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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Scintillator Library

This website provides measured scintillation properties of many inorganic and organic materials and citations to published papers in which the original measurements were reported. It is intended for two main uses: a web-accessible reference to useful scintillation detector materials and properties; an aid in developing fundamental theories or empirical relations between basic material properties and scintillation performance. To this end, both strong and weak scintillators have been included as well as those where sensitive measurements have not detected any scintillation emissions.

Shook, L. [University of California, Berkeley, CA ↗
NASA NTRS2026

Impacts of Reduced Pressure Atmospheres on Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) Architectures

The study found that while nine subsystems are viable without modification at 10.2 psia, only three remain acceptable at 8.2 psia. Material flammability presents the most critical hurdle in the 8.2 psia/34-40% O 2 environment, where 70% of the assessed subsystems will require material replacements, many of which have yet to be developed. Ultimately, adapting ISS heritage hardware to these exploration conditions will introduce varied mass, power (e.g., increased fan speeds), and significant schedule impacts driven by the need for extensive testing, redesign, and recertification. The report concludes with specific recommendations for targeted analysis and testing to quantify these impacts and guide necessary design modifications.

Environmental Control and Life Support Systems↗
DOE OSTI2026

BISON analyses of TRISO fuel performance, its dependence on time-at-temperature, and possible implications for fuel design and qualification

The Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development and Qualification (AGR) program has established a substantial technical foundation to support private entry into the U.S. high-temperature gas-cooled reactor market. However, emerging tristructural isotropic (TRISO)-fueled reactor applications include small modular reactors and microreactors with longer fuel residence times, which may expose fuels to higher time-at-temperature (TAT) values than were explored by the AGR program. Increased TAT could affect diffusive and thermomechanical behaviors such as Pd penetration, fission gas release, creep, and fission product transport. In this work, we applied multiscale best-estimate BISON fuel performance modeling to assess these effects within a representative design space based on the AGR-5/6/7 experiment and analyzed trends in predicted particle and compact fuel performance metrics with possible implications for near-term fuel design and qualification. BISON unambiguously predicted that TRISO fuel performance is sensitive to TAT. Increasing TAT was not predicted to increase the magnitude of failure-inducing tangential stresses in particle coating layers. Predictions obtained using a mechanistic model for Pd penetration indicated that penetration depth does not depend strongly on TAT. While these observations suggest that AGR testing provides a conservative upper bound for the steady-state operation of TRISO particles at lower powers and higher residence times, BISON also predicted that the release of poorly retained Ag would increase with TAT. Because these analyses applied models to extrapolate beyond the available experimental data, the authors recommend performing targeted experiments to confirm these predictions. Nevertheless, these predictions may provide reactor developers with enough confidence to make near-term design decisions associated with the potential fuel performance trade-offs of increasing TAT.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Photoelectrochemical materials for solar energy conversion

Research and development on semiconductors for applications in solar energy conversion has witnessed rapid growth over the past several decades. With the aim of producing chemical fuels from sunlight, intense research efforts have focused on the discovery of semiconductors with crystalline structures and chemical compositions that have the potential to satisfy the complex set of required photoelectrochemical properties. This chapter focuses on the foundational structure-property relationships of selected oxide and nitride semiconductors relevant to their uses as n-/p-type photoelectrodes and as photocatalysts. Their solid-state structures and compositions are described, with a special emphasis on strategies proven effective at targeting suitable band gaps with strong visible-light absorption, efficient charge separation and diffusion of charge carriers, and optimal band edge energies for driving surface redox reactions for water splitting.

