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NASA NTRS2022

Psyche Project Implementation During the COVID Pandemic

In January 2017, “Psyche: Journey to a Metal World” was selected for implementation as part of NASA’s Discovery program. The Psyche mission will utilize electric propulsion with SPT-140 Hall thrusters to rendezvous and orbit the metal-rich asteroid (16) Psyche, in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The Psyche spacecraft requires no chemical propulsion and, when launched in 2022, will be the first mission to use Hall thrusters beyond lunar orbit. The Psyche spacecraft is a hybrid development with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)-provided deep-space avionics and communications equipment mounted on a high-heritage MAXAR (formerly Space Systems Loral) Solar-Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis, based on their 1300 series of GEO communications satellites. The spacecraft is equipped to support a suite of science instruments, as well as a demonstration of the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology. The spacecraft has sufficient onboard resources, autonomy, redundancy, and operability to complete a 3.5-year cruise to 16 Psyche, followed by a 20-month campaign of science investigations while orbiting the asteroid.The mission’s early concept design and progress through Preliminary Design Review (PDR) has been described in previous work. The paper will cover the recent mission progress from the Critical Design Review (CDR) through the start of Spacecraft Environmental Testing, which took place during the COVID pandemic.The authors will highlight the successful remote collaboration between the major partners: ASU, JPL, MAXAR, and the Payload teams that led to the initiation of the Assembly, Test, Launch, Operations Phase (ATLO) in early March 2021. Emphasis will be placed on the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the work environment over the last 16+ months, including challenges to delivery of flight hardware and test equipment. In addition to the COVID-19 challenges, other significant anomalies discovered during design and test will be described along with any impacts to the overall science capability of the mission.

Lord, Peter↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A New Linear Polarizer Design for Application in the Far-Ultraviolet Spectral Range

New mission concepts that are under consideration by NASA (such as the Polstar MIDEX mission concept) call for the design and implementation of Far Ultraviolet (FUV) polarizer technologies that have not been developed yet. A team that includes members from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Arizona State University (ASU), and Woodruff Consulting, worked on the design and development of a polarizer design that may produce extinction ratios higher than have ever been reported before in the FUV spectral range (100-200 nm). This polarizer consists of transmitting linearly polarized light through a series of reflections from a combination of two silicon carbide (SiC) and two lithium fluoride (LiF) crystals positioned at angles of incidence (relative to surface normal) close to the LiF Brewster’s angle. The performance of this polarizer concept was fabricated and tested with an existing McPherson 225 Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) spectrometer located in the Optics Branch at NASA-GSFC. Initial testing has shown that in the FUV spectral range, this design can produce state-of-the-art extinction ratios at the Hydrogen Lyman-Alpha (Ly-α) wavelength of 121.6 nm. A polarizer with such a performance has never been reported and it signifies a breakthrough in FUV polarization technology. The levels of effectiveness paired with the design’s compact design allows for a new polarizer capability that would one day be implemented in a future spectropolarimetry space mission. In addition, this polarizer concept could potentially be used to characterize the optical properties of new mirror coatings that will be used in a future Habitable World Observatory (HWO) mission concept as proposed by the 2020 Decadal Survey.2

Far Ultraviolet (FUV), polarimetry, instrumentatio↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Linear Polarizer Design for Application in the Far-Ultraviolet Spectral Range

Far Ultraviolet (FUV), polarimetry, instrumentatio↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Linear Polarizer Design for Application in the Far-Ultraviolet Spectral Range

New mission concepts that are under consideration by NASA call for the design and implementation of Far Ultraviolet (FUV) polarizer technologies that have not been developed yet. A team that includes members from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Arizona State University (ASU), and Woodruff Consulting, worked on the design and development of a polarizer design that produce very high extinction ratios in the FUV spectral range (100-200 nm). This polarizer consists of reflecting light through a series of mirrors from a combination of two silicon carbide (SiC) and two lithium fluoride (LiF) crystals positioned at angles of incidence (relative to surface normal) close to the average LiF Brewster’s angle in the FUV. The output is a highly linearly polarized beam. This polarizer concept was fabricated and tested in the existing McPherson 225 Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) spectrometer located in the Optics Branch at NASA-GSFC. Initial testing using a MgF2 crystal at the Brewster’s angle as an analyzer has shown that this design can produce state-of-the-art extinction ratios at the Hydrogen Lyman-Alpha (Ly-α) wavelength of 121.6 nm, and that the measured extinction ratio of the two crossed polarizers, ≈114, is mostly limited by the MgF2 analyzer. A polarizer with such a performance at this wavelength has never been reported and it signifies a breakthrough in FUV polarization technology. The levels of effectiveness paired with the polarizer’s compact design allows for a new polarizer capability that would one day be implemented in a future FUV spectropolarimetry space mission.

