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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 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2019

Corrosion on Mars: Effect of the Mars Environment on Spacecraft Materials

This report presents the results of a one-year project, funded by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Innovation Fund in FY18, to conduct a theoretical study on the effect of the Mars environment on spacecraft materials. Corrosion resistance is one of the most important properties in selecting materials for landed spacecraft and structures that will support surface operations for the human exploration of Mars. Currently, the selection of materials is done by assuming that the corrosion behavior of a material on Mars will be the same as that on Earth. This is understandable since there is no data on the corrosion resistance of materials in the Mars environment. However, given that corrosion is defined as the degradation of a metal that results from its chemical interaction with the environment, it cannot be assumed that corrosion is going to be the same in both environments since they are significantly different. The goal of this research was to develop a systematic approach to understand corrosion of spacecraft materials on Mars by conducting a literature search of available data, relevant to corrosion in the Mars environment. This project was motivated by the suggestion, by a team of researchers, that some of the structural degradation observed on Curiosity's wheels may have been caused by corrosive interactions with the transient liquid brines, reported to be present on Mars, while the most significant damage was attributed to rock scratching. An extensive literature search, on data relevant to corrosion on Mars, confirmed the need to investigate the interaction between materials, used for spacecraft and structures designed to support long-term surface operations on Mars, and the Mars environment. Previous preliminary experiments, designed to look at the interaction between aerospace aluminum alloy (AA7075-T73) and the gases present in the Mars atmosphere, at 20 degC and a pressure of 700 Pa, showed that there is an interaction between the small amount of oxygen present in the Mars gas and the alloy, when there is a scratch that removes the protective aluminum oxide film. Further studies are needed to consider many other important components of the Mars environment that can affect this interaction such as: the presence of brines, the interaction between these brines and materials, the effect of radiation on these interactions, and the possible catalytic effects of the clays present in the Martian regolith. This theoretical study provides strong justification to conduct experimental work to investigate the interaction between spacecraft materials with simulated Martian environments to reduce Mars exploration costs.

Calle, Luz M.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Experimental Heat Transfer Results and Flow Visualization of Vertical Upflow Boiling in Earth Gravity with Subcooled Inlet Conditions – In Preparation for Experiments Onboard the International Space Station

Since 2012, researchers at the Purdue University Boiling and Two-Phase Flow Laboratory (PU-BTPFL) and NASA Glenn Research Center have been collaborating on a long-term effort to study flow boiling and condensation in microgravity. The ultimate goal has been to develop the Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) for the International Space Station (ISS). Based on the findings from prior flow boiling experiments both at different orientations in Earth gravity and onboard parabolic flights simulating short durations of microgravity, a final refined experiment design, construction, and operating procedure have been arrived at for long-duration microgravity flow boiling experiments onboard the ISS. This study investigates flow boiling of n-Perfluorohexane with subcooled inlet in a rectangular channel of dimensions 114.6 mm heated length, 2.5 mm width, and 5 mm height. These pre-launch experiments (Mission Sequence Testing) were conducted in vertical upflow orientation in Earth gravity using the same experimental rig that was launched to the ISS in August 2021. The various operating parameters varied are heating configuration (single- and double-sided), mass velocity (180 – 3200 kg/m2s), inlet subcooling (+0 – 32°C, encompassing both highly subcooled and near-saturated inlet conditions), and inlet pressure (119 – 191 kPa). High-speed video flow visualization images are presented to explain the two-phase interfacial physics within the channel’s heated section. Heat transfer results in terms of flow boiling curves, streamwise profiles of wall temperature and heat transfer coefficient, and averaged heat transfer coefficients are analyzed and parametric effects elucidated. Severe temporal thermodynamic equilibrium is observed for near-saturated inlet at very low velocities. Nucleate boiling degradation starts at larger heat fluxes for single-sided heating than double sided at low mass velocities with highly subcooled inlet, and conversely at high mass velocities with near-saturated inlet. Nucleate boiling degradation can be delayed to higher heat fluxes by highly subcooling the inlet and increasing mass velocity. The entire local heat transfer coefficient profiles are degraded at higher heat fluxes for near-saturated inlet, but only the downstream part for highly subcooled inlet. This study also confirmed reliability of the upcoming ISS experimental data for subcooled inlet conditions and the collected Earth-gravity data will be used for comparison against the ISS data.

flow boiling↗
NASA NTRS1972

Processing on-board optical data for planetary approach navigation.

