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NASA NTRS1982

High resolution measurements of nightside ion troughs at Venus - Evidence of electrodynamic perturbations

The Bennett rf ion mass spectrometer of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter was expressly designed to provide variable temporal resolution for measurements of thermal ion composition and density. The Explore-Adapt mode is used to obtain priority for measuring the most prominent ion species; in the 2/16 configuration, the two dominant ions within the available range of 16 species are selectively sampled at the highest rate of 0.2 sec/sample. The high-resolution measurements are combined with independent observations from the magnetic field, neutral mass spectrometer, and electron temperature experiments in investigating sharply structured troughs in the low-altitude nightside ion concentrations. The results suggest a close correlation between the structure in the ion distributions and the structured configuration of the magnetic field that is draped about the planet. In the regions of the ion depletions, sharp fluctuations in electron temperature and anomalous increases in the density of neutral gases suggest that the ion depletion may be associated with dynamic perturbation in the ion and neutral flows and/or local joule heating.

Taylor, H. A., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1987

On determining important aspects of mathematical models: Application to problems in physics and chemistry

The use of parametric and functional gradient sensitivity analysis techniques is considered for models described by partial differential equations. By interchanging appropriate dependent and independent variables, questions of inverse sensitivity may be addressed to gain insight into the inversion of observational data for parameter and function identification in mathematical models. It may be argued that the presence of a subset of dominantly strong coupled dependent variables will result in the overall system sensitivity behavior collapsing into a simple set of scaling and self similarity relations amongst elements of the entire matrix of sensitivity coefficients. These general tools are generic in nature, but herein their application to problems arising in selected areas of physics and chemistry is presented.

Rabitz, Herschel↗

NASA NTRS1988

Initial blood storage experiment

The design of the Initial Blood Storage Experiment (IBSE) was based upon a carefully controlled comparison between identical sets of human blood cell suspensions - red cells, white cell, and platelets - one set of which was transported aboard the Columbia on a 6 day 11 hour mission, and the other held on the ground. Both sets were carried inside stainless steel dewars within specially fabricated flight hardware. Individual bags of cell suspensions were randomly assigned with respect to ground vs orbit status, dewar chamber, and specific location within the dewar. To foster optimal preservation, each cell type was held under specific optimal conditions of pH, ionic strength, solute concentration, gas tension, and temperature. An added variable in this initial experiment was provided by the use of three different polymer/plasticizer formulations for the sealed bags which held the blood cells. At termination of the experiment, aliquots of the suspensions, identified only by code, were distributed to be assayed. Assays were selected to constitute a broad survey of cellular properties and thereby maximize the chances of detection of gravitational effects. A total of 74 different outcome measurements were reported for statistical analysis. When the measurements were completed, the results were entered into the IBSE data base, at which time the data were matched with the original blood bag numbers to determine their status with respect to polymer/plasticizer type, orbit status (orbit or ground), and storage position within the experimental hardware. The data were studied by analysis of variance. Initially, type of bag and orbital status were main factors; later more detailed analyses were made on specific issues such as position in the hardware and specific plastic. If the analysis of variance indicated a statistical significance at the 5 percent level the corresponding p-value was reported.

Surgenor, Douglas MACN.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Mathematical models for film sensitivity measurements

The quality of the pictorial record developed from photographic material depends on the composition of the material, the procedures used in its exposure and processing, as well as, the nature of the physical and temporal environment extant during the creation of the record. By holding many of the variables fixed, the effect of the two environmental parameters, namely temperature and aging are examined on the characteristic curve of a given film. Polynomial and exponential functions are evaluated as empirical formulas for the characteristic curve, and the sensitivity of derived coefficients to the selected parameters is assessed.

Hammond, Ernest C., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Structure identification in fuzzy inference using reinforcement learning

In our previous work on the GARIC architecture, we have shown that the system can start with surface structure of the knowledge base (i.e., the linguistic expression of the rules) and learn the deep structure (i.e., the fuzzy membership functions of the labels used in the rules) by using reinforcement learning. Assuming the surface structure, GARIC refines the fuzzy membership functions used in the consequents of the rules using a gradient descent procedure. This hybrid fuzzy logic and reinforcement learning approach can learn to balance a cart-pole system and to backup a truck to its docking location after a few trials. In this paper, we discuss how to do structure identification using reinforcement learning in fuzzy inference systems. This involves identifying both surface as well as deep structure of the knowledge base. The term set of fuzzy linguistic labels used in describing the values of each control variable must be derived. In this process, splitting a label refers to creating new labels which are more granular than the original label and merging two labels creates a more general label. Splitting and merging of labels directly transform the structure of the action selection network used in GARIC by increasing or decreasing the number of hidden layer nodes.

