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NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program will discuss the objectives, accomplishments, and current status of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission using the backdrop of CAPSTONE's instance in NASA's Eyes. Tools developed for use by mission planners and small spacecraft designers will be presented by NASA's Small Spacecraft System Virtual Institute.
The hypothesis was tested that calcium, asymmetrically distributes in the root cap upon reorientation to gravity, affects auxin transport and thereby auxin distribution at the elongation zone. It is assumed that calcium exists in the root cap and is asymmetrically transported in root caps altered from a vertical to a horizontal position and that the meristem, the tissue immediately adjacent to the root cap and lying between the site of gravity perception and the site of gravity response, is essential for mediation of gravitropism. Tip calcium in root gravicurvature was implicated. The capstone evidence is that the root cap has the capacity to polarly translocate exogenous calcium downward when tissue is oriented horizontally, and that exogenous calcium, when supplied asymmetrically at the root tip, induces curvature and dictates the direction of curvature in both vertical and horizontal corn roots.
AAE 451 is the capstone course required of all senior undergraduates in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. During the past year the first steps of a long evolutionary process were taken to change the content and expectations of this course. These changes are the result of the availability of advanced computational capabilities and sophisticated electronic media availability at Purdue. This presentation will describe both the long range objectives and this year's experience using the High Speed Commercial Transport design, the AIAA Long Duration Aircraft design and RPV design proposal as project objectives. The central goal of these efforts is to provide a user-friendly, computer-software-based environment to supplement traditional design course methodology. The Purdue University Computer Center (PUCC), the Engineering Computer Network (ECN) and stand-alone PC's are being used for this development. This year's accomplishments center primarily on aerodynamics software obtained from NASA/Langley and its integration into the classroom. Word processor capability for oral and written work and computer graphics were also blended into the course. A total of ten HSCT designs were generated, ranging from twin-fuselage aircraft, forward swept wing aircraft to the more traditional delta and double-delta wing aircraft. Four Long Duration Aircraft designs were submitted, together with one RPV design tailored for photographic surveillance.
Phase 3 of a four part study was undertaken to investigate the use of scientific and technical information (STI) in the academic aerospace community. Three questionnaires that were sent to three groups (i.e., faculty, librarians, and students) in the academic aerospace community were used. Specific attention was paid to the types of STI used and the methods in which academic users acquired STI. The focus is on the responses of two of the three groups: faculty in aerospace departments and students enrolled in the USRA-funded capstone design courses. Respondents in both groups relied heavily upon informal sources of information, although students were less inclined to regard their personal collections of STI as important. Both groups relied upon most formal sources of STI about the same, but students reported more difficulty in using the formal resources.
Considerations related to the engineering systems design process and an approach taken to introduce undergraduate students to that process are presented. The paper includes details on a particular capstone design course. This course is a team oriented aircraft design project which requires the students to participate in many phases of the system design process, from mission definition to validation of their design through flight testing. To accomplish this in a single course requires special types of flight vehicles. Relatively small-scale, remotely piloted vehicles have provided the class of aircraft considered in this course.
NASA/USRA is an ongoing sponsor of space design projects in the senior design course of the Mechanical Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Austin. This paper describes the UT senior design sequence, consisting of a design methodology course and a capstone design course. The philosophical basis of this sequence is briefly summarized. A history of the Department's activities in the Advanced Design Program is then presented. The paper concludes with a description of the projects completed during the 1991-92 academic year and the ongoing projects for the Fall 1992 semester.
The study topics cover a broad range of potential space and aeronautics projects which could be undertaken during a 20-30 year period beginning with the Space Station Initial Operating Configuration scheduled for the mid 1990's. Both manned and unmanned endeavors are embraced, and the systems approach to the design problem is emphasized. The student teams pursue the chosen problem during their senior year in a one or two semester capstone design course and submit a comprehensive written report at the conclusion of the project. Finally, student representatives from each of the universities summarize their work in oral presentations at the annual Summer Conference, held at one of the NASA centers and attended by the university faculty, NASA and USRA personnel, and aerospace industry representatives.
AAE 451 is the capstone course required of all senior undergraduates in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. During the past year the first steps of a long evolutionary process were taken to change the content and expectations of this course. These changes are the result of the availability of advanced computational capabilities and sophisticated electronic media availability at Purdue. This presentation will describe both the long range objectives and this year's experience using the High Speed Commercial Transport (HSCT) design, the AIAA Long Duration Aircraft design and a Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) design proposal as project objectives. The central goal of these efforts was to provide a user-friendly, computer-software-based, environment to supplement traditional design course methodology. The Purdue University Computer Center (PUCC), the Engineering Computer Network (ECN), and stand-alone PC's were used for this development. This year's accomplishments centered primarily on aerodynamics software obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center and its integration into the classroom. Word processor capability for oral and written work and computer graphics were also blended into the course. A total of 10 HSCT designs were generated, ranging from twin-fuselage and forward-swept wing aircraft, to the more traditional delta and double-delta wing aircraft. Four Long Duration Aircraft designs were submitted, together with one RPV design tailored for photographic surveillance. Supporting these activities were three video satellite lectures beamed from NASA/Langley to Purdue. These lectures covered diverse areas such as an overview of HSCT design, supersonic-aircraft stability and control, and optimization of aircraft performance. Plans for next year's effort will be reviewed, including dedicated computer workstation utilization, remote satellite lectures, and university/industrial cooperative efforts.
