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NASA NTRS2019

Helium Balloon Valve Improvement

The NASA Balloon Program Office (BPO), located at Wallops Flight Facility asked the Mechanical Systems Branch (Code 548) to improve the design of their balloon valve. BPO uses two main types of balloons, Zero Pressure Balloon (ZPB) and Super Pressure Balloon (SPB), which both use the valve. It is used for termination of the ZPB, and inflation and termination of the SPB. During launch campaigns the valve showed signs of helium leakage which lead the BPO to ask for an improvement. As part of a Professional Readiness Engineering Program (PREP), research and review of the current valve was conducted and a new design was prepared. The current custom designed valve consists of a "pie" plate that is actuated up and down via a gear rack that is driven by a globe motor. When closed the knife edge of the pie plate bites into a silicone gasket to seal the structure. Unfortunately, the gasket material permanently deforms after being compressed and the plate itself bends under the force induced by the motor, introducing two possible helium leak paths. The new custom designed valve utilizes o-rings instead of one gasket to reduce the possibility of leakage from permanent deformation. One o-ring seals the valve structure to its mating surface and a spring energized o-ring is used in a piston design to seal the valve once it's closed. The design also utilizes different materials to increase stiffness and strength so that it is less likely to bend under the force from the motor. Currently the new valve has finished the design and analysis phases and is proceeding towards manufacturing and testing.

Seo, Lindsey↗

NASA NTRS2019

Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment: Payload Design Overview

The Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) is a flight experiment that is designed to operate in the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) on the International Space Station (ISS). The objective of the FBCE is to develop an integrated two-phase flow experiment that will serve as a primary platform for obtaining flow boiling and condensation heat transfer data in microgravity. This presentation discusses the overall design of the FBCE payload, as well as the status of the FBCE hardware as it continues through final verification testing.

Guzik, Monica C.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction (SoFIE) Project on ISS

The Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction (SoFIE) project studies ignition and flammability of solid spacecraft materials (fuels) in practical geometries and realistic atmospheric conditions. It is an experiment insert designed for use within the existing Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR). The CIR chamber provides a level of containment and permits testing at variable oxygen concentrations and pressures representative of current and planned NASA Space Exploration Atmospheres. The applications of SoFIE include: (1) Determining safer selection of cabin materials and validating NASA materials flammability selection using 1-g test protocols for low-gravity fires, (2) Improving understanding of early fire growth behavior, (3) Validating material flammability numerical models, (4) Determining optimal suppression techniques for burning materials by diluents, flow reduction, and venting, (5) Obtaining burning behavior of actual engineering materials planned for spacecraft, (6) Developing corresponding models of microgravity flame spread, flammability, and extinction, and use the results to improve normal gravity combustion models for terrestrial applications. The hardware permits a wide range of solid-material combustion and fire suppression studies. It supports multiple investigations using common infrastructure including sample holders, flow control, test sections, external radiant heaters, igniters, and diagnostics. SoFIE has been developed to meet the requirements of five unique investigations. It is currently being built and slated to begin operations on the ISS in July 2021. Given the general capabilities of the hardware insert, it is intended to be used as a facility for future researchers who can propose to NASA for related solid combustion studies.

