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NASA NTRS2018

A Common Probe Design for Multiple Planetary Destinations

Atmospheric probes have been successfully flown to planets and moons in the solar system to conduct in-situ measurements. They include the Pioneer Venus multi-probes, the Galileo Jupiter probe, and Huygens probe. Probe mission concepts to five destinations, including Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, have all utilized similar-shaped aeroshells and concept of operations, namely a 45 deg sphere cone shape with high density heatshield material and parachute system for extracting the descent vehicle from the aeroshell. Each concept designed its probe to meet specific mission requirements and to optimize mass, volume, and cost. At the 2017 IPPW, NASA Headquarters postulated that a common aero-shell design could be used successfully for multiple destinations and missions. This "common probe" design could even be assembled with multiple copies, properly stored, and made available for future NASA missions, potentially realizing savings in cost and schedule and reducing the risk of losing technologies and skills difficult to sustain over decades. Thus the NASA Planetary Science Division funded a study to investigate whether a common probe design could meet most, if not all, mission needs to the five planetary destinations with extreme entry environments. The Common Probe study involved four NASA Centers and addressed these issues, including constraints and inefficiencies that occur in specifying a common design.Study methodology: First, a notional payload of instruments for each destination was defined based on priority measurements from the Planetary Science Decadal Survey. Steep and shallow entry flight path angles (EFPA) were defined for each planet based on qualification and operational g-load limits for current, state-of-the-art instruments. Interplanetary trajectories were then identified for a bounding range of EFPA. Next, 3-DoF simulations for entry trajectories were run using the entry state vectors from the interplanetary trajectories. Aeroheating correlations were used to generate stagnation point convective and radiative heat flux profiles for several aeroshell shapes and entry masses. High fidelity thermal response models for various TPS materials were used to size stagnation point thicknesses, with margins based on previous studies. Backshell TPS masses were assumed based on scaled heat fluxes from the heatshield and also from previous mission concepts.

Hwang, Helen H.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Comprehensive Analysis of Thirty Years of Land Change in Georgia: Forest Degradation, Land-Use Patterns, and Drivers

In this talk, we present results from a study, funded by the NASA Land-Cover and Land-Use Change program, of thirty years of environmental change in the country of Georgia. The country, a former Soviet Union Republic, has experienced more political, economic and social change in the last 30 years than most countries. But the environmental implications of these extreme events remain largely unknown – the region is understudied, no national forest inventory has been completed in 20 years, and previous research in the area conducted by the authors were not successful. The latter statement is because of forest degradation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, much of the forestry infrastructure broke down and people resorted to chopping down individual trees. The result was in many parts of the country a reduction in forest biomass but not to the point of a change in land cover. This type of forest degradation, which was either gradual over decades or abrupt, could not be readily identified using the methods and data at our disposal at the time. In the recent study, we had full access to the Landsat archive in combination with computing power. By using monitoring methods that are based on time series analysis, we were able to capture and identify the gradual processes driven by small scale activities that are so characteristic of the post-Soviet Georgian landscape. We developed an approach (“CCDC-SMA”) that combines time series analysis and spectral mixture analysis running on Google Earth Engine for monitoring abrupt and gradual forest degradation. By using this approach, we found that forest degradation was significantly larger than the area estimate of deforestation; 3,541 ± 556 km2 (11% of the forest area in 1987) compared to 158 ± 98 km2 from 1987 to 2020. The prevailing narrative is that legal and illegal cutting of trees for fuelwood is primarily responsible for this process. Yet, since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country has undergone rapid socioeconomic and institutional changes which have not been explored as drivers of forest change. To further our understanding of the underlying causes, we combined forest disturbance estimates, Georgian statistical data, and historical institutional change data to examine socioeconomic drivers of forest degradation. We found that higher winter temperature and drought were associated with higher degradation at the regional scale, while major institutional changes and drought were associated with higher forest degradation at the national level. Access to natural gas, the major energy alternative to fuelwood, had no significant association with degradation. Our results challenge the narrative that poverty and a lack of alternative energy infrastructure drive forest degradation and suggest that government policies banning household fuelwood cutting, including the new Forest Code of 2020, may not reduce forest degradation. Given these results, improved data on wood harvesting and more research on the commercial drivers of degradation and their links to economic and political reforms is needed to better inform forest policy in the region, especially given ongoing risks from climate change.

