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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 127 records · Page 7

Development of a Ground Test and Analysis Protocol for NASA's NextSTEP Phase 2 Habitation Concepts

The NASA Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program is a public-private partnership model that seeks commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support human spaceflight missions around and beyond cislunar space. NASA first issued the Phase 1 NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement to U.S. industries in 2014, which called for innovative cislunar habitation concepts that leveraged commercialization plans for low-Earth orbit. These habitats will be part of the Deep Space Gateway (DSG), the cislunar space station planned by NASA for construction in the 2020s. In 2016, Phase 2 of the NextSTEP program selected five commercial partners to develop ground prototypes. A team of NASA research engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs) have been tasked with developing the ground-test protocol that will serve as the primary means by which these Phase 2 prototypes will be evaluated. Since 2008, this core test team has successfully conducted multiple spaceflight analog mission evaluations utilizing a consistent set of operational tools, methods, and metrics to enable the iterative development, testing, analysis, and validation of evolving exploration architectures, operations concepts, and vehicle designs. The purpose of implementing a similar evaluation process for the Phase 2 Habitation Concepts is to consistently evaluate different commercial partner ground prototypes to provide data-driven, actionable recommendations for Phase 3. This paper describes the process by which the ground test protocol was developed and the objectives, methods, and metrics by which the NextSTEP Phase 2 Habitation Concepts will be rigorously and systematically evaluated. The protocol has been developed using both a top-down and bottom-up approach. Top-down development began with the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) exploration objectives and ISS Exploration Capability Study Team (IECST) candidate flight objectives. Strategic questions and associated rationales, derived from these candidate architectural objectives, provide the framework by which the ground-test protocol will address the DSG stack elements and configurations, systems and subsystems, and habitation, science, and EVA functions. From these strategic questions, high-level functional requirements for the DSG were drafted and associated ground-test objectives and analysis protocols were established. Bottom-up development incorporated objectives from NASA SMEs in autonomy, avionics and software, communication, environmental control and life support systems, exercise, extravehicular activity, exploration medical operations, guidance navigation and control, human factors and behavioral performance, human factors and habitability, logistics, Mission Control Center operations, power, radiation, robotics, safety and mission assurance, science, simulation, structures, thermal, trash management, and vehicle health. Top-down and bottom-up objectives were integrated to form overall functional requirements - ground-test objectives and analysis mapping. From this mapping, ground-test objectives were organized into those that will be evaluated through inspection, demonstration, analysis, subsystem standalone testing, and human-in-the-loop (HITL) testing. For the HITL tests, mission-like timelines, procedures, and flight rules have been developed to directly meet ground test objectives and evaluate specific functional requirements. Data collected from these assessments will be analyzed to determine the acceptability of habitation element configurations and the combinations of capabilities that will result in the best habitation platform to be recommended by the test team for Phase 3.

Gernhardt, Michael L.↗

Variability and Quasi-Decadal Changes in the Methane Budget over the Period 2000-2012

