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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 343 records · Page 19

The sweeper spectrometer for neutron invariant-mass spectroscopy at FRIB

Neutron invariant-mass spectroscopy (NIMS) is a key technique for studying unbound and weakly bound nuclei at the limits of stability. At the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), such measurements are performed using the Sweeper spectrometer, a large-gap, high-rigidity dipole system coupled to the MoNA-LISA neutron detector arrays. To meet the demands imposed by higher beam energies (>130 MeV/u) and the broad cocktail-beam selection available at FRIB, the spectrometer has recently been upgraded to improve particle-identification and detection performance. Upstream of the reaction target, a plastic scintillator with Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout provides the global trigger and time reference, two parallel plate avalanche counters (PPACs) track the trajectories of incoming beam particles, and a silicon PIN detector measures the energy loss, ΔE, for charge (Z) identification. After the Sweeper magnet, the trajectories of the reaction products are tracked by two micro-pattern drift chambers (MPDCs), their charge (Z) is identified by a Frisch-grid ionization chamber (FG-IC), and their mass-to-charge ratio (A/Q) is deduced by time-of-flight measurement using a fast plastic scintillator read out by an array of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). The detection system also incorporates the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) for neutron detection and the CAESium-iodide scintillator ARray (CAESAR) for high-efficiency γ-ray measurements to enable full kinematic reconstruction. Performance was evaluated using a cocktail beam around 37 Al accelerated at E ≈ 130 MeV/u during the first FRIB campaign, demonstrating the readiness of the upgraded system for future studies of nuclei at and beyond the neutron drip line.

Particle identification methods↗

Decentralized Formation Flying Control in a Multiple-Team Hierarchy

This paper presents the prototype of a system that addresses these objectives-a decentralized guidance and control system that is distributed across spacecraft using a multiple-team framework. The objective is to divide large clusters into teams of manageable size, so that the communication and computational demands driven by N decentralized units are related to the number of satellites in a team rather than the entire cluster. The system is designed to provide a high-level of autonomy, to support clusters with large numbers of satellites, to enable the number of spacecraft in the cluster to change post-launch, and to provide for on-orbit software modification. The distributed guidance and control system will be implemented in an object-oriented style using MANTA (Messaging Architecture for Networking and Threaded Applications). In this architecture, tasks may be remotely added, removed or replaced post-launch to increase mission flexibility and robustness. This built-in adaptability will allow software modifications to be made on-orbit in a robust manner. The prototype system, which is implemented in MATLAB, emulates the object-oriented and message-passing features of the MANTA software. In this paper, the multiple-team organization of the cluster is described, and the modular software architecture is presented. The relative dynamics in eccentric reference orbits is reviewed, and families of periodic, relative trajectories are identified, expressed as sets of static geometric parameters. The guidance law design is presented, and an example reconfiguration scenario is used to illustrate the distributed process of assigning geometric goals to the cluster. Next, a decentralized maneuver planning approach is presented that utilizes linear-programming methods to enact reconfiguration and coarse formation keeping maneuvers. Finally, a method for performing online collision avoidance is discussed, and an example is provided to gauge its performance.

Mueller, Joseph .↗

Integrated Thermal Protection Systems and Heat Resistant Structures

In the early stages of NASA's Exploration Initiative, Snecma Propulsion Solide was funded under the Exploration Systems Research & Technology program to develop a CMC heatshield, a deployable decelerator, and an ablative heat shield for reentry vehicles. Due to changes within NASA's Exploration Initiative, this task was cancelled in early FY06. This paper will give an overview of the work that was accomplished prior to cancellation. The Snecma team consisted of MT Aerospace, Germany, and Materials Research & Design (MR&D), NASA Langley, NASA Dryden, and NASA Ames in the United States. An Apollo-type capsule was chosen as the reference vehicle for the work. NASA Langley generated the trajectory and aerothermal loads. Snecma and MT Aerospace began the design of a ceramic aft heatshield (CAS) utilizing C/SiC panels as the capsule heatshield. MR&D led the design of a C/SiC deployable decelerator, NASA Ames led the characterization of several ablators, NASA Dryden led the development of a heath management system and the high temperature structures testing, and NASA Langley led the insulation characterization. Though the task was pre-maturely cancelled, a significant quantity of work was accomplished.

