NASA's Role Research Articles

Cryogenic spray quenching of simulated propellant tank wall using coating and flow pulsing in microgravity

In-space cryogenic propulsion will play a vital role in NASA’s return to the Moon mission and future mission to Mars. The enabling of in-space cryogenic engines and cryogenic fuel depots for these future manned and robotic space exploration missions begins with the technology development of advanced cryogenic thermal-fluid management systems for the propellant transfer lines and storage system. Before single-phase liquid can flow to the engine or spacecraft receiver tank, the connecting transfer line and storage tank must first be chilled down to cryogenic temperatures. The most direct and simplest method to quench the line and the tank is to use the cold propellant itself that results in the requirement of minimizing propellant consumption during chilldown. In view of the needs stated above, a highly efficient thermal-fluid management technology must be developed to consume the minimum amount of cryogen during chilldown of a transfer line and a storage tank. In this paper, we suggest the use of the cryogenic spray for storage tank chilldown. We have successfully demonstrated its feasibility and high efficiency in a simulated space microgravity condition. In order to maximize the storage tank chilldown efficiency for the least amount of cryogen consumption, the technology adopted included cryogenic spray cooling, Teflon thin-film coating of the simulated tank surface, and spray flow pulsing. The completed flight experiments successfully demonstrated that spray cooling is the most efficient cooling method for the tank chilldown in microgravity. In microgravity, Teflon coating alone can improve the efficiency up to 72% and the efficiency can be improved up to 59% by flow pulsing alone. However, Teflon coating together with flow pulsing was found to substantially enhance the chilldown efficiency in microgravity for up to 113%.

Indigenous resistance to mining in post-conflict Colombia

Indigenous peoples’ relationship with mining involves tensions and conflicts that intensify in armed conflict and post-conflict environments. Studies of the intersection between mining, armed conflict and post-conflict peacebuilding portray Indigenous people as passive recipients post-conflict natural resource governance interventions. This paper challenges that perspective by demonstrating the active, highly organised and complex roles Indigenous people play in mineral resource governance in a post-agreement environment. Despite Colombian government interest in positioning high value mineral resource extraction as a platform for prosperity and peace, illegal gold mining has become a central source of finance for violent armed groups, and legal mining has been linked to threats to Indigenous rights. Many Indigenous communities in Colombia oppose mining. This paper examines Indigenous participation in natural resource governance concentrating on the resistance to certain forms of mining by the Nasa Indigenous people of North Cauca. It is based on an interpretative, layered ethnographic case study comprising archival research, interviews, and participant observation across various Nasa organisational and territorial domains. I find that the Nasa build on their strong moral and institutional frameworks for resistance to structure and implement a response to mining. I illustrate the Nasa's determinant role in post-conflict mining governance, as well as the moral tensions and dilemmas, and the risks the Nasa face in responding to mining in a violent context.

Review of Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson

The 2016 movie Hidden Figures defied box office estimates and made over $200 million both abroad and in the United States. While Hollywood would argue that where multi-million-dollar action films filled with violence, profanity, and strife raked in the most profit, this movie proved that audiences revealed at a refreshing film about the academic mathematical and scientific achievements of black women. The movie is loosely based on the book of the same name, which highlighted the story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the space program. The main character, Katherine Johnson, was urged to publish her autobiography after the movie was published, and this book review highlights her autobiography: Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson.

NASA's Role in Gas Turbine Technology Development: Accelerating Technical Progress Via Collaboration Between Academia, Industry, and Government Agencies

Abstract Given the maturity of the gas turbine engine since its invention and considering the limited resources expected to be allocated for NASA aeronautics research and development, we ask the question are NASA technology investments still needed to enable future turbine engine-based propulsion systems? If so, what is NASA's unique role to justify NASA's investment? To address this topic, we first summarize NASA's role and contributions to turbine engine development, specific to both (1) NASA's role in conducting experiments to understand flow physics and provide relevant benchmark validation experiments for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code development, validation, and assessment and (2) the impact of technologies resulting from NASA collaborations with industry, academia, and other government agencies. Note that the scope of the discussion is limited to the NASA technology contributions with which the author was intimately associated and does not represent the entirety of the NASA contributions to turbine engine technology. The specific research, development, and demonstrations discussed herein were selected to both (1) provide a comprehensive review and reference list of the technology and its impact and (2) identify NASA's unique role and highlight how NASA's involvement resulted in additional benefit to the gas turbine engine community. Second, we will discuss current NASA collaborations that are in progress and provide a status of the results. Finally, we discuss the challenges anticipated for future turbine engine-based propulsion systems for civil aviation and identify potential opportunities for collaboration where NASA involvement would be beneficial.