Pontus Olofsson↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

CONUS and Global Carbon Consumption Database for Wildland Fire

Fire plays a significant role on both national and global scales, profoundly impacting landscapes shaped by human activity as well as wildlands. Even though fire can be devastating, wildland fire is a natural and integral force on our landscapes. Fires can also serve to reduce fuels to mitigate wildfire risk and maintain healthy ecosystem functions. However, the smoke produced by fires, regardless of their size or purpose, can pose adverse effects on human health when inhaled downwind. Understanding the influence of smoke on air quality and human well-being necessitates the quantification of emissions that fires release into the atmosphere. In response to this need, we have developed a carbon consumption database for the Continental United States (CONUS) and are developing a global carbon consumption database, both of which are directly link to distinct fuels within various fire danger categories. Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) fuels are used to parameterize biomass, and consumption is broken down into five Fire Danger categories (Low, Moderate, High, Very High, Extreme), for both ‘new’ and ‘residual’ burning scenarios. Residual burned area is defined as burning in areas that have recently burned. We implemented the FCCS 30-meter CONUS fuelbed dataset during the 2019 Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) campaign to estimate daily carbon emissions. Our emissions estimates were rigorously compared against in-situ measurements of CO2, CO, and black carbon aerosols, revealing a robust agreement between the two datasets. The 300-meter global database builds upon the foundations of the Pettinari, M. Lucrecia (2015) Global Fuelbed database, a global fuel map with standardized FCCS biomass parameters. These products can serve as valuable tools when used in conjunction with burned area data to rapidly and accurately estimate carbon consumed and released into the atmosphere.

FCCS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Establishing an Urban Heat Exposure Severity Index for Infrastructure Prioritization in Tempe, Arizona, Using NASA Earth Observations and LiDAR

Located on the banks of the Salt River in the Sonoran Desert, Tempe, Arizona, features a semi-arid climate with summer daily maximum temperatures regularly exceeding 37.8°C. Tempe is also subject to the southwestern monsoon season from July-September and the humidity exacerbates the high temperatures. Furthermore, the rapid urbanization experienced in Tempe has resulted in an intensification of the urban heat island. The summer of 2020 shattered the previous record of days exceeding 43.4°C, leading to higher energy and water costs, lower comfort, and increased risk of heat stroke for residents. Recognizing the impacts of extreme heat, the City of Tempe partnered with the Healthy Urban Environments initiative and NASA DEVELOP to identify census tracts that experience a higher mean land surface temperature than the city average. The NASA DEVELOP team used remotely sensed land surface temperature (LST), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), and albedo data calculated from Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instruments from 2015 to 2020 to create heat hazard and exposure maps. LiDAR point cloud data, provided by the United States Geological Survey through Arizona State University’s Map and Geospatial Hub, were used to derive 3D buildings, building footprints, and tree point data for a shading analysis of walking paths, roads, and buildings at the census tract level. In situ meteorological measurements including air temperature and humidity were used to compare the macro-scale temperature measurements. The team worked with the City of Tempe to develop a methodology to process available data and identify areas of highest concern for urban heat effects within the city. With these insights, Tempe, Arizona can better address these issues with data-driven information to make decisions regarding heat mitigation and adaptation efforts.

John Dialesandro↗
NASA NTRS1987

Further Discussion: Parametric Study of Wind Generated Supermicron Particle Effects in Large Fires

In their reply (Porch et al., 1987) to our comments (Turco et al., 1987) on their smoke-scavenging-by-dust paper, Porch et al. attempt to justify a number of parameter assumptions in their original article, again revealing the extreme nature of those assumptions, particularly in the situation where all are taken simultaneously. In critiquing Porch et al.'s calculations, have not applied "opinion", but rather physical reality and common sense expressed through basic experimental results and logical physical bounds. A few examples of the unrealistic conditions required by the Porch et al. scavenging scheme, as described in their paper and comments, should suffice here. ) Porch et al. have fabricated a "fetch" region for dust particles in large fire plumes that logically must extend over an area up to 50 times greater than the fire area itself. Alternatively, they have invoked significant "necking down' of the fire plume, so that its cross-sectional area is at most a few percent of the fire area. Such severe constriction is seen only in very small fires with strong, organized vorticity, and then only over a limited plume rise region. No "fetch" has ever been noted in any large-scale fires we have observed, or for which accounts are available. Indeed, as we deduced in our original comments, complete dust scavenging even within the fire zone would probably occur less than 10% of the time for large urban fires.

