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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,099 records · Page 61
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

Portable, solid state, fiber optic coupled Doppler interferometer system for detonation and shock diagnostics

VISAR (Velocity Interferometer System for Any Reflector) is a specialized Doppler interferometer system that is gaining world-wide acceptance as the standard for shock phenomena analysis. The VISAR's large power and cooling requirements, and the sensitive and complex nature of the interferometer cavity have restricted the traditional system to the laboratory. This paper describes the new portable VISAR, its peripheral sensors, and the role it played in optically measuring ground shock of and underground nuclear detonation. The Solid State VISAR uses a prototype diode pumped Nd:YAG laser and solid state detectors that provide a suitcase-size system with low power requirements. A special window and sensors were developed for fiber optic coupling (1 kilometer long) to the VISAR. The system has proven itself as a reliable, easy to use instrument that is capable of field test use and rapid data reduction using only a notebook personal computer (PC).

Fleming, K. J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Development of airborne eddy-correlation flux measurement capabilities for reactive oxides of nitrogen

This research is aimed at producing a fundamental new research tool for characterizing the source strength of the most important compound controlling the hemispheric and global scale distribution of tropospheric ozone. Specifically, this effort seeks to demonstrate the proof-of-concept of a new general purpose laser-induced fluorescence based spectrometer for making airborne eddy-correlation flux measurements of nitric oxide (NO) and other reactive nitrogen compounds. The new all solid-state laser technology being used in this advanced sensor will produce a forerunner of the type of sensor technology that should eventually result in highly compact operational systems. The proof-of-concept sensor being developed will have over two orders-of-magnitude greater sensitivity than present-day instruments. In addition, this sensor will offer the possibility of eventual extension to airborne eddy-correlation flux measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and possibly other compounds, such as ammonia (NH3), peroxyradicals (HO2), nitrateradicals (NO3) and several iodine compounds (e.g., I and IO). Demonstration of the new sensor's ability to measure NO fluxes will occur through a series of laboratory and field tests. This proof-of-concept demonstration will show that not only can airborne fluxes of important ultra-trace compounds be made at the few parts-per-trillion level, but that the high accuracy/precision measurements currently needed for predictive models can also. These measurement capabilities will greatly enhance our current ability to quantify the fluxes of reactive nitrogen into the troposphere and significantly impact upon the accuracy of predictive capabilities to model O3's distribution within the remote troposphere. This development effort also offers a timely approach for producing the reactive nitrogen flux measurement capabilities that will be needed by future research programs such as NASA's planned 1999 Amazon Biogeochemistry and Atmospheric Chemistry Experimental portion of LBA.

Bradshaw, John↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Pilot-Scale Evaluation of a New Technology to Control NO(x) Emissions from Boilers at KSC: Hydrogen Peroxide Injection into Boiler Flue Gases Followed by Wet Scrubbing of Acid Gases

Emissions of nitrogen oxides NO(x) are a significant problem in the United States. NO(x) are formed in any combustion process, therefore it is not surprising that NO(x) are emitted from the boilers at KSC. Research at UCF has shown (in the laboratory) that injecting H2O2 into hot simulated flue gases can oxidize the NO and NO2 to their acid gas forms, HNO2 and HNO3, respectively. These acid gases are much more water soluble than their counterparts, and theoretically can be removed easily by wet scrubbing. This technology was of interest to NASA, both for their boilers at KSC, and for their combustion sources elsewhere. However, it was necessary to field test the technology and to provide pilot-scale data to aid in design of full-scale facilities. Hence this project was initiated in May of 1996.

Cooper, C. David↗
NASA NTRS1997

Increasing Mathematics and Science Achievement for Culturally Diverse Students through Teaching Training

The purpose of this proposal was to field test and evaluate a Teacher Training program that would prepare teachers to increase the motivation and achievement of culturally diverse students in the areas of science and mathematics. Designed as a three year program, this report covers the first two years of the training program at the Ronald McNair School in the Ravenswood School district, using the resources of the NASA Ames Research Center and the California Framework for Mathematics and Science.

