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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 775 records · Page 43
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NASA NTRS1996

Third International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology

In order to examine the state of technology of all areas of magnetic suspension and to review recent developments in sensors, controls, superconducting magnet technology, and design/implementation practices, the Third International Symposium on Magnetic Suspension Technology was held at the Holiday Inn Capital Plaza in Tallahassee, Florida on 13-15 Dec. 1995. The symposium included 19 sessions in which a total of 55 papers were presented. The technical sessions covered the areas of bearings, superconductivity, vibration isolation, maglev, controls, space applications, general applications, bearing/actuator design, modeling, precision applications, electromagnetic launch and hypersonic maglev, applications of superconductivity, and sensors.

Groom, Nelson J.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Improving Space Project Cost Estimating with Engineering Management Variables

Current space project cost models attempt to predict space flight project cost via regression equations, which relate the cost of projects to technical performance metrics (e.g. weight, thrust, power, pointing accuracy, etc.). This paper examines the introduction of engineering management parameters to the set of explanatory variables. A number of specific engineering management variables are considered and exploratory regression analysis is performed to determine if there is statistical evidence for cost effects apart from technical aspects of the projects. It is concluded that there are other non-technical effects at work and that further research is warranted to determine if it can be shown that these cost effects are definitely related to engineering management.

Hamaker, Joseph W.↗
NASA NTRS2002

International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry: General Meeting Proceedings

This volume contains the proceedings of the second General Meeting of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS), held in Tsukuba, Japan, February 4-7, 2002. The contents of this volume also appear on the IVS Web site at http://ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov/publications/gm2002. The key-note of the second GM was prospectives for the future, in keeping with the re-organization of the IAG around the motivation of geodesy as 'an old science with a dynamic future' and noting that providing reference frames for Earth system science that are consistent over decades on the highest accuracy level will provide a challenging role for IVS. The goal of the meeting was to provide an interesting and informative program for a wide cross section of IVS members, including station operators, program managers, and analysts. This volume contains 72 papers and five abstracts of papers presented at the GM. The volume also includes reports about three splinter meetings held in conjunction with the GM: a mini-TOW (Technical Operations Workshop), the third IVS Analysis Workshop and a meeting of the analysis working group on geophysical modeling.

Vandenberg, Nancy R.↗
NASA NTRS2002

REACH: Real-Time Data Awareness in Multi-Spacecraft Missions

Missions have been proposed that will use multiple spacecraft to perform scientific or commercial tasks. Indeed, in the commercial world, some spacecraft constellations already exist. Aside from the technical challenges of constructing and flying these missions, there is also the financial challenge presented by the tradition model of the flight operations team (FOT) when it is applied to a constellation mission. Proposed constellation missions range in size from three spacecraft to more than 50. If the current ratio of three-to-five FOT personnel per spacecraft is maintained, the size of the FOT becomes cost prohibitive. The Advanced Architectures and Automation Branch at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC Code 588) saw the potential to reduce the cost of these missions by creating new user interfaces to the ground system health-and-safety data. The goal is to enable a smaller FOT to remain aware and responsive to the increased amount of ground system information in a multi-spacecraft environment. Rather than abandon the tried and true, these interfaces were developed to run alongside existing ground system software to provide additional support to the FOT. These new user interfaces have been combined in a tool called REACH. REACH-the Real-time Evaluation and Analysis of Consolidated Health-is a software product that uses advanced visualization techniques to make spacecraft anomalies easy to spot, no matter how many spacecraft are in the constellation. REACH reads a real-time stream of data from the ground system and displays it to the FOT such that anomalies are easy to pick out and investigate. Data visualization has been used in ground system operations for many years. To provide a unique visualization tool, we developed a unique source of data to visualize: the REACH Health Model Engine. The Health Model Engine is rule-based software that receives real-time telemetry information and outputs "health" information related to the subsystems and spacecraft that the telemetry belong to. The Health Engine can run out-of-the-box or can be tailored with a scripting language. Out of the box, it uses limit violations to determine the health of subsystems and spacecraft; when tailored, it determines health using equations combining the values and limits of any telemetry in the spacecraft. The REACH visualizations then "roll up" the information from the Health Engine into high level, summary displays. These summary visualizations can be "zoomed" into for increasing levels of detail. Currently REACH is installed in the Small Explorer (SMEX) lab at GSFC, and is monitoring three of their five spacecraft. We are scheduled to install REACH in the Mid-sized Explorer (MIDEX) lab, which will allow us to monitor up to six more spacecraft. The process of installing and using our "research" software in an operational environment has provided many insights into which parts of REACH are a step forward and which of our ideas are missteps. Our paper explores both the new concepts in spacecraft health-and-safety visualization, the difficulties of such systems in the operational environment, and the cost and safety issues of multi-spacecraft missions.

