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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2021

Ultra Long-Lived, Self-Surveying Autonomous Air Quality Sensing - Executive Summary

We set out to evolve ultra-low power air quality sensing technologies developed at JSC to add a highly accurate positioning sensor based on SBIR technology to give a self-surveying air quality monitoring platform with years-long lifetime on a small, disposable coin cell battery. Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for data transport, the system can take advantage of RFID-based inventory management systems in place on lunar exploration assets to provide this capability with extremely small SWAP impacts. Years-long operational lifetimes enable flexible, autonomous environmental monitoring during lengthy intervals between and unprecedented situational awareness during crewed missions. Software integration of the localization system into the JSC RFID sensing platform was advanced, but the COVID-19 pandemic complicated and slowed maturation of the localization system SBIR product, and center closure indefinitely deferred a final hardware integration and system demonstration. In the meantime, progress was made to mature the air-quality sensing platform for flight, including hardware, software, antenna, and mechanical improvements. The underlying RFID sensing capability was also adapted to a drawer motion sensing system, which is currently (FY21) being taken toward an ISS flight demonstration as part of the RFID Enhanced Autonomous Logistics Management (REALM)-3 experiment.

Raymond Summers Wagner↗
NASA NTRS2013

A Satellite Mortality Study to Support Space Systems Lifetime Prediction

Estimating the operational lifetime of satellites and spacecraft is a complex process. Operational lifetime can differ from mission design lifetime for a variety of reasons. Unexpected mortality can occur due to human errors in design and fabrication, to human errors in launch and operations, to random anomalies of hardware and software or even satellite function degradation or technology change, leading to unrealized economic or mission return. This study focuses on data collection of public information using, for the first time, a large, publically available dataset, and preliminary analysis of satellite lifetimes, both operational lifetime and design lifetime. The objective of this study is the illustration of the relationship of design life to actual lifetime for some representative classes of satellites and spacecraft. First, a Weibull and Exponential lifetime analysis comparison is performed on the ratio of mission operating lifetime to design life, accounting for terminated and ongoing missions. Next a Kaplan-Meier survivor function, standard practice for clinical trials analysis, is estimated from operating lifetime. Bootstrap resampling is used to provide uncertainty estimates of selected survival probabilities. This study highlights the need for more detailed databases and engineering reliability models of satellite lifetime that include satellite systems and subsystems, operations procedures and environmental characteristics to support the design of complex, multi-generation, long-lived space systems in Earth orbit.

Fox, George↗
NASA NTRS2013

NASA Tech Briefs, July 2013

Dielectrophoresis-Based Particle Sensor Using Nanoelectrode Arrays; Multi-Dimensional Damage Detection for Surfaces and Structures; ULTRA: Underwater Localization for Transit and Reconnaissance Autonomy; Autonomous Cryogenic Leak Detector for Improving Launch Site Operations; Submillimeter Planetary Atmospheric Chemistry Exploration Sounder; Method for Reduction of Silver Biocide Plating on Metal Surfaces; Silicon Micromachined Microlens Array for THz Antennas; Forward-Looking IED Detector Ground Penetrating Radar; Fully Printed, Flexible, Phased Array Antenna for Lunar Surface Communication, Battery Charge Equalizer with Transformer Array; An Efficient, Highly Flexible Multi-Channel Digital Downconverter Architecture; Dimmable Electronic Ballast for a Gas Discharge Lamp; Conductive Carbon Nanotube Inks for Use with Desktop Inkjet Printing Technology; Enhanced Schapery Theory Software Development for Modeling Failure of Fiber-Reinforced Laminates; High-Performance, Low-Temperature-Operating, Long-Lifetime Aerospace Lubricants; Carbon Nanotube Microarrays Grown on Nanoflake Substrates; Differential Muon Tomography to Continuously Monitor Changes in the Composition of Subsurface Fluids; Microgravity Drill and Anchor System; 20 Granular Media-Based Tunable Passive Vibration Suppressor; 21 Miga Aero Actuator and 2D Machined Mechanical Binary Latch; Micro-XRF for In Situ Geological Exploration of Other Planets; Hydrogen-Enhanced Lunar Oxygen Extraction and Storage Using Only Solar Power; Uplift of Ionospheric Oxygen Ions During Extreme Magnetic Storms; Miniaturized, High-Speed, Modulated X-Ray Source; Hollow-Fiber Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator 25 High-Power Single-Mode 2.65-micrometers InGaAsSb/AlInGaAsSb Diode Lasers; Optical Device for Converting a Laser Beam Into Two Co-aligned but Oppositely Directed Beams; A Hybrid Fiber/Solid-State Regenerative Amplifier with Tunable Pulse Widths for Satellite Laser Ranging; X-Ray Diffractive Optics; SynGenics Optimization System (SynOptSys); 29 CFD Script for Rapid TPS Damage Assessment; radEq Add-On Module for CFD Solver Loci-CHEM; Science Opportunity Analyzer (SOA) Version 8; 30 Autonomous Byte Stream Randomizer; Distributed Engine Control Empirical/Analytical Verification Tools; Dynamic Server-Based KML Code Generator Method for Level-of-Detail Traversal of Geospatial Data; Automated Planning of Science Products Based on Nadir Overflights and Alerts for Onboard and Ground Processing; Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit Navigation; Risk-Constrained Dynamic Programming for Optimal Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing; Scheduling Operations for Massive Heterogeneous Clusters; Deepak Condenser Model (DeCoM); Flight Software Math Library; Recirculating 1-K-Pot for Pulse-Tube Cryostats; 35 Method for Processing Lunar Regolith Using Microwaves; Wells for In Situ Extraction of Volatiles from Regolith (WIEVR); and Estimating the Backup Reaction Wheel Orientation Using Reaction Wheel Spin Rates Flight Telemetry from a Spacecraft.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1981

