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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
DOE OSTI2025

RTN-011: Rubin Observatory Plans for an Early Science Program

This document outlines Rubin Observatory's plans for a dedicated \emph{Early Science Program} to enable high-impact science prior to the first annual data release of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Components of the Early Science Program include releasing science-grade commissioning data products via a series of ``Data Previews,'' ramping up of the transient alert stream during commissioning, implementing a program of incremental template generation to augment alert production in the early phases of the survey, and the first LSST Data Release, DR1, based on the first 6 months of data from the LSST. A detailed breakdown of which data products can be expected when is provided. The Rubin Operations team is working closely with the science community to optimize the Early Science Program for the time-domain and solar system science achievable in the first year of operations. This is a living document; both it and the Early Science Program will continue to evolve over the course of commissioning and pre-operations in response to the state of the as-built system and to community guidance.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

NREL Pyrheliometer Comparisons: September 21-27, 2024 (NPC-2024)

Accurate measurements of direct normal (beam) solar irradiance from pyrheliometers are important for developing and deploying solar energy conversion systems, for improving our understanding of Earth's energy budget for climate change studies, and for other science and technology applications involving solar flux. Providing these measurements places many demands on the quality system used by the operator of commercially available radiometers. Maintaining accurate radiometer calibrations that are traceable to an international standard is the first step in producing research-quality solar irradiance measurements.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Historical and Future Learning for the New Era of Multi-Terawatt Photovoltaics

Solar photovoltaics (PV) is entering a new era of multi-terawatt deployment, with 2 TW already in service and more than 75 TW predicted in many scenarios by 2050. This next era has been enabled by over five decades of cumulative advances in PV module cost reduction, performance and reliability. The current scale of deployment also introduces new needs, opportunities and challenges. In this Perspective we frame a path forwards based on learning, broadly defined as a combination of expansion of knowledge and advances through research and development, experience and collaboration. We discuss historical topics where learning has driven PV deployment until now, and emerging areas that are required to sustain high levels of future deployment. We expect progress to continue in terms of module price, performance and reliability, driven by advances in PV cell and module design, the emergence of tandem devices and increased focus on extending module lifetimes. Large-scale deployment also means large-scale sustainability and responsibility. We therefore posit that additional metrics, such as the impact on global CO2 emissions, resource consumption and design for reuse and recycling, will become increasingly important to the PV industry and provide opportunities for further learning.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Overview of the distributed image processing infrastructure to produce the Legacy Survey of Space and Time

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is preparing to execute the most ambitious astronomical survey ever attempted, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Currently the final phase of construction is under way in the Chilean Andes, with the Observatory’s ten-year science mission scheduled to begin in 2025. Rubin’s 8.4-meter telescope will nightly scan the southern hemisphere collecting imagery in the wavelength range 320–1050 nm covering the entire observable sky every 4 nights using a 3.2 gigapixel camera, the largest imaging device ever built for astronomy. Automated detection and classification of celestial objects will be performed by sophisticated algorithms on high-resolution images to progressively produce an astronomical catalog eventually composed of 20 billion galaxies and 17 billion stars and their associated physical properties. In this article we present an overview of the system currently being constructed to perform data distribution as well as the annual campaigns which reprocess the entire image dataset collected since the beginning of the survey. These processing campaigns will utilize computing and storage resources provided by three Rubin data facilities (one in the US and two in Europe). Each year a Data Release will be produced and disseminated to science collaborations for use in studies comprising four main science pillars: probing dark matter and dark energy, taking inventory of solar system objects, exploring the transient optical sky and mapping the Milky Way. Also presented is the method by which we leverage some of the common tools and best practices used for management of large-scale distributed data processing projects in the high energy physics and astronomy communities. We also demonstrate how these tools and practices are utilized within the Rubin project in order to overcome the specific challenges faced by the Observatory.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Geophysical Observations of the 2023 September 24 OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule Reentry

