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LANL strategic activities for AI center on this goal: accelerate development of AI-enabled capabilities for science and security, with focus on developing and applying mission-relevant core AI technologies, creating an AI workforce pipeline and training opportunities, and building AI partnerships and community.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) largest multiprogram science, technology, and energy laboratory. It possesses distinctive capabilities in a variety of fields, such as neutron science, computing, advanced materials, and nuclear science and technology. Using these capabilities, ORNL conducts basic and applied research and development (R&D) to support DOE’s overarching mission “to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.” As a national resource, ORNL also applies its capabilities and skills to the specific needs of other federal agencies and customers through the DOE Strategic Partnership Projects (SPP) Program. Information about the laboratory and its programs is available on the ORNL website. The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at ORNL operates under the authority of the DOE Order 413.2C, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, which establishes DOE’s requirements for the program while providing the laboratory director broad flexibility for program implementation. The LDRD Program funds are obtained through a charge to all laboratory programs. Although it represents a relatively small portion of the overall research budget, the LDRD Program plays an essential role in maintaining the laboratory’s ability to respond to national needs. The program allows ORNL to improve its distinctive capabilities and to enhance its ability to conduct cutting-edge R&D. This report provides an overview of the LDRD Program at ORNL in FY 2023 and contains summaries of all the LDRD research projects that concluded between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) largest multiprogram science, technology, and energy laboratory. It possesses distinctive capabilities in a variety of fields, such as neutron science, computing, advanced materials, and nuclear science and technology. Using these capabilities, ORNL conducts basic and applied research and development (R&D) to support DOE’s overarching mission “to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.” As a national resource, ORNL also applies its capabilities and skills to the specific needs of other federal agencies and customers through the DOE Strategic Partnership Projects (SPP) Program. Information about the laboratory and its programs is available on the ORNL website. The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at ORNL operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2C, Laboratory Directed Research and Development,3 which establishes DOE’s requirements for the program while providing the laboratory director broad flexibility for program implementation. The LDRD Program funds are obtained through a charge to all laboratory programs. Although it represents a relatively small portion of the overall research budget, the LDRD Program plays an essential role in maintaining the laboratory’s ability to respond to national needs. The program allows ORNL to improve its distinctive capabilities and to enhance its ability to conduct cutting-edge R&D. In accordance with the DOE order, R&D projects funded through the LDRD Program at ORNL support the goals of • maintaining the scientific and technical vitality of the laboratory; • enhancing the laboratory’s ability to address future DOE missions; • fostering creativity and stimulating exploration of forefront areas of science and technology; • serving as a proving ground for new concepts in R&D; and • supporting high-risk, potentially high-value R&D. This report provides an overview of the LDRD Program at ORNL in FY 2024 and contains summaries of all the LDRD research projects that concluded between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024.
A continuing effort by the U.S. Department of Energy to improve the competitiveness of the phosphoric acid fuel cell by improving cell performance and/or reducing cell cost is discussed. Cathode improvement, both in performance and cost, available through the use of a class of organometallic cathode catalysts, the tetraazaannulenes (TAAs), was investigated. A new mixed catalyst was identified which provides improved cathode performance without the need for the use of a noble metal. This mixed catalyst was tested under load for 1000 hr. in full cell at 160 to 200 C in phosphoric acid H3PO4, and was shown to provide stable performance. The mixed catalyst contains an organometallic to catalyze electroreduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide and a metal to catalyze further electroreduction of the hydrogen peroxide to water. Cathodes containing an exemplar mixed catalyst (e.g., Co bisphenyl TAA/Mn) operate at approximately 650 mV vs DHE in 160 C, 85% H3PO4 with oxygen as reactant. In developing this mixed catalyst, a broad spectrum of TAAs were prepared, tested in half-cell and in a rotating ring-disk electrode system. TAAs found to facilitate the production of hydrogen peroxide in electroreduction were shown to be preferred TAAs for use in the mixed catalyst. Manganese (Mn) was identified as a preferred metal because it is capable of catalyzing hydrogen peroxide electroreduction, is lower in cost and is of less strategic importance than platinum, the cathode catalyst normally used in the fuel cell.
A method for collecting quantitative technology development information and matching it with capability needs of future NASA missions is described.
Orbit propagation is fundamental for space-based mission analysis, requiring software tools to predict the time-based positions and velocities of orbiting satellites. Many system analysts currently rely on commercial software, which is effective but expensive. NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Strategic Center for Networking, Integration, and Communications (SCENIC) project intends to provide these analysis capabilities by using a combination of internal and open-source software, allowing for a greater flexibility while maintaining low costs. Several routines were created to take different forms of user input to translate input into the standard set of orbital elements to be utilized within the current SCENIC analysis capabilities. These inputs range from two-line elements (TLEs) and Cartesian vectors, to coordinate transformations and Walker Delta constellations. These routines will be integrated into the SCENIC user interface (UI) in order to provide greater customization and flexibility for orbit propagation and other dynamic-analysis capabilities.
