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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 37 records · Page 2

Inspection of the Math Model Tools for On-Orbit Assessment of Impact Damage Report

In Spring of 2005, the NASA Engineering Safety Center (NESC) was engaged by the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) to peer review the suite of analytical tools being developed to support the determination of impact and damage tolerance of the Orbiter Thermal Protection Systems (TPS). The NESC formed an independent review team with the core disciplines of materials, flight sciences, structures, mechanical analysis and thermal analysis. The Math Model Tools reviewed included damage prediction and stress analysis, aeroheating analysis, and thermal analysis tools. Some tools are physics-based and other tools are empirically-derived. Each tool was created for a specific use and timeframe, including certification, real-time pre-launch assessments, and real-time on-orbit assessments. The tools are used together in an integrated strategy for assessing the ramifications of impact damage to tile and RCC. The NESC teams conducted a peer review of the engineering data package for each Math Model Tool. This report contains the summary of the team observations and recommendations from these reviews.

Harris, Charles E.↗

Inspection of the Math Model Tools for On-Orbit Assessment of Impact Damage Report

In Spring of 2005, the NASA Engineering Safety Center (NESC) was engaged by the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) to peer review the suite of analytical tools being developed to support the determination of impact and damage tolerance of the Orbiter Thermal Protection Systems (TPS). The NESC formed an independent review team with the core disciplines of materials, flight sciences, structures, mechanical analysis and thermal analysis. The Math Model Tools reviewed included damage prediction and stress analysis, aeroheating analysis, and thermal analysis tools. Some tools are physics-based and other tools are empirically-derived. Each tool was created for a specific use and timeframe, including certification, real-time pre-launch assessments. In addition, the tools are used together in an integrated strategy for assessing the ramifications of impact damage to tile and RCC. The NESC teams conducted a peer review of the engineering data package for each Math Model Tool. This report contains the summary of the team observations and recommendations from these reviews.

Harris, Charles E.↗

Computational Materials Program for Alloy Design

The research program sponsored by this grant, "Computational Materials Program for Alloy Design", covers a period of time of enormous change in the emerging field of computational materials science. The computational materials program started with the development of the BFS method for alloys, a quantum approximate method for atomistic analysis of alloys specifically tailored to effectively deal with the current challenges in the area of atomistic modeling and to support modern experimental programs. During the grant period, the program benefited from steady growth which, as detailed below, far exceeds its original set of goals and objectives. Not surprisingly, by the end of this grant, the methodology and the computational materials program became an established force in the materials communitiy, with substantial impact in several areas. Major achievements during the duration of the grant include the completion of a Level 1 Milestone for the HITEMP program at NASA Glenn, consisting of the planning, development and organization of an international conference held at the Ohio Aerospace Institute in August of 2002, finalizing a period of rapid insertion of the methodology in the research community worlwide. The conference, attended by citizens of 17 countries representing various fields of the research community, resulted in a special issue of the leading journal in the area of applied surface science. Another element of the Level 1 Milestone was the presentation of the first version of the Alloy Design Workbench software package, currently known as "adwTools". This software package constitutes the first PC-based piece of software for atomistic simulations for both solid alloys and surfaces in the market.Dissemination of results and insertion in the materials community worldwide was a primary focus during this period. As a result, the P.I. was responsible for presenting 37 contributed talks, 19 invited talks, and publishing 71 articles in peer-reviewed journals, as detailed later in this Report.

Bozzolo, Guillermo↗

Report on the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter Mission : JPL special review board

The Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) was launched on December 11, 1998. The MCO was to arrive at Mars and begin orbit insertion on September 23, 1999. The Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) burn, a 16-minute maneuver to slow the spacecraft and enable capture into an orbit around Mars, began on schedule. Five minutes into the maneuver, and approximately 49 seconds before the anticipated time for loss of communication, the MCO was occulted by Mars. Thereafter, no contact with the spacecraft could be established. On September 24, 1999, an internal JPL team (the MCO Peer Review Team) was appointed to help investigate the reason for the loss of spacecraft signal. The Peer Review Team's findings are presented in this report.

