Research papers

Reachability-Based Forced Landing System

NASA Engineering and Safety Center Technical Bulletin No. 26-07: Aluminum Alloy 2219 Material Guidance

Improper casting and forging processes in the manufacture of aluminum alloy 2219 can lead to microstructural defects that result in a sub-optimal response to anodic surface treatments and an increase in corrosion suscept…

Off-Topic Chatter as an Unobtrusive Assessment of Workload

Prior work suggests that off-topic (OT) chatter during collaborative scheduling is negatively associated with workload. Because of the complexities in assessing real-time workload in a space environment, this finding has…

Great Basin Water Resources: Creating a Remote Sensing User-Interface to Support Water Resource and Wetland Management for Inland Lakes

Saline terminal lakes across the Great Basin are rapidly shrinking due to increasing water demand, groundwater extraction, and climate change, threatening wetland ecosystems, biodiversity, regional economies, and public …

Exploratory Heterogeneity in Workload–HRV Relationships Across Flight Crews During High-Fidelity Simulation

Understanding how operators adapt to varying task demands in complex systems is central to applied human performance and resilience engineering research.

A NIST-Traceable Lab-to-Sky Spectral and Radiometric Calibration for NASA’s High-Altitude Airborne Hyperspectral Pushbroom Imager for Cloud and Aerosol Research and Development (PICARD)

The Pushbroom Imager for Cloud and Aerosol Research and Development (PICARD) visible through shortwave infrared imaging spectrometer was developed to carry a calibration laboratory environment to high altitudes, while al…

Low Altitude RA Virtual Pilot Tabletop: Preliminary Results Summary

A virtual tabletop activity was conducted in support of NASA Airspace Operations and Safety Program’s (AOSP) Air Traffic Management and Safety (ATMS) project.

Proof Test Screening as a Mitigation Against Stress Rupture Failure of Carbon Fiber Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs)

Proof testing of composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) is performed to screen vessels with low burst strength to mitigate the potential for failure at lower than operational pressures.

Icing Physics Studies Using the 3D SIDRM Test Article: 2023 Icing Tests Analysis

In-flight icing is an important safety issue and is a factor that affects aircraft design and performance. Newer regulations are driving a need for improvements in airframe and engine icing simulation capability.

Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall

This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range of angles of attack,…

Assessing National Airspace System Impact of the Hybrid Electric Turboprop Commercial Freighter

The Hybrid Electric Turboprop Commercial Freighter (HETCOF) is a large turboprop aircraft using hybrid electric propulsion designed to reduce cost and emissions for narrowbody cargo operations capable of carrying 35,000 …

Integration and Testing of a UAS Airspace Management System in the Wildland Firefighting Environment

NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project explores the use of technology to provide additional aerial support in the wildland firefighting environment by extending the use of Uncrewed…

Integration and Testing of a UAS Airspace Management System in the Wildland Firefighting Environment

NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project explores the use of technology to provide additional aerial support in the wildland firefighting environment by extending the use of Uncrewed…

The Integration of eVTOL Aircraft and Infrastructure into San Jose Mineta International Airport

With the average American spending around 43 hours a year sitting in traffic1, and automobile emissions in the US accounting for 57% of all transportation emissions2, traditional transportation infrastructure can no long…

Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models

Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems. This includes the National Airspace System (NAS) where pilots and controllers make positive…

Uncovering Resilient Behavior in the Aviation Safety Reporting System Using Large Language Models

Resiliency is present in everyday life, both in system design and exhibited by the operators that function within these systems. This includes the National Airspace System (NAS) where pilots and controllers make positive…

Lessons Learned: m:N Operations in the Application of UTM for Hurricane Rescue

The Human Autonomy Teaming (HAT) Lab at NASA Ames Research Center conducted a study using small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS, or drones) in a post-hurricane rescue mission, utilizing an uncrewed aircraft system traffi…

What Would You Have Done? Learning From Others' Aviation Safety Events

The capacity to learn from both expected and unexpected events has been identified as a critical component of resilient performance. One’s own experiences, however, are not the only opportunities to learn from these type…

What Would You Have Done? Learning From Others' Aviation Safety Events

The capacity to learn from both expected and unexpected events has been identified as a critical component of resilient performance. One’s own experiences, however, are not the only opportunities to learn from these type…

A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around

As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.

Adaptive Situational Awareness for Real-Time Lunar Surface Operations

The Lunar South Pole, the site of future space operations for Artemis missions, presents unique operational challenges. The line of sight to the Earth and Sun are both low over the horizon.

Development and Integration of Flight Dynamics Models for Study of eVTOL Aircraft in the NASA Vertical Motion Simulator

A piloted simulation study in the Vertical Motion Simulator at NASA Ames Research Center will investigate the handling and ride qualities of eVTOL configurations (lift-plus-cruise and tiltwing) for both civilian and mili…

FDIR for Autonomous Space Systems for Anomalies and Cyberattacks

Fault detection, identification, and remediation (FDIR) is a challenging task for any space system. Faults are not necessarily binary in nature, and several different faults may all create the same symptoms or bad perfo…

Scenario-Based Task Design for Airline Pilot Anticipatory Behaviors: Asynchronous Assessment of Complex Cognitive Skills

In airline operations, pilots are asked to actively produce positive safety outcomes and to learn from their own and others’ successes.

