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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 NTRS2008

Application of Smart Solid State Sensor Technology in Aerospace Applications

Aerospace applications require a range of chemical sensing technologies to monitor conditions in both space vehicles and aircraft operations. One example is the monitoring of oxygen. For example, monitoring of ambient oxygen (O2) levels is critical to ensuring the health, safety, and performance of humans living and working in space. Oxygen sensors can also be incorporated in detection systems to determine if hazardous leaks are occurring in space propulsion systems and storage facilities. In aeronautic applications, O2 detection has been investigated for fuel tank monitoring. However, as noted elsewhere, O2 is not the only species of interest in aerospace applications with a wide range of species of interest being relevant to understand an environmental or vehicle condition. These include combustion products such as CO, HF, HCN, and HCl, which are related to both the presence of a fire and monitoring of post-fire clean-up operations. This paper discusses the development of an electrochemical cell platform based on a polymer electrolyte, NAFION, and a three-electrode configuration. The approach has been to mature this basic platform for a range of applications and to test this system, combined with "Lick and Stick" electronics, for its viability to monitor an environment related to astronaut crew health and safety applications with an understanding that a broad range of applications can be addressed with a core technology.

Hunter, Gary W.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Ultimately Reliable Pyrotechnic Systems

This paper presents the methods by which NASA has designed, built, tested, and certified pyrotechnic devices for high reliability operation in extreme environments and illustrates the potential applications in the oil and gas industry. NASA's extremely successful application of pyrotechnics is built upon documented procedures and test methods that have been maintained and developed since the Apollo Program. Standards are managed and rigorously enforced for performance margins, redundancy, lot sampling, and personnel safety. The pyrotechnics utilized in spacecraft include such devices as small initiators and detonators with the power of a shotgun shell, detonating cord systems for explosive energy transfer across many feet, precision linear shaped charges for breaking structural membranes, and booster charges to actuate valves and pistons. NASA's pyrotechnics program is one of the more successful in the history of Human Spaceflight. No pyrotechnic device developed in accordance with NASA's Human Spaceflight standards has ever failed in flight use. NASA's pyrotechnic initiators work reliably in temperatures as low as -420 F. Each of the 135 Space Shuttle flights fired 102 of these initiators, some setting off multiple pyrotechnic devices, with never a failure. The recent landing on Mars of the Opportunity rover fired 174 of NASA's pyrotechnic initiators to complete the famous '7 minutes of terror.' Even after traveling through extreme radiation and thermal environments on the way to Mars, every one of them worked. These initiators have fired on the surface of Titan. NASA's design controls, procedures, and processes produce the most reliable pyrotechnics in the world. Application of pyrotechnics designed and procured in this manner could enable the energy industry's emergency equipment, such as shutoff valves and deep-sea blowout preventers, to be left in place for years in extreme environments and still be relied upon to function when needed, thus greatly enhancing safety and operational availability.

Scott, John H.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Plume interference with space shuttle range safety signals

The computational procedure for signal propagation in the presence of an exhaust plume is presented. Comparisons with well-known analytic diffraction solutions indicate that accuracy suffers when mesh spacing is inadequate to resolve the first unobstructed Fresnel zone at the plume edge. Revisions to the procedure to improve its accuracy without requiring very large arrays are discussed. Comparisons to field measurements during a shuttle solid rocket motor (SRM) test firing suggest that the plume is sharper edged than one would expect on the basis of time averaged electron density calculations. The effects, both of revisions to the computational procedure and of allowing for a sharper plume edge, are to raise the signal level near tail aspect. The attenuation levels then predicted are still high enough to be of concern near SRM burnout for northerly launches of the space shuttle.

