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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Social Sciences and Space Exploration

The relationship between technology and society is a subject of continuing interest, because technological change and its effects confront and challenge society. College students are especially interested in technological change, knowing that they must cope with the pervasive and escalating effect of wide-ranging technological change. The space shuttle represents a technological change. The book's role is to serve as a resource for college faculty and students who are or will be interested in the social science implications of space technology. The book is designed to provide introductory material on a variety of space social topics to help faculty and students pursue teaching, learning, and research. Space technologies, perspectives on individual disciplines (economics, history, international law, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology) and interdiscipline approaches are presented.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1999

Theories of the Universe: A One Semester Course for Honors Undergraduates

For the last two years The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) has delivered a one semester course entitled Theories of The Universe as a seminar for undergraduate honors students. The enrollment is limited to fifteen students to encourage a maximum amount of interaction and discussion. The course has been team-taught enlisting the support of four scientists from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center as well as UAH faculty from the history, philosophy, biology and physics departments. The course mixes history, mythology, philosophy, religion, and, of course, science and astronomy. The course traces mankind's view of the universe and how that has changed from about 30,000 years BCE to the current observations and models. Starting with a brief history of mankind we trace the evolution of ideas including Prehistoric European, Babylonian, Egyptian, Asian, North, Central and South American, African, Chinese, Greek, Middle Ages, Copernican, Galileo, Kepler, the Renaissance and Enlightenment, Newton, Einstein, and Hawking etc. Namely, we try to touch on just about every different view to puzzles of quantum cosmology, missing mass and the cosmological constant. By the end of the course, students should have a good understanding of: (1) the human desire and need for understanding; (2) the interplay between observations, modeling and theory development, and the need for revisions based on further observations; (3) the role of developing technology in advancing knowledge; (4) the evolution of our views of the universe and our relation to it; and (5) where we are today in our quest. Students are required to write two term papers and present them to the class. The final exam is a open discussion on our views of what we have learned.

Dimmock, John O.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Review of Mariana Gosnell's 'ICE: The Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance'

ICE: The Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance is a recently published book by Mariana Gosnell about ice. It covers not just the ice that is readily seen, such as sea ice, lake ice, icebergs, glaciers, ice sheets, and ice cubes, but also ice in the ground, in the atmosphere, inside plants and animals, and in outer space, plus new ice forms being created in scientific laboratories. Gosnell treats the reader to a well-written, easy-going mixture of science, adventure, history, applications, science methods and controversies, and philosophy, all centered in one way or another on ice. The book is 563 pages long and is filled with fascinating anecdotes and details, such as beetles in the Canadian Rockies that can supercool to 60 C below freezing and a lake in Minnesota where each winter typically 65,000 fishing shanties are set up on the lake's ice, many with couches, beds, television sets, and bathrooms. Gosnell also includes many practical suggestions. Among them: When driving on lake ice, keep your windows open, in case your vehicle breaks through the ice and you need to make a rapid exit.

Parkinson, Claire L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Concept of nondestructive evaluation

The history of nondestructive evaluation, a recently evolved basic testing philosophy, and some application of NDE are examined with emphasis on aerospace applications. The discussion covers the definition of NDE, chronological development, NDE methods and systems, the use of NDE for process control, NDE for ceramics and composites, NDE for fracture control in glass, and science aspects of NDE. Specific examples of NDE applications are given.

