Results for “recyclable packaging” — Page 2

NASA NTRS2026

Updates and Modernization of NASA’s Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) Code

NASA’s Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) code is a foundational tool for propulsion system analysis. It provides equilibrium chemistry, rocket performance, shock, and detonation calculations used across NASA and the broader aerospace community. NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Activity TI-22-01730 modernized the legacy CEA2 Fortran code into CEA v3, a Fortran 2008, object-oriented software package with expanded interface support, updated thermochemical data, improved maintainability, and substantially improved workflow integration. The modernized code preserves backward compatibility with legacy CEA input workflows while enabling direct use from modern analysis environments, including Python, C, MATLAB, and automated design studies.

Mark K Leader↗

NASA NTRS2019

Safe, High Power / Voltage Battery Design Challenges

NASA seeks safe, high performing battery module designs that can deliver 3C discharge rates continuously, achieve 160 Wh/kg, and is passively propagation resistant to a single cell thermal runaway event. One solution is presented that uses a patented oscillating heat pipe technology for thermal management. Combined with light weight packaging and a new commercially available gas permeable vent port, all 5 preliminary safety tests results performed to date are showing ample margins.

High power↗

NASA NTRS1997

New Developments in Nickel-Hydrogen Dependent Pressure Vessel (DPV) Cell and Battery Design

THe Dependent Pressure Vessel (DPV) Nickel-Hydrogen (NiH2) design is being developed as an advanced battery for military and commercial, aerospace and terrestrial applications. The DPV cell design offers high specific energy and energy density as well as reduced cost, while retaining the established Individual Pressure Vessel (IPV) technology flight heritage and database. This advanced DPV design also offers a more efficient mechanical, electrical and thermal cell and battery configuration and a reduced part count. The DPV battery design promotes compact, minimum volume packaging and weight efficiency, and delivers cost and weight savings with minimal design risk.

Caldwell, Dwight B.↗

NASA NTRS2026

Updates and Modernization of the Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) Code

NASA’s Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) code is a foundational tool for propulsion system analysis. It provides equilibrium chemistry, rocket performance, shock, and detonation calculations used across NASA and the broader aerospace community. NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Activity TI-22-01730 modernized the legacy CEA2 Fortran code into CEA v3, a Fortran 2008, object-oriented software package with expanded interface support, updated thermochemical data, improved maintainability, and substantially improved workflow integration. The modernized code preserves backward compatibility with legacy CEA input workflows while enabling direct use from modern analysis environments, including Python, C, MATLAB, and automated design studies.

Combustion↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

SR-1 Freedom Thermal Architecture Challenges

The SR-1 Freedom mission aims to demonstrate nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) and deliver the Skyfall helicopter payload to Mars. Repurposing the existing Gateway Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) spacecraft and combining it with a 20 kWe-class nuclear power module (NPM) presents a variety of thermal architecture challenges. These include unprecedented waste heat rejection requirements, integration with a spacecraft bus originally designed for a different mission profile, and novel packaging constraints. This presentation will describe the simplified concept of operations as it relates to on-orbit thermal environments, early-phase architecture trades and supporting analyses, and planned forward work. We will also discuss our strategy for integrated thermal modeling of the complete spacecraft and examples of interface challenges necessitated by this ambitious effort.

Thermal↗

NASA NTRS1973

Mariner Mars 1971 battery design, test, and flight performance

The design, integration, fabrication, test results, and flight performance of the battery system for the Mariner Mars spacecraft launched in May 1971 are presented. The battery consists of 26 20-Ah hermetically sealed nickel-cadmium cells housed in a machined magnesium chassis. The battery package weighs 29.5 kg and is unique in that the chassis also serves as part of the spacecraft structure. Active thermal control is accomplished by louvers mounted to the battery baseplate. Battery charge is accomplished by C/10 and C/30 constant current chargers. The switch from the high-rate to low-rate charge is automatic, based on terminal voltage. Additional control is possible by ground command or onboard computer. The performance data from the flight battery is compared to the data from various battery tests in the laboratory. Flight battery data was predictable based on ground test data.

Bogner, R. S.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Battery selection for space experiments

This paper will delineate the criteria required for the selection of batteries as a power source for space experiments. Four basic types of batteries will be explored, lead acid, silver zinc, alkaline manganese and nickel cadmium. A detailed description of the lead acid and silver zinc cells while a brief exploration of the alkaline manganese and nickel cadmium will be given. The factors involved in battery selection such as packaging, energy density, discharge voltage regulation, and cost will be thoroughly examined. The pros and cons of each battery type will be explored. Actual laboratory test data acquired for the lead acid and silver zinc cell will be discussed. This data will include discharging under various temperature conditions, after three months of storage and with different types of loads. A description of the required maintenance for each type of battery will be investigated. The lifetime and number of charge/discharge cycles will be discussed.

