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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 469 records · Page 26

PNNL Review of Federal and State Agency Regulatory Streamlining Practices

All major federal actions that have the potential to significantly affect the environment (e.g., land purchases and/or issuing grants, permits, leases, or licenses) are subject to multiple statutes including the following: • an environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) • potential consultations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and/or National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA) • potential consultations with State Historical Preservation Officers (SHPOs) and/or tribal nations [often Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs)] under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA). Given the size of the federal government and the corresponding variability and complexity in its missions, different branches within the federal government have a fairly wide range of approaches to fulfill their NEPA and consultation requitements. Many of these approaches are founded on the desire to streamline their NEPA and consultation processes while meeting the spirit and letter of the regulations. Some federal and state environmental/engineering agencies have developed web-based dashboards that provide a single web location for permit application submittals. They also use general permits in their various permitting processes. General permits can streamline the permitting process by establishing identical requirements for all eligible applicants. This reduces the time these agencies need to spend reviewing individual permits and setting specific requirements. In addition, general permits do not require a case-specific permit application. This paper presents a sampling of effective agency examples of streamlining the NEPA process and associated agency consultations. It also includes several examples of federal and state agency web portals, online application systems, and general permits that make application processes more efficient and accessible.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Replacement of Clerestory Windows at TA-03-0039 Technical Shops Building

The U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos Field Office (Field Office) proposes an undertaking to replace 86 clerestory windows in Building 39 in Technical Area 3 (Technical Shops Building; TA-03-0039) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. TA-03-0039 was evaluated and determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in a report titled ESA Division’s Five-Year Plan: Consolidation and Revitalization at Technical Areas 3, 8, 11, and 16. This determination was concurred on by the State Historic Preservation Office on June 22, 2003 (McGehee et al. 2003).

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Status of Federally Listed Threatened and Endangered Species at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) contains suitable habitat for three species protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA): Mexican spotted owl ( Strix occidentalis lucida ), Jemez Mountains salamander ( Plethodon neomexicanus ), and southwestern willow flycatcher ( Empidonax traillii extimus ). LANL biologists have documented two other species nearby and manage them for any potential impacts. These species are the western distinct population segment of the yellow-billed cuckoo ( Coccyzus americanus ) and the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse ( Zapus hudsonius luteus ).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Assessing Dynamic Time Warping Techniques for Discriminating Seismic Sources at Local and Regional Distances

Effective monitoring of seismic explosions and hazard assessment relies heavily on the accurate discrimination of underground seismic sources. This study investigates the application of novel nonlinear alignment techniques, specifically Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), for event-type discrimination at regional and local distances. Building on prior research that used DTW and Elastic Shape Analysis (ESA) in discrimination at regional distances, we evaluate the performance of recently developed variants of DTW, including a method that employs Pearson cross-correlation as a measure of warping distance and a time distortion coefficient that quantifies the type and degree of time distortion between signals. By analyzing observational datasets that include different source types, we assess the performance of these approaches for realistic monitoring scenarios. Specifically, we consider a dataset recorded at regional distances in the Korean Peninsula and a local-distance subset from the Unconstrained Utah Event Bulletin catalog to evaluate DTW-based discrimination across multiple distance scales. Additionally, we introduce the maximum cross-correlations of warped waveforms as a similarity metric for event classification. Through hierarchical cluster analysis and dendrogram interpretation, we present our findings, highlighting the strengths and limitations of these techniques in seismic event classification.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

White Rock Canyon Riparian Monitoring

Land and natural resources within the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) complex are owned and managed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The Laboratory’s eastern boundary is in White Rock Canyon (WRC) along the Rio Grande within Technical Areas (TAs) 70 and 33, with approximately 4 miles of property along the river (Figure 1). In 1999, the riparian corridor from the mesa tops down to the river was designated as the White Rock Canyon Reserve by former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and is recreationally open to the public (DOE 1999). This area provides viable foraging and stopover habitat for many species of wildlife, including the Yellow-billed Cuckoo and the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, both of which are federally listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

RDPP: Accelerating Diversity in DOE Climate Science and Resilience Research (Final Report)

