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Moon to Mars (M2M): Exploration Atmosphere

As humans leave the bounds of Earth to explore the lunar surface and beyond, crew will don extravehicular activity (EVA) suits to learn more about these extraterrestrial environments, establish sustained presence, and perform needed upgrades and maintenance to their space vehicle and habitation systems. Spacefaring vehicle and habitation design will need to support these EVA excursions while ensuring crew health and safety. A crucial technological design advancement towards this goal is the use of a lower pressure exploration atmosphere (EA) that enables high efficiency EVA, rather than the sea level atmosphere of 14.7 psia, 21% oxygen (O 2 ) found on the International Space Station, Shuttle, and most other Russian and Chinese space vehicles and stations. Early space vehicles (Mercury through Apollo Programs) used a 5 psia, 100% O 2 environment, which eliminated the need for pre-EVA denitrogenation protocols, simplified the life support system to a single gas, and saved structural mass. For longer duration missions (Skylab), a diluent gas was added, changing the atmosphere to 5 psia, 70-74% O 2 to prevent atelectasis while remaining normoxic. As in-flight science became a top priority, Shuttle and ISS atmospheres were chosen to operate at sea level allowing for simpler ground-based study control conditions. Consequently this led to long pre-EVA denitrogenation protocols involving up to 4 hours of O 2 prebreathe because the EVA suit still operated at a low pressure of 4.3 psid. To increase operational efficiency, the Shuttle was retroactively certified to operate using 10.2 psia, 26.5% O 2 , reducing O 2 prebreathe time to 40-75 min. Current plans for M2M habitats on the Lunar surface require EVA, thus EA recommendation became 8 psia and 32% O 2 but was revised to 8.2 psia and 34% O 2 to decrease hypoxia exposure. Unfortunately, the benefits of EA in support of safe and efficient EVAs comes with the challenge of fire management in a higher-than-normal O 2 % environment. Although known for decades, the recommended forward work to address fire management has only recently begun. Current flammability tests include examining material propagation and ignition sources as well as fire mitigation processes to better understand these properties for proposed new EA environments. Fire safety, DCS risk, and mission design all contribute to the multifaceted parameters of EA. Thus while it is clear that EA is required to achieve the goals of future exploratory space missions, final specifications are still being evaluated for optimizing crew health and safety.

space atmosphere↗
NASA NTRS2007

NASA's Software Safety Standard

NASA relies more and more on software to control, monitor, and verify its safety critical systems, facilities and operations. Since the 1960's there has hardly been a spacecraft launched that does not have a computer on board that will provide command and control services. There have been recent incidents where software has played a role in high-profile mission failures and hazardous incidents. For example, the Mars Orbiter, Mars Polar Lander, the DART (Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology), and MER (Mars Exploration Rover) Spirit anomalies were all caused or contributed to by software. The Mission Control Centers for the Shuttle, ISS, and unmanned programs are highly dependant on software for data displays, analysis, and mission planning. Despite this growing dependence on software control and monitoring, there has been little to no consistent application of software safety practices and methodology to NASA's projects with safety critical software. Meanwhile, academia and private industry have been stepping forward with procedures and standards for safety critical systems and software, for example Dr. Nancy Leveson's book Safeware: System Safety and Computers. The NASA Software Safety Standard, originally published in 1997, was widely ignored due to its complexity and poor organization. It also focused on concepts rather than definite procedural requirements organized around a software project lifecycle. Led by NASA Headquarters Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, the NASA Software Safety Standard has recently undergone a significant update. This new standard provides the procedures and guidelines for evaluating a project for safety criticality and then lays out the minimum project lifecycle requirements to assure the software is created, operated, and maintained in the safest possible manner. This update of the standard clearly delineates the minimum set of software safety requirements for a project without detailing the implementation for those requirements. This allows the projects leeway to meet these requirements in many forms that best suit a particular project's needs and safety risk. In other words, it tells the project what to do, not how to do it. This update also incorporated advances in the state of the practice of software safety from academia and private industry. It addresses some of the more common issues now facing software developers in the NASA environment such as the use of Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Software (COTS), Modified OTS (MOTS), Government OTS (GOTS), and reused software. A team from across NASA developed the update and it has had both NASA-wide internal reviews by software engineering, quality, safety, and project management. It has also had expert external review. This presentation and paper will discuss the new NASA Software Safety Standard, its organization, and key features. It will start with a brief discussion of some NASA mission failures and incidents that had software as one of their root causes. It will then give a brief overview of the NASA Software Safety Process. This will include an overview of the key personnel responsibilities and functions that must be performed for safety-critical software.

