Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Space technology”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Urea-to-Ammonia Conversion at Proteus mirabilis Modified Pt–Ni/BDD Electrodes

Efficient wastewater recycling technologies are essential for long-duration space missions and sustainable water management on Earth. Here, a bioelectrochemical system integrating Proteus mirabilis with a platinum–nickel-modified boron-doped diamond electrode (Pt–Ni/BDDE) for urea-to-ammonia conversion in synthetic urine is presented. Immobilized P. mirabilis catalyzes enzymatic ureolysis, converting urea into ammonia, which is subsequently oxidized electrochemically, and no direct electrochemical urea oxidation is observed. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) of P. mirabilis on Pt–Ni/BDDE in 0.1 M urea and synthetic urine revealed a broad anodic oxidation peak at approximately 0.55–0.75 V vs Ag/AgCl (sat. KCl), corresponding to ammonia oxidation. Control experiments using bare BDDE and Pt–Ni/BDDE in synthetic urine showed no oxidation peak, establishing that the bioelectrocatalytic response originates exclusively from the bioelectrode interface. Chronoamperometry studies revealed that immobilization potential and time critically influenced bacterial adhesion and electrochemical response, with optimal conditions yielding a maximum current density of 0.0055 mA·cm –2 . These quantitative results establish that microbial ureolysis can be efficiently coupled with advanced electrode materials for urea-to-ammonia conversion, offering a promising self-sustaining strategy for urine processing and water recovery in closed-loop life support systems.

Ammonia↗
DOE OSTI2024

Carl T. Hayden Veterans Affairs Medical Center: Smart Buildings Case Study

The purpose of this smart buildings case study is to showcase a leading example of a GEB renovation project in the federal buildings space and provide key information on the technology and control upgrades, costs, and energy and utility bill savings. This case study also provides information and recommendations for selecting energy conservation measures (ECMs) and choosing energy and cost reduction strategies from the energy management team at the site. The findings from this successful GEB project can be used to help pave the way for additional GEB retrofits in the future. The Carl T. Hayden Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, demonstrates that GEB strategies and technologies can be realistically deployed today across buildings with substantial energy and cost savings. The project implemented both ECMs and grid-interactive technologies and controls strategies, making it a leading example of a smart, sustainable, and efficient commercial building.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Development and Evaluation of a Novel Fuel Injector Design Method using Hybrid-Additive Manufacturing (Final Report)

The widespread application of metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies has enabled exploration of complex design spaces to achieve optimally performing components. Current optimization techniques make use of several advanced methods to provide designs that are superior to existing versions. However, they seldom discuss the manufacturability of the optimal designs. The objective of this project was to develop a design optimization tool that simultaneously optimizes fuel injector hardware and the combustor flow field with optimization functions and constraints that consider both combustor performance and manufacturability using advanced AM methods and post-processing. In this way, the resultant hardware design is inherently imbued with our most advanced knowledge of combustion physics and AM methods from its conception.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

New Mobility Technology Assessment - Benefits, Risks, and Safety

The age of vehicle automation is upon us. The fundamental perception and control technology is maturing as we speak (and write) with robo-taxis proliferating in select US cities. The news cycle is no longer filled with technological skepticism, but rather societal commentary on our collective response and use of the technology. This maturing of the technology is also accompanied by a renaissance in new types of urban movement technology to more effectively link people with goods, services, and employment, particularly in dense development areas where vehicle congestion (even automated vehicles) prevents high quality mobility. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, through the DOE Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program has worked with two jurisdictions to assess the benefits, risks, and safety concerns for a new product offering based on suspended cable technology which is fully automated and proposes an aerial network of self-propelled gondolas. The recognized need, independent of the technology, is to fairly assess the benefits of the proposed transportation system, assess its technical maturity, as well as risks and safety concerns. Using this new technology as an example, a technology represented by Swyft Cities, NREL developed a succession of mini-studies that characterized the technical maturity level, assessed the proposed benefits for Greenville, SC, examined the risks involved in moving forward with an emerging mobility technology, and determined the governing safety protocols and standards that are applicable to the space. These mini-case studies, though centered on Swyft Cities aerial automated gondola technology, are highly transferable to any type of new mobility technology and lays out a repeatable process for assessing new technology within an city or community context.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Strategizing emission cuts in China to mitigate short-term warming from clean air policies

