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At least 649 records · Page 36

Measurement and Validation of Bidirectional Reflectance of Space Shuttle and Space Station Materials for Computerized Lighting Models

Task illumination has a major impact on human performance: What a person can perceive in his environment significantly affects his ability to perform tasks, especially in space's harsh environment. Training for lighting conditions in space has long depended on physical models and simulations to emulate the effect of lighting, but such tests are expensive and time-consuming. To evaluate lighting conditions not easily simulated on Earth, personnel at NASA Johnson Space Center's (JSC) Graphics Research and Analysis Facility (GRAF) have been developing computerized simulations of various illumination conditions using the ray-tracing program, Radiance, developed by Greg Ward at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Because these computer simulations are only as accurate as the data used, accurate information about the reflectance properties of materials and light distributions is needed. JSC's Lighting Environment Test Facility (LETF) personnel gathered material reflectance properties for a large number of paints, metals, and cloths used in the Space Shuttle and Space Station programs, and processed these data into reflectance parameters needed for the computer simulations. They also gathered lamp distribution data for most of the light sources used, and validated the ability to accurately simulate lighting levels by comparing predictions with measurements for several ground-based tests. The result of this study is a database of material reflectance properties for a wide variety of materials, and lighting information for most of the standard light sources used in the Shuttle/Station programs. The combination of the Radiance program and GRAF's graphics capability form a validated computerized lighting simulation capability for NASA.

Fletcher, Lauren E.↗

Analysis of Lunar Highland Regolith Samples From Apollo 16 Drive Core 64001/2 and Lunar Regolith Simulants - an Expanding Comparative Database

This slide presentation reviews the work to analyze the lunar highland regolith samples that came from the Apollo 16 core sample 64001/2 and simulants of lunar regolith, and build a comparative database. The work is part of a larger effort to compile an internally consistent database on lunar regolith (Apollo Samples) and lunar regolith simulants. This is in support of a future lunar outpost. The work is to characterize existing lunar regolith and simulants in terms of particle type, particle size distribution, particle shape distribution, bulk density, and other compositional characteristics, and to evaluate the regolith simulants by the same properties in comparison to the Apollo sample lunar regolith.

Schrader, Christian M.↗

The Application of Remotely Sensed Data and Models to Benefit Conservation and Restoration Along the Northern Gulf of Mexico Coast

New data, tools, and capabilities for decision making are significant needs in the northern Gulf of Mexico and other coastal areas. The goal of this project is to support NASA s Earth Science Mission Directorate and its Applied Science Program and the Gulf of Mexico Alliance by producing and providing NASA data and products that will benefit decision making by coastal resource managers and other end users in the Gulf region. Data and research products are being developed to assist coastal resource managers adapt and plan for changing conditions by evaluating how climate changes and urban expansion will impact land cover/land use (LCLU), hydrodynamics, water properties, and shallow water habitats; to identify priority areas for conservation and restoration; and to distribute datasets to end-users and facilitating user interaction with models. The proposed host sites for data products are NOAA s National Coastal Data Development Center Regional Ecosystem Data Management, and Mississippi-Alabama Habitat Database. Tools will be available on the Gulf of Mexico Regional Collaborative website with links to data portals to enable end users to employ models and datasets to develop and evaluate LCLU and climate scenarios of particular interest. These data will benefit the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program in ongoing efforts to protect and restore the Fish River watershed and around Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The usefulness of data products and tools will be demonstrated at an end-user workshop.

