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All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1993

An overview of the NASA textile composites program

The NASA Langley Research Center is conducting and sponsoring research to explore the benefits of textile reinforced composites for civil transport aircraft primary structures. The objective of this program is to develop and demonstrate the potential of affordable textile reinforced composite materials to meet design properties and damage tolerance requirements of advanced aircraft structures. In addition to in-house research, the program includes major participation by the aircraft industry and aerospace textile companies. The major program elements include development of textile preforms, processing science, mechanics of materials, experimental characterization of materials, and development and evaluation of textile reinforced composite structural elements and subcomponents. The NASA Langley in-house research is focused on science-based understanding of resin transfer molding (RTM), development of powder-coated towpreg processes, analysis methodology, and development of a performance database on textile reinforced composites. The focus of the textile industry participation is on development of multidirectional, damage-tolerant preforms, and the aircraft industry participation is in the areas of innovative design concepts, cost-effective fabrication, and testing of textile reinforced composite structural elements and subcomponents. Textile processes such as 3-D weaving, 2-D and 3-D braiding, and knitting/stitching are being compared with conventional laminated tape processes for improved damage tolerance. Through-the-thickness reinforcements offer significant damage tolerance improvements. However, these gains must be weighed against potential loss in in-plane properties such as strength and stiffness. Analytical trade studies are underway to establish design guidelines for the application of textile material forms to meet specific loading requirements. Fabrication and testing of large structural components are required to establish the full potential of textile reinforced composite materials. The goals of the NASA Langley-sponsored research program are to demonstrate technology readiness with subscale composite components by 1995 and to verify the performance of full-scale composite primary aircraft structural components by 1997. The status of textile reinforced composite structural elements under development by Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed, and Grumman are presented. Included are braided frames and woven/stitched wing and fuselage panels.

Dexter, H. Benson↗

NASA NTRS2006

SACD's Support of the Hyper-X Program

NASA s highly successful Hyper-X program demonstrated numerous hypersonic air-breathing vehicle related technologies including scramjet performance, advanced materials and hot structures, GN&C, and integrated vehicle performance resulting in, for the first time ever, acceleration of a vehicle powered by a scramjet engine. The Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) at NASA s Langley Research Center played a major role in the integrated team providing critical support, analysis, and leadership to the Hyper-X Program throughout the program s entire life and were key to its ultimate success. Engineers in SACD s Vehicle Analysis Branch (VAB) were involved in all stages and aspects of the program, from conceptual design prior to contract award, through preliminary design and hardware development, and in to, during, and after each of the three flights. Working closely with other engineers at Langley and Dryden, as well as industry partners, roughly 20 members of SACD were involved throughout the evolution of the Hyper-X program in nearly all disciplines, including lead roles in several areas. Engineers from VAB led the aerodynamic database development, the propulsion database development, and the stage separation analysis and database development effort. Others played major roles in structures, aerothermal, GN&C, trajectory analysis and flight simulation, as well as providing CFD support for aerodynamic, propulsion, and aerothermal analysis.

Robinson, Jeffrey S.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Overview of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Program

NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance sponsors an Agency-wide NDE Program that supports Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology, Human Exploration and Development of Space, Earth Science, and Space Science Enterprises. For each of these Enterprises, safety is the number one priority. Development of the next generation aero-space launch and transportation vehicles, satellites, and deep space probes have highlighted the enabling role that NDE plays in these advanced technology systems. Specific areas of advanced component development, component integrity, and structural heath management are critically supported by NDE technologies. The simultaneous goals of assuring safety, maintaining overall operational efficiency, and developing and utilizing revolutionary technologies to expand human activity and space-based commerce in the frontiers of air and space places increasing demands on the Agencies NDE infrastructure and resources. In this presentation, an overview of NASA's NDE Program will be presented, that includes a background and status of current Enterprise NDE issues, and the NDE investment areas being developed to meet Enterprise safety and mission assurance needs through the year 2009 and beyond.

