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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 307 records · Page 17

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NASA NTRS1993

Space chemical propulsion test facilities at NASA Lewis Research Center

The NASA Lewis Research Center, located in Cleveland, Ohio has a number of space chemical propulsion test facilities which constitute a significant national space testing resource. The purpose of this paper is to make more users aware of these test facilities and to encourage their use through cooperative agreements between the government, industry, and universities. Research which is of interest to the government is especiallly encouraged and often can be done in a cooperative manner that best uses the resources of all parties. This paper presents an overview of the Lewis test facilities. These facilities are clustered into three test areas: the Rocket Engine Test Facilities (RETF), the Rocket Laboratory (RL), and the Cryogenic Components Laboratory (CCL).

Urasek, Donald C.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Friction Stir Welding Development at NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center

This paper presents an overview of friction stir welding (FSW) process development and applications at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). FSW process development started as a laboratory curiosity but soon found support from many users. The FSW process advanced very quickly and has found many applications both within and outside the aerospace industry. It is currently being adapted for joining key elements of the Space Shuttle External Tank for improved producibility and reliability. FSW process modeling is done to better understand and improve the process. Special tools have been developed to weld variable thickness materials including thin and thick materials. FSW is now being applied to higher temperature materials such as copper and to advanced materials such as metal matrix composites. FSW technology is being successfully transferred from MSFC laboratory to shop floors of many commercial companies.

Bhat, Biliyar N.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Overview of the MARS Laser Communications Demonstration Project

This paper provides an overview of the Mars Laser Communications Demonstration Project, a joint project between NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (JPL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL). It reviews the strawman designs for the flight and ground segments, the critical technologies required, and the concept of operations. It reports preliminary conclusions from the Mars Lasercom Study conducted at MIT/LL and on additional work done at JPL and GSFC. The lasercom flight terminal will be flown on the Mars Telecom Orbiter (MTO) to be launched by NASA in 2009, and will demonstrate a technology which has the potential of vastly improving NASA s ability to communicate throughout the solar system.

Edward, Bernard L.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Overview of the Mars laser communication demonstration project

This paper provides an overview of the Mars Laser Communications Demonstration Project, a joint project between NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (JPL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL). It reviews the strawman designs for the flight and ground segments, the critical technologies required, and the concept of operations. It reports preliminary conclusions from the Mars Lasercom Study conducted at MIT/LL and on additional work done at JPL and GSFC. The lasercom flight terminal will be flown on the Mars Telecom Orbiter (MTO) to be launched by NASA in 2009, and will demonstrate a technology which has the potential of vastly improving NASA’s ability to communicate throughout the solar system

DePaula, Ramon↗

NASA NTRS2017

In-flight pointing accuracy assessment and GNC commissioning overview for the dual-spinning SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) spacecraft

NASA’s new SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) spacecraft is a radar and radiometer- based climate monitoring mission that, for an earth-orbiting satellite, presented an uncommonly large engineering challenge for the spacecraft designers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The primary engineering challenge of this mission was to design a three-axis stabilized dual-spinning spacecraft with the largest spinning flexible mesh reflector of any known spacecraft. This paper reports on the attitude control performance of this duel-spinning conicalscanning system during the first 18 months of science operations, and provides an overview of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) subsystem performance for this climate monitoring asset.

Sung, Tina S.↗

NASA NTRS1995

NASA Advanced Refrigerator/Freezer Technology Development Project Overview

NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC) has recently initiated a three-year project to develop the advanced refrigerator/freezer (R/F) technologies needed to support future life and biomedical sciences space experiments. Refrigerator/freezer laboratory equipment, most of which needs to be developed, is enabling to about 75 percent of the planned space station life and biomedical science experiments. These experiments will require five different classes of equipment; three storage freezers operating at -20 C, -70 C and less than 183 C, a -70 C freeze-dryer, and a cryogenic (less than 183 C) quick/snap freezer. This project is in response to a survey of cooling system technologies, performed by a team of NASA scientists and engineers. The team found that the technologies, required for future R/F systems to support life and biomedical sciences spaceflight experiments, do not exist at an adequate state of development and concluded that a program to develop the advanced R/F technologies is needed. Limitations on spaceflight system size, mass, and power consumption present a significant challenge in developing these systems. This paper presents some background and a description of the Advanced R/F Technology Development Project, project approach and schedule, general description of the R/F systems, and a review of the major R/F equipment requirements.

