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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Geologic Maps for Civil Engineering and Infrastructure Planning

The Artemis Program mandate for sustainable, long-term presence on the Moon requires learning to "Live Off the Land". Geologic maps enable a paradigm shift to model the development and scaling of infrastructure for robotic and human exploration inside a bounded system on the lunar surface. Relying on geologic maps produced from orbital data and robotic precursor missions, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) will be required to produce infrastructure, building materials and consumables. The ISRU value chain must be mapped to identify linkages of resources, producers, processes and equipment capabilities for transforming excavated regolith into usable feedstocks. Coordination will be required to balance supply and demand across the whole system of lunar infrastructure and operations, at each stage of development.

Geologic Mapping↗
NASA NTRS1967

Second Application of the "Successive Transformations Method" to Predict the Safest Lunar Landing Site for an Astronaut: Report 3

The purpose of the first application of the "Successive Transformations Method" described in the second report was to determine, for a manned spacecraft, the optimum landing site on the moon. The results obtained, made by extrapolating the temperature TO furnished by Surveyor, can be summarized as follows: (1) The method is efficient in allowing selection of the optimum landing area. ( 2 ) The zrea selected is extensive and relatively flat; consequently, it is sufficient to allow trine for the difficult landing operation which results from the high speed of the spacecraft when reaching the moon. ( 3 ) The relative temperature obtained is lower than that where Surveyor landed. In this third report, a second application of the "Successive Transformations" is described to determine the safest conditions of a given landing site for the astronaut, especially in relation to determining the composition of the lunar surface material. As a means of accomplishing this task, it is the intent of this paper to analyze lunar craters since they are present over so much of the lunar surface.

Rojas, Hector R.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Rectangular capture area to circular combustor scramjet engine

A new concept for a scramjet engine design was presented. The inlet transformed a rectangular shaped capture stream into a cross section which was almost circular in shape at the inlet throat or combustor entrance. The inlet inner surface was designed by the method of streamline tracing. The high pressure and temperature regions of the combustor were almost circular in shape and thus the benefits of hoop stresses in relation to structural weight could be utilized to reduce combustor and engine weights. The engine had a center body consisting of a 20 deg included angle cone, followed by a constant diameter cylinder. Fuel injection struts were arranged in a radial array and were swept 54 deg from the center body to the inlet inner surface and had values of length to maximum average thickness between 5.6and 6.6 which were felt to be structurally reasonable. Combustor wetted areas were shown to be less than those of the present fully rectangular engine concept.

Pinckney, S. Z.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Comparison of Carbon XANES Spectra from an Iron Sulfide from Comet Wild 2 with an Iron Sulfide Interplanetary Dust Particle

Among one of the first particles removed from the aerogel collector from the Stardust sample return mission was an approx. 5 micron sized iron sulfide. The majority of the spectra from 5 different sections of this particle suggests the presence of aliphatic compounds. Due to the heat of capture in the aerogel we initially assumed these aliphatic compounds were not cometary but after comparing these results to a heated iron sulfide interplanetary dust particle (IDP) we believe our initial interpretation of these spectra was not correct. It has been suggested that ice coating on iron sulfides leads to aqueous alteration in IDP clusters which can then lead to the formation of complex organic compounds from unprocessed organics in the IDPs similar to unprocessed organics found in comets [1]. Iron sulfides have been demonstrated to not only transform halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons but also enhance the bonding of rubber to steel [2,3]. Bromfield and Coville (1997) demonstrated using Xray photoelectron spectroscopy that "the surface enhancement of segregated sulfur to the surface of sulfided precipitated iron catalysts facilitates the formation of a low-dimensional structure of extraordinary properties" [4]. It may be that the iron sulfide acts in some way to protect aliphatic compounds from alteration due to heat.

