Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “pilot program”

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.

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

At least 1,225 records · Page 68

ICAST Solar Projects Case Study

ICAST (International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social enterprise that has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to implement a ~$2 Million initiative to overcome the hurdles of deploying solar energy for low-income populations. The project will develop, coordinate, and pilot a new approach that partners with local utilities, affordable multifamily housing (MFAH) owners, investors, and other stakeholders, to create a utility-scale program that aggregates demand from MFAH properties into a solar project for the utility to own and manage. This case study is an overview of recent solar efforts by ICAST to inform the current SETO project.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Putting Data to Work: Using Building Energy Performance Data to Expand the Market for Energy Efficiency in Buildings

An increasing number of state and local jurisdictions are implementing building performance reporting laws, which generate large quantities of useful data on the characteristics and resource consumption of the building stock. Yet, to realize the potential of these policies, the data must not only be disclosed, but put to work to drive energy savings. Under a three-year pilot, Washington DC (DC), New York City (NYC) and their partners are pioneering the use of data from building performance reporting in energy efficiency programs. To minimize the administrative burden of managing, combining, and sharing these data sets, the cities are utilizing the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) open-source Standard Energy Efficiency Data (SEED) Platform. The Putting Data to Work project team is working with efficiency program administrators to develop and implement new and innovative ways in which the data collected through benchmarking, energy audits, and related policies can be used to improve energy policies and planning, unlock data directly for market use, scale-up the market for energy efficiency services, drive competition, better target utility incentive programs, and inform measurement and verification. This paper details achievements and key findings in DC and NYC to date, including the importance of high compliance, data quality, and data cleansing in using the information collected; methods that the cities are using to apply data to drive maximum energy efficiency; and the importance of inter- and intra-agency collaboration in program success. We also outline the path forward and detail expected outcomes and scalability of project activities.

Beddingfield, Erin↗

Nuclear, Land marker for a Waste Isolation Site: International Architecture Competition - 18240

The design and construction of a nuclear waste marker must include many architectural considerations. Very little research has been conducted by architects to address this issue to date. Historically, the task of designating a nuclear waste site has been a discussion predominantly contained within the scientific and engineering communities. In an effort to engage architects within this dialogue, arch out loud hosted the NUCLEAR competition as an international, architectural investigation into the design of a nuclear waste site marker. The NUCLEAR competition asks participants to design a marker to designate the site of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) located near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The marker will be meant to be a means of passive institutional controls (PICs) to deter inadvertent human intrusion upon the site and should last 10,000 years. The NUCLEAR competition defined the purpose of the nuclear waste site marker as a means to communicate the danger of inadvertent intrusion from future generations. The competition requires that entries must be both legible in communication and durable in their construction. The competition brief challenged participants to consider how customs and languages will evolve over time and to predict what motivations future generations might have for digging at the site. Other background information was provided about the site such as how waste was stored and how the unique geology of the site seals the waste. The 1993 Sandia National Laboratories report titled Expert Judgment on Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant [1] was referenced along with the 1992 WIPP Land Withdrawal Act [2], interviews with WIPP scientists [3] involved with the WIPP PICs program and the Nuclear Energy Agency Records Knowledge and Memory working group. Competition participants were given digital 3-D Computer-Aided Design models for reference that included the underground storage portion of the site, existing buildings and the 16-square-mile site boundary identified in the 1992 WIPP Land Withdrawal Act [2]. This paper will: - Provide a detailed description of the submitted proposals including graphic analysis of the visualizations, diagrams, technical drawings, jury comments and statements. - Catalogue and identify the consistent themes within all submissions with possible categories including: 1) overall architectural form and language, 2) integration of written language and symbols within architecture, 3) use of technology and robotics, 4) construction methods and materials. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Development and Use of Mark Sense Record Cards for Recording Medical Data on Pilots Subjected to Acceleration Stress

