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At least 343 records · Page 19

Stability of erythrocyte suspensions layered on stationary and flowing liquids

The apparent stability of erythrocyte suspensions layered on stationary and flowing Ficoll solutions was studied considering the effects of particle concentration, type and size, and the different flow rates of the particle suspensions and chamber liquid. The data from the flowing system were empirically fitted and, when extrapolated to zero chamber liquid flow rate, gave values comparable to the data from the stationary system, thus confirming the validity of the data and our approach to obtain that data.

Omenyi, S. N.↗

Wind Tunnel Measurements of Shuttle Orbiter Global Heating with Comparisons to Flight

An aerothermodynamic database of global heating images was acquired of the Shuttle Orbiter in the NASA Langley Research Center 20-Inch Mach 6 Air Tunnel. These results were obtained for comparison to the global infrared images of the Orbiter in flight from the infrared sensing aeroheating flight experiment (ISAFE). The most recent ISAFE results from STS-103, consisted of port side images, at hypersonic conditions, of the surface features that result from the strake vortex scrubbing along the side of the vehicle. The wind tunnel results were obtained with the phosphor thermography system, which also provides global information and thus is ideally suited for comparison to the global flight results. The aerothermodynamic database includes both windward and port side heating images of the Orbiter for a range of angles of attack (20 to 40 deg), freestream unit Reynolds number (1 x 10(exp 6))/ft to 8 x 10(exp 6)/ft, body flap deflections (0, 5, and 10 deg), speed brake deflections (0 and 45 deg), as well as with boundary layer trips for forced transition to turbulence heating results. Sample global wind tunnel heat transfer images were extrapolated to flight conditions for comparison to Orbiter flight data. A windward laminar case for an angle of attack of 40 deg was extrapolated to Mach 11.6 flight conditions for comparison to STS-2 flight thermocouple results. A portside wind tunnel image for an angle of attack of 25 deg was extrapolated for Mach 5 flight conditions for comparison to STS-103 global surface temperatures. The comparisons showed excellent qualitative agreement, however the extrapolated wind tunnel results over-predicted the flight surface temperatures on the order of 5% on the windward surface and slightly higher on the portside.

Berry, Scott A.↗

Thermodynamic properties and crystallization kinetics at high liquid undercooling

The heat capacities of liquid and crystalline Au-Pb-Sb alloys in the glass-forming composition range were measured with droplet emulsion and bulk samples. Based on the measured C(sub p) data, the entropy, enthalpy, and Gibbs free energy functions of the eutectic, solid mixture, and undercooled liquid were determined as a function of undercooling and compared with theoretical predictions. The results indicate an isentropic temperature at 313 + or - 5 K, which agrees well with experimental data for the glass transition. A kinetics analysis of the nucleation undercooling response suggests that the proper choice for the Gibbs free energy change during crystallization is most important in analyzing the nucleation kinetics. By classical nucleation theory, the prefactors obtained, based on a variety of theoretical predictions for the driving force, can differ by six orders of magnitude. If the nucleation rates are extrapolated to high undercooling, the extrapolations based on measured heat capacity data show agreement, whereas the predicted nucleation rates are inconsistent with results from drop tower experiments. The implications for microg experiments are discussed.

Fecht, Hans J.↗

Bay of Fundy verification of a system for multidate Landsat measurement of suspended sediment

A system for automated multidate Landsat CCT MSS measurement of suspended sediment concentration (S) has been implemented and verified on nine sets (108 points) of data from the Bay of Fundy, Canada. The system employs 'chromaticity analysis' to provide automatic pixel-by-pixel adjustment of atmospheric variations, permitting reference calibration data from one or several dates to be spatially and temporally extrapolated to other regions and to other dates. For verification, each data set was used in turn as test data against the remainder as a calibration set: the average absolute error was 44 percent of S over the range 1-1000 mg/l. The system can be used to measure chlorophyll (in the absence of atmospheric variations), Secchi disk depth, and turbidity.

