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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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NASA NTRS1992

Thermal conductance of two interface materials and their applications in space systems

The temperature control of spacecraft and instrument systems and subsystems requires heat transfer interface materials that possess good thermal and structural characteristics, among other properties, to respond to the vacuum environment of space. These materials must be easy to apply to, and remove from, the surfaces where they are applied, and must be able to withstand power dissipation extremes, and be used for different clamping configurations and pressures. Silicone based greases, used in the past, tend to migrate and to contaminate nearby surfaces. Bare metal to metal contact offers low thermal conductance and difficulties in estimating the actual heat transfer. Several polymeric materials containing different thermal conductive compounds and structural reinforcements were prepared to overcome grease and metal problems. Two polymeric materials were evaluated: Cho-Therm 1671 elastomer; and the CV-2946, a conductive RTV silicone. Tests were done to learn more about these products. Results indicate that the tightly bolted, torqued fixtures did not buckle or distort, and provided optimum thermal conductance. Fixtures simulating actual spacecraft configuration suffered bowing and separating.

Scialdone, J. J.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Systems approach to walk-off problems for dish-type solar thermal power systems

'Walk-off' in a dish-type solar thermal power system is a failure situation in which the concentrator remains fixed while the spot of concentrated sunlight slowly moves across the face of the receiver. The intense local heating may damage the receiver and nearby equipment. Passive protection has advantages in minimizing damage, but in a fully passive design the receiver must be able to withstand full solar input with no forced fluid circulation during the walk-off. An active walk-off emergency subsystem may include an emergency detrack or defocus mechanism or sun-blocking device, emergency power, sensors and logic to detect the emergency and initiate protective action, and cooling or passive protection of emergency and non-emergency components. Each of these elements is discussed and evaluated in the paper.

Jaffe, L. D.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Avoiding and tolerating latency in large-scale next-generation shared-memory multiprocessors

A scalable solution to the memory-latency problem is necessary to prevent the large latencies of synchronization and memory operations inherent in large-scale shared-memory multiprocessors from reducing high performance. We distinguish latency avoidance and latency tolerance. Latency is avoided when data is brought to nearby locales for future reference. Latency is tolerated when references are overlapped with other computation. Latency-avoiding locales include: processor registers, data caches used temporally, and nearby memory modules. Tolerating communication latency requires parallelism, allowing the overlap of communication and computation. Latency-tolerating techniques include: vector pipelining, data caches used spatially, prefetching in various forms, and multithreading in various forms. Relaxing the consistency model permits increased use of avoidance and tolerance techniques. Each model is a mapping from the program text to sets of partial orders on program operations; it is a convention about which temporal precedences among program operations are necessary. Information about temporal locality and parallelism constrains the use of avoidance and tolerance techniques. Suitable architectural primitives and compiler technology are required to exploit the increased freedom to reorder and overlap operations in relaxed models.

Probst, David K.↗

NASA NTRS2017

A Telescope at the Solar Gravitational Lens: Problems and Solutions

Due to the bending of light by gravity, the gravity of sun forms a lens. In principle, a spacecraft sent to the distance of the solar gravitational focus could be used as a gravitational lens telescope. One example of such a mission would be to use the gravitational lens to image an extrasolar planet around a nearby star. The practical difficulties with this concept are discussed, and some approaches to mitigating these difficulties suggested.

Landis, Geoffrey A.↗

NASA NTRS1971

Experiments D001, D002, and D006: Basic object, nearby object, and surface photography

On the Gemini 5 mission, acquisition and tracking was performed by the use of celestial bodies as aiming points. However, distant photography of the REP was not possible because of spacecraft electrical power difficulties which occurred after REP ejection. Terrestrial photography was accomplished within the limitations imposed by weather conditions and spacecraft electrical and thruster problems. The photographs that were obtained were significant only as an element of the data to be used in technique evaluation. The other data were time-correlated position and pointing information, atmospheric conditions, sun angle, exposure settings, and the flight logs and verbal comments of the crewmembers. The photographs shown are representative of those that facilitated evaluation of the acquisition and tracking techniques that were used in these three experiments.

