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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 NTRS2003

Multiphase flow and phase change in microgravity: Fundamental research and strategic research for exploration of space

NASA is preparing to undertake science-driven exploration missions. The NASA Exploration Team's vision is a cascade of stepping stones. The stepping-stone will build the technical capabilities needed for each step with multi-use technologies and capabilities. An Agency-wide technology investment and development program is necessary to implement the vision. The NASA Exploration Team has identified a number of areas where significant advances are needed to overcome all engineering and medical barriers to the expansion of human space exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. Closed-loop life support systems and advanced propulsion and power technologies are among the areas requiring significant advances from the current state-of-the-art. Studies conducted by the National Academy of Science's National Research Council and Workshops organized by NASA have shown that multiphase flow and phase change play a crucial role in many of these advanced technology concepts. Lack of understanding of multiphase flow, phase change, and interfacial phenomena in the microgravity environment has been a major hurdle. An understanding of multiphase flow and phase change in microgravity is, therefore, critical to advancing many technologies needed. Recognizing this, the Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) has initiated a strategic research thrust to augment the ongoing fundamental research in fluid physics and transport phenomena discipline with research especially aimed at understanding key multiphase flow related issues in propulsion, power, thermal control, and closed-loop advanced life support systems. A plan for integrated theoretical and experimental research that has the highest probability of providing data, predictive tools, and models needed by the systems developers to incorporate highly promising multiphase-based technologies is currently in preparation. This plan is being developed with inputs from scientific community, NASA mission planners and industry personnel. The fundamental research in multiphase flow and phase change in microgravity is aimed at developing better mechanistic understanding of pool boiling and ascertaining the effects of gravity on heat transfer and the critical heat flux. Space flight experiments conducted in space have shown that nucleate pool boiling can be sustained under certain conditions in the microgravity environment. New space flight experiments are being developed to provide more quantitative information on pool boiling in microgravity. Ground-based investigations are also being conducted to develop mechanistic models for flow and pool boiling. An overview of the research plan and roadmap for the strategic research in multiphase flow and phase change as well as research findings from the ongoing program will be presented.

Singh, Bhim S.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Microgravity Fluids for Biology, Workshop

Microgravity Fluids for Biology represents an intersection of biology and fluid physics that present exciting research challenges to the Space Life and Physical Sciences Division. Solving and managing the transport processes and fluid mechanics in physiological and biological systems and processes are essential for future space exploration and colonization of space by humans. Adequate understanding of the underlying fluid physics and transport mechanisms will provide new, necessary insights and technologies for analyzing and designing biological systems critical to NASAs mission. To enable this mission, the fluid physics discipline needs to work to enhance the understanding of the influence of gravity on the scales and types of fluids (i.e., non-Newtonian) important to biology and life sciences. In turn, biomimetic, bio-inspired and synthetic biology applications based on physiology and biology can enrich the fluid mechanics and transport phenomena capabilities of the microgravity fluid physics community.

biology↗
NASA NTRS2004

Two-Fluid Models and Interfacial Area Transport in Microgravity Condition

The objective of the present study is to develop a two-fluid model formulation with interfacial area transport equation applicable for microgravity conditions. The new model is expected to make a leapfrog improvement by furnishing the constitutive relations for the interfacial interaction terms with the interfacial area transport equation, which can dynamically model the changes of the interfacial structures. In the first year of this three-year project supported by the U.S. NASA, Office of Biological and Physics Research, the primary focus is to design and construct a ground-based, microgravity two-phase flow simulation facility, in which two immiscible fluids with close density will be used. In predicting the two-phase flow behaviors in any two-phase flow system, the interfacial transfer terms are among the most essential factors in the modeling. These interfacial transfer terms in a two-fluid model specify the rate of phase change, momentum exchange, and energy transfer at the interface between the two phases. For the two-phase flow under the microgravity condition, the stability of the fluid particle interface and the interfacial structures are quite different from those under normal gravity condition. The flow structure may not reach an equilibrium condition and the two fluids may be loosely coupled such that the inertia terms of each fluid should be considered separately by use of the two-fluid model. Previous studies indicated that, unless phase-interaction terms are accurately modeled in the two-fluid model, the complex modeling does not necessarily warrant an accurate solution.

