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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Passively activated prehensile digit for a robotic end effector

A common hydraulic reservoir holds one or more rows of slidable pistons or fingers in a base or hand. The individual fingers in each row expose graduated cross sectional fluid application areas to the hydraulic fluid in the reservoir, with the smallest fluid application area in the center of the row and graduating to progressive larger fluid areas towards both ends of each row. The fingers are elongated pistons. Exposed outer ends of each piston extending away from the reservoir, house a transverse pad to contact an object to be held. The transverse pads are universally ball-joint and spring-center mounted in a longitudinally located opening at the outer tapered end of each finger. Simple and effective capacitance metering in the reservoir is provided for each finger.

Earl R Collins, Jr↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Interplay Between Hardware and Control System Design in the Development of the Active Rack Isolation System

A primary mission of the International Space Station (ISS) is to provide a premier microgravity laboratory environment for conducting acceleration sensitive scientific research. In order to accomplish this goal, vibroacoustic disturbances caused by station activities that occur during the microgravity mode of operation, must be controlled. In addition to source isolation and other passive isolation methods, the ISS uses active isolation at the receiver, through the use of an Active Rack Isolation System (ARIS), as part of its overall vibration isolation strategy. A schematic diagram of a typical ARIS payload rack is shown. The ARIS isolation control system senses rack acceleration via three triaxial accelerometer heads and uses eight pushrod actuators to perform active vibration attenuation. Position sensors housed in the actuator assembly are used to sense the relative position between the rack and the station. Electrical power, data and other essential resources are routed through a set of umbilicals that interface with a passthrough panel at the bottom of the rack. A representative umbilical set is shown.

Fialho, Ian J.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Development of Large Bore Rabbit Capsules in Support of BWR Cladding Irradiations in HFIR

The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is an ideal tool for materials irradiation testing because of its intense steady-state neutron flux. Many programs take advantage of HFIR’s central flux trap for irradiation experiments using capsules, also known as rabbits, to support advanced materials development and reactor design. The facility that makes up the HFIR flux trap has recently undergone a design change that increases the HFIR primary coolant volumetric flow rate by removing restrictions in the system. As a result, the usable cross-sectional area within the facility increased, opening the door to increase the cross-sectional area of the rabbit capsules that fill the facility. This report documents a new large-diameter rabbit housing that increases the usable volume within the rabbit capsule by 22.6%. However, challenges arise with increasing the capsule size, such as establishing a new maximum capsule operating pressure and determining the thermal-hydraulic characteristics. This report addresses those challenges with previously adopted HFIR safety methods. The rupture pressure of the rabbit housings is demonstrated while verifying that capsule swelling during and after rupture will not block coolant flow. Then, a safety factor is applied to ascertain an administrative operating pressure. Additionally, the thermal-hydraulic performance of the HFIR facility filled with large-diameter rabbit capsules is shown to not violate previously determined safety criteria. Next, heat transfer coefficients are determined for use in design calculations. Furthermore, this report gives an example of internal configurations for the new, larger rabbit capsules that use relevant boiling water reactor (BWR) cladding geometry. Finally, this report documents an example thermal design performance for a rabbit capsule containing six gauge-curved tensile tube specimens. The thermal performance gives predicted temperature distributions within the capsule and shows the expected temperature of the passive thermometers for post-irradiation temperature comparisons.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Unique safety features and licensing requirements of the NuScale small modular reactor

Small modular reactors (SMR) offer a novel approach to the construction and operation of nuclear power plants. The NuScale VOYGR™ plant uses a simplified SMR design that is based on proven light-water reactor technology with substantial improvements in nuclear safety. It consists of a 250 MWt reactor core housed with other primary system components in an integral reactor pressure vessel surrounded by a steel containment vessel, all of which is immersed in a large pool of water that also serves as the ultimate heat sink. At the core of the NuScale safety case are three primary safety systems: the decay heat removal system, the emergency core cooling system, and the containment. The ability of the NuScale Power Module (NPM) passive safety systems to remove core decay heat for an unlimited duration is demonstrated through analysis of a beyond-design-basis extended loss of AC power with no replenishment of water to the ultimate heat sink or operator actions. The NuScale methodology to evaluate an indefinite loss of AC power uses the proprietary NRELAP5 systems analysis computer code. Analysis results show that the reactor coolant system liquid level above the core is maintained and that containment pressure remains below the vessel design pressure. Once full passive air cooling is established, containment pressure and temperature will decrease over time with decreasing core decay heat. NuScale received standard design approval in September 2020 and design certification in January 2023 for its 50 MWe NPM configured as a 12 module plant. NuScale is currently seeking standard design approval to increase its core power to 250 MWt, nominally 77 MWe per module, in a 6-module plant (VOYGR™-6) configuration. The high-level safety of NuScale’s SMR technology is foundational to a new standard of nuclear power plant resilience.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Cost-Benefit Analysis For Indonesia Building Sector: Whole-Building Cooling Solutions

