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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 1,513 records · Page 84

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1992

A Backscatter Moessbauer Spectrometer (BaMS) for use on Mars

The use of Moessbauer spectroscopy for in situ analysis on the surface of Mars was proposed and the design and implementation of a backscatter Moessbauer spectrometer (BaMS) instrument suitable for planetary missions to the surfaces of Mars (MESUR), the Moon (Artemis and lunar outpost), asteroids, or other solid solar system objects is discussed. The BaMS instrument is designed to be capable of analysis of a sample for the mineralogy of its iron-bearing phases without any sample preparation. A requirement of lander missions to Mars is instrumentation for in situ mineralogical analyses. Such analyses provide data needed for primary characterization as to the type of surface materials present and by inference the processes that formed and subsequently modified them. For purposes of providing diagnostic information about naturally occurring materials, the element iron is particularly important because it is abundant and multivalent (primarily 0, +2, and +3 oxidation states). Knowledge of the oxidation state of iron and its distribution among iron-bearing mineralogies tightly constrains the types of materials present. The pivotal role of iron was already recognized in 1978 by COMPLEX, who recommended development of flight instruments that would identify mineralogy and the oxidation state of iron in planetary surface materials. The near-term U.S. strategy for the exploration of Mars is the MESUR (Mars Environmental SURvey) program, which entails emplacement of a network of small, long-lived surface landers. For the Moon, BaMS was recommended as part of a three-instrument landed payload for the Artemis missions, targeted for 1997. BaMS would prospect for ilmenite, an oxygen resource material, and provide data to assess the maturity of lunar soil. Because instrumental characteristics are low mass, low volume, and low power consumption, BaMS is suitable for implementation on even small landers and rovers, as are being envisioned in MESUR and Artemis concepts. In addition to providing highly diagnostic data, a BaMS analyzer is inherently simple and, as is highly desirable for remote operation, no sample preparation is required.

Agresti, D. G.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Improving Student Achievement in Math and Science

As the new millennium approaches, a long anticipated reckoning for the education system of the United States is forthcoming, Years of school reform initiatives have not yielded the anticipated results. A particularly perplexing problem involves the lack of significant improvement of student achievement in math and science. Three "Partnership" projects represent collaborative efforts between Xavier University (XU) of Louisiana, Southern University of New Orleans (SUNO), Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Stennis Space Center (SSC), to enhance student achievement in math and science. These "Partnerships" are focused on students and teachers in federally designated rural and urban empowerment zones and enterprise communities. The major goals of the "Partnerships" include: (1) The identification and dissemination of key indices of success that account for high performance in math and science; (2) The education of pre-service and in-service secondary teachers in knowledge, skills, and competencies that enhance the instruction of high school math and science; (3) The development of faculty to enhance the quality of math and science courses in institutions of higher education; and (4) The incorporation of technology-based instruction in institutions of higher education. These goals will be achieved by the accomplishment of the following objectives: (1) Delineate significant ?best practices? that are responsible for enhancing student outcomes in math and science; (2) Recruit and retain pre-service teachers with undergraduate degrees in Biology, Math, Chemistry, or Physics in a graduate program, culminating with a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction; (3) Provide faculty workshops and opportunities for travel to professional meetings for dissemination of NASA resources information; (4) Implement methodologies and assessment procedures utilizing performance-based applications of higher order thinking via the incorporation of Global Learning Observations To Benefit the Environment (GLOBE), Mission to Planet Earth and the use of Geographic Imaging Systems into the K-12th grade curriculum.

Sullivan, Nancy G.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Contracting Officer Technical Representative Briefing

This viewgraph presentation gives an overview of the Agency Occupational Health Program, including details on organizational and personnel changes, medical program standardization, programmatic status, policies, standards, and guides and resources, industrial hygiene and radiological health, assessment schedule and methodology, upcoming events, and the future of the program.

