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927 records · Page 52

Life in the Clouds of Venus? An Experimental Synthetic Biology Approach

The surface of Venus constitutes the most hellish and biologically inhospitable planetary surface in our solar system, boasting a pH of 0, blistering winds that can melt lead, and pressures of 60 atm. However, during the earlier years of the solar system, without the runaway greenhouse effect that has plagued the planet, Venus potentially housed oceans and perhaps even life. There is a possibility that microbes could have retreated into hospitable niches in the atmosphere, as suggested by Carl Sagan as early as 1967 [1]. For example, 50 km above the raging hell of the Venusian surface, exists a relatively temperate environment that might serve as reservoir for life. This astrobiology project seeks to explore life at the extremes and to theorize whether microbial communities could not only survive but also reproduce in the Venusian atmosphere. Specifically, we ask: are aerosols viable microbial environments? But before we can test for life in the clouds, we have to develop a proper reporter to visualize cell growth in situ. For this purpose, we aimed to develop cell-growth dependent reporters to serve as remote biosensors for cell growth. We developed two using the polA promoter, a DNA-replication dependent promoter, and nrd operon promoter, a cell-cycle dependent promoter. Using these cell-growth reporters, the next step is to aerosolize microbes expressing these reporters in a suspension chamber adapted from a Millikan Drop Apparatus to assay reproduction in an aerosolized environment. Better yet is to test the reproduction of microbes in a microgravity regime such as on ISS.Approach: We engineered two cell-cycle dependent genetic reporters. One was the polA promoter which codes for DNA Polymerase I, a gene active in DNA replication [2]. The other was the nrdP. The activation of ribonucleotide reductase reduces ribonucleotides into deoxyribonucleotides and is involved in the bacterial cell cycle [3]. This promoter began activation during the initiation of DNA replication and is cell-cycle dependent [4]. These promoters were fused to a GFP reporter, transformed into E. coli. The constructs were deposited in the iGEM registry as K847210: Escherichia coli DNA-replication dependent polA promoter K847211: Escherichia coli cell-division dependent nrd promoter Results: Our constructs displayed fluorescence when transformed into NEB-5alpha competent cells. While nrdP-E0840 displayed sufficient fluorescence as verified by fluorescent microscopy, the original polAP-E0840 construct (which uses mut3b GFP) exhibited low expression; while fluorescence was visible under the microscope, the signal was too weak for the camera to recognize. The polA promoter was therefore digest-ed with EcoRI and SpeI then ligated into plasmid pNCS containing a RBS, Clover, and a terminator. Clover is a highly engineered green fluorescent protein that exhibits extreme brightness [5] Fluoresence time course data demonsrated that the genes were induced in a cell cycle dependant manner [6]. Our assays via microscopy and the bulk assay shows that our promoters are functional as cell cycle reporters.Conclusions: The application of such tools are widespread and not limited to astrobiology; nrdP could be used to determine doubling times empirically and could possibly extrapolate DNA content from intensity of signals expressed by polAP. However, we are pri-marily interested in its use in astrobiology.