Ramsay, Christopher M.↗
DOE OSTI2022

IACMI Project 4.10: Blade Finishing Automation (Final Report)

IACMI Project 4.10, the Innovative Wind Turbine Blade Finishing with Advanced Automated Technology project, performed research addressing the challenges and opportunities associated with automating wind turbine blade finishing operations, including blade trimming and grinding. These activities, developed and conducted in close cooperation with wind industry partners, included: • The development of new automation technology and systems; • The integration of automation technology and components; • The improvements of sensor technology and their deployment in automation systems • The elimination of extensive manual programing for the automation of wind blade finishing; • The rethinking of the approach to specific work tasks for automation systems; • The demonstration at scale of innovative wind turbine blade finishing automations systems. The IACMI Wind TA team worked with GE Renewable Energy and LM Wind Power to establish the metrics of the automated blade finishing system developed in the project. In addition, the project team helped to integrate the advanced automated systems into wind turbine blade production facilities. This project was divided into two phases. Phase I provided project management, preliminary techno-economic model development, early US wind turbine industry outreach, and early research into robotic solutions for automated wind blade finishing. This second phase continued with project management, as well as final techno-economic model development, advanced research into robotic solutions for automated wind blade finishing, as well as specifications and procurement of a robotic system for automated wind blade finishing. The 4.10 project leveraged the capabilities and facilities established through the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The IACMI Wind Technology Area (TA) designed and prepared for deployment a robotic automated wind turbine blade finishing system at the NREL/IACMI Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology (CoMET) facility. The results of this project led to follow-on funding to build upon and expand research in automated wind turbine blade finishing.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2004

Oh! I Slipped the Surly Bounds of Earth....and Ran into Space Weather!

Over the past decade the concept of space weather has been introduced and matured in both the scientific community and popular press. Likewise the concept of space climatology recently also is being advanced. Closely linked to these concepts are their impacts on ground- and space-based technological systems; one such system commonly mentioned is manned space flight exemplified by the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS). From a manned space flight perspective, space weather and space climatology have significant effects on the amount of radiation exposure received by humans in space from the ambient high-energy charged particles present in interplanetary space and trapped in the geomagnetosphere. Whereas the impact of space weather for most technological systems is usually discrete and well correlated in time, the principle impact of space weather and space climatology is to increase the probability of latent cancer formation in thetraveler cohort. In this regard, while space weather may be the dominating factor for a given mission, over the life of a long-term program such as the Space Shuttle or ISS space climatology is the controlling factor of latent cancer risk. Human radiation exposure enhancements associated with space weather disturbances has been a concern among scientist and mission controllers since the inception of manned spaceflight nearly forty years ago. This led NASA to develop, in conjunction with the Environmental Science Services Administration s Space Disturbance Forecast Center and the USAF/AWS, the Solar Particle Alert Network (SPAN)-the foundation of an initial U.S. space weather monitoring and forecasting service. Since Apollo, routine space flight operations have evolved to include the use of space weather and climatology data provided through a world-wide network of operational space weather data services to predict and recommend actions to minimize astronaut radiation exposures. NASA Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG) flight controllers use real-time space weather data to detect and assess the impact of solar particle events, outer electron belt enhancements, the formation of pseudo-stable additional trapped radiation belts, and the solar cycle modulation of trapped radiation belts and galactic cosmic rays. Energetic particle data from GOES spacecraft are automatically ingested from NOAA Space Environment Center data servers and used to drive a model for the estimating the exposure to astronauts from solar particle events. While adequate for current manned space flight support, the existing operational space weather support system requires improvements to address the anticipated evolution in both the character of manned missions as well as space flight operations management. Necessary space weather data improvements include: reliably available (near) real-time space weather data on a fixed schedule via redundant access methods that support autonomous data acquisition by computer systems behind enterprise firewalls; and rapid transition of promising research sensors into operational systems.

Golightly, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Addressing Challenges to the Design & Test of Operational Lighting Environments for the International Space Station

In our day to day lives, the availability of light, with which to see our environment, is often taken for granted. The designers of land based lighting systems use sunlight and artificial light as their toolset. The availability of power, quantity of light sources, and variety of design options are often unlimited. The accessibility of most land based lighting systems makes it easy for the architect and engineer to verify and validate their design ideas. Failures with an implementation, while sometimes costly, can easily be addressed by renovation. Consider now, an architectural facility orbiting in space, 260 miles above the surface of the earth. This human rated architectural facility, the International Space Station (ISS) must maintain operations every day, including life support and appropriate human comforts without fail. The facility must also handle logistics of regular shipments of cargo, including new passengers. The ISS requires accommodations necessary for human control of machine systems. Additionally, the ISS is a research facility and supports investigations performed inside and outside its livable volume. Finally, the facility must support remote operations and observations by ground controllers. All of these architectural needs require a functional, safe, and even an aesthetic lighting environment. At Johnson Space Center, our Habitability and Human Factors team assists our diverse customers with their lighting environment challenges, via physical test and computer based analysis. Because of the complexity of ISS operational environment, our team has learned and developed processes that help ISS operate safely. Because of the dynamic exterior lighting environment, uses computational modeling to predict the lighting environment. The ISS' orbit exposes it to a sunrise every 90 minutes, causing work surfaces to quickly change from direct sunlight to earthshine to total darkness. Proper planning of vehicle approaches, robotics operations, and crewed Extra Vehicular Activities are mandatory to ensure safety to the crew and all others involved. Innovation in testing techniques is important as well. The advent of Solid State Lighting technology and the lack of stable national and international standards for its implementation pose new challenges on how to design, test and verify individual light fixtures and the environment that uses them. The ISS will soon be replacing its internal fluorescent lighting system to a solid state LED system. The Solid State Lighting Assembly will be used not only for general lighting, but also as a medical countermeasure to control the circadian rhythm of the crew. The new light source has performance criteria very specific to its spectral fingerprint, creating new challenges that were originally not as significant during the original design of the ISS. This presentation will showcase findings and toolsets our team is using to assist in the planning of tasks, and design of operational lighting environments on the International Space Station.