Quattrochi, Dale↗

Novel Advancements in Internet-Based Real Time Data Technologies

AZ Technology has been working with MSFC Ground Systems Department to find ways to make it easier for remote experimenters (RPI's) to monitor their International Space Station (ISS) payloads in real-time from anywhere using standard/familiar devices. AZ Technology was awarded an SBIR Phase I grant to research the technologies behind and advancements of distributing live ISS data across the Internet. That research resulted in a product called "EZStream" which is in use on several ISS-related projects. Although the initial implementation is geared toward ISS, the architecture and lessons learned are applicable to other space-related programs. This paper presents the high-level architecture and components that make up EZStream. A combination of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom components were used and their interaction will be discussed. The server is powered by Apache's Jakarta-Tomcat web server/servlet engine. User accounts are maintained in a My SQL database. Both Tomcat and MySQL are Open Source products. When used for ISS, EZStream pulls the live data directly from NASA's Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) API. TReK parses the ISS data stream into individual measurement parameters and performs on-the- fly engineering unit conversion and range checking before passing the data to EZStream for distribution. TReK is provided by NASA at no charge to ISS experimenters. By using a combination of well established Open Source, NASA-supplied. and AZ Technology-developed components, operations using EZStream are robust and economical. Security over the Internet is a major concern on most space programs. This paper describes how EZStream provides for secure connection to and transmission of space- related data over the public Internet. Display pages that show sensitive data can be placed under access control by EZStream. Users are required to login before being allowed to pull up those web pages. To enhance security, the EZStream client/server data transmissions can be encrypted to preclude interception. EZStream was developed to make use of a host of standard platforms and protocols. Each are discussed in detail in this paper. The I3ZStream server is written as Java Servlets. This allows different platforms (i.e. Windows, Unix, Linux . Mac) to host the server portion. The EZStream client component is written in two different flavors: JavaBean and ActiveX. The JavaBean component is used to develop Java Applet displays. The ActiveX component is used for developing ActiveX-based displays. Remote user devices will be covered including web browsers on PC#s and scaled-down displays for PDA's and smart cell phones. As mentioned. the interaction between EZStream (web/data server) and TReK (data source) will be covered as related to ISS. EZStream is being enhanced to receive and parse binary data stream directly. This makes EZStream beneficial to both the ISS International Partners and non-NASA applications (i.e. factory floor monitoring). The options for developing client-side display web pages will be addressed along with the development of tools to allow creation of display web pages by non-programmers.

Myers, Gerry↗

Experimental Database with Baseline CFD Solutions: 2-D and Axisymmetric Hypersonic Shock-Wave/Turbulent-Boundary-Layer Interactions

A database compilation of hypersonic shock-wave/turbulent boundary layer experiments is provided. The experiments selected for the database are either 2D or axisymmetric, and include both compression corner and impinging type SWTBL interactions. The strength of the interactions range from attached to incipient separation to fully separated flows. The experiments were chosen based on criterion to ensure quality of the datasets, to be relevant to NASA's missions and to be useful for validation and uncertainty assessment of CFD Navier-Stokes predictive methods, both now and in the future. An emphasis on datasets selected was on surface pressures and surface heating throughout the interaction, but include some wall shear stress distributions and flowfield profiles. Included, for selected cases, are example CFD grids and setup information, along with surface pressure and wall heating results from simulations using current NASA real-gas Navier-Stokes codes by which future CFD investigators can compare and evaluate physics modeling improvements and validation and uncertainty assessments of future CFD code developments. The experimental database is presented tabulated in the Appendices describing each experiment. The database is also provided in computer-readable ASCII files located on a companion DVD.

Database↗

Aerosol Models from the AERONET Database: Application to Surface Reflectance Validation Satellite Data

Aerosols play a critical role in radiative transfer within the atmosphere, and they have a significant impact on climate change. In this paper, we propose and implement a framework for developing an aerosol model using their microphysical properties. Such microphysical properties as the size distribution, the complex refractive index, and the percentage of sphericity are derived from the global AERosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET). These measurements, however, are typically retrieved when almucantar measurement procedures are performed (i.e., early mornings and late afternoons with clear sky) and might not have a temporal correspondence to a satellite overpass time, so a valid validation of satellite-derived products cannot be carried out. To address this problem of temporal inconsistency of satellite and ground-based measurements, we developed an approach to retrieve these microphysical properties (and the corresponding aerosol model) using the optical thickness at 440 nm, τ440, and the Ångström coefficient between 440 and 870 nm, α440–870. Such aerosol models were developed for 851 AERONET sites within the last 28 years. Obtained results suggest that empirically microphysical properties can be retrieved with uncertainties of up to 23 %. An exception is the imaginary part of the refractive index ni, for which the derived uncertainties reach up to 38 %. These specific parametric models of aerosol can be used for the studies when retrieval of microphysical properties is required as well as validation of satellite-derived products over land. Specifically, we demonstrate the usefulness of the aerosol models to validate surface reflectance records over land derived from optical remote sensing sensors. We then quantify the propagation of uncertainties in the surface reflectance due to uncertainties with the aerosol model retrieval that is used as a reference from radiative transfer simulations. Results indicate that individual aerosol microphysical properties can impact uncertainties in surface reflectance retrievals between 3.5 × 10(exp -5) to 1 × 10(exp -3) (in reflectance units). The overall impact of microphysical properties combined yields an overall uncertainty in surface reflectance <0.004 (in reflectance units). That corresponds, for example, to 1 to 3 % of the retrieved surface reflectance in the red spectral band (620–670 nm) by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. These uncertainty values are well below the specification (0.005 + 0.05ρ; ρ is the retrieved surface reflectance) used for the MODIS atmospheric correction.

