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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Voyager Saturnian ring measurements and the early history of the solar system

The mass distribution in the Saturnian ring system is investigated and compared with predictions from plasma cosmogony. According to this theory, the matter in the rings was once a magnetized plasma, in which gravitation is balanced by the centrifugal and electromagnetic forces. As the plasma is neutralized, the electromagnetic forces disappear and the matter falls in to 2/3 of the original saturnocentric distance. This causes the cosmogonic shadow effect, demonstrated for the large scale structure of the Saturnian ring system. It is shown that many structures of the present ring system can be understood as shadows and antishadows of cosmogonic origin. These appear in the form of double rings centered around a position a factor 0.64 (slightly 2/3) closer to Saturn than the causing feature. Voyager data agree with an accuracy 1%.

Alfven, H.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Photometry of rough planetary surfaces - The role of multiple scattering

Topographic features affect the scattering properties of planetary surfaces by casting shadows and altering the local incidence and emission angles. Measurements of this phenomenon were obtained on the Cornell goniometer for both high and low albedo surfaces. For the low albedo surface, the decrease in reflected radiation due to topography increases sharply with increasing phase angle, whereas for the high albedo sample the effects are approximately constant between phase angles of 30 and 70 deg. The observations are in good agreement with a theoretical model in the case of the dark surface. However, for the high albedo surface the model overestimates the effects by a factor of 2, since it does not include the partial illumination of shadows by multiple scattering. For both high and low albedo surfaces, the effects of topography do not become significant until a phase angle of 30-40 deg.

Buratti, B. J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Calculations of microwave brightness temperature of rough soil surfaces

A model for simulating the brightness temperatures of soils with rough surfaces is developed. The surface emissivity of the soil media is obtained by the integration of the bistatic scattering coefficients for rough surfaces. The roughness of a soil surface is characterized by two parameters, the surface height standard deviation sigma and its horizontal correlation length l. The model calculations are compared to the measured angular variations of the polarized brightness temperatures at both 1.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies. A nonlinear least-squares fitting method is used to obtain the values of delta and l that best characterize the surface roughness. The effect of shadowing is incorporated by introducing a function S(theta), which represents the probability that a point on a rough surface is not shadowed by other parts of the surface. The model results for the horizontal polarization are in excellent agreement with the data. However, for the vertical polarization, some discrepancies exist between the calculations and data, particularly at the 1.4 GHz frequency. Possible causes of the discrepancy are discussed.

Mo, T.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Determining Directions of Ultrasound in Solids

Ultrasound shadows cast by grooves. Improved method for determining direction of ultrasound in materials is shadow method using Scanning laser acoustic microscopy (SLAM). Direction of ultrasound calculated from dimensions of groove and portion of surface groove shields from ultrasound. Method has variety of applications in nontraditional quality-control applications.

Generazio, Edward R.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Theory for computing the field scattered from a smooth inflected surface

A theory is described for computing the reflected or scattered field from a smooth body with inflection points. These inflections occur in certain directions at each surface point for which the total (Gaussian) curvature is zero or negative. For surface illumination in one of these critical directions, the usual reflection formulas obtained by the high-frequency approximation are inapplicable, and a shadow zone exists in the reflected field. Scattering into the shadow zone is treated, as well as specular reflection. This theory should have a variety of applications such as for certain optics problems, computer graphics modeling of three-dimensional shapes, and the design and analysis of specialized microwave reflector antennas.

Barger, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Estimation of vegetation cover at subpixel resolution using LANDSAT data

The present report summarizes the various approaches relevant to estimating canopy cover at subpixel resolution. The approaches are based on physical models of radiative transfer in non-homogeneous canopies and on empirical methods. The effects of vegetation shadows and topography are examined. Simple versions of the model are tested, using the Taos, New Mexico Study Area database. Emphasis has been placed on using relatively simple models requiring only one or two bands. Although most methods require some degree of ground truth, a two-band method is investigated whereby the percent cover can be estimated without ground truth by examining the limits of the data space. Future work is proposed which will incorporate additional surface parameters into the canopy cover algorithm, such as topography, leaf area, or shadows. The method involves deriving a probability density function for the percent canopy cover based on the joint probability density function of the observed radiances.

Jasinski, Michael F.↗
NASA NTRS1987

The dynamical oscillation and propulsion of magnetic fields in the convective zone of a star. I - General considerations

Observations of the sun show that the magnetic flux of the large activity complexes emerges in localized sites in brief bursts at intervals of many days or a few weeks. The quantity of flux arriving at the surface suggests that the mean aximuthal field of the sun in the lower convective zone is not less than 3000 G and may perhaps be considerably more. Such a field inhibits the convective transport of heat. Hence there is a cool shadow on the upper side of the field, and that cool shadow presses downward so hard as to suppress the magnetic buoyancy, forcing the field to remain in the lower convective zone. The accumulation of heat below the field forces intruding fingers of gas up through the field, forming thermal plumes extending up to the visible surface. It is suggested that the process is intermittent, providing a thermal relaxation oscillation with a period of the order of one week. The activity complexes observed at the surface are the consequence of these eruptions of fluid and entrained field from the lower convective zone.