Clark, Toni A.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Policy Innovation and Governance for Irrigation Sustainability in the Arid, Saline San Joaquin River Basin

This paper provides a chronology and overview of events and policy initiatives aimed at addressing irrigation sustainability issues in the San Joaquin River Basin (SJRB) of California. Although the SJRB was selected in this case study, many of the same resource management issues are being played out in arid, agricultural regions around the world. The first part of this paper provides an introduction to some of the early issues impacting the expansion of irrigated agriculture primarily on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and the policy and capital investments that were used to address salinity impairments to the use of the San Joaquin River (SJR) as an irrigation water supply. Irrigated agriculture requires large quantities of water if it is to be sustained, as well as supply water of adequate quality for the crop being grown. The second part of the paper addresses these supply issues and a period of excessive groundwater pumping that resulted in widespread land subsidence. A joint federal and state policy response that resulted in the facilities to import Delta water provided a remedy that lasted almost 50 years until the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 was passed in the legislature to address a recurrence of the same issue. The paper describes the current state of basin-scale simulation modeling that many areas, including California, are using to craft a future sustainable groundwater resource management policy. The third section of the paper deals with unique water quality issues that arose in connection with the selenium crisis at Kesterson Reservoir and the significant threats to irrigation sustainability on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley that followed. The eventual policy response to this crisis was incremental, spanning two decades of University of California-led research programs focused on finding permanent solutions to the salt and selenium contamination problems constraining irrigated agriculture, primarily on the west side. Arid-zone agricultural drainage-induced water quality problems are becoming more ubiquitous worldwide. One policy approach that found traction in California is an innovative variant on the traditional Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) approach to salinity regulation, which has features in common with a scheme in Australia’s Hunter River Basin. The paper describes the real-time salinity management (RTSM) concept, which is geared to improving coordination of west side agricultural and wetland exports of salt load with east side tributary reservoir release flows to improve compliance with river salinity objectives. RTSM is a concept that requires access to continuous flow and electrical conductivity data from sensor networks located along the San Joaquin River and its major tributaries and a simulation model-based decision support designed to make salt load assimilative capacity forecasts. Web-based information dissemination and data sharing innovations are described with an emphasis on experience with stakeholder engagement and participation. The last decade has seen wide-scale, global deployment of similar technologies for enhancing irrigation agriculture productivity and protecting environmental resources.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Integrated Risk-Informed Condition Based Maintenance Capability and Automated Platform: Technical Report 3

This project is a collaborative research effort between PKMJ Technical Services LLC, Idaho National Laboratory, and Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) Nuclear, LLC. The collaboration, led by PKMJ Technical Services LLC, is part of the industry Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) award under Advanced Nuclear Technology Development FOA #DE-FOA-0001817. The pilot demonstration focuses on the Circulating Water System (CWS), an important non-safety-related system that impacts the power generation capability of the plant site. Achieving riskinformed condition-based Predictive Maintenance (PdM) on the CWS will result in significant economic benefits, and the developed methodologies can also be applied to other plant systems. This approach supports an industry goal of ensuring that nuclear power generation remains a viable, economically competitive option in the energy market. Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs include labor-intensive Preventive Maintenance (PM) programs that involve manually performed inspection, calibration, testing, and maintenance of plant assets at periodic frequencies as well as time-based replacement of assets, irrespective of condition. This project offers an alternative by focusing on riskinformed condition-based maintenance to reduce O&M costs while still maintaining plant health and safety. This report summarizes the progress made toward achieving a risk-informed condition-based maintenance approach. The research and development (R&D) activities presented in this report are associated with development of a nuclear digital platform application, integration of fault signature models, and automated work management processes. The fault signatures and Machine Learning (ML) models are key components in predictive analytics and are heavily leveraged to improve the insights received by existing plant process data sources. Availability of the analysis results within a centralized digital platform enhances efficiency by enabling automation of activities otherwise performed manually. Personnel are presented with enhanced information that can be used to evaluate plant status and risks. Utilizing the enhancements to data analytics supports automated responses, (i.e. issuance of work orders) to address developing equipment faults and thus preventing forced, unplanned shutdowns of components or systems. The R&D activities described within this report lay the foundation for developing and demonstrating a digital automated platform to centralize the implementation of condition monitoring and response to equipment faults. The digital automated platform is cloud-based and designed to enable improved efficiency of plant processes. The digital platform includes content related to maintenance optimization, fault signature analysis, and plant records, which can all be used to support efficiencies when located within a centralized digital platform. These efficiencies could be further enhanced when deployed through industry-wide deployment of the technology to improve insights and processes based upon economies of scale.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

