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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 NTRS2002

Systems Architecture for Fully Autonomous Space Missions

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is working to develop a revolutionary new system architecture concept in support of fully autonomous missions. As part of GSFC's contribution to the New Millenium Program (NMP) Space Technology 7 Autonomy and on-Board Processing (ST7-A) Concept Definition Study, the system incorporates the latest commercial Internet and software development ideas and extends them into NASA ground and space segment architectures. The unique challenges facing the exploration of remote and inaccessible locales and the need to incorporate corresponding autonomy technologies within reasonable cost necessitate the re-thinking of traditional mission architectures. A measure of the resiliency of this architecture in its application to a broad range of future autonomy missions will depend on its effectiveness in leveraging from commercial tools developed for the personal computer and Internet markets. Specialized test stations and supporting software come to past as spacecraft take advantage of the extensive tools and research investments of billion-dollar commercial ventures. The projected improvements of the Internet and supporting infrastructure go hand-in-hand with market pressures that provide continuity in research. By taking advantage of consumer-oriented methods and processes, space-flight missions will continue to leverage on investments tailored to provide better services at reduced cost. The application of ground and space segment architectures each based on Local Area Networks (LAN), the use of personal computer-based operating systems, and the execution of activities and operations through a Wide Area Network (Internet) enable a revolution in spacecraft mission formulation, implementation, and flight operations. Hardware and software design, development, integration, test, and flight operations are all tied-in closely to a common thread that enables the smooth transitioning between program phases. The application of commercial software development techniques lays the foundation for delivery of product-oriented flight software modules and models. Software can then be readily applied to support the on-board autonomy required for mission self-management. An on-board intelligent system, based on advanced scripting languages, facilitates the mission autonomy required to offload ground system resources, and enables the spacecraft to manage itself safely through an efficient and effective process of reactive planning, science data acquisition, synthesis, and transmission to the ground. Autonomous ground systems in turn coordinate and support schedule contact times with the spacecraft. Specific autonomy software modules on-board include mission and science planners, instrument and subsystem control, and fault tolerance response software, all residing within a distributed computing environment supported through the flight LAN. Autonomy also requires the minimization of human intervention between users on the ground and the spacecraft, and hence calls for the elimination of the traditional operations control center as a funnel for data manipulation. Basic goal-oriented commands are sent directly from the user to the spacecraft through a distributed internet-based payload operations "center". The ensuing architecture calls for the use of spacecraft as point extensions on the Internet. This paper will detail the system architecture implementation chosen to enable cost-effective autonomous missions with applicability to a broad range of conditions. It will define the structure needed for implementation of such missions, including software and hardware infrastructures. The overall architecture is then laid out as a common thread in the mission life cycle from formulation through implementation and flight operations.

Esper, Jamie↗

NASA NTRS1998

Concrete Solution

A Space Act Agreement between Kennedy Space Center and Surtreat Southeast, Inc., resulted in a new treatment that keeps buildings from corroding away over time. Structural corrosion is a multi-billion dollar problem in the United States. The agreement merged Kennedy Space Center's research into electrical treatments of structural corrosion with chemical processes developed by Surtreat. Combining NASA and Surtreat technologies has resulted in a unique process with broad corrosion-control applications.

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NASA NTRS2002

Benefits Awareness: Educating Industry, Finance, and the Public About Space Commercialization

For space to be truly commercialized, businesses of all sizes and types must be involved, from foundries to agricultural research initiatives. Achieving this goal, however, requires three separate but integrated educational efforts to support it. The first is to educate industry leaders about the possibilities available through such research, while dispelling some of the myths and misinformation educate the financial community about the economic benefits that result both from the research and the leveraging of private research dollars through the use of space and microgravity research. The third is to educate the public about the tangible benefits that come directly to them from such efforts, the economic benefits to national economies from same, and the other less tangible benefits that will cascade from commercial operations. Together, these steps will educate and provide the framework necessary to help advance space commercialization.

Powers, Blake↗

NASA NTRS2002

Space Transportation and the Computer Industry: Learning from the Past

Since the space shuttle began flying in 1981, NASA has made a number of attempts to advance the state of the art in space transportation. In spite of billions of dollars invested, and several concerted attempts, no replacement for the shuttle is expected before 2010. Furthermore, the cost of access to space has dropped very slowly over the last two decades. On the other hand, the same two decades have seen dramatic progress in the computer industry. Computational speeds have increased by about a factor of 1000 and available memory, disk space, and network bandwidth has seen similar increases. At the same time, the cost of computing has dropped by about a factor of 10000. Is the space transportation problem simply harder? Or is there something to be learned from the computer industry? In looking for the answers, this paper reviews the early history of NASA's experience with supercomputers and NASA's visionary course change in supercomputer procurement strategy.

