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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

An Acoustic Charge Transport Imager for High Definition Television

This project, over its term, included funding to a variety of companies and organizations. In addition to Georgia Tech these included Florida Atlantic University with Dr. William E. Glenn as the P.I., Kodak with Mr. Mike Richardson as the P.I. and M.I.T./Polaroid with Dr. Richard Solomon as the P.I. The focus of the work conducted by these organizations was the development of camera hardware for High Definition Television (HDTV). The focus of the research at Georgia Tech was the development of new semiconductor technology to achieve a next generation solid state imager chip that would operate at a high frame rate (I 70 frames per second), operate at low light levels (via the use of avalanche photodiodes as the detector element) and contain 2 million pixels. The actual cost required to create this new semiconductor technology was probably at least 5 or 6 times the investment made under this program and hence we fell short of achieving this rather grand goal. We did, however, produce a number of spin-off technologies as a result of our efforts. These include, among others, improved avalanche photodiode structures, significant advancement of the state of understanding of ZnO/GaAs structures and significant contributions to the analysis of general GaAs semiconductor devices and the design of Surface Acoustic Wave resonator filters for wireless communication. More of these will be described in the report. The work conducted at the partner sites resulted in the development of 4 prototype HDTV cameras. The HDTV camera developed by Kodak uses the Kodak KAI-2091M high- definition monochrome image sensor. This progressively-scanned charge-coupled device (CCD) can operate at video frame rates and has 9 gm square pixels. The photosensitive area has a 16:9 aspect ratio and is consistent with the "Common Image Format" (CIF). It features an active image area of 1928 horizontal by 1084 vertical pixels and has a 55% fill factor. The camera is designed to operate in continuous mode with an output data rate of 5MHz, which gives a maximum frame rate of 4 frames per second. The MIT/Polaroid group developed two cameras under this program. The cameras have effectively four times the current video spatial resolution and at 60 frames per second are double the normal video frame rate.

Hunt, William D.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Improved Detection Technique for Solvent Rinse Cleanliness Verification

The NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) has an ongoing effort to reduce or eliminate usage of cleaning solvents such as CFC-113 and its replacements. These solvents are used in the final clean and cleanliness verification processes for flight and ground support hardware, especially for oxygen systems where organic contaminants can pose an ignition hazard. For the final cleanliness verification in the standard process, the equivalent of one square foot of surface area of parts is rinsed with the solvent, and the final 100 mL of the rinse is captured. The amount of nonvolatile residue (NVR) in the solvent is determined by weight after the evaporation of the solvent. An improved process of sampling this rinse, developed at WSTF, requires evaporation of less than 2 mL of the solvent to make the cleanliness verification. Small amounts of the solvent are evaporated in a clean stainless steel cup, and the cleanliness of the stainless steel cup is measured using a commercially available surface quality monitor. The effectiveness of this new cleanliness verification technique was compared to the accepted NVR sampling procedures. Testing with known contaminants in solution, such as hydraulic fluid, fluorinated lubricants, and cutting and lubricating oils, was performed to establish a correlation between amount in solution and the process response. This report presents the approach and results and discusses the issues in establishing the surface quality monitor-based cleanliness verification.

Hornung, S. D.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Launch and Landing Effects Ground Operations (LLEGO) Model

LLEGO is a model for understanding recurring launch and landing operations costs at Kennedy Space Center for human space flight. Launch and landing operations are often referred to as ground processing, or ground operations. Currently, this function is specific to the ground operations for the Space Shuttle Space Transportation System within the Space Shuttle Program. The Constellation system to follow the Space Shuttle consists of the crewed Orion spacecraft atop an Ares I launch vehicle and the uncrewed Ares V cargo launch vehicle. The Constellation flight and ground systems build upon many elements of the existing Shuttle flight and ground hardware, as well as upon existing organizations and processes. In turn, the LLEGO model builds upon past ground operations research, modeling, data, and experience in estimating for future programs. Rather than to simply provide estimates, the LLEGO model s main purpose is to improve expenses by relating complex relationships among functions (ground operations contractor, subcontractors, civil service technical, center management, operations, etc.) to tangible drivers. Drivers include flight system complexity and reliability, as well as operations and supply chain management processes and technology. Together these factors define the operability and potential improvements for any future system, from the most direct to the least direct expenses.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2011

