SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “maintenance optimization”

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.

At least 37 records · Page 2

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1987

Logistics and operations integration requirements to support Space Station servicing of free flying spacecraft - OMV flight operation

The logistics of OMV free-flyer servicing are examined, with emphasis on integrating the OMV operations into the overall STS-Space Station system. The depletion rate of consumables and lifetimes of free-flyer components are known quantities, which permits definition of a predictable maintenance schedule. Servicing with an OMV will depend on the position and capabilities of the OMV, Shuttle and Station when free-flyer maintenance is needed. Optimized orbital servicing of free-flyers will involve coordination of and resolution of schedule conflicts among STS, the OMV and the Station. The scheduled availability of any of the three components will be predicted in terms of probabilities that any one of the components will not be needed for another mission while performing the mission they are on.

Bell, Jerome A.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Optimized Trajectory Correction Burn Placement for NRHO Orbit Maintenance

NASA's future Artemis missions plan to utilize a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) in the lunar vicinity to facilitate access to the lunar surface and place other critical assets to support human exploration. This exploration architecture requires a vehicle to remain in the NRHO for long periods of time ranging from several days, to weeks, to months, and even years. Consequently, periodic orbit maintenance burns become essential to ensure the spacecraft follows the desired reference trajectory in an efficient yet effective manner despite crew activity, navigation uncertainty, maneuver execution errors, disturbance accelerations, orbit insertion dispersions, and other system limitations. This work introduces a targeting algorithm that can be utilized to analyze a variety of targeting constraints and parameters that maximizes overall performance. Techniques associated with robust trajectory optimization are used to identify the optimized number and placement for NRHO trajectory correction (NTC) burns that accounts for the mission schedule, both a primary and backup navigation system, targeting strategies and burn plan configurations, vehicle venting, thruster selection, and integrated GN\&C performance. A notional scenario extracted from the NASA Artemis III mission is used to motivate and demonstrate these concepts and performance results.

Linear Covariance Analysis↗

NASA NTRS2006

An Axenic Plant Culture System for Optimal Growth in Long-Term Studies: Design and Maintenance

The symbiotic co-evolution of plants and microbes leads to difficulties in understanding which of the two components is responsible for a given environmental response. Plant-microbe studies greatly benefit from the ability to grow plants in axenic (sterile) culture. Several studies have used axenic plant culture systems, but experimental procedures are often poorly documented, the plant growth environment is not optimal, and axenic conditions are not rigorously verified. We developed a unique axenic system using inert components that promotes plant health and can be kept sterile for at least 70 d. Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum cv. DII) plants were grown in sand within flow-through glass columns that were positively pressured with filtered air. Plant health was optimized by regulating temperature, light level, CO2 concentration, humidity, and nutrients. The design incorporates several novel aspects, such as pretreatment of the sand with Fe, graduated sand layers to optimize the air-water balance of the root zone, and modification of a laminar flow hood to serve as a plant growth chamber. Adaptations of several sterile techniques were necessary for maintenance of axenic conditions. Axenic conditions were verified by plating and staining leachates as well as rhizoplane stain. This system was designed to study nutrient and water stress effects on root exudates, but is useful for assessing a broad range of plant-microbe-environment interactions. Based on total organic C analysis, 74% of exudates was recovered in the leachate, 6% was recovered in the bulk sand, and 17% was recovered in the rhizosphere sand. Carbon in the leachate after 70 d reached 255 micro-g/d. Fumaric, malic, malonic, oxalic, and succinic acids were measured as components of the root exudates.

Henry, Amelia↗

NASA NTRS1987

Distributed operating system for NASA ground stations

NASA ground stations are characterized by ever changing support requirements, so application software is developed and modified on a continuing basis. A distributed operating system was designed to optimize the generation and maintenance of those applications. Unusual features include automatic program generation from detailed design graphs, on-line software modification in the testing phase, and the incorporation of a relational database within a real-time, distributed system.