Gettleman, Alan↗

NASA NTRS2001

Road Extraction from AVIRIS Using Spectral Mixture and Q-Tree Filter Techniques

Accurate road location and condition information are of primary importance in road infrastructure management. Additionally, spatially accurate and up-to-date road networks are essential in ambulance and rescue dispatch in emergency situations. However, accurate road infrastructure databases do not exist for vast areas, particularly in areas with rapid expansion. Currently, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) extends great effort in field Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping and condition assessment to meet these informational needs. This methodology, though effective, is both time-consuming and costly, because every road within a DOT's jurisdiction must be field-visited to obtain accurate information. Therefore, the USDOT is interested in identifying new technologies that could help meet road infrastructure informational needs more effectively. Remote sensing provides one means by which large areas may be mapped with a high standard of accuracy and is a technology with great potential in infrastructure mapping. The goal of our research is to develop accurate road extraction techniques using high spatial resolution, fine spectral resolution imagery. Additionally, our research will explore the use of hyperspectral data in assessing road quality. Finally, this research aims to define the spatial and spectral requirements for remote sensing data to be used successfully for road feature extraction and road quality mapping. Our findings will facilitate the USDOT in assessing remote sensing as a new resource in infrastructure studies.

Gardner, Margaret E.↗

NASA NTRS2005

California Space Grant Consortium

The organizational and administrative structure of the CaSGC has the Consortium Headquarters Office (Principal Investigator - Dr. John Kosmatka, California Statewide Director - Dr. Michael Wiskerchen) at UC San Diego. Each affiliate member institution has a campus director and an scholarship/fellowship selection committee. Each affiliate campus director also serves on the CaSGC Advisory Council and coordinates CMIS data collection and submission. The CaSGC strives to maintain a balance between expanded affiliate membership and continued high quality in targeted program areas of aerospace research, education, workforce development, and public outreach. Associate members are encouraged to participate on a project-by-project basis that meets the needs of California and the goals and objectives of the CaSGC. Associate members have responsibilities relating only to the CaSGC projects they are directly engaged in. Each year, as part of the CaSGC Improvement Plan, the CaSGC Advisory Council evaluates the performance of the affiliate and associate membership in terms of contributions to the CaSGC Strategic Plan, These CaSGC membership evaluations provide a constructive means for elevating productive members and removing non-performing members. This Program Improvement and Results (PIR) report will document CaSGC program improvement results and impacts that directly respond to the specific needs of California in the area of aerospace-related education and human capital development and the Congressional mandate to "increase the understanding, assessment, development and utilization of space resources by promoting a strong education base, responsive research and training activities, and broad and prompt dissemination of knowledge and technology".

Kosmatka, John↗

NASA NTRS2009

Influence Diagram Use With Respect to Technology Planning and Investment

Influence diagrams are relatively simple, but powerful, tools for assessing the impact of choices or resource allocations on goals or requirements. They are very general and can be used on a wide range of problems. They can be used for any problem that has defined goals, a set of factors that influence the goals or the other factors, and a set of inputs. Influence diagrams show the relationship among a set of results and the attributes that influence them and the inputs that influence the attributes. If the results are goals or requirements of a program, then the influence diagram can be used to examine how the requirements are affected by changes to technology investment. This paper uses an example to show how to construct and interpret influence diagrams, how to assign weights to the inputs and attributes, how to assign weights to the transfer functions (influences), and how to calculate the resulting influences of the inputs on the results. A study is also presented as an example of how using influence diagrams can help in technology planning and investment. The Space Propulsion Synergy Team (SPST) used this technique to examine the impact of R&D spending on the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of a space transportation system. The question addressed was the effect on the recurring and the non-recurring portions of LCC of the proportion of R&D resources spent to impact technology objectives versus the proportion spent to impact operational dependability objectives. The goals, attributes, and the inputs were established. All of the linkages (influences) were determined. The weighting of each of the attributes and each of the linkages was determined. Finally the inputs were varied and the impacts on the LCC determined and are presented. The paper discusses how each of these was accomplished both for credibility and as an example for future studies using influence diagrams for technology planning and investment planning.

Levack, Daniel J. H.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Investigation of Rotor Performance and Loads of a UH-60A Individual Blade Control System