The Mariner 9 spacecraft's science television camera provided an optical navigation experiment with TV pictures containing images of Mars' natural satellites against star backgrounds. Required TV image data and spacecraft engineering data were extracted from the spacecraft telemetry stream in this near-real time experiment designed to validate the navigation content of spacecraft-based optical data. This paper discusses the computer programs developed to prepare optical data for use in a navigation filter. Ground and in-flight calibration allowed pointing knowledge of better than 6 arc seconds. System performance during Mars approach was excellent, leading to extremely accurate trajectory estimates. The experiment provides a basis for the design of equivalent systems for future missions.

Acton, C. H., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Early results of Pioneer 10 particulate experiments.

On March 2, 1972 the Pioneer 10 spacecraft was launched on an interplanetary trajectory to encounter Jupiter late in 1973. The spacecraft carries four experiments designed to measure interplanetary particulates in a wide range of sizes from submicron to millimeter diameters. One experiment measures individual particulates by reflected sunlight. Two measure the aggregate particulates by scattered sunlight, while the fourth measures penetrations caused by individual particles. All have been collecting data from one to beyond four astronomical units. The data includes the first in situ measurements of small particulates in the Asteroid Belt. The results of the early analyses will be presented with particular emphasis on the distribution in the Asteroid Belt and its comparison to the interplanetary particulate distribution between the orbits of Earth and Mars.

Soberman, R. K.↗
NASA NTRS1975

An analytical and experimental stress analysis of a practical mode II fracture-test specimen

A boundary collocation method has been employed to determine the Mode II stress intensity factors for a pair of through-the-thickness edge cracks in a finite isotropic plate. An elastostatic analysis has been carried out in terms of the complete Williams stress function employing both even and odd components. The results of the numerical analysis were verified by a two-step procedure whereby the symmetric and antisymmetric portions of the solution were independently compared with existing solutions. The complete solution was verified by comparison with a photoelastic analysis. A compact shear specimen (CSS) of Hysol epoxy resin was loaded in a photoelastic experiment designed to study the isochromatic fringe patterns resulting from the Mode II crack tip stress distribution. The experiment verified that a pure Mode II stress distribution existed in the neighborhood of the crack tips and confirmed the accuracy of the boundary collocation solution for the Mode II stress intensity factors.

Chisholm, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Radial response of the burst and transient source experiment

The Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) includes four experiments designed for observe the gamma-ray universe, one of which is the Burst And Transient Source Experiment (BATSE). During the first summer with the BATSE team in 1988, laboratory measurements were completed which test the response of the BATSE modules to gamma-ray sources that are non-axial. The results of these observations are necessary for the correct interpretation of BATSE data obtained after it is put in earth orbit. Subsequent analysis of the data revealed a shift in the centroids of the full-energy photopeaks for angles of incidence between about 70 and 110 degrees. This effect was diagnosed as being due to a radial dependence of the light collecting efficiency of the large-area detector (LAD). Energy-depositing events that occur near the perimeter of the 10-inch radius NaI disc are not as efficiently collected as those events that occur near the disc's center. This radial response is analyzed and in so doing the non-Gaussian shape of the photopeaks seen in the spectra taken at all angles is explained.