Lynx, one of the four strategic mission concepts under study for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey, provides leaps in capability over previous and planned x-ray missions and provides synergistic observations in the 2030s to a multitude of space- and ground-based observatories across all wavelengths. Lynx provides orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity, on-axis subarcsecond imaging with arcsecond angular resolution over a large field of view, and high-resolution spectroscopy for point-like and extended sources in the 0.2- to 10-keV range. The Lynx architecture enables a broad range of unique and compelling science to be carried out mainly through a General Observer Program. This program is envisioned to include detecting the very first seed black holes, revealing the high-energy drivers of galaxy formation and evolution, and characterizing the mechanisms that govern stellar evolution and stellar ecosystems. The Lynx optics and science instruments are carefully designed to optimize the science capability and, when combined, form an exciting architecture that utilizes relatively mature technologies for a cost that is compatible with the projected NASA Astrophysics budget.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is studying a potential Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign consisting of a series of missions over the next decade that would return samples collected at Mars for analyses in terrestrial laboratories. It is anticipated that during such a campaign, many in the Mars science community would seek to continue high-priority science investigations in parallel to those provided by geological and astrobiological sample return investigations. To respond to this anticipated desire of the science community, JPL is performing a study of small spacecraft mission concepts to Mars that could bridge the gap between MSR and other desired science investigations at Mars. The goal of the study is to utilize smaller, affordable missions in performing highpriority science investigations as defined in the National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey, Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) goals, and Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Strategic Knowledge Gaps. The study targets the use of small spacecraft with greater science capability than currently achievable with CubeSats. The target spacecraft wet mass is approximately 100 to 350 kilograms. Methods of access to Mars considered in this study include a self-propelled transit from Earth geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) to Mars as a secondary payload in a rideshare configuration. The study investigates mission concepts, science objectives, mission designs, concept of operations, enhancing technologies, and mission costs, along with launch vehicle interfaces. The cost estimates of the mission concepts studied range from below $100 million to less than $300 million for development through launch. This paper concludes with an outline of several examples of small spacecraft mission concepts to Mars that demonstrate significant scientific capability, are technically feasible, and fit within the desired cost range.
The goal of the study is to utilize smaller, affordable missions in performing high-priority science investigations as defined in the National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey, Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) goals, and Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Strategic Knowledge Gaps. The study targets the use of small spacecraft with greater science capability than currently achievable with CubeSats.
The Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) at NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center is expanding its current technology assessment methodologies. ACO is developing a framework called TAPP that uses a variety of methods, such as association mining and rule learning from data mining, structure development using a Technological Innovation System (TIS), and social network modeling to measure structural relationships. The role of ACO is to 1) produce a broad spectrum of ideas and alternatives for a variety of NASA's missions, 2) determine mission architecture feasibility and appropriateness to NASA's strategic plans, and 3) define a project in enough detail to establish an initial baseline capable of meeting mission objectives ACO's role supports the decision-making process associated with the maturation of concepts for traveling through, living in, and understanding space. ACO performs concept studies and technology assessments to determine the degree of alignment between mission objectives and new technologies. The first step in technology assessment is to identify the current technology maturity in terms of a technology readiness level (TRL). The second step is to determine the difficulty associated with advancing a technology from one state to the next state. NASA has used TRLs since 1970 and ACO formalized them in 1995. The DoD, ESA, Oil & Gas, and DoE have adopted TRLs as a means to assess technology maturity. However, "with the emergence of more complex systems and system of systems, it has been increasingly recognized that TRL assessments have limitations, especially when considering [the] integration of complex systems." When performing the second step in a technology assessment, NASA requires that an Advancement Degree of Difficulty (AD2) method be utilized. NASA has used and developed or used a variety of methods to perform this step: Expert Opinion or Delphi Approach, Value Engineering or Value Stream, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Technique for the Order of Prioritization by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), and other multi‐criteria decision-making methods. These methods can be labor-intensive, often contain cognitive or parochial bias, and do not consider the competing prioritization between mission architectures. Strategic Decision-Making (SDM) processes cannot be properly understood unless the context of the technology is understood. This makes assessing technological change particularly challenging due to the relationships "between incumbent technology and the incumbent (innovation) system in relation to the emerging technology and the emerging innovation system." The central idea in technology dynamics is to consider all activities that contribute to the development, diffusion, and use of innovations as system functions. Bergek defines system functions within a TIS to address what is actually happening and has a direct influence on the ultimate performance of the system and technology development. ACO uses similar metrics and is expanding these metrics to account for the structure and context of the technology. At NASA technology and strategy is strongly interrelated. NASA's Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan (SSTIP) prioritizes those technologies essential to the pursuit of NASA's missions and national interests. The SSTIP is strongly coupled with NASA's Technology Roadmaps to provide investment guidance during the next four years, within a twenty-year horizon. This paper discusses the methods ACO is currently developing to better perform technology assessments while taking into consideration Strategic Alignment, Technology Forecasting, and Long Term Planning.
