SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Launch vehicle effluent (LVE) monitoring is part of NASA's overall tropospheric and stratospheric environmental program. Following nine techniques are evaluated and developed in report: bubbler method, pH measurements, indicator tubes, microcoulometers, modified condensation nuclei counter, dual-isotope absorption, gas-filter correlation, chemiluminescent nitric oxide detection, chemiluminescent luminol-oxidation detection.
A system for measuring air pollutants in-situ using an aircraft was designed, fabricated, and tested. The system is based upon a technique called Gas Filter Correlation (GFC) which provides for high sensitivity and specificity in the presence of interfering species. This particular system was designed for measuring hydrochloric acid and carbon monoxide gases emitted from rocket exhaust effluents.
This paper discusses the problem of the remote measurement of tropospheric air pollution from aircraft platforms. Following a discussion of the energy sources available for passive remote sensing and the location of the absorption bands of the gases, it describes the spectral resolution that would be required and the relative merits of the shorter and longer infrared wavelengths. It then traces the evolution of one instrument concept (the gas filter correlation radiometer) to its present state, and describes flight results that show the technique to be capable of measuring carbon monoxide over water. A new instrument is described that will allow the measurements to be extended to areas over land.
Energy reaching sensor is collected by telescope, modulated by chopper, spectrally filtered, and simultaneously directed onto two detectors. Gains through multiple signal paths are automatically balanced to 1 part in 10,000. Circuit compensates for slow changes in optical and electrical gains common to gas-filter correlation spectrometers.
Laser system measures changes in position or roughness of surface without physical contact. Using optical correlation technique, displacement of surface is measured by reflection of laser beam and holographic correlation filtering system. System also determines changes in roughness or shape of surface.
The attenuation factor for aircraft other than the B-747 in reducing the ambient ozone concentrations which enter the cabin is obtained. The need to continue NASA Global Air Sampling Program measurements was expressed for three main purposes; testing new filters, correlation of complaints with ozone levels, and ambient ozone data. The need to continue cooperation between NASA and industry is indicated. Concern with regard to the correlation of ozone levels and complaints was given. The need to measure the variability of ozone within the aircraft cabin was investigated. The requirement for an onboard ozone monitor on all aircraft is discussed.
A light twin-engine aircraft has been instrumented with a carbon monoxide remote gas sensor system and test flown over the Southern Lake Michigan basin during August, 1976. The remote sensor is based on the gas filter correlation technique. The radiance levels from the sensor along with the data on the surface temperature, air temperature, dewpoint, and altitude were digitized and recorded on seven-track magnetic tape. Air samples were collected at various altitudes over selected sites for later analysis of carbon monoxide concentration and comparison with the inferred concentration from the remote sensor. The values of carbon monoxide obtained from the air samples and the values inferred from the remote sensor for data collected over water are in good agreement.
In order to establish the applicability of a gas filter correlation radiometer, GFCR, to remote carbon monoxide, CO, measurements on a regional and worldwide basis, Old Dominion University has been engaged in the development of accurate and cost effective techniques for inversion of GFCR CO data and in the development of an independent gas chromatographic technique for measuring CO. This independent method is used to verify the results and the associated inversion method obtained from the GFCR. A description of both methods (direct and remote) will be presented. Data obtained by both techniques during a flight test over the lower Lake Michigan Basin in August of 1976 will also be discussed.
Measurements and analysis are presented of the partitioning of HCl between hydrochloric acid aerosol and gaseous HCl in a Titan III exhaust cloud, as the cloud is diluted with humid ambient air. Partitioning was determined by measuring the gaseous HCl concentration with a recently developed airborne Gas Filter Correlation detector and simultaneously with a chemiluminescence detector which measures total HCl. Although equilibrium predictions for HCl aerosol formation indicated that no HCl aerosol should exist in the exhaust cloud for the meteorological conditions of this launch, the measurements indicated significant HCl aerosol formation. These measurements will provide verification for advanced modeling programs now under development.
Several experiments involving spectral scanning interferometers and gas filter correlation radiometers (ref. 2) using limb scanning solar occultation techniques under development for measurements of stratospheric trace gases from Spacelab and satellite platforms are described. An experiment to measure stratospheric trace constituents by Laser Heterodyne Spectroscopy, a summary of sensitivity analyses, and supporting laboratory measurements are presented for O3, ClO, and H2O2 in which the instrument transfer function is modeled using a detailed optical receiver design.
