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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2012

NASA's Space Launch System: A Flagship for Exploration Beyond Earth's Orbit

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Launch System (SLS) Program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is making progress toward delivering a new capability for exploration beyond Earth orbit in an austere economic climate. This fact drives the SLS team to find innovative solutions to the challenges of designing, developing, fielding, and operating the largest rocket in history. To arrive at the current SLS plan, government and industry experts carefully analyzed hundreds of architecture options and arrived at the one clear solution to stringent requirements for safety, affordability, and sustainability over the decades that the rocket will be in operation. This paper will explore ways to fit this major development within the funding guidelines by using existing engine assets and hardware now in testing to meet a first launch by 2017. It will explain the SLS Program s long-range plan to keep the budget within bounds, yet evolve the 70 metric ton (t) initial lift capability to 130-t lift capability after the first two flights. To achieve the evolved configuration, advanced technologies must offer appropriate return on investment to be selected through a competitive process. For context, the SLS will be larger than the Saturn V that took 12 men on 6 trips for a total of 11 days on the lunar surface over 4 decades ago. Astronauts train for long-duration voyages on the International Space Station, but have not had transportation to go beyond Earth orbit in modern times, until now. NASA is refining its mission manifest, guided by U.S. Space Policy and the Global Exploration Roadmap. Launching the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle s (MPCV s) first autonomous certification flight in 2017, followed by a crewed flight in 2021, the SLS will offer a robust way to transport international crews and the air, water, food, and equipment they need for extended trips to asteroids, Lagrange Points, and Mars. In addition, the SLS will accommodate high-priority science experiments. SLS affordability initiatives include streamlining interfaces, applying risk-based insight into contracted work, centralizing systems engineering and integration, and nurturing a learning culture that continually benchmarks its performance against successful ventures. As this paper will explain, the SLS is making measurable progress toward becoming a global infrastructure asset for robotic and human scouts of all nations by harnessing business and technological innovations to deliver sustainable solutions for space exploration.

May, Todd A.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Research Needs in Electrostatics for Lunar and Mars Space Missions

The new space exploratory vision announced by President Bush on January 14, 2004, initiated new activities at the National Science and Space Administration (NASA) for human space missions to further explore our solar system. NASA is undertaking Lunar exploration to support sustained human and robotic exploration of Mars and beyond. A series of robotic missions to the Moon by 2008 to prepare for human exploration as early as 2015 but no later than 2020 are anticipated. In a similar way, missions to the Moon and Mars are being planned in Europe, Japan and Russia. These space missions will require international participation to solve problems in a number of important technological areas where research is needed, including biomedical risk mitigation as well as life support and habitability on the surface of Mars. Mitigation of dust hazards is one of the most important problems to be resolved for both Lunar and Mars missions. Both Lunar and Martian regolith are unique materials and completely different from the terrestrial soils that we are exposed to on earth. The total absence of water and an atmosphere on the moon and the formation of soil and fine dust by micrometeorite impacts over billions of years resulted in a layer of soil with unique properties. The soil is primarily basaltic in composition with a high glass concentration. The depth of the soil layer varies from a few meters in the mare areas (dark areas on the Lunar near side) to tens of meters in the highland areas (the lighter mountainous areas) and the particle size distribution of this dust layer varies widely with a major mass fraction less than 10 micrometer in diameter. The hard soil from the moon which has been extensively studied by several researchers showed clearly unique properties of Lunar soil. Apollo astronauts became aware of the potentially serious threat to crew health and mission hardware that can be caused by the lunar dust. As reported by McKay and Carrier the mass fraction of the lunar dust with particle diameter smaller than 20p.m probably represents up to 30% of the total mass of regolith. Apollo astronaut Dr. Harrison Schmidt reported that these fine dust particles were clinging to the Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits and to the visors and were limiting the activity on the surface of the moon. The dust particles that were transported with the EVA suits into the lunar module floated throughout the cabin. Crews inhaled the dust particles and noted that they smelled like gun smoke, caused a chocking sensation in the throat and eye irritation. In addition,, some of the mechanical systems were not functioning well because of the dust deposition. It appeared that the dust particles are highly charged electrostatically and Dr. Schmidt noted that future successful Lunar missions will require appropriate dust mitigation technology for protecting astronauts from inhaling toxic particles and mission's life supporting equipment from contamination with the dust particles.

Calle, Carlos I.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Unmanned solar systems exploration - An arena for international cooperation

Mission profiles for a Mars Surface Sample Return (MSSR) mission are considered. A profile using separate launches for a lander/ascent module and an orbiter/return system could use present technology and is appropriate for international cooperation. The achievement of clean interfaces between major building blocks and ease of controlling back contamination are advantages offered by the concept. A spatially distributed surface sample could be obtained by using multiple landers delivering samples to a common orbiter. The Pioneer Venus program, originally planned as a cooperative NASA-ESRO project, resulted in development of a standardized spacecraft bus yielding benefits at minimized cost. The first joint US-European planetary mission now planned is the launch of a Pioneer class orbiter to Jupiter in 1980. Feasibility studies are being conducted.