Following the recent Global Carbon Project (GCP) synthesis of the decadal methane (CH4) budget over 2000- 2012, we analyse here the same dataset with a focus on quasi-decadal and inter-annual variability in CH4 emissions. The GCP dataset integrates results from top-down studies (exploiting atmospheric observations within an atmospheric inverse-modelling framework) and bottom-up models (including process-based models for estimating land surface emissions and atmospheric chemistry), inventories of anthropogenic emissions, and data-driven approaches. The annual global methane emissions from top-down studies, which by construction match the observed methane growth rate within their uncertainties, all show an increase in total methane emissions over the period 2000-2012, but this increase is not linear over the 13 years. Despite differences between individual studies, the mean emission anomaly of the top-down ensemble shows no significant trend in total methane emissions over the period 2000-2006, during the plateau of atmospheric methane mole fractions, and also over the period 2008-2012, during the renewed atmospheric methane increase. However, the top-down ensemble mean produces an emission shift between 2006 and 2008, leading to 22 [16-32] Tg CH4 yr(exp -1) higher methane emissions over the period 2008-2012 compared to 2002-2006. This emission increase mostly originated from the tropics, with a smaller contribution from mid-latitudes and no significant change from boreal regions. The regional contributions remain uncertain in top-down studies. Tropical South America and South and East Asia seem to contribute the most to the emission increase in the tropics. However, these two regions have only limited atmospheric measurements and remain therefore poorly constrained. The sectorial partitioning of this emission increase between the periods 2002-2006 and 2008-2012 differs from one atmospheric inversion study to another. However, all top-down studies suggest smaller changes in fossil fuel emissions (from oil, gas, and coal industries) compared to the mean of the bottom-up inventories included in this study. This difference is partly driven by a smaller emission change in China from the top-down studies compared to the estimate in the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGARv4.2) inventory, which should be revised to smaller values in a near future. We apply isotopic signatures to the emission changes estimated for individual studies based on five emission sectors and find that for six individual top-down studies (out of eight) the average isotopic signature of the emission changes is not consistent with the observed change in atmospheric 13CH4. However, the partitioning in emission change derived from the ensemble mean is consistent with this isotopic constraint. At the global scale, the top-down ensemble mean suggests that the dominant contribution to the resumed atmospheric CH4 growth after 2006 comes from microbial sources (more from agriculture and waste sectors than from natural wetlands), with an uncertain but smaller contribution from fossil CH4 emissions. In addition, a decrease in biomass burning emissions (in agreement with the biomass burning emission databases) makes the balance of sources consistent with atmospheric 13CH4 observations. In most of the top-down studies included here, OH concentrations are considered constant over the years (seasonal variations but without any inter-annual variability). As a result, the methane loss (in particular through OH oxidation) varies mainly through the change in methane concentrations and not its oxidants. For these reasons, changes in the methane loss could not be properly investigated in this study, although it may play a significant role in the recent atmospheric methane changes as briefly discussed at the end of the paper.

Saunois, Marielle↗

Use of Open Networks and Delay-Tolerant Protocol to Decrease WAN Latency of EOS near Real-Time Data

Since 1999, NASA's Earth Observing System Data Operations System (EDOS) project at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has provided high-rate data capture, level zero processing, and product distribution services for a majority of NASA's EOS (Earth Observing System) high-rate missions, including Terra, Aqua, Aura, ICESat, EO-1, SMAP, and OCO-2. EDOS high-rate science and engineering (150-300 Mbps) data-driven capture systems are deployed at 7 worldwide ground stations which are connected via both private (closed) and public (open) wide area networks (WANs) to the centralized EDOS Level Zero Processing Facility (LZPF) located at GSFC, where the data is processed and Level 0 products are distributed to users worldwide. All data transferred over the open networks to GSFC traverse an IPSec tunnel, providing the same level of security as a VPN connection. EDOS produces both time-based and near real-time products (session-based). Near real-time data products are produced from a single ground station contact; time-based products are produced from multiple ground station contacts. EDOS is the primary supplier of EOS Level 0 data to the NASA near real-time user community known as the Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE). For the past few years, EDOS has streamlined its systems to reduce WAN latency for near real-time data delivery, including implementing Quality of Service (QoS), expanding closed network bandwidth, adding open network connections with more bandwidth, and implementing a delay-tolerant protocol to mitigate long round-trip times to remote ground stations.

Delay-Tolerant Protocol↗

Mini-Stamp as a Micro-Display for At-A-Glance Subsystem Information for DSN Links

Operators of the Deep Space Network (DSN) attend to numerous tasks with the overall goal of providing continuous support for the world's deep space missions. This high-stakes operations environment requires operators to understand the state of the Deep Space Network and predict what will happen next. Under the Follow-the-Sun initiative which requires remote operations of the highly complex telecommunications equipment, operators will need to remain aware of the state of the entire network rather than just their own facility, and transitioning fluidly between periods of low activity and periods of high demand. I designed a micro-display for operators to see, at a glance, the state of a Deep Space Network support including its subsystems. Using in-depth user-centered and participatory design techniques to identify information requirements, I designed what I called a Postage Stamp (NTR-49720) for individual operators to be able to maintain awareness of their own assigned supports. However, under Follow the Sun, operators must remain aware of all supports. The area occupied by the Postage Stamp must shrink to allow operators to see the state of the entire system, e.g., via a Big Board posted prominently in the operations room. Micro-displays are tools for mental model re-alignment, helping operators to keep their mental models of how the system works and behaves aligned with the changing state of the complex system. Data-driven micro-displays such as the Postage Stamp and Mini-Stamp display information about the system in a consistent way. Like a traffic light, the format of the micro-display never changes: the operator always knows where to look to find a specific piece of information. The Mini-Stamp always looks like the Mini-Stamp, and all of its data fields always lie in the same place on the micro-display. Real-time data flows through the Mini-Stamp to provide information to the operator.

