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At least 937 records · Page 52

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NASA NTRS2009

Testing of Commercial Hollow Fiber Membranes for Space Suit Water Membrane Evaporator

Three commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hollow fiber (HoFi) membrane evaporators, modified for low pressure, were tested in a vacuum chamber at pressures below 33 pascals as potential space suit water membrane evaporator (SWME) heat rejection technologies. Water quality was controlled in a series of 25 tests, first simulating potable water reclaimed from waste water and then changing periodically to simulate the ever concentrating make-up of the circulating coolant over that is predicted over the course of 100 EVAs. Two of the systems, comprised of non-porous tubes with hydrophilic molecular channels as the water vapor transport mechanism, were severely impacted by the increasing concentrations of cations in the water. One of the systems, based on hydrophobic porous polypropylene tubes was not affected by the degrading water quality, or the presence of microbes. The polypropylene system, called SWME 1, was selected for further testing. An inverse flow configuration was also tested with SWME 1, with vacuum exposure on the inside of the tubes, provided only 20% of the performance of the standard configuration. SWME 1 was also modified to block 50% and 90% of the central tube layers, and tested to investigate performance efficiency. Performance curves were also developed in back-pressure regulation tests, and revealed important design considerations arising from the fully closed valve. SWME 1 was shown to be insensitive to air bubbles injected into the coolant loop. Development and testing of a full-scale prototype based on this technology and these test results is in progress.

Bue, Grant C.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Short-Block Protograph-Based LDPC Codes

Short-block low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes of a special type are intended to be especially well suited for potential applications that include transmission of command and control data, cellular telephony, data communications in wireless local area networks, and satellite data communications. [In general, LDPC codes belong to a class of error-correcting codes suitable for use in a variety of wireless data-communication systems that include noisy channels.] The codes of the present special type exhibit low error floors, low bit and frame error rates, and low latency (in comparison with related prior codes). These codes also achieve low maximum rate of undetected errors over all signal-to-noise ratios, without requiring the use of cyclic redundancy checks, which would significantly increase the overhead for short blocks. These codes have protograph representations; this is advantageous in that, for reasons that exceed the scope of this article, the applicability of protograph representations makes it possible to design highspeed iterative decoders that utilize belief- propagation algorithms.

Divsalar, Dariush↗

NASA NTRS2009

Orbiter Payload Bay Bucket Hoist Mishap...An Accident We Should Never Forget

This slide presentation reviews the accident that occurred in 1985 when a bay bucket hoist fell from its stowed position. This accident damaged the orbiter, injured a technician, and delayed the launch. The accident was investigated, and the cause of the accident was determined to be the practice of two-blocking. Two-blocking is the result of hoisting beyond the intended safe upper limit of hook travel to the point of solid contact between the load block and the upper block or hoist/trolley structure. The usual result is immediate failure of the wire rope, due to the ropes being cut by the grooves of the drum or sheaves. The design of the hoist, the inspection, and the operator training were all in part responsible for this failure.

Lytle, Bradford P.↗

NASA NTRS2015

A Robust Waveguide Millimeter-Wave Noise Source

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of a millimeter-wave noise source for the 160- 210 GHz frequency range. The noise source has been implemented in an E-split-block waveguide package and the internal circuitry was developed on a quartz substrate. The measured excess noise ratio at 200 GHz is 9.6 dB.

Calibrating↗

NASA NTRS2012

Design and Ground Calibration of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) Instrument on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) investigation will study the solar interior using helioseismic techniques as well as the magnetic field near the solar surface. The HMI instrument is part of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) that was launched on 11 February 2010. The instrument is designed to measure the Doppler shift, intensity, and vector magnetic field at the solar photosphere using the 6173 Fe I absorption line. The instrument consists of a front-window filter, a telescope, a set of wave plates for polarimetry, an image-stabilization system, a blocking filter, a five-stage Lyot filter with one tunable element, two wide-field tunable Michelson interferometers, a pair of 4096(exo 2) pixel cameras with independent shutters, and associated electronics. Each camera takes a full-disk image roughly every 3.75 seconds giving an overall cadence of 45 seconds for the Doppler, intensity, and line-of-sight magnetic-field measurements and a slower cadence for the full vector magnetic field. This article describes the design of the HMI instrument and provides an overview of the pre-launch calibration efforts. Overviews of the investigation, details of the calibrations, data handling, and the science analysis are provided in accompanying articles.

