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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 sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1978

Design of a low cost earth resources system

The author has identified the following significant results. Survey results indicated that users of remote sensing data in the Southeastern U.S. were increasingly turning to digital processing techniques. All the states surveyed have had some involvement in projects using digitally processed data. Even those states which do not yet have in-house capabilities for digital processing were extremely interested in and were planning to develop such capabilities.

Faust, N. L.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Geometric registration and rectification of spaceborne SAR imagery

This paper describes the development of automated location and geometric rectification techniques for digitally processed synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. A software package has been developed that is capable of determining the absolute location of an image pixel to within 60 m using only the spacecraft ephemeris data and the characteristics of the SAR data collection and processing system. Based on this location capability algorithms have been developed that geometrically rectify the imagery, register it to a common coordinate system and mosaic multiple frames to form extended digital SAR maps. These algorithms have been optimized using parallel processing techniques to minimize the operating time. Test results are given using Seasat SAR data.

Curlander, J. C.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Intelligent Engine Systems

A high bypass jet engine fan case represents one of the largest, heaviest single components in an engine. In addition to supporting the inlet and providing the fan flowpath, the most critical function is the containment of a failed fan blade. In this development program, a lightweight, low-cost composite containment case with diagnostic capabilities was developed, fabricated, and tested. The fan case design, containment methods, and diagnostic concepts evaluated in the initial Propulsion 21 program were improved and scaled up to a full case design.

Xie, Ming↗

NASA NTRS2015

Potential Mission Scenarios Post Asteroid Crewed Mission

A deep-space mission has been proposed to identify and redirect an asteroid to a distant retrograde orbit around the moon, and explore it by sending a crew using the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft. The Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission (ARCM), which represents the third segment of the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), could be performed on EM-3 or EM-4 depending on asteroid return date. Recent NASA studies have raised questions on how we could progress from current Human Space Flight (HSF) efforts to longer term human exploration of Mars. This paper will describe the benefits of execution of the ARM as the initial stepping stone towards Mars exploration, and how the capabilities required to send humans to Mars could be built upon those developed for the asteroid mission. A series of potential interim missions aimed at developing such capabilities will be described, and the feasibility of such mission manifest will be discussed. Options for the asteroid crewed mission will also be addressed, including crew size and mission duration.

Lopez, Pedro, Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Unlocking the Commercial Value of NASA Technology Investments

Success in executing NASA's ambitious aerospace missions requires solutions to difficult technical challenges that build on proven capabilities, as well as development of new capabilities. Early and continuous investments in aeronautics over 76 years in Cleveland at NASA Glenn have led to Ohio being the number one supplier to both Boeing and Airbus. New technologies that NASA Glenn is working on, the Center's efforts to engage US industry in the global space exploration efforts, and ways GRC is leading spin-offs of NASA IP are enabling new industries from clean water technologies to biomedical applications.

Innovation↗

NASA NTRS1996

Technology Capability Needs of Future Earth Science Missions

Technology capability needs for future Earth science space missions have been collected as an input to NASA's New Millenium Program. Candidate technologies to meet these capability needs have been identified and a set of candidate mission architectures developed. This paper describes the process that was used to develop the capability needs and lists the needs that resulted from that process.

New↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effect of anisotropic mesh adaptation on surface pressure predictions for atmospheric entry simulations.

Recently, a metric-based mesh adaptation capability has been developed for the advanced compressible flow solver US3D. Metric-based mesh adaptation is a solution informed mesh adaptation strategy that typically improves the resolution of the mesh along anisotropic flow features, like strong shock waves or shear layers. An anisotropic error indicator is reconstructed based on a provided Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solution which prescribes the locally desired element size and orientation. The benefits of this mesh adaptation strategy is twofold: first, it simplifies the manual meshing labor that typically needs to be carried out by the CFD engineer because the mesh adaptation is informed by the provided solution. Second, the computational cost is kept to a minimum while improving the resolution of the simulation. The aim here is to demonstrate how anisotropic mesh adaptation can be employed to improve the predictions of surface pressure for atmospheric entry vehicles. In this work, we compare CFD simulations that use this newly developed anisotropic mesh adaptation capability for US3D with pressure data that was collected by Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) during the atmospheric entry phase of Mars2020.

D. Ekelschot↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effect of Anisotropic Mesh Adaptation on Surface Pressure Predictions for Atmospheric Entry Simulations

A metric-based mesh adaptation capability has been developed for the advanced compressible flow solver US3D. Metric-based mesh adaptation is a solution informed mesh adaptation strategy that improves the resolution of the mesh along anisotropic flow features, like strong shock waves or shear layers. An anisotropic error indicator is reconstructed based on a provided Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solution which prescribes the locally desired element size and orientation. The benefits of this mesh adaptation strategy is twofold: first, it simplifies the manual meshing labor that typically needs to be carried out by the CFD engineer because the mesh adaptation is informed by the provided solution. Second, the computational cost is kept to a minimum while improving the resolution of the simulation. The aim here is to demonstrate how anisotropic mesh adaptation can be employed to improve the predictions of surface pressure for atmospheric entry vehicles. In this work, we compare CFD simulations that use this newly developed anisotropic mesh adaptation capability for US3D with pressure data that was collected by Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI2) suite.

