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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
DOE OSTI2024

CMaize: Simplifying inter-package modularity from the build up

There is a growing desire for inter-package modularity within the chemistry software community to reuse encapsulated code units across a variety of software packages. Most comprehensive efforts at achieving inter-package modularity will quickly run afoul of a very practical problem, being able to cohesively build the modules. Writing and maintaining build systems has long been an issue for many scientific software packages that rely on compiled languages such as C/C++. The push for inter-package modularity compounds this issue by additionally requiring binary artifacts from disparate developers to interoperate at a binary level. Thankfully, the de facto build tool for C/C++, CMake, is more than capable of supporting the myriad of edge cases that complicate writing robust build systems. Unfortunately, writing and maintaining a robust CMake build system can be a laborious endeavor because CMake provides few abstractions to aid the developer. Further, the need to significantly simplify the process of writing robust CMake-based build systems, especially in inter-package builds, motivated us to write CMaize. In addition to describing the architecture and design of CMaize, the article also demonstrates how CMaize is used in production-level software.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

IDB Loader

SAND2024-08428O The IDB Loader is a database designed to hold gamma spectra. IDB is a web-accessible database of reference gamma spectra for measuring uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) isotopic composition. The database, developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), provides access to well-characterized groups of gamma spectra curated by international experts in gamma spectroscopy. It was created to promote sustainability and maintenance of software used to determine the isotopic abundances of U and Pu. The IDB Loader works by uploading one set of spectral data into an existing IDB. The Data Loader package includes documentation describing the IDB's table, the format of the spectral data, and a description of the loader program. The IDB is currently hosted by the IAEA at: https://nds.iaea.org/idb Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Schwartz, Steven↗
NASA NTRS1992

The Software Engineering Laboratory: An operational software experience factory

For 15 years, the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) has been carrying out studies and experiments for the purpose of understanding, assessing, and improving software and software processes within a production software development environment at NASA/GSFC. The SEL comprises three major organizations: (1) NASA/GSFC, Flight Dynamics Division; (2) University of Maryland, Department of Computer Science; and (3) Computer Sciences Corporation, Flight Dynamics Technology Group. These organizations have jointly carried out several hundred software studies, producing hundreds of reports, papers, and documents, all of which describe some aspect of the software engineering technology that was analyzed in the flight dynamics environment at NASA. The studies range from small, controlled experiments (such as analyzing the effectiveness of code reading versus that of functional testing) to large, multiple project studies (such as assessing the impacts of Ada on a production environment). The organization's driving goal is to improve the software process continually, so that sustained improvement may be observed in the resulting products. This paper discusses the SEL as a functioning example of an operational software experience factory and summarizes the characteristics of and major lessons learned from 15 years of SEL operations.

Basili, Victor R.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Syntax Editing for Mark 4-A System Performance Test Software

This article describes the syntax editing concepts used by the Operations Sustaining Engineering Section in implementing System Performance Test software for the Mark 4-A era. The processing functions are discussed, as well as the necessary data structures and table generation macros used in implementing those functions. In addition, the procedural and software interfaces which have been developed for users of the syntax editor are described, including the forms required for establishing directive and parameter characteristics.

Jacobson, G. N.↗
DOE OSTI2021

LLNL Response to the DOE ASCR RFI, "Stewardship of Software for Scientific and High-Performance Computing"

For decades, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been engaged in significant research, development, and support for software to enable scientific computing and, particularly, the use of high performance computing (HPC) in the NNSA mission space. In particular, the move in the mid-1990’s to simulation as a leading component of stockpile stewardship through the ASCI and the successor ASC programs, as well as the need for reliable data acquisition and control software for the National Ignition Facility, have been important drivers in building expertise in production-quality software development at LLNL. LLNL has also been a leader in the DOE SciDAC FASTMath Institute and the DOE Exascale Computing Project (ECP), both of which have striven to make scientific computing software – in particular, the enabling technologies underpinning simulation capabilities – more widely adopted and sustainable. As such, we believe that our experience can inform the broader goal of software stewardship for scientific and high-performance computing. LLNL strongly supports the formation of a new DOE ASCR program element in software stewardship and sustainment. Historically, DOE ASCR has funded applied mathematics and computer science research that has led to the development of important new capabilities and algorithms that are expressed as artifacts in research software. Such frameworks, libraries, and tools have seldom been directly funded to address the important issues of code maintenance, documentation, robustness, and community building. Software engineering and support have typically been done on the side in support of the ASCR-driven research products. DOE funding priorities have been slow to recognize that good software engineering, the kind that ensures research investments have more adoption and longevity, requires significant resources. Based upon our experiences, we have prepared this response to highlight the concerns and issues we believe to be important as DOE ASCR considers its role in scientific software stewardship. We believe that role is important and will require a significant investment of new funding to legitimately support the technologies past and future DOE ASCR investments have and will produce to facilitate their uptake and adoption in the broader scientific computing community. Following a summary of our involvement in scientific software development, the remainder our response is organized around the nine topics specifically identified in the RFI.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2024