Data Interconnection Exploration

This project involves innovating the way the Quality Assurance organization at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) tracks the receiving inspection of JPL Critical Items (JCI) procured from suppliers. The Quality Assurance organization uses a Microsoft Access based front-end to enter items into an inspection queue. The current design has grown to be much more than was expected when the inspection queue system was created in 2007. The goal is to migrate to a web based solution that will allow the handling of more data, multiple input interfaces, and customizable display options. This has been achieved by implementing a divided tables scheme, the use of ColdFusion programming language, and the usage of Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX and jQuery. These updates will allow for future expansion as well as the standardization of inspection queues for the Quality Assurance organization. When engineers and scientists order flight hardware, they cannot use it straight away. After a spacecraft or a satellite has been launched, it will be impossible to repair; therefore, the parts used must be inspected to make sure they are operating correctly and within the required specifications. The task of inspecting these JPL Critical Items (JCI) falls on the Quality Assurance organization. One of the tools the receiving inspection group uses is a database to maintain a queue of inspections that need to be done and of inspections that have been completed. The current Access interface has worked well but increased amounts of data, multiple input interfaces, and changes to how data is handled have made it necessary to seek a new way of organizing items for inspection. In addition, the different inspection groups have recently been merged and each has different ways of keeping track of inspection information. The ultimate goal is for the new group to have one shared inspection queue and website. To achieve this goal, I have been working with Ian Luczon of Procurement Quality Assurance and 3 Myers Hawkins, another intern, to not only create the new queue for receiving inspection but also a central web portal for the newly combined inspection group.

flight hardware↗
NASA NTRS1987

Safety considerations in the design of manned spaceflight hardware

Some of the significant potential hazards affecting NASA's planned space-flight initiatives are discussed together with the safety design strategies they mandate. Attention is given to the role played by NASA's newly centralized safety organization during the design of manned space flight hardware and software. Prompt-effect/physical hazards include fire, explosions and depressurization, and natural and man-made space debris. Delayed-effect hazards include radiation and toxic contamination, microgravity effects, crew illness and injury, and isolation. Safety design considerations for software and hypersonic transatmospheric vehicles are evaluated.

Rodney, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Understanding Sampling Hardware Cleanliness from Perseverance Lessons Learned, and Forward Approach to Biosignature Missions

The search for biosignatures on other solar system bodies drives the scientific objectives of many ongoing and proposed exploration missions, including the Europa Lander mission concept.[1] The detection of trace and unfamiliar biosignatures in extreme environments necessitates state-of-the-art scientific instrumentation with extraordinary sensitivity – and often, extraordinary susceptibility to terrestrial and spacecraft self-induced contamination vectors.[2] While instruments can be carefully designed to operate remotely at high performance, in situ scientific measurements can only analyze the samples they’re given: samples or sample handling hardware that have been inadvertently tainted by outgassed organic molecules, thruster plume effluents, or other common sources of spacecraft contamination may yield ambiguous or false results. Maintaining and verifying the purity of collected samples and the cleanliness of sample handling hardware throughout the lifecycle of biosignature detection missions like Europa Lander is a primary responsibility of the Contamination Control group at JPL.

Alred, John↗
NASA NTRS1982

Comparison of acoustic data from a 102 mm conic nozzle as measured in the RAE 24-foot wind tunnel and the NASA Ames 40- by 80-foot wind tunnel

A cooperative program between the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), England, and the NASA Ames Research Center was initiated to compare acoustic measurements made in the RAE 24-foot wind tunnel and in the Ames 40- by 80-foot wind tunnel. The acoustic measurements were made in both facilities using the same 102 mm conical nozzle supplied by the RAE. The nozzle was tested by each organization using its respective jet test rig. The mounting hardware and nozzle exit conditions were matched as closely as possible. The data from each wind tunnel were independently analyzed by the respective organization. The results from these tests show good agreement. In both facilities, interference with acoustic measurement is evident at angles in the forward quadrant.