LEO to GEO Communications from Concept to On Orbit Mission Success

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the NOW (Nano Orbital Workshop) project at NASA Ames Research Center collaborated to prove that the GOES satellites can communicate with spacecraft in LEO and pr…

LEO to GEO Communications from Concept to On Orbit Mission Success

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the NOW (Nano Orbital Workshop) project at NASA Ames Research Center collaborated to prove that the GOES satellites can communicate with spacecraft in LEO and pr…

BVLOS UAS Cargo Delivery Simulation - A DoD-Sponsored Operational Evaluation with NASA and Project ULTRA

Currently existing UAS flight system implementations often require a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA), thus posing the challenge of missions being repeatable.

NASA Icing Update – March 2025

This NASA Icing Update was prepared for presentation to the SAE International AC-9C Inflight Icing Technology Committee. This update includes the following topics: planned Rotational Icing Scaling tests, the Glenn Icing …

Potential of United States and European Regional Air Cargo Operations for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems

Regional air cargo is a promising initial use case for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) to address scalability challenges such as pilot shortage.

Initial Study of Tailored Trajectory Management for Multi-Vehicle Uncrewed Regional Air Cargo Operations

The primary contribution of this paper is an evaluation of the potential value of a tailored trajectory management (TTM) capability for uncrewed aircraft (UA) operators that is proactive in detecting conflicts and develo…

Considerations for Airspace Integration Enabling Early Multi-Aircraft (m:N) Operations

The aviation community is planning to deploy new aircraft types, with new missions, and advanced operational concepts that are collectively referred to as Advanced Air Mobility (AAM).

Summary and Annotated Bibliography of Measurement Error Corrections with Potential Application in Future Quesst Mission Community Noise Studies

This document is motivated by likely needs of the Quesst mission community response tests, which will culminate in data collection and estimation of dose-response regression relationships for consideration by domestic an…

Aero-Propulsive Damping Characterization for eVTOL Aircraft Using Free Motion Wind-Tunnel Testing

This paper describes an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft system identification method applied using three degree-of-freedom (3DOF) free motion wind-tunnel testing.

Reduction of Aircraft Noise Uncertainty for a Notional Supersonic Business Jet

NASA supported a study by the International Civil Aviation Organization on the environmental impact of adding supersonic aircraft to the existing global fleet by designing a notional 55-tonne supersonic business jet.

A Queuing Theory Approach to Pilot-Controller Coordination for m:N Operations

In recent years, attention and interest by industry and researchers has grown in a control paradigm for remotely piloted aircraft termed “m:N operations.” In an m:N operation, a team of m remote pilots in command (RIPCs)…

Confidence-Based Buffer for Strategic Deconfliction with Probabilistic Operational Intent

This paper presents a methodology to expand the 95% confidence level of the elliptical geometry given by Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operators planning to fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) to any confidence leve…

Optimal Mission Profile for Low-Boom Supersonic Aircraft

An optimal mission profile, called the low-boom mission profile, is proposed for low-boom supersonic aircraft. The low-boom mission profile uses a fixed AoA for the cruise segment until reaching the cruise ceiling.

Humans to Mars, But How Many? A Historical Review of Crew Size Determinations for Mars Missions

Three-quarters of a century have passed since the first engineering study of a human mission to Mars in 1948. During that time, dozens of study teams at NASA, its contractors, and other organizations in the U.S.

Safety Assessment of Conformance Monitoring for Situational Awareness in UTM Operations

This report presents a systematic approach to evaluating the safety benefit of utilizing strategic deconfliction and Conformance Monitoring for Situational Awareness to manage the traffic that is comprised of both confor…

A Passive fuel-Cell Surface power System (PaCeSS)

This effort produces a fully-passive surface power generation capability for fuel cell technology. The concept replaces the actively pumped thermal management of a state of the art (SOA) fuel cell/electrolyzer stack with…

Training the Powered-Lift Evaluation Pilot

This poster describes a project to prepare pilots for a study assessing novel aircraft automation concepts for electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft using NASA’s Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS).

Survey of Methods for Assessing Safety Compliance of sUAS BVLOS Operations

To ensure the safety of small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) Beyond Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations in the National Airspace System (NAS), the FAA offers a guideline on how sUAS operators can demonstrate compliance wit…

Part 135 and Business Operator Low Altitude Events: An Analysis of ASRS Reports

This presentation provides an aviation SME's human factors analysis of selected Low Altitude and Controlled Flight Towards Terrain (CFTT) events involving Part 135 and business jet operators as reported to the Aviation S…

Part 121 Low Altitude Events: An Analysis of ASRS Reports

This presentation provides an aviation SME's human factors analysis of selected Low Altitude and Controlled Flight Towards Terrain (CFTT) events involving Part 121 air carriers as reported to the Aviation Safety Reportin…

NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) Program Briefing

This presentation provides an overview of NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS).

UTM: UAS Traffic Management

NASA is working with industry, public operators, and FAA to enable beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operations wherever it is needed.

NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System: General Introduction to NASA ASRS

This presentation provides an overview of NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS).

NASA Icing Update – Oct 2024

This presentation provides a status update on select NASA icing research activities for the SAE AC-9C Icing Technical Committee Meeting on Oct 21, 2024.

Introduction to Aircraft Icing and NASA's Approach to Understanding It

This presentation provides an introduction to aircraft icing and describes NASA’s approach to understanding it. The presentation covers various topics on icing.

Training the Powered-Lift Evaluation Pilot

This presentation focuses on the preparation and training of evaluation pilots during the second of two research studies: Automation Enabled Pilot studies 1 and 2 (AEP-1 and AEP-2).