NASA’s Agency Chief Technologist presents their first annual year-in-review for 2023

OTPS shares an annual letter from the Agency Chief Technologist (ACT), updates on various studies in the technology domain within OTPS, overviews of the center chief technologists, and vignettes of various technology projects across the agency. Read the full report, A Year in Review 2023 from NASA’s Agency Chief Technologist.

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Bill Keeter

OTPS Releases its 2023 Annual Report

NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, shares highlights from the office in 2023, including key accomplishments and collaborations that support the NASA mission. Read the full report, NASA’s OTPS: A Year in Review 2023

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Bill Keeter

Studying Combustion and Fire Safety

Research on the International Space Station is helping scientists to understand how fire spreads and behaves in different environments and learn how to prevent and extinguish fires in space. Combustion investigations contribute to the safety of crew members, equipment, and spacecraft by guiding selection of spacecraft cabin materials, improving understanding of fire growth, and identifying optimal fire suppression techniques. This research also contributes to fire safety on Earth and some studies improve our understanding of combustion for uses such as producing electricity and powering vehicles on the ground.

Microgravity dramatically influences flames and provides a unique environment for studying combustion. For example, on Earth, hot gases from a flame rise and gravity pulls cooler, denser air to the bottom of a flame, creating the classic shape and flickering effect. In microgravity, this flow doesn’t occur and on the space station, low-momentum flames tend to be rounded or even spherical. By removing the effects of buoyancy, microgravity provides researchers a better understanding of specific flame behaviors.

The Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR), developed and operated by NASA’s Glenn Research Center, provides a secure and safe environment for a wide range of combustion experiments. Different chamber inserts that enable a variety of investigations include the Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus, which supported FLame Extinguishment Experiments (FLEX), the Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) insert, and the Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction – Growth and Extinction Limit (SoFIE) chamber.

FLEX, which analyzed the effectiveness of fire suppressants, led to the discovery of a type of cool flame, where the fuel continued “burning” under certain conditions after extinction of the visible flame. Typical flames produce carbon dioxide and water, but cool flames produce carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. Learning more about the behavior of these chemically different flames could lead to the development of more-efficient, less-polluting vehicles. Cool flames produced on Earth quickly flicker out. Since they burn longer in microgravity, scientists have the opportunity to study them.

FLEX-2 looked at how quickly fuel droplets burn, the conditions required for soot to form, and how mixtures of liquid fuels evaporate before burning. Results could help make future spacecraft safer and increase fuel efficiency for engines using liquid fuel on Earth.

ACME is a set of six independent studies using the CIR to examine fuel efficiency and pollutant production in combustion on Earth. The series also looked at improving spacecraft fire prevention through a better understanding of materials flammability.

One ACME investigation, Flame Design, studied the quantity of soot produced under different flame conditions. Soot, the carbon residue left when carbon-containing material does not fully burn, causes environmental and health issues but is desirable for some purposes. Results could enable the design of flames with more or less soot, depending on the specific need, and may help create more efficient and less polluting designs for burning fuel.

ACME’s Burning Rate Emulator (BRE) simulated the flammability of solid and liquid materials by burning gaseous fuels under specific conditions. Analysis of 59 BRE burn tests provided data on heat flow, flame size, effects of fuel mixture flow, and other important parameters.¹ Results could improve the fundamental understanding of materials flammability and assess whether existing methods for testing flammability are effective in microgravity.

Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS) was one of the first investigations to examine how to extinguish fuels burning in microgravity. Putting out fires in space must consider flame geometry, characteristics of the materials, and methods used to extinguish it, because methods used on the ground could be ineffective or even make the flame worse.

BASS-II examined the characteristics of a variety of fuel samples to see whether materials burn as well in microgravity as in normal gravity, given the right conditions. Several papers have reported results from BASS-II, with findings including the differences between flame spread and fuel regression and comparison of flame spread rates.^2,3

SoFIE-GEL analyzes how the temperature of a fuel affects material flammability. Researchers report that experiment observations agree with trends predicted by the models. This investigation, the first in a series, tested various fuels including flat sheets, thick slabs, cylinders, and spheres.

