Results for “image coding” — Page 54

NASA NTRS2000

Level 1 Processing of MODIS Direct Broadcast Data From Terra

In February 2000, an effort was begun to adapt the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level 1 production software to process direct broadcast data. Three Level 1 algorithms have been adapted and packaged for release: Level 1A converts raw (level 0) data into Hierarchical Data Format (HDF), unpacking packets into scans; Geolocation computes geographic information for the data points in the Level 1A; and the Level 1B computes geolocated, calibrated radiances from the Level 1A and Geolocation products. One useful aspect of adapting the production software is the ability to incorporate enhancements contributed by the MODIS Science Team. We have therefore tried to limit changes to the software. However, in order to process the data immediately on receipt, we have taken advantage of a branch in the geolocation software that reads orbit and altitude information from the packets themselves, rather than external ancillary files used in standard production. We have also verified that the algorithms can be run with smaller time increments (2.5 minutes) than the five-minute increments used in production. To make the code easier to build and run, we have simplified directories and build scripts. Also, dependencies on a commercial numerics library have been replaced by public domain software. A version of the adapted code has been released for Silicon Graphics machines running lrix. Perhaps owing to its origin in production, the software is rather CPU-intensive. Consequently, a port to Linux is underway, followed by a version to run on PC clusters, with an eventual goal of running in near-real-time (i.e., process a ten-minute pass in ten minutes).

Lynnes, Christopher↗

NASA NTRS2010

The OMPS Limb Profiler Instrument: Two-Dimensional Retrieval Algorithm

The upcoming Ozone Mapper and Profiler Suite (OMPS), which will be launched on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) platform in early 2011, will continue monitoring the global distribution of the Earth's middle atmosphere ozone and aerosol. OMPS is composed of three instruments, namely the Total Column Mapper (heritage: TOMS, OMI), the Nadir Profiler (heritage: SBUV) and the Limb Profiler (heritage: SOLSE/LORE, OSIRIS, SCIAMACHY, SAGE III). The ultimate goal of the mission is to better understand and quantify the rate of stratospheric ozone recovery. The focus of the paper will be on the Limb Profiler (LP) instrument. The LP instrument will measure the Earth's limb radiance (which is due to the scattering of solar photons by air molecules, aerosol and Earth surface) in the ultra-violet (UV), visible and near infrared, from 285 to 1000 nm. The LP simultaneously images the whole vertical extent of the Earth's limb through three vertical slits, each covering a vertical tangent height range of 100 km and each horizontally spaced by 250 km in the cross-track direction. Measurements are made every 19 seconds along the orbit track, which corresponds to a distance of about 150km. Several data analysis tools are presently being constructed and tested to retrieve ozone and aerosol vertical distribution from limb radiance measurements. The primary NASA algorithm is based on earlier algorithms developed for the SOLSE/LORE and SAGE III limb scatter missions. All the existing retrieval algorithms rely on a spherical symmetry assumption for the atmosphere structure. While this assumption is reasonable in most of the stratosphere, it is no longer valid in regions of prime scientific interest, such as polar vortex and UTLS regions. The paper will describe a two-dimensional retrieval algorithm whereby the ozone distribution is simultaneously retrieved vertically and horizontally for a whole orbit. The retrieval code relies on (1) a forward 2D Radiative Transfer code (to model limb radiances within a non-uniform atmosphere and evaluate 2D analytical partial derivatives) and (2) an optimal estimator inversion routine. The algorithm uses the typically sparse nature of the kernel matrices as well as fast matrix inversion techniques to allow for fast inversion of limb data with efficient memory management (as was done for MIPAS data processing). While the method has so far only been developed in the context of Single Scatter, the paper will show how the CPU intensive Multiple Scatter modeling can be implemented using parallel CPU processing. Initial results will be presented in terms of retrieved ozone profiles and code performance.

