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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 1,369 records · Page 76
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Sunphotometer network for monitoring aerosol properties in the Brazilian Amazon

Satellite platforms have provided a methodology for regional and global remote sensing of aerosols. New systems will significantly improve that capability during the EOS era; however, the voluminous 20 year record of satellite data has produced only regional snapshots of aerosol loading and have not yielded a data base of the optical properties of those aerosols which are fundamental to our understanding of their influence on climate change. The prospect of fully understanding the properties of the aerosols with respect to climate change is small without validation and augmentation by ancillary ground based observations. Sun photometry was demonstrated to be an effective tool for ground based measurements of aerosol optical properties from fire emissions. Newer technology has expanded routine sun photometer measurements to spectral observations of solar aureole and almucantar allowing retrievals of size distribution, scattering phase function, and refractive index. A series of such observations were made in Brazil's Amazon basin from a network of six simultaneously recording instruments deployed in Sep. 1992. The instruments were located in areas removed from local aerosol sources such that sites are representative of regional aerosol conditions. The overall network was designed to cover the counter clockwise tropospheric circulation of the Amazon Basin. Spectral measurements of sun, aureole and sky data for retrieval of aerosol optical thickness, particle size distribution, and scattering phase function as well as measurements of precipitable water were made during noncloudy conditions.

Holben, Brent N.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A Backscatter Moessbauer Spectrometer (BaMS) for use on Mars

The use of Moessbauer spectroscopy for in situ analysis on the surface of Mars was proposed and the design and implementation of a backscatter Moessbauer spectrometer (BaMS) instrument suitable for planetary missions to the surfaces of Mars (MESUR), the Moon (Artemis and lunar outpost), asteroids, or other solid solar system objects is discussed. The BaMS instrument is designed to be capable of analysis of a sample for the mineralogy of its iron-bearing phases without any sample preparation. A requirement of lander missions to Mars is instrumentation for in situ mineralogical analyses. Such analyses provide data needed for primary characterization as to the type of surface materials present and by inference the processes that formed and subsequently modified them. For purposes of providing diagnostic information about naturally occurring materials, the element iron is particularly important because it is abundant and multivalent (primarily 0, +2, and +3 oxidation states). Knowledge of the oxidation state of iron and its distribution among iron-bearing mineralogies tightly constrains the types of materials present. The pivotal role of iron was already recognized in 1978 by COMPLEX, who recommended development of flight instruments that would identify mineralogy and the oxidation state of iron in planetary surface materials. The near-term U.S. strategy for the exploration of Mars is the MESUR (Mars Environmental SURvey) program, which entails emplacement of a network of small, long-lived surface landers. For the Moon, BaMS was recommended as part of a three-instrument landed payload for the Artemis missions, targeted for 1997. BaMS would prospect for ilmenite, an oxygen resource material, and provide data to assess the maturity of lunar soil. Because instrumental characteristics are low mass, low volume, and low power consumption, BaMS is suitable for implementation on even small landers and rovers, as are being envisioned in MESUR and Artemis concepts. In addition to providing highly diagnostic data, a BaMS analyzer is inherently simple and, as is highly desirable for remote operation, no sample preparation is required.

Agresti, D. G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Laser light scattering instrument advanced technology development

The objective of this advanced technology development (ATD) project has been to provide sturdy, miniaturized laser light scattering (LLS) instrumentation for use in microgravity experiments. To do this, we assessed user requirements, explored the capabilities of existing and prospective laser light scattering hardware, and both coordinated and participated in the hardware and software advances needed for a flight hardware instrument. We have successfully breadboarded and evaluated an engineering version of a single-angle glove-box instrument which uses solid state detectors and lasers, along with fiber optics, for beam delivery and detection. Additionally, we have provided the specifications and written verification procedures necessary for procuring a miniature multi-angle LLS instrument which will be used by the flight hardware project which resulted from this work and from this project's interaction with the laser light scattering community.

