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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Achieving Global Consensus on Acceptable Sound Levels for Overland Supersonic Flight

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has made a commitment to deliver to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (ICAO CAEP) data defining community response to sounds from supersonic aircraft designed such that their sonic boom is replaced with a soft “thump” sound. The dataset will be a correlation of public perceptions of these sounds to the corresponding acoustic levels. The data will support efforts to develop international standards for permissible noise from supersonic overflight. NASA is planning and preparing for a series of community overflight tests with the X-59, a unique research aircraft capable of generating the “sonic thump”. NASA will begin these tests in 2024. With an eye toward achieving global consensus for noise standards, NASA’s goal is that the community response data be as broadly representative of the response of the international population as possible. As such, NASA is engaging the international regulatory and research communities in both the planning and execution of these tests, through status briefings at ICAO CAEP-sponsored meetings and through workshops with international participation. As part of this outreach NASA held a virtual workshop in December 2021 focused on strategies and considerations for estimating noise exposure levels and conducting surveys to characterize community annoyance levels relative to the “thump” sounds. This paper will present an overview of NASA’s effort, with a focus on the plans and technical goals for the community response tests. In addition, results of the recent workshop will be briefed, including considerations and approaches for ensuring broad representativeness of results and approaches for estimation of the sound levels across the test community. Participant feedback from both the workshop and previous engagements will be discussed, along with how it is being addressed in NASA’s ongoing planning efforts.

Supersonic Flight↗
NASA NTRS1985

Business in orbit - The commercial use of space

Current and proposed business opportunities in space are discussed. The advantages offered by the zero gravity environment of space are examined. The roles of the Space Shuttle and the Space Station in space commercialization are described. International development and use of the Space Station is proposed. It is observed that the communications satellite industry is a successful space venture, and opportunities for materials processing and pharmaceuticals production in space are considered. The relationship between NASA's Office of Commercial Programs, which assists businesses in space commercialization, and industry is studied. The impact of space commercialization on the national economy and international trade is analyzed.

Gillam, I. T., IV↗
NASA NTRS1997

Rocketdyne Development of RBCC Engine for Low Cost Access to Space

Rocketdyne is pursuing the conceptual design and development of a Rocket Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) engine for booster and SSTO, advanced reusable space transportation ARTT systems under contract with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The Rocketdyne concept is fixed geometry integrated Rocket, Ram Scramjet which is Hydrogen fueled and uses Hydrogen regenerative cooling. Vision vehicle integration studies have determined that scramjet operation to Mach 12 has high payoff for low cost reusable space transportation. Rocketdyne is internally developing versions of the concept for other applications in high speed aircraft and missiles with Hydrocarbon fuel systems. Subscale engine ground testing is underway for all modes of operation from takeoff to Mach 8. High altitude Rocket only mode tests will be completed as part of the ground test program to validate high expansion ratio performance. A unique feature of the ground test series is the inclusion of dynamic trajectory simulation with real time Mach number, altitude, engine throttling, and RBCC mode changes in a specially modified freejet test facility at GASL. Preliminary cold flow Air Augmented Rocket mode test results and Short Combustor tests have met program goals and have been used to integrate all modes of operation in a single combustor design with a fixed geometry inlet for design confirmation tests. A water cooled subscale engine is being fabricated and installed for test beginning the last quarter of 1997.

Ortwerth, P.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Collaborative Data Publication Utilizing the Open Data Repository's (ODR) Data Publisher

