Find research datasets worth reusing

closedIPD-NOFeb 2026View details →

Virtual Reality-Integrated Propulsion Feedback for Stroke Rehab

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT07087743. IPD Sharing: NO. Countries: 1. Publications: 0.

How Does the Clinical and Paraclinical Efficacy of an Oral Appliance Evolved According to Propulsion: Control With Each mm of Advancement

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT05056766. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 0.

Orthopaedic Treatment in Propulsive Metatarsalgia

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT05713175. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 0.

Adjusting Wheelchair Set-Up to Minimize Shoulder Joint Forces During Propulsion

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT00785278. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 0.

Manual Wheelchair Propulsion Training

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT00226252. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 0.

6 Minute Propulsion Test Sensitivity to Increased Aerobic Capacity

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT01184729. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 0.

Direct Energy Conversion for Nuclear Propulsion at Low Specific Mass Project

Low specific mass (&lt; 3&nbsp; kg/kW) in-space electric power and propulsion can drastically alter the paradigm for exploration of the Solar System, changing human Mars exploration from a 3-year epic event to an annual expedition.&nbsp;&nbsp; A specific mass of ~1 kg/kW can enable 1-year round-trips to Mars, regardless of alignment, with the same launch mass to low Earth orbit (350 mT) estimated by the Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 study for a 3-year conjunction mission. Key to achieving such a propulsion capability is the ability to convert, at high efficiency and with only minimal losses rejected as heat via radiators, the energy of charged particle reaction products originating from an advanced fission or aneutronic fusion source directly into electricity conditioned as required to power an electric thruster.&nbsp; The TWDEC concept accomplishes this by converting particle beam energy into radio frequency (RF) alternating current electrical power, such as can be used to heat the propellant in a plasma thruster.This project is core to the development of multi-MW power for electric propulsion.&nbsp; The technology developed will enable high power systems which have specific mass in the low single-digits and which are sun-independent, require no neutron shielding, and produce no radioactive waste.&nbsp; The power levels and specific mass this technology could provide will, when combined with either high-efficiency Q-thrusters or VASIMR-class plasma thrusters, enable rapid human missions to Mars and beyond.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Project Infusion Path: Low specific mass (a &ndash; kg/kWe) in-space electric power and propulsion can drastically alter the paradigm for exploration of the Solar System, changing human Mars exploration from a 3-year epic event to an annual expedition.&nbsp;&nbsp; An a of ~1 kg/kWe can enable 1-year round-trips to Mars, regardless of opportunity, with the same launch mass to low Earth orbit (350 mT) estimated by the Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 study for a 3-year conjunction mission. Key to achieving such a propulsion capability is the ability to convert, at high efficiency and with only minimal losses rejected as heat via radiators, the energy of charged particle reaction products originating from an aneutronic fusion source directly into electricity conditioned as required to power an electric thruster. The TWDEC concept (originally conceived in Japan in the 1990&rsquo;s for terrestrial fusion applications) accomplishes this by converting particle beam energy into radio frequency (RF) alternating current electrical power, such as can be used to heat the propellant in a VASIMR-class plasma thruster. In a more advanced concept (explored in a 2012 Phase 1 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project), the TWDEC could also be utilized to condition the particle beam such that it may transfer directed kinetic energy to a target propellant plasma for the purpose of increasing thrust and optimizing the specific impulse.&nbsp; While other government agencies and/or industry partners are pursuing aneutronic fusion reactors and plasma propulsion, NASA JSC is the only entity advancing this core energy conversion technology. With successful development of this system by NASA and its partners, an intermediate NASA infusion step would demonstrate megawatt-class aneutronic fusion, TWDEC, and electric propulsion (e.g., Q-thruster, VASIMR) systems on robotic missions to the Jovian moons.&nbsp; Human vehicle system development would then integrate such systems into the &ldquo;ultimate&rdquo; NASA application:&nbsp; sustainable, routine human exploration of Mars and, with successful Q-thruster development, beyond.Project Infusion Path:Low specific mass (a &ndash; kg/kWe) in-spac