Wirick, S.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Photon Harvesting and Rocky Planet Biosignatures with 3D Climate Models

On the Earth solar photons are collected, sifted, and harvested by life at a scale that has transformed and defined the planet and continues to do so. That transformation is considered to be a key biosignature to look for in the rocky exoplanet population of our galaxy. However, the availability of photons on planetary surfaces depends on orbital and spin configuration as well as shadowing and scattering by clouds and other atmospheric phenomena. We are using a state-of-the-art 3D climate model (ROCKE-3D, Way et al. 2017) to study rocky planet surface irradiances and the implications for biosignatures and future missions such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory.

exoplanets↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Tech Briefs, August 2012

Topics covered include: Mars Science Laboratory Drill; Ultra-Compact Motor Controller; A Reversible Thermally Driven Pump for Use in a Sub-Kelvin Magnetic Refrigerator; Shape Memory Composite Hybrid Hinge; Binding Causes of Printed Wiring Assemblies with Card-Loks; Coring Sample Acquisition Tool; Joining and Assembly of Bulk Metallic Glass Composites Through Capacitive Discharge; 670-GHz Schottky Diode-Based Subharmonic Mixer with CPW Circuits and 70-GHz IF; Self-Nulling Lock-in Detection Electronics for Capacitance Probe Electrometer; Discontinuous Mode Power Supply; Optimal Dynamic Sub-Threshold Technique for Extreme Low Power Consumption for VLSI; Hardware for Accelerating N-Modular Redundant Systems for High-Reliability Computing; Blocking Filters with Enhanced Throughput for X-Ray Microcalorimetry; High-Thermal-Conductivity Fabrics; Imidazolium-Based Polymeric Materials as Alkaline Anion-Exchange Fuel Cell Membranes; Electrospun Nanofiber Coating of Fiber Materials: A Composite Toughening Approach; Experimental Modeling of Sterilization Effects for Atmospheric Entry Heating on Microorganisms; Saliva Preservative for Diagnostic Purposes; Hands-Free Transcranial Color Doppler Probe; Aerosol and Surface Parameter Retrievals for a Multi-Angle, Multiband Spectrometer LogScope; TraceContract; AIRS Maps from Space Processing Software; POSTMAN: Point of Sail Tacking for Maritime Autonomous Navigation; Space Operations Learning Center; OVERSMART Reporting Tool for Flow Computations Over Large Grid Systems; Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of Particle-Laden Temporal Mixing Layers; Projection of Stabilized Aerial Imagery Onto Digital Elevation Maps for Geo-Rectified and Jitter-Free Viewing; Iterative Transform Phase Diversity: An Image-Based Object and Wavefront Recovery; 3D Drop Size Distribution Extrapolation Algorithm Using a Single Disdrometer; Social Networking Adapted for Distributed Scientific Collaboration; General Methodology for Designing Spacecraft Trajectories; Hemispherical Field-of-View Above-Water Surface Imager for Submarines; and Quantum-Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) Focal Plane Assembly.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2013

NASA Tech Briefs, January 2013

Topics include: Single-Photon-Sensitive HgCdTe Avalanche Photodiode Detector; Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Using Silica Whispering-Gallery Mode Resonators; 3D Hail Size Distribution Interpolation/Extrapolation Algorithm; Color-Changing Sensors for Detecting the Presence of Hypergolic Fuels; Artificial Intelligence Software for Assessing Postural Stability; Transformers: Shape-Changing Space Systems Built with Robotic Textiles; Fibrillar Adhesive for Climbing Robots; Using Pre-Melted Phase Change Material to Keep Payloads in Space Warm for Hours without Power; Development of a Centrifugal Technique for the Microbial Bioburden Analysis of Freon (CFC-11); Microwave Sinterator Freeform Additive Construction System (MS-FACS); DSP/FPGA Design for a High-Speed Programmable S-Band Space Transceiver; On-Chip Power-Combining for High-Power Schottky Diode-Based Frequency Multipliers; FPGA Vision Data Architecture; Memory Circuit Fault Simulator; Ultra-Compact Transputer-Based Controller for High-Level, Multi-Axis Coordination; Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot Excavator; Magnetically Actuated Seal; Hybrid Electrostatic/Flextensional Mirror for Lightweight, Large-Aperture, and Cryogenic Space Telescopes; System for Contributing and Discovering Derived Mission and Science Data; Remote Viewer for Maritime Robotics Software; Stackfile Database; Reachability Maps for In Situ Operations; JPL Space Telecommunications Radio System Operating Environment; RFI-SIM: RFI Simulation Package; ION Configuration Editor; Dtest Testing Software; IMPaCT - Integration of Missions, Programs, and Core Technologies; Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) Toolkit; Wind-Driven Wireless Networked System of Mobile Sensors for Mars Exploration; In Situ Solid Particle Generator; Analysis of the Effects of Streamwise Lift Distribution on Sonic Boom Signature; Rad-Tolerant, Thermally Stable, High-Speed Fiber-Optic Network for Harsh Environments; Towed Subsurface Optical Communications Buoy; High-Collection-Efficiency Fluorescence Detection Cell; Ultra-Compact, Superconducting Spectrometer-on-a-Chip at Submillimeter Wavelengths; UV Resonant Raman Spectrometer with Multi-Line Laser Excitation; Medicine Delivery Device with Integrated Sterilization and Detection; Ionospheric Simulation System for Satellite Observations and Global Assimilative Model Experiments - ISOGAME; Airborne Tomographic Swath Ice Sounding Processing System; flexplan: Mission Planning System for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; Estimating Torque Imparted on Spacecraft Using Telemetry; PowderSim: Lagrangian Discrete and Mesh-Free Continuum Simulation Code for Cohesive Soils; Multiple-Frame Detection of Subpixel Targets in Thermal Image Sequences; Metric Learning to Enhance Hyperspectral Image Segmentation; Basic Operational Robotics Instructional System; Sheet Membrane Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator; Advanced Materials and Manufacturing for Low-Cost, High-Performance Liquid Rocket Combustion Chambers; Motor Qualification for Long-Duration Mars Missions.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2002

