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NASA NTRS2013

Evidence for Water Ie on the Moon: Results for Anomalous Polar Craters from the LRO Mini-RF Imaging Radar

The Mini-RF radar instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft mapped both lunar poles in two different RF wavelengths (complete mapping at 12.6 cm S-band and partial mapping at 4.2 cm X-band) in two look directions, removing much of the ambiguity of previous Earth- and spacecraft-based radar mapping of the Moon's polar regions. The poles are typical highland terrain, showing expected values of radar cross section (albedo) and circular polarization ratio (CPR). Most fresh craters display high values of CPR in and outside the crater rim; the pattern of these CPR distributions is consistent with high levels of wavelength-scale surface roughness associated with the presence of block fields, impact melt flows, and fallback breccia. A different class of polar crater exhibits high CPR only in their interiors, interiors that are both permanently dark and very cold (less than 100 K). Application of scattering models developed previously suggests that these anomalously high-CPR deposits exhibit behavior consistent with the presence of water ice. If this interpretation is correct, then both poles may contain several hundred million tons of water in the form of relatively "clean" ice, all within the upper couple of meters of the lunar surface. The existence of significant water ice deposits enables both long-term human habitation of the Moon and the creation of a permanent cislunar space transportation system based upon the harvest and use of lunar propellant.

polar↗

NASA NTRS2014

Self-Calibration of BICEP1 Three-Year Data and Constraints on Astrophysical Polarization Rotation

Cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarimeters aspire to measure the faint B-mode signature predicted to arise from inflationary gravitational waves. They also have the potential to constrain cosmic birefringence, rotation of the polarization of the CMB arising from parity-violating physics, which would produce nonzero expectation values for the CMB's temperature to B-mode correlation (TB) and E-mode to B-mode correlation (EB) spectra. However, instrumental systematic effects can also cause these TB and EB correlations to be nonzero. In particular, an overall miscalibration of the polarization orientation of the detectors produces TB and EB spectra which are degenerate with isotropic cosmological birefringence, while also introducing a small but predictable bias on the BB spectrum. We find that BICEP1 three-year spectra, which use our standard calibration of detector polarization angles from a dielectric sheet, are consistent with a polarization rotation of alpha = −2.77deg +/- 0.86deg (statistical) +/- 1.3deg (systematic). We have revised the estimate of systematic error on the polarization rotation angle from the two-year analysis by comparing multiple calibration methods. We also account for the (negligible) impact of measured beam systematic effects. We investigate the polarization rotation for the BICEP1 100 GHz and 150 GHz bands separately to investigate theoretical models that produce frequency-dependent cosmic birefringence. We find no evidence in the data supporting either of these models or Faraday rotation of the CMB polarization by the Milky Way galaxy's magnetic field. If we assume that there is no cosmic birefringence, we can use the TB and EB spectra to calibrate detector polarization orientations, thus reducing bias of the cosmological B-mode spectrum from leaked E-modes due to possible polarization orientation miscalibration. After applying this "self-calibration" process, we find that the upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio decreases slightly, from r < 0.70 to r < 0.65 at 95% confidence.

three-year↗

NASA NTRS2012

An Ad-Hoc Adaptive Pilot Model for Pitch Axis Gross Acquisition Tasks

An ad-hoc algorithm is presented for real-time adaptation of the well-known crossover pilot model and applied to pitch axis gross acquisition tasks in a generic fighter aircraft. Off-line tuning of the crossover model to human pilot data gathered in a fixed-based high fidelity simulation is first accomplished for a series of changes in aircraft dynamics to provide expected values for model parameters. It is shown that in most cases, for this application, the traditional crossover model can be reduced to a gain and a time delay. The ad-hoc adaptive pilot gain algorithm is shown to have desirable convergence properties for most types of changes in aircraft dynamics.

