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NASA NTRS2010

Integration and Testing of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Attitude Control System

Throughout the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Integration and Testing (I&T) phase of the project, the Attitude Control System (ACS) team completed numerous tests on each hardware component in ever more flight like environments. The ACS utilizes a select group of attitude sensors and actuators. This paper chronicles the evolutionary steps taken to verify each component was constantly ready for flight as well as providing invaluable trending experience with the actual hardware. The paper includes a discussion of each ACS hardware component, lessons learned of the various stages of I&T, a discussion of the challenges that are unique to the LRO project, as well as a discussion of work for future missions to consider as part of their I&T plan. LRO ACS sensors were carefully installed, tested, and maintained over the 18 month I&T and prelaunch timeline. Care was taken with the optics of the Adcole Coarse Sun Sensors (CSS) to ensure their critical role in the Safe Hold mode was fulfilled. The use of new CSS stimulators provided the means of testing each CSS sensor independently, in ambient and vacuum conditions as well as over a wide range of thermal temperatures. Extreme bright light sources were also used to test the CSS in ambient conditions. The integration of the two SELEX Galileo Star Trackers was carefully planned and executed. Optical ground support equipment was designed and used often to check the performance of the star trackers throughout I&T in ambient and thermal/vacuum conditions. A late discovery of potential contamination of the star tracker light shades is discussed in this paper. This paper reviews how each time the spacecraft was at a new location and orientation, the Honeywell Miniature Inertial Measurement Unit (MIMU) was checked for data output validity. This gyro compassing test was performed at several key testing points in the timeline as well as several times while LRO was on the launch pad. Sensor alignment tests were completed several times to ensure that hardware remained on a rigid platform.

Simpson, Jim↗
NASA NTRS1973

The application of far IR lasers to the investigation of the optical properties of materials

The effect of diffusion on the saturation and absorption properties of molecular gases is considered. The analysis starts with a simple derivation of the multi-level rate equations. Incorporating the diffusion term, calculations are carried out both for the homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening cases. Both graphical and analytical solutions are obtained for the absorption coefficient and the saturation intensity. It is shown that the effect of diffusion is characterized by a diffusion function, which varies inversely with the radius of the beam at low pressures and small beam sizes. The analysis is done in terms of two parameters k1a and k2a, which are simple functions of the intensity of the beam I, the effective relaxation rate w, and the effective diffusion constant D the a is designated as the radius of the beam.

Stafsudd, O. M.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Stellar luminosity stability - Luminosity variations and light curve period changes in BY Draconis stars

The implications for convection in late type stars arising from the observations of BY Draconis type variability are examined. The possibility that the total luminosity of such a star is not constant is emphasized, and further observational tests to better define the variability are suggested. An alternative to standard spot models is explored in which the 'missing' flux from 'dark' spots is temporally redistributed; this model makes definite predictions about the correlation of mean light and color, and about the quiescent (i.e., unspotted) magnitudes of BY Draconis stars. The time scales of the long-period variability of these stars appear to require secular changes in convective energy transport. Consideration is given to the evidence for period changes in the optical light curves, and it is concluded that the reality of such changes is far less certain than previously claimed.

Hartmann, L.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Role of the doubly stochastic Neyman type-A and Thomas counting distributions in photon detection

The sums of Meyman type-A and Thomas random variables are shown to retain their form under the constant multiplication parameter constraint. The conditions under which the two random variables converge in distribution to the fixed multiplicative Poisson, and to the Gaussian, are presented. It is shown that the latter result is important, in that it provides a solution to likelihood-ratio detection, estimation and discrimination problems in the presence of many kinds of signal and noise. Among the explicit applications presented are: (1) the photon-counter scintillation detection of nuclear particles when particle flux is low, (2) the photon-counting detection of weak optical signals in the presence of ionizing radiation, and (3) the design of a star-scanner spacecraft guidance system adequate for hostile space environments.