Ferkul, Paul↗

NASA NTRS2020

A Summary of Airframe Results from a Fokker F28 Full-Scale Crash Test

On June 20, 2019, a full-scale crash test was conducted on a Fokker F28 MK1000 aircraft as a part of a joint NASA / Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) research effort to investigate the crashworthiness characteristics of a Transport Category Aircraft (TCA), as defined by 14 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 25. The test was conducted at NASA Langley Research Center’s Landing and Impact Research Facility and was the third in a test series to further understand TCA crashworthiness characteristics. The test article featured 24 Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs, a.k.a. crash test dummies), and over 700 channels of instrumentation covering major aircraft structures such as the wings, tail, nose, cockpit and cabin, along with recording seat, overhead bin and ATD accelerations. Five different U.S. Government agencies collaborated on the test including: NASA, the FAA, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This report will covertest article build up, which includes weight and balance measurements and pre-test laser scans. It will also cover the events of the test, which includes the test sequence of events and post-test damage inspections. Finally, it will show airframe level accelerations at all positions measured, with discussion on correlation to the airframe damage witnessed. The test build up consisted of outfitting the main cabin section of the aircraft with 24 ATDs seated in 12 rows of seats, overhead mass and the under floor cargo area with foam representing the luggage. The main cabin also included all of the onboard data system pallets, which recorded711 channels of data from the test. All major portions of the aircraft were instrumented, including locations at the floor / frame junction locations in the cabin where the ATDs were located along with other major exterior components such as the nose, the tail, each engine cowling, and at overhead hat rack ballast locations. The aircraft impacted a soil surface at65.3 ft/s horizontal and 31.8 ft/s vertical velocities. The aircraft plowed through the soil and slid a distance of 32.5 feet from the initial impact location. There was a secondary impact occurring 0.9 s due to the “slap down” of the nose during the post-impact response. The duration of the event from impact to rest was1.62 seconds. There was major structural damage in the lower fuselage areas around the Wingbox and Aft Fuselage sections. The Aft Fuselage section deformation caused some cabin intrusion from the keel beams pushing the aft cabin floor into the cabin. Other structural deformations occurred around the tail and at transition regions in the aircraft structure; mainly in locations of differing overall stiffness. The data obtained showed average vertical accelerations between 12 and 16 g with spikes reaching almost 40 g at certain floor locations. Average horizontal accelerations were approximately 10 g for all floor locations measured with spikes reaching approximately 25 g in some locations. The report includes a full set of results on aircraft deformation and accelerations along with discussions as to the effect on the aircraft structure.

Justin D Littell↗

NASA NTRS2020

Advanced Modular Power System Fully Populated Electronics Enclosure Thermal Testing

A thermal test of an enclosure housing the AMPS electronics cards was performed. The enclosure was fully populated with 17 nonfunctioning AMPS electronics cards. Heaters were applied to the cards to simulate their operation. A cold plate was installed on the top of the case. The case was then insulated to simulate its installation within an electronics rack with the face and rear of the enclosure left open. The cold plate was connected to a chiller which provided cooling water at a fixed input temperature to the cold plate. Flow rates from the chiller of 0.0 L/min, 1.4 L/min and 1.8 L/min were tested. The test was operated at each flow rate over a range of heater power levels until the steady state temperature of the electronics cards was reached. Heater power levels from 2.5 W/card to 45 W/card were tested. The data collected was used to determine the steady state operating temperature of the cards, the temperature distribution between the cards, the time to reach steady-state temperature, the change in steady state temperature with change in heater power, the temperature distribution between the cards at the steady state condition and the heat lost to the surrounds by the enclosure. One of the main goals of the testing was to determine how much waste heat the cards could generate and still maintain a touch temperature at or below 40°C. Based on this requirement, for the 3 cooling rates tested, the maximum card waste heat that could be generated by each individual card was 3.9 W, 16.3 W and 17.6 W respectively. An analysis was also set up to provide an analytical model to estimate the card temperature under different cold plate flow rates and card heater power levels. The results off the analysis was compared to that of the experiment of the range of flow rates and power levels tested.

Anthony Colozza↗

NASA NTRS2020

Performances of the Heat Melt Compactor System in Various Operational Scenarios

The Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) system has been developed to manage the waste generated on board spacecraft during long-duration missions. The quantity and composition of spacecraft trash depends upon the mission and can have a very high daily variability. This requires a flexible system able to manage extreme waste scenarios. Most missions will generate on average about one kilograms of trash per astronaut per day, derived mainly from the spacecraft logistics supplies and consisting of clothing, food & beverage residues, packaging, paper, plastic, hygiene wipes, and many other personal or scientific items used and discarded by the crew. Uncontained and unprocessed waste is a health hazard and a habitat storage problem. However, trash also contains valuable resources such as water. HMC is designed to provide volume reduction, microbial safening and stabilization, water recovery, and radiation shielding material. The final byproduct generated by HMC is a sterilized tile with the consistency of hard plastic that can be safely handled, easily stored, and used for radiation protection. This paper provides the summary of an extensive campaign of testing performed using the HMC system to simulate different nominal and extreme operational scenarios and to generate the data necessary to finalize requirements for proto-flight hardware to be deployed to an International Space Station (ISS) EXPRESS Rack.

