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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 811 records · Page 45
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

LDEF space environments overview

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was launched into an Earth orbit during a period of minimum solar activity. It was retrieved almost 6 years later during a period of near maximum solar activity. In flight, the LDEF was passively stabilized in three axes and it flew in a near circular orbit having an inclination of 28.5 degs and an initial altitude of approx. 257 nautical miles. When the LDEF was retrieved, the orbit had decayed to an altitude of approx. 180 nautical miles. Specifically, the LDEF flew with one surface always facing the trailing direction, one surface facing Earth, and one surface facing into space. These facts made the LDEF an ideal platform to expose experiments to study the space environments and the effects of these environments on spacecraft materials and systems. An overview is provided of the specific space environments to which the LDEF experiments were exposed. The specific features are also pointed out of the LDEF that allow the effects of different environments to be isolated.

Kinard, William H.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Soil biogeochemical properties and metrics of tree-mycorrhizal dominance for a 25-Ha forest in South Central Indiana, USA.

This data package contains a dataset used in the papers “Seeing the forest for all the trees: Mycorrhizal-associated nutrient economies are modulated by stem density and the synchrony between overstory and understory communities” and “Mycorrhizal associations of tree species influence soil nitrogen dynamics via effects on soil acid–base chemistry”. Four csv files are included along with a dataset. The dataset features chemical soil properties for a single sampling campaign within the 25 Ha Lilly-Dickey Woods Smithsonian Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) plot in South Central Indiana, USA (ldw_dat_raw.csv). Also included are separate files focused on pH (pH_data.csv), carbon and nitrogen (CN_data.csv), and nitrification rates (Nitrification_data.csv). These variables are commonly associated with the tree-mycorrhizal dominance of forest stands. In these data subsets, each soil variable was matched to a 10 meter radius neighborhood wherein metrics of tree-mycorrhizal dominance (basal area, stem count, importance value, etc.) were calculated. Models between these soil variables and dominance metrics were used to investigate how different assessments of mycorrhizal associated nutrient economies (MANE) capture these relationships. This research was performed as a part of the Smithsonian ForestGEO project. This data package can be used to explore spatial variability in soil chemistry within a mature hardwood forest, or it can be combined with the included tree data, other fine-scale spatial information, or other tree inventory data for the site to evaluate how soil chemistry varies with tree community composition or edaphic or topographic properties.

Craig, Matthew [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000288907920)↗
NASA NTRS1993

WCRP surface radiation budget shortwave data product description, version 1.1

Shortwave radiative fluxes which reach the Earth's surface are key elements that influence both atmospheric and oceanic circulation. The World Climate Research Program has established the Surface Radiation Budget climatology project with the ultimate goal of determining the various components of the surface radiation budget from satellite data on a global scale. This report describes the first global product that is being produced and archived as part of that effort. The interested user can obtain the monthly global data sets free of charge using e-mail procedures.

Whitlock, C. H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

First WCRP long-term satellite estimates of surface solar flux for the globe and selected regions

Shortwave radiative fluxes which reach the Earth's surface are key elements that influence both atmospheric and oceanic circulation as well as crop growth. The World Climate Research Program has established the Surface Radiation Budget Climatology Project with the ultimate goal of determining the various components of the surface radiation budget from satellite data on a global scale. This report describes the first global product that is being produced and archived as part of that effort. Product content and accuracy are reviewed, and example data from several regions are presented.

Dipasquale, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Impact survival conditions for very large meteorites, with special reference to the legendary Chinguetti meteorite

Contrary to popular belief, very large meteorites can be sufficiently slowed by aerodynamic drag to survive impact with the earth's surface provided that they enter the atmosphere at very low angles. This is a stringent requirement and survival probabilities for large, unguided objects are low; but they are not zero. Based on high-velocity impact experiments and published tabulations of the parameters of shallow angle entry trajectories, we estimate the probability of survival for an iron meteorite approximately the size and shape of the legendary Chinguetti meteorite (100 x 40 x 20-40 m) to be between 0.1 and 1 percent. Together with a limiting estimate of the flux of such bodies encountering the earth, this leads to an expected survival rate of one per (0.1-1.0) billion years on the earth's land surface.

