SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
The file includes the data for figures in the Electrification Futures Study demand-side scenarios report. Additional information on the data can be found in the report.
The file includes the data for figures in the Electrification Futures Study end-use electric technologies report. Additional information on the data can be found in the report.
This paper forms a perspective of how new technologies such as onboard autonomy and internet-like protocols will change the look and feel of operations. It analyzes the concept of a lights-out mission operations control center and it's role in future mission support and it describes likely scenarios for evolving from current concepts.
In support of the mission-specific challenges of aeronautics and space exploration, NASA Ames produces a wealth of research and technology advancements with significant relevance to larger issues of planetary sustainability. NASA research on NexGen airspace solutions and its development of autonomous and intelligent technologies will revolutionize both the nation's air transporation systems and have applicability to the low altitude flight economy and to both air and ground transporation, more generally. NASA's understanding of the Earth as a complex of integrated systems contributes to humanity's perception of the sustainability of our home planet. Research at NASA Ames on closed environment life support systems produces directly applicable lessons on energy, water, and resource management in ground-based infrastructure. Moreover, every NASA campus is a 'city'; including an urbanscape and a workplace including scientists, human relations specialists, plumbers, engineers, facility managers, construction trades, transportation managers, software developers, leaders, financial planners, technologists, electricians, students, accountants, and even lawyers. NASA is applying the lessons of our mission-related activities to our urbanscapes and infrastructure, and also anticipates a leadership role in developing future environments for living and working in space.
Hybrid-electric propulsion systems introduce immense complexity and numerous design challenges not previously encountered in aircraft design. Traditional conceptual-level rotorcraft design approaches may not adequately capture the level of propulsion system detail desired for hybrid-electric vehicle conceptual design. As part of a NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II contract, Empirical Systems Aerospace (ESAero) investigated the implementation of several hybrid-electric propulsion architectures onto three rotorcraft configurations. Unique hybrid-electric variants of these configurations were compared against their conventionally-powered counterparts using typical metrics such as payload, range, and energy efficiency. The feasibility and performance of these vehicles was also investigated in the +15 and +30-year timeframes based on third-party estimations for future component performance. Using the lessons learned during this trade study, ESAero then conducted a conceptual design effort for a hybrid-electric tiltrotor demonstrator based on the XV-15. A detailed integration of the hybrid-electric propulsion system into the vehicle airframe was also performed. The hybrid-electric XV-15 concept vehicle was estimated to achieve a 10% reduction in cruise fuel consumption compared to the original NASA XV-15 at the cost of increasing the vehicle empty weight by almost 25%. The success of this design effort suggests that the design of a manned, hybrid-electric tiltrotor is technically feasible at current technology levels.
This presentation covers industry input received for future work in NASA Aeronautics over the next 5 years. It is intended to present areas of significant imput and to stimulate further discussion.
This paper contains just a sampling of the many potential future Mars missions.
