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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2018

Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration - 3 (ATD-3) Dynamic Weather Routes Domestic En Route Concept of Operations Synopsis Version 1.0

NASA conducted a survey in 2015 of stakeholders in industry, flight operators, and others to collect data on the most pressing air traffic management (ATM) issues impacting en route operations. Weather related delays and interruptions were identified as the most significant and costly problem impacting en route operations in today's system. Additionally, future traffic demands will place greater demands on the FAA's air traffic control system, necessitate a more efficient and integrated traffic management system and provide controller tools to leverage human productivity. Consequently, NASA is assembling a suite of integrated ground and aircraft-based technologies and decision-making aids under the Airspace Technology Demonstrations 3 (ATD-3) project to continuously search for more efficient weather-avoidance routes and to rapidly respond to weather changes and associated traffic management initiatives. These route efficiency enhancements are targeted at en route airspace and will enable continued use of en route and arrival metering in the presence of weather. NASA's Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) concept represents a subset of those technologies and focuses primarily on the cruise phase of flight. It leverages existing air traffic weather, airspace, and traffic data, as well as improvements in navigation, surveillance, communication and digital network technologies, and builds upon existing ATM automation to address the shortcomings associated with strategic traffic flow management initiatives and weather forecasting uncertainties. The potential benefits in the form of time, fuel, and cost savings are significant. This concept of operations synopsis provides a detailed description of DWR, its potential benefits and notional implementation paths.

DWR↗
NASA NTRS2005

Automated Wildfire Detection Through Artificial Neural Networks

Wildfires have a profound impact upon the biosphere and our society in general. They cause loss of life, destruction of personal property and natural resources and alter the chemistry of the atmosphere. In response to the concern over the consequences of wildland fire and to support the fire management community, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) located in Camp Springs, Maryland gradually developed an operational system to routinely monitor wildland fire by satellite observations. The Hazard Mapping System, as it is known today, allows a team of trained fire analysts to examine and integrate, on a daily basis, remote sensing data from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite sensors and generate a 24 hour fire product for the conterminous United States. Although assisted by automated fire detection algorithms, N O M has not been able to eliminate the human element from their fire detection procedures. As a consequence, the manually intensive effort has prevented NOAA from transitioning to a global fire product as urged particularly by climate modelers. NASA at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland is helping N O M more fully automate the Hazard Mapping System by training neural networks to mimic the decision-making process of the frre analyst team as well as the automated algorithms.

Miller, Jerry↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Comparison of Adverse Meteorology Inputs for Emergency Management and Safety Basis Dispersion Modeling Applications at SRS

The MELCOR Accident Consequence Calculation System (MACCS), used for safety basis accident analyses at SRS, implements adjustment factors to consider the increased vertical turbulence associated with local surface roughness and the increased lateral turbulence associated with time-based plume meander. The two models used for SRS emergency planning radiological consequence assessment, i.e., Hotspot and Puff/Plume, currently do not have an option to input or apply diffusion adjustments for meander or surface roughness. Adverse meteorology conditions at SRS have been determined as E stability class and 1.3 meters per second wind speed for ground level releases. This is the input used for emergency planning models. Contrastingly safety basis analyses use a different input, representing adverse meteorology values as F stability class and wind speeds of 1.3 meters per second (for a ground level release). This results in an apparent discrepancy between the two approaches. In this report we document the differing modeling assumptions, discuss the logic behind each modeling approach used to represent local roughness and plume meander conditions, and numerically compare dispersion coefficients and concentration estimates obtained from each set of model inputs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Threat Landscape for BESS and IBR

The cyber risk landscape for BESS and IBR can be broken up by threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences for these systems. This presentation walks through the cyber risk landscape for BESS through the lens of consequence-informed awareness and mitigation for each risk factor. Threats with varying capabilities have been demonstrated in real-world events. Though threat actors can rarely be directly influenced by organizations, exposure of systems to adversaries can be limited (a known issue with IBR systems) to reduce likelihood of adversaries accessing systems with disruptive consequences. Common trends in disclosed IBR vulnerabilities include weak password generation or managements for various devices or services and web portal vulnerabilities that provide unauthorized access to data or capabilities or elevated user privileges. Understanding these common vulnerabilities and considering the consequences if these types of vulnerabilities were to occur can help mitigate risk. Consequences range from loss-of-view events that have no reliability impact to asset damage or grid stability impacts. Five case studies are briefly shared to highlight trends in real-world events affecting IBR.

