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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 1,261 records · Page 70

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NASA NTRS1986

Teacher in Space Program - The challenge to education in the space age

An account is given of the significant events which occurred in the Teacher in Space Program following the Challenger Space Shuttle accident on January 28, 1986. The analysis indicates that the accident has not prevented the continuing effective implementation of the three educational goals of the Teacher in Space Program which are to: (1) raise the prestige of the teaching profession, (2) increase the awareness in the education community of the impact of technology and science on this country's future in preparing students for the future, and (3) use aeronautics and space as a catalyst to enhance all subject areas and grade levels of U.S. education systems.

Brown, R. W.↗

NASA NTRS1986

The international aerospace industry - New challenges and opportunities for translation suppliers

Attention is given to the recent trend toward internationalization in the aerospace industry and its effects on commercial and governmental translation programs. The aerospace industry, once dominated by organizations from a small number of countries, is now widely international in scope. In effect, there has been in increase in the demand for translations from German, Japanese, Chinese, French and Spanish source material while that for translation from Russian source material has remained constant. The impact of the Challenger disaster on aerospace translation programs is discussed as well as the impact of international participation in Space Station research.

Rowe, T.↗

NASA NTRS1986

A flight test challenge - Aeroassist for reuseable, space-based transportation

Attention is given to the challenges addressed by NASA in the development of reusable, space-based transportation systems which take advantage of aerobraking to achieve greater performance and overall efficiency. Aerobraking environmental factors associated with achieving higher energy reusable systems are outlined and the need for a coupled utilization of ground test capabilities and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is demonstrated. It is concluded that the certification of CFD capability to provide the aerodynamic performance and aerothermodynamic environment for an aerobraking orbital transfer vehicle would be of major significance for the design and development of future flight systems.

Ried, Robert C.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Opportunities and challenges in heat transfer - From the perspective of the government laboratory

The technological problems in which heat transfer research is required are briefly reviewed, discussing the role of the government laboratory in this research. The Hot Section Technology Program at NASA Lewis is addressed as an example. A building-block approach to turbine aerothermal research is shown, as is an interactive computational/experimental synergism and an interdisciplinary research methodology for life prediction of turbine engine hot-section components. The main issues for government laboratories as organizers and focusers in this area of research are listed, and challenges and opportunities for the future are indicated.

Simoneau, Robert J.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Lateral stability and control derivatives extracted from space shuttle Challenger flight data

Flight data taken from six flights of the Space Transportation System shuttle Challenger (STS-6, 7, 8, 11, 13 and 17) during atmospheric entry are analyzed to determine the shuttle lateral aerodynamic characteristics. Maximum likelihood estimation is applied to data derived from accelerometer and rate gyro measurements and trajectory, meteorological and control surface data to estimate lateral-directional stability and control derivatives. The vehicle stability and control surface effectiveness are compared across the flights and to preflight predicted values.

Schiess, James R.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Post-Challenger evaluation of space shuttle risk assessment and management

As the shock of the Space Shuttle Challenger accident began to subside, NASA initiated a wide range of actions designed to ensure greater safety in various aspects of the Shuttle system and an improved focus on safety throughout the National Space Transportation System (NSTS) Program. Certain specific features of the NASA safety process are examined: the Critical Items List (CIL) and the NASA review of the Shuttle primary and backup units whose failure might result in the loss of life, the Shuttle vehicle, or the mission; the failure modes and effects analyses (FMEA); and the hazard analysis and their review. The conception of modern risk management, including the essential element of objective risk assessment is described and it is contrasted with NASA's safety process in general terms. The discussion, findings, and recommendations regarding particular aspects of the NASA STS safety assurance process are reported. The 11 subsections each deal with a different aspect of the process. The main lessons learned by SCRHAAC in the course of the audit are summarized.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1988

An overview of current approaches and future challenges in physiological monitoring

Sufficient evidence exists from laboratory studies to suggest that physiological measures can be useful as an adjunct to behavioral and subjective measures of human performance and capabilities. Thus it is reasonable to address the conceptual and engineering challenges that arise in applying this technology in operational settings. Issues reviewed include the advantages and disadvantages of constructs such as mental states, the need for physiological measures of performance, areas of application for physiological measures in operational settings, which measures appear to be most useful, problem areas that arise in the use of these measures in operational settings, and directions for future development.

Horst, Richard L.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Challenges of physiological monitoring in a Navy operational setting

Challenges to physiological monitoring in the Navy include environmental extremes, acceptance of use by test subjects, data transfer, data interpretation, and capability of relating collected data to valid operational relevant criterion measures. These problems are discussed with respect to diving, electrophysiological monitoring, in-flight monitoring, aircrew fatigue, in-flight cardiac stress, and in-flight monitoring devices.

Banta, Guy R.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The challenges and opportunities of supersonic transport propulsion technology

The major challenges confronting the propulsion community for civil supersonic transport applications are identified: high propulsion system efficiency at both supersonic and subsonic cruise conditions, low-cost fuel with adequate thermal stability at high temperatures, low noise cycles and exhaust systems, low emission combustion systems, and low drag installations. Both past progress and future opportunities are discussed in relation to perceived technology shortfalls for an economically successful airplane that satisfies environmental constraints.

