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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 NTRS2019

Powering OSCAR

Recycling waste has been an issue on Earth for decades. The OSCAR project seeks to find ways to make sure that it does not become an issue in space. The main focus of OSCAR is the combustion of waste and reclamation of gaseous products in microgravity. The first phase of testing relies on a ground rig that operates both under normal (Earth) gravity and in drop tower tests that briefly simulate a microgravity environment. In the second phase, a test will be performed during a suborbital flight were the experiment will be carried out in microgravity. Throughout the spring term, interns have played an integral part in continuing the progress made by the project. They performed work in upgrading the electrical and mechanical systems that make up OSCAR. They made multiple improvements to the test rig's operating software to improve readability and usability. They prepared and edited documents that were vital to the engineering process. And, they were responsible for performing lab tests and refining the lab operations document and procedure. The interns were a big help in maintaining the rigorous test schedule. OSCAR, which stands for Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor, is to find a way to turn astronaut waste into chemical energy. The two parts of this are important: finding a way to dispose of waste generated in space, and seeing if there is a way to recycle that waste into chemical energy. The importance of the disposal aspect is that there is currently no way to dispose of, or recycle, waste that is created in space other than jettisoning it (which is what the ISS does via empty supply capsules). As manned missions go deeper into space, that method will no longer be viable, as a craft would essentially be littering the space and planets that they visit. Energy reclamation is also important because of the high monetary and spatial costs of sending supplies on space missions. Every little bit extra that can be reused out of what is sent can save room and funds for other supplies. The facet of this problem that the OSCAR project is focusing on is how to combust waste in zero gravity. Combustion in the presence of gravity is one of those things that is taken for granted. When something burns on Earth, the flames rise above the fuel as oxygen flows from underneath. In microgravity, the flames surround the object completely, which restricts the amount of oxygen that can reach the fuel, and retards the combustion. OSCAR uses a vortex reaction chamber to counter this phenomenon. The OSCAR test rig will eventually be tested on a suborbital flight to see if it is an effective solution to the issue in real-world conditions. Currently, there is a prototype test rig that is fully functional. This rig has been previously tested in a 2 second drop test at Glenn Research Center’s (GRC) Zero Gravity Facility (ZGF). (The free-fall conditions of the drop mimic microgravity, if only for a brief period of time). This session’s focus was on upgrading the test rig and software, updating the paperwork, performing additional lab tests, and readying the rig for the five second drop test, again at GRC. II. Upgrades The state of the testing rig at the start of the session was in between its configurations for the two second drop tower and the five second drop tower. The rig needed upgrades to address various insufficiencies that either were discovered during the two second campaign or were a direct result of the differences between the two drop tower setups. The main differences that had to be handled were the increase in shock loads from 30g to 65g, a difference in drop indicating signal (on the falling edge of a pulse instead of a change from high to low), and the ambient pressure of the test apparatus (the two second tower dropped the rig in atmosphere, while the five second tower drops in vacuum).

Cauvel, Thomas↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Suborbital Testing of the OSCAR Trash-to-Gas System

With the sustained human exploration of nearby celestial bodies on the horizon, a renewed outlook on crew waste management must be realized. Current waste management strategies aboard the International Space Station become impractical as we venture beyond low Earth orbit. Furthermore, for future exploration missions, extracting resources from various waste streams becomes increasingly advantageous. One method of combatting the long-duration waste management problem is by thermally degrading solid and liquid crew waste items into a chemically inert, ventable gas stream, a process known as Trash-to-Gas. The Orbital Syngas/Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) is the state-of-the-art Trash-to-Gas system which has been designed to explore microgravity Trash-to-Gas concepts for improved mass/volume reduction and resource recovery from waste. OSCAR is a subscale testbed design that supports the NASA Logistics Reduction project under the Advanced Exploration Systems Program and Space Technology Mission Directorate Flight Opportunities Program to determine the feasibility of Trash-to-Gas technology for future use on long duration space missions. OSCAR has flown on two suborbital flight demonstrations aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard launch vehicle. This paper presents a high-level comparative analysis of these microgravity test campaigns with Earth gravity laboratory experiments. Solid-to-gas conversion, gas production & composition, and reactor temperature & pressure are compared to highlight the operational factors and performance differences within the microgravity environment for future optimization.