Escherichia↗

Plant growth during the Greenhouse II experiment on the Mir orbital station

We carried out three experiments with Super Dwarf wheat in the Bulgarian/Russian growth chamber Svet (0.1 m2 growing area) on the Space Station Mir. This paper mostly describes the first of these NASA-supported trials, began on Aug. 13, 1995. Plants were sampled five times and harvested on Nov. 9 after 90 days. Equipment failures led to low irradiance (3, then 4 of 6 lamp sets failed), instances of high temperatures (ca. 37 degrees C), and sometimes excessive substrate moisture. Although plants grew for the 90 d, no wheat heads were produced. Considering the low light levels, plants were surprisingly green, but of course biomass production was low. Plants were highly disoriented (low light, mirror walls?). Fixed and dried samples and the root module were returned on the U.S. Shuttle Atlantis on Nov. 20, 1995. Samples of the substrate, a nutrient-charged zeolite called Balkanine, were taken from the root module, carefully examined for roots, weighed, dried, and reweighed. The Svet control unit and the light bank were shipped to Moscow. An experiment validation test (EVT) of plant growth and experimental procedures, carried out in Moscow, was highly successful. Equipment built in Utah to measure CO2, H2O vapor, irradiance, air and leaf (IR) temperature, O2, pressure, and substrate moisture worked well in the EVT and in space. After this manuscript was first prepared, plants were grown in Mir with a new light bank and controller for 123 d in late 1996 and 39 days in 1996/1997. Plants grew exceptionally well with higher biomass production than in any previous space experiment, but the ca. 280 wheat heads that were produced in 1996 contained no seeds. Ethylene in the cabin atmosphere was responsible. c2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of COSPAR.

Mir Project↗

Spacecraft Radiator Protection from Ionizing Radiation, Dust, and Excessive Heat Loss

Under a Phase II SBIR project funded by NASA Johnson Space Center (Contract No. 80NSSC25C0088), Analytical Scientific Products LLC (ASP) has been developing an actively controlled louver to protect spacecraft radiators from degradation due to exposure to various types of environmental conditions. Of particular interest are ionizing radiation during spacecraft transit through the Van Allen belts, dust during spacecraft landing and surface operations on the moon, and excessive heat loss during the long lunar night especially near the poles where the local ambient temperatures can drop below -200°C. Exposure to ionizing radiation and dust can degrade the optical properties of the radiator coating that in turn reduces its ability to reject excess heat from the spacecraft into the environment. Exposure to the extremely low temperature conditions during the lunar night near the poles can freeze the radiator fluids that can compromise the integrity of the radiator. Passive louvers constructed using thick aluminum vanes are used currently to protect spacecraft radiators from some of the above effects, but they have several drawbacks: (i) their high aerial density makes it impractical to scale them to protect the much larger spacecraft radiators needed for future manned missions to the moon and beyond, (ii) the bimetallic actuators used to open and close the vanes in passive louvers rely on external temperature alone and so the louver cannot offer protection from dust and ionizing radiation when the ambient temperatures are high, and (iii) the bimetallic actuators need time scales of the order of hours to open and close. We have addressed the above limitations of passive louvers through the development of a low aerial density and rapidly actuating actively controlled louver. It is constructed from a custom alloy that offers much higher levels of protection against the ionizing radiation, dust and excessive heat loss at a fraction of weight compared to passive louvers while providing opening and closing time scales of the order of a second. Our modular design makes it easy to scale the system up or down depending on the application. We have recently constructed a 31 inch × 31 inch module of this louver and tested its functionality and effectiveness. These tests have shown that the louver can be opened and closed in less than 2 s. It reduces the transmission of ionizing radiation by 78% to 100% (depending on the radiation source), dust transmission by more than 93%, and heat loss by more than 97%. We are currently preparing to evaluate this device at the Johnson Space Center’s cryogenic vacuum chamber where it can be subjected to simulated lunar surface conditions. This paper provides a detailed discussion of the test designs as well as the data from tests that demonstrate the effectiveness in reducing the transmission of ionizing radiation, dust, and heat under laboratory conditions.

Radiator↗

Spacecraft Radiator Protection from Ionizing Radiation, Dust, and Excessive Heat Loss

