Testing the estimated hypothetical response of a major CME impact on Earth and its implications to space weather
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Ramkumar Bala↗
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “Impact testing”
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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THE IMPACT OF THE LUNAR ORBIT RENDEZVOUS CONCEPT OF THE TEST, OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT PROBLEMS OF LUNAR EXPLORATION
Effect of lunar orbit rendezvous concept on tests, operations and support problems of lunar exploration
LUNAR EXPLORATION↗
THE IMPACT OF THE LUNAR ORBIT RENDEZVOUS CONCEPT OF THE TEST, OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT PROBLEMS OF LUNAR EXPLORATION
Space-vehicle checkout program which incorporates all types of tests to assure success in the lunar landing mission of the apollo space vehicle
APOLLO PROJECT↗
Environmental impact statement for Manned Spacecraft Center and White Sands Test Facility
This environment has not only attracted people and increased payrolls, but has also created a broader base for the local economy. The activity of the center was a catalyst to private enterprise and has led to sizeable residential and commercial developments. Adequate treatment of domestic and industrial waste water was maintained. A feasibility study is now being conducted to establish a plan for a coordinated, centerwide plan for advanced treatment of domestic and industrial waste water.
Source record↗
Fundamentals of Cryogenics
Analysis of the extreme conditions that are encountered in cryogenic systems requires the most effort out of analysts and engineers. Due to the costs and complexity associated with the extremely cold temperatures involved, testing is sometimes minimized and extra analysis is often relied upon. This short course is designed as an introduction to cryogenic engineering and analysis, and it is intended to introduce the basic concepts related to cryogenic analysis and testing as well as help the analyst understand the impacts of various requests on a test facility. Discussion will revolve around operational functions often found in cryogenic systems, hardware for both tests and facilities, and what design or modelling tools are available for performing the analysis. Emphasis will be placed on what scenarios to use what hardware or the analysis tools to get the desired results. The class will provide a review of first principles, engineering practices, and those relations directly applicable to this subject including such topics as cryogenic fluids, thermodynamics and heat transfer, material properties at low temperature, insulation, cryogenic equipment, instrumentation, refrigeration, testing of cryogenic systems, cryogenics safety and typical thermal and fluid analysis used by the engineer. The class will provide references for further learning on various topics in cryogenics for those who want to dive deeper into the subject or have encountered specific problems.
Testing↗
The Impact of Local Meteorological Conditions on Airframe Noise Flight Test Data
Phased microphone array measurements obtained during flight tests conducted in 2016 and 2017 are used to assess the importance of local meteorological measurements on the data. In particular, the effectiveness of atmospheric absorption corrections is evaluated under vastly different temperature and humidity conditions. The results indicate that, even under conditions with high absorption, sources can be visualized up to a frequency that is dependent on background noise levels, wind, and atmospheric turbulence. However, absolute levels were found to be problematic on days with high absorption rates, with the discrepancies most prevalent for aircraft positions further from the center of the array. Restricting the data to those days with favorable meteorological conditions generally resulted in a good collapse of the spectra, with differences less than a couple of decibels.
Lockard, David P.↗
Reliability Characterization of TaOx-Based Commercial ReRAM in Combination with Radiation
We present reliability data combined with total dose gamma radiation for one of the first commercially available resistive memory devices. These Tantalum Oxide (TaOX)-based resistive memory chips demonstrate operation in dynamic program and erase testing up to ~130 Krad(Si) of 60Co gamma dose. In static and unbiased conditions, the stored data in the memory cells were able to withstand up to 50Mrad(Si) of exposure. The access circuitry, though, seemed less robust to gamma radiation and was able to operate only up to a total dose of 3Mrad(Si). Post exposure reliability as indicated by endurance, cycling error rate, and data retention tests showed no detectable impact from the combination with prior gamma irradiation. Overall, the total dose radiation tolerance of the commercial TaOx-based resistive memory chip appears to be higher than flash memory chips and in agreement with prior tests conducted with single cell resistive memories.
