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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1978

Thermal energy storage for industrial waste heat recovery

The potential is examined for waste heat recovery and reuse through thermal energy storage in five specific industrial categories: (1) primary aluminum, (2) cement, (3) food processing, (4) paper and pulp, and (5) iron and steel. Preliminary results from Phase 1 feasibility studies suggest energy savings through fossil fuel displacement approaching 0.1 quad/yr in the 1985 period. Early implementation of recovery technologies with minimal development appears likely in the food processing and paper and pulp industries; development of the other three categories, though equally desirable, will probably require a greater investment in time and dollars.

Hoffman, H. W.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Plan for CELSS test bed project

The Closed Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) testbed project will achieve two major goals: It will develop the knowledge and technology needed to build and test biological or combined biological physiochemical regenerative life support systems. It will fabricate, test, and operate ground based facilities to accomplish proof-of-concent testing and evaluation leading to flight experimentation. The project will combine basic research and applied research/engineering to achieve a phased, integrated development of hardware, systems, and techniques for food and oxygen production, food processing, and waste processing in closed systems. The project will design, fabricate, and operate within three years a botanical production system scaled to a sufficient size to verify oxygen and nutrient load production (carbohydrates, fats, proteins) at a useable level. It will develop within five years a waste management system compatible with the botanical production system and a food processing system that converts available biomass into edible products. It will design, construct, and operate within ten years a ground based candidate CELSS that includes man as an active participant in the system. It will design a flight CELSS module within twelve years and construct and conduct initial flight tests within fifteen years.

Knott, W. M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Design of components for growing higher plants in space

The overall goal of this project is to design unique systems and components for growing higher plants in microgravity during long-term space missions (Mars and beyond). Specific design tasks were chosen to contribute to and supplement NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) project. Selected tasks were automated seeding of plants, plant health sensing, and food processing. Prototype systems for planting both germinated and nongerminated seeds were fabricated and tested. Water and air pressure differences and electrostatic fields were used to trap seeds for separation and transport for planting. An absorption spectrometer was developed to measure chlorophyll levels in plants as an early warning of plant health problems. In the area of food processing, a milling system was created using high-speed rotating blades which were aerodynamically configured to produce circulation and retractable to prevent leakage. The project produced significant results having substantial benefit to NASA. It also provided an outstanding learning experience for the students involved.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2019

Effect of Reduced Temperature Storage on Nutrient & Quality Stability in Space Food

The processed and prepackaged spaceflight food system is a critical human support system for manned space flights. As missions extend longer and farther from Earth over the next 20 years, strategies to stabilize the nutritional and sensory quality of food must be identified. For a mission to Mars, the space foods themselves must maintain quality for up to 5 years to align with cargo prepositioning scenarios. Optimizing the food system to achieve a 5‐year shelf life mitigates the risk of an inadequate food system during extended missions. Because previous attempts to determine a singular pathway to a 5‐year shelf life for food were unsuccessful, this investigation combines several approaches, based on science, technological advancement, and past empirical evidence, to determine their potential to extend the shelf life of the prepackaged food system for long duration missions. This study may identify food processing, packaging, and storage technologies that will be required for exploration missions and the extent that they must be implemented to achieve a 5‐year shelf life for the entire food system.

Cooper, M. R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

CELSS research and development program

Research in Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) conducted by NASA indicate that plant based systems are feasible candidates for human support in space. Ames has responsibility for research and development, systems integration and control, and space flight experiment portions of the CELSS program. Important areas for development of new methods and technologies are biomass production, waste processing, water purification, air revitalization, and food processing. For the plant system, the approach was to identify the flexibility and response time for the food, water, and oxygen production, and carbon dioxide consumption processes. Tremendous increases in productivity, compared with terrestrial agriculture, were realized. Waste processing research emphasizes recycle (transformation) of human wastes, trash, and inedible biomass to forms usable as inputs to the plant production system. Efforts to improve efficiency of the plant system, select new CELSS crops for a balanced diet, and initiate closed system research with the Crop Growth Research Chambers continue. The System Control and Integration program goal is to insure orchestrated system operation of the biological, physical, and chemical operation of the biological, physical, and chemical component processors of the CELSS. Space flight studies are planned to verify adequate operation of the system in reduced gravity or microgravity environments.

