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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2014

Novel Concepts for Radiation Shielding Materials

It is critical that safety factors be maximized with respect to long duration, extraterrestrial space flight. Any significant improvement in radiation protection will be critical in ensuring the safety of crew and hardware on such missions. The project goal is to study novel concepts for radiation shielding materials that can be used for long-duration space missions. As part of this project we will investigate the use of thin films for the evaluation of a containment system that can retain liquid hydrogen and provide the necessary hydrogen density for effective shielding.

Technology Portfolio System↗
NASA NTRS2007

Radiation-Shielding Polymer/Soil Composites

It has been proposed to fabricate polymer/ soil composites primarily from extraterrestrial resources, using relatively low-energy processes, with the original intended application being that habitat structures constructed from such composites would have sufficient structural integrity and also provide adequate radiation shielding for humans and sensitive electronic equipment against the radiation environment on the Moon and Mars. The proposal is a response to the fact that it would be much less expensive to fabricate such structures in situ as opposed to transporting them from Earth.

Sen, Subhayu↗
DOE OSTI2022

SCALE 6.2.4 Validation: Radiation Shielding

For safe and reliable use of computer codes by the community, accuracy must be clearly evaluated. In particular, the nuclear reactor engineering and licensing field needs accurate tools for radiation shielding modeling. Monaco with Automated Variance Reduction using Importance Calculations (MAVRIC) is one such tool, with built-in variance reduction methods distributed within the SCALE code, and its validity is demonstrated in this report for the released version 6.2.4. Representative benchmarks corresponding to shielding analysis are selected for the validation study. Typical experimental results analyzed from those benchmarks include neutron fluxes, detector count rates, detector energy response functions, neutron and gamma doses, foil neutron activation rates and activities, neutron leakage fluxes, and skyshine dose rates. Thousands of points of comparison between experiment and calculation are presented in this work. Other than rare outliers typically explained by either a lack of information or large uncertainties in the experiment conditions, material, or dimensions, MAVRIC agrees well with the experiment results. MAVRIC is also compared to Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) calculations when available, and both codes generally produce good agreements within estimated uncertainties. The selected benchmarks are obtained from reliable sources such as the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project Handbook (ICSBEP Handbook), the Shielding Integral Benchmark Archive & Database (SINBAD), and other shielding validation work found in the literature. Additional datapoints and benchmarks will be added to future versions of this report to incrementally expand the shielding validation suite incrementally.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
NASA NTRS2015

Fabrication of Regolith-Derived Radiation Shield Project

Mars and asteroids have little or no atmosphere, and do not possess a magnetosphere that can protect humans, mechanisms and electronics from damaging Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) and solar particle events (SPE) as does the Earth. These types of space radiation present one of the highest risks to a human crew during interplanetary journeys and to onboard electronics. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of carbonaceous asteroid materials as a potential radiation shielding material.

Technology Portfolio System↗
NASA NTRS2003

Characterization of the Radiation Shielding Properties of U.S. and Russian Extravehicular Activity Suits

Reported herein are results from the Eril Research, Inc. (ERI) participation in the JSC-sponsored study characterizing the radiation shielding properties of the two types of space suit that astronauts are wearing during the EVA on-orbit assembly of ISS. Measurements using passive detectors were carried out to assess the shielding properties of the U.S. EMU Suit and the Russian Orlan-M suit during irradiations of the suits and a tissue-equivalent phantom to monoenergetic proton and electron beams at LLUMC. During irradiations of 6 MeV electrons and 60 MeV protons, absorbed dose as a function of depth was measured using TLDs exposed behind swatches of the two suit materials and inside the two EVA helmets. Considerable reduction in electron dose was measured behind all suit materials in exposures to 6 MeV electrons. Slowing of the proton beam in the suit materials led to an increase in dose measured in exposures to 60 MeV protons. During 232 MeV proton irradiations, measurements were made with TLDs and CR-39 PNTDs at five organ locations inside a tissue-equivalent phantom, exposed both with and without the two EVA suits. The EVA helmets produce a 13% to 27% reduction in total dose and a 0% to 25% reduction in dose equivalent when compared to measurements made in the phantom head alone. Differences in dose and dose equivalent between the suit and non-suit irradiations for the lower portions of the two EVA suits tended to be smaller. Proton-induced target fragmentation was found to be a significant source of increased dose equivalent, especially within the two EVA helmets, and average quality factor inside the EMU and Orlan-M helmets was 2% to 14% greater than that measured in the bare phantom head.

