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At least 559 records · Page 31

Analytic aerotriangulation utilizing Skylab earth terrain camera (S-190B) photography

The author has identified the following significant results. Inherent errors in using nonmetric Skylab photography and office-identified photo control made it necessary to perform numerous block adjustment solutions involving different combinations of control and weights. The final block adjustment was executed holding to 14 of the office-identified photo control points. Solution accuracy was evaluated by comparing the analytically computed ground positions of the withheld photo control points with their known ground positions and also by determining the standard errors of these points from variance values. A horizontal position RMS error of 15 meters was attained. The maximum observed error in position at a control point was 25 meters.

Keller, M.↗

The intercrater plains of Mercury and the Moon: Their nature, origin and role in terrestrial planet evolution. Crater statistical data

The total number of craters within a bin of mean diameter, and the number of craters of each degradational type within that bin are tabulated. Rim-to-rim diameters were measured at arbitrary azimuths for rectified photos or photos taken at vertical incidence (most lunar photos), and at azimuths paralleling a local tangent to the limb for oblique images.

Leake, M. A.↗

EBIC spectroscopy - A new approach to microscale characterization of deep levels in semi-insulating GaAs

The microscale characterization of electronic defects in (SI) GaAs has been a challenging issue in connection with materials problems encountered in GaAs IC technology. The main obstacle which limits the applicability of high resolution electron beam methods such as Electron Beam-Induced Current (EBIC) and cathodoluminescence (CL) is the low concentration of free carriers in semiinsulating (SI) GaAs. The present paper provides a new photo-EBIC characterization approach which combines the spectroscopic advantages of optical methods with the high spatial resolution and scanning capability of EBIC. A scanning electron microscope modified for electronic characterization studies is shown schematically. The instrument can operate in the standard SEM mode, in the EBIC modes (including photo-EBIC and thermally stimulated EBIC /TS-EBIC/), and in the cathodo-luminescence (CL) and scanning modes. Attention is given to the use of CL, Photo-EBIC, and TS-EBIC techniques.

Li, C.-J.↗

Scheduling revisited workstations in integrated-circuit fabrication

The cost of building new semiconductor wafer fabrication factories has grown rapidly, and a state-of-the-art fab may cost 250 million dollars or more. Obtaining an acceptable return on this investment requires high productivity from the fabrication facilities. This paper describes the Photo Dispatcher system which was developed to make machine-loading recommendations on a set of key fab machines. Dispatching policies that generally perform well in job shops (e.g., Shortest Remaining Processing Time) perform poorly for workstations such as photolithography which are visited several times by the same lot of silicon wafers. The Photo Dispatcher evaluates the history of workloads throughout the fab and identifies bottleneck areas. The scheduler then assigns priorities to lots depending on where they are headed after photolithography. These priorities are designed to avoid starving bottleneck workstations and to give preference to lots that are headed to areas where they can be processed with minimal waiting. Other factors considered by the scheduler to establish priorities are the nearness of a lot to the end of its process flow and the time that the lot has already been waiting in queue. Simulations that model the equipment and products in one of Texas Instrument's wafer fabs show the Photo Dispatcher can produce a 10 percent improvement in the time required to fabricate integrated circuits.

Kline, Paul J.↗

EVA tools and equipment reference book

This document contains a mixture of tools and equipment used throughout the space shuttle-based extravehicular activity (EVA) program. Promising items which have reached the prototype stage of development are also included, but should not be considered certified ready for flight. Each item is described with a photo, a written discussion, technical specifications, dimensional drawings, and points of contact for additional information. Numbers on the upper left-hand corner of each photo may be used to order specific pictures from NASA and contractor photo libraries. Points of contact were classified as either operational or technical. An operational contact is an engineer from JSC Mission Operations Directorate who is familiar with the basic function and on-orbit use of the tool. A technical contact would be the best source of detailed technical specifications and is typically the NASA subsystem manager. The technical information table for each item uses the following terms to describe the availability or status of each hardware item: Standard - Flown on every mission as standard manifest; Flight specific - Potentially available for flight, not flown every mission (flight certification cannot be guaranteed and recertification may be required); Reference only - Item no longer in active inventory or not recommended for future use, some items may be too application-specific for general use; and Developmental - In the prototype stage only and not yet available for flight. The current availability and certification of any flight-specific tool should be verified with the technical point of contact. Those tools built and fit checked for Hubble Space Telescope maintenance are program dedicated and are not available to other customers. Other customers may have identical tools built from the existing, already certified designs as an optional service.