magnetic field↗

NASA NTRS2007

Development of the Functional Flow Block Diagram for the J-2X Rocket Engine System

The J-2X program calls for the upgrade of the Apollo-era Rocketdyne J-2 engine to higher power levels, using new materials and manufacturing techniques, and with more restrictive safety and reliability requirements than prior human-rated engines in NASA history. Such requirements demand a comprehensive systems engineering effort to ensure success. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne system engineers performed a functional analysis of the engine to establish the functional architecture. J-2X functions were captured in six major operational blocks. Each block was divided into sub-blocks or states. In each sub-block, functions necessary to perform each state were determined. A functional engine schematic consistent with the fidelity of the system model was defined for this analysis. The blocks, sub-blocks, and functions were sequentially numbered to differentiate the states in which the function were performed and to indicate the sequence of events. The Engine System was functionally partitioned, to provide separate and unique functional operators. Establishing unique functional operators as work output of the System Architecture process is novel in Liquid Propulsion Engine design. Each functional operator was described such that its unique functionality was identified. The decomposed functions were then allocated to the functional operators both of which were the inputs to the subsystem or component performance specifications. PWR also used a novel approach to identify and map the engine functional requirements to customer-specified functions. The final result was a comprehensive Functional Flow Block Diagram (FFBD) for the J-2X Engine System, decomposed to the component level and mapped to all functional requirements. This FFBD greatly facilitates component specification development, providing a well-defined trade space for functional trades at the subsystem and component level. It also provides a framework for function-based failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and a rigorous baseline for the functional architecture.

White, Thomas↗

NASA NTRS2011

Kuiper Belt Object Orbiter Using Advanced Radioisotope Power Sources and Electric Propulsion

A joint NASA GRC/JPL design study was performed for the NASA Radioisotope Power Systems Office to explore the use of radioisotope electric propulsion for flagship class missions. The Kuiper Belt Object Orbiter is a flagship class mission concept projected for launch in the 2030 timeframe. Due to the large size of a flagship class science mission larger radioisotope power system building blocks were conceptualized to provide the roughly 4 kW of power needed by the NEXT ion propulsion system and the spacecraft. Using REP the spacecraft is able to rendezvous with and orbit a Kuiper Belt object in 16 years using either eleven (no spare) 420 W advanced RTGs or nine (with a spare) 550 W advanced Stirling Radioisotope systems. The design study evaluated integrating either system and estimated impacts on cost as well as required General Purpose Heat Source requirements.

Oleson, Steven R.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Structured programming: Principles, notation, procedure

Structured programs are best represented using a notation which gives a clear representation of the block encapsulation. In this report, a set of symbols which can be used until binding directives are republished is suggested. Structured programming also allows a new method of procedure for design and testing. Programs can be designed top down, that is, they can start at the highest program plane and can penetrate to the lowest plane by step-wise refinements. The testing methodology also is adapted to this procedure. First, the highest program plane is tested, and the programs which are not yet finished in the next lower plane are represented by so-called dummies. They are gradually replaced by the real programs.

JOST↗

NASA NTRS1978

Associative programming language and virtual associative access manager

APL provides convenient associative data manipulation functions in a high level language. Six statements were added to PL/1 via a preprocessor: CREATE, INSERT, FIND, FOR EACH, REMOVE, and DELETE. They allow complete control of all data base operations. During execution, data base management programs perform the functions required to support the APL language. VAAM is the data base management system designed to support the APL language. APL/VAAM is used by CADANCE, an interactive graphic computer system. VAAM is designed to support heavily referenced files. Virtual memory files, which utilize the paging mechanism of the operating system, are used. VAAM supports a full network data structure. The two basic blocks in a VAAM file are entities and sets. Entities are the basic information element and correspond to PL/1 based structures defined by the user. Sets contain the relationship information and are implemented as arrays.

