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The data obtained during aerial photography flights using a helicopter are presented. The areas photographed are identified as three areas within Test Site 175: (1) Rosenberg, (2) Houston Ship Channel/Trinity Bay, and (3) the Somerville Dam. Data are presented in the form of charts. Reproductions of the aerial photographs are included.
The activities of the Photographic Technology Division, and particularly the Photo Science Office, the Precision Processing Laboratory, and the Motion Picture Laboratory, in connection with the scientific photography of the Apollo 16 manned space mission are documented. Described are the preflight activities involved in establishing a standard process for each of the flight films, the manned in which flight films were handled upon arrival at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, and how the flight films were processed and duplicated. The tone reproduction method of duplication is described. The specific sensitometric and chemical process controls are not included.
A photographic test flight of the NASA RB-57F was conducted on March 25, 1972, over Houston and West Texas, to determine the suitability of Eastman Kodak type 3400 film as a replacement for type 2402 film in the Hasselblad cameras. An additional purpose was to test GAF film type 2914, a new black and white film similar to 2402, but with higher maximum gamma and greater dynamic range.
The purpose of this report is to acquaint the Houston community with specific areas of available technology, both public and private, to demonstrate to industry how this technology may be acquired and put to use to provide new and useful services for man. Much of the technology utilized in the development of nuclear-fueled circulatory support systems in our laboratories has evolved from industry, NASA, and AEC; our projects involve radiation biology, thermodynamics, energy transfers, hemodynamics, hematology, pathology, and surgery.
The Urban Land Use Team conducted a year's investigation of ERTS-1 MSS data to determine the number of Land Use categories in the Houston, Texas, area. They discovered unusually low classification accuracies occurred when a spectrally complex urban scene was classified with extensive rural areas containing spectrally homogeneous features. Separate computer processing of only data in the urbanized area increased classification accuracies of certain urban land use categories. Even so, accuracies of urban landscape were in the 40-70 percent range compared to 70-90 percent for the land use categories containing more homogeneous features (agriculture, forest, water, etc.) in the nonurban areas.
The goals and program of the mission are described. Operations from preflight crew training through splashdown are included. Spacecraft and launch vehicle configurations are given. The 27 joint and unilateral experiments to be performed are described. A flight plan and a schedule of activities is included, together with brief crew biographies. The ground support system is discussed; it includes control centers in Houston and Moscow, and an ATS satellite to relay ground-air-ground communications. The global tracking network and the television transmission system are also described.
The laboratory controls to be used within the photographic technology division (PTD) for processing original space flight films exposed on the Apollo Soyuz Test Project mission are specified. The sensitometric exposures to be used by PTD for certifying processes, for exposing Houston Controls, and for preflight and postflight exposures on original films as well as procedures for film certification are described. Processing conditions used to achieve each control and processing machine operating parameters are included.
A systems analysis of energy recovery from solid waste demonstrates the feasibility of several current processes for converting solid waste to an energy form. The social, legal, environmental, and political factors are considered in depth with recommendations made in regard to new legislation and policy. Biodegradation and thermal decomposition are the two areas of disposal that are considered with emphasis on thermal decomposition. A technical and economic evaluation of a number of available and developing energy-recovery processes is given. Based on present technical capabilities, use of prepared solid waste as a fuel supplemental to coal seems to be the most economic process by which to recover energy from solid waste. Markets are considered in detail with suggestions given for improving market conditions and for developing market stability. A decision procedure is given to aid a community in deciding on its options in dealing with solid waste, and a new pyrolysis process is suggested. An application of the methods of this study are applied to Houston, Texas.
A four-day short course in lunar geology was developed, leading to the publication of a primer in lunar geology. The course was offered to 22 sponsored participants (community college teachers) and to representatives from the Lunar Science Institute, Houston, Texas, and from the Educational Program Office of NASA-Ames, on April 25-28, 1974. A follow-up survey of the course participants was made in two steps: on the last day of the course, and one year later. In general, the participants felt that the course was well organized and that the speakers were effective. Most of the participants introduced some aspects of what they learned into their own teaching material. Finally, a well-panel display about 7 1/2 feet high and 16 feet long designed to acquaint the viewer with elementary facts of lunar geology was constructed and permanently installed at the Space Science Center of Foothill College.
When the experimental situation is that of man exposed to a gravitationless environment for varying periods of time, the possible importance and value of a related modeling effort is readily apparent. One of the main objectives of the Skylab Program, with its missions of 28, 59, and 85 day duration concerned biomedical investigations of various types, and large amounts of relevant experimental data have been gathered and are in the process of being sorted and interpreted. In order to be of eventual usefulness in forming and testing consistent physiological hypotheses concerning the effect of zero gravity on man, a modeling effort was established in 1972 through the General Electric Company, Space Division, Houston, Texas. An account is given of some of the developments completed or in progress as part of this modeling effort. A long-term cardiovascular model and a large model of the systemic circulation are discussed.
