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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 775 records · Page 43
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

IUE observing programs: NSOSS, VEOEB, and PCOEB

The data reduction and analysis of IUE observations were completed. These results were presented from Venus SO2 (of the VEOEB program). The three IUE observing programs were NSOSS, VEOEB, and PCOEB. NSOSS consisted of comparative UV studies. The objectives of NSOSS included: making the first UV observations of 4179 Toutatis (a near-Earth asteroid), Himalia (a satellite of Jupiter), and Hyperion (the Saturnian satellite); obtaining the first radially-dependent information on the UV color of Saturn's rings; gathering uncontaminated UV spectra of Iapetus's bright and dark hemispheres; and obtaining a spectrum of Titania to initiate the comparative study of UV photometric properties in the Uranian system. VEOEB, as stated above, was a study of the SO2 of the Venus atmosphere and surface. Based on past Pioneer Venus and IUE observations, significant SO2 variations have been interpreted as indicating that the long term atmospheric SO2 abundance may be related to large, episodic infections from the surface or interior of Venus. If episodic events occur, then continuing observations of SO2 in the Venus atmosphere play a vital role in understanding Venus's current and past geologic evolution. PCOEB was a study of the Pluto-Charon system. The primary objective of PCOEB was to complete the coverage of the system's UV light curve in order to analyze the surface properties of Pluto-Charon. Publications, abstracts and articles, resulting from this grant are appended to this report.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2022

Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Visible to Short Wavelength Infrared (VSWIR) Wide Swath Instrument Concept

The 2017 Decadal Survey: Thriving on Our Changing Planet, A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space has called new observations including global coverage Visible to Short Wavelength Infrared (VSWIR) Wide Swath (WS) imaging spectroscopy measurements as part of the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Designated Observable. The SBG VSWIR-WS along with the companion SBG Thermal Infrared (TIR) imager is an important element of NASA’s larger Earth System Observatory (ESO).

Walch, Marc↗
NASA NTRS1993

Theoretical studies of the radar properties of the icy Galilean moons of Jupiter

The icy Galilean satellites of Jupiter - Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto - have unusual radar scattering properties compared with those of the terrestrial planets or Earth's Moon. There are three main features of the data that distinguish these targets: (1) the radar cross-section normalized by the geometrical cross-section is an order of magnitude larger than that of any terrestrial planet; (2) the reflected power is almost evenly distributed between two orthogonal polarizations with more power being returned in the same circular polarization as was transmitted whereas virtually all of the power returned from the terrestrial planets is contained in the opposite circular polarization to the one that was transmitted; and (3) the echo power spectra have a broad shape indicating a nearly uniformly radar-bright surface in contrast to the spectra from the terrestrial planets that contain a strong quasi-specular component from the vicinity of the sub-radar point and very little reflected power from the rest of the surface. The normalized radar cross-sections decrease as the areal water ice coverage decreases from Europa to Ganymede to Callisto. Recently, radar echoes from the polar caps of Mars and Mercury, and from Saturn's satellite Titan imply similarly strong cross-sections and have classically unexpected polarization properties and it is also thought that this is due to the presence of ice on the surface. A model called the radar glory model is analyzed and it is shown that the main features of the radar echoes calculated from this model agree well with the observations from all three icy Galilean satellites. This model involves long radar paths in the ice below the surface and special structures in which the refractive index decreases abruptly at a hemispherical boundary. It is not known whether such structures exist or how they could be created, but possible scenarios can be imagined such as the formation of an impact crater followed by deposition of a frost layer followed by a resurfacing event in which a layer of solid ice is placed above the layer of frost. Regardless of the exact geophysical processes required to create such structures, the superior ability of this model to account for all of the important observations with very few adjustable parameters and with no ad hoc assumptions is a compelling argument in support of at least the electromagnetic model. The key features of the electromagnetic model are multiple subsurface scattering events, total internal reflection, and a low degree of randomness imposed on a deterministic geometry that strongly favors backscattering.