Rault, Didier F.↗

NASA NTRS2014

NASA Tech Briefs, June 2014

Topics include: Real-Time Minimization of Tracking Error for Aircraft Systems; Detecting an Extreme Minority Class in Hyperspectral Data Using Machine Learning; KSC Spaceport Weather Data Archive; Visualizing Acquisition, Processing, and Network Statistics Through Database Queries; Simulating Data Flow via Multiple Secure Connections; Systems and Services for Near-Real-Time Web Access to NPP Data; CCSDS Telemetry Decoder VHDL Core; Thermal Response of a High-Power Switch to Short Pulses; Solar Panel and System Design to Reduce Heating and Optimize Corridors for Lower-Risk Planetary Aerobraking; Low-Cost, Very Large Diamond-Turned Metal Mirror; Very-High-Load-Capacity Air Bearing Spindle for Large Diamond Turning Machines; Elevated-Temperature, Highly Emissive Coating for Energy Dissipation of Large Surfaces; Catalyst for Treatment and Control of Post-Combustion Emissions; Thermally Activated Crack Healing Mechanism for Metallic Materials; Subsurface Imaging of Nanocomposites; Self-Healing Glass Sealants for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Electrolyzer Cells; Micromachined Thermopile Arrays with Novel Thermo - electric Materials; Low-Cost, High-Performance MMOD Shielding; Head-Mounted Display Latency Measurement Rig; Workspace-Safe Operation of a Force- or Impedance-Controlled Robot; Cryogenic Mixing Pump with No Moving Parts; Seal Design Feature for Redundancy Verification; Dexterous Humanoid Robot; Tethered Vehicle Control and Tracking System; Lunar Organic Waste Reformer; Digital Laser Frequency Stabilization via Cavity Locking Employing Low-Frequency Direct Modulation; Deep UV Discharge Lamps in Capillary Quartz Tubes with Light Output Coupled to an Optical Fiber; Speech Acquisition and Automatic Speech Recognition for Integrated Spacesuit Audio Systems, Version II; Advanced Sensor Technology for Algal Biotechnology; High-Speed Spectral Mapper; "Ascent - Commemorating Shuttle" - A NASA Film and Multimedia Project DVD; High-Pressure, Reduced-Kinetics Mechanism for N-Hexadecane Oxidation; Method of Error Floor Mitigation in Low-Density Parity-Check Codes; X-Ray Flaw Size Parameter for POD Studies; Large Eddy Simulation Composition Equations for Two-Phase Fully Multicomponent Turbulent Flows; Scheduling Targeted and Mapping Observations with State, Resource, and Timing Constraints;

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2007

Virtual Diagnostics Interface: Real Time Comparison of Experimental Data and CFD Predictions for a NASA Ares I-Like Vehicle

Virtual Diagnostics Interface technology, or ViDI, is a suite of techniques utilizing image processing, data handling and three-dimensional computer graphics. These techniques aid in the design, implementation, and analysis of complex aerospace experiments. LiveView3D is a software application component of ViDI used to display experimental wind tunnel data in real-time within an interactive, three-dimensional virtual environment. The LiveView3D software application was under development at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for nearly three years. LiveView3D recently was upgraded to perform real-time (as well as post-test) comparisons of experimental data with pre-computed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) predictions. This capability was utilized to compare experimental measurements with CFD predictions of the surface pressure distribution of the NASA Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) - like vehicle when tested in the NASA LaRC Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT) in December 2006 - January 2007 timeframe. The wind tunnel tests were conducted to develop a database of experimentally-measured aerodynamic performance of the CLV-like configuration for validation of CFD predictive codes.

Schwartz, Richard J.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Virtual Diagnostics Interface: Real Time Comparison of Experimental Data and CFD Predictions for a NASA Ares I-Like Vehicle

Virtual Diagnostics Interface technology, or ViDI, is a suite of techniques utilizing image processing, data handling and three-dimensional computer graphics. These techniques aid in the design, implementation, and analysis of complex aerospace experiments. LiveView3D is a software application component of ViDI used to display experimental wind tunnel data in real-time within an interactive, three-dimensional virtual environment. The LiveView3D software application was under development at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) for nearly three years. LiveView3D recently was upgraded to perform real-time (as well as post-test) comparisons of experimental data with pre-computed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) predictions. This capability was utilized to compare experimental measurements with CFD predictions of the surface pressure distribution of the NASA Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) - like vehicle when tested in the NASA LaRC Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT) in December 2006 - January 2007 timeframe. The wind tunnel tests were conducted to develop a database of experimentally-measured aerodynamic performance of the CLV-like configuration for validation of CFD predictive codes.

