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At least 595 records · Page 33

SEACIONS During the 2012 Asian Monsoon: A Strategic Approach to Determining Convective Impacts on Tropospheric Ozone and TTL Gravity Waves

Purpose of making ozone and water vapor profiles measurements in SEAC4RS is to give consistent coverage of the vertical structure at fixed sites to (1) complement 2 campaign aircraft sampling; (2) ground-truth satellite measurements of H O and ozone; (3) provide profiles for model evaluation; (4) study processes responsible for day-to-day variability at each site. Revised objective for 2013, due to cancellation of the 2012 and 2013 plans to operate in Southeast Asia: rapidly re-configure the original "SEACIONS," Southeast Asian Consortium for Intensive Ozonesonde Network Study, to a SouthEast American plan (SEACIONS) for collecting daily ozonesonde data during DC-8 and ER-2 flights throughout the southeastern US. As in previous IONS (2004, 2006, 2008), students were trained at St Louis, Tallahassee, Houston, Penn State, Huntsville, Socorro. Images of the soundings and related flight-planning products were posted each day at NASA and Penn State (PSU) websites. With the aircraft based at Ellington Field (Houston), water CFH (cryogenic frost-point hygrometer) sondes in addition to ozonesondes, were to be taken launched at that site.

Thompson, Anne M.↗

Navigation simulator for the Space Tug vehicle

A general simulation program (GSP) for state estimation of a nonlinear space vehicle flight navigation system is developed and used as a basis for evaluating the performance of a Space Tug navigation system. An explanation of the iterative guidance mode (IGM) guidance law, derivation of the dynamics, coordinate frames and state estimation routines are given in order to clarify the assumptions and approximations made. A number of simulation and analytical studies are used to demonstrate the operation of the Tug system. Included in the simulation studies are (1) initial offset vector parameter study; (2) propagation time vs accuracy; (3) measurement noise parametric study and (4) reduction in computational burden of an on-board implementable scheme. From the results of these studies, conclusions and recommendations concerning future areas of practical and theoretical work are presented.

Colburn, B. K.↗

Astronaut hazard during free-flight polar EVA

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) during Shuttle flights planned for the late 1980's includes several factors which together may constitute an astronaut hazard. Free-flight EVA is planned whereas prior United States Earth orbit EVA has used umbilical tethers carrying communications, coolant, and oxygen. EVA associated with missions like LANDSAT Retrieval will be in orbits through the auroral oval where charging of spacecraft may occur. The astronaut performing free flight EVA constitutes an independent spacecraft. The astronaut and the Shuttle make up a system of electrically isolated spacecraft with a wide disparity in size. Unique situations, such as the astronaut being in the wake of the Shuttle while traversing an auroral disturbance, could result in significant astronaut and Shuttle charging. Charging and subsequent arc discharge are important because they have been associated with operating upsets and even satellite failure at geosynchronous orbit. Spacecraft charging theory and experiments are examined to evaluate charging for Shuttle size spacecraft in the polar ionosphere.

Hall, W. N.↗

HO(x) Measurements in SONEX with the Airborne Tropospheric Hydrogen Oxides Sensor (ATHOS)

SONEX, which was delayed by aircraft inspection problems, began the second week of October and concluded in mid-November with 16 flights. These flights covered the Pacific Ocean off the western United States, transits across the United States, the western coast of Europe, and the North and Central Atlantic Ocean. Particular attention was paid to the North Atlantic Flight Corridor. ATHOS collected high-quality HO(x) data on 15 flights. Observations taken at 5 Hz were typically averaged into 20-second measurements. Each 20-second measurement has precision 1(sigma) of less than 0.01 pptv. OH measurements were generally made from the surface to flight altitudes. HO2 measurements, which require reagent NO flow, were made from flight altitudes to near the top of the planetary boundary layer. Measured OH and HO2 during SONEX was generally lower than the measured OH and HO2 during SUCCESS (April-May, 1996, central United States). Whereas during SUCCESS midday OH was 0.1-0.5 pptv and HO2 was 3-15 pptv, during SONEX midday OH was 0.02-0.2 pptv and HO2 was 0.5-8 pptv. Part of this difference results from the midday solar zenith angles, which were larger during SONEX than during SUCCESS due to both the season and the generally higher latitudes sampled during SONEX. However, some of the difference may be due to differences in HOx sources, since less air influenced by convection was sampled during SONEX. These possibilities await post-flight calibrations of ATHOS and analysis of observations of HO(x) and simultaneously measured meteorology and trace species.

