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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Toward a Climate OSSE Framework for Satellite Mission Design

The rich history of observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) does not yet include a well-established framework for using climate models. The need for a climate OSSE is triggered by the need to quantify the value of a particular measurement for reducing the uncertainty in climate predictions, which differ from numerical weather predictions in that they depend on future atmospheric composition rather than the current state of the weather. However, both weather and climate modeling communities share a need for motivating major observing system investments. Here, we outline a new framework for climate OSSEs that leverages the use of machine learning to calibrate climate model physics against existing satellite data. We demonstrate its application using NASA’s GISS-E3 model to objectively quantify the value of potential future improvements in spaceborne measurements of Earth’s planetary boundary layer. A mature climate OSSE framework should be able to quantitatively compare the ability of proposed observing system architectures to answer a climate-related question, thus offering added value throughout the mission design process, which is subject to increasingly rapid advances in instrument and satellite technology. Technical considerations include selection of observational benchmarks and climate projection metrics, approaches to pinpoint the sources of model physics uncertainty that dominate uncertainty in projections, and the use of instrument simulators. Community and policy-making considerations include the potential to interface with an established culture of model intercomparison projects and a growing need to economically assess the value-driven efficiency of social spending on Earth observations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Modeling and Analysis of the BUK/BES-5 Fast Reactor Using MCNP [Slides]

The Soviet Union launched a series of satellites designated RORSAT that were designed to essentially collect information on NATO and US Navy. 33 satellites were launched between 1967 and 1988, the majority (31) of which were powered by the BUK reactor design or minor variants of BUK, The motivation for this effort is to better understand this small space reactor design. In addition, there is much to be learned from the issues encountered while modeling this reactor concept and its agreement with the real reactor deployed in the space.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2014

On the effects of solar storms to the decaying orbital space debris

Any man-made object in Earth's orbit that no longer serves a useful purpose is classified as orbital debris. Debris objects come from a variety of sources. The majority is related to satellite fragmentation. Other major sources of debris are propulsion systems, and fragmentation of spent upper stages, payload and mission related debris. Serious concern about orbital debris has been growing. Knowledge of the future debris environment is important to both satellite designers, and mission planners, who need to know what hazards a satellite might encounter during the course of its mission. Therefore, it is important to know how much debris is in orbit, where it is located, and when it will decay. The debris environment is complex and dynamically evolving. Objects of different shape and size behave differently in orbit. The geoeffectiveness space environments include solar flux at 10.7 cm, solar energetic particles flux or speed, solar wind flow pressure, electric field, and geomagnetic indices. We study the decaying orbital debris from Tracking and Impact Prediction (TIP) messages in conjuction with geoeffectiveness space environments through time epoch correlation. We found that the decaying and reentry orbital debris are triggered by space environment enhancement within at least one week before reentry. It is not necessary a transient or high energetic and severe solar storm events are needed in decaying processes. We propose that the gradual enhancement processes of space environment will cause satellite surface charging due to energetic electron and enhance drag force.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

2 Kelvin helium distribution system for the Electron Ion Collider’s 10 o’clock satellite refrigerator

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) will involve superfluid helium cooling of superconducting magnets and Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavities at several sites around the existing Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) accelerator tunnel. While the majority of the cooling power for these loads is provided by BNL’s central cryogenic plant, Jefferson Lab is designing satellite equipment which augments the central plant and enables 2 Kelvin operation. The 2 K cryogenic distribution system for the collider’s 10 o’clock location (Interaction Region 10 or IR10) includes all necessary interfaces to the IR10 Satellite Refrigerator, to the overall EIC cryogenic distribution system, and to 12 SRF cryomodules for the electron and hadron storage rings. In addition to providing the required cooling capacities in all operating modes, the IR10 2 K cryogenic distribution system also stabilizes the supply temperature and enables safe connection and disconnection of individual IR10 cryomodules. Moreover, the layout of the IR10 2 K cryogenic distribution system copes with challenging spatial constraints and adapts to the process configuration and routing of existing RHIC cryogenic distribution components which will be re-used for EIC. This paper gives a full overview of the IR10 satellite cryogenic distribution system design, and highlights some of the challenges encountered.

Laverdure, Nathaniel [Thomas Jefferson National Ac↗
DOE OSTI2014

How well can future CMB missions constrain cosmic inflation?

