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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 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1974

Options for Mars exploration

The many possible post-Viking 1975 Mars mission options are explored. These include small atmospheric probe/landers (adaptations of the Venus Pioneer to Mars), repeat Vikings with and without science changes, long-life orbiters to provide coverage of both hemispheres for a full Martian year, small rovers deployed from the Viking lander with ranges of up to 1 km from it, large autonomous rovers, Mars sample-return missions and, finally, missions to the satellites of Mars, including sample return. The examination includes energy requirements and time frames.

Pritchard, E. B.↗
NASA NTRS1984

A SEASAT SASS simulation experiment to quantify the errors related to a + or - 3 hour intermittent assimilation technique

A series of SEASAT repeat orbits over a sequence of best Low center positions is simulated by using the Seatrak satellite calculator. These Low centers are, upon appropriate interpolation to hourly positions, Located at various times during the + or - 3 hour assimilation cycle. Error analysis for a sample of best cyclone center positions taken from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans reveals a minimum average error of 1.1 deg of Longitude and a standard deviation of 0.9 deg of Longitude. The magnitude of the average error seems to suggest that by utilizing the + or - 3 hour window in the assimilation cycle, the quality of the SASS data is degraded to the Level of the background. A further consequence of this assimilation scheme is the effect which is manifested as a result of the blending of two or more more juxtaposed vector winds, generally possessing different properties (vector quantity and time). The outcome of this is to reduce gradients in the wind field and to deform isobaric and frontal patterns of the intial field.

Sylvester, W. B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Scientific instrumentation of the Radio-Astronomy-Explorer-2 satellite

The instrumentation of the RAE-2 spacecraft is described. The instruments include a pair of long travelling-wave antennas, a 37-m dipole, two radiometers making one frequency scan every 144 sec, and two rapid-sampling total-power burst receivers which cover the range from 0.025 to 13.1 MHz in 32 discrete steps. Effects of terrestrial noise on RAE-1 and RAE-2 observations are discussed, and it is noted that RAE-2 is uniquely capable of observing repeated lunar occultations of strong radio sources at very low frequencies. Some observational programs are briefly noted, including observations of the galactic background distribution, measurements of lunar occultations of solar radio bursts, and searches for more radio sources among the planets, galactic objects, and extragalactic sources.

Alexander, J. K.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Experimental determination of residual stress

Residual stresses in finished parts have often been regarded as factors contributing to premature part failure and geometric distortions. Currently, residual stresses in welded structures and railroad components are being investigated. High residual stresses formed in welded structures due primarily to the differential contractions of the weld material as it cools and solidifies can have a profound effect on the surface performance of the structure. In railroad wheels, repeated use of the brakes causes high residual stresses in the rims which may lead to wheel failure and possible derailment. The goals of the study were: (1) to develop strategies for using x-ray diffraction to measure residual stress; (2) to subject samples of Inconel 718 to various mechanical and heat treatments and to measure the resulting stress using x-ray diffraction; and (3) to measure residual stresses in ferromagnetic alloys using magnetoacoustics.

Ferguson, Milton W.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Lithium Polymer Electrolytes and Solid State NMR

Research is being done at the Glenn Research Center (GRC) developing new kinds of batteries that do not depend on a solution. Currently, batteries use liquid electrolytes containing lithium. Problems with the liquid electrolyte are (1) solvents used can leak out of the battery, so larger, more restrictive, packages have to be made, inhibiting the diversity of application and decreasing the power density; (2) the liquid is incompatible with the lithium metal anode, so alternative, less efficient, anodes are required. The Materials Department at GRC has been working to synthesize polymer electrolytes that can replace the liquid electrolytes. The advantages are that polymer electrolytes do not have the potential to leak so they can be used for a variety of tasks, small or large, including in the space rover or in space suits. The polymers generated by Dr. Mary Ann Meador's group are in the form of rod -coil structures. The rod aspect gives the polymer structural integrity, while the coil makes it flexible. Lithium ions are used in these polymers because of their high mobility. The coils have repeating units of oxygen which stabilize the positive lithium by donating electron density. This aids in the movement of the lithium within the polymer, which contributes to higher conductivity. In addition to conductivity testing, these polymers are characterized using DSC, TGA, FTIR, and solid state NMR. Solid state NMR is used in classifying materials that are not soluble in solvents, such as polymers. The NMR spins the sample at a magic angle (54.7') allowing the significant peaks to emerge. Although solid state NMR is a helpful technique in determining bonding, the process of preparing the sample and tuning it properly are intricate jobs that require patience; especially since each run takes about six hours. The NMR allows for the advancement of polymer synthesis by showing if the expected results were achieved. Using the NMR, in addition to looking at polymers, allows for participation on a variety of other projects, including aero-gels and carbon graphite mat en als. The goals of the polymer electrolyte research are to improve the physical properties of the polymers. This includes improving conductivity, durability, and expanding the temperature range over which it is effective. Currently, good conductivity is only present at high temperatures. My goals are to experiment with different arrangements of rods and coils to achieve these desirable properties. Some of my experiments include changing the number of repeat units in the polymer, the size of the diamines, and the types of coil. Analysis of these new polymers indicates improvement in some properties, such as lower glass transition temperature; however, they are not as flexible as desired. With further research we hope to produce polymers that encompass all of these properties to a high degree.

