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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 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

NASA Tech Briefs, October 2003

Topics covered include: Cryogenic Temperature-Gradient Foam/Substrate Tensile Tester; Flight Test of an Intelligent Flight-Control System; Slat Heater Boxes for Thermal Vacuum Testing; System for Testing Thermal Insulation of Pipes; Electrical-Impedance-Based Ice-Thickness Gauges; Simulation System for Training in Laparoscopic Surgery; Flasher Powered by Photovoltaic Cells and Ultracapacitors; Improved Autoassociative Neural Networks; Toroidal-Core Microinductors Biased by Permanent Magnets; Using Correlated Photons to Suppress Background Noise; Atmospheric-Fade-Tolerant Tracking and Pointing in Wireless Optical Communication; Curved Focal-Plane Arrays Using Back-Illuminated High-Purity Photodetectors; Software for Displaying Data from Planetary Rovers; Software for Refining or Coarsening Computational Grids; Software for Diagnosis of Multiple Coordinated Spacecraft; Software Helps Retrieve Information Relevant to the User; Software for Simulating a Complex Robot; Software for Planning Scientific Activities on Mars; Software for Training in Pre-College Mathematics; Switching and Rectification in Carbon-Nanotube Junctions; Scandia-and-Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia for Thermal Barriers; Environmentally Safer, Less Toxic Fire-Extinguishing Agents; Multiaxial Temperature- and Time-Dependent Failure Model; Cloverleaf Vibratory Microgyroscope with Integrated Post; Single-Vector Calibration of Wind-Tunnel Force Balances; Microgyroscope with Vibrating Post as Rotation Transducer; Continuous Tuning and Calibration of Vibratory Gyroscopes; Compact, Pneumatically Actuated Filter Shuttle; Improved Bearingless Switched-Reluctance Motor; Fluorescent Quantum Dots for Biological Labeling; Growing Three-Dimensional Corneal Tissue in a Bioreactor; Scanning Tunneling Optical Resonance Microscopy; The Micro-Arcsecond Metrology Testbed; Detecting Moving Targets by Use of Soliton Resonances; and Finite-Element Methods for Real-Time Simulation of Surgery.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2013

Hydrogen-Enhanced Lunar Oxygen Extraction and Storage Using Only Solar Power

The innovation consists of a thermodynamic system for extracting in situ oxygen vapor from lunar regolith using a solar photovoltaic power source in a reactor, a method for thermally insulating the reactor, a method for protecting the reactor internal components from oxidation by the extracted oxygen, a method for removing unwanted chemical species produced in the reactor from the oxygen vapor, a method for passively storing the oxygen, and a method for releasing high-purity oxygen from storage for lunar use. Lunar oxygen exists in various types of minerals, mostly silicates. The energy required to extract the oxygen from the minerals is 30 to 60 MJ/kg O. Using simple heating, the extraction rate depends on temperature. The minimum temperature is approximately 2,500 K, which is at the upper end of available oven temperatures. The oxygen is released from storage in a purified state, as needed, especially if for human consumption. This method extracts oxygen from regolith by treating the problem as a closed batch cycle system. The innovation works equally well in Earth or Lunar gravity fields, at low partial pressure of oxygen, and makes use of in situ regolith for system insulation. The innovation extracts oxygen from lunar regolith using a method similar to vacuum pyrolysis, but with hydrogen cover gas added stoichiometrically to react with the oxygen as it is produced by radiatively heating regolith to 2,500 K. The hydrogen flows over and through the heating element (HE), protecting it from released oxygen. The H2 O2 heat of reaction is regeneratively recovered to assist the heating process. Lunar regolith is loaded into a large-diameter, low-height pancake reactor powered by photovoltaic cells. The reactor lid contains a 2,500 K HE that radiates downward onto the regolith to heat it and extract oxygen, and is shielded above by a multi-layer tungsten radiation shield. Hydrogen cover gas percolates through the perforated tungsten shielding and HE, preventing oxidation of the shielding and HE, and reacting with the oxygen to form water vapor. The water vapor is filtered through solid regolith to remove unwanted extraction byproducts, and then condensed to a liquid state and stored at 300 to 325 K. Conversion to usable oxygen is achieved by pumping liquid water into a high-pressure electrolyzer, storing the gaseous oxygen at high pressure for use, and diverting the hydrogen back to the reactor or to storage. The results from this design effort show that this oxygen-generating concept can be developed in an efficient system with low specific mass. Advantages include use of regolith as an oxygen source, filter, and thermal insulator. The system can be tested in Earth gravity and can be expected to operate similarly in lunar gravity. The system is scalable, either by increasing the power level and output of a standard module, or by employing multiple modules.

