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NASA NTRS2007

TBCC Fan Stage Operability and Performance

NASA s Fundamental Aeronautics Program is investigating turbine-based propulsion systems for access to space because it provides the potential for aircraft-like, space-launch operations that may significantly reduce launch costs and improve safety. Studies performed under NASA s NGLT and the NASP High Speed Propulsion Assessment (HiSPA) program indicated a variable cycle turbofan/ramjet was the best configuration to satisfy access-to-space mission requirements because this configuration maximizes the engine thrust-to-weight ratio while minimizing frontal area. To this end, NASA and GE teamed to design a Mach 4 variable cycle turbofan/ramjet engine for access to space. To enable the wide operating range of a Mach 4+ variable cycle turbofan ramjet required the development of a unique fan stage design capable of multi-point operation to accommodate variations in bypass ratio (10X), fan speed (7X), inlet mass flow (3.5X), inlet pressure (8X), and inlet temperature (3X). The primary goal of the fan stage was to provide a high pressure ratio level with good efficiency at takeoff through the mid range of engine operation, while avoiding stall and losses at the higher flight Mach numbers, without the use of variable inlet guide vanes. Overall fan performance and operability therefore requires major consideration, as competing goals at different operating points and aeromechanical issues become major drivers in the design. To mitigate risk of meeting the unique design requirements for the fan stage, NASA and GE teamed to design and build a 57% engine scaled fan stage to be tested in NASA s transonic compressor facility. The objectives of this test are to assess the aerodynamic and aero mechanic performance and operability characteristics of the fan stage over the entire range of engine operation including: 1) sea level static take-off, 2) transition over large swings in fan bypass ratio, 3) transition from turbofan to ramjet, and 4) fan windmilling operation at high Mach flight conditions. In addition, the fan stage design was validated by performing pre-test CFD analysis using both GE proprietary and NASA s APNASA codes. Herein we will discuss 1) the fan stage design, 2) the experiment including the unique facility and instrumentation, and 3) the comparison of pre-test CFD analysis to initial aerodynamic test results for the baseline fan stage configuration. Measurements and pre-test analysis will be compared at 37%, 50%, 80%, 90%, and 100% of design speed to assess the ability of state-of-the-art design and analysis tools to meet the fan stage performance and operability requirements for turbine based propulsion for access to space.

Suder, Kenneth L.↗

NASA NTRS2020

Mars 2020: Mission, Science Objectives and Build

If all goes according to plan, in February 2021, NASA will land the Mars 2020 Rover on the surface of Mars. Mars 2020 is the latest in a series of unmanned Martian robotic rover missions that are part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the planet. The mission seeks to address high-priority goals for Mars exploration, including answering questions about the potential for past life on Mars. Mars 2020 will look for evidence of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, as well as look for signs of past microbial life itself. The mission also seeks to understanding the geological history and evolution of the planet, and to prepare for future robotic and human exploration. The Mars 2020 spacecraft and rover borrow heavily from the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission and Curiosity rover which landed on Mars in 2012. This reliance on proven technology helps reduce mission risk and cost. Mars 2020 does contain new technology, including a drill for coring samples from Martian rock and soil and a Sample Caching System for gathering, storing and preserving samples for possible future return to Earth. In this paper, we will review the primary goals of the Mars 2020 Mission and look at the reasons for choosing Jezero Crater as the landing site. We will discuss the design and build of the Mars 2020 Spacecraft system and its similarities and differences with Mars Science Laboratory and the Curiosity Rover. We will also review the Mars 2020 Scientific Instrument Suite and their goals. Finally, we will review the Return Sample Contamination Control requirements and the design choices that were made to facilitate meeting these requirements.