2024 Software for NASA Science Mission Directorate Workshop Report

The 2024 Software for the NASA Science Mission Directorate Workshop was the first workshop of its kind in over 10 years. The numerous attendees and high level of interaction in this hybrid workshop portrayed the untapped interest and energy in the NASA SMD community about software. Over 100 takeaways were collected from the hosted discussions in four key areas - Communication, Communities, Funding and Clarity - as summarized in this report. One takeaway was representative of all four categories: “Software is not hardware; it is organic and needs a different model. You often don't know which components will be Open-Source reusable until later in the development cycle.” For the communication category, this takeaway motivates the reduction of silos by shifting towards a model that better supports community collaboration on common challenges and a more streamlined and improved software release process. For the communities category, the same statement points to forming communities of practice with varying scopes and a new approach to recognition and incentives for open-source software contributions. Concerning funding, this statement motivates a more sustained and flexible funding model that better supports the software foundation needed for NASA’s long-term success, including the collaboration and infrastructure a good foundation requires. The new approach to clarity motivated by this statement calls for significant changes to the software release process and related policies to streamline compliance, align those policies with the open-source science culture NASA is promoting and with each other, and simplify use of the cloud. It is time to recognize software as a foundational component of NASA with an organic nature not properly supported by current approaches. Different models are needed in all four areas to shift the NASA SMD software community and governance structures into a more efficient, open, and collaborative ecosystem - one that enables ground-breaking science and daring exploration into the coming decades

science↗
NASA NTRS2011

Exploration Medical System Demonstration Project

A near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) mission will present significant new challenges including hazards to crew health created by exploring a beyond low earth orbit destination, traversing the terrain of asteroid surfaces, and the effects of variable gravity environments. Limited communications with ground-based personnel for diagnosis and consultation of medical events require increased crew autonomy when diagnosing conditions, creating treatment plans, and executing procedures. Scope: The Exploration Medical System Demonstration (EMSD) project will be a test bed on the International Space Station (ISS) to show an end-to-end medical system assisting the Crew Medical Officers (CMO) in optimizing medical care delivery and medical data management during a mission. NEA medical care challenges include resource and resupply constraints limiting the extent to which medical conditions can be treated, inability to evacuate to Earth during many mission phases, and rendering of medical care by a non-clinician. The system demonstrates the integration of medical technologies and medical informatics tools for managing evidence and decision making. Project Objectives: The objectives of the EMSD project are to: a) Reduce and possibly eliminate the time required for a crewmember and ground personnel to manage medical data from one application to another. b) Demonstrate crewmember's ability to access medical data/information via a software solution to assist/aid in the treatment of a medical condition. c) Develop a common data management architecture that can be ubiquitously used to automate repetitive data collection, management, and communications tasks for all crew health and life sciences activities. d) Develop a common data management architecture that allows for scalability, extensibility, and interoperability of data sources and data users. e) Lower total cost of ownership for development and sustainment of peripheral hardware and software that use EMSD for data management f) Provide better crew health via the reduction in crew errors, crew time, and ground time.

Chin, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS2006

From Prime to Extended Mission: Evolution of the MER Tactical Uplink Process

To support a 90-day surface mission for two robotic rovers, the Mars Exploration Rover mission designed and implemented an intensive tactical operations process, enabling daily commanding of each rover. Using a combination of new processes, custom software tools, a Mars-time staffing schedule, and seven-day-a-week operations, the MER team was able to compress the traditional weeks-long command-turnaround for a deep space robotic mission to about 18 hours. However, the pace of this process was never intended to be continued indefinitely. Even before the end of the three-month prime mission, MER operations began evolving towards greater sustainability. A combination of continued software tool development, increasing team experience, and availability of reusable sequences first reduced the mean process duration to approximately 11 hours. The number of workshifts required to perform the process dropped, and the team returned to a modified 'Earth-time' schedule. Additional process and tool adaptation eventually provided the option of planning multiple Martian days of activity within a single workshift, making 5-day-a-week operations possible. The vast majority of the science team returned to their home institutions, continuing to participate fully in the tactical operations process remotely. MER has continued to operate for over two Earth-years as many of its key personnel have moved on to other projects, the operations team and budget have shrunk, and the rovers have begun to exhibit symptoms of aging.