Mahon, Lee↗
NASA NTRS1997

A FLINN Station at Pinon Flat Observatory

The main objectives are: (1) To develop Pinon Flat Observatory (PFO) as a prototype 'integrated' FLINN station: one from which many types of data are collected, combined, and made available to the DOSE program to enhance studies of local and regional strains; (2) To develop the theoretical framework and methods to integrate the various types of auxiliary data which are to be collected by NASA at space-geodetic sites of the FLINN network, with the aim of learning as much as possible about the nature of earth deformation; (3) To develop procedures for the efficient and useful storage and retrieval of such auxiliary data so that they may be efficiently utilized by DOSE investigators; (4) To investigate the stability of ground monumentation now used in space-geodetic measurements, including the field testing of existing and new monument designs.

Agnew, Duncan Carr↗
NASA NTRS1998

Marketing Training

All of our ideas have been field tested and have proven effective in our environment. Our objectives are: We will share our ideas about marketing training and what we've implemented at Michoud Space Systems. You will go away with at least one new idea or insight about how to more effectively market your training.

Leonard, Eric↗
NASA NTRS1998

Automated All-Weather Lidar with Scanning Option

The design of the Depolarization and Backscatter Unattended Lidar (DABUL) was reported at the last ILRC. The addition of automated scanning in elevation angle within a single azimuthal plane permits more comprehensive sampling of clouds and more quantitative interpretation of the data, especially near the surface. Some highlights are described of measurements made during field tests of DABUL. Examples are also given of preliminary results from the current year-long deployment aboard a research vessel drifting in the arctic ice pack as part of the SHEBA (Surface HEat Budget of the Arctic) project and NASA's arctic cloud and satellite validation research.

Eberhard, Wynn L.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The Impact of Emerging Electronic Highway Control Systems on Motorist Information Requirements

Advanced forms of electronic and computerized control systems are being developed to optimize traffic flow in and between cities. Modern technology permits communication of real-time information via signs and auditory messages and allows motorists to plan ahead for safer and more efficient travel. This paper describes an on-going research program for defining drivers' information needs and behavior in response to various message types and modes of presentation. Human engineer design criteria for real-time displays will be investigated in the laboratory and in research vehicles with field testing in actual city corridors. The results will be incorporated into a design handbook for use by sign design engineers.

Huchingson, R. Dale↗
NASA NTRS1999

Development of Airport Surface Required Navigation Performance (RNP)

The U.S. and international aviation communities have adopted the Required Navigation Performance (RNP) process for defining aircraft performance when operating the en-route, approach and landing phases of flight. RNP consists primarily of the following key parameters - accuracy, integrity, continuity, and availability. The processes and analytical techniques employed to define en-route, approach and landing RNP have been applied in the development of RNP for the airport surface. To validate the proposed RNP requirements several methods were used. Operational and flight demonstration data were analyzed for conformance with proposed requirements, as were several aircraft flight simulation studies. The pilot failure risk component was analyzed through several hypothetical scenarios. Additional simulator studies are recommended to better quantify crew reactions to failures as well as additional simulator and field testing to validate achieved accuracy performance, This research was performed in support of the NASA Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations Programs.

Cassell, Rick↗
NASA NTRS1997

Near-Surface Phytoplankton Pigment from the Coastal Zone Color Scanner in the Subantarctic Region Southeast of New Zealand

Primarily based on satellite images, the phytoplankton concentration southeast (down- stream) of New Zealand in the High Nitrate - Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) Subantarctic water between the Subtropical Convergence (STC) and the Polar Front (PF) is believed to be higher than in the remainder of the Pacific Sector. Iron enrichment is assumed to be the reason, To study the question, near-surface phytoplankton pigment estimates from the Coastal Zone Color Scanner for up to 7 yr were reprocessed with particular attention to interference by clouds. Monthly mean images were created for the U,S. JGOFS Box along 170 deg W and means for individual dates calculated for 7 large areas between 170 deg E and 160 deg W, 45 deg and 58 deg S, well offshore of New Zealand and principally between and away from the STC and PF. The areal means are about as low as in other HNLC regions (most values between 0.1 and 0.4 or 0.5 mg/ sq m, with very few winter images; median of seasonal means, 0.26 mg/sq m) except at times near the STC, The higher means tend to occur in late summer and autumn, However, contrary to expectations, neither the PF nor the environs of the Subantarctic Front are distinguished by a zone of increased pigment. Also, of 24 spring-summer images of oceanic islands in mostly pigment-poor water, 17 yielded no recognizable elevated pigment; islands were 5 times surrounded by approximately doubled concentrations (ca 100 km in diameter), and 2 cases may have been associated with an extensive bloom. Inspection of offshore images showed concentrations of 1 greater than or equal to(up to 5) mg/sq m in rare patches of 65 to 200 km size on approximately one-tenth of the dates; such patches were not seen in Sub-antarctic waters of the eastern Pacific Sector. A case is made for Australian airborne iron supply being the cause that, presumably, would enhance large-celled phytoplankton. Since, however, the putative iron supply from the seabed around the oceanic islands or the near-by Campbell Plateau normally does not lead to phytoplankton increase, patches of neritic mesozooplankton advected from the shelves might be another mechanism that generates blooms of small-cetled phytoplankton, but there are no data. These alternatives can easily be field-tested from concentration and size composition of the phytoplankton.

