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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 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1984

Scientific and technical training in the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union recognizes that the foundation of their system depends upon complete dedication of the people to the state through thorough psychological training as well as through military training, and through specialized education in the broad fields of engineering, natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and education. An outline of the U.S.S.R. educational system indicates the extent of academic training, coupled with on-the-job and military training, that can produce a highly skilled, dedicated, and matured person. Observations on the coupling of political, economic, and psychological training along with the technical training are made, along with some mention of positive and negative aspects of the training.

Spearman, M. L.↗
NASA NTRS2011

The Ensemble Canon

Ensemble is an open architecture for the development, integration, and deployment of mission operations software. Fundamentally, it is an adaptation of the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP), a widespread, stable, and supported framework for component-based application development. By capitalizing on the maturity and availability of the Eclipse RCP, Ensemble offers a low-risk, politically neutral path towards a tighter integration of operations tools. The Ensemble project is a highly successful, ongoing collaboration among NASA Centers. Since 2004, the Ensemble project has supported the development of mission operations software for NASA's Exploration Systems, Science, and Space Operations Directorates.

applications programs (computers),↗
NASA NTRS2010

A Safety Conundrum Illustrated: Logic, Mathematics, and Science Are Not Enough

In an ideal world, conversations about whether a particular system is safe, or whether a particular method or tool enhances safety, would be emotion-free discussions concentrating on the level of safety required, available evidence, and coherent logical, mathematical, or scientific arguments based on that evidence. In the real world, discussions about safety are often not emotion-free. Political and economic arguments may play a bigger role than logical, mathematical, and scientific arguments, and psychological factors may be as important, or even more important, than purely technical factors. This paper illustrates the conundrum that can result from this clash of the ideal and the real by means of an imagined conversation among a collection of fictional characters representing various types of people who may be participating in a safety discussion.

Holloway, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Technology assessment or technology harassment: The attacks on science and technology

The manner in which technology is being assessed by various groups and individuals is discussed. Attacks on science and technology (specifically military uses and funding), and the disillusionment of the public with the lack of relevance of science to the public interest and with the infallible wisdom of scientists are described. The effects of the fear of environmental pollution are emphasized. It is concluded that the important issues of science, technology, and public policy will require a pluralistic definition of the public interest by open adversary proceedings. It is also felt that the danger is not that new technology will receive inadequate assessment for possible deleterious secondary effects, but that harassment by an overemotional political process may prevent its coming to fruition.

Green, L., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Technology Development, Implementation, and Assessment: K-16 Pre-Service, In-Service, and Distance Learning Initiatives

This summer 22 kindergarten through 8th grade teachers attended a 3-week Teacher Enhancement Institute (TEI) at NASA Langley Research Center. TEI is funded by NASA Education Division and is a collaborative effort between NASA Langley's Office of Education and Christopher Newport University. Selected teacher teams were drawn from Langley's 5-state precollege service region, which includes Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. The goal of TEI was for teachers to learn aeronautics and the broad application of science and technology through a problem-based learning (PBL) strategy. PBL is an instructional method using a real world problem, also known as an ill-structured problem, as the context for an in-depth investigation. Most real life problems are ill-structured, as are all the really important social, political and scientific problems. The teachers were immediately immersed in an ill-structured problem to design a communication strategy for the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security to educate and disseminate aviation information to the general public. Specifically, the communication strategy was to focus on aeronautics principles, technology and design associated with US general aviation revitalization and aviation safety programs. The presented problem addressed NASA's strategic outcome to widely communicate the content, relevancy and excitement of its missions and discoveries to the general population. Further, the PBL scenario addressed the technological challenges being taken up by NASA to revolutionize air travel and the way in which aircraft are designed, built, and operated. It also addressed getting people and freight safely and efficiently to any location in the world at a reasonable cost. With a "real" need-to-know problem facing them, the teachers set out to gather information and to better understand the problem using inquiry-based and scientific methods. The learning in this aeronautics scenario was driven by the direction taken by participants. With the support of the TEI faculty, the teachers quickly identified NASA Langley researchers that served as consultants to help solve the problem. To achieve their goal, the teacher teams developed lesson plans for elementary and middle school students, wrote a newspaper, published a brochure to educate the general public, constructed games for children of all ages, and produced a video. As a second problem, the TEI participants will design their own aeronautic lesson plan and immerse their 1997-98 school year students in the problem. The problem is for the students "to create a traveling hands-on, minds-on aeronautics museum exhibit created for children by children." As a culminating activity, the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, VA, will set up a special display of the exhibits in the Summer 1998. The TEI faculty will visit each TEI teacher's classroom during the academic school year to observe the implementation of the unit. In addition to the classroom observations, electronic follow-up sessions will be conducted during the school year to support the teachers' efforts in developing their PBL units to integrate technology in math and science instruction. These sessions eill be conducted using the Internet. Teachers will be connected through a chat-line to share ideas, ask questions, and generate solutions.

