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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Small Spacecraft Sample Return Mission Concept to Support Gateway and Lunar Science

The Lunar Gateway is a planned orbital outpost to support Lunar surface, Cislunar, and deep space exploration activities. NASA, together with international and commercial partners, are providing various capabilities, infrastructure, and services to build the Lunar economy. As Gateway capabilities and transportation logistics evolve, utilization is expected to increase, providing ample science, technology demonstration, and commercial development opportunities. Elements of the transportation network supporting Lunar activities are primarily focused on the outbound segment, which include Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), Human Landing System (HLS), Deep Space Logistics (DSL), and the SLS/Orion crew transportation system. Initially, the only Earth return segment will be provided via Orion. However, infrequent mission cadence (once every 12 months), limited payload return mass (100 kg), and operational constraints suggest that additional sample return logistics capability will be needed. Sustaining long-term presence at the Moon will likely require innovative approaches for frequent and affordable payload return. NASA Ames Research Center and the DSL team at Kennedy Space Center (which provides the Gateway Logistics Services missions) have investigated the development of a small spacecraft-based sample return capability to complement Orion. The goal of the first mission is to demonstrate the capability as a part of an early DSL mission, and provide up to 10 kg of scientific sample return from the Gateway. The mission concept envisions the progressive addition of sample return capabilities, including returning temperature- and acceleration-sensitive payloads, and evolution into a commercially provided service, similar to existing ISS payload return logistics. An overview of payload science and technology use cases and small spacecraft mission concepts will be presented to engage scientists, payload developers and mission planners who are considering Lunar exploration activities that will require the return of high-value samples from the Gateway and/or the lunar surface.

Alan Cassell↗

DOE OSTI2022

CH 4 steam reforming on Pt + Pd/Al 2 O 3 monolith: impact of Mn 0.5 Fe 2.5 O 4 spinel addition

The performance of Pt + Pd/Al 2 O 3 monolith catalysts was analyzed under a feed (H 2 + CO + CH 4 + NO + O 2 + H 2 O + CO 2 ) simulating the exhaust gas of stoichiometric natural gas vehicles (NGVs). The flow reactor results show enhanced low temperature (<400 °C) CH 4 oxidation activity under cyclic lean/rich feed modulation and with Mn 0.5 Fe 2.5 O 4 (MFO) spinel addition to the platinum group metal (PGM) catalyst. In the absence of the MFO spinel, the PGM catalyst can achieve full CH 4 conversion, but the presence of spinel in the catalyst limits the high temperature (>500 °C) CH 4 conversion. The depletion of gas phase O 2 , as indicated by the detection of products CO and H 2 in the reactor effluent at higher temperature and CH 4 conversion, portends the emergence of steam reforming of CH 4 (SRM). To investigate the cause of the detrimental impact of spinel under the high temperature, net rich regime, we show through a combination of SRM experiments and post-reaction catalyst characterization that SRM is negatively impacted by the accumulation of Mn and Fe spinel species on the PGM catalyst. This is due to the migration of the base metal species and potential encapsulation and blockage of PGM active sites. The latter is supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations that indicate favorable metal oxide decoration of active Pt step sites. Lastly, a zoned catalyst design is developed that mitigates the detrimental metals migration while exploiting the methane conversion enhancement afforded by spinel oxides under oxygen rich conditions.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Firesense: Supporting Operational Partners Through Co-Development

Fire is a natural disturbance and fundamental to many ecosystems, but, across the United States and many areas globally, fires have become more common, larger and more likely to occur at the same time. This has the potential to challenge resource allocation and response and requires coordinated integration of technology and tools at the spatial and temporal scales required by practitioners who make wildland fire management decisions. In the US wildfire is currently managed across state, federal, and tribal agencies who leverage various datasets to guide management decisions. FireSense, a NASA Science Mission Directorate project, aims to develop and deliver trailblazing technology and tools for use before, during, and after wildland fires by working together with land managers and practitioners. FireSense is focused on turning information into solutions by expanding partnerships and collaborations with operational agencies to inform and deliver data and technology to support decisions for wildland fire management. Through implementation across the US and with campaign activities in a variety of landscapes, coordinated research and development work will build upon adaptive and use-inspired approaches that can be put into operation. By leveraging and complementing partner activities through coordinated investment, we support a more comprehensive and cohesive response that can advance fire science to better understand fire behavior and effects through integrated measurement, monitoring and modeling. We present updates from in-progress technology development and field campaigns within the US which include sampling and application across scales with information from multiple sensors collocated with field measurements and highlighting the importance of cross-scale observations during the fire lifecycle. Coordinated investment in new science and technology for the complete fire lifecycle supports a comprehensive and cohesive fire response that help to overcome barriers and anticipate and manage the new reality of extreme fires in a warming world.

