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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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We develop a continuous catalytic process to convert wet waste-derived volatile fatty acids into sustainable aviation fuel and aromatic chemicals.
Africa is increasingly being exposed to the negative impacts of climate and environmental change, while having less capacity to respond compared to other continents. The vulnerability partially results from unprecedented demographic growth, urbanization, and industrialization. However, the continent has still largely been underserved by the broader Earth System Science (ESS) community, as evidenced by the limited amount of ESS data and research that cover Africa compared to other areas of the world. Here we present the recent University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Africa Initiative that aims to enhance environmental sustainability in Africa by fostering international collaborative research partnerships co-led by African scientists. Specifically, we outline urgent challenges and opportunities identified through an international workshop in six areas of ESS namely (1) air quality and health, (2) weather, (3) climate, (4) land and water, (5) social science perspectives, and (6) developing equitable collaboration and sustainable infrastructure. We highlight examples of successful partnerships and conclude with recommendations to advance collaborative, actionable ESS research that addresses Africa’s critical environmental challenges.
The need for moving electricity generation to a sustainable model requires the development of low cost ubiquitous photovoltaics (PVs) to harvest the planet’s primary energy source, the Sun. Building upon the successes of Si-based and CdTe-based PV technologies, PVs with lower-embodied energy and requiring lower carbon dioxide equivalent to produce will be required to meet long-term sustainability goals. In particular, thin-film technologies, such as high-efficiency metal halide perovskite (MHP) PV modules, provide avenues to reduced embodied energy, lower energy payback times, and enabling energy-dense tandems [H. M. Wikoff et al., Joule 6(7), 1710–1725 (2022) and V. Fthenakis, Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 13(9), 2746–2750 (2009)]. The ability to improve efficiency and lower energy payback time of next generation thin-film PV modules is a critical foundation for green H2 and electrification more broadly. In this regard, Pb-based MHP-PVs have separated themselves as a result of the high-efficiencies that can be realized across a range of electronic gaps. Questions regarding Pb-based MHP-PVs that are often asked, as the challenges of efficiency and reliability are met, revolve around the “problem” of the Pb content. Specifically, “does Pb toxicity preclude MHP-PV modules from being deployed at the TW scale?” To provide this sense of scale, in 2021, the United States burned 10.5 quads of coal, with 90% of that used for electricity generation. Given the energy content of coal of 29 MJ/kg and a residual lead content in that coal of 30 mg/kg, electricity generation from coal resulted in more lead emitted into the atmosphere than what would be required to produce over 2 TW of MHP-PV name plate capacity (assuming a 20% module efficiency and an ∼700 nm active layer). This amounts to more PV power than has been deployed across all PV technologies and geographies to date. This only includes US coal consumption; the rest of the world would be much larger. This example illustrates the scale of the material usage relative to the energy production. Imagine a power-generation technology that offsets these Pb emissions from coal and essentially sequesters this Pb content between two sheets of impermeable glass. Why should we let Pb’s history of misuse prevent it from being included in next generation PV modules that can enable a sustainable energy future?
To support and enable future human missions to the surface of the Moon, a new plan was formulated to gradually develop an economical, evolvable and sustainable lunar infrastructure using a public/private partnerships between NASA and industry to share cost and risk in the development phase and ultimately transfer operation of these infrastructure services to its industry owners. These infrastructure services may include but are not limited to the following: lunar cargo transportation, power stations, energy storage devices, communication towers and relay satellites, and resource extraction operations. The plan is called the Commercial Orbital Transfer Services (COTS) Program, using NASA's well-proven Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program acquisition model.
Soluble organic redox molecules have emerged as promising candidate active materials for multiple energy storage systems due to their structural versatility, fast redox process, high capacity storage, sustainability, and environmental friendliness. This review examines recent progress in developing such materials in green and sustainable batteries for grid applications and points out directions for future research.
SkyPy is an open-source Python package for simulating the astrophysical sky. It comprises a library of physical and empirical models across a range of observables and a command-line script to run end-to-end simulations. The library provides functions that sample realisations of sources and their associated properties from probability distributions. Simulation pipelines are constructed from these models using a YAML-based configuration syntax, while task scheduling and data dependencies are handled internally and the modular design allows users to interface with external software. SkyPy is developed and maintained by a diverse community of domain experts with a focus on software sustainability and interoperability. By fostering development, it provides a framework for correlated simulations of a range of cosmological probes including galaxy populations, large scale structure, the cosmic microwave background, supernovae and gravitational waves. Version 0.4 implements functions that model various properties of galaxies including luminosity functions, redshift distributions and optical photometry from spectral energy distribution templates. Future releases will provide additional modules, for example, to simulate populations of dark matter halos and model the galaxy-halo connection, making use of existing software packages from the astrophysics community where appropriate.
