Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “technology plan”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1998

Under Attack

Diversified High Technologies, Inc. (DHT) has supported the Avionics Software Development Environment Pathfinder (ASDEP) program throughout its phases. For the first two years, DHT operated as the technology facilitator providing technical coordination between vendors, contractors, and NASA. This evolved to hands-on technical support such as systems installation, upgrades, and integration. DHT has recently been providing support in secure technology migration path planning and the incorporation of new security technologies in response to evolving program requirements.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2003

2002 Computing and Interdisciplinary Systems Office Review and Planning Meeting

The technologies necessary to enable detailed numerical simulations of complete propulsion systems are being developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center in cooperation with NASA Glenn s Propulsion program, NASA Ames, industry, academia and other government agencies. Large scale, detailed simulations will be of great value to the nation because they eliminate some of the costly testing required to develop and certify advanced propulsion systems. In addition, time and cost savings will be achieved by enabling design details to be evaluated early in the development process before a commitment is made to a specific design. This year s review meeting describes the current status of the NPSS and the Object Oriented Development Kit with specific emphasis on the progress made over the past year on air breathing propulsion applications for aeronautics and space transportation applications. Major accomplishments include the first 3-D simulation of the primary flow path of a large turbofan engine in less than 15 hours, and the formal release of the NPSS Version 1.5 that includes elements of rocket engine systems and a visual based syntax layer. NPSS and the Development Kit are managed by the Computing and Interdisciplinary Systems Office (CISO) at the NASA Glenn Research Center and financially supported in fiscal year 2002 by the Computing, Networking and Information Systems (CNIS) project managed at NASA Ames, the Glenn Aerospace Propulsion and Power Program and the Advanced Space Transportation Program.

Lytle, John↗
NASA NTRS2010

Walking the Walk/Talking the Talk: Mission Planning with Speech-Interactive Agents

The application of simulation technology to mission planning and rehearsal has enabled realistic overhead 2-D and immersive 3-D "fly-through" capabilities that can help better prepare tactical teams for conducting missions in unfamiliar locales. For aircrews, detailed terrain data can offer a preview of the relevant landmarks and hazards, and threat models can provide a comprehensive glimpse of potential hot zones and safety corridors. A further extension of the utility of such planning and rehearsal techniques would allow users to perform the radio communications planned for a mission; that is, the air-ground coordination that is critical to the success of missions such as close air support (CAS). Such practice opportunities, while valuable, are limited by the inescapable scarcity of complete mission teams to gather in space and time during planning and rehearsal cycles. Moreoever, using simulated comms with synthetic entities, despite the substantial training and cost benefits, remains an elusive objective. In this paper we report on a solution to this gap that incorporates "synthetic teammates" - intelligent software agents that can role-play entities in a mission scenario and that can communicate in spoken language with users. We employ a fielded mission planning and rehearsal tool so that our focus remains on the experimental objectives of the research rather than on developing a testbed from scratch. Use of this planning tool also helps to validate the approach in an operational system. The result is a demonstration of a mission rehearsal tool that allows aircrew users to not only fly the mission but also practice the verbal communications with air control agencies and tactical controllers on the ground. This work will be presented in a CAS mission planning example but has broad applicability across weapons systems, missions and tactical force compositions.

Bell, Benjamin↗
NASA NTRS2013

Radiation Exposure Analyses Supporting the Development of Solar Particle Event Shielding Technologies

NASA has plans for long duration missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). Outside of LEO, large solar particle events (SPEs), which occur sporadically, can deliver a very large dose in a short amount of time. The relatively low proton energies make SPE shielding practical, and the possibility of the occurrence of a large event drives the need for SPE shielding for all deep space missions. The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) RadWorks Storm Shelter Team was charged with developing minimal mass SPE storm shelter concepts for missions beyond LEO. The concepts developed included "wearable" shields, shelters that could be deployed at the onset of an event, and augmentations to the crew quarters. The radiation transport codes, human body models, and vehicle geometry tools contained in the On-Line Tool for the Assessment of Radiation In Space (OLTARIS) were used to evaluate the protection provided by each concept within a realistic space habitat and provide the concept designers with shield thickness requirements. Several different SPE models were utilized to examine the dependence of the shield requirements on the event spectrum. This paper describes the radiation analysis methods and the results of these analyses for several of the shielding concepts.