Aerosol-cloud interactions remain one of the largest sources of uncertainty in estimates of anthropogenic climate forcing. Reducing aerosols to achieve air quality improvement and climate goals can cause unintended warming due to the weakening of aerosol cooling. Here we investigate the climate impacts of spatially optimized sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emission reduction under a carbon-neutral pathway in China. We find that targeting reduction in highly polluted regions in China significantly suppresses the rise in effective radiative forcing due to aerosol-cloud interactions (ERF aci ) during 2020–2060. Owing to the nonlinear aerosol-cloud interaction, the optimized emission reduction strategy limits the regional average increase in ERF aci of more than 0.89 W m −2 to less than 0.13 W m −2 in the short-term future during 2020–2040 and weakens the ERF aci increase by two-thirds in 2060 over China. These findings demonstrate the critical role of targeted emission control in mitigating short-term climate risks while pursuing air quality goals.

Zhu, Yitong [Nanjing Univ. of Information Science ↗
DOE OSTI2026

The DESI DR1 peculiar velocity survey: Growth rate measurements from the galaxy power spectrum

The large-scale structure of the Universe and its evolution encapsulate a wealth of cosmological information. A powerful means of unlocking this knowledge lies in measuring the auto-power spectrum and/or the cross-power spectrum of the galaxy density and momentum fields, followed by the estimation of cosmological parameters based on these spectrum measurements. In this study, we generalize the cross-power spectrum model to accommodate scenarios in which the density and momentum fields are derived from distinct galaxy surveys. The growth rate of the large-scale structures of the Universe, commonly represented as fσ 8 , was extracted by jointly fitting the monopole and quadrupole moments of the auto-density power spectrum, the monopole of the auto-momentum power spectrum, and the dipole of the cross-power spectrum. Our estimators, theoretical models, and parameter-fitting framework were tested using mocks, confirming their robustness and accuracy in retrieving the fiducial growth rate from simulation. These techniques were then applied to analyse the power spectrum of the DESI Bright Galaxy Survey and Peculiar Velocity Survey. The fit result of the growth rate is fσ8 = 0.440$^{+0.080}_{−0.096}$ at effective redshift zeff = 0.07. By synthesizing the fitting outcomes from correlation functions, maximum likelihood estimation, and the power spectrum, a consensus value is yielded of fσ 8 (z eff = 0.07) = 0.450$^{+0.055}_{−0.055}$, and correspondingly we obtain γ = 0.580$^{+0.110}_{−0.110}$, Ω m = 0.301$^{+0.011}_{−0.011}$, and σ 8 = 0.834$^{+0.032}_{−0.032}$. The measured fσ8 and γ are consistent with the prediction of the Λ cold dark matter model and general relativity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Detection of bosenovae with quantum sensors on Earth and in space

In a broad class of theories, the accumulation of ultralight dark matter (ULDM) with particles of mass 10 − 22 eV < m ϕ < 1 eV leads to the formation of long-lived bound states known as boson stars. When the ULDM exhibits self-interactions, prodigious bursts of energy carried by relativistic bosons are released from collapsing boson stars in bosenova explosions. We extensively explore the potential reach of terrestrial and space-based experiments for detecting transient signatures of emitted relativistic bursts of scalar particles, including ULDM coupled to photons, electrons, and gluons, capturing a wide range of motivated theories. For the scenario of relaxion ULDM, we demonstrate that upcoming experiments and technology such as nuclear clocks as well as space-based interferometers will be able to sensitively probe orders of magnitude in the ULDM coupling-mass parameter space, challenging to study otherwise, by detecting signatures of transient bosenova events. Detection of a bosenova event may also give information about microphysics properties of ϕ that would otherwise be difficult with typical direct detection methods. Our analysis can be readily extended to different scenarios of relativistic scalar particle emission. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Arakawa, Jason (ORCID:0000000237889486)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Orbital Debris IC Report