Generazio, Edward R.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Synthesizing 3D Surfaces from Parameterized Strip Charts

We believe 3D information visualization has the power to unlock new levels of productivity in the monitoring and control of complex processes. Our goal is to provide visual methods to allow for rapid human insight into systems consisting of thousands to millions of parameters. We explore this hypothesis in two complex domains: NASA program management and NASA International Space Station (ISS) spacecraft computer operations. We seek to extend a common form of visualization called the strip chart from 2D to 3D. A strip chart can display the time series progression of a parameter and allows for trends and events to be identified. Strip charts can be overlayed when multiple parameters need to visualized in order to correlate their events. When many parameters are involved, the direct overlaying of strip charts can become confusing and may not fully utilize the graphing area to convey the relationships between the parameters. We provide a solution to this problem by generating 3D surfaces from parameterized strip charts. The 3D surface utilizes significantly more screen area to illustrate the differences in the parameters and the overlayed strip charts, and it can rapidly be scanned by humans to gain insight. The selection of the third dimension must be a parallel or parameterized homogenous resource in the target domain, defined using a finite, ordered, enumerated type, and not a heterogeneous type. We demonstrate our concepts with examples from the NASA program management domain (assessing the state of many plans) and the computers of the ISS (assessing the state of many computers). We identify 2D strip charts in each domain and show how to construct the corresponding 3D surfaces. The user can navigate the surface, zooming in on regions of interest, setting a mark and drilling down to source documents from which the data points have been derived. We close by discussing design issues, related work, and implementation challenges.

Robinson, Peter I.↗

NASA NTRS2003

To Support Research Activities Under the NASA Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research

The Alabama NASA EPSCoR Program is a collaborative venture of The Alabama Space Grant Consortium, The Alabama EPSCoR, and faculty and staff at 10 Alabama colleges and universities as well as the Alabama School of Math and Science in Mobile. There are two Research Clusters which include infrastructure-building and outreach elements embedded in their research activities. Each of the two Research Clusters is in an area of clear and demonstrable relevance to NASA's mission, to components of other Alabama EPSCoR projects, and to the State of Alabama's economic development. This Final Report summarizes and reports upon those additional activities occurring after the first report was submitted in March 2000 (included here as Appendix C). Since the nature of the activities and the manner in which they relate to one another differ by cluster, these clusters function independently and are summarized in parallel in this report. They do share a common administration by the Alabama Space Grant Consortium (ASGC) and by this means, good ideas from each group were communicated to the other, as appropriate. During the past year these research teams, involving 15 scientists, 16 graduate students, 16 undergraduates, and 7 high school students involving 10 Alabama universities had 14 peer reviewed scientific journal articles published, 21 others reviewed for publication or published in proceedings, gave 7 formal presentations and numerous informal presentations to well over 3000 people, received 3 patents and were awarded 14 research proposals for more than $213K dollars in additional research related to these investigations. Each cluster's activities are described and an Appendix summarizes these achievements.

Gregory, John C.↗

NASA NTRS1982

The NASA Geodynamics Program report, 1981

The activities of the NASA Geodynamics Program in 1981 both in achieving improved measurement precision and in establishing the foundation for the acquisition and analysis of scientific data are discussed.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1984

The NASA photovoltaic technology program

The NASA Office of Aeronautical and Space Technology OAST Program in space photovoltaics is reviewed. From the perspective of national landmark mission requirements and five year and 25-year long range plans, the texture of the program is revealed. Planar silicon and concentrator GaAs array technology advances are discussed. Advances in lightweight (50 micro cell) arrays and radiation tolerance research are presented. Recent progress in cascade cells and ultralightweight GaAs planar cells is noted. Progress in raising silicon cell voltage to its theoretical maximum is detailed. Advanced concepts such as plasmon converters and the Long Duration Exposure Facility LDEF flight experiments pertaining to solar cell and array technology are also shown.