Introduction: For small communities in diverse fields such as astrobiology, publishing and sharing data can be a difficult challenge. While large, homogenous fields often have repositories and existing data standards, small groups of independent researchers have few options for publishing standards and data that can be utilized within their community. In conjunction with teams at NASA Ames and the University of Arizona, the Open Data Repository's (ODR) Data Publisher has been conducting ongoing pilots to assess the needs of diverse research groups and to develop software to allow them to publish and share their data collaboratively. Objectives: The ODR's Data Publisher aims to provide an easy-to-use and implement software tool that will allow researchers to create and publish database templates and related data. The end product will facilitate both human-readable interfaces (web-based with embedded images, files, and charts) and machine-readable interfaces utilizing semantic standards. Characteristics: The Data Publisher software runs on the standard LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack to provide the widest server base available. The software is based on Symfony (www.symfony.com) which provides a robust framework for creating extensible, object-oriented software in PHP. The software interface consists of a template designer where individual or master database templates can be created. A master database template can be shared by many researchers to provide a common metadata standard that will set a compatibility standard for all derivative databases. Individual researchers can then extend their instance of the template with custom fields, file storage, or visualizations that may be unique to their studies. This allows groups to create compatible databases for data discovery and sharing purposes while still providing the flexibility needed to meet the needs of scientists in rapidly evolving areas of research. Research: As part of this effort, a number of ongoing pilot and test projects are currently in progress. The Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database Working Group is developing a shared database standard using the ODR's Data Publisher and has a number of example databases where astrobiology data are shared. Soon these databases will be integrated via the template-based standard. Work with this group helps determine what data researchers in these diverse fields need to share and archive. Additionally, this pilot helps determine what standards are viable for sharing these types of data from internally developed standards to existing open standards such as the Dublin Core (http://dublincore.org) and Darwin Core (http://rs.twdg.org) metadata standards. Further studies are ongoing with the University of Arizona Department of Geosciences where a number of mineralogy databases are being constructed within the ODR Data Publisher system. Conclusions: Through the ongoing pilots and discussions with individual researchers and small research teams, a definition of the tools desired by these groups is coming into focus. As the software development moves forward, the goal is to meet the publication and collaboration needs of these scientists in an unobtrusive and functional way.

easy to use and implement software tool↗
DOE OSTI2026

Interactions Between Climate Policy and Technology-influenced Travel Behavior: Mitigating Induced Demand from CACC

Advances in vehicle technology have influenced the development of automated vehicle systems, where vehicles that do not require human intervention are already deployed in the roadway networks. While these advances are proved to increase roadway safety and highway capacity, more research is needed to understand the long-term and regional-level impacts on mobility, land use, energy consumption, and emissions. This study proposes a multi-model approach to analyze the effect of vehicle automation and deep decarbonization policies over a period from 2020 to 2040 in Austin, Texas. We use the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM) to develop internally the scenarios that are then passed to the SMART Mobility modeling workflow, a large-scale simulation framework combining the POLARIS activity-based travel demand model and mesoscopic traffic simulator with the Autonomie vehicle energy consumption model and the UrbanSim land use simulator. Results suggest that the introduction of vehicles with advanced automation could increase fuel consumption when no decarbonization policies are implemented. Also, advances in vehicle technology research and development could lead to a decline in energy use in the long-term. Energy pricing and vehicle electrification incentives could help reduce the impact of vehicle automation. Finally, our analysis indicates the relevance of introducing land use processes in longterm vehicle automation studies.

land use↗
NASA NTRS1997

Rocketdyne RBCC Concept Development

Rocketdyne is pursuing the conceptual design and development of a Rocket Based Combined Cycle (BBCC) engine for booster and SSTO, advanced reusable space transportation systems under the Advanced Reusable Transportation Technologies contract with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The Rocketdyne concept is a fixed geometry integrated rocket, ramjet, scramjet which is hydrogen fueled and uses hydrogen regenerative cooling. Vision vehicle integration studies have determined that scramjet operation to the range of Mach 10 to 12 has high payoff for low cost reusable space transportation. Rocketdyne is internally developing versions of the concept for other applications in high speed aircraft and missiles with hydrocarbon fuel systems. A subscale engine ground test program is underway for all modes of operation from takeoff to Mach 8. High altitude rocket tests will only be completed as part of the ground test program to validate high expansion ratio performance. A unique feature of the ground test series is the inclusion of dynamic trajectory simulation with real time Mach number, altitude, engine throttling, and RBCC mode changes in a specially modified freejet test facility at GASL. Preliminary cold flow air augmented rocket and all rocket test results have met program goals and have been used to integrate all modes of operation in a single combustor design with a fixed geometry inlet for design confirmation tests. A water cooled subscale engine is currently being fabricated for test during the early part of 1998.