Hanson, Curtis E.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Evidence for Water Ice on the Moon: Results for Anomalous Polar Craters from the LRO Mini-RF Imaging Radar

Mini-RF radar↗

NASA NTRS2015

Rao-Blackwellization for Adaptive Gaussian Sum Nonlinear Model Propagation

When dealing with imperfect data and general models of dynamic systems, the best estimate is always sought in the presence of uncertainty or unknown parameters. In many cases, as the first attempt, the Extended Kalman filter (EKF) provides sufficient solutions to handling issues arising from nonlinear and non-Gaussian estimation problems. But these issues may lead unacceptable performance and even divergence. In order to accurately capture the nonlinearities of most real-world dynamic systems, advanced filtering methods have been created to reduce filter divergence while enhancing performance. Approaches, such as Gaussian sum filtering, grid based Bayesian methods and particle filters are well-known examples of advanced methods used to represent and recursively reproduce an approximation to the state probability density function (pdf). Some of these filtering methods were conceptually developed years before their widespread uses were realized. Advanced nonlinear filtering methods currently benefit from the computing advancements in computational speeds, memory, and parallel processing. Grid based methods, multiple-model approaches and Gaussian sum filtering are numerical solutions that take advantage of different state coordinates or multiple-model methods that reduced the amount of approximations used. Choosing an efficient grid is very difficult for multi-dimensional state spaces, and oftentimes expensive computations must be done at each point. For the original Gaussian sum filter, a weighted sum of Gaussian density functions approximates the pdf but suffers at the update step for the individual component weight selections. In order to improve upon the original Gaussian sum filter, Ref. [2] introduces a weight update approach at the filter propagation stage instead of the measurement update stage. This weight update is performed by minimizing the integral square difference between the true forecast pdf and its Gaussian sum approximation. By adaptively updating each component weight during the nonlinear propagation stage an approximation of the true pdf can be successfully reconstructed. Particle filtering (PF) methods have gained popularity recently for solving nonlinear estimation problems due to their straightforward approach and the processing capabilities mentioned above. The basic concept behind PF is to represent any pdf as a set of random samples. As the number of samples increases, they will theoretically converge to the exact, equivalent representation of the desired pdf. When the estimated qth moment is needed, the samples are used for its construction allowing further analysis of the pdf characteristics. However, filter performance deteriorates as the dimension of the state vector increases. To overcome this problem Ref. [5] applies a marginalization technique for PF methods, decreasing complexity of the system to one linear and another nonlinear state estimation problem. The marginalization theory was originally developed by Rao and Blackwell independently. According to Ref. [6] it improves any given estimator under every convex loss function. The improvement comes from calculating a conditional expected value, often involving integrating out a supportive statistic. In other words, Rao-Blackwellization allows for smaller but separate computations to be carried out while reaching the main objective of the estimator. In the case of improving an estimator's variance, any supporting statistic can be removed and its variance determined. Next, any other information that dependents on the supporting statistic is found along with its respective variance. A new approach is developed here by utilizing the strengths of the adaptive Gaussian sum propagation in Ref. [2] and a marginalization approach used for PF methods found in Ref. [7]. In the following sections a modified filtering approach is presented based on a special state-space model within nonlinear systems to reduce the dimensionality of the optimization problem in Ref. [2]. First, the adaptive Gaussian sum propagation is explained and then the new marginalized adaptive Gaussian sum propagation is derived. Finally, an example simulation is presented.

state estimation↗

NASA NTRS2015

Utilizing Direct Numerical Simulations of Transition and Turbulence in Design Optimization

Design optimization methods that use the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the associated turbulence and transition models, or other model-based forms of the governing equations, may result in aerodynamic designs with actual performance levels that are noticeably different from the expected values because of the complexity of modeling turbulence/transition accurately in certain flows. Flow phenomena such as wake-blade interaction and trailing edge vortex shedding in turbines and compressors (examples of such flows) may require a computational approach that is free of transition/turbulence models, such as direct numerical simulations (DNS), for the underlying physics to be computed accurately. Here we explore the possibility of utilizing DNS data in designing a turbine blade section. The ultimate objective is to substantially reduce differences between predicted performance metrics and those obtained in reality. The redesign of a typical low-pressure turbine blade section with the goal of reducing total pressure loss in the row is provided as an example. The basic ideas presented here are of course just as applicable elsewhere in aerodynamic shape optimization as long as the computational costs are not excessive.

