SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “CO2 monitoring”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 127 records · Page 7

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1974

Development of a six-man, self-contained carbon dioxide collection subsystem for spacecraft application

Life Systems, working with NASA, has developed an electrochemical, six-man, self-contained carbon dioxide concentrator subsystem (CX-6) designed to normally remove 13.2 lb/day of CO2 while maintaining the CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) of the cabin atmosphere at 3 mm Hg or less. The CX-6 was subjected to extensive parametric and endurance testing. The effects of operating conditions on CO2 removal and electrical efficiencies were determined, including effects of hydrogen (H2) flow rate, process airflow rate, pCO2, operating temperature and current density. A total of 209 days of operation was accumulated. The subsystem was designed with self-contained electronic control and monitoring instrumentation. The CX-6 was redesigned and repackaged into the CO2 collection subsystem for the air revitalization group of the space station prototype.

Schubert, F. H.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Apollo Saturn 511 effluent measurements from the Apollo 16 launch operations: An experiment

An experiment was performed in conjunction with the Apollo 16 launch to define operational and instrumentational problems associated with launch-vehicle exhaust effluent monitoring. Ground and airborne sampling were performed for CO, CO2, hydrocarbons, and particulates. Sampling systems included filter pads and photometers for particulates and whole-air grab samples for gases. Launch debris was identified in the particulate samples at ground level(taken immediately after launch) and in the airborne measurements (taken 40 to 50 minutes after launch approximately 40 km downwind of the pad). Operational problems were identified and included the need for higher instrumentation mobility and the need for real-time sampling instrumentation as opposed to collection-type samples such as the whole-air grab sample.

Gregory, G. L.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Kinetics of hydrogen-oxygen and methane-oxygen ignition sensitized by NO or NO2

In a study of methane ignition sensitized by NO2, the induction period chemical kinetics were examined by monitoring reactants and intermediates (CH4, NO2, OH, NO, CO, CO2, and H2O) prior to ignition. Data were obtained at pressure of 2-4 atm, temperatures of 1300-1900 K, equivalence ratios of 0.5-1.0, and NO2 up to 3.4 mole %. A tentative NO2 sensitization mechanism was deduced from the analysis of photometric observations and the comparison of computer modeling with observations.

Slack, M. W.↗

NASA NTRS1990

The scatterometer - Data and applications

The techniques used to extract oceanographic and meteorological parameters from satellite radar scatterometer data are described and demonstrated, primarily on the basis of Seasat data. The principles of backscatter measurement and the general relationships between wind and wave fields are summarized, and the construction of geophysical data records from scatterometer swaths is explained. Particular attention is given to surface-layer dynamics and stresses; planetary-boundary-layer dynamics; averaging methods; the estimation of heat, moisture, and CO2 flux coefficients; the determination of pressure fields; storm monitoring; synoptic-scale analysis; climate analysis; and ocean dynamics. The capabilities and potential applications of the planned ERS-1, NSCAT, and SCANSCAT satellite scatterometers are briefly indicated.

Brown, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Limits on the UV Photodecomposition of Carbonates on Mars

The effect of UV (ultraviolet) light on the stability of calcium carbonate in a simulated martian atmosphere was experimentally investigated. Sample cells containing C-13 labeled calcite were irradiated with a Xe arc lamp in 10 mbar of simulated martian atmosphere and a quadrupole mass spectrometer was used to monitor the headspace gases for the production of (13)CO2. We found no experimental evidence of the UV photodecomposition of calcium carbonate in a simulated martian atmosphere. Extrapolating the lower limit of detection of our experimental system to an upper limit of carbonate decomposition on Mars yields a quantum efficiency of 3.5 x 10(exp -8) molecules/photon over the wavelength interval of 190-390 nm and a maximum UV photodecomposition rate of 1.2 x 10(exp -13) kg m(exp -2) s(exp -1) from a calcite surface. The maximum loss of bulk calcite due to this process would be 2.5 nm yr(exp -1). However, calcite is expected to be thermodynamically stable on the surface of Mars and potential UV photodecomposition reaction mechanisms indicate that while calcium carbonate may decompose under vacuum, it would be stable in a CO2 atmosphere. Given the expected stability of carbonate on Mars and our inability to detect carbonate decomposition, we conclude that it is unlikely that the apparent absence of carbonate on the martian surface is due to UV photo decomposition of calcite in the current environment.