Far Ultraviolet (FUV)↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Genesis Non-flight Implant Sample Archive

Introduction: For the past 20 years the Genesis science community has been analyzing solar wind captured in sample collectors now curated at Johnson Space Center (JSC). Non-flown flight like collector materials (non-flight) considered reference material was always allocated by the JSC Genesis team for testing experimental procedures. However, to expedite Genesis science, distribution of non-flown reference materials were also provided by, D. S. Burnett (Genesis PI, Caltech) and A. J. G. Jurewicz (ASU) who were funded to aid all Genesis PIs by providing engineering test materials archived at Caltech pre-flight as well as ion implants into these materials [1]. Implanted materials (non-flight reference, flight-like semiconductor materials, and NIST SRM glass) received from the Caltech collection during a pilot project are being used to develop an accession procedure for the purpose of making these materials available to researchers in the future. These implant samples are important because they can be utilized as measurement standards [2]. This is a work in progress and this work reports progress in documentation and imaging. The pilot program received 63 implanted reference materials with known implanted ions. Genesis Non-Flight Database: The existing non-flight material database was modified to allow for the description of implant sessions and to allow correlation of the implant information to individual specimens. An implant session has three main components: a known ion, a known dose (ion/cm2), and a known energy (keV). Procedure: Laboratory Procedure. Upon receiving non-flight analytical standards (independently calibrated implants), or implant samples (nominally calibrated implants), they will be imaged in their current containers to capture any information written before being brought into the Genesis Sample Laboratory. Documentation is provided by the donor and used for correlating the data between the implant sessions and implant samples. This information is not verified by Genesis Curation. The microscope used to image samples in the laboratory has an automated stage with a stainless-steel plate to hold samples and a camera that utilizes the software Surveyor to take photomosaic images of the implant samples. The camera attached to the microscope is a QICAM High Performance IEEE 1394 FireWire Digital CCD Camera. This setup, shown in Fig. 1, allows for photomosaics of small-scale samples with a 10x objective or 25x objective. Examples of images taken with this microscope setup are shown in Fig.2 and Fig. 3. After imaging, samples get stored in a clean fluoroware container or polypropylene vial depending on sample size for long term storage. Database Procedure. The Genesis Non-Flight Database currently allows for the addition of implant sessions. The required fields for adding an implant session are the implant session ion, the implant session dose, and the implant session energy. There are also fields for the date and vendor of the sessions as well as a field for if the session was calibrated or not. Once an implant session has been inserted into the database, additional documentation from the session can be attached. The database will automatically assign an Implant Session Number. After inserting an implant session, the implanted samples can be inserted. The fields required for an implant sample are the material of the sample and the size of the sample. The Generic name for the implant sample with be automatically generated by the database once it has been inserted. Implant sample numbers begin with 3X to distinguish from flown Genesis sample numbers. There are also fields for processors to add the location (room, cabinet, tray) and container type (fluoroware, polypropylene vial). Once an implant session and an associated sample(s) have been inserted into the database the sample can be then tied to all associated implant sessions. An implant sample can be tied to multiple implant sessions. Future work: For curation, future work consists of creating an online catalogue for implant samples as well as updating the database with more samples as we receive them. For the scientific community these implant samples have many potential uses. For Genesis research, they are directly applicable for testing and, in some cases, as analytical standards. For non-Genesis research, implants (especially calibrated implants) could be used for calibrating other, unique planetary materials [1].

C D Calva↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Phosphate Textural Diversity in CI Chondrites and C-Type Asteroids