Maks, Lori↗
NASA NTRS2002

A Suggested Approach for Producing VAMS Air Transportation System Technology Roadmaps

This viewgraph presentation provides an overview on the use of technology 'roadmaps' in order to facilitate the research development of VAMS (Virtual Airspace Modeling and Simulation). These roadmaps are to be produced by each concept team, updated annually, discussed at the technical interchange meetings (TIMs), shared among all VAMS participants, and made available electronically. These concept-specific technology roadmaps will be subsequently blended into an integrated catalog of roadmaps, technical discussions, and research recommendations. A historical example of ATM (Air Traffic Management) research and technology from 1940 to 1999 as shown in a series of 'roadmaps' is also included.

Weathers, Del↗
NASA NTRS2001

Noise in state of the art clocks and their impact for fundamental physics

In this paper a review of the use of advanced atomic clocks in testing the fundamental physical laws will be presented. Noise sources of clocks will be discussed, together with an outline their characterization based on current models. The paper will conclude with a discussion of recent attempts to reduce the fundamental, as well as technical noise in atomic clocks.

noise state-of-the-art clocks fundamental physics↗
NASA NTRS2009

Recent Advances in Model-Assisted Probability of Detection

The increased role played by probability of detection (POD) in structural integrity programs, combined with the significant time and cost associated with the purely empirical determination of POD, provides motivation for alternate means to estimate this important metric of NDE techniques. One approach to make the process of POD estimation more efficient is to complement limited empirical experiments with information from physics-based models of the inspection process or controlled laboratory experiments. The Model-Assisted Probability of Detection (MAPOD) Working Group was formed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, the FAA Technical Center, and NASA to explore these possibilities. Since the 2004 inception of the MAPOD Working Group, 11 meetings have been held in conjunction with major NDE conferences. This paper will review the accomplishments of this group, which includes over 90 members from around the world. Included will be a discussion of strategies developed to combine physics-based and empirical understanding, draft protocols that have been developed to guide application of the strategies, and demonstrations that have been or are being carried out in a number of countries. The talk will conclude with a discussion of future directions, which will include documentation of benefits via case studies, development of formal protocols for engineering practice, as well as a number of specific technical issues.

Thompson, R. Bruce↗
NASA NTRS2011

A Study of Radio Frequency Interference in the Space-to- Earth Exploration Allocation at L-Band

We report on ongoing studies of the anthropogenic radio frequency interference (RFI) in the Lband allocation for space-to-Earth exploration.1,2 The studies are being conducted for the radar instrument on the proposed Soil Moisture Active/Passive (SMAP) mission. A review of the allocated emitters is presented, followed by analysis based on space-borne and airborne data collected from the PALSAR sensor and the UAVSAR sensor. We use these data to model the pulsed RFI environment for SMAP and to demonstrate that the baseline plans for RFI mitigation are technically sound.

radiofrequency interference↗
NASA NTRS2016

Human Spaceflight Architecture Model (HSFAM) Data Dictionary

HSFAM is a data model based on the DoDAF 2.02 data model with some for purpose extensions. These extensions are designed to permit quantitative analyses regarding stakeholder concerns about technical feasibility, configuration and interface issues, and budgetary and/or economic viability.

architecture definition↗
NASA NTRS2016

Natural Environments Definition for Design

Planning for future National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) missions will encompass a variety of operational and engineering activities that involve a multitude of issues, constraints, and influences derived from the natural environment. This Technical Memorandum (TM) presents a definition of the natural environment, i.e., a description in engineering handbook format of models and data specifically selected to support the architecture development, engineering design, and technology development for NASA's Exploration Systems Development (ESD) initiatives.

