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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 NTRS2013

Overview of Mission Design for NASA Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission Concept

Part of NASA's new asteroid initiative would be a robotic mission to capture a roughly four to ten meter asteroid and redirect its orbit to place it in translunar space. Once in a stable storage orbit at the Moon, astronauts would then visit the asteroid for science investigations, to test in space resource extraction, and to develop experience with human deep space missions. This paper discusses the mission design techniques that would enable the redirection of a 100-1000 metric ton asteroid into lunar orbit with a 40-50 kW Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) system.

Asteroid Redirect Robotic Vehicle (ARRV)↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Best Educational Tool for Interdisciplinary Earth Science Giovanni

Accessing and using NASA Earth science data has commonly presented a challenge to many educators and students, due to issues such as heterogeneous data formats, complex data structures, large volumes of data storage, special programming requirements, and diverse analytical software options that often require a significant investment in time and resources, especially for novices. By facilitating data access and evaluation, as well as promoting open access to create a more level playing field for non-funded scientists, NASA Earth observation data can be more readily used for scientific discovery and societal benefits. To advance this goal, the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC) developed the Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni). To date, Giovanni has assisted researchers around the world publish over 1300 peer-reviewed papers in a wide range of Earth science disciplines. In this presentation, we will demonstrate how easy it is to use Giovanni for the rapid creation of many different analyses of both weather and climate events.

interdisciplinary↗
NASA NTRS2016

Atmospheric In-Situ Resource Utilization For Mars Application

NASA now looks to Mars as the next step in human space exploration. A couple of challenges of such a destination include affordability and weight/volume limitations. As a way to solve these issues NASA is looking into the practice of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). Instead of manufacturing and bringing all the supplies necessary for a Mars mission and return trip, the goal is to send a preliminary mission to produce reserves of propellant, water, and oxygen on site. Part of this effort includes the Atmospheric Processing Module (APM). The APM is part of a lander that is composed of multiple compartments, each having a unique function; regolith collection/processing, water processing, atmospheric processing, and product storage. The overall goal is to develop the capability to produce methane (CH4) and oxygen as a fuel/oxidizer combo via a Sabatier reaction using resources from the Martian environment. The APM still must undergo modifications in design, and perhaps method, to become flight-ready to produce methane at the level of purity and quantity needed for a vehicle.

isru↗
NASA NTRS1987

Some aspects of space propulsion with extraterrestrial resources

Extraterrestrial resources for space processing of chemicals, in general, and propellants, in particular, are explored quantitatively. It is seen that, for several candidate space mission scenarios, space processing of both space resources and earth-carried resources can make decisive differences in the mission success for a given payload. To fix ideas and demonstrate trends, the specific case of water splitting to extract oxygen, discard (or use without storage) the resulting hydrogen, and burn earth-carried noncryogenic liquid fuel(s) in a simple rocket motor, designed for periodic thrusting, is treated in some detail. Experimental hardware is assembled and demonstrated to perform adequately, besides showing compactness of the space-packaged 'capsule' module that is self-contained. Building upon previous studies, the concept of in situ propellant production (ISPP) is reexamined in light of more recent energy and materials technologies. Missions to comets and Mars Sample Return are mentioned as candidate scenarios. The mission duration, reliability-repairability of hardware, resource availability in low earth orbit (LEO), and the thrust requirements are considered in turn. It is seen that space storage of hydrogen for extended durations (5-10 years) involves problems that require detailed studies, besides involving many presently unanswered issues. A study of the energy option in LEO and in deep space is developed in simple terms. The different solar, radioisotope, and nuclear power sources are mentioned. Storage and handling of raw and processed chemicals are considered.

Ramohalli, Kumar↗
NASA NTRS1981

National Aeronautics and Space Administration fundamental research program. Information utilization and evaluation

In the second half of the 1980's NASA can expect to face difficult choices among alternative fundamental and applied research, and development projects that could potentially lead to improvements in the information systems used to manage renewable resources. The working group on information utilization and evaluation believes that effective choices cannot be made without a better understanding of the current and prospective problems and opportunities involved in the application of remote sensing to improve renewable research information systems. A renewable resources information system is defined in a broad context to include a flow of data/information from: acquisition through processing, storage, integration with other data, analysis, graphic presentation, decision making, and assessment of the affects of those decisions.

