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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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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Some issues related to simulation of the tracking and communications computer network

The Communications Performance and Integration branch of the Tracking and Communications Division has an ongoing involvement in the simulation of its flight hardware for Space Station Freedom. Specifically, the communication process between central processor(s) and orbital replaceable units (ORU's) is simulated with varying degrees of fidelity. The results of investigations into three aspects of this simulation effort are given. The most general area involves the use of computer assisted software engineering (CASE) tools for this particular simulation. The second area of interest is simulation methods for systems of mixed hardware and software. The final area investigated is the application of simulation methods to one of the proposed computer network protocols for space station, specifically IEEE 802.4.

Lacovara, Robert C.↗
NASA NTRS1996

SEDSAT-1 Technology Development

The Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Satellite (SEDSAT-1) is an ambitious project to design, build, and fly a generally-accessible low-cost satellite which will 1) act as a technology demonstration to verify the suitability of novel optical, battery, microprocessor, and memory hardware for space flight environments, (2) to advance the understanding of tether dynamics and environmental science through the development of advanced imaging experiments, (3) to act as a communication link for radio amateurs, and (4) to provide graduate and undergraduate students with a unique multi-disciplinary experience in designing complex real-world hardware/software. This report highlights the progress made on this project during the time period from January 2, 1996 to June 1, 1996 at the end of which time the SEASIS 0.7 version software was completed and integrated on the SEASIS breadboard, a functional prototype of the Panoramic Annual Lenses (PAL) camera was developed, the preferred image compression technique was selected, the layout of the SEASIS board was begun, porting of the SCOS operating system to the command data system (CDS) board was begun, a new design for a tether release mechanism was developed, safety circuitry to inhibit tether cutting was developed and prototyped, material was prepared to support a comprehensive safety review of the project which was held at Johnson Space Center (JSC) (which was personally attended by one of the Principal Investigators), and prototype ground software was developed.

Maier, Mark W.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Environmental Testing of Flight Hardware in the 25 ft. Space Simulator at JPL in a Manual Mode

After receiving global admiration for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is planning to embark upon another mobile mission to the red planet in the year 2020. Currently, the working name given to this sophisticated next-generation rover is Mars 2020. Mars 2020 will boast a multitude of newly developed instruments to aid in the scientific study of Mars. This paper will describe the process of testing one of the Mars 2020 instruments in the 25 ft. Space Simulator. The testing was performed at Mars CO2 atmospheric pressure of 7 Torr and consisted of multiple chamber evacuations and backfills. The Programmable Logic Control (PLC) system for the chamber was in the middle of a major overhaul that resulted in utilizing the manual Hand/Off/Auto switches to operate the chamber. Accomplishing this challenging task required the meticulous development of new operating procedures and thorough training of the chamber’s operators.

Ovcharenko, Anton↗
NASA NTRS2026

Investigation of Bipropellant Plume-Induced Contamination Effects on Coverglass Materials

Contamination and degradation of external spacecraft materials by unburned and partially combusted species from bipropellant thruster plumes has long been observed as a key component of the induced space environment. Space shuttle flight experiments and returned flight hardware from the International Space Station (ISS) have both experienced microscopic impact features induced by high-velocity thruster plume droplets. Analytical results have shown that droplet impingement angle relative to a receiving surface plays a key role in the surface damage. Although impacts with normal impingement angles contribute more severely to surface degradation than highly oblique angles, surface effects at higher impingement angles should not be dismissed. Thruster plume-induced materials degradation is a complex phenomenon that depends on a variety of parameters, including but not limited to material type, system temperature and pressure, plume composition, and thruster firing specifications such as number of pulses, pulse duration, and sample distance from the thruster. For space applications, attaining the vacuum pressure and temperature conditions necessary for flight-like plume expansion and exposure conditions is not a trivial task. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR) is a facility uniquely capable of simulating such conditions. Test coupons were exposed to bipropellant thruster firings under high vacuum at the DLR facility. Percent area coverage (PAC) and droplet size distributions were evaluated for the uncoated and coated solar array coverglass materials over a range of impingement angles (0̊ to 75̊). A post-test imaging workflow was developed that aimed to quantify changes in sample surface morphology obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images using the Image Processing and Analysis in Java (ImageJ) tool; an opensource image processing software. The goal was to create a framework through which to evaluate the effect of bipropellant-induced PAC and droplet size distribution on solar array coverglass optical transmission losses. Understanding this relationship is important because optical transmission losses are known to lead to current reduction in solar power generation systems. In addition to the development of surface characterization workflows, valuable lessons learned as they pertain to future investigations and experiments will be discussed. The authors hope that sharing these lessons will facilitate more utilization of DLR’s unique capabilities as well as open the conversation for how best to address experimental characterization of flight-like plume expansion and its impacts on materials surface degradation effects.

