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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 577 records · Page 32
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

Ground Ice at the Phoenix Landing Site: A Preflight Assessment

One of the objectives of the Mars Scout mission, Phoenix, is to characterize the present state of water in the martian environment, in a location where water may play a significant role in the present and past habitability of Mars. Given the generally dry and cold climate of Mars today any substantial amount of water is expected to occur in the form of ground ice (subsurface ice) within the regolith. The Mars Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer has indicated abundant subsurface hydrogen and inferred ground ice at high latitudes. Therefore, the Phoenix mission will be targeted to land in the northern high latitudes (approximately 65 degrees N - 75 degrees N) where ground ice is expected to be abundantly available for analysis. The lander will be capable of excavating, sampling, and analyzing, dry and water-rich/icy soils. The location and depth of excavation necessary to achieve the goals of sampling and analysis of icy material become important parameters to assess. In the present work we ask two key questions: 1) At what depth within the regolith do we expect to find ice? 2) How might this depth vary over the region of potential landing sites? Numerous lines of evidence can be employed to provide an indication of the presence or absence of shallow ground ice at the potential landing sites. For example geomorphology, neutrons, gamma rays, and theory each contribute clues to an overall understanding of the distribution of ice. Orbital observations provide information on a variety of spatial scales, typically 10 s of meters (patterned ground) to 100 s of kilometers (gamma rays). While information on all of these scales are important, of particular interest is how the presence and depth of ground ice might vary on spatial scales comparable to the lander and its work area. While ground ice may be stable (and present) on a regional scale, local-scale slopes and changes in the physical characteristics of soils can result in significant variations in the distribution of ice.

Mellon, M. T.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Analysis of Temperature and Wind Measurements from the TIMED Mission: Comparison with UARS Data

We report on an analysis of temperature and wind data based respectively on measurements with the SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) and TIDI (TIMED Doppler Interferometer) instruments on the TIMED (Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Energetics and Dynamics) mission. Comparisons are made with corresponding results obtained from the HRDI (High Resolution Doppler Imager), MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) and CLAES (Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer) instruments on the UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite) spacecraft. The TIMED and UARS instruments have important common and uncommon properties in their sampling of the data as a function local solar time. For comparison between the data from the two satellite missions, we present the derived diurnal tidal and zonal-mean variations of temperature and winds, obtained as functions of season, latitude, and altitude. The observations are also compared with results from the Numerical Spectral Model (NSM).

Huang, Frank↗
NASA NTRS2010

Bolometric Device Based on Fluxoid Quantization

The temperature dependence of fluxoid quantization in a superconducting loop. The sensitivity of the device is expected to surpass that of other superconducting- based bolometric devices, such as superconducting transition-edge sensors and superconducting nanowire devices. Just as important, the proposed device has advantages in sample fabrication.

Bonetti, Joseph A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Airborne Lidar-Based Estimates of Tropical Forest Structure in Complex Terrain: Opportunities and Trade-Offs for REDD+

Background: Carbon stocks and fluxes in tropical forests remain large sources of uncertainty in the global carbon budget. Airborne lidar remote sensing is a powerful tool for estimating aboveground biomass, provided that lidar measurements penetrate dense forest vegetation to generate accurate estimates of surface topography and canopy heights. Tropical forest areas with complex topography present a challenge for lidar remote sensing. Results: We compared digital terrain models (DTM) derived from airborne lidar data from a mountainous region of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil to 35 ground control points measured with survey grade GNSS receivers. The terrain model generated from full-density (approx. 20 returns/sq m) data was highly accurate (mean signed error of 0.19 +/-0.97 m), while those derived from reduced-density datasets (8/sq m, 4/sq m, 2/sq m and 1/sq m) were increasingly less accurate. Canopy heights calculated from reduced-density lidar data declined as data density decreased due to the inability to accurately model the terrain surface. For lidar return densities below 4/sq m, the bias in height estimates translated into errors of 80-125 Mg/ha in predicted aboveground biomass. Conclusions: Given the growing emphasis on the use of airborne lidar for forest management, carbon monitoring, and conservation efforts, the results of this study highlight the importance of careful survey planning and consistent sampling for accurate quantification of aboveground biomass stocks and dynamics. Approaches that rely primarily on canopy height to estimate aboveground biomass are sensitive to DTM errors from variability in lidar sampling density.