Walker, Steven A.↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Ion Propulsion System for the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission

The Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission is a Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Demonstration Mission (ARRM) whose main objectives are to develop and demonstrate a high-power solar electric propulsion capability for the Agency and return an asteroidal mass for rendezvous and characterization in a companion human-crewed mission. This high-power solar electric propulsion capability, or an extensible derivative of it, has been identified as a critical part of NASA'a future beyond-low-Earth-orbit, human-crewed exploration plans. Under the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate the critical electric propulsion and solar array technologies are being developed. This paper presents the conceptual design of the ARRM ion propulsion system, the status of the NASA in-house thruster and power processing development activities, the status of the planned technology maturation for the mission through flight hardware delivery, and the status of the mission formulation and spacecraft acquisition.

Electric Propulsion↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Standards Roadmapping for Mission Assurance in Commercial Spaceflight

This paper explores the application of established roadmapping approaches in standards planning and roadmap development to support mission assurance objectives. Mission assurance requires proactive planning across multiple domains including technical, schedule, cost, organizational, and policy. The intersection of these domains happens at the enterprise level, and enterprise systems engineering processes can systematically guide mission assurance activities, including development of standards roadmaps. Standards planning and development is a critical contributor to an effective mission assurance strategy, although standards are often developed and adopted reactively. Technology and standards planning is a key Enterprise Process Management activity, as identified by the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge, and technology and standards roadmaps are strategic tools used to enable that process. Technology roadmapping has proven effective in guiding enterprise architecture and concept design, and standards planning supports enterprise requirements definition and management. However, there are limited methodologies to guide such standards planning activities. The application of technology roadmapping principles to standards planning formalizes the process and establishes a repeatable framework for standards development and integration. The framework development described in this paper fills a methodological gap by adapting proven roadmapping techniques to standards planning. Through a comparison of roadmapping methodologies and a case study analysis, this approach outlines a systematic process for anticipating and planning standards needs. In the case of developing a standards integration roadmap for NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA), technology roadmapping principles were adapted to develop a roadmap framework to allow NASA and OSMA to define an agency-wide standards integration plan for commercial and industry safety and mission assurance standards. The outcome highlights key adaptations required for roadmapping in a standards context and describes the process steps to formalize a standards planning activity. The roadmapping framework adapted for standards development and integration enables more strategic, forward-looking standards planning and allows for better alignment between evolving capabilities and mission assurance requirements. Beyond its application to mission assurance, this methodology can be transferred to other domains requiring standards development, providing a systematic approach that integrates systems engineering principles into policy strategy and decision-making processes.

Enterprise Systems Engineering↗
NASA NTRS2011

Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project - N+2 Advanced Vehicle Concepts Study and Conceptual Design of Subscale Test Vehicle (STV) Final Report

NASA has set demanding goals for technology developments to meet national needs to improve fuel efficiency concurrent with improving the environment to enable air transportation growth. A figure shows NASA's subsonic transport system metrics. The results of Boeing ERA N+2 Advanced Vehicle Concept Study show that the Blended Wing Body (BWB) vehicle, with ultra high bypass propulsion systems have the potential to meet the combined NASA ERA N+2 goals. This study had 3 main activities. 1) The development of an advanced vehicle concepts that can meet the NASA system level metrics. 2) Identification of key enabling technologies and the development of technology roadmaps and maturation plans. 3) The development of a subscale test vehicle that can demonstrate and mature the key enabling technologies needed to meet the NASA system level metrics. Technology maturation plans are presented and include key performance parameters and technical performance measures. The plans describe the risks that will be reduced with technology development and the expected progression of technical maturity.

