SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Discussion of spectral data for Li, Be, B, C, N, and O from measurements of cosmic ray particle charges, trajectories and energies by a balloon-borne ionization spectrometer floated for 16 hr. It is concluded that the source spectra of heavy nuclei are flatter than those of lighter nuclei and the acceleration of the heavier nuclei is preferential in cosmic rays from the same source.
The successful application of photographic, optical-mechanical scanning, and other sensing techniques to vegetation must be based on an understanding of the biological and physical principles involved. The objective is to review the biological and optical characteristics of vegetation and to discuss how knowledge of them can support operational programs by aiding in wavelength selection, timing of missions, and discriminations between vegetation types as well as between healthy and stressed plants of the same type. Both laboratory situations, in which relatively pure spectral data are obtained, and field situations are considered. In the latter, sensor performance and background variables affect data quality.
The rotational spectra of a number of small molecular ions should be detectable in the microwave or millimeter wave regions in laboratory experiments using currently available techniques. The dipole moments and absorption coefficients of polar diatomics CO(+) and NO(+) as well as asymmetric isotopically enriched species, like O-18O-16(+), NE-20NE-22(+), and OC-18 O-16(+) are calculated to be sufficiently large to allow observation of their spectra. In addition to the detailed molecular structure information which such spectral data would provide, precise knowledge of the transition frequencies would render likely the detection of certain of these ions in the interstellar sources or in planetary atmospheres. All of these ions also possess vibrational spectra which should be detectable in the infrared region in laboratory or astrophysical sources.
The atmosphere is assumed to be driven by a polar symmetric temperature field and the equations of motion in pressure ratio coordinates are linearized by considering the zero order in terms of a thermal Rossby number R delta I/(2a omega) sq where delta T is a measure of the latitudinal temperature gradient. When the eddy viscosity is greater than 1 million sq cm/sec, the boundary layer extends far up into the atmosphere, making the geostrophic approximation invalid for the bulk of the atmosphere. A temperature model for Mars was used which was based on Mariner 9 infrared spectral data with a 30% increase in the depth averaged temperature from the winter pole to the subsolar point. The results obtained for the increase in surface pressure from the subsolar point to the winter pole, as a function of eddy viscosity and with no-slip conditions imposed at the surface, are given.
Results of laboratory simulation studies and comparative computer analyses of infrared spectral data regarding the presence, distribution, and form of condensed-phase water in the Martian surface. The data were obtained with the aid of the Mariner 6 and 7 spacecraft which were equipped with infrared spectrometers recording the infrared spectrum from 1.9 to 14.4 microns. From the analysis of these data evidence is obtained which signifies some sort of compositional and/or particle size variability of the extent and nature of hydration. Changes are noted which could be due to ice thinly covering a small fraction of the planetary surface in particularly cold spots, possibly on partially shaded slopes. At southerly latitudes, the fraction so covered seems to increase as the polar cap edge is approached. It is therefore concluded that there is strong evidence of ice formation on the planetary surface at the edge of the polar cap.
In this analysis of the phase-lag effect we utilize more extensive primary proton and helium spectral data from balloon studies of the University of New Hampshire group, from the Pioneer 8 and 9 spacecraft, and from ground-level monitors during 1965-72. If the rigidity dependence of the diffusion coefficient at earth did not change from 1968-72, then the data imply the nonseparability of the radial and rigidity parts of the diffusion coefficient.
Spectral data in the 0.2-1.6 keV range are presented for the extended X-ray source in the Virgo cluster. When combined with Uhuru data, the simplest function which fits the composite spectrum from 0.2 to 10 keV is one describing bremsstrahlung from an isothermal plasma at 36 million deg K. Production of the X-rays by inverse compton scattering is also considered, and models relating the X-ray source to M87 are discussed.
Jet noise shielding benefits for CTOL engine-over-the-wing configurations were obtained with model scale multitube and lobed mixer nozzles and various shielding surface geometries. Spectral data were obtained with jet velocities from 585 to 1110 ft/sec. Correlation equations for predicting jet noise shielding benefits with single conical nozzle installations were modified to correlate the mixer nozzle data. The modification included consideration of the number of nozzle elements and the peak axial velocity decay in the flow field adjacent to the shielding surface. The effect of forward velocity on jet noise attenuation by a shielding surface is discussed.
A cosmic gamma ray burst at about 1058:21 UT on April 27, 1972, was detected with an omnidirectional scintillation counter on Apollo 16. The event whose energy was approximately 0.0002 erg/sq cm, was pulse height analyzed in 512 channels over the 0.067 less than or equal to E less than or equal to 5 MeV range, and shows a complex, multipeak structure on a 300 msec time scale. The burst was also measured by a collimated X-ray detector on Apollo 16, giving spectral data in the 2 to 8 keV range which, together with a simultaneous observation by Vela 6A, allows a directional determination.
A program to improve the quality, reproducibility and reliability of nondestructive testing through the development of improved ASTM-type ultrasonic reference standards is described. Reference blocks of aluminum, steel, and titanium alloys were considered. Equipment representing the state-of-the-art in laboratory and field ultrasonic equipment was obtained and evaluated. Some RF and spectral data on ten sets of ultrasonic reference blocks were taken as part of a task to quantify the variability in response from nominally identical blocks. Techniques for residual stress, preferred orientation, and microstructural measurements were refined and are applied to a reference block rejected by the manufacturer during fabrication in order to evaluate the effect of metallurgical condition on block response.
