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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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Self-sterilizing canister

Canister, originally conceived for remote sterilization of spacecraft packages, could be used terrestrially to handle samples in biologically hazardous environments. Multiwalled canister includes inner layer of pyrotechnic powder. For sterilization, electrically activated squib ignites powder, raising temperature of outer surface of canister to 230 degrees centigrade for several minutes. Thermal-buffer inner layer prevents inside temperature for exceeding 100 degrees centigrade to protect contents from damage. Samples in field hospitals and other emergency situations could also be handled by equipment.

Yang, L. C.↗

Dynamic Acquisition and Retrieval Tool (DART) for Comet Sample Return : Session: 2.06.Robotic Mobility and Sample Acquisition Systems

The 2011 Decadal Survey for planetary science released by the National Research Council of the National Academies identified Comet Surface Sample Return (CSSR) as one of five high priority potential New Frontiers-class missions in the next decade. The main objectives of the research described in this publication are: develop a concept for an end-to-end system for collecting and storing a comet sample to be returned to Earth; design, fabricate and test a prototype Dynamic Acquisition and Retrieval Tool (DART) capable of collecting 500 cc sample in a canister and eject the canister with a predetermined speed; identify a set of simulants with physical properties at room temperature that suitably match the physical properties of the comet surface as it would be sampled. We propose the use of a dart that would be launched from the spacecraft to impact and penetrate the comet surface. After collecting the sample, the sample canister would be ejected at a speed greater than the comet's escape velocity and captured by the spacecraft, packaged into a return capsule and returned to Earth. The dart would be composed of an inner tube or sample canister, an outer tube, a decelerator, a means of capturing and retaining the sample, and a mechanism to eject the canister with the sample for later rendezvous with the spacecraft. One of the significant unknowns is the physical properties of the comet surface. Based on new findings from the recent Deep Impact comet encounter mission, we have limited our search of solutions for sampling materials to materials with 10 to 100 kPa shear strength in loose or consolidated form. As the possible range of values for the comet surface temperature is also significantly different than room temperature and testing at conditions other than the room temperature can become resource intensive, we sought sample simulants with physical properties at room temperature similar to the expected physical properties of the comet surface material. The chosen DART configuration, the efforts to identify a test simulant and the properties of these simulants, and the results of the preliminary testing will be described in this paper.

Dynamic Acquisition and Retrieval Tool (DART)↗

Radiation and phase change of lithium fluoride in an annulus

A one-dimensional thermal model is developed to evaluate the effect of radiation on the phase change of lithium-fluoride (LiF) in an annular canister under gravitational and microgravitational conditions. Specified heat flux at the outer wall of the canister models focused solar flux; adiabatic and convective conditions are considered for the inner wall. A two-band radiation model is used for the combined-mode heat transfer within the canister, and LiF optical properties relate metal surface properties in vacuum to those in LiF. For axial gravitational conditions, the liquid LiF remains in contact with the two bounding walls, whereas a void gap is used at the outer wall to model possible microgravitational conditions. For the adiabatic cases, exact integrals are obtained for the time required for complete melting of the LiF. Melting was found to occur primarily from the outer wall in the 1-g model, whereas it occurred primarily from the inner wall in the mu-g model. For the convective cases, partially melted steady-state conditions and fully melted conditions are determined to depend on the source flux level, with radiation extending the melting times.

Lund, Kurt O.↗

Results of ear examination

In the five pocket mice flown on Apollo XVII, no evidence was found that the inner ear had been damaged, though poor fixation precluded detailed study. On the other hand, the middle ear cavity was involved in all the mice, hemorrhage having occurred in response to excursions in pressure within the canister that housed the mice during their flight. The same occurred in flight control mice which had been subjected to pressure excursions of much the same magnitude. A greater degree of exudation into air cells and greater leukotaxis were noted in the flight animals than in the control animals. There was no increase in leukocyte population along the paths of the 23 cosmic-ray particles registered in the subscalp dosimeters that traversed the middle ear cavities of the flight mice. The increased exudation and the greater response by leukocytes in the flight mice may have been causally related to the lesions found in their olfactory mucosa but there were no data in support of this possibility.

Haymaker, W.↗

Insulation Test Cryostat with Lift Mechanism

A multi-purpose, cylindrical thermal insulation test apparatus is used for testing insulation materials and systems of materials using a liquid boil-off calorimeter system for absolute measurement of the effective thermal conductivity (k-value) and heat flux of a specimen material at a fixed environmental condition (cold-side temperature, warm-side temperature, vacuum pressure level, and residual gas composition). An inner vessel receives liquid with a normal boiling point below ambient temperature, such as liquid nitrogen, enclosed within a vacuum chamber. A cold mass assembly, including upper and lower guard chambers and middle test vessel, is suspended from a lid of the vacuum canister. Each of the three chambers is filled and vented through a single feedthrough. All fluid and instrumentation feedthroughs are mounted and suspended from a top domed lid allowing easy removal of the cold mass. A lift mechanism allows manipulation of the cold mass assembly and insulation test article.

Fesmire, James E.↗

Insulation Test Cryostat with Lift Mechanism

A multi-purpose, cylindrical thermal insulation test apparatus is used for testing insulation materials and systems of materials using a liquid boil-off calorimeter system for absolute measurement of the effective thermal conductivity (k-value) and heat flux of a specimen material at a fixed environmental condition (cold-side temperature, warm-side temperature, vacuum pressure level, and residual gas composition). The apparatus includes an inner vessel for receiving a liquid with a normal boiling point below ambient temperature, such as liquid nitrogen, enclosed within a vacuum chamber. A cold mass assembly, including the upper and lower guard chambers and a middle test vessel, is suspended from a lid of the vacuum canister. Each of the three chambers is filled and vented through a single feedthrough. All fluid and instrumentation feedthroughs are mounted and suspended from a top domed lid to allow easy removal of the cold mass. A lift mechanism allows manipulation of the cold mass assembly and insulation test article.

Fesmire, James E.↗

STS-76 Flight Day 1

On this first day of the STS-76 mission, the flight crew, Cmdr. Kevin P. Chilton, Pilot Richard A Searfoss, and Mission Specialists Shannon W. Lucid, Linda M. Godwin, Michael R. Clifford, and Ronald M. Sega, are shown performing prelaunch and launch activities for the night launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The primary objective of this mission is the third docking between the Mir Space Station and Atlantis and a crew transfer. Lucid will remain onboard the Mir for about four months. Other activities include an EVA by Godwin and Clifford, logistics operations, and scientific research with a SPACEHAB module, some middeck experiments, and a Get Away Special (GAS) canister. Also, almost a ton of equipment and supplies will be transferred to the Mir. Experiments include the Mir Electric Field Characterization (MEFC), European Space Agency (ESA) Biorack life sciences experiment, Queens University Experiment in Liquid Diffusion (QUELD), Optizone Liquid Phase Sintering Experiment (OLIPSE), and a Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) GAS payload Trapped Ions in Space (TRIS), which will measure low-energy particle radiation in the inner magnetosphere. This mission also will include a KidSat, a prototype of Earth viewing cameras and instruments, that allow students in grades K-12 to see and direct the capture of pictures from space. Footage from Mission control is also included.

Source record↗