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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 1,189 records · Page 66
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Resource Allocation Planning Helper (RALPH): Lessons learned

The current task of Resource Allocation Process includes the planning and apportionment of JPL's Ground Data System composed of the Deep Space Network and Mission Control and Computing Center facilities. The addition of the data driven, rule based planning system, RALPH, has expanded the planning horizon from 8 weeks to 10 years and has resulted in large labor savings. Use of the system has also resulted in important improvements in science return through enhanced resource utilization. In addition, RALPH has been instrumental in supporting rapid turn around for an increased volume of special what if studies. The status of RALPH is briefly reviewed and important lessons learned from the creation of an highly functional design team are focused on through an evolutionary design and implementation period in which an AI shell was selected, prototyped, and ultimately abandoned, and through the fundamental changes to the very process that spawned the tool kit. Principal topics include proper integration of software tools within the planning environment, transition from prototype to delivered to delivered software, changes in the planning methodology as a result of evolving software capabilities and creation of the ability to develop and process generic requirements to allow planning flexibility.

Durham, Ralph↗
NASA NTRS1993

Deep Space Network (DSN), Network Operations Control Center (NOCC) computer-human interfaces

The technical challenges, engineering solutions, and results of the NOCC computer-human interface design are presented. The use-centered design process was as follows: determine the design criteria for user concerns; assess the impact of design decisions on the users; and determine the technical aspects of the implementation (tools, platforms, etc.). The NOCC hardware architecture is illustrated. A graphical model of the DSN that represented the hierarchical structure of the data was constructed. The DSN spacecraft summary display is shown. Navigation from top to bottom is accomplished by clicking the appropriate button for the element about which the user desires more detail. The telemetry summary display and the antenna color decision table are also shown.

Ellman, Alvin↗
NASA NTRS1998

A Web Based Collaborative Design Environment for Spacecraft

In this era of shrinking federal budgets in the USA we need to dramatically improve our efficiency in the spacecraft engineering design process. We have come up with a method which captures much of the experts' expertise in a dataflow design graph: Seamlessly connectable set of local and remote design tools; Seamlessly connectable web based design tools; and Web browser interface to the developing spacecraft design. We have recently completed our first web browser interface and demonstrated its utility in the design of an aeroshell using design tools located at web sites at three NASA facilities. Multiple design engineers and managers are now able to interrogate the design engine simultaneously and find out what the design looks like at any point in the design cycle, what its parameters are, and how it reacts to adverse space environments.

Dunphy, Julia↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Numerical Propulsion System Simulation: An Overview

Advances in computational technology and in physics-based modeling are making large-scale, detailed simulations of complex systems possible within the design environment. For example, the integration of computing, communications, and aerodynamics has reduced the time required to analyze major propulsion system components from days and weeks to minutes and hours. This breakthrough has enabled the detailed simulation of major propulsion system components to become a routine part of designing systems, providing the designer with critical information about the components early in the design process. This paper describes the development of the numerical propulsion system simulation (NPSS), a modular and extensible framework for the integration of multicomponent and multidisciplinary analysis tools using geographically distributed resources such as computing platforms, data bases, and people. The analysis is currently focused on large-scale modeling of complete aircraft engines. This will provide the product developer with a "virtual wind tunnel" that will reduce the number of hardware builds and tests required during the development of advanced aerospace propulsion systems.

Lytle, John K.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Range Process Simulation Tool

Range Process Simulation Tool (RPST) is a computer program that assists managers in rapidly predicting and quantitatively assessing the operational effects of proposed technological additions to, and/or upgrades of, complex facilities and engineering systems such as the Eastern Test Range. Originally designed for application to space transportation systems, RPST is also suitable for assessing effects of proposed changes in industrial facilities and large organizations. RPST follows a model-based approach that includes finite-capacity schedule analysis and discrete-event process simulation. A component-based, scalable, open architecture makes RPST easily and rapidly tailorable for diverse applications. Specific RPST functions include: (1) definition of analysis objectives and performance metrics; (2) selection of process templates from a processtemplate library; (3) configuration of process models for detailed simulation and schedule analysis; (4) design of operations- analysis experiments; (5) schedule and simulation-based process analysis; and (6) optimization of performance by use of genetic algorithms and simulated annealing. The main benefits afforded by RPST are provision of information that can be used to reduce costs of operation and maintenance, and the capability for affordable, accurate, and reliable prediction and exploration of the consequences of many alternative proposed decisions.