Atencio, A., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover SHERLOC Instrument Isolation System

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) successfully landed the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover at Jezero Crater on the Martian surface. Perseverance’s main mission objective is to cache Martian rock and regolith samples in hermetically sealed tubes to be brought back to Earth by future missions. To achieve this goal the rover is equipped with a 2-meter-long Robotic Arm (RA) which manipulates the Turret to interact with the surface. The Turret is comprised of science instruments and tools that enable surface sampling and science. The backbone of the Turret hardware is the Rotary Percussive Coring Drill. The science instruments, which are directly mounted to the structural housing of this drill, must be able to withstand not only the launch and entry, descent and landing (EDL) loads of the vehicle but also the dynamic percussive environment, induced by the drill throughout surface operations. This paper discusses the technical hardware design, development and testing of a vibration isolation system to protect the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) Instrument from these dynamic environments. The hardware design aspect of this problem was limited by both size and mass constraints. The Turret is tightly configured and the physical space in which hardware can reside is restricted due to multiple axes of surface interaction points. Another driving requirement is the extreme range of thermal non-operational environment from -135C to +90C. This, in addition to SHERLOC being a heavier instrument than previously integrated on a turret, made the use of isolation systems employed on previous rover missions problematic. The final design incorporates custom wire mesh springs preloaded within titanium hexapod struts equipped with flexure ends. Custom versions of commercially available wire mesh springs were designed and tested. These custom springs differed in dimension, density and stiffness from the off the shelf options. The newly designed springs went through various stages of flight acceptance testing. Detailed physics-based modeling to understand what loads the isolation system would experience was used to define the test conditions for the springs and entire isolation subsystem. The testing program developed around this was extensive to fully characterize the isolation performance over cleanliness levels, temperature and life. Another major aspect of this work was developing a method of replicating the drill’s percussive environment for performance and life testing of Turret mounted hardware. Attaching the instrument to an operating drill for testing was not a viable option. A method of using a Highly Accelerated Life Test (HALT) table was developed and applied across the project as the most representative and tunable option to physically simulate this new environment. This method, along with launch environment random vibration testing, was used to build an entire dynamic qualification and flight hardware test program. The results of the design, modeling, testing and analysis of the SHERLOC Isolation System is described throughout the following paper.

Krafchak, Todd↗
NASA NTRS2014

Interdisciplinary Interactions During R&D and Early Design of Large Engineered Systems

Designing Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems (LaCES) such as aircraft and submarines requires the input of thousands of engineers and scientists whose work is proximate in neither time nor space. Comprehensive knowledge of the system is dispersed among specialists whose expertise is in typically one system component or discipline. This study examined the interactive work practices among such specialists seeking to improve engineering practice through a rigorous and theoretical understanding of current practice. This research explored current interdisciplinary practices and perspectives during R&D and early LaCES design and identified why these practices and perspectives prevail and persist. The research design consisted of a three-fold, integrative approach that combined an open-ended survey, semi-structured interviews, and ethnography. Significant empirical data from experienced engineers and scientists in a large engineering organization were obtained and integrated with theories from organization science and engineering. Qualitative analysis was used to obtain a holistic, contextualized understanding. The over-arching finding is that issues related to cognition, organization, and social interrelations mostly dominate interactions across disciplines. Engineering issues, such as the integration of hardware or physics-based models, are not as significant. For example, organization culture is an important underlying factor that guided researchers more toward individual sovereignty over cross-disciplinarity. The organization structure and the engineered system architecture also serve as constraints to the engineering work. Many differences in work practices were observed, including frequency and depth of interactions, definition or co-construction of requirements, clarity or creation of the system architecture, work group proximity, and cognitive challenges. Practitioners are often unaware of these differences resulting in confusion and incorrect assumptions regarding work expectations. Cognitively, the enactment and coconstruction of knowledge are the fundamental tasks of the interdisciplinary interactions. Distributed and collective cognition represent most of the efforts. Argument, ignorance, learning, and creativity are interrelated aspects of the interactions that cause discomfort but yield benefits such as problem mitigation, broader understanding, and improved system design and performance. The quality and quantity of social interrelations are central to all work across disciplines with reciprocity, respectful engagement, and heedful interrelations being significant to the effectiveness of the engineering and scientific work.