A full-scale wind tunnel test was recently conducted (March 2009) in the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) 40- by 80-FootWind Tunnel to evaluate the potential of an individual blade control (IBC) system to improve rotor performance and reduce vibrations, loads, and noise for a UH-60A rotor system [1]. This test was the culmination of a long-termcollaborative effort between NASA, U.S. Army, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, and ZF Luftfahrttechnik GmbH (ZFL) to demonstrate the benefits of IBC for a UH-60Arotor. Figure 1 shows the UH-60Arotor and IBC system mounted on the NFAC Large Rotor Test Apparatus (LRTA). The IBC concept used in the current study utilizes actuators placed in the rotating frame, one per blade. In particular, the pitch link of the rotor blade was replacedwith an actuator, so that the blade root pitch can be changed independently. This concept, designed for a full-scale UH-60A rotor, was previously tested in the NFAC 80- by 120-FootWind Tunnel in September 2001 at speeds up to 85 knots [2]. For the current test, the same UH-60A rotor and IBC system were tested in the 40- by 80-FootWind Tunnel at speeds up to 170 knots. Figure 2 shows the servo-hydraulic IBC actuator installed between the swashplate and the blade pitch horn. Although previous wind tunnel experiments [3, 4] and analytical studies on IBC [5, 6] have shown the promise to improve the rotor s performance, in-depth correlation studies have not been performed. Thus, the current test provides a unique resource that can be used to assess the accuracy and reliability of prediction methods and refine theoretical models, with the ultimate goal of providing the technology for timely and cost-effective design and development of new rotors. In this paper, rotor performance and loads calculations are carried out using the analyses CAMRAD II and coupled OVERFLOW-2/CAMRAD II and the results are compared with these UH-60A/IBC wind tunnel test data.

Yeo, Hyeonsoo↗

NASA NTRS2013

Earth Observations for Global Water Security

The combined effects of population growth, increasing demands for water to support agriculture, energy security, and industrial expansion, and the challenges of climate change give rise to an urgent need to carefully monitor and assess trends and variations in water resources. Doing so will ensure that sustainable access to adequate quantities of safe and useable water will serve as a foundation for water security. Both satellite and in situ observations combined with data assimilation and models are needed for effective, integrated monitoring of the water cycle's trends and variability in terms of both quantity and quality. On the basis of a review of existing observational systems, we argue that a new integrated monitoring capability for water security purposes is urgently needed. Furthermore, the components for this capability exist and could be integrated through the cooperation of national observational programmes. The Group on Earth Observations should play a central role in the design, implementation, management and analysis of this system and its products.

Earth↗

NASA NTRS2016

Historical Mass, Power, Schedule, and Cost Growth for NASA Spacecraft

Although spacecraft developers have been moving towards standardized product lines as the aerospace industry has matured, NASA's continual need to push the cutting edge of science to accomplish unique, challenging missions can still lead to spacecraft resource growth over time. This paper assesses historical mass, power, cost, and schedule growth for multiple NASA spacecraft from the last twenty years and compares to industry reserve guidelines to understand where the guidelines may fall short. Growth is assessed from project start to launch, from the time of the preliminary design review (PDR) to launch and from the time of the critical design review (CDR) to launch. Data is also assessed not just at the spacecraft bus level, but also at the subsystem level wherever possible, to help obtain further insight into possible drivers of growth. Potential recommendations to minimize spacecraft mass, power, cost, and schedule growth for future missions are also discussed.

Schedule↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Marangoni effect and its potential utilization in supporting lunar habitats and other extraterrestrial endeavors

Tears of wine is a phenomenon frequently observed as a ring of wine formed near the top of the glass generates droplets that fall back into the wine. This phenomenon can be explained by the Marangoni effect driven by the surface tension created via gradient on concentration and temperature along with the interface between two phases. Besides being observed while drinking wine, the Marangoni effect is crucial for welding metals, manufacturing integrated circuits, and growing crystals; the Marangoni effect might be also crucial in supporting lunar habitats and other extraterrestrial endeavors as vacuum and reduced gravity are expected to augment the Marangoni effect on extraterrestrial molten soil leading to sustainable extraterrestrial in-situ resources utilization (ISRU). Preliminary Marangoni effect assessment on molten lunar regolith was conducted via JSC-1A lunar regolith simulant under vacuum yielding a spontaneous upwards migration of a uniform molten thin-film front that climbed the crucible wall covering the entire wall’s surface and reaching the crucible’s top end. A temperature gradient within the melt’s bulk and along the crucible’s wall generates a surface tension large enough not only to form a meniscus within the three-phase junction (crucible’s wall, bulk melt, and vacuum) but also to supersede the gravitational force to create the upwards migration of a thin film front originated on the meniscus. The observed extensive wettability of the melt with the crucible surface, an additional key factor besides surface tension necessary to sustain upwards migration, is atypical to what it has been witnessed on molten JSC-1A lunar regolith simulant under non-vacuum conditions and smaller sample sizes. The unique formation and self-migration of a thin-film front could enable key ISRU processes such as thin-film coating, crystal growth, and feedstock generation for additive 3D printing. Further assessment on the higher-temperature vacuum-driven decomposition of the uniform thin-film front as it climbed the crucible’s wall revealed a significant decomposition of various simulant’s metal-oxide components into their respective oxygen and metal elements strengthening the feasibility of extraterrestrial generation and fractional separation of oxygen and metals/alloys with none or minimal need for terrestrial precursors. The Marangoni effect assessment on molten JSC-1A lunar regolith simulant clearly opens novel pathways in future extraterrestrial ISRU endeavors including manufacturing and mining. Extraterrestrial mining will require an operational approach completely different from the terrestrial one that heavily relies on not only mechanical excavation and transportation but also post-processing; an in-situ all-in-one process might be feasible via these two coupled phenomena, self-migration and decomposition.