Jean-Claude Roger↗

PALMO: An OVERFLOW Machine Learning Airfoil Performance Database

The OVERFLOW Machine Learning Airfoil Performance (PALMO) database has been created to enable robust modeling of airfoil performance in a variety of applications. The database uses OVERFLOW simulation data second-order accurate in time and fourth-order accurate in space with Spalart-Allmaras turbulence closure. The foundation of the in-development PALMO database is the airfoil base cube. Each base cube includes simulation data parametrized over a range of Mach numbers, Reynolds numbers, and angles-of-attack. This first release of the database includes the NACA 4-series airfoils, with parametrization in airfoil thickness and camber from an NACA 0006 to an NACA 4424. In total, 52,480 NACA 4-series calculations were run on the NASA High-End Compute Capability (HECC) supercomputer and the corresponding airfoil performance coefficients are embedded in the Appendix of this document for public distribution. This provides high-order-accurate simulation data covering a wide range of aerospace design applications, which enables users to develop OVERFLOW-quality airfoil performance look-up tables without additional high-performance computing. In addition to engineering design and analysis of aerospace vehicles, PALMO is well suited to be a benchmark dataset for the development and testing of machine learning methods in aerospace engineering. Downstream surrogate models enable OVERFLOW- quality airfoil performance predictions for any arbitrary combination of camber, thickness, Mach number, Reynolds number, and angle-of-attack within the bounds of the database.

Database↗

Massively-parallel Lagrangian particle code and applications

Massively-parallel, distributed-memory algorithms for the Lagrangian particle hydrodynamic method (Samulyak et al., 2018) have been developed, verified, and implemented. The key component of parallel algorithms is a particle management module that includes a parallel construction of octree databases, dynamic adaptation and refinement of octrees, and particle migration between parallel subdomains. The particle management module is based on the p4est (parallel forest of k-trees) library. The massively-parallel Lagrangian particle code has been applied to a variety of fundamental science and applied problems. A summary of Lagrangian particle code applications to the injection of impurities into thermonuclear fusion devices and to the simulation of supersonic hydrogen jets in support of laser-plasma wakefield acceleration research has also been presented.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Embedded EPICS server for PowerPMAC motion controllers

An embedded server layer of Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) for PowerPMAC motion controllers has been developed and deployed at two undulator beamlines of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Cancer Institute (GM/CA) Structural Biology Facility at the Advanced Photon Source (APS). This compact, open source solution makes the power and versatility of PowerPMAC motion controls directly accessible to distributed EPICS clients. At GM/CA the system controls about 200 servo and stepper motors — both encoded and unencoded — and multiple digital and analog I/O accessories. The server stack comprises two sublayers: a lower-level driver and database that communicates directly with PowerPMAC, and a facility-specific soft sublayer built on top. The paper describes installing EPICS on PowerPMAC, the implementation of both layers and client examples, including on-the-fly scanning.

EPICS↗

An Eight-County Appraisal of the San Andres Residual Oil Zone (ROZ) 'Fairway' of the Permian Basin

This document assesses the size and distribution of the oil resource in an eight-county portion of the San Andres residual oil zone (ROZ) fairway in the Permian Basin. Using well log analysis, the study divided the ROZ into partitions, developed a database of geologic properties for each partition and estimated the oil in place in each partition. The study then used the FE/NETL CO 2 Prophet Model to estimate the oil that could be produced and CO 2 stored from applying CO 2 EOR to each partition. With the FE/NETL Onshore CO 2 EOR Cost Model, the commercially viable partitions were identified as those that could produce oil and store CO 2 economically at an oil price of $75/STB. The remaining geologically viable partitions could use CO 2 EOR to store CO 2 with production of oil to offset some of the costs. The database used for this study, and a report describing the database is available on NETL's website under the Collection Name Eight-County San Andres ROZ Appraisal.

