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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 NTRS2008

Multi-Evaporator Miniature Loop Heat Pipe for Small Spacecraft Thermal Control

This paper presents the development of the Thermal Loop experiment under NASA's New Millennium Program Space Technology 8 (ST8) Project. The Thermal Loop experiment was originally planned for validating in space an advanced heat transport system consisting of a miniature loop heat pipe (MLHP) with multiple evaporators and multiple condensers. Details of the thermal loop concept, technical advances and benefits, Level 1 requirements and the technology validation approach are described. An MLHP breadboard has been built and tested in the laboratory and thermal vacuum environments, and has demonstrated excellent performance that met or exceeded the design requirements. The MLHP retains all features of state-of-the-art loop heat pipes and offers additional advantages to enhance the functionality, performance, versatility, and reliability of the system. In addition, an analytical model has been developed to simulate the steady state and transient operation of the MHLP, and the model predictions agreed very well with experimental results. A protoflight MLHP has been built and is being tested in a thermal vacuum chamber to validate its performance and technical readiness for a flight experiment.

Ku, Jentung↗
NASA NTRS2016

Reconstructed Parachute System Performance During the Second LDSD Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test

NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerators project (LDSD) has developed and tested four new aerodynamic decelerator technologies for future Mars missions: two attached toroidal inflatable decelerators, a ballute, and a large supersonic parachute. On June 8, 2015, the project conducted a high-altitude, supersonic flight test of a 30.5-meter supersonic Ringsail (SSRS) canopy at the US Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on Kauai, HI. This test, the second in a series of Supersonic Flight Dynamics Tests (SFDT-2), allowed the LDSD project to test the deployment and performance of its parachute decelerator system in the wake of a representative test vehicle (a 4.7-meter aeroshell and 6-meter toroidal inflatable aerodynamic decelerator) at conditions relevant to Mars entry for the second time. The parachute decelerator system consisted of the SSRS main parachute and a 4.4-meter ballute (called the parachute deployment device, or PDD) for its extraction. The ballute was mortar-deployed at a Mach number of 2.78 and a dynamic pressure of 493 Pa, and inflated with the aid of a water-methanol based gas generator. After flying in the wake of the test vehicle for ten seconds, the PDD was released and allowed to extract the main parachute pack. The SSRS reached line-stretch at a Mach number of 2.37 and dynamic pressure of 602 Pa. Following full inflation, the propagation of a tear in the canopy led to the failure of the parachute skirt band and to the subsequent failure of the vent band. The test vehicle was instrumented with load sensors, inertial sensors, and high-speed and high resolution cameras that provided data on the performance of the PDD and SSRS through deployment, inflation, and flight. This paper describes the resulting reconstructed behavior of the PDD and SSRS during deployment and inflation, their aerodynamic performance on SFDT-2, the failure of the SSRS shortly after full inflation, and the LDSD project’s investigation into its underlying causes.

O'Farrell, Clara↗
NASA NTRS2011

FPA Depot - Web Application

Lines of code (LOC) analysis is one of the methods used to measure programmer productivity and estimate schedules of programming projects. The Launch Control System (LCS) had previously used this method to estimate the amount of work and to plan development efforts. The disadvantage of using LOC as a measure of effort is that one can only measure 30% to 35% of the total effort of software projects involves coding [8]. In the application, instead of using the LOC we are using function point for a better estimation of hours in each software to develop. Because of these disadvantages, Jamie Szafran of the System Software Branch of Control And Data Systems (NE-C3) at Kennedy Space Canter developed a web application called Function Point Analysis (FPA) Depot. The objective of this web application is that the LCS software architecture team can use the data to more accurately estimate the effort required to implement customer requirements. This paper describes the evolution of the domain model used for function point analysis as project managers continually strive to generate more accurate estimates.

Avila, Edwin M. Martinez↗
NASA NTRS1978

Monitoring regional crustal deformation with horizontal geodetic data

The National Ocean Survey is developing an automated system to derive parameters of horizontal crustal motion from existing geodetic data by the process of least squares estimation. The estimated parameter will describe crustal motion as a function of geographic position. The system will first be tested in the Imperial Valley region of southern California, using data from 8 individual field projects spanning four decades of time.

