Saturn IB program. Butter valve, 12-inch, 3-psig Test report
Performance test results of butterfly valve for air conditioning flow control
AIR CONDITIONING↗
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Integration of Product, Package, Process, and Environment: A Food System Optimization
The food systems slated for future NASA missions must meet crew nutritional needs, be acceptable for consumption, and use resources efficiently. Although the current food system of prepackaged, moderately stabilized food items works well for International Space Station (ISS) missions, many of the current space menu items do not maintain acceptability and/or nutritive value beyond 2 years. Longer space missions require that the food system can sustain the crew for 3 to 5 years without replenishment. The task "Integration of Product, Package, Process, and Environment: A Food System Optimization" has the objective of optimizing food-product shelf life for the space-food system through product recipe adjustments, new packaging and processing technologies, and modified storage conditions. Two emergent food processing technologies were examined to identify a pathway to stable, wet-pack foods without the detrimental color and texture effects. Both microwave-assisted thermal sterilization (MATS) and pressure-assisted thermal stabilization (PATS) were evaluated against traditional retort processing to determine if lower heat inputs during processing would produce a product with higher micronutrient quality and longer shelf life. While MATS products did have brighter color and better texture initially, the advantages were not sustained. The non-metallized packaging film used in the process likely provided inadequate oxygen barrier. No difference in vitamin stability was evident between MATS and retort processed foods. Similarly, fruit products produced using PATS showed improved color and texture through 3 years of storage compared to retort fruit, but the vitamin stability was not improved. The final processing study involved freeze drying. Five processing factors were tested in factorial design to assess potential impact of each to the quality of freeze-dried food, including the integrity of the microstructure. The initial freezing rate and primary freeze drying temperature and pressure were linked to final product quality in freeze-dried corn, indicating processing modifications that could lead to improved product shelf life. Storage temperatures and packaging systems were also assessed for the impact to food quality. Reduced temperature storage had inconclusive impact to the progression of rancidity in butter cookies. Frozen storage was detrimental to fruit and vegetable textural attributes but refrigerated storage helped to sustain color and organoleptic ratings for plant-based foods. With regard to packaging systems, the metallized film overwrap significantly decreased the progression of the rancidity of butter cookies as compared to the highest barrier non-metallized film. The inclusion of oxygen scavengers resulted in noticeable moisture gains in butter cookies over time, independent of packaging film systems. Neither emergent processing technology nor the freeze dry optimization resulted in compelling quality differences from current space food provisions such that a five-year shelf life is likely with these processing changes alone. Using a combination of refrigeration and PATS processing is expected to result in organoleptically-acceptable fruit quality for most fruits through five years. The vitamin degradation will be aided somewhat by the cold temperatures but, given the labile nature of vitamin C, a more stable fortification method, such as encapsulation, should also be investigated to ensure vitamin delivery throughout the product life. Similarly, significant improvement to the packaging film used in the MATS processing, optimization of formulation for dielectric properties, vitamin fortification, and reduced temperature storage should be investigated as a hurdle approach to reach a five year shelf life in wet-pack entrees and soups. Baked goods and other environmentally-sensitive spaceflight foods will require an almost impenetrable barrier to protect the foods from oxygen and moisture ingress but scavengers and reduced storage temperature did not improve baked good shelf life and are not recommended at this time for these foods.
Cooper, Maya R.↗
Subsidence of topography on Io
The underlying roots of Io's topographic features are softened and eroded by contact with the hot mantle, resulting in a subsidence which is analogous to the progress of a butter pat on a frying pan. This process would be offset by crustal thickening due to continuing volcanism if the rate for this phenomenon were more than the observed 1 cm/year or less. Because the crustal thinning would occur at about 50 cm/year if the material underneath were a pure magma ocean, Io cannot have a global magna ocean, and interior viscosities greater than about 10 to the 10th P are implied.