Benton, E. R.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Meeting the Grand Challenge of Protecting Astronauts Health: Electrostatic Active Space Radiation Shielding for Deep Space Missions

This report describes the research completed during 2011 for the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project. The research is motivated by the desire to safely send humans in deep space missions and to keep radiation exposures within permitted limits. To this end current material shielding, developed for low earth orbit missions, is not a viable option due to payload and cost penalties. The active radiation shielding is the path forward for such missions. To achieve active space radiation shielding innovative large lightweight gossamer space structures are used. The goal is to deflect enough positive ions without attracting negatively charged plasma and to investigate if a charged Gossamer structure can perform charge deflections without significant structural instabilities occurring. In this study different innovative configurations are explored to design an optimum active shielding. In addition, to establish technological feasibility experiments are performed with up to 10kV of membrane charging, and an electron flux source with up to 5keV of energy and 5mA of current. While these charge flux energy levels are much less than those encountered in space, the fundamental coupled interaction of charged Gossamer structures with the ambient charge flux can be experimentally investigated. Of interest are, will the EIMS remain inflated during the charge deflections, and are there visible charge flux interactions. Aluminum coated Mylar membrane prototype structures are created to test their inflation capability using electrostatic charging. To simulate the charge flux, a 5keV electron emitter is utilized. The remaining charge flux at the end of the test chamber is measured with a Faraday cup mounted on a movable boom. A range of experiments with this electron emitter and detector were performed within a 30x60cm vacuum chamber with vacuum environment capability of 10-7 Torr. Experiments are performed with the charge flux aimed at the electrostatically inflated membrane structure (EIMS) in both charged and uncharged configurations. The amount of charge shielding behind and around the EIMS was studied for different combinations of membrane structure voltages and electron energies. Both passive and active shielding were observed, with active shielding capable of deflecting nearly all incoming electrons. The pattern of charge distribution around the structure was studied as well as the stability of the structures in the charge flow. The charge deflection experiments illustrate that the EIMS remain inflated during charge deflection, but will experience small amplitude oscillations. Investigations were performed to determine a potential cause of the vibrations. It is postulated these vibrations are due to the charge flux causing local membrane charge distribution changes. As the membrane structure inflation pressure is changed, the shape responds, and causes the observed sustained vibration. Having identified this phenomenon is important when considering electrostatically inflated membrane structures (EIMS) in a space environment. Additionally, this project included a study of membrane material impacts, specifically the impact of membrane thickness. Extremely thin materials presented new challenges with vacuum preparation techniques and rapid charging. The thinner and lighter membrane materials were successfully inflated using electrostatic forces in a vacuum chamber. However, care must be taken when varying the potentials of such lighter structures as the currents can cause local heating and melting of the very thin membranes. Lastly, a preliminary analysis is performed to study rough order of magnitude power requirements for using EIMS for radiation shielding. The EIMS power requirement becomes increasingly more challenging as the spacecraft voltage is increased. As a result, the emphasis is on the deflection of charges away from the spacecraft rather than totally stopping them. This significantly alleviates the initial power requirements. With modest technological development(s) active shielding is emerging to be a viable option.

Radiation↗
NASA NTRS1994

Design considerations for a Space Station radiation shield for protection from both man-made and natural sources

This study was conducted to analyze scenarios involving the use of nuclear-power vehicles in the vicinity of a manned Space Station (SS) in low-earth-orbit (LEO) to quantify their radiological impact to the station crew. In limiting the radiant dose to crew members, mission planners may (1) shut the reactor down prior to reentry, (2) position the vehicle at a prescribed parking distance, and (3) deploy radiation shield about the shutdown reactor. The current report focuses on the third option in which point-kernel gamma-ray shielding calculations were performed for a variety of shield configurations for both nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) and nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) vehicles. For a returning NTR vehicle, calculations indicate that a 14.9 MT shield would be needed to limit the integrated crew exposure to no more than 0.05 Sv over a period of six months (25 percent of the allowable exposure to man-made radiation sources). During periods of low vehicular activity in LEO, the shield may be redeployed about the SS habitation module in order to decrease crew exposures to trapped proton radiations by approximately a factor of 10. The corresponding shield mass required for deployment at a returning NEP vehicle is 2.21 MT. Additional scenarios examined include the radioactivation of various metals as might be found in tools used in EVA activities.