Sample return capsules (SRCs) entering Earth's atmosphere at hypervelocity from interplanetary space are a valuable resource for studying meteor phenomena. The 2023 September 24 arrival of the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer SRC provided an unprecedented chance for geophysical observations of a well-characterized source with known parameters, including timing and trajectory. A collaborative effort involving researchers from 16 institutions executed a carefully planned geophysical observational campaign at strategically chosen locations, deploying over 400 ground-based sensors encompassing infrasound, seismic, distributed acoustic sensing, and Global Positioning System technologies. Additionally, balloons equipped with infrasound sensors were launched to capture signals at higher altitudes. This campaign (the largest of its kind so far) yielded a wealth of invaluable data anticipated to fuel scientific inquiry for years to come. The success of the observational campaign is evidenced by the near-universal detection of signals across instruments, both proximal and distal. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the collective scientific effort, field deployment, and preliminary findings. The early findings have the potential to inform future space missions and terrestrial campaigns, contributing to our understanding of meteoroid interactions with planetary atmospheres. Furthermore, the data set collected during this campaign will improve entry and propagation models and augment the study of atmospheric dynamics and shock phenomena generated by meteoroids and similar sources.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Sensitivity of Simulated Polar Climate to Improved Partitioning of Spectral Solar Irradiance Between Visible and Near‐Infrared Bands

The solar radiative processes that contribute to Earth's surface and atmospheric energy budgets are strongly dependent on wavelength. For example, snow and water vapor become more absorptive as incident radiation shifts from visible (VIS) to near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. Some earth system models (ESMs) aggregate solar radiation into just two bands (VIS and NIR) partitioned at 0.7 μm for transmission between the atmospheric and surface components. In the widely used radiative transfer model RRTMG_SW this partition is near the center of the overlap spectral band spanning 0.625–0.778 μm, whose flux is often approximated as being evenly divided between the VIS and NIR surface bands. Using a hyperspectral radiative transfer model, we show that the fractional downwelling surface flux within the overlap band is usually distributed about 55.5%:44.5% VIS:NIR. This improved approximation shifts as much as 4.27 W m −2 from the NIR to the VIS band, leading to an instantaneous decrease in surface absorption of up to 0.91 W m −2 over snow-covered surfaces. Century-long fully coupled ESM simulations show surface absorption over snow decreases by over 1.6 W m −2 . The coupled response in sea ice regions amplifies the initial forcing ten-fold, and increases seasonal sea ice area by up to 4.9%. These results highlight the importance of accurately representing the spectral distribution of solar radiation in the cryosphere.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

An evaporite sequence from ancient brine recorded in Bennu samples

Evaporation or freezing of water-rich fluids with dilute concentrations of dissolved salts can produce brines, as observed in closed basins on Earth and detected by remote sensing on icy bodies in the outer Solar System. The mineralogical evolution of these brines is well understood in regard to terrestrial environments, but poorly constrained for extraterrestrial systems owing to a lack of direct sampling. Here we report the occurrence of salt minerals in samples of the asteroid (101955) Bennu returned by the OSIRIS-REx mission. These include sodium-bearing phosphates and sodium-rich carbonates, sulfates, chlorides and fluorides formed during evaporation of a late-stage brine that existed early in the history of Bennu’s parent body. Discovery of diverse salts would not be possible without mission sample return and careful curation and storage, because these decompose with prolonged exposure to Earth’s atmosphere. Similar brines probably still occur in the interior of icy bodies Ceres and Enceladus, as indicated by spectra or measurement of sodium carbonate on the surface or in plumes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Revealing the Moon's Taurus‐Littrow Landslide via Integrated Analysis of Pristine Apollo 17 Soil Core 73001/2

The “light mantle” deposit at the base of South Massif in the Moon's Taurus‐Littrow Valley was a primary science target for the Apollo 17 exploration. The possibility that it was a landslide triggered by ejecta from Tycho Crater is critical for establishing the age of Tycho and constraining recent lunar impact chronology; however, the mechanism of emplacement of the deposit has recently been questioned. The newly opened 73001/73002 double drive tube from Station 3 sampled 70.6 cm deep into the regolith and represents the first stratigraphic section of an extraterrestrial landslide deposit returned to Earth. Here we provide an overview of the stratigraphy of the 73001/73002 core based on top to bottom variations revealed by coordinated laboratory analyses and explore constraints on the emplacement of the light mantle deposit. Briefly, the upper ∼10 cm of 73002 contains a disturbed zone from space weathering and emplacement of ejecta from a nearby crater that excavated and ejected basaltic material. Below 10 cm is a nearly uniform unit of immature regolith. These data support a single event for the emplacement of the deposit at this location, followed by weathering and mixing of materials from nearby crater ejecta in the upper 10 cm. Slight variations in chemistry and clast components may reflect the relative stratigraphy of the South Massif slope, with material toward the bottom of 73001 originating from lower slopes and material from higher up in the core representing regolith from higher up the South Massif slopes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Rise of Intelligent Materials Science: Unleashing the Power of Machine Intelligence in Characterization

