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NASA NTRS2005

The Application of Infrared Thermographic Inspection Techniques to the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System

The Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch at NASA s Langley Research Center has been actively involved in the development of thermographic inspection techniques for more than 15 years. Since the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, NASA has focused on the improvement of advanced NDE techniques for the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) panels that comprise the orbiter s wing leading edge. Various nondestructive inspection techniques have been used in the examination of the RCC, but thermography has emerged as an effective inspection alternative to more traditional methods. Thermography is a non-contact inspection method as compared to ultrasonic techniques which typically require the use of a coupling medium between the transducer and material. Like radiographic techniques, thermography can be used to inspect large areas, but has the advantage of minimal safety concerns and the ability for single-sided measurements. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been shown effective for reducing thermographic NDE data. A typical implementation of PCA is when the eigenvectors are generated from the data set being analyzed. Although it is a powerful tool for enhancing the visibility of defects in thermal data, PCA can be computationally intense and time consuming when applied to the large data sets typical in thermography. Additionally, PCA can experience problems when very large defects are present (defects that dominate the field-of-view), since the calculation of the eigenvectors is now governed by the presence of the defect, not the "good" material. To increase the processing speed and to minimize the negative effects of large defects, an alternative method of PCA is being pursued where a fixed set of eigenvectors, generated from an analytic model of the thermal response of the material under examination, is used to process the thermal data from the RCC materials. Details of a one-dimensional analytic model and a two-dimensional finite-element model will be presented. An overview of the PCA process as well as a quantitative signal-to-noise comparison of the results of performing both embodiments of PCA on thermographic data from various RCC specimens will be shown. Finally, a number of different applications of this technology to various RCC components will be presented.

Cramer, K. E.↗

NASA NTRS2006

The Application of Principal Component Analysis Using Fixed Eigenvectors to the Infrared Thermographic Inspection of the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System

The Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch at NASA s Langley Research Center has been actively involved in the development of thermographic inspection techniques for more than 15 years. Since the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, NASA has focused on the improvement of advanced NDE techniques for the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) panels that comprise the orbiter s wing leading edge. Various nondestructive inspection techniques have been used in the examination of the RCC, but thermography has emerged as an effective inspection alternative to more traditional methods. Thermography is a non-contact inspection method as compared to ultrasonic techniques which typically require the use of a coupling medium between the transducer and material. Like radiographic techniques, thermography can be used to inspect large areas, but has the advantage of minimal safety concerns and the ability for single-sided measurements. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been shown effective for reducing thermographic NDE data. A typical implementation of PCA is when the eigenvectors are generated from the data set being analyzed. Although it is a powerful tool for enhancing the visibility of defects in thermal data, PCA can be computationally intense and time consuming when applied to the large data sets typical in thermography. Additionally, PCA can experience problems when very large defects are present (defects that dominate the field-of-view), since the calculation of the eigenvectors is now governed by the presence of the defect, not the good material. To increase the processing speed and to minimize the negative effects of large defects, an alternative method of PCA is being pursued when a fixed set of eigenvectors is used to process the thermal data from the RCC materials. These eigen vectors can be generated either from an analytic model of the thermal response of the material under examination, or from a large cross section of experimental data. This paper will provide the details of the analytic model; an overview of the PCA process; as well as a quantitative signal-to-noise comparison of the results of performing both embodiments of PCA on thermographic data from various RCC specimens. Details of a system that has been developed to allow insitu inspection of a majority of shuttle RCC components will be presented along with the acceptance test results for this system. Additionally, the results of applying this technology to the Space Shuttle Discovery after its return from flight will be presented.

Cramer, K. Elliott↗

NASA NTRS2014

Near Infrared Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy for Isotopic Analyses of CH4 on Future Martian Surface Missions

A compact Near Infrared Continuous Wave Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometer (near-IR-cw-CRDS) was developed as a candidate for future planetary surface missions. The optical cavity was made of titanium with rugged quartz windows to protect the delicate super cavity from the harsh environmental changes that it would experience during space flight and a Martian surface mission. This design assured the long-term stability of the system. The system applied three distributed feedback laser diodes (DFB-LD), two of which were tuned to the absorption line peaks of (sup 12)CH4 and (sup 13)CH4 at 6046.954 inverse centimeters and 6049.121 inverse centimeters, respectively. The third laser was tuned to a spectral-lines-free region for measuring the baseline cavity loss. The multiple laser design compensated for typical baseline drift of a CRDS system and, thus, improved the overall precision. A semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) was used instead of an Acousto-Optic Module (AOM) to initiate the cavity ring-down events. It maintained high acquisition rates such as AOM, but consumed less power. High data acquisition rates combined with improved long-term stability yielded precise isotopic measurements in this near-IR region even though the strongest CH4 absorption line in this region is 140 times weaker than that of the strongest mid-IR absorption band. The current system has a detection limit of 1.4 times 10( sup –12) inverse centimeters for (sup 13)CH4. This limit corresponds to approximately 7 parts per trillion volume of CH4 at 100 Torrs. With no further improvements the detection limit of our current near IR-cw-CRDS at an ambient Martian pressure of approximately 6 Torrs (8 millibars) would be 0.25 parts per billion volume for one 3.3 minute long analysis.

