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At least 433 records · Page 24

Space Shuttle Orbiter - Leading edge structural design/analysis and material allowables

Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC), a structural composite whose development was targeted for the high temperature reentry environments of reusable space vehicles, has successfully demonstrated that capability on the Space Shuttle Orbiter. Unique mechanical properties, particularly at elevated temperatures up to 3000 F, make this material ideally suited for the 'hot' regions of multimission space vehicles. Design allowable characterization testing, full-scale development and qualification testing, and structural analysis techniques will be presented herein that briefly chart the history of the RCC material from infancy to eventual multimission certification for the Orbiter. Included are discussions pertaining to the development of the design allowable data base, manipulation of the test data into usable forms, and the analytical verification process.

Johnson, D. W.↗

X-ray based extensometry

A totally new method of extensometry using an X-ray beam was proposed. The intent of the method is to provide a non-contacting technique that is immune to problems associated with density variations in gaseous environments that plague optical methods. X-rays are virtually unrefractable even by solids. The new method utilizes X-ray induced X-ray fluorescence or X-ray induced optical fluorescence of targets that have melting temperatures of over 3000 F. Many different variations of the basic approaches are possible. In the year completed, preliminary experiments were completed which strongly suggest that the method is feasible. The X-ray induced optical fluorescence method appears to be limited to temperatures below roughly 1600 F because of the overwhelming thermal optical radiation. The X-ray induced X-ray fluorescence scheme appears feasible up to very high temperatures. In this system there will be an unknown tradeoff between frequency response, cost, and accuracy. The exact tradeoff can only be estimated. It appears that for thermomechanical tests with cycle times on the order of minutes a very reasonable system may be feasible. The intended applications involve very high temperatures in both materials testing and monitoring component testing. Gas turbine engines, rocket engines, and hypersonic vehicles (NASP) all involve measurement needs that could partially be met by the proposed technology.

Jordan, E. H.↗

EDM machinability of SiCw/Al composites

Machinability of high temperature composites was investigated. Target materials, 15 and 25 vol pct SiC whisker-2124 aluminum composites, were machined by electrodischarge sinker machining and diamond saw. The machined surfaces of these metal matrix composites were examined by SEM and profilometry to determine the surface finish. Microhardness measurements were also performed on the as-machined composites.

Ramulu, M.↗

Bright crater outflows: Possible emplacement mechanisms

Lobate features with a strong backscatter are associated with 43 percent of the impact craters cataloged in Magellan's cycle 1. Their apparent thinness and great lengths are consistent with a low-viscosity material. The longest outflow yet identified is about 600 km in length and flows from the 90-km-diameter crater Addams. There is strong evidence that the outflows are largely composed of impact melt, although the mechanisms of their emplacement are not clearly understood. High temperatures and pressures of target rocks on Venus allow for more melt to be produced than on other terrestrial planets because lower shock pressures are required for melting. The percentage of impact craters with outflows increases with increasing crater diameter. The mean diameter of craters without outflows is 14.4 km, compared with 27.8 km for craters with outflows. No craters smaller than 3 km, 43 percent of craters in the 10- to 30-km-diameter range, and 90 percent in the 80- to 100-km-diameter range have associated bright outflows. More melt is produced in the more energetic impact events that produce larger craters. However, three of the four largest craters have no outflows. We present four possible mechanisms for the emplacement of bright outflows. We believe this 'shotgun' approach is justified because all four mechanisms may indeed have operated to some degree.

Chadwick, D. John↗

Modeling and Visualizing Uncertainty in Continuous Variables Predicted using Remotely Sensed Data

The use of remotely sensed images to map continuous biophysical variables, such as those related to terrestrial vegetation amount, sea surface temperature, and many other targets of NASA s Earth Observing System (EOS), includes variable, parametric, positional, spatial support and structural sources of uncertainty. A complete description of uncertainty will lead to a probability distribution at each location, allowing the exploration of the spatial dimension of uncertainty, that is, where the field is not well quantified. To achieve this purpose, convenient visualization tools are required. We have produced such a tool, called PDFVis, that facilitates the display of probability density functions (pdfs) on a per-grid-cell basis. The density estimate from Monte-Carlo generated realizations is interactively displayed as well as parametric and non-parametric summaries of the pdf field (such as mean, median, quartiles, standard deviation, number of modes, and locations of modes). Shaded surface renderings of pdfs along a transect can also be projected onto a plane. This tool will become more useful as richer descriptions of spatial uncertainty become available.