Teich, M. C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Stellar occultation probes of the Uranian rings at 0.1 and 2.2 microns - A comparison of Voyager UVS and earth-based results

A comparison between Voyager 2 UV spectrometer data for stellar occultations of the Uranian ring system obtained at 0.11 microns and 2.2-micron earth-based occultation data reveals the anticipated factor-of-two reduction in observed optical depths relative to those observed from earth. This is due to Voyager's proximity to the rings, which allows light diffracted out of the direct beam by ring particles to be replaced by light diffracted into the direct beam light from other particles, and further permits the placing of firm lower limits on typical particle sizes of 0.3 and 1 cm for the epsilon and delta rings, respectively. As a function of true anomaly, the epsilon ring profile is noted to remain very similar in shape and essentially constant in equivalent depth, even very near periapse.

Holberg, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Radiometric rectification - Toward a common radiometric response among multidate, multisensor images

A method is developed for relating scene digital counts among several images of the same scene by identifying radiometric control sets with mean reflectances that are basically constant. The average digital-count values of the control sets are utilized to compute linear transforms that relate digital count values between images. Two Landsat TM images are studied by means of the technique using simulations of a wide range of atmospheric conditions. In the visible and near-IR bands the algorithm effectively adjusts the surface reflectance for the effects of relative atmospheric differences to within 1 percent. The proposed method is found to be an effective relative correction procedure that can be used when atmospheric optical-depth data and calibration coefficients are not available.

Hall, F. G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A laser-cooled cesium fountain frequency standard and a measurement of the frequency shift due to ultra-cold collisions

A frequency standard based on an atomic fountain of cesium atoms may have an accuracy of 10(exp -16) due to longer interaction times and smaller anticipated systematic errors. All of the known systematic effects that now limit the accuracy of the Cs frequency standard increase either linearly or as some higher power of the atom's velocity. The one systematic frequency shift which is dramatically different is the frequency shift due to the collisions between the laser cooled atoms. At a temperature of a few micro-K, the de Broglie wavelength (lambda(sub deB) = h/p, where h is Planck's constant and p is the momentum of the atom) is much larger than the scale of the interatomic potential. Under these conditions the collision cross sections can be as large as (lambda(sub deB)(sup 2))/Pi and the frequency shift due to these collisions was recently calculated. In our Cs atomic fountain, we laser cooled and trapped 10(exp 10) Cs atoms in 0.4 s. By shifting the frequencies of the laser beams, the atoms were launched upwards at 2.5 m/s and a fraction of the atoms were optically pumped into the F=3 ground state. The unwanted atoms in the F=4 ground state were removed from the fountain with radiation pressure from a laser beam tuned to excite only those atoms. The Cs atoms in the F=3 state traveled ballistically upwards, were excited by the microwave cavity, and then returned back through the same cavity in the atomic fountain configuration. By varying the cold atom density, a density dependent shift of -12.9 +/- 0.7 mHz or -1.4 x 10-12 for an average fountain density of (2.7 +/- 1.5) 10(exp 9) atoms/cm(sup 3) was measured.

Gibble, Kurt↗
NASA NTRS2000

Investigation of Density Fluctuations in Supersonic Free Jets and Correlation with Generated Noise

The air density fluctuations in the plumes of fully-expanded, unheated free jets were investigated experimentally using a Rayleigh scattering based technique. The point measuring technique used a continuous wave laser, fiber-optic transmission and photon counting electronics. The radial and centerline profiles of time-averaged density and root-mean-square density fluctuation provided a comparative description of jet growth. To measure density fluctuation spectra a two-Photomultiplier tube technique was used. Crosscorrelation between the two PMT signals significantly reduced electronic shot noise contribution. Turbulent density fluctuations occurring up to a Strouhal number (Sr) of 2.5 were resolved. A remarkable feature of density spectra, obtained from the same locations of jets in 0.5< M<1.5 range, is a constant Strouhal frequency for peak fluctuations. A detailed survey at Mach numbers M = 0.95, 1.4 and 1.8 showed that, in general, distribution of various Strouhal frequency fluctuations remained similar for the three jets. In spite of the similarity in the flow fluctuation the noise characteristics were found to be significantly different. Spark schlieren photographs and near field microphone measurements confirmed that the eddy Mach wave radiation was present in Mach 1.8 jet, and was absent in Mach 0.95 jet. To measure correlation between the flow and the far field sound pressure fluctuations, a microphone was kept at a distance of 50 diameters, 30 deg. to the flow direction, and the laser probe volume was moved from point to point in the flow. The density fluctuations in the peripheral shear layer of Mach 1.8 jet showed significant correlation up to the measurement limit of Sr = 2.5, while for Mach 0.95 jet no correlation was measured. Along the centerline measurable correlation was found from the end of the potential core and at the low frequency range (Sr less than 0.5). Usually the normalized correlation values increased with an increase of the jet Mach number. The experimental data point out eddy Mach waves as a strong source of sound generation in supersonic jets and fail to locate the primary noise mechanism in subsonic jets.