The Voyager spacecraft system design

The Voyager spacecraft represents the state-of-the-art in proven long-life planetary spacecraft. Like its predecessors, the Voyager system design reflects the influence of mission and science requirements, lifetime considerations, environmental factors, technology readiness, hardware availability, and hardware cost. This paper presents the Voyager hardware and software system designs within the context of these design drivers. Major departures from the 'baseline design' are discussed revealing the underlying factors that shaped the final design. Finally, with the benefit of 5 years of test and inflight operational experience, a critical assessment of the design and design methods is made and suggestions are offered to improve similar future efforts.

Jones, C. P.↗
NASA NTRS1983

A general computer model for predicting the performance of gas sorption refrigerators

Projected performance requirements for cryogenic spacecraft sensor cooling systems which demand higher reliability and longer lifetimes are outlined. The gas/solid sorption refrigerator is viewed as a potential solution to cryogenic cooling needs. A software model of an entire gas sorption refrigerator system was developed. The numerical model, evaluates almost any combination and order of refrigerator components and any sorbent-sorbate pair or which the sorption isotherm data are available. Parametric curves for predicting system performance were generated for two types of refrigerators, a LaNi5-H2 absorption cooler and a Charcoal-N2 adsorption cooler. It is found that precooling temperature and heat exchanger effectiveness affect the refrigerator performance. It is indicated that gas sorption refrigerators are feasible for a number of space applications.

Sigurdson, K. B.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A modeling analysis program for the JPL Table Mountain Io sodium cloud data

Progress and achievements in the second year are discussed in three main areas: (1) data quality review of the 1981 Region B/C images; (2) data processing activities; and (3) modeling activities. The data quality review revealed that almost all 1981 Region B/C images are of sufficient quality to be valuable in the analyses of the JPL data set. In the second area, the major milestone reached was the successful development and application of complex image-processing software required to render the original image data suitable for modeling analysis studies. In the third area, the lifetime description of sodium atoms in the planet magnetosphere was improved in the model to include the offset dipole nature of the magnetic field as well as an east-west electric field. These improvements are important in properly representing the basic morphology as well as the east-west asymmetries of the sodium cloud.

Smyth, W. H.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The NBS data management technology program

The National Bureau of Standards (NBS) Data Management Technology Program is discussed. The NBS Data Management Technology Program addresses major problems encountered during the following stages of an application's lifetime: requirements analysis and data base design, system selection and implementation, operations management and conversion. Products developed include standard software specifications, guides to best practice, standard data elements and representations, and reports documenting the experiences of other organizations as they attempt to improve the management of their computing resources. Data base Laboratory facilities are maintained for the investigation and analysis of state of the art data base technology. These facilities support collaborative testing with researchers, vendors, users, and standards developers.

Wood, H. M.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Cassini Attitude Control Operations Flight Rules and How They are Enforced

The Cassini spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997 and arrived at Saturn on June 30, 2004. It has performed detailed observations and remote sensing of Saturn, its rings, and its satellites since that time. Cassini deployed the European-built Huygens probe which descended through the Titan atmosphere and landed on its surface on January 14, 2005. Operating the Cassini spacecraft is a complex scientific, engineering, and management job. In order to safely operate the spacecraft, a large number of flight rules were developed. These flight rules must be enforced throughout the lifetime of the Cassini spacecraft. Flight rules are defined as any operational limitation imposed by the spacecraft system design, hardware, and software, violation of which would result in spacecraft damage, loss of consumables, loss of mission objectives, loss and/or degradation of science, and less than optimal performance. Flight rules require clear description and rationale. Detailed automated methods have been developed to insure the spacecraft is continuously operated within these flight rules. An overview of all the flight rules allocated to the Cassini Attitude Control and Articulation Subsystem and how they are enforced is presented in this paper.

