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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 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1974

Ground truth data for test sites (SL-3)

Field measurements performed simultaneously with Skylab overpasses in order to provide comparative calibration and performance evaluation measurements for the EREP sensors are presented. The solar radiation region from 400 to 1300 nanometers and the thermal radiation region from 8 to 14 micrometer region were investigated. The measurements of direct solar radiation were analyzed for atmospheric optical depth; the total and reflected solar radiation were analyzed for target reflectivity. These analyses were used in conjunction with a radiative transfer computer program in order to calculate the amount and spectral distribution of solar radiation at the apertures of the EREP sensors. The instrumentation and techniques employed, calibrations and analyses performed, and results obtained are discussed.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1975

Dynamic analysis of the long-term zonal earth energy budget experiment (LZEEBE) spacecraft

The motions of the flexible LZEEBE spacecraft after injection into a circular orbit were analyzed. The spacecraft consists of three spherical balloons connected to a central hub by three long flexible booms which lie in a plane such that the angle between any pair of booms is 120 degrees. The major torques acting on the spacecraft are gravity-gradient torques and torques due to solar radiation pressure acting on the balloons which have different reflective properties. A development of the equations of motion is presented. Computer simulations indicate that the spacecraft will have random motion, provided the injection into orbit does not create conditions favorable to gravity-gradient capture.

Meirovitch, L.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Compositional inhomogeneities in a single Icelandic tholeiite flow

New trace element analyses of 25 basalt samples from a vertical traverse in an 11 m thick flow of Icelandic tholeiite show compositional differences which exceed analytical uncertainties and are random with respect to height. These variations suggest a short-range segregation model in which the amounts of phenocrysts, groundmass materials, and residual liquid vary randomly in different samples of the flow; a least-squares method is applied to determine if these variations reflect different proportions of crystallizing phases and residual liquid. Monte Carlo computations indicate that short-range segregation results in inhomogeneity of a magnitude of interflow compositional differences; this causes incoherence in elements with different geochemical behaviors while preserving coherence in elements of similar behavior.

Lindstrom, M. M.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Sound propagation through a variable area duct - Experiment and theory

A comparison of experiment and theory has been made for the propagation of sound through a variable area axisymmetric duct with zero mean flow. Measurement of the acoustic pressure field on both sides of the constricted test section was resolved on a modal basis for various spinning mode sources. Transmitted and reflected modal amplitudes and phase angles were compared with finite element computations. Good agreement between experiment and computation was obtained over a wide range of frequencies and modal transmission variations. The study suggests that modal transmission through a variable area duct is governed by the throat modal cut-off ratio.

Silcox, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

H2O grain size and the amount of dust in Mars' residual north polar cap

In Mars' north polar cap, the probable composition of material residual from the annual condensation cycle is a mixture of fine dust and H2O grains of comparable size and abundance. However, metamorphism of such material will gradually lower its albedo by increasing the size of the H2O grains only. If the cap is undergoing net annual sublimation (as inferred from water vapor observations), late summer observations should be of old ice with H2O grain sizes of 100 microns or more. Ice of this granularity containing 30 percent fine dust has a reflectivity similar to that of dust alone; the observed albedo and computed ice grain size imply dust concentrations of 1 part per 1000 or less. The brightness of the icy areas conflicts with what would be expected for a residual cap deposited by an annual cycle similar to that observed by Viking and aged for thousands of years. The residual cap surface cannot be 'old dirty' ice. It could be old, coarse, and clean; or it could be young, fine, and dirty. This brings into question both the source of the late summer water vapor and the formation rate of laminated terrain.