Phillips, Dave↗
NASA NTRS2011

Tool for Rapid Analysis of Monte Carlo Simulations

Designing a spacecraft, or any other complex engineering system, requires extensive simulation and analysis work. Oftentimes, the large amounts of simulation data generated are very di cult and time consuming to analyze, with the added risk of overlooking potentially critical problems in the design. The authors have developed a generic data analysis tool that can quickly sort through large data sets and point an analyst to the areas in the data set that cause specific types of failures. The Tool for Rapid Analysis of Monte Carlo simulations (TRAM) has been used in recent design and analysis work for the Orion vehicle, greatly decreasing the time it takes to evaluate performance requirements. A previous version of this tool was developed to automatically identify driving design variables in Monte Carlo data sets. This paper describes a new, parallel version, of TRAM implemented on a graphical processing unit, and presents analysis results for NASA's Orion Monte Carlo data to demonstrate its capabilities.

Restrepo, Carolina↗
NASA NTRS2014

MODIS NDVI Change Detection Techniques and Products Used in the Near Real Time ForWarn System for Detecting, Monitoring, and Analyzing Regional Forest Disturbances

This presentation discusses MODIS NDVI change detection methods and products used in the ForWarn Early Warning System (EWS) for near real time (NRT) recognition and tracking of regionally evident forest disturbances throughout the conterminous US (CONUS). The latter has provided NRT forest change products to the forest health protection community since 2010, using temporally processed MODIS Aqua and Terra NDVI time series data to currently compute and post 6 different forest change products for CONUS every 8 days. Multiple change products are required to improve detectability and to more fully assess the nature of apparent disturbances. Each type of forest change product reports per pixel percent change in NDVI for a given 24 day interval, comparing current versus a given historical baseline NDVI. EMODIS 7 day expedited MODIS MOD13 data are used to obtain current and historical NDVIs, respectively. Historical NDVI data is processed with Time Series Product Tool (TSPT); and 2) the Phenological Parameters Estimation Tool (PPET) software. While each change products employ maximum value compositing (MVC) of NDVI, the design of specific products primarily differs in terms of the historical baseline. The three main change products use either 1, 3, or all previous years of MVC NDVI as a baseline. Another product uses an Adaptive Length Compositing (ALC) version of MVC to derive an alternative current NDVI that is the freshest quality NDVI as opposed to merely the MVC NDVI across a 24 day time frame. The ALC approach can improve detection speed by 8 to 16 days. ForWarn also includes 2 change products that improve detectability of forest disturbances in lieu of climatic fluctuations, especially in the spring and fall. One compares current MVC NDVI to the zonal maximum under the curve NDVI per pheno-region cluster class, considering all previous years in the MODIS record. The other compares current maximum NDVI to the mean of maximum NDVI for all previous MODIS years.

Spruce, Joseph P.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Planetary Probe Entry Models for Concurrent and Integrated Interplanetary Mission Design

There are many prospective mission opportunities involving atmospheric entry probes. The Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies (PSDS3) re-cently selected probe missions to Venus, Mars, and the outer planets as part of the 10 selected studies. Two of the six themes in the most recent New Fron-tiers call were a Saturn probe and a Venus in situ explorer. The 2013-2022 Planetary Science Decadal Survey includes probe missions at Venus, Mars, Saturn, Titan, Uranus, and Neptune. Across mission destinations and mission classes there is growing interest in planetary probes. While interplanetary trajectory specialists may like to use a broad sweep of low-fidelity solutions to find a wide array of trajectory options, probe specialists typically start off with mid- to high-fidelity point designs for the entry probe since the equations of motion for atmospheric probes require numerical integration and are so directly linked with some of the probe's subsystem design. Cur-rently, there are no alternatives to this design ap-proach as there are no tools capable of automatical-ly and concurrently designing interplanetary and atmospheric trajectories. Unfortunately, this makes us reliant on point designs in the early stages of the mission design process. The reliance on point de-signs for atmospheric probes hinders the flexibility of the design, making the design process cumber-some and restricting decision-making down the road. The research presented here addresses this problem by providing low-fidelity models for the automated, rapid design of atmospheric trajectories and probe's models which may be solved concur-rently with the interplanetary trajectory.

atmospheric probes↗
NASA NTRS2018

Computational Aerothermodynamic Environments for the Mars 2020 Entry Capsule

The simulation tools and processes used to generate aerothermodynamic environment definitions for the Mars 2020 entry capsule are presented. The Mars 2020 capsule leverages the heritage Mars Science Laboratory design, but the entry will follow a different trajectory, landing at a different location and altitude on Mars. The general strategy for creating the Mars 2020 mission-specific environments follows from the Mars Science Laboratory experience. The primary difference is that now the effects of shock-layer radiation are modeled, with particular concern for the backshell.