Airborne lidar↗
NASA NTRS2015

Developing a Relationship Between LIBS Ablation and Pit Volume for In Situ Dating of Geologic Samples

In planetary exploration, in situ absolute geochronology is an important measurement. Thus far, on Mars, the age of the surface has largely been determined by crater density counting, which gives relative ages. These ages can have significant uncertainty as they depend on many poorly constrained parameters. More than that, the curves must be tied to absolute ages to relate geologic timescales on Mars to the rest of the solar system. Thus far, only the lost lander Beagle 2 was designed to conduct absolute geochronology measurements, though some recent attempts using MSL Curiosity show that this investigation is feasible (Reference Farley here) and should be strongly encouraged for future flight.

ablation↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Rate of Dielectric Breakdown Weathering of Lunar Regolith in Permanently Shadowed Regions

Large solar energetic particle events may cause dielectric breakdown in the upper 1 mm of regolith in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). We estimate how the resulting breakdown weathering compares to meteoroid impact weathering. Although the SEP event rates measured by the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) are too low for breakdown to have significantly affected the regolith over the duration of the LRO mission, regolith gardened by meteoroid impacts has been exposed to SEPs for approx.10(exp 6 yr. Therefore, we estimate that breakdown weathering's production rate of vapor and melt in the coldest PSRs is up to 1.8−3. 5 ×10(exp −7) kg/sq m/yr, which is comparable to that produced by meteoroid impacts. Thus, in PSRs, up to 10-25% of the regolith may have been melted or vaporized by dielectric breakdown. Breakdown weathering could also be consistent with observations of the increased porosity ("fairy castles") of PSR regolith. We also show that it is con- ceivable that breakdown-weathered material is present in Apollo soil samples. Consequently, breakdown weathering could be an important process within PSRs, and it warrants further investigation.

Meteoroid↗
NASA NTRS2017

Asteroid Pond Mineralogy: View from a Cognate Clast in LL3 NWA 8330

All asteroids surfaces imaged at the cm-scale reveal the presence of pond deposits. These ponds are important because it is likely all asteroid sample return missions will sample them, being the safest (very flat) places to touch down. Therefore, it is essential to understand the differences between the material at the pond surfaces and the host asteroid. Fortunately, some fine-grained cognate lithologies in chondrites show sedimentary features indicating that they sample asteroid ponds.

Zolensky, M.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Failure Simulation Testing of the Z-1 Spacesuit Titanium Bearing Assemblies

The Z-2 is a candidate for NASA's next generation spacesuit, designed for a range of possible missions with enhanced mobility for spacewalks both on planetary surfaces and in microgravity. Increased mobility was accomplished through innovations in shoulder and hip joints, using a number of new bearings to allow spacesuit wearers to dip, walk, and bend with ease; all important tasks for a planetary explorer collecting samples or traveling over rough terrain. The Advanced Spacesuit Development Team of NASA Johnson Space Center requested that the NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) perform a series failure simulation tests on three titanium bearing assemblies, an elemental part of the joint construction used in new spacesuit designs. This testing simulated two undetected failures within the bearings and as a result the objective of this test program was to evaluate whether a failed or failing bearing could result in ignition of the titanium race material due to friction. The first failure was an inner seal leak sufficient to pressurize the race with +99 percent oxygen. The second failure was an improperly installed or mismatched ball port that created a protrusion in the ball bearing race, partially obstructing the nominal rolling path of each ball bearing. When the spacesuit bearings are assembled, bearing balls are loaded into the assembly via a ball port. The ball port is specific and unique to each bearing assembly (matched pair). The simulated mismatched ball port is a significant source of friction, which would be caused by an assembly error. To evaluate this risk, the bearings were cycled in a simulated worst-case scenario environment, with operational loads, and potential flaw conditions. During test the amount of actuation torque required and heat generated through continuous operation were measured and the bearings were observed for sparks or burning events. This paper provides detailed descriptions of the test hardware, methodology, and results.