The Net Zero World (NZW) Initiative Collaborative Work Program with the Government of Indonesia (GoI) includes technical assistance and investment mobilization facilitation to accelerate deployment of energy efficiency technologies and solutions for the building sector. A February 2023 U.S.–Indonesia Joint Workshop on Decarbonizing the Building Sector yielded a NZW Indonesia Building Decarbonization Working Group (NZW IBDWG) with four sub-working groups (SWG): SWG-A National Center, SWG-B Capacity Building, SWG-C Investment and Financing, and SWG-D Pilot Projects. Technical analysis of whole-building cooling solutions for tropical climates of Indonesia was conducted by SWG-A to quantify energy savings, carbon dioxide reductions, and comfort improvements offered by 12 passive or low-energy cooling strategies: ceiling fans with and without thermostat setbacks; cool roofs; cool walls; exterior awnings; exterior shades; interior shades; insulated roofs; insulated walls; low-e windows; solar window films; and natural ventilation. Leveraging the results from SWG-A, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) was conducted by SWG-C to assess the consumer and national costs and impacts associated with these 12 cooling solutions. The evaluation involved estimating life-cycle costs (LCC), payback period (PBP), net present values (NPV), annual electricity burden change for low-income households, and reduced national annual power-sector generation demand by 2030, 2040, 2050, and 2060. This evaluation can help guide Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) investments in policies and programs to advance research, development, deployment, and commercial adoption (RDDCA) of efficient residential building sector cooling technologies and solutions in Indonesia. Four key energy conservation measures (ECM) have been identified to reduce air-conditioning (AC) energy demand in single-family housing in Indonesia: ceiling fan with temperature setback (to 28.1 °Celcius from 25 °C); insulated walls; insulated roof; and cool roof. This study found that low-income households with AC installations in Indonesia currently face a high energy cost burden of approximately 10%. However, by implementing a ceiling fan with temperature setback, this burden could decrease to 2.5% today and further reduce to 1.3% by the year 2060. The PBP for a ceiling fan with temperature setback is one year, indicating one of the lowest LCC and best NPV. In the planned upcoming phase of CBA, a series of building cooling improvement scenarios can be further defined, incorporating more than one ECM in combination with socio-economic factors evaluated in the initial CBA phase. Additionally, the analysis of ECM effects in multifamily housing can be expanded. This broader national analysis aims to encompass a holistic and comprehensive system-level perspective, including factors such as avoided power sector infrastructure investments, domestic job creation, domestic manufacturing job creation, and gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
NASA NTRS2012

Overview and Status of the James Webb Space Telescope Observatory

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large aperture (6.5 meter), cryogenic space telescope with a suite of near and mid-infrared instruments spanning the wavelength range of 0.6 microns to 28 microns. JWST's primary science goals are to detect and characterize the first galaxies, study the assembly of galaxies, star formation, and the formation of evolution of planetary systems. JWST has a unique design based on the concept of passive cooling by means of a multi-layer sunshield to achieve the telescope's cryogenic operating temperature. Each of the five layers of the sunshield is approximately the size of a tennis court, and made of aluminized kapton. By maintaining an observatory attitude whereby the sunshield keeps the telescope in the shade from the sun's rays, the telescope and science instruments can operate at cryogenic temperature (-40 K). On the sun facing side of the observatory the spacecraft bus houses most of the electronic sub-systems, and provides a platform for the solar array and communications hardware. JWST is sufficiently large that it cannot fit inside .the fairing of its Ariane 5 launcher without being stowed in a more compact configuration, so the ability to deploy its major SUb-systems such as the telescope optics and sunshield after launch are another major feature of the observatory. Development of observatory is making rapid progress as major hardware SUb-systems nearcompletion. Polishing of the JWST telescope mirrors is complete with 18 primary mirror segments, the secondary mirror, tertiary and fine steering mirror all gold coated and through acceptance testing. Engineering test articles of each sunshield membrane layer are underway. The first layer 3 membrane is complete and is undergoing testing to evaluate its tensioned shape for compliance with alignment tolerances. As each major SUb-system is tested, the expected scientific performance of the observatory can be evaluated using test results and integrated system models of the observatory. We will discuss key performance parameters of the observatory, including thermal performance, image quality, sensitivity, and the ability to achieve background-limited observations. The observatory deployment after launch will also be discussed in the context of recent sub-system testing of deployment mechanisms.