Snay, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Spectral and spatial properties of solar microflares

Solar microflares are studied using both hard ( 28 keV) and soft (3.5 to 8.0 keV) X-ray observations. The soft X-ray events have durations 3 m at 0.1x maximum intensity, and typically have similar rise and decay times. The fastest decay observed was 15 s (1/e). Soft and hard X-ray intensities are uncorrelated. The events are very compact, consistent with a projected area approximately 8 x 8 inches. They are normally not associated with H alpha or type 3 emissions and their time profiles suggest a thermal origin at the top of the chromosphere. If the primary energy release site is in the corona, an energy transfer agent consistent with the observations is a non-thermal proton beam.

Simnett, G. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

NASA develops Space Station

The NASA Space Station program's planning stage began in 1982, with a view to development funding in FY1987 and initial operations within a decade. An initial cost of $8 billion is projected for the continuously habitable, Space Shuttle-dependent system, not including either operational or scientific and commercial payload-development costs. As a customer-oriented facility, the Space Station will be available to foreign countries irrespective of their participation in the development phase.

Freitag, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The navigation toolkit

This report summarizes the experience of the authors in managing, designing, and implementing an object-oriented applications framework for orbital navigation analysis for the Flight Design and Dynamics Department of the Rockwell Space Operations Company in Houston, in support of the Mission Operations Directorate of NASA's Johnson Space Center. The 8 person year project spanned 1.5 years and produced 30,000 lines of C++ code, replacing 150,000 lines of Fortran/C. We believe that our experience is important because it represents a 'second project' experience and generated real production-quality code - it was not a pilot. The project successfully demonstrated the use of 'continuous development' or rapid prototyping techniques. Use of formal methods and executable models contributed to the quality of the code. Keys to the success of the project were a strong architectural vision and highly skilled workers. This report focuses on process and methodology, and not on a detailed design description of the product. But the true importance of the object-oriented paradigm is its liberation of the developer to focus on the problem rather than the means used to solve the problem.

Rich, William F.↗
NASA NTRS2021

The Simons Observatory Microwave SQUID Multiplexing Detector Module Design

Advances in cosmic microwave background(CMB)science depend on increasing the number of sensitive detectorsobserving the sky. New instruments deploy large arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensor(TES)bolometers tileddensely into ever larger focal planes. High multiplexing factors reduce the thermal loading on the cryogenic receivers andsimplify their design. We present the design of focal-plane modules with an order of magnitude higher multiplexingfactor than has previously been achieved with TES bolometers. We focus on the novel cold readout component, whichemploys microwave SQUID multiplexing(μmux). Simons Observatory will use 49 modules containing 70,000bolometers to make exquisitely sensitive measurements of the CMB. We validate the focal-plane module design,presenting measurements of the readout component with and without a prototype detector array of 1728 polarization-sensitive bolometers coupled to feedhorns. The readout component achieves a 95% yield and a 910 multiplexing factor.The median white noise of each readout channel is 65pA Hz. This impacts the projected SO mapping speed by<8%,which is less than is assumed in the sensitivity projections. The results validate the full functionality of the module. Wediscuss the measured performance in the context of SO science requirements, which are exceeded.

Heather McCarrick↗
NASA NTRS1989

Adjustable impedance, force feedback and command language aids for telerobotics (parts 1-4 of an 8-part MIT progress report)

Projects recently completed or in progress at MIT Man-Machine Systems Laboratory are summarized. (1) A 2-part impedance network model of a single degree of freedom remote manipulation system is presented in which a human operator at the master port interacts with a task object at the slave port in a remote location is presented. (2) The extension of the predictor concept to include force feedback and dynamic modeling of the manipulator and the environment is addressed. (3) A system was constructed to infer intent from the operator's commands and the teleoperation context, and generalize this information to interpret future commands. (4) A command language system is being designed that is robust, easy to learn, and has more natural man-machine communication. A general telerobot problem selected as an important command language context is finding a collision-free path for a robot.