Boynton, F. P.↗
NASA NTRS2008

2007 Research and Engineering Annual Report

Selected research and technology activities at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center are summarized. These following activities exemplify the Center's varied and productive research efforts: Developing a Requirements Development Guide for an Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System; Digital Terrain Data Compression and Rendering for Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance Systems; Nonlinear Flutter/Limit Cycle Oscillations Prediction Tool; Nonlinear System Identification Using Orthonormal Bases: Application to Aeroelastic/Aeroservoelastic Systems; Critical Aerodynamic Flow Feature Indicators: Towards Application with the Aerostructures Test Wing; Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization Tool Development Using a Genetic Algorithm; Structural Model Tuning Capability in an Object-Oriented Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization Tool; Extension of Ko Straight-Beam Displacement Theory to the Deformed Shape Predictions of Curved Structures; F-15B with Phoenix Missile and Pylon Assembly--Drag Force Estimation; Mass Property Testing of Phoenix Missile Hypersonic Testbed Hardware; ARMD Hypersonics Project Materials and Structures: Testing of Scramjet Thermal Protection System Concepts; High-Temperature Modal Survey of the Ruddervator Subcomponent Test Article; ARMD Hypersonics Project Materials and Structures: C/SiC Ruddervator Subcomponent Test and Analysis Task; Ground Vibration Testing and Model Correlation of the Phoenix Missile Hypersonic Testbed; Phoenix Missile Hypersonic Testbed: Performance Design and Analysis; Crew Exploration Vehicle Launch Abort System-Pad Abort-1 (PA-1) Flight Test; Testing the Orion (Crew Exploration Vehicle) Launch Abort System-Ascent Abort-1 (AA-1) Flight Test; SOFIA Flight-Test Flutter Prediction Methodology; SOFIA Closed-Door Aerodynamic Analyses; SOFIA Handling Qualities Evaluation for Closed-Door Operations; C-17 Support of IRAC Engine Model Development; Current Capabilities and Future Upgrade Plans of the C-17 Data Rack; Intelligent Data Mining Capabilities as Applied to Integrated Vehicle Health Management; STARS Flight Demonstration No. 2 IP Data Formatter; Space-Based Telemetry and Range Safety (STARS) Flight Demonstration No. 2 Range User Flight Test Results; Aerodynamic Effects of the Quiet Spike(tm) on an F-15B Aircraft; F-15 Intelligent Flight Controls-Increased Destabilization Failure; F-15 Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) Improved Adaptive Controller; Aeroelastic Analysis of the Ikhana/Fire Pod System; Ikhana: Western States Fire Missions Utilizing the Ames Research Center Fire Sensor; Ikhana: Fiber-Optic Wing Shape Sensors; Ikhana: ARTS III; SOFIA Closed-Door Flutter Envelope Flight Testing; F-15B Quiet Spike(TM) Aeroservoelastic Flight Test Data Analysis; and UAVSAR Platform Precision Autopilot Flight Results.

Stoliker, Patrick↗
NASA NTRS2009

Shuttle Ground Support Equipment (GSE) T-0 Umbilical to Space Shuttle Program (SSP) Flight Elements Consultation

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) was tasked with assessing the validity of an alternate opinion that surfaced during the investigation of recurrent failures at the Space Shuttle T-0 umbilical interface. The most visible problem occurred during the Space Transportation System (STS)-112 launch when pyrotechnics used to separate Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Hold-Down Post (HDP) frangible nuts failed to fire. Subsequent investigations recommended several improvements to the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) and processing changes were implemented, including replacement of ground-half cables and connectors between flights, along with wiring modifications to make critical circuits quad-redundant across the interface. The alternate opinions maintained that insufficient data existed to exonerate the design, that additional data needed to be gathered under launch conditions, and that the interface should be further modified to ensure additional margin existed to preclude failure. The results of the assessment are contained in this report.

Wilson, Timmy R.↗
NASA NTRS2010

NASA Medical Response to Human Spacecraft Accidents

Manned space flight is risky business. Accidents have occurred and may occur in the future. NASA's manned space flight programs, with all their successes, have had three fatal accidents, one at the launch pad and two in flight. The Apollo fire and the Challenger and Columbia accidents resulted in a loss of seventeen crewmembers. Russia's manned space flight programs have had three fatal accidents, one ground-based and two in flight. These accidents resulted in the loss of five crewmembers. Additionally, manned spacecraft have encountered numerous close calls with potential for disaster. The NASA Johnson Space Center Flight Safety Office has documented more than 70 spacecraft incidents, many of which could have become serious accidents. At the Johnson Space Center (JSC), medical contingency personnel are assigned to a Mishap Investigation Team. The team deploys to the accident site to gather and preserve evidence for the Accident Investigation Board. The JSC Medical Operations Branch has developed a flight surgeon accident response training class to capture the lessons learned from the Columbia accident. This presentation will address the NASA Mishap Investigation Team's medical objectives, planned response, and potential issues that could arise subsequent to a manned spacecraft accident. Educational Objectives are to understand the medical objectives and issues confronting the Mishap Investigation Team medical personnel subsequent to a human space flight accident.

