Working at the interface
Information transfer between space science and aerospace technology laboratories and industry
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Improving the Flow
In early 1995, NASA s Glenn Research Center (then Lewis Research Center) formed an industry-government team with several jet engine companies to develop the National Combustion Code (NCC), which would help aerospace engineers solve complex aerodynamics and combustion problems in gas turbine, rocket, and hypersonic engines. The original development team consisted of Allison Engine Company (now Rolls-Royce Allison), CFD Research Corporation, GE Aircraft Engines, Pratt and Whitney, and NASA. After the baseline beta version was established in July 1998, the team focused its efforts on consolidation, streamlining, and integration, as well as enhancement, evaluation, validation, and application. These activities, mainly conducted at NASA Glenn, led to the completion of NCC version 1.0 in October 2000. NCC version 1.0 features high-fidelity representation of complex geometry, advanced models for two-phase turbulent combustion, and massively parallel computing. Researchers and engineers at Glenn have been using NCC to provide analysis and design support for various aerospace propulsion technology development projects. NASA transfers NCC technology to external customers using non- exclusive Space Act Agreements. Glenn researchers also communicate research and development results derived from NCC's further development through publications and special sessions at technical conferences.
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Advanced Combustion Modeling for Complex Turbulent Flows
The next generation of aircraft engines will need to pass stricter efficiency and emission tests. NASA's Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) program has set an ambitious goal of 70% reduction of NO(x) emissions and a 15% increase in fuel efficiency of aircraft engines. We will demonstrate the state-of-the-art combustion tools developed a t Stanford's Center for Turbulence Research (CTR) as part of this program. In the last decade, CTR has spear-headed a multi-physics-based combustion modeling program. Key technologies have been transferred to the aerospace industry and are currently being used for engine simulations. In this demo, we will showcase the next-generation combustion modeling tools that integrate a very high level of detailed physics into advanced flow simulation codes. Combustor flows involve multi-phase physics with liquid fuel jet breakup, evaporation, and eventual combustion. Individual components of the simulation are verified against complex test cases and show excellent agreement with experimental data.
Ham, Frank Stanford↗
NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 30: The electronic transfer of information and aerospace knowledge diffusion
Increasing reliance on and investment in information technology and electronic networking systems presupposes that computing and information technology will play a major role in the diffusion of aerospace knowledge. Little is known, however, about actual information technology needs, uses, and problems within the aerospace knowledge diffusion process. The authors state that the potential contributions of information technology to increased productivity and competitiveness will be diminished unless empirically derived knowledge regarding the information-seeking behavior of the members of the social system - those who are producing, transferring, and using scientific and technical information - is incorporated into a new technology policy framework. Research into the use of information technology and electronic networks by U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists, collected as part of a research project designed to study aerospace knowledge diffusion, is presented in support of this assertion.
Pinelli, Thomas E.↗
The electronic transfer of information and aerospace knowledge diffusion
Increasing reliance on and investment in information technology and electronic networking systems presupposes that computing and information technology will play a motor role in the diffusion of aerospace knowledge. Little is known, however, about actual information technology needs, uses, and problems within the aerospace knowledge diffusion process. The authors state that the potential contributions of information technology to increased productivity and competitiveness will be diminished unless empirically derived knowledge regarding the information-seeking behavior of the members of the social system - those who are producing, transferring, and using scientific and technical information - is incorporated into a new technology policy framework. Research into the use of information technology and electronic networks by U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists, collected as part of a research project designed to study aerospace knowledge diffusion, is presented in support of this assertion.
Pinelli, Thomas E.↗
Medically related activities of application team program
Application team methodology identifies and specifies problems in technology transfer programs to biomedical areas through direct contact with users of aerospace technology. The availability of reengineering sources increases impact of the program on the medical community and results in broad scale application of some bioinstrumentation systems. Examples are given that include devices adapted to the rehabilitation of neuromuscular disorders, power sources for artificial organs, and automated monitoring and detection equipment in clinical medicine.
