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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 145 records · Page 8

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NASA NTRS1989

An experimental investigation of multi-element airfoil ice accretion and resulting performance degradation

An investigation of the ice accretion pattern and performance characteristics of a multi-element airfoil was undertaken in the NASA Lewis 6- by 9-Foot Icing Research Tunnel. Several configurations of main airfoil, slat, and flaps were employed to examine the effects of ice accretion and provide further experimental information for code validation purposes. The text matrix consisted of glaze, rime, and mixed icing conditions. Airflow and icing cloud conditions were set to correspond to those typical of the operating environment anticipated for a commercial transport vehicle. Results obtained included ice profile tracings, photographs of the ice accretions, and force balance measurements obtained both during the accretion process and in a past-accretion evaluation over a range of angles of attack. The tracings and photographs indicated significant accretions on the slat leading edge, in gaps between slat or flaps and the main wing, on the flap leading-edge surfaces, and on flap lower surfaces. Force measurements indicate the possibility of severe performance degradation, especially near C sub Lmax, for both light and heavy ice accretion and performance analysis codes presently in use. The LEWICE code was used to evaluate the ice accretion shape developed during one of the rime ice tests. The actual ice shape was then evaluated, using a Navier-Strokes code, for changes in performance characteristics. These predicted results were compared to the measured results and indicate very good agreement.

Potapczuk, Mark G.↗

NASA NTRS1989

COLD-SAT - An orbital cryogenic hydrogen technology experiment

The COLD-SAT spacecraft will perform subcritical liquid hydrogen storage and transfer experiments under low-gravity conditions to provide engineering data for future space transportation missions. Consisting of an experiment module mated to a spacecraft bus, COLD-SAT will be placed in an initial 460 km circular orbit by an Atlas I commercial launch vehicle. After deployment, the three-axis-controlled spacecraft bus will provide electric power, experiment control and data management, communications, and attitude control along with propulsive acceleration levels ranging from 10 (-6) to 10(-4) g. These accelerations are an important aspect of some of the experiments, as it is desired to know the effects that low gravity levels might have on the heat and mass transfer processes involved. The experiment module will contain the three liquid hydrogen tanks, valves, pressurization equipment, and instrumentation. At launch all the hydrogen will be in the largest tank, which has helium-purged MLI and is loaded and topped off by the hydrogen tanking system used for the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas. The two smaller tanks will be utilized in orbit for performing some of the experiments. The experiments are grouped into two classes on the basis of their priority, and include six regarded as enabling technology and nine regarded as enhancing technology.

Schuster, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

The COLD-SAT experiment for cryogenic fluid management technology

The COLD-SAT spacecraft design experiments are described. COLD-SAT will be placed into an initial 1300 km circular orbit by an Atlas commercial launch vehicle. Electric power, experiment control and data management, attitude control, and propulsive accelarations for the experiments will be provided by the three-axis-controlled spacecraft bus. To provide data on the effects that low gravity levels might have on the heat and mass transfer processes involved, low levels of accelaration will be created. The COLD-SAT experiment will be configured into a module. The spacecraft experiment module will include three liquid hydrogen tanks; fluid transfer, pressurization and venting equipment; and instrumentation. Since the largest tank has helium-purged MLI to prevent ingress and freezing of air on the launchpad, it will contain all the liquid hydrogen at the point of launching. The hydrogen tanking system used for the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas will load and top off this tank. Atlas, with its liquid hydrogen upper stage, large payload fairing, and large launch margin, simplifies COLD-SAT design and integration.

Schuster, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Study of basic physical processes in liquid and solid rocket propulsion

A process model was developed to assess the suitability of new/modified technologies and subsystems for application to commercial launch vehicles. Suitability is measured in terms of cost, safety, and environmental impact. Cost is related to recurring production and operational cost per flight, amortization of non-recurring development costs, 'effective' cost of difference in payload capability, and the cost of unreliability. The process is also applicable for assessing technologies and subsystems for application to other launch vehicles. The process will enable a comprehensive systems engineering approach to assess the potential of technologies and subsystems for launch vehicle applications and to provide documentation of the results for application to technology planning for the future.

