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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 NTRS2022

In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) State of Play 2022 Edition

The future of spaceflight will yield increasingly more ambitious missions to support civil, national security, and commercial space sectors. Achieving these ambitious missions is not feasible using the traditional paradigm of launching an integrated, fully functioning system on a single launch vehicle. For example, science and human exploration missions will desire payloads that are larger than any foreseeable launch vehicle fairing, national security missions will require persistent assets that are mobile and resilient, and commercial space missions will require cost-effective ways to update to the latest technology on orbit. In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) can vastly expand the performance, availability, and lifetime of space systems compared to the traditional paradigm of launching an asset with no intent to ever touch it again. ISAM capabilities foster an ecosystem that changes the space operations paradigm, creating the foundation for sustainable exploration and serving as a multiplier for other capabilities like space logistics, power generation, and reusability. Previous achievements in ISAM have enabled ambitious human and robotic space missions. NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) operations and maintenance, servicing missions of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) demonstrate the dramatic operational missions that can be achieved using ISAM capabilities. Many current and upcoming flight demonstrations are advancing areas that will enable the next generation of civil, national security, and commercial space missions. This document describes the current state of ISAM missions, capabilities, and developments. Compiling and organizing the available ISAM capabilities will help mission designers incorporate ISAM technologies into their concepts, create the starting point for technology development plans and roadmaps, and provide technologists a survey of the field they are developing. This document divides the ISAM capabilities into 11 capability areas that describe the functions or activities that would be performed in space using ISAM. This version of the ISAM State of Play is part of a continuing journey to encourage the use of ISAM capabilities in space. Compiling and organizing the current state of ISAM provides a simple resource for those working in the ISAM ecosystem to ensure that the advancements being made build upon the investments of the past. The state of play is ever changing as new capabilities are developed, and this document will be periodically updated to ensure that it is relevant to those who need it in the future.

ISAM↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Wallops Flight Facility Model for an Integrated Federal/Commercial Launch Range

Historically, the federal government has been the predominant purchaser of space launches in the United States. The government met its needs through purchase of hardware and services. It also provided the infrastructure necessary to conduct launch operations through federal launch ranges, both military and NASA. Under this model, the government had the complete ownership, responsibility, liability, and expense for launch activities. As the commercial space sector grew, there emerged a corresponding growth in demand for launch range services. However, the expense and complexity of activities has thus far deterred a rapid rise in the establishment of purely commercial launch sites. In this context, purely commercial is defined as "without benefit of capabilities provided by the federal government." Consistent with the Commercial Space Launch Act, in recent years NASA and the Air Force have supported commercial launches from government launch ranges on a cost-reimbursable, non-interference basis. In this mode the commercial launch service providers contract with the government to provide services including use of facilities, tracking and data services, and range safety. As the commercial market projections began to show significant opportunities for economic development, several states established spaceports to provide the services necessary to meet these projected commercial needs. In 1997, NASA agreed to the establishment of the Virginia Space Flight Center (VSFC) at the Wallops Flight Facility. Under this arrangement, NASA agreed to allow Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA) to construct facilities on NASA property and agreed to provide services in accordance with the Space Act of 1958 and the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984 (as amended) to support VSFC launch customers. The relationship between NASA and VCSFA, however, has evolved beyond a customer supplier relationship. A partnership relationship has emerged which pairs the strengths of the established NASA test range and the state-sponsored, commercial launch facility provider, in an attempt to satisfy the needs for flexible, low-cost access to space. Furthermore, the future of the NASA/Wallops Test Range is closely linked with the success of VCSFA in promoting commercial launches from Wallops. This paper will describe the changing paradigm of the federal launch range and the unique aspects of the NASA/Wallops Facility relationship with VCSFA. Discussion will include institutional cost-sharing, business development and marketing, joint educational programs, and strategic planning.

Underwood, Bruce E.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Visions of tomorrow: A focus on national space transportation issues; Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Goddard Memorial Symposium, Greenbelt, MD, Mar. 18-20, 1987

The present conference on U.S. space transportation systems development discusses opportunities for aerospace students in prospective military, civil, industrial, and scientific programs, current strategic conceptualization and program planning for future U.S. space transportation, the DOD space transportation plan, NASA space transportation plans, medium launch vehicle and commercial space launch services, the capabilities and availability of foreign launch vehicles, and the role of commercial space launch systems. Also discussed are available upper stage systems, future space transportation needs for space science and applications, the trajectory analysis of a low lift/drag-aeroassisted orbit transfer vehicle, possible replacements for the Space Shuttle, LEO to GEO with combined electric/beamed-microwave power from earth, the National Aerospace Plane, laser propulsion to earth orbit, and a performance analysis for a laser-powered SSTO vehicle.

