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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 NTRS2002

Aerospace Technology Innovation

Whether finding new applications for existing NASA technologies or developing unique marketing strategies to demonstrate them, NASA's offices are committed to identifying unique partnering opportunities. Through their efforts NASA leverages resources through joint research and development, and gains new insight into the core areas relevant to all NASA field centers. One of the most satisfying aspects of my job comes when I learn of a mission-driven technology that can be spun-off to touch the lives of everyday people. NASA's New Partnerships in Medical Diagnostic Imaging is one such initiative. Not only does it promise to provide greater dividends for the country's investment in aerospace research, but also to enhance the American quality of life. This issue of Innovation highlights the new NASA-sponsored initiative in medical imaging. Early in 2001, NASA announced the launch of the New Partnerships in Medical Diagnostic Imaging initiative to promote the partnership and commercialization of NASA technologies in the medical imaging industry. NASA and the medical imaging industry share a number of crosscutting technologies in areas such as high-performance detectors and image-processing tools. Many of the opportunities for joint development and technology transfer to the medical imaging market also hold the promise for future spin back to NASA.

Turner, Janelle↗
NASA NTRS1976

Biomedical technology transfer: Bioinstrumentation for cardiology, neurology, and the circulatory system

Developments in applying aerospace medical technology to the design and production of medical equipment and instrumentation are reported. Projects described include intercranial pressure transducers, leg negative pressure devices, a synthetic speech prosthesis for victims of cerebral palsy, and a Doppler blood flow instrument. Commercialization activities for disseminating and utilizing NASA technology, and new biomedical problem areas are discussed.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2011

Technology Applications that Support Space Exploration

Several enabling technologies have been identified that would provide significant benefits for future space exploration. In-Space demonstrations should be chosen so that these technologies will have a timely opportunity to improve efficiencies and reduce risks for future spaceflight. An early window exists to conduct ground and flight demonstrations that make use of existing assets that were developed for the Space Shuttle and the Constellation programs. The work could be mostly performed using residual program civil servants, existing facilities and current commercial launch capabilities. Partnering these abilities with the emerging commercial sector, along with other government agencies, academia and with international partners would provide an affordable and timely approach to get the launch costs down for these payloads, while increasing the derived benefits to a larger community. There is a wide scope of varied technologies that are being considered to help future space exploration. However, the cost and schedule would be prohibitive to demonstrate all these in the near term. Determining which technologies would yield the best return in meeting our future space needs is critical to building an achievable Space Architecture that allows exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit. The best mix of technologies is clearly to be based on our future needs, but also must take into account the availability of existing assets and supporting partners. Selecting those technologies that have complimentary applications will provide the most knowledge, with reasonable cost, for future use The plan is to develop those applications that not only mature the technology but actually perform a useful task or mission. These might include such functions as satellite servicing, a propulsion stage, processing lunar regolith, generating and transmitting solar power, cryogenic fluid transfer and storage and artificial gravity. Applications have been selected for assessment for future consideration and are addressed in this paper. These applications have been made available to the various NASA study groups that are determining the next steps the Agency must take to secure a sound foundation for future space exploration The paper also addresses how follow-on demonstrations, as launch performance grows, can build on the earlier applications to provide increased benefits for both the commercial and scientific communities. The architecture of incrementally building upon previous successes and insights dramatically lowers the overall associated risk for developing and maturing the key enabling technologies. The goal is to establish a potential business case that encourages commercial activity, thereby reducing the cost for the demonstration while using the technology maturation in developing readiness for future space exploration with overall less risk.

Henderson, Edward M.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Research and technology 1995 annual report

As the NASA Center responsible for assembly, checkout, servicing, launch, recovery, and operational support of Space Transportation System elements and payloads, the John F. Kennedy Space Center is placing increasing emphasis on its advanced technology development program. This program encompasses the efforts of the Engineering Development Directorate laboratories, most of the KSC operations contractors, academia, and selected commercial industries - all working in a team effort within their own areas of expertise. This edition of the Kennedy Space Center Research and Technology 1995 Annual Report covers efforts of all these contributors to the KSC advanced technology development program, as well as technology transfer activities. Major areas of research include environmental engineering, automation, robotics, advanced software, materials science, life sciences, mechanical engineering, nondestructive evaluation, and industrial engineering.

