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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2011

Does Vesta Have Moons?: Dawn's Search for Satellites

Upon approach to asteroid 4 Vesta, the Dawn mission included a dedicated satellite search observation of the operational sphere of the spacecraft around Vesta. Discovery of moons of Vesta would constrain theories of satellite f()rmation. The sequence using the framing camera and clear filter includes three mosaics of six stations acquired on July 9-10. 2011. Each station consists of four sets with three different exposures, 1.5,20 and 270 s. We also processed and scanned the optical navigation sequences until Vesta filled the field of view. Analysis of images involves looking for moving objects in the mosaics and identifying catalogued stars, subtracting them from the image and examining residual objects for evidence of bodies in orbit around Vesta. Celestial coordinates were determined using Astrometry.net, an astrometry calibration service (http://astrometry.net/use.html). We processed the images by subtracting dark and bias fields and dividing by a Hatfield. Images were further filtered subtracting a box car filter (9x9 average) to remove effects of scattered light from Vesta itself. Images were scanned by eye for evidence of motion in directions different from the background stars. All objects were compared with Hubble Space Telescope's Guide Star Catalogue and US Naval Observatory's UCAC3 catalog. We report findings from these observations and analysis, including limits of magnitude, size and motion of objects in orbit around Vesta. We gratefully acknowledge modifications made to Astrometrica http://www.astrometrica.at/ for purposes of this effort.

McFadden, L. A.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Magnetic hysteresis classification of the lunar surface and the interpretation of permanent remanence in lunar surface samples

A magnetic hysteresis classification of the lunar surface is presented. It was found that there is a distinct correlation between natural remanence (NRM), saturation magnetization, and the hysteresis ratios for the rock samples. The hysteresis classification is able to explain some aspects of time dependent magnetization in the lunar samples and relates the initial susceptibility to NRM, viscous remanence, and to other aspects of magnetization in lunar samples. It is also considered that since up to 60% of the iron in the lunar soil may be super paramagnetic at 400 K, and only 10% at 100 K, the 50% which becomes ferromagnetic over the cycle has the characteristics of thermoremanence and may provide for an enhancement in measurable field on the dark side during a subsatellite magnetometer circuit.

Wasilewski, P.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Bigness is in the eye of the beholder

This report reviews an investigation of judgments of size and distance as required of pilots in flight. The experiments covered a broad spectrum of basic psychophysiological issues involving the measurement of visual accommodation and its correlation with various other dependent variables. Psychophysiological issues investigated included the size-distance invariance hypothesis, the projection of afterimages, the moon illusion, night and empty-field myopia, the dark focus and its so-called Mandelbaum effect, the nature and locus of the accommodative stimulus, the relation between accommodation, retinal size, and perceived size, and possible relationships among accommodative responses, autonomic balance, and personality variables.

Roscoe, S. N.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Statistical analysis and use of VAS radiance data

Researchers goals are to describe the information content of Vertical Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) radiance data, especially the 6.7 micrometers water vapor channel, to better interpret the atmosphere's water vapor structure from 6.7 micrometers imagery, and to investigate new analysis and forecasting techniques utilizing retrieved VAS soundings. Researchers made major progress toward these goals during FY-85. They are investigating 6.7 micrometer imagery on 6 to 7 March 1982, a day when special mesoscale ground truth data were collected during the 1982 atmospheric variability experiment/vertical amospheric sounder (AVE/VAS) field experiment. A dark (dry) image streak having mesoscale details was located over the special data region, and it provides the major focus of the case study. Mesoscale radiosonde-derived humidity data are found to verify fine scale features of the image that are not evident from the standard National Weather Service network. Thus, VAS imagery is a reliable detector of mesoscale moisture structure during this case. To investigate causes for the image streak, researchers are calculating water vapor budgets. Subsidence is found to be a factor in the current case as well; however, patterns of descent are not related to the jet streak according to traditional conceptual models. Thus, it appears that more research into jet stream dynamics is needed in order to better interpret 6.7 micrometer imagery.

