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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Advanced Geared Turbofan 30,000 lbf – electrified (AGTF30-e): A Virtual Testbed for Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Research

Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) is a growing topic of research with the potential to shape the future of commercial air travel. Here, detailed mathematical models serve an essential role in developing understanding and evaluating different technologies and design concepts. The Advanced Geared Turbofan 30,000 lbf – electrified (AGTF30-e) is an open-source software package developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The AGTF30-e provides a realistic propulsion system model of a conceptual electrified advanced geared turbofan engine suitable for propelling a single-aisle commercial aircraft. Included with the engine model is a controller that provides representative dynamic performance across a full operating envelop. The model is meant to facilitate research studies and promote collaboration. It is envisioned for use in concept exploration studies, technology impact studies, and dynamics and controls studies. The engine model can be run in various modes of operation including boost and power extraction. It also has options for other electrification features and methods for engine shaft and electric machine integration. This paper documents the AGTF30-e and illustrates its use through various simulation scenarios.

AGTF30-e↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Advanced Geared Turbofan 30,000 lb f – electrified (AGTF30-e): A Virtual Testbed for Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Research

Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) is a growing topic of research with the potential to shape the future of commercial air travel. Here, detailed mathematical models serve an essential role in developing understanding and evaluating different technologies and design concepts. The Advanced Geared Turbofan 30,000 lb f – electrified (AGTF30-e) is an open-source software package developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The AGTF30-e provides a realistic propulsion system model of a conceptual electrified advanced geared turbofan engine suitable for propelling a single-aisle commercial aircraft. Included with the engine model is a controller that provides representative dynamic performance across a full operating envelop. The model is meant to facilitate research studies and promote collaboration. It is envisioned for use in concept exploration studies, technology impact studies, and dynamics and controls studies. The engine model can be run in various modes of operation including boost and power extraction. It also has options for other electrification features and methods for engine shaft and electric machine integration. This paper documents the AGTF30-e and illustrates its use through various simulation scenarios.

AGTF30-e↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data Fusion for the Development of a Multimodal Freight Transload Facilities Dataset in the U.S.

To withstand the growing demand of commodity volume and its strain on the transportation infrastructure, it is necessary to identify the flow of commodities by route and mode. However, a national multimodal freight routing model does not exist for the U.S. The development of such model requires multiple building blocks, such as virtual representations of roadway, railway, and waterway networks, transload facilities (TFs), and access/egress links. Most of these blocks have a robust database in the U.S., except for the TFs. Here, this paper presents the fusion of dispersed and heterogeneous representations of multimodal TFs into a single, comprehensive, geospatial freight TF dataset. The TF dataset is derived from several sources, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Master Docks Plus, the National Transportation Atlas Database, the Intermodal Association of North America, industry publications, and other public information. First, individual datasets were queried and reconciled. A geocoding/reverse geocoding process was applied to get the best street address and latitude/longitude location for each terminal. Then, duplicate terminals were identified by a fuzzy match algorithm based on terminal name and location, and removed. Validation was performed by visual inspection of random facilities. The main contributions of this work are: a publicly available version of the TF dataset, including facility location and multimodal transfer capability of 9,003 facilities, and an enterprise-version with the same facilities but including commodity handling capabilities. The main purpose of developing the TF dataset is to inform multimodal routing algorithms. The proposed TF dataset allows for credibly modeling the multimodal transfer of commodities within shipment routes.

Commodity Routing↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dataset: "Widespread Drought-driven Declines in Streamflows and Water quality in the Upper Colorado River Basin (1998-2022)"

