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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 55 records · Page 3

Creep behavior of tungsten fiber reinforced niobium metal matrix composites

Tungsten fiber reinforced niobium metal matrix composites were evaluated for use in space nuclear power conversion systems. The composite panels were fabricated using the arc-spray monotape technique at the NASA Lewis Research Center. The creep behavior of W/Nb composite material was determined at 1400 and 1500 K in vacuum over a wide range of applied loads. The time to reach 1 percent strain, the time to rupture, and the minimum creep rate were measured. The W/Nb composites exceeded the properties of monolithic niobium alloys significantly even when compared on a strength to density basis. The effect of fiber orientation on the creep strength also was evaluated. Kirkendall void formation was observed at the fiber/matrix interface; the void distribution differed depending on the fiber orientation relative to the stress axis. A relationship was found between the fiber orientation and the creep strength.

Grobstein, T. L.↗

Creep behavior of tungsten fiber reinforced niobium metal matrix composites

Tungsten fiber reinforced niobium metal matrix composites were evaluated for use in space nuclear power conversion systems. The composite panels were fabricated using the arc-spray monotape technique at the NASA Lewis Research Center. The creep behavior of W/Nb composite material was determined at 1400 and 1500 K in vacuum over a wide range of applied loads. The time to reach 1 percent strain, the time to rupture, and the minimum creep rate were measured. The W/Nb composites exceeded the properties of monolithic niobium alloys significantly even when compared creep strength also was evaluated. Kirkendall void formation was observed at the fiber/matrix interface; the void distribution differed depending the fiber orientation relative to the stress axis. A relationship was found between the fiber orientation and the creep strength.

Grobstein, Toni L.↗

Object Oriented Programming Systems (OOPS) and frame representations: An investigation of programming paradigms

The project was initiated to research Object Oriented Programming Systems (OOPS) and frame representation systems, their significance and applicability, and their implementation in or relationship to Ada. Object orientated is currently a very popular conceptual adjective. Object oriented programming, in particular, is promoted as a particularly productive approach to programming; an approach which maximizes opportunities for code reuse and lends itself to the definition of convenient and well-developed units. Such units are thus expected to be usable in a variety of situations, beyond the typical highly specific unit development of other approaches. Frame represenation systems share a common heritage and similar conceptual foundations. Together they represent a quickly emerging alternative approach to programming. The approach is to first define the terms, starting with relevant concepts and using these to put bounds on what is meant by OOPS and Frames. From this the possibilities were pursued to merge OOPS with Ada which will further elucidate the significant characteristics which make up this programming approach. Finally, some of the merits and demerits of OOPS were briefly considered as a way of addressing the applicability of OOPS to various programming tasks.

Auty, David↗

Relation of motion sickness susceptibility to vestibular and behavioral measures of orientation

The objective is to determine the relationship of motion sickness susceptibility to vestibulo-ocular reflexes (VOR), motion perception, and behavioral utilization of sensory orientation cues for the control of postural equilibrium. The work is focused on reflexes and motion perception associated with pitch and roll movements that stimulate the vertical semicircular canals and otolith organs of the inner ear. This work is relevant to the space motion sickness problem since 0 g related sensory conflicts between vertical canal and otolith motion cues are a likely cause of space motion sickness.

Peterka, Robert J.↗

The attitude determination of a three axes stabilized spacecraft

An approach is presented for attitude determination of a three axis stabilized spacecraft. The employment of two independent vectors is described whose components with respect to two reference coordinate axes can be known. Such two coordinate axes are right-handed three mutually orthogonal axes systems of which one is fixed in the spacecraft and the other has known orientation in space. The relationship between the two systems are then expressed as mathematical equations with the use of the two reference vectors. By computing the derived equations, the attitude of the spacecraft can be obtained.

Fang, A. C.↗

Shoreline configuration and shoreline dynamics: A mesoscale analysis

The author has identified the following significant results. Atlantic coast barrier island shorelines are seldom straight, but rather sinuous. These shoreline curvatures range in size from cusps to capes. Significant relationships exist between the orientation of shoreline segments within the larger of these sinuous features and shoreline dynamics, with coefficients ranging up to .9. Orientation of the shoreline segments of Assateague Island (60 km) and the Outer Banks of North Carolina (130 km) was measured from LANDSAT 2 imagery (1:80,000) and high altitude aerial photography (1:120,000). Long term trends in shoreline dynamics were established by mapping shoreline and storm-surge penetration changes.