Justh, H. L.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Review of a Draft - Avoiding the Impossible: Re-focusing a Non-Feasible Mission 2-Hrs into a 3-Day Engineering Session

Concurrent engineering offers a great many benefits to engineers and mission designers throughout the world of aerospace. The only downside of concurrent engineering, and this is somewhat unavoidable, is that you don’t know the results of a design session until the end when it is completed. Usually, this is not a problem – you wouldn’t start building a spacecraft before the design is finished. However, within mass and cost constrained systems, you may end up with a final design that although technically sound – is not feasible due to mass or cost limits. Employing in-session mass and cost models with flexible inputs that refine their estimates and variance as more detailed information comes in throughout a design session allows major design changes to be made when the probability of breaching a mass or cost cap exceeds a threshold level. This enables mission designers to re-focus the study, and avoid spending 3-days with 15 engineers designing a non-feasible mission. By understanding key correlations and nested relationships within mass or cost, and specifically mass or cost allocations per mission element by mission type, it’s possible to get flexible-input, statistically based mass and cost estimates very early in the design process. Baseline models are seeded using mission characteristics and general parameters (outer planetary orbiter-probe mission, $500M cost cap for example) to provide a rough estimate of the expected mass or cost. As information gets solidified during the session, it gets added to the model and the estimates are updated. Continuing the orbiter-probe mission example, modeling probe heat shield cost as a percent of total probe cost, and probe cost as a percent of total flight system cost, and total flight system cost as a percent of total mission cost allows a design team to roll-up solidified information to estimate the probability of fitting within a mass or cost constraint early in a concurrent design session. When only the heat shield cost is known, the variance of the final estimate is higher, whereas when the full probe gets defined, naturally, the variance of the estimate decreases. A methodology, model, verification and demo implementation for cost limit breach are presented.

Hihn, Jairus M.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Verification and Validation of Elastodynamic Simulation Software for Aerospace Research

Physics-based simulation of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) inspection can help to advance the inspectability and reliability of mechanical systems. However, NDE simulations applicable to non-idealized mechanical components often require large compute domains and long run times. This has prompted development of custom NDE simulation software tailored to high performance computing (HPC) hardware. Verification and validation (V&V) is an integral part of developing this software to ensure implementations are robust and applicable to inspection problems, producing tools and simulations suitable for computational NDE research. This presentation addresses factors common to V&V of several elastodynamic simulation codes applicable to ultrasonic NDE. Examples are drawn from in-house simulation software at NASA Langley Research Center, ranging from ensuring reliability in a 1D heterogeneous media wave equation solver to the V&V needs of 3D cluster-parallel elastodynamic software. Factors specific to a research environment are addressed, where individual simulation results can be as relevant as the software product itself. Distinct facets of V&V are discussed including testing to establish software reliability, employing systematic approaches for consistency with fundamental conservation laws, establishing the numerical stability of algorithms, and demonstrating concurrence with empirical data. This talk also addresses V&V practices for small groups of researchers. This includes establishing resources (e.g. time and personnel) for V&V during project planning to mitigate and control the risk of setbacks. Similarly, we identify ways for individual researchers to use V&V during simulation software development itself to both speed up the development process and reduce incurred technical debt.

NDE↗
NASA NTRS2006

System Architecture Modeling for Technology Portfolio Management using ATLAS

Strategic planners and technology portfolio managers have traditionally relied on consensus-based tools, such as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in planning the funding of technology development. While useful to a certain extent, these tools are limited in the ability to fully quantify the impact of a technology choice on system mass, system reliability, project schedule, and lifecycle cost. The Advanced Technology Lifecycle Analysis System (ATLAS) aims to provide strategic planners a decision support tool for analyzing technology selections within a Space Exploration Architecture (SEA). Using ATLAS, strategic planners can select physics-based system models from a library, configure the systems with technologies and performance parameters, and plan the deployment of a SEA. Key parameters for current and future technologies have been collected from subject-matter experts and other documented sources in the Technology Tool Box (TTB). ATLAS can be used to compare the technical feasibility and economic viability of a set of technology choices for one SEA, and compare it against another set of technology choices or another SEA. System architecture modeling in ATLAS is a multi-step process. First, the modeler defines the system level requirements. Second, the modeler identifies technologies of interest whose impact on an SEA. Third, the system modeling team creates models of architecture elements (e.g. launch vehicles, in-space transfer vehicles, crew vehicles) if they are not already in the model library. Finally, the architecture modeler develops a script for the ATLAS tool to run, and the results for comparison are generated.