HEP High Power Targetry Roadmap -- Workshop Report

Designing a reliable target is already a challenge for MW-class facilities today and has led several major accelerator facilities to operate at lower than design power due to target concerns. With present plans to increase beam power for next generation accelerator facilities in the next decade, timely R and D in support of robust high power targets is critical to secure the full physics benefits of ambitious accelerator power upgrades. A comprehensive R and D program must be implemented to address the many complex challenges faced by multi MW beam intercepting devices. This roadmap is envisioned to be helpful to the DOE-OHEP office when planning and prioritizing future R and D activities as well as leveraging synergies across the Office of Science. The roadmap will be extremely beneficial to the broader (external to DOE HEP) HPT community by communicating OHEP s high level strategy and objectives for HPT R and D and highlighting possible opportunities for collaboration.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Integrated process-structure–property–performance optimization of cold-sprayed zinc coatings on AZ91 magnesium alloy

High-pressure die cast (HPDC) AZ91 magnesium alloy is widely used in automotive components such as transmission housings and brackets for its excellent strength-to-weight ratio. Zinc-based cold spray coatings can be applied selectively to vulnerable areas to enhance corrosion resistance, minimize galvanic coupling with dissimilar metals, and eliminate the need for full-surface oxide coatings, making the process more efficient and targeted. A comprehensive evaluation of 16 combinations of nitrogen carrier gas temperatures and pressures led to the identification of an optimal range of process parameters, yielding Zn coatings with porosity <0.5 % by area, wear rates reduced by a factor of two compared to uncoated AZ91, and adhesion strengths up to 35 MPa. The enhanced mechanical performance of the coating is attributed to the low porosity and the formation of a metallurgical bond at the coating-substrate interface. Corrosion studies using macroscale potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) revealed a significant decrease in corrosion rate and a shift to more noble corrosion potentials (ZCP) for coated substrates. Furthermore, the Zn cold-sprayed samples exhibited significantly lower corrosion-induced evolved hydrogen content compared to the base AZ91 substrate and AZ91 coated with industrial coatings, demonstrating that the Zn layer effectively protects the substrate from the corrosive environment. Overall, cold spray Zn coatings significantly improve the mechanical and corrosion performance of AZ91 Mg alloys, addressing key material challenges and enabling their broader use in automotive applications.

Corrosion performance↗
NASA NTRS2008

Rapid Biochemical Analysis on the International Space Station (ISS): Preparing for Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars

The Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development - Portable Test System, known as LOCAD-PTS, was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-116) on December 9th,2006. Since that time, it has remained onboard ISS and has been operated by the crew on 10 separate occasions LOCAD-PTS is a handheld device for rapid biochemical analysis; it consists of a spectrophotometer, a series of interchangeable cartridges, a pipette and several clean/sterilized swabbing kits to obtain samples from ISS surfaces. Sampling, quantitative analysis and data retrieval is performed onboard, therefore reducing the need to return samples to Earth. Less than 20 minutes are required from sampling to data, significantly faster than existing culture-based methods on ISS, which require 3-5 days. Different cartridges are available for the detection of different target molecules (simply by changing the formulation within each cartridge), thereby maximizing the benefit and applications addressed by a single instrument. Initial tests on ISS have focused on the detection of the bact.erial macromolecule endotoxin, a component of bacterial cell walls. LOCAD-PTS detects endotoxin with a cartridge that contains a formulation known as Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay. LAL is derived from blood of the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, and detects enodotoxin with an enzyme cascade that triggers generation Of a yellow colored dye, p-nitroanaline. The more p-nitroanaline product, the more endotoxin is in the original sample. To enable quantitative analysis, the absorbance of this color is measured by LOCAD-PTS through a 395 nm filter and compared with an internal calibration curve, to provide a reading on the LED display that ranges from 0.05 Endotoxin Units (EU)/ml to 5 EU/ml. Several surface sites were analyzed within ISS between March 2007 and February 2008, including multiple locations in the US Laboratory Destiny, Node 1 Unity, AMock, and Service Module Zvezda. The goals of this initial study were to i) test the cleanliness of reagents/supplies on orbit, ii) test the crew's ability to collect and process a sample in microgravity without contamination, iii) demonstrate nominal function of the LOCAD-PTS, and iv) provide a general survey of endotoxin within the ISS. The surface sites varied greatly in terms of their frequency-of-use and material texture/composition; from relatively smooth aluminum, to fabric, to the room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) rubber of a Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit. Results showed that: i) the swabbing kits and reagents remained clean on orbit, ii) the crew could collect and process a sample without contamination, and iii) the LOCAD-PTS functioned nominally in > 99% of the 55 tests completed. We will present detailed results of the survey of endotoxin on ISS surfaces. These results and technology are important in the near-term - by providing an extra tool in the toolbox for ISS microbial monitoring. They are also important in the longer term as valuable preparation for human exploration of the Moon and Mars. One of the proposed science goals for the human exploration of Mars will be to detect and characterize any indigenous biological molecules that may exist on the Martian surface. To achieve that goal, the crew must have the technology available onboard to differentiate indigenous biology from any terrestrial biological material brought to Mars by the spacecraft and crew (termed 'forward contamination'). The LAL assay is already one of the official methods used by NASA's planetary protection program to certify cleanliness of interplanetary robotic spacecraft prior to launch; and therefore endotoxin is a good marker of forward contamination (as well as other microbial molecules detectable with LOCAD-PTS e.g. box-1, 3-glucan and lipoteichoic acid). Furthermore, the distribution and abundance of these molecules on the ISS provides a good indicator of what to expect on the Crew Exploratioehicle Orion, the lunar lander Antares, and future crewed spacecraft destined for Mars. In addition, technology such as LOCAD-PTS has been proposed to help evaluate forward contamination during lunar surface operations by the crew, as preparation for the human exploration of Mars.