The scope of the project was set out to accelerate the inclusion of diversity into the Department of Energy (DOE) Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD) relevant climate science and resilience research to inclusively advance solutions. The Project Objectives were to usher in equitable use-inspired climate-related research with underrepresented Minorities of which this project helped fund 7 HU graduate students work with the DOE (three of which will graduate in Spring 2025). The two key aims underpinning that core goal were AIM1: developing partnerships (18 organized engaged, see partners list) and AIM2: Developing capabilities (3 visits to DOE facilities, 5 DOE partners visits to HU, increased visiting faculty participation in BNL-DOE lab, secured 5 grants together totaling 1.2 million in funds for HU). The project objectives were highly successful as they were designed to ambitiously pull together DOE lab researchers with the long-standing and successful transdisciplinary climate science research programs of the PI and local DC groups. The major outcomes of this RDPP program will be in the new fundamentally inclusive partnerships with DOE and HU tasked to understand the urban-rural impacts due to climate change in the US, Eastern South Atlantic (ESA) Region, related to energy issues driven by heat stress and the water cycle. Overall, this project contributes to the DOE and science community vision for catalyze connections for project-ready underrepresented minorities (URMs) at a prominent HBCU to DOE projects supported by the Biological and Environmental research (BER) Program; particularly, the Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Orbital-Radar v1.0.0: a tool to transform suborbital radar observations to synthetic EarthCARE cloud radar data

The Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched in May 2024 carries a novel 94 GHz cloud profiling radar (CPR) with Doppler capability. This work describes the open-source instrument simulator Orbital-Radar, which transforms high-resolution radar data from field observations or forward simulations of numerical models to CPR primary measurements and uncertainties. The transformation accounts for sampling geometry and surface effects. We demonstrate Orbital-Radar's ability to provide realistic CPR views of typical cloud and precipitation scenes. The presented case studies show small-scale convection, marine stratus clouds, and Arctic mixed-phase cloud cases. These results provide valuable insights into the capabilities and challenges of the EarthCARE CPR mission and its advantages over the CloudSat CPR. Finally, Orbital-Radar allows for evaluating kilometre-scale numerical weather prediction models with EarthCARE CPR observations. So, Orbital-Radar can generate calibration and validation (Cal/Val) data sets already pre-launch. Nevertheless, an evaluation of synthetic CPR output data to accurate EarthCARE CPR data is missing.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Initial development of an ablative leading edge for the Space Shuttle orbiter.

A state-of-the-art preliminary design for typical wing areas is developed. Seven medium-density ablators (with/without honeycomb, flown on Apollo, Prime, X15A2) are evaluated. The screening tests include (1) leading-edge models sequentially subjected to ascent heating, cold soak, entry heating, post-entry pressure fluctuations, and touchdown shock, and (2) virgin/charred models subjected to bondline strains. Four materials (none molded) are found acceptable. The ESA 3560 HF and MOD 7 Hc (an AVCO 30 pcf elastomer) are selected. Roughness/recession degradation of low speed aerodynamics appears acceptable. The design, including attachments, substructure and joints, is presented.

Daforno, G.↗

NASA to launch European cosmic ray experimental satellite

Europe's first observatory satellite (COS-B) designed for extraterrestrial gamma radiation study and launched on a Delta rocket for the European Space Agency (ESA) by NASA is briefly described. The COS-B's mission objectives are given along with launch operations.

Source record↗

Experiments out of the solar system ecliptic plane: An introduction to the ecliptic mission

Mission planning by NASA and ESA for the 1980 timeframe to observe the sun from an angle other than the solar ecliptic plane is discussed. Such missions will aid in a more thorough understanding of the sun, interplanetary space, and their influence on the earth. Jupiter swing-by techniques (first achieved by Pioneer 10) are proposed as a means of achieving an out-of-the-ecliptic mission for solar studies. Spacecraft trajectories are illustrated for a dual Pioneer spacecraft mission to observe the sun.

Simpson, J. A.↗

The International Heat Pipe Experiment

The aims of the experiment are outlined. Flight experiments included in this program were provided by NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, ESA (European Space Agency), the German Ministry of Technology, Hughes Aircraft Company and NASA, Ames Research Center.

