Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “submarine”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Taxonomic and carbon metabolic diversification of Bathyarchaeia during its coevolution history with early Earth surface environment

Bathyarchaeia, as one of the most abundant microorganisms on Earth, play vital roles in the global carbon cycle. However, our understanding of their origin, evolution, and ecological functions remains poorly constrained. Here, we present the largest dataset of Bathyarchaeia metagenome assembled genome to date and reclassify Bathyarchaeia into eight order-level units corresponding to the former subgroup system. Highly diversified and versatile carbon metabolisms were found among different orders, particularly atypical C1 metabolic pathways, indicating that Bathyarchaeia represent overlooked important methylotrophs. Molecular dating results indicate that Bathyarchaeia diverged at ~3.3 billion years, followed by three major diversifications at ~3.0, ~2.5, and ~1.8 to 1.7 billion years, likely driven by continental emergence, growth, and intensive submarine volcanism, respectively. The lignin-degrading Bathyarchaeia clade emerged at ~300 million years perhaps contributed to the sharply decreased carbon sequestration rate during the Late Carboniferous period. The evolutionary history of Bathyarchaeia potentially has been shaped by geological forces, which, in turn, affected Earth’s surface environment.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Concepts for Neutrino Applications

Will neutrinos find uses outside basic science? It may be too early to say, but neutrino physicists have already imagined a variety of possibilities from the relatively modest to the more blue-sky. In this review, we survey the range of proposed applications, most involving nuclear reactors and other fission sources. We give special attention to the most recent proposals, including verifying submarine reactor integrity, safeguarding advanced nuclear power plants, and monitoring spent nuclear fuel. All of these concepts take advantage of the fact that neutrinos pass through barriers other signals cannot penetrate. That same fact creates the central challenge for neutrino applications: the size and complexity of detectors needed to collect a signal. Although the weakly interacting nature of neutrinos makes them fundamentally difficult to use, developments in detector technology are making some ideas more feasible.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ocean & Geohazard Analysis Tool

The Ocean & Geohazard Analysis (OGA) software tool is designed to summarize insights into key offshore hazards drawing from a diverse set of approaches, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, probabilistic and statistical, and offshore data sources. The offshore hazards that can be analyzed include submarine landslides, extreme wind/wave/current event probabilities, earthquakes, and metocean pathways (CIAM Climatological Isolation and Attraction Model–Climatological Lagrangian Coherent Structures - Submissions - EDX (doe.gov)). Currently, the tool is developed for use in the Gulf of Mexico. The data underlying the offshore hazard analyses can be found here: https://edx.netl.doe.gov/dataset/gulf-of-mexico-risk-analysis-database-gomrad This work was conducted under the Advanced Offshore Research Portfolio, FWP Number 1022409 at National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy. Disclaimer This project was funded by the United States Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, in part, through a site support contract. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor the support contractor, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

AIML↗
DOE OSTI2020

Crossroads Baker, "Helen of Bikini"

Test Baker, the underwater detonation of a Fat Man bomb nicknamed Helen of Bikini by an anonymous “Kilroy,” took place on July 25, 1946. Encased in a bathysphere fashioned from a submarine conning tower and suspended ninety feet below the surface of Bikini’s lagoon, Helen of Bikini was spectacular. Her energy burst through the lagoon surface at 11,000 ft. /sec pushing over two million cubic yards of radioactive seawater and sediment to a height of 4,300 feet within sixty seconds. Nine vessels were sunk and an additional five ships were physically destroyed, although still afloat. When it collapsed, the column of radioactive sediment and seawater spread over the surviving ships permanently contaminating them. Helen of Bikini destroyed the entire fleet of target vessels.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Role of Nuclear-Conventional Intermingling on State Decision-making and the Risk of Inadvertent Escalation

The questions answered by this report are: What are the implications of nuclear and conventional intermingling on crisis stability and the potential risk of miscalculation?, and Specifically, how might entanglement influence US and competitor decision making during crisis and conflict? In practice, there are three main forms of nuclear-conventional intermingling. First, intermingling between nuclear and non-nuclear weapon systems can occur via the fielding of dual capable delivery systems like missiles or aircraft. Second, intermingling can happen due to the co-location of nuclear and non-nuclear forces and their support structures—for example, the co-location of strategic bombers and general-purpose aircraft, or the co-location of strategic submarines and general-purpose vessels. Third, intermingling can occur via convolving nuclear and conventional military command and control systems, to include ballistic missile early warning and potentially space surveillance systems as well. All three forms of nuclear-conventional intermingling have significantly increased since the end of the Cold War, driven by both technological and doctrinal changes. However, there are important differences in the rationale behind, and also the risks associated with these three different forms of intermingling. The mere existence of dual capable systems is not new— deploying such systems can increase the effectiveness of forces, and it can also provide more flexibility. The major powers have both employed and threatened with dual capable systems for decades, and they have done so without nuclear escalation. Similarly, the major powers co-located nuclear and conventional systems in the Cold War, and they did so for variety of reasons that had nothing to do with complicating the adversary’s risk calculus. The Soviet Union, for example, decided to co-locate its nuclear and conventional forces for economic and administrative reasons. Although today it might be recognized as a useful deterrent tool, it was not their primary intention. Major powers want to convince rivals that the co-location of forces creates a high bar for targeting and raises the risk of nuclear escalation, but they also want to have the flexibility of this not being true in an actual crisis or conflict.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Operation Dominic

