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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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NASA NTRS2010

International Space Station as a Platform for Exploration Beyond Low Earth Orbit

The International Space Station (ISS) has established a new model for the achievement of the most difficult engineering goals in space: international collaboration at the program level with competition at the level of technology. This strategic shift in management approach provides long term program stability while still allowing for the flexible evolution of technology needs and capabilities. Both commercial and government sponsored technology developments are well supported in this management model. ISS also provides a physical platform for development and demonstration of the systems needed for missions beyond low earth orbit. These new systems at the leading edge of technology require operational exercise in the unforgiving environment of space before they can be trusted for long duration missions. Systems and resources needed for expeditions can be aggregated and thoroughly tested at ISS before departure thus providing wide operational flexibility and the best assurance of mission success. We will describe representative mission profiles showing how ISS can support exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, asteroids and other potential destinations. Example missions would include humans to lunar surface and return, and humans to Mars orbit as well as Mars surface and return. ISS benefits include: international access from all major launch sites; an assembly location with crew and tools that could help prepare departing expeditions that involve more than one launch; a parking place for reusable vehicles; and the potential to add a propellant depot.

Raftery, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2011

Mars as a Destination in a Capability-Driven Framework

This paper describes NASA s current plans for the exploration of Mars by human crews within NASA s Capability-Driven Framework (CDF). The CDF describes an approach for progressively extending human explorers farther into the Solar System for longer periods of time as allowed by developments in technology and spacecraft systems. Within this framework, Mars defines the most challenging objective currently envisioned for human spaceflight. The paper first describes the CDF and potential destinations being considered within this framework. For destinations relevant to the exploration of Mars, this includes both the Martian surface and the two moons of Mars. This is followed by a brief review of our evolving understanding of Mars to provide the context for the specific objectives set for human exploration crews. This includes results from robotic missions and goals set for future Martian exploration by NASA's community-based forum, the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) and the MEPAG-sponsored Human Exploration of Mars - Science Analysis Group (HEM-SAG). The paper then reviews options available for human crews to reach Mars and return to Earth. This includes a discussion of the rationale used to select from among these options for envisioned Mars exploration missions. The paper then concludes with a description of technological and operational challenges that still face NASA in order to be able to achieve the exploration goals for Mars within the CDF.

Hoffman, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Human Spaceflight Architecture Team: Lunar Surface Exploration Strategies

NASA s agency wide Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT) has been developing Design Reference Missions (DRMs) to support the ongoing effort to characterize NASA s future human exploration strategy. The DRM design effort includes specific articulations of transportation and surface elements, technologies and operations required to enable future human exploration of various destinations including the moon, Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and Mars as well as interim cis-lunar targets. In prior architecture studies, transportation concerns have dominated the analysis. As a result, an effort was made to study the human utilization strategy at each specific destination and the resultant impacts on the overall architecture design. In particular, this paper considers various lunar surface strategies as representative scenarios that could occur in a human lunar return, and demonstrates their alignment with the internationally developed Global Exploration Roadmap (GER).

Mueller, Rob P.↗
NASA NTRS2003

180 Degree Hybrid (Rat-Race) Junction on CMOS Grade Silicon with a Polyimide Interface Layer

180-degree hybrid junctions can be used to equally divide power between two output ports with either a 0 or 180-degree phase difference. Alternatively, they can be used to combine signals from two sources and output a sum and difference signal. The main limitation of implementing; these on CMOS grade silicon is the high loss associated with the substrate. In this paper, we present a low loss 180-degree hybrid junction on CMOS grade (15 omega-cm) silicon with a polyimide interface layer for the first time. The divider utilizes Finite Ground Coplanar (FGC) line technology, and operates at a center frequency of 15 GIIz.