total ionizing dose↗
Full Scale Crash Testing at NASA Langley Research Center’s Landing and Impact Research Facility with Application Toward Electric Vertical Take off and Landing (eVTOL) Crashworthiness
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Justin Littell↗
Open hole and post-impact compression fatigue of stitched and unstitched carbon/epoxy composites
The performance is studied of a stitched uniweave fabric composite and that of a toughened tape composite. The effects of stitching on compression fatigue life are addressed. Post impact compression fatigue and open hole fatigue tests were run on an AS4/3501-6 uniweave with stitching and a toughened IM7/8551-7 tape without stitching. Stitching was found to increase the thickness and consequently the weight of the composite material. The two materials were compared on an equal carbon content basis as well as on an equal weight basis. The excess thickness in the stitched uniweave composite was responsible for the lower fatigue life, on an equal carbon basis, compared to the toughened resin tape composite. Comparison of fatigue lives on an equal carbon content basis indicated that puncture or crimp type damage from stitching has very little effect on compression failure. Post impact fatigue test showed that although the damage area in the stitched uniweave composite was twice that of the toughened tape composite, the fatigue lives of the stitched composite were significantly longer than those of the toughened composite. Thus, it appears that the increase in thickness from stitching is much more of a penalty than crimped fibers or puncture type damage from stitching.
Portanova, M. A.↗
Open hole and postimpact compressive fatigue of stitched and unstitched carbon-epoxy composites
The performance is studied of a stitched uniweave fabric composite and that of a toughened tape composite. The effects of stitching on compression fatigue life are addressed. Post impact compression fatigue and open hole fatigue tests were run on an AS4/3501-6 uniweave with stitching and a toughened IM7/8551-7 tape without stitching. Stitching was found to increase the thickness and consequently the weight of the composite material. The two materials were compared on an equal carbon content basis as well as on an equal weight basis. The excess thickness in the stitched uniweave composite was responsible for the lower fatigue life, on an equal carbon basis, compared to the toughened resin tape composite. Comparison of fatigue lives on an equal carbon content basis indicated that puncture or crimp type damage from stitching has very little effect on compression failure. Post impact fatigue test showed that although the damage area in the stitched uniweave composite was twice that of the toughened tape composite, the fatigue lives of the stitched composite were significantly longer than those of the toughened composite. Thus, it appears that the increase in thickness from stitching is much more of a penalty than crimped fibers or puncture type damage from stitching.
Portanova, Marc A.↗
ATD Occupant Responses from Three Full-Scale General Aviation Crash Tests
During the summer of 2015, three Cessna 172 General Aviation (GA) aircraft were crash tested at the Landing and Impact Research (LandIR) Facility at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). Three different crash scenarios were represented. The first test simulated a flare-to-stall emergency or hard landing onto a rigid surface such as a road or runway. The second test simulated a controlled flight into terrain with a nose down pitch of the aircraft, and the third test simulated a controlled flight into terrain with an attempt to unsuccessfully recover the aircraft immediately prior to impact, resulting in a tail strike condition. An on-board data acquisition system (DAS) captured 64 channels of airframe acceleration, along with accelerations and loads in two onboard Hybrid II 50th percentile Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) representing the pilot and copilot. Each of the three tests contained different airframe loading conditions and different types of restraints for both the pilot and co-pilot ATDs. The results show large differences in occupant response and restraint performance with varying likelihoods of occupant injury.
Littell, Justin D.↗
Space station integrated wall design and penetration damage control. Task 4: Impact detection/location system
A program to develop a methodology is documented for detecting and locating meteoroid and debris impacts and penetrations of a wall configuration currently specified for use on space station. Testing consisted of penetrating and non-penetrating hypervelocity impacts on single and dual plate test configurations, including a prototype 1.22 m x 2.44 m x 3.56 mm (4 ft x 8 ft x 0.140 in) aluminum waffle grid backwall with multilayer insulation and a 0.063-in shield. Acoustic data were gathered with transducers and associated data acquisition systems and stored for later analysis with a multichannel digitizer. Preliminary analysis of test data included sensor evaluation, impact repeatability, first waveform arrival, and Fourier spectral analysis.