Propulsive Descent Technologies (PDT): Original Content Project

Future missions to Mars require landed mass that exceeds the capability of current entry, descent, and landing technology.&nbsp; New technology and techniques are required to increase atmospheric entry and landing capabilities for high mass items. This capability is needed in order to enable future human-precursor and human-scale missions to Mars.One possible technology to enable future high mass missions to Mars is the use of retro propulsion during the entry phase.&nbsp; Supersonic retro propulsion involves using thrusters directed in opposition to the oncoming airflow to decelerate the entry vehicle while it is traveling at supersonic speeds.The project will seek to partner with a commercial launch provider to obtain flight data.&nbsp; The data acquired by the proposed government-commercial partnership are expected to include the following aerosciences products:<ul><li>Vehicle state (position, velocity, attitude, attitude rates, etc.)</li><li>Temperatures, heating rates, and pressures on the vehicle&rsquo;s outer skin</li><li>Imagery provided by NASA and its contractors, in addition to vehicle propulsion system performance data.</li></ul>&nbsp;Available NASA Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools will be exercised at a few select conditions during the SRP burn for each flight data set in order to provide insight into how the models compare against the data.&nbsp; The commercial partner&rsquo;s engines will be properly scaled in the CFD calculations using established scaling parameters with varying degrees of exhaust modeling fidelity.&nbsp; Solutions will be completed on custom grids for each CFD code using geometries provided by the commercial partner.Objectives (for each code):<ol><li>Establish computational requirements (grid, run time, number of CPUs, etc.) and the effects of turbulence modeling and time-accurate simulations on results</li><li>Examine varying levels of engine exhaust modeling (perfect gas vs. simulated gas vs. multi-specie gas)</li><li>Provide best practices for obtaining grid-converged solutions (flow initialization, time step requirements, grid adaptation, etc.)</li><li>Make blind comparisons of the &ldquo;best&rdquo; solutions with the flight data set(s), including flight imagery provided by NASA</li></ol>&nbsp;The PDT project will also develop vehicle configurations that support landing of a 2 metric ton (t) article on the Mars surface.&nbsp; Project representatives will develop trajectories and supersonic retro propulsion profiles for the vehicle configurations using the CFD models.&nbsp; The project will investigate interactions between vehicle subsystems, structures and thermal protection, the Mars aero environment, mass and center of gravity, and control techniques.&nbsp; &nbsp;

In-Space Propulsion (346620) Technology Project

Technologies include, but are not limited to, electric and advanced chemical propulsion, propellantless propulsion such as aerocapture and solar sails, sample return ascent vehicles, and Earth return systems. ISP will enable access to more challenging and interesting science destinations, including enabling sample return missions. ISP continues to advance several propulsion technologies in support of future Flagship, Discovery, Mars, and New Frontiers missions. The ISP portfolio continues to invest in high-priority technology areas such as the electric propulsion and aerocapture/Earth entry, descent, and landing technologies identified in the Solar System Exploration Roadmap, the 2010 SMD Science Plan, and the 2011 Planetary Decadal Survey. The ISP project is highly responsive to the Decadal Survey. The ISP project will complete the 7kW NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) Power Processing Unit (PPU) repair in 2012, and will complete NEXT PPU characterization and integration testing and long duration validation testing of the NEXT thruster in 2013. ISP is completing the electric propulsion 4kW High Voltage Hall Accelerator (HiVHAC) thruster development task, is assessing commercial Hall systems, and will start long duration testing of the HIVHAC thruster in 2012. The Hall system power processing unit (PPU) and other subsystem technology development starts development in FY 2012. High Voltage Hall Accelerator (HiVHAC) thruster technology is applicable to Earth return vehicles (ERV), transfer stages, and low-cost electric propulsion systems for Discovery-class missions. In FY 2012 ISP will continue development of NDI techniques and a detailed design for a lightweight propellant tank applicable to the Skycrane. ISP will continue completing Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV ) heat shield micro-meteoroid/orbital debris characteristics studies, a preliminary design of a multi-mission Earth entry vehicle (MMEEV) concept and continuing MMEEV technology development.

