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NASA NTRS2016

FT4 Data Analysis Summary (SSI-ARC)

Standards for Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) systems are currently being developed under the auspices of the RTCA Special Committee 228 (SC-228). To support the development of these standards, a series of flight tests has been conducted at NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center (NASA-AFRC). The fourth in this series of flight test activities (Flight Test 4, or simply FT4) was conducted during the Spring and Summer of 2016. FT4 supported the objectives of numerous organizations working toward UAS DAA Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) and UAS DAA Radar MOPS. The summary provided herein is limited to the objectives, analysis and conclusions of the NASA Ames Research Center (NASA-ARC) SSI team toward the refinement of UAS DAA MOPS. This document provides a high-level overview of FT4 and the SSI-ARC objectives, a summary of the data analysis methodology and recommendations for UAS DAA MOPS refinements based on the data analysis results. A total of 72 encounters were flown to support SSI-ARC objectives. Test results were generally consistent with acceptable UAS DAA system performance and will be considered in broader SC-228 requirements validation efforts. Observed alert lead times indicated acceptable UAS DAA alerting performance. Effective interoperability between the UAS DAA system and the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) was observed with one notable exception: TCAS Resolutions Advisories (RA) were observed in the absence of any DAA alert on two occasions, indicating the need for alert parameter refinement. Findings further indicated the need for continued work in the areas of DAA Well Clear Recovery logic and alert stability for Mode-C-only intruders. Finally, results demonstrated a high level of compliance with a set of evaluation criteria designed to provide anecdotal evidence of acceptable UAS DAA system performance.

UAS Test Flight↗
NASA NTRS2016

PowerCells Payload on EuCROPIS - Measuring Synthetic Biology in Space

NASA’s PowerCell payload on the DLR (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt, i.e. German Aerospace Center) Eu:CROPIS satellite will compare the effect of multiple simulated gravity regimes on basic processes required for synthetic biology in space including growth, protein production, and genetic transformation of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. In addition, it will pioneer the use of a cyanobacterially-produced feedstock for microbial growth in space, a concept we call “PowerCell.” The PowerCell experiment system will be integrated using the Spaceflight Secondary Payload System with the German Space Agency's (DLR's) Euglena and Combined Regenerative Organic-food Production In Space (Eu:CROPIS) satellite, to be launched during the summer of 2017. In order to simulate the gravitational gradient of different celestial bodies, the Eu:CROPIS satellite will establish artificial microgravity, lunar, and Martian gravity levels prior to conducting each set of biological experiments, with experimental results compared to ground controls. Experiments will be carried out in microfluidics cards with experimental progress measured through absorbance as detected by the LED-based optical system. Here we describe the ground studies that led to these experiments, along with a description of the flight hardware and its performance. The results of this mission will provide foundational data for the use and production of genetically engineered organisms for extraterrestrial missions.

PowerCell experiment system↗
NASA NTRS2019

On the Use of Acoustic Wind Tunnel Data for the Simulation of sUAS Flyover Noise

Acoustic measurements of a small, unmanned aerial system were recently acquired during a ground test campaign. The purposes of the ground test, conducted in the NASA Langley Low Speed Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel, were to characterize the source noise in terms of its tonal and broadband content, and to identify conditions under which multirotor and rotor-airframe interactions are present. The focus of this work is to assess the effectiveness of using those data for the simulation of flyover noise at a ground observer. The assessment is made at two levels of fidelity using different sets of tools. In the first, 1/3 octave band spectra at a ground receiver will be simulated in a frequency domain approach using the NASA Aircraft NOise Prediction Program. In the second, the pressure time history at a ground receiver is simulated in a time domain approach using the NASA Auralization Framework. Various objective measures are used to verify the simulation process. Acoustic wind tunnel and flight test data are used to gain insight into perceptually important effects.

