SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Beneficial Use”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1992

A Ground-based Search for Lunar Resources Using High-resolution Imaging in the Infrared

When humans return to the Moon, lunar resources will play an important role in the successful deployment and maintenance of the lunar base. Previous studies have illustrated the abundance of resource materials available on the surface of the Moon, as well as their ready accessibility. Particularly worth considering are the lunar regional (2,000-30,000 sq km) pyroclastic deposits scattered about the lunar nearside. These 30-50-m-thick deposits are composed of fine-grained unconsolidated titanium- and iron-rich mafic glasses and may be used as bulk feedstock for the beneficiation of oxygen, iron, titanium, sulfur, and other solar wind gases, or simply used as is for construction and shielding purposes. A groundbased observing survey of the resource-rich regions on the lunar nearside using a new imaging technique designed to obtain much higher resolution images, and more precise compositional analyses than previously obtainable is proposed.

Coombs, C. R.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Utilizing Radioisotope Power System Waste Heat for Spacecraft Thermal Management

An advantage of using a Radioisotope Power System (RPS) for deep space or planetary surface missions is the readily available waste heat, which can be used for a number of beneficial purposes including: maintaining electronic components within a controlled temperature range, warming propulsion tanks and mobility actuators, and maintaining liquid propellants above their freezing temperature. Previous missions using Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) dissipated large quantities of waste heat due to the low efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion technology. The next generation RPSs, such as the 110-Watt Stirling Radioisotope Generator (SRG110) will have higher conversion efficiencies, thereby rejecting less waste heat at a lower temperature and may require alternate approaches to transferring waste heat to the spacecraft. RTGs, with efficiencies of ~6 to 7 percent, reject their waste heat at the relatively high heat rejection temperature of 200 C. This is an advantage when rejecting heat to space; however, transferring heat to the internal spacecraft components requires a large and heavy radiator heat exchanger. At the same time, sensitive spacecraft instruments must be shielded from the thermal radiation of the RTG. The SRG110, with an efficiency around 22 percent and 50 C nominal housing surface temperature, can readily transfer the available waste heat directly via heat pipes, thermal straps, or fluid loops. The lower temperatures associated with the SRG110 avoid the chances of overheating other scientific components, eliminating the need for thermal shields. This provides the spacecraft designers more flexibility when locating the generator for a specific mission. A common misconception with high-efficiency systems is that there is not enough waste heat for spacecraft thermal management. This paper will dispel this misconception and investigate the use of a high-efficiency SRG110 for spacecraft thermal management and outline potential methods of waste heat utilization in several conceptual missions (Lunar Rover, Mars Rover, and Titan Lander). The advantages associated with the SRG110 as they relate to ease of assembly, less complex interfaces, and overall mass savings for a spacecraft will be highlighted.

Pantano, David R.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Celestial Navigation in Cislunar Space with autoNGC

Celestial navigation (CelNav) is a source of navigation observables where images of known solar system bodies are used to locate a spacecraft, beneficial within the solar system for both cislunar and deep space missions. CelNav provides a variety of design benefits to support and enable current and new autonomous space operations- using only a camera and a processor to produce in-situ measurements for navigation. This technology reduces subscription to ground-based tracking during all phases of a mission, freeing up resources for other operational needs. This also supports secure navigation since it eliminates the need for ground contact. CelNav enables missions where the light time delay between Earth and the spacecraft is too long (or the Earth to spacecraft line of sight is obscured) to support critical operations. It also enables smaller mission classes, where Deep Space Network (DSN)time is cost prohibitive, to reduce its cost by focusing primarily on data downlink. Finally, it enables the NASA Artemis program and other cislunar human space flight by providing redundant navigation to traditional radiometric tracking. In this presentation, we discuss the implementation of a CelNav app in autonomous Navigation, Guidance, and Control (autoNGC), a comprehensive flight software suite for onboard autonomy that is built on the core Flight System (cFS). The presentation also summarizes the results of flight software-in-the-loop (SIL) and processor-in-the-loop (PIL) demonstrations. Both are high-fidelity simulations with the use of a camera emulator hosted on a GPU server that simulates images that would be captured by the camera. The CelNav app leverages the use of cGIANT (cFS Goddard Image Analysis and Navigation Tool).Previously developed for the autoNGC software suite, cGIANT is an onboard autonomous image processing and optical navigation (OpNav) tool that performs limb-based OpNav and Terrain Relative Navigation. The added CelNav capability of cGIANT generates bearing measurements to multiple known celestial bodies (planets, moons, asteroids, comets, etc.) in monocular (2D) images. These observables are then fed to the Goddard Enhanced Onboard Navigation System (GEONS)navigation filter app, enabling us to navigate the spacecraft autonomously. In early 2025, the autoNGC CelNav capability is planned to be flight tested as part of the onboard autonomy experiment on the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment(CAPSTONE) spacecraft that is currently in a Lunar Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit(NRHO).

