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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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In Situ Synchrotron Micro-CT of Microballoon-Filled RTV Silicone During Thermal Decomposition

This work investigates the thermal decomposition of microballoon-filled room-temperature-vulcanizing (RTV) silicone using time-resolved synchrotron micro-CT at the Advanced Light Source. In situ imaging of constrained and unconstrained samples captures the evolution of the internal microstructure during heating, including material expansion, microballoon and void growth, tearing, pyrolysis, shrinkage, and increasing porosity. The measurements provide new insight into the mechanisms governing RTV degradation and generate three-dimensional data for future quantitative analysis and material-response model development.

TPS

The Canadian Galactic Emission Mapper (CGEM) A Cosmic Microwave Foreground Experiment

The Canadian Galactic Emission Mapper (CGEM) is a 4-meter single-dish radio telescope located at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) in Penticton, Canada. CGEM is designed to map polarized Galactic synchrotron emission across the entire northern sky at 8-10 GHz with 1 MHz frequency resolution and ∼ 0.5 degree angular resolution. Its goal is to obtain high-fidelity, low-noise maps of polarized Galactic synchrotron radiation, at frequencies where synchrotron dominates, in order to provide a reliable template for CMB B−mode foreground cleaning. We will show on sky performance of CGEM’s single-pixel azimuthally-symmetric telescope, its coherent, dual-polarized radiometer, and show maps made from commissioning data from the first few months of operation.

Cosmic microwave background

Polarized Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering (P-RSoXS) as a New Technique for Characterizing Amorphous Astromaterials

In the coming years, samples will be returned from several asteroids, the lunar surface, and the first material returned directly from the Martian surface. Previous in-situ and remote studies indicate these samples will contain abundant amorphous or weakly crystalline materials. However, detailed characterization and quantification of these amorphous materials remains challenging. Conventional techniques, including electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, provide important information on material structure, but are generally limited to crystalline materials. Polarized resonant soft X-ray scattering (P-RSoXS) is a synchrotron-based X-ray scattering technique that has been used to characterize and quantify weakly crystalline systems, including soft materials. This research aims to translate this technique to geologic and extraterrestrial materials, building off the knowledge of using P-RSoXS to interrogate soft materials. P-RSoXS is well-suited to interrogate geologic materials, which are often multiphase, heterogeneous systems with crystalline and amorphous components, and domain sizes on the order of tens of nanometers. It is anticipated that future work will help reveal new chemical and structural information in geologic materials. Maturation of this preliminary work to develop P-RSoXS to characterize astromaterial-relevant samples will provide new understanding of the secondary processes responsible for the development of amorphous astromaterials and further elucidate our knowledge of the geologic history and past alteration processes.

Joshua H Litofsky

In-Situ Heat Rejection to the Martian Atmosphere

In order to provide in-situ heat rejection to the thin Martian atmosphere, approaches relying on forced convection and buoyancy flow are conceptualized. A convective radiator concept utilizing a fan to draw local atmosphere through an expanded metal foam heat exchanger panel is developed. To provide a pumped fluid loop interface, flow tubes are embedded in the heat exchanger panel and heat is transferred from the tubes to the foam via conduction and subsequently convectively to the environment. To forgo the use of a specialized high throughput fan, a concept utilizing a buoyant chimney tower to draw atmospheric flow through a low pressure drop heat exchanger is also considered. Both concepts may best align with moderate- to high-temperature heat loads that provide a significant delta temperature relative to the ambient atmosphere temperature. While eliminating dust accumulation on radiator surfaces, some type of serviceable filtration or screening may be required to prevent accumulation of dust inside the expanded metal foam heat exchanger for both concepts.

Heat Rejection

MEAD In-situ Sampling and Testing at Haughton Crater

The Mars Exploration through Analog-site Drilling (MEAD) project is designed to demonstrate the feasibility and scientific value of robotic drilling missions to Mars in the search for evidence of past or extant life. MEAD conducts high-fidelity field simulations integrating drilling, autonomous operations, and in-situ life-detection and mineralogical instruments. The project tests the Signs of Life Detector (SOLID), proposed for the 2019 Discovery Mars Icebreaker mission, and ARIA (Astronaut Raman Instrument for ISRU and Astrobiology), which provides mineral identification and detects trace organics and volatiles, including indicators of organic thermal maturity. Because current and planned Mars drilling missions operate largely “blind,” MEAD also evaluates the use of drill-induced vibrations recorded by deployed geophones to enable local subsurface mapping for improved targeting of drilling and sampling. In August 2025, MEAD completed its first-year field deployment to Haughton Crater in the Canadian High Arctic, an established Mars impact-crater terrestrial analog site, bringing a Honeybee Robotics TRIDENT drill with applied automation, alongside ARIA, SOLID, and FleetSpace geophones.