Burk, Thomas↗
NASA NTRS2009

Spaceflight Systems Training: A Comparison and Contrasting of Techniques for Training Ground Operators and Onboard Crewmembers

When developing techniques and products for instruction on manned spaceflight systems, training organizations are often faced with two very different customers: ground operators and onboard crewmembers. Frequently, instructional development focuses on one of these customers with the assumption that the other s needs will be met by default. Experience teaches us that differing approaches are required when developing training tailored to the specific needs of each customer. As a rule, ground operators require focused instruction on specific areas of expertise. Their knowledge should be of the details of the hardware, software, and operational techniques associated with that system. They often benefit from historical knowledge of how their system has operated over its lifetime. Since several different ground operators may be interfacing with the same system, each individual operator must understand the agreed-to principles by which that system will be run. In contrast, onboard crewmembers require a more broad, hands-on awareness of their operational environment. Their training should be developed with an understanding of the physical environment in which they live and work and the day-to-day tasks they are most likely to perform. Rarely do they require a deep understanding of the details of a system; it is often sufficient to teach them just enough to maintain situational awareness and perform basic tasks associated with maintenance and operation of onboard systems. Crewmembers may also develop unique onboard operational techniques that differ from preceding crews. They should be taught what flexibility they have in systems operations and how their specific habits can be communicated to ground support personnel. This paper will explore the techniques that can be employed when developing training for these unique customers. We will explore the history of International Space Station training development and how past efforts can guide us in creating training for users of future manned spaceflight efforts.

Balmain, Clinton↗
NASA NTRS2011

Optimized Biasing of Pump Laser Diodes in a Highly Reliable Metrology Source for Long-Duration Space Missions

Non Planar Ring Oscillator (NPRO) lasers are highly attractive for metrology applications. NPRO reliability for prolonged space missions is limited by reliability of 808 nm pump diodes. Combined laser farm aging parameter allows comparing different bias approaches. Monte-Carlo software developed to calculate the reliability of laser pump architecture, perform parameter sensitivity studies To meet stringent Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) Lite lifetime reliability / output power requirements, we developed a single-mode Laser Pump Module architecture that: (1) provides 2 W of power at 808 nm with >99.7% reliability for 5.5 years (2) consists of 37 de-rated diode lasers operating at -5C, with outputs combined in a very low loss 37x1 all-fiber coupler

laser communications↗
NASA NTRS1983

Power subsystem automation study

Generic power-system elements and their potential faults are identified. Automation functions and their resulting benefits are defined and automation functions between power subsystem, central spacecraft computer, and ground flight-support personnel are partitioned. All automation activities were categorized as data handling, monitoring, routine control, fault handling, planning and operations, or anomaly handling. Incorporation of all these classes of tasks, except for anomaly handling, in power subsystem hardware and software was concluded to be mandatory to meet the design and operational requirements of the space station. The key drivers are long mission lifetime, modular growth, high-performance flexibility, a need to accommodate different electrical user-load equipment, onorbit assembly/maintenance/servicing, and potentially large number of power subsystem components. A significant effort in algorithm development and validation is essential in meeting the 1987 technology readiness date for the space station.

