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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Rheological Properties of Quasi-2D Fluids in Microgravity

Freely suspended smectic films of sub-micrometer thickness and lateral extensions of several millimeters are used to study thermally driven convection and diffusion in the film plane. The experiments were performed during a six minute microgravity phase of a TEXUS suborbital rocket flight (Texus 52, launched April 27, 2015). The project served as a preliminary test for a planned ISS Experiment with liquid crystal films (OASIS), and in addition it provided new experimental data on smectic films exposed to in-plane thermal gradients.We find an attraction of the smectic material towards the cold edge of the film in a temperature gradient, similar to a Soret effect. This process is reversed when this edge is heated up again. Thermal convection driven by two thermocontacts in the film is practically absent, even at temperature gradients up to 10 Kmm, thermally driven convection sets in when the hot post reaches the transition temperature to the nematic phase.An additional experiment was performed under microgravity conditions to test the stability of liquid crystal bridges in different smectic phases.

microgravity↗
NASA NTRS1993

Cellular responses to low-gravity: Pilot studies on suborbital rockets and orbiting spacecraft

The allocated funding supported, in part, experiments conducted on two Consort sounding rockets and five Shuttle flights. The primary parameters investigated were signal transduction in response to various mediators, cellular differentiation and metabolism in microgravity, and effect of microgravity on cytoskeletal morphology. Achievements include: demonstration of effect of spaceflight on the actin cytoskeleton in mouse osteoblasts and frog cells; confirmation that the T cell receptor-mediated signal transduction pathway in T lymphocytes is not affected by low-gravity compared to non-TCR-mediated stimulation (Con-A) which classically does not promote proliferative response; indication that microgravity may allow separation of proliferative signaling and secretory function in lymphocytes; demonstration that T lymphocytes and bone cells utilized less glucose indicating a shift in metabolism and confirming Spacelab results with WI-38 cells which used significantly less glucose, during spaceflight; confirmation that activation of human splenic B cells with a number of different mediators is not affected during spaceflight; demonstration of increased prostaglandin synthesis during reduced bone cell growth suggesting an effect of microgravity on prostaglandin-induced mitogenesis. The funding contributed significantly to the database described above and resulted in submission of six collaborative abstracts in 1993 (five to the ASGSB Annual Meeting and one to the ASCB Annual Meeting). Two abstracts were presented at the 1992 ASGSB Annual Meeting in Tucson. In addition, several peer reviewed papers are being generated and data will be included as background in preparation of future proposals, which hopefully will allow us to continue this type of extremely productive collaborative research.

Lewis, Marian L.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Suborbital Platforms as a Tool for a Symbiotic Relationship Between Scientists, Engineers, and Students

Sounding rockets started in-situ space experimentation over 60 years ago with scientific experiments replacing warheads on captured V- 2 German rockets. Prior to this, and still today, suborbital platforms such as airplanes and high-altitude balloons have provided advantageous remote sensing observations advancing many areas of Earth and Space science. There is still a place for first-rate science in both stand-alone missions as well as providing complimentary measurements to the larger orbital missions. Along with the aforementioned science, the cost effectiveness and development times provided by sub-orbital platforms allows for perfect hands-on and first rate educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. This talk will give examples and discuss the mutually beneficial opportunities that scientists and students obtain in development of suborbital missions. Also discussed will be how the next generation of space vehicles should help eliminate the number one obstacle to these programs - launch opportunities.

Chamberlin, Phillip C.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Consort 1 flight results - A synopsis

All six experiments performed onboard Consort 1, the first low gravity materials processing payload to be launched by a commercially licensed rocket in the U.S., are evaluated. The six experiments were carried out as planned, during approximately seven minutes of suborbital, low gravity flight and returned in excellent condition within four hour of launch. Nearly 150 physical samples supported by measurements and photographs made during the flight were taken for analysis. The rocket flight and payload configuration is described, along with experiment objectives, methods, results, and conclusions.