Webb, Erik K.↗
Effect of Sizings on the Durability of High Temperature Polymer Composites
To increase performance and durability of high-temperature composite for potential rocket engine components, it is necessary to optimize wetting and interfacial bonding between high modulus carbon fibers and high-temperature polyimide resins. Sizing commercially supplied on most carbon fiber are not compatible with polyimides. In this study, the chemistry of sizing on two high modulus carbon fiber (M40J and M60J, Tiray) was characterized. A continuous desizling system that uses an environmentally friendly chemical-mechanical process was developed for tow level fiber. Composites were fabricated with fibers containing the manufacturer's sizing, desized, and further treated with a reactive finish. Results of room-temperature tests after thermal aging show that the reactive finish produces a higher strength and more durable interface compared to the manufacturer's sizing. When exposed to moisture blistering tests, however, the butter bonded composite displayed a tendency to delaminate, presumably due to trapping of volatiles.
Allred, Ronald E.↗
Dairy Equipment Lubrication
Lake To Lake Dairy Cooperative, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, operates four plants in Wisconsin for processing milk, butter and cheese products from its 1,300 member farms. The large co-op was able to realize substantial savings by using NASA information for improved efficiency in plant maintenance. Under contract to Marshall Space Flight Center, Midwest Research Institute compiled a handbook consolidating information about commercially available lubricants. The handbook details chemical and physical properties, applications, specifications, test procedures and test data for liquid and solid lubricants. Lake To Lake's plant engineer used the handbook to effect savings in maintenance labor and materials costs by reducing the number of lubricants used on certain equipment. Strict U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration regulations preclude lubrication changes n production equipment, but the co-op's maintenance chief was able to eliminate seven types of lubricants for ancillary equipment, such as compressors and high pressure pumps. Handbook data enabled him to select comparable but les expensive lubricants in the materials consolidation process, and simplified lubrication schedules and procedures. The handbook is in continuing use as a reference source when a new item of equipment is purchased.
Source record↗
Media Effects on Lettuce Growth in "Pillows" Designed for the VEGGIE Spaceflight Growth Chamber
VEGGIE is a prototype vegetable production unit for space designed by Orbital Technologies Corporation that is being developed to fly on the International Space Station. A modular plant rooting system "pillow" is being designed to support plant growth in VEGGIE under microgravity conditions. VEGGIE pillows are small self-contained packets of media with time-release fertilizer that can wick water passively from a root mat reservoir. Seeds are planted in pillows and the entire root system of a plant is contained as the crop develops, preventing loss into the spacecraft cabin. This study compared five media types and three lettuce cultivars in pillows growing in a VEGGIE analog environment.. Media consisted of a peat-based potting mix (Fafard #2,Conrad Fafard Inc., Agawam, MA), and a calcined clay, (arcillite, 1-2 mm sifted, Turface Proleague, Profile LLC, Buffalo Grove IL) as well as three different blends of the two, 70:30, 50:50, and 30:70. Lettuce cultivars tested were 'Sierra', a bi-colored French crisp Batavia lettuce, 'Outredgeous', a red romaine lettuce and 'Flandria', a green butter head variety. Plants were grown for 28 days, harvested, biometric data was obtained, and tissue mineral analysis was performed. For all cultivars, lettuce plants grown in the media blends were more productive than those in the individual media types. All cultivars showed bell-shaped curves in response to increases in arcillite / decreases in Fafard #2 for leaf area, fresh, and dry mass. Plants in 100% Fafard #2 and in 100% arcillite were stunted, but only those in higher levels of Fafard #2 (70% and 100%) had reduced shoot percent moisture, possibly indicating that mechanisms causing stunting differed. Variation in tissue nutrient content are consistent with this, with Mg and Mn highest in plants grown in 100% Fafard and decreasing as the concentration of arcillite increased. Color also varied with media, especially in the 'Sierra' lettuce, with plants grown in increasing levels of Fafard #2 being much more red and those in 100% arcillite almost completely green. The red-leaf cultivar 'Outredgeous' showed increasing chlorophyll (SPAD values) with increasing percentage of arcillite. In all cultivars tested it appears that a mixture of media types, usually 50:50 or 30:70 Fafard #2: arcillite, sustained healthier, more productive plants. Smaller, less productive plants in either of the individual media may indicate stress issues, however more work is needed to understand the reasons for this sub-optimal growth. This work was supported by NASA