Direct numerical simulations of transition and tur↗

NASA NTRS2016

Performance of the PRAXyS X-Ray Polarimeter

The performance of the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) polarimeter for the Polarimeter for Relativistic Astrophysical X-ray Sources (PRAXyS) Small Explorer was evaluated using polarized and unpolarized X-ray sources. The PRAXyS mission will enable exploration of the universe through X-ray polarimetry in the 2-10 keV energy band. We carried out performance tests of the polarimeter at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Synchrotron Light Source (BNL-NSLS) and at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The polarimeter was tested with linearly polarized, monochromatic X-rays at 11 different energies between 2.5 and 8.0 keV. At maximum sensitivity, the measured modulation factors at 2.7, 4.5 and 8.0 keV are 27%, 43% and 59%, respectively and the measured angle of polarization is consistent with the expected value at all energies. Measurements with a broadband, unpolarized X-ray source placed a limit of less than 1% on false polarization in the PRAXyS polarimeter.

PRAXyS↗

NASA NTRS2016

Faraday Rotation Measurement with the SMAP Radiometer

Faraday rotation is an issue that needs to be taken into account in remote sensing of parameters such as soil moisture and ocean salinity at L-band. This is especially important for SMAP because Faraday rotation varies with azimuth around the conical scan. SMAP retrieves Faraday rotation in situ using the ratio of the third and second Stokes parameters, a procedure that was demonstrated successfully by Aquarius. This manuscript reports the performance of this algorithm on SMAP. Over ocean the process works reasonably well and results compare favorably with expected values. But over land, the inhomogeneous nature of the scene results in much noisier, and in some cases unreliable estimates of Faraday rotation.

microwave remote sensing↗

NASA NTRS2016

CGRO/BATSE Data Support the New Paradigm For GRB Prompt Emission and the New L-i(nTh)-E-peak,i(nTh,rest) Relation

The paradigm for gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission is changing. Since early in the Compton Gamma RayObservatory (CGRO) era, the empirical Band function has been considered a good description of the keV-MeV-gamma-ray prompt emission spectra despite the fact that its shape was very often inconsistent with the theoretical predictions, especially those expected in pure synchrotron emission scenarios. We have recently established a new observational model analyzing data of the NASA Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. In this model, GRB prompt emission would be a combination of three main emission components: (i) a thermal-like component that we have interpreted so far as emission from the jet photosphere, (ii) a non-thermal component that we have interpreted so far as either synchrotron radiation from the propagating and accelerated charged particles within the jet or reprocessed jet photospheric emission, and (iii) an additional non-thermal (cutoff) power law (PL) extending from low to high energies in gamma-rays and most likely of inverse Compton origin. In this article we reanalyze some of the bright GRBs, namely GRBs 941017, 970111, and 990123, observed with the Burst And Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on board CGRO with the new model. We conclude that BATSE data for these three GRBs are fully consistent with the recent results obtained with Fermi: some bright BATSE GRBs exhibit three separate components during the prompt phase with similar spectral parameters as those reported from Fermi data. In addition, the analysis of the BATSE GRBs with the new prompt emission model results in a relation between the time-resolved energy flux of the non-thermal component, F(in)(Th), and its corresponding nuFnu spectral peak energy,Epeak,inTh (i.e., FinThEpeak,inTh ), which has a similar index when fitted to a PL as the one initially derived from Fermi data. For GRBs with known redshifts (z) this results in a possible universal relation between the luminosity of the non-thermal component, LinTh, and its corresponding nuFnu spectral peak energy in the rest frame, Epeak,iNT,rest (i.e.,LinThEpeak,iNT,rest). We estimated the redshifts of GRBs 941017 and 970111 using GRB 990123 with z = 1.61as a reference. The estimated redshift for GRB 941017 is typical for long GRBs and the estimated redshift for GRB970111 is right in the range of the expected values for this burst.

acceleration of particles â€“ black hole physics â↗

NASA NTRS2017

Retrievals of Aerosol Optical and Microphysical Properties from Imaging Polar Nephelometer Scattering Measurements