Dirk Ekelschot↗

NASA NTRS1994

The Moon as a way station for planetary exploration

The Moon can be on the pathway to the exploration of other planets in the solar system in three distinct ways: science, systems and technology experience, and as a fuel depot. The most important of these from the point of view of near term potential is to provide systems and technology development that increases capability and reduces the cost and risk of Mars exploration. The development of capability for a lunar program, if planned properly, can significantly influence strategies for sending humans to Mars. In conclusion, the exploration of the Moon should come before the exploration of Mars. This is a statement of developmental and operational logic that is almost self evident. Technological advancement could, however, make a different strategy reasonable. Principally, the development of a propulsion capability that could substantially reduce round trip mission times to Mars (to say 6 to 12 months) could eliminate much of the argument that the Moon is an essential stepping stone. This would reduce the problem to one of similitude with current space station program concepts. However, for any reasonably near term program, such technology does not appear likely to be available. Thus, the answer remains that lunar exploration should come first, and the expectation that it will make Mars exploration much more affordable and safe. The use of lunar propellant in an Earth-Mars transportation system is not practical with current propulsion systems; however, the discovery of caches of water ice at a lunar pole could change considerably the strategy for utilization of lunar resources in planetary exploration.

Duke, M. B.↗

DOE OSTI2020

The Future of LANSCE [Slides]

LANSCE is a NNSA Center for Materials and Nuclear Research. An aging stockpile presents unique challenges in materials and nuclear science. The grand challenge of a predictive materials capability includes design to manufacture and born certified. This requires capability to study manufacture to structure relationships and capability to study structure to performance relationships. LANSCE has the capabilities needed for this mission. We leverage our capability to provide broader benefit to the Nation including production of medical isotopes, industrial irradiation facility for electronics certification, and fundamental materials and physics research. The LANSCE linear accelerator is nearly 50 years old. The severity of maintenance issues is increasing. We must reinvest in LANSCE to ensure mission delivery into the future. We must develop new capability to be responsive to changing mission needs. Ultimately this will require a Dynamic Mesoscale Materials Science Capability. Now we must develop a pathway to MaRIE that ensures continued operation of LANSCE.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

NASA NTRS2015

The NASA Auralization Framework and Plugin Architecture

NASA has a long history of investigating human response to aircraft flyover noise and in recent years has developed a capability to fully auralize the noise of aircraft during their design. This capability is particularly useful for unconventional designs with noise signatures significantly different from the current fleet. To that end, a flexible software architecture has been developed to facilitate rapid integration of new simulation techniques for noise source synthesis and propagation, and to foster collaboration amongst researchers through a common releasable code base. The NASA Auralization Framework (NAF) is a skeletal framework written in C++ with basic functionalities and a plugin architecture that allows users to mix and match NAF capabilities with their own methods through the development and use of dynamically linked libraries. This paper presents the NAF software architecture and discusses several advanced auralization techniques that have been implemented as plugins to the framework.

Aumann, Aric R.↗

DOE OSTI2021

A Novel Framework for Optimizing Ramping Capability of Hybrid Energy Storage Systems

Hybrid Energy Storage System has been widely applied in aerospace, electric vehicle, and microgrid applications. The advantages are that they include complimentary technologies with both high power and energy capabilities. HESS have the potential to be useful to the bulk power systems, for example to increase the value of energy produced by variable generation resource through enabling participation in ancillary service markets. Actualizing the benefits of HESSs requires optimizing the combined ramping capability of aggregated HESS resources. To provide quality ancillary service, source of HESSs locating at multiple sites of variable generation resource must be optimally sized and cohesively controlled. Optimizing aggregated resources can be formulated as an optimization problem. Successfully solving this problem not only requires using effective solution methods but also depends on accurately and rapidly setting the necessary parameters in the problem formula. This article proposes a novel framework with double-layer structure to solve the optimization problem of aggregating ramping capability. Program developed on the upper layer focuses on solving the optimization of aggregating ramping capability among multiple HESSs and is compatible with most existing optimization algorithms. Program on lower layer of the framework targets at optimizing the local control of a single HESS based on a thorough analytics of HESS operation strategy presented in this article. Result of local optimization is also provided to upper layer program for updating the parameters in formula of optimization problem. Real time hardware-in-the-loop test is conducted to verify the performance of the optimization framework developed. The work presented is expected to provide guidance for implementing this framework in practical operation.