Ishii, Mamoru↗
NASA NTRS1989

Thin film bioreactors in space

Studies from the Skylab, SL-3 and D-1 missions have demonstrated that biological organisms grown in microgravity have changes in basic cellular functions such as DNA, mRNA and protein synthesis, cytoskeleton synthesis, glucose utilization, and cellular differentiation. Since microgravity could affect prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells at a subcellular and molecular level, space offers an opportunity to learn more about basic biological systems with one inmportant variable removed. The thin film bioreactor will facilitate the handling of fluids in microgravity, under constant temperature and will allow multiple samples of cells to be grown with variable conditions. Studies on cell cultures grown in microgravity would make it possible to identify and quantify changes in basic biological function in microgravity which are needed to develop new applications of orbital research and future biotechnology.

Hughes-Fulford, M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The 1989-1990 NASA space biology accomplishments

Individual technical summaries of research projects on NASA's Space Biology Program for research conducted during the period May 1989 to April 1990 are presented. This program is concerned with using the unique characteristics of the space environment, particularly microgravity, as a tool to advance the following: (1) knowledge in the biological sciences; (2) understanding of how gravity has shaped and affected life on the Earth; and (3) understanding of how the space environment affects both plants and animals. The summaries for each project include a description of the research, a list of accomplishments, an explanation of the significance of the accomplishments, and a list of publications.

Halstead, Thora W.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Opportunities for research on Space Station Freedom

NASA has allocated research accommodations on Freedom (equipment, utilities, etc.) to the program offices that sponsor space-based research and development as follows: Space Science and Applications (OSSA)--52 percent, Commercial Programs (OCP)--28 percent, Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST)--12 percent, and Space Flight (OSF)--8 percent. Most of OSSA's allocation will be used for microgravity and life science experiments; although OSSA's space physics, astrophysics, earth science and applications, and solar system exploration divisions also will use some of this allocation. Other Federal agencies have expressed an interest in using Space Station Freedom. They include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Geological Survey, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy. Payload interfaces with space station lab support equipment must be simple, and experiment packages must be highly contained. Freedom's research facilities will feature International Standard Payload Racks (ISPR's), experiment racks that are about twice the size of a Spacelab rack. ESA's Columbus lab will feature 20 racks, the U.S. lab will have 12 racks, and the Japanese lab will have 10. Thus, Freedom will have a total of 42 racks versus 8 for Space lab. NASA is considering outfitting some rack space to accommodate small, self-contained payloads similar to the Get-Away-Special canisters and middeck-locker experiment packages flown on Space Shuttle missions. Crew time allotted to experiments on Freedom at permanently occupied capability will average 25 minutes per rack per day, compared to six hours per rack per day on Spacelab missions. Hence, telescience--the remote operation of space-based experiments by researchers on the ground--will play a very important role in space station research. Plans for supporting life sciences research on Freedom focus on the two basic goals of NASA 's space life sciences program: to ensure the health, safety, and productivity of humans in space and to acquire fundamental knowledge of biological processes. Space-based research has already shown that people and plants respond the same way to the microgravity environment: they lose structure. However, the mechanisms by which they respond are different, and researchers do not yet know much about these mechanisms. Life science research accommodations on Freedom will include facilities for experiments designed to address this and other questions, in fields such as gravitational biology, space physiology, and biomedical monitoring and countermeasures research.

Phillips, Robert W.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Low Gravity Materials Science Research for Space Exploration

On January 14, 2004, the President of the United States announced a new vision for the United States civil space program. The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has the responsibility to implement this new vision. The President also created a Presidential Commission 'to obtain recommendations concerning implementation of the new vision for space exploration.' The President's Commission recognized that achieving the exploration objectives would require significant technical innovation, research, and development in focal areas defined as 'enabling technologies.' Among the 17 enabling technologies identified for initial focus were advanced structures; advanced power and propulsion; closed-loop life support and habitability; extravehicular activity system; autonomous systems and robotics; scientific data collection and analysis; biomedical risk mitigation; and planetary in situ resource utilization. The Commission also recommended realignment of NASA Headquarters organizations to support the vision for space exploration. NASA has aggressively responded in its planning to support the vision for space exploration and with the current considerations of the findings and recommendations from the Presidential Commission. This presentation will examine the transformation and realignment activities to support the vision for space exploration that are underway in the microgravity materials science program. The heritage of the microgravity materials science program, in the context of residence within the organizational structure of the Office of Biological and Physical Research, and thematic and sub-discipline based research content areas, will be briefly examined as the starting point for the ongoing transformation. Overviews of future research directions will be presented and the status of organizational restructuring at NASA Headquarters, with respect to influences on the microgravity materials science program, will be discussed. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Clinton, R. G., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Microgravity research opportunities for the 1990s

