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Towards an Improved Understanding of the Antarctic Coastal Zone and Its Contribution to Future Global Sea Level

Understanding the coastal zone of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS), where it interacts with the Southern Ocean and warmer air masses, is crucial for predicting Antarctica's influence on the global climate and sea level. This region has multiple tipping mechanisms that could trigger large, rapid, and potentially irreversible changes in the AIS, the Southern Ocean and their global connections in the coming centuries. The AIS remains the largest source of uncertainty in future sea-level projections. Bed topography beneath the ice shelves and the coastal ice sheet is not yet well documented, and is a major source of this uncertainty. This review assesses current knowledge of the coastal zone and highlights methods to investigate it, including aerogeophysical surveys, ground- and ship-based measurements, satellite observations, and computer modeling. An ensemble analysis of published bed topography data sets identifies significant data gaps and their regional distribution, framed in the context of current ice-sheet behavior and potential instability. We propose scientific priorities and guidelines for future aerogeophysical surveys, advocating for a comprehensive, coordinated international effort to build a next-generation data set of Antarctic bed properties. Such an initiative would significantly advance understanding of the role of coastal processes in ice-sheet dynamics, reducing uncertainties in sea-level rise projections and improving predictions of future ocean and climate changes.

Kenichi Matsuoka

Landsat Instrument Suite (LandIS) Sensor Design for the Landsat 10 Mission

Landsat 10 will be the upcoming mission in the 50+ year Landsat series of Earth observation platforms. The centerpiece of the observatory will be a super-spectral imager known as the Landsat Instrument Suite (LandIS). The sensor will feature 26 spectral channels from the visible through near-, short-wave, and thermal infrared wavelengths with spatial resolutions of 10, 20, and 60 meters on the ground, depending on the band. These enhancements over the legacy Landsat instruments will ensure data continuity with the existing archive and will expand upon the core Landsat capabilities to enable new applications in Earth science. After a competitive procurement, NASA selected the design submitted by the Raytheon Company for the LandIS instrument. The innovative Raytheon instrument concept utilizes an advanced whiskbroom architecture to fulfill the strict radiometric, spatial, and geometric image quality requirements demanded by the Landsat 10 mission and fits within restrictive mass, volume, and power constraints. The instrument will continue the Landsat directive to image all daylit land and near-shore water areas, along with select nighttime imaging. On-board calibration source data will ensure high radiometric and geometric accuracy and stability consistent with previous missions to enable continuity in data products available to users. This paper discusses the driving requirements for LandIS and provides a description of the chosen design and operations concept of the instrument.

Requirements

Recommended Practices in Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) Diagnostics for Electric Propulsion

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy uses Doppler-shifted laser photons to excite a bound electron transition in an atom or ion, with subsequent fluorescence emission detected in order to measure the local velocity distribution function (VDF) and/or particle density. Due to its non-invasive nature, high spatial resolution, and acceptable difficulty of implementation, LIF has become a favored diagnostic for electric propulsion (EP) plasmas, particularly in the study of Hall thrusters. This paper presents recommended best practices for LIF measurements in electric thrusters, drawn from over three decades of implementation heritage in the EP community. Focusing on both single-photon LIF (typically used to measure VDFs) and two-photon LIF (TALIF, typically used to determine densities), the paper covers selection of atomic transitions to target, experimental setups, and interpretation of data. A number of special topics and advanced applications are discussed, including uncertainty analysis, techniques for high-speed measurements, and applications to a variety of propellants.