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Spinoff 1979
Technology is knowledge, the technical "know-how" employed by a society to produce things that improve the quality of human life. Like other forms of knowledge, it is transferable; once developed, technology can be applied to uses different-and often remote-from the original application. Thus, the technology that NASA has developed in more than two decades of space and aeronautical research constitutes a valuable national resource, a bank of knowledge available for secondary utilization, or "spinoff." NASA mainline programs, by their challenging nature, are particularly demanding of technological advance; meeting their goals has forced extraordinary advancements in virtually every scientific and technological discipline. For that reason, the wealth of aerospace-generated knowledge available for transfer is exceptionally diverse, and much of it is readily applicable to secondary use over a broad spectrum of public needs and conveniences. Through its Congressionally mandated Technology Utilization Program, NASA seeks to promote wider use of this technological resource. The program provides a link between the technology bank and those in either the private or public sectors who might be able to re-use the technology productively. Its aim is to accelerate the transfer process, to bring to the marketplace sooner those spinoffs which might eventually occur in the normal course of events, and to gain thereby more immediate economic benefit in terms of new products and new jobs. The program has been remarkably successful. Since its inception 17 years ago, thousands of spinoff products and processes have emerged. Some of these innovations bring only moderate increments of economic gain or lifestyle improvement, but many others amount to significant public benefits, with economic values often running to millions of dollars. Collectively, spinoffs provide a substantial bonus return on the funds invested in aerospace research. This publication is intended to increase public awareness of the resource that is NASA's technology bank and its potential for further public benefit. It is devoted primarily to the NASA technology transfer process, but in the interests of perspective it also describes related areas of NASA endeavor. Section 1 consists of a resume of NASA's current mainline programs. These programs are producing direct public benefit through direct application of technology; at the same time, they are contributing to indirect benefit-spinoff-by generating new technology which may find secondary application in the future. Section 2 is the focal point of this volume. It contains a representative sampling of spinoff products and processes employed in various avenues of everyday life, and it describes briefly the NASA technology from which these transfers derived. Section 3 details the mechanisms of the technology transfer process, including the means by which NASA seeks to stimulate technology utilization. Also described are NASA's activities in a related area of technology transfer: provision of assistance to agencies interested in exploiting the benefit potential of satellite remote sensing technology.
Haggerty, James J.↗
Ohio Space Grant Funds for Scholarship/Fellowship Students
The Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAT), a consortium of university, industry, and government, was formed to promote collaborative aerospace-related research, graduate education, and technology transfer among the nine Ohio universities with doctoral level engineering programs, NASA Lewis Research Center, Air Force Wright Laboratory, and industry. OAT provides enhanced opportunities for affiliates to utilize federal government research laboratories and facilities at Lewis Research Center (LeRC) and Wright Laboratory. As a component of the graduate education and research programs, students and faculty from the member universities, LeRC engineers and scientists, and visiting investigators from industry, government and non-member universities conduct collaborative research projects using the unique facilities at LeRC, and will participate in collaborative education programs. Faculty from the member universities who hold collateral appointments at OAT, and government and industry experts serving as adjunct faculty, can participate in the supervision of student research.
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Earth benefits from space life sciences
Contributions of space exploration which are widely recognized are those dealing with the impact of space technology on public health and medical services in both urban and remote rural areas. Telecommunications, image enhancement, 3-dimensional image reconstructions, miniaturization, automation, and data analysis, have transformed the delivery of medical care and have brought about a new impetus to the field of biomedicine. Many areas of medical care and biological research have been affected. These include technological breakthroughs in such areas as: (1) diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, (2) new approaches to the understanding of osteoporosis, (3) early detection of genetic birth defects, (4) emergency medical care, and (5) treatment of chronic metabolic disorders. These are but a few examples where technology originally developed to support space medicine or space research has been applied to solving medical and health care delivery problems on Earth.
NASA Center HQS↗
NASA Glenn Research Center Support of the ASRG Project
A high efficiency radioisotope power system is being developed for long-duration NASA space science missions. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) managed a flight contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) to build Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators (ASRGs), with support from NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). Sunpower Inc. held two parallel contracts to produce Advanced Stirling Convertors (ASCs), one with DOELockheed Martin to produce ASC-F flight units, and one with GRC for the production of ASC-E3 engineering unit pathfinders that are built to the flight design. In support of those contracts, GRC provided testing, materials expertise, government furnished equipment, inspections, and related data products to DOELockheed Martin and Sunpower. The technical support includes material evaluations, component tests, convertor characterization, and technology transfer. Material evaluations and component tests have been performed on various ASC components in order to assess potential life-limiting mechanisms and provide data for reliability models. Convertor level tests have been used to characterize performance under operating conditions that are representative of various mission conditions. Technology transfers enhanced contractor capabilities for specialized production processes and tests. Despite termination of flight ASRG contract, NASA continues to develop the high efficiency ASC conversion technology under the ASC-E3 contract. This paper describes key government furnished services performed for ASRG and future tests used to provide data for ongoing reliability assessments.