Thompson, Robert W.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Mode Selection Techniques in Variable Mass Flexible Body Modeling

In developing a flexible body spacecraft simulation for the Launch Abort System of the Orion vehicle, when a rapid mass depletion takes place, the dynamics problem with time varying eigenmodes had to be addressed. Three different techniques were implemented, with different trade-offs made between performance and fidelity. A number of technical issues had to be solved in the process. This paper covers the background of the variable mass flexibility problem, the three approaches to simulating it, and the technical issues that were solved in formulating and implementing them.

Launch Abort System↗
NASA NTRS2003

Systems Modeling of a Hypothetical SSME Channel-Wall Nozzle

A future upgrade to the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) may be the replacement of the current regenerative cooled tube-wall nozzle with a nozzle using a regeneratively-cooled channel-wall design. The current tube-wall design represents the only major piece of SSME hardware that has not been dramatically updated throughout thc long history of the engine. There are a number of advantages to a channel-wall design including the promise of faster and lower cost fabrication and greater reliability in the field. The technical obstacles in the path of making this happen are many, particularly in the realms of metallurgy and manufacturing techniques. However, one technical area that can and should be addressed in the near term as part of the development of detailed component requirements is a systems type model of the fluid flow and heat transfer processes to which the new design will be exposed. This paper presents the results of an effort to develop a mathematical model of the internal flow for a generic channel-wall nozzle functioning as a direct replacement for the current tube-wall nozzle with a minimum of systems-level changes. Comparisons will be made to mathematical modeling results for the current tube-wall design and the results of various geometrical trade studies will be presented. It is the intent of this work to examine the feasibility of the concept of a direct replacement component with minimum systems-!eve impacts and to highlight potential areas of concern requiring further work in the future.

Greene, William D.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Space Architecture for MoonVillage

The concept of a multinational MoonVillage, as proposed by Jan Wörner of ESA, is analyzed with respect to diverse factors affecting its implementation feasibility: potential activities and scale as a function of location, technology, and purpose; potential participants and their roles; business models for growth and sustainability as compared to the ISS; and implications for the field of space architecture. Environmental and operations constraints that govern all types of MoonVillage are detailed. Findings include: 1) while technically feasible, a MoonVillage would be more distributed and complex a project than the ISS; 2) significant and distinctive opportunities exist for willing participants, at all evolutionary scales and degrees of commercialization; 3) the mixed-use space business park model is essential for growth and permanence; 4) growth depends on exporting lunar material products, and the rate and extent of growth depends on export customers including terrestrial industries; 5) industrial-scale operations are a precondition for lunar urbanism, which goal in turn dramatically drives technology requirements; but 6) industrial viability cannot be discerned until significant in situ operations occur; and therefore 7) government investment in lunar surface operations is a strictly enabling step. Because of the resources it could apply, the U.S. government holds the greatest leverage on growth, no matter who founds a MoonVillage. The interplanetary business to be built may be cause for engagement.

