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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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At least 109 records · Page 6

Power System Options Evaluated for the Radiation and Technology Demonstration Mission

The Radiation and Technology Demonstration (RTD) Mission is under joint study by three NASA Centers: the NASA Johnson Space Center, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. This Earth-orbiting mission, which may launch on a space shuttle in the first half of the next decade, has the primary objective of demonstrating high-power electric thruster technologies. Secondary objectives include better characterization of Earth's Van Allen trapped-radiation belts, measurement of the effectiveness of the radiation shielding for human protection, measurement of radiation effects on advanced solar cells, and demonstration of radiation-tolerant microelectronics. During the mission, which may continue up to 1 year, the 2000-kg RTD spacecraft will first spiral outward from the shuttle-deployed, medium-inclination, low Earth orbit. By the phased operation of a 10-kW Hall thruster and a 10-kW Variable Specific Impulse Magneto-Plasma Rocket, the RTD spacecraft will reach a low-inclination Earth orbit with a radius greater than five Earth radii. This will be followed by an inward spiraling orbit phase when the spacecraft deploys 8 to 12 microsatellites to map the Van Allen belts. The mission will conclude in low Earth orbit with the possible retrieval of the spacecraft by the space shuttle. A conceptual RTD spacecraft design showing two photovoltaic (PV) array wings, the Hall thruster with propellant tanks, and stowed microsatellites is presented. Early power system studies assessed five different PV array design options coupled with a 120-Vdc power management and distribution system (PMAD) and secondary lithium battery energy storage. Array options include (1) state-of-the-art 10-percent efficient three-junction amorphous SiGe thin-film cells on thin polymer panels deployed with an inflatable (or articulated) truss, (2) SCARLET array panels, (3) commercial state-of-the-art, planar PV array rigid panels with 25-percent efficient, three-junction GaInP2/GaAs/Ge solar cells, (4) rigid panels with 25-percent efficient, three-junction GaInP2/GaAs/Ge solar cells, in a 2 -concentrator trough configuration, and (5) thin polymer panels with 25-percent efficient, three-junction GaInP2/GaAs/Ge solar cells deployed with an inflatable (or articulated) truss. To assess the relative merits of these PV array design options, the study group developed a dedicated Fortran code to predict power system performance and estimate system mass. This code also modeled Earth orbital environments important for accurately predicting PV array performance. The most important environmental effect, solar cell radiation degradation, was calculated from electron-proton fluence input from the industry standard AE8/AP8 trapped radiation models and the concept of damage equivalence. Power systems were sized to provide 10 kW of thruster power and approximately 1 kW of spacecraft power at end of life. Of the five PV array design options, the option 1 (thin-film cells) power system was the most massive 590 kg, whereas the option 4 (trough concentrator) power system was the lightest 260 kg. Arguably, the lowest cost would come from the option 3 (commercial array panels) power system with an acceptable, albeit greater, system mass of 320 kg. Predicted power system performance during the spiral-out mission phase is shown the preceding graph for the option 5 (flexible-panel) array. From the results, the radiation-induced power loss over time is evident as the spacecraft slowly spirals outward through the trapped proton belt. The importance of the spiral trip time is also evident in the two curves representing 74-day and 182-day spiral-out periods. The longer spiral time introduces a beginning-of-life power oversizing penalty greater than 1 kW. Future studies will analyze power system performance and mass with a 50-Vdc power management and distribution architecture favorable to the VASIMR thruster and longer missions.

Kerslake, Thomas W.↗

Power grid frequency prediction using spatiotemporal modeling

Understanding power system dynamics is essential for interarea oscillation analysis and the detection of grid instabilities. The FNET/GridEye is a GPS-synchronized wide-area frequency measurement network that provides an accurate picture of the normal real-time operational condition of the power system-dynamics, giving rise to new and intricate spatiotemporal patterns of power loads. We propose to model FNET/GridEye grid frequency data from the U.S. Eastern Interconnection with a spatiotemporal statistical model. We predict the frequency data at locations without observations, a critical need during disruption events where measurement data are inaccessible. Spatial information is accounted for either as neighboring measurements in the form of covariates or with a spatiotemporal correlation model captured by a latent Gaussian field. Finally, the proposed method is useful in estimating power system dynamic response from limited phasor measurements and holds promise for predicting instability that may lead to undesirable effects such as cascading outages.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Combination of deep neural network with attention mechanism enhances the explainability of protein contact prediction