plasma plume

Adventures in Research: A History of Ames Research Center, 1940-1965

The present document, which I have called a history-though it certainly was not written for historians-was prepared for and at the request of the NASA Ames Research Center which, in sponsoring the project, acted with the encouragement of NASA Headquarters. It is an account of the establishment, evolutionary development, and activities of the Ames Research Center covering a period characterized by unprecedented scientific and technological revolution. The writing of this book about the Ames Research Center was undertaken with considerable pleasure by one who for many years was employed by the Center’s parent organization NASA and, before that, NACA; who had closely followed the Center’s growth from the beginning; and who was personally acquainted with, and who held in some affection, the members of its founding staff. These facts are given to alert readers to the presence of bias and the inaccuracies stemming therefrom. It should be emphasized that this work is a history only of the Ames Research Center. It is not a history of the U.S. Government, of NACA or NASA, of other research centers, of the military services, of industry, or of world events. Information on these peripheral subjects is introduced merely to provide the reader with a generalized feeling for the local and world environment in which the formation and subsequent activities of the Ames Research Center took place. The background material provided is notably incomplete and in some instances reveals the bias of the NACA/NASA community at the time the events took place. Frequently, also, it reflects the personalized viewpoint of the author who was a close observer of many of these events.

NASA Center History Series

Analytical Model for Steady Flow through a Finite Channel with One Porous Wall with Arbitrary Variable Suction or Injection

This paper presents an exact solution of two-dimensional laminar flow through a finite length channel with one porous wall. It improves upon previous solutions by (1) satisfying the no-slip boundary condition at the channel dead end, (2) adding a turbulent term to the porous wall boundary condition, (3) allowing for arbitrary variable suction or injection across the porous wall, and (4) model validation against new cryogenic liquid hydrogen and oxygen experimental data. Of particular interest in the current work is the modeling of cryogenic propellant flow through a porous liquid acquisition device (LAD) screen and channel inside a propellant tank. First, a detailed review of the literature is presented for previously attempted solutions to channel flow with one porous wall. Next, the governing equations, boundary conditions, and model assumptions are used to derive the analytical flow solution and present general model results for pressure and velocity fields within the channel. Then, the model solution is compared with horizontal LAD channel flow data in liquid oxygen as well as vertical LAD channel flow data in an inverted outflow configuration in liquid hydrogen. Model results are used to update the static cryogenic bubble point pressure model with a dynamic bubble point term which factors in enhanced convection and cooling at the screen during propellant outflow. Convective heat transfer at the LAD screen during outflow is also quantified by comparing model and data. The new analytical flow solution with the dynamic bubble point model is shown to compare well with available cryogenic experimental data

Navier Stokes Equations

A Simplified Model of VIPER Thermal Management System. Part II: Integrated Vehicle

NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) thermal management system (TMS) relies on four loop heat pipes (LHPs) to transport electronic waste heat to the vehicle cooling radiative surface and avoid overheating. The TMS has also ten constant conductance heat pipes (CCHPs) dedicated to balance the thermal load within the internal environment where the avionics boxes are mounted, also called warm electronic box (WEB), and to transport the heat from two of the science payload instruments. The TMS also uses two thermal straps to thermally link the batteries to the WEB. These thermal components, in addition to heaters, thermostat, multi-layer insulation (MLIs), and isolators forms the core of the VIPER TMS. The complex heat transport balance managed by the TMS is challenging to characterize and model. The more fidelity and granularity of a model, the more costly the computational resources needed and the longer the simulation and modeling time. When the priority is to provide quick but reliable assessments of the thermal performance or real time thermal feedback for training of console operators, simplified modeling tools are needed. To satisfy that need, this paper describes the effort to develop and correlate a model of VIPER TMS based on control volume approach. The correlation effort in particular focuses on hibernation, cold thermal balance, and hot thermal balance data from the integrated vehicle thermal vacuum (TVAC) test. Thus, the correlated model captures the heat leaks during hibernations and the performance at two extremes, bounding, operating scenarios.

