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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 919 records · Page 51
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Applications of Advanced Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) Techniques to Address Safety of Flight Issues on NASA Spacecraft

Advanced NDE and SHM techniques are critical for ensuring the reliability and safety of NASA launch vehicles and spacecraft. NDE techniques such as infrared thermography, THz imaging, x-ray computed tomography and backscatter x-ray are used to detect indications of damage in spacecraft components and structures. Additionally, sensor and measurement systems are integrated into spacecraft to provide SHM to detect damaging events that occur during flight such as debris impacts during launch and assent or from micrometeoroid and orbital debris, or excessive loading due to anomalous flight conditions. A number of examples will be provided of how these NDE and SHM techniques have been applied to resolve safety critical inspection concerns for the Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), and a variety of launch vehicles and unmanned spacecraft.

Advanced Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE)↗
NASA NTRS1976

Planetary/DOD entry technology flight experiments. Volume 2: Planetary entry flight experiments

The technical feasibility of launching a high speed, earth entry vehicle from the space shuttle to advance technology for the exploration of the outer planets' atmospheres was established. Disciplines of thermodynamics, orbital mechanics, aerodynamics propulsion, structures, design, electronics and system integration focused on the goal of producing outer planet environments on a probe shaped vehicle during an earth entry. Major aspects of analysis and vehicle design studied include: planetary environments, earth entry environment capability, mission maneuvers, capabilities of shuttle upper stages, a comparison of earth entry planetary environments, experiment design and vehicle design.

Christensen, H. E.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Halley comet rendezvous with a SEPS vehicle

An analysis of the performance of a Solar Electric Propulsion System (SEPS) vehicle rendezvousing with Halley's comet just prior to its Frebruary 1986 perihelion is described. A calculus of variations mathematical formulation is used to maximize Halley arrival mass while giving effect to the influence of solar array size, launch date, arrival date, and insertion hyperbolic excess velocity. Numerical sensitivity relief, thrust system modeling, trajectory characteristics and ion engine operating conditions are discussed and illustrated. Results indicate a rendezvous is feasible with a minimal advance in solar cell and ion engine technology.

Burrows, R. R.↗
NASA NTRS1982

LANDSAT D to test thematic mapper, inaugurate operational system

NASA will launch the Landsat D spacecraft on July 9, 1982 aboard a new, up-rated Delta 3920 expendable launch vehicle. LANDSAT D will incorporate two highly sophisticated sensors; the flight proven multispectral scanner; and a new instrument expected to advance considerably the remote sensing capabilities of Earth resources satellites. The new sensor, the thematic mapper, provides data in seven spectral (light) bands with greatly improved spectral, spatial and radiometric resolution.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1988

Alkaline static feed electrolyzer based oxygen generation system

In preparation for the future deployment of the Space Station, an R and D program was established to demonstrate integrated operation of an alkaline Water Electrolysis System and a fuel cell as an energy storage device. The program's scope was revised when the Space Station Control Board changed the energy storage baseline for the Space Station. The new scope was aimed at the development of an alkaline Static Feed Electrolyzer for use in an Environmental Control/Life Support System as an oxygen generation system. As a result, the program was divided into two phases. The phase 1 effort was directed at the development of the Static Feed Electrolyzer for application in a Regenerative Fuel Cell System. During this phase, the program emphasized incorporation of the Regenerative Fuel Cell System design requirements into the Static Feed Electrolyzer electrochemical module design and the mechanical components design. The mechanical components included a Pressure Control Assembly, a Water Supply Assembly and a Thermal Control Assembly. These designs were completed through manufacturing drawing during Phase 1. The Phase 2 effort was directed at advancing the Alkaline Static Feed Electrolyzer database for an oxygen generation system. This development was aimed at extending the Static Feed Electrolyzer database in areas which may be encountered from initial fabrication through transportation, storage, launch and eventual Space Station startup. During this Phase, the Program emphasized three major areas: materials evaluation, electrochemical module scaling and performance repeatability and Static Feed Electrolyzer operational definition and characterization.

Noble, L. D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Space systems propulsion technology

The following topics are presented in viewgraph form: (1) space systems propulsion technology vision; (2) orbit transfer and maneuvering propulsion; (3) modular/storable orbit transfer/maneuvering propulsion; (4) cryogenic orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) propulsion; (5) advanced propulsion; (6) high energy density matter; (7) nuclear propulsion; (8) space launch propulsion; (9) advanced launch development program technologies at the Astronautics Laboratory (AL); and (10) AL support to the National Aerospace Plane (NASP).