We started a simulation campaign in support of our ongoing plasma signatures of small orbital debris project SINTRA program funded by IARPA. This project aims to identify plasma signatures generated by the interaction of small orbital debris (>10cm) with space plasma that can be used for detection, tracking and eventually, develop technologies to remove these small but lethal objects. The small orbital debris problem is increasing exponentially threaten the current and future use of space.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Spatially resolved polarization swings in the supermassive binary black hole candidate OJ 287 with first Event Horizon Telescope observations

We present the first Event Horizon Telescope 1.3 mm observations of the supermassive binary black hole candidate OJ 287. The observations achieved an unprecedented angular resolution of 18 μas and reveal significant structural and polarization variability over just five days, marking the shortest timescale on which such changes have been directly imaged in this source. The inner jet exhibits a twisted ridgeline structure, with features displaying apparent superluminal motions up to about 22 c. The linear polarization maps reveal three main polarized features whose electric-vector position angles (EVPAs) change substantially over the time span of our observations, including a component with a radial polarization consistent with being produced by a recollimation shock. Most notably, we directly resolved two innermost jet components whose EVPAs rotate in opposite directions. The faster component, moving at 2.4 ± 0.9 μas/day (17.4 ± 6.5 c), exhibits counterclockwise EVPA swings of roughly 3.7° per day, while the slower component, with a proper motion of 1.4 ± 0.3 μas/day (10.2 ± 2.2 c), rotates clockwise at approximately 2.5° per day. Previous studies inferred helical magnetic fields in AGN jets from time-resolved or integrated polarization variability but lacked the angular resolution to directly image this effect. Our results provide spatially resolved evidence that a helical magnetic field threads the jet’s collimation and acceleration zone, ruling out models based on the superposition of unresolved components. Our analysis suggests that propagating shocks interact with a Kelvin–Helmholtz plasma instability, illuminating different phases of the helical magnetic field and producing the observed polarization spatial and temporal variability. Moreover, our model naturally accounts for the more rapid polarization rotation observed in the faster moving component. Our model predicts even more rapid swings in polarization, which could be tested with future observations featuring a more densely sampled time coverage.

OJ 287↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Grassroots Network and Community Roadmap for Interconnected Autonomous Science Laboratories for Accelerated Discovery

Scientific discovery is being revolutionized by AI and autonomous systems, yet current autonomous laboratories remain isolated islands unable to collaborate across institutions. We present the Autonomous Interconnected Science Lab Ecosystem (AISLE), a grassroots network transforming fragmented capabilities into a unified system that shorten the path from ideation to innovation to impact and accelerates discovery from decades to months. AISLE addresses five critical dimensions: (1) cross-institutional equipment orchestration, (2) intelligent data management with FAIR compliance, (3) AI-agent driven orchestration grounded in scientific principles, (4) interoperable agent communication interfaces, and (5) AI/ML-integrated scientific education. By connecting autonomous agents across institutional boundaries, autonomous science can unlock research spaces inaccessible to traditional approaches while democratizing cutting-edge technologies. This paradigm shift toward collaborative autonomous science promises breakthroughs in sustainable energy, materials development, and public health.

Ferreira da Silva, Rafael [Oak Ridge National Labo↗
DOE OSTI2022

Simulation of a PCM Integrated Heat Pump Using Time-of-Use Utility Structure based Control Strategy for Demand Response