Loop Heat Pipe

A Simplified Model of VIPER Thermal Management System. Part II: Integrated Vehicle

NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) thermal management system (TMS) relies on four loop heat pipes (LHPs) to transport electronic waste heat to the vehicle cooling radiative surface and avoid overheating. The TMS has also ten constant conductance heat pipes (CCHPs) dedicated to balance the thermal load within the internal environment where the avionics boxes are mounted, also called warm electronic box (WEB), and to transport the heat from two of the science payload instruments. The TMS also uses two thermal straps to thermally link the batteries to the WEB. These thermal components, in addition to heaters, thermostat, multi-layer insulation (MLIs), and isolators forms the core of the VIPER TMS. The complex heat transport balance managed by the TMS is challenging to characterize and model. The more fidelity and granularity of a model, the more costly the computational resources needed and the longer the simulation and modeling time. When the priority is to provide quick but reliable assessments of the thermal performance or real time thermal feedback for training of console operators, simplified modeling tools are needed. To satisfy that need, this paper describes the effort to develop and correlate a model of VIPER TMS based on control volume approach. The correlation effort in particular focuses on hibernation, cold thermal balance, and hot thermal balance data from the integrated vehicle thermal vacuum (TVAC) test. Thus, the correlated model captures the heat leaks during hibernations and the performance at two extremes, bounding, operating scenarios.

Thermal Modeling

Exploring the Model Design Space for Battery Health Management

Battery Health Management (BHM) is a core enabling technology for the success and widespread adoption of the emerging electric vehicles of today. Although battery chemistries have been studied in detail in literature, an accurate run-time battery life prediction algorithm has eluded us. Current reliability-based techniques are insufficient to manage the use of such batteries when they are an active power source with frequently varying loads in uncertain environments. The amount of usable charge of a battery for a given discharge profile is not only dependent on the starting state-of-charge (SOC), but also other factors like battery health and the discharge or load profile imposed. This paper presents a Particle Filter (PF) based BHM framework with plug-and-play modules for battery models and uncertainty management. The batteries are modeled at three different levels of granularity with associated uncertainty distributions, encoding the basic electrochemical processes of a Lithium-polymer battery. The effects of different choices in the model design space are explored in the context of prediction performance in an electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) application with emulated flight profiles.

Saha, Bhaskar

Effect of Turbulence Models on Criticality Conditions in Swirling Flows

The critical state of vortex cores downstream of vortex breakdown has been studied. Base vortical flows were computed using the Reynolds-averaged, axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations. Standard K - epsilon , RNG and second-order Reynolds stress models were employed. Results indicate that the return to supercriticality is highly dependent on the turbulence model. The K - epsilon model predicted a rapid return of the vortex to supercritical conditions, the location of which showed little sensitivity to changes in the swirl ratio. The Reynolds stress model predicted that the vortex remains subcritical to the end of the domain for each of the swirl ratios employed, and provided results in qualitative agreement with experimental work. The RNG model produced intermediate results, with a downstream movement in the critical location with increasing swirl. Calculations for which area reductions were introduced at the exit in a subcritical flow were also performed using the Reynolds stress model. The structure of the resulting recirculation zone was altered significantly. However, when area reductions were employed within supercritical flows as predicted using the two-equation models, no significant influence on the recirculation zone was noted.

Robert E Spall

Characterization testing of a 40 Ahr bipolar nickel hydrogen battery

In a continuing effort to develop NiH2 bipolar technology to a point where it can be used efficiently in space flight, testing of a second 40 Ahr, 10-cell bipolar battery has begun. This battery has undergone extensive characterization testing to determine the effects of such operating parameters as charge and discharge rates, temperature, and pressure. The fundamental design of this actively cooled bipolar battery is the same as the first battery. Most of the individual components, however, are from different manufacturers. Different testing procedures as well as certain unique battery characteristics make it difficult to directly compare the two sets of results. In general, the performance of this battery throughout characterization produced expected results. The main differences seen between the first and second batteries occurred during the high-rate discharge portion of the test matrix. The first battery also had poor high-rate discharge results, although better than those of the second battery. Minor changes were made to the battery frame design used for the first battery in an attempt to allow better gas access to the reaction sites for the second build and hopefully improve performance. The changes, however, did not improve the performance of the second battery and could have possibly contributed to the poorer performance that was observed. There are other component differences that could have contributed to the poorer performance of the second battery. The H2 electrode in the second battery was constructed with a Goretex backing which could have limited the high-rate current flow. The gas screen in the second battery had a larger mesh which again could have limited the high-rate current flow. Small scale 2 x 2 batteries are being tested to evaluate the effects of the component variations.