Saffire is a series of experiments conducted aboard uncrewed Cygnus cargo spacecraft after they depart the station, which makes it possible to test larger fires without putting crew members at risk. Results on flame spread in microgravity can be used to establish the rate of heat release in a spacecraft⁴ and show that reducing pressure slows down that spread.⁵

Confined Combustion, sponsored by the ISS National Lab, examines flame spread in confined spaces of different shapes. Confinement affects fire characteristics and hazards. Researchers report specifics on interactions between a flame and its surrounding walls and the fate of the flame, such as growth or extinction.⁶ These results provide guidance for the design of structures, fire safety codes, and response in space and on Earth. Other results suggest that confinement can increase or decrease solid fuel flammability depending on conditions.⁷

FLARE, an investigation sponsored by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), also tests the flammability of materials in microgravity. Results could significantly improve fire safety on future missions.

Flame studies help keep crews in space safe. This research also could lead to more efficient combustion that reduces pollutants and produces more efficient flames for uses on Earth such as heating and transportation.

Search this database of scientific experiments to learn more about those mentioned above.

Citations

1. Dehghani, P., Sunderland, P.B., Quintiere, J.G., deRis. J.L. Burning in microgravity: Experimental results and analysis. Combustion and Flame. Vol 228, June 2021, pp 315-330
2. Huang X, Link S, Rodriguez A, Thomsen M, Olson SL, Ferkul PV, Fernandez-Pello AC. Transition from opposed flame spread to fuel regression and blow off: Effect of flow, atmosphere, and microgravity. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute. 2019 37(3): 4117-4126. DOI: 10.1016/j.proci.2018.06.022.
3. Bhattacharjee S, Laue M, Carmignani L, Ferkul PV, Olson SL. Opposed-flow flame spread: A comparison of microgravity and normal gravity experiments to establish the thermal regime. Fire Safety Journal. 2016 January; pp 79111-118. DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2015.11.011
4. Urban DL, Ferkul PV, Olson SL, Ruff GA, Easton JW, Tien JS, Liao YT, Li C, Fernandez-Pello AC, Torero JL, Legros G, Eigenbrod C, Smirnov N, Fujita O, Rouvreau S, Toth B, Jomaas G. Flame spread: Effects of microgravity and scale. Combustion and Flame. Vol 199 January 2019; pp 199168-182. DOI: 10.1016/j.combustflame.2018.10.012.
5. Thomsen M, Fernandez-Pello AC, Urban DL, Ruff GA, Olson SL. Upward flame spread over a thin composite fabric: The effect of pressure and microgravity. 48th International Conference on Environmental Systems, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 2018 July 8; p ICES-2018-23111
6. Li Y, Liao YT, Ferkul PV, Johnston MC, Bunnell CT. Experimental study of concurrent-flow flame spread over thin solids in confined space in microgravity. Combustion and Flame. Vol 227, May 2021; pp 22739-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.combustflame.2020.12.042
7. Li Y, Liao YT, Ferkul PV, Johnston MC, Bunnell CT. Confined combustion of polymeric solid materials in microgravity. Combustion and Flame. Vik 234 Dec 2021; pp  234111637. DOI: 10.1016/j.combustflame.2021.111637.

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics

Latest News from Space Station Research

Station Benefits for Humanity

ISS National Laboratory

International Space Station Overview

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
NASA

Ringing in the Holidays

The ice giant Uranus and its rings steal the show in this Dec. 18, 2023, image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope captured new images of Uranus, revealing detailed features of the planet’s rings and seasonal north polar cap, as well as bright storms near and below the southern border of the cap.

This Webb image also shows 14 of the planet’s 27 moons: Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Juliet, Perdita, Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Ariel, Miranda, Bianca, and Portia. Webb’s extreme sensitivity also picks up a smattering of background galaxies—most appear as orange smudges, and there are two larger, fuzzy white galaxies to the right of the planet in this field of view.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Monika Luabeya

NASA’s Deep Space Network Turns 60 and Prepares for the Future

The agency’s DSN provides critical communications and navigation services to dozens of space missions, and it’s being modernized to support dozens more.

