SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Lifecycle Project Reviews”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

32 records · Page 2

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2000

Cirrus Cloud Modeling: Overview and Issues

A review of cirrus cloud modeling will be given with special attention to the role of dynamical processes in regulating cloud microphysical properties and the interactions with radiative process in determining cloud lifecycle. The talk will draw heavily on the papers by Starr and Quante, Quante and Starr and Demoz et al., as well as recent results from the GEWEX Cloud System Study (GCSS) Working Group on Cirrus Cloud Systems (WG2) Idealized Cirrus Model Comparison and Cirrus Parcel Model Comparison projects, as described in Starr et al. and Lin et al. Key issues in current cirrus cloud modeling will be described and discussed.

Starr, David OC.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

An Agile-Like Approach to Hardware Development: The Ejectable Data Recorder (EDR) for Orion's Ascent Abort 2 (AA-2) Test Flight

On July 2, 2019, the Ascent Abort 2 (AA-2) Flight Test Vehicle was launched from Cape Canaveral, with the goal of demonstrating the performance of Orion’s Launch Abort System (LAS) and collecting data from hundreds of sensors throughout the vehicle. The data collected during this test flight is of paramount importance, as it will be used to certify the Orion vehicle for human spaceflight. Originally, the data was to be downlinked via a single string network of antennas on the LAS, with the associated risk of potential data dropouts, as well as loss of data once the LAS was jettisoned. Thus, additional antennas were added onto the crew module (CM) to support data downlink post-LAS jettison, a buffer rebroadcast capability was added to fill in any gaps in data downlink transmissions, and an ejectable data recorder (EDR) subsystem was added to the CM as a redundant measure to collect all the instrumentation data. The EDR subsystem was added to the project about one year after the project commenced, which significantly reduced the available development time when compared with the other subsystems of the AA-2 Test Flight. The project was further accelerated by six months, around the critical design review gate. Due to the schedule compression challenge and the fact that the EDR subsystem was a backup system and not flight critical, the EDR subsystem was further challenged to find a new and more efficient way to develop hardware. Thus, the EDR subsystem experimented with different management and systems engineering processes, team sizes, communication methods, and tools. Some examples are novel uses of SharePoint as a Data-centric Project Management & Systems Engineering environment, a continuous testing approach through the lifecycle, and a Skunkworks approach to managing the team. The EDR subsystem blended Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware with in-house developed hardware and software to create a novel data retrieval capability. The capability evolved rapidly through a hardware in the loop simulation environment that enabled incremental component updates for not only the EDR subsystem but across the entire Crew Module. This paper will present an overview of how the EDR subsystem was managed and compare it to an Agile approach to managing projects. The paper will further provide a recommended approach to future Agile-like hardware development that incorporates lessons learned from the EDR experience.

Agile↗

DOE OSTI2024

Framework for a Digital Documented Safety Analysis

This framework is developed to progress the digital implementation of digital tools applied to the DOE authorization process, with future applications to NRC SAR development/review, to accelerate the design and review processes of advanced nuclear reactors. The engineering design and licensing process for nuclear reactors is currently burdened by a document-based approach that leads to duplications and errors due to a lack of traceability among numerous static documents. Changes to design information require labor-intensive manual tracing through these documents, creating a high potential for human error. The adoption of a digital ecosystem, utilizing a digital thread to link various aspects of project design and analysis, promises dynamic documentation generation, automatic updates, and error reduction. Model Based Definition (MBD) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools are central to this digital transformation.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