Nelson, J. M.↗
Materials, Manufacturing, and Test Development of a Composite Fan Blade Leading Edge Subcomponent for Improved Impact Resistance
Application of polymer matrix composite materials for jet engine fan blades is becoming attractive as an alternative to metallic blades; particularly for large engines where significant weight savings are recognized on moving to a composite structure. However, the weight benefit of the composite is offset by a reduction of aerodynamic efficiency resulting from a necessary increase in blade thickness; relative to the titanium blades. Blade dimensions are largely driven by resistance to damage on bird strike. Further development of the composite material is necessary to allow composite blade designs to approximate the dimensions of a metallic fan blade. The reduction in thickness over the state of the art composite blades is expected to translate into structural weight reduction, improved aerodynamic efficiency, and therefore reduced fuel consumption. This paper presents test article design, subcomponent blade leading edge fabrication, test method development, and initial results from ballistic impact of a gelatin projectile on the leading edge of composite fan blades. The simplified test article geometry was developed to realistically simulate a blade leading edge while decreasing fabrication complexity. Impact data is presented on baseline composite blades and toughened blades; where a considerable improvement to impact resistance was recorded.
Materials↗
Materials, Manufacturing and Test Development of a Composite Fan Blade Leading Edge Subcomponent for Improved Impact Resistance
Application of polymer matrix composite materials for jet engine fan blades is becoming attractive as an alternative to metallic blades; particularly for large engines where significant weight savings are recognized on moving to a composite structure. However, the weight benefit of the composite of is offset by a reduction of aerodynamic efficiency resulting from a necessary increase in blade thickness; relative to the titanium blades. Blade dimensions are largely driven by resistance to damage on bird strike. Further development of the composite material is necessary to allow composite blade designs to approximate the dimensions of a metallic fan blade. The reduction in thickness over the state of the art composite blades is expected to translate into structural weight reduction, improved aerodynamic efficiency, and therefore reduced fuel consumption. This paper presents test article design, subcomponent blade leading edge fabrication, test method development, and initial results from ballistic impact of a gelatin projectile on the leading edge of composite fan blades. The simplified test article geometry was developed to realistically simulate a blade leading edge while decreasing fabrication complexity. Impact data is presented on baseline composite blades and toughened blades; where a considerable improvement to impact resistance was recorded.
Ballistic Impact↗
Thermal and Fluid Modeling of the CRYogenic Orbital TEstbed (CRYOTE) Ground Test Article (GTA)
The purpose of this study was to anchor thermal and fluid system models to data acquired from a ground test article (GTA) for the CRYogenic Orbital TEstbed - CRYOTE. To accomplish this analysis, it was broken into four primary tasks. These included model development, pre-test predictions, testing support at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC} and post-test correlations. Information from MSFC facilitated the task of refining and correlating the initial models. The primary goal of the modeling/testing/correlating efforts was to characterize heat loads throughout the ground test article. Significant factors impacting the heat loads included radiative environments, multi-layer insulation (MLI) performance, tank fill levels, tank pressures, and even contact conductance coefficients. This paper demonstrates how analytical thermal/fluid networks were established, and it includes supporting rationale for specific thermal responses seen during testing.
Piryk, David↗
Test of a geometric model for the modification stage of simple impact crater development
This paper presents a geometric model describing the geometry of the transient cavity of an impact crater and the subsequent collapse of its walls to form a crater filled by an interior breccia lens. The model is tested by comparing the volume of slump material calculated from known dimensional parameters with the volume of the breccia lens estimated on the basis of observational data. Results obtained from the model were found to be consistent with observational data, particularly in view of the highly sensitive nature of the model to input parameters.
