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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 505 records · Page 28
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Enhancement and evaluation of Skylab photography for potential land use inventories, part 1

The author has identified the following significant results. Three sites were evaluated for land use inventory: Finger Lakes - Tompkins County, Lower Hudson Valley - Newburgh, and Suffolk County - Long Island. Special photo enhancement processes were developed to standardize the density range and contrast among S190A negatives. Enhanced black and white enlargements were converted to color by contact printing onto diazo film. A color prediction model related the density values on each spectral band for each category of land use to the spectral properties of the various diazo dyes. The S190A multispectral system proved to be almost as effective as the S190B high resolution camera for inventorying land use. Aggregate error for Level 1 averaged about 12% while Level 2 aggregate error averaged about 25%. The S190A system proved to be much superior to LANDSAT in inventorying land use, primarily because of increased resolution.

Hardy, E. E.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Short-term time variability of Cygnus X-1. II

A complete theory for shot-noise analysis is presented. The theory takes into account the effects of counting statistics, time resolution, and finite observing times on the autocorrelation function and on the moments of data assumed to consist of shot noise plus a steady component. When applied to X-ray observations of Cyg X-1 in the high and low states, the results provide evidence that both the typical correlation time (about 0.5 s) and the fraction of flux in shots (about 30%) are constant, independent of the state. The rate of occurrence of the shots may also be constant at approximately one shot per second, a possibility which, if verified, would imply that the principal difference in time variability in the two states is the amplitude of the shots. We also suggest that the occasionally observed large flares may possibly be just the rare superposition of several shots.

Sutherland, P. G.↗
NASA NTRS1981

A moisture analysis procedure utilizing surface and satellite data

Four analyses have been produced by a moisture analysis procedure which uses satellite, precipitation and surface specific humidity data to augment the standard radiosonde observations (RAOB) of moisture: (1) using RAOB data only, (2) using RAOB data supplemented by data obtained from the surface observations of specific humidity, (3) using RAOB data supplemented only by satellite and precipitation data, and (4) employing all sources of data. Penn State University Mesoscale Model forecasts were performed to determine the effect of the high-resolution moisture analyses. For the data set used, supplementary satellite and rainfall data was found to improve the precipitation forecast more than surface humidity data and permitted the model to produce rain rates during the first four hours of the forecast that were 100% larger and more realistic than those produced without these data.

Wolcott, S. W.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Differential absorption lidar measurements of atmospheric temperature and pressure profiles

The theory and methodology of using differential absorption lidar techniques for the remote measurement of atmospheric pressure profiles, surface pressure, and temperature profiles from ground, air, and space-based platforms are presented. Pressure measurements are effected by means of high resolution measurement of absorption at the edges of the oxygen A band lines where absorption is pressure dependent due to collisional line broadening. Temperature is assessed using measurements of the absorption at the center of the oxygen A band line originating from a quantum state with high ground state energy. The population of the state is temperature dependent, allowing determination of the temperature through the Boltzmann term. The results of simulations of the techniques using Voigt profile and variational analysis are reported for ground-based, airborne, and Shuttle-based systems. Accuracies in the 0.5-1.0 K and 0.1-0.3% range are projected.

Korb, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Different atmospheric effects in remote sensing of uniform and nonuniform surfaces

The atmospheric effect on the radiance of sunlight scattered from the earth-atmosphere system is greatly dependent on the surface reflectance pattern, the contrast between adjacent fields, and the optical properties of the atmosphere. In addition, the atmospheric effect is described by the range and magnitude of the adjacency effects, the atmospheric modulation transfer function, and the apparent spatial resolution of remotely sensed imagery. This paper discusses the atmospheric effect on classification of surface features and shows that surface nonuniformity can be used for developing procedures to remove the atmospheric effect from the satellite imagery.

Kaufman, Y. J.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Gamma Ray Bursts: a 1983 Overview

Gamma ray burst observations are reviewed with mention of new gamma-ray and optical transient measurements and with discussions of the controversial, contradictory and unresolved issues that have recently emerged: burst spectra appear to fluctuate in time as rapidly as they are measured, implying that any one spectrum may be incorrect; energy spectra can be obligingly fitted to practically any desired shape, implying, in effect, that no objective spectral resolution exists at all; burst fluxes and temporal quantities, including the total event energy, are characterized very differently with differing instruments, implying that even elementary knowledge of their properties is instrumentally subjective; finally, the log N-log S determinations are deficient in the weak bursts, while there is no detection of a source direction anisotropy, implying that Ptolemy was right or that burst source distance estimates are basically guesswork. These issues may remain unsolved until vastly improved instruments are flown.