Berkeley, Emily R.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Reliability of the Danish Aerospace Corporation Portable Pulmonary Function System

Metabolic gas analysis is a critical component of investigations that measure cardio-pulmonary exercise responses during and after long-duration spaceflight. The primary purpose of the current study was to determine the reliability and intra-subject repeatability of a metabolic gas analysis device, the Portable Pulmonary Function System (PPFS), designed for use on the International Space Station (ISS). The second objective of this study was to directly compare PPFS measurements of expired oxygen and carbon dioxide (FEO2 and FECO2) to values obtained from a well-validated clinical metabolic gas analysis system (ParvoMedics TrueOne (c) [PM]). Eight subjects performed four peak cycle tests to maximal exertion. The first test was used to prescribe work rates for the subsequent test sessions. Metabolic gas analysis for this test was performed by the PM, but samples of FEO2 and FECO2 also were simultaneously collected for analysis by the PPFS. Subjects then performed three additional peak cycle tests, consisting of three 5-min stages designed to elicit 25%, 50%, and 75% maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) followed by stepwise increases of 25 W/min until subjects reached volitional exhaustion. Metabolic gas analysis was performed using the PPFS for these tests. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), within-subject standard deviations (WS SD), and coefficients of variation (CV%) were calculated for the repeated exercise tests. Mixed model regression analysis was used to compare paired FEO2 and FECO2 values obtained from the PPFS and the PM during the initial test. The ICC values for oxygen consumption (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), and ventilation (VE) indicate that the PPFS is highly reliable (0.79 to 0.99) for all exercise levels tested; however, ICCs for respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were low ( 0.11 - 0.51), indicating poor agreement between trials during submaximal and maximal exercise. Overall, CVs ranged from 1.6% to 6.7% for all measurements, a finding consistent with reported values that were obtained using other metabolic gas analysis techniques. The PPFS and PM produced comparable FEO2 data; however, there was less agreement between measures of FECO2 obtained from the two devices, particularly at lower CO2 concentrations. The PPFS appears, in practically all respects, to yield highly reliable metabolic gas analysis data. Lower reliability of RER measurements reported in the literature and likely is not a function of the PPFS device. Further examination of PPFS CO2 data is warranted to better understand the limitations of these PPFS measurements. Overall, the PPFS when used for repeated measures of cardio-pulmonary exercise should provide accurate and reliable data for studies of human adaptation to spaceflight.

Portable Pulmonary Function System (PPFS)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Enabling Ultralow Volume Analysis with a High-Resolution Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry Platform

Of all the molecules thought to exist in the universe, it is estimated that researchers only know the chemical structures of 5% of them. Identifying the chemical structures of the remaining 95% has proven extremely challenging because many molecules exhibit low abundance, are contained in small volumes (e.g., <10 nL), do not readily ionize, exhibit similar structures to other molecules, etc. No single analytical technique exists to definitively identify the structure of an unknown molecule, and thus multiple different molecular measurements are typically made (i.e., multi-modal approach). Ion mobility (IMS) and mass spectrometry (MS) are two key tools that researchers use to determine the chemical structures of unknown molecules, and recently high-resolution and ultrahigh resolution IMS-MS instruments have provided greater confidence than ever before. However, HR-IMS-MS instruments typically exhibit low ion utilization efficiency, meaning they require large amounts of sample for an analysis (e.g., >10 µL). Unfortunately, this limitation prohibits the analysis of small volume samples where many unknown molecules exist. Described herein are the efforts made to enable the analysis of ultralow volumes with an HR-IMS-MS platform. A new scanning technique, termed a ‘stuttered traveling wave scan’, was developed as a replacement for the dual-gated scanning technique and works by halting the traveling waves after allowing ions to separate and then repeatedly restarting and stopping the traveling waves to incrementally move ions from the SLIM to the Orbitrap. Ions were stored inside the SLIM while the TWs were stopped, allowing the Orbitrap to perform high-resolution mass analysis. When the Orbitrap was ready, the TWs were restarted for short periods of time (<10 ms) to move ions from the SLIM to the Orbitrap. It was discovered that lower TW amplitudes and speeds than used during IMS separation were required to produce IMS peaks with the highest signal intensities and best resolving powers. The stuttered TW scan was found to produce similar resolutions and signal intensities compared to the dual-gated scanning technique. A new IMS design possessing an intersecting ‘tee’ with a reversible traveling wave was also developed to improve ion utilization efficiency during cyclic operation, which is necessary when only a single IMS spectrum can be acquired, such as when analyzing ultralow volume samples. The new capabilities described in this report lay the groundwork for acquiring HR-IMS-MS spectra of ultralow volume biological samples, such as single cells, where HR-IMS-MS can help elucidate the structures of unknown compounds.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Methodology for determining optimal milling parameters for low-taper microtensile sample production