Geltmacher, H. E.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Magnetohydrodynamic interaction of high-speed streams

Numerical solutions of a magnetohydrodynamic model are carried out to describe the nonlinear interaction of corotating high-speed streams near the solar equatorial plane. Two problems are studied. The first problem is to simulate the evolution of an idealized high-speed stream. Numerical solutions are obtained to represent the variations of flow velocity, magnetic field, plasma density, temperature, and conduction heat flux in the interaction region. They demonstrate that the dynamical interaction and heat conduction process are responsible for the thermal structure of a high-speed stream. The second problem deals with the formation of corotating shock waves near the leading edge of a broad stream resulting from the merging of characteristic curves. Corotating shocks do not necessarily occur in pairs; a reverse shock can be formed without a forward shock nearby.

Whang, Y. C.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Correction-free radiometry on specular spheres for containerless processing in microgravity

An analysis is presented that establishes how correction-free radiance measurements or pyrometry can be performed on targets in furnaces where there may be significant additional radiance from heated furnace walls or from reflecting surfaces close to the target. These configurations are common in microgravity and containerless processing applications where a specular target is radiantly heated in a hot-wall furnace, or inductively heated from the fields arising from nearby closely spaced electromagnetic coils. Proper design requires that the pyrometer does not view any images of the background features in the specular target so that stray radiation will not be reflected into the viewing optics of the pyrometer. To analyze the problem, conventional paraxial optics analysis is shown to be significantly in error. Instead a method of nonparaxial ray tracing, based on the derivatives of the ray paths, shows how the images must be located. This leads to analytical results that can be used to design such systems. The findings are applied to the furnace geometries that are presently being considered for flight in LEO.

Thomas, A. S. W.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Continuous prediction of Spartan visibility from Orbiter over modeled free-flight mission

Orbital operations in the neighborhood of other satellites or free-flying objects need the ability to see and detect such objects optically. This ability depends primarily on the brightness of the object relative to other sources present. The present analysis and computational procedure provides a means for predicting the visual brightness of a satellite when viewed from a nearby satellite in the same orbit. It is designed specifically for estimating the brightness of Spartan free-flyers from the STS Orbiters which release and later retrieve them, but the basic methods are applicable to other satellite-to-satellite visibility prediction problems. The Spartan reflector model defined herein is illuminated both by direct solar radiation and by the earth (albedo), producing a model source of defined directional intensity. The intensity in the Orbiter direction (along orbit) yields the desired maximum range directly. The required geometric and photometric calculations involve a number of angles in space, which are readily computed from the basic directions defining their sides. The time-dependent directions are determined by straightforward calculation from fundamental relationships and constants.

King, J. C.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Lunar occultations for gamma-ray source measurements

The unambiguous association of discrete gamma-ray sources with objects radiating at other wavelengths, the separation of discrete sources from the extended emission within the Galaxy, the mapping of gamma-ray emission from nearby galaxies and the measurement of structure within a discrete source cannot presently be accomplished at gamma-ray energies. In the past, the detection processes used in high-energy gamma-ray astronomy have not allowed for good angular resolution. This problem can be overcome by placing gamma-ray detectors on the moon and using the horizon as an occulting edge to achieve arcsec resolution. For purposes of discussion, this concept is examined for gamma rays above 100 MeV for which pair production dominates the detection process and locally-generated nuclear gamma rays do not contribute to the background.

Koch, David G.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Life near the Roche limit - Behavior of ejecta from satellites close to planets

A study of the dynamics of nearby debris from impact craters was made to explain the distinctive features seen on Phobos, Deimis, and Amalthea. The planetary tides and satellite rotation were considered, and the usual pseudo-energy (Jacobi) integral was numerically calculated in the framework of a restricted body problem where satellites are modelled as triaxial ellipsoids rather than point masses. Iso-contours of this integral show that Deimos and Amalthea are entirely closed by Roche lobes, and the surfaces of their model ellipsoids lie nearly along equipotentials. Presently, the surface of Phobos overflows its Roche lobe, except for regions within a few km of the sub-Mars and anti-Mars points. The behavior of crater ejecta from the satellites of Mars were also examined by numerical integration of trajectories for particles leaving their surfaces in the equatorial plane.