Clampin, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2013

Vent System Analysis for the Cryogenic Propellant Storage Transfer Ground Test Article

To test and validate key capabilities and technologies required for future exploration elements such as large cryogenic propulsion stages and propellant depots, NASA is leading the efforts to develop and design the Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer (CPST) Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM) payload. The primary objectives of CPST payload are to demonstrate: 1) in-space storage of cryogenic propellants for long duration applications; and 2) in-space transfer of cryogenic propellants. The Ground Test Article (GTA) is a technology development version of the CPST payload. The GTA consists of flight-sized and flight-like storage and transfer tanks, liquid acquisition devices, transfer, and pressurization systems with all of the CPST functionality. The GTA is designed to perform integrated passive and active thermal storage and transfer performance testing with liquid hydrogen (LH2) in a vacuum environment. The GTA storage tank is designed to store liquid hydrogen and the transfer tank is designed to be 5% of the storage tank volume. The LH2 transfer subsystem is designed to transfer propellant from one tank to the other utilizing pressure or a pump. The LH2 vent subsystem is designed to prevent over-pressurization of the storage and transfer tanks. An in-house general-purpose computer program was utilized to model and simulate the vent subsystem operation. The modeling, analysis, and the results will be presented in the final paper.

Hedayat, A↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cool rooms for indoor heat resilience: Evaluating affordable cooling strategies in heat-stressed California homes

Extreme heat conditions pose significant indoor survivability challenges for resource-constrained communities, which often lack access to cooling, have poorly insulated homes, and face compounding socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Moreover, concurrent power outages worsen health risks and heat-related illnesses. It is therefore crucial to develop innovative and affordable cooling approaches to protect vulnerable populations. This study assesses the efficacy of “cool rooms”– a designated space within a home equipped with passive and low-power active cooling measures to maintain safe indoor temperatures during extreme heat events and power disruptions. Using a physics-based building energy modeling approach, we evaluate the efficacy of various retrofit packages in maintaining thermal safety within the cool room under recent extreme heat conditions. The results indicate that passive measures can reduce 64% of hours with unmet standard effective temperatures, while the combination of passive and low-power active measures with built-in batteries further cuts this to 86%. Nevertheless, these strategies remain insufficient to maintain indoor thermal safety during extended outages. In contrast, integrating a solar-powered mini-split heat pump, whose technical potential was evaluated in this study, reduces indoor air temperatures below the 28 °C overheating threshold and significantly improves indoor habitability. The localized cool room strategy also offers potential for grid resilience by reducing peak electricity demand by up to 70% compared to whole house cooling during heat waves. The findings can inform the development of actionable heat mitigation plans and retrofit policies for residential communities with relatively low adoption of air conditioning such as warm marine climates.

Cool room↗
NASA NTRS2017

Framework for Processing Citizens Science Data for Applications to NASA Earth Science Missions

Citizen science (or crowdsourcing) has drawn much high-level recent and ongoing interest and support. It is poised to be applied, beyond the by-now fairly familiar use of, e.g., Twitter for natural hazards monitoring, to science research, such as augmenting the validation of NASA earth science mission data. This interest and support is seen in the 2014 National Plan for Civil Earth Observations, the 2015 White House forum on citizen science and crowdsourcing, the ongoing Senate Bill 2013 (Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act of 2015), the recent (August 2016) Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) call for public participation in its newly-established Citizen Science Domain Working Group, and NASA's initiation of a new Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program (along with its first citizen science-focused solicitation for proposals). Over the past several years, we have been exploring the feasibility of extracting from the Twitter data stream useful information for application to NASA precipitation research, with both "passive" and "active" participation by the twitterers. The Twitter database, which recently passed its tenth anniversary, is potentially a rich source of real-time and historical global information for science applications. The time-varying set of "precipitation" tweets can be thought of as an organic network of rain gauges, potentially providing a widespread view of precipitation occurrence. The validation of satellite precipitation estimates is challenging, because many regions lack data or access to data, especially outside of the U.S. and in remote and developing areas. Mining the Twitter stream could augment these validation programs and, potentially, help tune existing algorithms. Our ongoing work, though exploratory, has resulted in key components for processing and managing tweets, including the capabilities to filter the Twitter stream in real time, to extract location information, to filter for exact phrases, and to plot tweet distributions. The key step is to process the "precipitation" tweets to be compatible with satellite-retrieved precipitation data. These key components for processing and managing "precipitation" tweets (and additional ones to be developed) are not limited to precipitation, nor are they limited to the Twitter social medium. Indeed, to maximize the value of our work for NASA earth science programs, these components should be generalized and be part of an overall framework for processing citizen science data for science research. In this paper, we outline such a framework.