Quinn, Richard↗

NASA NTRS2010

NASA's Space Lidar Measurements of Earth and Planetary Surfaces

A lidar instrument on a spacecraft was first used to measure planetary surface height and topography on the Apollo 15 mission to the Moon in 1971, The lidar was based around a flashlamp-pumped ruby laser, and the Apollo 15-17 missions used them to make a few thousand measurements of lunar surface height from orbit. With the advent of diode pumped lasers in the late 1980s, the lifetime, efficiency, resolution and mass of lasers and space lidar all improved dramatically. These advances were utilized in NASA space missions to map the shape and surface topography of Mars with > 600 million measurements, demonstrate initial space measurements of the Earth's topography, and measured the detailed shape of asteroid. NASA's ICESat mission in Earth orbit just completed its polar ice measurement mission with almost 2 billion measurements of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, and demonstrated measurements to Antarctica and Greenland with a height resolution of a few em. Space missions presently in cruise phase and in operation include those to Mercury and a topographic mapping mission of the Moon. Orbital lidar also have been used in experiments to demonstrate laser ranging over planetary distances, including laser pulse transmission from Earth to Mars orbit. Based on the demonstrated value of the measurements, lidar is now the preferred measurement approach for many new scientific space missions. Some missions planned by NASA include a planetary mission to measure the shape and dynamics of Europa, and several Earth orbiting missions to continue monitoring ice sheet heights, measure vegetation heights, assess atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and to map the Earth surface topographic heights with 5 m spatial resolution. This presentation will give an overview of history, ongoing work, and plans for using space lidar for measurements of the surfaces of the Earth and planets.

Abshire, James B.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Large Plant Growth Chambers: Flying Soon on a Space Station near You!

The International Space Station (ISS) now has platforms for conducting research on horticultural plant species, and those capabilities continue to grow. The Veggie vegetable production system will be deployed to the ISS in Spring of 2014 to act as an applied research platform with goals of studying food production in space, providing the crew with a source of fresh food, allowing behavioral health and plant microbiology experimentation, and being a source of recreation and enjoyment for the crew. Veggie was conceived, designed, and constructed by Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC, Madison, WI). Veggie is the largest plant growth chamber that NASA has flown to date, and is capable of growing a wide array of horticultural crops. It was designed for low energy usage, low launch mass and stowage volume, and minimal crew time requirements. The Veggie flight hardware consists of a light cap containing red (630 nanometers), blue, (455 nanometers) and green (530 nanometers) light emitting diodes. Interfacing with the light cap is an extendable bellows baseplate secured to the light cap via magnetic closures and stabilized with extensible flexible arms. The baseplate contains vents allowing air from the ISS cabin to be pulled through the plant growth area by a fan in the light cap. The baseplate holds a Veggie root mat reservoir that will supply water to plant pillows attached via elastic cords. Plant pillows are packages of growth media and seeds that will be sent to ISS dry and installed and hydrated on orbit. Pillows can be constructed in various sizes for different plant types. Watering will be via passive wicking from the root mat to the pillows. Science procedures will include photography or videography, plant thinning, pollination, harvesting, microbial sampling, water sampling, etcetera. Veggie is one of the ISS flight options currently available for research investigations on plants. The Plant Habitat (PH) is being designed and constructed through a NASA-ORBITEC collaboration, and is scheduled to fly on ISS around 2016. This large plant chamber will control light quality, level, and timing, temperature, CO2, relative humidity, and irrigation, while scrubbing ethylene. Additional monitoring capabilities include leaf temperature sensing and root zone moisture and oxygen sensing. The PH light cap will have red (630 nanometers), blue (450 nanometers), green (525 nanometers), far red (730 nanometers) and broad spectrum white light emitting diodes. There will be several internal cameras to monitor and record plant growth and operations.

Space Biology↗

NASA NTRS1998

Adaptation to high CO2 concentration in an optimal environment: radiation capture, canopy quantum yield and carbon use efficiency

The effect of elevated [CO2] on wheat (Triticum aestivum L. Veery 10) productivity was examined by analysing radiation capture, canopy quantum yield, canopy carbon use efficiency, harvest index and daily C gain. Canopies were grown at either 330 or 1200 micromoles mol-1 [CO2] in controlled environments, where root and shoot C fluxes were monitored continuously from emergence to harvest. A rapidly circulating hydroponic solution supplied nutrients, water and root zone oxygen. At harvest, dry mass predicted from gas exchange data was 102.8 +/- 4.7% of the observed dry mass in six trials. Neither radiation capture efficiency nor carbon use efficiency were affected by elevated [CO2], but yield increased by 13% due to a sustained increase in canopy quantum yield. CO2 enrichment increased root mass, tiller number and seed mass. Harvest index and chlorophyll concentration were unchanged, but CO2 enrichment increased average life cycle net photosynthesis (13%, P < 0.05) and root respiration (24%, P < 0.05). These data indicate that plant communities adapt to CO2 enrichment through changes in C allocation. Elevated [CO2] increases sink strength in optimal environments, resulting in sustained increases in photosynthetic capacity, canopy quantum yield and daily C gain throughout the life cycle.