Abstract Deep learning has emerged as a revolutionary technology for protein residue‐residue contact prediction since the 2012 CASP10 competition. Considerable advancements in the predictive power of the deep learning‐based contact predictions have been achieved since then. However, little effort has been put into interpreting the black‐box deep learning methods. Algorithms that can interpret the relationship between predicted contact maps and the internal mechanism of the deep learning architectures are needed to explore the essential components of contact inference and improve their explainability. In this study, we present an attention‐based convolutional neural network for protein contact prediction, which consists of two attention mechanism‐based modules: sequence attention and regional attention. Our benchmark results on the CASP13 free‐modeling targets demonstrate that the two attention modules added on top of existing typical deep learning models exhibit a complementary effect that contributes to prediction improvements. More importantly, the inclusion of the attention mechanism provides interpretable patterns that contain useful insights into the key fold‐determining residues in proteins. We expect the attention‐based model can provide a reliable and practically interpretable technique that helps break the current bottlenecks in explaining deep neural networks for contact prediction. The source code of our method is available at https://github.com/jianlin-cheng/InterpretContactMap .

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Enhanced Co-Expression Extrapolation (COXEN) Gene Selection Method for Building Anti-Cancer Drug Response Prediction Models

The co-expression extrapolation (COXEN) method has been successfully used in multiple studies to select genes for predicting the response of tumor cells to a specific drug treatment. Here, we enhance the COXEN method to select genes that are predictive of the efficacies of multiple drugs for building general drug response prediction models that are not specific to a particular drug. The enhanced COXEN method first ranks the genes according to their prediction power for each individual drug and then takes a union of top predictive genes of all the drugs, among which the algorithm further selects genes whose co-expression patterns are well preserved between cancer cases for building prediction models. We apply the proposed method on benchmark in vitro drug screening datasets and compare the performance of prediction models built based on the genes selected by the enhanced COXEN method to that of models built on genes selected by the original COXEN method and randomly picked genes. Models built with the enhanced COXEN method always present a statistically significantly improved prediction performance (adjusted p-value ≤ 0.05). Our results demonstrate the enhanced COXEN method can dramatically increase the power of gene expression data for predicting drug response.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Leveraging Natural Language Processing and Generative Models in Molecular Chemistry: Property Prediction and Novel Compound Generation

The accurate prediction of molecular properties is important for the rational design and the advancement of green chemistry and sustainable materials research. However, the predictive power of traditional computational chemistry methods is limited due to computational restrictions. Here, in this study, we examine an alternative approach to the accurate prediction of properties of organic compounds: natural language processing (NLP)-based molecular embedding. Using viscosity, partition coefficient (log P), and enthalpy of vaporization as test properties through a survey of comprehensive datasets comprising 5695 data points for viscosity, 25 870 data points for log P, and 2296 data points for enthalpy of vaporization. These are important properties for the design of greener, safer, and sustainable chemical processes. Models were trained using NLP methods such as Mol2vec and fine-tuned ChemBERTa, and results were compared with traditional input featurization techniques such as Morgan fingerprints and quantum chemistry derived sigma profiles and DFT features. Among the various machine learning models, Mol2vec demonstrated superior predictive capabilities, achieving the highest correlation coefficient (R 2 = 0.945) and lowest RMSE (0.106 mPa s) for viscosity, as well as high accuracy for log P and enthalpy of vaporization predictions. These findings establish the Mol2vec featurization technique, graph-convolutional neural networks (GCNN), and fine-tuned ChemBERTa model as powerful tools for predictive modeling of organic compounds properties, offering a significant improvement over previously used featurization techniques and opening up strategies for very-high-throughput computational screening. Finally, we integrated ML models with hybrid language-model-based generative adversarial networks (LM-GAN) to generate novel molecular sequences with desirable properties for different research applications. The ability to computationally design solvents with lower viscosity, lower log P, and lower enthalpy of vaporization offers a data-driven route to accelerating the discovery of sustainable alternatives to traditionally toxic solvents.

ChemBERTa↗

Active and Transfer Learning of High-Dimensional Neural Network Potentials for Transition Metals

Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations represent a very popular and powerful tool for materials modeling and design. The predictive power of MD hinges on the ability of the interatomic potential to capture the underlying physics and chemistry. There have been decades of seminal work on developing interatomic potentials, albeit with a focus predominantly on capturing the properties of bulk materials. Such physics-based models, while extensively deployed for predicting the dynamics and properties of nanoscale systems over the past two decades, tend to perform poorly in predicting nanoscale potential energy surfaces (PESs) when compared to high-fidelity first-principles calculations. These limitations stem from the lack of flexibility in such models, which rely on a predefined functional form. Machine learning (ML) models and approaches have emerged as a viable alternative to capture the diverse size-dependent cluster geometries, nanoscale dynamics, and the complex nanoscale PESs, without sacrificing the bulk properties. Here, in this study, we introduce an ML workflow that combines transfer and active learning strategies to develop high-dimensional neural networks (NNs) for capturing the cluster and bulk properties for several different transition metals with applications in catalysis, microelectronics, and energy storage, to name a few. Our NN first learns the bulk PES from the high-quality physics-based models in literature and subsequently augments this learning via retraining with a higher-fidelity first-principles training data set to concurrently capture both the nanoscale and bulk PES. Our workflow departs from status-quo in its ability to learn from a sparsely sampled data set that nonetheless covers a diverse range of cluster configurations from near-equilibrium to highly nonequilibrium as well as learning strategies that iteratively improve the fingerprinting depending on model fidelity. All the developed models are rigorously tested against an extensive first-principles data set of energies and forces of cluster configurations as well as several properties of bulk configurations for 10 different transition metals. Our approach is material agnostic and provides a methodology to transfer and build upon the learnings from decades of seminal work in molecular simulations on to a new generation of ML-trained potentials to accelerate materials discovery and design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Benchmarking of three DWM-based wake models at below-rated wind speeds

Wind turbine wake models are essential tools for predicting power losses and structural loads in wind farms. Among these, the dynamic wake meandering (DWM) model, included as a recommended approach in the International Electrotechnical Commission design standard, is a widely used engineering-fidelity method that balances accuracy and computational cost. This study compares the performance of three DWM-based wake model implementations (from the Technical University of Denmark, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Institute for Energy Technology) under below-rated wind speed conditions. Model predictions of wake flow, power output, and structural loads for a four-turbine row are evaluated across different ambient turbulence levels and wind-direction misalignments and compared against high-fidelity large-eddy simulation results. All three models captured the overall wake evolution and mean turbine performance with reasonable accuracy; their predicted time-averaged thrust and power were typically within 5 %–10 % of the large-eddy simulation benchmark. However, notable differences emerged in wake structure and unsteady load predictions, with discrepancies increasing for turbines further downstream. These differences highlight the importance of modelling choices such as wake summation and turbulence treatment, which strongly influence power-deficit and fatigue-load predictions. Comparison with large-eddy simulations reveals each approach's strengths and weaknesses, indicating where improvements are needed. Overall, the findings point to specific refinements for DWM models to improve their fidelity, ultimately enabling more robust wake predictions for wind farm design and operation.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Hot QCD phase diagram from holographic Einstein–Maxwell–Dilaton models

In this review, we provide an up-to-date account of quantitative holographic descriptions of the strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma (QGP) produced in heavy-ion collisions, based on the class of gauge-gravity Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton (EMD) models. Holography is employed to tentatively map the QCD phase diagram at finite temperature onto a dual theory of charged, asymptotically AdS black holes in 5D. With a quantitative focus on the hot QCD phase diagram, the EMD models reviewed are adjusted to describe lattice results for the finite-temperature QCD equation of state, with 2+1 flavors and physical quark masses, at zero chemical potential and vanishing electromagnetic fields. The predictive power of EMD models is tested by quantitatively comparing their predictions for the hot QCD equation of state at nonzero baryon density and the corresponding state-of-the-art lattice QCD results. The shear and bulk viscosities predicted by these EMD models are also compared to the corresponding profiles favored by the latest phenomenological multistage models describing different heavy-ion data. We report preliminary results from a Bayesian analysis which provide systematic evidence that lattice results at finite temperature and zero baryon density strongly constrains the free parameters of EMD models. Remarkably, the set of parameters constrained by lattice results at zero chemical potential produces EMD models in quantitative agreement with lattice QCD results also at finite baryon density. We also review results for equilibrium and transport properties from magnetic EMD models, describing the QGP at finite temperatures and magnetic fields. Lastly, we provide a critical assessment of the main limitations and drawbacks of the holographic models reviewed in the present work, and point out some perspectives we believe are of fundamental importance for future developments.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Spectroscopy and Scattering Studies Using Interpolated Ab Initio Potentials

The Born–Oppenheimer potential energy surface (PES) has come a long way since its introduction in the 1920s, both conceptually and in predictive power for practical applications. Nevertheless, nearly 100 years later—despite astonishing advances in computational power—the state-of-the-art first-principles prediction of observables related to spectroscopy and scattering dynamics is surprisingly limited. For example, the water dimer, (H 2 O) 2 , with only six nuclei and 20 electrons, still presents a formidable challenge for full-dimensional variational calculations of bound states and is considered out of reach for rigorous scattering calculations. The extremely poor scaling of the most rigorous quantum methods is fundamental; however, recent progress in development of approximate methodologies has opened the door to fairly routine high-quality predictions, unthinkable 20 years ago. In this review, in relation to the workflow of spectroscopy and/or scattering studies, we summarize progress and challenges in the component areas of electronic structure calculations, PES fitting, and quantum dynamical calculations.

