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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2015

Environmental Effects on Long Term Displacement Data of Woven Fabric Webbings Under Constant Load for Inflatable Structures

An experimental study of the effects of environmental temperature and humidity conditions on long-term creep displacement data of high strength Kevlar and VectranTM woven fabric webbings under constant load for inflatable structures is presented. The restraint layer of an inflatable structure for long-duration space exploration missions is designed to bear load and consists of an assembly of high strength webbings. Long-term creep displacement data of webbings can be utilized by designers to validate service life parameters of restraint layers of inflatable structures. Five groups of high-strength webbings were researched over a two year period. Each group had a unique webbing length, load rating, applied load, and test period. The five groups consisted of 1.) 6K Vectran webbings loaded to 49% ultimate tensile strength (UTS), 2.) 6K Vectran webbings loaded to 55% UTS, 3.) 12.5K Vectran webbings loaded to 22% UTS, 4.) 6K Kevlar webbings loaded to 40% and 43% UTS, and 5.) 6K Kevlar webbings loaded to 48% UTS. Results show that all webbing groups exhibit the initial two stages of three of a typical creep curve of an elastic material. Results also show that webbings exhibit unique local wave patterns over the duration of the test period. Data indicate that the local pattern is primarily generated by daily variations in relative humidity values within the test facility. Data indicate that after a three to six month period, where webbings reach a steady-state creep condition, an annual sinusoidal displacement pattern is exhibited, primarily due to variations in annual mean temperature values. Data indicates that variations in daily temperature values and annual mean humidity values have limited secondary effects on creep displacement behavior. Results show that webbings in groups 2 and 5 do not exhibit well defined annual displacement patterns because the magnitude of the applied loads cause large deformations, and data indicate that material yielding within a webbing tends to neutralize the annual sinusoidal displacement pattern. Study indicates that applied load, environmental effects, mechanical strength, coefficient of thermal expansion, and hygroscopic properties of webbings are fundamental requirements for quantifying accurate creep displacements and behaviors over multiple year time periods. Results from a study of the environmental effects on long-term creep displacement data of Kevlar and Vectran woven webbings are presented to increase the knowledge base of webbing materials and to enhance designs of inflatable space structures for long-duration space missions.

Kenner, WInfred S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Workshop summary: Space environmental effects

The workshop on Space Environmental Effects is summarized. The underlying concern of the group was related to the question of how well laboratory tests correlate with actual experience in space. The discussion ranged over topics pertaining to tests involving radiation, atomic oxygen, high voltage plasmas, contamination in low earth orbit, and new environmental effects that may have to be considered on arrays used for planetary surface power systems.

Meulenberg, A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Anodized aluminum coatings for thermal control. II - Environmental effects and cracking

The environmental effects of thermal cycling and humidity on coating cracking are examined. Experimental measurements of thermal deflection were used to calculate values for the thermal expansion coefficient and the in situ elastic modulus of an anodized aluminum. The thermal expansion coefficient is found to be approximately the same as for alumina in bulk form. The modulus in atmospheres with less than 100 ppm water is about 12,500 ksi. Two sets of experiments are used to study cracking directly during thermal excursions: one determines the minimum temperature (Tc) at which cracks first appear during a single heating cycle and the other involves rapid thermal cycling (RTC) between fixed T max and T min values. Fatigue models for describing initiation of the first crack and the development of multiple cracking are presented, which can be used as the basis for prediction of LEO cracking.

Mcclung, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Study of the space environmental effects on spacecraft engineering materials

The issue of the effects of the space environment on spacecraft needs to be understood for the long term exposure of structures in space. In order to better understand the effect of these hostile phenomena on spacecraft, several types of studies are worth performing in order to simulate at some level the effect of the environment. For example the effect of protons and electrons impacting structural materials are easily simulated through experiments using the Van de Graff and Pelletron accelerators currently housed at MSFC. Proton fluxes with energies of 700 KeV - 2.5 MeV can be generated and used to impinge on sample targets to determine the effects of the particles. Also the Environmental Effects Facility at MSFC has the capability to generate electron beams with energies from 700 KeV to 2.5 MeV. These facilities will be used in this research to simulate space environmental effects from energetic particles. Ultraviolet radiation, particularly less than 400 nm wavelength, is less well characterized at this time. The Environmental Effects Facility has a vacuum system dedicated to studying the effects of ultraviolet radiation on specific surface materials. This particular system was assembled in a previous study in order to perform a variety of experiments on materials proposed for the Space Station. That system has continued to function as planned and has been used in carrying out portions of the proposed study.