This data package contains the associated data and scripts for Nagamoto, E., Ombadi, M., Ciulla, F. et al. Widespread drought-driven declines in streamflows and water quality in the Upper Colorado River Basin during 1998-2022. Commun Earth Environ 7, 734 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03890-5. This purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the 21st century drought on water quantity and quality at catchments throughout the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB). We used stream flow, water temperature, specific conductance, air temperature, precipitation, and catchment attribute data for over 200 sites in the UCRB, collected from the National Water Information System using Basin3D (Varadharajan, 2023), GAGESII (Falcone, 2010), and the Google Earth Engine. We identified years of severe drought between 1998 and 2022 using the Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI), then calculated the relative change percentage of the stream flow, water temperature, and specific conductance from drought versus non-drought years. We used the attribute information from GAGESII to investigate what physical traits of catchments are associated streamflow vulnerability (greater relative change) or resilience to drought. We used land cover data from the National Land Cover Database (USGS, 2024) to assess any changes to physical attributes that may not be represented in the static attributes information in GAGESII. To increase data availability, we modeled stream temperature using methods from Willard, 2023. While the study period is water years 1998 to 2022, the raw water quantity and quality data extends to 1950 and the meteorological data extends to 1980. The data and code can be downloaded via the UCRB_drought.zip. Within the zip, the files are organized as follows: - INPUTS: Contains all input data used in UCRB_Drought_Workflow.ipynb - OUTPUTS: Contains all intermediate data created from UCRB_Drought_Workflow.ipynb as well as final products including the calculated Standardized Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) - climatic_variables: The code used to collect meteorologic data from Google Earth Engine - feature_importance: The code used for the catchment attributes analysis - preprocessing: Code used in UCRB_Drought_Workflow_Preprocessing.ipynb - pyeto: Code used in UCRB_Drought_Workflow_Preprocessing.ipynb - calculations: Code used in UCRB_Drought_Workflow_Impacts.ipynb - plotting: Code used in UCRB_Drought_Workflow_Impacts.ipynb - README.md - UCRB_Drought_Workflow_Preprocessing.ipynb: The code used to prep raw data for the analysis - UCRB_Drought_Workflow_Impact.ipynb: The code which uses the prepped raw data for analysis, and plots all figures - requirements_ucrb-drought_v2.yml: The requirements file to create a virtual environment and Jupyter Lab kernel to run the code The INPUTS folder is organized into the following major directories and sub-directories. The "RDC_WT_SC_RAW" folder contains raw data for streamflow, water temperature, and specific conductance in a ".h5" file. The "NLCD_RAW" folder contains ".csv" files with annual land cover percentages for counties within the UCRB. The "MET_RAW" folder contains a ".csv" file with monthly meteorological data (air temperature and precipitation) for the sites in the UCRB which was obtained from code in the climatic_variables folder. The "GAGESII" folder contains ".csv" files with physical catchment attribute variables for catchments across the country. The "WT_LSTM_data" folder contains ".csv" files with calculated WT (Willard, 2023) and the associated RMSEs. The "Upper_Colorado_River_Basin_Boundary" folder contains geographic data including a shapefile for plotting in the UCRB_Drought_Workflow.ipynb. The "RESERVOIRS_RAW" folder contains ".csv" files for each reservoir in the UCRB with daily reservoir storage. There are also two files in the INPUTS folder that have combined reservoir storage data and reservoir metadata. The OUTPUTS folder is organized into the following major directories and sub-directories. The "RDC_WT_SC_data" folder contains a folder "Water_year" with the associated cleaned data, metadata, and data availability information in ".csv" files, a folder "Median_Relchange" with the relative change comparing drought to non-drought years in ".csv" files, and a folder "Peak95_Min5_Relchange" that has ".csv" files for the relative change in peak (95th %) and minimum (5th %) variables. The "NLCD_data" folder contains the difference in land cover from the beginning to end of the study period and the percentage of the county that is within UCRB bounds can be found in Nagamoto et al (2025)). The "MET_data" folder contains separated monthly air temperature and precipitation data and the calculated PET in ".csv" files. The "SPEI_data" folder contains ".csv" files with calculated SPEI values (one restricted to the study period and the other with information from the entire MET data period). The "Paper_Tables" folder contains two ".csv" files containing site information and data availability and information about the GAGESII trait aggregated categories. The base directory includes the file “flmd.csv” for a list and description of all files and the file “dd.csv” for data dictionaries. Scripts for preprocessing, analysis, and figure generation are located in the associated GitHub repository found at [https://github.com/iNAIADS/drought-impacts/tree/develop/UCRB-drought]. UPDATE 1: Title and code file updated to match submitted manuscript 10-15-2025. UPDATE 2: Code and data files updated to match revised manuscript 3-4-2026. UPDATE 3: Code and data files updated to match revised manuscript 6-7-2026. ** NOTE: DD and FLMD have not been updated yet. UPDATE 4: Added associated Manuscript information and DD and FLMD have been updated. To cite this code, please use the following BibTeX: @misc{nagamoto2025drought, author = {Emily Nagamoto and Fabio Ciulla and Mohammad Ombadi and Jared Willard and Rosemary Carroll and Charuleka Varadharajan}, title = {Dataset: "Widespread Drought-driven Declines in Streamflows and Water quality in the Upper Colorado River Basin (1998-2022)"}, year = {2025}, doi = {10.15485/2551894}, publisher = {ESS-DIVE Repository}, url = {https://data.ess-dive.lbl.gov/datasets/doi:10.15485/2551894} }

