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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Application of CFS to a Lunar Rover: Resource Prospector (RP)

Resource Prospector (RP) is a lunar mission sponsored by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) division, that aims to study in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) feasibility and technologies on the surface of the moon. The RP mission's lunar surface segment includes a rover equipped with with a suite of instruments specifically designed to measure and map volatiles both at the surface and in the subsurface. Of particular interest is the quantity and state of volatiles in permanently shadowed regions. To conduct the mission, ground system operators will remotely drive the rover, directing it to waypoints along the surface in order to achieve measurement objectives. At selected locations, an onboard drill will be deployed to collect material and obtain direct measurements of the subsurface constituents. RP is currently planned for launch in 2022. RP is managed at NASA Ames Research Center. The RP Rover is being designed and developed by NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in partnership with NASA Ames. NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is responsible for the Honeybee drilling system and science payload. In order to better understand the technical challenges and demonstrate capability, in 2015 the RP project developed a rover testbed (known as RP15). In this mission in a year, a rover was designed, developed, and outfitted with science instruments and a drill. The rover was operated from a remote operations center, and operated in an outdoor lunar rock yard at Johnson space center. The study was a resounding success meeting all objectives. The RP Rover software architecture and development processes were based on the successful Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft. This architecture is built on the Core Flight System software and an interface to Matlab/Simulink auto-generated software components known as the Simulink Interface Layer (SIL). The application of this lunar satellite inspired framework worked well for the rover application, and is currently being planned for the mission. This presentation provides an overview of the architecture and processes, and describes some of the changes and challenges for the rover application.

RP↗
NASA NTRS1993

Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Silicon Carbide

Large single-crystal SiC boules from which wafers of large area cut now being produced commerically. Availability of wafers opens door for development of SiC semiconductor devices. Recently developed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process produces thin single-crystal SiC films on SiC wafers. Essential step in sequence of steps used to fabricate semiconductor devices. Further development required for specific devices. Some potential high-temperature applications include sensors and control electronics for advanced turbine engines and automobile engines, power electronics for electromechanical actuators for advanced aircraft and for space power systems, and equipment used in drilling of deep wells. High-frequency applications include communication systems, high-speed computers, and microwave power transistors. High-radiation applications include sensors and controls for nuclear reactors.

Powell, J. Anthony↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lunar Explorer Instrument for space biology Applications (LEIA): An overview of planned science concept of operations

Radiation and reduced gravity pose biological risks to crewed deep space exploration. To better understand deep space radiation biology, the LEIA mission will measure charged particles and fast neutrons as well as yeast growth, metabolic rate, and bioengineered production of carotenoids at the lunar surface. LEIA will be delivered to the south polar region of the Moon by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The LEIA science concept of operations was developed to isolate radiation and partial gravity from other environmental conditions experienced by the payload. Due to CLPS integration requirements, there will be at least eight months from loading yeast into the payload until activation on the lunar surface. Replicate yeast strains will be loaded in a randomized complete block design to minimize batch differences in desiccation tolerance and positional effects in the microfluidics culture system. Temperature and relative humidity will be controlled throughout integration and flight to maintain yeast viability and to enable measurement of yeast growth parameters within the lunar surface operations timeframe, with the ground control matching environmental conditions where possible. LEIA is co-manifested with the European Space Agency’s PROSPECT mission, which will be operating a drill during yeast growth. Vibration translated through the lunar lander will be mitigated and quantified to account for potential impacts on LEIA optical measurements and yeast growth rate. Total space radiation dose, including the transit exposure from Earth to the Moon, will be measured to obtain more accurate charged particle and fast neutron dose rates on the lunar surface. These radiation data will also yield ground truth radiation dose experienced by the yeast during the mission. Quantifying these environmental factors impacting the LEIA payload will allow more accurate ground control experiments to better isolate the biological responses to radiation and reduced gravity at the lunar surface.

