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At least 127 records · Page 7

Systems Integration, Analysis and Modeling Support to the HEDS Technology/Commercialization Initiative (HTCI)

In response to a recommendation from OMB, NASA's Fiscal Year 2001 budget included a new program within the HEDS (Human Exploration and Development of Space) Enterprise called HEDS Technology/ Commercialization Initiative (HTCI). HTCI had three overarching goals: to support REDS analysis and planning for safe, affordable and effective future programs and projects that advance human exploration, scientific discovery, and the commercial development of space; to pursue research, development, and validation of breakthrough technologies and highly innovative systems concepts; and to advance die creation of strong partnerships within NASA, with U.S. industry and universities, and internationally. As part of its contracted effort, SAIC was to write a report contribution, describing die results of its task activities, to a final HTCI report prepared by MSFC. Unfortunately, government cancellation of the HTCI program in the summer of 2001 curtailed all efforts on the program including die Final HTCI report. In the absence of that report, SAIC has issued this final report in an attempt to document some of the technical material it produced. The report contains SAIC presentations for both HTCI workshops; a set of roadmap charts for the Systems Analysis, Integration and Modeling; and charts showing the evolution of the current TITAN modeling architecture.

Feingold, Harvey↗

Initiating the 2002 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Technology Program

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Project is an aggressive mission launching in 2009 to investigate the Martian environment and requires new capabilities that are currently are not available. The MSL Technology Program is developing a wide-range of technologies needed for this Mission and potentially other space missions. The MSL Technology Program reports to both the MSL Project and the Mars Technology Program (MTP). The dual reporting process creates a challenging management situation, but ensures the new technology meets both the specific MSL requirements and the broader Mars Program requirements. MTP is a NASA-wide technology development program managed by JPL and is divided into a Focused Program and a Base Program. The MSL Technology Program is under the focused program and is tightly coupled to MSL's mission milestones and deliverables. The technology budget is separate from the flight Project budget, but the technology's requirements and the development process are tightly coordinated with the Project. The MSL Technology Program combines the proven management techniques of flight projects with the commercial technology management strategies of industry and academia, to create a technology management program that meets the short-term requirements of MSL and the long-term requirements of MTP. This paper examines the initiation of 2002 MSL Technology program. Some of the areas discussed in this paper include technology definition, task selection, technology management, and technology assessment. This paper also provides an update of the 2003 MSL technology program and examines some of the drivers that changed the program from its initiation.

Caffrey, Robert T.↗

XML: James Webb Space Telescope Database Issues, Lessons, and Status

This paper will present the current concept using extensible Markup Language (XML) as the underlying structure for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) database. The purpose of using XML is to provide a JWST database, independent of any portion of the ground system, yet still compatible with the various systems using a variety of different structures. The testing of the JWST Flight Software (FSW) started in 2002, yet the launch is scheduled for 2011 with a planned 5-year mission and a 5-year follow on option. The initial database and ground system elements, including the commands, telemetry, and ground system tools will be used for 19 years, plus post mission activities. During the Integration and Test (I&T) phases of the JWST development, 24 distinct laboratories, each geographically dispersed, will have local database tools with an XML database. Each of these laboratories database tools will be used for the exporting and importing of data both locally and to a central database system, inputting data to the database certification process, and providing various reports. A centralized certified database repository will be maintained by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. One of the challenges for the database is to be flexible enough to allow for the upgrade, addition or changing of individual items without effecting the entire ground system. Also, using XML should allow for the altering of the import and export formats needed by the various elements, tracking the verification/validation of each database item, allow many organizations to provide database inputs, and the merging of the many existing database processes into one central database structure throughout the JWST program. Many National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) projects have attempted to take advantage of open source and commercial technology. Often this causes a greater reliance on the use of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS), which is often limiting. In our review of the database requirements and the COTS software available, only very expensive COTS software will meet 90% of requirements. Even with the high projected initial cost of COTS, the development and support for custom code over the 19-year mission period was forecasted to be higher than the total licensing costs. A group did look at reusing existing database tools and formats. If the JWST database was already in a mature state, the reuse made sense, but with the database still needing to handing the addition of different types of command and telemetry structures, defining new spacecraft systems, accept input and export to systems which has not been defined yet, XML provided the flexibility desired. It remains to be determined whether the XML database will reduce the over all cost for the JWST mission.