Toon, O. B.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Upset Simulation and Training Initiatives for U.S. Navy Commercial Derived Aircraft

Militarized versions of commercial platforms are growing in popularity due to many logistical benefits in the form of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts, established production methods, and commonality for different certifications. Commercial data and best practices are often leveraged to reduce procurement and engineering development costs. While the developmental and cost reduction benefits are clear, these militarized aircraft are routinely operated in flight at significantly different conditions and in significantly different manners than for routine commercial flight. Therefore they are at a higher risk of flight envelope exceedance. This risk may lead to departure from controlled flight and/or aircraft loss1. Historically, the risk of departure from controlled flight for military aircraft has been mitigated by piloted simulation training and engineering analysis of typical aircraft response. High-agility military aircraft simulation databases are typically developed to include high angles of attack (AoA) and sideslip due to the dynamic nature of their missions and have been developed for many tactical configurations over the previous decades. These aircraft simulations allow for a more thorough understanding of the vehicle flight dynamics characteristics at high AoA and sideslip. In recent years, government sponsored research on transport airplane aerodynamic characteristics at high angles of attack has produced a growing understanding of stall/post-stall behavior. This research along with recent commercial airline training initiatives has resulted in improved understanding of simulator-based training requirements and simulator model fidelity.2-5 In addition, inflight training research over the past decade has produced a database of pilot performance and recurrency metrics6. Innovative solutions to aerodynamically model large commercial aircraft for upset conditions such as high AoA, high sideslip, and ballistic damage, as well as capability to accurately account for scaling factors, is necessary to develop realistic engineering and training simulations. Such simulations should significantly reduce the risk of departure from controlled flight, loss of aircraft, and ease the airworthiness certification process. The characteristics of commercial derivative aircraft are exemplified by the P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) aircraft, and the largest benefits of initial investigation are likely to be yielded from this platform. The database produced would also be utilized by flight dynamics engineers as a means to further develop and investigate vehicle flight characteristics as mission tactics evolve through the years ahead. This paper will describe ongoing efforts by the U.S. Navy to develop a methodology for simulation and training for large commercial-derived transport aircraft at unusual attitudes, typically experienced during an aircraft upset. This methodology will be applied to a representative Navy aircraft (P-8A) and utilized to develop a robust simulation that should accurately represent aircraft response in these extremes. Simulation capabilities would then extend to flight dynamics analysis and simulation, as well as potential training applications. Recent evaluations of integrated academic, ground-based simulation, and in-flight upset training will be described along with important lessons learned, specific to military requirements.

Donaldson, Steven↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Cold Ocean Planets: Exoplanet Analogs of Our Solar System’s Icy Moons?

We have calculated total internal heating rates and depths to possible subsurface oceans for 17 planets that were previously characterized as rocky worlds but that are best described as Cold Ocean Planets. These low-mass exoplanets have equilibrium surface temperatures and/or densities that are consistent with icy surfaces and a substantial H2O content. While all planets in our study are likely to be covered in ice, estimated internal heating rates from tidal and radiogenic sources are large enough that they may harbor internal oceans and exhibit explosive cryovolcanism in the form of geyser-like plumes at their surfaces. Several of the icy moons in our solar system may thus serve as small-scale analogs of the Cold Ocean Planets in our study. We find that geological activity rates on these worlds are likely to exceed geological activity rates on Jupiter’s moon Europa and that several planets are likely to experience enhanced geological activity that exceeds that on Io. Owing to these planets’ thin ice shells, their expected high rates of internal heating, and their potential for tidally-induced explosive cryovolcanism, the identification of water vapor absorption features, especially given the expected time-variability of water vapor output during eruptions, could allow for the detection of geyser-like plumes on Trappist-1f, Proxima Cen b, and LHS 1140 b. Our study suggests that Cold Ocean Planets are habitable worlds at which the detection of explosive cryovolcanism could serve as indirect evidence of the presence of oceans beneath a layer of surface ice. Analyses of observational data from next-generation space telescopes and upcoming ground-based extremely large telescopes, and designs for future telescopic missions, should be undertaken with these results in mind.

