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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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NASA NTRS2020

X-HAB 2020: AR Field Treks Summary and Conclusions

As part of the FY20 X-Hab Challenge, BLiSS sought to create an Augmented Reality (AR) toolkit to help with analog field trek operations under the supervision of the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI). These treks are operational and technical demonstrations at space-like destinations on Earth to test current extra-vehicular activity (EVA) techniques. While BLiSS as an organization has experience studying operational tasks such as this, it has never developed AR software at this scale. For that reason, another team at the University was brought on to work in parallel. The Collaborative Lab for Advancing Work in Space (CLAWS) is a veteran group of the NASA Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS) challenge in which Hololens displays for astronauts are created within a year. The operational and technological pairing was ideally suited for tackling this problem. The team divided its responsibilities so that BLiSS would handle the research required to shape the project. As this deliverable had an end user, it was decided that interviewing these field geologists and operations specialists would provide the best insight. These interviews paired with literature review would reveal niche applications for AR that remained within feasible bounds. These science-driven EVAs in unknown terrain require more flexible tools than the current generation of EVA assistants. Rather than focus on sequential instructions, there instead needs to be a broad toolkit that's only called upon in specific instances. This AR Toolkit for Lunar Astronauts and Scientists (ATLAS) became the development goal of the project: create a non-intrusive assembly of tools that could be accessed in AR on the field. The current ATLAS design makes use of a geospatially and temporally annotated eld note system called GeoNotes. This allows for data to be collected and coordinated in a way that's synchronized across time, space, and different users. A Mission Control Center (MCC) and Mobile Support Equipment (MSE) were all needed to transport the AR headset into the field with the user. A network infrastructure was designed and set up within the University to enable this functionality. The software is based on a Protocol-Module structure that allows for modular development of each capability. A Protocol Manager coordinates different protocols that make use of modules. Each module tackles a different individual task while the protocol puts each one to use. The protocol manager coordinates when these are called to be used. This software is hosted on a head-mounted display (HMD) with the MCC acting as support from afar. While the software would be unit-tested at each level and each hardware component verified, a final demonstration would serve to prove the system's capabilities: an analog field trek. The team would prepare to support a user in a remote location from the MCC back at the University. A local area near campus would be tested before going out to do sample field geology further away. This unfortunately became impossible with the arrival of COVID-19. Access to all of the facilities to complete the project as planned were shut down. Our team was scattered across the globe and forced to complete the rest virtually. Adjustments were made to produce a small virtual concept in Adobe XD in the meantime. Even digital surveys were created based on the NASA task-load index (TLX) originally intended for testing actual users. The goal shifted towards completing software and getting feedback on the user interfaces (UI) and user experiences (UX). This team has reformed in response to COVID and its focus has shifted to what can be done remotely. There is still an intention to finish the original deliverable described in this report. The work has been expanded beyond the original X-Hab challenge and has instead become its own research e ort to be continued afterwards. This report collects the processes and knowledge gained from a year of studying and working at this problem with two teams. It should preserve it for the time until the world returns to normal and work can resume. CLAWS will be taking over full responsibility from that point forward, eventually surpassing the original needs of the project. While this document captures the work done towards an eventual end, the CLAWS team has written their own proposal alongside it. It outlines a new future for ATLAS beyond X-Hab, BLiSS, and hopefully beyond COVID-19. This project began as a vague goal hoping to place a new technology into the unique setting of exploration science. The project has since comfortably taken root and will hopefully bloom over the next year.

Alex Sena↗
NASA NTRS1987

The development of a prototype intelligent user interface subsystem for NASA's scientific database systems

The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) has initiated an Intelligent Data Management (IDM) research effort which has as one of its components the development of an Intelligent User Interface (IUI).The intent of the latter is to develop a friendly and intelligent user interface service that is based on expert systems and natural language processing technologies. The purpose is to support the large number of potential scientific and engineering users presently having need of space and land related research and technical data but who have little or no experience in query languages or understanding of the information content or architecture of the databases involved. This technical memorandum presents prototype Intelligent User Interface Subsystem (IUIS) using the Crustal Dynamics Project Database as a test bed for the implementation of the CRUDDES (Crustal Dynamics Expert System). The knowledge base has more than 200 rules and represents a single application view and the architectural view. Operational performance using CRUDDES has allowed nondatabase users to obtain useful information from the database previously accessible only to an expert database user or the database designer.

