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The Ensign-Bickford Company has been actively involved in the design and development of a laser equivalent to the electrically initiated NASA Standard Initiator (NSI). The purpose of this paper is to describe the present design and its performance characteristics. Recommendations for advancement of this program are also presented.
This paper discusses processes employed in manufacturing zirconium-potassium perchlorate propellant for the NASA standard initiator. It provides both a historical background on the NSI device-detailing problem areas and their resolution--and on propellant blending techniques. Emphasis is placed on the precipitation blending method. The findings on mixing equipment, processing, and raw materials are described. Also detailed are findings on the bridgewire slurry operation, one of the critical steps in the production of the NASA standard initiator.
NASA's In-Space Propulsion (ISP) Program is designed to develop advanced propulsion technologies that can enable or greatly enhance near and mid-term NASA science missions by significantly reducing cost, mass, and/or travel times. These technologies include: Electric Propulsion (Solar and Nuclear Electric) [note: The Nuclear Electric Propulsion work will be transferred to the NSI program in FY03]; Propellantless Propulsion (aerocapture, solar sails, plasma sails, and momentum exchange tethers); Advanced Chemical Propulsion. The ISP approach to identifying and prioritizing these most promising technologies is to use mission analysis and subsequent peer review. These technologies under consideration are mid-Technology Readiness Level (TRL) up to TRL-6 for incorporation into mission planning within three - five years of initiation. In addition, maximum use of open competition is encouraged to seek optimum solutions under ISP. Several NASA Research Announcements (NRAs) have been released asking industry, academia and other organizations to propose propulsion technologies designed to improve our ability to conduct scientific study of the outer planets and beyond. The ISP Program is managed by NASA HQ (Headquarters) and implemented by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
This presentation will give an overview of the Project Prometheus Program (PPP, formerly the Nuclear Systems Initiative, NSI) and the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) Project (a component of PPP), a mission to the three icy Galilean moons of Jupiter.
The deployment of mechanical systems in space flight is often accomplished with pyrotechnic devices. The activation element of a pyrotechnic device is a squib, such as the NASA Standard Initiator (NSI).
Standard penetrator sampling systems were designed in order to allow for sampling via penetrators to produce a full set of sample acquisitions including volatile liquids, fine powders, and solid fragments. A gravity harpoon sampler has been designed with a removable tip and a quick coupling. The separation allows for sample handling and eliminates sample cross-contamination. Also, this design allows for multiple use of the penetrator body, which is the largest and heaviest part of the penetrator, while allowing for multiple changes of the light-mass, penetrator tip to avoid sample cross-contamination. The penetrator tip design has been improved by adding a spring trap to retain the sample, as well as a means for connecting to a quick coupling. Quick connect tips have been demonstrated in a sample handling carousel. The penetrator was released and rewound and the tips were released into a circular platter for rotation into instrument stations. The pyro-harpoon sampler was fabricated and tested with a NASA Standard Initiator (NSI) pyrotechnic charge. Initial tests collected cryogenic ice, but removal of the small pyro-harpoon from the ice was difficult. A brass metal sheath was then fitted over the harpoon tip, and removal from the ice was greatly alleviated by leaving the sheath in the ice. Quartz windows in the tips allow direct optical and spectral imaging and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GCMS) pyrolysis, and were found to survive impact. All systems were successfully tested by dropping into sand and into cryogenic ice.
An assessment of four spacecraft pyrovalve anomalies that occurred during ground testing was conducted by the NASA Engineering & Safety Center (NESC) in 2008. In all four cases, a common aluminum (Al) primer chamber assembly (PCA) was used with dual NASA Standard Initiators (NSIs) and the nearly simultaneous (separated by less than 80 microseconds) firing of both initiators failed to ignite the booster charge. The results of the assessment and associated test program were reported in AIAA Paper AIAA-2008-4798, NESC Independent Assessment of Pyrovalve Ground Test Anomalies. As a result of the four Al PCA anomalies, and the test results and findings of the NESC assessment, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project team decided to make changes to the PCA. The material for the PCA body was changed from aluminum (Al) to stainless steel (SS) to avoid melting, distortion, and potential leakage of the NSI flow passages when the device functioned. The flow passages, which were interconnected in a Y-shaped configuration (Y-PCA) in the original design, were changed to a V-shaped configuration (V-PCA). The V-shape was used to more efficiently transfer energy from the NSIs to the booster. Development and qualification testing of the new design clearly demonstrated faster booster ignition times compared to the legacy AL Y-PCA design. However, the final NESC assessment report recommended that the SS V-PCA be experimentally characterized and quantitatively compared to the Al Y-PCA design. This data was deemed important for properly evaluating the design options for future NASA projects. This test program has successfully quantified the improvement of the SS V-PCA over the Al Y-PCA. A phase B of the project was also conducted and evaluated the effect of firing command skew and enlargement of flame channels to further assist spacecraft applications.