Eshleman, Von R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Venus southern hemisphere - Geologic character and age of terrains in the Themis-Alpha-Lada region

Arecibo high-resolution radar images of the southern hemisphere of Venus extending to 78 deg S show that the surface of the Themis-Alpha-Lada region is characterized by linear deformation zones with volcanoes and corona-like features and by regional volcanic deposits (primarily plains, small shields, and large edifices). Large-scale areal deformation is limited to the tessera of Alpha Regio. Lada Terra, in the southern high latitudes, contains several large coronae, in contrast to Ishtar Terra in the northern high latitudes. The density of craters of possible impact origin is somewhat lower than that observed in the Venera 15 and 16 coverage; these data extend to 43 percent of the areas of the surface of Venus with ages of less than about 1 billion years.

Campbell, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The effect of adding roughness and thickness to a transonic axial compressor rotor

The performance deterioration of a high speed axial compressor rotor due to surface roughness and airfoil thickness variations is reported. A 0.025 mm (0.001 in.) thick rough coating with a surface finish of 2.54-3.18 RMS microns (100-125 RMS microinches) is applied to the pressure and suction surface of the rotor blades. Coating both surfaces increases the leading edge thickness by 10% at the hub and 20% at the tip. Application of this coating results in a loss in efficiency of 6 points and a 9% reduction in the pressure ratio across the rotor at an operating condition near the design point. To separate the effect of thickness and roughness, a smooth coating of equal thickness is also applied to the blade. The smooth coating surface finish is 0.254-0.508 RMS microns (10-20 RMS microinches), compared to the bare metal blade surface finish of 0.508 RMS microns (20 RMS microinches). The smooth coating results in approximately half of the performance deterioration found from the rough coating. Both coatings are then applied to different portions of the blade surface to determine which portions of the airfoil are most sensitive to thickness/roughness variations. Aerodynamic performance measurements are presented for a number of coating configurations at 60%, 80%, and 100% of design speed. The results indicate that thickness/roughness over the first 10% of blade chord accounts for virtually all of the observed performance degradation for the smooth coating, compared to about 70% of the observed performance degradation for the rough coating. The performance deterioration is investigated in more detail at design speed using laser anemometer measurements as well as predictions generated by a quasi-3D Navier-Stokes flow solver which includes a surface roughness model. Measurements and analysis are performed on the baseline blade and the full-coverage smooth and rough coatings. The results indicate that coating the blade causes a thickening of the blade boundary layers. The interaction between the rotor passage shock and the thickened suction surface boundary layer then results in an increase in blockage which reduces the diffusion level in the rear half of the blade passage, thus reducing the aerodynamic performance of the rotor.

Suder, Kenneth L.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Sessions on remote sensing 1980; Proceedings of the Topical Meeting, Budapest, Hungary, June 2-14, 1980

Studies included in this volume deal with spectral responses for remote sensing of the earth's surface and applications of remote sensing to mineral exploration. Consideration is given to the spectral responses of vegetation, bare land, water, and snow. Papers are presented on spectral reflectance characteristics of agricultural crops and application to crop growth monitoring, detection of volcanic ash coverage from Landsat MSS data, application of multispectral data to the detection of sea surface phenomena, and ore-controlling structures in volcanic regions observed on space images.

Kahle, A. B.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Pioneer Venus Orbiter Radar Mapper - Design and operation

The Radar Mapper Experiment, carried aboard the Pioneer Venus Orbiter spacecraft, is designed to obtain a near-global picture of the topography, meter-scale surface slopes and reflectivity of Venus. Constraints imposed by the choice of orbit limit radar coverage to a latitude band lying between 74 deg N and 61 deg S completely around the planet. In addition to the altimetry objectives, the experiment seeks an image of the radar scattering properties of the surface at oblique incidence. Sensitivity limits the imaged region to a band around the planet lying between 45 deg N and 10 deg S. Altimetric error is less than 200 m; altimetric surface 'footprint' size varies from about 10 km in diameter at a spacecraft altitude of 200 km, to 50 km at a maximum altitude of 4700 km. Imaging varies from 20 to 40 km, depending on spacecraft altitude.

