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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 631 records · Page 35

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NASA NTRS1973

The structure of the lunar crust at the Apollo 17 site

A seismic profiling experiment was successfully executed on the lunar surface during the Apollo 17 mission allowing a determination of the structure of the lunar crust to a depth of several kilometers. The most outstanding feature of the seismic velocity variation, in the Taurus-Littrow region, is the stepwise increase with depth. A total thickness of about 1200 meters for the infilling mare basalts at the 17 landing site is also indicated from the seismic results. The apparent velocity is high (about 4 km/sec for P waves) in the material below the basalts.

Kovach, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Support systems of the orbiting quarantine facility

The physical support systems, the personnel management structure, and the contingency systems necessary to permit the Orbiting Quarantine Facility (OQF) to function as an integrated system are described. The interactions between the subsystems within the preassembled modules are illustrated. The Power Module generates and distributes electrical power throughout each of the four modules, stabilizes the OQF's attitude, and dissipates heat generated throughout the system. The Habitation Module is a multifunctional structure designed to monitor and control all aspects of the system's activities. The Logistics Module stores the supplies needed for 30 days of operation and provides storage for waste materials generated during the mission. The Laboratory Module contains the equipment necessary for executing the protocol, as well as an independent life support system.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1982

Topex orbit sustenance maneuver design

A trade-off analysis between maneuver period, execution errors, and orbit determination uncertainties is carried out for the Ocean Topography Experiment spacecraft for a given nodal equatorial constraint. Semimajor axis and eccentricity are controlled with minimum impulse using the linear theory of optimal transfer between close coplanar near-circular orbits. Ellipses of equal minimum and average maneuver periods are presented in the (3 execution error, 3 orbit determination uncertainty) space for different nodal equatorial constraints enabling the determination of the appropriate combination of execution errors and orbit determination uncertainties that guarantees a mission required minimum maneuver period for a given nodal deadband.

Kechichian, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Aerodynamics of Mars Odyssey

Direct Simulation Monte Carlo and free-molecular analyses were used to provide aerothermodynamic characteristics of the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The results of these analyses were used to develop an aerodynamic database that was used extensively for the pre-flight planning and in-flight execution for the aerobraking phase of the Mars Odyssey mission. During aerobraking operations, the database was used to reconstruct atmospheric density profiles during each pass. The reconstructed data was used to update the atmospheric model, which was used to determine the strategy for subsequent aerobraking maneuvers. The aerodynamic database was also used together with data obtained from on-board accelerometers to reconstruct the spacecraft attitudes throughout each aerobraking pass. The reconstructed spacecraft attitudes are in good agreement with those determined by independent on-board inertial measurements for all aerobraking passes. The differences in the pitch attitudes are significantly less than the preflight uncertainties of +/-2.9%. The differences in the yaw attitudes are influenced by zonal winds. When latitudinal gradients of density are small, the differences in the yaw attitudes are significantly less than the preflight uncertainties.

Takashima, Naruhisa↗

NASA NTRS2003

Investigation of Structural Dynamics in a 2-Meter Square Solar Sail Model Including Axial Load Effects

This paper presents a parameter study of the effect of boom axial loading on the global dynamics of a 2-meter solar sail scale model. The experimental model used is meant for building expertise in finite element analysis and experimental execution, not as a predecessor to any planned flight mission or particular design concept. The results here are to demonstrate the ability to predict and measure structural dynamics and mode shapes in the presence of axial loading.