Brune, William M.↗

Analysis of flight equipment purchasing practices of representative air carriers

The process through which representative air carriers decide whether or not to purchase flight equipment was investigated as well as their practices and policies in retiring surplus aircraft. An analysis of the flight equipment investment decision process in ten airlines shows that for the airline industry as a whole, the flight equipment investment decision is in a state of transition from a wholly informal process in earliest years to a much more organized and structured process in the future. Individual air carriers are in different stages with respect to the formality and sophistication associated with the flight equipment investment decision.

Source record↗

On-Board Model Based Fault Diagnosis for CubeSat Attitude Control Subsystem: Flight Data Results

Self-sufficient, robotic spacecraft require estimates of their hardware health state in order to project future system state and plan actions toward achieving mission goals. In this paper, we report on integration of a Model-Based Fault Diagnosis (MBFD) model and reasoning engine into flight software leveraging the Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics (ASTERIA) mission, including test results against captured flight data using the ASTERIA system testbed. Our effort integrated the Model-based Off-Nominal State Identification and Detection (MONSID) model-based reasoning system, developed by Okean Solutions, into ASTERIA flight software using the F Prime software framework. The MONSID engine was supplied with a model of the Blue Canyon Technologies XACT attitude control system (ACS) and tested against flight data and seeded fault tests. While we were unable to conduct an on-board experiment due to the premature loss of ASTERIA, our effort proved the feasibility of on-board model-based fault management, demonstrating reliable and accurate diagnosis using captured data, and further supporting a closed-loop spacecraft autonomy demonstration including autonomous navigation in off-nominal conditions.

Prather, Maurice↗

The response of single human cells to zero gravity

Twenty separate cultures of Wistar-38 human embryonic lung cells were exposed to a zero-gravity environment on Skylab for periods of time ranging from one to 59 days. Duplicate cultures were run concurrently as ground controls. Ten cultures were fixed on board the satellite during the first 12 days of flight. Growth curves, DNA microspectrophotometry, phase microscopy, and ultrastructural studies of the fixed cells revealed no effects of a zero-gravity environment on the ten cultures. Two cultures were photographed with phase time lapse cinematography during the first 27 days of flight. No differences were found in mitotic index, cell cycle, and migration between the flight and control cells. Eight cultures were returned to earth in an incubated state. Karyotyping and chromosome banding tests show no differences between the flight and control cells.

Montgomery, P. O., Jr.↗

Acoustic Optimization for Anti-Phase Asymmetric Rotor

This investigation seeks to optimize the implementation of anti-phase alternating trailing edge (TE) patterns for rotor noise suppression. The design objective is to maximize reduction of noise perceived by the community while maintaining the aerodynamic thrust. Computations using a three-dimensional Unsteady-Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes (URANS) with k-w Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model and Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) formula are used to obtain aerodynamic thrust and far-field noise level. A parametric acoustic study of 13 configurations of KDE rotor with variable alternating trailing edge period, alternating trailing edge length, and trailing edge deflection angle is conducted. The best design candidate for the KDE rotor has a four-period TE waveform which results in a reduction in far-field noise level of 2.1 dB in the hover condition and a reduction of 1.1 dB in the forward flight condition at 9.7 m/s. A further parametric acoustic study is conducted for a different rotor manufactured by APC. Six APC rotor design candidates are simulated. The best design candidate 4H for the APC rotor results in a reduction in far-field noise level of 4.0 dB in the hover condition and a reduction of 1.3 dB in the forward flight condition at 9.7 m/s. A series of acoustic experiments in the Penn State University (PSU) anechoic chamber have been conducted. In the forward flight condition at 9.7 m/s, the APC anti-phase 4H rotor offers clear evidence of noise suppression capability across a wide range of the azimuthal angle. In the broadband frequency range of 2000-4000 Hz, the APC anti-phase 4H rotor produces as much as 6 dB noise reduction. The experimental results appear to confirm the noise suppression capability of the proposed anti-phase rotor design concepts.

Xiong, Juntao↗

Excitation of the OI (3s 5S0-3p 5P; lambda 7774 A) multiplet by electron impact on O2

Electron impact on O2 has been employed to ascertain the absolute cross-section value and emission linewidths of the OI (3s 5S0-3p 5P; 7774 A) multiplet. The emission linewidths are highly Doppler-broadened in dissociative excitation, and display two distinct kinetic energy distributions: which indicate that both purely repulsive and discrete, bound, excited molecular states, which then predissociate, are involved in the dissociation process that leads to the excitation of OI 7774 A. The magnitude of the measured cross-section and the fragment kinetic energy distribution both indicate that the previous time-of-flight studies of the metastable OI (5S0) state require reinterpretation.

