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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 NTRS1989

Space Station Freedom - Accommodation for technology R&D

The paper examines the features of the accommodation equipment designed for the candidate technology payloads of the Space Station, which include magnetic plasma thruster systems and a hypothetical advanced electromagnetic propulsion system utilizing high-temperature superconductivity materials. The review of the accommodation-equipment concepts supports the assumption that some propulsion technologies can be tested on the Space Station while being attached externally to the station's truss structure. For testing technologies with inherent operation or performance hazards, space platforms and smaller free-flyers coordinated with the Space Station can be used. Diagrams illustrating typical accommodation equipment configurations are included.

Holt, Alan C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The Global Ocean Observing System

A Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) should be established now with international coordination (1) to address issues of global change, (2) to implement operational ENSO forecasts, (3) to provide the data required to apply global ocean circulation models, and (4) to extract the greatest value from the one billion dollar investment over the next ten years in ocean remote sensing by the world's space agencies. The objectives of GOOS will focus on climatic and oceanic predictions, on assessing coastal pollution, and in determining the sustainability of living marine resources and ecosystems. GOOS will be a complete system including satellite observations, in situ observations, numerical modeling of ocean processes, and data exchange and management. A series of practical and economic benefits will be derived from the information generated by GOOS. In addition to the marine science community, these benefits will be realized by the energy industries of the world, and by the world's fisheries. The basic oceanic variables that are required to meet the oceanic and predictability objectives of GOOS include wind velocity over the ocean, sea surface temperature and salinity, oceanic profiles of temperature and salinity, surface current, sea level, the extent and thickness of sea ice, the partial pressure of CO2 in surface waters, and the chlorophyll concentration of surface waters. Ocean circulation models and coupled ocean-atmosphere models can be used to evaluate observing system design, to assimilate diverse data sets from in situ and remotely sensed observations, and ultimately to predict future states of the system. The volume of ocean data will increase enormously over the next decade as new satellite systems are launched and as complementary in situ measuring systems are deployed. These data must be transmitted, quality controlled, exchanged, analyzed, and archived with the best state-of-the-art computational methods.

Kester, Dana↗
NASA NTRS1992

Global Temperature and Salinity Pilot Project

Data exchange and data management programs have been evolving over many years. Within the international community there are two main programs to support the exchange, management and processing of real time and delayed mode data. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) operate the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) program which coordinates the exchange of delayed mode data between national oceanographic data centers, World Data Centers and the user community. The Integrated Global Ocean Services System is a joint IOC/World Meteorological Organization (WMO) program for the exchange and management of real-time data. These two programs are complemented by mechanisms that have been established within scientific programs to exchange and manage project data sets. In particular TOGA and WOCE have identified a data management requirement and established the appropriate infrastructure to achieve this. Where GTSPP fits into this existing framework is discussed.

Searle, Ben↗
NASA NTRS1993

Multi Wave Link: An interactive database for co-ordination of multiwavelength programs

Multi Wave Link is an operational database used by the international astronomical community to plan and coordinate multiwavelength observational campaigns on various celestial objects. This facility has been and continues to be an essential tool for the organization of numerous simultaneous ground-based and satellite observations. The Multi Wave Link system has both an interactive component and an electronic mail alert notice component. The interactive portion contains a database of schedules from several of the world's larger observatories and orbiting satellites. Lists of observers, observatories, and their available instrumentation are additionally contained in the system. Another feature added to the software allows the user to search the Royal Greenwich Observatory e-mail listing of international astronomers. This capability is often used by astronomers to find the electronic address of colleagues for improved communication. However, the most productive aspect of the Multi Wave Link system appears to be one of the simplest parts of the system: the electronic mail alert notices for observing campaigns. Information useful in planning the structure of future astronomical databases can be obtained by studying patterns of use of the Multi Wave Link system. This paper analyzes 22 months of Multi Wave Link usage from Sep. 1991 - Jul. 1993.