Munday, J. C., Jr.↗

Feasibility Demonstration of a 445N High-Performance Rocket Engine

A program to demonstrate the feasibility of a high-performance 445 Newton (100 lb(sub f)) NTO/NMH rocket engine is presented. An existing high-performance injector was coupled with three different thrust chambers to acquire test data for the program. A stainless-steel sea-level chamber was used for test stand checkout, calibration and initial injector performance determinations. Two high-temperature iridium lined rhenium thrust chambers were used to determine altitude performance and durability. The first chamber was tested for a total duration of 3381 s and the second was tested for a total duration of 15,000 s with no measurable degradation. Extrapolation of epsilon = 44:1 experimental data to the recommended epsilon = 467:1 expansion nozzle, using the JANNAF methodology, showed that a performance of 3138 to 3167 N-s/kg (320 to 323 lb(sub f-s)/lb(sub m) could be achieved with the present design. Recommendations are presented which would allow a redesigned engine to achieve the 3195 N-s/kg (326 lb(sub f-s)/lb(sub m)) program goal.

Appel, Marshall A.↗

Historic Global Biomass Burning Emissions for CMIP6 (BB4CMIP) Based on Merging Satellite Observations with Proxies and Fire Models (1750-2015)

Fires have influenced atmospheric composition and climate since the rise of vascular plants, and satellite data has shown the overall global extent of fires. Our knowledge of historic fire emissions has progressively improved over the past decades due mostly to the development of new proxies and the improvement of fire models. Currently there is a suite of proxies including sedimentary charcoal records, measurements of fire-emitted trace gases and black carbon stored in ice and firn, and visibility observations. These proxies provide opportunities to extrapolate emissions estimates based on satellite data starting in 1997, but each proxy has strengths and weaknesses regarding, for example, the spatial and temporal extents over which they are representative. We developed a new historic biomass burning emissions dataset starting in 1750 that merges the satellite record with several existing proxies, and uses the average of six models from the Fire Model Intercomparison Project (FireMIP) protocol to estimate emissions when the available proxies had limited coverage. According to our approach, global biomass burning emissions were relatively constant with 10-year averages varying between 1.8 and 2.3 petagrams of carbon per year. Carbon emissions increased only slightly over the full time period and peaked during the 1990's after which they decreased gradually. There is substantial uncertainty in these estimates and patterns varied depending on choices regarding data representation, especially on regional scales. The observed pattern in fire carbon emissions is for a large part driven by African fires, which accounted for 58 percent of global fire carbon emissions. African fire emissions declined since about 1950 due to conversion of savanna to cropland, and this decrease is partially compensated for by increasing emissions in deforestation zones of South America and Asia. These global fire emissions estimates are mostly suited for global analyses and will be used in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) simulations.

Biomass burning; Satellite observations; computer ↗

A Summary of The 2000-2001 NASA Glenn Lear Jet AM0 Solar Cell Calibration Program

Calibration of solar cells for space is extremely important for satellite power system design. Accurate prediction of solar cell performance is critical to solar array sizing, often required to be within 1%. The NASA Glenn Research Center solar cell calibration airplane facility has been in operation since 1963 with 531 flights to date. The calibration includes real data to Air Mass (AM) 0.2 and uses the Langley plot method plus an ozone correction factor to extrapolate to AM0. Comparison of the AM0 calibration data indicates that there is good correlation with Balloon and Shuttle flown solar cells. This paper will present a history of the airplane calibration procedure, flying considerations, and a brief summary of the previous flying season with some measurement results. This past flying season had a record 35 flights. It will also discuss efforts to more clearly define the ozone correction factor.

Scheiman, David↗

Thermodynamic properties of oxygen and nitrogen III

The final equation for nitrogen was determined. In the work on the equation of state for nitrogen, coefficients were determined by constraining the critical point to selected critical point parameters. Comparisons of this equation with all the P-density-T data were made, as well as comparisons to all other thermodynamic data reported in the literature. The extrapolation of the equation of state was studied for vapor to higher temperatures and lower temperatures, and for the liquid surface to the saturated liquid and the fusion lines. A new vapor pressure equation was also determined which was constrained to the same critical temperature, pressure, and slope (dP/dT) as the equation of state. Work on the equation of state for oxygen included studies for improving the equation at the critical point. Comparisons of velocity of sound data for oxygen were also made between values calculated with a preliminary equation of state and experimental data. Functions for the calculation of the derived thermodynamic properties using the equation of state are given, together with the derivative and integral functions for the calculation of the thermodynamic properties using the equations of state. Summary tables of the thermodynamic properties of nitrogen and oxygen are also included to serve as a check for those preparing computer programs using the equations of state.

