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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

The Effects of Spaceflight on Cellular Aging in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The conditions encountered during spaceflight place unique stresses on physiological processes that oftentimes lead to deleterious effects. Identifying these effects and better understanding their molecular mechanisms will be essential in enabling long-duration space travel by humans. Studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae suggest an aging model that involves the accumulation of toxic components, such as excess extrachromosomal rDNA and damaged mitochondria. This build-up then limits the replicative lifespan (the number of times a mother cell can form a new daughter cell). Remarkably, each new daughter cell emerges completely renewed from the senescing mother cell through an asymmetric distribution of aging determinants via mechanisms that are intricately linked to the budding process. When exposed to simulated microgravity, S. cerevisiae undergoes an altered budding process characterized by a breakdown in bud scar polarity. Because the budding process is critical to replicative aging, we hypothesize that the replicative lifespan may be affected by microgravity as well. To measure relative replicative aging rates, we will construct a strain of yeast in which daughter cells are inviable. In this strain, the Cre recombinase will be expressed under the control of the daughter cell specific promoter, pSCW11, and LoxP sites will be inserted at both flanks of two essential genes involved in the cell cycle, UBC9 and CDC20, using a CRISPRCas9 system. Thus, UBC9 and CDC20 will be excised from daughter cells, leading to cell-cycle arrest and eventual death. To mimic the low shear conditions encountered in microgravity, this strain will be grown in rotating wall vessels. The number of viable mother cells will be monitored over time, and this rate will be compared to cells growing in standard conditions. Because asymmetric division also occurs in mammalian cells (e.g. in neural stem cells), this study will provide insight into how cellular aging rates may change in mammals and will help empower humans to thrive in space for extended and even indefinite periods of time.

aging↗

The future low-temperature geochemical data-scape as envisioned by the U.S. geochemical community

Data sharing benefits the researcher, the scientific community, and the public by allowing the impact of data to be generalized beyond one project and by making science more transparent. However, many scientific communities have not developed protocols or standards for publishing, citing, and versioning datasets. One community that lags in data management is that of low-temperature geochemistry (LTG). This paper resulted from an initiative from 2018 through 2020 to convene LTG and data scientists in the U.S. to strategize future management of LTG data. Through webinars, a workshop, a preprint, a townhall, and a community survey, the group of U.S. scientists discussed the landscape of data management for LTG – the data-scape. Currently this data-scape includes a “street bazaar” of data repositories. This was deemed appropriate in the same way that LTG scientists publish articles in many journals. The variety of data repositories and journals reflect that LTG scientists target many different scientific questions, produce data with extremely different structures and volumes, and utilize copious and complex metadata. Nonetheless, the group agreed that publication of LTG science must be accompanied by sharing of data in publicly accessible repositories, and, for sample-based data, registration of samples with globally unique persistent identifiers. LTG scientists should use certified data repositories that are either highly structured databases designed for specialized types of data, or unstructured generalized data systems. Recognizing the need for tools to enable search and cross-referencing across the proliferating data repositories, the group proposed that the overall data informatics paradigm in LTG should shift from “build data repository, data will come” to “publish data online, cybertools will find”. Funding agencies could also provide portals for LTG scientists to register funded projects and datasets, and forge approaches that cross national boundaries. Finally, the needed transformation of the LTG data culture requires emphasis in student education on science and management of data.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Distributed Inference with Sparse and Quantized Communication