The 1999 Hector Mine Earthquake, Southern California: Vector Near-Field Displacements from ERS InSAR

Two components of fault slip are uniquely determined from two line-of-sight (LOS) radar interferograms by assuming that the fault-normal component of displacement is zero. We use this approach with ascending and descending interferograms from the ERS satellites to estimate surface slip along the Hector Mine earthquake rupture. The LOS displacement is determined by visually counting fringes to within 1 km of the outboard ruptures. These LOS estimates and uncertainties are then transformed into strike- and dip-slip estimates and uncertainties; the transformation is singular for a N-S oriented fault and optimal for an E-W oriented fault. In contrast to our previous strike-slip estimates, which were based only on a descending interferogram, we now find good agreement with the geological measurements, except at the ends of the rupture. The ascending interferogram reveals significant west-sidedown dip-slip (approximately 1.0 m) which reduces the strike-slip estimates by 1 to 2 m, especially along the northern half of the rupture. A spike in the strike-slip displacement of 6 m is observed in central part of the rupture. This large offset is confirmed by subpixel cross correlation of features in the before and after amplitude images. In addition to strike slip and dip slip, we identify uplift and subsidence along the fault, related to the restraining and releasing bends in the fault trace, respectively. Our main conclusion is that at least two look directions are required for accurate estimates of surface slip even along a pure strike-slip fault. Models and results based only on a single look direction could have major errors. Our new estimates of strike slip and dip slip along the rupture provide a boundary condition for dislocation modeling. A simple model, which has uniform slip to a depth of 12 km, shows good agreement with the observed ascending and descending interferograms.

Sandwell, David T.↗
NASA NTRS1989

An investigation of the diffraction of an acoustic plane wave by a curved surface of finite impedance

Phenomena associated with long range propagation of sound over irregular topography motivated this work, which was to analyze the diffraction effects which would occur near the tops of hills and ridges. The diffraction of a high frequency plane wave due to its grazing of a two-dimensional curved surface of finite impedance was also studied. Laboratory scale models were constructed and measurements were made of the field on, above, and behind either of two curved surfaces possessing distinctly different impedances; that is, one was soft while the other was hard. The experimental technique consisted of simultaneously measuring the pressure at a reference point and at a field point due to a transient pulse generated by an electric spark. The pressure waveforms were digitized and processed. The ratio of the discrete Fourier transforms of the two waveforms provided an estimate of the insertion loss between them. The results of the measurements were compared with the predictions of a theory which was derived by Pierce using the method of Matched Asymptotic Expansions (MAE). The predictions relied upon the experimental evaluation of the impedance of each surface at grazing angles of incidence. This evaluation was achieved by a fairly standard technique involving empirical models of various generic types of surfaces. An example was shown of the important role that the structural intricacies of a surface play in the determination of an appropriate model. The comparison between the measurements and predictions indicated that the theory gives an excellent description of the field anywhere near a curved surface. Further, with a simple modification, the theory was also shown to give nearly as good of a description of the field surrounding a curved surface even at distances far behind the surface yet near the line of sight.