Holland, D. B.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Formation of Brown Dwarfs LTSA 2001

The goals of the work funded by this grant are: 1) The measurement of the mass function and minimum mass of free-floating brown dwarfs down to the mass of Jupiter; 2) The measurement of the frequency of wide brown dwarf and planetary companions down to the mass of Jupiter as function of primary mass (0.02-2 Msun), age (1-10 Myr), and environment (clusters vs. dispersed regions). For the first objective, we have completed the design of guaranteed SIRTF observations of nearby star-forming regions. With the successful launch of the SIRTF mission in August of 2003, we now await the execution of these observations, which should begin in early 2004. In support of these upcoming observations, in the fall of 2002 and spring of 2003 we obtained optical spectroscopy at the MMT, the 1.5 meter telescope at Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, and Magellan Observatory for several hundred candidate young low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the IC348, Taurus, and Chamaeleon star-forming regions. All of these data have been published in three papers in The Astrophysical Journal. We also recently used the MMT to obtain deep near-IR images of IC348 to accompany the SIRTF images and have time in the next month at the IRTF and Keck for spectroscopy of candidate brown dwarfs in IC348 and Taurus. We have submitted proposals for deep optical and near-IR imaging of the SIRTF fields in Chamaeleon and Ophiuchus for spring 2004 with Magellan and the AAT. Results from this research have been presented in invited talks at UU Symposium 221 (July 2003) and at the SIRTF Galactic Science Workshop (August 2003). For the second objective, we have used deep HST WFPC2 images to search for young giant planets and brown dwarfs around approx. 100 low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the nearby cluster IC348. We have completed all data reduction and have checked these data for candidate companions. We expect to submit the paper describing these observations to The Astrophysical Journal by the end of the year. In addition, in SIRTF guaranteed time observations we plan to search for wide substellar companions (>10 sec) around the youngest nearby field stars (ages of 30-100 Myr, d<30 pc). We have submitted a proposal to use Keck adaptive optics imaging to search these same stars for close-in planets and brown dwarfs at 0.1-10 sec, which will perfectly complement our SIRTF observations.

Luhman, Kevin L.↗

NASA NTRS2011

TAMU: A New Space Mission Operations Paradigm

The Transferable, Adaptable, Modular and Upgradeable (TAMU) Flight Production Process (FPP) is a model-centric System of System (SoS) framework which cuts across multiple organizations and their associated facilities, that are, in the most general case, in geographically diverse locations, to develop the architecture and associated workflow processes for a broad range of mission operations. Further, TAMU FPP envisions the simulation, automatic execution and re-planning of orchestrated workflow processes as they become operational. This paper provides the vision for the TAMU FPP paradigm. This includes a complete, coherent technique, process and tool set that result in an infrastructure that can be used for full lifecycle design and decision making during any flight production process. A flight production process is the process of developing all products that are necessary for flight.

Meshkat, Leila↗

NASA NTRS2010

MaROS Strategic Relay Planning and Coordination Interfaces

The Mars Relay Operations Service (MaROS) is designed to provide planning and analysis tools in support of ongoing Mars Network relay operations. Strategic relay planning requires coordination between lander and orbiter mission ground data system (GDS) teams to schedule and execute relay communications passes. MaROS centralizes this process, correlating all data relevant to relay coordination to provide a cohesive picture of the relay state. Service users interact with the system through thin-layer command line and web user interface client applications. Users provide and utilize data such as lander view periods of orbiters, Deep Space Network (DSN) antenna tracks, and reports of relay pass performance. Users upload and download relevant relay data via formally defined and documented file structures including some described in Extensible Markup Language (XML). Clients interface with the system via an http-based Representational State Transfer (ReST) pattern using Javascript Object Notation (JSON) formats. This paper will provide a general overview of the service architecture and detail the software interfaces and considerations for interface design.