A TIME-HONORED system of recording medical histories and the data obtained on physical and laboratory examination has been that of writing the information on record sheets that go into a folder for each patient. In order to have information which would be more readily retrieved, 'a program was initiated in 1952 by the U. S. Naval School of Aviation Medicine in connection with their "Care of the Flyer" study to place this information on machine record cards. In 1958, a machine record card method was developed for recording medical data in connection with the astronaut selection program. Machine record cards were also developed by the Aero Medical Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory, Naval Air Development Center, Johnsville, Pennsylvania, for use in connection with a variety of tests including acceleration stress.1 Therefore, a variety of systems resulted in which data of a medical nature could easily be recalled. During the NASA, Ames Research Center centrifuge studies/'S the pilot subjects were interviewed after each centrifuge run, or series of runs, and subjective information was recorded in a log book by the usual history taking methods referred to above. After the methods Were reviewed, it' was recognized that a card system would be very useful in recording data from our pilots after they had been exposed to acceleration stress. Since the acceleration stress cards already developed did not meet our requirements, it was decided a different card was needed.

Smedal, Harald A.↗

Air-sea interactions yielding rapid Beaufort Sea ice losses during the 2021 ONR THINICE Pilot Field Campaign

Seasonal sea ice coverage has declined in the Pacific Arctic region. Losses of the ice cover have modified the region’s surface heat and momentum fluxes providing weather systems more direct interaction with the upper ocean. For example, recent cyclones that have passed over these waters have initiated multiple air-sea interactions and have impacted mixed layer depth, wave properties, and sea ice mass budgets due to diabatic and/or advective processes. As a United States Office of Naval Research (ONR) Departmental Research initiative, one key component of the ONR THINICE program was to advance knowledge on Arctic cyclone coupling with the ocean surface, its ice cover, and understand how such coupling can lead to rapid ice loss. Leading up to the primary field campaign in August 2022, a pilot field campaign from 19 August to 13 September 2021 focused in Utqiagvik, Alaska and Longyearbyen, Svalbard was carried out. This period was marked by frequent Arctic cyclones, periods of strong low-level winds, and stints of extreme short-term Beaufort Sea ice area losses. Cyclones traversed these waters much more frequently than usual during this 26-day period, but did not exhibit extreme central pressures indicative of high intensity and impactful storms. Using ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis fields, CERES and AIRS surface flux retrievals, and in situ sensor data collected from ice-tethered profilers and ice mass balance buoys, we highlight air-sea-ice interactions in the Beaufort Sea during and between these cyclones leading up to extreme ice loss events. Our case study analysis is aimed at understanding how Arctic cyclones, including air-sea interactions prompted by their passage over the marginal ice zone, influence the end-of-summer ice conditions and ice loss events. This study provides an example where frequent, yet weak storms drive rather large marginal sea-scale losses albeit with heterogenous sea ice effects at local scales.

Ballinger, Thomas [International Arctic Research C↗

The JGOFS North Atlantic Bloom Experiment: An overview

The North Atlantic Bloom Experiment (NABE) of JGOFS presents a unique opportunity and challenge to the data management community because of the diversity and large size of biogeochemical data sets collected. NABE was a pilot study for JGOFS and has also served as a pilot study within the U.S. NODC for management and archiving of the data sets. Here I present an overview to some of the scientific results of NABE, which will be published as an Introduction to a special volume of NABE results in Deep-Sea Research later this year. An overview of NABE data management is given elsewhere in the present report. This is the first collection of papers from the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS). Formed as an international program in 1987, JGOFS has four principal elements: modelling and data management, multidisciplinary regional process studies, a global survey of biogeochemical properties and long-term time series observatories. In 1989-1990 JGOFS conducted a pilot process study of the spring phytoplankton bloom, the North Atlantic Bloom Experiment (NABE). JGOFS decided to conduct a large scale, internationally-coordinated pilot study in the North Atlantic because of its proximity to the founding nations of the project, the size and predictability of the bloom and its fundamental impact on ocean bio-geochemistry (Billett et al., 1983; Watson and Whitfield, 1985; Pfannkuche, 1992). In 1989, six research vessels from Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the USA and over 200 scientists and students from more than a dozen nations participated in NABE. Some of their initial results are reported in this volume.

