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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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Planetary quarantine program studies involving mathematical models for predicting spacecraft contamination, and clean room design
Planetary quarantine mission
Mission planning, and spacecraft sterilization model for microbe decontamination in application to planetary travel studies
Systems support activities for planetary quarantine mission
Outline of spacecraft contamination control
The Lewis Research Center is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's principal field installation for research and development of advanced-aerospace-propulsion and power-generating systems. More specifically, a substantial part of the Center's activities is devoted to progress in the technology of aircraft propulsion. Work includes such diverse areas as components, controls and other aspects of installation, V/STOL and low-cost-engine designs and noise reduction. The results of this work are published as NASA reports and as articles in the technical journals. In addition, an occasional technical conference assists us in communicating more directly with others in the engineering fraternity. Accordingly, this conference - in which the NASA Ames, Flight, and Langley Research Centers are represented where they are working in related areas - is held to present the results of our recent and current work.
Varying levels of autopilot assistance and workload effects on pilot performance in helicopter formation flight mode
This report selectively summarizes the NASA Lewis Research Center's research and technology accomplishments for the fiscal year 1998. It comprises 134 short articles submitted by the staff scientists and engineers. The report is organized into five major sections: Aeronautics, Research and Technology, Space, Engineering and Technical Services, and Commercial Technology. A table of contents and an author index have been developed to assist readers in finding articles of special interest. This report is not intended to he a comprehensive summary of all the research and technology work done over the past fiscal year. Most of the work is reported in Lewis-published technical reports, journal articles, and presentations prepared by Lewis staff and contractors. In addition, university grants have enabled faculty members and graduate students to engage in sponsored research that is reported at technical meetings or in journal articles. For each article in this report, a Lewis contact person has been identified, and where possible, reference documents are listed so that additional information can be easily obtained. The diversity of topics attests to the breadth of research and technology being pursued and to the skill mix of the staff that makes it possible. At the time of publication, NASA Lewis was undergoing a name change to the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field.
Defense Contract Administration Services Regions (DCASR) quality assurance personnel performing under NASA Letters of Delegation must work closely with the assigned technical representative of the NASA centers. It is realized that technical personnel from the NASA Centers cannot make on-site visits as frequently as they would like to. However, DCASR quality assurance personnel would know the assigned NASA technical representative and should contact him when problems arise. The technical representative is the expert on the hardware and should be consulted on any problem area. It is important that the DCASR quality assurance personnel recommend to the delegating NASA Center any new or improved methods of which they may be aware which would assist in achieving the desired quality and reliability in NASA hardware. NASA expects assignment of competent personnel in the Quality Assurance functional area and is not only buying the individual's technical skill, but also his experience. Suggestions by field personnel can many times up-grade the quality or the hardware.
The major issues affecting the selection of a space shuttle system were considered. These included the HO orbiter/ballistic recoverable booster series-burn configuration; the HO orbiter/ballistic recoverable booster parallel-burn (rocket-assisted orbiter-RAO) configuration; and the HO orbiter/flyback LOX/RP booster configuration. The booster studies emphasized the series-burn ballistic design, but the differences required for RAO application were identified and evaluated. Definition of the RAO configuration parameters and technical problem areas, establishing approaches to possible solutions, and developing program costs are discussed.