Under a Phase II SBIR project funded by NASA Johnson Space Center (Contract No. 80NSSC25C0088), Analytical Scientific Products LLC (ASP) has been developing an actively controlled louver to protect spacecraft radiators from degradation due to exposure to various types of environmental conditions. Of particular interest are ionizing radiation during spacecraft transit through the Van Allen belts, dust during spacecraft landing and surface operations on the moon, and excessive heat loss during the long lunar night especially near the poles where the local ambient temperatures can drop below -200°C. Exposure to ionizing radiation and dust can degrade the optical properties of the radiator coating that in turn reduces its ability to reject excess heat from the spacecraft into the environment. Exposure to the extremely low temperature conditions during the lunar night near the poles can freeze the radiator fluids that can compromise the integrity of the radiator. Passive louvers constructed using thick aluminum vanes are used currently to protect spacecraft radiators from some of the above effects, but they have several drawbacks: (i) their high aerial density makes it impractical to scale them to protect the much larger spacecraft radiators needed for future manned missions to the moon and beyond, (ii) the bimetallic actuators used to open and close the vanes in passive louvers rely on external temperature alone and so the louver cannot offer protection from dust and ionizing radiation when the ambient temperatures are high, and (iii) the bimetallic actuators need time scales of the order of hours to open and close. We have addressed the above limitations of passive louvers through the development of a low aerial density and rapidly actuating actively controlled louver. It is constructed from a custom alloy that offers much higher levels of protection against the ionizing radiation, dust and excessive heat loss at a fraction of weight compared to passive louvers while providing opening and closing time scales of the order of a second. Our modular design makes it easy to scale the system up or down depending on the application. We have recently constructed a 31 inch × 31 inch module of this louver and tested its functionality and effectiveness. These tests have shown that the louver can be opened and closed in less than 2 s. It reduces the transmission of ionizing radiation by 78% to 100% (depending on the radiation source), dust transmission by more than 93%, and heat loss by more than 97%. We are currently preparing to evaluate this device at the Johnson Space Center’s cryogenic vacuum chamber where it can be subjected to simulated lunar surface conditions. This paper provides a detailed discussion of the test designs as well as the data from tests that demonstrate the effectiveness in reducing the transmission of ionizing radiation, dust, and heat under laboratory conditions.

Radiator↗

Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC): Mapping the Dynamic Responses to Exercise

Exercise provides a robust physiological stimulus that evokes cross-talk between a wide range of tissues via hormonal, cellular and molecular signals that when repeated regularly over time (i.e., training) improves physiological capacity, benefits numerous organ systems and decreases the risk for premature mortality. In spite of its fundamental importance, a gap remains in identifying the detailed molecular signals and responses to exercise and its benefits for health and disease prevention. To further knowledge in this emerging area, the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) was established to generate a molecular map of the effects of acute and chronic exercise. MoTrPAC investigators are conducting preclinical and clinical studies to better understand the systemic effects of exercise across multiple tissues. The preclinical studies were performed on more than 700 rats with the analysis of twenty or more organs per rat. The clinical study involves a large cohort of ~2600 individuals with a range of ages and fitness levels (untrained, trained, highly trained) who will be evaluated physiologically and by molecular probing of blood, muscle and adipose tissues before and after acute and chronic endurance or resistance exercise. Multi-omic analyses (genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics/lipidomics) will be performed followed by state-of-the-art bioinformatics to create a molecular map of exercise. This mapping project will provide a public database that is expected to enhance our understanding of the health benefits of physical activity in many organ systems and potentially provide insight into mitigating diseases through activity.

Sanford, James A.↗

Ground-based studies with Super-Dwarf wheat in preparation for space flight

Several experiments were carried out to test responses of a Super-Dwarf cultivar of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to various environmental parameters that were anticipated to be present in our attempts to grow the wheat in a small growth chamber on the Russian Space Station, Mir, or that proved to be present in a 1995 trial space experiment. Under low photosynthetic photon flux (40-400 micromoles m-2 s-1 PPF), development (e.g. anthesis) was retarded, but heads (often sterile) always formed, even if light was so low that plants died before the heads could mature. Longer photoperiods promoted flowering, but night interruptions combined with short days did not provoke a long-day response as occurs with true long-day plants. The long-day effect could prove to be a summation of photosynthetic products. Heat stress (40 degrees C for 1-24 h) did not influence flowering but killed plants that were 13-16-day-old (no effect on younger plants). Concentrations of iodine or silver-fluoride disinfectants present in the water used for plants on Mir (1.0-4.0 mg L-1) did not affect plant growth although higher concentrations (8.0-1.6 mg L-1) were inhibitory. GA3 or indoleacetic acid applied every other day at concentrations from 1.0 x 10(-6) mg L-1 to 3.162 x 10(-4) mg L-1 did not change the height of Super-Dwarf wheat, suggesting that this cultivar is not a gibberellin mutant.