Fullerton, R. K.↗

Experimental and calculated LET distributions in the Cosmos-2044 biosatellite orbit

During the flight of the Cosmos-2044 biosatellite, joint U.S.S.R.-U.S.A. investigations of different characteristics of cosmic radiation (CR) in the near-Earth environment were carried out. The U.S. dielectric track detectors CR-39 and Soviet BYa- and BR-type nuclear photo-emulsions were used as detectors. The present work shows some results of experimental measurements of linear energy transfer (LET) spectra of CR particles obtained with the use of these detectors, which were placed both inside and outside the satellite. The LET spectra measurements with plastic detectors is composed of two parts: the measurement of galactic cosmos rays (GCR) particles, and of short-range particles. The contributions of these components to the total LET distribution at various thicknesses of the shielding were analyzed and the results of these studies are presented. Calculated LET spectra in the Cosmos-2044 orbit were compared with experimental data. On the basis of experimental and calculated values of the LET spectra, absorbed and equivalent CR doses were calculated. In the shielding range of 1-1.5 g cm(exp -2), outside the spacecraft, the photo-emulsions yielded 10.3 mrad d(exp -1) and 13.4 mrem d(exp -1) (LET greater than or equal to 40 MeV cm(exp -1)). Inside the spacecraft (greater than or equal to 10 g cm(exp -2) the photo-emulsions yielded 8.9 mrad d(exp -1) and 14.5 mrem d(exp -1).

Watts, J. W., Jr.↗

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) photographic survey special publication

During the construction, integration, launch, retrieval and deintegration of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), photographic surveys were made. Approximately 10,000 photographs were taken during the various phases of the LDEF project. These surveys are of technical and scientific importance because they revealed the pre and post flight conditions of the experiment trays as well as the spacecraft. Visual inspection of the photographs reveal valuable data such as space environment's effects and the earth atmosphere's effects post-retrieval. Careful files and records have been kept of these photographs. Each photograph has a Kennedy Space Center photo number or a Johnson Spaceflight Center photo number as well as a Langley Research Center photo number. The tray number, row number, and experiment number are also noted. Out of the 10,000 photographs taken, approximately 700 selected photographs were chosen for publication in a NASA Special Publication (SP) because they reveal the effects of space exposure to the viewer. These photographs will give researchers and spacecraft designers visual images of the effects of the space environment on specific materials, systems and spacecraft in general. One can visually see the degradation of thermal blankets, meteoroid craters, outgassing discoloration, atomic oxygen erosion, etc.

Oneal, Robert L.↗

STS-83 Postflight Presentation

The flight crew of the STS-83 mission, Cmdr James D. Halsell, Pilot Susan S. Still, Payload Cmdr. Janice E. Voss, Mission Specialists Donald Thomas and Michael Gernhardt, and Payload Specialists Roger Crouch and Greg Linteris, offer a video and still photo presentation of their journey. Included in the presentation are an introduction of the crew and a short briefing by Cmdr. Halsell, the launch and ascent narrated by Still, Spacelab Module narration by Voss, mission control narrated by Cmdr. Halsell, experiment narration by Thomas and Crouch. Also included are video views of the Baja Peninsula, Sinai Peninsula, pivot-point irrigation circles, Comet Hale-Bopp, and the cross-wind landing. The crew poses outside the shuttle for photos. Crew members discuss still photos taken during the mission, including shots of sunsets, the Grand Bahamas Island, Nile River, Baja Peninsula, Indis River of India, and Guadalupe Island.