Obrien, Susan K.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Space environmental effects on spacecraft thermal control coatings

A large portion of the space based applications in the near future are for low Earth orbit (LEO) including the Space Station Freedom (SSF). The lifetime needs for materials on the SSF is 30 years. Materials must be selected which can withstand the deleterious effects of LEO. Environmental effects in the LEO include atomic oxygen, UV, ionizing radiation, and hypervelocity impact. These effects can adversely affect the surface properties of materials. This is particularly critical in the case of thermal control materials where the efficiency of the thermal control is dependent on the stability of the surface properties. The current baseline thermal coating for the SSF radiators is Ag Teflon. The surface property requirements for the coatings are a solar absorptance of 0.2 and an infrared emittance of 0.8. The effects of atomic oxygen and UV radiation on the baseline coating and several other candidate thermal control materials were studied. The thermal control radiator materials included Ag and Al backed Teflon, H2SO4 anodized Al, sputter deposited SiO2 on Al, and Ag and Al backed polychloro trifluoroethylene. The simulation of several of the LEO environment constituents provided a data base to aid in the selection of the radiator thermal control material to meet the life requirements of the SSF. The effects are illustrated of the environment on thermal control coatings and the importance of this factor in the selection process for long life spacecraft materials.

Bartosik, L. G.↗
DOE OSTI2024

OES-Environmental 2024 State of the Science Report: Environmental Effects of Marine Renewable Energy Development Around the World

This report summarizes the state of the science of environmental effects of marine renewable energy (MRE) and serves as an update and a complement to the 2020 State of the Science report. The 2024 State of the Science report was produced by the Ocean Energy Systems (OES)-Environmental initiative, under the International Energy Agency’s OES collaboration. Under OES-Environmental, 16 countries have collaborated to evaluate the “state of the science” of potential environmental effects of MRE development and to understand how they may affect consenting/permitting (hereafter consenting) of MRE devices. This report has brought together the most up-to-date information on potential environmental effects of MRE development, using information that is publicly available as well as from expert inputs. The OES-Environmental analysts from the 16 participating countries helped to scope the entirety of the report and provided valuable contributions to all chapters. The input from these contributors and reviewers has resulted in the most complete compendium of research and monitoring findings possible. This report encompasses an introduction and look ahead, as well as nine chapters that provide details of research and monitoring findings around the world on environmental effects of MRE.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
NASA NTRS1981

New technologies - How to assess environmental effects

A method is provided for assessing the environmental effects of a room-and-pillar mining system (RP) and a new hydraulic borehole mining system (HBM). Before environmental assessment can begin, each technology is defined in terms of its engineering characteristics at both the conceptual and preliminary design stages. The mining sites are also described in order to identify the significant advantages and constraints for each system. This can be a basic physical and biological survey of the region at the conceptual stage, but a more specific representation of site characteristics is required at the preliminary stage. Assessment of potential environmental effects of each system at the conceptual design is critical to its hardware development and application. A checklist can be used to compare and identify the negative impacts of each method, outlining the resource affected, the type of impact involved, and the exact activity causing that impact. At the preliminary design stage, these impacts should be evaluated as a result of either utilization or alteration. Underground coal mining systems have three major utilization impacts - the total area disturbed, the total water resources withdrawn from other uses, and the overall energy efficiency of the process - and one major alteration impact - the degradation of water quality by sedimentation and acid contamination. A comparison of the RP and HBM systems shows the HBM to be an environmentally less desirable system for the Central Appalachia region.

Sullivan, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Study of the space environmental effects on spacecraft engineering materials