Burton, rodney↗
NASA NTRS2013

"Kicking Up Some Dust": An Experimental Investigation Relating Lunar Dust Erosive Wear to Solar Power Loss

The exhaust from retrograde rockets fired by spacecraft landing on the Moon can accelerate lunar dust particles to high velocities. Information obtained from NASA's Apollo 12 mission confirmed that these high-speed dust particles can erode nearby structures. This erosive wear damage can affect the performance of optical components such as solar concentrators. Solar concentrators are objects which collect sunlight over large areas and focus the light into smaller areas for purposes such as heating and energy production. In this work, laboratory-scale solar concentrators were constructed and subjected to erosive wear by the JSC-1AF lunar dust simulant. The concentrators were focused on a photovoltaic cell and the degradation in electrical power due to the erosive wear was measured. It was observed that even moderate exposure to erosive wear from lunar dust simulant resulted in a 40 percent reduction in power production from the solar concentrators.

Mpagazehe, Jeremiah N.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Deep Charging Evaluation of Satellite Power and Communication System Components

A set of deep charging tests has been carried out by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on subscale flight-like samples developed by Space Systems/Loral, LLC. The samples, which included solar array wire coupons, a photovoltaic cell coupon, and a coaxial microwave transmission cable, were placed in passive and active (powered) circuit configurations and exposed to electron radiation. The energy of the electron radiation was chosen to deeply penetrate insulating (dielectric) materials on each sample. Each circuit configuration was monitored to determine if potentially damaging electrostatic discharge events (arcs) were developed on the coupon as a result of deep charging. The motivation for the test, along with charging levels, experimental setup, sample details, and results will be discussed.

Schneider, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Deep Charging Evaluation of Satellite Power and Communication System Components

Deep charging, in contrast to surface charging, focuses on electron penetration deep into insulating materials applied over conductors. A classic example of this scenario is an insulated wire. Deep charging can pose a threat to material integrity, and to sensitive electronics, when it gives rise to an electrostatic discharge or arc. With the advent of Electric Orbit Raising, which requires spiraling through Earth's radiation belts, satellites are subjected to high energy electron environments which they normally would not encounter. Beyond Earth orbit, missions to Jupiter and Saturn face deep charging concerns due to the high energy radiation environments. While predictions can be made about charging in insulating materials, it is difficult to extend those predictions to complicated geometries, such as the case of an insulating coating around a small wire, or a non-uniform silicone grouting on a bus bar. Therefore, to conclusively determine the susceptibility of a system to arcs from deep charging, experimental investigations must be carried out. This paper will describe the evaluation carried out by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on subscale flight-like samples developed by Space Systems/Loral, LLC. Specifically, deep charging evaluations of solar array wire coupons, a photovoltaic cell coupon, and a coaxial microwave transmission cable, will be discussed. The results of each evaluation will be benchmarked against control sample tests, as well as typical power system levels, to show no significant deep charging threat existed for this set of samples under the conditions tested.

Schneider, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Method for Fabricating and Packaging an M.Times.N Phased-Array Antenna

A method for fabricating an M.times.N, P-bit phased-array antenna on a flexible substrate is disclosed. The method comprising ink jet printing and hardening alignment marks, antenna elements, transmission lines, switches, an RF coupler, and multilayer interconnections onto the flexible substrate. The substrate of the M.times.N, P-bit phased-array antenna may comprise an integrated control circuit of printed electronic components such as, photovoltaic cells, batteries, resistors, capacitors, etc. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Subbaraman, Harish↗
NASA NTRS2019