Campbell, William J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

NASA Lewis' Telescience Support Center Supports Orbiting Microgravity Experiments

The Telescience Support Center (TSC) at the NASA Lewis Research Center was developed to enable Lewis-based science teams and principal investigators to monitor and control experimental and operational payloads onboard the International Space Station. The TSC is a remote operations hub that can interface with other remote facilities, such as universities and industrial laboratories. As a pathfinder for International Space Station telescience operations, the TSC has incrementally developed an operational capability by supporting space shuttle missions. The TSC has evolved into an environment where experimenters and scientists can control and monitor the health and status of their experiments in near real time. Remote operations (or telescience) allow local scientists and their experiment teams to minimize their travel and maintain a local complement of expertise for hardware and software troubleshooting and data analysis. The TSC was designed, developed, and is operated by Lewis' Engineering and Technical Services Directorate and its support contractors, Analex Corporation and White's Information System, Inc. It is managed by Lewis' Microgravity Science Division. The TSC provides operational support in conjunction with the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and NASA Johnson Space Center. It enables its customers to command, receive, and view telemetry; monitor the science video from their on-orbit experiments; and communicate over mission-support voice loops. Data can be received and routed to experimenter-supplied ground support equipment and/or to the TSC data system for display. Video teleconferencing capability and other video sources, such as NASA TV, are also available. The TSC has a full complement of standard services to aid experimenters in telemetry operations.

Hawersaat, Bob W.↗
NASA NTRS1980

The development of a Space Shuttle Research Animal Holding Facility

The ability to maintain the well being of experiment animals is of primary importance to the successful attainment of life sciences flight experiment goals. To assist scientists in the conduct of life sciences flight experiments, a highly versatile Research Animal Holding Facility (RAHF) is being developed for use on Space Shuttle/Spacelab missions. This paper describes the design of the RAHF system, which in addition to providing general housing for various animal species, approximating the environment found in ground based facilities, is designed to minimize disturbances of the specimens by vehicle and mission operations. Life-sustaining capabilities such as metabolic support and environmental control are provided. RAHF is reusable and is a modular concept to accommodate animals of different sizes. The basic RAHF system will accommodate a combination of 24 500-g rats or 144 mice or a mixed number of rats and mice. An alternative design accommodates four squirrel monkeys. The entire RAHF system is housed in a single ESA rack. The animal cages are in drawers which are removable for easy access to the animals. Each cage contains a waste management system, a feeding system and a watering system all of which will operate in zero or one gravity.

Jagow, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS2014

NASA Glenn Research Center Support of the ASRG Project

A high efficiency radioisotope power system is being developed for long-duration NASA space science missions. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) managed a flight contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) to build Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators (ASRGs), with support from NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). Sunpower Inc. held two parallel contracts to produce Advanced Stirling Convertors (ASCs), one with DOELockheed Martin to produce ASC-F flight units, and one with GRC for the production of ASC-E3 engineering unit pathfinders that are built to the flight design. In support of those contracts, GRC provided testing, materials expertise, government furnished equipment, inspections, and related data products to DOELockheed Martin and Sunpower. The technical support includes material evaluations, component tests, convertor characterization, and technology transfer. Material evaluations and component tests have been performed on various ASC components in order to assess potential life-limiting mechanisms and provide data for reliability models. Convertor level tests have been used to characterize performance under operating conditions that are representative of various mission conditions. Technology transfers enhanced contractor capabilities for specialized production processes and tests. Despite termination of flight ASRG contract, NASA continues to develop the high efficiency ASC conversion technology under the ASC-E3 contract. This paper describes key government furnished services performed for ASRG and future tests used to provide data for ongoing reliability assessments.

