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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 55 records · Page 3

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NASA NTRS2014

Cost Analysis in a Multi-Mission Operations Environment

Spacecraft control centers have evolved from dedicated, single-mission or single mission-type support to multi-mission, service-oriented support for operating a variety of mission types. At the same time, available money for projects is shrinking and competition for new missions is increasing. These factors drive the need for an accurate and flexible model to support estimating service costs for new or extended missions; the cost model in turn drives the need for an accurate and efficient approach to service cost analysis. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) provides operations services to a variety of customers around the world. HOSC customers range from launch vehicle test flights; to International Space Station (ISS) payloads; to small, short duration missions; and has included long duration flagship missions. The HOSC recently completed a detailed analysis of service costs as part of the development of a complete service cost model. The cost analysis process required the team to address a number of issues. One of the primary issues involves the difficulty of reverse engineering individual mission costs in a highly efficient multi-mission environment, along with a related issue of the value of detailed metrics or data to the cost model versus the cost of obtaining accurate data. Another concern is the difficulty of balancing costs between missions of different types and size and extrapolating costs to different mission types. The cost analysis also had to address issues relating to providing shared, cloud-like services in a government environment, and then assigning an uncertainty or risk factor to cost estimates that are based on current technology, but will be executed using future technology. Finally the cost analysis needed to consider how to validate the resulting cost models taking into account the non-homogeneous nature of the available cost data and the decreasing flight rate. This paper presents the issues encountered during the HOSC cost analysis process, and the associated lessons learned. These lessons can be used when planning for a new multi-mission operations center or in the transformation from a dedicated control center to multi-center operations, as an aid in defining processes that support future cost analysis and estimation. The lessons can also be used by mature service-oriented, multi-mission control centers to streamline or refine their cost analysis process.

Felton, Larry↗

NASA NTRS1988

The GSFC Flight Support System for on-orbit satellite servicing

To plan and execute a successful on-orbit satellite servicing mission, space support hardware, a serviceable spacecraft design, and flexible ground operations are required. This paper addresses space support hardware and in particular the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Satellite Servicing Project's (SSP) Flight Support System (FSS). The FSS is designed to be compatible with the Space Transportation System Orbiter and to support on-orbit servicing of Multimission Modular Spacecraft. It provides mechanical, electrical, and thermal support to the spacecraft during the servicing mission. Standardization of spacecraft design, components, and interfaces is required to make a satellite serviceable. Spacecraft ground operation capabilities must accommodate servicing mission requirements. Space support tools and equipment, such as the Power Ratchet Tool, assists the astronaut during time critical EVA operations to more efficiently perform the servicing mission.

Griffin, Thomas J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The civil tiltrotor aircraft's potential in developing economies

The civilian tiltrotor (CTR) is analyzed as a new transportation technology with the potential for changing one of the key economic factors linked to Third World economic development. It is contended that efficient, low-cost transport services are a necessary condition for the economic development of Third World countries and that the CTR's capabilities and operating costs can provide more efficient transport services than have heretofore been available to such countries. A case study of potential CTR use among the nations of the Carribean Basin region appears to offer both analytical and empirical support to these contentions. The analysis indicates that normal market mechanisms are adequate for development of air cargo services using the CTR's capabilities. It is suggested that implementation of this service may require new institutional arrangements, but overall it is concluded that tiltrotor technology could make an important contribution to the economic development of Third World countries.

Alton, Larry R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Advanced avionics concepts: Autonomous spacecraft control

A large increase in space operations activities is expected because of Space Station Freedom (SSF) and long range Lunar base missions and Mars exploration. Space operations will also increase as a result of space commercialization (especially the increase in satellite networks). It is anticipated that the level of satellite servicing operations will grow tenfold from the current level within the next 20 years. This growth can be sustained only if the cost effectiveness of space operations is improved. Cost effectiveness is operational efficiency with proper effectiveness. A concept is presented of advanced avionics, autonomous spacecraft control, that will enable the desired growth, as well as maintain the cost effectiveness (operational efficiency) in satellite servicing operations. The concept of advanced avionics that allows autonomous spacecraft control is described along with a brief description of each component. Some of the benefits of autonomous operations are also described. A technology utilization breakdown is provided in terms of applications.