Fuelberg, H. E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The reduction of wide field/planetary camera images

An overview of the procedures required for reduction of Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field/Planetary Camera images is presented, based on WFPC performance as observed during ground tests. Camera artifacts that must be removed prior to analysis of WFPC images are characterized. WFPC flat-field and dark-current images are also presented. Special emphasis is given to the design of WFPC imaging programs that minimize the effects of camera artifacts on image analysis.

Lauer, Tod R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Uranus - Beneath that bland exterior

Findings made by the Voyager missions regarding the atmosphere, magnetic field, rings, and satellites of Uranus are reviewed. The reasons for the bland appearance of the planet are addressed, and the use of radio and infrared instruments to determine the rotational speeds of the planet and atmosphere, the equatorial radius, and the atmospheric temperature is discussed. The corkscrew magnetic field and the dark, almost dust-free rings are described. The most significant features of the largest Uranian moons are mentioned.

Simpson, Richard A.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Ground and In-Flight Calibration of the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite

The OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) onboard the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is used to study the shape and surface of the mission’s target, asteroid (101955) Bennu,in support of the selection of a sampling site. We present calibration methods and results for the three OCAMS cameras—MapCam, PolyCam, and SamCam—using data from pre-flight and in-flight calibration campaigns. Pre-flight calibrations established a baseline fora variety of camera properties, including bias and dark behavior, flat fields, stray light, and radiometric calibration. In-flight activities updated these calibrations where possible, allowing us to confidently measure Bennu’s surface. Accurate calibration is critical not only for establishing a global understanding of Bennu, but also for enabling analyses of potential sampling locations and for providing scientific context for the returned sample.

E Mazarico↗
NASA NTRS1989

A two micron polarization survey toward dark clouds

A near infrared (2.2 micron) polarization survey of about 190 sources was conducted toward nearby dark clouds. The sample includes both background field stars and embedded young stellar objects. The aim is to determine the magnetic field structure in the densest regions of the dark clouds and study the role of magnetic fields in various phases of star formation processes, and to study the grain alignment efficiency in the dark cloud cores. From the polarization of background field stars and intrinsically unpolarized embedded sources, the magnetic field structure was determined in these clouds. From the intrinsic polarization of young stellar objects, the spatial distribution was determined of circumstellar dust around young stars. Combining the perpendicularity between the disks and magnetic fields with perpendicularity between the cloud elongation and magnetic fields, it is concluded that the magnetic fields might have dominated nearly all aspects of cloud dynamics, from the initial collapse of the clouds right through to the formation of disks/tori around young stars in these low to intermediate mass star forming clouds of the Taurus, Ophiuchus, and Perseus.

Tamura, M.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Large N-body simulations of a universe dominated by cold dark matter

It is shown that pure gravitational evolution from an initial random density field with the standard cold dark matter (CDM) power spectrum does occasionally lead to filaments, walls, and voids remarkably like those seen in observed samples. A problem with the flat CDM model is the degree of streaming of galaxies relative to their velocity dispersion. A biased open CDM model seems to be more compatible with the observational data though it requires a higher amplitude of microwave background fluctuations.

Park, Changbom↗
NASA NTRS1993

Regional sedimentological variations among dark crater floor features: Toward a model for modern eolian sand distribution on Mars

It has been known since 1972 that many Martian craters have dark features on their floors, and that when seen at higher image resolution, some of the dark units are dune fields. Interpretations of thermal inertia derived from Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper (IRTM) data have been used to suggest that many dark intracrater features, including those where dunes are not observed in images, contain some amount of sand or particles in the range 0.1-10 mm. However, it has never been known if all these dark features consist of dunes. We assembled a set of 108 carefully constrained Viking IRTM observations for dark crater-floor units. The data and selection criteria are described in detail elsewhere. Studied in conjunction with Mariner 9 and Viking orbiter images of each crater, these data indicate that the dark crater-floor units in some regions have different thermal properties than those in other regions. Thermal inertias were computed using the Viking thermal model of H. H. Kieffer and corrected for atmospheric CO2 effects using the relationship for a dust-free atmosphere shown by Haberle and Jakosky.

