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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 1,279 records · Page 71
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

Detection and analysis of radio frequency lightning emissions

The feasibility study of detection of lightning discharges from a geosynchronous satellite requires adequate ground-based information regarding emission characteristics. In this investigation, a measurement system for collection of S-band emission data is set up and calibrated, and the operations procedures for rapid data collection during a storm activity developed. The system collects emission data in two modes; a digitized, high-resolution, short duration record stored in solid-state memory, and a continuous long-duration record on magnetic tape. Representative lightning flash data are shown. Preliminary results indicate appreciable RF emissions at 2 gHz from both the leader and return strokes portions of the cloud-to-ground discharge with strong peaks associated with the return strokes.

Jalali, F.↗
NASA NTRS1981

A development of grid generation procedure for multicomponent aerodynamic configuration

Two approaches for solving the transonic flow in a multi-block grid were explored. The first approach examines a method involving "zonal decomposition" wherein block boundaries are treated as true boundary surfaces separating interfacing grids. The issues investigated involve techniques for matching solutions at a block boundary. A feasibility study was completed and the results are presented. The second approach involves overlapping grids for differencing across a block boundary near an artificially induced coordinate singularity occurring at a fictitious corner. This approach selects a set of neighboring nodes for the fictitious corner such that the resulting physical cells for a node are topologically the same as any other node on the airfoil surface.

Chen, H. C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The Washington experience (evaluation and selection of hardware for automated geo-based information systems)

A Washington geographic information system is described. The system has thrust from two different angles: the proprietary need for information to support the management of five million acres of thrust lands by the Department of Natural Resources, and the need for data over the entire state because of statewide governmental responsibilities. The data base includes information relevant to agricultural, forest, industrial, business, and community growth with emphasis on assembling information useful in setting intermediate and long-range goals. System selection procedures and system feasibility studies are discussed.

Harding, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Salton Sea Project, Phase 1

A feasibility study was made for a salt gradient solar pond power plant in or near the Salton Sea of California. The conclusions support continuance 5-MWe proof-of-concept experiment, and ultimate construction by an electric utility company of a 600-MWe plant. The Solar Pond concept would be an environmental benefit to the Salton Sea by reversing the increasing salinity trend. The greatest cost drivers are the lake dike construction and pond sealing. Problems to be resolved include method of brine production from Salton Sea water for the first unit (which requires evaporation pond area and time), the high turbidity and color content of the Salton Sea water (which requires pretreatment), and other questions related to pond permeability, bio-activity and soil/brine chemical reactions. All technical and environmental problems appear solvable and/or manageable if care is taken in mitigating impacts.

Peelgren, M. L.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Control optimization, stabilization and computer algorithms for aircraft applications

The analysis and design of complex multivariable reliable control systems are considered. High performance and fault tolerant aircraft systems are the objectives. A preliminary feasibility study of the design of a lateral control system for a VTOL aircraft that is to land on a DD963 class destroyer under high sea state conditions is provided. Progress in the following areas is summarized: (1) VTOL control system design studies; (2) robust multivariable control system synthesis; (3) adaptive control systems; (4) failure detection algorithms; and (5) fault tolerant optimal control theory.

Athans, M.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Holographic interferometry and tomography at Ames Research Center

A YAG laser holographic interferometer system and reconstruction laboratory for the Ames 2- by 2-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel are discussed. This system provides dual plate and double pulse holography for quantitative and qualitative measurements, respectively. Interferometric measurements of two-dimensional airfoils and three-dimensional bodies of revolution for a tomography feasibility study were made. The two-dimensional work included supercritical airfoils, an oscillating airfoil undergoing dynamic stall, and a circulation control airfoil. The tomography experiments centered around hemispherical nose and tangent ogive models. In addition, the tomography work covered the development of a Fourier transform code for the retrieval of the three dimensional density distributions from the interferograms.

Lee, G.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Ice forming experiment

A low gravity experiment to assess the effect of the presence of supercooled cloud droplets on the diffusional growth rate of ice crystals is described. The theoretical work and the feasibility studies are summarized. The nucleation of ice crystals in supercooled clouds is also discussed.

