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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Monitoring the Flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet: the PROMICE Ice Velocity Product and Recent Updates

We present the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE) ice velocity product, which is a time series of ice velocity mosaics derived using offset tracking on Sentinel-1 SAR data. The time series starting in January 2016 is continuously updated with a new mosaic every 12 days and is posted at 500 m grid resolution. Within PROMICE, the ice velocity product is used directly as input to estimate the solid ice discharge from the Greenland Ice Sheet as well as to study ice dynamic processes on seasonal and multi-annual time scales. Recently, we have made changes to the processing chain due to spurious cases of slow down detected in a few glaciers in Southeast Greenland. In this contribution, we discuss how this was resolved as well as other recent improvements to the product.

Greenland ice sheet↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Turbulence Modeling near Gas-Liquid Interfaces for Cryogenic Fluid Management

In cryogenic fluid management (CFM), gas-liquid interface turbulence transport (ITT) heavily influences crucial design parameters of spaceflight missions. ITT and phase change processes require length-scales and time-scales that are around 4-8 orders of magnitude smaller than the scales of CFM operations in spaceflights. A sharp interface method based parsimonious yet elegant turbulence modeling approach was developed from experimental observations and high-fidelity numerical studies. The technique was validated using flight-scale CFM tests.

cryogenic fluid management↗
NASA NTRS2026

Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) Capability Maturity Levels for Ecosystems Enabling Digital Transformation

Digital engineering (DE) and integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) are widely recognized as critical enablers of faster, more affordable, and more reliable aerospace systems. However, many organizations have struggled to realize the promised return on investment (ROI) from digital initiatives. A primary reason is the absence of a shared, decision-focused framework that distinguishes simple digitization of existing workflows from true digital transformation that fundamentally changes how engineering decisions are made. This paper introduces an ICME capability maturity framework that fills this gap. The framework defines six cumulative ICME capability maturity levels (CMLs), explicitly tied to decision authority, engineering integration, optimization, and uncertainty management across material, process, structure, and performance scales. It is designed to complement established readiness metrics such as technology readiness levels (TRLs), manufacturing readiness levels (MRLs), and integration readiness levels (IRLs), by addressing a missing dimension: the conditions required for model-informed decision authority across scales. A unifying figure and capability table illustrate the six-level ICME Capability Maturity Framework, showing how organizations progress from digitization—with limited or negative ROI—to true digital transformation, where ICME-enabled workflows deliver measurable improvements in decision quality, cycle time, risk reduction, and reuse. The framework is intended for both technical practitioners and executive leadership, providing a common language to assess current state, guide roadmaps, align software ecosystem investments, and set realistic expectations for digital transformation outcomes. A regulatory-relevant statement clarifying the relationship between ICME capability and existing certification frameworks is provided.

ICME↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Three Dimensionally Woven Mid-Density Carbon Phenolic (3MDCP) is a Novel Single Piece Ablative TPS for Extreme Entry Environments

Three Dimensionally Woven Mid-Density Carbon Phenolic (3MDCP) is robust, single piece, carbon phenolic ablative thermal protection system under development at NASA Ames Research Center initially for the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System (MSR EES). The MSR EES requirements drove the need for TPS with no seams, capable of surviving the highest entry conditions for any NASA Earth return capsule with heat fluxes >2000 W/cm2 and pressures >1.5 atmospheres. To produce 3MDCP required development of new weaving infrastructure to enable weaving of preforms large enough to form into a single piece heatshield. It required development of forming techniques to transform a flat woven panel into a sphere cone shape and enhanced infusion processes to support larger scale infusion of resin into the formed preforms. A rigorous performance testing campaign was conducted to develop and validate the materials thermal response model used to determine the required material thickness and to demonstrate the material can survive the extreme entry conditions. The end of the development effort (end of FY26) will result in a TPS at Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 6 and Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) 6+ for the MSR EES mission and a mature system ready to support other missions. This poster will provide a snapshot of where 3MDCP is in its development phase.