Schwartz, Richard J.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Planetary camera observations of the double nucleus of M31

HST Planetary Camera images obtained in the V and I band for M31 show its inner nucleus to consist of two components that are separated by 0.49 arcsec. The nuclear component with lower surface brightness closely coincides with the bulge photocenter and is argued to be at the kinematic center of the galaxy. It is surmised that, if dust absorption generates the asymmetric nuclear morphology observed, the dust grain size must either be exceptionally large, or the dust optical depth must be extremely high; the higher surface-brightness and off-center nuclear component may alternatively be a separate stellar system.

Lauer, Tod R.↗

NASA NTRS2023

First VLTI/GRAVITY Observations of HIP 65426 b: Evidence for a Low or Moderate Orbital Eccentricity

Giant exoplanets have been directly imaged over orders of magnitude of orbital separations, prompting theoretical and observational investigations of their formation pathways. In this paper, we present new VLTI/GRAVITY astrometric data of HIP 65426 b, a cold, giant exoplanet which is a particular challenge for most formation theories at a projected separation of 92 au from its primary. Leveraging GRAVITY's astrometric precision, we present an updated eccentricity posterior that disfavors large eccentricities. The eccentricity posterior is still prior dependent, and we extensively interpret and discuss the limits of the posterior constraints presented here. We also perform updated spectral comparisons with self-consistent forward-modeled spectra, finding a best-fit ExoREM model with solar metallicity and C/O = 0.6. An important caveat is that it is difficult to estimate robust errors on these values, which are subject to interpolation errors as well as potentially missing model physics. Taken together, the orbital and atmospheric constraints paint a preliminary picture of formation inconsistent with scattering after disk dispersal. Further work is needed to validate this interpretation. Analysis code used to perform this work is available on GitHub: https://github.com/sblunt/hip65426.

Sarah Blunt↗

NASA NTRS2013

Ionospheric Simulation System for Satellite Observations and Global Assimilative Modeling Experiments (ISOGAME)

ISOGAME is designed and developed to assess quantitatively the impact of new observation systems on the capability of imaging and modeling the ionosphere. With ISOGAME, one can perform observation system simulation experiments (OSSEs). A typical OSSE using ISOGAME would involve: (1) simulating various ionospheric conditions on global scales; (2) simulating ionospheric measurements made from a constellation of low-Earth-orbiters (LEOs), particularly Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation data, and from ground-based global GNSS networks; (3) conducting ionospheric data assimilation experiments with the Global Assimilative Ionospheric Model (GAIM); and (4) analyzing modeling results with visualization tools. ISOGAME can provide quantitative assessment of the accuracy of assimilative modeling with the interested observation system. Other observation systems besides those based on GNSS are also possible to analyze. The system is composed of a suite of software that combines the GAIM, including a 4D first-principles ionospheric model and data assimilation modules, an Internal Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model that has been developed by international ionospheric research communities, observation simulator, visualization software, and orbit design, simulation, and optimization software. The core GAIM model used in ISOGAME is based on the GAIM++ code (written in C++) that includes a new high-fidelity geomagnetic field representation (multi-dipole). New visualization tools and analysis algorithms for the OSSEs are now part of ISOGAME.

Pi, Xiaoqing↗

NASA NTRS1996

Atmospheric Pre-Corrected Differential Absorption Techniques to Retrieve Columnar Water Vapor: Theory and Simulations