Lestrade, John Patrick↗
NASA NTRS1997

The MUSES Satellite Team and Multidisciplinary System Engineering

In a unique partnership between three minority-serving institutions and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a new course sequence, including a multidisciplinary capstone design experience, is to be developed and implemented at each of the schools with the ambitious goal of designing, constructing and launching a low-orbit Earth-resources satellite. The three universities involved are North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T), University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP), and California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA). The schools form a consortium collectively known as MUSES - Minority Universities System Engineering and Satellite. Four aspects of this project make it unique: (1) Including all engineering disciplines in the capstone design course, (2) designing, building and launching an Earth-resources satellite, (3) sustaining the partnership between the three schools to achieve this goal, and (4) implementing systems engineering pedagogy at each of the three schools. This paper will describe the partnership and its goals, the first design of the satellite, the courses developed at NCA&T, and the implementation plan for the course sequence.

Chen, John C.↗
DOE OSTI2025

CRCNS US-France Research Proposal: Collaborative Research: Encoding reward expectation in Drosophilia

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has been a valuable model for investigating the genetic and neural bases that underlie learning and memory. Early and most current studies use basic behavior conditioning protocols to study learning in controlled laboratory settings. More recently, the ability to transgenically manipulate many of the brain neurons in the fruit fly with exquisite specificity, and the recent knowledge of the synaptic ‘connectome’ of the fruit fly brain, makes these animals almost unique as a comprehensive model for studies of learning, memory and motivated behavior. In fact, the connectome has revealed many types of new connections that had until now been overlooked. Within this context, the thesis of this proposal is that studies of learning and memory will be greatly enhanced by using more sophisticated means for evaluating memory representations, such as have been developed in vertebrates, and combining those studies with information from the connectome guided by computational modelling. We propose to push beyond the boundaries of existing conditioning protocols for fruit flies to investigate more complex memory representations. In particular, we will investigate the function of reinforcement pathways in relation to the absence of expected reinforcement. More specifically, we propose a series of experiments designed to investigate the memory representations in fruit flies when an expected consequence of a Conditioned Stimulus (CS) fails to occur. Although studies have evaluated how this failure can establish extinction memory for the CS, our studies will go beyond studying extinction. Specifically, we predict that in Drosophila when a CS is associated with a failed expectation of an appetitive food reinforcement it will acquire aversive value, and vice versa for a failed expectation of an aversive reinforcer. We combine these studies with manipulations of reinforcement pathways in the CNS inspired from the connectome, iteratively knitted in with established computational models. Intellectual Merit: The concept of reinforcement expectation and incentive contrast have been influential in the development of studies of associative learning in mammals. These questions are particularly challenging to answer in vertebrates because they require exquisite cellular, temporal, and genetic specificity of experimental manipulations. The recent development of work with identified neurons and their connectomes makes the larval and adult fly brains ripe as models for pushing our understanding of neural bases for these higher- order conditioning phenomena. Broader Impacts: Public health: These analyses and the conceptual framework of prediction error processing underlying them have a profound impact on our understanding of reinforcement-related behavior in humans, including monetary rewards and the mnemonic consequences of traumatic experiences, and for pathologies of the dopamine reinforcement system. Educational: This project will provide interdisciplinary training for postdoctoral researchers, Ph.D. and undergraduate students. The PIs will act as co-supervisors or mentors of students working in the different labs via face-to-face and internet-based technologies. We will also work with ASU’s award-winning Ask- A-Biologist program. This is an online science program designed to enrich the learning experiences of students of all ages and to provide classroom material for use by K-12 teachers. We will develop an extension of a game developed under a prior NSF award, and the new game will include modules to teach K-12 students about how insects learn. We will also integrate into the AAB site a program developed by a collaborator (B Gerber) at the Leibniz Institut für Neurobiologie, Magdeburg, and now in use in schools in Germany, to teach K-12 students how to train animals using the fruit fly larval learning paradigm. Underrepresented groups: All PIs will work with their university offices of Academic Diversity and Equal Opportunity for reaching underrepresented students.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2011