Detter, Ryan↗

Risks to the DOW Mission From Global Advanced Energy Adoption

Advanced energy technologies have the potential to enhance energy security and resilience; however, they can introduce new vulnerabilities even as they mitigate existing ones. This dichotomy highlights that both action and inaction carry strategic risks in a contested and logistically complex operating environment. Regardless of U.S. civilian or military adoption of such technologies, key allies and adversaries are on adoption paths that will impact the U.S. military at the tactical, operational, and strategic level. The global adoption of advanced energy technologies presents the potential for both positive and negative consequences for U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) missions in the next 10-20 years. Three categories of risk drivers are presented in this analysis: infrastructure-related, adoption-related, and response-related. Each risk type can generate consequences for DOD, including power disruptions, suboptimal DOD mission performance and operational effectiveness, higher costs and shortages for both legacy and advanced energy technologies, and loss of U.S. influence and strategic deterrent value. Specific impacts could include tactical impacts, operational impacts, and strategic impacts. Mitigation strategies could include energy resource and technology planning, cybersecurity, supply chain resilience, workforce development, exercises and simulations, investments in commercialized technology, operational testing and pilot programs, research into emerging technologies, partnerships and working groups, common standards, budget planning, and repurposing infrastructure.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Ultra Efficient Engine Technology Systems Integration and Environmental Assessment

This study documents the design and analysis of four types of advanced technology commercial transport airplane configurations (small, medium large and very large) with an assumed technology readiness date of 2010. These airplane configurations were used as a platform to evaluate the design concept and installed performance of advanced technology engines being developed under the NASA Ultra Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) program. Upon installation of the UEET engines onto the UEET advanced technology airframes, the small and medium airplanes both achieved an additional 16% increase in fuel efficiency when using GE advanced turbofan engines. The large airplane achieved an 18% increase in fuel efficiency when using the P&W geared fan engine. The very large airplane (i.e. BWB), also using P&W geared fan engines, only achieved an additional 16% that was attributed to a non-optimized airplane/engine combination.

Daggett, David L.↗

Next-Generation NASA Earth-Orbiting Relay Satellites: Fusing Microwave and Optical Communications

NASA is currently considering architectures and concepts for the generation of relay satellites that will replace the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation, which has been flying since 1983. TDRS-M, the last of the second TDRS generation, launched in August 2017, extending the life of the TDRS constellation beyond 2030. However, opportunities exist to re-engineer the concepts of geosynchronous Earth relay satellites. The needs of the relay satellite customers have changed dramatically over the last 34 years since the first TDRS launch. There is a demand for greater bandwidth as the availability of the traditional RF spectrum for space communications diminishes and the demand for ground station access grows. The next generation of NASA relay satellites will provide for operations that have factored in these new constraints. In this paper, we describe a heterogeneous constellation of geosynchronous relay satellites employing optical and RF communications. The new constellation will enable new optical communications services formed by user-to-space relay, space relay-to-space relay and space relay-to-ground links. It will build upon the experience from the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration from 2013 and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration to be launched in 2019.Simultaneous to establishment of the optical communications space segment, spacecraft in the TDRS constellation will be replaced with RF relay satellites with targeted subsets of the TDRS capabilities. This disaggregation of the TDRS service model will allow for flexibility in replenishing the needs of legacy users as well as addition of new capabilities for future users. It will also permit the U.S. government access to launch capabilities such as rideshare and to hosted payloads that were not previously available. In this paper, we also explore how the next generation of Earth relay satellites provides a significant boost in the opportunities for commercial providers to the communications space segment. For optical communications, the backbone of this effort is adoption of commercial technologies from the terrestrial high-bandwidth telecommunications industry into optical payloads. For RF communications, the explosion of software-defined radio, high-speed digital signal processing technologies and networking from areas such as 5G multicarrier will be important. Future commercial providers will not be limited to a small set of large aerospace companies. Ultimately, entirely government-owned and -operated satellite communications will phase out and make way for commercial business models that satisfy NASAs satellite communications requirements. The competition being provided by new entrants in the space communications business may result in a future in which all NASA communications needs can be satisfied commercially.