This paper presents the response to anthropogenic forcing in the GISS-E2.1 climate models for the 21st century Shared Socioeconomic Pathways emission scenarios within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). The experiments were performed using an updated and improved version of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) coupled general circulation model that includes two different versions for atmospheric composition: A non-interactive version (NINT) with prescribed composition and a tuned aerosol indirect effect and the One-Moment Aerosol model (OMA) version with fully interactive aerosols which includes a parameterized first indirect aerosol effect on clouds. The effective climate sensitivities are 3.0°C and 2.9°C for the NINT and OMA models, respectively. Each atmospheric version is coupled to two different ocean general circulation models: The GISS ocean model (E2.1-G) and HYCOM (E2.1-H). We describe the global mean responses for all future scenarios and spatial patterns of change for surface air temperature and precipitation for four of the marker scenarios: SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP4-6.0, and SSP5-8.5. By 2100, global mean warming ranges from 1.5°C to 5.2°C relative to 1,850–1,880 mean temperature. Two high-mitigation scenarios SSP1-1.9 and SSP1-2.6 limit the surface warming to below 2°C by the end of the 21st century, except for the NINT E2.1-H model that simulates 2.2°C of surface warming. For the high emission scenario SSP5-8.5, the range is 4.6–5.2°C at 2100. Due to about 15% larger effective climate sensitivity and stronger transient climate response in both NINT and OMA CMIP6 models compared to CMIP5 versions, there is a stronger warming by 2100 in the SSP emission scenarios than in the comparable Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios in CMIP5. Changes in sea ice area are highly correlated to global mean surface air temperature anomalies and show steep declines in both hemispheres, with the largest sea ice area decreases occurring during September in the Northern Hemisphere in both E2.1-G (−1.21 × 106 km2/°C) and E2.1-H models (−0.94 × 106 km2/°C). Both coupled models project decreases in the Atlantic overturning stream function by 2100. The largest decrease of 56%–65% in the 21st century overturning stream function is produced in the warmest scenario SSP5-8.5 in the E2.1-G model, comparable to the reduction in the corresponding CMIP5 GISS-E2 RCP8.5 simulation. Both low-end scenarios SSP1-1.9 and SSP1-2.6 also simulate substantial reductions of the overturning (9%–37%) with slow recovery of about 10% by the end of the 21st century (relative to the maximum decrease at the middle of the 21st century).
NASA is exploring a proposed new operating mode called digital flight, a complement to VFR and IFR. Under digital flight rules, the aircraft operator would use automation, traffic awareness, information services, and cooperative practices to ensure separation from other flights in VMC and IMC. The presentation describes how digital flight safely increases airspace access and operating flexibility for qualified operators, and its harmonizing approach to emerging future operations.
Dr. Tu will talk about the current and future missions of NASA in aviation and space, provide an overview of NASA’s Ames Research Center located in Silicon Valley, CA, and discuss his personal journey starting as a student intern in the earlier days of computational fluid dynamics.
Space tourism is no longer a distant dream but a present-day reality, with current excursions consisting of suborbital jaunts, and near future excursions to including lunar expeditions and, eventually, trips to Mars. Beneath the allure of weightlessness and cosmic views, however, lies a set of serious health risks for space travelers, including muscle and bone issues, heart problems, and cognitive impairment. In this mini review, we delve into the topic of metabolic suppression, an innovative approach to mitigating the deleterious effects of space travel that has been proposed for astronauts that may be appropriate for space tourists as well. Drawing inspiration from the survival strategies observed in hibernating animals and often depicted in sci-fi narratives where crews are in “suspended animation” throughout most of the voyage, this method involves inducing a reversible state of dormancy, akin to torpor, in human space travelers. The objective of metabolic suppression is to safeguard space travelers from the adverse impacts of extended exposure to microgravity and space radiation on long duration expeditions, so that on arrival at their destination, they can be healthy and ready to go. We shed light on ongoing research endeavors led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and other prominent organizations dedicated to investing in and advancing metabolic suppression technologies for professional space travel, that may also enable space tourism to ever more distant destinations
Wildland fires in the Arctic are expected to become more frequent and more severe. In recent years, extreme fire seasons have been documented across the Pan-Arctic and boreal in five of the last seven years – including large wildfires in Greenland in 2017 and 2019 over tundra and high carbon soil landscapes and an earlier start of extreme fire seasons in 2023. Future Arctic and boreal fire regimes will experience increased fire risk though the end of this century (McCarty et al., 2021, Senande-Rivera et al., 2022). The main factors affecting the severity and frequency of wildland fires are fuels (vegetated biomass and type of biomass) and fuel condition (dryness), fire weather conditions (relative humidity, drought, precipitation), and ignition (human-caused, lightning). Climate change directly influences all of these drivers, and indirectly also some human-caused ignitions.
Idaho National Laboratory's My Amazing Future program gives 8th grade women the opportunity to experience careers in science and engineering.