Two different approaches exist to retrieve columnar water vapor from imaging spectrometer data: (1) Differential absorption techniques based on: (a) Narrow-Wide (N/W) ratio between overlapping spectrally wide and narrow channels; (b) Continuum Interpolated Band Ratio (CIBR) between a measurement channel and the weighted sum of two reference channels. (2) Non-linear fitting techniques which are based on spectral radiative transfer calculations. The advantage of the first approach is computational speed and of the second, improved retrieval accuracy. Our goal was to improve the accuracy of the first technique using physics based on radiative transfer. Using a modified version of the Duntley equation, we derived an "Atmospheric Pre-corrected Differential Absorption" (APDA) technique and described an iterative scheme to retrieve water vapor on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Next we compared both, the CIBR and the APDA using the Duntley equation for MODTRAN3 computed irradiances, transmissions and path radiance (using the DISORT option). This simulation showed that the CIBR is very sensitive to reflectance effects and that the APDA performs much better. An extensive data set was created with the radiative transfer code 6S over 379 different ground reflectance spectra. The calculated relative water vapor error was reduced significantly for the APDA. The APDA technique had about 8% (vs. over 35% for the CIBR) of the 379 spectra with a relative water vapor error of greater than +5%. The APDA has been applied to 1991 and 1995 AVIRIS scenes which visually demonstrate the improvement over the CIBR technique.

Borel, Christoph C.↗

NASA NTRS2010

A Test of Thick-Target Nonuniform Ionization as an Explanation for Breaks in Solar Flare Hard X-Ray Spectra

Solar nonthermal hard X-ray (HXR) flare spectra often cannot be fitted by a single power law, but rather require a downward break in the photon spectrum. A possible explanation for this spectral break is nonuniform ionization in the emission region. We have developed a computer code to calculate the photon spectrum from electrons with a power-law distribution injected into a thick-target in which the ionization decreases linearly from 100% to zero. We use the bremsstrahlung cross-section from Haug (1997), which closely approximates the full relativistic Bethe-Heitler cross-section, and compare photon spectra computed from this model with those obtained by Kontar, Brown and McArthur (2002), who used a step-function ionization model and the Kramers approximation to the cross-section. We find that for HXR spectra from a target with nonuniform ionization, the difference (Delta-gamma) between the power-law indexes above and below the break has an upper limit between approx.0.2 and 0.7 that depends on the power-law index delta of the injected electron distribution. A broken power-law spectrum with a. higher value of Delta-gamma cannot result from nonuniform ionization alone. The model is applied to spectra obtained around the peak times of 20 flares observed by the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI from 2002 to 2004 to determine whether thick-target nonuniform ionization can explain the measured spectral breaks. A Monte Carlo method is used to determine the uncertainties of the best-fit parameters, especially on Delta-gamma. We find that 15 of the 20 flare spectra require a downward spectral break and that at least 6 of these could not be explained by nonuniform ionization alone because they had values of Delta-gamma with less than a 2.5% probability of being consistent with the computed upper limits from the model. The remaining 9 flare spectra, based on this criterion, are consistent with the nonuniform ionization model.

Holman, gordon↗

NASA NTRS2023

Measurements and Computations of Natural Transition on the NASA Juncture-Flow Model with a Symmetric Wing

Experiments were performed in the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to assess natural transition on the symmetric-airfoil wings of the NASA Juncture-Flow Model. Infrared thermography was used to visualize the heating on the upper surface of both wings of the full-span model, and on the fuselage, for angles of incidence ranging from -10° to 10° at a fixed Reynolds number of 2.4E6 based on the chord length at the wing planform break. The fuselage boundary layer transitioned well upstream of the wing-root leading edge for all conditions. Transition fronts were identified by a steep rise in the surface temperature, and the transition coordinates were transformed from an image-based to a body-fixed system. Additionally, the state of the boundary layer was estimated at pressure ports distributed on the wings through observation of the pressure coefficient as a function of the angle of incidence. For increasing angles of incidence, the transition front was observed to advance upstream, in a mostly spanwise-uniform fashion, from near midchord at α = 0°; however, for increasingly negative angles of incidence, the transition front first receded and then advanced in a nonuniform jagged manner that is typically observed with stationary crossflow. The transition wedges first appeared inboard of the wing break and then spread outboard to near the tip by α = -6°. The upstream shift in transition at positive angles of incidence and the outboard progression of crossflow-dominated transition at increasingly negative angles of incidence are consistent with trends identified in a computational assessment of the boundary-layer transition based on both linear stability analysis and Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes-based transition models. The stability results obtained from the Langley Stability and Transition Analysis Code were used to recalibrate a dual N-factor criterion, which allowed for the prediction of transition fronts that showed excellent agreement with the experiment. The Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes-based models, from the NASA OVERFLOW 2.3 solver, that accounted for the crossflow instability showed mixed results in comparison with the experiment, with the helicity-based Langtry-Menter model performing the best. The experimental data, particularly the cases involving strong influence from both Tollmien-Schlichting and crossflow instabilities, will be valuable for the continued validation and improvement of transition models.