earth science satellite data↗
DOE OSTI2022

Energy Performance of Awnings in Residential Buildings

Residential buildings consume approximately 20% of the total primary energy in the United States. More than 50% of this energy is spent in heating, cooling, and lighting these buildings. Solar heat gain is one of the largest and most variable sources of cooling load in these buildings, while it can also provide passive heating during the heating season. Shading devices can be used to control the amount of solar heat gain in buildings. Various studies have considered how different shading devices and their applications affect energy and occupant comfort in buildings. However, most of these studies were limited to planar shading devices such as roller shades, cellular shades, and blinds. Although some theoretical studies have been performed for awnings, the energy performance of awnings has rarely been studied via either energy simulation or field measurement. In this study, the authors evaluated the energy performance of typical operable awnings by using field data, aided by simulation. Awnings were installed on a real house, and measurements were performed to evaluate the thermal performance of the awning. The measured data were then used to develop a calibrated energy model and evaluate the awning’s energy performance. The annual simulation of the building model used showed that awnings left in the closed position from April to September can reduce annual HVAC energy consumption by 15% compared with a building without any shades. The validated model was used in US Department of Energy prototype buildings to evaluate awning energy performance in climate zones 1A through 4B via energy simulation. For these prototype buildings, energy savings of up to 1,034 kWh were achieved for a building with a conditioned floor area of 2,377 ft 2 .

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS2010

Solid-State, High Energy 2-Micron Laser Development for Space-Based Remote Sensing

Lidar (light detection and ranging) remote sensing enjoys the advantages of excellent vertical and horizontal resolution; pointing capability; a signal source independent from natural light; and control and knowledge of transmitted wavelength, pulse shape, and polarization and received polarization. Lidar in space is an emerging technology now being developing to fit applications where passive sensors cannot meet current measurement requirements. Technical requirements for space lidar are more demanding than for ground-based or airborne systems. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristics of space lidars are the environmental requirements. Space lidar systems must be specially designed to survive the mechanical vibration loads of launch and operate in the vacuum of space where exposure to ionizing radiation limits the electronic components available. Finally, space lidars must be designed to be highly reliable because they must operate without the need for repair or adjustment. Lifetime requirements tend to be important drivers of the overall system design. The maturity of the required technologies is a key to the development of any space lidar system. NASA entered a new era in the 1990 s with the approval of several space-based remote sensing missions employing laser radar (lidar) techniques. Following the steps of passive remote sensing and then active radar remote sensing, lidar sensors were a logical next step, providing independence from natural light sources, and better spatial resolution and smaller sensor size than radar sensors. The shorter electromagnetic wavelengths of laser light also allowed signal reflectance from air molecules and aerosol particles. The smaller receiver apertures allowed the concept of scanning the sensor field of view. However, technical problems with several space-based lidar missions during that decade led to concern at NASA about the risk of lidar missions. An external panel was convened to make recommendations to NASA. Their report in 2000 strongly advocated that NASA maintain in-house laser and lidar capability, and that NASA should work to lower the technology risk for all future lidar missions. A multi-Center NASA team formulated an integrated NASA strategy to provide the technology and maturity of systems necessary to make Lidar/Laser systems viable for space-based study and monitoring of the Earth's atmosphere. In 2002 the NASA Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) and Office of Aerospace Technology (OAT) created the Laser Risk Reduction Program (LRRP) and directed NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and Goddard Space Flight Center to carry out synergistic and complementary research towards solid-state lasers/lidars developments for space-based remote sensing applications.