Dolan, R.↗

Psychological considerations in future space missions

Issues affecting human psychological adjustments to long space missions are discussed. Noting that the Shuttle flight crewmembers will not have extensive flight qualification requirements, the effects of a more heterogeneous crew mixture than in early space flights is considered to create possibilities of social conflicts. Routine space flight will decrease the novelty of a formerly unique experience, and the necessity of providing personal space or other mechanisms for coping with crowded, permanently occupied space habitats is stressed. Women are noted to display more permeable personal space requirements. The desirability of planning leisure activities is reviewed, and psychological test results for female and male characteristics are cited to show that individuals with high scores in both traditionally male and female attributes are most capable of effective goal-oriented behavior and interpersonal relationships. Finally, it is shown that competitiveness is negatively correlated with the success of collaborative work and the social climate of an environment.

Helmreich, R. L.↗

Orientation, relative age, and extent of the Tharsis Plateau ridge system

The orientations of the Tharsis Plateau ridge system on Mars and the symmetry of the inferred compressive stress field, the relative ages of the compressional events that generated the ridges, and the extent of Tharsis-related compressional deformation are investigated. Models for the origin of stresses in the Tharsis region are studied in relation to the formation of the ridges. The data indicate either that the Tharsis ridge system did not form in response to a single regional compressional event with a single stress center or that the majority of the ridge system did form in a single event but with locally controlled deflections in the generally radially oriented stress field. Superposition relationships and relative ages suggest that the compressional stresses that produced the ridges occurred after the emplacement of the ridged plains volcanic units but did not extend beyond the time of emplacement of the Syria Planum Formation units or the basal units of the Tharsis Montes Formation.

Watters, T. R.↗

Effect of Temperature and Deformation Rate on the Tensile Mechanical Properties of Polyimide Films

In order to study the structure-property relationships of different processed oriented polyimide films, the mechanical properties will be identified by using tensile tester Instron 4505 and structural information such as the 3-dimensional birefringence molecular symmetry axis and 3-dimensional refractive indices will be determined by using wave guide coupling techniques. The monoaxial drawing techniques utilized in this research are very useful for improving the tensile mechanical properties of aromatic polyimide films. In order to obtain high modulus/high strength polyimide films the following two techniques have been employed, cold drawing in which polyimide films are drawn at room temperature at different cross head speeds and hot drawing in which polyimide films are drawn at different temperatures and cross head speeds. In the hot drawing process the polyimide films are drawn at different temperatures until the glass transition temperature (Tg) is reached by using the environmental chamber. All of the mechanical and optical property parameters will be identified for each sample processed by both cold and hot drawing techniques.

Moghazy, Samir F.↗

Flight Planning Branch Space Shuttle Lessons Learned

Planning products and procedures that allow the mission flight control teams and the astronaut crews to plan, train and fly every Space Shuttle mission have been developed by the Flight Planning Branch at the NASA Johnson Space Center. As the Space Shuttle Program ends, lessons learned have been collected from each phase of the successful execution of these Shuttle missions. Specific examples of how roles and responsibilities of console positions that develop the crew and vehicle attitude timelines will be discussed, as well as techniques and methods used to solve complex spacecraft and instrument orientation problems. Additionally, the relationships and procedural hurdles experienced through international collaboration have molded operations. These facets will be explored and related to current and future operations with the International Space Station and future vehicles. Along with these important aspects, the evolution of technology and continual improvement of data transfer tools between the shuttle and ground team has also defined specific lessons used in the improving the control teams effectiveness. Methodologies to communicate and transmit messages, images, and files from Mission Control to the Orbiter evolved over several years. These lessons have been vital in shaping the effectiveness of safe and successful mission planning that have been applied to current mission planning work in addition to being incorporated into future space flight planning. The critical lessons from all aspects of previous plan, train, and fly phases of shuttle flight missions are not only documented in this paper, but are also discussed as how they pertain to changes in process and consideration for future space flight planning.

Price, Jennifer B.↗

Java Programming Language

The Java seminar covers the fundamentals of Java programming language. No prior programming experience is required for participation in the seminar. The first part of the seminar covers introductory concepts in Java programming including data types (integer, character, ..), operators, functions and constants, casts, input, output, control flow, scope, conditional statements, and arrays. Furthermore, introduction to Object-Oriented programming in Java, relationships between classes, using packages, constructors, private data and methods, final instance fields, static fields and methods, and overloading are explained. The second part of the seminar covers extending classes, inheritance hierarchies, polymorphism, dynamic binding, abstract classes, protected access. The seminar conclude by introducing interfaces, properties of interfaces, interfaces and abstract classes, interfaces and cailbacks, basics of event handling, user interface components with swing, applet basics, converting applications to applets, the applet HTML tags and attributes, exceptions and debugging.

