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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Moon Trek Portal: New Capabilities Supporting Mission Planning and Engagement

Introduction: NASA’s Moon Trek (https://trek.nasa.gov/moon/) is one of a growing number of interactive, browser-based, online portals for planetary data visualization and analysis produced by NASA’s Solar System Treks Project (SSTP). Moon Trek continues to be enhanced with new data and new capabilities enabling it to facilitate the planning and conducting of upcoming lunar missions by NASA, its commercial partners, and its international partners, as well as advancing its role as a valuable outreach tool. A Comprehensive Online Web Portal: Developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and managed as a project of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) at NASA Ames Research Center, Moon Trek is a browser-based web portal. The portal provides easy-to-use tools for browsing, data layering, data product blending, and feature search among thousands of data products covering topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, geology, and much more. Visualizations are provided in var-ious map projections, interactive 3D viewing, and in virtual reality. Using an in-house stereo workflow, SSTP is able to produce new NAC-based high-resolution mosaics and DEMs. Diverse Applications for Lunar Exploration: Baseline analytic tools available to all users include dis-tance measurement, elevation profiling, sun angle calculation, and 3D print file generation. More advanced account-level tools allow users to perform more computationally intensive analyses. These include ray-traced lighting analysis for user-specified areas over user-specified time/date ranges and time intervals, electro-static surface potential analysis, subsetting of large data products, slope analysis, and Lunar Laser Ranging geometry calculation. Artificial intelligence (AI) and ma-chine learning (ML) based tools have been implemented for crater detection and hazard analysis, boulder detection and hazard analysis, and rockfall detection. New Tools Facilitating Exploration: Additional, new tools have recently been added and others are in development, offering even greater functionality in con-ducting analyses of potential landing sites and areas of surface operations. The new Line-of-Sight tool facilitates communications planning between locations on the lunar surface, between any given site on the lunar surface and a specified ground station on the Earth, and between a site on the lunar surface and a relay asset in lunar orbit, all taking into account local lunar topography. The new Data Plotter tool provides both tabular and graphical representations of pixel values along a user specified path for a growing number of data products. The new NAC Finder tool will identify and pro-vide access to NAC images that intersect a user-defined path or bounded area. The SSTP development team is looking to leverage the capabilities of its existing AI and ML crater, boulder, and rockfall detection and analysis tools, and extend that technology to a generalized feature detector that can be trained on instances of specific types of landforms and then search the lunar surface for more examples of such features. New traverse planning tools are being developed with use cases in generalized concept studies and specific mission planning in mind. These will facilitate finding optimal traverse paths based on constraints such as slope, lighting, hazard avoidance, and communications. These will be complemented by new traverse visualization capabilities. Users will be able to interactively ride along with a rover, examining 3D views of the terrain while adjusting camera height and viewing angle along with selecting different data layer overlays to drape across the terrain. Engaging the Public: The capabilities being developed for mission planning are being leveraged to further enhance Moon Trek’s proven utility as a valuable public outreach resource. This includes providing multiple lev-els of engagement with different points of entry. At its simplest level, promoting understanding through visualization, media and the public will be able to easily visualize and conduct their own exploration of lunar sites targeted by NASA and its partners. For a more in-depth experience, we are working with our stakeholders to promote understanding through interaction by extend-ing our current landing site and traverse analysis capabilities, making simplified access to these tools available to those who want to explore more deeply key factors in planning a mission through interactive and possibly even gamified experiences. The highest degree of public outreach, focusing on engagement through scientific participation, could be achieved through our work with missions and the NASA Office of the Chief Scientist on Moon Trek’s extension as a tool with specialized capabilities for facilitating citizen science. In such scenarios, participants become members of extended mis-sion science teams, using dedicated and integrated interfaces to analyze mission data to help answer questions key to lunar science and exploration. We are work-ing with NASA’s Office of Communications, museums, planetariums, and the media to help them easily integrate accurate, detailed visualizations of NASA’s lunar destinations and exploration into their content/productions and to engage diverse audiences in diverse venues.