Trajectory-based operations with self-separation involve the aircraft taking the primary role in the management of its own trajectory in the presence of other traffic. In this role, the flight crew assumes the responsibility for ensuring that the aircraft remains separated from all other aircraft by at least a minimum separation standard. These operations are enabled by cooperative airborne surveillance and by airborne automation systems that provide essential monitoring and decision support functions for the flight crew. An airborne automation system developed and used by NASA for research investigations of required functionality is the Autonomous Operations Planner. It supports the flight crew in managing their trajectory when responsible for self-separation by providing monitoring and decision support functions for both strategic and tactical flight modes. The paper focuses on the latter of these modes by describing a capability for tactical intent-based conflict resolution and its role in a comprehensive suite of automation functions supporting trajectory-based operations with self-separation.
In the face of increasing frequency of extreme events, enhancing resilience and reliability of energy infrastructure demands innovative solutions. Hydropower, with its inherent generation flexibility and grid-forming capability, offers significant potential for enhancing power grid resilience through the establishment of microgrids. To enable informed decision-making and strategic planning, we present the Hydropower Resilience Database (HRD) that integrates data from various sources such as Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL) HydroSource, National Inventory of Dams, and US Western Grid database. By integrating relevant information on hydropower plant characteristics, including dams, reservoirs, and connected electrical grid, this resource enables hydropower plant owners, utilities, and community stakeholders to identify and evaluate the feasibility of using hydropower resources in microgrids to support nearby communities and critical infrastructure in various challenging scenarios. Using HRD, a set of metrics are evaluated to quantify the capability of hydropower plants to support essential microgrid functions. An interactive tool is developed using ArcGIS, enabling the visualization and analysis using HRD. Our research contributes to strategic planning efforts for fortifying energy infrastructure, ensuring reliable power supply during disruptions, and advancing the development of robust and resilient energy systems in regions susceptible to grid vulnerabilities.
In the face of increasing frequency of extreme events, enhancing resilience and reliability of energy infrastructure demands innovative solutions. Hydropower, with its inherent generation flexibility and grid-forming capability, offers significant potential for enhancing power grid resilience through the establishment of microgrids. To enable informed decision-making and strategic planning, we present the Hydropower Resilience Database (HRD) that integrates data from various sources such as Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL) HydroSource, National Inventory of Dams, and US Western Grid database. By integrating relevant information on hydropower plant characteristics, including dams, reservoirs, and connected electrical grid, this resource enables hydropower plant owners, utilities, and community stakeholders to identify and evaluate the feasibility of using hydropower resources in microgrids to support nearby communities and critical infrastructure in various challenging scenarios. Using HRD, a set of metrics are evaluated to quantify the capability of hydropower plants to support essential microgrid functions. An interactive tool is developed using ArcGIS, enabling the visualization and analysis using HRD. Our research contributes to strategic planning efforts for fortifying energy infrastructure, ensuring reliable power supply during disruptions, and advancing the development of robust and resilient energy systems in regions susceptible to grid vulnerabilities.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States of America (US) has initiated the Artemis Moon to Mars program to send astronauts (the first woman and person of color) back to the lunar surface, create a sustainable human lunar exploration program, and lead the first human exploration mission to the Mars surface in the 2030’s. A major objective of this program is to characterize the resources that exist on the Moon and Mars, and learn how to utilize them for sustained and affordable exploration. Commonly known as In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), the search for, acquisition, and processing of resources in space has the potential to greatly reduce the dependency on transporting mission consumables and infrastructure from Earth, thereby reducing mission costs, risks, and dependency on Earth. Through the extraction and processing of resources into mission commodities such as rocket propellants, life support consumables, and fuel cell reactants, ISRU enhances and evolves the cis-lunar, lander, and surface transportation systems required for human exploration; expanding and ehancing HOW humans get to, explore, and return from the Moon. Through the extraction and processing of resources into metals, silicon, and other manufacturing and construction feedstock, ISRU enhances and allows for the expansion of critical infrastructure through in situ manufacturing and construction capabilities needed for WHAT humans do on the Moon and in cis-lunar space. Because of this, ISRU supports and enables commercial involvement beyond NASA and governmental agencies by both lowering the cost of sustained transportation to/from/on the Moon as well as supporting the market required for needing these transportation systems. To achieve this vision, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) ensures the coordinated development of ISRU and other critical space and surface infrastructure elements such as propulsion, power, manufacturing, construction, and robotics through the Strategic Technology Architecture Roundtable (STAR) process. Through STAR, an integrated framework and process has been created allowing for capabilities and technologies to be linked and assessed, gaps to be identified, specifications and metrics to be established, and provide a means to prioritize and implement technology development and missions. For lunar ISRU, three primary areas of development have been initiated, (1) understanding, mapping, extracting, and processing water and other volatiles found in polar permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), (2) methods, technologies to extract oxygen from regolith, and (3) methods, technologies, and use cases for metals, silicon, and other feedstock commodities extracted and produced from lunar resources. This presentation will briefly discuss the STAR process and elaborate on the current status and future plans for ISRU development, demonstration, and architecture implementation of NASA’s Envisioned Future Priorities plan for ISRU.