The Committee on Microgravity Research (CMGR) was made a standing committee of the Space Studies Board (SSB) and charged with developing a long-range research strategy. The scientific disciplines contained within the microgravity program, and covered in this report, include fluid mechanics and transport phenomena, combustion, biological sciences and biotechnology, materials science, and microgravity physics. The purpose of this report is to recommend means to accomplish the goal of advancing science and technology in each of the component disciplines. Microgravity research should be aimed at making significant impacts in each discipline emphasized. The conclusions and recommendations presented in this report fall into five categories: (1) overall goals for the microgravity research program; (2) general priorities among the major scientific disciplines affected by gravity; (3) identification of the more promising experimental challenges and opportunities within each discipline; (4) general scientific recommendations that apply to all microgravity-related disciplines; and (5) recommendations concerning administrative policies and procedures that are essential to the conduct of excellent laboratory science.

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NASA NTRS2003

Flight Hardware Development and Research at MSFC for Optimizing Success on the International Space Station

To optimize biological crystallization success in microgravity in-house personnel at the MSFC are working on the development of innovative flight hardware such as Delta-L and the Iterative Biological Crystallization (IBC) apparatus as well as troubleshooting the performance of existing hardware. Delta-L will provide a diagnostic hardware to examine the relationship between crystal growth characteristics and crystal quality improvement in microgravity. IBC is a new hardware being designed to allow iteration of crystal growth experiments in microgravity using innovative lab on a chip technology. While being built to obtain scientific data of benefit to the scientific community, the design methods involved in the development of these hardware have directly benefited other groups within NASA and keep NASA at the forefront of innovation.

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NASA NTRS2001

Delta L: An Apparatus for Measuring Macromolecule Crystal Growth Rates in Microgravity

Strongly diffracting high quality macromolecule crystals of suitable volume are keenly sought for X-ray diffraction analysis so that high-resolution molecular structure data can be obtained. Such data is of tremendous value to medical research, agriculture and commercial biotechnology. In previous studies by many investigators microgravity has been reported in some instances to improve biological macromolecule X-ray crystal quality while little or no improvement was observed in other cases. A better understanding of processes effecting crystal quality improvement in microgravity will therefore be of great benefit in optimizing crystallization success in microgravity. In ground based research with the protein lysozyme we have previously shown that a population of crystals grown under the same solution conditions, exhibit a variation in X-ray diffraction properties (Judge et al., 1999). We have also observed that under the same solution conditions, individual crystals will grow at slightly different growth rates. This phenomenon is called growth rate dispersion. For small molecule materials growth rate dispersion has been directly related to crystal quality (Cunningham et al., 1991; Ristic et al., 1991). We therefore postulate that microgravity may act to improve crystal quality by reducing growth rate dispersion. If this is the case then as different, Materials exhibit different degrees of growth rate dispersion on the ground then growth rate dispersion could be used to screen which materials may benefit the most from microgravity crystallization. In order to assess this theory the Delta L hardware is being developed so that macromolecule crystal growth rates can be measured in microgravity. Crystal growth rate is defined as the change or delta in crystal size (defined as a characteristic length, L) over time; hence the name of the hardware. Delta L will consist of an optics, a fluids, and a data acquisition sub-assemblies. The optics assembly will consist of a video microscope camera mounted on three axis computer controlled translation stages. The fluids assembly consists of macromolecule and precipitant reservoirs, a temperature controlled growth cell and waste container, The data acquisition is achieved by using a frame-gabber, with images being stored on a hard drive. In operation, macromolecule and precipitant solution will be injected into the temperature controlled growth cell. As macromolecule crystals grow, the video microscope camera controlled by the translation stages, will be used to locate and record images of individual crystals, returning to the same crystals at specific time intervals. The images will be stored on the hard drive and used to calculate the crystal growth rate. To prevent vibrations interfering in the crystal growth rate measurements (Snell et al., 1997) Delta L will be used in connection with the Glovebox Integrated Microgravity Isolation Technology (g-LIMIT) inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Judge, Russell A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