Sheridan, Thomas B.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Designing to Sample the Unknown: Lessons from OSIRIS-REx Project Systems Engineering

On September 8, 2016, the third NASA New Frontiers mission launched on an Atlas V 411. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) will rendezvous with asteroid Bennu in 2018, collect a sample in 2020, and return that sample to Earth in September 2023. The development team has overcome a number of challenges in order to design and build a system that will make contact with an unexplored, airless, low-gravity body. This paper will provide an overview of the mission, then focus in on the system-level challenges and some of the key system-level processes. Some of the lessons here are unique to the type of mission, like discussion of operating at a largely-unknown, low-gravity object. Other lessons, particularly from the build phase, have broad implications. The OSIRIS-REx risk management process was particularly effective in achieving an on-time and under-budget development effort. The systematic requirements management and verification and the system validation also helped identify numerous potential problems. The final assessment of the OSIRIS-REx performance will need to wait until the sample is returned in 2023, but this post-launch assessment will capture some of the key systems-engineering lessons from the development team.

Asteroid↗
NASA NTRS2024

Rhode Island Ecological Conservation: Methods for Monitoring Rhode Island Habitats: Contributing to a Framework for Targeted Conservation and Management

Global avian population decline since the 1970s is largely attributable to habitat loss and degradation from anthropogenic disturbances. NASA DEVELOP’s Rhode Island Ecological Conservation team partnered with the Audubon Society of Rhode Island to compute land use land cover (LULC) maps of Rhode Island to aid in the conservation of the state’s 140 bird species. This project aimed to support the partner’s land acquisition strategies with updated and specific LULC classifications showing potential bird-habitat locations across the state. We incorporated remotely sensed data from Landsat 8 and 9 Operational Land Imager (OLI) into LULC maps using unsupervised classification techniques in ArcGIS Pro and supervised classification in Google Earth Engine. We generated six land classifications for 2023, which showed land cover dominated by upland habitats (forests, scrub/shrub, and grasslands), followed by development. We used TerrSet’s Land Change Modeler to forecast LULC change through 2043, using 2011 and 2021 National Land Cover Database (NLCD) land cover maps derived from Landsat 8 and 9 imagery. Project results suggest that non-urban upland and wetland habitats will decrease over time, while development will continue to encroach on non-urban avian habitats. Our maps and associated data will allow for more efficient land acquisition and management efforts to support avian habitat conservation across Rhode Island. Our study shows that data acquisition and processing from open data sources is feasible and further analysis can be done through GIS classification tools. More analysis is needed beyond this study to obtain more detailed land cover maps, though Audubon can aid its targeted conservation efforts with our current, historic, and forecasted LULC maps.

Remote sensing↗
NASA NTRS1977

The IMS Satellite Situation Center

Following a brief historical review of the SSC (Satellite Situation Center), created by the U.S. for the IMS (International Magnetospheric Study), its main functions are discussed. The services of the SSC include the accurate orbit determination of the satellites, 12-18 months in advance and the coordination of simultaneous observations by a multispacecraft system, which are essential for the optimization of the scientific gains from experiments conducted with limited resources. For 1976 SSC generated plots of the satellites Vela 5B, Vela 6A, Vela 6B, Hawkeye 1, Imp H (7), Imp J (8) by computing certain projections of the solar ecliptic, solar magnetospheric, and solar magnetic coordinate systems. The SSC system was automated by the addition of a computer system capable of interactive graphics. The SSC can also provide the ground-based campaigns with a graphical or tabular information about the position low-altitude satellites in any coordinate system. The possible participation of the SSC in future Electrodynamics Explorer mission, Space Shuttle programs is also being explored.

Sugiura, M.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Satellite applications to electric-utility communications needs

Significant changes in the Nation's electric power systems are expected to result from the integration of new technology, possible during the next decade. Digital communications for monitor and control, exclusive of protective relaying, are expected to double or triple current traffic. A nationwide estimate of 13 Mb/s traffic is projected. Of this total, 8 Mb/s is attributed to the bulk-power system as it is now being operated (4 Mb/s). This traffic could be accommodated by current communications satellites using 3- to 4.5-m-diameter ground terminals costing $35,000 to $70,000 each. The remaining 5-Mb/s traffic is attributed to new technology concepts integrated into the distribution system. Such traffic is not compatible with current satellite technology because it requires small, low-cost ground terminals. Therefore, a high effective isotropic radiated power satellite, such as the one being planned by NASA for the Land Mobile Satellite Service, is required.