The Kon-Tiki Mission – Demonstrating Large Solar Sails for Deep Space Missions

Two key NASA strategic documents, Our Dynamic Space Environment: Heliophysics Science and Technology Roadmap for 2014-2033 and 2013 Solar and Space Physics: Science for a Technological Society, contain over a dozen references describing the value of solar sails to enable revolutionary new observational capabilities. Based on these needs, the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed the Kon-Tiki mission concept to mature solar sail technology for use in future Heliophysics missions, as well as missions of interest across a broad user community (e.g., space weather and Earth polar observatories). Kon-Tiki would serve as a pathfinder for missions that observe the solar environment from unique vantage points such as the Solar Polar Imager (SPI), opening a fundamentally new range of observational capabilities for the Heliophysics Program and for space weather monitoring. Observations away from the Sun-Earth line (SEL) present unique opportunities for answering the outstanding science questions of Heliophysics, for improving space-weather monitoring and prediction, and for revealing new discoveries about our Sun and solar system. High solar inclinations are particularly compelling. Investment in, and demonstration of, the technology needed to enable polar missions is essential to making this unique vantage point a reality in the next decade. Propellantless solar sails can be used to create artificial equilibria and indefinite station-keeping at locations sunward of L1 along the SEL, or at any desired offset from the SEL leading or trailing the Earth in its orbit. They can change the heliocentric inclination of a spacecraft from the ecliptic to as high as solar polar, stopping and remaining at any intermediate inclination orbit in between. Sails can be used to hover over the Earth’s poles, using solar photon pressure to offset the Earth’s gravitational attraction, creating functional equivalents of geostationary earth orbits. The Kon-Tiki mission would fly a small spacecraft with a large (>1200 square meter) solar sail containing embedded reflectivity control devices (RCDs) and photovoltaic cells. The mission concept includes successful deployment of the solar sail, validation of all sail subsystems, controlled station-keeping inside of the Sun-Earth L1 point, attitude control of the sail with the RCDs (including spinning and despinning), demonstration of pointing performance for science imaging, and finally an increase in heliocentric inclination (out of the ecliptic).

Johnson, Les↗
NASA NTRS2020

Solar Cruiser Technology Maturation Plans

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed the Solar Cruiser mission concept to mature solar sail technology for use in future Heliophysics missions, as well as missions of interest across a broad user community (e.g., space weather and Earth polar observatories). Solar Cruiser will serve as a pathfinder for missions that observe the solar environment from unique vantage points such as a high inclination solar mission opening a fundamentally new range of observational capabilities for the Heliophysics Program and for space weather monitoring. Sustained observations away from the Sun-Earth line (SEL) present unique opportunities for answering the outstanding science questions of Heliophysics, improving space-weather monitoring and prediction, and revealing new information about our Sun and solar system. Propellantless solar sails can be used to create artificial equilibria and maintain indefinite station-keeping at locations sunward of L1 along the SEL, or at any desired offset from the SEL leading or trailing the Earth in its orbit. They can change the heliocentric inclination of a spacecraft from the ecliptic to as high as solar polar, stopping and remaining at any intermediate inclination orbit in between. Sails can be used to hover over the Earth’s poles, using solar photon pressure to offset the Earth’s gravitational attraction, creating functional equivalents of geostationary earth orbits. The Solar Cruiser mission would fly a small spacecraft with a large (>1,600 square meter) solar sail containing embedded reflectivity control devices (RCDs) and photovoltaic cells. The mission concept includes successful deployment of the solar sail, validation of all sail subsystems, controlled station-keeping inside of the Sun-Earth L1 point, attitude control of the sail with the RCDs (including spinning and de-spinning), demonstration of pointing performance for science imaging, and an increase in heliocentric inclination (out of the ecliptic). To demonstrate the requisite sail technology, the Solar Cruiser project will design, fabricate, deploy, and fly the Solar Sail Propulsion Element (SSPE). The SSPE incorporates the following three systems: • The Solar Sail System (SSS) provides the large propulsive surface required for acceleration and smaller reflectivity-changing surfaces for roll control. • The Active Mass Translator System (AMT) provides SSPE motion with respect to the sailcraft bus for pitch and yaw control. • The Solar Sail Attitude Determination and Control System (SSADCS) consists of embedded software to 1) provide autonomous sailcraft attitude estimation, attitude pointing control, and reaction wheel momentum management following sail deployment and 2) execute the uplinked inertial attitude pointing commands to maintain the desired sailcraft trajectory. The plans for maturing each of these technology systems to TRL 5 and beyond are described herein.