02 PETROLEUM↗

A Four-County Appraisal of the San Andres Residual Oil Zone (ROZ) 'Fairway' of the Permian Basin

This document assesses the size and distribution of the oil resource in a four-county portion of the San Andres residual oil zone (ROZ) fairway in the Permian Basin. Using well log analysis, the study divided the ROZ into partitions, developed a database of geologic properties for each partition and estimated the oil in place in each partition. The study then used the FE/NETL CO 2 Prophet Model to estimate the oil that could be produced and CO 2 stored from applying CO 2 EOR to each partition. With the FE/NETL Onshore CO 2 EOR Cost Model, the commercially viable partitions were identified as those that could produce oil and store CO 2 economically at an oil price of $75/STB. The remaining geologically viable partitions could use CO 2 EOR to store CO 2 with production of oil to offset some of the costs. The database used for this study, and a report describing the database is available on NETL's website under the Collection Name: Four-County San Andres ROZ Appraisal.

02 PETROLEUM↗

Community Planning for Solar: Conducting a Community Solar Survey

This guide is designed to assist community officials, volunteers, and regional planning agency staff in conducting a survey of residents to learn about attitudes and development preferences towards solar energy within the community. The guide will provide the key steps, timelines, distribution options, ethics, and considerations that should be made in developing a survey distribution strategy. The guide also contains an overview of various question types and response categories, with considerations for the type of data that are needed for the study. The guide concludes with recommendations for managing data and databases, data visualization, and reporting results. The appendix includes samples of materials used in a solar energy survey, from invitation letters to the survey. This document is intended to provide a practical guide for implementing a survey in communities that are proactively planning for solar development. The guide offers a practical “how-to” plan for conducting a survey. It may be advantageous to consult with an expert in survey development who will be familiar with any methods and techniques described in this guide, but this is not necessary. This guide offers basic considerations and examples of questions and analyses to help a community understand preferences of the community.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Implementation of an Online Database for Chemical Propulsion Systems

The Johns Hopkins University, Chemical Propulsion Information Analysis Center (CPIAC) has been working closely with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC); NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC); the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH); The Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory (APL); and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to capture satellite and spacecraft propulsion system information for an online database tool. The Spacecraft Chemical Propulsion Database (SCPD) is a new online central repository containing general and detailed system and component information on a variety of spacecraft propulsion systems. This paper only uses data that have been approved for public release with unlimited distribution. The data, supporting documentation, and ability to produce reports on demand, enable a researcher using SCPD to compare spacecraft easily, generate information for trade studies and mass estimates, and learn from the experiences of others through what has already been done. This paper outlines the layout and advantages of SCPD, including a simple example application with a few chemical propulsion systems from various NASA spacecraft.

David B. Owen, II↗

A Flexible Parameterization for Shortwave and Longwave Optical Properties of Ice Crystals and Derived Bulk Optical Properties for Climate Models

We provide a parameterization of the extinction efficiency, single scattering albedo and asymmetry parameter of single ice crystals with any combination of particle volume, projected area, component aspect ratio and crystal distortion at any wavelength between 0.2 and 100 mm. The paramerization is an extension of the one previously published by van Diedenhoven et al. (2014, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-13-0205.1). In addition, the parameterized optical properties are integrated over size distributions yielding bulk extinction efficiencies, single scattering albedos and asymmetry parameters for large ranges of effective radii, particle component aspect ratios and crystal distortion values. The parameterization of single particle optical properties is evaluated with a reference database. The bulk optical properties are evaluated against the ice model selected for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 6 products, for which accurate optical properties are available. Mean absolute errors in parameterized extinction efficiency, asymmetry parameter and single scattering albedo are shown to be 0.0272, 0.00890 and 0.00468, respectively for shortwave wavelengths, while they are 0.0641, 0.0368 and 0.0200 in the longwave. Shortwave and longwave asymmetry parameter and single scattering albedos are shown to vary strongly with particle component aspect ratio and distortion, resulting in substantial variation in shortwave fluxes, but relatively small variations in longwave cloud emissivity. The parameterization and bulk optical properties are made publicly available.