Ortwerth, P.↗
NASA NTRS2007

SERVIR: From Space to Village. A Regional Monitoring and Visualization System For Environmental Management Using Satellite Applications For Sustainable Development

NASA is committed to providing technological support and expertise to regional and national organizations for earth science monitoring and analysis. This commitment is exemplified by NASA's long-term relationship with Central America. The focus of these efforts has primarily been to measure the impact of human development on the environment and to provide data for the management of human settlement and expansion in the region. Now, NASA is planning to extend and expand this capability to other regions of the world including Africa and the Caribbean. NASA began using satellite imagery over twenty-five years ago to locate important Maya archeological sites in Mesoamerica and to quantify the affect of deforestation on those sites. Continuing that mission, NASA has partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) and the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) to develop SERVIR (Sistema Regional de Visualizacion y Monitoreo), for the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. SERVIR has become one of the most important aspects of NASA's geospatial efforts in Central America by establishing a common access portal for information that affects the lives, livelihood and future of everyone in the region. SERVIR, most commonly referred to as a regional visualization and monitoring system, is a scientific and technological platform that integrates satellite and other geospatial data sets to generate tools for improved decision-making capabilities. It has a collection of data and models that are easily accessible to earth science managers, first responders, NGO's (Non-Government Organizations) and a host of others. SERVIR is currently used to monitor and forecast ecological changes as well as provide information for decision support during severe events such as forest fires, red tides,and tropical storms. Additionally, SERVIR addresses the nine societal benefit areas of the Global Earth Observation System (GEOSS): disasters, ecosystems, biodiversity, weather, water, climate, health, agriculture and energy.

Sever, Tom↗
NASA NTRS2019

Hydrologic and Agricultural Earth Observations and Modeling for the Water-Food Nexus

In a globalizing and rapidly-developing world, reliable, sustainable access to water and food are inextricably linked to each other and basic human rights. Achieving security and sustainability in both requires recognition of these linkages, as well as continued innovations in both science and policy. We present case studies of how Earth observations are being used in applications at the nexus of water and food security: crop monitoring in support of G20 global market assessments, water stress early warning for USAID, soil moisture monitoring for USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, and identifying food security vulnerabilities for climate change assessments for the UN and the UK international development agency. These case studies demonstrate that Earth observations are essential for providing the data and scalability to monitor relevant indicators across space and time, as well as understanding agriculture, the hydrological cycle, and the water-food nexus. The described projects follow the guidelines for co-developing useable knowledge for sustainable development policy. We show how working closely with stakeholders is essential for transforming NASA Earth observations into accurate, timely, and relevant information for water-food nexus decision support. We conclude with recommendations for continued efforts in using Earth observations for addressing the water-food nexus and the need to incorporate the role of energy for improved food and water security assessments

Food Security↗
NASA NTRS1993

The AGRHYMET data communications project

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are providing technical assistance to the AGRHYMET program in West Africa. AGRHYMET staff use remote sensing technology to produce satellite image maps of the Sahel region of West Africa. These image maps may show vegetation greenness, sea surface temperatures, or processed weather satellite imagery. The image maps must be distributed from the AGRHYMET Regional Center in Niger to national AGRHYMET centers in the member countries of Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal. After consideration of a number of land- and space-based solutions for image map distribution, the best solution was determined to be use of International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) land-based terminals. In April 1992, a field test and proof-of-concept demonstration using land-mobile terminals produced favorable results. The USGS and USAID are setting up a wide area network using INMARSAT terminals to link the AGRHYMET sites for image data transfer. The system is in the procurement and installation phase and initial opening capability may be operational for the 1993 growing season, starting in May 1993.

Mah, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS2002

NASA Scientific Data Purchase Project: From Collection to User

NASA's Scientific Data Purchase (SDP) project is currently a $70 million operation managed by the Earth Science Applications Directorate at Stennis Space Center. The SDP project was developed in 1997 to purchase scientific data from commercial sources for distribution to NASA Earth science researchers. Our current data holdings include 8TB of remote sensing imagery consisting of 18 products from 4 companies. Our anticipated data volume is 60 TB by 2004, and we will be receiving new data products from several additional companies. Our current system capacity is 24 TB, expandable to 89 TB. Operations include tasking of new data collections, archive ordering, shipment verification, data validation, distribution, metrics, finances, customer feedback, and technical support. The program has been included in the Stennis Space Center Commercial Remote Sensing ISO 9001 registration since its inception. Our operational system includes automatic quality control checks on data received (with MatLab analysis); internally developed, custom Web-based interfaces that tie into commercial-off-the-shelf software; and an integrated relational database that links and tracks all data through operations. We've distributed nearly 1500 datasets, and almost 18,000 data files have been downloaded from our public web site; on a 10-point scale, our customer satisfaction index is 8.32 at a 23% response level. More information about the SDP is available on our Web site.

