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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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NASA NTRS2019

Advanced Oxygen Generation Assembly for Exploration Missions

Future Exploration missions will require an Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) to electrolyze water to supply oxygen for crew metabolic consumption. The system design will be based on the International Space Station (ISS) OGA but with added improvements based on lessons learned during ISS operations and technological advances since the original OGA was designed and built. These improvements will reduce system weight, crew maintenance time and spares mass while increasing reliability. Currently, the design team is investigating the feasibility of the upgrades by performing ground tests and analyses. Upgrades being considered include: redesign of the electrolysis cell stack, deletion of the hydrogen dome, replacement of the hydrogen sensors, deletion of the wastewater interface, redesign of the recirculation loop deionizing bed and redesign of the cell stack Power Supply Module. The upgrades will be first demonstrated on the ISS OGA.

Takada, Kevin↗

NASA NTRS2014

Radiative Heating in MSL Entry: Comparison of Flight Heating Discrepancy to Ground Test and Predictive Models

During the recent entry of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the heat shield was equipped with thermocouple stacks to measure in-depth heating of the thermal protection system (TPS). When only convective heating was considered, the derived heat flux from gauges in the stagnation region was found to be underpredicted by as much as 17 W/sq cm, which is significant compared to the peak heating of 32 W/sq cm. In order to quantify the contribution of radiative heating phenomena to the discrepancy, ground tests and predictive simulations that replicated the MSL entry trajectory were performed. An analysis is carried through to assess the quality of the radiation model and the impact to stagnation line heating. The impact is shown to be significant, but does not fully explain the heating discrepancy.

MSL↗

NASA NTRS2020

Micron MT29F1T08CMHBBJ4 1Tb NAND Flash Memory Single Event Effect Characterization Test Report

The purpose of this testing is to characterize the Single-Event Effect (SEE) response of the Micron MT29F1T08CMHBBJ4 3D NAND Flash memory. The MT29F1T08CMHBBJ4 is a 1Tb NAND Flash memory, consisting of a four-die stack of 256Gb MLC dice packaged in a 132-ball VBGA package. All data presented is the result of testing only the top die (256Gb) of the package. Testing was performed at two heavy-ion cyclotron facilities with an identical test setup, over the course of four test trips from 2017-2019.

Single Event Effect (SEE)↗

NASA NTRS2001

Structural Qualification Testing of the WindSat Payload Using Sine Bursts Near Structural Resonance

Sine burst tests are often used for structural qualification of space flight hardware. In most instances, the driving frequency of the shaker is specified far below the structure's first resonant mode, such that the entire test article sees uniform acceleration. For large structures, this limits qualification testing to lower parts of the structure, or else it over-tests the lower structure to achieve qualification of the upper structure. The WindSat payload, a 10.5 foot tall graphite/epoxy, titanium, and aluminum radiometer, experiences accelerations at the six foot diameter reflector nearly four times that at the spacecraft interface. Due to size of the payload, the number of bonded joints, and the lightweight reflector support structure design and construction, using static pull testing to qualify all of the bonded joints in the upper structure would result in large, expensive, and extensive test fixturing. Sine burst testing near the first two structural resonant modes was performed on the WindSat payload to achieve the correct load factor distribution up the stack for structural qualification. In this presentation, how finite element method (FEM) sine burst predictions were used in conjunction with low level random and sine burst tests to achieve correct qualification test load factor distribution on the WindSat payload is discussed. Also presented is the risk mitigation approach for using the uncorrelated FEM in this procedure.

Pontius, Jim↗

NASA NTRS1986

The role of fiber and matrix in crash energy absorption of composite materials

Static crushing tests were conducted on tube specimens fabricated from graphite/epoxy, Kevlar/epoxy and hybrid combinations of graphite-Kevlar/epoxy to examine the influence the fiber and matrix constitutive properties and laminate architecture have on energy absorption. Fiber and matrix ultimate failure strain were determined to significantly effect energy absorption. The energy absorption capability of high ultimate failure strain materials (AS-6/F185 and AS-6/HST-7) was less than materials having lower ultimate failure strain. Lamina stacking sequence had up to a 300 percent change in energy absorption for the materials tested. Hybridizing with graphite and Kevlar reinforcements resulted in materials with high energy absorption capabilities that have postcrushing integrity.