Berenji, Hamid R.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Windshear certification data base for forward-look detection systems

Described is an introduction to a comprehensive database that is to be used for certification testing of airborne forward-look windshear detection systems. The database was developed by NASA Langley Research Center, at the request of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to support the industry initiative to certify and produce forward-looking windshear detection equipment. The database contains high-resolution three-dimensional fields for meteorological variables that may be sensed by forward-looking systems. The database is made up of seven case studies that are generated by the Terminal Area Simulation System, a state-of-the-art numerical system for the realistic modeling of windshear phenomena. The selected cases contained in the certification documentation represent a wide spectrum of windshear events. The database will be used with vendor-developed sensor simulation software and vendor-collected ground-clutter data to demonstrate detection performance in a variety of meteorological conditions using NASA/FAA pre-defined path scenarios for each of the certification cases. A brief outline of the contents and sample plots from the database documentation are included. These plots show fields of hazard factor, or F-factor (Bowles 1990), radar reflectivity, and velocity vectors on a horizontal plane overlayed with the applicable certification paths. For the plot of the F-factor field the region of 0.105 and above signify an area of hazardous, performance decreasing windshear, while negative values indicate regions of performance increasing windshear. The values of F-factor are based on 1-Km averaged segments along horizontal flight paths, assuming an air speed of 150 knots (approx. 75 m/s). The database has been released to vendors participating in the certification process. The database and associated document have been transferred to the FAA for archival storage and distribution.

Switzer, George F.↗

NASA NTRS2000

The Athena Pancam and Color Microscopic Imager (CMI)

The Athena Mars rover payload includes two primary science-grade imagers: Pancam, a multispectral, stereo, panoramic camera system, and the Color Microscopic Imager (CMI), a multispectral and variable depth-of-field microscope. Both of these instruments will help to achieve the primary Athena science goals by providing information on the geology, mineralogy, and climate history of the landing site. In addition, Pancam provides important support for rover navigation and target selection for Athena in situ investigations. Here we describe the science goals, instrument designs, and instrument performance of the Pancam and CMI investigations.

Bell, J. F., III↗

NASA NTRS2001

Accuracy Assessment of Response Surface Approximations for Supersonic Turbine Design

There is a growing trend to employ CFD tools to supply the necessary information for design optimization of fluid dynamics components/systems. Such results are prone to uncertainties due to reasons including discretization. errors, incomplete convergence of computational procedures, and errors associated with physical models such as turbulence closures. Based on this type of information, gradient-based optimization algorithms often suffer from the noisy calculations, which can seriously compromise the outcome. Similar problems arise from the experimental measurements. Global optimization techniques, such as those based on the response surface (RS) concept are becoming popular in part because they can overcome some of these barriers. However, there are also fundamental issues related to such global optimization technique such as RS. For example, in high dimensional design spaces, typically only a small number of function evaluations are available due to computational and experimental costs. On the other hand, complex features of the design variables do not allow one to model the global characteristics of the design space with simple quadratic polynomials. Consequently a main challenge is to reduce the size of the region where we fit the RS, or make it more accurate in the regions where the optimum is likely to reside. Response Surface techniques using either polynomials or and Neural Network (NN) methods offer designers alternatives to conduct design optimization. The RS technique employs statistical and numerical techniques to establish the relationship between design variables and objective/constraint functions, typically using polynomials. In this study, we aim at addressing issues related to the following questions: (1) How to identify outliers associated with a given RS representation and improve the RS model via appropriate treatments? (2) How to focus on selected design data so that RS can give better performance in regions critical to design optimization? (3) How to combine NN and polynomial techniques for improving the accuracy of the RS model?