Maule, J.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Growth of Three Lettuce Cultivars in NASA's HDU PEM During the 2010 DRATS Test

NASA's 2010 Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) of the VEGGIE Food Production System in the Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU) Pressurized Excursion Module (PEM) was the first operational evaluation of salad crop production technology in a NASA analog test. Rooting media and slow release fertilizers were evaluated for three lettuce cultivars that had shown promise as candidates for a surface based food production system. These tests involved comparing growth, color and quality of the lettuce cultivars grown under VEGGIE LED array (Orbitec, Madison, WI) or Biomass Production System for Education ((BSEe), Orbitec, Madison, WI) compact fluorescent lamps using a gravity feed water delivery system. Mission relevant conditions of CO2, temperature and RH were maintained using controlled environment chambers (EGC, Chagrin Falls, OH). Growth data was obtained for the two red leaf lettuce cultivars, Outredgeous and Firecracker, and the green Bibb lettuce cultivar, Flandria. Growth and quality was evaluated using different concentrations (7.5 g/L and 15 g/L) of commercial slow release fertilizer (Osmocote Plus 15-9-12, Scotts, Maryville, OH) and Nutricote 18-6-8 (Florikan, Sarasota, FL) in either a peat/vermiculite media (sunshine LP5 MiX, Sungro, Bellview, WA) or calcined montmorillonite clay [(arcillite,)Turface Proleague, Profile LLC, Buffalo Grove, IL]. The commercial peat/vermiculite mix generally resulted in larger plants than those grown in arcillite. Increasing the concentration of Osmocote from 7.5 to 15 g/L increased the height, dry mass, and leaf area of lettuce cultivars. In contrast, there was a decrease in growth parameters when concentration of Nutricote was increased from 7.5 to 15 g/L. The best growth was obtained with the 7.5 g/L Nutricote using a commercial peat/vermiculite mixture. This media was used for field testing VEGGIE plant system in the 2010 DRAT test. The VEGGIE nutrient delivery system worked well, was able to be maintained by multiple operators with a minimum of training, and supported excellent lettuce growth for the duration of the 14-day test. The operational DRAT field testing in the HDU identified light quality issues related to morphology and pigment development that will need to be addressed through additional testing. Feedback from the crew, ground support personnel, and human factors leads was uniformly positive on the psychological value of having the crop production system in the pressurized excursion module. Data are being used to design a plant atrium with LED lighting to evaluate salad crop growth during NASA's 2011 DRATS test.

Stutte, Gary W.↗
DOE OSTI2026

An Educational Program on Concentrated Solar Power and Heliostats for Power Generation and Industrial Processes