Space Communications↗

Next-Generation NASA Earth-Orbiting Relay Satellites: Fusing Optical and Microwave Communications

NASA is currently considering architectures and concepts for the generation of relay satellites that will replace the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation, which has been flying since 1983. TDRS-M, the last of the second TDRS generation, launched in August 2017, extending the life of the TDRS constellation beyond 2030. However, opportunities exist to re-engineer the concepts of geosynchronous Earth relay satellites. The needs of the relay satellite customers have changed dramatically over the last 34 years since the first TDRS launch. There is a demand for greater bandwidth as the availability of the traditional RF spectrum for space communications diminishes and the demand for ground station access grows. The next generation of NASA relay satellites will provide for operations that have factored in these new constraints. In this paper, we describe a heterogeneous constellation of geosynchronous relay satellites employing optical and RF communications. The new constellation will enable new optical communications services formed by user-to-space relay, space relay-to-space relay and space relay-to-ground links. It will build upon the experience from the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration from 2013 and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration to be launched in 2019.Simultaneous to establishment of the optical communications space segment, spacecraft in the TDRS constellation will be replaced with RF relay satellites with targeted subsets of the TDRS capabilities. This disaggregation of the TDRS service model will allow for flexibility in replenishing the needs of legacy users as well as addition of new capabilities for future users. It will also permit the U.S. government access to launch capabilities such as rideshare and to hosted payloads that were not previously available.In this paper, we also explore how the next generation of Earth relay satellites provides a significant boost in the opportunities for commercial providers to the communications space segment. For optical communications, the backbone of this effort is adoption of commercial technologies from the terrestrial high-bandwidth telecommunications industry into optical payloads. For RF communications, the explosion of software-defined radio, high-speed digital signal processing technologies and networking from areas such as 5G multicarrier will be important. Future commercial providers will not be limited to a small set of large aerospace companies. Ultimately, entirely government-owned and -operated satellite communications will phase out and make way for commercial business models that satisfy NASA's satellite communications requirements. The competition being provided by new entrants in the space communications business may result in a future in which all NASA communications needs can be satisfied commercially.

Space Communications↗

Commercial Sensor Survey Fiscal Year 2009 master compendium radiation test report

The NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Program Sensor Technology Commercial Sensor Survey task is geared toward benefiting future NASA space missions with low-cost, short-duty-cycle, visible-wavelength imaging needs. Such applications could include imaging for educational outreach purposes or short surveys of spacecraft, planetary, or lunar surfaces. Under the task, inexpensive, low-power, commercial grade CMOS sensors were surveyed in fiscal year 2007 (FY07), and three sensors were selected and tested for total ionizing dose (TID) and displacement damage dose (DDD) tolerance in fiscal year 2008 (FY08). The selected sensors had to meet selection criteria chosen to support small, low-mass cameras that produce good resolution color images. The commercial CMOS sensors tested under the task in FY08 showed very promising response to typical outreach and survey camera TID and DDD levels. In fiscal year 2009 (FY09), the survey was broadened to include two additional, similar sensor products. This compendium provides results for all radiation testing performed on the Micron and OmniVision sensors that were selected for radiation tolerance testing in FY08 and FY09.

Thorbourn, Dennis O.↗

Technology Transfer Report

Since its inception, Goddard has pursued a commitment to technology transfer and commercialization. For every space technology developed, Goddard strives to identify secondary applications. Goddard then provides the technologies, as well as NASA expertise and facilities, to U.S. companies, universities, and government agencies. These efforts are based in Goddard's Technology Commercialization Office. This report presents new technologies, commercialization success stories, and other Technology Commercialization Office activities in 1999.