Francisco, David R.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Bosch Carbon Catalyst Regeneration in Water I: Bosch Carbon Removal from Reacted Beads Utilizing Mechanical Agitation

The ability to recover oxygen from metabolic carbon dioxide is crucial for crewed long duration missions in which the atmosphere must be recycled. Two physiochemical methods are primarily employed for this purpose: the Bosch process and the Sabatier reaction. This paper focuses on the Bosch process. It utilizes hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to form water and solid carbon out of metabolic carbon dioxide. The solid carbon product deposits onto the catalyst and eventually causes reactor over pressurization issues. Multiple methods are currently being investigated to regenerate the catalyst’s surface and break up the pressure causing carbon clogs. This paper explores whether water and mechanical abrasion would work to remove Bosch carbon by testing multiple washing conditions. The different washing conditions involved agitation intensity, heating, duration, and volume of water. It was found that it is possible to break up the clumps of carbon formed in the reactor through agitation with room temperature water in one hour and shows promise for completely cleaning the carbon off the beads’ surface.

Agitation↗

NASA NTRS1995

Hubble Space Telescope nickel-hydrogen battery testing: An update

The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) began testing the HST Ni-H2 Six Battery Test and the 'Flight Spare Battery' Tests approximately one year before the launch of the HST. These tests are operated and reported on by the MSFC, but are managed and funded by Goddard Space Flight Center in direct support of the HST program. The HST Ni-H2 batteries are built from Eagle Picher RNH-90-3 cells. The HST EPS (electrical power system) is a direct energy transfer power system. The HST Ni-H2 Six Battery Test is a breadboard of the HST EPS. The batteries in the test are composed of test module cells and packaged into three battery modules identical to the flight modules. This test is the HST EPS testbed. The 'Flight Spare Battery' Test is a simulation of one of the six battery channels on the HST. The cells in the test are from the flight spare lot of cells, which are the same lot of cells that three of the six HST flight batteries are made from. This test is the battery life test for the HST program.

Whitt, Thomas H.↗

NASA NTRS2026

Parabolic Deformable Mirror Project Development and Device Characterization

Existing state-of-the-art wavefront sensing and control setups for the imaging of exoplanets utilize two high-actuator count flat deformable mirrors (DMs) to control both phase and amplitude aberrations. One of the objectives of the Exoplanet Spectroscopy (ExoSpec) project at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is to improve upon this regime through the development of parabolic deformable mirrors (PDMs), which can address several of the key limitations in existing setups. Specifically, the need for flat DMs to be located in conjugate pupil planes drives unique packaging challenges that can be overcome by allowing the off-axis imaging elements to be controllable as well. In addition, simulations show that the use of deformable powered elements will increase the overall controllable bandwidth, up to 35% over 5-12 lambda/D. To pursue this effort, the ExoSpec group has begun testing a first-generation parabolic DM, which is already informing a second generation design. This paper will provide a comprehensive update on its characterization, including influence function measurements, linearity analysis, closed-loop wavefront control performance, and thermal stability assessment.

spectroscopy↗

NASA NTRS1977

The standard 20 AH battery

The modular power system, which is the first intended use for the NASA standard battery, is basically a four foot by four foot by eighteen inch box which can handle a complement of three 20 ampere hour batteries or later on the intended use is for three 50 ampere hour batteries to be the full complement. The system is designed to be used as a plug on component on a multi mission modular spacecraft. It has as a design point a basically 1250 watt orbital average load. The way it breaks up in a near earth orbit it would be somewhere around 1,000 watts for everything except 10 minutes, and during any 10 minute period it may go up to a peak of 3,000 watt load. Features of the battery reviewed include criteria to store electrical energy, the battery package, the covers and cases, and electrolytes. The capacities expected are 90 percent, the average cell capacity for 24 C, 90 percent of the actual battery capacity of 19 C, and 85 percent of the actual 25 degree battery capacity at zero discharge voltage for 50 percent DOD new battery is in the vicinity expected or predicted of 26.4 volts.