Monroe, Joseph W.↗

NASA NTRS1992

MINOTAUR (Maryland's innovative orbital technologically advanced University rocket)

Over the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in designing small commercial launch vehicles. Some of these designs include OSC's Pegasus, and AMROC's Aquila. Even though these vehicles are very different in their overall design characteristics, they all share a common thread of being expensive to design and manufacture. Each of these vehicles has an estimated production and operations cost of over $15000/kg of payload. In response to this high cost factor, the University of Maryland is developing a cost-effective alternative launch vehicle, Maryland's Innovative Orbital Technologically Advanced University Rocket (MINOTAUR). A preliminary cost analysis projects that MINOTAUR will cost under $10000/kg of payload. MINOTAUR will also serve as an enriching project devoted to an entirely student-designed-and-developed launch vehicle. This preliminary design of MINOTAUR was developed entirely by undergraduates in the University of Maryland's Space Vehicle Design class. At the start of the project, certain requirements and priorities were established as a basis from which to begin the design phase: (1) carry a 100 kg payload into a 200 km circular orbit; (2) provide maximum student involvement in the design, manufacturing, and launch phases of the project; and (3) use hybrid propulsion throughout. The following is the list of the project's design priorities (from highest to lowest): (1) safety, (2) cost, (3) minimum development time, (4) maximum use of the off-the-shelf components, (5) performance, and (6) minimum use of pyrotechnics.

Lewis, Mark J.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Cryogenic On-Orbit Liquid Depot Storage, Acquisition, and Transfer Satellite (COLD-SAT)

The Cryogenic On-Orbit Liquid Depot Storage, Acquisition, and Transfer Satellite (COLD-SAT) will perform subcritical liquid hydrogen handling experiments under low gravity conditions to provide engineering data for future space transportation missions. Comprising the four Class 1 enabling experiments are tank press control, tank chilldown, tank no-vent fill, and liquid acquisition device fill/refill. The nine Class 2 enhancing experiments are tanker thermal performance, pressurization, low-gravity setting and outflow, liquid acquisition device performance, transfer line chilldown, outflow subcooling, low-gravity vented fill, fluid dumping, and advanced instrumentation. Consisting of an experiment module mated to a spacecraft bus, COLD-SAT will be placed in an initial 1300 km circular orbit by an Atlas commercial launch vehicle, and will perform experiments in a semi-autonomous mode for a period of up to six months. The three-axis controlled spacecraft bus provides electric power, control and data management, communications, and attitude control along with propulsive acceleration levels ranging from 10(exp -6) to 10(exp -4) g. It is desired to understand the effects that low acceleration levels might have on the heat and mass transfer processes involved in some of the experiments. The experiment module contains the three liquid hydrogen tanks, valves, pressurization and pumping equipment, and instrumentation. Within the highly insulated tanks are specialized fluid management equipment that might be used in future space transportation systems. At launch all the liquid hydrogen for the experiments is contained in the largest tank, which has helium-purged insulation to prevent cryo-pumping of air on the launch pad. The tank is loaded by the hydrogen tanking system used for the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas. After reaching orbit the two smaller tanks become receivers for fluid transfers, and when tanked, become the vessels for performing many of the experiments.

Schuster, John R.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Manuel Stein's Five Decades of Structural Mechanics Contributions (1944-1988)

Manuel Stein went to work for NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) in 1944 and left in 1988. His research contributions spanned five decades of extremely defining times for the aerospace industry. Problems arising from the analysis and design of efficient thin plate and shell aerospace structures have stimulated research over the past half century. The primary structural technology drivers during Dr. Stein's career included 1940's aluminum aircraft, 1950's jet aircraft, 1960's launch vehicles and advanced spacecraft, 1970's reusable launch vehicles and commercial aircraft, and 1980's composite aircraft. Dr. Stein's research was driven by these areas and he made lasting contributions for each. Dr. Stein's research can be characterized by a judicious mixture of physical insight into the problem, understanding of the basic mechanisms, mathematical modeling of the observed phenomena, and extraordinary analytical and numerical solution methodologies of the resulting mathematical models. This paper summarizes Dr. Stein's life and his contributions to the technical community.