Merriam, M. L.↗

NASA NTRS1996

A Giant Step in Jetliner Propulsion

GE Aircraft's GE90 is a high bypass turbofan jetliner engine capable of well over 84,700 pounds thrust. The turbofan is a propulsion system that compresses some of the air taken in, burns it in a combuster and expells it to generate power for driving the fan and compressor. A greater amount of air bypasses the combustion process. The GE90 pushes the cooler bypass air rearward with a fan to mix it with the hot exhaust gas; the result is a gain in thrust with minimal fuel expenditure. Over a billion dollars and several years went into its development, which included incorporating technologies developed by Lewis Research Center work done in the 1970s and from projects with SNECMA of France. The engine will power the 777 and other subsonic commercial widebodies.

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NASA NTRS1994

Space Food

In planning for the long duration Apollo missions, NASA conducted extensive research into space food. One of the techniques developed was freeze drying. Action Products commercialized this technique, concentrating on snack food including the first freeze-dried ice cream. The foods are cooked, quickly frozen and then slowly heated in a vacuum chamber to remove the ice crystals formed by the freezing process. The final product retains 98 percent of its nutrition and weighs only 20 percent of its original weight. Action snacks are sold at museums, NASA facilities and are exported to a number of foreign countries. Sales run to several million dollars annually.

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NASA NTRS1992

Water Sensors

Mike Morris, former Associate Director of STAC, formed pHish Doctor, Inc. to develop and sell a pH monitor for home aquariums. The monitor, or pHish Doctor, consists of a sensor strip and color chart that continually measures pH levels in an aquarium. This is important because when the level gets too high, ammonia excreted by fish is highly toxic; at low pH, bacteria that normally break down waste products stop functioning. Sales have run into the tens of thousands of dollars. A NASA Tech Brief Technical Support Package later led to a salt water version of the system and a DoE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for development of a sensor for sea buoys. The company, now known as Ocean Optics, Inc., is currently studying the effects of carbon dioxide buildup as well as exploring other commercial applications for the fiber optic sensor.

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NASA NTRS1991

Performance Testing

Systems Technology, Inc., Hawthorne, CA, developed an electronic Critical Tracking Task (CTT) system that analyzes and rates a subject's visual/motor responses for Ames Research Center. Originally applied to measuring the effects of long term confinement in the mid 1960's, the CTT system is now marketed as FACTOR 1000 by Performance Factors, Inc. Alameda, CA, under a licensing agreement with Systems Technology. The system is a non-invasive, self-administered test that takes less than a minute and detects impairment from a broad range of causes, including stress, fatigue, illness, drugs, or alcohol. It is used daily by Old Town Trolley Tours, San Diego, CA, to assess each driver's physical coordination skills prior to the start of each shift. FACTOR 1000 reduces liabilities and costs related to accidents, and costs less than one dollar per day per employee. Performance Factors is now BioFactors, Inc.

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NASA NTRS1986

Fabric Manufacturing

When rapid oscillation of blanket wearing looms at Chatham Manufacturing Company caused significant metal fatigue, the company turned to NC/STRC for a NASA data bank computer search. The search pinpointed tensile stress, and suggested a built-in residual compressive stress as a solution. "Shot peening," bombarding a part with a high velocity stream of very small shot to pound and compress the part's surface, was found to be the only practical method for creating compressive stress. The method has been successful and the company estimates its annual savings as a quarter million dollars.

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NASA NTRS2003

Aerodynamic Drag and Drag Reduction: Energy and Energy Savings (Invited)

An assessment of the role of fluid dynamic resistance and/or aerodynamic drag and the relationship to energy use in the United States is presented. Existing data indicates that up to 25% of the total energy consumed in the United States is used to overcome aerodynamic drag, 27% of the total energy used in the United States is consumed by transportation systems, and 60% of the transportation energy or 16% of the total energy consumed in the United States is used to overcome aerodynamic drag in transportation systems. Drag reduction goals of 50% are proposed and discussed which if realized would produce a 7.85% total energy savings. This energy savings correlates to a yearly cost savings in the $30Billion dollar range.