Here, we consider the problem of distributed inference where agents in a network observe a stream of private signals generated by an unknown state, and aim to uniquely identify this state from a finite set of hypotheses. We focus on scenarios where communication between agents is costly, and takes place over channels with finite bandwidth. To reduce the frequency of communication, we develop a novel event-triggered distributed learning rule that is based on the principle of diffusing low beliefs on each false hypothesis. Building on this principle, we design a trigger condition under which an agent broadcasts only those components of its belief vector that have adequate innovation, to only those neighbors that require such information. We prove that our rule guarantees convergence to the true state exponentially fast almost surely despite sparse communication, and that it has the potential to significantly reduce information flow from uninformative agents to informative agents. Next, to deal with finite-precision communication channels, we propose a distributed learning rule that leverages the idea of adaptive quantization. We show that by sequentially refining the range of the quantizers, every agent can learn the truth exponentially fast almost surely, while using just 1 bit to encode its belief on each hypothesis. For both our proposed algorithms, we rigorously characterize the trade-offs between communication-efficiency and the learning rate.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Gulf of Mexico Offshore Wind Transmission - Literature Review and Gaps Analysis: Environmental Considerations, Community Readiness, and Infrastructure

The ability to effectively and efficiently connect offshore wind energy resources to end users in the Gulf of Mexico, requires coordinated transmission planning to ensure that electric transmission facilities can adequately support future offshore development. The Gulf of Mexico has substantial wind resources in both shallow shelf waters and deeper waters off the shelf where fixed bottom and floating wind technologies would be most appropriate. Most interest in offshore wind development to date has been in the central and western portions of the Gulf of Mexico (Louisiana and Texas) in federal and state waters. As a companion study to other federal activities in the offshore wind transmission space, including the Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis, the Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study, the West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis, the West Coast Offshore Wind Transmission Study, and the Advancing Offshore Wind Energy in the United States: U. S. Department of Energy Strategic Contributions Toward 30 Gigawatts and Beyond Report, this literature review and gaps analysis for offshore wind transmission in the Gulf of Mexico builds off previous literature reviews and supports the role of federal leadership to facilitate offshore wind energy. The overarching goal of this document is to identify gaps and lay the groundwork to inform coordinated transmission planning, ocean co-use, existing energy infrastructure, and siting associated with offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico. There are unique regional considerations for offshore wind transmission, which are summarized herein based on a review and assessment of publicly available information.

08 HYDROGEN↗

A domain-specific design architecture for composite material design and aircraft part redesign

Advanced composites have been targeted as a 'leapfrog' technology that would provide a unique global competitive position for U.S. industry. Composites are unique in the requirements for an integrated approach to designing, manufacturing, and marketing of products developed utilizing the new materials of construction. Numerous studies extending across the entire economic spectrum of the United States from aerospace to military to durable goods have identified composites as a 'key' technology. In general there have been two approaches to composite construction: build models of a given composite materials, then determine characteristics of the material via numerical simulation and empirical testing; and experience-directed construction of fabrication plans for building composites with given properties. The first route sets a goal to capture basic understanding of a device (the composite) by use of a rigorous mathematical model; the second attempts to capture the expertise about the process of fabricating a composite (to date) at a surface level typically expressed in a rule based system. From an AI perspective, these two research lines are attacking distinctly different problems, and both tracks have current limitations. The mathematical modeling approach has yielded a wealth of data but a large number of simplifying assumptions are needed to make numerical simulation tractable. Likewise, although surface level expertise about how to build a particular composite may yield important results, recent trends in the KBS area are towards augmenting surface level problem solving with deeper level knowledge. Many of the relative advantages of composites, e.g., the strength:weight ratio, is most prominent when the entire component is designed as a unitary piece. The bottleneck in undertaking such unitary design lies in the difficulty of the re-design task. Designing the fabrication protocols for a complex-shaped, thick section composite are currently very difficult. It is in fact this difficulty that our research will address.

Punch, W. F., III↗

Reducing Energy Use and Making Energy More Efficient in the Native Village of Kiana (Final Technical Report)

The goal of the Remote Alaska Community Energy Efficiency (RACEE) Competition was to advance the implementation of affordable, resilient, and clean energy-efficient solutions for remote Alaska communities. RACEE assisted Kiana with its unique challenges, mostly the remote nature of their location paired with the harsh temperatures and isolated electrical grid resulting in high energy costs. In addition to the assistance from DOE, the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) provided direct technical assistance to RACEE recipients throughout their projects. Before Kiana started work, AEA conducted energy audits in public buildings and facilities to identify which energy measures would be most effective for the community’s energy goals.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Models for Facilitating Government-Funded Activities in the Post-ISS LEO Ecosystem