Vali, G.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Experiences in Delta mission planning

The Delta launch vehicle has experienced 153 successful launches since 1960 and 40 more are scheduled. Relying on up-to-date technology and proven flight hardware, the Delta vehicle has been used for low to high circular and geosynchronous transfer orbits, high elliptic probes, and lunar and planetary missions. A history of Delta launches and configuration modifications is presented, noting a 92-95% success rate and its cost effective role in reimbursable missions. Elements of mission planning such as feasibility studies (1-3 yrs), spacecraft restraints manuals, reference trajectories, preliminary mission analysis, detailed test objectives, range/safety studies, guided nominal trajectory, and mission specific studies are discussed. Trajectory shaping determines vehicle and spacecraft restraints, optimizes the trajectory, and maximizes the payload capabilities. Improvements in the Delta vehicle have boosted payloads from 100 to 2890 lbs., improving the price per pound ratio, as costs have risen, only by a factor of three. Current launch schedules extend well into 1985.

Kork, J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Weather and climate needs for lidar observations from space and concepts for their realization

The spectrum of weather and climate needs for lidar observations from space is discussed. This paper focuses mainly on the requirements for winds, temperature, moisture, and pressure. Special emphasis is given to the need for wind observations, and it is shown that winds are required to depict realistically all atmospheric scales in the tropics and the smaller scales at higher latitudes, where both temperature and wind profiles are necessary. The need for means to estimate air-sea exchanges of sensible and latent heat also is noted. Lidar can aid here by measurement of the slope of the boundary layer. Recent theoretical feasibility studies concerning the profiling of temperature, pressure, and humidity by differential absorption lidar (DIAL) from space and expected accuracies are reviewed. Initial ground-based trials provide support for these approaches and also indicate their direct applicability to path-average temperature measurements near the surface. An alternative approach to Doppler lidar wind measurements also is presented. The concept involves the measurement of the displacement of the aerosol backscatter pattern, at constant height, between two successive scans of the same area, one ahead of the spacecraft and the other behind it, a few minutes later. Finally, an integrated space lidar system capable of measuring temperature, pressure, humidity, and winds which combines the DIAL methods with the aerosol pattern displacement concept is described briefly.

Atlas, D.↗
NASA NTRS1982

An FDMA system concept for 30/20 GHz high capacity domestic satellite service

The paper summarizes a feasibility study of a multibeam FDMA satellite system operating in the 30/20 GHz band. The system must accommodate a very high volume of traffic within the restrictions of a 5 kW solar cell array and a 2.5 GHz bandwidth. Multibeam satellite operation reduces the DC power demand and allows reuse of the available bandwidth. Interferences among the beams are brought to acceptable levels by appropriate frequency assignments. A transponder design is presented; it is greatly simplified by the application of a regional concept. System analysis shows that MSK modulation is appropriate for a high-capacity system because it conserves the frequency spectrum. Rain attenuation, a serious problem in this frequency band, is combatted with sufficient power margins and with coding. Link budgets, cost analysis, and weight and power calculations are also discussed. A satellite-routed FDMA system compares favorably in performance and cost with a satellite-switched TDMA system.

Berk, G.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Use of Landsat-derived temporal profiles for corn-soybean feature extraction and classification

A physical model is presented, which has been derived from multitemporal-multispectral data acquired by Landsat satellites to describe the behavior and new features that are crop specific. A feasibility study over 40 sites was performed to classify the segment pixels into those of corn, soybeans, and others using the new features and a linear classifier. Results agree well with other existing methods, and it is shown the multitemporal-multispectral scanner data can be transformed into two parameters that are closely related to the target of interest and thus can be used in classification. The approach is less time intensive than other techniques and requires labeling of only pure pixels.

Badhwar, G. D.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The use of differential pressure feedback in an automatic flight control system

A feasibility study has been performed to evaluate the performance of a system whereby a control surface is positioned with differential pressure as the feedback variable. Analogous to a position command system, the control surface is commanded to move until a certain differential pressure is achieved at a given point on the surface. Frequency response tests and theoretical considerations indicate that the pressure feedback transfer function is first order, with a break frequency up to 50 rad/sec. There exist applications to the outer loops of flight control systems as well. Stability augmentation, gust alleviation, and stall prevention appear to be possible by feeding back differential pressure across lifting and control surfaces.