Kieffer, Hugh H.↗
NASA NTRS1996

A prototype Ka-/Ka-band dichroic plate with stepped rectangular apertures

A prototype five-layer Ka-/Ka-band dichroic plate was fabricated and measured. This dichroic plate was designed to pass Ka-band uplink (34.2-34.7 GHz) and to reflect Ka-band downlink (31.8-32.3 GHz) for dual-frequency operation in the Deep Space Network to support the future Cassini mission. The theoretical calculation and the experimental measurement of the reflected resonant frequencies were within 0.24 percent for circular polarization. The computer program, which was used to design the dichroic plate with stepped apertures, was then verified.

Chen, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1996

A Prototype Ka-/Ka-Band Dichroic Plate With Stepped Rectangular Apertures

A prototype five-layer Ka-/Ka-band dichroic plate was fabricated and measured. This dichroic plate was designed to pass Ka-band uplink (34.2-34.7 GHz) and to reflect Ka-band downlink (31.8-32.3 GHz) for dual-frequency operation in the Deep Space Network to support the future Cassini mission. The theoretical calculation and the experimental measurement of the reflected resonant frequencies were within 0.24 percent for circular polarization. The computer program, which was used to design the dichroic plate with stepped apertures, was then verified.

Chen, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Remote Sensing

Remote sensing is one of a suite of geospatial technologies that are having a growing impact in a wide variety of areas from commerce to science to public policy. The field of remote sensing evolved from the interpretation of aerial photographs to the analysis of satellite imagery, and from local area studies to global analyses, with advances in sensor system technologies and digital computing. Today remote sensor systems can provide data from energy emitted, reflected, and/or transmitted from all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Examples of applications of these data include population and demography studies, study of archaeological sites, energy studies using hydrological models, urban planning, environmental monitoring, environments, treaty enforcement, land use/land cover planning, weather forecasting, and agricultural production estimation, just to name a few. The material that follows provides a brief overview of the historical development of remote sensing, emphasizing the increasing complexity of platforms, systems, and tasks.

electromagnetic spectrum↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluation of Spectral Band Adjustment Factors for Cross-Calibration of Visible Imagers

The NASA CERES EBAF dataset provides TOA SW and LW fluxes for long-term monitoring of the Earth’s energy balance and to validate climate models. The EBAF products, based on the Terra, Aqua, and NOAA20 CERES instrument observed radiances, rely on coincident measurements from the onboard MODIS or VIIRS imagers to determine cloud properties used for angular distribution model scene selection, which is required to convert the CERES observed radiances into flux values. Furthermore, CERES utilizes geostationary imager (GEO) hourly fluxes and clouds to infer the regional averaged daily flux in the SYN1deg product. A seamless transition of fluxes and clouds can only occur if the analogous MODIS, VIIRS, and GEO channels are properly inter-calibrated. The analogous band SRFs differ noticeably and require scene dependent spectral band adjustment factors (SBAF) for proper radiometric scaling between them. Given their disparate but overlapping SRFs, the coincident VIIRS I1 and M5 band TOA reflectance measurements provide the optimal opportunity to validate SBAFs over many surface and cloud conditions. The CERES project maintains SCIAMACHY, GOME-2, and Hyperion scene-stratified hyper-spectral reflectance measurements that can be convolved with sensor pair SRFs to compute the corresponding SBAF. This study highlights the SCIAMACHY, GOME-2, and Hyperion based SBAFs for different MODIS, VIIRS, and GEO inter-calibration targets, including all-sky tropical ocean (ATO), Libya-4, Dome-C, and deep convective clouds. To mitigate the observed sensor radiance fluctuations due to atmospheric absorption and aerosol variations, the Earth target observed radiances are correlated with multiple atmospheric parameters, such as precipitable water and ozone. The remaining M5 and I1 mean spectral band radiance difference should be resolved by the SBAF correction. The formulation of hyper-spectral sensor based SBAFs and validation methods can be verified in future utilizing high-accuracy, SI-traceable hyper-spectral measurements from CLARREO Pathfinder.