Mars Climate Orbiter↗

Theoretical Modeling and Computer Simulations for the Origins and Evolution of Reproducing Molecular Systems and Complex Systems with Many Interactive Parts

Our research effort has produced nine publications in peer-reviewed journals listed at the end of this report. The work reported here are in the following areas: (1) genetic network modeling; (2) autocatalytic model of pre-biotic evolution; (3) theoretical and computational studies of strongly correlated electron systems; (4) reducing thermal oscillations in atomic force microscope; (5) transcription termination mechanism in prokaryotic cells; and (6) the low glutamine usage in thennophiles obtained by studying completely sequenced genomes. We discuss the main accomplishments of these publications.

Liang, Shoudan↗

Microinvertebrates in CELSS Hydroponic Rhizosphere: Experimental Invasion as a Test of Community Stability and a Test of a Method to Measure Bacterivory

This report consists of two separate draft manuscripts, each prepared for submittal to a peer-reviewed journal after Kennedy Space Center (KSC) colleague editorial review and final revision. References for the two papers have been combined in this report. The two manuscripts are: (1) Experimental invasion of aquatic rhizosphere habitat and invertebrate communities, and (2) Lysozyme analysis is neither protistan- or bacteriore-specific.

Sager, John↗

Present state of knowledge of the upper atmosphere: An assessment report; processes that control ozone and other climatically important trace gases

The state of knowledge of the upper atmosphere was assessed as of January 1986. The physical, chemical, and radiative processes which control the spatial and temporal distribution of ozone in the atmosphere; the predicted magnitude of ozone perturbations and climate changes for a variety of trace gas scenarios; and the ozone and temperature data used to detect the presence or absence of a long term trend were discussed. This assessment report was written by a small group of NASA scientists, was peer reviewed, and is based primarily on the comprehensive international assessment document entitled Atmospheric Ozone 1985: Assessment of Our Understanding of the Processes Controlling Its Present Distribution and Change, to be published as the World Meteorological Organization Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project Report No. 16.

Watson, R. T.↗

Burning Embers: Towards More Transparent and Robust Climate-change Risk Assessments

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports provide policy-relevant insights about climate impacts, vulnerabilities and adaptation through a process of peer-reviewed literature assessments underpinned by expert judgement. An iconic output from these assessments is the burning embers diagram, first used in the Third Assessment Report to visualize reasons for concern, which aggregate climate-change-related impacts and risks to various systems and sectors. These burning embers use colour transitions to show changes in the assessed level of risk to humans and ecosystems as a function of global mean temperature. In this Review, we outline the history and evolution of the burning embers and associated reasons for concern framework, focusing on the methodological approaches and advances. While the assessment framework and figure design have been broadly retained over time, refinements in methodology have occurred, including the consideration of different risks, use of confidence statements, more formalized protocols and standardized metrics. Comparison across reports reveals that the risk level at a given temperature has generally increased with each assessment cycle, reflecting accumulating scientific evidence. For future assessments, an explicit, transparent and systematic process of expert elicitation is needed to enhance comparability, quality and credibility of burning embers.

burning embers diagram↗

Synthesis Report of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)

This Synthesis Report (SYR) of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) summarises the state of knowledge of climate change, its widespread impacts and risks, and climate change mitigation and adaptation, based on the peer-reviewed scientific, technical and socio-economic literature since the publication of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in 2014. he assessment is undertaken within the context of the evolving international landscape, in particular, developments in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, including the outcomes of the Kyoto Protocol and the adoption of the Paris Agreement. It reflects the increasing diversity of those involved in climate action. This report integrates the main findings of the AR6 Working Group reports and the three AR6 Special Reports. It recognizes the interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies; the value of diverse forms of knowledge; and the close linkages between climate change adaptation, mitigation, ecosystem health, human well-being and sustainable development. Building on multiple analytical frameworks, including those from the physical and social sciences, this report identifies opportunities for transformative action which are effective, feasible, just and equitable using concepts of systems transitions and resilient development pathways. Different regional classification schemes4 are used for physical, social and economic aspects, reflecting the underlying literature.

