High Performance Turbojet Engine Nano-Lubricant

Principal Investigator: Dr. Sayavur I. Bakhtiyarov
Affiliation/Dept.: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Mechanical Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Harold Beeson/NASA White Sands Test Facility
Description: Development of new class lubricants for turbojet engines is one of NASA’s high priority research and developments areas. It necessary to design high-quality lubricants based on low-viscosity oils and special high-performance additives. Application of common chemically active additives does not provide solution to the problem as in the environment of low-viscosity petroleum oils they cannot prevent the fatigue failure (pitting) of sliding surfaces. Our recent investigations showed that the amorphous fine carbon (AFC) additives, obtained, for example, via oxidizing pyrolysis of methane during production of acetylene, improves the resistance to mechanical, chemical and abrasive scuffing and fret. We performed the comparative SEM, TEM and Auger-spectroscopic investigations of structure of friction surfaces of several objects (rollers, bearings, racers, small balls, gears, and model test pieces working in the environment of oils with the AFC additives and the commercial oils) carried out on micro and sub-micron level showed a simultaneous presence of different structural states of carbon on the rubbing surfaces. After tribo-activated conversion of the AFC a specific, secondary, hetero-phase structure formed on the rubbing surfaces was analyzed. Based on obtained results we developed a method for surface film formation on the rubbing parts of mechanisms made of steel, cast iron and other iron alloys, in order to increase the resistance to wear and reduelakce friction. The new transmission motor oils could provide increase of the engine lifetime for 20% and the transmission efficiency at the temperatures up to -500C.

Hydrogen Storage in Metal-Doped Ordered Mesoporous Carbons for Fuel Cell Applications

Principal Investigator: Dr. Shuguang Deng
Affiliation/Dept.: New Mexico State University, Chemical & Materials Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Harold Beeson/NASA White Sands Test Facility
Description: This research focuses on the development of a novel adsorbent for hydrogen storage. Researchers will apply the ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) for removing organic sulfurs from hydrocarbon fuels by selective sulfur adsorption. This adsorbent has the advantage of extremely large specific surface area (~6000 m2/g), high accessible pore volume (0.87 cm3/g) and uniform pore size distribution with average pore diameter of 6 nm and very fast kinetics if hydrogen adsorption. If this material is doped with palladium and platinum with a suitable technique, it could give rise to very high hydrogen uptake even at ambient conditions. Researchers will synthesize the ordered mesoporous carbon adsorbents, dope it with palladium and platinum, make all possible materials characterization of SEM/TEM imaging and XRD pattern, evaluate adsorption equilibrium and kinetics, generate heat of adsorption curve and provide five adsorbent samples for NASA White Sands Test Facility to validate the adsorbent developed in this project. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a cost-effective and safe on-board hydrogen storing process using physiosorption.

Photogrammetric Processing of the Apollo Metric Camera Images

Principal Investigator: Dr. Ahmed F. Elaksher
Affiliation/Dept.: New Mexico State University, Engineering Technology and Survey Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Terry Fong/NASA Ames Research Center
Description: This project will contribute toward NASA’s goals of studying and characterizing planetary surges. This will allow NMSU to initiate institutional capacity in processing planetary data and start collaborative relationships with NASA centers.

Investigation of High-Mass Protostars using SPITZER and NASA-IRTF

Principal Investigator: Dr. Peter Hofner
Affiliation/Dept.: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Physics
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: S. Fajardo-Acosta, staff scientist at the Spitzer Science Center, operated by IPAC, NASA’s main multi-mission center for long-wavelength astrophysics.
Description: Despite the important role which massive stars (M > 8 Msol) play in essentially all research areas of Astronomy, their formation mechanism is poorly understood. Observational and theoretical work of the last few years resulted in a database of massive protostellar candidates and several competing theories attempting to explain how the massive star is assembled within a dense molecular core. In particular, the surveys performed by NASA’s SPITZER infrared telescope allow a systematic investigation of the massive star formation process. This research combines existing ground-based radio and SPITZER infrared data to establish a target list to be subsequently observed with NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). The main goal of these observations is the detection of massive protostars at high angular resolution. A second IRTF observing run will focus on spectroscopy to obtain kinematic information. Putting together the stellar component (infrared) with the gaseous component (radio) will enable researcher to critically test existing theories of massive star formation. In the future, researchers plan to continue this research for a large sample. The proposed project is thus necessary as a proof of concept.

