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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 973 records · Page 54

A fracture mechanics study of the Skylab windows

Design criteria based on fracture mechanics concepts are developed for spacecraft windows. Critical stress intensity factor data and crack velocity data are used for lifetime predictions and for the development of acceptance tests for the eight candidate glass compositions for the Skylab. Design charts are presented which give the minimum time to failure of the Skylab windows as a function of service stress and proof test stress. Surface adsorbed water is shown to be detrimental to the strength of spacecraft windows, even after the spacecraft has left the earth's atmosphere, because of the slow rate of evaporation of water from surface cracks.

Wiederhorn, S. M.↗

Compensating for environmental variability in the thermal inertia approach to remote sensing of soil moisture

A procedure is developed for removing data scatter in the thermal-inertia approach to remote sensing of soil moisture which arises from environmental variability in time and space. It entails the utilization of nearby National Weather Service air temperature measurements to normalize measured diurnal surface temperature variations to what they would have been for a day of standard diurnal air temperature variation, arbitrarily assigned to be 18 C. Tests of the procedure's basic premise on a bare loam soil and a crop of alfalfa indicate it to be conceptually sound. It is possible that the technique could also be useful in other thermal-inertia applications, such as lithographic mapping.

Idso, S. B.↗

Baseband-processed SS-TDMA communication system architecture and design concepts

The architecture and system design for a commercial satellite communications system planned for the 1990's was developed by Motorola for NASA's Lewis Research Center. The system provides data communications between individual users via trunking and customer premises service terminals utilizing a central switching satellite operating in a time-division multiple-access (TDMA) mode. The major elements of the design incorporating baseband processing include: demand-assigned multiple access reservation protocol, spectral utilization, system synchronization, modulation technique and forward error control implementation. Motorola's baseband processor design, which is being proven in a proof-of-concept advanced technology development, will perform data regeneration and message routing for individual users on-board the spacecraft.

Attwood, S.↗

30/20 GHz communications systems baseband processor development

The architecture and system design concepts for a commercial satellite communications system planned for the 1990's has been developed. The system provides data communications between the individual users via trunking and customer premise service terminals utilizing a central switching satellite operating in a time-division multiple-access mode. Baseband processing is employed to route and control traffic on an individual message basis while providing significant advantages in improved link margins and system flexibility. Key technology developments required to prove the flight readiness of the baseband processor design are being verified in the baseband processor proof-of-concept model described herein.

Brown, L.↗

Commercial space services

An overview of space service opportunities as identified by a Wyle Laboratories' research team is given. Through the use of a baseline space scenario, a variety of space hardware, services, and commercial activities are identified and related on a time-phased basis. A model is presented to relate the potential functions of government and the private sector in a commercialized space environment during the period 1984 to 2004. Barriers, incentives and key issues are likewise identified and addressed to aid in the implementation of private sector activities for spacerelated programs. Broader awareness, legislative actions, incentive development and benefit analyses are considered in the presentation. The time-phased plan provides a useful planning and management tool, allows broader communication, and supports overall space commercialization program assessment.

Christensen, D. L.↗

The Space Station program

Cost constraints to a large degree control the functionality and form of the IOC of the Space Station. Planning of Station missions must be delayed to retain flexibility, a goal also served by modular development of the Station and by multi-use laboratory modules. Early emphasis on servicing other spacecraft is recommended, as is using available Shuttle flight time for R&D on Space Station technologies and operations.

Hinners, N. W.↗

Performance of laminar-flow leading-edge test articles in cloud encounters

An extensive data bank of concurrent measurements of laminar flow (LF), particle concentration, and aircraft charging state was gathered for the first time. From this data bank, 13 flights in the simulated airline service (SAS) portion were analyzed to date. A total of 6.86 hours of data at one-second resolution were analyzed. An extensive statistical analysis, for both leading-edge test articles, shows that there is a significant effect of cloud and haze particles on the extent of laminar flow obtained. Approximately 93 percent of data points simulating LFC flight were obtained in clear air conditions; approximately 7 percent were obtained in cloud and haze. These percentages are consistent with earlier USAF and NASA estimates and results. The Hall laminar flow loss criteria was verified qualitatively. Larger particles and higher particle concentrations have a more marked effect on LF than do small particles. A particle spectrometer of a charging patch are both acceptable as diagnostic indicators of the presence of particles detrimental to laminar flow.