Haughton Crater

The Future of in-Situ Sequencing-Based Microbial Monitoring: Development of a Shelf-Stable Method for Artemis and Beyond

Microbial monitoring onboard the International Space Station (ISS) is essential for assessing the efficiency of the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) and providing insight into potential risk to both crew and spacecraft. Historically, this monitoring required the need to culture organisms onboard, return these cultures to Earth, and then complete the identifications, a process that would take months. Over the past decade, and through numerous payloads, advances in molecular biology have enabled in-flight microbial identifications using nanopore sequencing. The swab-to-sequencer method resulting from these efforts was transitioned from research to operations for microbial monitoring under the Crew Health Care Systems (CHeCS) BioMole. Collectively, these accomplishments have propelled the swab-to-sequencer method to be selected as the Microbial Surface Monitor (MSM) for Gateway, as well as a payload on Artemis IV. However, the lack of cold stowage availability for Artemis requires modifications to the entire method due to the thermal instability of the reagents required for sample preparation. To achieve this, new development, optimization, and validations were undertaken. Key considerations included enzyme concentration, buffer compatibility, and equal or enhanced sensitivity and specificity. At each step, thorough side-by-side comparisons with the current ISS method were performed. The development of a robust shelf-stable method will ensure continued sequencing-based microbial monitoring for Artemis and beyond, providing data in near real-time, enhancing risk response time, and yielding clear insight into the microbiome of spacecraft.

Christian G Mena

Biosynthesized Thermoplastic/Regolith Composites for Closed-Loop In-Space Manufacturing

In-Space Manufacturing (ISM) is vital to supporting a sustained human presence on the Moon or Mars. With payload launch prices ranging from $4,000 to more than $1 million per kg, reducing payload mass is of critical interest. Using in-situ resources for ISM is particularly attractive as it allows for a system of Earth-independent manufacturing for the Lunar surface, reducing the initial payload mass that is required for current ISM systems that rely on terrestrially synthesized materials. This talk presents new composite materials made from Lunar and Martian regolith and Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), a thermoplastic that offers the ability to be biosynthesized in space using various in-situ resources like organic waste or atmospheric CO2 as feedstock. The addition of regolith provides a route to creating materials with a diverse set of properties which will be discussed. The development of these materials represents the first step in creating a system of closed-loop ISM, which is critical to establishing a lasting human presence in space.

In situ resource utilization

Polymer/Regolith Composites for In-Space Manufacturing on the Moon and Mars

In-Space Manufacturing (ISM) is vital to supporting a sustained human presence on the Moon or Mars. With payload launch prices ranging from $4,000 to more than $1 million per kg, reducing payload mass is of critical interest. Using in-situ resources for ISM is particularly attractive as it allows for a system of Earth-independent manufacturing for the Lunar surface, reducing the initial payload mass that is required for current ISM systems that rely on terrestrially synthesized materials. This talk presents new composite materials made from Lunar and Martian regolith and Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), a thermoplastic that offers the ability to be biosynthesized in space using various in-situ resources like organic waste or atmospheric CO2 as feedstock. The addition of regolith provides a route to creating materials with a diverse set of properties which will be discussed. The development of these materials represents the first step in creating a system of closed-loop ISM, which is critical to establishing a lasting human presence in space.

In-situ resource utilization

In-Situ Scanning Electron Microscope Experiments for Microscale Mechanical Testing and Validated Modeling of Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics

A novel, in-situ, scanning electron microscope (SEM) mechanical testing capability for materials at the microscale which provides experimental validation to a machine learning (ML) toolset for full-field validation of physics-based micromechanics models is being developed by researchers at NASA Glenn Research Center. These are enabling technologies for the integration of multiscale digital twins for materials into system level models which will result in the improved performance, material discovery, reduced production cost and time, rapid characterization, and prognostic structural health monitoring (SHM) for materials and structures for extreme environments in support of NASA space exploration missions. In order to bridge the material structure-to-system gap for digital twins, physics-based models must be experimentally validated at multiple length scales. Seminal microscale experiments, conducted at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), were limited to transverse compression of single-layer, unidirectional thermoset polymer matrix composite (PMC) micropillar specimens [1]. The early phases of the current project followed those initial results and setup to reproduce the compression testing of PMC material on the custom-built piezoelectric actuated micromechanical testing rig built by MicroTesting Solutions LLC. In this work, samples of thermoplastic PMC material were first machined into 3 mm cubes, and then further machining and final milling was done using a Focused Ion Beam (FIB). The initial experiment was done on a pillar roughly 20 µm x 20 µm x 40 µm tall. Additional pillars were milled with final sizes ranging from 20 µm x 20 µm x 40 µm tall to 40 µm x 40 µm x 65 µm tall. A speckle pattern for in-situ full-field measurements using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was applied with platinum, which was coated on the surface, and then the FIB was used to mill away some of the coating to produce an irregular pattern of Pt on the pillar surface. The samples were loaded into the custom testing rig and placed into the SEM and loaded under compression until failure. Images were collected in the SEM during testing. Post-processing of the images was conducted using DIC to obtain full-field displacement and strain measurements elucidating the role of the matrix as well as fiber-fiber interaction at the microscale within the composite subjected to compression loading well into the non-linear regime of the material. Moreover, the evolution of fiber-matrix debonding and matrix cracking is observed in-situ at the microscale. This data, along with images segmented with a newly developed ML toolset [2], was used to create and validate physics-based micromechanics models. An image of the failed micropillar is shown in Figure 1. The techniques developed in the initial compression experiment was tailored to the validation needs of the models and expanded to include different sized samples as well as possibly tension and fatigue.

Laura Wilson

Ice in Convective Storm Environments: Assessing Impacts of Microphysics on Simulated Reflectivities

Satellite radar retrievals of clouds and precipitation rely on assumptions about the microphysical properties of hydrometeors such as particle size distributions (PSDs) and massdimensional relationships, which have been shown to vary in distinct environments. A deeper understanding of linkages between mass-dimensional relationships, ice crystal shape, and radar reflectivities across cloud and precipitation regimes is necessary for developing new retrievals for upcoming satellite radar missions, including the INvestigation of Convective UpdraftS (INCUS), as well as future missions that will feature space-borne radars observing clouds, convection, and precipitation. This study investigates ice microphysical characteristics through aircraft in-situ and remote sensing observations from two convective events during the Mid-latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) in the Southern Great Plains, and tests implications for ice particle habit in forward modeled radar observations. During MC3E, the Ka/Ku- band High Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP) was onboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft, while in-situ measurements were taken onboard the University of North Dakota Citation. In-situ PSDs and particle shape information from optical array probe data are used to forward model radar reflectivities from particle scattering databases and are compared against HIWRAP reflectivities. Various particle combinations can be used to find agreement with HIWRAP observations, and the forward modeled reflectivities were sensitive to particle type. Varying the riming on the aggregate and graupel particles resulted in larger than 10 dB differences in reflectivities. The in-situ and radar observations imply the occurrence of aggregation, size sorting and lofting particles.

Julia A. Shates

Development of a lithium secondary battery separator

A nonporous membrane based on the polymerization of 2,3-dihydrofuran followed by crosslinking in situ was prepared. The material is compatible with rechargeable Li battery components and, when swollen with an appropriate solvent such as tetrahydrofuran, exhibits separator resistance and Li transport equivalent to Celgard.

Moore, J. A.

Evaluating Crystallinity in Thermoplastic composites

Polymer matrix composites (PMCs) offer many benefits for the aerospace industry due to their potential for weight reduction when compared to metal or ceramic based materials. Most PMCs currently in flight use thermoset matrices, however, thermoplastic resins are being explored as alternatives due to their ability to be remelted, which is of particular interest due to the potential for in-situ repair and manufacturing required in space. Most thermoplastic resins are semicrystalline polymers. The properties of semicrystalline thermoplastics are largely influenced by their crystallinity, which can vary due to many factors including thermal treatments, environmental conditions, and mechanical deformation. Monitoring the crystallinity of thermoplastic composites is key to ensuring these materials reliably meet the high demands required by space exploration. This talk discusses the use of multiple techniques such as Polarized Light Optical Microscopy and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to characterize the crystallinity in various thermoplastic composites, including carbon fiber reinforced PMCs and novel bio-based Martian and Lunar regolith composites designed for in-situ manufacturing. This work aims to provide the fundamental data necessary to understand the effects of crystallinity on thermoplastic PMCs, which is key to advancing their use in space applications.