NASA NTRS2006

Human Factors Engineering as a System in the Vision for Exploration

In order to accomplish NASA's Vision for Exploration, while assuring crew safety and productivity, human performance issues must be well integrated into system design from mission conception. To that end, a two-year Technology Development Project (TDP) was funded by NASA Headquarters to develop a systematic method for including the human as a system in NASA's Vision for Exploration. The specific goals of this project are to review current Human Systems Integration (HSI) standards (i.e., industry, military, NASA) and tailor them to selected NASA Exploration activities. Once the methods are proven in the selected domains, a plan will be developed to expand the effort to a wider scope of Exploration activities. The methods will be documented for inclusion in NASA-specific documents (such as the Human Systems Integration Standards, NASA-STD-3000) to be used in future space systems. The current project builds on a previous TDP dealing with Human Factors Engineering processes. That project identified the key phases of the current NASA design lifecycle, and outlined the recommended HFE activities that should be incorporated at each phase. The project also resulted in a prototype of a webbased HFE process tool that could be used to support an ideal HFE development process at NASA. This will help to augment the limited human factors resources available by providing a web-based tool that explains the importance of human factors, teaches a recommended process, and then provides the instructions, templates and examples to carry out the process steps. The HFE activities identified by the previous TDP are being tested in situ for the current effort through support to a specific NASA Exploration activity. Currently, HFE personnel are working with systems engineering personnel to identify HSI impacts for lunar exploration by facilitating the generation of system-level Concepts of Operations (ConOps). For example, medical operations scenarios have been generated for lunar habitation in order to identify HSI requirements for the lunar communications architecture. Throughout these ConOps exercises, HFE personnel are testing various tools and methodologies that have been identified in the literature. A key part of the effort is the identification of optimal processes, methods, and tools for these early development phase activities, such as ConOps, requirements development, and early conceptual design. An overview of the activities completed thus far, as well as the tools and methods investigated will be presented.

Mihriban Whitmore↗

DOE OSTI2025

Direct Air Reactive Capture and Conversion for Utility-Scale Energy Storage (Final Report)

This final report for FEW0277 summarizes the work performed over the project performance period of October 2021 – March 2025. This project was funded under the “Reactive Capture and Conversion R&D” lab call released in FY2021. The goal of the project was to develop dual-function materials and process for capturing CO 2 from the atmosphere and converting it into CH 4 . The work was organized into four parallel tracks in 1) direct air capture materials synthesis and characterization, 2) catalysts for CO 2 conversion, 3) mechanistic investigations via ab initio simulations, and 4) process modeling, technoeconomic analysis, and lifecycle assessment. The project was split into two budget periods. The first budget period focused on development of amine-based materials, due to their known performance for CO 2 direct air capture and their potential to act synergistically with metal catalysts to enable a low-temperature methanation pathway. The second budget period focused on development of alkali-based materials and a simulated-moving-bed process for high conversion catalytic reduction of captured CO 2 to CH 4 . All project milestones were completed during the project performance period and are summarized in this report. Our work resulted in publication of eight peer-reviewed manuscripts, one patent application, and numerous presentations given at domestic and international conferences and invited academic department seminars.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Application of quantitative risk assessment to address stakeholder questions in geologic carbon storage

Ambitious international greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets demand a rapid transformation to a low-carbon economy. This transformation includes the accelerated adoption of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) technology. However, as with any large-scale engineering enterprise, the widespread commercial-scale deployment of geologic carbon storage (GCS) raises important questions about technology and cost-effectiveness, safety, environmental risk, and long-term liability. Effectively assessing and managing risks and liability associated with GCS projects is a key technical need throughout the project life cycle-from site selection and permitting to monitoring design, operational risk management, and post-operational site closure. This presentation highlights recent advancements in tools for quantitative risk assessment, being developed by the National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP). NRAP is a multi-year, multinational laboratory research collaboration sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. Our focus will be on these tools' applications in addressing critical stakeholder questions related to supporting permitting to ensure secure and environmentally protective storage; designing effective and efficient monitoring plans; evaluating the effectiveness of remedial actions and risk management alternatives; and informing liability assessment and investment decisions. This paper will detail the key functionality of NRAP’s Open-Source Integrated Assessment Model (NRAP-Open-IAM), a computational framework for assessing leakage risk and containment assurance. This model features streamlined workflows for calculating leakage risk profiles, delineating risk-based area of review, and assessing contingency plans and post-injection site care requirements. ORION is an open-source, observation-based ensemble forecasting toolkit to help operators assess the seismic hazard at a carbon storage site. The State of Stress Analysis Tool (SOSAT), designed to assess subsurface stress conditions and evaluate geomechanical risk resulting from CO2 injection in an area of interest will also be presented. We will also introduce a prototype model to evaluate storage project costs and liability associated with risk management. The Technoeconomic and Liability Evaluation for Storage (TALES) model uses results from forecasts of leakage and induced seismicity risk to estimate the lifecycle cost of managing risk. Finally, a preliminary example of how the NRAP Risk-based Adaptive Monitoring Plan (RAMP) tool can be used to design efficient and effective site monitoring plans and estimate the detectability of fluid leakage will be provided. The relevance of these tools for addressing key stakeholder questions amidst uncertainty will be emphasized.