14 - SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Assessing the Potential for Inadvertent Human Intrusion at the Area 3 and Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Sites on the Nevada National Security Site, Nye County, Nevada

This paper recommends an approach to inadvertent human intrusion (IHI) at the Area 3 and Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Sites (RWMSs) on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). IHI analysis uses the consequences of an individual inadvertently contacting buried waste to set waste concentration limits for near-surface disposal of low-level radioactive waste (LLW). Regulatory agencies are increasingly applying risk-informed decision-making to LLW waste management (NRC 2006). Risk-informed decision-making combines scientific risk assessment with stakeholder values and perceptions to determine a level of acceptable risk. Risk considers not only the consequences of an event, but also its probability of occurring.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Human Systems Risk Network - A Ranking Analysis of Risks

INTRODUCTION The Human Systems Risk Board (HSRB) is responsible for understanding, managing, and mitigating the risks associated with spaceflight. For a particular mission, the HSRB assigns each human system risk a rating on a 5x5 grid assessing its likelihood and consequence, which is ultimately used to compare and rank the risks. The HSRB approaches risk management by primarily establishing the context of each human system risk individually with the understanding that mitigating one risk might affect the likelihood, consequence, and mitigation approaches of another. To support this effort the HSRB, subject matter experts, and risk custodian teams created directed acyclic graphs (DAG), often called a causal graph, for the twenty-nine risks. In this presentation, we propose a new ranking algorithm for the risks which includes the downstream influence of each risk according to the information in the DAGs and provide an application of graph theoretic tools. METHODS In 2014, Mindock and Klaus proposed a taxonomy for human system risk influences which we have adopted to categorize the nodes in each DAG. Analyzing the nodes that correspond to the risks in this taxonomy allows us to analyze and understand how each risk influences the others. We construct an auxiliary network, which we call the Primary Risk Network (PRN), where the nodes are the twenty-nine space flight risks and, a directed edge connects Risk A to Risk B if Risk A has some influence on the likelihood or consequence of Risk B as described in the DAGS. We perform a variety of graph theoretic ranking methods on the nodes (or risks) in the PRN, including Katz centrality. RESULTS We rank the nodes in the PRN using the Katz centrality score. The ten risks with the highest score are pictured in Figure 1, colored (light to dark) according to their score. We analyze other centrality measures like betweenness centrality, eigenvector centrality, and the Estrada index, and provide the meaning of the corresponding rankings in terms of the risks. Future work includes analyzing the other categories in the taxonomy defined by Mindock and Klaus [1]. For example, we are interested in analyzing the nodes that are labeled as countermeasures or capabilities and perform similar analysis to measure their effect on certain medical conditions.

dag↗
DOE OSTI2025

High‐Performance Rechargeable Lithium‐Chlorine Batteries with ALD Conformal Starburst Porous Graphene Positive Electrodes

Abstract Rechargeable alkali metal‐chlorine batteries are emerging as a promising high‐energy‐density solution. However, they confront significant challenges, including the primary issue stemming from the weak binding affinity of cathode materials for Cl 2 , which leads to a sluggish and inadequate supply of Cl 2 during the redox reactions, resulting in a shortened cycle life and low Coulombic efficiency (CE), particularly when operating at ultrahigh specific capacity outputs. Herein, an Al 2 O 3 ‐skinned heterostructured starburst porous graphene with conformal metasurfaces (Al 2 O 3 @rGO) is reported, crafted from a hierarchical porous starburst graphene arranged in a unique layered structure by the PTFE microemulsion skin effect, leveraging subsequent fluidized bed atomic layer deposition (FBALD) of Al 2 O 3 groups. Al 2 O 3 @rGO features superhydrophilicity, effective adsorption, fast kinetics from stable dynamic respiratory interface, high electrical and thermal conductivity anisotropy, intelligent thermal management and safe operation over a wide temperature range. Consequently, the Li‐Cl 2 @Al 2 O 3 @rGO battery achieves an ultrahigh discharge specific capacity of 5000 mAh g −1 at ≈100% CE, and even delivers stable cycling over 200 cycles with 2000 mAh g −1 at an average CE of 99.8% under low temperature environment of ‐40 °C. The scalable heterostructure approach offers a sustainable perspective of the development of functionalized metamaterials and metasurfaces for next‐generation safe and energy‐dense batteries and broader applications.

