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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 955 records · Page 53
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2013

Towards a Decision Support System for Space Flight Operations

The Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) has put in place a Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) technological framework for the development and execution of the Flight Production Process (FPP). This framework has provided much added value and return on investment to date. This paper describes a vision for a model based Decision Support System (DSS) for the development and execution of the FPP and its design and development process. The envisioned system extends the existing MBSE methodology and technological framework which is currently in use. The MBSE technological framework currently in place enables the systematic collection and integration of data required for building an FPP model for a diverse set of missions. This framework includes the technology, people and processes required for rapid development of architectural artifacts. It is used to build a feasible FPP model for the first flight of spacecraft and for recurrent flights throughout the life of the program. This model greatly enhances our ability to effectively engage with a new customer. It provides a preliminary work breakdown structure, data flow information and a master schedule based on its existing knowledge base. These artifacts are then refined and iterated upon with the customer for the development of a robust end-to-end, high-level integrated master schedule and its associated dependencies. The vision is to enhance this framework to enable its application for uncertainty management, decision support and optimization of the design and execution of the FPP by the program. Furthermore, this enhanced framework will enable the agile response and redesign of the FPP based on observed system behavior. The discrepancy of the anticipated system behavior and the observed behavior may be due to the processing of tasks internally, or due to external factors such as changes in program requirements or conditions associated with other organizations that are outside of MOD. The paper provides a roadmap for the three increments of this vision. These increments include (1) hardware and software system components and interfaces with the NASA ground system, (2) uncertainty management and (3) re-planning and automated execution. Each of these increments provide value independently; but some may also enable building of a subsequent increment.

Meshkat, Leila↗
NASA NTRS2013

Towards a decision support system for space flight operations

The Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) has put in place a Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) technological framework for the development and execution of the Flight Production Process (FPP). This framework has provided much added value and return on investment to date. This paper describes a vision for a model based Decision Support System (DSS) for the development and execution of the FPP and its design and development process. The envisioned system extends the existing MBSE methodology and technological framework which is currently in use. The MBSE technological framework currently in place enables the systematic collection and integration of data required for building an FPP model for a diverse set of missions. This framework includes the technology, people and processes required for rapid development of architectural artifacts. It is used to build a feasible FPP model for the first flight of spacecraft and for recurrent flights throughout the life of the program. This model greatly enhances our ability to effectively engage with a new customer. It provides a preliminary work breakdown structure, data flow information and a master schedule based on its existing knowledge base. These artifacts are then refined and iterated upon with the customer for the development of a robust end-to-end, high-level integrated master schedule and its associated dependencies. The vision is to enhance this framework to enable its application for uncertainty management, decision support and optimization of the design and execution of the FPP by the program. Furthermore, this enhanced framework will enable the agile response and redesign of the FPP based on observed system behavior. The differences between the anticipated system behavior and the observed behavior may be due to the processing of tasks internally, or due to external factors such as changes in program requirements or conditions associated with other organizations that are outside of MOD. The paper provides a roadmap for the four increments of this vision. These increments include (1) the existing capabilities (2) hardware and software system components and interfaces with the NASA ground system, (3) uncertainty management and (4) re-planning and automated execution. Each of these increments provides value independently; but some may also enable building of a subsequent increment.

Ruszkowski, James↗
NASA NTRS1985

Lambda Point Equipment

A compilation of the active research tasks as of the end of the fiscal year 1984 of the Microgravity Science and Applications Program, NASA-Office of Space Science and Applications, involving several NASA centers and other organizations is presented. The purpose is to provide an overview of the program scope for managers and scientists in industry, university, and government communities. An introductory description of the program, strategy and overall goal; identification of the organizational structures and people involved; and a description of each research task, together with a list of recent publications is presented. The tasks are grouped into six categories: Electronic Materials; Solidification of Metals, Alloys, and Composites; Fluid Dynamics and Transports; Biotechnology; Glasses and Ceramics; and Combustion.