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) NFE-18-07313 between Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Nth Cycle Inc. focused on developing a technology for sustainable recycling of rare earth and specialty metals (e.g., Y, Co, Li; RESE), as well as bulk and precious metals from industrial manufacturing and waste streams through the use of electrochemical carbon nanotube-enabled filters. The project outcome was expected to be a stronger mechanistic understanding of the electrochemical recovery of metals from real manufacturing process streams and e-waste streams, and the development of an optimized high-throughput pilot-scale device ready for commercialization. Testing, design, and development of a v1 prototype to prove the technology was unsuccessful (we were not able to reach the go/no-go outlined in Objective 1) and we were unable to continue our redesign due to COVID-19 lockdown and no access to lab from March 2020 – until our graduation from the program.
We propose to create atomically precise, highly robust, nanometer scale macromolecules that organize biomimetic metal binding groups in designed three-dimensional pockets to accelerate specific polymerization reactions. These atomically precise catalysts will create atomically precise polymers with improved mechanical and environmental properties from renewable building blocks. We seek to create and study nanometer scale catalysts that mimic metallo-enzymes in their activity and selectivity because these larger catalysts will be able to make more extensive non-covalent contacts with the transition state of the growing polymer. These catalysts will have extended lifetimes because they will better protect the metals and higher activity because additional reactive groups can be brought in close contact with the active site to enhance reactivity. They will be far more tolerant to extremes of temperature and will not denature in non-aqueous solvents because they are held together by multiple, strong, covalent bonds. Our approach to catalysts could be used to develop catalysts to replace noble metal-based catalysts when targeting other reactions, because the geometry of the active site enforced by the Molecular Lego scaffolding will access new reactivity, mimicking how nature uses earth abundant metals for much of its catalysis. We will initially target Lewis acid-based catalysts that assemble aliphatic polyesters with improved stereoselectivity, tacticity and complex alternation of monomers. Aliphatic polyesters have received growing attention as attractive, environmentally benign, and sustainable alternatives to polymers developed from petroleum feedstocks. Aliphatic polyesters are environmentally friendly because they undergo facile hydrolytic degradation to benign products, and they have excellent properties and high biocompatibility. We will assemble these catalysts using unique “Spiroligomers” (aka Molecular Lego) chemistry developed in the Schafmeister group combined with the organometallic chemistry expertise of the Dobereiner group. Polymers are an attractive synthetic target of nanoscale atomically precise catalysts because their resulting structure, stereochemistry and tacticity has profound impact on their properties (crystalline vs amorphous) and provides a readout of the catalytic mechanism. Polymer synthesis also serves as an example of “atomically precise manufacturing” where atomically precise nanoscale catalysts construct polymers with atomic precision at increasing length scales.
From 1993 through 1997 NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF), developed a variety of environmental infrastructure technologies for use at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The objective of this program was to reduce the cost of operating the South Pole Station, reduce the environmental impact of the Station, and to increase the quality of life for Station inhabitants. The result of this program was the development of a set of sustainability technologies designed specifically for Polar applications. In the intervening eight years many of the technologies developed through this program have been commercialized and tested in extreme environments and are now available for use throughout Antarctica and circumpolar north. The objective of this document is to provide information covering technologies that might also be applicable to the British Antarctic Survey s (BAS) proposed new Halley VI Research Station. All technologies described are commercially available.
Distributed energy resources are increasingly used in power distribution systems and microgrids to supply cost competitive power, improve resilience, and provide a host of grid services. Diversifying variable renewable resources (e.g., by combining wind with solar) can increase energy usage efficiency and improve system resilience. However, when grid optimization and resilience studies consider multiple renewable resources, diversity benefits are usually captured only implicitly in the results of location-specific economic optimization. In this paper, metrics are introduced to express the technical value of resource diversity independent of jurisdiction-specific market structures. Specifically, marginal energy usage efficiency metrics are developed to quantify the ability of new distributed generation to produce useful energy and an incremental sustainable ride through metric is developed to express improvement in grid outage ride through capability. While there are economic implications for each of these metrics, the metrics themselves are technically-driven and could be used as components of a technical figure of merit that could be used to inform policy actions, such as development of resource-specific incentives and time-of-use tariff designs. Each of these metrics is demonstrated using balance-of-energy simulations that highlight the benefits of improving resource diversity.