Enhancing Mars Exploration by Characterizing Coatings on Rocks

Principal Investigator: Dr. Penelope King
Affiliation/Dept.: University of New Mexico, Earth & Planetary Sciences
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Joy Crisp, Mars Science Laboratory Deputy Project Scientist/NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Description: Future exploration of Mars, the search for life, and understanding of the processes and history of the climate and surface of Mars depends on understanding how to interpret the analytical data collected in current and future missions. This research provides critical information to more effectively assess the chemistry and mineralogy of rocks on Mars’ surface. The research provides data needed to estimate the extent of rock alteration (e.g., thickness of a salt, clay or silica deposit on a surface). Such information is critical for determining alteration processes and environmental conditions like pH, water-rock ratio, and gas partial pressures. This study contributes to understanding the viability of the surface for life, and potential hazards or resources for human exploration. Results may be applied to findings from the MER mission and will provide vital information for the MSL mission.

Growth of Carbonaceous Materials for Enhanced Material Properties

Principal Investigator: Dr. Zayd Chad Leseman
Affiliation/Dept.: University of New Mexico, Mechanical Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Dr. Meyya Meyyappan, Chief Scientist/NASA Ames Research Center
Description: This research encompasses a technology that leads to the growth of carbonaceous materials that have the potential of having enhanced materials properties and the ability to enhance other materials through creation of composites. Thus far, the PI has been able to grow graphite and carbon filaments at significantly lower temperatures, < 750K, than any other existing technique for growth of carbonaceous materials. Moreover, the carbonaceous materials only grow on a catalytic template, which allows for targeted growth of said carbonaceous materials. These materials are of high interest to many missions of NASA. Specifically, these materials can be used to make molecular electronics, increase thermal management, and create materials with higher stiffnesses and strengths. Thin sheets of graphite (graphene) are believed to the ideal candidate for molecular electronics. Though this advancement itself will not contribute significantly to decreasing of payload, it will enable lower energy consumption, which will impact battery size and the overall size of the payload. Interwoven carbon filaments and/or graphite used in its bulk form can be used to create materials with higher thermal conductivities, stiffnesses, and strengths. This can be accomplished by using the bulk materials or adding them to a matrix material and forming a composite. Improvement of these thermal and mechanical properties will allow for decreasing of the payload size.

Concept Study of Using a Passive Mechanism to Simulate Walking on the Moon

Principal Investigator: Dr. Ou Ma
Affiliation/Dept.: New Mexico State University, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Toby Martin and Les Quiocho/NASA Johnson Space Center
Description: The goal of this project is to conduct a preliminary study of an innovative technology of using a passive mechanism to compensate the gravity force for training astronauts walking on the Moon or another reduced-gravity environment. The technology is based on static balancing of gravity forces using spring enforced parallel mechanisms. In the project, a simplified prototype mechanism will be designed, built, and tested. The test will help: 1) better understand the theory and explore potential issues unforeseeable from the theory; 2) investigate several known influential issues such as spring design, dynamic loading, and joint friction; and 3) improve the design concept to make it practically feasible. The new technology will provide a low-cost, very reliable, and easy-to-use alternative means to meet the increasing need of EVA training for NASA’s future manned planetary exploration missions.

Mars Astrobiology: Pushing The Limits of Organic Detection Using Data Fusion of Multiple Spectroscopy Techniques

Principal Investigator: Dr. Horton Newsom
Affiliation/Dept.: University of New Mexico, Institute of Meteoritics
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Diana Blaney, Mars Exploration Rovers, Deputy Project Scientist/NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Description: The goal of this work is to determine the ability for data fusion to enhance the organic, mineralogical, and chemical analyses of environments likely to be encountered in future Mars rover missions. Data fusion is the deconvolution and recombination of complementary datasets to enhance discrimination and detection capabilities; here, this work applues Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Raman spectroscopy, and reflectance infrared (IR) spectroscopy to Mars analog materials and extends the scope of previous studies in which only simple comparisons of results between instruments were made. These three techniques are among the most productive instruments for rover missions due to their relatively low energy requirements and ability to analyze surfaces remotely; LIBS and Raman instruments are already selected for the instrument suites of the 2011 MSL and 2018 ExoMars rover missions, respectively. The primary objectives of the project are 1) to determine experimentally the capability of LIBS, specifically the ChemCam LIBS instrument onboard the Mars Science Laboratory mission, to detect trace organics in mineral matrices, and 2) to assess the degree to which data fusion of LIBS, Raman and IR spectroscopies enhances discrimination of organic and mineral species in Mars analog samples.

