SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “experiment”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,765 records · Page 98

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1989

Conceptual design of liquid droplet radiator shuttle-attached experiment technical requirements document

The technical requirements of a shuttle-attached Liquid Droplet Radiator (LDR) experiment are discussed. The Liquid Droplet Radiator is an advanced lightweight heat rejection concept that can be used to reject heat from future high powered space platforms. In the LDR concept, submillimeter sized droplets are generated, pass through space, and radiate heat before they are collected and recirculated back to the heat source. The LDR experiment is designed to be attached to the shuttle longeron and integrated into the shuttle bay using standard shuttle/experiment interfaces. Overall power, weight, and data requirements of the experiment are detailed. Shuttle integration and safety design issues are discussed. An overview of the conceptual design of the experiment is presented. Details of the conceptual design are not discussed here, but rather in a separate Final Report.

Pfeiffer, Shlomo L.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Flight software development for the isothermal dendritic growth experiment

The Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) is a microgravity materials science experiment scheduled to fly in the cargo bay of the shuttle on the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP) carrier. The experiment will be operated by real-time control software which will not only monitor and control onboard experiment hardware, but will also communicate, via downlink data and uplink commands, with the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) at NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The software development approach being used to implement this system began with software functional requirements specification. This was accomplished using the Yourdon/DeMarco methodology as supplemented by the Ward/Mellor real-time extensions. The requirements specification in combination with software prototyping was then used to generate a detailed design consisting of structure charts, module prologues, and Program Design Language (PDL) specifications. This detailed design will next be used to code the software, followed finally by testing against the functional requirements. The result will be a modular real-time control software system with traceability through every phase of the development process.

Levinson, Laurie H.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Optical properties monitor: Experiment definition phase

The stability of materials used in the space environment will continue to be a limiting technology for space missions. The Optical Properties Monitor (OPM) Experiment provides a comprehensive space research program to study the effects of the space environment-both natural and induced-on optical, thermal and space power materials. The OPM Experiment was selected for definition under the NASA/OAST In-Space Technology Experiment Program. The results of the OPM Definition Phase are presented. The OPM Experiment will expose selected materials to the space environment and measure the effects with in-space optical measurements. In-space measurements include total hemispherical reflectance total integrated scatter and VUV reflectance/transmittance. The in-space measurements will be augmented with extensive pre- and post-flight sample measurements to determine other optical, mechanical, electrical, chemical or surface effects of space exposure. Environmental monitors will provide the amount and time history of the sample exposure to solar irradiation, atomic oxygen and molecular contamination.

Wilkes, Donald R.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Conceptual design of a moving belt radiator shuttle-attached experiments: Technical requirement Document

The technical requirements for a shuttle-attached Moving Belt Radiator (MBR) experiment are defined. The MBR is an advanced radiator concept in which a rotating belt radiates thermal energy to space. The requirements for integrating the MBR experiment in the shuttle bay are discussed. Requirements for the belt material and working fluid are outlined along with some possible options. The proposed size and relationship to a full scale Moving Belt Radiator are defined. The experiment is defined with the primary goal of dynamic testing and a secondary goal of demonstrating the sealing and heat transfer characteristics. A perturbation system which will simulate a docking maneuver or other type of short term acceleration is proposed for inclusion in the experimental apparatus. A deployment and retraction capability which will aid in evaluating the dynamics of a belt during such a maneuver is also described. The proposed test sequence for the experiment is presented. Details of the conceptual design are not presented herein, but rather in a separate Final Report.

Aguilar, Jerry L.↗

NASA NTRS1989

The ITALSAT experiment

Some information is given on the ITALSAT millimetric waves propagation experiment, which is to be conducted with the ITALSAT satellite, whose launch is foreseen for the middle of 1990. The purpose of the experiment is one of experimenting with advanced technologies and techniques employing the 20/30 GHz bands in wideband telecommunications. Among the most qualified features of this system are the multispot antenna and the exchange function performed directly onboard. Details of the experiment are given.

Paraboni, A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

CSI technology validation on an LSS ground experiment facility

The test bed developed at JPL for experimental evaluation of new technologies for the control of large flexible space structures is described. The experiment consists of a flexible spacecraft dynamic simulator, sensors, actuators, a microcomputer, and an advanced programming environment. The test bed has been operational for over a year, and thus far nine experiments were completed or are currently in progress. Several of these experiments were reported at the 1987 CSI conference, and several recent ones are documented in this paper, including high order adaptive control, non-parametric system identification, and mu-synthesis robust control. An aggressive program of experiments is planned for the forseeable future.

