Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “energy levels”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

1,221 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2026

Development of the Orion Life-Support Integration Facility (OLIF)

Testing the life support hardware of a vehicle that is going to take humans beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) in conditions similar to space is crucial. The Orion Life-Support Integration Facility (OLIF) at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) was designed and built to test the Orion vehicle’s hardware and software as integrated systems to provide a complete Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) system-level qualification. The existing 11 Foot human rated vacuum chamber has been adapted to accommodate and integrate various qualification and flight like components of the Orion vehicle’s Air Revitalization System (ARS), Pressure Control System (PCS), Active Thermal Control System (ATCS) and the Orion Crew Survival System Suits (OCSS). The ultimate goal was to create an analog testbed that could safely support up to four test subjects in open “shirt-sleeve” or closed suit loop configurations and simulate Orion Cabin conditions. This integrated hardware/software ARS and PCS will help identify any technical issues that should be addressed prior to the Artemis-2 mission. This paper will discuss the history of Orion ECLSS hardware development testing in the 11 Foot Chamber, the challenge of integrating flight hardware and software control systems, and the capabilities that make it a unique, world class facility for NASA. It will provide an overview of past and future testing, and the lessons learned along the way.

Peter A Masi↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hamiltonian switching control of noisy bipartite qubit systems

Abstract We develop a Hamiltonian switching ansatz for bipartite control that is inspired by the quantum approximate optimization algorithm, to mitigate environmental noise on qubits. We demonstrate the control for a central spin coupled to bath spins via isotropic Heisenberg interactions, and then make physical applications to the protection of quantum gates performed on superconducting transmon qubits coupling to environmental two-level-systems (TLSs) through dipole-dipole interactions, as well as on such qubits coupled to both TLSs and a Lindblad bath. The control field is classical and acts only on the system qubits. We use reinforcement learning with policy gradient to optimize the Hamiltonian switching control protocols, using a fidelity objective for specific target quantum gates. We use this approach to demonstrate effective suppression of both coherent and dissipative noise, with numerical studies achieving target gate implementations with fidelities over 0.9999 (four nines) in the majority of our test cases and showing improvement beyond this to values of 0.999 999 999 (nine nines) upon a subsequent optimization by GRadient Ascent Pulse Engineering (GRAPE). We analyze how the control depth, total evolution time, number of environmental TLS, and choice of optimization method affect the fidelity achieved by the optimal protocols and reveal some critical behaviors of bipartite control of quantum gates.

Physics↗
NASA NTRS1977

Reanalysis of the Apollo Cosmic Gamma-Ray Spectrum in the 0.3 to 10 MeV Energy Region

Additional data obtained from the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 missions, together with collateral calculations on background radiation effects, have made an improved subtraction of unwanted backgrounds from the diffuse cosmic y-ray data previously reported from Apollo 15 possible. As a result, the 1 to 10 MeV spectrum is lowered significantly and connects smoothly with recent data at other energies. The inflection reported previously is much less pronounced and has no more than a 1.5 σ significance. Sky occultation by the Apollo 16 spacecraft shows the bulk of the 0.3 to 1 MeV radiation to be diffuse. The analysis of spurious backgrounds points to important improvements for future experiments designed for this spectral region.

Gamma Rays↗
DOE OSTI2026

Diffraction-quality, ultraflexible protein single crystals engineered with DNA

DNA-functionalized colloidal nanoparticles assemble through flexible, nanoscale DNA hybridization interactions that limit atomic-level structural order. Here, we report a valence-centric strategy that enables DNA-bonded, protein single crystals with unconventional mechanical properties. An octameric enzyme, glutarate L-2-hydroxylase, was site- and number-selectively conjugated with eight self-complementary single-stranded DNA, yielding octavalent molecular bonds. The resulting conjugate assembled into the designed body-centered tetragonal crystals that diffracted to 1.42- to 2.61-angstrom resolution, with contacts mediated by B-form DNA helices spanning 17 to 25 angstroms. Increasing oligonucleotide length induces anisotropic lattice expansion while preserving atomic periodicity, even with partial DNA occupancy. Mechanistic studies suggest that the dynamic motion of unhybridized DNA facilitates crystallization, analogous to fluctuating electron clouds in atomic bonding. Compared with native protein crystals, DNA-hybridized crystals are 23-fold softer. These results challenge the assumption that flexibility is incompatible with structural order and establish a programmable framework for biomolecular crystallization and nanomaterials engineering with atomic precision.

Han, Zhenyu [Department of Chemistry, Northwestern↗
NASA NTRS1967

The heat sterilizable battery.