Gateway↗
NASA NTRS2013

Discovery: Under the Microscope at Kennedy Space Center

The National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) is known for discovery, exploration, and advancement of knowledge. Since the days of Leeuwenhoek, microscopy has been at the forefront of discovery and knowledge. No truer is that statement than today at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), where microscopy plays a major role in contamination identification and is an integral part of failure analysis. Space exploration involves flight hardware undergoing rigorous "visually clean" inspections at every step of processing. The unknown contaminants that are discovered on these inspections can directly impact the mission by decreasing performance of sensors and scientific detectors on spacecraft and satellites, acting as micrometeorites, damaging critical sealing surfaces, and causing hazards to the crew of manned missions. This talk will discuss how microscopy has played a major role in all aspects of space port operations at KSC. Case studies will highlight years of analysis at the Materials Science Division including facility and payload contamination for the Navigation Signal Timing and Ranging Global Positioning Satellites (NA VST AR GPS) missions, quality control monitoring of monomethyl hydrazine fuel procurement for launch vehicle operations, Shuttle Solids Rocket Booster (SRB) foam processing failure analysis, and Space Shuttle Main Engine Cut-off (ECO) flight sensor anomaly analysis. What I hope to share with my fellow microscopists is some of the excitement of microscopy and how its discoveries has led to hardware processing, that has helped enable the successful launch of vehicles and space flight missions here at Kennedy Space Center.

Howard, Philip M.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Planetary quarantine: Principles, methods, and problems.

Microbial survival in deep space environment, contamination of planets by nonsterile flight hardware, and hazards of back contamination are among the topics covered in papers concerned with the analytical basis for planetary quarantine. The development of the technology and policies of planetary quarantine is covered in contributions on microbiologic assay and sterilization of space flight hardware and control of microbial contamination. A comprehensive subject index is included. Individual items are abstracted in this issue.

Hall, L. B.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Commercial investigation results for the generic bioprocessing apparatus flown on United States Microgravity Laboratory-1

The Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (BPA) payload was developed by BioServe to support the commercial flight development needs of our specialized consortia comprised of business, academic, and government entities. The consortia have commitments to explore commercial opportunities in bioprocessing, biomedical models, and closed agricultural systems. In addition, some members of BioServe have interests in the development and/or qualification of enabling flight hardware used in life sciences space flight testing. Some business and academic entities have interests in more than one of these consortia. To aid in payload development, flight, and analysis, each consortium member contributes resources ranging from proprietary expertise and materials, to hardware and cash. Professionals from business, academia, and government often interact with each other via graduate research assistants who do much of the 'hands-on' payload preparation and subsequent data analyses. The GBA supported research, testing, and development activities for each different BioServe consortium. It produced an environment in which professionals from diverse backgrounds came together with a single focus. And, it provided a truly novel learning environment for a youthful new cadre of space professionals committed to the exploration of commercial opportunities presented by space. Since the GBA supported a large number of different experiments, this paper briefly describes the payload characteristics and the essential operations of the payload. A summary of the experiments is presented. Finally, a few of the experiments are described in detail highlighting some novel effects of space flight on life science systems. Portions of the reported work have or will appear in appropriate archival journals as cited in the bibliography. In several instances, data collected from USML-1 have been supplemented with related data collected on more recent STS missions.

Stodieck, Louis S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Space Shuttle Main Engine overhaul program

The Space Shuttle Main Engine first flight set from the Orbiter Columbia was returned to Rockwell International/Rocketdyne Division in Canoga Park, California for overhaul after five successful development flights. The three main engines have been completely disassembled and the hardware assessed for space flight effects. Schedules to overhaul subsequent flight engines have been established based on operational requirements of the Space Transportation System. To support these requirements, a dedicated Space Shuttle Main Engine Overhaul Center is being built at the Canoga Park Rocketdyne Facility incorporating the latest in manufacturing, inspection, and data processing equipment.