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1988

Technology issues associated with fueling the national aerospace plane with slush hydrogen

The National Aerospace Plane is a horizontal takeoff and landing, single stage-to-orbit vehicle using hydrogen fuel. The first flights are planned for the mid 1990's. The success of this important national program requires advances in virtually every discipline associated with both airbreathing and space flight. The high heating value, cooling capacity, and combustion properties make hydrogen the fuel of choice, but low density results in a large vehicle. Both fuel cooling capacity and density are increased with the use of slush hydrogen and result in significant reductions in vehicle size. A national program to advance this technology and to find engineering solutions to the many design issues is now under way. The program uses the expertise of the cryogenics production and services industry, the instrumentation industry, universities and governments. The program will be discussed to highlight the major issues and display progress to date.

Hannum, Ned P.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Where am I: Determining the attitude of spacecraft parts

In the preliminary design of spacecraft, spreadsheets are often used to scale and size components. While offering some benefits, using spreadsheets does have some drawbacks. In particular, since time is typically not one of the input values, overly conservative designs can result because scheduling issues are not considered. To overcome this problem, the Space Systems Concepts Division is developing a time dependent, virtual spacecraft simulation system. Since the performance of many components on the spacecraft are sensitive to the attitude of the spacecraft, a method or function is needed to determine the attitude of a part. Thus, the primary goal of this research was to develop a software module that calculates the attitude of an arbitrary part on the spacecraft. This module is then used by subsystem engineers, e.g. the power subsystem, to compute the attitude relative to the spacecraft, the sun, the Earth, or a user specified target.

Hanson, Mark L.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Engineering analysis of LANDSAT 1 data for Southeast Asian agriculture

The author has identified the following significant results. LANDSAT spatial resolution was estimated to be adequate, but barely so, for the purpose of detailed assessment of rice or site status. This was due to the spatially fine grain, heterogenous nature of most rice areas. Use of two spectral bands of digital data (MSS 5 and MSS 6 or 7) appeared to be adequate for site recognition and gross site status assessment. Spectral/temporal signatures were found to be more powerful than spectra signatures alone and virtually essential for most analyses of rice growth and rice sites in the Philippine environment. Two band, two date signatures were estimated to be adequate for most purposes, although good results were achieved using one band two- or four-date signatures. A radiometric resolution of 64 levels in each band was found adequate for the analyses of LANDSAT digital data for site recognition and gross site or rice growth assessment.

Mcnair, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

An improved source model for aircraft interior noise studies

There is concern that advanced turboprop engines currently being developed may produce excessive aircraft cabin noise levels. This concern has stimulated renewed interest in developing aircraft interior noise reduction methods that do not significantly increase take off weight. An existing analytical model for noise transmission into aircraft cabins was utilized to investigate the behavior of an improved propeller source model for use in aircraft interior noise studies. The new source model, a virtually rotating dipole, is shown to adequately match measured fuselage sound pressure distributions, including the correct phase relationships, for published data. The virtually rotating dipole is used to study the sensitivity of synchrophasing effectiveness to the fuselage sound pressure trace velocity distribution. Results of calculations are presented which reveal the importance of correctly modeling the surface pressure phase relations in synchrophasing and other aircraft interior noise studies.