Patlach, Robert↗
NASA NTRS1999

Fire Safety in the Low-Gravity Spacecraft Environment

Research in microgravity (low-gravity) combustion promises innovations and improvements in fire prevention and response for human-crew spacecraft. Findings indicate that material flammability and fire spread in microgravity are significantly affected by atmospheric flow rate, oxygen concentration, and diluent composition. This information can lead to modifications and correlations to standard material-assessment tests for prediction of fire resistance in space. Research on smoke-particle changes in microgravity promises future improvements and increased sensitivity of smoke detectors in spacecraft. Research on fire suppression by extinguishing agents and venting can yield new information on effective control of the rare, but serious fire events in spacecraft.

Friedman, Robert↗
NASA NTRS1980

Chemical research projects office: An overview and bibliography, 1975-1980

The activities of the Chemical Research Projects Office at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California are reported. The office conducts basic and applied research in the fields of polymer chemistry, computational chemistry, polymer physics, and physical and organic chemistry. It works to identify the chemical research and technology required for solutions to problems of national urgency, synchronous with the aeronautic and space effort. It conducts interdisciplinary research on chemical problems, mainly in areas of macromolecular science and fire research. The office also acts as liaison with the engineering community and assures that relevant technology is made available to other NASA centers, agencies, and industry. Recent accomplishments are listed in this report. Activities of the three research groups, Polymer Research, Aircraft Operating and Safety, and Engineering Testing, are summarized. A complete bibliography which lists all Chemical Research Projects Office publications, contracts, grants, patents, and presentations from 1975 to 1980 is included.

Kourtides, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Designing for human presence in space: An introduction to environmental control and life support systems

Human exploration and utilization of space requires habitats to provide appropriate conditions for working and living. These conditions are provided by environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) that ensure appropriate atmosphere composition, pressure, and temperature; manage and distribute water, process waste matter, provide fire detection and suppression; and other functions as necessary. The functions that are performed by ECLSS are described and basic information necessary to design an ECLSS is provided. Technical and programmatic aspects of designing and developing ECLSS for space habitats are described including descriptions of technologies, analysis methods, test requirements, program organization, documentation requirements, and the requirements imposed by medical, mission, safety, and system needs. The design and development process is described from initial trade studies through system-level analyses to support operation. ECLSS needs for future space habitats are also described. Extensive listings of references and related works provide sources for more detailed information on each aspect of ECLSS design and development.

Wieland, Paul↗
NASA NTRS1991

Automation of closed environments in space for human comfort and safety

The development of Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) for Space Station Freedom, future colonization of the Moon, and Mars missions presents new challenges for present technologies. ECLSS that operate during long-duration missions must be semi-autonomous to allow crew members environmental control without constant supervision. A control system for the ECLSS must address these issues as well as being reliable. The Kansas State University Advanced Design Team is in the process of researching and designing controls for the automation of the ECLSS for Space Station Freedom and beyond. The ECLSS for Freedom is composed of six subsystems. The temperature and humidity control (THC) subsystem maintains the cabin temperature and humidity at a comfortable level. The atmosphere control and supply (ACS) subsystem insures proper cabin pressure and partial pressures of oxygen and nitrogen. To protect the space station from fire damage, the fire detection and suppression (FDS) subsystem provides fire-sensing alarms and extinguishers. The waste management (WM) subsystem compacts solid wastes for return to Earth, and collects urine for water recovery. The atmosphere revitalization (AR) subsystem removes CO2 and other dangerous contaminants from the air. The water recovery and management (WRM) subsystem collects and filters condensate from the cabin to replenish potable water supplies, and processes urine and other waste waters to replenish hygiene water supplies. These subsystems are not fully automated at this time. Furthermore, the control of these subsystems is not presently integrated; they are largely independent of one another. A fully integrated and automated ECLSS would increase astronauts' productivity and contribute to their safety and comfort.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1992

Manned testing in a simulated space environment

A view of the facility and operational requirements involved in performing a manned thermal vacuum test is presented. The requirements fall into two major categories. The first category deals with placing the suited crewmen in a hazardous environment and assuring their safety. The second category deals with the constraints and special requirements involved with a suited crewman operating flight hardware in a 1-G environment. Design areas that deal with man rating a chamber, including fire suppression, emergency repress, emergency power, backups, reliable instrumentation and data systems, communications, television monitoring, biomedical monitoring, material compatibilities, and equipment supporting the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) are discussed. The operational issues that are peculiar to manned testing such as test rules, test procedures, test protocol, emergency drills, availability of hyperbaric facilities, test team training and certification engineering concerns for a safe mechanical and instrumentation buildup, hazard analysis, and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis are discussed. The constraints and special requirements involved with a suited crewman operating flight hardware in a 1-G environment are addressed.

