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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 613 records · Page 34
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1973

Central Atlantic regional ecological test site: A prototype regional environmental information system

The author has identified the following significant results. A comparison of photomorphic regions from an uncontrolled ERTS-1 mosaic of CARETS to land use areas on a map published in the National Atlas revealed close correlations in non-urban regions. Such regional scale analysis of ERTS-1 data has the potential for providing an economical sampling strategy for selecting sites for more detailed field measurements if other environmental variables can be correlated with patterns on ERTS-1 imagery. ERTS-1 imagery has also revealed for the first time the appearance of CARETS during the winter months. Investigators have identified extensive areas of conifers, which have previously been indistinguishable from deciduous vegetation. Imagery has also shown very clearly the extent of snow cover at a particular time over the region. The evaluation of ERTS-1 imagery used for the land use mapping of the shore zone of CARETS, has shown that the presence or absence of elements of an hierarchal system of shoreline landforms can help identify areas of potential rapid change. Changes in land use class distributions on the Barrier Islands signify the environmental response to natural and man-caused processes. Both environmental vulnerability and sensitivity can be estimated from the repetitive ERTS-1 coverage of long reaches of the CARETS coast. Results indicate potential applications to land use planning, management, and regional environmental quality analysis.

Alexander, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Image quality prediction - An aid to the Viking lander imaging investigation on Mars

Image quality criteria and image quality predictions are formulated for the multispectral panoramic cameras carried by the Viking Mars landers. Image quality predictions are based on expected camera performance, Mars surface radiance, and lighting and viewing geometry (fields of view, Mars lander shadows, solar day-night alternation), and are needed in diagnosis of camera performance, in arriving at a preflight imaging strategy, and revision of that strategy should the need arise. Landing considerations, camera control instructions, camera control logic, aspects of the imaging process (spectral response, spatial response, sensitivity), and likely problems are discussed. Major concerns include: degradation of camera response by isotope radiation, uncertainties in lighting and viewing geometry and in landing site local topography, contamination of camera window by dust abrasion, and initial errors in assigning camera dynamic ranges (gains and offsets).

Huck, F. O.↗
NASA NTRS1977

MIS diode structure in As/+/ implanted CdS

Structure made by As implantation of carefully prepared high-conductivity CdS surfaces followed by Pt deposition and 450 C anneal display rectifying, although substantially different, I-V characteristics in the dark and during illumination with subband-gap light. Structures prepared in the same way on an unimplanted portion of the substrate have similar I-V characteristics, except that the forward turnover voltage for an illuminated unimplanted diode is much smaller than that for an implanted diode. It is suggested that the charge conduction in both structures is dominated by hole and/or electron tunneling through a metal-semiconductor potential barrier. The tunneling processes appear to be quite sensitive to subband-gap illumination, which causes the dramatic decreases of turnover voltages and apparent series resistances. The difference in turnover voltage appears to be caused by interface states between the Pt electrode and the implanted layer, which suggests a MIS model.

Hutchby, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1979

A study of the excitation and radiative decay of the 3s-prime 3D-0 and 3d 3D-0 levels of atomic oxygen

The absolute cross-sections for the excitation of the 989 A, 1027 A, 7990 A, 8446 A, 1.1287 micron and 1.3164 micron multiplets of atomic oxygen by electron impact dissociation of O2 are reported. The radiative branching ratios for these transitions are calculated from these results and compared with the NBS compilation of Wiese et al. (1966) and the recent theoretical calculations of Pradhan and Saraph (1977). The cascade models of O(+) radiative recombination and of electron-impact excitation of the O I(3S) state in the terrestrial airglow are discussed in the light of the laboratory measurements, and the effects of the resonant absorption of components of the lambda 989 A and lambda 1027 A multiplets by the Birge-Hopfield band system of N2 are investigated. This process is shown to depend sensitively on the N2 vibrational temperature and to cause characteristic changes in the OI EUV emission spectrum in auroras and in the sunlit F-region at high exospheric temperatures.