Edgett, K. S.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Combined influences of gravitoinertial force level and visual field pitch on visually perceived eye level

Psychophysical measurements of the level at which observers set a small visual target so as to appear at eye level (VPEL) were made on 13 subjects in 1.0 g and 1.5 g environments in the Graybiel Laboratory rotating room while they viewed a pitched visual field or while in total darkness. The gravitoinertial force was parallel to the z-axis of the head and body during the measurements. The visual field consisted of two 58 degrees high, luminous, pitched-from-vertical, bilaterally symmetric, parallel lines, viewed in otherwise total darkness. The lines were horizontally separated by 53 degrees and presented at each of 7 angles of pitch ranging from 30 degrees with the top of the visual field turned away from the subject (top backward) to 30 degrees with the top turned toward the subject (top forward). At 1.5 g, VPEL changed linearly with the pitch of the 2-line stimulus and was depressed with top backward pitch and elevated with top forward pitch as had been reported previously at 1.0 g (1,2); however, the slopes of the VPEL-vs-pitch functions at 1.0 g and 1.5 g were indistinguishable. As reported previously also (3,4), the VPEL in darkness was considerably lower at 1.5 g than at 1.0 g; however, although the y-intercept of the VPEL-vs-pitch function in the presence of the 2-line visual field (visual field erect) was also lower at 1.5 g than at 1.0 g as it was in darkness, the G-related difference was significantly attenuated by the presence of the visual field. The quantitative characteristics of the results are consistent with a model in which VPEL is treated as a consequence of an algebraic weighted average or a vector sum of visual and nonvisual influences although the two combining rules lead to fits that are equally good.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS1974

Monte Carlo calculations of the surface brightness profiles of spherical dark nebulae

Theoretical surface brightness profiles of spherical dark nebulae of both uniform density and a density proportional to 1/r squared are being discussed. The albedo and asymmetry factor of the dust grains and the optical radius measured from the cloud center were the variable parameters in this study, which further assumed an isotropically incident radiation field. The occurrence of dark cores in the surface brightness profiles is examined, and their frequent existence in galactic dark nebulae is interpreted as resulting from a strongly forward scattering phase function and a high optical depth of the associated objects. The shape and depth of the profiles of the dark cores is closely related to the internal density distribution of the clouds, and it is suggested that detailed observations of the surface brightness profiles of dark nebulae will reveal important information on the type of their internal density distribution and, thus, their evolutionary status.

Witt, A. N.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Isocurvature cold dark matter fluctuations

According to Preskill et al. (1983), the axion field represents a particularly attractive candidate for the dark matter in the universe. In many respects it behaves like other forms of cold dark matter, such as massive gravitinos, photinos, and monopoles. It is, however, a pseudo-Goldstone boson of very low mass, and it is only because of rapid coherent oscillations of the field that it can dominate the mass density of the universe. In the present paper it is assumed that the isocurvature mode is dominant. The linear evolution calculations conducted do not depend upon specific details of particle physics. For this reason, the conducted discussion is applicable to any cold dark matter model with isocurvature perturbations. The results of the study lead to the conclusion that scale-invariant isocurvature perturbations do not seem an attractive possibility for the origin of large-scale structure. The findings strengthen the review that primordial adiabatic perturbations were the dominant fluctuations in the early stages of the Big Bang.