We study how the next generation of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurement missions (such as EPIC, LiteBIRD, PRISM and COrE) will be able to constrain the inflationary landscape in the hardest to disambiguate situation in which inflation is simply described by single-field slow-roll scenarios. Considering the proposed PRISM and LiteBIRD satellite designs, we simulate mock data corresponding to five different fiducial models having values of the tensor-to-scalar ratio ranging from 10{sup -1} down to 10{sup -7}. We then compute the Bayesian evidences and complexities of all Encyclopædia Inflationaris models in order to assess the constraining power of PRISM alone and LiteBIRD complemented with the Planck 2013 data. Within slow-roll inflation, both designs have comparable constraining power and can rule out about three quarters of the inflationary scenarios, compared to one third for Planck 2013 data alone. However, we also show that PRISM can constrain the scalar running and has the capability to detect a violation of slow roll at second order. Finally, our results suggest that describing an inflationary model by its potential shape only, without specifying a reheating temperature, will no longer be possible given the accuracy level reached by the future CMB missions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

The vast potential of exoplanet satellites for high-energy astrophysics

The photometric precision, monitoring baselines, and rapid, even sampling rates required by modern satellites designed for detecting the signal of transiting exoplanets are ideally suited to a large number of applications in high–energy astrophysics. I will exemplify this by discussing the results for active galactic nuclei from Kepler and summarizing other high–energy results from Kepler/K2. These precision instruments are currently underutilized for high–energy applications despite their great potential, due in part to complex systematics affecting the data. Here, I will summarize these effects and mitigation approaches, and conclude by discussing how the recently launched Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission will differ from Kepler /K2 in ways significant to the high–energy community.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Properties of laser-produced GaAs plasmas measured from highly resolved X-ray line shapes and ratios

The properties of hot, dense plasmas generated by the irradiation of GaAs targets by the Titan laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were determined by the analysis of high resolution K shell spectra in the 9 keV to 11 keV range. The laser parameters, such as relatively long pulse duration and large focal spot, were chosen to produce a steady-state plasma with minimal edge gradients, and the time-integrated spectra were compared to non-LTE steady state spectrum simulations using the FLYCHK and NOMAD codes. The bulk plasma streaming velocity was measured from the energy shifts of the Ga He-like transitions and Li-like dielectronic satellites. The electron density and the electron energy distribution, both the thermal and the hot non-thermal components, were determined from the spectral line ratios. After accounting for the spectral line broadening contributions, the plasma turbulent motion was measured from the residual line widths. The ionization balance was determined from the ratios of the He-like through F-like spectral features. The detailed comparison of the experimental Ga spectrum and the spectrum simulated by the FLYCHK code indicates two significant discrepancies, the transition energy of a Li-like dielectronic satellite (designated t) and the calculated intensity of a He-like line (x), that should lead to improvements in the kinetics codes used to simulate the X-ray spectra from highly-charged ions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Adjoint-enabled multidimensional optimization of satellite electron/proton shields - 25452

The design of satellites usually includes the objective of minimizing mass due to high launch costs, which is complicated by the need to protect sensitive electronics from the space radiation environment. There is growing interest in automated design optimization techniques to help achieve that objective. Traditional optimization approaches that rely exclusively on response functions (e.g. dose calculations) can be quite expensive when applied to transport problems. Previously we showed how adjoint-based transport sensitivities used in conjunction with gradient-based optimization algorithms can be quite effective in designing mass-efficient electron/proton shields in one-dimensional slab geometries. In this paper we extend that work to two-dimensional Cartesian geometries. This consists primarily of deriving the sensitivities to geometric changes, given a particular prescription for parameterizing the shield geometry. We incorporate these sensitivities into our optimization process and demonstrate their effectiveness in such design calculations. (authors)

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2015

Origin of Lα{sup x} satellite in the light rare earths on the basis of plasmon theory

The origin of most of the X-ray satellites can be explained on the basis of multiple ionization theory. However, there are several satellites which can be explained on the basis of plasmon theory. When a plasmon is excited during the X-ray emission process, one can get a low energy satellite because energy is used up in exciting the plasmon oscillations in the electron gas. A plasmon on decay can also transfer its energy to the transiting electron which subsequently fills the core vacancy giving rise to a high energy satellite. In our laboratory, a new high energy satellite Lα{sup x} has been observed in the Lα - emission spectra of the oxides of some light rare earths on the high energy side of the diagram line Lα{sub 1}. In the present paper, the origin of this high energy satellite has been explained using the theory of plasma oscillations in solids. The energy separation of the satellite from the emission line Lα{sub 1} has been calculated and then compared with the theoretical separation based on the plasmon theory. The agreement between the theoretical and experimental values is found to be good. Hence, the observed satellite can be designated as plasmon satellite.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