Solar Sail↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lunar Polar Exploration with Beamed Powered Rovers

Use of a laser to transmit power to a photovoltaic array has been proposed many times, including significant work done at NASA Glenn during the 1990s, but until recently the technology has lagged behind the ambitious requirements. The current NASA objective of lunar polar exploration provides the need, and evolution of higher-power and more efficient lasers provides the opportunity. Exploration of the ice-bearing craters near the lunar poles, where complete absence of sunlight precludes solar power, have been identified as a significant technology challenge for NASA’s future exploration. An approach to solve this is to use a laser to send power from the illuminated crater rim to a photovoltaic receiver on a rover inside the permanently dark region. A conceptual design was done of a prototype laser power system to be included on a proposed flight demonstration of the Kilopower space reactor. For the design, the laser transmitter is mounted on a small rover capable of moving to a location in line of sight of the receiving rover, e.g., on a crater rim with a view into the permanently dark region to be explored. A 250-watt laser diode bar transmits power at 808 nm, using a 10.5 cm optical beam director. The beam is received by a GaAs solar array mounted on the exploring rover, where it is converted into electrical power at ~50% optical to electrical efficiency. For the flight demonstration, 50 meters of laser transmission was required. The design showed a total laser mass of 7.8 kg is capable of producing the beam needed, not including the thermal control system. The demonstration design demonstrates 50-m transmission, but it would be valuable to have longer point-to-point beaming on the moon. Long beam paths require higher coherence than the diode laser bars of the demonstration system. The development of high-efficiency diode-pumped fiber lasers meets this technology need: and diode-pumped fiber lasers using the Er/Yb system can be purchased commercially with overall conversion efficiency of greater than 50% at wavelength 1.06 micrometers. Two technologies for a photovoltaic converter for this wavelength are the InGaAs photovoltaic cell, using technology developed for multi-junction space solar cells, or newly-developed high-quantum efficiency silicon cells. The next step to mature the technology would be a lunar flight demonstration. In the future, this has the potential to enhance and enable future human exploration of the moon, harvesting and utilizing the ice resources of these permanently-shadowed craters.

Geoffrey A Landis↗
NASA NTRS2021

The Solar Cruiser Mission

Selected by NASA as an ESPA-class rideshare technology demonstration mission to launch with the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission in 2025, the NASA MSFC Solar Cruiser mission will mature solar sail technology for use in future Heliophysics missions, as well as missions of interest across a broad user community including NOAA, Earth, and Planetary Sciences. Solar sails, which use reflected sunlight to derive thrust, can be used to create artificial equilibria and near-indefinite station-keeping at locations sunward of L1 along the Sun Earth Line (SEL), or at any desired offset from the SEL leading or trailing the Earth in its orbit. They can change the heliocentric inclination of a spacecraft from the ecliptic to as high as solar polar, stopping and remaining at any intermediate inclination orbit in between or can be used around a range of solar system bodies. The Solar Cruiser mission will fly a small spacecraft (~100 kg) with a large (>1600 square meter) solar sail containing embedded reflectivity control devices (RCDs) and photovoltaic cells, attaining a characteristic acceleration of >0.12 mm/s2. The mission concept includes successful deployment of the solar sail, validation of all sail subsystems, controlled station-keeping inside of the Sun-Earth L1 point, demonstration of pointing performance for science imaging, and finally an increase in heliocentric inclination (out of the ecliptic plane). Solar Cruiser would serve as a pathfinder for missions that observe the solar environment from unique vantage points such as a high inclination solar mission, opening a fundamentally new range of observational capabilities for the Heliophysics Program and for space weather monitoring. Observations away from the Sun-Earth line (SEL) present unique opportunities for answering the outstanding science questions of Heliophysics, for improving space-weather monitoring and prediction, and for revealing new discoveries about our Sun and solar system. High solar inclinations are particularly compelling. Investment in, and demonstration of, the technology needed to enable polar missions is essential to making this unique vantage point a reality in the next decade.