The International Space Station National Lab (ISSNL) was established through Congressional authority in 2005 and has been managed by a nonprofit called the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) since 2011 to support research, development, education, and commercial activities in low-Earth orbit (LEO). NASA leadership is considering next steps for microgravity and orbital activities in LEO in preparation for the retirement of the International Space Station (ISS) and transition to Commercial LEO Destinations (CLDs) in the 2030 timeframe. Specifically, our study team within the NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy addressed the question: What are potential models for an ISS National Lab facilitating government-funded or subsidized activities on a commercial LEO platform after the transition of the ISS to one or more private platforms? To inform the trade space of potential models, we conducted over 40 discussions with stakeholders internal and external to NASA and reviewed over 35 documents related to LEO legislation, commercialization, models, and activities. Following the extensive literature review and discussions with diverse stakeholders, we defined and evaluated six models, in addition to the current ISSNL model. We assessed each model across three possible future scenarios (dynamic, steady, and limited growth of the commercial LEO market and activities) and across five stakeholder-driven model evaluation criteria (ability to meet NASA’s needs, adaptability, opportunity for collaboration, market sustainability, and equity and accessibility). The six models in the future trade space were: • Government Research Broker: Customizable research efforts on transport vehicles and CLDs • Innovation Campus: Modern terrestrial campus with workforce focus • Anchor Tenant: Long-term, substantial agreement for leasing space on a single CLD • Fee for Service: Free market approach with NASA-sponsored grants and service/data buys • Matchmaker: Neutral third-party connecting users to platforms • Institute Network: Network of separate but related efforts to enable commercial scaling The Government Research Broker model performed best across the scenarios, followed by Innovation Campus, Anchor Tenant, and Fee for Service. While Matchmaker and Institute Network exhibited positive aspects, the two models performed most favorably in future scenarios with well-established communities and markets. The six models presented in this study are representative of the potential trade space and are illustrative examples. NASA leadership can adjust models as desired to align to their priorities more closely by using combinations of the unique model features provided in our analysis. The optimal model is likely a combination of features from multiple models. Building upon this work to best position NASA and the diverse stakeholders of LEO activities for success post-ISS, further work will explore the near-term impact of preparing for the transition of the ISS to CLDs by identifying opportunities for modifying the current ISSNL-CASIS partnership. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank the many reviewers and discussants, internal and external to NASA, that contributed to the work.

Erica Rodgers↗

Aggregate attack surface management for network discovery of operational technology

Interconnectivity has become a substratum of technology as the benefits of data-driven functionality are being realized in nearly all industries. Increased connectivity of Operational Technology (OT) exacerbates cyber risks because Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are becoming exposed to the Internet. These exposures are often done inadvertently through misconfigurations as additional network devices come online. Attack surface management (ASM) platforms can be used to identify vulnerabilities by performing external network discovery over the Internet using web spiders. These web spiders enable big data analytics of Internet of Things (IoT) devices as identifiable information of Internet-exposed equipment are archived in searchable databases that are made publicly available. There are a multitude of ASM service providers on the market. Here, this study was conducted to evaluate several commonly known tools to determine the aggregate attack surface of control systems. Queries were crafted by targeting commonly known manufacturers and communication protocols found in OT networks. Identified devices were that categorized based on technology types. Each query was replicated between several tools to target identical ICS equipment. Findings in this paper suggested a significant variance in the exposures discovered by each tool, but unique contributions were identified for each tool when a merged attack surface was derived. Therefore, all tools should be used in aggregate.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

History and Logic Model NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Instrument and Payload Systems Engineering Technical Performance Study