The NASA/USRA University Advanced Design Program is a unique program that brings together NASA engineers, students, and faculty from United States engineering schools by integrating current and future NASA space/aeronautics engineering design projects into the university curriculum. The Program was conceived in the fall of 1984 as a pilot project to foster engineering design education in the universities and to supplement NASA's in-house efforts in advanced planning for space and aeronautics design. Nine universities and five NASA centers participated in the first year of the pilot project. Close cooperation between the NASA centers and the universities, the careful selection of design topics, and the enthusiasm of the students has resulted in a very successful program than now includes forty universities and eight NASA centers. The study topics cover a broad range of potential space and aeronautics projects which could be undertaken during a 20-30 year period beginning with the deployment of the Space Station Freedom scheduled for the mid1990s. Both manned and unmanned endeavors are embraced, and the systems approach to the design problem is emphasized. The student teams pursue the chosen problem during their senior year in a one or two semester capstone design course and submit a comprehensive written report at the conclusion of the project. Finally, student representatives from each of the universities summarize their work in oral presentations at the annual Summer Conference, held at one of the NASA centers and attended by the university faculty, NASA and USRA personnel, and aerospace industry representatives.
Construction of a lunar base, prior to manned occupancy, is one of the most demanding technological challenges facing space system designers today. A flexible lunar construction machine is needed that can be operated remotely and that can perform a variety of construction tasks over a wide range of lunar conditions. A preliminary lunar construction utility vehicle (LCUV) design has been developed as part of a capstone design course at Old Dominion University and is described in this summary report. The design requirements are taken from a 1988 USRA Summer Design Report entitled The Lunar Split Mission: A Robotic Constructed Lunar Base Scenario, and from the proceedings of a workshop hosted by United Technologies Corporation entitled Report of the In Situ Resources Utilization Workshop. The first report describes a bootstrap base concept in which a minimum of essential surface elements are delivered and configured such that minimum EVA is required to bring the initial base on-line. The base is to be built in three phases, the first of which will be unmanned, while the second and third will be manned. The key to these concepts is the development of a semiautonomous, telerobotic lunar construction utility vehicle (LCUV). The tasks required of this robotic vehicle during the phase 1 build-up are as follows: (1) surface element transportation, handling, and assembly; (2) soil excavation and movement for site preparation; (3) radiation protection and materials processing; and (4) repair and maintenance of surface elements. In order to meet the stated requirements, the LCUV must be: (1) transformable to perform a wide variety of tasks; (2) self supporting; (3) designed to allow for telerobotic control as well as autonomous operation; (4) able to transport one fully configured space station common module (SSCM); (5) upgradable to allow for future growth; and (6) easy to maintain.
The Spacecraft Design Course is the capstone design class for the M.S. in astronautics at the Naval Postgraduate School. The Fall 92 class designed a spacecraft for the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Mission (NEAR). The NEAR mission uses a robotic spacecraft to conduct up-close reconnaissance of a near-earth asteroid. Such a mission will provide information on Solar System formation and possible space resources. The spacecraft is intended to complete a NEAR mission as a relatively low-budget program while striving to gather as much information about the target asteroid as possible. A complete mission analysis and detailed spacecraft design were completed. Mission analysis includes orbit comparison and selection, payload and telemetry requirements, spacecraft configuration, and launch vehicle selection. Spacecraft design includes all major subsystems: structure, electrical power, attitude control, propulsion, payload integration, and thermal control. The resulting spacecraft demonstrates the possibility to meet the NEAR mission requirements using existing technology, 'off-the-shelf' components, and a relatively low-cost launch vehicle.
Information resource instruction for undergraduate aerospace engineering students has traditionally been limited to an occasional part of the education process--a written paper required in the capstone design course or a library tour. Efforts to encourage the use of aerospace literature and information resources have been made in the past decade, with a recent push from information and, especially, networking technology. This paper presents data from a survey of U.S. aerospace engineering students regarding their instruction in the use of information resources. We find that more than 25 percent of the students surveyed had no instruction in technical communications skills or the use of information resources. We consider the need for instruction in the use of information resources and technical communications skills and the opportunities presented for improvement.
