Digital Commons Network^™

An Introductory Investigation Of Dust Devils On Mars: Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling, Alexios Nicolas Philippou, Kakkattukuzhy M. Issac

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

This report investigates the flow characteristics of tornado like vortices which can be used to describe an array of axisymmetric rotating vertical columns of fluid such as dust devils, steam devils and tornadoes. These vortices have been recreated within vortex chambers in research facilities, but in focus of this report the investigation is conducted through numerical simulations using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software package provided by ANSYS. By varying the main governing nondimensional parameter of swirl ratio through the computational domain’s boundary conditions, different flow characteristics appear which confirm theories presented in previous papers. This enables the research conducted …

Exploring New Methods For The Synthetization Of Pdms Based Microgels, Ethan Wandfluh

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Microgels are soft granular particles consisting of highly swollen polymeric networks. At relatively low polymer concentrations, these granular particles undergo a jamming-like transition and behave like a soft elastic solid under low applied stresses but will flow like a fluid when the applied stress exceeds the yield strength. This transition from solid-like to fluid-like behavior has led to their application as rheological modifiers for many cosmetic products. Recently, packs of aqueous microgel have been utilized as a sacrificial support bath for embedded 3D-printing of soft materials, including polymers, hydrogels, colloidal particles, and fluid phases. Here, the printing nozzle locally yields …

Printing Gear Geometries By Laser Foil Printing With Metallic Glass, Logan Hendrix

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

Servo Mounting Device And Collective Control System Design For The Forward Flight Aero Test Stand, Aaron Jones

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

The majority of the ten-week internship was spent designing a servo mounting device, and a collective control system for the Forward Flight Aero Test (FFAT) stand. The servo mounting device uses four threaded standoffs along with a top plate, held together with screws, that raises the servos above the protruding threaded rods and screws. The collective control system is a rectangular block that attaches the swashplate to the servo arms connected to the servo motor. This control rod is used to translate the rotation from the servo arm into collective control for the blade angle. The control rod has two …

Overdetermined Control Systems On Time Scales, Drew Barnes, Danian Castillo, Nick Wintz

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Control theory is a branch of mathematics focused on observing or controlling a process governed by a dynamic equation. We use state-space notation to represent all meaningful information about of our process. This means our processes are expressed in vector form. Typically, the state matrix is square. In this project, we consider a control system where the corresponding state is over-determined, meaning there are more rows than columns. In addition, our state equation is on a time scale T, which allows us to consider discrete, continuous, or hybrid measurements. Here, we offer two methods to solve the dynamic system. Finally, …

Novel Topological Semimetals: Growth & Characterizing Sm3hfbi5, Patrick Lambdin

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

After dozens of reactions, the Missouri State University Crystal Growth Lab created a likely-topological material, Sm3HfBi5, through flux crystal growth methods. First created experimentally in 2015, Weyl materials are desirable and have garnered much interest due to the materials’ ability to conduct electricity exclusively on their surfaces. This paper discusses methods of selecting and mixing materials to be sealed inside an evacuated or argon-backfilled glass tube which itself is placed inside a furnace kept at high temperatures, as part of a flux growth method, as well as discussing results and difficulties encountered while growing the crystals.

Dynamics And Timescales Of Magmatic Processes At Cerro Uturuncu, Bolivia, Sarah Rasor

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Between 12-25°S latitude there is prolific volcanism fueled by the Altiplano-Puna Magmatic Body (APMB), a mid-crustal magma body above the 30° subduction of the Nazca plate and within 70-80 km thick South American crust. Cerro Uturuncu, the volcano directly above the APMB, demonstrates that the APMB experiences considerable mixing with the surrounding continental crust. Within the past 1 Ma, Uturuncu has experienced six distinct stages of andesitic to dacitic lava. With this research, we contribute greater understanding to the homogenization of and mixing within the APMB and comment on how this relates to magma residence times. The influx and recharge …

Using Refracted Light To Put Electricity On The Moon, Anika Reece

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

This study aims to research the conversion of solar energy into electricity on the moon. The approach is to use a heliostat system designed to guide reflective light from tandem reflective mirrors into the darkest craters on the moon. This study's purpose is to explore a system that uses a Fresnel lens and Keplerian telescope optics to capture, collect, and focus sunlight on a solar cell using refracted light. The main findings are that this is a plausible concept and would reduce the loss of light energy immensely. The significant components of this concept are the use of a heliostat's …

Input Data Preparation For Ai Gravity Prediction Pipeline, Jacob Wilson, Emily Sigmund

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

The AI Gravity Project uses machine learning techniques to predict the actual value of gravity anomalies in places where data cannot be physically collected due to multiple constraining factors. Artificial intelligence is used to predict these anomalies. The predicted anomalies combined with the physically collected anomalies will eventually be combined to create higher resolution gravity models of the Earth. Here, the details of the first steps of the AI Gravity Project are presented. This includes the data pulling, cleaning, and analyzing the data prior to training the model.