Davis, Richard E.↗

Expected antenna utilization and overload

The trade-offs between the number of antennas at Deep Space Network (DSN) Deep-Space Communications Complex and the fraction of continuous coverage provided to a set of hypothetical spacecraft, assuming random placement of the space craft passes during the day. The trade-offs are fairly robust with respect to the randomness assumption. A sample result is that a three-antenna complex provides an average of 82.6 percent utilization of facilities and coverage of nine spacecraft that each have 8-hour passes, whereas perfect phasing of the passes would yield 100 percent utilization and coverage. One key point is that sometimes fewer than three spacecraft are visible, so an antenna is idle, while at other times, there aren't enough antennas, and some spacecraft do without service. This point of view may be useful in helping to size the network or to develop a normalization for a figure of merit of DSN coverage.

Posner, Edward C.↗

The application of automated operations at the Institutional Processing Center

The JPL Institutional and Mission Computing Division, Communications, Computing and Network Services Section, with its mission contractor, OAO Corporation, have for some time been applying automation to the operation of JPL's Information Processing Center (IPC). Automation does not come in one easy to use package. Automation for a data processing center is made up of many different software and hardware products supported by trained personnel. The IPC automation effort formally began with console automation, and has since spiraled out to include production scheduling, data entry, report distribution, online reporting, failure reporting and resolution, documentation, library storage, and operator and user education, while requiring the interaction of multi-vendor and locally developed software. To begin the process, automation goals are determined. Then a team including operations personnel is formed to research and evaluate available options. By acquiring knowledge of current products and those in development, taking an active role in industry organizations, and learning of other data center's experiences, a forecast can be developed as to what direction technology is moving. With IPC management's approval, an implementation plan is developed and resources identified to test or implement new systems. As an example, IPC's new automated data entry system was researched by Data Entry, Production Control, and Advance Planning personnel. A proposal was then submitted to management for review. A determination to implement the new system was made and elements/personnel involved with the initial planning performed the implementation. The final steps of the implementation were educating data entry personnel in the areas effected and procedural changes necessary to the successful operation of the new system.

Barr, Thomas H.↗

Rocket Science for the Internet

Rainfinity, a company resulting from the commercialization of Reliable Array of Independent Nodes (RAIN), produces the product, Rainwall. Rainwall runs a cluster of computer workstations, creating a distributed Internet gateway. When Rainwall detects a failure in software or hardware, traffic is shifted to a healthy gateway without interruptions to Internet service. It more evenly distributes workload across servers, providing less down time.

Source record↗

Thermo-Mechanical Properties of Super Sylramic SiC Fibers

Ceramic matrix composites (CMC) reinforced by Sic fibers, such as SiC/SiC, are targeted for application in hot-section components of advanced engines for aerospace propulsion and for electrical power generation. Two Super Sylramic Sic fiber types recently developed at NASA using the Sylramic fiber from COI Ceramics are candidates fof providing these components with improved thermal capability and improved performance. This paper reports on the state-of-the-art ability of these new fiber types to meet the key fiber requirements of these applications: high strength, high creep-rupture resistance, high environmental resistance, and high thermal conductivity. For example, creep-rupture tests performed at from 1350 to 1500 C under various environments to simulate CMC fabrication and service conditions show creep resistance in air improved -20 and -7 times in comparison to current Sylramic and Sylramic-iBN fiber types, respectively. This in turn resulted in an increase in fiber rupture life by up to two orders of magnitude. TEM and AES microscopic observations are presented to indicate that these improvements can be correlated with the replacement of weak grain boundary phases with stronger phases that hinder grain boundary sliding more effectively. SiC/SiC composite results are also provided to show the advantages of the Super Sylramic fiber types both for CMC fabrication and high temperature application.