Mahan, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

An improved source model for aircraft interior noise studies

There is concern that advanced turboprop engines currently being developed may produce excessive aircraft cabin noise level. This concern has stimulated renewed interest in developing aircraft interior noise reduction methods that do not significnatly increase take off weight. An existing analytical model for noise transmission into aircraft cabins was utilized to investigate the behavior of an improved propeller source model for use in aircraft interior noise studies. The new source model, a virtually rotating dipole, is shown to adequately match measured fuselage sound pressure distributions, including the correct phase relationships, for published data. The virtually rotating dipole is used to study the sensitivity of synchrophasing effectiveness to the fuselage sound pressure trace velocity distribution. Results of calculations are presented which reveal the importance of correctly modeling the surface pressure phase relations in synchrophasing and other aircraft interior noise studies.

Mahan, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Experiments and other methods for developing expertise with design of experiments in a classroom setting

The only way to gain genuine expertise in Statistical Process Control (SPC) and the design of experiments (DOX) is with repeated practice, but not on canned problems with dead data sets. Rather, one must negotiate a wide variety of problems each with its own peculiarities and its own constantly changing data. The problems should not be of the type for which there is a single, well-defined answer that can be looked up in a fraternity file or in some text. The problems should match as closely as possible the open-ended types for which there is always an abundance of uncertainty. These are the only kinds that arise in real research, whether that be basic research in academe or engineering research in industry. To gain this kind of experience, either as a professional consultant or as an industrial employee, takes years. Vast amounts of money, not to mention careers, must be put at risk. The purpose here is to outline some realistic simulation-type lab exercises that are so simple and inexpensive to run that the students can repeat them as often as desired at virtually no cost. Simulations also allow the instructor to design problems whose outcomes are as noisy as desired but still predictable within limits. Also the instructor and the students can learn a great deal more from the postmortum conducted after the exercise is completed. One never knows for sure what the true data should have been when dealing only with real life experiments. To add a bit more realism to the exercises, it is sometimes desirable to make the students pay for each experimental result from a make-believe budget allocation for the problem.

Patterson, John W.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Alternative display and interaction devices

While virtual environment systems are typically thought to consist of a head mounted display and a flex-sensing glove, alternative peripheral devices are beginning to be developed in response to application requirements. Three such alternatives are discussed: fingertip sensing gloves, fixed stereoscopic viewers, and counterbalanced head mounted displays. A subset of commercial examples that highlight each alternative is presented as well as a brief discussion of interesting engineering and implementation issues.

Bolas, M. T.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Bridging the Gap: Use of Spaceflight Technologies for Earth-Based Problems

Spaceflight is colloquially deemed, the final frontier, or the last area which humans have not yet explored in great depth. While this is true, there are still many regions on Earth that remain isolated from the urban, socially and electronically connected world. Because travelling to space requires a great deal of foresight, engineers are required to think creatively in order to invent technologies that are durable enough to withstand the rigors of the unique and often treacherous environment of outer space. The innovations that are a result of spaceflight designs can often be applied to life on Earth, particularly in the rural, isolated communities found throughout the world. The NASA Human Health and Performance Center (NHHPC) is a collaborative, virtual forum that connects businesses, non-profit organizations, academia, and government agencies to allow for better distribution of ideas and technology between these entities (http://www.nasa.gov/offices/NHHPC). There are many technologies that have been developed for spaceflight that can be readily applied to rural communities on Earth. For example, water filtration systems designed for spaceflight must be robust and easily repaired; therefore, a system with these qualifications may be used in rural areas on Earth. This particular initiative seeks to connect established, non-profit organizations working in isolated communities throughout the world with NASA technologies devised for spaceflight. These technologies could include water purification systems, solar power generators, or telemedicine techniques. Applying innovative, spaceflight technologies to isolated communities on Earth provides greater benefits from the same research dollars, thus fulfilling the Space Life Science motto at Johnson Space Center: Exploring Space and Enhancing Life. This paper will discuss this NHHPC global outreach initiative and give examples based on the recent work of the organization.