A very tall (6’5”) Austin McGuire endured duty aboard the cramped confines of a submarine during World War II. After receiving a doctorate in physics from the University Rochester, he came to Los Alamos in 1954, later participating in the Koa shot of Operation Hardtack I. In 1962, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Los Alamos task unit of Joint Task Force 8 (8.1.1) and sent to Christmas Island for Operation Dominic.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2022

The SMART Cables Initiative for Ocean and Geophysical Observing [Slides]

SMART Cables are becoming a reality, and have the potential to revolutionize submarine oceanographic and geophysical sensing. Pilot / demonstration projects are underway to test the technology and explore the feasibility of incorporating both in-repeater standardized sensor packets but also ancillary sensor types on external, branching nodes. The projects currently in planning will set the standard and influence the norms for the future of SMART systems. The interest of all potential stakeholders and users, and input as to needs and concerns, is welcomed as testing proceeds.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

OPALCO - Decatur Island Solar and Energy Storage Project: An Assessment of Battery Technical Performance

Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) is a member-owned, nonprofit cooperative utility that provides energy services to approximately 11,200 customers across 20 islands in San Juan County, Washington. OPALCO’s mostly hydroelectric power is generated by Bonneville Power Administration and delivered to the islands by submarine cables. In 2016, as part of the second round of funding from the Washington state Clean Energy Fund, OPALCO received a $1 million matching grant to support a project that deployed a 504-kW LG community photovoltaic (PV) system in combination with a 1 MW/2 MWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery energy storage system (BESS) on Decatur Island, Washington. The Decatur Island Substation is essential to ensuring reliable energy for the residents of the San Juan Islands as it is the point of interconnection with the mainland transmission system. The BESS, in combination with the community solar array, will deliver an innovative method to both defer the costly upgrade of the transmission system and allow for other high-value applications intended to benefit the utility and its customers. In 2018, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) completed a preliminary economic assessment for several identified use cases in collaboration with OPALCO. Between August 2021 and May 2022, extensive testing was conducted, and the results were used to assess the technical performance of the BESS subjected to actual field operations. Both reference performance and use case tests were performed: (a) Reference performance tests assess the general technical capabilities of the BESS, such as energy capacity, round-trip efficiency (RTE), ramp rate, and signal tracking capability. These are the first tests performed (baseline) and are repeated after use case tests (post cycle). A standardized U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) energy storage performance protocol was used to characterize the BESS, including representative duty cycle profiles, test procedure guidance, and calculation guidance for determining key characteristics. (b) Use case tests examine the performance of the BESS for specific use cases using duty cycles developed by PNNL in collaboration with OPALCO. Four use cases were selected for testing: 1) demand charge reduction, 2) load shaping, 3) outage mitigation, and 4) transmission deferral. The use case duty cycles were developed based on utility and site-specific characteristics in addition to the technical characteristics and physical capabilities of the BESS. Use case tests were performed between the baseline and post cycle tests. This report describes the BESS and its components, presents testing and performance analysis results, and shares key insights and lessons learned from this project. Outcomes of the tests and analyses will help OPALCO understand the performance of the Decatur Island BESS in its current state and design appropriate operational strategies for this and other BESSs over the long term.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Disruptive Supplies of Affordable Biomass Feedstock Grown in the Open Ocean

Marine BioEnergy was founded to commercialize a patented invention to enable open ocean kelp farms to produce feedstock by depth-cycling the farms. The concept is to surface the kelp during the day to absorb sunlight and CO 2 , and submerge the kelp at night to the nutrient-rich waters below the thermocline (~60-300 m deep). In an experiment, the kelp thrived in the depth-cycling environment. ARPA-E provided additional funds for Marine BioEnergy to develop a design of a full-scale farm system. Marine BioEnergy is preparing to deploy these farms, towed by unmanned drone submarines, to depth-cycle the kelp and produce disruptive supplies of affordable biomass feedstock that can be used to make carbon-neutral, drop-in fuels to enable the transition to net-zero carbon.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Strategic Analyses and Assessments Office Annual Report 2023