Allard, Daniel A.↗

NASA NTRS2016

An Integrated Extravehicular Activity Research Plan

Multiple organizations within NASA and outside of NASA fund and participate in research related to extravehicular activity (EVA). In October 2015, representatives of the EVA Office, the Crew and Thermal Systems Division (CTSD), and the Human Research Program (HRP) at NASA Johnson Space Center agreed on a formal framework to improve multi-year coordination and collaboration in EVA research. At the core of the framework is an Integrated EVA Research Plan and a process by which it will be annually reviewed and updated. The over-arching objective of the collaborative framework is to conduct multi-disciplinary cost-effective research that will enable humans to perform EVAs safely, effectively, comfortably, and efficiently, as needed to enable and enhance human space exploration missions. Research activities must be defined, prioritized, planned and executed to comprehensively address the right questions, avoid duplication, leverage other complementary activities where possible, and ultimately provide actionable evidence-based results in time to inform subsequent tests, developments and/or research activities. Representation of all appropriate stakeholders in the definition, prioritization, planning and execution of research activities is essential to accomplishing the over-arching objective. A formal review of the Integrated EVA Research Plan will be conducted annually. External peer review of all HRP EVA research activities including compilation and review of published literature in the EVA Evidence Book is already performed annually. Coordination with stakeholders outside of the EVA Office, CTSD, and HRP is already in effect on a study-by-study basis; closer coordination on multi-year planning with other EVA stakeholders including academia is being actively pursued. Details of the current Integrated EVA Research Plan are presented including description of ongoing and planned research activities in the areas of: Benchmarking; Anthropometry and Suit Fit; Sensors; Human-Suit Modeling; Suit Trauma Monitoring and Countermeasures; EVA Workload and Duration Effects; Decompression Sickness Risk Mitigation; Deconditioned EVA Performance; and Exploration EVA Concept of Operations.

Abercromby, Andrew F. J.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Navigational Challenges for a Europa Flyby Mission

Jupiter's moon Europa is a prime candidate in the search for present-day habitable environments outside of the Earth. A number of missions have provided increasingly detailed images of the complex surface of Europa, including the Galileo mission, which also carried instruments that allowed for a limited investigation of the environment of Europa. A new mission to Europa is needed to pursue these exciting discoveries using close-up observations with modern instrumentation designed to address the habitability of Europa. In all likelihood the most cost effective way of doing this would be with a spacecraft carrying a comprehensive suite of instruments and performing multiple flybys of Europa. A number of notional trajectory designs have been investigated, utilizing gravity assists from other Galilean moons to decrease the period of the orbit and shape it in order to provide a globally distributed coverage of different regions of Europa. Navigation analyses are being performed on these candidate trajectories to assess the total Delta V that would be needed to complete the mission, to study how accurately the flybys could be executed, and to determine which assumptions most significantly affect the performance of the navigation system.

tour↗

NASA NTRS2017

Integrated Extravehicular Activity Human Research Plan: 2017

Multiple organizations within NASA as well as industry and academia fund and participate in research related to extravehicular activity (EVA). In October 2015, representatives of the EVA Office, the Crew and Thermal Systems Division (CTSD), and the Human Research Program (HRP) at NASA Johnson Space Center agreed on a formal framework to improve multi-year coordination and collaboration in EVA research. At the core of the framework is an Integrated EVA Human Research Plan and a process by which it will be annually reviewed and updated. The over-arching objective of the collaborative framework is to conduct multi-disciplinary cost-effective research that will enable humans to perform EVAs safely, effectively, comfortably, and efficiently, as needed to enable and enhance human space exploration missions. Research activities must be defined, prioritized, planned and executed to comprehensively address the right questions, avoid duplication, leverage other complementary activities where possible, and ultimately provide actionable evidence-based results in time to inform subsequent tests, developments and/or research activities. Representation of all appropriate stakeholders in the definition, prioritization, planning and execution of research activities is essential to accomplishing the over-arching objective. A formal review of the Integrated EVA Human Research Plan will be conducted annually. Coordination with stakeholders outside of the EVA Office, CTSD, and HRP is already in effect on a study-by-study basis; closer coordination on multi-year planning with other EVA stakeholders including academia is being actively pursued. Details of the preliminary Integrated EVA Human Research Plan are presented including description of ongoing and planned research activities in the areas of: physiological and performance capabilities; suit design parameters; EVA human health and performance modeling; EVA tasks and concepts of operations; EVA informatics; human-suit sensors; suit sizing and fit; and EVA injury risk and mitigation. This paper represents the 2017 update to the Integrated EVA Human Research Plan.

