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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 739 records · Page 41
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Large scale crystallization of protein pharmaceuticals in microgravity via temperature change

The major objective of this research effort is the temperature driven growth of protein crystals in large batches in the microgravity environment of space. Pharmaceutical houses are developing protein products for patient care, for example, human insulin, human growth hormone, interferons, and tissue plasminogen activator or TPA, the clot buster for heart attack victims. Except for insulin, these are very high value products; they are extremely potent in small quantities and have a great value per gram of material. It is feasible that microgravity crystallization can be a cost recoverable, economically sound final processing step in their manufacture. Large scale protein crystal growth in microgravity has significant advantages from the basic science and the applied science standpoints. Crystal growth can proceed unhindered due to lack of surface effects. Dynamic control is possible and relatively easy. The method has the potential to yield large quantities of pure crystalline product. Crystallization is a time honored procedure for purifying organic materials and microgravity crystallization could be the final step to remove trace impurities from high value protein pharmaceuticals. In addition, microgravity grown crystals could be the final formulation for those medicines that need to be administered in a timed release fashion. Long lasting insulin, insulin lente, is such a product. Also crystalline protein pharmaceuticals are more stable for long-term storage. Temperature, as the initiation step, has certain advantages. Again, dynamic control of the crystallization process is possible and easy. A temperature step is non-invasive and is the most subtle way to control protein solubility and therefore crystallization. Seeding is not necessary. Changes in protein and precipitant concentrations and pH are not necessary. Finally, this method represents a new way to crystallize proteins in space that takes advantage of the unique microgravity environment. The results from two flights showed that the hardware performed perfectly, many crystals were produced, and they were much larger than their ground grown controls. Morphometric analysis was done on over 4,000 crystals to establish crystal size, size distribution, and relative size. Space grown crystals were remarkably larger than their earth grown counterparts and crystal size was a function of PCF volume. That size distribution for the space grown crystals was a function of PCF volume may indicate that ultimate size was a function of temperature gradient. Since the insulin protein concentration was very low, 0.4 mg/ml, the size distribution could also be following the total amount of protein in each of the PCF's. X-ray analysis showed that the bigger space grown insulin crystals diffracted to higher resolution than their ground grown controls. When the data were normalized for size, they still indicated that the space crystals were better than the ground crystals.

Long, Marianna M.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Technology Thresholds for Microgravity: Status and Prospects

The technological and economic thresholds for microgravity space research are estimated in materials science and biotechnology. In the 1990s, the improvement of materials processing has been identified as a national scientific priority, particularly for stimulating entrepreneurship. The substantial US investment at stake in these critical technologies includes six broad categories: aerospace, transportation, health care, information, energy, and the environment. Microgravity space research addresses key technologies in each area. The viability of selected space-related industries is critically evaluated and a market share philosophy is developed, namely that incremental improvements in a large markets efficiency is a tangible reward from space-based research.

Noever, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Space Station Science Supported by Marshall Space Flight Center

The science program at Marshall Space Flight Center will be reviewed in the context of the overall NASA science program. An overview will be given on how Marshall science supports the International Space Station research program. The Microgravity research capabilities at Marshall's Biological and Physical Space Research Laboratory will be reviewed. The environment in orbit provides a unique opportunity to study Materials Science and Biotechnology in the absence of sedimentation and convection. There are a number of peer-selected investigations that have been selected to fly on the Space Station that have been conceived and are led by Marshall civil service and contractor scientists. In addition to Microgravity research the Station will enable research in New Initiative Research Areas that focus on enabling humans to live, work, and explore the solar system safely. The specific scientific instruments that have been developed for Materials Science and Biotechnology Research on the International Space Station will be discussed.

Whitaker, Ann F.↗
NASA NTRS2004

The In-Space Soldering Investigation: Research Conducted on the International Space Station in Support of NASA's Exploration Initiative

Soldering is a well established joining and repair process that is of particular importance in the electronics industry. Still. internal solder joint defects such as porosity are prevalent and compromise desired properties such as electrical/thermal conductivity and fatigue strength. Soldering equipment resides aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and will likely accompany Exploration Missions during transit to, as well as on, the moon and Mars. Unfortunately, detrimental porosity appears to be enhanced in lower gravity environments. To this end, the In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSI) is being conducted in the Microgravity Workbench Area (MWA) aboard the ISS as "Saturday Science" with the goal of promoting our understanding of joining techniques, shape equilibrium, wetting phenomena, and microstructural development in a microgravity environment. The work presented here will focus on direct observation of melting dynamics and shape determination in comparison to ground-based samples, with implications made to processing in other low-gravity environments. Unexpected convection effects, masked on Earth, will also be shown as well as the value of the ISS as a research platform in support of Exploration Missions.