Wood, Richard M.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Streamlined Livestock Trailer

Bull Nose livestock trailer, manufactured by American Trailer, Inc. is one of a line of highway transport vehicles manufactured by American Trailers, Inc. The slant side front end is a streamlining feature based on a NASA Research Program which investigated the aerodynamic characteristics of trailer/tractor combinations and suggested ways of reducing air resistance. Application of NASA's aerodynamic research technology to the bull nose design resulted in a 10 percent reduction in air drag, which translates into annual fuel savings of several hundred dollars.

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NASA NTRS1976

Heat Pipes for Alaskan Oil

McDonnel Douglas Corporation is using a heat-pipe device, developed through the space program, to transport oil from Alaska's rich North Slope fields. It is being used to keep the ground frozen along the 798- mile pipeline saving hundreds of millions of dollars and protecting the tundra environment. Heatpipes are totally automatic, they sense and respond to climatic conditions with no moving parts, require no external power, and never need adjustment or servicing.

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NASA NTRS2002

Convectively Induced Turbulence Encountered During NASA's Fall-2000 Flight Experiments

Aircraft encounters with atmospheric turbulence are a leading cause of in-flight injuries aboard commercial airliners and cost the airlines millions of dollars each year. Most of these injuries are due to encounters with turbulence in and around convection. In a recent study of 44 turbulence accident reports between 1990 and 1996, 82% of the cases were found to be near or within convective activity (Kaplan et al. 1999). According to NTSB accident reports, pilots' descriptions of these turbulence encounters include 'abrupt', 'in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC)', 'saw nothing on the weather radar', and 'the encounter occurred while deviating around' convective activity. Though the FAA has provided guidelines for aircraft operating in convective environments, turbulence detection capability could decrease the number of injuries by alerting pilots of a potential encounter. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, through its Aviation Safety Program, is addressing turbulence hazards through research, flight experiments, and data analysis. Primary focus of this program element is the characterization of turbulence and its environment, as well as the development and testing of hazard estimation algorithms for both radar and in situ detection. The ultimate goal is to operationally test sensors that will provide ample warning prior to hazardous turbulence encounters. In order to collect data for support of these activities, NASA-Langley's B-757 research aircraft was directed into regions favorable for convectively induced turbulence (CIT). On these flights, the airborne predictive wind shear (PWS) radar, augmented with algorithms designed for turbulence detection, was operated in real time to test this capability. In this paper, we present the results of two research flights when turbulence was encountered. Described is an overview of the flights, the general radar performance, and details of four encounters with severe turbulence.

Hamilton, David W.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Design and Testing of a One-Third Scale Soyuz TM Descent Module Spartan Conversion Project Super Loki Instrumentation

The 1992-1993 senior Aerospace Engineering Design class continued work on the post landing configurations for the Assured Crew Return Vehicle. The Assured Crew Return Vehicle will be permanently docked to the space station fulfilling NASA's commitment of Assured Crew Return Capability in the event of an accident or illness aboard the space station. The objective of the project was to give the Assured Crew Return Vehicle Project Office data to feed into their feasibility studies. Three design teams were given the task of developing models with dynamically and geometrically scaled characteristics. Groups one and two combined efforts to design a one-third scale model of the Russian Soyuz TM Descent Module, and an on-board flotation system. This model was designed to determine the flotation characteristics and test the effects of a rigid flotation and orientation system. Group three designed a portable water wave test facility to be located on campus. Because of additional funding from Thiokol Corporation, testing of the Soyuz model and flotation systems took place at the Offshore Technology Research Center. Universities Space Research Association has been studying the use of small expendable launch vehicles for missions which cost less than 200 million dollars. The Crusader2B. which consists of the original Spartan first and second stage with an additional Spartan second stage and the Minuteman III upper stage is being considered for this task. University of Central Florida project accomplishments include an analysis of launch techniques, a modeling technique to determine flight characteristics, and input into the redesign of an existing mobile rail launch platform.