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NASA NTRS1997

Performance Analysis of the NAS Y-MP Workload

This paper describes the performance characteristics of the computational workloads on the NAS Cray Y-MP machines, a Y-MP 832 and later a Y-MP 8128. Hardware measurements indicated that the Y-MP workload performance matured over time, ultimately sustaining an average throughput of 0.8 GFLOPS and a vector operation fraction of 87%. The measurements also revealed an operation rate exceeding 1 per clock period, a well-balanced architecture featuring a strong utilization of vector functional units, and an efficient memory organization. Introduction of the larger memory 8128 increased throughput by allowing a more efficient utilization of CPUs. Throughput also depended on the metering of the batch queues; low-idle Saturday workloads required a buffer of small jobs to prevent memory starvation of the CPU. UNICOS required about 7% of total CPU time to service the 832 workloads; this overhead decreased to 5% for the 8128 workloads. While most of the system time went to service I/O requests, efficient scheduling prevented excessive idle due to I/O wait. System measurements disclosed no obvious bottlenecks in the response of the machine and UNICOS to the workloads. In most cases, Cray-provided software tools were- quite sufficient for measuring the performance of both the machine and operating, system.

Bergeron, Robert J.↗

NASA NTRS2011

An Evaluation of Performance Metrics for High Efficiency Tube-and-Wing Aircraft Entering Service in 2030 to 2035

An analysis of basic vehicle characteristics required to meet the Fundamental Aeronautics Program s 70 percent energy consumption reduction goal for commercial airliners in the 2030 to 2035 timeframe was conducted. A total of 29 combinations of vehicle parasitic drag coefficient, vehicle induced drag coefficient, vehicle empty weight and engine Specific Fuel Consumption were used to create sized tube-and-wing vehicle models. The mission fuel burn for each of these sized vehicles was then compared to a baseline current technology vehicle. A response surface equation was generated of fuel burn reduction as a function of the four basic vehicle performance metrics, so that any values of the performance metrics up to a 50 percent reduction could be used to estimate fuel burn reduction of tube-and-wing aircraft for future studies.

Perkins, H. Douglas↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Weather Guidance for UAS Urban Medical Transport Missions

Unmanned aircraft will revolutionize healthcare services by providing efficient and expeditious delivery of life-saving transplant organs and supplies to hospitals in urban environments, where road traffic and congestion can slow delivery times and endanger lives. Bell has developed the Autonomous Pod Transport (APT) vehicle to serve this market, with entry into service in mid-2020s. Adverse weather conditions can introduce risks and inefficiencies in urban environments leading to flight delays and cancellations. In 2018, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Bell entered into a cooperative agreement, under the Systems Integration and Operationalization (SIO) program to tackle key challenges to enable future commercial unmanned aircraft operations. The Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, joined this team to demonstrate weather avoidance technologies for remotely piloted and autonomous vehicles. CASA has developed the ‘City Warn’ hazard alerting platform to gather weather information from various weather sensors and models, and based on user (or mission) preferences for alerting and on user (or unmanned aircraft) locations, the platform shares timely weather intelligence with users and the systems used by them for remote operations. This presentation discusses the weather avoidance solution developed during this project, leading up to the demonstration of the end-to-end system in Fall 2020. The presentation will cover the following topics: 1) goals related to weather avoidance 2) the design requirements process, including the results of pilot interviews, 3) weather observation and avoidance needs 4) selection of regional and national weather data sets 5) design of the weather graphical interface and 6) considerations for real-time weather alerting. The end-to-end system that was developed will be discussed, along with the results from the demonstration flight. The presentation will conclude with insights from the project team on lessons learned and best practices on weather avoidance technologies for the industry going ahead.