Chern, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

SOFIA: Flying the Telescope

The primary focus of this paper is how the flight test team for the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) re-cast an extensive developmental test program to meet key milestones while simultaneously ensuring safe certification of the airframe and delivery of an operationally relevant platform, ultimately saving the overall program from financial demise. Following a brief introduction to the observatory and what it is designed to do, SOFIAs planned developmental test program is summarized, including analysis and design philosophy, envelope expansion, model validation and airframe certification. How NASA used lessons learned from other aircraft that employed open cavities in flight is explained as well as how and why the chosen design was selected. The approach to aerodynamic analysis, including bare airframe testing, wind tunnel testing, computational fluid dynamics and finite element modeling proved absolutely critical. Despite a solid analytical foundation, many unknowns remained. History provides several examples of disastrous effects on both systems and flight safety if cavity design is not approached properly. For these reasons, an extensive test plan was developed to ensure a safe and thorough build-up for envelope expansion, airframe certification and early science missions. Unfortunately, as is often the case, because of chronic delays in overall program execution, severe schedule and funding pressures were present. If critical milestones were not met, domestic as well as international funding was in serious jeopardy, and the demise of the entire program loomed large. Concentrating on rigorous model validation, the test team challenged certification requirements, increased test efficiency and streamlined engineering analysis. This resulted in the safe reduction of test point count by 72%, meeting all program milestones and a platform that soundly satisfied all operational science requirements. Results from early science missions are shown and a proof of concept mission for which SOFIA was opportunely positioned is showcased. Success on this time-critical mission to observe a rare astronomical event proved the usefulness of an airborne observatory and the value in waiting for the capability provided by SOFIA. Finally, lessons learned in the test program are presented with emphasis on how lessons from previous aircraft and successful test programs were applied to SOFIA. Effective application of these lessons was crucial to the success of the SOFIA flight test program. SOFIA is an international cooperative program between NASA and the German Space Agency, DLR. It is a 2.5 meter (100-inch) telescope mounted in a Boeing 747SP aircraft used for astronomical observations at altitudes above 35,000 feet. SOFIA will accommodate a host of scientific instruments from the international science community and has a planned operational lifespan of more than 20 years.

Asher, Troy A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Interim Report of the Astronomy Spacelab Payloads Study: Ultraviolet and Optical Astronomy - Volume 2

The Space Shuttle will comprise NASA's primary transportation system into near-earth orbit during the 1980s. The Shuttle will provide the astronomical community with a major new capability to send a wide variety of instrumentation into orbit, to utilize it there under manned or automatic control for periods from seven to thirty days, and to return it to the ground. To this end the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) is developing Spacelab, an array of interchangeable components -pressurized manned modules, unpressurized pallets and related support systems - to be mounted in the Shuttle payload bay. Spacelab will offer important opportunities to carry out astronomical research with instruments optimized for specific objectives. With a high flight frequency and with the ability to modify or interchange telescopes and instruments between flights, one will not need to make rigid long-term commitments to specific and compromised telescope/instrument/ detector combinations as is the case for automated satellites. Observational techniques demanding the physical return of data and equipment - in particular the use of photographic film, instruments requiring tight calibration controls, cryogens, high-risk detectors and degradeable optical coatings -will open research areas not readily addressed by automated satellites. Although Shuttle flight duration will be limited to periods from seven to thirty days, substantial data can be obtained with a single instrument on short missions, if targets are carefully selected and prioritized, and a large number of instruments can be accommodated on a single flight. Important astronomical data are regularly obtained on sounding rocket flights of five minutes duration. Spacelab will provide far longer observing periods for large and small telescopes, with resources greatly exceeding those of sounding rockets, while retaining much of the sounding rocket philosophy in terms of instrument flexibility, simplicity, reliability assurance and development costs. The Ultraviolet and Optical Astronomy Program on Spacelab is being planned to provide optical astronomers with relatively simple and regular access to the extended wavelength coverage, the superior image quality and the darkness of the night sky available above the earth's atmosphere. In a rapidly evolving science one cannot predict what problems will be timely in the 1980s. Extrapolating from the current epoch, however, one can envision a continuing interest in such areas as the structure, composition and phenomenology of planetary surfaces and atmospheres; the composition and physical nature of the interstellar medium; the composition, structure and life history of stars, especially those in advanced stages of evolution; the stellar population of other galaxies; such enigmatic phenomena as X-ray binary black holes, pulsars, active galactic nuclei and quasars; large scale interactions between galaxies and the nature of the intergalactic medium; precise calibration of the Hubble law for the expansion of the universe; the average density of the universe; and the existence of extraterrestrial life.

