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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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Slide deck for Annual Merit Review event. Describes and presents the entire DirectXFC project, Overview, Relevance, Milestones, Approach, Technical Accomplishments, Future Research, Summary, and Collaborators.
NREL's Lifecycle Analysis Integration into Opensource Numerical models (LiAISON) framework computes temporally explicit life cycle impacts and resource uses for specific technologies (foreground) in a dynamic system context (background). LiAISON computes results for a series of environmental mid-points enabling an analysis of prospective tradeoffs of emerging technologies toward 2100. This prospective feature is of critical importance when analyzing present-day emerging technologies whose large-scale impacts during deployment phases will occur in different, future system contexts. LiAISON systematically accounts for dynamic system changes by applying an integrated background of the future energy-economy-land-climate system, generated by exogenous integrated assessment models (IAMs). Using IAM scenarios, LiAISON generates a time-series of life cycle inventory (LCI) databases, which are then used to calculate the impacts per functional unit per time step. This expands current practice of using static, future system assumptions, e.g., a specific grid-mix each year. Further, IAM scenarios are provided in a standardized format of shared-socioeconomic pathways (SSP) and representative concentration pathways (RCP) combinations. These are coherent, regularly, published, and peer-reviewed scenario combinations that establish a reproducible and standardized societal and climate mitigation futures context. They are comparable across IAMs and expand the system boundary of the traditional LCA by including dimensions such as societal and behavioral changes. We apply the framework to assess two emerging Power-to-Hydrogen processes, high temperature electrolysis using solid oxide fuel cell (HT-SOE) and polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis (PEME). We compare the technologies to a baseline Hydrogen production process via steam methane reforming. Despite the decarbonized electricity systems' beneficial effects on the PtH2 processes' carbon intensities, we find environmental tradeoffs, which require technology improvements via learning-by-doing to be alleviated. Future work via ongoing collaborations will focus on linking the framework to other energy-economy-land-climate models and open-source life cycle inventory databases.
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) announced at COP27 it would reach net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2031. As a Nuclear, Energy and Environment, and National Homeland Security laboratory, the predominant solution to closing the clean energy gap will include nuclear as a safe, clean, reliable and affordable electricity source with the additional benefit of producing heat and hydrogen to fuel INL’s large transportation fleet. INL’s collaboration first vs. competition is essential to the program’s success. The focused actions in INL’s Nuclear Roadmap include: Infrastructure, Licensing/Regulatory, Financial, Time to Market, Fuel Cycle and Public Confidence/Communications. The roadmap also includes nuclear technology innovations and creative partnerships with utility providers, regulators, businesses, community members, and Indigenous Peoples to accelerate deployment of advanced reactors. Through development of the Net-Zero Nuclear Roadmap, INL will offer a model to provide safe and secure energy for the nation and the world by: (1) establishing the necessary infrastructure on its 890-square mile site to support demonstration, (2) showing proven pathways through the licensing and regulation process, (3) partnering with utilities to ensure commercial application, and (4) collaborating with industry to site new technologies.
The California Bridge to the Electron Ion Collider traineeship program established an integrated workforce development effort connecting University of California campuses, California State University Minority Serving Institutions, and DOE national laboratories. The program expanded participation in nuclear physics research among students from underrepresented and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds while strengthening collaborative activities aligned with the future Electron Ion Collider. During the award period, trainees conducted experimental, theoretical, and computational research, participated in consortium meetings and national laboratory collaborations, and received structured mentoring and professional development. The program achieved strong outcomes in graduate school placement, STEM career transitions, and sustained engagement with DOE Nuclear Physics research.