Soffen, Gerald A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

United States Nuclear Rocket Company (USNRC)

Historically, the development of advanced space technology has been accomplished by the federal government providing funding to commercial companies through the standard contracting process. Although recently, commercial space ventures, such as Space X, have begun to develop enhanced commercial space launch capabilities, and many companies provide space related services - including satellite development and operations, advanced technology development still requires (and should require) participation by the federal agency assigned this role - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). However, this standard funding model may not be the most efficient and stable means of developing the advanced technology systems. And while the federal government does not need to be involved in areas where private industry can reasonably operate, it should remain the leader in supporting the development of new and advanced space technologies to further increase our national capability. And as these technologies mature, then private industry can begin the commercialization process, freeing up resources and funds for NASA to develop the next generations of advanced space technology. In fact, simply examining the last decades of space technology development shows that there is room for improvement. Part of the problem is that there are realistically two space frontiers. There is the commercialization frontier (the realm of Space X and others) and the exploratory frontier (the realm of NASA.). Often technologies that can support the exploratory frontier can also immediately support the commercialization frontier. Yet, these technologies are still developed under the standard model of federal funding and contracting. Is that really the best way to proceed? In this paper, the argument is put forward that a new process is required, a new paradigm. A consortium of federal agencies as well as commercial companies is needed - in a collaborative rather than a contractual relationship.

Hardin, L. A.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Futures of Deep Space Exploration, Commercialization, and Colonization: The Frontiers of the Responsibly Imaginable

The reusable rocket, printing, automation engendered reductions in space access costs are rapidly opening up deep space, beyond GEO, to commercialization. Report addresses the related issues, technologies, approaches, opportunities for the key requirement, closed business cases, in the context of the longer than usual decade or less business outlook. Report also addresses the requirements and approaches, options for humans in deep space on the way to colonization. Martian colonization has moved from extremely difficult to increasingly feasible with regard to radiation, cost, and safety, in just a few years, due to space access cost reductions.

Dennis M Bushnell↗
NASA NTRS2010

Space Research Results Purify Semiconductor Materials

While President Obama's news that NASA would encourage private companies to develop vehicles to take NASA into space may have come as a surprise to some, NASA has always encouraged private companies to invest in space. More than two decades ago, NASA established Commercial Space Centers across the United States to encourage industry to use space as a place to conduct research and to apply NASA technology to Earth applications. Although the centers are no longer funded by NASA, the advances enabled by that previous funding are still impacting us all today. For example, the Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center (SVEC) at the University of Houston, one of the 17 Commercial Space Centers, had a mission to create advanced thin film semiconductor materials and devices through the use of vacuum growth technologies both on Earth and in space. Making thin film materials in a vacuum (low-pressure environment) is advantageous over making them in normal atmospheric pressures, because contamination floating in the air is lessened in a vacuum. To grow semiconductor crystals, researchers at SVEC utilized epitaxy the process of depositing a thin layer of material on top of another thin layer of material. On Earth, this process took place in a vacuum chamber in a clean room lab. For space, the researchers developed something called the Wake Shield Facility (WSF), a 12-foot-diameter disk-shaped platform designed to grow thin film materials using the low-pressure environment in the wake of the space shuttle. Behind an orbiting space shuttle, the vacuum levels are thousands of times better than in the best vacuum chambers on Earth. Throughout the 1990s, the WSF flew on three space shuttle missions as a series of proof-of-concept missions. These experiments are a lasting testament to the success of the shuttle program and resulted in the development of the first thin film materials made in the vacuum of space, helping to pave the way for better thin film development on Earth.

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NASA NTRS2016

The Role of Probabilistic Design Analysis Methods in Safety and Affordability

For the last several years, NASA and its contractors have been working together to build space launch systems to commercialize space. Developing commercial affordable and safe launch systems becomes very important and requires a paradigm shift. This paradigm shift enforces the need for an integrated systems engineering environment where cost, safety, reliability, and performance need to be considered to optimize the launch system design. In such an environment, rule based and deterministic engineering design practices alone may not be sufficient to optimize margins and fault tolerance to reduce cost. As a result, introduction of Probabilistic Design Analysis (PDA) methods to support the current deterministic engineering design practices becomes a necessity to reduce cost without compromising reliability and safety. This paper discusses the importance of PDA methods in NASA's new commercial environment, their applications, and the key role they can play in designing reliable, safe, and affordable launch systems. More specifically, this paper discusses: 1) The involvement of NASA in PDA 2) Why PDA is needed 3) A PDA model structure 4) A PDA example application 5) PDA link to safety and affordability.