Chemistry↗
DOE OSTI2025

POWER ELECTRONICS GRID TIED SYSTEM FINAL REPORT

Across the country, electric utilities are grappling with the persistent hurdles of integrating Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). Managing these assets safely and effectively is a complex endeavor, complicated by varying ownership structures, management philosophies, and the diversity of the technologies themselves. Consequently, the industry has seen a proliferation of bespoke system designs, control strategies, and communication frameworks—forcing utilities to spend significant time and resources developing one-off integration solutions. This project addressed these integration hurdles through a scalable demonstration of intelligent devices designed to coordinate and control diverse resources in low-voltage applications. This concept minimized the need for complex integration by transforming the separate DERs into a dispatchable virtual power plant (VPP) with integrated resiliency functions (called a Node). By collaborating with a utility partner, the project focused on developing rapidly implementable use cases that bridged the gap between theoretical control and real-world deployment

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
NASA NTRS2004

A Simple, Scalable, Script-based Science Processor

The production of Earth Science data from orbiting spacecraft is an activity that takes place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At the Goddard Earth Sciences Distributed Active Archive Center (GES DAAC), this results in as many as 16,000 program executions each day, far too many to be run by human operators. In fact, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was launched aboard the Terra spacecraft in 1999, the automated commercial system for running science processing was able to manage no more than 4,000 executions per day. Consequently, the GES DAAC developed a lightweight system based on the popular Per1 scripting language, named the Simple, Scalable, Script-based Science Processor (S4P). S4P automates science processing, allowing operators to focus on the rare problems occurring from anomalies in data or algorithms. S4P has been reused in several systems ranging from routine processing of MODIS data to data mining and is publicly available from NASA.

Lynnes, Christopher↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Combinatorial Auction-Based Strategic Deconfliction of Federated UTM Airspace

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become commonly used to perform a wide range of commercial activities such as cinematography and medical supply delivery. Consequently, regulators have become interested in designing UAV Traffic Management systems (UTMs) to coordinate UAV traffic among a collection of UAV operators. One framework which has been recently proposed for a UTM system is a combinatorial auction. In this framework, airspace is modelled as a 4D grid of space-time cells. UAV operators bid on cells which collectively form paths for their UAVs. Ideally, an airspace auction should reveal information about the current price of flight paths to bidders, allowing bidders to identify and bid on a select number of paths instead of placing as many bids as possible in the hopes of stumbling on a cheap path. Revealing too much information, however, can allow bad actors to place bids which are intended not to win but to raise the price that a rival bidder must pay. We address these twin challenges with a new information revelation framework which provides bidders with wide-ranging pricing information while suppressing bad actors. We evaluate our framework on scenarios based on a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) case study and find that it can scale to thousands of bids.

Christopher J C Leet↗
NASA NTRS2004

Formal Verification of a Conflict Resolution and Recovery Algorithm

New air traffic management concepts distribute the duty of traffic separation among system participants. As a consequence, these concepts have a greater dependency and rely heavily on on-board software and hardware systems. One example of a new on-board capability in a distributed air traffic management system is air traffic conflict detection and resolution (CD&R). Traditional methods for safety assessment such as human-in-the-loop simulations, testing, and flight experiments may not be sufficient for this highly distributed system as the set of possible scenarios is too large to have a reasonable coverage. This paper proposes a new method for the safety assessment of avionics systems that makes use of formal methods to drive the development of critical systems. As a case study of this approach, the mechanical veri.cation of an algorithm for air traffic conflict resolution and recovery called RR3D is presented. The RR3D algorithm uses a geometric optimization technique to provide a choice of resolution and recovery maneuvers. If the aircraft adheres to these maneuvers, they will bring the aircraft out of conflict and the aircraft will follow a conflict-free path to its original destination. Veri.cation of RR3D is carried out using the Prototype Verification System (PVS).