mission operations↗
NASA NTRS2006

From Prime to Extended Mission: Evolution of the MER Tactical Uplink Process

To support a 90-day surface mission for two robotic rovers, the Mars Exploration Rover mission designed and implemented an intensive tactical operations process, enabling daily commanding of each rover. Using a combination of new processes, custom software tools, a Mars-time staffing schedule, and seven-day-a-week operations, the MER team was able to compress the traditional weeks-long command-turnaround for a deep space robotic mission to about 18 hours. However, there was never an intention of maintaining the pace of this process indefinitely. Even before the end of the three-month prime mission, MER operations began evolving towards greater sustainability. A combination of continued software tool development, increasing team experience, and availability of reusable sequences first reduced the mean process duration to approximately 11 hours. The number of workshifts required to perform the process dropped, and the team returned to a modified 'Earth-time' schedule. Additional process and tool adaptation eventually provided the option of planning multiple Martian days of activity within a single workshift, making 5- day-a-week operations possible. The vast majority of the science team returned to their home institutions, continuing to participate fully in the tactical operations process remotely. MER has continued to operate for over two Earth-years as many of its key personnel have moved on to other projects, the operations team and budget have shrunk, and the rovers have begun to exhibit symptoms of aging.

Mars exploration↗
DOE OSTI2022

Strengthening the Security of Operational Technology: Understanding Contemporary Bill of Materials

The evolution of cyber-physical infrastructure has made its security more challenging. The last few years have witnessed a convergence of hardware and software segments in various domains, including operational technology (OT) which is responsible for carrying out critical tasks such as monitoring and controlling power grids, nuclear plants, transportation, and emergency services. Both hardware and software encapsulate numerous open source and proprietary subcomponents, making it crucial for end-users to understand the composition of the products they are using. For example, wind turbines incorporate thousands of lines of code (software) used for the turbine's design, planning, operation, and analytics in addition to the numerous hardware subcomponents that construct it. Due to the highly complex nature of software and hardware, knowledge of the components and subcomponents is required to mitigate cyber vulnerabilities and defend against cyberattacks. There has also been a transformation from a traditional linear supply chain into a global, dynamic, diverse, and interconnected system. The digitization of the supply chain makes it easier to find and exploit vulnerabilities. Critical infrastructures (e.g., power grids, oil, natural gas, water, and wastewater) rely on OT to function, and if the OT is compromised, equipment damage and potential interruption of services could result. A significant security measure to protect OT systems from disruption is to develop a supply chain bill of materials (BoM) corresponding to the software and hardware used in OT, along with attestations amongst vendors and asset owners. A supply chain BoM is a proactive way to understand the inherent vulnerabilities in the system and mitigate them in advance of being exploited. BoMs bolster the trust placed in the digital infrastructure and enhance software supply chain security by sustaining the management of component obsolescence and compliance, along with the seclusion of unsafe segments of a specific product. Adopting BoM tools is becoming increasingly important across various government sectors, as evidenced by the recent U.S. executive order on cybersecurity (NIST 2021). This paper aims to classify BoMs based on structure, functionality, component type, and architecture. The work also discusses case studies to further highlight the benefits of BoMs. In addition, it identifies missing pieces in existing BoM implementations so that future research may identify bounds on where it could expect to make improvements and directly enable researchers to identify promising areas for exploration. Further, the authors provide valuable recommendations to tool developers, researchers, and standardizing organizations (policymakers), additionally benefitting critical infrastructure owners and government executives. This aids in paving a path for future work, thereby, providing suggestions to determine a tool for consumers that best suit their needs.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Automating Software Productivity Planning: Lightweight Tools for Upgrading Team Practices

A lightweight iterative workflow, called Productivity and Sustainability Improvement Planning (PSIP) has been developed to assist software teams with employing good software engineering practices. Three PSIP tools automate practice summarization, self-assessment, and progress tracking to enhance team engagement around software process improvement: Reposcanner, RateYourProject (RYP) and Progress Tracking Cards (PTCs) respectively. Reposcanner is a data analysis tool. RYP is an interactive self-assessment tool that provides an easy-to-use entry point to the PSIP process. Once process improvements are identified, PTCs are created by teams to measure outcomes and progression toward their goals. We present an exemplifying case study with a software team where these tools have been put to use, along with a description of the tools, and future plans for further improvements.