The space environment in which the Space Station Freedom and other space platforms will orbit is truly a hostile environment. For example, the current estimates of the integral fluence for electrons above 1 Mev at 2000 nautical miles is above 2 x 10(exp 10) electrons/sq cm/day. and the proton integral fluence is above 1 x 109 protons/sq cm/day. At the 200 - 400 nautical miles, which is more representative of the altitude which will provide the environment for the Space Station, each of these fluences will be proportionately less; however, the data indicates that the radiation environment will obviously have an effect on structural materials exposed to the environment for long durations. The effects of this combined environment is the issue which needs to be understood for the long term exposure of structures in space. In order to better understand the effect of these hostile phenomena on spacecraft, several types of studies are worth performing in order to simulate at some level the effect of the environment. For example the effect of protons and electrons impacting structural materials are easily simulated through experiments using the Van de Graff and Pelletron accelerators currently housed in the Environmental Effects Facility at MSFC. Proton fluxes with energies of 700 Kev-2.5 Mev can be generated and used to impinge on sample targets to determine the effects of the particles. Also the Environmental Effects Facility has the capability to generate electron beams with energies from 700 Kev to 2.5 Mev. These facilities will be used in this research to simulate space environmental effects from energetic particles. Ultraviolet radiation, particularly in the ultraviolet (less than 400 nm wavelength) is less well characterized at this time. The Environmental Effects Facility has a vacuum system dedicated to studying the effects of ultraviolet radiation on specific surface materials. This particular system was assembled in a previous study (NAS8-38609) in order to perform a variety of experiments on materials proposed for the Space Station. That system has continued to function as planned and has been used in carrying out portions of the proposed study.

Obrien, Susan K.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Space Shuttle Environmental Effects: The First 5 Flights

Environmental effects associated with the first five Space Shuttle flights were monitored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Air Force (USAF). Results and interpretations from this effort were reported at the December 1982 joint NASA-USAF conference. The conference proceedings are presented in this document. Most of the monitoring activity was focused on the launch cloud, emphasizing surface effects on the biota and air quality, model prediction of surface concentrations of HCl gas and Al2O3 dust, and airborne measurements of cloud composition. In general, assessments and predictions made in the April 1978 Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Space Shuttle Program were verified. Fallout of acidic mist and dust within 3 mi to 5 mi of the launch pad was the only unexpected effect of the launch. Atomization of deluge water in the Shuttle exhaust is considered to be the most probable cause of this effect. Sonic booms were monitored for several landings at Edwards Air Force Base, California; results agreed well with model predictions.

Potter, A.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Space Environmental Effects Knowledgebase

This report describes the results of an NRA funded program entitled Space Environmental Effects Knowledgebase that received funding through a NASA NRA (NRA8-31) and was monitored by personnel in the NASA Space Environmental Effects (SEE) Program. The NASA Project number was 02029. The Satellite Contamination and Materials Outgassing Knowledgebase (SCMOK) was created as a part of the earlier NRA8-20. One of the previous tasks and part of the previously developed Knowledgebase was to accumulate data from facilities using QCMs to measure the outgassing data for satellite materials. The main object of this current program was to increase the number of material outgassing datasets from 250 up to approximately 500. As a part of this effort, a round-robin series of materials outgassing measurements program was also executed that allowed comparison of the results for the same materials tested in 10 different test facilities. Other programs tasks included obtaining datasets or information packages for 1) optical effects of contaminants on optical surfaces, thermal radiators, and sensor systems and 2) space environmental effects data and incorporating these data into the already existing NASA/SEE Knowledgebase.

Wood, B. E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Space environmental effects, materials, and NDE/NDI presentation to SSTAC/ARTS Review Committee

Viewgraphs are presented on space environmental effects, materials, and NDE/NDI for the integrated technology plan for the civil space program. Topics covered include: space materials; space durable polymers; simulated space environmental effects; space radiation effects on polymer matrix composites; advanced coatings for spacecraft; Long Duration Exposure Facility; meteoroid and debris velocity distribution; and space environmental effects.

Venneri, Samuel L.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Mir Environmental Effects Payload and Returned Mir Solar Panel Cleanliness

The MIR Environmental Effects Payload (MEEP) was attached to the Docking Module of the MIR space station for 18 months during calendar years 1996 and 1997 (March 1996, STS 76 to October 1997, STS 86). A solar panel array with more than 10 years space exposure was removed from the MIR core module in November 1997, and returned to Earth in January, 1998, STS 89. MEEP and the returned solar array are part of the International Space Station (ISS) Risk Mitigation Program. This space flight hardware has been inspected and studied by teams of space environmental effects (SEE) investigators for micrometeoroid and space debris effects, space exposure effects on materials, and electrical performance. This paper reports changes in cleanliness of parts of MEEP and the solar array due to the space exposures. Special attention is given to the extensive water soluble residues deposited on some of the flight hardware surfaces. Directionality of deposition and chemistry of these residues are discussed.