Maddalon, Jeffrey↗
NASA NTRS1994

Orbital management and design considerations for NiCd satellite power systems

Several recently manufactured 50 and 60 ampere hour aerospace NiCd battery cell lots, produced by Gates Aerospace Batteries, are prone to premature on orbit performance degradation. The failure mechanism is cadmium migration, and the consequent development of soft shorts. A Martin Marietta Astronautics satellite program instituted an orbital management strategy for a set of these batteries that reduced the rate of degradation and brought the system to stable operation. This strategy involves: (1) minimizing the accumulated battery overcharge; (2) regular discharge exercises; and (3) periodic battery reconditioning. Because of changes in the NiCd cell manufacturing process, the actual performance of subsequent lots of NiCd cells is open to question. Future NiCd based power system designs should therefore allow for fine control of charge parameters, and an on orbit battery reconditioning capability. To minimize risk, it is much better to perform a full life test to qualify the cells before launch, rather than in parallel with orbital operations. If there are any changes in the manufacturing process of cells, it is extremely important to maintain very strong cognizance of secondary subcontractors, recognizing that the cell and battery manufacturing discipline is easily atrophied.

Tausch, Benjamin J., II↗
NASA NTRS1997

SNAP: Simulating New Acquisition Processes

Simulation models of acquisition processes range in scope from isolated applications to the 'Big Picture' captured by SNAP technology. SNAP integrates a family of models to portray the full scope of acquisition planning and management activities, including budgeting, scheduling, testing and risk analysis. SNAP replicates the dynamic management processes that underlie design, production and life-cycle support. SNAP provides the unique 'Big Picture' capability needed to simulate the entire acquisition process and explore the 'what-if' tradeoffs and consequences of alternative policies and decisions. Comparison of cost, schedule and performance tradeoffs help managers choose the lowest-risk, highest payoff at each step in the acquisition process.

Alfeld, Louis E.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fine resolution remote sensing spectra improves estimates of gross primary production of croplands

Gross primary production (GPP) is a fundamental measure of the terrestrial carbon cycle critical to our understanding of ecosystem function under the changing climate and land use. Remote sensing enables access to continuous spatial coverage, but remains challenged in heterogeneous croplands. Coarse resolution products, like MOD17A (500 m), may aggregate fragmented land cover types commonly found in heavily managed landscapes and misrepresent their respective contribution to carbon production. Consequently, this study demonstrates the capability of fine-resolution imagery (20-30 m) and available red-edge vegetation indices to characterize GPP across seven Midwest cropping systems. Four sites were established on a 22-year-old USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP); and the other three on land conventionally farmed with corn-soybean-wheat rotation (AGR). We compare in situ GPP estimates from eddy-covariance towers with ten satellite models: eight variants of the vegetation photosynthesis models (VPM), of which five include a red-edge vegetation index, as well as conventional products Landsat CONUS GPP (30 m) and MOD17A2H V6 (500 m). Daily and cumulative fine-resolution imagery integrated within VPM generally agreed with tower-based GPP in heterogeneous landscapes more than those from MODIS 500 m VPM or conventional GPP products from MOD17AH V6 or Landsat 8 CONUS. Here, replacing EVI2 with red-edge indices NDRE2, NDRE1, and MTCI in Sentinel 2 VPMs notably improved explanation of variance and estimation of cumulative GPP. While existing methods using MODIS- and Landsat-derived GPP are important baselines for regional and global studies, future research may benefit from the higher spatial, temporal, and radiometric resolution.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Imprint of tree species mycorrhizal association on microbial‐mediated enzyme activity and stoichiometry

