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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 NTRS2017

NASA's Space Launch System: A Transformative Capability for Deep Space Missions

Already making substantial progress toward its first launches, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) exploration-class launch vehicle presents game-changing new opportunities in spaceflight, enabling human exploration of deep space, as well as a variety of missions and mission profiles that are currently impossible. Today, the initial configuration of SLS, able to deliver more than 70 metric tons of payload to low Earth orbit (LEO), is well into final production and testing ahead of its planned first flight, which will send NASA’s new Orion crew vehicle around the moon and will deploy 13 CubeSats, representing multiple disciplines, into deep space. At the same time, production work is already underway toward the more-capable Block 1B configuration, planned to debut on the second flight of SLS, and capable of lofting 105 tons to LEO or of co-manifesting large exploration systems with Orion on launches to the lunar vicinity. Progress being made on the vehicle for that second flight includes initial welding of its core stage and testing of one of its engines, as well as development of new elements such as the powerful Exploration Upper Stage and the Universal Stage Adapter “payload bay.” Ultimately, SLS will evolve to a configuration capable of delivering more than 130 tons to LEO to support humans missions to Mars. In order to enable human deep-space exploration, SLS provides unrivaled mass, volume, and departure energy for payloads, offering numerous benefits for a variety of other missions. For robotic science probes to the outer solar system, for example, SLS can cut transit times to less than half that of currently available vehicles or substantially increased spacecraft mass. In the field of astrophysics, SLS’ high payload volume, in the form of payload fairings with a diameter of up to 10 meters, creates the opportunity for launch of large-aperture telescopes providing an unprecedented look at our universe. This presentation will give an overview of SLS’ capabilities and its current status, and discuss the vehicle’s potential for human exploration of deep space and other game-changing utilization opportunities.

Creech, Stephen D.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Item Retrieval as Utility Estimation

Retrieval systems have greatly improved over the last half century, estimating relevance to a latent user need in a wide variety of areas. One area that has not enjoyed such advancements is searching for items by attribute values, a common activity in e-commerce and science, particularly given numeric values. Existing item retrieval systems assume the user has a firm grasp of their own desires and can formulate a good Boolean or SQL-style query to retrieve items, as one would do with a database. A contrasting approach would be to estimate how well items match the user?s latent desires and return items ranked by this estimation. Towards this end, we present a retrieval model inspired by multi-criteria decision making theory, concentrating on numeric attributes. We evaluate our novel approach, the de-facto standard of Boolean retrieval, and several models proposed in the literature, in two user studies using Amazon Mechanical Turk. We use a competitive game to motivate test subjects and compare methods based on the results of the subjects? initial query and their success in the game. In our experiments, our new method signi cantly outperformed the others, whereas the Boolean approaches had the worst performance.

operations research↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Science Behind: The Moon and Beyond

As NASA plans its return to the Moon and further human exploration into the solar system, how will astronauts be protected from the hazards of space? This online workshop covers the science behind the Moon Adventure Game and several of the 2020 Explore Science: Earth & Space Toolkit B activities. After a brief overview of how this toolkit focuses on the moon, our guest presenters, Christina Lim and Jessica Lee from NASA Ames Research Center, will step us through how astronauts will survive in space long-term—followed by Q&A. Katherine Kornei and Darrell Porcello from the NISE Network will finish the workshop with a review of included toolkit materials for the game and activities that will help facilitators make additional NASA content connections with visitors.

astrobiology↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Supervised Autonomous Assembly to Create and Evolve Persistent Assets