McGowan, Anna-Maria Rivas↗
NASA NTRS1981

Satellite services system analysis study. Volume 1, part 2: Executive summary

The early mission model was developed through a survey of the potential user market. Service functions were defined and a group of design reference missions were selected which represented needs for each of the service functions. Servicing concepts were developed through mission analysis and STS timeline constraint analysis. The hardware needs for accomplishing the service functions were identified with emphasis being placed on applying equipment in the current NASA inventory and that in advanced stages of planning. A more comprehensive service model was developed based on the NASA and DoD mission models segregated by mission class. The number of service events of each class were estimated based on average revisit and service assumptions. Service Kits were defined as collections of equipment applicable to performing one or more service functions. Preliminary design was carrid out on a selected set of hardware needed for early service missions. The organization and costing of the satellie service systems were addressed.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1983

Proceedings: Fourth Parabolic Dish Solar Thermal Power Program Review

The results of activities within the parabolic dish technology and applications development program are presented. Stirling, organic Rankine and Brayton module technologies, associated hardware and test results to date; concentrator development and progress; economic analyses; and international dish development activities are covered. Two panel discussions, concerning industry issues affecting solar thermal dish development and dish technology from a utility/user perspective, are also included.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1993

Storage media pipelining: Making good use of fine-grained media

This paper proposes a new high-performance paradigm for accessing removable media such as tapes and especially magneto-optical disks. In high-performance computing the striping of data across multiple devices is a common means of improving data transfer rates. Striping has been used very successfully for fixed magnetic disks improving overall system reliability as well as throughput. It has also been proposed as a solution for providing improved bandwidth for tape and magneto-optical subsystems. However, striping of removable media has shortcomings, particularly in the areas of latency to data and restricted system configurations, and is suitable primarily for very large I/Os. We propose that for fine-grained media, an alternative access method, media pipelining, may be used to provide high bandwidth for large requests while retaining the flexibility to support concurrent small requests and different system configurations. Its principal drawback is high buffering requirements in the host computer or file server. This paper discusses the possible organization of such a system including the hardware conditions under which it may be effective, and the flexibility of configuration. Its expected performance is discussed under varying workloads including large single I/O's and numerous smaller ones. Finally, a specific system incorporating a high-transfer-rate magneto-optical disk drive and autochanger is discussed.

Vanmeter, Rodney↗
NASA NTRS2004

A Low-Cost Clustered Archive Approach for Storing Remote Sensing Data

As part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Data and Information System (EOSDIS), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Data Processing System (MODAPS) is now processing data from two instruments on the EOS flag ship spacecraft Terra and Aqua. Between the two, MODAPS is generating over 1 Terrabyte of data per day and has surpassed 3 Petabytes of total data. The bulk of the data is stored near-line in StorageTek Powerhorn tape jukeboxes. Accessing data that has been moved to tape involves submitting an order, scheduling the tape, and waiting for the data to become available. I am developing a low cost clustered archive that could enable storing a very large amount of data such as the MODIS data described above in an organized fashion on a cluster of commodity hardware using low cost SATA hard drives such that the files are directly available online. The system takes full advantage of Open Source software, using the GNULinux operating system, PostgreSQL relational database and the Apache HTTP Server. This poster session will depict my approach, the interface to the archive, a brief discussion of the internals of the system and some performance numbers from my prototyping. I will also describe various costs and benefits of this approach versus the traditional large tape jukebox approach currently in use in the EOSDIS.