Technology Transfer↗
NASA Glenn Research Center Support of the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator Project
A high-efficiency radioisotope power system was being developed for long-duration NASA space science missions. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) managed a flight contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company to build Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators (ASRGs), with support from NASA Glenn Research Center. DOE initiated termination of that contract in late 2013, primarily due to budget constraints. Sunpower, Inc., held two parallel contracts to produce Advanced Stirling Convertors (ASCs), one with Lockheed Martin to produce ASC-F flight units, and one with Glenn for the production of ASC-E3 engineering unit "pathfinders" that are built to the flight design. In support of those contracts, Glenn provided testing, materials expertise, Government-furnished equipment, inspection capabilities, and related data products to Lockheed Martin and Sunpower. The technical support included material evaluations, component tests, convertor characterization, and technology transfer. Material evaluations and component tests were performed on various ASC components in order to assess potential life-limiting mechanisms and provide data for reliability models. Convertor level tests were conducted to characterize performance under operating conditions that are representative of various mission conditions. Despite termination of the ASRG flight development contract, NASA continues to recognize the importance of high-efficiency ASC power conversion for Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) and continues investment in the technology, including the continuation of the ASC-E3 contract. This paper describes key Government support for the ASRG project and future tests to be used to provide data for ongoing reliability assessments.
Technology Transfer↗
Technology Transfer and the Civil Space Program. Volume 2: Workshop proceedings
The objectives were to (1) provide a top-level review of the Integrated Technology Plan (ITP) and current civil space technology plans, including planning processes and technologies; (2) discuss and assess technology transfer (TT) experiences across a wide range of participants; (3) identify alternate categories/strategies for TT and define the objectives of transfer processes in each case; (4) identify the roles of various government 'stakeholders', aerospace industry, industries at large, and universities in civil space technology research, development, demonstration, and transfer; (5) identify potential barriers and/or opportunities to successful civil space TT; (6) identify specific needs for innovations in policy, programs, and/or procedures to facilitate TT; and (7) develop a plan of attack for the development of a workshop report. Papers from the workshop are presented.
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Spinoff 2002: Fortieth Anniversary Technology Utilization Program
Since its inception 40 years ago, NASA's Technology Transfer Program has led the way for our nation to benefit from cutting-edge aerospace technologies. In addition to contributing to U.S. economic growth, these technologies are improving the quality of life on Earth while finding new ways to protect and preserve it. NASA's research and development efforts have advanced areas in medicine, communications, manufacturing, computer technology, and homeland security. These breakthroughs, translated into commercial products, are enhancing the lives of Americans everywhere. When a congressional mandate led NASA to develop the Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program, the Agency began a wide dissemination of its research and development results. In doing so, NASA recognized that many of its technologies were transferable to industry for the development of commercial products. As a result, the Technology Utilization Program was born in 1962. The successful program went through several changes over the years, as its philosophy, mission, and goals adapted into the Technology Transfer Program we know today. The program strives to make the latest technologies available to industry as soon as they are developed. Each year, NASA's Spinoff publication showcases new products and services resulting from commercial partnerships between NASA and private industry. In the 2002 issue, the NASA field centers reflect upon the growth that has made these innovations available to the public. The Research and Development section examines past achievements, current successes, and future goals for each of the ten NASA centers. The Commercial Benefits section proudly highlights 51 new spinoff products, including a heart pump for patients needing a heart transplant, as well as an air purifier that destroys anthrax spores. The Technology Transfer and Outreach section describes the outreach achievements and educational successes made possible through the NASA Commercial Technology Network. Each section of Spinoff 2002 provides compelling evidence of the Technology Transfer Program's success and value. With commercial products and successes spanning from work on the Apollo missions to the International Space Station, the 40th anniversary of the Technology Transfer Program invites us to celebrate our history while planning the future.