Supervised autonomous assembly (SAA) will create a paradigm shift in the planning and design of future persistent assets (PAs), both in near zero-g environments and on planetary surfaces. SAA refers to an autonomy approach that has the benefits of autonomous assembly as well as the benefits provided by a supervisor (operator) who is available to resolve unexpected situations. SAA provides both increased design freedom as well as reduced programmatic risk. SAA enables evolution of future PAs over decades as in-space operations transition from single purpose missions to creation of PAs, such as laboratories and experimental stations which more closely resembling terrestrial laboratories that can easily adapt and evolve to new missions leveraging repeated visits to the PA. The ability to evolve enables PAs to rapidly respond to changing objectives resulting from new questions as our understanding improves. A recently initiated National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) project in the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Game Changing Development (GCD) Program called the Precision Assembled Space Structure (PASS), leverages the advantages of SAA to develop technologies that enable efficient creation and evolution of hexagonal topologies; both planar (example: fuel depots) and curved (examples: telescopes and shelters). PASS will be used to provide context for the philosophy and concepts discussed as well as the decision and selections made. PASS objectives are: a) Develop confidence in SAA and on-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing (OSAM) technologies by executing a test campaign that uses a path-to-flight autonomous precision assembly process directly applicable to future space telescopes. b) Test autonomous technologies including automated path planning and error recovery, to emphasize a robust approach that relies on generic robots and special purpose tools. c) Validate critical component models using a digital twin that includes the assembled primary mirror support structure and assembly process. A digital twin is a high-fidelity simulation of the asset capable of predicting the on-orbit performance. The paper concludes after identifying the critical need for a modest assembly flight experiment to validate and develop confidence in the SAA paradigm, thus accelerating adoption of the benefits described. SAA is a game changing paradigm that enhances the ability of an organization to infuse new technology through rapid evolution of PAs while leveraging OSAM technologies.

Structural Modeling↗
NASA NTRS2024

Terrestrial Proving Ground Capabilities Needed for Lunar In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) & Construction Concepts of Operation

Incorporating any new technology or system into a human exploration mission or architecture requires development well in advance of the mission to eliminate technology, cost, and schedule risk concerns. It is often stated that technologies need to be at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6, i.e. ‘system/subsystem model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment (ground or space)’, by Authority To Proceed (ATP) or by the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the mission at the latest. There are two game changing capabilities for sustained human exploration of space that can have a significant effect on the overall exploration architecture and the technologies and systems included in the architecture. The first game changing capability, known as In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), involves the search for, acquisition, and processing of resources on the Moon and Mars into mission consumables and usable products, and the second is the ability to utilize space resources in the construction of roads, structures, and surface infrastructure. ISRU and surface construction capabilities have the potential to greatly reduce the cost and risk of human exploration while enabling sustained lunar surface and commercial operations. However, ISRU and surface construction systems are complex and must operate in extremely harsh environments, with abrasive regolith and pervasive dust, for long-periods of time, with potentially limited opportunities for maintenance and repair by humans. The complexity of these capabilities and operations also means that there are a limited number of companies that can design, build, and operate end-to-end systems on their own. The majority of the technologies being developed for these systems are by small companies and at the component or subsystem level. With the overarching strategy of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) to enable industry to implement ISRU and surface infrastructure for Artemis and space commercialization, it is therefore important to establish processes and capabilities to promote and foster collaborations among large and small companies involved in ISRU and surface infrastructure development. For ISRU and infrastructure systems and capabilities to be used in Artemis missions and future commercial lunar surface operations, a coordinated framework with virtual/physical integration and testing locations, or ‘Proving Grounds’, needs to be established and operated on a regular basis and open to all. This paper will discuss the ISRU and surface construction near and long-term concepts of operations, and review operations and lessons-learned from the previous ISRU analog field tests. From this information, requirements and capabilities will be proposed to support and enable the integration and testing of ISRU and construction systems with industry, academia, and international agencies, as well as what facilities and organizations could help establish these Proving Grounds.

ISRU↗
DOE OSTI2016

GPULife

The code runs the Game of Life among several processors. Each processor uses CUDA to set up the grid's buffer on the GPU, and that buffer is fed to other GPU languages to apply the rules of the game of life. Only the halo is copied off the buffer and exchanged using MPI. This code looks at the interoperability of GPU languages among current platforms.

Kelly, Priscilla N.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Utilization of Renewable Energy to Meet New National Challenges in Energy and Climate Change

