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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 559 records · Page 31

The Torsion of Members Having Sections Common in Aircraft Construction

Within recent years a great variety of approximate torsion formulas and drafting-room processes have been advocated. In some of these, especially where mathematical considerations are involved, the results are extremely complex and are not generally intelligible to engineers. The principal object of this investigation was to determine by experiment and theoretical investigation how accurate the more common of these formulas are and on what assumptions they are founded and, if none of the proposed methods proved to be reasonable accurate in practice, to produce simple, practical formulas from reasonably correct assumptions, backed by experiment. A second object was to collect in readily accessible form the most useful of known results for the more common sections. Formulas for all the important solid sections that have yielded to mathematical treatment are listed. Then follows a discussion of the torsion of tubular rods with formulas both rigorous and approximate.

Trayer, George W↗

A strategy for electronic dissemination of NASA Langley technical publications

To demonstrate NASA Langley Research Center's relevance and to transfer technology to external customers in a timely and efficient manner, Langley has formed a working group to study and recommend a course of action for the electronic dissemination of technical reports (EDTR). The working group identified electronic report requirements (e.g., accessibility, file format, search requirements) of customers in U.S. industry through numerous site visits and personal contacts. Internal surveys were also used to determine commonalities in document preparation methods. From these surveys, a set of requirements for an electronic dissemination system was developed. Two candidate systems were identified and evaluated against the set of requirements: the Full-Text Electronic Documents System (FEDS), which is a full-text retrieval system based on the commercial document management package Interleaf, and the Langley Technical Report Server (LTRS), which is a Langley-developed system based on the publicly available World Wide Web (WWW) software system. Factors that led to the selection of LTRS as the vehicle for electronic dissemination included searching and viewing capability, current system operability, and client software availability for multiple platforms at no cost to industry. This report includes the survey results, evaluations, a description of the LTRS architecture, recommended policy statement, and suggestions for future implementations.

Roper, Donna G.↗

Investigation of the Influence of Microgravity on Transport Mechanisms in a Virtual Spaceflight Chamber: A Ground Based Program

In January 1992, the IML-1 FES experiment produced a set of classic experimental data and a 40 hour holographic "movie" of an ensemble of spheres in a fluid in microgravity. Because the data are in the form of holograms, we can study the three-dimensional distribution of particles with unprecedented detail by a variety of methods and for a wide variety of interests. The possession of the holographic movie is tantamount to having a complex experiment in space while working in an easily accessible laboratory on earth. The movie contains a vast amount of useful data, including residual g, g-jitter, convection and transport data, and particle fluid interaction data. The information content in the movie is so great that we have scarcely begun to tap into the data that is actually available in the more than 1000 holograms, each containing as much as 1000 megabytes of information. This ground-based project is exploiting this data and the concept of holographic storage of spaceflight data to provide an understanding of the effects of microgravity in materials processing. This paper provides the foundation, objectives, and status of the ground based project. The primary objective of this project is to advance the understanding of microgravity effects on crystal growth, convection in materials processing in the space environment, and complex transport phenomena at low Reynolds numbers. This objective is being achieved both experimentally and theoretically. Experiments are making use of existing holographic data recorded during the IML- I spaceflight. A parallel theoretical effort is providing the models for understanding the particle fields and their physics in the microgravity environment.

Trolinger, James D.↗

Rotordynamic Analysis and Feasibility Study of a Disk Spin Test Facility for Rotor Health Monitoring