Source record↗

Globe Teachers Guide and Photographic Data on the Web

The task of managing the GLOBE Online Teacher s Guide during this time period focused on transforming the technology behind the delivery system of this document. The web application transformed from a flat file retrieval system to a dynamic database access approach. The new methodology utilizes Java Server Pages (JSP) on the front-end and an Oracle relational database on the backend. This new approach allows users of the web site, mainly teachers, to access content efficiently by grade level and/or by investigation or educational concept area. Moreover, teachers can gain easier access to data sheets and lab and field guides. The new online guide also included updated content for all GLOBE protocols. The GLOBE web management team was given documentation for maintaining the new application. Instructions for modifying the JSP templates and managing database content were included in this document. It was delivered to the team by the end of October, 2003. The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) continued to manage the school study site photos on the GLOBE website. 333 study site photo images were added to the GLOBE database and posted on the web during this same time period for 64 schools. Documentation for processing study site photos was also delivered to the new GLOBE web management team. Lastly, assistance was provided in transferring reference applications such as the Cloud and LandSat quizzes and Earth Systems Online Poster from NGDC servers to GLOBE servers along with documentation for maintaining these applications.

Kowal, Dan↗

Experimental and calculated LET distributions in the Cosmos-2044 biosatellite orbit

During the flight of the Cosmos-2044 biosatellite, joint U.S.S.R.-U.S.A. investigations of different characteristics of cosmic radiation (CR) in the near-Earth environment were carried out. The U.S. dielectric track detectors CR-39 and Soviet BYa- and BR-type nuclear photo-emulsions were used as detectors. The present work shows some results of experimental measurements of linear energy transfer (LET) spectra of CR particles obtained with the use of these detectors, which were placed both inside and outside the satellite. The LET spectra measurement with plastic detectors is composed of two parts: the measurement of galactic cosmic rays (GCR) particles, and of short-range particles. The contributions of these components to the total LET distribution at various thicknesses of the shielding were analyzed and the results of these studies are presented. Calculated LET spectra in the Cosmos-2044 orbit were compared with experimental data. On the basis of experimental and calculated values of the LET spectra, absorbed and equivalent CR doses were calculated. In the shielding range of 1-1.5 g cm-2, outside the spacecraft, the photo-emulsions yielded 10.3 mrad d-1 and 27.5 mrem d-1 (LET > or = 2 MeV cm-1) while the CR-39 yielded averages of 1.43 mrad d-1 and 13.4 mrem d-1 (LET > or = 40 MeV cm-1). Inside the spacecraft (> or = 10 g cm-2) the photo-emulsions yielded 8.9 mrad d-1 and 14.5 mrem d-1.

NASA Program Radiation Health↗

Computer Programs (Turbomachinery)

NASA computer programs are extensively used in design of industrial equipment. Available from the Computer Software Management and Information Center (COSMIC) at the University of Georgia, these programs are employed as analysis tools in design, test and development processes, providing savings in time and money. For example, two NASA computer programs are used daily in the design of turbomachinery by Delaval Turbine Division, Trenton, New Jersey. The company uses the NASA splint interpolation routine for analysis of turbine blade vibration and the performance of compressors and condensers. A second program, the NASA print plot routine, analyzes turbine rotor response and produces graphs for project reports. The photos show examples of Delaval test operations in which the computer programs play a part. In the large photo below, a 24-inch turbine blade is undergoing test; in the smaller photo, a steam turbine rotor is being prepared for stress measurements under actual operating conditions; the "spaghetti" is wiring for test instrumentation

Source record↗

Interband cascade detectors

A device for detecting radiation, typically in the infrared. Photons are absorbed in an active region of a semiconductor device such that the absorption induces an interband electronic transition and generates photo-excited charge carriers. The charge carriers are coupled into a carrier transport region having multiple quantum wells and characterized by intersubband relaxation that provides rapid charge carrier collection. The photo-excited carriers are collected from the carrier transport region at a conducting contact region. Another carrier transport region characterized by interband tunneling for multiple stages draws charge carriers from another conducting contact and replenishes the charge carriers to the active region for photo-excitation. A photocurrent is generated between the conducting contacts through the active region of the device.