decision support↗

DOE OSTI2025

DeepLynx Ecosystem 2025

Poor data integration and governance continue to plague complex engineering projects, resulting in missed cost, schedule, and performance targets. Departments operate in isolated systems with manual data exchange, creating fragmented information that compounds errors and leads to significant delays and cost overruns. The DeepLynx ecosystem addresses these challenges through an open-source, modular data management platform that transforms fragmented project data into an integrated digital thread. Built on a federated microservice architecture, the ecosystem comprises seven specialized tools centered around DeepLynx Nexus, a unified data catalog with hierarchical organization and graph-based navigation capabilities. The ecosystem includes: DeepLynx Stream for real-time timeseries data ingestion from industrial sources; DeepLynx Ingest for governed data uploads with formal review workflows; DeepLynx Lattice for ontology-based entity and relationship extraction; DeepLynx Run for workflow orchestration and secure AI/ML compute; DeepLynx Visualize for 3D digital twin visualization; and DeepLynx Insight for AI-assisted document analysis with traceable, grounded responses. Deployable in cloud, on-premise, or hybrid environments using containerized Docker applications and Helm charts, the DeepLynx ecosystem provides flexible infrastructure that adapts to organizational requirements. By consolidating project data into a unified data lake with role-based access controls and OAuth2 authentication, DeepLynx enables digital thread and digital twin capabilities that improve decision-making, reduce risk, and support complex engineering workflows throughout the project lifecycle.

42 - ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS2012

JPL Innovation Foundry

Space science missions are increasingly challenged today: in ambition, by increasingly sophisticated hypotheses tested; in development, by the increasing complexity of advanced technologies; in budgeting, by the decline of flagship-class mission opportunities; in management, by expectations for breakthrough science despite a risk-averse programmatic climate; and in planning, by increasing competition for scarce resources. How are the space-science missions of tomorrow being formulated? The paper describes the JPL Innovation Foundry, created in 2011, to respond to this evolving context. The Foundry integrates methods, tools, and experts that span the mission concept lifecycle. Grounded in JPL's heritage of missions, flight instruments, mission proposals, and concept innovation, the Foundry seeks to provide continuity of support and cost-effective, on-call access to the right domain experts at the right time, as science definition teams and Principal Investigators mature mission ideas from "cocktail napkin" to PDR. The Foundry blends JPL capabilities in proposal development and concurrent engineering, including Team X, with new approaches for open-ended concept exploration in earlier, cost-constrained phases, and with ongoing research and technology projects. It applies complexity and cost models, projectformulation lessons learned, and strategy analyses appropriate to each level of concept maturity. The Foundry is organizationally integrated with JPL formulation program offices; staffed by JPL's line organizations for engineering, science, and costing; and overseen by senior Laboratory leaders to assure experienced coordination and review. Incubation of each concept is tailored depending on its maturity and proposal history, and its highest leverage modeling and analysis needs.

mission development↗

DOE OSTI2026

Qualitative Risk Assessment of Legacy Wells within the Estimated Prairie State Generating Company Area of Review