Fender, Donna L.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Accurate Compression of Tabulated Chemistry Models with Partition of Unity Networks

Tabulated chemistry models are widely used to simulate large-scale turbulent fires in applications including energy generation and fire safety. Tabulation via piecewise Cartesian interpolation suffers from the curse-of-dimensionality, leading to a prohibitive exponential growth in parameters and memory usage as more dimensions are considered. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have attracted attention for constructing surrogates for chemistry models due to their ability to perform high-dimensional approximation. However, due to well-known pathologies regarding the realization of suboptimal local minima during training, in practice they do not converge and provide unreliable accuracy. Partition of unity networks (POUnets) are a recently introduced family of ANNs which preserve notions of convergence while performing high-dimensional approximation, discovering a mesh-free partition of space which may be used to perform optimal polynomial approximation. In this work, we assess their performance with respect to accuracy and model complexity in reconstructing unstructured flamelet data representative of nonadiabatic pool fire models. Our results show that POUnets can provide the desirable accuracy of classical spline-based interpolants with the low memory footprint of traditional ANNs while converging faster to significantly lower errors than ANNs. For example, we observe POUnets obtaining target accuracies in two dimensions with 40 to 50 times less memory and roughly double the compression in three dimensions. We also address the practical matter of efficiently training accurate POUnets by studying convergence over key hyperparameters, the impact of partition/basis formulation, and the sensitivity to initialization.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2008

Effect of Pressure on Piloted Ignition Delay of PMMA

In order to reduce the risk of decompression sickness associated with spacewalks, NASA is considering designing the next generation of exploration vehicles and habitats with a different cabin environment than used previously. The proposed environment uses a total cabin pressure of 52.7 to 58.6 kPa with an oxygen concentration of 30 to 34% by volume and was chosen with material flammability in mind. Because materials may burn differently under these conditions and there is little information on how this new environment affects the flammability of the materials onboard, it is important to conduct material flammability experiments at the intended exploration atmosphere. One method to evaluate material flammability is by its ease of ignition. To this end, piloted ignition delay tests were conducted in the Forced Ignition and Spread Test (FIST) apparatus subject to this new environment. In these tests, polymethylmethacylate (PMMA) was exposed to a range of oxidizer flow velocities and externally applied heat fluxes. The ultimate goal is to determine the individual effect of pressure and the combined effect of pressure and oxygen concentration on the ignition delay. Tests were conducted for a baseline case of normal pressure and oxygen concentration, low pressure (58.6 kPa) with normal oxygen (21%). Future work will focus on low pressure with 32% oxygen concentration (space exploration atmosphere - SEA) conditions. It was found that reducing the pressure while keeping the oxygen concentration at 21% reduced the ignition time by 17% on average. It was also noted that the critical heat flux for ignition decreases in low-pressure conditions. Because tests conducted in standard atmospheric conditions will underpredict the flammability of materials intended for use on spacecraft, fire safety onboard at exploration atmospheres may be compromised.

McAllister, Sara↗
NASA NTRS1973

Safety considerations involved in testing, checkout and launch operations at Cape Kennedy

This paper concerns itself with identifying safety problems associated with launch operations conducted during preparations for manned space flights at Cape Kennedy. This includes transportation and assembly of large space vehicles in the Vehicle Assembly Building, rollout to Launch Pad 39, test, checkout, and the launch countdown. Under these broad categories, the risks of fuel and oxidizer loading, installation of pyrotechnics, and similar hazardous operations are discussed. The many aspects for fire and rescue requirements are examined. These encompass the water deluge systems on the Mobile Service Structure and the Mobile Launcher, the insulated fire and rescue tractor, slide wire escape system, fire proximity suits, self-contained breathing apparatus and emergency cutting tools. In addition, written procedures for tests, emergencies, rescue and backout, as well as certification of personnel and TV monitoring of the launch system are detailed.-

Bolger, P. H.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evolution of Hardware and Philosophy of Emergency Response Actions on the International Space Station and Future Spacecrafts