Ducklow, Hugh W.↗

Building America Case Study: Pilot Demonstration of Phased Energy Efficiency Retrofits: Deep Retrofits, Central and South Florida

The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), in collaboration with Florida Power & Light (FPL), is pursuing a phased residential energy-efficiency retrofit program in Florida. Researchers are looking to establish the impacts of technologies of two retrofit packages -- shallow and deep -- on annual energy and peak energy reductions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

NASA technical advances in aircraft occupant safety

A NASA program to improve aircraft safety is discussed in terms of three areas of concentration: unexpected turbulence encounters, fire, and crash impact. To provide warning of clear air turbulence (CAT) so that the pilot can take evasive action, a laser Doppler system is described, which functions by measuring backscatter frequency radiation occurring in aerosols ahead of the aircraft. The system was found able to detect CAT, but at shorter than optimal ranges (10 km as opposed to 32 km). Fire safety has focused on both the early detection of fires through improved sensing methods, and on the development of fire-retardant materials, i.e., intumescent char-forming protective coatings. Crashworthiness is discussed in terms of the development of a survivable crash envelope and improved seat and restraint systems. To evaluate an aircraft for crashworthiness, finite-element computer programs are currently being developed which analyze both aircraft structural configurations and the intrinsic strength of aircraft materials.

Enders, J. H.↗

Treatment of Oil & Gas Produced Water.

Production of oil and gas reserves in the New Mexico Four Corners Region results in large volumes of "produced water". The common method for handling the produced water from well production is re-injection in regulatory permitted salt water disposal wells. This is expensive (%7E $5/bbl.) and does not recycle water, an ever increasingly valuable commodity. Previously, Sandia National Laboratories and several NM small business tested pressure driven membrane-filtration techniques to remove the high TDS (total dissolved solids) from a Four Corners Coal Bed Methane produced water. Treatment effectiveness was less than optimal due to problems with pre-treatment. Inadequate pre-treatment allowed hydrocarbons, wax and biological growth to foul the membranes. Recently, an innovative pre-treatment scheme using ozone and hydrogen peroxide was pilot tested. Results showed complete removal of hydrocarbons and the majority of organic constituents from a gas well production water. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report was made possible through funding from the New Mexico Small Business Administration (NMSBA) Program at Sandia National Laboratories. Special thanks to Juan Martinez and Genaro Montoya for guidance and support from project inception to completion. Also, special thanks to Frank McDonald, the small businesses team POC, for laying the ground work for the entire project; Teresa McCown, the gas well owner and very knowledgeable- fantastic site host; Lea and Tim Phillips for their tremendous knowledge and passion in the oil & gas industry.; and Frank Miller and Steve Addleman for providing a pilot scale version of their proprietary process to facilitate the pilot testing.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Department of Energy Operational Readiness Review for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has completed an Operational Readiness Review (ORR) for the restart of Contact Handled (CH) waste emplacement at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) located near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The ORR team assessed the readiness of Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC (NWP) to manage and perform receipt through CH waste emplacement, and associated waste handling and management activities, including the ability of the National TRU Program (NTP) to evaluate the waste currently stored at the WIPP site against the revised and enhanced Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). Field work for this review began on November 14, 2015 and was completed on November 30, 2016. The DOE ORR was conducted in accordance with the Department of Energy Operational Readiness Review Implementation Plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, dated November 8, 2016, and DOE Order 425.1D, Verification of Readiness to Start Up or Restart Nuclear Facilities. The review activities included personnel interviews, record reviews, direct observation of operations and maintenance demonstrations, and observation of multiple operational and emergency drills/exercises. The DOE ORR also evaluated the adequacy of the contractor’s ORR (CORR) and the readiness of the DOE Carlsbad field Office (CBFO) to oversee the startup and execution of CH waste emplacement activities at the WIPP facility. The WIPP facility is categorized as a Hazard Category 2 DOE Nonreactor Nuclear Facility for all surface and Underground (UG) operations per DOE-STD-1027-92, Hazard Categorization and Accident Analysis Techniques for Compliance with DOE Order 5480.23, Nuclear Safety Analysis Reports. In addition, the WIPP experienced two events in February, 2014 that resulted in Accident Investigations being performed in accordance with the requirements of DOE Order 225.1B, Accident Investigations. Based upon the results of the accident investigations and hazard categorization of the facility, the team placed significant emphasis on the following areas: fire protection, emergency preparedness, radiological protection, nuclear safety, and operations. The identification of specific focus areas was not intended to diminish the importance of other areas of the review, but to ensure that these areas received a particularly thorough and in-depth evaluation due to their significance with respect to the safe operation of the facility.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Evolving Obs4MIPs to Support Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6)

