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At least 721 records · Page 40

The detection of 'intermediate' size magnetic anomalies in Cosmos 49 and OGO 2, 4, 6 data.

Benkova, Dolginov and Simonenko have recently reported the presence of intermediate size magnetic anomalies from Cosmos 49 data and hypothesized a crustal and/or upper mantle origin for these. We have examined the spherical harmonic models of the internal potential function, based on the OGO 2, 4 and 6 data and verified the locations and amplitudes of those anomalies with wavelengths of approximately 4000 km. The patterns of delta-F so computed were then compared with the IZMIRAN maps and also were analyzed statistically, in both the spatial and frequency domains, using residuals computed from the raw Cosmos 49 data. The two sets of data were thus derived from completely independent sets of observations and field references. The two patterns are shown to agree very well over the whole earth surface up to the 50 deg latitude limit of Cosmos 49.

Regan, R. D.↗

The measurement of boundary layers on a compressor blade in cascade at high positive incidence angle. 2: Data report

Boundary layer and near-wake velocity measurements have been made in the well documented flow field about a double circular arc compressor blade in cascade, at an incidence angle of 5 deg. and a chord Reynolds number of 500,000. In Part 2 of this report these measurements were analyzed and presented in standard graphical format. The flow geometry, measurement techniques, and physics of the flow field were also discussed. In this, part 2 of the report, raw and analyzed data are presented in tabulated form in an attempt to make this data more accessible to computational comparison. Also included in part 2 is a description of the data analysis employed. A computer tape containing the data is available.

Deutsch, S.↗

The Planetary Materials Database

NASA provides funds for a variety of research programs whose principal focus is to collect and analyze terrestrial analog materials. These data are used to (1) understand and interpret planetary geology; (2) identify and characterize habitable environments and pre-biotic/biotic processes; (3) interpret returned data from present and past missions; and (4) evaluate future mission and instrument concepts prior to selection for flight. Data management plans are now required for these programs, but the collected data are still not generally available to the community. There is also little possibility to re-analyze the collected materials by other techniques, since there is no requirement to archive collected samples. The Planetary Materials Database (PMD) is a central, high-quality, long-term data repository, which aims to promote the field of astrobiology and increase scientific returns from NASA funded research by enabling data sharing, collaboration and exposure of non-NASA scientists to NASA research initiatives and missions. The PMD is a linked collection of databases developed using the Open Data Repository (ODR) system. The PMD will include detailed descriptions of terrestrial analog planetary materials as well as data from the instruments used in their analysis. The goal is to provide example patterns/spectra/analyses, etc. and background information suitable for use by the Space Science community. An early example showing the utility of these databases (although not in the ODR format) is the RRUFF mineral database. RRUFF, comprising 4,000+ pure mineral standards, is the most popular and widely used dataset of minerals and receives more than 180,000 queries per week from geologists and mineralogists worldwide. The PMD will be patterned after the CheMin database [3], a resource that contains all of the data collected by the MSL CheMin XRD instrument on Mars. Raw and processed CheMin data can be viewed, downloaded, reprocessed and reanalyzed using cloud-based “applications” linked to the data.

Blake, David↗

Measuring near infrared spectral reflectance changes from water stressed conifer stands with AIS-2

Airborne Imaging Spectrometer-2 (AIS-2) data was acquired over two paired conifer stands for the purpose of detecting differences in spectral reflectance between stressed and natural canopies. Water stress was induced in a stand of Norway spruce and white pine by severing the sapwood near the ground. Water stress during the AIS flights was evaluated through shoot water potential and relative water content measurements. Preliminary analysis with raw AIS-2 data using SPAM indicates that there were small, inconsistent differences in absolute spectral reflectance in the near infrared 0.97 to 1.3 micron between the stressed and natural canopies.