Mikulas, Martin M.↗

NASA NTRS2000

NASA's Integrated Space Transportation Plan

Improvements in the safety, reliability and affordability of current and future space transportation systems must be achieved if NASA is to perform its mission and if the U.S. space industry is to reach its full commercial potential. In response to Presidential Policy in 1994, NASA, working with our industrial partners, initiated several efforts including the X-33, X-34, X-37 and Advanced Space Transportation programs with the goal of demonstrating the technologies that could enable these goals. We have learned that emerging technologies will enable the needed advancements but that more development along multiple, competing paths is needed. We have learned that developing requirements diligently and in partnership with industry will allow us to better converge with commercial capabilities. We have learned that commercial markets are not growing as fast as projected earlier, but there are still possibilities in the near-term to pursue alternate paths that can make access to space more robust. The goal of transitioning NASA's space transportation needs to commercial launch vehicles remains the key aim of our efforts and will require additional investment to reduce business and technical risks to acceptable levels.

Cook, Stephen A.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Space Launch Initiative Propulsion Projects Office Overview Briefing

The goal of this Space Launch Initiative is for NASA to meet its future space flight needs, including human access to space, using commercial launch vehicles that will improve safety and reliability and reduce cost. The topics include: 1) Second Generation RLV Program Overview; 2) Space Launch Initiative (SLI) Investment Areas; 3) SLI Organizational Summary; 4) Propulsion Projects Overview; 5) Current Propulsion Content; and 6) Critical Needs Roadmap. This paper is presented in viewgraph form.

Lyles, Garry↗

NASA NTRS2001

Lightning Detection in a Flash

In a joint project with NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Global Atmospherics, Inc. (GAI), participated in the upgrade and commercialization of the Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) System. Under a Space Act Agreement, GAI and Kennedy agreed to the joint development of a new LDAR system that meets the needs of both NASA and private industry. The resulting development was a volumetric lightning mapping system. NASA operates a three- dimensional LDAR system capable of determining the exact location and altitude of in-cloud and cloud-to-cloud lightning. Under the Space Act Agreement, GAI contributed its wealth of experience and resources to update and improve the current lightning mapping system used by NASA. Previously, commercial systems were only capable of locating cloud-to-ground lightning. The resulting innovations allowed GAI to position the LDAR system for commercial applications. The upgraded product has the ability to measure in-cloud and cloud-to-cloud lightning. Notable improvements have also been made in the system's location accuracy and signal detection. The new product, known as LDAR II, is targeted for use by utility providers, aviation companies, airports, and commercial space vehicle launch facilities. Presently, forecasting services, research facilities, and a utility company are using the system.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2002

Structural Weight Estimation for Launch Vehicles

This paper describes some of the work in progress to develop automated structural weight estimation procedures within the Vehicle Analysis Branch (VAB) of the NASA Langley Research Center. One task of the VAB is to perform system studies at the conceptual and early preliminary design stages on launch vehicles and in-space transportation systems. Some examples of these studies for Earth to Orbit (ETO) systems are the Future Space Transportation System [1], Orbit On Demand Vehicle [2], Venture Star [3], and the Personnel Rescue Vehicle[4]. Structural weight calculation for launch vehicle studies can exist on several levels of fidelity. Typically historically based weight equations are used in a vehicle sizing program. Many of the studies in the vehicle analysis branch have been enhanced in terms of structural weight fraction prediction by utilizing some level of off-line structural analysis to incorporate material property, load intensity, and configuration effects which may not be captured by the historical weight equations. Modification of Mass Estimating Relationships (MER's) to assess design and technology impacts on vehicle performance are necessary to prioritize design and technology development decisions. Modern CAD/CAE software, ever increasing computational power and platform independent computer programming languages such as JAVA provide new means to create greater depth of analysis tools which can be included into the conceptual design phase of launch vehicle development. Commercial framework computing environments provide easy to program techniques which coordinate and implement the flow of data in a distributed heterogeneous computing environment. It is the intent of this paper to present a process in development at NASA LaRC for enhanced structural weight estimation using this state of the art computational power.

