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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Chaotic inflationary universe and the anisotropy of the large-scale structure

It has been realized that the inflationary universe is in fact chaotic, that globally it is strongly inhomogeneous, and that the inflation in the universe as a whole is eternal. In such a picture the region available to modern observations is just a tiny part of the universe, in which inflation finished about 10(exp 10) years ago. In spite of the great popularity of the chaotic inflationary universe models, it is usually taken for granted that their specific features (such as strong global inhomogeneity of the universe) can hardly lead to any observable consequences. The argument is that all that is seen is just a tiny part of the universe, a region about 10(exp 28) cm, and the typical scales of considerable inhomogeneities are much greater than this size. In contrast to this opinion, an attempt is made to show that such observable consequences can really exist. The phenomenon closely connected with the origin of structure (galaxies, clusters, etc.) in the observable region is discussed. The main idea considered is the vacuum fluctuations evolution on the inhomogeneous background.

Chibisov, G. V.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A widely adaptable habitat construction system utilizing space resources

This study suggests that the cost of providing accommodations for various manned activities in space may be reduced by the extensive use of resources that are commonly found throughout the solar system. Several concepts are proposed for converting these resources into simple products with many uses. Concrete is already being considered as a possible moonbase material. Manufacturing equipment should be as small and simple as possible, which leads to the idea of molding it into miniature modules that can be produced and assembled in large numbers to create any conceivable shape. Automated equipment could build up complex structures by laying down layer after layer in a process resembling stereolithography. These tiny concrete blocks handle compression loads and provide a barrier to harmful radiation. They are joined by a web of tension members that could be made of wire or fiber-reinforced plastic. The finished structure becomes air-tight with the addition of a flexible liner. Wire can be made from the iron modules found in lunar soil. In addition to its structural role, a relatively simple apparatus can bend and weld it into countless products like chairs and shelving that would otherwise need to be supplied from Earth. Wire woven into a loose blanket could be an effective micrometeoroid shield, tiny wire compression beams could be assembled into larger beams which in turn form larger beams to create very large space-frame structures. A technology developed with lunar materials could be applied to the moons of Mars or the asteroids. To illustrate its usefulness several designs for free-flying habitats are presented. They begin with a minimal self-contained living unit called the Cubicle. It may be multiplied into clusters called Condos. These are shown in a rotating tether configuration that provides a substitute for gravity. The miniature block proposal is compared with an alternate design based on larger triangular components and a tetrahedral geometry. The overall concept may be expanded to envision city-sized self-sufficient environments where humans could confortably live their entire lives. One such proposal is the Hive. It is configured around a unique sunlight collection system that could provide all its energy needs and that could be scaled up to compensate for the reduced solar intensity at greater distances from the sun. Its outer perimeter consists of a cylindrical section mated to two conical end walls that taper inwards toward a small aperture at the center of rotation. Light collected by two huge mirrors of unusual design enters the aperture and is redirected to the inside of the cylinder. The conical end walls are shielded from direct sunlight and are designed to radiate heat into space. They are lined with air ducts that passively recirculate the atmosphere while extracting moisture by condensation. Although there is no immediate demand for spacecraft on this scale, their consideration can influence even the earliest stages of the development process.

Wykes, Harry B.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Successful Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) Proves Current Theories of Dendritic Solidification are Flawed

The scientific objective of the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) is to test fundamental assumptions about dendritic solidification of molten materials. "Dendrites"-- from the ancient Greek word for tree--are tiny branching structures that form inside molten metal alloys when they solidify during manufacturing. The size, shape, and orientation of the dendrites have a major effect on the strength, ductility (ability to be molded or shaped), and usefulness of an alloy. Nearly all of the cast metal alloys used in everyday products (such as automobiles and airplanes) are composed of thousands to millions of tiny dendrites. Gravity, present on Earth, causes convection currents in molten alloys that disturb dendritic solidification and make its precise study impossible. In space, gravity is negated by the orbiting of the space shuttle. Consequently, IDGE (which was conducted on the space shuttle) gathered the first precise data regarding undisturbed dendritic solidification. IDGE is a microgravity materials science experiment that uses an apparatus which was designed, built, tested, and operated by people from the NASA Lewis Research Center. This experiment was conceived by the principal investigator, Professor Martin E. Glicksman, from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. The experiment was a team effort of Lewis civil servants, contractors from Aerospace Design & Fabrication Inc. (ADF), and personnel at Rensselaer.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1999

