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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 721 records · Page 40
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2012

MicroProbe Small Unmanned Aerial System

The MicroProbe unmanned aerial system (UAS) concept incorporates twin electric motors mounted on the vehicle wing, thus enabling an aerodynamically and environmentally clean nose area for atmospheric sensors. A payload bay is also incorporated in the fuselage to accommodate remote sensing instruments. A key feature of this concept is lightweight construction combined with low flying speeds to minimize kinetic energy and associated hazards, as well as maximizing spatial resolution. This type of aerial platform is needed for Earth science research and environmental monitoring. There were no vehicles of this type known to exist previously.

Bland, Geoffrey↗
NASA NTRS2014

Enabling Future Low-Cost Small Spacecraft Mission Concepts Using Small Radioisotope Power Systems

For more than five decades, Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) have played a critical role in the exploration of space, enabling missions of scientific discovery to destinations across the solar system by providing electrical power to explore remote and challenging environments - some of the hardest to reach, darkest, and coldest locations in the solar system. In particular, RPS has met the demand of many long-duration mission concepts for continuous power to conduct science investigations independent of change in sunlight or variations in surface conditions like shadows, thick clouds, or dust.

Lee, Young H.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Optical Geolocation for Small Unmanned Aerial Systems

This paper presents an airborne optical geolocation system using four optical targets to provide position and attitude estimation for a sUAS supporting the NASA Acoustic Research Mission (ARM), where the goal is to reduce nuisance airframe noise during approach and landing. A large precision positioned microphone array captures the airframe noise for multiple passes of a Gulfstream III aircraft. For health monitoring of the microphone array, the Acoustic Calibration Vehicle (ACV) sUAS completes daily flights with an onboard speaker emitting tones at frequencies optimized for determining microphone functionality. An accurate position estimate of the ACV relative to the array is needed for microphone health monitoring. To this end, an optical geolocation system using a downward facing camera mounted to the ACV was developed. The 3D positioning of the ACV is computed using the pinhole camera model. A novel optical geolocation algorithm first detects the targets, then a recursive algorithm tightens the localization of the targets. Finally, the position of the sUAS is computed using the image coordinates of the targets, the 3D world coordinates of the targets, and the camera matrix. A Real-Time Kinematic GPS system is used to compare the optical geolocation system.

Dolph, Chester V.↗
NASA NTRS2024

High Density Vertiplex - Scalable Autonomous Operations - Flight Test Report

This Technical Memorandum describes the approach taken within the High Density Vertiplex Project to perform rapid prototyping and assessment of the UAM Ecosystem including representative: Onboard Autonomous Systems, Ground Control and Fleet Management Systems, Airspace Management Systems, and Vertiport Automation Systems (VAS). Small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS) were employed as effective low risk and inexpensive surrogates for larger proposed UAM aircraft to accelerate the prototyping effort, ensure safety, greatly mitigate costs, and accelerate progress. Flight testing performed included multivehicle operations where usability Human Factors (HF) data was collected on the operators.

Jacob Schaefer↗