The objective of this project was to design and implement a comprehensive educational and applied research program in Concentrated Solar Thermal Power (CSTP) and heliostat technologies at Northeastern University. In alignment with the U.S. Department of Energy's Heliostat Consortium (HelioCon) goals, the project aimed to expand student and public understanding of CSTP systems while simultaneously contributing to workforce development and the broader decarbonization strategy. A particular emphasis was placed on integrating hands-on student design projects and publicly disseminating educational content relevant to CSTP systems. The project addressed a critical gap in renewable energy education: CSTP and heliostats, despite their importance in utility-scale solar energy, are rarely included in standard mechanical engineering programs. This project established new pathways for students to engage with the topic through the creation of a 4-credit graduate/senior elective course, development of five industry-facing short courses, and the inclusion of CSTP-based capstone design projects. Over two academic years, 36 students across six senior design teams developed and tested technologies such as deformable heliostats, beacon-based tracking systems, and solar-powered pyrolizers for biomass-to-biochar conversion. Concurrently, 30 undergraduate and graduate students were enrolled in the new academic course centered around CSTP principles. To ensure the relevance and accessibility of the short course content, the project team engaged with industry professionals, technical policy stakeholders, and potential course participants through structured surveys and informal consultations. Feedback from 28 respondents guided the structure, length, and delivery format of the courses - resulting in a modular design broken into five workshops. The feedback emphasized the need for flexible, asynchronous delivery and practical case studies, particularly in areas such as heliostat control, thermal storage, and solar fuel production. This engagement helped align the courses with the evolving knowledge demands of the renewable energy workforce and ensured that participants from both technical and policy backgrounds could meaningfully benefit from the material. The research and educational activities advanced the understanding of heliostat control systems, optical performance under misalignment, and thermal system integration in solar-driven pyrolysis applications. Methods and designs explored in this project proved to be both technically effective and economically feasible at the lab scale. Prototypes were constructed using commercially available components and custom-fabricated elements, demonstrating that meaningful performance improvements can be achieved with modest material and fabrication costs, supporting the feasibility of student-led research in this field. The public benefit of this project is twofold. First, it cultivates a pipeline of engineers trained to be familiar with CSTP principles, an essential workforce need identified by the Department of Energy for achieving its 2030 cost and deployment targets. Second, it contributes openly accessible educational materials, course content, and experimental frameworks to the broader community, enabling other institutions to adopt or adapt similar programming. Through outreach activities, curriculum integration, and technical exposure, this project contributes to a more informed and capable renewable energy workforce while supporting innovation in heliostat and CSTP system design. A new technical report is being prepared to document the development of the course and its outcomes, with plans to publish it in the ASME Open Access Journal of Engineering to ensure global accessibility, free of cost.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Integrated Energy Systems: Advanced Nuclear Plants with Thermal Storage for Dynamic and Flexible Operation in Diverse Markets

Energy supply, distribution, and demand are continuously evolving in accordance with the integration of new power generation sources. In the United States, there is a progressive shift toward incorporating fluctuating energy sources such as wind and solar into the energy mix, alongside the distributed generation. Simultaneously, we are seeing a revolution in consumer technologies such as electric vehicles, energy devices for both residential and commercial use, and industrial processes—all contributing to a fundamental change in energy consumption dynamics. These scenarios have led to huge demand for enhanced flexibility from nuclear power plants (NPPs), requiring them to operate with unprecedented adaptability. Furthermore, advanced NPPs (A-NPPs) could potentially apply to scenarios in which power generation flexibility is prioritized over its current and conventional baseload generation capacity for traditional demand patterns. The present work covers several configurations for coupling nuclear energy production with thermal energy storage (TES). Previous work evaluated systems entailing a simple nuclear-TES configuration that used steam as a heat source for the TES of three different advanced reactors (ARs), but its heat diversion ratio (HDR) for charging was limited. The present work proposes a new configuration that features full decoupling of the nuclear reactor and the power cycle, using reactor coolant (i.e., gas) as a heat source for the TES and offering a theoretically unlimited HDR. This configuration is, however, more complex, as both high- and low-temperature TES (HT-TES and LT-TES) systems are required in order to cover the extended temperature range. Although this configuration imposes certain limitations on the discharge system configuration, it also presents the opportunity to design a more efficient system. For this case in particular, a steam reheat cycle is advantageous. Conventional TES systems take advantage of nominal efficiency when discharging, whereas the reheat cycle in the fully decoupled TES system affords a significant efficiency increase over conventional cases. Material selection, component/equipment sizing, and costing analyses were performed, followed by economic dispatch and size optimization. Dynamic models were developed for the decoupled system in order to generate insights into aspects of off design operation (e.g., drops in cycle efficiency), and these models enable exploration of potential mitigation strategies for addressing such drops. The models also highlight the need to design fail-safes that ensure continuous operational stability and minimize the impact of power ramping on the reactor parameters.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
NASA NTRS1992

