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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 NTRS2023

Computer Human Interface Challenges in Space Exploration

NASA’s plans to return humans to the Lunar surface require overcoming a variety of challenging technical and operational obstacles. In 2022, NASA formed the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) and Human Surface Mobility (HSM) Program (EHP) at the Johnson Space Center with responsibilities including development of space suits and surface mobility systems for Lunar missions. This program includes a Technology Development and Partnerships office chartered to identify high priority gaps in capabilities for Lunar surface mobility and to coordinate resources to close those gaps. This presentation details the EHP technology roadmap for “Informatics and Decision Support,” a subset of spacecraft avionics focused on effective and autonomous crew interaction with spaceflight systems. The gaps, grouped into displays, audio systems, and information technology infrastructure, are largely driven by the unique interaction requirements for human spacecraft and the severe radiation environments beyond low earth orbit. The roadmap identifies ongoing activities and paths to technology infusion into Lunar spacecraft. NASA is seeking input on the content and ideas for alternative paths to gap closure. Closing these gaps is important to successful human operations on the Lunar surface and vital to NASA’s long-term goal of human missions to Mars.

Spacecraft Displays↗
DOE OSTI2022

EVI-Equity

EVI-Equity (Electric Vehicle Infrastructure for Equity) is a $200k project, started around in June of 2021, with a funding from the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO). The motivation was to create a new analytical capability that can enable us to quantify and investigate equitable access to and distribution of existing and future deployment of PEVs and EVSEs in neighborhoods, cities, states, and the nation. EVI-Equity is a bottom-up equity-focused analysis model, built upon individual (synthetic) households, aggregated by census block groups. It consists of four core components - community engagement, environmental profiling, household expenditures, and network design. Although there are some commonalities, EVI-Equity is not a vehicle choice model, charging simulation model, or transportation demand model. EVI-Equity is rather a cross-cutting analysis tool, dedicated for evaluating equitable EV adoption and EVSE deployment, encompassing and bridging a wide variety of related tools, models, and frameworks. Some of the results indicate the importance of used vehicle market for low-income households. The presentation also highlights similarities and variations as to preferred public charging locations. For example, regardless of household income, retail spots are the most preferred location for public charging, followed by curbside/street. However, the results also imply that the importance of workplace charging may vary with income - the lower the income, the less important. Environmental profiling results, with an example of ground-level ozone in Atlanta area, show that the contrast between the haves and the have nots of plug-in electric vehicles depends on location. The assessment of household expenditures illustrates the economic impact of home charging access on an individual household level - the lower the income, the greater the impact is. Lastly, Denver metro area and the state of South Dakota are used to showcase the impact of different network design of charging infrastructure, as well as alternative (vs. baseline/existing) electric vehicle adoption pattern.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Fact Sheet - Long-length Scintillating Fibers for Radiation Detection

As the world looks to underground geological repositories for storing nuclear waste, technologies to safeguard the material are needed. An example of a project that developed a new technology is Tripwire. Tripwire proposes a multi-sensor system approach for geological spent nuclear fuel repositories that relies of radiation, vibration, and electromagnetic detection. Tripwire was developed by the Applied Radiation Measurements and Systems (ARMS) group at INL and sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The ARMS group performs research and development, testing and evaluation, operational support, and training focused on applied ionizing radiation detection and measurement. Application areas include nuclear engineering for advanced reactors and fuel cycle operations, nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear counterproliferation, nuclear forensics, and arms control and disarmament.

46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Assessing the Needs for Space Reactor Standards

A U.S. governmental interagency space reactor standards working group (SWG) was convened to address the limited availability of voluntary consensus standards currently in place specifically for space nuclear reactor design and safety. The SWG focused on reviewing existing standards, assessing agency needs, specifying gaps that could be addressed by new standards, and prioritizing those gaps through consensus group deliberations. The SWG identified a series of findings and recommendations relative to the development of space reactor standards, including moving three specific high-priority gap items to be pursued through a consensus standards development process: Safety and Risk Analysis Methods for Space Reactors, Testing Requirements for Space Reactors, including Facility Requirements, and Safe Operating Practices for Space Reactors.