Femtosecond lasers are beginning to see an increase in interest for industrial and high throughput microsample milling applications. Despite this, much of the literature regarding removal rate studies for ultrashort pulse laser milling continues to focus on single-pulse or similar experiments that have a very small time on target. The material volume removal rates of femtosecond milling can vary wildly depending on parameters like laser scan speed, hatch spacing, z-axis step size, and pulses on the material. Currently, there is no established methodology for determining the optimal values of these parameters for micromilling applications. This methodology was developed in this study. The methodology consists of a pulse study, a repeat study, and a z-step study that will return the milling parameters that resulted in the largest volume removal rate for the laser used for this research. The methodology was created for the laser system used in this study, and was tested on 316 Stainless Steel, but was developed in such a way that it may be adapted to any material, and with some tweaking of variables might be used in other laser systems. The laser system used in this study utilizes a novel positioning stage that introduces 6 degrees of freedom to the translation of laser samples, being able to tilt and move in all three axes. Using both the developed methodology and the unique capabilities of the laser microtensile samples were produced with taper angles of <1° in 316 Stainless Steel.

Barker, Zachary Wayne↗
NASA NTRS1995

Effect of microgravity on stress ethylene and carbon dioxide production in sweet clover (Melilotus alba L.)

The study of higher plant growth and development in the microgravity (micro-g) environment continues to be a challenge. This is in part a result of the available flight qualified hardware with restrictive closed gas environments. This point is underscored by considering that gas exchange of seedlings grown in microgravity may be further limited owing to a thicker layer of water wicked onto the roots and to the absence of convective mixing. We hypothesized that seedlings grown under such conditions will experience greater hypoxia in microgravity than at Earth gravity, and thus produce greater stress ethylene. We compared flight and ground samples of sweet clover seedlings grown in the Fluid Processing Apparatus (FPA) during STS-57 and found them to contain extremely high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and stress ethylene. There were time dependent increases for both gases, and seedling growth was greatly inhibited. We repeated these experiments aboard STS-60 using modified chambers which increased, by fifty fold, the air available to the developing seedlings. Sweet clover seed germination and subsequent seedling growth to eight days within the FPA modified with a gas permeable membrane is not compromised by the microgravity environment.

Gallegos, Gregory L.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Deep Learning and Photogrammetric Reconstruction for Automated Crack Detection and Dimensional Measurement in Mining Operations

Surface crack detection and dimensional measurement at active mining sites present significant safety and operational challenges. Manual inspection methods are labor-intensive, spatially incomplete, and expose personnel to hazardous environments, while existing automated approaches have been developed primarily for concrete civil infrastructure and have not been validated on the complex, variable surfaces characteristic of mining environments. This dissertation presents an automated pipeline that integrates deep learning semantic segmentation with Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry to detect surface cracks and measure their aperture, length, and vertical displacement from standard RGB imagery acquired during routine Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) survey operations, without requiring additional sensor hardware or manual measurement. The pipeline combines a U-Net architecture with an EfficientNet-B0 encoder, pretrained on the SDNET2018 concrete crack dataset and fine-tuned on a mining-specific dataset spanning laboratory concrete specimens, coal refuse impoundment embankments, and post-blast limestone quarry benches. Photogrammetric reconstruction is performed using COLMAP Structure-from-Motion and Multi-View Stereo, with crack segmentation masks projected into the reconstructed point cloud to enable three-dimensional vertical displacement measurement through local plane fitting and bimodal surface detection. The pipeline was validated across 36 controlled laboratory specimens at three imaging distances and four vertical displacement levels, achieving aperture measurement RMSE of 0.047 cm and R² of 0.954, and vertical displacement RMSE of 0.140 cm and R² of 0.966, against independent caliper measurements. Field application at a coal refuse impoundment in southwestern Pennsylvania detected 71 crack components across the embankment crest, with a dominant longitudinal crack exhibiting aperture values reaching 28 cm and a 95th percentile vertical displacement of 35.53 cm, consistent in magnitude and spatial distribution with simultaneously acquired LiDAR-derived estimates. Application across four post-blast limestone quarry bench datasets in California successfully characterized blast-induced fracture networks at ground sampling distances ranging from 0.59 to 1.23 cm/pixel, with detected crack geometries physically consistent with observable surface conditions at each site. The results demonstrate that deep learning-based crack detection and photogrammetric measurement can be integrated into routine UAV inspection workflows at mining sites, providing repeatable, scalable, and quantitative crack characterization across surface types, crack scales, and displacement magnitudes not previously addressed in the literature. The pipeline requires no dedicated surveying equipment beyond the UAV platforms already deployed at mine sites for survey and monitoring purposes, supporting practical adoption within existing operational workflows.