Panda, J.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Lamp pumped Nd:YAG laser. Space-qualifiable Nd:YAG laser for optical communications

Results are given of a program concerned with the design, fabrication, and evaluation of alkali pump lamps for eventual use in a space qualified Nd:YAG laser system. The study included evaluation of 2mm through 6mm bore devices. Primary emphasis was placed upon the optimization of the 4mm bore lamp and later on the 6mm bore lamp. As part of this effort, reference was made to the Sylvania work concerned with the theoretical modeling of the Nd:YAG laser. With the knowledge gained, a projection of laser performance was made based upon realistic lamp parameters which should easily be achieved during following developmental efforts. Measurements were made on the lamp performance both in and out of the cavity configuration. One significant observation was that for a constant vapor pressure device, the spectral and fluorescent output did not vary for vacuum or argon environment. Therefore, the laser can be operated in an inert environment (eg. argon) with no degradation in output. Laser output of 3.26 watts at 430 watts input was obtained for an optimized 4mm bore lamp.

Ward, K. B.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The radar cross section of dielectric disks

A solution is presented for the backscatter (nonstatic) radar cross section of dielectric disks of arbitrary shape, thickness and dielectric constant. The result is obtained by employing a Kirchhoff type approximation to obtain the fields inside the disk. The internal fields induce polarization and conduction currents from which the scattered fields and the radar cross section can be computed. The solution for the radar cross section obtained in this manner is shown to agree with known results in the special cases of normal incidence, thin disks and perfect conductivity. The solution can also be written as a product of the reflection coefficient of an identically oriented slab times the physical optics solution for the backscatter cross section of a perfectly conducting disk of the same shape. This result follows directly from the Kirchhoff type approximation without additional assumptions.

D M Le Vine↗
NASA NTRS1993

Operating Characteristics of a 15-cm dia. Ion Engine for Small Planetary Spacecraft

A 15-cm diameter, scaled-down version of the NASA light-weight 30-cm ion engine has been developed for potential application to very small planetary spacecraft. Integration of the 15-cm ion source into 4x15-cm segmented engine configuration results in a 30-cm equivalent engine which can be throttled over a 7-to-1 input power variation with a constant beam current in each of the four segments. Throttling the segmented engine by turning off individual segments can result in a significant decrease in the required service life (and qualification requirements) of the ion source components.

grids segmented ion engine↗
NASA NTRS2011

A Hybrid Lyot Coronagraph for the Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of Exoplanet Systems: Recent Results and Prospects

We report our best laboratory contrast demonstrations achieved to date. We review the design, fabrication, performance, and future prospects of a hybrid focal plane occulter for exoplanet coronagraphy. Composed of thickness-profiled metallic and dielectric thin films vacuum deposited on a fused silica substrate, the hybrid occulter uses two superimposed thin films for control over both the real and imaginary parts of the complex attenuation pattern. Together with a deformable mirror for adjustment of wavefront phase, the hybrid Lyot coronagraph potentially exceeds billion-to one contrast over dark fields extending to within angular separations of 3 lambda/D (3 x the cosmological constant / diameter of the telescope) from the central star, over spectral bandwidths of 20 percent or more, and with throughput efficiencies up to 60 percent. We report laboratory contrasts of 3 x 10 (sup -10) degrees over 2 percent bandwidths, 6 x 10 (sup -10) degrees over 10 percent bandwidths, and 2 x 10 (sup -9) over 20 percent bandwidths, achieved across high contrast fields extending from an inner working angle of 3 lambda/D to a radius of 15 lambda/D. Occulter performance is analyzed in light of recent experiments and optical models, and prospects for further improvements are summarized. The science capabilities of the hybrid Lyot coronagraph are compared with requirements of the ACCESS mission, a representative exoplanet space telescope concept study for the direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanet systems. This work has been supported by NASA's Technology Demonstration for Exoplanet Missions (TDEM) program.