Andrew Klein↗
NASA NTRS1992

Biological Contamination of Mars: Issues and Recommendations

The ad hoc Task Group on Planetary Protection formed by the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Research Council focused on making recommendations concerning the protection of Mars from forward contamination (i.e., Earth to Mars) during upcoming missions by both the United States and the former Soviet Union. In so doing, it distinguished between missions whose goals include reconnaissance and measurement and those that specifically include experiments to detect life. The task group also discussed what additional knowledge will be needed in order to assure that future recommendations regarding contamination of Earth from Mars might be made with a higher degree of certainty than is now possible. Following a short introduction to the rationale underlying planetary exploration (Chapter 1) is a brief summary of approved and contemplated missions to Mars (Chapter 2). Chapter 3 briefly reviews the state of knowledge in several areas pertinent to the problem of planetary protection, in the limits of life on Earth and the abilities of known terrestrial organisms to withstand extreme environment conditions, as well as new approaches to detecting life forms. Chapter 5 includes a review and comments (made in light of current knowledge)- on the recommendations made in 'Recommendations on Quarantine Policy for Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Titan'. Updates to the recommendations made in 1978 are also given in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 gives additional recommendations concerning collection of essential data, spacecraft sterilization and bioburden assessment, and future research, as well as legal and social issues and NASA's overall planetary protection program.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2001

Phase Field Modeling of Microstructure Development in Microgravity

This newly funded project seeks to extend our NASA-sponsored project on modeling of dendritic microstructures to facilitate collaboration between our research group and those of other NASA investigators. In our ongoing program, we have applied advanced computational techniques to study microstructural evolution in dendritic solidification, for both pure isolated dendrites and directionally solidified alloys. This work has enabled us to compute dendritic microstructures using both realistic material parameters and experimentally relevant processing conditions, thus allowing for the first time direct comparison of phase field computations with laboratory observations. This work has been well received by the materials science and physics communities, and has led to several opportunities for collaboration with scientists working on experimental investigations of pattern selection and segregation in solidification. While we have been able to pursue these collaborations to a limited extent, with some important findings, this project focuses specifically on those collaborations. We have two target collaborations: with Prof. Glicksman's group working on the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE), and with Prof. Poirier's group studying directional solidification in Pb-Sb alloys. These two space experiments match well with our two thrusts in modeling, one for pure materials, as in the IDGE, and the other directional solidification. Such collaboration will benefit all of the research groups involved, and will provide for rapid dissemination of the results of our work where it will have significant impact.

Dantzig, Jonathan A.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Langley's DEVELOP Team Applies NASA's Earth Observations to Address Environmental Issues Across the Country and Around the Globe

The DEVELOP National Program was established over a decade ago to provide students with experience in the practical application of NASA Earth science research results. As part of NASA's Applied Sciences Program, DEVELOP focuses on bridging the gap between NASA technology and the public through projects that innovatively use NASA Earth science resources to address environmental issues. Cultivating a diverse and dynamic group of students and young professionals, the program conducts applied science research projects during three terms each year (spring, summer, and fall) that focus on topics ranging from water resource management to natural disasters.

Childs, Lauren M.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Introduction to the NATO AVT-298 Task Group and Development of the SWiFT Configuration

Reynolds number effects are a key development risk for blended wing body aircraft, particularly at high lift take-off and landing conditions. The full scale aerodynamics of these configurations are thought not to be well represented in industry standard low Reynolds number test facilities and the capability to predict Reynolds number effects using computational fluid dynamics or otherwise is not proven. The NATO AVT-298 research task group was established to investigate these issues and this paper sets out the background, motivations and the collaborative approach as well as the development of a new research configuration to serve as a focus for the research. The ‘SWiFT’ configuration, was developed to exhibit flow physics of interest to the AVT-298 research task group and to be suitable for an experimental campaign. The group collaboratively developed the research configuration to be relevant for related blended-wing-body aircraft programmes using computational fluid dynamics and wing design methods and considering the practicalities of testing. This research targets an improvement in our capability to design, optimise and mature future blended wing body aircraft.