Tilmes, Curt↗
NASA NTRS2009

Controlling Infrastructure Costs: Right-Sizing the Mission Control Facility

Johnson Space Center's Mission Control Center is a space vehicle, space program agnostic facility. The current operational design is essentially identical to the original facility architecture that was developed and deployed in the mid-90's. In an effort to streamline the support costs of the mission critical facility, the Mission Operations Division (MOD) of Johnson Space Center (JSC) has sponsored an exploratory project to evaluate and inject current state-of-the-practice Information Technology (IT) tools, processes and technology into legacy operations. The general push in the IT industry has been trending towards a data-centric computer infrastructure for the past several years. Organizations facing challenges with facility operations costs are turning to creative solutions combining hardware consolidation, virtualization and remote access to meet and exceed performance, security, and availability requirements. The Operations Technology Facility (OTF) organization at the Johnson Space Center has been chartered to build and evaluate a parallel Mission Control infrastructure, replacing the existing, thick-client distributed computing model and network architecture with a data center model utilizing virtualization to provide the MCC Infrastructure as a Service. The OTF will design a replacement architecture for the Mission Control Facility, leveraging hardware consolidation through the use of blade servers, increasing utilization rates for compute platforms through virtualization while expanding connectivity options through the deployment of secure remote access. The architecture demonstrates the maturity of the technologies generally available in industry today and the ability to successfully abstract the tightly coupled relationship between thick-client software and legacy hardware into a hardware agnostic "Infrastructure as a Service" capability that can scale to meet future requirements of new space programs and spacecraft. This paper discusses the benefits and difficulties that a migration to cloud-based computing philosophies has uncovered when compared to the legacy Mission Control Center architecture. The team consists of system and software engineers with extensive experience with the MCC infrastructure and software currently used to support the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle program (SSP).

Martin, Keith↗
NASA NTRS1990

Demonstrating artificial intelligence for space systems - Integration and project management issues

As part of its Systems Autonomy Demonstration Project (SADP), NASA has recently demonstrated the Thermal Expert System (TEXSYS). Advanced real-time expert system and human interface technology was successfully developed and integrated with conventional controllers of prototype space hardware to provide intelligent fault detection, isolation, and recovery capability. Many specialized skills were required, and responsibility for the various phases of the project therefore spanned multiple NASA centers, internal departments and contractor organizations. The test environment required communication among many types of hardware and software as well as between many people. The integration, testing, and configuration management tools and methodologies which were applied to the TEXSYS project to assure its safe and successful completion are detailed. The project demonstrated that artificial intelligence technology, including model-based reasoning, is capable of the monitoring and control of a large, complex system in real time.

Hack, Edmund C.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Studies to design and develop improved remote manipulator systems

Remote manipulator control considered is based on several levels of automatic supervision which derives manipulator commands from an analysis of sensor states and task requirements. Principle sensors are manipulator joint position, tactile, and currents. The tactile sensor states can be displayed visually in perspective or replicated in the operator's control handle of perceived by the automatic supervisor. Studies are reported on control organization, operator performance and system performance measures. Unusual hardware and software details are described.

Hill, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Response of Selected Microorganisms to Experimental Planetary Environments

Results of studies in anaerobic phosphorus metabolism are presented. Specific topics discussed include: (1) anaerobic utilization of PH3; (2) reduction of phosphate or phosphite; (3) isolation of organisms which utilize phosphite or phosphate anaerobically as a final hydrogen acceptor; and (4) the toxicity of PH3 to the organisms. Techniques of anaerobic microbiology associated with space hardware were also studied. These include: (1) the Brewer anaerobe jar/GasPak system; (2) a new procedure to grow aerobes and anaerobes simultaneously; (3) a culture medium to differentiate oblagate from facultative anaerobes; and (4) a procedure to quantitate O2 sensitivity of anaerobes.

Foster, T. L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

NASA's space station planning - An update

The Manned Space Station (MSS) program is summarized, along with the program guidelines, activities, plans, management approach, international involvement and the present and future private sector role in space. The MSS, the first continually-manned facility in space, will be configured to grow modularly to meet future needs. Comprising both manned and unattached unmanned elements, the program is to advance the state of robotics and automation. Numerous uses of the MSS have been defined in support of and as the primary platform for astronomical observations, experimentation on prototype space-based industrial processes, and as a staging area for the launch and refurbishment of spacecraft. Current studies are targeted at defining the final design of the initial operating configuration, the hardware to be developed by the nations and organizations which are sharing in the work, and developing interest among potential commercial users of the MSS capabilities.

Hoban, F. T.↗