Co-creating and directing Innovation Ecosystems? NASA's changing approach to public-private partnerships in low-earth orbit

U.S. public activities in space directed via NASA are undergoing change. While NASA has historically been able to drive market creation, through its procurement policy (which is much weaker in Europe), the past decade has seen a visible shift in US space policy, away from NASA-directed developments in low-Earth orbit (LEO) towards an ecosystem with a mix of private, not-for-profit, and public actors in LEO. This has fundamentally changed NASA's role from an orchestrating/directing role, to a more ‘facilitating’ one driven by commercialization needs. This shift in mission and approach has ramifications for the LEO ecosystem as well as NASA's innovation policy, which has previously centred on clearly defined “mission-oriented” objectives, such as putting a man on the moon or creating the shuttle fleet. Such objectives required ‘active’ innovation policy whereby NASA both funded and ‘directed’ the innovation, within its walls and with its partners. The emerging multi-actor ecosystem approach has involved a more open-ended objective that does not have a unified nor clearly defined end-game. In this situation, NASA's ability to shape activities in a direction in line with its mission will depend on its relationships with other members in the system. The rise of new actors in the space eco-system, and new relationships between them, presents interesting challenges for innovation policy informed by an Innovation System approach. In this paper, we critique the market failure approach of public intervention in markets and describe further work to be done in the innovation systems literature - more focus on the interactions between agents (and the type of agents) as complimentary to the dominant focus on funding programmes in innovation systems. In this paper, we present the evolving processes of NASA's engagement in building a low-earth orbit economy to draw out case specific insights into a public agency shifting its mission to incorporate approaches to facilitate the market creation policy. The paper focuses on the way that NASA structures its new innovation policy, away from a classical supply side oriented R&D investment through NASA itself, towards a policy of orchestration and combination of instruments rather. We close the paper with a reflection on the ramifications of NASA's approach to building a sustainable low-Earth orbit economic ecosystem.

America COMPETES Act's effect on NASA's Education and Public Outreach Programs

NASA's Education and Public Outreach program performances have historically been poorly evaluated. The programs are fragmented and difficult to track which contributes to the difficulties faced by the United States' struggling education system. In response, the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science Reauthorization Act of 2010 (America COMPETES) was passed in an effort to streamline federal efforts in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education (STEM) and keep the American technical workforce competitive in the global market.America COMPETES' impact on NASA's role in STEM education made little positive changes. The Act's requirements perpetuate misguided STEM education evaluation methods. Funds appropriation marginalize NASA from meaningful K-12 education interactions. Portions of the implementation steps are counter-productive to NASA's public image.

The Global Exploration Roadmap and its significance for NASA

The Global Exploration Roadmap reflects the collaborative effort of twelve space agencies to define a long-term human space exploration strategy which provides substantial benefits for improving the quality of life on Earth and is implementable and sustainable. Such a strategy is a necessary precondition to the government investments required to enable the challenging and rewarding missions that extend human presence into the solar system. The article introduces the international strategy and elaborates on NASA's leadership role in shaping that strategy. The publication of the roadmap, a reflection of the space landscape and multilateral agency-level dialog over the last four years, allows NASA to demonstrate its commitment to leading a long-term space exploration endeavor that delivers benefits, maintains strategic human spaceflight capabilities and expands human presence in space, with human missions to the surface of Mars as a driving goal. The road mapping process has clearly demonstrated the complementary interests of the participants and the potential benefits that can be gained through cooperation among nations to achieve a common goal. The present US human spaceflight policy is examined and it is shown that the establishment of a sustainable global space exploration strategy is fully consistent with that policy.

Sun-driven microbial synthesis of chemicals in space

AbstractLong space flights and planetary settlement will require sources of nutrition and chemicals that must be generated in space. This will include not only amino acids and vitamins but also oxygen, all of which can be generated by means of biosynthesis. Synthetic biology has the potential to generate organisms designed for supplying human nutritional needs in space. Photosynthetic microbes may be ideal for this purpose, as they are more efficient per volume cultivated than green plants at conversion of light to chemical energy, biomass and nutritional molecules. In addition, microbes are easier and faster to genetically engineer, facilitating not only design and terrestrial manufacture of organisms optimized for growth and nutrient production in the artificial conditions of space, but superior ability in space to develop organisms suited to newly discovered environments. The rapid ability to adapt and create new microbes to suit new circumstances when in space offers significant potential for risk reduction. Development of sun-driven microbial production of nutritional chemicals would also have terrestrial benefits in commerce and sustainability. A synthetic biology approach to chemical production would not be based on fossil fuels as such fuels do not exist on other planets. This approach would highlight a synergistic relationship between outer space and ‘spaceship earth’, illustrating NASA's role in stimulating technology development with terrestrial application. Two specific approaches deserve consideration: production by traditional photosynthetic microbes, or by the newly appreciated capacity of some bacteria to absorb electric current (e.g. solar panels) to drive metabolism. Palatability and sensory stimulation are a key part of food consumption and could be engineered into microbes. As a first step, NASA should test a bioreactor in which genetically engineered, nutrient-producing photosynthetic bacteria are grown and harvested in space.