Jacquelyn Shuman↗

DOE OSTI2020

INL ART AGR-5/6/7 PIE at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) is currently supporting a tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel development and qualification program, which includes fuel fabrication, test irradiations, and post-irradiation examination (PIE) and safety testing to assess fuel performance during normal irradiation and under potential accident conditions. PIE fuel work from the final test irradiation (Advanced Gas Reactor [AGR]-5/6/7) is expected to commence at INL in early 2021, but the PIE preparations work began in FY2016. The work scope in this statement of work includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) providing project management and technical support to PIE-related activities; technical input to the moisture/air-ingress furnace design, fabrication, and equipment qualification; and technical support for development of equipment and techniques for planned PIE evolutions.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2021

INL ART AGR-5/6/7 PIE at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2025

A highly active Burkholderia polyketoacyl-CoA thiolase for production of triacetic acid lactone

Triacetic acid lactone (TAL) is a versatile platform chemical traditionally biosynthesized via decarboxylative Claisen condensation by 2-pyrone synthase. However, this route is limited by poor efficiency and dependence on malonyl-CoA. Here, we show that non-decarboxylative Claisen condensation by polyketoacyl-CoA thiolases offers a more efficient alternative. Through mining homologs of a previously reported enzyme from Cupriavidus necator, we identify five thiolases with TAL production activity. One candidate, BktBbr from Burkholderia sp. RF2-non_BP3, exhibits approximately 30-fold higher activity in vitro and supports 30-fold higher TAL titers in Escherichia coli compared to the original enzyme. Fed-batch fermentation achieves titers up to 2.8 g L⁻¹. Structural analysis of BktBbr co-crystallized with CoA esters guides rational engineering to further enhance performance. Our discovery of a highly active thiolase establishes an alternative enzymatic route to produce TAL efficiently, providing a scalable foundation for sustainable biomanufacturing.

Wang, Zilong [Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Em↗

DOE OSTI2023

Ni/CeO 2 Nanocatalysts with Optimized CeO 2 Support Morphologies for CH 4 Oxidation

Catalytic oxidation of CH 4 over nonprecious Ni/CeO 2 catalysts has attracted wide attention. Controlling the morphology of a CeO 2 support can enhance the CH 4 oxidation activity without changing the catalyst composition. Here, in this paper, a series of 2 wt % Ni/CeO 2 nanocatalysts with different CeO 2 support morphologies (nanoparticles (P), rods (R), cubes (C)) and synthetic procedures (precipitation, sol-gel (SG)) were evaluated for their CH 4 oxidation performance. The redox properties of CeO 2 supports and corresponding Ni loaded catalysts were characterized by H 2 -temperature-programmed reduction and oxygen storage capacity (OSC) measurements. The relationship among the CeO 2 morphologies, surface areas, redox properties, and CH4 oxidation activity for both CeO 2 supports and Ni/CeO 2 catalysts was established. The findings suggest that CeO 2 -R has a greater amount of surface oxygen vacancies as well as an improved OSC and CH4 oxidation activity compared to CeO 2 -P and CeO 2 -C supports. The same CH 4 oxidation activity pattern was observed for the Ni containing catalysts (Ni/CeO 2 -R > Ni/CeO 2 -P > Ni/CeO 2 -C). Increasing the CeO 2 surface area by using a sol-gel synthesis method (CeO 2 -SG) improved the amount of surface oxygen vacancies and CH 4 oxidation performance of CeO 2 -SG and Ni/CeO 2 -SG compared to CeO 2 -R and Ni/CeO 2 -R, respectively. Finally, all studied Ni/CeO 2 nanocatalysts showed improved hydrothermal stability compared to conventional Pd/Al 2 O 3 .