Fudali, R. F.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Management Plan

Mission and Vision Statements for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility Mission The ARM Climate Research Facility, a DOE scientific user facility, provides the climate research community with strategically located in situ and remote-sensing observatories designed to improve the understanding and representation, in climate and earth system models, of clouds and aerosols as well as their interactions and coupling with the Earth’s surface. Vision To provide a detailed and accurate description of the Earth atmosphere in diverse climate regimes to resolve the uncertainties in climate and Earth system models toward the development of sustainable solutions for the nation's energy and environmental challenges.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1972

The configuration of the geomagnetic field.

Spherical harmonic representations of the geomagnetic field based on ground-based and low-altitude spacecraft measurements adequately describe the field within several earth radii of the earth's surface. As the internal field decreases with increasing distance from the earth, external field sources become relatively more important. In the region of 3 to 6 earth radii, magnetospheric plasma inflates the field lines and decreases the field strength by an amount which is typically 10's of gammas and occasionally 100's of gammas. At greater distances on the day side of the earth, the solar wind compresses the field and produces equatorial field strengths of approximately 60 gammas at 10 earth radii. Field lines near the magnetopause intersect the earth at approximately 78 deg latitude in the sunward hemisphere. The solar wind drags high latitude field lines away from the earth in the night hemisphere forming the geomagnetic tail and neutral sheet. Asymmetric field inflation in the magnetosphere occurs during magnetic disturbances with the largest effects concentrated in the evening quadrant. The tail configuration can deviate substantially from the average configuration during magnetic disturbances.

Fairfield, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Long wavelength gravity and topography anomalies

It is shown that gravity and topography anomalies on the earth's surface may provide new information about deep processes occurring in the earth, such as those associated with mantle convection. Two main reasons are cited for this. The first is the steady improvement that has occurred in the resolution of the long wavelength gravity field, particularly in the wavelength range of a few hundred to a few thousand km, mainly due to increased coverage of terrestrial gravity measurements and the development of radar altimeters in orbiting satellites. The second reason is the large number of numerical and laboratory experiments of convection in the earth, including some with deformable upper and lower boundaries and temperature-dependent viscosity. The oceans are thought to hold the most promise for determining long wavelength gravity and topography anomalies, since their evolution has been relatively simple in comparison with that of the continents. It is also shown that good correlation between long wavelength gravity and topography anomalies exists over some portions of the ocean floor

Watts, A. B.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A review of aerobraking for Mars missions

This paper describes prior and current studies of Mars aerobraking, which is a key element in robotic and manned missions to Mars and in the earth-return missions. It is pointed out that, while the studies of the 1960's assumed launch from and return to the earth's surface, current mission scenarios assume departure from and return to an earth orbiting space station, making it necessary to reassess aerobraking for Mars missions. Current studies propose a blunt low-L/D vehicle for both Mars and earth aerobraking. The vehicle's salient design issues such as the lift-to-drag ratio, the ballistic coefficient, and the aerodynamic heating and convective heating considerations are discussed.

Walberg, Gerald D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Future needs for space robots for SEI

High level systems engineering modeling and analysis activities for the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) are reviewed, with emphasis on planet surface systems. Particular attention is given to SEI studies, preliminary space robotic system requirements, and usefulness of space robotic systems developed to operate on planetary surfaces on earth. It is concluded that supervised intelligent systems on the planet surfaces are necessary to make SEI planet surface activities reliable and productive and encompass capabilities for control and monitoring of all elements, including supervised autonomous robotic systems. Amplification of human capabilities due to applying more knowledge and reasoning in more flexible and appropriate ways than conventional automation approaches will provide more robust performance, greater choice of interaction modes with operators, and greater transparency of operation.

Erickson, Jon D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Visible and Ultraviolet Detectors for High Earth Orbit and Lunar Observatories

The current status of detectors for the visible and UV for future large observatories in earth orbit and the moon is briefly reviewed. For the visible, CCDs have the highest quantum efficiency, but are subject to contamination of the data by cosmic ray hits. For the moon, the level of hits can be brought down to that at the earth's surface by shielding below about 20 meters of rock. For high earth orbits above the geomagnetic shield, CCDs might be able to be used by combining many short exposures and vetoing the cosmic ray hits, otherwise photoemissive detectors will be necessary. For the UV, photoemissive detectors will be necessary to reject the visible; to use CCDs would require the development of UV-efficient filters which reject the visible by many orders of magnitude. Development of higher count rate capability would be desirable for photoemissive detectors.