Wallace, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Video transmission on ATM networks

The broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN) is expected to provide high-speed and flexible multimedia applications. Multimedia includes data, graphics, image, voice, and video. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is the adopted transport techniques for B-ISDN and has the potential for providing a more efficient and integrated environment for multimedia. It is believed that most broadband applications will make heavy use of visual information. The prospect of wide spread use of image and video communication has led to interest in coding algorithms for reducing bandwidth requirements and improving image quality. The major results of a study on the bridging of network transmission performance and video coding are: Using two representative video sequences, several video source models are developed. The fitness of these models are validated through the use of statistical tests and network queuing performance. A dual leaky bucket algorithm is proposed as an effective network policing function. The concept of the dual leaky bucket algorithm can be applied to a prioritized coding approach to achieve transmission efficiency. A mapping of the performance/control parameters at the network level into equivalent parameters at the video coding level is developed. Based on that, a complete set of principles for the design of video codecs for network transmission is proposed.

Chen, Yun-Chung↗
NASA NTRS1993

Advanced microfabrication technologies for microspacecraft

Advanced microfabrication technologies offer the prospect of reducing the weight and size of spacecraft through the use of lighter and stronger materials in conjunction with new mechanical/structural design concepts and design optimization methods. At the same time, electronic components have been scaled down while increasing functional utility. A two-fold benefit is derived for space applications through the use of less expensive components and the lower launch costs associated with lighter components. GE-CRD is actively pursuing research in these key technologies for a wide range of applications including satellites. These key technologies will be reviewed and an update on GE progress will be given. The need to reduce weight and lower cost, while maintaining product quality and reliability are primary drivers in the design of satellites, in general, and microsatellites in particular. For the structural subsystem, these requirements pose a complex design problem unless new mechanical design concepts and computer-aided design optimization methods are employed. Several new concepts, such as battery packs doubling as panel reinforcements and fuel tanks as integral structural members, need to utilized. In addition, new viscoelastic material damping concepts for spacecraft components provide for lighter weight/lower cost designs, while satisfying the structural dynamics requirements. High density interconnect (HDI) technology permits the use of bare IC's on a ceramic substrate with 90 percent active area utilization. A copper/polyimide multilayer structure is the backbone of the technology, which has demonstrated a size/weight reduction of greater than 10x compared to printed circuit board with performance up to the GHz level. HDI modules have exceptional mechanical robustness as evidenced by survival of 180 kg rapid acceleration tests. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are redefining sensors and actuators by miniaturization through micromachining techniques. Sharing many fabrication steps with HDI, we have developed a new technique for surface micromachining of copper/polyimide structures using computer-aided laser patterning.

Ghezzo, M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Two-way satellite time transfer: Overview and recent developments

The experiment using small earth stations for transatlantic two-way satellite time transfer between the USA and Germany has had its 10th anniversary this year. Pseudo-random noise coded time signals were phase modulated and demodulated at each station using a modem. Recently, during the last two weeks of Aug. 1993, six European time laboratories have used the INTELSAT 307E satellite for line-up tests and preliminary time transfer sessions using the same type of MITREX modem. The need for a uniform format for the exchange of data was felt heavily after these sessions. This problem was foreseen and addressed in international working parties. During Apr. 1993, in Task Group 7/2 of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector, a very intense discussion has taken place about what procedure should be recommended for TWSTFT and what items the header and data lines of the resulting data fields should contain. A difficulty is that two different methods of calibration of the earth station delays exist which result in different sets of delay data to be exchanged. Further study and discussions are necessary. Also, a meeting of the CCDS Working Group on TWSTFT addressed this in Oct. 1993. The outcome of the discussions and the prospect for future developments are presented.