Flight Experiment↗

CryoCart Restoration and Vacuum Pipe Construction

Propulsion systems that utilize hypergolic propellants have been used to power space vehicles since the beginning of the space program. Liquid methane and oxygen propulsion systems have emerged as an alternative and have proven to be more environmentally friendly. The incorporation of liquid methane/liquid oxygen (LOX) into the propulsion system has demonstrated an increase in engine performance, as well as a reduction in the volume, size and complexity of the system. Consequently, reducing the total mass of the vehicle which is a crucial aspect that is considered when planning space missions to both the Moon and Mars [1]. Project Morpheus has made significant advancements in liquid oxygen/liquid methane propulsion system technologies by incorporating a LOX/methane propulsion system to a vertical test bed. The vehicle consisted of a 5,000 lb main engine and four 20 lb remote control system (RCS) engines that utilize liquid methane/LOX as its propellant [1]. The vehicle completed successful flight testing at Kennedy Space Center in 2014 which marked the completion of the Morpheus project. Subsequent projects utilizing Morpheus' vertical test bed have been developed to make further advancements. One of the subsequent projects consisted of the addition of a smaller 2,000 lb main engine and a cold helium heat exchanger which would make it possible for a pressurant tank systems to be send to Mars or the Moon by significantly decreasing the overall mass and volume of the pressurant tank. The hot fire tests of the integrated system with the smaller main engine and cold helium heat exchanger were successful at sea level, but further studies are being conducted to better understand how the vertical test bed will behave under thermal-vacuum conditions. For this reason, the integrated vehicle will be taken to Plum Brook to be tested in a chamber capable of simulating these conditions. To ensure that the vehicle will function properly under vacuum conditions, testing will be first completed at the component level. During this process, the igniter of the main engine and the RCS thrusters will be tested under a vacuum. To complete the testing of the components, the test setup first needed to be finalized. The CryoCart is being used to feed the propellants to the test article. The CryoCart is a movable test set-up that was developed in 2009 to provide a mobile platform for testing oxygen/methane systems with hot-fire capability up to 100 lbf. The CryoCart consists of three different systems: Oxygen, Methane, and liquid Nitrogen. The Oxygen and Methane systems are placed into two different carts while the liquid nitrogen system is mainly located in the methane cart. Over the years, the CryoCart has been utilized for different projects and has undergone deterioration. For this reason, a new phase has been developed to rebuild it to working conditions once again. During my internship, I was aiding in the construction and restoration of the CryoCart. In the initial stages of the process, I updated the fluid and electrical schematics for the oxygen, methane, and test article systems. The original CryoCart consisted of an electrical panel that utilized electromechanical relays and a terminal to drive the igniter power and signal, as well as the main fuel and oxygen valves. This electrical panel connected to the CryoCart through various wire harnesses that could be found exiting from the CryoCart. First, it was determined how these harnesses connected to the electromechanical relays so that they worked correctly. Once the electrical system was understood, an alternative for the electromechanical relays and the Molex connectors used throughout the system was sought since these components can often prove to be unreliable. Solid State relays and MIL connectors were purchased to serve as replacements. Upon arrival of the parts, crimping and wiring was completed to install the new solid state relays and MIL connectors. During the replacement of the relays and connectors, system checks of the electrical system were ran to ensure that the system was working correctly. While completing system checks, the pressure transducers that were not functioning properly were also replaced and any issue with the wiring or signal was addressed. Once the electrical components were replaced, the restoration of the fluid system began. Parts of the tubing in the CryoCart had to be rebuild and often consisted of sizing, cutting, bending, filing, and sanding the tubing to prepare it to be flared. Many components had to be proof-tested to bring their certifications up to date, and several components had to be replaced. Various flex hoses, valves, and fittings were send to the Clean Lab because they were new, dirty, or had gone through proof-testing. Once they arrived from the cleaning lab they had to be put back to the system and leak checks and functional tests were conducted. In the Nitrogen system, the copper tubing located in the Oxygen cart was rebuild and Aerogel insulation was added to this section. A new gaseous nitrogen system was added to the CryoCart to purge the vacuum tube which will serve as the test chamber. Once the CryoCart was completed, construction of parts of the vacuum tube began. A flange was manufactured with welded fittings to hold the line of the vacuum pump as well as some extra fittings which will serve as extra inlets used to introduce fluid lines to the vacuum tube. Stress analysis was ran in this flange to ensure that it would not fail under vacuum conditions. The fluid lines leading from the air side of the vacuum to the test article were also constructed and added to the mount that had already been manufactured. Three different sets of tubing were constructed to accommodate the seven different RCS thruster and the main engine igniter that are going to be tested. Full electrical system checks were completed to ensure that all the wire harnesses and valves were functioning. Upon the completion of the CryoCart and the vacuum tube, hot fire testing for the RCS thrusters and the main engine igniter are going to begin. During this time any issues encountered with the engines or igniter will be addressed to ensure that the components function under vacuum conditions. After successful completion of testing, the vertical test bed, Morpheus, will be rebuilt and prepared to be sent to Plum Brook. In Plum Brook, the vehicle will be tested in the thermal-vacuum chamber to demonstrate that integrated lox-methane propulsion system operation in space-like conditions. This internship has allowed me the opportunity to gain valuable hands on experience and to develop skills that will aid in my education as well as in the workforce, while at the same time helping me determine that I would like to further pursue a career in propulsion engineering.