portable nir crds↗

NASA NTRS2007

NASA Tech Briefs, September 2007

Topics covered include; Rapid Fabrication of Carbide Matrix/Carbon Fiber Composites; Coating Thermoelectric Devices To Suppress Sublimation; Ultrahigh-Temperature Ceramics; Improved C/SiC Ceramic Composites Made Using PIP; Coating Carbon Fibers With Platinum; Two-Band, Low-Loss Microwave Window; MCM Polarimetric Radiometers for Planar Arrays; Aperture-Coupled Thin-Membrane L-Band Antenna; WGM-Based Photonic Local Oscillators and Modulators; Focal-Plane Arrays of Quantum-Dot Infrared Photodetectors; Laser Range and Bearing Finder With No Moving Parts; Microrectenna: A Terahertz Antenna and Rectifier on a Chip; Miniature L-Band Radar Transceiver; Robotic Vision-Based Localization in an Urban Environment; Programs for Testing an SSME-Monitoring System; Cathodoluminescent Source of Intense White Light; Displaying and Analyzing Antenna Radiation Patterns; Payload Operations Support Team Tools; Space-Shuttle Emulator Software; Soft Real-Time PID Control on a VME Computer; Analyzing Radio-Frequency Coverage for the ISS; Nanorod-Based Fast-Response Pressure-Sensitive Paints; Capacitors Would Help Protect Against Hypervelocity Impacts; Diaphragm Pump With Resonant Piezoelectric Drive; Improved Quick-Release Pin Mechanism; Designing Rolling-Element Bearings; Reverse-Tangent Injection in a Centrifugal Compressor; Inertial Measurements for Aero-assisted Navigation (IMAN); Analysis of Complex Valve and Feed Systems; Improved Path Planning Onboard the Mars Exploration Rovers; Robust, Flexible Motion Control for the Mars Explorer Rovers; Solar Sail Spaceflight Simulation; Fluorine-Based DRIE of Fused Silica; Mechanical Alloying for Making Thermoelectric Compounds; Process for High-Rate Fabrication of Alumina Nanotemplates; Electroform/Plasma-Spray Laminates for X-Ray Optics; An Automated Flying-Insect Detection System; Calligraphic Poling of Ferroelectric Material; Blackbody Cavity for Calibrations at 200 to 273 K; KML Super Overlay to WMS Translator; High-Performance Tiled WMS and KML Web Server; Modeling of Radiative Transfer in Protostellar Disks; Composite Pulse Tube; Photometric Calibration of Consumer Video Cameras; Criterion for Identifying Vortices in High- Pressure Flows; Amplified Thermionic Cooling Using Arrays of Nanowires; Delamination-Indicating Thermal Barrier Coatings; Preventing Raman Lasing in High-Q WGM Resonators; Procedures for Tuning a Multiresonator Photonic Filter; Robust Mapping of Incoherent Fiber-Optic Bundles; Extended-Range Ultrarefractive 1D Photonic Crystal Prisms; Rapid Analysis of Mass Distribution of Radiation Shielding; Modeling Magnetic Properties in EZTB; Deep Space Network Antenna Logic Controller; Modeling Carbon and Hydrocarbon Molecular Structures in EZTB; BigView Image Viewing on Tiled Displays; and Imaging Sensor Flight and Test Equipment Software.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2009