Grugel, R. N.↗
NASA NTRS2006

The In-Space Soldering Investigation: To Date Analysis of Experiments Conducted on the International Space Station

Soldering is a well established joining and repair process that is of particular importance in the electronics industry. Still, internal solder joint defects such as porosity are prevalent and compromise desired properties such as electrical/thermal conductivity and fatigue strength. Soldering equipment resides aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and will likely accompany Exploration Missions during transit to, as well as on, the moon and Mars. Unfortunately, detrimental porosity appears to be enhanced in lower gravity environments. To this end, the In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSI) is being conducted in the Microgravity Workbench Area (MWA) aboard the ISS as "Saturday Science" with the goal of promoting our understanding of joining techniques, shape equilibrium, wetting phenomena, and microstructural development in a microgravity environment. The work presented here will focus on direct observation of melting dynamics and shape determination in comparison to ground-based samples, with implications made to processing in other low-gravity environments. Unexpected convection effects, masked on Earth, will also be shown as well as the value of the ISS as a research platform in support of Exploration Missions.

Grugel, Richard N.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Science in orbit: The shuttle and spacelab experience, 1981-1986

Significant achievements across all scientific disciplines and missions for the first six years of Shuttle flights are presented. Topics covered include science on the Space Shuttle and Spacelab, living and working in space, studying materials and processes in microgravity, observing the sun and earth, space plasma physics, atmospheric science, astronony and astrophysics, and testing new technology in space. Future research aboard the Shuttle/Spacelab is also briefly mentioned.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1998

Workshop on Research for Space Exploration: Physical Sciences and Process Technology

This report summarizes the results of a workshop sponsored by the Microgravity Research Division of NASA to define contributions the microgravity research community can provide to advance the human exploration of space. Invited speakers and attendees participated in an exchange of ideas to identify issues of interest in physical sciences and process technologies. This workshop was part of a continuing effort to broaden the contribution of the microgravity research community toward achieving the goals of the space agency in human exploration, as identified in the NASA Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) strategic plan. The Microgravity program is one of NASA'a major links to academic and industrial basic research in the physical and engineering sciences. At present, it supports close to 400 principal investigators, who represent many of the nation's leading researchers in the physical and engineering sciences and biotechnology. The intent of the workshop provided a dialogue between NASA and this large, influential research community, mission planners and industry technical experts with the goal of defining enabling research for the Human Exploration and Development of Space activities to which the microgravity research community can contribute.

Singh, Bhim S.↗
NASA NTRS1990

An overview of the Spacelab program

A detailed review is presented of Spacelab experiments, equipment, methodologies, and aims emphasizing the 16 dedicated missions for Space Shuttle flights. Extensive illustrations of experimental set-ups and payload configurations are given showing the Space Shuttle payload bay. Among the experiments described are: (1) the Astro-1 UV and X-ray astronomy mission; (2) the Spacelab Life Science-1 mission for human activity in space; (3) the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 for materials and biological studies; (4) the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science to study solar effects on the earth; and (5) the Space Radar Laboratory for mapping the earth. Spacelab ground support is discussed and shown to be important for the planning, integration, and flight activities of the experiment programs.

Benson, Robert H.↗
NASA NTRS2000

An Indirect Mixed-Sensitivity Approach to Microgravity Vibration Isolation: The Exploitation of Kinematic Coupling In Frequency-Weighting Design-Filter Selections

Many space science experiments need an active isolation system to provide them with the requisite microgravity environment. The isolation systems planned for use with the International Space Station have been appropriately modeled using relative position, relative velocity, and acceleration states. In theory, frequency design filters can be applied to these state-space models, in order to develop optimal H, or mixed-norm controllers with desired stability- and performance characteristics. In practice. however, the kinematic coupling among the various states can lead, through the associated frequency-weighting-filters, to conflicting demands on the Riccati design "machinery." The results can be numerically ill-conditioned regulator and estimator Riccati equations and/or reduced intuition in the design process. In addition, kinematic coupling can result in a redundancy in the demands imposed by the frequency weights. Failure properly to account for this type of coupling can lead to an unnecessary increase in controller dimensionality and, in turn, controller complexity. This paper suggests a rational approach to the assignment of frequency weighting design filters, in the presence of the kinematic coupling among states that exists in the microgravity vibration isolation problem.

Hampton, R. David↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Future of New Discoveries on the International Space Station

The Materials Science program is one of the five Microgravity research disciplines in NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS). This research uses the low gravity environment to obtain the fundamental understanding of various phenomena effects and it's relationship to structure, processing, and properties of materials. The International Space Station (ISS) will complete the first major assembly phase within the next year thus providing the opportunity for on-orbit research and scientific utilization in early 2001. Research will become routine as the final Space Station configuration is completed. Accommodations will support a variety of Materials Science payload hardware both in the US and international partner modules. This paper addresses the current scope of the flight investigator program that will utilize the various capabilities on ISS. The type of research and classification of materials that are addressed using multiple types of flight apparatus will be explained. The various flight and ground facilities that are used to support the NASA program are described. The early utilization schedule for the materials science payloads with associated hardware will be covered. The Materials Science Research Facility and related international experiment modules serves as the foundation for this capability. The potential applications and technologies obtained from the Materials Science program are described.