Singh, Upendra N.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Mechanism for Deploying a Long, Thin-Film Antenna from a Rover

Observations with radio telescopes address key problems in cosmology, astrobiology, heliophysics, and planetary science including the first light in the Universe (Cosmic Dawn), magnetic fields of extrasolar planets, particle acceleration mechanisms, and the lunar ionosphere. The Moon is a unique science platform because it allows access to radio frequencies that do not penetrate the Earth's ionosphere and because its far side is shielded from intense terrestrial emissions. A radio antenna can be realized by using polyimide film as a substrate, with a conducting substance deposited on it. Such an antenna can be rolled into a small volume for transport, then deployed by unrolling, and a robotic rover offers a natural means of unrolling a polyimide film-based antenna. An antenna deployment mechanism was developed that allows a thin film to be deposited onto a ground surface, in a controlled manner, using a minimally actuated rover. The deployment mechanism consists of two rollers, one driven and one passive. The antenna film is wrapped around the driven roller. The passive roller is mounted on linear bearings that allow it to move radially with respect to the driven roller. Springs preload the passive roller against the driven roller, and prevent the tightly wrapped film from unspooling or "bird's nesting" on the driven spool. The antenna deployment mechanism is integrated on the minimally-actuated Axel rover. Axel is a two-wheeled rover platform with a trailing boom that is capable of traversing undulated terrain and overcoming obstacles of a wheel radius in height. It is operated by four motors: one that drives each wheel; a third that controls the rotation of the boom, which orients the body mounted sensors; and a fourth that controls the rover's spool to drive the antenna roller. This low-mass axle-like rover houses its control and communication avionics inside its cylindrical body. The Axel rover teleoperation software has an auto-spooling mode that allows a user to automatically deploy the thin-film antenna at a rate proportional to the wheel speed as it drives the rover along its trajectory. The software allows Axel to deposit the film onto the ground to prevent or minimize relative motion between the film and the terrain to avoid the risk of scraping and antenna with the terrain.

Lazio, Joseph↗
NASA NTRS1984

Exposure of spacecraft coatings (S0010)

The objectives of this LDEF experiment are to determine the effects of both the Shuttle-induced environment and the space radiation environment on selected sets of spacecraft thermal control coatings. The experimental approach is to passively expose samples of thermal control coatings to Shuttle-induced and space radiation environments and to return the samples for postflight evaluation and comparison with preflight measurements to determine the effects of the environmental exposure. Optical measurements of the samples will include total normal emittance and spectral reflectance. The experiment will utilize a 6 in. deep peripheral tray and an experiment exposure control canister (EECC). The EECC will provide protection for some of the samples against exposure to the launch and reentry environments. The EECC will be programmed to open about 2 weeks after LDEF deployment and close pior to LDEF retrieval by the Shuttle and reentry. Some samples will not be housed in the EECC and will be exposed to the Shuttle-induced environment during launch and reentry. Comparison of the data from these samples with data from samples in the EECC will yield information about possible contamination induced degradation effects.

Slemp, W. S.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Delineating the Roles of Mn, Al, and Co by Comparing Three Layered Oxide Cathodes with the Same Nickel Content of 70% for Lithium-Ion Batteries

High-nickel layered oxides continue to prevail in the energy storage market as the frontmost cathode candidates for next-generation lithium-ion batteries. Demand and development of LiNi 1–x–y Mn x Co y O 2 (NMC) and LiNi 1–x–y Co x Al y O 2 (NCA) cathodes are rampantly increasing, particularly for the electric vehicle (EV) industry. However, the continued presence of cobalt in NMC and NCA cathodes raises global concerns due to geopolitical and ethical issues attributed to Co sourcing. We herein introduce a novel cobalt-free, high-nickel cathode LiNi 0.7 Mn 0.25 Al 0.05 O 2 (NMA70) and benchmark it against Co-containing LiNi 0.7 Mn 0.15 Co 0.15 O 2 (NMC70) as well as Co- and Al-free LiNi 0.7 Mn 0.3 O 2 (NM70) cathodes with equivalent 70% Ni contents that are all synthesized in-house. NMA70 displays a high initial C/10 capacity of 210 mA h g –1 , matching that of NMC70 in half cells with a cutoff voltage of 4.5 V. NMA70 also exhibits an impressive high-voltage full cell cycling performance with a cutoff voltage of 4.4 V with a nearly identical capacity retention of 83% compared to that of 82% for NMC70 after 300 cycles. Postmortem X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM), and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) analyses indicate a thinner cathode–electrolyte interface (CEI) developed in NMA70 compared to that in NM70 and unveil a more robust solid-electrolyte interface (SEI) passivation on the graphite anode among all samples. The benefits of Al doping are additionally highlighted with enhanced high-voltage CEI and thermal stabilities in NMA70. Furthermore, this work assesses the roles of Mn, Al, and Co to demonstrate both the practicality and feasibility of synthesizing cobalt-free, high-nickel cathodes that are promising alternatives to current NMC- and NCA-based cathodes.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS1983