To test liquid rocket engines (LREs) for combustion instabilities, devices such as bombs are often used to create pressure wave disturbances. Bombs, while effective, are inherently dangerous, expensive, and difficult to procure. Over the years, pulse guns have been used as a safer and more cost-effective way to generate controlled pressure disturbances in engine chambers. In anticipation of the need for stability testing of prototype LREs at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), a set of pulse guns have been designed, fabricated, tested, and characterized. The pulse gun program is funded by the RS-25 Engine Program managed out of MSFC and funded by NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) through the MSFC Liquid Engines Office (LEO). A pulse gun is a simple device – like a traditional gun, it has a breech and barrel section. However, unlike a traditional gun, there is no bullet, as the purpose of the pulse gun is strictly to fire a high pressure pulse. Instead of a firing pin and primer that would normally be used in a traditional gun, an initiator is used to activate the gun powder. The initiator is a highly reliable pyrotechnic initiator. For this study, clone versions of the NASA Standard Initiator (NSI) were used. The initiator is used to ignite a pre-measured amount of gun powder loaded into the breech. When the pressure of the burnt gun powder exceeds the set point of a downstream burst disk, the disk ruptures, allowing the high pressure pulse to travel downstream through the barrel section. A ballistic pressure transducer located in the breech section is used to measure the short duration, high pressure pulse. Some configurations of the pulse gun have barrel sections that include one or more additional ballistic pressure transducers. These additional pressure measurements help track the degradation and damping of the pulse as it travels out of the barrel section. The measurements may also be used to determine the velocity of pulse. The objective of this paper is to present the different variants of this newly-developed pulse gun and characterize performance over a range of parameters. The parameters include breech diameter, barrel length, amount of gun powder used, the way the gun powder is packed, and the pressure setting of the burst disk. There are a total of six pulse guns: three with the 0.25 inch breech and three different length barrels, and three with the 0.40 inch breech and three different length barrels. For both breech sizes, the associated barrels are referred to as standard, one-port, and two-port barrels. The standard barrel has no instrumentation and is likely the barrel that will be used for engine stability testing. The one- and two-port barrels were designed specifically for pulse gun component testing to allow measurements of the magnitude and timing of the high pressure pulse as it makes its way through the pulse gun. The burst disks tested were commercially-available burst disks designed to rupture at 8,000, 16,000, and 24,000 psid. Testing was accomplished by firing the pulse gun into a test chamber pressurized with nitrogen at about 2300 psig. A total of four Model 113B23 High frequency ICP® pressure sensors (10k psi) were mounted in the test chamber, in the same plane as the pulse gun. Two of the sensors had “trimmed” adapters, and two did not. Given the symmetrical configuration of the sensors within the test chamber, different amplitudes of pressure measurements are attributed to the use of trimmed versus untrimmed adapters. The untrimmed adapters, with their narrower passages, tended to amplify the pressure amplitudes by as much as 50%. In total, 41 pulse gun tests have been conducted.Data are still being analyzed, but some trends are apparent. For example, measurements taken within the pulse gun are shown in Figures 3 and 4 for Hot-fires (HFs) # 11 and 39, respectively. Both tests were identical in that the 0.40 inch ID breech, two-port barrel, 8,000 psid burst disk, and same amount of gunpowder (6.639 grains for HF# 11, and 6.576 grains for HF# 39) were used, and the back pressure in the nitrogen test chamber was ~2300 psig. Despite keeping all these variables constant, the results from these two tests look quite different. For both tests, the first pressure peak shown in the P2111 trace within the breech is the firing of the initiator. The second peak and any subsequent peaks are from the combustion of the gunpowder. It should be noted that because the sensors are dynamic, the ~2300 psig baseline static pressure is not shown in the figures. For HF# 11, the burst disk clearly ruptured in a little over 0.1 ms from the time the initiator was fired. This is evident from the abrupt rise in pressure for P2112 followed by another abrupt rise in pressure for P2113. The sensors track the movement of the high pressure pulse through the pulse gun. For HF# 39, however, there was nearly 1 ms delay between the initiator firing and the burst disk rupturing. The only difference between these two tests was the way in which the gunpowder was packed within the breech. For HF# 11, the gunpowder was poured directly into the breech, atop the initiator, and held in place with a vegetable fiber wad appropriately sized for the barrel diameter. Once in place, the wad firmly held the gunpowder in place. For HF# 39, the gunpowder was rolled within cigarette paper with the ends of the paper twisted. The rolled gunpowder was gently pushed down into the breech, toward the initiator, and no wad was used. This method of loading the gunpowder consistently produced longer delays in the rupture of the burst disk, presumably because there was a steady, fuller burning of the gunpowder. The burst disk was rated for 8,000 psid, which means that the burst disk should not have opened until the pressure in the breech reached ~10,300 since there was ~2300 psig back pressure in the test chamber. In the case of HF# 11, the breech pressure only reached roughly 4200 psi before there was leakage either through or past the burst disk, but for HF#39, the breech pressure reached 10,600 psi prior to the burst disk opening. The temperature of the burst disk is certainly a factor in determining when the burst disk will rupture. A sharp rise in the burst disk temperature could weaken it and cause it to stray from the designed set point burst pressure. The burst disks are manufactured of Inconel to try to reduce their sensitivity to temperature, but how the burst disks perform above 900°F is not documented. All burst disks were engineered and tested by the manufacturer for ambient temperature conditions. One theory for why rolling the gunpowder in cigarette paper may produce better results is related to a more controlled temperature environment. The cigarette paper may act as a sheath that protects the burst disk from excessive temperatures during the rapid buildup of pressure in the breech. The ultimate benefit of not breeching the burst disk prematurely is shown in Figures 5 and 6, which graphs the resultant pressure pulse produced in the test chamber. For HF #11, the peak pressure on the P2123 trimmed adapter is about 270 psi, while for HF# 39 it is 343 psi, which is about 1.27 times greater in magnitude. In either case, the pressure pulse is ~20 μs in width once it reaches the test chamber. Another pressure rise about 100 μs later can be seen on the sensors located across from the pulse gun port, P2124 and P2121. These pressures are lower due to attenuation of the pressure wave as it moves across the test chamber. After the wave encounters the wall, it reflects back and forth within the chamber until it completely dissipates.