Future in-situ lunar/martian resource utilization and characterization, as well as the scientific search for life on Mars, will require access to the subsurface and hence drilling. Drilling on Earth is hard - an art form more than an engineering discipline. Human operators listen and feel drill string vibrations coming from kilometers underground. Abundant mass and energy make it possible for terrestrial drilling to employ brute-force approaches to failure recovery and system performance issues. Space drilling will require intelligent and autonomous systems for robotic exploration and to support human exploration. Eventual in-situ resource utilization will require deep drilling with probable human-tended operation of large-bore drills, but initial lunar subsurface exploration and near-term ISRU will be accomplished with lightweight, rover-deployable or standalone drills capable of penetrating a few tens of meters in depth. These lightweight exploration drills have a direct counterpart in terrestrial prospecting and ore-body location, and will be designed to operate either human-tended or automated. NASA and industry now are acquiring experience in developing and building low-mass automated planetary prototype drills to design and build a pre-flight lunar prototype targeted for 2011-12 flight opportunities. A successful system will include development of drilling hardware, and automated control software to operate it safely and effectively. This includes control of the drilling hardware, state estimation of both the hardware and the lithography being drilled and state of the hole, and potentially planning and scheduling software suitable for uncertain situations such as drilling. Given that Humans on the Moon or Mars are unlikely to be able to spend protracted EVA periods at a drill site, both human-tended and robotic access to planetary subsurfaces will require some degree of standalone, autonomous drilling capability. Human-robotic coordination will be important, either between a robotic drill and humans on Earth, or a human-tended drill and its visiting crew. The Mars Analog Rio Tinto Experiment (MARTE) is a current project that studies and simulates the remote science operations between an automated drill in Spain and a distant, distributed human science team. The Drilling Automation for Mars Exploration (DAME) project, by contrast: is developing and testing standalone automation at a lunar/martian impact crater analog site in Arctic Canada. The drill hardware in both projects is a hardened, evolved version of the Advanced Deep Drill (ADD) developed by Honeybee Robotics for the Mars Subsurface Program. The current ADD is capable of 20m, and the DAME project is developing diagnostic and executive software for hands-off surface operations of the evolved version of this drill. The current drill automation architecture being developed by NASA and tested in 2004-06 at analog sites in the Arctic and Spain will add downhole diagnosis of different strata, bit wear detection, and dynamic replanning capabilities when unexpected failures or drilling conditions are discovered in conjunction with simulated mission operations and remote science planning. The most important determinant of future 1unar and martian drilling automation and staffing requirements will be the actual performance of automated prototype drilling hardware systems in field trials in simulated mission operations. It is difficult to accurately predict the level of automation and human interaction that will be needed for a lunar-deployed drill without first having extensive experience with the robotic control of prototype drill systems under realistic analog field conditions. Drill-specific failure modes and software design flaws will become most apparent at this stage. DAME will develop and test drill automation software and hardware under stressful operating conditions during several planned field campaigns. Initial results from summer 2004 tests show seven identifi distinct failure modes of the drill: cuttings-removal issues with low-power drilling into permafrost, and successful steps at executive control and initial automation.
The objective of the Delivery Environments (DE) Testbeds to Reduce Uncertainties in Simulations and Tests (TRUST) project is to quantify and help increase confidence in specific areas of computational and experimental capabilities that are applicable to current and future delivery environments. More complete quantification of confidence in experimental and computational capabilities and the sufficient increase of confidence in those capabilities is critical to improving weapons engineering design, qualification, and assessment efforts that are critical to the current and future stockpile. Staff development will include cross-discipline collaboration to provide engineers with experience in both numerical simulations and experimental methods. This work uses and provides feedback on analysis tools and experimental results databases for efficient and responsive engineering which are currently under development. TRUST currently includes five testbeds and their associated engineering analysis baseline models (EABMs): 1. contact thermal conductivity, (CTC) 2. nonlinear dynamics, (ND) 3. sensors in environments for accelerometers, (SEA) 4. sensors in environments for fiber optic displacement gages, and (SEFOD) 5. sensors in environments for thermocouples (SETC). The TRUST project uses single-feature testbeds to quantify uncertainties in specific models and experiments and to identify capability development needs that can help to reduce these uncertainties. Each testbed is designed, configured, and tested in collaboration with groups with design and experimental capability: E-14 and MPA-CINT. The complementary simulations are conducted using W-13 analysis tools and stored in model repositories with plans for incremental progress toward EABM requirements. W-13 extends and exercises the testbed simulations in collaboration with experimentalists for uncertainty quantification of current and future materials, geometries, and environments. Additionally, TRUST is intended to provide engineers in W-13 and E-14 with experience in both numerical simulations and experimental methods through cross-discipline collaborations. Following the introduction to the TRUST project, the remainder of this report focuses on experimental and analytical efforts conducted in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 relevant to the TRUST Contact Thermal Conductance (CTC) testbed.