Levy, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Compact X-ray sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Sixteen Einstein X-ray sources in the field of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) that appear non-extended in the IPC detector have recently been accurately positioned with the HRI to make optical follow-up studies feasible. At least twelve of these are not associated with the LMC, including one Seyfert galaxy at a redshift of 0.076 and eleven late type galactic foreground stars, some showing photometric behavior typical for RS CVn and BY Dra variables. Two sources are identified with faint blue variable objects, one of them has been observed to exhibit He II 4686 and variable Balmer emission lines being reminiscent of the low mass X-ray binary LMC X-2. The IPC source 1E0501438-7037.6 is probably associated with the LMC OB star Sk-70 36 which has been found to show ellipsoidal light variations with a period of 6.94 d. The results strongly suggest that a gap in the X-ray binary luminosity function of the LMC exists between 10 to the 36th and 10 to the 38th ergls.

Pakull, M. W.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Characteristics of RF Lightning Emission at 2 Ghz and 250 Mhz

Radio frequency emissions in the S-band and VHF range from lightning discharges are recorded by a facility developed at MSFC as part of a feasibility study of a satellite-based lightning mapping system. The recording facility receives RF emissions in both vertical and horizontal polarization and stores the data on magnetic tape. Output from any one antenna may also be selected for high speed digitization and disk storage. Improvement in both hardware and software have enhanced significantly the accuracy of data characterization and the speed of data collection. Emission records at VHF have higher signal strength than the S-band as expected. The records of cloud-to-ground discharges obtained so far give a 7-33 V/M peak equivalent signal strength (1 KHz at 10 kilometer) in the S-band range. The CG discharge structure is recognizable in most of the data collected. Considerable RF activity is present throughout the VHF records. The S-band data shows signals associated with limited portions of discharge history. The records obtained are from lightning activities within a 10 mile range.

Jalali, F.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Conceptual design of a hybrid Ge:Ga detector array

For potential applications in space infrared astronomy missions such as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility and the Large Deployable Reflector, integrated arrays of long-wavelength detectors are desired. The results of a feasibility study which developed a design for applying integrated array techniques to a long-wavelength (gallium-doped germanium) material to achieve spectral coverage between 30 and 200 microns are presented. An approach which builds up a two-dimensional array by stacking linear detector modules is presented. The spectral response of the Ge:Ga detectors is extended to 200 microns by application of uniaxial stress to the stack of modules. The detectors are assembled with 1 mm spacing between the elements. Multiplexed readout of each module is accomplished with integration sampling of a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) switch chip. Aspects of the overall design, including the anticipated level of particle effects on the array in the space environment, a transparent electrode design for 200 microns response, estimates of optical crosstalk, and mechanical stress design calculations are included.

Parry, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Evaluation of the aerodynamic control of the Space Shuttle orbiter and tip-fin controllers

A feasibility study to assess the benefits/penalties of installing tip-fin controllers on the Space Shuttle orbiter has been conducted. The results from the aerodynamic and stability and control assessment of this study are presented. These results show that using tip-fin controllers with the centerline vertical tail removed provides adequate control for entry. The orbiter basic maneuvering capability is maintained, and symmetrical deflection of the controllers provides adequate speedbrake authority for energy management. Gust analyses of the orbiter with the tip-fin controller configuration have demonstrated no compromise of existing cross-wind landing capability. Six-degree-of-freedom simulations have shown the tip-fin controllers can provide adequate control for entry with no degradation in vehicle capability.

Powell, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Detonation wave augmentation of gas turbines

The results of a feasibility study that examined the effects of using detonation waves to augment the performance of gas turbines are reported. The central ideas were to reduce compressor requirements and to maintain high performance in jet engines. Gasdynamic equations were used to model the flows associated with shock waves generated by the detonation of fuel in detonator tubes. Shock wave attenuation to the level of Mach waves was found possible, thus eliminating interference with the compressor and the necessity of valves and seals. A preliminary parametric study of the performance of a compressor working at a 4:1 ratio in a conceptual design of a detonation wave augmented jet engine in subsonic flight indicated a clear superiority over conventional designs in terms of fuel efficiency and thrust.

Wortman, A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Hydrogen from renewable energy - Photovoltaic/water electrolysis as an exemplary approach

A feasibility study has been conducted for a NASA Kennedy Space Center liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen production facility using solar cell arrays as the power source for electrolysis. The 100 MW output of the facility would be split into 67.6 and 32 MW portions for electrolysis and liquefaction, respectively. The solar cell array would cover 1.65 sq miles, and would be made up of 249 modular 400-kW arrays. Hydrogen and oxygen are generated at either dispersed or centralized water electrolyzers. The yearly hydrogen output is projected to be 5.76 million lbs, with 8 times that much oxygen; these fuel volumes can support approximately 18 Space Shuttle launches/year.

Sprafka, R. J.↗