de Baca, Richard C.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Near-Infrared (NIR) Raman Spectroscopy of Precambrian Carbonate Stromatolites with Post-Depositional Organic Inclusions

Raman spectroscopy has promising potential for future Mars missions as a non-contact detection technique for characterizing organic material and mineralogy. Such a capability will be useful for selecting samples for detailed analysis on a rover and for selecting samples for return to Earth. Stromatolites are important evidence for the earliest life on Earth and are promising targets for Mars investigations. Although constructed by microorganisms, stromatolites are organo-sedimentary structures that can be large enough to be discovered and investigated by a Mars rover. In this paper, we report the Raman spectroscopic investigations of the carbonate mineralogy and organic layering in a Precambrian (;1.5 Gyr old) stromatolite from the Crystal Spring Formation of Southern California. Ultraviolet (UV: 266 nm), visible (514 nm, 633 nm), and near-infrared (NIR: 785 nm, 1064 nm) Raman spectra are presented. We conclude that 1064 nm excitation is the optimal excitation wavelength for avoiding intrinsic fluorescence and detecting organic carbon within the carbonate matrix. Our results confirm that NIR Raman spectroscopy has important applications for future Mars missions.

Tanaka, Zuki↗
NASA NTRS2021

A Visual Tour of Carbon Export by Sinking Particles

To better quantify the ocean's biological carbon pump, we resolved the diversity of sinking particles that transport carbon into the ocean's interior, their contribution to carbon export, and their attenuation with depth. Sinking particles collected in sediment trap gel layers from four distinct ocean ecosystems were imaged, measured, and classified. The size and identity of particles was used to model their contribution to particulate organic carbon (POC) flux. Measured POC fluxes were reasonably predicted by particle images. Nine particle types were identified, and most of the compositional variability was driven by the relative contribution of aggregates, long cylindrical fecal pellets, and salp fecal pellets. While particle composition varied across locations and seasons, the entire range of compositions was measured at a single well-observed location in the subarctic North Pacific over one month, across 500 m of depth. The magnitude of POC flux was not consistently associated with a dominant particle class, but particle classes did influence flux attenuation. Long fecal pellets attenuated most rapidly with depth whereas certain other classes attenuated little or not at all with depth. Small particles (<100 m) consistently contributed ~5% to total POC flux in samples with higher magnitude fluxes. The relative importance of these small particle classes (spherical mini pellets, short oval fecal pellets, and dense detritus) increased in low flux environments (up to 46% of total POC flux). Imaging approaches that resolve large variations in particle composition across ocean basins, depth, and time will help to better parameterize biological carbon pump models

Carbon flux↗
NASA NTRS2024

Helium Reservoirs in Iron Nanoparticles on the Lunar Surface

The Moon’s surface is directly exposed to the space environment and subject to alteration by space weathering. One agent of space weathering, the solar wind, enriches the lunar surface with helium. Although we understand how helium is delivered to the Moon, certain aspects of helium concentration processes on the surface remain unknown, such as why impact-generated glass aggregates contain more helium than equally sized soil grains of other types. Here we have analyzed the contents of vesicular iron nanoparticles in lunar impact glasses using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy and show that the nanoparticles contain high concentrations of helium (10-24 atoms/nm3). The widespread occurrence of vesicular iron nanoparticles among lunar samples suggests that they may be an important helium reservoir. These results also suggest that space weathering of iron-rich minerals plays a role in helium sequestration on the Moon and potentially on other airless bodies.