User Selection Criteria of Airspace Designs in Flexible Airspace Management

A method for identifying global aerodynamic models from flight data in an efficient manner is explained and demonstrated. A novel experiment design technique was used to obtain dynamic flight data over a range of flight conditions with a single flight maneuver. Multivariate polynomials and polynomial splines were used with orthogonalization techniques and statistical modeling metrics to synthesize global nonlinear aerodynamic models directly and completely from flight data alone. Simulation data and flight data from a subscale twin-engine jet transport aircraft were used to demonstrate the techniques. Results showed that global multivariate nonlinear aerodynamic dependencies could be accurately identified using flight data from a single maneuver. Flight-derived global aerodynamic model structures, model parameter estimates, and associated uncertainties were provided for all six nondimensional force and moment coefficients for the test aircraft. These models were combined with a propulsion model identified from engine ground test data to produce a high-fidelity nonlinear flight simulation very efficiently. Prediction testing using a multi-axis maneuver showed that the identified global model accurately predicted aircraft responses.

Lee, Hwasoo E.↗
NASA NTRS1980

In situ ozone data for evaluation of the laser absorption spectrometer ozone remote sensor: 1979 southeastern Virginia urban plume study summer field program

Ozone data from the 1979 Southeastern Virginia Urban Study (SEV-UPS) field program are presented. The SEV-UPS was conducted for evaluation of an ozone remote sensor, the Laser Absorption Spectrometer. During the measurement program, remote-sensor evaluation was in two areas; (1) determination of the remote sensor's accuracy, repeatability, and operational characteristics, and (2) demonstration of the application of remotely sensed ozone data in air-quality studies. Data from six experiments designed to provide in situ ozone data for evaluation of the sensor in area 1, above, are presented. Experiments consisted of overflights of a test area with the remote sensor aircraft while in situ measurements with a second aircraft and selected surface stations provided correlative ozone data within the viewing area of the remote sensor.

Gregory, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Isothermal dendritic growth: A low gravity experiment

The Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment is an active crystal growth experiment designed to test dendritic growth theory at low undercoolings where convection prohibits such studies at 1 g. The experiment will be essentially autonomous, though limited in-flight interaction through a computer interface is planned. One of the key components of the apparatus will be a crystal growth chamber capable of achieving oriented single crystal dendritic growth. Recent work indicates that seeding the chamber with a crystal of the proper orientation will not, in and of itself, be sufficient to meet this requirement. Additional flight hardware and software required for the STS flight experiment are currently being developed at NASA Lewis Research Center and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Glicksman, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Functional performance of pyrovalves

Following several flight and ground test failures of spacecraft systems using single-shot, 'normally closed' pyrotechnically actuated valves (pyrovalves), a Government/Industry cooperative program was initiated to assess the functional performance of five qualified designs. The goal of the program was to provide information on functional performance of pyrovalves to allow users the opportunity to improve procurement requirements. Specific objectives included the demonstration of performance test methods, the seating; these gases/particles entered the fluid path of measurement of 'blowby' (the passage of gases from the pyrotechnic energy source around the activating piston into the valve's fluid path), and the quantification of functional margins for each design. Experiments were conducted at NASA's Langley Research Center on several units for each of the five valve designs. The test methods used for this program measured the forces and energies required to actuate the valves, as well as the energies and the pressures (where possible) delivered by the pyrotechnic sources. Functional performance ranged widely among the designs. Blowby cannot be prevented by o-ring seals; metal-to-metal seals were effective. Functional margin was determined by dividing the energy delivered by the pyrotechnic sources in excess to that required to accomplish the function by the energy required for that function. Two of the five designs had inadequate functional margins with the pyrotechnic cartridges evaluated.

Bement, Laurence J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Low Temperature Unbalanced Magnetron Deposition of Hard, Wear-Resistant Coatings for Liquid-Film Bearing Applications

