AFRC for Wireless Systems Flight Testing

The presentation will overview the flight test capabilities at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC), to open up partnership collaboration opportunities for Wireless Community to conduct flight testing of aerospace wireless technologies. Also, it will brief the current activities on wireless sensor system at AFRC through SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) proposals, and it will show the current areas of interest on wireless technologies that AFRC would like collaborate with Wireless Community to further and testing.

sensors↗
NASA NTRS2016

Airspace Technology Demonstration 3 (ATD-3): Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) Technology Transfer Document Summary Version 1.0

Airspace Technology Demonstration #3 (ATD-3) is part of NASA's Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) - specifically, its Airspace Technology Demonstrations (ATD) Project. ATD-3 is a multiyear research and development effort which proposes to develop and demonstrate automation technologies and operating concepts that enable air navigation service providers and airspace users to continuously assess weather, winds, traffic, and other information to identify, evaluate, and implement workable opportunities for flight plan route corrections that can result in significant flight time and fuel savings in en route airspace. In order to ensure that the products of this tech-transfer are relevant and useful, NASA has created strong partnerships with the FAA and key industry stakeholders. This summary document and accompanying technology artifacts satisfy the first of three Research Transition Products (RTPs) defined in the Applied Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) Research Transition Team (RTT) Plan. This transfer consists of NASA's legacy Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) work for efficient routing for en-route weather avoidance. DWR is a ground-based trajectory automation system that continuously and automatically analyzes active airborne aircraft in en route airspace to identify opportunities for simple corrections to flight plan routes that can save significant flying time, at least five minutes wind-corrected, while avoiding weather and considering traffic conflicts, airspace sector congestion, special use airspace, and FAA routing restrictions. The key benefit of the DWR concept is to let automation continuously and automatically analyze active flights to find those where simple route corrections can save significant time and fuel. Operators are busy during weather events. It is more effective to let automation find the opportunities for high-value route corrections.

ATD-3↗
NASA NTRS2001

Telemetry Tracking and Control Through Commercial LEO Satellites

Personnel from the Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility (GSFC/WFF in Virginia have successfully tested commercial LEO communications satellites for sounding rocket, balloon and aircraft flight TT&C. The Flight Modern became a GSFC/WFF Advanced Range Technology Initiative (ARTI) in an effort to streamline TT&C capability to the user community at low cost. Ground tests of the Flight Modem verified duplex communications quality of service and measured transmission latencies. These tests were completed last year and results reported in the John Hopkins University (JHU) Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) 4th International Symposium on Reducing Spacecraft Costs for Ground Systems and Operations. The second phase of the Flight Modem baseline test program was a demonstration of the ruggedized version of the WFF Flight Modem flown on a sounding rocket launched it the Swedish rocket range (Esrangc) near Kiruna, Sweden, with results contained in this paper. Aircraft flight tests have been and continue to be conducted. Flights of opportunity are being actively pursued with other centers, ranges and users at universities. The WFF Flight Modem contains a CPS receiver to provide vehicle position for tracking and vehicle recovery. The system architecture, which integrates antennas, CPS receiver, commercial satellite packet data modem and a single board computer with custom software, is described. Small satellite use of the WFF Flight Modem is also being investigated, The Flight Modem provides an independent vehicle position source for Range Safety applications. The LEO communication system contains a coarse position location system, which is compared to GPS ace acy. This comparison allows users, to determine the need for a CPS receiver in addition to the satellite packet data modem for their application.

Streich, Ronald C.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Dynamic Arrival Routes: A Trajectory-Based Weather Avoidance System for Merging Arrivals and Metering

Convective weather can cause arrival traffic to fly less efficient weather avoidance routes and is the primary cause for time-based metering to be discontinued. Dynamic Arrival Routes (DAR) is a trajectory-based weather avoidance system that is designed to help improve arrival traffic flow when weather is present. The DAR system continuously analyzes airborne arrival flights for opportunities to reroute them to more efficient arrival routes or around weather that is predicted to be on their current flight plan early enough to allow the arrival time-based metering system to adjust its times of arrival for the presence of weather. Analysis of 93 hours of actual traffic over 12 different days from Fort Worth Center showed DAR proposed more efficient arrival reroutes for 352 arrival flights for an average time savings of 12.3 minutes per flight at a look-ahead time of 60 minutes from the meter fix. DAR also identified 642 arrival flights with a need to deviate around weather and proposed weather avoidance routes that were analytically shown to remain weather-free 83 percent of the time for a look-ahead time of 30 minutes from the meter fix.