Strack, William C.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Flying Qualities Research Challenges

Traditional flying qualities requirements for airplane dynamics are based on airplane modal response characteristics derived from linear small-perturbation analysis. These requirements are supported by a large experimental data base. The challenge to the flying qualities community is to demonstrate how flying qualities, the control system and aircraft configuration are still closely linked. This is evident in the definition of flying qualities and, as far as pilots are concerned, that flying qualities are still the measure of overall design success.

Steven M Sliwa↗

NASA NTRS1987

Space 2000: Meeting the challenge of a new era

The focus of the present book is on the variety of past and future human activities in space. NASA's response to the Challenger explosion is discussed and an overview is given of the agency's relations with foreign competitors in the 1980s. The practical uses of space are described with attention given to communications satellites, the orbital high ground (weather watching, spying, and SDI), earth science, and materials processing in space. Other topics include the exploration of the near and distant universe, and permanent stations in space and on the moon.

Shipman, Harry L.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The challenges and opportunities of supersonic transport propulsion technology

Strack, William C.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Using Ada: The deeper challenges

The Ada programming language and the associated Ada Programming Support Environment (APSE) and Ada Run Time Environment (ARTE) provide the potential for significant life-cycle cost reductions in computer software development and maintenance activities. The Ada programming language itself is standardized, trademarked, and controlled via formal validation procedures. Though compilers are not yet production-ready as most would desire, the technology for constructing them is sufficiently well known and understood that time and money should suffice to correct current deficiencies. The APSE and ARTE are, on the other hand, significantly newer issues within most software development and maintenance efforts. Currently, APSE and ARTE are highly dependent on differing implementer concepts, strategies, and market objectives. Complex and sophisticated mission-critical computing systems require the use of a complete Ada-based capability, not just the programming language itself; yet the range of APSE and ARTE features which must actually be utilized can vary significantly from one system to another. As a consequence, the need to understand, objectively evaluate, and select differing APSE and ARTE capabilities and features is critical to the effective use of Ada and the life-cycle efficiencies it is intended to promote. It is the selection, collection, and understanding of APSE and ARTE which provide the deeper challenges of using Ada for real-life mission-critical computing systems. Some of the current issues which must be clarified, often on a case-by-case basis, in order to successfully realize the full capabilities of Ada are discussed.

Feinberg, David A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Computational aeroelasticity challenges and resources

In the past decade, there has been much activity in the development of computational methods for the analysis of unsteady transonic aerodynamics about airfoils and wings. Significant features are illustrated which must be addressed in the treatment of computational transonic unsteady aerodynamics. The flow regimes for an aircraft on a plot of lift coefficient vs. Mach number are indicated. The sequence of events occurring in air combat maneuvers are illustrated. And further features of transonic flutter are illustrated. Also illustrated are several types of aeroelastic response which were encountered and which offer challenges for computational methods. The four cases illustrate problem areas encountered near the boundaries of aircraft envelopes, as operating condition change from high speed, low angle conditions to lower speed, higher angle conditions.

Edwards, John W.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Flight telerobot mechanism design: Problems and challenges

Problems and challenges of designing flight telerobot mechanisms are discussed. Specific experiences are drawn from the following system developments: (1) the Force Reflecting Hand Controller, (2) the Smart End Effector, (3) the force-torque sensor, and a generic multi-degrees-of-freedom manipulator.

Dahlgren, John B.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Unique research challenges for high-speed civil transports

Market growth and technological advances are expected to lead to a generation of long-range transports that cruise at supersonic or even hypersonic speeds. Current NASA/industry studies will define the market windows in terms of time frame, Mach number, and technology requirements for these aircraft. Initial results indicate that, for the years 2000 to 2020, economically attractive vehicles could have a cruise speed up to Mach 6. The resulting research challenges are unique. They must be met with technologies that will produce commercially successful and environmentally compatible vehicles where none have existed. Several important areas of research were identified for the high-speed civil transports. Among these are sonic boom, takeoff noise, thermal management, lightweight structures with long life, unique propulsion concepts, unconventional fuels, and supersonic laminar flow.

Jackson, Charlie M., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Space Station assembly sequence planning - An engineering and operational challenge

This paper discusses the Space Station assembly sequence planning and development process. It presents the planning methodologies from both historial and current perspectives. It is shown that planning the assembly sequence is a new and unique challenge and its solution requires the simultaneous satisfaction of many diverse variables and constants. The considerations which influence the development of the assembly sequence include launch vehicle integration and lift capabilities, on-orbit assembly flight operations, vehicle flight dynamics, spacecraft system capabilities and resource availability. Many of these considerations are described in this paper. In addition, the examples presented demonstrate the current process for assembly sequence planning and show many of the complex trade-offs that must be performed.

Kaidy, James T.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Mars Rover Sample Return mission delivery and return challenges

The Mars Rover Sample Return mission is a robotic exploration mission culminating in the return of atmospheric and surface samples from Mars to Earth. To accomplish this complex mission requires sophisticated autonomous systems for many time-critical operations associated with the delivery and return phases, since the round trip light times preclude Earth-based control of these operations. In addition, there are significant engineering and technology challenges to be addressed to meet the mission science and exploration objectives.

Cohen, Aaron↗