Grieve, R. A. F.↗
Improving Efficacy and Safety of Pharmacological Treatment Through Precision Health and Pharmacogenomics
INTRODUCTION: Future spaceflight will require increased crew medical autonomy as exploration class missions expand in duration and distance from Earth, especially for Mars missions. As mission duration increases, it will be essential to have appropriate amounts of effective medication to ensure the maintenance of crew health and performance. Conversely, mass and volume constraints will become more severe as future spaceflight expands beyond low Earth orbit, where resupply is difficult or becomes impossible. These constraints thus convey an urgency to tailor medications for individual crewmembers and further examine appropriate dosing regimens. BACKGROUND: Precision Health is an exciting area of medicine focused on maintaining an individual’s health and performance through in-depth understanding of an individual’s unique clinical and environmental history, genetic makeup, and molecular profiles. This approach can be adapted to better predict, monitor, and address physiological responses to the spaceflight environment. A subset of this field is pharmacogenomics (PGX), the study of how the expressed genome impacts drug responses with the goal of prescribing the right dose of the right drug at the right time. Specifically, PGX testing provides valuable information on an individual’s precise allelic variations to guide physicians in making informed decisions on drug choice and dosing to avoid adverse events and maximize efficacy. The study goal was to identify which current space pharmacy drugs could be evaluated using PGX testing and to understand the potential impact on the health and wellness of the astronaut population. Additionally, we sought to evaluate clinically available FDA-approved PGX testing solutions to better understand its applicability. METHODS: A complete list of drugs on the ISS was analyzed for risk and likelihood of drug failure and PGX actionability. This analysis encompassed both astronauts’ personal medications, including supplements and over the counter drugs (n=151) contained in the ISS medical accessory kit (IMAK), and ISS MedKit formulary medications (n=95). Duplicate medications and different formulations were removed, which resulted in a total of 157 drugs used in the subsequent analysis. A 5x5 risk assessment table was produced by examining the likelihood of drug failure compared to the consequence of drug failure (LxC). Likelihood of individual drug failure was defined by whether existing processes are sufficient to prevent ineffective treatment or impactful side effect events, as ranked from 1 (very low, can easily be prevented) to 5 (very high, cannot be prevented) during a Mars mission. In contrast, the consequence of drug failure was defined by impact to safety, schedule, cost, or technical criteria and ranked from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). An assessment of PGX reference laboratories is currently underway to evaluate sample requirements, benefit analysis (cost vs. utility of allele variant analysis), relevance to inflight medication usage, quality of reporting in enabling clinical application, and ease of integration into electronic medical records. RESULTS: Risk assessments (LxC 5x5 table) indicated 128 medications were in the green zone where risk is acceptable, with the remaining 29 of the medications in the yellow or red zone driven predominantly due to drug failure or safety concerns. We found that current PGX testing results could impact 21% of the total medications in the ISS MedKit and IMAK; of these, 9 medications currently have direct clinically actionable guidance available. Results of the clinical PGX solution evaluations as related to these medications will be presented. CONCLUSION: PGX testing has demonstrated clear benefits in terrestrial medicine and clinical environments for the selection of proper medications, avoiding adverse drug reactions, and maximizing drug efficacy. We propose that similar benefits would be bestowed on the astronaut and commercial spaceflight passenger population by performing preemptive preflight PGX testing to reduce risk of mission failure due to ineffective or toxic medications, improve drug efficacy, and further open the door to countermeasure research. For example, PGX results could allow tailoring of specific medications at optimal doses more precisely to each individual astronaut, particularly in areas of space motion sickness, sleep aids, and analgesics. An additional benefit is that PGX results could provide information for better planning of the components of a space pharmacy for deep space missions to be more effective and efficient in the utilization of limited pharmaceutical resources. Finally, while PGX testing of the astronaut corps is not currently conducted, this approach could provide immediate impact in support of mission success by reducing risks, optimizing astronaut performance, and providing valuable insights into long-term astronaut health. Such advancements in clinical decision making are important next steps in building dynamic individual risk profiles for astronauts, increasing selection of the best treatment choice, and providing tailored countermeasures for individual crewmembers.