Zipf, E. C.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Evaluation of a Reverse Gradient Garment for prevention of bed-rest deconditioning

A Reverse Gradient Garment (RGG) was used to intermittently induce venous pooling in the extremities of a magnitude similar to that seen in going from a lying to standing position during the course of a 15-d period of horizontal bed rest. Venous pooling failed to improve bed-rest-induced losses in +2.5 Gz and +3.0 Gz centrifugation tolerance or to prevent increased heart-rate responses to lower-body negative pressure (LBNP). Four subjects served as controls, four were treated. Tests during the 7-d recovery period showed fluid/electrolyte and body composition values to have returned to pre-bed-rest levels with continued depression of acceleration tolerance times (56% decreased at +2.5 Gz and 74% decreased at +3.0 Gz compared to pre-bed-rest levels) and exaggerated blood insulin response on glucose tolerance testing (blood insulin for treated group increased 95% at 1 h before bed rest and 465% during recovery). This study demonstrates that the physiologic changes after bed rest persist for significant periods of time. Acceleration tolerance time proved to be a sensitive test for the deconditioning process.

Sandler, H.↗
NASA NTRS1984

In Search of a Visual-cortical Describing Function: a Summary of Work in Progress

The thrust of the present work is to explore the utility of using a sum of sinusoids (seven or more) to obtain an evoked response and, furthermore, to see if the response is sensitive to changes in cognitive processing. Within the field of automatic control system technology, a mathematical input/output relationship for a sinusoidally stimulated nonlinear system is defined as describing function. Applying this technology, sum of sines inputs to yield describing functions for the visual-cortical response have been designed. What follows is a description of the method used to obtain visual-cortical describing functions. A number of measurement system redesigns were necessary to achieve the desired frequency resolution. Results that guided and came out of the redesigns are presented. Preliminary results of stimulus parameter effects (average intensity and depth of modulation) are also shown.

Junker, A. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

SPAR X Technical Report for Experiment 76-22 Directional Solidification of Magnetic Composites

The effects of gravity on Bridgman-Stockbarger directional solidification of off-eutectic Bi/MnBi were studied in reduced gravity aboard the SPAR X flight and compared to normal-gravity investigations and previous eutectic Bi/MnBi SPAR flight experiments. The directional solidification of off-eutectic Bi/MnBi results in either a dendritic structure connected with local cooperative growth or a coupled low volume fraction faceted/non faceted aligned rod eutectic whose Mn macrosegregation, MnBi rod size, interrod spacing, and thermal and magnetic properties are sensitive functions of the solidification processing conditions. Two hypoeutectic and two hypereutectic samples were solidified during 605 sec of furnace travel, with an initial 265 sec low-gravity interval. Comparison Earth-gravity samples were solidified in the same furance assembly under identical processing conditions. Macrosegregation in the low-g samples was consistent with a metastable increase in Mn solubility in the Bi matrix, in partial agreement with previous Bi/MnBi SPAR findings of MnBi volume reduction.

Bethin, J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The dissociation of subjective measures of mental workload and performance

Dissociation between performance and subjective workload measures was investigated in the theoretical framework of the multiple resources model. Subjective measures do not preserve the vector characteristics in the multidimensional space described by the model. A theory of dissociation was proposed to locate the sources that may produce dissociation between the two workload measures. According to the theory, performance is affected by every aspect of processing whereas subjective workload is sensitive to the amount of aggregate resource investment and is dominated by the demands on the perceptual/central resources. The proposed theory was tested in three experiments. Results showed that performance improved but subjective workload was elevated with an increasing amount of resource investment. Furthermore, subjective workload was not as sensitive as was performance to differences in the amount of resource competition between two tasks. The demand on perceptual/central resources was found to be the most salient component of subjective workload. Dissociation occurred when the demand on this component was increased by the number of concurrent tasks or by the number of display elements. However, demands on response resources were weighted in subjective introspection as much as demands on perceptual/central resources. The implications of these results for workload practitioners are described.

Yeh, Y. H.↗
NASA NTRS1986

An example of scaling MST Doppler spectra using median spectra, spectral smoothing, and velocity tracing

Although automatic, computer scaling methods appeared at the start of the MST (mesosphere stratosphere troposphere) radar technique, there is a continuing need for scaling algorithms that perform editing functions and increase the sensitivity of radar by post processing. The scaling method presented is an adaptation of the method of scaling MST Doppler spectra presented by Rastogi (1984). A brief overview of this method is as follows: a median spectrum is calculated from several sequential spectra; the median noise value is subtracted from this derived spectrum; the median spectrum is smoothed; the detection/nondetection decision is made by comparing the smoothed spectrum to the variance of the smoothed noise; and if a signal is detected, then the half-power points of the smoothed echo spectrum are used to place limits on the evaluation of the first two moments of the unsmoothed median spectrum. In all of the above steps, the algorithm is guided by tracing the expected velocity range upward from the lowest range as far as possible. The method is discussed in more detail.