Mcintosh, R.↗

A small instrument pointing system for shuttle sortie missions

A small instrument pointing system (SIPS) has been conceptually designed as a means of interfacing smaller astronomical instruments with the ESA spacelab system on shuttle sortie missions. Small instruments are defined as being up to 0.9 meter in diameter, three meters in length, and 340 kilograms in mass. Two independently supported instruments are deployed on a common pedestal to give a hemispherical field of view. The instruments are each supported at their centers-of-mass in bi-axial gimbal systems for fine pointing. An optional roll gimbal can be used to give roll about the line of sight. Instruments are held in environmental canisters which protect them thermally, and acoustically as well as from contamination. The canister facilitates instrument integration and provides interfaces to all spacelab subsystems. The SIPS is a total instrument support system for small sortie mission instruments.

Henrikson, C. C.↗

The IMS satellite programme - Scientific objectives

The International Magnetospheric Study (IMS) will make use of a number of satellites launched by the ESA, Japan, the USA, and the USSR. The instrumentation carried by these satellites is considered, taking into account GEOS, ISEE-A, ISEE-B, ISEE-C, EXOS-A, EXOS-B, and ISS. The morphology of the magnetosphere is examined and questions regarding the origin of substorms are investigated. IMS objectives are discussed, giving attention to the macroscopic behavior of the magnetosphere, microscopic processes, approaches to be used for monitoring the state of the magnetosphere, and magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling.

Russell, C. T.↗

Role of Spacelab in the Space Transportation System /STS/

Based on the Memorandum of Understanding which establishes the roles and responsibilities of NASA and ESA in the development and operation of the Spacelab, this paper covers briefly the unique management structure which has brought the program to its present state of development and the manner by which requirements were mutually developed. It then introduces the STS traffic model as it is now envisioned and discusses the trend of Spacelab utilization. The majority of the paper is devoted to description of the planning and execution of the operational phases of the Spacelab program, for which the United States has the sole responsibility. It discusses potential plans for mission planning, crew selection and training, payload integration, payload operations and preliminary data handling.

Yardley, J. F.↗

Early Spacelab missions

NASA has issued payload flight assignments for the first three Spacelab missions. The first two of these missions will have dual objectives, that of verifying Spacelab system performance and accomplishing meaningful space research. The first of these missions will be a joint NASA and ESA mission with a multidisciplinary payload. The second mission will verify a different Spacelab configuration while addressing the scientific disciplines of astrophysics. The third assigned mission will concentrate on utilizing the capabilities of Spacelab to perform meaningful experiments in space applications, primarily space processing. The paper describes these missions with their objectives, planned configuration and accommodation.

Pace, R. E., Jr.↗

The first Spacelab payload - A joint NASA/ESA venture

Planning for the 1980 qualification flight of Spacelab, which will involve a long module and one pallet, is discussed. The mission will employ two payload specialists, one sponsored by NASA and the other by ESA. Management of the Spacelab mission functions, including definition and execution of the on-board experiments, development of the experimental hardware and training of the payload specialists, is considered; studies proposed in the areas of atmospheric physics, space plasma physics, solar physics, earth observations, astronomy, astrophysics, life sciences and material sciences are reviewed. Analyses of the Spacelab environment and the Spacelab-to-orbiter and Spacelab-to-experiment interactions are also planned.

Kennedy, R.↗

Wear-resistant ball bearings for space applications

Ball bearings consisting of steel parts of which the rings are coated with hard, wear resistant, chemical vapor deposited TiC are described. Experiments conducted in ultrahigh vacuum, using cages of various materials with self-lubricating properties, show that such bearings are suitable for space applications. The results of laboratory tests on the ESA Meteosat Radiometer Focalizing mechanism, which contains six coated bearings, are summarized.

Boving, H.↗

NASA/ESA CV-990 Spacelab Simulation (ASSESS 2)

To test the validity of the ARC approach to Spacelab, several missions simulating aspects of Spacelab operations have been conducted as part of the ASSESS Program. Each mission was designed to evaluate potential Shuttle/Spacelab concepts in increasing detail. For this mission, emphasis was placed on development and exercise of management techniques planned for Spacelab using management participants from NASA and ESA who have responsibilities for Spacelab 1 which will be launched in 1980.

Mulholland, D. R.↗