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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 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2007

Space Plasma Testing of High-Voltage Thin-Film Solar Arrays with Protective Coatings

This paper gives an overview of the space plasma test program for thin-film photovoltaics (TFPV) technologies developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The main objective of this program is to simulate the effects of space plasma characteristic of LEO and MEO environments on TFPV. Two types of TFPV, amorphous silicon (a-Si) and copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS), coated with two types of thin-film, multifunctional coatings were used for these studies. This paper reports the results of the first phase of this program, namely the results of preliminary electrostatic charging, arcing, dielectric breakdown, and collection current measurements carried out with a series of TFPV exposed to simulated space plasma at the NASA Glenn Plasma Interaction Facility. The experimental data demonstrate that multifunctional coatings developed for this program provide effective protection against the plasma environment while minimizing impact on power generation performance. This effort is part of an ongoing program led by the Space Vehicles Directorate at the AFRL devoted to the development and space qualification of TFPV and their protective coatings.

Tlomak, Pawel↗
NASA NTRS2012

First Results from an Airborne Ka-Band SAR Using SweepSAR and Digital Beamforming

SweepSAR is a wide-swath synthetic aperture radar technique that is being studied for application on the future Earth science radar missions. This paper describes the design of an airborne radar demonstration that simulates an 11-m L-band (1.2-1.3 GHz) reflector geometry at Ka-band (35.6 GHz) using a 40-cm reflector. The Ka-band SweepSAR Demonstration system was flown on the NASA DC-8 airborne laboratory and used to study engineering performance trades and array calibration for SweepSAR configurations. We present an instrument and experiment overview, instrument calibration and first results.

instrument calibration↗
NASA NTRS2018

DGEN Aeropropulsion Research Turbofan (DART) Test Plans

This presentation serves as an overview of test plans for an upcoming DGEN Aeropropulsion Research Turbofan (DART) test entry at the NASA GRC AeroAcoustic Propulsion Laboratory (AAPL). The test entry includes: (1) a fan intra-stage velocity field survey, which will be compared to a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) survey of DART, (2) an exploratory noise study of DART with several objectives focused on measurement projection to the far-field, source identification improvements and development of a barrier wall for isolation of various sources, (3) advancement of core/combustor noise research on DART using more extensive engine-mounted instrumentation, and (4) high-temperature pressure sensor technology-readiness-level (TRL) advancement.

Boyle, Devin K.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Plans for Upcoming DGEN Aeropropulsion Research Turbofan (DART) Testing

This presentation serves as an overview of test plans for an upcoming DGEN Aeropropulsion Research Turbofan (DART) test entry at the NASA GRC AeroAcoustic Propulsion Laboratory (AAPL). The test entry includes: (1)a fan intra-stage velocity field survey, which will be compared to a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) survey of DART, (2) an exploratory noise study of DART with several objectives focused on measurement projection to the far-field, source identification improvements and development of a barrier wall for isolation of various sources, (3) advancement of core/combustor noise research on DART using more extensive engine-mounted instrumentation, and (4) high-temperature pressure sensor technology-readiness-level (TRL) advancement.

Boyle, Devin K.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Remembrance of Things Future: Prospective Memory in Laboratory, Workplace, and Everyday Settings

In this review, oriented to the human factors community, I will summarize and provide a perspective on recent research and theory on prospective memory. This will not be an exhaustive review of literature, which is already available in two excellent recent books that provide a wealth of detail on the current state of experimental research (Kliegel, McCaniel, & Einstein, 2008; McDaniel & Einstein, 2007; also see Brandimonte, Einstein, & McDaniel, 1996, for a still relevant overview of the field as it was emerging). Rather, I will explore the limits of existing experimental paradigms and theory, Vvilich, in my opinion, fail to capture some critical aspects of performance outside the laboratory. I will also review the relatively few studies in workplace and everyday settings and will discuss several studies that attempt to bridge between the bulk of experimental studies and these few naturalistic studies. Finally, I will describe countermeasures that can reduce vulnerability to forgetting to perform intended tasks, and I will propose a research agenda that would extend existing experimental and theoretical approaches and would support human factors practitioners by generating information on a wide range of issues relevant to prospective memory performance in natural settings.