Bisphosphonate as a Countermeasure to Space Flight-Induced Bone Loss

The purpose of this research is to determine whether anti-resorptive pharmaceuticals such as bisphosphonates, in conjunction with the routine in-flight exercise program, will protect ISS crewmembers from the regional decreases in bone mineral density and bone strength and the increased renal stone risk documented on previous long-duration space flights [1-3]. Losses averaged ~ 1 to 2 percent per month in such regions as the lumbar spine and hip. Although losses showed significant heterogeneity among individuals and between bones within a given subject, space flight-induced bone loss was a consistent finding. More than 90 percent of astronauts and cosmonauts on long-duration flights (average 171 days) aboard Mir and the ISS, had a minimum 5 percent loss in at least one skeletal site, 40 percent of them had a 10 percent or greater loss in at least one skeletal site, and 22 percent of the Mir cosmonauts experienced a 15 to 20 percent loss in at least one site. These losses occurred even though the crewmembers performed time-consuming in-flight exercise regimens. Moreover, a recent study of 16 ISS astronauts using quantitative computed tomography (QCT) demonstrated trabecular bone losses from the hip averaging 2.3 percent per month [4]. These losses were accompanied by significant losses in hip bone strength that may not be recovered quickly [5]. This rapid loss of bone mass results from a combination of increased and uncoupled remodeling, as demonstrated by increased resorption with little or no change in bone formation markers [6-7]. This elevated remodeling rate likely affects the cortical and trabecular architecture and may lead to irreversible changes. In addition to bone loss, the resulting hypercalciuria increases renal stone risk. Therefore, it is logical to attempt to attenuate this increased remodeling with anti-resorption drugs such as bisphosphonates. Success with alendronate was demonstrated in a bed rest study [8]. This work has been extended to space flight and two dosing regimens: 1) an oral dose of 70 mg of alendronate taken weekly during flight or 2) a single intravenous (IV) dose of 4 mg of zoledronic acid given several weeks before flight. Currently the study is focusing on the oral option because of NASA s safety concerns with the IV-administered drug. The protocol requests 10 male or female crewmembers on ISS flights of 90 days or longer. Controls are 16 previous ISS crewmembers with QCT scans of the hip performed by these same investigators. The primary outcome measure for this study is hip trabecular bone mineral density measured by QCT, but other measures of bone mass are performed including peripheral QCT (pQCT) and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Serum and urinary bone markers and renal stone risk measured before, during, and after flight are included. Postflight data are currently being collected from 2 ISS crewmembers. Two additional crewmembers will return this spring after ~6-month missions. To date no untoward effects have been encountered.

Spector, Elisabeth↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The BioMole Facility: Advancement of In Situ Microbiome Analysis for the International Space Station

Characterization of the International Space Station (ISS) microbiome has been enabled by sample return and Earth-based analysis. As human exploration pushes beyond low-Earth orbit, microbial-related crew health, planetary protection, and space research requires in situ capabilities. Steps toward reducing Earth-dependence for complex sample analysis began in 2016 with the amplification of DNA within the miniPCR thermal cycler and DNA sequencing with the MinION sequencer onboard the ISS; for both, samples were prepared on Earth. In 2017, these platforms synergistically enabled the in-situ identification of unknown bacteria collected and cultured from ISS surfaces, thereby shifting the paradigm that microbial cultures had to be returned to Earth. The following year, a culture-independent, swab-to-sequencer method further advanced spaceflight microbiology, demonstrating that culturing could be excluded and provided enhanced insight into the bacterial profile of ISS surfaces. Based on the success of these payloads in confirming the ability to meet crew health identification requirements and the benefits accompanying a culture-independent method, the BioMole Facility was established by the medical operations Crew Health Care Systems team. BioMole is the set of hardware, consumables, and procedures required to support sample preparation and nanopore sequencing onboard the ISS. BioMole goals include expanding sample sources, comparing data to previous methods, demonstrating onboard data analytics, and validating new hardware. To date, comparative surface analysis, molecular- and culture-based, has been completed. Additionally, the demonstration of a sample-to-answer process was achieved when BioMole data was processed onboard using the IBM Open Data and AI Edge software platform installed on the ISS-residing Spaceborne Computer-2. The taxonomic profiles generated from the edge analysis were as expected and paralleled that of the downlinked processed data. Future BioMole efforts involve microbial profiling of the ISS water system, ISS validation of the MinION Mk1C, and an expansion to a research facility available to investigators.

