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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 505 records · Page 28
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Safety-Related Instrumentation and Control Upgrade Pilot Project: NUREG- 0711 Process Development, Planning and Analysis Activities, and Lessons Learned

Constellation Energy and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) have established a public/private partnership to implement a pilot digital upgrade to replace legacy analog, safety-related reactor protection and emergency safety feature actuation systems (RPS/ESFAS) with modern digital systems. This effort is occurring at Constellation’s Limerick Generating Station. This project is being performed in accordance with industry processes that have been adapted to better support digital upgrades. These processes include IP-ENG-001, Standard Design Process, NISP-EN-04, Standard Digital Engineering Process and Electric Power Research Institute Report 3002011816, Digital Engineering Guide. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been supporting this effort. Latest INL HFE efforts in support of this project have focused on definition and implementation of the Human Factors Engineering (HFE) Program in support of Constellation design and related licensing efforts. This paper presents the development execution of the HFE Program through completion of the Planning and Analysis Phase as defined by NUREG-0711 as well as HFE lessons learned.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
NASA NTRS2018

Preventing Premature Death in the M&S Lifecycle: Lessons Learned from Resurrection and Modernization of a Space System Contamination Model

Models and simulations (M&S) are often developed to meet specific needs and unique requirements for a particular situation. Once the M&S is implemented for a specific case and questions are answered, the M&S may go dormant until a similar need arises again at a later time, perhaps months to years later. Possible modification of the M&S may be required, and issues may arise if the M&S is not well documented, captured, or available. This can severely limit the useful life of the M&S and hinder future development or enhancements. This situation occurred with an M&S tool that had been developed to determine the impact to space system performance due to the presence of molecular contaminant films accumulating on key spacecraft surfaces. The challenges and issues encountered when resurrecting, executing, and modernizing the tool will be presented as a case study. To stay ahead of tomorrow’s challenges, resources to create M&S tools must be utilized efficiently. Lessons learned from this case study will aid M&S developers and users in planning for proper maintenance, transfer, and capture of key M&S tools and knowledge to avoid increased cost, increased development time, and wasted resources for projects relying on M&S.

Seasly, Elaine↗
NASA NTRS2019

GOES I-M: A Retrospective Look at Image Navigation and Registration (INR), Jitter and Lessons Learned

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) I-M series of spacecraft was the second generation of United States meteorological observational platforms in geosynchronous orbit. They served as the principal Earth- viewing observational platforms for continuously monitoring dynamic weather events from the mid-1990s and into the 21st century. This paper will look back at the program framing key system attributes of the mission, which necessitated a multi-layered development approach to meet stringent meteorological instrument Line-of-Sight (LoS) pointing and pointing stability requirements. The overall approach involved understanding, correcting, and avoiding pointing errors across a broad frequency range including what would typically be called dynamic interaction and jitter. Background information will be provided covering the mission architecture and program drivers. The systems solution for man- aging and mitigating the deleterious influences of on-board disturbances in order to meet the challenging instrument LoS pointing and jitter requirements will be described, along with the ‘first of its kind’ Image Navigation and Registration system. A broad look back at the lessons learned that emerged from the GOES I- M experience will be presented, with the intent of capturing general and specific insights for developers of future missions having stringent payload instrument pointing requirements. These discussions will touch on such critical aspects as defining jitter and related pointing requirements, the importance of early system architectural decisions, understanding and reducing on-board disturbances, the balance of test and analysis, and the imperative for maximizing on-orbit operational flexibility in order to accommodate unexpected dynamic interactions.

Sudey, John↗
NASA NTRS1993

Phase 3 integrated water recovery testing at MSFC: Single loop test results and lessons learned

A series of tests has been conducted at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to evaluate the performance of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) water recovery system. Potable and urine reclamation processors were integrated with waste water generation equipment and sucessfully operated for a total of 144 days. This testing marked the first occasion in which the waste feed sources for the previous potable and hygiene loops were combined into a single loop and processed to potable water quality. Reclaimed potable water from the combined waste waters routinely met the SSF water quality specifications.In the last stage of testing, data was obtained that indicated that the water processor (WP) presterilizer may not be required to meet the potable water quality specification. The removal of the presterilizer from the Water Processor design would provide a significant power savings, though an increase in the residence time of the catalytic oxidation reactor may be required to meet the potable microbial and total Organic Carbon specifications. This paper summarizes the test objectives, system design, test activities/protocols, significant results/anomalies and major lessons learned.