One of the areas of active research in commercial and military rotorcraft is directed toward developing the capability of sustained flight in icing conditions. The emphasis to date has been on the accretion and subsequent shedding of ice in an icing environment, where the shedding may be natural or induced. Historically, shed-ice particles have been a problem for aircraft, particularly rotorcraft. Because of the high particle velocities involved, damage to a fuselage or other airframe component from a shed-ice impact can be significant. Design rules for damage tolerance from shed-ice impact are not well developed because of a lack of experimental data. Thus, NASA Lewis (LeRC) has begun an effort to develop a database of impact force and energy resulting from shed ice. This effort consisted of a test of NASA LeRC's Model Rotor Test Rig (MRTR) in the Icing Research Tunnel (IRT). Both natural shedding and forced shedding were investigated. Forced shedding was achieved by fitting the rotor blades with Small Tube Pneumatic (STP) deicer boots manufactured by BF Goodrich. A detailed description of the test is given as well as the design of a new impact sensor which measures the force-time history of an impacting ice fragment. A brief discussion of the procedure to infer impact energy from a force-time trace are required for the impact-energy calculations. Recommendations and future plans for this research area are also provided.
One of the areas of active research in commercial and military rotorcraft is directed toward developing the capability of sustained flight in icing conditions. The emphasis to date has been on the accretion and subsequent shedding of ice in an icing environment, where the shedding may be natural or induced. Historically, shed-ice particles have been a problem for aircraft, particularly rotorcraft. Because of the high particle velocities involved, damage to a fuselage or other airframe component from a shed-ice impact can be significant. Design rules for damage tolerance from shed-ice impact are not well developed because of a lack of experimental data. Thus, NASA Lewis (LeRC) has begun an effort to develop a database of impact force and energy resulting from shed ice. This effort consisted of a test of NASA LeRC's Model Rotor Test Rig (MRTR) in the Icing Research Tunnel (IRT). Both natural shedding and forced shedding were investigated. Forced shedding was achieved by fitting the rotor blades with Small Tube Pneumatic (STP) deicer boots manufactured by BF Goodrich. A detailed description of the test is given as well as the design of a new impact sensor which measures the force-time history of an impacting ice fragment. A brief discussion of the procedure to infer impact energy from a force-time trace are required for the impact-energy calculations. Recommendations and future plans for this research area are also provided.
To reduce the cathode material manufacturing cost, our lab has developed a flame spray process that utilize sustainable solvent glycerol as solvent to manufacture the cathode material. The economic analysis of the new green chemical process was studied based on discounted cash flow method. The major economic indicator used in this study is the minimum cathode material selling price (MCSP), whereas the co-precipitation method for NMC333 production was selected as the reference for economic analysis.
ISRU involves any hardware or operation that harnesses and utilizes in-situ resources (natural and discarded) to create products and services for robotic and human exploration: Assessment of physical, mineral chemical, and volatile water resources, terrain, geology, and environment (orbital and local). Production of replacement parts, complex products, machines, and integrated systems from feedstock derived from one or more processed resources. Civil engineering, infrastructure emplacement, and structure construction using materials produced from in situ resources. Radiation shields, landing pads, roads, berms, habitats, etc. Generation and storage of electrical, thermal, and chemical energy with in situ derived materials. Solar arrays, thermal wadis, chemical batteries, etc. ISRU is a disruptive capability: Enables more affordable exploration than todays paradigm. Allows more sustainable architectures to be developed. Understand the ripple effect in the other Exploration Elements: MAV: propellant selection, higher rendezvous altitude (higher DV capable with ISRU propellants). EDL: significantly reduces required landed mass. Life Support: reduce amount of ECLSS closure, reduce trash mass carried through propulsive maneuvers. Power: ISRU drives electrical requirements, reactant and regeneration for fuel cells for landers, rovers, and habitat backup. Every Exploration Element except ISRU has some flight heritage (power, propulsion, habitats, landers, life support, etc.) ISRU will require a flight demonstration mission on Mars before it will be included in the critical path. Mission needs to be concluded at least 10 years before first human landed mission to ensure lessons learned can be incorporated into final design. ISRU Formulation team has generated a (still incomplete) list of over 75 technical questions on more than 40 components and subsystems that need to be answered before the right ISRU system will be ready for this flight demo.