Chaidez, Mariana↗

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Ground Test History

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) was started in ~1955 under the Atomic Energy Commission as project Rover and was assigned to Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Nevada Test Site was selected in 1956 and facility construction began in 1957. The KIWI-A was tested on July 1, 1959 for 5 minutes at 70MW. KIWI-A1 was tested on July 8, 1960 for 6 minutes at 85MW. KIWI-A3 was tested on October 10, 1960 for 5 minutes at 100MW. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed in 1958. On August 31, 1960 the AEC and NASA established the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office and named Harold Finger as Director. Immediately following the formation of SNPO, contracts were awarded for the Reactor In Flight Test (RIFT), master plan for the Nuclear Rocket Engine Development Station (NRDS), and the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA). From December 7, 1961 to November 30, 1962, the KIWI-B1A, KIWI-B1B, and KIWI-B4A were tested at test cell A. The last two engines were only tested for several seconds before noticeable failure of the fuel elements. Harold Finger called a stop to any further hot fire testing until the problem was well understood. The KIWI-B4A cold flow test showed the problem to be related to fluid dynamics of hydrogen interstitial flow causing fuel element vibrations. President Kennedy visited the NTS one week after the KIWI-B4A failure and got to see the engine starting to be disassembled in the maintenance facility. The KIWI-B4D and KIWI-B4E were modified to not have the vibration problems and were tested in test cell C. The NERVA NRX program started testing in early 1964 with NRX-A1 cold flow test series (unfueled graphite core), NRX-A2 and NRX-A3 power test series up to 1122 MW for 13 minutes. In March 1966, the NRX-EST (Engine System Test) was the first breadboard using flight functional relationship and total operating time of 116 minutes. The NRX-EST demonstrated the feasibility of a hot bleed cycle. The NRX-A5 had multiple start-ups in May-June 1966 with 30.75 minutes accumulative operating time at or above 1GW. The NRX-A6 was tested in December 1969 and ran for 62 minutes at 1100 MW. Each engine had post-test examination and found various structure anomalies which were identified for correction and the fuel element corrosion rate was reduced. The Phoebus series of research reactors began testing at test cell C, in June 1965 with Phoebus 1A. Phoebus 1A operated for 10.5 minutes at 1100 MW before unexpected loss of propellant and leading to an engine breakdown. Phoebus 1B ran for 30 minutes in February of 1967. Phoebus 2A was the highest steady state reactor built at 5GW. Phoebus 2A ran for 12 minutes at 4100 MW demonstrating sufficient power is available. The Peewee test bed reactor was tested November- December 1968 in test cell C for 40 minutes at 500MW with overall performance close to pre-run predictions. The XE' engine was the only engine tested with close to a flight configuration and fired downward into a diffuser at the Engine Test Stand (ETS) in 1969. The XE' was 1100 MW and had ~28 start-ups. The nuclear furnace NF-1 was operated at 44 MW with multiple test runs at 90 minutes in the summer of 1972. The NF-1 was the last NTP reactor tested. The Rover/NERVA program was cancelled in 1973. However, before cancellation, a lot of other engineering work was conducted by Aerojet on a 75, 000 lbf prototype flight engine and by Los Alamos on a ~16,000 lbf "Small Engine" nuclear rocket design. The ground test history of NTP at the NRDS also offers many lessons learned on how best to setup, operate, emergency shutdown, and post-test examine NTP engines. The reactor and engine maintenance and disassembly facilities were used for assembly and inspection of radioactive engines after testing. Most reactor/ engines were run at test cell A or test cell C with open air exhaust. The Rover/NERVA program became aware of a new environmental regulation that would restrict the amount of radioactive particulates allowed to be release in open air and successfully demonstrated a scrubber concept with the NF-1. The ETS stand was the only one with a high altitude test chamber used for XE'. The ETS and other test cells showed the effects the engine's radiation had on the facility materials and instrumentation as well as side effects the ground test facility has back on the engine operation. The breakdown of Phoebus 1A at test cell C showed how the site was cleaned up and back to operation for five more engines before the program was cancelled.

Gerrish, Harold P.↗

Pressure-Fed LOX/LCH4 Reaction Control System for Spacecraft: Transient Modeling and Thermal Vacuum Hotfire Test Results