SWiFT↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Review of Advanced Characterization Methods and Techniques for Amorphous and Poorly Crystalline Materials Applicable to Cementitious Waste Forms

This review covers advanced characterization methods of cementitious materials. The particular focus is to understand cementitious compositions with amorphous content because conventional techniques such as X-ray diffraction are more applicable to materials with long range order. Also of interest is advanced characterization that provides deeper insights into properties such as porosity. There are five groups of characterization methods discussed in this review which are: electron beam/microscopy, X-ray, neutron diffraction and scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance, and optical techniques. The techniques can be further grouped by the categories of nanoscale structural understanding (transmission electron microscopy and pair distribution function), microscale structural understanding (focused ion beam and x-ray tomography), microscopic elemental distributions (energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence), and chemical binding information (electron energy loss spectroscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, Raman spectroscopy, and infrared spectroscopy), with advantages and disadvantages of each method discussed. The recommendation for further research is to begin with techniques that are easier to prepare samples for, measure, and analyze, such as the optical techniques of Raman and infrared spectroscopy. If more information is needed, pursue collaborations, other techniques, or proposals for beam time at the synchrotron sources.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS1992

Tethered Satellite System Contingency Investigation Board

The Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1) was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-46) on July 31, 1992. During the attempted on-orbit operations, the Tethered Satellite System failed to deploy successfully beyond 256 meters. The satellite was retrieved successfully and was returned on August 6, 1992. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Associate Administrator for Space Flight formed the Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1) Contingency Investigation Board on August 12, 1992. The TSS-1 Contingency Investigation Board was asked to review the anomalies which occurred, to determine the probable cause, and to recommend corrective measures to prevent recurrence. The board was supported by the TSS Systems Working group as identified in MSFC-TSS-11-90, 'Tethered Satellite System (TSS) Contingency Plan'. The board identified five anomalies for investigation: initial failure to retract the U2 umbilical; initial failure to flyaway; unplanned tether deployment stop at 179 meters; unplanned tether deployment stop at 256 meters; and failure to move tether in either direction at 224 meters. Initial observations of the returned flight hardware revealed evidence of mechanical interference by a bolt with the level wind mechanism travel as well as a helical shaped wrap of tether which indicated that the tether had been unwound from the reel beyond the travel by the level wind mechanism. Examination of the detailed mission events from flight data and mission logs related to the initial failure to flyaway and the failure to move in either direction at 224 meters, together with known preflight concerns regarding slack tether, focused the assessment of these anomalies on the upper tether control mechanism. After the second meeting, the board requested the working group to complete and validate a detailed integrated mission sequence to focus the fault tree analysis on a stuck U2 umbilical, level wind mechanical interference, and slack tether in upper tether control mechanism and to prepare a detailed plan for hardware inspection, test, and analysis including any appropriate hardware disassembly.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2022

Spin transport modified by magnetic order

Spintronics has developed over the years from initially generating spin-polarized charge currents from exchange interaction in ferromagnets, into a more general concept, where electronic spin current can be generated and manipulated by spin–orbit interactions and in addition magnonic spin currents can occur in magnetically ordered materials even if they are insulating. Thus the interplay between spin transport and magnetic order has been a very active research field, which has developed many new ideas, such as thermal spin transport and electronic spin currents with unusual symmetries generated by magnetically ordered materials. This article discusses a few selected examples in order to illustrate some of the complexities that can be encountered in these systems. A particular focus is on the contributions from Chia-Ling Chien and his research group, who often explored many of the topics at the forefront of spintronics research, while critically examining unproven assumptions made by other researchers in the field.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

The XtalOpt Evolutionary Algorithm for Crystal Structure Prediction

Significant progress has been made in the field of a priori crystal structure prediction, with a number of recent remarkable success stories. Herein, we briefly outline the methods that have been developed for finding the global minimum structure and interesting local minima without the need for experimental information. Focus is placed on describing the XTALOPT evolutionary algorithm (EA) developed in our group towards this end. XTALOPT is published under well-known open-source licenses, and the EA searches can be analyzed via the AVOGADRO chemical editor and visualizer. We describe new algorithmic developments that have made it possible to predict the structures of ever-more complex crystalline lattices. Benchmark tests, which clearly illustrate how the new developments improve the success rate and accelerate the discovery of the global minimum structure, are carried out. Lastly, we describe how XTALOPT has been employed to predict novel ternary hydrides that have the propensity for high-temperature superconductivity under pressure.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Identification of bioprivileged molecules: expansion of a computational approach to broader molecular space