Green, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Telescope technology for the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE)

Preliminary engineering studies are in progress to define a telescope for FUSE. General science objectives include high resolution spectroscopy in the 900-1200 A spectral region, low or moderate resolution spectroscopy in the 100-900 A range, and long slit imaging over a 1-arcmin field at a spatial resolution of 1 arcsec. Telescope design studies indicate that a 1-m-diameter Wolter-Schwarzschild type II glancing-incidence telescope with an effective collecting area of 3000 sq cm is required to meet the primary science objectives. A baseline optical design has been completed, and initial alignment sensitivities derived to begin the process of error allocation for the entire system.

Osantowski, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Flight test results of a vector-based failure detection and isolation algorithm for a redundant strapdown inertial measurement unit

Flight test results of a vector-based fault-tolerant algorithm for a redundant strapdown inertial measurement unit are presented. Because the inertial sensors provide flight-critical information for flight control and navigation, failure detection and isolation is developed in terms of a multi-level structure. Threshold compensation techniques for gyros and accelerometers, developed to enhance the sensitivity of the failure detection process to low-level failures, are presented. Four flight tests, conducted in a commercial transport type environment, were used to determine the ability of the failure detection and isolation algorithm to detect failure signals, such a hard-over, null, or bias shifts. The algorithm provided timely detection and correct isolation of flight control- and low-level failures. The flight tests of the vector-based algorithm demonstrated its capability to provide false alarm free dual fail-operational performance for the skewed array of inertial sensors.

Morrell, F. R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Flight test results of failure detection and isolation algorithms for a redundant strapdown inertial measurement unit

Flight test results for two sensor fault-tolerant algorithms developed for a redundant strapdown inertial measurement unit are presented. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) consists of four two-degrees-of-freedom gyros and accelerometers mounted on the faces of a semi-octahedron. Fault tolerance is provided by edge vector test and generalized likelihood test algorithms, each of which can provide dual fail-operational capability for the IMU. To detect the wide range of failure magnitudes in inertial sensors, which provide flight crucial information for flight control and navigation, failure detection and isolation are developed in terms of a multi level structure. Threshold compensation techniques, developed to enhance the sensitivity of the failure detection process to navigation level failures, are presented. Four flight tests were conducted in a commercial transport-type environment to compare and determine the performance of the failure detection and isolation methods. Dual flight processors enabled concurrent tests for the algorithms. Failure signals such as hard-over, null, or bias shift, were added to the sensor outputs as simple or multiple failures during the flights. Both algorithms provided timely detection and isolation of flight control level failures. The generalized likelihood test algorithm provided more timely detection of low-level sensor failures, but it produced one false isolation. Both algorithms demonstrated the capability to provide dual fail-operational performance for the skewed array of inertial sensors.

Morrell, F. R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A comparison of operationally determined atmospheric densities from satellite orbit solutions and the exospheric temperature from the Jacchia-Roberts model

Operational orbit determination by the Flight Dynamics Division at the Goddard Space Flight Center has yielded a data base of orbit solutions covering the onset of solar cycle 22. Solutions for nine satellites include an estimated drag adjustment parameter (rho sub 1) determined by the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS). The rho sub 1 is used to evaluate correlations between density variations and changes in the following: 10.7-centimeter wavelength solar flux (F sub 10.7), the geomagnetic index A sub p, and two exospheric temperatures (T sub c and T sub infinity) adapted from the Jacchia-Roberts atmospheric density model in GTDS. T sub c depends on the daily and 81-day centered mean F sub 10.7; T sub infinity depends on T sub c and the geomagnetic index K sub p values. The highest correlations are between density and T sub infinity. Correlations with T sub c and F sub 10.7 are lower by 9 and 10 percent, respectively. For most cases, correlations with A sub p are considerably lower; however, significant correlations with A sub p were found for some high-inclination, moderate-altitude orbits. Results from this analysis enhance the understanding of the drag model and the accommodation of atmospheric density variations in the operational orbit determination support. The degree of correlation demonstrates the sensitivity of the orbit determination process to drag variations and to the input parameters that characterize aspects of the atmospheric density model. To this extent, the degree of correlation provides a measure of performance for methods of selecting or modeling the thermospheric densities using the solar F sub 10.7 and geomagnetic data as input to the process.