David R Doelling↗
DOE OSTI2015

First principles treatment of structural, optical, and thermoelectric properties of Li{sub 7}MnN{sub 4} as electrode for a Li secondary battery

The electronic structure, electronic charge density and linear optical properties of the metallic Li{sub 7}MnN{sub 4} compound, having cubic symmetry, are calculated using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. The calculated band structure and density of states using the local density, generalized gradient and Engel–Vosko approximations, depict the metallic nature of the cubic Li{sub 7}MnN{sub 4} compound. The bands crossing the Fermi level in the calculated band structure are mainly from the Mn-d states with small support of N-p states. In addition, the Mn-d states at the Fermi level enhance the density of states, which is very useful for the electronic transport properties. The valence electronic charge density depicts strong covalent bond between Mn and two N atoms and polar covalent bond between Mn and Li atoms. The frequency dependent linear optical properties like real and imaginary part of the dielectric function, optical conductivity, reflectivity and energy loss function are calculated on the basis of the computed band structure. Both intra-band and inter-band transitions contribute to the calculated optical parameters. Using the BoltzTraP code, the thermoelectric properties like electrical and thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, power coefficient and heat capacity of the Li{sub 7}MnN{sub 4} are also calculated as a function of temperature and studied.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2016

Polarbrdf: A General Purpose Python Package for Visualization Quantitative Analysis of Multi-Angular Remote Sensing Measurements

The Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) is a fundamental concept for characterizing the reflectance property of a surface, and helps in the analysis of remote sensing data from satellite, airborne and surface platforms. Multi-angular remote sensing measurements are required for the development and evaluation of BRDF models for improved characterization of surface properties. However, multi-angular data and the associated BRDF models are typically multidimensional involving multi-angular and multi-wavelength information. Effective visualization of such complex multidimensional measurements for different wavelength combinations is presently somewhat lacking in the literature, and could serve as a potentially useful research and teaching tool in aiding both interpretation and analysis of BRDF measurements. This article describes a newly developed software package in Python (PolarBRDF) to help visualize and analyze multi-angular data in polar and False Color Composite (FCC) forms. PolarBRDF also includes functionalities for computing important multi-angular reflectance/albedo parameters including spectral albedo, principal plane reflectance and spectral reflectance slope. Application of PolarBRDF is demonstrated using various case studies obtained from airborne multi-angular remote sensing measurements using NASA's Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR). Our visualization program also provides functionalities for untangling complex surface/atmosphere features embedded in pixel-based remote sensing measurements, such as the FCC imagery generation of BRDF measurements of grasslands in the presence of wild fire smoke and clouds. Furthermore, PolarBRDF also provides quantitative information of the angular distribution of scattered surface/atmosphere radiation, in the form of relevant BRDF variables such as sunglint, hotspot and scattering statistics.

CAR↗
NASA NTRS1974

The albedo of particles in reflection nebulae

The relation between the apparent angular extent of a reflection nebula and the apparent magnitude of its illuminating star was reconsidered under a less restrictive set of assumptions. A computational technique was developed which permits the use of fits to the observed m-log a values to determine the albedo of particles composing reflection nebulae, providing only that a phase function and average optical thickness are assumed. Multiple scattering, anisotropic phase functions, and illumination by the general star field are considered, and the albedo of reflection nebular particles appears to be the same as that for interstellar particles in general. The possibility of continuous fluorescence contributions to the surface brightness is also considered.

Rush, W. F.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The surface brightness of reflection nebulae

Hubble's equation relating the maximum apparent angular extent of a reflection nebula to the apparent magnitude of the illuminating star has been reconsidered under a set of less restrictive assumptions. A computational technique is developed which permits the use of fits to observed m, log a values to determine the albedo of the particles composing reflection nebulae, providing only that one assumes a particular phase function. Despite the fact that all orders of scattering, anisotropic phase functions, and illumination by the general stellar field are considered, the albedo which is determined for reflection nebulae by this method appears larger than that for interstellar particles in general. The possibility that the higher surface brightness might be due to a continuous fluorescence mechanism is considered both theoretically and observationally.