This presentation is focused on the development of the CESAR1 solvent system model by the CCSI2 team and validation with pilot plant data from Technology Centre Mongstad. It also serves as an update of previous work by incorporating a new thermodynamic model of the system developed by collaborators from Heriot-Watt University through the SCOPE program. Finally, it includes some discussions on future directions of the project including collaboration with SCOPE to add the capability of amine emissions prediction along with some parametric uncertainty quantification work on the submodels.
An investment in the future, NASA has designated a new initiative where government, industry, and academia collaborate to meet the manufacturing needs of future space systems. The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama has the principal responsibility for implementation of the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing (NCAM). The mission of the NCAM is to build partnerships that will jointly conduct program planning and develop strategies to perform manufacturing research and technology development for critical national missions.
Current and future satellite sensors provide remotely sensed quantities from a variety of wavelengths ranging from the visible to the passive microwave, from both geostationary and low-Earth orbits. The NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center has a long history of providing multispectral imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA s Terra and Aqua satellites in support of NWS forecast office activities. Products from MODIS have recently been extended to include a broader suite of multispectral imagery similar to those developed by EUMETSAT, based upon the spectral channel s available from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) aboard METEOSAT-9. This broader suite includes products that discriminate between air mass types associated with synoptic-scale features, assists in the identification of dust, and improves upon paired channel difference detection of fog and low cloud events. Similarly, researchers at NOAA/NESDIS and CIRA have developed air mass discrimination capabilities using channels available from the current GOES Sounders. Other applications of multispectral composites include combinations of high and low frequency, horizontal and vertically polarized passive microwave brightness temperatures to discriminate tropical cyclone structures and other synoptic-scale features. Many of these capabilities have been transitioned for evaluation and operational use at NWS Weather Forecast Offices and National Centers through collaborations with SPoRT and CIRA. Future instruments will continue the availability of these products and also expand upon current capabilities. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on GOES-R will improve the spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution of our current geostationary capabilities, and the recent launch of the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) carries instruments such as the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), and the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), which have unrivaled spectral and spatial resolution, as precursors to the JPSS era (i.e., the next generation of polar orbiting satellites). At the same time, new image manipulation and display capabilities are available within AWIPS II, the next generation of the NWS forecaster decision support system. This presentation will present a review of SPoRT, CIRA, and NRL collaborations regarding multispectral satellite imagery and articulate an integrated and collaborative path forward with Raytheon AWIPS II development staff for integrating current and future capabilities that support new satellite instrumentation and the AWIPS II decision support system.
The use of space techniques continues to play a key role in the advance of astrophysics by providing access to the entire electromagnetic spectrum from the radio observations to the high energy gamma rays. The increasing size, complexity and cost of large space observatories places a growing emphasis on international collaboration. Furthermore, combining existing and future datasets from space and ground based observatories is an emerging mode of powerful and relatively inexpensive research to address problems that can only be tackled by the application of large multi-wavelength observations. If the present set of space and ground-based astronomy facilities today is impressive and complete, with space and ground based astronomy telescopes nicely complementing each other, the situation becomes concerning and critical in the next 10-20 years. In fact, only a few main space missions are planned, possibly restricted to JWST and, perhaps, WFIRST and SPICA, since no other main facilities are already recommended. A "Working Group on the Future of Space Astronomy" was established at the 38th COSPAR Assembly held in Bremen, Germany in July 2010. The purpose of this Working Group was to establish a roadmap for future major space missions to complement future large ground-based telescopes. This paper presents the results of this study including a number of recommendations and a road map for the next decades of Space Astronomy research.