Moon Trek↗
DOE OSTI2021

State Insights On The Water-Energy Nexus And Policy Ideas To Achieve Greater Savings

Governors, state policymakers, utilities and other stakeholders across the country are increasingly aware of the connection between energy and water production and use, and the need to conserve both resources to meet economic and environmental goals. It requires substantial amounts of water to produce energy and considerable amounts of energy to treat and deliver water. The critical interdependence between energy and water was clearly illustrated during the recent winter storm in Texas and other parts of the South in February 2021. Initial power outages contributed to a longer-term water crisis. Power outages led to water pump failures while water demand increased from frozen water pipes that burst. This caused low water pressure that can lead to harmful bacteria growth in the water. The power outages also prevented water treatment plants from properly treating the water for several days, thereby leaving many residents without clean drinking water and worsening the storm’s impacts. The National Governors Association has been working with states on this connection between water and energy and strategies for conserving those resources for several years. NGA held a Water-Energy Nexus Learning Lab in September 2020. This event invited two leading states in the water-energy nexus space, Arizona and Wisconsin, to showcase some of their model policies and programs to other states, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Washington, looking for greater savings opportunities. This paper provides an overview of challenges that states are facing in developing integrated water and energy conservation policies; provides background on Arizona and Wisconsin’s innovative water-energy policies and programs; and summarizes action items the participating state teams identified for their respective states. The main categories of policy solutions identified by states at NGA’s Water-Energy Nexus Learning Lab were: Funding & Financing – providing financial incentives for water efficiency modeled after established energy efficiency programs, and an emphasis on financial support for small water and energy utilities. Education & Technical Assistance – providing more education and training opportunities about ways to achieve cost-effective energy and water savings, and the needs of resource-constrained small and medium utilities for training and other assistance. Structural Changes to Encourage Conservation – developing ways to incentivize agricultural conservation such as through water allocation strategies; adopting water reuse or water loss standards; and requiring electric utilities to consider water impacts as part of their integrated resource planning process. Communications & Data – conducting energy audits, reviewing water data provided to state agencies, and developing data benchmarking tools to measure and better manage energy and water use. Climate Strategy – establishing a multi-agency working group or other collaborative approach to determine ways to integrate energy and water savings in state policies and help meet the state climate objectives.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2017

RE Data Explorer: Informing Variable Renewable Energy Grid Integration for Low Emission Development

The RE Data Explorer, developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is an innovative web-based analysis tool that utilizes geospatial and spatiotemporal renewable energy data to visualize, execute, and support analysis of renewable energy potential under various user-defined scenarios. This analysis can inform high-level prospecting, integrated planning, and policy making to enable low emission development.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Planning and Execution of a Marine Methane Hydrate Pressure Coring Program for the Walker Ridge and Green Canyon Areas of the Gulf of Mexico

The objective of this project (and report) is to produce a guide to developing scientific, operational, and logistical plans for a future methane hydrate-focused offshore pressure coring program. This report focuses primarily on a potential coring program in the Walker Ridge 313 and Green Canyon 955 blocks where previous investigations were undertaken as part of the 2009 Department of Energy JIP Leg II expedition, however, the approach to designing a pressure coring program that was utilized for this project may also serve as a useful model for planning pressure coring programs for hydrates in other areas. The initial portion of the report provides a brief overview of prior investigations related to gas hydrates in general and at the Walker Ridge 313 and Green Canyon 955 blocks in particular. The main content of the report provides guidance for various criteria that will come into play when designing a pressure coring program.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2004

Using automated planning for sensorweb response

This paper describes efforts to link these science event detection systems with an automated response system to retarget remote sensing assets to observe these important but transient science events. Of course, automated mission planning is a key element of the overall tracking and response system. We describe the current prototype system which utilizes the Earth Observing One spacecraft, MODIS flying on Terra and Aqua, QuickSCAT, GOES, and AVHRR platforms as well as future plans for expansion.

sensorweb response↗
NASA NTRS2021

Context and future directions for integrating forest carbon into sub-national climate mitigation planning in the RGGI region of the U.S.

International frameworks for climate mitigation that build from national actions have been developed under the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change and advanced most recently through the Paris Climate Agreement. In parallel, sub-national actors have set greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals and developed corresponding climate mitigation plans. Within the U.S., multi-state coalitions have formed to facilitate coordination of related science and policy. Here, utilizing the forum of the NASA Carbon Monitoring System’s Multi-State Working Group, we collected and reviewed climate mitigation plans for 11 states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative region of the Eastern U.S. For each state we reviewed the (a) policy framework for climate mitigation, (b) GHG reduction goals, (c) inclusion of forest activities in the state’s climate action plan, (d) existing science used to quantify forest carbon estimates, and (e) stated needs for forest carbon monitoring science. Across the region, we found important differences across all categories. While all states have GHG reduction goals and framework documents, nearly three-quarters of all states do not account for forest carbon when planning GHG reductions; those that do account for forest carbon use a variety of scientific methods with various levels of planning detail and guidance. We suggest that a common, efficient, standardized forest carbon monitoring system would provide important benefits to states and the geographic region as a whole. In addition, such a system would allow for more effective transparency and progress tracking to support state, national, and international efforts to increase ambition and implementation of climate goals.