Rizzi, Stephen A.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Tropical peatland hydrology simulated with a global land surface model

Tropical peatlands are among the most carbon-dense ecosystems on Earth, and their water storage dynamics strongly control these carbon stocks. The hydrological functioning of tropical peatlands differs from that of northern peatlands, which has not yet been accounted for in global land surface models (LSMs). Here, we integrated tropical peat-specific hydrology modules into a global LSM for the first time, by utilizing the peatland-specific model structure adaptation (PEATCLSM) of the NASA Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM). We developed literature-based parameter sets for natural (PEATCLSM(Trop,Nat)) and drained (PEATCLSM(Trop,Drain)) tropical peatlands. Simulations with PEATCLSM(Trop,Nat) were compared against those with the default CLSM version and the northern version of PEATCLSM (PEATCLSM(North,Nat)) with tropical vegetation input. All simulations were forced with global meteorological reanalysis input data for the major tropical peatland regions in Central and South America, the Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia. The evaluation against a unique and extensive data set of in situ water level and eddy covariance-derived evapotranspiration showed an overall improvement in bias and correlation compared to the default CLSM version. Over Southeast Asia, an additional simulation with PEATCLSM(Trop,Drain) was run to address the large fraction of drained tropical peatlands in this region. PEATCLSM(Trop,Drain) outperformed CLSM, PEATCLSM(North,Nat) and PEATCLSM(Trop,Nat) over drained sites. Despite the overall improvements of PEATCLSM(Trop,Nat) over CLSM, there are strong differences in performance between the three study regions. We attribute these performance differences to regional differences in accuracy of meteorological forcing data, and differences in peatland hydrologic response that are not yet captured by our model.

Peatland↗
NASA NTRS2023

Greenland and Canadian Arctic Ice Temperature Profiles Database

Here, we present a compilation of 95 ice temperature profiles from 85 boreholes from the Greenland ice sheet and peripheral ice caps, as well as local ice caps in the Canadian Arctic. Profiles from only 31 boreholes (36 %) were previously available in open-access data repositories. The remaining 54 borehole profiles (64 %) are being made digitally available here for the first time. These newly available profiles, which are associated with pre-2010 boreholes, have been submitted by community members or digitized from published graphics and/or data tables. All 95 profiles are now made available in both absolute (meters) and normalized (0 to 1 ice thickness) depth scales and are accompanied by extensive metadata. These metadata include a transparent description of data provenance. The ice temperature profiles span 70 years, with the earliest profile being from 1950 at Camp VI, West Greenland. To highlight the value of this database in evaluating ice flow simulations, we compare the ice temperature profiles from the Greenland ice sheet with an ice flow simulation by the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM). We find a cold bias in modeled near-surface ice temperatures within the ablation area, a warm bias in modeled basal ice temperatures at inland cold-bedded sites, and an apparent underestimation of deformational heating in high-strain settings. These biases provide process level insight on simulated ice temperatures.

Greenland↗
NASA NTRS2024

Discounting Water for Optimal Carbon Gain as a Basis of Stomatal Closure

The exchange of carbon dioxide and water vapor between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere is regulated by stomata (small pores in the leaves of plants). Unsurprisingly, environmental factors controlling the opening and closure of stomata has been sought as early as 1800. One approach, popularized in the early 1970s, is a stomatal optimization framework. This framework is based on the hypothesis that plants optimize carbon gain subject to water loss or water availability constraints. This constraint optimization problem was solved in various forms assuming instantaneous adjustments of stomatal aperture to maximize a reward function with no future foresight or legacy effects. Holtzman et al. (2024, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023av001113) offers a novel approach that can diagnose the effective timescale over which the reward function maximization must be time-integrated. The developed method thus optimizes an integrated carbon gain function but adjusted by a discount factor subject to water availability in the root zone. The discount factor considers how the plant values carbon gain to save water and its timescale can be inferred from observations because the model is analytically tractable. The results suggest that the most important climate factor that determines this discount timescale is multi-annual mean of the longest dry period during the growing season. The findings highlight how local climate traits influence the spatial variation in ecosystem-level water use strategies. This sets the stage for expanding such a framework to cases where multiple constraints act in concert while operating at distinct time scales.