Petersen, Richard↗
NASA NTRS1962

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN SPACE

In the community of nations there exists today a deep and wide abyss separating one important and powerful group of nations from another. The political and philosophical differences which constitute this abyss are very real and very fundamental, and they are not likely to disappear during this century. There are smaller canyons in the landscape as well, some more permanent than others. However, it is possible to build bridges of culture, science, and cooperative effort of many kinds across these canyons so that men of good will from one side may mingle freely with those from the other side, and for a little while, at least, be as one people. Scientists have been helping to build bridges like this for a long time. Especially prominent in this sort of activity has been the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) which was the mother hen, so to speak, of the International Geophysical Year. At present, problems of international cooperation in space research are the concern of a Special Committee of the International Council of Scientific Unions, known as COSPAR (Committee on Space Research).

SPACE EXPLORATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Exotic Carbonate Mineralization Recovered from a Deep Basalt Carbon Storage Demonstration

Mitigating climate change require transformational advances for carbon dioxide removal, including geologic carbon sequestration in reactive subsurface environments. The Wallula Basalt Carbon Storage Pilot Project demonstrated that CO 2 injected into >800 m deep Columbia River Basalt Group flow top reservoirs mineralizes on month-year timescales. Herein, we present new optical petrography, micro-computed X-ray tomography, and electron microscopy results sidewall cores collected two years after CO 2 injection. As no other anthropogenic carbonates from geologic carbon storage field studies have been recovered, this world-unique sample suite provides unparalleled insight for subsurface carbon mineralization products and paragenesis. Chemically-zoned nodules with Ca/Mn-rich cores and Fe-dominant outer rims are prominent examples of the neoformed carbonate assemblages with ankerite-siderite compositions and exotic divalent cation correlations. Further, paragenetic insights for the timing of aragonite, silica, and fibrous zeolites are clarified based on mineral texture and spatial relationships, along with time-resolved downhole fluid sampling. Collectively, these results clarify the mineralogy, chemistry, and paragenesis of carbon mineralization, providing insight into the ultimate fate and transport of CO 2 in reactive mafic-ultramafic reservoirs

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1985

Antarctica - Lessons for a Mars exploration program

The history of exploration and the international system of control of Antarctica has often been cited as a paradigm for the exploration of space. The small isolated research stations have been used to model the psychological stresses of future space missions. In addition, the programmatic structure of the U.S. Antarctic Research Program provides several possible analogs to future Mars Programs presently under discussion. These are: (1) Continued presence; (2) Civilian, military and private sector involvement; (3) Scientific activities; (4) Risk assessment and logistical support; (5) Accessibility for non-specialists; (6) Political and strategic motivations; (7) International cooperation/competition. Survival in Antarctica is contingent on advanced technology and the active transport of supplies. The scientific exploration of this remote and barren expanse without, of course, the aid and guidance of indigenous people certainly provides one of the closest analogs available to future science activities on the Martian surface.

Mckay, C. P.↗
DOE OSTI2023

The evolution of symbiotic innovation, water, and agricultural supply chains

Abstract The water literature has mainly investigated the diversion and distribution of water from the source to the end users or the utilization of water at the farm level in crop production. This paper presents a supply chain perspective that links the innovation supply chain of water delivery and irrigation with the complete water supply chain to the crop and the crop supply chains. These supply chains are symbiotic. Changes in the demand for crops, agronomic technology, and knowledge about water will modify the water infrastructure, irrigation technology, land‐use and crop production patterns, and the pricing of water and related commodities. The parameters that guide investment in water innovation and the design of the water supply chain depend on political, economic, and technological considerations that have coevolved over time with water and crop systems. Evidence from California and elsewhere supports the findings of the paper.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Citizen-Led Community Innovation for Food Energy Water Nexus Resilience

Food-energy-water (FEW) resources are necessary for the function of multiple socio-natural systems. Understanding the synergies and trade-offs in the FEW nexus, and how these interconnections impact earth’s systems, is critical to ensure adequate access to these resources in the future; an essential component for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (Scanlon et al., 2017). Although, over the last decade, the identification of FEW nexus complexities has increased at a global (IPCC, 2018; D’Orodico et al., 2018), national (Lant et al., 2019), and city scale (Rushforth and Ruddell, 2018), these findings are yet to be adequately translated into ‘on the ground’ action due a lack of technical and political capacity (Weitz et al., 2017). Specifically, local FEW systems have been overlooked in these analyses (Scanlon et al., 2017; Lant et al., 2019), thus leaving small and medium towns vulnerable due to a lack of data and inadequate FEW system management. Building on three years of field-tested FEW nexus research in the Ruddell Lab, we argue that participatory citizen science projects, such as our FEWSION for Community Resilience initiative, can bridge the data-policy gaps that exist within local FEW system management by: 1) providing last mile data on the FEW system, and 2) translating local data into evidence-based solutions at a grassroots level. Thus, we present a broadly applicable framework and call to action for local scale participatory citizen science to solve complex FEW nexus issues at a local, regional, and national scale.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1993