Fuel cells (FCs) are considered essential future energy technologies by developed and developing economies alike. Several countries, including the United States, Japan, Germany, and South Korea have established publicly funded R&D and market transformation programs to develop viable domestic FC industries for both automotive and non-automotive applications. Important non-automotive applications include large scale and small scale distributed combined heat and electrical power, backup and uninterruptible power, material handling and auxiliary power units. The U.S. FC industry is in the early stages of development, and is working to establish sustainable markets in all these areas. To be successful, manufacturers must reduce costs, improve performance, and overcome market barriers to new technologies. U.S. policies are assisting via research and development, tax credits and government-only and government-assisted procurements. Over the past three years, the industry has made remarkable progress, bringing both stack and system costs down by more than a factor of two while improving durability and efficiency, thanks in part to government support. Today, FCs are still not yet able to compete in these markets without continued policy support. However, continuation or enhancement of current policies, such as the investment tax credit and government procurements, together with continued progress by the industry, appears likely to establish a viable domestic industry within the next decade.
Recent advancements in utility-scale wind turbine technology and pricing have vastly increased the potential land area where turbines can be deployed in the United States. This presentation quantifies the new developable land potential (e.g., capacity curves), visually identifies new areas for possible development (e.g., new wind resource maps), and begins to address deployment barriers to wind in new areas for modern and future turbine technology.
Preamble The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) was formed by the Secretary of Energy at the request of the President to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and recommend a new strategy. It was co-chaired by Rep. Lee H. Hamilton and Gen. Brent Scowcroft. Other Commissioners are Mr. Mark H. Ayers, the Hon. Vicky A. Bailey, Dr. Albert Carnesale, Sen. Pete Domenici, Ms. Susan Eisenhower, Sen. Chuck Hagel, Mr. Jonathan Lash, Dr. Allison M. Macfarlane, Dr. Richard A. Meserve, Dr. Ernest J. Moniz, Dr. Per Peterson, Mr. John Rowe, and Rep. Phil Sharp. The Commission and its subcommittees met more than two dozen times between March 2010 and January 2012 to hear testimony from experts and stakeholders, to visit nuclear waste management facilities in the United States and abroad, and to discuss the issues identified in its Charter. Additionally, in September and October 2011, the Commission held five public meetings, in different regions of the country, to hear feedback on its draft report. A wide variety of organizations, interest groups, and individuals provided input to the Commission at these meetings and through the submission of written materials. Copies of all of these submissions, along with records and transcripts of past meetings, are available at the BRC website (www.brc.gov). This report highlights the Commission’s findings and conclusions and presents recommendations for consideration by the Administration and Congress, as well as interested state, tribal and local governments, other stakeholders, and the public.
On October 27, 2015, The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) brought together local and national thought leaders to discuss the convergence of connectivity, vehicle automation, and transportation infrastructure investments at the Future Energy Efficient Mobility Workshop. The half-day workshop was held in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT) Transportation Matters Summit and featured four panel sessions that showcased perspectives on efficient mobility from federal and state agencies, automakers and their suppliers, transportation data providers, and freight companies. This summary provides highlights from the meeting's exchanges of ideas and existing applications. Transportation's (CDOT) Transportation Matters Summit and featured four panel sessions that showcased perspectives on efficient mobility from federal and state agencies, automakers and their suppliers, transportation data providers, and freight companies. This summary provides highlights from the meeting's exchanges of ideas and existing applications.
We are, right now, in the midst of the Data Revolution. Just as the Industrial Revolution of the early 1800's marked a major turning point in history with changes to manufacturing that influenced almost every aspect of daily life, the proliferation of big data and the evolution of our collective ability to put it to work for us is having a profound impact on our lives today. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Data Repository (GDR) is leveraging new resources, such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) new secure cloud environment, and cutting edge approaches to data analysis, to prepare for the challenges that data from energy and geosciences research presents. This paper will explore some of those challenges, highlight some of the benefits of data analysis, and explain the steps DOE and NREL are taking to ensure the GDR is ready for the future of geothermal data.