stomata↗
NASA NTRS2000

BOREAS TF-3 Automated Chamber CO2 Flux Data from the NSA-OBS

The BOReal Ecosystem Atmosphere Study Tower Flux (BOREAS TF-3) and Trace Gas Biogeochemistry (TGB-1) teams collected automated CO2 chamber flux data in their efforts to fully describe the CO2 flux at the Northern Study Area-Old Black Spruce (NSA-OBS) site. This data set contains fluxes of CO2 at the NSA-OBS site measured using automated chambers. In addition to reporting the CO2 flux, it reports chamber air temperature, moss temperature, and light levels during each measurement. The data set covers the period from 23-Sep-1995 through 26-Oct-1995 and from 28-May-1996 through 21-Oct-1996. The data are stored in tabular ASCII files.

Goulden, Michael L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exoplanet Yield Sensitivity for the Hybrid Lyot Coronagraph from end-to-end modeling for LUVOIR-A

NASA's future direct imaging flagship mission will require telescope mirror segmentation to survey a statistically significant population of nearby stellar systems by increasing aperture size beyond that achieved by traditional space-borne monolithic apertures thus far. Segmentation is a path for the size expansion, but it entails a challenge due to the introduction of temporal pupil discontinuities in terms of both phase and amplitude. Modeling of the integrated performance of the coronagraph with the expected dynamical profile of the telescope is an important step toward realistic estimates of the mission's science yields. We present results of a study using the hybrid Lyot coronagraph with a 15-m on-axis, segmented optical telescope assembly (OTA), akin to that of the Large UV / Optical /Infrared (LUVOIR) mission. We have developed a high-fidelity, end-to-end model as part of the Segmented Coronagraph Design and Analysis (SCDA) study that includes diffractive optical propagations at the 1e-10 contrast level across the optical train including the OTA and intermediate re-imaging optics inside the coronagraph instrument. We perform a sensitivity analysis to assess the contrast sensitivity to wavefront perturbations for a set of key telescope terms including segment-level low-order and mid-spatial frequency aberrations and evaluate expected exoplanet yields obtained in the presence of these sets of aberrations. Industry-provided segment-level wavefront aberration datasets involving the following mechanisms are input to the end-to-end model: (1) thermal gradients and accelerations, and (2) telescope dynamics including line-of-sight and segment jitter. Dynamically averaged PSFs in the presence of aberrations are fed into AYO (Altruistic Yield Optimization), a mission design reference simulator, that then assesses the scientific yield sensitivities.

high-contrast imaging↗
NASA NTRS1998

Statistical Treatment of Earth Observing System Pyroshock Separation Test Data

The Earth Observing System (EOS) AM-1 spacecraft for NASA's Mission to Planet Earth is scheduled to be launched on an Atlas IIAS vehicle in June of 1998. One concern is that the instruments on the EOS spacecraft are sensitive to the shock-induced vibration produced when the spacecraft separates from the launch vehicle. By employing unique statistical analysis to the available ground test shock data, the NASA Lewis Research Center found that shock-induced vibrations would not be as great as the previously specified levels of Lockheed Martin. The EOS pyroshock separation testing, which was completed in 1997, produced a large quantity of accelerometer data to characterize the shock response levels at the launch vehicle/spacecraft interface. Thirteen pyroshock separation firings of the EOS and payload adapter configuration yielded 78 total measurements at the interface. The multiple firings were necessary to qualify the newly developed Lockheed Martin six-hardpoint separation system. Because of the unusually large amount of data acquired, Lewis developed a statistical methodology to predict the maximum expected shock levels at the interface between the EOS spacecraft and the launch vehicle. Then, this methodology, which is based on six shear plate accelerometer measurements per test firing at the spacecraft/launch vehicle interface, was used to determine the shock endurance specification for EOS. Each pyroshock separation test of the EOS spacecraft simulator produced its own set of interface accelerometer data. Probability distributions, histograms, the median, and higher order moments (skew and kurtosis) were analyzed. The data were found to be lognormally distributed, which is consistent with NASA pyroshock standards. Each set of lognormally transformed test data produced was analyzed to determine if the data should be combined statistically. Statistical testing of the data's standard deviations and means (F and t testing, respectively) determined if data sets were significantly different at a 95-percent confidence level. If two data sets were found to be significantly different, these families of data were not combined for statistical purposes. This methodology produced three separate statistical data families of shear plate data. For each population, a P99.1/50 (probability/confidence) per-separation-nut firing level was calculated. By using the binomial distribution, Lewis researchers determined that this pernut firing level was equivalent to a P95/50 per-flight confidence level. The overall envelope of the per-flight P95/50 levels led to Lewis' recommended EOS interface shock endurance specification. A similar methodology was used to develop Lewis' recommended EOS mission assurance levels. The available test data for the EOS mission are significantly larger than for a normal mission, thus increasing the confidence level in the calculated expected shock environment. Lewis significantly affected the EOS mission by properly employing statistical analysis to the data. This analysis prevented a costly requalification of the spacecraft's instruments, which otherwise would have been exposed to significantly higher test levels.