Stohler, S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Design and fabrication of an autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor using off-the-shelf hardware

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed and tested an engineering model of an automated rendezvous and docking sensor system composed of a video camera ringed with laser diodes at two wavelengths and a standard remote manipulator system target that has been modified with retro-reflective tape and 830 and 780 mm optical filters. TRW has provided additional engineering analysis, design, and manufacturing support, resulting in a robust, low cost, automated rendezvous and docking sensor design. We have addressed the issue of space qualification using off-the-shelf hardware components. We have also addressed the performance problems of increased signal to noise ratio, increased range, increased frame rate, graceful degradation through component redundancy, and improved range calibration. Next year, we will build a breadboard of this sensor. The phenomenology of the background scene of a target vehicle as viewed against earth and space backgrounds under various lighting conditions will be simulated using the TRW Dynamic Scene Generator Facility (DSGF). Solar illumination angles of the target vehicle and candidate docking target ranging from eclipse to full sun will be explored. The sensor will be transportable for testing at the MSFC Flight Robotics Laboratory (EB24) using the Dynamic Overhead Telerobotic Simulator (DOTS).

Grimm, Gary E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Comparison of Environmentally Friendly Space Compatible Grease to its Predecessor in a Space Mechanism Bearing Test Rig

Perfluoroakylpolyether (PFPE) greases are used extensively in critical flight hardware in a space environment. In the past, these greases have been processed using chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) based solvents. In response to the recent ban of CFC's, new formulations of environmentally friendly PFPE greases that are not processed with CFC based solvents were developed. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of a new environmentally friendly formulation PFPE grease to a previously proven space compatible formulation PFPE grease. A one year test using 20 small electrical motors (two bearings per motor) was conducted in a high vacuum environment(2.0 x 10(exp 4)) Torr at a temperature of 90 C. Twenty bearings were lubricated with a new environmentally friendly formulation, and twenty bearings were lubricated with an old formulation. The mass of each lubricated bearing was measured both pre and post test. Along with mass loss measurements a profilometer trace was taken to measure post test wear of the bearings. In addition the bearings were visually examined and analyzed using an optical microscope.

T R Jett↗
NASA NTRS2005

Flight Hardware Fabricated for Combustion Science in Space

NASA Glenn Research Center s Telescience Support Center (TSC) allows researchers on Earth to operate experiments onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and the space shuttles. NASA s continuing investment in the required software, systems, and networks provides distributed ISS ground operations that enable payload developers and scientists to monitor and control their experiments from the Glenn TSC. The quality of scientific and engineering data is enhanced while the long-term operational costs of experiments are reduced because principal investigators and engineering teams can operate their payloads from their home institutions.

OMalley, Terence F.↗
NASA NTRS2015

NASA's Rodent Research Project: Validation of Flight Hardware, Operations and Science Capabilities for Conducting Long Duration Experiments in Space

Research using rodents is an essential tool for advancing biomedical research on Earth and in space. Rodent Research (RR)-1 was conducted to validate flight hardware, operations, and science capabilities that were developed at the NASA Ames Research Center. Twenty C57BL/6J adult female mice were launched on Sept 21, 2014 in a Dragon Capsule (SpaceX-4), then transferred to the ISS for a total time of 21-22 days (10 commercial mice) or 37 (10 validation mice). Tissues collected on-orbit were either rapidly frozen or preserved in RNA later at less than or equal to -80 C (n=2/group) until their return to Earth. Remaining carcasses were rapidly frozen for dissection post-flight. The three controls groups at Kennedy Space Center consisted of: Basal mice euthanized at the time of launch, Vivarium controls, housed in standard cages, and Ground Controls (GC), housed in flight hardware within an environmental chamber. FLT mice appeared more physically active on-orbit than GC, and behavior analysis are in progress. Upon return to Earth, there were no differences in body weights between FLT and GC at the end of the 37 days in space. RNA was of high quality (RIN greater than 8.5). Liver enzyme activity levels of FLT mice and all control mice were similar in magnitude to those of the samples that were optimally processed in the laboratory. Liver samples collected from the intact frozen FLT carcasses had RNA RIN of 7.27 +/- 0.52, which was lower than that of the samples processed on-orbit, but similar to those obtained from the control group intact carcasses. Nonetheless, the RNA samples from the intact carcasses were acceptable for the most demanding transcriptomic analyses. Adrenal glands, thymus and spleen (organs associated with stress response) showed no significant difference in weights between FLT and GC. Enzymatic activity was also not significantly different. Over 3,000 tissues collected from the four groups of mice have become available for the Biospecimen Sharing Program. Together, these validation flight findings demonstrate the capability to support long-duration RR on the ISS to achieve both basic science and biomedical objectives.