Farley, G. L.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Damage Initiation and Ultimate Tensile Strength of Scaled [0 deg n/90 deg n/0 deg n]sub T Graphite-Epoxy Coupons

Previous research on scaling effects in composite materials has demonstrated that the stress levels at first ply failure and ultimate failure of composite laminates are dependent on the size of the laminate. In particular, the thickness dimension has been shown to be the most influential parameter in strength scaling of composite coupons loaded in tension. Geometrically and constitutively scaled laminates exhibit decreasing strength with increasing specimen size, and the magnitude of the strength-size effect is a function of both material properties and laminate stacking sequence. Some of the commonly used failure criteria for composite materials such as maximum stress, maximum strain, and tensor polynomial (e.g., Tsai-Wu) cannot account for the strength-size effect. In this paper, three concepts are developed and evaluated for incorporating size dependency into failure criteria for composite materials. An experimental program of limited scope was performed to determine the first ply failure stress in scaled cross-ply laminates loaded in tension. Test specimens were fabricated of AS-4/3502 graphite-epoxy composite material with laminate stacking sequences of [0 deg n/90 deg n/o deg n]subT where n=1-6. Two experimental techniques were used to determine first ply failure, defined as a transverse matrix crack in the 90 deg ply: (1) step loading with dye penetrant x-ray of the specimen at each load interval, and (2) acoustic emission. The best correlation between first ply failure analysis and experimental data was obtained using a modified Weibull approach which incorporated the residual thermal stress and the outer ply constraint, as well as the ply thickness effect. Finally, a second set of experiments was performed to determine the tensile response and ultimate failure of the scaled cross-ply laminates. The results of these experiments indicated no influence of specimen size on tensile response or ultimate strength.

Jackson, Karen E.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell Status and Remaining Challenges for Manned Space-Flight Applications

The Fuel Cell has been used for manned space flight since the Gemini program. Its power output and water production capability over long durations for the mass and volume are critical for manned space-flight requirements. The alkaline fuel cell used on the Shuttle, while very reliable and capable for it s application, has operational sensitivities, limited life, and an expensive recycle cost. The PEM fuel cell offers many potential improvements in those areas. NASA Glenn Research Center is currently leading a PEM fuel cell development and test program intended to move the technology closer to the point required for manned space-flight consideration. This paper will address the advantages of PEM fuel cell technology and its potential for future space flight as compared to existing alkaline fuel cells. It will also cover the technical hurdles that must be overcome. In addition, a description of the NASA PEM fuel cell development program will be presented, and the current status of this effort discussed. The effort is a combination of stack and ancillary component hardware development, culminating in breadboard and engineering model unit assembly and test. Finally, a detailed roadmap for proceeding fiom engineering model hardware to qualification and flight hardware will be proposed. Innovative test engineering and potential payload manifesting may be required to actually validate/certify a PEM fuel cell for manned space flight.

Reaves, Will F.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Proton-Exchange-Membrane Fuel Cell Powerplants Developed and Tested for Exploration Missions

Proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology has received major attention for terrestrial applications, such as the automotive and residential markets, for the past 20 years. This attention has significantly advanced the maturity of the technology, resulting in ever more compact, efficient, reliable, and inexpensive PEMFC designs. In comparison to the terrestrial operating environment, the space operating environment is much more demanding. Microgravity to high-gravity loads and the need to use pure oxygen (rather than air) as the fuel cell oxidizer place more stringent demands on PEMFC technology. NASA and its partners from industry are leveraging terrestrial PEMFC advancements by conducting parallel space technology development for future exploration missions. A team from the NASA Glenn Research Center, NASA Johnson Space Center, and NASA Kennedy Space Center recently completed the first phase of a PEMFC powerplant development effort for exploration missions. The industry partners for this phase of the development effort were ElectroChem, Inc., and Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc. Under contract to Glenn, both of these industry partners successfully designed, fabricated, and tested a breadboard PEMFC powerplant in the 1- to 5-kW power range. These powerplants were based on existing company-proprietary fuel cell stack designs, combined with off-the-shelf components, which formed the balance of the powerplant design. Subsequent to the contractor development efforts, both powerplants were independently tested at Johnson to verify operational and performance characteristics, and to determine suitability for further technology development in the second phase of the NASA-led effort. Following the independent NASA testing, Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc., was selected to develop an engineering model PEMFC powerplant. This effort was initiated by the 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Program Office in 2001; it transitioned to the Next Generation Launch Technologies (NGLT) Program Office in 2003. The effort is now being funded by the Exploration Program Office. We plan to summarize the results from the ongoing engineering model PEMFC powerplant development in a future Research & Technology article.

Hoberecht, Mark A.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Translaminar Fracture Toughness of a Composite Wing Skin Made of Stitched Warp-knit Fabric

A series of tests were conducted to measure the fracture toughness of carbon/epoxy composites. The composites were made from warp-knit carbon fabric and infiltrated with epoxy using a resin-film-infusion process. The fabric, which was designed by McDonnell Douglas for the skin of an all-composite subsonic transport wing, contained fibers in the 0 deg, +/-45 deg, and 90 deg directions. Layers of fabric were stacked and stitched together with Kevlar yarn to form a 3-dimensional preform. Three types of test specimens were evaluated: compact tension, center notch tension, and edge notch tension. The effects of specimen size and crack length on fracture toughness were measured for each specimen type. These data provide information on the effectiveness of the test methods and on general trends in the material response. The scope of the investigation was limited by the material that was available.

Masters, John E.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Overview of the 6 Meter HIAD Inflatable Structure and Flexible TPS Static Load Test Series

To support NASAs long term goal of landing humans on Mars, technologies which enable the landing of heavy payloads are being developed. Current entry, decent, and landing technologies are not practical for this class of payloads due to geometric constraints dictated by current launch vehicle fairing limitations. Therefore, past and present technologies are now being explored to provide a mass and volume efficient solution to atmospheric entry, including Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (HIADs). At the beginning of 2014, a 6m HIAD inflatable structure with an integrated flexible thermal protection system (TPS) was subjected to a static load test series to verify the designs structural performance. The 6m HIAD structure was constructed in a stacked toroid configuration using nine inflatable torus segments composed of fiber reinforced thin films, which were joined together using adhesives and high strength textile woven structural straps to help distribute the loads throughout the inflatable structure. The 6m flexible TPS was constructed using multiple layers of high performance materials to protect the inflatable structure from heat loads that would be seen during atmospheric entry. To perform the static load test series, a custom test fixture was constructed. The fixture consisted of a structural tub rim with enough height to allow for displacement of the inflatable structure as loads were applied. The bottom of the tub rim had an airtight seal with the floor. The centerbody of the inflatable structure was attached to a pedestal mount as seen in Figure 1. Using an impermeable membrane seal draped over the test article, partial vacuum was pulled beneath the HIAD, resulting in a uniform static pressure load applied to the outer surface. During the test series an extensive amount of instrumentation was used to provide many data sets including: deformed shape, shoulder deflection, strap loads, cord loads, inflation pressures, and applied static load.In this overview, the 6m HIAD static load test series will be discussed in detail, including the 6m HIAD inflatable structure and flexible TPS design, test setup and execution, and finally initial results and conclusions from the test series.

inflatable aerodynamic decelerator↗

NASA NTRS2014

Overview of the 6m HIAD Inflatable Structure and Flexible TPS Static Load Test Series