Woodgate, Bruce E.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Annular and Total Solar Eclipses of 2003

On Saturday, 2003 May 31, an annular eclipse of the Sun will be visible from a broad corridor that traverses the North Atlantic. The path of the Moon's antumbral shadow begins in northern Scotland, crosses Iceland and central Greenland, and ends at sunrise in Baffin Bay (Canada). A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes most of Europe, the Middle East, central and northern Asia, and northwestern North America. The trajectory of the Moon's shadow is quite unusual during this event. The shadow axis passes to the far north where it barely grazes Earth's surface. In fact, the northern edge of the antumbra actually misses Earth so that one path limit is defined by the day/night terminator rather than by the shadow's upper edge. As a result, the track of annularity has a peculiar "D" shape that is nearly 1200 kilometers wide. Since the eclipse occurs just three weeks prior to the northern summer solstice, Earth's northern axis is pointed sunwards by 22.8 deg. As seen from the Sun, the antumbral shadow actually passes between the North Pole and the terminator. As a consequence of this extraordinary geometry, the path of annularity runs from east to west rather than the more typical west to east. The event transpires near the Moon's ascending node in Taurus five degrees north of Aldebaran. Since apogee occurs three days earlier (May 28 at 13 UT), the Moon's apparent diameter (29.6 arc-minutes) is still too small to completely cover the Sun (31.6 arc-minutes) resulting in an annular eclipse.

Espenak, Fred↗
NASA NTRS2012

SMOS L1C and L2 Validation in Australia

Extensive airborne field campaigns (Australian Airborne Cal/val Experiments for SMOS - AACES) were undertaken during the 2010 summer and winter seasons of the southern hemisphere. The purpose of those campaigns was the validation of the Level 1c (brightness temperature) and Level 2 (soil moisture) products of the ESA-led Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission. As SMOS is the first satellite to globally map L-band (1.4GHz) emissions from the Earth?s surface, and the first 2-dimensional interferometric microwave radiometer used for Earth observation, large scale and long-term validation campaigns have been conducted world-wide, of which AACES is the most extensive. AACES combined large scale medium-resolution airborne L-band and spectral observations, along with high-resolution in-situ measurements of soil moisture across a 50,000km2 area of the Murrumbidgee River catchment, located in south-eastern Australia. This paper presents a qualitative assessment of the SMOS brightness temperature and soil moisture products.

Rudiger, Christoph↗
NASA NTRS2017

Reinventing Image Detective: An Evidence-Based Approach to Citizen Science Online

Usability studies demonstrate that web users are notoriously impatient, spending as little as 15 seconds on a home page. How do you get users to stay long enough to understand a citizen science project? How do you get users to complete complex citizen science tasks online? Image Detective, a citizen science project originally developed by scientists and science engagement specialists at the NASA Johnson Space center to engage the public in the analysis of images taken from space by astronauts to help enhance NASA's online database of astronaut imagery, partnered with the CosmoQuest citizen science platform to modernize, offering new and improved options for participation in Image Detective. The challenge: to create a web interface that builds users' skills and knowledge, creating engagement while learning complex concepts essential to the accurate completion of tasks. The project team turned to usability testing for an objective understanding of how users perceived Image Detective and the steps required to complete required tasks. A group of six users was recruited online for unmoderated and initial testing. The users followed a think-aloud protocol while attempting tasks, and were recorded on video and audio. The usability test examined users' perception of four broad areas: the purpose of and context for Image Detective; the steps required to successfully complete the analysis (differentiating images of Earth's surface from those showing outer space and identifying common surface features); locating the image center point on a map of Earth; and finally, naming geographic locations or natural events seen in the image. Usability test findings demonstrated that the following best practices can increase participation in Image Detective and can be applied to the successful implementation of any citizen science project: (1) Concise explanation of the project, its context, and its purpose; (2) Including a mention of the funding agency (in this case, NASA); (3) A preview of the specific tasks required of participants; (4) A dedicated user interface for the actual citizen science interaction. In addition, testing revealed that users may require additional context when a task is complex, difficult, or unusual (locating a specific image and its center point on a map of Earth). Video evidence will be made available with this presentation.