Over the past four years, an initiative known as Observations for Model Intercomparison Projects (Obs4MIPs) has successfully completed its pilot phase by adopting a set of technical protocols (dataset format, metadata standards, and documentation requirements) for dataset contributions, producing datasets that conform to these standards and archiving them for distribution on the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) alongside the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) model output. This pilot phase of Obs4MIPs, initiated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, supported CMIP5 and provided a path to improve the coordination between observational communities and major climate modeling intercomparison projects such as CMIP. Obs4MIPs is now being embraced by the international community, with the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Data Advisory Council (WDAC) empaneling a task team to provide guidance and governance for Obs4MIPs at an international level, in conjunction with the existing NASA Science Working Group that is more tightly focused on NASA satellite data products. Here, following the example of the first DOE–NASA Obs4MIPs meeting, and with an initial design of CMIP6 being published, a meeting of over 50 experts in both climate modeling and satellite data from the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia convened at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., for the purpose of planning the evolution of Obs4MIPs and its connection to the CMIP6 experiments.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Drone Fleet Summary: NNLEMS UxS Rolodex entry for Sandia

Sandia’s UAS Aviation Operations Unit (UAOU) was established in 2019 to be the single entity at Sandia conducting UAS Ops in support the labs Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) activities. The UAOU currently consists of >330 FAA Registered UAS with a large variety of primarily Class 1&2 UAS: fixed wing (>90), multi-rotor (>230), hybrids, VTOLs, jets, and balloons. Many of these are threat vehicles presented as targets to Counter-UAS (CUAS) systems as part of performance tests, with the remainder in support of other projects across Sandia often with custom payload needs. The UAOU has ~15 primary pilots and reach back to another ~45 FAA Certified Remote Pilots across Sandia. The team conducts flight and CUAS operations at many test locations, including OCONUS. Sandia was awarded the 2024 DOE Federal Aviation Safety Program Award.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Experience with flight test trajectory guidance

A system that provides the test pilot with flight test trajectory guidance is presently evolving at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility. In use, this system has resulted in discernible improvements in the ease and accuracy with which pilots have approached and maintained the desired flight test conditions or trajectories. This paper describes the use of the guidance system in several past flight programs at Dryden, including the F-111 TACT program, the F-15 airframe/propulsion system interaction program, the F-15 cone transition and boundary layer experiments, and the Space Shuttle tiles flight test program.

Swann, M. R.↗

Computer-aided design of flight control systems

A computer program is presented for facilitating the development and assessment of flight control systems, and application to a control design is discussed. The program is a computer-aided control-system design program based on direct digital synthesis of a proportional-integral-filter controller with scheduled linear-quadratic-Gaussian gains and command generator tracking of pilot inputs. The FlightCAD system concentrates on aircraft dynamics, flight-control systems, stability and performance, and has practical engineering applications.