Cordova, France↗
NASA NTRS1994

Program control on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), an integral part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, is the first satellite dedicated to measuring tropical rainfall. TRMM will contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms through which tropical rainfall influences global circulation and climate. Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC) Flight Projects Directorate is responsible for establishing a Project Office for the TRMM to manage, coordinate, and integrate the various organizations involved in the development and operation of this complex satellite. The TRMM observatory, the largest ever developed and built inhouse at GSFC, includes state-of-the-art hardware. It will carry five scientific instruments designed to determine the rate of rainfall and the total rainfall occurring between the north and south latitudes of 35 deg. As a secondary science objective, TRMM will also measure the Earth's radiant energy budget and lightning.

Pennington, Dorothy J.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Visual-vestibular integration as a function of adaptation to space flight and return to Earth

Research on perception and control of self-orientation and self-motion addresses interactions between action and perception . Self-orientation and self-motion, and the perception of that orientation and motion are required for and modified by goal-directed action. Detailed Supplementary Objective (DSO) 604 Operational Investigation-3 (OI-3) was designed to investigate the integrated coordination of head and eye movements within a structured environment where perception could modify responses and where response could be compensatory for perception. A full understanding of this coordination required definition of spatial orientation models for the microgravity environment encountered during spaceflight.

Reschke, Millard R.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Experimental Assessment of the Reciprocating Feed System

The primary goal of this project was to design, construct, and test a full scale, high pressure simulated propellant feed system test bed that could evaluate the ability of the Reciprocating Feed System (RFS) to provide essentially constant flow rates and pressures to a rocket engine. The two key issues addressed were the effects of the transition of the drain cycle from tank to tank and the benefits of other hardware such as accumulators to provide a constant pressure flow rate out of the RFS. The test bed provided 500 psi flow at rates of the order of those required for engines in the 20,000 lbf thrust class (e.g., 20 to 40 lb/sec). A control system was developed in conjunction with the test article and automated system operation was achieved. Pre-test planning and acceptance activities such as a documented procedure and hazard analysis were conducted and the operation of the test article was approved by, and conducted in coordination with, appropriate NASA Marshall Space Flight Center personnel under a Space Act Agreement. Tests demonstrated successful control of flow rates and pressures.

Eddleman, David E.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Observing Campaign for Potential Deep Impact Flyby Target 163249 (2002 GT)

The Deep Impact spacecraft is currently on course for a Jan. 4, 2020 flyby of the sub-kilometer near-Earth asteroid 163249 (2002 GT). The re-targeting will be complete with a final small maneuver scheduled for Oct. 4, 2012. 2002 GT, which is also designated as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA), has a well-determined orbit and is approx 800 m in diameter (H=18.3). Little more is known about the nature of this object, but in mid-2013 it will pass near the Earth, affording an exceptional opportunity for ground-based characterization. At this apparition 2002 GT will be in range of Arecibo. In addition to Doppler measurements, radar delay observations with precisions of a few microseconds are expected and have a good chance of revealing whether the system is binary or not. The asteroid will be brighter than 16th mag., which will facilitate a host of observations at a variety of wavelengths. Light curve measurements across a wide range of viewing perspectives will reveal the rotation rate and ultimately lead to strong constraints on the shape and pole orientation. Visible and infrared spectra will constrain the mineralogy, taxonomy, albedo and size. Along with the radar observations, optical astrometry will further constrain the orbit, both to facilitate terminal guidance operations and to potentially reveal nongravitational forces acting on the asteroid. Coordinating all of these observations will be a significant task and we encourage interested observers to collaborate in this effort. The 2013 apparition of 2002 GT represents a unique opportunity to characterize a potential flyby target, which will aid interpretation of the high-resolution flyby imagery and aid planning and development of the flyby imaging sequence. The knowledge gained from this flyby will be highly relevant to the human exploration program at NASA, which desires more information on the physical characteristics of sub-kilometer near-Earth asteroids.

Pittichova, Jana↗
NASA NTRS2014

Assessing V and V Processes for Automation with Respect to Vulnerabilities to Loss of Airplane State Awareness

Automation has contributed substantially to the sustained improvement of aviation safety by minimizing the physical workload of the pilot and increasing operational efficiency. Nevertheless, in complex and highly automated aircraft, automation also has unintended consequences. As systems become more complex and the authority and autonomy (A&A) of the automation increases, human operators become relegated to the role of a system supervisor or administrator, a passive role not conducive to maintaining engagement and airplane state awareness (ASA). The consequence is that flight crews can often come to over rely on the automation, become less engaged in the human-machine interaction, and lose awareness of the automation mode under which the aircraft is operating. Likewise, the complexity of the system and automation modes may lead to poor understanding of the interaction between a mode of automation and a particular system configuration or phase of flight. These and other examples of mode confusion often lead to mismanaging the aircraftâ€"TM"s energy state or the aircraft deviating from the intended flight path. This report examines methods for assessing whether, and how, operational constructs properly assign authority and autonomy in a safe and coordinated manner, with particular emphasis on assuring adequate airplane state awareness by the flight crew and air traffic controllers in off-nominal and/or complex situations.