Kearns, James A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Effect of Cristobalite on the Mechanical Properties of Silica RSI Materials

The strength of various silica surface insulation materials was measured after high temperature heat treatment to develop substantial crystalline phases, and after low temperature thermal cycling through the alpha-beta cristobalite transformation. It appears that the presence of cristobalite in the structural elements (the fibers) is highly detrimental to tensile strength. When crystallization does not occur in silica material, the strength improves with heat treatment.

Khandelwal, P. K.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Heat transfer characteristics of an emergent strand

A mathematical model was developed to describe the heat transfer characteristics of a hot strand emerging into a surrounding coolant. A stable strand of constant efflux velocity is analyzed, with a constant (average) heat transfer coefficient on the sides and leading surface of the strand. After developing a suitable governing equation to provide an adequate description of the physical system, the dimensionless governing equation is solved with Laplace transform methods. The solution yields the temperature within the strand as a function of axial distance and time. Generalized results for a wide range of parameters are presented, and the relationship of the results and experimental observations is discussed.

Simon, W. E.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Pre- and post-annealing of mechanical damage in silicon wafers

Basic properties of mechanical damage in silicon consisting of cracks and abrasion were studied using transmission electron microscopy. The crystallographic structure of mechanical damage was determined before and after high temperature annealing. The main findings include that stresses in silicon around crack tips are not plastically relieved at room temperature and that abrasion at room temperature introduces shear loops into the silicon. It was also found that cracks of micron size can be annealed out, specifically, if cleavage occurs on 111 planes. The healing products of such cracks are 60 deg and 90 deg dislocations. Submicron cracks transform into stacking faults during annealing. Likewise high concentrations of shear loops due abrasion were found to anneal into stacking faults. A one to one correlation between surface areas containing small cracks and stacking faults was made. Measurements of damage removal on silicon surfaces through chemical-mechanical etching techniques are presented. It is shown that silicon dioxide repolishes damaged silicon surfaces most effectively.

Schwottke, G. H.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Secondary pattern computation of an arbitrarily shaped main reflector

The secondary pattern of a perfectly conducting offset main reflector being illuminated by a point feed at an arbitrary location is studied. The method of analysis is based upon the application of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to the aperture fields obtained using geometrical optics (GO) and geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD). Key features of the present work are (1) the reflector surface is completely arbitrary, (2) the incident field from the feed is most general with arbitrary polarization and location, and (3) the edge diffraction is calculated by either UAT or by UTD. Comparison of this technique for an offset parabolic reflector with the Jacobi-Bessel and Fourier-Bessel techniques shows good agreement. Near field, far field, and scan data of a large refelctor are presented.

Lee, S. W.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Nitrogen transformations following tropical forest felling and burning on a volcanic soil

Nitrogen transformations and loss were measured following forest clearing in a relatively fertile tropical forest site. Nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, and amounts of ammonium and nitrate increased substantially in surface soils during the 6 mo following burning, then returned to background levels. The nitrogen content of microbial biomass declined to half its original value 6 mo after clearing and remained low in the cleared sites. Plant uptake of nitrogen was substantial on cleared plots (50 g/sq m), but it accounted for only 18 percent of N-15 label added to field plots. MIcrobial immobilization of N-15 was small relative to that in a cleared temperate site, and measurements of denitrification potentials suggested that relatively little mineralized nitrogen was lost to the atmosphere. Substantial amounts of nitrogen (40-70 g/sq m) were retained as exchangeably bound nitrate deep in the soils of a cleared plot on which revegetation was prevented; this process accounted for 12 percent of the N-15 label added to field plots.

Matson, Pamela A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Symmetry properties in polarimetric remote sensing

This paper presents the relations among polarimetric backscattering coefficients from the viewpoint of symmetry groups. Symmetry of geophysical media encountered in remote sensing due to reflection, rotation, azimuthal, and centrical symmetry groups is considered for both reciprocal and nonreciprocal cases. On the basis of the invariance under symmetry transformations in the linear polarization basis, the scattering coefficients are related by a set of equations which restrict the number of independent parameters in the polarimetric covariance matrix. The properties derived under these transformations are general and apply to all scattering mechanisms in a given symmetrical configuration. The scattering coefficients calculated from theoretical models for layer random media and rough surfaces are shown to obey the derived symmetry relations. Use of symmetry properties in remote sensing of structural and environmental responses of scattering media is discussed. As a practical application, the results from this paper provide new methods for the external calibration of polarimetric radars without the deployment of man-made calibration targets.