Banse, Karl↗
NASA NTRS1998

The Associate Principal Astronomer for AI Management of Automatic Telescopes

This research program in scheduling and management of automatic telescopes had the following objectives: 1. To field test the 1993 Automatic Telescope Instruction Set (ATIS93) programming language, which was specifically developed to allow real-time control of an automatic telescope via an artificial intelligence scheduler running on a remote computer. 2. To develop and test the procedures for two-way communication between a telescope controller and remote scheduler via the Internet. 3. To test various concepts in Al scheduling being developed at NASA Ames Research Center on an automatic telescope operated by Tennessee State University at the Fairborn Observatory site in southern Arizona. and 4. To develop a prototype software package, dubbed the Associate Principal Astronomer, for the efficient scheduling and management of automatic telescopes.

Henry, Gregory W.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Internal Wave Study in the South China Sea Using SAR

Recently, the internal wave distribution maps in the China Seas have been compiled from hundreds of ERS-1/2, RADARSAT, and Space Shuttle SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images from 1993 to 1999. Based on internal wave distribution map, most of internal waves in the northeast part of South China Sea were propagating westward. The wave crest can be as long as 200 km with amplitude of 100 m due to strong current from the Kuroshio branching out into the South China Sea. Based on the observations from drilling rigs near DongSha Island by Amoco Production Co., the solitons may be generated in a 4 km wide channel between Batan and Sabtang islands in Luzon Strait. The proposed generation mechanism is similar to the lee wave formation from a shallow topography. Both depression and elevation internal waves have been observed in the same RADARSAT ScanSAR image on May 4, 1998 near DongSha Island. Furthermore, depression and elevation internal waves have also been observed by SAR at the same location on the shelf in April and June, 1993 (in different seasons) respectively. Numerical models have been used to interpret their generation mechanism and evolution processes. Based on the SAR images, near DongSha Island, the westward propagating huge internal solitons are often encountered and diffracted/broken by the coral reefs on the shelf. After passing the island, the diffracted waves will re-merge or interact with each other. It has been observed that after the nonlinear wave-wave interaction, the phase of wave packet is shifted and wavelength is also changed. Examples of mesoscale features observed in SAR images, such as fronts, raincells, bathymetry, ship wakes, and oil spills will be presented. Recent mooring measurements in April 1999 near Dongsha Island, future field test ASIAEX (Asian Seas International Acoustics Experiment) planned for April 2001, and some pretest survey data will be discussed in this paper.

Liu, Antony K.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Development and Demonstration of a Self-Calibrating Pseudolite Array for Task Level Control of a Planetary Rover

Pseudolites can extend the availability of GPS-type positioning systems to a wide range of applications not possible with satellite-only GPS. One such application is Mars exploration, where the centimeter-level accuracy and high repeatability of CDGPS would make it attractive for rover positioning during autonomous exploration, sample collection, and habitat construction if it were available. Pseudolites distributed on the surface would allow multiple rovers and/or astronauts to share a common navigational reference. This would help enable cooperation for complicated science tasks, reducing the need for instructions from Earth and increasing the likelihood of mission success. Conventional GPS Pseudolite arrays require that the devices be pre-calibrated through a Survey of their locations, typically to sub-centimeter accuracy. This is a problematic task for robots on the surface of another planet. By using the GPS signals that the Pseudolites broadcast, however, it is possible to have the array self-survey its own relative locations, creating a SelfCalibrating Pseudolite Array (SCPA). This requires the use of GPS transceivers instead of standard pseudolites. Surveying can be done either at carrier- or code-phase levels. An overview of SCPA capabilities, system requirements, and self-calibration algorithms is presented in another work. The Aerospace Robotics Laboratory at Statif0id has developed a fully operational prototype SCPA. The array is able to determine the range between any two transceivers with either code- or carrier-phase accuracy, and uses this inter-transceiver ranging to determine the at-ray geometry. This paper presents results from field tests conducted at Stanford University demonstrating the accuracy of inter-transceiver ranging and its viability and utility for array localization, and shows how transceiver motion may be utilized to refine the array estimate by accurately determining carrier-phase integers and line biases. It also summarizes the overall system requirements and architecture, and describes the hardware and software used in the prototype system.