Pharmacogenomics↗
Improving Efficacy and Safety of Pharmacological Treatment Through Precision Medicine and Pharmacogenomics for Human Deep Space Exploration
INTRODUCTION: Future spaceflight will require increased crew medical autonomy as exploration class missions expanding duration and distance from Earth, especially for Mars missions. As mission duration increases, it will be even more essential to have appropriate amounts of effective medication to ensure the maintenance of crew health and performance. Conversely, mass and volume constraints will become more severe as future spaceflight expands beyond low Earth orbit, where resupply is difficult or becomes impossible. These constraints thus convey an urgency to further tailor medications included in the spacecraft formulary and increased examination of appropriate dosing regimens. BACKGROUND: Precision Health is an exciting area of cutting-edge research and medicine focused on maintaining an individual’s health and performance through in-depth understanding of an individual’s unique factors and molecular profiles. This approach can be adapted to better predict, monitor, and address physiological responses to the spaceflight environment. One example is the field of pharmacogenomics (PGX),the study of how the expressed genome impacts drug responses with the goal of prescribing the right dose of the right drug at the right time. Specifically, PGX testing provides valuable information on an individual’s precise allelic variations to guide physicians in making informed decisions on pharmaceutical choice and dosing to avoid adverse drug events and maximize pharmacological efficacy. The goal of this study was to evaluate which drugs in the current space pharmacy could be evaluated using PGX testing and to understand the potential impact on the health and wellness of the astronaut population. Additionally, we sought to evaluate clinically available FDA-approved PGX testing solutions to better understand its applicability. METHODS: A complete list of drugs onboard the International Space Station (ISS) was analyzed for risk and likelihood of drug failure and PGX actionability. This analysis encompassed both personal astronaut medications, including supplements and over the counter drugs (n=151) and ISS MedKit formulary medications (n=95). Duplicate medications and different formulations were removed, which resulted in 157 total drugs used in the subsequent analysis. A 5x5 risk assessment table was produced by examining the likelihood of drug failure compared to the consequence of drug failure. Likelihood of individual drug failure was defined by whether existing processes are sufficient to prevent adverse events, as ranked from 1 (very low, can easily be prevented) to 5 (very high, cannot be prevented) during a Mars mission. In contrast, the consequence of drug failure was defined by impact to safety, schedule, cost or technical and ranked from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high).A comprehensive assessment of commercially available PGX solutions is currently underway to evaluate specimen requirements, cost/benefit analysis (cost vs. number of alleles assessed), utility of variant analysis, relevance to inflight medication usage, quality of reporting in enabling clinical application, and ease of integration into electronic medical records. RESULTS: Risk assessments(LxC 5x5 table) indicated29medicationswere in the yellow or red zone driven predominantly by drug failure or safety concerns, with the remainder(n=128)of the medications in the green zone where risk is acceptable. We found that current PGX testing results could impact 21% of the total medications in the ISS MedKit and IMAK; of these, 9 medications currently have direct clinically actionable guidance available. Results of the clinical PGX solution evaluations as related to these medications will be presented. CONCLUSION: PGX testing has demonstrated clear benefits in terrestrial medicine and clinical environments for the selection of proper medications, avoiding adverse drug reactions, and maximizing drug efficacy. We propose that similar benefits would be bestowed on the astronaut and commercial spaceflight passenger population by performing preemptive pre-flight PGX testing to reduce risk of mission failure due to ineffective or toxic medications, improve targeting drug efficacy and safety, and further open the door to countermeasure research exploring PGX-related allelic variants. For example, PGX results could allow tailoring of specific medications at optimal doses more precisely to each individual astronaut, particularly in areas of space motion sickness, sleep aids, and analgesics. An additional benefit is that PGX results could provide information for better planning of the components of a space pharmacy for deep space missions to be more cost effective and more efficient in the utilization of limited pharmaceutical resources. Finally, while PGX testing of the astronaut corps is not currently conducted, this approach could provide immediate impact in support of mission success by reducing risks, optimizing astronaut performance, and providing valuable insights into long-term astronaut health. Such advancements in clinical decision making are important next steps in building dynamic individual risk profiles for astronauts, increasing crew autonomy and providing tailored countermeasures
Alice R W Tang↗