Ablator↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Modern Scientific Data Governance Framework

Science has entered the era of Big Data with new challenges related to data governance, stewardship, and management. The existing data governance practices must catch up to ensure proper data management. Existing data governance policies and stewardship best practices tend to be disconnected from operational data management practices and enforcement and mainly exist in well-meaning documents or reports. These governance policies are, at best, partially implemented and rarely monitored or audited. In addition, existing governance policies keep adding additional data management steps that require a human, ‘a data steward’, in the loop, and the cost of data management can no longer scale proportionately with the current and future increased data volume and complexity. The goal for developing an updated data governance framework is to modernize scientific data governance to the reality of Big data and align it with the current technology trends such as cloud computing and AI. The goals of this framework are two folds. One is to ensure thoroughness that the governance adequately covers the entire data life cycle. Two, provide a practical approach that offers a consistent and repeatable process for different projects. Three core principles ground this framework. First, focus on just enough governance and prevent data governance from becoming a roadblock toward the scientific process. Remove any unnecessary processes and steps. Second, automate data management steps where possible. Actively remove steps that require ‘human in the loop’ within the management process to be efficient and scale with increasing data. Third, all the processes should continually be optimized using quantified metrics to streamline the monitoring and auditing workflows.

Rahul Ramachandran↗
NASA NTRS1979

Remote manipulator for IC wafers

Mechanical manipulator automatically loads, transports, and unloads silicon wafers between processing stations in large-scale integrated-circuit fabrication facility at Marshall Space Flight Center thus eliminating need for human opeators at various stages in processing cycle. It also reduces possibility of wafer contamination.

Hudgins, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Construction and analysis of simulated Venera and Magellan images of Venus

The 1-3 km resolution Venera 15 and 16 images of Venus and the expected 120-300 m resolution Magellan mission image data are presently simulated through a digital processing of Seasat radar images covering a desert dune complex in the Gran Desierto of Sonora, accreted terranes in the central interior of Alaska, and the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province. The simulations suggest that the nature and extent of terrain modification on Venus by such exogenic processes as atmosphere-surface weathering, erosion, and deposition, will remain uncertain, since the length scale of features indicative of such processes may be too small to be discerned from Venera data; Magellan data may provide this critical fine-scale morphological data, however, and thereby allow the testing of the two competing resurfacing scenarios.

Arvidson, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Radial migration of preplanetary material - Implications for the accretion time scale problem

Radial drift of planetesimals due to density wave interaction with the solar nebula is considered. The mechanism is most effective for large masses and provides mobility over a size range where aerodynamic drag is unimportant. The process could shorten accretion time scales to O(100,000-1,000,000 years) throughout the solar system. Accumulation stalls down when growing objects are massive enough to open gaps in the gas disk. Implications of this process for current cosmogonic models are discussed.

Hourigan, K.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Cross-Scale Observational Signatures of Magnetic Reconnection

Magnetic reconnection is a significant mechanism for energy release across many astrophysical applications. In the solar atmosphere, reconnection is considered a primary contributor of flare evolution and coronal heating. Directly observing reconnection occurring in the solar atmosphere, however, is not trivial considering that the scale size of the diffusion region is magnitudes smaller than the observational capabilities of current instrumentation, and coronal magnetic field measurements are not currently sufficient to capture the process. Meanwhile, reconnection occurring in the Earth's magnetosphere transfers energy from the solar wind through a comparable process, although on vastly different scales. Magnetospheric measurements are made in situ rather than remotely; ergo, comparison of observations between the two regimes allows for potentially significant insight into reconnection as a stochastic and possibly turbulent process. We will present a set of observations from long-duration solar events and compare them to in situ measurements from the magnetosphere.