Recently, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initiated a program to achieve the significant improvement in aviation safety. One of the technical challenges is the design and development of accelerated experiments that mimic critical damage cases encountered in engine components. The Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Group at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is currently addressing the goal concerning propulsion health management and the development of propulsion system specific technologies intended to detect potential failures prior to catastrophe. For this goal the unique disk spin simulation system was assembled at NASA GRC, which allows testing of rotors with the spinning speeds up to 10K RPM, and at the elevated temperature environment reaching 540 C (1000 F). It is anticipated that the facility can be employed for detection of Low Cycle Fatigue disk cracking and further High Cycle Fatigue blade vibration. The controlled crack growth studies at room and elevated temperatures can be conducted on the turbine wheels, and various NDE techniques can be integrated and assessed as in-situ damage monitoring tools. Critical rotating parts in advanced gas turbine engines such as turbine disks frequently operate at high temperature and stress for long periods of time. The integrity of these parts must be proven by non-destructive evaluation (NDE) during various machining steps ranging from forging blank to finished shape, and also during the systematic overhaul inspections. Conventional NDE methods, however, have unacceptable limits. Some of these techniques are time-consuming and inconvenient for service aircraft testing. Almost all of these techniques require that the vicinity of the damage is known in advance. These experimental techniques can provide only local information and no indication of the structural strength at a component and/or system level. The shortcomings of currently available NDE methods lead to the requirement of new damage detection techniques that can provide global information on the rotating components/system, and, in addition, they do not require direct human access to the operating system. During this period of research considerable effort was directed towards the further development of experimental facility and development of the vibration-based crack detection methodology for rotating disks and shafts. A collection of papers and reports were written to describe the results of this work. The attached captures that effort and represents the research output during the grant period.

Sawicki, Jerzy T.↗

Applying Geospatial Technologies for International Development and Public Health: The USAID/NASA SERVIR Program

Background: SERVIR -- the Regional Visualization and Monitoring System -- helps people use Earth observations and predictive models based on data from orbiting satellites to make timely decisions that benefit society. SERVIR operates through a network of regional hubs in Mesoamerica, East Africa, and the Hindu Kush-Himalayas. USAID and NASA support SERVIR, with the long-term goal of transferring SERVIR capabilities to the host countries. Objective/Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to describe how the SERVIR system helps the SERVIR regions cope with eight areas of societal benefit identified by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO): health, disasters, ecosystems, biodiversity, weather, water, climate, and agriculture. This presentation will describe environmental health applications of data in the SERVIR system, as well as ongoing and future efforts to incorporate additional health applications into the SERVIR system. Methods: This presentation will discuss how the SERVIR Program makes environmental data available for use in environmental health applications. SERVIR accomplishes its mission by providing member nations with access to geospatial data and predictive models, information visualization, training and capacity building, and partnership development. SERVIR conducts needs assessments in partner regions, develops custom applications of Earth observation data, and makes NASA and partner data available through an online geospatial data portal at SERVIRglobal.net. Results: Decision makers use SERVIR to improve their ability to monitor air quality, extreme weather, biodiversity, and changes in land cover. In past several years, the system has been used over 50 times to respond to environmental threats such as wildfires, floods, landslides, and harmful algal blooms. Given that the SERVIR regions are experiencing increased stress under larger climate variability than historic observations, SERVIR provides information to support the development of adaptation strategies for nations affected by climate change. Conclusions: SERVIR is a platform for collaboration and cross-agency coordination, international partnerships, and delivery of web-based geospatial information services and applications. SERVIR makes a variety of geospatial data available for use in studies of environmental health outcomes.

Hemmings, Sarah↗

Advanced Curation of Current and Future Extraterrestrial Samples

Curation of extraterrestrial samples is the critical interface between sample return missions and the international research community. Curation includes documentation, preservation, preparation, and distribution of samples. The current collections of extraterrestrial samples include: Lunar rocks / soils collected by the Apollo astronauts Meteorites, including samples of asteroids, the Moon, and Mars "Cosmic dust" (asteroid and comet particles) collected by high-altitude aircraft Solar wind atoms collected by the Genesis spacecraft Comet particles collected by the Stardust spacecraft Interstellar dust collected by the Stardust spacecraft Asteroid particles collected by the Hayabusa spacecraft These samples were formed in environments strikingly different from that on Earth. Terrestrial contamination can destroy much of the scientific significance of many extraterrestrial materials. In order to preserve the research value of these precious samples, contamination must be minimized, understood, and documented. In addition the samples must be preserved - as far as possible - from physical and chemical alteration. In 2011 NASA selected the OSIRIS-REx mission, designed to return samples from the primitive asteroid 1999 RQ36 (Bennu). JAXA will sample C-class asteroid 1999 JU3 with the Hayabusa-2 mission. ESA is considering the near-Earth asteroid sample return mission Marco Polo-R. The Decadal Survey listed the first lander in a Mars sample return campaign as its highest priority flagship-class mission, with sample return from the South Pole-Aitken basin and the surface of a comet among additional top priorities. The latest NASA budget proposal includes a mission to capture a 5-10 m asteroid and return it to the vicinity of the Moon as a target for future sampling. Samples, tools, containers, and contamination witness materials from any of these missions carry unique requirements for acquisition and curation. Some of these requirements represent significant advances over methods currently used. New analytical and screening techniques will increase the value of current sample collections. Improved web-based tools will make information on all samples more accessible to researchers and the public. Advanced curation of current and future extraterrestrial samples includes: Contamination Control - inorganic / organic Temperature of preservation - subfreezing / cryogenic Non-destructive preliminary examination - X-ray tomography / XRF mapping / Raman mapping Microscopic samples - handling / sectioning / transport Special samples - unopened lunar cores Informatics - online catalogs / community-based characterization.