Ray P Pitts↗
NASA NTRS2023

Analysis of the Solid Products from the OSCAR and the AOWG Trash Processing Systems

Two trash conversion systems that process space logistical trash for conversion into gases and liquids have minor solid product formation consisting of primarily high carbon ash, inorganic salts, and aluminum metal flakes. These solid products necessarily comprise part of the system output because the thermal degradation processes intentionally operate at temperatures below aluminum vaporization and do not convert all solid inorganics or carbon-based compounds into gaseous compounds (i.e., CO 2 or CH 4 ). The two systems included the Orbital Syngas/Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) combustion system funded by the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) located at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and the Advanced Organic Waste Gasifier (AOWG) steam reforming system developed by Pioneer Astronautics in Lakewood, Colorado, and funded by the NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD). OSCAR residual solids were collected from suborbital flight and ground-based laboratory testing, while all AOWG samples were collected from ground testing. This report discusses the solid product characterization, including elemental analyses performed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and a surface chemistry performed with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A particle size analysis was performed with sieves, followed by SEM analyses. These analyses were performed to elucidate what high value products can be extracted or utilized from the solid products for follow on infusion into chemical feedstocks, manufacturing additives, or in-situ construction-based material needs.

OSCAR↗
NASA NTRS1989

Parallel processing of real-time dynamic systems simulation on OSCAR (Optimally SCheduled Advanced multiprocessoR)

Parallel processing of real-time dynamic systems simulation on a multiprocessor system named OSCAR is presented. In the simulation of dynamic systems, generally, the same calculation are repeated every time step. However, we cannot apply to Do-all or the Do-across techniques for parallel processing of the simulation since there exist data dependencies from the end of an iteration to the beginning of the next iteration and furthermore data-input and data-output are required every sampling time period. Therefore, parallelism inside the calculation required for a single time step, or a large basic block which consists of arithmetic assignment statements, must be used. In the proposed method, near fine grain tasks, each of which consists of one or more floating point operations, are generated to extract the parallelism from the calculation and assigned to processors by using optimal static scheduling at compile time in order to reduce large run time overhead caused by the use of near fine grain tasks. The practicality of the scheme is demonstrated on OSCAR (Optimally SCheduled Advanced multiprocessoR) which has been developed to extract advantageous features of static scheduling algorithms to the maximum extent.

Kasahara, Hironori↗
NASA NTRS1998

Telemetry Data Collection from Oscar Satellite

This paper discusses the design, configuration, and operation of a satellite station built for the Center for Space Telemetering and Telecommunications Laboratory in the Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Engineering at New Mexico State University (NMSU). This satellite station consists of a computer-controlled antenna tracking system, 2m/70cm transceiver, satellite tracking software, and a demodulator. The satellite station receives satellite,telemetry, allows for voice communications, and will be used in future classes. Currently this satellite station is receiving telemetry from an amateur radio satellite, UoSAT-OSCAR-11. Amateur radio satellites are referred to as Orbiting Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio (OSCAR) satellites as discussed in the next section.

Haddock, Paul C.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR)

The goal of the Orbital Syngas Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR) project is to study and develop Trash to Gas (TtG) technology in a microgravity environment. This could be implemented on the International Space Station (ISS) and future deep space exploration missions involving long-term human habitation. TtG technology will be used to convert trash and human waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen, water, and carbon dioxide. This will both reduce the spacecraft pressurized volume dedicated for waste storage and provide gaseous commodities that have energy storage and life support applications. As a fall 2018 intern on the OSCAR team at Kennedy Space Center, I helped to prepare the experimental setup for microgravity testing in the drop tower at Glenn Research Center.

McClure, Thomas S.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Oscar Seborer: Father of the Soviet Atomic Bomb?

Seventy-five years after the end of World War II, atomic spies continue to captivate and revolt the American public. Theodore "Ted" Hall, Klaus Fuchs, and David Greenglass all committed espionage at Los Alamos during the war. It has also been conjectured that there was an unidentified spy known only by the code-name PERSEUS, but there is a growing consensus among scholars that PERSEUS never existed. However, in September 2019, historians Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes unmasked a fourth Los Alamos spy code-named GODSEND. His name: Oscar Seborer. When the New York Times reported the story of Seborer's treachery in November 2019, almost nothing was known about his work at the Laboratory. However, recently discovered documents in the National Security Research Center (NSRC) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) offer some clues as to what GODSEND may have stolen for Stalin.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2020

A spy among the trees: The story of Oscar Seborer

It’s long been known that during World War II, Theodore “Ted” Hall, Klaus Fuchs and David Greenglass committed espionage at Los Alamos. Each worked at the secret laboratory charged with creating the world’s first atomic bomb, stole classified weapons information and shared it with the Soviet Union. Just recently, though, in September 2019, historians confirmed a fourth wartime spy: Oscar Seborer. But who was he, what do we know about him, what did he steal, and what happened to him?