Dungan, Jennifer L.↗

Spray Cooling And The Next Generation Of NASA Space Flight

This viewgraph presentation discusses spray cooling as it applies to thermal management of the new ESMD (Exploration Systems Mission Directorate) programs. It is concluded that given the targeted heat flux and temperature operating regimes, spray cooling is a viable option, although further technology development will be required.

Silk, Eric↗

Solid-State Nuclear Power

A strategy for "Solid-State" Nuclear Power is proposed to guide development of technologies and systems into the second 50 years of nuclear spaceflight. The strategy emphasizes a simple and highly integrated system architecture with few moving parts or fluid loops; the leverage of modern advances in materials, manufacturing, semiconductors, microelectromechanical and nanotechnology devices; and the targeted advancement of high temperature nuclear fuels, materials and static power conversion to enable high performance from simple system topologies.

George, Jeffrey A.↗

Highly Reducing Partitioning Experiments Relevant to the Planet Mercury

With the data returned from the MErcury Surface Space ENvironment GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, there are now numerous constraints on the physical and chemical properties of Mercury, including its surface composition. The high S and low FeO contents observed from MESSENGER on the planet's surface suggests a low oxygen fugacity of the present planetary materials. Estimates of the oxygen fugacity for Mercurian magmas are approximately 3-7 log units below the Iron-Wüstite (Fe-FeO) oxygen buffer, several orders of magnitude more reducing than other terrestrial bodies we have data from such as the Earth, Moon, or Mars. Most of our understanding of elemental partitioning behavior comes from observations made on terrestrial rocks, but Mercury's oxygen fugacity is far outside the conditions of those samples. With limited oxygen available, lithophile elements may instead exhibit chalcophile, halophile, or siderophile behaviors. Furthermore, very few natural samples of rocks that formed under reducing conditions are available in our collections (e.g., enstatite chondrites, achondrites, aubrites). With this limited amount of material, we must perform experiments to determine the elemental partitioning behavior of typically lithophile elements as a function of decreasing oxygen fugacity. Experiments are being conducted at 4 GPa in an 880-ton multi-anvil press, at temperatures up to 1850degC. The composition of starting materials for the experiments were selected for the final run products to contain metal, silicate melt, and sulfide melt phases. Oxygen fugacity is controlled in the experiments by adding silicon metal to the samples, using the Si-SiO2 oxygen buffer, which is approximately 5 log units more reducing than the Fe-FeO oxygen buffer at our temperatures of interest. The target silicate melt compositional is diopside (CaMgSi2O6) because measured surface compositions indicate partial melting of a pyroxene-rich mantle. Elements detected on Mercury's surface by MESSENGER (K, Na, Fe, Ti, Cl, Al, Cr, Mn, U, Th) and other geochemically relevant elements (P, F, H, N, C, Co, Ni, Mo, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Yb) are added to the starting composition at trace abundances (approximately 500 ppm) so that they are close enough to infinite dilution to follow Henry's law of trace elements, and their partitioning behavior can be measured between the metal, silicate, and sulfide phases. The results of these experiments will allow us to assess the thermal and magmatic evolution of the planet Mercury from a geochemical standpoint.