An integrated cryogenic liquid oxygen, liquid methane (LOX/LCH4) reaction control system (RCS) was tested at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook Station in the Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility (B-2) under vacuum and thermal vacuum conditions. The RCS is a subsystem of the Integrated Cryogenic Propulsion Test Article (ICPTA), a pressure-fed LOX/LCH4 propulsion system composed of a single 2,800 lbf main engine, two 28 lbf RCS engines, and two 7 lbf RCS engines. Propellants are stored in four 48 inch diameter 5083 aluminum tanks that feed both the main engine and RCS engines in parallel. Helium stored cryogenically in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) flows through a heat exchanger on the main engine before being used to pressurize the propellant tanks to a design operating pressure of 325 psi. The ICPTA is capable of simultaneous main engine and RCS operation. The RCS engines utilize a coil-on-plug (COP) ignition system designed for operation in a vacuum environment, eliminating corona discharge issues associated with a high voltage lead. There are two RCS pods on the ICPTA, with two engines on each pod. One of these two engines is a heritage flight engine from Project Morpheus. Its sea level nozzle was removed and replaced by an 85:1 nozzle machined using Inconel 718, resulting in a maximum thrust of 28 lbf under altitude conditions. The other engine is a scaled down version of the 28 lbf engine, designed to match the core and overall mixture ratios as well as other injector characteristics. This engine can produce a maximum thrust of 7 lbf with an 85:1 nozzle that was additively manufactured using Inconel 718. Both engines are film-cooled and capable of limited duration gas-gas and gas-liquid operation, as well as steady-state liquid-liquid operation. Each pod contains one of each version, such that two engines of the same thrust level can be fired as a couple on opposite pods. The RCS feed system is composed of symmetrical 3/8 inch lines that tap off of the main propellant manifold to send LOX and LCH4 outboard to the RCS pods. A Thermodynamic Vent System (TVS) is used to condition propellants at each pod by venting through an orifice and then routing the cold expansion products back through tubing that is welded along a large portion of the main RCS feed lines. Prior to final installation on the ICPTA, the RCS engines were tested in a small vacuum chamber at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Energy Systems Test Area (ESTA) to verify functionality of the new COP ignition system and check out operation of the vacuum nozzles. After engine-level testing, the RCS engines were installed on the vehicle and a series of integrated hot-fire tests were performed at JSC consisting of various pulsing and steady-state firings as well as integrated main engine/RCS operation. The ICPTA was then integrated into the Plum Brook B-2 facility for vacuum and thermal/vacuum testing. Testing in the B-2 facility was composed of multiple thermal and pressure environments. The first set of tests were performed under ambient temperature and altitude pressure conditions. These tests consisted of a range of minimum impulse bit (MIB) pulsing sequences with low duty cycle, analogous to a coast phase in which the RCS is primarily used for station keeping. The primary goal of this sequence is to understand how propellant