O’Donnell, Shaun↗
DOE OSTI2026

SAVY-4000 Finite-Element Drop Test Analysis

PFE Auxiliary Systems conducted drop testing on SAVY-4000 containers to evaluate structural response under 12-foot drop conditions. In support of that effort, a finite-element modeling capability was developed to simulate drop response across multiple container sizes and impact orientations. The purpose of this work was to provide a consistent analysis framework that could support interpretation of testing, compare response trends across multiple configurations, and generate quantities of interest for later comparison with experimental data. More broadly, the analysis and testing were intended to assess whether the containers continued to perform their primary function after a 12-foot drop, namely maintaining structural integrity and containment of the contents. The modeling approach combined an implicit preload analysis with an explicit drop simulation so that each drop event began from a mechanically realistic assembled condition, including compression of the silicone O-ring. Separate models were developed for 2-quart, 5-quart, 12-quart, and 10-gallon containers. The results were evaluated in terms of strain-gauge response, collar-lid gap behavior, and accumulated plastic strain. In addition, parametric studies were performed on the 2-quart container to assess sensitivity to O-ring stiffness, friction, canister thickness, geometry tolerance, and mesh density. The simulations showed that predicted drop responses depended strongly on both container size and drop orientation. Gap metrics identified cases in which the predicted collar-lid opening exceeded the nominal O-ring cross-section threshold, while plastic strain metrics identified localized regions of elevated permanent deformation. Parametric studies showed that the predicted response was especially sensitive to the assumed O-ring stiffness and contact friction, while the geometry tolerance study produced smaller changes in the cases examined. The main value of this work was that it established a repeatable modeling and simulation workflow to support drop-test implementation, evaluate effects of future configuration changes, and understand modeling assumptions that most influenced predicted response. At the current stage, the results were viewed as preliminary model predictions rather than validated predictions. The next step would be to compare drop-test data to the model so that predictive values of the workflow could be refined and used with greater confidence to assess whether the containers maintained structural integrity and containment of the contents after a 12-foot drop.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Tunable high Néel temperature and large anomalous Hall response in antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Mn 3 Sn 1− x Ga x thin films

Antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetals based on Mn 3 X(X = Ge, Sn, Ga) kagome compounds exhibit the same ferromagnetic-like responses, including anomalous Hall, Nernst, and magneto-optical effects, as recently discussed for altermagnets. Driven by the Berry curvature due to Weyl fermions, these materials show a disproportionately large magnitude of electromagnetic effects even in the absence of large magnetization. For applications it is crucial to realize these responses in a wide range of temperatures both below and above 300 K. While stoichiometric Mn 3 X materials do not offer optimal performance, we show that Mn 3 Sn 1−x Ga x sputtered films with a variable composition offers a tunable Néel temperature, T N ≈ 425 ± 6–500 ± 15 K, which is crucial for device applications, together with a large tunable anomalous Hall effect. Our thin film growth method enables continuous and precise control over the film composition between x = 0 and x = 1. Through a detailed magnetization and Hall transport, we establish the magnetic phase diagram for the hexagonal Mn 3 Sn 1−x Ga x . Our results reveal an enhanced T N and antichiral magnetic phase in Ga-doped Mn 3 Sn and an enhanced anomalous Hall magnitude in Sn-doped Mn 3 Ga compared to their stoichiometric undoped forms. Our work demonstrates a route to optimize the technologically relevant antiferromagnets for various applications.

Magnetic properties and materials↗
NASA NTRS1993

Failure Modes of Reduced-Order Orbit Determination Filters and Their Remedies

Ways in which failure can occur in reduced-order, orbit determination filter, error covariance calculations are discussed. In the context of this article, reduced-order filters denote nonoptimal filters which include fixed levels of uncertainty in some parameters of the measurement models or in the spacecraft dynamical model which are not explicitly estimated in the filter equations. Failure is defined as an increase in the orbit determination covariance with the addition of data or as an unreasonable growth in the covariance with time, i.e., nonasymptotic behavior of the covariance. Some simple, known cases of failure are discussed along with their traditional remedies. In addition, more modern remedies are discussed which are currently under development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The article first describes the known problems of reduced-order filters when they are employed for orbit determination, and their traditional remedies. Then, having defined these, the relevancy and desirability of the more modern remedies are made apparent.