Sarah L. Castro-Wallace↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Analysis of Historical International Space Station Logistical Mass Delivery

Crewed space exploration missions are extremely logistics dependent, as cargo requirements shape numerous program elements such as vehicle and habitat size. Logistics mass is the mass of items like food and clothing that are not a part of the vehicle or habitat, yet are required by the crew to complete the mission. Numerous studies, such as the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) and the Human Exploration Spacecraft Testbed for Integration and Advancement (HESTIA) 20-foot chamber analog, have been conceived to research the rates at which crews consume logistics mass. These analogs can simulate many aspects of life in space, including confinement, isolation, limited supplies, and, in certain experiments, the habitat pressure. However, some aspects of space exploration, such as the effects of low gravity and the use of space-based amenities, cannot currently be tested on the ground. In this paper, International Space Station (ISS) manifest data obtained through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Mission Integration Database Application System (MIDAS) portal is used as a precursor to space-based analogs. The objective of the analysis is determining the breakdown of logistics mass used in space exploration. This identifies potential areas of improvement and highlights the rates at which significant items are supplied, aiding in the weighing of alternative options such as utilizing in space manufacturing for supplies vs. manifesting spares, or cleaning clothing in flight vs. discarding it. Official flight manifests ranging a span of 878 days, just short of the three-year length of a potential human mission to Mars, were analyzed to find the rates at which astronauts consumed various logistics supplies. From this analysis we have found that contrary to our own hypothesis, ‘food’ was not the largest portion of the supplied mass. Instead, ‘Environmental Control and Life Support Systems’ (ECLSS) contributed 34% of the overall supplied mass, followed by ‘Science and Outfitting,’ which contributed 29%. Food totaled less than a quarter (21% of the resupplied mass, while other items of focus in mass reduction efforts such as ‘Hygiene’ (6%), ‘Clothing’ (3%), and ‘Operational Supplies’ (4%) each contributed less than a tenth of the supplied mass. This data suggests that by categorizing and analyzing the data based on an alternative taxonomy and analyzing the full supply manifests rather than handpicked items, we have revealed unexpectedly significant items which had not been previously tracked by exploration logistics efforts. For example, toilet hardware made up 4% of ECLSS mass, and laptop hardware and multi-tools each made up 10% of operational supplies mass. Additionally, the ‘Specialized Clothing’ subcategory containing fire protective equipment, coveralls, and penguin suits made up 15% of the overall clothing mass. By identifying these newly found significant items, we can create more realistic mass estimates for exploration missions and direct mass reduction efforts to new areas, potentially leading to lower future mission masses.

Logistics↗

NASA NTRS2023

Galvanic Protected Anode Materials for Molten Regolith Electrolysis

This effort aimed to explore the use of refractory alloys as long-lifetime electrode materials for use in a molten regolith electrolysis (MRE) reactor, a technology that can produce oxygen (O2) from regolith. To find a material capable of withstanding the high temperatures and corrosive nature of molten regolith, first-principles thermodynamic calculations were performed on platinum group metals in the presence of iron (Fe) and silicon (Si) to determine favorable compositions for resisting unwanted secondary phases that could form on the surface of the material. As a result of these first-principles calculations, the kinetic properties of elements such as aluminum (Al), Fe, and Si can be more easily derived, which would provide insight into the longevity of such a material when used in an MRE reactor. The effort funded by this CIF project mapped the entire phase diagram of platinum group metals, which is beneficial not only to MRE where high temperatures and molten material are present, but also aerospace applications like turbine materials, terrestrial metal processing techniques, and energy storage applications. This project narrowed a broad spectrum of refractory metals down to a small list of alloys that would be able to survive not only the high temperatures of an MRE reactor, but also the thermodynamic forces that would cause inferior alloys to form secondary phases, which would ultimately consume the electrodes of the reactor. This research needs to be followed up with experimental demonstrations of these alloys in an MRE environment.

Kevin Grossman↗

NASA NTRS2010

Materials Development: Pitfalls, Successes, and Lessons

The incorporation of new or improved materials in aerospace systems, or indeed any systems, can yield tremendous payoffs in the system performance or cost, and in many cases can be enabling for a mission or concept. However, the availability of new materials requires advance development, and too often this is neglected or postponed, leaving a project or mission with little choice. In too many cases, the immediate reaction is to use what was used before; this usually turns out not to be possible and results in large sums of money, and amounts of time, being expended on reinvention rather than development of a material with extended capabilities. Material innovation and development is time consuming, with some common wisdom claiming that the timeline is at least 20 years. This time expands considerably when development is stopped and restarted, or knowledge is lost. Down selection of materials is necessary, especially as the Technical Readiness Level (TRL) increases. However, the costs must be considered and approaches should be taken to retain knowledge and allow for restarting the development process. Regardless of the exact time required, it is clear that it is necessary to have materials, at all stages of development, in a research and development pipeline and available for maturation as required. This talk will discuss some of theses issues, including some of the elements for a development path for materials. Some history of materials developments will be included. The usefulness of computational materials science, as a route to decreasing material development time, will be an important element of this discussion. Collaboration with outside institutions and nations is also critical for innovation, but raises the issues of intellectual property and protections, and national security (ITAR rules, for example).