Zollner, M. T.↗

NASA NTRS2026

Evaluation of AMSOIL® -ANT PGW Coolant Formula Change and Super Space AMSOIL Development

AMSOIL ® Propylene Glycol Water (PGW), is the baselined internal thermal control fluid for multiple manned spacecraft including Gateway (HALO, IHAB, and ALM modules) and Orion. The use of AMSOIL-ANT PGW was originally validated through extensive NASA/Collins materials-compatibility testing (circa 2008–2015). However, in late 2019, AMSOIL implemented an unannounced change in its PG inhibitor package. Because of this reformulation, concerns around materials compatibility arose. Therefore, NASA initiated corrosion rate and coolant stability testing in 2024. Results showed that the reformulated AMSOIL PG produced substantially elevated corrosion rates in aluminum alloys (about two times when compared to the original AMSOIL PG formula) accompanied by visible surface degradation. Coolant stability testing indicated accelerated propylene-glycol breakdown as well, with glycolate levels about nine times higher than the original formulation. Based on these findings, NASA Materials & Processes and Thermal Control Systems groups have baselined the use of the original PGW chemistry for all spacecraft use. In response, AMSOIL produced a reformulated variant, “Super Space AMSOIL” (ANT-SSA), compliant with MPCV 70156.This paper documents the reformulation testing completed, details on the formulation change, and the development of Super Space AMSOIL.

Woody Beringer↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluation of AMSOIL ® -ANT PGW Coolant Formula Change and Super Space AMSOIL ® Development

AMSOIL ® Propylene Glycol Water (PGW), is the baselined internal thermal control fluid for multiple manned spacecraft including Gateway (HALO, IHAB, and ALM modules) and Orion. The use of AMSOIL-ANT PGW was originally validated through extensive NASA/Collins materials-compatibility testing (circa 2008–2015). However, in late 2019, AMSOIL implemented an unannounced change in its PG inhibitor package. Because of this reformulation, concerns around materials compatibility arose. Therefore, NASA initiated corrosion rate and coolant stability testing in 2024. Results showed that the reformulated AMSOIL PG produced substantially elevated corrosion rates in aluminum alloys (about two times when compared to the original AMSOIL PG formula) accompanied by visible surface degradation. Coolant stability testing indicated accelerated propylene-glycol breakdown as well, with glycolate levels about nine times higher than the original formulation. Based on these findings, NASA Materials & Processes and Thermal Control Systems groups have baselined the use of the original PGW chemistry for all spacecraft use. In response, AMSOIL produced a reformulated variant, “Super Space AMSOIL” (ANT-SSA), compliant with MPCV 70156.This paper documents the reformulation testing completed, details on the formulation change, and the development of Super Space AMSOIL.

David Brockett↗

NASA NTRS1993

Research and development of high thermal stability fuels

Increases in aircraft performance are leading to increases in the thermal stress on the primary aircraft coolant--the fuel. Fuel thermal stability limitations may offset future aircraft performance gains. The Air Force's Wright Laboratory is sponsoring several research programs to address this problem. The development of an additive package for JP-8 to improve its thermal stability is the primary focus of this paper. This program involves extensive testing of fuels and additives in a variety of test devices, culminating in tests in a fuel system simulator and engine tests. These tests involve Air Force personnel, on-site contractors (University of Dayton Research Institute, Systems Research Laboratories), Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Co., additive manufacturers, and Sandia National Laboratory. The test devices include several flowing and static tests, where the behavior of a fuel is investigated in a wide variety of environments. The study of several baseline fuels in these devices has led to some new insights into the mechanisms of fuel thermal (in)stability. It is becoming clear that a fuel's tendency to oxidize (to form peroxides, for example) is often inversely proportional to its tendency to form insoluble deposits.

T Edwards↗

NASA NTRS2026

Ultrasonic Washer–Dryer System for Space Habitats: Design Upgrades and Parabolic Flight Readiness

Clothing makes up nearly 25% of all non-food supplies sent to the International Space Station (ISS). To support sustainable human missions in deep space, NASA’s Life Support and Habitation Systems Focus Area looks to advance technologies to support and improve logistics. Our team is creating a compact ultrasonic clothing washer/dryer system that bypasses traditional limitations and is suitable for space. Thermal drying uses a lot of energy to evaporate water, while our ultrasonic drying method offers a quicker, more efficient alternative. It uses piezoelectric transducers to vibrate textiles at the micron scale, mechanically removing water as cold mist rather than evaporating it. This speeds up drying and reduces energy use, no matter the fabric makeup. This paper details recent upgrades to a full-scale ultrasonic washer–dryer system, readying it for parabolic flight testing. Improvements include an enhanced human–machine interface, better packaging, and optimized performance and control. We also present extensive pre-flight ground tests conducted to ensure reliability and identify potential risks. Collaborating with P&G, we report preliminary cleaning tests using various detergents. These results lay a crucial foundation for the laundry system designed specifically for space. By cutting clothing-related payload and waste by over 97%, this technology supports long-term human exploration missions on the ISS, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Laundry↗