Bubenheim, David↗
NASA NTRS2004

Subsystem Details for the Fiscal Year 2004 Advanced Life Support Research and Technology Development Metric

This document provides values at the assembly level for the subsystems described in the Fiscal Year 2004 Advanced Life Support Research and Technology Development Metric (Hanford, 2004). Hanford (2004) summarizes the subordinate computational values for the Advanced Life Support Research and Technology Development (ALS R&TD) Metric at the subsystem level, while this manuscript provides a summary at the assembly level. Hanford (2004) lists mass, volume, power, cooling, and crewtime for each mission examined by the ALS R&TD Metric according to the nominal organization for the Advanced Life Support (ALS) elements. The values in the tables below, Table 2.1 through Table 2.8, list the assemblies, using the organization and names within the Advanced Life Support Sizing Analysis Tool (ALSSAT) for each ALS element. These tables specifically detail mass, volume, power, cooling, and crewtime. Additionally, mass and volume are designated in terms of values associated with initial hardware and resupplied hardware just as they are within ALSSAT. The overall subsystem values are listed on the line following each subsystem entry. These values are consistent with those reported in Hanford (2004) for each listed mission. Any deviations between these values and those in Hanford (2004) arise from differences in when individual numerical values are rounded within each report, and therefore the resulting minor differences should not concern even a careful reader. Hanford (2004) u es the uni ts kW(sub e) and kW(sub th) for power and cooling, respectively, while the nomenclature below uses W(sub e) and W(sub th), which is consistent with the native units within ALSSAT. The assemblies, as specified within ALSSAT, are listed in bold below their respective subsystems. When recognizable assembly components are not listed within ALSSAT, a summary of the assembly is provided on the same line as the entry for the assembly. Assemblies with one or more recognizable components are further described by the indented entries below them. See Yeh, et al. (2002), Yeh, et al. (2003), and Yeh, et al. (2004) for details about ALSSAT organization. Except for the dry food mass listed within the Food Processing, Packaging, and Storage within the Food Subsystem, total values for assemblies would be the sum of their components. The Dry Food Mass, however, is that portion of the food system that was neglected during the computation of the Fiscal Year 2004 ALS R&TD Metric. It is listed here to provide a reference, but it is otherwise ignored in the overall totals. See Hanford (2004) for details of this process and supporting rationale. When applicable, the technology label from ALSSAT is listed in the second column, and the associated abbreviations are listed below in Section 4. For more details of the technologies assumed for each mission, please see Hanford (2004) for descriptions of each subsystem and an overall life support system schematic.

Hanford, Anthony J.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Geographically Dependent Sustainability Indicators for Comparison of Conventional Vegetable Production to Controlled-Environment Agriculture

Many food system lifecycle analyses distill agricultural production and supply chain impacts into single-value sustainability metrics for various food categories. These studies provide an overview of the food supply system that highlight striking results such as the GHG impacts of meat production. The supply chain impacts of vegetable production occupy the middle ground; higher than average food loss and waste, lower than average overall energy use, etc. However, aggregated results obscure the sustainability implications of the location of food production, especially for vegetables. Moreover, the increasing instability of food production systems are not captured, as illustrated by a recent Washington Post article. According to a UC Merced study conducted for the state, California farmers left nearly 400,000 acres of agricultural land unplanted last year because of a lack of water. The result, the study found, was a direct economic cost to farmers of $1.1 billion and the loss of nearly 9,000 agricultural jobs. (The Washington Post, March 21, 2022.) Previous work quantified the food-energy-water nexus implications of transitioning vegetable production from large, centralized agricultural operations to smaller distributed production in controlled-environment farms (CEA). The importance of location-specific data is especially evident for water use. Water impacts of the food system are primarily local to the region where food is produced, water impacts vary significantly between locations, and water stress is a major concern in locations that currently host large agricultural operations. Location-specific data is needed to accurately assess the water impacts of transitioning to CEA. The location of farms in relation to consumers impacts transportation energy use, food loss and waste, and requirements for food processing (e.g., to reduce weight, preserve foods for long storage, and package foods to reduce damage and loss) Reducing transport is particularly relevant for agricultural products that could be grown in CEAs (fruits, vegetables, protein). Access to nutritious food is not evenly distributed in the population. Remote communities, communities in harsh environments, and economically-disadvantaged communities often have poor access to healthy foods. CEA is ideally suited to these environments. However, the energy and water use of CEA, while in many respects lower overall than conventional supply chains, are concentrated within communities and could have significant local impacts. This paper reports on development of sustainability metrics that seek to capture the tradeoffs between the current supply chain and a CEA supply chain for vegetables; focusing on the location-dependent implications of water use, the transition from largely fossil fuel based energy use to electricity, and the food access, resilience and wellbeing implications of urban versus rural food production.