Raybourn, Elaine↗
DOE OSTI2020

ASCR@40: Highlights and Impacts of ASCR’s Programs

A report compiled by the ASCAC Subcommittee on the 40-year history of ASCR for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research. The Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) sits within the Office of Science in the Department of Energy (DOE). Per their web pages, “the mission of the ASCR program is to discover, develop, and deploy computational and networking capabilities to analyze, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena important to the DOE.” This succinct statement encompasses a wide range of responsibilities for computing and networking facilities; for procuring, deploying, and operating high performance computing, networking, and storage resources; for basic research in mathematics and computer science; for developing and sustaining a large body of software; and for partnering with organizations across the Office of Science and beyond. While its mission statement may seem very contemporary, the roots of ASCR are quite deep—long predating the creation of DOE. Applied mathematics and advanced computing were both elements of the Theoretical Division of the Manhattan Project. In the early 1950s, the Manhattan Project scientist and mathematician John von Neumann, then a commissioner for the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission), advocated for the creation of a Mathematics program to support the continued development and applications of digital computing. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) scientist John Pasta created such a program to fund researchers at universities and AEC laboratories. Under several organizational name changes, this program has persisted ever since, and would eventually grow to become ASCR.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

ASCR@40: Four Decades of Department of Energy Leadership in Advanced Scientific Computing Research

Throughout its long history, the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) has built the critical technologies to ensure U.S. leadership in energy science and national security. It has made its parent agency, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its Office of Science, the world’s recognized leader in computational science. ASCR’s stated mission is “to discover, develop, and deploy computational and networking capabilities to analyze, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena important to the DOE.” To accomplish this goal, ASCR oversees a large complex of computing and networking facilities and is responsible for procuring, deploying and operating high-performance computing (HPC), networking and storage resources; conducting basic research in mathematics and computer science; developing and sustaining a large body of software; and collaborating with other Office of Science programs, academia and industry. ASCR’s computational science leadership has a long history, predating even DOE’s inception. Applied mathematics and advanced computing were both elements of the Manhattan Project’s Theoretical Division. In the 1950s, DOE’s predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, created a mathematics program to develop and apply digital computing by supporting researchers at universities and AEC laboratories. Several organizational and name changes later, this program would grow and become ASCR.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Co-Firing of Pine Biomass and Waste Coal in 100 and 600 MW Power Plants: A Sustainable Approach to Reduce GHG Emissions

Climate change is a global issue that has gained much attention recently. Co-firing biomass with coal/waste coal reduces the electricity sector’s GHG emissions sustainably. This study uses commercial software to model waste coal and biomass co-firing in 100 MW and 600 MW power plants. The objective is to assess the effects of fluid types (subcritical and supercritical), plant capacities (100 MW and 600 MW), boiler types (pulverized coal and circulating fluidized bed boilers), biomass and waste coal co-firing ratios (0:100, 20:80, 40:60, 60:40, 80:20, and 100:0), and carbon capture and storage efficiencies (0%, 90%, 95%, and 97%) on performance parameters such as net plant efficiency, heat rate, net plant CO2 and SO2, and particulate matter emissions. The feedstocks selected for this investigation include anthracite waste coal and loblolly pine biomass. As the biomass fraction increases from 0% to 100%, co-fired power plants net efficiency increases by 3–8%. Supercritical plants had a 6% higher net plant efficiency than the subcritical plants. The study found that the biomass’s high heating value decreased the fuel flow rate and reduced plant CO2 emissions by 10–16%. With 100% biomass power plant feed and 90% carbon capture and storage efficiency, CO2 emissions drop by 83% and SO2 and PM emissions drop to zero.