Carter, Donald Layne↗
DOE OSTI2024

Navigating Options for Transportation Electrification and Solar Charging: Steps and Lessons Learned in Montana Communities

This document is intended to assist communities who are considering investing in electric transportation. It can assist communities engage stakeholders, prioritize community goals, assess electric transportation options, and navigate complex decisions about deploying zero emission electric transportation in their community. It covers technological, economic and environmental aspects of the transition to electric vehicles (EV), and highlights the specific considerations related to the deployment of renewable energy technologies (e.g., distributed solar) in combination with EV supply equipment (EVSE, e.g., charging stations). There are many important decisions to make and questions for communities to ask themselves as they consider electric vehicle types, charging infrastructure, and electricity generation options. This guide will help communities assess: (1) Which stage in the decision-making process they are in with respect to EV deployment; (2) Questions they can explore to guide their decisions about EV deployment; (3) How to engage key stakeholders on EV deployment options; (4) Tradeoffs and benefits of various electric transportation options and; (5) Synergies of pairing electric vehicle charging and renewable energy generation technologies. The analysis and lessons learned presented in this roadmap are intended to serve as a template and guide for similarly situated communities across the country who want to prepare for and play a role in the electrified transportation future.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Soil Moisture Acttive Passive Mission: Fault Protection Performance and Lessons Learned

Fault protection as a discipline involves a collection of flight software logic and operational processes for detecting unacceptable anomalous behavior, responding prior to reaching criticality, restricting the propagation of a failure beyond a fault containment region, and recovering the vehicle back to full or degraded functionality if possible. The System Fault Protection (SFP) design for the SMAP Earth orbiter was put to the test during its 90-day vehicle commissioning activities. During this time, the SFP software autonomously protected the vehicle from multiple faults to critical hardware, and the operations team successfully returned the observatory to its science state. The SFP also performed well in the presence of anomalous behavior below true safety limits by not taking unnecessary response actions, instead allowing the operations team time to monitor the behavior. Certain aspects of the SFP design were modified during operations via both parameter updates and a full flight software update in order to better match the vehicle behavior in the flight environment. An evaluation of the SMAP SFP performance during vehicle Commissioning will be provided in this paper, as well as a set of lessons learned largely focused on visibility, SFP mutability in operations, responses to peripheral device faults, and Safe Mode recovery and design. By capturing some of the knowledge gained during SMAP Commissioning, it is intended that this paper provide guidance for making future System Fault Protection designs more robust and supportive of operations.

Clark, Jessica↗
DOE OSTI2025

Business Models for Scaling Demand Flexibility Volume III – Stakeholder ecosystem management challenges, and lessons learned from U.S. programs

Load growth at the grid edge is driving increased attention to the distribution system and its ability to enable customer technology adoption in an affordable and timely manner. Key industry stakeholders, including electric utilities and regulators, can benefit from strategies to manage and balance customer needs with infrastructure investments, such as demand flexibility. This report focuses on demand flexibility—the ability to reduce, shift, shed, generate, or modulate loads in response to building and grid needs—to reduce the need for costly grid upgrades by deferring investment needs and increase system reliability by shifting electricity usage during periods of high risk. Specifically, we focus on the emerging characteristics of business models for demand flexibility as a framework to understand how demand flexibility programs generate value. In this report, we focus on demand flexibility program stakeholder ecosystem management strategies, which provide information on value delivery and describe how program implementers leverage partner capabilities and collaborate to deliver customer and grid benefits. This report discusses the role of stakeholder ecosystem management in demand flexibility programs, identifies existing challenges to effective stakeholder management, and describes lessons learned. This report is part of a series that includes reports on value propositions, customer relationship management strategies, and program life cycle.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Winter Storm Elliott: Energy Emergency Alert Lessons Learned