Erdman, P. W.↗

Medical experience in manned space flight

Medical flight information on astronauts response to space flight environment in confined and unconfined state and during intra- and extravehicular activities

Berry, C. A.↗

A comparison and evaluation of satellite derived positions of tracking stations

A comparison is presented of sets of satellite tracking station coordinate values published in the past few years by a number of investigators, i.e. Goddard Space Flight Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Ohio State University, The Naval Weapons Laboratory, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, and Wallops Island. The comparisons have been made in terms of latitude, longitude and height. The results of the various solutions have been compared directly and also with external standards such as local survey data and gravimetrically derived geoid heights. After taking into account systematic rotations, latitude and longitude agreement on a global basis is generally 15 meters or better, on the North American Datum agreement is generally better than 10 meters. Allowing for scale differences (of the order of 2 ppm) radial agreement is generally of the order of 10 meters.

Vincent, S. F.↗

Surface truth measurements of optical properties of the waters in the northern Gulf of California

Gemini and Apollo flight photographs of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, and especially of the Colorado River delta and the northwestern Gulf of California, are considered. The clearly discernible water coloration in the imagery led to the suggestion that remote sensing techniques may be usefully applied in such areas to determine bathymetric information. Measurements of the optical properties of the water in this region obtained in March 1971 showed that generally low transmissivities prevailed and at no station did the beam transmittance for the total water column exceed 2.5 x 10 to the -8th power. It was concluded that any correlation between water depth and spectral radiance at the surface must result from secondarily related phenomena.

Austin, R. W.↗

Space flight operations for world development.

Mission objectives, hardware development efforts, and aspects of international cooperation are covered in an outline of space flight programs planned by the United States for the forthcoming decade. Scientific experiments envisioned for the Apollo 17 mission and for the Skylab program are discussed along with the current status of the joint Apollo/Soyuz test project specified by the U.S.-USSR space agreement of May 1972. The Space Shuttle, Space Tug, and Sortie Laboratory projects are outlined with emphasis on the use of experience and hardware gained in earlier phases of this space program.

Myers, D. D.↗

Estimating aircraft states

Computer program provides weighted least-squares estimates of aircraft states from measurements recorded during routine flight tests. Program contains standard six-degree-of-freedom kinematic equations.

Wingrove, R. C.↗

NASA philosophy concerning space stations as operations centers for construction and maintenance of large orbiting energy systems

Future United States plans for manned space-flight activities are summarized, emphasizing the long-term goals of achieving permanent occupancy and limited self-sufficiency in space. NASA-sponsored studies of earth-orbiting Space Station concepts are reviewed along with lessons learned from the Skylab missions. Descriptions are presented of the Space Transportation System, the Space Construction Base, and the concept of space industrialization (the processing and manufacturing of goods in space). Future plans for communications satellites, solar-power satellites, terrestrial observations from space stations, and manned orbital-transfer vehicles are discussed.

Freitag, R. F.↗

Morphogenetic responses of cultured totipotent cells of carrot /Daucus carota var. carota/ at zero gravity

An experiment designed to test whether embryos capable of developing from isolated somatic carrot cells could do so under conditions of weightlessness in space was performed aboard the unmanned Soviet biosatellite Kosmos 782 under the auspices of the joint United States-Soviet Biological Satellite Mission. Space flight and weightlessness seem to have had no adverse effects on the induction of embryoids or on the development of their organs. A portion of the crop of carrot plantlets originated in space and grown to maturity were not morphologically different from controls.

Krikorian, A. D.↗

The MAGSAT vector magnetometer: A precision fluxgate magnetometer for the measurement of the geomagnetic field

A description of the precision triaxial fluxgate magnetometer to be flown aboard the MAGSAT spacecraft is presented. The instrument covers the range of + or - 64,000 nT with a resolution of + or - 0.5 nT, an intrinsic accuracy of + or - 0.001% of full scale and an angular alignment stability of the order of 2 seconds of arc. It was developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and represents the state-of-the-art in precision vector magnetometers developed for spaceflight use.

Acuna, M. H.↗

Power spectral measurements of clear-air turbulence to long wavelengths for altitudes up to 14,000 meters

Measurements of three components of clear air atmospheric turbulence were made with an airplane incorporating a special instrumentation system to provide accurate data resolution to wavelengths of approximately 12,500 m (40,000 ft). Flight samplings covered an altitude range from approximately 500 to 14,000 m (1500 to 46,000 ft) in various meteorological conditions. Individual autocorrelation functions and power spectra for the three turbulence components from 43 data runs taken primarily from mountain wave and jet stream encounters are presented. The flight location (Eastern or Western United States), date, time, run length, intensity level (standard deviation), and values of statistical degrees of freedom for each run are provided in tabular form. The data presented should provide adequate information for detailed meteorological correlations. Some time histories which contain predominant low frequency wave motion are also presented.

Murrow, H. N.↗