Estes, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Massively Parallel and Scalable Implicit Time Integration Algorithms for Structural Dynamics

Explicit codes are often used to simulate the nonlinear dynamics of large-scale structural systems, even for low frequency response, because the storage and CPU requirements entailed by the repeated factorizations traditionally found in implicit codes rapidly overwhelm the available computing resources. With the advent of parallel processing, this trend is accelerating because of the following additional facts: (a) explicit schemes are easier to parallelize than implicit ones, and (b) explicit schemes induce short range interprocessor communications that are relatively inexpensive, while the factorization methods used in most implicit schemes induce long range interprocessor communications that often ruin the sought-after speed-up. However, the time step restriction imposed by the Courant stability condition on all explicit schemes cannot yet be offset by the speed of the currently available parallel hardware. Therefore, it is essential to develop efficient alternatives to direct methods that are also amenable to massively parallel processing because implicit codes using unconditionally stable time-integration algorithms are computationally more efficient when simulating the low-frequency dynamics of aerospace structures.

Farhat, Charbel↗
NASA NTRS2015

Enhanced Polyhydroxybutyrate Production for Long-Term Spaceflight Applications

Synthetic biology holds the promise of advancing long term space fight by the production of medicine, food, materials, and energy. One such application of synthetic biology is the production of biomaterials, specifically polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), using purposed organisms such as Escherichia coli. PHAs are a group of biodegradable bioplastics that are produced by a wide variety of naturally occurring microorganisms, mainly as an energy storage intermediate. PHAs have similar melting point to polypropylene and a Youngs modulus close to polystyrene. Due to limited resources and cost of transportation, large-scale extraction of biologically produced products in situ is extremely cumbersome during space flight. To that end, we are developing a secretion systems for exporting PHA from the cell in order to reduce unit operations. PHAs granules deposited inside bacteria are typically associated with proteins bound to the granule surface. Phasin, a granule bound protein, was targeted for type I secretion by fusion with HlyA signal peptide for indirect secretion of PHAs. In order to validate our secretion strategy, a green fluorescent protein (GFP) was tagged to the PHA polymerase enzyme (phaC), this three part gene cassette consists of phaA and phaB and are required for PHA production. Producing PHAs in situ during space flight or planet colonization will enable mission success by providing a valuable source of biomaterials that can have many potential applications thereby reducing resupply requirements. Biologically produced PHAs can be used in additive manufacturing such as three dimensional (3D) printing to create products that can be made on demand during space flight. After exceeding their lifetime, the PHAs could be melted and recycled back to 3D print other products. We will discuss some of our long term goals of this approach.

In Situ↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Modeling Provider Creativity in Medical System Design Simulating a Medical MacGyver

This presentation describes a method for modeling provider creativity during the requirements building and risk assessment phase of medical system design. Practicing medicine in isolated, confined, and extreme environments requires providers to use limited supplies in creative ways. This is necessary to handle unexpected medical events or make better use of limited storage capacity by leaving low-use, bulky equipment behind in favor of in situ or dual-use resources. This is a highly-valued skillset in remote environments, however, the ability to simulate this care creativity computationally is difficult.

Brian Lonquich↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Global Water Monitor: Lake, Wetland, and River Reach Monitoring for Resource Management and Hazard Observation

The Global Water Monitor is a monitoring program offering surface water-related products for lakes, reservoirs, river reaches, and wetlands, https://blueice.gsfc.nasa.gov/gwm. These products are derived from multiple satellite-based altimetry and multispectral imaging platforms. The primary measurements are water level, slope, and extent, derived from a series of NASA and other agency instruments (Sentinel-3,-6, ICESat-2, SWOT, MODIS). The system serves stakeholders, the US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service and the US Geological Survey, as well as various international, national, state, and intelligence agencies, engineers, ecologists, and hydrological researchers. Considering the sensitivity of ground-based data and the remote accessibility of many basins, the satellites offer global coverage, accuracy, and continuity of measurements. Observation of storage fluctuations in lakes and reservoirs provides users with knowledge of short and long-term drought conditions that can affect both water and energy resources. Emphasis is on changing climatic conditions, water sharing between nations, and regional stability. Measurements across a wetland complex can assist with efforts to assess hydrological dynamics with a focus on conservation efforts that aid both natural ecology and the sharing of precious water resources – the latter potentially being required in a basin across the municipal, crop irrigation, aquaculture, livestock, and power station spectrum. Observations of river reaches assists in the collection of basic hydraulic information, particularly in gauge-poor regions, for modelling efforts and the estimation of discharge, and at high-latitudes satellite-based river observations serve projects that warn of spring melts and flood hazards. We look at how recent improvements in instrument technology and mission operations are assisting with acquiring true global coverage and cross-validation efforts, and how stakeholders interact with the project in terms of setting requirements, product format, and accessibility methods. Examples show the application of the products across a range of programs, and in addition to meeting operational requirements, how the multi-decadal surface water levels are creating a high-quality timeline of Earth Data Records.