Johnson, Sylvia M.↗

NASA NTRS2020

How emissions uncertainty influences the distribution and radiative impacts of smoke from fires in North America

Fires and the aerosols that they emit impact air quality, health, and climate, but the abundance and properties of carbonaceous aerosol (both black carbon and organic carbon) from biomass burning (BB) remain uncertain and poorly constrained. We aim to explore the uncertainties associated with fire emissions and their air quality and radiative impacts from underlying dry matter consumed and emissions factors. To investigate this, we compare model simulations from a global chemical transport model, GEOS-Chem, driven by a variety of fire emission inventories with surface and airborne observations of black carbon (BC) and organic aerosol (OA) concentrations and satellite-derived aerosol optical depth (AOD). We focus on two fire-detection-based and/or burned-area-based (FD-BA) inventories using burned area and active fire counts, respectively, i.e., the Global Fire Emissions Database version 4 (GFED4s) with small fires and the Fire INventory from NCAR version 1.5 (FINN1.5), and two fire radiative power (FRP)-based approaches, i.e., the Quick Fire Emission Dataset version 2.4 (QFED2.4) and the Global Fire Assimilation System version 1.2 (GFAS1.2). We show that, across the inventories, emissions of BB aerosol (BBA) differ by a factor of 4 to 7 over North America and that dry matter differences, not emissions factors, drive this spread. We find that simulations driven by QFED2.4 generally overestimate BC and, to a lesser extent, OA concentrations observations from two fire-influenced aircraft campaigns in North America (ARCTAS and DC3) and from the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) network, while simulations driven by FINN1.5 substantially underestimate concentrations. The GFED4s and GFAS1.2-driven simulations provide the best agreement with OA and BC mass concentrations at the surface (IMPROVE), BC observed aloft (DC3 and ARCTAS), and AOD observed by MODIS over North America. We also show that a sensitivity simulation including an enhanced source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from fires, based on the NOAA Fire Lab 2016 experiments, produces substantial additional OA; however, the spread in the primary emissions estimates implies that this magnitude of SOA can be neither confirmed nor ruled out when comparing the simulations against the observations explored here. Given the substantial uncertainty in fire emissions, as represented by these four emission inventories, we find a sizeable range in 2012 annual BBA PM2.5 population-weighted exposure over Canada and the contiguous US (0.5 to 1.6 µg/cu. m). We also show that the range in the estimated global direct radiative effect of carbonaceous aerosol from fires (−0.11 to −0.048 W/sq. m) is large and comparable to the direct radiative forcing of OA (−0.09 W/sq. m) estimated in the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Our analysis suggests that fire emissions uncertainty challenges our ability to accurately characterize the impact of smoke on air quality and climate.

North America↗

NASA NTRS2013

Lunar Sulfur Capture System

The Lunar Sulfur Capture System (LSCS) protects in situ resource utilization (ISRU) hardware from corrosion, and reduces contaminant levels in water condensed for electrolysis. The LSCS uses a lunar soil sorbent to trap over 98 percent of sulfur gases and about two-thirds of halide gases evolved during hydrogen reduction of lunar soils. LSCS soil sorbent is based on lunar minerals containing iron and calcium compounds that trap sulfur and halide gas contaminants in a fixed-bed reactor held at temperatures between 250 and 400 C, allowing moisture produced during reduction to pass through in vapor phase. Small amounts of Earth-based polishing sorbents consisting of zinc oxide and sodium aluminate are used to reduce contaminant concentrations to one ppm or less. The preferred LSCS configuration employs lunar soil beneficiation to boost concentrations of reactive sorbent minerals. Lunar soils contain sulfur in concentrations of about 0.1 percent, and halogen compounds including chlorine and fluorine in concentrations of about 0.01 percent. These contaminants are released as gases such as H2S, COS, CS2,HCl, and HF during thermal ISRU processing with hydrogen or other reducing gases. Removal of contaminant gases is required during ISRU processing to prevent hardware corrosion, electrolyzer damage, and catalyst poisoning. The use of Earth-supplied, single-use consumables to entirely remove contaminants at the levels existing in lunar soils would make many ISRU processes unattractive due to the large mass of consumables relative to the mass of oxygen produced. The LSCS concept of using a primary sorbent prepared from lunar soil was identified as a method by which the majority of contaminants could be removed from process gas streams, thereby substantially reducing the required mass of Earth-supplied consumables. The LSCS takes advantage of minerals containing iron and calcium compounds that are present in lunar soil to trap sulfur and halide gases in a fixedbed reactor downstream of an in-ISRU process such as hydrogen reduction. The lunar-soil-sorbent trap is held at a temperature significantly lower than the operating temperature of the hydrogen reduction or other ISRU process in order to maximize capture of contaminants, but is held at a high enough temperature to allow moisture to pass through without condensing. The lunar soil benefits from physical beneficiation to remove ultrafine particles (to reduce pressure drop through a fixed bed reactor) and to upgrade concentrations of iron and/or calcium compounds (to improve reactivity with gaseous contaminants).