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
NASA NTRS2002

Preliminary Results of the GPS Flight Experiment on the High Earth Orbit AMSAT-OSCAR 40 Spacecraft

The GPS flight experiment on the High Earth Orbit (HEO) AMSAT-OSCAR 40 (AO-40) spacecraft was activated for a period of approximately six weeks between 25 September and 2 November, 2001, and the initial results have exciting implications for using GPS as a low-cost orbit determination sensor for future HEO missions. AO-40, an amateur radio satellite launched November 16, 2000, is currently in a low inclination, 1000 by 58,800 km altitude orbit. Although the GPS receiver was not initialized in any way, it regularly returned GPS observations from points all around the orbit. Raw signal to noise levels as high as 9 AMUs (Trimble Amplitude Measurement Units) or approximately 48 dB-Hz have been recorded at apogee, when the spacecraft was close to 60,000 km in altitude. On several occasions when the receiver was below the GPS constellation (below 20,000 krn altitude), observations were reported for GPS satellites tracked through side lobe transmissions. Although the receiver has not returned any point solutions, there has been at least one occasion when four satellites were tracked simultaneously, and this short arc of data was used to compute point solutions after the fact. These results are encouraging, especially considering the spacecraft is currently in a spin-stabilized attitude mode that narrows the effective field of view of the receiving antennas and adversely affects GPS tracking. Already AO-40 has demonstrated the feasibility of recording GPS observations in HEO using an unaided receiver. Furthermore, it is providing important information about the characteristics of GPS signals received by a spacecraft in a HEO, which has long been of interest to many in the GPS community. Based on the data returned so far, the tracking performance is expected to improve when the spacecraft is transitioned to a three axis stabilized, nadir pointing attitude in Summer, 2002.

Moreau, Michael C.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Results from the GPS Flight Experiment on the High Earth Orbit AMSAT OSCAR-40 Spacecraft

A GPS receiver flying on the High Earth Orbit (HEO) AMSAT-OSCAR 40 (AO-40) spacecraft has been returning GPS observations from high above the altitude of the GPS constellation. AO-40, an amateur radio satellite launched November 16, 2000, is currently in a low inclination, 1000 by 59000 lan altitude orbit. This low-cost experiment utilizes a mid 1990's era, 6-channel, CIA code receiver configured with high gain receiving antennas for tracking above the GPS constellation. The receiver has performed well, despite operating significantly outside of its original design environment. It has regularly returned GPS observations from points all around the orbit, with over ten weeks of GPS tracking data collected to date. Signal to noise levels as high as 48 B-Hz have been recorded near apogee, when the spacecraft was at an altitude of close to 60000 km. GPS side lobe signals have been tracked on several occasions, primarily from Block IIR GPS satellites. Although the receiver has not computed a solution in real-time, point solutions have been computed on the ground using simultaneous measurements from four satellites. This experiment has provided important experience dealing with the many challenges inherent to GPS tracking at high altitudes, and the measurements returned are providing valuable information about the characteristics of GPS signals available for future HE0 users.

Bauer, Frank↗
DOE OSTI2024

OSCAR-Mike: Why not ATAK?

The Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) is evaluating methods to increase the probability that international partners will detect radioactive materials. One proposed method to accomplish this goal is to improve communications within teams operating in challenging environments. The goal of these improvements would be to enable remote monitoring of detection equipment, share data among end users in the field and subject matter experts, and integrate data from radiation detectors with other types of sensors and camera systems. Accomplishing this goal has the potential to improve the capabilities of currently deployed NSDD equipment. During FY 2021, Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrated some core and expanded capabilities of the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK), a situational awareness application developed by the US Department of Defense, to enable precision targeting, navigation, and data sharing. During FY 2022, Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed software requirements for an NSDD team awareness kit–based system. The requirements were developed by liaising with NSDD management and subject matter experts to determine NSDD’s needs and by reviewing available software and hardware solutions with US Department of Defense team awareness kit program managers and developers and radiation detection equipment vendors.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2021

Induction Heating of Trash Reactor (OSCAR)

Induction heating is one of the standard processes used in the manufacturing industry to heat conductive materials using induced currents. Due to its efficiency, this heating method has reached other industries such as common household appliances. Currently, the majority of the heating methods used in the KSC laboratory rely on resistive heating for its heating operations. This project aims to study the benefits of the induction heating method being applied to heating processes in current laboratory projects. Potential benefits of this study include increase in heating efficiency, reduced power consumption, and speed of operations.