This report details the digitization of a legacy wellbore database, including data processing assumptions, parameter estimation, and risk assessment methodology. The database, comprising 6,454 documents, was provided by ISGS. It includes valuable data from the Prairie State Generating Company (PSGC) and One Earth Energy (OEE) sites of the CarbonSAFE Phase III – Illinois Storage Corridor project. The report focuses on wells within a 15-mile radius from the Lively Grove #1 (LG#1) well at PSGC site, evaluating subsurface conditions and potential risks. A total of 4,386 wellbores within 15 miles of the LG#1 well were filtered based on depth and formation codes. LG#1 is the stratigraphic well at the PSGC site drilled in 2021. Ninety-four (94) wells penetrating the Maquoketa Shale Group (the primary confining unit) within the estimated area-of-review (AoR) for the PSGC site were evaluated using a qualitative risk assessment (QRA) methodology. The QRA developed by Arbad et al. 2022 focuses on legacy wells within the AoR and categorizes them based on well construction details. The QRA identifies wells that need immediate attention by categorizing them based on penetration depth and protection. Wells within the AoR were categorized into nine groups based on penetrations and protections. These categories range from Type 1 wells, with no documentation, to Type 9 wells, which do not penetrate the primary confining unit or storage reservoir (unit). Well accessibility within the AoR varies based on well status, including Dry & Abandoned (DA), Plugged & Abandoned (PA), Injection (INJ), Oil/Gas Producing (PROD), and Observation (Obs) wells. Accessibility levels were determined by well construction, with DA wells being the least accessible and Observation wells the most accessible, impacting gas leakage detection possibilities. Remedial action priority of wells decreases from Type 1 to Type 9 wells. Type 1 to Type 6 wells with status DA and PA require immediate attention, while Type 7 and Type 8 wells are low priority. A risk matrix used to prioritize corrective actions for legacy wells is proposed to categorize wells within an AoR based on penetrations, protections, and accessibility. The methodology involves data acquisition, well categorization into nine types, and determining CO 2 leakage pathways using well schematics and geospatial mapping. This approach is particularly useful for managing the integrity of legacy wells throughout the lifecycle of a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project. A qualitative risk assessment of 94 wells within the AoR of the PSGC site identified 54 wells with high priority for corrective action due to penetration of the primary containment seal. The assessment utilizes color-coded maps to categorize well types and prioritize corrective actions, providing a comprehensive analysis. Schematics of wells penetrating the primary confining unit were drawn, and leakage pathways were identified. Details of all wells penetrating the confining zone are provided in the appendix, including information on well types, plugging, and casing status.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

NASA NTRS2001

Methodology Development for Assessment of Spaceport Technology Returns and Risks

As part of Kennedy Space Center's (KSC's) challenge to open the space frontier, new spaceport technologies must be developed, matured and successfully transitioned to operational systems. R&D investment decisions can be considered from multiple perspectives. Near mid and far term technology horizons must be understood. Because a multitude of technology investment opportunities are available, we must identify choices that promise the greatest likelihood of significant lifecycle At the same time, the costs and risks of any choice must be well understood and balanced against its potential returns The problem is not one of simply rank- ordering projects in terms of their desirability. KSC wants to determine a portfolio of projects that simultaneously satisfies multiple goals, such as getting the biggest bang for the buck, supporting projects that may be too risky for private funding, staying within annual budget cycles without foregoing the requirements of a long term technology vision, and ensuring the development of a diversity of technologies that, support the variety of operational functions involved in space transportation. This work aims to assist in the development of in methods and techniques that support strategic technology investment decisions and ease the process of determining an optimal portfolio of spaceport R&D investments. Available literature on risks and returns to R&D is reviewed and most useful pieces are brought to the attention of the Spaceport Technology Development Office (STDO). KSC's current project management procedures are reviewed. It is found that the "one size fits all" nature of KSC's existing procedures and project selection criteria is not conducive to prudent decision-making. Directions for improving KSC's - procedures and criteria are outlined. With help of a contractor, STDO is currently developing a tool, named Change Management Analysis Tool (CMAT)/ Portfolio Analysis Tool (PAT), to assist KSC's R&D portfolio determination. A critical review of CMAT/PAT is undertaken. Directions for the improvement of this tool are provided. STDO and KSC intend to follow up on many, if not all, of the recommendations provided.

Joglekar, Prafulla↗

NASA NTRS2007

NASA's Software Safety Standard

NASA relies more and more on software to control, monitor, and verify its safety critical systems, facilities and operations. Since the 1960's there has hardly been a spacecraft launched that does not have a computer on board that will provide command and control services. There have been recent incidents where software has played a role in high-profile mission failures and hazardous incidents. For example, the Mars Orbiter, Mars Polar Lander, the DART (Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology), and MER (Mars Exploration Rover) Spirit anomalies were all caused or contributed to by software. The Mission Control Centers for the Shuttle, ISS, and unmanned programs are highly dependant on software for data displays, analysis, and mission planning. Despite this growing dependence on software control and monitoring, there has been little to no consistent application of software safety practices and methodology to NASA's projects with safety critical software. Meanwhile, academia and private industry have been stepping forward with procedures and standards for safety critical systems and software, for example Dr. Nancy Leveson's book Safeware: System Safety and Computers. The NASA Software Safety Standard, originally published in 1997, was widely ignored due to its complexity and poor organization. It also focused on concepts rather than definite procedural requirements organized around a software project lifecycle. Led by NASA Headquarters Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, the NASA Software Safety Standard has recently undergone a significant update. This new standard provides the procedures and guidelines for evaluating a project for safety criticality and then lays out the minimum project lifecycle requirements to assure the software is created, operated, and maintained in the safest possible manner. This update of the standard clearly delineates the minimum set of software safety requirements for a project without detailing the implementation for those requirements. This allows the projects leeway to meet these requirements in many forms that best suit a particular project's needs and safety risk. In other words, it tells the project what to do, not how to do it. This update also incorporated advances in the state of the practice of software safety from academia and private industry. It addresses some of the more common issues now facing software developers in the NASA environment such as the use of Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Software (COTS), Modified OTS (MOTS), Government OTS (GOTS), and reused software. A team from across NASA developed the update and it has had both NASA-wide internal reviews by software engineering, quality, safety, and project management. It has also had expert external review. This presentation and paper will discuss the new NASA Software Safety Standard, its organization, and key features. It will start with a brief discussion of some NASA mission failures and incidents that had software as one of their root causes. It will then give a brief overview of the NASA Software Safety Process. This will include an overview of the key personnel responsibilities and functions that must be performed for safety-critical software.

