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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 NTRS1998

Friction Stir Weld Tooling Development for Application on the 2195 Al-Cu-Li Space Transportation System External Tank

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a new and innovative solid-state joining process which can be applied to difficult-to- weld aluminum alloys. However, the large forces involved with the process have posed a production tooling challenge. Lockheed Martin Michoud Space Systems has overcome many of these challenges on the Super Lightweight External Tank (ET) program. Utilizing Aluminum-Copper-Lithium alloy 2195 in the form of plate and extrusions, investigations of FSW process parameters have been completed. Major loading mechanisms are discussed in conjunction with deflection measurements. Since the ET program is a cryogenic application, a brief comparison of cryogenic material properties with room temperature material properties is offered for both FSW and fusion welds. Finally, a new approach to controlling the FSW process from a load perspective is introduced. Emphasis will be put on tooling development, as well as the impact of tooling design and philosophy on Friction Stir Weld success probability.

Loftus, Zachary↗
NASA NTRS1990

Exodus - Distributed artificial intelligence for Shuttle firing rooms

This paper describes the Expert System for Operations Distributed Users (EXODUS), a knowledge-based artificial intelligence system developed for the four Firing Rooms at the Kennedy Space Center. EXODUS is used by the Shuttle engineers and test conductors to monitor and control the sequence of tasks required for processing and launching Shuttle vehicles. In this paper, attention is given to the goals and the design of EXODUS, the operational requirements, and the extensibility of the technology.

Heard, Astrid E.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Design and development of a trace contaminant removal canister for Spacelab

The paper describes the overall approach used by NASA-MSFC to design and develop a trace contaminant removal canister for Spacelab. The elements of this approach include the establishment of a trace contaminant load model, analysis and testing to define a preliminary design, development testing to verify the adequacy of the selected design, and testing to define a suitable canister location in the transfer tunnel ventilation system. The canister utilizes a catalyst material which is effective in removing carbon monoxide at room temperature, as well as plain and acid treated charcoal. The canister alone will control all contaminants in the load model below their maximum allowable concentration (MAC) levels without assistance from the baseline environmental control system (ECS) except for methyl alcohol and ammonia.

Ray, C. D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Use of Video Analysis System for Working Posture Evaluations

In a work environment, it is important to identify and quantify the relationship among work activities, working posture, and workplace design. Working posture may impact the physical comfort and well-being of individuals, as well as performance. The Posture Video Analysis Tool (PVAT) is an interactive menu and button driven software prototype written in Supercard (trademark). Human Factors analysts are provided with a predefined set of options typically associated with postural assessments and human performance issues. Once options have been selected, the program is used to evaluate working posture and dynamic tasks from video footage. PVAT has been used to evaluate postures from Orbiter missions, as well as from experimental testing of prototype glove box designs. PVAT can be used for video analysis in a number of industries, with little or no modification. It can contribute to various aspects of workplace design such as training, task allocations, procedural analyses, and hardware usability evaluations. The major advantage of the video analysis approach is the ability to gather data, non-intrusively, in restricted-access environments, such as emergency and operation rooms, contaminated areas, and control rooms. Video analysis also provides the opportunity to conduct preliminary evaluations of existing work areas.

McKay, Timothy D.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Kennedy Space Center's Command and Control System - "Toasters to Rocket Ships"

This slide presentation reviews the history of the development of the command and control system at Kennedy Space Center. From a system that could be brought to Florida in the trunk of a car in the 1950's. Including the development of larger and more complex launch vehicles with the Apollo program where human launch controllers managed the launch process with a hardware only system that required a dedicated human interface to perform every function until the Apollo vehicle lifted off from the pad. Through the development of the digital computer that interfaced with ground launch processing systems with the Space Shuttle program. Finally, showing the future control room being developed to control the missions to return to the moon and Mars, which will maximize the use of Commercial-Off-The Shelf (COTS) hardware and software which was standards based and not tied to a single vendor. The system is designed to be flexible and adaptable to support the requirements of future spacecraft and launch vehicles.

Lougheed, Kirk↗
NASA NTRS2011

ISSLive!