National security and national competitiveness: Open source solutions; NASA requirements and capabilities

Foreign competitors are challenging the world leadership of the U.S. aerospace industry, and increasingly tight budgets everywhere make international cooperation in aerospace science necessary. The NASA STI Program has as part of its mission to support NASA R&D, and to that end has developed a knowledge base of aerospace-related information known as the NASA Aerospace Database. The NASA STI Program is already involved in international cooperation with NATO/AGARD/TIP, CENDI, ICSU/ICSTI, and the U.S. Japan Committee on STI. With the new more open political climate, the perceived dearth of foreign information in the NASA Aerospace Database, and the development of the ESA database and DELURA, the German databases, the NASA STI Program is responding by sponsoring workshops on foreign acquisitions and by increasing its cooperation with international partners and with other U.S. agencies. The STI Program looks to the future of improved database access through networking and a GUI; new media; optical disk, video, and full text; and a Technology Focus Group that will keep the NASA STI Program current with technology.

Cotter, Gladys A.↗
NASA NTRS2010

NASA'S Water Resources Element Within the Applied Sciences Program

The NASA Applied Sciences Program works within NASA Earth sciences to leverage investment of satellite and information systems to increase the benefits to society through the widest practical use of NASA research results. Such observations provide a huge volume of valuable data in both near-real-time and extended back nearly 50 years about the Earth's land surface conditions such as land cover type, vegetation type and health, precipitation, snow, soil moisture, and water levels and radiation. Observations of this type combined with models and analysis enable satellite-based assessment of numerous water resources management activities. The primary goal of the Earth Science Applied Science Program is to improve future and current operational systems by infusing them with scientific knowledge of the Earth system gained through space-based observation, model results, and development and deployment of enabling technologies, systems, and capabilities. Water resources is one of eight elements in the Applied Sciences Program and it addresses concerns and decision making related to water quantity and water quality. With increasing population pressure and water usage coupled with climate variability and change, water issues are being reported by numerous groups as the most critical environmental problems facing us in the 21st century. Competitive uses and the prevalence of river basins and aquifers that extend across boundaries engender political tensions between communities, stakeholders and countries. Mitigating these conflicts and meeting water demands requires using existing resources more efficiently. The potential crises and conflicts arise when water is competed among multiple uses. For example, urban areas, environmental and recreational uses, agriculture, and energy production compete for scarce resources, not only in the Western U.S. but throughout much of the U.S. but also in many parts of the world. In addition to water availability issues, water quality related problems are seriously affecting human health and our environment. The NASA Water Resources Program Element works to use NASA products to address these critical issues.

Toll, David↗
NASA NTRS2011

Breaking the Vicious Start-Stop-Restart Cycle

NASA's history is built on a foundation of can-do strength, while pointing to the Apollo Moon missions in the 1960s and 1970s as its apex a sentiment that often overshadows the potential in store. The chronicle of America s civil space adventure is scattered with programs that got off to good starts with adequate resources and vocal political support but that never made it past a certain milestone review, General Accountability Office report, or Congressional budget appropriation. Over the decades since the fielding of the Space Shuttle in the early 1980s, a start-stop-restart cycle has intervened due to many forces. Despite this impediment, the workforce has delivered feats such as the International Space Station and numerous Shuttle and science missions, which reflect a trend in the early days of the Exploration Age that called for massive infrastructure and matching capital allocations. In the new millennium, the aerospace industry must respond to transforming economic climates, the public will, national agendas, and international possibilities relative to scientific exploration beyond Earth's orbit. Two pressing issues workforce transition and mission success are intertwined. As this briefing will show, U.S. aerospace must confront related workforce development and industrial base issues head on to take space exploration to the next level. This briefing also will formulate specific strategies to equip space engineers to move beyond the seemingly constant start-stop-restart mentality to plan and execute flight projects that actually fly.