Parker, E. N.↗
NASA NTRS1987

A physical optics correction for backscattering from curved surfaces

The conventional physical optics (PO) approximation used to calculate the scattered fields from a conducting body leads to incorrect scattered fields even in the specular reflection region. This is true even when all other subdominant terms are assumed to be absent. The inaccuracy stems from the fact that the surface currents used in the PO approximation suddenly truncate at the shadow boundary of curved surfaces resulting in an erroneous contribution. Expressions for these shadow boundary (end point) contributions are presented in this paper. It is shown that if these end point contributions are substracted from the conventional PO results, one obtains a better representation of the true scattered field. For illustration, backscattered fields from various conducting bodies are computed using the corrected PO solution and are compared with the exact scattered fields.

Gupta, Inder J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Integration of topographic data with synthetic aperture radar data for determining forest properties in mountainous terrain

The elevation gradients affecting tropical forest stand characteristics are presently studied in light of multipolarization airborne SAR data. A 'rubber sheeting' computer code was used to georeference the SAR data sets to the digital elevation data. The TOPO code from NASA's NSTL generated the terrain slope and aspect angle data from the terrain elevation data set; computed local incidence angles were used to delete those data areas that were shadowed, and to produce local incidence angle data that were not shadowed. The results obtained demonstrate that the SAR data are related to the elevation gradient.

Wu, Shih-Tseng↗
NASA NTRS1987

Application of ray theory to propagation of low frequency noise from wind turbines

Ray theory is used to explain data from two experiments (1985 and 1985) on the propagation of low frequency sound generated by the WTS-4 wind turbine. Emphasis is on downwind data, but some upwind measurements taken during the 1985 experiment are also considered. General ray theory for a moving medium is reviewed and ray equations obtained. Restrictions are introduced simplifying the equations and permitting the use of a ray theory program MEDUSA, the computed propagation loss curve of which is compared to the measurements. Good qualitative agreement is obtained with 1984 downwind data. The results indicate that the downwind sound field is that of a near-ground sound channel. Although more scatter is seen in the 1985 data, agreement between theory and data is also good. In particular, the position and magnitude of the jump in the sound levels associated with the beginning of the sound channel is correctly predicted. The theoretical explanation of the upwind data is less successful. Ray theory calculations indicate the formation of a shadow zone that, in fact, does not occur. While no sharp shadow zone is apparent in the data, the general expectation (based on ray theory) that sound levels should be much reduced upwind is confirmed by the data.

Hawkins, James A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Improved canopy reflectance modeling and scene inference through improved understanding of scene pattern

The Li-Strahler reflectance model, driven by LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) data, provided regional estimates of tree size and density within 20 percent of sampled values in two bioclimatic zones in West Africa. This model exploits tree geometry in an inversion technique to predict average tree size and density from reflectance data using a few simple parameters measured in the field (spatial pattern, shape, and size distribution of trees) and in the imagery (spectral signatures of scene components). Trees are treated as simply shaped objects, and multispectral reflectance of a pixel is assumed to be related only to the proportions of tree crown, shadow, and understory in the pixel. These, in turn, are a direct function of the number and size of trees, the solar illumination angle, and the spectral signatures of crown, shadow and understory. Given the variance in reflectance from pixel to pixel within a homogeneous area of woodland, caused by the variation in the number and size of trees, the model can be inverted to give estimates of average tree size and density. Because the inversion is sensitive to correct determination of component signatures, predictions are not accurate for small areas.

Franklin, Janet↗
NASA NTRS1987

Stratigraphy of the Kasei Valles region, Mars

The thicknesses and geomorphology of the two principal stratigraphic units exposed in Kasei Valles to aid in interpreting the nature of crustal materials and the history of the channeling events in the area are identified and described. Previous studies of Kasei Valles have related the channel landforms to glacial flow, catastrophic flooding, and large-scale eolian erosion. The two units (an upper and a lower unit) form thick sheets, each having distinct geomorphologic features. Thicknesses of the unit were determined through preliminary stereogrammetric profiles taken across many sections of western Kasei Valles and shadow measurements taken of scarp heights from calibrated Viking images having sun angles less than 25 degrees; DN values were examined to confirm that true shadows were observed.