Ponchak, George E.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Cis-Lunar Base Camp

Historically, when mounting expeditions into uncharted territories, explorers have established strategically positioned base camps to pre-position required equipment and consumables. These base camps are secure, safe positions from which expeditions can depart when conditions are favorable, at which technology and operations can be tested and validated, and facilitate timely access to more robust facilities in the event of an emergency. For human exploration missions into deep space, cis-lunar space is well suited to serve as such a base camp. The outer regions of cis-lunar space, such as the Earth-Moon Lagrange points, lie near the edge of Earth s gravity well, allowing equipment and consumables to be aggregated with easy access to deep space and to the lunar surface, as well as more distant destinations, such as near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and Mars and its moons. Several approaches to utilizing a cis-lunar base camp for sustainable human exploration, as well as some possible future applications are identified. The primary objective of the analysis presented in this paper is to identify options, show the macro trends, and provide information that can be used as a basis for more detailed mission development. Compared within are the high-level performance and cost of 15 preliminary cis-lunar exploration campaigns that establish the capability to conduct crewed missions of up to one year in duration, and then aggregate mass in cis-lunar space to facilitate an expedition from Cis-Lunar Base Camp. Launch vehicles, chemical propulsion stages, and electric propulsion stages are discussed and parametric sizing values are used to create architectures of in-space transportation elements that extend the existing in-space supply chain to cis-lunar space. The transportation options to cis-lunar space assessed vary in efficiency by almost 50%; from 0.16 to 0.68 kg of cargo in cis-lunar space for every kilogram of mass in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). For the 15 cases, 5-year campaign costs vary by only 15% from 0.36 to 0.51 on a normalized scale across all campaigns. Thus the development and first flight costs of assessed transportation options are similar. However, the cost of those options per flight beyond the initial operational capability varies by 70% from 0.3 to 1.0 on a normalized scale. The 10-year campaigns assessed begin to show the effect of this large range of cost beyond initial operational capability as they vary approximately 25% with values from 0.75 to 1.0 on the normalized campaign scale. Therefore, it is important to understand both the cost of implementation and first use as well as long term utilization. Finally, minimizing long term recurring costs is critical to the affordability of future human space exploration missions. Finally minimizing long term recurring costs is critical to the affordability of future human space exploration missions.

Merrill, Raymond G.↗
NASA NTRS2012

An Analysis of Shuttle Crew Scheduling Violations

From the early years of the Space Shuttle program, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Shuttle crews have had a timeline of activities to guide them through their time on-orbit. Planners used scheduling constraints to build timelines that ensured the health and safety of the crews. If a constraint could not be met it resulted in a violation. Other agencies of the federal government also have scheduling constraints to ensure the safety of personnel and the public. This project examined the history of Space Shuttle scheduling constraints, constraints from Federal agencies and branches of the military and how these constraints may be used as a guide for future NASA and private spacecraft. This was conducted by reviewing rules and violations with regard to human aerospace scheduling constraints, environmental, political, social and technological factors, operating environment and relevant human factors. This study includes a statistical analysis of Shuttle Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) related violations to determine if these were a significant producer of constraint violations. It was hypothesized that the number of SCSC violations caused by EVA activities were a significant contributor to the total number of violations for Shuttle/ISS missions. Data was taken from NASA data archives at the Johnson Space Center from Space Shuttle/ISS missions prior to the STS-107 accident. The results of the analysis rejected the null hypothesis and found that EVA violations were a significant contributor to the total number of violations. This analysis could help NASA and commercial space companies understand the main source of constraint violations and allow them to create constraint rules that ensure the safe operation of future human private and exploration missions. Additional studies could be performed to evaluate other variables that could have influenced the scheduling violations that were analyzed.

Bristol, Douglas↗
NASA NTRS2013

Secure, Autonomous, Intelligent Controller for Integrating Distributed Emergency Response Satellite Operations

This report describes a Secure, Autonomous, and Intelligent Controller for Integrating Distributed Emergency Response Satellite Operations. It includes a description of current improvements to existing Virtual Mission Operations Center technology being used by US Department of Defense and originally developed under NASA funding. The report also highlights a technology demonstration performed in partnership with the United States Geological Service for Earth Resources Observation and Science using DigitalGlobe(Registered TradeMark) satellites to obtain space-based sensor data.