Successful accomplishment of the objectives of many long-range future missions in areas such as space systems, land-use planning, and natural resource management requires significant technology developments. This paper describes the development of a decision-support data-derived tool called MisTec for helping strategic planners to determine technology development alternatives and to synchronize the technology development schedules with the performance schedules of future long-term missions. Special attention is given to the operations, concept, design, and functional capabilities of the MisTec. The MisTec was initially designed for manned Mars mission, but can be adapted to support other high-technology long-range strategic planning situations, making it possible for a mission analyst, planner, or manager to describe a mission scenario, determine the technology alternatives for making the mission achievable, and to plan the R&D activity necessary to achieve the required technology advances.
The alpha emitter astatine-211 ( 211 At) is a promising candidate for cancer treatment based on Targeted Alpha (α) Therapy (TAT). A small number of facilities, distributed across the United States, are capable of accelerating α-particle beams to produce 211 At. However, challenges remain regarding strategic methods for shipping 211 At in a form adaptable to advanced radiochemistry reactions and other uses of the radioisotope. Purpose: Our method allows shipment of 211 At in various quantities in a form convenient for further radiochemistry. Procedures: For this study, a 3-octanone impregnated Amberchrom® CG300M resin bed in a column cartridge was used to separate 211 At from the bismuth matrix on site at the production accelerator (Texas A&M) in preparation for shipping. Aliquots of 6 M HNO 3 containing up to ≈2.22 GBq of 211 At from the dissolved target were successfully loaded and retained on columns. Exempt packages (<370 MBq) were shipped to a destination radiochemistry facility, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in the form of a convenient air-dried column. Type A packages have been shipped overnight to University of Alabama at Birmingham. Main findings: Air-dried column hold times of various lengths did not inhibit simple and efficient recovery of 211 At. Solution eluted from the column was sufficiently high in specific activity to successfully radiolabel a model compound, 4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)aniline (1), with 211 At. The method to prepare and ship 211 At described in this manuscript has also been used to ship larger quantities of 211 At a greater distance to University of Alabama at Birmingham. Principal conclusions: The successful proof of this method paves the way for the distribution of 211 At from Texas A&M University to research institutions and clinical oncology centers in Texas and elsewhere. Finally, use of this simple method at other facilities has the potential increase the overall availability of 211 At for preclinical and clinical studies.
ABSTRACT Morphology is a fundamental property of any galaxy population. It is a major indicator of the physical processes that drive galaxy evolution and in turn the evolution of the entire Universe. Historically, galaxy images were visually classified by trained experts. However, in the era of big data, more efficient techniques are required. In this work, we present a k-nearest neighbours based approach that utilizes non-parametric morphological quantities to classify galaxy morphology in Sloan Digital Sky Survey images. Most previous studies used only a handful of morphological parameters to identify galaxy types. In contrast, we explore 1023 morphological spaces (defined by up to 10 non-parametric statistics) to find the best combination of morphological parameters. Additionally, while most previous studies broadly classified galaxies into early types and late types or ellipticals, spirals, and irregular galaxies, we classify galaxies into 11 morphological types with an average accuracy of ${\sim} 80\!-\!90 \, {{\rm per\, cent}}$ per T-type. Our method is simple, easy to implement, and is robust to varying sizes and compositions of the training and test samples. Preliminary results on the performance of our technique on deeper images from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Survey reveal that an extension of our method to modern surveys with better imaging capabilities might be possible.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) largest multiprogram science, technology, and energy laboratory with distinctive capabilities in neutron science, computing, advanced materials, and nuclear science and technology. Using these capabilities, ORNL conducts basic and applied research and development (R&D) to support DOE’s overarching mission to “ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.” As a national resource, ORNL also applies its capabilities and skills to specific needs of other federal agencies and customers through the DOE Strategic Partnership Projects (SPP) program. Information about the laboratory and its programs is available at the ORNL website. The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at ORNL operates under the authority of the DOE Order 413.2C, “Laboratory Directed Research and Development,” which establishes DOE’s requirements for the program while providing the laboratory director broad flexibility for program implementation. The LDRD program funds are obtained through a charge to all laboratory programs. ORNL reports on the program status to DOE each year.