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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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13 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1986

Presentation of Class 1 designs for a family of commuter airplanes

The Class 1 configuration designs of a family of commuter aircraft are presented. The proposed aircraft will have a capacity of from 25 to 100 passengers. They are to have the following common features: (1) 2 aft fuselage mounted engines; (2) a low wing; (3) a T-tail type empennage; and (4) a tricycle type landing gear. A family concept is introduced to achieve structural, systems and handling quality commonality throughout. Implementing commonality can substantially reduce manufacturing and production costs. By achieving common system designs, maintenance costs can be reduced by permitting airlines to stock a smaller inventory of spares. Therefore, the higher degree of commonality, the lower the direct operating and life cycle costs. The attempt to implement some of the commonality requirements has caused configuration design problems, i.e., the twin-body concept was introduced. Design data are compared to existing aircraft, and the extent of structural, systems and handling qualities achieved are reviewed.

Creighton, Tom↗
NASA NTRS2012

Life-Cycle Assessments of Selected NASA Ground-Based Test Facilities

In the past two years, two separate facility-specific life cycle assessments (LCAs) have been performed as summer student projects. The first project focused on 13 facilities managed by NASA s Aeronautics Test Program (ATP), an organization responsible for large, high-energy ground test facilities that accomplish the nation s most advanced aerospace research. A facility inventory was created for each facility, and the operational-phase carbon footprint and environmental impact were calculated. The largest impacts stemmed from electricity and natural gas used directly at the facility and to generate support processes such as compressed air and steam. However, in specialized facilities that use unique inputs like R-134a, R-14, jet fuels, or nitrogen gas, these sometimes had a considerable effect on the facility s overall environmental impact. The second LCA project was conducted on the NASA Ames Arc Jet Complex and also involved creating a facility inventory and calculating the carbon footprint and environmental impact. In addition, operational alternatives were analyzed for their effectiveness at reducing impact. Overall, the Arc Jet Complex impact is dominated by the natural-gas fired boiler producing steam on-site, but alternatives were provided that could reduce the impact of the boiler operation, some of which are already being implemented. The data and results provided by these LCA projects are beneficial to both the individual facilities and NASA as a whole; the results have already been used in a proposal to reduce carbon footprint at Ames Research Center. To help future life cycle projects, several lessons learned have been recommended as simple and effective infrastructure improvements to NASA, including better utility metering and data recording and standardization of modeling choices and methods. These studies also increased sensitivity to and appreciation for quantifying the impact of NASA s activities.

Sydnor, George Honeycutt↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

An Overview of NASA’s Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth Science Investigations (CASEI): Supporting FAIR and Open Access to Airborne and Field Data

Since 2019, NASA’s Airborne Data Management Group (ADMG) within the Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) has worked to promote and ensure the discoverability and accessibility of the agency’s non-satellite Earth science observations. A primary component of this effort is the development of NASA’s Catalog of Archived Suborbital Earth Science Investigations (CASEI) and the vetting of key contextual details required to sustain this unique inventory of airborne and field metadata. CASEI provides information on the science objectives motivating data collection, key events/time periods in the observational record aligned with the science objectives, complementary simultaneous observations, programmatic details, and much more. The diverse set of data formats and disciplines served by CASEI have required the implementation of a common data model to organize suborbital observation metadata and efficiently connect appropriate campaigns, platforms, and instruments. The CASEI inventory provides a single entry point for users to search and browse NASA’s airborne and field data archives, regardless of which repository is responsible for their stewardship. This presentation will provide a summary of the motivations for and the development of the CASEI system. Particular attention will be granted to how CASEI facilitates discovery and reuse of these lesser-known NASA data, supporting the Open Science vision and enhancing the return on investments made to collect these unique and varied observations. An up-to-date summary of CASEI inventory content and initial metrics will be provided. Current and future avenues ADMG is pursuing to enhance both CASEI and specific components of suborbital data stewardship at various stages of the data life cycle will also be discussed.