Ward, D. T.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Multipole radiation in charged-particle scattering

This paper formulates the general problem of photon emission in particle scattering using a classical and quantum mechanical approach. The connection between the classical short collision time (SCT) and Born results is examined for various special classifications of problems. In the dipole case the two formulations yield results that can be expressed in the same form and for arbitrary scattering potential. For quadrupole emission the SCT and Born results are the same only for a short-range potential, however. The quadrupole problem is more sensitive to details in the process because the calculation requires an expansion of the total amplitude for the process to lowest order in the photon wave number or momentum. The special case of photon emission associated with spin-flip transitions during scattering is considered for spin-1/2 particles. Like classical magnetic dipole radiation, there is no infrared divergence feature for this type of emission.

Gould, Robert J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Long-term stability of a Fabry-Perot interferometer used for measurement of stellar Doppler shift

The use of a fiber-optic-link CCD-detector Fabry-Perot interferometer (McMillan et al., 1985, 1986, and 1988) to obtain high-accuracy measurements of stellar Doppler shifts at KPNO is described in detail and illustrated with sample data. Particular attention is given to accuracy requirements and techniques for reducing errors, resolution (orders of 50 mA at wavelength 4300 A are separated by 640 mA), CCD sensitivity, observing and data-processing operations, and the control of environmental conditions. Standard-deviation data and statistics on seven solar-type stars are presented in tables, and the time evolution of the radial velocity of Beta Com is shown in a graph.

Mcmillan, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

High-resolution spectra of solar magnetic features. II - Magnetic fields of umbral brightenings

The spectra of Fe I and Fe II Zeeman-sensitive lines enhanced by video processing of CCD images are considered. The magnetic-field variation within umbras is obtained from the nearly complete Zeeman splitting of the Stokes I profile. It is shown that small brightenings within umbrae have magnetic fields nearly equal to or slightly smaller than that of the darker surroundings; these features are also nearly at rest with respect to their surroundings. It is noted that the absence of significant motions in umbral dots implies that radiation transports most of the energy at and immediately below the surface. The small size of the dots implies that, if convective plumes transport energy below the surface of sunspot umbrae, they should have both a lateral extent and a depth of their upper boundary comparable to or smaller than the size of the dot.

Lites, Bruce W.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Coronal X-ray sources in the Hyades: A 40 kilosecond ROSAT pointing

We present results of a 40 ks ROSAT pointed observation of the Hyades cluster. The limiting L(sub x) is approximately = 2 x 10(exp 27) ergs/sec at field center, increasing to approximately = 2 x 10(exp 28) ergs/sec at 40 min off-axis. This represents the most sensitive X-ray observation to date in the Hyades region. More than 30 sources have been detected in the Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) standard processing, of which 15 are Hyades members, five are cluster candidates that are likely non-members, four are foreground or background stars, and the remainder are unidentified. One Hyad, VB 173 (= VA 276), lies in a confused region, but is detected as a distinct source in the soft band only (E approximately less than 0.5 keV). We report upper limits for four other Hyades members in our field, all M dwarfs. Of the 16 Hyades detections, two represent the optically faintest members seen to date in X-rays; VA 260 (V = 16.68) and VA 368 (V = 16.25). These are both M dwarfs of mass approximately = 0.15-0.2 solar mass and are fully convective stars according to current theory. Analysis of X-ray light curves using 1 ks bins indicates some variability in the strongest sources and a possible flare in VA 383. Two Hyades stars, VB 141 and VB 71, were also detected with the co-aligned Wide Field Camera (WFC) EUV instrument. VB 141, the second brightest X-ray source in the Hyades, remains an enigma: a rapidly rotating FO star with a fainter, long-period companion, this object has an X-ray spectrum indicative of strong coronal activity. X-ray pulse-height analysis demonstrates that coronal models with at least two temperatures are required for most of the stronger X-ray sources. The ROSAT X-ray spectra generally require higher temperatures for the hotter component in the M dwarfs compared to the F-G dwarfs.

Stern, Robert A.↗