Aircraft Engines↗
NASA NTRS2010

Robust and Opportunistic Autonomous Science for a Potential Titan Aerobot

We are developing onboard planning and execution technologies to provide robust and opportunistic mission operations for a potential Titan aerobot. Aerobot have the potential for collecting a vast amount of high priority science data. However, to be effective, an aerobot must address several challenges including communication constraints, extended periods without contact with Earth, uncertain and changing environmental conditions, maneuverability constraints and potentially short-lived science opportunities. We are developing the AerOASIS system to develop and test technology to support autonomous science operations for a potential Titan Aerobot. The planning and execution component of AerOASIS is able to generate mission operations plans that achieve science and engineering objectives while respecting mission and resource constraints as well as adapting the plan to respond to new science opportunities. Our technology leverages prior work on the OASIS system for autonomous rover exploration. In this paper we describe how the OASIS planning component was adapted to address the unique challenges of a Titan Aerobot and we describe a field demonstration of the system with the JPL prototype aerobot.

autonomous science↗
NASA NTRS1981

Overview - Flat-plate technology

Progress and continuing plans for the joint NASA/DoE program at the JPL to develop the technologies and industrial processes necessary for mass production of low-cost solar arrays (LSA) which produce electricity from solar cells at a cost of less than $0.70/W are reviewed. Attention is given to plans for a demonstration Si refinement plant capable of yielding 1000 MT/yr, and to a CVD process with chlorosilane, which will yield material at a cost of $21/kg. Ingot and shaped-sheet technologies, using either Czochralski growth and film fed growth methods have yielded AM1 15% efficient cells in an automated process. Encapsulation procedures have been lowered to $14/sq m, and robotics have permitted assembled cell production at a rate of 10 sec/cell. Standards are being defined for module safety features. It is noted that construction of a pilot Si purification plant is essential to achieving the 1986 $0.70/W cost goals.

Callaghan, W. T.↗
NASA NTRS2007

The Autonomous Precision Landing and Hazard Detection and Avoidance Technology (ALHAT)

As NASA plans to send humans back to the Moon and develop a lunar outpost, technologies must be developed to place humans and cargo safely, precisely, repeatedly, on the lunar surface with the capability to avoid surface hazards. Exploration Space Architecture Study requirements include the need for global lunar surface access with safe, precise landing without lighting constraints on terrain that may have landing hazards for human scale landing vehicles. Landing accuracies of perhaps 1,000 meters for sortie crew missions to 10 s of meters for Outpost class missions are required. The Autonomous precision Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project will develop the new and unique descent and landing Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) hardware and software technologies necessary for these capabilities. The ALHAT project will qualify a lunar descent and landing GNC system to a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6 capable of supporting lunar crewed, cargo, and robotic missions. The (ALHAT) development project was chartered by NASA Headquarters in October 2006. The initial effort to write a project plan and define an ALHAT Team was followed by a fairly aggressive research and analysis effort to determine what technologies existed that could be developed and applied to the lunar landing problems indicated above. This paper describes the project development, research, analysis and concept evolution that has occurred since the assignment of the project. This includes the areas of systems engineering, GNC, sensors, sensor algorithms, simulations, fielding testing, laboratory testing, Hardware-In-The-Loop testing, system avionics and system certification concepts.

Epp, Chirold D.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Demonstration of a Spoken Dialogue Interface for Planning Activities of a Semi-autonomous Robot

Planning and scheduling in the face of uncertainty and change pushes the capabilities of both planning and dialogue technologies by requiring complex negotiation to arrive at a workable plan. Planning for use of semi-autonomous robots involves negotiation among multiple participants with competing scientific and engineering goals to co-construct a complex plan. In NASA applications this plan construction is done under severe time pressure so having a dialogue interface to the plan construction tools can aid rapid completion of the process. But, this will put significant demands on spoken dialogue technology, particularly in the areas of dialogue management and generation. The dialogue interface will need to be able to handle the complex dialogue strategies that occur in negotiation dialogues, including hypotheticals and revisions, and the generation component will require an ability to summarize complex plans. This demonstration will describe a work in progress towards building a spoken dialogue interface to the EUROPA planner for the purposes of planning and scheduling the activities of a semi-autonomous robot. A prototype interface has been built for planning the schedule of the Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA), a mobile robot designed for micro-gravity environments that is intended for use on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. The spoken dialogue interface gives the user the capability to ask for a description of the plan, ask specific questions about the plan, and update or modify the plan. We anticipate that a spoken dialogue interface to the planner will provide a natural augmentation or alternative to the visualization interface, in situations in which the user needs very targeted information about the plan, in situations where natural language can express complex ideas more concisely than GUI actions, or in situations in which a graphical user interface is not appropriate.