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NASA NTRS1980

A long-life bipropellant system demonstration: Viking Orbiter Propulsion System - 4 years in space and operating

On April 23, 1980, Viking Orbiter One (VO-1), operating in the blowdown mode, completed a ten second Mars orbit trim maneuver to position the spacecraft for its final science sequence in May-June 1980. This brought the number of propulsive maneuvers for VO-1 to 23. Total accumulated operating time for the rocket engine was 2896 seconds, representing a total impulse of 3.93 x 10 to the 6th N-sec. The estimated propellant remaining was sufficient to operate the rocket engine for an additional 30 seconds. VO-1 has completed more than 1700 days in space, 1400 days in orbit around Mars and more than two years of attitude control system operation with helium gas transferred from the propulsion system pressurant tank. The mass of helium remaining is expected to be sufficient for attitude control through June 1980. This paper presents the flight history of the Viking 75 Orbiter Propulsion Systems and summarizes the design and test philosophy which have contributed to their success.

Schmit, D. D.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Scouts: Using Numbers to Explore Mars In Situ

Mars is a planet with a complex geologic history involving fluvial, volcanic, aeolian, atmospheric, and impact processes. Many critical questions about Mars are still heatedly debated within the scientific community and we still have much to discover. The current Mars exploration philosophy involves remote observation of the planet from orbit and intensive in situ study of a few sites on the surface. Orbital data provides a global picture while in situ investigations provide detailed knowledge at a single location. Mars Scouts are proposed to provide access to multiple locations on Mars. They address the emerging program needs of exploring the diversity of the planet globally in ways that cannot be achieved from orbit. The goal of the Scout is to find a way to investigate many locations on the surface of Mars in an affordable and efficient manner. We have only visited three locations on the surface of Mars, which have very similar characteristics. Increased numbers allows more types of locations to be investigated. The hallmarks of Scouts are numbers and access. Thus the capability of a single Scout will be limited. The science return from a single Scout will be significantly less than from a large science lander or an orbiting spacecraft. Scouts rely on their numbers to collectively provide a substantial increase in our knowledge of Mars. Scouts potentially serve two purposes in the Mars exploration architecture. First, Scouts are a science exploration tool. They provide access to places on Mars we currently can't explore because program focus, surface roughness, elevation, or latitude that we know are scientifically interesting. Scouts can react to new discoveries and evolving ideas about Mars. They can be used to test theories which until proven would not warrant the investment of a large lander. Second, Scouts enable better large scale missions by providing ground truth of remote sensing data and allowing us to "know" sites in advance before sending large landers and sample return missions. This increases the probability of success for these expensive missions both from safety and science return stand-points.

Blaney, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Integration Science and Technology of Advanced Ceramics for Energy and Environmental Applications

The discovery of new and innovative materials has been known to culminate in major turning points in human history. The transformative impact and functional manifestation of new materials have been demonstrated in every historical era by their integration into new products, systems, assemblies, and devices. In modern times, the integration of new materials into usable products has a special relevance for the technological development and economic competitiveness of industrial societies. Advanced ceramic technologies dramatically impact the energy and environmental landscape due to potential wide scale applications in all aspects of energy production, storage, distribution, conservation, and efficiency. Examples include gas turbine propulsion systems, fuel cells, thermoelectrics, photovoltaics, distribution and transmission systems based on superconductors, nuclear power generation, and waste disposal. Robust ceramic integration technologies enable hierarchical design and manufacturing of intricate ceramic components starting with geometrically simpler units that are subsequently joined to themselves and/or to metals to create components with progressively higher levels of complexity and functionality. However, for the development of robust and reliable integrated systems with optimum performance under different operating conditions, the detailed understanding of various thermochemical and thermomechanical factors is critical. Different approaches are required for the integration of ceramic-metal and ceramic-ceramic systems across length scales (macro to nano). In this presentation, a few examples of integration of ceramic to metals and ceramic to ceramic systems will be presented. Various challenges and opportunities in design, fabrication, and testing of integrated similar (ceramic-ceramic) and dissimilar (ceramic-metal) material systems will be discussed. Potential opportunities and need for the development of innovative design philosophies, approaches, and integrated system testing under simulated application conditions will also be presented.