McNelis, Anne M.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Cyclin E-p27 opposition and regulation of the G1 phase of the cell cycle in the murine neocortical PVE: a quantitative analysis of mRNA in situ hybridization

We have analyzed the expression patterns of mRNAs of five cell cycle related proteins in the ventricular zone of the neocortical cerebral wall over the course of the neuronogenetic interval in the mouse. One set of mRNAs (cyclin E and p21) are initially expressed at high levels but expression then falls to a low asymptote. A second set (p27, cyclin B and cdk2) are initially expressed at low levels but ascend to peak levels only to decline again. These patterns divide the overall neuronogenetic interval into three phases. In phase 1 cyclin E and p21 levels of mRNA expression are high, while those of mRNAs of p27, cdk2 and cyclin B are low. In this phase the fraction of cells leaving the cycle after each mitosis, Q, is low and the duration of the G1 phase, TG1, is short. In phase 2 levels of expression of cyclin E and p21 fall to asymptote while levels of expression of mRNA of the other three proteins reach their peaks. Q increases to approach 0.5 and TG1 increases even more rapidly to approach its maximum length. In phase 3 levels of expression of cyclin E and p21 mRNAs remain low and those of the mRNAs of the other three proteins fall. TG1 becomes maximum and Q rapidly increases to 1.0. The character of these phases can be understood in part as consequences of the reciprocal regulatory influence of p27 and cyclin E and of the rate limiting functions of p27 at the restriction point and of cyclin E at the G1 to S transition.

NASA Discipline Cell Biology↗
NASA NTRS1993

Techno-economic requirements for automotive composites

New technology generally serves two main goals of the automotive industry: one is to enable vehicles to comply with various governmental regulations and the other is to provide a competitive edge in the market. The latter goal can either be served through improved manufacturing and design capabilities, such as computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing, or through improved product performance, such as anti-lock braking (ABS). Although safety features are sometimes customer driven, such as the increasing use of airbags and ABS, most are determined by regulations as outlined by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). Other standards, set by the Environmental Protection Agency, determine acceptable levels of emissions and fuel consumption. State governments, such as in California, are also setting precedent standards, such as requiring manufacturers to offer zero-emission vehicles as a certain fraction of their sales in the state. The drive to apply new materials in the automobile stems from the need to reduce weight and improve fuel efficiency. Topics discussed include: new lightweight materials; types of automotive materials; automotive composite applications; the role for composite materials in automotive applications; advantages and disadvantages of composite materials; material substitution economics; economic perspective; production economics; and composite materials production economics.