Chemistry↗

The superconducting cavity stability ruby maser oscillator

Analysis of an application of the rudy maser to a superconducting Cavity Stabilized oscillator shows many attractive features. These derive from the mechancial stability inherent in an all-cryogenic design and from the properties of the ruby maser itself. A multiple-cavity design has been developed to allow physical separation of the high-Q superconducting cavity and the ruby element with its requried applied magnetic field. Mode selection is accomplished in this design by tuning the ruby by means of the applied field. We conclude that such an oscillator would perform well, even with cavity Q's as low as 10 to the 8th power allowing the use of a superconductor-on-sapphire resonator with its greater rigidity and lower thermal expansion. A first test of the Superconducting Cavity Stabilized Maser Oscillator (SCSMO) confirms the efficacy of the multiple-cavity design and the applicability of the ruby maser. Frequency variation less than 4x10 to the minus 11th power was measured in the stabilized mode and is attributed to the reference oscillator and to instabilities in the pump source. Variation of 10 to the minus 10th power was observed in the low-Q unstabilized mode, again attributable to pump fluctuations. Even so, direct scaling to a Q of 10 the 9th power predicts a stability better than 10 to the minus 15th power. Together with results showing the lowest losses to date in sapphire at microwave frequencies, and preliminary experiments on superconductor-on-sapphire resonators, frequency stability, levels as low as 10 to the minus 17th power are indicated.

Dick, G. J.↗

Solar Power System Options for the Radiation and Technology Demonstration Spacecraft

The Radiation and Technology Demonstration (RTD) Mission has the primary objective of demonstrating high-power (10 kilowatts) electric thruster technologies in Earth orbit. This paper discusses the conceptual design of the RTD spacecraft photovoltaic (PV) power system and mission performance analyses. These power system studies assessed multiple options for PV arrays, battery technologies and bus voltage levels. To quantify performance attributes of these power system options, a dedicated Fortran code was developed to predict power system performance and estimate system mass. The low-thrust mission trajectory was analyzed and important Earth orbital environments were modeled. Baseline power system design options are recommended on the basis of performance, mass and risk/complexity. Important findings from parametric studies are discussed and the resulting impacts to the spacecraft design and cost.

Kerslake, Thomas W.↗

Leaf turgor loss point shapes local and regional distributions of evergreen but not deciduous tropical trees

Summary The effects of climate change on tropical forests will depend on how diverse tropical tree species respond to drought. Current distributions of evergreen and deciduous tree species across local and regional moisture gradients reflect their ability to tolerate drought stress, and might be explained by functional traits. We measured leaf water potential at turgor loss (i.e. ‘wilting point’; π tlp ), wood density (WD) and leaf mass per area (LMA) on 50 of the most abundant tree species in central Panama. We then tested their ability to explain distributions of evergreen and deciduous species within a 50 ha plot on Barro Colorado Island and across a 70 km rainfall gradient spanning the Isthmus of Panama. Among evergreen trees, species with lower π tlp were associated with drier habitats, with π tlp explaining 28% and 32% of habitat association on local and regional scales, respectively, greatly exceeding the predictive power of WD and LMA. In contrast, π tlp did not predict habitat associations among deciduous species. Across spatial scales, π tlp is a useful indicator of habitat preference for tropical tree species that retain their leaves during periods of water stress, and holds the potential to predict vegetation responses to climate change.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Deep learning integrates histopathology and proteogenomics at a pan-cancer level

We introduce a pioneering approach that integrates pathology imaging with transcriptomics and proteomics to identify predictive histology features associated with critical clinical outcomes in cancer. We utilize 2,755 H&E-stained histopathological slides from 657 patients across 6 cancer types from CPTAC. Our models effectively recapitulate distinctions readily made by human pathologists: tumor vs. normal (AUROC = 0.995) and tissue-of-origin (AUROC = 0.979). We further investigate predictive power on tasks not normally performed from H&E alone, including TP53 prediction and pathologic stage. Importantly, we describe predictive morphologies not previously utilized in a clinical setting. The incorporation of transcriptomics and proteomics identifies pathway-level signatures and cellular processes driving predictive histology features. Model generalizability and interpretability is confirmed using TCGA. We propose a classification system for these tasks, and suggest potential clinical applications for this integrated human and machine learning approach. A publicly available web-based platform implements these models.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Bayesian model mixing with multireference energy density functional