Stephanie M. Wingo↗
NASA NTRS1995

Effective Transition Management: The Seamless System

In this age of shrinking resources, cost avoidance has become as critical as direct cost savings. There is no doubt that Effective Transition Management (ETM) achieves this aim. What then, is ETM and how does it achieve its goal? It is the introduction and use of a hierarchical decision model and computerized tracking system which successfully integrates capital acquisition into the support base. You will discover that because this proven system is generic, compatible and flexible, its applications are virtually unlimited. It is this highly dynamic process which I would like to share with you. Skilled specialists are now rotated rapidly through acquisition programs on a requirements-driven basis. Managers continue their quest for inefficient areas to trim, slash or cut. However, there is one area of operations in every major corporation and government department that, as yet, has not received the attention it deserves. This essential element is Transition Management. Capital acquisitions, at some point, must be handed off to a support matrix for the 'in-service' phase of their life cycle. Most of us who have been on the receiving end can usually cite outrageous examples of adjustment, recovery or disaster. This means buying what amounts to a second initial sparing package, re-aligning the range and depth of inventory to match a changed maintenance concept, interpreting contractor-developed configuration control data or ensuring that the latest information is contained in the technical publications. This list is endless. For major purchases, this 'in-service' phase is often fifteen, twenty or more years. The least desirable, yet most common condition, is to suffer up to five years of recovering from errors or omissions after the transition to the support matrix occurs. Without ETM, making new equipment fully operational may thus become a long and costly process.

Burke, Marty↗
NASA NTRS2009

Evaluation of an Interferometric Sensor for In-Space Detection of Gas Leaks

Space mission planning often involves long-term storage of volatile liquids or high-pressure gases. These may include cryogenic fuels and oxidizers, high-pressure gases, and life-support-critical consumables. The risk associated with the storage of fluids and gases in space systems has long been an issue and the ability to retain these fluids is often tied to mission success. A leak in the storage or distribution system can cause many different problems, including a simple, but mission endangering, loss of inventory or, in severe cases, unbalanced thrust loads on a flight vehicle. Cryogenic propellants are especially difficult to store, especially over a long duration. The propellant can boil off and be lost through the insulating walls of the tank or simple thermal cycling of the fittings, valves, and propellant feed lines may unseat seals allowing the fluid to escape. Current NASA missions call for long-duration in-space storage of propellants, oxidizers, and life support supplies. Leaks of a scale detectable through a pressure drop in the storage tank are often catastrophic and have long been the focus of ground-based mitigation efforts where redundant systems are often employed. However, there is presently no technology available for detecting and monitoring low-level, but still mission-endangering, gas leaks in space. Standard in-space gas detection methods either have a very limited pressure range over which they operate effectively or are limited to certain gases. Mass spectrometer systems are able to perform the detection tasks, but their size, mass and use of high voltage, which could potentially lead to an arc that ignites a combustible propellent, severely limit their usefulness in a space system. In this paper, we present results from testing of the light-based interferometric gas monitoring and leak detection sensor shown in Fig. 1. The output of the sensor is an interference fringe pattern that is a function of the gas density, and commensurate index of refraction, in the sample region. Changes in the density of gas cause the interference fringes to move across a photodiode detector, providing a temporal history of the leak. The sensor is fiber coupled and constructed from solid optics, allowing for placement almost anywhere on the spacecraft. It is also advantageous in that it consumes very little power and does not introduce an ignition source. Data are presented demonstrating the capability of the sensor to measure density variations in different gas species. In addition, the transient response of the sensor in vacuum is demonstrated. These data extend and improve upon the results previously presented by the authors in Ref. [1].

Polzin, Kurt A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

The HERschel Inventory of the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Magellanic Clouds, a HERschel Open Time Key Program