Electric propulsion system technology

The work performed in fiscal year (FY) 1991 under the Propulsion Technology Program RTOP (Research and Technology Objectives and Plans) No. (55) 506-42-31 for Low-Thrust Primary and Auxiliary Propulsion technology development is described. The objectives of this work fall under two broad categories. The first of these deals with the development of ion engines for primary propulsion in support of solar system exploration. The second with the advancement of steady-state magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thruster technology at 100 kW to multimegawatt input power levels. The major technology issues for ion propulsion are demonstration of adequate engine life at the 5 to 10 kW power level and scaling ion engines to power levels of tens to hundreds of kilowatts. Tests of a new technique in which the decelerator grid of a three-grid ion accelerator system is biased negative of neutralizer common potential in order to collect facility induced charge-exchange ions are described. These tests indicate that this SAND (Screen, Accelerator, Negative Decelerator) configuration may enable long duration ion engine endurance tests to be performed at vacuum chamber pressures an order of magnitude higher than previously possible. The corresponding reduction in pumping speed requirements enables endurance tests of 10 kW class ion engines to be performed within the resources of existing technology programs. The results of a successful 5,000-hr endurance of a xenon hollow cathode operating at an emission current of 25 A are described, as well as the initial tests of hollow cathodes operating on a mixture of argon and 3 percent nitrogen. Work performed on the development of carbon/carbon grids, a multi-orifice hollow cathode, and discharge chamber erosion reduction through the addition of nitrogen are also described. Critical applied-field MPD thruster technical issues remain to be resolved, including demonstration of reliable steady-state operation at input powers of hundreds to thousands of kilowatts, achievement of thruster efficiency and specific impulse levels required for missions of interest, and demonstration of adequate engine life at these input power, efficiency, and specific impulse levels. To address these issues we have designed, built, and tested a 100 kW class, radiation-cooled applied-field MPD thruster and a unique dual-beam thrust stand that enables separate measurements of the applied- and self-field thrust components. We have also initiated the development of cathode thermal and plasma sheath models that will eventually be used to guide the experimental program. In conjunction with the cathode modeling, a new cathode test facility is being constructed. This facility will support the study of cathode thermal behavior and erosion mechanisms, the diagnosis of the near-cathode plasma and the development and endurance testing of new, high-current cathode designs. To facilitate understanding of electrode surface phenomenon, we have implemented a telephoto technique to obtain photographs of the electrodes during engine operation. In order to reduce the background vacuum tank pressure during steady-state engine operation in order to obtain high fidelity anode thermal data, we have developed and are evaluating a gas-dynamic diffuser. A review of experience with alkali metal propellants for MPD thrusters led to the conclusion that alkali metals, particularly lithium, offer the potential for significant engine performance and lifetime improvements. These propellants are also condensible at room temperature, substantially reducing test facility pumping requirements. The most significant systems-level issue is the potential for spacecraft contamination. Subsequent experimental and theoretical efforts should be directed toward verifying the performance and lifetime gains and characterizing the thruster flow field to assess its impact on spacecraft surfaces. Consequently, we have begun the design and development of a new facility to study engine operation with alkali metal propellants.

Brophy, John R.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fusion Materials Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Fiscal Year 2023

The materials science challenge of providing a suite of suitable materials to satisfy the technology to achieve fusion energy is addressed in this ORNL program. The inability of currently available materials and components to withstand the harsh fusion nuclear environment requires development of new materials, and an understanding of their response to the fusion environment. The overarching goal of the ORNL Fusion Materials program is to provide the applied materials science support and materials understanding to underpin the ongoing DOE Office of Science—Fusion Energy Sciences program, in parallel with developing the materials for fusion power systems. In this effort the program continues to be integrated both with the larger U.S. and international fusion materials communities and with the U.S. and international fusion design and technology communities. The excitement of this program comes from the priorities given to this subject in the two recent fusion reviews, by the FESAC and NAS committees. An important element of those recommendations is the support for pivoting the national R&D emphasis to the Fusion Materials and Technologies (FM&T), the long-advocated Fusion Prototypic Neutron Source, and for the Fusion Pilot Plant study that will help focus program direction and efforts. Furthermore, the surge of venture capital investment into the private fusion industry start-ups over the last few years is anticipated to help accelerate all aspects of the fusion energy development. This twelfth annual report of the ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Fusion Reactor Materials Program summarizes the accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2023 (FY2023). The year was the first to return to full post-COVID-restriction operations, with students and international assignees no longer impacted by COVID restrictions, as in FY20-21-22. Following the pattern of planning used in this program, work for the year FY2023 focused on having the data and productivity to support a strong presence at the International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials (ICFRM) 21, organized by Spain and occurred in October 2023. Twenty-nine ORNL-led abstracts were submitted, with all accepted. Four were invited presentations, nine contributed oral, fourteen posters, and two withdrawn due to unforeseen circumstances. Additionally, nine external abstracts with ORNL contributing authors were presented. These will be reported in the FY24 report next year.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

High-throughput feedback-enabled optogenetic stimulation and spectroscopy in microwell plates