Soares, Carlos E.↗

NASA NTRS1984

The structural optimization of a spreader bar for twin lift helicopter operations

An optimization study was performed to develop a minimum weight spreader bar to allow two helicopters to lift the same payload. With this arrangement, the maximum payload that can be lifted is almost doubled without the expense of designing and building a new helicopter. The concept has had some limited use by civil helicopter operators using small helicopters and has been demonstrated in large scale by two CH-54's which successfully lifted a total load of 20 ton. To this point, rather heavy available beams or tower structures have been used for the spreader bar. Since the weight of the bar not only detracts from payload but also adds to the logistics problem, there are more than the usual incentives to minimize weight. Since the design requirement is for classic beam column with uniform side loads resulting from bar weight and aerodynamic drag, the design problem is particularly amenable to optimization. A study has been performed at Sikorsky to establish the minimum weight for a spreader bar sized to carry a load equal to the capacity of two Army BLACK HAWK helicopters. Toward this end, a computer program was written to analyze the spreader bar deflections and stresses and coupled to the NASA developed CONMIN optimization routines.

Dobyns, A.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Final Plenary Session Transcript

Let s start with the report - as you know - when we are talking about flow control it is a multi-disciplinary type of work. So it involves many people and disciplines. This group first discussed the important issues associated with flow control. As you start doing flow control what are the issues to which you really have to start paying attention? That is the first part I am going to present. Then in the second part I will present some challenges - problems that we should really be looking at. So as far as the issues - if you want to control a flow, you really need to understand the flow physics, because anything that you do comes from the flow physics. The design of the controllers, your decisions on the actuators, sensors, reduced order modeling and all of that, would be helped if you understand flow physics. And you have to have a specific objective - what exactly are you controlling? Are you trying to reduce drag, eliminate separation, reduce noise, enhance mixing? So you have to have very specific control objectives. From all the talks we have seen here actuation is extremely important and it is very problem specific. It depends on what problem you are dealing with so you have to design and build actuators for that specific problem. Sensors obviously are very important, especially when you are dealing with feedback control. Consensus was that when you dealing with flow control, you must take an integrated approach; from the beginning you have to take into account every aspect of it and even maybe to modify your experiment, your geometry, to go along with the actuation, sensors and control models. Development of tools is very important in this multi-disciplinary problem. The tools include CFD, reduced order modeling, controller design, understanding and utilizing the instabilities of the flow, etc. So, in order to have success in flow control, we really need to develop these tools.

Gostelow, Paul↗

NASA NTRS2015

Status of the Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) Phase 2, 1.5m ULE(Registered Trademark) Mirror

The Decadal Survey stated that an advanced large-aperture ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared (UVOIR) telescope is required to enable the next generation of compelling astrophysics and exoplanet science; and, that present technology is not mature enough to affordably build and launch any potential UVOIR mission concept. Under Science and Technology funding, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Exelis have developed a more cost effective process to make up to 4m monolithic spaceflight UV quality, low areal density, thermally and dynamically stable primary mirrors. Under a Phase I program, a proof of concept mirror was completed at Exelis and tested down to 250K at MSFC which would allow imaging out to 2.5 microns. In 2014, Exelis and NASA started a Phase II program to design and build a 1.5m mirror to demonstrate lateral scalability to a 4m monolithic primary mirror. The current status of the Phase II development program will be provided along with a Phase II program summary.

Space Mirror Technology↗

DOE OSTI2021

BETO 2021 Peer Review - Biological Upgrading of Sugars (BUS) 2.3.2.105

The Biological Upgrading of Sugars (BUS) project directly targets the anaerobic conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks into intermediate molecules readily upgradeable to fuel precursors. Recent efforts on the BUS project have a particular emphasis on the biological production of butyric acid, an intermediate that can be readily upgraded to sustainable aviation fuel, diesel blend-stocks, and high value chemicals. The BUS project approaches this direction through a combination of strain engineering, fermentation process engineering, development of novel separations technologies, and the design and build of pilot scale systems. Our ultimate project goal is to develop an integrated cost-effective process at pilot scale to achieve DOE's MYPP targets of $2.50/GGE. The major thrust of the BUS project over the last project cycle was on the development of integrated processes surrounding the anaerobic production of carboxylic acids using diverse Clostridium species. We developed and expanded genetic tools for several Clostridium species and rewired microbial metabolism in an attempt to maximize substrate utilization and flux towards butyric acid. We designed and built novel bioreactors with an in situ product recovery system enabling the biological production and recovery of highly purified acids. We leveraged this system to generate 100s of grams of acid from corn stover hydrolysate. In this presentation we highlight data surrounding our proposed process and accompanying results from technoeconomic and life-cycle analyses of our integrated process. Finally, we detail plans of our pilot scale reactor system that is in process and discuss our future routes towards achieving economically viable and sustainable diesel and jet blendstocks.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Building Science Advisor (BSA): A Tool to Assist in the Design and Education of Durable Envelopes