Singer, Christopher E.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Sharing the Adventure with the Public - The Value of Excitement: Summary of a Workshop

The premise of the workshop was that NASA and its associated science and exploration communities have not been as effective as they could be in communicating with the public about what NASA does or how its activities contribute to resolving critical problems on Earth. Although not explicitly stated, an underlying assumption seemed to be that if the public had a better understanding, it would be more supportive of NASA, which in turn could generate more political support for the organization. In the case of global climate change, the broader issue is how to convince the public of the magnitude of the problem and the need for solutions. The role of new social media tools like Facebook and Twitter in interacting with the public was an integral part of the discussion.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2011

An Integrated Hydrological and Water Management Study of the Entire Nile River System - Lake Victoria to Nile Delta

The Nile basin River system spans 3 million km(exp 2) distributed over ten nations. The eight upstream riparian nations, Ethiopia, Eretria, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Tanzania and Kenya are the source of approximately 86% of the water inputs to the Nile, while the two downstream riparian countries Sudan and Egypt, presently rely on the river's flow for most of the their needs. Both climate and agriculture contribute to the complicated nature of Nile River management: precipitation in the headwaters regions of Ethiopia and Lake Victoria is variable on a seasonal and inter-annual basis, while demand for irrigation water in the arid downstream region is consistently high. The Nile is, perhaps, one of the most difficult trans-boundary water issue in the world, and this study would be the first initiative to combine NASA satellite observations with the hydrologic models study the overall water balance in a to comprehensive manner. The cornerstone application of NASA's Earth Science Research Results under this project are the NASA Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS) and the USDA Atmosphere-land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) model. These two complementary research results are methodologically independent methods for using NASA observations to support water resource analysis in data poor regions. Where an LDAS uses multiple sources of satellite data to inform prognostic simulations of hydrological process, ALEXI diagnoses evapotranspiration and water stress on the basis of thermal infrared satellite imagery. Specifically, this work integrates NASA Land Data Assimilation systems into the water management decision support systems that member countries of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD, located in Nairobi, Kenya) use in water resource analysis, agricultural planning, and acute drought response to support sustainable development of Nile Basin water resources. The project is motivated by the recognition that accurate, frequent, and spatially distributed estimates of the water balance are necessary for effective water management. This creates a challenge for watersheds that are large, include data poor regions, and/or span multiple nations. All of these descriptors apply to the Nile River basin, yet successful management of the Nile is critical for development and political stability in the region. For this reason, improved hydrological data to support cooperative water management in the Nile basin is a priority for USAID, the US State Department, the World Bank and other international organizations. In this project, the U.S. based research team is working with partners at RCMRD, Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), and their member national-level agencies to develop satellite-based land cover maps, satellite-derived evapotranspiration estimates (using the ALEXI algorithm), and NASA's Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS) customized to match identified information needs. The cornerstone applied sciences product of the project is the development of a customized "Nile LDAS" that will produce optimal estimates of hydrological states and fluxes, as vetted against the in situ observations of NBI and RCMRD member organizations and independent satellite-derived hydrological estimates. Nile LDAS will be applied to improve the reliability of emerging Decision Support Systems in applications that include drought monitoring, reservoir management, and irrigation planning. The end-users such as RCMRD, NBI, Ethiopian and Kenya Meteorological and Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNet) will be the eventual benefactors of this work. There will be a capacity building process involving the above end-user organizations and transfer the models and the results for these organizations to execute for future use. The team has already initiated this study and the early results of first years' work are shown. The plan is to complete this work by late 2013.

Habib, Shahid↗
NASA NTRS2003

Aerodynamics for Revolutionary Air Vehicles

Aeronautics research has seriously declined partly because of the perception that it is a mature science and only incremental improvements are possible. Recent aeronautics roadmapping activities at NASA Langley paint a different picture of the future. Breakthroughs are still felt to be possible if we expand the current design space of today's vehicles and optimize the airspace and vehicles as a system. The paper describes some of the challenges that the aircraft and airline industry face. These challenges include political, technical and environmental issues. Examples of the opportunities and technologies that could provide a different vision for the future are discussed.

Sellers, William L., III↗
NASA NTRS2010

Getting to First Flight: Equipping Space Engineers to Break the Start-Stop-Restart Cycle

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration s (NASA s) history is built on a foundation of can-do strength, while pointing to the Saturn/Apollo Moon missions in the 1960s and 1970s as its apex a sentiment that often overshadows the potential that lies ahead. The chronicle of America s civil space agenda is scattered with programs that got off to good starts with adequate resources and vocal political support but that never made it past a certain milestone review, General Accountability Office report, or Congressional budget appropriation. Over the decades since the fielding of the Space Shuttle in the early 1980s, a start-stop-restart cycle has intervened due to many forces. Despite this impediment, the workforce has delivered engineering feats such as the International Space Station and numerous Shuttle and science missions, which reflect a trend in the early days of the Exploration Age that called for massive infrastructure and matching capital allocations. In the new millennium, the aerospace industry must respond to transforming economic climates, the public will, national agendas, and international possibilities relative to scientific exploration beyond Earth s orbit. Two pressing issues - workforce transition and mission success - are intertwined. As this paper will address, U.S. aerospace must confront related workforce development and industrial base issues head on to take space exploration to the next level. This paper also will formulate specific strategies to equip space engineers to move beyond the seemingly constant start-stop-restart mentality to plan and execute flight projects that actually fly.

Singer, Christopher E.↗