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

LIS-Hydro: Authoritative Source for OCONUS Hydro-Intelligence

U.S. military forces are often tasked to participate in a variety of transboundary water-related decision-making activities, including humanitarian assistance operations through Department of State tasking, support of in-country infrastructure development activities that help develop or improve diplomatic relationships, and support of transboundary water treaty negotiations or disputes to reduce risk of conflict caused by water security issues. The U.S. intelligence communities have identified the coordination over shared water resources as an area of significant concern to U.S. national security (U.S. National Defense Strategy, 2018). Such transboundary water issues are projected to intensify in the future under increasingly complex population dynamics, political tensions due to parallel issues, and a changing climate. A 2017 joint NASA, USACE/RDC, and U.S. Air Force co-sponsored workshop revealed a lack of sufficient decision support tools and access to timely technical and contextual information needed to assess and respond to potential water-related threats around the world. The need for an integrated operational service, with the capacity to combine and synthesize hydrological modeling, assimilation, forecasting, and visualization capabilities across the U.S. Government, was highlighted as a key recommendation. In direct response, a subset of the U.S. Department of Defense, National Intelligence Community, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are collaborating on the development of a fully integrated hydro-modeling and streamflow prediction system (i.e., LIS-Hydro). Completion of the project and sustainment of the operational capability by Air Force Weather will establish a national asset to assist federal agencies implement government-wide strategies around water resources (U.S. Global Water Strategy, 2017). The hydrological products and services will, for the very first time, establish a routinely available authoritative source of global water intelligence information supporting war-fighters, planners, and decision makers at all echelons and services of the U.S. military, Federal government, and intelligence community. A summary of the interagency scientific collaboration in addressing some of the key gaps and needs identified during the 2017 workshop will be presented.

Land Information System↗

DOE OSTI2024

U.S. DOE Midwest Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnership (Midwest CHP TAP) (Final Technical Report)

The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) was awarded the U.S. DOE Midwest Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnership (Midwest CHP TAP) program to provided technical and policy expertise to support local opportunities to promote CHP, waste heat to power, district energy, and microgrids in the Midwest and Central regions of the U.S. that included the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin. During this contract period, UIC, through the Midwest CHP TAP activities, provided significant regional support to the U.S. strategic goals of: 1) Stimulating America’s Energy Revolution and Promoting Energy Independence; 2) Promoting Jobs and Manufacturing Competitiveness; 3) Supporting a Positive Trade Balance; 4) Enhancing Energy System Resiliency and Energy Security; and 5) Improving the Nation’s Infrastructure. UIC met the annual go/no-go metrics each year and either met and/or exceeded the milestones each year.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

More Data Needed for Failure Rate Estimation, Validation, and Uncertainty Reduction

Current Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) development and test activities are not generating data fast enough to provide statistically-supportable precise Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) failure rate estimates for future missions. Accurate and precise failure rate estimates are critical for missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) because current risk mitigation approaches – namely regular resupply and rapid abort capabilities – will not be available. Safe operations will depend on mission planners’ ability to accurately forecast spares demand and efficiently provide the necessary resources. However, even after more than a decade of operations on board the International Space Station (ISS), a significant amount of uncertainty remains in failure rate estimates. Uncertain or inaccurate failure rates result in increased risk and spares mass for future missions. A Bayesian failure rate estimation approach, such as the one currently implemented by the ISS Program, can help reduce uncertainty by incorporating engineering judgement into failure rate estimates. However, experience on the ISS and with other complex systems shows that these prior failure rate estimates are often inaccurate. In addition, prior failure rate estimates are typically point values; some level of uncertainty must be added to convert these into probability distributions for Bayesian updating, and there are several potential methods for doing so. Due to the low rate of data collection, these subjective (and often inaccurate) prior estimates currently have a strong influence on the end result. This paper examines the challenges associated with failure rate estimation, validation, and uncertainty reduction in the context of ECLSS development for beyond-LEO missions. A variety of techniques for generating and updating Bayesian priors are discussed and evaluated using both real-world and simulated data. Potential solutions for improving failure rate estimation, including testing additional units, are analyzed and discussed, and a set of recommendations are provided for next-generation system development activities.