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Abstract for CRADA between National Energy Technology Laboratory and Carbon To Stone, Inc.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Carbon To Stone (CTS), Inc. (Participant) will collaborate on a techno-economic assessment (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) of CTS’s carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology under an awarded project from the Department of Energy’s Direct Air Capture Pre-Commercialization Technology Prize. CTS has developed a technological platform that captures carbon dioxide (CO2) from air and mineralizes it into durable carbonates using alkaline industrial residues such as steel slag and mine tailings. In addition, CTS’s technology uses electrochemistry to recover value-added energy critical metals (ECMs) from these residues. NETL has expertise in CDR TEA and LCA development. The collaboration between CTS and NETL aims to quantify the performance, cost and lifecycle impacts of CTS’s technology and produce LCA and TEA models that can accelerate development and deployment of this technology.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Bantam System Technology Project Ground System Operations Concept and Plan

The Low Cost Booster Technology Program, also known as the Bantam Booster program, is a NASA sponsored initiative to establish a viable commercial technology to support the market for placing small payloads in low earth orbit. This market is currently served by large boosters which orbit a number of small payloads on a single launch vehicle, or by these payloads taking up available space on major commercial launches. Even by sharing launch costs, the minimum cost to launch one of these small satellites is in the 6 to 8 million dollar range. Additionally, there is a shortage of available launch opportunities which can be shared in this manner. The goal of the Bantam program is to develop two competing launch vehicles, with launch costs in the neighborhood of 1.5 million dollars to launch a 150 kg payload into low earth orbit (200 nautical mile sun synchronous). Not only could the cost of the launch be significantly less than the current situation, but the payload sponsor could expect better service for his expenditure, the ability to specify his own orbit, and a dedicated vehicle. By developing two distinct launch vehicles, market forces are expected to aid in keeping customer costs low.

Moon, Jesse M.↗

Composite Sorbents: Enabling Economical Biomethane Production (CRADA Final Report)

The research performed under this CRADA enhanced the understanding of the performance of LLNL’s composite sorbent technology in the presence of raw biogas with H 2 S contamination, the long-term CO 2 removal performance stability of the composite sorbent in simulated biogas, and highlighted some of the challenges to overcome for further scale-up of material production and system design for deployment. Further development of the technology is of benefit to the public by enabling biogas upgrading from small sources for which existing commercial technologies are not suited, providing additional sources of renewable natural gas and diversifying our energy supply.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Energy I-Corps Annual Report 2025

Energy I-Corps is an initiative of the Department of Energy's Office of Technology Commercialization. The focus of this 2-month program is to train National Laboratory researchers in evaluating industry needs and potential market applications for their DOE technologies. This year's annual report details the accomplishments, activities, and finances of Energy I-Corps' 2025 fiscal year programming.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Mid-Atlantic Technology Applications Center

Mid-atlantic Technology Application Center (MTAC) pursued a number of initiatives designed to enhance the strategic position of the Langley Research Center (LaRC) and NASA in industry. Among these was a closer association with the ISA, International Society for Measurement and Control. During 1997, MTAC placed articles regarding NASA-developed technologies in each In Tech magazine. The monthly magazine is sent to 46,000 sensors and instrumentation professionals. In addition, MTAC coordinated NASXs participation in the ISA Tech 97 Conference, securing $112,000 of free exhibit space, 1500 NASA sensors posters at no cost to NASA, and thousands of dollars of free publicity. MTAC was awarded a contract by ISA to operate its Technical Resource Center (TRC). The goal of this project is to determine what user needs are in order to identify opportunities for collaboration between NASA centers and companies. In addition, the TRC work will lay the groundwork for the Technology Development Consortium (TDC) proposed by MTAC. The purpose of the TDC is to: match current industry needs with NASA technologies available now, and to identify future needs of NASA and industry which may lead to dual use projects. The goal of these activities is twofold: to infuse NASA technologies into the sensors and instrumentation industry and to secure industry funds to support NASA technology development projects. The instrumentation and sensors industry is valued at $30 billion worldwide, with $12 billion in sales in the United States. The growth rate averages 13.5%, so that by the year 2000, the industry will produce products worth $49 billion. More than 80% of instruments, sensors and control systems are currently manufactured in the United States. NASA and the industry do not have a history of collaborative projects; MTAC's initiatives in this area are designed to foster working relationships between the two parties that will help maintain U.S. leadership in this field. Mid-atlantic Technology Applications Center (MTAC) continued to work on LaRC-SI and Thin Layer Unimorph Driver and Sensor activities. MTAC helped develop the "master license" concept and identified additional applications and potential clients. The goal of these activities was to increase the financial return to Langley Research Center, to ensure the diffusion of the technologies throughout the economy, and to attract partners for future NASA technology development efforts. In an attempt to market LaRC-SI and the Thin Layer Unimorph Driver and Sensor, MTAC developed and pioneered the use of the USRTTC Technology Commercialization Team. As a result, MTAC's sister RTTCs identified both applications and potential users for the two technologies. MTAC also benefitted from its affiliate network to locate companies throughout the region that were interested in the two technologies. MTAC is working with Allegheny Ludlum to monitor the progress of the installation and testing of ultrasonic equipment purchased as a result of Langley Research Center's assistance.