Power blackouts in the United States in 2022 highlighted the need for better communication and planning among power grid stakeholders. This need was further demonstrated at a 2021 workshop held by the Grid Reliability Initiative Utilizing Data Standardization (GRIDS) Project. The GRIDS Project was established to understand and address the gaps in communication between the transmission and distribution operators. With the ongoing energy transition including electrification, distributed energy resource penetration, and so on, this project aims for improved energy emergency communications at the transmission-distribution interface. In 2022, Winter Storm Elliott affected 60% of the United States population (Weather Underground 2022), resulting in rolling blackouts in many areas of the eastern United States (Knoxville Utilities Board [KUB] 2023). Information presented here is based on the GRIDS workshop findings and subsequent research and interviews with stakeholders. After a brief summary of the effects of Winter Storm Elliott, this report covers the standard energy emergency communications processes currently in use, how the storm affected power management operations for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and its local utility companies, and related experiences in other states. The report concludes with lessons learned and recommendations for improvements and a path forward.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Orion SysML Model, Digital Twin, and Lessons Learned for Artemis I

In 2015 it was recognized by NASA’s Orion Chief Engineer that NASA’s design insight into the Orion subsystems for Artemis I were not sufficient to provide traditional engineering support to flight operations. To address these concerns and provide an opportunity to apply emerging model-based systems engineering and digital twin methodologies and provide opportunities for employees across NASA to get hands-on training, an Orion digital twin pilot project was initiated in 2020. With the increase in complexities of spacecraft, and decreased time to made decisions during missions in critical or emergency situations, digital modeling and integration of design can reduce the time to answer questions by days and required human resources by an order of magnitude over historical approaches and was identified to be critical capability for NASA’s future. This paper describes the genesis of this digital twin pilot project, efforts undertaken, a reproducible methodology to take available system information from a mature program to create an executable SysML model that supports a link to unit-specific data, thus forming a connection to the physical asset, and associated lessons learned and project deliverables.

MBSE↗
NASA NTRS2015

Geocuration Lessons Learned from the Climate Data Initiative Project

Curation is traditionally defined as the process of collecting and organizing information around a common subject matter or a topic of interest and typically occurs in museums, art galleries, and libraries. The task of organizing data around specific topics or themes is a vibrant and growing effort in the biological sciences but to date this effort has not been actively pursued in the Earth sciences. This presentation will introduce the concept of geocuration, which we define it as the act of searching, selecting, and synthesizing Earth science data/metadata and information from across disciplines and repositories into a single, cohesive, and useful compendium. We also present the Climate Data Initiative (CDI) project as an prototypical example. The CDI project is a systematic effort to manually curate and share openly available climate data from various federal agencies. CDI is a broad multi-agency effort of the U.S. government and seeks to leverage the extensive existing federal climate-relevant data to stimulate innovation and private-sector entrepreneurship to support national climate change preparedness. The geocuration process used in the CDI project, key lessons learned, and suggestions to improve similar geocuration efforts in the future will be part of this presentation.

climate↗
NASA NTRS2014

EDSN Development Lessons Learned

The Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) is a technology demonstration mission that provides a proof of concept for a constellation or swarm of satellites performing coordinated activities. Networked swarms of small spacecraft will open new horizons in astronomy, Earth observations and solar physics. Their range of applications include the formation of synthetic aperture radars for Earth sensing systems, large aperture observatories for next generation telescopes and the collection of spatially distributed measurements of time varying systems, probing the Earths magnetosphere, Earth-Sun interactions and the Earths geopotential. EDSN is a swarm of eight 1.5U Cubesats with crosslink, downlink and science collection capabilities developed by the NASA Ames Research Center under the Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP) within the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). This paper describes the concept of operations of the mission and planned scientific measurements. The development of the 8 satellites for EDSN necessitated the fabrication of prototypes, Flatsats and a total of 16 satellites to support the concurrent engineering and rapid development. This paper has a specific focus on the development, integration and testing of a large number of units including the lessons learned throughout the project development.