Supportability↗

NASA NTRS2005

[High-Performance Active Pixel X-Ray Sensors for X-Ray Astronomy]

The subject grants support development of High-Performance Active Pixel Sensors for X-ray Astronomy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Space Research and at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. This memo reports our progress in the second year of the project, from April, 2004 through the present.

Bautz, Mark↗

NASA NTRS2013

AeroMACS System Characterization and Demonstrations

This The Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communications System (AeroMACS) is being developed to provide a new broadband wireless communications capability for safety critical communications in the airport surface domain, providing connectivity to aircraft and other ground vehicles as well as connections between other critical airport fixed assets. AeroMACS development has progressed from requirements definition through technology definition, prototype deployment and testing, and now into national and international standards development. The first prototype AeroMACS system has been deployed at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) and the adjacent NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). During the past 3 years, extensive technical testing has taken place to characterize the performance of the AeroMACS prototype and provide technical support for the standards development process. The testing has characterized AeroMACS link and network performance over a variety of conditions for both fixed and mobile data transmission and has included basic system performance testing and fixed and mobile applications testing. This paper provides a summary of the AeroMACS performance testing and the status of standardization activities that the testing supports.

Kerczewski, Robert J.↗

NASA NTRS2013

AeroMACS System Characterization and Demonstrations

The Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communications System (AeroMACS) is being developed to provide a new broadband wireless communications capability for safety critical communications in the airport surface domain, providing connectivity to aircraft and other ground vehicles as well as connections between other critical airport fixed assets. AeroMACS development has progressed from requirements definition through technology definition, prototype deployment and testing, and now into national and international standards development. The first prototype AeroMACS system has been deployed at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) and the adjacent NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). During the past three years, extensive technical testing has taken place to characterize the performance of the AeroMACS prototype and provide technical support for the standards development process. The testing has characterized AeroMACS link and network performance over a variety of conditions for both fixed and mobile data transmission and has included basic system performance testing and fixed and mobile applications testing. This paper provides a summary of the AeroMACS performance testing and the status of standardization activities that the testing supports.

Kerczewski, Robert J.↗

DOE OSTI2024

A Survey of Open Source Software Repositories in the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratories

There are 17 national laboratory systems in the United States operating under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). These government labs employ tens of thousands of people engaging in research software engineering activities across a variety of missions. To support this work, many open source projects are maintained. Further, many of these projects have broad utility to the computing community at large and domain scientists in a variety of fields. However, the complexity and decentralized nature of the laboratory system has resulted in a situation where no one entity even knows about all the open source software projects in this ecosystem, let alone crude metrics of their health. In this article, we do the first external inventory of open source software repositories with a nexus to DOE labs. We posit that a project’s need for sustainability support can be determined by comparing measures of active use to measures of active maintenance.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2020

Long-term Photometry and Orbital Period Change of the W UMa–type Binary v0599 Aur: Evidence of about 11 yr Magnetic-activity Cycle

Combining all available photometric data from various surveys and literature with our observations, we present 10 sets of light curves for the eclipsing binary V0599 Aur covering a timescale of 20 yr. During the last two decades, the O’Connell effect continuously varied and went through at least two flips between positive and negative effects. The photometric solutions from our two sets of multicolored light curves show that V0599 Aur is a W-type shallow contact binary with an active spot on the secondary. Its absolute parameters are determined by combining the Gaia distance with the photometric solutions. The period investigation reveals a secular decrease and a cyclic variation in its orbital period. The former mainly originates from the mass transfer from the more massive secondary to the less massive primary. The latter can be preferentially explained as a result of cyclic magnetic activity of the secondary, with three observational supports: (1) the existence and evolution of an active spot suggested by the long-term photometry, (2) periodic variation in both the O’Connell effect and relative luminosity, and (3) weak correlations between O’Connell effect/relative luminosity changes and cyclic period variation. Together with the cyclic period variation and its theoretical reasonability by Applegate’s mechanism, we suggest that the secondary of V0599 Aur is a solar-type magnetic-activity star with an approximately 11 yr active cycle. Furthermore, by combining the secular period decrease with the Roche-lobe model, we infer that V0599 Aur is evolving from the marginal contact state controlled by thermal relaxation oscillation theory to the overcontact state.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS1989