Massa, Gioia↗
Food Fortification Stability Study
NASA has established the goal of traveling beyond low-Earth orbit and extending manned exploration to Mars. The extended length of a Mars mission, along with the lack of resupply missions increases the importance of nutritional content in the food system. The purpose of this research is to assess the stability of vitamin supplementation in traditionally processed spaceflight foods. It is expected that commercially available fortificants will remain stable through long-duration missions if proper formulation, processing, and storage temperatures are all achieved. Five vitamins (vitamin E, vitamin K, pantothenic acid, folic acid, and thiamin) were blended into a vitamin premix (DSM, Freeport, TX); premixes were formulated to be compatible with current processing techniques (retort or freeze-dried), varied water activities (high or low), and packaging material. The overall goal of this process is to provide 25% of the recommended daily intake of each vitamin (per serving), following processing and two years of ambient storage. Four freeze-dried foods (Scrambled Eggs, Italian Vegetables, Potatoes Au Gratin, Noodles and Chicken) and four thermostabilized foods (Curry Sauce with Vegetables, Chicken Noodle Soup, Grilled Pork Chop, Rice with Butter) were produced (with and without the vitamin premix), to assess the impact of the added fortificant on color and taste, and to determine the stability of supplemental vitamins in spaceflight foods. The use of fortification in spaceflight foods appears to be a plausible mitigation step to inadequate nutrition. This is due to the ease of vitamin addition as well as the sustainability of the premixes through initial processing steps. Postprocessing analysis indicated that vitamin fortification with this premix did not immediately impact organoleptic properties of the food. At this stage, the largest hurdle to fortification is the preciseness to which vitamins can be added; the total amount of vitamins required for production is 10 - 20 grams, a minor percentage of the formulation. As demonstrated by the over-fortification measured in Italian Vegetables and Grilled Pork Chop, homogeneity may be difficult to achieve with such small amounts. Thus, pouch-to-pouch variability, over-fortification, and underfortification may ensue if a method for precise addition is not identified. Stability will continue to be evaluated over two years of storage at three temperatures, and future analysis should reveal the extent to which this issue should be a concern
Abdulmalik, T. O.↗
Food Fortification Stability Study
NASA has established the goal of traveling beyond low-Earth orbit and extending manned exploration to Mars. The length of proposed Mars missions and the lack of resupply missions increases the importance of nutritional content in the food system, which will need a five year shelf life. The purpose of this research is to assess the stability of vitamin supplementation in traditionally processed spaceflight foods. It is expected that commercially available fortification nutrients will remain stable through a long duration exploration mission at sufficient levels if compatible formulation, processing, and storage temperatures are achieved. Five vitamins (vitamin E, vitamin K, pantothenic acid, folic acid, and thiamin) were blended into a vitamin premix (DSM, Freeport, TX) such that the vitamin concentration per serving equaled 25% of the recommended daily intake after two years of ambient storage. Four freeze-dried foods (Scrambled Eggs, Italian Vegetables, Potatoes Au Gratin, Noodles and Chicken) and four thermostabilized foods (Curry Sauce with Vegetables, Chicken Noodle Soup, Grilled Pork Chop, Rice with Butter) were produced, with and without the vitamin premix, to assess the impact of the added fortification on color and taste and to determine the stability of supplemental vitamins in spaceflight foods. The addition of fortification to spaceflight foods did not greatly alter the organoleptic properties of most products. In most cases, overall acceptability scores remained above 6.0 (minimum acceptable score) following six months and one year of low-temperature storage. Likewise, the color of fortified products appears to be preserved over one year of storage. The only exception was Grilled pork Chop and Chicken Noodle Soup whose individual components appear to degrade rapidly over one year of storage. Finally, most vitamins appear to be stable during long-term storage. The only exception was thiamin, which degraded rapidly during the first year of storage at 35˚C. It was previously believed that the imprecise method of fortification would prove problematic for nutrient quantification; however this was only an issue in stored samples of Grilled Pork Chop, Italian Vegetables and Curry Sauce with Vegetables. Year two data may further reveal the extent to which this is a problem, as well as identify overall quality changes over time.