The structure and spectrum of the Vela and Puppis supernova remnants (SNRs) were observed in soft (0.1 to 1.5 keV) X rays from a rocket. The spectral data of both objects below 1.5 keV are consistent with thermal radiation from a hot plasma and are not consistent with a simple power-law function. Fitting the data to a Tucker-Koren model results in values of T = (4.3 plus or minus 0.3) x 1,000,000 K for Vela and T = (7 plus or minus 1) x 1,000,000 K for Puppis. The present data, earlier data from the Cygnus Loop, and results on Cas A and Tycho reported by others are considered within the context of a simple model in which X rays are thermally produced as a result of a shock wave expanding into the interstellar medium. X-ray data on the temperature, intrinsic diameter, and intrinsic luminosity of the five SNRs are used to compute the age, energy release, and initial interstellar density for each one. From measurements of X-ray absorption along the line of sight, and also from shock-wave model interpretations of temperature-diameter-luminosity relations, it is concluded that the average density of interstellar material is about 0.1 per cu cm between the sun and the nearest X-ray emitting SNR, Vela.
Jet noise shielding benefits for CTOL engine-over-wing configurations were obtained with model-scale multitube and lobed mixer nozzles and various shielding surface geometries. Spectral data were obtained with jet velocities from 585 to 1110 ft/sec. Correlation equations for predicting jet noise shielding benefits with single conical nozzle installations were modified to correlate the mixer nozzle data. The modification included consideration of the number of nozzle elements and the peak axial velocity decay in the flow field adjacent to the shielding surface. The effect of forward velocity on jet noise attenuation by a shielding surface is discussed.
Using an FM-CW radar mounted atop a truck-mounted boom, 4-8 GHz backscatter spectral data was gathered during the 1972 growing season at incidence angles of 0-70 deg in 10 deg steps for each of the four linear polarization combinations. The data covers four mature crop types (corn, milo, soybeans and alfalfa) and bare ground taken under a wide range of soil and plant moisture contents. To insure statistical representation of the results, measurements were conducted over 147 fields corresponding to a total of about 50,000 data points. During 1973, a higher frequency version of the above system was used to collect additional data over the 8-18 GHz frequency region. This paper presents a summary of the results and suggests design criteria for future radar remote sensing missions.
The atmosphere is assumed to be driven by a polar symmetric temperature field. The surface pressure gradient exhibits a latitudinal dependence opposite that of the depth-averaged temperature. The magnitude of the gradient is dependent upon the depth of the boundary layer, which depends upon the eddy viscosity, the boundary conditions imposed at the surface, and upon the temperature lapse rate. Using a temperature model for Mars based on Mariner 9 infrared spectral data with a 30% increase in the depth-averaged temperature from the winter pole to the subsolar point, the increase in surface pressure from the subsolar point to the winter pole was calculated as a function of eddy viscosity with no-slip conditions imposed at the surface. The meridional cellular flow rate is correlated with the eddy viscosity, causing a complete overturning of the atmosphere in tens of days for an eddy viscosity of .1 billion sq cm/sec and in hundreds of days for 1 million sq cm/sec. The implication of this overturning in the dust storm observed during the early part of the Mariner 9 mission is discussed briefly.
Correlated measurements of red-shifted iron line emission and apparent surface brightness are suggested for unambiguously defining intrinsic X-ray characteristics for clusters of galaxies up to z greater than or equal to 1. If some of the weak unidentified high galactic latitude X-ray sources are clusters at z approximately 1-3, then such correlated measurements should be feasible witin the complement of instruments aboard the HEAO-B orbiting X-ray telescope observatory. In addition, those clusters at z less than 1 would require spectral data from broader bandwidth experiments, such as the all-sky survey to be provided by the proportional counters aboard the first mission of the High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO-A).
Color and spectral data from spectrometer observations and computerized analyses of asteroid spectra are discussed. Potential occultations of bright asteroids by the moon are summarized. Analysis of anisotropic scattering within Saturn's rings indicates that mineral contamination of the 120 particles cannot exceed 5 percent by weight, and that the rings formed from particle breakup rather than from particle condensation. Raman probe applications to Jupiter and Uranus atmospheres indicate the presence of aerosol particles. A review of Mariner 9 Mars cloud topography data establishes that most blue clouds are orographic uplift clouds composed of condensates, and that sporadic red clouds are associated with blue clouds or volcanoes and thus probably do not represent dust storm phenomena.
Observations of Jovian limb structure at 8.11 and 8.45 microns are reported. These are used along with other limb structure and spectral data in the 8-14 micron region to derive a model of the thermal and cloud structure within the 1.0-0.01 bar pressure regime. The temperature is about 165 K at 1.00 bar, 108 K at 0.10 bar, and 143 K at 0.03 bar. In zones, an optically opaque cloud of NH3 exists near the 143 K (0.60 bar) level. A partly transparent haze of solid NH3 particles overlies the cloud. Belts are free of the cloud and have a much lower abundance of NH3 haze than the zones. The data are consistent with an NH3 gas abundance defined by saturation equilibrium, with a mixing ratio of 0.00015 deep in the atmosphere, and with a CH4 mixing ratio of 0.002, about three times the currently accepted value.
Results of a photographic and spectrophotometric search to a limiting B magnitude of approximately 18.5 for the optical counterparts of nine galactic X-ray sources with good positions are reported. The sources included in this survey are 3U 1709-23, 1728-16, 1728-24, 1758-20, 1758-25, 1811-17, 1813-14, 1837+04, 1908+00. Optical candidates for six of these sources are discussed, including blue objects which may be the optical counterparts of 1709-23 and 1728-16, a distant B star near 1908+00, and a very unusual strong-emission-line object which is probably associated with 1728-24 (GX 2+5). Coordinates, magnitudes, colors, spectral data, and finding charts are presented.