Model evaluation, recommendation and prioritizing of future work for the manipulator emulator testbed

The Manipulator Emulator Testbed (MET) is to provide a facility capable of hosting the simulation of various manipulator configurations to support concept studies, evaluation, and other engineering development activities. Specifically, the testbed is intended to support development of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and related systems. The objective of this study is to evaluate the math models developed for the MET simulation of a manipulator's rigid body dynamics and the servo systems for each of the driven manipulator joints. Specifically, the math models are examined with regard to their amenability to pipeline and parallel processing. Based on this evaluation and the project objectives, a set of prioritized recommendations are offered for future work.

Kelly, Frederick A.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Multi-Agent System for Managing Human Activities in Space Operations

In manned space operations today, the astronauts' activity schedules are preplanned and adjusted daily on Earth. We have developed the Distributed Collaboration and Interaction (DCI) multi-agent system to investigate automating aspects of human activity management. The DCI System assists (1) plan generation, (2) human activity tracking, (3) plan revision, and (4) mixed initiative interaction with the plan. We have deployed and evaluated the DCI system at JSC to assist control engineers in managing anomaly handling activities for automated life support systems. DCI operated round the clock for 20 months in the Water Research Facility at JSC. Using this software, we reduced anomaly response time by engineers from up to 10 hours in previous tests to under an hour. Based on this evaluation, we conclude that agent assistance for schedule management has potential to improve astronaut activity awareness and reduce response time in situations where crew are interrupted to handle anomalies.

Schrenkenghost, Debra↗

DOE OSTI2020

Life cycle Management of 324 Project High-Activity, Mixed/Low-Level Radioactive Waste - 20506

U.S. DOE contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) manages the 324 Building and is preparing to remotely excavate and disposition the radioactive soil beneath the building to allow further deactivation of the building. The 324 Building is a non-reactor Category 2 Nuclear Facility located in the 300 Area of the Hanford Site. Records indicate that in October 1986, approximately 516 liters of a concentrated liquid waste stream containing cesium-137 ({sup 137}Cs) and strontium-90 ({sup 90}Sr) spilled onto the floor of a hot cell, B-Cell, in the 324 Building. The spill contained an estimated 1.3 million curies (Ci) of radioactivity. A breach in the sump of B-Cell was discovered in November 2009 during characterization of the soil under the building. Exposure rates in excess of 10,000 R/hr were detected through a system of access pipes installed under the hot cell, and an estimated 1.557 E+05 Ci of {sup 137}Cs and 6.842 E+04 Ci of {sup 90}Sr are in the soil beneath B-Cell. The magnitude of the soil contamination below B-Cell represents one of the most challenging remediation activities in the DOE complex. The objective of CHPRC's 324 Project is to remotely excavate and disposition the highly contaminated soil under the hot cell so building deactivation and stabilization activities can resume. Depending on the volume and radioactivity of contaminated soil under B-Cell, the material will be dispositioned either at the Hanford Site's Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility (ERDF) or in grout monoliths that will be created in the hot cells (A, C and D) next to B-Cell during future building demolition activities. The current project scope includes installing structural supports under the walls of B-Cell and using remotely operated equipment to remove debris from the hot cell, remove debris mixed with grout on the floor, saw through and remove the cell floor and liner, and excavate contaminated soil under B-Cell to a depth of up to 3.66 meters (12 feet). Addition or removal of debris in A-Cell may be required to support B-Cell cleanout and excavation activities. The base approach is to disposition debris and soil bins in the Radiochemical Engineering Cell (REC) monoliths, and subsequently disposition the monoliths during building demolition. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