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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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NASA NTRS2023

Reactive Additive Manufacturing for Fourth Industrial Revolution Exploration Systems (Ramfire) Aluminum 6061-Ram2 Nozzle Testing

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has applied various forms of metallic additive manufacturing (AM) in liquid rocket engine component design, development, and testing since 2010. These AM techniques reduce hardware cost, shorten fabrication schedules, increase reliability by reducing the number of joints, and improve hardware performance by allowing unconventional design. The RAMFIRE project, funded under Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Game Changing Development (GCD) Program, has furthered the use of novel AM liquid rocket nozzles in collaboration with Elementum 3D. The project advanced novel large-scale AM aluminum material technology for significant weight savings in rocket engines and launch vehicles. Previously, aluminum alloys were difficult to weld and print using additive manufacturing. Elementum 3D’s patented Aluminum 6061-RAM2 alloy allows for aluminum alloys to be printed using various AM techniques and at various scales. The alloy can be leveraged for welding wire, showing drastic improvements in aluminum weldability. The RAMFIRE project focuses on five key areas: 1) Laser Powder Directed Energy Deposition (LP-DED) AL6061-RAM2 feedstock specification and verification, 2) LP-DED process development and validation, 3) LP-DED printed AL6061-RAM2 microstructural and mechanical property characterization, 4) Hot-fire test a 7k-lbf thrust class regeneratively cooled nozzle, 5) Print large scale regeneratively cooled nozzle. Hot-fire testing demonstrates potential of advanced space technologies to NASA and potential users by providing the relevant environments to advance TRL levels to the 5/6 range.

Al6061-RAM2↗
NASA NTRS2024

2024 Software for NASA Science Mission Directorate Workshop Report

The 2024 Software for the NASA Science Mission Directorate Workshop was the first workshop of its kind in over 10 years. The numerous attendees and high level of interaction in this hybrid workshop portrayed the untapped interest and energy in the NASA SMD community about software. Over 100 takeaways were collected from the hosted discussions in four key areas - Communication, Communities, Funding and Clarity - as summarized in this report. One takeaway was representative of all four categories: “Software is not hardware; it is organic and needs a different model. You often don't know which components will be Open-Source reusable until later in the development cycle.” For the communication category, this takeaway motivates the reduction of silos by shifting towards a model that better supports community collaboration on common challenges and a more streamlined and improved software release process. For the communities category, the same statement points to forming communities of practice with varying scopes and a new approach to recognition and incentives for open-source software contributions. Concerning funding, this statement motivates a more sustained and flexible funding model that better supports the software foundation needed for NASA’s long-term success, including the collaboration and infrastructure a good foundation requires. The new approach to clarity motivated by this statement calls for significant changes to the software release process and related policies to streamline compliance, align those policies with the open-source science culture NASA is promoting and with each other, and simplify use of the cloud. It is time to recognize software as a foundational component of NASA with an organic nature not properly supported by current approaches. Different models are needed in all four areas to shift the NASA SMD software community and governance structures into a more efficient, open, and collaborative ecosystem - one that enables ground-breaking science and daring exploration into the coming decades

science↗
NASA NTRS2024

NASA's Human Research Program: Evolving Collaborations to Enable the Future of Human Spaceflight

Since its formation in 2007, the NASA Human Research Program’s (HRP) mission has been to protect the health and performance of astronauts as they explore beyond low Earth orbit. The HRP helps enable exploration spaceflight through a focused program of research that leads to the development and delivery of solutions to protect human health and performance during and after these missions. This research is conducted primarily in ground analogs of the spaceflight environment and on the International Space Station (ISS). Over the last 3 years, NASA has undergone transformative changes with the flight of Artemis I, the formation of the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations Program, commercial flights to the ISS, and collaboration with new international partners participating in human spaceflight. The HRP has embraced these new opportunities and is collaborating on all these fronts to collect biomedical research data. Artemis I marked the arrival of NASA’s new human spaceflight exploration missions. NASA established the Moon to Mars Program Office to design a roadmap for the exploration of the lunar surface and the journey beyond to Mars. The HRP has a critical role in conducting research and delivering technologies that will lead to solutions that protect human health and performance, and is working closely with the Moon to Mars Office to ensure these deliverables are ready in time to support their strategy. The HRP is also developing the partnership strategies required to support these deliverables. Commercial space flights, both free flyer and suborbital missions and private astronaut missions to the ISS, are providing broader opportunities and more subjects to characterize spaceflight-induced changes to the human system and to test countermeasures. To better use these opportunities to achieve its mission, the HRP has been working to understand the commercial spaceflight companies’ needs and then partnering with them on aspects of mutual interest. In addition, the HRP continues to engage in long-standing relationships with its international partners through the International Space Life Sciences Working Group and other joint international groups. The HRP is interested in sharing its knowledge and collaborating on projects of mutual interest with new countries that are developing capabilities for human spaceflight. The next 10 years will shape how humanity partners on exploration missions to Mars, and the HRP is committed to enabling and developing collaborative strategies with commercial and international partners to keep humans safe and productive as they explore longer and further into space.