Dobrovolskis, A. R.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Battery cars on superconducting magnetically levitated carriers: One commuting solution

Commuting to work in an urban-suburban metropolitan environment is becoming an unpleasant time-wasting process. We applied the technology of communication management to this commuting problem. Communication management is a system-engineering tool that produced today's efficient telephone network. The resulting best commuting option is magnetically levitated carriers of two-passenger, battery-powered, personally-owned local-travel cars. A commuter drives a car to a nearby station, selects a destination, drives on a waiting carrier, and enters an accelerating ramp. A central computer selects an optimum 100 miles-per-hour trunk route, considering existing and forecast traffic; assigns the commuter a travel slot, and subsequently orders switching-station actions. The commuter uses the expensive facilities for only a few minutes during each trip. The cost of travel could be less than 6 cents per mile.

Briggs, B. Mike↗

NASA NTRS1996

Research activities in nuclear astrophysics and related areas

NASA/GRO grant NAG 5-2081, at the University of Chicago, has provided support for a broad program of theoretical research in nuclear astrophysics and related areas, with regard to gamma-ray and hard X-ray emission from classical nova explosions. This research emphasized the possible detection of 22Na gamma-ray line emission from nearby novae involving ONeMg white dwarfs, the detailed examination of 26Al production in novae, and the possible detection of the predicted early gamma ray emission from novae that arises from the decay of the short lived, positron emitting isotopes of CNO elements. Studies of nova related problems have consumed an increasing fraction of the Principal Investigator's research efforts over the past decade. Current research addresses problems associated with the standard model for the outbursts of the classical novae: the occurrence of thermonuclear runaways (TNR) in the accreted hydrogen rich envelopes on white dwarfs in close binary systems (see, e.g., the reviews by Truran 1982; and Shara 1989). Research in progress and planned for the next three years has three main objectives: (1) to gain an improved understanding of the early evolution of the light curves of, particularly, the fastest novae; (2) to gain an improved understanding of the relative importance of the various possible mechanisms of envelope hydrogen depletion (e.g. winds, common envelope driven mass loss, and nuclear burning) to the long term evolution of novae in outburst; and (3) to seek to provide a somewhat more definitive statement of the role of classical novae in nucleosynthesis. Our proposed 2-D studies of convection during the early phases of the TNR and our systematic attempt to incorporate an improved treatment of radiation hydrodynamics into the hydrodynamic code utilized in our calculations, are particularly relevant to the first of these objectives. Further 2-D studies of the effects of common envelope evolution are intended to provide more realistic constraints on the mass depletion mechanisms. Finally, detailed calculations of the thermonuclear history of the matter ejected in novae will be carried out for representative nova configurations involving both carbon-oxygen (CO) and oxygen-neon-magnesium (ONeMg) white dwarfs.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1997

Conflict Detection and Resolution for Future Air Transportation Management

With a Free Flight policy, the emphasis for air traffic control is shifting from active control to passive air traffic management with a policy of intervention by exception. Aircraft will be allowed to fly user preferred routes, as long as safety Alert Zones are not violated. If there is a potential conflict, two (or more) aircraft must be able to arrive at a solution for conflict resolution without controller intervention. Thus, decision aid tools are needed in Free Flight to detect and resolve conflicts, and several problems must be solved to develop such tools. In this report, we analyze and solve problems of proximity management, conflict detection, and conflict resolution under a Free Flight policy. For proximity management, we establish a system based on Delaunay Triangulations of aircraft at constant flight levels. Such a system provides a means for analyzing the neighbor relationships between aircraft and the nearby free space around air traffic which can be utilized later in conflict resolution. For conflict detection, we perform both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional analyses based on the penetration of the Protected Airspace Zone. Both deterministic and non-deterministic analyses are performed. We investigate several types of conflict warnings including tactical warnings prior to penetrating the Protected Airspace Zone, methods based on the reachability overlap of both aircraft, and conflict probability maps to establish strategic Alert Zones around aircraft.