The past year has seen a significant increase in focus on strategic issues with the continued aggression by Russia, the rapid expansion of China’s military—particularly their nuclear capabilities, North Korea’s rapid improvements in intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology, and the increase in Iranian fuel enrichment. The U.S. continues to modernize Nuclear Command Control and Communication and all three legs of its nuclear Triad—Columbia-class submarines, Sentinel ICBMs, and B-21 bombers—for the Department of Defense (DOD). At the same time, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is updating its stockpile, producing the B61-12, the new B61-13, the W88 Alteration, the W87-1—with new pits, and the W80-4. This rework of the nuclear enterprise represents the most aggressive expansion of our capabilities and infrastructure in the modern era. At the same time, the Strategic Posture Commission completed its report to Congress and reported that the current modernization program, although clearly necessary, is insufficient to meet the threats that are emerging.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2024

Arctic Ocean Hydroacoustics

As the Arctic warms and loses its perennial ice cover, it is becoming more attractive for a variety of human uses. Hydroacoustic monitoring of this activity will grow in importance over the coming years and decades. Changes to the physical environment affect acoustic propagation and noise, with ramifications for our ability to detect and locate events and activities of interest. In this report, we use two long-term data sets from the Beaufort Sea, western Arctic Ocean, to determine how acoustic propagation conditions and seismic source detections are impacted by the changing environment: 1) oceanographic observations from ice-tethered profilers, and 2) passive acoustic recordings from a hydrophone. We find that changes to Beaufort Sea thermohaline stratification is stabilizing a subsurface duct, leading to more focused acoustic energy arrivals. Detections of catalogued submarine earthquakes show geographic differences in signal strength between seismic and acoustic waves. Signal strength increases with earthquake magnitude, but relationships to other source and path factors are less clear. Ambient noise also has clear seasonal patterns in the Arctic, with relatively low noise in the spring, higher noise near 1 Hz in summer, and higher noise near 10 Hz in winter. Climate change is expected to modify these seasonal noise patterns, impacting event detection. Future work will further investigate the mechanisms of ice effects on sound and couple acoustic modeling to an Earth System Model.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

High-Reliability Systems and the Control of National Security Data and Information

High-reliability systems are characterized by catastrophic implications in the event of failure. These implications can include substantive damage to the environment, social order, and loss of life. Examples of high-reliability systems include nuclear submarines, nuclear reactors, the electric grid, and nuclear weapons. Due to the catastrophic implications of failure, there are heightened awareness and control mechanisms surrounding related data and information. However, defining the difference between data and information is often ambiguous across scholarly disciplines and in United States policy and legislation. For high-reliability systems, the implications of ambiguity between data and information may affect the security of United States interests and even cost lives. For security, data are raw facts or figures without context, while information is the compilation or articulation of data that forms context. Security depends on clarity in the differences between data and information and how to control them. Control is necessary to ensure that data and information are not unintentionally released to foreign governments, the public, or those without need-to-know. A primary concern in the practice of security is the control of data to avoid the unintended conversion to information. Intra-institutionally, this control is highly complex given the amalgam of legacy data systems and the numerous and constantly evolving nature of modern data systems that were not necessarily designed to be integrated. The complexity of this concern is augmented when institutions are part of interinstitutional collaborations or networks of public-private partnerships that share data and information. Additionally, institutions that share data as a function of policy and legislative action— particularly formally integrated data and information system infrastructures—may be at higher security risk. This paper will present an intra-institutional paradigm that utilizes and integrates concepts from numerous disciplines to frame a critical and underspecified practical issue in security—controlling for the unintended conversion of data to information.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2023

High-Reliability Systems and the Control of National Security Data and Information