Singh, M.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Space Mission Operations Ground Systems Integration Customer Service

The facility, which is now the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, has provided continuous space mission and related services for the space industry since 1961, from Mercury Redstone through the International Space Station (ISS). Throughout the long history of the facility and mission support teams, the HOSC has developed a stellar customer support and service process. In this era, of cost cutting, and providing more capability and results with fewer resources, space missions are looking for the most efficient way to accomplish their objectives. One of the first services provided by the facility was fax transmission of documents to, then, Cape Canaveral in Florida. The headline in the Marshall Star, the newspaper for the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center, read "Exact copies of Documents sent to Cape in 4 minutes." The customer was Dr. Wernher von Braun. Currently at the HOSC we are supporting, or have recently supported, missions ranging from simple ISS payloads requiring little more than "bentpipe" telemetry access, to a low cost free-flyer Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite (FASTSAT), to a full service ISS payload Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 (AMS2) supporting 24/7 operations at three operations centers around the world with an investment of over 2 billion dollars. The HOSC has more need and desire than ever to provide fast and efficient customer service to support these missions. Here we will outline how our customer-centric service approach reduces the cost of providing services, makes it faster and easier than ever for new customers to get started with HOSC services, and show what the future holds for our space mission operations customers. We will discuss our philosophy concerning our responsibility and accessibility to a mission customer as well as how we deal with the following issues: initial contact with a customer, reducing customer cost, changing regulations and security, and cultural differences, to ensure an efficient response to customer issues using a small Customer Service Team (CST) and adaptability, constant communication with customers, technical expertise and knowledge of services, and dedication to customer service. The HOSC Customer Support Team has implemented a variety of processes, and procedures that help to mitigate the potential problems that arise when integrating ground system services for a variety of complex missions and the lessons learned from this experience will lead the future of customer service in the space operations industry.

Roth, Karl↗
NASA NTRS2016

JPL's Foundry Furnace: Web-Based Concurrent Engineering for Formulation

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Innovation Foundry is an enterprise tasked with shepherding space mission concepts through the formulation lifecycle. It oversees a number of “virtual teams” for the various stages of formulation. Among these is Team X, which has had considerable success over its more than 20-year history. In a Team X study, domain experts (including engineers devoted to the various spacecraft subsystems) work concurrently and collaboratively over several days to arrive at a feasible point design with a reasonable cost estimate. They use a set of linked Excel workbooks, each developed and approved by a responsible “line organization” within JPL. This toolset has served Team X well over the years, and has evolved since its inception. At the same time, the Innovation Foundry’s portfolio of formulation teams has expanded, and so has the scope of the design challenges they face. The A-Team runs workshop-like architecture studies to focus science investigations, generate mission concepts, assess feasibility, and explore trade spaces. Team Xc performs rapid point design in the style of Team X, but for CubeSats and small spacecraft, using a different toolset. Proposal teams further mature concepts to the point where they can be proposed. Recognizing the importance of trade space modeling combined with new IT services for providing and integrating data, JPL is developing the Foundry Furnace web-based software infrastructure. It will support A-Team, Team Xc, and Team X, providing study management, a catalog of hardware components, a library of re-usable analyses, and a design environment. It is a modernization of JPL’s concurrent engineering infrastructure, embracing the core concepts of Model-Based Systems Engineering, and built with modern software design philosophies.

Murphy, Jonathan↗