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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 433 records · Page 24

Micro pulse lidar

An eye safe, compact, solid state lidar for profiling atmospheric cloud and aerosol scattering has been demonstrated. The transmitter of the micropulse lidar is a diode pumped micro-J pulse energy, high repetition rate Nd:YLF laser. Eye safety is obtained through beam expansion. The receiver employs a photon counting solid state Geiger mode avalanche photodiode detector. Data acquisition is by a single card multichannel scaler. Daytime background induced quantum noise is controlled by a narrow receiver field-of-view and a narrow bandwidth temperature controlled interference filter. Dynamic range of the signal is limited by optical geometric signal compression. Signal simulations and initial atmospheric measurements indicate that systems built on the micropulse lidar concept are capable of detecting and profiling all significant cloud and aerosol scattering through the troposphere and into the stratosphere. The intended applications are scientific studies and environmental monitoring which require full time, unattended measurements of the cloud and aerosol height structure.

Spinhirne, James D.↗

Micro pulse laser radar

An eye safe, compact, solid state lidar for profiling atmospheric cloud and aerosol scattering is disclosed. The transmitter of the micro pulse lidar is a diode pumped micro-J pulse energy, high repetition rate Nd:YLF laser. Eye safety is obtained through beam expansion. The receiver employs a photon counting solid state Geiger mode avalanche photodiode detector. Data acquisition is by a single card multichannel scaler. Daytime background induced quantum noise is controlled by a narrow receiver field-of-view and a narrow bandwidth temperature controlled interference filter. Dynamic range of the signal is limited to optical geometric signal compression. Signal simulations and initial atmospheric measurements indicate that micropulse lider systems are capable of detecting and profiling all significant cloud and aerosol scattering through the troposphere and into the stratosphere. The intended applications are scientific studies and environmental monitoring which require full time, unattended measurements of the cloud and aerosol height structure.

Spinhirne, James D.↗

Vehicle development of Lunar/Mars exploration

The author of this paper presents a historical discussion of robotic vehicle development of lunar and Martian exploration. The discussion begins by comparing and contrasting the transportation, environmental, and operational requirements of the two planets. This is followed by a historical summary of what has been done to date, including some recently released information on the Soviet rovers sent to Mars and Phobos in the early 1970s. Finally, current proposed missions, vehicles, operational requirements, and development status are discussed.

Purvis, James W.↗

Life Prediction Issues in Thermal/Environmental Barrier Coatings in Ceramic Matrix Composites

Issues and design requirements for the environmental barrier coating (EBC)/thermal barrier coating (TBC) life that are general and those specific to the NASA Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) development program have been described. The current state and trend of the research, methods in vogue related to the failure analysis, and long-term behavior and life prediction of EBCITBC systems are reported. Also, the perceived failure mechanisms, variables, and related uncertainties governing the EBCITBC system life are summarized. A combined heat transfer and structural analysis approach based on the oxidation kinetics using the Arrhenius theory is proposed to develop a life prediction model for the EBC/TBC systems. Stochastic process-based reliability approach that includes the physical variables such as gas pressure, temperature, velocity, moisture content, crack density, oxygen content, etc., is suggested. Benefits of the reliability-based approach are also discussed in the report.

Shah, Ashwin R.↗

Advanced Lubricants

Three Sun Coast Chemicals (SCC) of Daytona, Inc. products were derived from NASA technology: Train Track Lubricant, Penetrating Spray Lube, and Biodegradable Hydraulic Fluid. NASA contractor Lockheed Martin Space Operations contacted SCC about joining forces to develop an environmentally safe spray lubricant for the Shuttle Crawler. The formula was developed over an eight-month period resulting in new products which are cost effective and environmentally friendly. Meeting all Environmental Protection Agency requirements, the SCC products are used for applications from train tracks to bicycle chains.

Source record↗

Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation (AIR): Analysis, Results, and Lessons Learned From the June 1997 ER-2 Campaign

The United States initiated a program to assess the technology required for an environmentally safe and operationally efficient High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) for entrance on the world market after the turn of the century. Due to the changing regulations on radiation exposures and the growing concerns over uncertainty in our knowledge of atmospheric radiations, the NASA High Speed Research Project Office (HSRPO) commissioned a review of "Radiation Exposure and High-Altitude Flight" by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). On the basis of the NCRP recommendations, the HSRPO funded a flight experiment to resolve the environmental uncertainty in the atmospheric ionizing radiation levels as a step in developing an approach to minimize the radiation impact on HSCT operations. To minimize costs in this project, an international investigator approach was taken to assure coverage with instrument sensitivity across the range of particle types and energies to allow unique characterization of the diverse radiation components. The present workshop is a result of the flight measurements made at the maximum intensity of the solar cycle modulated background radiation levels during the month of June 1997.