Dejong, Gerrit↗
NASA NTRS1994

Fuzzy self-learning control for magnetic servo system

It is known that an effective control system is the key condition for successful implementation of high-performance magnetic servo systems. Major issues to design such control systems are nonlinearity; unmodeled dynamics, such as secondary effects for copper resistance, stray fields, and saturation; and that disturbance rejection for the load effect reacts directly on the servo system without transmission elements. One typical approach to design control systems under these conditions is a special type of nonlinear feedback called gain scheduling. It accommodates linear regulators whose parameters are changed as a function of operating conditions in a preprogrammed way. In this paper, an on-line learning fuzzy control strategy is proposed. To inherit the wealth of linear control design, the relations between linear feedback and fuzzy logic controllers have been established. The exercise of engineering axioms of linear control design is thus transformed into tuning of appropriate fuzzy parameters. Furthermore, fuzzy logic control brings the domain of candidate control laws from linear into nonlinear, and brings new prospects into design of the local controllers. On the other hand, a self-learning scheme is utilized to automatically tune the fuzzy rule base. It is based on network learning infrastructure; statistical approximation to assign credit; animal learning method to update the reinforcement map with a fast learning rate; and temporal difference predictive scheme to optimize the control laws. Different from supervised and statistical unsupervised learning schemes, the proposed method learns on-line from past experience and information from the process and forms a rule base of an FLC system from randomly assigned initial control rules.

Tarn, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Portable computing - A fielded interactive scientific application in a small off-the-shelf package

Experience with the design and implementation of a portable computing system for STS crew-conducted science is discussed. Principal-Investigator-in-a-Box (PI) will help the SLS-2 astronauts perform vestibular (human orientation system) experiments in flight. PI is an interactive system that provides data acquisition and analysis, experiment step rescheduling, and various other forms of reasoning to astronaut users. The hardware architecture of PI consists of a computer and an analog interface box. 'Off-the-shelf' equipment is employed in the system wherever possible in an effort to use widely available tools and then to add custom functionality and application codes to them. Other projects which can help prospective teams to learn more about portable computing in space are also discussed.

Groleau, Nicolas↗
NASA NTRS1994

Preliminary results from the ISAMS NO channel: Thermospheric radiances

The Improved Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (ISAMS) is producing the first global measurements of emission from the 1 yields 0 band of nitric oxide (NO). The emission from the lower thermosphere has been examined and is seen to increase dramatically at times corresponding to high solar activity. The temporal and geographical extent of the effect is reported, and possible mechanisms for the enhanced emission are discussed. The need for adequate representation of thermospheric NO emission in order to retrieve NO number densities at all heights from ISAMS data is discussed, as are prospects for science studies using such NO number density measurements.

Ballard, J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Total solar eclipse of 1995 October 24

A total eclipse of the sun will be visible from Asia and the Pacific Ocean on 24 Oct. 1995. The path of the moon's shadow begins in the Middle East and sweeps across India, Southeast Asia, and the waters of the Indonesian archipelago before ending at sunset in the Pacific. Detailed predictions for this event are presented and include besselian elements, geographic coordinates of the path of totality, physical ephemeris of the umbra, topocentric limb profile corrections, local circumstances for 400 cities, maps of the eclipse path, weather prospects, the lunar limb profile, and the sky during totality.

Espenak, Fred↗
NASA NTRS1993

Retrieval of cirrus cloud parameters from satellite observations: Evaluation from field experiments

Knowledge on cirrus clouds gained from experiments involving in situ observations in close coordination with ground and aircraft based remote sensing, as well as satellite observations and other conventional observations such as rawinsondes, is presented. The methodologies used to retrieve cirrus cloud parameters from satellite observations are reviewed, results from field campaigns are discussed in terms of these methods, and prospects for satellite remote sensing of cirrus are discussed.

Starr, David OC.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Formal methods technology transfer: Some lessons learned

IBM has a long history in the application of formal methods to software development and verification. There have been many successes in the development of methods, tools and training to support formal methods. And formal methods have been very successful on several projects. However, the use of formal methods has not been as widespread as hoped. This presentation summarizes several approaches that have been taken to encourage more widespread use of formal methods, and discusses the results so far. The basic problem is one of technology transfer, which is a very difficult problem. It is even more difficult for formal methods. General problems of technology transfer, especially the transfer of formal methods technology, are also discussed. Finally, some prospects for the future are mentioned.