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test Conducted on Mir

Colloids are tiny (submicron) particles suspended in fluid. Paint, ink, and milk are examples of colloids found in everyday life. The Binary Colloidal Alloy Test (BCAT) is part of an extensive series of experiments planned to investigate the fundamental properties of colloids so that scientists can make colloids more useful for technological applications. Some of the colloids studied in BCAT are made of two different sized particles (binary colloidal alloys) that are very tiny, uniform plastic spheres. Under the proper conditions, these colloids can arrange themselves in a pattern to form crystals. These crystals may form the basis of new classes of light switches, displays, and optical devices. Windows made of liquid crystals are already in the marketplace. These windows change their appearance from transparent to opaque when a weak electric current is applied. In the future, if the colloidal crystals can be made to control the passage of light through them, such products could be made much more cheaply. These experiments require the microgravity environment of space because good quality crystals are difficult to produce on Earth because of sedimentation and convection in the fluid. The BCAT experiment hardware included two separate modules for two different experiments. The "Slow Growth" hardware consisted of a 35-mm camera with a 250- exposure photo film cartridge. The camera was aimed toward the sample module, which contained 10 separate colloid samples. A rack of small lights provided backlighting for the photographs. The BCAT hardware was launched on the shuttle and was operated aboard the Russian space station Mir by American astronauts John Blaha and David Wolf (launched September 1996 and returned January 1997; reflown September 1997 and returned January 1998). To begin the experiment, one of these astronauts would mix the samples to disperse the colloidal particles and break up any crystals that might have already formed. Once the samples were mixed and the experiment was powered on, the hardware operated autonomously, taking photos of the colloidal samples over a 90-day period.

Hoffmann, Monica I.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Ultra-Compact, High-Resolution LADAR System for 3D Imaging

An eye-safe LADAR system weighs under 500 grams and has range resolution of 1 mm at 10 m. This laser uses an adjustable, tiny microelectromechanical system (MEMS) mirror that was made in SiWave to sweep laser frequency. The size of the laser device is small (70x50x13 mm). The LADAR uses all the mature fiber-optic telecommunication technologies in the system, making this innovation an efficient performer. The tiny size and light weight makes the system useful for commercial and industrial applications including surface damage inspections, range measurements, and 3D imaging.

Xu, Jing↗
NASA NTRS2011

Stereo Imaging Miniature Endoscope

Stereo imaging requires two different perspectives of the same object and, traditionally, a pair of side-by-side cameras would be used but are not feasible for something as tiny as a less than 4-mm-diameter endoscope that could be used for minimally invasive surgeries or geoexploration through tiny fissures or bores. The proposed solution here is to employ a single lens, and a pair of conjugated, multiple-bandpass filters (CMBFs) to separate stereo images. When a CMBF is placed in front of each of the stereo channels, only one wavelength of the visible spectrum that falls within the passbands of the CMBF is transmitted through at a time when illuminated. Because the passbands are conjugated, only one of the two channels will see a particular wavelength. These time-multiplexed images are then mixed and reconstructed to display as stereo images. The basic principle of stereo imaging involves an object that is illuminated at specific wavelengths, and a range of illumination wavelengths is time multiplexed. The light reflected from the object selectively passes through one of the two CMBFs integrated with two pupils separated by a baseline distance, and is focused onto the imaging plane through an objective lens. The passband range of CMBFs and the illumination wavelengths are synchronized such that each of the CMBFs allows transmission of only the alternate illumination wavelength bands. And the transmission bandwidths of CMBFs are complementary to each other, so that when one transmits, the other one blocks. This can be clearly understood if the wavelength bands are divided broadly into red, green, and blue, then the illumination wavelengths contain two bands in red (R1, R2), two bands in green (G1, G2), and two bands in blue (B1, B2). Therefore, when the objective is illuminated by R1, the reflected light enters through only the left-CMBF as the R1 band corresponds to the transmission window of the left CMBF at the left pupil. This is blocked by the right CMBF. The transmitted band is focused on the focal plane array (FPA).

Bae, Youngsam↗
NASA NTRS2010

Modeling Nucleation and Grain Growth in the Solar Nebula: Initial Progress Report

The primitive solar nebula was a violent and chaotic environment where high energy collisions, lightning, shocks and magnetic re-connection events rapidly vaporized some fraction of nebular dust, melted larger particles while leaving the largest grains virtually undisturbed. At the same time, some tiny grains containing very easily disturbed noble gas signatures (e.g., small, pre-solar graphite or SiC particles) never experienced this violence, yet can be found directly adjacent to much larger meteoritic components (chondrules or CAIs) that did. Additional components in the matrix of the most primitive carbonaceous chondrites and in some chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles include tiny nebular condensates, aggregates of condensates and partially annealed aggregates. Grains formed in violent transient events in the solar nebula did not come to equilibrium with their surroundings. To understand the formation and textures of these materials as well as their nebular abundances we must rely on Nucleation Theory and kinetic models of grain growth, coagulation and annealing. Such models have been very uncertain in the past: we will discuss the steps we are taking to increase their reliability.