Historically, some NASA missions have exceeded schedule and cost commitments. Studies suggest technical performance is a contributor. The 1980 NASA Project Management Study concluded, "one of the most significant contributors to cost and schedule growth is inadequate definition of technical and management aspects of a program..." (as cited in GAO/NSIAD-93-97, p. 11). The 1991 NASA Roles and Missions Report identified a "need for increased emphasis on technological readiness and requirements on the front end of a program" (as cited in GAO/NSIAD-93-97, p. 11). The 1992 NASA Program Costs Report stated that NASA officials identified, among other things, "insufficient definition studies... [and] program redesigns and technical complexities" as reasons for cost and schedule overruns (GAO/NSAID-93-97, p. 11). The 2002 Task Force on Acquisition of National Security Space Programs found "requirements definition and control issues, unhealthy cost bias in proposal evaluation, widespread lack of budget reserves required to implement high risk programs on schedule, and an overall underappreciation of the importance of appropriately staffed and trained system engineering staff to manage the technologically demanding and unique aspects of space programs" (DoD, 2003, p.i.) In 2007, The NASA Office of the Chief Engineer chartered the NASA Instrument Capability Study (NICS) “to determine whether NASA instrument developers are facing challenges that impact the capability to design and build quality instruments or whether there are flaws in the acquisition strategy evidenced by schedule delays, cost overruns, and increased technical risk via design deficiencies. The... team was also chartered to determine if occurrences [are]... isolated cases or if there are generic issues... If the issues [are] found to be generic, the team [is] to offer solutions to recover such capability" (NICS Report, 2008, p. vi). The 2008 NICS Report, led by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), identified challenges to instrument technical performance consistent with findings from previous reports. In 2017, the Instrument Project Division (IPD) Implementation Study was initiated to determine if there was a change in meeting schedule and cost commitments after implementing certain NICS recommendations. In 2018, the Instrument Technical Performance Study was initiated to determine the current state of Instrument Technical Performance in the GSFC Payload & Instrument Systems Engineering Branch. The purpose of the combined studies is to answer the question, "Is there a relationship between meeting NASA scientific instrument technical success and meeting schedule and cost commitments? If yes, what is the relationship?" References Department of Defense Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. (2003). The report of the defense science board/ air force scientific advisory board joint task force on acquisition of national security space programs. Washington DC. Government Accounting Office. (1992). NASA program costs: Space missions require substantially more funding than initially estimated. GAO/NSIAD-93-97. Washington DC. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, Department of Defense. (2008). The NASA instrument capability study final report. NP-2008-11-058-GSFC. Washington DC.

Robbins, Geraldine↗

Development of Biofuel and Bioenergy Processes for Photosynthetic CO 2 Assimilation (CRADA Final Report)

In order to fully exploit algae carbon assimilation for fuels, a preqrequisite is high photosynthetic efficiency and carbon conversion to fuel precursors. In the context of this collaborative project between NLR and EMRE we aim to address aspects of both the biological constraints around photosynthesis-driven carbon assimilation flux as well as elements that bridge the gap between laboratory cultivation and meaningful outdoor deployment, building on the unique capabilities of NLR and EMRE’s algae bioengineering teams. The goal of this work is to improve our understanding of key cellular biochemistry, mass cultivation, and biomass conversion constraints that presently limit the potential bio-oil yield. The proposed first phase of this work will focus on biomass growth improvements by testing hypotheses for alleviating identified metabolic and photophysiological bottlenecks. The results of this work could inform decisions by stakeholders (e.g., industry, community, investors) on the design and deployment of a sustainable biofuel supply chain from algae.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Dependable classical-quantum computing systems engineering

Increasing evidence suggests quantum computing (QC) complements traditional High-Performance Computing (HPC) by leveraging its unique capabilities, leading to the emergence of a new, hybrid paradigm, QHPC. However, this integration introduces new challenges, with dependability–defined by reproducibility, resiliency, and security and privacy–emerging as a central concern for building trustworthy systems that provide an advantage to the users. This paper proposes a framework for dependable QHPC system design, organized around these three pillars. We identify integration challenges, anticipate roadblocks, and highlight productive synergies across QC, HPC, cloud platforms, and network security. Drawing from both classical computing principles and quantum-specific insights, we present a roadmap for co-design that supports robust hybrid architectures. Our approach offers concrete metrics for assessing dependability, provides design guidance for engineers working at the QC-HPC interface, and surfaces new engineering questions around complexity, scale, and fault tolerance. Ultimately, designing for dependability is key to realizing practical, scalable QHPC systems and accelerating the broader quantum ecosystem capable of translating quantum promises into actual application delivery.

