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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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1,330 records · Page 54
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

RTE: A Computer Code for Rocket Thermal Evaluation

The numerical model for a rocket thermal analysis code (RTE) is discussed. RTE is a comprehensive thermal analysis code for thermal analysis of regeneratively cooled rocket engines. The input to the code consists of the composition of fuel/oxidant mixture and flow rates, chamber pressure, coolant temperature and pressure. dimensions of the engine, materials and the number of nodes in different parts of the engine. The code allows for temperature variation in axial, radial and circumferential directions. By implementing an iterative scheme, it provides nodal temperature distribution, rates of heat transfer, hot gas and coolant thermal and transport properties. The fuel/oxidant mixture ratio can be varied along the thrust chamber. This feature allows the user to incorporate a non-equilibrium model or an energy release model for the hot-gas-side. The user has the option of bypassing the hot-gas-side calculations and directly inputting the gas-side fluxes. This feature is used to link RTE to a boundary layer module for the hot-gas-side heat flux calculations.

Mohammad H N Naraghi↗
NASA NTRS1993

An Overview of the Galileo Optical Experiment (GOPEX)

Uplink optical communication to a deep-space vehicle was demonstrated. In the Galileo Optical Experiment (GOPEX), optical transmissions were beamed to the Galileo spacecraft by Earth-based transmitters at the Table Mountain Facility (TMF), California, and Starfire Optical Range (SOR), New Mexico. The demonstration took place over an eight-day period (9 Dec. through 16 Dec. 1992) as Galileo receded from Earth on its way to Jupiter, and covered ranges from 1-6 million km. At 6 million km (15 times the Earth-Moon distance), the laser beam transmitted from TMF eight days after Earth flyby covered the longest known range for transmission and detection.

K E Wilson↗
NASA NTRS1965

Aerodynamic Design of Axial Flow Compressors

An overview of 'Aerodynamic systems design of axial flow compressors' is presented. Numerous chapters cover topics such as compressor design, potential and viscous flow in two dimensional cascades, compressor stall and blade vibration, and compressor flow theory. Theoretical aspects of flow are also covered. This work is based substantially on a three-volume Confidential Research Memorandum f h t issued by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1956 and declassified in .1958 for release to the general public. The material, which was of a fundamental character, has been updated for the present edition in the light of subsequent developments in the field and has been carefully reexamined for current validity by members of the staff of the NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio. It is now published for the first time in a single volume to meet continuing demand for the information and to make it readily available in convenient form to the engineering community both within and outside the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Axial flow compressor↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Behaviors of Lunar Regolith Simulant Under Varying Gravitational Conditions

Understanding the behavior of regolith in varying gravity conditions is critical for space exploration and future missions. In this work, the gravity-driven hopper flow of lunar regolith simulant in different gravitational accelerations (terrestrial, lunar) is first observed experimentally. Numerical simulations (DEM) are then developed to understand the role which cohesive inter-particle forces play in such gravity-driven flow, using the theoretical framework of granular Bond number. Qualitative comparison between a terrestrial experiment and numerical simulation validated this framework. Following that, we numerically studied the dynamic behavior under varying gravitational conditions (from terrestrial to lunar to asteroid gravitational accelerations). We find that this behavior is extremely sensitive to the interplay of the gravity conditions and the attractive/cohesive forces among particles. The numerical and experimental results show that the complex interaction of these forces can drastically change the dynamics of the material producing effects relevant for variable gravity applications.

Soft Matter↗
NASA NTRS1992

Ruled and holographic experiment (AO 138-5)

The AO 138-5 experiment has been designed, via the French Cooperative Payload (FRECOPA) experiment with the aim to study the optical behavior of different diffraction gratings submitted to space vacuum long exposure and solar radiation. Samples were rules and holographic gratings, masters or replica, and some additional control mirrors with various coatings. The experiment was located on the B3, trailing edge of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) and has been protected against atomic oxygen flux. The experienced thermal cycling has been evaluated from -23 C to 66 C during the flight, 34,000 orbits. The analysis has been focused on the triple point characterization including light efficiency, wavefront flatness quality and stray light level. Tests were conducted on control mirrors and gratings loaded but not exposed to cosmic dust or solar irradiations. They did not show any significant variations. Solar exposure has damaged the coating reflectivity in the ultraviolet region, the degradation is higher with the gratings, in terms of efficiency. However, wavefront flatness quality and stray light level tests revealed no additional changes.