HMC↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Thermal Review of the Sample Cartridge Assembly (SCA) Gravitational Effect of Distortion in Sintering (GEDS) Experiment Flight Processing

NASA’s Sample Cartridge Assembly (SCA) first flight experiment, Gravitational Effect of Distortion in Sintering (GEDS), was processed on the International Space Station (ISS) between 2019 and 2020. The SCA was heated in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Low Gradient Furnace (LGF) that is housed inside the Material Science Research Rack (MSRR) located in the U.S. Laboratory Module. This summary will give a review of the design and flight experiment development for the GEDS SCA. It describes flight processing and the role of thermal engineering support. Lessons learned and future Principle Investigators (PI) will be discussed.

Micro-gravity Science↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Thermal Review of the Sample Cartridge Assembly (SCA) Gravitational Effect of Distortion in Sintering (GEDS) Experiment Flight Processing

MIcro-gravity Science↗

NASA NTRS2020

Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE): Capabilities and System Description

A high-level description of the Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) system capabilities, design and interface characteristics is presented. Each of the eight FBCE modules are discussed as well as the mechanical, electrical, and software interfaces with the Fluid Combustion Facility’s (FCF) Fluid Integration Rack (FIR), where the experiment will be installed for International Space Station (ISS) operations.

Flow Boiling↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effects of Ambient Inert Gas Properties on Cool-Flame Combustion of Normal-Alkane Droplets in Microgravity

Cool-flame-supported quasi-steady droplet combustion was first observed during droplet combustion experiments conducted onboard the International Space Station (ISS) in the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) with n-alkane fuels. These cool flames, not visible to the naked eye, result from the existence of the negative-temperature-coefficient (NTC) region during the combustion n-alkane fuels when the chemical-kinetic pathways experience a transition from the low-temperature chemistry to the normal, high-temperature-controlled chemistry. In this study, we present results for the cool-flame-supported droplet burning rates and extinction diameters for n-alkane fuels (n-heptane, n-octane, n-decane, and n-dodecane) in inert-diluent-substituted ambient environments. In these ISS experiments, some of the nitrogen in the ambient gas mixture is replaced by an inert gas, namely, carbon dioxide, helium, or xenon. Different diluents were observed to exert remarkably different influences on the cool-flame combustion of fuel droplets. The results show that the cool-flame extinction diameter is drastically increased with helium dilution compared to N2, CO2 or Xe, and Xe dilution leads to longer burning with a smaller extinction diameter. Unlike hot flames, the cool-flame burning rates are controlled by the cool-flame temperature established in the NTC region by the chemical kinetics, rather than by equilibrium thermodynamics, and the thermo-physical properties of the ambient gases, which control the heat feed back to the liquid droplet. The cool-flame extinction is triggered by the instability that occurs at the low-temperature end of the NTC region, below which cool diffusion flames become statically unstable. A quasi-steady theoretical model, presented earlier, which involves a six-step reduced-chemistry mechanism, valid around the lower end of the NTC region, is shown to explain the observed experimental trends qualitatively.

microgravity↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

AMO-EXPRESS-2.5: Crew Autonomy Onboard the International Space Station

NASA is committed to landing American astronauts, including the first woman and the next man, on the Moon by 2024. Currently, the crew cannot take on all functions performed by the ground today, so the future crews will need more automation to reduce the crew workload for future missions. Of significant importance for these missions is the balance between crew autonomy and vehicle automation. The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Autonomous Systems and Operations (ASO) Project has been investigating the ability to evaluate crew self-scheduling and activity monitoring for future space missions. The ASO project designed the Autonomous Mission and Operations- EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station Rack-2.5 (AMO-EXPRESS-2.5) payload to evaluate crew self-scheduling and activity monitoring. The AMO-EXPRESS-2.5 builds on the previous AMO-EXPRESS and AMO-EXPRESS-2.0 demonstrations on ISS. The AMO-EXPRESS-2.5 demonstration goals are to prove crew self-scheduling by planning through diagnosing systems expertise, failure detection, procedure recommendation and situational awareness. This paper will describe the development, test and execution results of the AMO-EXPRESS-2.5 demonstration, and will also outline the future planned development and operational efforts to enable autonomy for future deep space manned missions.