HPC↗

NASA Electronic Library System (NELS) database schema, version 1.2

The database tables used by NELS version 1.2 are discussed. To provide the current functional capability offered by NELS, nineteen tables were created with ORACLE. Each table lists the ORACLE table name and provides a brief description of the tables intended use or function. The following sections cover four basic categories of tables: NELS object classes, NELS collections, NELS objects, and NELS supplemental tables. Also included in each section is a definition and/or relationship of each field to other fields or tables. The primary key(s) for each table is indicated with a single asterisk (*), while foreign keys are indicated with double asterisks (**). The primary key(s) indicate the key(s) which uniquely identifies a record for that table. The foreign key(s) is used to identify additional information in other table(s) for that record. The two appendices are the command which is used to construct the ORACLE tables for NELS. Appendix A contains the commands which create the tables which are defined in the following sections. Appendix B contains the commands which build the indices for these tables.

Melebeck, Clovis J.↗

Designing to Sample the Unknown: Lessons from OSIRIS-REx Project Systems Engineering

On September 8, 2016, the third NASA New Frontiers mission launched on an Atlas V 411. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) will rendezvous with asteroid Bennu in 2018, collect a sample in 2020, and return that sample to Earth in September 2023. The development team has overcome a number of challenges in order to design and build a system that will make contact with an unexplored, airless, low-gravity body. This paper will provide an overview of the mission, then focus in on the system-level challenges and some of the key system-level processes. Some of the lessons here are unique to the type of mission, like discussion of operating at a largely-unknown, low-gravity object. Other lessons, particularly from the build phase, have broad implications. The OSIRIS-REx risk management process was particularly effective in achieving an on-time and under-budget development effort. The systematic requirements management and verification and the system validation also helped identify numerous potential problems. The final assessment of the OSIRIS-REx performance will need to wait until the sample is returned in 2023, but this post-launch assessment will capture some of the key systems-engineering lessons from the development team.

Asteroid↗

Zero Energy Ready Out of the Box

In this conference paper for the ASHRAE Buildings XV conference, December 2022, PNNL staff share key metrics for companies who are combining off site construction with certification to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Home program to create homes that are both cost effective to construct and high performance to live in. Key performance metrics and measures for modular, panelized, and SIP homes are compared against all homes in the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home program and against new homes built to code. These metrics show that off-site construction homes got similar or better energy performance to site-built homes, and in the case of modular and panelized, at considerably lower average cost than site-built homes. The paper also highlights the experiences of two DOE Zero Energy Ready Home builders who employ offsite construction methods. One builder constructs production homes using pre-assembled panels. The other builder designs and ships kit homes all over the United States. The paper will focus on the optimum value engineering aspects of the panelized construction processes used by each builder to identify management and production practices employed by the builders to operate profitably while meeting high energy performance goals, despite a year marked by skyrocketing materials costs and supply chain and labor shortages. Cost and labor savings methods will be discussed in the context of these two unique business models.

U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Pr↗

Development of Directed Energy Deposited NASA HR-1 to Optimize Properties for Liquid Rocket Engine Applications

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) processes have been demonstrated to be effective at reducing costs and lead times associated with fabrication of complex propulsion component designs. Laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) is a metal AM technology that has effectively been used to produce a variety of parts for liquid rocket engine applications. The LP-DED technology has enabled new designs and materials for these applications. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has identified the need to develop and advance new materials in unique engine applications such as hydrogen environments. One such metal alloy being developed for these applications is NASA HR-1. A high-strength Fe-Ni based superalloy, NASA HR-1 was designed to resist high pressure hydrogen environment embrittlement, oxidation, and corrosion. Enabled by LP-DED, NASA HR-1 has completed build and heat treatment optimization, characterization, mechanical and thermophysical testing, and hot-fire testing to demonstrate its capability as an alloy used in liquid rocket engine applications. The evolution of the alloy through material characterization analysis and mechanical testing results from development and optimization efforts will be presented.