celestial navigation↗

NASA NTRS1991

The study of PDF turbulence models in combustion

In combustion computations, it is known that the predictions of chemical reaction rates are poor if conventional turbulence models are used. The probability density function (pdf) method seems to be the only alternative that uses local instantaneous values of the temperature, density, etc., in predicting chemical reaction rates, and thus is the only viable approach for more accurate turbulent combustion calculations. The fact that the pdf equation has a very large dimensionality renders finite difference schemes extremely demanding on computer memories and thus impractical. A logical alternative is the Monte Carlo scheme. Since CFD has a certain maturity as well as acceptance, it seems that the use of a combined CFD and Monte Carlo scheme is more beneficial. Therefore, a scheme is chosen that uses a conventional CFD flow solver in calculating the flow field properties such as velocity, pressure, etc., while the chemical reaction part is solved using a Monte Carlo scheme. The discharge of a heated turbulent plane jet into quiescent air was studied. Experimental data for this problem shows that when the temperature difference between the jet and the surrounding air is small, buoyancy effect can be neglected and the temperature can be treated as a passive scalar. The fact that jet flows have a self-similar solution lends convenience in the modeling study. Futhermore, the existence of experimental data for turbulent shear stress and temperature variance make the case ideal for the testing of pdf models wherein these values can be directly evaluated.

Hsu, Andrew T.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Lightweight, Ultra-High-Temperature, CMC-Lined Carbon/Carbon Structures

Carbon/carbon (C/C) is an established engineering material used extensively in aerospace. The beneficial properties of C/C include high strength, low density, and toughness. Its shortcoming is its limited usability at temperatures higher than the oxidation temperature of carbon . approximately 400 C. Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are used instead, but carry a weight penalty. Combining a thin laminate of CMC to a bulk structure of C/C retains all of the benefits of C/C with the high temperature oxidizing environment usability of CMCs. Ultramet demonstrated the feasibility of combining the light weight of C/C composites with the oxidation resistance of zirconium carbide (ZrC) and zirconium- silicon carbide (Zr-Si-C) CMCs in a unique system composed of a C/C primary structure with an integral CMC liner with temperature capability up to 4,200 F (.2,315 C). The system effectively bridged the gap in weight and performance between coated C/C and bulk CMCs. Fabrication was demonstrated through an innovative variant of Ultramet fs rapid, pressureless melt infiltration processing technology. The fully developed material system has strength that is comparable with that of C/C, lower density than Cf/SiC, and ultra-high-temperature oxidation stability. Application of the reinforced ceramic casing to a predominantly C/C structure creates a highly innovative material with the potential to achieve the long-sought goal of long-term, cyclic high-temperature use of C/C in an oxidizing environment. The C/C substructure provided most of the mechanical integrity, and the CMC strengths achieved appeared to be sufficient to allow the CMC to perform its primary function of protecting the C/C. Nozzle extension components were fabricated and successfully hot-fire tested. Test results showed good thermochemical and thermomechanical stability of the CMC, as well as excellent interfacial bonding between the CMC liner and the underlying C/C structure. In particular, hafnium-containing CMCs on C/C were shown to perform well at temperatures exceeding 3,500 F (.1,925 C). The melt-infiltrated CMC-lined C/C composites offered a lower density than Cf/SiC. The melt-infiltrated composites offer greater use temperature than Cf/SiC because of the more refractory ceramic matrices and the C/C substructure provides greater high-temperature strength. The progress made in this work will allow multiple high-temperature components used in oxidizing environments to take advantage of the low density and high strength of C/C combined with the high-temperature oxidation resistance of melt-infiltrated CMCs.