Doyle, John F.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Global Precipitation Measurement - Report 9 Core Coverage Trade Space Analysis

This paper summarizes the GPM-Core coverage trade space analysis. The goal of this analysis was to determine the GPM-Core sensitivity to changes in altitude and inclination for the three onboard instruments: the radiometer, the KU band radar and the KA band radar. This study will enable a better choice of the nominal GPM-Core orbit as well as the optimal size of the maintenance box (+/-1 km, +/-5 km..). For this work, we used two different figures-of-merit: (1) the time required to cover 100% of the +/-65 deg latitude band and (2) the coverage obtained for a given propagation time (7 days and 30 days). The first figure-of-merit is used for the radiometer as it has a sensor cone half-angle between 3 to 5 times bigger than the radars. Thus, we anticipate that for this instrument the period of the orbit (i.e. altitude) will be the main driver and that the 100% coverage value will be reached within less than a week. The second figure-of-merit is used for the radar instruments as they have small sensor cone half-angle and will, in some cases, never reach the 100% coverage threshold point.

Mailhe, Laurie↗

NASA NTRS1987

IMIS: Integrated Maintenance Information System. A maintenance information delivery concept

The Integrated Maintenance Information System (IMIS) will optimize the use of available manpower, enhance technical performance, improve training, and reduce the support equipment and documentation needed for deployment. It will serve as the technician's single, integrated source of all the technical information required to perform modern aircraft maintenance.

Vonholle, Joseph C.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Air Brayton Solar Receiver, phase 1

A six month analysis and conceptual design study of an open cycle Air Brayton Solar Receiver (ABSR) for use on a tracking, parabolic solar concentrator are discussed. The ABSR, which includes a buffer storage system, is designed to provide inlet air to a power conversion unit. Parametric analyses, conceptual design, interface requirements, and production cost estimates are described. The design features were optimized to yield a zero maintenance, low cost, high efficiency concept that will provide a 30 year operational life.

Zimmerman, D. K.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Cell contact as an independent factor modulating cardiac myocyte hypertrophy and survival in long-term primary culture

Cardiac myocytes maintained in cell culture develop hypertrophy both in response to mechanical loading as well as to receptor-mediated signaling mechanisms. However, it has been shown that the hypertrophic response to these stimuli may be modulated through effects of intercellular contact achieved by maintaining cells at different plating densities. In this study, we show that the myocyte plating density affects not only the hypertrophic response and features of the differentiated phenotype of isolated adult myocytes, but also plays a significant role influencing myocyte survival in vitro. The native rod-shaped phenotype of freshly isolated adult myocytes persists in an environment which minimizes myocyte attachment and spreading on the substratum. However, these conditions are not optimal for long-term maintenance of cultured adult cardiac myocytes. Conditions which promote myocyte attachment and spreading on the substratum, on the other hand, also promote the re-establishment of new intercellular contacts between myocytes. These contacts appear to play a significant role in the development of spontaneous activity, which enhances the redevelopment of highly differentiated contractile, junctional, and sarcoplasmic reticulum structures in the cultured adult cardiomyocyte. Although it has previously been shown that adult cardiac myocytes are typically quiescent in culture, the addition of beta-adrenergic agonists stimulates beating and myocyte hypertrophy, and thereby serves to increase the level of intercellular contact as well. However, in densely-plated cultures with intrinsically high levels of intercellular contact, spontaneous contractile activity develops without the addition of beta-adrenergic agonists. In this study, we compare the function, morphology, and natural history of adult feline cardiomyocytes which have been maintained in cultures with different levels of intercellular contact, with and without the addition of beta-adrenergic agonists. Intercellular contact, communication, and transmission of contractile forces between myocytes appears to play a primary role in remodeling the 2-dimensional cell layer into a parallel alignment of elongated myocytes with highly developed intercalated disk-like junctions. This highly differentiated state is very stable, and cultures which achieve this state exhibit significantly greater longevity than more sparsely plated myocytes. These myocytes typically continue beating, and survive from 6 to more than 12 weeks in culture. When this level of contact and differentiation are not achieved, even among beta-adrenergic stimulated myocytes, contractile activity is not sustained, myofibrils atrophy, there is little or no development of junctional complexes, and the period of myocyte viability is typically no more than 5 weeks in vitro.

Non-NASA Center↗

NASA NTRS1973

Lower payload costs through refurbishment and module replacement.

Payload benefits to be derived from refurbishment can be related to individual spacecraft programs directly and for planning purposes to the entire shuttle mission model. In the case of the large space telescope program, cost savings obtained through the use of the shuttle for maintenance operations have been estimated to be in the range from 30 to 40%. This saving is realized over an operational lifetime of 15 years by reducing, through refurbishment on orbit, the number of flight units along with 'optimized' reliability goals commensurate with periodic maintenance revisits at one-year intervals. Shuttle-era payload implications are discussed together with a pressurized on-orbit maintenance configuration, an earth observation satellite, and some typical teleoperator-serviced spacecraft.