Herman, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Program definition and assessment overview

The implementation of a program level assessment of thermal energy storage technology thrusts for the near and far term to assure overall coherent energy storage program is considered. The identification and definition of potential thermal energy storage applications, definition of technology requirements, and appropriate market sectors are discussed along with the necessary coordination, planning, and preparation associated with program reviews, workshops, multi-year plans and annual operating plans for the major laboratory tasks.

Gordon, L. H.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Planetary Data Workshop, Part 1

The community of planetary scientists addresses two general problems regarding planetary science data: (1) important data sets are being permanently lost; and (2) utilization is constrainted by difficulties in locating and accessing science data and supporting information necessary for its use. A means to correct the problems, provide science and functional requirements for a systematic and phased approach, and suggest technologies and standards appropriate to the solution were explored.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1988

Information transfer in the National Airspace System

An informal overview is given of the work in progress and the planned work in the area of information transfer that specifically addresses human factors issues in National Airspace System (NAS). The issues of how weather information will be displayed on the flight deck, the development of appropriate decision making technology, and digital datalink transmission are also briefly discussed.

Lee, Alfred T.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Turnaround Operations Analysis for OTV. Volume 3: Technology Development Plan

An integrated technology development plan for the technologies required to process both GBOTVs and SBOTVs are described. The plan includes definition of the tests and experiments to be accomplished on the ground, in a Space Shuttle Sortie Mission, on an Expendable Launch Vehicle, or at the Space Station as a Technology Development Mission (TDM). The plan reflects and accommodates current and projected research and technology programs where appropriate.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1989

Structures for remotely deployable precision antennas

There is a need for completely deployable large antenna reflectors capable of efficiently handling millimeter-wave electromagnetic radiation. The structural concepts and technologies that are appropriate to fully automated deployment of dish-type antennas with solid reflector surfaces were studied. First, the structural requirements are discussed. Then, existing concepts for fully deployable antennas are described and assessed relative to the requirements. Finally, several analyses are presented that evaluate the effects of beam steering and segmented reflector design on the accuracy of the antenna.

Hedgepeth, John M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

OAST space research and technology applications: Technology transfer successes

The ultimate measure of success in the Space Research and Technology Program is the incorporation of a technology into an operational mission. Charts are presented that describe technology products which OAST has helped support that (1) have been used in a space mission, (2) have been incorporated into the baseline design of a flight system in the development phase, or (3) have been picked up by a commercial or other non-NASA user. We hope that these examples will demonstrate the value of investment in technology. Pictured on the charts are illustrations of the technology product, the mission or user which has incorporated the technology, and where appropriate, results from the mission itself.

Reck, Gregory M.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Rule induction techniques

Expert System technology is receiving more and more consideration these days when it comes time for selecting an implementation paradigm. As people become educated as to which domains Expert Systems technology can be appropriately utilized and to what extent this capability can be made useful, they will want to extend this ability to encompass greater responsibilities of their everyday routines. Knowledge Acquisition is one of the most time-consuming phases of an Expert System development process. One must extract the essential knowledge from a source by whatever means, and transform this knowledge into a representation that can be demonstrated. Rule Induction is one technique that can be applied to the knowledge acquisition process for certain example-based problems. Spread Sheets and Data Bases for example, may contain columns of information (criteria) to be used in some sort of decision making policy. These criteria could automatically be converted (represented) into production rules that output an appropriate decision dependent upon a given set of criteria. To generalize this concept, we could state that Rule Induction is the process of generating a Knowledge Base from a given set of examples. Through the use of Rule Induction, I will explain how I took information from a database and generated rules encapsulating the information contained within the database.

Young, Gary B.↗
NASA NTRS1996

NAVSTAR Global Positioning System. (Latest citations from the Aerospace Database)

The bibliography contains citations concerning the global system of navigation satellites developed to provide immediate and accurate worldwide three-dimensional positioning by air, land, and sea vehicles equipped with appropriate receiving equipment. Technological forecasting, reliability, performance tests, and evaluations are discussed. Developments and applications of the NAVSTAR system are included. (Contains 50-250 citations and includes a subject term index and title list.)

NAVIGATION↗
NASA NTRS1998

NAVSTAR Global Positioning System. (Latest citations from the Aerospace Database)

The bibliography contains citations concerning the global system of navigation satellites developed to provide immediate and accurate worldwide three-dimensional positioning by air, land, and sea vehicles equipped with appropriate receiving equipment. Technological forecasting, reliability, performance tests, and evaluations are discussed. Developments and applications of the NAVSTAR system are included.(Contains 50-250 citations and includes a subject term index and title list.)