Wessling, Francis C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Consort 1 flight results: a synopsis

Consort 1 was the first low gravity materials processing payload to be launched by a commercially licensed rocket in the U.S.A. It carried six experiments which operated as planned during approx. 7 min of suborbital, low gravity flight (10(-5) g) and were returned in excellent condition to the investigators within 4 h of launch. Nearly 150 physical samples supported by measurements and photographs made during the flight were obtained for analysis. In addition to the experimental data returned, the success of Consort 1 demonstrated the ability of industry, working with university centers and government agencies, to rapidly prepare and launch payloads. A brief description of the rocket flight and payload configuration is given. Experiment objectives and methods are described and preliminary results and conclusions are presented.

short duration↗
NASA NTRS1980

The direct observation of unidirectional solidification as a function of gravity level

A saturated solution of NH4 Cl-H2O was solidified unidirectionally on earth at 1 g and in a suborbital rocket at 0.001 g. In the 1 g experiment, extensive fluid flow was apparent, creating plumes which carry numerous crystallites vertically above the interface in a manner associated with freckling in castings. During growth the interface grew into the liquid at the same rate as the individual dendrites. When solidified in low g, the interface grew at a slower rate than the individual dendrites. No plumes of liquid carrying crystals were seen, but several crystals did appear and grow ahead of the interface. Growth rates, dendrite morphologies and preferred crystallographic orientations are compared for the two experiment conditions. Results indicate that solidification in low gravity produces more uniform dendrite arm spacings, and tends to be controlled by diffusion and crystallographic orientation.

Johnston, M. H.↗
NASA NTRS2019

An Updated Optical Design for the Off-Plane Grating Rocket Experiment

The Off-plane Grating Rocket Experiment (OGRE) is a soft X-ray spectroscopy suborbital rocket payload designed to obtain the highest-resolution soft X-ray spectrum of Capella to date. With a spectral resolution goal of R(lambda/delta lambda) > 2000 at select wavelengths in its 10-55 A bandpass of interest, the payload will be able to study the line-dominated spectrum of Capella in unprecedented detail. To achieve this performance goal, the payload will employ three key technologies: mono-crystalline silicon X-ray mirrors developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, reflection gratings manufactured at The Pennsylvania State University, and electron-multiplying CCDs developed by The Open University and XCAM Ltd. In this document, an updated optical design that can achieve the performance goal of the OGRE spectrometer and a new grating alignment concept to realize this optical design are described.

Benjamin D. Donovan↗
NASA NTRS2010

Electrodynamic Propulsion System Tether Experiment (T-REX)

A Japanese-led international team is developing a suborbital test of orbital-motion-limited (OML) bare wire anode current collection for application to electrodynamic tether (EDT) propulsion. The tether is a tape with a width of 25 mm, thickness of 0.05 mm, and is 300 m in length. This will be the first space test of OML theory. The mission will launch in the summer of 2010 using an S520 Sounding Rocket. During ascent, and above approximately 100 km in attitude, the tape tether will be deployed at a rate of approximately8 m/s. Once deployed, the tape tether will serve as an anode, collecting ionospheric electrons. The electrons will be expelled into space by a hollow cathode device, thereby completing the circuit and allowing current to flow. The total amount of current collected will be used to assess the validity of OML theory. This paper will describe the objectives of the proposed mission, the technologies to be employed, and the application of the results to future space missions using EDTs for propulsion or power generation

Johnson, L.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Toward RADSCAT measurements over the sea and their interpretation

Investigations into several areas which are essential to the execution and interpretation of suborbital observations by composite radiometer - scatterometer sensor (RADSCAT) are reported. Experiments and theory were developed to demonstrate the remote anemometric capability of the sensor over the sea through various weather conditions. It is shown that weather situations found in extra tropical cyclones are useful for demonstrating the all weather capability of the composite sensor. The large scale fluctuations of the wind over the sea dictate the observational coverage required to correlate measurements with the mean surface wind speed. Various theoretical investigations were performed to establish a premise for the joint interpretation of the experiment data. The effects of clouds and rains on downward radiometric observations over the sea were computed. A method of predicting atmospheric attenuation from joint observations is developed. In other theoretical efforts, the emission and scattering characteristics of the sea were derived. Composite surface theories with coherent and noncoherent assumptions were employed.