Cairelli, J. E.↗

NASA NTRS2010

An Overview of Propulsion Concept Studies and Risk Reduction Activities for Robotic Lunar Landers

In support of designing robotic lunar lander concepts, the propulsion team at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), with participation from industry, conducted a series of trade studies on propulsion concepts with an emphasis on light-weight, advanced technology components. The results suggest a high-pressure propulsion system may offer some benefits in weight savings and system packaging. As part of the propulsion system, a solid rocket motor was selected to provide a large impulse to reduce the spacecraft s velocity prior to the lunar descent. In parallel to this study effort, the team also began technology risk reduction testing on a high thrust-to-weight descent thruster and a high-pressure regulator. A series of hot-fire tests was completed on the descent thruster in vacuum conditions at NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) in New Mexico in 2009. Preparations for a hot-fire test series on the attitude control thruster at WSTF and for pressure regulator testing are now underway. This paper will provide an overview of the concept trade study results along with insight into the risk mitigation activities conducted to date.

Trinh, Huu P.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Advanced High-Temperature Flexible TPS for Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators

Typical entry vehicle aeroshells are limited in size by the launch vehicle shroud. Inflatable aerodynamic decelerators allow larger aeroshell diameters for entry vehicles because they are not constrained to the launch vehicle shroud diameter. During launch, the hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (HIAD) is packed in a stowed configuration. Prior to atmospheric entry, the HIAD is deployed to produce a drag device many times larger than the launch shroud diameter. The large surface area of the inflatable aeroshell provides deceleration of high-mass entry vehicles at relatively low ballistic coefficients. Even for these low ballistic coefficients there is still appreciable heating, requiring the HIAD to employ a thermal protection system (TPS). This TPS must be capable of surviving the heat pulse, and the rigors of fabrication handling, high density packing, deployment, and aerodynamic loading. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of flexible TPS tests and results, conducted over the last three years. This paper also includes an overview of each test facility, the general approach for testing flexible TPS, the thermal analysis methodology and results, and a comparison with 8-foot High Temperature Tunnel, Laser-Hardened Materials Evaluation Laboratory, and Panel Test Facility test data. Results are presented for a baseline TPS layup that can withstand a 20 W/cm2 heat flux, silicon carbide (SiC) based TPS layup, and polyimide insulator TPS layup. Recent work has focused on developing material layups expected to survive heat flux loads up to 50 W/cm2 (which is adequate for many potential applications), future work will consider concepts capable of withstanding more than 100 W/cm2 incident radiant heat flux. This paper provides an overview of the experimental setup, material layup configurations, facility conditions, and planned future flexible TPS activities.

DelCorso, Joseph A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Ageing aircraft research in the Netherlands

The problems of Ageing Aircraft are worldwide. Hence, actions to overcome or prevent these problems should be taken in international collaboration. The Federal Aviation Administration FAA and the Netherlands Civil Aviation Department RLD have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the area of structural integrity, with specific reference to research on problems in the area of Ageing Aircraft. This paper gives an overview of the Research currently carried out on this subject in the Netherlands. The work described is largely done at the National Aerospace Laboratory NLR. The major part is done under contracts with RLD and the FAA, as part of forementioned cooperation agreement.

Aging Aircraft↗

NASA NTRS1992

Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) optical systems SIG summary and database

The main objectives of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) Optical Systems Special Investigative Group (SIG) Discipline are to develop a database of experimental findings on LDEF optical systems and elements hardware, and provide an optical system overview. Unlike the electrical and mechanical disciplines, the optics effort relies primarily on the testing of hardware at the various principal investigator's laboratories, since minimal testing of optical hardware was done at Boeing. This is because all space-exposed optics hardware are part of other individual experiments. At this time, all optical systems and elements testing by experiment investigator teams is not complete, and in some cases has hardly begun. Most experiment results to date, document observations and measurements that 'show what happened'. Still to come from many principal investigators is a critical analysis to explain 'why it happened' and future design implications. The original optical system related concerns and the lessons learned at a preliminary stage in the Optical Systems Investigations are summarized. The design of the Optical Experiments Database and how to acquire and use the database to review the LDEF results are described.

Bohnhoff-Hlavacek, Gail↗

NASA NTRS1993

Remote surface inspection system

This paper reports on an on-going research and development effort in remote surface inspection of space platforms such as the Space Station Freedom (SSF). It describes the space environment and identifies the types of damage for which to search. This paper provides an overview of the Remote Surface Inspection System that was developed to conduct proof-of-concept demonstrations and to perform experiments in a laboratory environment. Specifically, the paper describes three technology areas: (1) manipulator control for sensor placement; (2) automated non-contact inspection to detect and classify flaws; and (3) an operator interface to command the system interactively and receive raw or processed sensor data. Initial findings for the automated and human visual inspection tests are reported.