Hite, Dale↗
NASA NTRS1992

Solar probe power systems concepts

Some of the design options under consideration for providing on-board electric power for the Solar Probe Mission are discussed. Five spacecraft configurations were evaluated with slightly different power demands and volumetric constraints on the power system. This resulted in three different baseline power system designs to satisfy the five spacecraft configurations. These three current baseline power system designs use modified general-purpose heat source (GPHS) radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) similar to those launched on the Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft. The modular RTG currently under development and testing is a potential advanced alternative to the current baseline GPHS-RTG technology design.

Nesmith, Bill J.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Vibration Testing of an Operating Stirling Convertor

The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center and the U.S. Department of Energy are currently developing a Stirling convertor for use as an advanced spacecraft power system for future NASA deep-space missions. As part of this development, a Stirling Technology Demonstrator Convertor (TDC) was recently tested to verify its survivability and capability of withstanding its expected launch random vibration environment. The TDC was fully operational (producing power) during the random vibration testing. The output power of the convertor was measured during the testing, and these results are discussed in this paper. Numerous accelerometers and force gauges were also present which provided information on the dynamic characteristics of the TDC and an indication of any possible damage due to vibration. These measurements will also be discussed in this paper. The vibration testing of the Stirling TDC was extremely successful. The TDC survived all its vibration testing with no structural damage or functional performance degradation. As a result of this testing, the Stirling convertor's capability to withstand vibration has been demonstrated, enabling its usage in future spacecraft power systems.

Hughes, William O.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Recent Experimental Results Related to Ejector Mode Studies of Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) Engines

Contents include the folloving: 1. Motivation. Support NASA's 3d generation launch vehicle technology program. RBCC is promising candidate for 3d generation propulsion system. 2. Approach. Focus on ejector mode p3erformance (Mach 0-3). Perform testing on established flowpath geometry. Use conventional propulsion measurement techniques. Use advanced optical diagnostic techniques to measure local combustion gas properties. 3. Objectives. Gain physical understanding of detailing mixing and combustion phenomena. Establish an experimental data set for CFD code development and validation.

Cramer, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS2003

A Framework for Intelligent Rocket Test Facilities with Smart Sensors

A long-term center goal at the John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) is the formulation and implementation of a framework for an Intelligent Rocket Test Facility (IRTF), which incorporates distributed smart sensor elements. The IRTF is to provide reliable, high-confident measurements. Specific objectives include: 1. Definition of a framework and architecture that supports implementation of highly autonomous methodologies founded on basic physical principles and embedded knowledge. 2. Modeling of autonomous sensors and processes as self-sufficient, evolutionary elements. 3. Development of appropriate communications protocols to enable the complex interactions that must take place to allow timely and high-quality flow of of information among all the autonomous elements of the system. 4. Development of lab-scale prototypes of key system elements. Though our application is next-generation rocket test facilities, applications for the approach are much wider and include monitoring of shuttle launch operations, air and spacecraft operations and health monitoring, and other large-scale industrial system operations such as found in processing and manufacturing plans. Elements of prototype IRTF have been implemented in preparation for advanced development and validation using rocket test stand facilities as SSC. This work has identified issues that are important to further development of complex network and should be of interest to other working with sensor networks.

Figueroa, Fernando↗
NASA NTRS2005

Development Status of the Advanced Life Support On-Line Project Information System

The Advanced Life Support Program has recently accelerated an effort to develop an On-line Project Information System (OPIS) for research project and technology development data centralization and sharing. The core functionality of OPIS will launch in October of 2005. This paper presents the current OPIS development status. OPIS core functionality involves a Web-based annual solicitation of project and technology data directly from ALS Principal Investigators (PIS) through customized data collection forms. Data provided by PIs will be reviewed by a Technical Task Monitor (TTM) before posting the information to OPIS for ALS Community viewing via the Web. The data will be stored in an object-oriented relational database (created in MySQL(R)) located on a secure server at NASA ARC. Upon launch, OPIS can be utilized by Managers to identify research and technology development gaps and to assess task performance. Analysts can employ OPIS to obtain.