We present an overview or the HERschel Inventory of The Agents of Galaxy Evolution (HERITAGE) in the Magellanic Clouds project, which is a Herschel Space Observatory open time key program. We mapped the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) at 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 micron with the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) and Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) instruments on board Herschel using the SPIRE/PACS parallel mode. The overriding science goal of HERITAGE is to study the life cycle of matter as traced by dust in the LMC and SMC. The far-infrared and submillimeter emission is an effective tracer of the interstellar medium (ISM) dust, the most deeply embedded young stellar objects (YSOs), and the dust ejected by the most massive stars. We describe in detail the data processing, particularly for the PACS data, which required some custom steps because of the large angular extent of a single observational unit and overall the large amount of data to be processed as an ensemble. We report total global fluxes for LMC and SMC and demonstrate their agreement with measurements by prior missions. The HERITAGE maps of the LMC and SMC are dominated by the ISM dust emission and bear most resemblance to the tracers of ISM gas rather than the stellar content of the galaxies. We describe the point source extraction processing and the critetia used to establish a catalog for each waveband for the HERITAGE program. The 250 micron band is the most sensitive and the source catalogs for this band have approx. 25,000 objects for the LMC and approx. 5500 objects for the SMC. These data enable studies of ISM dust properties, submillimeter excess dust emission, dust-to-gas ratio, Class 0 YSO candidates, dusty massive evolved stars, supemova remnants (including SN1987A), H II regions, and dust evolution in the LMC and SMC. All images and catalogs are delivered to the Herschel Science Center as part of the conummity support aspects of the project. These HERITAGE images and catalogs provide an excellent basis for future research and follow up with other facilities.

AGENTS↗
NASA NTRS1976

A literature review and inventory of the effects of environment on the fatigue behavior of metals

The current state of knowledge of the effects of gas environments (at atmospheric pressure and below) on the fatigue behavior of metals is reviewed. Among the topics considered are the mechanisms proposed to explain the differences observed in the fatigue behavior of vacuum- and air-tested specimens, the effects of environment on the surface topography of fatigue cycled specimens, the effect of environment on the various phases of the fatigue phenomenon, the effect of prolonged exposure to vacuum on fatigue life, the variation of fatigue life with decreasing gas pressure, and gas evolution during fatigue cycling. Analysis of the findings of this review indicates that hydrogen embrittlement is primarily responsible for decreased fatigue resistance in humid environments, and that dislocations move more easily during tests in vacuum than during test in air. It was found that fatigue cracks generally initiated and propagated more rapidly in air than in vacuum. Prolonged exposure to vacuum does not adversely affect fatigue resistance. The variation of fatigue life with decreasing gas pressure is sometimes stepped and sometimes continuous.

Hudson, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Gas core reactors for actinide transmutation and breeder applications

This work consists of design power plant studies for four types of reactor systems: uranium plasma core breeder, uranium plasma core actinide transmuter, UF6 breeder and UF6 actinide transmuter. The plasma core systems can be coupled to MHD generators to obtain high efficiency electrical power generation. A 1074 MWt UF6 breeder reactor was designed with a breeding ratio of 1.002 to guard against diversion of fuel. Using molten salt technology and a superheated steam cycle, an efficiency of 39.2% was obtained for the plant and the U233 inventory in the core and heat exchangers was limited to 105 Kg. It was found that the UF6 reactor can produce high fluxes (10 to the 14th power n/sq cm-sec) necessary for efficient burnup of actinide. However, the buildup of fissile isotopes posed severe heat transfer problems. Therefore, the flux in the actinide region must be decreased with time. Consequently, only beginning-of-life conditions were considered for the power plant design. A 577 MWt UF6 actinide transmutation reactor power plant was designed to operate with 39.3% efficiency and 102 Kg of U233 in the core and heat exchanger for beginning-of-life conditions.

Clement, J. D.↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Climate of Early Mars

The nature of the early Martian climate is one of the major unanswered questions of planetary science. Key challenges remain, but a new wave of orbital and in situ observations and improvements in climate modeling have led to significant advances over the past decade. Multiple lines of geologic evidence now point to an episodically warm surface during the late Noachian and early Hesperian periods 3–4 Ga. The low solar flux received by Mars in its first billion years and inefficiency of plausible greenhouse gases such as CO2 mean that the steady-state early Martian climate was likely cold. A denser CO2 atmosphere would have caused adiabatic cooling of the surface and hence migration of water ice to the higher-altitude equatorial and southern regions of the planet. Transient warming caused melting of snow and ice deposits and a temporarily active hydrological cycle, leading to erosion of the valley networks and other fluvial features. Precise details of the warming mechanisms remain unclear, but impacts, volcanism, and orbital forcing all likely played an important role. The lack of evidence for glaciation across much of Mars’s ancient terrain suggests the late Noachian surface water inventory was not sufficient to sustain a northern ocean. Though mainly inhospitable on the surface, early Mars may nonetheless have presented significant opportunities for the development of microbial life.