Boundary layer transition↗

NASA NTRS2023

Measurements and Computations of Natural Transition on the NASA Juncture-Flow Model with a Symmetric Wing

Experiments were performed in the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to assess natural transition on the symmetric-airfoil wings of the NASA Juncture-Flow Model. Infrared thermography was used to visualize the heating on the upper surface of both wings of the full-span model, and on the fuselage, for angles of incidence ranging from -10° to 10° at a fixed Reynolds number of 2.4E6 based on the chord length at the wing planform break. The fuselage boundary layer transitioned well upstream of the wing-root leading edge for all conditions. Transition fronts were identified by a steep rise in the surface temperature, and the transition coordinates were transformed from an image-based to a body-fixed system. Additionally, the state of the boundary layer was estimated at pressure ports distributed on the wings through observation of the pressure coefficient as a function of the angle of incidence. For increasing angles of incidence, the transition front was observed to advance upstream, in a mostly spanwise-uniform fashion, from near midchord at α = 0°; however, for increasingly negative angles of incidence, the transition front first receded and then advanced in a nonuniform jagged manner that is typically observed with stationary crossflow. The transition wedges first appeared inboard of the wing break and then spread outboard to near the tip by α = -6°. The upstream shift in transition at positive angles of incidence and the outboard progression of crossflow-dominated transition at increasingly negative angles of incidence are consistent with trends identified in a computational assessment of the boundary-layer transition based on both linear stability analysis and Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes-based transition models. The stability results obtained from the Langley Stability and Transition Analysis Code were used to recalibrate a dual N-factor criterion, which allowed for the prediction of transition fronts that showed excellent agreement with the experiment. The Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes-based models, from the NASA OVERFLOW 2.3 solver, that accounted for the crossflow instability showed mixed results in comparison with the experiment, with the helicity-based Langtry-Menter model performing the best. The experimental data, particularly the cases involving strong influence from both Tollmien-Schlichting and crossflow instabilities, will be valuable for the continued validation and improvement of transition models.

boundary layer transition↗

NASA NTRS2023

Measurements and Computations of Natural Transition on the NASA Juncture-Flow Model with a Symmetric Wing

Experiments were performed in the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to assess natural transition on the symmetric-airfoil wings of the NASA Juncture-Flow Model. Infrared thermography was used to visualize the heating on the upper surface of both wings of the full-span model, and on the fuselage, for angles of incidence ranging from -10° to 10° at a fixed Reynolds number of 2.4E6 based on the chord length at the wing planform break. The fuselage boundary layer transitioned well upstream of the wing-root leading edge for all conditions. Transition fronts were identified by a steep rise in the surface temperature, and the transition coordinates were transformed from an image-based to a body-fixed system. Additionally, the state of the boundary layer was estimated at pressure ports distributed on the wings through observation of the pressure coefficient as a function of the angle of incidence. For increasing angles of incidence, the transition front was observed to advance upstream, in a mostly spanwise-uniform fashion, from near midchord at α = 0°; however, for increasingly negative angles of incidence, the transition front first receded and then advanced in a nonuniform jagged manner that is typically observed with stationary crossflow. The transition wedges first appeared inboard of the wing break and then spread outboard to near the tip by α = -6°. The upstream shift in transition at positive angles of incidence and the outboard progression of crossflow-dominated transition at increasingly negative angles of incidence are consistent with trends identified in a computational assessment of the boundary-layer transition based on both linear stability analysis and Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes-based transition models. The stability results obtained from the Langley Stability and Transition Analysis Code were used to recalibrate a dual N-factor criterion, which allowed for the prediction of transition fronts that showed excellent agreement with the experiment. The Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes-based models, from the NASA OVERFLOW 2.3 solver, that accounted for the crossflow instability showed mixed results in comparison with the experiment, with the helicity-based Langtry-Menter model performing the best. The experimental data, particularly the cases involving strong influence from both Tollmien-Schlichting and crossflow instabilities, will be valuable for the continued validation and improvement of transition models.