Lynnae C Quick↗
NASA NTRS2005

Origin and Evolution of Deep Plasmaspheric Notches

Deep plasmaspheric notches can extend over more than 2 R(sub E) in radial distance and 3 hours MLT in the magnetic equatorial plane, as observed by the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imager on the IMAGE mission. They are among the largest evacuated features in the exterior plasmaspheric boundary. They can last for days and exhibit a variety of shapes. It appears that weak convection and limited erosion precedes notch formation at the westward, near-Earth edge of the convection plume. Eighteen clear notch events were found and analyzed in 2000. Among these events, notches were found to drift as slowly as 44% of corotation. In only one case was a notch found to drift at the corotation rate within measurement error. On average, these notches drift at about 21.5 h d(sup -1) or 90% of the corotational rate. Notches sometimes exhibit an interior structure that appears as an extended prominence of dense plasma, which forms a W- or M-like feature in IMAGE/EUV images, depending on viewing perspective. Initial modeling suggests that notches and notch prominences may be caused in part by intense small-scale potential structures that result from the localized injection of ring current plasma. Plasma filling rates during recovery are examined in three L shell ranges from L = 2 to L = 3.5 with rates ranging from 5 to 140 cm(sup -3) d(sup -1). Plasma loss during a minor substorm is found to extend to surprisingly low L shell with rates ranging from 100 to 130 cm(sup -3) d(sup -1) across the L shells examined.

Gallagher, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Toward Global Drought Early Warning Capability - Expanding International Cooperation for the Development of a Framework for Monitoring and Forecasting

Drought has had a significant impact on civilization throughout history in terms of reductions in agricultural productivity, potable water supply, and economic activity, and in extreme cases this has led to famine. Every continent has semiarid areas, which are especially vulnerable to drought. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has noted that average annual river runoff and water availability are projected to decrease by 10 percent-13 percent over some dry and semiarid regions in mid and low latitudes, increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of drought, along with its associated impacts. The sheer magnitude of the problem demands efforts to reduce vulnerability to drought by moving away from the reactive, crisis management approach of the past toward a more proactive, risk management approach that is centered on reducing vulnerability to drought as much as possible while providing early warning of evolving drought conditions and possible impacts. Many countries, unfortunately, do not have adequate resources to provide early warning, but require outside support to provide the necessary early warning information for risk management. Furthermore, in an interconnected world, the need for information on a global scale is crucial for understanding the prospect of declines in agricultural productivity and associated impacts on food prices, food security, and potential for civil conflict. This paper highlights the recent progress made toward a Global Drought Early Warning Monitoring Framework (GDEWF), an underlying partnership and framework, along with its Global Drought Early Warning System (GDEWS), which is its interoperable information system, and the organizations that have begun working together to make it a reality. The GDEWF aims to improve existing regional and national drought monitoring and forecasting capabilities by adding a global component, facilitating continental monitoring and forecasting (where lacking), and improving these tools at various scales, thereby increasing the capacity of national and regional institutions that lack drought early warning systems or complementing existing ones. A further goal is to improve coordination of information delivery for drought-related activities and relief efforts across the world. This is especially relevant for regions and nations with low capacity for drought early warning. To do this requires a global partnership that leverages the resources necessary and develops capabilities at the global level, such as global drought forecasting combined with early warning tools, global real-time monitoring, and harmonized methods to identify critical areas vulnerable to drought. Although the path to a fully functional GDEWS is challenging, multiple partners and organizations within the drought, forecasting, agricultural, and water-cycle communities are committed to working toward its success.

GDEWS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology Project: Overview and Status

NASA plans to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2025 through the initial Artemis missions. NASA and its international partners plan to establish a sustainable long-term presence on the lunar surface and build up infrastructure in the subsequent Artemis missions. The Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII), within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, aims to spur the creation of novel technologies needed for lunar surface exploration and accelerate the technology readiness of key systems and components. The primary thrust areas of LSII include sustainable power; dust mitigation; in-situ resource utilization; surface excavation, construction, and outfitting; and extreme access/extreme environments. The Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) projectwas initiated to address the lunar surface construction thrust area of LSII. The goal of the MMPACT project is to develop, deliver, and demonstrate on-demand capabilities to protect astronauts and create infrastructure on the lunar surface via construction of landing pads, habitats, shelters, roadways, berms and blast shields using lunar regolith-based materials. The MMPACT project is leveraging technology derived from NASA’s 3D Printed Mars Habitat Challenge along with contributions from other Government agencies, and multiple partners within industry and academia. The MMPACT project is comprised of three interrelated elements, construction hardware and process development; feedstock materials development; and microwave structure construction capabilities. These elements are working together to address the multiple challenges of infrastructure construction on the surface of the Moon including increased autonomy of operations, hardware operation and manufacturing under lunar environmental conditions, long-duration operation of mechanisms and parts, scale of construction activities, and material and construction requirements and standards. This presentation will summarize the status of development activities in each of the three elements, including testing of the various candidate materials, preliminary design concepts for future lunar infrastructure elements, and the vision for future technology demonstrations on the lunar surface. These demonstrations, targeting the mid-to-late 2020’s, are expected to enable landing pad construction and habitat construction resulting in commercial capabilities early in the next decade.