Machine intelligence has the potential to revolutionize materials science, enabling autonomous synthesis, self-driving characterization, and accelerated modeling. However, despite the promise, successful implementation of these methods in day-to-day research remains a challenge. This talk will delve into the reasons behind this, exploring how truly intelligent experiments are hindered by opaque experiment control, a lack of domain-specific models, and human-centric design. Through a focus on the characterization of next-generation microelectronics and energy storage materials, I will share insights from both successful and failed attempts to implement machine intelligence. We will then explore the next steps necessary to unlock the full potential of machine intelligence in materials science, creating a future where intelligent systems work seamlessly alongside researchers to drive innovation and discovery.

autonomous↗
DOE OSTI2025

Scientific frontiers of agrivoltaic cropping systems

Agrivoltaic (AV) systems integrate agriculture with electricity conversion through photovoltaic (PV) modules. Compared with conventional ground-mounted PV systems, AV systems can reduce land-use competition and offer agronomic and economic advantages, such as more stable crop production and additional farm income. However, AV systems can decrease agricultural performance and are typically 20-90% costlier to install than conventional PV systems. Here, in this Review, we analyse the implementation of AV cropping systems to preserve agricultural activities and highlight challenges and barriers. The global electricity potential of AV systems is ~66-385 PWh annually, depending on PV technology and installation density, if deployed in the most suitable areas, without accounting for grid availability. Scaling up has been hindered by crop selection for shading conditions, decreased energy conversion per unit of land area and issues with social acceptance, landscape impact and environmental sustainability. These issues can be addressed by developments such as wavelength-selective PV; system configurations, such as optimizing module spacing to reduce shading; and operational methods, such as optimizing tracking strategies and integrating agricultural infrastructure. Cross-sector policies can support AV systems by addressing the needs of diverse stakeholders over shared land resources. Further development will require collaboration among the design, performance, deployment and systems research communities.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Rethinking agrivoltaic incentive programs: A science-based approach to encourage practical design solutions

Agrivoltaic systems are promising solutions to address global food and energy challenges by combining agriculture and solar photovoltaics. However, the lack of appropriate regulations to define and guide their implementation constrains the growth of agrivoltaic systems in the U.S. This study uses a shading and radiation tool to evaluate an existing agrivoltaic incentive program that defines agrivoltaic designs based on shading reduction limits and panel height requirements. Our analysis indicates that structuring policy requirements around shading, and not light availability, may lead to an underestimation of crop suitability by neglecting diffuse radiation. Furthermore, we show that agrivoltaic systems can avoid increasing panel height if policy acknowledges use-case scenarios where farming only occurs between rows. In light of these insights, this study proposes two key policy recommendations: (1) benchmark crop suitability based on daily light integral (DLI) requirements for a shade-intolerant crop selected to represent a prevalent crop in the region, and (2) include an incentive scenario where agriculture is only required between rows. Furthermore, these two recommendations can potentially incentivize designs that are practical and closer in cost to conventional solar farms, thereby accelerating the adoption of cost-effective agrivoltaic systems.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Role of Kinetic Instabilities and Waves in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

Magnetic reconnection converts magnetic field energy into particle energy by breaking and reconnecting magnetic field lines. Magnetic reconnection is a kinetic process that generates a wide variety of kinetic waves via wave-particle interactions. Kinetic waves have been proposed to play an important role in magnetic reconnection in collisionless plasmas by, for example, contributing to anomalous resistivity and diffusion, particle heating, and transfer of energy between different particle populations. These waves range from below the ion cyclotron frequency to above the electron plasma frequency and from ion kinetic scales down to electron Debye length scales. This review aims to describe the progress made in understanding the relationship between magnetic reconnection and kinetic waves. We focus on the waves in different parts of the reconnection region, namely, the diffusion region, separatrices, outflow regions, and jet fronts. Particular emphasis is placed on the recent observations from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft and numerical simulations, which have substantially increased the understanding of the interplay between kinetic waves and reconnection. Some of the ongoing questions related to waves and reconnection are discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Grand challenges of wind energy science – meeting the needs and services of the power system