Pichon, Thierry↗

High Fidelity Modeling of SRP and Its Effect on the Relative Motion of Starshade and WFIRST

In this paper we perform a detailed analysis of how Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP) affects the relative motion of two spacecrafts, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) and Starshade, orbiting in the vicinity of the Sun-Earth L2. While WFIRST orbits about its own Libration Point Orbit (LPO), Starshade will fly a specific trajectory to align with WFIRST and observe a Design Reference Mission of pre-determined target stars. In this analysis, we focus on the transfer orbit for Starshade from one observation to the other. We will describe how SRP affects the dynamics of the Starshade relative to WFIRSTand how relevant this effect is in order to get an accurate estimate of the total difference in velocity (delta v).

WFIRST↗

Multilayer Insulation Ascent Venting Model

The thermal and venting transient experienced by tank-applied multilayer insulation (MLI) in the Earth-to-orbit environment is very dynamic and not well characterized. This new predictive code is a first principles-based engineering model which tracks the time history of the mass and temperature (internal energy) of the gas in each MLI layer. A continuum-based model is used for early portions of the trajectory while a kinetic theory-based model is used for the later portions of the trajectory, and the models are blended based on a reference mean free path. This new capability should improve understanding of the Earth-to-orbit transient and enable better insulation system designs for in-space cryogenic propellant systems.

Tramel, R. W.↗

Sizing and Margin Methodology for Dual-Layer Thermal Protection Systems

This presentation introduces a new sizing and margin methodology for dual-layer Thermal Protection Systems (TPS). The methodology has been tailored for application to a dual-layer 3D-woven TPS called Heat-shield for Extreme Entry Environments Technology (HEEET). Sizing is performed for a reference Saturn probe mission to show how uncertainties in trajectory, aerothermal modelling and TPS response impact the sizing of each layer.

Sizing↗

Analyzing Natural Language Context in Human-Machine Teaming using Supervised Machine Learning

Building a foundation for trustworthiness and trust verification in multi-asset teaming is the research challenge of Autonomy Teaming and TRAjectories for Complex Trusted Operational Reliability (ATTRACTOR). The Design Reference Mission (DRM) for ATTRACTOR is a search and rescue mission objective governed by a multi-member team consisting of human and machine operators. A crucial component to the effort is the communication between humans and autonomous agents throughout both planning and execution stages of the mission. Intuitive communication methods and modalities are posited as critical enablers for certifying trust and trustworthiness. This paper reports on the data collection and analysis conducted in support of the Human Informed Natural-language GANs Evaluation (HINGE)project to attain explainable and trusted communication between human-machine assets. Two identically curated image description datasets were acquired for HINGE, both consisting of two unique input modalities (typed vs. verbal) and retrieved in two distinct contexts (general vs. specific). The gathered datasets were assessed and compared using Parts-of-Speech (POS)features, sentence similarity metrics, and linguistic analysis. Then, the datasets were modeled and tested separately and in combination with one another using machine learning algorithms. The comparison and testing results reveal a superior dataset, by which a preferred context and input is understood, for generating image representations of missing persons using a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN).

Bryan A Barrows↗

Coordinated turn-and-reach movements. II. Planning in an external frame of reference

The preceding study demonstrated that normal subjects compensate for the additional interaction torques generated when a reaching movement is made during voluntary trunk rotation. The present paper assesses the influence of trunk rotation on finger trajectories and on interjoint coordination and determines whether simultaneous turn-and-reach movements are most simply described relative to a trunk-based or an external reference frame. Subjects reached to targets requiring different extents of arm joint and trunk rotation at a natural pace and quickly in normal lighting and in total darkness. We first examined whether the larger interaction torques generated during rapid turn-and-reach movements perturb finger trajectories and interjoint coordination and whether visual feedback plays a role in compensating for these torques. These issues were addressed using generalized Procrustes analysis (GPA), which attempts to overlap a group of configurations (e.g., joint trajectories) through translations and rotations in multi-dimensional space. We first used GPA to identify the mean intrinsic patterns of finger and joint trajectories (i.e., their average shape irrespective of location and orientation variability in the external and joint workspaces) from turn-and-reach movements performed in each experimental condition and then calculated their curvatures. We then quantified the discrepancy between each finger or joint trajectory and the intrinsic pattern both after GPA was applied individually to trajectories from a pair of experimental conditions and after GPA was applied to the same trajectories pooled together. For several subjects, joint trajectories but not finger trajectories were more curved in fast than slow movements. The curvature of both joint and finger trajectories of turn-and-reach movements was relatively unaffected by the vision conditions. Pooling across speed conditions significantly increased the discrepancy between joint but not finger trajectories for most subjects, indicating that subjects used different patterns of interjoint coordination in slow and fast movements while nevertheless preserving the shape of their finger trajectory. Higher movement speeds did not disrupt the arm joint rotations despite the larger interaction torques generated. Rather, subjects used the redundant degrees of freedom of the arm/trunk system to achieve similar finger trajectories with differing joint configurations. We examined finger movement patterns and velocity profiles to determine the frame of reference in which turn-and-reach movements could be most simply described. Finger trajectories of turn-and-reach movements had much larger curvatures and their velocity profiles were less smooth and less bell-like in trunk-based coordinates than in external coordinates. Taken together, these results support the conclusion that turn-and-reach movements are controlled in an external frame of reference.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗

Special perturbations employing osculating reference states

The concept of employing osculating reference position and velocity vectors in the numerical integration of the equations of motion of a satellite is examined. The choice of the reference point is shown to have a significant effect upon numerical efficiency and the class of trajectories described by the differential equations of motion. For example, when the position and velocity vectors on the osculating orbit at a fixed reference time are chosen, a universal formulation is yielded. For elliptical orbits, however, this formulation is unattractive for numerical integration purposes due to Poisson terms (mixed secular) appearing in the equations of motion. Other choices for the reference point eliminate this problem but usually at the expense of universality. A number of these formulations, including a universal one, are considered here. Comparisons of the numerical characteristics of these techniques with those of the Encke method are presented.

Born, G. H.↗

Approximating Trajectory Constraints With Machine Learning – Microgrid Islanding With Frequency Constraints

Here, we introduce deep earning aided constraint encoding to tackle the frequency-constraint microgrid scheduling problem. The nonlinear function between system operating condition and frequency nadir is approximated by using a neural network, which admits an exact mixed-integer formulation (MIP). This formulation is then integrated with the scheduling problem to encode the frequency constraint. With the stronger representation power of the neural network, the resulting commands can ensure adequate frequency response in a realistic setting in addition to islanding success. The proposed method is validated on a modified 33-node system. Successful islanding with a secure response is simulated under the scheduled commands using a detailed three-phase model in Simulink. The advantages of our model are particularly remarkable when the inertia emulation functions from wind turbine generators are considered.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Abort landing guidance trajectories in the presence of windshear

The flight trajectory of abort landing in the presence of windshear is examined with reference to flight in a vertical plane. It is assumed that the only control is the angle of attack. Inequality constraints are imposed on both the angle of attack and its time derivative. Numerical results are obtained for several combinations of windshear intensities and initial altitudes. Guidance trajectories are considered, approximating the optimal trajectories and using local information on the state of the aircraft, the initial altitude, and the total wind velocity difference. Results are presented for optimal trajectories, guidance trajectories, simplified guidance trajectories, constant pitch trajectories, and maximum angle of attack trajectories.

Miele, A.↗

Nuclear thermal rocket propulsion application to Mars missions

Options for vehicle configurations are reviewed in which nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) propulsion is used for a reference mission to Mars. The scenario assumes an opposition-class Mars transfer trajectory, a 435-day mission, and the use of a single nuclear engine with 75,000 lbs of thrust. Engine parameters are examined by calculating mission variables for a range of specific impulses and thrust/weight ratios. The reference mission is found to have optimal values of 925 s for the specific impulse and thrust/weight ratios of 4.0 and 0.06 for the engine and total stage ratios respectively. When the engine thrust/weight ratio is at least 4/1 the most critical engine parameter is engine specific impulse for reducing overall stage weight. In the context of this trans-Mars three-burn maneuver the NTR engine with an expander engine cycle is considered a more effective alternative than chemical/aerobrake and other propulsion options.