Papila, Nilay↗

NASA NTRS2002

A Statistical Analysis of Laser Ablated Ba(Sub 0.50)Sr(Sub 0.50)TiO(Sub 3)/LaAlO(Sub 3) Films for Microwave Applications

The NASA Glenn Research Center is constructing a 616 element scanning phased array antenna using thin film Ba(sub x)Sr(sub 1-x)TiO(sub 3) based phase shifters. A critical milestone is the production of 616 identical phase shifters at 19 GHz with [asymptotically equal to]4 dB insertion loss and at least 337.5 deg phase shift with 3 percent bandwidth. It is well known that there is a direct relationship between dielectric tuning and loss due to the Kramers-Kronig relationship and that film crystallinity and strain, affected by the substrate template, play an important role. Ba(sub 0.50)Sr(sub 0.50)TiO (sub 3) films, nominally 400 nm thick, were deposited on 48 0.25 mm thick, 5 cm diameter LaAlO(sub 3) wafers. Although previous results suggested that Mn-doped films on MgO were intrinsically superior in terms of phase shift per unit loss, for this application phase shift per unit length was more important. The composition was selected as a compromise between tuning and loss for room temperature operation (e.g. crystallinity progressively degrades for Ba concentrations in excess of 30 percent). As a prelude to fabricating the array, it was necessary to process, screen, and inventory a large number of samples. Variable angle ellipsometry was used to characterize refractive index and film thickness across each wafer. Microstructural properties of the thin films were characterized using high resolution X-ray diffractometry. Finally, prototype phase shifters and resonators were patterned on each wafer and RE probed to measure tuning as a function of dc bias voltage as well as peak (0 field) permittivity and unloaded Q. The relationship among film quality and uniformity and performance is analyzed. This work presents the first statistically relevant study of film quality and microwave performance and represents a milestone towards commercialization of thin ferroelectric films for microwave applications.

Ferroelectric thin films↗

NASA NTRS1998

Application of a Planar Doppler Velocimetry System to a High Reynolds Number Compressible Jet

A Planar Doppler Velocimetry (PDV) system has been constructed and used to investigate the instantaneous turbulent velocity structure of a round high-speed compressible air jet with a low-speed co-flow. The exit condition was Mach=0.85 at ambient pressure, yielding a Reynolds number of about 650,000 on diameter. The PDV system was installed at NASA Langley Research Center in the Small Anechoic Jet Facility (SAJF), a chamber in which both the acoustic and aerodynamic properties of jets can be studied. For this test, the goal was to gather data which can be used to relate the turbulence structure of the jet to the levels and character of the acoustic noise produced by the jet. The current PDV system can acquire single-velocity-component, single-shot, planar images (15ns exposures) at 30 Hz. For this paper, the primary data set consists of 240 frames of velocity data acquired with both the jet and the low-speed co-flow seeded with light-scattering articles. Thus, velocities could be measured everywhere in the jet shear layer, both in the jet fluid and in the entrained co-flow. Some data were also taken with only the jet flow seeded. These provided mixing concentration images along with the reduced velocity fields. Other images were taken with only the co-flow seeded. These produced unique quantitative images of high speed entrainment. Optical "laser speckle" noise is the largest source of random noise in pulsed PDV systems. Components for the PDV imaging system were specifically selected to minimize speckle noise. To reduce systematic velocity errors due to laser drift, a frequency monitoring reference leg with a temperature-tuned reference iodine cell, was employed. In the course of this study, a novel flow seeder was developed. It enabled continuously variable seeding of the flow with particles of Sheared Pyrogenic Amorphous Hydrophobic Silica (SPAHS). The seeder comprised a dry fluidized bed hopper and a supersonic nozzle "pickup." Shearing action in the pickup dispersed the seed material in an exceptionally fine cloud (approximately 0.3 micron). These particles followed the flow well, did not clump or cake on screens or model surfaces, and were not susceptible to evaporation. Because of the refractory nature of the particles, SPAHS seeding should also be applicable to anticipated future testing at high temperatures.