The NASA Microgravity Fluid Physics Program: Research Plans for the ISS

Building on over four decades of research and technology development related to the behavior of fluids in low gravity environments, the current NASA Microgravity Fluid Physics Program continues the quest for knowledge to further understand and design better fluids systems for use on earth and in space. NASA's Biological and Physical Research Enterprise seeks to exploit the space environment to conduct research supporting human exploration of space (strategic research), research of intrinsic scientific importance and impact (fundamental research), and commercial research. The strategic research thrust will build the vital knowledge base needed to enable NASA's mission to explore the Universe and search for life. There are currently five major research areas in the Microgravity Fluid Physics Program: complex fluids, niultiphase flows and phase change, interfacial phenomena, biofluid mechanics, and dynamics and instabilities. Numerous investigations into these areas are being conducted in both ground-based laboratories and facilities and in the flight experiments program. Most of the future NASA- sponsored flight experiments in microgravity fluid physics and transport phenomena will be carried out on the International Space Station (ISS) in the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR), in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), in EXPRESS racks, and in other facilities provided by international partners. This paper presents an overview of the near- and long-term visions for NASA's Microgravity Fluid Physics Research Program and brief descriptions of hardware systems planned to enable this research.

Kohl, Fred J.↗
NASA NTRS1999

How cells (might) sense microgravity

This article is a summary of a lecture presented at an ESA/NASA Workshop on Cell and Molecular Biology Research in Space that convened in Leuven, Belgium, in June 1998. Recent studies are reviewed which suggest that cells may sense mechanical stresses, including those due to gravity, through changes in the balance of forces that are transmitted across transmembrane adhesion receptors that link the cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix and to other cells (e.g., integrins, cadherins, selectins). The mechanism by which these mechanical signals are transduced and converted into a biochemical response appears to be based, in part, on the finding that living cells use a tension-dependent form of architecture, known as tensegrity, to organize and stabilize their cytoskeleton. Because of tensegrity, the cellular response to stress differs depending on the level of pre-stress (pre-existing tension) in the cytoskeleton and it involves all three cytoskeletal filament systems as well as nuclear scaffolds. Recent studies confirm that alterations in the cellular force balance can influence intracellular biochemistry within focal adhesion complexes that form at the site of integrin binding as well as gene expression in the nucleus. These results suggest that gravity sensation may not result from direct activation of any single gravioreceptor molecule. Instead, gravitational forces may be experienced by individual cells in the living organism as a result of stress-dependent changes in cell, tissue, or organ structure that, in turn, alter extracellular matrix mechanics, cell shape, cytoskeletal organization, or internal pre-stress in the cell-tissue matrix.--Ingber, D. How cells (might) sense microgravity.

NASA Discipline Cell Biology↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evolutionary Stability of Microbial Mutualism in Simulated Microgravity

Sustainable long-term space travel will require astronauts to live in built environments cohabited by microbes. Though much of space biology research has focused on microbial monocultures, microbes naturally live in multispecies communities in which they compete and cooperate. Understanding how communities experience spaceflight over generations can influence sanitation measures and the design of synthetic communities for applications in spaceflight. In this study, we investigated the evolutionary stability of mutualism in multispecies communities in microgravity using a model system of cooperating microbes. Our model consisted of bioengineered strains of mutually dependent E. coli and S. enterica. E. coli metabolized lactose and produced a carbon source for S. enterica, which secreted methionine for E. coli. By introducing a noncooperative ("cheater") strain of S. enterica, we tested the dynamic stability of mutualism. Using a rotating wall vessel, we simulated microgravity, specifically a low-shear, diffusion-limited environment where metabolite transfer is limited compared to 1g conditions. Fluorescent motile and non-motile strains were used to assess how motility affects the microbial experience of microgravity. We hypothesized that mutualism in non-motile cocultures would be favored in microgravity due to the diffusion-limited spatial structure, while motile strains would show less difference between simulated microgravity and other conditions. We cultured communities for approximately 20 generations and assessed community composition over time using flow cytometry. We compared simulated microgravity to cultures grown in agar plates as spatially structured controls, shaken flasks as well-mixed controls, and still flasks representing the convective mixing of 1g. A high, sustained cooperator-to-cheater ratio represented stable mutualism within the community. Our results show that microbial communities may better maintain mutualism in microgravity compared to their counterparts in 1g conditions and that the motility of a community’s constituents influences how the community experiences microgravity on generational timescales.