To mitigate the variation in demand on the electric grid, thermal energy storage (TES) is an alternative to electric batteries and constructing new peaking power plants. The aggressive carbon reduction goals of the United States are accelerating the electrification of building equipment. If space heating and cooling in the US were electrified using conventional heat pump technologies, the winter electric grid peak would approximately double. Integrating TES with heat pump (HP) enables electrification of space cooling and heating devices without overtaxing the grid.This paper evaluates the benefits of a novel phase change material (PCM) integrated heat pump configuration via simulation. A one-dimensional PCM heat exchanger model which discretizes the PCM tank and refrigerant tubes into small control volumes is developed. Each control volume can have different PCM temperatures, PCM properties, and heat transfer coefficients. The PCM tank is charged by a wrapped tank condenser and discharged by an internal refrigerant coil. The PCM heat exchanger model is integrated into DOE/ORNL Heat Pump Design Model for heat pump system simulation.To demonstrate the performance of the PCM integrated heat pump, a case study in Chicago was performed. A Time-of-Use utility structure-based control strategy is implemented to schedule the PCM tank charging and discharging mode switching. Compared with a conventional electric heat pump, the PCM integrated heat pump shows superior performance on load shifting and utility cost reduction. As a result, the proposed system demonstrates 24.6% utility saving for cooling application and 25.8% utility saving for heating application.

Li, Zhenning↗
DOE OSTI2022

Development and verification of the pyIsoDep depletion package for nuclear thermal propulsion reactors

Nuclear thermal propulsion technology is currently being developed by the National Air and Space Administration for future manned Mars missions. There are multiple on-going activities to develop and enhance computational capabilities, single- and multi-physics, to advance the readiness level of this technology. The prediction of short-lived fission products is crucial to understand the reactivity penalty and the decay heat production during the different burnout stages of the vehicle. Generally, the solution entails coupled neutronic-depletion analysis. However, such simulations are somewhat expensive, especially if the duration of each engine burn is to be optimized. Therefore, there is a need to complement such high-fidelity techniques with time-efficient alternatives that do not require the sequential neutronic and depletion analysis. This paper details the methods and capabilities of pyIsoDep, an open-source code used for depletion analysis of nuclear thermal propulsion reactors. The package is general, in principle, and thus can be applied to any fission system, and can potentially be extended for fusion systems. The package was developed to provide a flexible and efficient alternative to pre-existing higher order depletion codes that could integrate well into mission and transient analysis of nuclear thermal propulsion reactors. Finally, this paper presents a validation and verification of pyIsoDep against analytical and Serpent-generated solutions. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Smart Packaging for Critical Energy Shipment (SPaCES)

Recent technical advances have brought forth revolutionary Smart Packaging (SP) technology. SP incorporates multiple electronics, chemical, and mechanical sensing technologies into packaging materials, and utilizes them to monitor and display package content status. SP can also employ embedded micro actuators to react to undesirable package conditions such as moisture/temperature anomalies or harmful chemical reactions and neutralize it. When further integrated with wireless sensing and secure networking, SP provides wholistic system-wide remote situation awareness capability for real-time crisis management. Finally, we also see that SP can be further integrated with 3D printing technology to offer form-factor customization and application specific solutions suitable for DOE (Department of Energy) NNSA’s (National Nuclear Security Administration) R/N (radiological/nuclear) material shipment and management needs; this has the potential to improve safety, security, and overall operation process quality. This report surveys SP technology as the state of the art (SOTA) and analyzes how it can integrate with cybersecurity and 3D printing to address NNSA’s critical R/N material shipment and storage requirements. This report further presents our FY23/24 investigation plan describing project background, goal, motivation, proposed work, and statement of work and cost.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

NNSA/CEA Workflow Workshop Report 2021

Researchers from three NNSA labs plus CEA recently met for a half-day workshop on scientific and engineering workflows in March of 2021. Tools, projects and use cases from each institution were described. A wide range of unique capabilities and requirements were represented. The workshop highlights the fact that the CEA/NNSA workflows space mirrors the broader open science workflows community, with multiple technologies under development in a number of science domains and under a number of funding streams, with differing capabilities and focuses. Despite the number of tools, presentations and discussions have shown that these tools cover specific mission spaces at the four labs, each with distinctive capabilities that do not completely overlap with each other. We believe there is a strong interest in the short term for sharing lessons learned and collaborating on benchmarks and site evaluation of projects. This report, prepared by the NNSA/CEA Workflows Working Group, briefly summarizes the presentations in the areas of domain specific workflows, end user environments, data management, job and resource management, and infrastructure, and then identifies six broad areas for potential collaboration. A key finding is that users could benefit from greater interoperability, compatibility, and composability of the workflow technologies under development and that point-to-point collaboration opportunities should be identified to explore these aspects.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Photovoltaic device innovation for a solar future