BIBLIOGRAPHIES↗
NASA NTRS2000

Welcome to the NASA High Performance Computing and Communications Computational Aerosciences (CAS) Workshop 2000

The purpose of the CAS workshop is to bring together NASA's scientists and engineers and their counterparts in industry, other government agencies, and academia working in the Computational Aerosciences and related fields. This workshop is part of the technology transfer plan of the NASA High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Program. Specific objectives of the CAS workshop are to: (1) communicate the goals and objectives of HPCC and CAS, (2) promote and disseminate CAS technology within the appropriate technical communities, including NASA, industry, academia, and other government labs, (3) help promote synergy among CAS and other HPCC scientists, and (4) permit feedback from peer researchers on issues facing High Performance Computing in general and the CAS project in particular. This year we had a number of exciting presentations in the traditional aeronautics, aerospace sciences, and high-end computing areas and in the less familiar (to many of us affiliated with CAS) earth science, space science, and revolutionary computing areas. Presentations of more than 40 high quality papers were organized into ten sessions and presented over the three-day workshop. The proceedings are organized here for easy access: by author, title and topic.

Schulbach, Catherine H.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Tuning CAS Application using AIMS: An Automated Instrumentation and Monitoring System

To bring together NASA's scientists and engineers and their counterparts in industry, other government agencies, and academia working in the Computational AeroSciences (CAS) field. This workshop is part of the technology transfer plan of the High Performance Computing and Communications Program (HPCCP). Specific objectives of this Workshop are to: (1) communicate the goals and objectives of HPCCP in the area of CAS; (2) promote and disseminate CAS technology within the appropriate technical communities, including NASA, industry, academia, and other government labs; (3) help promote synergy among CAS scientists; and (4) permit feedback from peer researchers in issues pacing the CAS field in general and the HPCCP CAS program in particular.

Mehra, P.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Technology Challenges for Deep-Throttle Cryogenic Engines for Space Exploration

Historically, cryogenic rocket engines have not been used for in-space applications due to their additional complexity, the mission need for high reliability, and the challenges of propellant boil-off. While the mission and vehicle architectures are not yet defined for the lunar and Martian robotic and human exploration objectives, cryogenic rocket engines offer the potential for higher performance and greater architecture/mission flexibility. In-situ cryogenic propellant production could enable a more robust exploration program by significantly reducing the propellant mass delivered to low earth orbit, thus warranting the evaluation of cryogenic rocket engines versus the hypergolic bi-propellant engines used in the Apollo program. A multi-use engine. one which can provide the functionality that separate engines provided in the Apollo mission architecture, is desirable for lunar and Mars exploration missions because it increases overall architecture effectiveness through commonality and modularity. The engine requirement derivation process must address each unique mission application and each unique phase within each mission. The resulting requirements, such as thrust level, performance, packaging, bum duration, number of operations; required impulses for each trajectory phase; operation after extended space or surface exposure; availability for inspection and maintenance; throttle range for planetary descent, ascent, acceleration limits and many more must be addressed. Within engine system studies, the system and component technology, capability, and risks must be evaluated and a balance between the appropriate amount of technology-push and technology-pull must be addressed. This paper will summarize many of the key technology challenges associated with using high-performance cryogenic liquid propellant rocket engine systems and components in the exploration program architectures. The paper is divided into two areas. The first area describes how the mission requirements affect the engine system requirements and create system level technology challenges. An engine system architecture for multiple applications or a family of engines based upon a set of core technologies, design, and fabrication approaches may reduce overall programmatic cost and risk. The engine system discussion will also address the characterization of engine cycle figures of merit, configurations, and design approaches for some in-space vehicle alternatives under consideration. The second area evaluates the component-level technology challenges induced from the system requirements. Component technology issues are discussed addressing injector, thrust chamber, ignition system, turbopump assembly, and valve design for the challenging requirements of high reliability, robustness, fault tolerance, deep throttling, reasonable performance (with respect to weight and specific impulse).

Brown, Kendall K.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Clear Speaking about Machines: People are Exploring Mars, Not Robots

The primary responsibility of all scientists is to ensure the integrity of their work. For cognitive and social scientists, this means first and foremost preserving clarity about what we know about people, and not allowing descriptions of technology to demean or obscure the reality of how people think, behave, and live. Without this clarity, engineering requirements analyses, tool design, and evaluations of people will be confused. A sharp, uncompromising understanding about the nature of people is essential if we are to design and fit new technologies that are appropriate and successful for NASA's mission operations.