Source record↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Regulatory Approach for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Reactor Systems

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is being developed to support crewed or cargo transfer missions to Mars. Obtaining regulatory approval for NTP engine testing proves a challenge for not only the technology maturation required but also the fabrication, launch and operational nuclear regulatory environments. Existing regulations currently apply to either (1) high power, long duration commercial power plants, or (2) low power, short duration research reactors. NTP systems find themselves in a separate and unique area due to their higher power but short operating duration. This is supplemented by use of the reactor coolant as propellant. When planning the regulatory approach for NTP systems, operations in space and testing on Earth must be considered – each have their own challenges. This paper identifies a preliminary pathway for regulatory approval to operate a NTP demonstration engine as well as supporting test data that is recommended to be generated during the development program to support major regulatory milestones and deliverables.

Regulatory↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Regulatory Approach for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is being developed to support crewed or cargo transfer missions to Mars. Obtaining regulatory approval for NTP engine testing proves a challenge for not only the technology maturation required but also the fabrication, launch and operational nuclear regulatory environments. Existing regulations currently apply to either (1) high power, long duration commercial power plants, or (2) low power, short duration research reactors. NTP systems find themselves in a separate and unique area due to their higher power but short operating duration. This is supplemented by use of the reactor coolant as propellant. When planning the regulatory approach for NTP systems, operations in space and testing on Earth must be considered – each have their own challenges. This paper identifies a preliminary pathway for regulatory approval to operate a NTP demonstration engine as well as supporting test data that is recommended to be generated during the development program to support major regulatory milestones and deliverables.

Regulatory↗
NASA NTRS2008

JPL Robotics Technology Applicable to Agriculture

This slide presentation describes several technologies that are developed for robotics that are applicable for agriculture. The technologies discussed are detection of humans to allow safe operations of autonomous vehicles, and vision guided robotic techniques for shoot selection, separation and transfer to growth media,

commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) Pathfinder for Artemis Gateway

The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission was developed by NASA in collaboration with Advanced Space, LLC of Westminster, Colorado. This technology demonstration mission serves as a pathfinder for near rectilinear halo orbit (NHRO) operations around the Moon. The NHRO, (Perilune = 3,200 km; Apolune = 70,000 km) is the intended orbit for NASA’s Artemis Gateway, a small, human-tended space station planned for lunar orbit. The CAPSTONE mission will validate simulations and confirm operational planning for Gateway while also validating performance of navigation and stationkeeping requirements for Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element. Therefore, this mission will provide operational experience to NASA, commercial, and international missions for operations in a demanding orbital regime. The CAPSTONE mission consists of a 12-unit (U)+ CubeSat developed, integrated, and tested by the Terran Orbital Corporation that carries a payload communications system capable of crosslink ranging with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). CAPSTONE contains a chip-scale atomic clock (CSAC) for a one-way ranging experiment with NASA’s Deep Space Network, a dedicated payload flight computer for software demonstration, and a camera. The launch, coordinated by NASA’s Launch Services Program, was provided by Rocket Lab on its Electron launch vehicle using their Photon upper stage to deploy the CAPSTONE spacecraft. The mission launched June 28, 2022. The CAPSTONE spacecraft deployed from the Photon stage and traversed an approximately 4-month, highly fuel-efficient transfer phase entering the NRHO November 13, 2022, for a six-month primary mission phase. The mission is currently in a twelve-month technology enhancement operations phase. The CAPSTONE technology demonstration mission is led by Advanced Space, LLC. Spacecraft development and mission operations are conducted by Terran Orbital Corporation of Irvine, California. Noted accomplishments for the CAPSTONE mission include demonstrating the accessibility of NHROs; validating key operational concepts in the NHRO environment; laying the foundation for commercial support of future lunar operations; and accelerating the availability of peer-to-peer navigation capabilities provided by the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS). The CAPSTONE mission is funded through NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program, which is one of several programs within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program is chartered to develop and demonstrate technologies to enhance and expand the capabilities of small spacecraft with a particular focus on enabling new mission architectures through the use of small spacecraft, expanding the reach of small spacecraft to new destinations, and augmenting future missions with supporting small spacecraft. The CAPSTONE mission launch was provided by NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Missions Directorate’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division. Coordination and acquisition of the launch was managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program. The CAPSTONE mission and project status will be presented.