Introduction: Apatite, Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (CL/F/OH-), is a ubiquitous phosphate found throughout the solar system, including the most primitive solids, CI-chondrites [1,2] and related samples of carbonaceous asteroids Ryugu [3] and Bennu [4], returned by JAXA’s Hayabusa2 and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx missions, respectively. Apatite in these primitive solids is found as individual grains or mineral clusters and has been inferred to form from the hydrothermal sequence during cooling of their respective parent body or bodies. To better understand the formation history and reworking of these early phosphates we have undertaken a highly coordinated study of phosphate microstructures, geochemistry and U/Pb geochronology from a suite of CI meteorites and carbonaceous asteroid samples. These data have identified novel phosphate microstructures and complex relationships across a suite of apatite grains from the early solar system, indicating multiple episodes of growth and modification on the CI parent body(ies). Methods: Samples of CI chondrites, Alais, Ivuna, Orgueil, Oued Chebeika 002, Yamato (Y) 82162, Y980115, Y980134, and two chips of Hayabusa2 Ryugu particles (A0262 and C0263) have been acquired for analysis. The bulk texture of the samples were first scanned by X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) using the Nikon XT H 320 within the XFACT facility at NASA JSC or the Xradia 620 Versa at the UTCT facility. Based on the identification of petrofabrics or features of interest from the XCT data, samples were chipped, oriented, potted in epoxy and thick sections were prepared. After anhydrously polishing the samples with silicon carbide and dry diamond powder down to 1 µm, the samples were ion polished using a Hitachi ArBlade. Energy dispersive Xray spectrometry (EDS) maps were collected to ID phosphates of interest using a JEOL 7900F SEM. The internal microstructures of identified phosphates were then mapped by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) using the JEOL 7900F. Based on the EDS and EBSD data, domains of interest were targeted for quantitative chemical analyses using a JEOL 8530 EPMA. Subsequently, in situ U-Pb and 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages will be collected using a Cameca ims1290 secondary ion mass spectrometer at UCLA across a range of microstructures. Results: Apatite grains are ubiquitous throughout the CI chondrites and carbonaceous asteroid materials, found as individual grains, disseminated clusters or grain aggregates. Apatite grains are associated with serpentine, magnet-ite, and/or carbonate. Of particular interest, we have identified individual and aggregate polycrystalline grains ex-hibiting an internal ‘honeycomb’ texture (Fig. 1). Some of these grains appear overprinted by subsequent alteration while others remain unaltered. Apatite halogen sites are dominated by the missing component, assumed to be OH, and F, comparable to published values from Bennu, Ryugu and CM-chondrites [3-5]. However, the Yamato CI-like meteorites show a broader range of Cl values, and one grain from Alais is dominated by CL. Summary: Apatite growth features indicate a protracted and complex growth history, consistent with precipitation from an evolving fluid system. The ‘honeycomb’ texture identified in some CI meteorites is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of such a microstructure in meteoritic phosphate. The microtextures and zoning will guide subsequent age analyses, to better constrain the formation and reworking of phosphate in CI(-like) materials. Acknowledgments: We thank the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan for samples of Y82162, 980115 and 980134 meteorites, ASU’s Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies for samples of Ivuna and Alais meteorites, and JAXA curation for chips of Ryugu material. This work was funded by NASA ROSES LARS grant 24-LARS24-0014. References: [1] Morlok et al., 2016, GCA 70:5371-5394. [2] Alfin g et al., 2019, Geochemistry 79:125532. [3] Nakamura et al. (2022) Science 379:1-15. [4] Seifert et al. (2026) MAPS 61:504-521. [5] Piralla et al. (2021) MAPS 56:809-828.

CI chondrites↗

DOE OSTI2020

Development of Two-Phase Dense Fluid Expander for Advanced Cryogenic Air Separation and Low-Grade Heat Recovery

Cryogenic air separation represents the state-of-the-art technology to produce oxygen to feed coal gasification units. Given the maturity of this technology, it is difficult to identify opportunities to improve process efficiency and reduce the cost of the oxygen produced. However, Air Products conducted research and a feasibility investigation into the use of a two-phase (liquid-vapor) dense fluid expander (DFE) to improve the overall efficiency of cryogenic air separation. Demonstration of this novel concept was intended to allow two important process improvements: 1) elimination of the need for the DFE discharge to be single phase 2) expansion of the operating region of expanders in ASU service. Expanding the scope of turboexpander application beyond current application limits and traditional device designs would allow an increase in power recovery, and application of refrigeration and power recovery at new locations in process cycles would also enable the implementation of new process concepts. These new process concepts include power recovery from compression waste heat and refrigeration extraction and power recovery by replacing let-down valves with two-phase DFEs. Considering the maturity of cryogenic air separation, these new process options could represent a step change in power reduction and provide significant savings in operating costs. These new concepts would be particularly well-suited to large-scale oxygen production by cryogenic air separation and would enhance the economics of producing oxygen for use in coal gasification processes. Rotoflow, an Air Products business unit, manufactures dense fluid expanders in Pennsylvania for sites around the world. This project was executed in two phases, which are illustrated in Figure 1 below. Phase 1 consisted of a feasibility investigation of multiple applications of two-phase DFEs. In Phase 2, devices were identified, designed, fabricated and tested to explore the feasibility of commercial applications of DFEs operating in two-phase service. Engineering and testing were performed by personnel in Air Products’ Rotoflow business unit, with coordination with other Air Products business units.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