Abstract The ability to perform sophisticated, high-throughput optogenetic experiments has been greatly enhanced by recent open-source illumination devices that allow independent programming of light patterns in single wells of microwell plates. However, there is currently a lack of instrumentation to monitor such experiments in real time, necessitating repeated transfers of the samples to stand-alone analytical instruments, thus limiting the types of experiments that could be performed. Here we address this gap with the development of the optoPlateReader (oPR), an open-source, solid-state, compact device that allows automated optogenetic stimulation and spectroscopy in each well of a 96-well plate. The oPR integrates an optoPlate illumination module with a module called the optoReader, an array of 96 photodiodes and LEDs that allows 96 parallel light measurements. The oPR was optimized for stimulation with blue light and for measurements of optical density and fluorescence. After calibration of all device components, we used the oPR to measure growth and to induce and measure fluorescent protein expression in E. coli . We further demonstrated how the optical read/write capabilities of the oPR permit computer-in-the-loop feedback control, where the current state of the sample can be used to adjust the optical stimulation parameters of the sample according to pre-defined feedback algorithms. The oPR will thus help realize an untapped potential for optogenetic experiments by enabling automated reading, writing, and feedback in microwell plates through open-source hardware that is accessible, customizable, and inexpensive.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

MultiGreen: A multiplexing architecture for GreenGate cloning

Genetic modification of plants fundamentally relies upon customized vector designs. The ever-increasing complexity of transgenic constructs has led to increased adoption of modular cloning systems for their ease of use, cost effectiveness, and rapid prototyping. GreenGate is a modular cloning system catered specifically to designing bespoke, single transcriptional unit vectors for plant transformation—which is also its greatest flaw. MultiGreen seeks to address GreenGate’s limitations while maintaining the syntax of the original GreenGate kit. The primary limitations MultiGreen addresses are 1) multiplexing in series, 2) multiplexing in parallel, and 3) repeated cycling of transcriptional unit assembly through binary intermediates. MultiGreen efficiently concatenates bespoke transcriptional units using an additional suite of level 1acceptor vectors which serve as an assembly point for individual transcriptional units prior to final, level 2, condensation of multiple transcriptional units. Assembly with MultiGreen level 1 vectors scales at a maximal rate of 2*⌈ log 6 n ⌉+3 days per assembly, where n represents the number of transcriptional units. Further, MultiGreen level 1 acceptor vectors are binary vectors and can be used directly for plant transformation to further maximize prototyping speed. MultiGreen is a 1:1 expansion of the original GreenGate architecture’s grammar and has been demonstrated to efficiently assemble plasmids with multiple transcriptional units. MultiGreen has been validated by using a truncated violacein operon from Chromobacterium violaceum in bacteria and by deconstructing the RUBY reporter for in planta functional validation. MultiGreen currently supports many of our in-house multi transcriptional unit assemblies and will be a valuable strategy for more complex cloning projects.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
NASA NTRS2011

Preliminary Error Budget for the Reflected Solar Instrument for the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory

The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) plans to observe climate change trends over decadal time scales to determine the accuracy of climate projections. The project relies on spaceborne earth observations of SI-traceable variables sensitive to key decadal change parameters. The mission includes a reflected solar instrument retrieving at-sensor reflectance over the 320 to 2300 nm spectral range with 500-m spatial resolution and 100-km swath. Reflectance is obtained from the ratio of measurements of the earth s surface to those while viewing the sun relying on a calibration approach that retrieves reflectance with uncertainties less than 0.3%. The calibration is predicated on heritage hardware, reduction of sensor complexity, adherence to detector-based calibration standards, and an ability to simulate in the laboratory on-orbit sources in both size and brightness to provide the basis of a transfer to orbit of the laboratory calibration including a link to absolute solar irradiance measurements. The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission addresses the need to observe high-accuracy, long-term climate change trends and to use decadal change observations as the most critical method to determine the accuracy of climate change projections such as those in the IPCC Report. A rigorously known accuracy of both decadal change observations as well as climate projections is critical in order to enable sound policy decisions. The CLARREO Project will implement a spaceborne earth observation mission designed to provide rigorous SI traceable observations (i.e., radiance, reflectance, and refractivity) that are sensitive to a wide range of key decadal change variables, including: 1) Surface temperature and atmospheric temperature profile 2) Atmospheric water vapor profile 3) Far infrared water vapor greenhouse 4) Aerosol properties and anthropogenic aerosol direct radiative forcing 5) Total and spectral solar irradiance 6) Broadband reflected and emitted radiative fluxes 7) Cloud properties 8) Surface albedo There are two methods the CLARREO mission will rely on to achieve these critical decadal change benchmarks: direct and reference inter-calibration. A quantitative analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the two methods has led to the recommended CLARREO mission approach. The project consists of two satellites launched into 90-degree, precessing orbits separated by 90 degrees. The instrument suite receiver on each spacecraft includes one emitted infrared spectrometer, two reflected solar spectrometers: dividing the spectrum from ultraviolet through near infrared, and one global navigation receiver for radio occultation. The measurements will be acquired for a period of three years minimum, with a five-year lifetime goal, enabling follow-on missions to extend the climate record over the decades needed to understand climate change. The current work concentrates on the reflected solar instrument giving an overview of its design and calibration approach. The calibration description includes the approach to achieving an SI-traceable system on orbit. The calibration overview is followed by a preliminary error budget based on techniques currently in place at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Thome, Kurtis↗