Imamura, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Spinoff 2005

Topics covered include: Lighting the Way for Quicker, Safer Healing; Discovering New Drugs on the Cellular Level; Hydrogen Sensors Boost Hybrids; Today s Models Losing Gas?; 3-D Highway in the Sky; Popping a Hole in High-Speed Pursuits; Monitoring Wake Vortices for More Efficient Airports; From Rockets to Racecars; All-Terrain Intelligent Robot Braves Battlefront to Save Lives; Keeping the Air Clean and Safe--An Anthrax Smoke Detector; Lightning Often Strikes Twice; Technology That's Ready and Able to Inspect Those Cables; Secure Networks for First Responders and Special Forces; Space Suit Spins; Cooking Dinner at Home--From the Office; Nanoscale Materials Make for Large-Scale Applications; NASA s Growing Commitment: The Space Garden; Bringing Thunder and Lightning Indoors; Forty-Year-Old Foam Springs Back With New Benefits; Experiments With Small Animals Rarely Go This Well; NASA, the Fisherman's Friend; Crystal-Clear Communication a Sweet-Sounding Success; Inertial Motion-Tracking Technology for Virtual 3-D; Then Why Do They Call Earth the Blue Planet?; Valiant 'Zero-Valent' Effort Restores Contaminated Grounds; Harnessing the Power of the Sun; Water and Air Measures That Make 'PureSense'; Remote Sensing for Farmers and Flood Watching; Pesticide-Free Device a Fatal Attraction for Mosquitoes Making the Most of Waste Energy Washing Away the Worries About Germs Celestial Software Scratches More Than the Surface A Search Engine That's Aware of Your Needs Fault-Detection Tool Has Companies 'Mining' Own Business; Software to Manage the Unmanageable; Tracking Electromagnetic Energy With SQUIDs; Taking the Risk Out of Risk Assessment; Satellite and Ground System Solutions at Your Fingertips; Structural Analysis Made 'NESSUSary'; Software of Seismic Proportions Promotes Enjoyable Learning; Making a Reliable Actuator Faster and More Affordable; Cost-Cutting Powdered Lubricant NASA s Radio Frequency Bolt Monitor: A Lifetime of Spinoffs Going End to End to Deliver High-Speed Data; Advanced Joining Technology: Simple, Strong, and Secure; Big Results From a Smaller Gearbox; Low-Pressure Generator Makes Cleanrooms Cleaner; and The Space Laser Business Model.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1999

Acceptance Testing of a Satellite SCADA Photovoltaic-Diesel Hybrid System

Savannah State University (SSU) and the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) have been participating in the NASA Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) program for the last five years. This program was designed by NASA to help maintain U.S. leadership in commercial space communications by funding high-risk research, and to flight-test next-generation digital satellite components. Launched in 1993, ACTS is an U.S. government funded technology test-bed that incorporates high power Ka-band transponders, small spot beams, and on-board digital storage and switching technology. Associated with the spacecraft, is a prototype satellite control center that supports various application experiments. The SSU/FSEC application experiment is to developing a Photovoltaic-Diesel Hybrid Power system complete with satellite Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA). The hybrid system was design to demonstrate the feasibility of using SCADA to maintain and operate remote village power systems. This configuration would enable experts at a central location to provide technical assistance to local technicians while they acquire a measure of proficiency with the hybrid system operation and maintenance. Upon full mastery of the technology, similar SCADA arrangement are planned to remotely monitor and control constellation of hybrid systems scattered overlarge rural areas. Two Orion Energy APEX-1000 hybrid systems were delivered in 1998, one was installed at SSU in eastern Georgia and the other was installed at FSEC in Central Florida. The project was designed to: (1) evaluate the performance of ACTS in a SCADA arrangement, (2) monitor the health and performance of all major hybrid subsystems, (3) investigate load control and battery charging strategies to maximize battery capacity and lifetime, and (4) develop satellite communication protocol. Preliminary results indicate that the hybrid design is suitable for satellite Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. A modification to the controller software has produced a robust communication link capable of real time control and long term data collection.

Kalu, Alex↗
NASA NTRS1987

Expert system verification concerns in an operations environment

The Space Shuttle community is currently developing a number of knowledge-based tools, primarily expert systems, to support Space Shuttle operations. It is proposed that anticipating and responding to the requirements of the operations environment will contribute to a rapid and smooth transition of expert systems from development to operations, and that the requirements for verification are critical to this transition. The paper identifies the requirements of expert systems to be used for flight planning and support and compares them to those of existing procedural software used for flight planning and support. It then explores software engineering concepts and methodology that can be used to satisfy these requirements, to aid the transition from development to operations and to support the operations environment during the lifetime of expert systems. Many of these are similar to those used for procedural hardware.

Goodwin, Mary Ann↗
NASA NTRS2000

GRACE Mission Design: Impact of Uncertainties in Disturbance Environment and Satellite Force Models

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) primary mission will be performed by making measurements of the inter-satellite range change between two co-planar, low altitude, near-polar orbiting satellites. Understanding the uncertainties in the disturbance environment, particularly the aerodynamic drag and torques, is critical in several mission areas. These include an accurate estimate of the spacecraft orbital lifetime, evaluation of spacecraft attitude control requirements, and estimation of the orbital maintenance maneuver frequency necessitated by differences in the drag forces acting on both satellites. The FREEMOL simulation software has been developed and utilized to analyze and suggest design modifications to the GRACE spacecraft. Aerodynamic accommodation bounding analyses were performed and worst-case envelopes were obtained for the aerodynamic torques and the differential ballistic coefficients between the leading and trailing GRACE spacecraft. These analyses demonstrate how spacecraft aerodynamic design and analysis can benefit from a better understanding of spacecraft surface accommodation properties, and the implications for mission design constraints such as formation spacing control.