Murphy, J. T.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Systematic Sensor Selection Strategy (S4) User Guide

This paper describes a User Guide for the Systematic Sensor Selection Strategy (S4). S4 was developed to optimally select a sensor suite from a larger pool of candidate sensors based on their performance in a diagnostic system. For aerospace systems, selecting the proper sensors is important for ensuring adequate measurement coverage to satisfy operational, maintenance, performance, and system diagnostic criteria. S4 optimizes the selection of sensors based on the system fault diagnostic approach while taking conflicting objectives such as cost, weight and reliability into consideration. S4 can be described as a general architecture structured to accommodate application-specific components and requirements. It performs combinational optimization with a user defined merit or cost function to identify optimum or near-optimum sensor suite solutions. The S4 User Guide describes the sensor selection procedure and presents an example problem using an open source turbofan engine simulation to demonstrate its application.

Sowers, T. Shane↗

NASA NTRS1982

Project analysis and integration area

A simulation program that investigates the relationship between manpower requirements and equipment availability in the presence of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance is presented. A method for optimization of metallization patterns is presented.

Aster, R. W.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Electrochemical Solutions for Advanced Life Support

The Oxygen Generating Assembly (OGA) on-board the International Space Station (ISS) employs a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysis cell stack to electrochemically dissociate water into its two components – oxygen and hydrogen. Oxygen is provided to the cabin atmosphere for crew respiration while the hydrogen is delivered to a carbon dioxide reduction system to recover oxygen as water. The design of the OGA evolved over a number of years to arrive at the system solution that is currently operational on ISS. Future manned missions to space will require advanced technologies that eliminate the need for resupply from earth and feature in-situ resource utilization to sustain crew life and to provide useful materials to the crew. The architects planning such missions should consider all potential solutions at their disposal to arrive at an optimal vehicle solution that minimizes crew maintenance time, launch weight, installed volume and energy consumption demands. Skyre is developing new technologies through funding from NASA, the Department of Energy, and internal investment based on PEM technology that could become an integral part of these new vehicle solutions. At varying stages of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) are: an oxygen concentrator and compressor that can separate oxygen from an air stream and provide an enriched oxygen resource for crew medical use and space suit recharge without any moving parts in the pure oxygen stream; a regenerative carbon dioxide removal system featuring a PEM-based sorbent regenerator; a carbon dioxide reduction system that electrochemically produces organic compounds that could serve as fuels or as a useful intermediary to more beneficial compounds; and an electrochemical hydrogen separator and compressor for hydrogen recycle. The technical maturity of these projects is presented along with pertinent performance test data that could be beneficial in future study efforts.

Roy, Robert J.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Optimization of space manufacturing systems

Four separate analyses are detailed: transportation to low earth orbit, orbit-to-orbit optimization, parametric analysis of SPS logistics based on earth and lunar source locations, and an overall program option optimization implemented with linear programming. It is found that smaller vehicles are favored for earth launch, with the current Space Shuttle being right at optimum payload size. Fully reusable launch vehicles represent a savings of 50% over the Space Shuttle; increased reliability with less maintenance could further double the savings. An optimization of orbit-to-orbit propulsion systems using lunar oxygen for propellants shows that ion propulsion is preferable by a 3:1 cost margin over a mass driver reaction engine at optimum values; however, ion engines cannot yet operate in the lower exhaust velocity range where the optimum lies, and total program costs between the two systems are ambiguous. Heavier payloads favor the use of a MDRE. A parametric model of a space manufacturing facility is proposed, and used to analyze recurring costs, total costs, and net present value discounted cash flows. Parameters studied include productivity, effects of discounting, materials source tradeoffs, economic viability of closed-cycle habitats, and effects of varying degrees of nonterrestrial SPS materials needed from earth. Finally, candidate optimal scenarios are chosen, and implemented in a linear program with external constraints in order to arrive at an optimum blend of SPS production strategies in order to maximize returns.

Akin, D. L.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Achieving Solar Pressure Equilibrium Attitude using Solar Array Feathering

Many competing requirements such as communication margin, thermal mitigation, and power generation may drive a specific flight attitude. However, a solar pressure equilibrium attitude (SPEA) is typically desired for a spacecraft in heliocentric space in order to minimize attitude maintenance. In this work, the benefits of solar array feathering in order to maintain specific and precise pointing requirements are quantified. A case study in which an asymmetrical spacecraft exploits a normally unstable flight attitude in concert with solar array feathering is explored in order to optimize power utilization while still minimizing attitude maintenance.