Harvey, Gale A.↗
DOE OSTI2022

U.S. Pacific Coast Workshop Report on Preconstruction Research Recommendations (U.S. Offshore Wind Synthesis of Environmental Effects Research (SEER) Project)

In May 2022, the U.S. Offshore Wind Synthesis of Environmental Effects Research (SEER) project team hosted a stakeholder workshop focused on preconstruction (baseline) research needs for potential floating offshore wind (OSW) energy development on the U.S. Pacific Coast, including California, Oregon, and Washington. Prior to the workshop, the SEER team developed a set of initial synthesized research recommendations that were identified based on a review of relevant, publicly available resources and with advisory group input. The workshop covered three marine life breakout groups on subsequent days to discuss research recommendations related to 1) marine mammals and sea turtles, 2) fish and invertebrates, and 3) birds and bats. As part of the workshop, over a hundred participants from the public and private sectors provided feedback on various aspects of the initial research recommendations, including associated data and knowledge gaps, benefits/limitations of available methods and technologies, and technological advancements or infrastructure needed to address the recommendation. Approximately 1,000 total comments were received on the workshop MURAL boards and were synthesized in this report. Based on workshop feedback, SEER developed a final database of over 500 specific research recommendations based on more than 40 resources. In Fall 2022, the full database and a tool with updated synthesized research recommendations were disseminated on Tethys (https://tethys.pnnl.gov) to assist with informing future funding opportunities and research programming. There is a continued need to improve awareness of the potential environmental effects, monitoring technologies, and management strategies for floating OSW energy development on the U.S. Pacific Coast. Coordination of these activities will require the sustained involvement of multiple stakeholders from across sectors. Beyond the baseline considerations discussed in this workshop, future state-of-the-science activities should be planned to consider research needs across wind energy life cycle phases for all relevant wildlife taxa and associated habitat and ecosystem processes.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1989

NASA/SDIO Space Environmental Effects on Materials Workshop, part 2

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) cosponsored a workshop on Space Environmental Effects on Materials. The joint workshop was designed to inform participants of the present state of knowledge regarding space environmental effects on materials and to identify knowledge gaps that prevent informed decisions on the best use of advanced materials in space for long duration NASA and SDIO missions. Establishing priorities for future ground based and space based materials research was a major goal of the workshop. The end product of the workshop was an assessment of the current state-of-the-art in space environmental effects on materials in order to develop a national plan for spaceflight experiments.

Teichman, Louis A.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Overview of Advanced Space Propulsion Activities in the Space Environmental Effects Team at MSFC

Exploration of our solar system, and beyond, requires spacecraft velocities beyond our current technological level. Technologies addressing this limitation are numerous. The Space Environmental Effects (SEE) Team at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is focused on three discipline areas of advanced propulsion; Tethers, Beamed Energy, and Plasma. This presentation will give an overview of advanced propulsion related activities in the Space Environmental Effects Team at MSFC. Advancements in the application of tethers for spacecraft propulsion were made while developing the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS). New tether materials were developed to meet the specifications of the ProSEDS mission and new techniques had to be developed to test and characterize these tethers. Plasma contactors were developed, tested and modified to meet new requirements. Follow-on activities in tether propulsion include the Air-SEDS activity. Beamed energy activities initiated with an experimental investigation to quantify the momentum transfer subsequent to high power, 5J, ablative laser interaction with materials. The next step with this experimental investigation is to quantify non-ablative photon momentum transfer. This step was started last year and will be used to characterize the efficiency of solar sail materials before and after exposure to Space Environmental Effects (SEE). Our focus with plasma, for propulsion, concentrates on optimizing energy deposition into a magnetically confined plasma and integration of measurement techniques for determining plasma parameters. Plasma confinement is accomplished with the Marshall Magnetic Mirror (M3) device. Initial energy coupling experiments will consist of injecting a 50 amp electron beam into a target plasma. Measurements of plasma temperature and density will be used to determine the effect of changes in magnetic field structure, beam current, and gas species. Experimental observations will be compared to predictions from computer modeling.

Edwards, David↗
NASA NTRS1989

NASA/SDIO Space Environmental Effects on Materials Workshop, part 1

The present state of knowledge regarding space environmental effects on materials is described and the knowledge gaps that prevent informed decisions on the best use of advanced materials in space for long-duration NASA and Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) missions are identified. Establishing priorities for future ground-based and space-based materials research was a major goal. The end product was an assessment of the current state-of-the-art in space environmental effects on materials in order to develop a national plan for spaceflight experiments.

Teichman, Louis A.↗