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Advanced Environmental Monitoring Technologies

Viewgraphs on Advanced Environmental Monitoring Technologies are presented. The topics include: 1) Monitoring & Controlling the Environment; 2) Illustrative Example: Canary 3) Ground-based Commercial Technology; 4) High Capability & Low Mass/Power + Autonomy = Key to Future SpaceFlight; 5) Current Practice: in Flight; 6) Current Practice: Post Flight; 7) Miniature Mass Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration and Long Duration Human Flight; 8) Hardware and Data Acquisition System; 9) 16S rDNA Phylogenetic Tree; and 10) Preview of Porter.

Jan, Darrell↗

Space Flight LiDARs, Navigation & Science Instrument Implementations: Lasers, Optoelectronics, Integrated Photonics, Fiber Optic Subsystems and Components

For the past 25 years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center's Photonics Group in the Engineering Directorate has been substantially contributing to the flight design, development, production, testing and integration of many science and navigational instruments. The Moon to Mars initiative will rely heavily upon utilizing commercial technologies for instrumentation with aggressive schedule deadlines. The group has an extensive background in screening, qualifying, development and integration of commercial components for spaceflight applications. By remaining adaptable and employing a rigorous approach to component and instrument development, they have forged and fostered relationships with industry partners. They have been willing to communicate lessons learned in packaging, part construction, materials selection, testing, and other facets of the design and production process critical to implementation for high-reliability systems. As a result, this successful collaboration with industry vendors and component suppliers has enabled a history of mission success from the Moon to Mars (and beyond) while balancing cost, schedule, and risk postures. In cases where no commercial components exist, the group works closely with other teams at Goddard Space Flight Center and other NASA field centers to fabricate and produce flight hardware for science, remote sensing, and navigation applications. Summarized here is the last ten years of instrumentation development lessons learned and data collected from the subsystems down to the optoelectronic component level.

Detectors↗

Moving Technologies from the Test Tube to Commercial Products

Successful technologies include objects, processes, and procedures that share a common theme; they are being used to generate new products that create economic growth. The foundation is the invention, but the invention is a small part of the overall effort. The pathway to success is understanding the competition, proper planning, record keeping, integrating a supply chain, understanding actual costs, intellectual property (IP), benchmarking, and timing. Additionally, there are obstacles that include financing, what to make, buy, and sell, and the division of labor i.e. recognizing who is best at what task. Over the past two decades, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) has developed several commercially available technologies. The approach to commercialization of three of these inventions; Langley Research Center-Soluble Imide (LaRC-SI, Imitec Inc.), the Thin Layer Unimorph Driver (THUNDER, FACE International), and the Macrofiber Composite (MFC, Smart Material Corp.) will be described, as well as some of the lessons learned from the process. What makes these three inventions interesting is that one was created in the laboratory; another was built using the previous invention as part of its process, and the last one was created by packaging commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) materials thereby creating a new component.

Bryant, Robert G.↗

Planning for "What If" Scenarios

Interval Logic Corporation is a graduate of the Ames Technology Commercialization Center (Ames Research Center's business incubator). The founders are the developers of the Spike Scheduling system, the most successful scheduling technology ever developed for NASA. This software was used to double the operational efficiency of the Hubble Space Telescope. Today the software is called Leverage and used to optimize all levels of semiconductor manufacturing.

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