Crack detection, Dimensional Measurement↗
NASA NTRS1979

Evaluation of atmospheric trace constituent sensors operating from remote space and airborne platforms

A laboratory gas analysis system was developed specifically to make trace level measurements of carbon monoxide. To assure that the data collected with this system are correctly aligned with other established methods for making these measurements, an intercalibration study was conducted. The calibration gas was analyzed by the various participating laboratories and found to contain 1.28 ppm CO. Samples were collected at 25 deg, 35 deg, and 45 deg N for profile data to study the variation in concentrations of CO and CH4 as a function of altitude and latitude in continental air over the eastern seaboard of the United States. The experiment was repeated several months later to determine if there were seasonally dependent variations in the CO and CH4 concentrations.

Condon, E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Voice measures of workload in the advanced flight deck

Voice samples were obtained from 14 male subjects under high and low workload conditions. Acoustical analysis of the voice suggested that high workload conditions can be revealed by their effects on the voice over time. Aircrews in the advanced flight deck will be voicing short, imperative sentences repeatedly. A drop in the energy of the voice, as reflected by reductions in amplitude and frequency over time, and the failure to achieve old amplitude and frequency levels after rest periods, can signal that the workload demands of the situation are straining the speaker. This kind of measurement would be relatively unaffected by individual differences in acoustical measures.

Schneider, Sid J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Determination of design and operation parameters for upper atmospheric research instrumentation to yield optimum resolution with deconvolution, appendix 3

The Always-Convergent Iterative Noise Removal and Deconvolution Method of Ioup is applied as a single-filter in the transform domain to deconvolution with both narrow and wide Gaussian impulse response functions. The wraparound error for both cases is also studied. A method is developed by which one can find the optimum iteration number for single-filter iterative deconvolution of sampled data. The method employs the mean square error (MSE), the square of the difference between the deconvolved result and the input, for optimization. The MSE decreases as the deconvolution iterations proceed, but at the optimum iteration number, the MSE starts to increase. This procedure is repeated for signal-to-noise ratio of 10 to 150. The optimum iteration number and the MSE are plotted vs SNR. By knowing the SNR for a particular experiment, one can find the optimum iteration number and MSE.

Ioup, George E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Improved construction materials for polar regions using microcellular thermoplastic foams

Microcellular polymer foams (MCF) are thermoplastic foams with very small cell diameters, less than 10 microns, and very large cell densities, 10(exp 9) to 10(exp 15) cells per cubic centimeter of unfoamed material. The concept of foaming polymers with microcellular voids was conceived to reduce the amount of material used for mass-produced items without compromising the mechanical properties. The reasoning behind this concept was that if voids smaller than the critical flaw size pre-existing in polymers were introduced into the matrix, they would not affect the overall strength of the product. MCF polycarbonate (PC), polystyrene (PS), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were examined to determine the effects of the microstructure towards the mechanical properties of the materials at room and arctic temperatures. Batch process parameters were discovered for these materials and foamed samples of three densities were produced for each material. To quantify the toughness and strength of these polymers, the tensile yield strength, tensile toughness, and impact resistance were measured at room and arctic temperatures. The feasibility of MCF polymers has been demonstrated by the consistent and repeatable MCF microstructures formed, but the improvements in the mechanical properties were not conclusive. Therefore the usefulness of the MCF polymers to replace other materials in arctic environments is questionable.