The moisture durability of a building envelope component can be difficult to predict. It depends on the materials used, the location in the assembly, the macro- and microclimate of the building, the air tightness of the interior environment and construction quality. Modern building codes require more insulation and tighter construction but provide little guidance about how to ensure these energy-efficient assemblies are designed and built to retain moisture durability. Furthermore, as new products are introduced to the market, builders are increasingly uncertain about the long-term durability of their building envelope designs. As building envelopes get tighter and better insulated, moisture management is key to a durable and high-performing wall assembly.

Desjarlais, Andre↗

NASA NTRS2007

Revitalization of Space-Related Human Factors, Environmental and Habitability Data

The NASA Chief Health and Medical Officer (CHMO) recently directed that the agency establish crew health standards to aid in the development of requirements for future vehicles and habitats. Response to this direction includes development of a new NASA habitability and human factors standard and an accompanying design handbook. The new standard contains high-level, over-arching principles to assure its applicability and usability across all NASA development programs. The handbook will provide detailed design requirements and suggestions that will meet the standards. The information contained in NASA-STD-3000 will be updated and included in the new design handbook. In this approach, each new program will derive detailed program-specific requirements from the new standard using the handbook as a design guide and resource. With the completion of the standard, the focus of this year s effort is the development of the new handbook: Human Integration Design Handbook (HIDH). This is an opportunity for the space flight human factors and habitability community to consolidate up-to-date data for use by NASA programs and designers as well as outside researchers and policy makers looking for the next research focus. The goal of the handbook is to help NASA design and build human space flight systems which accommodate the capabilities and limitations of the crew so as to provide an environment where the crew can live and work effectively, safely, and comfortably. Handbook contents will address that primary goal, addressing unique aspects of space flight and habitation, including reduced gravity conditions, time lags, EVA systems and day/night cycles, not addressed in other standards or handbooks. The handbook will be divided into topics similar to NASA-STD-3000 (anthropometrics, architecture, workstations, etc.) and each topic area will contain elements for designers, human factors practitioners, program managers, operators, and researchers. The handbook will include the following elements: (1) Design considerations include a clear and concise summary of what is important to designers in space vehicle / habitat design, design information to translate Earth-base knowledge to the space environment, space issues and the data necessary to address those issues, and a consistent set of terminology. (2) Updates to Lessons Learned and example solutions from Shuttle and Station program experience will provide historical examples to help prevent repeating mistakes or reinvention of the wheel. (3) Requirements will aid in the translation of standards into program specific requirements. The scope of included requirements will define the pool that each program needs to consider and tailor for their specific program. (4) Requirements rationale will help understanding of the importance of these considerations. The HIDH development team at JSC is finalizing the format of the new handbook, prioritizing topic areas for expansion and update, and contacting subject matter experts within the scientific community to assist with this effort. Plans are also being made to continue handbook expansion and maintenance to assure it remains a valuable resource for human factors and human space flight programs.