Bhoi, Prakashbhai R. (ORCID:0000000333104888)↗
NASA NTRS2014

Exploration Medical System Demonstration

BACKGROUND: Exploration class missions will present significant new challenges and hazards to the health of the astronauts. Regardless of the intended destination, beyond low Earth orbit a greater degree of crew autonomy will be required to diagnose medical conditions, develop treatment plans, and implement procedures due to limited communications with ground-based personnel. SCOPE: The Exploration Medical System Demonstration (EMSD) project will act as a test bed on the International Space Station (ISS) to demonstrate to crew and ground personnel that an end-to-end medical system can assist clinician and non-clinician crew members in optimizing medical care delivery and data management during an exploration mission. Challenges facing exploration mission medical care include limited resources, inability to evacuate to Earth during many mission phases, and potential rendering of medical care by non-clinicians. This system demonstrates the integration of medical devices and informatics tools for managing evidence and decision making and can be designed to assist crewmembers in nominal, non-emergent situations and in emergent situations when they may be suffering from performance decrements due to environmental, physiological or other factors. PROJECT OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the EMSD project are to: a. Reduce or eliminate the time required of an on-orbit crew and ground personnel to access, transfer, and manipulate medical data. b. Demonstrate that the on-orbit crew has the ability to access medical data/information via an intuitive and crew-friendly solution to aid in the treatment of a medical condition. c. Develop a common data management framework that can be ubiquitously used to automate repetitive data collection, management, and communications tasks for all activities pertaining to crew health and life sciences. d. Ensure crew access to medical data during periods of restricted ground communication. e. Develop a common data management framework that allows for scalability, extensibility, and interoperability of data sources and data users. f. Lower total cost of ownership for development and sustainment of peripheral hardware and software that use EMSD for data management. g. Provide a better standard of healthcare for crew members through reductions in the time required by crew and ground personnel to provide medical treatment and the number of crew errors experienced during treatment.

Rubin, D. A.↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Sustainability-Based Expert System for Additive Manufacturing and CNC Machining

The objective of this research study is to develop a set of expert systems that can aid metal manufacturing facilities in selecting binder jetting, direct metal laser sintering, or CNC machining based on viable products, processes, system parameters, and inherent sustainability aspects. For the purposes of this study, cost-effectiveness, energy, and auxiliary material usage efficiency were considered the key indicators of manufacturing process sustainability. The expert systems were developed using the knowledge automation software Exsys Corvid ® V6.1.3. The programs were verified by analyzing and comparing the sustainability impacts of binder jetting and CNC machining during the fabrication of a stainless steel 316L component. According to the results of this study, binder jetting is deemed to be characterized by more favorable indicators of sustainability in comparison to CNC machining, considering the fabrication of components feasible for each technology.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1986

The 2GCHAS: A high productivity software development environment

To the user, the most visible feature of the Transportable Applications Executive (TAE) is its very powerful user interface. To the programmer, TAE's user interface, proc concept, standardized interface definitions, and hierarchy search provide a set of tools for rapidly prototyping or developing production software. The 2GCHAS (Second Generation Comprehensive Helicopter Analysis System) project has extended and enhanced these mechanisms, creating a powerful and high productivity programming environment where the 2GCHAS development environment is 2GCHAS itself and where a sustained rate for certified, documented, and tested software above 30 delivered source instructions per programmer day has been achieved. The 2GCHAS environment is not limited to helicopter analysis, but is applicable to other disciplines where software development is important.

Babb, Larry↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Surface Systems and Interface Standardization

Space exploration on planetary surfaces will require the use of various surface systems which will likely need to interface with one another. These systems must communicate and share data, as well as distribute power and transfer fluids for sustainable surface operations. Such systems can range from landers, surface habitats, mobility systems, cargo, and In-Situ Resource Utilizations (ISRUs). Previous and current programs have developed space interoperability standards that help aid in reducing potential risks of interface integration. One example of this is the International Deep Space Interoperability Standards (IDSIS) which focuses on deep space exploration. A goal of the Artemis program is to develop a sustained human presence on the lunar surface that would be a training ground for future Mars exploration. Therefore, it will be beneficial to identify interface standards between the surface assets which will help mitigate risk and reduce complexity in the harsh environments of space exploration. A key contribution to sustainability is commonality between hardware and software interfaces. Generic interfaces for data, power, and fluids will reduce risk, promote interoperability, and define standard interfaces across surface exploration projects and programs. Standardized interfaces would be advantageous for improving efficiency and reducing overall complexity, which are critical considerations for future space exploration. Furthermore, it will provide cost reductions to the Artemis programs over their life cycle (in Operations & Maintenance (O&M) and Logistics). Unique proprietary interfaces if considered or allowed would not only increase complexity but also add cost to the programs. Of course, understanding what will work and not work effectively in these unique environments such as the lunar surface is important. These unique environments require much needed intelligent design, prototyping, comprehensive testing, and field experience, utilizing consensus on common interface solutions.

Jaime Gomez↗