Wang, S. J.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Conceptual design of a Moving Belt Radiator (MBR) shuttle-attached experiment

The conceptual design of a shuttle-attached Moving Belt Radiator (MBR) experiment is presented. The MBR is an advanced radiator concept in which a rotating belt is used to radiate thermal energy to space. The experiment is developed with the primary focus being the verification of the dynamic characteristics of a rotating belt with a secondary objective of proving the thermal and sealing aspects in a reduced gravity, vacuum environment. The mechanical design, selection of the belt material and working fluid, a preliminary test plan, and program plan are presented. The strategy used for selecting the basic sizes and materials of the components are discussed. Shuttle and crew member requirements are presented with some options for increasing or decreasing the demands on the STS. An STS carrier and the criteria used in the selection process are presented. The proposed carrier for the Moving Belt Radiator experiment is the Hitchhiker-M. Safety issues are also listed with possible results. This experiment is designed so that a belt can be deployed, run at steady state conditions, run with dynamic perturbations imposed, verify the operation of the interface heat exchanger and seals, and finally be retracted into a stowed position for transport back to earth.

Aguilar, Jerry L.↗

NASA NTRS1990

SEDS experiment design definition

The Small Expendable-tether Deployment System (SEDS) was developed to design, build, integrate, fly, and safely deploy and release an expendable tether. A suitable concept for an on-orbit test of SEDS was developed. The following tasks were performed: (1) Define experiment objectives and requirements; (2) Define experiment concepts to reach those objectives; (3) Support NASA in experiment concept selection and definition; (4) Perform analyses and tests of SEDS hardware; (5) Refine the selected SEDS experiment concept; and (6) Support interactive SEDS system definition process. Results and conclusions are given.

Carroll, Joseph A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Optical properties monitor: Experiment definition phase

The stability of materials used in the space environment will continue to be a limiting technology for space missions. The Optical Properties Monitor (OPM) Experiment provides a comprehensive space research program to study the effects of the space environment (both natural and induced) on optical, thermal and space power materials. The OPM Experiment was selected for definition under the NASA/OAST In-Space Technology Experiment Program. The results of the OPM Definition Phase are presented. The OPM experiment will expose selected materials to the space environment and measure the effects with in-space optical measurements. In-space measurements include total hemispherical reflectance total integrated scatter and VUV reflectance/transmittance. The in-space measurements will be augmented with extensive pre- and post-flight sample measurements to determine other optical, mechanical, electrical, chemical or surface effects of space exposure. Environmental monitors will provide the amount and time history of the sample exposure to solar irradiation, atomic oxygen and molecular contamination.

Wilkes, Donald R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

An expert system to advise astronauts during experiments: The protocol manager module

Perhaps the scarcest resource for manned flight experiments - on Spacelab or on the Space Station Freedom - will continue to be crew time. To maximize the efficiency of the crew and to make use of their abilities to work as scientist collaborators as well as equipment operators, normally requires more training in a wide variety of disciplines than is practical. The successful application of on-board expert systems, as envisioned by the Principal Investigator in a Box program, should alleviate the training bottleneck and provide the astronaut with the guidance and coaching needed to permit him or her to operate an experiment according to the desires and knowledge of the PI, despite changes in conditions. The Protocol Manager module of the system is discussed. The Protocol Manager receives experiment data that has been summarized and categorized by the other modules. The Protocol Manager acts on the data in real-time, by employing expert system techniques. Its recommendations are based on heuristics provided by the Principal Investigator in charge of the experiment. This prototype was developed on a Macintosh II by employing CLIPS, a forward-chaining rule-based system, and HyperCard as an object-oriented user interface builder.

Haymann-Haber, Guido↗

NASA NTRS1989

The Initial Blood Storage Experiment - The spaceflight hardware program

The Initial Blood Storage Experiment (IBSE) was conceived to investigate the effects of microgravity on the formed elements of human blood. The experiment flew on the January 1986, 61-C mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia. The experiment hardware was designed to provide a closely controlled temperature and air flow environment for all blood samples. During the mission, two IBSE modules were on board the orbiter and an identical set of hardware and blood samples were maintained on earth as a control. This paper describes the development and performance of the IBSE hardware which was converted from a conceptual design to an on-orbit, man-rated, mid-deck locker experiment in 17 months.

Almgren, David W.↗

NASA NTRS1990

The Amazon Boundary-Layer Experiment (ABLE 2B) - A meteorological perspective

The Amazon Boundary-Layer Experiments (ABLE) 2A and 2B, which were performed near Manaus, Brazil in July-August, 1985, and April-May, 1987 are discussed. The experiments were performed to study the sources, sinks, concentrations, and transports of trace gases and aerosols in rain forest soils, wetlands, and vegetation. Consideration is given the design and preliminary results of the experiment, focusing on the relationships between meteorological scales of motion and the flux, transports, and reactions of chemical species and aerosols embedded in the atmospheric fluid. Meteorological results are presented and the role of the meteorological results in the atmospheric chemistry experiment is examined.