Wright, Matthew J.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Mass and Reliability System (MaRS)

The Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Directorate is responsible for mitigating risk, providing system safety, and lowering risk for space programs from ground to space. The S&MA is divided into 4 divisions: The Space Exploration Division (NC), the International Space Station Division (NE), the Safety & Test Operations Division (NS), and the Quality and Flight Equipment Division (NT). The interns, myself and Arun Aruljothi, will be working with the Risk & Reliability Analysis Branch under the NC Division's. The mission of this division is to identify, characterize, diminish, and communicate risk by implementing an efficient and effective assurance model. The team utilizes Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) and Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) to ensure decisions concerning risks are informed, vehicles are safe and reliable, and program/project requirements are realistic and realized. This project pertains to the Orion mission, so it is geared toward a long duration Human Space Flight Program(s). For space missions, payload is a critical concept; balancing what hardware can be replaced by components verse by Orbital Replacement Units (ORU) or subassemblies is key. For this effort a database was created that combines mass and reliability data, called Mass and Reliability System or MaRS. The U.S. International Space Station (ISS) components are used as reference parts in the MaRS database. Using ISS components as a platform is beneficial because of the historical context and the environment similarities to a space flight mission. MaRS uses a combination of systems: International Space Station PART for failure data, Vehicle Master Database (VMDB) for ORU & components, Maintenance & Analysis Data Set (MADS) for operation hours and other pertinent data, & Hardware History Retrieval System (HHRS) for unit weights. MaRS is populated using a Visual Basic Application. Once populated, the excel spreadsheet is comprised of information on ISS components including: operation hours, random/nonrandom failures, software/hardware failures, quantity, orbital replaceable units (ORU), date of placement, unit weight, frequency of part, etc. The motivation for creating such a database will be the development of a mass/reliability parametric model to estimate mass required for replacement parts. Once complete, engineers working on future space flight missions will have access a mean time to failures and on parts along with their mass, this will be used to make proper decisions for long duration space flight missions

Barnes, Sarah↗

NASA NTRS2003

The Study of Biomass Emissions for Defining Radiative Forcing of Climate

Accurate quantification of the amounts of trace gases and particulate matter emitted from vegetation fires and other sources of biomass burning (agricultural waste and biofuels) on a regional and global basis is required by a number of users, including scientists studying a wide range of atmospheric processes, national governments who are required to report greenhouse gas emissions, and those interested in quantifying the sources of air pollution that affect human health at regional scales. Over the past decade, improvements in the ability to detect and map fires using a number of different satellite systems have been achieved, largely through efforts coordinated through working groups organized by the IGBP Data and Information System and Global Observation of Forest Cover (GOFC) projects. In addition, significant advances and improvement in or understanding of the emissions factors for biomass burning in different biomes has resulted through efforts by the Biomass Burning Experiment (BIBEX) organized through the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry project. A number of satellite-based fire data products have been generated, and a number of new products will shortly be available. These new data products will provide the basis for estimating emissions from biomass burning on a global basis. However, a number of issues remain concerning the availability of other data sets needed to generate these estimates. Recognizing these issues, the GOFC-Fire Satellite Validation Workshop (held in Lisbon, Portugal on 9-11 July 2001), recommended that a workshop focusing on Improving Global Estimates of Atmospheric Emissions from Biomass Burning be organized. This workshop was held from 17- 19 July 2002 on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. This workshop served as the annual meeting of the GOFC/GOLD-Fire Program. The overall goals of the meeting were to review the information products generated from satellite imagery and other sources that are currently available for developing emission estimates from biomass burning, evaluate areas where improved or additional products would be beneficial, and recommend products for use by the atmospheric science community.