Francis Bonnemason↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Preliminary Dynamic Modeling of the Quarter-Scale Distributed Electric Propulsion Aircraft

This paper describes the early-stage modeling of a quarter-scale distributed electric propulsion aircraft, based on the SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) Electrofan, a transformative concept aircraft for which a model exists. The full-scale 180 passenger SUSAN concept has a single turbofan engine in the tail that both produces thrust and provides electrical power to 16 electric fans distributed across the wings utilizing a series/parallel hybrid architecture. The quarter-scale version would have an internal combustion piston engine to provide power to 17 electric fans–16 on the wings, one in the tail–in a series hybrid configuration, and no vertical or horizontal stabilizers. It would also have a reduced flight envelope in terms of both altitude and speed. The initial modeling approach is to scale down the original airframe model to capture the dynamic behavior of a much smaller aircraft, albeit with an empennage. The original powertrain model is then replaced with one representing the physical components of that of the quarter-scale vehicle. This powertrain model is suitable for control design and analysis, and the fully integrated, although preliminary, aircraft model allows flight simulator testing and evaluation. Results from simulations are presented.

electrified aircraft propulsion↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Preliminary Dynamic Modeling of the Quarter-Scale Distributed Electric Propulsion Aircraft

This presentation describes the early-stage modeling of a quarter-scale distributed electric propulsion aircraft, based on the SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) Electrofan, a transformative concept aircraft for which a model exists. The full-scale 180 passenger SUSAN concept has a single turbofan engine in the tail that both produces thrust and provides electrical power to 16 electric fans distributed across the wings utilizing a series/parallel hybrid architecture. The quarter-scale version would have an internal combustion piston engine to provide power to 17 electric fans–16 on the wings, one in the tail–in a series hybrid configuration, and no vertical or horizontal stabilizers. It would also have a reduced flight envelope in terms of both altitude and speed. The initial modeling approach is to scale down the original airframe model to capture the dynamic behavior of a much smaller aircraft, albeit with an empennage. The original powertrain model is then replaced with one representing the physical components of that of the quarter-scale vehicle. This powertrain model is suitable for control design and analysis, and the fully integrated, although preliminary, aircraft model allows flight simulator testing and evaluation. Results from simulations are presented.

electrified aircraft propulsion↗
NASA NTRS2026

Preliminary Dynamic Modeling of the Quarter-Scale Distributed Electric Propulsion Aircraft

This paper describes the early-stage modeling of a quarter-scale distributed electric propulsion aircraft, based on the SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) Electrofan, a transformative concept aircraft for which a model exists. The full-scale 180 passenger SUSAN concept has a single turbofan engine in the tail that both produces thrust and provides electrical power to 16 electric fans distributed across the wings utilizing a series/parallel hybrid architecture. The quarter-scale version would have an internal combustion piston engine to provide power to 17 electric fans–16 on the wings, one in the tail–in a series hybrid configuration, and no vertical or horizontal stabilizers. It would also have a reduced flight envelope in terms of both altitude and speed. The initial modeling approach is to scale down the original airframe model to capture the dynamic behavior of a much smaller aircraft, albeit with an empennage. The original powertrain model is then replaced with one representing the physical components of that of the quarter-scale vehicle. This powertrain model is suitable for control design and analysis, and the fully integrated, although preliminary, aircraft model allows flight simulator testing and evaluation. Results from simulations are presented.

Electrified powertrain↗
NASA NTRS1983

The Galileo probe Li/SO2 battery: The safest battery on Jupiter

The unique power requirement of NASA's Galileo Jupiter Probe are most readily met by a Li/SO2 battery; however, because this battery system is not space flight proven, extensive effort was required to qualify this device from the stand point of performance and safety. Due to the rather checkered safety record of the Li/SO2 system, safety has been foremost among the design considerations and has been addressed at the cell, battery and system level. The mission requirements which led to the choice of the Li/SO2 battery and the safety engineering which went into the battery and power system design are described.