J A Dominguez↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Towards Real-time Global Assessment of Post-fire Debris Flow Hazard

As the risk of wildfires increases worldwide, burned steeplands are vulnerable to the secondary hazard of widespread sediment mobilization through debris flows. Following an initial burn, sediment and soil previously restrained by vegetation are no longer consolidated, allowing for easy mobilization into channels and along steep hillslopes through runoff. Sufficiently powerful rainfall incorporates entrained material into turbulent flows and serves as the primary trigger for debris flow initiation. There is thus an ongoing need to establish the relationship between rainfall and debris flow initiation based on a variety of spatiotemporal preconditions. Previous work establishes regional and local thresholds to constrain the effect of rainfall in recently burned areas, but no empirical or numerical solution has worldwide application. Building from regionally-based efforts in the U.S., this work considers how remote sensing data can be applied to better approximate the post-fire debris flow hazards worldwide using freely available global datasets and software. Our work assesses the utility of remote sensing resources for analyzing burn characteristics, topography, rainfall intensity/duration, and, thus, debris flow initiation. Early results show that global observations are sufficient to delineate background rainfall rates from storms likely to cause debris flows across a variety of burn severity and topographic conditions. However, the dearth of publicly-available post-fire debris flow inventories globally limit the ability to test how the model framework performs within different climatologic and morphologic areas. This work will present preliminary analysis over the Western United States and demonstrate the feasibility of a global, near-real time model to provide situational awareness of potential hazards within recently burned areas worldwide. Future work will also consider how global or regional precipitation forecasts may increase the lead time for improved early warning of these hazards.

Elijah Orland↗

NASA NTRS2023

IMPACTing Medical System Design with a Risk Analysis Tool [“IMPACT” sur la Conception du Système Médical avec un Outil d'Analyse des Risques]

Background: Following the success of Artemis I, NASA is preparing for human extended duration missions. Ongoing efforts are focused on mitigating mission-related risks, including those affecting crew health and performance. Communication latency, logistics of resupply and time frame of medical evacuation are barriers to provision of healthcare for these missions, especially with respect to constraints in mass, volume, and crew training. An in-depth assessment of medical risks, capabilities and resources for a specific mission design is necessary to determine an optimal balance that maximizes likelihood of mission success. Overview: IMPACT (Informed Mission Planning via Analysis of Complex Tradespaces) is a dynamic tool designed to estimate medical risk and outcomes for a specific mission design. In its current iteration, a list of medical conditions selected based on likelihood of occurrence and/or consequence was linked to a set of clinical capabilities and resources necessary for diagnosis and management. A probabilistic risk analysis tool was then used to identify and estimate the likelihood and consequence of risks through the following outcome metrics: loss of crew life (inflight mortality due to medical conditions), need for medical evacuation (return to definitive care), and crew disability (task time affected based on how medical conditions influence the ability to perform specific exploration mission crew tasks). Finally, the model’s optimization algorithm provides recommendations for medical capabilities that maximize risk mitigation relative to mass and volume constraints. In the Spring of 2023, IMPACT was utilized to estimate outcome metrics for a design reference mission that would be representative of an extended duration Artemis mission. Notional data generated were then used to determine a recommended set of medical capabilities and resources relative to user-defined mass and volume constraints. A multidisciplinary team has also been updating IMPACT to strengthen the model’s fidelity. Figure 1 shows how updates to outcome metric inputs for the conditions resulted in different capability and resource allocation recommendations. Discussion: This presentation will discuss the IMPACT tool and share the latest data generated for a representative extended duration Artemis mission. Efforts to improve the fidelity of data generated by the model’s algorithm will also be discussed.