Safie, Fayssal M.↗
NASA NTRS2008

A Common Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Infrastructure for Accommodating Space Vehicles in the Next Generation Air Transportation System

Suborbital space flight and space tourism are new potential markets that could significantly impact the National Airspace System (NAS). Numerous private companies are developing space flight capabilities to capture a piece of an emerging commercial space transportation market. These entrepreneurs share a common vision that sees commercial space flight as a profitable venture. Additionally, U.S. space exploration policy and national defense will impose significant additional demands on the NAS. Air traffic service providers must allow all users fair access to limited airspace, while ensuring that the highest levels of safety, security, and efficiency are maintained. The FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) will need to accommodate spacecraft transitioning to and from space through the NAS. To accomplish this, space and air traffic operations will need to be seamlessly integrated under some common communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) infrastructure. As part of NextGen, the FAA has been developing the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) which utilizes the Global Positioning System (GPS) to track and separate aircraft. Another key component of NextGen, System-Wide Information Management/ Network Enabled Operations (SWIM/NEO), is an open architecture network that will provide NAS data to various customers, system tools and applications. NASA and DoD are currently developing a space-based range (SBR) concept that also utilizes GPS, communications satellites and other CNS assets. The future SBR will have very similar utility for space operations as ADS-B and SWIM has for air traffic. Perhaps the FAA, NASA, and DoD should consider developing a common space-based CNS infrastructure to support both aviation and space transportation operations. This paper suggests specific areas of research for developing a CNS infrastructure that can accommodate spacecraft and other new types of vehicles as an integrated part of NextGen.

VanSuetendael, RIchard↗
NASA NTRS1989

NASA support for commerce in space - Broadening opportunities

The status of the NASA Office of Commercial Program's initiatives to implement the 1988 commercial space policy and expand industrial interest in the commercial development of space in the post-Challenger era is presented. Specific objectives have been developed to capture the drive and creativity of the private sector, for increasing NASA's effectiveness in conducting business with industrial firms, and impacting the commercial space market. An aggressive, comprehensive, and forward-looking program has been defined which provides the type of infrastructure and organization required to bring industry into the mainstream of space activities.

Stone, Barbara A.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Repurposing Inactive Oil and Gas Wells for Energy Storage: Maximizing the Potential Via Optimal Drivetrain Control: Preprint

In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on utilizing energy storage to enhance grid resilience against disruptive events. While renewable energy supply continues to expand, gravity-based solutions like pumped hydro remain dominant in the commercial space. However, their geographical limitations constrain availability, scalability, and increase costs for co-locating solar and wind energy. An alternative approach proposes repurposing idle oil and gas wells located closer to existing grid infrastructure, offering a promising and cost-effective solution. This paper addresses the optimization and control of a regenerative drive system coupled to an interior permanent magnet synchronous machine in a 300-meter well with a 100-Newton weight. The study employs a dynamic MATLAB/Simulink model to simulate the operation of the electric drivetrain system during storage and discharge operations. The results demonstrate an initial round-trip efficiency of 85.9% for the electrical system alone and identify crucial factors for maximizing efficiency. The optimized operation and control of the electromechanical drivetrain system hold great potential for minimizing the levelized cost of storage while maximizing efficiency and revenue generation.

ENERGY STORAGE,ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS2020

Interoperability and Concepts of Operation Assessment for Space Relay Services and Partnerships

The United States National Space Policy provides guidance and directives for U.S. Government agencies to purchase commercial space services and capabilities to the maximum extent practical. In alignment with this guidance, NASA is exploring potential industry partnerships to leverage current or planned commercial space communication and navigation infrastructure to provide services to NASA user missions in the mid-2020s. Leveraging commercial infrastructure and reducing NASA’s reliance on government-owned and operated infrastructure should yield substantial development and operations cost savings. Additionally, the commercial services market will offer NASA a variety of service offerings at competitive prices, while simultaneously allowing NASA to benefit from commercial best practices. Under Appendix G of the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), NASA awarded contracts to eight study vendors in May 2019 to investigate the feasibility of applying commercial services concepts to the NASA user mission community. The studies, managed by NASA Glenn Research Center, were completed in October 2019 and detailed ten study topic areas, three of which included: service provider interoperability, user terminal interoperability, and commercial services concept of operations. This report provides a summary of the significant (non-proprietary) findings and recommendations relating to those study areas from the BAA study vendors.