Whitlow, Stephen↗
NASA NTRS2016

Traffic Aware Planner for Cockpit-Based Trajectory Optimization

The Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) software application is a cockpit-based advisory tool designed to be hosted on an Electronic Flight Bag and to enable and test the NASA concept of Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR). The TASAR concept provides pilots with optimized route changes (including altitude) that reduce fuel burn and/or flight time, avoid interactions with known traffic, weather and restricted airspace, and may be used by the pilots to request a route and/or altitude change from Air Traffic Control. Developed using an iterative process, TAP's latest improvements include human-machine interface design upgrades and added functionality based on the results of human-in-the-loop simulation experiments and flight trials. Architectural improvements have been implemented to prepare the system for operational-use trials with partner commercial airlines. Future iterations will enhance coordination with airline dispatch and add functionality to improve the acceptability of TAP-generated route-change requests to pilots, dispatchers, and air traffic controllers.

Woods, Sharon E.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Trajectory Design Employing Convex Optimization for Landing on Irregularly Shaped Asteroids

Mission proposals that land on asteroids are becoming popular. However, in order to have a successful mission the spacecraft must reliably and softly land at the intended landing site. The problem under investigation is how to design a fuel-optimal powered descent trajectory that can be quickly computed on- board the spacecraft, without interaction from ground control. An optimal trajectory designed immediately prior to the descent burn has many advantages. These advantages include the ability to use the actual vehicle starting state as the initial condition in the trajectory design and the ease of updating the landing target site if the original landing site is no longer viable. For long trajectories, the trajectory can be updated periodically by a redesign of the optimal trajectory based on current vehicle conditions to improve the guidance performance. One of the key drivers for being completely autonomous is the infrequent and delayed communication between ground control and the vehicle. Challenges that arise from designing an asteroid powered descent trajectory include complicated nonlinear gravity fields, small rotating bodies and low thrust vehicles. There are two previous studies that form the background to the current investigation. The first set looked in-depth at applying convex optimization to a powered descent trajectory on Mars with promising results.1, 2 This showed that the powered descent equations of motion can be relaxed and formed into a convex optimization problem and that the optimal solution of the relaxed problem is indeed a feasible solution to the original problem. This analysis used a constant gravity field. The second area applied a successive solution process to formulate a second order cone program that designs rendezvous and proximity operations trajectories.3, 4 These trajectories included a Newtonian gravity model. The equivalence of the solutions between the relaxed and the original problem is theoretically established. The proposed solution for designing the asteroid powered descent trajectory is to use convex optimization, a gravity model with higher fidelity than Newtonian, and an iterative solution process to design the fuel optimal trajectory. The solution to the convex optimization problem is the thrust profile, magnitude and direction, that will yield the minimum fuel trajectory for a soft landing at the target site, subject to various mission and operational constraints. The equations of motion are formulated in a rotating coordinate system and includes a high fidelity gravity model. The vehicle's thrust magnitude can vary between maximum and minimum bounds during the burn. Also, constraints are included to ensure that the vehicle does not run out of propellant, or go below the asteroid's surface, and any vehicle pointing requirements. The equations of motion are discretized and propagated with the trapezoidal rule in order to produce equality constraints for the optimization problem. These equality constraints allow the optimization algorithm to solve the entire problem, without including a propagator inside the optimization algorithm.