Brewer, Jeffrey C.

Towards an improved understanding of the Antarctic coastal zone and its contribution to future global sea level

Understanding the coastal zone of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, where it interacts with the Southern Ocean and warmer air masses, is crucial for predicting Antarctica's influence on the global climate. This region has multiple tipping mechanisms that could trigger large, rapid, and potentially irreversible changes in the coming centuries. The Antarctic Ice Sheet remains the largest source of uncertainty in future sea-level projections. Insufficient knowledge of bed topography beneath the ice shelves and the coastal ice sheet is not yet well documented, but is a major source of this uncertainty. This review assesses current knowledge of the coastal zone and highlights methods to investigate it, including aerogeophysical surveys, ground- and ship-based measurements, satellite observations, and computer modeling. An ensemble analysis of published bed topography datasets identifies significant data gaps and their regional distribution, framed in the context of current ice-sheet behavior and potential instability. We propose scientific priorities and guidelines for future aerogeophysical surveys, advocating for a comprehensive, coordinated international effort to build a next-generation dataset of Antarctic bed properties. Such an initiative would significantly advance understanding of the role of coastal processes in ice-sheet dynamics, reducing uncertainties in sea-level rise projections and enhancing predictions of future ocean and climate changes.

Kenichi Matsuoka

Design, Build, and Testing of the Roman Space Telescope’s Wide Field Instrument Optical Stimulus System (SORC)

The Stimulus Of Ray Cones (SORC) is an optical stimulus system developed to verify, characterize, and calibrate the Roman Space Telescope’s (RST) Wide Field Instrument (WFI) under simulated operational conditions. SORC provides several critical test modes, the primary being point-source mode, which projects an image anywhere on the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) detectors. This mode provides precise position knowledge of the FPA within WFI. Additional modes enable capturing WFI pupil alignment, evaluation of WFI’s selectable optical elements, and verification of focal plane fiber operation for higher-level system testing. The light source system incorporates a suite of narrowband and broadband fiber fed sources spanning the visible to near-infrared range, with options for pulsed or continuous wave illumination. SORC was designed and built at NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center (GSFC). Initial system-level testing occurred under ambient conditions in GSFC’s Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility (SSDIF), followed by vacuum testing at operational temperatures (SORC at 214-222 K) in the Space Environment Simulator (SES). The system was then shipped to BAE Systems in Boulder, CO for post-shipment ambient and cryogenic testing before integration with WFI for two thermal vacuum test campaigns at cryogenic temperatures. This presentation will focus on design, development, and performance of SORC. Details of WFI verification and calibration using SORC, along with test results, have been published previously and will be referenced only as needed to describe SORC. The SORC ground test capability is critical to ensuring WFI meets stringent optical performance requirements, directly supporting the mission’s science objectives.

Stimulus of Ray Cones

Summary of recent NASA propeller research

Advanced high speed propellers offer large performance improvements for aircraft that cruise in the Mach 0.7 to 0.8 speed regime. At these speeds, studies indicate that there is a 15 to near 40 percent block fuel savings and associated operating cost benefits for advanced turboprops compared to equivalent technology turbofan powered aircraft. Recent wind tunnel results for five eight to ten blade advanced models are compared with analytical predictions. Test results show that blade sweep was important in achieving net efficiencies near 80 percent at Mach 0.8 and reducing nearfield cruise noise about 6 dB. Lifting line and lifting surface aerodynamic analysis codes are under development and some results are compared with propeller force and probe data. Also, analytical predictions are compared with some initial laser velocimeter measurements of the flow field velocities of an eight bladed 45 swept propeller. Experimental aeroelastic results indicate that cascade effects and blade sweep strongly affect propeller aeroelastic characteristics. Comparisons of propeller nearfield noise data with linear acoustic theory indicate that the theory adequately predicts nearfield noise for subsonic tip speeds, but overpredicts the noise for supersonic tip speeds.