Claassen, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1977

The direct observation of solidification as a function of gravity level

A saturated solution of NH4Cl was solidified on earth at 1 g and in a suborbital rocket flight at .00001 g. In the 1 g experiments, macrosegregation caused by the gravitational acceleration was marked. Nucleation started at the cold walls after which dendrites and dendritic debris were swept into the center of the cuvette by convective fluid flow. Secondary dendrite arms were oriented toward the cold wall. When solidified in low g, only four nuclei grew to form the complete casting. There were no free floating crystals or visible dendrite remelting. The lack of fluid flow allowed symmetrical dendrite growth into the fluid.

Johnston, M. H.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Chemical Vapor Deposition at High Pressure in a Microgravity Environment

In this paper we present an evaluation of critical requirements of organometallic chemical vapor deposition (OMCVD) at elevated pressure for a channel flow reactor in a microgravity environment. The objective of using high pressure is to maintain single-phase surface composition for materials that have high thermal decomposition pressure at their optimum growth temperature. Access to microgravity is needed to maintain conditions of laminar flow, which is essential for process analysis. Based on ground based observations we present an optimized reactor design for OMCVD at high pressure and reduced gravity. Also, we discuss non-intrusive real-time optical monitoring of flow dynamics coupled to homogeneous gas phase reactions, transport and surface processes. While suborbital flights may suffice for studies of initial stages of heteroepitaxy experiments in space are essential for a complete evaluation of steady-state growth.

McCall, Sonya↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ACES Instrument

During the Atmospheric Carbon and Transport–America (ACT–America) suborbital mission (ACT-America) Mission Spring 2018 campaign, ASCENDS CarbonHawk Experiment Simulator (ACES), an intensity modulated continuous wave (IMCW) lidar system funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, measured differential optical depths leading to partial-column CO2 lidar retrievals while flying aboard the C-130 aircraft across North America striving to advance technology critical to measuring column carbon dioxide mixing ratios (XCO2) remotely. ACES was developed by NASA Langley Research Center in the aims to have an active remote sensing system able to accurately measure XCO2 from space independent of the presence of sunlight, land surface type, and even through thin clouds. Differential absorption optical depth measurements made during the fourth campaign of ACT-America in Spring of 2018 were processed, analyzed and compared to on board in situ derived differential optical depth CO2 measurements.

XCO2↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Aerodynamic Performance of the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) Technology Demonstration Mission

The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) mission successfully demonstrated the deployment and entry performance of a 6 m diameter Hypersonic Inflatable Decelerator on November 10, 2022. This was the largest blunt body flown to date and demonstrated this inflatable aeroshell technology at scale and conditions relevant to Earth and Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing applications. LOFTID built upon the prior successes of the suborbital IRVE and IRVE-3 missions, leveraging and expanding on the flight experience from these and other planetary and Earth sample return missions. Both the re-entry vehicle and ejectable data module were successfully recovered from the Pacific Ocean, with LOFTID satisfying requirements for decelerator performance and stable flight from orbital entry conditions through parachute deployment and splashdown. This work discusses the pre-flight aerodynamics database and reconstructed flight performance of the LOFTID re-entry vehicle.

LOFTID↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Aerodynamic Performance of the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) Technology Demonstration Mission

The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) mission successfully demonstrated the deployment and entry performance of a 6 m diameter Hypersonic Inflatable Decelerator on November 10, 2022. This was the largest blunt body flown to date and demonstrated this inflatable aeroshell technology at scale and conditions relevant to Earth and Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing applications. LOFTID built upon the prior successes of the suborbital IRVE and IRVE-3 missions, leveraging and expanding on the flight experience from these and other planetary and Earth sample return missions. Both the re-entry vehicle and ejectable data module were successfully recovered from the Pacific Ocean, with LOFTID satisfying requirements for decelerator performance and stable flight from orbital entry conditions through parachute deployment and splashdown. This work discusses the pre-flight aerodynamics database and reconstructed flight performance of the LOFTID re-entry vehicle.