Cline, T. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Mapping of glacial landforms from Seasat radar images

Glacial landforms in the drumlin drift belt of Ireland and the Alaska Range can be identified and mapped from Seasat synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) images. Drumlins cover 60 percent of the Ireland scene. The width/length ratio of individual drumlins can be measured on the SAR images, allowing regional differences in drumlin shape to be mapped. This cannot be done with corresponding Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS) images because of lower spatial resolution and because of shadowing effects that vary seasonally. The Alaska scene shows the extent and nature of morphological features such as medial and lateral moraines, stagnant ice, and fluted ground moraine in glaciated valleys. Perception of these features on corresponding Landsat MSS images is limited by seasonal diffrences in solar illumination. Because SAR is not affected by such differences or by cloud cover, it is particularly well suited for monitoring glacial movement. The disadvantage of distorted high-relief features on Seasat SAR images can be reduced in future SAR systems by modifying the radar illumination geometry.

Ford, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Theoretical analysis of Wolter/LSM X-ray telescope systems

A ray tracing analysis has been performed for the spectral slicing zoom X-ray telescope for configurations in which a convex layered synthetic microstructure (LSM) optic is placed in front of the prime focus or a concave LSM optic is placed behind the prime focus. The analysis has considered the geometrical shape of the LSM optic to be either a hyperboloid, sphere, ellipsoid or constant optical path aspheric element for two configurations of the glancing incidence X-ray telescope: the ATM Experimental S-056 Wolter I system and the Stanford/MSFC Wolter-Schwarzchild nested system. For the different systems the RMS blur circle radii, the point spread function (PSF), the full width half maximum (FWHM) of the PSF have been evaluated as a function of field angle and magnification of the secondary to determine resolution of the system. The effects of decentration and tilt of the selected LSM element on the performance of the system have been studied to determine mounting and alignment tolerances.

Shealy, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Monochromatic calculations of atmospheric radiative transfer due to molecular line absorption

Sensitivity studies related to the effects of line cutoff, spectral resolution, and temperature and pressure interpolations in radiative transfer have been performed so that a data set of absorption coefficients for water vapor, CO2, and O3 may be created efficiently. Results show that computations of absorption coefficients are affected only slightly by cutting a line off at a wave number 190 times the Lorentz half width from the center, or equivalently, cutting off 0.33 percent of the line intensity from the wings. To achieve a relative cooling rate error smaller than 2 percent, it is sufficient to precompute the absorption coefficient at three temperatures (210, 250, and 290 K) and 19 pressures with Delta (log 10 p) = 0.2. The absorption coefficient at other conditions can be interpolated linearly with pressure and exponentially with a quadratic in temperature. For the spectral resolution the absorption coefficients can be adequately computed at 0.01, 0.002, 0.005, and 0.025/cm intervals in the thermal water vapor, the CO2 and O3 bands, and the solar water vapor bands, respectively, which limits the error to only a few percent in the cooling and heating rates. Using the precomputed absorption coefficients, repeated monochromatic calculations of atmospheric heating/cooling rates for radiation model developments and for comparison with less detailed calculations are no longer difficult.

Chou, M.-D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Analysis of interference to remote passive microwave sensors

The final acts of the 1979 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) were analyzed to determine potential interference to remote passive microwave sensors. Using interferer populations determined from the U.S. Government and FCC Master File Lists and assuming uniform geographical distribution of interferers, the level of interference from shared services and active services in adjacent and subharmonic bands was calculated for each of the 22 passive sensing bands. In addition, due to the theoretically large antennas required for passive sensing, an analysis was performed to determine if smaller antennas, i.e., relaxed resolution requirements, would have an effect on interference and to what extent.

Boyd, Douglas↗
NASA NTRS1987

The atmosphere of Mars and optical communications

The effects of the Martian atmosphere on an optical communication link are analyzed using Mariner 9, Viking Orbiter, and Viking Lander data. Clouds are found to have minimal effect because of their scarcity and thinness. Dust (from dust storms) has the dominant impact on opacity. However, periods of reduced visibility are infrequent and more closely resemble the effects of thin clouds on the earth. A simple argument is presented which suggests that the Martian atmosphere has fewer turbulence related effects (i.e., Mars has better resolution, lower image wander, and less scintillation) than the best of the earth's ground based locations.

Annis, J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Space Station Freedom Program preliminary design review process

To conduct the Program Requirements Review of the Space Station Freedom, a Preliminary Design Review Board (PDR) has been established. The PDR will assess the preliminary design of the assembled manned base including the assembly process, the launch, and on-orbit stage configuration, the design approach, the on-orbit verification plans, supportability, reliability, safety, interfaces with the NASA infrastructure (the NSTS, TDRSS, and Ground operations) and international partners. Issues such as the coordination of a common interpretation of design requirements, coordination of interfaces, and convergence of design perspectives vs. proper allocation of resources are discussed. The impact of the resolution of the secondary ripple effect of design decisions which may cause programmatic difficulties is also addressed.