The original program for evaluating the tribological properties several different hard coatings for liquid film bearing applications was curtailed when the time for the program was reduced from 3 years to 1. Of the several different coatings originally planned for evaluation, we decided to concentrate on one coating, carbon nitride. At BIRL, we have been instrumental in the development of reactively sputtered carbon nitride coatings, and we have found that it is a very interesting new material with very good tribological properties. In this program, we found that the reactively sputtered carbon nitride does not bond well directly to hardened 440C stainless steel; but if an interlayer of titanium nitride is added between the carbon nitride and the 440C, the adhesion of the dual coating combination is very good. Statistically designed experiments were run with the dual layer combination, and 3 variables were chosen for the Box-Benken design, which were the titanium nitride interlayer thickness, the nitrogen partial pressure during the reactive sputtering of the carbon nitride, and the carbon nitride substrate bias voltage. Two responses were studied from these three variables; the adhesion of the dual coating combination to the 440C substrate and the friction coefficient of the carbon nitride in dry sliding contact with 52100 steel in air. The best adhesion came with the thickness interlayer thickness studied, which was 4 micrometers, and the lowest coefficient of friction was 0.1, which was achieved when the bias voltage was in the range of -80 to - 120 V and the nitrogen partial pressure was 3 mTorr.

Sproul, William D.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Simulated Water Well Performance on Mars

Final document is attached. This paper describes improvements in our understanding of the nature and location of massive ice sheets on the surface of Mars as well as refinements made to a technical approach for extracting significant quantities of water from these ice sheets using a technique known as a Rodriguez Well. Recently published discoveries on Mars have reinforced the evidence for the existence and structure of these massive buried ice sheets. Using this improved understanding of the feedstock material, this paper describes estimates made regarding basic characteristics – mass, power, configuration, etc. – of a system that can access and extract water from these ice sheets. This paper then summarizes the basic operation of a Rodriguez Well and describes a computer simulation used to estimate the performance characteristics of this type of well. This simulation was built and used to predict the performance of similar wells operated in the Earth's Arctic and Antarctic regions. However, physical parameters (e.g., specific heat and gas constant for air, heat transfer between water and air and between ice and air, etc.) used in the simulation represent a terrestrial environment and must be adjusted for a Martian environment. A pair of experiments designed to determine the appropriate value for these parameters under Martian conditions are described. Until results from these experiments are available, published results from other sources are used in the simulation to gain an understanding of the effect that could be seen. These provisional results are discussed.

Hoffman, Stephen↗
NASA NTRS2018

Simulated Water Well Performance on Mars

This paper describes improvements in our understanding of the nature and location of massive ice sheets on the surface of Mars as well as refinements made to a technical approach for extracting significant quantities of water from these ice sheets using a technique known as a Rodriguez Well. Recently published discoveries on Mars have reinforced the evidence for the existence and structure of these massive buried ice sheets. Using this improved understanding of the feedstock material, this paper describes estimates made regarding basic characteristics - mass, power, configuration, etc. - of a system that can access and extract water from these ice sheets. This paper then summarizes the basic operation of a Rodriguez Well and describes a computer simulation used to estimate the performance characteristics of this type of well. This simulation was built and used to predict the performance of similar wells operated in the Earth's Arctic and Antarctic regions. However, physical parameters (e.g., specific heat and gas constant for air, heat transfer between water and air and between ice and air, etc.) used in the simulation represent a terrestrial environment and must be adjusted for a Martian environment. A pair of experiments designed to determine the appropriate values for these parameters under Martian conditions is described. Until results from these experiments are available, published results from other sources are used in the simulation to gain an understanding of the effect that could be seen. These provisional results are discussed.

Hoffman, Stephen J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Optical design for the Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity

This paper discusses the Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity (LATOR) mission. LATOR is a Michelson-Morley-type experiment designed to test the pure tensor metric nature of gravitation the fundamental postulate of Einstein's theory of general relativity. With its focus on gravity's action on light propagation it complements other tests which rely on the gravitational dynamics of bodies.

Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity (LATOR)↗
NASA NTRS2001

Development of a Space Radiation Monte-Carlo Computer Simulation Based on the FLUKE and Root Codes

The radiation environment in space is a complex problem to model. Trying to extrapolate the projections of that environment into all areas of the internal spacecraft geometry is even more daunting. With the support of our CERN colleagues, our research group in Houston is embarking on a project to develop a radiation transport tool that is tailored to the problem of taking the external radiation flux incident on any particular spacecraft and simulating the evolution of that flux through a geometrically accurate model of the spacecraft material. The output will be a prediction of the detailed nature of the resulting internal radiation environment within the spacecraft as well as its secondary albedo. Beyond doing the physics transport of the incident flux, the software tool we are developing will provide a self-contained stand-alone object-oriented analysis and visualization infrastructure. It will also include a graphical user interface and a set of input tools to facilitate the simulation of space missions in terms of nominal radiation models and mission trajectory profiles. The goal of this project is to produce a code that is considerably more accurate and user-friendly than existing Monte-Carlo-based tools for the evaluation of the space radiation environment. Furthermore, the code will be an essential complement to the currently existing analytic codes in the BRYNTRN/HZETRN family for the evaluation of radiation shielding. The code will be directly applicable to the simulation of environments in low earth orbit, on the lunar surface, on planetary surfaces (including the Earth) and in the interplanetary medium such as on a transit to Mars (and even in the interstellar medium). The software will include modules whose underlying physics base can continue to be enhanced and updated for physics content, as future data become available beyond the timeframe of the initial development now foreseen. This future maintenance will be available from the authors of FLUKA as part of their continuing efforts to support the users of the FLUKA code within the particle physics community. In keeping with the spirit of developing an evolving physics code, we are planning as part of this project, to participate in the efforts to validate the core FLUKA physics in ground-based accelerator test runs. The emphasis of these test runs will be the physics of greatest interest in the simulation of the space radiation environment. Such a tool will be of great value to planners, designers and operators of future space missions, as well as for the design of the vehicles and habitats to be used on such missions. It will also be of aid to future experiments of various kinds that may be affected at some level by the ambient radiation environment, or in the analysis of hybrid experiment designs that have been discussed for space-based astronomy and astrophysics. The tool will be of value to the Life Sciences personnel involved in the prediction and measurement of radiation doses experienced by the crewmembers on such missions. In addition, the tool will be of great use to the planners of experiments to measure and evaluate the space radiation environment itself. It can likewise be useful in the analysis of safe havens, hazard migration plans, and NASA's call for new research in composites and to NASA engineers modeling the radiation exposure of electronic circuits. This code will provide an important complimentary check on the predictions of analytic codes such as BRYNTRN/HZETRN that are presently used for many similar applications, and which have shortcomings that are more easily overcome with Monte Carlo type simulations. Finally, it is acknowledged that there are similar efforts based around the use of the GEANT4 Monte-Carlo transport code currently under development at CERN. It is our intention to make our software modular and sufficiently flexible to allow the parallel use of either FLUKA or GEANT4 as the physics transport engine.

Pinsky, L. S.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Model Study of the Sources of Upper Tropospheric Ozone Over The Atlantic, with Emphasis on Interhemispheric Asymmetries

Measurements of ozone and aerosols from ships transecting the Atlantic Ocean reveal considerable interhemispheric asymmetries in the vertical structure of the ozone distribution. There is much more upper tropospheric ozone to the South of the Equator than in the northern hemisphere. These profiles suggest that the air in the southern hemispheric tropics and subtropics has a source in the stratosphere, while that in the northern hemisphere originates in the boundary layer. A model experiment designed to investigate this problem will be discussed. They are based on a new general circulation model, based on a Finite-Volume dynamical core and the physical parametrizations from the Community Climate Model at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The model simulates a climatological state in reasonable agreement with observations, comparable to other contemporary climate models, but has a much more accurate transport capability than most other present-day models. The experiment involves using a suite of tracers, designed to highlight air from different source regions. Some of these (water vapor and ozone) represent real atmospheric quantities, while others are markers which indicate whether the air originates in the stratosphere, the boundary layer, or has traversed regions of convection (for example). The experiments were run for periods of up to one month, initialized from snapshots from a long climate integration of the model. A sample of results will be presented, chosen to illustrate the different sources of air in the upper troposphere and the physical mechanisms by which these air parcels arrived there.

Pawson, Steven↗