The ISSLive! project is a JSC innovation award- winning, combined MOD/Education project to publish export control and PAO-approved ISS telemetry, and simplified and scrubbed crew timelines. The publication of this data will be real-time or near real time and will include links to the crew's social media feeds and existing streaming public video/audio feeds, via public-friendly website, mobile devices and tablet applications. Additionally, the project will offer interactive virtual 3D views of an ISS model based on real-time telemetry and a 3D virtual mission control center based on existing Front Room console positions in made for public displays. The ISSLive! project is MOD-managed and includes collaborations with subject-matter expertise from the ISS flight controllers regarding daily operations and planning, education program specialists from the JSC Office of Education, instructional designers, human computer interface experts, and software/hardware experts from MOD facility organization, and senior web designers. In support of the Agency s Strategic Goal #6 with respect to using the ISS National Laboratory for education activities, ISSLive! uses the Station itself as STEM education subject matter and provides data for STEM-based lessons plans using national standards. Specifically, ISSLive! supports and enables the National Laboratory Education (NLE) project to address the Agency s Strategic Goal #6. This goal mandates, sharing NASA with the public, educators, and students to provide opportunities to participate in our Mission, foster innovation .. ISSLive! satisfies the Agency s outcomes of Strategic Goal; that is, engages the public in NASA's missions by providing new pathways for participation (Outcome 6.3) and it informs, engages, and inspires the public by sharing NASA s missions, challenges, and results (Outcome 6.4). Additionally, ISSLive! enables MOD s support of JSC Outreach and NASA's Open Data and Open Government Initiatives. The audience for the ISSLive! website and its application(s) are: teachers, students, citizen scientists, and the general public who will be given new and interactive insights on how the ISS Operates.

Price, Jennifer B.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Solar hot water system installed at Quality Inn, Key West, Florida

The solar energy hot water system installed in the Quality Inn, Key West, Florida, which consists of four buildings is described. Three buildings are low-rise, two-story buildings containing 100 rooms. The fourth is a four-story building with 48 rooms. The solar system was designed to provide approximately 50 percent of the energy required for the domestic hot water system. The solar system consists of approximately 1400 square feet of flat plate collector, two 500 gallon storage tanks, a circulating pump, and a controller. Operation of the system was begun in April 1978, and has continued to date with only three minor interruptions for pump repair. In the first year of operation, it was determined that the use of the solar facility resulted in forty percent fuel savings.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1987

Repulsive force support system feasibility study

A new concept in magnetic levitation and control is introduced for levitation above a plane. A set of five vertical solenoid magnets mounted flush below the plane supports and controls the model in five degrees of freedom. The compact system of levitation coils is contained in a space 2.4 m (96 in) diameter by 1 m (40 in) deep with the top of the levitation system 0.9 m (36 in) below the center line of the suspended model. The levitated model has a permanent magnet core held in position by the five parallel superconductive solenoids symmetrically located in a circle. The control and positioning system continuously corrects for model position in five dimensions using computer current pulses superimposed on the levitation coil base currents. The conceptual designs include: superconductive and Nd-Fe-B permanent magnet model cores and levitation solenoids of either superconductive, cryoresistive, or room temperature windings.

Boom, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

LOITA: Lunar Optical/Infrared Telescope Array

LOITA (Lunar Optical/Infrared Telescope Array) is a lunar-based interferometer composed of 18 alt-azimuth telescopes arranged in a circular geometry. This geometry results in excellent uv coverage and allows baselines up to 5 km long. The angular resolution will be 25 micro-arcsec at 500 nm and the main spectral range of the array will be 200 to 1100 nm. For infrared planet detection, the spectral range may be extended to nearly 10 mu m. The telescope mirrors have a Cassegrain configuration using a 1.75 m diameter primary mirror and a 0.24 m diameter secondary mirror. A three-stage (coarse, intermediate, and fine) optical delay system, controlled by laser metrology, is used to equalize path lengths from different telescopes to within a few wavelengths. All instruments and the fine delay system are located within the instrument room. Upon exiting the fine delay system, all beams enter the beam combiner and are then directed to the various scientific instruments and detectors. The array instrumentation will consist of CCD detectors optimized for both the visible and infrared as well as specially designed cameras and spectrographs. For direct planet detection, a beam combiner employing achromatic nulling interferometry will be used to reduce star light (by several orders of magnitude) while passing the planet light. A single telescope will be capable of autonomous operation. This telescope will be equipped with four instruments: wide field and planetary camera, faint object camera, high resolution spectrograph, and faint object spectrograph. These instruments will be housed beneath the telescope. The array pointing and control system is designed to meet the fine pointing requirement of one micro-arcsec stability and to allow precise tracking of celestial objects for up to 12 days. During the lunar night, the optics and the detectors will be passively cooled to 70-80 K temperature. To maintain a continuous communication with the earth a relay satellite placed at the L4 libration point will be used in conjunction with the Advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (ATDRSS). Electrical power of about 10 kW will be supplied by a nuclear reactor based on the SP-100 technology. LOITA will be constructed in three phases of six telescopes each. The total mass of the first operational phase is estimated at 58,820 kg. The cost of the fully operational first phase of the observatory is estimated at $8.9 billion. LOITA's primary objectives will be to detect and characterize planets around nearby stars (up to ten parsec away), study physics of collapsed stellar objects, solar/stellar surface features and the processes in nuclear regions of galaxies and quasars. An interferometric array such as LOITA will be capable of achieving resolutions three orders of magnitude greater than Hubble's design goal. LOITA will also be able to maintain higher signal to noise ratios than are currently attainable due to long observation times available on the moon.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1963