Sealed heat sterilizable high impact resistant battery for space missions, grafting acrylic acid and polyethylene by irradiation for separator

SPACECRAFT POWER SUPPLY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Laser activation of single group-IV colour centres in diamond

Abstract Spin-photon interfaces based on group-IV colour centres in diamond offer a promising platform for quantum networks. A key challenge in the field is realising precise single-defect positioning and activation, which is crucial for scalable device fabrication. Here we address this problem by demonstrating a two-step fabrication method for tin vacancy (SnV − ) centres that uses site-controlled ion implantation followed by local femtosecond laser annealing with in-situ spectral monitoring. The ion implantation is performed with sub-50 nm resolution and a dosage that is controlled from hundreds of ions down to single ions per site, limited by Poissonian statistics. Using this approach, we successfully demonstrate site-selective creation and modification of single SnV − centres. Our in-situ spectral monitoring opens a window onto materials tuning at the single defect level, and provides new insight into defect structures and dynamics during the annealing process. While demonstrated for SnV − centres, this versatile approach can be readily generalised to other implanted colour centres in diamond and wide-bandgap materials.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2022

Exceedance Probabilities and Recurrence Intervals for Extended Power Outages in the United States

This report provides estimates of recurrence intervals and conditional exceedance probabilities for major power outages by U.S. region between 2015 and 2021. Additionally, we provide estimates for grid management, particularly outages caused by California’s public safety power shutoffs (PSPS), and for natural outages caused by major hurricanes. Outage recurrence intervals are the average number of years between outage events, and conditional exceedance probabilities are the likelihoods that a customer who experiences a major power outage will experience an outage exceeding a given duration. Major outage events are those that affect 10,000 or more customers, as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Electric Emergency Incident and Disturbance Report, called OE-417 (DOE 2020). These results can be applied to determine the likelihood of experiencing long-duration outages, which can be integrated into cost-benefit analyses of resilience solutions and broader energy resilience studies.

Ericson, Sean [National Renewable Energy Laborator↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electricity Markets and Long-Duration Energy Storage: A Survey of Grid Services and Revenue Streams

Purpose of Review Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) is increasingly viewed as a potential resource for providing grid services that enhance the stability and flexibility of electricity systems. While some LDES services are integrated into existing market frameworks, traditional mechanisms may not fully account for their operational characteristics, potentially leading to undervaluation. Within this context, this paper reviews the literature and industry practices to assess potential grid services for LDES, evaluates existing compensation mechanisms, and identifies challenges to full market integration. Recent Findings We first review existing literature and identify key grid services unique to LDES, including enhancing grid resilience during extreme weather events, enabling long-term energy shifting, and providing flexible and firm energy in systems with limited dispatchable resources. Here, we also review how LDES services are compensated in current market frameworks and the challenges associated with the full realization of LDES values. Additionally, we summarize market mechanisms for storage technologies across U.S. wholesale markets. We find that some markets are adjusting incentive structures, such as incorporating storage duration in capacity accreditation, to better align with system needs and LDES contributions to the grid. However, further refinements in capacity remuneration and dispatch timeframes may be needed for more effective realization of LDES value. Summary This review evaluates potential grid services for LDES, examines existing compensation mechanisms for LDES technologies, and identifies gaps between these mechanisms and LDES operational characteristics. The review concludes by outlining potential market enhancements for more effective LDES integration and articulating additional research needs to support its efficient participation in future power systems.

Flexible resources↗
DOE OSTI2022

Variational Quantum Circuits to Prepare Low Energy Symmetry States

We explore how to build quantum circuits that compute the lowest energy state corresponding to a given Hamiltonian within a symmetry subspace by explicitly encoding it into the circuit. We create an explicit unitary and a variationally trained unitary that maps any vector output by ansatz A(α → ) from a defined subspace to a vector in the symmetry space. The parameters are trained varitionally to minimize the energy, thus keeping the output within the labelled symmetry value. The method was tested for a spin XXZ Hamiltonian using rotation and reflection symmetry and H 2 Hamiltonian within S z = 0 subspace using S 2 symmetry. We have found the variationally trained unitary gives good results with very low depth circuits and can thus be used to prepare symmetry states within near term quantum computers.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Accelerating SNP Development with Radiation Source Approximations for Far-Field Environment Modeling

The successful development and deployment of space nuclear power and propulsion technology requires a high-fidelity, efficient means of modeling ex-core radiation fields. Monte Carlo particle transport codes provide enable the highest level of fidelity in radiation field modeling but are inefficient for modeling ex-core radiation without modification. This paper details the development of an approach to ex-core radiation field modeling that maintains the fidelity of a Monte Carlo transport approach without sacrificing computational efficiency. This approach is based on recent improvements to an existing Monte Carlo transport acceleration technique known as surface source banking. As the transport of many particles is required to ensure adequate uncertainty in far field transport, analytical reconstruction techniques are employed to represent surface source banks as sampleable series of distributions in particle phase from which an arbitrarily large number of particles can be generated and simulated. All steps of this approach are incorporated into an AMA model to test both the underlying mathematics of the analytical source reconstruction process, as well as the relevance of the technique as a whole towards SNP applications. These tests demonstrated that this approach is capable of accelerating far-field radiation modeling in SNP-relevant scenarios by factors of at least nine over purely eigenvalue-based scenarios without significantly sacrificing simulation accuracy.

Surface Source Banking↗