Human research↗
NASA NTRS2011

Challenges and Future Opportunities in Our Nation's Space Program

For the first time in decades, there is a significant amount of change in our nation's space program. Along with change, there are opportunities, and NASA has begun a set of planning to be prepared for the future, emphasizing innovation and technology development, increased emphasis on collaboration, commercially-provided access to space, and the need for reinvention. This discussion will briefly give an overview of NASA, showcase some of the diverse activities that are part of our nation' fs space program, identify some of the new changes envisioned to NASA's mission, and how our space program can continue to inspire the nation during changing times.

Clements, Greg↗
NASA NTRS1997

The PACES Summer Science Trek: A Pre-College Science

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) received five-year funding to form the Pan American Center for Earth and Environmental Studies (PACES) in July 1995. PACES has as its goals to conduct research contributing to NASA's Mission to Planet Earth and to develop skilled scientists and engineers. PACES seeks to gain a more comprehensive understanding of geological, ecological and environmental processes and changes taking place in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico region. The PACES center has collaborative ties with two NASA field center (Goddard Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The original proposal contained no provision for outreach programs. However, at a meeting in the fall of 1995, Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator, issued the challenge that in order to accomplish NASA's goals to educate more of the citizenry in science and engineering, the Centers should take a broader perspective aimed at younger children.

Smith, Michelle B.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Spitzer Observatory Operations -- Increasing Efficiency in Mission Operations

This paper explores the how's and why's of the Spitzer Mission Operations System's (MOS) success, efficiency, and affordability in comparison to other observatory-class missions. MOS exploits today's flight, ground, and operations capabilities, embraces automation, and balances both risk and cost. With operational efficiency as the primary goal, MOS maintains a strong control process by translating lessons learned into efficiency improvements, thereby enabling the MOS processes, teams, and procedures to rapidly evolve from concept (through thorough validation) into in-flight implementation. Operational teaming, planning, and execution are designed to enable re-use. Mission changes, unforeseen events, and continuous improvement have often times forced us to learn to fly anew. Collaborative spacecraft operations and remote science and instrument teams have become well integrated, and worked together to improve and optimize each human, machine, and software-system element.

operational efficiency↗
NASA NTRS2013

An Upgrade of the Aeroheating Software "MINIVER"

Many software packages assist engineers with performing flight vehicle analysis, but some of these packages have gone many years without updates or significant improvements to their workflows. One such software, known as MINIVER, is a powerful yet lightweight tool that is used for aeroheating analyses. However, it is an aging program that has not seen major improvements within the past decade. As part of a collaborative effort with Florida Institute of Technology, MINIVER has received a major user interface overhaul, a change in program language, and will be continually receiving updates to improve its capabilities. The user interface update includes a migration from a command-line interface to that of a graphical user interface supported in the Windows operating system. The organizational structure of the preprocessor has been transformed to clearly defined categories to provide ease of data entry. Helpful tools have been incorporated, including the ability to copy sections of cases as well as a generalized importer which aids in bulk data entry. A visual trajectory editor has been included, as well as a CAD Editor which allows the user to input simplified geometries in order to generate MINIVER cases in bulk. To demonstrate its continued effectiveness, a case involving the JAXA OREX flight vehicle will be included, providing comparisons to captured flight data as well as other computational solutions. The most recent upgrade effort incorporated the use of the CAD Editor, and current efforts are investigating methods to link MINIVER projects with SINDA/Fluint and Thermal Desktop.