D J Scheeres↗
DOE OSTI2024

WRF-Comfort: simulating microscale variability in outdoor heat stress at the city scale with a mesoscale model

Abstract. Urban overheating and its ongoing exacerbation due to global warming and urban development lead to increased exposure to urban heat and increased thermal discomfort and heat stress. To quantify thermal stress, specific indices have been proposed that depend on air temperature, mean radiant temperature (MRT), wind speed, and relative humidity. While temperature and humidity vary on scales of hundreds of meters, MRT and wind speed are strongly affected by individual buildings and trees and vary on the meter scale. Therefore, most numerical thermal comfort studies apply microscale models to limited spatial domains (commonly representing urban neighborhoods with building blocks) with resolutions on the order of 1 m and a few hours of simulation. This prevents the analysis of the impact of city-scale adaptation and/or mitigation strategies on thermal stress and comfort. To solve this problem, we develop a methodology to estimate thermal stress indicators and their subgrid variability in mesoscale models – here applied to the multilayer urban canopy parameterization BEP-BEM within the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The new scheme (consisting of three main steps) can readily assess intra-neighborhood-scale heat stress distributions across whole cities and for timescales of minutes to years. The first key component of the approach is the estimation of MRT in several locations within streets for different street orientations. Second, mean wind speed and its subgrid variability are downscaled as a function of the local urban morphology based on relations derived from a set of microscale LES and RANS simulations across a wide range of realistic and idealized urban morphologies. Lastly, we compute the distributions of two thermal stress indices for each grid square, combining all the subgrid values of MRT, wind speed, air temperature, and absolute humidity. From these distributions, we quantify the high and low tails of the heat stress distribution in each grid square across the city, representing the thermal diversity experienced in street canyons. In this contribution, we present the core methodology as well as simulation results for Madrid (Spain), which illustrate strong differences between heat stress indices and common heat metrics like air or surface temperature both across the city and over the diurnal cycle.

Geology↗
DOE OSTI2026

Two-mode bosonic quoctit for high energy physics

In this work, we study a two-mode bosonic encoding of a quoctit inside a non-Abelian group-structured constellation of coherent states. This work is motivated by the importance of non-Abelian symmetry in particle physics and the desire to have transversal non-Abelian logical gates. We use the previously developed 2 T constellation of states used to encode a so-called 2 T qutrit. The fidelity of the 2 T quoctit is benchmarked against other bosonic qudits for different noise models and find it compare favorably when power constraints are considered. This paves the way for the construction of higher-dimensional qudits (e.g., a quicosotetrit with 2 T group structure) in bosonic systems with practical applications in quantum simulations of particle physics.

Kürkçüoglu, Doga Murat [Fermilab] (ORCID:000000031↗
NASA NTRS2025

Metallurgical and Thermal Properties of 57Ni-40Ti-3Hf (wt%)

Selected properties of 57Ni-40Ti-3Hf (wt%) were measured to further develop this material for use in aerospace rolling-element bearings. The average grain size and microindentation hardness of the material at room temperature were 90 μm and 549 HV, respectively. From room temperature to 500 °C, electrical resistivity increased from 8.9×10–7 to 11.3×10–7 Ω⋅m, thermal expansion coefficients varied from 1.1×10–5 to 1.2×10–5 mm/mm⋅°C, specific heat increased from 0.44 to 0.53 W⋅sec/g⋅K, thermal diffusivity rose from approximately 0.003 to 0.005 cm2/sec and thermal conductivity increased from approximately 0.09 to 0.19 W/cm⋅K. The behavior of the material can be explained by well-known metallurgical theory. These results are expected to provide a basis for design and modeling of future aerospace components.

rule of mixtures↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Carbon Fiber Composite Processing Using Isothermal Resins

To meet future demand for single-aisle composite aircraft production, manufacturing rates are expected to increase by up to six times current production rates. Resin infusion is a manufacturing method that has potential to enable fabrication of structures at the desired rates. However, production cycle times with currently available commercial infusion resins cannot support the rates needed for an estimated 80 aircraft per month. Recently, rapid-curing isothermal resins were developed that can reduce the overall processing time. These resins can be infused, cured, and demolded at a single temperature below 100 °C, thereby eliminating the need for time consuming temperature ramps and shortening the overall cure time. In addition, the low temperatures enable use of low-cost tooling during production. This presentation will discuss the use of resin transfer molding to produce composites with rapid-curing isothermal resins, manufacturing considerations, and performance characteristics of the composites.