conditions were effected without an active TVS. In this scenario, consistent gas-gas operation is desirable since it results in a smaller MIB and more efficient propellant consumption. Multiple skin thermocouples are mounted on the feedlines, in addition to a submerged thermocouple on each commodity, in order to gather thermal data on the system. Higher duty cycle pulsing tests were then performed, analogous to an ascent or landing mission phase. The primary goal of this sequence was to examine how well the engines self-conditioned without active TVS when starting from a quiescent state. The TVS was then activated during some tests to demonstrate the capability to quickly condition the engines for higher pulsing demand scenarios. A thermocouple at the TVS outlet allows for the calculation of energy absorbed by the vented propellant. Lastly, tests with longer pulses and multiple engines firing either in sequence or simultaneously were run in order to gather transient system response data on waterhammer. Six total high-speed pressure transducers are installed on the RCS system, one sensor at the end of each propellant manifold line on the pods, and one at the tap-off location for each commodity. This will allow for the accurate characterization of waterhammer in the system under various propellant conditions and firing sequences. Other instrumentation for this test series includes nozzle throat thermocouples, chamber pressure measurement, heat soakback measurement, and tank wall plume impingement temperature measurement. The next set of tests were performed to demonstrate simultaneous main engine and RCS operation. Data from this test will be used to examine if there is any change to nominal operation of the RCS as a result of feed system interaction or other phenomenon. Some of these tests began under high vacuum conditions (target ambient pressure less than 1x10(exp -3) torr) and others began at altitude conditions. The last set of tests were performed with the B-2 cold wall active. Under these tests, many of the same low duty cycle MIB tests were repeated in order to characterize how propellant conditions changed with the lower heat leak. In this scenario the RCS manifold experiences much less heat leak, resulting in a change to how well the engines self-condition. As a result, an increase in maximum waterhammer pressures and a change in natural frequency of the system was expected due to higher density propellants. The lower heat leak should also result in a change to the MIB pulse profile, and data will be examined to understand how MIB repeatability is affected in the different operating environments. Parallel to the test efforts, a set of transient model development efforts were made to predict RCS performance. The primary effort was aimed at producing a SINDA/FLUINT model to predict propellant conditioning up to the engine inlet as a function of different environmental and operating parameters, with the goal of predicting chamber pressure, TVS performance, and propellant consumption over time. Preliminary results for this effort will be presented in comparison with test data. Additional modeling efforts were made using SINDA/FLUINT to predict waterhammer in the system since the software is capable of handling multiphase transient fluid dynamics. These results will be compared with the high-speed pressure transducer test data for validation purposes.

Atwell, Matthew J.↗