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At least 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluation of Materials and Surfaces for Lunar Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) Payload Samples

As the quest for long term lunar exploration and habitation comes closer to reality, widespread efforts are ongoing to effectively mitigate lunar dust surface contamination and infiltration. This dust is hazardous to humans and tends to adhere tenaciously to all exposed surfaces, causing performance issues and ultimately failure. While several active and passive technologies have been developed to address this challenge, assessing the performance of these technologies in the actual lunar environment is extremely important. The regolith adherence characterization (RAC) experiment payload provides an important opportunity for this evaluation. The RAC payload is designed by Alpha Space for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)and scheduled to be flown to the moon in 2023 on the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander. As there were a limited number of slots available for materials to be chosen for this mission, it was critical to make an informed selection. Two polymers, a carbon fiber reinforced composite and a metal alloy were chosen to be a diverse selection of structural materials from NASA Langley Research Center. Each material was topographically modified using laser ablation patterning. This article briefly describes the selection and testing procedure and some of the results obtained for the passive dust mitigating materials and surfaces selected for this lunar surface experiment.

Lunar Dust↗
NASA NTRS1980

Surface measuring technique

Measurement of the surface contour of a large electrostatically formed concave reflector using a modified Foucault or knife edge test is described. The curve of the actual electrostatically formed reflector surface is compared to a curve representing a reference sphere. Measurements of surface slope and deviation are calculated every 15 cm along the reflector's horizontal and vertical diameters. Characterization of surface roughness on a small scale compared to the laser spot size at the reflector are obtained from the increased laser spot size at a distant projection screen.

Spiers, R. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1991

An investigation of the degradation of Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) copolymer thermal blanketing materials aboard LDEF in the laboratory

Samples of fluorinated ethylene propylene copolymer thermal blanketing material, recovered from the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), were investigated to determine the nature and the extent of degradation due to exposure to the low-Earth-orbit environment. Samples recovered from the ram-facing direction of LDEF, which received vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) radiation and atomic-oxygen impingement, and samples from the trailing edge, which received almost exclusively VUV exposure, were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The most significant result of this investigation was found on samples that received only VUV exposure. These samples possessed a hard, embrittled surface layer that was absent from the atomic-oxygen exposed sample and from unexposed control samples. This surface layer is believed to be responsible for the 'synergistic' effect between VUV and atomic oxygen. Overall, the investigation revealed dramatically different morphologies for the two samples. The sample receiving both atomic-oxygen and VUV exposure was deeply eroded and had a characteristic 'rolling' surface morphology, while the sample that received only VUV exposure showed mild erosion and a surface morphology characterized by sharp high-frequency peaks. The morphologies observed in the LDEF samples, including the embrittled surface layer, were successfully duplicated in the laboratory.

Stiegman, A. E.↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Martian Surface Boundary Layer

The acquisition of meteorological data from the surface of Mars by the two Viking Landers and Mars Pathfinder make it possible to estimate atmospheric boundary layer parameters and surface properties at three different locations on the planet. Because the Martian atmosphere is so thin the majority of the solar radiance is converted to heat at the surface. The difference between surface and atmospheric temperature can also constraint surface albedo, thermal inertia, and infrared emissivity. The Mars Pathfinder Atmospheric Structure Instrument/Meteorological package (ASI/MET) was the most capable weather monitoring system ever sent to the surface of another planet to date. One of the prime objectives of the ASI/MET package is to characterize the surface boundary layer parameters, particularly the heat and momentum fluxes, scaling temperature and friction velocity, and estimate surface roughness. Other important boundary layer parameters, such as Richardson Number, Monin-Obukhov length, analysis of turbulence characteristics of wind and temperature, and atmospheric stability class can also be determined from these measurements.

Wilson, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Characterizing the System Impulse Response Function from Photon-Counting LiDAR Data

NASA's Multiple Altimeter Beam Experimental LiDAR (MABEL) is an aircraft-based photon-counting laser altimeter designed as a simulator to test measurement techniques and algorithms for Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), the sole instrument on NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) mission. By measuring the time of flight, pointing angle, and absolute position for individual photons, ICESat-2 provides detailed elevation measurements of earth's surface. Calculating accurate and precise elevations requires an understanding of how photons interact with surfaces, and characterization of the photon distribution after returning from surfaces. Neither MABEL nor ATLAS records the transmitted laser pulse shape, relying instead on aggregating several pulses worth of photons, often using histograms, to characterize the pulse shape. In this paper, we assess the limitations of using histograms and propose a more robust method to describe MABEL's system impulse-response function using an exponentially modified Gaussian distribution. We also provide standard error estimates for the arithmetic mean and standard deviation calculations, and for exponentially modified Gaussian parameters using a Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis. We apply this method to photon returns from a sea ice lead and from a dry salt lake bed as case studies for estimating the standard error associated with sample size for the arithmetic mean and standard deviation, and for the exponentially modified Gaussian parameters. We use these standard errors to calculate the minimum number of photons required to find both Gaussian and exponentially modified Gaussian distribution parameters within 3 cm of their parent population values.