Cunningham, Daniel J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Comparison of Stress Relief Procedures for Cryogenic Aluminum Mirrors

The Infrared Multi-Object Spectrograph (IRMOS) is a facility instrument for the Kitt Peak National Observatory Mayall Telescope (3.8 meter) and an engineering prototype for a potential design for the Next Generation Space Telescope/Multi-Object Spectrograph. IRMOS is a low-to mid-resolution (R = lambda/delta-lambda = 300-3800), near-IR (0.8-2.5 micron) spectrograph which produces simultaneous spectra of approximately 100 objects in its 2.8 x 2.0 arcmin field of view using a commercial MEMS multimirror array device. The instrument operating temperature is 80 K and the design is athermal --- the optical bench and mirrors are machined from aluminum 6061-T651. In spite of its baseline mechanical stress relief, aluminum 6061-T651 harbors some residual stress, which, unless relieved during fabrication, may relieve and distort mirror figure to unacceptable levels at the operating temperature. Other cryogenic instruments using aluminum mirrors for both ground-based and space IR astronomy have employed a variety of heat treatment formulae, with mixed results. We present the results of a test program designed to empirically determine the best stress relief procedure for the IRMOS mirrors. Identical test mirrors with spherical and flat optical prescriptions are processed with five different heat treatment formulae from the literature and compared to samples with out any additional processing. After figuring via diamond turning, the mirrors are tested for figure error and radius of curvature at room temperature and at 80 K for several thermal cycles. The heat treatment procedure for the mirrors that yielded the least and most repeatable change in figure error and radius is applied to the IRMOS mirror blanks. We correlate the results of our optical testing with heat treatment and metallographic data.

Ohl, Raymond G.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dynamic in vivo monitoring of granum structural changes of Ctenanthe setosa (Roscoe) Eichler during drought stress and subsequent recovery

Investigating the effects of drought stress and subsequent recovery on the structure and function of chloroplasts is essential to understanding how plants adapt to environmental stressors. We investigated Ctenanthe setosa (Roscoe) Eichler, an ornamental plant that can tolerate prolonged drought periods (40 and 49 days of water withdrawal). Conventional biochemical, biophysical, physiological and (ultra)structural methods combined for the first time in a higher plant with in vivo small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) were used to characterize the alterations induced by drought stress and subsequent recovery. Upon drought stress, no significant changes occurred in the chloroplast ultrastructure, chlorophyll content, 77K fluorescence emission spectra and maximal quantum efficiency of PSII (Qy dark), but the actual quantum efficiency of PSII (Qy light) decreased, the amounts of PSI-LHCII complexes and PSII monomers declined, and that of PSII supercomplexes increased. Thickness of the leaf and of the adaxial hypodermis, chloroplast length and granum repeat distance (RD) values decreased upon drought stress, as shown by light microscopy and SANS, respectively. Because of the very slight (nm-range) changes in RD values, the large biological variability (significant differences in RD values among the leaves and studied leaf regions) and the invasive sampling required for this method, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) hardly showed significant differences. On the other side, in situ SANS analyses provided a unique insight in vivo into the fast structural recovery of the granum structure of drought-stressed leaves, which happened already 18 h after re-watering, while functional and biochemical recovery took place on a longer time scale.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1973

A numerical study of rays in random media

Statistics of electromagnetic rays in a random medium are studied numerically by the Monte Carlo method. Two dimensional random surfaces with prescribed correlation functions are used to simulate the random media. Rays are then traced in these sample media. Statistics of the ray properties such as the ray positions and directions are computed. Histograms showing the distributions of the ray positions and directions at different points along the ray path as well as at given points in space are given. The numerical experiment is repeated for different cases corresponding to weakly and strongly random media with isotropic and anisotropic irregularities. Results are compared with those derived from theoretical investigations whenever possible.

Youakim, M. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1996

(abstract) Three Dimensional Ice-Flow Velocity Estimation Using Satellite Radar Interferometry

An understanding of the flow dynamics of an ice sheet's outlet glaciers and ice streams requires knowledge of their flow velocity and strain rates (i.e., velocity gradients). Prior to the recent advent of satellite radar interferometry, it was not possible to measure detailed ice-flow velocity over the vast featureless areas that comprise most of the ice sheets. Since the launch of ERS-1, the use of satellite radar interferometry data for making densly sampled ice-flow velocity measurements has been firmly established by several studies. We have combined data from nonparallel orbits with surface slope information to make vector ice-flow measurements for the Ryder Glacier, Greenland. Our results for the Ryder are promising and indicate that repeat-pass interferometric data can be used to make vector measurements of ice velocity.

ice sheets radar interferometry glaciers flow dyna↗