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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 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology Development for Real-Time 2D and 3D Fusion Plasma Diagnostics

Including a one year No-Cost Extension, The University of California, Davis has been funded since 2020 to advance innovative millimeter-wave diagnostics for fusion plasma research. This work includes: (1) Developing and applying cutting-edge System-on-Chip millimeter wave Integrated Circuit (IC) technology for Electron Cyclotron Emission Imaging (ECEI) and Microwave Imaging Reflectometry (MIR) on the DIII-D tokamak and the NSTX-U spherical tokamak. (2) Development of radiation-hardened millimeter-wave chip for diagnostics in harsh environments, utilizing wide bandgap Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductors. (3) Integrating forward-modeling synthetic diagnostics to enable advanced, real-time plasma prediction and feedback control. Originally planned as a three-year program (2020–2023), the project was granted a one-year no-cost extension, extending its duration through the end of 2024.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2013

Project Morpheus: Lessons Learned in Lander Technology Development

NASA's Morpheus Project has developed and tested a prototype planetary lander capable of vertical takeoff and landing, that is designed to serve as a testbed for advanced spacecraft technologies. The lander vehicle, propelled by a LOX/Methane engine and sized to carry a 500kg payload to the lunar surface, provides a platform for bringing technologies from the laboratory into an integrated flight system at relatively low cost. Designed, developed, manufactured and operated in-house by engineers at Johnson Space Center, the initial flight test campaign began on-site at JSC less than one year after project start. After two years of testing, including two major upgrade periods, and recovery from a test crash that caused the loss of a vehicle, flight testing will evolve to executing autonomous flights simulating a 500m lunar approach trajectory, hazard avoidance maneuvers, and precision landing, incorporating the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance (ALHAT) sensor suite. These free-flights are conducted at a simulated planetary landscape built at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. The Morpheus Project represents a departure from recent NASA programs and projects that traditionally require longer development lifecycles and testing at remote, dedicated testing facilities. This paper expands on the project perspective that technologies offer promise, but capabilities offer solutions. It documents the integrated testing campaign, the infrastructure and testing facilities, and the technologies being evaluated in this testbed. The paper also describes the fast pace of the project, rapid prototyping, frequent testing, and lessons learned during this departure from the traditional engineering development process at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Olansen, Jon B.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Inflatable Habitats Technology Development

For many years inflatable structures have been theorized for use as satellite dishes, deployable arrays and human habitats. They fall into human-rated and non-human rated structures. As such the structural design requirements and safety redundancy are much different. This paper will discuss the Habitat and Surface Construction Technology that would support the development of Mars greenhouses as well as habitats. This paper will briefly describe the ISS TransHab architectural design and structural testing for the proposed as a habitation module for the International Space Station. It will also discuss inflatable greenhouse design considerations and examples.

Kennedy, Kriss J.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Technology Developments in Radiation-Hardened Electronics for Space Environments

The Radiation Hardened Electronics for Space Environments (RHESE) project consists of a series of tasks designed to develop and mature a broad spectrum of radiation hardened and low temperature electronics technologies. Three approaches are being taken to address radiation hardening: improved material hardness, design techniques to improve radiation tolerance, and software methods to improve radiation tolerance. Within these approaches various technology products are being addressed including Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), Field Programmable Analog Arrays (FPAA), MEMS, Serial Processors, Reconfigurable Processors, and Parallel Processors. In addition to radiation hardening, low temperature extremes are addressed with a focus on material and design approaches. System level applications for the RHESE technology products are discussed.

Keys, Andrew S.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Space Station Engineering and Technology Development

The evolving space station program will be examined through a series of more specific studies: maintainability; research and technology in space; solar thermodynamics research and technology; program performance; onboard command and control; and research and technology road maps. The purpose is to provide comments on approaches to long-term, reliable operation at low cost in terms of funds and crew time.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1999

Combustion Device Technology Development at Marshall Space Center

NASA's plan for the next generation of launch vehicles requires enabling combustion devices technology Technology funding in recent years has been weak and scattered Strong complementary capability exists in other organizations. examples include: AFRL, GRC, academia, rocketdyne, and aerojet. MSFC would like to serve a key role in coordinating and industry wide plan MSFC in-house efforts will focus on "filling holes" that are appropriate for our capabilities and charter.

Hutt, John J.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Technology Development and Field Monitoring in nZEB - US Country report IEA HPT Annex 49 Task 3

