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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2007

Process Improvement in a Radically Changing Organization

This presentation describes how the NASA Glenn Research Center planned and implemented a process improvement effort in response to a radically changing environment. As a result of a presidential decision to redefine the Agency's mission, many ongoing projects were canceled and future workload would be awarded based on relevance to the Exploration Initiative. NASA imposed a new Procedural Requirements standard on all future software development, and the Center needed to redesign its processes from CMM Level 2 objectives to meet the new standard and position itself for CMMI. The intended audience for this presentation is systems/software developers and managers in a large, research-oriented organization that may need to respond to imposed standards while also pursuing CMMI Maturity Level goals. A set of internally developed tools will be presented, including an overall Process Improvement Action Item database, a formal inspection/peer review tool, metrics collection spreadsheet, and other related technologies. The Center also found a need to charter Technical Working Groups (TWGs) to address particular Process Areas. In addition, a Marketing TWG was needed to communicate the process changes to the development community, including an innovative web site portal.

Varga, Denise M.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Open Collaboration: A Problem Solving Strategy That Is Redefining NASA's Innovative Spirit

In 2010, NASA?s Space Life Sciences Directorate announced the successful results from pilot experiments with open innovation methodologies. Specifically, utilization of internet based external crowd sourcing platforms to solve challenging problems in human health and performance related to the future of spaceflight. The follow-up to this success was an internal crowd sourcing pilot program entitled NASA@work, which was supported by the InnoCentive@work software platform. The objective of the NASA@work pilot was to connect the collective knowledge of individuals from all areas within the NASA organization via a private web based environment. The platform provided a venue for NASA Challenge Owners, those looking for solutions or new ideas, to pose challenges to internal solvers, those within NASA with the skill and desire to create solutions. The pilot was launched in 57 days, a record for InnoCentive and NASA, and ran for three months with a total of 20 challenges posted Agency wide. The NASA@work pilot attracted over 6000 participants throughout NASA with a total of 183 contributing solvers for the 20 challenges posted. At the time of the pilot?s closure, solvers provided viable solutions and ideas for 17 of the 20 posted challenges. The solver community provided feedback on the pilot describing it as a barrier breaking activity, conveying that there was a satisfaction associated with helping co-workers, that it was "fun" to think about problems outside normal work boundaries, and it was nice to learn what challenges others were facing across the agency. The results and the feedback from the solver community have demonstrated the power and utility of an internal collaboration tool, such as NASA@work.

Rando, Cynthia M.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Open Collaboration: A Problem Solving Strategy That is Redefining NASA's Innovative Spirit

In 2010, NASA's Space Life Sciences Directorate announced the successful results from pilot experiments with open innovation methodologies. Specifically, utilization of internet based external crowdsourcing platforms to solve challenging problems in human health and performance related to the future of spaceflight. The follow-up to this success was an internal crowdsourcing pilot program entitled NASA@work, which was supported by the InnoCentive@work software platform. The objective of the NASA@work pilot was to connect the collective knowledge of individuals from all areas within the NASA organization via a private web based environment. The platform provided a venue for NASA Challenge Owners, those looking for solutions or new ideas, to pose challenges to internal solvers, those within NASA with the skill and desire to create solutions. The pilot was launched in 57 days, a record for InnoCentive and NASA, and ran for three months with a total of 20 challenges posted Agency wide. The NASA@work pilot attracted over 6,000 participants throughout NASA with a total of 183 contributing solvers for the 20 challenges posted. At the time of the pilot's closure, solvers provided viable solutions and ideas for 17 of the 20 posted challenges. The solver community provided feedback on the pilot describing it as a barrier breaking activity, conveying that there was a satisfaction associated with helping co-workers, that it was fun to think about problems outside normal work boundaries, and it was nice to learn what challenges others were facing across the agency. The results and the feedback from the solver community have demonstrated the power and utility of an internal collaboration tool, such as NASA@work.