Nuth, Joseph A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Search for Fluid Inclusions in a Carbonaceous Chondrite Using a New X-Ray Micro-Tomography Technique Combined with FIB Sampling

Early solar system aqueous fluids are preserved in some H chondrites as aqueous fluid inclusions in halite (e.g., [1]). Although potential fluid inclusions are also expected in carbonaceous chondrites [2], they have not been surely confirmed. In order to search for these fluid inclusions, we have developped a new X-ray micro-tomography technique combined with FIB sampling and applied this techniqu to a carbanaceous chondrite. Experimental: A polished thin section of Sutter's Mill meteorite (CM) was observed with an optical microscope and FE-SEM (JEOL 7001F) for chosing mineral grains of carbonates (mainly calcite) and sulfides (FeS and ZnS) 20-50 microns in typical size, which may have aqueous fluid inclusions. Then, a "house" similar to a cube with a roof (20-30 microns in size) is sampled from the mineral grain by using FIB (FEI Quanta 200 3DS). Then, the house was atached to a thin W-needle by FIB and imaged by a SR-based imaging microtomography system with a Fresnel zone plate at beamline BL47XU, SPring-8, Japan. One sample was imaged at two X-ray energies, 7 and 8 keV, to identify mineral phases (dual-enegy microtomography: [3]). The size of voxel (pixel in 3D) was 50-80 nm, which gave the effective spatial resolution of approx. 200 nm. A terrestrial quartz sample with an aqueous fluid inclusion with a bubble was also examined as a test sample by the same method. Results and discussion: A fluid inclusion of 5-8 microns in quartz was clearly identified in a CT image. A bubble of approx. 4 microns was also identified as refraction contrast although the X-ray absorption difference between fluid and bubble is small. Volumes of the fluid and bubble were obtained from the 3D CT images. Fourteen grains of calcite, two grains of iron sulfide and one grain of (Zn,Fe)S were examined. Ten calcite, one iron sulfide and one (Zn,Fe)S grains have inclusions >1 micron in size (the maximum: approx. 5 microns). The shapes are spherical or irregular. Tiny inclusions (<1 micron) are also present in all the grains examined. These results show that mineral grains have more inclusions than expected from 2D observations. The X-ray absorption of the inclusions shows that they are not solid inclusions. No bubbles were observed inside, indicating that we cannot determine whether they are really aqueous fluids or merely voids. One calcite grain has an inclusion approx. 2 microns in size, which seems to have a bubble and a tiny solid daughter crystal inside (three-phase inclusion). As we know the exact 3D position of the inclusion, we will anlyze the inclusion by SIMS after freezing the sample as has been done for a halite sample [3]. The present technique is useful for finding small inclusions not only in carbonaceous chondrites but also for terrestrial materials.

Tsuchiyama, A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Fiat Lux, Let There Be Light!

Most of us think of light as helping us see things, but it is so much more important than that. Light is electromagnetic energy moving in waves through space, interacting with atoms and molecules as it goes. So are radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays - all of them are electromagnetic energy, and the only real difference is the spacing between the wave crests. So light gives us communications with each other with radio and TV, and it gives us the ability to travel through the universe using telescopes and our imagination. But light also gives us access to scientific questions, such as: what holds the atoms and molecules together? How does the mysterious quantum mechanics work? And understanding all these, how can we build electronic devices for modern life? And if we are very ambitious, we build accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider, and particles collide and concentrate electromagnetic energy into tiny spaces, and according to Einstein's E equals mc squared, we turn energy into new particles to learn, perhaps what the universe was like when it was a tiny fraction of a second old.

telescopes↗
NASA NTRS2023

Plasmoids, Flows, and Jets During Magnetic Reconnection in a Failed Solar Eruption

We report a detailed analysis of a failed eruption and flare in active region 12018 on 2014 April 3 using multiwavelength observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, IRIS, STEREO, and Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope. At least four jets were observed to emanate from the cusp of this small active region (large bright point) with a null-point topology during the 2 hr prior to the slow rise of a filament. During the filament slow rise multiple plasma blobs were seen, most likely formed in a null-point current sheet near the cusp. The subsequent filament eruption, which was outside the IRIS field of view, was accompanied by a flare but remained confined. During the explosive flare reconnection phase, additional blobs appeared repetitively and moved bidirectionally within the flaring region below the erupting filament. The filament kinked, rotated, and underwent leg–leg reconnection as it rose, yet it failed to produce a coronal mass ejection. Tiny jet-like features in the fan loops were detected during the filament slow rise/preflare phase. We interpret them as signatures of reconnection between the ambient magnetic field and the plasmoids leaving the null-point sheet and streaming along the fan loops. We contrast our interpretation of these tiny jets, which occur within the large-scale context of a failed filament eruption, with the local nanoflare-heating scenario proposed by Antolin et al.