Mars↗
NASA NTRS2019

High-Resolution Mid-Infrared Molecular Line Survey of the Orion Hot Core

The basic building blocks of life are synthesized in space as part of the natural stellar evolutionary cycle, whereby elements ejected into the interstellar medium by dying stars are incorporated back into the dense clouds, which form the next generation of stars and planets. The formation of stars and planets are fundamental to the evolution of matter in the Universe as complex molecules are created and destroyed during this step. Understanding these processes will allow us to answer “What is the relation between the molecules we see in the ISM and the molecular inventory of Earth and the terrestrial planets in the Solar System?” Measuring and cataloging the inventory of organic molecules and understanding their evolution requires observations over a broad wavelength range (IR, MIR, FIR, (sub)mm, and radio) to cover all stages of this evolutionary cycle needed to link interstellar material to that delivered to planets. High-resolution molecular line surveys provide chemical inventories for star forming regions and are essential for studying their chemistry, kinematics and physical conditions. Previous high spectral resolution surveys have been limited to radio, sub-mm and FIR wavelengths; however, Mid-infrared observations are the only way to study symmetric molecules that have no dipole moment and thus cannot be detected in the (sub)mm line surveys from ALMA. Past midinfrared missions such as ISO and Spitzer had low to moderate resolving power that were only able to link broad features with particular molecular bands and could not resolve the individual rovibrational transitions. JWST will provide exceptional sensitivity in the MIR, but will also not have sufficient spectral resolution, which can lead to confusion in identifying the contribution from strong to moderate strength molecular species. We present new results from an on-going high resolution (R ~ 60,000) line survey of the Orion hot core between 12.5 - 28.3 μm and 7 - 8 μm, using the EXES instrument on the SOFIA airborne observatory. SOFIA's higher-resolution and smaller beam compared to ISO allows us to spatially and spectrally isolate the emission towards the hot core. This survey will provide the best infrared measurements (to date) of molecular column densities and physical conditions, providing strong constraints on the current chemical network models for star forming regions. This survey will greatly enhance the inventory of resolved line features in the MIR, making it an invaluable reference to be used by the JWST and ALMA scientific communities.

Rangwala, Naseem↗
NASA NTRS2011

International Space Station Water Balance Operations

In November 2008, the Water Regenerative System racks were launched aboard Space Shuttle flight, STS-126 (ULF2) and installed and activated on the International Space Station (ISS). These racks, consisting of the Water Processor Assembly (WPA) and Urine Processor Assembly (UPA), completed the installation of the Regenerative (Regen) Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS), which includes the Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) that was launched 2 years prior. With the onset of active water management on the US segment of the ISS, a new operational concept was required, that of water balance . In November of 2010, the Sabatier system, which converts H2 and CO2 into water and methane, was brought on line. The Regen ECLSS systems accept condensation from the atmosphere, urine from crew, and processes that fluid via various means into potable water, which is used for crew drinking, building up skip-cycle water inventory, and water for electrolysis to produce oxygen. Specification (spec) rates of crew urine output, condensate output, O2 requirements, toilet flush water, and drinking needs are well documented and used as the best guess planning rates when Regen ECLSS came online. Spec rates are useful in long term planning, however, daily or weekly rates are dependent upon a number of variables. The constantly changing rates created a new challenge for the ECLSS flight controllers, who are responsible for operating the ECLSS systems onboard ISS from Mission Control in Houston. This paper reviews the various inputs to water planning, rate changes, and dynamic events, including but not limited to: crew personnel makeup, Regen ECLSS system operability, vehicle traffic, water storage availability, and Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA), Sabatier, and OGA capability. Along with the inputs that change the various rates, the paper will review the different systems, their constraints, and finally the operational challenges and means by which flight controllers manage this new concept of "water balance."