Rock, Stephen M.↗
NASA NTRS2000

BOREAS TF-10 NSA-Fen Tower Flux and Meteorological Data

The BOREAS TF-10 team collected tower flux and meteorological data at two sites, a fen and a young jack pine forest, near Thompson, Manitoba, Canada, as part of BOREAS. A preliminary data set was assembled in August 1993 while field testing the instrument packages, and at both sites data were collected from 15-Aug to 31-Aug. The main experimental period was in 1994, when continuous data were collected from 08-Apr to 23-Sep at the fen site. A very limited experiment was run in the spring/ summer of 1995, when the fen site tower was operated from 08-Apr to 14-Jun in support of a hydrology experiment in an adjoining feeder basin. Upon examination of the 1994 data set, it became clear that the behavior of the heat, water, and carbon dioxide fluxes throughout the whole growing season was an important scientific question, and that the 1994 data record was not sufficiently long to capture the character of the seasonal behavior of the fluxes. Thus, the fen site was operated in 1996 in order to collect data from spring melt to autumn freeze-up. Data were collected from 29-Apr to 05-Nov at the fen site. All variables are presented as 30-minute averages. The data are stored in tabular ASCII files.

McCaughey, J. Harry↗
NASA NTRS2000

BOREAS TF-10 NSA-YJP Tower Flux, Meteorological, and Porometry Data

The BOREAS TF-10 team collected tower flux and meteorological data at two sites, a fen and a young jack pine forest, near Thompson, Manitoba, Canada, as part of BOREAS. A preliminary data set was assembled in August 1993 while field testing the instrument packages, and at both sites data were collected from 15-Aug to 31-Aug. The main experimental period was in 1994, when continuous data were collected from the young jack pine site from 23-May to 20-Sep. Upon examination of the 1994 data set, it became clear that the behavior of the heat, water, and carbon dioxide fluxes throughout the whole growing season was an important scientific question, and that the 1994 data record was not sufficiently long to capture the character of the seasonal behavior of the fluxes. Thus, the young jack pine site was operated from 08-May to 07-Nov in 1996 in order to collect data from spring melt to autumn freeze-up. All variables are presented as 30-minute averages. Supporting data were also collected to describe the surface#s state and to provide the information, in association with the flux data, to build SVAT models. For the young jack pine site, these supporting data included stomatal conductance measurements. The data are stored in tabular ASCII files.

McCaughey, J. Harry↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Fully Redundant On-Line Mass Spectrometer System Used to Monitor Cryogenic Fuel Leaks on the Space Shuttle

An on-line gas monitoring system was developed to replace the older systems used to monitor for cryogenic leaks on the Space Shuttles before launch. The system uses a mass spectrometer to monitor multiple locations in the process, which allows the system to monitor all gas constituents of interest in a nearly simultaneous manner. The system is fully redundant and meets all requirements for ground support equipment (GSE). This includes ruggedness to withstand launch on the Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP), ease of operation, and minimal operator intervention. The system can be fully automated so that an operator is notified when an unusual situation or fault is detected. User inputs are through personal computer using mouse and keyboard commands. The graphical user interface is very intuitive and easy to operate. The system has successfully supported four launches to date. It is currently being permanently installed as the primary system monitoring the Space Shuttles during ground processing and launch operations. Time and cost savings will be substantial over the current systems when it is fully implemented in the field. Tests were performed to demonstrate the performance of the system. Low limits-of-detection coupled with small drift make the system a major enhancement over the current systems. Though this system is currently optimized for detecting cryogenic leaks, many other gas constituents could be monitored using the Hazardous Gas Detection System (HGDS) 2000.

Griffin, Timothy P.↗