John M Gardner↗
NASA NTRS2026

Investigation of Bipropellant Plume-Induced Contamination Effects on Coverglass Materials

Contamination and degradation of external spacecraft materials by unburned and partially combusted species from bipropellant thruster plumes has long been observed as a key component of the induced space environment. Space shuttle flight experiments and returned flight hardware from the International Space Station (ISS) have both experienced microscopic impact features induced by high-velocity thruster plume droplets. Analytical results have shown that droplet impingement angle relative to a receiving surface plays a key role in the surface damage. Although impacts with normal impingement angles contribute more severely to surface degradation than highly oblique angles, surface effects at higher impingement angles should not be dismissed. Thruster plume-induced materials degradation is a complex phenomenon that depends on a variety of parameters, including but not limited to material type, system temperature and pressure, plume composition, and thruster firing specifications such as number of pulses, pulse duration, and sample distance from the thruster. For space applications, attaining the vacuum pressure and temperature conditions necessary for flight-like plume expansion and exposure conditions is not a trivial task. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR) is a facility uniquely capable of simulating such conditions. Test coupons were exposed to bipropellant thruster firings under high vacuum at the DLR facility. Percent area coverage (PAC) and droplet size distributions were evaluated for the uncoated and coated solar array coverglass materials over a range of impingement angles (0̊ to 75̊). A post-test imaging workflow was developed that aimed to quantify changes in sample surface morphology obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images using the Image Processing and Analysis in Java (ImageJ) tool; an opensource image processing software. The goal was to create a framework through which to evaluate the effect of bipropellant-induced PAC and droplet size distribution on solar array coverglass optical transmission losses. Understanding this relationship is important because optical transmission losses are known to lead to current reduction in solar power generation systems. In addition to the development of surface characterization workflows, valuable lessons learned as they pertain to future investigations and experiments will be discussed. The authors hope that sharing these lessons will facilitate more utilization of DLR’s unique capabilities as well as open the conversation for how best to address experimental characterization of flight-like plume expansion and its impacts on materials surface degradation effects.

Gateway↗
NASA NTRS2017

International Space Station Lithium-Ion Battery Start-Up and Cycling

The International Space Station (ISS) primary Electric Power System (EPS) was originally designed to use Nickel-Hydrogen (Ni-H2) batteries to store electrical energy. The electricity for the ISS is generated by its solar arrays, which charge batteries during insolation for subsequent discharge during eclipse. The Ni-H2 batteries were designed to operate at a 35 depth of discharge (DOD) maximum during normal operation in a Low Earth Orbit. In 2010, the ISS Program began the development of Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries to replace Ni-H2 batteries approaching the end of their useful life and concurrently funded a Li-Ion ORU (Orbital Replacement Unit) and cell life testing project. The first set of 6 Li-ion battery replacements was launched in December 2016 and deployed in January 2017. This paper will discuss the Li-ion battery on-orbit cycling and the status of the Li-Ion cell and ORU life cycle testing.

International Space Station↗
DOE OSTI2024

Converting Second‐Order Saddle Points to Transition States: New Principles for the Design of 4π Photoswitches

Abstract Molecular photoswitches have demonstrated potential for storing solar energy at the molecular level, with power densities comparable to commercial batteries and hydroelectric energy storage. However, development of efficient photoswitches is hindered by limitations in cyclability and optical properties of existing materials. We here demonstrate that certain limitations in photoswitches based on electrocyclizations stem from the issue of controlling competition between Woodward‐Hoffmann allowed and forbidden pathways. Our approach moves beyond the traditional view of activation barriers and reveals that second‐order saddle points are crucial in dictating the competition between disrotatory and conrotatory pathways. These insights suggest new opportunities to manipulate the competition between these pathways through geometric constraints, fundamentally altering the connectivity of the potential energy surface. Our study also emphasizes the necessity of multi‐reference methods and the need to conduct higher‐dimensional explorations for competing pathways beyond photoswitch design.