Originally, this project was to produce an animated Powerpoint presentation of the 'Shuttle Engine and its Software' and to produce a web page with animation including the same materials but with greater detail in the description of the software. The principal emphasis was to be on the web page. Midway through the first year of the project, we were advised by the technical coordinator of this work at MSFC to concentrate on the web page alone. Also, the project was expanded to include a web presentation of the MRECS (Modular Rocket Control System). For the SSME project, the web page presentation has been completed. The integration of the animation into the web page is complete although we have been asked to speed up the animation. Also, the addition of greater detail to the description of the SSME controller software has been added. Much of the work on this program was done by students as their task for their senior project course, the capstone course of their program of study. The students gained a great deal from this project. They have learned to use VISIO, POWERPOINT, PHOTOSHOP, and several web page software packages. The starting point for this project was a PowerPoint presentation by the PI while on a Summer Faculty Fellowship at MSFC. For this project, about half of the drawings of the SSME were improved and about half were completely redrawn. The original still drawings have been animated to illustrate the fuel flow through the SSME system.
This document lists the requirements for the NMSU Hitchhiker experiment payload that were developed as part of the EE 498/499 Capstone Design class during the 1999-2000 academic year. This document is used to describe the system needs as described in the mission document. The requirements listed here are those primarily used to generate the basic electronic and data processing requirements developed in the class design document. The needs of the experiment components are more fully described in the draft NASA hitchhiker customer requirements document. Many of the details for the overall payload are given in full detail in the NASA hitchhiker documentation.
Under an SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) from Lewis Research Center, Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) developed the Advanced Technology Catalytic Combustor. The research proved the viability of efficient, cost-effective catalytic reduction of gas turbine nitrogen oxide emissions along with fuel efficiency. PCI has signed agreements with Westinghouse, other gas turbine manufacturers, including Capstone Turbine Corporation to develop a catalytic combustor for their hybrid electric vehicle.
The NASA/USRA University Advanced Design Program was established in 1984 as an attempt to add more and better design education to primarily undergraduate engineering programs. The original focus of the pilot program encompassing nine universities and five NASA centers was on space design. Two years later, the program was expanded to include aeronautics design with six universities and three NASA centers participating. This year marks the last of a three-year cycle of participation by forty-one universities, eight NASA centers, and one industry participant. The Advanced Space Design Program offers universities an opportunity to plan and design missions and hardware that would be of usc in the future as NASA enters a new era of exploration and discovery, while the Advanced Aeronautics Design Program generally offers opportunities for study of design problems closer to the present time, ranging from small, slow-speed vehicles to large, supersonic and hypersonic passenger transports. The systems approach to the design problem is emphasized in both the space and aeronautics projects. The student teams pursue the chosen problem during their senior year in a one- or two-semester capstone design course and submit a comprehensive written report at the conclusion of the project. Finally, student representatives from each of the universities summarize their work in oral presentations at the Annual Summer Conference, sponsored by one of the NASA centers and attended by the university faculty, NASA and USRA personnel and aerospace industry representatives. As the Advanced Design Program has grown in size, it has also matured in terms of the quality of the student projects. The present volume represents the student work accomplished during the 1992-1993 academic year reported at the Ninth Annual Summer Conference hosted by NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, June 14-18, 1993.
The goal of this study is to provide technological support to ensure successful life and operation of a 50-300 kW dynamic power conversion system specifically with response to the rotor support system. By utilizing technical expertise in tribology, bearings, rotordynamic, solid lubricant coatings and extensive test facilities, valuable input for mission success is provided. A discussion of the history of closed cycle Brayton turboalternators (TA) will be included. This includes the 2 kW Mini-Brayton Rotating Unit (Mini-BRU), the 10kW Brayton Rotating Unit (BRU) and the 125 kW turboalternator-compressor (TAC) designed in mid 1970's. Also included is the development of air-cycle machines and terrestrial oil-free gas turbine power systems in the form of microturbines, specifically Capstone microturbines. A short discussion of the self-acting compliant surface hydrodynamic fluid film bearings, or foil bearings, will follow, including a short history of the load capacity advances, the NASA coatings advancements as well as design model advances. Successes in terrestrial based machines will be noted and NASA tribology and bearing research test facilities will be described. Finally, implementation of a four step integration process will be included in the discussion.
The dual Brayton power conversion system constructed for NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) was acceptance tested April 2007 at Barber-Nichols, Inc., Arvada, Colorado. This uniquely configured conversion system is built around two modified commercial Capstone C30 microturbines and employs two closed-Brayton-cycle (CBC) converters sharing a common gas inventory and common heat source. Because both CBCs share the gas inventory, behavior of one CBC has an impact on the performance of the other CBC, especially when one CBC is standby or running at a different shaft speed. Testing performed to date includes the CBCs operating at equal and unequal shaft speeds. A test was also conducted where one CBC was capped off and the other was operated as a single CBC converter. The dual Brayton configuration generated 10.6 kWe at 75 krpm and a turbine inlet temperature of 817 K. Single Brayton operation generated 14.8 kWe at 90 krpm and a turbine inlet temperature of 925 K.