A method for the retrieval of aerosol optical and microphysical properties from in situ light-scattering measurements is presented and the results are compared with existing measurement techniques. The Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties (GRASP) is applied to airborne and laboratory measurements made by a novel polar nephelometer. This instrument, the Polarized Imaging Nephelometer (PI-Neph), is capable of making high-accuracy field measurements of phase function and degree of linear polarization, at three visible wavelengths, over a wide angular range of 3 to 177°. The resulting retrieval produces particle size distributions (PSDs) that agree, within experimental error, with measurements made by commercial optical particle counters (OPCs). Additionally, the retrieved real part of the refractive index is generally found to be within the predicted error of 0.02 from the expected values for three species of humidified salt particles, with a refractive index that is well established. The airborne measurements used in this work were made aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) field campaign, and the inversion of this data represents the first aerosol retrievals of airborne polar nephelometer data. The results provide confidence in the real refractive index product, as well as in the retrieval's ability to accurately determine PSD, without assumptions about refractive index that are required by the majority of OPCs.

Espinosa, W. Reed↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TIME-SERIES SOIL MOISTURE RETRIEVAL USING S-BAND BACKSCATTER MEASUREMENTS FROM THE SMEX02 CAMPAIGN

S-band observations from NASA’s Passive/Active L/S Band (PALS) radar from theSMEX02 campaign were used to estimate soil moisture. The “alpha”method is applied for this process, in which a time series of ratios of normalized radar cross section values at successive measurements is used to infer the corresponding soil moisture time series given ancillary information on the minimum and maximum soil moisture values expected over the time series. Results are examined as a function of the polarization and crop type. The results show reasonable retrieval performance, indicating the potential of usingS-band observations from the future NASA/ISRO SAR(NISAR)mission.

Dustin Horton↗

NASA NTRS2021

The Determination of the Rotational State and Interior Structure of Venus with VERITAS

Understanding the processes that led Venus to its current state and will drive its future evolution is a major objective of the next generation of orbiters. In this work we analyze the retrieval of the spin vector, the tidal response and the moment of inertia of Venus with VERITAS, a NASA Discovery-class mission. By simulating a systematic joint analysis of Doppler tracking data and tie points provided by the onboard synthetic aperture radar we show that VERITAS will provide accuracies (3σ) in the estimates of the tidal Love number k_2 to 4.6×10^(-4), its tidal phase lag to 0.05°, and the moment of inertia factor to 9.8×10^(-4) (0.3% of the expected value). Applying these results to recent models of the Venus interior, we show that VERITAS will provide much improved constraints on the interior structure of the planet.

G Cascioli↗

NASA NTRS2022

Novel Crash Sled with a Translating Support Mass

Background: A novel crash sled has been developed with a translating support, incorporating transducers that allow multiple methods of measuring energy absorption to fully characterize the dynamic crush response of composite components. Objective: The main goal of the current investigation was to demonstrate functionality, repeatability, and accuracy of crush testing using a crash sled with a translating support mass. Methods: A semi-automated algorithm for data reduction was developed based on impact mechanics principles. A preliminary set of tests was initially conducted using aluminum honeycomb specimens with a specified stable crushing force to quantify the accuracy and repeatability of the crush data. Following the success of these tests, triaxially-braided fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) specimens were evaluated. Results: Crush tests with the aluminum honeycomb specimens showed excellent outcomes for all three specimens. These data provided close agreement with cumulative energy absorption between individual instruments and stable crushing forces at expected values. For the FRP specimens, specific energy absorption (SEA) and force-displacement curves were successfully measured; however, data from the translating support mass accelerometer was excluded from the dataset due to clipping. The SEA of the corrugated specimens was greater than the SEA for the C-channel specimens at both test speeds. Conclusions: The crash sled functionality was verified, the specimen geometry was found to contribute more to SEA than the impact speed in the speed range tested, and the support mass accelerometer will be upgraded to prevent clipping in future tests.