Luo, Yushen↗

DOE OSTI2023

Establishing Isotopic Measurement Capabilities using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for the Molten Salt Reactor Campaign

Proof-of-principle H isotope ratios of aqueous aerosol systems and liquid droplets on filter paper have been measured using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) with root mean square error of prediction values down to 1.9%. Molten salt reactors (MSRs) will consist of a complex chemical and radiological system consistently producing new fission products as the reactor operates. Some of these fission products and/or their daughter species will leave the salt in the reactor off-gas. Monitoring the composition of the off-gas, as well as the salt itself, is important for monitoring reactor performance, including burnup, corrosion, and the concentration of impurities. Tritium is of concern for MSRs because it will be produced from the irradiation of key salt constituents, including Li and Be. LIBS offers an avenue for in situ salt and off-gas monitoring by firing a laser onto or into the sample stream to generate a plasma. The plasma light can be monitored to measure an elemental fingerprint of the sample. Extending this analysis to include isotopic ratios offers a critical expansion of the in situ monitoring capabilities being developed. This study demonstrates the expansion of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s LIBS capabilities to monitor isotopes and shows how simple calibrations may provide rapid semiquantitative models.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Ristra Project FY23 L2 Milestone Report, Rev.1: MRT #8541: Multiphysics Scaling on EAS-3

The findings of this report were used to close out the ATDM milestone MRT# 8541, which was designed to demonstrate readiness of ATDM multiphysics codes for mission-relevant work on ATS-4, El Capitan. To this end, the closure criteria were to run a 3D shaped charge problem at scale up to 50% of the El Capitan early-access system, RZVernal (AMD Trento CPUs and AMD MI-250X GPUs), demonstrate scalability, and document challenges with the software stack and environment. LANL’s approach to this milestone was to test our modular software capability by developing an entirely new code, Moya, built upon our FleCSI framework. The physics capability and the GPU infrastructure needed for the shaped charge problem on GPUs was added to Moya, and the required calculations were performed at scale. Moya showed good scaling without any fine-tuning of GPU kernels; there is still significant room for performance enhancements, especially for the Legion backend. Tied up in this L2 milestone was a closeout of KPP-3s for the ECP ST Projects at LANL; this material will be covered in a separate document.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS2003

Mixed-Phase Icing Simulation and Testing at the Cox Icing Wind Tunnel

A new capability was developed for indoor simulation of snow and mixed-phase icing conditions. This capability is useful for year-round testing in the Cox closed-loop Icing Wind Tunnel. Certification of aircraft for flight into these types of icing conditions is only required by the JAA in Europe. In an effort to harmonize certification requirements, the FAA in the US sponsored a preliminary program to study the effects of mixed-phase and fully glaciated icing conditions on the performance requirements of thermal ice protection systems. This paper describes the test program and the associated results.

Al-Khalil, Kamel↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Ultra Long-Lived, Self-Surveying Autonomous Air Quality Sensing

Environmental sensing will be key to autonomous vehicle operation and crew health monitoring in tended/untended long-duration habitats for Human Space Exploration in deep space. Small wireless sensors, based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, can provide unprecedented capacity to monitor crew/habitat health. We develop a next-generation, path-to-flight wireless air quality sensor capable of operating for years on a small coin-cell battery without crewmember intervention. Initial steps are taken to integrate a self-surveying capability under development as a NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) project, though final integration was prevented due to COVID-19 center closure.

Raymond S Wagner↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thermoplastic Space Point Design (TSPD) Tall Tower Lunar Thermal Analysis

The Thermoplastics Development for Exploration Applications (TDEA) project seeks to advance NASA’s thermoplastic composites capabilities by developing structurally efficient joining solutions for large-scale space structures to support NASA’s future exploration missions. A key objective is to develop and understand advanced thermoplastic joining techniques relevant to space environments and applicable to unitized and/or reconfigurable composite structures. The TDEA project uses NASA Langley’s Tall Lunar Tower (TLT) concept as a target application for the design and development of in-space assembled thermoplastic composites. TLT is a 50-meter-tall tower constructed on the lunar surface near the south pole. The tower’s height at this location on the moon allows for extended durations of incident solar flux which can be used to generate power via photovoltaic arrays. The thermal environment present on lunar south pole represents a challenging environment for any space-based asset. This study provides an overview of the analysis techniques used to determine the temperature extremes, gradients, and timelines of a tall composite tower over a one-year duration at the Shackleton Connecting Ridge. The developed thermal model includes tower and lunar surface elements with anisotropic and temperature-dependent material properties and incorporates a solar vector orbit with time-varying solar flux. Study topics include: a comparison between the effects of simplified lunar surface topologies on thermal results, prediction of surface temperature values versus Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) flight data, and tower structural-thermal deformation.

Lunar↗

DOE OSTI2022

BISON Capability to Account for Dopant Sensitivity in Relevant UO 2 Material Models

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation program aims to develop predictive capabilities using computational methods for the analysis and design of advanced reactor and fuel cycle systems. This program has been supporting the development of BISON, a high-fidelity and high-resolution fuel performance tool at the engineering scale. Incorporation of more physics-based models in BISON for the accident tolerant fuel applications motivated this study. This document details integration of new modeling capabilities in BISON, including: a tensile strength model for uranium dioxide (UO 2 ) fuel to incorporate the microstructural effects (e.g., grain size, fabrication pore size, and porosity), and atomistic-informed creep model for UO 2 fuel that is developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory. Sensitivity analyses are conducted on these models separately as well as a two-dimensional full rod application under normal operating conditions. Lastly, these new modeling capabilities in BISON are exercised in Halden IFA-677.1 and IFA-716.1 assessment cases.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