controlled-environment agriculture↗
NASA NTRS2009

A Survey of Terrestrial Approaches to the Challenge of Lunar Dust Containment

Numerous technical challenges exist to successfully extend lunar surface exploration beyond the tantalizing first steps of Apollo. Among these is the challenge of lunar dust intrusion into the cabin environment. Addressing this challenge includes the design of barriers to intrusion as well as techniques for removing the dust from the cabin atmosphere. Opportunities exist for adapting approaches employed in dusty industrial operations and pristine manufacturing environments to cabin environmental quality maintenance applications. A survey of process technologies employed by the semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food processing, and mining industries offers insight into basic approaches that may be suitable for adaptation to lunar surface exploration applications.

Aguilera, Tatiana↗
DOE OSTI2020

Developing Materials for Extreme Environments and Their Use in Nuclear Waste Canisters and Reactors - 20559

The paper focuses on the development of materials which can be utilized in extreme industrial environments. The paper discusses the advancement of materials and their application in components which are utilized in extreme industrial environments as such that of the nuclear field and especially in the nuclear waste field. Nuclear power plants have become an indispensable part of the electricity generation, medical, food processing and many other industries. Though burning small amount of fuel as compared to conventional power plants, they also create waste which is not easy to handle as other types of wastes. The nuclear waste sitting at the bottom of spent fuel tanks around the globe has raised public concerns on how it will be dealt with. Europe has started to give an answer by working on geological repositories. Though till yet, waste has been cooled in spent fuel tanks and after processing, is precisely placed in nuclear waste canisters and casks and transported to sites across the country for further cooling and storage. Though in all this process there had been a great deal of advancement on the type of casks and canisters used and the processes for transporting nuclear material and waste. Often reports about radioactive material leakage, moisture content inside barrels etc. has surfaced. Be it official or unofficial report, there seems a technical failure on how the nuclear waste has been stored and placed at facilities around the globe. The other aspect of this material development is to be beneficial for nuclear reactors. As the technology gets advanced, nuclear reactors change their titles from Gen II to Gen III and so on. The new fleet of upcoming reactors will be exceptionally safer, reliable and more efficient. But these benefits will also bring drawbacks with them. As these reactors will operate at high temperature (above 800 degree Celsius) they also ask for advancement in materials used in the reactor core, fuel used, reactor control etc. The paper tries to answer such concerning questions. The work shows the study done on different material that can be better candidates for extreme environments. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS1991

Two new advanced forms of spectrometry for space and commercial applications

Reagentless ultraviolet absorption spectrometry (UVAS) and Liquid Atomic Emission Spectrometry (LAES) represent new forms of spectrometry with extensive potential in both space and commercial applications. Originally developed under KSC sponsorship for monitoring nutrient solutions for the Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS), both UVAS and LAES have extensive analytical capabilities for both organic and inorganic chemical compounds. Both forms of instrumentation involve the use of remote fiber optic probes and real-time measurements for on-line process monitoring. Commercial applications exist primarily in environmental analysis and for process control in the chemical, pulp and paper, food processing, metal plating, and water/wastewater treatment industries.