This paper will summarize the current NASA Tropospheric Environmental Quality Remote Sensing Program for studying the global and regional troposphere from space, airborne and ground-based platforms. As part of the program to develop remote sensors for utilization from space, NASA has developed a series of passive and active remote sensors which have undergone field test measurements from airborne and ground platforms. Recent measurements with active lidar and passive gas filter correlation and infrared heterodyne techniques will be summarized for measurements of atmospheric aerosols, CO, SO2, O3, and NH3. These measurements provide the data base required to assess the sensitivity of remote sensors for applications to urban and regional field measurement programs. Studies of Earth Observation Satellite Systems are currently being performed by the scientific community to assess the capability of satellite imagery to detect regions of elevated pollution in the troposphere. The status of NASA sponsored research efforts in interpreting satellite imagery for determining aerosol loadings over land and inland bodies of water will be presented, and comments on the potential of these measurements to supplement in situ and airborne remote sensors in detecting regional haze will be made.
The applicability of the gas filter correlation radiometer (GFCR) to the measurement of tropospheric carbon monoxide gas was investigated. An assessment of the GFRC measurement system to a regional measurement program was conducted through extensive aircraft flight-testing of several versions of the GFRC. Investigative work in the following areas is described: flight test planning and coordination, acquisition of verifying CO measurements, determination and acquisition of supporting meteorological data requirements, and development of supporting computational software.
A CH4 measuring system with a sensitivity of 0.01 ppmv and a response time of 1 sec is described. Pulses are separable from moving and stationary readings, the device floats, and air velocity in the chamber can be controlled in the range 0-4.4 m/sec. The system is set on the water so that controlled speed air from beneath can enter an inner chamber and be pumped through a gas filter correlation system (GFC) before being returned to the chamber. The GFC mechanism yields an absorption signal in the form of a dc voltage, which a processor orders printed on a strip chart as a function of time. Detection of the CH4 amounts is through IR absorption, and the sensitivity of the instrument has been measured at .002-.051 g/sq m per day with air flows in the range 0.90-4.40 m/sec. The unit can be modified to detect CO and CO2, and further applications for low plant canopies and land surfaces are indicated.
The paper reports measurements made over a 17-month period of the methane flux in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia in light of the potential implications of variations in atmospheric methane concentrations. Gas flux measurements were made by a technique combining a gas filter correlation IR absorption analyzer with improved sampling chambers that enclose a soil area under conditions ranging from totally flooded soils to dry soils resulting from drought conditions. Methane emissions are found to range from 0.0013 g CH4/sq m per day to 0.019 g CH4/sq m per day, depending on temperature and season, when the soil is in a waterlogged state. During drought conditions, the peat soils in the swamp were a sink for atmospheric methane, with fluxes from less than 0.001 to 0.005 g CH4/sq m per day and decreasing with decreasing temperature. Results illustrate the potential complexity of the processes which regulate the net flux of methane between wetland soils and the atmosphere.
A new algorithm has been developed which permits, for the first time, real time data reduction of nadir measurements taken with a gas filter correlation radiometer to determine tropospheric carbon monoxide concentrations. The algorithm significantly reduces the complexity of the equations to be solved while providing accuracy comparable to line-by-line calculations. The method is based on a regression analysis technique using a truncated power series representation of the primary instrument output signals to infer directly a weighted average of trace gas concentration. The results produced by a microcomputer-based implementation of this technique are compared with those produced by the more rigorous line-by-line methods. This algorithm has been used in the reduction of Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites, Shuttle, and aircraft data.
The second Space Shuttle (STS-2) was launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center at 1010 EST on November 12, 1981. An instrumented light airplane was used to measure the emitted concentration of Shuttle exhaust products produced during launch. The airplane accomplished 31 passes through and under the exhaust cloud in the 1 hr 45 min immediately following the launch. Measurements included the following: (1) particulate data in the form of a light scattering coefficient obtained from an integrating nephelometer, (2) particulate concentrations and mass concentrations obtained from a spectrometer probe, (3) gaseous HCl and total HCl concentrations obtained from a gas-filter-correlation instrument and a chemiluminescent instrument, respectively, and (4) outside-air temperature and dew-point temperature. These data are presented along with time, altitude, and position for each cloud pass. These data are within the range of values observed during similar measurements made during the first Space Shuttle launch on April 12, 1981.
Pipeline architecture with parallel multipliers and adders speeds calculation of weighted sums. Picture-element values and partial sums flow through delay-adder modules. After each cycle or time unit of calculation, each value in filter moves one position right. Digital integrated-circuit chips with pipeline architecture rapidly move 35 X 35 two-dimensional convolutions. Need for such circuits in image enhancement, data filtering, correlation, pattern extraction, and synthetic-aperture-radar image processing: all require repeated calculations of weighted sums of values from images or two-dimensional arrays of data.
The objective of this workshop was to assess future technological and scientific directions for measurements of tropospheric trace gases and aerosols from space. Various instrument technologies were considered including spectrometry, gas correlation filter radiometry, spectral radiometry, and lidar.