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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 757 records · Page 42
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2005

Space Nuclear Power Public and Stakeholder Risk Communication

The 1986 Challenger accident coupled with the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident increased public concern about the safety of spacecraft using nuclear technology. While three nuclear powered spacecraft had been launched before 1986 with little public interest, future nuclear powered missions would see significantly more public concern and require NASA to increase its efforts to communicate mission risks to the public. In 1987 a separate risk communication area within the Launch Approval Planning Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was created to address public concern about the health, environmental, and safety risks of NASA missions. The lessons learned from the risk communication strategies developed for the nuclear powered Galileo, Ulysses, and Cassini missions are reviewed in this paper and recommendations are given as to how these lessons can be applied to future NASA missions that may use nuclear power systems and other potentially controversial NASA missions.

Galileo↗
NASA NTRS2023

Human Systems Integration: Managing Risk in Anesthesia

The practice of anesthesia relies on clinicians’ ability to safely manage increasingly complex equipment. Devices such as ventilators, drug infusion pumps, and physiologic monitors use sophisticated algorithms to deliver care, but most clinicians are only trained to manage automated systems during normal operation. Few if any receive training on how to manage system failures. Although manufacturers are required to consult with human factors engineers as part of the equipment design process, most pieces of equipment are ultimately brought to market without extensive input from clinicians. Systems in the operating room can be as simple as an oxygen tank, or as complex as a multi-institutional healthcare organization. Humans are also a complex system, and play a critical role in the domains of operations, design, fabrication, maintenance, repair, and ultimately, dismantling and closeout. HSI seeks to provide a means for advocating the human side of the system. Human Systems Integration (HSI) is the cross disciplinary process used as part of the Systems Engineering process to reduce risk in systems. HSI professionals consider the human, hardware, and software elements of system design to optimize system performance and improve safety. HSI professionals work in domains of study that include training, management, human factors engineering, safety, and occupational health, among others. This article discusses the role of systems in the practice of anesthesia, and how consideration of the human during all phases of the system life cycle helps manage risks and promote a better patient outcome.

Human Factors↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Summary of Technical Interchange Meetings (TIMs) Designed to Enable Earth Independent Medical Operations (EIMO)

The Exploration Medical Capability Element (ExMC) in NASA’s Human Research Program hosted a series of TIMs in 2023-2024 designed to stimulate discussion around specific topics with the goal of enabling EIMO. In context of the thematic constituent elements of EIMO, namely pre-mission planning, acute/emergent/prolonged medical decision making, supply/resource management and task load management, subject matter experts from industry, academia and government (NASA and other Agencies) provided valuable and actionable guidance and recommendations. Earth-based medical experts will remain indispensable for pre-mission planning, however, management of acute/emergent medical contingencies will require a gradual transition of medical care and decision making from terrestrial to space-based assets to enable support of astronaut health and performance and reduce overall mission risk. Key to achieving these enhancements is providing an integrated data system platform capable of utilizing multiple data streams in concert with a variety of on-board databases and passive monitoring of video and wearable sensors to enable a multi-modal, agentic AI-based clinical decision support system (CDSS) to support crew medical officer (CMO) medical decision-making. The EIMO series of TIMs (I-V) have proven to be instructive and portend a significant paradigm shift will be necessary to maintain crew health and performance on exploration class missions. Importantly, since the expected paradigm shift will be significantly different from the methods of operation that have been employed for the majority of missions from the inception of human spaceflight to date, any proposed methods must be deployed in the setting of ongoing operations early and be “tested, reviewed and practiced” while reliable back-up is available to facilitate an Enterprise-wide level of comfort and acceptance. Serious constraints on data transmission coupled with a large and expanding universe of on-board medical informatics data streams will necessitate implementation of a CDSS to supplant the current reliance on support provided by ground-based SMEs. Establishment of trust in the system by CMO/crew and the ground-based medical support team will be essential. Co-development of a CDSS with industry partners will assure that state of the art tools can be employed, and industry efficiencies can be leveraged. Training regimens, materials and tools must evolve to be responsive (just-in-time training) and facilitate autonomous execution of procedures. Proficiency metrics should be established and be based on validated competencies or milestones as opposed to a prescribed number of training hours. Training should be prioritized for broad, translatable skills that have universal application across a variety of medical conditions. Repetition was deemed to be the key to achieving proficiency and emphasis should lie in procedural training which is known to extinguish more rapidly than diagnostic skills. Advanced tools, e.g., extended reality, can provide more realistic and effective training. Use of advanced probabilistic risk assessment tools will be essential to optimize the medical system capability while carefully balancing risk relative to mass/power/volume limitations. Importance of factoring use-life of medical supplies and maintaining awareness of redundancy and opportunity to re-purpose under off nominal situations was emphasized. Consideration of adopting optimized performance standards vs. “good-enough” performance thresholds is warranted. The use of legacy systems as opposed to creating new systems may be preferable. Managing task load and associated cognitive load will be essential to maintain operational safety and behavioral health. ExMC aspires to create a shared EIMO paradigm and strategic vision for advancing medical system design through novel technologies, training, protocols, and support capabilities, built upon the spirit of successful strategies and innovations over the past six decades of space medicine operations.