Marcoux, L. S.↗
NASA NTRS2026

Hydrology Copilot: A Cloud-Native Ai System for Hydrological Data Analysis

The emergence of AI-driven Earth observation systems promises to broaden access to petabyte-scale geospatial data beyond domain specialists. However, translating this vision into operational scientific infrastructure requires addressing fundamental challenges in data virtualization, code transparency, and domain-specific reasoning. We present Hydrology Copilot, a cloud-native AI framework for natural-language-driven analysis of Earth observation data. To demonstrate operational capabilities at scale, we implement the system using NASA's North American Land Data Assimilation System version 3 (NLDAS-3), which provides surface meteorological forcing and land-surface model output across North and Central America at 1-km resolution, from which drought diagnostics are derived. The system integrates five core contributions: (1) scalable data virtualization using Kerchunk-based cloud optimized access, achieving a 1.5 to 4.6 times improvement in I/O latency across benchmark queries spanning regional single-day extractions (4.6 times speedup) to continental monthly aggregations (1.5 times speedup); (2) transparent code generation through Microsoft Azure AI Foundry agents that expose executable Python workflows for scientific verification; (3) persistent conversational memory enabling multi-turn analytical discourse across sessions; (4) intelligent query validation that enforces dataset boundaries and resolves ambiguous requests before execution; and (5) a multi-agent architecture coordinating query parsing, code generation, and visualization. We evaluate the system through drought-monitoring workflows, demonstrating reliable code generation, accurate results validated against reference computations and the operational U.S. Drought Monitor, and efficient operation across increasingly complex tasks. By bridging natural-language interfaces with rigorous hydrological analysis, Hydrology Copilot advances beyond proof-of-concept demonstrations to provide a deployable framework for operational Earth science applications.

Data virtualization↗
NASA NTRS2026

Changes in Arctic and Antarctic Sea-Ice Properties and Processes

Although sea ice covers ~9% of the world’s oceans, its presence, and absence, vastly alter the energetic balance of Earth’s climate. Because of geographic differences, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice have different dominant properties and processes, which produce different responses to natural variability and anthropogenic change. In this Review, we survey changes in sea-ice properties and processes of the Arctic and Antarctic environments. In the Arctic, the melt season has lengthened by ~7.4 days decade −1 (1979-2024). There has been a corresponding decrease in winter sea-ice thickness (1.6 m mean total over 1980-2023), summer surface albedo (0.03 decade −1 over 1979-2020), and spring snow depth (2.5 cm decade −1 over 1954-2024). In comparison, corresponding changes in the Antarctic are small overall due to contrasting regional and temporal trends. From a dynamic perspective, sea-ice motion in both hemispheres has increased, with 0.63 cm s −1 decade −1 in the Arctic (1978-2024) and 0.69 cm s −1 decade −1 in the Antarctic (1982-2024), whereas trends in polynya occurrence differ by region. Future research should prioritize sea-ice observations that can inform how the climate system responds to natural variability and anthropogenic change, be standardized to increase uptake by the broader scientific community, and target process-oriented interactions to support model development.

Melinda A Webster↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

SERENE: Saturn Enceladus Return Explorer with Nuclear Electric Propulsion

A ‘quick’ Enceladus sample return mission concept was developed based on the scientist recommendations at the recent ‘Accelerating Space Science with Nuclear Technology Workshop’. The Nuclear Electric Propulsion spacecraft assumed a follow-on 40 kWe nuclear reactor using the demonstrated 40 kWe Fission Surface Power system, expected in the early 2030s. The NEP vehicle also utilized a set of NEXT-C ion thrusters as well as planned Artemis commercial launchers. By launching the 40 kW NEP vehicle on a Starship and adding the propellants of 15 tankers, the 27t probe could be sent on a direct trajectory to Saturn (no Earth or Jupiter flybys) where NEP was used for Saturn capture, spiral down, spiral up and return to the Earth. A small lander obtained the surface Enceladus sample. Using the 40 kW NEP provided a round-trip time of only 16.5 years. A second option was more attractive from a science perspective whereby the NEP vehicle would deliver a large, 6t chemical lander to low Enceladus orbit where it would grab and return a sample to Earth (similar to the recent Orbilander design but in reverse). After deploying the lander, the NEP vehicle would stay in Saturn space performing a moon tour by orbiting four more moons and mapping the large moon of Titan. This option took slightly longer (18.5 yrs) due to the chemical return leg limitations. Both options demonstrated the agility, payload capability, and sample return goals the workshop recommended. An all-chemical option with two stages was roughly analyzed but took 21.5 yrs and required a Jupiter gravity assist.