Berggren, Mark↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Reconstruction of Thermal Protection System Aeroheating using a Green’s Function Approach

Inverse heat transfer (IHT) techniques are often used to reconstruct the surface heating conditions on spacecraft thermal protection systems (TPS) during atmospheric entry. Current IHT techniques for entry spacecraft applications, however, demand substantial computational resources, and are impractical for analyses such as uncertainty quantification and real-time health monitoring. In this paper, a Green’s function sensor fusion approach is used to reconstruct the TPS surface aeroheating conditions on experimental spaceflight and ground test systems from collocated temperature and heat flux sensors embedded in the TPS. The algorithm leverages Green’s functions to model the heat conduction within the spacecraft TPS and stabilizes the recovery of the surface heating condition using the direct heat flux sensor measurement. The algorithm is validated using arc-jet ground test data and applied to the reconstruction of the Mars 2020 backshell heating during Martian atmospheric entry. The performance of the algorithm is benchmarked against a current state-of-the-art IHT framework, FIAT_Opt. The Green’s function-based reconstruction algorithm recovers the net hot-wall heat flux absorbed by the TPS and the incident heat flux from the atmospheric entry environment in close agreement with FIAT_Opt. Notably, computation of the surface heating condition is completed in three orders of magnitude less time with the Green’s function sensor fusion approach using a consumer-grade PC, versus with FIAT_Opt running on a high performance computer cluster. The efficiency of the algorithm is leveraged to compute the uncertainty contributions of input parameters to the total uncertainty in reconstructed Mars 2020 backshell heating for the full atmospheric entry heat pulse. The sensitivity analysis uncovers that, at different times throughout the entry heat pulse, uncertainties in the TPS specific heat, thermal conductivity, and emissivity are all dominant drivers of the reconstruction uncertainty. These results demonstrate Green’s functions and sensor-fusion techniques as promising IHT approaches to reconstruct atmospheric entry environments from TPS-embedded measurements, and highlight how these techniques may give access to post-flight analyses previously hindered by the prohibitive cost of current methods.

Kenneth McAfee↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Reconstruction of Thermal Protection System Aeroheating using a Green’s Function Approach

Kenneth McAfee↗

NASA NTRS2016

Advanced Technologies to Improve Closure of Life Support Systems

As NASA looks beyond the International Space Station toward long-duration, deep space missions away from Earth, the current practice of supplying consumables and spares will not be practical nor affordable. New approaches are sought for life support and habitation systems that will reduce dependency on Earth and increase mission sustainability. To reduce launch mass, further closure of Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) beyond the current capability of the ISS will be required. Areas of particular interest include achieving higher degrees of recycling within Atmosphere Revitalization, Water Recovery and Waste Management Systems. NASA is currently investigating advanced carbon dioxide reduction processes that surpass the level of oxygen recovery available from the Sabatier Carbon Dioxide Reduction Assembly (CRA) on the ISS. Candidate technologies will potentially improve the recovery of oxygen from about 50% (for the CRA) to as much as 100% for technologies who's end product is solid carbon. Improving the efficiency of water recycling and recovery can be achieved by the addition of advanced technologies to recover water from brines and solid wastes. Bioregenerative technologies may be utilized for water reclaimation and also for the production of food. Use of higher plants will simultaneously benefit atmosphere revitalization and water recovery through photosynthesis and transpiration. The level at which bioregenerative technologies are utilized will depend on their comparative requirements for spacecraft resources including mass, power, volume, heat rejection, crew time and reliability. Planetary protection requirements will need to be considered for missions to other solar system bodies.