As interest in biobased chemicals grows, and their application space expands, computational tools to navigate molecule space as a complement to experimental approaches are imperative. This work expands upon previous work that identified candidate bioprivileged molecules from the C 6 H x O y (C6) subspace. It refines the framework that was developed previously to better refine the molecules according to their biological origin and applies it to three new subspaces of chemical structure: C 4 H x O y (C4), C 5 H x O y (C5), and C 7 H x O y (C7). For C5 and C7, roughly the top 100 bioprivileged candidates were identified, and the enhanced framework was applied to recast slightly the previous list of the top 100 C6 molecules. In addition, all top candidates were analyzed for their key functional moieties using a random forest model, and this algorithm was applied to compare the functional group space occupied by bioprivileged molecules of various databases of molecules with a focus on evaluating how closely the molecules were aligned with those known to biology. Furthermore, with the present work's focus on automation and data science principles, the framework can be easily expanded to include other chemical formulae to screen for bioprivileged candidates. As a result, this in turn facilitates the retrosynthesis process inherent in the framework to identify those bioprivileged intermediates in other subspaces that lead to target molecules.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Phase-Only Beam Broadening of Contiguous Uniform Subarrayed Arrays

In modern antenna systems, beam broadening of subarrayed arrays provides continuous coverage of a wide angular extent in a cost-effective manner. While many methods have been published that address beam broadening of traditional (non-subarrayed) arrays, there is a knowledge gap in the published literature with respect to efficient beam broadening of contiguous uniform subarrayed arrays. This article presents efficient methods for beam broadening of contiguous uniform subarrayed arrays where the excitation of each element is not individually controlled, but the elements of the array are grouped together as subarrays to have the same element excitations. Particularly, this article focuses on phase-only optimization to preserve maximum power output. Additionally, three modilied iterative Fourier transform (IFT) methods and one genetic algorithm (GA) are presented to efliciently search the vast solution space of possible phase settings for a solution that satislies the desired broadened pattern. These methods are evaluated on idealized 1 x 40 and 1 x 80 linear arrays with live element subarrays and 40 x 40 and 80 x 80 element rectangular arrays with 5 x 5 element subarrays. The proposed modilied IFT methods are found to be faster than the GA approach, while the GA approach only offers a few percentage points of better effectiveness.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Systemic immunological responses are dependent on sex and ovarian hormone presence following acute inhaled woodsmoke exposure

Background: Rural regions of the western United States have experienced a noticeable surge in both the frequency and severity of acute wildfire events, which brings significant challenges to both public safety and environmental conservation efforts, with impacts felt globally. Identifying factors contributing to immune dysfunction, including endocrinological phenotypes, is essential to understanding how hormones may influence toxicological susceptibility. Methods: This exploratory study utilized male and female C57BL/6 mice as in vivo models to investigate distinct responses to acute woodsmoke (WS) exposure with a focus on sex-based differences. In a second set of investigations, two groups were established within the female mouse cohort. In one group, mice experienced ovariectomy (OVX) to simulate an ovarian hormone-deficient state similar to surgical menopause, while the other group received Sham surgery as controls, to investigate the mechanistic role of ovarian hormone presence in driving immune dysregulation following acute WS exposure. Each experimental cohort followed a consecutive 2-day protocol with daily 4-h exposure intervals under two conditions: control HEPA-filtered air (FA) and acute WS to simulate an acute wildfire episode. Results: Metals analysis of WS particulate matter (PM) revealed significantly increased levels of 63 Cu, 182 W, 208 Pb, and 238 U, compared to filtered air (FA) controls, providing insights into the specific metal components most impacted by the changing dynamics of wildfire occurrences in the region. Male and female mice exhibited diverse patterns in lung mRNA cytokine expression following WS exposure, with males showing downregulation and females displaying upregulation, notably for IL-1β, TNF-α, CXCL-1, CCL-5, TGF-β, and IL-6. After acute WS exposure, there were notable differences in the responses of macrophages, neutrophils, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytokines IL-10, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α. Significant diverse alterations were observed in BAL cytokines, specifically IL-1β, IL-10, IL-6, and TNF-α, as well as in the populations of immune cells, such as macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes, in both Sham and OVX mice, following acute WS exposure. These findings elucidated the profound influence of hormonal changes on inflammatory outcomes, delineating substantial sex-related differences in immune activation and revealing altered immune responses in OVX mice due to ovarian hormone deficiency. In addition, the flow cytometry analysis highlighted the complex interaction between OVX surgery, acute WS exposure, and their collective impact on immune cell populations within the hematopoietic bone marrow niche. Conclusions: In summary, both male and female mice, alongside females subjected to OVX and those who had sham surgery, exhibit significant variations in the expression of proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, lung mRNA gene expression, and related functional networks linked to signaling pathways. These differences potentially act as mediators of sex-specific and hormonal influences in the systemic inflammatory response to acute WS exposure during a wildfire event. Understanding the regulatory roles of genes expressed differentially under environmental stressors holds considerable implications, aiding in identifying sex-specific therapeutic targets for addressing acute lung inflammation and injury.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Characterizing inhibitors of human AP endonuclease 1