Brittany A. Cymes↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Comparing and Automatically Optimizing the Performance of Systematic Error Correctors for TESS Light Curves

Accurate and precise removal of systematic errors from TESS light curves (lcs) is critical for exoplanet, stellar, and asteroseismology studies•Various approaches exist to correct for systematics while preserving intrinsic stellar variability (Luger et al. 2016, 2018; Hedges et al. 2021; Smith et al. 2012; Stumpe et al. 2014; Aigrain et al. 2017)•However, no comprehensive analyseshave been carried out to properly compare these approaches and determine their validity on different target types in both an individual and statistical manner•Current correctors have been usually demonstrated on their own and on limited sets of hand-picked targets•To apply these corrections more generally, it is important to compare multiple correctors on larger samples•We are particularly interested in the ability to remove scattered light contaminationfrom the Earth and the Moon, which is a key systematic for TESS

David Rapetti↗
DOE OSTI2024

Data Efficiency Assessment of Generative Adversarial Networks for Critical Heat Flux Synthetic Data Generation

This study investigates the application of generative artificial intelligence techniques, particularly conditional generative adversarial networks (cGAN), in real-world engineering contexts, with a specific focus on synthetic data generation for critical heat flux (CHF). Utilizing a dataset comprising more than 20,000 real experimental CHF measurements, we conduct a series of experiments to examine cGAN’s behavior. These experiments encompass varying sizes of the training dataset, training cGAN on data from diverse experimental sources to generate new data on unseen experimental setups, and assessing the impact of excluding various input features on cGAN’s data generation accuracy. Our findings underscore the pronounced data dependency of cGAN for reliable performance, with decreased efficacy observed with smaller training dataset sizes. Notably, cGAN exhibits varying performance when trained on data from different experiments, with superior predictive capabilities observed for certain experiment sources compared to others. For instance, when cGAN was trained on data from Smolin et al.’s experiments or Zenkevich et al., it exhibited relatively good performance in generating the data from Becker et al., Kirillov et al., and Alekseev et al. experiments. In contrast, when trained with Alekseev et al.’s data and tasked with generating other experimental setups, cGAN showed notably poor performance. In both scenarios, cGAN’s performance was inferior compared to training on samples from all experiments concurrently. A feature importance analysis highlights the significant influence of parameters such as mass flux and heated length on accurate CHF generation, while other parameters like diameter and pressure have less impact. Inlet temperature is identified as a moderating factor by cGAN.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Operando X-ray Nanocharacterization of Polycrystalline Thin Film Modules

Non-destructive measurement techniques, with high spatial resolution, capable of correlating composition and structure with device properties, are few and far between. For the case of polycrystalline and inhomogeneous materials, the added challenge is that large sampling areas are necessary in order to have a statistical representation of the specimen under study. For the study of grain cores and grain boundaries in polycrystalline solar absorbers this is of particular importance since their dissimilar behavior and variability throughout the samples makes it difficult to draw conclusions and ultimately optimize the materials and devices. Our approach to use state-of-the-art x-ray microscopy to study full module stacks under operating conditions is unique. Understanding the effects of elemental and charge migration under full encapsulation and operating conditions will allow CIGS and CdTe manufactures and in particular our partners in this proposal to modify materials, stacks, architectures, and processing steps to minimize the performance losses through time.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Lens Modeling of STRIDES Strongly Lensed Quasars Using Neural Posterior Estimation

Strongly lensed quasars can be used to constrain cosmological parameters through time-delay cosmography. Models of the lens masses are a necessary component of this analysis. To enable time-delay cosmography from a sample of $\mathcal{O}(10^3)$ lenses, which will soon become available from surveys like the Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time and the Euclid Wide Survey, we require fast and standardizable modeling techniques. To address this need, we apply neural posterior estimation (NPE) for modeling galaxy-scale strongly lensed quasars from the Strong Lensing Insights into the Dark Energy Survey (STRIDES) sample. NPE brings two advantages: speed and the ability to implicitly marginalize over nuisance parameters. We extend this method by employing sequential NPE to increase precision of mass model posteriors. We then fold individual lens models into a hierarchical Bayesian inference to recover the population distribution of lens mass parameters, accounting for out-of-distribution shift. After verifying our method using simulated analogs of the STRIDES lens sample, we apply our method to 14 Hubble Space Telescope single-filter observations. We find the population mean of the power-law elliptical mass distribution slope, γ lens , to be $\mathcal{M}_γ$ lens = 2.13 ± 0.06. Our result represents the first population-level constraint for these systems. This population-level inference from fully automated modeling is an important stepping stone toward cosmological inference with large samples of strongly lensed quasars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Integrated sample-handling and mounting system for fixed-target serial synchrotron crystallography