Barta, Daniel J.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Information Technology Support in the 8000 Directorate

My summer internship was spent supporting various projects within the Environmental Management Office and Glenn Safety Office. Mentored by Eli Abumeri, I was trained in areas of Information Technology such as: Servers, printers, scanners, CAD systems, Web, Programming, and Database Management, ODIN (networking, computers, and phones). I worked closely with the Chemical Sampling and Analysis Team (CSAT) to redesign a database to more efficiently manage and maintain data collected for the Drinking Water Program. This Program has been established for over fifteen years here at the Glenn Research Center. It involves the continued testing and retesting of all drinking water dispensers. The quality of the drinking water is of great importance and is determined by comparing the concentration of contaminants in the water with specifications set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and its 1986 and 1991 amendments. The Drinking Water Program consists of periodic testing of all drinking water fountains and sinks. Each is tested at least once every 2 years for contaminants and naturally occurring species. The EPA's protocol is to collect an initial and a 5 minute draw from each dispenser. The 5 minute draw is what is used for the maximum contaminant level. However, the CS&AT has added a 30 second draw since most individuals do not run the water 5 minutes prior to drinking. This data is then entered into a relational Microsoft Access database. The database allows for the quick retrieval of any test@) done on any dispenser. The data can be queried by building number, date or test type, and test results are documented in an analytical report for employees to read. To aid with the tracking of recycled materials within the lab, my help was enlisted to create a database that could make this process less cumbersome and more efficient. The date of pickup, type of material, weight received, and unit cost per recyclable. This information could then calculate the dollar amount generated by the recycling of certain materials. This database will ultimately prove useful in determining the amounts of materials consumed by the lab and will help serve as an indicator potential overuse.

FROM↗

NASA NTRS2008

The Pressurized Logistics Module: Providing Consumables and Resupply Logistics to the Lunar Surface for a Long-duration Manned Mission

In response to President Bush s 2004 Vision for Space Exploration initiative, NASA established an agency-wide Lunar Architecture Team (LAT) to develop the high-level requirements, assumptions, ground-rules and objectives for a manned mission to the moon. During Phase II of the evaluation, the Habitation Focus Element Group was directed to conceptually develop and design a Pressurized Logistics Module (PLM). The PLM task was delivered with one major requirement: to derive a system with minimal mass and cost, and a maximum, functional, internal volumetric area in order to provide the maximum amount of consumables, supportability and logistic re-supply for a crew of four to the Lunar surface with an overall integrated maximum weight of 5200kg. The PLM was derived from the Habitation Group s "mini-Hab" option. This concept required that the PLM have an aluminum-clad graphite epoxy external truss, utilized for increased mobility and stability, which would encompass a 2.7 meter diameter pressurized aluminum-lithium cylinder. Several trade studies and analyses were performed to determine the final length and orientation of the module, the number of systems required to maintain the PLM, and the number of hatches/mating mechanisms which would successfully and efficiently meet the requirements. Of the five specific configurations assessed, the PLM was determined to have a 3 meter by 3 meter by 5 meter external truss with a 2.7 meter diameter and 5 meter long horizontal, pressurized cylinder with one hatch/mating mechanism on one end cone. Two major assumptions aided in the formulation of the technical baseline: 1) the PLM should be sustainable for up to 18 months on the Lunar Lander without connection to its final destination, the Lunar Outpost, and 2) it must be self-sufficient to withstand a maximum eight hour transit from the Lander to the Outpost. Per these assumptions, eight major systems constitute the PLM: structures, passive mating, protection, power, thermal, avionics, life support and outfitting. Including a conservative 20% growth, the overall estimated tare weight for the PLM was determined to be 2181kg. The tare weight of the design allowed the available internal volume of the cylinder with a 0.20 meter high floor to transport the maximum of either 176 single Crew Transfer Bags (CTBs) or 3019kg.