Photovoltaics (PV), also known as solar cells, are now found everywhere - in utility plants; on roofs of homes and commercial buildings; on platforms at sea; in agricultural fields; on vehicles, buildings, drones, and backpacks; and, in their longest running application, providing power in space. Continuous device innovation has led to increased efficiency and improved reliability for multiple PV technologies. Confronted with an urgent need to deploy PV at multiterawatt (TW) scale over the next two decades to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, PV device innovation takes on new urgency and impact. This perspective reviews recent progress in device design and performance for PV technologies that are currently in commercial production at greater than 1 GW/year or enabling significant space-based power generation - Si, CdTe, CIGS, and multijunction III-V - and looks ahead to the next 5 years. In conclusion, we also identify device-related topics requiring cross-cutting research and innovation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Numerical simulation of a relativistic magnetron using a fluid electron model

An approach to numerically modeling relativistic magnetrons, in which the electrons are represented with a relativistic fluid, is described. A principal effect in the operation of a magnetron is space-charge-limited (SCL) emission of electrons from the cathode. We have developed an approximate SCL emission boundary condition for the fluid electron model. This boundary condition prescribes the flux of electrons as a function of the normal component of the electric field on the boundary. Here we show the results of a benchmarking activity that applies the fluid SCL boundary condition to the one-dimensional Child–Langmuir diode problem and a canonical two-dimensional diode problem. Simulation results for a two-dimensional A6 magnetron are then presented. Computed bunching of the electron cloud occurs and coincides with significant microwave power generation. Numerical convergence of the solution is considered. Sharp gradients in the solution quantities at the diocotron resonance, spanning an interval of three to four grid cells in the most well-resolved case, are present and likely affect convergence.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Scalable, Dual-Mode Occupancy Sensing for Commercial Venues

The ability to establish accurate occupancy is a key enabler for improved energy efficiency in human-occupied indoor spaces. The accurate counts can be used to adjust, in real-time, air exchange, heating, and cooling, to closely match the environmental needs of the occupants rather than to use a single setting based on maximum room occupancy. This project focuses on the use of overhead fisheye cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms as the technology to realize accurate people counting in large commercial spaces. We developed Computational Occupancy Sensing SYstem ("COSSY''), which supports large-scale deployment (thousands of square feet) and straightforward installation (using conventional power over ethernet), while providing high accuracy and low cost. COSSY has been validated at Boston University and by a third party, demonstrating people-counting accuracy of at least 89.5% in large spaces (2,000 sqft). A cost/benefit analysis performed for Boston commercial market indicates that a full payback of COSSY deployment costs due to energy savings would occur within 3-6 months from installation. Applications of COSSY reach far beyond saving energy. The precise people counting in real time could also be useful for emergency response (e.g., fire), in spatial analytics (e.g., office space management) and in some health applications (e.g., social distance assessment during pandemics).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Gromov ground state in phase space engineering for fusion energy

Phase space engineering by rf waves plays important roles in both thermal D-T fusion and nonthermal advanced fuel fusion, but not all phase space manipulation is allowed; certain fundamental limits exist. In addition to Liouville's theorem, which requires the manipulation to be volume preserving, Gromov's nonsqueezing theorem imposes another constraint. Here, the Gardner ground state is defined as the ground state accessible by smooth volume-preserving maps. However, the extra Gromov constraint should produce a higher-energy ground state. An example of a Gardner ground state forbidden by Gromov's nonsqueezing theorem is given. The challenge question is “What is the Gromov ground state, i.e., the lowest energy state accessible by smooth symplectic maps?” This is a difficult problem. As a simplification, we conjecture that the linear Gromov ground state problem is solvable.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