Rando, Cynthia M.↗
NASA NTRS2020

A Flight Rule Checker for the LADEE Lunar Spacecraft

As part of the design of a space mission, an important part is the design of so-called flight rules. Flight rules express constraints on various parts and processes of the mission, that if followed, will reduce the risk of failure. One such set of flight rules constrain the format of command sequences regularly (e.g. daily) sent to the spacecraft to con-trol its next near term behavior. We present a high-level view of the automated flight rule checker FRC for checking command sequences sent to NASA’s LADEE Lunar mission spacecraft, used throughout its entire mission. A command sequence is in this case essentially a program (a sequence of commands) with no loops or conditionals, and it can there-fore be verified with a trace analysis tool. FRC is implemented using the TraceContract runtime verification tool, an internal Scala DSL for checking event sequences against “formal specifications”. The paper illustrates this untraditional use of runtime verification in a real con-text, with strong demands on the expressiveness and flexibility of the specification language, illustrating the advantages of an internal DSL.

LADEE↗
NASA NTRS2020

A Flight Rule Checker for the LADEE Lunar Spacecraft

As part of the design of a space mission, an important part is the design of so-called flight rules. Flight rules express constraints on various parts and processes of the mission, that if followed, will reduce the risk of failure. One such set of flight rules constrain the format of command sequences regularly (e.g. daily) sent to the spacecraft to con- trol its next near term behavior. We present a high-level view of the automated flight rule checker Frc for checking command sequences sent to NASA’s LADEE Lunar mission spacecraft, used throughout its entire mission. A command sequence is in this case essentially a program (a sequence of commands) with no loops or conditionals, and it can there- fore be verified with a trace analysis tool. Frc is implemented using the TraceContract runtime verification tool, an internal Scala DSL for checking event sequences against “formal specifications”. The paper illustrates this untraditional use of runtime verification in a real con- text, with strong demands on the expressiveness and flexibility of the specification language, illustrating the advantages of an internal DSL.

Kurklu, Elif↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Using Thermal Desktop to Determine Equivalent Solar Hours on Spacecraft Surfaces

Equivalent solar hours (ESH) are the duration of exposure of a surface to solar radiation, particularly ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Since UV light causes degradation to optical properties of thermal control surfaces, the determination of ESH is important to calculate end of life (EOL) optical properties for spacecraft external surfaces. A higher ESH value generally correlates to greater UV degradation experienced by the surface, resulting in an increase in solar absorptivity. This paper details a novel approach for calculating ESH using Thermal Desktop. Since the ESH value is useful for thermal analysts, this technique is beneficial to quickly perform the analysis internally with tools readily available without relying on external support and funding. The example presented in this paper shows how this method was developed and used for NASA's lunar Gateway spacecraft. This method of analysis is used to calculate ESH for the transit, assembly in orbit, and operational phases for Gateway, utilizing each of the program’s planned configurations throughout its 15-year lifetime. ESH values were calculated using the Monte-Carlo ray tracing capability of Thermal Desktop using both direct solar heating and indirect solar heating due to reflections from other surfaces. The output of this analysis includes an ESH gradient map across the spacecraft. Post-processing of these results enabled identification of the average and maximum ESH on critical surfaces such as radiators. The final ESH values for each surface are then used for determination of EOL optical properties.

Thermal Control↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

International Space Station Imagery; A Critical Tool for Science, Technology Development, and Global Outreach

Since Expedition 1 began in 2001, imagery has played a prominent role on the International Space Station. Whether we’re testing new technologies on the orbiting platform, using images to verify science data, or documenting the daily activities for the historical record, imagery has always supported the mission. To date, ISS crew members have acquired over 6 million images from the space station. As new technologies enable more efficient imagery acquisition, downlink, processing, and distribution, we expect that number to continue to grow significantly during the Decade of Results.

Carlos Fontanot↗
DOE OSTI2024

tobac v1.5: introducing fast 3D tracking, splits and mergers, and other enhancements for identifying and analysing meteorological phenomena

There is a continuously increasing need for reliable feature detection and tracking tools based on objective analysis principles for use with meteorological data. Many tools have been developed over the previous 2 decades that attempt to address this need but most have limitations on the type of data they can be used with, feature computational and/or memory expenses that make them unwieldy with larger datasets, or require some form of data reduction prior to use that limits the tool's utility. The Tracking and Object-Based Analysis of Clouds (tobac) Python package is a modular, open-source tool that improves on the overall generality and utility of past tools. A number of scientific improvements (three spatial dimensions, splits and mergers of features, an internal spectral filtering tool) and procedural enhancements (increased computational efficiency, internal regridding of data, and treatments for periodic boundary conditions) have been included in tobac as a part of the tobac v1.5 update. These improvements have made tobac one of the most robust, powerful, and flexible identification and tracking tools in our field to date and expand its potential use in other fields. Future plans for tobac v2 are also discussed.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2010