Rush, W. F.↗
NASA NTRS1977

A fast invariant imbedding method for multiple scattering calculations and an application to equivalent widths of CO2 lines on Venus

The invariant imbedding method considered is based on an equation which describes the change in the reflected radiation when an optically thin layer is added to the top of the atmosphere. The equation is used to treat the problem of reflection from a planetary atmosphere as an initial value problem. A fast method is discussed for the solution of the invariant imbedding equation. The speed and accuracy of the new method are illustrated by comparing it with the doubling program published by Hansen and Travis (1974). Computations are performed of the equivalent widths of carbon dioxide absorption lines in solar radiation reflected by Venus for several models of the planetary atmosphere.

Sato, M.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Optical constants of minerals and rocks

Lorentz line parameters (and estimates of their standard deviations) have been empirically derived from measured reflectance data for muscovite mica, an anorthosite, a diopsidic pyroxenite, an almandite-pyrope garnet, and a soda lime glass. These parameters provide a useful starting point for computer calculations requiring optical constants as a function and are therefore given here. A novel method of fitting the reflectance data by least squares is described in detail, as is the statistical procedure for estimating the standard deviations of the parameters found.

Aronson, J. R.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Incorporating the effects of objects in an approximate model of light transport in scattering media

A computationally efficient radiative transport model is presented that predicts a camera measurement and accounts for the light reflected and blocked by an object in a scattering medium. The model is in good agreement with experimental data acquired at the Sandia National Laboratory Fog Chamber Facility (SNLFC). The model is applicable in computational imaging to detect, localize, and image objects hidden in scattering media. Here, a statistical approach was implemented to study object detection limits in fog.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1995

The method of space-time conservation element and solution element-applications to one-dimensional and two-dimensional time-marching flow problems

A nontraditional numerical method for solving conservation laws is being developed. The new method is designed from a physicist's perspective, i.e., its development is based more on physics than numerics. Even though it uses only the simplest approximation techniques, a 2D time-marching Euler solver developed recently using the new method is capable of generating nearly perfect solutions for a 2D shock reflection problem used by Helen Yee and others. Moreover, a recent application of this solver to computational aeroacoustics (CAA) problems reveals that: (1) accuracy of its results is comparable to that of a 6th order compact difference scheme even though nominally the current solver is only of 2nd-order accuracy; (2) generally, the non-reflecting boundary condition can be implemented in a simple way without involving characteristic variables; and (3) most importantly, the current solver is capable of handling both continuous and discontinuous flows very well and thus provides a unique numerical tool for solving those flow problems where the interactions between sound waves and shocks are important, such as the noise field around a supersonic over- or under-expansion jet.

Chang, Sin-Chung↗
DOE OSTI2015

Quantifying Damage Accumulation During Ductile Plastic Deformation Using Synchrotron Radiation

Under this grant, we have developed and demonstrated the ability of near-field High Energy Diffraction Microscopy (nf-HEDM) to map crystal orientation fields over three dimensions in deformed polycrystalline materials. Experimental work was performed at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at beamline 1-ID. Applications of this new capability to ductile deformation of copper and zirconium samples were demonstrated as was the comparison of the experimental observations to computational plasticity models using a fast Fourier transform based algorithm that is able to handle the large experimental data sets. No such spatially resolved, direct comparison between measured and computed microstructure evolutions had previously been possible. The impact of this work is reflected in numerous publications and presentations as well as in the investments by DOE and DOD laboratories of millions of dollars in applying the technique, developing sophisticated new hardware that allows the technique to be applied to a wide variety of materials and materials problems, and in the use of the technique by other researchers. In essence, the grant facilitated the development of a new form of three dimensional microscopy and its application to technologically critical states of polycrystalline materials that are used throughout the U.S. and world economies. On-going collaborative work is further optimizing experimental and computational facilities at the APS and is pursuing expanded facilities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