photoncounting↗
NASA NTRS1982

An experimental study of mushroom shaped stall cells

Surface patterns characterized by a pair of counter-rotating swirls have been observed in connection with the conduction of surface flow visualization experiments involving test geometries with separated flows. An example of this phenomenon occurring on a finite wing with trailing edge stall has been referred to by Winkelmann and Barlow (1980) as 'mushroom shaped'. A description is presented of a collection of experimental results which show or suggest the occurrence of mushroom shaped stall cells on a variety of test geometries. Investigations conducted with finite wings, airfoil models, and flat plates are considered, and attention is given to studies involving the use of bluff models, investigations of shock induced boundary layer separation, and mushroom shaped patterns observed in a number of miscellaneous cases. It is concluded that the mushroom shaped stall cell appears commonly in separated flow regions.

Winkelmann, A. E.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Textured carbon surfaces on copper by sputtering

A very thin layer of highly textured carbon is applied to a copper surface by a triode sputtering process. A carbon target and a copper substrate are simultaneously exposed to an argon plasma in a vacuum chamber. The resulting carbon surface is characterized by a dense, random array of needle like spires or peaks which extend perpendicularly from the copper surface. The coated copper is especially useful for electrode plates in multistage depressed collectors.

Curren, A. N.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Application of ERTS-1-data to the protection and management of New Jersey's coastal environment

The author has identified the following significant results. New Jersey's planned, regionalized network of sewage disposal facilities has been plotted on an ERTS-1 mosaic and circulation parameters for each of the planned outfall locations have been analyzed using the ERTS-1 imagery and comparative aircraft photography. Work is continuing on the circulation and dispersion of barge-dumped wastes in the New York Bight area. One of the largest remote sensing experiments ever attempted in this country was completed on April 7, 1973 during the ERTS-1 overpass. The test area included the northern portion of New Jersey and the Raritan Bay - New York Harbor area. Three NASA aircraft, two helicopters, nine surface vessels, 40 ground team personnel, and numerous oceanographic, radiometric, and meteorological equipment were deployed in an effort to characterize the surface and near-surface circulation dynamics in this 600 square mile area, during an entire tidal cycle. The analyses of these data in concert with all previous ERTS-1 overpasses will provide information that can lead to a better and more rational use of the nearshore marine environment. The data will be utilized to plan future outfall locations, regulating offshore disposal of wastes, etc.

Yunghans, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Evaluating the Utility of Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals over Irrigated Areas and the Ability of Land Data Assimilation Methods to Correct for Unmodeled Processes

Earth's land surface is characterized by tremendous natural heterogeneity and human-engineered modifications, both of which are challenging to represent in land surface models. Satellite remote sensing is often the most practical and effective method to observe the land surface over large geographical areas. Agricultural irrigation is an important human-induced modification to natural land surface processes, as it is pervasive across the world and because of its significant influence on the regional and global water budgets. In this article, irrigation is used as an example of a human-engineered, often unmodeled land surface process, and the utility of satellite soil moisture retrievals over irrigated areas in the continental US is examined. Such retrievals are based on passive or active microwave observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, WindSat and the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT). The analysis suggests that the skill of these retrievals for representing irrigation effects is mixed, with ASCAT-based products somewhat more skillful than SMOS and AMSR2 products. The article then examines the suitability of typical bias correction strategies in current land data assimilation systems when unmodeled processes dominate the bias between the model and the observations. Using a suite of synthetic experiments that includes bias correction strategies such as quantile mapping and trained forward modeling, it is demonstrated that the bias correction practices lead to the exclusion of the signals from unmodeled processes, if these processes are the major source of the biases. It is further shown that new methods are needed to preserve the observational information about unmodeled processes during data assimilation.

land data↗
NASA NTRS2017

Molecular Analyzer for Complex Refractory Organic-Rich Surfaces (MACROS)

The Molecular Analyzer for Complex Refractory Organic-rich Surfaces, MACROS, is a novel instrument package being developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. MACROS enables the in situ characterization of a sample's composition by coupling two powerful techniques into one compact instrument package: (1) laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LDMS) for broad detection of inorganic mineral composition and non-volatile organics, and (2) liquid-phase extraction methods to gently isolate the soluble organic and inorganic fraction of a planetary powder for enrichment and detailed analysis by liquid chromatographic separation coupled to LDMS. The LDMS is capable of positive and negative ion detection, precision mass selection, and fragment analysis. Two modes are included for LDMS: single laser LDMS as the broad survey mode and two step laser mass spectrometry (L2MS). The liquid-phase extraction will be done in a newly designed extraction module (EM) prototype, providing selectivity in the analysis of a complex sample. For the sample collection, a diamond drill front end will be used to collect rock/icy powder. With all these components and capabilities together, MACROS offers a versatile analytical instrument for a mission targeting an icy moon, carbonaceous asteroid, or comet, to fully characterize the surface composition and advance our understanding of the chemical inventory present on that body.