Sherwood, Bent↗
NASA NTRS2013

Estimated Probability of a Cervical Spine Injury During an ISS Mission

Introduction: The Integrated Medical Model (IMM) utilizes historical data, cohort data, and external simulations as input factors to provide estimates of crew health, resource utilization and mission outcomes. The Cervical Spine Injury Module (CSIM) is an external simulation designed to provide the IMM with parameter estimates for 1) a probability distribution function (PDF) of the incidence rate, 2) the mean incidence rate, and 3) the standard deviation associated with the mean resulting from injury/trauma of the neck. Methods: An injury mechanism based on an idealized low-velocity blunt impact to the superior posterior thorax of an ISS crewmember was used as the simulated mission environment. As a result of this impact, the cervical spine is inertially loaded from the mass of the head producing an extension-flexion motion deforming the soft tissues of the neck. A multibody biomechanical model was developed to estimate the kinematic and dynamic response of the head-neck system from a prescribed acceleration profile. Logistic regression was performed on a dataset containing AIS1 soft tissue neck injuries from rear-end automobile collisions with published Neck Injury Criterion values producing an injury transfer function (ITF). An injury event scenario (IES) was constructed such that crew 1 is moving through a primary or standard translation path transferring large volume equipment impacting stationary crew 2. The incidence rate for this IES was estimated from in-flight data and used to calculate the probability of occurrence. The uncertainty in the model input factors were estimated from representative datasets and expressed in terms of probability distributions. A Monte Carlo Method utilizing simple random sampling was employed to propagate both aleatory and epistemic uncertain factors. Scatterplots and partial correlation coefficients (PCC) were generated to determine input factor sensitivity. CSIM was developed in the SimMechanics/Simulink environment with a Monte Carlo wrapper (MATLAB) used to integrate the components of the module. Results: The probability of generating an AIS1 soft tissue neck injury from the extension/flexion motion induced by a low-velocity blunt impact to the superior posterior thorax was fitted with a lognormal PDF with mean 0.26409, standard deviation 0.11353, standard error of mean 0.00114, and 95% confidence interval [0.26186, 0.26631]. Combining the probability of an AIS1 injury with the probability of IES occurrence was fitted with a Johnson SI PDF with mean 0.02772, standard deviation 0.02012, standard error of mean 0.00020, and 95% confidence interval [0.02733, 0.02812]. The input factor sensitivity analysis in descending order was IES incidence rate, ITF regression coefficient 1, impactor initial velocity, ITF regression coefficient 2, and all others (equipment mass, crew 1 body mass, crew 2 body mass) insignificant. Verification and Validation (V&V): The IMM V&V, based upon NASA STD 7009, was implemented which included an assessment of the data sets used to build CSIM. The documentation maintained includes source code comments and a technical report. The software code and documentation is under Subversion configuration management. Kinematic validation was performed by comparing the biomechanical model output to established corridors.

Brooker, John E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Investigations into mirror fabrication metrology analysis

This final report describes the work performed under this delivery order from June 1993 through August 1994. The scope of work included three distinct tasks in support of the AXAF-I program. The objective of the first task was to perform investigations of the grinding and polishing characteristics of the zerodur material by fabricating several samples. The second task was to continue the development of the integrated optical performance modeling software for AXAF-I. The purpose of third and final task was to develop and update the database of AXAF technical documents for an easy and rapid access. The MSFC optical and metrology shops were relocated from the B-wing of Building 4487 to Room BC 144 of Building 4466 in the beginning of this contract. This included dismantling, packing, and moving the equipment from its old location, and then reassembling it at the new location. A total of 65 zerodur samples, measuring 1 inch x 2 inches x 6 inches were ground and polished to a surface figure of lambda/10 p-v, and a surface finish of 5A rms were fabricated for coating tests. A number of special purpose tools and metal mirrors were also fabricated to support various AXAF-I development activities. In the metrology area, the ZYGO Mark 4 interferometer was relocated and also upgraded with a faster and more powerful processor. Surface metrology work was also performed on the coating samples and other optics using ZYGO interferometer and WYKO profilometer. A number of new features have been added to the GRAZTRACE program to enhance its analysis and modeling capabilities. A number of new commands have been added to the command mode GRAZTRACE program to provide a better control to the user on the program execution and data manipulation. Some commands and parameter entries have been reorganized for a uniform format. The command mode version of the convolution program CONVOLVE has been developed. An on-line help system and a user's manual have also been developed for the benefit of the users. The database of AXAF technical documents continues to progress. The titles, company name, date, and location of over 390 documents have been entered in this database. This database provides both a data search and retrieval function, and a data adding function. These functions allow a user to quickly search the data files for documents or add new information. A detailed user's guide has also been prepared. This user guide includes a document classification guide, a list of abbreviations, and a list of acronyms, which have been used in compiling this database of AXAF-I technical documents.

Dimmock, John O.↗