Reliably predicting nuclear properties across the entire chart of isotopes is important for applications ranging from nuclear astrophysics to superheavy science to nuclear technology. To this day, however, all the theoretical models that can scale at the level of the chart of isotopes remain semiphenomenological. Because they are fitted locally, their predictive power can vary significantly; different versions of the same theory provide different predictions. Bayesian model mixing takes advantage of such imperfect models to build a local mixture of a set of models to make improved predictions. Earlier attempts to use Bayesian model mixing for mass table calculations relied on models treated at single-reference energy density functional level, which fail to capture some of the correlations caused by configuration mixing or the restoration of broken symmetries. In this study we have applied Bayesian model mixing techniques within a multireference energy density functional (MR-EDF) framework. We considered predictions of two-particle separation energies from particle number projection or angular momentum projection with four different energy density functionals—a total of eight different MR-EDF models. We used a hierarchical Bayesian stacking framework with a Dirichlet prior distribution over weights together with an inverse log-ratio transform to enable positive correlations between different models. We found that Bayesian model mixing provides significantly improved predictions compared to the participating models. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Development of a Response Surface Thermal Model for Orion Mated to the International Space Station

A study was performed to determine if a Design of Experiments (DOE)/Response Surface Methodology could be applied to on-orbit thermal analysis and produce a set of Response Surface Equations (RSE) that accurately predict vehicle temperatures. The study used an integrated thermal model of the International Space Station and the Orion Outer mold line model. Five separate factors were identified for study: yaw, pitch, roll, beta angle, and the environmental parameters. Twenty external Orion temperatures were selected as the responses. A DOE case matrix of 110 runs was developed. The data from these cases were analyzed to produce an RSE for each of the temperature responses. The initial agreement between the engineering data and the RSE predictions was encouraging, although many RSEs had large uncertainties on their predictions. Fourteen verification cases were developed to test the predictive powers of the RSEs. The verification showed mixed results with some RSE predicting temperatures matching the engineering data within the uncertainty bands, while others had very large errors. While this study to not irrefutably prove that the DOE/RSM approach can be applied to on-orbit thermal analysis, it does demonstrate that technique has the potential to predict temperatures. Additional work is needed to better identify the cases needed to produce the RSEs

Miller, Stephen W.↗

Validation of theory-based models for the control of plasma currents in W7-X divertor plasmas

A theory-based model for the control of plasma currents for steady-state operation in W7-X is proposed and intended for model-based plasma control. The conceptual outline implies the strength of physics-based models: it offer approaches applicable to future conditions of fusion devices or next-step machines. The application at extrapolated settings is related to the validity range of the theory model. Therefore, the predictive power of theory-based control models could be larger than for data-driven approaches and limitations can be predicted from the validity range for the prediction of bootstrap currents in W7-X. The model predicts the L/R response when density or heating power is changed. The model is based on neoclassical bootstrap current calculations and validated for different discharge conditions. While the model was found to be broadly applicable for conducted electron-cyclotron-heated discharges in W7-X, limits were found for cases when the polarization of the electron cyclotron heating was changed from X2 to O2-heating. The validity assessment attempts to quantify the potential of the derived model for model-based control in the operational space (density, heating power) of W7-X.

neoclassical modelling↗

Lunar power system summary of studies for the lunar enterprise task force NASA-office of exploration

The capacity of global power systems must be increased by a factor of ten to provide the predicted power needs of electric power by the year 2050. The Lunar Power System (LPS) would collect solar energy at power bases located on opposing limbs of the moon as seen from Earth. LPS can provide dependable, economic, renewable, and environmentally benign solar energy to Earth. A preliminary engineering and cash flow model of the LPS was developed. Results are shown for a system scaled to a peak capacity of 355 GWe on Earth and to provide 13,600 GWe-Yrs of energy over a 70 year life cycle of construction and full operation. The growth in capacity of the reference system from start of installation on the moon in 2005 to completion of its nominal life cycle in the year 2070 is shown. World needs for power could be accommodated by expansion in capacity of the reference LPS beyond 344 GWe. This would be done by steadily incorporating newer technology during full operation and by establishing additional bases. The results presented encourage consideration of a faster paced program than is assumed herein.

Criswell, David R.↗