Dynamic Crush↗

NASA NTRS2020

Development and Performance Verification of a TPC Polarimeter for High Energy X-rays

We present the first application of a time projection chamber polarimeter to measure high energy X-ray polarization above 10 keV. The polarimeter is designed based on the PRAXyS soft X-ray polarimeter. The sealed gas is changed to a gas mixture of 60% argon and 40% dimethyl ether at 1 atm to be sensitive to high energy X-rays. The polarimeter performance is verified with linearly polarized, monochromatic X-rays at a synchrotron radiation facility, KEK Photon Factory BL-14A. The measured modulation factors are 42.4±0.6%, 50.4±0.6%,and 55.0±0.6% at 12, 14, and 16 keV, respectively, and the measured polarization angles are consistent with the expected values at all energies.

Tomoshi Takeda↗

NASA NTRS2020

Psyche Magnetometer Engineering Model Test and Thermal Model Correlation to Validate Operational Thermal Requirement

Psyche Fluxgate Magnetometer candidate fabricated by UCLA has a critical temperature gradient requirement inside the magnetometer sensor head. Since the temperature gradient requirement is a driving factor for the magnetometer operation and science data collection at 16 Psyche, it is critical to validate and verify this requirement via modeling and test. In this work, a thermal vacuum test was completed for Psyche flight-like magnetometer engineering model. Flight-like environments were simulated for a hot operational case (after launch), a cold survival case (cruise), and two cold operational cases to characterize thermal performance of the instrument. An additional, non-flight, steady-state test case was completed to better correlate the magnetometer thermal model. During the test, sensitive Cernox temperature sensors with accuracy of ±0.1°C were used to precisely characterize the temperature gradient and correlate the model to the best accuracy. Collected test data indicated power consumption of 28% lower than predicted. The temperature gradient measured met the expected value and the requirement. Test data indicated the magnetometer also met the AFTs in relevant hot and cold environments. Test Results were used to correlate the thermal model. The correlated thermal model will be integrated to the spacecraft thermal model to predict magnetometer thermal performance while collecting science data in Psyche orbits.

Caron, Ryan↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Predicting Thermal Response in a Li-ion Cell on a UAV Fight Profile

As the energy storage devices continue to "pack" more energy in a small space, any damage, battery component failure, manufacturing defect, or electrically abusing the battery can lead to catastrophic thermal runaway events. A catastrophic thermal event in a cell leads to high temperature, in some instances spewing of battery materials due to gas development from side reactions initiated due to high internal temperatures. Also, a thermal runaway event can propagate from a single "failed" cell to the pack in a battery pack, leading to a more significant event. Mitigating a thermal runaway event is important in the commercial and automotive sectors. However, preventing such events in an electric aircraft (or air taxis) is paramount due to the lack of alternatives in the event of a failure. Battery prognostics algorithms allow the prediction of state-of-charge (SOC) and end-of-life (EOL) of a Li-ion battery in a UAV (unmanned air vehicle) [1]. For this presentation, we will extend this two-level battery predictive algorithm to predict SOC, EOL, and estimated maximum temperature during a simulated flight. The model is extended by integrating a lumped physics-driven thermal model for high current densities [2]. The parameters used to control SOC and EOL are maximum storable charge, time constant for Li-ion diffusivity in the carbon particles, and internal cell resistance. Cycling leads to an increase in the heat generated by an aged Li-ion cell with a LiyCoO2 (LCO) cathode and a LixC6 (MCMB) anode. The aging of a cell leads to increase in SEI layer thickness, the diffusion time for the lithium ions inside the electrodes, and the local reaction rates, in addition to the thermodynamic abuse caused by fixed cycling voltages controlled by a Battery Management System. As the battery ages, the cell resistance increases, while the onset temperature of the thermal runaway decreases (depends on the cell chemistry and cell abuse history). Any large deviation of the cell temperature from the estimated (expected) value can identify a faulty cell. Since SEI decomposition has the lowest onset temperature in the series of reactions leading to thermal runaway, the model considers the self-heating rate of the SEI decomposition as onset temperature (similar to Ref. [3]). The parameters in the Arrhenius equation for the SEI heating rate depend on the number of cycles, the cell's operating temperature, and the cell's abuse history [4,5]. Coupling the electrochemical, thermal, and aging model allow the prognostic algorithm to estimate a typical cell voltage and temperature as a function of age (cycling and calendar), whose departure from measured values from the BMS is used to identify a safety event. In addition, we will present the results from two simulated flight scenarios for a UAV: typical and extreme, since the power requirements vary significantly during take-off, landing, and changing altitudes, while the power requirements remain low during the cruise. For this presentation, the power requirement for a battery pack in a UAV is scaled to a single cell. This cell is cycled through a simulated profile, and the data is collected and used to predict a safety event.