To support NASAs long term goal of landing humans on Mars, technologies which enable the landing of heavy payloads are being developed. Current entry, decent, and landing technologies are not practical for this class of payloads due to geometric constraints dictated by current launch vehicle fairing limitations. Therefore, past and present technologies are now being explored to provide a mass and volume efficient solution to atmospheric entry, including Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (HIADs). At the beginning of 2014, a 6m HIAD inflatable structure with an integrated flexible thermal protection system (TPS) was subjected to a static load test series to verify the designs structural performace. The 6m HIAD structure was constructed in a stacked toroid configuration using nine inflatable torus segments composed of fiber reinforced thin films, which were joined together using adhesives and high strength textile woven structural straps to help distribute the loads throughout the inflatable structure. The 6m flexible TPS was constructed using multiple layers of high performance materials to protect the inflatable structure from heat loads that would be seen during atmospheric entry. To perform the static load test series, a custom test fixture was constructed. The fixture consisted of a structural tub rim with enough height to allow for displacement of the inflatable structure as loads were applied. The bottom of the tub rim had an airtight seal with the floor. The centerbody of the inflatable structure was attached to a pedestal mount as seen in Figure 1. Using an impermeable membrane seal draped over the test article, partial vacuum was pulled beneath the HIAD, resulting in a uniform static pressure load applied to the outer surface. During the test series an extensive amount of instrumentation was used to provide many data sets including: deformed shape, shoulder deflection, strap loads, cord loads, inflation pressures, and applied static load.In this overview, the 6m HIAD static load test series will be discussed in detail, including the 6m HIAD inflatable structure and flexible TPS design, test setup and execution, and finally initial results and conclusions from the test series.

TPS↗

NASA NTRS1979

Laminated turbine vane design and fabrication

A turbine vane and associated endwalls designed for advanced gas turbine engine conditions are described. The vane design combines the methods of convection cooling and selective areas of full coverage film cooling. The film cooling technique is utilized on the leading edge, pressure side, and endwall regions. The turbine vane involves the fabrication of airfoils from a stack of laminates with cooling passages photoetched on the surface. Cold flow calibration tests, a thermal analysis, and a stress analysis were performed on the turbine vanes.

Hess, W. G.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Scaling effects in the static large deflection response of graphite-epoxy composite beams

Scaling effects in the large deflection response of graphite-epoxy composite beams was investigated. Eight different scale model beams ranging from 1/6 to full-scale were subjected to an eccentric axial compressive load to promote large bending deformations and failures. Beams having laminate stacking sequences including unidirectional, angle ply, cross ply, and quasi-isotropic were tested to examine a wide variety of composite response and failure modes. The model beams were loaded under scaled test conditions until catastrophic failure. Data acquired included load, end displacement, and strain measurements, and qualitative failure measurements. The experimental data is compared to a large rotation beam analysis and a finite element model analysis. Results from the tests indicate that the beam response becomes nonlinear. Failure modes are consistent between scale models within a laminate family, however, a significant scale effect is observed in strength of the scaled beams.

Jackson, Karen E.↗

NASA NTRS2001

UV-IR Hydrogen Fire Detector

The objective of this project is to design a sensor than can accurately determine the presence of a hydrogen fire within its field of view and to eliminate the main cause of false alarms: reflections from the flare stack. Details are given in viewgraph presentation form on the technical approach, initial testing, sensor testing, intellectual property, patented technology, and licensing.