Lunar Surface Mission↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Cohesive Deep Drilling Field Strategy for LSST Cosmology

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will image billions of astronomical objects in the wide–fast–deep primary survey and in a set of minisurveys including intensive observations of a group of deep drilling fields (DDFs). The DDFs are a critical piece of three key aspects of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) cosmological measurements: they provide a required calibration for photometric redshifts (photo- z ) and weak gravitational lensing (WL) measurements and they directly contribute to cosmological constraints from the most distant Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). We present a set of cohesive DDF strategies fulfilling science requirements relevant to DESC and following the guidelines of the Survey Cadence Optimization Committee. We propose a method to estimate the observing strategy parameters and we perform simulations of the corresponding surveys. We define a set of metrics for each science case to assess the performance of the proposed observing strategies. We show that the most promising results are achieved with deep rolling surveys characterized by two sets of fields: ultradeep fields ( z ≲ 1.1) observed at a high cadence with a large number of visits over a limited number of seasons, and deep fields ( z ≲ 0.7), observed with a cadence of ~3 nights for 10 yr. These encouraging results should be confirmed with realistic simulations using the LSST scheduler. A DDF budget of ~8.5% is required to design observing strategies satisfying all the cosmological requirements. A lower DDF budget leads to surveys that either do not fulfill the photo- z /WL requirements or are not optimal for SN Ia cosmology.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1984

Agglutinates as recorders of regolith evolution - Application to the Apollo 17 drill core

Chemical data are reported for agglutinates from 26 depth intervals of the Apollo 17 deep drill core, and the compositions of the agglutinates are compared with those of the soils in which they occur. The agglutinate sequence suggests a scenario in which several closely-spaced depositional events were involved in the formation of the drill core, rather than a continuous accumulation process.

Laul, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Planetary rock corer and drill concepts

Several planetary rock corers and drill design concepts have been developed for obtaining subsurface rock samples in future planetary explorations. Tools are designed for unmanned space vehicles. Two devices are rotary impact multiple chisel trepan rock corer and hole drilling tool.

Imus, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Simulating Vibrations in a Complex Loaded Structure

The Dynamic Response Computation (DIRECT) computer program simulates vibrations induced in a complex structure by applied dynamic loads. Developed to enable rapid analysis of launch- and landing- induced vibrations and stresses in a space shuttle, DIRECT also can be used to analyze dynamic responses of other structures - for example, the response of a building to an earthquake, or the response of an oil-drilling platform and attached tanks to large ocean waves. For a space-shuttle simulation, the required input to DIRECT includes mathematical models of the space shuttle and its payloads, and a set of forcing functions that simulates launch and landing loads. DIRECT can accommodate multiple levels of payload attachment and substructure as well as nonlinear dynamic responses of structural interfaces. DIRECT combines the shuttle and payload models into a single structural model, to which the forcing functions are then applied. The resulting equations of motion are reduced to an optimum set and decoupled into a unique format for simulating dynamics. During the simulation, maximum vibrations, loads, and stresses are monitored and recorded for subsequent analysis to identify structural deficiencies in the shuttle and/or payloads.

Cao, Tim T.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Vacuum Sealable Container (VSC) and Astronaut Lunar Drill (ALD) for Artemis