Allen, Carlton C.↗

Method for Tracking and Communicating Aggregate Risk Through the Use of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Tools

Large, complex projects can identify a significant number and variety of risks, throughout the project life cycle. These risks are analyzed, mitigated, closed or accepted as independent uncertainties. Once closed or accepted, it is easy for projects to lose awareness of their impact. In reality, each of these risks contributes some amount to the overall risk posture of the project. The ability to track and effectively communicate this aggregate risk has represented a challenge to project management. There have been previous attempts to create a schema to communicate the aggregate effect of risks, without notable success. Most of these attempts have centered on some additive metric derived from the scoring of likelihood and consequence values. This, in and of itself, is a logical approach, but all too often the scores were then aggregated to a level where all context was lost. One weakness has been a lack of attempt to create linkages or logical groups of the risks upon which useful aggregation could then occur. The overall move to model-based (systems) engineering (MBSE) has opened up a vast frontier of opportunities to better integrate all project data. MBSE provides an underlying layer that links data items to each other. Objectives link to requirements, which then link to functions, functions to physical architecture items, and so on, as far down as projects want to model. While it started with a focus on modeling requirements based on things like use cases, efforts are now underway to integrate safety and mission assurance (S&MA) information and analyses, such as risks. This effort, called Model Based Mission Assurance (MBMA), is yielding models that are more useful and are a more accurate representations of the systems. MBSE models, with this ability to link related items, provide a new means of tracking and communicating aggregate risks. In the proposed method, risks are added into the models as distinct items, having attributes that communicate a scoring derived from the likelihood and consequence values as charted on the standard NASA 5x5 risk matrix. Like earlier efforts, each box in the 5x5 has an associated scoring, which may include both a current score and potential post-mitigation/control score. The risk items are then linked to elements of the model, such as system objectives/goals, requirements, functions, or physical architecture items, with "Risk to" relationships. These risks will then be communicated by use of reports generated from the model, detailing all risks and/or hazards linked to model elements. These reports can include aggregate impacts, including a current scoring and potential future state scoring based on the planned mitigations and/or controls. These reports will show all risks, open, accepted, and closed, linked to project objectives or requirements. When run as part of an upcoming risk acceptance discussion, these reports will serve to remind the team of all previous risks that relate to the effected portion of the system. When included as part of periodic program or project reviews, risk reviews, and safety reviews, this method can improve the overall understanding of the system's true risk posture. This proposed method takes full advantage of the advances that modern modeling techniques provide, with a minimal investment of additional time. Utilizing the model environment also enables a near constant access to current state of aggregate risks.

model based mission assurance↗

Algorithm Performance Dataset from NASA Open-Source Software

NASA Langley Research Center has recently developed and released the open-source software Multi Model Monte Carlo with Python (MXMCPy- LAR-19756-1) as a general capability for computing the statistics of outputs from an expensive, high-fidelity model by leveraging faster, low-fidelity models for speedup. Given a fixed computational budget and a collection of models with varying cost/accuracy, multi model Monte Carlo (MC) seeks a sample allocation strategy across the models that results in an estimator with optimal variance reduction. MXMCPy is a versatile tool that enables convenient access to many existing multi-model MC approaches (over a dozen algorithms available) within one modular and extensible package [1]. With MXMCPy, users can easily compare existing methods to determine the best choice for their particular problem,while developers have a basis for implementing and sharing new variance reduction approaches. However,there is currently very little understanding about which algorithm will perform best for a given problem (defined by the correlation between and relative cost of the available models) without a brute force search.