Cerro, Jeff↗

NASA NTRS2003

Effects of Impact Damage in Midplane Asymmetric Sandwich Composites

Several structural sandwich composites arc in service on military and commercial aerospace vehicles, however, these components have been limited to secondary structures partly because the impact damage and damage tolerance of these composites have not been extensively characterized. To improve durability, safety, and life cycle performance of PMCs while reducing maintenance costs, combined analysis, and test methods that provide a means of predicting critical engineering properties after impact damage of the structure, must be developed. A key enabling technology here is the establishment of the correlation between the impact test results conducted in the laboratory and the mechanics-based phenomenological solutions. This research was undertaken to investigate the compression and flexural properties following low velocity impact of a nomex/phenolic honeycomb core, fiberglass/epoxy facesheet, midplane asymmetric sandwich composite. One facesheet (thin side) was composed of two plies of the fiberglass/epoxy (0/90), while the other facesheet (thick side) was composed of four plies (0/90/0/90) of fiberglass/epoxy. Due to the differences in facesheet thickness, impact damage was separately induced on the thick side as well as the thin side. The compression and flexural strength properties for each damage arrangement were compared using different levels of impact energy ranging from 0 to 452 Joules. In all cases, higher impact energy resulted in decreased compression and flexural strength. Impact on the thin side showed slightly more retention of compression strength at low impact levels, whereas higher residual compressive strength was observed from impact on the thick side at higher impact levels. Different facesheet thicknesses or midplane asymmetry, played an important role in the flexural strength, however, low velocity impact on the both the thick and thin fiberglass/epoxy facesheet side showed an almost linear loss of flexural strength to saturation.

Meador, Michael↗

NASA NTRS2007

Human Space Exploration: The Moon, Mars, and Beyond

America is returning to the Moon in preparation for the first human footprint on Mars, guided by the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration. This presentation will discuss NASA's mission, the reasons for returning to the Moon and going to Mars, and how NASA will accomplish that mission in ways that promote leadership in space and economic expansion on the new frontier. The primary goals of the Vision for Space Exploration are to finish the International Space Station, retire the Space Shuttle, and build the new spacecraft needed, to return people to the Moon and go to Mars. The Vision commits NASA and the nation to an agenda of exploration that also includes robotic exploration and technology development, while building on lessons learned over 50 years of hard-won experience. Why the Moon? Many questions about the Moon's potential resources and how its history is linked to that of Earth were spurred by the brief Apollo explorations of the 1960s and 1970s. This new venture will carry more explorers to more diverse landing sites with more capable tools and equipment for extended expeditions. The Moon also will serve as a training ground before embarking on the longer, more difficult trip to Mars. NASA plans to build a lunar outpost at one of the lunar poles, learn to live off the land, and reduce dePendence on Earth for longer missions. America needs to extend its ability to survive in hostile environments close to our home planet before astronauts will reach Mars, a planet very much like Earth. NASA has worked with scientists to define lunar exploration goals and is addressing the opportunities for a range of scientific study on Mars. In order to reach the Moon and Mars within a lifetime and within budget, NASA is building on common hardware, shared knowledge, and unique experience derived from the Apollo Saturn, Space Shuttle and contemporary commercial launch vehicle programs. The journeys to the Moon and Mars will require a variety of vehicles, including the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle, which transports the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, and the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle, which transports the Lunar Surface Access Module. The architecture for the lunar missions will use one launch to ferry the crew into orbit, where it will rendezvous with the Lunar Module in the Earth Departure Stage, which will then propel the combination into lunar orbit. The imperative to explore space with the combination of astronauts and robots will be the impetus for inventions such as solar power and water and waste recycling. This next chapter in NASA's history promises to write the next chapter in American history, as well. It will require this nation to provide the talent to develop tools, machines, materials, processes, technologies, and capabilities that can benefit nearly all aspects of life on Earth. Roles and responsibilities are shared between a nationwide Government and industry team. The Exploration Launch Projects Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center manages the design, development, testing, and evaluation of both vehicles and serves as lead systems integrator. A little over a year after it was chartered, the Exploration Launch Projects team is testing engine components, refining vehicle designs, performing wind tunnel tests, and building hardware for the first flight test of Ares I-l, scheduled for spring 2009. The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration lays out a roadmap for a long-term venture of discovery. This endeavor will inspire and attract the best and brightest students to power this nation successfully to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. If one equates the value proposition for space with simple dollars and cents, the potential of the new space economy is tremendous, from orbital space delivery services for the International Space Station to mining and solar energy collection on the Moon and asteroids. The Vision for Space Exploration is fundamentally about bringing the resources of the solar system within the economic sphere of humaind. Given the immense size of our solar system, the amount of available material and energy within it present an enormous economic opportunity.