Sirmons, T.↗
Food Fortification Stability Study
NASA has established the goal of traveling beyond low-Earth orbit and extending manned exploration to Mars. The length of proposed Mars missions and the lack of resupply missions increases the importance of nutritional content in the food system, which will need a five-year shelf life. The purpose of this research is to assess the stability of vitamin supplementation in traditionally processed spaceflight foods. It is expected that commercially available fortification nutrients will remain stable through a long duration exploration mission at sufficient levels if compatible formulation, processing, and storage temperatures are achieved. Five vitamins (vitamin E, vitamin K, pantothenic acid, folic acid, and thiamin) were blended into a vitamin premix (DSM, Freeport, TX) such that the vitamin concentration per serving equaled 25% of the recommended daily intake after two years of ambient storage. Four freeze-dried foods (Scrambled Eggs, Italian Vegetables, Potatoes Au Gratin, Noodles and Chicken) and four thermo-stabilized foods (Curry Sauce with Vegetables, Chicken Noodle Soup, Grilled Pork Chop, Rice with Butter) were produced, with and without the vitamin premix, to assess the impact of the added fortification on color and taste and to determine the stability of supplemental vitamins in spaceflight foods. The addition of fortification to spaceflight foods did not greatly alter the organoleptic properties of most products. In most cases, overall acceptability scores remained above 6.0 (minimum acceptable score) following six months and one year of low-temperature storage. Likewise, the color of fortified products appears to be preserved over one year of storage. The only exceptions were Grilled pork Chop and Chicken Noodle Soup whose individual components appeareddegrade rapidly over one year of storage. Finally, most vitamins appeared to be stable during long-term storage. The only exception was thiamin, which degraded rapidly during the first year of storage at 35˚C. It was previously believed that the imprecise method of fortification would prove problematic for nutrient quantification; however, this was only an issue in stored samples of Grilled Pork Chop, Italian Vegetables and Curry Sauce with Vegetables. Year two data may further reveal the extent to which this is a problem, as well as identify overall quality changes over time.
Sirmons, T.↗
Test equipment for the sergeant missile
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Butter, C. W.↗
Silicon on ceramic process. Silicon sheet growth development for the large-area silicon sheet task of the low-cost silicon solar array project
The technical and economic feasibility of producing solar-cell-quality sheet silicon was investigated. The sheets were made by coating one surface of carbonized ceramic substrates with a thin layer of large-grain polycrystalline silicon from the melt. Significant progress was made in all areas of the program.
Zook, J. D.↗
A continuous silicon-coating facility
Automatic continuous silicon-coating facility is used to process 100 by 10 cm graphite-coated ceramic substrates for silicon solar cells. Process reduces contamination associated with conventional dip-coating processes, improving material service life.
Butter, C.↗
Continuous coating of silicon-on-ceramic
Growth of sheet silicon on low-cost substrates has been demonstrated by the silicon coating with inverted meniscus (SCIM) technique. A mullite-based ceramic substrate is coated with carbon and then passed over a trough of molten silicon with a raised meniscus. Solidification occurs at the trailing edge of the downstream meniscus, producing a silicon-on-ceramic (SOC) layer. Meniscus shape and stability are controlled by varying the level of molten silicon in a reservoir connected to the trough. The thermal conditions for growth and the crystallographic texture of the SOC layers are similar to those produced by dip-coating, the original technique of meniscus-controlled growth. The thermal conditions for growth have been analyzed in some detail. The analysis correctly predicts the velocity-thickness relationship and the liquid-solid interface shape for dip-coating, and appears to be equally applicable to SCIM-coating. Solar cells made from dip-coated SOC material have demonstrated efficiencies of 10% on 4-sq cm cells and 9.9% on 10-sq cm cells.
Heaps, J. D.↗
Application of the Analogy Between Water Flow with a Free Surface and Two-Dimensional Compressible Gas Flow
The theory of the hydraulic analogy -- that is, the analogy between water flow with a free surface and two-dimensional compressible gas flow -- and the limitations and conditions of the analogy are discussed. A test was run using the hydraulic analogy as applied to the flow about circular cylinders of various diameters at subsonic velocities extending into the supercritical range. The apparatus and techniques used in this application are described and criticized. Reasonably satisfactory agreement of pressure distributions and flow fields existed between water and air flow about corresponding bodies. This agreement indicated the possibility of extending experimental compressibility research by new methods.