Abercromby, Andrew↗

NASA NTRS2018

Determining Thermal Capabilities for External Transfer Operations on the International Space Station

External transfers on the International Space Station (ISS) have a degree of difficulty caused by the severity of the radiative thermal environment and the complexity of the operational choreography to perform the installation and activation of the hardware. These transfers can be performed robotically, by astronauts during an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA - spacewalk), or combination of robotic/crew operations. Robotic transfers may include capability to intermittently power the hardware; while the hardware remains unpowered for EVA operations. Robotic transfers can be staged to occur in a favorable thermal environment, though typically take longer than a transfer by crew during an EVA where the hardware may not be robotically compatible. The hardware is under passive thermal control, use of optics/multi-layer insulation/heaters, while being transferred from/to a visiting vehicle, airlock, stowage platform, or external ISS structure and may include additional design components, such as removable protective blankets, to meet the transfer requirements. Thermal analysis must be performed to determine the capability of the hardware being transferred to provide the Mission Control team the products necessary to plan and execute the operation while establishing an awareness for any contingency response. An overview of the thermal aspects in planning these types of transfer operations, the analytical approaches and assumptions, and examples of results are provided in this paper.

Thermal↗

NASA NTRS2020

TCL4 UTM (UAS Traffic Management) Nevada 2019 Flight Tests, Airspace Operations Laboratory (AOL) Report

The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) research project has been developing and testing concept ideas for enabling small UAS (sUAS) operations in low altitude airspace (ground to 400 feet). To do this, NASA has organized a series of flight test demonstrations. Technology Capability Level-4 (TCL4) flight tests were conducted at a Nevada, USA test site, during June 2019. The testing resulted in over 300 data collection flights using eight live rotorcraft, 15 simulated vehicles, involving six flight crews and five Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Service Suppliers (USS). The TCL4 approach was designed to demonstrate five scenarios that set up five diverse sets of UAS events and activities. The Nevada test site focused on three of these scenarios: an incoming weather front, a concert event with an incident requiring an emergency response, and a scenario where multiple vehicles experienced Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) issues. The test site created their scenarios to each have three phases and were required to complete three executions of each scenario, for a total of nine missions per Nevada vehicle per scenario. This document presents data collected from participants during the TCL4-Nevada flight test that provides information about how much and how well operators were able to make use of UTM functions and information, with the goal of exploring what the minimum information requirements and/or best practices might be in TCL4 operations. The driving enquiry was: how do UTM tools and features support (human) operators leading to safe and effective conduct of large-scale beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) sUAS operations in “urban canyon” environments? As with the data collected during previous similar tests (e.g., TCL3, Martin et al., 2019), the quality of the UTM information exchanged, and the meaningfulness and therefore usefulness of this information, were all focal points of the questions asked and the data collected. Data aligned with five human-system attributes to indicate that UTM provided information that contributed to users’ ability to operate safely and effectively within UTM, but that information was not always complete and was sometimes unclear.

UTM↗

NASA NTRS2004

TSOS - time based spacecraft operation simulator

This paper describes the Time Based Spacecraft Operation Simulator (TSOS) system. TSOS is part of the Virtual Mission Operation Framework (VMOF). It is a dynamically codigurable executive. TSOS simulates the execution of science observation scenarios on each spacecraft subsystem, propagates subsystem states, and generates the telemetry data.

Lu, Wenwen↗

NASA NTRS2011

TAMU: a new space mission operations paradigm

Meshkat, Leila↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Medicine in the Final Frontier Technologies to Enable Autonomous Prolonged (Field) Care in Space