Stewart, R. B.↗

Performance of noncoherent MFSK channels with coding

Computer simulation of data transmission over a noncoherent channel with predetection signal-to-noise ratio of 1 shows that convolutional coding can reduce the energy requirement by 4.5 dB at a bit error rate of 0.001. The effects of receiver quantization and choice of number of tones are analyzed; nearly optimum performance is attained with eight quantization levels and sixteen tones at predetection S/N ratio of 1. The effects of changing predetection S/N ratio are also analyzed; for lower predetection S/N ratio, accurate extrapolations can be made from the data, but for higher values, the results are more complicated. These analyses will be useful in designing telemetry systems when coherence is limited by turbulence in the signal propagation medium or oscillator instability.

Butman, S. A.↗

Asteroid and comet orbits using radar data

For the 30 asteroids and 4 comets for which radar astrometric data were given by Ostro (1991), orbits have been computed using both the radar and the existing optical measurements. The techniques required to process radar data in orbit determination solutions are outlined, and future radar observation opportunities for asteroids and comets are identified. For asteroids and comets that have only short intervals of optical astrometric data, the additional use of only a few radar observations allows a far more accurate extrapolation of their future motions. The use of radar data can often ensure an object's successful recovery at future earth returns and greatly assist efforts in monitoring the motions of the rapidly growing population of known near-earth objects, including their future close-earth approaches.

Yeomans, D. K.↗

Calibration validation for the GEOS-3 altimeter

The absolute bias calibration for the GEOS-3 intensive mode altimeter was measured using two satellite passes whose groundtracks were within 1 km of the Bermuda laser station. The Bermuda laser tracked on the two passes, and was supported by two other NASA lasers on one pass and by the NASA Spacecraft Tracking and Data Network on the other pass. For each pass, the altimeter data around Bermuda was smoothed and extrapolated to the point closest to overhead at the laser site. After correcting for tide heights and sea state effects, the two passes give calibration biases which are in agreement to within 26 cm and have a weighted mean of -5.69 + or - 0.16m for correcting altimeter measurements to the center-of-mass of the spacecraft (i.e., including the antenna tracking point correction). It was found impossible to reconcile the two calibration passes, as well as a set of altimeter crossovers in the middle of the GEOS-3 calibration area, without allowing for a data time tag error. On the bias of a selected set of four crossovers, and an assessment of probable sources of timing error, it was concluded that one interpulse period (10.24 msec) should be added to the data time tags.

Martin, C. F.↗

EVA Performance Prediction

Astronaut physical performance capabilities in micro gravity EV A or on planetary surfaces when encumbered by a life support suit and debilitated by a long exposure to micro gravity will be less than unencumbered pre flight capabilities. The big question addressed by human factors engineers is: what can the astronaut be expected to do on EVA or when we arrive at a planetary surface? A second question is: what aids to performance will be needed to enhance the human physical capability? These questions are important for a number of reasons. First it is necessary to carry out accurate planning of human physical demands to ensure that time and energy critical tasks can be carried out with confidence. Second it is important that the crew members (and their ground or planetary base monitors) have a realistic picture of their own capabilities, as excessive fatigue can lead to catastrophic failure. Third it is important to design appropriate equipment to enhance human sensory capabilities, locomotion, materials handling and manipulation. The evidence from physiological research points to musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and neurovestibular degradation during long duration exposure to micro gravity . The evidence from the biomechanics laboratory (and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory) points to a reduction in range of motion, strength and stamina when encumbered by a pressurized suit. The evidence from a long history of EVAs is that crewmembers are indeed restricted in their physical capabilities. There is a wealth of evidence in the literature on the causes and effects of degraded human performance in the laboratory, in sports and athletics, in industry and in other physically demanding jobs. One approach to this challenge is through biomechanical and performance modeling. Such models must be based on thorough task analysis, reliable human performance data from controlled studies, and functional extrapolations validated in analog contexts. The task analyses currently carried out for EVA activities are based more on extensive domain experience than any formal analytic structure. Conversely, physical task analysis for industrial and structured evidence from training and EV A contexts. Again on earth there is considerable evidence of human performance degradation due to encumbrance and fatigue. These industrial models generally take the form of a discounting equation. The development of performance estimates for space operations, such as timeline predictions for EVA is generally based on specific input from training activity, for example in the NBL or KC135. uniformed services tasks on earth are much more formalized. Human performance data in the space context has two sources: first there is the micro analysis of performance in structured tasks by the space physiology community and second there is the less structured evidence from training and EV A contexts.