Arrivals↗
NASA NTRS2006

Aerocapture Technology Development for Planetary Science - Update

Within NASA's Science Mission Directorate is a technological program dedicated to improving the cost, mass, and trip time of future scientific missions throughout the Solar System. The In-Space Propulsion Technology (ISPT) Program, established in 2001, is charged with advancing propulsion systems used in space from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to TRL6, and with planning activities leading to flight readiness. The program's content has changed considerably since inception, as the program has refocused its priorities. One of the technologies that has remained in the ISPT portfolio through these changes is Aerocapture. Aerocapture is the use of a planetary body's atmosphere to slow a vehicle from hyperbolic velocity to a low-energy orbit suitable for science. Prospective use of this technology has repeatedly shown huge mass savings for missions of interest in planetary exploration, at Titan, Neptune, Venus, and Mars. With launch vehicle costs rising, these savings could be the key to mission viability. This paper provides an update on the current state of the Aerocapture technology development effort, summarizes some recent key findings, and highlights hardware developments that are ready for application to Aerocapture vehicles and entry probes alike. Description of Investments: The Aerocapture technology area within the ISPT program has utilized the expertise around NASA to perform Phase A-level studies of future missions, to identify technology gaps that need to be filled to achieve flight readiness. A 2002 study of the Titan Explorer mission concept showed that the combination of Aerocapture and a Solar Electric Propulsion system could deliver a lander and orbiter to Titan in half the time and on a smaller, less expensive launch vehicle, compared to a mission using chemical propulsion for the interplanetary injection and orbit insertion. The study also identified no component technology breakthroughs necessary to implement Aerocapture on such a mission. Similar studies of Aerocapture applications at Neptune, Venus, and Mars were studied in 2003 through 2005. All showed significant performance improvements for the missions studied. Findings from these studies were used to guide the technology development tasks originally solicited in a 2002 NASA ROSS Research Announcement. The tasks are now in their final year and have provided numerous improvements in modeling and hardware, for use in proposals or new mission starts. Major Accomplishments: Since validation of the Aerocapture maneuver requires a space flight, ground developments have focused on modeling and environment prediction, materials, and sensors. Lockheed Martin has designed and built a 2-meter Carbon-Carbon aeroshell "hot structure." The article utilizes co-cured stiffening ribs and advanced insulation to achieve large scale, and up to a 40% reduction in areal density over the Genesis probe construction. This concept would be an efficient solution for probes that experience heat rates near 800-1000 W/cm(exp 2), such as at Venus and Earth. Applied Research Associates has extensively tested a family of efficient ablative TPS materials that provide solutions for a range of heating conditions. These materials are being applied to high-temperature structures built by ATK Space Systems, led by Langley Research Center. One-meter aeroshells will be thermally tested to validate construction and demonstrate higher bondline temperatures, which can lead to mass savings of up to 30% over traditional heatshields. Ames Research Center has developed aeroshell instrumentation that could measure environmental conditions and material performance during atmospheric entry. Instruments to measure TPS recession, heat flux, and catalycity could be combined with traditional sensors to provide a "plug-and-play" system for minimal mass and power, that would acquire flight data for model improvement and risk reduction on future missions. Improved atmospheric and aerothermodynamic models ha also been a major focus of the program. Next Steps: Aerocapture is one of five technologies in competition for a flight validation opportunity through the New Millennium Program. If selected, a fully autonomous vehicle will perform an Aerocapture at Earth in 2010, and flight data will be used to validate the guidance system and the TPS material for science mission infusion.