Hayati, S.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Remote surface inspection system

Hayati, Samad↗

NASA NTRS1993

Proceedings of the Third Spaceborne Imaging Radar Symposium

This publication contains summaries of the papers presented at the Third Spaceborne Imaging Radar Symposium held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, California, on 18-21 Jan. 1993. The purpose of the symposium was to present an overview of recent developments in the different scientific and technological fields related to spaceborne imaging radars and to present future international plans. This symposium is the third in a series of 'Spaceborne Imaging Radar' symposia held at JPL. The first symposium was held in Jan. 1983 and the second in 1986.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2001

Hyper-X Program Status

This paper provides an overview of the objectives and status of the Hyper-X program, which is tailored to move hypersonic, airbreathing vehicle technology from the laboratory environment to the flight environment. The first Hyper-X research vehicle (HXRV), designated X-43, is being prepared at the Dryden Flight Research Center for flight at Mach 7. Extensive risk reduction activities for the first flight are completed, and non-recurring design activities for the Mach 10 X-43 (3rd flight) are nearing completion. The Mach 7 flight of the X-43, in the spring of 2001, will be the first flight of an airframe-integrated scramjet-powered vehicle. The Hyper-X program is continuing to plan follow-on activities to focus an orderly continuation of hypersonic technology development through flight research.

McClinton, Charles R.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Hyper-X Program Status

This paper provides an overview of the objectives and status of the Hyper-X program, which is tailored to move hypersonic, airbreathing vehicle technology from the laboratory environment to the flight environment. The first Hyper-X research vehicle (HXRV), designated X-43. is being prepared at the Dryden Flight Research Center for flight at Mach 7. Extensive risk reduction activities for the first flight are completed, and non-recurring design activities for the Mach 10 X-43 (3rd flight) are nearing completion. The Mach 7 flight of the X-43, in the spring of 2001, will be the first flight of an airframe-integrated scramjet-powered vehicle. The Hyper-X program is continuing to plan follow-on activities to focus an orderly continuation of hypersonic technology development through flight research.

C. R. McClinton↗

NASA NTRS2001

Hyper-X Program Status

This paper provides an overview of the objectives and status of the Hyper-X program, which is tailored to move hypersonic, airbreathing vehicle technology from the laboratory environment to the flight environment. The first Hyper-X research vehicle (HXRV), designated X-43, is being prepared at the Dryden Flight Research Center for flight at Mach 7. Extensive risk reduction activities for the first flight are completed, and non-recurring design activities for the Mach 10 X-43 (third flight) are nearing completion. The Mach 7 flight of the X-43, in the spring of 2001, will be the first flight of an airframe-integrated scramjet-powered vehicle. The Hyper-X program is continuing to plan follow-on activities to focus an orderly continuation of hypersonic technology development through flight research.

McClinton, Charles R.↗

NASA NTRS2000

NASA's Hyper-X Program

This paper provides an overview of the objectives and status of the Hyper-X program which is tailored to move hypersonic, airbreathing vehicle technology from the laboratory environment to the flight environment, the last stage preceding prototype development. The first Hyper-X research vehicle (HXRV), designated X-43, is being prepared at the Dryden Flight Research Center for flight at Mach 7 in the near future. In addition, the associated booster and vehicle-to-booster adapter are being prepared for flight and flight test preparations are well underway. Extensive risk reduction activities for the first flight and non-recurring design for the Mach 10 X-43 (3rd flight) are nearing completion. The Mach 7 flight of the X-43 will be the first flight of an airframe-integrated scramjet-powered vehicle.

Rausch, Vincent L.↗

NASA NTRS2000

A Radiation Shielding Code for Spacecraft and Its Validation

The HZETRN code, which uses a deterministic approach pioneered at NASA Langley Research Center, has been developed over the past decade to evaluate the local radiation fields within sensitive materials (electronic devices and human tissue) on spacecraft in the space environment. The code describes the interactions of shield materials with the incident galactic cosmic rays, trapped protons, or energetic protons from solar particle events in free space and low Earth orbit. The content of incident radiations is modified by atomic and nuclear reactions with the spacecraft and radiation shield materials. High-energy heavy ions are fragmented into less massive reaction products, and reaction products are produced by direct knockout of shield constituents or from de-excitation products. An overview of the computational procedures and database which describe these interactions is given. Validation of the code with recent Monte Carlo benchmarks, and laboratory and flight measurement is also included.

Shinn, J. L.↗