Geoffrey F Bomarito↗

NASA's Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint Research and Operational Capability Developments

In the last three years, several advancements have been made to produce a new state-of-the-art capability in the field of Aerosciences. NASA’s Aerosciences Evaluations and Test Capabilities (AETC) Portfolio Office has funded a multi-year project to produce the unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (uPSP) technology as an operational capability in key ground test facilities at NASA. The research and development has primarily been conducted at NASA Ames Research Center’s (ARC) Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT) 11-by 11-ft Transonic Wind Tunnel (TWT). The NASA ARC UPWT is one of the ground test facilities under NASA AETC’s Portfolio Office. AETC’s goals are to provide the tools to deliver the technology innovations and breakthroughs necessary to address increasingly complex research and development challenges. AETC’s integrated approach will consider the complimentary high-end compute capabilities necessary to advance analysis in conjunction with ground experimental capabilities. The uPSP Capability Challenge Project is a demonstration of several different technologies: 1) the unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (uPSP) technology, and 2) Project: Red Rover, establishing a secure, reliable, fast connection between experimental and computation facilities, leveraging NASA’s computational resources within the High-End Compute Capability (HECC) Project for processing, storing, and sharing data efficiently. This project demonstrates the technical diversity and technical inclusion need to advance the field of Aerosciences. The approach to combine subject matter experts in experimental methods, optical methods, production wind tunnel testing, network engineering, high-end computing, signal processing, grid generation, and visualization while establishing the required infrastructure for subject matter experts to have access to the data while the wind tunnel test is being conducted. The most recent advancements for the uPSP technology have focused on three key areas: development of data products, robust processing pipeline, operational efficiencies and uncertainty quantification.

buffet↗

Pyroscopegridding: Geo-Leo Aerosol Data Fusion (an Open-Source Package)

The retrieval of aerosol optical depths (AODs) from sun-synchronous polar orbiting satellites, such as MODISs, VIIRSs, OMI, TROPOMI, etc., has been widely adopted as a method for obtaining information regarding particulate matter (PM) and related atmospheric processes. However, the advent of recently launched geostationary satellites, such as GOES-16/17/18, Himawari-8/9, and Meteosat Third Generation (MTG), has led to an increased temporal resolution of AOD observations (order of 10 minutes), resulting in typically one or more images per hour during daylight hours, compared to the once-per-day observations obtained from LEO satellites. By integrating these observations, the diurnal cycle of global AOD can be characterized at local, regional, and global scales. The scientific community is still examining the novel data from geostationary satellite observations and evaluating methods for effectively merging these observations with differing spatial and temporal resolutions. This presents a significant ""Big Data"" challenge, encompassing not only data storage, but also data discoverability, accessibility, and migration within cloud computing environments. This study presents our attempts at fusing Level 2 aerosol data from six satellites, three of which are geostationary (GOES-16/17 and Himawari-8) and three of which are polar orbiting (TERRA/MODIS, AQUA/MODIS, and SNPP-VIIRS), using the Dark Target aerosol retrieval algorithm. The ability to fuse remote sensing products on demand into desired temporal and spatial domains empowers researchers and practitioners to more efficiently work with satellite and sensor data. It is our hope that through making our open-source package and accompanying functionality available, the scientific community will have improved access to aerosol data processing resources.