Li-ion↗

DOE OSTI2022

Reducing the cost of energy estimation in the variational quantum eigensolver algorithm with robust amplitude estimation

Quantum chemistry and materials is one of the most promising applications of quantum computing. Yet much work is still to be done in matching industry-relevant problems in these areas with quantum algorithms that can solve them. Most previous efforts have carried out resource estimations for quantum algorithms run on large-scale fault-tolerant architectures, which include the quantum phase estimation algorithm. In contrast, few have assessed the performance of near-term quantum algorithms, which include the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm. Recently, a large-scale benchmark study [Gonthier et al. 2020] found evidence that the performance of the variational quantum eigensolver for a set of industry-relevant molecules may be too inefficient to be of practical use. This motivates the need for developing and assessing methods that improve the efficiency of VQE. In this work, we predict the runtime of the energy estimation subroutine of VQE when using robust amplitude estimation (RAE) to estimate Pauli expectation values. Under conservative assumptions, our resource estimation predicts that RAE can reduce the runtime over the standard estimation method in VQE by one to two orders of magnitude. Despite this improvement, we find that the runtimes are still too large to be practical. These findings motivate two complementary efforts towards quantum advantage: 1) the investigation of more efficient near-term methods for ground state energy estimation and 2) the development of problem instances that are of industrial value and classically challenging, but better suited to quantum computation.

Johnson, Peter D.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Photoproduction of the b 1 (1235) Meson off the proton at E gamma = 6-12 GeV

The GlueX Experiment at Jefferson Lab directs a linearly polarized photon beam on a liquid hydrogen target surrounded by an almost hermetic detector. The experiment aims to study the meson spectrum in the light-quark sector and search for exotic spin-parity states predicted by lattice QCD calculations. The lightest exotic candidate is the π 1 meson, which is predicted to decay dominantly to b 1 π. In this thesis, we present efforts to characterize the ωπ 0 decay channel of the b 1 meson as precursor to an analysis of the sought-after π 1 exotic state. We present an introduction to the physics involved and an overview of the detector subsystems with a focus on the Barrel Calorimeter gain monitoring system, as part of the service work expected by the GlueX Collaboration. We discuss the data analysis method used and present two frameworks, for angular moments and partial waves analyses. Details of the simulation used to calculate the detector acceptance. A proof of concept partial wave analysis is presented along with experimental angular moments as first step to a full analysis of the angular distribution Our partial wave analysis indicates that both S- and D-waves are needed, in qualitative agreement with theoretical expectations. The cross-section of the omega π 0 channel is extracted to be of the scale of 1 μb in agreement with previous measurements. The differential cross-section indicates the presence of two production processes with p 1 = -5:24 ± 0:04 for 0:25 < -t < 0:95 GeV 2 ~c 2 and p 2 = -1:24 ± 0:05 for 0:95 < -t < 2:0 GeV 2 ~c 2 , which does not agree with results from previous experiments. The s-channel helicity conservation and helicity amplitudes of the b 1 meson are presented as additional experimental observables. Our results confirm that the b1 photoproduction process does not conserve s-channel helicity though they do not align with previous measurements. The helicity amplitude of the omega are extracted to be |F 1 | 2 = 0:3037 ± 0:0003 which does not agree with the expected value of a b 1 decay or results from a previous experiment. Future steps in all these analyses will be continued by a new graduate student in the group, culminating in a publication.

Foda, Ahmed↗