Riggs, George↗

Study of the characteristics of seismic signals generated by natural and cultural phenomena

Seismic data recorded at the Tonto Forest Seismological Observatory in Arizona and the Uinta Basin Seismological Observatory in Utah were used to compare the frequency of occurrence, severity, and spectral content of ground motions resulting from earthquakes, and other natural and man-made sources with the motions generated by sonic booms. A search of data recorded at the two observatories yielded a classification of over 180,000 earthquake phase arrivals on the basis of frequency of occurrence versus maximum ground velocity. The majority of the large ground velocities were produced by seismic surface waves from moderate to large earthquakes in the western United States, and particularly along the Pacific Coast of the United States and northern Mexico. A visual analysis of raw film seismogram data over a 3-year period indicates that local and regional seismic events, including quarry blasts, are frequent in occurrence, but do not produce ground motions at the observatories comparable to either the large western United States earthquakes or to sonic booms. Seismic data from the Nevada Test Site nuclear blasts were used to derive magnitude-distance-sonic boom overpressure relations.

Goforth, T. T.↗

Application of Principal Component Analysis to NIR Spectra of Phyllosilicates: A Technique for Identifying Phyllosilicates on Mars

Orbital near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectra of the martian surface from the OMEGA and CRISM instruments have identified a variety of phyllosilicates in Noachian terrains. The types of phyllosilicates present on Mars have important implications for the aqueous environments in which they formed, and, thus, for recognizing locales that may have been habitable. Current identifications of phyllosilicates from martian NIR data are based on the positions of spectral absorptions relative to laboratory data of well-characterized samples and from spectral ratios; however, some phyllosilicates can be difficult to distinguish from one another with these methods (i.e. illite vs. muscovite). Here we employ a multivariate statistical technique, principal component analysis (PCA), to differentiate between spectrally similar phyllosilicate minerals. PCA is commonly used in a variety of industries (pharmaceutical, agricultural, viticultural) to discriminate between samples. Previous work using PCA to analyze raw NIR reflectance data from mineral mixtures has shown that this is a viable technique for identifying mineral types, abundances, and particle sizes. Here, we evaluate PCA of second-derivative NIR reflectance data as a method for classifying phyllosilicates and test whether this method can be used to identify phyllosilicates on Mars.

Rampe, E. B.↗

Analysis of Bioburden Associated with Nonmetallic Spacecraft Materials

Planetary Protection (PP) requirements help to ensure the integrity of life-detection science conducted on solar system bodies, particularly those with liquid water. Such requirements are often met by a combination of cleaning and verification steps to reduce microbial contamination (i.e. bioburden) to an acceptable limit. There are only two cleaning methods approved by the National and Space Administration (NASA), vapor hydrogen peroxide (VHP) and heat microbial reduction (HMR), the latter of which is the most commonly employed. However, HMR can be harsh and produce its own concerns about material integrity, like aging or increasing hardness. When bioburden reduction methods cannot be employed, the project must rely on assumed NASA specification values of bioburden which can cause compliance issues with strict PP bioburden limitations. This work aimed to more accurately define the risk of contamination of a target body by providing empirical data associated with raw materials commonly used in solid rocket motors for lander missions. In this study, we pulverized nonmetallic materials using a cryogenic grinder, then analyzed the resulting substrate for microbial colony forming units (CFU). We found that many nonmetallic materials do not harbor large bioburden when compared with the NASA specification values, though a range existed depending on the material, treatment, and handling. The results from this work provide quantitative data to help reduce concerns of contamination, while also providing a foundation for follow up studies into additional sterilization methods and molecular identification of contaminating microbes.

Planetary Protection↗

TDAS: The Thermal Expert System (TEXSYS) data acquisition system

As part of the NASA Systems Autonomy Demonstration Project, a thermal expert system (TEXSYS) is being developed. TEXSYS combines a fast real time control system, a sophisticated human interface for the user and several distinct artificial intelligence techniques in one system. TEXSYS is to provide real time control, operations advice and fault detection, isolation and recovery capabilities for the space station Thermal Test Bed (TTB). TEXSYS will be integrated with the TTB and act as an intelligent assistant to thermal engineers conducting TTB tests and experiments. The results are presented from connecting the real time controller to the knowledge based system thereby creating an integrated system. Special attention will be paid to the problem of filtering and interpreting the raw, real time data and placing the important values into the knowledge base of the expert system.