Jennifer Wei↗

Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Temperature, Water Vapor, Trace Gases, Cloud, and Surface Properties on Daily and Decadal Time Scales

Hyperspectral IR sounders such as AIRS on Aqua, CrIS on S-NPP, NOAA20 and JPSS-2, IASI on Metop A, B, and C provide high-quality atmospheric temperature, water, vapor, and greenhouse gas vertical profiles. Additionally, they provide atmospheric cloud properties, surface emissivity, and surface skin temperatures. We have developed two algorithms which can consistently derive these products from multiple IR sounders. The first one is a Single Field-of-view Sounder Atmospheric Product (SIFSAP) algorithm and the second one is a Climate Fingerprinting Sounder Product (ClimFiSP) algorithm. The SiFSAP algorithm performs one retrieval for each FOV using an all-sky optimal estimation approach. The core of the SiFSAP algorithm is an accurate and fast Principal Component-based Radiative Transfer Model (PCRTM), which can calculate hyperspectral radiance spectra under both clear and cloudy conditions. The PCRTM was developed in the past decade using consistent reference line-by-line radiative transfer model and spectroscopy for hyperspectral sounders such as AIRS, CrIS, IASI, NAST-I, and S-HIS. The ClimFiSP algorithm, which performs retrievals from spatiotemporally averaged L1 hyperspectral radiances directly, will be orders of magnitude faster than traditional method. he ClimFiSP algorithm uses consistent radiative kernels and a robust spectral fingerprinting method. It provides accurate data climate data fusion products from multiple satellite sensors. Both SiFSAP and ClimFiSP will be available at NASA GES DISC data center for public access.

Xu Liu↗

Development of Radiative Transfer Models and Retrieval Algorithms for Satellite Remote Sensors

Hyperspectral IR sounders such as AIRS on Aqua, CrIS on S-NPP, NOAA20 and JPSS-2, IASI on Metop A, B, and C provide high-quality atmospheric temperature, water, vapor, and greenhouse gas vertical profiles. Additionally, they provide atmospheric cloud properties, surface emissivity, and surface skin temperatures. We have developed two algorithms which can consistently derive these products from multiple IR sounders. The first one is a Single Field-of-view Sounder Atmospheric Product (SIFSAP) algorithm and the second one is a Climate Fingerprinting Sounder Product (ClimFiSP) algorithm. The SiFSAP algorithm performs one retrieval for each FOV using an all-sky optimal estimation approach. The core of the SiFSAP algorithm is an accurate and fast Principal Component-based Radiative Transfer Model (PCRTM), which can calculate hyperspectral radiance spectra under both clear and cloudy conditions. The PCRTM was developed in the past decade using consistent reference line-by-line radiative transfer model and spectroscopy for hyperspectral sounders such as AIRS, CrIS, IASI, NAST-I, and S-HIS. The ClimFiSP algorithm, which performs retrievals from spatiotemporally averaged L1 hyperspectral radiances directly, will be orders of magnitude faster than traditional method. he ClimFiSP algorithm uses consistent radiative kernels and a robust spectral fingerprinting method. It provides accurate data climate data fusion products from multiple satellite sensors. Both SiFSAP and ClimFiSP will be available at NASA GES DISC data center for public access.

Xu Liu↗

The Electronic Documentation Project in the NASA mission control center environment

NASA's space programs like many other technical programs of its magnitude is supported by a large volume of technical documents. These documents are not only diverse but also abundant. Management, maintenance, and retrieval of these documents is a challenging problem by itself; but, relating and cross-referencing this wealth of information when it is all on a medium of paper is an even greater challenge. The Electronic Documentation Project (EDP) is to provide an electronic system capable of developing, distributing and controlling changes for crew/ground controller procedures and related documents. There are two primary motives for the solution. The first motive is to reduce the cost of maintaining the current paper based method of operations by replacing paper documents with electronic information storage and retrieval. And, the other is to improve the efficiency and provide enhanced flexibility in document usage. Initially, the current paper based system will be faithfully reproduced in an electronic format to be used in the document viewing system. In addition, this metaphor will have hypertext extensions. Hypertext features support basic functions such as full text searches, key word searches, data retrieval, and traversal between nodes of information as well as speeding up the data access rate. They enable related but separate documents to have relationships, and allow the user to explore information naturally through non-linear link traversals. The basic operational requirements of the document viewing system are to: provide an electronic corollary to the current method of paper based document usage; supplement and ultimately replace paper-based documents; maintain focused toward control center operations such as Flight Data File, Flight Rules and Console Handbook viewing; and be available NASA wide.