Pinson, Robin M.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Innovative Development of a Cross-Center Timeline Planning Tool

The Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) supports planning, coordination and scheduling of science activities for the International Space Station (ISS) in coordination with other NASA centers, international partners, and payload developers. The ability to efficiently plan and re-plan in response to change is critical to the flight planning teams. With the achievement of supporting a fourth crew member aboard the ISS and an increasing amount of payload science activities, came the need for a dynamic, more efficient way of building timeline planning reports that could be readily updated as fast as payload science plans could change. This paper addresses software architecture considerations in the successful cross-center development of an automated planning tool with multiple data sources. It also discusses the practical implementation of a time-boxed, hybrid Agile Software Development (ASD) approach to deliver customer-driven value despite changing requirements with respect to low-Earth orbit operational planning activities. The goal of this paper is to open discussion with members of the international community and trade effective strategies for cross-center architectural and customer-developer driven collaborations, to support increasing utilization of planning and conducting science activities in space.

Pedoto, Ramon W.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Terminal Area Test Vector Development

This presentation provides an overview of work being done to develop test vectors for the terminal area, in coordination with RTCA Special Committee 228, an organization developing the Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems. The work leverages existing encounter data to develop a set of encounters to be used to define and refine both performance-based and functionally-based terminal area MOPS requirements. The encounter set would be used across various organizations supporting MOPS terminal area requirements development to provide some level of consistency in terms of terminal area assumptions. The work will investigate other potentially applicable data sets and make any similarly needed adjustments to arrive at a consolidated set of terminal area encounters.

terminal area↗
NASA NTRS2020

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Working Groups

The NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) is bringing together public, private, and academic organizations to collaborate with NASA in Urban Air Mobility (UAM) working groups. The primary purpose of the working groups is to accelerate the development of safe, high-volume UAM flight operations in the existing and anticipated future national airspace system. In coordination with the Grand Challenge series, industry developments and other ARMD efforts, these working groups will contribute to the enablement of UAM markets. Working group activities will seek to align the community on concepts to enable UAM, including communicating industry demonstrations and R&D priorities. The collaborative efforts will facilitate the identification of critical parameters and standards necessary to develop the framework and approach for safety, certification, airspace, aircraft concepts, technologies, and architectures. The realization of the UAM vision will be possible only though the efforts and contributions of multiple stakeholders, each possessing the necessary authority, expertise, and/or resources to fulfill a critical role in UAM's development, approval, and implementation. The applicable participants will become integral to the UAM working groups and will provide a platform for those stakeholders to collaborate and impact the overall ecosystem.

Kopardekar, Parimal H.↗
NASA NTRS2020

ATD-2 Benefits Mechanism

NASA has been developing and demonstrating a suite of decision support capabilities for integrated arrival, departure, and surface (IADS) operations in a metroplex environment. The effort is being made in three phases, under NASA’s Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) sub-project, through a close partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), air carriers, airport, and general aviation community. The Phase 1 Baseline IADS capabilities provide enhanced operational efficiency and predictability of flight operations through data exchange and integration, tactical surface metering, and automated coordination of release time of controlled flights for overhead stream insertion. The Phase 2 Fused IADS capabilities include the fusion of strategic and tactical surface metering, Atlanta Center airspace tactical scheduling, Electronic Flight Data (EFD) integration, Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) Terminal Publication (TTP) prototype, and Mobile App for General Aviation (GA) community. In the Phase 2 field evaluation, strategic surface metering provides advance notice of metering and additional stability to the assigned gate holds. The users of the IADS system in Phases 1 and 2 include the personnel at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) air traffic control tower, American Airlines ramp tower, CLT terminal radar approach control (TRACON), and Washington and Atlanta Center. This document describes the ATD-2 benefits mechanism used to assess the Phases 1 and 2 IADS capabilities and field evaluation conducted at CLT since September 2017. The ATD-2 benefits mechanism mainly consists of surface metering and overhead stream insertion. This document provides detailed calculation methods of major benefit metrics, such as fuel savings, gas emissions savings, and engine runtime reduction, which can be obtained through surface metering, gate hold of Approval Request (APREQ) flights prior to pushback, and the renegotiation of release time while taxiing. As of March 31, 2020, it is estimated that 5,075,981 pounds of fuel savings and 15,634,022 pounds of CO2 emission reduction have been achieved so far, with a reduction of 3,832 hours in total engine runtime. The amount of CO2 savings is estimated to be equivalent to planting 116,254 urban trees. The pre- and post-metering comparison results using FAA’s Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) data have also shown that the surface metering had no negative impact on the on-time arrival performance of both outbound and inbound flights at CLT.