Arnold, Scot↗
NASA NTRS2000

BOREAS RSS-14 Level-1a GOES-8 Visible, IR and Water Vapor Images

The BOREAS RSS-14 team collected and processed several GOES-7 and GOES-8 image data sets that covered the BOREAS study region. The level-1a GOES-8 images were created by BORIS personnel from the level-1 images delivered by FSU personnel. The data cover 14-Jul-1995 to 21-Sep-1995 and 12-Feb-1996 to 03-Oct-1996. The data start out as three bands with 8-bit pixel values and end up as five bands with 10-bit pixel values. No major problems with the data have been identified. The differences between the level-1 and level-1a GOES-8 data are the formatting and packaging of the data. The images missing from the temporal series of level-1 GOES-8 images were zero-filled by BORIS staff to create files consistent in size and format. In addition, BORIS staff packaged all the images of a given type from a given day into a single file, removed the header information from the individual level-1 files, and placed it into a single descriptive ASCII header file. The data are contained in binary image format files. Due to the large size of the images, the level-1a GOES-8 data are not contained on the BOREAS CD-ROM set. An inventory listing file is supplied on the CD-ROM to inform users of what data were collected. The level-1a GOES-8 image data are available from the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). See sections 15 and 16 for more information. The data files are available on a CD-ROM (see document number 20010000884).

Hall, Forrest G.↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Comparison of Geoid Undulations for West Central Greenland

The accuracy of a new local gravity field model, GEOID94A, is examined at a site on the western Greenland ice sheet. The model, developed by the Danish National Survey and Cadastre, incorporates several new gravity data sets including an extensive amount of airborne gravity data. Model-derived geoid undulations were compared to independently determined undulations found by differencing the elevations from Global Positioning System controlled airborne laser altimetry and optical leveling surveys. Differences between the two sets of undulations were less than +/- 6 cm RMS. The comparison improved (+/- 5 cm RMS) when GEOID94A undulations were adjusted by local gravity observations also acquired at the site. Our comparisons demonstrate that GEOID94A adequately models the long to intermediate wavelengths of the gravity field. We conclude that GEOID94A constitutes a reliable reference model for studies of Greenland's gravity field.

Roman, Daniel R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Interacting with virtual worlds

What tools should we provide the user for defining and interacting with objects and agents in virtual environments at varying levels of complexity? Understanding the appropriate simplifications to make is critical for modeling nontrivial environments and agents with varying levels of autonomy. I describe a set of abstraction mechanisms appropriate for constructing and interacting with virtual worlds, and I discuss how programming, and direct manipulation of guiding techniques, can be used to afford users interactive access to graphical simulations at appropriate levels of abstraction.

Zeltzer, David↗
NASA NTRS2004

Prototype Test Results for the Single Photon Detection SLR2000 Satellite Laser Ranging System

NASA's aging Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) network is scheduled to be replaced over the next few years with a fully automated single photon detection system. A prototype of this new system, called SLR2000, is currently undergoing field trials at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland to evaluate photon counting techniques and determine system hardware, software, and control algorithm performance levels and limitations. Newly developed diode pumped microchip lasers and quadrant microchannel plate-based photomultiplier tubes have enabled the development of this high repetition rate single photon detection SLR system. The SLR2000 receiver threshold is set at the single photoelectron (pe) level but tracks satellites with an average signal level typically much less than 1 pe. The 2 kHz laser fire rate aids in satellite acquisition and tracking and will enable closed loop tracking by accumulating single photon count statistics in a quadrant detector and using this information to correct for pointing errors. Laser transmitter beamwidths of 10 arcseconds (FWHM) or less are currently being used to maintain an adequate signal level for tracking while the receiver field of view (FOV) has been opened to 40 arcseconds to accommodate point ahead/look behind angular offsets. In the near future, the laser transmitter point ahead will be controlled by a pair of Risley prisms. This will allow the telescope to point behind and enable closure of the receiver FOV to roughly match the transmitter beam divergence. Bandpass filters (BPF) are removed for night tracking operations while 0.2 nm or 1 nm filters are used during daylight operation. Both day and night laser tracking of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites has been achieved with a laser transmitter energy of only 65 microjoules per pulse. Satellite tracking is presently limited to LEO satellites until the brassboard laser transmitter can be upgraded or replaced. Simultaneous tracks have also been observed with NASA s SLR standard, MOBLAS 7, for the purposes of data comparison and identification of biases. Work continues to optimize the receive optics; upgrade or replace the laser transmitter; calibrate the quadrant detector, the point ahead Risley prisms, and event timer verniers; and test normal point generation with SLR2000 data. This paper will report on the satellite tracking results to date, issues yet to be resolved, and future plans for the SLR2000 system.

