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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 631 records · Page 35
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2014

Deployable Engine Air Brake

On approach, next-generation aircraft are likely to have airframe noise levels that are comparable to or in excess of engine noise. ATA Engineering, Inc. (ATA) is developing a novel quiet engine air brake (EAB), a device that generates "equivalent drag" within the engine through stream thrust reduction by creating a swirling outflow in the turbofan exhaust nozzle. Two Phase II projects were conducted to mature this technology: (1) a concept development program (CDP) and (2) a system development program (SDP).

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NASA NTRS2005

2004 NASA Seal/Secondary Air System Workshop, Volume 1

The 2004 NASA Seal/Secondary Air System workshop covered the following topics: (1) Overview of NASA s new Exploration Initiative program aimed at exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond; (2) Overview of the NASA-sponsored Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) program; (3) Overview of NASA Glenn s seal program aimed at developing advanced seals for NASA s turbomachinery, space, and reentry vehicle needs; (4) Reviews of NASA prime contractor and university advanced sealing concepts including tip clearance control, test results, experimental facilities, and numerical predictions; and (5) Reviews of material development programs relevant to advanced seals development. The NASA UEET overview illustrated for the reader the importance of advanced technologies, including seals, in meeting future turbine engine system efficiency and emission goals. For example, the NASA UEET program goals include an 8- to 15-percent reduction in fuel burn, a 15-percent reduction in CO2, a 70-percent reduction in NOx, CO, and unburned hydrocarbons, and a 30-dB noise reduction relative to program baselines. The workshop also covered several programs NASA is funding to develop technologies for the Exploration Initiative and advanced reusable space vehicle technologies. NASA plans on developing an advanced docking and berthing system that would permit any vehicle to dock to any on-orbit station or vehicle, as part of NASA s new Exploration Initiative. Plans to develop the necessary mechanism and androgynous seal technologies were reviewed. Seal challenges posed by reusable re-entry space vehicles include high-temperature operation, resiliency at temperature to accommodate gap changes during operation, and durability to meet mission requirements.

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NASA NTRS1977

Evaluating the benefits of government funded R & D aimed at the private sector

Federal funding of technological research and development is discussed with regard to the procedures for an economic analysis with the goals of (1) determining when the public sector should invest in a research and development program, (2) evaluating the likelihood of private sector participation in terms of public sector participation, and (3) considering the major factors in the formulation of a research and development program in terms of defining initiatives. Public sector investments are evaluated, noting procedures for determining whether benefits exceed costs. The role of the public sector research and development planning is described, considering the procedure for private sector implementation decisions and a methodology for evaluating the possibility of private sector commercialization. The economic value of the public sector research and development program is presented with attention given to a specific case of NASA-sponsored research and development aimed toward the commercialization of new public communications services.

Greenberg, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Experimental Results for Titan Aerobot Thermo-Mechanical Subsystem Development

This paper describes experimental results from a development program focused in maturing Titan aerobot technology in the areas of mechanical and thermal subsystems. Results from four key activities are described: first, a cryogenic balloon materials development program involving coupon and cylinder tests and culminating in the fabrication and testing of an inflated 4.6 m long prototype blimp at 93 K; second, a combined lab experiment and numerical simulation effort to assess potential problems resulting from radioisotope thermal generator waste heat generation near an inflated blimp; third, an aerial deployment and inflation development program consisting of laboratory and helicopter drop tests on a near full scale (11 m long) prototype blimp; and fourth, a proof of concept experiment demonstrating the viability of using a mechanically steerable high gain antenna on a floating blimp to perform direct to Earth telecommunications from Titan. The paper provides details on all of these successful activities and discusses their impact on the overall effort to produce mature systems technology for future Titan aerobot missions.