Smith, Michael W.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Optical Properties of High Area-to-Mass Objects at GEO

There exists at GEO a significant population of faint debris (R > 15th magnitude) with high area-to-mass ratios (AMR) (1 to 30 sq m/kg). Their orbital elements (particularly eccentricity and inclination) are observed to change on the time-scale of a week. The consensus is that these objects may be fragments of multi-layer insulation (MLI) blankets. Their orbits are primarily perturbed by solar radiation pressure. In this paper we will report preliminary results from an international collaboration to investigate the unresolved optical properties of these objects. This population was originally discovered by the ESA Space Debris Telescope, and the bulk of the objects to be described here are based on discoveries made with this telescope. Additional objects were supplied by both Russia and the US Air Force. Follow-up optical observations were obtained for a sample of a dozen objects by MODEST (the Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope) located at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Sequences of calibrated observations in filters B, V, Broad R, and I were obtained under photometric conditions. Multi-color photometric observations in B, V, R, and I band of the same objects were also acquired at the Zimmerwald 1-meter telescope, located near Bern, Switzerland. Light curves of selected high AMR objects will be shown with a temporal resolution of a few seconds and typically span about 10 minutes. Photometric observations of these objects were acquired at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (CrAO). This data set includes light curves of objects having high variability of brightness and observed with 2.6 m and 0.64 m class instruments. We will present an analysis of the observed magnitudes and colors, and their correlations (or lack of correlation) with orbital elements, and with predicted values for MLI fragments. This represents the first such collaborative observational program on faint debris at GEO.

Seitzer, Patrick↗

NASA NTRS2010

Foil Gas Thrust Bearings for High-Speed Turbomachinery

A methodology has been developed for the design and construction of simple foil thrust bearings intended for parametric performance testing and low marginal costs, supporting continued development of oil-free turbomachinery. A bearing backing plate is first machined and surface-ground to produce flat and parallel faces. Partial-arc slots needed to retain the foil components are then machined into the plate by wire electrical discharge machining. Slot thicknesses achievable by a single wire pass are appropriate to accommodate the practical range of foil thicknesses, leaving a small clearance in this hinged joint to permit limited motion. The backing plate is constructed from a nickel-based superalloy (Inconel 718) to allow heat treatment of the entire assembled bearing, as well as to permit hightemperature operation. However, other dimensionally stable materials, such as precipitation-hardened stainless steel, can also be used for this component depending on application. The top and bump foil blanks are cut from stacks of annealed Inconel X-750 foil by the same EDM process. The bump foil has several azimuthal slits separating it into five individual bump strips. This configuration allows for variable bump spacing, which helps to accommodate the effects of the varying surface velocity, thermal crowning, centrifugal dishing, and misalignment. Rectangular tabs on the foil blanks fit into the backing plate slots. For this application, a rather traditional set of conventionally machined dies is selected, and bump foil blanks are pressed into the dies for forming. This arrangement produces a set of bump foil dies for foil thrust bearings that provide for relatively inexpensive fabrication of various bump configurations, and employing methods and features from the public domain.

Edmonds, Brian↗

NASA NTRS2014

The Spectral Response of the Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager

This paper discusses the pre-launch spectral characterization of the Operational Land Imager (OLI) at the component, assembly and instrument levels and relates results of those measurements to artifacts observed in the on-orbit imagery. It concludes that the types of artifacts observed and their magnitudes are consistent with the results of the pre-launch characterizations. The OLI in-band response was characterized both at the integrated instrument level for a sampling of detectors and by an analytical stack-up of component measurements. The out-of-band response was characterized using a combination of Focal Plane Module (FPM) level measurements and optical component level measurements due to better sensitivity. One of the challenges of a pushbroom design is to match the spectral responses for all detectors so that images can be flat-fielded regardless of the spectral nature of the targets in the imagery. Spectral variability can induce striping (detector-to-detector variation), banding (FPM-to-FPM variation) and other artifacts in the final data products. Analyses of the measured spectral response showed that the maximum discontinuity between FPMs due to spectral filter differences is 0.35% for selected targets for all bands except for Cirrus, where there is almost no signal. The average discontinuity between FPMs is 0.12% for the same targets. These results were expected and are in accordance with the OLI requirements. Pre-launch testing identified low levels (within requirements) of spectral crosstalk amongst the three HgCdTe (Cirrus, SWIR1 and SWIR2) bands of the OLI and on-orbit data confirms this crosstalk in the imagery. Further post-launch analyses and simulations revealed that the strongest crosstalk effect is from the SWIR1 band to the Cirrus band; about 0.2% of SWIR1 signal leaks into the Cirrus. Though the total crosstalk signal is only a few counts, it is evident in some scenes when the in-band cirrus signal is very weak. In moist cirrus-free atmospheres and over typical land surfaces, at least 30% of the cirrus signal was due to the SWIR1 band. In the SWIR1 and SWIR2 bands, crosstalk accounts for no more than 0.15% of the total signal.