Garstang, Michael↗

NASA NTRS1990

Flight software development for the isothermal dendritic growth experiment

The Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) is a microgravity materials science experiment scheduled to fly in the cargo bay of the shuttle on the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP) carrier. The experiment will be operated by real-time control software which will not only monitor and control onboard experiment hardware, but will also communicate, via downlink data and unlink commands, with the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) at NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The software development approach being used to implement this system began with software functional requirements specification. This was accomplished using the Yourdon/DeMarco methodology as supplemented by the Ward/Mellor real-time extensions. The requirements specification in combination with software prototyping was then used to generate a detailed design consisting of structure charts, module prologues, and Program Design Language (PDL) specifications. This detailed design will next be used to code the software, followed finally by testing against the functional requirements. The result will be a modular real-time control software system with traceability through every phase of the development process.

Levinson, Laurie H.↗

NASA NTRS1989

A fluid flow analysis for convective thermal control of flight experiments

A method for thermally analyzing convectively cooled flight experiments is presented. A three-dimensional fluid flow analysis code is used to optimize air circulation patterns and to predict air velocities in thermally critical areas. The analysis results are compared with the performance characteristics of a typical isothermal free jet, and good agreement is found between velocity profiles and radial distributions for downstream flow mixing. Predicted air velocities from the fluid analysis are used to calculate forced convection coefficients for the flight experiment, and the coefficients are used in a finite difference thermal analysis code to describe the response of air temperature and heat loss for the Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment during transient flight profiles. Recommendations are made for the future design of convectively cooled flight experiments.

Killough, Brian D.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Conceptual design of the subscale orbital fluid transfer experiment (SOFTE)

The Subscale Orbital Fluid Transfer Experiment is a planned space experiment with the objective of obtaining video and numerical data on fluid dynamics and thermal physics pertinent to on-orbit liquid acquisition and tank filling operations, particularly with cryogens. These data have significant application to space-based transportation systems, Space Station Freedom, and space defense systems. This paper presents the rationale for the experiment and a description of its design. The experiment will mount in two Get Away Special canisters that are connected to each other by an electrical umbilical. It involves transferring Freon 113 between two transparent plexiglass tanks. Axial and tangential no-vent fills will be done over a range of flow rates. The apparatus includes a screened-channel liquid acquisition device with plexiglass channels for examining vapor breakthrough and channel refill processes. Video cameras will monitor the transfer operations.

Jones, O. S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Surface radiation observations for October 27-28, 1986 during the Wisconsin FIRE/SRB experiment

A portion of both the shortwave and longwave surface radiation data is presented which was measured during the combined FIRE (First ISCCP Regional Experiment) and SRB (Surface Radiation Budget) experiments conducted in central Wisconsin from October 14 to November 2, 1988. The time periods from which high quality measurement values were obtained are summarized. Data gaps exist because of either equipment malfunctions or electrical power failures. Intercomparison of pre-experiment measurements by the various organizations involved suggests that all stations are accurate (relative to each other) to within about 10 W/m(sup -2) on a 24-hour daily average basis. Most of the instruments were calibrated by the National Radiation Centers in either the U.S. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) or Canada (Atmospheric Environment Service). October 27 and 28, 1986 were selected for detailed case study because a large amount of cirrus clouds existed over the experiment region on those days. Downwelled irradiance values are shown at each surface station at the time of afternoon NOAA-9 overpasses. Values shown are 10-minute averages centered about each overpass time, but minute-average data are available.

Whitlock, C. H.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Space station structural performance experiment

A flight experiment that could be used to measure Space Station dynamics during and after its assembly is discussed. By integrating sensors into the structure to measure its ambient dynamic responses, it will provide some information as to how it behaves during its evolution. The objectives of the experiment are to define a series of experiments to measure the dynamic responses due to disturbances to establish the experiment scenarios, and to identify the locations of the instrumentation that can be integrated into the structure. Researchers have also defined the Space Station resources that are required so that they can be included in the Mission Requirements Data Base (MRDB). They used the 16-flight-assembly scenario that was recommended by Rockwell as the baseline.

Gates, Dick↗

NASA NTRS1990

Planning for coordinated space and ground-based ionospheric modification experiments

The planning and conduction of coordinated space and ground-based ionospheric modification experiments are discussed. The purpose of these experiments is to discuss: (1) the nonlinear VLF wave interaction with the ionospheric plasmas; and (2) the nonlinear propagation of VLF waves in the HF-modified ionosphere. It is expected that the HF-induced ionospheric density striations can render the nonlinear mode conversion of VLF waved into lower hybrid waves. Lower hybrid waves can also be excited parametrically by the VLF waves in the absence of the density striations if the VLF waves are intense enough. Laboratory experiments are planned for crosschecking the results obtained from the field experiments.

Lee, M. C.↗