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Applications of aerospace technology in biology and medicine
Utilization of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) technology in medicine is discussed. The objective is best obtained by stimulation of the introduction of new or improved commercially available medical products incorporating aerospace technology. A bipolar donor/recipient model of medical technology transfer is presented to provide a basis for the team's methodology. That methodology is designed to: (1) identify medical problems and NASA technology that, in combination, constitute opportunities for successful medical products; (2) obtain the early participation of industry in the transfer process; and (3) obtain acceptance by the medical community of new medical products based on NASA technology. Two commercial transfers were completed: the Stowaway, a lightweight wheelchair that provides mobility for the disabled and elderly in the cabin of commercial aircraft, and Micromed, a portable medication infusion pump for the reliable, continuous infusion of medications such as heparin or insulin. The marketing and manufacturing factors critical to the commercialization of the lightweight walker incorporating composite materials were studied. Progress was made in the development and commercialization of each of the 18 currently active projects.
Bass, B.↗
An Overview of Research in Nondestructive Evaluation at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Langley Research Center
The primary focus of the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) effort at Langley Research Center (LaRC) is to pioneer advances in NDE and structural health monitoring (SHM) through fundamental scientific research, technology development, and transferring these to the scientific and aerospace communities. This research supports a variety of NASA missions in space operations, exploration and aeronautics. The work presented will focus on the development of advanced inspection systems to detect critical flaws in both metallic and non-metallic materials and structures for aerospace applications. The emphasis is on increasing the performance of inspection systems to provide defect detection and quantitative characterization of the material state. LaRC NDE utilizes expertise in computational ultrasonic, thermal and eddy current simulations to reduce measured responses to size and locations of flaws, establish technique limitations and optimize performance. This presentation will highlight research into five strategic areas: (1) The development of novel solutions using state-of-the-art NDE technologies such as eddy current, ultrasound, thermography and x-ray computed tomography; (2) Research in the development of unique NDE technologies such as terahertz, wavefield imaging and nonlinear ultrasound; (3) The application of both computational and analytic models to NDE problems; (4) The development of advanced analytic methods to interpret large complex data sets; and (5) Advanced methods of applying and interrogating sensors for structural health monitoring.
K Elliott Cramer↗
An Overview of Research in Nondestructive Evaluation at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Langley Research Center
The primary focus of the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) effort at Langley Research Center (LaRC) is to pioneer advances in NDE and structural health monitoring (SHM) through fundamental scientific research, technology development, and transferring these to the scientific and aerospace communities. This research supports a variety of NASA missions in space operations, exploration and aeronautics. The work presented will focus on the development of advanced inspection systems to detect critical flaws in both metallic and non-metallic materials and structures for aerospace applications. The emphasis is on increasing the performance of inspection systems to provide defect detection and quantitative characterization of the material state. LaRC NDE utilizes expertise in computational ultrasonic, thermal and eddy current simulations to reduce measured responses to size and locations of flaws, establish technique limitations and optimize performance. This presentation will highlight research into five strategic areas: (1) The development of novel solutions using state-of-the-art NDE technologies such as eddy current, ultrasound, thermography and x-ray computed tomography; (2) Research in the development of unique NDE technologies such as terahertz, wavefield imaging and nonlinear ultrasound; (3) The application of both computational and analytic models to NDE problems; (4) The development of advanced analytic methods to interpret large complex data sets; and (5) Advanced methods of applying and interrogating sensors for structural health monitoring.
NDE↗
NASA application team program - Applications of aerospace technology in biology and medicine Semiannual report, Oct. 1970 - Mar. 1971
Technology transfer and applications in medicine and biology
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Program for transfer research and impact studies
Research activities conducted under the Program for Transfer Research and Impact Studies (TRIS) during 1972 included: (1) preparation of 10,196 TSP requests for TRIS application analysis; (2) interviews with over 500 individuals concerning the technical, economic, and social impacts of NASA-generated technology; (3) preparation of 38 new technology transfer example files and 101 new transfer cases; and (4) maintenance of a technology transfer library containing more than 2,900 titles. Six different modes of technology utilization are used to illustrate the pervasiveness of the transfer and diffusion of aerospace innovations. These modes also provide a basis for distinguishing the unique characteristics of the NASA Technology Utilization Program. An examination is reported of the ways in which NASA-generated technology is contributing to beneficial social change in five major areas of human concern: health, environment, safety, transportation, and communication.
Rusnak, J. J.↗