Wise, Adam J.↗
NASA NTRS2019

New Method for Systems and Cost Analysis of Human Mars Entry Vehicles

Cost is one of the biggest obstacles to sending humans to Mars. However, spacecraft costs are typically not estimated until after the preliminary vehicle and mission concepts have been designed. By automating the cost estimation process, the effect of any change in vehicle or mission design on the mission cost can be determined more efficiently. This paper describes an extension to the tool SAPE (Systems Analysis for Planetary Entry, Descent, and Landing). This extension integrates the cost modeling software SEER-H (System Estimation and Evaluation of Resources-Hardware) with a number of systems analysis tools. This new method is used to analyze several trade spaces of a HIAD (Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator) entry vehicle for human Mars missions. Key findings include quantifying the impacts of ballistic coefficient, main engine specific impulse, and thrust-to-weight ratio on the overall cost of the vehicle, and how the payload per lander and number of landers affects the cost of a campaign to Mars.

Friz, Paul D.↗
NASA NTRS2018

A Cost Modeling Approach for Entry Systems Analysis of Human Mars Missions

Cost is one of the biggest obstacles to sending humans to Mars. However, spacecraft costs are typically not estimated until after the preliminary vehicle and mission concepts have been designed. By automating the cost estimation process, the effect of any change in vehicle or mission design on the mission cost can be determined more efficiently. This paper describes an extension to the tool Systems Analysis for Planetary Entry, Descent, and Landing which integrates the cost modeling software System Estimation and Evaluation of Resources- Hardware with a number of systems analysis tools. This new method is used to analyze several tradespaces of an entry vehicle for human Mars missions utilizing a Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator and provide preliminary results. Key findings include quantifying how ballistic coefficient, main engine specific impulse, and thrust to weight ratio affect the cost of the vehicle and how the payload per lander and number of landers affects the cost of a campaign to Mars.

Friz, Paul D↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Cost Modeling Approach for Entry Systems Analysis of Human Mars Missions

Cost is one of the biggest obstacles to sending humans to Mars. However, spacecraft costs are typically not estimated until after the preliminary vehicle and mission concepts have been designed. By automating the cost estimation process, the effect of any change in vehicle or mission design on the mission cost can be determined more efficiently. This paper describes an extension to the tool Systems Analysis for Planetary Entry, Descent, and Landing which integrates the cost modeling software System Estimation and Evaluation of Resources-Hardware with a number of systems analysis tools. This new method is used to analyze several trade spaces of an entry vehicle for human Mars missions utilizing a Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator and provide preliminary results. Key findings include quantifying how ballistic coefficient, main engine specific impulse, and thrust to weight ratio affect the cost of the vehicle and how the payload per lander and number of landers affects the cost of a campaign to Mars.

Paul D Friz↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Progress Towards Prolonged Deployment of SiC JFET-R ICs Into Previously Inaccessible Hostile Environments

This invited presentation describes demonstration of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) and ceramic packaging that are arguably the most environmentally durable transistor electronics ever demonstrated. SiC junction field effect transistor-resistor (JFET-R) ICs with two-level interconnect have successfully operated for over 1 year in 500 °C air-ambient [1], 60 days in 460 °C and 9.3 MPa pressure caustic Venus surface environment test chamber [2], and radiation exposure through 7 Mrad(Si) total ionizing dose (TID) and 86 MeV-cm2/mg heavy ion strikes [3]. Furthermore, these ICs have also demonstrated operation from -190 °C to +812 °C (over 1000 °C T-span) without significant change in signal (input /output) or power supply voltages [4]. With modest adjustments, the SiC JFET-R fabrication process is compatible with semiconductor mass-production tools and materials. As an initial step towards this end, the processing that forms the SiC JFETs and resistors (without interconnect) for the NASA Glenn “Generation 12” design prototype JFET-R ICs was conducted at GE Research. Once the COVID-delayed IC interconnect and bond pad fabrication processing on these wafers is completed at NASA Glenn, the resulting chips will be packaged and oven-tested [5]. It is expected that further technology transfer to complete commercial production will lower investment and risk barriers to useful application deployment. For NASA, an initial high-value deployment is opening the Venus surface to extended missions for robotic scientific exploration.