Introduction: NASA’s Artemis Program is under development to send first woman and next man to the Moon. Artemis will utilize a suite of new technology for Lunar exploration, including new space vehicles, new space suits, and new Astronaut Tools. Honeybee Robotics has been working with NASA JSC to develop a new Vacuum Sealable Container (VSC) and new Astronaut Lunar Drill (ALD) for the upcoming Artemis missions. Vacuum Sealable Container: Sample return continues to be the “Holy Grail” of space exploration, allowing for the analysis of materials using Earth-based laboratories instead of needing to miniaturize and ruggedize instrumentation for space. The Apollo missions to the Moon had several kinds of Sealable Containers which brought back Lunar samples for analysis [1]. These samples are still being analyzed, fifty years later. The VSC requirements are different from that for Apollo containers and as such, new development was required. One major difference between Artemis samples and those from Apollo is the desire to bring back volatiles which may be part of lunar regolith. The VSC is designed to withstand a high-pressure differential caused by sublimating volatiles. Because of the new, stricter sealing requirements, additional features have been added to the VSC. For example, the seal on the container is required to be more robust, thus required more force to actuate, and the seal must be locked in place with a secondary mechanism. Astronaut Lunar Drill: The ALD is designed to be a multi-functional platform for Lunar sample acquisition. The drill builds on lessons learned from the Apollo Lunar Surface Drill (ALSD), as well as Honeybee’s long history of mechanized sample acquisition devices for space [2]. The main functionality of the ALD is Deep Core Regolith Drilling. Additional functionality includes Surface Rock Coring (SRC), and GeoTech Tools (GTT). The ALD is a rotary-percussive drill designed with deep drilling in mind. The ALD is currently designed to have decoupled rotary and percussion subsystems to allow for maximum battery life and reduced fatigue on the crewmember. Honeybee drill technology will automatically engage the percussion when needed to drill at maximum efficiency. The mechanized drill stand helps improve drilling efficiency; the system utilizes advanced drilling algorithms which only require the crewmember to hold a single switch. Additionally, the stand aids in extraction of deep cores, something which was a problem on Apollo. The SRC functionality of the ALD utilizes Honeybee’s Eccentric Tube Core Breakoff technology to collect and retain rock core samples. This technology has also been infused into the Perseverance rover mission. The ALD is removable from the stand to allow crewmembers to collect samples from large boulders. Bringing back rock cores samples instead of full rocks allows for a wider variety of samples to be returned to Earth for study and puts them in a uniform form-factor for effective sealing and analysis. SRC bits will utilize the power of the drill’s percussion system to drill hard Lunar rocks and expedite sample acquisition. The mechanized stand on the ALD allows for additional attachments for taking geotechnical measurements with a Static Cone Penetrometer (SCP) and a Shear Vane (SV). With the stand, the ALD can take SCP measurements with the touch of a button, storing data for return to Earth. SV measurements utilize the ALD’s Rotary motor to spin the vanes in a controlled manner, getting clean data untampered by human error. References: [1] Bar Cohen and Zacny (2009), Drilling in Extreme Environments - Penetration and Sampling on Earth and Other Planets, Wiley. [2] Bar-Cohen and Zacny, Advances in Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Drilling, CRC Press. [3] Myrick (2003), Core Break-off Mechanism. US Patent No. 6,550,549 Acknowledgements: This work has been supported by NASA via SBIR Phase 3.

Artemis↗
NASA NTRS2018

Risk Management at NASA and Its Applicability to the Oil and Gas Industry

NASA has a world-class capability for quantitatively assessing the risk of highly-complex, isolated engineering structures operated in extremely hostile environments. In particular, the International Space Station (ISS) represents a reasonable risk analog for High Pressure, High Temperature drilling and production operations on deepwater rigs. Through a long-term U.S. Government Interagency Agreement, BSEE has partnered with NASA to modify NASA's Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) capabilities for application to deepwater drilling and production operations. The immediate focus of the activity will be to modify NASA PRA Procedure Guides and Methodology Documents to make them applicable to the Oil &Gas Industry. The next step will be for NASA to produce a PRA for a critical drilling system component, such as a Blowout Preventer (BOP). Subsequent activities will be for NASA and industry partners to jointly develop increasingly complex PRA's that analyze other critical drilling and production system components, including both hardware and human reliability. In the presentation, NASA will provide the objectives, schedule, and current status of its PRA activities for BSEE. Additionally, NASA has a Space Act Agreement with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation to develop a PRA for a generic 20K BOP. NASA will summarize some of the preliminary insights gained to date from that 20K BOP PRA as an example of the distinction between quantitative versus qualitative risk assessment.