The project aims to design a microgrid system to promote utilization of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar to address the national challenges in energy and climate change. Different optimization techniques and simulation software are used to study the performance of the renewable energy system under study. A series of research works performed under the grant Department of Energy (DOE) is presented. This grant opportunity affords Howard faculty, students, graduates, undergraduates, K-12, postdocs and visiting scholars to benefit state of the art research work. The research work has led to improve or advance understanding of new hardware technologies, software development and engineering optimization methods necessary and sufficient for handling probabilistic models and real-time computation and functions necessary for development of microgrid system. Consistent with State of Project Objective Howard University has partitioned the task into the following integrated activities: 1. Stochastic Model for RER and Load • Development of modeling Renewable Energy Resources (RER) and load which is used to perform distribution power flow study which leads to publication in refereed journals and conferences. The work was also published at the IEEE conference. 2. Stochastic optimization for voltage/Var • The development of voltage VAr optimization based on a review of existing knowledge in optimization led to the use of stochastic program and evolution of programming optimization method for V/VAr optimization. Papers were presented at the North America Power Systems Conference and the IEEE PES general meeting. 3. Modeling RER and Storage • Extending the concept of optimization method an RER with storage, such as the development of microgrid V/VAr and storage is performed. Several papers were published at the North America Power Systems Conference and the IEEE PES general meeting. 4. Power Game • Development of power game experiment using Labvolt to allow for hands on understanding of design and development of microgrid functions is performed. Publication were done by students at the end of their summer program. 5. Designing Microgrid Testbed • Example microgrid test bed is developed. In addition, function of the test bed are developed. The papers were presented at the North America Power Systems Conference and the IEEE general meeting. 6. Outreach Program • From the outreach program, topics from the project have been included in the revision of courses at Howard University, new book called Energy Processing and Smartgrid has being developed. • Hosted masters students from University of Denver to complete their projects with us. • Hosted high school students for early exposure for careers in STEM • Representations made in IEEE conferences to share the lessons learned in the use of micro grid to expose students to STEM education and research.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Transactive Energy Systems: The Market-based Coordination of Distributed Energy Resources

This paper synthesizes a unifying framework that captures a large class of transactive energy systems studied in the literature. The framework consists of four key elements: agent preferences, control decisions, information structure, and solution concept. Among them, agent preference specifies the preferred outcome by each agent and models the conflict of interest in decision making. Control decision specifies the set of decisions for each agent to maximize its payoff. Information structure describes the information available to each agent before it makes a decision. Solution concept encodes the rationality assumptions of each agent in the system. These elements are important in identifying and distinguishing different transactive energy systems. In this paper, we use them to analyze a number of important ones, including the competitive equilibrium, Stackelberg game, reverse Stackelberg game, and mechanism design. Each class of these problems is formulated as a special case of the proposed transactive energy systems. Their connections and differences are discussed. Available tools and results for each category of problems are surveyed.

Li, Sen↗
DOE OSTI2021

Rubik’s Cube Topology Based Particle Swarm Algorithm for Bilevel Building Energy Transaction

Following the rapid growth of distributed energy resources (e.g. renewables, battery), localized peer-to-peer energy transactions are receiving more attention for multiple benefits, such as, reducing power loss, stabilizing the main power grid, etc. To promote distributed renewables locally, the local trading price is usually set to be within the external energy purchasing and selling price range. Consequently, building prosumers are motivated to trade energy through a local transaction center. This local energy transaction is modeled in bilevel optimization game. A selfish upper level agent is assumed with the privilege to set the internal energy transaction price with an objective of maximizing its arbitrage profit. Meanwhile, the building prosumers at the lower level will response to this transaction price and make decisions on electricity transaction amount. Therefore, this non-cooperative leader-follower trading game is seeking for equilibrium solutions on the energy transaction amount and prices. In addition, a uniform local transaction price structure (purchase price equals selling price) is considered here. Aiming at reducing the computational burden from classical Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) transformation and protecting the private information of each stakeholder (e.g., building), swarm intelligence based solution approach is employed for upper level agent to generate trading price and coordinate the transactive operations. On one hand, to decrease the chance of premature convergence in global-best topology, Rubiks Cube topology is proposed in this study based on further improvement of a two-dimensional square lattice model (i.e., one local-best topology-Von Neumann topology). Rotating operation of the cube is introduced to dynamically changing the neighborhood and enhancing information flow at the later searching state. Several groups of experiments are designed to evaluate the performance of proposed Rubiks Cube topology based particle swarm algorithm. The results have validated the effectiveness of proposed topology and operators comparing with global-best version PSO and Von Neumann topology based PSO and its scalability on larger scale applications.