Wilson, J. W.↗

JSC Metal Finishing Waste Minimization Methods

THe paper discusses the following: Johnson Space Center (JSC) has achieved VPP Star status and is ISO 9001 compliant. The Structural Engineering Division in the Engineering Directorate is responsible for operating the metal finishing facility at JSC. The Engineering Directorate is responsible for $71.4 million of space flight hardware design, fabrication and testing. The JSC Metal Finishing Facility processes flight hardware to support the programs in particular schedule and mission critical flight hardware. The JSC Metal Finishing Facility is operated by Rothe Joint Venture. The Facility provides following processes: anodizing, alodining, passivation, and pickling. JSC Metal Finishing Facility completely rebuilt in 1998. Total cost of $366,000. All new tanks, electrical, plumbing, and ventilation installed. Designed to meet modern safety, environmental, and quality requirements. Designed to minimize contamination and provide the highest quality finishes.

Sullivan, Erica↗

The effects of space environments on electronic components

One of the challenges in space qualification is to define the operational environment of a part such that it is tested to the limits of a mission without requiring expensive overdesign. To aid this, this document defines, discusses and recommends environmental design and verification requirements for using microelectronic components and assemblies in space environments.

space environments↗

Auto Emission Testing

The photos show automobile engines being tested for nitrous oxide emissions, as required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), at the Research and Engineering Division of Ford Motor Company, Dearborn. Michigan. NASA technical information helped the company develop a means of calculating emissions test results. Nitrous oxide emission readings vary with relative humidity in the test facility. EPA uses a standard humidity measurement, but the agency allows manufacturers to test under different humidity conditions, then apply a correction factor to adjust the results to the EPA standard. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center developed analytic equations which provide a simple, computer-programmable method of correcting for humidity variations. A Ford engineer read a NASA Tech Brief describing the Dryden development and requested more detailed information in the form of a technical support package, which NASA routinely supplies to industry on request. Ford's Emissions Test Laboratory now uses the Dryden equations for humidity-adjusted emissions data reported to EPA.

Source record↗

Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Entry, Descent, and Landing System Validation

System validation for a Mars entry, descent, and landing system is not simply a demonstration that the electrical system functions in the associated environments. The function of this system is its interaction with the atmospheric and surface environment. Thus, in addition to traditional test-bed, hardware-in-the-loop, testing, a validation program that confirms the environmental interaction is required. Unfortunately, it is not possible to conduct a meaningful end-to-end test of a Mars landing system on Earth. The validation plan must be constructed from an interconnected combination of simulation, analysis and test. For the Mars Exploration Rover mission, this combination of activities and the logic of how they combined to the system's validation was explicitly stated, reviewed, and tracked as part of the development plan.

system validation↗

Design and Development of an Equipotential Voltage Reference (Grounding) System for a Low-Cost Rapid-Development Modular Spacecraft Architecture

This work describes the design and development effort to adapt rapid-development space hardware by creating a ground system using solutions of low complexity, mass, & cost. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft is based on the modular common spacecraft bus architecture developed at NASA Ames Research Center. The challenge was building upon the existing modular common bus design and development work and improving the LADEE spacecraft design by adding an Equipotential Voltage Reference (EVeR) system, commonly referred to as a ground system. This would aid LADEE in meeting Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) requirements, thereby making the spacecraft more compatible with itself and its space environment. The methods used to adapt existing hardware are presented, including provisions which may be used on future spacecraft.

Lukash, James A.↗

Film Cooled Recession of SiC/SiC Ceramic Matrix Composites: Test Development, CFD Modeling and Experimental Observations

SiCSiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) systems will play a crucial role in next generation turbine engines for hot-section component applications because of their ability to significantly increase engine operating temperatures, reduce engine weight and cooling requirements. However, the environmental stability of Si-based ceramics in high pressure, high velocity turbine engine combustion environment is of major concern. The water vapor containing combustion gas leads to accelerated oxidation and corrosion of the SiC based ceramics due to the water vapor reactions with silica (SiO2) scales forming non-protective volatile hydroxide species, resulting in recession of the ceramic components. Although environmental barrier coatings are being developed to help protect the CMC components, there is a need to better understand the fundamental recession behavior of in more realistic cooled engine component environments.In this paper, we describe a comprehensive film cooled high pressure burner rig based testing approach, by using standardized film cooled SiCSiC disc test specimen configurations. The SiCSiC specimens were designed for implementing the burner rig testing in turbine engine relevant combustion environments, obtaining generic film cooled recession rate data under the combustion water vapor conditions, and helping developing the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) film cooled models and performing model validation. Factors affecting the film cooled recession such as temperature, water vapor concentration, combustion gas velocity, and pressure are particularly investigated and modeled, and compared with impingement cooling only recession data in similar combustion flow environments. The experimental and modeling work will help predict the SiCSiC CMC recession behavior, and developing durable CMC systems in complex turbine engine operating conditions.