Yun, H. M.↗

Signal Processing Methods Monitor Cranial Pressure

Dr. Norden Huang, of Goddard Space Flight Center, invented a set of algorithms (called the Hilbert-Huang Transform, or HHT) for analyzing nonlinear and nonstationary signals that developed into a user-friendly signal processing technology for analyzing time-varying processes. At an auction managed by Ocean Tomo Federal Services LLC, licenses of 10 U.S. patents and 1 domestic patent application related to HHT were sold to DynaDx Corporation, of Mountain View, California. DynaDx is now using the licensed NASA technology for medical diagnosis and prediction of brain blood flow-related problems, such as stroke, dementia, and traumatic brain injury.

Source record↗

Space Link Extension Protocol Emulation for High-Throughput, High-Latency Network Connections

New space missions require higher data rates and new protocols to meet these requirements. These high data rate space communication links push the limitations of not only the space communication links, but of the ground communication networks and protocols which forward user data to remote ground stations (GS) for transmission. The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, (CCSDS) Space Link Extension (SLE) standard protocol is one protocol that has been proposed for use by the NASA Space Network (SN) Ground Segment Sustainment (SGSS) program. New protocol implementations must be carefully tested to ensure that they provide the required functionality, especially because of the remote nature of spacecraft. The SLE protocol standard has been tested in the NASA Glenn Research Center's SCENIC Emulation Lab in order to observe its operation under realistic network delay conditions. More specifically, the delay between then NASA Integrated Services Network (NISN) and spacecraft has been emulated. The round trip time (RTT) delay for the continental NISN network has been shown to be up to 120ms; as such the SLE protocol was tested with network delays ranging from 0ms to 200ms. Both a base network condition and an SLE connection were tested with these RTT delays, and the reaction of both network tests to the delay conditions were recorded. Throughput for both of these links was set at 1.2Gbps. The results will show that, in the presence of realistic network delay, the SLE link throughput is significantly reduced while the base network throughput however remained at the 1.2Gbps specification. The decrease in SLE throughput has been attributed to the implementation's use of blocking calls. The decrease in throughput is not acceptable for high data rate links, as the link requires constant data a flow in order for spacecraft and ground radios to stay synchronized, unless significant data is queued a the ground station. In cases where queuing the data is not an option, such as during real time transmissions, the SLE implementation cannot support high data rate communication.

Computer Networking↗

Exploration of Near-Term Potential Routes and Procedures for Urban Air Mobility

Urban air mobility is gaining interest as the need for On Demand Mobility in today's congested traffic is becoming high in metropolitan areas. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is envisioned as a concept to transport passengers and cargo safely and efficiently using innovative aircraft in the urban areas. It is expected to improve mobility for the general public, decongest road traffic, reduce transport time and reduce the strain on existing public transport networks. There exist several challenges to Urban Air Mobility (UAM) such as integration of procedures with airspace and the airport, noise levels that are acceptable to the general public, public safety, public acceptance, vehicle certification, and more. Most of the research in the United States and European skies (DLR - German Aerospace Center) related to urban areas has focused on small UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) flights (NASA's UTM (UAS Traffic Management) research) and their integration with the airspace and building safe operations in densely populated areas. Previous studies on UAM have focused on fast time simulations of the routes that are separated via a separation service and network of routes. Similarly, research in Europe has focused on the approach profile for these innovative aircraft, vertiports and battery life among others. UAM as a part of the On-Demand Mobility effort has provided some guidelines for operations as shown below: Does not require additional ATC (Air Traffic Control) infrastructure; Does not impose additional workload on ATC; Does not restrict operations of traditional airspace users; Will meet appropriate safety thresholds and requirements; Will prioritize operational scalability; Will allow flexibility where possible and structure where necessary. This paper explores potential routes and procedures in a Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) experiment that could be applied in the near-term to allow integration of UAM flights into the airspace as well as a large airport. The airspace that was explored was Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) airspace managed by the DFW East Tower in South Flow only. In addition, Dallas Love Field (DAL) and Addison (ADS) airspace were also part of the testbed. The initial set of routes investigated in this study were published helicopter routes in the DFW area. Figure 1 shows class B airspace in DFW area and the origin/destination city pairs where UAM flights flew along with helicopter routes shown in blue. The research focused on exploring procedures for integrating UAM flights into Class Bravo and Class Delta airspace. Three different communication procedures, evaluated with three different levels of UAM traffic, are shown in Table 1. The current day routes were evaluated with current day communication procedures were explored as the first condition. The current day routes were also evaluated in the second condition with reduced communications, which was assumed due to the presence of a Letter Of Agreement (LOA). The purpose of the LOA was to reduce the verbiage associated with pilots getting clearance to Class B airspace from the controllers, pre-assigning beacons codes to the UAM flights, separate routes by assigning altitudes and speeds to flights going in any one direction. Flights were expected to automatically change frequency when exiting Class B airspace, thus transition points for entry and exit points were also specified in the LOA.