Anderson, Loren A.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Innovative Airbreathing Propulsion Concepts for High-speed Applications

The current cost to launch payloads to low earth orbit (LEO) is approximately loo00 U.S. dollars ($) per pound ($22000 per kilogram). This high cost limits our ability to pursue space science and hinders the development of new markets and a productive space enterprise. This enterprise includes NASA's space launch needs and those of industry, universities, the military, and other U.S. government agencies. NASA's Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP) proposes a vision of the future where space travel is as routine as in today's commercial air transportation systems. Dramatically lower launch costs will be required to make this vision a reality. In order to provide more affordable access to space, NASA has established new goals in its Aeronautics and Space Transportation plan. These goals target a reduction in the cost of launching payloads to LEO to $lo00 per pound ($2200 per kilogram) by 2007 and to $100'~ per pound by 2025 while increasing safety by orders of magnitude. Several programs within NASA are addressing innovative propulsion systems that offer potential for reducing launch costs. Various air-breathing propulsion systems currently are being investigated under these programs. The NASA Aerospace Propulsion and Power Base Research and Technology Program supports long-term fundamental research and is managed at GLenn Research Center. Currently funded areas relevant to space transportation include hybrid hyperspeed propulsion (HHP) and pulse detonation engine (PDE) research. The HHP Program currently is addressing rocket-based combined cycle and turbine-based combined cycle systems. The PDE research program has the goal of demonstrating the feasibility of PDE-based hybrid-cycle and combined cycle propulsion systems that meet NASA's aviation and access-to-space goals. The ASTP also is part of the Base Research and Technology Program and is managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center. As technologies developed under the Aerospace Propulsion and Power Base Research and Technology Program mature, they are incorporated into ASTP. One example of this is rocket-based combined cycle systems that are being considered as part of ASTP. The NASA Ultra Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) Program has the goal of developing propulsion system component technology that is relevant to a wide range of vehicle missions. In addition to subsonic and supersonic speed regimes, it includes the hypersonic speed regime. More specifically, component technologies for turbine-based combined cycle engines are being developed as part of UEET.

Whitlow, Woodrow, Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Aerodynamic Drag and Drag Reduction: Energy and Energy Savings (Invited)

Wood, Richard M.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Hybrid Residual Flexibility/Mass-Additive Method for Structural Dynamic Testing

A large fixture was designed and constructed for modal vibration testing of International Space Station elements. This fixed-base test fixture, which weighs thousands of pounds and is anchored to a massive concrete floor, initially utilized spherical bearings and pendulum mechanisms to simulate Shuttle orbiter boundary constraints for launch of the hardware. Many difficulties were encountered during a checkout test of the common module prototype structure, mainly due to undesirable friction and excessive clearances in the test-article-to-fixture interface bearings. Measured mode shapes and frequencies were not representative of orbiter-constrained modes due to the friction and clearance effects in the bearings. As a result, a major redesign effort for the interface mechanisms was undertaken. The total cost of the fixture design, construction and checkout, and redesign was over $2 million. Because of the problems experienced with fixed-base testing, alternative free-suspension methods were studied, including the residual flexibility and mass-additive approaches. Free-suspension structural dynamics test methods utilize soft elastic bungee cords and overhead frame suspension systems that are less complex and much less expensive than fixed-base systems. The cost of free-suspension fixturing is on the order of tens of thousands of dollars as opposed to millions, for large fixed-base fixturing. In addition, free-suspension test configurations are portable, allowing modal tests to be done at sites without modal test facilities. For example, a mass-additive modal test of the ASTRO-1 Shuttle payload was done at the Kennedy Space Center launch site. In this Technical Memorandum, the mass-additive and residual flexibility test methods are described in detail. A discussion of a hybrid approach that combines the best characteristics of each method follows and is the focus of the study.

Tinker, M. L.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Environmental Control and Life Support System Evolution

The Space Station Freedom Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) will have to accommodate the changes to Freedom as it evolves over the design life of 30 years or more. Requirements will change as pressurized modules are added, crew numbers increase, and as the tasks to be performed change. This evolution will result in different demands on the ECLSS and the ECLSS wilt have to adapt. Technologies other than the baselined ones may be better able to perform the various tasks and technological advances will result in improved life support hardware having better performance, increased reliability, reduced power consumption, weight, and volume, greater autonomy, and fewer resupply requirements. A preliminary study was performed to look at alternative technologies for life support and evaluate them for their integration requirements, focusing on the fluid line interface requirements. (A follow-on study will expand greatly on the scope of this preliminary study.) The integration requirements of the alternative technologies may be different from those of the baselined technologies. If this is the case, then by designing the initial space station to have the necessary fluid lines, etc. required by the selected alternative technologies then the task of replacing the baselined ones will be greatly simplified, thereby reducing the cost in on-orbit time as well as dollars.

Wieland, Paul↗