Rachel L Lamb↗
DOE OSTI2017

Integrated Smart Distribution RD&D Project Final Technical Report

Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), tasked OE with accelerating the commercialization, deployment and integration of advanced digital systems that are needed to modernize the nation’s electricity delivery network for enhanced interoperability and cyber security. To support this mandated task, a goal of the SGR&D Program is to develop technology with the ability to dynamically optimize grid operations and resources and incorporate demand response and consumer participation. The majority of historical research and development in the domain of distribution management systems (DMS) had focused on classical, radial and passive networks with one-way power flow from transmission to distribution systems and thus to the end customer. With the focus on customers, a bottom-up approach required a completely new thinking in real-time operations, and automation, of smart distribution systems. Thus, the GE team embarked on a project with a plan of two distinct phases. Work during the first phase concentrated on research and development (R&D) for the first three years. The second phase, lasting approximately two years, accomplished the demonstration of the use cases developed during the first phase, with further sharing and dissemination of the research at industry events. The consolidated technical scope of the project can be summarized into the following six areas: Advanced distribution modeling capability to accurately simulate/model smart grid operations. Accurate representation of the distribution system in real- or near real-time (capture real-time topology). Interoperability with, and seamless communication between, other management systems and databases used by the utility Simulation of distribution systems based on real-time operational planning to analyze the benefits of smart grid assets. Integration of network, market, and renewable resource models for next generation DMS. Management and forecasting of DER (Distributed Generation, Storage, Demand Response).

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Comparative life cycle analysis on ethylene production from electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide

Ethylene is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters and the most diversly used commodity chemicals globally. Electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 to ethylene received great attention from the research society to decarbonize the ethylene production. Here, in this study, a life-cycle analysis is conducted using the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) model on the three electrocatalytic CO 2 -reduction pathways (or “e-ethylene” pathways): i) cascade conversion via carbon monoxide intermediate; ii) single-step conversion in membrane electrode assembly (MEA); and iii) single-step conversion in alkaline flow cell. The results showed that the electricity consumption is the lowest for the cascade pathway (164 MJ/kg), thus resulting in the lowest cradle-to-gate carbon intensity [18 kgCO 2 e/kg with United States (US) average grid)] among the three pathways followed by the single-step MEA (32 kgCO 2 e/kg) and then by the single-step alkaline (56 kgCO 2 e/kg). However, all three e-ethylene pathways were significantly more carbon-intensive than their fossil-based counterpart (1.1 kgCO 2 e/kg) due to their excessive energy consumption with the current state of technology. With renewable electricity, all three pathways yielded negative carbon intensity: from -3.1 kgCO 2 e/kg to -1.6 kgCO 2 e/kg depending on the source of CO 2 . The threshold carbon intensity of electricity (TCIE), defined as the upper bound of the carbon intensity of electricity to achieve lower carbon intensity for e-ethylene compared to fossil-based ethylene, is calculated for both current and future state of e-ethylene technologies. The cascade pathway had the highest TCIE out of the three e-ethylene pathways for both current (92 gCO 2 e/kWh) and future (124 gCO 2 e/kWh) state of technologies. However, the carbon intensity of average US grid (i.e., 467 and 303 gCO 2 e/kWh for current and future projections) were higher than the TCIEs of the corresponding timeline. Thus, reducing electricity requirement for e-ethylene pathways and bringing low-carbon generation mix in the United States (US) grid faster than the current projection are both essential to decarbonize ethylene and its downstream chemicals/polymers.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

The bill alignment test: Identifying trade-offs with residential rate design options