Schlagheck, Ronald↗
NASA NTRS1992

Residual acceleration data on IML-1: Development of a data reduction and dissemination plan

The need to record some measure of the low-gravity environment of an orbiting space vehicle was recognized at an early stage of the U.S. Space Program. Such information was considered important for both the assessment of an astronaut's physical condition during and after space missions and the analysis of the fluid physics, materials processing, and biological sciences experiments run in space. Various measurement systems were developed and flown on space platforms beginning in the early 1970's. Similar in concept to land based seismometers that measure vibrations caused by earthquakes and explosions, accelerometers mounted on orbiting space vehicles measure vibrations in and of the vehicle due to internal and external sources, as well as vibrations in a sensor's relative acceleration with respect to the vehicle to which it is attached. The data collected over the years have helped to alter the perception of gravity on-board a space vehicle from the public's early concept of zero-gravity to the science community's evolution of thought from microgravity to milligravity to g-jitter or vibrational environment. Since the advent of the Shuttle Orbiter Program, especially since the start of Spacelab flights dedicated to scientific investigations, the interest in measuring the low-gravity environment in which experiments are run has increased. This interest led to the development and flight of numerous accelerometer systems dedicated to specific experiments. It also prompted the development of the NASA MSAD-sponsored Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS). The first SAMS units flew in the Spacelab on STS-40 in June 1991 in support of the first Spacelab Life Sciences mission (SLS-1). SAMS is currently manifested to fly on all future Spacelab missions.

Rogers, Melissa J. B.↗
NASA NTRS2000

An Indirect Mixed-Sensitivity Approach to Microgravity Vibration Isolation: The Exploitation of Kinematic Coupling In Frequency-weighting Design-Filter Selections

Many space-science experiments need an active isolation system to provide them with the requisite microgravity environment. The isolation systems planned for use with the International Space Station have been appropriately modeled using relative position relative velocity, and acceleration states. In theory, frequency-weighting design filters can be applied to these state-space models, in order to develop optimal H2 or mixed-norm controllers with desired stability and performance characteristics. In practice, however, the kinematic coupling among the various states can lead, through the associated frequency-weighting-filters, to conflicting demands on the Riccati design "machinery." The results can be numerically ill-conditioned regulator and estimator Riccati equations and/or reduced intuition in the design process. In addition, kinematic coupling can result in a redundancy in the demands imposed by the frequency weights. Failure properly to account for this type of coupling can lead to an unnecessary increase in controller dimensionality and, in turn, controller complexity. This paper suggests a rational approach to the assignment of frequency-weighting design filters, in the presence of the kinematic coupling among states that exists in the microgravity vibration isolation problem.

Hampton, R. David↗
NASA NTRS2020

Introduction to ISS Crew Displays

The International Space Station (ISS) began payload operations in earnest in 2000 with the arrival of the Expedition 1. To date, ISS has offered Principal Investigators (PIs) a reliable platform for microgravity research, having hosted thousands of onboard science experiments. Most of this research is supported by experiment hardware and software and many include a crew‐operated Graphical User Interface (GUI). The purpose of this article is to share information with PIs and Payload Developer (PD) teams about the processes, standards, and guidelines applicable to crew GUI design that must be complied with when planning payload software. The goal is not to enumerate all of the ISS display standards, but rather to highlight design guidelines and the ISS Program milestones for verification and approval of onboard crew displays.

Graphical User Interface↗
NASA NTRS2014

NASA GeneLab Concept of Operations

NASA's GeneLab aims to greatly increase the number of scientists that are using data from space biology investigations on board ISS, emphasizing a systems biology approach to the science. When completed, GeneLab will provide the integrated software and hardware infrastructure, analytical tools and reference datasets for an assortment of model organisms. GeneLab will also provide an environment for scientists to collaborate thereby increasing the possibility for data to be reused for future experimentation. To maximize the value of data from life science experiments performed in space and to make the most advantageous use of the remaining ISS research window, GeneLab will apply an open access approach to conducting spaceflight experiments by generating, and sharing the datasets derived from these biological studies in space.Onboard the ISS, a wide variety of model organisms will be studied and returned to Earth for analysis. Laboratories on the ground will analyze these samples and provide genomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic and proteomic data. Upon receipt, NASA will conduct data quality control tasks and format raw data returned from the omics centers into standardized, annotated information sets that can be readily searched and linked to spaceflight metadata. Once prepared, the biological datasets, as well as any analysis completed, will be made public through the GeneLab Space Bioinformatics System webb as edportal. These efforts will support a collaborative research environment for spaceflight studies that will closely resemble environments created by the Department of Energy (DOE), National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), and other institutions in additional areas of study, such as cancer and environmental biology. The results will allow for comparative analyses that will help scientists around the world take a major leap forward in understanding the effect of microgravity, radiation, and other aspects of the space environment on model organisms. These efforts will speed the process of scientific sharing, iteration, and discovery.