LOFTID↗
NASA NTRS1961

Results of the Second U.S. Manned Suborbital Space Flight, July 21, 1961

This document presents the results of the second United States manned suborbital space flight. The data and flight description presented form a continuation of the information provided at an open conference held under the auspices of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health and the National Academy of Sciences, at the U.S. Department of State Auditorium on June 6, 1961. The papers presented herein generally parallel the presentations of the first report and were prepared by the personnel of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in collaboration with personnel from other government agencies, participating industry, and universities. The second successful manned suborbital space flight on July 21, 1961, in which Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom was the pilot was another step in the progressive research, development, and training program leading to the study of man's capabilities in a space environment during manned orbital flight. Data and operational experiences gained from this flight were in agreement with and supplemented the knowledge obtained from the first suborbital flight of May 5, 1961, piloted by Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. The two recent manned suborbital flights, coupled with the unmanned research and development flights, have provided valuable engineering nd scientific data on which the program can progress. The successful active participation of the pilots, in much the same way as in the development and testing of high performance aircraft, has. greatly increased our confidence in giving man a significant role in future space flight activities. It is the purpose of this report to continue the practice of providing data to the scientific community interested in activities of this nature. Brief descriptions are presented of the Project Mercury spacecraft and flight plan. Papers are provided which parallel the presentations of data published for the first suborbital space flight. Additional information is given relating to the operational aspects of the medical support activities for the two manned suborbital space flights.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2007

Suborbital Telepresence and Over-the-Horizon Networking

A viewgraph presentation describing the suborbital telepresence project utilizing in-flight network computing is shown. The topics include: 1) Motivation; 2) Suborbital Telepresence and Global Test Range; 3) Tropical Composition, Cloud, and Climate Coupling Experiment (TC4); 4) Data Sets for TC4 Real-time Monitoring; 5) TC-4 Notional Architecture; 6) An Application Integration View; 7) Telepresence: Architectural Framework; and 8) Disruption Tolerant Networks.

Freudinger, Lawrence C.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Distribution and Sources of Tropospheric Aerosols Over the Western North Atlantic During ACTIVATE (February-March 2020)

The Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) is a five-year (2019-2023) NASA Earth-Venture Suborbital-3 (EVS-3) mission to robustly characterize aerosol-cloud-meteorology interactions during February-June, with a focus on marine boundary layer clouds. This characterization requires understanding of aerosol composition, distribution, transport pathways, and sources. Here we use the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model driven by the MERRA-2 reanalysis to simulate tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) and aerosols over the western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) during the first field deployment of ACTIVATE (February-March 2020). CO is used as a tracer to diagnose transport pathways for continental pollution outflow to the WNAO. The aerosol simulation represents all major aerosols including sulfate-nitrate-ammonium (SNA), mineral dust, sea salt, black and organic carbon aerosols. Model-simulated mixing ratios of SNA and organic carbon are compared with aircraft observations. We show that intensive aerosol mass measurements in the lower troposphere over the North American outflow region during ACTIVATE provide strong constraints on model aerosol wet scavenging. Comparisons of model aerosol extinctions with the airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar-2 (HSRL-2) measurements indicate that the model generally captures continental outflow of aerosols and enhanced extinctions associated with sea salt. Simulated aerosol optical depths (AODs) and extinction vertical profiles are also compared with satellite retrievals from MODIS/Aqua and CALIOP/CALIPSO, respectively. CALIOP sometimes observes enhanced aerosol extinction at altitudes between ~1.5km and ~2.0km south of 32°N. The model reproduces this enhancement and attributes it to coarse-mode sea salt associated with high relative humidity. The relative contributions of continental and oceanic sources to the aerosol loading, AOD, and their distributions over the study domain will also be discussed.

aerosols↗