Savage, Sabrina↗
NASA NTRS1992

The Canadian Space Agency, Space Station, Strategic Technologies for Automation and Robotics Program technology development activity in protection of materials from the low Earth orbit space environment

The Strategic Technologies in Automation and Robotics (STEAR) program is managing a number of development contracts to improve the protection of spacecraft materials from the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space environment. The project is structured in two phases over a 3 to 4 year period with a budget of 3 to 4 million dollars. Phase 1 is designed to demonstrate the technical feasibility and commercial potential of a coating/substrate system and its associated application process. The objective is to demonstrate a prototype fabrication capability using a full scale component of a commercially viable process for the protection of materials and surface finishes from the LEO space environment, and to demonstrate compliance with a set of performance requirements. Only phase 1 will be discussed in this paper.

Francoeur, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Identifying Hurricane Impacts on Barbuda Using Citizen Science Ground Observations, Drone Photography and Satellite Imagery

Barbuda is a low-lying leeward island in the West Indies. In September 2017 Hurricane Irma battered the island with 185 mph winds. Damage to housing and infrastructure was so extensive that all 1800 residents of the island were immediately evacuated post hurricane to the neighboring island of Antigua. Our research is focused on documenting and analyzing the landscape scale changes that took place on the island as a result of the hurricane using a nested methodology. Ground level observations were recorded using a beta version of the Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Observer Land Cover tool. Aerial photographs provide medium scale landscape resolution. Satellite images were processed to provide NDVI values. We describe how nested data at several spatial scales enable detailed description of Hurricane Irma’s impact across the landscape of this 62 sq. mile island. Here we are connecting observations at different spatial scales, using citizen science observations, aerial drone photography and satellite imagery to document and analyze hurricane impacts on the island of Barbuda, eastern Caribbean.

Barbuda↗
NASA NTRS1991

Structured prototyping as risk management

A methodology is presented for integrating the systems-engineering management recommendation of prototyping into the traditional project-management process for developing large-scale systems. The suggested methodology begins with the identification of life-cycle risk areas, outlines the structure and conduct of the prototyping process, and defines the composition of the prototyping team. The methodology includes a step-by-step procedure for creating, executing, and documenting a prototyping test plan to evaluate design alternatives. It is argued that managers who adopt this methodology and apply it rigorously will increase the likelihood that the systems they build will be operationally effective and will be accepted by the intended users.

Hornstein, Rhoda SH.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

In-Situ Process Monitoring, Synchronization, and Mapping Laser Powder Bed Fusion Builds of Ti6Al4V

The use of in-situ process monitoring is of interest to lower the cost of inspection for the qualification of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) parts. Precise monitoring of the LPBF-AM build process constitutes a multi-scale and multi-discipline task. There are several significant challenges to the in-situ approach: the synchronization of sensor signals to process steps, the physical interpretation and classification of sensor signals, managing very large datasets, and comparing the inputs with the observed monitoring signals. At NASA Langley Research Center, a configurable architecture additive testbed has been developed to monitor the build process with synchronized sensors. The philosophy and method adopted for the synchronization of the cameras with laser power & position Ti-6Al-4V LPBF are described. The synchronized in-situ monitoring signals are compared with ex-situ nondestructive inspection and optical microscopy observations. Such comparisons permit a better understanding of how the sequential process actions of LPBF-AM can affect build quality.

Laser Powder Bed Fusion↗
NASA NTRS2014

A Comparison of Crater-Size Scaling and Ejection-Speed Scaling During Experimental Impacts in Sand

Non‐dimensional scaling relationships are used to understand various cratering processes including final crater sizes and the excavation of material from a growing crater. The principal assumption behind these scaling relationships is that these processes depend on a combination of the projectile's characteristics, namely its diameter, density, and impact speed. This simplifies the impact event into a single point‐source. So long as the process of interest is beyond a few projectile radii from the impact point, the point‐source assumption holds. These assumptions can be tested through laboratory experiments in which the initial conditions of the impact are controlled and resulting processes measured directly. In this contribution, we continue our exploration of the congruence between crater‐size scaling and ejection‐speed scaling relationships. In particular, we examine a series of experimental suites in which the projectile diameter and average grain size of the target are varied.

