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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

Laboratory instrumentation and techniques for characterizing multi-junction solar cells for space applications

Multi-junction solar cells are attractive for space applications because they can be designed to convert a larger fraction of AMO into electrical power at a lower cost than single-junction cells. The performance of multi-junction cells is much more sensitive to the spectral irradiance of the illuminating source than single-junction cells. The design of high efficiency multi-junction cells for space applications requires matching the optoelectronic properties of the junctions to AMO spectral irradiance. Unlike single-junction cells, it is not possible to carry out quantum efficiency measurements using only a monochromatic probe beam and determining the cell short-circuit current assuming linearity of the quantum efficiency. Additionally, current-voltage characteristics can not be calculated from measurements under non-AMO light sources using spectral-correction methods. There are reports in the literature on characterizing the performance of multi junction cells by measuring and convoluting the quantum efficiency of each junction with the spectral irradiance; the technique is of limited value for the characterization of cell performance under AMO power-generating conditions. We report the results of research to develop instrumentation and techniques for characterizing multi junction solar cells for space . An integrated system is described which consists of a standard lamp, spectral radiometer, dual-source solar simulator, and personal computer based current-voltage and quantum efficiency equipment. The spectral radiometer is calibrated regularly using the tungsten-halogen standard lamp which has a calibration based on NIST scales. The solar simulator produces the light bias beam for current-voltage and cell quantum efficiency measurements. The calibrated spectral radiometer is used to 'fit' the spectral irradiance of the dual-source solar simulator to WRL AMO data. The quantum efficiency apparatus includes a monochromatic probe beam for measuring the absolute cell quantum efficiency at various voltage biases, including the voltage bias corresponding to the maximum-power point under AMO light bias. The details of the procedures to 'fit' the spectral irradiance to AMO will be discussed. An assessment of the role of the accuracy of the 'fit' of the spectral irradiance and probe beam intensity on measured cell characteristics will be presented. quantum efficiencies were measured with both spectral light bias and AMO light bias; the measurements show striking differences. Spectral irradiances were convoluted with cell quantum efficiencies to calculate cell currents as function of voltage. The calculated currents compare with measured currents at the 1% level. Measurements on a variety of multi-junction cells will be presented. The dependence of defects in junctions on cell quantum efficiencies measured under light and voltage bias conditions will be presented. Comments will be made on issues related to standards for calibration, and limitations of the instrumentation and techniques. Expeditious development of multi-junction solar cell technology for space presents challenges for cell characterization in the laboratory.

Woodyard, James R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

New Generation Power System for Space Applications

The Deep Space Avionics (DSA) Project is developing a new generation of power system building blocks. Using application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and power switching modules a scalable power system can be constructed for use on multiple deep space missions including future missions to Mars, comets, Jupiter and its moons. The key developments of the DSA power system effort are five power ASICs and a mod ule for power switching. These components enable a modular and scalab le design approach, which can result in a wide variety of power syste m architectures to meet diverse mission requirements and environments . Each component is radiation hardened to one megarad) total dose. The power switching module can be used for power distribution to regular spacecraft loads, to propulsion valves and actuation of pyrotechnic devices. The number of switching elements per load, pyrotechnic firin gs and valve drivers can be scaled depending on mission needs. Teleme try data is available from the switch module via an I2C data bus. The DSA power system components enable power management and distribution for a variety of power buses and power system architectures employing different types of energy storage and power sources. This paper will describe each power ASIC#s key performance characteristics as well a s recent prototype test results. The power switching module test results will be discussed and will demonstrate its versatility as a multip urpose switch. Finally, the combination of these components will illu strate some of the possible power system architectures achievable fro m small single string systems to large fully redundant systems.

power switching↗
NASA NTRS1988

Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications

Proceedings of a conference held in Huntsville, Alabama, on November 15-16, 1988. The Fourth Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications brings together diverse technical and scientific work in order to help those who employ AI methods in space applications to identify common goals and to address issues of general interest in the AI community. Topics include the following: space applications of expert systems in fault diagnostics, in telemetry monitoring and data collection, in design and systems integration; and in planning and scheduling; knowledge representation, capture, verification, and management; robotics and vision; adaptive learning; and automatic programming.

Odell, Stephen L.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Space applications of superconductivity

Some potential applications of superconductivity in space are summarized, e.g., the use of high field magnets for cosmic ray analysis or energy storage and generation, space applications of digital superconducting devices, such as the Josephson switch and, in the future, a superconducting computer. Other superconducting instrumentation which could be used in space includes: low frequency superconducting sensors, microwave and infrared detectors, instruments for gravitational studies, and high-Q cavities for use as stabilizing elements in clocks and oscillators.