Romano, Cia↗
NASA NTRS2026

Long-Term Evaluation of Landsat 9 Oli Data Product Uniformity at Focal Plane Module-Boundaries Using Earth Scenes

The uniformity performance characteristic in remote sensing data products is a metric that helps evaluate how an image accurately represents radiometric responses to geophysical variability at the Earth’s surface or within the atmosphere. These uniformity attributes are used in Earth remote sensing science applications such as investigating water quality, land-cover/land-use classifications, and crop health assessments. To ensure these applications perform effectively, it is crucial to maintain and regularly assess the uniformity of calibrated remote sensing data products. In the Landsat missions, data from the onboard radiometric reference Solar diffuser device are used as the standard approach to derive the calibration parameters, ensuring the maintenance of both absolute radiance and radiometric uniformity through quarterly updates. This publication presents an alternative approach that leverages Earth scene data to assess the on-orbit uniformity performance of the Landsat 9 (L9) mission. The analysis characterizes uniformity at a specific set of spatial positions (the focal-plane boundary zones) that are intrinsic to the Operational Land Imager (OLI) focal plane design. By employing these Earth data statistics, the article further explores the temporal trends in the radiometric uniformity results. The results shown in this article demonstrate that for pushbroom imaging design systems with staggered sensor chip focal plane architectures, the co-registered pixels, i.e., overlapping measurements of the same ground target viewed by different detectors, offer a self-contained mechanism for assessing product uniformity. Remarkably, this alternative approach achieves a level of radiometric quality comparable to that delivered by a stable, well-characterized onboard Solar diffuser calibration device. The findings demonstrate the potential and capability of such Earth scene statistics in maintaining radiometric uniformity in calibrated data products to better than 1% (1-sigma) throughout the mission’s operational lifetime.

trend↗
DOE OSTI2021

Kinetic and temperature sensitivity properties of soil exoenzymes through the soil profile down to one-meter depth at a temperate coniferous forest (Blodgett, CA)

This dataset contains data on kinetic and temperature sensitivity parameters of the exoenzymes β-glucosidase (BG), leucine/leucyl aminopeptidase (LAP) and acid phosphatase (AP) across a soil profile down to 90 cm depth at Blodgett forest, CA, USA. These data were generated to determine if kinetic and thermal properties of microbial exoenzymes involved in organic matter decomposition varied with soil depth, following variation in soil properties and microbial communities, as part of the study: Alves et al. (2021). Kinetic Properties of Microbial Exoenzymes Vary with Soil Depth but Have Similar Temperature Sensitivities Through the Soil Profile. Frontiers in Microbiology 12:3618. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.735282. This research was performed within the framework of the TES Belowground Biogeochemistry SFA project, in particular association with a long-term field warming experiment of the whole soil profile at Blodgett forest. Samples for this work were collected from locations representative of the field experimental plots. Potential enzyme activity rates were measured using laboratory fluorometric assays with soils collected at 0-10, 10-20, 30-40, 50-60, 60-70 and 80-90 cm deep in biological triplicates (i.e., three soil cores collected at different representative locations). Assays with each soil were conducted over a gradient of eight substrate concentrations per enzyme, and incubated at 4, 10, 16, 25, 35 or 50°C. Enzyme Michaelis-Menten kinetics were modeled over the eight substrate concentrations at each temperature, and the temperature sensitivity of the kinetic parameters was modeled over the six temperatures using linear Arrhenius/Q10 and non-linear Macromolecular Rate Theory (MMRT) models. The dataset includes the fully processed enzyme activity rate data used to model Michaelis-Menten kinetics, calculated kinetic and temperature sensitivity parameters, and basic soil and microbial biomass chemistry for each sample. All data is provided for each individual biological replicate, and kinetic and temperature sensitivity parameters are also provided as means of the biological replicates. The dataset also includes all raw measurement data and code used to parse, combine and perform the analyses described by Alves et al. (2021). For file descriptions, see the file-level metadata files: “enzymes_dataProcessed_flmd.xlsx” (processed data); “enzymes_dataRaw_flmd.xlsx” (compressed raw data and metadata); and “enzymes_code_flmd.xlsx” (compressed code). The experimental design, list of parameters measured, soil and microbial biomass chemistry data, and means of biological replicates for kinetic and temperature sensitivity parameters are also provided as human-readable tables in file “enzymeTraits_design_results_tables.xlsx”.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1976

Mission to Earth: LANDSAT Views the World

The LANDSAT program and system is described. The entire global land surface of Earth is visualized in 400 color plates at a scale and resolution that specify natural land cultural features in man's familiar environments. A glossary is included.

Short, N. M.↗