Hack, Edmund C.↗

Validation of Aura Microwave Limb Sounder O3 and CO Observations in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere

Global satellite observations of ozone and carbon monoxide from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the EOS Aura spacecraft are discussed with emphasis on those observations in the 2 15 - 100 hPa region (the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere). The precision, resolution and accuracy of the data produced by the MLS "version 2.2" processing algorithms are discussed and quantified. O3 accuracy is estimated at approx.40 ppbv +5% (approx.20 ppbv +20% at 215 hPa) while the CO accuracy is estimated at approx.30 ppbv +30% for pressures of 147 hPa and less. Comparisons with expectations and other observations show good agreements for the O3 product, generally consistent with the systematic errors quoted above. In the case of COY a persistent factor of approx.2 high bias is seen at 215 hPa. However, the morphology is shown to be realistic, consistent with raw MLS radiance data, and useful for scientific study. The MLS CO data at higher altitudes are shown to be consistent with other observations.

Livesey, N. J.↗

Single-Chip FPGA Azimuth Pre-Filter for SAR

A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) on a single lightweight, low-power integrated-circuit chip has been developed to implement an azimuth pre-filter (AzPF) for a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) system. The AzPF is needed to enable more efficient use of data-transmission and data-processing resources: In broad terms, the AzPF reduces the volume of SAR data by effectively reducing the azimuth resolution, without loss of range resolution, during times when end users are willing to accept lower azimuth resolution as the price of rapid access to SAR imagery. The data-reduction factor is selectable at a decimation factor, M, of 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 so that users can trade resolution against processing and transmission delays. In principle, azimuth filtering could be performed in the frequency domain by use of fast-Fourier-transform processors. However, in the AzPF, azimuth filtering is performed in the time domain by use of finite-impulse-response filters. The reason for choosing the time-domain approach over the frequency-domain approach is that the time-domain approach demands less memory and a lower memory-access rate. The AzPF operates on the raw digitized SAR data. The AzPF includes a digital in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) demodulator. In general, an I/Q demodulator effects a complex down-conversion of its input signal followed by low-pass filtering, which eliminates undesired sidebands. In the AzPF case, the I/Q demodulator takes offset video range echo data to the complex baseband domain, ensuring preservation of signal phase through the azimuth pre-filtering process. In general, in an SAR I/Q demodulator, the intermediate frequency (fI) is chosen to be a quarter of the range-sampling frequency and the pulse-repetition frequency (fPR) is chosen to be a multiple of fI. The AzPF also includes a polyphase spatial-domain pre-filter comprising four weighted integrate-and-dump filters with programmable decimation factors and overlapping phases. To prevent aliasing of signals, the bandwidth of the AzPF is made 80 percent of fPR/M. The choice of four as the number of overlapping phases is justified by prior research in which it was shown that a filter of length 4M can effect an acceptable transfer function. The figure depicts prototype hardware comprising the AzPF and ancillary electronic circuits. The hardware was found to satisfy performance requirements in real-time tests at a sampling rate of 100 MHz.

Gudim, Mimi↗

Comparison of Electrical Output Format Options for the Analysis of Strain-Gage Balance Calibration Data

Fundamental characteristics of three gage output formats are discussed that may be used to both interpret and analyze wind tunnel strain-gage balance data. The first output format uses raw outputs, i.e., absolute voltage measurements, for the analysis. This choice requires an intercept term in the regression model of the outputs if the Iterative Method is chosen for the load prediction. Raw outputs can be used for the analysis of all known output characteristics as long as the Iterative Method is applied. However, raw outputs cannot be used to analyze data of a balance with bi-directional outputs if the Non-Iterative Method is chosen for the analysis. The second output format, i.e., difference type 1, uses the difference between raw outputs and the natural zeros of the balance gages for the analysis. In this case, the use of the intercept term becomes optional. Analysis results for difference type 1 will exactly match analysis results obtained by using raw outputs as long as identical math models are used for the regression analysis. In addition, difference type 1 may be used to analyze data of a balance with bi directional outputs if an analyst prefers to process data using the Non-Iterative Method. The third output format, i.e., difference type 2, uses the difference between raw outputs and the outputs of the zero load point of a load series for the data analysis. The application of this format is only recommended if the maximum magnitude of all tare loads of a given balance calibration data set is less than two percent of capacity. Data from the calibration of a force balance is used to illustrate the application of the three gage output formats.