Levri, Julie A.↗
NASA NTRS2009

An Intelligent Archive Testbed Incorporating Data Mining

Many significant advances have occurred during the last two decades in remote sensing instrumentation, computation, storage, and communication technology. A series of Earth observing satellites have been launched by U.S. and international agencies and have been operating and collecting global data on a regular basis. These advances have created a data rich environment for scientific research and applications. NASA s Earth Observing System (EOS) Data and Information System (EOSDIS) has been operational since August 1994 with support for pre-EOS data. Currently, EOSDIS supports all the EOS missions including Terra (1999), Aqua (2002), ICESat (2002) and Aura (2004). EOSDIS has been effectively capturing, processing and archiving several terabytes of standard data products each day. It has also been distributing these data products at a rate of several terabytes per day to a diverse and globally distributed user community (Ramapriyan et al. 2009). There are other NASA-sponsored data system activities including measurement-based systems such as the Ocean Data Processing System and the Precipitation Processing system, and several projects under the Research, Education and Applications Solutions Network (REASoN), Making Earth Science Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs), and the Advancing Collaborative Connections for Earth-Sun System Science (ACCESS) programs. Together, these activities provide a rich set of resources constituting a value chain for users to obtain data at various levels ranging from raw radiances to interdisciplinary model outputs. The result has been a significant leap in our understanding of the Earth systems that all humans depend on for their enjoyment, livelihood, and survival. The trend in the community today is towards many distributed sets of providers of data and services. Despite this, visions for the future include users being able to locate, fuse and utilize data with location transparency and high degree of interoperability, and being able to convert data to information and usable knowledge in an efficient, convenient manner, aided significantly by automation (Ramapriyan et al. 2004; NASA 2005). We can look upon the distributed provider environment with capabilities to convert data to information and to knowledge as an Intelligent Archive in the Context of a Knowledge Building system (IA-KBS). Some of the key capabilities of an IA-KBS are: Virtual Product Generation, Significant Event Detection, Automated Data Quality Assessment, Large-Scale Data Mining, Dynamic Feedback Loop, and Data Discovery and Efficient Requesting (Ramapriyan et al. 2004).

Ramapriyan, H.↗
NASA NTRS2010

One-Centimeter Orbits in Near-Real Time: The GPS Experience on OSTM/JASON-2

The advances in Precise Orbit Determination (POD) over the past three decades have been driven in large measure by the increasing demands of satellite altimetry missions. Since the launch of Seasat in 1978, both tracking-system technologies and orbit modeling capabilities have evolved considerably. The latest in a series of precise (TOPEX-class) altimeter missions is the Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM, also Jason-2). GPS-based orbit solutions for this mission are accurate to 1-cm (radial RMS) within 3-5 hrs of real time. These GPS-based orbit products provide the basis for a near-real time sea-surface height product that supports increasingly diverse applications of operational oceanography and climate forecasting.

Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM/Jason-2,)↗
NASA NTRS2018

Reconfiguration of NASA GRC's Vacuum Facility 6 for Testing of Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) Hardware

The NASA Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding (HERMeS) 12.5 kW Hall thruster has been the subject of extensive technology maturation in preparation for development into a flight propulsion system. The HERMeS thruster is being developed and tested at NASA GRC and NASA JPL through support of the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and is intended to be used as the electric propulsion system on the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) of the recently announced Deep Space Gateway (DSG). The Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) contract was awarded to Aerojet-Rocketdyne to develop the HERMeS system into a flight system for use by NASA. To address the hardware test needs of the AEPS project, NASA GRC launched an effort to reconfigure Vacuum Facility 6 (VF-6) for high-power electric propulsion testing including upgrades and reconfigurations necessary to conduct performance, plasma plume, and system level integration testing. Results of the verification and validation testing with HERMeS Technology Demonstration Unit (TDU)-1 and TDU-3 Hall thrusters are also included.

Peterson, Peter Y.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Delta Advanced Reusable Transport (DART): An alternative manned spacecraft

Although the current U.S. Space Transportation System (STS) has proven successful in many applications, the truth remains that the space shuttle is not as reliable or economical as was once hoped. In fact, the Augustine Commission on the future of the U.S. Space Program has recommended that the space shuttle only be used on missions directly requiring human capabilities on-orbit and that the shuttle program should eventually be phased out. This poses a great dilemma since the shuttle provides the only current or planned U.S. means for human access to space at the same time that NASA is building toward a permanent manned presence. As a possible solution to this dilemma, it is proposed that the U.S. begin development of an Alternative Manned Spacecraft (AMS). This spacecraft would not only provide follow-on capability for maintaining human space flight, but would also provide redundancy and enhanced capability in the near future. Design requirements for the AMS studied include: (1) capability of launching on one of the current or planned U.S. expendable launch vehicles (baseline McDonnell Douglas Delta II model 7920 expendable booster); (2) application to a wide variety of missions including autonomous operations, space station support, and access to orbits and inclinations beyond those of the space shuttle; (3) low enough costing to fly regularly in augmentation of space shuttle capabilities; (4) production surge capabilities to replace the shuttle if events require it; (5) intact abort capability in all flight regimes since the planned launch vehicles are not man-rated; (6) technology cut-off date of 1990; and (7) initial operational capability in 1995. In addition, the design of the AMS would take advantage of scientific advances made in the 20 years since the space shuttle was first conceived. These advances are in such technologies as composite materials, propulsion systems, avionics, and hypersonics.