Sun: jets↗
DOE OSTI2025

Interactive Rotated Object Detection for Novel Class Detection in Remotely Sensed Imagery

In this paper we propose IRTR-DETR an Interactive and Real-Time Rotated DEtection TRansformer that extends IRTDETR to predict rotated bounding boxes. IRTR-DETR maintains the Human-In-The-Loop (HIL) workflow of IRTDETR but introduces rotation-aware heads for improved detection of objects with arbitrary orientations. Similarly to IRTDETR IRTR-DETR can be trained with a small labeled sample set in an interactive setting but we show that it can also be pretrained on related but not identical data--such as a building damage dataset--before being applied to tasks like identifying buildings under construction. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach on the publicly available Tiny-DOTA and xBD dataset as well as two study-cases on proprietary datasets of greenhouses and houses under construction ("waffle homes"). Detecting greenhouses is highly relevant in the context of damage assessment while "waffle homes" aid understanding typical floorplans and building codes in different areas both thereby supporting population modeling emergency response and policy planning. Our method outperforms the state of the art in interactive rotated object detection on the Tiny-DOTA dataset by 5.7 percent and improves upon the non interactive RTDETR by 7.85 to 19.39 percent (depending on the number of provided samples) while maintaining its real-time efficiency.

Burges, Marvin [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000312690769)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fibril Network Strategy Enables High‐Performance Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells

Abstract The development of semitransparent organic solar cells (ST‐OSCs) represents a significant step toward the commercialization of OSCs. However, the trade‐off between power conversion efficiency (PCE) and average visible transmittance (AVT) restricts further improvements of ST‐OSCs. Herein, it is demonstrated that a fibril network strategy can enable ST‐OSCs with a high PCE and AVT simultaneously. A wide‐bandgap polymer PBT1‐C‐2Cl that can self‐assemble into a fibril nanostructure is used as the donor and a near‐infrared small molecule Y6 is adopted as the acceptor. It is found that a tiny amount of PBT1‐C‐2Cl in the blend can form a high speed pathway for hole transport due to the well distributed fibril nanostructure, which increases the transmittance in the visible region. Meanwhile, the acceptor Y6 guarantees sufficient light absorption. Using this strategy, the optimized ST‐OSCs yield a high PCE of 9.1% with an AVT of over 40% and significant light utilization efficiency of 3.65% at donor/acceptor ratio of 0.25:1. This work demonstrates a simple and effective approach to realizing high PCE and AVT of ST‐OSCs simultaneously.

Xie, Yuanpeng↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fabrication of Arrays of Topological Solitons in Patterned Chiral Liquid Crystals for Real-Time Observation of Morphogenesis

Topological solitons have knotted continuous field configurations embedded in a uniform background, and occur in cosmology, biology, and electromagnetism. However, real-time observation of their morphogenesis and dynamics is still challenging because their size and timescale are enormously large or tiny. Liquid crystal (LC) structures are promising candidates for a model-system to study the morphogenesis of topological solitons, enabling direct visualization due to the proper size and timescale. We report a new way is found to rationalize the real-time observation of the generation and transformation of topological solitons using cholesteric LCs confined in patterned substrates. The experimental demonstration shows the topologically protected structures arise via the transformation of topological defects. Numerical modeling based on minimization of free energy closely reconstructs the experimental findings. The fundamental insights obtained from the direct observations pose new theoretical challenges in understanding the morphogenesis of different types of topological solitons within a broad range of scales.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Explicit structural topology optimization using boundary element method‐based moving morphable void approach

Abstract This article presents an explicit topology optimization approach using boundary element method based moving morphable void (MMV). Structural analysis in the conventional MMV approach is performed on a fixed mesh over the entire design domain. However, in the proposed method structural boundaries are described using B‐splines and discretized with boundary elements making explicit representation of the boundaries possible. In this regard, the proposed approach has following merits: a) the use of weak material, which is often adopted to mimic voids can be completely avoided; b) exact and explicit description of voids in MMV allows the capture of tiny structural features in a robust and effective way; c) numerical instabilities stemming from the use of fixed meshes can be naturally avoided. Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Zhang, Weisheng↗
DOE OSTI2024