Pettengill, G. H.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Determination of Interannual to Decadal Changes in Ice Sheet Mass Balance from Satellite Altimetry

A major uncertainty in predicting sea level rise is the sensitivity of ice sheet mass balance to climate change, as well as the uncertainty in present mass balance. Since the annual water exchange is about 8 mm of global sea level equivalent, the +/- 25% uncertainty in current mass balance corresponds to +/- 2 mm/yr in sea level change. Furthermore, estimates of the sensitivity of the mass balance to temperature change range from perhaps as much as - 10% to + 10% per K. Although the overall ice mass balance and seasonal and inter-annual variations can be derived from time-series of ice surface elevations from satellite altimetry, satellite radar altimeters have been limited in spatial coverage and elevation accuracy. Nevertheless, new data analysis shows mixed patterns of ice elevation increases and decreases that are significant in terms of regional-scale mass balances. In addition, observed seasonal and interannual variations in elevation demonstrate the potential for relating the variability in mass balance to changes in precipitation, temperature, and melting. From 2001, NASA's ICESat laser altimeter mission will provide significantly better elevation accuracy and spatial coverage to 86 deg latitude and to the margins of the ice sheets. During 3 to 5 years of ICESat-1 operation, an estimate of the overall ice sheet mass balance and sea level contribution will be obtained. The importance of continued ice monitoring after the first ICESat is illustrated by the variability in the area of Greenland surface melt observed over 17-years and its correlation with temperature. In addition, measurement of ice sheet changes, along with measurements of sea level change by a series of ocean altimeters, should enable direct detection of ice level and global sea level correlations.

Zwally, H. Jay↗
NASA NTRS2021

Sub-city Scale Hourly Air Quality Forecasting by Combining Models, Satellite Observations, and Ground Measurements

While multiple information sources exist concerning surface-level air pollution, no individual source simultaneously provides large-scale spatial coverage, fine spatial and temporal resolution, and high accuracy. It is, therefore, necessary to integrate multiple data sources, using the strengths of each source to compensate for the weaknesses of others. In this study, we propose a method incorporating outputs of NASA’s GEOS Composition Forecasting model system with satellite information from the TROPOMI instrument and ground measurement data on surface concentrations. Although we use ground monitoring data from the Environmental Protection Agency network in the continental United States, the model and satellite data sources used have the potential to allow for global application. This method is demonstrated using surface measurements of nitrogen dioxide as a test case in regions surrounding five major US cities. The proposed method is assessed through cross-validation against withheld ground monitoring sites. In these assessments, the proposed method demonstrates major improvements over two baseline approaches which use ground-based measurements only. Results also indicate the potential for near-term updating of forecasts based on recent ground measurements.

C. Malings↗
NASA NTRS2010

Spectral Resolution and Coverage Impact on Advanced Sounder Information Content

Advanced satellite sensors are tasked with improving global measurements of the Earth s atmosphere, clouds, and surface to enable enhancements in weather prediction, climate monitoring capability, and environmental change detection. Achieving such measurement improvements requires instrument system advancements. This presentation focuses on the impact of spectral resolution and coverage changes on remote sensing system information content, with a specific emphasis on thermodynamic state and trace species variables obtainable from advanced atmospheric sounders such as the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) systems on the MetOp and NPP/NPOESS series of satellites. Key words: remote sensing, advanced sounders, information content, IASI, CrIS

Larar, Allen M.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Infrared thermal mapping of the Martian surface and atmosphere - First results

The Viking infrared thermal mapper measures the thermal emission of the Martian surface and atmosphere and the total reflected sunlight. With the high resolution and dense coverage being achieved, planetwide thermal structure is apparent at large and small scales. The thermal behavior of the best-observed areas, the landing sites, cannot be explained by simple homogeneous models. The data contain clear indications for the relevance of additional factors such as detailed surface texture and the occurrence of clouds. Areas in the polar night have temperatures distinctly lower than the CO2 condensation point at the surface pressure. This observation implies that the annual atmospheric condensation is less than previously assumed and that either thick CO2 clouds exist at the 20-kilometer level or that the polar atmosphere is locally enriched by noncondensable gases.