Miner Aviation Design Team, Dominic Zanti, John Mitchell, Anya Carpenter

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

Quantifying And Reducing Light Pollution, Trace Ackley, Margaret Ferney, Addie Vandewalle

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Faculty and undergraduate students at Truman State University participated in activities related to quantifying light pollution and creating awareness about the dangers associated with bad outdoor lighting. The research activities students were involved in include continuing our work on using “all-sky-cameras” and the TESS all-sky photometer to quantify the sky brightness at various locations in-and-around Kirksville; and starting a new interdisciplinary project involving counting bird-strikes near glass windows around the Truman campus. With regards to outreach & activism, students have continued to reach out to school administrators, the Truman State Physical Plant, and the local Kirksville city management to continue …

What Rocket Design Team Does, Tyler Dorsey

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, Abigail Richner

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

Multi-Disciplinary Analysis Surrogate Based On Twin-Generator Generative Adversarial Networks For Electric Drone, Samuel Sisk

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

Missouri Satellite Design Team (M-Sat), Aneliese Hebenstreit

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

Modeling And Simulation Of An Electrostatic Lunar Particle Sieve, Aaron Berkhoff

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

Astrobiology Research & Outreach At Truman State University, Nothan Shaw, Autumn Winslett, Daphne Zakarian

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

We present light curves for three potential exoplanet candidates: TIC 950525831.01 and TIC 346015394.01. These targets were chosen from the TESS Follow-Up Observing Program (TFOP) database¹. The primary goal of the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) Working Group (WG) is to provide follow-up observations that will facilitate achievement of the Level One Science Requirement to measure masses for 50 transiting planets smaller than 4 Earth radii². Students remotely used the 1-m NPOI Lowell telescope on Anderson Mesa near Flagstaff, Arizona to target these objects. In total, students observed eight “TFOP” potential exoplanet targets. Students are working …

Mizzou Space Program’S Argonia Cup Rocket, Ryan Milewski, Abigail Penfield

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

No abstract provided.

Modeling And Simulation Of An Electrostatic Lunar Particle Sieve, Aaron Berkhoff

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

The following research was conducted to develop a kinetic particle model, which simulates an electromagnetic sieve used for in-situ material utilization on the lunar surface. A code package was developed to simulate an electromagnetic sieve that uses electrodes to transport fine particles within a cylindrical device. Specifically, this research generates an initial working model for the sieve and tests different electrode configurations. The simulation models different electric fields generated by electrodes, kinetic particle dynamics, and lunar particle distribution. During the case study, which investigates different electrode configurations, it was determined that electrodes oriented such that electrodes located above and below …

Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project: April 2023 Status Report, Jill Schmidt

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

This report details the progress of the Missouri S&T Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project as of April 2023 and the future work the team will complete throughout the remainder of 2023 and 2024. This project began in January 2023, and students have been completing preliminary training activities, so they are prepared to begin assembling and testing the eclipse payloads during summer 2023. Throughout the summer, all team members will be actively engaged in this research project and participating in outreach events related to high altitude ballooning.

Investigating Outcomes Of Inner Planet Formation Influenced By A Jupiter-Like Perturber, Simarpreet Girn

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

The most common planets within 1 AU of a star are a few Earth radii in size, dubbed ‘super-Earths.’ Yet the Solar system lacks a super-Earth, and potentially the presence of Jupiter played a role. For this project, the outcomes of in situ inner planet formation under the influence of a massive outer planet were analyzed. Ninety-two N-body dynamical simulations were conducted of the in-situ formation process with a Jupiter-mass planet at a distance of five astronomical units from a host star. These simulations were then compared with the same inner planet conditions without a massive outer planet. The simulations …

Performance Evaluation Of Additively Manufactured Carbon/Peek Composites, Matik S. Heskin

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Carbon/PEEK composites have a broad range of applications due to their combinations of superior creep properties and excellent strength to weight ratios. Like all fiber-based composites they are limited geometrically by their required manufacturing processes. Additively manufactured (AM) materials overcome this issue and can be formed into incredibly complex shapes. By combining these two fields, a material limited in application by geometry can have its shortcomings supported with AM processes.