Jay Lemery↗
NASA NTRS2008

Monitoring Damage Accumulation in Ceramic Matrix Composites Using Electrical Resistivity

The electric resistance of woven SiC fiber reinforced SiC matrix composites were measured under tensile loading conditions. The results show that the electrical resistance is closely related to damage and that real-time information about the damage state can be obtained through monitoring of the resistance. Such self-sensing capability provides the possibility of on-board/in-situ damage detection and accurate life prediction for high-temperature ceramic matrix composites. Woven silicon carbide fiber-reinforced silicon carbide (SiC/SiC) ceramic matrix composites (CMC) possess unique properties such as high thermal conductivity, excellent creep resistance, improved toughness, and good environmental stability (oxidation resistance), making them particularly suitable for hot structure applications. In specific, CMCs could be applied to hot section components of gas turbines [1], aerojet engines [2], thermal protection systems [3], and hot control surfaces [4]. The benefits of implementing these materials include reduced cooling air requirements, lower weight, simpler component design, longer service life, and higher thrust [5]. It has been identified in NASA High Speed Research (HSR) program that the SiC/SiC CMC has the most promise for high temperature, high oxidation applications [6]. One of the critical issues in the successful application of CMCs is on-board or insitu assessment of the damage state and an accurate prediction of the remaining service life of a particular component. This is of great concern, since most CMC components envisioned for aerospace applications will be exposed to harsh environments and play a key role in the vehicle s safety. On-line health monitoring can enable prediction of remaining life; thus resulting in improved safety and reliability of structural components. Monitoring can also allow for appropriate corrections to be made in real time, therefore leading to the prevention of catastrophic failures. Most conventional nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques such as ultrasonic C-scan, x-ray, thermography, and eddy current are limited since they require structural components of complex geometry to be taken out of service for a substantial length of time for post-damage inspection and assessment. Furthermore, the typical NDE techniques are useful for identifying large interlaminar flaws, but insensitive to CMC materials flaws developed perpendicular to the surface under tensile creep conditions. There are techniques such as piezoelectric sensor [7,8], and optical fiber [9,10] that could be used for on-line health monitoring of CMC structures. However, these systems involve attaching an external sensor or putting special fibers in CMC composites, which would be problematic at high temperature applications.

Smith, Craig E.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bifunctional Ionic Covalent Organic Networks for Enhanced Simultaneous Removal of Chromium(VI) and Arsenic(V) Oxoanions via Synergetic Ion Exchange and Redox Process

Chromium (VI) and arsenic (V) oxoanions are major toxic heavy metal pollutants in water threatening both human health and environmental safety. Here, the development is reported of a bifunctional ionic covalent organic network (iCON) with integrated guanidinium and phenol units to simultaneously sequester chromate and arsenate in water via a synergistic ion-exchange-redox process. The guanidinium groups facilitate the ion-exchange-based adsorption of chromate and arsenate at neutral pH with fast kinetics and high uptake capacity, whereas the integrated phenol motifs mediate the Cr(VI)/Cr(III) redox process that immobilizes chromate and promotes the adsorption of arsenate via the formation of Cr(III)-As(V) cluster/complex. The synergistic ion-exchange-redox approach not only pushes high adsorption efficiency for both chromate and arsenate but also upholds a balanced Cr/As uptake ratio regardless of the change in concentration and the presence of interfering oxoanions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Plant genotype and rhizobia strain combinations strongly influence the transcriptome under heavy metal stress conditions in Medicago truncatula

Heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) pose significant threats to plant health and food safety as they are absorbed from the environment. Legumes are generally considered sensitive to heavy metals but possess standing genetic variation for accumulation and tolerance to toxic ions. We conducted a transcriptomic analysis on hydroponically and soil grown Medicago truncatula plants to investigate gene expression responses to Cd and Hg exposure in roots, leaves, and nodules. By using plant genotypes with varying metal tolerance or accumulation levels, we observed distinct clustering of gene ontologies, indicating tissue-specific, genotype-specific, and metal-specific gene expression patterns. Considering the symbiotic relationship between legumes and nitrogen-fixing bacteria, we further examined plant phenotypes and transcriptomes of plant genotypes with contrasting Hg accumulation levels and inoculated them with high or low Hg-tolerant Sinorhizobium medicae strains that have presence-absence variation for a mercury reductase (Mer) operon. Host plants inoculated with the Hg-tolerant rhizobia strain possessing a Mer operon exhibited less reduction in nodule number and plant biomass. A smaller reduction in iron (Fe) distribution in nodules after Hg stress was measured using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) imaging. Dual transcriptome (host plant and bacteria) analysis of nodules revealed a remarkable decrease in the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and clustering of gene ontologies in plants inoculated with the Hg-tolerant rhizobia strain, including symbiosis related genes. This finding suggests that the Hg-tolerant rhizobia strain has the potential to mitigate Hg stress in host plants. Furthermore, we observed genotype by-genotype interactions between the high Hg accumulating plant genotype and the Hg-tolerant rhizobia strain. These findings provide insights into enhancing plant resilience in contaminated environments through optimizing legume-rhizobia interactions for heavy metal tolerance.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Species-Selective Detection of Volatile Organic Compounds by Ionic Liquid-Based Electrolyte Using Electrochemical Methods

The detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is an important topic for environmental safety and public health. However, the current commercial VOC detectors suffer from cross-sensitivity and low reproducibility. In this work, we present species-selective detection for VOCs using an electrochemical cell based on ionic liquid (IL) electrolytes with features of high selectivity and reliability. The voltammograms measured with the IL-based electrolyte absorbing different VOCs exhibited species-selective features that were extracted and classified by linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The detection system could identify as many as four types of VOCs, including methanol, ethanol, acetone, formaldehyde, and additional water. A mixture of methanol and formaldehyde was detected as well. The sample required for the VOCs classification system was 50 μL, or 1.164 mmol, on average. The response time for each VOC measurement is as fast as 24 s. The volume of VOCs such as formaldehyde in solution could also be quantified by LDA and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques, respectively. The system showed a tunable detection range for 1.6 and 16% (w/v) CH 2 O solution by adjusting the composition of the electrolyte. The limit of detection was as low as 1 μL. For the 1.6% CH 2 O solution, the linearity calibration range was determined to be from 5.30 to 53.00 μmol with a limit of detection at 0.53 μmol. The mechanisms for VOCs determination and quantification are also thoroughly discussed. Finally, it is expected that this work could provide a new insight into the concept of electrochemical detection of VOCs with machine learning analysis and be applied to both VOCs gas monitoring and fluid detection.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Application of Peracetic Acid in Poultry Processing: Effects of Treatment Dynamics and Emerging Risk of Resistance Development in Salmonella spp.

Nontyphoidal Salmonella is a leading cause of foodborne illness, with poultry representing a major source. Peracetic acid (PAA), a widely adopted antimicrobial in poultry processing, offers advantages over traditional disinfectants but has sparked interest in its combined use with other antimicrobials and potential resistance. This review evaluates the efficacy of PAA in mitigating Salmonella in combination with other food-grade antimicrobials, explores possible synergism, efficacy under varying treatment parameters, resistance development against PAA, and its role in resistance evolution. While PAA demonstrates broad-spectrum efficacy, its performance varies with environmental parameters; higher temperatures generally enhance antimicrobial action but also accelerate PAA degradation. Organic matter diminishes PAA efficacy by reactive quenching. Variability in concentration and contact time further influences outcomes. Despite its oxidative mode of action and presumed low risk for resistance, emerging studies indicate that Salmonella can develop adaptive tolerance and potential cross/coresistance following repeated or sublethal exposure to PAA. These adaptations may involve genetic upregulation of oxidative stress response pathways, efflux systems, and modifications in cell membrane integrity, raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of PAA use. Additionally, combinatorial treatments (e.g., PAA with UV-C, enzymes, or organic acids) show promise in enhancing efficacy while mitigating resistance risks. Despite recognition of PAA's safety and effectiveness, knowledge gaps remain regarding standardized resistance definitions, serotype-specific tolerance, and optimal intervention strategies in commercial settings. Therefore, there is a need for standardized testing protocols, robust studies on potential resistance, and further exploration of synergistic PAA applications to ensure sustained poultry product safety and public health protection.