lunar infrastructure↗
NASA NTRS1962

Time-Dependent Structure of the Upper Atmosphere

The physical properties of the upper atmosphere are determined mainly by heat conduction, the heat sources and the barometric law. An analysis of the integro-differential equation which describes these physical processes has been carried out. It is found that heating of the thermosphere due to absorption of the solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation alone cannot explain the observed diurnal variation of density and temperature, since it would yield a maximum of these properties at about 17h local time, instead of 14h where it is observed. Secondly, if the EUV flux is adjusted to give the observed average temperature, then the diurnal variation in density would be much too large compared with the observed amplitude. Thirdly, it would require an extremely high efficiency for the conversion of EUV radiation into heat, if we compare the required flux with Hinteregger's measurements of the EUV flux. Thus, it is necessary to have another heat source in addition to the heating due to absorption of EUV radiation. If an additional beat source is used, which has a maximum at about 9h local time and a flux of 1 erg cm−1 sec−1, a time-dependent model of the upper atmosphere is obtained that is in good agreement with the observed densities. There is evidence that this additional heat source derives its energy ultimately from the solar corpuscular radiation. In this paper we present the results of calculations for a model in the equatorial and temperature zones of the earth, for those times when the average solar activity corresponds to a solar radiation flux of 200×110−22 Wm−2 (cps)−1 at 10.7-cm wavelength. The physical properties (temperature, density, pressure, scale height, mean molecular weight and the number densities of N2, O2, O, He and H) are given as a function of local time and for the altitudes between 120 km and 2050 km.

ATMOSPHERE↗
NASA NTRS2004

Co-Seismic Mass Displacement and its Effect on Earth's Rotation and Gravity

Mantle processes often involve large-scale mass transport, ranging from mantle convection, tectonic motions, glacial isostatic adjustment, to tides, atmospheric and oceanic loadings, volcanism and seismicity. On very short time scale of less than an hour, co-seismic event, apart from the "shaking" that is the earthquake, leaves behind permanent (step-function-like) displacements in the crust and mantle. This redistribution of mass changes the Earth's inertia tensor (and hence Earth's rotation in both length-of-day and polar motion), and the gravity field. The question is whether these effects are large enough to be of any significance. In this paper we report updated calculation results based on Chao & Gross. The calculation uses the normal mode summation scheme, applied to over twenty thousand major earthquakes that occurred during 1976-2002, according to source mechanism solutions given by the Harvard Centroid Moment Tensor catalog. Compared to the truly large ones earlier in the century, the earthquakes we study are individually all too small to have left any discernible signature in geodetic records of Earth rotation or global gravity field. However, their collective effects continue to exhibit an extremely strong statistical tendencies, conspiring to decrease J2 and J22 while shortening LOD, resulting in a rounder and more compact Earth. Strong tendency is also seen in the earthquakes trying to "nudge" the Earth rotation pole towards approx. 140 deg.E, roughly opposite to the observed polar drift direction. Currently, the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) is measuring the time-variable gravity to high degree and order with unprecedented accuracy. Our results show that great earthquakes such as the 1960 Chilean or 1964 Alaskan events cause gravitational field changes that are large enough to be detected by GRACE.

Chao, B. F.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology Project: Overview and Status