Robinson, Mark S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Fade measurements at L-band and UHF in mountainous terrain for land mobile satellite systems

Fading results related to land mobile satellite communications at L-band (1502 MHz) and UHF (870 MHz) are described. These results were derived from an experiment performed in a series of canyon passes in the Boulder, Colorado region of the US. The experimental configuration involved a helicopter as the source platform, which maintained a relatively fixed geometry with a mobile van containing the receiver and data-acquisition system. An unobstructed line of sight between the radiating sources and the receiving van was, for the most part, also maintained. In this configuration, the dominant mechanism causing signal fading (or enhancement) is a result of multipath. The resulting fade distributions demonstrated that at the 1 percent and 5 percent levels, 5.5- and 2.6-dB fades were on the average exceeded at L-band and 4.8- and 2.4-dB at UHF, respectively, for a path elevation angle of 45 deg. The canyon results as compared with previous roadside-tree-shadowing results demonstrate that the deciding factor dictating fade margin for future land mobile satellite systems is tree shadowing rather than fades caused by multipath.

Vogel, Wolfhard J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Magnetic activity complexes, thermal relaxation oscillations, and the dynamics of the azimuthal magnetic field of a star

The large amount of magnetic flux cycling through an activity complex in a period of six months suggests that the azimuthal magnetic field in the convective zone of the sun is not less than 3000 Gauss and probably is considerably more. A field of 3 kiloGauss or more has the effect of blocking the convective heat transport, producing a cool shadow above the azimuthal field and causing heat to accumulate below. The incremental weight of the cool shadow is sufficient to overpower the magnetic buoyancy, pressing the field against the bottom of the convective zone. The accumulation of heat underneath produces a thermal relaxation oscillation that erupts to the surface at intervals of the order of a week, supplying the intermittent emergence of magnetic flux observed in the activity complex.

Parker, E. N.↗
NASA NTRS1987

A statistical study of ion pitch-angle distributions

Preliminary results of a statistical study of energetic (34-50 keV) ion pitch-angle distributions (PADs) within 9 Re of earth provide evidence for an orderly pattern consistent with both drift-shell splitting and magnetopause shadowing. Normal ion PADs dominate the dayside and inner magnetosphere. Butterfly PADs typically occur in a narrow belt stretching from dusk to dawn through midnight, where they approach within 6 Re of earth. While those ion butterfly PADs that typically occur on closed drift paths are mainly caused by drift-shell splitting, there is also evidence for magnetopause shadowing in observations of more frequent butterfly PAD occurrence in the outer magnetosphere near dawn than dusk. Isotropic and gradient boundary PADs terminate the tailward extent of the butterfly ion PAD belt.

Sibeck, D. G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Interiors of the giant planets

This theoretical/observational project constrains interior structure of Jovian planets through observational data. Researchers continue to concentrate on Neptune in support of the 1989 Voyager encounter. Occultations of stars by Neptune are observed from the Tucson area and from Chile to obtain information about Neptune's atmosphere and to continue to search for Neptune arcs. Occultations by other solar system objects are also observed as part of collaborative efforts from time to time. New results on the structure of scintillations in the central flash occultation by Neptune on 20 August 1985 were derived. Analysis shows that scintillations are present throughout the lightcurve, both near the half-intensity points (at a pressure of 1 microbar) and near the central flash (at 0.4 mbar). Near the planetary limb, the scintillations are extended parallel to the limb; near the shadow center, they are extended parallel to the limb; near the shadow center, they are extended in a radial direction. Researchers collaborated with Ramesh Narayan to derive a theory relating the scintillations to density fluctuations in Neptune's atmosphere. The theory will ultimately enable researchers to test whether the scintillations are caused by internal gravity waves in Neptune's upper atmosphere.

Hubbard, W. B.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A study of three techniques used in the diffraction analysis of shaped dual-reflector antennas

An examination is presented of three techniques used for the efficient computation of fields diffracted by a subreflector that has been shaped by geometrical optics synthesis. It is found that these techniques, which are based on the geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD), produce errors in the computed fields that are specific to shaped reflectors. These errors are examined for a reflector system shaped to produce maximum gain from a tapered feed illumination. The discrepancies are directly related to the caustic being located near an observation point of the GTD calculations. The errors found are localized, and they increase in magnitude as the caustic approaches the main reflector. In a general offset geometry, the location of the caustic may be located arbitrarily close to the main reflector given a prescribed output aperture distribution. For the specific case considered here-the common situation of shaping to produce maximum gain-the caustic is located near the edge of the main reflector and on the reflection shadow boundary. A local correction is derived which creates a uniform solution through the caustic and across the reflection shadow boundary. Away from this point the calculation receeds to the standard GTD solution.

Cwik, Tom A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Thermal Radiation Analysis System (TRASYS II)

Program solves thermal heating problems such as effect of sunlight on satellite. Surface geometry features include complete shadowing ability, including shadowing by semi-transparent surfaces. Written for DEC VAX.

Vogt, R. A.↗