weather avoidance↗

NASA NTRS2021

Weather Guidance for UAS Urban Medical Transport Missions

weather avoidance↗

NASA NTRS2003

Material Properties Analysis of Structural Members in Pumpkin Balloons

The efficient design, service-life qualification, and reliability predictions for lightweight aerospace structures require careful mechanical properties analysis of candidate structural materials. The demand for high-quality laboratory data is particularly acute when the candidate material or the structural design has little history. The pumpkin-shaped super-pressure balloon presents both challenges. Its design utilizes load members (tendons) extending from apex to base around the gas envelope to achieve a lightweight structure. The candidate tendon material is highly weight-efficient braided HM cord. Previous mechanical properties studies of Zylon have focused on fiber and yarn, and industrial use of the material in tensile applications is limited. For high-performance polymers, a carefully plamed and executed properties analysis scheme is required to ensure the data are relevant to the desired application. Because no directly-applicable testing standard was available, a protocol was developed based on guidelines fiom professional and industry organizations. Due to the liquid-crystalline nature of the polymer, the cord is very stiff, creeps very little, and does not yield. Therefore, the key material property for this application is the breaking strength. The pretension load and gauge length were found to have negligible effect on the measured breaking strength over the ranges investigated. Strain rate was found to have no effect on breaking strength, within the range of rates suggested by the standards organizations. However, at the lower rate more similar to ULDB operations, the strength was reduced. The breaking strength increased when the experiment temperature was decreased from ambient to 183K which is the lowest temperature ULDB is expected to experience. The measured strength under all test conditions was well below that resulting from direct scale-up of fiber strength based on the manufacturers data. This expected result is due to the effects of the braiding process and material ageing.

Sterling, W. J.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Structural integrity in aircraft.

The paper reviews briefly the current design philosophies for achieving long, efficient, and reliable service in aircraft structures. The strengths and weaknesses of these design philosophies and their demonstrated records of success are discussed. The state of the art has not been developed to the point where designing can be done without major test inspection and maintenance programs. A broad program of research is proposed through which a viable computerized design scheme will be provided during the next decade. The program will organize and correlate existing knowledge on fatigue and fracture behavior, identify gaps in this knowledge, and guide specific research to upgrade design capabilities.

Hardrath, H. F.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Organizing for low cost space operations - Status and plans

Design features of the Space Transportation System (vehicle reuse, low cost expendable components, simple payload interfaces, standard support systems) must be matched by economical operational methods to achieve low operating and payload costs. Users will be responsible for their own payloads and will be charged according to the services they require. Efficient use of manpower, simple documentation, simplified test, checkout, and flight planning are firm goals, together with flexibility for quick response to varying user needs. Status of the Shuttle hardware, plans for establishing low cost procedures, and the policy for user charges are discussed.

Lee, C.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Study of multi-megawatt technology needs for photovoltaic space power systems. Volume 1: Executive summary

Possible missions requiring multimegawatt photovoltaic space power systems in the 1990's time frame and associated power system technology needs are examined. The following concepts for photovoltaic power approaches are considered: planar arrays, concentrating arrays, hybrid systems using Rankine engines, thermophotovoltaic and AC/DC power management approaches, battery, fuel cell, flywheel energy storage, and interactions with the electrical ion engine injection and stationkeeping system. The levels of modularity for efficient, safe, constructable, serviceable, and cost effective system design are analyzed, and the benefits of alternate approaches developed. Both manned low Earth orbit and unmanned geosynchronous Earth orbit applications were examined for technological development. Technology developments applicable to power systems which appear to have benefits independent of the absolute power level are suggested.

Peterson, D. M.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Machine vision for real time orbital operations

Machine vision for automation and robotic operation of Space Station era systems has the potential for increasing the efficiency of orbital servicing, repair, assembly and docking tasks. A machine vision research project is described in which a TV camera is used for inputing visual data to a computer so that image processing may be achieved for real time control of these orbital operations. A technique has resulted from this research which reduces computer memory requirements and greatly increases typical computational speed such that it has the potential for development into a real time orbital machine vision system. This technique is called AI BOSS (Analysis of Images by Box Scan and Syntax).

Vinz, Frank L.↗

NASA NTRS1992

JEFF: Air transport system design simulation

Jeff is a remotely piloted vehicle designed by the Blue Team, a division of AE441, Inc., to fulfill the mission proposed by G-Dome Enterprises: to build a cost efficient aircraft to service Aeroworld with overnight cargo delivery. The design of Jeff was most significantly influenced by the need to minimize costs. This objective was pursued by building fewer large planes as opposed to many small planes. Thus, by building an aircraft with a large payload capacity, G-Dome Enterprises will be able to minimize the large costs and the large number of cycles that are associated with a large fleet. Another factor which had a significant influence on our design was the constraint that our design had to fit into a 2'x2'x5' storage container. This constraint meant that unless we wanted to build foldable wings that Jeff's span would be limited to 10 feet. Since this was not enough lifting surface to suit our needs a canard configuration was chosen to get the needed lifting surface and avoid the structural dilemma of foldable wings. The aircraft is constructed mainly of balsa, with spruce wing and canard spars and a monokote covering. It was designed to support a maximum payload weight of 35 oz. (total aircraft weight of 108 oz.) and withstand a maximum load factor of 2.5.