Mullin, J. P.↗

NASA NTRS1984

The NASA photovoltaic technology program

Mullin, J. P.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Implementation of Human Systems Integration Technical and Management Process for the Lunar Gateway Program

NASA recognizes Human Systems Integration (HSI) as part of the overall systems engineering and acquisition strategy for space systems. The Lunar Gateway Program is implementing HSI technical and management process across the lifecycle of the mission, as required by NPR 7123.1C NASA Systems Engineering Processes and Requirements, and led by the Gateway HSI team as required by NPR 8705.2C Human-Rating Requirements for Space Systems, now HEOMD-003 Crewed Deep Space Systems Human Rating Certification Requirements and Standards for NASA Missions. NASA has been using HSI principles for many years and has applied them to many of its previous human spaceflight Programs. As NASA returns to the Moon in a more sustainable manner, the Gateway Program is maturing the application of HSI by implementing it more visibly as part of Artemis, with guidance from the NASA/SP-20210010952 NASA HSI Handbook. This paper discusses how HSI is being implemented in the Gateway Program, challenges faced with its implementation during the development phase, and strategies/approaches used to overcome those. The paper also covers HSI implementation for flight systems, vehicle processing, and interfaces across the six identified NASA HSI Domains: human factors engineering, operations, safety, training, maintainability and supportability, habitability and environment. The goal is to provide an overview of the implementation process of HSI in the Gateway Program as an example for other Programs/Projects/Missionsthat are looking to implement HSI.

Jackelynne Silva-Martinez↗

NASA NTRS1975

Advanced computer technology - An aspect of the Terminal Configured Vehicle program

NASA is conducting a Terminal Configured Vehicle program to provide improvements in the air transportation system such as increased system capacity and productivity, increased all-weather reliability, and reduced noise. A typical jet transport has been equipped with highly flexible digital display and automatic control equipment to study operational techniques for conventional takeoff and landing aircraft. The present airborne computer capability of this aircraft employs a multiple computer simple redundancy concept. The next step is to proceed from this concept to a reconfigurable computer system which can degrade gracefully in the event of a failure, adjust critical computations to remaining capacity, and reorder itself, in the case of transients, to the highest order of redundancy and reliability.

Berkstresser, B. K.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Information systems requirements for the microgravity science and applications program

NASA's Microgravity Science and Applications (MSAD) Program is presented. Additionally, the types of information produced within the program and the anticipated growth in information system requirements as the program transitions to Space Station Freedom utilization are discussed. Plans for payload operations support in the Freedom era are addressed, as well as current activities to define research community requirements for data and sample archives.

Kicza, M. E.↗

NASA NTRS1993

General-Purpose Graphics-Library Program

NASA Device Independent Graphics Library (NASADIG) computer program is general-purpose graphics-library program for use with many computer-based-engineering and management application programs. Software offers many features providing user with flexibility in creating graphics. Includes two- and three-dimensional plotting, splines and polynomial interpolation, area blanking control, multiple log/linear axes, legends and text control, curve-thickness control, and multiple text fonts. Written in ANSI FORTRAN 77.

Rogers, Joseph E.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Information systems requirements for the Microgravity Science and Applications Program

NASA's Microgravity Science and Applications (MSAD) Program is presented. Additionally, the types of information produced wiithin the program and the anticipated growth in information system requirements as the program transitions to Space Station Freedom utilization are discussed. Plans for payload operations support in the Freedom era are addressed, as well as current activities to define research community requirements for data and sample archives.

Kicza, M. E.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The NASA Electric Propulsion Program

The NASA OAST Propulsion, Power, and Energy Division supports an electric propulsion program aimed at providing benefits to a broad class of missions. Concepts which have the potential to enable or significantly benefit space exploration and exploitation are identified and advanced toward application in the near and far term. This paper summarizes recent program progress in mission/system analysis; in electrothermal, electrostatic, and electromagnetic propulsion technologies; and in propulsion/spacecraft integration.