Both NASA and DoD have had a long standing interest in teamwork, distributed decision making, and automation. While research on these topics has been pursued independently, it is becoming increasingly clear that the integration of social, cognitive, and human factors engineering principles will be necessary to meet the challenges of highly sophisticated scientific and military programs of the future. Images of human/intelligent-machine electronic collaboration were drawn from NASA and Air Force reports as well as from other sources. Here, areas of common concern are highlighted. A description of the author's research program testing a 'psychological distancing' model of electronic media effects and human/expert system collaboration is given.
Flow-field analysis techniques under continuing development at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are the foundation for a new type of health monitoring instrumentation for propulsion systems and a vast range of other applications. Physics, spectroscopy, mechanics, optics, and cutting-edge computer sciences merge to make recent developments in such instrumentation possible. Issues encountered in adaptation of such a system to future space vehicles, or retrofit in existing hardware, are central to the work. This paper is an overview of the collaborative efforts results, current efforts, and future plans.
The GFDL (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core (FV3) is a scalable and flexible dynamical core capable of both hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic atmospheric simulations. FV3 has been chosen as the dynamical core for the Next Generation Global Prediction System project (NGGPS), designed to upgrade the current NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction, NOAA) operational Global Forecast System (GFS) to run as a unified, fully-coupled system in NOAA's Environmental Modeling System infrastructure. FV3 dynamic core has a long history of serving as the main engine for global atmospheric models at various Government and Academic Research Laboratories including NOAA: GFDL Climate Modeling Suite (AM4 (Atmosphere Modeling 4), CM4 (Climate Model 4) ESM4 (Earth System Model 4), Hiram (HIgh Resolution Atmospheric Model)); NASA: GMAO (Global Modeling and Assimilation Office) Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS); and NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) Community Earth System Model (CESM). The three primary stakeholders in FV3 (GFDL, GMAO, EMC (Environmental Modeling Center - NOAA)) have embarked on synergistic and collaborative strategies with focus on the advancement of non-hydrostratic dynamic core, physics, chemistry, and data assimilation efforts, leveraging collective strengths of each of the partnering agencies. This talk presents the ongoing plans for model advancements at GFDL, GMAO and EMC, with special emphasis on contributions towards developing community based unified global modeling system for operational and research applications at respective organizations. Future plans include extending the collaborations to the development of earth system components including GMAO's aerosol chemistry models (GOCART/MAM (Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport / Modal Aerosol Model)), Land Information System (LIS), and advanced data assimilation techniques; and GFDL's Modular Ocean Model (MOM) and Sea Ice Simulator (SIS) for transition to operations at NCEP.
Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy is a new technique for ultra-precise spectroscopy of low-energy electrons. This project aimed at developing capabilities that would be useful to a future CRES experiment. The recent results from the Project 8 and He6-CRES collaborations indicate that CRES has a promising future, but will need advancements to continue developing. In this report we cover the four tasks that comprised the project: data acquisition, data management, updating the raw-data format, a cloud computing.
The "Remote Sensing and Fluxes Upscaling for Real-world Impact" workshop, held on July 9-10, 2024, at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, was a collaborative effort led by the AmeriFlux Management Project, NEON, and the Carbon Dew Community of Practice. The event brought together over 200 registrants and approximately 100 attendees each day, including leading experts, researchers, and practitioners. The primary focus was on bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and practical applications in environmental monitoring by integrating remote sensing and flux data. Key themes included the importance of site-level measurements for validating remote sensing products, providing nature-based climate solutions, and addressing challenges such as instrument costs and the need for standardized methods. At the regional scale, discussions centered on addressing spatial heterogeneity and using high-resolution remote sensing and machine learning methods to enhance data interpretation. Global scale challenges included data consistency, gap filling, and accurate emission source identification, with opportunities for international collaboration and standardized practices to improve global carbon budget assessments. The workshop emphasized the critical need for integrating data across local, regional, and global scales through explicit scale-matching and developed a workflow for scaling flux data using "straight shot" and "explicit nesting" approaches. The event highlighted the importance of connecting scientific research with real-world applications in carbon, energy, and water management, ensuring that advancements translate into tangible societal benefits. These insights will guide future research, technology transfer, and collaboration, maximizing the potential of environmental fluxes to address real-world challenges.
The Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) Urban Integrated Field Laboratory seeks a new paradigm for urban climate research. Motivated by deep uncertainties in urban climate and the future of urban systems, BSEC works collaboratively across institutions and stakeholder groups to co-generate the science needed to advance energy security and resilience to extreme events across the city of Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and to do so in a manner that can inform similar efforts in other cities. BSEC begins with stakeholder priorities (health, affordable energy, etc) and designs observation networks and models to deliver climate science to address them. This takes the form of an iterative collaborative cycle, in which an initial research strategy is repeatedly updated in conversation with community partners, and researchers and stakeholders learn from each other. To date, this cycle has included multiple rounds of collaborative deliberation on urban heat mitigation, in which a multicriteria decision tool has been updated with more community-relevant spatial structure and modified optimization metrics. The guiding objective of this cycle is to inform potential ‘secure and resilient pathways’ for energy and infrastructure. In doing so, BSEC addresses fundamental urban science questions in natural and social sciences. It also tests our ability to integrate this science in a manner that advances participatory decision-making for urban resilience.
NASA Glenn Research Center, in collaboration with the aerospace industry and academia, has begun the development of technology for a future hybrid-wing body electric airplane with a turboelectric distributed propulsion (TeDP) system. It is essential to design a subscale system to emulate the TeDP power grid, which would enable rapid analysis and demonstration of the proof-of-concept of the TeDP electrical system. This paper describes how small electrical machines with their controllers can emulate all the components in a TeDP power train. The whole system model in Matlab/Simulink was first developed and tested in simulation, and the simulation results showed that system dynamic characteristics could be implemented by using the closed-loop control of the electric motor drive systems. Then we designed a subscale experimental system to emulate the entire power system from the turbine engine to the propulsive fans. Firstly, we built a system to emulate a gas turbine engine driving a generator, consisting of two permanent magnet (PM) motors with brushless motor drives, coupled by a shaft. We programmed the first motor and its drive to mimic the speed-torque characteristic of the gas turbine engine, while the second motor and drive act as a generator and produce a torque load on the first motor. Secondly, we built another system of two PM motors and drives to emulate a motor driving a propulsive fan. We programmed the first motor and drive to emulate a wound-rotor synchronous motor. The propulsive fan was emulated by implementing fan maps and flight conditions into the fourth motor and drive, which produce a torque load on the driving motor. The stator of each PM motor is designed to travel axially to change the coupling between rotor and stator. This feature allows the PM motor to more closely emulate a wound-rotor synchronous machine. These techniques can convert the plain motor system into a unique TeDP power grid emulator that enables real-time simulation performance using hardware-in-the-loop (HIL).
Designed to enable human space exploration missions, including eventual landings on Mars, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) represents a unique launch capability with a wide range of utilization opportunities, from delivering habitation systems into the lunar vicinity to high-energy transits through the outer solar system. Developed with the goals of safety, affordability and sustainability in mind, SLS is a foundational capability for NASA's future plans for exploration, along with the Orion crew vehicle and upgraded ground systems at the agency's Kennedy Space Center. Substantial progress has been made toward the first launch of the initial configuration of SLS, which will be able to deliver more than 70 metric tons of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO), greater mass-to-orbit capability than any contemporary launch vehicle. The vehicle will then be evolved into more powerful configurations, culminating with the capability to deliver more than 130 metric tons to LEO, greater even than the Saturn V rocket that enabled human landings on the moon. SLS will also be able to carry larger payload fairings than any contemporary launch vehicle, and will offer opportunities for co-manifested and secondary payloads. Because of its substantial mass-lift capability, SLS will also offer unrivaled departure energy, enabling mission profiles currently not possible. Early collaboration with science teams planning future decadal-class missions have contributed to a greater understanding of the vehicle's potential range of utilization. This presentation will discuss the potential opportunities this vehicle poses for the planetary sciences community, relating the vehicle's evolution to practical implications for mission capture. As this paper will explain, SLS will be a global launch infrastructure asset, employing sustainable solutions and technological innovations to deliver capabilities for space exploration to power human and robotic systems beyond our Moon and in to deep space.