The share of wind power in power systems is increasing dramatically, and this is happening in parallel with increased penetration of solar photovoltaics, storage, other inverter-based technologies, and electrification of other sectors. Recognising the fundamental objective of power systems, maintaining supply–demand balance reliably at the lowest cost, and integrating all these technologies are significant research challenges that are driving radical changes to planning and operations of power systems globally. In this changing environment, wind power can maximise its long-term value to the power system by balancing the needs it imposes on the power system with its contribution to addressing these needs with services. A needs and services paradigm is adopted here to highlight these research challenges, which should also be guided by a balanced approach, concentrating on its advantages over competitors. The research challenges within the wind technology itself are many and varied, with control and coordination internally being a focal point in parallel with a strong recommendation for a holistic approach targeted at where wind has an advantage over its competitors and in coordination with research into other technologies such as storage, power electronics, and power systems.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Simulation Models for Exploring Magnetic Reconnection

Simulations have played a critical role in the advancement of our knowledge of magnetic reconnection. However, due to the inherently multiscale nature of reconnection, it is impossible to simulate all physics at all scales. For this reason, a wide range of simulation methods have been crafted to study particular aspects and consequences of magnetic reconnection. This article reviews many of these methods, laying out critical assumptions, numerical techniques, and giving examples of scientific results. Plasma models described include magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), Hall MHD, Hybrid, kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC), kinetic Vlasov, Fluid models with embedded PIC, Fluid models with direct feedback from energetic populations, and the Rice Convection Model (RCM).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

RTN-095: The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Data Preview 1

We present Rubin Data Preview 1 (DP1), the first release of data from the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, consisting of raw and calibrated single-epoch images, coadds, difference images, detection catalogs, and other derived data products. DP1 is based on 1792 science-grade optical/near-infrared exposures acquired over 48 distinct nights by the Rubin Commissioning Camera, LSSTComCam, on the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Summit Facility on Cerro Pachón, Chile during the first on-sky commissioning campaign in late 2024. DP1 covers a total of ~15 sq. deg. over seven roughly equally-sized non-contiguous fields, each independently observed in six broad photometric bands, ugrizy, spanning a range of stellar densities and latitudes and overlapping with external reference datasets. The median image quality across all bands, measured by the FWHM of the point-spread function, is approximately 1.13 arcseconds, with the sharpest images reaching about 0.65 arcseconds. DP1 contains approximately 2.3 million distinct astrophysical objects, of which 1.6 million are extended in at least one band, and 431 solar system objects, of which 93 are new discoveries. DP1 is approximately 3.5 TB in size and available to Rubin data rights holders via the Rubin Science Platform, a cloud-based environment for the analysis of petascale astronomical data. While small compared to future LSST releases, its high quality and diversity of data support a broad range of early science investigations across all four LSST themes, providing a valuable opportunity to engage with Rubin data ahead of the start of full operations in late 2025.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Data Preview 1

We present Rubin Data Preview 1 (DP1), the first data from the National Science Foundation–Department of Energy Vera C. Rubin Observatory, comprising raw and calibrated single-epoch images, coadds, difference images, detection catalogs, and ancillary data products. DP1 is based on 1792 optical–near-infrared exposures acquired over 48 distinct nights by the Rubin Commissioning Camera (LSSTComCam) on the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Summit Facility on Cerro Pachón, Chile in late 2024. DP1 covers ∼15 deg 2 distributed across seven roughly equal-sized noncontiguous fields, each independently observed in six broad photometric bands, ugrizy. The median FWHM of the point-spread function across all bands is approximately 1"14, with the sharpest images reaching about 0." 58. The 5σ point-source depths for coadded images in the deepest field, the Extended Chandra Deep Field South, are u = 24.55, g = 26.18, r = 25.96, i = 25.71, z = 25.07, and y = 23.1. Other fields are no more than 2.2 mag shallower in any band, where they have nonzero coverage. DP1 contains approximately 2.3 million distinct astrophysical objects, of which 1.6 million are extended in at least one band in coadds, and 431 solar system objects, of which 93 are new discoveries. DP1 is approximately 3.5 TB in size and is available to Vera C. Rubin Observatory data rights holders via the Rubin Science Platform, a cloud-based environment for the analysis of petascale astronomical data. While small compared to future LSST releases, its high quality and diversity of data support a broad range of early science investigations ahead of full operations in 2026.

Ground-based astronomy↗