balloon↗
NASA NTRS1992

Theoretical investigation of gas-surface interactions

The investigation into the appearance of intruder states from the negative continuum when some of the two-electron integrals were omitted was completed. The work shows that, provided all integrals involving core contracted functions in an atomic general contraction are included, or that the core functions are radially localized, meaningful results are obtained and intruder states do not appear. In the area of program development, the Dirac-Hartree-Fock (DHF) program for closed-shell polyatomic molecules was extended to permit Kramers-restricted open-shell DHF calculations with one electron in an open shell or one hole in a closed shell, or state-averaged DHF calculations over several particle or hole doublet states. One application of the open-shell code was to the KO molecule. Another major area of program development is the transformation of integrals from the scalar basis in which they are generated to the 2-spinor basis employed in parts of the DHF program, and hence to supermatrix form. Particularly concerning the omission of small component integrals, and with increase in availability of disk space, it is now possible to consider transforming the integrals. The use of ordered integrals, either in the scalar basis or in the 2-spinor basis, would considerably speed up the construction of the Fock matrix, and even more so if supermatrices were constructed. A considerable amount of effort was spent on analyzing the integral ordering and tranformation for the DHF program. The work of assessing the reliability of the relativistic effective core potentials (RECPs) was continued with calculation of the group IV monoxides. The perturbation of the metal atom provided by oxygen is expected to be larger than that provided by hydrogen and thus provide a better test of the qualification of the RECPs. Calculations on some platinum hydrides were carried out at nonrelativistic (NR), perturbation theory (PT) and DHF levels. Reprints of four papers describing this work are included.

Dyall, Kenneth G.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Risk-Based Probabilistic Approach to Aeropropulsion System Assessment

In an era of shrinking development budgets and resources, where there is also an emphasis on reducing the product development cycle, the role of system assessment, performed in the early stages of an engine development program, becomes very critical to the successful development of new aeropropulsion systems. A reliable system assessment not only helps to identify the best propulsion system concept among several candidates, it can also identify which technologies are worth pursuing. This is particularly important for advanced aeropropulsion technology development programs, which require an enormous amount of resources. In the current practice of deterministic, or point-design, approaches, the uncertainties of design variables are either unaccounted for or accounted for by safety factors. This could often result in an assessment with unknown and unquantifiable reliability. Consequently, it would fail to provide additional insight into the risks associated with the new technologies, which are often needed by decision makers to determine the feasibility and return-on-investment of a new aircraft engine. In this work, an alternative approach based on the probabilistic method was described for a comprehensive assessment of an aeropropulsion system. The statistical approach quantifies the design uncertainties inherent in a new aeropropulsion system and their influences on engine performance. Because of this, it enhances the reliability of a system assessment. A technical assessment of a wave-rotor-enhanced gas turbine engine was performed to demonstrate the methodology. The assessment used probability distributions to account for the uncertainties that occur in component efficiencies and flows and in mechanical design variables. The approach taken in this effort was to integrate the thermodynamic cycle analysis embedded in the computer code NEPP (NASA Engine Performance Program) and the engine weight analysis embedded in the computer code WATE (Weight Analysis of Turbine Engines) with the fast probability integration technique (FPI). FPI was developed by Southwest Research Institute under contract with the NASA Glenn Research Center. The results were plotted in the form of cumulative distribution functions and sensitivity analyses and were compared with results from the traditional deterministic approach. The comparison showed that the probabilistic approach provides a more realistic and systematic way to assess an aeropropulsion system. The current work addressed the application of the probabilistic approach to assess specific fuel consumption, engine thrust, and weight. Similarly, the approach can be used to assess other aspects of aeropropulsion system performance, such as cost, acoustic noise, and emissions. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Tong, Michael T.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Overview of NASA's Space Environments and Effects (SEE) Program Technology Development Activities

Reducing size and weight of spacecraft, along with demanding increased performance capabilities, introduces many uncertainties in the engineering design community on how spacecraft and spacecraft systems will perform in space. The engineering design community is forever behind on obtaining and developing new tools and guidelines to mitigate the harmful effects of the space environment. Adding to this complexity is the push to use Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and shrinking microelectronics behind less shielding utilizing new materials. The potential usage of unproven technologies such as large solar sail structures and nuclear electric propulsion introduces new requirements to develop new engineering tools. In order to drive down these uncertainties, NASA s SEE Program provides resources for technology development to accommodate or mitigate these harmful environments on spacecraft. This paper will describe the current SEE Program's, currently funded activities and possible future developments.

