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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 OSTI2018

Qualitative Description of Electric Power System Future States

This work proposes a common basis for the simulation and evaluation of transactive systems. Using existing literature, a qualitative survey of the future states of the electric power system was conducted. Forces exerting influence on the state of the power system, called “drivers,” were identified. Specific future states in the literature were identified and classified into five general groups, and the effects of twelve previously identified drivers were assessed for each individual future state in the literature. Relationships between the five general future states were defined through a Venn diagram and system evolutions were demonstrated through notional narratives and corresponding paths through the diagram. A relational measure of the complexity and extent of the change implied by each future state was also created.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2015

Future particle-physics projects in the United States

Here, basic proposals of experiments aimed at precision measurements of Standard Model parameters and at searches for new particles, including dark-matter particles, are described along with future experimental projects considered by American Physical Society at the meeting in the summer of 2013 and intended for implementation within the next ten to twenty years.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
NASA NTRS2009

A Future State for NASA Laboratories - Working in the 21st Century

The name "21 st Century Laboratory" is an emerging concept of how NASA (and the world) will conduct research in the very near future. Our approach is to carefully plan for significant technological changes in products, organization, and society. The NASA mission can be the beneficiary of these changes, provided the Agency prepares for the role of 21st Century laboratories in research and technology development and its deployment in this new age. It has been clear for some time now that the technology revolutions, technology "mega-trends" that we are in the midst of now, all have a common element centered around advanced computational modeling of small scale physics. Whether it is nano technology, bio technology or advanced computational technology, all of these megatrends are converging on science at the very small scale where it is profoundly important to consider the quantum effects at play with physics at that scale. Whether it is the bio-technology creation of "nanites" designed to mimic our immune system or the creation of nanoscale infotechnology devices, allowing an order of magnitude increase in computational capability, all involve quantum physics that serves as the heart of these revolutionary changes.

Kegelman, Jerome T.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Fisher's Peak Ecological Forecasting: Mapping Biomass to Inform Conservation Planning of a Future State Park in Southern Colorado

Fisher’s Peak is a 77.5 km2 property southeast of Trinidad, Colorado that is planned to become Colorado’s newest state park. The area has experienced limited anthropogenic disturbance and is home to an abundance of unique habitats and species. A rapid, approximately 900 m change in elevation over the extent of the area nurtures a variety of plants and animals, including the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. In 2019, the State of Colorado obtained Fisher’s Peak with plans to make it Colorado’s second largest state park. A diverse group of collaborators, including the Colorado State Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy, worked closely to design the state park to maximize recreation opportunity while conserving the property’s rich habitats and biodiversity. The Fisher’s Peak Ecological Forecasting Team utilized Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) surveys, in situ forest inventory data, and Earth observations from Landsat8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (C-SAR), Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI), Advanced Land Observing Satellite 2 (ALOS-2) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR-2) and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) to quantify and map biomass over the extent of the study area. The results from modeling biomass had an out-of-bag root mean square error of 55 Mg/ha and an R2 of 12. The resulting map indicates areas where carbon storage on the property is high, informing decision-making processes for future park development. While more in situ training data may improve modeling capacity for biomass in the Fisher’s Peak area, this work represents a feasible attempt to better understand biomass distribution using earth observation.

DEVELOP Tech Paper↗
NASA NTRS2020

Fisher's Peak Ecological Forecasting - Mapping Biomass to Inform Conservation Planning of a Future State Park in Southern Colorado

Fisher’s Peak is a 77.5 km2 property southeast of Trinidad, Colorado that is planned to become Colorado’s newest state park. The area has experienced limited anthropogenic disturbance and is home to an abundance of unique habitats and species. A rapid, approximately 900 m change in elevation over the extent of the area nurtures a variety of plants and animals, including the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. In 2019, the State of Colorado obtained Fisher’s Peak with plans to make it Colorado’s second largest state park. A diverse group of collaborators, including the Colorado State Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy, worked closely to design the state park to maximize recreation opportunity while conserving the property’s rich habitats and biodiversity. The Fisher’s Peak Ecological Forecasting Team utilized Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) surveys, in situ forest inventory data, and Earth observations from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Sentinel-1 C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (C-SAR), Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI), Advanced Land Observing Satellite 2 (ALOS-2) Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR-2) and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) to quantify and map biomass over the extent of the study area. The results from modeling biomass had an out-of-bag root mean square error of 55 Mg/ha and an R2 of 12. The resulting map indicates areas where carbon storage on the property is high, informing decision-making processes for future park development. While more in situ training data may improve modeling capacity for biomass in the Fisher’s Peak area, this work represents a feasible attempt to better understand biomass distribution using earth observation

Lauren Lad↗
DOE OSTI2018

Current and Future United States Light-Duty Vehicle Pathways: Cradle-to-Grave Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Assessment

This article presents a cradle-to-grave (C2G) assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and costs for current (2015) and future (2025–2030) light-duty vehicles. The analysis addressed both fuel cycle and vehicle manufacturing cycle for the following vehicle types: gasoline and diesel internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), flex fuel vehicles, compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Gasoline ICEVs using current technology have C2G emissions of ~450 gCO2e/mi (grams of carbon dioxide equivalents per mile), while C2G emissions from HEVs, PHEVs, H2 FCEVs, and BEVs range from 300–350 gCO2e/mi. Future vehicle efficiency gains are expected to reduce emissions to ~350 gCO2/mi for ICEVs and ~250 gCO2e/mi for HEVs, PHEVs, FCEVs and BEVs. Utilizing low-carbon fuel pathways yields GHG reductions more than double those achieved by vehicle efficiency gains alone. Levelized costs of driving (LCDs) are in the range $0.25–$1.00/mi depending on timeframe and vehicle-fuel technology. In all cases, vehicle cost represents the major (60–90%) contribution to LCDs. Currently, HEV and PHEV petroleum-fueled vehicles provide the most attractive cost in terms of avoided carbon emissions, although they offer lower potential GHG reductions The ranges of LCD and cost of avoided carbon are narrower for the future technology pathways, reflecting the expected economic competitiveness of these alternative vehicles and fuels.