Hamilton, David↗
NASA NTRS1994

Low-energy pneumatic control of forebody vortices

This research will be exploring the prospect of employing bluntness, known to suppress the tendency toward asymmetry on slender forebodies, jointly with pneumatic manipulation as a system of forebody asymmetry control. The influences of jet location and direction, blowing rate, relative noise bluntness, angle of attack, and state of flow separation feeding the vortices (laminar vs. turbulent) will be evaluated.

Roos, Frederick W.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Properties of nearly perfect crystals at very low temperatures

Data shows that the frequency stability of 5 MHz AT-cut quartz crystal oscillators is improved by lowering the temperature to 4.3 K. The resultant level of stability is apparently not, at this point, sufficient for a clock accurate to 1 part in 10(exp 17). However, many improvements are possible in the scheme presented here. These would involve better temperature regulation, better crystal mounting and vibration isolation, and lower temperatures. Below the lambda-transition at 2.17 K the residual bubbling of the bath would be eliminated. Thus, the prospect of a successful clock built on this scheme is not ruled out.

Weber, J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Information system in transition: The Hungarian Scene

Recent changes in political and economical conditions in eastern European countries are influencing the function and activities of the Hungarian Library and Information network. The National Technical Information Center and Library (OMIKK) is an active participant in this process of transition. In the first part of this paper, the general transformations of Hungarian libraries and information centers are analyzed and some predictions for future trends are presented. The second part is a short summary of the activities of OMIKK and its present and prospective role in the development of national information policy.

Stubnya, Gyorgy↗
NASA NTRS1994

Tele Hyper Virtuality

In the future, remote images sent over communication lines will be reproduced in virtual reality (VR). This form of virtual telecommunications, which will allow observers to engage in an activity as though it were real, is the focus of considerable attention. Taken a step further, real and unreal objects will be placed in a single space to create an extremely realistic environment. Here, imaginary and other life forms as well as people and animals in remote locations will gather via telecommunication lines that create a common environment where life forms can work and interact together. Words, gestures, diagrams and other forms of communication will be used freely in performing work. Actual construction of a system based on this new concept will not only provide people with experiences that would have been impossible in the past, but will also inspire new applications in which people will function in environments where it would have been difficult if not impossible for them to function until now. This paper describes Tele Hyper Virtuality concept, its definition, applications, the key technologies to accomplish it and future prospects.

Terashima, Nobuyoshi↗
NASA NTRS1994

Interacting galaxies resolved by IRAS

We discuss procedures, limitations and results of high resolution processing of interacting galaxies observed by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). Among 56 potentially resolvable interacting groups selected from the IRAS Bright Galaxy Sample, 22 systems have been resolved yielding fluxes for a total of 51 galaxies. In about 2/3 of the resolved pairs, both galaxies were detected in the far-infrared. A set of isolated non-interacting galaxies was chosen from the Bright Galaxy Sample for comparison with the interacting galaxies. For the current sample, which naturally excludes close pairs and ultraluminous merging systems, the primary conclusions are: (1) It is not possible to distinguish individual interacting galaxies from isolated galaxies of similar luminosity on the basis of infrared properties alone. (2) No direct correlation was found between measures of interaction strength and indicators of enhanced star formation within the resolved systems. (3) Comparison of the interacting and isolated samples indicates statistically significant differences between their distributions of far-infrared color ratios, luminosities, and surface brightnesses. Even during the early stages of interaction spanned by these systems, in a statistical sense, tidal perturbations substantially boost far-infrared indicators of star formation compared to non-interacting systems. We also briefly discuss future prospects for pushing the IRAS data to its limits for additional interacting systems.

Mazzarella, Joseph M.↗