Holloway, Alexandra↗

On-Time Performance ASPM Non-Parametric Statistical Analysis

The purpose of this analysis is to provide a data-driven examination of two selected flight metrics, i.e., (1) total taxi-out time and (2) actual off time minus scheduled off block time. More specifically, Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) data were analyzed to determine any possible differences in CLT (Charlotte Douglas International Airport) departure flights on these two metrics when comparing pre-IADS (Integrated Arrival, Departure, and Surface Operations) against post-IADS metering operations. This was originally presented to the ATD-2 (Airspace Technology Demonstration-2) Analytics team in August 2018.

tech transfer↗

The Land Surface Data Toolkit (LDT v7.2) - A Data Fusion Environment for Land Data Assimilation Systems

The effective applications of land surface models (LSMs) and hydrologic models pose a varied set of data input and processing needs, ranging from ensuring consistency checks to more derived data processing and analytics. This article describes the development of the Land surface Data Toolkit (LDT), which is an integrated framework designed specifically for processing input data to execute LSMs and hydrological models. LDT not only serves as a preprocessor to the NASA Land Information System (LIS), which is an integrated framework designed for multi-model LSM simulations and data assimilation (DA) integrations, but also as a land-surface-based observation and DA input processor. It offers a variety of user options and inputs to processing datasets for use within LIS and stand-alone models. The LDT design facilitates the use of common data formats and conventions. LDT is also capable of processing LSM initial conditions and meteorological boundary conditions and ensuring data quality for inputs to LSMs and DA routines. The machine learning layer in LDT facilitates the use of modern data science algorithms for developing data-driven predictive models. Through the use of an object-oriented framework design, LDT provides extensible features for the continued development of support for different types of observational datasets and data analytics algorithms to aid land surface modeling and data assimilation.

droughts and floods↗

Three Decades of Global Methane Sources and Sinks

Methane is an important greenhouse gas, responsible for about 20 of the warming induced by long-lived greenhouse gases since pre-industrial times. By reacting with hydroxyl radicals, methane reduces the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere and generates ozone in the troposphere. Although most sources and sinks of methane have been identified, their relative contributions to atmospheric methane levels are highly uncertain. As such, the factors responsible for the observed stabilization of atmospheric methane levels in the early 2000s, and the renewed rise after 2006, remain unclear. Here, we construct decadal budgets for methane sources and sinks between 1980 and 2010, using a combination of atmospheric measurements and results from chemical transport models, ecosystem models, climate chemistry models and inventories of anthropogenic emissions. The resultant budgets suggest that data-driven approaches and ecosystem models overestimate total natural emissions. We build three contrasting emission scenarios which differ in fossil fuel and microbial emissions to explain the decadal variability in atmospheric methane levels detected, here and in previous studies, since 1985. Although uncertainties in emission trends do not allow definitive conclusions to be drawn, we show that the observed stabilization of methane levels between 1999 and 2006 can potentially be explained by decreasing-to-stable fossil fuel emissions, combined with stable-to-increasing microbial emissions. We show that a rise in natural wetland emissions and fossil fuel emissions probably accounts for the renewed increase in global methane levels after 2006, although the relative contribution of these two sources remains uncertain.

periodic variations↗

GES DISC Datalist Enables Easy Data Selection for Natural Phenomena Studies

In order to investigate and assess natural hazards such as tropical storms, winter storms, volcanic eruptions, floods, and drought in a timely manner, the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) has been developing an efficient data search and access service. Called Datalist, this service enables users to acquire their data of interest all at once, with minimum effort. A Datalistis a virtual collection of predefined or user-defined data variables from one or more archived data sets. Datalistsare more than just data. Datalistseffectively provide users with a sophisticated integrated data and services package, including metadata, citation, documentation, visualization, and data-specific services (e.g., subset and OPeNDAP), all available from one-stop shopping. The predefined Datalists, created by the experienced GES DISC science support team, should save a significant amount of time that users would otherwise have to spend. The Datalistservice is an extension of the new GES DISC website, which is completely data-driven. A Datalist, also known as data bundle, is treated just as any other data set. Being a virtual collection, a Datalistrequires no extra storage space.