The importance of failure theories in assessing crisis management: The Columbia space shuttle disaster revisited

An adequate assessment of crisis management failure (and success) requires a validated causal theory. Without such a theory, any assessment of crisis management performance amounts to little more than a “just so” story. This is the key argument of this paper, which describes how hindsight biases and selective use of social science theory gave rise to a suggestive and convincing – but not necessarily correct – assessment of NASA's role in the Columbia space shuttle disaster (1 February 2003). The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) identified NASA's organizational culture and safety system as a primary source of failure. The CAIB report reads as a stunning indictment of organizational incompetence: the organization that thrilled the world with the Apollo project had “lost” its safety culture and failed to prevent a preventable disaster. This paper examines the CAIB findings in light of the two dominant theoretical schools that address organizational disasters (normal accident and high reliability theory). It revisits the Columbia shuttle disaster and concludes that the CAIB findings do not sit well with the insights of these schools.

The roles of NASA, U.S. astronauts and their families in long-duration missions

Johnson Space Center oral histories, pre-flight interviews, and journals of residents of Skylab, Mir, and the International Space Station (ISS) were analyzed qualitatively to identify the U.S. astronauts’ views of the roles of NASA, the astronauts and their families in helping the astronauts to create a daily life that mirrors some aspects of their life on Earth. Findings are that NASA's role is to establish scheduling and facilitate communication avenues. The astronaut's role is to personalize leisure, to connect looking out the window with specific aspects of life on Earth, to find ways to make daily routines fun, and to celebrate traditions and historical space events. The family's role is to participate in sufficient two-way communication and to send care packages with treats and reminders of home. These strategies, which provided a semblance of their life on Earth, may have helped the astronauts to remain connected to life on Earth and to deal better with time away from home and family.

Evaluating NASA's role in risk communication process surrounding space policy decisions

In an effort to standardize evaluations of agency communications with stakeholders, a recent NASA report outlined the need to consider metrics that could be used to measure effectiveness over time by monitoring communications output and examining the outcome of communication activities. While evaluating agency communications in this way seems straightforward, actually carrying out such an evaluation is fraught with potential problems. This is especially true of communications surrounding risky or stigmatized activities, as evaluations of this type may lead to an overemphasis on negative participant reactions and an obscuring of those areas where competent work is being done. To help avoid this, an alternative is to conduct evaluations of the process involved in creating agency communications, rather than people's reactions to the communication programs themselves. Adopting this approach de-emphasizes the supposed requirement for researchers to correlate an individual or group's behavior with comprehension or agreement with agency communications. This paper outlines 5 criteria for such a process and discusses them in the context of an evaluation of the risk communication program surrounding the Cassini mission to Saturn.

NRC on Global Change

The News & Comment article “Global change fights off a chill” by Andrew Lawler (12 June, p. [1682][1]) provides a good summary of the recent National Research Council (NRC) report ([1][2]) by the U.S. Committee on Global Change Research and the Board on Sustainable Development. The NRC report calls for a refocus of U.S. global change research in response to the “impressive array of scientific accomplishments” and on the evolution of federal policies over the last decade of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's (USGCRP's) existence. The NRC report justifiably bemoans the recent deterioration of surface-based data collection programs. The report also dwells on the allocation of funds among the various federal agencies and scientific approaches in the USGCRP. A pie chart in the News article shows three-quarters of the total USGCRP budget going to NASA, and the NRC report states that 61% of the USGCRP budget supports space-based observations, while “only 11% of USGCRP observations [were] devoted to in situ measurements.” The implication is that NASA's part could be used more effectively elsewhere in the USGCRP for surface-based studies. Such comparisons ignore the fact that NASA's Earth observation programs serve other national interests. Over half of what USGCRP calls its budget is being used to build an infrastructure of space-based, global, monitoring systems for scientific, human welfare, and commercial purposes. The NRC report admits that if funding for Earth observations from space were cut, the transfer of funds from NASA space missions to other agencies within the USGCRP would be “unlikely.” We agree that the allocation of limited resources requires careful consideration. Surface measurements provide unique and crucial data, but satellites are the only practical way of getting consistently calibrated, real-time observations over the whole globe. Both are needed to achieve a useful understanding of the Earth System. We also believe the NRC report and the News article may give the wrong impression that all of NASA's research is space-based when, in fact, most of NASA's global change science funding (which is about 14% of the total USGCRP budget) goes to independent research institutions to do in situ studies. Finally, it seems unfortunate that, given NASA's role in the USGCRP, no NASA scientists were on the NRC report committees. 1. [↵][3]Overview Global Environmental Change: Research Pathways for the Next Decade (Academic Press, Washington, DC, 1998). [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.280.5370.1682 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text