Getty, Stephanie A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Argon adsorption and the lunar atmosphere

The results of Ar adsorption experiments on a terrestrial labradorite and lunar rock 15415 crushed in vacuo are reported. The experiments were designed to test lunar atmosphere simulation models for the behavior of Ar on the lunar surface, as determined from the Apollo 17 mass spectrometer results. These models (Hodges, 1980, 1982) used a single adsorption potential to characterize the surfaces of lunar soil grains, with the result that high (6-7 kcal/mol) heats of adsorption were inferred. The present experimental results show that very high adsorption potentials are indeed associated with fresh mineral surfaces, but that these energetic surfaces occupy only small fractions of the total surface area. Nonetheless, these small fractions of surface, if they can be maintained in the lunar regolith in steady-state condition, could be sufficient to account for the Apollo 17 mass spectrometer observations.

Bernatowicz, T. J.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Laser Surface Preparation for Adhesive Bonding of Ti-6Al-4V

Adhesively bonded structures are potentially lighter in weight than mechanically fastened ones, but existing surface treatments are often considered unreliable. Two main problems in achieving reproducible and durable adhesive bonds are surface contamination and variability in standard surface preparation techniques. In this work three surface pretreatments were compared: laser etching with and without grit blasting and conventional Pasa-Jell treatment. Ti-6Al-4V surfaces were characterized by contact angle goniometry, optical microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Laser -etching was found to produce clean surfaces with precisely controlled surface topographies and PETI-5 lap shear strengths and durabilities were equivalent to those produced with Pasa-Jell.

Belcher, Marcus A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Inorganic chemical investigation by X-ray fluorescence analysis - The Viking Mars Lander

The inorganic chemical investigation experiment added in August 1972 to the Viking Lander scientific package uses an energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer in which four sealed, gas-filled proportional counters detect X-rays emitted from samples of the Martian surface materials irradiated by X-rays from radioisotope sources (Fe-55 and Cd-109). The instrument is inside the Lander body, and samples are to be delivered to it by the Viking Lander Surface Sampler. Instrument design is described along with details of the data processing and analysis procedures. The results of the investigation will characterize the surface materials of Mars as to elemental composition with accuracies ranging from a few tens of parts per million (at the trace-element level) to a few per cent (for major elements) depending on the element in question.

Toulmin, P., III↗
NASA NTRS1987

The growth and in situ characterization of chemical vapor deposited SiO2

This paper reports the results of studies of the kinetics of remote (indirect) plasma enhanced low pressure CVD growth of SiO2 on Si and InP and of the in situ characterization of the electrical surface properties of InP during CVD processing. In the latter case photoluminescence was employed as a convenient and sensitive noninvasive method for characterizing surface trap densities. It was determined that, provided certain precautions are taken, the growth of SiO2 occurs in a reproducible and systematic fashion that can be expressed in an analytic form useful for growth rate prediction. Moreover, the in situ photoluminescence studies have yielded information on sample degradation resulting from heating and chemical exposure during the CVD growth.

Iyer, R.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Fracture surface characteristics of off-axis composites

The fracture surface characteristics of off-axis high-modulus graphite-fiber/epoxy composite specimens were studied, using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The specimens were subjected to tensile loading at various angles (0 deg - 90 deg) to the fiber direction. SEM photomicrographs of the fractured surfaces revealed three different load angle regions with distinct fracture characteristics. Based on these revelations, criteria were established which can be used to characterize fracture surfaces with respect to a predominant single stress fracture mode.

Sinclair, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Fracture surface characteristics of off-axis composites

The fracture surface characteristics of off-axis high-modulus graphite-fiber/epoxy composite specimens were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The specimens were subjected to tensile loading at various angles (0-90 deg) to the fiber direction. SEM photomicrographs of the fractured surfaces revealed three different load angle regions with distinct fracture characteristics. Based on these revelations, criteria were established which can be used to characterize fracture surfaces with respect to a predominant 'single-stress' fracture mode.

Sinclair, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Roughness Perception of Haptically Displayed Fractal Surfaces

Surface profiles were generated by a fractal algorithm and haptically rendered on a force feedback joystick, Subjects were asked to use the joystick to explore pairs of surfaces and report to the experimenter which of the surfaces they felt was rougher. Surfaces were characterized by their root mean square (RMS) amplitude and their fractal dimension. The most important factor affecting the perceived roughness of the fractal surfaces was the RMS amplitude of the surface. When comparing surfaces of fractal dimension 1.2-1.35 it was found that the fractal dimension was negatively correlated with perceived roughness.

Costa, Michael A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

On the petrological, geochemical, and geophysical characterization of a returned Mars surface sample and the impact of biological sterilization on the analyses

A study was conducted: to identify those experiments that could and should be done on a returned Martian sample in order to characterize its inorganic properties; to evaluate, insofar as can be done, the effects of potential biological sterilization of the sample by heating prior to its return; to identify particular analytical techniques needing further improvement in order to make optimum use of a returned sample; and to identify experiments to be done on simulants, with and without sterilization, that better define the limits of information available about the planet from analyses of returned samples.

Source record↗