Lipa, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Locomotor Dysfunction after Spaceflight: Characterization and Countermeasure Development

Astronauts returning from space flight show disturbances in locomotor control manifested by changes in various sub-systems including head-trunk coordination, dynamic visual acuity, lower limb muscle activation patterning and kinematics (Glasauer, et al., 1995; Bloomberg, et al., 1997; McDonald, et al., 1996; 1997; Layne, et al., 1997; 1998, 2001, 2004; Newman, et al., 1997; Bloomberg and Mulavara, 2003). These post flight changes in locomotor performance, due to neural adaptation to the microgravity conditions of space flight, affect the ability of crewmembers especially after a long duration mission to egress their vehicle and perform extravehicular activities soon after landing on Earth or following a landing on the surface of the Moon or Mars. At present, no operational training intervention is available pre- or in- flight to mitigate post flight locomotor disturbances. Our laboratory is currently developing a gait adaptability training program that is designed to facilitate recovery of locomotor function following a return to a gravitational environment. The training program exploits the ability of the sensorimotor system to generalize from exposure to multiple adaptive challenges during training so that the gait control system essentially "learns to learn" and therefore can reorganize more rapidly when faced with a novel adaptive challenge. Ultimately, the functional goal of an adaptive generalization countermeasure is not necessarily to immediately return movement patterns back to "normal". Rather the training regimen should facilitate the reorganization of available sensorimotor sub-systems to achieve safe and effective locomotion as soon as possible after space flight. We have previously confirmed that subjects participating in adaptive generalization training programs, using a variety of visuomotor distortions and different motor tasks from throwing to negotiating an obstacle course as the dependent measure, can learn to enhance their ability to adapt to a novel sensorimotor environment (Roller et al., 2001; Cohen et al. 2005). Importantly, this increased adaptability is retained even one month after completion of the training period. Our laboratory is currently developing adaptive generalization training procedures and the associated flight hardware to implement such a training program, using variations of visual flow, subject loading, and treadmill speed; during regular in-flight treadmill operations.

Mulavara, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Advanced Launch System propulsion focused technology liquid methane turbopump technical implementation plan

This program will focus on the integration of all functional disciplines of the design, manufacturing, materials, fabrication and producibility to define and demonstrate a highly reliable, easily maintained, low cost liquid methane turbopump as a component for the STBE (Space Transportation Booster Engine) using the STME (main engine) oxygen turbopump. A cost model is to be developed to predict the recurring cost of production hardware and operations. A prime objective of the program is to design the liquid methane turbopump to be used in common with a LH2 turbopump optimized for the STME. Time phasing of the effort is presented and interrelationship of the tasks is defined. Major subcontractors are identified and their roles in the program are described.

Csomor, A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Swamp Works- Multiple Projects

My Surface Systems internship over the summer 2013 session covered a broad range of projects that utilized multiple fields of engineering and technology. This internship included a project to create a command center for a 120 ton regolith bin, for the design and assembly of a blast shield to add further protection for the Surface Systems engineers, for the design and assembly of a portable four monitor hyper wall strip that could extend as large as needed, research and programming a nano drill that could be utilized on a next generation robot or rover, and social media tasks including the making of videos, posting to social networking websites and creation of a new outreach program to help spread the word about the Swamp Works laboratory.

Carelli, Jonathan M.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Qualification of a Hybrid Propulsion System for the Mars Ascent Vehicle

Technology for a hybrid based propulsion system is being developed to support a potential Mars Sample Return campaign. A Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) concept for launching samples off of Mars, and delivering them to orbit for further transport to Earth may utilize hybrid propulsion due to the predicted favorable low temperature characteristics and high performance of this option. However, the hybrid option is still undergoing technology development to demonstrate these capabilities. Once development of a capable hybrid propulsion system is proven, further work will be required. This will include environmental testing relative to the mission, and integration with the vehicle reaction control systems and payload. Qualification of such a system will be a significant effort. It will require specialized procurements for the propellants and environments involved, and further testing of the more specialized designs. This paper details an estimate of the tasks required to complete development efforts from Technical Readiness Level 5 (TRL5) through qualification. A success based program was formulated to reach the required performance metrics sufficient for a standard Preliminary Design Review (PDR). Using task level inputs from team members cost and schedule were conceived for continued progress to Critical Design Review (CDR), then through Qualification.