Feng, Xiaochun↗
DOE OSTI2022

Experimental Wargaming with SIGNAL

Wargames are a common tool for investigating complex conflict scenarios and have a long history of informing military and strategic study. Historically, these games have often been one-offs, may not rigorously collect data, and have been built primarily for exploration rather than developing data-driven analytical conclusions. Experimental wargaming, a new wargaming approach that employs the basic principles of experimental design to facilitate an objective basis for exploring fundamental research questions around human behavior (such as understanding conflict escalation), is a potential tool that can be used in combination with existing wargaming approaches. The Project on Nuclear Gaming, a consortium involving the University of California, Berkeley, Sandia National Laboratories, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, developed an experimental wargame, SIGNAL, to explore questions surrounding conflict escalation and strategic stability in the nuclear context. To date, the SIGNAL experimental wargame has been played hundreds of times by thousands of players from around the world, creating the largest database of wargame data for academic purposes known to the authors. Here, this paper discusses the design of SIGNAL, focusing on how the principles of experimental design influenced this design.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2017

Improving Decommissioning Success using the Tool of Virtual Reality; Increasing Worker Safety and Project Schedule Stability - 17193

operations, especially underwater, is essential. Equally essential is a precise game plan for disassembly which focuses attention on the skilled remote handling operators who must produce the results. Project success is based on clean, efficient cuts and take-aways, prepared paths for waste placement and containment, programmed return paths; and practice, practice, practice on the part of the operators. Recently, our Partner, WAK Ruackbau- und Entsorgungs- GmbH (Decommissioning and Waste Management Company) was tasked with dismantling and decommissioning the Karlsruhe Reprocessing Plant. The most difficult task in this project is the dismantling of the vitrification plant. Waelischmiller was selected to address this high-consequence project. Together, WAK and Waelischmiller determined that development of a virtual reality suite, where management and operators could create a virtual vitrification layout and subsequently map and rehearse their dismantling plan was essential. This approach, using Virtual Reality (VR) as a tool in streamlining operations and rehearsing difficult moves and cuts, will be a game changer for this and future projects. It will be a first-of-a-kind in Germany. The VR suite is contained in a room at the Karlsruhe facility with a large screen, control cabinet, simulation computer, a Waelischmiller Joyarm and Masterarm. To support the dismantling of the vitrification plant, WAK/HWM will conduct interactive feasibility studies for each dismantling step. All movements; cuts, take-aways and vessel segment insertion into transportation and disposal casks will be established, programed and practiced within virtual test suite. This allows savings in cost-intensive and complex construction of test rigs. Operating personnel can be trained in the VR suite, without taking the risk of damaging expensive remote handling equipment.While the operators are working on the operating element, they stand in front of a wide screen. Instead of a real TELBOT{sup R}, a virtual TELBOT{sup R} is moving on the screen in virtual reality. While practicing, the operators cannot damage the arm and the equipment, which is a big advantage. Moreover an interactive feasibility study can be realized without building a real test rig (mock-up). Consequently significant cost-expenses can be reduced. This paper will describe the virtual suite used by the WAK in Karlsruhe and the advantages of this new and innovative approach, which is unique in decommissioning of nuclear facilities. The viewpoint of each (WAK and HWM), and the decisions and benefits realized along the project path will be detailed in the paper. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

Enhancing Grid Resilience with HIVE: Decentralized V2G Coordination for Black Starts

This paper proposes the HIVE (Harmonized Integration of Vehicle Energy for Grid Support) model, a novel game-theoretic framework for decentralized coordination of electrified vehicles to enable black start and load restoration during grid outages. In the absence of a central controller, HIVE employs a cooperative game to model vehicle interactions, allowing autonomous decision-making while admitting to a Nash equilibrium for grid restoration. The framework addresses the heterogeneity of vehicles and their operational constraints, selecting a lead vehicle for grid-forming and coordinating grid-following vehicles to support prioritized loads. Applied to a hospital blackout scenario, HIVE demonstrates robust performance in forming an islanded microgrid and sustaining critical loads under varying vehicle availability, state of charge, and power constraints. Simulation results highlight the model’s effectiveness in ensuring decentralized coordination of energy allocation and prioritizing loads, offering a scalable solution for resilient grid operations.