Kauffman, Billy↗
NASA NTRS2017

Strategic Employee Development (SED) Program

As with many other U.S. agencies, succession planning is becoming a critical need for NASA. The primary drivers include (a) NASAs higher-than-average aged workforce with approximately 50 of employees eligible for retirement within 5 years; and (b) employees who need better developmental conversations to increase morale and retention. This problem is particularly concerning for Safety Mission Assurance (SMA) organizations since they traditionally rely on more experienced engineers and specialists to perform their organizations functions.In response to this challenge, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) SMA organization created the Strategic Employee Development (SED) program. The SED programs goal is to provide a proactive method to counter the primary drivers by creating a deeper bench strength and providing a more comprehensive developmental feedback experience for the employee. The SED is a new succession planning framework that enables customization to any organization, and in this case, specifically for an SMA organization. This is accomplished via the identification of key positions, the corresponding critical competencies, and a process to help managers have relevant and meaningful development conversations with the workforce. As a result of the SED, several tools and products were created that allows management to make better strategic workforce decisions. Although there are opportunities for improvement for the SED program, the most important impact has been on the quality of developmental discussions for employees.

Nguyen, Johnny↗
NASA NTRS1994

Research and technology: 1994 annual report of the John F. Kennedy Space Center

As the NASA Center responsible for assembly, checkout, servicing, launch, recovery, and operational support of Space Transportation System elements and payloads, the John F. Kennedy Space Center is placing increasing emphasis on its advanced technology development program. This program encompasses the efforts of the Engineering Development Directorate laboratories, most of the KSC operations contractors, academia, and selected commercial industries - all working in a team effort within their own areas of expertise. This edition of the Kennedy Space Center Research and Technology 1994 Annual Report covers efforts of all these contributors to the KSC advanced technology development program, as well as our technology transfer activities. The Technology Programs and Commercialization Office (DE-TPO), (407) 867-3017, is responsible for publication of this report and should be contacted for any desired information regarding the advanced technology program.

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NASA NTRS1995

Research and technology 1995 annual report

As the NASA Center responsible for assembly, checkout, servicing, launch, recovery, and operational support of Space Transportation System elements and payloads, the John F. Kennedy Space Center is placing increasing emphasis on its advanced technology development program. This program encompasses the efforts of the Engineering Development Directorate laboratories, most of the KSC operations contractors, academia, and selected commercial industries - all working in a team effort within their own areas of expertise. This edition of the Kennedy Space Center Research and Technology 1995 Annual Report covers efforts of all these contributors to the KSC advanced technology development program, as well as technology transfer activities. Major areas of research include environmental engineering, automation, robotics, advanced software, materials science, life sciences, mechanical engineering, nondestructive evaluation, and industrial engineering.

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NASA NTRS1996

Research and Technology 1996: Innovation in Time and Space

As the NASA Center responsible for assembly, checkout, servicing, launch, recovery, and operational support of Space Transportation System elements and payloads, the John F. Kennedy Space Center is placing increasing emphasis on its advanced technology development program. This program encompasses the efforts of the Engineering Development Directorate laboratories, most of the KSC operations contractors, academia, and selected commercial industries - all working in a team effort within their own areas of expertise. This edition of the Kennedy Space Center Research and Technology 1996 Annual Report covers efforts of all these contributors to the KSC advanced technology development program, as well as our technology transfer activities.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1993

Research and Technology at the John F. Kennedy Space Center 1993

As the NASA Center responsible for assembly, checkout, servicing, launch, recovery, and operational support of Space Transportation System elements and payloads, the John F. Kennedy Space Center is placing increasing emphasis on its advanced technology development program. This program encompasses the efforts of the Engineering Development Directorate laboratories, most of the KSC operations contractors, academia, and selected commercial industries - all working in a team effort within their own areas of expertise. This edition of the Kennedy Space Center Research and Technology 1993 Annual Report covers efforts of all these contributors to the KSC advanced technology development program, as well as our technology transfer activities. Major areas of research include material science, advanced software, industrial engineering, nondestructive evaluation, life sciences, atmospheric sciences, environmental technology, robotics, and electronics and instrumentation.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2001

Probabilistic Risk-Based Approach to Aeropropulsion System Assessment Developed

In an era of shrinking development budgets and resources, where there is also an emphasis on reducing the product development cycle, the role of system assessment, performed in the early stages of an engine development program, becomes very critical to the successful development of new aeropropulsion systems. A reliable system assessment not only helps to identify the best propulsion system concept among several candidates, it can also identify which technologies are worth pursuing. This is particularly important for advanced aeropropulsion technology development programs, which require an enormous amount of resources. In the current practice of deterministic, or point-design, approaches, the uncertainties of design variables are either unaccounted for or accounted for by safety factors. This could often result in an assessment with unknown and unquantifiable reliability. Consequently, it would fail to provide additional insight into the risks associated with the new technologies, which are often needed by decisionmakers to determine the feasibility and return-on-investment of a new aircraft engine.