Elwood Agasid↗
DOE OSTI2022

Computational models of direct and indirect X‐ray breast imaging detectors for in silico trials

Abstract Background To facilitate in silico studies that investigate digital mammography (DM) and breast tomosynthesis (DBT), models replicating the variety in imaging performance of the DM and DBT systems, observed across manufacturers are needed. Purpose The main purpose of this work is to develop generic physics models for direct and indirect detector technology used in commercially available systems, with the goal of making them available open source to manufacturers to further tweak and develop the exact in silico replicas of their systems. Methods We recently reported on an in silico version of the SIEMENS Mammomat Inspiration DM/DBT system using an open‐source GPU‐accelerated Monte Carlo x‐ray imaging simulation code (MC‐GPU). We build on the previous version of the MC‐GPU codes to mimic the imaging performances of two other Food and Drug Administration (FDA)‐approved DM/DBT systems, such as Hologic Selenia Dimensions (HSD) and the General Electric Senographe Pristina (GSP) systems. In this work, we developed a hybrid technique to model the optical spread and signal crosstalk observed in the GSP and HSD systems. MC simulations are used to track each x‐ray photon till its first interaction within the x‐ray detector. On the other hand, the signal spread in the x‐ray detectors is modeled using previously developed analytical equations. This approach allows us to preserve the modeling accuracy offered by MC methods in the patient body, while speeding up secondary carrier transport (either electron–hole pairs or optical photons) using analytical equations in the detector. The analytical optical spread model for the indirect detector includes the depth‐dependent spread and collection of optical photons and relies on a pre‐computed set of point response functions that describe the optical spread as a function of depth. To understand the capabilities of the computational x‐ray detector models, we compared image quality metrics like modulation transfer function (MTF), normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE), simulated with our models against measured data. Please note that the purpose of these comparisons with measured data would be to gauge if the model developed as part of this work could replicate commercially used direct and indirect technology in general and not to achieve perfect fits with measured data. Results We found that the simulated image quality metrics such as MTF, NNPS, and DQE were in reasonable agreement with experimental data. To demonstrate the imaging performance of the three DM/DBT systems, we integrated the detector models with the VICTRE pipeline and simulated DM images of a fatty breast model containing a spiculated mass and a calcium oxalate cluster. In general, we found that the images generated using the indirect model appeared more blurred with a different noise texture and contrast as compared to the systems with direct detectors. Conclusions We have presented computational models of three commercially available FDA‐approved DM/DBT systems, which implement both direct and indirect detector technology. The updated versions of the MC‐GPU codes that can be used to replicate three systems are available in open source format through GitHub.

Sengupta, Aunnasha↗
DOE OSTI2026

Leveraging chiral induced spin selectivity to improve the efficiency and selectivity of electrocatalytic reduction

Energy production is a fundamental pillar of modern society, but it remains heavily reliant on fossil fuel combustion, which leads to environmental degradation and resource depletion. Electrocatalytic reduction reactions (ERRs) offer a cleaner alternative by functioning under mild conditions, eliminating the need for high temperatures or pressures. However, their widespread adoption is hindered by challenges such as low efficiency, inadequate selectivity, and sluggish kinetics. Here, the introduction of chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) offers a promising strategy to address these limitations by reducing energy barriers in reactions involving spin-sensitive intermediates or transition states. By leveraging CISS, ERR pathways can be manipulated to favor desired reactions, enhance product yield, and suppress unwanted byproducts, improving selectivity. Beyond reducing the impact of competing side reactions, CISS also enhances the kinetics of ERRs by accelerating reaction rates and lowering the energy barriers associated with multi-electron transfer steps. Thanks to its straightforward and versatile application, CISS shows significant potential in optimizing well-studied ERRs, such as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR), facilitating the future transition of these technologies from research laboratories to commercial energy plants worldwide.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1993

Compact Circuit Preprocesses Accelerometer Output

Compact electronic circuit transfers dc power to, and preprocesses ac output of, accelerometer and associated preamplifier. Incorporated into accelerometer case during initial fabrication or retrofit onto commercial accelerometer. Made of commercial integrated circuits and other conventional components; made smaller by use of micrologic and surface-mount technology.