Kieffer, H. H.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Titan Surface Temperatures as Measured by Cassini CIRS

Thermal radiation from the surface of Titan reaches space through a spectral window of low opacity at 19-microns wavelength. This radiance gives a measure of the brightness temperature of the surface. Composite Infrared Spectrometer' (CIRS) observations from Cassini during its first four years at Saturn have permitted latitude mapping of zonally averaged surface temperatures. The measurements are corrected for atmospheric opacity using the dependence of radiance on emission angle. With the more complete latitude coverage and much larger dataset of CIRS we have improved upon the original results from Voyager IRIS. CIRS measures the equatorial surface brightness temperature to be 93.7+/-0.6 K, the same as the temperature measured at the Huygens landing site. The surface brightness temperature decreases by 2 K toward the south pole and by 3 K toward the north pole. The drop in surface temperature between equator and north pole implies a 50% decrease in methane saturation vapor pressure and relative humidity; this may help explain the large northern lakes. The H2 mole fraction is derived as a by-product of our analysis and agrees with previous results. Evidence of seasonal variation in surface and atmospheric temperatures is emerging from CIRS measurements over the Cassini mission.

Jennings, Donald E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Application of physical adsorption thermodynamics to heterogeneous chemistry on polar stratospheric clouds

Laboratory isotherms for the binding of several nonheterogeneously active atmospheric gases and for HCl to water ice are translated into adsorptive equilibrium constants and surface enthalpies. Extrapolation to polar conditions through the Clausius Clapeyron relation yields coverage estimates below the percent level for N2, Ar, CO2, and CO, suggesting that the crystal faces of type II stratospheric cloud particles may be regarded as clean with respect to these species. For HCl, and perhaps HF and HNO3, estimates rise to several percent, and the adsorbed layer may offer acid or proton sources alternate to the bulk solid for heterogeneous reactions with stratospheric nitrates. Measurements are lacking for many key atmospheric molecules on water ice, and almost entirely for nitric acid trihydrate as substrate. Adsorptive equilibria enter into gas to particle mass flux descriptions, and the binding energy determines rates for desorption of, and encounter between, potential surface reactants.

Elliott, Scott↗
DOE OSTI2020

Silver Adsorption on Calcium Niobate(001) Nanosheets: Calorimetric Energies That Explain Sinter-Resistant Support

Metal nanoparticles deposited on oxide supports are essential to many technologies, including catalysts, fuel cells and electronics. Therefore, understanding the chemical bonding strength between metal nanoparticles and oxide surfaces is of great interest. The adsorption energetics, adhesion energy and adsorbate structure of Ag on dehydrated HCa 2 Nb 3 O 10 (001) nanosheets at 300 K have been studied using metal adsorption calorimetry and surface spectroscopies. These dehydrated (“dh”) calcium niobate nanosheets “(dh-HCa 2 Nb 3 O 10 (001))” have stoichiometry Ca 4 Nb 6 O 19 . They impart unusual stability to metal nanoparticles when used as catalyst supports and are easy-to-prepare by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) techniques, highly ordered, and essentially single-crystal surfaces of mixed oxides with a huge ratio of terrace to edge sites. Below monolayer coverage, Ag grows on dh-HCa 2 Nb 3 O 10 (001) as 2D islands of thickness ~2 layers. The differential heat of Ag adsorption is initially ~303 kJ/mol, increasing slowly to ~338 kJ/mol by 0.8 ML. At higher coverages, Ag atoms mainly add on top of these 2D islands, growing 3D nanoparticles of increasing thickness, as the heat decreases asymptotically towards silver’s heat of sublimation (285 kJ/mol). The adhesion energy of Ag(s) to this Ca niobate surface is estimated to be 4.33 J/m 2 , larger than on any oxide surface previously measured. This explains the sinter resistance reported for metal nanoparticles on this support. Electron transfer from Ag into the calcium niobate is also measured. Furthermore, these results demonstrate an easy way to do singlecrystal-type surface science studies - and especially thermochemical measurements - on the complex surfaces of mixed oxides: using LB-deposited perovskite nanosheets and ultrahigh vacuum annealing in O 2 .