Technology Transfer↗
DOE OSTI2026

AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-RC2 Cook Agronomy Farm - Conventional Till

This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-RC2 Cook Agronomy Farm - Conventional Till. This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-RC2 Cook Agronomy Farm - Conventional Till produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - RC2 operated from 2013-2016 at the R.J. Cook Agronomy Farm, as part of a cluster of 5 towers (RC1 to RC5) operated for the Regional Approaches to Climate Change (REACCH) USDA-supported research project. The tower predates the Longterm Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) site common experiment, which was established in nearby fields at the Cook Agronomy Farm in 2017. Cook Agronomy Farm is in the high-precipitation agroecological zone of the Columbia Plateau’s dryland cropping region. Wheat-based crop rotations are grown annually. RC2 had conventional tillage management (reduced-till) since at least 1998. It was contrasted with RC1, which had no-till management over the same time period. RC2 captured the same tillage practices as the US-CF2 site established in 2017 as part of LTAR common experiment. However, the towers have distinct footprints, aspects, and soil series composition.

Chi, Jinshu [The Hong Kong University of Science a↗
DOE OSTI2026

Science Uses Deployment Operations-Advanced Wireless: Exploring Open Radio Access Network Technologies for Energy Science

Open Radio Access Network is emerging as a solution to the increasing demand for more flexible, cost-effective, and advanced mobile network infrastructures. This evolution is driven by advancements in wireless technologies and the growing complexity of deploying and managing these networks. O-RAN represents a significant shift in wireless technology, building upon the 3rd Generation Partnership Project framework to foster openness, flexibility, and interoperability. By decoupling hardware and software components, Open Radio Access Network enables a multi-vendor ecosystem that encourages innovation and diverse solutions. Open Radio Access Network's potential extends beyond traditional wireless applications, with growing interest in its role in advancing energy systems, particularly in the context of smart grids, microgrids, and the integration of renewable energy sources. While the role of open-wireless technologies in driving energy transformation is increasingly recognized, further exploration is needed. Vendors and utilities are investigating how Open Radio Access Network technologies can optimize energy use cases and improve the performance of 5G and beyond applications. This report outlines efforts under the Science Uses Deployment Operations Advance Wireless project, a collaboration between the National Laboratory of the Rockies' Cybersecurity Research Center, Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Department of Energy's Energy Science Network research and operations staff. The focus of this project is on due diligence, through testing and evaluation, preparing for the deployment of advanced wireless infrastructure for scientific use cases, with an emphasis on Open Radio Access Network technology, its components, integrations, and its ability to support vertical stack application across the energy sector. Additionally, the report highlights the value cases for utilities, underscoring how adopting open wireless standards can accelerate the evolution of energy systems, foster innovation, and improve the integration of critical energy technologies.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2014

SPHERES National Lab Facility

SPHERES is a facility of the ISS National Laboratory with three IVA nano-satellites designed and delivered by MIT to research estimation, control, and autonomy algorithms. Since Fall 2010, The SPHERES system is now operationally supported and managed by NASA Ames Research Center (ARC). A SPHERES Program Office was established and is located at NASA Ames Research Center. The SPHERES Program Office coordinates all SPHERES related research and STEM activities on-board the International Space Station (ISS), as well as, current and future payload development. By working aboard ISS under crew supervision, it provides a risk tolerant Test-bed Environment for Distributed Satellite Free-flying Control Algorithms. If anything goes wrong, reset and try again! NASA has made the capability available to other U.S. government agencies, schools, commercial companies and students to expand the pool of ideas for how to test and use these bowling ball-sized droids. For many of the researchers, SPHERES offers the only opportunity to do affordable on-orbit characterization of their technology in the microgravity environment. Future utilization of SPHERES as a facility will grow its capabilities as a platform for science, technology development, and education.

Free Flyer↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Climate Information and Lessons Learned from the NASA Earth eXchange (NEX), Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (NASA SPoRT), and the NASA Regional Climate Model Evaluation System (RCMES)