Atomically Dispersed Ru-doped Ti 4 O 7 Electrocatalysts for Chlorine Evolution Reaction with a Universal Activity

Chlorine has been supplied by the chlor-alkali process that deploys dimensionally stable anodes (DSAs) for the electrochemical chlorine evolution reaction (ClER). The paramount bottlenecks have been ascribed to an intensive usage of precious elements and inevitable competition with the oxygen evolution reaction. Herein, a unique case of Ru 2+ -O 4 active motifs anchored on Magnéli Ti 4 O 7 (Ru-Ti 4 O 7 ) via a straightforward wet impregnation and mild annealing is reported. The Ru-Ti 4 O 7 performs radically active ClER with minimal deployment of Ru (0.13 wt%), both in 5 m NaCl (pH 2.3) and 0.1 $\tiny{M}$ NaCl (pH 6.5) electrolytes. Scanning electrochemical microscopy demonstrates superior ClER selectivity on Ru-Ti 4 O 7 compared to the DSA. Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations reveal a universally active ClER (over a wide range of pH and [Cl - ]), through a direct adsorption of Cl - on Ru 2+ -O 4 sites as the most plausible pathway, together with stabilized ClO* at low [Cl - ] and high pH.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

CubeSats for Gamma-Ray Astronomy [Book Chapter]

After many years of flying in space primarily for educational purposes, CubeSats – tiny satellites with form factors corresponding to arrangements of “1U” units, or cubes, each 10 cm on a side – have come into their own as valuable platforms for technology advancement and scientific investigations. CubeSats offer comparatively rapid, low-cost access to space for payloads that can be built, tested, and operated by relatively small teams, with substantial contributions from students and early career researchers. Continuing advances in compact, low-power detectors, readout electronics, and flight computers have now enabled X-ray and gamma-ray sensing payloads that can fit within the constraints of CubeSat missions, permitting in-orbit demonstrations of new techniques and innovative high-energy astronomy observations. Gamma-ray-sensing CubeSats are certain to make an important contribution in the new era of multi-messenger, time-domain astronomy by detecting and localizing bright transients such as gamma-ray bursts, solar flares, and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes; however, other astrophysical science areas requiring long observations in a low-background environment, including gamma-ray polarimetry, studies of nuclear lines, and measurement of diffuse backgrounds, will likely benefit as well. Here we present the primary benefits of CubeSats for high-energy astronomy, highlight the scientific areas currently or soon to be studied, and review the missions that are currently operating, under development, or proposed. A rich portfolio of CubeSats for gamma-ray astronomy already exists, and the potential for a broad range of creative and scientifically productive missions in the near future is very high.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A cosmic microscope for the preheating era

Light fields with spatially varying backgrounds can modulate cosmic preheating, and imprint the nonlinear effects of preheating dynamics at tiny scales on large scale fluctuations. This provides us a unique probe into the preheating era which we dub the “cosmic microscope”. We identify a distinctive effect of preheating on scalar perturbations that turns the Gaussian primordial fluctuations of a light scalar field into square waves, like a diode. The effect manifests itself as local non-Gaussianity. We present a model, “modulated partial preheating”, where this nonlinear effect is consistent with current observations and can be reached by near future cosmic probes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Effective Field Theory islands from perturbative and nonperturbative four-graviton amplitudes

Theoretical data obtained from physically sensible field and string theory models suggest that gravitational Effective Field Theories (EFTs) live on islands that are tiny compared to current general bounds determined from unitarity, causality, crossing symmetry, and a good high-energy behavior. In this work, we present explicit perturbative and nonperturbative 2 → 2 graviton scattering amplitudes and their associated low-energy expansion in spacetime dimensions D ≥ 4 to support this notion. Our new results include a first example of gravity weakly coupled to a nonperturbative effective action. We show that, at energies below the mass of its nonperturbative matter, the D = 4, $\mathcal{N}$ = 1 supersymmetric field theory in the confined phase lies on the same islands identified using four-dimensional perturbative models based on string theory and minimally-coupled matter circulating a loop. Furthermore, we generalize the previous four-dimensional perturbative models based on string theory and minimally-coupled massive spin-0 and spin-1 states circulating in the loop to D dimensions. Remarkably, we again find that the low-energy EFT coefficients lie on small islands. These results offer a useful guide towards constraining possible extensions of Einstein gravity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