High-reliability systems are characterized by catastrophic implications in the event of failure. These implications can include substantive damage to the environment, social order, and loss of life. Examples of high-reliability systems include nuclear submarines, nuclear reactors, the electric grid, and nuclear weapons. Due to the catastrophic implications of failure, there are heightened awareness and control mechanisms surrounding related data and information. However, defining the difference between data and information is often ambiguous across scholarly disciplines and in United States policy and legislation. For high-reliability systems, the implications of ambiguity between data and information may affect the security of United States interests and even cost lives. For security, data are raw facts or figures without context, while information is the compilation or articulation of data that forms context. Security depends on clarity in the differences between data and information and how to control them. Control is necessary to ensure that data and information are not unintentionally released to foreign governments, the public, or those without need-to-know. A primary concern in the practice of security is the control of data to avoid the unintended conversion to information. Intra-institutionally, this control is highly complex given the amalgam of legacy data systems and the numerous and constantly evolving nature of modern data systems that were not necessarily designed to be integrated. The complexity of this concern is augmented when institutions are part of inter-institutional collaborations or networks of public-private partnerships that share data and information. Additionally, institutions that share data as a function of policy and legislative action—particularly formally integrated data and information system infrastructures—may be at higher security risk. This paper will present an intra-institutional paradigm that utilizes and integrates concepts from numerous disciplines to frame a critical and underspecified practical issue in security—controlling for the unintended conversion of data to information.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2025

Geophysical measurements of a demolition at NRF

On May 31 st , 2025, at approximately 14:40:00 UTC, the former Submarine First Westinghouse (SW1) structure housing a large crane was demolished at the Naval Reactors Facility (NRF) located within the perimeter of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Several targeted explosives were used to facilitate this demolition. The INL Seismic Monitoring Program (SMP) installed four temporary seismic instrument suites around the site of the demolition in order to monitor ground motion including measuring peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), and to calculate peak ground displacement (PGD). The demolition produced three types of waves: body waves, surface waves, and acoustic waves. The acoustic wave represents the largest signal received. The PGA, measured on the eastern component of the instrument located approximately 95m away from the demolition site, was 0.187g. The PGV measured was 0.0004 m/s, and the PGD was approximately 0.000006m. Rayleigh waves incident on an instrument located at the Advanced Test Reactor, about 7.6km away, were used to estimate a magnitude of 0.3 at the ATR, representing a yield of energy equivalent to approximately 3 grams of TNT.

58 - GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Persistent, extensive channelized drainage modeled beneath Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica

Abstract. Subglacial hydrology is a leading control on basal friction and the dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets. At low discharge, subglacial water flows through high-pressure, sheet-like systems that lead to low effective pressures. However, at high discharge, subglacial water melts the overlying ice into localized channels that efficiently remove water from the bed, thereby increasing effective pressure and basal friction. Recent observations suggest channelized subglacial flow exists beneath Thwaites Glacier, yet it remains unclear if stable channelization is feasible in West Antarctica, where surface melting is nonexistent and water at the bed is limited. Here, we use the MPAS-Albany Land Ice model to run a suite of over 130 subglacial hydrology simulations of Thwaites Glacier across a wide range of physical parameter choices to assess the likelihood of channelization. We then narrow our range of viable simulations by comparing modeled water thicknesses to previously observed radar specularity content, which indicates flat, spatially extensive water bodies at the bed. In all of our data-compatible simulations, stable channels reliably form within 100–200 km of the grounding line and reach individual discharge rates of 35–110 m3 s−1 at the ice–ocean boundary. While only one to two channels typically form across the 200 km width of the glacier in our simulations, their high efficiency drains water across the entire lateral extent of the glacier. We posit the large catchment size of Thwaites Glacier, its funnel-like geometry, and high basal melt rates together accumulate enough water to form stable channels. No simulations resembled observed specularity content when channelization was disabled. Our results suggest channelized subglacial hydrology has two consequences for Thwaites Glacier dynamics: (i) amplifying submarine melting of the terminus and ice shelf while (ii) simultaneously raising effective pressure within 100 km of the grounding line and increasing basal friction. The distribution of effective pressure implied from our modeling differs from parameterizations typically used in large-scale ice sheet models, suggesting the development of more process-based parameterizations may be necessary.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1963

Component design, construction and evaluation for satellites

Components for a high-reliability system such as the Telstar project are obtained by: (a) design of the component for the required environment, (b) careful control of manufacturing processes, (c) elimination of potential early failures by screening tests, and (d) selection of the most stable components. For passive components, these methods could be applied by using design parameters, suppliers and screening techniques established in the earlier submarine cable program, with consideration being given to the additional effects of the satellite launch and orbit environments. Semiconductor component designs were selected by qualification tests using accelerated electrical and environmental stress conditions. Screening tests were applied to eliminate early failures, and resulting components were aged from two to six months before selection for the satellite. The recognition of the effect of ionizing radiation on transistors caused the addition of a radiation qualification test, or a screening to assure selection of the least sensitive devices. Tests have shown this screening to be effective for the radiation intensity expected. Experience with the passive components, and evaluation of the accelerated test results and aging data of the semiconductor devices, indicate that the reliability objective was obtained.

TELSTAR SATELLITE↗