High stability amplifier

An electrical RF signal amplifier for providing high temperature stability and RF isolation and comprised of an integrated circuit voltage regulator, a single transistor, and an integrated circuit operational amplifier mounted on a circuit board such that passive circuit elements are located on side of the circuit board while the active circuit elements are located on the other side is described. The active circuit elements are embedded in a common heat sink so that a common temperature reference is provided for changes in ambient temperature. The single transistor and operational amplifier are connected together to form a feedback amplifier powered from the voltage regulator with transistor implementing primarily the desired signal gain while the operational amplifier implements signal isolation. Further RF isolation is provided by the voltage regulator which inhibits cross-talk from other like amplifiers powered from a common power supply. Input and output terminals consisting of coaxial connectors are located on the sides of a housing in which all the circuit components and heat sink are located.

Adams, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The Millimeter-Wave Imaging Radiometer (MIR)

The Millimeter-Wave Imaging Radiometer (MIR) is a new instrument being designed for studies of airborne passive microwave retrieval of tropospheric water vapor, clouds, and precipitation parameters. The MIR is a total-power cross-track scanning radiometer for use on either the NASA ER-2 (high-altitude) or DC-8 (medium altitude) aircraft. The current design includes millimeter-wave (MMW) channels at 90, 166, 183 +/- 1,3,7, and 220 GHz. An upgrade for the addition of submillimeter-wave (SMMW) channels at 325 +/- 1,3,7 and 340 GHz is planned. The nadiral spatial resolution is approximately 700 meters at mid-altitude when operated aboard the NASA ER-2. The MIR consists of a scanhead and data acquisition system, designed for installation in the ER-2 superpod nose cone. The scanhead will house the receivers (feedhorns, mixers, local oscillators, and preamplifiers), a scanning mirror, hot and cold calibration loads, and temperature sensors. Particular attention is being given to the characterization of the hot and cold calibration loads through both laboratory bistatic scattering measurements and analytical modeling. Other aspects of the MIR and the data acquisition system are briefly discussed, and diagrams of the location of the MIR in the ER-2 superpod nosecone and of the data acquisition system are presented.

Gasiewski, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Automation and Robotics for Space-Based Systems, 1991

A NASA Langley workshop on Automation and Robotics for Space-Based Systems was held on December 10, 1991. This conference proceedings document presents the overhead slides from each speaker at this event. The purpose of this in-house workshop was to assess the state-of-the-art of automation and robotics for space operations from a LaRC perspective and to identify areas of opportunity for future research. The workshop was sponsored by the Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee, chaired by Mr. Raymond C. Montgomery. Nineteen talks were given, reflecting a high level of interest in the field of automation at NASA Langley. Over half of the presentations came from the Automation Technology Branch, covering telerobotic control, EVA and IVA robotics, hand controllers for teleoperation, sensors, neural networks, and automated structural assembly, all applied to space missions. Other talks covered RMS active damping augmentation, space crane work, modeling, simulation, and control of large, flexible space manipulators, and virtual passive controller designs for space robots.

Automation↗
NASA NTRS2015

Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Mission Level 4 Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture (L4_SM) Product Specification Document

This is the Product Specification Document (PSD) for Level 4 Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture (L4_SM) data for the Science Data System (SDS) of the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) project. The L4_SM data product provides estimates of land surface conditions based on the assimilation of SMAP observations into a customized version of the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System, Version 5 (GEOS-5) land data assimilation system (LDAS). This document applies to any standard L4_SM data product generated by the SMAP Project. The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission will enhance the accuracy and the resolution of space-based measurements of terrestrial soil moisture and freeze-thaw state. SMAP data products will have a noteworthy impact on multiple relevant and current Earth Science endeavors. These include: Understanding of the processes that link the terrestrial water, the energy and the carbon cycles, Estimations of global water and energy fluxes over the land surfaces, Quantification of the net carbon flux in boreal landscapes Forecast skill of both weather and climate, Predictions and monitoring of natural disasters including floods, landslides and droughts, and Predictions of agricultural productivity. To provide these data, the SMAP mission will deploy a satellite observatory in a near polar, sun synchronous orbit. The observatory will house an L-band radiometer that operates at 1.40 GHz and an L-band radar that operates at 1.26 GHz. The instruments will share a rotating reflector antenna with a 6 meter aperture that scans over a 1000 km swath.

L4-SM↗