Characterization↗

NASA NTRS2019

Low-Thrust Trajectory Design for a Cislunar CubeSat Leveraging Structures from the Bicircular Restricted Four-Body Problem

The upcoming Lunar IceCube (LIC) mission will deliver a 6U CubeSat to a low lunar orbit via a ride-share opportunity during NASAs Artemis 1 mission. This presents a challenging trajectory design scenario, as the vast change in energy required to transfer from the initial deployment state to the destination orbit is compounded by the limitations of the LICs low-thrust engine. This investigation addresses these challenges by developing a trajectory design framework that utilizes dynamical structures available in the Bicircular Restricted Four-Body Problem (BCR4BP) along with a robust direct collocation algorithm. Maps are created that expedite the selection of invariant manifold paths from a periodic staging orbit in the BCR4BP that offer favorable connections between the LIC transfer phases. Initial guesses assembled from these maps are passed to a direct collocation algorithm that corrects them in the BCR4BP while including the variable low-thrust acceleration of the spacecraft engine. Results indicate that the ordered motion provided by the BCR4BP and the robustness of direct collocation combine to offer an efficient and adaptable framework for designing a baseline trajectory for the LIC mission.

Pritchett, Robert↗

NASA NTRS2019

Low-Thrust Trajectory Design for A Cislunar CubeSat Leveraging Structures from the Bicircular Restricted Four-Body Problem

Pritchett, Robert↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Toward Improving the Assimilation of IASI and CrIS Radiances Over Land Into the NASA GEOS: LST Inversion and Validation

Assimilating surface-sensitive radiances over land is still challenging for both infrared (IR) and microwave (WV) essentially because of the large uncertainties of the land physical surface emissivity model used in the CRTM and the uncertainties of land surface state properties. Currently very few IR radiances are assimilated over land in the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS). Large number of radiances are rejected by the emissivity sensitivity check as well as the Cloud detection check. This study focuses on enhancing the assimilation of Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) over land in the GEOS forecasting and data assimilation framework. To reach this goal, the Land surface Temperature (LST) is first inverted using IR radiances from IASI and CrIS selected channels to use it as surface boundary parameter for the assimilation of the rest of IASI and CrIS surface-sensitive channels. This work will present a full assessment of the quality of this LST by comparing it and its spatio-temporal variability to LST predicted by the GEOS model. The impacts on the quality of the resulting analysis and subsequent forecast will also be discussed.

Niama Boukachaba↗

NASA NTRS1977

Trajectory optimization for the Atlas/Centaur launch vehicle

A method for finding solutions to complex trajectory optimization problems with detailed hardware and launch vehicle constraints is presented. The trajectory optimization problem is formulated as a constrained function minimization problem by modeling the control by a function of a finite number of parameters. Although any parametric control model may be selected, the natural choice of parameters is the actual parameters of the parametric guidance equations flown on the flight digital computer. A variation of the method of multipliers is presented for performing the constrained function minimization. A functional is proposed that allows incorporation of state variable inequality constraints. Finally, optimization of the HEAO-A direct-ascent trajectory is discussed. The HEAO-A mission demonstrates profile optimization to meet range safety, tracking, heating, structural integrity, and attitude rate constraints.

Brusch, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1978

A study of mass loss from the mid-ultraviolet spectrum of Alpha Cygni /A2 Ia/, Beta Orionis /B8 Ia/, and Eta Leonis /A0 Ib/

Results are presented for a study of mass loss from A and late-B supergiants based on high-resolution mid-UV spectra obtained with the echelle spectrograph of the Balloon-borne Ultraviolet Stellar Spectrometer. Spectra of Alpha Cyg, Beta Ori, Eta Leo, and Alpha Lyr are compared in selected wavelength regions; particular attention is given to previous observations of each star, the Mg II and Fe II resonance lines, lines due to other ions, and evidence for mass ejection. The results indicate that mass loss from late-B and A supergiants is variable, that a considerable fraction of envelope material is ejected in 'puffs', and that the puffs may be due to photospheric instabilities. A mass-loss rate of about 1 hundred-millionth of a solar mass per year is derived for Alpha Cyg and shown to be two orders of magnitude smaller than the value determined from the observed IR excess. This discrepancy is attributed to excess ionization in the envelope.

Lamers, H. J. G. L. M.↗