Unacceptably New

Unacceptably New

NASA'S strategy for Mars exploration in the 1990s and beyond

NASA's Office of Space Science is changing its approach to all its missions, both current and future. Budget realities are necessitating that we change the way we do business and the way we look at NASA's role in the U.S. Government. These challenges are being met by a new and innovative approach that focuses on achieving a balanced world-class space science program that requires less U.S. resources while providing an enhanced role for technology and education as integral components of our Research and Development (R&D) programs. Our Mars exploration plans, especially the Mars Surveyor program, are a key feature of this new NASA approach to space science. The Mars Surveyor program will be affordable, engaging to the public with global and close-up images of Mars, have high scientific value, employ a distributed risk strategy (two launches per opportunity), and will use significant advanced technologies.

Remote sensing system to speed disaster relief

NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are exploring a cooperative venture to test and implement a prototype remote sensing system that will acquire, process, and distribute photographic‐like digital images of disaster‐damaged areas to response and recovery officials in near‐real time.“In past disasters, NASA's role has been to assist FEMA by providing aerial photographs to enhance their recovery operations and assessment of area damage. This joint venture will enhance the technology and process to enable FEMA, state, and local officials to obtain information more quickly to manage disaster recovery operations,” says Fred Gregory of NASA.

Goldin explains New NASA Goals

Many in the space science community are wondering why NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced a sudden restructuring of the agency on October 15 (Eos, October 27). The shake‐up saw a split in the Office of Space Science and Applications into the office of Mission to Planetary Earth, which will include all the Earth sciences, and the Office of Planetary Science and Astrophysics.The restructuring, he said, is an attempt to align the agency with the new goals, which he outlined in an address to the Space Science and Applications Advisory Board (SSAAC) on November 5. Claiming that NASA's role has never been stated to the public and that Congress does not understand the agency's role, Goldin sought to clarify future directions for the agency.

In Memoriam

Many in the space science community are wondering why NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced a sudden restructuring of the agency on October 15 (Eos, October 27). The shake‐up saw a split in the Office of Space Science and Applications into the office of Mission to Planetary Earth, which will include all the Earth sciences, and the Office of Planetary Science and Astrophysics.The restructuring, he said, is an attempt to align the agency with the new goals, which he outlined in an address to the Space Science and Applications Advisory Board (SSAAC) on November 5. Claiming that NASA's role has never been stated to the public and that Congress does not understand the agency's role, Goldin sought to clarify future directions for the agency.

Honors

Many in the space science community are wondering why NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced a sudden restructuring of the agency on October 15 (Eos, October 27). The shake‐up saw a split in the Office of Space Science and Applications into the office of Mission to Planetary Earth, which will include all the Earth sciences, and the Office of Planetary Science and Astrophysics.The restructuring, he said, is an attempt to align the agency with the new goals, which he outlined in an address to the Space Science and Applications Advisory Board (SSAAC) on November 5. Claiming that NASA's role has never been stated to the public and that Congress does not understand the agency's role, Goldin sought to clarify future directions for the agency.

Recent Ph.D.s

Many in the space science community are wondering why NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced a sudden restructuring of the agency on October 15 (Eos, October 27). The shake‐up saw a split in the Office of Space Science and Applications into the office of Mission to Planetary Earth, which will include all the Earth sciences, and the Office of Planetary Science and Astrophysics.The restructuring, he said, is an attempt to align the agency with the new goals, which he outlined in an address to the Space Science and Applications Advisory Board (SSAAC) on November 5. Claiming that NASA's role has never been stated to the public and that Congress does not understand the agency's role, Goldin sought to clarify future directions for the agency.

NASA's educational programs

NASA's role in aeronautics and space research and development has resulted in many referring to NASA as an education agency. They say this because of the mandates in the Space Act to expand human knowledge of space, to arrange for participation in space endeavors by the scientific community, and to disseminate information to the widest practicable audiences. Aeronautics and space topics have long been known to be a magnet for learning. Today, with the increased attention on educating our citizens, NASA hopes to assist the educational community in the use of this magnet through its educational programs. To achieve this goal, the Educational Affairs Division has designed educational programs to capture students' interest in science, mathematics, and technology at an early age, and to maintain their interest throughout higher learning. At the high school and university levels, these educational programs seek to channel more students into engineering and science careers. For teachers and university faculty, NASA's educational programs recognize the importance of upgrading knowledge, skills, and experience.