The proliferation of smart meter data allows the application of new analytic methods to inform regulatory deliberations. The bill alignment test (BAT) method, which compares the costs allocated to each residential customer with their electric bill, is introduced to help regulators consider how a proposed rate design balances various regulatory criteria. The BAT requires an explicit statement of preferences by policymakers or stakeholders and choices about allocating residual costs unassociated with customer-level causality. The BAT is applied to more than 35,000 smart-meter customer load profiles to assess the trade-offs associated with proposed rate designs. Here this example demonstrates the impact of residual cost allocation preferences and tariff design choices on proposed tariff evaluation.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2015

How should greenhouse gas emissions be taken into account in the decision making of municipal solid waste management procurements? A case study of the South Karelia region, Finland

Highlights: • Environmental criteria for the MSW incineration location procurements are needed. • Focus should be placed on annual energy efficiency and on substitute fuels. • In SRF combustion it is crucial to know the share and the treatment of rejects. • The GWP of transportation is a small part of the total emissions. - Abstract: The ongoing trend in the public sector is to make more sustainable procurements by taking into account the impacts throughout the entire life cycle of the procurement. Despite the trend, the only deciding factor can still be the total costs. This article answers the question of how greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions should be taken into account in municipal solid waste (MSW) management when selecting an incineration plant for source separated mixed MSW. The aim is to guide the decision making of MSW management towards more environmentally friendly procurements. The study was carried out by calculating the global warming potentials (GWPs) and costs of mixed MSW management by using the waste composition from a case area in Finland. Scenarios of landfilling and combustion in three actual waste incineration plants were used to recognise the main processes that affect the results. GWP results show that the combustion of mixed MSW is a better alternative than landfilling the waste. The GHG results from combustion are greatly affected by emissions from the combustion and substituted energy production. The significance of collection and transportation is higher from the costs’ perspective than from the point of view of GHG emissions. The main costs, in addition to collection and transportation costs, result from the energy utilization or landfilling of mixed MSW. When tenders are invited for the incineration location of mixed MSW, the main focus should be: What are the annual electricity and heat recovery efficiencies and which are the substituted fuels in the area? In addition, in the case of a fluidized bed combustor it is crucial to know the combusted share of mixed MSW after preparing solid recovered fuel (SRF) and the treatment of rejects. The environmental criteria for the waste incineration plant procurements should be made in order to obtain clear instructions for the procurement units. The results can also be utilized more widely. The substituted fuels in the area and the effect of the plant location on the utilization of the produced energy can already be identified when planning an appropriate site for the waste incineration plant.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-416: VMAT Dose Calculations Using Cone Beam CT Images: A Preliminary Study

Purpose: Cone beam CT (CBCT) images have been used routinely for patient positioning throughout the treatment course. However, use of CBCT for dose calculation is still investigational. The purpose of this study is to assess the utility of CBCT images for Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) plan dose calculation. Methods: A CATPHAN 504 phantom (The Phantom Laboratory, Salem, NY) was used to compare the dosimetric and geometric accuracy between conventional CT and CBCT (in both full and half fan modes). Hounsfield units (HU) profiles at different density areas were evaluated. A C shape target that surrounds a central avoidance structure was created and a VMAT plan was generated on the CT images and copied to the CBCT phantom images. Patient studies included three brain patients, and one head and neck (H'N) patient. VMAT plans generated on the patients treatment planning CT was applied to CBCT images obtained during the first treatment. Isodose distributions and dosevolume- histograms (DVHs) were compared. Results: For the phantom study, the HU difference between CT and CBCT is within 100 (maximum 96 HU for Teflon CBCT images in full fan mode). The impact of these differences on the calculated dose distributions was clinically insignificant. In both phantom and patient studies, target DVHs based on CBCT images were in excellent agreement with those based on planning CT images. Mean, Median, near minimum (D98%), and near maximum (D2%) doses agreed within 0-2.5%. A slightly larger discrepancy is observed in the patient studies compared to that seen in the phantom study, (0-1% vs. 0 - 2.5%). Conclusion: CBCT images can be used to accurately predict dosimetric results, without any HU correction. It is feasible to use CBCT to evaluate the actual dose delivered at each fraction. The dosimetric consequences resulting from tumor response and patient geometry changes could be monitored.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Spatiotemporal Variability of Electric System Reliability Metrics