Cradle-to-grave↗
DOE OSTI2019

Future Grid State Modeling for Transactive Systems

The simulation design and evaluation of a transactive energy system is contingent on the setting in which it would exist, which could vary significantly with the many drivers that impact the potential future states of the power system. This report summarizes the development of the Transactive Future Grid State (TFGS) model, which is a lightweight capacity expansion model that will support transactive energy research by allowing users to explore alternative future states. The TFGS model determines the long-term generation capacity needs of a given power system that satisfy specified constraints and support a least cost hourly dispatch. This is accomplished by solving a single optimization problem that simultaneously finds the generation fleet with capacity sufficient to meet peak load and the flexibility to meet hourly operational dispatch, all at lowest cost. The TFGS model was applied to a larger ongoing study taking place that will be simulating how distribution system operators (DSOs) could use a transactive energy system to manage distributed energy resources. The larger study, commonly referred to as the DSO+T study, involves two parallel analyses; one that represents the system today and one that represents a future system with a high degree of renewable energy penetration. The TFGS model provided the generation mix of the high renewable base case. As the TFGS model was being used to provide inputs to the DSO+T study, two issues became apparent. First, additional functionality would have been useful, and second, a larger-than-anticipated amount of user inputs and data were required to successfully use the TFGS model. These discoveries have lead to the recommendation of specific functionality that can be added in future development of the tool.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2014

Renewable Electricity Futures for the United States

This paper highlights the key results from the Renewable Electricity (RE) Futures Study. It is a detailed consideration of renewable electricity in the United States. The paper focuses on technical issues related to the operability of the U. S. electricity grid and provides initial answers to important questions about the integration of high penetrations of renewable electricity technologies from a national perspective. The results indicate that the future U. S. electricity system that is largely powered by renewable sources is possible and the further work is warranted to investigate this clean generation pathway. The central conclusion of the analysis is that renewable electricity generation from technologies that are commercially available today, in combination with a more flexible electric system, is more than adequate to supply 80% of the total U. S. electricity generation in 2050 while meeting electricity demand on an hourly basis in every region of the United States.

Energy storage↗
DOE OSTI2018

The future of natural gas infrastructure development in the United states

Changes in the natural gas market have spawned the need for pipeline infrastructure planning. Previous studies have analyzed natural gas infrastructure development largely independent of the interactions of the natural gas sector with the broader economy. However, natural gas infrastructure development is strongly influenced by broader domestic and international socioeconomic conditions. We couple a global Human-Earth system model with state-level detail in the United States (GCAM-USA) that provides the broader socioeconomic context for natural gas supply and demand with a natural gas infrastructure investment model (NANGAM) to examine interstate natural gas pipeline infrastructure development in the U.S. under a range of socioeconomic scenarios. Here we show that existing pipeline infrastructure in the U.S. is insufficient to satisfy the increasing demand for natural gas and investments in pipeline capacity will be required. However, the geographic distribution of investments within the U.S. is heterogeneous and depends on the capacity of existing infrastructure as well as the magnitude of increase in demand. Our results also illustrate the risks of under-utilization of pipeline capacity, in particular, under a scenario characterized by long-term systemic transitions toward a low-carbon economy. More broadly, our study highlights the value of integrated approaches to facilitate informed decision-making.

Feijoo, Felipe↗
NASA NTRS2019

Increasing Pilot’s Understanding of Future Automation State – an Evaluation of an Automation State and Trajectory Prediction System

A pilot in the loop flight simulation study was conducted at NASA Langley Research Center to evaluate a trajectory prediction system. The trajectory prediction system computes a five-minute prediction of the lateral and vertical path of the aircraft given the current and intent state of the automation. The prediction is shown as a graphical representation so the pilots can form an accurate mental model of the future state. Otherwise, many automation changes and triggers are hidden from the flight crew or need to be consolidated to understand if a change will occur and the exact timing of the change. Varying dynamic conditions like deceleration can obscure the future trajectory and the ability to meet constraints, especially in the vertical dimension. Current flight deck indications of flight path assume constant conditions and do not adequately support the flight crew to make correct judgments regarding constraints. The study was conducted using ten commercial airline crews from multiple airlines, paired by airline to minimize procedural effects. Scenarios spanned a range of conditions that provided evaluation in a realistic environment with complex traffic and weather conditions. In particular, scenarios probed automation state and loss of state awareness. The technology was evaluated and contrasted with current state-of-the-art flight deck capabilities modeled from the Boeing 787. Objective and subjective data were collected from aircraft parameters, questionnaires, audio/video recordings, head/eye tracking data, and observations. This paper details findings about the trajectory prediction system including recommendations about further study.

Etherington, Timothy J.↗