Brinley, Alaina↗
NASA NTRS1954

Experimental Determination of Linear Dynamics of Two-Spool Turbojet Engines

Transfer functions descriptive of the response of most engine variables were determined from transient data that were obtained from approximate step inputs in fuel flow and in exhaust-nozzle area. The speed responses of both spools to fuel flow and to turbine-inlet temperature appeared as identical first-order lags. Response to exhaust-nozzle area was characterized by a first-order lag response of the outer-spool speed, accompanied by virtually no change in inner-spool speed.

Novik, David↗
NASA NTRS2010

Applying Spatial Audio to Human Interfaces: 25 Years of NASA Experience

From the perspective of human factors engineering, the inclusion of spatial audio within a human-machine interface is advantageous from several perspectives. Demonstrated benefits include the ability to monitor multiple streams of speech and non-speech warning tones using a cocktail party advantage, and for aurally-guided visual search. Other potential benefits include the spatial coordination and interaction of multimodal events, and evaluation of new communication technologies and alerting systems using virtual simulation. Many of these technologies were developed at NASA Ames Research Center, beginning in 1985. This paper reviews examples and describes the advantages of spatial sound in NASA-related technologies, including space operations, aeronautics, and search and rescue. The work has involved hardware and software development as well as basic and applied research.

Begault, Durand R.↗
DOE OSTI2024

SYS-5620-Project - Achieving Robust Laser Performance utilizing Historical Shot Experiments - A Systems Engineering Proposal

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory precisely guides, amplifies, reflects, and focuses 192 powerful laser beams into a target about the size of a pencil eraser in a few billionths of a second, delivering more than 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy and 500 trillion watts of peak power. A crucial goal of the system is to trigger precise implosions of fuel capsules. This is achieved by delivering all 192 beams at user-specified times and locations on the target, minimizing any deviation from the requested performance. Power requirements can vary substantially on each experiment and the facility supports numerous amplifier pumping configurations and their attendant nonlinear effects. To achieve the tight performance required across such a broad array of configurations, constant comparison of measured and requested power delivery are tracked and long-term trends analyzed as a guide to understanding future performance. A very common question asked is given the current state of the laser today – how well would a similar experiment from the past perform today? Additionally, if one were to specify an alternate amplifier configuration using today’s model would and damage limits be exceeded and would there be an increase in performance. The physics model used to make these predictions and equipment protection checks is called the Virtual Beamline (VBL). VBL is used with an incoming desired pulse shape and energy to be delivered on target, and then does an iterative solve to predict the needed injected pulse in the front-end of the system to achieve this result. To effectively guide and predict future NIF experiment performance, laser scientists explore current amplifier configurations and compare them with historical data utilizing a tool called the Reverify Toolbox.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Ultra‐Flexible Pixelated Perovskite Photodetectors Enabled by Honeycomb Polymer Grids for High‐Resolution Imaging

Abstract A nature‐inspired fabrication method based on a photolithography‐free flexible polymer grid is reported for high‐resolution pixelation of perovskite photodiode arrays with exceptional mechanical ductility and a morphology resembling that of natural compound eyes. The resulting pixelated perovskite photosensitive layer has a ≈1 µm pixel size with 2000 Pixels per inch (PPI) resolution when fully assembled as a photodetector array, delivering a detectivity of >10 13 Jones while providing cross‐talk free imaging. Using a polymer grid effectively releases stress on the perovskite platform, greatly increasing the mechanical agility of the otherwise brittle perovskite film. This novel fabrication methodology and device design offer new possibilities for applications in robotics, biomedical imaging, and virtual and augmented reality.