Tong, Michael T.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Reaching for the APEX at Ames

The multidimensional design of the APEX program is the result of an extensive research and development effort dating back nearly a decade. "In the late 1990s and early 2000, we were pretty successful at getting new research and technology projects here at the center," Johnson says, "and we had a lack of critical mass of project managers. We were taking people who were primarily researchers and putting them in the position of managing projects." Smith and Johnson held a series of workshops across the center during 2000 and 2001 to gather feedback about how to address this issue. When they briefed the center's senior management on their findings, one of the top recommendations was to establish a project manager development program at Ames. At that point, they cast a wide net for ideas and information. "We did centerwide needs assessment, we did focus groups, we did surveys," Smith says. "We came up with a proposal for what a program would look like, tying in what we knew about the Academy of Program1 Project Leadership (now the Academy for Program/Project and Engineering Leadership, or APPEL), what we've seen at other centers, what other centers have tried. We were always checking to make sure our program mapped to APPEL. We also looked at the PMI [Project Management Institute] model, INCOSE [International Council on Systems Engineering], CMMI [Capability Maturity Model Integration], you name it." "We had a lot of conversations with the Jet Propulsion Lab and Goddard," Johnson adds. "We saw those centers as models for what Ames was aspiring to be in terms of a center for managing space flight missions." Their research confirmed what they already knew-that strong practitioner involvement would be critical to their program design process. 'XPEX is for the practitioner by the practitioner," Smith says. "They have to be a part of designing it. Otherwise there's no way we could design a program that meets their needs." At the same time that they worked at the grassroots level, they also solicited feedback from the center's senior management. "We recognized that in order for anything to succeed here, we needed to have a champion at the center management level," Johnson said. "You have to have champions, and you have to listen to what the senior managers are saying. They have their own ideas." In the case of APEX, one of those ideas fundamentally reshaped the program. "When we originally started, it was a project management development program," Johnson says, "but in our meeting with our center director, he said, 'Project management is important, but we also need to strengthen our systems engineering.' So we basically added that component to the program based on what he wanted."

Kohut, Matthew↗
NASA NTRS2011

Next Generation X-Ray Optics: High-Resolution, Light-Weight, and Low-Cost

X-ray telescopes are essential to the future of x-ray astronomy. This paper describes a comprehensive program to advance the technology for x-ray telescopes well beyond the state of the art represented by the three currently operating missions: Chandra, XMM-Newton , and Suzaku . This program will address the three key issues in making an x-ray telescope: (I) angular resolution, (2) effective area per unit mass, and (3) cost per unit effective area. The objectives of this technology program are (1) in the near term, to enable Explorer-class x-ray missions and an IXO type mission, and (2) in the long term, to enable a flagship x-ray mission with sub-arcsecond angular resolution and multi-square-meter effective area, at an affordable cost. We pursue two approaches concurrently, emphasizing the first approach in the near term (2-5 years) and the second in the long term (4-10 years). The first approach is precision slumping of borosilicate glass sheets. By design and choice at the outset, this technique makes lightweight and low-cost mirrors. The development program will continue to improve angular resolution, to enable the production of 5-arcsecond x-ray telescopes, to support Explorer-class missions and one or more missions to supersede the original IXO mission. The second approach is precision polishing and light-weighting of single-crystal silicon mirrors. This approach benefits from two recent commercial developments: (1) the inexpensive and abundant availability of large blocks of mono crystalline silicon, and (2) revolutionary advances in deterministic, precision polishing of mirrors. By design and choice at the outset, this technique is capable of producing lightweight mirrors with sub-arcsecond angular resolution. The development program will increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of the polishing and the lightweighting processes, to enable the production of lightweight sub-arcsecond x-ray telescopes. Concurrent with the fabrication of lightweight mirror segments is the continued development and perfection of alignment and integration techniques, for incorporating individual mirror segments into a precision mirror assembly. Recently, we have been developing a technique called edge-bonding, which has achieved an accuracy to enable 10- arcsecond x-ray telescopes. Currently, we are investigating and improving the long-term alignment stability of so-bonded mirrors. Next, we shall refine this process to enable 5-arsecond x-ray telescopes. This technology development program includes all elements to demonstrate progress toward TRL-6: metrology; x-ray performance tests; coupled structural, thermal, and optical performance analysis, and environmental testing.