Clancey, William J.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Actuated Hybrid Mirror Telescope

The figure depicts the planned Actuated Hybrid Mirror Telescope (AHMT), which is intended to demonstrate a new approach to the design and construction of wide-aperture spaceborne telescopes for astronomy and Earth science. This technology is also appropriate for Earth-based telescopes. The new approach can be broadly summarized as using advanced lightweight mirrors that can be manufactured rapidly at relatively low cost. More specifically, it is planned to use precise replicated metallic nanolaminate mirrors to obtain the required high-quality optical finishes. Lightweight, dimensionally stable silicon carbide (SiC) structures will support the nanolaminate mirrors in the required surface figures. To enable diffraction- limited telescope performance, errors in surface figures will be corrected by use of mirror-shape-control actuators that will be energized, as needed, by a wave-front-sensing and control system. The concepts of nanolaminate materials and mirrors made from nanolaminate materials were discussed in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles. Nanolaminates constitute a relatively new class of materials that can approach theoretical limits of stiffness and strength. Nanolaminate mirrors are synthesized by magnetron sputter deposition of metallic alloys and/or compounds on optically precise master surfaces to obtain optical-quality reflector surfaces backed by thin shell structures. As an integral part of the deposition process, a layer of gold that will constitute the reflective surface layer is deposited first, eliminating the need for a subsequent and separate reflective-coating process. The crystallographic textures of the nanolaminate will be controlled to optimize the performance of the mirror. The entire deposition process for making a nanolaminate mirror takes less than 100 hours, regardless of the mirror diameter. Each nanolaminate mirror will be bonded to its lightweight SiC supporting structure. The lightweight nanolaminate mirrors and SiC supporting structures will be fabricated from reusable master molds. The mirror-shape-control actuators will be low-power, high-capacitance lead magnesium niobate electrostrictive actuators that will be embedded in the SiC structures. The mode of operation of these actuators will be such that once power was applied, they will change in length and once power was removed, they will maintain dimensional stability to nanometer precision. This mode of operation will enable the use of low-power, minimally complex electronic control circuitry. The wave-front-sensing and control system will be designed and built according to a two-stage architecture. The first stage will be implemented by a Shack- Hartmann (SH) sensor subsystem, which will provide a large capture range. The second, higher-performance stage will be implemented by an image-based wave-front-sensing subsystem that will include a phase-retrieval camera (PRC), and will utilize phase retrieval and other techniques to measure wavefront error directly. Phase retrieval is a process in which multiple images of an unresolved object are iterated to estimate the phase of the optical system that acquired the images. The combination of SH and phase-retrieval sensors will afford the virtues of both a dynamic range of 105 and an accuracy of <10 nm.

Hickey, Gregory↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA's Space Launch System: Affordability for Sustainability

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Launch System (SLS) Program, managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center, is charged with delivering a new capability for human exploration beyond Earth orbit in an austere economic climate. But the SLS value is clear and codified in United States (U.S.) budget law. The SLS Program knows that affordability is the key to sustainability and will provide an overview of initiatives designed to fit within the funding guidelines by using existing engine assets and hardware now in testing to meet a first launch by 2017 within the projected budget. It also has a long-range plan to keep the budget flat, yet evolve the 70-tonne (t) initial lift capability to 130-t lift capability after the first two flights. To achieve the evolved configuration, advanced technologies must offer appropriate return on investment to be selected through the competitive process. For context, the SLS will be larger than the Saturn V that took 12 men on 6 trips for a total of 11 days on the lunar surface some 40 years ago. Astronauts train for long-duration voyages on platforms such as the International Space Station, but have not had transportation to go beyond Earth orbit in modern times, until now. To arrive at the launch vehicle concept, the SLS Program conducted internal engineering and business studies that have been externally validated by industry and reviewed by independent assessment panels. In parallel with SLS concept studies, NASA is now refining its mission manifest, guided by U.S. space policy and the Global Exploration Roadmap, which reflects the mutual goals of a dozen member nations. This mission planning will converge with a flexible heavy-lift rocket that can carry international crews and the air, water, food, and equipment they need for extended trips to asteroids and Mars. In addition, the SLS capability will accommodate very large science instruments and other payloads, using a series of modular fairings and adapters to configure the rocket for the mission. The SLS affordability plan includes streamlining interfaces, applying risk-based insight into contracted work, centralizing systems engineering and integration, and nurturing a learning culture where the question Why? is often asked and the answer "Because we've always done it that way" is rarely heard. The SLS Program will deliver affordable space transportation solutions for the Orion Multi-Purpose Cargo Vehicle s first autonomous certification flight in 2017, followed by a crewed flight in 2021. As this briefing will show, the SLS will offer a global infrastructure asset for robotic and human scouts of all nations.

May, Todd A.↗