Nicholson, Lamar↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Human Spaceflight Architecture Team: Lunar Surface Exploration Strategies

NASA s agency wide Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT) has been developing Design Reference Missions (DRMs) to support the ongoing effort to characterize NASA s future human exploration strategy. The DRM design effort includes specific articulations of transportation and surface elements, technologies and operations required to enable future human exploration of various destinations including the moon, Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and Mars as well as interim cis-lunar targets. In prior architecture studies, transportation concerns have dominated the analysis. As a result, an effort was made to study the human utilization strategy at each specific destination and the resultant impacts on the overall architecture design. In particular, this paper considers various lunar surface strategies as representative scenarios that could occur in a human lunar return, and demonstrates their alignment with the internationally developed Global Exploration Roadmap (GER).

Mueller, Rob P.↗
NASA NTRS2004

NASA's Geospatial Interoperability Office(GIO)Program

NASA produces vast amounts of information about the Earth from satellites, supercomputer models, and other sources. These data are most useful when made easily accessible to NASA researchers and scientists, to NASA's partner Federal Agencies, and to society as a whole. A NASA goal is to apply its data for knowledge gain, decision support and understanding of Earth, and other planetary systems. The NASA Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) Geospatial Interoperability Office (GIO) Program leads the development, promotion and implementation of information technology standards that accelerate and expand the delivery of NASA's Earth system science research through integrated systems solutions. Our overarching goal is to make it easy for decision-makers, scientists and citizens to use NASA's science information. NASA's Federal partners currently participate with NASA and one another in the development and implementation of geospatial standards to ensure the most efficient and effective access to one another's data. Through the GIO, NASA participates with its Federal partners in implementing interoperability standards in support of E-Gov and the associated President's Management Agenda initiatives by collaborating on standards development. Through partnerships with government, private industry, education and communities the GIO works towards enhancing the ESE Applications Division in the area of National Applications and decision support systems. The GIO provides geospatial standards leadership within NASA, represents NASA on the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Coordination Working Group and chairs the FGDC's Geospatial Applications and Interoperability Working Group (GAI) and supports development and implementation efforts such as Earth Science Gateway (ESG), Space Time Tool Kit and Web Map Services (WMS) Global Mosaic. The GIO supports NASA in the collection and dissemination of geospatial interoperability standards needs and progress throughout the agency including areas such as ESE Applications, the SEEDS Working Groups, the Facilities Engineering Division (Code JX) and NASA's Chief Information Offices (CIO). With these agency level requirements GIO leads, brokers and facilitates efforts to, develop, implement, influence and fully participate in standards development internationally, federally and locally. The GIO also represents NASA in the OpenGIS Consortium and ISO TC211. The OGC has made considerable progress in regards to relations with other open standards bodies; namely ISO, W3C and OASIS. ISO TC211 is the Geographic and Geomatics Information technical committee that works towards standardization in the field of digital geographic information. The GIO focuses on seamless access to data, applications of data, and enabling technologies furthering the interoperability of distributed data. Through teaming within the Applications Directorate and partnerships with government, private industry, education and communities, GIO works towards the data application goals of NASA, the ESE Applications Directorate, and our Federal partners by managing projects in four categories: Geospatial Standards and Leadership, Geospatial One Stop, Standards Development and Implementation, and National and NASA Activities.

Weir, Patricia↗
NASA NTRS2007

Simulation of a Periodic Jet in a Crossflow with a RANS Solver Using an Unstructured Grid