boundary layer transition↗

NASA NTRS2003

A new dynamical atmospheric ionizing radiation (AIR) model for epidemiological studies

A new Atmospheric Ionizing Radiation (AIR) model is currently being developed for use in radiation dose evaluation in epidemiological studies targeted to atmospheric flight personnel such as civilian airlines crewmembers. The model will allow computing values for biologically relevant parameters, e.g. dose equivalent and effective dose, for individual flights from 1945. Each flight is described by its actual three dimensional flight profile, i.e. geographic coordinates and altitudes varying with time. Solar modulated primary particles are filtered with a new analytical fully angular dependent geomagnetic cut off rigidity model, as a function of latitude, longitude, arrival direction, altitude and time. The particle transport results have been obtained with a technique based on the three-dimensional Monte Carlo transport code FLUKA, with a special procedure to deal with HZE particles. Particle fluxes are transformed into dose-related quantities and then integrated all along the flight path to obtain the overall flight dose. Preliminary validations of the particle transport technique using data from the AIR Project ER-2 flight campaign of measurements are encouraging. Future efforts will deal with modeling of the effects of the aircraft structure as well as inclusion of solar particle events. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of COSPAR.

Aviation↗

NASA NTRS2011

Small, Fast TES Microcalorimeters with Unprecedented X-ray Spectral Performance

Driven initially by the desire for X-ray microcalorimeter arrays suitable for imaging the dynamic solar corona, we have developed a transition-edge-sensor (TES) microcalorimeter optimization that exhibits a unique combination of high spectral resolving power and a wide X-ray bandpass. These devices have achieved spectral performance of dE approximately 1.3 eV FWHM at 1.5 keV, 1.6 eV at 6 keV, and 2.0 eV at 8 keV, using small TESs (e.g., approximately 35 micron x 35 micron) that operate in a regime in which the superconducting transition is highly current dependent. In order to accommodate high X-ray count rates, the devices sit directly on a solid substrate instead of on membranes, and we use an embedded heatsinking layer to reduce pixel-to-pixel crosstalk. We will present results from devices with a range of TES and absorber sizes, and from device wafers with varied embedded heatsink materials. This contribution will focus on count-rate capabilities, including a discussion of the trade-off between count rate and energy resolution, and the heatsinking design. We will also present preliminary tests of array readout using a code-division multiplexed SQUID readout scheme, which may be necessary to enable large arrays of these fast devices.

Eckart, M. E.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

An Open-Science Approach to Address Individual Response to Simulated GCR In Genetically Diverse Populations of Mice and Humans

This project addresses the challenge of understanding and predicting individual radiation sensitivity by integrating genetics, demographics and biomarker characteristics across species (mice and humans). We hypothesize that ex vivo DNA repair response to GCR components is a central determinant of cancer risk from space radiation and can serve as a biomarker of radiation risk in combination with genetics. Automated image quantification of 53BP1+ radiation-induced foci (RIF) during the first 4-48 h post-irradiation was performed as a function of dose and LET in non-immortalized primary skin fibroblasts derived from 76 mice across 15 strains (5 inbred reference strains and 10 collaborative-cross strains) exposed to X rays (0.1, 1 and 4 Gy), 350 MeV/n 40Ar and 600 MeV/n 56Fe (1.1 and 3 particles/100sq. μm), as well as in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 768 healthy donors (matched ethnicity, 50/50 male/female, 18-70 years old) exposed to gamma rays (0.1 and 1 Gy), 350 MeV/n 28Si, 350 MeV/n 40Ar and 600 MeV/n 56Fe (1.1 and 3 particles/100sq. μm). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed on the mouse strains between DNA damage responses to space radiation and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We found SNPs, which were significantly associated to the RIF phenotype, mapped to genes and pathways that are functionally linked to health hazards for deep space exploration (e.g. carcinogenesis, nervous system damage and immune dysfunction). Some of these SNPs were located within protein coding regions, potentially interfering with protein functions and providing promising genetic targets for countermeasures. We also found correlations between both spontaneous and radiation-induced DNA damage and SNPs mapped to pathways associated with cellular metabolism. GWAS is undergoing for the human data. All data have been made available via the NASA Space Biology Open-Science database (genelab.nasa.gov) and we will discuss how various genomic and transcriptomic datasets can be accessed for modeling and integrated using machine learning methods for discovering new radiation biology.