Lakes↗
NASA NTRS2019

Common Power and Energy Storage Solutions to Support Lunar and Mars Surface Exploration Missions

Future human exploration missions on the moon and Mars will require a new generation of power sources to sustain crew members and leverage in-situ resources. Long-duration human missions to the lunar and Martian surface will likely include large-scale landers, crew habitats, pressurized rovers, and in-situ propellant production plants. The power demands for these surface elements, whether on the moon or Mars, will be similar starting with robotic precursor missions in the multi-kilowatt range scaling to 10s of kilowatts as the crew presence expands and local propellant production is established. While the power requirements may be similar, the vastly different environments on the two surfaces present unique challenges for power generation and storage systems. Candidate technologies to satisfy the surface power needs include deployable solar arrays, regenerative fuel cells, and small fission reactors. This paper presents strategies for power system architectures with elements that can be used on the moon and are extensible to Mars with features that make them resilient to either environment.

Mason, Lee↗
NASA NTRS2015

Space Resource Utilization: Technologies and Potential Synergism with Terrestrial Mining

Space Resources and Their Uses: The idea of using resources in space to support human exploration and settlement or for economic development and profit beyond the surface of Earth has been proposed and discussed for decades. Work on developing a method to extract oxygen from lunar regolith started even before humans set foot on the Moon for the first time. The use of space resources, commonly referred to as In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), involves the processes and operations to harness and utilize resources in space (both natural and discarded) to create products for subsequent use. Potential space resources include water, solar wind implanted volatiles (hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, etc.), vast quantities of metals and minerals in extraterrestrial soils, atmospheric constituents, unlimited solar energy, regions of permanent light and darkness, the vacuum and zero-gravity of space itself, trash and waste from human crew activities, and discarded hardware that has completed its primary purpose. ISRU covers a wide variety of concepts, technical disciplines, technologies, and processes. When considering all aspects of ISRU, there are 5 main areas that are relevant to human space exploration and the commercialization of space: 1. Resource Characterization and Mapping, 2. In Situ Consumables Production, 3. Civil Engineering and Construction, 4. In Situ Energy Production and Storage, and 5. In Situ Manufacturing.

Sanders, Gerald B.↗
NASA NTRS2019

NASA Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Activities

This very high-level summary presentation covers 2019 NASA activities pertinent to the terrestrial hydrogen economy in general and the Department of Energy "H2@Scale" initiative in particular. The presentation introduces NASA and provides a basic review of relevant electrochemical systems before conveying basic technologies for a Lunar hydrogen economy starting with energy storage options of batteries and regenerative fuel cells before delving into locally generated and cryogenically stored propellant through in situ resource utilization (ISRU) methods.

Jakupca, Ian↗
NASA NTRS2012

Application of Satellite Gravimetry for Water Resource Vulnerability Assessment

The force of Earth's gravity field varies in proportion to the amount of mass near the surface. Spatial and temporal variations in the gravity field can be measured via their effects on the orbits of satellites. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) is the first satellite mission dedicated to monitoring temporal variations in the gravity field. The monthly gravity anomaly maps that have been delivered by GRACE since 2002 are being used to infer changes in terrestrial water storage (the sum of groundwater, soil moisture, surface waters, and snow and ice), which are the primary source of gravity variability on monthly to decadal timescales after atmospheric and oceanic circulation effects have been removed. Other remote sensing techniques are unable to detect water below the first few centimeters of the land surface. Conventional ground based techniques can be used to monitor terrestrial water storage, but groundwater, soil moisture, and snow observation networks are sparse in most of the world, and the countries that do collect such data rarely are willing to share them. Thus GRACE is unique in its ability to provide global data on variations in the availability of fresh water, which is both vital to life on land and vulnerable to climate variability and mismanagement. This chapter describes the unique and challenging aspects of GRACE terrestrial water storage data, examples of how the data have been used for research and applications related to fresh water vulnerability and change, and prospects for continued contributions of satellite gravimetry to water resources science and policy.