Munk, Michelle M.↗
NASA NTRS2001

TT and C - First TDRSS, Then Commercial GEO and Big LEO and Now through LEO

The advent of low earth orbit (LEO) commercial communications satellites provides an opportunity to dramatically reduce Telemetry Tracking and Control (TT&C) costs of launch vehicles and Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) by reducing or eliminating ground infrastructure. Personnel from the Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility (GSFC/WFF) in Virginia have successfully used commercial GEO & Big LEO communications satellites for Long Duration Balloon flight TT&C. In addition, TDRSS capability for these balloons has been developed by WFF for the Ultra Long Duration Balloons with the first test flight launch in January 2001 for one global circumnavigation at 120,000 feet altitude launched from Alice Springs. Australia. Numerous other low cost applications can new utilize the commercial LEO satellites for TT&C. The Flight Modern became a GSFC/WFF Advanced Range Technology Initiative (ARTI) in an effort to streamline TT&C capability to the user community at low cost. Phase I ground tests of The Flight Modem verified downlink communications quality of service and measured transmission latencies. These tests were completed last year, Phase II consisting of aircraft flight tests provide much of the data presented in this paper. Phase III of the Flight Modern baseline test program is a demonstration of the ruggedized version of the WFF Flight Modem flown on one sounding rocket launched from Sweden. Flights of opportunity have been and are being actively pursued with other centers, ranges and users at universities. The WFF goal is to reduce TT&C costs by providing a low cost COTS Flight Modem with a User Handbook containing system capability and limitation descriptions. Additionally, since data transmission is by packetized Internet Protocol (IP), data can be received and commands initialed from practically any location with no infrastructure. The WFF, like most ranges, has been using GPS receivers on sounding rockets and long duration balloons for several years, The WFF Flight Modem contains a GPS receiver to provide vehicle position for tracking and vehicle recovery. The system architecture which integrates antennas, GPS receiver, commercial satellite packet data modem. and a single board computer with custom software is described and a number of technical challenges are discussed along with the plan for their resolution. These include antenna development, high Doppler rates, reliability, environmental ruggedness, hand over between satellites and data security. An aggressive test plan is included which in addition to environmental Testing measures bit error rate latency and antenna patterns. Additional flight tests are planned far the near future on aircraft, long duration balloons and sounding rockets and these results as well as the current status of the project arc reported. Use of the WFF Flight Modem on small satellites is also being pursued. The LEO satellite constellation altitude above 1400 km is not an obstacle because most spacecraft do not require continuous Communications. The challenge is scheduling where store and forward techniques for command are required and downlink when the communications link allows connection (above 60 percent of the time depending on the satellite altitude). Sophisticated scheduling techniques utilizing 2-line orbital element sets available on the NASA/NORAD Internet site could be implemented for rare special cases. The current 9600 baud rate of the LEO communications link may be increased With special techniques that are planned for development in the WFF Flight Modem project.

Morgan, Dwayne↗
NASA NTRS2021

Evaluation of vicarious calibration for airborne sensors using RadCalNet

Vicarious calibration approaches using in-situ measurements are key techniques applied to on-orbit remote sensors. The in-situ measurements have advantages in terms of traceability and quantifiable accuracy that make them ideal for inter-consistency studies of on-orbit sensors. The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites Working Group on Calibration and Validation Infrared Visible Optical Sensors initiated the Radiometric Calibration Network (RadCalNet) to provide automated surface and top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance data from multiple participating ground sites to the worldwide user community. RadCalNet standardizes protocols for collecting data, processes TOA reflectance, and provides International System of Units traceable uncertainty budgets for the five currently operating sites. RadCalNet data from the Railroad Valley Playa, Nevada, site was used to provide an SI-traceable, absolute radiometric calibration of the Enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator as part of an overflight of opportunity during the FIREX-AQ campaign. The results shown here demonstrate the utility of RadCalNet data for absolute radiometric calibration of airborne imagers making flights of opportunity without the need for coordination with a field validation team.