37 - INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL C↗
DOE OSTI2021

G3P3 Phase 3 Project Execution Plan. Issue 1

The National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) at Sandia National Laboratories New Mexico (SNL/NM) developed this Project Execution Plan (PEP) to document its process for executing, monitoring, controlling and closing-out Phase 3 of the Gen 3 Particle Pilot Plant G3P3. This plan serves as a resource for stakeholders who wish to be knowledgeable of project objectives and how they will be accomplished. The plan is intended to be used by the development partners, principal investigator, and the federal project director. Project objectives are derived from the mission needs statement, and an integrated project team assists in development of the PEP. This plan is a living document and will be updated throughout the project to describe current and future processes and procedures. The scope of the PEP covers: Cost, schedule, and scope Project reporting Staffing plan Quality assurance plan Environment, safety, security, and health This document is a tailored approach for the Facilities Management and Operations Center (FMOC) to meet the project management principles of DOE Order 413.3B, Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets , and DOE G 413.3-15, DOE Guide for Project Execution Plans. This document will elaborate on content as knowledge of the project is gained or refined.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Management of New Mexico Special Waste

New Mexico “Special Waste” (NMSW) is a non-hazardous solid waste that has unique handling, transportation, and/or disposal requirements to assure protection of the environment and the public health, welfare, and safety.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Characteristics of U.S. Energy Production using Nuclear Fission

When considering potential energy production technologies for the future, a critical consideration centers on the question of “how green” the technology is. Here, the word “green” implies that the technology has a zero or minimal impact on the public and environment while still providing benefits by way of electricity, heat, and other products such as hydrogen and water. And, these potential impacts must be considered over the lifecycle of the technology deployment, from design, construction, operation, and disposition. Ideally, a green energy technology would be net-zero (i.e., having no to almost negligible contribution) on five key elements: 1. Greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases such as ozone-depleting gases 2. Water consumption 3. Material resource consumption 4. Disposition of wastes 5. Public, flora, and fauna safety including deaths, health, and environmental impacts. Society would benefit from net-zero impacts of the five elements above while having low-cost energy. As society starts to replace fossil fuels in the energy mix, we need to consider the possible impacts of adopted technologies. We need a production approach that provides large quantities of energy while being safe, reliable, economical, and sustainable. In this report, we describe a variety of characteristics related to the five elements above to provide a fact-supported, science-based depiction of nuclear fission as an energy providing technology. By better understanding how fission power is nearly net-zero in the five elements above, we can position our thinking to align with the overarching goal to provide society with a low-impact energy source.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Historic Buildings Report: Five-Year Preservation Planning for Manhattan Project National Historical Park Sites

This report offers a preservation maintenance plan for the next five years for buildings and structures included in or eligible for inclusion in the Manhattan Project National Historical Park at Los Alamos National Laboratory. There are twenty-three buildings, structures, and ruins of previously standing buildings covered within this report. Many of the preservation maintenance issues addressed here concern problems with health and live safety of staff and visitors alike, and also structural concerns that affect the long-term preservation of these important buildings.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

2024 Site Environmental Report

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is managed on behalf of the Department of Energy (DOE) by Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA), a partnership between Stony Brook University and Battelle, and six core universities: Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, and Yale. For over 75 years, the Laboratory has played a lead role in the DOE Science and Technology mission and continues to contribute to the DOE’s missions in energy resources, environmental quality, and national security. BNL manages its world-class scientific research operations with sensitivity to environmental issues and community concerns. The Laboratory’s Environmental, Safety, Security, and Health (ESSH) Policy reflects the commitment of BNL’s management to fully integrate environmental stewardship into all facets of its mission and operations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Notice of Illegal Foreign Pesticides Entering the United States: Information Bulletin v.01