K A Shair↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

IMPACTing Medical System Design with a Risk Analysis Tool

K A Shair↗

DOE OSTI2012

Managing the Risks of Climate Change and Terrorism

Society has difficult decisions to make about how best to allocate its resources to ensure future sustainability. Risk assessment can be a valuable tool: it has long been used to support decisions to address environmental problems. But in a time when the risks to sustainability range from climate change to terrorism, applying risk assessment to sustainability will require careful rethinking. For new threats, we will need a new approach to risk assessment.

Rosa, Eugene↗

DOE OSTI2017

Optimizing Biorefinery Design and Operations via Linear Programming Models

The ability to assess and optimize economics of biomass resource utilization for the production of fuels, chemicals and power is essential for the ultimate success of a bioenergy industry. The team of authors, consisting of members from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), has developed simple biorefinery linear programming (LP) models to enable the optimization of theoretical or existing biorefineries. The goal of this analysis is to demonstrate how such models can benefit the developing biorefining industry. It focuses on a theoretical multi-pathway, thermochemical biorefinery configuration and demonstrates how the biorefinery can use LP models for operations planning and optimization in comparable ways to the petroleum refining industry. Using LP modeling tools developed under U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office (DOE-BETO) funded efforts, the authors investigate optimization challenges for the theoretical biorefineries such as (1) optimal feedstock slate based on available biomass and prices, (2) breakeven price analysis for available feedstocks, (3) impact analysis for changes in feedstock costs and product prices, (4) optimal biorefinery operations during unit shutdowns / turnarounds, and (5) incentives for increased processing capacity. These biorefinery examples are comparable to crude oil purchasing and operational optimization studies that petroleum refiners perform routinely using LPs and other optimization models. It is important to note that the analyses presented in this article are strictly theoretical and they are not based on current energy market prices. The pricing structure assigned for this demonstrative analysis is consistent with $4 per gallon gasoline, which clearly assumes an economic environment that would favor the construction and operation of biorefineries. The analysis approach and examples provide valuable insights into the usefulness of analysis tools for maximizing the potential benefits of biomass utilization for production of fuels, chemicals and power.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2023

DER Cybersecurity R&D

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted more than 30 assessments for utilities across the United States with a cybersecurity assessment tool based on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (C2M2) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and focused on business process. With funding from the DOE Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Federal Energy Management Program, NREL modified the current cyber governance assessment tool to include an assessment process specifically for distributed energy resources (DERs). The Distributed Energy Resources Cybersecurity Framework (DER-CF) was developed to help federal agencies mitigate gaps in their cybersecurity posture for distributed energy systems.

cybersecurity valuation↗

DOE OSTI2023

Characterizing Reactor Operations from Realistic Simulated Environmental Samples: Combining High-Performance Computing and Data Analytics

Environmental sampling is a common technique employed by inspectors and facility operators in nuclear safeguards, proliferation detection, and process monitoring contexts. Interpreting measurements performed on samples or collections of samples and ensuring the information extracted is accurate and precise is difficult. To date, these analyses have relied on simulated data to enable systematic studies; however, these models are inherently limited by the fidelity of the models and the implicit spatial averaging of isotopic composition or other signatures of interest. To advance this capability, we have refined the spatial discretization and expanded the range of physics in the simulation codes we use to perform reactor simulations and depletion calculations. This allows us to generate data that are more representative of real environmental samples, especially for the length scale of the isotopic composition and associated variation. Accordingly, these new data allow a more realistic assessment of traditional and new data analytic analysis methods. Here we present motivation for developing reactor simulations using high-performance computing methods and resources, impacts of these new simulations on our assessment of data analysis and interpretation methods, and initial results of developing and systematically testing data analytic methods designed to overcome the challenges expected of real-world samples. We also quantify the performance of these analyses using defensible statistical methods.

Dayman, Ken J.↗

DOE OSTI2024

EverGREEN 2045: An Energy mix to Decarbonize Washington State

The Clean Energy Transformation Act transitions Washington State to 100% clean energy by 2045. As the future resource mix will likely include intermittent renewables, hydropower, and new, carbon-free, flexible technologies including advanced nuclear reactors and enhanced geothermal systems, we assess the cost and feasibility of the future resource mix with proprietary cost data from our industry partners for new technologies. For plausible future resource mix scenarios, we find that revenues are sufficient to cover variable operations and maintenance costs for most technologies, but capacity payments or power purchase agreements will be necessary for new, flexible resources to participate in the future resource mix.

clean energy, energy policy, energy transition, re↗