Peacock, Brian↗

NASA Occupant Protection Standards Development

Current National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) occupant protection standards and requirements are based on extrapolations of biodynamic models, which were based on human tests performed under pre-Space Shuttle human flight programs where the occupants were in different suit and seat configurations than is expected for the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and Commercial Crew programs. As a result, there is limited statistical validity to the occupant protection standards. Furthermore, the current standards and requirements have not been validated in relevant spaceflight suit, seat configurations or loading conditions. The objectives of this study were to develop new standards and requirements for occupant protection and rigorously validate these new standards with sub-injurious human testing. To accomplish these objectives we began by determining which critical injuries NASA would like to protect for. We then defined the anthropomorphic test device (ATD) and the associated injury metrics of interest. Finally, we conducted a literature review of available data for the Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint New Technology (THOR-NT) ATD to determine injury assessment reference values (IARV) to serve as a baseline for further development. To better understand NASA s environment, we propose conducting sub-injurious human testing in spaceflight seat and suit configurations with spaceflight dynamic loads, with a sufficiently high number of subjects to validate no injury during nominal landing loads. In addition to validate nominal loads, the THOR-NT ATD will be tested in the same conditions as the human volunteers, allowing correlation between human and ATD responses covering the Orion nominal landing environment and commercial vehicle expected nominal environments. All testing will be conducted without the suit and with the suit to ascertain the contribution of the suit to human and ATD responses. In addition to the testing campaign proposed, additional data analysis is proposed to mine existing human injury and response data from other sources, including military volunteer testing, automotive Crash Injury Research Engineering Network (CIREN), and IndyCar impact and injury data. These data sources can allow a better extrapolation of the ATD responses to off-nominal conditions above the nominal range that can safely be tested. These elements will be used to develop injury risk functions for each of the injury metrics measured from the ATD. These risk functions would serve as the basis for the NASA standards. Finally, we propose defining standard test methodology for evaluating future spacecraft designs against the IARVs, including developing a star-rating system to allow crew safety comparisons between vehicles.

Somers, Jeffrey T.↗

Mutagenic effects of a single and an exact number of alpha particles in mammalian cells

One of the main uncertainties in risk estimation for environmental radon exposure using lung cancer data from underground miners is the extrapolation from high- to low-dose exposure where multiple traversal is extremely rare. The biological effects of a single alpha particle are currently unknown. Using the recently available microbeam source at the Radiological Research Accelerator Facility at Columbia University, we examined the frequencies and molecular spectrum of S1- mutants induced in human-hamster hybrid (A(L)) cells by either a single or an exact number of alpha particles. Exponentially growing cells were stained briefly with a nontoxic concentration of Hoechst dye for image analysis, and the location of individual cells was computer-monitored. The nucleus of each cell was irradiated with either 1,2,4, or 8 alpha particles at a linear energy transfer of 90 keV/microm consistent with the energy spectrum of domestic radon exposure. Although single-particle traversal was only slightly cytotoxic to A(L) cells (survival fraction approximately 0.82), it was highly mutagenic, and the induced mutant fraction averaged 110 mutants per 10(5) survivors. In addition, both toxicity and mutant induction were dose-dependent. Multiplex PCR analysis of mutant DNA showed that the proportion of mutants with multilocus deletions increased with the number of particle traversals. These data provide direct evidence that a single a particle traversing a nucleus will have a high probability of resulting in a mutation and highlight the need for radiation protection at low doses.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

Radiometric calibration of an airborne multispectral scanner

The absolute radiometric calibration of the NS001 Thematic Mapper Simulator reflective channels was examined based on laboratory tests and in-flight comparisons to ground measurements. The NS001 data are calibrated in-flight by reference to the NS001 internal integrating sphere source. This source's power supply or monitoring circuitry exhibited greater instability in-flight during 1988-1989 than in the laboratory. Extrapolating laboratory behavior to in-flight data resulted in 7-20 percent radiance errors relative to ground measurements and atmospheric modeling. Assuming constancy in the source's output between laboraotry and in-flight resulted in generally smaller errors. Upgrades to the source's power supply and monitoring circuitry in 1990 improved its in-flight stability, though in-flight ground reflectance based calibration tests have not yet been performed.