Penner, Joyce↗

NASA NTRS1981

A flight investigation of the ultra-deep-stall descent and spin recovery characteristics of a 1/6 scale radiocontrolled model of the Piper PA38 Tomahawk

Ultradeep stall descent and spin recovery characteristics of a 1/6 scale radio controlled model of the Piper PA38 Tomahawk aircraft was investigated. It was shown that the full scale PA38 is a suitable aircraft for conducting ultradeep stall research. Spin recovery was accomplished satisfactorily by entry to the ultradeep stall mode, followed by the exit from the ultradeep stall mode. It is concluded that since the PA38 has excellent spin recovery characteristics using normal recovery techniques (opposite rudder and forward control colum pressure), recovery using ultradeep stall would be beneficial only if the pilot suffered from disorientation.

Blanchard, W. S., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Design and benefits of a multibeam Earth Observing Radar

The oceanographic rationale is described for continuing to advance the state of the art in satellite radar altimetry, and the expected capabilities of a multibeam Earth Observing Radar are noted. At the end of this decade, there is the possibility that altimeters may be in orbit aboard the American TOPEX, the ESA ERS-1, and the French SPOT satellites at the same time. The TOPEX version will be the most precise altimeter yet built. Global ocean circulation will be measured by using TOPEX to monitor the elevation changes across the ocean basins due to oceanic currents. It will then be possible to monitor the 'mean' circulation patterns in the oceans. The multiple beams of EOR might be used to measure the curvature of the topographic surface. The use of curvature is especially beneficial because it is directly related to ocean circulation, which is a function only of the Laplacian of the topographic height field in a given area. With the EOR, that height field will be known and ocean circulation can be immediately computed.

Parsons, C. L.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Lunar oxygen production by pyrolysis of regolith

Oxygen represents one of the most desirable products of lunar mining and manufacturing. Among the many processes which have been proposed for oxygen production, pyrolysis stands out as one which is uncomplicated and easy to bootstrap. Pyrolysis or vapor-phase reduction involves heating regolith to temperatures sufficient to allow partial decomposition and vaporization. Some metal oxides give up oxygen upon heating, either in the gas phase to form reduced gaseous species or in the condensed phase to form a metallic phase. Based on preliminary experiments and equilibrium calculations, the temperatures needed for pyrolysis are expected to be in the range of 2000 to 2200 K, giving total gas pressures of 0.001 to 0.1 torr. Bulk regolith can be used as a feedstock without beneficiation with concentrated solar radiation supplying most of energy needed. Further, selective condensation of metal-containing species from the gas phase may yield metallic iron and silicon as byproducts.

Senior, Constance L.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Electroform Welding

Electroform welding used to join variety of parts without addition of detrimental heat. Technique developed so large and/or complexly shaped parts joined without degrading properties of materials. Commercial uses include joining dissimilar alloys. Beneficial for suppression of distortion or maintenance of close tolerances in precise components.

Kazaroff, John M.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Construction concepts for precision segmented reflectors

Three construction concepts for deployable precision segmented reflectors are presented. The designs produce reflectors with very high surface accuracies and diameters three to five times the width of the launch vehicle shroud. Of primary importance is the reliability of both the deployment process and the reflector operation. This paper is conceptual in nature, and uses these criteria to present beneficial design concepts for deployable precision segmented reflectors.

Mikulas, Martin M., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Comparison of upstream phenomena at Venus and Earth

The region upstream of a planetary bow shock, known as the foreshock, contains a variety of phenomena. Electrons and ions are reflected and energized at the shock. As these stream back upstream, they generate both VLF and ULF waves. Studies of the terrestrial foreshock have provided most of our understanding of these phenomena. However, comparisons with other planetary foreshocks are beneficial, even though the instrumentation used to provide the data may be less sophisticated than that flown on Earth orbiting spacecraft. In particular, maps of the VLF emissions upstream of the Venus bow shock, using data acquired by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter are particularly illuminating. These maps show that the tangent field line is clearly marked by the presence of plasma oscillations. Of additional interest is evidence that the emissions only extend some 15 Venus radii away from the shock, indicating that the emissions are controlled by the shock scale size. Lower frequency ion acoustic waves are observed deep in the ion foreshock. Only close to the shock do both the ion acoustic waves and ULF waves occur simultaneously. The ULF waves mark the ion foreshock boundary where ion beams should be present. The ion acoustic waves tend to be observed further downstream, where diffuse ion distributions are expected to occur. A similar mapping of the terrestrial foreshock, using data from the ISEE-3 spacecraft shows similar results for the electron foreshock. An extensions of this study to include ULF and ion acoustic waves would be helpful.