coronagraph↗
NASA NTRS2017

Meteoroid Environment Modeling: the Meteoroid Engineering Model and Shower Forecasting

The meteoroid environment is often divided conceptually into meteor showers plus a sporadic background component. The sporadic complex poses the bulk of the risk to spacecraft, but showers can produce significant short-term enhancements of the meteoroid flux. The Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) has produced two environment models to handle these cases: the Meteoroid Engineering Model (MEM) and an annual meteor shower forecast. Both MEM and the forecast are used by multiple manned spaceflight projects in their meteoroid risk evaluation, and both tools are being revised to incorporate recent meteor velocity, density, and timing measurements. MEM describes the sporadic meteoroid complex and calculates the flux, speed, and directionality of the meteoroid environment relative to a user-supplied spacecraft trajectory, taking the spacecraft's motion into account. MEM is valid in the inner solar system and offers near-Earth and cis-lunar environments. While the current version of MEM offers a nominal meteoroid environment corresponding to a single meteoroid bulk density, the next version of MEMR3 will offer both flux uncertainties and a density distribution in addition to a revised near-Earth environment. We have updated the near-Earth meteor speed distribution and have made the first determination of uncertainty in this distribution. We have also derived a meteor density distribution from the work of Kikwaya et al. (2011). The annual meteor shower forecast takes the form of a report and data tables that can be used in conjunction with an existing MEM assessment. Fluxes are typically quoted to a constant limiting kinetic energy in order to comport with commonly used ballistic limit equations. For the 2017 annual forecast, the MEO substantially revised the list of showers and their characteristics using 14 years of meteor flux measurements from the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR). Defunct or insignificant showers were removed and the temporal profiles of many showers were improved. In 2016 the MEO also adapted the forecast to the cislunar environment for the first time. We plan to make additional improvements to the model in the next two years using optical meteor flux measurements and mass indices.

Moorhead, Althea V.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Meteoroid Environment Modeling: the Meteoroid Engineering Model and Shower Forecasting

The meteoroid environment is often divided conceptually into meteor showers plus a sporadic background component. The sporadic complex poses the bulk of the risk to spacecraft, but showers can produce significant short-term enhancements of the meteoroid flux. The Meteoroid Environment Office (MEO) has produced two environment models to handle these cases: the Meteoroid Engineering Model (MEM) and an annual meteor shower forecast. Both MEM and the forecast are used by multiple manned spaceflight projects in their meteoroid risk evaluation, and both tools are being revised to incorporate recent meteor velocity, density, and timing measurements. MEM describes the sporadic meteoroid complex and calculates the flux, speed, and directionality of the meteoroid environment relative to a user-supplied spacecraft trajectory, taking the spacecraft's motion into account. MEM is valid in the inner solar system and offers near-Earth and cis-lunar environments. While the current version of MEM offers a nominal meteoroid environment corresponding to a single meteoroid bulk density, the next version of MEMR3 will offer both flux uncertainties and a density distribution in addition to a revised near-Earth environment. We have updated the near-Earth meteor speed distribution and have made the first determination of uncertainty in this distribution. We have also derived a meteor density distribution from the work of Kikwaya et al. (2011). The annual meteor shower forecast takes the form of a report and data tables that can be used in conjunction with an existing MEM assessment. Fluxes are typically quoted to a constant limiting kinetic energy in order to comport with commonly used ballistic limit equations. For the 2017 annual forecast, the MEO substantially revised the list of showers and their characteristics using 14 years of meteor flux measurements from the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR). Defunct or insignificant showers were removed and the temporal profiles of many showers were improved. In 2016 the MEO also adapted the forecast to the cislunar environment for the first time. We plan to make additional improvements to the model in the next two years using optical meteor flux measurements and mass indices.