Carol Price↗

NASA NTRS1980

Test bed concentrator mirrors

The test bed concentrator (TBC) was des point focusing distributed receiver (PFDR) systems. The reflective surface of the concentrator was fabricated using mirror facet designs and techniques. The facets are made by bonding mirrored glass to spherically-conducted substrates. Several aspects of earlier work were reevaluated for application to the TBC: optimum glass block size, material selection, environmental test, optical characteristics, and reliability. A detailed explanation of tooling, substrate preparation, testing techniques, and mirror assembly is presented.

Argoud, M. J.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Optimization of Dish Solar Collectors with and without Secondary Concentrators

Methods for optimizing parabolic dish solar collectors and the consequent effects of various optical, thermal, mechanical, and cost variables are examined. The most important performance optimization is adjusting the receiver aperture to maximize collector efficiency. Other parameters that can be adjusted to optimize efficiency include focal length, and, if a heat engine is used, the receiver temperature. The efficiency maxima associated with focal length and receiver temperature are relatively broad; it may, accordingly, be desirable to design somewhat away from the maxima. Performance optimization is sensitive to the slope and specularity errors of the concentrator. Other optical and thermal variables affecting optimization are the reflectance and blocking factor of the concentrator, the absorptance and losses of the receiver, and, if a heat engine is used, the shape of the engine efficiency versus temperature curve. Performance may sometimes be improved by use of an additional optical element (a secondary concentrator) or a receiver window if the errors of the primary concentrator are large or the receiver temperature is high.

Jaffe, L. D.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Optimization of dish solar collectors

Jaffe, L. D.↗

NASA NTRS1990

SEL Ada reuse analysis and representations

Overall, it was revealed that the pattern of Ada reuse has evolved from initial reuse of utility components into reuse of generalized application architectures. Utility components were both domain-independent utilities, such as queues and stacks, and domain-specific utilities, such as those that implement spacecraft orbit and attitude mathematical functions and physics or astronomical models. The level of reuse was significantly increased with the development of a generalized telemetry simulator architecture. The use of Ada generics significantly increased the level of verbatum reuse, which is due to the ability, using Ada generics, to parameterize the aspects of design that are configurable during reuse. A key factor in implementing generalized architectures was the ability to use generic subprogram parameters to tailor parts of the algorithm embedded within the architecture. The use of object oriented design (in which objects model real world entities) significantly improved the modularity for reuse. Encapsulating into packages the data and operations associated with common real world entities creates natural building blocks for reuse.

Kester, Rush↗

NASA NTRS1993

Static and aerothermal tests of a superalloy honeycomb prepackaged thermal protection system

A reusable metallic thermal protection system has been developed for vehicles with maximum surface temperatures of up to 2000 F. An array of two 12- by 12-in. panels was subjected to radiant heating tests that simulated Space Shuttle entry temperature and pressure histories. Results indicate that this thermal protection system, with a mass of 2.201 lbm/ft(exp 2), can successfully prevent typical aluminum primary structure of an entry vehicle like the Space Shuttle from exceeding temperatures greater than 350 F at a location on the vehicle where the maximum surface temperature is 1900 F. A flat array of 20 panels was exposed to aerothermal flow conditions, at a Mach number of 6.75. The panels were installed in a worst-case orientation with the gaps between panels parallel to the flow. Results from the aerothermal tests indicated that convective heating occurred from hot gas flow in the gaps between the panels. Proposed design changes to prevent gap heating occurred from hot gas flow in the gaps between the panels. Proposed design changes to prevent gap heating include orienting panels so that gaps are not parallel to the flow and using a packaged, compressible gap-filler material between panels to block hot gas flow in the gaps.