PRA↗
NASA NTRS2013

Wireline Deep Drill for the Exploration of Icy Bodies

One of the most pressing current questions in space science is whether life has ever arisen anywhere else in the universe. Water is a critical prerequisite for all life-as-we-know-it, thus the possible exploration targets for extraterrestrial life are bodies that have or had copious liquid: Mars, Europa, and Enceladus. Due to the oxidizing nature of Mars' surface, as well as subsurface liquid water reservoirs present on Europa and Enceladus, the search for evidence of existing life must likely focus on subsurface locations, at depths sufficient to support liquid water or retain biologic signatures. To address these questions, an Auto-Gopher sampler has been developed that is a wireline type drill. This drill is suspended on a tether and its motors and mechanisms are built into a tube that ends with a coring bit. The tether provides the mechanical connection to a rover/lander on a surface as well as power and data communication. Upon penetrating to a target depth, the drill is retracted from the borehole, the core is deposited into a sample transfer system, and the drill is lowered back into the hole. Wireline operation sidesteps one of the major drawbacks of traditional continuous drill string systems by obviating the need for multiple drill sections, which add significantly to the mass and the complexity of the system (i.e. penetration rate was 40 cm per hour). Drilling to 2 meter depth and recovering of cores every 10 cm took a total time of 15 hours (a single step of drilling 10 cm and retrieving the core was 45 minutes). Total energy to reach the 2 m depth was 500 Whr. The Weight on Bit was limited to less than 70 Newton. The core recovery was 100%.

sampling↗
NASA NTRS2013

Impedance Discontinuity Reduction Between High-Speed Differential Connectors and PCB Interfaces

High-speed serial communication (i.e., Gigabit Ethernet) requires differential transmission and controlled impedances. Impedance control is essential throughout cabling, connector, and circuit board construction. An impedance discontinuity arises at the interface of a high-speed quadrax and twinax connectors and the attached printed circuit board (PCB). This discontinuity usually is lower impedance since the relative dielectric constant of the board is higher (i.e., polyimide approx. = 4) than the connector (Teflon approx. = 2.25). The discontinuity can be observed in transmit or receive eye diagrams, and can reduce the effective link margin of serial data networks. High-speed serial data network transmission improvements can be made at the connector-to-board interfaces as well as improving differential via hole impedances. The impedance discontinuity was improved by 10 percent by drilling a 20-mil (approx. = 0.5-mm) hole in between the pin of a differential connector spaced 55 mils (approx. = 1.4 mm) apart as it is attached to the PCB. The effective dielectric constant of the board can be lowered by drilling holes into the board material between the differential lines in a quadrax or twinax connector attachment points. The differential impedance is inversely proportional to the square root of the relative dielectric constant. This increases the differential impedance and thus reduces the above described impedance discontinuity. The differential via hole impedance can also be increased in the same manner. This technique can be extended to multiple smaller drilled holes as well as tapered holes (i.e., big in the middle followed by smaller ones diagonally).

Navidi, Sal↗
NASA NTRS2008

Polyimide Boosts High-Temperature Performance

Maverick Corporation, of Blue Ash, Ohio, licensed DMBZ-15 polyimide technology from Glenn Research Center. This ultrahigh-temperature material provides substantial weight savings and reduced machining costs compared to the same component made with more traditional metallic materials. DMBZ-15 has a wide range of applications from aerospace (aircraft engine and airframe components, space transportation systems, and missiles) to non-aerospace (oil drilling, rolling mill), and is particularly well-suited to use as face sheets with honey cones or thermal protection systems for reusable launch vehicles, which encounter elevated temperatures during launch and re-entry.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2014

The Auto-Gopher Deep Drill

Subsurface penetration by coring, drilling or abrading is of great importance for a large number of space and earth applications. An Ultrasonic/Sonic Drill/Corer (USDC) has been in development at JPL's Nondestructive Evaluation and Advanced Actuators (NDEAA) lab as an adaptable tool for many of these applications. The USDC uses a novel drive mechanism to transform the high frequency ultrasonic or sonic vibrations of the tip of a horn into a lower frequency sonic hammering of a drill bit through an intermediate free-flying mass. The USDC device idea has been implemented at various scales from handheld drills to large diameter coring devices. A series of computer programs that model the function and performance of the USDC device were developed and were later integrated into an automated modeling package. The USDC has also evolved from a purely hammering drill to a rotary hammer drill as the design requirements increased form small diameter shallow drilling to large diameter deep coring. A synthesis of the Auto-Gopher development is presented in this paper.