Non-NASA Center↗

NASA NTRS1994

Carbon dioxide fluxes over a raised open bog at the Kinosheo Lake tower site during the Northern Wetlands Study (NOWES)

Measurements of carbon dioxide concentration and flux were made above a raised open bog at Lake Kinosheo in the southern Hudson Bay lowlands during the Northern Wetlands Study (NOWES) experiment in 1990. The flux measurements were made using micrometeorological techniques. They provide the first nondisturbing, larger-scale CO2 flux measurements for this ecosystem and are the first to integrate the exchange over the whole 24 hours of the day. Continuous concentration measurements by infrared gas analyzers (IRGA) and spot flask samples were taken over the period July 1 to July 29. Afternoon CO2 values were only 5 to 7 parts per million by volume (ppmv) lower than measurements over the same period at Canadian background monitoring stations. This suggested that there was little draw-down by local photosynthetic sinks. CO2 fluxes were measured at 8 and 18 m by Bowen ratio and eddy correlation methods, respectively. The methods produced comparable results on averaged data but often diverged considerably on individual half-hour results. Fluxes were small. Daytime values averaged to -0.068 mg/sq m/s by eddy correlation and -0.077 mg/sq m/s by Bowen ratio over the period June 25 to July 28 (negative denotes downward flux), while at night, flux densities were +0.062 mg/sq m/s and +0.085 mg/sq m/s. Integration of the mean diurnal curve gave a net flux of -1.7 g/sq m/d. Comparable data for this type of ecosystem were not found. However, Coyne and Kelley (1975), measuring near Barrow, Alaska, over wet meadow tundra dominated by sedges and grasses, found net fluxes of -7.2 g/sq m/d. Typical net CO2 fluxes from other active temperature ecosystems have been found to be -10 to -20 g/sq m/d (Monteith, 1976). Mean half hourly fluxes were almost constant at +0.06 mg/sq m/s through the nighttime hours. About one half-hour after sunrise the flux reversed direction. Uptake peaked about 0900 eastern daylight time (EDT) and then gradually declined but remained downward until near sunset. The early peak was interpreted to signify that the many plants in the bog experienced water stress during the day as evaporative demand increased and nighttime dew was evaporated.

Neumann, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Computer Simulation and Modeling of CO2 Removal Systems for Exploration 2013-2014

The Atmosphere Revitalization Recovery and Environmental Monitoring (ARREM) project was initiated in September of 2011 as part of the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) program. Under the ARREM project and the follow-on Life Support Systems (LSS) project, testing of sub-scale and full-scale systems has been combined with multiphysics computer simulations for evaluation and optimization of subsystem approaches. In particular, this paper will describes the testing and 1-D modeling of the combined water desiccant and carbon dioxide sorbent subsystems of the carbon dioxide removal assembly (CDRA). The goal is a full system predictive model of CDRA to guide system optimization and development.

Coker, R.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Development of an infrared absorption transducer to monitor partial pressure of carbon dioxide for space applications

An infrared (IR) carbon dioxide (CO2) transducers has been designed, developed, and produced for space applications. The transducer provides measurement of partial pressure of CO2 in life support applications, including the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), Space Shuttle Orbiter and Spacehab. The electrochemical sensor presently used for these applications has a slow reponse time and has reliability concerns due to the electrolyte. The new microprocessor based unit has a fast response time and can be tailored to other space applications.

Lutz, Glenn↗

NASA NTRS1986

Detection of NO sub x,C2H4 concentrations by using CO and CO2 lasers

A laser, especially the infrared line tunable laser, opens up a new way to monitor the atmospheric environment, and already has gotten effective practical application. One of the most serious problems in open path remote measurement at atmospheric pressure is the broadening effect which leads to increased linewidths, spectral interferences, and, as a result, tends to reduce detection sensitivity, so measuring laser wavelengths should be selected carefully, and interaction between the measuring wavelength and gas to be measured must be known very well. Therefore, N2O, No, NO2, CH4, NH3 and C2H4 absorption properties at some lines of CO and CO2 line tunable lasers were studied. The absorption coefficients of NO, NO2, and C2H4; some results on detection of NO sub x, C2H4 concentrations in both laboratory and field; and selection of measuring wavelengths and error analysis are discussed.

Gengchen, W.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Surface Pressure Dependencies in the GEOS-Chem-Adjoint System and the Impact of the GEOS-5 Surface Pressure on CO2 Model Forecast

In the GEOS-Chem Adjoint (GCA) system, the total (wet) surface pressure of the GEOS meteorology is employed as dry surface pressure, ignoring the presence of water vapor. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) research team has been evaluating the impact of the above discrepancy on the CO2 model forecast and the CO2 flux inversion. The JPL CMS research utilizes a multi-mission assimilation framework developed by the Multi-Mission Observation Operator (M2O2) research team at JPL extending the GCA system. The GCA-M2O2 framework facilitates mission-generic 3D and 4D-variational assimilations streamlining the interfaces to the satellite data products and prior emission inventories. The GCA-M2O2 framework currently integrates the GCA system version 35h and provides a dry surface pressure setup to allow the CO2 model forecast to be performed with the GEOS-5 surface pressure directly or after converting it to dry surface pressure.