Wind Tunnel Strain-Gage Balance↗

Space shuttle vehicle automatic docking study

The material presented is divided into three main areas of accomplishment. The first is a description of the angle only docking sensor concept and the computational requirements to develop useful guidance information from the raw angle only data. The second describes the analytical effort including the MIT in-house computer simulation, the development of guidance equations and vehicle stability related thereto, and presents the results of studies covering the effects of employing Kalman filtering with the sensor. The third area presents the conclusions and recommendations resulting from the program. Much of the material has appeared in previous reports, but is included here for the sake of completeness. New material indicating how the computer might operate to identify the individual sources in the target array is included.

Blanchard, E. P.↗

Results of investigation IA110 on a 0.015-scale integrated configuration of the space shuttle vehicle in the arc 9 x 7 supersonic wind tunnel using models 67-TS and 49-0

An 0.015-scale space shuttle vehicle model was tested to investigate Orbiter wind bending, elevon panel loads, and elevon effectiveness. Mach numbers from 1.5 through 2.5 were investigated. Angles of attack and sideslip were varied from -8 degrees through +8 degrees. Post test analysis of raw wind tunnel data indicated a zero shift had occured in the wing bending and torsional gages during the test. The mechanism by which this shift occurred was not determined. Therefore, all the wind root bending and torsional moment data is suspect.

Chee, E.↗

Altimeter waveform software design

Techniques are described for preprocessing raw return waveform data from the GEOS-3 radar altimeter. Topics discussed include: (1) general altimeter data preprocessing to be done at the GEOS-3 Data Processing Center to correct altimeter waveform data for temperature calibrations, to convert between engineering and final data units and to convert telemetered parameter quantities to more appropriate final data distribution values: (2) time "tagging" of altimeter return waveform data quantities to compensate for various delays, misalignments and calculational intervals; (3) data processing procedures for use in estimating spacecraft attitude from altimeter waveform sampling gates; and (4) feasibility of use of a ground-based reflector or transponder to obtain in-flight calibration information on GEOS-3 altimeter performance.

Hayne, G. S.↗

Infrared Imagery of Shuttle (IRIS). Task 2

An opto-electronic breadboard of 10 channels of the IR temperature measuring system was produced as well as a scaled up portion of the tracking system reticle in order to verify Task 1 assumptions. The breadboards and the tests performed on them are described and both raw and reduced data are presented. Tests show that the electronics portion of the imaging system will provide a dc to 10,000 Hz bandwidth that is flat and contributes no more than 0.4% of full-scale uncertainty to the measurement. Conventional packaging is adequate for the transresistance amplifier design. Measurement errors expected from all sources tested are discussed.

Chocol, C. J.↗

Span graphics display utilities handbook, first edition

The Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) is a computer network connecting scientific institutions throughout the United States. This network provides an avenue for timely, correlative research between investigators, in a multidisciplinary approach to space physics studies. An objective in the development of SPAN is to make available direct and simplified procedures that scientists can use, without specialized training, to exchange information over the network. Information exchanges include raw and processes data, analysis programs, correspondence, documents, and graphite images. This handbook details procedures that can be used to exchange graphic images over SPAN. The intent is to periodically update this handbook to reflect the constantly changing facilities available on SPAN. The utilities described within reflect an earnest attempt to provide useful descriptions of working utilities that can be used to transfer graphic images across the network. Whether graphic images are representative of satellite servations or theoretical modeling and whether graphics images are of device dependent or independent type, the SPAN graphics display utilities handbook will be the users guide to graphic image exchange.

Gallagher, D. L.↗

System and method for measuring ocean surface currents at locations remote from land masses using synthetic aperture radar

A system for measuring ocean surface currents from an airborne platform is disclosed. A radar system having two spaced antennas wherein one antenna is driven and return signals from the ocean surface are detected by both antennas is employed to get raw ocean current data which are saved for later processing. There are a pair of global positioning system (GPS) systems including a first antenna carried by the platform at a first location and a second antenna carried by the platform at a second location displaced from the first antenna for determining the position of the antennas from signals from orbiting GPS navigational satellites. Data are also saved for later processing. The saved data are subsequently processed by a ground-based computer system to determine the position, orientation, and velocity of the platform as well as to derive measurements of currents on the ocean surface.

Young, Lawrence E.↗