NASA plans to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2025 through the initial Artemis missions. NASA and its international partners plan to establish a sustainable long-term presence on the lunar surface and build up infrastructure in the subsequent Artemis missions. The Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII), within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, aims to spur the creation of novel technologies needed for lunar surface exploration and accelerate the technology readiness of key systems and components. The primary thrust areas of LSII include sustainable power; dust mitigation; in-situ resource utilization; surface excavation, construction, and outfitting; and extreme access/extreme environments. The Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) project was initiated to address the lunar surface construction thrust area of LSII. The goal of the MMPACT project is to develop, deliver, and demonstrate on-demand capabilities to protect astronauts and create infrastructure on the lunar surface via construction of landing pads, habitats, shelters, roadways, berms and blast shields using lunar regolith-based materials. The MMPACT project is leveraging technology derived from NASA’s 3D Printed Mars Habitat Challenge along with contributions from other Government agencies, and multiple partners within industry and academia. The MMPACT project is comprised of three interrelated elements, construction hardware and process development; feedstock materials development; and microwave structure construction capabilities. These elements are working together to address the multiple challenges of infrastructure construction on the surface of the Moon including increased autonomy of operations, hardware operation and manufacturing under lunar environmental conditions, long-duration operation of mechanisms and parts, scale of construction activities, and material and construction requirements and standards. This presentation will summarize the status of development activities in each of the three elements, including testing of the various candidate materials, preliminary design concepts for future lunar infrastructure elements, and the vision for future technology demonstrations on the lunar surface. These demonstrations, targeting the mid-to-late 2020’s, are expected to enable landing pad construction and habitat construction resulting in commercial capabilities early in the next decade.

Additive construction, regolith processing, lunar ↗
NASA NTRS2007

An Extremely Low Power Quantum Optical Communication Link for Autonomous Robotic Explorers

One concept for planetary exploration involves using many small robotic landers that can cover more ground than a single conventional lander. In addressing this vision, NASA has been challenged in the National Nanotechnology Initiative to research the development of miniature robots built from nano-sized components. These robots have very significant challenges, such as mobility and communication, given the small size and limited power generation capability. The research presented here has been focused on developing a communications system that has the potential for providing ultra-low power communications for robots such as these. In this paper an optical communications technique that is based on transmitting recognizable sets of photons is presented. Previously pairs of photons that have an entangled quantum state have been shown to be recognizable in ambient light. The main drawback to utilizing entangled photons is that they can only be generated through a very energy inefficient nonlinear process. In this paper a new technique that generates sets of photons from pulsed sources is described and an experimental system demonstrating this technique is presented. This technique of generating photon sets from pulsed sources has the distinct advantage in that it is much more flexible and energy efficient, and is well suited to take advantage of the very high energy efficiencies that are possible when using nano scale sources. For these reasons the communication system presented in this paper is well suited for use in very small, low power landers and rovers. In this paper a very low power optical communications system for miniature robots, as small as 1 cu cm is addressed. The communication system is a variant of photon counting communications. Instead of counting individual photons the system only counts the arrival of time coincident sets of photons. Using sets of photons significantly decreases the bit error rate because they are highly identifiable in the presence of ambient light. An experiment demonstrating reliable communication over a distance of 70 meters using less than a billionth of a watt of radiated power is presented. The components used in this system were chosen so that they could in the future be integrated into a cubic centimeter device.

Lekki, John↗
NASA NTRS1999

Co-Seismic Mass Dislocation and Its Effect on Earth's Rotation and Gravity

Mantle processes often involve large-scale mass transport, ranging from mantle convection, tectonic motions, glacial isostatic adjustment, to tides, atmospheric and oceanic loadings, volcanism and seismicity. On very short time scale of less than an hour, co-seismic event, apart from the "shaking" that is the earthquake, leaves behind permanent (step-function-like) dislocations in the crust and mantle. This redistribution of mass changes the Earth's inertia tensor (and hence Earth's rotation in both length-of-day and polar motion), and the gravity field (in terms of spherical harmonic Stokes coefficients). The question is whether these effects are large enough to be of any significance. In this paper we report updated calculation results. The calculation uses the normal mode summation scheme, applied to 15,814 major earthquakes that occurred during 1976-1998, according to source mechanism solutions given by the Harvard Central Moment Tensor catalog. Compared to the truly large ones earlier in the century, the earthquakes we study are individually all too small to have left any discernible signature in geodetic records of Earth rotation or global gravity field. However, their collective effects continue to exhibit an extremely strong statistical tendencies. For example, earthquakes conspire to decrease J(sub 2) and J(sub 22) while shortening LOD, resulting in a rounder and more compact Earth. Strong tendency is also seen in the earthquakes trying to "nudge" the Earth rotation pole towards about 140 degree E, roughly opposite to the observed polar drift direction. The geophysical significance and implications will be further studied.