Prince, Andrew↗
NASA NTRS1993

Student contributions to the EUVE project

A program under which some 30 undergraduates participate in the EUVE project is briefly reviewed. The paper summarizes students' contributions to the project, the types of projects and tasks handled by the students, and skills developed as a result of the program.

Moriarta, Jennifer↗
NASA NTRS2015

Bridging the Technology Readiness "Valley of Death" Utilizing Nanosats

Incorporating new technology is a hallmark of space missions. Missions demand ever-improving tools and techniques to allow them to meet the mission science requirements. In Earth Science, these technologies are normally expressed in new instrument capabilities that can enable new measurement concepts, extended capabilities of existing measurement techniques, or totally new detection capabilities, and also, information systems technologies that can enhance data analysis or enable new data analyses to advance modeling and prediction capabilities. Incorporating new technologies has never been easy. There is a large development step beyond demonstration in a laboratory or on an airborne platform to the eventual space environment that is sometimes referred to as the "technology valley of death." Studies have shown that non-validated technology is a primary cause of NASA and DoD mission delays and cost overruns. With the demise of the New Millennium Program within NASA, opportunities for demonstrating technologies in space have been rare. Many technologies are suitable for a flight project after only ground testing. However, some require validation in a relevant or a space flight environment, which cannot be fully tested on the ground or in airborne systems. NASA's Earth Science Technology Program has initiated a nimble program to provide a fairly rapid turn-around of space validated technologies, and thereby reducing future mission risk in incorporating new technologies. The program, called In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technology (InVEST), now has five tasks in development. Each are 3U CubeSats and they are targeted for launch opportunities in the 2016 time period. Prior to formalizing an InVEST program, the technology program office was asked to demonstrate how the program would work and what sort of technologies could benefit from space validation. Three projects were developed and launched, and have demonstrated the technologies that they set out to validate. This paper will provide a brief status of the pre-InVEST CubeSats, and discuss the development and status of the InVEST program. Figure

Earth Science↗
NASA NTRS1986

Performance Evaluation Tests for Environmental Research (PETER): evaluation of 114 measures

The goal of the Performance Evaluation Tests for Environmental Research (PETER) Program was to identify a set of measures of human capabilities for use in the study of environmental and other time-course effects. 114 measures studied in the PETER Program were evaluated and categorized into four groups based upon task stability and task definition. The Recommended category contained 30 measures that clearly obtained total stabilization and had an acceptable level of reliability efficiency. The Acceptable-But-Redundant category contained 15 measures. The 37 measures in the Marginal category, which included an inordinate number of slope and other derived measures, usually had desirable features which were outweighed by faults. The 32 measures in the Unacceptable category had either differential instability or weak reliability efficiency. It is our opinion that the 30 measures in the Recommended category should be given first consideration for environmental research applications. Further, it is recommended that information pertaining to preexperimental practice requirements and stabilized reliabilities should be utilized in repeated-measures environmental studies.

NASA Program Space Medicine↗
NASA NTRS1986

Concurrent extensions to the FORTRAN language for parallel programming of computational fluid dynamics algorithms

Experiments were conducted at NASA Ames Research Center to define multi-tasking software requirements for multiple-instruction, multiple-data stream (MIMD) computer architectures. The focus was on specifying solutions for algorithms in the field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The program objectives were to allow researchers to produce usable parallel application software as soon as possible after acquiring MIMD computer equipment, to provide researchers with an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use parallel software language which could be implemented on several different MIMD machines, and to enable researchers to list preferred design specifications for future MIMD computer architectures. Analysis of CFD algorithms indicated that extensions of an existing programming language, adaptable to new computer architectures, provided the best solution to meeting program objectives. The CoFORTRAN Language was written in response to these objectives and to provide researchers a means to experiment with parallel software solutions to CFD algorithms on machines with parallel architectures.