The MIUS (Modular Integrated Utility System) concept is to be an energy-conserving, economically feasible, integrated community utility system to provide five necessary services: electricity generation, space heating and air conditioning, solid waste processing, liquid waste processing, and residential water purification. The MIST (MIUS Integration and Subsystem Test) integrated system testbed constructed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston includes subsystems for power generation, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), wastewater management, solid waste management, and control and monitoring. The key design issues under study include thermal integration and distribution techniques, thermal storage, integration of subsystems controls and displays, incinerator performance, effluent characteristics, and odor control.
An overview is presented of the Skylab Concentrated Atmospheric Radiation Project (SCARP), which was conducted to determine the accuracy and applicability of different models of radiation transfer through air masses of differing characteristics including varying amounts of wet and dry aerosols. Sites surveyed included onshore and offshore areas in the vicinity of Houston, Texas, the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and Phoenix, Arizona, which provided a variety of warm, hot, dry, wet, clean, and dirty atmospheres. A typical exercise is described, and problems encountered during the experiment are discussed. It is noted that ten models of atmospheric scattering were utilized and that available data is being compared with the models.
The Forest Analysis Team of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Earth Observations Division conducted a year's investigation of LANDSAT 1 multispectral data to determine the size of forest features that could be detected and to determine the suitability for making forest classification maps. The Sam Houston National Forest of Texas was used as the test site. Using conventional interpretation and computer aided techniques, the team was able to differentiate up to 14 classes of forest features to an accuracy ranging between 55 and 84 percent.
The Range Analysis Team conducted an investigation to determine the utility of using LANDSAT 1 data for mapping vegetation-type information on range and related grazing lands. Two study areas within the Houston Area Test Site (HATS) were mapped to the highest classification level possible using manual image interpretation and computer aided classification techniques. Rangeland was distinguished from nonrangeland (water, urban area, and cropland) and was further classified as woodland versus nonwoodland. Finer classification of coastal features was attempted with some success in differentiating the lowland zone from the drier upland zone. Computer aided temporal analysis techniques enhanced discrimination among nearly all the vegetation types found in this investigation.
Feature classification, spatially and temporally, was extended over the Houston test site area. The Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-1) multispectral scanner data from August, September, and October 1972, of five widely separated lakes were used as statistical training fields and test sites. Short term temporal (same day to 36 days) and moderately long term spatial (within and between three ERTS multispectral scanner frames) signature extensions have been verified with respect to large relatively homogeneous features. The most significant feature dependent variable affecting spatial and short term extension was water turbidity. Long term signature extension will require a model to compensate or modify the ERTS-1 multispectral scanner data for significant sun angle changes. The presence of atmospheric haze changed the absolute signature but always by approximately the same amount so that the measured water signature was always the same. The normally occurring variations in atmospheric haze conditions had no major effect on the water signatures in this study.
A quantitative, computer-aided study was made on the spectral separability of timber types and condition classes in the Southeastern United States, using LANDSAT-1 multispectral scanner data. It was concluded that LANDSAT-1 could be used effectively to discriminate the gross forest features of softwood, hardwood, and regeneration. The only significant detectable age difference would be between an established forest versus a young (or denuded) forest. The red or near infrared bands would be better for discrimination; phenological early and late spring data would be better than winter. And a temporal analysis would be superior to single-season analysis. Lastly, two spectral bands would be most cost effective for computer analysis. The study site was Sam Houston National Forest of East Texas, a typical forest in the Flatwoods Zone, Southern Region, U. S. Forest Service.
Measures of the environment derived from remote sensing were compared to census population/housing measures in their ability to discriminate among health status areas in two urban communities. Three hypotheses were developed to explore the relationships between environmental and health data. Univariate and multiple step-wise linear regression analyses were performed on data from two sample areas in Houston and Galveston, Texas. Environmental data gathered by remote sensing were found to equal or surpass census data in predicting rates of health outcomes. Remote sensing offers the advantages of data collection for any chosen area or time interval, flexibilities not allowed by the decennial census.
Black-and-white stereoscopic aerial photographs at a scale of 1:20,000, 1:40,000, and 1:65,000 and controlled aerial photo mosaics at a scale of 1:24,000 were the basic data utilized for most mapping. Color and color infrared aerial photography (1:20,000) was employed to man the barrier islands, and color infrared photography (1:120,000) was used to map sand and mud units of the coastal plain north of Houston. LANDSAT-1 imagery in Bands 4, 5, and 7 (1:250,000) was utilized to examine land use and certain resource units statewide. Side scanning radar and LANDSAT imagery were studied experimentally toward mapping land suitability units in carbonate terranes with high relief and certain other terranes. Large-scale color and color infrared aerial stereoscopic photographs supply the most information for regional mapping. black-and-white photography is the most practical data for mapping because of scale, complete coverage, availability, and relatively low cost.