DOE OSTI2020

Advanced Characterization of Spatial Aspects of Image System Blur

Presentation of SDRD research at an ASU seminar.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2025

Zigzag flow reactor for weekly thermochemical energy storage

This paper describes theoretical models and experimental performance of a novel Zigzag Flow Reactor (ZFR) for weekly thermochemical energy storage. The ZFR reduces redox-active metal oxide (MO x ) particles at high temperature (up to ~1100 °C) under inert gas sweep. A physical model demonstrates the approach to process equilibrium by minimizing the associated exergy destruction in a finite number of reaction steps, establishing the thermodynamic requirements for a practical reactor. The model results show several cost-relevant parameter tradeoffs, and the tradeoff analysis implies a cost-optimized set of boundary conditions. Numerical models and prototypes show that the ZFR enables significant gas phase homogenization while simultaneously enabling a customizable MO x residence time in the reactor, both key requirements for approaching an equilibrium process. A scaling model demonstrates the simplicity and affordability of sizing the ZFR to grid-scale levels, with fabrication costs at least five times lower than previously proposed scalable reactor concepts. As a result, a laboratory ZFR prototype achieved an energy storage density of ~90 Wh/kg with CaAl 0.2 Mn 0.8 O 3-δ as the MO x , at temperatures of ~850 °C in >10 h of total runtime.

Thermochemical energy storage↗

DOE OSTI2025

Improving photovoltaic hosting capacity of distribution networks with coordinated inverter control: A case study of the EPRI J1 feeder

Abstract Adding photovoltaic (PV) systems in distribution networks, while desirable for reducing the carbon footprint, can lead to voltage violations under high solar‐low load conditions. The inability of traditional volt‐VAr control in eliminating all the violations is also well‐known. This article presents a novel coordinated inverter control methodology that leverages system‐wide situational awareness to significantly improve hosting capacity (HC). The methodology employs a real‐time voltage‐reactive power (VQ) sensitivity matrix in an iterative linear optimizer to calculate the minimum reactive power intervention from PV inverters needed for mitigating over‐voltage without resorting to active power curtailing or requiring step voltage regulator setting changes. The algorithm is validated using the EPRI J1 feeder under an extensive set of realistic use cases and is shown to provide 3x improvement in HC under all scenarios.

Dalal, Dhaval [School of Electrical, Computer, and↗

DOE OSTI2022

A data-driven linear formulation of the optimal demand response scheduling problem for an industrial air separation unit

Demand response (DR) has become a key element in balancing the power grid as the contribution of time-varying renewable power generation increases. Chemical plants are appealing candidates for DR programs as they offer large, concentrated and flexible loads. DR participation calls for frequent production rate changes over time scales that overlap with the dominant dynamics of the plant. Production scheduling should therefore consider the process dynamics explicitly. Here we present a data-driven approach for modelling the scheduling-relevant dynamics based on historical closed-loop operating data using autoregressive with extra inputs (ARX) models. We introduce a new, linear scheduling problem formulation based on the ARX representation, and demonstrate its implementation on an industrial air separation unit.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2025

RE-INTEGRATE EMT Simulation Software: Graph Convolutional Network for Sparse Matrix Pattern Detection

The increasing complexity of power networks, driven by proliferation of inverters, presents analytical challenges that simplified models often fail to capture, necessitating Electromagnetic Transient (EMT) simulations. EMT models are represented as discretized differential-algebraic equations (DAEs), forming a linear system Ax = b that is computationally intensive to solve. Due to inherent sparsity of adjacency matrix A, distinct patterns emerge that, when accurately identified, enable efficient solver selection to minimize computation time. However, identifying ideal pattern is complicated by numerous reordering algorithms and limited structural insights. To address this, we introduce a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) model for classifying sparse matrix patterns common in power system analysis. The model, achieving 96% test accuracy, is validated using PV plant models of 125 MW capacities connected to New England 39-bus transmission system (TS), and further scaled to a 4,992-bus network with 384 PV plants, yielding 191, 616 × 191, 616 sized A matrix. For all cases, the GCN model accurately identifies the matrix’s intrinsic sparse pattern, demonstrating its potential to enhance solver performance in EMT analysis.

Hossain, Md Rifat [Florida International Universit↗