Anderson, J. L. B.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Processing Digital Imagery to Enhance Perceptions of Realism

Multi-scale retinex with color restoration (MSRCR) is a method of processing digital image data based on Edwin Land s retinex (retina + cortex) theory of human color vision. An outgrowth of basic scientific research and its application to NASA s remote-sensing mission, MSRCR is embodied in a general-purpose algorithm that greatly improves the perception of visual realism and the quantity and quality of perceived information in a digitized image. In addition, the MSRCR algorithm includes provisions for automatic corrections to accelerate and facilitate what could otherwise be a tedious image-editing process. The MSRCR algorithm has been, and is expected to continue to be, the basis for development of commercial image-enhancement software designed to extend and refine its capabilities for diverse applications.

Woodell, Glenn A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Local Scale Radiobrightness Modelling during Intensive Observing Period-4 of the Cold Land Processes Experiment-1

The NASA Cold Land Processes Field Experiment (CLPX-1) was designed to provide microwave remote sensing observations and ground truth for studies of snow and frozen ground remote sensing, particularly issues related to scaling. CLPX-1 was conducted in the spring of 2003 in Colorado, USA. Initial forward model validation work is concentrating on the Local-Scale Observation Site (LSOS), a 0.8 ha study site consisting of open meadows separated by trees where the most detailed measurements were made of snow depth and temperature, density, and grain size profiles. This paper will focus on the ability of forward Dense Medium Radiative Transfer (DMRT) modelling, combined with snowpack measurements to reproduce the radiobrightness signatures observed by the University of Michigan s Truck-Mounted Radiometer System at 19 and 37 GHz during the 4th Intensive Observing Period (IOP4) in March, 2003. Unlike the earlier IOP3, conditions during IOP4 include both wet and dry periods, providing a valuable test of DMRT model performance. Observations of upwelling and downwelling tree radiobrightness will be used to formulate a simple model for the effect of trees within the field of view. In addition, a comparison will be made for the one day of coincident observations by the University of Tokyo s Ground- Based Microwave Radiometer-7 (GBMR-7). These analyses will help guide the choice of future snow retrieval algorithms and the design of future Cold Lands observing systems.

Kim, Edward J.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Manufacturing and Metal Extraction Lunar Technology (MMELT)

Extraction processes of oxygen from regolith under development include carbothermal, molten regolith electrolysis (MRE), ionic liquids, and others, all of which result in a metal slag byproduct. The separation of some of these metals from the slag byproduct have been accomplished on small scales. However, no system currently exists that can extract aluminum, from these processes at scale, to create suitable feedstocks for manufacturing. Funding for MMELT will be used to develop a demonstration of the first end-to-end process to additively manufacture aluminum wire from lunar regolith in a simulated environment.

Manufacturing↗
NASA NTRS2021

First Attempt of Global-scale Assimilation of Subdaily Scale Soil Moisture Estimates from CYGNSS and SMAP into a Land Surface Model

Soil moisture performs a key function in the hydrologic process and understanding the global-scale water cycle. However, estimations of soil moisture taken from current sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) satellites are limited in that they are neither spatially nor temporally continuous. This limitation creates discontinuous soil moisture observation from space and hampers our understanding of the fundamental processes that control the surface hydrologic cycle across both time and space domains. Here, we propose to use frequent soil moisture observations from NASA’s constellation of eight micro-satellites called the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System(CYGNSS) together with the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) to assimilate subdaily-scale soil moisture intoa land surface model(LSM). Our results, which are based on triple collocation analysis(TCA), show how current scientific advances in satellite systems can fill previous gaps in soil moisture observations in subdaily scale bypast observations, and eventually adds value to improvements in global scale soil moisture estimates in LSMs. Overall, TCA-based fractional mean square errors (fMSE) of LSM soil moisture are improved by 61% with the synergetic assimilation of CYGNSS data with SMAP soil moisture observations. However, assimilating satellite-based soil moisture over dense vegetation areas can degrade the performance of LSMs as these areas propagate erroneous soil moisture information to LSMs. To our knowledge, this study isthe first global assimilation of GNSS-based soil moisture observations in land surface models.

Hyunglok Kim↗