This information bulletin is intended to generate a heightened awareness of illicit pesticide importation, distribution, and use in the United States. This bulletin focuses on solid, fumigant materials which are primarily used in the production of marijuana growth and cultivation. Exposure to illicit pesticides, fumigant fumes, or residual materials may pose a public health and officer safety concern. Many illegal fumigant pesticide products have been seized and determined to consist of a mixture of several pesticides and is often in contrast with the pesticide labelling. This information bulletin is not a complete account of all illegal pesticides found in country; it serves to highlight frequently encountered materials and present patterns in product presentation, packaging, and shipment containment which are intended to aid in identification and intervention. Other varieties of illegal pesticide fumigants are known to exist, and additional variations are expected to be encountered in policing intervention. This bulletin includes information on the presentation of illegal pesticides, label review recommendations, a field reference guide, which includes example photographs of seized pesticide/fumigants and their labels, and related United States federal regulation information, including relevant tariff code information for reference.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1980

Overall requirements for an advanced underground coal extraction system

Underground mining systems suitable for coal seams expoitable in the year 2000 are examined with particular relevance to the resources of Central Appalachia. Requirements for such systems may be summarized as follows: (1) production cost; (2)miner safety; (3) miner health; (4) environmental impact; and (5) coal conservation. No significant trade offs between production cost and other performance indices were found.

Goldsmith, M.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Scientific American Inventions From Outer Space: Everyday Uses For NASA Technology

The purpose of this book is to present some of the inventions highlighted in the yearly publication of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Spinoff. These inventions cover a wide range, some of which include improvements in health, medicine, public safety, energy, environment, resource management, computer technology, automation, construction, transportation, and manufacturing technology. NASA technology has brought forth thousands of commercial products which include athletic shoes, portable x-ray machines, and scratch-resistant sunglasses, guidance systems, lasers, solar power, robotics and prosthetic devices. These products are examples of NASA research innovations which have positively impacted the community.

Baker, David↗
NASA NTRS2006

Space and Ground Trades for Human Exploration and Wearable Computing

Human exploration of the Moon and Mars will present unique trade study challenges as ground system elements shift to planetary bodies and perhaps eventually to the bodies of human explorers in the form of wearable computing technologies. This presentation will highlight some of the key space and ground trade issues that will face the Exploration Initiative as NASA begins designing systems for the sustained human exploration of the Moon and Mars, with an emphasis on wearable computing. We will present some preliminary test results and scenarios that demonstrate how wearable computing might affect the trade space noted below. We will first present some background on wearable computing and its utility to NASA's Exploration Initiative. Next, we will discuss three broad architectural themes, some key ground and space trade issues within those themes and how they relate to wearable computing. Lastly, we will present some preliminary test results and suggest guidance for proceeding in the assessment and creation of a value-added role for wearable computing in the Exploration Initiative. The three broad ground-space architectural trade themes we will discuss are: 1. Functional Shift and Distribution: To what extent, if any, should traditional ground system functionality be shifted to, and distributed among, the Earth, Moon/Mars, and the human. explorer? 2. Situational Awareness and Autonomy: How much situational awareness (e.g. environmental conditions, biometrics, etc.) and autonomy is required and desired, and where should these capabilities reside? 3. Functional Redundancy: What functions (e.g. command, control, analysis) should exist simultaneously on Earth, the Moon/Mars, and the human explorer? These three themes can serve as the axes of a three-dimensional trade space, within which architectural solutions reside. We will show how wearable computers can fit into this trade space and what the possible implications could be for the rest of the ground and space architecture(s). We intend this to be an example of explorer-centric thinking in a fully integrated explorer paradigm, where integrated explorer refers to a human explorer having instant access to all relevant data, knowledge of the environment, science models, health and safety-related events, and other tools and information via wearable computing technologies. The trade study approach will include involvement from the relevant stakeholders (Constellation Systems, CCCI, EVA Project Office, Astronaut office, Mission Operations, Space Life Sciences, etc.) to develop operations concepts (and/or operations scenarios) from which a basic high-level set of requirements could be extracted. This set of requirements could serve as a foundation (along with stakeholder buy-in) that would help define the trade space and assist in identifying candidate technologies for further study and evolution to higher-level technology readiness levels.

Lupisella, Mark↗