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

Automated Reconfigurable Mission Adaptive Digital Assembly Systems (ARMADAS)

To meet the needs of future deep space exploration, NASA is interested in large-scale hardware systems in the agency’s thrust areas of solar power, communications, habitats and science interests. Scalable in-space assembly of physical systems is critical to massless exploration and in-space reliance goals. The ARMADAS project demonstrates the autonomous assembly of digital materials and structures. This provides automation technologies with potential for meeting long duration and deep space infrastructure needs, such as construction and maintenance of long duration spaceport, surface infrastructure, and habitat scale systems. Project demonstrations to date include a system that can fit into a small satellite-sized payload, which automatically assembles into primary structures, such as a small habitat module or array/antenna, using onboard robotic assemblers.

In Space Assembly↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Selection, Production, and Properties of Regolith Polymer Composites for Lunar Construction

NASA’s Artemis Program seeks to establish a long-term presence on the moon to enable scientific discoveries and utilization of lunar resources through public-private partnerships. Over the next decades, a lunar spaceport enabling regular transportation from and to Earth will need to be established to provide the services and facilities that are necessary to achieve this goal. Robotic construction technologies using in-situ materials must be developed to build up enabling infrastructure such as launch/landing pads, blast protection, power/communications towers, improved trafficability pathways and radiation protection shelters. Kennedy Space Center’s Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations laboratory at Swamp Works has partnered with AI SpaceFactory to develop the architectural and structural design of an unpressurized shelter. The shelter, called Lina, is designed to protect astronauts and surface assets from radiation, meteoroid impact, moon quakes and thermal gradients. Lina’s structural design criteria and the resulting structure design are detailed in separate papers. A Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) construction process using regolith polymer composites has been developed. This paper presents the material formulations and selection rationale for each of the composite components. Formulations include 70:30, 80:20, and 85:15 wt.% mixture ratios of lunar mare simulant Black Point-1 (BP-1): Polylactic Acid (PLA), 80:20 Lunar Highlands Simulant (LHS-1): PLA and an 80:20 BP-1:PLA formulation with a processing aid/compatibilizer additive. Test samples were printed in simulated lunar dirty thermal vacuum conditions (~-180 °C, ~10 -3 torr). The test environment evolved throughout the duration of the print process. A series of tests were performed to characterize the mixture ratios achieved for each formulation, the off-gassing products during vacuum printing, the strength properties, and porosity of printed products. The LHS-1: PLA formulation yielded an advantageous combination of properties and was used in a final test that additively constructed a sub-scaled Lina on regolith simulant in dirty vacuum conditions.

lunar infrastructure↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Selection, Production, and Properties of Regolith Polymer Composites for Lunar Construction

NASA’s Artemis Program seeks to establish a long-term presence on the Moon to enable scientific exploration and expand the cis-lunar economy by utilizing lunar resources through public-private and international partnerships. Over the next decades, a lunar spaceport will need to be established to provide the services and facilities that are necessary to achieve this goal. Robotic construction technologies using in-situ materials must be developed to build up enabling infrastructure such as launch/landing pads, blast protection, power/communications infrastructure, improved roads, improved operational surfaces, and radiation protection shelters. Kennedy Space Center’s Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations laboratory at Swamp Works has partnered with SpaceFactory and LERA Consulting Structural Engineers to develop the architectural and structural design of an unpressurized lunar shelter. The shelter, called Lunar Infrastructure Asset (LINA), is designed to support 2.3 m of regolith overburden to protect astronauts and surface assets from radiation, meteoroid impact, thermal gradients/cycling, and to withstand moonquakes. LINA’s structural design criteria and the resulting structure design are detailed in separate papers. A Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) construction process using regolith polymer composites has been developed and is detailed in a separate publication. This paper presents material formulations and selection rationale for each of the composite components that were examined. Formulations include 70:30, 80:20, and 85:15 wt.% mixture ratios of lunar mare simulant Black Point-1 (BP-1): Polylactic Acid (PLA), 80:20 Lunar Highlands Simulant-1 (LHS-1): PLA and an 80:20 BP-1: PLA formulation with a flow enhancer additive. Test samples were printed in simulated lunar dirty thermal vacuum conditions (-190 °C, 10-3 torr). A series of tests were performed on each formulation to characterize the achieved mixture ratio, mechanical strength properties, off-gassing products during vacuum printing, and porosity and density of printed products. The LHS-1: PLA formulation yielded an advantageous combination of properties and was used in a final test that additively constructed a sub-scaled LINA on regolith simulant in dirty vacuum conditions. The materials and construction process presented in this paper are considered to be at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 with additional testing necessary to characterize long term lunar environmental exposure effects.

lunar infrastructure↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Comparison of Daily, Monthly (Lunar), Yearly, Decadal, Quarter-Century, Half-Century, and Centurial Shoreline Change Rates at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA

The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is North America’s premier spaceport and provides crucial access to space for both government and private entities. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facilities are clustered along a 12 km active shoreline at Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, with the entire NASA and US Space Force station (SF) shoreline stretching over 32 km (Figure 1). Several Launch Complexes (LC’s) including the modern heavy lift facilities are only a few tens of meters from the active shoreline and are imminently threatened by continued sea level rise and ongoing coastal erosion. The space center was built on the northern part of Cape Canaveral. Images collected in 1943 show that Apollo Heavy Lift Launch Complexes were built in swales on ground that was at or below sea level with Launch Complex 39B constructed on a paleo inlet (Figures 2 and 3). Today the Heavy Lift Launch Complexes are ~220 meters from the shoreline with the area between the complexes retreating at the highest rates along the cape (Figure 4). To better understand the intersection of environmental concerns, limited budgets for shoreline protection, and sheltering critical infrastructure; NASA, The University of Florida, United States Geological Survey (USGS), National Park Service (NPS) and contractors have and continue to conduct numerous studies to characterize and understand the shoreline evolution and rates of change at KSC. This project aims to better understand and visualize the temporal and spatial variability of change along the NASA shoreline beyond a simple point to point solution.

Richard MacKenzie III↗
NASA NTRS2005

Overview of International Space Standards

This presentation reviews space standards as put forth by the International Organization for Standardization, additionally the organizational structure for both the international and US groups are presented. A new technical committee for space is proposed, areas of technical coverage are highlighted and models of space communications protocol and space link access service are presented.

spaceport data communications↗
NASA NTRS2008

Adapting New Space System Designs into Existing Ground Infrastructure

As routine space operations extend beyond earth orbit, the ability for ground infrastructures to take on new launch vehicle systems and a more complex suite of spacecraft and payloads has become a new challenge. The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration and its Constellation Program provides opportunities for our space operations community to meet this challenge. Presently, as new flight and ground systems add to the overall groundbased and space-based capabilities for NASA and its international partners, specific choices are being made as to what to abandon, what to retain, as well as what to build new. The total ground and space-based infrastructure must support a long-term, sustainable operation after it is all constructed, deployed, and activated. This paper addresses key areas of engineering concern during conceptual design, development, and routine operations, with a particular focus on: (1) legacy system reusability, (2) system supportability attributes and operations characteristics, (3) ground systems design trades and criteria, and (4) technology application survey. Each key area explored weighs the merits of reusability of the infrastructure in terms of: engineering analysis methods and techniques; top-level facility, systems, and equipment design criteria; and some suggested methods for making the operational system attributes (the "-ilities") highly visible to the design teams and decisionmakers throughout the design process.

ground system↗