Simulating Reduced Gravity in Space Flight Training Using an Exoskeleton

Principal Investigator: Dr. Robert Paz
Affiliation/Dept.:  New Mexico State University, Electrical and Computer Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center:  Leslie Quiocho, Group Leader and Manager of the Simulations and Robotics/NASA Johnson Space Center
Description: The overall goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate one of the most critical enabling technologies required for developing space flight motion simulators. These next-generation, end-to-end (from launch to landing), 6-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) simulators will provide the realistic motion and visual cues for training space travelers. They will also support the future of personal space flight. The technology to be developed uses computer controlled exoskeletons to allow a human limb to move freely as if in a zero-gravity or reduced-gravity environment.

Assessment of Strength Reduction Due to Accumulated Damage in Fatigued Materials Using Cross-Property Connections

Principal Investigator: Dr. Igor Sevostianov
Affiliation/Dept.: New Mexico State University Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Richard Ross/NASA Langley Research Center
Description: Aerospace structural systems experience a broad spectrum of environmental and operational loads. Severe and/or prolonged load exposures may trigger the damage accumulation process even in recently deployed structures. The accumulated damage leads to the deterioration in the elastic and conductive properties and to reduction in the material strength. This work aims to collect sufficient amount of experimental data to establish a solid link between strength reduction due to accumulated damage and maximum value of the electrical conductivity across the specimen. The project involves substantial experimental work: fatigue testing, electrical conductivity measurements and fracture toughness tests. The experimental measurements are followed by statistical analysis of the data.

Automated Image Analysis of Calorimeter Data for Determination of Particle Identity and Energy

Principal Investigator: Dr. Steve Stochaj
Affiliation/Dept.: New Mexico State University, Electrical and Computer Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Marshall Space Flight Center, Goddard Space Center
Description: This research applies newly developed automated image processing techniques to the analysis of imaging calorimeter data taken with instruments for high-energy, particle astrophysics. The nature of dark matter is the most fundamental question currently at the forefront of physics, astronomy and cosmology. The use of imaging calorimeters for particle astrophysics was pioneered at NMSU with a series of balloon flights starting in 1989. Over the past 20 years these instruments have been improved and are widely used on balloon and space based missions for astrophysics. However, developments in the analysis techniques have progressed more slowly. This project will focus on developing an improved methodology for determining the energy and identity of particle from their signals in imaging calorimeters. The state-of-the-art in particle identification produces a separation between electron events and proton events of 105. This means that 1 in every 105 is misidentified as an electron. This proposed work applies some of the newest image processing techniques from electrical engineering to the analysis of imaging calorimeter data with the goal of improving the separation of electron and proton events by an order of magnitude (106). If successful, the algorithms developed through this work could find widespread use throughout the worldwide astrophysics community. This work strengthens NMSU and will put NMSU in an excellent position to have a major role in NASA’s Orbiting Astrophysical Spectrometer in Space (OASIS) mission.

Ionsopheric Neutron Content Analyzer (INCA) Satellite

Principal Investigator: Dr. Steve Stochaj
Affiliation/Dept.: New Mexico State University, Electrical and Computer Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Georgia A. de Nolfo/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Description: The INCA satellite will measure the production of neutrons, which decay to produce the particles that populate the Earth’s Inner Radiation Belts. These complement the measurements made by NASA’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes satellite mission. The instrumentation developed for the INCA mission fall under Technology Area TA08 of NASA’s
Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and specifically focus on the area of In-Situ Instruments/Sensors Technology.