AM carbon/PEEK composites have already been created but this relatively new material still needs property characterization. Therefore, the objective of this work will be to evaluate the structural performance of …

Experimental Studies Of Volatile Fractionation In The Early Solar System, Emily Rapp

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Isotopic Fractionation is a useful tool for investigating the formation of planetary bodies in the Solar System. Moderately volatile elements such as Potassium, Copper and Zinc can provide insight into the formative process and the origin of rocky planets. In this experiment Ortenberg basalt is heated to 1400° Celsius for different durations of time ranging from 1 minute at temperature to 7 hours at temperature under high vacuum conditions. The fractionation factor for K has been determined to be 0.9944 and the fractionation factor for Cu was found to be 0.9961. The fractionation factors of the Moon were found to …

High Pressure Injection Process For Ceramic Composites, Samuel Weiler

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Ceramic materials are valued for good heat resistance and corrosion resistance. Due to these benefits, they are widely used in the aviation, automotive, medical, construction, and other industries. Ceramic materials are also both hard and brittle, qualities that are not ideal in many applications. To reduce brittleness, and other undesirable characteristics of ceramics, engineers have turned to composites to increase the mechanical properties of these materials. By adding composite particles or fibers, these characteristics can be improved. Constructing ceramic composites is not without its challenges, however. Current processes are prone to high porosity, high shrinkage, and poor accuracy of parts. …

Computations Of Flow Past A Three-Element 30p30n Airfoil Using Wray-Agarwal One Equation Turbulence Model, Karsten Hendrickson

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

The predictions of flow phenomenon that occur in high lift systems have proven to be challenging using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with turbulence models. The complex interactions that occur among different elements of the wing can be difficult for turbulence models to accurately predict. Results from the recently developed Wray-Agarwal (WA) one-equation turbulence model, the frequently used Spalart-Allmaras (SA) and shear stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence models are compared to experimental results to evaluate each model’s relative accuracy. The quadratic constitutive relation (QCR) is also used to produce results with the SA and WA models. It is shown that …

Masses And Radii Of Subdwarf B Stars - Sed Fitting Method, Noah Singer

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

The goal of this project is to determine masses and radii of hot subdwarf B stars in hopes of connecting these fundamental intrinsic properties to the evolutionary history of such stars. Subdwarf B stars burn helium in their core, serving as interesting physical laboratories, and the abundance of public data, including GAIA parallaxes and archival photometry, can be used to determine stellar characteristics. In this study, observed photometry is compared to synthetic photometry, calculated from a similar-stellaratmosphere model spectrum. This match determines the effective stellar temperature and radius. With an estimate of surface gravity, mass can be determined. Such determinations …

Orbit Perturbations To Habitable Zone Planets From Massive Planets At The Snowline Around M Stars And G Stars, Samuel Cope, Bishwash Devkota

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Massive planets may preferentially form just outside the water ice snowline in protoplanetary disks. How these massive planets which form at this location would influence the orbits of Earth mass planets located in the habitable zone of Solar type (G) stars and M dwarfs is investigated. Dynamical simulations that tracked the orbit evolution of an Earth mass planet in the habitable zone and an outer massive planet placed at the system’s primordial water ice snowline were performed. Cases with the Earth mass planet placed at different locations in the habitable zone and a Jupiter mass planet at the snowline around …

Comparison Of Injection Molded Abs Using Conventional Steel And Novel Composite-Based Additively Manufactured Mold Plates, John Mitchell

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Polymer injection molding processes have been used for over 100 years to create high-volume parts quickly and efficiently. Injection molding uses mold plates that are traditionally made of very hard tool steels, such as P20 steel, which is extremely heavy and has very long lead times to build new molds. In this study, composite-based additive manufacturing (CBAM) was used to create mold plates using long-fiber carbon fiber and polyether ether ketone (PEEK). These mold plates were installed in an injection molding machine, and rectangular flat plates were produced using Lustran 348 acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Tensile testing was performed on …

Exploratory Growths Of The Ternary 14-1-11 Family Of Thermoelectric Zintl Phases Using A Self-Flux Method, Jared Shortt

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

Thermoelectric Zintl phases have the ability to convert waste heat into useful electrical energy, making them valuable in various energy harvesting applications. In these Zintl phases, a high zT (thermoelectric Figure of Merit) indicates more efficient thermoelectric properties. The technique used, a self-flux method, is implemented as a relatively simple way of synthesizing Zintl phases with a higher thermoelectric Figure of Merit. This method uses an excess of reactive flux element, which acts as both a component of the Zintl phase and a reaction medium, and two other elements that are incorporated into the material. The materials with higher melting …

Computational Analysis Of The Hifire-1 Hypersonic Test Model In Ansys Fluent, Aidan Robert Murphy

NASA-Missouri Space Grant Consortium

The Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) program explores and advances hypersonic aerospace systems by developing a multitude of test flight geometries and conducting experimental test flights to obtain data for use in validation of computational models and results. This study focuses on computational validation of heat flux, and calculation of static pressure profiles, skin friction coefficient profiles, and flow contours. The flow field studied is for Mach number 7.18 and an angle of attack (α) of 2°. The flow field include many compressible flow features such as an expansion wave at the intersection of the cone and flat cylindrical …