A second-order unstructured-grid code, developed and used primarily for steady aerodynamic simulations, is applied to the synthetic jet in a cross flow. The code, FUN3D, is a vertex-centered finite-volume method originally developed by Anderson[1, 2], and is currently supported by members of the Fast Adaptive Aerospace Tools team at NASA Langley. Used primarily for design[3] and analysis[4] of steady aerodynamic configurations, FUN3D incorporates a discrete adjoint capability, and supports parallel computations using MPI. A detailed description of the FUN3D code can be found in the references given above. The code is under continuous development and contains a variety of flux splitting algorithms for the inviscid terms, two methods for computing gradients, several turbulence models, and several solution methodologies; all in varying states of development. Only the most robust and reliable components, based on experiences with steady aerodynamic simulations, were employed in this work. As applied in this work, FUN3D solves the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations using the one equation turbulence model of Spalart and Allmaras[5]. The spatial discretization is formed on unstructured meshes using a vertex-centered approach. The inviscid terms are evaluated by a flux-difference splitting formulation using least-squares reconstruction and Roe-type approximate Riemann fluxes. Green-Gauss gradient evaluations are used for viscous and turbulence modeling terms. The discrete spatial operator is combined with a backward time operator which is then solved iteratively using point or line Gauss-Seidel and local time stepping in a pseudo time. For steady flows, the physical time step is set to infinity and the pseudo time step is ramped up with the iteration count. A second-order backward in time operator is used for time accurate flows with 20 to 50 steps in the pseudo time applied at each physical time step. For this effort, FUN3D was modified to support spatially varying boundary and initial conditions, and unsteady boundary conditions. Also, a specialized in/out flow boundary condition was implemented to model the action of the diaphragm. This boundary condition is described below in more detail. The grids were generated using the internally developed codes GridEX[6] for meshing the surfaces and inviscid regions of the domain, and for CAD access; and MesherX[7] for meshing the viscous regions. Grid spacing in on the surfaces and in the inviscid regions are indirectly controlled by specifying sources. The viscous layers are generated using an advancing layer technique. MeshersX allows the user to control the spatial variation of the first step off the surface, growth rates, and the termination criterion by providing small problem dependent subroutines.

Atkins, H. L.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Bridging the gap: Deploying AI-based Models in Real-Time Fusion Plasma Control Systems

Achieving reliable real-time control in fusion plasma experiments requires strict timing guarantees across entire control algorithms. In earlier work by Abbate et al. (2023), we demonstrated the feasibility of neural-network-based control algorithms on the DIII-D tokamak using the internally developed open-source Keras2C library for model conversion into C (Conlin et al. (2021)). However, the initial implementations relied on data buffering and branching logic outside the neural network code, causing variability in execution times. Subsequent deployments on DIII-D and KSTAR—including the RTCAKENN algorithm for kinetic profile reconstruction—proved that minimizing branching and buffering throughout the pipeline yields consistent millisecond-level cycle times under real experimental conditions (Shousha et al. (2023)). However, keeping pace with rapidly evolving AI frameworks (e.g. PyTorch) is challenging. Finally, we, therefore, propose a community-driven open-source effort to expand the tool, enabling real-time deployment across diverse systems that require strictly bounded execution times.

AI-based models↗
DOE OSTI2021

Robust evaluation of ENSO in climate models: How many ensemble members are needed?

Large ensembles of model simulations require considerable resources, and thus defining an appropriate ensemble size for a particular application is an important experimental design criterion. We estimate the ensemble size (N) needed to assess a model's ability to capture observed El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) behavior by utilizing the recently developed International CLIVAR ENSO Metrics Package (Planton et al., 2021). Using the larger ensembles available from CMIP6 and the US CLIVAR Large Ensemble Working Group, we find that larger ensembles are needed to robustly capture baseline ENSO characteristics (N > 50) and physical processes (N > 50) than the background climatology (N ≥ 12) and remote ENSO teleconnections (N ≥ 6). While these results vary somewhat across metrics and models, our study quantifies how larger ensembles are required to robustly evaluate simulated ENSO behavior, thereby providing some guidance for the design of model ensembles.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Full-field quantitative visualization of shock-driven pore collapse and failure modes in PMMA

The dynamic collapse of pores under shock loading is thought to be directly related to hot spot generation and material failure, which is critical to the performance of porous energetic and structural materials. However, the shock compression response of porous materials at the local, individual pore scale is not well understood. This study examines, quantitatively, the collapse phenomenon of a single spherical void in PMMA at shock stresses ranging from 0.4 to 1.0 GPa. Using a newly developed internal digital image correlation technique in conjunction with plate impact experiments, full-field quantitative deformation measurements are conducted in the material surrounding the collapsing pore for the first time. The experimental results reveal two failure mode transitions as shock stress is increased: (i) the first in situ evidence of shear localization via adiabatic shear banding and (ii) dynamic fracture initiation at the pore surface. Numerical simulations using thermo-viscoplastic dynamic finite element analysis provide insights into the formation of adiabatic shear bands (ASBs) and stresses at which failure mode transitions occur. Further numerical and theoretical modeling indicates the dynamic fracture to occur along the weakened material inside an adiabatic shear band. Finally, analysis of the evolution of pore asymmetry and models for ASB spacing elucidate the mechanisms for the shear band initiation sites, and elastostatic theory explains the experimentally observed ASB and fracture paths based on the directions of maximum shear.

42 ENGINEERING↗