Bozeman, Richard J., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Research and Technology 1996: Innovation in Time and Space

As the NASA Center responsible for assembly, checkout, servicing, launch, recovery, and operational support of Space Transportation System elements and payloads, the John F. Kennedy Space Center is placing increasing emphasis on its advanced technology development program. This program encompasses the efforts of the Engineering Development Directorate laboratories, most of the KSC operations contractors, academia, and selected commercial industries - all working in a team effort within their own areas of expertise. This edition of the Kennedy Space Center Research and Technology 1996 Annual Report covers efforts of all these contributors to the KSC advanced technology development program, as well as our technology transfer activities.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1993

Research and Technology at the John F. Kennedy Space Center 1993

As the NASA Center responsible for assembly, checkout, servicing, launch, recovery, and operational support of Space Transportation System elements and payloads, the John F. Kennedy Space Center is placing increasing emphasis on its advanced technology development program. This program encompasses the efforts of the Engineering Development Directorate laboratories, most of the KSC operations contractors, academia, and selected commercial industries - all working in a team effort within their own areas of expertise. This edition of the Kennedy Space Center Research and Technology 1993 Annual Report covers efforts of all these contributors to the KSC advanced technology development program, as well as our technology transfer activities. Major areas of research include material science, advanced software, industrial engineering, nondestructive evaluation, life sciences, atmospheric sciences, environmental technology, robotics, and electronics and instrumentation.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Revolution in the Making: Advances in Materials That May Transform Future Exploration Infrastructures and Missions

The NASA Strategic Plan identifies the long-term goal to provide safe and affordable space access, orbital transfer, and interplanetary transportation capabilities to enable research, human exploration, and the commercial development of space; and to conduct human and robotic missions to planets and other bodies in our solar system. Numerous scientific and engineering breakthroughs will be required to develop the technology necessary to achieve this goal. Critical technologies include advanced vehicle primary and secondary structure, radiation protection, propulsion and power systems, fuel storage, electronics and devices, sensors and science instruments, and medical diagnostics and treatment. Advanced materials with revolutionary new capabilities are an essential element of each of these technologies. This paper discusses those materials best suited for aerospace vehicle structure and highlights the enormous potential of one revolutionary new material, carbon nanotubes.

Harris, Charles E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) Pathfinder for Artemis Gateway

The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission was developed by NASA in collaboration with Advanced Space, LLC of Westminster, Colorado. This technology demonstration mission serves as a pathfinder for near rectilinear halo orbit (NHRO) operations around the Moon. The NHRO, (Perilune = 3,200 km; Apolune = 70,000 km) is the intended orbit for NASA’s Artemis Gateway, a small, human-tended space station planned for lunar orbit. The CAPSTONE mission will validate simulations and confirm operational planning for Gateway while also validating performance of navigation and station-keeping requirements for Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element. Thus, this mission will provide operational experience to NASA, commercial, and international missions for operations in a demanding orbital regime. The CAPSTONE mission consists of a 12-unit (U) CubeSat developed, integrated, and tested by the Terran Orbital Corporation that carries a payload communications system capable of cross-link ranging with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). CAPSTONE contains a chip scale atomic clock (CSAC) for a one-way ranging experiment with NASA’s Deep Space Network, a dedicated payload flight computer for software demonstration, and a camera. The launch, coordinated by NASA’s Launch Services Program, was provided by Rocket Lab on its Electron launch vehicle utilizing their Photon upper stage to deploy the CAPSTONE spacecraft into lunar orbit. The mission launched June 28, 2022. The CAPSTONE spacecraft deployed from Rocket Lab’s Photon stage and traversed an approximately 4 month highly efficient transfer phase entering the NRHO Novermber 13, 2022 for a six-month primary mission phase. The mission is currently in a twelve-month technology enhancement operations phase. The CAPSTONE technology demonstration mission is lead by Advanced Space, LLC. Spacecraft development and mission operations is conducted by Terran Orbital Corporation of Irvine, California. Noted accomplishments for the CAPSTONE mission include demonstration of the accessibility of NHROs, validation of key operational concepts in the NHRO environment, laying the foundation for commercial support of future lunar operations, and accelerating the availability of peer-to-peer navigation capabilities provided by the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS). The CAPSTONE mission is funded through NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program, which is one of several programs within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program is chartered to develop and demonstrate technologies to enhance and expand the capabilities of small spacecraft with a particular focus on enabling new mission architectures through the use of small spacecraft, expanding the reach of small spacecraft to new destinations, and augmenting future missions with supporting small spacecraft. The CAPSTONE mission launch was provided by NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Missions Directorate’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division. Coordination and acquisition of the launch was managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program. The CAPSTONE mission and project status will be presented.