Silicon Carbide↗
DOE OSTI2021

Coupling of Spark Plasma Sintering with Advanced Modeling to Enable Process Scale-Up: LDRD Final Project Poster

Electric-field assisted sintering (EFAS) manufacturing techniques reduce energy usage requirements, fabricate near-net-shape parts, and produce bulk nanostructured materials through rapid heating and cooling rates achievable through Joule heating. Process parameters of pulsed DC voltage and constant pressure are applied through stainless steel rams and graphite tooling to the ceramic yttrium oxide powder to be sintered. Our high-fidelity modeling code application advances manufacturing for extreme environments by enabling process-informed design and improving microstructure consistency through multiphysics multiscale process-structure-property-performance correlation simulations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2014

Comprehension of Spacecraft Telemetry Using Hierarchical Specifications of Behavior

A key challenge in operating remote spacecraft is that ground operators must rely on the limited visibility available through spacecraft telemetry in order to assess spacecraft health and operational status. We describe a tool for processing spacecraft telemetry that allows ground operators to impose structure on received telemetry in order to achieve a better comprehension of system state. A key element of our approach is the design of a domain-specific language that allows operators to express models of expected system behavior using partial specifications. The language allows behavior specifications with data fields, similar to other recent runtime verification systems. What is notable about our approach is the ability to develop hierarchical specifications of behavior. The language is implemented as an internal DSL in the Scala programming language that synthesizes rules from patterns of specification behavior. The rules are automatically applied to received telemetry and the inferred behaviors are available to ground operators using a visualization interface that makes it easier to understand and track spacecraft state. We describe initial results from applying our tool to telemetry received from the Curiosity rover currently roving the surface of Mars, where the visualizations are being used to trend subsystem behaviors, in order to identify potential problems before they happen. However, the technology is completely general and can be applied to any system that generates telemetry such as event logs.

Runtime monitoring↗
NASA NTRS1976

Trapped rubber processing for advanced composites

Trapped rubber processing is a molding technique for composites in which precast silicone rubber is placed within a closed cavity where it thermally expands against the composite's surface supported by the vessel walls. The method has been applied by the Douglas Aircraft Company, under contract to NASA-Langley, to the design and fabrication of 10 DC-10 graphite/epoxy upper aft rudder assemblies. A three-bay development tool form mold die has been designed and manufactured, and tooling parameters have been established. Fabrication procedures include graphite layup, assembly of details in the tool, and a cure cycle. The technique has made it possible for the cocured fabrication of complex primary box structures otherwise impracticable via standard composite material processes.

Marra, P. J.↗
DOE OSTI2025

PUFFIn Software Modeling for Quality Management

PUFFIn (PENELOPE User Friendly Fast Interface) was designed as a fast and simple Monte Carlo simulation tool for the transport of photons and electrons, with a primary purpose as a learning and education tool for a broad range of static configurations in the radiation processing industry. Development of the PUFFIn software is funded by the Office of Radiological Security (ORS) within the United States National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). PUFFIn helps fill the education and knowledge gaps in the industry, as identified in reports by Fermilab (2017) and the IAEA (2020). PUFFIn uses the PENELOPE (NEA-2023) physics engine to perform simulations on static configurations. PUFFIn has support for multiple geometry types from simple, single material simulations to full 3D configurations created from CAD input files or images from X-Ray Tomography scans. PUFFin was designed to be easy for the novice user, it will generate the input and geometry files required by PENLOPE and will display the output plots within the PUFFIn interface. PUFFin is distributed for free but requires a free workshop so users can be adequately trained in its use. Workshops have been presented in the past at Texas A&M university, the Aerial-CRT facility in Strasbourg France and Jakarta Indonesia. PUFFIn simulations have been validated by 10 MeV ebeam experiments done at Aerial-CRT in France (Radiation Physics and Chemistry 222 (2024) 111774). Further user experimental comparisons were made at the medical product hands on workshop at Texas A&M in October 2024.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Practical Approach to Uncertainty Quantification Using Probability Boxes

To date, while the use of CFD for aerospace vehicle design and development is prevalent, the documentation of uncertainties associated with the simulations are rare. Instead, the current state-of-the-art relies heavily on the experience of the CFD practitioner to estimate the uncertainty associated with their simulations through simple sensitivity studies or subject matter expertise. This practice will have to be replaced with a formal uncertainty quantification (UQ) process if CFD is to play an expanded role in the research and engineering design community, test and evaluation community, and ultimately certification for flight. Accounting for uncertainties in a formal manner is a tedious process. Moreover, the typical CFD practitioner is not likely to be familiar with formal UQ methods. These factors have prevented the adoption of UQ methods in the engineering design and development cycle. This presentation will outline a credible approach to UQ using Probability Boxes that is straightforward to apply, and can readily be automated using existing UQ tool sets such as the DAKOTA packaged developed at Sandia. The added expense incurred when moving away from a deterministic CFD process to a stochastic one that captures uncertainties to enable risk-informed decision making will be discussed, as well as effective ways to reduce the computational costs.

Uncertainty Quantification↗