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NASA NTRS1993

Lunar transfer vehicle studies

Lunar transportation architectures exist for several different mission scenarios. Direct flights from Earth are possible, as the Apollo program clearly demonstrated. Alternatively, a space transfer vehicle could be constructed in space by using the Space Station as a base of operations, or multiple vehicles could be launched from Earth and dock in LEO without using a space station for support. Similarly, returning personnel could proceed directly to Earth or rendezvous at the Space Station for a ride back home on the Space Shuttle. Multiple design concepts exist which are compatible with these scenarios and which can support requirements of cargo, personnel, and mission objectives. Regardless of the ultimate mission selected, some technologies will certainly play a key role in the design and operation of advanced lunar transfer vehicles. Current technologies are capable of delivering astronauts to the lunar surface, but improvements are needed to affordably transfer the material and equipment that will be needed for establishing a lunar base. Materials and structures advances, in particular, will enable the development of more capable cryogenic fluid management and propulsion systems, improved structures, and more efficient vehicle assembly, servicing and processing.

Keeley, Joseph T.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Aerodynamic analysis of Pegasus - Computations vs reality

Pegasus, a three-stage, air-launched, winged space booster was developed to provide fast and efficient commercial launch services for small satellites. The aerodynamic design and analysis of Pegasus was conducted without benefit of wind tunnel tests using only computational aerodynamic and fluid dynamic methods. Flight test data from the first two operational flights of Pegasus are now available, and they provide an opportunity to validate the accuracy of the predicted pre-flight aerodynamic characteristics. Comparisons of measured and predicted flight characteristics are presented and discussed. Results show that the computational methods provide reasonable aerodynamic design information with acceptable margins. Post-flight analyses illustrate certain areas in which improvements are desired.

Mendenhall, Michael R.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Research and Development for an Operational Information Ecology: The User-System Interface Agent Project

The User System Interface Agent (USIA) is a special type of software agent which acts as the "middle man" between a human user and an information processing environment. USIA consists of a group of cooperating agents which are responsible for assisting users in obtaining information processing services intuitively and efficiently. Some of the main features of USIA include: (1) multiple interaction modes and (2) user-specific and stereotype modeling and adaptation. This prototype system provides us with a development platform towards the realization of an operational information ecology. In the first phase of this project we focus on the design and implementation of prototype system of the User-System Interface Agent (USIA). The second face of USIA allows user interaction via a restricted query language as well as through a taxonomy of windows. In third phase the USIA system architecture was revised.

Srivastava, Sadanand↗

NASA NTRS1998

A Comparison Between Publish-and-Subscribe and Client-Server Models in Distributed Control System Networks

The BIO-Plex control system requires real-time, flexible, and reliable data delivery. There is no simple "off-the-shelf 'solution. However, several commercial packages will be evaluated using a testbed at ARC for publish- and-subscribe and client-server communication architectures. Point-to-point communication architecture is not suitable for real-time BIO-Plex control system. Client-server architecture provides more flexible data delivery. However, it does not provide direct communication among nodes on the network. Publish-and-subscribe implementation allows direct information exchange among nodes on the net, providing the best time-critical communication. In this work Network Data Delivery Service (NDDS) from Real-Time Innovations, Inc. ARTIE will be used to implement publish-and subscribe architecture. It offers update guarantees and deadlines for real-time data delivery. Bridgestone, a data acquisition and control software package from National Instruments, will be tested for client-server arrangement. A microwave incinerator located at ARC will be instrumented with a fieldbus network of control devices. BridgeVIEW will be used to implement an enterprise server. An enterprise network consisting of several nodes at ARC and a WAN connecting ARC and RISC will then be setup to evaluate proposed control system architectures. Several network configurations will be evaluated for fault tolerance, quality of service, reliability and efficiency. Data acquired from these network evaluation tests will then be used to determine preliminary design criteria for the BIO-Plex distributed control system.

Boulanger, Richard P., Jr.↗