Stengel, Robert F.↗

Rotorcraft In-Flight Simulation Research at NASA Ames Research Center: A Review of the 1980's and plans for the 1990's

A new flight research vehicle, the Rotorcraft-Aircrew System Concepts Airborne Laboratory (RASCAL), is being developed by the U.S. Army and NASA at ARC. The requirements for this new facility stem from a perception of rotorcraft system technology requirements for the next decade together with operational experience with the Boeing Vertol CH-47B research helicopter that was operated as an in-flight simulator at ARC during the past 10 years. Accordingly, both the principal design features of the CH-47B variable-stability system and the flight-control and cockpit-display programs that were conducted using this aircraft at ARC are reviewed. Another U.S Army helicopter, a Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk, was selected as the baseline vehicle for the RASCAL. The research programs that influence the design of the RASCAL are summarized, and the resultant requirements for the RASCAL research system are described. These research programs include investigations of advanced, integrated control concepts for achieving high levels of agility and maneuverability, and guidance technologies, employing computer/sensor-aiding, designed to assist the pilot during low-altitude flight in conditions of limited visibility. The approach to the development of the new facility is presented and selected plans for the preliminary design of the RASCAL are described.

Aiken, Edwin W.↗

A review of recent programs and future plans for rotorcraft in-flight simulation at Ames Research Center

A new flight research vehicle, the Rotorcraft-Aircrew Systems Concepts Airborne Laboratory (RASCAL), is being developed by the U.S. Army and NASA at Ames Research Center. The requirements for this new facility stem from a perception of rotorcraft system technology requirements for the next decade together with operational experience with the CH-47B research helicopter that was operated as an in-flight simulator at Ames during the past 10 years. Accordingly, both the principal design features of the CH-47B variable-stability system and the flight-control and cockpit-display programs that were conducted using this aircraft at Ames are reviewed. Another U.S. Army helicopter, a UH-60A Black Hawk, has been selected as the baseline vehicle for the RASCAL. The research programs that influence the design of the RASCAL are summarized, and the resultant requirements for the RASCAL research system are described. These research programs include investigations of advanced, integrated control concepts for achieving high levels of agility and maneuverability, and guidance technologies, employing computer/sensor-aiding, designed to assist the pilot during low-altitude flight in conditions of limited visibility. The approach to the development of the new facility is presented and selected plans for the preliminary design of the RASCAL are described.

Eshow, Michelle M.↗

Assessment and Management of the Risks of Debris Hits During Space Station EVAs

The risk of EVAs is critical to the decision of whether or not to automate a large part of the construction of the International Space Station (ISS). Furthermore, the choice of the technologies of the space suit and the life support system will determine (1) the immediate safety of these operations, and (2) the long-run costs and risks of human presence in space, not only in lower orbit (as is the case of the ISS) but also perhaps, outside these orbits, or on the surface of other planets. The problem is therefore both an immediate one and a long-term one. The fundamental question is how and when to shift from the existing EMU system (suit, helmet, gloves and life support system) to another type (e.g. a hard suit), given the potential trade-offs among life-cycle costs, risks to the astronauts, performance of tasks, and uncertainties about new systems' safety inherent to such a shift in technology. A more immediate issue is how to manage the risks of EVAs during the construction and operation of the ISS in order to make the astronauts (in the words of the NASA Administrator) "as safe outside as inside". For the moment (June 1997), the plan is to construct the Space Station using the low-pressure space suits that have been developed for the space shuttle. In the following, we will refer to this suit assembly as EMU (External Maneuvering Unit). It is the product of a long evolution, starting from the U.S. Air Force pilot suits through the various versions and changes that occurred for the purpose of NASA space exploration, in particular during the Gemini and the Apollo programs. The Shuttle EMU is composed of both soft fabrics and hard plates. As an alternative to the shuttle suit, at least two hard suits were developed by NASA: the AX5 and the MRKIII. The problem of producing hard suits for space exploration is very similar to that of producing deep-sea diving suits. There was thus an opportunity to develop a suit that could be manufactured for both purposes with the economies of scale that could be gained from a two-branch manufacturing line (space and deep sea). Of course, the space suit would need to be space qualified. Some of the problems in adopting one of the hard suits were first that the testing had to be completed, and second that it required additional storage space. The decision was made not to develop a hard suit in time for the construction and operation of the ISS. Instead, to improve the safety of the current suit, it was decided to reinforce the soft parts of the shuttle EMU with KEVLAR linings to strengthen it against debris impacts. Test results, however, show that this advanced suit design has little effect on the penetration characteristics.

Pate-Cornell, Elisabeth↗