Louderback, Pierce M.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Coordinating Shared Activities

Shared Activity Coordination (ShAC) is a computer program for planning and scheduling the activities of an autonomous team of interacting spacecraft and exploratory robots. ShAC could also be adapted to such terrestrial uses as helping multiple factory managers work toward competing goals while sharing such common resources as floor space, raw materials, and transports. ShAC iteratively invokes the Continuous Activity Scheduling Planning Execution and Replanning (CASPER) program to replan and propagate changes to other planning programs in an effort to resolve conflicts. A domain-expert specifies which activities and parameters thereof are shared and reports the expected conditions and effects of these activities on the environment. By specifying these conditions and effects differently for each planning program, the domain-expert subprogram defines roles that each spacecraft plays in a coordinated activity. The domain-expert subprogram also specifies which planning program has scheduling control over each shared activity. ShAC enables sharing of information, consensus over the scheduling of collaborative activities, and distributed conflict resolution. As the other planning programs incorporate new goals and alter their schedules in the changing environment, ShAC continually coordinates to respond to unexpected events.

Clement, Bradley↗
NASA NTRS1998

Studies of Long Period Variability in Neutron Star HMXB Systems

The purpose of this effort was to investigate the long term, quasi-periodic variability of the X-ray emission from the accreting X-ray pulsars LMC X-4 and SMC X-1. These high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) sources are known to vary in a nearly periodic fashion with cycle lengths of about 30 and 60 days respectively. The prevailing model for such behavior is that it is due to the precession of a tilted accretion disk around the neutron star which is the source of the X-ray emission. As the disk precesses, it periodically obscures the emitting region, resulting in reduced flux as observed at the Earth. The obscuration is not strictly periodic, as the disk precession period changes as the total mass and size of the disk change through variable accretion processes. This model is well established for the long-period variability in the X-ray pulsar Her X-1. With this work, my collaborators and I sought to test whether this model works for LMC X-4 and SMC X-1. Observations with the pointed instruments on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) were carried out in order to observe changes in the X-ray spectrum and total flux which were correlated with the long period cycles in these objects. One of the main predictions of the precessing disk model is that the periods of low emission are caused not by changes in the central source, but by increased absorption of that flux as seen at the Earth. Such behavior would be observed in the X-ray spectrum as a relative lack of low energy X-rays (which are more easily absorbed) as compared to high energy X-rays. This is what was observed for SMC X-1, landing strong support to the precessing disk model for this system. For LMC X-1, however, the absorption was consistent with zero at the time of minimum flux. The entire spectrum appeared to be equally reduced. This is not supporting evidence for the model. However, it also does not rule out a precessing disk. If at the time of minimum flux, the intervening disk is so thick that no flux, even high energy X-rays, can penetrate, and if there is material above the disk which can scatter X-rays, then a small scattered spectrum will be seen which is indistinguishable from the unobscured source flux. This is quite possibly the case in LMC X-1.

Heindl, William A.↗
NASA NTRS2002

ISS Radiation Shielding and Acoustic Simulation Using an Immersive Environment

The International Space Station Environment Simulator (ISSES) is a virtual reality application that uses high-performance computing, graphics, and audio rendering to simulate the radiation and acoustic environments of the International Space Station (ISS). This CAVE application allows the user to maneuver to different locations inside or outside of the ISS and interactively compute and display the radiation dose at a point. The directional dose data is displayed as a color-mapped sphere that indicates the relative levels of radiation from all directions about the center of the sphere. The noise environment is rendered in real time over headphones or speakers and includes non-spatial background noise, such as air-handling equipment, and spatial sounds associated with specific equipment racks, such as compressors or fans. Changes can be made to equipment rack locations that produce changes in both the radiation shielding and system noise. The ISSES application allows for interactive investigation and collaborative trade studies between radiation shielding and noise for crew safety and comfort.

Verhage, Joshua E.↗
NASA NTRS2013

A Upgrade of the Aeroheating Software "MINIVER"

Many software packages assist engineers with performing flight vehicle analysis, but some of these packages have gone many years without updates or significant improvements to their workflows. One such software package, known as MINIVER, is a powerful yet lightweight tool used for aeroheating analyses. However, it is an aging program that has not seen major improvements within the past decade. As part of a collaborative effort with the Florida Institute of Technology, MINIVER has received a major user interface overhaul, a change in program language, and will be continually receiving updates to improve its capabilities. The user interface update includes a migration from a command-line interface to that of a graphical user interface supported in the Windows operating system. The organizational structure of the pre-processor has been transformed to clearly defined categories to provide ease of data entry. Helpful tools have been incorporated, including the ability to copy sections of cases as well as a generalized importer which aids in bulk data entry. A visual trajectory editor has been included, as well as a CAD Editor which allows the user to input simplified geometries in order to generate MINIVER cases in bulk. To demonstrate its continued effectiveness, a case involving the JAXA OREX flight vehicle will be included, providing comparisons to captured flight data as well as other computational solutions. The most recent upgrade effort incorporated the use of the CAD Editor, and current efforts are investigating methods to link MINIVER projects with SINDA/Fluint and Thermal Desktop.