Climate resilience can emerge from a combination of (1) climate projections that enable future-oriented planning and (2) contemporary observations that can be used for adaptation in the face of realized climate. NASA is uniquely positioned to provide global climate projections and satellite-based observations to users who must take a global perspective on climate risk (e.g., supply chain managers). Here, we will share the capabilities and experiences of three NASA projects. The first project, the NASA Earth eXchange (NEX) provides two downscaled climate projections, NEX-GDDP-CMIP6, a global 25 km resolution product, and NEX-DCP30-CMIP6, an 800 m resolution product covering the coterminous U.S. specifically designed for U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA). NEX also offers land surface products that mirror the twice-daily products provided by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) but are derived from operational geostationary weather satellite data collected at 5-10 minutes intervals. The second project, the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT), was established in 2002 to transition unique NASA satellite products and capabilities to stakeholders to improve decision-making that benefits society. SPoRT provides products and capabilities derived from NASA observations and models to end users in government, academia, and the private sector. SPoRT translates NASA Earth science into actionable solutions reaching over 400 stakeholders across 80 organizations. Finally, the Regional Climate Model Evaluation System (RCMES) is designed to facilitate regional-scale evaluations of climate models by providing standardized access to a vast and comprehensive set of observations, such as satellite, in-situ, and reanalyses, and modeling resources such as CMIP & CORDEX. These three projects form part of the core capabilities at the NASA Centers deliver climate information under the new NASA Earth Science to Action (ES2A) strategy.

NEX↗
DOE OSTI2026

Unified Modeling Architecture for Load Management in Extreme Heat: The New York City Case

Integration of renewable resources to meet growing energy demand is becoming a global priority under decarbonization mandates. This study contributes to ongoing efforts on this key subject by assessing the feasibility of using coastal-urban renewable energy resources, namely, offshore wind and rooftop photovoltaic systems, to meet electricity demand of New York City during the intense recent heat wave period of June 2025. A unified modeling framework, based on the urbanized weather research and forecasting model, is used to simulate climate, renewable resources, and energy demand variables. Findings show significant energy load mismatch of approximately 1150 GWh over the month, between the demand and the combined renewable generation outcome. Three storage integration scenarios are analyzed to mitigate the deficits, reducing said deficits by a minimum of approximately 9% over the duration of the month. This study provides a transferable modeling framework tool for evaluating renewable integration in dense urban environments that can be used by grid operators to support grid resilience during extreme heat events.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Investigating Resiliency of Transportation Network under Targeted and Potential Climate Change Disruptions

Ensuring robustness and resilience in intermodal transportation systems is essential for the continuity and reliability of global logistics. These systems are vulnerable to various disruptions, including natural disasters and technical failures. Despite significant research on freight transportation resilience, investigating the robustness of the system after targeted and climate-change-driven disruption remains a crucial challenge. Drawing on network science methodologies, this study models the interdependencies within the rail and water transport networks and simulates different disruption scenarios to evaluate system responses. Here, we use the data from the U.S. Department of Energy Volpe Center for network topology and tonnage projections. The proposed framework quantifies deliberate, stochastic, and climate-driven infrastructure failure, using higher resolution downscaled multiple Earth System Models’ simulations from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase version 6. We show that the disruptions of a few nodes could have a larger impact on the total tonnage of freight transport than on network topology. For example, the removal of targeted 20 nodes can bring the total tonnage carrying capacity to 30% with about 75% of the rail freight network intact. This research advances the theoretical understanding of transportation resilience and provides practical applications for infrastructure managers and policymakers. By implementing these strategies, stakeholders and policymakers can better prepare for and respond to unexpected disruptions, ensuring sustained operational efficiency in transportation networks.

Climate Change Disruptions↗
NASA NTRS2004

Advanced Life Support Project: Crop Experiments at Kennedy Space Center

Crop production systems provide bioregenerative technologies to complement human crew life support requirements on long duration space missions. Kennedy Space Center has lead NASA's research on crop production systems that produce high value fresh foods, provide atmospheric regeneration, and perform water processing. As the emphasis on early missions to Mars has developed, our research focused on modular, scalable systems for transit missions, which can be developed into larger autonomous, bioregenerative systems for subsequent surface missions. Components of these scalable systems will include development of efficient light generating or collecting technologies, low mass plant growth chambers, and capability to operate in the high energy background radiation and reduced atmospheric pressures of space. These systems will be integrated with air, water, and thermal subsystems in an operational system. Extensive crop testing has been done for both staple and salad crops, but limited data is available on specific cultivar selection and breadboard testing to meet nominal Mars mission profiles of a 500-600 day surface mission. The recent research emphasis at Kennedy Space Center has shifted from staple crops, such as wheat, soybean and rice, toward short cycle salad crops such as lettuce, onion, radish, tomato, pepper, and strawberry. This paper will review the results of crop experiments to support the Exploration Initiative and the ongoing development of supporting technologies, and give an overview of capabilities of the newly opened Space Life Science (SLS) Lab at Kennedy Space Center. The 9662 square m (104,000 square ft) SLS Lab was built by the State of Florida and supports all NASA research that had been performed in Hanger-L. In addition to NASA research, the SLS Lab houses the Florida Space Research Institute (FSRI), responsible for co-managing the facility, and the University of Florida (UF) has established the Space Agriculture and Biotechnology Research and Education (SABRE) Center with several faculty.