Zheng, Ding [Department of Chemistry and the Mater↗
NASA NTRS1993

Space Station technology testbed: 2010 deep space transport

A space station in a crew-tended or permanently crewed configuration will provide major R&D opportunities for innovative, technology and materials development and advanced space systems testing. A space station should be designed with the basic infrastructure elements required to grow into a major systems technology testbed. This space-based technology testbed can and should be used to support the development of technologies required to expand our utilization of near-Earth space, the Moon and the Earth-to-Jupiter region of the Solar System. Space station support of advanced technology and materials development will result in new techniques for high priority scientific research and the knowledge and R&D base needed for the development of major, new commercial product thrusts. To illustrate the technology testbed potential of a space station and to point the way to a bold, innovative approach to advanced space systems' development, a hypothetical deep space transport development and test plan is described. Key deep space transport R&D activities are described would lead to the readiness certification of an advanced, reusable interplanetary transport capable of supporting eight crewmembers or more. With the support of a focused and highly motivated, multi-agency ground R&D program, a deep space transport of this type could be assembled and tested by 2010. Key R&D activities on a space station would include: (1) experimental research investigating the microgravity assisted, restructuring of micro-engineered, materials (to develop and verify the in-space and in-situ 'tuning' of materials for use in debris and radiation shielding and other protective systems), (2) exposure of microengineered materials to the space environment for passive and operational performance tests (to develop in-situ maintenance and repair techniques and to support the development, enhancement, and implementation of protective systems, data and bio-processing systems, and virtual reality and telepresence/kinetic processes), (3) subsystem tests of advanced nuclear power, nuclear propulsion and communication systems (using boom extensions, remote station-keeping platforms and mobile EVA crew and robots), and (4) logistics support (crew and equipment) and command and control of deep space transport assembly, maintenance, and refueling (using a station-keeping platform).

Holt, Alan C.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Spinoff 2005

Topics covered include: Lighting the Way for Quicker, Safer Healing; Discovering New Drugs on the Cellular Level; Hydrogen Sensors Boost Hybrids; Today s Models Losing Gas?; 3-D Highway in the Sky; Popping a Hole in High-Speed Pursuits; Monitoring Wake Vortices for More Efficient Airports; From Rockets to Racecars; All-Terrain Intelligent Robot Braves Battlefront to Save Lives; Keeping the Air Clean and Safe--An Anthrax Smoke Detector; Lightning Often Strikes Twice; Technology That's Ready and Able to Inspect Those Cables; Secure Networks for First Responders and Special Forces; Space Suit Spins; Cooking Dinner at Home--From the Office; Nanoscale Materials Make for Large-Scale Applications; NASA s Growing Commitment: The Space Garden; Bringing Thunder and Lightning Indoors; Forty-Year-Old Foam Springs Back With New Benefits; Experiments With Small Animals Rarely Go This Well; NASA, the Fisherman's Friend; Crystal-Clear Communication a Sweet-Sounding Success; Inertial Motion-Tracking Technology for Virtual 3-D; Then Why Do They Call Earth the Blue Planet?; Valiant 'Zero-Valent' Effort Restores Contaminated Grounds; Harnessing the Power of the Sun; Water and Air Measures That Make 'PureSense'; Remote Sensing for Farmers and Flood Watching; Pesticide-Free Device a Fatal Attraction for Mosquitoes Making the Most of Waste Energy Washing Away the Worries About Germs Celestial Software Scratches More Than the Surface A Search Engine That's Aware of Your Needs Fault-Detection Tool Has Companies 'Mining' Own Business; Software to Manage the Unmanageable; Tracking Electromagnetic Energy With SQUIDs; Taking the Risk Out of Risk Assessment; Satellite and Ground System Solutions at Your Fingertips; Structural Analysis Made 'NESSUSary'; Software of Seismic Proportions Promotes Enjoyable Learning; Making a Reliable Actuator Faster and More Affordable; Cost-Cutting Powdered Lubricant NASA s Radio Frequency Bolt Monitor: A Lifetime of Spinoffs Going End to End to Deliver High-Speed Data; Advanced Joining Technology: Simple, Strong, and Secure; Big Results From a Smaller Gearbox; Low-Pressure Generator Makes Cleanrooms Cleaner; and The Space Laser Business Model.

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