NASA’s Deep Space Network marks its 60th year on Dec. 24. In continuous operations since 1963, the DSN is what makes it possible for NASA to communicate with spacecraft at or beyond the Moon. The dazzling galactic images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, the cutting-edge science data being sent back from Mars by the Perseverance rover, and the historic images sent from the far side of the Moon by Artemis I – they all reached Earth via the network’s giant radio dish antennas.

During 2024, these and other historic contributions from the past 60 years will be celebrated by NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, which manages and directs the ground-based facilities and services that the DSN provides.

More than 40 missions depend on the network, which is expected to support twice that number in the coming years. That’s why NASA is looking to the future by expanding and modernizing this critical global infrastructure with new dishes, new technologies, and new approaches.

“The DSN is the heart of NASA – it has the vital job of keeping the data flowing between Earth and space,” said Philip Baldwin, acting director of the network services division for SCaN at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “But to support our growing portfolio of robotic missions, and now the human Artemis missions to the Moon, we need to push forward with the next phase of DSN modernization.”

Meeting Added Demands

Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for SCaN, the DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. To ensure those spacecraft can always connect with Earth, the DSN’s 14 antennas are divided between three complexes spaced equally around the world – in Goldstone, California; Canberra, Australia; and Madrid, Spain.

To make sure the network can maximize coverage between so many missions, schedulers work with DSN team members to secure network support for critical operations. For more efficiency, NASA has also changed how the network is operated: With a protocol called “Follow the Sun,” each complex takes turns running the entire network during their day shift and then hands off control to the next complex at the end of the day in that region – essentially, a global relay race that takes place every 24 hours. The cost savings, in turn, help fund DSN enhancements.

At the same time, NASA has been busy making improvements to increase capacity, from upgrading and adding dishes to developing new technologies that will help support more spacecraft and dramatically increase the amount of data that can be delivered.

One such technology is laser, or optical, communications, which could enable more data to be packed into transmissions. “Laser communications could transform how NASA communicates with faraway space missions,” said Amy Smith, deputy project manager for the DSN at JPL.

After successfully testing the technique in Earth orbit and out to the Moon, NASA is currently using the DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications) technology demonstration to test laser communications from ever-greater distances. Riding aboard the agency’s Psyche mission, DSOC has already sent video via laser to Earth from 19 million miles (31 million kilometers) away and aims to prove that high-bandwidth data can be sent from as far away as Mars.

“NASA is proving that laser communication is viable, so now we are looking at ways to build optical terminals inside the existing radio antennas,” said Smith. “These hybrid antennas will be able to still transmit and receive radio frequencies but will also support optical frequencies.”

Technological Heritage

New technology is something that NASA and the DSN have embraced from their inception. The network’s roots extend to 1958, when JPL was contracted by the U.S. Army to deploy portable radio tracking stations to receive telemetry of the first successful U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, which JPL built. A few days after Explorer 1’s launch, but before the creation of NASA later that year, JPL was tasked with figuring out what would be needed to create an unprecedented telecommunications network to support future deep space missions, beginning with the early Pioneer missions.

After NASA formed in 1958, JPL’s ground stations were named Deep Space Information Facilities, and they operated largely independently from one another until 1963. That’s when the DSN was officially founded and the ground stations were connected to JPL’s new network control center, which was nearing completion. Called the Space Flight Operations Facility, that building remains the “Center of the Universe” through which data from the DSN’s three global complexes flows.

“We have six decades driving technological innovation, supporting hundreds of missions that have made countless discoveries about our planet and the universe it inhabits,” said Bradford Arnold, deputy director for the Interplanetary Network at JPL. “Our amazing workforce that continues to drive that innovation today forms a steadfast foundation upon which we can build the next 60 years of space exploration and scientific advancement.”

For more information about the DSN, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions/dsn/

News Media Contact

Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov

2023-187

Explore More

6 min read

Meet the Infrared Telescopes That Paved the Way for NASA’s Webb

Article


4 hours ago

13 min read

Celebrating the Holiday Season in Space

Article


4 hours ago

6 min read

An Apollo 8 Christmas Dinner Surprise: Turkey and Gravy Make Space History

Article


7 hours ago

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Naomi Hartono