Ivancic, William D.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Climate Change and Vector Borne Diseases on NASA Langley Research Center

Increasing global temperature, weather patterns with above average storm intensities, and higher sea levels have been identified as phenomena associated with global climate change. As a causal system, climate change could contribute to vector borne diseases in humans. Vectors of concern originate from the vicinity of Langley Research Center include mosquitos and ticks that transmit disease that originate regionally, nationwide, or from outside the US. Recognizing changing conditions, vector borne diseases propagate under climate change conditions, and understanding the conditions in which they may exist or propagate, presents opportunities for monitoring their progress and mitigating their potential impacts through communication, continued monitoring, and adaptation. Personnel comprise a direct and fundamental support to NASA mission success, continuous and improved understanding of climatic conditions, and the resulting consequence of disease from these conditions, helps to reduce risk in terrestrial space technologies, ground operations, and space research. This research addresses conditions which are attributed to climatic conditions which promote environmental conditions conducive to the increase of disease vectors. This investigation includes evaluation of local mosquito population count and rainfall data for statistical correlation and identification of planning recommendations unique to LaRC, other NASA Centers to assess adaptation approaches, Center-level planning strategies.

Cole, Stuart K.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Projected Impact of Compositional Verification on Current and Future Aviation Safety Risk

The projected impact of compositional verification research conducted by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies on aviation safety risk was assessed. Software and compositional verification was described. Traditional verification techniques have two major problems: testing at the prototype stage where error discovery can be quite costly and the inability to test for all potential interactions leaving some errors undetected until used by the end user. Increasingly complex and nondeterministic aviation systems are becoming too large for these tools to check and verify. Compositional verification is a "divide and conquer" solution to addressing increasingly larger and more complex systems. A review of compositional verification research being conducted by academia, industry, and Government agencies is provided. Forty-four aviation safety risks in the Biennial NextGen Safety Issues Survey were identified that could be impacted by compositional verification and grouped into five categories: automation design; system complexity; software, flight control, or equipment failure or malfunction; new technology or operations; and verification and validation. One capability, 1 research action, 5 operational improvements, and 13 enablers within the Federal Aviation Administration Joint Planning and Development Office Integrated Work Plan that could be addressed by compositional verification were identified.

Reveley, Mary S.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Pioneering Objectives and Activities on the Surface of Mars

Human Mars missions have been a topic of sustained interest within NASA, which continues to use its resources to examine many different mission objectives, trajectories, vehicles, and technologies, the combinations of which are often referred to as reference missions or architectures. The current investigative effort, known as the Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC), is examining alternatives that can pioneer an extended human presence on Mars that is Earth independent. These alternatives involve combinations of all the factors just mentioned. This paper is focused on the subset of these factors involved with objectives and activities that take place on the surface of Mars. "Pioneering" is a useful phrase to encapsulate the current approach being used to address this situation - one of its primary definitions is "a person or group that originates or helps open up a new line of thought or activity or a new method or technical development". Thus, in this scenario, NASA would be embarking on a path to "pioneer" a suite of technologies and operations that will result in an Earth independent, extended stay capability for humans on Mars. This paper will describe (a) the concept of operation determined to be best suited for the initial emplacement, (b) the functional capabilities determined to be necessary for this emplacement, with representative examples of systems that could carry out these functional capabilities and one implementation example (i.e., delivery sequence) at a representative landing site, and will (c) discuss possible capabilities and operations during subsequent surface missions.