Elwood Agasid↗
DOE OSTI2021

Substitution of virgin carbon fiber with low-cost recycled fiber in automotive grade injection molding polyamide 66 for equivalent composite mechanical performance with improved sustainability

Recycled carbon fiber has historically proven challenging to integrate into composite manufacturing due in no small part to the low-density, randomly oriented, discontinuous fiber format that results from typical recycling. Discontinuous fiber requires the use of alternative technologies than those traditionally applied to continuous fiber (e.g., hand lay-up, winding). Extrusion compounding is one such applicable technology, but material transfer into the system requires alternative feeding equipment or the use of an altered procedure as trialed in this research. In this study, an injection molding compound for automotive applications was prepared with recycled carbon fiber and compared against an existing commercial compound. Input fibers and molded compound were evaluated for mechanical performance, while relevant variables such as compounded fiber alignment and aspect ratio were compared to the existing baseline material to confirm a like-for-like composite material structure. Overall, analysis indicates that recycled fiber performs similarly to virgin fiber reinforcement, demonstrating that recycled fiber may be a viable drop-in replacement for short-fiber discontinuous applications.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1978

The First Seasat-A Industrial Users Workshop

The purpose of this workshop was to begin the process of definition and development of the SEASAT-A Demonstration Program, leading to the implementation of a set of experiments which would begin during the latter part of 1978 following the launch of SEASAT-A (now scheduled for May 1978). NASA through the SEASAT-A program, has encouraged the planning of cooperative experiments by industry and government agencies that operate in areas of ocean activity that could benefit from improved measurements and forecasts of weather and ocean conditions. The objectives of these experiments are to: (1) evaluate the significance of SEASAT-A data to commercial user organizations; (2) assist in identifying those characteristics of follow-on systems that are important to industrial users; (3) obtain experimental evidence that could be used to refine estimates of the economic potential of an operational system; and (4) begin the technology transfer process to the industrial users.

Hicks, K. W.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Flexible Electrostatic Technology for Capture and Handling Project

To NASA unfunded & planned missions: This new capability to sense proximity, flexibly align to, and attractively grip and capture practically any object in space without any pre-designed physical features or added sensors or actuators will enable or enhance many of MSFC's strategic emphasis areas in space transportation, and space systems such as: 1. A Flexible Electrostatic gripper can enable the capture, gripping and releasing of an extraterrestrial sample of different minerals or a sample canister (metallic or composite) without requiring a handle or grapple fixture.(B) 2. Flexible self-aligning in-space capture/soft docking or berthing of ISS resupply vehicles, pressurized modules, or nodes for in-space assembly and shielding, radiator, and solar Array deployment for space habitats (C) 3. The flexible electrostatic gripper when combined with a simple steerable extendible boom can grip, position, and release objects of various shapes and materials with low mass and power without any prior handles or physical accommodations or surface contamination for ISS experiment experiments and in-situ repair.(F)(G) 4. The Dexterous Docking concept previously proposed to allow simple commercial resupply ships to station-keep and capture either ISS or an Exploration vehicle for supply or fluid transfer lacked a self-sensing, compliant, soft capture gripper like FETCH that could retract and attach to a CBM. (I) 5. To enable a soft capture and de-orbit of a piece of orbital debris will require self-aligning gripping and holding an object wherever possible (thermal coverings or shields of various materials, radiators, solar arrays, antenna dishes) with little or no residual power while adding either drag or active low level thrust.(K) 6. With the scalability of the FETCH technology, small satellites can be captured and handled or can incorporate FETCH gripper to dock to and handle other small vehicles and larger objects for de-orbiting or mitigating Orbital debris (L) 7. Many of previous MSFC and NASA proposals or concepts can now be realized or simplified by the development of the this initial and future FETCH grippers including commercial resupply, Exploration vehicle assembly, Satellite servicing, and orbital debris removal since a major part of these missions is to align to and capture some handle. Completed Project (2013 - 2014) Flexible Electrostatic Technology for Capture & Handling Project Center Innovation Fund: MSFC CIF Program | Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) For more information visit techport.nasa.gov Some NASA technology projects are smaller (for example SBIR/STTR, NIAC and Center Innovation Fund), and will have less content than other, larger projects. Newly created projects may not sensors or injection of permanent adhesives. With gripping forces estimated between 0.5 and 2.5 pounds per square inch or 70-300 lb./sq. ft. of surface contact, the FETCH can turn-on and turn-off rapidly and repeatedly to enable sample handling, soft docking, in-space assembly, and precision relocation for accurate anchor adhesion.

Keys, Andrew↗