Nghiem, S. V.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Spontaneous dewetting of a perfluoropolyether

Eight different production lots of a commercial perfluoropolyether (PFPE) based on hexafluoropropene oxide (HFPO) were applied to polished metal surfaces by spinning. One of the lots repeatedly dewetted from a clean 440C steel surface, forming droplets on the surface, whereas the other seven did not dewet. This dewetting phenomenon also repeatedly occurred on 2024 aluminum and 1018 steel, but not on copper or gold. Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (mu-FTIR) was used to determine thickness and uniformity of the PFPE films. The dewetting lot was found to dewet from 440C steel at a film thickness greater than 520 A. A portion of the dewetting lot was heated at 316 C for 12 days in the presence of oxygen and M-50 steel. This fluid did not dewet. Sequentially, samples of the dewetting lot were filtered either with an alumina or a silica cartridge which can remove polar impurities. Neither of the filtered samples dewetted from 440C steel. It was concluded that an unknown impurity, both thermally labile and polar, present at very low concentration and undetected by our analytical techniques (FTIR, proton NMR, or F-19 NMR), was responsible for the dewetting phenomenon.

Shogrin, Bradley↗
NASA NTRS1994

A singularity free approach to post glacial rebound calculations

Calculating the post glacial response of a viscoelastic Earth model using the exponential decay normal mode technique leads to intrinsic singularities if viscosity varies continuously as a function of radius. We develop a numerical implementation of the Complex Real Fourier transform (CRFT) method as an accurate and stable procedure to avoid these singularities. Using CRFT, we investigate the response of a set of Maxwell Earth models to surface loading. We find that the effect of expanding a layered viscosity structure into a continuously varying structure is to destroy the modes associated with the boundary between layers. Horizontal motion is more sensitive than vertical motion to the viscosity structure just below the lithosphere. Horizontal motion is less sensitive to the viscosity of the lower mantle than the vertical motion is. When the viscosity increases at 670 km depth by a factor of about 60, the response of the lower mantle is close to its elastic limit. Any further increase of the viscosity contrast at 670 km depth or further increase of viscosity as a continuous function of depth starting from 670 km depth is unlikely to be resolved.

Fang, Ming↗
NASA NTRS1998

Arctic Sea Ice Motion from Wavelet Analysis of Satellite Data

Wavelet analysis of DMSP SSM/I (Special Sensor Microwave/Imager) 85 GHz and 37 GHz radiance data, SMMR (Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer) 37 GHz, and NSCAT (NASA Scatterometer) 13.9 GHZ data can be used to obtain daily sea ice drift information for both the northern and southern polar regions. The derived maps of sea ice drift provide both improved spatial coverage over the existing array of Arctic Ocean buoys and better temporal resolution over techniques utilizing data from satellite synthetic aperture radars (SAR). Examples of derived ice-drift maps in the Arctic illustrate large-scale circulation reversals within a period of a couple weeks. Comparisons with ice displacements derived from buoys show good quantitative agreement. NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) 13.9 GHZ data have been also used for wavelet analysis to derive sea-ice drift. First, the 40' incidence-angle, sigma-zero (surface roughness) daily map of whole Arctic region with 25 km of pixel size from satellite's 600 km swath has been constructed. Then, the similar wavelet transform procedure to SSM/I data can be applied. Various scales of wavelet transform and threshold have been tested. By overlaying , neighbor filtering, and block-averaging the results of multiscale wavelet transforms, the final sea ice drift vectors are much smooth and representative to the sea ice motion. This wavelet analysis procedure is robust and can make a major contribution to the understanding of ice motion over large areas at relatively high temporal resolutions. The results of wavelet analysis of SSM/I and NSCAT images and buoy data can be merged by some data fusion techniques and will help to improve our current knowledge of sea ice drift and related processes through the data assimilation of ocean-ice numerical model.

Liu, Antony K.↗