Toups, Larry↗
NASA NTRS2015

Initial Thrust Measurements of Marshall's Ion-ioN Thruster

Electronegative ion thrusters are a variation of traditional gridded ion thruster technology differentiated by the production and acceleration of both positive and negative ions. Benefits of electronegative ion thrusters include the elimination of lifetime-limiting cathodes from the thruster architecture and the ability to generate appreciable thrust from both charge species. While much progress has been made in the development of electronegative ion thruster technology, direct thrust measurements are required to unambiguously demonstrate the efficacy of the concept and support continued development. In the present work, direct thrust measurements of the thrust produced by the MINT (Marshall's Ion-ioN Thruster) are performed using an inverted-pendulum thrust stand in the High-Power Electric Propulsion Laboratory's Vacuum Test Facility-1 at the Georgia Institute of Technology with operating pressures ranging from 4.8 x 10(exp -5) and 5.7 x 10(exp -5) torr. Thrust is recorded while operating with a propellant volumetric mixture ratio of 5:1 argon to nitrogen with total volumetric flow rates of 6, 12, and 24 sccm (0.17, 0.34, and 0.68 mg/s). Plasma is generated using a helical antenna at 13.56 MHz and radio frequency (RF) power levels of 150 and 350 W. The acceleration grid assembly is operated using both sinusoidal and square waveform biases of +/-350 V at frequencies of 4, 10, 25, 125, and 225 kHz. Thrust is recorded for two separate thruster configurations: with and without the magnetic filter. No thrust is discernable during thruster operation without the magnetic filter for any volumetric flow rate, RF forward Power level, or acceleration grid biasing scheme. For the full thruster configuration, with the magnetic filter installed, a brief burst of thrust of approximately 3.75 mN +/- 3 mN of error is observed at the start of grid operation for a volumetric flow rate of 24 sccm at 350 W RF power using a sinusoidal waveform grid bias at 125 kHz and +/- 350 V. Similar bursts in thrust are observed using a square waveform grid bias at 10 kHz and +/- 350 V for volumetric flow rates of 6, 10, and 12 sccm at 150, 350, and 350 W respectively. The only operating condition that exhibits repeated thrust spikes throughout thruster operation is the 24 sccm condition with a 5:1 mixture ratio at 150 W RF power using the 10 kHz square waveform acceleration grid bias. Thrust spikes for this condition measure 3 mN with an error of +/- 2.5 mN. There are no operating conditions tested that show continuous thrust production.

Caruso, Natalie R. S.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Noise Scaling and Community Noise Metrics for the Hybrid Wing Body Aircraft

An aircraft system noise assessment was performed for the hybrid wing body aircraft concept, known as the N2A-EXTE. This assessment is a result of an effort by NASA to explore a realistic HWB design that has the potential to substantially reduce noise and fuel burn. Under contract to NASA, Boeing designed the aircraft using practical aircraft design princip0les with incorporation of noise technologies projected to be available in the 2020 timeframe. NASA tested 5.8% scale-mode of the design in the NASA Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to provide source noise directivity and installation effects for aircraft engine and airframe configurations. Analysis permitted direct scaling of the model-scale jet, airframe, and engine shielding effect measurements to full-scale. Use of these in combination with ANOPP predictions enabled computations of the cumulative (CUM) noise margins relative to FAA Stage 4 limits. The CUM margins were computed for a baseline N2A-EXTE configuration and for configurations with added noise reduction strategies. The strategies include reduced approach speed, over-the-rotor line and soft-vane fan technologies, vertical tail placement and orientation, and modified landing gear designs with fairings. Combining the inherent HWB engine shielding by the airframe with added noise technologies, the cumulative noise was assessed at 38.7 dB below FAA Stage 4 certification level, just 3.3 dB short of the NASA N+2 goal of 42 dB. This new result shows that the NASA N+2 goal is approachable and that significant reduction in overall aircraft noise is possible through configurations with noise reduction technologies and operational changes.

Burley, Casey L.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Formal Methods in Air Traffic Management: The Case of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

As the technological and operational capabilities of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) continue to grow, so too does the need to introduce these systems into civil airspace. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System is a NASA research project that addresses the integration of civil UAS into non-segregated airspace operations. One of the major challenges of this integration is the lack of an onboard pilot to comply with the legal requirement that pilots see and avoid other aircraft. The need to provide an equivalent to this requirement for UAS has motivated the development of a detect and avoid (DAA) capability to provide the appropriate situational awareness and maneuver guidance in avoiding and remaining well clear of traffic aircraft. Formal methods has played a fundamental role in the development of this capability. This talk reports on the formal methods work conducted under NASA's Safe Autonomous System Operations project in support of the development of DAA for UAS. This work includes specification of low-level and high-level functional requirements, formal verification of algorithms, and rigorous validation of software implementations. The talk also discusses technical challenges in formal methods research in the context of the development and safety analysis of advanced air traffic management concepts.