Stone, James R.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The NASA Electric Propulsion Program

Stone, James R.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Human Factors Interface with Systems Engineering for NASA Human Spaceflights

This paper summarizes the past and present successes of the Habitability and Human Factors Branch (HHFB) at NASA Johnson Space Center s Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD) in including the Human-As-A-System (HAAS) model in many NASA programs and what steps to be taken to integrate the Human-Centered Design Philosophy (HCDP) into NASA s Systems Engineering (SE) process. The HAAS model stresses systems are ultimately designed for the humans; the humans should therefore be considered as a system within the systems. Therefore, the model places strong emphasis on human factors engineering. Since 1987, the HHFB has been engaging with many major NASA programs with much success. The HHFB helped create the NASA Standard 3000 (a human factors engineering practice guide) and the Human Systems Integration Requirements document. These efforts resulted in the HAAS model being included in many NASA programs. As an example, the HAAS model has been successfully introduced into the programmatic and systems engineering structures of the International Space Station Program (ISSP). Success in the ISSP caused other NASA programs to recognize the importance of the HAAS concept. Also due to this success, the HHFB helped update NASA s Systems Engineering Handbook in December 2007 to include HAAS as a recommended practice. Nonetheless, the HAAS model has yet to become an integral part of the NASA SE process. Besides continuing in integrating HAAS into current and future NASA programs, the HHFB will investigate incorporating the Human-Centered Design Philosophy (HCDP) into the NASA SE Handbook. The HCDP goes further than the HAAS model by emphasizing a holistic and iterative human-centered systems design concept.

Wong, Douglas T.↗

NASA NTRS2006

The NASA Balloon Program: Implementing a New Flight Program for the Future

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Balloon Program continues to support the scientific community providing enhanced capabilities across a spectrum of balloon related disciplines. Long Duration Ballooning (LDB) continues to be a prominent element of the program with a mission model of a two flight campaign in each the Northern and Southern Hemispheres per year. A new LDB endurance record was achieved in Antarctica with the LDB/CREAM mission. Both polar and mid-latitude LDB capabilities continue to be on-going operational elements of the flight program. The Swedish Space Corporation/Esrange and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) inaugurated a joint European/U.S. capability for LDB balloon flights from Sweden to Canada in June 2005. This will complement the NASA/U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs achievement of more than a decade of successful long-duration flights around Antarctica. Most of Antarctic flights have flown one time around the South Pole in 8-20 days using conventional (zero differential pressure) balloons. One flight went twice around in 31 days and another went three times around in 42 days using conventional balloons. Balloon technology efforts have continued to broaden in scope and new plans for activities to provide advancements have been initiated. A new balloon volume record was established with the successful flight of a 1,700,000 m3 volume zero-pressure balloon. The capability to fly a 700 kg payload (200 kg science instrument) to 160,000 ft has also been demonstrated. A new super-pressure (constant volume) balloon is currently under development for future flights of 60 - 100 day at any latitude. The Ultra-Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) project for the development of a 100-day duration balloon capability has been progressing with additional ground and flight tests having been conducted. The Program has also continued to introduce new technology and improvements into flight systems, ground systems and operational techniques. An overview of the various aspects of the NASA Balloon Program will be presented as well as the outlook for the future.

Pierce, David L.↗

NASA NTRS1999

NASA Educational Product Development and Post-Secondary Program Assessment Planning

Producing "value-added students" involves proactively addressing how successfully students develop their skills, knowledge, and personal, social, and ethical growth due to their association with a program. NASA programs for higher education can certainly be responsive in aiding the academic community strive for quality in terms of "valueadded" students. By identifying essential characteristics of exemplary assessment practices, the standards developed by accrediting agencies serve as guides for developing quality practices and policies. Such a process is an effective tool for communicating the expectations of the educational components of a program to all concerned with the program and its expected results. When standards are connected to student performance, they provide a very compelling argument for refocusing the definition of quality in higher education. By linking standards and performance, student learning and development becomes the starting point for examining program quality. If the multiple stakeholders - faculty, peers, the professional community, addressed assessment issues, then accreditation can be a link among various constituencies, the parties can better understand the needs of each other and develop the necessary trust needed for understanding and support.

Salmons, Phyllis A.↗