Horstein, M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Bandwidth-efficient high-speed coded trellis modulation

A burst-mode coded trellis modulation system is discussed which is capable of 200-Mbit/s information rate transmission over nonlinear satellite transponders whose center frequencies are separated by 100 MHz. An overall real bandwidth efficiency of 2 bit/s per Hz of the allocated spectrum is projected. Convolutional codec and 8-PSK modulation subsystems together maximize the minimum Euclidean distance between the modulated codeword sequences in the overall coded trellis, resulting in a 4.3-dB asymptotic coding advantage over an uncoded 8-PSK system signalling at the same information rate over the same channel. The system performance has been evaluated by computer simulation.

Fang, R. J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Technology and Advanced Development for a Non-Toxic Orbital Maneuvering System and Reaction Control System for Orbiter Upgrade

NASA intends to pursue technology applications to upgrade the Space Shuttle Orbiter OMS and RCS systems with non-toxic propellants. The primary objectives of an upgraded OMS/RCS are improved safety and reliability, reduced operations and maintenance costs while meeting basic OMS/RCS operational and performance requirements. The OMS/RCS has a high degree of direct interaction with the crew and requires subsystem and components that are compatible with integration into the orbiter vehicle with regard to external mold-line, power and thermal control The non-toxic propulsion technology is also applicable to future Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) missions. The HEDS missions have similar requirements for attitude control and lander descent/ascent propulsion and which will emphasize the use of In-Situ Resource for propellants. When used as a regenerative coolant as in the Shuttle Orbiter OMS combustion chamber, non-toxic fuels such as ethanol are limited in their cooling capacity by the bulk temperature rise permitted to prevent film boiling or possible coking. Typical regeneratively cooled chambers are constructed from highly conductive copper, which maximizes heat transfer, or from low conductivity materials like stainless steel that can also exacerbate cooling problems. For an ethanol cooled application the heat transfer into the fluid must be controlled to reduce the fuel coolant bulk temperature rise. An approach to provide this control is the subject of this report. This report is being issued to document work done by Aerojet on NASA contract NAS 8-98042. Specifically, this project investigates of the use of ethanol, a designated non-toxic fuel, as a coolant for the Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System Engine combustion chamber. The project also addresses a cost reducing fabrication technique for construction of such a combustion chamber. The study contained three major sub-tasks: an analytical investigation and trade study which included layout of a flight type chamber concept, the fabrication and evaluation of formed platelet liner panels and the preparation and testing of mechanical properties specimens representative of a novel hot gas wall concept.

Hayes, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Joint Institute for Advancement of Flight Sciences

Experiments were designed, implemented, and evaluated in the thermal and fluid sciences at the NASA Langley Research Center. This research was conducted cooperatively with NASA employees using, where necessary, equipment and facilities provided by the U.S. Government. The research fell within the scope of the University Agreement between the NASA Langley Research Center and The George Washington University for Joint Research and Education Projects dated June 7, 8, 1994, which continues the Joint Institute for the Advancement of Flight Sciences (JIAFS).

Cutler, Andrew D.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Robot and Human Surface Operations on Solar System Bodies

This paper presents a comparison of robot and human surface operations on solar system bodies. The topics include: 1) Long Range Vision of Surface Scenarios; 2) Human and Robots Complement Each Other; 3) Respective Human and Robot Strengths; 4) Need More In-Depth Quantitative Analysis; 5) Projected Study Objectives; 6) Analysis Process Summary; 7) Mission Scenarios Decompose into Primitive Tasks; 7) Features of the Projected Analysis Approach; and 8) The "Getting There Effect" is a Major Consideration. This paper is in viewgraph form.

Weisbin, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Thermal Modeling and Testing of the Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks Project

NASA's Edison program is intending to launch the Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) project, a swarm of 8 1.5U cubesats in the fall of 2014 to demonstrate intra-swarm communications and multi-point in situ space physics data acquisition. Due to late changes in the duty cycles of various components, potential overheating issues appeared. In addition, it was determined that capacity loss due to the coldness of the batteries was unacceptable, so mitigation was required. This paper will discuss the thermal modeling, testing, and results of the EDSN mission.

Coker, Robert↗