Brooke C. Allen↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) on the International Space Station (ISS)

Experimental studies of laminar, non-premixed flames of gaseous fuels are underway on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of NASA’s Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments(ACME) project. The research is primarily focused on improving practical terrestrial combustion through fundamental microgravity research, where a secondary objective is spacecraft fire safety. Example goals are to improve understanding of flame stability and extinction limits, soot control and reduction, oxygen-enriched combustion which could enable practical carbon sequestration, combustion at fuel lean conditions where both optimum performance and low emissions can be achieved, the use of electric fields for combustion control, cool flame chemical kinetics, and materials flammability. The microgravity environment avoids buoyancy-induced flicker and enables the creation of spherical flames, allowing numerical models to focus computational power on transport phenomena and chemical kinetics. Compared to normal gravity, microgravity also provides longer residence times and larger length scales, yielding a broad range of flame conditions which are beneficial for simplified analysis, e.g., of limit behavior where chemical kinetics are important. Using modular hardware, research for six independent investigations is being carried out within the station’s Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR). While the ISS crew members set up the experimental hardware, the tests are remotely commanded with investigator input from the NASA Glenn Research Center. Over a thousand flames have been ignited since ACME operations began in Sept. 2017 and selected results from the first five experiments are summarized.

laminar flames↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Replication of Segments of STS-94 as a Lunar Surface Mission

The Artemis program established the goal to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, but that is only the beginning of the program. Artemis plans to move towards a sustainable phase, with four crew living on the lunar surface for roughly 30-day annual missions, operating from a Pressurized Rover (PR) and a Surface Habitat (SH). The crew will split up – two living and operating from the PR and the others in the SH, perhaps swapping places halfway through the surface mission. There is a significant degree of maturity surrounding PR operations due to the NASA Desert Research and Technology Studies field tests from 2007-2011. However, there is a degree of uncertainty surrounding activity in the SH, with anecdotal speculation among some Artemis lunar surface engineers that the SH crew might not be fully utilized. Contrary to this belief, there is evidence in US human spaceflight history that the SH crew may instead be extremely busy. In particular, portions of the STS-94 Microgravity Science Lab mission demonstrate a science-based use case for crew activity in the SH. Fifteen Spacelab missions (not including STS-83, which was terminated early due to a fuel cell problem and reflown as STS-94) and eight Spacehab missions used the previously mentioned modules as science labs to expand the science capability of shuttle orbital missions, most flown prior to the assembly of the International Space Station. STS-94 is selected as an example of these flights. STS-94 was a 15.7-day mission with a 7-person crew. The crew operated in split 12-hour shifts, enabling 24-hour science operations. STS-94 used the space shuttle Columbia with the Spacelab module and Extended Duration Orbiter pallet in the cargo bay. The STS-94 physical science investigations were intended to explore various physical aspects of microgravity. These same investigations can be conducted on the Moon to explore 1/6 gravity. The Spacelab module was outfitted with several key facilities to enable this research: Large Isothermal Furnace, Combustion Module-1, Droplet Combustion Experiment, EXPRESS Rack, TEMPUS, Gravity Measurement Devices, and Middeck Glovebox. The current reference concept for the SH is a hybrid inflatable in a vertical orientation. Fairly typical of hybrid inflatables, the SH has an aluminum core pressurized section and a larger inflatable volume, in this case attaching to the top of the core. Two crew will live in the SH at a time, though four can briefly occupy the habitat, such as for contingency or handover activities. This paper will discuss use of the STS-94 physical science equipment in the SH and options for the architectural layout of a resulting physics laboratory. It will also discuss how this laboratory may accompany other science facilities such as biology, human research, and geology. The person hours used by the STS-94 crew to conduct physical science research will be estimated and then mapped to a two-person SH crew, making it possible to determine how many days are required in the SH to complete the lunar gravity physical science investigations at varying levels of crew availability.