Louderback, Pierce↗
NASA NTRS2015

Fast Light Optical Gyroscopes

Next-generation space missions are currently constrained by existing spacecraft navigation systems which are not fully autonomous. These systems suffer from accumulated dead-reckoning errors and must therefore rely on periodic corrections provided by supplementary technologies that depend on line-of-sight signals from Earth, satellites, or other celestial bodies for absolute attitude and position determination, which can be spoofed, incorrectly identified, occluded, obscured, attenuated, or insufficiently available. These dead-reckoning errors originate in the ring laser gyros themselves, which constitute inertial measurement units. Increasing the time for standalone spacecraft navigation therefore requires fundamental improvements in gyroscope technologies. One promising solution to enhance gyro sensitivity is to place an anomalous dispersion or fast light material inside the gyro cavity. The fast light essentially provides a positive feedback to the gyro response, resulting in a larger measured beat frequency for a given rotation rate as shown in figure 1. Game Changing Development has been investing in this idea through the Fast Light Optical Gyros (FLOG) project, a collaborative effort which began in FY 2013 between NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), and Northwestern University. MSFC and AMRDEC are working on the development of a passive FLOG (PFLOG), while Northwestern is developing an active FLOG (AFLOG). The project has demonstrated new benchmarks in the state of the art for scale factor sensitivity enhancement. Recent results show cavity scale factor enhancements of approx.100 for passive cavities.

Smith, David D.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Digital Engineering Strategy Overview

Systems are changing and engineering practices must mind the balance between evolutionary and revolutionary change as we move towards increasingly agile processes, enabled by interconnected tools, to best provide for partnered collaboration. This is the first of many evolutions of the Goddard Digital Engineering strategy, in preparation for the NASA 2040 vision.

Digital Engineering↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Innovation Connection Hub: DE + MBSE at Goddard

Systems are changing and engineering practices must mind the balance between evolutionary and revolutionary change as we move towards increasingly agile processes, enabled by interconnected tools, to best provide for partnered collaboration. This is the first example of Goddard's alignment between Digital Engineering strategy and Model-Based Systems Engineering strategy.

Digital Engineering↗
NASA NTRS2023

Digital Engineering at Goddard: Exploring the Digital Thread

Systems are changing and engineering practices must mind the balance between evolutionary and revolutionary change as we move towards increasingly agile processes, enabled by interconnected tools, to best provide for partnered collaboration. The Digital Thread is a foundational capability for a functional Digital Engineering Ecosystem, which is Phase 1 of Goddard's Digital Engineering strategy in an effort to achieve Goddard 2040 vision.

Digital Engineering↗
NASA NTRS2014

Integration of Earth Remote Sensing into the NOAA/NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit

Following the occurrence of severe weather, NOAA/NWS meteorologists are tasked with performing a storm damage survey to assess the type and severity of the weather event, primarily focused with the confirmation and assessment of tornadoes. This labor‐intensive process requires meteorologists to venture into the affected area, acquire damage indicators through photos, eyewitness accounts, and other documentation, then aggregation of data in order to make a final determination of the tornado path length, width, maximum intensity, and other characteristics. Earth remote sensing from operational, polar‐orbiting satellites can support the damage assessment process by helping to identify portions of damage tracks that are difficult to access due to road limitations or time constraints by applying change detection techniques. In addition, higher resolution commercial imagery can corroborate ground‐based surveys by examining higher‐resolution commercial imagery. As part of an ongoing collaboration, NASA and NOAA are working to integrate near real‐time Earth remote sensing observations into the NOAA/NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, a handheld application used by meteorologists in the survey process. The team has recently developed a more streamlined approach for delivering data via a web mapping service and menu interface, allowing for caching of imagery before field deployment. Near real‐time products have been developed using MODIS and VIIRS imagery and change detection for preliminary track identification, along with conduits for higher‐resolution Landsat, ASTER, and commercial imagery as they become available. In addition to tornado damage assessments, the team is also investigating the use of near real‐time imagery for identifying hail damage to vegetation, which also results in large swaths of damage, particularly in the central United States during the peak growing season months of June, July, and August. This presentation will present an overview of recent activities, challenges and successes, best practices, and opportunities for future work and collaboration.

Molthan, Andrew↗