Habitation Concepts and Tools for Asteroid Missions and Commercial Applications

In 2009 studies were initiated in response to the Augustine Commission s review of the Human Spaceflight Program to examine the feasibility of additional options for space exploration beyond the lunar missions planned in the Constellation Program. One approach called a Flexible Path option included possible human missions to near-Earth asteroids. This paper presents an overview of possible asteroid missions with emphasis on the habitation options and vehicle configurations conceived for the crew excursion vehicles. One launch vehicle concept investigated for the Flexible Path option was to use a dual launch architecture that could serve a wide variety of exploration goals. The dual launch concept used two medium sized heavy lift launch vehicles for lunar missions as opposed to the single Saturn V architecture used for the Apollo Program, or the one-and-a-half vehicle Ares I / Ares V architecture proposed for the Constellation Program. This dual launch approach was studied as a Flexible Path option for lunar missions and for possible excursions to other destinations like geosynchronous earth orbiting satellites, Lagrange points, and as presented in this paper, asteroid rendezvous. New habitation and exploration systems for the crew are presented that permit crew sizes from 2 to 4, and mission durations from 100 to 360 days. Vehicle configurations are presented that include habitation systems and tools derived from International Space Station (ISS) experience and new extra-vehicular activity tools for asteroid exploration, Figure 1. Findings from these studies and as presented in this paper indicate that missions to near-Earth asteroids appear feasible in the near future using the dual launch architecture, the technologies under development from the Constellation Program, and systems derived from the current ISS Program. In addition, the capabilities derived from this approach that are particularly beneficial to the commercial sector include human access to geosynchronous orbit and the Lagrange points with new tools for satellite servicing and in-space assembly.

Smitherman, David↗
NASA NTRS2016

Designing and Building a Crew-Centric Mobile Scheduling and Planning Tool for Exploring Crew Autonomy Concepts Onboard the International Space Station

During 2015, as part of our ongoing research on crew autonomy, our team adapted and extended the plan viewing tool, Playbook, into a mobile tool for exploring crew autonomy onboard the International Space Station (ISS). This work enables crewmembers to intuitively re-plan and schedule on their own with limited input from mission control. Designed for ease of use, re-planning is composed of simple drag and drop interactions and learning the tool requires little to no training. Playbook was successfully uplinked onto ISS as a technology demonstration and completed its onboard ground and crew checkouts in August and September 2015, respectively. We will discuss and describe how Playbook was able to integrate with actual ISS operational plans and operational procedures without disrupting real mission operations. This work will also outline the design and technical constraints required to build a collaborative tool that allows multiple users to simultaneously self-schedule and synchronize during communication dropouts in the restricted networking and computing environment onboard ISS. Finally, we will explore the aspects of crew autonomy that this technology enables as well as discuss our next steps and possible extensions.

ISS↗
NASA NTRS2000

Modeling a Wireless Network for International Space Station

This paper describes the application of wireless local area network (LAN) simulation modeling methods to the hybrid LAN architecture designed for supporting crew-computing tools aboard the International Space Station (ISS). These crew-computing tools, such as wearable computers and portable advisory systems, will provide crew members with real-time vehicle and payload status information and access to digital technical and scientific libraries, significantly enhancing human capabilities in space. A wireless network, therefore, will provide wearable computer and remote instruments with the high performance computational power needed by next-generation 'intelligent' software applications. Wireless network performance in such simulated environments is characterized by the sustainable throughput of data under different traffic conditions. This data will be used to help plan the addition of more access points supporting new modules and more nodes for increased network capacity as the ISS grows.

Alena, Richard↗
NASA NTRS2011

Modeling Electrostatic Fields Generated by Internal Charging of Materials in Space Radiation Environments

Internal charging is a risk to spacecraft in energetic electron environments. DICTAT, NU MIT computational codes are the most widely used engineering tools for evaluating internal charging of insulator materials exposed to these environments. Engineering tools are designed for rapid evaluation of ESD threats, but there is a need for more physics based models for investigating the science of materials interactions with energetic electron environments. Current tools are limited by the physics included in the models and ease of user implementation .... additional development work is needed to improve models.