Chuang, Shun Lien↗

Use of Web 2.0 Technologies for Public Outreach on a Simulated Mars Mission

Recent advances in social media and internet communications have revolutionized the ways people interact and disseminate information. Astronauts are already taking advantage of these tools by blogging and tweeting from space, and almost all NASA missions now have presences on the major social networking sites. One priotity for future human explorers on Mars will be communicating their experiences to the people back on Earth. During July 2009, a 6-member crew of volunteers carried out a simulated Mars mission at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS). The Mars Society built the mock Mars habitat in 2000-01 to help develop key knowledge and inspire the public for human Mars exploration. It is located on Devon island about 1600 km from the North Pole within the Arctic Circle. The structure is situated on the rim of Haughton Crater in an environment geologically and biologically analogous to Mars. Living in a habitat, conducting EVAs wearing spacesuits, and observing communication delays with "Earth,"the crew endured restrictions similar to those that will be faced by future human Mars explorers. Throughout the expedition, crewmembers posted daily blog entries, reports, photos, videos, and updates to their website and social media outlets Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Picasa Web Albums. During the sixteen EVAs of thier field science research campaign, FMARS crewmembers collected GPS track information and took geotagged photos using GPS-enabled cameras. They combined their traverse GPS tracks with photo location information into KML/KMZ files that website visitors can view in Google Earth.

Ferrone, Kristine↗

Characterization of Photoreceivers for LISA

LISA will use quadrant photo receivers as front-end devices for the phase meter measuring the motion of drag-free test masses in both angular orientation and separation. We have set up a laboratory testbed for the characterization of photo receivers. Some of the limiting noise sources have been identified and their contribution has been either measured or determined from the measured data. We have built a photo receiver with a 0.5 mm diameter quadrant photodiode with an equivalent input noise of better than 1.8 pA/(square root of)Hz below 20 MHz and a 3 dB bandwidth of 34 MHz.

Cervantes, F. Guzman↗

Earth Science Engagement Through Art and Astronaut Photography

For over five decades of manned spaceflight missions, NASA astronauts have taken extraordinary photographs of Earth's surface and dynamic processes. Humans on board the International Space Station (ISS) have a unique platform to perform Earth observations at various viewing angles, seasons, and times of day. Astronaut photos taken from the ISS comprise a true‐color (RGB) dataset taken with multiple handheld digital cameras and lens types (prior to 2004, film cameras were in use). Earth observations through astronaut photography are an important and unique remote sensing method when monitoring natural disasters, urban growth, and environmental changes. While astronaut imagery can be used for earth science research, there is also an artistic aspect to the photography that fascinates a wide global population. A broader public audience can be introduced to earth science through high resolution, Earth art photos taken from the perspective of an astronaut. The Crew Earth Observations (CEO) Facility within the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA's Johnson Space Center supports the acquisition, analysis, and curation of astronaut photography of Earth's surface and atmosphere. CEO's website, the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth (eol.jsc.nasa.gov), provides free public access to view, search, and download over three million images taken by astronauts throughout all of NASA's crewed spaceflight history, with an emphasis on current ISS imagery. The CEO Facility actively curates a digital collection of exceptional Earth art astronaut photos used for public engagement. Our new Downloadable Earth Art page focuses on broad earth science topics including: mountains, water, clouds, agriculture, as well as an "abstract" category. This continuously‐updated collection is comprised of freely accessible and high‐quality downloadable materials, such as single‐ and dual‐screen digital wallpapers. All Earth Art materials are presented with science‐based information that complements the artistic qualities of the imagery, and facilitate connections between general audiences and earth science from the International Space Station.