Krozel, Jimmy↗

NASA NTRS2017

DSMC simulations of the Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight EXperiment(SPIFEX)

During orbital maneuvers and proximity operations, a spacecraft fires its thrusters inducing plume impingement loads, heating and contamination to itself and to any other nearby spacecraft. These thruster firings are generally modeled using a combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and DSMC simulations. The Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight EXperiment(SPIFEX) produced data that can be compared to a high fidelity simulation. Due to the size of the Shuttle thrusters this problem was too resource intensive to be solved with DSMC when the experiment flew in 1994.

Stewart, Benedicte↗

NASA NTRS1974

A search for soft X-ray emission from red-giant coronae

Hills has pointed out that if red-giant coronae are weak sources of soft X-rays, then the problems of the identification of the local component of the soft X-ray background and the observed lack of gas in globular clusters may be simultaneously resolved. Using instrumentation aboard OAO Copernicus, we have searched unsuccessfully for emission in the 10-100 A band from four nearby red giants. In all cases, our upper limits are of the order of the minimum theoretically predicted fluxes.

Margon, B.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Solar coronal loop heating by cross-field wave transport

Solar coronal arches heated by turbulent ion-cyclotron waves may suffer significant cross-field transport by these waves. Nonlinear processes fix the wave-propagation speed at about a tenth of the ion thermal velocity, which seems sufficient to spread heat from a central core into a large cool surrounding cocoon. Waves heat cocoon ions both through classical ion-electron collisions and by turbulent stochastic ion motions. Plausible cocoon sizes set by wave damping are in roughly kilometers, although the wave-emitting core may be only 100 m wide. Detailed study of nonlinear stabilization and energy-deposition rates predicts that nearby regions can heat to values intermediate between the roughly electron volt foot-point temperatures and the about 100 eV core, which is heated by anomalous Ohmic losses. A volume of 100 times the core volume may be affected. This qualitative result may solve a persistent problem with current-driven coronal heating; that it affects only small volumes and provides no way to produce the extended warm structures perceptible to existing instruments.

Amendt, Peter↗

NASA NTRS1993

Discrete range clustering using Monte Carlo methods

For automatic obstacle avoidance guidance during rotorcraft low altitude flight, a reliable model of the nearby environment is needed. Such a model may be constructed by applying surface fitting techniques to the dense range map obtained by active sensing using radars. However, for covertness, passive sensing techniques using electro-optic sensors are desirable. As opposed to the dense range map obtained via active sensing, passive sensing algorithms produce reliable range at sparse locations, and therefore, surface fitting techniques to fill the gaps in the range measurement are not directly applicable. Both for automatic guidance and as a display for aiding the pilot, these discrete ranges need to be grouped into sets which correspond to objects in the nearby environment. The focus of this paper is on using Monte Carlo methods for clustering range points into meaningful groups. One of the aims of the paper is to explore whether simulated annealing methods offer significant advantage over the basic Monte Carlo method for this class of problems. We compare three different approaches and present application results of these algorithms to a laboratory image sequence and a helicopter flight sequence.

Chatterji, G. B.↗

NASA NTRS2012

The Exozodiacal Dust Problem for Direct Observations of ExoEarths

Debris dust in the habitable zones of stars otherwise known as exozodiacal dust comes from extrasolar asteroids and comets and is thus an expected part of a planetary system. Background flux from the Solar Systems zodiacal dust and the exozodiacal dust in the target system is likely to be the largest source of astrophysical noise in direct observations of terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. Furthermore, dust structures like clumps, thought to be produced by dynamical interactions with exoplanets, are a possible source of confusion. In this paper, we qualitatively assess the primary impact of exozodical dust on high-contrast direct imaging at optical wavelengths, such as would be performed with a coronagraph. Then we present the sensitivity of previous, current, and near-term facilities to thermal emission from debris dust at all distances from nearby solar-type stars, as well as our current knowledge of dust levels from recent surveys. Finally, we address the other method of detecting debris dust, through high-contrast imaging in scattered light. This method is currently far less sensitive than thermal emission observations, but provides high spatial resolution for studying dust structures. This paper represents the first report of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG).

Roberge, Aki↗