Serial synchrotron crystallography (SSX) is enabling the efficient use of small crystals for structure–function studies of biomolecules and for drug discovery. An integrated SSX system has been developed comprising ultralow background-scatter sample holders suitable for room and cryogenic temperature crystallographic data collection, a sample-loading station and a humid `gloveless' glovebox. The sample holders incorporate thin-film supports with a variety of designs optimized for different crystal-loading challenges. These holders facilitate the dispersion of crystals and the removal of excess liquid, can be cooled at extremely high rates, generate little background scatter, allow data collection over >90° of oscillation without obstruction or the risk of generating saturating Bragg peaks, are compatible with existing infrastructure for high-throughput cryocrystallography and are reusable. The sample-loading station allows sample preparation and loading onto the support film, the application of time-varying suction for optimal removal of excess liquid, crystal repositioning and cryoprotection, and the application of sealing films for room-temperature data collection, all in a controlled-humidity environment. The humid glovebox allows microscope observation of the sample-loading station and crystallization trays while maintaining near-saturating humidities that further minimize the risks of sample dehydration and damage, and maximize working times. This integrated system addresses common problems in obtaining properly dispersed, properly hydrated and isomorphous microcrystals for fixed-orientation and oscillation data collection. Its ease of use, flexibility and optimized performance make it attractive not just for SSX but also for single-crystal and few-crystal data collection. Fundamental concepts that are important in achieving desired crystal distributions on a sample holder via time-varying suction-induced liquid flows are also discussed.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS2017

Heating and Thermal Control of Brazing Technique to Break Contamination Path for Potential Mars Sample Return

The potential return of Mars sample material is of great interest to the planetary science community, as it would enable extensive analysis of samples with highly sensitive laboratory instruments. It is important to make sure such a mission concept would not bring any living microbes, which may possibly exist on Mars, back to Earth’s environment. In order to ensure the isolation of Mars microbes from Earth’s Atmosphere, a brazing sealing and sterilizing technique was proposed to break the Mars-to-Earth contamination path. Effectively, heating the brazing zone in high vacuum space and controlling the sample temperature for integrity are key challenges to the implementation of this technique. The break-the-chain procedures for container configurations, which are being considered, were simulated by multi-physics finite element models. Different heating methods including induction and resistive/radiation were evaluated. The temperature profiles of Martian samples in a proposed container structure were predicted. The results show that the sealing and sterilizing process can be controlled such that the samples temperature is maintained below the level that may cause damage, and that the brazing technique is a feasible approach to breaking the contamination path.

Bao, Xiaoqi↗
DOE OSTI2024

DESI complete calibration of the colour–redshift relation (DC3R2): results from early DESI data

We present initial results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) complete calibration of the colour–redshift relation (DC3R2) secondary target survey. Our analysis uses 230 k galaxies that overlap with KiDS-VIKING ugriZYJHK s photometry to calibrate the colour–redshift relation and to inform photometric redshift (photo-z) inference methods of future weak lensing surveys. Together with emission line galaxies (ELGs), luminous red galaxies (LRGs), and the Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) that provide samples of complementary colour, the DC3R2 targets help DESI to span 56 percent of the colour space visible to Euclid and LSST with high confidence spectroscopic redshifts. The effects of spectroscopic completeness and quality are explored, as well as systematic uncertainties introduced with the use of common Self-Organizing Maps trained on different photometry than the analysis sample. We further examine the dependence of redshift on magnitude at fixed colour, important for the use of bright galaxy spectra to calibrate redshifts in a fainter photometric galaxy sample. We find that noise in the KiDS-VIKING photometry introduces a dominant, apparent magnitude dependence of redshift at fixed colour, which indicates a need for carefully chosen deep drilling fields, and survey simulation to model this effect for future weak lensing surveys.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