Medelius, Pedro J.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Mid- and Long-IR Broadband Quantum Well Photodetector

A single-stack broadband quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) has been developed that consists of stacked layers of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells with absorption peaks centered at various wavelengths spanning across the 9- to-11- m spectral regions. The correct design of broadband QWIPs was a critical step in this task because the earlier implementation of broadband QWIPs suffered from a tuning of spectral response curve with an applied bias. Here, a new QWIP design has been developed to overcome the spectral tuning with voltage that results from non-uniformity and bias variation of the electrical field across the detector stacks with different absorption wavelengths. In this design, a special effort has been made to avoid non-uniformity and bias tuning by changing the doping levels in detector stacks to compensate for variation of dark current generation rate across the stacks with different absorption wavelengths. Single-pixel photodetectors were grown, fabricated, and tested using this new design. The measured dark current is comparable with the dark measured current for single-color QWIP detectors with similar cutoff wavelength, thus indicating high material quality as well as absence of performance degradation resulting from broadband design. The measured spectra clearly demonstrate that the developed detectors cover the desired special range of 8 to 12 m. Moreover, the shape of the spectral curves does not change with applied biases, thus overcoming the problem plaguing previous designs of broadband QWIPs.

Soibel, Alexander↗

NASA NTRS2017

340 Ghz Multipixel Transceiver

A multi-pixel terahertz transceiver is constructed using a stack of semiconductor layers that communicate using vias defined within the semiconductor layers. By using a stack of semiconductor layers, the various electrical functions of each layer can be tested easily without having to assemble the entire transceiver. In addition, the design allows the production of a transceiver having pixels set 10 mm apart.

Chattopadhyay, Goutam↗

NASA NTRS2004

Stacking Multiple Ion Captures in The High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT)

The High performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT) research project was initiated by the Marshall Space Flight Center's propulsion Research Center to examining the fundamental behavior of low energy antiprotons. Stored antiproton would ultimately be used for experimental demonstration of basic propulsive concepts. Matter-antimatter annihilation produces approximately 10(exp 8) MJ/g nearly 10 orders of magnitude more energy per unit mass than chemical based combustion, hence NASA's interest. To achieve containment, HiPAT utilizes a type of electromagnetic bottle know as a Penning trap positioned within an ultrahigh vacuum test section. Recently, the HiPAT hardware configuration has been enhanced to facilitate the capture of multiple normal matter ion burst. This endeavor is often referred to as "stacking" and used to increasing the number of captured particles. A prior normal matter experimental effort, successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of single burst capture. The stacking process is accomplished by manipulating the electric field generated by the confinement electrodes i.e. adjusting the well potential depth. These potential well values are initially configured to maximize the quantity of captured ions per burst; shallow wells with a depth of 100 volt or less (referenced to the incoming ion beam energy) are typically selected. Once captured, a cooling interval is required to reduce the energy of trapped particles below the lower extent of the "trap door" (or leading electrode) ion emitting potential. This is necessary such that a new burst of hot ions can be introduced while preventing those already inside from escaping. The cooling time is driven by a combination of mechanisms such as synchrotron radiation, background gas scattering, and resistive damping in a time scale on the order of minutes. A potential for reducing this hold period is to actively manipulate the electric field shape, using the power supply control system, to produce a deeper potential well. The trapped ions ride down the morphing well to a lower potential energy, leaving margin to once again cycle the "trap door" capturing a new burst while limiting the number of escaping ions. By adjusting the magnitude and timing of the potential well shaping, subsequent shots from the ion beam can be captured on a time scale shorter then that dictated by the standard inject, capture and cool technique. Currently, experimental tests are under way examining the functionally of this system for stacking multiple ions bursts within the HiPAT system.

Martin, James J.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Evaluation of a far infrared Ge:Ga multiplexed detector array

The performance of a multielement Ge:Ga linear array under low-background conditions is investigated. On-focal plane switching is accomplished by MOSFET switches and the integrated charge is made available through MOSFET source followers. The tests were conducted at 106 microns and the radiation on the detectors was confined to a spectral window 1.25 microns wide using a stack of cold filters. At 4.2 K, the responsivity was measured to be nominally 584 A/W, and the NEP was 1.0 x 10 exp -16 W/sq rt Hz. A detailed description of the test setup and the procedure is presented.

Farhoomand, Jam↗