Space Life Science↗
NASA NTRS2001

Microgravity Emissions Laboratory Developed

The Microgravity Emissions Laboratory (MEL) was developed for the support, simulation, and verification of the International Space Station microgravity environment. The MEL utilizes an inertial measurement system using acceleration emissions generated by various operating components of the space station. These emissions, if too large, could hinder the science performed on the space station by disturbing the microgravity environment. Typical test components are disk drives, pumps, motors, solenoids, fans, and cameras. These components will produce inertial forces, which disturb the microgravity on-orbit station environment. These components, usually housed within a station rack, must meet acceleration limits imposed at the rack interface for minimizing the onboard station-operating environment. The NASA Glenn Research Center developed this one-of-a-kind laboratory for testing components and, eventually, rack-level configurations. The MEL approach is to measure the component's generated inertial forces. This force is a product of the full diagonal mass matrix including the test setup (the center of gravity, mass moment of inertia, and weight) and the resolved diagonal rigid-body acceleration determined from measurements using the 10 apparatus accelerometers. The mass matrix can be test derived. The bifilar torsional pendulum method is used to measure the moment of inertia for the test component.

Goodnight, Thomas W.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Recent Progress on Numerical Modeling for Microgravity Electric Field Flames: Preprint

This paper presents the recent progress on the NASA Physical Science Informatics (PSI) project PeleLM CFD of Ion Driven Winds from Diffusion Flames in simulating the E-FIELD Flames microgravity results. The focus of this project is to comprehensively simulate the behavior of a small diffusion flame under the influence of an externally applied electric field in zero-gravity. To date, the capability of accurately simulating electric field flames has eluded researchers because the system exhibits dramatic ranges of coupled temporal and spatial scales. Moreover, in earth gravity the hot combustion products are subject to buoyancy effects that are difficult to isolate from those generated by the electric field. This work is an implementation in an existing powerful simulation framework (PeleLM) for this problem using PeleLMeX in order to validate the model and investigate the complex coupled system. The current effort includes establishing the domain of a diffusion coflow burner, examining the boundary conditions, flame geometry and ignition with gravitational forces and also with an electric field applied. A detailed model is used that includes the chemistry of charged ions and chemiluminescent flame intermediates to capture any feedback between ion-driven convection and combustion behavior, and to allow quantitative comparisons with experimental measurements.

coflow flames↗
NASA NTRS2010

U.S. Materials Science on the International Space Station: Status and Plans

This viewgraph presentation reviews the current status and NASA plans for materials science on the International Space Station. The contents include: 1) Investigations Launched in 2009; 2) DECLIC in an EXPRESS rack; 3) Dynamical Selection of Three-Dimensional Interface Patterns in Directional Solidification (DSIP); 4) Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR); 5) Materials Science Laboratory; 6) Comparison of Structure and Segregation in Alloys Directionally Solidified in Terrestrial and Microgravity Environments (MICAST/CETSOL); 7) Coarsening in Solid Liquid Mixtures 2 Reflight (CSLM 2R); 8) Crystal Growth Investigations; 9) Levitator Investigations; 10) Quasi Crystalline Undercooled Alloys for Space Investigation (QUASI); 11) The Role of Convection and Growth Competition in Phase Selection in Microgravity (LODESTARS); 12) Planned Additional Investigations; 13) SETA; 14) METCOMP; and 15) Materials Science NRA.

Chiaramonte, Francis P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

The Spacelab J mission

This paper describes Spacelab J (SL-J), its mission characteristics, features, parameters and configuration, the unique nature of the shared reimbursable cooperative effort with the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan and the evolution, content and objectives of the mission scientific experiment complement. The mission is planned for launch in 1991. This long module mission has 35 experiments from Japan as well as 9 investigations from the United States. The SL-J payload consists of two broad scientific disciplines which require the extended microgravity or cosmic ray environment: (1) materials science such as crystal growth, solidification processes, drop dynamics, free surface flows, gas dynamics, metallurgy and semiconductor technology; and (2) life science including cell development, human physiology, radiation-induced mutations, vestibular studies, embryo development, and medical technology. Through an international agreement with NASDA, NASA is preparing to fly the first Japanese manned, scientific, cooperative endeavor with the United States.

Cremin, J. W.↗