As urbanization continues to grow, urban density also rises, placing significant stress on critical infrastructure. Cities often face challenges in investing in new infrastructure or upgrading existing ones. One area of infrastructure that has come under strain is the electric grid, leading to prolonged power outages. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average duration of power outages has steadily doubled from 2013 to 2021, primarily due to extreme weather events. The IEEE has developed a series of reliability metrics to assess the reliability of the electric system. However, these metrics are only applied at the utility level, making it challenging to comprehend the variations in these indices at finer spatial resolutions and, consequently, evaluate reliability at the non-utility level. In this study, we leveraged electric outage data collected at 15-minute intervals at the county level to estimate electric system reliability over a six-year period using a novel data analysis approach. Our findings reveal a gradual decline in reliability in the U.S. Southwest compared to national averages. Furthermore, the duration of outages per customer per event has significantly decreased in large portions of California and Florida. These discoveries can be valuable for utility companies as they seek to pinpoint regional anomalies and plan for prioritized remediation efforts.

Singh, Nagendra↗
DOE OSTI2025

Accelerating Advanced Light Source Science Through Multi-Facility HPC Workflows

Synchrotron light sources support a wide array of techniques to investigate materials, often producing complex, high-volume data that challenge traditional workflows. At the Advanced Light Source (ALS), we developed infrastructure to move microtomography data over ESnet to ALCF and NERSC, where CPU- and GPU-based algorithms generate 3D reconstructed volumes of experimental samples. We employ two data movement and reconstruction models: real-time processing as data streams directly to NERSC compute nodes, and automated file transfer to NERSC and ALCF file systems. The streaming pipeline provides users with feedback in under ten seconds, while the file-based workflow produces high-quality reconstructions suitable for deeper analysis in 20-30 minutes. This infrastructure enables users to utilize HPC resources without direct access to backend systems. We plan to extend this architecture to more endstations, supporting our beamline scientists and users.

Abramov, David↗
DOE OSTI2023

OpenCSP v.1.0

SAND2024-08987O OpenCSP analyzes and improves the performance of optical mirrors that reflect sunlight and concentrate it onto a receiver. The algorithms in this library analyze the flow of light from an original source—such as the sun—reflecting off one or more mirrors, and onto a receiver, optical screen, or camera. OpenCSP also analyzes optical systems using other techniques, such as shape or slope comparison. The software calculates aggregate properties of the optical system, such as its efficiency, manufacturing error, pointing control error, expected performance, and other useful parameters. OpenCSP also includes high-level tools, such as Open SOFAST, a program that obtains high-resolution measurement of CSP mirrors, full heliostats, and other CSP collectors. OpenCSP supports producing meaningful output data to help CSP designers and field operators improve the performance of their systems. OpenCSP also includes classes and functions that support these calculations, including input utilities, analysis output libraries, geometric constraint analysis for drone flight planning, and more. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Brost, Randolph↗
DOE OSTI2026

Dataset for Blueprinting Electrified Transit System Implementation

This dataset contains the figures and tabulated results generated from a system-level optimization study of transit fleet electrification planning. The dataset does not include executable modeling code required to reproduce the optimization. The dataset includes results for optimized charging infrastructure deployment by location and power level and service block assignments by fuel type, battery capacity selections, and distributed energy resource sizing. It also contains aggregated financial results, capital expenditures, operating cost summaries, net present cost comparisons across scenarios, and quantified air quality impacts. Results are structured to reflect multiple planning scenarios, including heuristic electrification plans, system-optimized configurations, and sensitivity cases with alternative objective weightings. The modeling was developed using publicly available General Transit Feed Specification data from Omnitrans and standardized modeling assumptions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2026

Dataset for Blueprinting Electrified Transit System Implementation

This dataset contains the figures and tabulated results generated from a system-level optimization study of transit fleet electrification planning. The dataset does not include executable modeling code required to reproduce the optimization. The dataset includes results for optimized charging infrastructure deployment by location and power level and service block assignments by fuel type, battery capacity selections, and distributed energy resource sizing. It also contains aggregated financial results, capital expenditures, operating cost summaries, net present cost comparisons across scenarios, and quantified air quality impacts. Results are structured to reflect multiple planning scenarios, including heuristic electrification plans, system-optimized configurations, and sensitivity cases with alternative objective weightings. The modeling was developed using publicly available General Transit Feed Specification data from Omnitrans and standardized modeling assumptions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

2013 Distributed Wind Market Report

The purpose of this report is to quantify and summarize the 2013 U.S. distributed wind market to help plan and guide future investments and decisions by industry stakeholders, utilities, state and federal agencies, and other interested parties.

distributed wind↗