Lewerenz, T.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Access from Space: A New Perspective on NASA's Space Transportation Technology Requirements and Opportunities

The need for robust and reliable access from space is clearly demonstrated by the recent loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia; as well as the NASA s goals to get the Shuttle re-flying and extend its life, build new vehicles for space access, produce successful robotic landers and s a q k ret~rr? ~llisrions, and maximize the science content of ambitious outer planets missions that contain nuclear reactors which must be safe for re-entry after possible launch aborts. The technology lynch pin of access from space is hypersonic entry systems such the thermal protection system, along with navigation, guidance and control (NG&C). But it also extends to descent and landing systems such as parachutes, airbags and their control systems. Current space access technology maturation programs such as NASA s Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program or the In-Space Propulsion (ISP) program focus on maturing laboratory demonstrated technologies for potential adoption by specific mission applications. A key requirement for these programs success is a suitable queue of innovative technologies and advanced concepts to mature, including mission concepts enabled by innovative, cross cutting technology advancements. When considering space access, propulsion often dominates the capability requirements, as well as the attention and resources. From the perspective of access from space some new cross cutting technology drivers come into view, along with some new capability opportunities. These include new miniature vehicles (micro, nano, and picosats), advanced automated systems (providing autonomous on-orbit inspection or landing site selection), and transformable aeroshells (to maximize capabilities and minimize weight). This paper provides an assessment of the technology drivers needed to meet future access from space mission requirements, along with the mission capabilities that can be envisioned from innovative, cross cutting access from space technology developments.

Rasky, Daniel J.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Cryogenic Fluid Management Technologies for Advanced Green Propulsion Systems

In support of the Exploration Vision for returning to the Moon and beyond, NASA and its partners are developing and testing critical cryogenic fluid propellant technologies that will meet the need for high performance propellants on long-term missions. Reliable knowledge of low-gravity cryogenic fluid management behavior is lacking and yet is critical in the areas of tank thermal and pressure control, fluid acquisition, mass gauging, and fluid transfer. Such knowledge can significantly reduce or even eliminate tank fluid boil-off losses for long term missions, reduce propellant launch mass and required on-orbit margins, and simplify vehicle operations. The Propulsion and Cryogenic Advanced Development (PCAD) Project is performing experimental and analytical evaluation of several areas within Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM) to enable NASA's Exploration Vision. This paper discusses the status of the PCAD CFM technology focus areas relative to the anticipated CFM requirements to enable execution of the Vision for Space Exploration.

Motil, Susan M.↗
NASA NTRS2015

No-Oven, No-Autoclave Composite Processing

Very large composite structures, such as those used in NASA's Space Launch System, push the boundaries imposed by current autoclaves. New technology is needed to maintain composite performance and free manufacturing engineers from the restraints of curing equipment size limitations. Recent efforts on a Phase II project by Cornerstone Research Group, Inc. (CRG), have advanced the technology and manufacturing readiness levels of a unique two-part epoxy resin system. Designed for room-temperature infusion of a dry carbon preform, the system includes a no-heat-added cure that delivers 350 F composite performance in a matter of hours. This no-oven, no-autoclave (NONA) composite processing eliminates part-size constraints imposed by infrastructure and lowers costs by increasing throughput and reducing capital-specific, process-flow bottlenecks. As a result of the Phase II activity, NONA materials and processes were used to make high-temperature composite tooling suitable for further production of carbon-epoxy laminates and honeycomb/ sandwich-structure composites with an aluminum core. The technology platform involves tooling design, resin infusion processing, composite part design, and resin chemistry. The various technology elements are combined to achieve a fully cured part. The individual elements are not unusual, but they are combined in such a way that enables proper management of the heat generated by the epoxy resin during cure. The result is a self-cured carbon/ epoxy composite part that is mechanically and chemically stable at temperatures up to 350 F. As a result of the successful SBIR effort, CRG has launched NONA Composites as a spinoff subsidiary. The company sells resin to end users, fabricates finished goods for customers, and sells composite tooling made with NONA materials and processes to composite manufacturers.

Rauscher, Michael D.↗