Recession↗

Interim Measures Report for the Headquarters Building Area Location of Concern (LOC) 2E East SWMU 104 John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida

The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendment portion of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Permit issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), requires identification and evaluation of all known Solid Waste Management Units (SWMUs) and Locations of Concern (LOCs) located on Kennedy Space Center (KSC) property. The KSC Headquarters Building Area (KHQA) has been identified as SWMU 104 under KSC's RCRA Program. This report summarizes the Interim Measure (IM) conducted by Geosyntec Consultants (Geosyntec) for NASA under Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Contract NNK12CA13B at the KHQA to mitigate potential exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-affected media at the eastern side of LOC 2E. The IM activities were conducted in June and July 2015 to remediate PCBs above the FDEP Residential Direct-Exposure (R-) Soil Cleanup Target Level (SCTL) of 0.5 milligram per kilogram (mg/kg) established by Chapter 62-777, Florida Administrative Code. The IM was performed in accordance with the IM Work Plan (IMWP) approved by the FDEP, dated August 2012. IM activities were conducted in accordance with the KSC Generic PCB Work Plan (NASA 2007).

Sager, Eric D.↗

Joining and Integration of Silicon Carbide-Based Materials for High Temperature Applications

Advanced joining and integration technologies of silicon carbide-based ceramics and ceramic matrix composites are enabling for their implementation into wide scale aerospace and ground-based applications. The robust joining and integration technologies allow for large and complex shapes to be fabricated and integrated with the larger system. Potential aerospace applications include lean-direct fuel injectors, thermal actuators, turbine vanes, blades, shrouds, combustor liners and other hot section components. Ground based applications include components for energy and environmental systems. Performance requirements and processing challenges are identified for the successful implementation different joining technologies. An overview will be provided of several joining approaches which have been developed for high temperature applications. In addition, various characterization approaches were pursued to provide an understanding of the processing-microstructure-property relationships. Microstructural analysis of the joint interfaces was conducted using optical, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy to identify phases and evaluate the bond quality. Mechanical testing results will be presented along with the need for new standardized test methods. The critical need for tailoring interlayer compositions for optimum joint properties will also be highlighted.

Ceramic Matrix Composites↗

Development of Navigation Doppler Lidar for Future Landing Mission

A coherent Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) sensor has been developed under the Autonomous precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project to support future NASA missions to planetary bodies. This lidar sensor provides accurate surface-relative altitude and vector velocity data during the descent phase that can be used by an autonomous Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) system to precisely navigate the vehicle from a few kilometers above the ground to a designated location and execute a controlled soft touchdown. The operation and performance of the NDL was demonstrated through closed-loop flights onboard the rocket-propelled Morpheus vehicle in 2014. In Morpheus flights, conducted at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, the NDL data was used by an autonomous GN&C system to navigate and land the vehicle precisely at the selected location surrounded by hazardous rocks and craters. Since then, development efforts for the NDL have shifted toward enhancing performance, optimizing design, and addressing spaceflight size and mass constraints and environmental and reliability requirements. The next generation NDL, with expanded operational envelope and significantly reduced size, will be demonstrated in 2017 through a new flight test campaign onboard a commercial rocketpropelled test vehicle.

Amzajerdian, Farzin↗

Weathering the Storm: Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Maritime, Atmospheric and Polar Environments

Unmanned systems have the potential to efficiently, effectively, economically, and safely bridge critical observation requirements in an environmentally friendly manner. As the United States Atmospheric, Marine and Arctic areas of interest expand and include hard-to-reach regions of the Earth (such as the Arctic and remote oceanic areas) optimizing unmanned capabilities will be needed to advance the United States science, technology and security efforts. Through increased multi-mission and multi-agency operations using improved inter-operable and autonomous unmanned systems, the research and operations communities will better collect environmental intelligence and better protect our country against hazardous weather, environmental, marine and polar hazards. This presentation will examine UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) operations which includes developing a coordinated effort to maximize the efficiency and capabilities of unmanned systems across the federal government and research partners. Numerous intra- and inter-agency operational demonstrations and assessments have been made to verify and validated these UAS observations. The NASA-specific elements will consist of an overview of NASA UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) available to science and recent missions.

Atmospheric↗

Detecting Seasonal Ice Dynamics in Satellite Images

Fully understanding how glaciers respond to environmental change will require new methods to help us identify the onset of ice acceleration events and observe how dynamic signals propagate within glaciers. In particular, observations of ice dynamics on seasonal timescales may offer insights into how a glacier interacts with various forcing mechanisms throughout the year. The task of generating continuous ice velocity time series that resolve seasonal variability is made more difficult by a spotty satellite record that contains no optical observations throughout the dark, polar winters. Furthermore, velocities obtained by feature tracking are marked by high noise when image pairs are separated by short time intervals and contain no direct insights into variability that occurs between images separated by long time intervals. In this paper, we describe a method of analyzing optical or SAR-derived feature-tracked velocities to characterize the magnitude and timing of seasonal ice dynamic variability. Our method is agnostic to data gaps and is able to recover climatological average winter velocities regardless of the availability of direct observations during winter. Using characteristic image acquisition times and error distributions from Antarctic image pairs in the ITS_LIVE dataset, we generate synthetic ice velocity time series, then apply our method to recover imposed magnitudes of seasonal variability within ±1.4 m yr−1. We then validate the techniques by comparing our results to GPS data collected on Russell Glacier in Greenland. The methods presented here may be applied to better understand how ice dynamic signals propagate on seasonal timescales, and what mechanisms control the flow of the world’s ice.

Chad A. Greene↗