restrictednotspecifiedApr 2025View details →

TOLNet NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Data

TOLNet_JPL_Data are lidar data collected by several ozone Differential Absorption Lidar instruments developed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Table Mountain Facility (JPL-TMF). A fixed location instrument named TMTOL has been contributing ozone profiles to the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), and the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) since 2000. Five mobile instruments (SMOL-1, SMOL-2, SMOL-3, SMOL-4 and SMOL-5) started contributing ozone profiles to TOLNet in 2023, 2024 and 2025, depending on the instrument. Data collection for this product from all lidar instruments is ongoing.In the troposphere, ozone is considered a pollutant and is important to understand due to its harmful effects on human health and vegetation. Tropospheric ozone is also significant for its impact on climate as a greenhouse gas. Operating since 2011, TOLNet is an interagency collaboration between NASA, NOAA, and the EPA designed to perform studies of air quality and atmospheric modeling as well as validation and interpretation of satellite observations. TOLNet is currently comprised of seven Differential Absorption Lidars (DIAL). Each of the lidars are unique, and some have had a long history of ozone observations prior to joining the network. Five lidars are mobile systems that can be deployed at remote locations to support field campaigns. This includes the Langley Mobile Ozone Lidar (LMOL) at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), the Tropospheric Ozone (TROPOZ) lidar at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Tunable Optical Profile for Aerosol and oZone (TOPAZ) lidar at the NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL) in Boulder, Colorado, the Autonomous Mobile Ozone LIDAR instrument for Tropospheric Experiments (AMOLITE) lidar at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in Toronto, Canada, and the Rocket-city O3 Quality Evaluation in the Troposphere (RO3QET) lidar at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama. The remaining lidars, the Table Mountain Facility (TMF) tropospheric ozone lidar system located at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and City College of New York (CCNY) New York Tropospheric Ozone Lidar System (NYTOLS) are fixed systems.TOLNet seeks to address three science objectives. The primary objective of the network is to provide high spatio-temporal measurements of ozone from near the surface to the top of the troposphere. Detailed observations of ozone structure allow science teams and the modeling community to better understand ozone in the lower-atmosphere and to assess the accuracy and vertical resolution with which geosynchronous instruments could retrieve the observed laminar ozone structures. Another objective of TOLNet is to identify an ozone lidar instrument design that would be suitable to address the needs of NASA, NOAA, and EPA air quality scientists who express a desire for these ozone profiles. The third objective of TOLNET is to perform basic scientific research into the processes create and destroy the ubiquitously observed ozone laminae and other ozone features in the troposphere. To help fulfill these objectives, lidars that are a part of TOLNet have been deployed to support nearly ten campaigns thus far. This includes campaigns such as the Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER-AQ) mission, the Korea United States Air Quality Study (KORUS-AQ), the Tracking Aerosol Convection ExpeRiment – Air Quality (TRACER-AQ) campaign, the Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Éxperiment (FRAPPÉ), the Long Island Sound Tropospheric Ozone Study (LISTOS), and the Ozone Water–Land Environmental Transition Study (OWLETS).

Solid-State Thermionic Nuclear Power for Megawatt Propulsion, Planetary Surface and Commercial Power Project

Thermionic (TI) power conversion is a promising technology first investigated for power conversion in the 1960&rsquo;s, and of renewed interest due to modern advances in nanotechnology, MEMS, materials and manufacturing. Benefits include high conversion efficiency (20%), static operation with no moving parts and the potential for high reliability, greatly reduced plant complexity, and the potential for low Design, Development. Test and Evaluation (DDT&amp;E) costs. Thermionic emission, credited to Edison in 1880, forms the basis of vacuum tubes and much of 20th century electronics. Heat can be converted into electricity when electrons emitted from a hot surface are collected across a small gap. For example, two &ldquo;small&rdquo; (6 kWe) Thermionic Space Reactors were flown by the USSR in 1987-88 for ocean radar reconnaissance. Higher powered Nuclear-Thermionic power systems driving Electric Propulsion (Q-thruster, VASIMR, etc.) may offer the breakthrough necessary for human Mars missions of &lt; 1 yr round trip.This project targets one of the most critical barriers to human deep space exploration &ndash; the means to efficiently power and rapidly propel human missions to Mars and beyond.&nbsp; The project will explore the implementation of a high efficiency &ldquo;Solid-State&rdquo; Thermionic-based nuclear fission power systems to serve Electric Propulsion systems such as Q-thrusters, VASIMR, Hall, or other approaches.&nbsp; A Solid-State approach centered around advanced Thermionic power converters would combine the high efficiency of traditional dynamic power conversion (Rankine, Brayton, Stirling) with the simplicity of a static converter with no moving parts.&nbsp; The resulting system could enable Human Mars missions of &lt; 1 year round trip by affording a system of megawatt power, low specific mass (&lt;10 kg/kWe), greatly reduced plant complexity, and associated savings in development cost.&nbsp;&nbsp; This project provides the initial foundation and confidence for high efficiency solid-state power converters, and early definition of enabled human exploration systems and missions (ex. Megawatt Electric Propulsion, Moon/Mars Surface Power).&nbsp; Subsequent converter development will improve readiness and lifetime, leading to &ldquo;flight ready&rdquo; articles.&nbsp; An intermediate NASA infusion step would demonstrate kilowatt-class nuclear power systems applicable to Moon or Mars surface.&nbsp; Human vehicle system development would then integrate these converters with DOE nuclear reactor technology, NASA balance of plant (ex. radiators, PMAD), and electric propulsion (ex. Q-thrusters, VASIMR, Hall thrusters) to develop an &ldquo;ultimate&rdquo; NASA application of a Human Mars Megawatt-class Nuclear Electric Propulsion vehicle and mission.&nbsp; Terrestrial applications would be informed/infused resulting in high efficiency power systems with greatly reduced complexity and cost.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Transient Region Coverage in the Propulsion IVHM Technology Experiment