Sager, John C.↗
DOE OSTI2025

AI-Driven Accelerated Inclusion Analysis for Energy Efficient Steelmaking (Final CRADA Report)

This was a collaborative effort between Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) as manager and operator of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and ArcelorMittal USA Research LLC (“ArcelorMittal” as the Participant), to use scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, computer vision and machine learning methods, and high-performance computing to accelerate the inclusion analysis process of liquid steel so that new methods can be used for near-real time process control on the shop floor.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2012

Exploration Medical System Demonstration (EMSD) Project

The Exploration Medical System Demonstration (EMSD) is a project under the Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) element managed by the Human Research Program (HRP). The vision for the EMSD is to utilize ISS as a test bed to show that several medical technologies needed for an exploration mission and medical informatics tools for managing evidence and decision making can be integrated into a single system and used by the on-orbit crew in an efficient and meaningful manner. Objectives: a) Reduce and even possibly eliminate the time required for on-orbit crew and ground personnel (which include Surgeon, Biomedical Engineer (BME) Flight Controller, and Medical Operations Data Specialist) to access and move medical data from one application to another. b) Demonstrate that the on-orbit crew has the ability to access medical data/information using an intuitive and crew-friendly software solution to assist/aid in the treatment of a medical condition. c) Develop a common data management framework and architecture that can be ubiquitously used to automate repetitive data collection, management, and communications tasks for all crew health and life sciences activities.

Chin, Duane↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Technology Maturation Plan for the Development of Nuclear Electric Propulsion

Over the last two years NASA’s Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) Project formulated a Technology Maturation Plan (TMP) for development of the sub-systems needed for a MW-class Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) system which, combined with a high thrust chemical propulsion stage, would be suitable for human missions to Mars. Two recent assessments, independently conducted by the National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the NASA Engineering & Safety Center, concluded that the technologies required for a high-power NEP system are immature and the attendant risks insufficiently quantified to justify initiating a flight project. For NEP to be available as a viable option to meet flight opportunities in the late 2030s / 2040s time frame, development of the key sub-systems must begin now. SNP has subdivided the NEP system into five Critical Technology Elements (CTE): the nuclear reactor, power conversion, power management and distribution, electric propulsion sub-system, and the primary heat rejection system. Development plans for each of these CTEs have been drafted which will serve as the template for a focused milestone-driven research and development campaign intended to advance each CTE to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5. This will be accomplished by building and testing hardware at relevant power levels (~ 1 MW) and for relevant durations (2,500 hours, ~10% of the required operational lifetime) and conducting numerical modeling of the CTEs anchored by the accumulated test data to predict system performance and reliability. Concurrent with this work, high-level coupled system/mission modeling will be carried out to refine the key performance parameters that the various CTEs must achieve. Non-advocate reviews will be held at milestone points to assess progress and inform down-select decisions. The strategy for formulating the TMP was described previously; this paper describes ongoing progress on the drafting and baselining of the plan, including key specific details.