Rowland, Rick, II↗

Assessing the Behavior of Typically Lithophile Elements Under Highly Reducing Conditions Relevant to the Planet Mercury

With the data returned from the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (lvtESSENGER) mission, there are now numerous constraints on the physical and chemical properties of Mercury, including its surface composition. The high S and low FeO contents observed from MESSENGER suggest a low oxygen fugacity of the present materials on the planet's surface. Most of our understanding of elemental partitioning behavior comes from observations made on terrestrial rocks, but Mercury's oxygen fugacity is far outside the conditions of those samples, estimated at approximately 3-7 log units below the Iron-Wustite (lW) oxygen buffer, several orders of magnitude more reducing than other terrestrial bodies we have data from. With limited oxygen available, lithophile elements may instead exhibit chalcophile, halophile, or siderophile behaviors. Furthermore, very few natural samples of rocks that formed under reducing conditions (e.g., enstatite chondrites, achondrites, aubrites) are available in our collections for examination of this change in geochemical affinity. Our goal is to determine the elemental partitioning behavior of typically lithophile elements at lower oxygen fugacity as a function of temperature and pressure. Experiments were conducted at I GPa in a 13 mm QUICKpress piston cylinder and at 4 GPa in an 880-ton multi-anvil press, at temperatures up to 1850 C. The composition of starting materials for the experiments were designed so the final run products contained metal, silicate melt, and sulfide melt phases. Oxygen fugacity was controlled in the experiments by adding silicon metal to the samples, in order to utilize the Si-Si02 buffer, which is approx. 5 log units more reducing than the IW buffer at our temperatures of interest. The target silicate melt composition was diopside (CaMgSi206) because measured surface compositions indicate partial melting of a pyroxene-rich mantle. The results of our experiments will aid in our understanding of the fate of elements during the differentiation and thermal evolution of Mercury and other highly reducing planetary bodies.

Rowland, Rick, II↗

Assessing the Behavior of Typically Lithophile Elements Under Highly Reducing Conditions Relevant to the Planet Mercury

With the data returned from the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, there are now numerous constraints on the physical and chemical properties of Mercury, including its surface composition. The high Sand low FeO contents observed from MESSENGER suggest a low oxygen fugacity of the present materials on the planet's surface. Most of our understanding of elemental partitioning behavior comes from observations made on terrestrial rocks, but Mercury's oxygen fugacity is far outside the conditions of those samples, estimated at approximately 3-7 log units below the Iron-Wtistite (lW) oxygen buffer, several orders of magnitude more reducing than other terrestrial bodies we have data from. With limited oxygen available, lithophile elements may instead exhibit chalcophile, halophile, or siderophile behaviors. Furthermore, very few natural samples of rocks that formed under reducing conditions (e.g., enstatite chondrites, achondrites, aubrites) are available in our collections for examination of this change in geochemical affinity. Our goal is to determine the elemental partitioning behavior of typically lithophile elements at lower oxygen fugacity as a function of temperature and pressure. Experiments were conducted at I GPa in a 13 mm QUICKpress piston cylinder and at 4 GPa in an 880-ton multianvil press, at temperatures up to 1850degC. The composition of starting materials for the experiments were designed so the final run products contained metal, silicate melt, and sulfide melt phases. Oxygen fugacity was controlled in the experiments by adding silicon metal to the samples, in order to utilize the Si-Si02 buffer, which is approximately 5 log units more reducing than the IW buffer at our temperatures of interest. The target silicate melt composition was diopside (CaMgSi206) because measured surface compositions indicate partial melting of a pyroxene-rich mantle. The results of our experiments will aid in our understanding of the fate of elements during the differentiation and thermal evolution of Mercury and other highly reducing planetary bodies.

Rowland, Rick, II↗

Testing and characterization of an IR CBIRD FPA

High performance IR cameras are in great demand for a variety of applications, including defense (e.g. night vision, missile detection) and space (e.g. imaging at IR wavelengths). IR focal plane arrays (FPAs) are an essential component of IR cameras. An FPA is a collection of detectors at the focal plane of an imaging device, where each detector can be thought of a pixel in the image it is detecting. The FPA in this study is based on Complimentary Barrier Infrared Detectors (CBIRDs). The CBIRD FPA was tested by imaging flat black body targets at three different temperatures, 20ºC, 25ºC, and 30ºC, with images captured using SEIR software. The important figures of merit for an IR FPA, Noise Equivalent Difference Temperature (NEDT), Noise Equivalent Irradiance (NEI), detectivity (D*), responsivity, and quantum Efficiency (QE), were extracted from the image data for each individual detector using a MATLAB program, as was the array Modulation Transfer Function MTF. The test results show a mean NEDT of 16.98mK and an MTF of about 0.34 at the Nyquist frequency. Overall, the array performs well in the MWIR range and takes quality IR images.