Emrich, W. J., Jr.↗

Trajectory Engineering with Modular Patched Conics for Entry Systems and TPS (TEMPEST)

Brief Presenter Biography (35 word limit): Bohdan Wesely is an Aerospace Engineer in the Entry Systems and Technology Division at Ames. He has worked on a variety of projects for NASA including integrated TPS (thermal protection system) flight hardware deliveries and testing services for commercial partners. Introduction: TEMPEST is a new trajectory analysis framework that is designed to fill the gap between dedicated flight mechanics tools and aerothermal and TPS sizing tools. The project started as an SJSU master’s thesis and has since evolved into a general conceptual design tool capable of studying a wide variety of entry problems. Development is ongoing in the Entry Systems and Technology Division at NASA ARC. Why TEMPEST: Space missions involving entry into a planetary atmosphere involve a series of unique requirements across multiple disciplines. Whether it is traditional entry descent and landing (EDL), or aerocapture, the vehicle must navigate to its target landing location or orbit state, and the TPS must protect the payload during entry. The design process typically involves iterative handoffs between various flight mechanics, flow solver, and material response level tools. During the early conceptual phase, a wide variety of feasible trajectories are simulated in a Monte Carlo scenario which broadly satisfy the mission or landing requirements. Next, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC), and other flow solver analyses are performed at various key trajectory points to generate an aero-database, heating and TPS design requirements also emerge at this stage. At this point, with updated aerodynamics from the various flow solvers, trajectories can be re-run, this in turn can change the required freestream conditions for the CFD tools, and as a project progresses, these analyses converge, and uncertainty is reduced. However, there is always a “hand-off” occurring between two inherently coupled phenomena. Analysis Description: One of the goals with TEMPEST is to use a variety of first principles estimation methods coupled with an atmosphere model to predict vehicle aerothermodynamics across the entire flight regime while propagating a 3 or 6 degree of freedom (DoF) trajectory. Aerodynamics methods include modified Newtonian, Maxwell and Cercignani- Lampis-Lord (CLL) for continuum, transitional, and free molecular flow regimes. Aerothermodynamics include boundary layer and reference enthalpy methods, and Mutation++ for non-equilibrium chemistry modeling. TEMPEST is also capable of stitching multiple trajectory segments together to study mission scenarios like multi-pass aerocapture and aero-gravity assists. Most of the program is implemented in MATLAB using modern system objects, it relies on several C++ shared libraries for supporting tools like Gmsh, the Global Reference Atmospheric Model (GRAM), and Mutation++. The various first principles aerothermal estimation methods are discretized across either a structured axisymmetric panel mesh or an unstructured tri-mesh generated from an open-source tool such as Gmsh, this allows solutions on the same mesh to be compared across tools such as CB-Aero. CFD Coupling. A physics-aware, gaussian process CFD anchoring scheme is proposed to adjust the various first principles methods as a CFD database is populated. One goal for this anchoring module is to inform the project where CFD should be run. Full knowledge of the entire trajectory, atmosphere, and aerothermodynamics allows for easier identification of high sensitivity areas and uncertainty quantification. While the first principles effects are well known and proven accurate in existing tools such as CB- Aero and Cart3D, a physics aware CFD anchoring scheme increases tool credibility across a project lifecycle. Material Response Modeling. Correct TPS sizing is critical for optimizing mass for science payloads and ensuring mission success. The process typically involves a thermal analysis along the trajectory with surface heating environments as a boundary condition. Several design constraints are maximum bondline temperature and maximum recession with various margining techniques. The material response tool FIAT, developed out of NASA Ames, is currently being integrated into the TEMPEST environment. TPS recession, shape change, mass loss, and mass property alteration are all factors that can perturb an entry trajectory. For missions like Mars 2020, recession was minimal and was safely handled separately as a post process. For missions such as Jupiter Galileo with a high TPS mass fraction or asteroid entries, recession plays a major role. The proposed fully coupled scheme is to use an epoch-based approach where the trajectory integration is halted after a recession threshold, the energy balance and FIAT are solved at each panel, the mesh, aerodynamics, and mass properties are updated, and the trajectory continues. Several computational tradeoffs have been made during the development of TEMPEST to limit the cost of a single trajectory and preserve its utility as a conceptual, rapid iteration tool. Conclusion: Development of TEMPEST is ongoing and the project is still in its infancy. This talk aims to showcase its unique capabilities to support future NASA entry systems missions.

Bohdan O Wesely↗

Mars Human Exploration Reference Mission

This presentation proposes the next steps for human exploration of Mars. The presentation reviews the reasons for human exploration of Mars. Two different trajectories are proposed: (1) for a long stay mission, and (2) for a short term mission, which could also include a swing by Venus. A reference mission scenario is investigated, which includes forward deployment of two cargo missions, followed by a human piloted mission. The power needs of such a mission include nuclear thermal propulsion, and the possible use of Mars in situ resources. The exploration will require electric propulsion, stationary power source, and a mobile power source. The trajectories required for electric propulsion of earth are shown, and the engineering of a Mars Transportation Habitat are reviewed.