Minow, Joseph I.↗
NASA NTRS2008

GIDEP Batching Tool

This software provides internal, automated search mechanics of GIDEP (Government- Industry Data Exchange Program) Alert data imported from the GIDEP government Web site. The batching tool allows the import of a single parts list in tab-delimited text format into the local JPL GIDEP database. Delimiters from every part number are removed. The original part numbers with delimiters are compared, as well as the newly generated list without the delimiters. The two lists run against the GIDEP imports, and output any matches. This feature only works with Netscape 2.0 or greater, or Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater. The user selects the browser button to choose a text file to import. When the submit button is pressed, this script will import alerts from the text file into the local JPL GIDEP database. This batch tool provides complete in-house control over exported material and data for automated batch match abilities. The batching tool has the ability to match capabilities of the parts list to tables, and yields results that aid further research and analysis. This provides more control over GIDEP information for metrics and reports information not provided by the government site. This software yields results quickly and gives more control over external data from the government site in order to generate other reports not available from the external source. There is enough space to store years of data. The program relates to risk identification and management with regard to projects and GIDEP alert information encompassing flight parts for space exploration.

Fong, Danny↗
NASA NTRS2000

Space Shuttle Software Development and Certification

Man-rated software, "software which is in control of systems and environments upon which human life is critically dependent," must be highly reliable. The Space Shuttle Primary Avionics Software System is an excellent example of such a software system. Lessons learn from more than 20 years of effort have identified basic elements that must be present to achieve this high degree of reliability. The elements include rigorous application of appropriate software development processes, use of trusted tools to support those processes, quantitative process management, and defect elimination and prevention. This presentation highlights methods used within the Space Shuttle project and raises questions that must be addressed to provide similar success in a cost effective manner on future long-term projects where key application development tools are COTS rather than internally developed custom application development tools

Orr, James K.↗
DOE OSTI2026

OpenStudio®-MCP [SWR-26-035]

OpenStudio®-MCP is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets AI assistants perform building energy modeling through natural language. Rather than requiring users to learn the OpenStudio® SDK, EnergyPlus® scripting, or Ruby/Python automation, the server translates conversational requests into sequences of tool calls that create models, design HVAC systems, run simulations, and extract results — all within a single chat session. The server's 124 tools are organized into a skills architecture where each skill encapsulates a domain of building energy modeling (envelope, HVAC, loads, weather, simulation, results) behind typed, LLM-friendly interfaces. High-leverage operations like applying ASHRAE 90.1 baseline systems or generating standards-compliant typical buildings are exposed as single tool calls that internally wire dozens of OpenStudio® objects. Bundled measures from ComStock™ and Openstudio® -common-measures-gem are wrapped with dedicated tools and typed arguments rather than exposed through a generic measure interface, so AI models get consistent, error-resistant recipes without needing to discover measure arguments at runtime. A key design decision is structured results extraction: six SQL-based tools return surgical ~300–1,000 token responses (end-use breakdowns, envelope summaries, HVAC sizing, timeseries data) instead of requiring the AI to parse ~100K-token raw HTML reports, making iterative design exploration practical within context window limits. The codebase is designed as a reference implementation — explicit, well-commented, and modular — so that other simulation engines (EnergyPlus® standalone, TRNSYS, DOE-2) can use it as a template for building their own MCP servers.

Ball, Brian [National Laboratory of the Rockies (N↗
DOE OSTI2025

Effect of toolpath in large-format additive manufacturing with bio-derived composites

There has been growing interest in integrating bio-derived composites into Large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) feedstocks to reduce the use of petroleum-derived materials and reduce the overall carbon footprint of LFAM. However, these materials present unique challenges during manufacturing due to their variability, which can lead to unintended deformations and failures attributable to suboptimal process conditions. While numerical modelling has been extensively employed to simulate numerous manufacturing processes, its application in LFAM with bio-derived composites remains limited. This study addresses this gap by systematically developing a numerical model to simulate the LFAM process using bio-based materials, specifically wood fiber-reinforced polylactic acid (PLA/WF). Experimental investigations were conducted to characterise the thermal and mechanical properties of additively manufactured PLA/WF specimens. Numerical simulations were performed to predict temperature profiles and deformations during LFAM. The effect of varying infill patterns, internal structures, and tool paths on the temperature distribution and deformation of printed parts was explored using the developed model. This article aims to advance the utilisation of bio-derived composites in LFAM systems and provide a comprehensive understanding of the LFAM process. The findings offer valuable insights for optimising process parameters and enhancing the performance of LFAM with bio-based composites.

Large-format additive manufacturing↗