Sexton, Jeffrey D.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Langley Ground Facilities and Testing in the 21st Century

A strategic approach for retaining and more efficiently operating the essential Langley Ground Testing Facilities in the 21st Century is presented. This effort takes advantage of the previously completed and ongoing studies at the Agency and National levels. This integrated approach takes into consideration the overall decline in test business base within the nation and reduced utilization in each of the Langley facilities with capabilities to test in the subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic speed regimes. The strategy accounts for capability needs to meet the Agency programmatic requirements and strategic goals and to execute test activities in the most efficient and flexible facility operating structure. The structure currently being implemented at Langley offers agility to right-size our capability and capacity from a national perspective, to accommodate the dynamic nature of the testing needs, and will address the influence of existing and emerging analytical tools for design. The paradigm for testing in the retained facilities is to efficiently and reliably provide more accurate and high-quality test results at an affordable cost to support design information needs for flight regimes where the computational capability is not adequate and to verify and validate the existing and emerging computational tools. Each of the above goals are planned to be achieved, keeping in mind the increasing small industry customer base engaged in developing unpiloted aerial vehicles and commercial space transportation systems.

Ambur, Damodar R.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Current and Future Parts Management at NASA

This presentation provides a high level view of current and future electronic parts management at NASA. It describes a current perspective of the new human space flight direction that NASA is beginning to take and how that could influence parts management in the future. It provides an overview of current NASA electronic parts policy and how that is implemented at the NASA flight Centers. It also describes some of the technical challenges that lie ahead and suggests approaches for their mitigation. These challenges include: advanced packaging, obsolescence and counterfeits, the global supply chain and Commercial Crew, a new direction by which NASA will utilize commercial launch vehicles to get astronauts to the International Space Station.

Sampson, Michael J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Advanced Vehicle Concepts and Implications for NextGen

This report presents the results of a major NASA study of advanced vehicle concepts and their implications for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Comprising the efforts of dozens of researchers at multiple institutions, the analyses presented here cover a broad range of topics including business-case development, vehicle design, avionics, procedure design, delay, safety, environmental impacts, and metrics. The study focuses on the following five new vehicle types: Cruise-efficient short takeoff and landing (CESTOL) vehicles Large commercial tiltrotor aircraft (LCTRs) Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) Very light jets (VLJs) Supersonic transports (SST). The timeframe of the study spans the years 2025-2040, although some analyses are also presented for a 3X scenario that has roughly three times the number of flights as today. Full implementation of NextGen is assumed.

Air traffic control↗

NASA NTRS2013

Ablator Response Model Development: From Flight Data Back to Fundamental Experiments

The successful Mars atmospheric entry by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL-Curiosity) combined with the success of the Earth atmospheric entry by the Stardust capsule have established PICA as a major Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) material. We expect that this class of materials will be on the short list selected by NASA for any atmospheric entry missions and that it will be the lead of that list of materials in any planning, feasibility studies or flight readiness studies. In addition to NASAs successes, the Dragon capsule, the successful commercial space vehicle built by SpaceX, uses PICA-X, while the European Space Agency is considering ASTERM for its exploration missions that involve atmospheric entries, both of these materials are of the same family as PICA. In the talk, a high-fidelity model will be detailed and discussed. The model tracks the chemical composition of the gases produced during pyrolysis. As in the conventional models, it uses equilibrium chemistry to determine the recession rate at high temperatures but switches to in-volume finite-rate ablation for lower temperatures. It also tracks the time evolution of the porosity of the material. Progress in implementing this high-fidelity model in a code will be presented. In addition, a set of basic experimental data being supported for model validation will be summarized. The validation process for the model development will be discussed. Preliminary results will be presented for a case where detailed pyrolysis product chemistry is computed. Finally, a wish list for a set of validation experiments will be outlined and discussed.

Mansour, Nagi N.↗

NASA NTRS2014

A Battery Health Monitoring Framework for Planetary Rovers

Batteries have seen an increased use in electric ground and air vehicles for commercial, military, and space applications as the primary energy source. An important aspect of using batteries in such contexts is battery health monitoring. Batteries must be carefully monitored such that the battery health can be determined, and end of discharge and end of usable life events may be accurately predicted. For planetary rovers, battery health estimation and prediction is critical to mission planning and decision-making. We develop a model-based approach utilizing computaitonally efficient and accurate electrochemistry models of batteries. An unscented Kalman filter yields state estimates, which are then used to predict the future behavior of the batteries and, specifically, end of discharge. The prediction algorithm accounts for possible future power demands on the rover batteries in order to provide meaningful results and an accurate representation of prediction uncertainty. The framework is demonstrated on a set of lithium-ion batteries powering a rover at NASA.

prediction↗