Over the last several years researchers at NASA Glenn and Ames Research Centers have developed a real-time fault detection and isolation system for propulsion subsystems of future space vehicles. The Propulsion IVHM Technology Experiment (PITEX), as it is called follows the model-based diagnostic methodology and employs Livingstone, developed at NASA Ames, as its reasoning engine. The system has been tested on flight-like hardware through a series of nominal and fault scenarios. These scenarios have been developed using a highly detailed simulation of the X-34 flight demonstrator main propulsion system and include realistic failures involving valves, regulators, microswitches, and sensors. This paper focuses on one of the recent research and development efforts under PITEX – to provide more complete transient region coverage. It describes the development of the transient monitors, the corresponding modeling methodology, and the interface software responsible for coordinating the flow of information between the quantitative monitors and the qualitative, discrete representation in Livingstone.

restrictednotspecifiedApr 2025View details →

ADAPTIVE FAULT DETECTION ON LIQUID PROPULSION SYSTEMS WITH VIRTUAL SENSORS: ALGORITHMS AND ARCHITECTURES

Prior to the launch of STS-119 NASA had completed a study of an issue in the flow control valve (FCV) in the Main Propulsion System of the Space Shuttle using an adaptive learning method known as Virtual Sensors. Virtual Sensors are a class of algorithms that estimate the value of a time series given other potentially nonlinearly correlated sensor readings. In the case presented here, the Virtual Sensors algorithm is based on an ensemble learning approach and takes sensor readings and control signals as input to estimate the pressure in a subsystem of the Main Propulsion System. Our results indicate that this method can detect faults in the FCV at the time when they occur. We use the standard deviation of the predictions of the ensemble as a measure of uncertainty in the estimate. This uncertainty estimate was crucial to understanding the nature and magnitude of transient characteristics during startup of the engine. This paper overviews the Virtual Sensors algorithm and discusses results on a comprehensive set of Shuttle missions and also discusses the architecture necessary for deploying such algorithms in a real-time, closed-loop system or a human-in-the-loop monitoring system. These results were presented at a Flight Readiness Review of the Space Shuttle in early 2009.

Simulation-based Design and Validation of Automated Contingency Management for Propulsion Systems

This paper introduces a novel Prognostics-enhanced Automated Contingency Management (or ACM+P) paradigm based on both current health state (diagnosis) and future health state estimates (prognosis) for advanced autonomous systems. Including prognostics in ACM system allows not only fault accommodation, but also fault mitigation via proper control actions based on short term prognosis, and moreover, the establishment of a long term operational plan that optimizes the utility of the entire system based on long term prognostics. Technical challenges are identified and addressed by a hierarchical ACM+P architecture that allows fault accommodation and mitigation at various levels in the system ranging from component level control reconfiguration, system level control reconfiguration, to high level mission re-planning and resource redistribution. The ACM+P paradigm was developed and evaluated in a high fidelity Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) simulation environment with flight-proven baseline flight controller and simulated diagnostics and prognostics of flight control actuators. Simulation results are presented. The ACM+P concept, architecture and the generic methodologies presented in this paper are applicable to many advanced autonomous systems such as deep space probes, unmanned autonomous vehicles, and military and commercial aircraft.

Space Shuttle Main Propulsion System Anomaly Detection: A Case Study

The space shuttle main engine (SSME) is part of the Main Propnlsion System (MPS) which is an extremely complex system containing several sub-systems and components, each of which must work precisely in order to achieve a successful mission. A critical component under study is the flow control valve (FCV) which controls the pressure of the gaseous hydrogen between the SSME and the external fuel tank. The FCV has received added attention since a Space Shuttle Mission in November 2008, where it was discovered during the mission that an anomaly had occurred in one of the three FCV's. Subsequent inspection revealed that one FCV cracked during ascent. This type of fault is of high criticality because it can lead to potentially catastrophic gaseous hydrogen leakage. A supervised learning method known as Virtual Sensors (VS), and an unsupervised learning method known as the Inductive Monitoring System (IMS) were used to detect anomalies related to the FCV in the MPS. Both algorithms identify the time of the anomaly in a multi-dimensional time series of temperatures, pressures, and control signals related to the FCV. This discovery corroborates the results of the inspection and also reveals the time at which the anomaly likely occurred. The methods were applied to data obtained from the March 2009 launch of Space Shuttle Discovery to determine whether an anomaly occurred in the same sub-system. According to our models, the FCV SUb-system showed nominal behavior during ascent.