Strangeway, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Mutualism in a Reduced Gravity Environment (MuRGE)

MuRGE (Mutualism in a Reduced Gravity Environment) is a NASA flight-research experiment to investigate the microgravity effects associated with cell-cell communication and beneficial microbe-host interactions using a plant-fungal model system. This investigation will use a clinostat, an instrument that slowly rotates the plants to negate the effects of gravitational pull on plant growth (gravitropism) and development, to simulate microgravity. I will be using the endophytic fungus Piriformospora indica (Pi) and the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana (At). P. indica has been shown to colonize roots of various plant species, including A. thaliana, and to increase plant growth and resistance to stress. The fungus has the ability to grow from spores or in axenic cultures without the presence of a host. P. indica spores and P. indica extract will be used to inoculate Arabidopsis seeds germinated on a clinostat in order to determine if simulated microgravity affects the interaction between the fungus and its plant host.

Patel, Karishma K.↗

NASA NTRS2010

[Mutualism in a Reduced Gravity Environment (MuRGE)]

Patel, Karishma↗

NASA NTRS2017

Compliant Interfacial Layers in Thermoelectric Devices

A thermoelectric power generation device is disclosed using one or more mechanically compliant and thermally and electrically conductive layers at the thermoelectric material interfaces to accommodate high temperature differentials and stresses induced thereby. The compliant material may be metal foam or metal graphite composite (e.g. using nickel) and is particularly beneficial in high temperature thermoelectric generators employing Zintl thermoelectric materials. The compliant material may be disposed between the thermoelectric segments of the device or between a thermoelectric segment and the hot or cold side interconnect of the device.

Firdosy, Samad A.↗

NASA NTRS1993

A method for the modelling of porous and solid wind tunnel walls in computational fluid dynamics codes

Porous wall wind tunnels have been used for several decades and have proven effective in reducing wall interference effects in both low speed and transonic testing. They allow for testing through Mach 1, reduce blockage effects and reduce shock wave reflections in the test section. Their usefulness in developing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes has been limited, however, by the difficulties associated with modelling the effect of a porous wall in CFD codes. Previous approaches to modelling porous wall effects have depended either upon a simplified linear boundary condition, which has proven inadequate, or upon detailed measurements of the normal velocity near the wall, which require extensive wind tunnel time. The current work was initiated in an effort to find a simple, accurate method of modelling a porous wall boundary condition in CFD codes. The development of such a method would allow data from porous wall wind tunnels to be used more readily in validating CFD codes. This would be beneficial when transonic validations are desired, or when large models are used to achieve high Reynolds numbers in testing. A computational and experimental study was undertaken to investigate a new method of modelling solid and porous wall boundary conditions in CFD codes. The method utilized experimental measurements at the walls to develop a flow field solution based on the method of singularities. This flow field solution was then imposed as a pressure boundary condition in a CFD simulation of the internal flow field. The effectiveness of this method in describing the effect of porosity changes on the wall was investigated. Also, the effectiveness of this method when only sparse experimental measurements were available has been investigated. The current work demonstrated this approach for low speed flows and compared the results with experimental data obtained from a heavily instrumented variable porosity test section. The approach developed was simple, computationally inexpensive, and did not require extensive or intrusive measurements of the boundary conditions during the wind tunnel test. It may be applied to both solid and porous wall wind tunnel tests.

Beutner, Thomas John↗

NASA NTRS2015

Minimal Power Latch for Single-Slope ADCs

A latch circuit that uses two interoperating latches. The latch circuit has the beneficial feature that it switches only a single time during a measurement that uses a stair step or ramp function as an input signal in an analog to digital converter. This feature minimizes the amount of power that is consumed in the latch and also minimizes the amount of high frequency noise that is generated by the latch. An application using a plurality of such latch circuits in a parallel decoding ADC for use in an image sensor is given as an example.

Hancock, Bruce R.↗