Shaykhian, Gholam Ali↗

DSN human factors project

The project plan was to hold focus groups to identify the factors influencing the ease of use characteristics of software and to bond the problem. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate those factors which were more appropriately measured with that method. The performance oriented factors were analyzed and relationships hypothesized. The hypotheses were put to test in the experimental phase of the project. In summary, the initial analysis indicates that there is an initial performance effect favoring computer controlled dialogue but the advantage fades fast as operators become experienced. The user documentation style is seen to have a significant effect on performance. The menu and prompt command formats are preferred by inexperienced operators. The short form mnemonic is least favored. There is no clear best command format but the short form mnemonic is clearly the worst.

Chafin, R. L.↗

Time dependent quasifracture in polymers

The initiation and propagation of quasi-fracture are discussed. The interrelations among applied stress, temperature, and initiation time in quasi-fracture are examined. The relationship between molecular deformation, microstructure orientation, and quasi-fracture propagation is addressed. Quasi-fracture behavior as a function of time is examined.

Chern, S. S.↗

A Formal Approach to Domain-Oriented Software Design Environments

This paper describes a formal approach to domain-oriented software design environments, based on declarative domain theories, formal specifications, and deductive program synthesis. A declarative domain theory defines the semantics of a domain-oriented specification language and its relationship to implementation-level subroutines. Formal specification development and reuse is made accessible to end-users through an intuitive graphical interface that guides them in creating diagrams denoting formal specifications. The diagrams also serve to document the specifications. Deductive program synthesis ensures that end-user specifications are correctly implemented. AMPHION has been applied to the domain of solar system kinematics through the development of a declarative domain theory, which includes an axiomatization of JPL's SPICELIB subroutine library. Testing over six months with planetary scientists indicates that AMPHION's interactive specification acquisition paradigm enables users to develop, modify, and reuse specifications at least an order of magnitude more rapidly than manual program development. Furthermore, AMPHION synthesizes one to two page programs consisting of calls to SPICELIB subroutines from these specifications in just a few minutes. Test results obtained by metering AMPHION's deductive program synthesis component are examined. AMPHION has been installed at JPL and is currently undergoing further refinement in preparation for distribution to hundreds of SPICELIB users worldwide. Current work to support end-user customization of AMPHION's specification acquisition subsystem is briefly discussed, as well as future work to enable domain-expert creation of new AMPHION applications through development of suitable domain theories.

Lowry, Michael↗

Autotropism, automorphogenesis, and gravity

Segments of organs that have undergone gravitropic curvature later straighten during the course of gravitropism or after the g-vector becomes randomized on a clinostat. Little is known about the mechanism underlying these and perhaps related phenomena which have been described with various overlapping terms such as autotropism, autotropic straightening, automorphosis, automorphogenesis, automorphic curvature, and gravitropic straightening. The types of phenomena that historically have been named by the above terms are reviewed critically with respect to an interaction with gravitropism. We suggest that the term "autotropism" should not be applied to the phenomenon of organ straightening that occurs during the course of gravitropism, since this straightening is part of a complex series of local growth adjustments overall through time, and since this phenomenon is not itself a tropistic response to a directional exogenous stimulus. It is suggested that the term autotropism should be used only for the phenomenon of organ straightening that occurs after the g-vector is randomized on a clinostat or withdrawn in the microgravity conditions of spaceflight. Usage of the term automorphogenesis is most appropriate for describing curvatures or orientations that result from morphological relationships such as in nastic curvatures.

STS Shuttle Project↗

Control Software for Advanced Video Guidance Sensor

Embedded software has been developed specifically for controlling an Advanced Video Guidance Sensor (AVGS). A Video Guidance Sensor is an optoelectronic system that provides guidance for automated docking of two vehicles. Such a system includes pulsed laser diodes and a video camera, the output of which is digitized. From the positions of digitized target images and known geometric relationships, the relative position and orientation of the vehicles are computed. The present software consists of two subprograms running in two processors that are parts of the AVGS. The subprogram in the first processor receives commands from an external source, checks the commands for correctness, performs commanded non-image-data-processing control functions, and sends image data processing parts of commands to the second processor. The subprogram in the second processor processes image data as commanded. Upon power-up, the software performs basic tests of functionality, then effects a transition to a standby mode. When a command is received, the software goes into one of several operational modes (e.g. acquisition or tracking). The software then returns, to the external source, the data appropriate to the command.

Howard, Richard T.↗