Carpenter, Amanda↗

NASA NTRS2011

Asynchronous Message Service Reference Implementation

This software provides a library of middleware functions with a simple application programming interface, enabling implementation of distributed applications in conformance with the CCSDS AMS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems Asynchronous Message Service) specification. The AMS service, and its protocols, implement an architectural concept under which the modules of mission systems may be designed as if they were to operate in isolation, each one producing and consuming mission information without explicit awareness of which other modules are currently operating. Communication relationships among such modules are self-configuring; this tends to minimize complexity in the development and operations of modular data systems. A system built on this model is a society of generally autonomous, inter-operating modules that may fluctuate freely over time in response to changing mission objectives, modules functional upgrades, and recovery from individual module failure. The purpose of AMS, then, is to reduce mission cost and risk by providing standard, reusable infrastructure for the exchange of information among data system modules in a manner that is simple to use, highly automated, flexible, robust, scalable, and efficient. The implementation is designed to spawn multiple threads of AMS functionality under the control of an AMS application program. These threads enable all members of an AMS-based, distributed application to discover one another in real time, subscribe to messages on specific topics, and to publish messages on specific topics. The query/reply (client/server) communication model is also supported. Message exchange is optionally subject to encryption (to support confidentiality) and authorization. Fault tolerance measures in the discovery protocol minimize the likelihood of overall application failure due to any single operational error anywhere in the system. The multi-threaded design simplifies processing while enabling application nodes to operate at high speeds; linked lists protected by mutex semaphores and condition variables are used for efficient, inter-thread communication. Applications may use a variety of transport protocols underlying AMS itself, including TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), UDP (User Datagram Protocol), and message queues.

Burleigh, Scott C.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Shock-Wave/Boundary-Layer Interaction (SWBLI) Experiments in the Presence of Transition-to-Turbulence on a Flat Plate Model in the NASA LaRC 31-Inch Mach 10 Air Tunnel

Historically, there have been a limited number of studies involving Transitional Shock-Wave/Boundary-Layer Interactions (XSWBLI) in hypersonic flows, the majority of which have been performed at Mach Numbers of 7.5 and below. Additionally, there have been even fewer such experiments which incorporate non-intrusive and optical diagnostics. NASA Langley Research Center (NASA LaRC), in collaboration with The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and The University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI), is currently planning and preparing for a series of experimental aerodynamic tests using the NASA LaRC 31-inch Mach 10 Air Tunnel. The experiments will primarily focus on studying the dynamics of Shock-Wave/Boundary-Layer Interactions (SWBLI) in the presence of transition (XSWBLI) and turbulence (SWTBLI) on a large, flat plate model at a freestream Mach number of 10. Besides continued interest in understanding the flow at high Mach numbers, executing such tests at Mach 10 avoids some known concerns and will aid in solving new problems. XSWBLI are a highly unsteady phenomena and the generation of XSWBLI at lower Mach numbers can prove to be a significant challenge. This concern will be somewhat mitigated in the Mach 10 flow, as boundary layers become increasingly stabilized, but some difficulty in achieving transition is still expected. Modelling SWBLI in the presence of transitional and turbulent boundary layers has also proven to be difficult, so a high-Mach number experiment which applies non-intrusive and optical diagnostics will aid in solving a unique problem as well as advancing the understanding and characterization of an aerodynamic surface at Mach 10.The NASA LaRC 31-inch Wind Tunnel incorporates a test section having a cross-section of 31-inches × 31-inches and provides optical access to the test section via three (3) ultra-violet (UV) transmitting windows on the top, side, and bottom. The Mach 10 operating conditions will consist of pressures (P0) ranging from 2.4 to 10MPa (348 to 1,450 psi) at a temperature (T0) of 1,000 K (1,800 °R). The NASA LaRC 31-inch wind tunnel will deliver 1-minute blow-down runs, of which 30-45 seconds will be consumed to reach the aforementioned test conditions. The pump down time between runs will be approximately 45-60 minutes, which will provide for 6-10 test runs per day over the course of a weeklong entry. The proposed flat plate model will be constructed of stainless steel with geometry consisting of a10-inch × 30-inch upper surface and a 2-inch thickness. The model will be designed to support multiple leading-edge inserts in order to examine blunt, round, and sharp leading edges at Mach 10. Adjustments will be made to manage boundary layer thickness as well as the strength and size of the shock interaction region for each test. Measurements and diagnostics will be performed though high-speed Schlieren, on-body high-speed pressure transducers, IR thermography, and oil flow visualization. Hypersonic vehicle applications have and will continue to emerge at the forefront of aerospace. The NASA-UTSA-UTSI team realizes the value of characterizing SWBLI, XSWBLI, and SWTBLI behaviors well beyond single-digit hypersonic Mach numbers. As hypersonic vehicle speed capabilities continue to increase, measurement and diagnostic methods for Mach numbers of 10 and beyond will provide the foundation for a firm understanding of flow field behavior which will directly influence the advancement of technologies towards the design and manufacturing of high-speed aerodynamic surfaces, controls, thermal protection systems, acoustic treatments, and structural components. The use of non-intrusive and optical diagnostic methods in such experimentation is pivotal in developing the visualization and empirical data necessary to advance the aforementioned technology areas.

Shockwave/Boundary-Layer Interactions↗