Sullivan, D. B.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Solid-state Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety (SABERS) for Extended Deep Space Applications

Extended duration deep space missions as well as permanent space habitats face numerous technical challenges, key among them is energy generation and energy storage. There are considerable monetary and technical barriers to the generation of power in space. Therefore, it is important to store and be able to access power in an efficient and safe manner over a large number of cycles. Energy storage and in particular, batteries, are vital to the operation of next-generation extraterrestrial shuttles, rovers, habitats and extravehicular activity (EVA) space suits. The performance metrics for extended duration space missions are at least 2 times greater than those set for terrestrial applications such as electric automobiles. Furthermore, safety is essential for operation of space missions particularly involving astronauts such as shuttles, habitats and EVA space suits. Preliminary systems level analysis has indicated that there are five key properties which must be optimized for successful implementation of battery systems. Those five key criteria are: safety, energy density, power, packaging design and scalability. Current state-of-the-art (SOA) lithium-ion batteries can meet or exceed the requirements for certain space applications in the areas of power and scalability, yet are insufficient in the key performance criteria of energy, safety and packaging design. The SABERS concept proposes a battery that meets all five key performance criteria through development of a solid-state architecture battery utilizing high capacity sulfur-selenium cathode and lithium metal anode. The combination of sulfur and selenium offers a balanced energy-to-power density ratio, which can be tailored to the specific application by altering the stoichiometric ratios of sulfur to selenium. This hybrid cathode will be developed by implementing NASA patented holey graphene technology as a highly conductive, ultra-lightweight electrode scaffold. A solid-state electrolyte will be used as a safe, non-flammable replacement to the highly flammable liquid organic electrolytes currently used in SOA lithium-ion batteries. This solid-state lithium-sulfur/selenium cell will be designed into a serial stacking configuration to enable dense packaging of the battery cells. The serial stacking configuration is termed a bipolar stack, which has the advantages of reducing overall cell weight, simplifying the interfaced connections for the cell, and minimizing the cooling requirements for the cell. Lastly, optimization of battery components will occur through a robust and rigorous combination of various computational modeling techniques covering multiple length scales. The expected result will be a fully solid-state battery with operational temperatures up to 150 °C which provides the required energy density, discharge rates, and inherent safety to meet the strict space mission performance criteria. In particular, the wide operational temperature window is required for the large temperature ranges which are experienced across a broad range of potential space missions. This presentation will show initial results that demonstrate the SABERS team has developed a composite carbon-sulfur cathode which exceeds 1100 Wh/kg at a discharge rate of 0.4C, and 804 Wh/kg at a discharge rate of 1C. Additionally, this presentation will show the SABERS team multiscale computational modeling approach and has produced a novel particle dynamics method called Solid Electrolyte Sphere Approximation Model (SESAM). SESAM is on the 1-10 µm scale and provides electromechanical and grain interactions for predictive design guidelines for the experimental team to follow.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Vehicles↗
NASA NTRS1990

Intelligent tutoring systems for space applications

Artificial Intelligence has been used in many space applications. Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) have only recently been developed for assisting training of space operations and skills. An ITS at Southwest Research Institute is described as an example of an ITS application for space operations, specifically, training console operations at mission control. A distinction is made between critical skills and knowledge versus routine skills. Other ITSs for space are also discussed and future training requirements and potential ITS solutions are described.

Luckhardt-Redfield, Carol A.↗
NASA NTRS1980

LSST system analysis and integration task for an advanced science and application space platform

To support the development of an advanced science and application space platform (ASASP) requirements of a representative set of payloads requiring large separation distances selected from the Science and Applications Space Platform data base. These payloads were a 100 meter diameter atmospheric gravity wave antenna, a 100 meter by 100 meter particle beam injection experiment, a 2 meter diameter, 18 meter long astrometric telescope, and a 15 meter diameter, 35 meter long large ambient deployable IR telescope. A low earth orbit at 500 km altitude and 56 deg inclination was selected as being the best compromise for meeting payload requirements. Platform subsystems were defined which would support the payload requirements and a physical platform concept was developed. Structural system requirements which included utilities accommodation, interface requirements, and platform strength and stiffness requirements were developed. An attitude control system concept was also described. The resultant ASASP concept was analyzed and technological developments deemed necessary in the area of large space systems were recommended.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1978

Survey of university programs in remote sensing funded under grants from the NASA University-Space Applications program

NASA's Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (OSTA) is currently assessing approaches to transferring NASA technology to both the public and private sectors. As part of this assessment, NASA is evaluating the effectiveness of an ongoing program in remote sensing technology transfer conducted by 20 university contractors/grantees, each supported totally or partially by NASA funds. The University-Space Applications program has as its objective the demonstration of practical benefits from the use of remote sensing technology to a broad spectrum of new users, principally in state and local governments. To evaluate the University-Space Applications program, NASA has a near-term requirement for data on each university effort including total funding, funding sources, length of program, program description, and effectiveness measures.