Mazanek, Daniel D.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Aerothermal Analysis and Design of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Spacecraft

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) primary mission will be performed by making measurements of the inter-satellite range change between two co-planar, low altitude near-polar orbiting satellites. Understanding the uncertainties in the disturbance environment, particularly the aerodynamic drag and torques, is critical in several mission areas. These include an accurate estimate of the spacecraft orbital lifetime, evaluation of spacecraft attitude control requirements, and estimation of the orbital maintenance maneuver frequency necessitated by differences in the drag forces acting on both satellites. The FREEMOL simulation software has been developed and utilized to analyze and suggest design modifications to the GRACE spacecraft. Aerodynamic accommodation bounding analyses were performed and worst-case envelopes were obtained for the aerodynamic torques and the differential ballistic coefficients between the leading and trailing GRACE spacecraft. These analyses demonstrate how spacecraft aerodynamic design and analysis can benefit from a better understanding of spacecraft surface accommodation properties, and the implications for mission design constraints such as formation spacing control.

Mazanek, Daniel D.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Optimal Propellant Maneuver Flight Demonstrations on ISS

In this paper, first ever flight demonstrations of Optimal Propellant Maneuver (OPM), a method of propulsive rotational state transition for spacecraft controlled using thrusters, is presented for the International Space Station (ISS). On August 1, 2012, two ISS reorientations of about 180deg each were performed using OPMs. These maneuvers were in preparation for the same-day launch and rendezvous of a Progress vehicle, also a first for ISS visiting vehicles. The first maneuver used 9.7 kg of propellant, whereas the second used 10.2 kg. Identical maneuvers performed without using OPMs would have used approximately 151.1kg and 150.9kg respectively. The OPM method is to use a pre-planned attitude command trajectory to accomplish a rotational state transition. The trajectory is designed to take advantage of the complete nonlinear system dynamics. The trajectory choice directly influences the cost of the maneuver, in this case, propellant. For example, while an eigenaxis maneuver is kinematically the shortest path between two orientations, following that path requires overcoming the nonlinear system dynamics, thereby increasing the cost of the maneuver. The eigenaxis path is used for ISS maneuvers using thrusters. By considering a longer angular path, the path dependence of the system dynamics can be exploited to reduce the cost. The benefits of OPM for the ISS include not only reduced lifetime propellant use, but also reduced loads, erosion, and contamination from thrusters due to fewer firings. Another advantage of the OPM is that it does not require ISS flight software modifications since it is a set of commands tailored to the specific attitude control architecture. The OPM takes advantage of the existing ISS control system architecture for propulsive rotation called USTO control mode1. USTO was originally developed to provide ISS Orbiter stack attitude control capability for a contingency tile-repair scenario, where the Orbiter is maneuvered using its robotic manipulator relative to the ISS. Since 2005 USTO has been used for nominal ISS operations.

Bhatt, Sagar↗
NASA NTRS2006

Spitzer Space Telescope Sequencing Operations Software, Strategies, and Lessons Learned

The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) was launched in August, 2003, and renamed to the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2004. Two years of observing the universe in the wavelength range from 3 to 180 microns has yielded enormous scientific discoveries. Since this magnificent observatory has a limited lifetime, maximizing science viewing efficiency (ie, maximizing time spent executing activities directly related to science observations) was the key operational objective. The strategy employed for maximizing science viewing efficiency was to optimize spacecraft flexibility, adaptability, and use of observation time. The selected approach involved implementation of a multi-engine sequencing architecture coupled with nondeterministic spacecraft and science execution times. This approach, though effective, added much complexity to uplink operations and sequence development. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages Spitzer s operations. As part of the uplink process, Spitzer s Mission Sequence Team (MST) was tasked with processing observatory inputs from the Spitzer Science Center (SSC) into efficiently integrated, constraint-checked, and modeled review and command products which accommodated the complexity of non-deterministic spacecraft and science event executions without increasing operations costs. The MST developed processes, scripts, and participated in the adaptation of multi-mission core software to enable rapid processing of complex sequences. The MST was also tasked with developing a Downlink Keyword File (DKF) which could instruct Deep Space Network (DSN) stations on how and when to configure themselves to receive Spitzer science data. As MST and uplink operations developed, important lessons were learned that should be applied to future missions, especially those missions which employ command-intensive operations via a multi-engine sequence architecture.

missions operations↗