The International Energy Agency (IEA) Heat Pumping Technologies (HPT) Annex 49, “Design and Integration of Heat Pumps for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings,” deals with the application of heat pumps (HPs) as a core component of the HVAC system for nearly or net-zero energy buildings. This report covers the Task 3 activities of the US team. Three institutions are involved on the US team and have worked on the following projects. 1) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) summarized development activities since the conclusion of IEA HPT Annex 40 for several integrated HP (IHP) systems - electric ground-source IHP and air-source IHP versions and engine-driven AS-IHP version. 2) The University of Maryland partnered with ORNL and Blue Bear Management to develop a personal cooling device called RoCo that can provide personalized conditioned air to occupants in inadequately or unconditioned environments. With RoCo, building facility management can elevate the HVAC thermostat settings without compromising occupants’ thermal comfort. Researchers have found that a 4°F increase in thermostat settings can save 12–30% energy savings. Therefore, RoCo is a promising technology that can help reduce building energy consumption and facilitate achievement of net-zero energy building performance. 3) The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is working on a field study effort on the NIST Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility. Two air-source split-system HPs were installed in a residential, net-zero energy home that was constructed as a laboratory on the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The first HP was a two-stage, 7 kW (2 ton), 15.8 seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER), 9.05 heating seasonal performance factor (HSPF) conventionally ducted system; the second HP was a variable-speed, 10.6 kW (3 ton), 14 SEER, 8.35 HSPF, high-velocity ducted system. These two systems operated side by side, using separate supply ducts and a common return duct, on a weekly alternating schedule to condition the home that was operated with very consistent simulated thermal loads. The team wanted to determine whether the high-velocity system could provide comparable energy-use efficiency to the conventional system. The results of this study showed that it did meet the required loads and had slightly greater efficiency; the average cooling coefficient of performance (COP) was (0.40 ± 0.11) higher, and the average heating COP was statistically equal. A new firmware was provided at the end of the heating season that greatly improved the performance of the high-velocity system; its average heating COP went from (1.8 ± 0.9) to (2.5 ± 1.1) at a 95% confidence level. The new firmware heating COP averaged (1.05 ± 0.23) higher than the old firmware over the same outdoor temperatures. The defrost performance is very different for these two systems, yet they consumed equivalent energy per HDD. The conventional system uses a timed-initiate, temperature-terminate algorithm with auxiliary electric resistive heating, whereas the high-velocity system uses calculated evaporator parameters with a hot-gas bypass before a full reverse-cycle defrost with no supplementary resistive heat.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1972

Technology development and demonstration of a low thrust resistojet thruster

Three thrusters were fabricated to definitized thruster drawings using new rhenium vapor deposition technology. Two of the thrusters were operated using ammonia as propellant and one was operated using hydrogen propellant for performance determination. All demonstrated consistent operational specific impulse performance while demonstrating thermal performance better than the development units from which they evolved. Two of the thrusters were subjected to environmental structural testing including vibration, acceleration and shock loading to specifications. Both of the thrusters subjected to the environmental tests passed all required tests. The third, spare, thruster was introduced into the life test portion of the program. Two thrusters were then subjected to a life cycling test program under typical spacecraft operating power levels. During the life test sequence, the hydrogen thruster accrued 720 operating life test cycles, more than 370 on-off cycles and 365 hours of powered up time. The ammonia accrued approximately 380 on-off cycles and 392.2 on time hours of operation during the 720 cycling hour test. Both thrusters completed the scheduled operational life test in reasonably good condition, structurally integral and capable of indefinite further operation.

Pfeifer, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Technology development on evolutionary space station

The topics covered are presented in view graph form and include a space research and technology (R&T) mission statement and a NASA action plan. With respect to an integrated technology plan for the civil space program, the following topics are also covered: (1) an R&T strategy; (2) a NASA technology maturation strategy; (3) an Office of Space Flight (OSF) technology requirements evaluation; (4) an external technology perspectives summary; (5) a work breakdown structure; (6) critical user requirements/ strategic plan element categorization; (7) technology flight experiments; (8) proposed station paylods by thrust; and (9) an integrated traffic model

Ambrus, Judith H.↗
NASA NTRS1976

NASA's present and future sensor technology developments

NASA's overall sensing, data acquisition, and instrumentation programs are reviewed. The review shows that the trends in advanced sensor technology involve increased use of solid-state sensors, multiapplication sensors, standardized instrumentation, and miniaturized detectors. Examples are given of several new technologies, showing how improvements in sensor operational capability (such as enhanced sensitivity and spectral range) derived from these advances have resulted in relaxed spacecraft stability requirements, mission time savings, and savings in weight, size, and power. The introduction of multiapplication sensors and standardized instrumentation will result in measurement cost reduction and improved compatibility with standardized spacecraft.

Rubin, B.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Prepreg and Melt Infiltration Technology Developed for Affordable, Robust Manufacturing of Ceramic Matrix Composites

Affordable fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites with multifunctional properties are critically needed for high-temperature aerospace and space transportation applications. These materials have various applications in advanced high-efficiency and high-performance engines, airframe and propulsion components for next-generation launch vehicles, and components for land-based systems. A number of these applications require materials with specific functional characteristics: for example, thick component, hybrid layups for environmental durability and stress management, and self-healing and smart composite matrices. At present, with limited success and very high cost, traditional composite fabrication technologies have been utilized to manufacture some large, complex-shape components of these materials. However, many challenges still remain in developing affordable, robust, and flexible manufacturing technologies for large, complex-shape components with multifunctional properties. The prepreg and melt infiltration (PREMI) technology provides an affordable and robust manufacturing route for low-cost, large-scale production of multifunctional ceramic composite components.

Singh, Mrityunjay↗
NASA NTRS2008

Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Methane Ascent Main Engine Technology Development

The National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) has identified Liquid Oxygen (LO2)/Liquid Methane (LCH4) as a potential propellant combination for future space vehicles based upon the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS). The technology is estimated to have higher performance and lower overall systems mass compared to existing hypergolic propulsion systems. The current application considering this technology is the lunar ascent main engine (AME). AME is anticipated to be an expendable, pressure-fed engine to provide ascent from the moon at the completion of a 210 day lunar stay. The engine is expected to produce 5,500 lbf (24,465 N) thrust with variable inlet temperatures due to the cryogenic nature of the fuel and oxidizer. The primary technology risks include establishing reliable and robust ignition in vacuum conditions, maximizing specific impulse, developing rapid start capability for the descent abort, providing the capability for two starts and producing a total engine bum time over 500 seconds. This paper will highlight the efforts of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in addressing risk reduction activities for this technology.

Robinson, Joel W.↗