Munoz, Cesar A.↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Simple Method for High-Lift Propeller Conceptual Design

In this paper, we present a simple method for designing propellers that are placed upstream of the leading edge of a wing in order to augment lift. Because the primary purpose of these "high-lift propellers" is to increase lift rather than produce thrust, these props are best viewed as a form of high-lift device; consequently, they should be designed differently than traditional propellers. We present a theory that describes how these props can be designed to provide a relatively uniform axial velocity increase, which is hypothesized to be advantageous for lift augmentation based on a literature survey. Computational modeling indicates that such propellers can generate the same average induced axial velocity while consuming less power and producing less thrust than conventional propeller designs. For an example problem based on specifications for NASA's Scalable Convergent Electric Propulsion Technology and Operations Research (SCEPTOR) flight demonstrator, a propeller designed with the new method requires approximately 15% less power and produces approximately 11% less thrust than one designed for minimum induced loss. Higher-order modeling and/or wind tunnel testing are needed to verify the predicted performance.

Patterson, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2016

Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the National Airspace System: A Formal Methods Perspective

As the technological and operational capabilities of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have grown, so too have international efforts to integrate UAS into civil airspace. However, one of the major concerns that must be addressed in realizing this integration is that of safety. For example, UAS lack an on-board pilot to comply with the legal requirement that pilots see and avoid other aircraft. This requirement has motivated the development of a detect and avoid (DAA) capability for UAS that provides situational awareness and maneuver guidance to UAS operators to aid them in avoiding and remaining well clear of other aircraft in the airspace. The NASA Langley Research Center Formal Methods group has played a fundamental role in the development of this capability. This article gives a selected survey of the formal methods work conducted in support of the development of a DAA concept for UAS. This work includes specification of low-level and high-level functional requirements, formal verification of algorithms, and rigorous validation of software implementations.

Munoz, Cesar A.↗
NASA NTRS2017

The Space Mobile Network

The definition and development of the next generation space communications and navigation architecture is underway. The primary goals are to remove communications and navigations constraints from missions and to enable increased autonomy. The Space Mobile Network (SMN) is an architectural concept that includes new technology and operations that will provide flight systems with an similar user experience to terrestrial wireless mobile networks. This talk will describe the SMN and its proposed new features, such as Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN), optical communications, and User Initiated Services (UIS).

Spacecraft Communications↗
NASA NTRS2017

NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Mars Transit Habitat Refinement Point of Departure Design

This paper describes the recently developed point of departure design for a long duration, reusable Mars Transit Habitat, which was established during a 2016 NASA habitat design refinement activity supporting the definition of NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign. As part of its development of sustainable human Mars mission concepts achievable in the 2030s, the Evolvable Mars Campaign has identified desired durations and mass/dimensional limits for long duration Mars habitat designs to enable the currently assumed solar electric and chemical transportation architectures. The Advanced Exploration Systems Mars Transit Habitat Refinement Activity brought together habitat subsystem design expertise from across NASA to develop an increased fidelity, consensus design for a transit habitat within these constraints. The resulting design and data (including a mass equipment list) contained in this paper are intended to help teams across the agency and potential commercial, academic, or international partners understand: 1) the current architecture/habitat guidelines and assumptions, 2) performance targets of such a habitat (particularly in mass, volume, and power), 3) the driving technology/capability developments and architectural solutions which are necessary for achieving these targets, and 4) mass reduction opportunities and research/design needs to inform the development of future research and proposals. Data presented includes: an overview of the habitat refinement activity including motivation and process when informative; full documentation of the baseline design guidelines and assumptions; detailed mass and volume breakdowns; a moderately detailed concept of operations; a preliminary interior layout design with rationale; a list of the required capabilities necessary to enable the desired mass; and identification of any worthwhile trades/analyses which could inform future habitat design efforts. As a whole, the data in the paper show that a transit habitat meeting the 43 metric tons launch mass/trans-Mars injection burn limits specified by the Evolvable Mars Campaign is achievable near the desired timeframe with moderate strategic investments including maintainable life support systems, repurposable structures and packaging, and lightweight exercise modalities. It also identifies operational and technological options to reduce this mass to less than 41 metric tons including staging of launch structure/packaging and alternate structural materials.

Simon, Matthew↗
NASA NTRS2017

Radiation -- A Cosmic Hazard to Human Habitation in Space

Radiation exposure is one of the greatest environmental threats to the performance and success of human and robotic space missions. Radiation permeates all space and aeronautical systems, challenges optimal and reliable performance, and tests survival and survivability. We will discuss the broad scope of research, technological, and operational considerations to forecast and mitigate the effects of the radiation environment for deep space and planetary exploration.

Radiation mitigation↗