restrictednotspecifiedApr 2025View details →

Automated Contingency Management for Propulsion Systems

Increasing demand for improved reliability and survivability of mission-critical systems is driving the development of health monitoring and Automated Contingency Management (ACM) systems. An ACM system is expected to adapt autonomously to fault conditions with the goal of still achieving mission objectives by allowing some degradation in system performance within permissible limits. ACM performance depends on supporting technologies like sensors and anomaly detection, diagnostic/prognostic and reasoning algorithms. This paper presents the development of a generic prototype test bench software framework for developing and validating ACM systems for advanced propulsion systems called the Propulsion ACM (PACM) Test Bench. The architecture has been implemented for a Monopropellant Propulsion System (MPS) to demonstrate the validity of the approach. A Simulink model of the MPS has been developed along with a fault injection module. It has been shown that the ACM system is capable of mitigating the failures by searching for an optimal strategy. Furthermore, few relevant experiments have been presented to show proof of concepts.

Addressing the Real-World Challenges in the Development of Propulsion IVHM Technology Experiment (PITEX)

The Propulsion IVHM Technology Experiment (PITEX) has been an on-going research effort conducted over several years. PITEX has developed and applied a model-based diagnostic system for the main propulsion system of the X-34 reusable launch vehicle, a space-launch technology demonstrator. The application was simulation-based using detailed models of the propulsion subsystem to generate nominal and failure scenarios during captive carry, which is the most safety-critical portion of the X-34 flight. Since no system-level testing of the X-34 Main Propulsion System (MPS) was performed, these simulated data were used to verify and validate the software system. Advanced diagnostic and signal processing algorithms were developed and tested in real-time on flight-like hardware. In an attempt to expose potential performance problems, these PITEX algorithms were subject to numerous real-world effects in the simulated data including noise, sensor resolution, command/valve talkback information, and nominal build variations. The current research has demonstrated the potential benefits of model-based diagnostics, defined the performance metrics required to evaluate the diagnostic system, and studied the impact of real-world challenges encountered when monitoring propulsion subsystems.

Propulsion Health Monitoring of a Turbine Engine Disk using Spin Test Data

On line detection techniques to monitor the health of rotating engine components are becoming increasingly attractive options to aircraft engine companies in order to increase safety of operation and lower maintenance costs. Health monitoring remains a challenging feature to easily implement, especially, in the presence of scattered loading conditions, crack size, component geometry and materials properties. The current trend, however, is to utilize noninvasive types of health monitoring or nondestructive techniques to detect hidden flaws and mini cracks before any catastrophic event occurs. These techniques go further to evaluate materials' discontinuities and other anomalies that have grown to the level of critical defects which can lead to failure. Generally, health monitoring is highly dependent on sensor systems that are capable of performing in various engine environmental conditions and able to transmit a signal upon a predetermined crack length, while acting in a neutral form upon the overall performance of the engine system. Efforts are under way at NASA Glenn Research Center through support of the Intelligent Vehicle Health Management Project (IVHM) to develop and implement such sensor technology for a wide variety of applications [1-5]. These efforts are focused on developing high temperature, wireless, low cost and durable products.Therefore, in an effort to address the technical issues concerning health monitoring of a rotor disk, this paper considers data collected from an experimental study using high frequency capacitive sensor technology to capture blade tip clearance and tip timing measurements in a rotating engine-like-disk-to predict the disk faults and assess its structural integrity. The experimental results collected at a range of rotational speeds from tests conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center's Rotordynamics Laboratory will be evaluated using multiple data-driven anomaly detection techniques [6-9] to identify anomalies in the disk. This study is expected to present a select evaluation of online health monitoring of a rotating disk using these high caliber sensors and test the capability of the in-house spin system.

Propulsion IVHM Technology Experiment Overview

NASA researchers recently demonstrated successful real-time fault detection and isolation of a virtual reusable launch vehicle main propulsion system. Using a detailed simulation of a vehicle propulsion system to produce synthesized sensor readings, the NASA team demonstrated that advanced diagnostic algorithms, running on flight-like computers, can, in real time, successfully diagnose the presence and cause of faults. This demonstration was conducted as part of the NASA Propulsion IVHM Technology Experiment, or PITEX.