Das, Tanya↗

An Automaton Rover Enabling Long Duration In-Situ Science in Extreme Environments

The Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE) is a NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) funded study focused on enabling long duration science on Venus by replacing vulnerable electronics with an entirely mechanical design. By utilizing high temperature alloys, the rover would survive on the surface of Venus for weeks if not months. The rover concept harvests wind energy using a turbine and stores it in a constant force spring. The mobility system would be guided by a mechanical computer and logic system, programed to carry out the mission. It would collect basic science data such as wind speed, temperature, and seismic events. Communicating the data back to Earth is the most challenging aspect of the system design with multiple options being explored in a trade: a simple electronic high temperature transponder, a retroreflector target or inscribing phonograph style records to be launched via a balloon to a high altitude drone capable of transmitting the data back to Earth. AREE is not only a new exciting in-situ rover concept, but also a paradigm shift to conducting in-situ science in extreme environments. Traditional extreme environment vehicles collect as many diverse data points as possible in the short period of time before system failure. AREE breaks that trend by exploring what can be done with only a few basic scientific measurements, but recorded over long periods of time. In addition to Venus, the concept can be useful in other extreme environments in the solar system including Mercury, Jupiter's radiation belts, the interiors of gas giants, the mantle of the Earth and volcanoes throughout the solar system.

Parness, Aaron↗

Protein and nucleic acid detection for microfluidic devices

The present invention relates to methods for detecting targets by employing a temperature control system with a microfluidic device. The system allows for non-contact heating by employing an infrared emitter. In some instances, the system can be used in conjunction with a centrifugal microfluidic device. Optionally, a mask can be implemented to provide selective heating of desired assay areas of the device.

Koh, Chung-Yan↗

Neutron generation using pyroelectric crystals

According to one embodiment, a method for producing a directed neutron beam includes producing a voltage of negative polarity of at least −100 keV on a surface of a deuterated or tritiated target in response to a temperature change of a pyroelectric crystal of less than about 40° C., the pyroelectric crystal having the deuterated or tritiated target coupled thereto, pulsing a deuterium ion source to produce a deuterium ion beam, accelerating the deuterium ion beam to the deuterated or tritiated target to produce a neutron beam, and directing the ion beam onto the deuterated or tritiated target to make neutrons using at least one of a voltage of the pyroelectric crystal, and a high gradient insulator (HGI) surrounding the pyroelectric crystal. The directionality of the neutron beam is controlled by changing the accelerating voltage of the system. Other methods are presented as well.

Tang, Vincent↗

Systems and methods of adaptive two-wavelength single-camera imaging thermography (ATSIT) for accurate and smart in-situ process temperature measurement during metal additive manufacturing

A two-wavelength, single-camera imaging thermography system for in-situ temperature measurement of a target, comprising: a target light path inlet conduit for receiving a target light beam reflected from the target; a beam splitter installed in a splitter housing at a distal end of the target light path conduit, wherein the beam splitter divides the target light beam into a first light beam and a second light beam; a first light path conduit emanating from the splitter housing comprising a first aperture iris installed within the first light path conduit for aligning the first light beam; a first band pass filter installed within the first light path conduit for regulating the first light beam to a first wavelength λ1 and an optional half waveplate installed within the first light path conduit to modulate a polarization ratio of the first light beam of λ1 wavelength; a second light path conduit emanating from the splitter housing comprising a second aperture iris installed within the second light path conduit for aligning the second light beam; a second band pass filter installed within the second light path conduit for regulating the second light beam to a second wavelength λ2; a junction housing, wherein distal ends of each of the first and second light path conduits are connected to the junction housing; a polarizing beam splitter installed in the junction housing, wherein the polarizing beam splitter reflects the first light beam of λ1 wavelength along the same path or a parallel path of the second light beam of λ2 wavelength that passes directly through the polarizing beam splitter unreflected to create a merged light beam comprising light of λ1 and λ2 wavelengths; and a light path outlet conduit connected to the junction for directing the merged beam to a high-speed camera for imaging.