Dowding, John↗
NASA NTRS1991

System dynamic simulation of precision segmented reflector

A joint effort was undertaken on a Precision Segmented Reflector (PSR) Project. The missions in which the PSR is to be used will use large (up to 20 m in diameter) telescopes. The essential requirement for the telescopes is that the reflector surface of the primary mirror must be made extremely precise to allow no more than a few microns of errors and, additionally, this high surface precision must be maintained when the telescope is subjected to on-orbital mechanical and thermal disturbances. Based on the mass, size, and stability considerations, reflector surface formed by segmented, probably actively or passively controlled, composite panels are regarded as most suitable for future space based astronomical telescope applications. In addition to the design and fabrication of composite panels with a surface error of less than 3 microns RMS, PSR also develops related reflector structures, materials, control, and sensing technologies. As part of the planning effort for PSR Technology Demonstration, a system model which couples the reflector, consisting of panels, support truss and actuators, and the optical bench was assembled for dynamic simulations. Random vibration analyses using seismic data obtained from actual measurements at the test site designated for PSR Technology Demonstration are described.

Shih, Choon-Foo↗
NASA NTRS2006

Factors Influencing the Selection of the Systems Integration Organizational Model Type for Planning and Implementing Government High-Technology Programs

While there has been extensive research in defining project organizational structures for traditional projects, little research exists to support high technology government project s organizational structure definition. High-Technology Government projects differ from traditional projects in that they are non-profit, span across Government-Industry organizations, typically require significant integration effort, and are strongly susceptible to a volatile external environment. Systems Integration implementation has been identified as a major contributor to both project success and failure. The literature research bridges program management organizational planning, systems integration, organizational theory, and independent project reports, in order to assess Systems Integration (SI) organizational structure selection for improving the high-technology government project s probability of success. This paper will describe the methodology used to 1) Identify and assess SI organizational structures and their success rate, and 2) Identify key factors to be used in the selection of these SI organizational structures during the acquisition strategy process.

Thomas, Leann↗
NASA NTRS1976

Payload software technology

A software analysis was performed of known STS sortie payload elements and their associated experiments. This provided basic data for STS payload software characteristics and sizes. A set of technology drivers was identified based on a survey of future technology needs and an assessment of current software technology. The results will be used to evolve a planned approach to software technology development. The purpose of this plan is to ensure that software technology is advanced at a pace and a depth sufficient to fulfill the identified future needs.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1986

Space station propulsion technology: Space station propulsion system test bed test plan

Testing of the hydrogen/oxygen Space Station Propulsion System will demonstrate the technology readiness for the IOC application. To facilitate early demonstration of this technology and to allow demonstration of maturing technology, this testing will be performed with the components installed on a test bed which simulated the Space Station Structure. The test plan contains a description of the test bed, test objective, instrumentation plan, and controls plan. Each of these is discussed in detail.

Briley, G. L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Crew Health & Performance Capability Development for Exploration: 2022 to 2023 Overview

NASA has identified twenty-eight specific risks to human health and performance that must be adequately understood and addressed to enable future crewed missions to Mars. These risks are due to radiation, reduced gravity, distance from earth, isolation and confinement, and the effects of living within artificially created and controlled life support environments. Research and technology development is required to better understand these risks and to inform, develop, and test technologies and strategies to mitigate these risks. NASA’s System Capability Leads coordinate across the agency to continually identify, prioritize, and monitor technology investments in support of these future missions. This paper describes progress over the past year in strategic planning, coordination, and technology development related to crew health and performance capabilities that are needed for future Mars missions. Technology maturation progress and future plans are described in the following capability areas: crew health countermeasures; spacesuit physiology and performance; food and nutrition; and exploration medical capabilities.

Andrew F J Abercromby↗
NASA NTRS1990

Supersonic STOVL propulsion technology program: An overview

Planning activities are continuing between NASA, the DoD, and two foreign governments to develop the technology and to show the design capability by the mid-1990's for advanced, supersonic, short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft. Propulsion technology is the key to achieving viable STOVL aircraft, and NASA Lewis will play a lead role in the development of these required propulsion technologies. The initial research programs are focused on technologies common to two or more of the possible STOVL propulsion system concepts. An overview is presented of the NASA Lewis role in the overall program plan and recent results of the research program. The future research program will be focused on one or possibly two of the propulsion concepts seen as most likely to be successful in the post advanced tactical fighter time frame.

Blaha, Bernard J.↗