Daniel C Mikkelson

Recirculating and Sub-Atmospheric Rapid Cycle Amine Swing Bed Testing at Various Metabolic Profiles, Temperatures, and Half-Cycle Times

Sixty years since the first spacewalk, NASA’s Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) exploration space suit has undergone numerous design improvements and iterations. As commercial manufacturers develop next-generation systems to support increasingly complex missions, including Moon-to-Mars architecture prototyping and the design of the Martian Portable Life Support System (PLSS), material selection and individual subunit testing under realistic metabolic and pressure conditions are paramount. To determine whether a reusable carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) scrubber design and adsorbent can be utilized in new suit configurations, an all-encompassing test rig is required to compare existing and newly developed technologies. The test rig must be capable of sub-atmospheric testing, calibrated humid CO 2 dosing, and facilitation of the evaluation of sorbents across a wide range of operational requirements. Recently, XploSafe has developed an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) testing rig specifically designed to explore CO 2 and humidity control materials for spacesuits. This closed-loop recirculating swing bed (Rapid Cycle Amine Test Rig) was utilized to compare adsorbent utility across a wide range of xEMU operating conditions. Following successful testing with Xplo-SA9T over multiple simulated eight-hour Extravehicular Activity (EVA) tests, improvements to the test stand were considered. Regeneration vacuum supply within the test rig was updated to more closely resemble space vacuum, theoretically increasing half-cycle timing. An improved water vapor delivery system was incorporated to dose a wider calibrated range of humidity over both short and long-duration EVAs. A range of metabolic profiles between 800 and 3000 BTU/h were tested, and the corresponding average CO 2 steady-states were compared. The effect of dosing temperature at the adsorbent bed inlet between 10 and 40 ̊C and the corresponding CO 2 removal efficiency was also evaluated.

John R Tidwell

Review of European Microgravity Measurements

AA In a French/Russion cooperation, CNES developed a microgravity detection system for analyzing the Mir space station micro-g-environment for the first time. European efforts to characterize the microgravity (1/9) environment within a space laboratory began in the late seventies with the design of the First Spacelab Mission SL-1. Its Material Science Double Rack was the first payload element to carry its own tri-axial acceleration package. Even though incapable for any frequency analysis, the data provided a wealth of novel information for optimal experiment and hardware design and operations for missions to come. Theoretical investigations under ESA contract demonstrated the significance of the detailed knowledge of micro-g data for a thorough experiment analysis. They especially revealed the high sensitivity of numerous phenomena to low frequency acceleration. Accordingly, the payloads of the Spacelab missions D-1 and D-2 were furnished with state-of-the-art detection systems to ensure frequency analysis between 0.1 and 100 Hz. The Microgravity Measurement Assembly (MMA) of D-2 was a centralized system comprising fixed installed as well as mobile tri-axial packages showing real-time data processing and transmission to ground. ESA's free flyer EURECA carried a system for continuous measurement over the entire mission. All EURECA subsystems and experimental facilities had to meet tough requirements defining the upper acceleration limits. In a French/Russion cooperation, CNES developed a mi crogravity detection system for analyzing the Mir space station micro-g-environment for the first time. An approach to get access to low frequency acceleration between 0 and 0.02 Hz will be realized by QSAM (Quasi-steady Acceleration Measurement) on IML-2, complementary to the NASA system Spacelab Acceleration Measurement System SAMS. A second flight of QSAM is planned for the Russian free flyer FOTON.

H Hamacher

Thermal Performance of Common Bulk-Fill Cryogenic Insulation Materials in Helium and Hydrogen Background Gases

Maritime shipping of vast quantities of liquid hydrogen (LH 2 ) will be necessary to facilitate a global hydrogen ecosystem; with some studies estimating volumes up to 172,000 m 3 for individual tanker ships, and requiring stationary storage tanks at terminals of 50,000 m 3 to 100,000 m 3 —ten to fifteen times larger than the current largest tank, located at launch pad B at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Such a radical scale-up will push the boundary of traditional, vacuum-insulated tank designs. Hence, a potential need exists for non-vacuum solutions, which necessitates exploring the thermal performance of insulation materials in non-condensable background gasses at LH 2 temperatures, namely helium and hydrogen. Testing of two bulk-fill insulation materials common to large LH 2 storage tanks, perlite and glass bubbles, in helium and hydrogen was recently conducted by the Cryogenics Test Laboratory at KSC using the Cryostat-100 liquid nitrogen boiloff calorimeter per the ASTM C1774 standard methodology. Effective thermal conductivity (k e ) and heat flux (q) results for each insulation/gas combination are presented across the full vacuum range, as well as thermal profiles through the insulation thickness between 78 K and 293 K.