Solar Sail↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thermoradiative Arrays: A New Technology for Conversion of Heat into Electrical Power

The thermoradiative cell is a recently developed solid-state device for generating electrical power from heat energy. Thermoradiative arrays could be used as the conversion technology for production of electrical power from thermal sources such as nuclear reactors or radioisotope heat sources in space. The technology has the potential for efficient conversion compared to existing technologies used for space, but as yet is in a low state of development, with considerable work to be done. A roadmap of key research needs is given.

heat into electrical power↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Solar Array System Combined Environmental Effects Tests: Gateway Power and Propulsion Element

The NASA Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G), a vital component of NASA’s Artemis program, will serve as a multi-purpose outpost orbiting the Moon. A foundational component of LOP-G is the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). The PPE is a high-power, +60-kilowatt solar electric propulsion spacecraft that will provide power, high-rate communications, attitude control, and orbital transfer capabilities for the Gateway. The solar array system will utilize 4-junction photovoltaic cell technology on a flexible substrate (roll-out solar array or ROSA) in combination with multiple diode assemblies to combine the power of the solar array strings. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, together with the PPE developer, Maxar, are in the midst of completing a rigorous combined environments test campaign of 3 solar array coupons and 1 array blocking diode board coupon. The campaign includes Ultra-Violet Radiation, Charged Particle Radiation, Ion Erosion, Thermal Cycles, and Electrostatic Discharge tests. The environments are applied in 3 separate incremental stages reflecting the various mission phases: 460 days of Earth-to-Lunar Transit, with much of that time through the Van Allen Belts, 5-years in Lunar Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) at the Moon, and finally 15-years in Lunar NRHO, which represents the end of the design life. This paper will report on the state of the testing for each coupon, and brief look at the array performance, including some unexpected sensitivities of array blocking diodes.

Gateway↗
DOE OSTI2020

Materials and methods for the preparation of nanocomposites

Disclosed herein is an isolable colloidal particle comprising a nanoparticle and an inorganic capping agent bound to the surface of the nanoparticle, a method for making the same in a biphasic solvent mixture, and the formation of structures and solids from the isolable colloidal particle. The process can yield photovoltaic cells, piezoelectric crystals, thermoelectric layers, optoelectronic layers, light emitting diodes, ferroelectric layers, thin film transistors, floating gate memory devices, phase change layers, and sensor devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Solvent-free, solid phase synthesis of hybrid lead halide perovskites with superior purity

A method of synthesizing a mixed-halide perovskite is disclosed herein. The method includes the steps of mixing a first single-halide perovskite and a second single-halide perovskite to form a solid phase mixture and heating the solid phase mixture at a temperature below a first decomposition temperature of the first single-halide perovskite and below a second decomposition temperature of the second single-halide perovskite for a time sufficient to form the mixed-halide perovskite. During the mixing, the first and second single-halide perovskite are both in the solid phase. A mixed-halide perovskite made according to the method is also disclosed herein. The mixed-halide perovskite is free of amorphous and/or semicrystalline phases. The mixed-halide perovskite can be utilized in a photovoltaic cell in a solar panel.

Vela-Becerra, Javier↗
DOE OSTI2021

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite compounds

Photoactive materials comprising organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskite compounds are provided. Photovoltaic cells and light-emitting devices incorporating the photoactive materials into their light-absorbing and light-emitting layers, respectively, are also provided. The halide perovskites have an amAMX3 perovskite crystal structure, wherein am is an alkyl diamine cation, an aromatic diamine cation, an aromatic azole cation, a cyclic alkyl diamine cation or a hydrazinediium cation; A is a monovalent alkylammonium cation or an alkali metal cation; X is a halide ion or a combination of halide ions; and M is an octahedrally coordinated bivalent metal atom.

Ke, Weijun↗
DOE OSTI2023

Pivotable support structure for cross canal solar array

A cross canal support structure for photovoltaic cells is disclosed. The structure includes a major frame having disconnectable and hinged connections to anchors at its corners, on either side of the canal. The major frame carries a plurality of minor frames, which are inclinable at an angle with respect to the major frame with the use of fixed or adjustable mounting plates. The combination of the major frame's tilt and the minor frame tilt enables fabrication of support structures that hold panels at latitude inclination for various portions of a canal.

42 ENGINEERING↗