Drake, Bret↗

Robust Trajectory Design for Rendezvous in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit

Future NASA Artemis missions will require complex docking plans between the Orion capsule and Lunar Gateway that meet predetermined safety constraints while minimizing fuel usage and state uncertainty at rendezvous. In this paper, linear covariance analysis is applied to a first order relative form of Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit dynamics to determine the nominal trajectories and state dispersions associated with various maneuver profiles in the Sun-referenced Local Vertical Local Horizontal reference frame of the lunar Gateway. These maneuver profiles are optimized using a particle swarm optimizer and direct search algorithm to find trajectories that satisfy approach corridor, free drift, velocity magnitude, under-burn, and maneuver transfer time safety constraints to 3-sigma certainty.

Linear Covariance Analysis↗

Heterogeneity or illusion? Track the carbon Kuznets curve of global residential building operations

Residential buildings, the “last mile” sector in the global decarbonization, have become the most significant uncertain factor hindering carbon neutrality with increasing household energy demand. To track the operational carbon in buildings, this study investigates the carbon Kuznets curve (CKC) and the corresponding decoupling status of residential building operations at four emission scales by using the data of 30 countries from 2000 to 2019. The results show that (1) the CKC model can fit more than half of the samples. Most curves have an inverted U-shape, with 76% of emission per household and 82% of total emissions. (2) In the presence of the CKC, over four-fifths of global residential buildings peak regardless of any emission scale. The analysis denotes that the carbon emissions of developed countries reach their peaks earlier. In the total emissions, the samples’ peaking proportion is 20% and 25% with income per capita < 20,000 United States dollars (USD) and 20,000–40,000 USD, respectively. (3) The Tapio decoupling analysis and the threshold regression effectively verify the robustness and the heterogeneity of CKCs, respectively. Strong decoupling effects of CKCs in most countries are demonstrated at the scales of emission per floor space and the total emissions, and the heterogeneity proves the classic inverted U-shaped relationship between economy and emissions doesn’t exist in all emitters. Overall, this study tracks the historical carbon emission trajectories of residential building operations at a global scale, providing reference for different economies to simulate the dynamic of building carbon emissions along with the economic booming.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Integrated Quantum-Classical Protocol for the Realistic Description of Solvated Multinuclear Mixed-Valence Transition-Metal Complexes and Their Solvatochromic Properties

Linear cyanide-bridged polymetallic complexes, which undergo photoinduced metal-to-metal charge transfer, represent prototypical systems for studying long-range electron-transfer reactions and understanding the role played by specific solute–solvent interactions in modulating the excited-state dynamics. Here, to tackle this problem, while achieving a statistically meaningful description of the solvent and of its relaxation, one needs a computational approach capable of handling large polynuclear transition-metal complexes, both in their ground and excited states, as well as the ability to follow their dynamics in several environments up to nanosecond time scales. Here, we present a mixed quantum classical approach, which combines large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on an accurate quantum mechanically derived force field (QMD-FF) and self-consistent QMD polarized point charges, with IR and UV–vis spectral calculations to model the solvation dynamics and optical properties of a cyano-bridged trinuclear mixed-valence compound (trans-[(NC) 5 Fe III (μ-CN)Ru II (pyridine) 4 (μ-NC)Fe III (CN) 5 ] 4– ). We demonstrate the reliability of the QMD-FF/MD approach in sampling the solute conformational space and capturing the local solute–solvent interactions by comparing the results with higher-level quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) MD reference data. The IR spectra calculated along the classical MD trajectories in different solvents correctly predict the red shift of the CN stretching band in the aprotic medium (acetonitrile) and the subtle differences measured in water and methanol, respectively. By explicitly including the solvent molecules around the cyanide ligands and calculating the thermal averaged absorption spectra using time-dependent density functional theory calculations within the Tamm–Dancoff approximation, the experimental solvatochromic shift is quantitatively reproduced going from water to methanol, while it is overestimated for acetonitrile. This discrepancy can likely be traced back to the lack of important dispersion interactions between the solvent cyano groups and the pyridine substituents in our micro solvation model. The proposed protocol is applied to the ground state in water, methanol, and acetonitrile and can be flexibly generalized to study excited-state nonequilibrium solvation dynamics.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