STS-94↗

NASA NTRS2021

Spectrum – An Instrument for Multispectral Biological Fluorescence Imaging on the International Space Station

Spectrum is a compact instrument for fluorescent imaging of biological specimens in microgravity and capable of operating within the constraints of an EXPRESS Rack on the International Space Station (ISS). The Spectrum Flight Unit (SFU) was launched to ISSin November 2019 and is available for science investigations as a general instrument. A duplicate Engineering Development Unit (EDU) is available at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Science Verification Testing (SVT) performed at KSCdemonstrated all required functions including five (5) fluorescence excitation wavelengths, growth lighting, environmental controls and monitoring, and high-resolution imaging using a 71 Megapixel camera with flat field lens. The design features key Orbital Replaceable Unit (ORU) components, which may be adapted or changed by future investigators for tailored science experiments.

Bradley Burns↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Recent Research on Flames of Gaseous Fuel Aboard the International Space Station

Research for a set of six independent experiments with flames of gaseous fuels has been carried out on the International Space Station (ISS) since 2017 using the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) and a set of modular hardware. While ISS testing has been completed for most of the studies in the Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) project, it is expected to continue into 2022. The objectives and selected findings for each investigation are briefly discussed after a short review of the advantages of studying combustion in microgravity, previous research conducted in space, and the experimental hardware and its operation.

Flame↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Recent Research on Flames of Gaseous Fuel Aboard the International Space Station

Flame↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ACME: Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments

From Nov. 2017 to Feb. 2022, the ACME project’s six independent investigations of laminar, non-premixed flames of gaseous fuels were conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) in the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR). An exploration of flames at the extremes of high sooting and high dilution was conducted with a coaxial coflow burner, where the fuel and oxidizer velocities were typically matched. An investigation of electric-field effects also used the same coflow burner as well as a simple gas-jet burner, with a circular electrode mesh downstream of the burner, at voltages of either polarity up to 10 kV. A study focused on material flammability in a quiescent atmosphere emulated the burning of condensed-phased fuels using cylindrical burners with a flat perforated outlet instrumented to measure the heat flux to the burner, i.e., emulated fuel. Three studies of soot processes, flame dynamics, and low-temperature combustion used porous spherical burners yielding a nominally one-dimensional flame structure. The ACME research will be represented through images and text.

flames↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

The Space Radiation Element (SRE) of the Human Research Program (HRP) aims to establish a robust biospecimen and tissue sharing collection (BTSC) to improve sample collection, tracking, access, distribution, and usability to maximize scientific return with intention. Future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond will require the appropriate characterization and mitigation of the many of the health risks associated with cosmic radiation exposure. An ongoing partnership between the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) and the Office of Science for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has established the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at the DOE Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) to create a space radiation ground-analog. NSRL provides the capability to use simulated space radiation with high energy ion beams for assessment of biological outcomes relevant space radiation risks as well as electronics testing for avionics safety. Current NSRL irradiation capabilities include a variety of exposure variables available for experimental needs: - Up to approximately 10 Gy/min dose-rates with a 20 × 20 cm 2 beam area. - Down to several hundred particles within a 60 × 60 cm 2 beam area. - Dose fractionation across multiple days is also possible. - For most radiobiology experiments the exposure structure, referred to as “spills”, has a 4 second repetition time where ions are extracted uniformly during a 0.3-0.4 second spill, followed by a ~3.6 second recovery time when the beam is off. - Both single or mixed-beam field irradiations are possible including a full 33-beam GCRSim and 6-beam SimGCRSim. Biological experiment capabilities: Two labs for Cell/tissue culture procedures can be conducted in two lab spaces with a separate lab available for sample processing that contains two chemical fume hoods. Sixteen fully equipped cell culture laboratories are available in the NSRL’s Long Term Support area in the Medical Building. The current vivarium configuration can support approximately 8,000 rodents/year for animal-based experiments. The NSRL area animal husbandry system includes five caging racks with 48 spaces in each coupled to a ventilation/filtration system in largest room, and two smaller rooms with conventional caging systems. Schedule: The NSRL is nominally open for experiment scheduling during three runs per year; Spring (March – May), Summer (May - June), and Fall (Sept – Nov). NASA funding is not required for biological and electronic testing experiments at the NSRL.

Jason M Weeks↗