Eric J Knoblock↗
DOE OSTI2020

Analysis of Space-Conditioning Loads in Commercial Buildings

Space conditioning end-uses, which include heating, cooling, and ventilation, represent a significant fraction of commercial building energy use, with a wide variety of heating and cooling technology options available in the market. In the interest of improving the overall efficiency of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) technologies, governments, utilities and private sector entities have implemented a variety of market transformation policies that aim to influence consumer purchase decisions. To evaluate the costs and benefits of such programs, analysts typically postulate a hypothetical default equipment choice, and compare it to one that provides comparable service with lower energy and/or power use. The corresponding reduced operating cost provides a benefit that offsets the potential higher cost of improved efficiency. Typically, life-cycle cost or cash-flow analyses are used to quantify the net economic benefit. These analyses require the capability to assess how a given equipment design would perform across a broad range of characteristics, both of the building and of the local weather. While these assessments can be performed using customized building simulations, it is generally not practical to develop and validate detailed building simulation code to cover all the potential variations of equipment design and installation. An alternative, and somewhat simpler, approach is to solely use detailed building simulations to generate time series of heating and cooling loads in commercial buildings. These loads can then be used as input to more detailed, stand-alone engineering models that simulate HVAC system performance under different equipment designs. This approach was used to evaluate a range of high-efficiency commercial packaged air conditioner design options for the Department of Energy’s Appliance and Equipment Standards Program (DOE-EERE 2015). While there may be some loss of precision relative to full simulation, the accuracy of this approach is sufficient for practical applications of cost-benefit analysis. This report describes the development of a database of commercial building heating and cooling loads, generated using the EnergyPlus software package, a whole building energy use model supported by the Department of Energy (DOE-EERE 2020a). EnergyPlus takes as input a set of configuration files that describe the building itself (size, zoning, envelope characteristics, etc.) and the various systems within it (HVAC, lighting, water heating, etc.). This analysis uses a publicly available collection of commercial reference buildings (CRB), comprised of sixteen building types and three vintages (DOE-EERE 2020b; Deru et al 2011). Each building is simulated in eighteen different locations, covering a wide range of climatic conditions. The prototype building description files assign the type of HVAC equipment used, and capacities across climate zones.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1990

NASA commercial programs

Highlights of NASA-sponsored and assisted commercial space activities of 1989 are presented. Industrial R and D in space, centers for the commercial development of space, and new cooperative agreements are addressed in the U.S. private sector in space section. In the building U.S. competitiveness through technology section, the following topics are presented: (1) technology utilization as a national priority; (2) an exploration of benefits; and (3) honoring Apollo-Era spinoffs. International and domestic R and D trends, and the space sector are discussed in the section on selected economic indicators. Other subjects included in this report are: (1) small business innovation; (2) budget highlights and trends; (3) commercial programs management; and (4) the commercial programs advisory committee.

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DOE OSTI2021

A zone-level occupancy counting system for commercial office spaces using low-resolution time-of-flight sensors

Understanding the locations of occupants in a commercial built environment is critical for realizing energy savings by delivering lighting, heating, and cooling only where it is needed. In this paper, we present an indoor occupancy counting system using a sparse array of inexpensive, low-resolution, and privacy-preserving time-of-flight sensors. We develop and validate an algorithm for zonal occupancy counting that can deal with multiple people walking underneath the sensors in arbitrary directions, and evaluate the system both in realistic simulations of office spaces and in a real-world installation. Finally, we found that our system has an error rate of around 0.4%, resulting in highly accurate person localization and zone counting using only a few sensors per space.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1992

BioServe space technologies: A NASA Center for the Commercial Development of Space

BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA Center for the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS), was established in 1987. As is characteristic of each CCDS designated by NASA, the goals of this commercial center are aimed at stimulating high technology research that takes advantage of the space environment and at leading in the development of new products and services which have commercial potential or that contribute to possible new commercial ventures. BioServe's efforts in these areas focus upon space life science studies and the development of enabling devices that will facilitate ground-based experiments as well as the conversion of such to the microgravity environment. A direct result of BioServe's hardware development and life sciences studies is the training of the next generation of bioengineers who will be knowledgeable and comfortable working with the challenges of the space frontier.

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NASA NTRS1963

FREE ENTERPRISE IN SPACE

Free enterprise in space - development of commercial space communication - nasa program

NASA PROGRAM↗