32 - ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZA↗
DOE OSTI2025

On the Sampling-Based Computation of Nash Equilibria Under Uncertainty via the Nikaido–Isoda Function

We consider the computation of an equilibrium of a stochastic Nash equilibrium problem, where the player objectives are assumed to be L 0 -Lipschitz continuous and convex, given rival decisions with convex and closed player-specific feasibility sets. To address this problem, we consider minimizing a suitably defined value function defined using the Nikaido–Isoda function. Such an avenue does not necessitate either monotonicity properties of the concatenated gradient map or potentiality requirements on the game but does require a suitable regularity requirement under which a stationary point is a Nash equilibrium. We design and analyze a sampling-enabled projected-gradient-response method, reliant on inexact resolution of a player-level best-response subproblem. Here, by deriving suitable Lipschitzian guarantees on the value function, we derive both asymptotic guarantees for the sequence of generated iterates as well as rate and complexity guarantees for computing a stationary point by appropriate choices of the sampling rate and inexactness sequence.

Nikaido-Isoda function↗
DOE OSTI2018

On Feedback-Principle Control for Systems with Aftereffect Under Incomplete Phase-Coordinate Data

For a nonlinear system of differential equations with aftereffect, two mutually complement game minimax (maximin) problems for the quality functional are considered. Assuming that a part of phase coordinates of the system is measured (with error) sufficiently frequently, we provide solving algorithms that are stable with respect to the information noise and computational errors. The proposed algorithms are based on the Krasovskii extremal translation principle.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

On split inclusion problem and fixed point problem for multi-valued mappings

Many of the iterative schemes for solving split inclusion and fixed point problems involve step-sizes that depend on the norm of a bounded linear operator. The implementation of such algorithms are usually difficult to handle. This is because they require the computation of the operator norm. In this paper, we propose an algorithm involving a step-size selected in such a way that its implementation does not require the computation or an estimate of some spectral radius. Using our algorithm we proved strong convergence theorem for split inclusion problem and fixed point problem for multi-valued quasi-nonexpansive mappings in real Hilbert spaces. Our result generalizes some important and recent results in the literature. Some applications of our main result to game theory and variational inequality problem are also presented.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Trading strategies for distribution company with stochastic distributed energy resources

This paper proposes a methodology to address the trading strategies of a proactive distribution company (PDISCO) engaged in the transmission-level (TL) markets. A one-leader multi-follower bilevel model is presented to formulate the gaming framework between the PDISCO and markets. The lower-level (LL) problems include the TL day-ahead market and scenario-based real-time markets, respectively with the objectives of maximizing social welfare and minimizing operation cost. The upper-level (UL) problem is to maximize the PDISCO’s profit across these markets. The PDISCO’s strategic offers/bids interactively influence the outcomes of each market. Since the LL problems are linear and convex, while the UL problem is non-linear and non-convex, an equivalent primal–dual approach is used to reformulate this bilevel model to a solvable mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC). The effectiveness of the proposed model is verified by case studies.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Effects of corn stover year-to-year supply variability and market structure on biomass utilization and cost

The availability of corn stover can vary considerably from year to year in a region due to annual changes in yield and area planted with corn. Such variations interacting with biomass market structures can affect biomass cost and utilization rate. This study first characterizes year-to-year variations in corn stover supply for the US in general and for selected major US corn producing counties in particular. There have been 20–30% year-to-year variations in stover supply in the US since 1975. Game theoretic analysis is then applied to examining corn stover utilization rate and production cost in three market structures. The analysis reveals that a free market structure will take the form of oligopoly–oligopsony, where large stover supply variations will expose both biorefineries and farmers to significant price volatility. Price equilibrium will shift significantly from year to year. Of the three market structures analysed, the “Derisked” supply market structure will be most favorable to biorefineries and farmers. Under this structure, biorefineries will maintain a stover supply region that is based on “Derisked” (lower than average) yield density to buffer for the supply uncertainty associated with annual variations. This market structure results in significantly less volatility in biomass cost while on average only 63% of collectable stover will be used for biofuel production. Furthermore, our findings suggest that year-to-year variation in corn stover availability will increase feedstock cost and reduce its potential for biofuel production.

Cellulosic biofuel↗
DOE OSTI2015

The study on knowledge transferring incentive for information system requirement development

Information system requirement development is a process of users’ knowledge sharing and transferring. However the tacit requirements developing is a main problem during requirement development process, for the reason of difficult to encoding, express, and communicate. Knowledge fusion and corporate effort is needed to finding tacit requirements. Under this background, our paper try to find out the rule of effort dynamic evolutionary of software developer and user by building an evolutionary game model on the condition of incentive system. And in addition this paper provides an in depth discussion at the end of this paper.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