Space Nuclear Propulsion↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Technology Maturation Plan for the Development of Nuclear Electric Propulsion

Over the last two years NASA’s Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) Project formulated a Technology Maturation Plan (TMP) for development of the sub-systems needed for a MW-class Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) system which, combined with a high thrust chemical propulsion stage, would be suitable for human missions to Mars. Two recent assessments, independently conducted by the National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the NASA Engineering & Safety Center, concluded that the technologies required for a high-power NEP system are immature and the attendant risks insufficiently quantified to justify initiating a flight project. For NEP to be available as a viable option to meet flight opportunities in the late 2030s / 2040s time frame, development of the key sub-systems must begin now. SNP has subdivided the NEP system into five Critical Technology Elements (CTE): the nuclear reactor, power conversion, power management and distribution, electric propulsion sub-system, and the primary heat rejection system. Development plans for each of these CTEs have been drafted which will serve as the template for a focused milestone-driven research and development campaign intended to advance each CTE to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5. This will be accomplished by building and testing hardware at relevant power levels (~ 1 MW) and for relevant durations (2,500 hours, ~10% of the required operational lifetime) and conducting numerical modeling of the CTEs anchored by the accumulated test data to predict system performance and reliability. Concurrent with this work, high-level coupled system/mission modeling will be carried out to refine the key performance parameters that the various CTEs must achieve. Non-advocate reviews will be held at milestone points to assess progress and inform down-select decisions. The strategy for formulating the TMP was described previously*; this paper describes ongoing progress on the drafting and baselining of the plan, including key specific details. * “Strategy for Developing Technologies for Megawatt-class Nuclear Electric Propulsion Systems”, K.A. Polzin, et. al., International Electric Propulsion Conference IEPC 2022, IEPC-2022-155

Nuclear Electric Propulsion↗
DOE OSTI2024

Salt International Collaborations FY24 Update

This report summarizes the international collaborations conducted by Sandia funded by the US Department of Energy Office (DOE) of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Spent Fuel and Waste Science & Technology (SFWST) as part of the Sandia National Laboratories Salt R&D and Salt International work packages. This report satisfies the level-three milestone M3SF-24SN010303063. Several stand-alone sections make up this summary report, each completed by the participants. The sections discuss granular salt reconsolidation (KOMPASS/MEASURES), engineered barriers (RANGERS), numerical model comparison (DECOVALEX), an NEA Salt Club working group on the development of scenarios as part of the performance assessment development process, and progress on seal percolation experiments with German colleagues at Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS). Finally, we summarize events related to the US/German Workshop on Repository Research, Design and Operations.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS2002

Operations Analysis of Space Shuttle System

The space science program at NASA since 1950's has gone through stages of development and implementation in rocketry and scientific advancement. It has become the nation's largest scientific institution of research and innovation for space exploration and military research, and overall a pride of the nation at an exorbitant cost. After placing man on moon, space shuttle program at NASA is an on-going project with a high success rate at an average cost of about $450m per flight. A future endeavor from both government and private sectors needs to be undertaken for commercialization of this expensive mission. In order to attract private enterprises, it needs to boost up its operations with better technology at lower cost to cope with rapid changes in scientific advancement and economic competition. Thus, a second-generation reusable launch vehicle (2GRLV) will play a major role in future operation of NASA centers. Envisioning this potential way of saving the program by reducing the cost, NASA is currently managing an innovative program called the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) to develop key technologies that will support the development of second-generation reusable launch vehicles (RLV) which will be more economical and safer and reliable than the existing space shuttle system. The selection of which technologies to fund for further development is being based on their likelihood to contribute to providing cost reduction or safety improvements. It is envisioned that in the 2006 timeframe, NASA will make a decision as to whether or not to commit to the replacement of the current space shuttle system with a new RLV. The decision to proceed with a new RLV will be partly based on the likelihood that the new system will be better than the existing space shuttle. Government and private entrepreneurs are currently considering four different types of RLV projects: commercial programs, government programs, international concepts, and X Prize competitors. NASA has already commissioned a series of X-programs to study the future RLV program. Today, NASA decision makers need analytical tools to help determine which technologies to fund the development of this technology. In the 2006 timeframe, these same decision makers will need analytical tools to evaluate and compare various RLV architectures, including the existing space shuttle so as to make the best decision for whether or not to proceed with the development of a new RLV, and if so, then which one. A study is conducted here to establish ground level knowledge from the historical data and expertise experiences of the field personnel. Such information is compiled in the form of mission statement, goals, space shuttle operations, payloads and cargo constraints, resource constraints, and bottlenecks to the enhancement vector.

Bhaba R. Sarker↗