ATD-2↗
NASA NTRS2020

ATD-2 Benefits Mechanism

NASA has been developing and demonstrating a suite of decision support capabilities for integrated arrival, departure, and surface (IADS) operations in a metroplex environment. The effort is being made in three phases, under NASA’s Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) sub-project, through a close partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), air carriers, airport, and general aviation community. The Phase 1 Baseline IADS capabilities provide enhanced operational efficiency and predictability of flight operations through data exchange and integration, tactical surface metering, and automated coordination of release time of controlled flights for overhead stream insertion. The Phase 2 Fused IADS capabilities include the fusion of strategic and tactical surface metering, Atlanta Center airspace tactical scheduling, Electronic Flight Data (EFD) integration, Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) Terminal Publication (TTP) prototype, and Mobile App for General Aviation (GA) community. In the Phase 2 field evaluation, strategic surface metering provides advance notice of metering and additional stability to the assigned gate holds. The users of the IADS system in Phases 1 and 2 include the personnel at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) air traffic control tower, American Airlines ramp tower, CLT terminal radar approach control (TRACON), and Washington and Atlanta Center. This document describes the ATD-2 benefits mechanism used to assess the Phases 1 and 2 IADS capabilities and field evaluation conducted at CLT since September 2017. The ATD-2 benefits mechanism mainly consists of surface metering and overhead stream insertion. This document provides detailed calculation methods of major benefit metrics, such as fuel savings, gas emissions savings, and engine runtime reduction, which can be obtained through surface metering, gate hold of Approval Request (APREQ) flights prior to pushback, and the renegotiation of release time while taxiing. As of April 30, 2020, it is estimated that 5,097,173 pounds of fuel savings and 15,699,292 pounds of CO2 emission reduction have been achieved so far, with a reduction of 3,831 hours in total engine runtime. The amount of CO2 savings is estimated to be equivalent to planting 116,739 urban trees. The pre- and post-metering comparison results using FAA’s Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) data have also shown that the surface metering had no negative impact on the on-time arrival performance of both outbound and inbound flights at CLT.

ATD-2↗
DOE OSTI2020

Grid-Enhanced, Mobility-Integrated Network Infrastructures for Extreme Fast Charging (GEMINI-XFC)

Increasing vehicle electrification will require extensive use of extreme fast charging (XFC), especially for larger vehicles. Uncoordinated XFC can create grid challenges, particularly at the distribution level. Two strategies can support widespread XFC: gold-plate the grid (i.e., upgrade all systems to enable worst-case, fully coincident loads) or use integrated planning to codesign a smart system based on advanced controls that leverage load flexibility and distributed energy resources. With the right design and control, XFC can simultaneously support both mobility and grid operations. Fully realizing the potential of XFC, however, will require unprecedented coordination among the charging infrastructure, grid, and vehicles. GEMINI-XFC combines high-fidelity grid and transport modeling at an unprecedented level of resolution and codesigns a smart system based on advanced controls that leverage load flexibility and distributed energy resources to optimize the integration of extreme fast charging (XFC) across a full regional scale with individual customer resolution.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS1990

Hybrid vision activities at NASA Johnson Space Center

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, is active in several aspects of hybrid image processing. (The term hybrid image processing refers to a system that combines digital and photonic processing). The major thrusts are autonomous space operations such as planetary landing, servicing, and rendezvous and docking. By processing images in non-Cartesian geometries to achieve shift invariance to canonical distortions, researchers use certain aspects of the human visual system for machine vision. That technology flow is bidirectional; researchers are investigating the possible utility of video-rate coordinate transformations for human low-vision patients. Man-in-the-loop teleoperations are also supported by the use of video-rate image-coordinate transformations, as researchers plan to use bandwidth compression tailored to the varying spatial acuity of the human operator. Technological elements being developed in the program include upgraded spatial light modulators, real-time coordinate transformations in video imagery, synthetic filters that robustly allow estimation of object pose parameters, convolutionally blurred filters that have continuously selectable invariance to such image changes as magnification and rotation, and optimization of optical correlation done with spatial light modulators that have limited range and couple both phase and amplitude in their response.

Juday, Richard D.↗