Human spaceflight is dangerous for numerous reasons. This ranges from the dynamic environment of launching on a rocket, flying in space among the thousands and thousands pieces of space debris, to the hazards of re-entry & landing, as well as being surrounded by vehicle systems containing hazardous materials or gasses. In-flight emergencies fall into four categories: Rapid Depressurization, Fire, Toxic Spill, and Medical emergency. This paper will address the first three, which fall under the responsibility of the Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) Systems flight control and engineering teams. It will review the evolution of the International Space Station’s emergency response philosophy, procedures, training, and equipment changes over the years. The ISS emergency equipment has evolved over the last two decades of operations in many ways, but in some it has remained the same. The core actions the flight crew takes to ensure team safety, personal safety, vehicle safety, and equipment safety has not changed. However, the equipment and capabilities provided to them have. From early days of minimal capability when the ISS consisted of a few modules, to today’s 30,000 ft^3 vehicle with over a dozen isolatable segments. From use of Russian gas masks to positive pressure O2 masks, to the development of respirators. From a lack of procedures for a deadly ammonia leak scenario to a memorized response utilizing numerous atmosphere measurement systems. This paper will review all these various areas that fall under the umbrella of “on-board emergencies”. In addition, the comparison to the planned emergency operations on the Orion vehicle will be reviewed. The Orion vehicle differs from the ISS in that it has no isolatable volume, being approximately 2% the size of ISS, as well as not having a quick return to earth capability.

Emergency↗
NASA NTRS2001

Multi-User Hardware Solutions to Combustion Science ISS Research

In response to the budget environment and to expand on the International Space Station (ISS) Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR), common hardware approach, the NASA Combustion Science Program shifted focus in 1999 from single investigator PI (Principal Investigator)-specific hardware to multi-user 'Minifacilities'. These mini-facilities would take the CIR common hardware philosophy to the next level. The approach that was developed re-arranged all the investigations in the program into sub-fields of research. Then common requirements within these subfields were used to develop a common system that would then be complemented by a few PI-specific components. The sub-fields of research selected were droplet combustion, solids and fire safety, and gaseous fuels. From these research areas three mini-facilities have sprung: the Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA) for droplet research, Flow Enclosure for Novel Investigations in Combustion of Solids (FEANICS) for solids and fire safety, and the Multi-user Gaseous Fuels Apparatus (MGFA) for gaseous fuels. These mini-facilities will develop common Chamber Insert Assemblies (CIA) and diagnostics for the respective investigators complementing the capability provided by CIR. Presently there are four investigators for MDCA, six for FEANICS, and four for MGFA. The goal of these multi-user facilities is to drive the cost per PI down after the initial development investment is made. Each of these mini-facilities will become a fixture of future Combustion Science NASA Research Announcements (NRAs), enabling investigators to propose against an existing capability. Additionally, an investigation is provided the opportunity to enhance the existing capability to bridge the gap between the capability and their specific science requirements. This multi-user development approach will enable the Combustion Science Program to drive cost per investigation down while drastically reducing the time required to go from selection to space flight.

Otero, Angel M.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Diode-Laser-Based Spectrometer for Sensing Gases

A diode-laser-based spectrometer has been developed for measuring concentrations of gases and is intended particularly for use in analyzing and monitoring combustion processes under microgravitational conditions in a drop tower or a spacecraft. This instrument is also well suited for use on Earth in combustion experiments and for such related purposes as fire-safety monitoring and monitoring toxic and flammable gases in industrial settings. Of the gas-sensing spectrometers available prior to the development of this instrument, those that were sensitive enough for measuring the combustion gases of interest were too large, required critical optical alignments, used far too much electrical power, and were insufficiently rugged for use under the severe conditions of spacecraft launch and space flight. In contrast, the present instrument is compact, consumes relatively little power, and is rugged enough to withstand launch vibrations and space flight. In addition, this instrument is characterized by long-term stability, accuracy, and reliability. The diode laser in this spectrometer is operated in a wavelength-modulation mode. Different gases to be measured can be selected by changing modular laser units. The operation of the laser is controlled by customized, low-power electronic circuitry built around a digital signal-processor board. This customized circuitry also performs acquisition and analysis of data, controls communications, and manages errors.

Silver, Joel A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

A technique for extracting blood samples from mice in fire toxicity tests

The extraction of adequate blood samples from moribund and dead mice has been a problem because of the small quantity of blood in each animal and the short time available between the animals' death and coagulation of the blood. These difficulties are particularly critical in fire toxicity tests because removal of the test animals while observing proper safety precautions for personnel is time-consuming. Techniques for extracting blood samples from mice were evaluated, and a technique was developed to obtain up to 0.8 ml of blood from a single mouse after death. The technique involves rapid exposure and cutting of the posterior vena cava and accumulation of blood in the peritoneal space. Blood samples of 0.5 ml or more from individual mice have been consistently obtained as much as 16 minutes after apparent death. Results of carboxyhemoglobin analyses of blood appeared reproducible and consistent with carbon monoxide concentrations in the exposure chamber.

Bucci, T. J.↗