Russo, Dane↗

NASA NTRS1993

Design, analysis, and testing of high frequency passively damped struts

Objectives of the research are: (1) to develop design requirements for damped struts to stabilize control system in the high frequency cross-over and spill-over range; (2) to design, fabricate and test viscously damped strut and viscoelastically damped strut; (3) to verify accuracy of design and analysis methodology of damped struts; and (4) to design and build test apparatus, and develop data reduction algorithm to measure strut complex stiffness. In order to meet the stringent performance requirements of the SPICE experiment, the active control system is used to suppress the dynamic responses of the low order structural modes. However, the control system also inadvertently drives some of the higher order modes unstable in the cross-over and spill-over frequency range. Passive damping is a reliable and effective way to provide damping to stabilize the control system. It also improves the robustness of the control system. Damping is designed into the SPICE testbed as an integral part of the control-structure technology.

Yiu, Y. C.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Reliability and Maintainability Engineering - A Major Driver for Safety and Affordability

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is in the midst of an effort to design and build a safe and affordable heavy lift vehicle to go to the moon and beyond. To achieve that, NASA is seeking more innovative and efficient approaches to reduce cost while maintaining an acceptable level of safety and mission success. One area that has the potential to contribute significantly to achieving NASA safety and affordability goals is Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) engineering. Inadequate reliability or failure of critical safety items may directly jeopardize the safety of the user(s) and result in a loss of life. Inadequate reliability of equipment may directly jeopardize mission success. Systems designed to be more reliable (fewer failures) and maintainable (fewer resources needed) can lower the total life cycle cost. The Department of Defense (DOD) and industry experience has shown that optimized and adequate levels of R&M are critical for achieving a high level of safety and mission success, and low sustainment cost. Also, lessons learned from the Space Shuttle program clearly demonstrated the importance of R&M engineering in designing and operating safe and affordable launch systems. The Challenger and Columbia accidents are examples of the severe impact of design unreliability and process induced failures on system safety and mission success. These accidents demonstrated the criticality of reliability engineering in understanding component failure mechanisms and integrated system failures across the system elements interfaces. Experience from the shuttle program also shows that insufficient Reliability, Maintainability, and Supportability (RMS) engineering analyses upfront in the design phase can significantly increase the sustainment cost and, thereby, the total life cycle cost. Emphasis on RMS during the design phase is critical for identifying the design features and characteristics needed for time efficient processing, improved operational availability, and optimized maintenance and logistic support infrastructure. This paper discusses the role of R&M in a program acquisition phase and the potential impact of R&M on safety, mission success, operational availability, and affordability. This includes discussion of the R&M elements that need to be addressed and the R&M analyses that need to be performed in order to support a safe and affordable system design. The paper also provides some lessons learned from the Space Shuttle program on the impact of R&M on safety and affordability.

Safie, Fayssal M.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Flammability Configuration Analysis for Spacecraft Applications

Fire is one of the many potentially catastrophic hazards associated with the operation of crewed spacecraft. A major lesson learned by NASA from the Apollo 204 fire in 1966 was that ignition sources in an electrically powered vehicle should and can be minimized, but can never be eliminated completely. For this reason, spacecraft fire control is based on minimizing potential ignition sources and eliminating materials that can propagate fire. Fire extinguishers are always provided on crewed spacecraft, but are not considered as part of the fire control process. "Eliminating materials that can propagate fire" does not mean eliminating all flammable materials - the cost of designing and building spacecraft using only nonflammable materials is extraordinary and unnecessary. It means controlling the quantity and configuration of such materials to eliminate potential fire propagation paths and thus ensure that any fire would be small, localized, and isolated, and would self-extinguish without harm to the crew. Over the years, NASA has developed many solutions for controlling the configuration of flammable materials (and potentially flammable materials in commercial "off-the-shelf" hardware) so that they can be used safely in air and oxygen-enriched environments in crewed spacecraft. This document describes and explains these design solutions so payload customers and other organizations can use them in designing safe and cost-effective flight hardware. Proper application of these guidelines will produce acceptable flammability configurations for hardware located in any compartment of the International Space Station or other program crewed vehicles and habitats. However, use of these guidelines does not exempt hardware organizations of the responsibility for safety of the hardware under their control.