Technology Demonstration↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Water and Disasters Tools and Development Across the SERVIR Program and Lessons-Learned Within the Hindukush Himalayan Region

The NASA-USAID SERVIR program works in partnership with leading regional organizations around the globe to help developing countries use information provided by earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies. The SERVIR Applied Sciences Team (AST) is assembled on a 3-year rotating cycle to partner with these regional organizations on the joint development and implementation of tools and techniques that can be used operationally in each region. The Portfolio of AST projects address regional priorities in four thematic service areas: Land Cover, Land Use Change & Ecosystems; Water and water-related Disasters; Weather & Climate and Food Security & Agriculture. An important goal of AST is knowledge sharing across the different regional entities to share tools and technologies for the improvement of all. This talk will focus on the Water and Disasters service area and review how tools developed in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region in partnership with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have evolved over the AST cycles. We will provide examples of stakeholder engagement both at ICIMOD and across the regional partners they support. We will also share recent examples and lessons learned with users from other SERVIR regions.

Lori A Schultz↗
NASA NTRS2015

Resurrected DSCOVR Propulsion System - Challenges and Lessons Learned

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), formerly known as Triana, is a unique mission, not because of its objectives but because of how long it was in storage before launch. The Triana spacecraft was built in the late 90s and later renamed as DSCOVR, but the project was canceled before the spacecraft was launched. The nearly-complete spacecraft was put in controlled storage for 10 years, until the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provided funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to refurbish the spacecraft. On February 11, 2015, DSCOVR was launched on a Falcon 9 v1.1 from launch complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This paper describes the DSCOVR propulsion system, which utilizes ten 4.5 N thrusters in blowdown mode to perform Midcourse Correction (MCC) maneuvers, Lissajous Orbit Insertion (LOI) at Lagrangian point L1, momentum unloading maneuvers, and station keeping delta-v maneuvers at L1. This paper also describes the testing that was performed, including susbsystem-level and spacecraft-level tests, to verify the propulsion system's integrity for flight. Finally, this paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges and lessons learned during this unique mission, including replacement of a bent thruster and installation of an auxiliary heater over existing propellant line heaters.

System↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling TechnologY (KRUSTY) Nuclear Ground Test Results and Lessons Learned

The Kilopower nuclear ground testing nicknamed KRUSTY (Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling TechnologY) was completed at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site (NNSS) on March 21, 2018. This full scale nuclear demonstration verified the Kilopower reactor neutronics during startup, steady state, and transient operations in a space simulated environment. This was the first space reactor test completed for fission power systems in over 50 years and marked a turning point in NASA's nuclear program. The completed reactor power system design incorporated flight prototypic materials and full scale components in an effort to study the reactor dynamics at full power and significantly reduce follow on risk of a future flight demonstration. This design provided a unique opportunity for the power system to simulate several expected and unexpected mission scenarios that allowed the designers to verify that the reactor dynamics could tolerate many worst case conditions regarding reactor stability and control. The dynamic changes imposed on the reactor validated the ability of the reactor to load follow the power conversion system and passively control the fuel temperature and overall system stability. With successful completion of the KRUSTY experiment, the NASA/DOE team will evaluate the lessons learned throughout the project and apply them towards a flight demonstration of a Kilopower reactor.

Gibson, Marc A.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) Nuclear Ground Test Results and Lessons Learned

The Kilopower nuclear ground testing nicknamed KRUSTY (Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling TechnologY) was completed at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site (NNSS) on March 21, 2018. This full scale nuclear demonstration verified the Kilopower reactor neutronics during startup, steady state, and transient operations in a space simulated environment. This was the first space reactor test completed for fission power systems in over 50 years and marked a turning point in NASA's nuclear program. The completed reactor power system design incorporated flight prototypic materials and full scale components in an effort to study the reactor dynamics at full power and significantly reduce follow on risk of a future flight demonstration. This design provided a unique opportunity for the power system to simulate several expected and unexpected mission scenarios that allowed the designers to verify that the reactor dynamics could tolerate many worst case conditions regarding reactor stability and control. The dynamic changes imposed on the reactor validated the ability of the reactor to load follow the power conversion system and passively control the fuel temperature and overall system stability. With successful completion of the KRUSTY experiment, the NASA/DOE team will evaluate the lessons learned throughout the project and apply them towards a flight demonstration of a Kilopower reactor.