rodents↗
NASA NTRS1980

Integrated analysis of large space systems

Based on the belief that actual flight hardware development of large space systems will necessitate a formalized method of integrating the various engineering discipline analyses, an efficient highly user oriented software system capable of performing interdisciplinary design analyses with tolerable solution turnaround time is planned Specific analysis capability goals were set forth with initial emphasis given to sequential and quasi-static thermal/structural analysis and fully coupled structural/control system analysis. Subsequently, the IAC would be expanded to include a fully coupled thermal/structural/control system, electromagnetic radiation, and optical performance analyses.

Young, J. P.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Trash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) Technology Demonstration and Risk Reduction Updates FY23-FY24

The Next STEP Phase BTrash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) is being developed for a technology demonstration on the International Space Station(ISS) to process common spacecraft consumables trash such as food packaging and clothing to reduce trash storage volume, recover water, safen(e.g. reduce biological activity), and shape the trash for storage, jettison, reuse (e.g.,radiation shielding) and/or recycling. Sierra Space is developing the flight demonstration hardware and National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) continues to conduct risk reduction activities to exploreoperational scenarios, setting the stage for successful on-orbit tests. After the flight demonstration on ISS, the TCPS becomes available to be infused into NASA short-and long-term missions.This paper will discuss the rationale for the updated requirement definitions outlined in the 2023 International Conference on Environmental System TCPS paper and the ongoing risk reduction activities. In addition, drawing from lessons learned in the development of the TCPS, a discussion of other compression technologies will be introduced for various mission types.

Trash Compaction Processing System↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Trash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) Technology Demonstration and Risk Reduction Updates FY23-FY24 Presentation

The Next STEP Phase BTrash Compaction Processing System (TCPS) is being developed for a technology demonstration on the International Space Station(ISS) to process common spacecraft consumables trash such as food packaging and clothing to reduce trash storage volume, recover water, safen(e.g. reduce biological activity), and shape the trash for storage, jettison, reuse (e.g.,radiation shielding) and/or recycling. Sierra Space is developing the flight demonstration hardware and National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) continues to conduct risk reduction activities to exploreoperational scenarios, setting the stage for successful on-orbit tests. After the flight demonstration on ISS, the TCPS becomes available to be infused into NASA short-and long-term missions.This paper will discuss the rationale for the updated requirement definitions outlined in the 2023 International Conference on Environmental System TCPS paper and the ongoing risk reduction activities. In addition, drawing from lessons learned in the development of the TCPS, a discussion of other compression technologies will be introduced for various mission types.

Trash Compaction Processing System↗
NASA NTRS1988

The Franco-American macaque experiment

The details of studies to be carried out jointly by French and American teams on two rhesus monkeys prepared for future experiments aboard the Space Shuttle are discussed together with the equipment involved. Seven science discipline teams were formed, which will study the effects of flight and/or weightlessness on the bone and calcium metabolism, the behavior, the cardiovascular system, the fluid balance and electrolytes, the muscle system, the neurovestibular interactions, and the sleep/biorhythm cycles. New behavioral training techniques were developed, in which the animals were trained to respond to behavioral tasks in order to measure the parameters involving eye/hand coordination, the response time to target tracking, visual discrimination, and muscle forces used by the animals. A large data set will be obtained from different animals on the two to three Space Shuttle flights; the hardware technologies developed for these experiments will be applied for primate experiments on the Space Station.

Cipriano, Leonard F.↗