Pedley, Michael D.↗

NASA NTRS2007

A Comparison of Two Balance Calibration Model Building Methods

Simulated strain-gage balance calibration data is used to compare the accuracy of two balance calibration model building methods for different noise environments and calibration experiment designs. The first building method obtains a math model for the analysis of balance calibration data after applying a candidate math model search algorithm to the calibration data set. The second building method uses stepwise regression analysis in order to construct a model for the analysis. Four balance calibration data sets were simulated in order to compare the accuracy of the two math model building methods. The simulated data sets were prepared using the traditional One Factor At a Time (OFAT) technique and the Modern Design of Experiments (MDOE) approach. Random and systematic errors were introduced in the simulated calibration data sets in order to study their influence on the math model building methods. Residuals of the fitted calibration responses and other statistical metrics were compared in order to evaluate the calibration models developed with different combinations of noise environment, experiment design, and model building method. Overall, predicted math models and residuals of both math model building methods show very good agreement. Significant differences in model quality were attributable to noise environment, experiment design, and their interaction. Generally, the addition of systematic error significantly degraded the quality of calibration models developed from OFAT data by either method, but MDOE experiment designs were more robust with respect to the introduction of a systematic component of the unexplained variance.

DeLoach, Richard↗

NASA NTRS2007

Using G4FETs as a Data Router for In-Plane Crossing of Signal Paths

Theoretical analysis and some experiments have demonstrated that siliconon- insulator (SOI) 4-gate transistors the type known as G(exp 4)FETs could be efficiently used for in-plane crossing of signal paths. Much of the effort of designing very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits is focused on area-efficient routing of signals. The main source of difficulty in VLSI signal routing is the requirement to prevent crossing, in the same plane, of wires that are meant to be kept electrically insulated from each other. Consequently, it often becomes necessary to design and build VLSI circuits in multiple layers with vias (connections between conductors in different layers at selected locations). Suitable devices that would prevent, or at least sufficiently suppress, undesired electrical coupling (cross-talk) between wires crossing in the same plane would enable compact, simpler implementation complex interconnection networks with in-plane crossings that, heretofore, have not been possible in VLSI circuitry. The use of G4FETs as in-plane signal-crossing devices or routers, in combination with the use of G(exp 4)FETs as universal programmable logic gates, would create opportunities for reducing complexity in VLSI design.

Fijany, Amir↗

NASA NTRS2007

35-45 Giga Hertz Transceiver System for Phase and Magnitude Detection

Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) is the science and practice of examining an object in a way that the object's usefulness is not adversely affected. Different types of NDE methods exist but this thesis is based on microwave and millimeter wave NDE using imaging techniques. Microwave NDE is based on illuminating the object under test with a microwave signal and studying the various properties of the reflected signal from the object. This reflected signal contains some information about the inner structure of the object under test. This information may be contained in several parameters including the phase and magnitude of the reflected signal. The goal of this project is to design and build a Q-band coherent transceiver that is capable of measuring the reflected signal's phase and magnitude so that an image of the object under test may be reconstructed. From the several techniques that can be used to construct an image of the object under test, techniques of interest to this work include synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) and microwave holography. The transceiver system should have the ability to sweep a large portion of Q-band frequency range in small frequency steps as quick as possible while the detected phase and magnitude of the reflected signal is very accurate. Several different designs were studied and the final schematic diagram of the transceiver system was determined. One of the most important modules that was designed, implemented and tested in the laboratory was an accurate phase/magnitude detector circuit. The compared results of the scans using the transceiver system and vector network analyzer (VNA) showed that this transceiver system has a great potential to replace a VNA for the purpose of microwave and millimeter wave imaging.