Tobias, Barry↗
NASA NTRS2006

Overview of Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Environmental Program

This viewgraph presentation is an overview of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) program. The engineering objectives of the program are to create a Mobile Science Laboratory capable of one Mars Year surface operational lifetime (670 Martian sols = 687 Earth days). It will be able to land and operation over wide range of latitudes, altitudes and seasons It must have controlled propulsive landing and demonstrate improved landing precision via guided entry The general science objectives are to perform science that will focus on Mars habitability, perform next generation analytical laboratory science investigations, perform remote sensing/contact investigations and carry a suite of environmental monitoring instruments. Specific scientific objectives of the MSL are: (1) Characterization of geological features, contributing to deciphering geological history and the processes that have modified rocks and regolith, including the role of water. (2) Determination of the mineralogy and chemical composition (including an inventory of elements such as C, H, N, O, P, S, etc. known to be building blocks for life) of surface and near-surface materials. (3) Determination of energy sources that could be used to sustain biological processes. (4) Characterization of organic compounds and potential biomarkers in representative regolith, rocks, and ices. (5) Determination the stable isotopic and noble gas composition of the present-day bulk atmosphere. (6) Identification potential bio-signatures (chemical, textural, isotopic) in rocks and regolith. (7) Characterization of the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic cosmic radiation, solar proton events, and secondary neutrons. (8) Characterization of the local environment, including basic meteorology, the state and cycling of water and C02, and the near-surface distribution of hydrogen. Several views of the planned MSL and the rover are shown. The MSL environmental program is to: (1) Ensure the flight hardware design is capable of surviving all the environments throughout its mission life time, including ground, transportation, launch, cruise, entry decent and landing (EDL) and surface operation environments. (2) Verify environmental testing and analysis have adequately validated the flight hardware's ability to withstand all natural, self-induced, and mission-activity-induced environments. The planned tests to ascertain the capability of the MSL to perform as desired are reviewed.

spacecraft↗
NASA NTRS2012

Characterizing 3D Vegetation Structure from Space: Mission Requirements

Human and natural forces are rapidly modifying the global distribution and structure of terrestrial ecosystems on which all of life depends, altering the global carbon cycle, affecting our climate now and for the foreseeable future, causing steep reductions in species diversity, and endangering Earth s sustainability. To understand changes and trends in terrestrial ecosystems and their functioning as carbon sources and sinks, and to characterize the impact of their changes on climate, habitat and biodiversity, new space assets are urgently needed to produce high spatial resolution global maps of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of vegetation, its biomass above ground, the carbon stored within and the implications for atmospheric green house gas concentrations and climate. These needs were articulated in a 2007 National Research Council (NRC) report (NRC, 2007) recommending a new satellite mission, DESDynI, carrying an L-band Polarized Synthetic Aperture Radar (Pol-SAR) and a multi-beam lidar (Light RAnging And Detection) operating at 1064 nm. The objectives of this paper are to articulate the importance of these new, multi-year, 3D vegetation structure and biomass measurements, to briefly review the feasibility of radar and lidar remote sensing technology to meet these requirements, to define the data products and measurement requirements, and to consider implications of mission durations. The paper addresses these objectives by synthesizing research results and other input from a broad community of terrestrial ecology, carbon cycle, and remote sensing scientists and working groups. We conclude that: (1) current global biomass and 3-D vegetation structure information is unsuitable for both science and management and policy. The only existing global datasets of biomass are approximations based on combining land cover type and representative carbon values, instead of measurements of actual biomass. Current measurement attempts based on radar and multispectral data have low explanatory power outside low biomass areas. There is no current capability for repeatable disturbance and regrowth estimates. (2) The science and policy needs for information on vegetation 3D structure can be successfully addressed by a mission capable of producing (i) a first global inventory of forest biomass with a spatial resolution 1km or finer and unprecedented accuracy (ii) annual global disturbance maps at a spatial resolution of 1 ha with subsequent biomass accumulation rates at resolutions of 1km or finer, and (iii) transects of vertical and horizontal forest structure with 30 m along-transect measurements globally at 25 m spatial resolution, essential for habitat characterization. We also show from the literature that lidar profile samples together with wall-to53 wall L-band quad-pol-SAR imagery and ecosystem dynamics models can work together to satisfy these vegetation 3D structure and biomass measurement requirements. Finally we argue that the technology readiness levels of combined pol-SAR and lidar instruments are adequate for space flight. Remaining to be worked out, are the particulars of a lidar/pol-SAR mission design that is feasible and at a minimum satisfies the information and measurement requirement articulated herein.

Hall, Forrest G.↗