Bastiaan Van Diedenhoven↗

Rocket Engine Turbine Blade Surface Pressure Distributions Experiment and Computations

Understanding the unsteady aspects of turbine rotor flow fields is critical to successful future turbine designs. A technology program was conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to increase the understanding of unsteady environments for rocket engine turbines. The experimental program involved instrumenting turbine rotor blades with miniature surface mounted high frequency response pressure transducers. The turbine model was then tested to measure the unsteady pressures on the rotor blades. The data obtained from the experimental program is unique in two respects. First, much more unsteady data was obtained (several minutes per set point) than has been possible in the past. Also, an extensive steady performance database existed for the turbine model. This allowed an evaluation of the effect of the on-blade instrumentation on the turbine's performance. A three-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes analysis was also used to blindly predict the unsteady flow field in the turbine at the design operating conditions and at +15 degrees relative incidence to the first-stage rotor. The predicted time-averaged and unsteady pressure distributions show good agreement with the experimental data. This unique data set, the lessons learned for acquiring this type of data, and the improvements made to the data analysis and prediction tools are contributing significantly to current Space Launch Initiative turbine airflow test and blade surface pressure prediction efforts.

Hudson, Susan T.↗

ICESat Lidar and Global Digital Elevation Models: Application to DESDynI

Geodetic control is extremely important in the production and quality control of topographic data sets, enabling elevation results to be referenced to an absolute vertical datum. Global topographic data with improved geodetic accuracy achieved using global Ground Control Point (GCP) databases enable more accurate characterization of land topography and its change related to solid Earth processes, natural hazards and climate change. The multiple-beam lidar instrument that will be part of the NASA Deformation, Ecosystem Structure and Dynamics of Ice (DESDynI) mission will provide a comprehensive, global data set that can be used for geodetic control purposes. Here we illustrate that potential using data acquired by NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICEsat) that has acquired single-beam, globally distributed laser altimeter profiles (+/-86deg) since February of 2003 [1, 2]. The profiles provide a consistently referenced elevation data set with unprecedented accuracy and quantified measurement errors that can be used to generate GCPs with sub-decimeter vertical accuracy and better than 10 m horizontal accuracy. Like the planned capability for DESDynI, ICESat records a waveform that is the elevation distribution of energy reflected within the laser footprint from vegetation, where present, and the ground where illuminated through gaps in any vegetation cover [3]. The waveform enables assessment of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) with respect to the highest, centroid, and lowest elevations observed by ICESat and in some cases with respect to the ground identified beneath vegetation cover. Using the ICESat altimetry data we are developing a comprehensive database of consistent, global, geodetic ground control that will enhance the quality of a variety of regional to global DEMs. Here we illustrate the accuracy assessment of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) DEM produced for Australia, documenting spatially varying elevation biases of several meters in magnitude.

Carabajal, Claudia C.↗

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Trends from the Alternative Fueling Station Locator: Second Quarter 2020

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fueling Station Locator contains information on public and private non-residential alternative fueling stations in the United States and Canada and currently tracks ethanol (E85), biodiesel, compressed natural gas, electric vehicle (EV) charging, hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, and propane stations. Of these fuels, EV charging continues to experience rapidly changing technology and growing infrastructure. This report provides a snapshot of the state of EV charging infrastructure in the United States in the second calendar quarter of 2020. Using data from the Station Locator, this report breaks down the growth of public and private charging infrastructure by charging level, network, and location. Additionally, this report measures the current state of charging infrastructure compared with the amount projected to meet charging demand by 2030. This information is intended to help transportation planners, policymakers, researchers, infrastructure developers, and others understand the rapidly changing landscape for EV charging. This is the second report in a new series. The first report for the first calendar quarter of 2020 can be found in the publication databases of the Alternative Fuels Data Center and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Wind-Tunnel Evaluation of the Effect of Blade Nonstructural Mass Distribution on Helicopter Fixed-System Loads

This report provides data obtained during a wind-tunnel test conducted to investigate parametrically the effect of blade nonstructural mass on helicopter fixed-system vibratory loads. The data were obtained with aeroelastically scaled model rotor blades that allowed for the addition of concentrated nonstructural masses at multiple locations along the blade radius. Testing was conducted for advance ratios ranging from 0.10 to 0.35 for 10 blade-mass configurations. Three thrust levels were obtained at representative full-scale shaft angles for each blade-mass configuration. This report provides the fixed-system forces and moments measured during testing. The comprehensive database obtained is well-suited for use in correlation and development of advanced rotorcraft analyses.

ARES-1(AEROELASTIC ROTOR EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM 1)↗