Bolch, Wesley E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Conceptual design of a fleet of autonomous regolith throwing devices for radiation shielding of lunar habitats

This report presents refinements in two areas of the initial design presented in the report entitled 'Conceptual Design of a Fleet of Autonomous Regolith Throwing Devices for Radiation Shielding of Lunar Habitats'. The first section presents an evaluation of the critical areas of the design and presents alternative solutions for these areas. The areas for design refinement are the traction required by the device and the stability of the device when throwing regolith. Several alternative methods are presented to solve these problems. First, the issue of required traction is covered. Next, the design is refined to provide a more stable device. The issue of stability is addressed both by presenting solutions for the configuration chosen for the computer simulation and by presenting two more device configurations. The next section presents the selected solutions. To prevent inadequate traction, the depth of dig-per-pass is reduced. A method combining a dynamic counterweight and an outrigger is chosen to provide a stable device.

Armstrong, Karem↗
NASA NTRS2012

Radiation Shielding System Using a Composite of Carbon Nanotubes Loaded with Electropolymers

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) coated with a hydrogen-rich, electrically conducting polymer such as polyethylene, receive and dissipate a portion of incoming radiation pulse energy to electrical signals that are transmitted along the CNT axes, and are received at energy-dissipating terminals. In this innovation, an array of highly aligned nanowires is grown using a strong electric field or another suitable orientation procedure. Polyethylene (PE), polymethymlethacrylate (PMMA), or other electrically conducting polymer is spin-coated onto the SWCNTs with an average thickness of a few hundred nanometers to a few tenths of micrometers to form a PE/SWCNT composite. Alternatively, the polymer is spin-coated onto the nanowire array or an anodized alumina membrane (AAM) to form a PE/metal core shell structure, or PE can be electropolymerized using the SWCNTs or the metal nanowires as an electrode to form a PE/SWCNT core shell structure. The core shell structures can be extruded as anisotropic fibers. A monomer can be polymerized in the presence of SWCNTs to form highly cross-linked PE/SWCNT films. Alternatively, Pb colloid solution can be impregnated into a three-dimensional PE/SWCNT nanostructure to form a PW/SWCNT/Pb composite structure. A face-centered cubic (FCC) arrangement provides up to 12 interconnection channels connected to each core, with transverse channel dimensions up to 20 nm, with adequate mechanical compressive strength, and with an associated electrical conductivity of around 3 Seimens/cm for currents ranging from 0.01 to 10 mA. This threedimensional nanostructure is used as a host material to house appropriate radiation shielding material such as hydrogen- rich polymer/CNT structures, metal nanoparticles, and nanowires. Thicknesses of this material required to attenuate 10 percent, 50 percent, and 90 percent of an incident beam (gamma, X-ray, ultraviolet, neutron, proton, and electron) at energies in the range of 0 440 MeV are being determined, for example, by measuring fluence rate reduction. For example, a radiation field arrives first at an exposed surface of the innovation and produces an associated first electric field within the metal-like fingers of the three-dimensional nanostructure. This field is intensified near the exposed tips of the fingers, and this intensified field generates an intensified second electric field near the adjacent exposed tips of the coated CNSs. This generates an associated electrical current in the CNSs, and the associated electropolymer coating. The current is received by the second substrate transport component and is transported to the dissipation mechanism located contiguously to the second substrate.

McKay, Chris↗
NASA NTRS1975

Weight optimization methods in space radiation shield design

An empirical relation between proton range and material density is used to examine relations between shield weight, geometry, and material composition for shielding against a space proton environment. The optimum material resulting in minimum shield weight usually lies at the extremes of either the lightest or heaviest materials. Aluminum, which has special prominence in the space program, appears universally suboptimal as a radiation shielding material. Assuming square-box geometry (rectangular prisms with two square faces), the optimum shape for the shielded objects is found to be a cube, although moderate deviations from a cube result in only a small weight penalty.

Wilson, J. W.↗