Gibson, Marc↗
DOE OSTI2025

Business Models for Scaling Demand Flexibility Volume I – Value proposition characteristics, challenges, and lessons learned from U.S. programs

Load growth at the grid edge is driving increased attention to the distribution system and its ability to enable customer technology adoption in an affordable and timely manner. Key industry stakeholders, including electric utilities and regulators, can benefit from strategies to manage and balance customer needs with infrastructure investments, such as demand flexibility. This report focuses on demand flexibility—the ability to reduce, shift, shed, generate, or modulate loads in response to building and grid needs—to reduce the need for costly grid upgrades by deferring investment needs and increase system reliability by shifting electricity usage during periods of high risk. Specifically, we focus on the emerging characteristics of business models for demand flexibility as a framework to understand how demand flexibility programs generate value. In this report, we focus on demand flexibility value propositions, which provide information on value creation and describe how programs deliver clear benefits that address customer and grid needs. This report discusses the role of value propositions in demand flexibility programs, provides an overview of value propositions for a range of demand flexibility stakeholders, identifies existing challenges to establishing an effective value proposition, and describes lessons learned. This report is part of a series that includes reports on customer relationship management strategies, stakeholder ecosystem management, and program life cycle.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Planning for a Large Space Weather Event: Preparation for and Lessons Learned from the 2024 Space Weather Interagency Tabletop Exercise

On May 8-9 2024, the Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG) at NASA/Johnson Space Center participated in a joint exercise with DoD, FEMA, OSTP, DOE and other agencies to assess their ability to respond to a large hypothetical space weather event. SRAG is a uniquely skilled group of scientists and engineers tasked with mitigating impacts of radiation exposure to the astronaut crew aboard the International Space Station and upcoming missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO). In meeting this objective, the team has developed expertise in both modeling the impacts of an enhanced space environment and in the real-time operational support of the Flight Control Team when assessing a response to the environment. Several members of SRAG worked with the Tabletop Exercise (TTX) planners to define a realistic large event and to model the resulting radiation exposure on an Artemis crew. SRAG members participating in the TTX were blinded to the results of this analysis. As the event unfolded during the TTX, SRAG provided their assessment of the likely impact on the crew and recommendations for crew actions. During the exercise, the team tracked lessons learned for their own planning, currently in work, for Artemis-II and subsequent missions.

Janet Barzilla↗
DOE OSTI2024

From IMPEL to Impact: Lessons Learned in Accelerating Innovative Building Technologies

The built environment is a complex ecosystem of social institutions and physical infrastructures. Innovation and entrepreneurship in the building industry are critical levers for market transformation toward equitable climate action. However, climate tech innovation for the built environment is not moving fast enough for global needs, and it lacks fundamental diversity, leading to inequitable outcomes. IMPEL (Incubating Market-propelled Entrepreneurial-mindset at the Labs and Beyond) - a U.S. Department of Energy incubator–addresses these critical issues. Over five years, IMPEL has enabled 250 innovators, including 55% women and diverse founders, to accelerate their buildings and clean energy technologies towards market and climate impact. IMPEL provides access to strategic mentoring and coaching, carbon tools training, testbeds, and powerful public-private pipelines, including industry demonstrations, non-dilutive grants, and venture capital networks. The IMPEL innovation ecosystem has accelerated the pace of innovation and market adoption of building decarbonization technologies. In this paper, leverage the IMPEL stakeholder ecosystem - from innovators to investors and product industry to policymakers - to analyze the critical barriers to decarbonization still encountered in the building industry. We study the IMPEL approach and highlight lessons learned that benefit young businesses pursuing innovative building and building-edge energy technologies to develop new ideas and products. Finally, we propose a ‘market forming’ framework to improve the quality and efficiency of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the building industry. This framework could scale vetted technologies and the participation of diverse founders to de-risk the climate tech

Singh, Reshma↗