Meado, Andrea L.↗

Overview of the Digitization Workflow Post Image Acquisition of Apollo Lunar and Antarctic Meteorite Samples Using Agisoft Photoscan for the NASA 3D Astromaterials Virtual Samples Collection

The 3D Virtual Astromaterials Samples (3DVAS) collection is a multi-year funded project to create a digital database of sixty Apollo Lunar and Antarctic Meteorite samples following non-destructive documentation conservation protocols. After initial image processing, the photos are evaluated and processed using unique structure-from-motion photogrammetric techniques in a high performance modelling software designed to create a 3D model from 2D images: Agisoft Photoscan Pro. Agisoft Photoscan Pro uses image processing algorithms and techniques originating in computer vision to resolve 3D models for accurate and detailed visualization of a subject. The software provides a stepwise process that is tailored per model based on spatial and specular reflectance properties, for example. The process includes: photo alignment, creation of a dense point cloud, mesh, and finally texture. Photo alignment is dependent on model properties. The 3DVAS process requires a special rotation platform with calibrated photogrammetric targets, specific distance rotation protocols, and a contrasting background for alignment and scale accuracy. As a result of the photographic process, alignment will complete with two mirrored hemispheres that, in a sense, represent the 2D images overlapping to create a 3D model. Each dense point cloud is analyzed with provided statistical measures in a gradual selection process to eliminate outliers. The point cloud is reduced to include only data valuable to the final model. When a precise dense point cloud is achieved, a mesh and texture are applied. Each model is scaled with scale bar accuracies within 100 microns. Each sample has its own intimate process for modelling; there is no standard for the parameters required in the final creation of a high resolution model. By processing multiple samples, a skill is gained in practice to allow a close definition of the original sample and will result in the most detailed version of the sample shell. This process completes one-fifth of the 3DVAS protocol for providing accurate digital documentation. Each model shell is merged with X-ray Computed Tomography data to create a full volumetric sample. All 3DVAS data will be served on NASA's Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation website with an early subset of data available in 2019 and the 3D Virtual Astromaterials Samples Collection launch in 2020.

Thomas, Andi B.↗

The Role of Complex Ionized Absorber in the Soft X-ray Spectra of Intermediate Polars

In magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (mCVs), X-ray radiation originates from the shock heated multi-temperature plasma in the post-shock region near the white dwarf surface. These X-rays are modified by a complex distribution of absorbers in the pre-shock region. The presence of photo-ionized lines and warm absorber features in the soft X-ray spectra of these mCVs suggests that these absorbers are ionized. We developed the ionized complex absorber model zxipab, which is represented by a power-law distribution of ionized absorbers in the pre-shock ow. Using the ionized absorber model zxipab along with a cooling ow model and a reflection component, we model the broadband Chandra/HETG and NuSTAR spectra of two IPs: NY Lup and V1223 Sgr. We nd that this model describes well many of the H and He like emission lines from medium Z elements, which arises from the collisionally excited plasma. However the model fails to account for some of the He like triplets from medium Z elements, which points towards its photo-ionization origin. We do not find a compelling evidence for a blackbody component to model the soft excess seen in the residuals of the Chandra/HETG spectra, which could be due to the uncertainties in estimation of the interstellar absorption of these sources using Chandra/HETG data and/or excess fluxes seen in some photo-ionized emission lines which are not accounted by the cooling ow model. We describe the implications of this model with respect to the geometry of the pre-shock region in these two IPs

Nazma Islam Syeda↗

System and method for stimulated emission depletion projection stereolithography

The present disclosure relates to a system for forming a three dimensional (3D) part. The system may incorporate a beam delivery subsystem for generating optical signals, and a mask subsystem that receives the optical signals and generates optical images therefrom. A first one of the optical images activates a polymerization species of a photo-sensitive resin in accordance with illuminated areas thereof, to thus cause polymerization of select portions of the photo-sensitive resin to help form a layer of the 3D part. A second one of the optical images causes stimulated emission depletion of subportions of the polymerization species, simultaneously, over various areas of the layer, to enhance resolution of at least one subportion of the select portions of the photo-sensitive resin.

Hensleigh, Ryan↗