Our national need for qualified scientists and engineers is greater now than at any other time in our history. Fortunately, we can point with pride to this need as a measure of the impact of science and technology on our way of life. In effect, we have made such rapid strides In advancing established sciences and in opening new technological fields that we have proved the value of the scientist and engineer to society, and, as a-result, have created an expanding demand for their services which we must now attempt to satisfy. This demand we face is also due to the changing skills and high degree of specialization required to perform in these new technological fields. The colleges and universities are doing their part to provide current graduates with a modern technical foundation, but we cannot afford to ignore the thousands of experienced engineers and scientists already employed by private industry and government. As employers, we have an obligation to these men and women to see that they are provided with an understanding of the latest advances that modern technology has to offer; that we develop them in particular specialty areas characteristic of a given field of work; and, equally important, that we assist them in the transition from one field to another as the technological emphasis shifts. Practically all technological industries have experienced and continue to experience rapid changes in their activities. The aerospace business, in particular, has been characterized by extremely rapid, in fact revolutionary, changes during the relatively short period of its existence0 At the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, successor to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, for example, we have encountered the fun impact of a changing science and technology. Indeed, as a research organization, we have undoubtedly contributed, in some measure, to this change. Within the NASAs Lewis Research Center, we have approximately 800 research scientists and engineers who have matured professionally in an environment which is essentially one of continuous learning - an experience which comes close to being a form of post graduate training in itself. This environment, in addition to providing continuous evolutionary changes, has also provided two major revolutions which have made this development picture more complex. We will describe these environmental changes which have occurred at the Lewis Research Center and discuss the various techniques and programs we have employed to provide for the professional development of our staff. The Lewis Research Center has had an Interesting and exciting l8-year history of aerospace propulsion research and development. It began during the early years of World War II as an expansion of the Power Plant Division of the NCA Langley Center with the mission of conducting research required for the development of improved reciprocating engines and to study the associated problems of subsonic propulsion aerodynamics, It was only a few years later, however, that turbojet and ramjet propulsion and supersonic flight research became our main concern. This transition to jet type engines and higher speeds was our first major technological change. The aerodynamics of propellers became the aerodynamics of high speed turbine and compressor blades; the fuel ignition and carbon deposition problems were transferred from a cyclical or Intermittent high compression combustion chamber to a continuous combustion zone within a thin-walled metal shell; aerodynamics problems were thrust into the supersonic range; and high temperature materials began to play an increasingly critical role. Although this transition still required the same basic knowledge and principles as before, the new engine types did involve a different emphasis and variety of consideration not generally familiar to our scientists and engineers.
A resume is given of an investigation of the influence of plastic deformation and of annealing temperature on the tensile and shear elastic properties of high strength nonferrous metals and stainless steels in the form of rods and tubes. The data were obtained from earlier technical reports and notes, and from unpublished work in this investigation. There are also included data obtained from published and unpublished work performed on an independent investigation. The rod materials, namely, nickel, monel, inconel, copper, 13:2 Cr-Ni steel, and 18:8 Cr-Ni steel, were tested in tension; 18:8 Cr-Ni steel tubes were tested in shear, and nickel, monel, aluminum-monel, and Inconel tubes were tested in both tension and shear. There are first described experiments on the relationship between hysteresis and creep, as obtained with repeated cyclic stressing of annealed stainless steel specimens over a constant load range. These tests, which preceded the measurements of elastic properties, assisted in devising the loading time schedule used in such measurements. From corrected stress-set curves are derived the five proof stresses used as indices of elastic or yield strength. From corrected stress-strain curves are derived the secant modulus and its variation with stress. The relationship between the forms of the stress-set and stress-strain curves and the values of the properties derived is discussed. Curves of variation of proof stress and modulus with prior extension, as obtained with single rod specimens, consist in wavelike basic curves with superposed oscillations due to differences of rest interval and extension spacing; the effects of these differences are studied. Oscillations of proof stress and modulus are generally opposite in manner. The use of a series of tubular specimens corresponding to different amounts of prior extension of cold reduction gave curves almost devoid of oscillation since the effects of variation of rest interval and extension spacing were removed. Comparison is also obtained between the variation of the several properties, as measured in tension and in shear. The rise of proof stress with extension is studied, and the work-hardening rates of the various metals evaluated. The ratio between the tensile and shear proof stresses for the various annealed and cold-worked tubular metals is likewise calculated. The influence of annealing or tempering temperature on the proof stresses and moduli for the cold-worked metals and for air-hardened 13:2 Cr-Ni steel is investigated. An improvement of elastic strength generally is obtained, without important loss of yield strength, by annealing at suitable temperature. The variation of the proof stress and modulus of elasticity with plastic deformation or annealing temperature is explained in terms of the relative dominance of three important factors: namely, (a) internal stress, (b) lattice-expansion or work-hardening, and (c) crystal reorientation. Effective values of Poisson's ratio were computed from tensile and shear moduli obtained on tubular specimens. The variation of Poisson's ratio with plastic deformation and annealing temperature is explained in terms of the degree of anisotropy produced by changes of (a) internal stress and (b) crystal orientation.