climate impacts↗

Monitoring Change in Temperate Coniferous Forest Ecosystems

The primary goal of this research was to improve monitoring of temperate forest change using remote sensing. In this context, change includes both clearing of forest due to effects such as fire, logging, or land conversion and forest growth and succession. The Landsat 7 ETM+ proved an extremely valuable research tool in this domain. The Landsat 7 program has generated an extremely valuable transformation in the land remote sensing community by making high quality images available for relatively low cost. In addition, the tremendous improvements in the acquisition strategy greatly improved the overall availability of remote sensing images. I believe that from an historical prespective, the Landsat 7 mission will be considered extremely important as the improved image availability will stimulate the use of multitemporal imagery at resolutions useful for local to regional mapping. Also, Landsat 7 has opened the way to global applications of remote sensing at spatial scales where important surface processes and change can be directly monitored. It has been a wonderful experience to have participated on the Landsat 7 Science Team. The research conducted under this project led to contributions in four general domains: I. Improved understanding of the information content of images as a function of spatial resolution; II. Monitoring Forest Change and Succession; III. Development and Integration of Advanced Analysis Methods; and IV. General support of the remote sensing of forests and environmental change. This report is organized according to these topics. This report does not attempt to provide the complete details of the research conducted with support from this grant. That level of detail is provided in the 16 peer reviewed journal articles, 7 book chapters and 5 conference proceedings papers published as part of this grant. This report attempts to explain how the various publications fit together to improve our understanding of how forests are changing and how to monitor forest change with remote sensing. There were no new inventions that resulted from this grant.

Williams, Darrel↗

Evolutionary Origin of Body Axis Segmentation in Annelids and Arthropods

During the period of this report, we have made a number of important discoveries. To date this work has led to 4 peer-reviewed publications in primary research journals plus 1 minireview and 1 chapter in the proceedings of a meeting. Publications resulting from this grant support are enumerated at the end of the report. Two additional, on-going studies also described. 1. Using laser cell ablation, we have obtained evidence that an annelid - the leech Helobdella robusta - patterns the anteroposterior (AP) polarity of its nascent segment primordia independent of cell interactions oriented along the AP axis. 2. We cloned a Helobdella homologue (hro-hh) of the Drosophila segment polarity gene hedgehog, and used in situ hybridization and northern blots to characterize its expression in the embryo. 3. We have used laser cell ablations to examine the possible role of cell interactions during the developmental patterning of the 4 rostralmost "head" segments of the leech Helobdella robusta.

Shankland, S. Martin↗

Surgical Capabilities for Exploration and Colonization Space Flight - An Exploration Symposium

Surgical capabilities in human space flight, whether on a space-based platform in low Earth orbit or on a long duration planetary exploration mission, will be challenging to conduct for a variety of reasons, some of which will be ameliorated by training, technology, and pre-flight planning. Nevertheless, inherent risks and challenges remain. Early space missions did not have any surgical capability. It was not until NASA's Skylab mission that serious consideration was given to this fundamental medical care capability. Over the past 30 years, subject matter experts have been brought together for discussion on the myriad of challenges and opportunities in this endeavor. The last such meeting was held in 2005 at the NASA Johnson Space Center. As we continue to move forward with human space flight activities for the International Space Station and beyond, the capabilities of information technology, robotics, sensors and imaging have rapidly changed since the last gathering of expertise. In December 2015, through sponsorship of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), a diverse group of individuals from government, academia, and industry representing three countries gathered at the NSBRI Space 4 Biomedicine facility in Houston, TX. This two day symposia included comprehensive sessions that addressed the challenges that we all face in developing, deploying, and utilizing surgical care capabilities in all human space missions, regardless of mission duration or profile. The symposium benefited from the knowledge and experience of three seasoned NASA physician astronauts, Drs. Jay Buckey, Thomas Marshburn, and Lee Morin. At the end of the first day, the assembled group heard from the crew members about their experiences and their ideas. It is clear that the discussion of surgical capabilities is part of the larger discussion of consideration of advanced healthcare, including critical care, on exploration space missions. This report represents the culmination of the symposium, capturing knowledge, experience, conceptual dialogue, and a narrative that can be used in supporting the development of future programs and potential policy. Each of the presentations that were provided by the guest speakers is included in the appendices. Those presentations that are not included were due to sensitivity of the material or at the request of the speaker. In addition, each speaker was offered an opportunity to provide comments in a 'lightning round' format. All of these comments and speaker abstracts also appear in the appendices. At the conclusion of the second day, a discussion was held that reviewed the priorities that perhaps add value to decision makers. These are also summarized. This report will serve as the final product of this symposium. Additional material may be produced for the peer-reviewed literature.