Beni, Aman Aflaki↗

NASA NTRS1996

A Concept for the Use and Integration of Super-Conducting Magnets in Structural Systems in General and Maglev Guideway Mega-Structures in Particular

Recent breakthroughs in several different fields now make it possible to incorporate the use of superconducting magnets in structures in ways which enhance the performance of structural members or components of structural systems in general and Maglev guideway mega-structures in particular. The building of structural systems which connect appropriately scaled superconducting magnets with the post-tensioned tensile components of beams, girders, or columns would, if coupled with 'state of the art' structure monitoring, feedback and control systems, and advanced computer software, constitute a distinct new generation of structures that would possess the unique characteristic of being heuristic and demand or live-load responsive. The holistic integration of powerful superconducting magnets in structures so that they do actual structural work, creates a class of 'technologically endowed' structures that, in part - literally substitute superconductive electric power and magnetism for concrete and steel. The research and development engineering, and architectural design issues associated with such 'technologically endowed' structural system can now be conceptualized, designed, computer simulates built and tested. The Maglev guideway mega-structure delineated herein incorporates these concepts, and is designed for operation in the median strip of U.S. Interstate Highway 5 from San Diego to Seattle an Vancouver, and possibly on to Fairbanks, Alaska. This system also fits in the median strip of U.S. Interstate Highway 55 and 95 North-South, and 80 and 10, East-West. As a Western Region 'Peace Dividend' project, it could become a National or Bi-National research, design and build, super turnkey project that would create thousands of jobs by applying superconducting, material science, electronic aerospace and other defense industry technologies to a multi-vehicle, multi-use Maglev guideway megastructure that integrates urban mass transit Lower Speed (0-100 mph), High Speed (100-200 mph), Super Speed (200-400 mph), and Hypersonic evacuated tube (400-10,000 mph) Maglev systems.

Ussery, Wilfred T.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Comparative evaluation of analogue front-end designs for the CMS Inner Tracker at the High Luminosity LHC

The CMS Inner Tracker, made of silicon pixel modules, will be entirely replaced prior to the start of the High Luminosity LHC period. One of the crucial components of the new Inner Tracker system is the readout chip, being developed by the RD53 Collaboration, and in particular its analogue front-end, which receives the signal from the sensor and digitizes it. Three different analogue front-ends (Synchronous, Linear, and Differential) were designed and implemented in the RD53A demonstrator chip. A dedicated evaluation program was carried out to select the most suitable design to build a radiation tolerant pixel detector able to sustain high particle rates with high efficiency and a small fraction of spurious pixel hits. The test results showed that all three analogue front-ends presented strong points, but also limitations. The Differential front-end demonstrated very low noise, but the threshold tuning became problematic after irradiation. Moreover, a saturation in the preamplifier feedback loop affected the return of the signal to baseline and thus increased the dead time. The Synchronous front-end showed very good timing performance, but also higher noise. For the Linear front-end all of the parameters were within specification, although this design had the largest time walk. This limitation was addressed and mitigated in an improved design. The analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the three front-ends in the context of the CMS Inner Tracker operation requirements led to the selection of the improved design Linear front-end for integration in the final CMS readout chip.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Nasa SRA Process as It Relates to Open-Source Workflows Developed for GeneLab Data Processing

To release open, standards-compliant processed data sets in the Open Science Data Repository (OSDR), the GeneLab Data Processing team works with the scientific community through the OSDR Analysis Working Groups to design and build open-source data processing pipelines. Once baselined internally, these pipelines are wrapped into workflows and published on the NASA GeneLab Data Processing public GitHub repository along with detailed instructions for installation and use. Each workflow must be approved through NASA's Software Release Authorization (SRA) process prior to publishing. However, the SRA process lacks sufficient documentation and clarity regarding which forms are applicable for new open-source software that utilizes publicly available 3rd party tools, and the SRA process can take several months to complete, making sharing software outside of NASA cumbersome and in contradiction with the concept of Open Science. Furthermore, the SRA process was designed as a one-size fits all approach and thus many of the questions asked are not applicable to our open-source workflows. Here we describe the software provided on the NASA GeneLab Data Processing GitHub repository, summarize our experiences with the SRA process to release these software, and propose a more stream-lined approach for review of open-source projects.

Software Release Authorization↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The NASA SRA Process as it Relates to Open-Source Workflows Developed for GeneLab Data Processing

Software Release Authorization↗