Earth events↗

Taxi Time Prediction at Charlotte Airport Using Fast-Time Simulation and Machine Learning Techniques

Accurate taxi time prediction can be used for more efficient runway scheduling to increase runway throughput and reduce taxi times and fuel consumptions on the airport surface. This paper describes two different approaches to predicting taxi times, which are a data-driven analytical method using machine learning techniques and a fast-time simulation-based approach. These two taxi time prediction methods are applied to realistic flight data at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and assessed with actual taxi time data from the human-in-the-loop simulation for CLT airport operations using various performance measurement metrics. Based on the preliminary results, we discuss how the taxi time prediction accuracy can be affected by the operational complexity at this airport and how we can improve the fast-time simulation model for implementing it with an airport scheduling algorithm in real-time operational environment.

Lee, Hanbong↗

Mission Assurance: A Model-Based Approach

The purpose of Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is to ensure mission safety and success. As the complexity of technical systems increases, the tools, processes, and infrastructure used to facilitate SMA activities must evolve. A transition from a document-centric approach to a data-driven, model-based architecture is critical in allowing SMA efforts to grapple with complex system designs. This work describes how a sample subset of existing SMA processes can be executed in a model-based environment, while also describing ways in which a model-based architecture can further augment SMA efforts. One key aspect is supporting the complex interplay between the different SMA processes and the systems engineering effort to provide additional insight into the system from an SMA perspective. The proposed architecture for model-based mission assurance provides an avenue for assuring mission safety and success in increasingly complex systems.

Schreiner, Samuel S.↗

Dust Abrasion Damage on Martian Solar Arrays: Experimental Investigation and Opportunity Rover Performance Analysis

Here we investigate the effects of erosion and weathering that occur on III-V cover-glass interconnected cells (CICs) after exposure to Mars dust storm conditions. The durability of these materials in a Martian environment is not well characterized so we perform analogous experimentation. To replicate the dust impingement, test coupons were placed in an enclosure and sandblasted with Mars dust simulant. We show the J-V response dependency on both incident angle and exposure times. We find that the simulated Martian dust storm often results in damage to the anti-reflective coating and subsequent reduced short circuit current. Reduction in the open circuit voltage is observed, likely caused by structural damage to the crystal lattice after CIC fracture. We employ data-driven modeling to determine a performance degradation rate that is consistent with zero within uncertainty. We also quantify the soiling contribution and power degradation of the photovoltaic cells on Mars through analysis of 4.95 Martian years of report-out power conditions from the Opportunity rover. We find that atmospheric dust suspended due to a weather event does not result in instantaneous settled dust on the PV cells. We calculate via autocorrelation function that the dust settling rate is approximately 21 Sols from atmospheric dust suspension. The findings presented here deliver a realistic approximation for the insolation values and subsequent PV power expected over time on the Martian surface thus informing future dust abatement systems.

McMillon-Brown, Lyndsey↗

Cognitive Communications for NASA Space Systems

The growing complexity of spacecraft constellations, communication relay offerings, and mission architectures drives the need for the development of autonomous communication systems. NASA has traditionally launched single spacecraft missions that are served by the Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program. Operations on SCaN networks are typically scheduled weeks in advance, and often each asset serves a single user spacecraft at a time. Recent movement towards swarm missions could make the current approach unsustainable. Additionally, the integration of commercial communication service providers will substantially increase the data transfer options available to new missions. NASA science missions have found benefit in launching swarms of spacecraft, allowing coordinated simultaneous observations from different perspectives. Inter-spacecraft communication (mesh networking) is an enabler for this architecture, as are CubeSats that allow cost-effective provisioning of distributed mission assets. As more complex swarm missions launch, one challenge is coordinating communication within the swarm and choosing the appropriate mechanism for telemetry, tracking, control, and data services to and from Earth. Cognitive communications research conducted by SCaN aims to mitigate the increasing communication complexity for mission users by increasing the autonomy of links, networks, and service scheduling. By considering automation techniques including recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, cognitive algorithms and related approaches enable increased mission science return, improved resource utilization for service provider networks, and resiliency in unpredictable or unplanned environments. The Cognitive Communications Project at the NASA Glenn Research Center develops applications of data-driven, non-deterministic methods to improve the autonomy of space communication. The project emphasizes development of decentralized space networks with artificial intelligence agents optimizing communication link throughput, data routing, and system-wide asset management. This paper discusses the objectives, approaches, and opportunities of the research to address growing needs of the space communications community.