Schlager, Kenneth J.↗
NASA NTRS2007

The Challenges of Developing a Food System for a Mars Mission

A viewgraph describing the food system that NASA is developing for Manned Mars Missions is shown. The topics include: 1) The President's Vision for U.S. Space Exploration -January 14, 2004; 2) Introducing Orion (and Ares); 3) Mercury (1961-1963); 4) Gemini (1965-1966); 5) Apollo (1968-1972); 6) Skylab (1973-1974); 7) Shuttle/Mir (1995-1998); 8) Shuttle (1981-present) International Space Station (2000-present); 9) NASA Stored Food System; 10) Advanced Food Technology; 11) Orion Missions; 12) Orion Challenges; 13) Food Packaging; 14) Mars Mission Assumptions; 15) Planetary Food System Selected Crops; 16) Food Processing Equipment Constraints; 17) Crew Involvement Constraints; 18) Advanced Food Technology Integration; 19) Research Highlights Internal; and 20) Research Highlights External.

Perchonok, Michele↗
NASA NTRS2004

Handling Procedures of Vegetable Crops

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is working towards future long duration manned space flights beyond low earth orbit. The duration of these missions may be as long as 2.5 years and will likely include a stay on a lunar or planetary surface. The primary goal of the Advanced Food System in these long duration exploratory missions is to provide the crew with a palatable, nutritious, and safe food system while minimizing volume, mass, and waste. Vegetable crops can provide the crew with added nutrition and variety. These crops do not require any cooking or food processing prior to consumption. The vegetable crops, unlike prepackaged foods, will provide bright colors, textures (crispy), and fresh aromas. Ten vegetable crops have been identified for possible use in long duration missions. They are lettuce, spinach, carrot, tomato, green onion, radish, bell pepper, strawberries, fresh herbs, and cabbage. Whether these crops are grown on a transit vehicle (e.g., International Space Station) or on the lunar or planetary surface, it will be necessary to determine how to safely handle the vegetables while maintaining acceptability. Since hydrogen peroxide degrades into water and oxygen and is generally recognized as safe (GRAS), hydrogen peroxide has been recommended as the sanitizer. The objective of th is research is to determine the required effective concentration of hydrogen peroxide. In addition, it will be determined whether the use of hydrogen peroxide, although a viable sanitizer, adversely affects the quality of the vegetables. Vegetables will be dipped in 1 % hydrogen peroxide, 3% hydrogen peroxide, or 5% hydrogen peroxide. Treated produce and controls will be stored in plastic bags at 5 C for up to 14 days. Sensory, color, texture, and total plate count will be measured. The effect on several vegetables including lettuce, radish, tomato and strawberries has been completed. Although each vegetable reacts to hydrogen peroxide differently, the data suggest that 5% hydrogen peroxide reduces the shelf life of the vegetable. A dip of either 1 % or 3% hydrogen peroxide helps reduce the microbial total count while not adversely affecting the quality of the vegetable.

Perchonok, Michele↗
DOE OSTI2020

Luminescent Enhancement for Combined Solar and Commercial Agriculture. Final Report

This proposal will develop a new racking / mounting system combined with a new agriculture-tuned luminescent solar panel for low cost high tunnel implementation to produce both crops and electricity for small local farms. Crop trials performed under this specialized panel/racking system can be extended to open field agriculture with standard utility scale racking system in phase II. The US agricultural industry uses about 300 billion KW-hr of energy / year. Of this energy consumption, roughly 20% goes towards food production and 20% goes towards food processing. This proposal will allow farm land to simultaneously generate electricity, food AND provide jobs. Employment is one of the largest hurdles for the introduction of solar into rural areas. The ability to provide agricultural jobs in addition to solar energy from a plot of land will pave the way for greater adoption of photovoltaics in rural areas. A cost effective and highly durable hybrid power generating high tunnel greenhouse will be developed that generates electricity at less than $2.50/watt INSTALLED cost and can be used for crop production of high values crops. The high tunnel will use a new design of Soliculture greenhouse integrated luminescent solar panels to selectively absorb the green portion of the solar spectrum that is not used by plants and convert the light to red light with higher photosynthetic efficiency and to enhance power output of solar cells. Green light is selectively downshifted to red light using luminescent materials that match the photosythetically active region for plants and the efficiency maximum of Si photovoltaic cells. The color tuning associated with converting green light to red light has been shown to facilitate fruit production in commercial greenhouses growing cucumbers, lettuce and herbs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1988