Efstathiou, G.↗
NASA NTRS2009

OP09O-OP404-9 Wide Field Camera 3 CCD Quantum Efficiency Hysteresis

The HST/Wide Field Camera (WFC) 3 UV/visible channel CCD detectors have exhibited an unanticipated quantum efficiency hysteresis (QEH) behavior. At the nominal operating temperature of -83C, the QEH feature contrast was typically 0.1-0.2% or less. The behavior was replicated using flight spare detectors. A visible light flat-field (540nm) with a several times full-well signal level can pin the detectors at both optical (600nm) and near-UV (230nm) wavelengths, suppressing the QEH behavior. We are characterizing the timescale for the detectors to become unpinned and developing a protocol for flashing the WFC3 CCDs with the instrument's internal calibration system in flight. The HST/Wide Field Camera 3 UV/visible channel CCD detectors have exhibited an unanticipated quantum efficiency hysteresis (QEH) behavior. The first observed manifestation of QEH was the presence in a small percentage of flat-field images of a bowtie-shaped contrast that spanned the width of each chip. At the nominal operating temperature of -83C, the contrast observed for this feature was typically 0.1-0.2% or less, though at warmer temperatures contrasts up to 5% (at -50C) have been observed. The bowtie morphology was replicated using flight spare detectors in tests at the GSFC Detector Characterization Laboratory by power cycling the detector while cold. Continued investigation revealed that a clearly-related global QE suppression at the approximately 5% level can be produced by cooling the detector in the dark; subsequent flat-field exposures at a constant illumination show asymptotically increasing response. This QE "pinning" can be achieved with a single high signal flat-field or a series of lower signal flats; a visible light (500-580nm) flat-field with a signal level of several hundred thousand electrons per pixel is sufficient for QE pinning at both optical (600nm) and near-UV (230nm) wavelengths. We are characterizing the timescale for the detectors to become unpinned and developing a protocol for flashing the WFC3 CCDs with the instrument's internal calibration system in flight. A preliminary estimate of the decay timescale for one detector is that a drop of 0.1-0.2% occurs over a ten day period, indicating that relatively infrequent cal lamp exposures can mitigate the behavior to extremely low levels.

Collins, Nick↗
NASA NTRS1992

Polarimetry and spectroscopy of a simple sunspot. I - On the magnetic field of a sunspot penumbra

We investigate the magnetic field structure of a medium sized sunspot using high resolution magnetograms and spectrograms and derive a relationship between the brightness of penumbral structures and the inclination of the magnetic field. The field inclination to the spot normal is larger in the dark structures than in the bright ones. We show that the field strength does not vary between dark and bright structures. At the inner penumbral boundary the field strength is 2000 Gauss and about 1000 Gauss at the outer penumbral edge. The line-of sight component of the material flow decreases rapidly within one arcsecond at the photospheric boundary of the spot.

Schmidt, W.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Seasonal canopy reflectance patterns of wheat, sorghum, and soybean

An investigation was conducted of canopy-reflectance patterns as a basis for the determination of surface conditions. Two fields each of wheat, sorghum, and soybeans were selected in a bottom land area. One field contained a dark-colored, silty clay loam and the other a light-colored, silt loam. The study suggests that the reflectance ratio of the 545- to 655-nm-wavelengths may be used as an indicator of crop growth.

Kanemasu, E. T.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The polar cap environment of outflowing O(+)

The properties of the core (0-50 eV) and 'energetic' (0-1 keV) ions, plasma waves, and auroral images obtained from Dynamics Explorer 1 (DE-1) and those of electrons, obtained from DE-2, are examined in the context of the polar cap environment. Results indicate the presence of two populations: high-speed (10-30 eV, or higher, streaming energies) polar beams and low-speed (generally less than 10-eV streaming energies) streams. The high-speed polar beams show an auroral connection (i.e., they are observed on or near the field lines threading auroral arcs), while the low-speed streams are on or near the field lines threading the dark polar cap and may be converted from the cleft ion fountain. Compared to the high-speed streams, the low-speed streams are significantly more stable with respect to energy and flux.

Horwitz, J. L.↗