The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Technical Bulletin No. 09-01 reported an independent investigation of four pyrovalve failures that occurred while using aluminum (Al) pyrovalve primer chamber assemblies (PCAs) during ground testing. The investigation revealed that simultaneous firing (within a few microseconds) of the NASA Standard Initiators (NSIs) was the primary reason why the booster charge failed to ignite and the pyrovalves subsequently failed to operate. A second investigation of a new stainless steel (SS) PCA design with separate flame channels was completed in 2010. The new SS configuration was found to be improved in most respects; however, no improvement was noted in the temperature delivered to ignite the booster during dual simultaneous NSI firings. Simultaneous firings should be avoided when using either the Al or the SS PCA design.
This poster shows the results of work of search for charge-parity (CP) symmetry violating non-standard interactions (NSI) of neutrinos with matter using the NOvA Experiment, and examines their effects on the determination of the standard oscillation parameters.
Initially believed to be massless, the discovery of neutrino oscillations proved that neutrinos have masses, a feature not anticipated by the Standard Model of Elementary Particles. Investigations of the existence of the so-called physics Beyond the Standard Model is a subject of active effort in the field of particle physics. Interactions of neutrinos with matter are well described by the Standard Model, however in the presence of new physics our knowledge and ability to measure the standard neutrino oscillation parameters may be affected. Non-Standard Interactions (NSI) may arise as a subleading effect to the neutrino oscillation framework by introducing additional parameters resulting from a generalized matter potential.
NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment based at Fermilab, IL, USA, that observes $\nu_\mu(\bar{\nu}_\mu) \to \nu_\mu(\bar{\nu}_\mu)$ disappearance and $\nu_\mu(\bar{\nu}_\mu) \to \nu_e(\bar{\nu}_e)$ appearance oscillations from a beam of neutrninos provided by the NuMI beamline at Fermilab. The experiment is made up of two functionally identical liquid scintillation detectors, both situated 14.6 mrad off-axis to the beam direction and made out of PVC extrusion cells arranged in alternating horizontal and vertical planes. The experiment is sensitive not only to standard three-flavor neutrino oscillations, but also to beyond standard model (BSM) searches such as sterile neutrino and non-standard interaction (NSI) of neutrinos with matter searches. The latest results from 3-flavor neutrino oscillation analysis, the NOvA-T2K joint analysis, searches for sterile neutrinos and non-standard interactions of neutrinos with matter, will be discussed here.
HELIX-I, an essentially standard full-potential CFD helicopter rotor code, is unique in its use of the Clebisch kinematical flow description to specify a freely convecting wake and its capacity for predicting hover performance. A study is presently performed to assess the method's sensitivity to grids and solution-starting techniques. The effects of these parameters on thrust, power, load distribution, and wake geometry are ascertained and compared with an extensive rotor data base. The use of a fairly accurate starting solution yields no obvious advantage over the use of a novel starting method which employs a succession of diminishing artificial flows.
Experimental measurements of the currents in pyro-activation circuits show that a structure current is generated during the pyro-activation process. This current is a transient current and is an intense source of electromagnetic interference. Analysis has indicated that the noise voltage induced on candidate victim circuits is sufficient to cause circuit upset and/or latchup. A survey of flight anomaly records has also correlated the occurrence of anomalies with the pyro-activation process. Detailed analyses, taking the spacecraft cabling configuration and circuit sensitivities into account, have shown that the structure current induced noise voltage could definitely be the cause of the anomalies. The threat of the structure current due to pyro-activation can be alleviated by isolating the pyro-activation circuit from ground and by proper arrangement of the cables in sensitive circuits.