Urban Air Mobility↗

ATD-2 TFDM Terminal Publication Service (TTP)

Learn the many benefits of the newest SWIM feed from the surface system. This will discuss current options to onboard with this feed, allow participants to ask questions and provide some examples of how the data can be used. Service Includes Flight Data Individual flight updates containing flight identifiers, targeted times, actual times, runway, parking gate, spot, departure fix (predicted, assigned, actual as appropriate), flight states, and more. Airport Information Airport configurations, airport and runway rates, ramp closures, runway closures, taxiway closures. Traffic Management Restrictions Call for Release programs departure MIT/MINIT restrictions, departure stop/ground stop programs. Along with list of impacted flights for each. Flight Delay Airport and runway delay by arrival, departure, and total. Operational Metrics Metrics on airport throughput and individual flight metrics. Surface Metering Program SMP start / end times, metering constraint type / details, updates to existing programs, TMAT compliance window, departure queue length, and more.

Gorman, Shawn M.↗

A Heat and Mass Transfer Model of the Orion European Service Module Propulsion Sub-System

A tool for simulating the thermodynamics of the fluid components of the Orion European Service Module propulsion subsystem has been developed. The 1-dimensional,time-stepping method tracks energy and mass movement through the propellant and pressurant tanks during burn and coast phases of a simulated mission. The code is fast and flexible, allowing easy modifications and incorporation into other computational tools. The results from the simulation have been used to support mission planning, development of flight rules and to guide experimental testing of components and systems.

Spacecraft propulsion↗

Conflict Resolution Strategies for Balloon-Airship Encounters in Upper Class E Air Traffic Management (ETM)

This paper examines strategic conflict resolution strategies for pair-wise high-altitude balloon, airship encounters. By strategic is meant that the conflict is identified (detected) at the time of flight plan submission or flight plan alteration through a service, such as an ETM Service Supplier (ESS). We investigate optimal control solutions for two classes of problems: non-cooperative, where the balloon must alter its ascent trajectory in order to avoid the airship and cooperative, where both vehicles make maneuvers through a negotiation protocol.

airship balloon negotiation optimal control↗

Conflict Resolution Strategies for Balloon-Airship Encounters in Upper Class E Air Traffic Management (ETM)

This paper examines strategic conflict resolution strategies for pair-wise high-altitude balloon, airship encounters. By strategic is meant that the conflict is identified (detected) at the time of flight plan submission or flight plan alteration through a service, such as an ETM Service Supplier (ESS). We investigate optimal control solutions for two classes of problems: non-cooperative, where the balloon must alter its ascent trajectory in order to avoid the airship and cooperative, where both vehicles make maneuvers through a negotiation protocol.

airship balloon negotiation optimal control↗