Abstract Understanding the effects of tree species and their mycorrhizal association on soil processes is critical for predicting the ecosystem consequences of species shifts owing to global change and forest management decisions. While it is well established that forests dominated by different mycorrhizal types can vary in how they cycle carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), the degree to which these patterns are driven by microbial‐mediated enzyme activity (EA) and ecoenzymatic stoichiometry (ES) remains elusive. Here, we synthesized the effects of mycorrhizal association on seven soil enzymes involved in microbial C, N and P acquisition and ES using data from 56 peer‐reviewed papers. We found that relative to soil in ectomycorrhizal (EcM) trees, soil in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) trees exhibited greater activity of some C acquisition enzymes (e.g. beta‐glucosidase; BG) and higher ecoenzymatic ratios of BG/NAG (N‐acetyl‐glucosaminidase) and BG/AP (acid phosphatase). These results supported that AM trees had rapid C and nutrient turnover rates, inorganic nutrient economics and high soil microbial C limitation. We also found evidence for an organic nutrient economy and greater soil microbial demand for nutrients in EcM trees compared to AM trees. In addition, the effect of mycorrhizal association on the activity of certain soil enzymes and enzymatic stoichiometry (i.e. BG and BG/NAG ratio) appeared to be associated with the differences in soil pH, phylogenetic group (i.e. conifers and broadleaves) and leaf habit (i.e. evergreen and deciduous) between AM and EcM trees. The results from the global meta‐analysis suggested that soil EA and ES appear to play critical roles in shaping the differences in the nutrient economy between AM and EcM tree species, but leaf morphology and soil conditions should be considered in evaluations of soil processes in forests of different mycorrhizal associations. Given that most of the studies in the database were from the temperate and subtropical regions, further research in other biomes is needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms driving the mycorrhizal effect at the global scale. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hazardous Chemical Inventory Guidelines, Purpose, and Process

The Environment, Safety, and Health Planning department at Sandia National Laboratories is interested in the purchase and storage of chemicals and their potential impact following an uncontrolled release. The large number of projects conducted at SNL make tracking every chemical purchase impractical; therefore, attention is focused on hazardous substances purchased in large quantities. Chemicals and quantities of concern are determined through regulatory guidelines; e.g., the OSHA Process Safety Management list, the EPA Risk Management Plan list, and the Department of Energy Subcommittee on Consequence Assessment and Protective Actions Emergency Response Planning Guidelines. Based on these regulations, a list of chemicals with quantities of concern was created using the Aerial Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres (ALOHA) and SCREEN View chemical dispersion modelling software. The nature of this report does not draw conclusions, rather it documents the logic for a chemicals of concern list to ensure compliance with various regulations and form the basis for monitoring chemicals that may affect hazard classification. Hazardous Chemical Inventory Guidelines, Purpose, and Process 4 This page left blank.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1969

Technology assessment

Management and functions of technology assessment process to evaluate social consequences of scientific and technical applications

Kasper, R. G.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Energy Leaders: The Catalyst for Strategic Energy Management

This study investigates the crucial role energy leaders play in driving strategic energy management (SEM) and accelerating cost savings within a manufacturing organization and consequently, the industrial sector. Whereas energy efficiency can be seen as an innovative business practice with irrefutable cost benefits, its effective implementation requires strategic leadership and a structured approach. This research analyzes data collected from 120 participants representing 71 companies attending the Energy Bootcamp events organized by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Better Plants program. The collected data focused on the state of SEM implementation, the presence and responsibilities of energy leaders, and the formation and function of energy teams. The findings reveal a significant gap between the perceived importance of SEM and its actual adoption, highlighting the need for strong leadership to drive behavioral changes by championing energy efficiency initiatives. Results indicate that effective energy leaders possess a diverse skill set, including the ability to secure top management buy-in, foster a culture of energy consciousness, and collaborate across departments. This study emphasizes the importance of empowering energy leaders with clearly defined roles and responsibilities as well as the authority to build and lead cross-functional energy teams. Furthermore, integrating energy management into existing organizational structures and leveraging readily available resources are identified as key factors for successful implementation. This research underscores how dedicated leadership and effective SEM practices help achieve industrial energy efficiency goals, providing practical insights for organizations seeking to improve performance and contribute to a resilient future.

energy leader↗