Lee, Meemong↗

NASA NTRS1984

The development status of candidate life support technology for a space station

The establishment of a permanently-manned Space Station has recently been selected as the next major step in the U.S. space program. The requirements of a manned operations base in space appear to be best satisfied by on-board Environmental Control/Life Support Systems (ECLSS) which are free from, or have minimum dependence on, use of expendables and the frequent earth resupply missions which are part of systems using expendables. The present investigation is concerned with the range of regenerative life support system options which NASA is developing to be available for the Space Station designer. An air revitalization system is discussed, taking into account devices concerned with the carbon dioxide concentration, approaches of CO2 reduction, oxygen generation, trace contaminant control, and atmospheric quality monitoring. Attention is also given to an independent air revitalization system, nitrogen generation, a water reclamation system, a waste management system, applications of the technology, and future development requirements.

Samonski, F. H., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Potential technology transfers of research on low-temperature carbon monoxide-oxygen recombination catalysts

Results from research on catalytic recombination of CO-O2 for stable closed-cycle operation of CO2 lasers hold much promise for a variety of technology transfer. Expansion of CO2 laser remote sensing applications toward chemical detection and pollution monitoring would certainly be expected. However, the catalysts themselves may be especially effective in low-temperature oxidation of a number of chemicals in addition to CO. It is therefore of interest to compare the CO-O2 catalysts with chemical systems designed for chemical sensing, air purification and process catalysis. Success in understanding the catalytic mechanisms of the recombination of CO-O2 could help to shed light on how catalyst systems operate. New directions in low-temperature oxidation catalysts, coatings for chemical sensors and sorbents for air purification could well emerge.

Poziomek, Edward J.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Spaceborne microwave remote sensing of seasonal freeze-thaw processes in theterrestrial high l atitudes : relationships with land-atmosphere CO2 exchange

Landscape transitions between seasonally frozen and thawed conditions occur each year over roughly 50 million square kilometers of Earth's Northern Hemisphere. These relatively abrupt transitions represent the closest analog to a biospheric and hydrologic on/off switch existing in nature, affecting surface meteorological conditions, ecological trace gas dynamics, energy exchange and hydrologic activity profoundly. We utilize time series satellite-borne microwave remote sensing measurements from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) to examine spatial and temporal variability in seasonal freeze/thaw cycles for the pan-Arctic basin and Alaska. Regional measurements of spring thaw timing are derived using daily brightness temperature measurements from the 19 GHz, horizontally polarized channel, separately for overpasses with 6 AM and 6 PM equatorial crossing times. Spatial and temporal patterns in regional freeze/thaw dynamics show distinct differences between North America and Eurasia, and boreal forest and Arctic tundra biomes. Annual anomalies in the timing of thawing in spring also correspond closely to seasonal atmospheric CO2 concentration anomalies derived from NOAA CMDL arctic and subarctic monitoring stations. Classification differences between AM and PM overpass data average approximately 5 days for the region, though both appear to be effective surrogates for monitoring annual growing seasons at high latitudes.

Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I)carbon cycle↗

NASA NTRS2004

Spaceborne Microwave Remote Sensing of Seasonal Freeze-Thaw Processes in the Terrestrial High Latitudes: Relationships with Land-Atmosphere CO2 exchange

net primary products↗

NASA NTRS2019

Industrial-Era Decline in Subarctic Atlantic Productivity

Marine phytoplankton play a critical role in modulating marine-based food webs, fishery yields, and the global drawdown of atmospheric CO2. Due to sparse measurements prior to 21st century satellite monitoring, however, little is known of the long-term response of planktonic stocks to climate forcing. Here we produce the first continuous, multi-century record of subarctic Atlantic marine productivity, showing a marked 10 ± 7% decline has occurred across this highly-productive ocean basin over the last two centuries. We support this conclusion through the application of a novel marine-productivity proxy, established using a unique signal of planktonic-derived aerosol commonly identified across an array of Greenlandic ice cores. Utilizing contemporaneous satellite-era observations, we demonstrate this signal’s use as a robust and high-resolution proxy for spatially-integrated marine productivity variations. We show that the initiation of declining subarctic Atlantic productivity broadly coincides with the onset of Arctic surface warming, and that productivity strongly covaries with regional sea-surface temperatures and basin-wide gyre circulation strength over recent decades. Taken together, our results suggest the industrial era productivity decline may be evidence of the predicted5 collapse of northern Atlantic planktonic stocks in response to a weakened Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Continued AMOC weakening, as projected for the 21st century, may therefore result in further productivity declines across this globally-relevant region.

Climate change↗