Nathan Moreno↗
NASA NTRS2000

Fundamental Biological Research on the International Space Station

The fundamental Biology Program of NASA's Life Sciences Division is chartered with enabling and sponsoring research on the International Space Station (ISS) in order to understand the effects of the space flight environment, particularly microgravity, on living systems. To accomplish this goal, NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) has been tasked with managing the development of a number of biological habitats, along with their support systems infrastructure. This integrated suite of habitats and support systems is being designed to support research requirements identified by the scientific community. As such, it will support investigations using cells and tissues, avian eggs, insects, plants, aquatic organisms and rodents. Studies following organisms through complete life cycles and over multiple generations will eventually be possible. As an adjunct to the development of these basic habitats, specific analytical and monitoring technologies are being targeted for maturation to complete the research cycle by transferring existing or emerging analytical techniques, sensors, and processes from the laboratory bench to the ISS research platform.

Souza, K. A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Establishing laboratory standards for biological flight experiments

The general objective of this research was to assess the effects of exposure to simulated microgravity on ultrastructural aspects of the contractile system in chicken skeletal muscle cells. This general objective had two specific experimental components: (1) the progression of changes in cell morphology, fusion, and patterns of contractile filament organization in muscle cell cultures grown in hollow fibers in the Clinostat were evaluated, with appropriate controls; (2) to initiate experiments in which muscle cells were grown on the surface of microcarrier beads. The ultimate objective of this second portion of the work is to determine if these beads can be rotated in a bioreactor and thereby obtain a more accurate approximation of the effects of simulated microgravity on differentiated muscle cells.

Young, Ronald B.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Lessons learned about spaceflight and cell biology experiments

Conducting cell biology experiments in microgravity can be among the most technically challenging events in a biologist's life. Conflicting events of spaceflight include waiting to get manifested, delays in manifest schedules, training astronauts to not shake your cultures and to add reagents slowly, as shaking or quick injection can activate signaling cascades and give you erroneous results. It is important to select good hardware that is reliable. Possible conflicting environments in flight include g-force and vibration of launch, exposure of cells to microgravity for extended periods until hardware is turned on, changes in cabin gases and cosmic radiation. One should have an on-board 1-g control centrifuge in order to eliminate environmental differences. Other obstacles include getting your funding in a timely manner (it is not uncommon for two to three years to pass between notification of grant approval for funding and actually getting funded). That said, it is important to note that microgravity research is worthwhile since all terrestrial life evolved in a gravity field and secrets of biological function may only be answered by removing the constant of gravity. Finally, spaceflight experiments are rewarding and worth your effort and patience.

manned↗
NASA NTRS1999

STS-93 Post Flight Presentation

An overview of Flight STS-93 is presented. The primary objective of the STS-93 mission was to deploy the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), also known as the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The mission flew on the Columbia Shuttle, on July 22, 1999. This facility is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory ever built. Other payloads on STS-93 were: (1) the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX), (2) Shuttle Ionospheric Modification with Pulsed Local Exhaust (SIMPLEX), (3) Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System (SWUIS), (4) Gelation of Sols: Applied Microgravity Research (GOSAMR), Space Tissue Loss-B (STL-B), (5) Light Weight Flexible Solar Array Hinge (LFSAH), (6) Cell Culture Module (CCM), and (7) the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment-II (SAREX-II), (8) EarthKam, (9) Plant Growth Investigations in Microgravity (PGIM), (10) Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA), (11) Micro-Electrical Mechanical System (MEMS), and (12) the Biological Research in Canisters (BRIC). The crew was: Eileen M. Collins, Mission Commander, the first female shuttle commander; Jeffrey S. Ashby, Pilot; Steven A. Hawley , Mission Specialist; Catherine G. Coleman, Mission Specialist; Michel Tognini (CNES), Mission Specialist. The video contains views of life aboard the space shuttle. This mission featured both a night launching and a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

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