Carlise, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Physical conditions in molecular clouds

Recent developments have complicated the picture of the physical conditions in molecular clouds. The discoveries of widespread emission from high-J lines of CD and 12-micron IRAS emission have revealed the presence of considerably hotter gas and dust near the surfaces of molecular clouds. These components can complicate interpretation of the bulk of the cloud gas. Commonly assumed relations between column density or mean density and cloud size are called into question by conflicting results and by consideration of selection effects. Analysis of density and density structure through molecular excitation has shown that very high densities exist in star formation regions, but unresolved structure and possible chemical effects complicate the interpretation. High resolution far-IR and submillimeter observations offer a complementary approach and are beginning to test theoretical predictions of density gradients in clouds.

Evans, Neal J., II↗
NASA NTRS1990

Accuracy of upwind schemes applied to the Navier-Stokes equations

A systematic comparison was carried out of the different forms of the van Leer et al. (1987) flux-vector splitting scheme (FVSS) for solving the Navier-Stokes equations with Roe's (1981) implicit flux-difference splitting scheme (FDSS) as applied to a simple viscous configuration. Particular attention is given to the effects of spacial accuracy, grid resolution, and grid stretching on the accuracy of the resulting flow field. It was found that, on coarse highly stretched grids, the FDSS produces more accurate results than the FVSS.

Von Lavante, E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Fuzzy correlations of gamma-ray bursts

The origin of gamma-ray bursts is not known, both in the sense of the nature of the source emitting the radiation and literally, the position of the burst on the sky. Lacking unambiguously identified counterparts in any wavelength band studied to date, statistical approaches are required to determine the burster distance scale. Angular correlation analysis is one of the most powerful tools in this regard. However, poor detector resolution gives large localization errors, effectively beam smearing the positions. The resulting fuzzy angular correlation function is investigated and the generic isotropization that smearing induces on any intrinsic clustering is discussed. In particular, the extent to which gamma-ray burst observations by the BATSE detector aboard the Gamma-Ray Observatory might recover an intrinsic source correlation is investigated.

Hartmann, Dieter H.↗
NASA NTRS1990

High energy, high resolution X-ray optics

The scientific goals of X-ray astronomy are considered to evaluate the relative advantages of using classical Wolter-1 optics or using a different approach. The portion of the X-ray band over 10 keV is unexploited in the present X-ray optics technology, and focussing in this portion of the band is crucial because nonfocussed experiments are background limited. The basic design of 'hard' X-ray optics is described theoretically emphasizing the very small angles of incidence in the grazing-incidence optics. Optimization of the signal-to-noise ratio is found to occur at a finite angular resolution. In real applications, the effective area reduced by the efficiency of the two reflections is 80 percent at energies up to 40 keV, and the quality of the reflecting surface can be monitored to minimize scattering. Focussing optics are found to offer improvements in signal-to-noise as well as more effective scientific return because microelectronic focal-plane technology is employed.

Weisskopf, Martin C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

ULTRA-SHARP solution of the Smith-Hutton problem

Highly convective scalar transport involving near-discontinuities and strong streamline curvature was addressed in a paper by Smith and Hutton in 1982, comparing several different convection schemes applied to a specially devised test problem. First order methods showed significant artificial diffusion, whereas higher order methods gave less smearing but had a tendency to overshoot and oscillate. Perhaps because unphysical oscillations are more obvious than unphysical smearing, the intervening period has seen a rise in popularity of low order artificially diffusive schemes, especially in the numerical heat transfer industry. The present paper describes an alternate strategy of using non-artificially diffusive high order methods, while maintaining strictly monotonic transitions through the use of simple flux limited constraints. Limited third order upwinding is usually found to be the most cost effective basic convection scheme. Tighter resolution of discontinuities can be obtained at little additional cost by using automatic adaptive stencil expansion to higher order in local regions, as needed.

Leonard, B. P.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Programmable Analog-To-Digital Converter

High-speed analog-to-digital converter with programmable voltage steps that can be changed during operation. Allows concentration of converter resolution over specific portion of waveform. Particularly useful in digitizing wind-shear radar and lidar return signals, in digital oscilloscopes, and other applications in which desirable to increase digital resolution over specific area of waveform while accepting lower resolution over rest of waveform. Effective increase in dynamic range achieved without increase in number of analog-to-digital converter bits. Enabling faster analog-to-digital conversion.

Kist, Edward H., Jr.↗