Madigan, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Space applications of superconductivity - Microwave and infrared detectors

This is the fifth of a seven part series on the potential applications of superconductivity in space. The potential of superconducting microwave and infrared detectors for space applications is reviewed. The devices considered include bolometers, super-Schottky diodes and Josephson junctions operating as oscillators, mixers, and parametric amplifiers. In each case the description includes the physical mechanism, theoretical limits and the current state of the art for the superconducting device as well as its nonsuperconducting competitors.

Hamilton, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Arrays for space applications

Concepts that were studied for application in space based radar (SBR) systems are presented. These antenna systems were for low earth orbit and require large fields of view (FOV). The systems included both space-fed and corporate-fed arrays.

Schuman, Harvey K.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Potential Challenges in Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy for Space Applications

Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) also called scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) is now well accepted as a powerful tool for sub-wavelength (nanoscale in the optical region) spatial resolution microscopy and a large number of related tasks. The importance lies in the fact of strategic advantages of standard microscopy but with significantly enhanced resolution. Since many modern optical diagnostic techniques have found useful applications in space, it is logical to consider the future role of NSOM in such situations. For example, protein crystal growth study under microgravity conditions is a valid candidate. If applied successfully, processes at molecular level can be studied during the growth. NSOM has already been demonstrated to be useful for the study of such crystals here on earth. The basic principle of NSOM can be illustrated. The illumination-collection mode is shown although several other possible approaches exist. In this, the sample is illuminated and the light from the sample is collected through the same tiny aperture opening. A tapered optical fiber is scanned near the sample surface. The tip is coated generally with a metal with a sub-wavelength aperture opening. The tip-sample distance is maintained constant while scanning. Thus, the optical signal available for collection is generally a function of the optical properties of the sample surface. Since the aperture is sub-wavelength in diameter and the tip is held very close (again in the sub-wavelength domain) to the surface, the lateral resolution in the sub-wavelength domain is obtained. Thus, the typical wavelength- order resolution of ordinary microscopy can be significantly enhanced while maintaining the strategic advantages (no need of sample in vacuum chamber, electron beams, etc). Commercial NSOM systems play a key role in the success and widespread acceptance of the tool. These commercial systems work fairly well in laboratory conditions on earth. However, they may not be deployed on a space mission as such with comparable outcome. In this communication we discuss several potential problems and some possible solutions.

Vikram, Chandra S.↗
NASA NTRS1990

An electronically tuned, stable 8415 MHz dielectric resonator FET oscillator for space applications

A voltage-controlled 8415-MHz FET oscillator stabilized by a dielectric resonator is described. The oscillator provides over 3.2-MHz linear electronic tuning range with a flat power output equal to +1.8 dBm (27 C, nominal), a single-sideband noise-to-carrier ratio of -68 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz off carrier, and a frequency-temperature coefficient of 0.54 parts per million/C over a -24 C to 75 C range. The oscillator withstood 150 Krads (Si) of gamma radiation with no significant performance degradation. The overall performance of the FET oscillator is far superior in many ways to that of an equivalent bipolar oscillator for space applications. For space applications, the FET dielectric resonator oscillator (DRO) is preferred over bipolar DRO because of its lower DC power consumption, better thermal frequency stability, linear electronic tunability, and higher RF output power capability.

Mysoor, Narayan R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

High performance flight computer developed for deep space applications

The development of an advanced space flight computer for real time embedded deep space applications which embodies the lessons learned on Galileo and modern computer technology is described. The requirements are listed and the design implementation that meets those requirements is described. The development of SPACE-16 (Spaceborne Advanced Computing Engine) (where 16 designates the databus width) was initiated to support the MM2 (Marine Mark 2) project. The computer is based on a radiation hardened emulation of a modern 32 bit microprocessor and its family of support devices including a high performance floating point accelerator. Additional custom devices which include a coprocessor to improve input/output capabilities, a memory interface chip, and an additional support chip that provide management of all fault tolerant features, are described. Detailed supporting analyses and rationale which justifies specific design and architectural decisions are provided. The six chip types were designed and fabricated. Testing and evaluation of a brass/board was initiated.

Bunker, Robert L.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Organic flip chip reliability study for space applications

The current state-of-the-art flip chip packages for space applications are the class-Y non-hermetic ceramic packages, whereas for commercial applications, organic packages have been the mainstream technology for about two decades. The high reliability of the class-Y parts suggests that the hermeticity is not critical for the reliability of flip chip devices and that organic flip chip packages could be reliable enough for space applications. The current report summarizes the result of collaboration between JPL and Cobham semiconductor space solutions to study the reliability of the organic flip chip packages.

Measmer, Rich↗
NASA NTRS1989

A survey of advanced battery systems for space applications

The results of a survey on advanced secondary battery systems for space applications are presented. Fifty-five battery experts from government, industry and universities participated in the survey by providing their opinions on the use of several battery types for six space missions, and their predictions of likely technological advances that would impact the development of these batteries. The results of the survey predict that only four battery types are likely to exceed a specific energy of 150 Wh/kg and meet the safety and reliability requirements for space applications within the next 15 years.

Attia, Alan I.↗