Orlin, W James↗
Mouse osteoblastic cell line (MC3T3-E1) expresses extracellular calcium (Ca2+o)-sensing receptor and its agonists stimulate chemotaxis and proliferation of MC3T3-E1 cells
The calcium-sensing receptor (CaR) is a G protein-coupled receptor that plays key roles in extracellular calcium ion (Ca2+o) homeostasis in parathyroid gland and kidney. Osteoblasts appear at sites of osteoclastic bone resorption during bone remodeling in the "reversal" phase following osteoclastic resorption and preceding bone formation. Bone resorption produces substantial local increases in Ca2+o that could provide a signal for osteoblasts in the vicinity, leading us to determine whether such osteoblasts express the CaR. In this study, we used the mouse osteoblastic, clonal cell line MC3T3-E1. Both immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis, using an antiserum specific for the CaR, detected CaR protein in MC3T3-E1 cells. We also identified CaR transcripts in MC3T3-E1 cells by Northern analysis using a CaR-specific riboprobe and by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction with CaR-specific primers, followed by nucleotide sequencing of the amplified products. Exposure of MC3T3-E1 cells to high Ca2+o (up to 4.8 mM) or the polycationic CaR agonists, neomycin and gadolinium (Gd3+), stimulated both chemotaxis and DNA synthesis in MC3T3-E1 cells. Therefore, taken together, our data strongly suggest that the osteoblastic cell line MC3T3-E1 possesses both CaR protein and mRNA very similar, if not identical, to those in parathyroid and kidney. Furthermore, the CaR in these osteoblasts could play a key role in regulating bone turnover by stimulating the proliferation and migration of such cells to sites of bone resorption as a result of local release of Ca2+o.
Non-NASA Center↗
Expression of extracellular calcium (Ca2+o)-sensing receptor in human peripheral blood monocytes
The calcium-sensing receptor (CaR) is a G protein-coupled receptor playing key roles in extracellular calcium ion (Ca2+o) homeostasis in parathyroid gland and kidney. Macrophage-like mononuclear cells appear at sites of osteoclastic bone resorption during bone turnover and may play a role in the "reversal" phase of skeletal remodeling that follows osteoclastic resorption and precedes osteoblastic bone formation. Bone resorption produces substantial local increases in Ca2+o that could provide a signal for such mononuclear cells present locally within the bone marrow microenvironment. Indeed, previous studies by other investigators have shown that raising Ca2+o either in vivo or in vitro stimulated the release of interleukin-6 (IL-6) from human peripheral blood monocytes, suggesting that these cells express a Ca2+o-sensing mechanism. In these earlier studies, however, the use of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) failed to detect transcripts for the CaR previously cloned from parathyroid and kidney in peripheral blood monocytes. Since we recently found that non-specific esterase-positive, putative monocytes isolated from murine bone marrow express the CaR, we reevaluated the expression of this receptor in human peripheral blood monocytes. Immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, and Western blot analysis, performed using a polyclonal antiserum specific for the CaR, detected CaR protein in human monocytes. In addition, the use of RT-PCR with CaR-specific primers, followed by nucleotide sequencing of the amplified products, identified CaR transcripts in the cells. Therefore, taken together, our data show that human peripheral blood monocytes possess both CaR protein and mRNA very similar if not identical to those expressed in parathyroid and kidney that could mediate the previously described, direct effects of Ca2+o on these cells. Furthermore, since mononuclear cells isolated from bone marrow also express the CaR, the latter might play some role in the "reversal" phase of bone remodeling, sensing local changes in Ca2+o resulting from osteoclastic bone resorption and secreting osteotropic cytokines or performing other Ca2+o-regulated functions that contribute to the control of bone turnover.
NASA Discipline Musculoskeletal↗
Long baseline interferometric observations of HD 195019: no K dwarf companion detected
Radial velocity measurements of the G3V/IV star HD 195019 revealed the presence of an orbiting companion with m sin(i) = 3.5 Jupiter masses and a period of 18 days. Here we present new visability measurements obtained at the Palomar Testbed Interferometer which rule out any companion in an orbit consistent with the spectroscopic data and having more than 1% of the flux of the primary star in the near-infrared K band.
extrasolar planets interferometry radial velocity↗