Dismukes, R. Key↗
NASA NTRS1981

A Loran-C prototype navigation receiver for general aviation

Investigations have been conducted regarding the techniques required for Loran-C navigation with application to the general-aviation pilot. The goal has been to produce prototype equipment for flight evaluation which will provide enroute navigation in both latitude-longitude and rho-theta coordinates and to evaluate the nonprecision approach capabilities of such equipment. In connection with the considered project, a prototype Loran-C receiver has been flight-tested using a variety of flight paths, with and without simultaneous ground radar position data collection. Attention is given to a receiver overview, an antenna preamplifier/coupler, the Loran-C receiver RF processor, the tracking loop hardware, tracking loop programming, video output, the laboratory and flight evaluation, and work currently in progress.

Lilley, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS2011

The Use of Modeling for Flight Software Engineering on SMAP

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission proposes to deploy an Earth-orbiting satellite with the goal of obtaining global maps of soil moisture content at regular intervals. Launch is currently planned in 2014. The spacecraft bus would be built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), incorporating both new avionics as well as hardware and software heritage from other JPL projects. [4] provides a comprehensive overview of the proposed mission

Software architecture↗
NASA NTRS2012

Resource Management and Contingencies in Aerospace Concurrent Engineering

significant concern in designing complex systems implementing new technologies is that while knowledge about the system is acquired incrementally, substantial financial commitments, even make-or-break decisions, must be made upfront, essentially in the unknown. One practice that helps in dealing with this dichotomy is the smart embedding of contingencies and margins in the design to serve as buffers against surprises. This issue presents itself in full force in the aerospace industry, where unprecedented systems are formulated and committed to as a matter of routine. As more and more aerospace mission concepts are generated by concurrent design laboratories, it is imperative that such laboratories apply well thought-out contingency and margin structures to their designs. The first part of this publication provides an overview of resource management techniques and standards used in the aerospace industry. That is followed by a thought provoking treatise on margin policies. The expose presents the actual flight telemetry data recorded by the thermal discipline during several recent NASA Goddard Space Flight Center missions. The margins actually achieved in flight are compared against pre-flight predictions, and the appropriateness and the ramifications of having designed with rigid margins to bounding stacked worst case conditions are assessed. The second half of the paper examines the particular issues associated with the application of contingencies and margins in the concurrent engineering environment. In closure, a discipline-by-discipline disclosure of the contingency and margin policies in use at the Integrated Design Center at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center is made.

Karpati, Gabe↗
NASA NTRS2019

Overview of NASA QuAIL Team Research

NASA is constantly confronting massively challenging computational problems. These problems have the potential to limit mission scope and aim. NASA's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL) Group was formed to determine the potential for quantum computation to enable more ambitious NASA missions in the future. This presentation highlights recent work by the QuAIL team that is focused on physics insights and applications associated with the D-Wave 2000Q quantum annealing hardware that is located at NASA Ames Research Center.

Shon Grabbe↗
NASA NTRS2022

Haystack Ultra-Wideband Satellite Imaging Radar Measurements of the Orbital Debris Environment: 2020

This report summarizes radar measurement data of the orbital debris (OD) environment in low Earth orbit (LEO) from the Haystack Ultra-wideband Satellite Imaging Radar (HUSIR) operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL) and provided to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO). This report includes an overview of HUSIR’s radar systems, radar signal processing, radar measurements, and environment characterization. Some background information, originally presented in previous HUSIR radar reports, is repeated here for the benefit of the reader.