The spacecraft structure and thermal design considerations

This paper covers the general structural and thermal design considerations of the Telstar satellite. The basic objectives were to maintain the electronic components in a near room temperature environment and to protect the electronics packge from high-frequency vibration excitation. These objectives were realized by dividing satellite into two lumped masses, the shell and the centrally located electronics package, and by utilizing nylon lacing for support of the electronics package. The package was provided with an active temperature control, regulating radiative heat flow between the skin and the package. Results of on-the-ground experimental evaluation and of telemetry data are given.

STRUCTURAL DESIGN↗
NASA NTRS1965

The output stage for the ground transmitter at Goonhilly

The power output amplifier of the transmitter for the Goonhilly project uses a travelling tube, type VX527 delivering 4 kW at 6,390 Me/s, with a bandwidth of about 100 Mc/s. This amplifier, together with its power supplies and driver stage is located in a cabin, situated on the turntable underneath the aerial. Input signals for the transmitter are received in the cabin from the main control room at a frequency of 70 Mc/s; they are converted to the to the nominal 6,390 Mc/s before being amplified to about 3 watts by the driver TWT and fed via a waveguide link to the output stage. The output stage, described below, was designed and manufactured by A.E.I. Electronic Apparatus Division, Leicester, England, during the first half of 1962.

TRAVELING WAVE AMPLIFIER↗
NASA NTRS1993

Expanding the KATE toolbox

KATE (Knowledge-based Autonomous Test Engineer) is a model-based software system developed in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Kennedy Space Center for monitoring, fault detection, and control of launch vehicles and ground support systems. In order to bring KATE to the level of performance, functionality, and integratability needed for firing room applications, efforts are underway to implement KATE in the C++ programming language using an X-windows interface. Two programs which were designed and added to the collection of tools which comprise the KATE toolbox are described. The first tool, called the schematic viewer, gives the KATE user the capability to view digitized schematic drawings in the KATE environment. The second tool, called the model editor, gives the KATE model builder a tool for creating and editing knowledge base files. Design and implementation issues having to do with these two tools are discussed. It will be useful to anyone maintaining or extending either the schematic viewer or the model editor.

Thomas, Stan J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Cordless Instruments

Black & Decker's new cordless lightweight battery powered precision instruments, adapted from NASA's Apollo Lunar Landing program, have been designed to give surgeons optimum freedom and versatility in the operating room. Orthopedic instrument line includes a drill, a driver/reamer and a sagittal saw. All provide up to 20 minutes on a single charge. Power pack is the instrument's handle which is removable for recharging. Microprocessor controlled recharging unit can recharge two power packs together in 30 minutes. Instruments can be gas sterilized, steam-sterilized in an autoclave or immersed for easy cleaning.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2010

Optical Testing of Retroreflectors for Cryogenic Applications

A laser tracker (LT) is an important coordinate metrology tool that uses laser interferometry to determine precise distances to objects, points, or surfaces defined by an optical reference, such as a retroreflector. A retroreflector is a precision optic consisting of three orthogonal faces that returns an incident laser beam nearly exactly parallel to the incident beam. Commercial retroreflectors are designed for operation at room temperature and are specified by the divergence, or beam deviation, of the returning laser beam, usually a few arcseconds or less. When a retroreflector goes to extreme cold (.35 K), however, it could be anticipated that the precision alignment between the three faces and the surface figure of each face would be compromised, resulting in wavefront errors and beam divergence, degrading the accuracy of the LT position determination. Controlled tests must be done beforehand to determine survivability and these LT coordinate errors. Since conventional interferometer systems and laser trackers do not operate in vacuum or at cold temperatures, measurements must be done through a vacuum window, and care must be taken to ensure window-induced errors are negligible, or can be subtracted out. Retroreflector holders must be carefully designed to minimize thermally induced stresses. Changes in the path length and refractive index of the retroreflector have to be considered. Cryogenic vacuum testing was done on commercial solid glass retroreflectors for use on cryogenic metrology tasks. The capabilities to measure wavefront errors, measure beam deviations, and acquire laser tracker coordinate data were demonstrated. Measurable but relatively small increases in beam deviation were shown, and further tests are planned to make an accurate determination of coordinate errors.