Markham, Brian L.↗

Monte Carlo predictions of DNA fragment-size distributions for large sizes after HZE particle irradiation

DSBs (double-strand breaks) produced by densely ionizing space radiation are not located randomly in the genome: recent data indicate DSB clustering along chromosomes. DSB clustering at large scales, from >100 Mbp down to approximately 2 kbp, is modeled using a Monte-Carlo algorithm. A random-walk model of chromatin is combined with a track model, that predicts the radial distribution of energy from an ion, and the RLC (randomly-located-clusters) formalism, in software called DNAbreak. This model generalizes the random-breakage model, whose broken-stick fragment-size distribution is applicable to low-LET radiation. DSB induction due to track interaction with the DNA volume depends on the radiation quality parameter Q. This dose-independent parameter depends only weakly on LET. Multi-track, high-dose effects depend on the cluster intensity parameter lambda, proportional to fluence as defined by the RLC formalism. After lambda is determined by a numerical experiment, the model reduces to one adjustable parameter Q. The best numerical fits to the experimental data, determining Q, are obtained. The knowledge of lambda and Q allows us to give biophysically based extrapolations of high-dose DNA fragment-size data to low doses or to high LETs.

NASA Center JSC↗

Land-Use Harmonization Datasets for Global Carbon Budget 2019 and Beyond

Land-use change has been the dominant source of anthropogenic carbon emissions for most of the historical period, and is currently one of the largest and most uncertain components of the global carbon cycle. Advancing the scientific understanding on this topic requires that the best data be used as input to the best models in well-organized scientific assessments. The Land-Use Harmonization dataset (LUH2), previously developed and used as input for CMIP6 simulations, has been updated annually to provide required input to land models in the annual Global Carbon Budget (GCB) assessment. These annual LUH2-GCB updates and extensions have incorporated annual FAO wood harvest data updates for dataset years after 2015 and HYDE gridded agriculture area data updates (based on annual FAO agricultural area data updates) for dataset years after 2012, along with extrapolations to the current year due to a lag of one or more years in the FAO data releases. The resulting updated LUH2-GCB datasets have provided global, annual gridded land-use and land-use change data relating toagricultural expansion, deforestation, wood harvesting, shifting cultivation, regrowth and afforestation, and crop rotationsand pasture managementand are used by both book-keeping models and Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) for the GCB. For GCB 2019,a more significant update to LUH2 was produced (LUH2-GCB2019) to correct cropland and grazing area errors in the underlying input datasets for the globally important region of Brazil, as far back as 1950. From 1951-2012 the LUH2-GCB2019 dataset begins to diverge from the LUH2 v2hdataset, with peak differences in Brazil in the year 2000 for grazing land (difference of 100,000 km2) and in the year 2009 for cropland (difference of 77,000 km2), along with significant sub-national reorganization of agricultural land-use patterns within Brazil. These LUH2-GCB2019 corrections for Brazil provide the base for future LUH2-GCB updates including the recent LUH2-GCB2020 dataset, and present a starting point for operationalizing the creation of these datasets toreduce time-lags due to the multiple input dataset and model latencies.

L Chini↗

Improvement of synoptic scale moisture and wind field analyses using the Nimbus 4 THIR 6.7-micron observations.

Discussion of some examples demonstrating that water vapor channel imagery from meteorological satellites, particularly Nimbus 4, can be quite helpful in improving moisture and wind analyses. Satellite imagery is shown to make possible the extrapolation of conventional measurements into data-sparse regions and the introduction of considerably greater detail into analyses of meterological parameters. In addition, the wide-area synoptic coverage of satellites can shed light on the interconnections of tropical and midlatitude systems discernible in the upper troposphere.

Steranka, J.↗