SERVIR is a joint initiative of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with leading technical organizations around the world-- called SERVIR hubs--that serve and empower developing countries to use satellite data addressing critical challenges in food security and agriculture; water and water-related disasters; land cover, land use and ecosystems; and weather and climate. Over the past fourteen years, the program has worked with stakeholders in 50 countries across the world, partnered with 390 institutions, and generated and shared over 70 products from 27 satellites and sensors. In that process, around 7,400 specialists have been trained in the application of Earth observation data and technology. In its lifetime, SERVIR has been agile and innovative in shifting from what was essentially an incubator for testing and deploying Earth observation science and technology to making co-development the hallmark of its work, exemplified by both South-South and North-South scientific collaborations. SERVIR’s approach has embodied the concept that to solve really big problems, big, creative solutions are needed. SERVIR represents the world working together to address environmental challenges using spaced-based and geospatial technologies. Aligning with the very meaning of SERVIR, i.e. “to serve,” the program continues to be demand-driven in developing and deploying services (versus one-off products) which address development challenges using geospatial tools and Earth observation science. In 2016, as part of SERVIR’s evolution, USAID and NASA released the ‘SERVIR Service Planning Toolkit,’ a guidance document which provides a framework for how geospatial services can be used to tackle development challenges in a sustained manner. Since then, the Service Planning Toolkit’s systematic approach has begun to catch on in other Earth observation efforts. To improve access and use, SERVIR launched a Service Catalogue in February 2019, a searchable collection of demand-driven geospatial services that use Earth observations to support decision making. SERVIR implementing hub partners –include SERVIR-West Africa at the Agrometeorology, Hydrology and Meteorology (AGRHYMET) Regional Center, in Niamey, Niger; SERVIR-Eastern & Southern Africa at the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development in Nairobi, Kenya; SERVIR-Hindu Kush Himalaya at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, Nepal; SERVIR-Mekong at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center in Bangkok, Thailand; and SERVIR’ -Amazonia, at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia.
NASA is developing technology to enable sustained operations on extraterrestrial planetary bodies such as the Moon and Mars. One fundamentally enabling technology is long-distance electrical power transmission. This paper describes the Universal Modular Interface Converter (UMIC), which connects 120 VDC space power equipment to a 3 kVAC grid, and is intended to enable kilometer-distance transmission of 1s to 10s of kW of electrical power to support Artemis and future lunar missions. Specifically, this paper describes the technology within the UMIC product, its electrical power interfaces, and the state of its development. It also describes initial hardware and simulation test results of the UMIC.
The Space Superhighway is a concept for an in-space logistics network for payload delivery and propellant resupply within the Earth-Moon system. It is expected that in the next several years the number of spacecraft in cislunar space will increase significantly. Commercial launch service providers have significantly reduced the cost of access to space and reduced the barrier to entry for private companies to build and operate their own satellites. Many of these newer satellites are being designed to take advantage of future In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities. In addition, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) intends to develop and maintain a sustained human presence in cislunar space and on the surface of the Moon. The sustained lunar presence will then serve as a steppingstone for human missions to Mars. The combined demand for propellant resupply and payload delivery in cislunar space for NASA's Moon to Mars campaign in addition to commercial ventures will likely exceed 1,000 t in the upcoming decades. This work presents a concept for an in-space logistics network to fulfill that demand. The network consists of commercial launch vehicles, propellant tankers, orbital depots, and in-space electric propulsion tugs. This work specifically analyzes the cost of developing, producing, and operating such a network at varying levels of customer demand.
The Space Superhighway is a concept for an in-space logistics network for payload delivery and propellant resupply within the Earth-Moon system. It is expected that in the next several years the number of spacecraft in cislunar space will increase significantly. Commercial launch service providers have significantly reduced the cost of access to space and reduced the barrier to entry for private companies to build and operate their own satellites. Many of these newer satellites are being designed to take advantage of future In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities. In addition, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) intends to develop and maintain a sustained human presence in cislunar space and on the surface of the Moon. The sustained lunar presence will then serve as a steppingstone for human missions to Mars. The combined demand for propellant resupply and payload delivery in cislunar space for NASA's Moon to Mars campaign in addition to commercial ventures will likely exceed 1,000 t in the upcoming decades. This work presents a concept for an in-space logistics network to fulfill that demand. The network consists of commercial launch vehicles, propellant tankers, orbital depots, and in-space electric propulsion tugs. This work specifically analyzes the cost of developing, producing, and operating such a network at varying levels of customer demand.