A M Swanger

Returning an Entire Near-Earth Asteroid in Support of Human Exploration Beyond Low-Earth Orbit

This paper describes the results of a study into the feasibility of identifying, robotically capturing, and returning an entire Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) to the vicinity of the Earth by the middle of the next decade. The feasibility of such an asteroid retrieval mission hinges on finding an overlap between the smallest NEAs that could be reasonably discovered and characterized and the largest NEAs that could be captured and transported in a reasonable flight time. This overlap appears to be centered on NEAs roughly 7 m in diameter corresponding to masses in the range of 250,000 kg to 1,000,000 kg. The study concluded that it would be possible to return a approx.500,000-kg NEA to high lunar orbit by around 2025. The feasibility is enabled by three key developments: the ability to discover and characterize an adequate number of sufficiently small near-Earth asteroids for capture and return; the ability to implement sufficiently powerful solar electric propulsion systems to enable transportation of the captured NEA; and the proposed human presence in cislunar space in the 2020s enabling exploration and exploitation of the returned NEA. Placing a 500-t asteroid in high lunar orbit would provide a unique, meaningful, and affordable destination for astronaut crews in the next decade. This disruptive capability would have a positive impact on a wide range of the nation's human space exploration interests. It would provide a high-value target in cislunar space that would require a human presence to take full advantage of this new resource. It would offer an affordable path to providing operational experience with astronauts working around and with a NEA that could feed forward to much longer duration human missions to larger NEAs in deep space. It represents a new synergy between robotic and human missions in which robotic spacecraft would retrieve significant quantities of valuable resources for exploitation by astronaut crews to enable human exploration farther out into the solar system. The capture, transportation, examination, and dissection of an entire NEA would provide valuable information for planetary defense activities that may someday have to deflect a much larger near-Earth object. Transportation of the NEA to lunar orbit with a total flight time of 6 to 10 years would be enabled by a ~40-kW solar electric propulsion system with a specific impulse of 3,000 s. The flight system could be launched to low-Earth orbit (LEO) on a single Atlas V-class launch vehicle, and return to lunar orbit a NEA with at least 28 times the mass launched to LEO. Longer flight times, higher power SEP systems, or a target asteroid in a particularly favorable orbit could increase the mass amplification factor from 28-to-1 to 70-to-1 or greater. The NASA GRC COMPASS team estimated the full life-cycle cost of an asteroid capture and return mission at approx.$2.6B.

asteroid mining

Micromechanics of crenulated fibers in carbon/carbon composites

The influence of crenulated noncircular fibers on the micromechanical stress states due to a transverse strain and to a temperature change in carbon/carbon composites is examined using the finite element method. Stresses at the interface of both fully bonded and fully disbonded fibers having two crenulation amplitudes and with two fiber volume fractions are presented. In each case, these interface stresses are compared to stresses at the interface of circular fibers which have the same degree of disbond and fiber volume fraction and are under the same loading conditions. For the disbonded cases, deformed meshes showing locations of fiber/matrix contact are also included. In addition to the interface stress states, selected composite properties are also computed and compared in each case examined. Interest in studying noncircular fibers stems from a desire to increase the transverse properties of carbon/carbon by introducing a mechanical interlocking between the fiber and the matrix. Results presented here indicate that this interlocking does in fact occur. Evidence from the interface stress data suggests, however, that any possible advantage of this interlocking may be outweighed by the disadvantage of stress concentrations which arise at the interface due to the crenulated geometry of the fibers.

E. E. Carapella