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1990

Cloud forcing and the net longwave surface radiation

A method is suggested which determines the monthly mean longwave radiation at the surface over the oceans using currently available satellite data sets. An independent estimate of the frequency of occurrence of clouds or cloud top heights is not required. A climatological relationship between the LWCRF (longwave cloud radiation forcing) at the top of the atmosphere and surface may be substituted. This ratio is obtained from a GMC simulation but in principle could be obtained observationally, although global coverage is doubtful. A flow diagram shows the procedure used to obtain maps for the monthly mean net upward longwave flux at the surface.

HARSHVARDHAN↗
NASA NTRS1990

In situ analysis of CO during chemisorption and oxidation on graphite: Supported Pt by FTIR-microspectrometry

For chemisorption and oxidation on Pt/HOPG (highly-orientated pyrolytic) graphite, reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR)-microspectrometry reveals a variable state and reactivity for CO. Even for model surface science systems, where surface heterogeneity is minimal, surface diffusion may be too slow relative to the reaction rate to avoid segregation of reactants into surface islands under steady-state conditions. Thus in CO oxidation on Pt (where the relevant surface diffusion coefficients are such that D sub O less than D sub CO) then reactant CO islands exists at the perimeters of which the surface reaction is thought to occur. Furthermore CO can chemisorb on metals in linear and bridge forms to extents which vary with precise faces predominantly exposed coverage, etc. Infrared has long been used to probe the nature of adsorbed CO on model film and heterogeneous surfaces, but it may now be that FTIR-microspectrometry will allow the state of this adsorbate and reactant to be investigated with a spatial resolution of 4.4 microns on model (and real) catalytic surfaces.

Self, Valerie A.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Synergistic Enhancement of Lead and Selenate Uptake at the Barite (001)–Water Interface

The interactions of heavy metals with minerals influence the mobility and bioavailability of toxic elements in natural aqueous environments. The sorption of heavy metals on covalently bonded minerals is generally well described by surface complexation models (SCMs). However, understanding sorption on sparingly soluble minerals is challenging because of the dynamically evolving chemistry of sorbent surfaces. The interpretation can be even more complicated when multiple metal ions compete for sorption. In the present study, we observed synergistically enhanced uptake of lead and selenate on the barite (001) surface through two sorption mechanisms: lattice incorporation that dominates at lower coverages and two-dimensional monolayer growth that dominates at higher coverages. Further, we also observed a systematic increase in the sorption affinity with increasing co-sorbed ion coverages, different from the assumption of invariant binding constants for individual adsorption processes in classical SCMs. Computational simulations showed thermodynamically favorable co-incorporation of lead and selenate by simultaneously substituting for barium and sulfate in neighboring sites, resulting in the formation of molecular clusters that locally match the net dimension of the substrate lattice. These results emphasize the importance of ion–ion interactions at mineral–water interfaces that control the fate and transport of contaminants in the environment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Spin Polarization Enhanced Ethanol Selectivity in Electrocatalytic CO 2 Reduction on the Paramagnetic CuO Surface

We report an electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction catalyzed by a paramagnetic and conductive CuO/Cu interface with spins polarized by a moderate external magnetic field (MF) of similar to 800 gauss, achieving a similar to 30% increase in CO 2 -to-C 2+ Faradaic efficiency (FE) compared to that in the absence of the MF in a flow cell electrolyzer. At a current density of 400 mA/cm 2 , the CO 2 -to-C 2+ FE reached 86.7 ± 2.7% with 47.9 ± 1.4% cathodic energy efficiency (EE) in contrast to the CO 2 -to-C 2+ FE of 67.6% with 36.4% of EE in the absence of MF. Notably, ethanol production exhibits a much higher response to the MF (similar to 55.6% increase in FE) than ethylene (similar to 6.4% increase in FE) at 400 mA/cm 2 . In situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) captured magnetic-field-enhanced *CO coverage and ethanol-forming C 2 intermediates on CuO/Cu, providing direct spectroscopic evidence of spin-modulated pathway selection. Here, computational study suggests that the enhancement of ethanol selectivity is due to the reduced reaction kinetic barrier under MF, while the ethylene selectivity is less affected, mainly due to the insensitivity of the kinetic barriers under MF.

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