Moorhead, Althea V.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Measurements of Freestream Fluctuations in the NASA Langley 20-Inch Mach 6 Tunnel

An experimental campaign was conducted to measure and to characterize the freestream disturbance levels in the NASA Langley Research Center 20-Inch Mach 6 Wind Tunnel. A pitot rake was instrumented with fast pressure transducers, hot wires, and an atomic layer thermopile to quantify the fluctuation levels of pressure, mass flux, and heat flux, respectively. In conjunction with these probe-based measurements, focused laser differential interferometry was used to optically measure density fluctuations. Measurements were made at five nominal different unit Reynolds numbers ranging from (3.28 to 26.5) times 10 (sup 6) per meter. The rake was positioned at two different stream-wise locations and several different roll angles to measure flow uniformity within the test section. In general, noise levels were spatially consistent within the tested region. Pitot pressure fluctuation levels ranged from 0.84 percent at the highest Reynolds number tested to 1.89 percent at the lowest Reynolds number tested. Freestream mass-flux fluctuations remained relatively constant between 1.8-2.5 percent of the freestream. The pressure transducers were also used to determine the dominant disturbance speed and angle of propagation. The disturbances were estimated to travel at approximately 54-81 percent of the freestream speed at an angle of approximately 21-44 degrees from the freestream direction, but these measurements had a significant amount of uncertainty. A comparison to previous measurements of pressure made in 2012 and of mass flux made in 1994 show almost no change in the RMS (Root Mean Square) fluctuation of these flow quantities.

Chou, Amanda↗
NASA NTRS1986

Toughening mechanisms in elastomer-modified epoxies. I - Mechanical studies. II - Microscopy studies

Tensile dilatometry at constant displacement rates is presently used to ascertain whether voiding, crazing or shear banding are the deformation mechanisms at work in the toughening of brittle epoxies through the addition of an elastomeric phase. The results obtained for epoxies toughened by various levels of several types of carbonyl-terminated butadiene nitrile liquid rubber indicate that, at low strain rates, the rubber particles simply enhance shear deformation; at sufficiently high strain rates, the particles cavitate and promote further shear deformation. Examinations of these materials are conducted by means of SEM, TEM, and optical microscopy in the second part of this study. Toughening is hypothesized to involve cavitation's relieving of triaxial tension at the crack tip, as well as shear band formation, which creates a plastic zone.

Yee, A. F.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Non-solar UV produced ions observed optically from the 'Crit I' critical velocity ionization experiment

A critical velocity ionization experiment was carried out with a heavily instrumented rocket launched from Wallops Island on May 13, 1986. Two neutral barium beams were created by explosive shaped charges released from the rocket and detonated at 48 deg to B at altitudes near 400 km and below the solar UV cutoff. Critical velocity ionization was expected to form a detectable ion jet along the release field line, but, instead, an ion cloud of fairly uniform intensity was observed stretching from the release field line across to where the neutral barium jet reached sunlight. The process creating these ions must have been present from the time of the release; the efficiency is estimated to be equivalent to an ionization time constant of 1800 sec. This ionization is most likely from collisions between the neutral barium jet and the ambient atmospheric oxygen, and, if so, the cross section for collisional ionization is 9 x 10 to the -18th sq cm.

Stenbaek-Nielsen, H. C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Performance analysis of a noncoherently combined large aperture optical heterodyne receiver

The performance of a noncoherently combined (NC) multiple-mirror heterodyne receiver is analyzed. With no atmospheric turbulence (AT), the performance of the NC receiver is shown to the inferior to that of a monolithic diffraction-limited receiver with equivalent aperture area. When AT is taken into consideration, however, the efficiency of a monolithic receiver is limited by the phase coherence length of the atmosphere, and generally does not improve with increasing aperture size. In contrast, the performance of an NC system improves with an increasing number of receivers. Consequently, given a fixed collecting area, the NC system can offer superior performance. The performance of the NC heterodyne receiver is studied by analyzing the combining loss of the receiver SNR. It is shown that, given a constant collecting area, the performance of the NC receiver is optimized when the diameter of each of the individual receivers is on the order of the phase coherence length of the AT.

Chen, Chien-Chung↗