Badescu, Mircea↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mitigation for Removal of Building 01-103 in the Area 1 Subdock, Nevada National Security Site, Nye County, Nevada

Building 01-103, the Drill Bit Repair Building was originally recorded as SHPO Resource No. B18848 in 2020 during an architectural survey of the Area 1 Subdock (Collins et al. 2022). It was recommended individually eligible for listing in the NRHP under Criteria A and C and contributing to the significance of the Area 1 Subdock Historic District. The SHPO concurred with these determinations in a letter dated April 29, 2022 (Reed 2022). The Drill Bit Repair Building retains all seven aspects of integrity. The location, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association have not changed since its original construction. The design was modified slightly in 1996 with the addition of a removable and non-destructive chain-link fence. Nearby buildings 01-101 and 01-102 were removed (Collins and Menocal 2020) but the other buildings and storage yards remain. Therefore, the integrity of setting has been changed, but not to the degree that the building no longer conveys its significance (see Figures 4 and 5 for comparison). Building 01-103 was constructed in 1985 to coincide with the relocation of the Area 3 Subdock to Area 1. The design for the new Subdock provided a centralized cluster of buildings surrounded by two large storage yards. The buildings included administrative and engineering office space, warehouses, a radiograph building, and Building 01-103 as the drill bit maintenance and repair building, among others. The Drill Bit Repair Building was critical to the success of underground nuclear testing and is eligible under Criterion A for its contribution to broad patterns of history by maintaining specially designed equipment for underground nuclear testing at the NNSS. It is also eligible under Criterion C as it is the only recorded example of a facility built specifically for the maintenance of big-hole drill bits on the NNSS. As it retains both significance and integrity, it remains individually eligible under Criteria A and C. In addition to its individual significance, the Drill Bit Repair Building also contributes to the significance of the Area 1 Subdock Historic District as a representative of a big-hole drilling support facility necessary for underground nuclear testing. The building and the equipment therein were designed specifically for testing at the NNSS, where much of the early technology and methods for big-hole drilling were developed. Its removal will result in not only the demolition of a contributing element but also a change in the physical features of the district’s setting that contribute to its historic significance. The change in setting will diminish the district’s integrity. However, the district still contains numerous examples of other buildings constructed for the purpose of supporting big-hole drilling and remains eligible under Criteria A and C.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2011

Method for Cleanly and Precisely Breaking Off a Rock Core Using a Radial Compressive Force

The Mars Sample Return mission has the goal to drill, break off, and retain rock core samples. After some results gained from rock core mechanics testing, the realization that scoring teeth would cleanly break off the core after only a few millimeters of penetration, and noting that rocks are weak in tension, the idea was developed to use symmetric wedging teeth in compression to weaken and then break the core at the contact plane. This concept was developed as a response to the break-off and retention requirements. The wedges wrap around the estimated average diameter of the core to get as many contact locations as possible, and are then pushed inward, radially, through the core towards one another. This starts a crack and begins to apply opposing forces inside the core to propagate the crack across the plane of contact. The advantage is in the simplicity. Only two teeth are needed to break five varieties of Mars-like rock cores with limited penetration and reasonable forces. Its major advantage is that it does not require any length of rock to be attached to the parent in order to break the core at the desired location. Test data shows that some rocks break off on their own into segments or break off into discs. This idea would grab and retain a disc, push some discs upward and others out, or grab a segment, break it at the contact plane, and retain the portion inside of the device. It also does this with few moving parts in a simple, space-efficient design. This discovery could be implemented into a coring drill bit to precisely break off and retain any size rock core.

Richardson, Megan↗
NASA NTRS1966

Hole saw drill attachment has zero force reaction

Zero reaction tools require no force application by workers in space. The tool accomplishes hole cutting by holding the workpiece and feeding the cutting blade into and through it by forces entirely absorbed within the tool.

Holmes, A. E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Automated Cutting And Drilling Of Composite Parts

Proposed automated system precisely cuts and drills large, odd-shaped parts made of composite materials. System conceived for manufacturing lightweight composite parts to replace heavier parts in Space Shuttle. Also useful in making large composite parts for other applications. Includes robot locating part to be machined, positions cutter, and positions drill. Gantry-type robot best suited for task.

Warren, Charles W.↗