Sylvain V Costes↗

NASA NTRS2011

Vertical Distribution of Aersols and Water Vapor Using CRISM Limb Observations

Near-infrared spectra taken in a limb-viewing geometry by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on-board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide a useful tool for probing atmospheric structure. Specifically, the observed radiance as a function of wavelength and height above the limb allows the vertical distribution of both dust and ice aerosols to be retrieved. These data serve as an important supplement to the aerosol profiling provided by the MRO/MCS instrument allowing independent validation and giving additional information on particle physical and scattering properties through multi-wavelength studies. A total of at least ten CRISM limb observations have been taken so far covering a full Martian year. Each set of limb observations nominally contains about four dozen scans across the limb giving pole-to-pole coverage for two orbits at roughly 100 and 290 W longitude over the Tharsis and Syrtis/Hellas regions, respectively. At each longitude, limb scans are spaced roughly 10 degrees apart in latitude, with a vertical spatial resolution on the limb of roughly 800 m. Radiative transfer modeling is used to model the observations. We compute synthetic CRISM limb spectra using a discrete-ordinates radiative transfer code that accounts for multiple scattering from aerosols and accounts for spherical geometry of the limb observations by integrating the source functions along curved paths in that coordinate system. Retrieved are 14-point vertical profiles for dust and water ice aerosols with resolution of 0.4 scale heights between one and six scale heights above the surface. After the aerosol retrieval is completed, the abundances of C02 (or surface pressure) and H20 gas are retrieved by matching the depth of absorption bands at 2000 nm for carbon dioxide and at 2600 run for water vapor. In addition to the column abundance of water vapor, limited information on its vertical structure can also be retrieved depending on the signal available from aerosol scattering.

Smith, Michael D.↗

NASA NTRS2014

NASA Tech Briefs, January 2014

Topics include: Multi-Source Autonomous Response for Targeting and Monitoring of Volcanic Activity; Software Suite to Support In-Flight Characterization of Remote Sensing Systems; Visual Image Sensor Organ Replacement; Ultra-Wideband, Dual-Polarized, Beam-Steering P-Band Array Antenna; Centering a DDR Strobe in the Middle of a Data Packet; Using a Commercial Ethernet PHY Device in a Radiation Environment; Submerged AUV Charging Station; Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU) Vertical Cylinder Habitat; Origami-Inspired Folding of Thick, Rigid Panels; A Novel Protocol for Decoating and Permeabilizing Bacterial Spores for Epifluorescent Microscopy; Method and Apparatus for Automated Isolation of Nucleic Acids from Small Cell Samples; Enabling Microliquid Chromatography by Microbead Packing of Microchannels; On-Command Force and Torque Impeding Devices (OC-FTID) Using ERF; Deployable Fresnel Rings; Transition-Edge Hot-Electron Microbolometers for Millimeter and Submillimeter Astrophysics; Spacecraft Trajectory Analysis and Mission Planning Simulation (STAMPS) Software; Cross Support Transfer Service (CSTS) Framework Library; Arbitrary Shape Deformation in CFD Design; Range Safety Flight Elevation Limit Calculation Software; Frequency-Modulated, Continuous-Wave Laser Ranging Using Photon-Counting Detectors; Calculation of Operations Efficiency Factors for Mars Surface Missions; GPU Lossless Hyperspectral Data Compression System; Robust, Optimal Subsonic Airfoil Shapes; Protograph-Based Raptor-Like Codes; Fuzzy Neuron: Method and Hardware Realization; Kalman Filter Input Processor for Boresight Calibration; Organizing Compression of Hyperspectral Imagery to Allow Efficient Parallel Decompression; and Temperature Dependences of Mechanisms Responsible for the Water-Vapor Continuum Absorption.

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