NASA NTRS2026

Electromagnetic Melt Processing: A Pathway to New Additive Manufacturing Technologies for Functional High-Performance Thermoplastics

In this study, we apply the electromagnetic (EM) melt processing of thermoplastics on an innovative EM field-driven powder bed fusion additive manufacturing (AM) concept for high-performance functional parts: Selective Microwave Melting/Sintering (SMM/SMS). This technique leverages the EM susceptibility of carbon nanotube-coated polymer micro-pellets to achieve rapid, localized heating and powder fusion. Thus, selective microwave melting (SMM) was used to fabricate multilayer specimens made of recycled polyphenylene sulfide (rPPS) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The resulting SMM specimens exhibited very good interlayer integrity, localized fusion at pellet boundaries, and tolerable residual porosity, indicating effective fusion and acceptable consolidation. CNT-rich interphases were retained after irradiation, generating anisotropic electrically active network pathways and enabling conductivity enhancement at low filler content. At only 1.0 wt% CNT, the specimens exhibited electrical conductivity approximately three orders of magnitude higher than neat rPPS. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed improved viscoelastic response relative to neat rPPS, while tensile testing confirmed that the SMM-processed specimens retained practical mechanical integrity despite localized voids. These results demonstrate that SMM can effectively consolidate EM susceptible thermoplastic powder beds while preserving their segregated conductive networks. This may become a scalable route for producing multifunctional thermoplastic parts with low filler loadings, tunable anisotropy, and structured materials and parts. Overall, the findings suggest that EM field-based AM can help overcome key limitations of conventional thermoplastic processing by enabling scalable, energy-efficient fabrication of nanostructured composites and expanding AM to a broader range of resins, including high-performance thermoplastics with customized functional properties.

Powder bed fusion↗

NASA NTRS2026

Ultrasonic Washer–Dryer System for Space Habitats: Design Upgrades and Parabolic Flight Readiness

Clothing makes up nearly 25% of all non-food supplies sent to the International Space Station (ISS). To support sustainable human missions in deep space, NASA’s Life Support and Habitation Systems Focus Area looks to advance technologies to support and improve logistics. Our team is creating a compact ultrasonic clothing washer/dryer system that bypasses traditional limitations and is suitable for space. Thermal drying uses a lot of energy to evaporate water, while our ultrasonic drying method offers a quicker, more efficient alternative. It uses piezoelectric transducers to vibrate textiles at the micron scale, mechanically removing water as cold mist rather than evaporating it. This speeds up drying and reduces energy use, no matter the fabric makeup. This paper details recent upgrades to a full-scale ultrasonic washer–dryer system, readying it for parabolic flight testing. Improvements include an enhanced human–machine interface, better packaging, and optimized performance and control. We also present extensive pre-flight ground tests conducted to ensure reliability and identify potential risks. Collaborating with P&G, we report preliminary cleaning tests using various detergents. These results lay a crucial foundation for the laundry system designed specifically for space. By cutting clothing-related payload and waste by over 97%, this technology supports long-term human exploration missions on the ISS, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Ultrasonic↗

NASA NTRS1997

The Role of Tribology in the Development of an Oil-Free Turbocharger

Gas-turbine-based aeropropulsion engines are technologically mature. Thus, as with any mature technology, revolutionary approaches will be needed to achieve the significant performance gains that will keep the U.S. propulsion manufacturers well ahead of foreign competition. One such approach is the development of oil-free turbomachinery utilizing advanced foil air bearings, seals, and solid lubricants. By eliminating oil-lubricated bearings and seals and supporting an engine rotor on an air film, significant improvements can be realized. For example, the entire oil system including pipes, lines, filters, cooler, and tanks could be removed, thereby saving considerable weight. Since air has no thermal decomposition temperature, engine systems could operate without excessive cooling. Also, since air bearings have no diameter-rpm fatigue limits (D-N limits), engines could be designed to operate at much higher speeds and higher density, which would result in a smaller aeropropulsion package. Because of recent advances in compliant foil air bearings and high temperature solid lubricants, these technologies can be applied to oil-free turbomachinery. In an effort to develop these technologies and to demonstrate a project along the path to an oil-free gas turbine engine, NASA has undertaken the development of an oil-free turbocharger for a heavy duty diesel engine. This turbomachine can reach 120000 rpm at a bearing temperature of 540 C (1000 F) and, in comparison to oil-lubricated bearings, can increase efficiency by 10 to 15 percent because of reduced friction. In addition, because there are no oil lubricants, there are no seal-leakage-induced emissions.

Christopher Dellacorte↗