Ramsay, Christopher M.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Modifying the Heliophysics Data Policy to Better Enable Heliophysics Research

The Heliophysics (HP) Science Data Management Policy, adopted by HP in June 2007, has helped to provide a structure for the HP data lifecycle. It provides guidelines for Project Data Management Plans and related documents, initiates Resident Archives to maintain data services after a mission ends, and outlines a route to the unification of data finding, access, and distribution through Virtual observatories. Recently we have filled in missing pieces that assure more coherence and a home for the VxOs (through the 'Heliophsyics Data and Model Consortium'), and provide greater clarity with respect to long term archiving. In particular, the new policy which has been vetted with many community members, details the 'Final Archives' that are to provide long-term data access. These are distinguished from RAs in that they provide little additional service beyond servicing data, but critical to their success is that the final archival materials include calibrated data in useful formats such as one finds in CDAWeb and various ASCII or FITS archives. Having a clear goal for legacy products, to be detailed as part of the Mission Archives Plans presented at Senior Reviews, will help to avoid the situation so common in the past of having archival products that preserve bits well but not readily usable information. We hope to avoid the need for the large numbers of 'data upgrade' projects that have been necessary in recent years.

Hayes, Jeffrey↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Metadata Entry Optimization for NASA's Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC)

The NASA Biological Institutional Sample Collection (NBISC) at NASA’s Ames Research Center is a critical resource housing non-human samples collected from spaceflight missions and ground analog studies, primarily consisting of specimens from rats, mice, and select microbes. The primary objective of NBISC is to systematically receive, document, preserve, and facilitate access to these samples for the global scientific community. NBISC promotes international collaboration and maximizes the return on investment for precious tissues from spaceflight and analog experiments. Researchers can request physical samples through an online request form and subsequent written proposal review process. This study addresses two core research objectives: streamlining the NBISC sample lifecycle processes and strategizing for managing an influx of 50,000 tissue samples from a series of cosmic radiation analog experiments carried out at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) by Drs. Eleanor Chang (Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) and Polly Blakely (SRI). The Chang/Blakely studies investigated Harderian gland (HG) tumorigenesis in mice exposed to low dose and LET radiation comprising 8 different exposure protocols in over 4000 mice. NBISC sample metadata is stored in a Laboratory Information Management System (SLIMS). To streamline sample data entry, we customize python scripts using information extracted from the individual experimental protocols. The scripts automate entry into multiple SLIMS data fields including protocol name, unique sample barcode, tissue and sub-tissue information, freezer location, sample preservation method, etc. The semi-automated procedure significantly decreases the time spent on data entry by several orders of magnitude. Automation and data organization are essential, as they free up time for curation and promotion of the collection which, in turn, increase the accessibility of samples to the broader research community. NBISC benefits from streamlined data ingestion, and the methodologies developed here are applicable to other projects which use SLIMS including the NASA Biospecimen Sharing Program and GeneLab. As of Fall 2023, plans include transferring sample data from SLIMS to public facing repositories (OSDR and NLSP), expanding the reach of the Chang/Blakely sample collection. The Human Research Program Space Radiation Element plans to transfer non-human tissues from many more investigations to NBISC in the coming year.

Sample Repository↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Metadata Entry Optimization For NASA's Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC)

Biospecimen↗