Chelmins, David↗

Improving Brightness Temperature Measurements near Coastal Areas for SMAP

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is designed to acquire L-band radiometer measurements for the estimation of soil moisture with 0.04 m3/m3 volumetric accuracy in the top 5 cm for vegetation with water content of less than 5 kg/m2. In regions near the coast or near inland bodies of water, the signal measured by the SMAP radiometer contains emissions from land and water, resulting in errors in the soil moisture estimation. In this paper, the effort to extract the brightness temperature (TB) according to the land fraction or water fraction (depending on the center of the footprint location) from the affected SMAP measurements was addressed. A single pixel correction algorithm was applied and its performance was evaluated over simulated data. A data-driven approach for the estimation of land and water TB for data correction was developed. The correction algorithm was then applied to real data and its performance was assessed over the SMAP soil moisture retrievals. We showed that the single pixel algorithm is an effective and computationally efficient algorithm for removing land or water TB contamination from the SMAP data.

Julian Chaubell↗

TPSAS-NF1676L-10829-DND

Galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and solar energetic particles (SEP) are the primary sources of human exposure to high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation in the atmosphere. High-LET radiation is effective at directly breaking DNA strands in biological tissue, or producing chemically active radicals in tissue that alter the cell function, both of which can lead to cancer or other adverse health effects. A prototype operational nowcast model of air-crew radiation exposure is currently under development and funded by NASA. The model predicts air-crew radiation exposure levels from both GCR and SEP that may accompany solar storms. The new air-crew radiation exposure model is called the Nowcast of Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation for Aviation Safety (NAIRAS) model. NAIRAS will provide global, data-driven, real-time exposure predictions of biologically harmful radiation at aviation altitudes. Observations are utilized from the ground (neutron monitors), from the atmosphere (the NCEP Global Forecast System), and from space (NASA/ACE and NOAA/GOES). Atmospheric observations characterize the overhead mass shielding and the ground- and space-based observations provide boundary conditions on the incident GCR and SEP particle flux distributions for transport and dosimetry calculations. Radiation exposure rates are calculated using the NASA physics-based HZETRN (High Charge (Z) and Energy TRaNsport) code. An overview of the NAIRAS model is given: the concept, design, prototype implementation status, data access, and example results. Issues encountered thus far and known and/or anticipated hurdles to research to operations transition are also discussed.

Christopher J Mertens↗

Proprioceptive Inference for Dual-Arm Grasping of Bulky Objects Using RoboSimian

This work demonstrates dual-arm lifting of bulky objects based on inferred object properties (center of mass (COM) location, weight, and shape) using proprioception (i.e. force torque measurements). Data-driven Bayesian models describe these quantities, which enables subsequent behaviors to depend on confidence of the learned models. Experiments were conducted using the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) RoboSimian to lift a variety of cumbersome objects ranging in mass from 7kg to 25kg. The position of a supporting second manipulator was determined using a particle set and heuristics that were derived from inferred object properties. The supporting manipulator decreased the initial manipulator’s load and distributed the wrench load more equitably across each manipulator, for each bulky object. Knowledge of the objects came from pure proprioception (i.e. without reliance on vision or other exteroceptive sensors) throughout the experiments.

Backes, Paul↗

Benchmarking Bayesian Optimization Frameworks and Acquisition Strategies for Materials Discovery and Autonomous Laboratories

Bayesian optimization (BO) can accelerate materials discovery by guiding expensive experiments toward the most promising processing conditions. We systematically compare five BO surrogate and framework combinations (Gaussian processes in Ax, Gaussian processes and Monte-Carlo neural networks in BayBE, random forests in Lolopy, and tree-structured Parzen (TPE) estimators in Hyperopt) on three benchmarks that mimic common materials design tasks (a discrete solid-electrolyte composition space, a hybrid discrete/continuous laminate-composite design problem solved with micromechanics modeling, and the continuous Ishigami analytic function which is a standard optimization benchmark). Each BO surrogate is paired with posterior mean, probability of improvement, and expected improvement acquisition functions and run for 100 trials from randomized initial samples with uniform random search providing a control. Across five random seeds per setting, BayBE’s Gaussian-process surrogate with expected improvement consistently reached ≥95 % of the known optimum in the fewest evaluations, while Lolopy’s random forest matched or exceeded GP performance on purely categorical or mixed spaces at a higher computational cost. Posterior mean alone often stagnated at local optima, underscoring the need for exploration, whereas probability and expected improvement balanced exploration and exploitation leading to better optimization in fewer trials. Execution times ranged from milliseconds for TPE to minutes for neural-network and random-forest surrogates. These results establish baseline expectations for BO in automated materials laboratories and highlight expected improvement with Gaussian processes as a reliable first choice, with random forests offering a strong alternative when categorical variables dominate. The benchmark suite and code are released to facilitate future surrogate, acquisition, and constraint-handling research in data-driven materials optimization.