Sensors↗
NASA NTRS2013

Analysis of Operational Hazards and Safety Requirements for Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR)

Safety analyses of the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) application are provided to establish its Failure Effects Classification which affects certification and operational approval requirements. TASAR was developed by NASA Langley Research Center to offer flight path improvement opportunities to the pilot during flight for operational benefits (e.g., reduced fuel, flight time). TASAR, using own-ship and network-enabled information concerning the flight and its environment, including weather and Air Traffic Control (ATC) system constraints, provides recommended improvements to the flight trajectory that the pilot can choose to request via Change Requests to ATC for revised clearance. This study reviews the Change Request process of requesting updates to the current clearance, examines the intended function of TASAR, and utilizes two safety assessment methods to establish the Failure Effects Classification of TASAR. Considerable attention has been given in this report to the identification of operational hazards potentially associated with TASAR.

Koczo, Stefan, Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Airspace Technology Demonstration 3 (ATD-3) Multi-Flight Common Route (MFCR) Technology Transfer Document Summary Version 2.0

Airspace Technology Demonstration - 3 (ATD-3) is part of NASA's Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) - specifically, its Airspace Technology Demonstrations (ATD) Project. ATD-3 is a multi-year research and development effort which proposes to develop and demonstrate automation technologies and operating concepts that enable air navigation service providers and airspace users to continuously assess weather, winds, traffic, and other information to identify, evaluate, and implement workable opportunities for flight plan route corrections that can result in significant flight time and fuel savings in en-route airspace. In order to ensure that the products of this tech-transfer are relevant and useful, NASA has created strong partnerships with the FAA and key industry stakeholders. This summary document and accompanying technology artifacts satisfy the second of three Research Transition Products (RTPs) defined in the Applied Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) Research Transition Team (RTT) Plan. The original transfer, completed in December 2017, consisted of NASA's Multi-Flight Common Route (MFCR) research for efficient route corrections for en-route weather avoidance. This transfer updates the Concept of Operations document to a publicly-available NASA Technical Memorandum. The MFCR concept builds on the experience of the legacy Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) and focuses on a better balance of potential savings with ATC acceptability, common route corrections options for multiple flights on similar routings, and better use of existing and/or modern automation for communication and coordination of route change options. All of these capabilities are expected to improve system performance significantly in terms of actual delay-reducing clearances issued to flights compared to that of the DWR tool and operating concept.

Tech transfer↗
NASA NTRS2000

Remote Sensing of Aerosol Backscatter and Earth Surface Targets By Use of An Airborne Focused Continuous Wave CO2 Doppler Lidar Over Western North America

Airborne lidar systems are used to determine wind velocity and to measure aerosol or cloud backscatter variability. Atmospheric aerosols, being affected by local and regional sources, show tremendous variability. Continuous wave (cw) lidar can obtain detailed aerosol loading with unprecedented high resolution (3 sec) and sensitivity (1 mg/cubic meter) as was done during the 1995 NASA Multi-center Airborne Coherent Atmospheric Wind Sensor (MACAWS) mission over western North America and the Pacific Ocean. Backscatter variability was measured at a 9.1 micron wavelength cw focused CO2 Doppler lidar for approximately 52 flight hours, covering an equivalent horizontal distance of approximately 30,000 km in the troposphere. Some quasi-vertical backscatter profiles were also obtained during various ascents and descents at altitudes that ranged from approximately 0.1 to 12 km. Similarities and differences for aerosol loading over land and ocean were observed. Mid-tropospheric aerosol backscatter background mode was approximately 6 x 10(exp -11)/ms/r, consistent with previous lidar datasets. While these atmospheric measurements were made, the lidar also retrieved a distinct backscatter signal from the Earth's surface from the unfocused part of the focused cw lidar beam during aircraft rolls. Atmospheric backscatter can be highly variable both spatially and temporally, whereas, Earth-surface backscatter is relatively much less variant and can be quite predictable. Therefore, routine atmospheric backscatter measurements by an airborne lidar also give Earth surface backscatter which can allow for investigating the Earth terrain. In the case where the Earth's surface backscatter is coming from a well-known and fairly uniform region, then it can potentially offer lidar calibration opportunities during flight. These Earth surface measurements over varying Californian terrain during the mission were compared with laboratory backscatter measurements using the same lidar of various Earth surfaces giving good agreement, suggesting that the lidar efficiency, and thus a lidar calibration factor for detection, can be estimated fairly well using Earth's surface signal.