Zhang, William W.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Next Generation X-Ray Optics: High-Resolution, Light-Weight, and Low-Cost

X-ray telescopes are essential to the future of x-ray astronomy. In this talk I will describe a comprehensive program to advance the technology for x-ray telescopes well beyond the state of the art represented by the three currently operating missions: Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku. This program will address the three key issues in making an x-ray telescope: (1) angular resolution, (2) effective area per unit mass, and (3) cost per unit effective area. The objectives of this technology program are (1) in the near term, to enable Explorer-class x-ray missions and an IXO-type mission, and (2) in the long term, to enable a flagship x-ray mission with sub-arcsecond angular resolution and multi-square-meter effective area, at an affordable cost. We pursue two approaches concurrently, emphasizing the first approach in the near term (2-5 years) and the second in the long term (4-10 years). The first approach is precision slumping of borosilicate glass sheets. By design and choice at the outset, this technique makes lightweight and low-cost mirrors. The development program will continue to improve angular resolution, to enable the production of 5-arcsecond x-ray telescopes, to support Explorer-class missions and one or more missions to supersede the original IXO mission. The second approach is precision polishing and light-weighting of single-crystal silicon mirrors. This approach benefits from two recent commercial developments: (1) the inexpensive and abundant availability of large blocks of monocrystalline silicon, and (2) revolutionary advances in deterministic, precision polishing of mirrors. By design and choice at the outset, this technique is capable of producing lightweight mirrors with sub-arcsecond angular resolution. The development program will increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of the polishing and the light-weighting processes, to enable the production of lightweight sub-arcsecond x-ray telescopes. Concurrent with the fabrication of lightweight mirror segments is the continued development and perfection of alignment and integration techniques, for incorporating individual mirror segments into a precision mirror assembly. Recently, we have been developing a technique called edge-bonding, which has achieved an accuracy to enable 10-arcsecond x-ray telescopes. Currently, we are investigating and improving the long-term alignment stability of so-bonded mirrors. Next, we shall refine this process to enable 5-arsecond x-ray telescopes. This technology development program includes all elements to demonstrate progress toward TRL-6: metrology; x-ray performance tests; coupled structural, thermal, and optical performance analysis, and environmental testing.

Zhang, William W.↗
NASA NTRS2024

NASA Astrophysics Division Technology Heritage Study

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Astrophysics Division (APD) funds and manages missions and studies that seek to broaden our understanding of our place in the universe. These science missions are enabled by technologies developed through APD’s technology development programs. APD has funded approximately seven different technology development programs over the last ten years which support basic research and target varying Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs). The funding has targeted technology for future space flight experiments as well as suborbital science investigations. To understand the overall impact of APD’s investment on astrophysics technology advancement through their grants and contracts, APD engaged The Aerospace Corporation to conduct an independent, comprehensive Astrophysics Technology Heritage Study. The study was conducted in the 2021-2022 timeframe, first focusing priority on infusion of competed grants and general trends, followed by directed grants and further trend analysis and technology characterization. The study included three major components: a grants database, a missions database, and a survey of Principal Investigators (PIs). The study found that APD grants and contracts fund a healthy portfolio of technologies that resulted in an overall 62% infusion rate, as suborbital missions provide ample science and technology maturation and platform transition opportunities. Within the 62% of infused grants, 12% were infused into space missions and another 31% were suborbital. The study also looked at various other characteristics of the grant awards including the organizations they were awarded to and award trends by PI. Technology focus areas and detector types were also investigated, as well as technology platform transitions from on mission environment (e.g., suborbital to space). Additional feedback from PIs was also requested and evaluated including alternative benefits of grants and reasons development did, or did not, succeed.

NASA↗
NASA NTRS1979

Project CAD as of July 1978: CAD support project, situation in July 1978

The structure of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and the requirements for program developments in past and future are described. The actual standard and the future aims of CAD programs are presented. The developed programs in: (1) civil engineering; (2) mechanical engineering; (3) chemical engineering/shipbuilding; (4) electrical engineering; and (5) general programs are discussed.

Boesch, L.↗