N: The planning and execution of comprehensive “Prolonged Care” strategies are increasingly considered as fundamental operational concepts within the spheres of both military and non-military expeditionary medicine. Numerous advances in recent years have enabled the decentralization of health-related technology that has empowered medical - and even non-medical providers - to offer quality care farther afield and for increasingly extended periods of separation from traditional support structures. However, the operational concepts behind today’s Prolonged Care paradigms are still largely dependent upon external support, including high-bandwidth telemedicine communications technologies (that allow ready access to centralized expertise), robust resupply pathways, and ultimately, on the timely evacuation of the sick and injured. What would happen if none of these support systems were readily available? Extremely remote Prolonged Care is one of the most significant challenges that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) faces when preparing to expand human space exploration beyond the International Space Station (ISS) to deep space including the Moon and Mars. Continuous human presence on the International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth orbit for the past 20 years has demonstrated that indeed medical operations can be successfully executed with continuous real-time communications, frequent resupply missions, and the availability of rapid evacuation options. However, as time-distance factors from Earth increase with our pursuit and changing focus towards deep space missions, these resources and capabilities will no longer be available. As a result, space medicine operations will need to become more autonomous and less dependent upon mission support from Earth – requiring our attention and efforts to build robust capabilities that support the ultimate expression of the term “Prolonged Field Care.”

K R Lehnhardt↗

DOE OSTI2020

Accelerating Hanford Site Cleanup through Operations Research Modeling - 20238

The Hanford Site cleanup effort will require the integration of dozens of unique facilities and processes, many of which will be first-of-a-kind in implementation and design. Each facility will be governed by its own set of operating logic, configured with a unique array of unit operations, and subject to a set of constraints that will affect its behavior. The collection of facilities have multiple points of interface, making the operations of any one facility potentially significant to the operations of other up- or downstream processes. It is therefore highly desirable to accurately predict these operations, as it allows for Site officials to identify and preempt bottlenecks and vulnerabilities before they unexpectedly inhibit the cleanup mission. With the quantity and complexity of the processes that will be on Site, building a pen-and-paper or even a spreadsheet-assisted model of the cleanup mission quickly becomes overwhelming in scope and inaccurate in execution. The Engineering organization for the Site's Tank Operations Contract (TOC) has therefore implemented the use of operations research (OR) modeling to simulate and predict future operations of Site facilities. These models are created using a discrete event simulation tool that allows for the development of detailed, versatile, and robust models. Not only can these models account for complex logical behaviors, but they can also simulate process details down to the level of vessel sizing, labor utilization, equipment reliability, and resource availability. To date, the TOC has developed OR models for several facilities on Site, including for single-shell tank (SST) farms, double-shell tank (DST) farms, the Effluent Treatment Facility (ETF), and the waste transfer system. These models have focused on identifying bottlenecks and operational constraints, and have been used to quantify the effects of implementing process changes. This latter point is particularly valuable, as it allows for several alternatives to be studied in a virtual setting before committing resources to making a change in the field. The decision to develop OR models has gained tremendous support from the Site's stakeholders and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) management, and has prompted the use of the tool to support additional internal and external initiatives. Recently, an initiative was proposed to use the models to help identify and provide quantitative backing for risks and opportunities for the TOC. This application of OR could not only help inform how the TOC manages its risks (e.g. quantities and types of spare parts), but could also help drive process improvements whose benefits might otherwise be hard to quantify. The models have also been used to drive the TOC's cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) initiatives. These initiatives will not only improve the ability of the TOC to more rapidly respond to the needs of its customers, but it will also aid in the ability of the TOC to analyze and improve the processes it studies. Partnership with two external software development and consulting companies (Lanner and Ynformed) has furthered not only the application of AI and ML within the TOC, but has also spurred the development of new/improved software tools and platforms used by the companies. These partnerships have proven to be mutually beneficial and productive, and have set a precedent for the types of gains that can be made by exploring such options. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

NASA NTRS2025

The Lucy Spacecraft

The Lucy spacecraft is developed from a combination of heritage components used on other NASA deep space missions, combined with a set of newly developed hardware specific to Lucy’s mission, most critically the solar arrays. These components are configured into a spacecraft capable of launching on the least expensive Atlas launch vehicle, deploying into a power-safe configuration, executing the high-precision Trojan asteroid encounters, and surviving the 12-year mission timeline.

planetary↗