Challenges to plant growing in space

Picture yourself a million miles from earth; it's lunch time. What will you eat: meat, fish, bread, fresh vegetables (cooked or uncooked), or food from a tube? What will happen to the waste products from the processed food or even from yourself? What will you breathe? These and hundreds of detailed questions must be answered. At present, we have little knowledge about a totally closed environment life support system (CELSS). We have developed in this paper a list of references that are pertinent to the problem. It is divided into subject areas and listed chronologically, rather than alphabetically.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2002

Bioregenerative food system cost based on optimized menus for advanced life support

Optimized menus for a bioregenerative life support system have been developed based on measures of crop productivity, food item acceptability, menu diversity, and nutritional requirements of crew. Crop-specific biomass requirements were calculated from menu recipe demands while accounting for food processing and preparation losses. Under the assumption of staggered planting, the optimized menu demanded a total crop production area of 453 m2 for six crew. Cost of the bioregenerative food system is estimated at 439 kg per menu cycle or 7.3 kg ESM crew-1 day-1, including agricultural waste processing costs. On average, about 60% (263.6 kg ESM) of the food system cost is tied up in equipment, 26% (114.2 kg ESM) in labor, and 14% (61.5 kg ESM) in power and cooling. This number is high compared to the STS and ISS (nonregenerative) systems but reductions in ESM may be achieved through intensive crop productivity improvements, reductions in equipment masses associated with crop production, and planning of production, processing, and preparation to minimize the requirement for crew labor.

Non-NASA Center↗
DOE OSTI2024

Transforming Agricultural Productivity with AI-Driven Forecasting: Innovations in Food Security and Supply Chain Optimization

Global food security is under significant threat from climate change, population growth, and resource scarcity. This review examines how advanced AI-driven forecasting models, including machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and time-series forecasting models like SARIMA/ARIMA, are transforming regional agricultural practices and food supply chains. Through the integration of Internet of Things (IoT), remote sensing, and blockchain technologies, these models facilitate the real-time monitoring of crop growth, resource allocation, and market dynamics, enhancing decision making and sustainability. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, including systematic literature analysis and regional case studies. Highlights include AI-driven yield forecasting in European hydroponic systems and resource optimization in southeast Asian aquaponics, showcasing localized efficiency gains. Furthermore, AI applications in food processing, such as plasma, ozone and Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) treatments, are shown to improve food preservation and reduce spoilage. Key challenges—such as data quality, model scalability, and prediction accuracy—are discussed, particularly in the context of data-poor environments, limiting broader model applicability. The paper concludes by outlining future directions, emphasizing context-specific AI implementations, the need for public–private collaboration, and policy interventions to enhance scalability and adoption in food security contexts.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
NASA NTRS2001

The Challenges in the Development of a Long Duration Space Mission Food System

The Advanced Food System at Johnson Space Center/NASA will be responsible for supplying food to the crew for long duration exploratory missions. These missions require development of both a Transit Food System and of a Planetary Food System. The Transit Food System will consist of pre-packaged food of extended shelf life. It will be supplemented with salad crops that will be consumed fresh. The challenge is to develop a food system with a shelf life of 3 - 5 years that will use minimal power and create minimal waste from the food packaging. The Planetary Food System will allow for food processing of crops grown on the planetary surface due to the presence of some gravitational force. Crops will be processed to final products to provide a nutritious and acceptable diet for the crew. The food system must be flexible due to crop variation, availability, and shelf life. Crew meals, based on thesc: crops, must be nutritious, high quality, safe, and contain variety. The Advanced Food System becomes a fulcrum creating the right connection from crops to crew meals while dealing with issues of integration within a closed self-regenerative system (e.g., safety, waste production, volumes, water usage, etc.).

Perchonok, Michele H.↗