Rodell, Matthew↗
NASA NTRS2002

In-Vessel Composting of Simulated Long-Term Missions Space-Related Solid Wastes

Reduction and stabilization of solid wastes generated during space missions is a major concern for the Advanced Life Support - Resource Recovery program at the NASA, Kennedy Space Center. Solid wastes provide substrates for pathogen proliferation, produce strong odor, and increase storage requirements during space missions. A five periods experiment was conducted to evaluate the Space Operation Bioconverter (SOB), an in vessel composting system, as a biological processing technology to reduce and stabilize simulated long-term missions space related solid-wastes (SRSW). For all periods, SRSW were sorted into components with fast (FBD) and slow (SBD) biodegradability. Uneaten food and plastic were used as a major FBD and SBD components, respectively. Compost temperature (C), CO2 production (%), mass reduction (%), and final pH were utilized as criteria to determine compost quality. In period 1, SOB was loaded with a 55% FBD: 45% SBD mixture and was allowed to compost for 7 days. An eleven day second composting period was conducted loading the SOB with 45% pre-composted SRSW and 55% FBD. Period 3 and 4 evaluated the use of styrofoam as a bulking agent and the substitution of regular by degradable plastic on the composting characteristics of SRSW, respectively. The use of ceramic as a bulking agent and the relationship between initial FBD mass and heat production was investigated in period 5. Composting SRSW resulted in an acidic fermentation with a minor increase in compost temperature, low CO2 production, and slightly mass reduction. Addition of styrofoam as a bulking agent and substitution of regular by biodegradable plastic improved the composting characteristics of SRSW, as evidenced by higher pH, CO2 production, compost temperature and mass reduction. Ceramic as a bulking agent and increase the initial FBD mass (4.4 kg) did not improve the composting process. In summary, the SOB is a potential biological technology for reduction and stabilization of mission space-related solid wastes. However, the success of the composting process may depend of the physical characteristics (particle size, porosity, structure, texture) of the SBD components which would require pre-processing of solid wastes before placing them in the SOB.

Rodriguez-Carias, Abner A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Zero-Trust Architecture for Autonomous Edge Computing

We are at the apex of an aviation revolution where autonomy will play a central role in enabling complex, multi-agent systems to communicate, interact, and collaborate on a myriad of applications spanning autonomous swarms to wild-fire management. Autonomy is not an absolute but rather a spectrum ranging from a system requiring significant human intervention to one requiring little to none [1]. For example, the extreme, in the case of an autonomous aircraft, is one that operates independently in the airspace interacting with all other elements (air traffic controllers, other pilots) as if it were a human pilot. Critical to this vision is an architecture that enables autonomous agents to interact with minimal latency. Edge computing is an emerging architecture where compute and storage is pushed to the ‘edge’ of the network in order to minimize the round-trip time from agent to resource thereby mitigating the latency associated with cloud-only based approaches. Additionally, services can generate massive amounts of data (e.g., video feeds), which may require analysis in near real-time. Moving this data to the cloud for further processing may not be feasible due to latency, bandwidth, and cost. Privacy, security, and reliability can also be improved by edge computing architectures. However, this geo-distributed and dynamic* architecture complicates the establishment of unambiguous network security boundaries and can lead to vulnerabilities including man in the middle attacks, replay attacks, physical security breaches of edge nodes, signal interception, etc. This motivates the need for zero-trust architectures [2–4] which de-emphasize the notion of static network perimeters and, as the name implies, do not instill any innate trust in any particular agent. It is required that all agents must be authorized and approved in every transaction. In this paper, we present a zero-trust architecture suitable for edge-computing applications that demand significant low-latency, security, privacy, and reliability.

zero trust↗
NASA NTRS2016

Developing the Water Supply System for Travel to Mars

What water supply method should be used on a trip to Mars? Two alternate approaches are using fuel cell and stored water, as was done for short missions such as Apollo and the Space Shuttle, or recycling most of the water, as on long missions including the International Space Station (ISS). Stored water is inexpensive for brief missions but its launch mass and cost become very large for long missions. Recycling systems have much lower total mass and cost for long missions, but they have high development cost and are more expensive to operate than storage. A Mars transit mission would have an intermediate duration of about 450 days out and back. Since Mars transit is about ten times longer than a brief mission but probably less than one-tenth as long as ISS, it is not clear if stored or recycled water would be best. Recycling system design is complicated because water is used for different purposes, drinking, food preparation, washing, and flushing the urinal, and because wastewater has different forms, humidity condensate, dirty wash water, and urine and flush water. The uses have different requirements and the wastewater resources have different contaminants and processing requirements. The most cost-effective water supply system may recycle some wastewater sources and also provide safety reserve water from storage. Different water supply technologies are compared using mass, cost, reliability, and other factors.

water supply↗
NASA NTRS1970

Explanation of random experiment sheduling and its application to space station analysis

The capability of the McDonnell-Douglas Phase B space station concept to complete the Blue Book Experiment program is analyzed and the Random experiment program with Resource Impact (REPRI) which was used to generate the data is described. The results indicate that station manpower and electrical power are the two resources which will constrain the amount of the Blue Book program that the station can complete. The station experiment program and its resource requirements are sensitive to levels of manpower and electrical power 13.5 men and 11 kilowatts. Continuous artificial gravity experiments have much less impact on the experiment program than experiments using separate artificial gravity periods. Station storage volume presently allocated for the FPE's and their supplies (1600 cu ft) is more than adequate. The REPRI program uses the Monte Carlo technique to generate a set of feasible experiment schedules for a space station. The schedules are statistically analyzed to determine the impact of the station experiment program resource requirements on the station concept. Also, the sensitivity of the station concept to one or more resources is assessed.

Moore, J. E.↗