James Murray↗
NASA NTRS2024

Autonomy to Enable NASA Missions from Aeronautics to Space

2024 ASCEND Call for Sessions Session Format: Panel Session Topic: Space Exploration and Infrastructure: Exploring, Living, and Working in Space (The panel must map to one of six Session Topics - https://www.ascend.events/presenters/call-for-sessions/#sessiontopics) Title: Autonomy to Enable NASA Missions from Aeronautics to Space Short Session Description: In this panel discussion the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will discuss the role that autonomy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play as humanity moves off-world. Recent advances in general autonomy tools are changing the way NASA and its partners leverage autonomy for its air and space initiatives, including Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) concepts and potential lunar and Martian operations. The panelists will consist of autonomy subject matter experts familiar with the current state of the art for autonomy across both aeronautical and space domains. They will discuss how those technologies could evolve as operations become more complex and which autonomy technologies can be used in both the space and aeronautical domains. For example, perhaps autonomy work originally developed for terrestrial applications, like Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), could be applied to off-world lunar and Martian applications and vice versa. Additionally, the panel will address common misconceptions of these technologies, obstacles to implementation, and possible solutions for overcoming those obstacles. Join NASA in exploring how research activities can align to streamline autonomy development efforts, advancing NASA's goals to expand humanity's reach beyond Earth for the benefit of all. Contact Information: • Dr. Adam Yingling • Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) • Adam.j.yingling@nasa.gov, 703-416-9129 Session Length: 1.25 hours, 75 minutes Extended Description: Moderator: Dr. Adam Yingling, NASA, Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy Panel Speakers: • Autonomy Forum Principals o Dr. Charles Norton, Deputy Chief Technologist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) o Dr. Carolyn Mercer, Chief Technologist, Space Mission Directorate (SMD) o Dr. Parimal Kopardekar (PK), Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Integration Manager o Danette Alan, NASA, Senior Leader for Autonomous Systems, Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) o Duane Armstrong, Intelligent Systems Lead, Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) Panel Format: • Introduction (10 min): The panel moderator will provide a 10-minute session introduction that will include an overview NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture, AAM autonomy research, and an introduction of the principals as panel speakers. • Moderated Session Part 1 (30 min): There will be a 30-minute moderated session among the moderator and the five autonomy principals to discuss the current state of art for autonomy and how work developed in one domain may be applicable to other domains; including the merits and challenges for implementing those technologies. • Moderated Session Part 2 (25 min): The moderator will then ask the principals to consider how technologies developed across all the domains might be able to address the most salient challenges identified in the previous session. • Q&A (10 min): The session will conclude with 10-minutes of audience Q&A. Session Goals and Outcomes: The session goals are 1) to communicate the importance of autonomy for both aeronautical and space mission, 2) Investigate potential synergies across autonomy research efforts that will enable scalable operations, and 3) to receive community feedback as NASA leverages autonomy to evolve aviation on Earth and enable humanity to live and work off-world.

Aerospace↗
NASA NTRS1992

Long Duration Exposure Facility: A general overview

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) is a large, low-cost, reusable, unmanned, free-flying spacecraft which accommodates technology, science, and applications experiments for long-term exposure to the space environment. The LDEF was designed and built by the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for NASA's Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology. Specifically, the LDEF was designed to transport experiments into space via the Space Shuttle, to free fly in Earth orbit for an extended period, and be retrieved on a later Space Shuttle flight allowing experiments to be returned to Earth for postflight analysis in the laboratory. The LDEF with a full complement of experiments was placed in Earth orbit in April 1984 by Challenger and retrieved from orbit in January 1990 by Columbia. A general overview of the LDEF, its mission, systems, experiments, and operations is presented. Excerpts from various NASA documents are extensively used.

Robert L O'Neal↗
NASA NTRS1986

Star of Lima - Overview and optical diagnostics of a barium Alfven critical velocity experiment

The Alfven critical velocity mechanism for ionization of a neutral gas streaming across the magnetic field has been demonstrated in laboratory experiments. In March 1983, two rocket-borne experiments with Ba and Sr tested the effect in the wall-less laboratory of space from Punto Lobos, Peru, near 430 km altitude. 'Star of Lima' used a conical Ba shaped charge aimed at an instrument payload about 2 km away. Because of rocket overperformance the detonation occurred in partial sunlight, so that less than 21.6 percent of the ionizing UV was present. Particle and field measurements indicate the production of hot electrons and waves in the energy and frequency range that are respectively predicted to produce a cascade of ionization by the Alfven mechanism. However, the ionization fluxes and wave energy density did not reach cascade levels, and optical observations indicate that only 2.5 to 5 x 10 to the 20th Ba ions were produced. A substantial portion and perhaps all of the ionization could have been produced by solar UV. The failure of the Alfven process in this experiment is not well understood.

Wescott, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1974

A survey of AFFDL parameter estimation efforts and future plans

An overview is presented of the applications of parameter estimation methods to the following areas of interest at the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory (AFFDL): (1) conventional stability and control parameter estimation of rigid aircraft; (2) extension to elastic aircraft; (3) extension to stall/spin aerodynamics of rigid aircraft with a nonlinear model; (4) application to the pilot model identification; and (5) correlation of wind tunnel, drop model and flight test data. Only well-documented algorithms are used with modification to the model as required for the specific application. The genesis of each problem and other background information are discussed which enumerate the algorithms and explain how this information is used to improve existing operational aircraft characteristics as well as specify design criteria for future USAF aerospace vehicles.

Eckholdt, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1974

HAL/S-FC compiler system functional specification

The functional requirements to be met by the HAL/S-FC compiler, and the hardware and software compatibilities between the compiler system and the environment in which it operates are defined. Associated runtime facilities and the interface with the Software Development Laboratory are specified. The construction of the HAL/S-FC system as functionally separate units and the interfaces between those units is described. An overview of the system's capabilities is presented and the hardware/operating system requirements are specified. The computer-dependent aspects of the HAL/S-FC are also specified. Compiler directives are included.

Source record↗