Jaime Toro↗
DOE OSTI2022

Data on Cu- and Ni-Si-Mn-rich solute clustering in a neutron irradiated austenitic stainless steel

The data presented in this article is supplementary to the research article “Phase instabilities in austenitic steels during particle bombardment at high and low dose rates” (Levine et al.). Needle-shaped samples were prepared with focused ion beam milling from a 304L stainless steel that was irradiated with fast neutrons (E 0.1 MeV) in the BOR-60 reactor at 318 °C to 47.5 dpa. Atom probe tomography (APT) experiments in voltage mode were then conducted on a Cameca LEAP 5000X HR. Atom position, range, and mass spectrum files after reconstruction with Cameca’s IVAS software are included. Cu- and Ni-Si-Mn-rich solute nanoclusters were identified and analyzed using the Open Source Characterization of APT Reconstructions (OSCAR) program. Python code for OSCAR, information on the program’s underlying algorithm, and sample output files are provided. A proximity histogram of a Ni-Si-Mn-rich cluster and a 1D density/solute concentration profile of a Cu-rich cluster are given to demonstrate OSCAR’s analytical functionalities. The provided APT dataset is valuable for benchmarking phase instabilities in neutron-irradiated austenitic stainless steels that occur at high doses. The OSCAR program can be reused to process other APT data sets where solute nanoclustering is of interest.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1995

Damage and Recovery of Hair Cells in Fish Canal (But Not Superficial) Neuromasts after Gentamicin Exposure

Recent evidence demonstrating the presence of two types of sensory hair cells in the ear of a telcost fish (Astronotus ocellatus, the oscar) indicates that hair cell heterogeneity may exist not only in amniotic vertebrates but also in anamniotes. Here we report that a similar heterogeneity between hair cell types may also occur in the other mechanosensory organ of the oscar, the lateral line. We exposed oscars to the aminoglycoside (ototoxic) antibiotic gentamicin sulfate and found damaged sensory hair cells in one class of the lateral line receptors, the canal neuromasts, but not in the other class, the superficial neuromasts. This effect was not due to the canal environment. Moreover, new ciliary bundles on hair cells of the canal neuromasts were found after, and during, gentamicin exposure. The pattern of hair cell destruction and recovery in canal neuromasts is similar to that of type 1-like hair cells found in the striolar region of the utricle and lagena of the oscar after gentamicin treatment. These results suggest that the hair cells in the canal and superficial neuromasts may be similar to type 1-like and type 2 hair cells, respectively, in the fish ear.

Song, Jiakun↗
DOE OSTI2021

Preliminary RAM-RODD results for the MUSiC subcritical configurations

The Measurement of Uranium Subcritical and Critical (MUSiC) was performed at the DOE’s National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) located in the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The measurement utilized the Rocky Flats shells to perform benchmark measurements of similar highly enriched uranium (HEU) systems that span a wide range of reactivities. The Rocky Flats (RF) shells are 93.16% U-235 enriched metal hemishells that can be stacked concentrically. Ten configurations were measured with effective multiplication factors spanning between deeply subcritical (~ 0.64) through delayed critical. Details of the measured configurations are listed in Table 1. This unique set of measurements with its large span of reactivies is being used to determine the range over which neutron noise techniques such as Feynman variance-to-mean, Rossi-alpha, and pulsed neutron source techniques can be accurately employed for a bare HEU system. The results of the measurements will be published as a benchmark in The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) Handbook. The results will support the growing amount of subcritical benchmark data, such as the SCRaP measurements, that is available to the community. The measurements were performed using several different detector systems for the purposes of cross-validation and obtaining detector independent results. Four detector systems were deployed, three by the NCERC team and one from the University of Michigan. The detector systems included a Neutron Multiplicity Array Detector (NoMAD) system (similar to the MC-15), four small volume 0.635 cm (Ø) × 7.59 cm 3 He detectors (ideal for measuring prompt neutron decay constants due to their fast recovery speed), the Rossi Alpha Measurements – Rapid Organic (n, γ) Discrimination Detector (RAM-RODD), and the Organic Scintillator Array (OSCAR). RAM-RODD is an array of eight 5.08 cm (Ø) × 5.08 cm EJ-309 organic scintillator detectors. OSCAR is a University of Michigan system and is an array of twelve 5.08 cm (Ø) × 5.08 cm stilbene detectors. Details of measurements performed with OSCAR will be discussed in a separate talk. The focus of this work is preliminary results obtained by RAM-RODD for the 8 subcritical configurations. Additional details on the measurements and on the setup and deployment of RAM-RODD will be discussed. Preliminary neutron noise analysis results including Rossi-alpha and Feynman-alpha will also be presented.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