Zagwodzki, Thomas W.↗
NASA NTRS1979

The annoyance of multiple noisy events

A total of 24 subjects (17 M, 7 F) was tested in an experimental study of annoyance rating of multiple noisy events (30 sets of noise bursts). The scaling technique known as functional measurement was used to determine whether annoyance integrates additively over events and if so, to measure the power law exponent which relates the levels of the events to the additive scale values. To this end, groups of three noises were presented at three levels in a factorial arrangement to check the additivity hypothesis and to estimate the scaling function. Also, a series of sets of noises of constant level but varying in set size were considered. The functional measurement of annoyance ratings of sets of three simulated flyovers showed that the integration of annoyance can be represented as an additive process in terms of scale values that are power functions of the sound power with a power-law exponent near 0.7.

Ahumada, A., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Regression Analysis of Long-term Profile Ozone Data Set from BUV Instruments

We have produced a profile merged ozone data set (MOD) based on the SBUV/SBUV2 series of nadir-viewing satellite backscatter instruments, covering the period from November 1978 - December 2003. In 2004, data from the Nimbus 7 SBUV and NOAA 9,11, and 16 SBUV/2 instruments were reprocessed using the Version 8 (V8) algorithm and most recent calibrations. More recently, data from the Nimbus 4 BUV instrument, which operated from 1970 - 1977, were also reprocessed using the V8 algorithm. As part of the V8 profile calibration, the Nimbus 7 and NOAA 9 (1993-1997 only) instrument calibrations have been adjusted to match the NOAA 11 calibration, which was established from comparisons with SSBUV shuttle flight data. Given the level of agreement between the data sets, we simply average the ozone values during periods of instrument overlap to produce the MOD profile data set. We use statistical time-series analysis of the MOD profile data set (1978-2003) to estimate the change in profile ozone due to changing stratospheric chlorine levels. The Nimbus 4 BUV data offer an opportunity to test the physical properties of our statistical model. We extrapolate our statistical model fit backwards in time and compare to the Nimbus 4 data. We compare the statistics of the residuals from the fit for the Nimbus 4 period to those obtained from the 1978-2003 period over which the statistical model coefficients were estimated.

Frith, Stacey↗
NASA NTRS2002

Structure of the Highly Sheared Tropical Storm Chantal During CAMEX -4

On 20 August 2001 during the Convection and Moisture Experiment 4 (CAMEX-4) and NOAA Hurricane Field Program (HFP2001), the NASA high-altitude ER-2 and medium-altitude DC-8, and lower-altitude NOAA P3 aircraft conducted a coordinated Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) mission focused on convection in Tropical Storm Chantal. This storm first became a depression on 14 August, a tropical storm on 17 August, and it maintained maximum winds of about 65-70 mph during 19-20 August with minimum pressures ranging from 1008 mb on 19 August to 1001 mb late on 20 August. The storm was westward moving and was forecasted to intensify and landfall near the Yucatan-Belize border late on 20 August. Chanter failed to intensify and instead exhibited a highly sheared structure with an open low-level circulation and intense convection well to the northeast of this circulation center. The NASA ER-2 and DC-8 aircraft were closely coordinated with the NOAA P3 (NOAA-42). The NASA aircraft collected remote sensing and in situ data sets, while the P3 collected lower level in situ and radar data; both the DC-8 and P3 released 7 and 24 dropsondes, respectively. These aircraft measurements provided a unique opportunity to examine the structure of a sheared system and why it did not develop as forecasted a few days earlier. This paper will describe a preliminary study of the precipitation and wind structure provided by the NASA aircraft within the context of the NOAA P3 measurements.

Heymsfield, Gerald M.↗