AP endonuclease 1 (APE1) processes DNA lesions including apurinic/apyrimidinic sites and 3´-blocking groups, mediating base excision repair and single strand break repair. Much effort has focused on developing specific inhibitors of APE1, which could have important applications in basic research and potentially lead to clinical anticancer agents. We used structural, biophysical, and biochemical methods to characterize several reported inhibitors, including 7-nitroindole-2-carboxylic acid (CRT0044876), given its small size, reported potency, and widespread use for studying APE1. Intriguingly, NMR chemical shift perturbation (CSP) experiments show that CRT0044876 and three similar indole-2-carboxylic acids bind a pocket distal from the APE1 active site. A crystal structure confirms these findings and defines the pose for 5-nitroindole-2-carboxylic acid. However, dynamic light scattering experiments show the indole compounds form colloidal aggregates that could bind (sequester) APE1, causing nonspecific inhibition. Endonuclease assays show the compounds lack significant APE1 inhibition under conditions (detergent) that disrupt aggregation. Thus, binding of the indole-2-carboxylic acids at the remote pocket does not inhibit APE1 repair activity. Myricetin also forms aggregates and lacks APE1 inhibition under aggregate-disrupting conditions. Two other reported compounds (MLS000552981, MLS000419194) inhibit APE1 in vitro with low micromolar IC50 and do not appear to aggregate in this concentration range. However, NMR CSP experiments indicate the compounds do not bind specifically to apo- or Mg 2+ -bound APE1, pointing to a non-specific mode of inhibition, possibly DNA binding. Our results highlight methods for rigorous interrogation of putative APE1 inhibitors and should facilitate future efforts to discover compounds that specifically inhibit this important repair enzyme.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Emergent pair density wave order across a Lifshitz transition

We numerically investigate the telltale signs of pair-density-wave order (PDW) in the Kondo-Heisenberg chain by focusing on the momentum resolved spectrum in different parameter regimes. Density matrix renormalization group calculations reveal that this phase is characterized by a dispersion with two minima and four Fermi points, indicating the emergence of an effective next-nearest-neighbor hopping that arises as a second-order effect to avoid magnetic frustration. The pairs appear in the spectrum as in-gap bound states with weight concentrated in the hole pockets. The low-energy physics can be understood by means of a generalized t−J model with next-nearest-neighbor hopping. Our results offer a guide for searching for experimental signatures, and for other models that can realize PDW physics.

Yang, Luhang [University of Tennessee Knoxville]↗
DOE OSTI2023

3D CAD Modeling and Mechanical Integration at the Mu2e Experiment at Fermilab

This abstract encapsulates a transformative summer internship at Fermilab, focusing on the Mu2e Experiment within the Mechanical Integration and 3D CAD Modeling group. The internship was characterized by a two-phase approach, with the initial month dedicated to the design of an aluminum platform tailored for DS Trench Maintenance. This phase encompassed a comprehensive exploration of structural integrity, material selection, and precision engineering principles, demonstrating an adeptness in CAD modeling and a keen eye for detail. The subsequent month saw a seamless transition into a dynamic phase of the project, wherein the intern played a pivotal role in effecting numerous adjustments across diverse sections of the 3D experiment structure. This phase demanded a nuanced understanding of the intricacies of the Mu2e Experiment and a high level of proficiency in CAD modeling.

3D CAD Modeling↗