Weeks, Cindy Lou↗
NASA NTRS1987

Model-based analysis of control/display interaction in the hover task

The effect of Control/Display interaction in the hover task is analyzed using an optimal control approach to modeling pilot control behavior. The control/display configurations considered are those previously evaluated in a flight research program. The experimental data-base is reviewed and the procedure for modeling the task and the displayed information is presented in detail. All model-based results, time-domain as well as frequency-domain, are found to correlate extremely well with the subjective pilot ratings and comments. Time-domain measures consist of root mean-square errors and control inputs, attention allocation to displayed quantities, and magnitudes of task objective function. Frequency-domain measures include bandwidth, stability margins, and pilot phase compensation. Results are also shown to agree with previous findings on task interference in multi-axis tasks.

Schmidt, David K.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Magnetically suspended reaction wheel assembly

The magnetically suspended reaction wheel assembly (MSRWA) is the product of a development effort funded by the Air Force Materials Laboratory (AFML) at Wright Patterson AFB. The specific objective of the project was to establish the manufacturing processes for samarium cobalt magnets and demonstrate their use in a space application. The development was successful on both counts. The application portion of the program, which involves the magnetically suspended reaction wheel assembly, is emphasized. The requirements for the reaction wheel were based on the bias wheel requirements of the DSP satellite. The tasks included the design, fabrication, and test of the unit to the DSP program qualification requirements.

Stocking, G.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Selected solar electric propulsion and ballistic missions studies

Selected missions using solar electric propulsion and conventional propulsion systems were studied. The accomplishment of the tasks required extensive modification of the trajectory optimization computer program HILTOP. In addition to adding new program features, HILTOP was completely restructured to reduce execution time. The specific mission studies reported on are the direct and Venus swingby missions to the comet Encke and solar electric propulsion missions to Encke and to a distance of 0.25 AU from the sun.

Mann, F. I.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Contribution of space platforms to a ground and airborne remote-sensing programme over active Italian volcanoes

ERTS-1 imagery of the volcanic areas of southern Italy was used primarily for the evaluation of space platform capabilties in the domains of regional geology, soil and rock-type classification and, more generally, to study the environment of active volcanoes. The test sites were selected and equipped primarily to monitor thermal emission, but ground truth data was also collected in other domains (reflectance of rocks, soils and vegetation). The test areas were overflown with a two channel thermal scanner, while a thermo camera was used on the ground to monitor the hot spots. The primary goal of this survey was to plot the changes in thermal emission with time in the framework of a research program for the surveillance of active volcanoes. However, another task was an evaluation of emissivity changes by comparing the outputs of the two thermal channels. These results were compared with the reflectance changes observed on multispectral ERTS-1 imagery.

Cassinis, R.↗
NASA NTRS1969

Analysis of a Multiprocessor Guidance Computer

The design of the next generation of spaceborne digital computers is described. It analyzes a possible multiprocessor computer configuration. For the analysis, a set of representative space computing tasks was abstracted from the Lunar Module Guidance Computer programs as executed during the lunar landing, from the Apollo program. This computer performs at this time about 24 concurrent functions, with iteration rates from 10 times per second to once every two seconds. These jobs were tabulated in a machine-independent form, and statistics of the overall job set were obtained. It was concluded, based on a comparison of simulation and Markov results, that the Markov process analysis is accurate in predicting overall trends and in configuration comparisons, but does not provide useful detailed information in specific situations. Using both types of analysis, it was determined that the job scheduling function is a critical one for efficiency of the multiprocessor. It is recommended that research into the area of automatic job scheduling be performed.

Maltach, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Design study of wind turbines, 50 kW to 3000 kW for electric utility applications: Executive summary

Preliminary designs of low power (50 to 500 kW) and high power (500 to 3000 kW) wind generator systems (WGS) for electric utility applications were developed. These designs provide the bases for detail design, fabrication, and experimental demonstration testing of these units at selected utility sites. Several feasible WGS configurations were evaluated, and the concept offering the lowest energy cost potential and minimum technical risk for utility applications was selected. The selected concept was optimized utilizing a parametric computer program prepared for this purpose. The utility requirements evaluation task examined the economic, operational and institutional factors affecting the WGS in a utility environment, and provided additional guidance for the preliminary design effort. Results of the conceptual design task indicated that a rotor operating at constant speed, driving an AC generator through a gear transmission is the most cost effective WGS configuration.

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