Thermoplastics

Extrusion-based Additive Manufacturing of Regolith-Filled Shape Memory Vitrimer Composite for Lunar Construction

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is visiting the moon again. This time, the objective is to explore establishing a permanent lunar base. To achieve both longterm human habitation on the moon and future deep space travel, it is crucial to make the most of the in-situ resources and build autonomous systems on the moon to support the construction of a lunar habitat. NASA’s In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) program aims to minimize the need to ship heavy prefabricated structures, reducing cost and enhancing sustainability. Here, we developed an economical extrusion method for printing lunar regolith-based composites using shape memory vitrimer as a binder. A rheological study is conducted to determine the extrudability of the composite with different regolith weight percentages. Several characterizations were conducted on the composites. The as-printed composites exhibited compressive and flexural strengths of 73.32 MPa and 156.59 MPa, respectively, and good impact tolerance. The composite maintained 57.92% of its mechanical properties even after the second crack healing cycle. The composites also exhibit shape fixity ratio of 90.02% and shape recovery ratio of 83.46%. The simple synthesis method, sustainability, and good thermomechanical properties make the 3D printed composite an ideal material for lunar construction applications.

Kingsley Yeboah Gyabaah

Strong Thermoset Regolith UV-Curable Composite Technology (STRUCT) Overview

Future lunar surface missions require construction materials that can be manufactured in situ using lo-cal resources while operating under extreme environmental conditions. Many Lunar material demands can be solved solely with regolith by compacting or sintering. And yet past Lunar missions rely on polymeric materials, and sustained Lunar missions must reduce Earth-supplied polymers dependence. Dual-cure (Ultraviolet (UV) and thermal) polymer-regolith composites offer a promising pathway by leveraging solar UV radiation, moderate thermal in-put, and regolith. Mission mass limits, power availability and energy constraints on the lunar surface further motivate low-energy processing and curing strategies for surface construction materials. The Strong Thermoset Regolith UV-Curable Composite Technology (STRUCT) project has successfully synthesized and demonstrated dual-cure photopolymer resins derivable from in-situ resources [3]. Morphological, thermal, and mechanical characterization show that the newly formulated UV curable resin systems integrates well with lunar regolith simulants. Processing and chemistry changes, and computational analysis advanced the composite design. X-ray CT scanned and computational analysis demonstrate that resin, regolith and additives are well incorporated. The large fraction of regolith, 95% by mass, large char yield (82% mass), low thermal conductivity (0.26 W/m/K), confirm this material as a promising high-performance thermal and structural material.

thermal conductivity

The Relevance of the VIPER Mission to NASA’s Artemis Human Exploration of the Moon

NASA has ambitious plans to send astronaut crews to the south polar region of the Moon and explore this lunar terrain with humans for the first time through a series of Artemis missions. Artemis will provide economic benefits, drive technological advancement, and inspire the next generation of explorers. Simultaneously, Artemis presents a unique opportunity for humans to conduct high-priority planetary science in situ in the south polar region of the Moon. Prior to human exploration, landed robotic precursor investigations can provide valuable information to reduce risk and maximize discovery and productivity of subsequent crewed missions. NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) is a robotic mission designed to explore and characterize the lunar south polar region prior to crewed Artemis landed missions. VIPER is designed to explore multiple thermal regimes to characterize the lunar polar environment and regolith properties, and to explore for surface and subsurface ices. Each of these objectives are key for both scientific investigation and to detect and assess volatile deposits to support in situ resource utilization (ISRU) and a sustained human presence on the Moon. VIPER would also operate with a real-time mission operations architecture with relevance and feed-forward to Artemis crewed operations on the lunar surface. VIPER would provide key information regarding the lunar environment, scientific exploration, technologies, and real-time operations to optimize the valuable surface exploration time of Artemis crew members while simultaneously reducing risk to crew and increasing health and human safety on the lunar surface.

Jennifer L Heldmann

Organic Inventory - Planetary Protection on the Moon

All spacecraft generate and carry contaminants, i.e., unwanted and potentially harmful material. When a spacecraft lands and operates in vacuum, as onto Earth’s Moon, it introduces contaminants into its environment that may compromise mission science objectives and engineering performance. Contamination may degrade sites of unique value to planetary science or in situ resource utilization. This presentation will identify and compare source terms and transport vectors for contaminants – in particular, organic material – generated by landed spacecraft. An integrated modeling framework for the organic contamination footprint of spacecraft missions will be described and presented.

Planetary Protection