Status report - Manned Spacecraft Center Chambers ''A'' and ''B''
Simulation chambers for lunar surface environment, life systems, and astronaut training studies
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Simulation chambers for lunar surface environment, life systems, and astronaut training studies
An overview of the Penn State Propulsion Engineering Research Center is presented. The following subject areas are covered: research objectives and long term perspective of the Center; current status and operational philosophy; and brief description of Center projects (combustion, fluid mechanics and heat transfer, materials compatibility, turbomachinery, and advanced propulsion concepts).
Dr. Rauscher will present programatic status and high-level/summary information on the technical status of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's participation in the SuperNova Acceleration Probe (SNAP). Goddard's participation falls into four areas, and status in each of these will be covered. These areas are as follows: (I) focal plane array and packaging, (2) Teledyne HAWAII-4RG sensor chip assembly, (3) communications studies, and (4) integration and test studies.
This presentation provides an overview of the thermal analysis and test capabilities at the Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) as well as highlights from the thermal analysis and test efforts of the past year.
NASA Lewis Research Center's Automated Status Notification System (ASNS) was born out of need. To prevent "hacker attacks," Lewis' telephone system needed to monitor communications activities 24 hr a day, 7 days a week. With decreasing staff resources, this continuous monitoring had to be automated. By utilizing existing communications hardware, a UNIX workstation, and NAWK (a pattern scanning and processing language), we implemented a continuous monitoring system.
The presentation describes efforts to develop a LIDAR in-flight product characterization range at Stennis Space Center as the next phase of the NASA Verification and Validation activities. It describes the status of surveying efforts on targets of interest to LIDAR vendors as well as the potential guidelines that will be used for product characterization.
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center personnel presented a paper on the status of MSFC computational fluid dynamics application and validation activities. Subjects discussed included the Space Shuttle Main Engine studies, unsteady multistage turbine loads, fuel pump discharge volutes, and injector LOX inlet results based on fundamental flows, subcomponents, and interactive components/systems.
The present status of various types of low-Reynolds number aerodynamics research being conducted at the Fluid Dynamics Branch of NASA Langley Research Center is reviewed. The facilities, testing techniques, airfoil design, and experimental verification are addressed, and ongoing studies of laminar separation bubbles, boundary layer stability and transition control, and low-Reynolds number juncture flow are discussed. The possibility of improving vehicle characteristics at low Reynolds numbers and the general trends of the most promising research in these areas are examined.
Radio and radar astronomical studies on lunar and planetary ionospheres and atmospheres, and solar activity
Radio and radar studies of lunar and planetary ionospheres, atmospheres, and surfaces, sun echoes, and spacecraft instrumentation
Mariner 5 space probe radio occultation analysis, Pioneer 8 space probe data, and bistatic radar data reduction from Lunar Orbiter and Mariner 5
Data reduction and analysis of bistatic radar data from Explorer 35 - bibliographies
Protective coatings for heat resistant materials for aircraft gas turbine engines, and refractory metals for reentry vehicles
Superalloy dispersion strengthened and fused slurry silicide coatings for aircraft gas turbine engines and space shuttle heat shields
The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) solar facility is described herein, and test results obtained from late May 1974 to September 1974 are discussed. This facility was assembled to provide operational experience in the utilization of solar energy for heating and cooling buildings. The major subsystems are the solar collector, the energy storage tank, the simulated living space, the air conditioning and heating subsystems, and the controls. These subsystems are described with emphasis placed on major results and conclusions. A cursory evaluation of the system for cooling is given from energy and power consumption viewpoints. This data evaluation indicates the current system is capable of supplying 50 per cent of the thermal energy required to drive the air conditioner. A preliminary evaluation of winter data indicates that more than 90 per cent of the heating required can be provided by the solar system.
Work in progress on astronomical catalogs is presented in 16 papers. Topics cover astronomical data center operations; automatic astronomical data retrieval at GSFC; interactive computer reference search of astronomical literature 1950-1976; formatting, checking, and documenting machine-readable catalogs; interactive catalog of UV, optical, and HI data for 201 Virgo cluster galaxies; machine-readable version of the general catalog of variable stars, third edition; galactic latitude and magnitude distribution of two astronomical catalogs; the catalog of open star clusters; infrared astronomical data base and catalog of infrared observations; the Air Force geophysics laboratory; revised magnetic tape of the N30 catalog of 5,268 standard stars; positional correlation of the two-micron sky survey and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory catalog sources; search capabilities for the catalog of stellar identifications (CSI) 1979 version; CSI statistics: blue magnitude versus spectral type; catalogs available from the Astronomical Data Center; and status report on machine-readable astronomical catalogs.
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center is continuing investigations into the use of green monopropellants as a replacement for hydrazine in spacecraft propulsion systems. Work to date has been to push technology development through multiple activities designed to understand the capabilities of these technologies. Future work will begin to transition to mission pull as these technologies are mature while still keeping a solid goal of pushing technology development as opportunities become available. The AF-M315E activities began with hot-fire demonstration testing of a 1N monopropellant thruster in FY 14 and FY15. Following successful completion of the preliminary campaign, changes to the test stand to accommodate propellant conditioning capability and better control of propellant operations was incorporated to make testing more streamlined. The goal is to conduct hot-fire testing with warm and cold propellants using the existing feed system and original thruster design. Following the 1N testing, a NASA owned 100 mN thruster will be hot-fire tested in the same facility to show feasibility of scaling to smaller thrusters for cubesat applications. The end goal is to conduct a hot-fire test of an integrated cubesat propulsion system using an SLM printed propellant tank, an MSFC designed propulsion system electronic controller and the 100 mN thruster. In addition to the AF-M315E testing, MSFC is pursuing hot-fire testing with LMP-103S. Following our successful hot-fire testing of the 22N thruster in April 2015, a test campaign was proposed for a 440N LMP-103S thruster with Orbital ATK and Plasma Processes. This activity was funded through the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) ACO funding call in the last quarter of CY15. Under the same funding source a test activity with Busek and Glenn Research Center for testing of 5N AF-M315E thrusters was proposed and awarded. Both activities are in-work with expected completion of hot-fire testing by the end of FY17. MSFC is continuing to coordinate with the AF and academia on understanding the chemical reactions that occur in AF-M315E. An on-going investigation of the catalyst bed species using Raman Spectroscopy through the NASA Technology Research Fellowship Program (NSTRF) is looking for ways to minimize the amount of computation required by understanding the intermediate species created in the catalyst bed. The MSFC team is also working with commercial partners through Cooperative Agreement Notices (CAN's). Partnerships with commercial and academia include work in non-catalytic ignition of AF-M315, spark ignition of hybrid cubesat systems, printed SLM tanks, and dual-mode (electric and chemical) propulsion systems is continuing.