Bayesian optimization↗

BEAST: Expanding Sustainable Data Infrastructure for High-Enthalpy Facilities

Reproducible, data-driven thermal protection system (TPS) research requires that experimental records from high-enthalpy testing be consistently structured, traceable, and accessible across campaigns and institutions. In practice, however, arcjet and plasma facilities data remain largely fragmented: raw diagnostics are stored in ad hoc formats, material sample histories are disconnected from test conditions, and metadata standards are absent, precluding systematic cross-campaign analysis and long-term reuse. BEAST (Backend for Experiment Analysis, Storage, and Traceability) is an open-source, web-based platform that addresses these limitations by providing a unified, queryable infrastructure for high-enthalpy ground-test data [1]. First presented at the 15th Ablation Workshop [2], BEAST has since undergone significant development. The platform ingests and structures multi-channel time-series diagnostics, facility configurations, and material property records within a common provenance model, ensuring end-to-end traceability from raw sensor acquisition to reduced experimental quantities. A versioned material library links specimen identity and processing history to the specific runs in which each sample was tested. An integrated modeling workbench enables training and evaluation of regression models directly on archived experimental data, supporting condition interpolation and the construction of empirical material response databases. Beyond its original deployment at NASA Ames Research Center, BEAST has been designed to be facility-agnostic, with ongoing efforts to extend its adoption to other facilities. Its modular architecture accommodates heterogeneous diagnostic setups and facility types, and its future open-source distribution allows institutions to build on a common data standard rather than maintaining isolated, bespoke solutions. BEAST is further integrated within a broader ecosystem of companion tools: arcjetCV [3] extracts recession rates and shock standoff distances from high-speed video using computer vision, and miniSTARscan [4] provides sub-minute, portable photogrammetric surface reconstruction of test articles before and after exposure. All tools share a common data schema, enabling seamless ingestion of surface geometry, imagery, and time-series data into a single, coherent experimental record.

Database↗

BEAST: Expanding Sustainable Data Infrastructure for High-Enthalpy Facilities

Reproducible, data-driven thermal protection system (TPS) research requires that experimental records from high-enthalpy testing be consistently structured, traceable, and accessible across campaigns and institutions. In practice, however, arcjet and plasma facilities data remain largely fragmented: raw diagnostics are stored in ad hoc formats, material sample histories are disconnected from test conditions, and metadata standards are absent, precluding systematic cross-campaign analysis and long-term reuse. BEAST (Backend for Experiment Analysis, Storage, and Traceability) is an open-source, web-based platform that addresses these limitations by providing a unified, queryable infrastructure for high-enthalpy ground-test data [1]. First presented at the 15th Ablation Workshop [2], BEAST has since undergone significant development. The platform ingests and structures multi-channel time-series diagnostics, facility configurations, and material property records within a common provenance model, ensuring end-to-end traceability from raw sensor acquisition to reduced experimental quantities. A versioned material library links specimen identity and processing history to the specific runs in which each sample was tested. An integrated modeling workbench enables training and evaluation of regression models directly on archived experimental data, supporting condition interpolation and the construction of empirical material response databases. Beyond its original deployment at NASA Ames Research Center, BEAST has been designed to be facility-agnostic, with ongoing efforts to extend its adoption to other facilities. Its modular architecture accommodates heterogeneous diagnostic setups and facility types, and its future open-source distribution allows institutions to build on a common data standard rather than maintaining isolated, bespoke solutions. BEAST is further integrated within a broader ecosystem of companion tools: arcjetCV [3] extracts recession rates and shock standoff distances from high-speed video using computer vision, and miniSTARscan [4] provides sub-minute, portable photogrammetric surface reconstruction of test articles before and after exposure. All tools share a common data schema, enabling seamless ingestion of surface geometry, imagery, and time-series data into a single, coherent experimental record.

Database↗