Wang, Lui↗

Quantitative Phenotypic Analysis of Arabidopsis Thaliana Grown in Microgravity Using Soap, an Applied Artificial Intelligence

Phenotypic analysis is an essential step in studying the gravitropic responses and gravitational stress experienced by plants grown in microgravity. Many of the phenotypic traits analyzed in gravitropism studies, such as root length, leaf area, secondary root count, and number of root hairs, currently rely upon manual measurement methods for quantification. However, new advances in data analysis technology using artificial intelligence offer an opportunity for more efficient phenotypic analysis and a reduction of time spent in the data collection phase. In this project, the ability of a new artificially intelligent data collection software, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), to collect and quantify phenotypic traits of Arabidopsis thaliana will be assessed. This project will test the measurements taken by an initial draft of the software. SOAP will take measurements of shoot length, a key phenotype used to assess A. thaliana stress response when grown in microgravity conditions. Shoot length measurements made by SOAP will be compared against a series of manual shoot length measurements. The comparison between the two methods of data measurement will provide valuable insight into the relative accuracy of SOAP and the margin of human error when conducting lab measurements.

Arabidopsis↗

ERTS-1 imagery as an aid to the understanding of the regional setting of base metal deposits in the North West Cape Province, South Africa

A number of base metal finds have recently focussed attention on the North Western Cape Province of South Africa as an area of great potential mineral wealth. From the point of view of competitive mineral exploration it was essential that an insight into the regional geological controls of the base metal mineralization of the area be obtained as rapidly as possible. Conventional methods of producing a suitable regional geological map were considered to be too time-consuming and ERTS-1 imagery was consequently examined. This imagery has made a significant contribution in the compilation of a suitable map on which to base further mineral exploration programmes. The time involved in the compilation of maps of this nature was found to be only a fraction of the time necessary for the production of similar maps using other methods. ERTS imagery is therefore considered to be valuable in producing accurate regional maps in areas where little or no geological data are available, or in areas of poor access. Furthermore, these images have great potential for rapidly defining the regional extent of metallogenic provinces.

Viljoen, R. P.↗

A method for modelling peak signal statistics on a mobile satellite transponder

A simulation method is proposed. The simulation was developed to model the peak duration and energy content of signal peaks in a mobile communication satellite operating in a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) mode and presents an estimate of those power peaks for a system where the channels are modeled as band limited Gaussian noise, which is taken as a reasonable representation for Amplitude Commanded Single Sideband (ACSSB), Minimum Shift Keying (MSK), or Phase Shift Keying (PSK) modulated signals. The simulation results show that, under this hypothesis, the level of the signal power peaks for 10 percent, 1 percent, and 0.1 percent of the time are well described by a Rayleigh law and that their duration is extremely short and inversely proportional to the total FDM system bandwidth.

Bilodeau, Andre↗

A computer-based training system combining virtual reality and multimedia

Training new users of complex machines is often an expensive and time-consuming process. This is particularly true for special purpose systems, such as those frequently encountered in DOE applications. This paper presents a computer-based training system intended as a partial solution to this problem. The system extends the basic virtual reality (VR) training paradigm by adding a multimedia component which may be accessed during interaction with the virtual environment. The 3D model used to create the virtual reality is also used as the primary navigation tool through the associated multimedia. This method exploits the natural mapping between a virtual world and the real world that it represents to provide a more intuitive way for the student to interact with all forms of information about the system.

Stansfield, Sharon A.↗

Visualization Techniques in Space and Atmospheric Sciences

Unprecedented volumes of data will be generated by research programs that investigate the Earth as a system and the origin of the universe, which will in turn require analysis and interpretation that will lead to meaningful scientific insight. Providing a widely distributed research community with the ability to access, manipulate, analyze, and visualize these complex, multidimensional data sets depends on a wide range of computer science and technology topics. Data storage and compression, data base management, computational methods and algorithms, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, and high-resolution display are just a few of the topics addressed. A unifying theme throughout the papers with regards to advanced data handling and visualization is the need for interactivity, speed, user-friendliness, and extensibility.

Szuszczewicz, E. P.↗