additive manufacturing↗

Risk-Informed Approach for Event Selection and Component Classification

Develop a report summarizing a structured approach for the incorporation of risk insights when making facility safety assessments and regulatory decisions is proposed to supplement the deterministic approach, with the following expected benefits: Increased confidence that key safety issues have been fully identified and addressed Better understanding of safety margins Facilitates more structured dialogue among international regulators Reduced reliance on “expert judgement” through a rigorous, pre-defined process with more predictable outcomes Proposed outcome is development of a report summarizing the structure and key considerations for applying this approach that: Is inclusive of advanced reactor technologies Provides for flexible implementation recognizing unique and varying sovereign regulatory structures Builds upon existing/current GIF safety approaches (e.g., GIF Basic Safety Approach, Integrated Safety Assessment Methodology)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Towards generic memory forensic framework for programmable logic controllers

A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is a microprocessor-based controller that is used to automate physical processes in critical infrastructure and various other industries and manufacturing sectors. Initially, PLCs were completely isolated from the Internet, and cyber security was not incorporated at the time of development. The introduction of industry 4.0 and the evolution of ICS systems to communicate over public IP addresses from the Internet enhanced productivity and efficiency, but Internet connectivity exposed the systems and their vulnerabilities, which led to an increase in cyber attacks. When a system is sabotaged/compromised, security analysts need to get to the root cause of the attack as quickly as possible to recover the system. To do so, memory forensic analysis is critical to provide a unique insight into the run-time memory activities and extract a reliable source of evidence. In this paper, we analyze the memory structure of the Schneider Electric Modicon M221 PLC. To build a memory profile, we reverse engineer the communication protocol and conduct differential analysis to gain knowledge about the structure of the memory and the low-level representation of control logic instructions. We then identify dynamic and static memory regions by modifying different project fields and conducting differential analysis, which allows us to identify boundaries of critical memory structures and extract important forensic artifacts that can be found in the memory. The Python implementation of the memory profile can help reduce the time and effort required for manual analysis in case of cyber incident or system failure.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

New Insights into the Heterogeneity of the Tagish Lake Meteorite: Soluble Organic Compositions of Variously Altered Specimens

The Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrite exhibits a unique compositional heterogeneity that may be attributed to varying degrees of aqueous alteration within the parent body asteroid. Previous analyses of soluble organic compounds from four Tagish Lake meteorite specimens (TL5b, TL11h, TL11i, TL11v) identified distinct distributions and isotopic compositions that appeared to be linked to their degree of parent body processing (Herd et al. 2011; Glavin et al. 2012; Hilts et al. 2014). In the present study, we build upon these initial observations and evaluate the molecular distribution of amino acids, aldehydes and ketones, monocarboxylic acids, and aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, including compound‐specific δ13C compositions, for three additional Tagish Lake specimens: TL1, TL4, and TL10a. TL1 contains relatively high abundances of soluble organics and appears to be a moderately altered specimen, similar to the previously analyzed TL5b and TL11h lithologies. In contrast, specimens TL4 and TL10a both contain relatively low abundances of all of the soluble organic compound classes measured, similar to TL11i and TL11v. The organic‐depleted composition of TL4 appears to have resulted from a relatively low degree of parent body aqueous alteration. In the case of TL10a, some unusual properties (e.g., the lack of detection of intrinsic monocarboxylic acids and aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons) suggest that it has experienced extensive alteration and/or a distinct organic‐depleted alteration history. Collectively, these varying compositions provide valuable new insights into the relationships between asteroidal aqueous alteration and the synthesis and preservation of soluble organic compounds.

Tagish Lake↗