Jarzembski, Maurice A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Modeling of PCG fluid dynamics: Salient results

Materials processing in space-based laboratories has already yielded higher quality crystals during previous space flights, and opportunities for several fluids experiments are anticipated during the extended duration missions planned for the future. Crystal growth in space benefits not only from its reduced gravity environment but also from the absence of the hydrostatic pressure which assists certain crystal growth and refinement methods. Gravity-driven phenomena are thus reduced in strength, and a purely diffusive fluid's behavior can be attained. In addition, past materials science experiments have shown that microgravity can also help produce larger crystals. While gravity-related effects are definitely curtailed in space, they are nevertheless present to some degree due to the acceleration environment onboard the spacecraft. This residual acceleration level is comprised of quasi-steady, oscillatory, and transient components, and is caused by a variety of mechanisms. For example, gravity gradient forces produce low frequency disturbances, and the operation of machinery, control thrusters, solar panels, human activity, etc. contribute to higher frequency accelerations. These disturbances are collectively referred to as g-jitter, and they can be deleterious to certain experiments where the minimization of the acceleration level is important. Advanced vibration isolation techniques can be utilized to actively filter out some of the detrimental frequencies and help in obtaining optimum results. However, the successful application of this technology requires the detailed analysis of candidate fluids experiments to gauge their response to g-jitter and to determine their acceleration sensitivities. Several crystal growth experiments in the Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) area, besides others, are expected to be carried out on future shuttle flights and on Space Station Freedom. The need for vibration isolation systems or components for microgravity science experiments can be expected to grow as experiments and available hardware becomes more complex. This technology will also find increased application as the science community develops an awareness of their specific needs relative to the environment available in manned space missions. Vibration isolation research strives to develop a microgravity environment requirement that defines tolerance limits on the allowable g-level, and provides the required technology to achieve it. This effort will assist in establishing the tolerable acceleration levels for specific fluids experiments. The primary effort is directed towards modeling PCG and the approach undertaken for this investigation is outlined. The objectives of this research are: (1) to computationally determine vibration sensitivity of protein crystal growth experiments; (2) determine if these experiments can benefit from vibration isolation techniques; and (3) provide realistic requirements for vibration isolation technology.

Ramachandran, N.↗
DOE OSTI2022

The challenges and opportunities of battery-powered flight

Aircraft, and the aviation ecosystem in which they operate, are shaped by complex trades among technical requirements, economics and environmental concerns, all built on a foundation of safety. This Perspective explores the requirements of battery-powered aircraft and the chemistries that hold promise to enable them. The difference between flight and terrestrial needs and chemistries are highlighted. Safe, usable specific energy rather than cost is the major constraint for aviation. We conclude that battery packs suitable for flight with specific energy approaching 600 kilowatt hours per kilogram may be achievable in the next decade given sufficient investment targeted at aeronautical applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS1977

Space shuttle and life sciences

During the 1980's, some 200 Spacelab missions will be flown on space shuttle in earth-orbit. Within these 200 missions, it is planned that at least 20 will be dedicated to life sciences research, projects which are yet to be outlined by the life sciences community. Objectives of the Life Sciences Shuttle/Spacelab Payloads Program are presented. Also discussed are major space life sciences programs including space medicine and physiology, clinical medicine, life support technology, and a variety of space biology topics. The shuttle, spacelab, and other life sciences payload carriers are described. Concepts for carry-on experiment packages, mini-labs, shared and dedicated spacelabs, as well as common operational research equipment (CORE) are reviewed. Current NASA planning and development includes Spacelab Mission Simulations, an Announcement of Planning Opportunity for Life Sciences, and a forthcoming Announcement of Opportunity for Flight Experiments which will together assist in forging a Life Science Program in space.

Mason, J. A.↗