Ohl, Raymond G.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Telerobotic Excavator Designed to Compete in NASA's Lunabotics Mining Competition

The second annual NASA Lunabotics Mining competition is to be held in May 23-28, 2011. The goal of the competition is for teams of university level students to design, build, test and compete with a fully integrated lunar excavator on a simulated lunar surface. Our team, named Lunar Solutions I, will be representing Temple University's College of Engineering in the competition. The team's main goal was to build a robot which is able to compete with other teams, and ultimately win the competition. The main challenge of the competition was to build a wireless robot that can excavate and collect a minimum of 10 kilograms of the regolith material within 15 minutes. The robot must also be designed to operate in conditions similar to those found on the lunar surface. The design of the lunar excavator is constrained by a set of requirements determined by NASA and detailed in the competition's rulebook. The excavator must have the ability to communicate with the "main base" wirelessly, and over a Wi-Fi network. Human operators are located at a remote site approximately 60 meters away from the simulated lunar surface upon which the robot must excavate the lunar regolith surface. During the competition, the robot will operate in a separate area from the control room in an area referred to as the "Lunarena." From the control room, the operators will have to control the robot using visual feedback from cameras placed both within the arena and on the robot. Using this visual feedback the human operators control the robots movement using both keyboard and joystick commands. In order to place in the competition, a minimum of 10 kg of regolith material has to be excavated, collected, and dumped into a specific location. For that reason, the robot must be provided with an effective and powerful excavation system. Our excavator uses tracks for the drive system. After performing extensive research and trade studies, we concluded that tracks would be the most effective method for transporting the excavator. When designing the excavation system, we analyzed several design options from the previous year's competition. We decided to use a front loader to collect the material, rather than a conveyer belt system or auger. Many of the designs from last year's competition used a conveyer belt mechanism to mine regolith and dump it into a temporary storage bin place on the robot. Using the front end loader approach allowed us to combine the scooping system and storage unit, which meant that the excavation system required less space.

Nash, Rodney↗
NASA NTRS1986

NDE reliability and process control for structural ceramics

The reliability of microfocus x-radiography and scanning laser acoustic microscopy for detecting microvoids in silicon nitride and silicon carbide was statistically evaluated. Materials- and process-related parameters that influenced the statistical findings in research samples are discussed. The use of conventional x-radiography in controlling and optimizing the processing and sintering of an Si3N4-Si02-Y203 composition designated NASA 6Y is described. Radiographic evaluation and guidance helped develop uniform high-density Si3N4 modulus-of-rupture bars with improved four-point flexural strength (857, 544, and 462 MPa at room temperature, 1200 C, and 1370 C, respectively) and reduced strength scatter.

Baaklini, G. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1987

NDE reliability and process control for structural ceramics

The reliability of microfocus X-radiography and scanning laser acoustic microscopy for detecting microvoids in silicon nitride and silicon carbide was statistically evaluated. Materials- and process-related parameters that influenced the statistical findings in research samples are discussed. The use of conventional X-radiography in controlling and optimizing the processing and sintering of an Si3N4-SiO2-Y2O3 composition designated NASA 6Y is described. Radiographic evaluation and guidance helped develop uniform high-density Si3N4 modulus-of-rupture bars with improved four-point flexural strength (857, 544, and 462 MPa at room temperature, 1200 C, and 1370 C, respectively) and reduced strength scatter.

Baaklini, G. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The psychology of computer displays in the modern mission control center

Work at NASA's Western Aeronautical Test Range (WATR) has demonstrated the need for increased consideration of psychological factors in the design of computer displays for the WATR mission control center. These factors include color perception, memory load, and cognitive processing abilities. A review of relevant work in the human factors psychology area is provided to demonstrate the need for this awareness. The information provided should be relevant in control room settings where computerized displays are being used.

Granaas, Michael M.↗