Gorton, Mark P.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Cooperative GN&C development in a rapid prototyping environment

The Navigation, Control and Aeronautics Division (NCAD) at NASA-JSC is exploring ways of producing Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) flight software faster, better, and cheaper. To achieve these goals NCAD established two hardware/software facilities that take an avionics design project from initial inception through high fidelity real-time hardware-in-the-loop testing. Commercially available software products are used to develop the GN&C algorithms in block diagram form and then automatically generate source code from these diagrams. A high fidelity real-time hardware-in-the-loop laboratory provides users with the capability to analyze mass memory usage within the targeted flight computer, verify hardware interfaces, conduct system level verification, performance, acceptance testing, as well as mission verification using reconfigurable and mission unique data. To evaluate these concepts and tools, NCAD embarked on a project to build a real-time 6 DOF simulation of the Soyuz Assured Crew Return Vehicle flight software. To date, a productivity increase of 185 percent has been seen over traditional NASA methods for developing flight software.

Bordano, Aldo↗

NASA NTRS1998

Use of SX Series Devices and IEEE 1149.1 JTAG Circuitry

This report summarizes the use of SX series devices and their JTAG 1149.1 circuitry. 'JTAG' circuitry was originally designed to standardize testing of boards via a simple control port interface electrically without having to use devices such as a bed of nails tester. JTAG is also used for other functions such as executing built-in-test sequences, identifying devices, or, through custom instructions, other functions designed in by the chip designer. The JTAG circuitry is designed for test only; it has no functional use in the integrated circuit during normal operations. The JTAG circuitry and the mode of the device is controlled by a circuit block known as the 'TAP controller,' which is a sixteen-state state machine along with various registers. The controller is normally in an operational state known as TEST-LOGIC-RESET. In this state, the device is held in a fully functional, operating mode. However, a Single Event Upset (SEU) may remove the TAP controller from this state, causing a loss of control of the integrated circuit, unless certain precautions are taken, such as grounding the optional JTAG TRST signal.

Katz, Richard B.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Use of SX Series Devices and IEEE 1149.1 JTAG Circuitry

This report summarizes the use of SX series devices and their JTAG 1149.1 circuitry. 'JTAG' circuitry was originally designed to standardize testing of boards via a simple control port interface electrically without having to use devices such as a bed of nails tester. JTAG is also used for other functions such as executing built-in-test sequences, identifying devices, or, through custom instructions, other functions designed in by the chip designer. The JTAG circuitry is designed for test only; it has no functional use in the integrated circuit during normal operations. The JTAG circuitry and the mode of the device is controlled by a circuit block known as the 'TAP controller,' which is a sixteen-state state machine along with various registers. The controller is normally in an operational state known as TEST-LOGIC-RESET. In this state, the device is held in a fully functional, operational mode. However, a Single Event Upset (SEU) may remove the TAP controller from this state, causing a loss of control of the integrated circuit, unless certain precautions are taken, such as grounding the optional JTAG TRST signal.

Katz, Richard B.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Vibrational Spectroscopy and Astrobiology

Role of vibrational spectroscopy in solving problems related to astrobiology will be discussed. Vibrational (infrared) spectroscopy is a very sensitive tool for identifying molecules. Theoretical approach used in this work is based on direct computation of anharmonic vibrational frequencies and intensities from electronic structure codes. One of the applications of this computational technique is possible identification of biological building blocks (amino acids, small peptides, DNA bases) in the interstellar medium (ISM). Identifying small biological molecules in the ISM is very important from the point of view of origin of life. Hybrid (quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics) theoretical techniques will be discussed that may allow to obtain accurate vibrational spectra of biomolecular building blocks and to create a database of spectroscopic signatures that can assist observations of these molecules in space. Another application of the direct computational spectroscopy technique is to help to design and analyze experimental observations of ice surfaces of one of the Jupiter's moons, Europa, that possibly contains hydrated salts. The presence of hydrated salts on the surface can be an indication of a subsurface ocean and the possible existence of life forms inhabiting such an ocean.

Chaban, Galina M.↗