Chemistry↗
NASA NTRS1964

Thermal Design

An essential phase of the Explorer XIII development was a thermal study and design to provide an acceptable temperature environment for the electronics components and external surfaces of the satellite during ascent and in orbit. It was necessary to establish by preflight analysis and tests that tolerable temperatures could be maintained in three regimes of flight. In the first regime (from launch until release of the heat shield) the satellite was subjected to radiative and conductive heat from the shield. In the second regime, after release of the shield at 350,000 feet, the satellite was heated by free molecular flow. In the third regime - the orbit phase - it was necessary that temperatures within limits for a 1-year lifetime be established. In addition to these three regimes, a study was made to investigate the effect of elevated rocket-motor temperatures during launch and after burnout. This chapter will deal with some pertinent preflight estimates and correlation of these estimates with flight data.

Explorer XIII Satellite↗
NASA NTRS2016

NASA Alternative Orion Small Cell Battery Design Support

The NASA Orion Crew Module Reference Design was produced to address large scale thermal runaway (TR) hazard with specific safety controls for the Orion Spacecraft. The design presented provides the description of a full scale battery design reference for implementation as a drop in replacement to meet all spacecraft energy requirements with compatible 120 Vdc electrical and mechanical interface using small cell technology (18650) packaging. The 32V SuperBrick incorporates unique support features and an electrical bus bar arrangement that allows cells negative can insertion into heat sink that is compressively coupled to the battery enclosure to promote good thermal management. The housing design also provides an internal flame suppression "filter tray" and positive venting path internal to the enclosure to allow hot effluent ejecta to escape in the event of single cell TR. Virtual cells (14P Banks) that are supported to provide cell spacing with interstitial materials to prevent side can failures that can produce cell to cell TR propagation. These features were successfully test in four separate TR run with the full scale DTA1 test article in February 2016. Successfully Completed Test Objectives - Four separate TR test runs with Full-Scale DTA1 housing with Two SuperBricks, Two SuperBrick Emulators All Tests resulted in "clean" gas with less than 6 C rise at Battery vent All Tests resulted in less than 2 C temperature rise on cold-plate outlet All Tests resulted in less than 6 psi pressure rise in the battery housing Test Run 1 -One neighbor cell TR, highest remaining neighbor 139 C. Ejecta shorted to bus caused prolonged additional heating, One shorted cell did experience TR after 12 minutes, remaining cells had adequate thermal margin Test Run 2 - No cell to cell propagation, highest neighbor cell 112 C; Test Run 3 - No cell to cell propagation, highest neighbor cell 96 C; Test Run 4 - No cell to cell propagation, highest neighbor cell 101 C; Primary TR testing and analysis were completed and reviewed for endorsement by NASA Engineering and Safety Center team members. All Key Test Objectives were met and the small cell design alternative was demonstrated and selected to be a feasible drop in replacement for the MPCV Orion CM Battery for EM2 mission.

Haynes, Chuck↗
DOE OSTI2026

Resources for E-Mobility Program Implementation [Slides]

The Energy to Communities (E2C) peer-learning cohort program provides technical assistance to groups of 15 community entities around a common energy topic over the course of 6 months. Every month, participants join a virtual meeting where they hear from experts and exchange strategies and best practices with their peers. This cohort, "Successful Energy Project Implementation" will explore common challenges in implementing energy projects and learn strategies to turn project plans into reality. Each participant will focus on a local energy project or priority as a cornerstone for their learning throughout the series.This presentation overviews the basics of developing electric mobility projects with emphasis on leveraging the right tools to advance technical scoping and program design.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Multifaceted Considerations for Fission Surface Power Radiation Shielding Design

The purpose of the Fission Surface Power (FSP) nuclear system is to provide energy on the Moon and Mars for supporting their exploration and colonization. The FSP design and deployment can leverage the past research and development work in areas, such as reactor design, but such crucial components as radiation shielding and instrumentation still need material and manufacturing studies, modeling, and testing. The shielding components are needed for the protection of humans, electronics, and sensitive components. They are essential system components, but they are often the heaviest components of the system for which each kilogram matters. Different material combinations and layouts are possible. The studies presented were focused on the evaluation of several options. The initial analysis included their performance assessment, initial temperature distribution evaluation and manufacturability considerations. Several feasible shield design options were identified and discussed in this paper, as well.

Fission Surface Power↗