Zhao, Xiayun↗

Near-Infrared Photon-Counting Camera for High-Sensitivity Observations

The dark current of a transferred-electron photocathode with an InGaAs absorber, responsive over the 0.9-to-1.7- micron range, must be reduced to an ultralow level suitable for low signal spectral astrophysical measurements by lowering the temperature of the sensor incorporating the cathode. However, photocathode quantum efficiency (QE) is known to reduce to zero at such low temperatures. Moreover, it has not been demonstrated that the target dark current can be reached at any temperature using existing photocathodes. Changes in the transferred-electron photocathode epistructure (with an In- GaAs absorber lattice-matched to InP and exhibiting responsivity over the 0.9- to-1.7- m range) and fabrication processes were developed and implemented that resulted in a demonstrated >13x reduction in dark current at -40 C while retaining >95% of the approximately equal to 25% saturated room-temperature QE. Further testing at lower temperature is needed to confirm a >25 C predicted reduction in cooling required to achieve an ultralow dark-current target suitable for faint spectral astronomical observations that are not otherwise possible. This reduction in dark current makes it possible to increase the integration time of the imaging sensor, thus enabling a much higher near-infrared (NIR) sensitivity than is possible with current technology. As a result, extremely faint phenomena and NIR signals emitted from distant celestial objects can be now observed and imaged (such as the dynamics of redshifting galaxies, and spectral measurements on extra-solar planets in search of water and bio-markers) that were not previously possible. In addition, the enhanced NIR sensitivity also directly benefits other NIR imaging applications, including drug and bomb detection, stand-off detection of improvised explosive devices (IED's), Raman spectroscopy and microscopy for life/physical science applications, and semiconductor product defect detection.

Jurkovic, Michael↗

Implementation of a self-controlling heater

Temperature control of radiation sensors, targets, and other critical components is a common requirement in modern scientific instruments. Conventional control systems use a heater and a temperature sensor mounted on the body to be controlled. For proportional control, the sensor provides feedback to circuitry which drives the heater with an amount of power proportional to the temperature error. It is impractical or undesirable to mount both a heater and a sensor on certain components such as ultra-small parts or thin filaments. In principle, a variable current through the element is used for heating, and the change in voltage drop due to the element's temperature coefficient is separated and used to monitor or control its own temperature. Since there are no thermal propagation delays between heater and sensor, such control systems are exceptionally stable.

Strange, M. G.↗

Depth Thermography: Noninvasive 3D Temperature Profiling Using Infrared Thermal Emission

Here, we introduce a technique based on infrared thermal emission, termed depth thermography, that can remotely measure the temperature distribution beneath the surface of certain objects. Depth thermography utilizes the thermal-emission spectrum in the semitransparent spectral region of the target object to extract its temperature as a function of depth, in contrast with conventional thermography, which uses the spectrally integrated thermally emitted power to measure the surface temperature. Coupled with two-dimensional imaging, for example using an infrared hyperspectral camera or scanning a single-pixel spectrometer, this technique can yield volumetric temperature distributions. Furthermore, we carried out a proof-of-concept experiment on an asymmetrically heated fused-silica window, extracting the temperature distribution throughout the sample. Depth thermography may enable noncontact volumetric temperature measurements of microscopic objects such as multilayer electronic devices or macroscopic volumes of liquids and gases, as well as simultaneous all-optical measurements of optical and thermal properties of materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