Nuclear Electric Propulsion↗
NASA NTRS2015

A Battery Certification Testbed for Small Satellite Missions

A battery pack consisting of standard cylindrical 18650 lithium-ion cells has been chosen for small satellite missions based on previous flight heritage and compliance with NASA battery safety requirements. However, for batteries that transit through the International Space Station (ISS), additional certification tests are required for individual cells as well as the battery packs. In this manuscript, we discuss the development of generalized testbeds for testing and certifying different types of batteries critical to small satellite missions. Test procedures developed and executed for this certification effort include: a detailed physical inspection before and after experiments; electrical cycling characterization at the cell and pack levels; battery-pack overcharge, over-discharge, external short testing; battery-pack vacuum leak and vibration testing. The overall goals of these certification procedures are to conform to requirements set forth by the agency and identify unique safety hazards. The testbeds, procedures, and experimental results are discussed for batteries chosen for small satellite missions to be launched from the ISS.

Certification↗
NASA NTRS1963

Propulsion and Power Generation

This document comprises material presented during one session of the Manned Planetary Mission Technology Conference, Lewis Research Center, May 21, 22, and 23, 1963. In order to expedite release to the conferees, the papers are being published with minimum editing and retyping of the original manuscripts. Thus the usual NASA format and style have been compromised. The purpose of the conference was to explore the possibilities and problems of manned planetary space flight. The results and contemplations of the individual papers should in no sense be regarded as a part of NASA plans and programs.

F L Williams↗
NASA NTRS1985

Battery-Charge-State Model

Charge-state model for lead/acid batteries proposed as part of effort to make equivalent of fuel gage for battery-powered vehicles. Models based on equations that approximate observable characteristics of battery electrochemistry. Uses linear equations, easier to simulate on computer, and gives smooth transitions between charge, discharge, and recuperation.

Vivian, H. C.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Contaminant characterization of five satellite materials

An extensive laboratory test program was performed to characterize outgassing of five satellite materials. The materials were Chemglaze Z-306 over 9922 primer, M-773 adhesive, multilayer insulation, polyurethane foam, and silverized Teflon. The souces were prepared to the specifications of a typical satellite program. Dynamic thermogravimetric mass loss characteristics of these five materials were obtained in vacuum with a beam microbalance. The temperature of the material was linearly raised from 25 C to over 650 C while monitoring the mass loss, rate of mass loss, temperature, and the composition of the outgassed material by residual gas analysis. Isothermal source emission/capture coefficients/reemission parameters were obtained with an array of quartz crystal microbalances (QCM). A detailed test matrix in which the temperatures of the QCMs (-160 C, - 100 C, -40 C, and +10 C) and the source material (125 C, and 90 C, and 50 C) were varied was performed. The array of QCMs was also used to measure the spatial distribution of the source emission. The effects of vacuum ultraviolet radiation on the deposition and reemission parameters was determined.

J A Muscari↗
NASA NTRS1989

NASA aerospace battery systems program update

An overview of a battery systems program designed to enhance the safety, reliability, and performance of NASA's aerospace primary and secondary batteries as well as battery power systems is presented. The status of research in all three areas is reviewed. The approach to achieving the program objectives involves increasing the fundamental understanding of primary and secondary cells; providing for improved nickel-cadmium manufacturing process control; providing for the establishment of a NASA standard nickel-hydrogen cell design; establishing specifications, design and operational guidelines for both primary and secondary cells and batteries; providing training relating to the above areas; and opening and maintaining communication lines within NASA and the aerospace battery community.

Manzo, Michelle A.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Heat Transfer Enhancement in Cryogenic Quenching Process

This paper reports a heat transfer advancement in the cryogenic quenching process. An experiment was performed to evaluate the enhancement of quenching heat transfer by the use of metal tubes with low thermal conductivity coating layers. Four coating thicknesses with various coolant mass flow rates of liquid nitrogen were investigated. The results indicated that the tube inner surface coating greatly enhanced the quenching efficiency. The quenching efficiency was found to increase with increasing number of coating layers, and the efficiency also increased with decreasing mass flow rates. In general, the efficiencies cover a range between 40.6% and 80%. Comparing to the bare surface case, the percentage increase in the quenching efficiency was the minimum at 4.2% for a single coated layer at the highest flow rate and the maximum of 109.1% for four coated layers at the lowest flow rate. The coated tubes could save up to 53% in the amount of cryogen consumption.

two-phase flow↗