Doarn, Charles R.↗

2015 Occupant Protection Standing Review Panel

The 2015 Occupant Protection (OP) Risk Standing Review Panel (from here on referred to as the SRP) participated in a WebEx/teleconference with members of the Space Human Factors and Habitability (SHFH) Element, representatives from the Human Research Program (HRP), NASA Headquarters, and NASA Research and Education Support Services on November 3, 2015 (list of participants is in Section VII of this report). The SRP reviewed the updated research plans for the Risk of Injury from Dynamic Loads (OP Risk). The SRP agrees that the Gaps are relevant and appropriate to mitigate the injury risk. All the appropriate and relevant Tasks have been identified to fill the Gaps. Depending upon the findings, additional tasks may need to be identified or modified. Excellent progress has been made since the 2014 SRP meeting. Publications in peer-reviewed journals validate the scientific merit of the research findings. As detailed in this report, the SRP has specific comments, guidance, and information in the following areas: human finite element modeling, human vs. surrogate dynamic responses, chest injury risk curves, matched pair testing of Test device for Human Occupant Restraint (THOR) and Hybrid III, and disc herniation risk analysis.

Steinberg, Susan↗

Observational and numerical studies of extreme frontal scale contraction

The general objective of this effort is to increase understanding of how frontal scale contraction processes may create and sustain intense mesoscale precipitation along intensifying cold fronts. The five-part project (an expansion of the originally proposed two-part project) employed conventional meteorological data, special mesoscale data, remote sensing measurements, and various numerical models. First an idealized hydrostatic modeling study of the scale contraction effects of differential cloud cover on low-level frontal structure and dynamics was completed and published in a peer-reviewed journal. The second objective was to complete and publish the results from a three dimensional numerical model simulation of a cold front in which differential sensible heating related to cloud coverage patterns was apparently crucial in the formation of a severe frontal squall line. The third objective was to use a nonhydrostatic model to examine the nonlinear interactions between the transverse circulation arising from inhomogeneous cloud cover, the adiabatic frontal circulation related to semi-geostrophic forcing, and diabatic effects related to precipitation processes, in the development of a density current-like microstructure at the leading edge of cold fronts. Although the development of a frontal model that could be used to initialize such a primitive equation model was begun, we decided to focus our efforts instead on a project that could be successfully completed in this short time, due to the lack of prospects for continued NASA funding beyond this first year (our proposal was not accepted for future funding). Thus, a fourth task was added, which was to use the nonhydrostatic model to test tentative hypotheses developed from the most detailed observations ever obtained on a density current (primarily sodar and wind profiler data). These simulations were successfully completed, the findings were reported at a scientific conference, and the results have recently been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. The fifth objective was to complete the analysis of data collected during the Cooperative Oklahoma Profiler Studies (COPS-91) field project, which was supported by NASA. The analysis of the mesoscale surface and sounding data, Doppler radar imagery, and other remote sensing data from multi frequency wind profiler, microwave radiometer, and the Radio Acoustic Sounding System has been completed. This study is a unique investigation of processes that caused the contraction of a cold front to a microscale zone exhibiting an undular bore-like structure. Results were reported at a scientific conference and are being prepared for publication. In summary, considerable progress has been achieved under NASA funding in furthering our understanding of frontal scale contraction and density current - gravity wave interaction processes, and in utilizing models and remotely sensed data in such studies.

Koch, Steven E.↗

External Tank Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) Prepress Regression Analysis Independent Review Technical Consultation Report

The request to conduct an independent review of regression models, developed for determining the expected Launch Commit Criteria (LCC) External Tank (ET)-04 cycle count for the Space Shuttle ET tanking process, was submitted to the NASA Engineering and Safety Center NESC on September 20, 2005. The NESC team performed an independent review of regression models documented in Prepress Regression Analysis, Tom Clark and Angela Krenn, 10/27/05. This consultation consisted of a peer review by statistical experts of the proposed regression models provided in the Prepress Regression Analysis. This document is the consultation's final report.

Parsons, Vickie s.↗

NESC Peer Review of Exploration Systems Development (ESD) Integrated Vehicle Modal Test, Model Correlation, Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) and Flight Loads Readiness; Uncertainty Propagation for Model Validation Sub-task

This report details a sub-task (regarding Uncertainty Propagation for Model Validation) from a NASA Engineering and Safety Center assessment that is a multi-year activity spanning the complete development of the Space Launch System integrated vehicle structural dynamic models, and the development of the certification of flight readiness for the Artemis 1 and Artemis 2 vehicles and their variants.

Exploration Systems Development; Development Fligh↗