Benjamin Asher↗

NASA NTRS1985

Orbital transfer vehicle engine integration study

Industry studies were undertaken to establish the technology base for an advanced engine for Orbital Transfer Vehicles for mid-1990s IOC. This paper presents the results of a study conducted by General Dynamics Convair Division, under contract to Aerojet TechSystems Company for NASA-LeRC, to define requirements, interface conditions, and operational design criteria for new LO2/LH2 propulsion systems applicable to future Orbit Transfer Vehicles, and to assess the impacts of space basing, man rating, and low-g transfer on propulsion system design requirements. The primary study emphasis was to determine what the OTV engine thrust level should be, how many engines are required on the OTV, and how the OTV engine should be designed. This was accomplished by evaluating planned OTV missions and concepts to determine the requirements for the OTV propulsion system, conducting tradeoffs and comparisons to optimize OTV capability, and evaluating reliability and maintenance to determine the recommended OTV engine design for future development.

Ketchum, W. J.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Orbital transfer vehicle engine integration study

NASA-LeRC is sponsoring industry studies to establish the technology base for an advanced engine for orbital transfer vehicles for mid-1990s IOC. Engine contractors are being assisted by vehicle contractors to define the requirements, interface conditions, and operational design criteria for new LO2-LH2 propulsion systems applicable to future orbit transfer vehicles and to assess the impacts on space basing, man rating, and low-G transfer missions on propulsion system design requirements. The results of a study is presented. The primary study emphasis was to determine what the OTV engine thrust level should be, how many engines are required on the OTV, and how the OTV engine should be designed. This was accomplished by evaluating planned OTV missions and concepts to determine the requirements for the OTV propulsion system, conducting tradeoffs and comparisons to optimize OTV capability, and evaluating reliability and maintenance to determine the recommended OTV engine design for future development.

Ketchum, W. J.↗

NASA NTRS2013

The General-Use Nodal Network Solver (GUNNS) Modeling Package for Space Vehicle Flow System Simulation

The General-Use Nodal Network Solver (GUNNS) is a modeling software package that combines nodal analysis and the hydraulic-electric analogy to simulate fluid, electrical, and thermal flow systems. GUNNS is developed by L-3 Communications under the TS21 (Training Systems for the 21st Century) project for NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), primarily for use in space vehicle training simulators at JSC. It has sufficient compactness and fidelity to model the fluid, electrical, and thermal aspects of space vehicles in real-time simulations running on commodity workstations, for vehicle crew and flight controller training. It has a reusable and flexible component and system design, and a Graphical User Interface (GUI), providing capability for rapid GUI-based simulator development, ease of maintenance, and associated cost savings. GUNNS is optimized for NASA's Trick simulation environment, but can be run independently of Trick.

Harvey, Jason↗

NASA NTRS2007

Analysis of Envisat Orbit Maintenance Strategies to Improve/Increase Envisat ASAR Interferometry Opportunities

The biggest and most advanced Earth Observation Satellite in-orbit, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and its member states, is Envisat. It was launched on March 1, 2002 by an Ariane V from French Guyana and holds a total of 10 multi-disciplinary Earth observation instruments, among which an Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR). The ASAR user community requested the Flight Dynamics division of the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) to investigate how the orbit control maintenance strategy for Envisat could be changed to optimize ASAR interferometry opportunities overall and in addition support the International Polar Year 2007/2008 initiative. The Polar Regions play a pivotal role in understanding our planet and our impact on it as they are recognized as sensitive barometers of environmental change. One of the main themes of the International Polar Year 2007/2008 is therefore the study of Earth s changing ice and snow, and its impact on our planet and our lives. Naturally, ESA would like to support this very important initiative. This paper presents the investigations that have been conducted to support these requests in the best possible way. It discusses the orbit maintenance strategy that has been in place since its launch, ensuring the actual orbit to be within 1 km of a so-called reference orbit, and presents the new orbit maintenance strategy that is aimed at improving/increasing the opportunities for Envisat ASAR interferometry, while preserving the fuel on board the spacecraft. The hydrazine on-board Envisat happens to be a precious resource as only approximately 300 kg of it was available at launch, like ERS-2. The difference being however that the mass of Envisat is approximately 3.2 times that of ERS-2.

Kuijper, D.↗