Enhanced Dust Production Forecasts Using Soil Moisture Models

Principal Investigator: Dr. Mark Stone
Affiliation/Dept.: University of New Mexico, Civil Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: John Haynes, Program Manager, Public Health Applications, NASA Science Mission Directorate/Applied Sciences Program
Description: Windblown dust can result in wide range of negative consequences including dust related human illnesses, local environmental degradation, and even a loss of water resources through reduced snowpack albedo. Severe dust storms commonly occur in arid regions including western China, Saharan Africa, and the Southwest United States. In some regions, such events are increasing in magnitude, duration, and frequency due to desertification and severe droughts. It is thus important to improve predictive models of dust production and transport. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Arizona and George Mason University, the research team has improved descriptions of storm generated dust clouds by incorporating remote sensing data into simulations using a dust model. The objective of the research is to demonstrate the use of spatially explicit hydrologic models to improve descriptions of dust emissions. Hydrologic models are capable of simulating the boundary conditions necessary for describing dust emissions – namely soil moisture content and land cover. These tools can be used to improve our ability to forecast dust emissions from a landscape. Such tools can also digest remote sensing data to parameterize or calibrate vegetation characteristics, snow cover, and precipitation patterns. Thus, this approach will combine the best available information from simulations and remote sensing to better describe spatial distributions of the conditions that control dust emissions.

Predicting Failure Behavior of Polymeric Composites in Space Vehicles Using a Unified Constitutive Model

Principal Investigator: Dr. Rafiqul Tarefder
Affiliation/Dept.:University of New Mexico, Civil Engineering
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: John Dorsey/NASA Langley Research Center and Preston B. McGill/NASA Marshal Space Flight Center
Description: Understanding and prediction of the failure (i.e. damage and cracks) behavior of polymeric composites play vital roles in the design and safety of space vehicles such as aircraft, spacecrafts, missiles, satellites, and launch-system. The traditional finite element fracture models require defining crack location or crack zone in the model geometry and parameters. This research is a unified modeling approach, which allows researchers to model elastic, plastic, and creep strains, micro-cracking, and fracture leading to damage in a single framework without requiring researchers to define a crack location or zone. Thus the unified modeling approach has advantages over the traditional fracture mechanics approach. In this study, principles of mechanics and physics will be invoked to derive a simple unified constitutive model, which will be implemented in a numerical scheme (i.e. finite element) to predict failure behavior of composites. In particular, the research involves numerical modeling of damage and crack growth in simple panels made of IM-7/977-2 composite, which is space qualified. The proposed model will be validated using laboratory tests and data from literature. It is hoped that the validated model will be used to study design life of space vehicles and complex aerospace components such as turbine vanes, blades, disks, rocket nozzle liners, etc. subjected to complex service loadings. The proposed research may lead to the development of tools for designing durable aircraft and spacecrafts for safe satellite missions, which is the current focus of NASA’s Aeronautic Research Mission Directorate.

Carbonate Dissolution in Mixed Waters Due to Ocean Acidification and Sea-Level Rise

Principal Investigator: Dr. John L. Wilson
Affiliation/Dept.: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Earth and Environmental Sciences
NASA Collaborator/NASA Center: Antonio Mannino/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Description: Much of the anthropogenically released atmospheric carbon dioxide has been stored in the ocean, causing a 0.1 decrease in ocean surface pH, with models predicting that by 2100 the surface ocean pH will be 0.5 below pre-industrial levels. In mixed ocean water – fresh water environments (e.g. estuaries, coastal aquifers, and edges of ice sheets), the decreased ocean pH couples with the mixed water chemistry to make water more undersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate than ocean acidification alone. Mixed-water calcite dissolution may be one of the first directly observable effects of ocean acidification, as the ocean water and the fresh water can both be saturated with respect to calcium carbonate while their mixture will be undersaturated. While the mixed-water effect is widely applicable, this research focuses on implications for coastal and island aquifers, and the potential for an increased rate of mixed water speleogenesis and porosity/permeability development. The research also accounts the indirect effects of rising sea level and a growing coastal population on these processes. The product will be a basic quantitative model that can predict mixed water dissolution in coastal freshwater aquifers, using temporally changing sea level, ocean pH, precipitation, acidity of precipitation, and groundwater pumping.