Chao, Benjamin F.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Design of an L-band Microwave Radiometer with Active Mitigation of Interference

Radio frequency interference (RFI) impairs L-band radiometry outside the protected 20 MHz frequency band around 1413 MHz. However, bandwidths of 100 MHz or more are desired for certain remote sensing applications as well as certain astronomy applications. Because much of the RFI in this band is from radars with pulse lengths on the order of microseconds, traditional radiometers (i.e., those which directly measure total power or power spectral density integrated over time scales of milliseconds or greater) are poorly-suited to this task. Simply reducing integration time and discarding contaminated outputs may not be a practical answer due to the wide variety of modulations and pulse lengths observed in L-band RFI signals, the dynamic and complex nature of the associated propagation channels, and the logistical effort associated with post-measurement data editing. This motivates the design and development of radiometers capable of coherent sampling and adaptive, real-time mitigation of interference. Such a radiometer will be described in this presentation. This design is capable of coherently-sampling up to 100 MHz bandwidth at L-band. RFI mitigation is implemented in FPGA components so that real-time suppression is achieved. The system currently uses a cascade of basic time- and frequency-domain detection and blanking techniques; more advanced algorithms are under consideration. The modular FPGA-based architecture provides other benefits, such as the ability to implement extremely stable digital filters and the ability to reconfigure the system "on the fly". An overview of the basic design along with on-the-air results from an initial implementation will be provided in the presentation. Related L-band RFI surveys will be described to illustrate the relevance of this approach in a variety of operating conditions.

Hampson, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Design of an L-band Microwave Radiometer with Active Mitigation of Interference

Radio frequency interference (RFI) impairs L-band radiometry outside the protected 20 MHz frequency band around 1413 MHz. However, bandwidths of 100 MHz or more are desired for certain remote sensing applications as well as certain astronomy applications. Because much of the RFI in this band is from radars with pulse lengths on the order of microseconds, traditional radiometers (i.e., those which directly measure total power or power spectral density integrated over time scales of milliseconds or greater) are poorly-suited to this task. Simply reducing integration time and discarding contaminated outputs may not be a practical answer due to the wide variety of modulations and pulse lengths observed in L-band RFI signals, the dynamic and complex nature of the associated propagation channels, and the logistical effort associated with post-measurement data editing. This motivates the design and development of radiometers capable of coherent sampling and adaptive, real-time mitigation of interference. Such a radiometer will be described in this presentation. This design is capable of coherently-sampling up to 100 MHz bandwidth at L-band. RFI mitigation is implemented in FPGA components so that real-time suppression is achieved. The system currently uses a cascade of basic time- and frequency- domain detection and blanking techniques; more advanced algorithms are un- der consideration. The modular FPGA-based architecture provides other benefits, such as the ability to implement extremely stable digital filters and the ability to reconfigure the system "on the fly". An overview of the basic design along with on-the-air results from an initial implementation will be provided in the presentation. Related L-band RFI surveys will be described to illustrate the relevance of this approach in a variety of operating conditions.

Ellingson, S. W.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Trends in the Annual Frequency of Atlantic Basin Intense Hurricanes: Implications for the Near-Term

During the interval of 1944-1997, 120 intense hurricanes (category 3, 4, or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale) have been observed in the Atlantic basin. These intense hurricanes have had an observed annual frequency of 0-7 events per year (having a mean, mode, and median equal to about 2 events per year), being preferentially lower during El Ninio years and higher during non-El Ninio years. Also, it has recently been established that a long-term downward trend in the annual frequency of intense hurricanes, spanning about five decades, has taken place, although this trend can, alternatively, be explained as a shift from a more active state prior to the mid 1960's to a less active state thereafter (rather than as a simple linear decline). In this paper, on the basis of 10-yr moving averages, the long4erm trend of the frequency of intense hurricanes is compared against one for the annual mean temperature at Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland (which serves as a proxy for climatic change). Interestingly, the two sets of 10-yr moving averages correlate extremely well, especially, when incorporating a slight 6-yr lag between them (with temperature leading; r = 0.90). This suggests that the current leading trend of temperature, which had been downward, but now is upward, may portend a return to the more active state for intense hurricanes. Thus, the 1998 season (presuming the abatement of El Ninio prior to the start of the hurricane season), and for several years thereafter (at least, into the early years of the next millennium), may have an annual frequency of intense hurricanes that is commensurate with the previously observed active state that was seen prior to the mid 1960's. If true, then, the shift to the more active state, probably, occurred in the mid-to-late 1980's, apparently, having gone undetected because of the masking, or modulating, effect of El Ninio, which has been rampant since the mid-to-late 1980's.

Wilson, Robert M.↗